Chapter Text
"Wynn!"
Edwin Hoppel turned their head to see a random Heartslabyul second year running towards them. "I-I'm sorry." They panted as they stopped in front of them. "Wh-What day is it again?..." Wynn sighed. 'People can be so forgettable.' He thought as he opened his mouth to reply.
"Ah, it's Wednesday today! There's no unbirthday party, since one of the third years has their birthday today! Nothing special really, but remember that today you cannot at all costs pick the flowers. Well, don't pick anything in general. Riddle gets fussy about that a lot."
"Th-Thank you!" The second year said, quickly running away. As Wynn watched their back disappear into the distance, his phone pinged in his own pocket. 'Oh? Who is it?' They thought as they looked at the notification.
Leona🤎💛:
Oi bunny, it's nearly time.
Wynn stiffened. It was that time already? Was it not too late to back out? 'No, I can't think such thoughts..' He thought to himself as he opened the chat to reply. 'It's either this or him overblotting. I can't risk it.'
: 🐰Wynn
!First of all, I'm not a bunny
.Also, Is it really time to head over? I thought we had two more days till the tournament
Leona🤎💛:
Nope. Go to our dorm, I'll be waiting for you with Ruggie.
Love you.
Wynn internally sighed at their boyfriend's last text. In public, Leona was known to be some kind of a troublemaker, always skipping classes in favor of sleeping. But in private, especially in front of Wynn Leona could act like such a softie.
'If only he acted like one now..' They thought as they walked towards the exit to their dorm. 'I really, really don't want to hurt anyone, much less a whole spell drive team.'
-
"WELCOME, ONE AND ALL, TO THE NIGHT RAVEN COLLEGE INTERDORM SPELLDRIVE TOURNAMENT! Thank you for your patience, the players will be entering the stadium momentarily!"
Cater and Ace stood in the stands as the crowd cheered loudly around them. "..This year's crowd is especially loud!" Ace half-yelled to his brother. Cater nodded in response before the announcements turned on again.
"FIRST UP, WILL BE LAST YEAR'S REIGNING CHAMPION! BUT, CAN LIGHTNING REALLY STRIKE THRICE?! GIVE IT UP, FOR THE REIGNING LIGHT, DIASOMNIA!!"
As the announcement ended, both siblings watched as the 'Diasomnia team' walked into the stadium. "Wait, where's Maisy and Mrs. Wutherfords?" Cater suddenly asked. "Oh, they're with Malleus." Ace answered. "He isn't really part of the plan so when they came I just told Malleus to stay with them for a little bit."
Cater grimaced and nodded. "Alright."
-
Outside the stadium:
"Wow mister!" Maisy gushed. "Your horns are so cool!"
"Be gentle with him, dear!" Mrs. Wutherfords called from a short distance as the fae picked up the small five year old girl. Malleus turned to look at the elderly woman as he set Maisy upon his shoulders.
"I'll be fine with her, madam. Not to worry." Mrs. Wutherfords chuckled at his demeanor, stepping closer to him. "Oh, at least call me Priscilla! Madam makes me seem too strict."
Malleus hesitated.
"Alright..Mrs. Priscilla."
Mrs. Wutherfords, also now known as Mrs. Priscilla smiled. "Now that's more like it! You know, you remind me of my son..he used to be so much like you, always so polite! But even so, his curiosity got the best of him and he always got in trouble. He actually has a job here!"
Malleus blinked at the revelation. "If so..have I seen them before?" Priscilla hummed. "Well, he works as an assistant to my husband's friend, Ashton Vargas I believe? He's their assistant."
As he was about to reply, saying that he had never known that Coach Vargas even had an assistant, a commotion suddenly alerted all three people, including Maisy who was busy enjoying herself with Malleus' horns.
"..Stay behind me!" Malleus ordered as he held onto Mrs. Wutherfords & Maisy and teleported to another area, one that was a short distance from the stadium but had a clear view of it.
"Wow!" Maisy yelped. "Look at all those people!"
And alas, outside the stadium was a really, really large crowd.
"...I'm going to go help out the people over there. You stay here." Malleus muttered as he lifted Maisy off his shoulders. Said eight year old girl giggled as she was put down. "Okay!"
-
"I did it Leona!" Ruggie cheered as he finished using his unique magic. "Did you see the broadcast?"
Leona smirked. "Yeah. Good job. So long Malleus, the throne is mine now." Wynn, standing beside Leona chuckled weakly. "Yeah...the throne is all yours.." "Long live the king!" The other Savanaclaw students crowed along.
"I believe we've all heard enough."
All eyes turned to see Riddle Rosehearts along with Cater, Ace, Deuce, and Yuu. There was also Grim who was perched on Yuu's shoulder, but they didn't really count as a person.
Leona chuckled at the sight of the five (and a half). "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Heartslabyul dorm leader. And is that Octavinelle I see? Well, considering that octopus, I wouldn't have suspected that you two would get involved. It doesn't matter. You're too late to save Diasomnia."
"Oh? That's quite the interesting claim."
Everyone turned to see Lilia speak up. "They seemed right on time to me." Sebek spoke. "Indeed." Silver added. "It's thanks to them that not a single one of Diasomnia's players got hurt."
"...What?! How?!" Ruggie said as he sputtered. "I saw you guys get swallowed up by the stampede!" Cater smirked. "Ah, that..was me. I'm not going to say how, but I made clones to take place."
"Alright, get to the point." Leona snarled. Lilia sighed as he looked at Leona disdainfully. "Cater told us everything. So, we had this little charade prepared just for us." Ruggie hesitated. "So..Malleus?"
Sebek huffed. "Why, he's in tip-top shape of course! In fact, he's been cleaning up the chaos and is currently helping people back into the coliseum. You can thank him personally later."
"H-how?!" Ruggie stuttered. "H-how could this happen?!"
"...Tch. I don't care anymore, whatever."
"...What?" Ruggie asked.
All eyes turned to Leona, who was scowling. "You heard me. I'm done. It's over." Ruggie's eyes widened. "Leona, what are you saying?!" Leona glared at Ruggie. "If Malleus is able to take the field then there's no chance we're winning. I'm out."
"You're just going to abandon our dreams?" Ruggie asked back. "Even with Malleus, we still took out all the other dorms' best players right?! Without you on the field, I don't think we can even make top three!"
("Not true." Cater muttered, crossing their arms as they watched Ruggie and Leona have their moment. "I'm considered Octavinelle's best player. And here I am, uninjured.")
Leona scoffed. "This is just schoolkids playing a game. With all of you talking about your dreams...it amused me. That's all this was." As Ruggie once again opened his mouth to speak, a new voice spoke up.
"So you're really going to leave them like this? Grasping and hoping for something that will never be?"
"...Wynn?" Riddle asked, horrified as all eyes turned to see the white haired junior suddenly appear. Leona looked away. "...Where were you?" Wynn grimaced as he stepped closer to the lion beastman.
"I was watching everything...you said it wasn't my time yet to shine. But from what you're saying-" Wynn tilted his head, staring straight at Leona. "-I'm never going to really shine at this time, will I?"
"Yeah!" One of the other Savanaclaw students present spoke. "You're really going to quit like this?!"
Leona gritted his teeth.
"Bah, I'm sick of this. Shut up, all of you."
And just as he finished his sentence, all everyone could now see was sand.