Chapter Text
Time was something that you didn't have. A luxury that many people take for granted. At one point, you were just like them, pretending that you had all the time in the world to do whatever you wanted. Not anymore, not while you were in hospital, laying in the bed and praying for a longer life than the one you were currently given.
Beep... Beep... Beeep...
Was that the sound of your heart?
It was slowing down.
Your heart was slowing down!
"I don't want to..." Your breath hitches in your throat and you tighten your grip on the hospital blanket as you look out the window of the drawn curtains.
The night was black, there were no clouds. No stars twinkle in the sky. No moon to shine a light upon the city bathed in darkness. It was almost telltale of what was about to happen to you. You try to take in a deep breath, to feel like you were still alive yet there was nothing that could satisfy the ache in your heart nor the absolute truth of what was about to happen to you very soon. Everything was completely shrouded in the never-ending void.
It scared you.
Death scared you. Of course it did. Everyone was afraid of losing their life after all and you were no exception even though you knew that you wouldn't be able to live for long anyway.
But...
You don't want to die.
"Please..." You whisper out into the open air, desperate for whatever higher being is out there, waiting and listening for a plea from a mortal like yourself, to save you. To give you another chance to live your short and non-existent life, "I want to live."
The prayer goes unanswered and you breathe in one final time, allowing the precious oxygen to fill your lungs. As they expand, your life flashes before your eyes, memories of the old that you had before you were stuck in a hospital bed with an illness that could take your life at any second. It has chosen its time now though and it's clear that you have no choice but to let go of the tight hold you have on this life. You had to move on because if you didn't, there was no telling what could happen to you.
But you didn't want to.
"Please..." Your voice comes out one final time as you breathe out your final breath, "Let me have another life..."
No one would hear you.
Not now, not ever.
Beep... Beeep... Beeeeeeeeeeeep.
Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor…
My proud, beautiful flower of evil.
You are truly the fairest one of all.
Thump thump thump!
They had no choice, they needed help. Students were overblotting left and right and those who had completely embraced their overblots had taken control of the dormitories.
Night Raven College was deemed a lost cause and there was no way that anyone could save them now.
"Not unless I bring in a new student," Crowley mutters, pacing Ramshackle dorm. This was the only safe place, a place where none of the students thought to look for the teachers due to it rag-tag appearance. With no doubt, he could summon a hero, a saviour, someone who could put an end to this terrible mess that was accidentally caused due to his inadvertent actions.
The incantation was instinctive as he stands before the mirror in the bedroom of Ramshackle Dorm, the Dark mirror their only hope of saving the world of Twisted Wonderland but more importantly, the school's reputation as well. It was terrible that everyone thought of Night Raven College as some former relic of the past that shouldn't even exist to this day. He had to make sure that they changed their minds, that they viewed the school as something of power and awe... that is, once he fixes everything that happens.
Yet by he, he really meant the person that he was summoning through the mirror.
Crowley lifts his hand, baring it as he stares straight into the mirror with desperation tinged in the golden eyes behind his mask.
O magic mirror, thy wisdom I entreat…
Reveal unto me the visage I seek…
You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth…
An image!
A woman?
"But women can't attend the school," He protests immediately before forcibly lowering his voice, pressing his body completely against the wall when one of the surveillance bats that came from what was once known as Diasomnia flies by, "Alright, I have no choice. But I am oh-so very kind..."
Thump thump thump!
He reaches his hand out towards the mirror.
"Take my hand, hurry..." He could hear the footsteps outside of the dormitory and he frowns immediately, staying quiet to allow them to pass. They must be from Savanaclaw this time since those ruffians didn't even understand the idea of stealth.
"We don't have much time," Divus Crewel, the potions professor hisses as he keeps an eye out for any of their students coming towards Ramshackle dorm, "They'll find out soon, those pups may be young but they're not naive."
"Such is the nature of this school," Mozus Trein agreed while petting Lucifer, "Especially since the beastmen can smell us from a mile away."
"Yes yes, I'm aware," Crowley continues the chant.
If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.
Drowning.
You were drowning, there was nothing else that could explain this feeling of suffocation.
Was this what death felt like?
You hated it, you need to grab at something, anything that could support your body as you were spiralling into the abyss of the unknown. Had a reaper already arrived to take your soul away for processing? Was that why your heart was clenching so hard that it was painful when it shouldn't even be feeling anything while in death? Was that why your hand instinctively reached out, grabbing onto the fingers that were offered to you?
Was this person... death?
"Have you come to take me away...?" You murmur weakly, "How am I even speaking? I'm dead..."
The fingers tighten around your hand and with a tug, you were pulled out of the void that you had found yourself in after death.
As flame reduces even the stars to ash
As ice seals away even time itself
As great trees swallow even the sky
Fear not the power of darkness.
Now—demostrate your power.
"Come on come on come on!" The panic was starting to get to the headmaster as he pulls... hard on the hand of the woman in the mirror. The building was surrounded by the students, no doubt they must have sensed that there was something strange going on here, something very wrong and suspicious. This wasn't good, this was going really badly and he wasn't too sure about how he could stop it.
The ritual would be over soon, of that he has no doubt.
But the moment it was over, their plans would be revealed to the students.
"No matter," Crowley continues to pull at the hand, determined to get the new person that the Dark Mirror had created through into the world of Twisted Wonderland. This woman was going to be their last hope, there was no way he could let go of this opportunity. Not now.
"They're coming, Crowley," Crewel says, his things already packed as he prepares the portal mirror to transport them towards the headmaster's office back on the main campus.
The office itself was one of the few and final places that were left that remain as a safe haven from the overblotted students. As Trein and Vargas cross the portal first, Crewel turns his gaze back to look at Crowley, "Hurry," was all he could say as he too passes through the portal.
"Hurry... but my kindness is making me more impatient than anything!" He gives one final tug.
To me. To them. To yourself.
The hour grows long, and time is scarce.
Keep steady your grip, no matter what may come...
With a bright light that could be seen all over campus, no doubt alerting the housewardens of what had just happened, your body falls on top of the headmaster's. Your eyes were shut, skin, pale white as death. You weren't breathing either, it was as though the mirror had summoned a corpse to help save the school.
"You must be kidding me, no amount of work can be done if all the Dark Mirror gave me was a corpse!" Crowley wraps his arms around your waist, lifting your body up and passing straight through the portal mirror.
The Dark Mirror that should not work after the overblotting of the students had allowed him to summon a person who was supposed to be able to save his school's reputation and more importantly, the rest of the students. With someone who was like a corpse though... how exactly was she going to be able to save them all?! And Twisted Wonderland by extension? He wonders if the mirror made a mistake in summoning the person in his arms.
You stir for a moment, a gasp tearing from your throat when he steps away from the portal. Your eyes flutter open.
You were awake.