Chapter Text
‘This feels…familiar…’ he thought as he felt himself drifting into an endless abyss, he opened his eyes as he finally felt the ground; he slowly got up as nothingness surrounds him.
“Ah…my dearly beloved”
Sora looks around, searching for the voice. Yet found no one. ‘Another dream?’ he says out loud and starts to walk on the darkness, this feels familiar for Sora but at the same time, it’s also unfamiliar to him.
“A lovely and noble flower of evil”
“Truly, you are the most beautiful of them all”
Sora starts to walk into the darkness to hopefully find something, anything. Soon, he hears horses carrying a carriage, he looks around and sees something in the distance coming his way, he starts to run towards it. As he was getting close, all the sudden heartless start to appear between him and what he can see is a carriage.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall...”
“Who is the most...”
Sora did not listen to the voice as the heartless start to get near him; he summons his key blade, the kingdom key, and starts to fight off the heartless. Striking and slashing the heartless while dodging the heartless from coming at him.
After finishing off the heartless, he noticed something one on the ground at the last heartless he has defeated, hi pick it up in curious, it looks like a pen with a chain that looks like it could be attached to his keyblade, curious, he attaches the chain to his keyblade, the keyblade glows and disappear which made Sora surprised. He tries to summon it his keyblade but nothing happens, which confused Sora, and before he can think about it. The carriage finally arrives in front of him.
A black carriage carrying an ornate circular mirror with glass a deep emerald color, and skeletal horses at the front skeletal horse, it nearly looks like it’s a carriage that goes to a funeral. Sora disperses his keyblade and looks at the carriage warily as its doors open; he looks inside to sees nobody in it, only a mirror. Cautiously, he steps into the carriage.
“Those who are guided by the dark mirror”
“As long as your heart desires, take the hand that appears in the mirror”
As soon as the voice says it, he noticed a strange eerie light coming from the mirror the carriage had, and a hand appeared before him from the mirror. Sora stares at the hand, he could hear his heart beating fast. He slowly takes it.
“For me. For them. For you. We are all running out of time! No matter what, never let go of my hand.”
All of the sudden, the hand-pulled him through the mirror. He starts to lose consciousness, and darkness takes over his vision.
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Sora could hear something banging on something else, he opens his eyes to see that he is somewhere dark, he outstretches one of his arms, only to be met with a wood surface, he starts to feel around and realized, that he is in a box.
He then hears a voice on the other side “Crap, people are coming... Gotta get a uniform while… grrrr! The lid is too heavy!” followed by a rattle from the outside, he goes to knock on the wood.
“Hey, is someone there? Can you get me out?” he attempts to yell, but it seems that the box is too thick, that it can’t be heard from the inside. He thought about using his key blade but, the keyblade would be too big in the tight space that he is in.
“Grrr..It’s no use, time for my secret technique!” Sora then felt the box heating up, he leans to the surface of the box and then it starts to open, making Sora fall off
“Whoaaa!”
“Ffggnnnaaaa!?”
Sora falls to the ground, he groans and looks up to see a grey-furred animal that looks like either a cat or a raccoon, but the creature has blue flames coming out of his ears, it sort of reminds him of Hades from the underworld.
He seems surprised seeing Sora wide awake “Why are you awake? You’re supposed to be asleep!” the cat…raccoon? Creature says.
“A cat?” he wonders out loud, the cat thing? Looks annoyed “Who are you calling a cat! I am the great Lord Grim, y’know!? Treat me with respect, you pitiful human!” Sora tilted his head in confusion as Grim got on all fours “Enough chit-chat! Gimme those clothes! Or else I’ll roast you!”
Sora looks at his clothes, surprised to see that he is not in his regular attire, but in a black robe with gold and purples trim and pattern “Where did I get this?” he checks out his clothes.
“Hey! Don’t ignore me! Fgggnnnnaaaa!” Grim starts to run at Sora, and jumps to pounce on Sora, but Sora side steps, making Grim jump into the casket behind Sora.
“Gyahh!” The demon-cat-raccoon exclaimed when it face-planted to the cushioned casket.
“Sorry” Sora says, but then he starts running away from the room, as he runs, he looks around over where he is ‘am I in another world, that means I can find a way back to Destiny Island’ he thought as he runs through the rather gloomy hallway.
He soon finds himself in a library, where he sees some books are flying “Where am I?” he wonders and soon see a fireball head to his way, but he dodges last second and looks to see that the cat-raccoon animal headed to him.
“Hehehe…you think you can get away from me, you dumb human” Sora looks at Grim and frowns “You again, the cat-raccoon?” he still has no idea what Grim is as he stomps in frustration “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not a cat or a raccoon, I’m the great and powerful Grim, now gimme those clothes”
“I’m not gonna give it to you, and you're being rude” Sora says, crossing his arms while narrowing his eyes at Grim as the cat smirks “Then it’s time for me to roast you,” the blue flames on his ears begin to grow.
He inhaled and aimed his fire at Sora, but he quickly dodges it and gets into a battle stance but have not summoned his keyblade yet.
“Stop it, you’re gonna burn the place down” he says, but Grim smirks “Then give me your clothes now” he got on all four and jump to pouch Sora again.
And then out of nowhere, there was a sound of a cracked whip. “Eh?! That hurts! What’s this cord?!” Grim cried out, trying to break free from the restraint.
“It’s not a mere cord! It’s the whip of love!” A voice corrected Grim from the shadows. Sora eases his posture and looks behind him to see a silhouette figure that came closer to them.
Sora can see the man up close. He was wearing a top hat that had a little mirror on it; he is also wearing a suit and a cape, on his side has three mirrors and chains of keys, half of the man’s face is covered behind the black mask, but Sora could see the glowing yellow eyes beneath the mask.
“Aah, I finally found you! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He sighed, disappointment written across his face. Sora looks at the man in confusion “Umm…I’m sorry?”
The man sighs and crosses his arm, still holding firm to the ‘whip of love’ and look at Grim “Also, having a familiar that you haven’t tamed is against the school rules!” this made Sora and Grim look at each other “He is not-“
“I’m nobodies’ familiar!” Grim looks at the headmaster while continue to struggle “Let me go!”
The man brushes off Grim’s comment “Yes, yes, every rebellious familiar always says that.” He raised his hand which has a golden claw on each finger, he made a zipping gesture “Now, please be quiet and let us have a converse in peace.”
“hhmmpp” Grim’s mouth magically zipped as the man turns to Sora, who just looks confused “However, it is unheard of for a student to be able to open their door by themselves” he looks at Sora with a small frown. “Hold on, I was in there until he opened it by force” Sora says, explaining himself “I see, so the familiar is to blame” The man looks at Grim “Well then, If you brought him here, then it is your responsibility to look after him.”
Sora and Grim look at each other again “But he's not-“
“Ah that’s right. Come, come now the entrance ceremony started long ago! Let us not be later than we already are!” the man says cutting Sora off and ushers the boy leaving the library carrying the still tied up Grim who continues to struggle.
Sora is very confused, where is he? Why is he here? And why did is his outfit change? The last thing he remembers is that he was fighting Yozora in some sort of tower, and then, after defeating Yozora, he finds himself back at final world, but after that it all went blank. He looks to the man in front of him.
“uhh, sir?” Sora called out earning the man’s attention “Where are we exactly?”
The man stops and looks at Sora in surprise “What’s this? Are you still dazed?” he placed a golden claw on his chin. “It appears the teleportation magic has left you disoriented; that is a common side effect; let me give you a brief explanation as we make our way to the ceremony, for I am so gracious!”
Sora tilted his head in confusion as the headmaster continued,
“This is Night Raven College!” he motioned to the school around them. “Magicians that are blessed with a unique aptitude for magic gather from all over the world, here at the most prestigious magical academy in Twisted Wonderland.” He turned back to Sora. “And I’m the headmaster, appointed to take care of this academy by the board chairman, Dire Crowley.” He turned back and continued the way to the ceremony. “Only those magicians seen as worthy by the Dark Mirror can attend this school, chosen ones use the gate and are summoned here from around the world…an Ebony carriage carrying a gate should have gone to meet you as well.”
Now that he mentions it, Sora did remember about something about a carriage in his dream. ‘Or maybe…it wasn’t a dream’ he thought as the Headmaster ushered Sora again; “Come now, we have an entrance ceremony to get to.”
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“—Now then, are the entrance ceremonies and dorm sorting finished?” Riddle says looking at the last first year that has been sorted to a dorm. He stood among the other dorm Perfects as the first years got sorted to their dorm. They’ve already made their introduction of themselves and their dorm.
Riddle looked at Azul who nod and lower the papers that the headmaster is holding “yes, I believe so”
Riddle nods and looks at the new Heartslabyul dorm student “Listen up, new students. I make the rules in Heartlabyul. Anyone who breaks them will lose their heads—do keep that in mind.” He said sternly.
Leona, the Savanaclaw Perfect yawned. “This boring ceremony is finally done.” He placed a hand on his hip as he looked at the first-years. “Let’s get back to the dorm. Savanaclaw, follow me” he said.
“To all the new students, I would like to congratulate you on your enrollment here! I hope each and every one of you're able to live a fulfilling school life!” Azul says as he took a step forward. He might seem smiling. He folded his arms over his chest. “As the dorm leader of Octavinelle, I will support you as best as I can!”
Vil, the dorm Perfect of Pomefiore look at the others “By the way, where’s the Headmaster? He flew off in the middle of the ceremony”
Azul was about to answer but got cut off by Idia, the Perfect of Ignihyde, he speaks through his floating tablet “He abandoned his duties…”
Kalim, the Perfect of Scarabia dorm looks curious “maybe he had a stomachache and has to go to the bathroom?” He suggested. But as soon as he says that, the door burst open, revealing the Headmaster.
“Not at all,” the Headmaster says, followed by a student that the dorm Perfects see has a very spiky brown hair. “Oh, he’s here” Riddle says and looks at the boy. The headmaster made his way to the mirror with the boy who looks around the room in curiosity.
“I can’t believe you all, we are missing one new student so I went to find him” the Headmaster says as Sora looks at him ‘wait, student? I’m in a school?’ he thought as the Headmaster turned to him.
“Now, you’re the only one who we have yet to assign to the dormitory. I shall watch over the raccoon, step in front of the dark mirror” he says gesturing the mirror which holds a tight grip to Grim who still trying to break free from the ‘lash of love.’
“Hhmmmpp” Grim muffled as Sora took a step towards the mirror that has a face.
“State thy name” the dark mirror says.
“my name is Sora” he replies, “Sora…the shape of thy soul is…” the mirror says before going silent for a moment until it finally says:
“I do not know”
“Come again?” The Headmaster says, looking surprised
“Forsooth, I feel a strong wavelength of magic power from thee. The magic that is both ancient but not. The magic that does has been forgotten and no longer exists from this world. Howbeit, thou art’s soul is not eligible for any dormitory.” The dark mirror explained.
Sora could hear many students whispering and muttering about him as The Headmaster looked at the mirror in disbelief “magic that does not exist within this world? How could this possibly have happened?” he wondered; this gave Grim a chance to finally be freed by the lash.
“Then I’ll take their place, I’m even more powerful than some ancient magic, check this out” Grim start to prepare his fire magic “Everyone get down!” Riddle says as Grim start to set things on fire. The fire even hit Kalim’s butt “AH, HOT, HOT, MY BUTT IS ON FIRE” he screams, tries to put the fire out.
Sora quickly make his moves, he uses his hand to use to cast Watera on Kalim and onto the fire to put it out before turning to Grim, “hey stop that!” he says as he uses Stopra on Grim, making the raccoon-cat freeze with a time on his head for around 10 seconds counting down, “he’s frozen in time...” one of the students says, looking amazed.
“only for a few seconds, hurry!” Sora says as Riddle took out his magic pen “off with your head” he raised his magic pen and placed a heart-shaped collar on Grim as the timer reach zero.
“—fgnah Gaaah! What’s this?!” Grim tries to take the collar off, but to no avail.
“Rules number 23 of the Queen of Hearts: You must not bring cats into areas of festivities.” Riddle huffed and crossed his arms looking at Grim. “As you are a cat, trespassing here is a serious rule violation. We will have you leave immediately.”
“I’m not a cat! A cat can’t burn things like-” Sora is getting ready his water spell but pauses seeing Grim fail to start his fire spell. “W—What?! My fire… it won’t work!!”
Riddle just smirk as he put his magic pen away “Until I remove that collar, you won’t be able to use your magic. It will get removed once you’re thrown out of the school.”
“wow, as wonderful as ever, all magic was sealed by your unique magic, Riddle” Azul says praising Riddle “I want it…no I wouldn’t want that cast on me” his tone change midway.
“You must do something; he is your familiar!” The Headmaster glaring at Sora as he groans, “I’ve been trying to tell you, he is not my familiar”
“eh, he’s not” The Headmaster looks surprised but then clear his throat “*ahem* if that is the case, then would someone take it out of the school. We won’t turn you into a stew. For I am so gracious” one of the teacher nods and grabs Grim to take him out.
“Gyaaahhh! Lemme go! I’m definitely, definitely—! Going to become a great mage!” Grim says before the door closes on him, shutting out his complaints.
“Now I kinda feel bad for him,” Sora says feeling a bit guilty “don’t be, with your help, we have stopped the beast from making more damage to the school,” Azul says looking at Sora politely, ‘a magic that able to stop time, what powerful magic he has’ he thought.
“Well…I guess your right” Sora says still looking at the door. “Now that is out of the way, after a whole lot of unexpected events, I shall bring this entrance ceremony to a close. Dorm leader, please show the new students to their respective dormitory”
“Hm? Now that I think about it, I don’t see the Dorm leader of Disomnia, Mister Draconia, around at all” The Headmaster says, looking around for the missing dorm leader. Sora heard many people mutter as the dorm leaders seem to discuss how they forgot to invite Malleus Draconia to the ceremony. ‘Seems like he is very popular’ He thought as one student came up to take the Disonmia first years, and with that, the students, and the dorm leaders left, leaving only Sora and The Headmaster.
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The Headmaster cleared his throat “now then, um…I’m sorry, what is your last name?” Sora look at Crowley and scratch his hair “I don’t have a last name, but it’s fine to just call me Sora” The Headmaster nods “very well then Sora, as for the term on where you shall stay, I’m sure I can figure something out”
“Uumm… actually Headmaster, I think there has been a mistake, I just really wanted to head back home,” Sora says earning a surprised look from the Headmaster “A-are you certain? The Ebony Carriage has never once made a mistake, you are in a very prestigious school where many students can learn very powerful magic, not taking it would be a waste”
Sora nodded firmly “I’m sure of it, I have made my friends worried about me far too much, and while being in this school sounds exciting, I want to go home and get back to my friends”
Crowley looks conflicted, the boy is carrying ancient magic that is unheard of, with him and Mister Draconia in Night Raven College, it would give a very huge benefit for the school. However, by the look of this young man, he seems to be very determined to go, with a heavy sigh he nods “Very well then, The Dark Mirror will promptly send you back home.”
He guides Sora to the platform in front of the Dark Mirror again. Once the boy stood there, Crowley stood behind him, hand still on his shoulder. “Now, visualize your home very clearly…”
Sora closed his eyes and visualized his home, the beach, the Island, where his friends are waiting for him. The mask in the mirror appeared once again from the green smoke. “Now, Dark Mirror! Guide this child back to the place they belong to!”
…
…
The Headmaster cleared his throat in embarrassment. “One more time. Dark Mirror! Guide this-”
“It is nowhere,” The mirror says.
“What?” Crowley drops his hand from Sora’s shoulder as he opens his eyes, he looks a bit worried.
“Nowhere in this world does this one belong. There is nothing.” The Mirror says. Sora sighs, he can’t say that he is not surprised, but he figures that it won’t be that easy. He has disappeared because he used too much of his magic and went past the limit, he figured that getting home would be a challenge.
“Oh my, for all the years that I have been The Headmaster. This is the first time anything like this has happened. I’m not sure what to do...” He looks at Sora “where do you come from?”
“I’m from Destiny Island,” Sora says looking at him “Destiny Island, hmm, I never heard of an Island by that name before” Sora sighs, “it’s alright, I guess I have to search my way back, I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” he says.
“hold on a second,” Crowley says “there is no way I’m letting a child go on his own, as an educator, throwing out a penniless youth who has no contact with their guardians would just break my heart. Since I am so kind!”
Sora look at him confused “umm ok?” Crowley then says in a bit of a cheery tone “how about you stay in the school for the time being. In the meantime, I will search for anything about your Island”
Sora looked at Crowley surprised. “Really?” The Headmaster nodded, “but of course. Ahh, how kind I am~! Aren’t I such an exemplary educator~?”
‘And as a bonus, I get to have this student in my school, ah, how lucky I am’ he thought gleefully.
Sora looks at him a bit weird but he smiles, “thank you, I appreciate it” then he looks at The Headmaster curiously “But where can I stay?” Crowley smiles “No need to worry. I know a place where you can stay. It’s a little old, but a tasteful building.”