Chapter Text
(Warning: Audio may be loud)
Words have life, and in time, may even bind ones right to live.
- Yuuko Ichihara, xxxHolic
----
Blink
Blink
No matter how much blinking is done, the scene presented to you does not change.
A dark, circular room full of tall windows and floating coffins. Pillars with hanging green-lit lanterns of an unfamiliar make.
And one very unfamiliar floating... Cat... Racoon... Thing, that, from the looks of it, used blue fire to break open your own coffin, you screaming all the while. Then proceeded to shriek upon noticing you.
"[Why are you awake!?]"
"I- What? I'm sorry?"
You're too busy trying not to faceplant onto the floor under your coffin that you didn't catch any of... whatever garbled mess of words that was. The cat-thing doesn't seem to get you either.
"[What in the world are you even- No, nevermind that.] Ningen! [Give me your clothes!]"
Wait, wait, 'Ningen?' It's speaking Japanese at you?! Think brain, think! What have you learned from all of your anime and self-teaching?
"Ch-chotto matte kudasai! W-watashi... wakaranai!"
"Ha?! [What's there to not understand?! Just give me that uniform, or I'll roast ya!]"
Fwoosh!
Fire bad!!! Fire bad!!!!! Oh God, it's getting angry and you still have no idea what's going on!!
"Kimi! Kimi wakaranai! Watashi hanash- hanasanai de!" You stumbled through, but you at least caught yourself before mixing up 'don't speak' with 'let go.' Still, this only made the cat demon madder.
"[What do you mean you don't speak!? You're talking just fine right now! Ngah, no, I don't have time for this! Just give me you-] Nhgack!!"
Ok. You hit it. With your shoe.
... Fuck it! You're done with all this nonsense! You're noping the fuck out of here and finding someone who speaks English!
You thank whatever higher force for the existence of slip ons, locate the nearest exit, and bolt before Cat demon can recover.
----
Ok, maybe running in the first direction available wasn't the smartest thing you could have done, but come on!! You were working with limited knowledge and under duress!
Where the fuck are you???
Sprinting through halls and passing through various rooms only makes you more confused. Reaching a courtyard of some kind shows you to be in some kind of castle, but castles don't exist in the US!!! The nearest castle would be across the ocean and any in this kind of condition would be a museum that you certainly wouldn't have the money to enter!
It's twilight out, the sun only just beginning to sink, and only now do you take a moment to breathe. You may not be particularly out of shape, but even you have limits. And then you noticed your clothes.
What are you wearing?? A cult robe?? It's... actually very pretty now that you're looking at it.
The outer robe is black with a deep purple inside, extremely fancy gold embroidery lining the bottom and sleeve hems, and oooooo this is a nice hood! Hides your face real well. The inside also has this crossed gold key pattern? Makes you think of Kingdom Hearts. It's clinched shut at your waist with a belt of the same deep purple, and there's a weird... key shaped... holder??? hanging off the belt.
The under shirt is black as well, extends past the hem of the coat down to your knees, and with a collar that reminds you vaguely of a priest's outfit. The sleeves extend down into one of those little loops for your middle finger like those sleeve-glove things you do not know the name of. It has gold embroidery along the shoulder and a bit of the chest too, though you can't quite get a good look at it from this angle.
Black slacks and weird matching boots completes the look.
Well this is some fancy cult get up if you've ever seen any. Makes you feel more like some kind of dark mage or something.
You can at least feel that you're wearing a tank top under it all, so... not completely left without your own clothes.
You still don't know where you are though. And you haven't seen any other person since-
Fwoosh!
Screeching and cursing as blue fire nearly takes your eyebrows off, you're pulled violently out of your musings by the devil you'd just thought of.
"[Did you really think you'd get away from my nose? Dumb human.]"
You still can't understand a damn thing the cat is saying, but you can definitely read its smug superiority at finding you.
"What is your problem!?" You growl quietly to yourself, knowing you don't have the linguistic skills to properly say that to the demon that's been a pain since you woke up.
"[If you don't wanna get roasted, better hand over-]"
The cat starts, but doesn't get to finish as a... rope? Whip? Comes out of nowhere and ensnared it. The cat struggles against it, grumbling more you can't understand well, as the one holding the other end finally registers in your mind as being there.
"[This is no mere rope. It is a lash of love!]"
Ai no... what?? Did he call it a whip of love or something??? What the fuck???
And what in the world is he wearing??? Some kind of dapper Bird Gentleman aesthetic going on, fancy shirt and vest combo with the feathered cape thing, black bird mask, and top hat. There are little keys and mirrors??? adorning his outfit and he even has a cane in the hand that isn't holding the whip that has the cat.
You could stare at him and try and pick apart his whole outfit, but then he's turned and addressing you and you're not sure how to handle the tone of disappointment when you can't even understand 98% of what he's saying.
So far, the only word you think you've picked up on is 'gate,' but literally one word doesn't give you enough context outside the scolding you know you're getting for something you have no clue as to have done and have had no chance to speak up.
He continues on and says something to which has the cat protesting and you can at least pick up the 'Hanase!' it groans out through its continued struggles.
The dapper birdman seems nonplussed and then proceeds to wrap the whip around the cats mouth to stop it's protests.
He then turns back to you and says a little bit more and then finally you see a point that you can say something.
"A-Ano... Watashi wakaranai desu."
"Eh? Nani ga wakaranai no?" He blinks down at you with the glow of gold from behind his mask and Jesus christ you're only now noticing his ears are pointed.
"Uh... kimi... hana- su...?" Fuck, this is going to be a train wreck, but you hope to God he can at least get you to someone who speaks English. "Nihongo o hanasanai."
Except Birdman continues to blink down at you in confusion.
"Nihon-... [What in the world are you saying, young one? I'm not quite following...]"
"Dare ka... Ingurishu... hanaseru?"
"In... guri..."
"English." You try one more time, praying that you can get something through to this man. "It there someone who speaks English? Onegai. Wakaranai hanase."
That seemed to have gotten some kind of reaction out of him, as he snaps up and almost flinches back. Even if you don't understand the reaction, it's a reaction so you just- keep going.
"Please, I don't know what's going on. I woke up in a coffin, was attacked by a cat demon, and now I'm here and you're the only other person I've seen and please tell me someone here speaks enough English to get me home-"
"Matte, matte, chotto matte kudasai!" He stops you hastily, seeming panicked.
Ah, you've worked yourself up too much. You can feel the sting of tears in your eyes. The man is hovering as if unsure of how to proceed with a grown teenager crying and speaking a language he doesn't know.
So you wrap your arms around yourself and try to calm down with a deep breath.
"'M sor-..." Ah, no, wrong one. "... Gomenasai."
"Ah... Hai."
Fuck. You want to go home.
----
Dire Crowley knows something has gone very, very wrong.
Upon finding the broken and scorched Gate, one of the last few that were to be opened, Crowley has initially felt both confusion (what could have done such a thing to the Gate?) and a small sense of annoyance (the student who did this was going to be in trouble and school hadn't even started!)
So he did the most responsible thing he could think of: inform the other teachers that he will be looking for a wayward freshman and for them to continue to awaken the new students and proceed with the sorting with the Dorm leaders.
It had taken more time than he'd liked; the sorting may take a long while but he knows he needs to find this lost child before they finish.
And he does find the child.
(Not how he wants or pictures to. He thinks he'll find them wandering the school, possibly getting into some kind of mischief if they've the gall and means to break open the Gate.
He finds them because they screamed, and the part of him that is Headmaster, Teacher, Guide is reeling because My Student Is In Danger There Is A Danger In My School and his heart seizes for a fraction of a second as he turns the corner where the scream came from-)
He also finds what he figures is the culprit that opened the Gate. A cat-like creature, a familiar to the student perhaps, though untamed and undisciplined if the fact that it's threatening the student says anything.
Subduing the creature is easy with his lash, and scolds the child inturn with the familiar. The child, at the very least, listens quietly and obediently, unlike the familiar he had to silence.
Except-
"Ano... I do not understand."
The following conversation spirals out of control so fast he's not sure how it happened. The child was speaking broken Common and of things he's never heard of. Then they get frustrated and for a second, he'd thought the child had used their Unique Magic on him.
But then they kept going, speaking the most fluent Old Trade that he's ever heard in his life, and he can only pick out so many words before he has to make them stop.
And he knows that something has gone so terribly wrong as he tries to keep the child calm.
A child who may very well should not have been able to be brought to this school.
But the child is wearing his school's ceremonial robes. The Carriage had brought them here, somehow. He cannot, in good conscience, as Headmaster and an Educator, leave this child helpless. So he takes a deep breath first, then clears his throat.
"I." He speaks slowly, gesturing to himself. He can do this.
"Help. You. For I am kind." He gestures back towards the child, hoping he's understood. They seems to have a rough grasp of Common, so he tries the most basic speech he can.
And the relief he feels at seeing the child relax is a wonder as they nod their head.
"I understand. Thank you."
"Now, let's go."
(There's only one person on campus that has any kind of proper fluency in Old Trade. And possibly the Dark Mirror. He hopes that will be enough to get this mess sorted out.
He hopes this mess can be sorted out.)