Chapter Text
Dragons hoard shiny things.
It’s practically an unwritten rule for dragon-fae like Malleus. Shining gold coins, glittering jewels, polished silver, enchanted artifacts—anything beautiful, rare, or simply interesting belongs in a dragon’s hoard.
And Night Raven College has a lot of shiny things.
Surely nobody would notice if Malleus took a few decorative candlesticks from the school corridors here and there… or that particularly well-polished silver platter from the cafeteria… or one of the curtain tiebacks from Professor Crewel’s classroom… or the Pop Music Club’s brass door handle… or a piece of Vil Schoenheit’s jewelry…or a few dessert spoons from the cafeteria (“They’re smaller and shinier!” – Malleus)
Admittedly, his hoarding—or kleptomania, as some might call it—had gotten a little out of hand.
But surely, nobody would notice…right?
~*~
As of recently, things had been… disappearing.
Nameplates. Candelabras. Candlesticks. A few people even swore that the gem-embedded fountain in the school courtyard looked less gemstone-covered with each passing day.
Additionally, numerous students had begun complaining that their belongings—specifically the ones with a shine to them—had mysteriously vanished over the past three years.
“I had this necklace I never wore—it never really matched my appearance,” Vil Schoenheit had once mentioned. “It was basically in mint condition, and it disappeared a couple of days ago.”
“The Glitter Bandit” was what the students of Night Raven College blamed whenever something particularly shiny went missing.
It started as a joke.
However, after more and more lustrous objects kept disappearing…the name stuck. Of course, the Glitter Bandit was an urban legend invented by some extremely bored first-years.
Just a myth, nothing more, nothing less.
That was, until an entire chandelier suddenly vanished from the Mess Hall.
~*~
Everyone stared up at the ceiling.
It was gone.
A whole chandelier.
Gone.
People began murmuring among themselves.
“That thing was huge.”
“There’s no way someone just… took it.”
“Maybe it fell?”
Someone immediately pointed out that if a chandelier that size had fallen, the mess hall floor would currently be covered in shattered crystal.
Instead, the floor looked perfectly normal.
Suspiciously normal.
“…Did the Glitter Bandit, like, level up?”
Several students groaned. A few chuckled dismissively.
“Oh come on now.”
“That was a joke.”
“It’s obviously some kind of prank.”
“Yeah,” a Scarabia student added, pointing upward again, “a prank that requires someone to steal a three-hundred-pound chandelier without anyone noticing.”
“My roommate says his ring disappeared yesterday.”
“My doorknob is gone,” another student said flatly.
“Your what?”
“My doorknob.”
“….”
“…How do you even lose a doorknob?”
Across the room, a staff member rushed in, staring upward in disbelief.
“WHO STOLE THE CHANDELIER?!”
The entire mess hall erupted at once.
The Glitter Bandit had officially become real.
“DEUCE, WHY ARE YOU HOLDING AN ACTUAL GEMSTONE?!” a certain redhead (Ace Trappola) shouted. “Did you suddenly become rich or something?!”
All heads turned toward the infamous Heartslabyul troublemaking duo.
Deuce’s face flushed red as he held up a bright blue sapphire.
“What?! No!” Deuce shouted, pointing to the floor. “It was on the ground right there!”
“…That’s from the fountain in the courtyard,” an Octavinelle student informed awkwardly.
Amidst the murmurs and chaos, the housewardens gathered together.
“This is… peculiar, to say the least,” Riddle said.
“Yes, most peculiar indeed,” Malleus replied.
Several people jumped slightly, having completely forgotten he was standing there.
𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘱.
𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴…
𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.