Chapter Text
“I see…I let my conviction…blind myself to the other possibilities…”
His last words spoken, Erlking Heathcliff saw a creeping darkness overtake his vision as he fell, having been thoroughly bested by his variant and their crew. The Wild Hunt was over, his beloved Catherine too far to reach.
But maybe, just maybe, he would see her on the other side, having haunted him all this time. And they would finally be free from the suffering they inflicted upon each other, free to hold each other in a warm embrace.
—---------------------------------------------------------------
“Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor…My proud, beautiful flower of evil…You truly are the fairest one of all…*
The Erlking awoke in a dark place, barely illuminated by a strange mirror. Who would’ve thought this was what the afterlife was like.
“O Magic Mirror, thy wisdom I entreat…Reveal unto me the visage that I seek…You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth…”
“Oi!” He snapped. “Quit the nonsense and talk normally!”
The voice ignored him.
“If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.”
A pale white hand stretched forth from the mirror, catching Heathcliff’s interest. Was this something like the Mirror he knew, the one that reflected parallel worlds? Either way, it didn’t seem like there was anything else in the room, and for all he knew, smashing the mirror would just trap him here. So Heathcliff shrugged and reluctantly grabbed the hand.
Next thing he knew, Heathcliff found himself trapped in something wooden. Through whatever it was he was confined in, the Erlking could hear the sound of hooves trotting on stone, and the rumbling of a carriage. He had half a mind to just break out of this coffin, or whatever it was, but the idea of finding out where he was being brought to was more enticing. After all, he’d be able to bash in the skulls of those responsible if he waited. Plus, the cushions he was lying on weren’t half bad. Maybe he’d just get some rest first.
So for the time being, the Erlking took a moment to sleep, something he’d barely allowed himself during his dimensional crusade.
When he opened his eyes again, the coffin was upright, and someone was talking outside.
"I better hurry up and find that uniform before someone spots me..." The lid of the coffin began to shake lightly, but it was clear it wasn’t coming off any time soon.
"Urgggh... This lid weighs a ton!" The voice reminded him a bit of his yellow haired acquaintances from across many dimensions, carrying a hint of childishness. The shaking stopped for a moment, likely as the perpetrator gave up on pulling. "Try this on for size! Mya-ah!"
Immediately following that, a blue light and uncomfortable heat engulfed Heathcliff. As expected, he didn’t take very well to the perceived attack.
“Now to retrieve the g-”
“You tryin’ to cook me?” Heathcliff yelled as he kicked the door off the coffin, slamming it into the opposite wall. A startled “NYAAAAA-!” could be heard as he looked around for the flamethrower wielding bastard, finding only…a cat? A black furred, floating cat with a tie. And blue fire coming from its ears.
“Y-You ain’t supposed to be awake!” The cat yelled through its momentary shock. Heathcliff raised an eyebrow at its ability to talk. Its owners must’ve been loaded to create something like this.
“What kinda rich kid’s pet are you?” He asked in confusion.
“Pet?” The cat scowled in indignation. "How... How DARE YOU! I am no PET! I'm Grim, sorcerer extraordinaire!”
A runaway then? Most toffs preferred their pets subservient.
“Tch, whatever.” Grim’s face went back to a determined expression, and he pointed at Heathcliff with a claw. “You…human! Just gimme your uniform, and be quick about it!” The cat paused for a second. “...Where’s your uniform?”
Heathcliff looked down, and found himself still in the same clothes he’d been wearing since his crusade, no uniform in sight. “Lad, I have no bloody clue what you’re talking about. Do I look like a student to ya?”
“Ehh…” Looking at the man in front of him a bit longer, Grim noticed that he looked far too old to be a student. That couldn’t be right, he was brought to the school in one of the coffins! Yeah, he was probably just hiding the uniform somewhere under that brown suit!
“Stop lying! Cause if you don't... you're gonna regret it!" Grim attempted to put up an intimidating front, summoning plumes of blue flames. Heathcliff’s face twisted in rage, and Grim realised he had probably made a mistake as the massive man reached for the greatsword on his back, the blade covered in strange, blood red thorns.
“I’ll make you regret it, ya daft bastard!”
Grim shrieked and dove to the side as the massive blade came crashing down, embedding itself into the stone floors and causing cracks, before being ripped out effortlessly for another swing. The cat bolted out of the room, not caring where he went, only that he was away from that sword swinging madman. He could hear the sound of boots colliding with stone not far behind him, and was quickly running out of breath, but fear and adrenaline kept Grim going until he found himself in the library.
Panting, Grim turned to the entrance, seeing Heathcliff walk in, dragging that greatsword along the floor with a horrific screeching sound. “S-stay back! O-or I’ll burn you to a crisp!” Before either side could attack, a whip lashed out and struck Grim on the back of the head.
"Me-YEOW! That hurt! What gives?" The cat temporarily turned his focus away from Heathcliff and towards the newcomer.
"Consider it tough love." The new arrival wore a crow mask and was dressed quite extravagantly. From Heathcliff’s point of view, he was likely the owner of this mansion, or whatever this place was.
"Ah, I've found you at last, splendid.” The man said, turning to speak with Heathcliff. “I trust you're one of this year's new…students…?" His expression faltered for a moment to confusion, looking over Heathcliff’s disheveled appearance and obvious age difference to most of the other students. The greatsword was also something he didn’t expect.
Both sides had their eyes narrowed, studying the other closely and with suspicion. The crow-faced man was the first to break the silence.
“Back on track now.” He cleared his throat, before continuing whatever monologue he was going through earlier. "My, were you ever eager to make your debut. And bringing a poorly trained familiar with you? That is a clear violation of the school rules."
“As if I’d serve this maniac!” Grim hissed from behind the man, hiding from Heathcliff’s gaze and squirming against his leather binds. “Now let me go!”
"Yes, yes, Rebellious familiars always say that. Do be quiet for a bit, won't you?" The supposed master of the establishment said offhandedly as he wrapped the whip around Grim’s mouth. Ignoring Grim’s struggles and muffled cries, he turned back to Heathcliff.
"Dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with temerity enough to open their own gaze and step out of it. Does the very notion of patience elude you?" The man was either purposefully ignoring Heathcliff’s scowl, or he simply didn’t notice, caught up in his own theatrics. "No matter. Your orientation has already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber."
“If this is one of the games you rich folk play, I ain’t interested.” Heathcliff growled. “Do I look like a student to ya?”
"You awakened in a room full of gates, did you not?" There was a slight, but mostly unnoticeable wavering in the man’s voice, as if he had to convince himself of the truth as well. "All of the students here at the campus arrived by passing through the gates. Although, typically the students have restraint enough to wait until I open them before waking up."
“Last I checked, a closed coffin meant the lad or lass inside was dead.”
“Yes, the design symbolises a student’s departure from their former world, and being reborn into a new one here.” The man pulled out a watch, theatrical shock coming onto his face. "But now is not the time for such prattle, you've a student orientation to attend! Go on now, make haste!"
“Hold on, who the bloody hell even are you?” Heathcliff, more in need of answers than the need to smash up everything around him, barely struggled as the rich toff directed him to the door.
"Hm? Have you not fully regained consciousness? The time-space teleportation must have addled your memories…” The man took a long look at Heathcliff before shaking his head. “Well, these things happen I suppose, I shall explain it to you while we walk. Truly, my magnanimity is boundless.” He smirked. Heathcliff scowled in return. Rich folk almost all acted the same, haughty and arrogant, the long gone Mr Earnshaw being the only exception he knew. Still, he wanted answers before he started cracking skulls, so he listened intently to the explanation.
"This is Night Raven College. It is an institution for students the world over who demonstrate a rare aptitude for magic. It is the most prestigious academy of its sort in all of Twisted Wonderland.” The man said with almost sickening pride. “And I am Dire Crowley. Having been entrusted with its care by the chairman, I serve as headmage.”
“The bloody hell do you mean magic?”
There was a brief pause, and Heathcliff felt the Headmage’s gaze on him again. "...Only those who the Dark Mirror perceives as having a talent for magic are admitted to this college. Those who are selected are summoned to the campus through those 'gates', which can appear anywhere. A black carriage bearing one such gate should have come to meet you.”
“Kidnapped me like some poor sod in the Backstreets, more like.” Heathcliff scoffed.
Satisfied that at least the method of his arrival matched prior records, Crowley continued. "The black carriage serves to receive a student chosen by the Dark Mirror. It too bears a gate that connects to this campus. And as you know, sending a carriage to meet someone on a special day is a time-honoured tradition.”
Cathy may have mentioned wanting to arrange something like that once, another one of her endless whims. It was a rather fond memory, watching Nelly attempt to talk her out of it. Heathcliff reminisced over those lost days as they approached a door, Grim still struggling against the whip.
"Now, let us attend to your orientation.” Crowley announced as he approached the doors. Heathcliff could hear a cacophony of voices in the room not nearly as loudly as some of Hindley’s arguments with Josephine could get, but still quite noisy.
"We're done with the orientation and dorm assignments? All right, new students - let me be clear. At Heartstabyul…”
“Well, that ceremony was as boring as ever. I'm going back to the dorm. If you're in Savanaclaw House…”
"New students! Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your achievement. As dorm leader of Octavinelle…”
Authority figures, huh. Hopefully they weren’t as strict on rules as the Thumb, who knows what kinda brainwashing a variant of him would have to go through to fit in there.
"Hey, does anyone know where the headmage went?" One student asked. "He disappeared midway through the ceremony..."
“Maybe he had a tummy ache?” Another suggested.
"I most certainly did not!" Crowley yelled as he burst through the doors, before slamming Grim into the head of the student who suggested the stomach ache with his whip. "If you must know, I was searching for the new student who'd failed to show for orientation."
Heathcliff walked in quietly and on edge, not sure what he’d find in the room, given the unpredictability of the City, but a room of actual children, some with animal features, was not on the list. It was too…innocent.
Meanwhile, all the students fell silent as they laid their eyes on the man who probably shouldn’t be here. Whether it be his age, his outfit, or anything else they could possibly criticise, it was an unspoken agreement that he stood out. That, and he felt dangerous.
Crowley cleared his throat, gathering the attention of the students again, before turning to Heathcliff. "You are the only one who has yet to be assigned a dorm. Step up to the Dark Mirror, and be quick about it. I'll watch your weasel."
Warily, the Erlking stepped up to the Mirror, and a face appeared to meet his.
“State your name.” The mirror spoke.
“...Heathcliff.”
“Heathcliff…The nature of your soul is…” The mirror rolled the name around in its mouth for a moment, before sinking into deep thought, its eyeless sockets darting across Heathcliff’s form as if it couldn’t think of what to eat that day. “...unclear to me.”
A number of gasps could be heard from behind him. "What did you just say?" Crowley asked the Mirror, which had its brows creased in thought.
“I sense no magical power from this one. Soundless. Colourless. Shapeless. Utterly vacant, save for something I cannot recognise. Therefore, no dorm would be suitable.”
Heathcliff couldn’t help but smirk as Crowley started undergoing something akin to a controlled mental demolition, yelling at the Mirror. "Are you suggesting that the black carriage went to receive a person who cannot even use magic? But that is absurd! The student selection has not erred once in its century of existence! How could this have happened?" Again with calling him a student, it should be pretty obvious that he was a grown man!
"Mmmph! Nnnrgggh…” Heathcliff’s eyes flicked downwards to Crowley’s whip. The rodent was on the brink of breaking out of his confinement. “Oi, Crow-face. Tighten the whip a b-”
"ME! Let ME have this student's seat!" Grim yelled as he got his mouth free. Crowley looked down and scowled.
"Not so fast, you hyperactive weasel!" It was too late though, as the re-tightening whip grasped nothing but thin air, and Grim floated mid air, now free from his binds.
"Unlike that human, I can actually use magic! So let me be a student here! Look, I'll show you! My spells're the cat's meow!" At first, Heathcliff planned on jumping up and breaking a few of the trouble-making cat’s bones, but he picked up on a hint of desperation in Grim’s voice. The same desperation to belong as Heathcliff had, once upon a time, only to be shunned by the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights.
Of course, just like Heathcliff, Grim’s act of antagonising the inhabitants didn’t go well in regards to making them accept him, as a burst of fire from his mouth set a student ablaze.
"AHHHHH! HELP! I'm on fire over here!"
Crowley seemed strangely unperturbed by the fact one of his students was currently going up in a blue inferno, instead focusing solely on the flame spewing grey ball. "Someone catch that blasted animal before it sets the entire school ablaze!"
Heathcliff was more than disappointed. Sure, leave the heavy lifting to the students and don’t move a muscle. He bent down, angling himself just right to snatch Grim out of the air with a leap while the students and Crowley bickered amongst themselves.
Suddenly, with a cry of “Off with your head!”, the cat was collared with a half-black and red heart. Seems that was dealt with well enough at least.
“Heathcliff!” Crowley snapped at the man who was clearly not a student. “Was I not clear that you are expected to take responsibility for your familiar? Now discipline your-“
“The hell do ya want me to do, he ain’t mine!” Heathcliff yelled in return. Crowley paused for a moment.
“...So it isn’t yours?” Crowley crossed his arms and put a finger to his chin in thought. “Then I shall have it expelled from campus. I shall even spare it from being served as dinner.”
Heathcliff watched as the Headmage walked over to Grim. The cat deserved what was coming to him, really, given he’d stirred up all that trouble. But it was a pitiful sight, watching Crowley pick him up by his scruff as he struggled.
“You fools better remember my name! Cause I’m gonna go down in the annals of magic history! Just you wait!”
Heathcliff sighed. Not like he could just watch this happen, not to someone similar to the many Heathcliff’s he’d seen.
“Oi, Crow-face.” Crowley turned his head to Heathcliff, pausing his walk to the door. “Hmm?”
“Mind if I take the li’l bugger off your hands? I’ve got a couple questions to ask him.” Grim stopped struggling as Heathcliff strode over, and instead started pleading for Crowley to spare him from a worse fate. “I-I’ve changed my mind! I’ll take expulsion over this madman!”
Unfortunately, Crowley seemed to be considering the proposal. “Are you certain about this, Heathcliff? The responsibility of caring for this weasel and ensuring he stays out of trouble will fall onto you.”
“Sure, sure. Just hand ‘em over already.” Crowley shrugged and delivered his captive to Heathcliff before walking back to the podium. Grim whimpered quietly, magic sealed and stuck in the hands of the worst person he could have ended up with.
“Well, that was quite the unexpected fracas. I hereby declare that orientation has concluded.” Crowley announced to the students. “Housewardens, please escort your students back to the dorms.”
As the students filtered out, Crowley let out a sigh, and turned to Heathcliff once more. “This is a most unfortunate turn of events. I’m afraid that you will not be attending Night Raven College after all.”
“As I bloody well shouldn’t be.” Heathcliff grumbled.
“But worry not. The Dark Mirror will see you safely home. Now, step into a gate, and visualise the place from whence you came.” Crowley gestured towards the Mirror, and Heathcliff stepped in front of it eagerly. This whole thing had been a waste of time.
“O Dark Mirror! Return this soul to where it belongs!”
…Nothing happened
Crowley’s brain short circuited for a moment. “L-let us, er… try this again. O Dark Mirror! Return this soul-”
“I cannot return this soul.” The Mirror finally replied.
“What?”
“There is no place in this world where this soul belongs.”
Before Crowley could undergo his next hidden mental break, the Mirror spoke again.
“Rather, the place where this soul belongs will one day come to him. The person he is fated to stand beside.”
For the first time since arriving, Heathcliff was truly stunned. “...Catherine?”
The Mirror silently nodded, its mouth curved into a strangely warm smile, as if delivering its unspoken words of encouragement, before vanishing.
“My, today has been a veritable cavalcade of impossible phenomena!” Crowley was probably coping with his disbelief through the uniqueness of the situation, not that Heathcliff could blame him. “I must confess that I am at something of a loss. The Mirror has unexpectedly vouched for your stay in this academy despite your lack of magic, at least until this ‘Catherine’ arrives in this world. Where could you stay in the meantime…ah!” Crowley snapped his fingers as he came up with a satisfactory solution.
“There is a vacant building on this campus. It was, in fact, used as a dorm a long time ago. With proper cleaning, it should be habitable enough. Out of the profound kindness of my heart, I will allow you to live there for the time being. Why, I can’t exactly remember…”
“Better than nothing.” Heathcliff shrugged. It wasn’t like this ruined dorm could be any worse than the Backstreets.
“Perfect!” Crowley clapped his hands. “I shall take you to your dorm straight away. It is an older building, but it has plenty of… character, one might say…”
Grim whimpered again as Heathcliff and Crowley walked down the halls to their new lodgings. “C-can you let go of me now?” The cat asked timidly. Heathcliff’s intimidating glare caused Grim to bury his head in his paws with an “Eek!”, before he felt his captor’s hand let go of his scruff.
“Don’t even think about running.” Heathcliff ordered, and Grim, not wanting to be re-captured and given a worse fate, obliged.
—-----------------------------------------------------------
“Here we are, your new lodgings!” Crowley announced. Heathcliff…was expecting worse really. Sure, the dorm looked like it would fall apart with a light breeze, and probably wouldn’t even count as a residence to Sweepers with how many holes were in the thing, but he’d made do with worse. Plus, it was pretty big. Matt’s lessons in being resourceful would come in handy. “Isn’t it delightful?”
“Sure is.” Grim shouted his disagreements behind them, but was completely ignored.
“Right, scoot inside now.” Crowley looked at his pocket watch again. “I should return to my research. Do try to find some way to busy yourself. But don’t let me catch you wandering the campus! Ta!” With that, the Headmage was off, leaving the two new residents of the dorm to deal with the rotting structure.
Grim coughed from all the dust while Heathcliff looked around inside the building. It had some furniture they could use, and he’d found some cleaning supplies to polish the rooms they would be using.
“Are you seriously plannin’ on stayin’ here?” Grim asked, staying far away from the holes in the walls where the suddenly starting rainfall couldn’t reach him. “This place is a hazard!”
“I’d rather work with the shite I’ve got than the shite I don’t.” Heathcliff replied. It would help if they had a couple more hands though. With the help of the Wild Hunt’s many maids, this place could be clean in a matter of minutes.
At the thought of the Wild Hunt, Heathcliff had this sort of…feeling. A bit like intuition, but just barely out of reach, prompting him to lean forwards mentally, and wrap a hand around the glimmering light.
Then, the world split like a shattering mirror.
“Nya?” Grim and Heathcliff turned to see an orange gateway now standing in the hall, billowing a strange smoke-like substance. And from within, a handful of maids stepped out, headed by a figure all too familiar to Heathcliff. All of them wore a blank expression, as if they were mindless.
“W-who’re you?” Grim was admittedly terrified given the unknown nature of the gateway, mouth glowing and ready to fire. But his caution immediately vanished when the maids all knelt, not that he knew why.
“Uh…That’s right! Kneel before me, Grim the Great! Sorcerous Prodigy! And…uh…” Before the cat could come up with any more grand monikers to tell his supposed servants, he was interrupted by something he didn’t expect in the slightest.
“Heh.” Heathcliff chuckled, before breaking out into laughter. “Kahahaha!”
Grim forced a short laugh of his own. “Haha? What’re you laughing at, human?”
Heathcliff ignored Grim’s inquiry, a grin on his face. “Josephine.” The maid leading the group, a comparatively elderly woman with long hair and a monocle, responded. “Ye…s…Ma…ster…?” The bare minimum emotion in the broken voice was offputting for the only non-City dweller in the area. “Get to cleaning.” Without another word, the maids grabbed the cleaning equipment, and got to work repairing and cleaning what they could in the ruined dorm.
“No! Come back!” The cat cried, still hoping to disillusion himself in the hopes that the maids were sent from benevolent forces to serve him, but the maids simply vanished around the corner without responding. Josephine stood beside Heathcliff silently.
“Cmon lad.” Heathcliff said, grabbing Grim, who stood there frozen with an arm stuck out. “We have to talk.”
—--------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Grim reached the stage of acceptance, he found himself seated in a chair, the dorm around him still looking damaged, but much, much better than before. As in it could actually be used rather than looking like a ramshackle pile of wood. Beside him, Heathcliff was lounging in his own chair while reading a book. The rain had stopped, the fireplace was lit, and Josephine had come back with two cups of tea, made from some leftover and somehow still useable leaves in the kitchen.
“Finally, you’re up.” Heathcliff said as he made a fold on the page and closed the book. “Almost thought you keeled over right then and there like old man Earnshaw.”
“I-Wha-You-” Grim struggled to choose a priority from his many, many questions. “The Mirror said you didn’t have magic!” Josephine laid down a cup on the table beside the cat. “Oh, thank you!” He said, and began lapping at the drink.
“Never learned what it is, but it certainly ain’t magic.” Heathcliff replied as he took a sip from his own cup, before frowning. “Why did Cathy like this rubbish?” With that, the Erlking downed the rest of his tea, and waited for Grim to set down his.
“So, lad, why do you want to come here so much, anyways? Posh toffs don’t normally enjoy finding unwelcome guests in their fancy buildings.”
Grim’s chest visibly puffed up with pride before he spoke. “Cause I’m a magical prodigy who’s got the makin’s to become one of the greatest mages who ever lived! I’ve been waitin’ and waitin’ for that black carriage to come for me, and yet…Hrmph!” The cat pouted in a way quite like Catherine did when she was denied anything by Nelly or Mr Earnshaw. Arms crossed, and face turned to the side. “That Dark Mirror’s got no eye for talent!”
Heathcliff nodded as he processed the cat’s words. In a way, Grim’s desperation to become a student was similar to his desire to remain at Wuthering Heights. Despite the less than friendly environment, only made worse by their personalities, neither of them cared what the others thought, only one thing on their respective minds. Grim, his dreams of becoming a master sorcerer, and Heathcliff, all Heathcliff’s, the place beside Cathy, everyone else be damned.
“Same story for both of us, huh.” Grim seemed rather surprised that Heathcliff shared his sentiments.
“Tell you what, lad. That Crow-head won’t kick me out yet cause the Mirror said so, and you’re stuck with me now. So I’ll see what I can do to get you in.”
Grim’s eyes seemed to get a bit watery. “R-really?”
Heathcliff grinned. “I’ll do my bloody best if it means we can get those toffs to stuff it.”
Grim turned around and did some frantic wiping, before turning back with suspiciously red eyes.
“Consider it an honour to be helpin’ me!”
“Whatever you say, lad. Whatever you say.”
—------------------------------------------------------
Crowley hummed a song to himself as he walked down the hallway, dinner and new clothes in hand. ‘What a kind man I am’ he congratulated himself as he made his way to the abandoned dorm. Oh, right, it was abandoned because of the ghosts. What a blunder he’d made! Hopefully Heathcliff and his furry companion were alright with pranks! He turned the corner and-
…He must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. The dorm was more…worn down the last time he saw it mere hours ago. Now it actually looked somewhat like a dorm. What marvelous cleaning skills the two must have had!
The Headmage walked up to the door, which he could have sworn was missing a handle earlier, and knocked.
“Comin’!” He heard Grim enthusiastically yell, a stark contrast to his earlier behaviour around Heathcliff. Perhaps the two had done some bonding in the time he left them. The door opened, and Crowley was greeted with a warm gust of air. They had even gotten the fireplace working? How far could they stray from his predictions?
“It’s you? What’re you doin’ here?” Grim asked as he tilted his head. Crowley flashed an innocent smile. Hopefully they wouldn’t pin the blame on him for forgetting about the ghosts.
“Good evening. In another gesture of my immense kindness, I have brought you dinner.”
“Bring it in then, it’s freezin’ out there!” Before the Headmage could object, Grim had flown behind him and pushed him inside, closing the door behind him before floating back towards the living/dining room. “That box better have tuna in it!”
Sitting by the hearth was Heathcliff, looking up from his book as Crowley was ushered inside. “Well ain’t this a surprise.”
Crowley was, very simply, speechless as he looked around, Grim snatching the box from his hands and laying its contents out on the table. The room was far, far too clean to have been done in the time he was gone, especially when considering the state of the rest of the dorm. The repairs weren’t pretty, done with what leftover planks could be found, but considering the lack of proper materials, they were impressively functional.
“So, what do you think of the place? Pretty bang-up job, eh?” Heathcliff strode over and gave Crowley a firm pat on the back, much like Matt used to.
“I must admit, this is beyond my expectations.” Crowley cleared his voice before going back to his usual self. “On another note, did you by any chance encounter a certain mischievous ghost problem when you were cleaning the dorm? I do recall them being the reason for its abandonment.”
“Ghosts?” It was more of a rhetorical question from Heathcliff than any real confusion. “Listen, bud, the only ghost I’ve had haunting me is Cathy’s. Haven’t seen or heard any since we got here.”
“I see.” Surely this ‘Cathy’ wasn’t the ‘Catherine’ mentioned before, right? Or was he so smitten that he would pursue his lover beyond the grave? “You must have been quite lucky.”
“Anyways, Crow-face.” Crowley didn’t know why Heathcliff seemed so intent on calling him that, but it was alright, he supposed. “Grim says he wants to go to school. You mind letting him in?”
“WHAT?” Crowley put a hand to his head like he was about to faint. “A monster, go to SCHOOL?”
“Tch, like I guessed.” Heathcliff muttered.
“However, I suppose I can allow him to stay on campus. As for you, Heathcliff, I do not intend to allow you to freeload until your ‘Catherine’ comes knocking.” Heathcliff crossed his arms with a scrutinous glare given the implications, but didn’t interrupt, allowing the Headmage to continue. “It was the Dark Mirror that transported you here. Therefore this school does bear some responsibility for your well-being, so I will allow you to remain in this dorm, free of charge. However, you will need to pay for your own food, clothing, and incidentals. As to how you will do so, penniless as you are…”
Heathcliff was beginning to recognise a pattern where every time Crowley wanted to seem deep in thought, he would cross his arms and put a finger to his chin. “Ah. Ah ha. Yes, a fine plan.”
“Well?” Heathcliff asked impatiently. “Spit it out already.”
“You needn’t be so aggravated. I’m simply going to ask you to do a few odd jobs around campus.” Crowley said airily. “From what you’ve done here, Heathcliff, I can tell you know your way around a broom. So what do you say to you two working together as a janitorial team?”
Heathcliff shrugged. It wasn’t like they had any other options, other than being kicked out, and Grim definitely wouldn’t want that. “Sure.”
“Wonderful! Then I beseech you both to work hard as the newest members of the Night Raven College’s janitorial staff!” Crowley beamed. The attempt at forcing a brighter mood didn’t affect Heathcliff in the slightest.
“Human, get over here!” Grim called from the table. “The food’s gettin’ cold!”
“I’m coming, no need to rush.” Heathcliff called back as he walked over. Seeing the two leisurely talking over dinner made Crowley…a little envious, really. It was rare to see such interactions in the other Houses, something that made it feel homely and unified, and he’d failed to encourage such positive relations among his students for decades. The Headmage silently walked out the door to return to his own residence, when he heard ghostly voices in the wind.
“I’m telling ya, that Heathcliff guy’s bad news! The maids looked deader than we are!”
“Did ya see all the slime on ‘im? Someone else’s been hauntin’ him for years!”
“Let’s haunt the Savannahclaws, maybe we’ll find a buddy there!”
Crowley couldn’t make sense of most of it. Maids? There wasn’t anyone there other than Heathcliff and Grim. Maybe it had something to do with magic? But then, why didn’t the Mirror recognise it as such? More and more questions emerged as he thought on the topic, before a gust of wind forced the Headmage to clutch his cloak tighter, and hurry back to the safety of the halls.
The weather was certainly Wuthering out there.
—-------------------------------------------------------------
“One can of tuna…two cans of tuna…three cans of tuna…Nyagh!” Grim sat up in his bed grumpily.
“Can’t sleep?” Heathcliff was still reading his book by a nightlight.
“Nothin’s workin’!” The cat complained. Who knew what the reason was, but the conditions of the room weren’t getting better anytime soon. Heathcliff gave a light sigh as he closed his book. “Don’t worry, I’ve got something for this.”
“What? A soothin’ midnight drink? A lullaby? A- Gah!” Grim was still going through a list of possibilities before Heathcliff gave him a savage chop to the head. Nelly’s signature Sleepy Smack.
“That…works…” Grim said groggily before slumping onto the mattress. The Erlking chuckled as he pulled the blankets back over the cat, and returned to finally finish his book, sparing a glance at the roaring winds outside the window.
“One day, we’ll end our tale, Cathy.” He muttered. “And I’ll give you the happiest ending you can ask for.”