Chapter Text
I.
It had been a confusing day. Waking up in a coffin, nearly being burned alive by a talking cat, the funny realization that magic was apparently a thing now and they were likely very far from home, and to top it all off they were now back in the room they first woke up in, filled to the brim with teenagers, standing center stage before a glowing magic mirror.
“State thy name.”
They blinked, not quite sure how to respond.
Scratch that, glowing magic talking mirror.
Weren’t you… not supposed to give magic things your name? Something about names having power and all? They couldn’t remember the specifics, but they were pretty sure that was a thing.
“Uh. You can call me Yuu.”
“Yuu…” the mirror repeated, as though tasting the name, it’s brow furrowing in thought, then stretching wide, before finally smoothing out. “Ah… so I see. It has been some time since a soul such as this has been presented before me.”
“Pardon?” Crowley commented from behind them.
Ah shit, did the mirror know they gave a fake name? Sure it wasn’t their best work, but it was on the spot.
“The nature of thy soul is unclear to me.” the mirror continued, empty eyes staring straight through them as if trying to find their core. “Soundless. Colorless. Shapeless. Utterly vacant and hollow.”
The room was suddenly filled with a quiet roar of mutters and whispers too distant to coherently reach their ears, and above it all they could make out Crowley’s footsteps getting closer.
But before he could speak, the mirror beat him to it.
“Therefore, only one dorm would be appropriate.”
The flames in the mirror surged, green being tinged with white and black and the darkest of blues. The light was almost blinding, yet they couldn’t look away even as their vision grew spotty.
And when the glow faded, there was something floating before them.
A staff.
It was a wicked looking thing, standing taller than they were despite being crooked and bent, with every inch coated in rust and grime. The top was bent practically back in on itself like a shepherd's crook, leaving the darkened lantern on top pointed towards the floor. The lid was jagged in such a way they couldn’t tell where pieces had broken off or if it had always been like that, reminding them of a mountain, or perhaps a volcano. Just under where the lantern and pole connected was another metal outcrop, this one swooping and smooth and folded in on itself in such a way that was undoubtedly intentional but for the life of them Yuu couldn’t figure out why or what it was supposed to be.
It stained their fingers a filthy black as they held it, the pungent smell of ink lingering in the air.
“Thy soul is barren.” The Dark Mirror boomed. “So fill it.”
“Onboro.”
And then it went dark.
II.
The dormitory felt far more abandoned after Crowley left.
Looking around the room, they didn’t even know where to start. It was such a complete and utter wreck that they were half tempted to just leave and take their chances holding up somewhere else in the school because honestly they doubted sleeping in the library would be worse than this.
That isn’t to say it looked any better when Crowley was here, but it was significantly more lonely and awkward by themself.
Luckily, they didn’t stay that way for long.
It started with a buzz at their fingers and toes.
Then a gust of wind.
A rattling, wood on wood, footsteps without weight-
Then: the whispers.
“Is it them?”
“It has to be.”
“But it’s been so long!”
“Exactly, no one else comes here in those robes.”
“Look at their hands”
“They have it, they have it!”
“Only the Housewarden holds such a thing.”
“They’re here, they’re here, they-”
“You’re here!”
“JESUS-”
And finally it all ended with a ghost appearing before their eyes.
Rather rightfully in their opinion, they jerked back, startled.
But before they could fall, they felt themself be caught.
“Woah, careful there, Housewarden.”
The touch was featherlight, lacking any kind of weight behind it as it cradled their shoulders, and they’re almost certain the only reason they noticed it at all was because it was causing them to defy gravity.
They were less surprised when they whipped their head around and saw a second ghost, but still jerked out of their grip.
“Knock it off the two of you, can'tcha see you’re frighten’ them?”
They were proud that they only flinched as a third ghost came out of a nearby wall, tall and boney and spindly hands and baggy eyes, yet their gaze was not unkind.
“Sorry ‘bout them, Housewarden, they’re a bit excited.” the thin ghost apologized, giving the other two an exasperated but also slightly fond look.
“Oh c’mon Clay, it’s been AGES since anyone’s come here.” the ghost that jumped out at them complained back, and unlike the third ghost he was rather small compared to the other two, being a bit shorter than Yuu themself. “Though… I guess I shouldn’t have jumped out at you.”
“Same here.” the second ghost apologized. He was bigger than both the others combined, both in height and size, and his voice was significantly deeper. “I didn’t want you to fall, but I prob’ly shouldn’t have grabbed you so suddenly.”
“Sorry Housewarden.” the two said in sync, slightly bowing. The third ghost seemed happy and somewhat proud with their apology and Yuu…
Well, they couldn’t help but blink. They honestly did not know how to respond to… ANY of this if they were being honest.
Magic was a thing apparently, and so were magical creatures. The flaming cat from earlier was very clear evidence of that, so who’s to say ghosts were that much more of a stretch?
“I uh… appreciate the apology?” they responded, and it seems that was the correct thing to say since all the ghosts perked up.
“That’s a relief. Now, I believe introductions are in order.” the third ghost smiled. “My name’s Claiborne, but that’s a bit of a mouthful so just ‘Clay’ is fine.”
“Archi, short for Archibald!” The first ghost jumped in.
“And I’m Barnaby.”
“It’s uh. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” they slightly bowed their head, mentally noting down all the introductions. “You can call me Yuu and I… suppose I’ll be living here from now on with you, if that’s not a problem.”
They really hoped it wasn’t. After sending them home failed, Crowley seemed rather adamant this was where they would be staying, no ifs, ands or buts.
“Not at all!” Archi exclaimed. “In fact, we’re honored to have you here, Housewarden.”
“That word you keep calling me. ‘Housewarden’,” they parroted. “Why? And, what does it mean?”
“You don’t know?” Barnaby tilted his head. “But… you have the staff?”
“Wait a moment… the robes… we assumed it was a transfer ceremony, but…” Clay began, brows beginning to furrow. “Housewarden, was today your orientation?”
They nodded.
The ghosts went quiet.
“...is something wrong?”
“No, no, not at all.” Clay was quick to assuage. “It’s just-”
“Weird.” Archie jumped in, staring at them with a wide and… awed expression?
“Archie!”
“He’s right though.” Barnaby countered. “There hasn’t been a student sorted into this dorm on day one by the Dark Mirror since before even you died, Clay.”
Clay huffed. “While you have a point, I wouldn’t say it’s weird. Just… unusual.”
Oh yeah, the Dark Mirror did mention something about that, didn’t it.
“A first year Housewarden.” Archie giggled. “This is gonna be awesome.”
“You still haven’t told me what a Housewarden is.” they gently reminded.
“Oh right.” Archie said. “They’re basically the leader of the dorm and look out for all their students!”
“Each of the dorms have their own cultures and approaches to leading,” Clay added. “But that explanation can come later. There’s a lot to teach you, but we’ll have time for that later. For now, we should find a place for you to stay.”
That was something they could get behind.
“Lead the way.”
III.
The peace and calm lasted a grand total of 30 minutes.
Granted it was a pretty nice 30 minutes. The ghosts were all polite, and while they were definitely a playful bunch, they were well meaning and interesting to talk to.
Eventually they decided to split up. Clay and Archie would continue prepping the lounge couch for them, while Yuu and Barnaby would look for some buckets to catch some of the rain that dripped through the ceiling.
The bucket search was very fruitful, and they had enough containers to deal with the leaks at least in the lounge.
It was when they started making their way back that the chaos started.
And it all began with a crawling on their neck.
They slapped the back of it, rubbing up and down. They didn’t feel anything, no bugs like they feared but it was crawling and prickling and they did not like it.
“Hey… you okay, Housewarden?” Barnaby hovered a bit closer, concern coloring his tone.
“Yeah, just got a weird feeling.” was all they could say in response, and while they got a frown in return, Barnaby didn’t say anything about it.
It felt like someone was walking just out of sight, but Yuu knew they were there, and something protective in their gut wanted them out.
They tried to shake off the feeling and forget about it, after all this was a school and they doubted anything truly dangerous would be allowed on campus. And besides, who would break into a dilapidated building this late at night?
It was enough. For now.
But then things changed when they heard a scream from down the hall. Specifically, in the direction they were currently heading, and where Archi and Clay were supposed to be waiting for them.
It wasn’t a person, that was for sure. Too high pitched, too scratchy, and distinctly not human.
So with Barnaby at their back and staff in hand to be used as a potential bludgeoning weapon, they started making their way closer.
Then they met back up in the main lounge.
“...What in the world happened?” Yuu said, taking in the scene before them as all their anxieties melted away into a level of disbelief that was both impressed and morbidly curious.
Somehow, the lounge looked worse than when they’d left. On top of the general disrepair, there now seemed to be scorch marks littering various parts of the floor and furniture, and the dust on nearly every surface was disrupted, hanging so thick in the air they could taste it.
There was also how much of the furniture had been moved into a pile in front of the fireplace, which seemed to be the source of a lot of hysterical screeching.
“We had an intruder, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.” Clay smoothly answered from above, patting out some dying embers and wow they didn’t know whether to be horrified or impressed that even the ceiling hadn’t been spared.
“Seems like one hell of an intruder.” they muttered.
“Keep your distance, Housewarden!” Archi called out from his perch atop the furniture pile. “This rascal’s flames can even burn us ghosts, and I don’t think any of us wanna see what it could do to the living.”
“I’ll certainly keep that in mind.” Yuu nodded. “So… what’s up with the fireplace then?”
“I managed to lure it in.” Archi bragged. “It’s meant to hold fire anyways, so it wouldn’t be able to burn its way out.”
For a slight second they frowned. Sure the fireplace was fireproof, but they couldn’t help but notice that the pile outside of it was distinctly not. Just at a glance it seemed to be completely wood, fabric and cushioning. Sure it’s not like they could expect Archi to get other materials, but still.
When they voiced those concerns, Archi surprised them by having a response.
“Ah, but don’t forget: fire makes smoke, and our fireplace is pretty old. Sure it could burn everything down, but it would suffocate to death before it could escape.”
Then he giggled.
It admittedly also gave them some… not so mild concerns that would likely need to be addressed in the future, but hey, they couldn’t argue with the logic or the results now could they.
IV.
One could only listen to deranged creature screeches for so long before they began to lose patience. And when patience was lost, one made possibly stupid mistakes out of desperation without thinking about the consequences.
At least, that’s what they were going to tell Crowley when he came back and inevitably asked questions.
“So,” they started. “Now that we’ve calmed down, let’s start from the top: why are you here and what do you want?”
They were rather proud of the set up. They were sitting cross legged in a shockingly comfortable rocking chair with their staff resting loosely but securely in their hands. Directly across from them was a wooden table, and on the other side of that was Grim sitting on the couch. Barnaby and Clay were a few feet away on either side of him, and Archie was sitting just behind Yuu.
A perfect mix of comfort and intimidation if they did say so themself. They only hoped it discouraged Grim from setting anything on fire since they didn’t actually have any way of stopping it.
At least he seemed to be mildly scared of ghosts, if the way his fur was sticking up was any indicator ( although that was based on the assumption he was anything like a regular cat when regular cats were very much not on fire. Or capable of talking).
“Idiot humans. Did’ja think I wouldn't just sneak back onto campus the second I escaped pryin’ eyes?” Grim spat with a smug grin. “I’m gonna get into this school no matter what, and if you think you can get ridda me that easily then you don’t know the Great Grim!”
Right, that came up earlier when he mentioned their robes, and then attempted to poach the ceremony.
“Why do you want to attend this school so badly?” they probed. They were half tempted to ask about potential other magic schools, but that was a potential verbal mindfield they didn’t really want to deal with, too much unpredictability. For all they knew, there were no other schools, and that would just make them look foolish, which they couldn’t afford just yet.
They could gather more vague information later, right now Grim was the priority, if only to keep the roof over their head at least somewhat intact.
Yuu only partially paid attention to Grim's little monologue, instead cataloging the broader strokes than the exact words. He wanted to learn magic, thought very highly of himself, the school never sent a carriage after him, how dare they, yada yada yada, at the very least, it definitely gave a good understanding of how Grim worked.
Now all they needed was the opportunity to use it.
“It was easy to sneak back in when everyone left.” Grim said flippantly. “The rain was annoying though, so I ducked in here to stay dry. I figured nobody was here cuz of how broken it is, but then I got attacked by these dumb ghosts.”
“I see.” Yuu hummed. “Well, it is their home, and mine now too, so that isn’t much of a surprise.”
Grim let out a sudden yelp as a drop of water landed directly on his head, darting a bit to the side. But then barely a few moments later a second, different leak dripped a few more droplets onto his head.
Yuu glared in displeasure. Great, even more. They glanced up at the ceiling and made sure to remember where it was for later. They’d have to move the couch if they wanted to sleep here, but maybe at this point they should just search the dorm for a room without any leaks because frankly at this point it was getting ridiculous.
“I dunno why you don't just magic those holes away. You could have it fixed in half a jiff.” Grim started, but then he began to smirk. “Oh right , You can't use magic at all. Pfft, man you're useless.”
While the ghosts began to bristle more, Yuu could only raise a brow at the frankly unimpressive insult. Was that seriously the best thing he could come up with? That jab was such low hanging fruit it was practically buried in the ground.
“Oh really?” they said. “If it’s so easy, what’s stopping you from fixing it? Such a basic task should be child’s play for a magician such as yourself.
Grim sniffed. “I’m only gonna stay until the rain stops, so don’t go thinking you can boss me around, human.”
There.
“But then what?” they asked, pouncing on the newly revealed opportunity. “Where will you go after? What will you do if you’re found and kicked out?”
“I- I’ll figure something out. After all I’m-!”
“And what about attending the school?” they pressed on. “How will you enroll? What about money for supplies? Do you know how to read and write? Will people even be willing to listen to what you have to do? The Headmage already ordered you to be thrown out, so why would anyone give you the time of day?”
Grim’s eyes widened, ears flattened against his head, before he glared off to the side. His tail lashed in irritation and a low growl was building up. “Well if you’re so smart, then what’s your plan?”
They had to tread carefully now.
“I have an offer to make,” they began. “Right now, I don’t know a lot about the campus. I don’t know anyone here, nor do I have a reliable source of information, and I am at a noticeable disadvantage compared to the other students. The ghosts can help with some of those problems, but having an actual mage will be invaluable. Not to mention, the fact you’re not human means people might talk about things they wouldn’t around other people.”
“To simplify it, my offer is this: you help me understand magic and eavesdrop around school, and I’ll convince Crowley to let you stay and attend classes with me, and give you a home with food.”
Grim thought for a moment, tilting his head, and for a brief second they felt a bubble of hope.
“Well if the Headmage won’t listen to me, why would he listen to you?” Only then Grim suddenly gave them a smug toothy grin and the bubble promptly burst into flames. “You said it yourself, you don’t even have magic, so you might just be even worse off than me.”
“Yeah well the Housewarden doesn’t need his permission.” Archi suddenly spoke up, with a shocking amount of bite they might add. Barnaby and Clay seemed to be in agreement with that as well, nodding along with him.
“Quite,” Clay chimed in. “They may be young, but they hold the highest student position on the whole campus so it’s best you treat them as such.”
“Or else you’ll have us to deal with. We’ve been wanting a new friend to join us, and who knows? We might just choose you.” Barnaby let out a deep, baritone laugh, and it was at that moment that Yuu realized the issues they thought that only Archi had were likely shared amongst all three. Maybe it was a ghost thing?
But they... Frankly did not have the time or desire to address that right now, so they just settled for the other thing that caught their attention:
“I don’t need Crowley’s what now?”
And like a flipped switch, suddenly the ghosts were back to calm.
“Oh you didn’t know?” Barnaby started. “Onboro is… well, one of its traits is that it’s a dorm that accepts all, regardless of where they come from or what others think of them.”
“Technically, Onboro residents are a certain ‘sort,’ much like the rest of the dorms.” Clay added. “But they have a bit more… shall we say, wiggle room when it comes to that.”
“Onboro is a bit of a weird dorm, honestly. Even though all the dorms are pretty heavily linked to their traditions, this one’s changed the least since the old times.” Barnaby continued. “It’s even older than we are. We only know cuz we heard it from the ghosts who lingered here in our times, and most of ‘em have passed on for good by now.”
Yuu blinked.
But thank god for Archi, because he noticed their confusion and jumped in.
“Basically you can make anyone who agrees to it a member of Onboro!” he chimed. “They gotta swear the Oath first, but it’s binding to the school and Crowley’ll have one hell of a time trying to undo it without you helping him.”
Okay. That made significantly more sense.
“Well Grim? It seems like Crowley was the main issue, so now that that’s gone… what say you?” they turned to him.
Grim fell silent again, but this time it felt more… pondering. His ears had perked up, and his eyes were a bit more narrowed.
“....tuna.”
Yuu blinked. “Huh?”
“If you throw in tuna dinners, you got yourself a deal, human.”
An… interesting, and not fully expected addition. Perhaps Grim was more cat-like than they thought?
“I won’t make any promises,” they said. “But I’ll see what I can do.”
Hopefully, tuna was a common dish here like it was back home, but that was a problem for later.
“Now, I do want to make sure you’re aware,” Clay jumped in. “That this spell has technically never been used on a dire beast before. It shouldn’t change how the Oath works, but I wanted to let you know beforehand.”
“Got it.” Yuu nodded. “So… how does this thing work anyways? And are you sure I can even do it???”
“Not to worry,” Clay smiled. “Just do what I do, and everything will work out.
Well…there was that then.
“Repeat after me:”
“I, the Mountain’s Regent,
Housewarden of this ancient Colony,
Light the Lantern to guide the way,
And open the Mountain's Path to you.”
They dutifully repeated after Clay, parroting the words one line at a time as clearly as they could, yet despite the slight monotony of their tone there was something alive beginning to stir.
“Do you give your heart, your body, your soul,
to the oldest of gods, the Black King of Bald Mountain,
To be forever protected, joyful and to dance,
Until Dawn’s First Light?”
And a spark ignited itself, a small ember they could barely see with their eyes yet what else could explain the warmth that began to slowly, slowly, slowly build up under the fingers that gripped the staff?
“I do.” Clay spoke first.
“I do.” Barnaby next.
“I do.” Archi.
“I do.” Then finally, Grim, uncertain and skeptical as he side eyed the ghosts but unwavering in his confidence.
And deep down Yuu felt something c l i c k
Something flew from the lantern’s glass, something that couldn’t be seen but could be felt and oh did they feel it. It was fleeting, yet stable, flickering amongst all the ghosts and Grim. Warm, stretching itself out, looping back and crissing and crossing and knotting until finally it returned back to them.
A spark of light caught their attention as it did.
It was a tiny thing, barely the size of a candle and a mix of cyan blues, pale whites and at its very core a deep black.
The lantern was now lit.
They couldn’t help but grin as a bubble of mirth and anticipation and joy rose up, unexpected but welcomed with open arms.
“Welcome to Onboro, Grim.”
V.
Crowley lecturing them and the ghosts for accepting Grim into the dorm took an hour to get through, and they didn’t understand half of the words he said and just barely put together what the other half implied.
It was so worth it though, and the ghost’s promise to talk to some of their buddies on the janitorial staff to move all his furniture a couple centimeters to the left made it even better.