[Discontinued*] The Darling Princess [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 6

Grim let loose another angry burst of blue flames, singeing the walls of Ramshackle Dorm, and nearly lighting the ends of Y/N's hair on fire. She ducked with a yelp, Yuu instinctively moving to pull her away as some stray embers reached for the delicate threads of her clothes.

"Watch where you're going, Grim," Y/N exclaimed, running her hand through her hair to make sure that she hadn't been caught in the crossfire. 

"We're goners," the ghosts screamed as the flames danced beneath their semi-corporeal bodies. "Run away!" They turned tail almost immediately, fleeing down the hall and disappearing as they went.

"Eh? We won?" 

"Seems like we did," Y/N said with a grin. 

For a second, Grim started muttering like he was a scared little kitten, but when he noticed how the two humans were smirking at him, he quickly changed his tune, yelling, "No, I wasn't scared at all!" 

Y/N just nodded with a laugh and turned to head back down the hall. She had no more interest in chasing ghosts about the dorm, especially when she would have to endure her first day of classes the next day. She could still hear Grim and Yuu talking to each other as she entered her room, but their voices were quickly lost when she shut her door, hoping to block them out. There was too much else on her mind for her to try and focus on the two of them.

The rain had lightened up a little since the last time that Y/N had looked out a window, and she crossed her room to one of her windows, sitting down on the ledge and lifting the golden latch. The metal kissed the palm of her hand as she touched it, and a chill ran down her spine at the gentle caress of the cool. The window was soon open and Y/N sighed to herself, pulling her knees up onto the ledge and throwing her robe over them. Unfortunately, it didn't cover her feet. She shivered for only a few moments before her toes went numb with the cold and she just stared out at the rain. 

"Fufufu~ So you're one of the ones who are staying here."

Y/N nearly tumbled straight off of the ledge and down to the ground below, but thankfully, someone managed to grab her shoulder at the last second and steady her. Chest heaving, she righted herself and looked around for the source of the sudden voice. For a second, she saw no one, but her eyes quickly narrowed in on the shadow that was looming over her. She almost yelled, but it seemed that her voice had been stolen from her.

Standing behind her was the same boy that she had seen at the entrance ceremony. The one who had been kind enough to bring the Diasomnia students back to their dorm when their dorm leader hadn't shown up. He was no longer dressed in his ceremonial robes, which exposed the violent pink streaks in his otherwise black hair. 

Y/N tapped her throat and the boy smiled at her. 

"Oh right. My apologies for taking your voice. It was the only way to ensure that you wouldn't scream." He pulled out a small wand from his pocket and waved it casually.

Y/N didn't say anything for a second, but then asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She subconsciously pulled herself closer together, pulling the long onyx sleeves of her robe down over her hands.

The boy simply smiled and his ruby eyes flickered down to the empty half of the seat that Y/N was sitting on. "Do you mind if I sit with you, my lady?"

Y/N bit her lip for a moment, but then shook her head and scooted back so that she was pressed up against the newly-fixed window frame. The boy, who still hadn't given her his name, smiled at her, revealing two fangs, and sat down opposite her.

"My name is Lilia Vanrouge," the boy said. "I'm a junior student from Diasomnia." He paused and stared out at the falling water that was dripping off the edges of the roof. He reached out a hand and one of the drops fell on the pad of his middle finger. "Rain is such a beautiful thing, don't you think?"