Chapter Text
It all happened because of Crowley. He had called a housewarden meeting about something none of them cared about. Apparently, he had been sent a suspicious book, and he wanted to warn them all.
Then he dropped it, and they were all sucked in—all of them except for him, of course.
The housewardens looked at the simple room they were sucked into. It had sterile yellow walls, a red built-in carpet, and two long red couches facing a singular wide-screen TV on the wall.
"EVERYBODY STAY CALM!" Crowley's voice reverberated in the room. "I need you all to listen."
"How are we supposed to relax?!" Riddle hyperventilated as he paced back and forth. "YOU TRAPPED US IN A BOOK!"
"Panicking isn't helping anyone." Leona lifted Riddle and carried him over to the first couch. "C'mon." He held Riddle tightly. "Stay still."
"Easier said than done." Azul rubbed his temples and tried to stay relatively calm. "Damn crow."
"Everybody!" Kalim clapped to get their attention. "Maybe we have to watch something to get out! Why else would there be a TV here?"
"Perhaps. It's best to focus on the idea of getting out." Vil said from the second couch.
Idia was frantically hyperventilating. He couldn't even get words out with how much he was panicking. Malleus was trying his best to comfort him.
"I doubt Headmaster Crowley would bring something dangerous enough that we couldn't escape from. I can assure you we will find our way out." He rubbed Idia's back. "Deep breaths."
"Yes, Malleus is correct." Crowley's voice came back. "I found the passage related to this phenomenon. To escape, you have to watch something from the future. When it is done, you will be released, but your memories of it will be blurry."
"Something from the future?" A now calmed-down Riddle parroted. "Are there no other descriptors?"
"No, sadly. If it gives you any solace, I too am affected by this. It seems the book has placed us in a time pocket." Crowley sighed. "Until you all are out, time shall not move forward."
"See! Everything is going to be fine!" Kalim smiled and plopped down next to Leona and Riddle. "I wonder what we are going to see."
"H-how can you possibly be so chill at a time like this?!" Idia was still panicking. "Who knows what we could see?! We could see all of us dying!"
"Shroud." Malleus sat him down next to Vil before sitting himself. "You are letting panic overtake you. It is highly unlikely that it would show us that. It might not even show us ourselves."
"Idia." Azul walked up to him and looked into his eyes. "Be real. I doubt this is a big boss fight."
Idia took a deep breath. "You're right. Crowley wouldn't just bring an SSR threat to a meeting."
"Exactly." Azul moved Malleus over so he could sit next to Idia.
"Interesting. You must teach me your ways, Azul." Malleus willingly moved over a bit more to give him space. "How did you do that so quickly?"
"Do any of you see the remote?" Azul avoided the question.
"It's right here." Idia weakly lifted it. "I grabbed it to ground myself." He turned the TV on.
It displayed a simple phrase: Ep 0, prologue.
"Wait, how many episodes are there?" Leona asked, still holding Riddle. "Check."
Idia fiddled with the buttons, but none of them worked aside from the play button.
~
It showed a desolate palace, clearly in the underworld. Multiple attendees were running back and forth holding buckets of polish.
An especially young servant could be seen running down the hallway, weaving through the attendees. He only had a single paper in his hands and was frantically panting.
He pulled out a map and looked at it for a quick second before putting it back and picking up the pace.
He finally stopped at a very tall pair of double doors where two heavily armed guards were waiting.
"State your business!" One of the guards put a spear to the servant's throat. "I do not recognize your face."
"I'm Xavier! I was originally stationed as a polisher, but I have been appointed to deliver an important message to the king and queen!"
"Wait." The other guard motioned for the other to relax. "For the queen? Provide proof."
Xavier held up the paper and showed a small pendant that was covered in a long-dead language.
~
"Wait." Leona was shocked to see the language and even more shocked that the TV paused the moment he spoke. "I think I can decipher that."
"Really?" Azul squinted at the screen. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Leona walked closer to the screen and took a close look. He had studied a language like this once. The name may have evaded him, but he remembered the words all the same.
"It says emergency correspondence in case of a solution for the king and queen." He looked over it again. "This must be an old team. I don't think anyone has spoken this language for centuries."
"Centuries?!" Everyone except for Leona exclaimed in shock.
"Let's get back to the video." Idia fumbled with the remote. "I need to know what happens next." If it has anything to do with the underworld, he needs to know what's going on.
~
"Impossible." The more violent of the two guards shook his head in disbelief. "The last time we got news like this was about 16 years ago."
"But we also had news 3 years before that." The other guard lightly bowed his head to the servant. "Can you not see? It is a sign. We might get to see them again."
Both guards had a hopeful look in their eyes and opened the doors for the servant. They moved to the side and allowed him to enter.
"Thank you." Xavier walked in with his head held high.
In there were two massive statues. They were being obsessively polished by no less than 100 attendees. Xavier's eyes slowly went up until he landed on their faces.
Hades and Persephone.
~
"What?!" Idia sprang up from his chair. "Impossible! If the language is centuries dead, then that must mean—" He fell to his knees in shock.
"Shit!" Azul went down and looked into Idia's eyes. "Hey, hey, stay with us here."
"It can't be possible." Riddle shook his head in disbelief. "If Hades and Persephone have been statues for centuries, who has been running the underworld?!"
"It could be an acting king and queen situation." Kalim had a far-off look in his eyes. "One time my father had to hide for a while for fear of an assassination attempt. He had someone else take charge of decisions but didn't ever let them be seen." He explained. "It was to hide the real situation. He claimed to never be in public because he was sick."
"Oh my." Malleus had no idea what to say. He had known the Thorn Fairy had communications with the underworld, so how had he never heard of Hades and Persephone being statues? "Azul, I need to ask Idia a question. Can you please get him…back?"
"I'm trying!" Azul lightly slapped Idia's cheek. "Idia, come back to us. If we want to know anything outside of what these videos tell us, it's going to have to come from you. Please."
Idia's eyes barely moved to focus on Azul.
"Oh, thank the Seven!" Azul sighed in relief.
"Idia." Malleus crouched next to Azul. "Have Hades or Persephone had any public appearances in your lifetime?" Idia shook his head weakly. "Any time before that, at least for the past 200 years?" Idia shook his head again.
Malleus helped Idia sit back on the couch. Azul put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"This is…" Vil looked at Idia. "We have to continue. Are you going to be okay enough to do that?"
Idia gave a weak nod before turning the TV back on.
~
"Everyone." Xavier spoke and got everyone's attention. "It is happening."
Everyone froze for a second before rapidly putting down their supplies and bowing before the statues. Xavier carefully walked up and placed the paper between the statues and bowed.
On the paper was a sigil of some kind. It started glowing a deep blue and encasing the statues. The whole castle shook. Magic spilled out in waves until it suddenly all got sucked back into the paper.
The sigil was gone and replaced with eight stars. In particular, one was slightly more faded than the rest. Xavier looked at the paper in shock.
"Seven? I thought there were only 5 warriors. Unless…" His eyes widened in realization as three of the stars lifted off the page and flew out the window.
It followed the stars as they left the underworld and flew to Night Raven College.
Two of the stars went into Ramshackle. The first one circled Grim for a bit before going into his lower back and conjuring a flame on his tail, causing it to glow brighter. Grim suddenly sprang awake and ran out of the house.
The second one—the faded one—levitated over Yuu. When it first tried to touch Yuu, it was repelled, but it kept trying. It was like some invisible force was stopping it, but it kept trying. Eventually, it went into Yuu's heart. Yuu sprang up just like Grim and grabbed their bag before running out like they had been summoned.
The final star went into Ignihyde. It went up to a charging Ortho and went into his brain.
~
"NO!" Idia came back, but only to go into a deeper panic. "What does Orthos have to do with this?!"
Vil grabbed Idia and held him still. "It's going to be okay. It seems this has something to do with fixing Hades and Persephone. I doubt anything bad is going to happen to Ortho."
"But what could the herbivore and Grim have to do with it?" Leona stared at the screen. "Why was one of the stars faded? We have to continue."
"No. Please." Idia cried into Vil's shoulder.
"We have to." Vil rubbed Idia's back. "If you can't look, don't, but we need to watch this." He pulled the remote out of Idia's hand and pressed play.
~
Ortho awoke and immediately flew out of the dorm as quickly as possible. He met with Yuu and Grim in the mirror chamber.
"Did you both…" Ortho asked with a million words left unsaid.
"Yes." Yuu held Grim tightly. "I don't really know what happened. I woke up and felt like a million new thoughts broke into my head."
"All I knew for sure was to come here." Grim finally spoke. "5 warriors."
"To break a spell." Ortho held his head. "So much information. How are we going to find them?"
"We already know they're here. Maybe we can set up something to reveal them?" Yuu said while opening their bag and pulling out a book. "I think this has something to do with it."
It zoomed in on the book cover, and on it was the same sigil as the paper. Then the screen went dark.
End of ep 0.
~
"What the fuck?" Leona said in disbelief.
"Language." Riddle clung to what was familiar.
Idia was still crying into Vil shoulder while Vil tried to comfort him despite his own anxieties growing. Azul joined in to ignore his own fears.
Kalim and Malleus were shocked to silence.
Something weird was going to happen, and Ortho, Yuu, Grim, and 5 random people were at the center of it.