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0therworldly · 2 years

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FINALLY, part 2 of @alexglitches 's Self Aware AU! It is, however, a part 1. This arc has a LOT further to go if I want to explore everything I wanted to touch on with Leona. This took me multiple days.

Also, if the dialogue ever sounds weird, I said screw it and wrote my own Leona/Ruggie dialogue vaguely along the lines of what they actually say bec the one person I went to who actually had the episodes posted didn't have a link to their Tumblr so I could credit them. Hope yall don't mind

Leona sat among the stillness of the botanical garden, half-asleep and agitated. He had no clue what had woken him up, but it sounded like talking, distant and in short bursts. The words almost had a muffled, echoing quality to them, even to his sharp ears. He had been hearing it all day, and it sounded the same each time. Sure, the words and the duration of the talking were different each time, but it sounded to him like whoever was talking was reacting to something, and he didn’t have any clue what.

He could hear it again, but much closer this time. The beastman’s ear twitched with annoyance, but all of sudden he felt like he was about to collapse. His eyelids drooped and his breathing slowed against his will, and all of a sudden he began to faintly tremble with how heavy his body had become. Leona couldn’t even speak before he blacked out completely, looking peacefully asleep as his body curled up, leaving his tail out on the path.

After a while, a group of two unwittingly approached the spot where Leona was suddenly forced to sleep, and he felt a sharp pain cut through the imposed darkness. He wanted to curse and slice at whoever had stepped on his tail with his claws, but he felt himself moving against his will.

Leona stood up, glaring sharply at the intruders. But, when he opened his mouth to speak, his words held no bite to them.

" You’ve got guts stepping on someone’s tail without apologizing, herbivore..." he stated plainly, as if that didn't hurt as much as it did. He internally swore that if Ruggie was the one doing this to him, he'd turn that damned hyena into a throw rug, but he finally seemed to get control of his voice back, " I went here thinking I can have a peaceful nap, but then my tail gets stepped on. This’s the worst."

Leona paused, staring at their face. His expression hardly changed as he recognized the one who had awoken him, " Ah, I remember you. You’re the little prefect that the Mirror said can’t use magic."

He leaned in close, checking their scent with a few sniffs. The herbivore in front of him recoiled, and his ear flicked as he heard the same sound that had previously woken him up. It was much closer now, almost like it was coming from directly above the two of them, still as muffled as before.

" W-What the hell...? Is he sniffing me?!?"

Leona wanted to look up, to search for the source of the speaking, but he was only able to pull away from the magicless human. Their little weasel companion beside them piped up, but he wasn't paying attention to it. He could feel himself speak again, words that were still not his and refused to be fully registered in his mind. As the two turned tail and fled, he was only now able to realize just how odd that herbivore's scent was. It was certainly human, but different, almost fuller, in a sense. Like it reached all the way through the air and his brain, instead of just being a flat scent. What the hell was going on...?

And as they all left his sight, he tried moving again, but it was fruitless. The scent hung in the air as he heard Ruggie approach, and Leona groaned under his breath.

" Leona!" the hyena called as he approached.

" What?" he growled, his voice strained.

" You know you've got supplementary lessons today," Ruggie scolded.

The conversation fell into step as it usually did, Leona was at least grateful for that, but he still had no control. The feeling of helplessness and confusion sank into his bones, and it only added fuel to his directionless fire. He heard himself speak, an empty threat being forced out of his mouth, but why the hell was he threatening them now? They were gone.

The invisible strings around him slackened, and the herbivore's scent faded. He snarled at Ruggie, " What the hell was that?" his voice finally filled up with the growling anger he felt, " Why were you using your power on me?"

A tilt of Ruggie's head and " Leona, what are you talking about?" was all he got in response, which only pissed off the lion more.

" I wanted to move and say something, but I couldn't, that's YOUR power," Leona accused.

Ruggie made a face, " I just got here," he stated, " And why would I use it on you? I don't even know what you were doing."

Leona's tail thrashed, " Something woke me up, forced me back to sleep, some herbivore woke me up again, and all of a sudden I was doing and saying stuff I didn't want to. Name any other person who could do that."

" And this is why I tell you to quit sleeping all the time, you can't tell dreams from reality," he sighed, " Y'know what, I'm not even gonna bother. I'm going back to the dorm," and as Ruggie left, Leona roared at him not to leave, but the hyena just gave him a look like he had gone insane.

...Maybe he had.

His ears and tail drooped, and he pressed his palm to his forehead. Before he knew it, he was pacing. What was happening? Ruggie seemed genuine when he denied involvement, and even when he was right in front of him and doing something completely different, he still couldn't move. Leona's gaze flitted anxiously around the garden, had someone put some sort of curse on him? They had better be prepared for his wrath, then. But surely he would have noticed earlier?

Leona raked his fingers through his mane, ears pressed back. He had no clue what was happening to him, but he would find out soon enough.

It had been a few hours, and he had been back at his dorm for a while, already hiding the turmoil in his mind from his underclassmen. He stared out the window, tail occasionally flicking in frustration. Ruggie came into the room, concern ever so faintly visible on his face.

" You okay, Leona?" he asked plainly.

Leona's expression darkened ever so slightly, " Yeah," he lied, " Musta been a dream."

Ruggie calmed, but he knew better than to expect an apology from the lion. The vice dorm leader smiled widely, and Leona perked up a bit as the herbivore's scent mysteriously returned. Ruggie laughed, " Shishishi, I saw how much fun they were having over in Heartslabyul. Must be fun to stuff your face with cake all day.~"

" Hmph. I'd rather have meat," Leona huffed, " You know what you have to do, right?"

Ruggie's hands came to rest casually behind his head, " You've got it, boss. The other dorms won't stand a chance... especially Diasomnia."

Leona gave a strained smirk, a weak laugh escaping him. The hyena began to laugh with him, allowing the lion to let out his frustrations, cackling like madmen. He could hear the voice again.

" ...Oh, uh oh."

His laughter did not allow itself to weaken until the scent disappeared, but the brief moment of concern in the voice only confused him further. He would not catch sound or smell of the strange creature again until the next day, when Ruggie came once more to hand him his lunch. The conversation hadn't been anything out of the ordinary, but Leona tried to test moving or speaking randomly, which ended up not working. The gears were turning in his head, and he did not mention it to Ruggie. It seemed to be that whenever he could smell that herbivore's scent, he wasn't able to move or speak of his own free will, and that voice was never too far behind.

He thought and thought, pacing as the time ticked by past yet another skipped class. Leona was pacing again, tail flicking left and right as he was lost in thought. They were magicless, weren't they? There was no way they could have cursed him somehow. Did something follow them here from their world, then? That seemed to be the only logical explanation, at least for now.

But what the hell could have followed them...?

He hated this. It was depriving him of sleep, which was truly unforgivable. Didn't this stupid, invisible... thing know it was costing Leona his rest? He pressed his fingers to his temple in annoyance, growling softly and grumbling to himself.

Leona let out a begrudging sigh, opting to stare aimlessly out at Savanaclaw's courtyard. He stiffened suddenly, the scent was back, but only faintly. Leona tried to move his hand, as was his designated test to see whether or not he had free will in that moment. It moved without issue, which perplexed him. He heard the voice again, yet it was just as suppressed as the scent, like the first time he had heard it. His tail flicked curiously, now scanning his surroundings for wherever either were coming from.

As Leona listened closely, he was able to pick up on chatter from the courtyard. He would recognize that weasel's nasally voice anywhere, and where there was a flaming weasel, there was a Prefect not too far behind. A few more voices were coupled with it, but his brain only recognized one more before he felt himself stand up abruptly. Leona's eyes widened slightly, and he made another attempt to test his free will, growling internally as it failed.

Leona's body walked, more like dragged, itself outside, towards what he could now make out as a conflict. Some of his underclassmen had surrounded what seemed to be the weasel, the herbivore, and some Heartslabyul brats. Great. And just what the hell were they doing in his dorm?

Leona was agitated and almost downright exhausted, surrendering himself to whatever force was controlling him, letting it carry him with more confidence in his stride than the beastman had in him. The trio of bulky Savanaclaw students eagerly gnashed their sharp teeth at the trespassers, tails wagging as they growled playfully at them like one would a chew toy, teasing them with some drabble about being prey.

Leona growled under his breath, " Shut up," he commanded as he got close. But as he looked at their faces, he realized that their eyes looked strange. Had they always been covered in shadow? Hell, did they even have names? They were his dorm mates... right? Leona was unable to shake his head, he was lazy, sure, but certainly not so lazy as to neglect to recognize more than two faces in his own dorm. He'd played Spelldrive with them, dealt with their constant territorial bickering and fighting over scraps and chasing anything that moved.

So why couldn't he recognize them?

Leona realized he had already been speaking, smirking smugly down at the herbivores. Whatever the hell was controlling him sure seemed to want him to be some serious asshole, didn't it? But, Leona's focus quickly caught on something odd, that being their face. It was strange, almost like their features were some kind of mask over something else. It wasn't like any tangible, physical mask either, but one that was certainly cast by some kind of magic. He'd seen that kind of thing before, when someone wanted to hide something beneath it. He stared into their eyes. They seemed so... reflective, almost like glass, rather than actual eyes...

Leona felt a searing pain shoot through his body, and the cry he wanted to let out was muffled in his own throat. Ruggie was here now, too, the exchange between him and the weasel was muffled in Leona's mind as he tried to figure out what the hell had just happened to him. He had only been staring at the Prefect a little too hard for a few seconds, but it felt like someone had tossed lit embers into his eyes. His ear flicked when he heard them speak.

" You're the groundskeeper!" the Prefect called out in surprise. Their voice was odd, not like the sudden disembodied speech, but like it was in his head. Their mouth had moved, or appeared to have moved, but their words resonated through his thoughts rather than the air itself. Everything was a blur around him, the scent of the herbivore was too overpowering, everything outside was just too bright a shade, everyone around him was talking so loudly, and he still felt the ghostly linger of the pain from before. Leona's confusion was doubling itself by the minute, and all he wanted was to just close his eyes, block his ears, and just stop. He wanted everything to stop so he could just sit down and figure it out.

All of a sudden, everything went dark. Everyone around him went shock still, arms at their sides and expressions blank. Leona's eyes widened, startled out of his overloading state. He looked around before tentatively waving a hand in front of Ruggie's face. He did not respond. He tried again, no response. The lion's attempts to catch his attention became more desperate, grabbing Ruggie by the shoulders and trying to shake an answer out of him. When he gave up on that approach and loosened his grip, the shorter beastman fell limply to the ground. The impact made no sound, but Leona jumped anyway. His attention focused sharply on him as it appeared to have worked, and Ruggie moved. His hand twitched, then his leg, and then all hell broke loose.

His torso spasmed and his head shook wildly from side to side, his mouth moving as if he were speaking, but all that came out was a mangled, almost static sound, like a broken electronic. His arms moved from position to position, each dragging movement unnatural and jittery as his back arched upwards, the fur of his tail standing completely on end.

Leona recoiled in horror, ears pressed flat against his head and tail between his legs, looking like a terrified cub that had been ripped from anything it had ever known before. He could see only the barest flash of the strings before Ruggie was pulled back onto his feet like nothing had happened, clamping down on him to halt all movement. Leona could feel his own control be snatched away from him as well, and the terrain around him snapped into view. They were suddenly on the Spelldrive field, and the Prefect and other Savanaclaw students were gone. Leona's mind was still going at a million miles a minute, how the hell were they all the way over here? Where did the Prefect go? He could still smell them, like he always could when he doesn't have control over himself.

His body moved against his will once more, into a relaxed pose and a smirk this time. Leona felt a prickling feeling at the back of his eyes that would never be allowed to escape. He had no clue what was happening to him and the other students, or what happened to Ruggie. Why was he suddenly a prisoner inside himself? Why was this all happening to him? What did he do wrong?

He was readying himself to run now, tail swishing and ears perked. Leona wanted to thrash against the grip on him, to use his claws and teeth for something. He wanted to get away from this nightmare and sleep, he wanted out. His eyes fixated on the frisbee, body tensing. No. No. No. NO. Leona was exhausted, confused, scared. He wanted to get out. He just wanted to step back and figure out what was happening to him. His body faltered, twitched. It tensed, and then it took off.

It took him a second to realize that it had taken off without him.

Leona stared, rooted to the spot. He realized what had happened. He tried looking around, to see what he had done. Leona was here, but when he looked over, he was there as well. He looked down at his hands, horrified when he saw that his skin was no longer how it had been before, replaced by a solid, luminous purple. His new body fizzled in and out, like a screen trying to receive an image. He reached up to his face, feeling that it was devoid of features. Leona panicked, desperately trying to find any part of him that was him. He stepped back, and found that he was now falling.

The Spelldrive field, himself, and everyone else fell away, further and further, getting smaller and smaller until he landed on something solid. A black void, like he had been in before. The panic, never fully dispersed, set in again. He stood up, only to come face to face with a huge wall of glass. There was something, no someone, on the other side.

A h.

Leona was curled in on himself, forcing his gaze away from what he had seen. His eyes were wide, and there was no use holding back the hot, stinging feeling in them. He was silent, completely so, but the pain was not. It felt like every nerve in his body was trying to go numb in the most painful way possible, like he was being burned alive. His hands were over his mouth, desperately trying not to add to the noise around him that was too much.

He could hear music, like something in a video game, accompanied by the voice he had heard so many times before, so much closer, so much clearer. He could hear their heartbeat, timing itself with the rhythm. Leona's hands shook as they moved to press down on his ears, to block out everything that was happening around him. He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing everything that had happened. It was all a dream, it's all just a bad dream, this was only a nightmare, Ruggie should be waking him up now, why wasn't he waking up? Wake up.

Leona let out a choked sob. It was all so much. He was losing his mind. His own heartbeat was racing, telling him to wake up. He took in a shuddering breath, opening his eyes. He was sure that when he turned around, nothing would be there. It was all a dream, after all.

He turned to look once more, more tears falling as his eyes caught on the face of the person on the other side of the glass. They were real, so painfully, irrevocably real. All of this was happening. He couldn't understand any of it, and as much as it hurt, as much as the pain threatened to rip him apart, he couldn't pry his eyes away from their face.

He watched as their eyes lit up, like a child watching a magic trick. Their expression was so innocent, so genuine, that through the searing agony he instinctively looked up to see what had garnered such a reaction. He forced his eyes to focus, and it felt like all the pain had been snuffed out like a candle.

They were looking at him.

The heat remained intense and passionate, but it warmed him, not hurt him. Leona could still hear their heartbeat, quick and excited, and he took his time to count each beat.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six...

He took a deep breath, finally able to process and focus. There were questions burning against his brain, sure, but all he could bring himself to pay attention to was them. Their excitement had etched itself into him, the way they looked just so... happy, seeing him play like that. Seeing him. They didn't look at anyone else like that. He was special.

He was loved.

He was loved by someone so, so beautiful.

The others didn't know about them, they were his own wonderful secret, one he would keep all to himself. He felt something tug at him, dragging him back to the Spelldrive field. Leona panicked, pulling back against the control. He didn't want to leave them. All he wanted was to lay by the glass and be lulled to sleep by the sound of their heartbeat. To hell with Night Raven, his studies, the crown he would never get, they had warmed his heart in a way he had never thought to be possible.

Leona reached out to them, but the thing pulling him seemed to double in strength, he could feel it almost wrapping around him completely before it had succeeded in ripping him from the dark void.

#GAHH!#that was so good...#got kinda scared for a second(for some reason)#twst leona #self aware twst #leona kingscholar #self aware au #twst au #twisted wonderland

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