Chapter Text
Riddle recovered enough to return to his dorm, though his head still throbbed occasionally, he didn't mind it as he walked through the halls. As he got to the common area, he caught the hushed voices of the four students who visited him and Yuu in the infirmary. The red-haired Housewarden stayed out of sight and listened in on his fellow dormmates.
"His dorm is a plethora of hazards and problems. I only spent a few nights there, even the termites are barely holding the steps together." Ace explained as they looked over the layout of the Ramshackle Dorm Yuu and Grim take residence in.
"It needs a ramp obviously. Several in fact." Deuce stated as he remembered how hard of climb it is from the bottom of the pathway.
"Where did you say his room is located?" Trey asked his underclassmen.
"Second floor. He shares it with Grim obviously." Ace answered then shivered, "And the spiders."
"What spiders?" Cater asked as they watched the boy's discomforted expression.
Ace pursed his lips in agony, "Yuu likes feeding live insects to the spiders infested in his dorm. We watched him feed a large one in the fireplace. It was horrifying."
The boys could not suppress their tremors of revulsion, especially Riddle who remained out of sight while remembering Yuu's cold stare that felt as though a hundred phantom spiders were crawling all over him. This really explained a lot.
Trey swallowed, "Okay, we'll need to clean out a room on the bottom floor to make it livable and accessible for the next few months."
"There is also the shower situation we need to consider." Cater tossed in, "Yuu is going to need help getting bathed and dressed with his limited movements."
Riddle's eyes widened. Bathing? Naked? They'll know that Yuu is a girl! Unwillingly, he imagined the beautiful young woman covering her bare chest with her delicate arms as water ran down her luscious and pale curves. Her pink eyes shyly looked away, and a blush stained her cheeks as she was being washed by an unknown man. A red-faced Riddle furiously destroyed the daydream cloud above him while cursing his mind of such impurities upon an innocent woman.
"Um, yeah, that's gonna be a problem." Ace stated, bringing their attention to his discomforted look. "In the time Deuce and I spent time with him, we noticed how he doesn't like close physical contact with anyone."
Deuce nodded solemnly, "It's true. Even a small brush of someone's hand causes him to tense up."
Cater and Trey frowned as they remembered an unfortunate detail in the aftermath of Riddle's overblot. "The way he flinched back when the Headmage reached out to him, that was not normal." Trey held his chin and mused, "In fact, now that I think about it, he froze completely when Cater and I sat on either side of him. It was like a wounded animal trapped in a cage."
Riddle clenched his fists tightly as he saw the horrific memory of innocent little Yuu being dragged off and thrown in the back of a cart. How he seethed at the cruelty of those soldiers for their treatment towards a defenseless child.
Ace frowned and looked down at the table they sat around.
"Ace, do you know something?" Cater asked as he caught his expression.
His face filled with sorrow for the magicless prefect. "Yuu lost a great deal back in his world. He only told Deuce, Grim and I the bare minimum of what happened to his parents. But nothing else." He sighed deeply and scratched the back of his head in frustration.
"What do you mean 'back in his world?'"
They whirled around and saw Riddle standing in the opening with a shocked expression.
"R-R-Riddle? When did you get back?" Ace stammered, feeling like he was caught breaking another rule.
"A few minutes ago," Riddle approached them slowly, "I could not help but overhear your conversation regarding Yuu." He stopped just in front of the table, "I ask again, what did you by 'his world?'"
They all turned to each other; their faces contorted in worry and fear.
"Let's speak in your office." Trey said as he guided everyone to the Housewarden's chambers.
Cater locked the door when the last of their group entered. Riddle sat patiently behind his desk as he waited for an explanation.
Trey took a deep breath and exhaled, "Riddle, what we're about to tell you cannot reach the Headmage. Can you promise me you will not breathe a word of this?" He asked, looked slightly desperate to protect the prefect who saved his life and Riddle's.
Though Riddle was surprised, he bowed his head, "What is said here shall not ever leave this room."
Trey swallowed then confessed, "Yuu is not from our world. He doesn't know anything about our history, nor does his world have magic."
Riddle blinked before his eyes widened in realization as he thought back to those small moments where Yuu looked confused at the most basic terms and items. She had no idea what a 'cartoon' is or what 'tissues' are used for. It was like everything was completely foreign to her. "I see. That answers one of my questions."
"But we're slowly teaching him how everything works here." Deuce added with some hope, "Ace and I taught him some slang, so there's that. But he does not have any clue about how technology works. It's like he grew up in Briar Valley."
Riddle thought back to Yuu's memory of her playing that instrument. That room she was in, it did not have a single advancement by any means. Sure it was serene, but it felt like he was in a completely different era altogether.
"And..." Deuce hesitated to speak as he feared how what he says next could affect Yuu, "...Yuu doesn't have a family to return to. We have reason to believe that...that perhaps it's better that he stays in this world. It's different from what he knows, but I believe it's much preferable by comparison."
"I second that." Ace spoke up with a hardened look, "From how he described it, it sounds like a living hell."
Riddle's face darkened as he wove his fingers in front of him, "Given the manner of his father's death, I have to agree."
Trey blinked, "'Manner of death?' Riddle, what are you talking about?"
Riddle froze as he realized his slip-up.
Ace's eyes widened, "Wait, we didn't tell you his father was killed. Did Yuu tell you?" He asked with suspicion as he narrowed his eyes at the Housewarden.
Riddle wished he had kept his mouth shut. He hasn't even spoke to Yuu about it, not her memories or her gender. But if she told Ace and Deuce a fraction of what became of her family and they have not said a word, then it's safe to say he can trust them with this knowledge minus Yuu being female.
Riddle sighed deeply before he explained, "When Yuu knocked me unconscious, we saw each others' memories. He witnessed the hardest parts in my childhood. I thought it was a one-way deal, but I don't think he realized I saw his memories in return." He paused, remembering every horrific detail of those scenes, of a mother berating her innocent daughter to the execution of her father. "His mother...she was also strict but seemed more violent with expectations from his life. I..." He hesitated to speak about the next grotesque scene.
"Guards ransacked his home and dragged him, his mother and all the servants out to witness his father's beheading for breaking the rules of their government." Riddle didn't need to look up at the shocked faces of his dorm mates, "I saw it all unfold. He was already bloodied and beaten to an inch of his life. They sliced his head off before the eyes of his wife and child. And Yuu..." Riddle's throat closed up as he clenched his hands together tightly, "He fought so hard to awaken his father's head as the man soaked in his own blood."
Deuce covered his mouth and made a choking sound as he fought the urge to vomit. Ace's eyes were wide at the description of the scene Riddle unfortunately witnessed while Cater and Trey looked ready to faint.
"I can still hear Yuu's cries as he was dragged away from his mother along with the servants." Riddle's voice rasped out as he stared at his desk in deep sadness, "An innocent child who was forced to pay for his father's crimes by becoming a government slave."
"WHAT?!" Ace and Deuce's voice echoed, startling the three students, "What do you mean by 'slave?'" The exclaimed in unison as their hands slammed on Riddle's desk. Normally he'd admonish them for their violence on the precious wood, but he can't find the will to fault them for that.
"It means just that. I thought he informed you about that part."
"He told us how he was separated from his mother straight after his father's death." Ace grabbed at his hair as anger and horror filled him at this knowledge, "But enslavement? Apparently, that's one detail he failed to mention."
"Where was he sent to? What happened?" Deuce demanded, looking very unhinged at the thought of their friend suffering such a fate.
Riddle shook his head, "I don't know. The memory ended soon after he was taken away from his mother."
Deuce clenched his teeth and looked down, "This is why Yuu looks so beaten and couldn't find the will to fight back. He...He said his pride didn't matter because survival was more important."
"And why he kept apologizing for every little thing even if he wasn't part of it." Ace added, looking ready to destroy something to vent his anger for their friend.
Riddle frowned as he too remembered how subdued she looked; how afraid she was to look anyone directly in the eye. "Completely broken by a world that should've protected him."
Cater and Trey gently grabbed their underclassmen and guided them to a sofa to calm down.
The diamond boy frowned as he straightened himself, looking just as tormented by this information. "Well, we now know the kind of judicial system they had. But that still doesn't explain why he reacted to Crowley the way he did."
"Yuu suffered nearly a lifetime of trauma, I fear it's a conditioned reflex." Trey explained as his heart broke for the boy overcome by the horrors of his homeworld.
Riddle remembered something from his childhood, how his mother spoke of victims who jumped at specific noises or froze up around certain types of people. Though she healed them externally, it was the mental and emotional injuries that proved more painful. His eyes widened in realization by what those victims had in common and what that guard said to Yuu regarding where she'll end up. No, not to her. It can't be. Not to innocent little girls.
Trey noticed his friend's distress, "Riddle, what's wrong?"
Riddle took shuddering breaths as he slowly raised his eyes to his dorm mates, "I...I believe...I think I know what happened."
Trey never saw that look on his face before, not since his mother practically locked him away from the world.
"If you know something, then tell us." Cater demanded, looking ready to commit murder is it meant appeasing that magicless boy.
Riddle took a deep breath and released a shuddering exhale, "This is...just a theory given his aversion towards people, especially those who are older or bigger than him. Great Sevens I desperately want to be wrong."
"Wrong about what?" Deuce asked for them.
Riddle swallowed, afraid to say it out loud, as though it will summon a monster most foul and come after Yuu. But by the Sevens he will make sure it never comes near her. "There's a possibility that Yuu may have been..." He struggled to speak, "...a victim of sexual assault."
A deafening silence fell over the office as it slowly registered in their minds what that actually means and how it affected the magicless prefect.
Ace touched the bandages on his wrist as he recalled Yuu's panic attack, "He kept fighting us." He whispered, but everyone heard him and turned their attention towards his horrified expression, "He kept screaming at someone to get off of him, to leave him alone. Yuu...he was trapped in his own mind trying to get away from them."
Trey's eyes filled with tears as he gritted his teeth to remain the calm adult in the room. "If what you're saying is true then-" He turned to Riddle in both sadness and sympathy, "-Riddle is right."
Before his overblot, Riddle would revel in those words. But not in this case. It tore at him, choked him tighter than the collars he punished people with. Even though he knew deep down that Yuu's beauty would have garnered unwanted attention from the worst of society, he begged the Great Seven and every deity that could listen and tell him that he's wrong, that what he feared happened didn't happen.
Riddle's tears streamed down his cheeks as he covered his mouth to suppress his sobs. He didn't care that he was crying in front of his dorm mates, the pain he feels for Yuu, for how she was tortured for her father's wrongdoings and defiled in the worst possible manner ripped him apart as he remembered finally seeing Yuu for the very first time. Not as the clumsy, awkward magicless boy, but as a beautiful cold young woman whose trust in the world was shattered a long time ago. His heart kept breaking no matter how hard he tried to glue it back together. Yuu didn't consider him the worst person despite nearly killing her. The true hate she feels is towards the ones who raped her and destroyed her innocence.
"He's not going back to that world."
Everyone turned to Deuce who dug his nails into his palms, drawing blood by accident, but he didn't seem to feel it in his rage. "Yuu...he cannot go back to that hellscape, not if it means putting him back in chains again and getting raped." He growled, resembling a dog baring his fangs towards anyone who hurts their brood.
They all silently agreed as they remembered how beautiful Yuu is under the rags and unkempt hair. Cater and Trey did muse on how if he cleaned up a little, he'd be worthy of Pomefiore. But if being beautiful meant suffering at the unwanted attention from men, then they have to rethink that statement altogether.
"The Headmage...he's trying to find a way back to Yuu's world." Trey stated, bringing their attention to that one detrimental problem, "We need to tell him what happened Yuu, how he was forced-"
"We can't." Ace cut him off, "We promised Yuu that we'd never say anything to Crowley."
Cater's eyes widened in confusion, "But if we explain-"
"Yuu doesn't trust him." Riddle's firm statement of fact made them pause. His eyes were red and swollen from crying as he stared at the desk, "Ever since he was a child, it was always a grown man who hurt him, dragging him around by their hair or doing other depraved thing they could think of." He glared at the space in front of him, "To Yuu, Crowley is someone much bigger than him and can hurt him without suffering the consequences."
Riddle made eye-contact with Ace, "I'm with Trappola, until we know for certain that the Headmage can be trusted, we don't say a word."
Ace and Deuce released twin sighs of relief. "Thank you Housewarden."
Though Trey looked conflicted, he could not deny Riddle's reasoning, "I understand. Cater?"
Cater sighed, "This is insane, but I'll keep my mouth shut."
Riddle nodded, glad they're all on the same page. "That being said, we are all in agreement of helping Yuu throughout his recovery and beyond. We help him adapt to this world as though he was always born here. More than that, we ensure his care and safety above all else. It is by my decree that Yuu of Ramshackle if under the protection of Heartslabyl."
They all nodded in firm agreement, never needing an order to keep their friend safe.
Riddle leaned back in his chair, "First thing's first, we need to figure out a schedule when caring for Yuu while he heals. Which reminds me," He turned to Ace and Deuce, "how bad is the Ramshackle building in terms of hazardous neglect?" He only saw the dilapidated structure from a distance and never looked inside.
Ace scratched the back of his neck, "Um, on a scale of one to ten being the highest?"
"Yes."
"546 tops." Ace answered with a frown of disgust.
Riddle groaned as he added that to his list on how to properly repay Yuu for everything.