Pride-Niklaus's Point of View
♕︎ ♕︎ ♕︎
"Counting this year, we only have three years remaining before graduation, and," my younger twin sister, Vain, said, nudging me with her elbow, pressing it into my ribs with a mischievous smirk, "your coronation. Anxious?"
I shot her a glare, my teeth gritted in frustration. "That means three more years of Scarlet, so, no," I growled, my voice thick with irritation and resentment.
Just thinking about that girl—infuriating, egocentric, narcissistic, self-centered, psychopathic, condescending drakyre—was enough to make my blood boil in ways I couldn't control. I could barely contain the deep-seated fury she triggered within me. And yet, despite everything, despite how maddening she was, that stupid, irritating crush of mine still lingered somewhere deep inside.
It was maddening, unbearable, and no matter how many times I tried to bury it, I couldn't escape it. The feelings came back to haunt me like some stubborn ghost, tormenting me when I least expected it.
Micah, Dominic, Nathan, Kai, and Nora exchanged knowing glances. Their looks were the kind that told me they already knew what was going on in my head, and they were already making their own assumptions. The teasing was already starting to bubble under the surface. I could feel it. I rolled my eyes, already dreading what was about to come next. "Don't even go there," I warned them sharply, my tone laced with a threat that I hoped would be enough to shut them down before they got started.
"What?" Micah, the third oldest among us, pretended to act innocent, his lips curling into a playful pout that didn't fool anyone for a second.
"We didn't even say anything," Nora added, grinning widely. The smile stretched across her face like the Cheshire cat, and it couldn't possibly be any more knowing. She wasn't even trying to mask her amusement at my expense.
"As if I don't know all of you," I scoffed, shaking my head in disbelief.
We were passing through the portal I had created, a seamless rip in the space-time fabric, from the entrance of the Academy directly to the main hall of the castle. The familiar surroundings of marble pillars and grand architecture briefly distracted me, but the tension was still there, lingering. We were heading toward the library—the one place I knew would offer me some sense of peace.
More specifically, we were heading to the wide, isolated bathroom at the back, the one that none of the other students ever dared to use. It had become a sanctuary for us, a place where we could retreat to escape the chaos, to be alone with our thoughts. I needed that peace now more than ever, especially with the constant teasing that I had no choice but to endure.
"You don't look at her with death in your eyes, though," Kai piped up suddenly, scoffing in a tone that clearly told me he was thoroughly enjoying this moment. My anger flared, and I shot him a glare that could've melted stone.
"What? I'm just saying," Kai shrugged, an expression of amusement spreading across his face. He was having far too much fun at my expense, and it was making my temper rise even more.
"Now, she does look at you with death in her golden eyes," my sister purred, her voice slipping into a teasing, sing-song tone. I could hear the delight in her voice as she watched me struggle. "So much anger for such a pretty girl. And here I thought she liked you when we were kids."
The thought of it—of Scarlet ever having liked me—was so foreign, so unbelievable, that I gasped in indignation. "Scarlet never liked me," I snapped, the words coming out more forcefully than I intended. In fact, it wasn't just indifference I had received from her—it was disdain, cold and harsh, like I was nothing more than a nuisance to her. If anything, the feelings I got from her were the complete opposite of affection. But of course, I wasn't going to admit that. "She hated me."
Kai, ever the troublemaker, added fuel to the fire with a mischievous grin that only made me more irritated. "But you did have a fat crush on her," he teased, clearly relishing the discomfort he was causing me. The bastard. I felt my face flush with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
I shot him a look that could've cut glass. "I still do," I muttered under my breath, my voice low and angry, but it was more of a growl than anything else. "Past tense," I added more forcefully, trying desperately to mask the vulnerability I felt. I swung open the bathroom door and stepped inside, leaving the others behind at the entrance. I couldn't face them anymore, not with the teasing continuing like this.
"I feel nothing for that problematic girl," I continued, my words almost forced, but even I knew they lacked conviction. The words didn't feel right, and I could feel the deep-seated resentment in my tone, mixed with something else—a nagging, bitter feeling I couldn't quite place, something that gnawed at me like a festering wound that wouldn't heal.
"Is that what passion is called now? Nothing?" Nathan mocked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The others chuckled, clearly enjoying the show I was putting on.
"I am not passionate about Scarlet," I growled, my frustration reaching a boiling point. The words slipped out, but they did little to calm the storm inside me. I tried to shove down the unsettling mix of emotions that were stirring within me, but it wasn't working. "Could you all stop? It's getting annoying. Like bugs that just won't die, always buzzing around me."
"Aw, you love us so much," Vain teased, her voice high with laughter, and I could feel her eyes on me, the weight of her teasing gaze pressing down on me like a heavy blanket. I didn't even want to look at her, but I could feel her smirk, the knowing look that lingered on her face.
Rolling my eyes, I prepared to retaliate with something sharp, something that would shut them up for good. But before I could say anything, an overwhelming surge of spatial magic filled the air. It was so sudden, so powerful, that it practically knocked the wind out of me. The energy in the room changed in an instant. And before I could even process what had just happened, someone had appeared in one of the bathroom stalls. The unmistakable scent—an aroma that could only belong to one person—filled the air, and I didn't need a second to know exactly who it was.
"What the hell?" The boys gasped, their faces frozen in surprise, but I didn't move. I didn't need to. I already knew.
"Scarlet," I muttered under my breath, my anger flaring up once again. My body tensed, preparing for whatever was about to come next. But before I could even say anything else, the sound of her throwing up hit my ears. It wasn't just any vomit—it sounded like she was throwing up as though her very life depended on it, as if she had no control over it. There was something frantic, desperate in the way she was retching, and my heart squeezed uncomfortably in my chest. This wasn't normal.
We all exchanged uncomfortable glances, and my sister, along with Nora, moved toward the stall. "Is she vomiting?" Nora whispered, her voice low and filled with an emotion I couldn't place.
"What else could that sound be?" Kai scoffed, but his expression had shifted. There was genuine concern written all over his face now. "Should we knock?" he asked, though he wasn't sure how to approach the situation. After a brief pause, he shrugged. "Better not. She might try to kill us if we do that."
I had to agree. Scarlet had always been untouchable, perfect in every way. We had never seen her anything less than composed, healthy, and calm, even after the trauma she'd gone through—after losing her mother to... well, to my mother. Anger, yes. Resentment, absolutely. But shattered? Never. Scarlet had always maintained an aura of unshakable strength, like she was invincible. She never allowed anyone to see her weakness. Until now.
"Stop," her voice wailed from inside the stall, a sharp, broken cry that sent a chill down my spine. It was a tone I hadn't heard from her before—lost, scared, almost childlike in its desperation. "Stop. Get out of my head. Stop," she repeated, her voice shaking, the panic rising in her words. She sounded completely unhinged, and it unnerved me more than anything I'd ever felt before. "Focus, don't think about it. Ignore it. Not the mountain. Not the mountain. Not the mountain," she whispered frantically, as though trying to convince herself that it wasn't real. "Forget the mountain," she repeated, her voice trembling with something I couldn't understand. "Not the mountain. Please, stop doing this to yourself. Don't... Don't think about it. It won't change. Don't think. Don't think. Don't think."
My skin crawled, and the air grew thick with unease. There was something deeply unsettling in the way she was speaking, like she was fighting something invisible, something far darker than anything any of us had anticipated.
"Are you sure that's the Persephone Callidora Bathory-Moreno we know and hate?" Nora whispered, her voice barely audible, a haunted tone in it. It was clear she, too, couldn't reconcile this broken version of Scarlet with the girl we all remembered.
I nodded silently, my throat tight with an uncomfortable mix of confusion and dread. My gaze remained fixed on the closed stall door, but every part of me was screaming for answers I wasn't sure I was ready to hear.
What had happened to her? What had pushed Scarlet to the edge like this?