Archive of Our Own

Standing in front of a mirror, she saw a girl, a young woman, staring back at her. Auburn brown hair, golden eyes and slightly pointed ears. Wearing a dark gray, perfectly tailored uniform.

Amity sighed, reaching up and smoothing her already perfect looking blazer.

It was time and regardless of the fact that she had known for years that this day would come, she was still nervous. Her hands were clammy, only elevating her already existing anxiety.

She was nervous and it showed.

'How uncouth of me,' she thought bitterly, before shoving that thought aside.

Amity sighed again, turning away from the mirror to look at her luggage. She was already packed, naturally, she would never leave things to the last second, but she almost felt like pulling all her stuff out and repacking, just so she had something to fill the time.

It has been a year since she graduated Hexside..a year that seemed to have rushed past her, not even pausing to wave and in just a few short hours she would be arriving at The Grand Academy.

Amity shook her head slightly, wrenching herself away from her things and walking out into the hallway, heading to the gardens. Chasing the fond memories she had of playing there as a carefree child with her father.

The manor bustled with activity, preparing for some gala or party her mother was hosting for some of the local nobles.

Possibly, a subtle way for her mother to celebrate her leaving the house, although that was only her speculation due to the suspiciously overlapping timing.

Servants bowed to her and then moved on with her jobs, fortunately not engaging with her.

'Well, if nothing else, I won't have to be here for the banquet...so..yay..'

Those parties always sucked the life out of her more effectively than a vampire could..altho, there was a non-zero possibility of her having that experience to compare, so perhaps she shouldn't think that.

Yet another sigh escaped her.

The Grand Academy...

It took her a while to fully comprehend the idea of it, why the institution worked the way it did. By the Titan, to a younger, less read Amity, it seemed preposterous that such an institution existed in the first place.

Allowing monsters to a place where they are protected? Given convicts to eat?

How could that be allowed?

Besides being a place of learning, the Academy was also a refuge, a place where almost no one was refused entry and everyone was protected. As long as they followed the rules of the school, the laws of no Kingdom from the continent held any water there, nor did any religion or organization.

Upon learning more, Amity had to admit that it was a pretty genius idea.

The Grand Academy was a melting pot of beings from every corner of the world, from the most vile..all the way to the most divine.

Angels and Demons. Necromancers and Clerics. And then others whose affinity couldn't be clearly labeled.

It served the purpose of them all learning about each-other, interacting with those who would otherwise be considered the root of all that is wrong in the world.

'You can't really see a vampire as the ultimate evil if you see them struggling to stay awake during a boring lesson, or working with them on an asinine assignment.' That's what one of the founders of the Academy often said.

Amity was skeptical, she saw and recognized the idea, but she honestly doubted that would change anyone's opinion.

But there was more.

And this next idea was one Amity saw value in.

Those of darker disposition, if they were exiled from their communities or had no access to one. There was not much else they could do but kill to survive.

What else should they do?

That idea really struck a cord with her.

'You can't expect them to just die, to starve to death..can you?' 'Many of these, 'dark beings', as you call them, were once human, if they have no other options, how can we truly blame them when they have to attack a village or a city. Would it be reasonable for us to expect them to just give up and die of hunger?' 'Let's give them a place, we execute more than enough of our kind to keep them all fed, if we remove their need to attack villages and cities, they won't..'

And the Founder's words were found to be truthful.

From the moment The Grand Academy was founded, the rate of attacks by the 'dark beings' dropped dramatically.

By the Titan, when they happened, there were often dark beings pushing each other out of the way to help with the investigations, to bring the outliers to justice and stop them from ruining the good streak they had going. Not that they could ever salvage their reputation in the eyes of the ordinary people..but Amity saw and recognized their attempts.

It took her a while till she fully accepted that for the next three years, until her twenty second birthday, she would have to share a roof with beings who drank human blood or outright ate people.

But, considering..Amity absentmindedly traced her pointed ear..as a witch, she probably didn't have nearly enough reasons to truly complain.

Her kind wasn't native to the continent.

If legends were true, they came from a faraway island that has long since sank into the sea, an island that made the sea water around it boil and was shaped like an outline of an enormous fallen Titan.

Stories..probably..

But regardless, her kind was originally labeled dark and they were hunted far and wide, until they reached The Academy.

There they managed to forge a place for themselves.

While the Academy was a school and a temporary refuge for some, it was also a legitimate and permanent home for others. If you had no way to live in the outside world, you could get a job there, a teacher, a guard or something else and live on the grounds of the enormous complex for your entire life, start a family, raise children..and that's what witches did, hundreds of years ago.

They lived on the Academy grounds for almost three generations, until the outside world accepted that while they were a bit different, a pointed ear there, extra eyeball or limb here, they didn't need blood or human meat to survive, by the Titan they could cast spells, a bit different spells, but still they could heal and create stuff, just like a normal human mage..and there was never enough mages to go around.

Since leaving, witches have done well for themselves.

While they were still considered 'gray' and not fully human, they were valued as mages and adventurers, same even rising to prominence as nobles.

Amity paused, standing on the grand staircase leading to the ground floor, she looked up at the crest of the noble Blight family.

They weren't the most famous or influential family, but they were no doubt nobles..and that not famous or influential bit, her mother was doing her hardest to remedy that. Not that Amity cared that much, to her mother's great dismay.

With a shake of her head she chased away those thoughts, one of the few great benefits about going away was getting away from her mother's insistent nagging about taking care of the family name, fortune or worse 'expanding the family.'

Of course, Amity's impending departure didn't prevent her mother from trying to suggest ideas..

Her mother wanted her to create connections and get to know some influential people while she was at the Academy but-'No, bad Amity! We aren't thinking about that right now.'

She took a gulp of fresh air as she left the stuffy manor, nodding to yet more servants who were preparing the garden for some kind of occasion.

For a second she was afraid the goal of her wandering would be occupied, before realizing her mother would never allow for her guests to see the less presentable parts of the manor compound.

Her heart calmed as she continued to walk, heading to the now abandoned swing set.

It took her a moment to even find it, as it was hidden behind pristine hedges..part of Amity was angry that this place was clearly intentionally hidden, as if it was shameful for anyone to see, but there was some gratefulness as well, after all..hidden or not, it was still here and knowing her mother..Amity was almost shocked that was the case.

She sat down on the rickety thing. Looking around at the unkept grass, overgrown and full of weeds.

‘This is exactly what this family would be like, without me in charge!’

Maybe her mother wanted it torn down..but her dad intervened. That would certainly make more sense than the woman leaving it here out of sentimentality.

...

When was the last time she saw her dad?

She frowned, a month? Two?

Amity wasn't sure, her mother was working him to the bone...at least that's what Amity decided to believe.

To be truthful, he could also be absorbed in his work and have forgotten about his three less magical, and less literal, creations. His three children.

Pushing off Amity swung slightly.

Edric, Emira and Amity.

He didn’t seem to care about them that much, but they always had each other..kinda.

She was looking forward to reuniting with her siblings, even if their relationship was a bit complicated at times.

Amity always felt like the odd one out.

Which wasn't surprising considering the two were twins. But still..

With a mother always chasing more power and influence, a father who tended to forget they existed..it would be nice to have at least some family to support her..and the twins were that..sometimes, or maybe she should say, rarely.

They were mostly concerned with their jokes and pranks, which, after they pranked one too many nobles their mother was trying to impress, got them sent to the Academy a year early.

The last time she saw them was nearly four years ago.

Normally, the three of them should be passing each-other, her older siblings leaving The Academy to return home and Amity arriving, but last Amity knew, the twins had no desire to ever return and be part of the Blight family.

Her mother was positively ecstatic when that particular letter arrived.

So ecstatic Amity's ears only barely stopped ringing from all the shouting and the sounds of glass hitting the walls.

She was tasked with bringing her siblings to reason.

Amity had her hands full not to snort when her mother called her to her office a few days after 'the incident' and gave her that task.

The two didn’t write a single letter addressed to her, in the entire time they were at the Academy. Every time they wrote, it was to their mother and that was probably out of necessity.

She was going to convince Edric and Emira to give up their freedom and make them go be stuck up nobles and marriage pawns for her schemes?

Yea, that was going to happen, abso-fucking-lutely. Should she also stop the sun from shining and move a couple of mountain ranges around while she was out?

Still, she wondered how they were doing.

Amity wasn't really sure what she felt about seeing them again.

Excitement? Trepidation?

She wasn't sure, but the emotion was somewhere in that alley.

Amity would be grateful if the two of them showed her around the school, maybe tell her about some unwritten rules that were no doubt in place.

Considering where she would be spending her time for those three years..

Her feet hit the ground as she came to an abrupt stop, a wave of nausea rolling over her.

While the Grand Academy was one large melting pot as a whole, the school itself was divided into two parts..two houses you could say, those with light affiliation had their own dormitories and sleeping quarters, as did those with dark affiliations.

Witches were widely considered gray..acceptable, but that still meant dark as far as the two houses were concerned, meaning she was going to be living with..who knows what..and she didn't even know if she would have a room for herself or if she would have to share.

All the books she read said that it depended on the state of things and numbers. If there were too many beings in the school, you sometimes had to room together.

And, to make matters worse, witches were considered non-conflict beings.

As for what that meant..for example, you couldn't exactly put two werewolves in a room together, with the exception that the two were married, or mates, as werewolves would put it. If the two were single, the two wolves would fight constantly over dominance, trying to gain the upper hand whenever an opportunity presented itself.

In that case, it was better to put the two werewolves with non-conflict beings, witches for example. Since their wolf instincts wouldn't flare and consider them a player within the pack hierarchy.

Which was all nice and good, until you realized that the werewolf would most likely consider the witch they were rooming with their subordinate, a subservient member of their pack and would treat them accordingly. And if the witch were to show defiance..well..that would be solved in a werewolf way.

Amity sighed.

She really had no way to influence this, the only thing she could do was wait, see and hope for the best.

“Young Lady.”

Amity almost screamed and fell from her swing, she spun to look at the maid that soundlessly entered her reprieve through the hedges. “Don’t…” she had to take deep breaths to calm her racing heart, “Don’t ever do that again.”

The maid almost smiled, “Apologies.”

Young Lady Blight knew she wasn’t sorry.

“But your mother has requested your presence.”

All good mood evaporating, Amity got up without a sound, adjusted her appearance thoroughly, leaving no signs of her tumble and followed the maid to her mother, who was currently standing in the middle of the ‘good part’ of the gardens, screaming at everyone that they were too slow.

“Ah, there you are,” her mother spun to look at her, scrutinizing her from head to toe, locking eyes when she didn’t find anything to criticize, “I hope you remember your mission at the Academy?”

“Of course moth-”

“Good,” Odalia didn’t let her finish, “Do inform me of any new allies and business partners you gain for our house.”

The woman spun around, “You! What in Titan’s name are you doing? Move those tables to the back immediately! Do I truly have to watch you work for you to do a passable job?!”

Amity stood there, trying to contain..everything..

She didn’t expect a ‘goodbye’, of course not..that would be foolish to expect from her mother, but they wouldn’t see each other for at least three years and…and..

Her father wasn’t even here..

Turning around, the young witch suddenly remembered that she packed her things wrong..and needed to get to her room and repack.

Her departure weighed heavily on her heart.

Even as Amity looked out of the window of her carriage, idly watching as nature flew past.

They were traveling extremely fast, much faster than a normal carriage could ever travel, but Amity was too absorbed in her situation to really appreciate the magic that made that possible.

‘To think others have to journey for months to get here.’

Just a short half an hour ago, she, along with her luggage, arrived at a teleportation circle near her house.

After proving to the mages operating the circle who she was and that her teleportation was paid for, she was teleported halfway across the continent, to a circle several miles away from the academy, where this carriage was already waiting for her.

The people manning the carriage barely even looked at her, simply grabbing her things and rather roughly loading them on the carriage, before setting off so fast she nearly didn't have time to get in and close the doors behind her.

And now The Grand Academy was fast approaching.

Amity wasn't sure if she was glad that the Academy didn't have a teleportation circle in its premises. On one hand she was glad to have some more time to think, on the other, she kinda wanted to have it over with.

The reason for the lack of a circle was that the Academy was a rather contested place by many, a school which housed man-eating beings, located in the middle of a continent filled with human dominated kingdoms worshiping the Heavens, it couldn't be anything but..

There have been several attempts in the past at invading and burning the place to the ground. Even now, several demon hunter clans and religious sects were very openly advocating to try and get a holy army on the premises to kill every-single 'dark being' inside.

Amity could understand, empathize with their apprehension..at least a bit..the notion of living with those beings made her deeply uncomfortable...only, it was a bit more complex..since by their definitions, she was one of those 'dark creatures' fit only to burn on a pyre.

Her thoughts came to a momentary halt as in the distance, she caught the first glimpse of tall towers.

She felt some of her reservation fade, overshadowed by the sheer grandeur and magnitude of what was unfolding in front of her.

Towers everywhere the eye could see, ten, twenty, thirty..some weren't even connected to the ground, just..floating freely, some connected by bridges, some only accessible by flight.

Cathedral-like domes, heavy with gold and silver, in between simple stone and brick ones.

Great archways, tall windows.

And then fortified walkways, not unlike those one could spot on a castle.

Surrounding it all were almost impossibly tall perimeter walls, standing fifty feet from the ground at least, alight and humming with magic, obscuring much of the Academy as they were growing closer.

Amity gulped at the sight of such overwhelming might. With the wall in place, even from a distance, she could see only a portion of the academy and even that small portion..

'No wonder no one ever managed to get in and take this place.'

The greatest weakness of an Angelic fortress were Demons.

The greatest weakness of a Demonic fortress were Angels.

Both combined their minds and magic to protect this place.

Now Amity could better understand why her mother was so insistent on sending her here.

Despite the non-zero possibility that like her siblings, Amity could decide to stay instead of returning to become Lady Blight.

For one it was a matter of honor..considering the help this powerful institution provided all of witch-kind in the past, it was considered disgraceful not to attend.

But then there was just the sheer presence of this place.

Amity met powerful beings, powerful mages, she knew how it felt to stand next to an arch-mage, someone who could burn her to ash with a word alone.

Yet this was something else.

She knew witches were relatively weak.

Their constitution was almost human-like and while they had their unique magic, which hid certain abilities that could level out the playing field, they could never measure up to stronger beings.

Amity took a deep breath, feeling a blanket of defeat wrap around her.

Her magic was only the reason she was allowed to attend, it wouldn't be her greatest weapon, her status as a noble, her wealth, her hand in marriage, those were the things she would probably have to leverage to get anywhere. At least those were the only things that were coming to mind right now.

She had to hand it to her mother.

To survive here, Amity would be forced to do all the stuff her mother wanted her to.

She had no other choice, her older sibling's magic would allow them more space, they were illusionists, they could make themselves invisible, distract possible assailants, she could not.

Her abomination creations would never hold a candle in physical combat to a werewolf or a vampire, be they transformed or not.

Of course, Amity knew that already, but seeing the Academy, that point was made incredibly clear, driven home.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the carriage came to a halt, almost sending Amity flying.

"We are here, get out!"

Amity startled, scrambling slightly to get out of the carriage.

The two men, at least she was pretty sure they were men, were busy unloading her luggage to the ground next to her (throwing it to the ground really) and tending to the slightly glowing horses that drew the carriage.

Amity took a fortifying breath, seeing the grand gate wide open, all but a veil of blueish magic separating the world inside from the one she knew her whole life.

As soon as she passed the perimeter wall, passed the magic, she would be on the grounds and whatever fate awaited her would be inescapable. Bitting her lip, Amity glanced around, she didn't see anyone, not a sign of green hair anywhere.

She didn't think her siblings would show up to greet her.

But she did hope they would.

She secretly sent them a letter, telling them when she would be arriving, she knew it was a long shot, despite writing to them, they never wrote back, yet she would really appreciate some support right now.

Spinning her finger, Amity drew on her magic, “Abomination Rise!” and summoned two large abomination golems to carry her things.

Now she just had to pass thru the gate and-

"Hey."

A sudden whisper made her freeze in place.

That voice came from directly behind her. Gulping, Amity glanced over her shoulder seeing..the carriage..

???

"Heyyyy.."

Her eyes traveled lower, following the voice and there-Amity had to blink to make sure she wasn't just imagining things-gold met cloudy gray.

Clinging to the underside of the carriage like a monkey, head only barely poking from underneath it, was a girl.

Chocolate skin, cloudy gray eyes with shining spots like stars, wild dark hair almost impossibly all over the place, the girl who must have been about the same age as her, looked around uncertainly.

"Is the air clear? Any hunters anywhere?"

Amity blinked several times, her mind only barely managing to keep up. She looked around again, not spotting another living soul, "Eh..no?" It came out more like a question and perhaps that was the reason the girl didn't seem convinced.

"Can I use one of the purple thingies as cover until we pass the gate?"

"Eh..sure?"

The girl didn't wait a second, somehow propelling herself from underneath the carriage, ending up next to Amity, half crouched behind one of her golems, perfectly hidden from the men manning their ride.

"That will be all,” One of the men spoke up, “ I would suggest not to linger here, it isn't uncommon for certain individuals to lay in wait around here, hoping to snatch someone before they get in." Almost before he finished speaking, the man commanded the horses to move, driving off at a dazzling speed.

Amity, needing no further indication that she shouldn't linger here, broke into the fastest walk possible.

Her golems and the mystery girl dutifully following behind her.

Step by step they were closing in.

And then..

They passed underneath the grand archway, blue magic washing over them and they were on the other side.

Amity blinked.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

"YEEEES!"

Amity nearly jumped out of her skin, letting out a high pitched scream she was not proud of.

The girl behind her jumped up in jubilation, grinning like a loon.

"I GOT IN!"

She sounded like she really didn't believe her luck.

And before Amity could do a thing, the girl turned to her, dashing towards her, hugging her and then promptly throwing her into the air.

Five feet high, no..ten feet.

That was embarrassing scream number two.

She fell down only for the girl to catch her and was about to throw her again when Amity began fighting back. "Per-per-per personal space, personal space!"stammered Amity, trying to free herself with absolutely no success.

The girl blinked, seemingly coming to her senses, "OH! Right! Sorryyy..I was just happy.." she deposited her on the ground.

"No throwing!" Amity was backing away, her entire face aflame. Her normal eloquence and etiquette buried and forgotten

"Yea...sorry..I apologize.."

Once enough distance, five feet, was established, Amity started pulling herself together and just in time.

"Could you be less loud, you pricks, as if it wasn't enough of a punishment to be stuck here!"

Both girls turned, seeing that just past the blue barrier, was a small booth with a window, built into the perimeter wall, where a very annoyed sounding woman was just lifting a book from her face.

She threw a look at them both, looking equally unimpressed.

"Sor-"

"Don't want to hear it bitch, you two got papers or not?"

That sent Amity into motion.

She pulled out a letter of recommendation from her blazer and hesitantly handed it to the irritated woman.

When one arrived at the Academy, they could either go thru a process of identification, where the staff found out what they were, their story and that they weren't wanted for too many murders..or if one had a letter, stating who they were and what they were, they could avoid that song and dance.

The woman snatched the letter from Amity's hand, tearing it open and quickly reading it.

Leaving Amity a moment of peace to really look at her, which immediately made her a bit wobbly on her feet.

There were horns at the top of her head..straight horns, starting at both sides of her head right where her forehead ended.

This woman was a demon.

Amity took a small unconscious step back.

She read up on demons, or well..tried to, besides the Academy, there weren't that many books talking about them available. Not credible ones anyway.

Amity wanted to do her best avoiding demons..and angels for that matter, if she could. Everything that could be considered an extremely powerful being was to be avoided. That idea sure failed immediately..

At least she had straight horns and not curled ones, curled ones could mean succubus and every single book she read said to avoid succubi like the plague, some even said the plague was preferable.

The books never really explained why..which made it even more terrifying.

"Ah, an itty-bitty witch, from the 'Blight noble family' no less..how...fancy, you like your siblings?" The woman glanced up at her, her face neutral and emotionless.

Amity swallowed heavily, "I ehm..apologize for any trouble they may have caused.."

The demon woman lifted one eyebrow.

...

...

Before snorting and breaking the tension, "So not like your siblings, how very boring, but hey..who knows how you adjust...and you.." the woman looked at the girl standing beside Amity, pausing.

The girl smiled, but her face was otherwise expressionless, previous happiness gone as if it was never there. "No papers..sorry.."

The demon lady didn't say a word, leaning away. "No shock there.." she then glared at the stormy-eyed girl.

Amity looked from one to the other, it almost seemed as if there was some sort of battle of wills happening right before her eyes.

Seconds dragged, until eventually, it was the demon that looked away first, turning to Amity.

"Go to Professor Clawthorne, both of you, she will sort you out, second underground level, ask around if you are not smart enough to find it by yourselves..now scram," then she threw Amity's letter of recommendation back at her.

The witch only barely caught it.

But despite the dismissal, the demon wasn't yet done with them, "And Blighty..make sure this one doesn't go out of your sight, if she does, scream as hard as you can."

Amity blinked.

Only for the girl beside her to scoff, "I don't intend to start any trouble, I want to stay here."

"Yea, and I trust you," retorted the demon sharply.

The girl rolled her eyes, turning to very nervous Amity, showing the demon her back in the process, "Let's go find this Professor Clawthorne.."

Amity felt like she was caught in between a rock and a hard place.

She glanced at the demon, but as the girl was already walking off, Amity followed.

Catching up she could hear the girl was muttering to herself.

"Behaving like that..who does she think she is..treating us like that..we just fricking arrived.."

The girl came to a sudden stop, Amity nearly walked right into her.

Then she spun to face her, "Sorry about that, I kinda..dragged you into it, I promise I won't start any trouble..I really just want to stay here.."

Amity nodded, because that was the only response she could come up with at the spot.

The girl moved to walk beside Amity instead of in front of her.

And like that they continued through the school.

Amity couldn't quite appreciate the architecture as she was preoccupied by the enigma next to her.

The archways, great halls and shimmering magic was as much as none-existent, her mind concentrated fully on the stormy eyes and their owner.

This girl was someone dark, right?

She must have been otherwise the demon lady wouldn't send them both to the ‘second underground level’ aka dungeons, aka..the dark part of the school.

Unlike Amity, the girl wasn't wearing her uniform, hell, what she was wearing her mother wouldn't even consider clothes..the fabric was so tattered, Amity was unsure if it was an extremely large shirt, well several shirts as there was a lot of overlap..or just linen the girl wrapped around herself.

She was wearing pants, ripped, extremely loose pants.

Now that Amity calmed down a bit..this girl looked like a homeless vagrant..

Not that Amity cared for status that much.

"Do you have any idea where to go?" Amity froze as the girl addressed her. They now stood in what looked to be the main hall, with several beings walking around, ignoring them.

"Well..the demon lady said..second underground floor so.." Amity pointed to one of the stairways leading underground.

The vagrant girl hummed and led the way. Amity walked behind her, making sure her golems were still following them, carrying her things for one..but..providing protection if she needed it.

The two of them wandered for a bit, before finding yet another flight of stairs leading deeper.

Amity hesitated, the underground was dark..like..really dark..

There were torches lining the walls, but most of them weren't lit. There were all sorts of beings milling around them, looking totally unbothered by the pitch black darkness.

So she walked forward, not wanting to look different.

Immediately regretting it as she stumbled, not seeing that there was one more step on the stairs then she expected.

"Ah-!"

The vagrant girl moved so fast it almost made Amity's head spin, catching her. "You okay?"

Amity internally cursed..and thanked the all encompassing darkness, it made her stumble, but at least it was hiding the shade of her face.

"Ye-yeaa.."

The other girl let go of her..and they continued walking in silence. There were quite a lot of people around, some conversing, but Amity was too busy trying not to stumble again to pay proper attention to them or listen in to what they were all talking about.

Similarly, her companion was silent, not looking particularly interested in looking around.

Amity would have liked to observe the girl a bit more, she was..interesting..but the only thing she could add to the rugged clothes and her physical description was the embarrassing fact that the girl actually smelled really nice.

Weird for an apparent vagrant.

Amity really did not mean to smell her..she was no pervert..but as she fell and was spared the broken nose, she inadvertently caught a whiff of the girl.

"There..Clawthorne.."

Amity jolted almost painfully, looking beside her, the girl was pointing somewhere into the darkness.

It was only after a few steps through the dark corridor in that direction she could piece together a plaque at the side of the heavy wooden doors. Coming even closer she could read what was written on top, 'Professor Clawthorne' followed by another, 'Professor Clawthorne' directly underneath it.

"Oh, we were searching for one..we found two.." Laughed the girl rubbing the back of her head, before turning to Amity, "Do you think they are married or something?"

Amity blinked,"Ehm..I don't know..probably.." then thought of another option, "or..or they could be siblings.."

"Ohhh..right," the girl nodded. "Or! They could be like a single being, with two distinct personalities.."

Amity frowned, "I never heard of such a being, plus..if they were two Distinct-"she put emphasis on the word"-personalities wouldn't they want different names?"

The girl hummed, "Yeaaa...maybe..maybe they have two different names..but only first names."

Amity felt herself smiling, but her slightly rugged friend wasn't yet done.

"Or it's like a one being, but with two heads, kinda like a Cerberus..but with only two heads...and less dog more human like.....altho..maybe dogs can be professors around here..can dogies be professors around here? I like dogs."

Amity's mouth twitched, "I mean...I don't know, I just arrived..like you.."

The girl shrugged, "Yea, but you look smart and you are a noble."

Amity would blush if she wasn’t already, this girl was something else, Amity rubbed the back of her neck, "Ehm..I don't really know that much, you can't really get reliable books on magic and stuff, they are closely guarded."

The girl hummed, "I see, well..I also," she then shook her head, seemingly shaking that line of thought away. "Lets knock and find out.."

Amity nodded, adjusting her uniform while the girl knocked on the doors.

*Knock knock knock*

...

*Knock knock knock*

...

"Maybe they are out?"

"No..there is someone inside."

Amity had no clue how the other girl could tell..but she didn't comment.

The girl knocked harder, making the doors rattle in their frame. *KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*

There was a very loud and agitated groan from behind the doors, followed by, "Whaaaaat?! Go away!!"

The two of them looked at each-other.

"We were sent to find Professor Clawthorne, we are new here!"

A beat of silence.

"She is not home, fuck off!"

Amity gulped, she really didn't like this, the last thing she wanted was to defy something a demon told her to do.

"So you are not Professor Clawthorne??" The girl appeared wholly unshaken by the dismissal of whoever was on the other side of those doors.

There was silence.

"No!"

"Oh Okay, so we should return to the demon lady at the gate and tell her we found the office but no 'Professor Clawthorne'?"

...

*EAUUUUUUUGFH*

There was a very..very loud groan, before the doors shot open and were about to hit Amity and at the very least break her right arm, when the cloud-eyed girl caught them, halting them mid swing.

Amity gulped, whispering a thank you, before glancing inside the room, already apprehensive about going inside.

Unlike the hallway, the office was lit, sparsely, but still. It was enough for Amity's eyes, which were a bit better than human eyes, to adjust and see just fine.

Professor Clawthorne, if it was indeed her, looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here, doing anything but this.

"What do you want?!" She barked, very clearly wanting to get rid of them as fast as possible to return to her nap..if the legs on the desk were an indication to what she was doing before they arrived.

The girl next to Amity narrowed her eyes, "We are new, so whatever it is that new people get, a room..for starts.."

Amity silently nodded along.

She felt so out of her fucking depth.

For one, she was used to being very nice to her teachers..but this teacher did not feel.. very teachery to her.

Professor Clawthorne groaned again, letting them know just how much they were bothering her. She had an insanely wild mane of white hair, which was entangled like a bird's nest...but there was something else Amity suddenly noticed..slightly pointed ears. 'Is she a witch too??'

"You aren't going away unless I help you huh??" The woman got up, making sounds as if she was dying and glaring at them as if they were solely responsible for it, she walked to a wall, opened it with a wave or her hand and looked around the keys inside, "ehhhh..ehhh..this one should do," she took the key, throwing it roughly in their direction,"your room..you are sharing and shit, now get the fuck out."

The two of them looked at each-other, both clearly bewildered by the development.

"Are you two deaf?! OUT!"

The two of them backed out of the office, the doors loudly swinging closed behind them.

"hmh," the girl nervously looked at the key in her hand, it was the first time she seemed genuinely caught off guard, "sooo...that happened..are you okay with.." she pointed at herself.

One hundred and one thoughts sailed through Amity's mind.

But two were the most important, one..she had no fucking clue what this girl was, but she didn't have horns and her hair was too short to hide them..meaning she wasn't a demon, nor was she pale enough to be a vampire, Amity met a werewolf in the past and they always retained a bit of hair on their bodies, even when in human form, this girl didn't have any hair.

And two, she just wanted to go to her room and be done with it, the idea of going back in and asking for two rooms..no..just..no..

Plus...Amity looked away, not meeting the girl's gaze as her mind went through some 'other' thoughts.

"Yea..it's okay.." She murmured.

In her periphery she saw the girl beam, looking surprised and happy,"Okay..ehm..thanks..I really..." she swallowed, "Anyways..lets find 'our' room okay?"

She then looked around, as if she was searching for an arrow which would point her in the right direction.

"Hey you! Where are the dorms!?" The girl ran off, in the process of finding their room, leaving Amity to stare at her.

Huh..

It sucked her siblings didn't show up, but at the very least this girl looked really happy to share a room with her..that was...something..

"Come here! I found the way!"

Amity couldn't help a small smile as she jogged to catch up, whatever this girl was..she was certainly fast.

The golems carrying her things in tow behind her, Amity walked next to her..friend? She cleared her throat, "If we are going to room together, we should introduce ourselves..I am Amity Blight," skipping the rest of her supposed titles, Amity extended a hand, which the girl accepted with a boyish grin.

"Luz Noceda!"