[Discontinued*] The Darling Princess [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

🥀 Chapter 26

A/N: I didn't post yesterday, so you lovely readers get two chapters today! Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading, commenting, and voting on this story, it means a lot to me!

It took a little while for the boys to wrangle Grim back into the school. It took all three of them to prevent the little furball from setting off some unpleasant explosion out in the courtyard, and now that he was back inside, happy with the prospect of food, the three of them sank into their chairs, breathing out in relief that they had managed to avoid disaster. The incident involving the broken chandelier was not one that they wanted to repeat, especially so soon after having narrowly avoided expulsion.

"It's finally lunchtime," Grim cheered, pumping his tiny fist into the air. "Everything looks so good here!"

Grim and Yuu headed over to the line to get their food, a tired Ace and Deuce sluggishly trailing behind them.

"Pretty amazing that they have a buffet here," Yuu muttered, helping himself to some food. 

"Fluffy omurice," Grim exclaimed. "Grilled chicken and bacon egg tarts!"

"You're too loud! You're only this excited during lunch," Ace moaned, rubbing the side of his head as he felt a headache starting to form.

"Hey, hey, I want some grilled chicken! It's the last one. And omurice, too! Bread with jelly, too! Just take a bunch of everything!" 

From where she was sitting at a table with the Diasomnia students, Y/N could easily see her friends struggling with the hyper raccoon. It seemed that every time food was brought up, he would go absolutely bonkers, wanting to fill his bottomless pit with as much grub as he could. Y/N sighed and took a bite of her food, silently listening to the boys at her table. 

Sebek, was one she was already familiar with, as was Lilia, the pink and black-haired boy that she had encountered her first night here. Silver, on the other hand, was new to Y/N. He was a second-year and seemed to be of a quieter disposition than his fellow Diasomnia members. And finally, Malleus, the dorm head of Diasomnia. Y/N couldn't deny that she was slightly intimidated by Malleus at first, but she soon found him to be more of a cinnamon roll rather than a threat, especially when she discovered that he loved ice cream. 

Suddenly, a yell echoed around the cafeteria, and Y/N looked over to her friends to see that Grim had bumped into some Heartslabyul students. 

"Watch it," one of them ordered, kicking out his foot at Grim, who managed to dodge it at the last second. The small raccoon scampered up into Yuu's arms, shivering with fear. 

Y/N was about to get up from the table to go and give the bullies a piece of her mind, but a hand on hers made her pause. Lilia had taken her hand and was shaking his head.

"Don't. They have to deal with this by themselves, beastie."

Y/N bit her lip and glanced over at her friends, but nodded and lowered her body back down onto the bench next to Silver. But she didn't stop watching. 

"'Cause of you, the egg in my pasta broke!"

'Is that really worth getting upset about,' Y/N thought, clenching her hand around the fork in her hands. 

"Breaking the gooey egg is the best part of eating carbonara," the bully's friend said, glaring at Grim. "How do you plan to pay for this," the boy yelled.

The first boy reached over and grabbed Grim by the collar, pulling him out of Yuu's arms. He smirked at Yuu's loaded tray. "Hand over that grilled chicken as consolation and we'll call it even."

Y/N's fork was nearly broken at this point, and before anyone could stop her, she was storming over to where the group was standing. She had no idea what she was doing, nor did she know why she was so angered by this, but something in her had snapped.

"Lady Y/N," Silver called after her, not daring to get up. He slid to the end of the bench where Y/N had been sitting so that he could get a better view of what was happening. 

"No way," Grim yelled. "This is my chicken!"

"Not showing your senpai respect as freshmen," one of the older students snapped, glaring at the raccoon and raising his hand as if to strike him. "Why you little-"

Before his hand could even start to swing, a firm hand grabbed it, and everyone froze. Standing behind the ruby-haired student was Y/N, looking furious. Her eyes seemed to spark with golden light, and it seemed as if the same gold ran through her veins up to the muscles in her hands.

"Were you about to strike a younger student over food?" Her voice seemed to reverberate in the student's chest, sounding oddly distorted, as if someone was speaking with her. Her grip around the student's wrist increased in strength and a light breeze started to swirl around her. 

Though the boy was frightened by just how intimidating this girl was, he stood his ground, glaring back at her. His friend was the one who spoke, though. "He should respect us! We're older -"

Y/N moved like lightning, shooting her leg out and kicking the boy in the back of the knee, sending him to the ground. Grim flew out of his hands and ran back over to where his friends were standing, cowering behind Yuu's leg. Y/N grabbed the silver-haired boy by his locks, pulling his head back as she twisted the arm of his friend around behind his back.

"They say that you should respect your seniors," she said in a low voice. "But it would do both of you well to remember that respect is something that is earned. Not ordered."

"O-okay! We-we'll go!" They both made a move to try and escape, but Y/N held them fast. 

"I think you owe Grim an apology first."

The boys bowed their heads and muttered out their apologies. Y/N knew that she would get no more from the two of them, so she released them, along with her angry magic, and watched as they sprinted away to the other side of the cafeteria. Then, Y/N turned back to the boys. 

"I won't always come to your rescue, got it?" She turned to Grim. "And you have to make sure that you pay attention to where you're walking so that you don't get into these problems, okay?"

The boys all nodded and bowed, thankful that they hadn't had to deal with the two bullies, and they watched in silence as Y/N turned on her heel and headed back to the Diasomnia table. Silver moved back over, closer to Sebek, and allowed  Y/N to slide into her seat. Her eyes were normal once again, and she gently picked up her fork, spearing a small piece of food and bringing it to her lips.

The cafeteria went back to normal quickly, leaving Y/N to eat her meal in peace, without the stares of every student in the cafeteria.

'You shouldn't have done that," Lilia said softly, watching Y/N as she ate. "You won't always be there to save them beastie, and you have to let them get themselves out of trouble."

Y/n sighed and sat up a little straighter. "I know. But..." she trailed off. 

"I think she did what was necessary," Sebek interjected. "Everyone else was simply being a bystander to the issue. She was the one who stepped up and assisted."

Lilia sighed and nodded. "All right. I suppose that you have a point, Sebek." 

Suddenly, Y/N felt a presence in her mind and her eyes widened, her fork freezing halfway to her mouth. 

You must be careful with these powers of yours, Y/N.

Who are you, Y/N asked hesitantly, lowering her fork again.

You do not need to know my name yet, but you do need to know that the more you expose these powers of yours, beyond what your peers can accomplish, the more danger you put yourself in. People long for power, and you are by far one of the most powerful people at Night Raven College, if not the most powerful if you can successfully master your powers once again.

Once again?

The voice said nothing more.