Magnus was confused. There were questions he had about this world that he had yet to find answers to. It was natural, he guessed. He'd only been in this world for about four days.

He shuffled and tidied up the papers covered in unintelligible script on his desk, placing it down in the dim light cast by the setting sun outside the window. It was past five in the evening, and most of the staff had already gone home, leaving him alone in the staff room.

Neinhart had tasked him to handle the new sports equipment earlier that day, and that's how he'd spent all his time after his classes. He was done with the task now, and was beginning to feel the signs of tiredness upon his shoulders. Rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the fatigue, he left the school grounds for the apartment he shared with Hilla.

It's still hard to swallow, the fact that he had to share a living space, and a rather small one at that, with the witch he so sorely despised. She got on his nerves, calling him an assortment of names so colourful, he couldn't quite remember all of them. She didn't even bother trying to be nice to him at all, even though they were thrown into this new situation.

Magnus' fists clenched unconsciously. What in the name of the Transcendents had he ever done to her? He hardly recalled interacting with her, much less getting on her bad side. So why was she so bloody hostile?

He could've sworn that they had more in common than they had in opposition. He hated the adventurers and heroes with a passion, as did she, and they were both rulers of their own worlds. In fact, they were pretty happy, ruling their territories with iron fists.

…

…

…

…was he? Was he really happy, ruling over Heliseum the way he did? With that green-haired lizard boy at his beck and call and his other subordinates always cooped away in their own rooms? Did he really enjoy his reign of terror and chaos over the land he killed the late Kaiser with his own hands for?

Magnus sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Looking around, his feet seemed to have taken him to a nearby park instead of his intended destination. With nothing else to do, he sat down on a bench and let his mind continue to wander.

If he had to be honest with himself, no, he wasn't. At least not anymore. Perhaps, a hundred years or so ago, he would have languished in the fear and terror his name struck into hearts. But now, as an incredibly lonely person with no actual friends to speak of with a citadel almost completely devoid of life under his rule, he just felt hollow.

On hindsight, the one taking the sudden change hard was most likely Hilla. He had wanted change, pretty much welcomed his new life in this odd, alien dimension even though it was a little difficult for him, with the alien writings and all. She most likely hadn't.

He hadn't had much to lose to begin with, a life of isolation and hatred with an empty home, all of which he'd gladly traded over for a second shot at life. Hilla on the other hand had endless power, eternal beauty and a colossal palace in the sands she had sacrificed all the people in Azwan for. That was everything she had ever desired, and that was all she needed to be happy in her life as a ruler over a city of dead. She never wanted to give it all up like she did, and he figured that she had to be incredibly upset on top of everything else.

He had to confess, he didn't hate Hilla. She was pretty, though her makeup was rather excessive. She's been looking better in this world since she didn't have access to any makeup. Heaven forbid if she does get her hands on a bucket or two of the stuff again.

Her clothing choices had improved, though being that he was the one talking about it, there wasn't much merit to the statement. Hilla used to wear nothing but scraps back in Maple World, which honestly left absolutely nothing to the imagination, not that he hated it or anything. But it was the same thing day in, day out. He could only admire the same outfit so many times. There was so much more variety in her clothing choices in this world. He did quite like the wooly white sweater he saw her wearing under her white coat during lunch that day. And with her brilliant red hair done up in a bun, it really drew attention to her warm, amber-honey eyes…

AHEM.

Right, then, Magnus concluded hastily. He should probably try to be nicer to Hilla. Not like he liked her – he definitely didn't, yep, for sure – but maybe so they could achieve some kind of truce between them. It would be nice to live peacefully without having to be on tiptoes around one another, especially since they live together. Who knows, maybe he could even be friends with her one day. Though, chances were incredibly slim, if you asked him.

With that settled, Magnus got up off the bench. He decided to pick up something from a store for dinner and maybe make peace with Hilla over that.

He couldn't read, but he knew what a tasty-looking meal looked like. He'd bought two servings of what the waitress at the cafe called macaroni and cheese and set that out on the table along with the weird utensils people apparently ate with in this world. It smelled good enough to eat. He hoped it tasted good, too. Now, did the pointy one go on the left or the right…?

Now to call her out.

Cautiously, Magnus knocked on the door opposite his. He heard a soft ruffling sound coming from the other side.

"…yes?" Hilla's sleepy, confused voice reached his ears.

"Uh… would you like to come out?" Magnus asked, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I bought dinner."

"Oh," Hilla said. "Sure, just give me a few minutes, I guess."

Magnus and Hilla sat across from one another, awkwardly eating their macaroni in silence. Magnus had wanted to start a conversation, but all the words seemed adamant to lodge themselves in his throat.

"So, how was your first day of work?" Hilla asked, softly. She hadn't bothered to look up, choosing instead to focus on her dinner.

"Uh, it was okay," Magnus stammered. "A lot of sports equipment to be sorted and stored, nothing exciting."

"Oh."

"…yeah."

And once again, awkward silence took its place in the room.

"So… what about you?" Magnus all but forced himself to ask.

"It was okay," Hilla responded quietly. "I saw Arkarium around today. Didn't expect to see him and that snake of his in this world too."

"At least this Arkarium isn't so inclined to feed us to Nagini than the other one did," Magnus joked weakly.

Hilla cracked a small smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

The awkwardness now somewhat at bay, Magnus and Hilla continued to talk a little more, and Magnus felt a little more hope in his heart. Maybe this would work out after all.

…

"What do you mean I DON'T NEED MAKEUP?"

…maybe not so much.