First off I'd like to point out Twisted Wonderland (TW) doesn't have Christianity so there's no concept of heaven or hell, just the underworld and Tartarus. So the inhabitants won't say "what the hell" or "not today satan!" Replace satan with Hades and hell with Tartarus. I don't know if it's just a error or an oversight by the developers, but I'm gonna fix it in my story.
Crowley had led them to his office, nattering the whole way about his benevolence and genious . He then explained to them that they would stay in the old Ramshackle dorm where Grim would be a student and Mordred can earn her keep by doing janitorial work until he can figure out how to get her home.
She wasn't in a hurry to return to her home world. Don't get her wrong, Emma was a nice girl and her parents weren't too strict, but they weren't her family. She didn't have any family any more.
After that they were lead to a rundown house that looked like it came straight out of a Halloween kids movie. There were dead trees bordering the front lawn which was covered in gravestones that hadn't been maintained in a long time, some were even covered in weeds and vines.
Grim and Mordred turned in sync to look at Crowley, one eyebrow raised.
"Of course you'll have to do the repairs yourselves, but all supplies will be provided to you, as well as replaced appliances. Aren't I so generous~"
They shared a look, shrugged, and stepped through the gate and up to the door. Mordred turned the knob... only for the entire door to fall off its hinges due to rot. The door fell into the house with a heavy thud.
"...At least there's a roof?" She tried to think positively. Just then a loud crack of thunder rang out and it started pouring rain, revealing the holes in the ceiling.
"Ah man! I'm gonna get my fur wet! I can't loose my aesthetic." Grim griped. "Hey, what are we doing for din- where'd he go!?"
Indeed the Headmage had disappeared as they were looking in the building. Mordred just sighed. They entered the house and started to explore. The front room had a large couch and two armchairs covered in white sheets. A moth eaten faded grey rug sat between them all in front of a fireplace. There was no firewood , though there was a set of fire tools and a small axe to the left of it. Grim went to explore the kitchen while she stepped into the hallway.
She had only taken 3 steps when there was a loud noise. She paused before crouching down to take off one of her boots to use as a weapon. From the wall nearest her came 3 cartoonish ghosts.
"Ooo guests! We haven't seen anyone in forever!"
"The last people ran away screaming."
"It would be fun to have more ghosts to play with!"
At that moment Grim came to investigate the noise.
"What was that- G-G-G GHOSTS!" And he started throwing fireballs which caused the ghosts to scatter.
"Grim! Open your eyes when you're aiming!"
As the ghosts popped in and out of the room, Mordred would stab her stiletto into whichever one came near her while Grim shot more fire. They were both missing more than they were hitting. Mordred paused in her attacks and watched the ghosts, noticing a pattern.
"Grim! Attack where I tell you to!"
"Haa!? Don't tell me what to do human!"
"Do you want these ghosts gone or not?!"
Grim thought about it before growling out "fine. But just this once!"
It only took them about ten minutes before the ghosts yelled out "Screw this! Let's run before we're toast!" And then they fled.
"We did it! Man I was so sca- I mean those ghosts didn't scare me! Nope, not at all!" Grim exclaimed, changing his sentence when he glanced at her.
"You know courage isn't the absence of fear, it's acting in spite of your fear. And I think you were very brave just now."
Before they could celebrate Crowley appeared behind them. Mordred screamed and threw her shoe, which he caught.
"JESUS FUCK!" She cried
"I brought you both dinner, and some extras. Aren't I magnanimous?"
Grims fur fell flat as he forced himself to calm himself. "Thought you were those ghosts comin' back for round 2."
"Ghosts?"
"Yeah! But don't worry, I ran them off for ya."
"Hem-hem." She cleared her throat pointedly.
"And the human helped I guess..." Grim admitted mullishly. Crowley seemed intrigued,
"Would you mind too terribly if I observed your technique?" He asked as he handed her her shoe back.
"How? All the ghosts are gone."
"With this!" He pulled a vial out of his pocket, "A transformation potion!"
Mordred and Grim looked at the innocuous vial in slight wonder before agreeing to it. It didn't take long to take effect and before they knew it they were fighting a ghostly Headmage. The battle was harder than the 3 ghosts had been but they were able to get into a nice rhythm. After that the Headmage left them to their dinner with a promise to be back by 8am to give Mordred her duties and Grim his class schedule.
Once full, Mordred went to find a bathroom with hopefully a wash rag to clean off her makeup. Five minutes and a spray of ice water later she stared at her reflection. Where once stood an uncaring 16 year old now stood what seemed to be a 12 year old. Sometimes she really hated her baby- face. No one who saw it knew she was 16.
Moving back to the living room she found Grim searching the bag of supplies Crowley left behind.
"I doubt you'll find more tuna." She said bemused.
"Ya never know, he could-" he stopped as his head popped out of the bag. "...Did you get younger? I thought you didn't have magic?"
She rolled her eyes. "I never said that, but this isn't magic. I just have baby- face."
Grim squinted at her as if to see if she was lying. She just went over to the couch, removed the dust sheet and sat down to take off her boots. She laid down and Grim crawled on top of her. With how warm he was and the sound of the rain she was quickly lulled into a deep sleep.
