Chapter 5: The Other Wielder

Knock! Knock!

Isabella heard Kelsey groan from her side of the dorm, and out of the corner of her eye, watched as she put her pillow over her head when a knock came to their door. It was the weekend, and, as Isabella had quickly come to find out, her roommate had a habit of sleeping in even later than she did.

Knock! Knock!

Kelsey groaned in irritation again when yet another knock came. Isabella, already up and having gotten dressed as quietly as she could, headed over to the door, putting a finger to her lips when she opened it.

Apple and Raven stood out in the hall, at first appearing confused and stepping back to allow Isabella to come out into the hallway.

"Morning, Raven. Apple. What's up?" She finally spoke after carefully closing the door to her dorm.

"Morning, Isabella." Raven greeted her back. "Sorry, did we wake you?"

"Not me, but Kelsey's still asleep." Isabella explained.

"At this hour?" Apple took out her phone to look at the time.

"Yes." Isabella replied flatly. "I myself just got up about thirty minutes ago."

"You two should really rise with the sun."

"You tell that to your friend Briar?"

"No, but she's always up-"

Raven put a hand over Apple's mouth to cut her off.

"Actually," She began, "we were wondering if you or Kelsey might have a spare mirror Apple could borrow. Hers is broken."

Isabella rose a brow.

"How did that happen? Did she sing too high of a note and shatter it?" She asked while crossing her arms and leaning up against the wall casually.

Apple giggled, Isabella's jibe clearly going over her head.

"No, I just went to go borrow some jewelry from Briar, and when I came back, my mirror was busted." She explained. "So, you wouldn't happen to have a spare, would you?"

"I'm sorry, but unfortunately I don't, and I doubt Kelsey does either." Isabella apologized. "Is having a mirror so important?"

Apple opened her mouth, holding up a finger.

"Don't answer that." Isabella quickly shut her down, not in the mood to hear a perfection spiel from her. She then sighed. "Look, if it's so important, I can lend you two a hand and help you find someone that does have a spare mirror."

"Would you?" Raven looked relieved by the offer.

"Sure. I could use something else to do while waiting for Kelsey to get up." Isabella came away from the wall. "Let's go."

The three of them tried Briar first. While she did have a spare mirror, it was a compact one, with Raven snapping it closed and handing it back to her. Then came Blondie Lockes, who, in typical fashion, had a hard time deciding which one would be "just right", driving them to walk away. After her was Daring Charming, with Isabella crossing her arms and rolling her eyes when he kept checking himself out in his handheld mirror.

They were heading down one of the hallways in which some of the classrooms were located when Isabella paused just outside of the Muse-ic room, the sound of someone playing piano reaching her ears. Of course, she'd heard it when walking down the hall, but now that she was closer, she could hear just how soothing the melody being played was.

Curious, she peered into the room. At first, she didn't see anyone, prompting her to step inside until she was able to see a boy seated at the grand piano. He had shoulder-length black hair, with long bangs running along the right side of his face, partially covering his right eye, though from where Isabella was, she couldn't see what color it was, and wore what looked like a long, black cape.

It was clear that he was entirely focused on what he was doing, as he seemed to have not even noticed her intrusion...

That was, until she bumped into one of the sheet muse-ic stands that were set up all about the room, causing it to fall over with a loud crash.

Isabella flinched, the boy immediately ceasing to play.

"Sorry! I-I'm so sorry!" She apologized, feeling her cheeks burn with embarrassment. She quickly went to pick up the sheet muse-ic stand, instinctively lifting her head to look at the boy once she did and finding him staring at her. "I-I just ... that was beautiful, what you were playing."

The boy said nothing. Isabella gave a nervous laugh, fumbling with the stand a bit, leading to it falling over again. She mentally cursed her current clumsiness, swiftly going to pick it up again...

"You okay?"

Isabella squeaked upon hearing the boy finally speak right as she was standing up straight - and in a rather soft, easy-going voice too.

The stand fell out of her grasp once more.

"I, uh..." She struggled to formulate words, losing her voice when the boy came walking over and picked the stand up for her.

He fixed it to where it was back in its original position.

"There we go." He said, then met her gaze, allowing her to see two strikingly beautiful, bright yellow eyes.

What was more was that she immediately sensed something about him.

Isabella quickly snapped herself out of her trance, tugging at a lock of her hair.

"Sorry." She said timidly, suddenly finding interest in the polished floor beneath her feat.

"No need to apologize." The boy replied. "You really liked that melody, huh?"

Isabella nodded.

"It's really beautiful."

"Thanks, I've been working on it since before the school year started."

"Wait, you wrote it?" Isabella gasped, looking up in her surprise to find the boy smiling.

"Sure did."

"That's really cool."

"Thank you." The boy said again with a soft chuckle. "Say, I recognize you from rehearsals. Isabella Gardens, right?"

"That's me." Isabella replied shyly.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Chev Bogs."

Isabella was once again hit with another wave of surprise.

"You're Chev?!" She exclaimed, standing up straighter.

Her outburst appeared to have taken Chev aback, as his eyes widened for a moment.

"You've heard about me?" He asked, then suddenly sulked a bit with a frown. "Let me guess, someone told you I'm evil."

"Wha - no! I was talking to Raven Queen the other day and she mentioned that you were the other Keyblade Wielder-"

"Wait, other Keyblade Wielder?" Chev interrupted. "What do you mean by that? As far as I know, I'm the only one who can-" He cut himself off when Isabella flashed him a small grin, appearing to catch on to the meaning behind it. "Wait ... are you ... able to wield one too?"

Isabella answered with a nod and summoning her Keyblade as proof.

Chev stared at it, his mouth slightly agape.

"I don't believe it..." He said in almost a whisper. He began to reach out, yet stopped short. "What did Raven say?"

"She only mentioned you by name when I asked if she knew you. You see, Headmaster Grimm was the first to mention you when I first got here. Said you could use a good push in the wrong direction."

"Of course he did..." Chev looked away much like Raven had a habit of when the subject of her being "evil" came up.

Isabella took notice of it, proceeding to ask as she dismissed her Keyblade despite putting the pieces of the puzzle together, "What did he mean by that?"

Chev heaved a long sigh.

"I'm the son of Chernabog, from Slavic myth." He answered.

Isabella blinked.

"You're a myth?! I mean, my roommate's from Arthurian Legend, but I wasn't expecting a myth to be here as well ... then again, Madam Yaga's supposed to be from the Slavic folklore, isn't she?"

"You know about Slavic folklore and myths?" Chev asked with mild surprise.

"Yeah, I do, though admittedly, my knowledge is limited. I do know of your dad though."

Chev sulked again upon her mentioning it.

"I-I didn't mean anything by it!" Isabella quickly spoke. "I can tell that you're not evil."

"You can?" Chev asked.

"Hex yeah she can."

Raven's voice suddenly sounded from the doorway, with her walking in the room once she had both Isabella and Chev's attention.

"She's the daughter of the Enchantress, of course she would be able to tell. She can sense such things." She continued, speaking fondly as she came to stand next to Isabella and placing a pale hand on her shoulder. "I would have introduced the two of you sooner, but it slipped my mind."

Isabella smiled at her, looking back at Chev. He had perked up, appearing to believe what Raven had said.

"Well this is a nice surprise." He remarked. "I'm so used to most people automatically assuming I'm evil just because of who my father is."

"I can relate." Raven agreed. "Since we're here, I don't suppose you might have a spare mirror Apple could borrow, or perhaps know someone who does?"

Chev raised a brow at her.

"Oh, yeah. Something happened to Apple's mirror that caused it to break. We've been going around seeing if anyone else has a spare she can borrow. Haven't had any luck so far." Isabella explained, tugging at a lock of her hair again. "Sorry, Raven. I kinda got distracted."

"It's alright. Can't blame you, really. Chev's arguably one of the best musicians at the school - if not the best." Raven waved off Isabella's apology.

"I think Sparrow Hood would argue against that." Chev said.

"Who's Sparrow Hood?" Isabella asked.

"Robin Hood's son." Raven replied. "And please, all he can do is play guitar. You can play virtually any instrument you get your hands on, and that's not taking into account your singing voice."

Chev rubbed the back of his neck at that.

"You're exaggerating."

"Says the guy who wrote an entire symphony last year on his own for the school talent show. Even Headmaster Grimm was impressed despite it not being 'evil'."

Chev's cheeks reddened a bit, the cape that was draped around his shoulders suddenly moving-

No, that was wrong, as Isabella quickly realized. What she thought had been a cape were actually wings that began to spread out from behind Chev.

"You have wings." She stated.

"Hm?" Chev glanced behind him. "Oh, you thought I had on a cape, didn't you?"

"Maybe." Isabella admitted.

"It's alright. A lot of people think that at first since I tend to keep them tucked around me." He kept his gaze trained over his shoulder as if to make sure he wouldn't knock anything over as he spread his wings out, revealing how large they actually were. He then brought them back in, returning them to their original positions. "That's better. Anyway, you said Apple needs a mirror?"

"Do you have one?" Raven queried hopefully.

"Nope. Have you tried asking Blondie Lockes?"

"Yep. She was having trouble finding one that was 'just right', and we didn't feel like waiting around all day."

"Can't blame you there." Chev thought for a moment. "What about asking Marnin? He's probably got one in stock."

"Of course!" Raven's eyes lit up. "Thanks, Chev, I owe you one!" She began to hurry out of the room, grabbing Isabella's left wrist as she did so, only to pause. "I don't suppose you know where he might be?"

"Where else would he be? It is the weekend, after all." Chev waved his left hand, causing a bunch of papers to come floating toward him from where he had been at the piano. "I'll go with you, if you'd like. I could use a bit of a break." He focused on Isabella, smiling. "And I'd like to talk with you some more, Isabella."

Isabella smiled back.

"So would I." She replied.

Author's Note: Interesting what you can dig up when you research what some Disney characters are based off of. In this case, it's Chernabog, arguably my favorite Disney villain, who was based on the Slavic god of chaos and darkness of the same name (spelled Chernobog), if my research is accurate. Probably gonna look more into the mythology more when I get the time. Anyway, yeah, I really wanted to make an OC that was his son.

Credits: Parts of the chapter were written based on the episode "True Reflections".