Work Text:
Cater lay flopped on his bed. He was utterly exhausted in every way possible. Physically, mentally emotionally. This last month had been rough. No that's not true, it hadn’t started out that way. He’d started out at the beginning excited. The student body at NRC had talked their headmaster into letting them hold a dance. A semi-formal party, officially to celebrate the end of finals.
They’d made a planning committee, and he’d been at the top of everyone’s list to head it. And so he’d taken the job with pride. He’d had a bit of help from other students. Trey was taking care of the food. Epel was helping him build and design some of the larger decorations. And a smattering of other students had volunteered to help decorate.
He’d even started to design his own outfit to wear for the special occasion. A notebook with designs lay on his desk, as a dress mannequin, was now shoved in his closet with nothing but a bit of fabric draped over it. Cater had long since given up on that idea. The closer it got to finals and to the party itself, the more and more people had backed out on him.
And the more and more work got put on his shoulders in Heartslabyul.
“Cater can you feed the flamingos for me, I have a date to get ready for.”
“Cater can you take care of these dishes for me, I forgot I have a group study session.’
“Cater can you…?”
“Cater can you…?“
“Cater can you…?”
The questions all started the same. Every conversation he’d had outside of class for the past two weeks started that way. And every one had been answered with “Sure,” or “Yes” or “I can take care of that!” with a smile.
But still, he had been fine, looking forward to the party
Then he had asked her to the dance.
Cater had been planning to ask Yuu to go with him, they were friends and both single. And she was fun enough to hang out with. Two bisexual disasters having a great time. But as more work got piled on him, his chances to ask her had become fleeting.
And then Vil had asked her to go. And she had said yes. It was then his heart felt like it was going to break. If they wanted each other who was he to stand in their way? He was happy for them he really was. At least that's what he kept forcing himself to say. Only when he was alone like this did he let the tears fall.
No one would be coming to check on him. Though technically he shared a room with Trey, the other was never there anymore. He spent his nights in Octavinelle, Jade shared a room with Floyd, but Floyd was often in Heartslabyul with Riddle. Giving both couples privacy. And Cater like always was left alone. Not that he’d have opened up to Trey. Part of him preferred the solitude. It meant less time he had to pretend to be ok.
That Cater drifted off into a fitful slumber, still dressed in his clothes from the day before, tears staining his cheeks. Cater Diamond had always been alone, and he always would be. He was foolish to think that would ever change.
---------------------------------------------
The day of the party was a blur for Cater. He was running around making sure everything was perfect. Just because he felt like shit, didn’t mean he could let his friends down. Everyone was looking forward to the dance, and he’d rather die than not come through. But as the crunch became stronger and stronger, more people dipped out to go get ready themselves and the ginger was left making more and more clones just to push to the finish line.
But he did it! A half-hour before the dance was set to start he sat slumped against a wall as he recalled all his clones. He smiled, he’d done it. Green eyes looked up to see Green hair. “Looks good. “ Trey smiled at him as he began delivering the assortment of treats, he was already dressed in his attire for the evening. Several other Heartslabyul students in tow. “But you lost track of time, you best hurry up and get back and change, or you’ll be late to your own party!” he joked with a smile.
“Yeah…silly me. I can’t ever keep track of time.” He smiled up at the other boy. Before hopping up. “I’ll get out of your hair.” before darting out of the gym. Another pair of eyes watching him as he went.
Trey just shook his head, wondering when if ever Cater would get his act together for real.
Thoughts of his friend quickly left his mind however as a dashing young eel who just happened to be his boyfriend made his way into the venue. Trey walked over and slipped his hand into Jade’s before giving him a kiss on the cheek. Jade’s mix-matched eyes took in the decor and a soft smile rested on his face. “It looks lovely.”
The green-haired boy just laughed. “Well if Cater knows anything it's how to throw a party.”
It was long before the dance hall was filled with students, all laughing and having a good time. About 3 hours in found Ace, Deuce, and Yuu sitting around a large round table, resting and eating the food the baker had so painstaking prepared. “This has been a great night.” Deuce stretched as he laid his head on the table.
Floyd appeared behind Ace and Deuce placing a hand on both of their chairs. “Snapper knows how to throw a party. Where is he? I wanted to tell em thank you. I got Goldfishie to dance with me half the night.”
Riddle sighed and took a seat himself. “I haven’t seen Cater all evening.”
“I haven’t either,” Yuu commented as Vil walked up handing her a drink. “Thank you.”
“He’s gotta be here somewhere.” Ace replied a bit bored. He spotted Epel off dancing with Jack. And grabbed Deuce’s hand. “Let's go have some fun.”
“Alright.” Deuce laughed as he took a sip of his drink before behind hauled off by the redhead.
Vil took one of the vacated seats as Floyd attempted to sit on Riddle’s lap only to have the other push him off into his own chair with a bit of a glare.
“If you’re worried about him, you might check magicam. I’m sure his page has exploded with everything. He’s probably off snapping pictures of everyone.” Vil smiled before taking a sip of his own drink.
“That's true.” Yuu laughed before pulling up her phone. Only to frown as she looked at the ginger’s account. “He hasn’t posted anything all week.”
Vil made a motion for her to hand him her phone. “You must not be looking at it right. I don’t think Cater knows how not to post.”
Yuu slid the actor her phone. “Vil’s right. There is no way Cater’s neglected his magicam page for a week. He’s more diligent with that than he is with his studies.” Riddle crossed his arms, speaking with a bit of annoyance.
Trey appeared with Jade right behind him as he set a selection of treats on the table before he and Jade settled in with the group. “How is everyone?” he smiled.
Vil was frowning as he handed back Yuu her phone and dug out his own.
“Wondering where Snapper is.” Floyd offered with a toothy grin.
“Last I saw him was right before things got started. He was heading back to our room to get ready.” Trey offered with a bit of shrug.
“Yuu’s right,” Vil lowered his own phone down. “Cater’s not posted all week.”
“Well then, maybe he finally took his studies seriously.” Riddle had a bit of a smile on his face.
“But that wouldn’t explain why he’s not here. Nor posting pictures. Party isn’t the same without him ya know?” Yuu offered, putting her phone away.
“Cater does always seem to make things livelier,” Trey admitted.
It was then that they all sensed a presence behind them as Crewel stood there with his arms crossed. “Normally.” he brought his whip up to the side of his face. “I don’t get involved in my pup's affairs outside of the classroom. But seeing as I’m chaperoning your little party.” he looked down at all of them with a disappointed gaze. “I will make an exception. But I must say if I were Cater Diamond, I would not want to be here, or near any of you right now either.”
“What.” Riddle’s face flushed a bit with anger, though even he wasn’t willing to yell at a teacher.
“You heard what I said.” Crewel placed his hands on his hips. “I’m truly disappointed in the lot of you. Given he calls most of you friend. “
“Why..why would you say that?” Yuu’s voice was trembling, and Vil placed an arm on her back as he stared at their teacher with a calculating gaze.
“You threw this assignment at him. A party that's a thinly veiled romantic event. Left him to do all the work. As he exhausted himself to please all of you. When I’m fairly certain he’s one of the few not in some kind of entanglement with another student. Then you expect him to still show up, and watch all of you dote upon one another. While he can barely keep an eye open? If you honestly expect him to be here, then you’ve not been paying attention to your so-called friend, and he needs to start surrounding himself with better people.” Crewel finished coldly before walking off leaving the table stunned.
“We should go find him,” Yuu whispered.
“Eh, if Crewel’s right he’s probably asleep.” Floyd shrugged
“I’m at least going to give him a call.” Trey pulled out his phone dialing it. But it went straight to voicemail. He frowned.
“Floyd’s probably right. If he did exhaust himself he’s probably just resting.” Jade tried to calm his boyfriend.
“I don’t know I’ve got a bad feeling.” Yuu held her hands together as she looked up at the group with her.
Vil stood and held a hand out to her. “Let's let the love birds enjoy their evening. We can search for Cater. I’ll ask for Rook’s assistance.”
“Really?” Yuu perked up and Vil nodded.
“Alright, let us know when you find him,” Riddle replied though his eyes were downcast. He hadn’t realized Cater had been burdened with most of the work for the dance. Cater had also taken on a lot of burdens around the dorm Especially because Trey had been busy preparing tonight’s menu. That he had finally had his eyes opened too. How could one person handle all of that workload? Even with his unique magic, it seemed like a monumental task.
“I’ll ask Ace and Deuce if they’ll help.” Yuu stood with Vil’s aid.
“I’ll go find Rook.” Vil smiled and they parted ways.
--------------------------------------------
Cater hadn’t been in his room. Nor anywhere in the dorm. An hour later they hadn’t found him anywhere. Riddle and Trey had joined the search as the party wound down naturally. It wasn’t till a spark of green light lit up the air over the track field that they had any luck at all.
The group came running from different directions. To find Malleus knelt down next to Cater who was curled in on himself. “Someone finally saw.” the dragon fae looked at the group.
“Cater!” Yuu cried out running forward, only for him to look up. His face looked almost twisted in two. One eye his normal green, The other side a deep sapphire blue. The slightest flicker of blue flame going in and out.
“No! Don’t.” He whimpered as tears fell, mixed with ink down his face. “Please I don’t…I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“I’ve been with him a little over an hour. I’ve had to feed him magic, he was dangerously low when I first found him. Like he’d been fighting for hours before I arrived. I tried to contact Lilia but I couldn’t get through. And I feared leaving him alone, so I tried the signal.” Malleus explained, as he once again gave the ginger a small piece of his magic.
“I…I didn’t…I didn’t want to ruin anything. But I did anyway. You’re here now.” Cater cried, and Malleus stood backing away sensing that the ginger had finally broke, as the ink coiled around his skin.
“I can’t help you anymore. Take care of him.” Malleus spoke before disappearing into a flurry of fairy lights.
“No No No.” Yuu cried as Vil held her back.
Riddle, Trey, Ace, Deuce, Rook, Yuu, and Vil all watched as the ginger emerged, floating in the air. A crystal tiara on his head, his right eye drowned in blue flames, as the left was covered in a latticework heeled shoe. They were otherwise squeezed tightly shut, as the ginger’s face twisted, clearly still trying to fight the overblot that had settled into him. A blue tattered dress flared out around him, as his feet were clad in crystalline glass heels. The phantom behind him seemed to be a large carriage in the shape of a pumpkin. Holding a massive reservoir of black ink. “Go, get away from me.” he cried out as his voice echoed across the field. “Please…I…I can’t.” his words were panicked as he screamed bringing his hands to his head as more ink flooded out.
“Cater.” Trey whispered as Riddle stood staring at their friend stunned.
“What are you'll standing around for.” Ace snapped before he fired off a spell in Cater’s direction. The ginger just screamed but didn’t retaliate.
“ACE,” Deuce yelled glaring at him. As what seemed like a wave of inky black mice, shout out from under Cater, heading towards the group in a swarm.
“No don’t!” he screamed reaching out.
It didn’t seem to stop them, as they descend on the group, and Riddle shot out a wave of fire, but they just kept coming.
“I hate to say it but Ace has the right idea. Whether or not he’s willing to fight back is irrelevant. If we don’t stop him, he’ll die.” Vil spoke firmly, as he sent out his own spell, a wave of water to push the horrid of vermin back.
“I SAID STOP” Cater screamed as a wave of energy shot out of him. “LET ME GO. I’M NOT WORTH IT.”
Yuu gripped her head, as Cater’s memories flooded her mind. Images of a small child being treated like a servant by his own family. Two older sisters who were doted on, spoiled rotten while he was cast to the side, burdened with all the work. Of the pattern repeating in NRC, if only because the ginger had been conditioned against saying no.
Riddle closed his eyes, he didn’t really want to fight Cater, not like this, but he didn’t have a choice. He knew all too well what would happen if they didn’t stop him, so he took a deep breath and steeled his gaze as he shot off a fire spell once more, aiming directly for his friend rather than the plague of mice at their feet.
Rook, Ace, and Deuce had taken to fighting back the vermin, as Yuu would occasionally step on one, only to squirm as it just melted into a pile of ink on the bottom of her shoe.
“We have to destroy the phantom,” Vil called out as Trey and Riddle raised their wands against Cater himself.
“I know that” Riddle snapped, but felt bad instantly. His nerves were high, and he knew Vil was just trying to help.
Cater turned to flee, but ink rose up from the phantom, sickly black vines to hold him in place. “No you can’t make me!” he screamed. “I won't hurt them! Let me go~! You can have me! But not them!”
“How is he still fighting,” Vil whispered, he remembered his own overblot, the pure anger, and rage that coursed through. He wanted everyone around him to feel that pain and misery. Though it didn’t stop him from casting another spell, a sickening feeling flowed through him as Cater cried out.
“NOOOOOOOO.” Cater let out an earth-shattering scream, as the fire in his eye burned brighter and blue eyes, were swallowed entirely in black. “HeheheheheHHAHAHAHAHAH!” he pulled against the vines, as they snapped. His face twisted into a terrifying grin.
“Cater,” Trey yelled before dozens of inky clones filled the ground.
It was then a ball of green fire blast across the field hitting Cater square in the chest. Descending from his broom, Lilia landed on the field next to them. “I’m sorry Cater. I came as soon as Malleus found me. Though it seems the situation is more dire than he described.”
The ginger didn’t answer as he held out his hand, and more inky black vines shot out, curling around the party. It seemed Cater Diamond had finally lost his battle for control. Riddle burnt the new vines away. “If he’s lost his will to fight, then we may be in serious trouble.”
“The blot has nearly consumed him.” Lilia’s voice was grave, betraying his real age. “If we don't save our friend soon there will be nothing to save.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”Vil declared, casting off another spell, but the ginger related by ripping a chuck on of the field out of the ground and sent it hurtling towards the group.
Trey reached out with his own unique magic just in time, to transform the chuck of earth into a swarm of moths, that flitted by the party before disbursing. “We’re going to be overwhelmed here soon.” he cried out as more inky black clones appeared.
“Riddle,” Lilia ordered. “With me. If we channel our magic together, we might be able to overwhelm him quickly enough.”
“Alright.” Riddle moved to stand next to the bat fae. Not willing to question him right now.
“I’ve seen what you can do. Leave naught but ash behind.” Lilia spoke firmly, as the pair rose their wands. “Everyone else get back.”
The ensuing fireball was brilliant, as green and red intertwined, and fire scorched the earth, disintegrating the mice and clones left in its path, before striking its main target, the phantom behind the overblot Cater. Another unearthly cry escaped his lips, but when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Cater’s limp body lay curled up on the ground.
He was surrounded in an instant, as Trey picked up his trembling body. Embers still surrounding him. “Cater are you with us?” the green-haired boy asked pleading.
“I’m sorry.” was the soft reply as tears streamed down his face. “I…I didn't…I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I didn’t want to ruin the party.” he muttered.
“You did good, you were so strong.” Yuu was crying as she spoke. “But you should have told us, told me. If I’d known, I’d never gone to that stupid party.”
“We should get Monsieur Magicam to the infirmary.” Rook crossed his arms a concerned look on his face. “Malleus’s assessment was right, his vitals and magic levels are dangerously low. We may have stopped his overblot, but he’s not out of the woods yet.”
Vil’s eyes darkened, he could tell Rook was…sugar coating wasn’t the right word, but he was certain things were worse than his friend was willing to express.
“I’ll take him.” Lilia effortlessly lifted Cater out of Trey’s arms before the other had a chance to protest. A moment later he and the ginger were gone with nothing but fae lights in their place.
“Let's go.” Vil held his hand out to Yuu. The girl nodded and slipped hers into his, This was going to be a long night it seemed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
It was a week before emerald eyes opened again. Though at the time Cater found himself alone in his hospital bed. It wasn’t like he expected anything different, as he stared at the ceiling. He’d gone and made a huge mess of everything. He’d ruined their evening that they’d all looked forward to. He’d be lucky if any of them ever talked to him again. But that was ok, the end of the years was quickly approaching and he’d be leaving NRC anyway. At least this way he could avoid the goodbyes and the promises to keep in touch that no one ever followed through with.
However, tears came to his eyes as he rolled his head to the side, and found several flowers, cards, and more than one stuffed animal sitting on a table next to his bed. Clear evidence that he had in fact had visitors. His phone was sitting there too. But he hesitated to pick it up, as the door opened.
He looked up to find find the figure of Professor Trein standing there. “Cater, it's good to see you awake.”
“Thank you, professor,” he whispered, as the man moved further into the room.
“I’m not here as your teacher today Cater.” The man settled down on the side of his bed. “You gave your father quite a scare, along with everyone else. And he asked me to check on you.”
“I…” he sniffed a bit. “I’m sorry. I screwed everything up.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Trein tried to sound encouraging. “You’ve been under a tremendous amount of pressure. I should have said something sooner. As it was Crewel snapped at your friends. Though I’m even grateful for that, or they may not have found you in time.”
“Uncle.” He hadn’t called the man that in years. They hadn’t associated with his father’s side of the family in ages, not after the man in front of him had insulted his mother. It must have been really bad if his dad had reached out to him. “Thank you, you can tell him I’m ok.”
“Hmmm” Trein eyed him a bit, knowing that wasn’t true. “Cater you almost died. If it hadn’t been for Malleus Draconia you would have. You are far from fine. I know your mother has made it difficult for you, but you need to speak up more, or next time there might not be something left to save.” he patted the boy's leg and stood. “But either way I’ll leave you be. Your friends will likely be by soon. Classes will be over soon.”
“Thank you…for checking on me.” Cater spoke softly before settling back into his bed and closing his eyes.
Yuu and Riddle were his next set of visitors. It seemed that they’d all taken turns checking in on him for the past week. Yuu burst into tears when they walked in and found him awake. “Hey don’t cry.” he tried to soothe her.
“You idiot.” she threw her arms around him.
Cater looked at Riddle in shock as he felt the girl’s arms around him. “Hey don’t worry I’m fine.” he smiled at her.
“Cater Diamond you are not fine.” Riddle scowled. “We’ve heard the doctor’s report. And we put the timeline together with Malleus’s help and figured you were struggling against turning for nearly 4 hours. It ate up so much of your magic, that Malleus kept you alive, by giving you some of his. But even with that, you were moments from dying. If Lilia hadn’t arrived when he did…”
“I just don’t want anyone to worry about me. I may not be fine now, but I will be, isn’t that sentiment enough?” Cater asked, as the smile still graced his lips.
“What Riddle is trying to say, is we are going to worry about you. We should have done more sooner. “ Yuu expressed as she pulled back, and Cater looked down a bit.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see how much pressure I was putting on you, that's true. I always thought it was Trey to took the brunt of everything. I had no idea what you were doing to support him, the dorm, and really the whole school in the background. “ Riddle took a deep breath and crossed his arms. “I’ve banned anyone for asking favors of you in the dorm until you can learn to say no yourself.”
“I what..” Cater’s eyes went wide. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Clearly I do.” Riddle raised an eyebrow at him as the ginger got a sheepish look on his face.
“We’ll make things better. I promise, we all will.” Yuu took his hand in hers.
“I…thank you.” Cater fought back his tears.
“Just get better.” Yuu smiled at him. “We’ll take care of everything else.”