Lucky Rabbit {Twisted Wonderland} [Various X OC]

Half a Student, At Least

(Who's ready for Super Long Exposition Chapter??? Yippeee)

The tired and battered group of teens made their way back to the mirror chamber, and surprisingly enough, Crowley was there to greet them. He strangely seemed just as surprised to see them as they did him.

"...Hm? And where were you all this late at night?"

The five blinked.

"The....the Dwarfs' Mine? You're the one who sent us, headmage." Was Deuce's confused reply. Crowley took a step back in shock.

"Pardon?! You're telling me you actually went to the Dwarfs' Mine in search of a mage stone?"

"Uh...? Yes?"

"And we succeeded." Yu gestured to the stone in Elle's arms.

"I demand hazard pay." She said bluntly, shifting the stone to better hold it along with the mug she had swiped from the abandoned cottage. Crowley did not look at her.

"I didn't expect that you'd seriously do it. And never in my wildest imaginings did I think you would actually return with a magestone! And here I spent all evening preparing your expulsion documents." Elle felt another headache coming on. There had to be a limit on how careless you could be. Guess it was time to play her cards, she decided.

From what she'd learned about Crowley thus far, she would have to completely corner him in order to get him to cough up enough money for her to be able to feed three people for a week. She still needed to be in his good graces though, otherwise he could use her pushback as an excuse to fire her, leaving Yu and Grim to fend for themselves.

Honestly, knowing Yu, he would probably quit and go with her, thus forcing Grim to leave as well. He was too selfless. Too caring. She could survive on the streets, but she didn't want Yu to have to deal with that. She also didn't want Grim to have his dream ripped away again. She would need to use everything she had at her disposal to make this work. Grim snarled from atop Deuce's shoulder.

"Are you serious?! While we were fightin' some crazy monster for you, you were expelling us?!" Elle quickly approached him to pat him on the head.

"Just Ace and Deuce, most likely. Yu and I don't have any paperwork, since we're from another world, and I don't think you do either, since you're a monster. Besides, we were never enrolled." Ace and Deuce turned to her in alarm.

"Wait, seriously?!"

"Why did you risk your life then?! You nearly died, you know!"

Elle ignored their shocked and worried expressions in favor of staring down the Headmage, who was staring back at her as if she had just suddenly blinked into existence. "Unless, of course, you were fabricating paperwork for the three of us in order to throw us out...?" A beat of silence, then a small grin formed on her face. "But...you wouldn't do that. You're kind after all, aren't you?" She said innocently.

Yu watched in awe as Elle blinked up hopefully at the headmage. Wasn't she afraid of him? That's what he had gathered from every previous interaction, at least. A small frown rested on his face as he realized that between this incident and their conversation at the mine, he really didn't know Elle that well at all. She was a very secretive person. Was she really as timid as she first appeared...?

...Wait, that isn't right. She wasn't timid at all when they met. That night, she was the one to take action and pull him away from Grim. She was the one who stood in front of him when Crowley first appeared. She was the one who snuck them off of the stage, and she was the one who planned an escape route when the fire started. It was only after everything settled down that she started to take a backseat. It was only when...