Chapter Text
Waking up in a coffin is such a weird experience. No one actually expects such a situation, so you definitely had to give yourself a break when you woke up in a pitch black, enclosed space, and promptly proceded to panic and kick the door (lid?) off, screaming murder and arson as your mind decided to replay a loevely montage of all the true crime documentaries you had ever watched.
In your defense, in your lived experience, no good ever came out of being stuffed into a coffin alive. Eyes wide open, hands aglow a bright pink, you whipped your head around frantically, searching for the perpatrator as you readied to defend yourself with your limited combat skills but somewhat trained abilities (using your powers to help out with chores counted as training right?).
Certainly, you weren't on the level of the Avengers or the X-Men, but when push comes to shove, you were pretty sure you could put up a decent enough fight, or escape.
That was to say, when a flaming cat loudly (and rudely) demanded you strip and give him your clothes, your first reaction was to throw him out the window and run, convinced you were now in some fucked up cult.
Ever since people realised magic was real, courtesy of Doctor Strange and his public endeavours (also, Loki), there had been an increase in the number of crazy cults all over the world, convinced they would become or find the next messiah or Merlin.
There was even a period of time where there was a whole ass epidemic of crazy cult leaders, and your city was even briefly held hostage, thrice.
So, that is to say, when a bird man appeared, flaming cat tied up with his freaky ass whip, booming about you being a new student and demanding you to stop running, your sixth sense for cult related crimes absolutely blared and you blasted an beam of energy at him before running away again, down the halls of what looked like a medieval but also semi-modern castle.
Seriously, what was it with cult leaders and their need for such dramatic aesthetics? Medieval was like, so last year.
You let out a startled and enraged squeak as you were suddenly levitated off the ground, and despite your attempts at escape (ie. blasting whatever you could in sighht before your hands were rudely bound and cuffed) by said evil cult leader bird man.
He sighed, shaking his head at you as you wriggled like an angry worm, protests muffled by an invisible sparkly gag?? It was like something was covering your mouth and holding you, but you couldn't see it except for a faint glittery sheen you assumed was magic. It had the same vibe as when Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch used their abilities.
"Dear me, of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with enough audacity to open their gate and run off. Does the very notion of patience elude you, young one?"
He sighed, shaking his head like a disappointed asian father, as your eyes widened in outrage at your kidnapper's audacity to criticise you.
The flaming cat was screaming as he was bound and similarly muffled by the evil bird man, and despite his slight pervy tendencies as he yelled at you to strip, you felt a wave of sympathy as you were both kidnapped by this absolute freak, who was now blabbering about his generosity and a Mirror Chamber.
You let out another muffled scream of rage, as he waltzed down the hallway to a set of giant, fancy, rich people doors - the kind where it was ridiculously (and unnecessarily) large and ornate.
He stood outside it dramatically as you continued wiggling around, probably to prepare for a classic villain dramatic entrance. Loki's attack had unfortunately brought on a wave of dramatic, monologuing wannabes.
You rolled your eyes, internally shitting on him.
You heard voices from outside the door, so you quietened downm trying to get whatever scraps of information you could. That's what one is supposed to do when kidnapped right? You wouldn't know, you had lived a decently anonymous life in your city in an attempts to hide that you were a mutant. The bright side of being an orphan is that you had no family drama to deal with! The dark side is, well, being an orphan, you supposed. But all things considered, you thought you did pretty okay!
You heard a smooth voice from behind the doors.
"Hey, does anyone know where the headmage went? He disappeared midway through the ceremony…"
You eyed the bird man with disdain. There was no way this man was in charge of literal students right? Was this man bringing around a whip? Did this school practice corporeal punishment??
God, you really hated cults…they were so messed up…
"Some headmage he is."
Preach it sister. Get his ass.
"Maybe he had a tummy ache?" Some guy said cheerfully. You certainly hoped he would have a tummy ache for the rest of his life.
Bird man gasped like an outraged maiden, kicking the doors open dramatically as he billowed in, cape fluttering behind him.
"I most certainly did not!"
The short, british sounding one nearby let out a soft scoff.
"Ah, speak of the devil."
Bird man tossed his head, beak mask pointed upwards as he continued on, "If you must know, I was searching for the new student who'd failed to show for orientation", gesturing upwards at my angry wiggly form, ignoring the flaming cat that was definitely getting some confused stares.
You widened your eyes angrily, hood (when did you get a new outfit?) long since fallen as you tried to signal to the possible other victims for help.
All you got were stares, a bunch of whispers, and you were pretty sure you heard people snickering, which - rude.
Bird man turned to you, gently lowering you to the ground as he removed the bindings and your gag, causing you to wobble as you shook your head, hands combing through your now tangled hair as you fumed silently.
"You - "
You interrupted him with a high pitched angry screech, causing the whole place to fall into shocked silence as you pointed aggresively at the stupid fucking delusional cult leader.
"Listen up you piece of absolute shit, how dare you kidnap me and try and inculcate me into your little freak ass cult. First you put me in a coffin, then your freaky ass flaming cat tells me to strip, and then you tie me up and gag me. And now you parade me amongst your other victims? What in the ever loving hell is wrong with you, you ball sacked bird bastard??! "
He stared at you, eyes glowing as his mouth fell open, as the hushed silence seem to grow around you. Even the flaming cat had fallen still, blue eyes wide and gazing at your angry stature, ears flattened against its head.
"Is this how you treat women here?! Fuck, this is why the birth rate is declining, because of ratty ass men like you", you continued ranting, feeling the rage of being shut up and ignored fester.
You heard whispers start up around you again as you glared at the bird man, shaking from your emotions.
"A girl? Why's a girl here?"
You turned to the direction of the murmurs and yelled, hands now aglow pink again as you waved them threateningly.
"You gotta problem with women dude?"
The cloaked guy (well, all of them were cloacked) shook his head frantically at your reply. You were pretty sure you heard someone say "holy shit" amongst the chatter, which had started up again after your rant.
Bird man stared at you, golden eyes squinted in confusion and maybe a bit of insult.
"A girl? In the entire history of our prestigious college, not once has a girl been chosen by the Dark Mirror. Was there some mistake?" He pondered to himself, somewhat ignoring you, causing you to twitch in rage.
Okay, so you were in a misogynistic, woman-hating cult.
That would make attacking them less of a blip on your conscience, you concluded, as your eyes started to glow pink, turning towards the headmage slowly like an ominous alien owl.
"Listen you ratty ass kidnapping freak - "
He snapped up towards your lit up from that was trembling, before raising his hands in surrender, softening his voice like you were a deranged, unstable individual in need of coaxing.
"My dear girl, there has been some misunderstanding. You see -"
You cut him off with a battle cry as you lunged at him, hands raised as the room lit up a neon pink at your attack at your kidnapper and his attempt to mansplain his way out of this.