Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, in an era beyond all imagining, in a place quite different from our own, there existed a land named Twisted Wonderland. It was a world where magical abilities were granted to the few and lucky chosen ones, and the land was broken up into different areas ruled by different noble families.

Despite each ruling family having various styles of rule, the families maintained a fragile peace with one another, and had even created their own alliances between them. It was commonplace for the children of these families to marry as a way to cement an alliance between them. Some were even betrothed to one another as children, meant to grow close as they grew up together until their inevitable union.

Such a thing was common in this land.

Despite the families differences, there was one thing they all strove for and believed in.

Once every century, a saint with powerful healing powers was born in the land, and whoever ended up aligned with them was prophesied to become more powerful than they could ever imagine. Each family made sure to look out for signs of a saint, in some cases to charm them into their side, and in other cases…

To get rid of them as a potential threat.

But news of a saint hadn’t been heard in many years, so everyone in the land had been holding their breaths, anxiously awaiting for the news that could change all of Twisted Wonderland. For better, or worse.

“DADS!!!!”

Well. Most everyone.

“FATHER!!! PAPA!!!!!”

For Vil Schoenheit, however, he could care less about some boring saint.

Why should he, when the second prince himself was on his way to visit, and Vil couldn’t find anything to wear! He let out a huff as he tossed a white shirt over his shoulder, into a growing pile resting in a maid’s arms.

The boy stomped his foot in indignation. He glared at the maid, who let out a small yelp upon feeling his icy gaze. “Why didn’t you tell me his highness was coming?”

“I-I did, my young lor-”

“Did I give you permission to speak?” The boy grabbed a pair of trousers and threw it at her, purposefully using more force than he needed. He raised his voice. “PAPA?!!!?? FATHER!!!???”

Just then, a man entered his room. The man had a mix of black and white hair styled atop his head, and on his shoulders rested he wore a black and white fur coat, trailing behind him like a cape. He wore a purple necktie tucked into a black vest, which was tucked into his white pants. His purple heels clicked against the hardwood floors as he made his way over to the boy.

“Aw, Pup…” He shook his head and put his hands on Vil’s shoulders. “What have I told you about throwing your clothes around? You’re fifteen now, and you should know better.” He wagged his finger in his son’s face. “Throwing them just makes wrinkles.”

He gestured to the maid, voice stern. “Clean this mess up.”

Vil rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “But Father! I have nothing to wear, and the prince is going to be here soon!”

“My son, not having anything to wear?” A smooth voice chuckled as another man entered the room. He had long silver hair that fell over his shoulder, and on top of his nose rested a pair of rounded glasses with a silver chain dangling pleasantly from them. He wore a purple embroidered vest on top of a loose white shirt. The vest was embroidered with the Schoenheit family emblem, an apple with a knife stabbed through it.

He shook his head at the fur-wearing man as he made his way over. “You hear that, Divus? Our son doesn’t have anything to wear.”

His husband- Divus Crewel- let out a laugh. “Imagine that, Eric.”

The silver-haired man made his way over to the maid. He took the clothes from her hands and dismissed her before bringing them back to Vil. “Now, son. You cannot throw your clothes like that.”

Divus nodded. “Like I said, it wrinkles them.”

“No.” Eric frowned. He placed the pile of clothes on top of Vil’s bed. “It’s rude to the maids. Think about how much more work you give them if you do something like that.”

The boy furrowed his eyebrows as he walked over to the bed. “But we pay them to work. So isn’t it a good thing to give them more?”

“No!” Eric pointed at his son. “A good noble empathizes with the people working for him.” His chest puffed out proudly. “Do you think the citizens of Pyroxene would be as happy as they are now if I never tried to consider their wants?”

The Schoenheit duchy ruled over the land of Pyroxene. It contained many different biomes, and was thus home to all kinds of people and was considered one of the largest and most prosperous lands in all of Twisted Wonderland.

It was a difficult task to oversee, and any other person could have easily crumbled under the pressure, but Eric Schoenheit was a man smart enough to know the importance of his people’s views, and was able to communicate with them greatly to keep their land peaceful, safe and prosperous.

It helped that his husband was from the Queendom of Roses, having been raised there as a minor noble. He had been brought up with values pertaining to business and order, and helped his husband maintain their land when he was available.

Even if he was a tad more strict when it came to certain things. Clothing being one of them. But, he seemed to have a soft spot for their son, which made both Eric and Vil happy.

The man let out a sigh and sat down on the bed, grabbing a shirt and holding it up. “Pup, what are you talking about? You can wear this easily.”

Vil took the shirt from his father’s hands. “No, I can’t!” He gestured to the fuzzy lining on the inside. “It has fur lining, Father! You know the royal family doesn’t like it when people wear fur.”

Divus reached up to stroke his own fur coat. “But fur is wonderful…” He let out a sigh and patted his son’s head. “But fine. You’re such a good diplomat. Who raised you to be like that?”

“Papa did.”

The man flicked his son’s forehead. “Wrong answer.”

“Are you sure about that?” Eric chuckled and grabbed a purple vest that looked similar to the one he was wearing. “Here. Pair this with…” He hummed to himself as he grabbed a long-sleeve shirt, colored a different shade of purple. “This.”

“Isn’t it too much purple, Papa?”

Eric pushed the shirt and vest into Vil’s hands. “Nonsense. Purple is the color of the Schoenheits, and we’re meeting with the royal family. Representing our family is a must.”

“Alright, Papa.” The boy let out a sigh.

Divus reached into the pile and pulled out a pair of white trousers. “This too, Pup.” He put his hand on his chin as he looked at the boy. “Get dressed, and I’ll style your hair myself.”

Eric grabbed his husband’s arm. “No. I’ll do that.” He gestured to the fur coat on Divus’ shoulders. “You take that off.”

The multi-colored-haired man frowned. “Tsk, you never let me wear what I want.” But still, he did as he was told. He wrapped his arms around himself. “This is awful. I feel so exposed.”

Eric shook his head. “Deal with it, love.” He looked up and nodded to Vil. “Hurry up and get dressed!”

The boy nodded. “I will, thank you Dads!” And he hurried off to get dressed for what could be the most important meeting of his life.

After all, it wasn’t every day you met with a prince! Although, Vil wasn't exactly sure why they were meeting up, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to make the most of it!

The blond twisted his hands together awkwardly as he sat outside alone with the prince.

The meeting between their families had gone… not horribly but not wonderfully. Both families were respectful, exchanging careful ‘How do you do’s and the like. Nobody broke out into tears or screams, nobody threatened war, nobody tried to kill anybody or anything like that.

Which, in terms of two ruling families meeting up, was basically considered perfect.

No, the only thing that was bad per se, was the prince himself.

Leona Kingscholar, the second prince of the Kingscholar royal family, the ruling pride of the Sunset Savanna. It was one of the few lands in all of Twisted Wonderland that was an actual kingdom rather than a duchy or county, and was considered one of the most successful lands, surpassing Pyroxene in terms of strength and population.

Vil was expecting to meet some kind of Prince Charming when he’d heard about Leona coming to visit, but the boy had been absolutely frigid the entire time! Every time Vil tried to speak to the prince, he simply responded in one-note answers, with a ‘Sure’, ‘No’ or, ‘I don’t care’.

It was infuriating!!!

But Vil could deal with it as long as he was with his fathers. Except, they had left him to have some kind of “Adult Conversation” with Leona’s parents.

So the two of them had been sitting in silence for a good twenty minutes before Vil decided he’d had enough.

He stood up and walked through the doors. As he did so, he turned around to call the prince. “Let’s go to the gardens. You simply must see them while you’re here.”

Leona let out a sigh and crossed his arms, but he followed after Vil.

The blond smiled as he felt the warm spring sun on his face outside. He looked over at Leona. “Doesn’t the sun feel wonderful outside?”

The prince shrugged.

Vil’s eye twitched. He turned around and walked to the flower garden. “This is my favorite place in the entire manor, I think.” He knelt down and gently caressed the soft petals of a lily before him.

“Sure.”

The blond laughed, trying to brush off Leona’s lack of effort in their conversation. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to take care of plants. They’re just so beautiful, you know?”

Leona glanced at the lily in Vil’s hands. He shrugged once more.

Vil stood up, brushing imaginary pieces of dirt off himself. “I’ve always admired anything beautiful. That’s what Pyroxene is best known for, you know. Its natural beauty that is exemplified in the art within our varied cultures.” He walked forward as he spoke, failing to notice how he had wandered off the path and was traveling on a rocky road. He was too busy trying to get rid of the awkward silence to put any care into where he was stepping.

Leona then spoke, his voice somehow being both condescending and uncaring at the same time. “You do realize we’re going to be engaged, right?”

Vil froze. “What?”

The prince rolled his eyes. “You’re not an idiot. Why else would I be here, for fun?” He pointed to the manor. “That’s what they’re talking about inside.”

Leona lowered his hand and shrugged unhappily. “Everything's about to get fucked, princess.”

His voice was cold. “For both of us, and for worse.”

The blond attempted to turn to face the prince, to call him ridiculous or call him out on his rash language. But as he turned, he tripped over one of the many rocks on the rugged path he had stood on.

As he fell, he saw Leona’s eyes widen as he ran over to catch him.

But the prince was too late, as Vil fell to the ground, hitting his head on top of a rock. As the world around him turned dark, he could finally make out Leona yelling for help.

And then… nothing.

.

.

.

And then… everything.

He watched a faceless woman hold a baby in her arms as the child cried out. The woman patted what appeared to be her son’s head and hushed him gently.

Vil didn't know why, but his heart felt like it was being squeezed as he watched the woman and the baby.

Then, he watched the baby grow up into a child with a relatively happy life. No manors, servants or royals, but instead a simple apartment where he lived with his mother alone.

The child went to school, making a close friend in the process. They grew up together into teenagers, going through high school and eventually graduating together.

He watched as they met up at a cafe one day, and the friend handed the boy what appeared to be…. A video game…

’Video game?’ Vil thought to himself. ’Wait… How do I know what that is?’

The boy let out a laugh as his friend gestured to the game, then to him. The friend wanted him to play it, and the boy seemed more than happy to oblige. Vil couldn’t help but notice the slight pink dusted over the boy’s cheeks as his hand brushed against his friend’s.

Before he could think more about that, however, he then saw the boy going home and sitting down in front of a console and booting up the game.

Vil let out a shocked gasp as he saw the game’s setting. ’But that… that looks exactly like Twisted Wonderland! Why would it be…’ He trailed off as he looked at the subtitle for the game.

Vil blinked. “W-What?” He spoke aloud, though it wasn’t like the boy could hear him. He shook his head, continuing to speak. “What does this mean?”

The boy started the game, immediately having his character run into… the second prince from the Kingscholar family, Leona Kingscholar.

’Leona? But… He and I were just talking to each other?!’ Vil’s mind was running what felt to be a million miles a minute. He brought his hand up to his mouth, biting the fingers before speaking. “But if he’s really in this game, then I… Twisted Wonderland… it’s all…”

Just then, he noticed a worn character sheet lying next to the open game disc. Carefully, he looked over it, feeling his stomach drop as he read the character names.

What…

Who…

’If this is real…’

“I remember this.” Vil whispered, feeling his heart sink. “I remember playing this.”

“I played his route!” He’d played almost every route in a desperate attempt to talk to his friend about the game as much as he could.

He actually didn’t know anything about that one, he’d never played it. But still, every other name was one he recognized!

He turned to look at the faceless boy playing the game. “But how could I remember that, unless…” The boy let out a laugh as he played, having chosen a funny dialogue option. Vil let out a laugh as well, remembering the exact thing he had his character say.

He had… his character say…

Vil’s eyes widened and he looked at the boy once more. “Oh.” He moved closer to him, hovering his fingers over his face, unable to touch him yet craving to do so. “You’re me.” He looked down at himself. “Or am I you?”

He looked back at the boy, realizing why he was able to watch his entire life like this. Because the life that he had watched was his. This boy was him in a past life.

He shook his head. “I’m you, but I’m also Vil Schoenheit.” He felt his stomach churn as he said his name.

'If my world really is just this game, then what about me?’ His hands shook as he remembered something. ’There was a Vil Schoenheit in the game, wasn’t there?’ He frowned before looking back at the character sheet. He’d already gone through the love interests, but on the other side of the paper, he could see a bit of writing.

As he read his name, Vil let out a loud gasp.

He watched the boy spend the entire night playing his game, before suddenly noticing the sun shining through his room’s windows. The boy let out a gasp and hurriedly gathered his school supplies.

He couldn’t be late for his first day of college, after all!

The boy quickly kissed his mother’s cheek before sprinting out of the house.

He was in such a hurry to leave, that he didn’t even notice the truck passing by until it was too late.

Vil let out a scream as he watched the boy- him-fly across the street as he got hit. As people surrounded him to see if he was alright, and then he felt nothing but sheer cold as the world around him turned black.

He opened his eyes as he woke up, back in his usual bed, in his usual room in his usual manor, in his usual Pyroxene, in his usual Twisted Wonderland.

Except there was nothing ‘usual’ about this!

Because he just remembered his past life! And in it, his entire ‘usual’ world was a fucking BL!!!

WITH VIL AS THE MAIN VILLAIN!