Chapter Text
Riddle sighed heavily, watching Leona and Vil as they spat passive aggressive comments at each other. In any other Dorm Prefect meeting, he’d have lost his temper at the two of them by now. He was rather surprised that he hadn’t, yet.
Most meetings had this type of distraction in one way or another, and usually it would be Riddle or Azul to step in to stop it, depending on who was arguing and why. Today – he couldn’t pretend it was only today – he was far from focused on the meeting itself, as his mind was back home. That’s why Vil’s tone was sharp and quick, wasting as little breath as possible on Leona. It’s why Malleus hadn’t looked up from the table in front of him, despite the fact that he normally found these disruptions amusing. Each of them were preoccupied with thoughts of their homes.
For months, a conflict has been growing, slowly but steadily, between Briar Valley, the Queendom of Roses, and the Shaftlands. So far, there had not been any declarations of war, no assaults on each other’s lands, no active threats, but there were plenty of vague ones. Constant snide comments about the other lands, insults thrown and idle claims of ‘hypothetical’ victory should a real conflict break were being slung on all three sides. Each land’s representatives were equally against the two other countries, and it was having an effect on each student who called any of them home.
Heartslabyul has had just over a dozen students forced to drop out, being called home to their families on the insistence that their classmates could not be trusted. From the past few meetings between the prefects, it was made known that every dorm was having similar issues with students leaving.
Azul sighed, pushing his glasses up and beginning to stand, pulling Riddle from his musings. He offered Octavinelle’s prefect an apologetic look for not having the energy or initiative to stop the bickering himself, but Azul merely waved him off.
Before the merman could utter a single syllable, however, the door to the room opened with enough force to send it banging into the wall, the sound echoing through the room.
Well, Leona and Vil finally stopped their bickering, at least.
All heads turned to look at the interruption, seeing Diasomnia’s own vice-Housewarden was the one to steal their attention. Lilia Vanrouge was often one of the more lighthearted students at Diasomnia, letting most if not all concerns roll off his back without a care. Now, he looked as though he’d been dealt a finishing blow.
“Lilia? What’s the matter?” Riddle found himself asking, a deep dread beginning to build in his chest.
The fae shook his head, walking over to Malleus and showing the Housewarden whatever was on his phone screen. He took in a sharp breath, eyes darting across it.
Riddle forced himself up from his seat and walked around the table to see what was on the screen for himself. Meanwhile, Vil settled for pulling out his own phone.
‘Shaftlands Leader Announces Intent to Declare War’
The headline was followed by an article on the situation, but Riddle was lost in his spiraling mind. He stepped back, stumbling slightly, only to be caught by Azul. He murmured a quick thanks and allowed himself to be escorted back to his seat.
Riddle’s eyes went to search out Vil’s, only to find his head down, leaning against his hands.
Azul looked at the three Prefect’s and the Vice, then took a breath. “If this is serious, then we’ll have to anticipate more students will be removed from the school in anticipation.”
Leona rubbed at his head, sighing. “That doesn’t make sense. The school is neutral territory.”
“But the families of the students don’t see it that way.” Vil spoke solemnly. “From the conversations I’ve overheard when students discuss dropping out, their guardians don’t trust the students to be neutral, no matter how much trust they have in the school itself.”
Idia’s tablet screen lit up from its dimmed state, signaling he’d turned his microphone on. “No matter how the school plays it, the students themselves can still act with prejudice against citizens from the countries at war.”
“At this rate, half the student body is at risk of leaving.” Riddle tapped the heel of his boot against the floor. “There has to be something.”
“There is.”
The prefects turned towards Lilia, the first words he’d spoken since showing up. He reached into his bag and pulled out an old book, labeled with the book plate of the school’s library. He opened it to a page marked with a metal bookmark and set it in the middle of the table for the prefects to see.
“It’s an old law, one that exists in Twisted Wonderland’s constitution. That means it’s internationally recognized. I couldn’t find it ever being used, but there’s also never been a case where it’s been removed from the law books. If we could use this, we could stop any potential war in its tracks.”
Azul reached out to pull the book towards himself, reading the law aloud. “If war should break between any countries, they must not fall under the ‘All’s Fair’ clause. Under this specific clause, if there exists a marriage between at least two citizens from each country resulting in matrimony borne of true love between four or more people, peace must be maintained between the countries said citizens were born in. The marriage must be legally recognized by one or more governments. Should the current leader, or heir apparent, recognize the union, there need only be one citizen from said ruler’s respective country present in said union. Declarations of war that fall under ‘All’s Fair’ are rendered null and void, until the termination of the union. Death of one or more citizens in the union does not qualify as termination of union unless the surviving partner or partners remarry within five years of death.”
“Has there been a marriage that would qualify?” Vil asked with a glimmer of hope in his voice, failing to remain nonchalant.
Idia’s screen lit up, but the only sound emanating for a moment was the sounds of furious typing, followed by a sigh. “Nope. None of these, legal as they are, have the right combo of people.”
“…Wait, polygamy is legal here?” Yuu spoke up finally. The others in the room jumped, seeming to have forgotten that Ramshackle’s Housewarden was in attendance as well.
“Well, the privileges of what marriage provides varies from land to land,” Riddle explained, “but none of them really have any laws about the number of consenting adults in a singular union.”
“Huh, cool.” Yuu hummed, nodding. “Well, if no previous marriages exist, are there any that are planned?”
“None that I know of.” Leona yawned, shrugging. “I figure if an All’s Fair marriage happened it would make some big waves.”
Vil nodded, “Exactly.”
“All we can do is hope that someone manages to fit the bill before something irreversible happens.” Kalim lamented.
Azul closed the book and set it down. “Not necessarily…”
Riddle looked over at him. “Didn’t you read? It says true love. You can’t manufacture that.”
“Well, no, but-“
“If there were people who were already close enough, then maybe we could convince them to go along with a wedding of this scale.” Vil completed the thought.
Lilia hummed, rubbing his chin. “That could work. Malleus is a royal, and heir apparent, so we would only need one person from Briar Valley.”
“And I can also legally recognize the matrimony,” Malleus said, clapping his hands together. “Making it an official All’s Fair marriage.”
Kalim leaned back in his chair, putting his arms up behind his head as he thought. “There are a lot of influential families with students attending school here…But none with the same kind of connections we’d need to make any other exceptions.”
“Meaning we can’t cut the number any smaller than that.” Idia stated.
“Who could fall into that category?” Riddle asked.
“Five people. Two from the Queendom, two from the Shaftlands, and one from the Valley.” Azul said, “None of whom are already in a preestablished relationship with someone unwilling to share the relationship.”
“And, preferably, they’d all have a close enough connection that if they aren’t already in love, they will be by the time we get an actual ceremony arranged.” Vil added.
“That’s an awfully short list.” Kalim sighed, looking down at the table. “Probably zero.”
However, Yuu stood, making all eyes turn to them in surprise. “I’ve got it!”
The Housewardens waited for them to elaborate.
“Come on,” Yuu continued, looking exasperated, “Five students in this school, that share clubs and classes, that hang out with each other outside of school. Closely knit with each other, some of whom they already have crushes on. There’s one group like that in this entire school, and they meet the demographic we need.”
Riddle’s eyes lit up in recognition. “It’s perfect.”
“Exactly!” Yuu slammed their hands on the table. “And they’re all ridiculous enough to agree.”