All things come and leave. It is the very nature of the mortal coil to be and not to be, to flit and float like leaves in the wind, here a day, gone another. It was what Malleus was used to, not that he'd ever truly been attatched to a mortal before this, or that he had many friends before this.

But it was you who had given him some light. Someone he dared to call a friend- a cruel thing, too, for the last thing you wanted to do was stay here with him. Twisted Wonderland was not your place of origin, rather you were transferred here through a mistake of the Magic Mirror's transportation systems. As soon as you appeared at Night Raven College, you were desperate to leave it. To return to normalcy, a life you had left on pause.

When Malleus first met you, you were sorting through old books in the Ramshackle Dorm. An old dorm Malleus often came to when he was looking for relics now housing an unmagical mortal such as you. His interest in your journey home became the backbone of your friendship. Many late nights together, some where you had fallen asleep at a desk on top of a book, or had watched stars, studied old ruins past school hours. Your first year at Night Raven College was almost at an end, summer became fall and winter to spring. Along with it, your stay in Twisted Wonderland soon to depart- a lunar eclipse was tonight, one which increased magical properties tenfold. And you learned how to open portals without a magestone. This eclipse was your last chance to see your home again.

And Malleus knew it, his footsteps silent as he found your position in the woods behind the school, setting up your portal. This would be the end of the longest friendship he had ever had, even if it was only a blink in a fae's lifetime. And something in him hurt.

"The rest of the school is watching the eclipse." The fae spoke from his shadowed approach. "We're all alone here, child of man. I'm sure you have all you need for your...depature." That last word tasted sour on his tongue though he kept it silent.