Ripped Away

Interlude: Heartslabyul

Heracles sat underneath a tree outside of the Ramshackle dorm, a green notebook in her hands. She was drawing pictures of all her friends as a farewell gift to them. She wouldn't be seeing them for a few weeks at least and wanted to give them a little something to celebrate the end of exams. She would have bought them something, but she didn't have any money and didn't feel quite right asking Professor Crewel for money, even though he had made his plans to adopt her and take her home with him very clear, and she knew he would give her the money without question. Heracles jolted a little as two hands suddenly covered her eyes.

"Guess who~?", a familiar voice asked teasingly. Heracles gasped and giggled.

"Ace!", she cheered. Ace laughed and removed his hands, revealing his and Deuce's grinning faces.

"The one and only! Sup Prefect! Oh, and Juice is here too.", Ace responded, looking slyly at Deuce out of the corner of his eyes. Deuce rolled his eyes at his friend's antics.

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's Deuce! DEUCE! You'd think after fighting like five Overblots together, you'd remember that dude.", Deuce complained with a pout. Ace and Heracles both laughed.

"Oh, I remember. I just like Juice better.", Ace said with a smirk, and the pair then devolved into their usual good-natured bickering. Heracles wasn't concerned by it. Ever since they became friends after the incident at the Dwarf Mines, bickering had become the pair's typical dynamic. As they took verbal jabs at each other, Grimm hovered over to Heracles and landed on her shoulder.

"I'm here too, ya know!", the cat-like creature grumbled. Heracles giggled at her familiar.

"Hello to you too, Grimm.", she said, and Grimm preened under her acknowledgement, before looking at Ace and Deuce and glaring at them.

"Hey, henchmen! You're forgetting what we came here for in the first place!", Grimm yelled at the pair. The two Heartslabyul students stopped bickering and looked at him in realization.

"Oh yeah! We did forget!", Deuce said, smacking his own head in reprimand. To everyone around him, it was clearly a bit. He then looked at Ace, and the two partners in crime smirked knowingly at each other. Heracles blinked at them in confusion.

"Forgot what?", she asked. Ace, Deuce and Grimm all smirked at her.

"Meet us at the Heartslabyul dorm in an hour.", Ace told her. Heracles tilted her head.

"Why?", she asked. Ace chuckled.

"It's a surprise~.", he purred, and then all three of Heracles's friends left abruptly. Heracles watched them go curiously, before shrugging and sitting back down to work on her drawings. She was thankful none of the trio had seen her surprise for them

'Oh well.', Heracles thought as she picked her pencil back up and got to work.

'I guess I'll find out what the surprise is all about when I go see the guys later. Knowing Riddle though, it won't be anything too big.'

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"SURPRISE!", Heracles heard the entirety of Heartslabyul scream in a shower of red and white confetti as she walked into the entrance of the rose maze.

Heracles had arrived at the dorm, only to find the building itself completely empty. She had gotten worried and went to search the rose maze for her friends, only to be greeted by the sight of a party even greater than the annual Unbirthday Party. The roses on the bushes were painted red, everyone was in their finest uniform, and there were cakes and food piled high on every table. Above it all, there was a banner tied to two trees that read 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERA!', in big, red letters. Heracle gaped at the scene before her.