Clapping his hands, Cater grinned around at the others, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
"Okay then-- looks like we've all got some pretty serious cleanin' up to do!" He announced cheerfully.
Then he sighed, putting his hand on his neck and sagging a little.
"Maaan... All that work makin' the garden extra photogenic, and it just ends up as a total dumpster fire... Sheesh. Can you say 'flop era'?"
Kat blinked, looking around at Cater in concern.
"Seriously?" She asked, brows furrowing. "Are you sure you're up to it, Cater?"
"Aw-- Kitty-Kat!"
Cater put a hand to his chest, giving her an over-the-top look of shocked gratitude.
"What, worried about lil' old me? Aw, shucks-- thanks! But hey-- no need to worry! Cay-kun's A-okay and rarin' to go!"
He winked, snapping off a smart salute.
Kat blinked again, then raised her eyebrows.
"O-Okay..."
Turning, she looked around at Ace and Deuce.
"What about you guys?" She asked, giving them the same worried look. "Like-- I'm sure you don't have to pitch in right away if you don't feel up to it..."
Deuce grinned back, driving his fist into his palm determinedly.
"Hey-- if Diamond-senpai's gonna start cleaning up right after all that, then so am I!"
Smirking, he glanced sideways at Ace. "What about you? You need a little break, Ace?"
"Tch!"
Ace scoffed back, crossing his arms and scowling.
"Oh, puh-LEASE... As if! In fact, if YOU need to take a breather, it's no problem-- I bet I'll be able to do TWICE as much as you could, anyway!"
Kat snorted again, pressing her fist to her mouth and grinning.
God-- these two...
Trey got to his feet stiffly, brushing down the front of his jacket and his sleeves.
"I'll help, too," he insisted, dusting off his knees and walking towards Cater.
Shaking his head, Cater did the same, reaching Trey and patting him on the shoulder.
"Nah, nah-- I think you should get Riddle-kun to the infirmary, Trey," he replied, giving a wry half-smile. "I mean-- that was a full-blown case of overblot just now, right? It'd be mad irresponsible if he DIDN'T get some kind of medical attention after all that..."
"Diamond-kun is correct," Crowley agreed, walking over and folding his arms. "In fact-- I believe I should accompany you."
Trey looked around at both Cater and Crowley, then sighed.
"...Understood," he relented, giving a small nod. "Thank you, Headmaster..."
"No, I'm-- quite alright," Riddle insisted, shaking his head. "I wouldn't-- want to put you to any more trouble, Trey... I-- Oh--!"
He'd managed to get unsteadily to his feet, but was barely on them for two seconds before his knees buckled.
Darting forward, Kat reached out, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back upright.
"H-Hey-- whoa!" She panted, giving him a concerned look as she held out her other hand for him.
"Take it easy-- seriously, I... I really don't think you should be trying to do much after all that, okay?"
Breathing hard, Riddle put his hand in hers, leaning his weight against her as he put his other hand to his temple.
"I-- I... Yes," he murmured, shaking his head. "Yes, I-- I suppose you're right..."
He looked over at her, and she tilted her head, smiling at him again.
Blinking, he looked away guiltily.
"I'm-- I'm... Sorry," he mumbled.
"About-- what I said... The remarks about-- about your family... And-- about you."
Glancing up at her out of the corner of his eye, he blushed, then looked away again.
"You-- were thinking of my well-being and safety, even after I said such awful things... I-- I really can't fathom why you--"
His face went white, and his knees wobbled again.
"Ack-- HEY!" Kat spluttered, grabbing his shoulder again and trying to keep him upright.
"Jesus-- okay, okay, okay...! Just chill out, okay? Look, don't-- don't worry about any of that right now. I really don't care about all that, so... Just, don't worry about it, okay?"
Hurrying over, Trey threw his arm around Riddle's shoulders, pulling him against his side.
"Hey, hey-- easy now, Riddle," he insisted, shifting a bit to get a more secure grip on the delicate boy.
"The Prefect's right-- don't worry about any of that right now. There'll be plenty of time to talk later... Come on."
Shooting Kat a thankful smile, he turned, guiding the stumbling Riddle towards the entrance of the flattened hedge maze.
She smiled back, giving a small wave.
With a final nod, Crowley strode past, falling into step next to the hobbling pair with his arms folded behind his back.
Shaking her head, she turned away, rubbing the side of her head with a small sigh.
She glanced sideways at Grim, draped over her shoulder like a damp towel with his ears and tail drooping.
"...You okay, Grim?" She asked.
The little creature grumbled quietly in response, all three tail tips giving an irritated twitch.
"Ugh... Yeah, I ain't DYIN' or anything... I'm just tired after usin' so much magic all at once again."
Kat actually felt his stomach rumble, vibrating against her shoulder with a loud growl.
"...An' HUNGRY," Grim muttered over her bout of stifled giggles. "Maaan..."
He sighed, drooping a little more, like he was starting to melt.
Then his nose twitched, and he perked up a little.
"...Huh?" He asked, eyes widening. "Hey, hang on-- this is..."
Kat blinked.
"...This is?" She repeated, but Grim was still sniffing, standing up on her shoulder as his ears swiveled.
He bunched up, then jumped down off her shoulder, skittering across the mangled lawn.
"Ack-- HEY!" Ace protested as Grim ran through his legs, staggering to the side and turning to glare at him.
"What's WITH you?! Watch where you're goin', ya little hairball!"
Grim didn't seem to hear him, still hot on the trail of... WHATEVER it was that he was on the trail of.
Darting around a few chunks of ground, he squirmed under a toppled-over rosebush.
He rooted around for a second, then wriggled back out, rising up onto his back legs with something clutched between his front paws.
"Hey, hey-- check it OUT!" He grinned, holding it up like he was showing it off.
"It's another one a' those black crystals, like the one at the Dwarf's Mine!"
"Whoa-- hey, you're RIGHT," Deuce said, coming over and looking at the object with raised eyebrows.
"Wow... Wonder where THAT came from?"
"You better not eat it this time," Ace warned, crossing his arms with a grumble.
Grim snorted, already licking his lips eagerly.
"Yeah, RIGHT-- no way! After how great that LAST one tasted, there's no way I'm gonna leave a goodie like this just lyin' around! ITTADAKIMASU!~"
"Wh-- AH!" Kat protested, sprinting forward as Grim opened his mouth, stuffing the thing in. "Hey, hey-- HEY! STOP! Grim, STOP-- what the--"
But he was already chewing eagerly, making delighted noises with his cheeks bulging.
"AH!" Ace yelped. "He actually ATE it again!"
Cater jumped, drawing back in shock as he gaped at Grim.
"Eh--!? G-GRI-CHAN! Seriously?! That was, like, LITERAL trash-- are you actually the type to eat stuff like that?!"
Kat skidded to a halt above Grim, panting a little and staring down in furious bafflement as he took his first swallow.
"Hmmmmm!~" He cooed, cupping his cheeks in his paws and closing his eyes, a beatific expression of bliss spreading across his face.
"It's rich an' sweet, but there's a complex hint of bitterness in the aftertaste..."
He swallowed again, licking his lips and whiskers as he hummed happily.
"It's just as tasty, but it's got a totally different mouthfeel to that last one... Mmm-- DELICIOUS!"
Kat stared down at him, mouth hanging open.
"Ah, for fuck's-- Grim, SERIOUSLY?!" She demanded after a second, grabbing him by the back of the ribbon and yanking him up to face her.
"Are you just gonna keep doing this?! Do you have a gizzard or something?! Are you eating rocks for your fuckin'-- dinosaur stomach or what?!"
Ace huffed, ruffling his hair and shrugging helplessly.
"I mean-- like, he IS a monster and all, so his stomach is probably different from ours... Or a normal cat's, for that matter, but..."
"Yeah, but still-- eating stuff off the ground can't be good for ANYBODY," Deuce sighed, shaking his head. "I mean, you literally don't know where it's been..."
"Grim, seriously, I--" Kat began.
Before she could finish the thought, her head, and her entire body, throbbed with pain.
Losing her grip on Grim, she staggered to the side, hand going to her forehead.
"Ack-- KAT!" She heard Cater yelp, and a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders, steadying her.
Blinking hard, she shook her head, looking around stupidly at the three worried Heartslabyuls.
"Geez, Prefect-chan-- I was meaning to ask, but are YOU sure you're okay?" Cater asked, giving her a concerned look as she turned her head to look at him. "I mean, Riddle-kun DID kinda do a number on you..."
"...Uh," Kat muttered, rubbing her forehead. "I-- I dunno...."
...Now that he mentioned it-- her body hurt.
In fact, EVERYTHING hurt. Her ribs, her legs, her head...
As soon as she'd realized it, it was suddenly all she could feel. All the remaining dregs of energy drained away, and she sagged a little against Cater.
"I-- oof... Y-Yeah, okay... Maybe I should-- sit down for a hot sec or something... B-But-- if you guys are gonna start cleaning up, I don't wanna-- just peace out and leave you guys to do it all yourselves... GRIM! Do NOT eat the GRASS!"
Grim had yanked out a few pawfuls of grass, stuffing them in his mouth and chewing happily.
"Mmm-- thish grass ain't half-bad, either!" He grinned, licking his whiskers again. " 'S got a nice, crisp kinda flavor!"
"God-- you are such a fucking CAT!" Kat panted, pushing away from Cater. "If you puke that up in the dorm later, you're gonna regret it, I SWEAR to god!"
"Hey-- STOP!" Deuce ordered, glaring at Grim. "That's OUR lawn, Grim-- it's already enough of a mess as it is without you EATING it all!"
"Seriously, Grim, you better knock it off," Kat warned, starting forward. "You're gonna fuck up your teeth if you keep doing that, grass has a-- ooh--"
Her knees wobbled again, and Deuce spluttered, whirling around and catching her before she could fall.
"G-Geez-- Prefect, maybe YOU should go to the infirmary, too," he suggested, giving her a worried look.
"It's okay if you're not up to helping us clean up, seriously... Right, Diamond-senpai?"
He looked over at Cater, who nodded.
"Yeah, yeah! Deuce-chan is right, Kitty-Kat... You really don't have to push yourself," he agreed, giving her a smile that was actually a little warmer than his usual grin.
"Just leave it to us, alright?"
Grim ran up to her, standing up on his back legs and putting his paws on his hips.
"Hey-- no need to worry!" He boasted, grinning. "I'LL keep an eye on these losers-- with Grim-sama in charge, this garden'll be spick-and-span in no time!"
Scoffing, Ace rolled his eyes, crossing his arms behind his head.
"Pfft-- yeah, if there's even gonna BE a garden left after you EAT all of it..."
Kat looked around at them, blinking.
"...Okay," she relented after a second.
"Okay, fine... I- I get it. I should go and at least rest somewhere for a while..."
"Here-- I can take you to the dorm lounge, if you don't want to go all the way to the infirmary," Deuce suggested.
He nodded towards the dorm building in the distance.
"I- I mean... I still think you SHOULD, but if you don't want to right now.."
Kat sighed, allowing herself to lean against him a little.
"Yeah-- that'd be great... Thanks, Deuce."
Deuce smiled, nodding again. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he started ushering her towards the blocky castle.
"Ah-ahhh~" she heard Cater sigh dramatically behind her.
"Seriously though, what a disaster..."
Then he murmured something under his breath.
She couldn't quite hear it clearly, but...
Well, she caught the last word, at least.
"...Thanks."
Blinking, she stopped for a second, glancing back over her shoulder.
Ace was looking at the older redhead too, head tilted to the side.
"...Huh? Didja' say somethin', senpai?"
Now it was Cater's turn to blink, giving Ace a puzzled look.
"Hm? Who, me? Nope-- nothing at all!"
He winked again, crossing his arms behind his head with another grin.
Kat laughed softly, shaking her head.
Turning back, she let Deuce keep leading her towards the dorm castle.
************************************
By the time they finally reached the Heartslabyul common room, Kat was way too tired to look around much.
Deuce sort of plunked her down into an overstuffed armchair, then stepped back carefully with his hands raised.
It was like he thought she was some sort of fragile object....
"How do you feel, Prefect?" He asked, the note of concern audible in his voice, even though she wasn't looking at him at the moment.
"...Honestly? Like shit," she replied, pushing her glasses up onto her forehead and rubbing her eyes hard with a fist.
"I'm-- ugh... L-Like I said, I really don't have the best body for this type of stuff, and it's not like I... Make it a HABIT to get tossed across yards regularly or anything like that... But-- I think I'll be fine."
Slumping against the backrest, she looked back up at Deuce, giving him a weak smile.
"Sorry I didn't end up helping much... Both at-- at THAT, and cleaning up the garden."
"Wh-- n-no way!" Deuce protested, and she could see his out-of-focus head shake insistently.
"Are you kidding?! You were AWESOME back there-- a-and not just for somebody who can't use magic! I mean, sticking with us and looking out for us-- you didn't HAVE to do that, but you did anyway! And, I honestly couldn't believe it when you hurled that rock right at the housewarden... That was a seriously ballsy move!"
Kat snorted begrudging, rubbing her eyes again.
"Honestly? I feel pretty dumb about doing that, not gonna lie. I was actually aiming for his head, hoping maybe I'd knock 'im out or something... But, like, now that I'm thinking about it more, I DEFINITELY shouldn't have done that. There were literally a billion things that could've gone wrong..."
"Well... I mean, YEAH," she heard Deuce admit after a second.
"But, honestly... When is that NOT true, you know? I mean, like... It's not like there weren't a billion OTHER things that could've gone wrong during all that. Plus-- without you breaking that thing's head, I don't think ANY of us would still be here... Especially not the dorm head."
Replacing her glasses, Kat looked up at Deuce as he stepped a little closer, beaming with pride.
"It's like I said that night, after the mines-- you're gonna be just fine at this school, Prefect... Kat. Actually-- probably MORE than fine."
She looked back at him for a moment.
Then she smiled, propping her elbow on the chair's armrest and putting her cheek in her hand.
"...Thanks, Deuce.. You really ARE a good kid, you know that?"
Deuce blushed again, glancing away and rubbing the back of his neck.
"H-Hey, no problem... And-- well, I'll take your word for it."
He gave a quiet, awkward laugh, shuffling his feet.
"Anyway-- are you sure you're gonna be okay? I could stay here if you--"
"No, no, I'm fine," Kat interrupted, rolling her eyes and flapping a hand dismissively. "Now, if YOU'RE sure you're up to it, I'd go back and check on the garden crew if I were you... God only KNOWS what Ace and Grim have gotten into with only Cater to supervise."
He laughed again, nodding as a grin spread across his scratched-up face.
"Yeah-- you're probably right... I'll keep an eye on them for you, okay, Kat?"
"Thanks," she grinned back, waving as he jogged back across the room.
With a final grin, he ducked out the doorway, heading back down the corridor.
When she was sure he'd really left, she took a long, deep breath.
Okay, first things first...
Her schoolbag was still, SOMEHOW, slung across her body... Although it was a whole lot dirtier and more beat-up than it had been.
She pulled it up over her head stiffly, putting it in her lap and opening the flap.
Sticking her hand in, she rummaged around...
Ah. There it was.
Carefully, she lifted out the ghost camera.
She'd actually been bracing herself for the worst... Honestly, she was surprised it wasn't already just a loose jumble of assorted metal parts already.
However, the camera remained, miraculously, undamaged... There wasn't even a dent or so much as a scuff anywhere on the beige shell or gleaming bronze accents.
Idly, she traced her fingertip around the circles of bronze around the lens for a few seconds.
One larger circle, surrounding the lens itself, with two smaller circles perched symmetrically on top....
The two small circles didn't have lenses inside them, so they didn't seem to serve any purpose she could see.
Shaking her head, she set the camera down on a nearby end table.
Then she took her glasses off, put her head on her knees, and started to cry.
It wasn't really for any particular reason this time.
It was more of a way to release pent-up energy than anything else...
Just hand-flapping, leg-jiggling or chewing definitely wouldn't be sufficient here.
She was exhausted, bruised, damp and sweaty, in pain...
She didn't actually end up crying for very long, though. It was more like a tear cloudburst than anything...
And, as she started to drift off into that warm, not-quite-sleeping state again, she finally let herself think about the thing she'd been avoiding ever since she woke up...
The dream.
Or, maybe, Riddle's dream.
Was it... Real?
Could her own brain, scrambled with panic, adrenaline and a lungful of black smoke, have churned through all the information she had about him and spat out such a vivid imagining of events?
Anyway, her dreams-- or at least, the ones she USUALLY had-- were normally more like a swirl of dark, odd colors and a general feeling of anxiety than actual 'movies'... They weren't 'up-close and personal' like that, usually.
And the details-- the rooms, the furniture, the objects, almost everything-- looked and felt so real...
Besides all being grayscale, that is.
Even with her other strange dreams, the one about the little girl and the Queen of Hearts, she hadn't been 'in' them like that...
She was more watching from a distance, like through a screen or a window.
But-- but that one...
It probably WAS real, she admitted to herself eventually... Or, as real as anything like that could have been.
Somehow, she-- she...
...What was that stupid thing they did in Harry Potter, with that weird bowl, that let them walk around in the memories? The thing that got introduced in the sixth book?
But it-- it wasn't just memories...
As she finally drifted off into an exhausted sleep, one final thought drifted across her mind.
The sobbing, shaking form of Riddle, the physical sensations of him in her arms...
It wasn't just a reflection of a memory.
That was-- was... Real.
As real as ANYTHING could have been, in a dream-state or trance like that.
...I wonder if HE remembered that, too...
_______________________________________
AYOOO ONLY ONE MORE INSTALLMENT IN CHAPTER 1 LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO
I wasn't really a hundred percent sure how to end this one TBH, lol.
I mean, IDEALLY, they'd have ALL gone to the nurse's office together, but I guess the boys all have that Situational Plot Armor, they're still pretty okay after all that, besides poor Riddle.
Kat, however?
Well, it's not that she DOESN'T have that Situational Plot Armor either, since she IS the protagonist, but it's probably not quite as strong as the others'.
I guess, maybe the 'logic'-- if you can even apply that word-- is that, since the boys are all native to this anime-adjacent universe, they've always had Situational Plot Armor, i.e. not getting seriously hurt during Shenanigans(tm), like when the chaos is funny. But since Kat comes from the real world, where even funny chaos can result in serious injury or death, she's not quite as 'acclimated' to it yet.
(....I. I really, really love Terry Pratchett's concept of 'narrative reality', or, in other words, the idea of a universe kind of... set up around stories or narratives, instead of just pure chaos, in the quantum sense, like the real world is.)
(You should read Discworld. This is a threat./j)
(...But don't watch the BBC 'The Watch' miniseries. It is... Basically to the actual books what that Ella Enchanted movie with Anne Hathaway was to the actual book by Gail Carson Levine, or, if you want another example, like the Percy Jackson movies... But WORSE.)
(How is that possible?! I hear you ask. Metaphorically speaking, that is. Those movies were TERRIBLE!)
(....It just IS. Trust me on this. Don't even watch it to see how bad it is; I tried doing that and I only got one-and-a-half episodes in before I had to quit because it made me too angry.)
(F in the chat for Angua, Carrot and Cheery's characterization, Fred and Nobby's entire existence, the absolute MASSACRE they did to Detritus, and the WORSE one they did to Lady Sybil Ramkin, my beloved.)
(...Where's my Lady Sybil?)
(Is THAT my Lady Sybil?)
(It goes: '#GASLIGHTGATEKEEPGIRLBOSS! I'm a 30-year-old, conventionally attractive, skinny and stylish woman who beats up and abducts Ankh-Morpork citizens in order to try and 're-educate' them out of their wicked ways! Also, I only have one dragon, and he lives in my pocket!)
(That is a GIANT FUCKING MISTAKE!)
(That's not my Lady Sybil!)
(...Oh, and also Death. And Ysabell. Why did they have to be in there? And why'd they have to do my boy Bill Door like that? Why doesn't he TALK LIKE THIS anymore?!?!)
(...Okay, I really gotta stop or I'll be here all day.)