"Oof-!" All three of them grunted as they stood near the entrance of the forest, "shit.."
Ace muttered, "shit, shit, shit, shit... what do we do now???" Ace said in a panic, looking at the blue haired male, "I..." Deuce started, he paused for a moment, trying to process what happened,
he inhaled and sighed deeply, "we go back and help them, they can't face that- that thing alone!" Deuce exclaimed, "wahhh???? no way, nu-uh! we'd be walking to death's door!"
Grim yelled, shaking his head. "Tch... they're risking their life to defend us, the least we could do is help! we crushed it once, we can do it again!" Deuce yelled,
"Well, we won't be able to help if we just keep on sitting around like ducks! We need to go in now!" Ace called
But just before they could take a step inside the forest, footsteps started approaching them. The three turned their backs to see who it was. It was the heartslabyul dormleader!
Along with the company of Trey and Cater, the two breathed a sigh of relief, can't say the same for Grim.
"Dormleader! have you come to rescue us? because we have a friend inside there! and they really need our help and-"
"Rescue, you say...?"
His voice was stern yet quite, it was menacing. Deuce shuddered feeling a chill go up his spine, he stood his back straight.
"I've no reason to support transgressors."
"Deuce Spade. Ace Trappola."
he called out their names in a dark and low voice, the two first years felt the breeze blew onto their face,
"YOU'VE VIOLATED THE DECREES OF THE QUEEN OF HEARTS ARTICLE: 304
'ON THE DAY THE HEDGEHOG SNEEZES ALL CARD SOLDOERS MUST BE PRESENT AND PERFORM A SONG!"
The two looked at the redhead dumbfoundedly, "Hedge...hogs?"
"a song from sneezing?" The two muttered in confusion,
"There were reports of a hedgehog sneezing at 4 o'clock today! everyone in our dorm was present, except you two! this is a serious violation against the rules!"
"alright, first of all, there other matters to worry about! like our friend who's currently trapped in there fighting some monster for their dear life right now!!" Ace protested, The redhead scoffed,
"excuses won't get you out of this one." He held his staff and waved, "Off with your head!" He exclaimed,
the same metal heart shaped collars appeared wrapped around the duo's neck, "Trey, Cater, take them away."
"yes dormleader." The two of them gave the duo a darkened yet pitiful expression, they grabbed the adeuce duo by the arm and dragged them away, "Wait! I'm telling the truth! please! They're really in trouble! ask the cat-weasel-racoon thing, dormleader!"
The dormhead scoffed and looked at Grim, "Your the monster that invaded the school, correct?"
"My- myrahh!" Grim jumped in surprised, he didn't expect the redhead to actually talk or heck, even notice him,
"well, you're certainly not on campus so I have no reason to judge you, show me where this 'friend' of theirs is."
Grim froze for a bit, but he shock himself out of his cold feet and led the way.
After passing some damaged trees, they finally found the battle field, Riddle's eyes widened in surprised before regaining composure,
but widened again when he noticed it was you.
You had a slash on your arm, and blood was dripping everywhere, how long have you fighting?
The redhead thought, he let out a breath, and twirled his staff and waved it again, the gem embed on his staff glowed a mucky red, before releasing a fire ball towards the monster,
destroying it completely. You watched as the monster burned to an ash and faded to black left with nothing but shattered glass on the grass stained with ink and blood.
You turned expecting to see the adeuce duo and Grim, but to your surprise it was the dormhead of heartslabyul.
"Oh what a lovely surprise!"
the moment you spoke, his face was adorned with rose red face, he didn't expect to see the magicless rule breaker in the forest with the two troublemakers, but then again it was all to be expected, just not this early!
"You... you may have not broken a rule from the queen of Hearts but you have certainly broken a school rule. 'do not leave or stay out of campus once it's curfew.'
"Uh.. apologies? I don't think that school rules apply to me, being that I don't study in there, besides I was dragged in one of your students antics."
He furrowed his brows then sighs, "very well, have a great night and return back."
you nodded, but didn't move a foot, the redhead noticed this and stopped, "Please follow me and we can return back, and perhaps find something to cover your arm with." He stared at the gash on your arm,
It was big for a mortal, but to a God it was but a graze. You've dealt with worst during the archon war, and as well as the cataclysm,
you pretended to snap back into your senses, "Ah! apologies, it appears that the fight has affected my thinking, I am quite exhausted.." you let out a dry chuckle,
the redhead furrowed his eyes, he walked towards you and hesitatantly extended an arm towards you,
you let out a soft chuckle, behind you, your finger circled the air, a faint green light emited and summoned the Aranara-like-daikon, Mooli. You bawled your hand into a fist, to reopen it revealing a glowing tree branch.
The tree branch floated inside the cave, Mooli scurried over into the cave, Grim took notice of the other creature and began to follow them as well,
after some 'convincing' or in this case some stalling, you finally decided to follow the redhead and walked back to the entrance of the forest.
...
inside NRC: the clinic
...
You were sitting on the clinic bed, waiting for the school nurse to arrive,
"Oh dear....." a ghost nurse said looking at the giant gash on your arm, "This has to be the worst one I ever saw in my life... and that's saying a lot."
you chuckled a bit, "thank you Doctor, I appreciate the gesture." you said as the doctor cleaned the blood that was around the wound,
"thank goodness this wasn't around your chest. If it was your days would've probably been numbered, and you would have to spent your years with us." They chuckled, washing and rinsing the white cloth multiple of times,
you softly giggle, though, as the ghost said those words, you couldn't help but feel the wound ghosting on your chest, you shook it off, trying your best not to remember the details.
"It is quite impressive you could hold your own, spite' being a magicless student! you probably would've been better suited in Savanaclaw." The ghosts nurse complimented as they grab a roll of bandage,
putting on the rolled bandage on your arm where the wound grazed, "and- there! just don't overexert that arm, less we want that to reopen." They smiled, patting you on the head.
"thank you for your kindness." you bowed your head slightly, you got up from the bed and walked towards the exit of the clinic.
...
Back in the mines
...
Grim and Mooli cautiously walked in the cave, "So like... your the humans henchmen?"
"hmph. you could say that, back where we're from they're known as Queen Aranyani! Our Greater Lord! So intelligent! such modesty! and I was given the chance to serve them!"
Mooli praised your name much to Grim's dismay, though he couldn't help but wonder, if you'd treat him the same as you treat Mooli. Perhaps it would be quite nice to have someone to call you their own.
"How'd ya even meet em'?"
"By chance! It was very rainy in the rainforest, and I was hurt real bad by some bad fungi, I thought it would be my end, but, my queen's hand reached out to me and saved me! now I devote my entire being in serving them!"
"And they teach me the most wonderful things! thing I knew existed but didn't know what it was, and things I never knew existed at all!"
The two of them talked and talked, usually it leads to Mooli praising your name, but Grim doesn't seem to mind that much.
They finally reached the end of the tunnel using the glowing tree branch. The two looked at each other back towards the gem stone,
"so how're we supposed to get that out?"
.
s
i
l
e
n
c
e
.
.
.
"well, crap-"
"Guess, we're gonna have to dig it out."
"I cannot 'dig it out' I only have stubbs for hands!"
"well, atleast help me find a good spot to dig without accidentally breaking the stone!"
the two bickered for a bit, before the same glowing tree branch floated towards the gemstone,
it stuck its bottom base on the walls sprouting roots which got in the cracks of the wall where the gem is placed, it got a secure grip on the gem and pulled, though once the gem was pulled out, but after it got pulled out,
the tree branch accidentally dropped the gemstone causing a loud thud, which caught the attention of the two.
They looked at the stone for a brief moment, before panicking that it might've accidentally broke or got a scratch, but thankfully it didn't.
The two sighed in relief, Mooli brought out a tiny bag made out of palm leaves and rope, they grabbed the gem and gently placed it inside of the bag.
Now that was finish, they exited the cave, and ran towards a burrow. "uhhh, what-"
"don't get your fur in a pinch, this burrow is our short cut to get inside the court yard quickly!"
Mooli went in first, while Grim hesitated for bit before shrugging and sighing, then crawling into to the burrow.
...
NRC: The Courtyard
...
you wandered around the court yard for a good while, seemingly waiting for something, or someone.
'once those two meet me here and bringing the gemstone to the headmage, I can finally enjoy the once in a life time thing called peace.' you sighed at thought,
'hopefully the two can get a long well... we don't have much to time spend or play with.. but I trust them..'
Though you can't help but worry, of course this is the first time your assigning Mooli into doing something this important, especially with a partner that they're not quite familiar with.
But like a sprout that needs to face obstacles both familiar or unfamiliar to grow, Mooli needs to be exposed to others who aren't like the ones back home.
Your train of worry was cut short as an unfamiliar voice chimed,
"hello there child of man."
...
sorry for the short chapter :,)) I wanted to publish this as soon as possible(bc this has been sitting on the shelf collecting spiderwebs and dust, because exams and also preparation for the games for our Christmas party ;u;
but hope you guys enjoyed this short chapter nonetheless ^^