...
some hours in the
Heartslabyul dormitory
...
The red head and the two trouble making first years stands face to face each other inside a twisted and black, red and white color court room.
The redhead holding a staff with the stands on a tall podium looking down on the first years. The air was tense and thin, Deuce could feel a bead of sweat running down his cheek.
Up on the tall podium stands a glaring redhead, his eyes were widen filled it with anger and disappointment, "Vioalting the rules so soon after enrollment? This uears freshmen have yet to know their place."
The two first years gulped, Deuce respectfully bowed his head down while still maintaining a straight posture. "Our sincerest apologies." he said.
'They're scolding me on my first day here! I'm so sorry mom!'
"Starting now, I will enforce those rules." The redhead announced,
"ALL PRESENT SHALL STAND."
the first years looked at the dormleader in shock, everyone in the court room stood up,
"Yes, dormleader!!"
All of the heartslabyul students responded. The students marched to the center of the court. Their hands tucked behind their back. The ginger went to the back and after a while, he brought out a cart with something hidden behind a white cloth.
The cart was placed in the middle center right in front of the podium, taking of the white fabric, revealing four little hedgehogs with different colors.
From the tall podium the redhead shouted, "Now Sing. The crocodile song!" The two first years looked at the redhead in shock and disbelief.
"You do know it, don't you?" The redhead raised a brow asking the two, "the traditional nursery rhyme from the famed wonderland?"
Ace looked at the redhead still in disbelief, "I mean, I know it. But why?" He asked, his eyes narrowed at the redhead, not knowing if he was joking or not.
The stern face softened into a cold yet semi-patience one, "Bear in mind rule 304 of the decrees: On the day the hedgehog sneezes, all card soldiers must gather and preform a song. You two still haven't made up for your earlier absence." The redhead stated.
"You brought all of us here. To sing?" Ace said confused, he looked at the redhead in doubt, making all of the other students stare at him in disbelief. The last shred of patience was slowly but sternly deteriorating, "Just to do that, you say???" His nose scrunched up and his brows furrowed down, he was furious.
The two juniors looked at the the first years, "Come on. Stand up." The greenette said in a cold tone. "Just sing already. That is, if you want your collars removed, yeah?" The ginger tried to mimic the stern tone, yet it turned out cold and playful.
The two shuddered and gulped, they looked at each other and nodded. The two stood up with their arms to their side. They began to sing.
"How doth the little Crocodile~
Improve his shining tail~"
"And pour the water of Nile~ On every golden scale!"
"How cheerfully he seems to grin~ How neatly he spreads his claws, to welcome the fishes in~"
"With gently smiling jaws!"
The redhead smiled gleefully, almost like he forgot his anger, "Good. It's a magnificent song no matter how many times I hear it!"
"You were mere moments away of date changing and being in violation of the rules."
The redhead pointed his staff at the two, "For now, I'll remove those collars around your necks." The redhead said still keeping his soft smile.
"Back to your rooms and get ready for bed, you are all dismissed!" The greenette in a fedora said, all of the other students marched back to their rooms in an organize line. "Well, If we're done here..." "I'm not quite finished with you yet."
Ace stopped in his tracks, "you're to write a 5,000 word essay for having disobey the decrees of the queen of Hearts. And I expect you to submit it by tomorrow." Riddle ordered, the two jerked their towards the dormleader their mouths agape open "F-five...?!"
"The queen's rules are the be-all and the end-all here. You'd do well if you learned that here. If you don't wish to have your heads cut off. Move forward and act the way according to uphold the Heartslabyul's name."
"Understand?"
"...yes, dormleader."
...
in the ramshackle mansion
...
"GYAAHHHH" Grim was getting chased by the two residing ghosts around the dendro filled mansion, "Y'MEAN THEY LIVE HERE?!?"
"Welcome home." One of the ghosts greets you, you nodded at them, you tunred to Grim, "you'll be fine, they won't attack you unless you attack them."
One of the ghosts appeared tight in front of Grim's face making him shudder in fear, "Another new face, hmm? So you wanna be a ghost like us??"
"NOT A CHANCE!"
"I'M GONNA DRIVE EM' CLEA OUTTA HERE!"
The two first years looked around the house, "So many plants.."
"c'mon this place looks fun."
The two first years wandered around the house for a bit, "Man, I wish this was my dorm. In our dorm I have to see Mr. Serious face every single day, and I'm not all about that life." Ace said, Deuce looked at his friend in annoyance.
"You took the words outta my mouth, Sclacker Ace!"
"You wanna repeat that? Crybaby Deuce-kun who almost got expelled!"
The two bickered with each other, "Come on in there's a lounge in the back." you offered opening the door, revealing a nice room, again, filled with plants and even somehow managed to bring some plants from Sumeru to here.
"Good thing you returned the stone for us, now Deuce and I are back to square one." Ace said, sitting comfortably on the couch, "What's more, you and Grim were enrolled in here as a bonus." The orange haired male praised, "Heh, now I can't use the 'I'm not a student' card anymore, how sad." you sighed, "And I was planning on saving enough money to go around the world, shame, but, I can't help it."
"Hah! Seems like you've got your life here planned out! If you're going traveling take me with you so I don't have to see Mr. Rule head anymore, I could live free as a bird."
"Congrats to you Grim for getting to enroll here." Deuce congratulated, "Nyahaha! Watch me become the top of our class~!"
"You're one to talk when y/n is doing the work for ya!" Ace called, "Enough about that, we got a 5,000 word essay to do, remember?"
"I'm trying not to."
"5,000 word essay? if needed, I could help you two out with that." You offered, Ace was about to agree but Deuce chimed in before him, "Thank you for your kindness, y/n! but it's okay! you've helped us a lot already." Deuce said, though his eyes tell you that he does in fact want the help,
before you could forget, "Oh, right, the headmage offered me this... Camera? as he said it, he told me to take pictures with this to celebrate for being classmates."
You pulled out a Camera from your sleeve, "where in the world did you put it, and how did it not fall??" Deuce muttered to himself, "Whoa, isn't that a ghost camera?!" Ace pointed,
"you've heard about it too?"
"Yeah, from my Granny. It's basically a magic camera. Captured souls are sposed' to come flying or something." Ace said with a smile eyeing the camera,
"The headmaster said it projected a memory." you stated still holding onto the camera before placing it on the table carefully,
"It brings pictures to life? sounds like a spirit camera."
"It is called a ghost camera for reason."
"But why he gave you one?" Ace asked, "So that I could supervise Grim." You replied, Grim got his paws on hold to the object and placing it on his face, his little snout raising a bit, "You better snap some cool photos of me!"
"I'm going to use the photos to document our school life in place of written reports, the headmage says there's a shop near here so I could buy something called a 'binder' or something? I also need to learn how to use this first.."
"Supervise..?"
"Aha! That's amazing, man! You're telling me you just got enrolled and your already a Prefect?" Ace clenched his fist and pumped it to the air, "Ah, I get it now, since there's only two-" "Three!" Mooli yelled from upstairs, they were organizing and fixing somethings in their room.
"Ahem, three residents living here...So, the headmaster had to leave you to leave Grim and Mooli to you. That makes you this dorms prefect" Deuce summed it, "Yeah, doesn't that make you like unique? The Prefect who can only use one magic? it's got a nice ring to it!" Ace chimed,
"Prefect, huh? A title that seems that shouldn't be taken lightly.." you placed your hand over your mouth, your eyes were closed and your brows were furrowed, "You don't need to take it to seriously, you just need to be like an older sibling to your dorm members."
"I see, thank you, Deuce and Ace for your congratulations and your help in the Dwarf mines. If it weren't for the both of your troubles, Grim wouldn't have been able to enroll." You bowed your head to them,
"And thanks for helping us bring back the stone to the headmage, if it weren't for you we would have been expelled." Deuce thanked, "anyways, I will be very busy as of now, you should head back to your dorm and get a night's rest, it will be a busy tomorrow."
The two first years walked out of the lounge waving their goodbyes to you and Grim.
...
"Talk about an exhausting first day!" Ace yawned, "I'm gonna grab something to eat before going to bed, you?"
"Nah, I'm good, I'll just head to my room."
"Gotcha"
Ace walked around finding the kitchen, his gleamed a bit after laying his eyes on the fridge. He walked towards the fridge. "There's gotta be something in here."
He opened the refrigerator, to see three whole strawberry tarts. Thanks to the bright light of the fridge and due to Ace's hunger, the tarts were glistening and shimering, like an angel sent above.
He picked a slice of the tart and took a bite out of it, his eyes were seeing stars with just how sweet and tasty the tart was. "The hell? it's so good!" Ace said to himself,
"As one would expect, Trey always makes the most exquisite tart." Another voice chimed in from behind Ace, but the ginger payed no mind and still chowed down on the tart peice he was eating, "No, like seriously it's even better than store bought!"
But, he stopped munching on the tart as he registered who was speaking behind him, it didn't sound like Deuce, or the other two juniors at the court room.
Ace gulped down the tart he was chewing, and turned around, "D-dormleader?!"
"You've got some nerve, daring to lay a finger what's mine."
Hint of venom could be heard in his tone, "by the decrees of the queen of Hearts, Article 89: One must not eat the queen's tarts without her permission."
"Tart theft is a grave felony!"
"I had just literally removed your collar...and yet here you are, adding new crimes to the pile, it seems you're rather fond of the guillotine." The redhead raised his staff to Ace, clenching the handle firmly. He walked closer, closing in on the ginger.
"N-no, anything but that!"
"Very well, your wish shall be granted."
"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD."
Ace's scream could be heard throughout the dormitory, yet everyone chose to ignore his cries, for they fear the wrath of the dormleader if he discovers they were still awake on curfew. Everyone, but one.
...
In Ramshackle dorm, a certain Prefect was soundly asleep. With Mooli and Grim at the foot of the bed, sleeping soundly.
There a mirror that hangs on top of the fire place, suddenly glows, the shimmering and glowing light cascades on your face,
...
the dream realm
"what the..." you looked around to see yourself surrounded by a bushes and a maze, you saw three card people hopping around with red paint buckets, painting the flowers on the three red.
"No, no, no, you three stop at once! If you paint the flowers with that type of paint the flowers won't recieve any sunlight due to the paint blocking it." You said, trying to stop them from going any further yet as you tried to slap the paint brush off their hands, your own hand faded through them.
"Oh, right, this is a dream... but why does it feel so wrong.." you said to yourself, after saying that you could hear faint voices coming from the three card people,
"We're painting the roses red, we're painting the roses red!"
"We dare not waste a drop, so let the paint be spread."
"We're painting the roses red, we're painting the roses red!"
"We're painting the roses red, we're painting the roses red!"
Suddenly a petite girl with long blonde hair tied to a black ribbon, with a blue and white dress came in the scene and asked the card soldiers, "Um pardon me, Mister Three, but why must you paint them red?"
"Huh? Oh, well.."
"We planted white roses by mistake."
"And, the queen, likes them red! if she saw what we said, she'd raise a fuss and each of us will quickly lose his head."
"goodness!"
"That's right! Since this is the thought we dread, we're painting the roses red!"
All of them said in unison, 'This queen they speak of, seems like someone familiar.'
...
Your dream comes to a halt as you wake up to the sound of the door banging. Grim begrudgingly awoke from his slumber, as well as Mooli. "Those ghosts just don't know when to give up.." Mooli groaned,
"stay here, I'll go get it." you said, leaving them to catch some z's. you head downstairs and to the entry way of the Ramshackle dormitory,
you opened the door to reveal Ace, with a heart shaped collar on! His brows were furrowed, "I'm never ever goin' back to heartslabyul." he said in a grumpy manner.
"Starting from today, I'll be joining your dorm!!"