Cassandra blinked the sleep from her eyes and yawned, not bothering to sit up; not that she could, given the arms coming from both sides of the bed slinged over her body...
Wait, arms?
Last she checked, she had only gotten into bed with one person.
Looking from each side of the bed to the other, she was extremely amused to find a peacefully sleeping Deuce on her right, and an equally dead to the world Ace on her left, just beyond a very awake, very annoyed Ash. Cassandra laughed quietly.
"Do I want to know?", she whispered to him, snuggling closer to his chest. Ash huffed and held her tighter, snuggling his face into her neck.
"No, you don't, but you have to.", he said. Ash then informed Cassandra about everything that had happened while she was asleep. Once he was done with his story, Cassandra sighed.
"So much for three days of R and R.", she said, knowing if she didn't help handle this Ace was likely going to manage to somehow make things worse. Ash scoffed.
"Yeah, I'll say. Guy couldn't even wait until we had a decent amount of sleep to raise hell.", he grumbled. Cassandra raised an eyebrow.
"Why did you tell the guys to sleep on the couch?", she asked. Ash stiffened. He was hoping she would ignore that part.
"Because they interrupted us and they're annoying.", he said, as if that explained everything. Cassandra raised a knowing eyebrow with a smile.
"And because you didn't want to share me?", she asked. Ash grumbled in a way that told her she was right. Cassandra laughed.
"I'm not mad; everyone deserves something exclusive to them. I just wish you had offered them a guest bedroom so they wouldn't feel the need to do... this.", she said, gesturing to Ace's arm around her waist. She laughed when she felt the still asleep boy nuzzle into her neck, but flinched when she felt the cold metal of the collar on his neck. Sighing, Cassandra grabbed the pillow from beneath her head and quickly rolled out from under Ace's arm onto Ash as to not wake him, a tactic she had learned from years of experience.
Looking down at Ash, hair wild, she grinned.
"Now, let's start our day, shall we?", she said. Ash grinned up at her.
Getting up carefully, so as to not wake the two others in the bed, Ash and Cassandra quietly got ready and out the door. Grabbing her phone, Cassandra felt her eyes widen when she saw it was well past eleven; almost time for lunch in the school cafeteria, if she remembered her schedule correctly.
The two of them made their way over to Skip's room, slowly creaking the door open to check on the boy. They both smiled softly when they saw him still sleeping soundly in his bed. Closing the door, they both looked at eachother and made their way down the hall.
Climbing down the stairs, they were greeted by an unusual sight. The living room was empty. Back in New Orleans, the compound courtyard was never empty, there were always at least two people doing something or another and making noise.
Yet, there was no noise. They looked in the kitchen, nothing. Now it was getting concerning. Ash looked at Cassandra.
"Maybe they're still asleep.", he said. Cassandra was about to agree with him, when they heard a familiar ear-piercing shriek from outside.
Rushing outside, Cassandra was greeted by a shocking sight.
Yue was stuck on top of what she could only describe as a fully grown coastal redwood tree, clutching the top branches in a deathgrip as he wrapped himself around the branch. Shorter, Griffin, and Eiji were trying to climb it, and failing miserably. Which was unsurprising, given the fact that those particular trees grow to be taller than most skyscrapers. Cassandra was in shock.
"How did this happen?!", she asked, walking up to the three as Shorter fell off. Hitting the ground on his rear with an 'oof', he looked up at his lover and responded.
"We don't know! One minute he's helping Griffin plant a garden, the next that thing is shooting out of the ground with him on it!", he shouted, pointing at his friend. Cassandra steeled her features. She could fly up there in the form of some arial creature and carry him down, but she might drop him in the process and might not be able to dive down fast enough to get him. She knew it was a stupid reason, but...
"YUE!", she yelled, causing him to look down at the small red and gray dot his girlfriend had become. He suddenly felt lightheaded.
"I'M GOING TO NEED YOU TO JUMP!", she yelled out, causing everyone to look at her like she was crazy. Yue couldn't believe what he was hearing, maybe.
"WHAT?!", he yelled back.
"JUST JUMP!", Cassandra responded. Yue glared down at her (at least, the dot he thought was her), and bit back his response.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD I JUMP?! DO YOU WANT ME TO TURN INTO A RED STAIN ON THE GROUND?!", he yelled back. Cassandra didn't even flinch.
"I"LL CATCH YOU! AND EVEN IF YOU DO FALL, YOUR STILL A VAMPIRE! YOU'LL LIVE!", she yelled. Yue scoffed. Not that she heard.
"THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT WON'T HURT! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FLY UP AND GET ME?!", he yelled. Cassandra began to look sheepish.
"BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW HIGH THAT TREE IS! THOSE THINGS ARE HIGHER THAN MOST SKYSCRAPERS! A LOT OF BIRDS THAT COULD CARRY YOU CAN'T FLY THAT HIGH, AND TURNING INTO MYTHICAL CREATURES TAKES A LOT OF ENERGY! IT'S ONE THING CARRYING SKIP, IT'S ANOTHER THING CARRYING YOU!", she admitted. Yue began to look nervous. Cassandra, somehow sensing his distress, yelled up at him.
"I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO DROP YOU, SO JUST TRUST ME, OK?", she said. That caused the black haired vampire's expression to soften. With a deep intake of breath, he loosened his grip on the tree limb and allowed himself to plummet towards the earth.
Yut-lung Lee was an extremely prideful young man. He hated admitting when he was wrong, even more so that he had weaknesses and wasn't some terrifying snake-given-human-form like the underworld had believed him to be during his time in it. He didn't like making his flaws known.
So if ever asked how he reacted to falling from the top of a 300-foot tall tree, he would vehemently deny ever screaming so loud he woke up those asleep hundreds of feet away.
The sound echoed ominously, and everyone at the base of the tree winced at the sound, following the falling young vampire with their heads. Running about, trying to get right underneath her lover, Cassandra made use of all her hand-eye coordination in an attempt to help Yue not break every bone in his body.
Then, with a loud 'oof!', Cassandra caught her distraught lover in her arms, a calm smile on her face. Yue blushed a bit when he realized he was being princess carried.
"Nice of you to drop in.", Cassandra said with a smile that showed she was well aware of exactly how bad that joke was. Yue frowned.
"Really? That's the best you can do?", he asked. Cassandra only smirked and leaned down closer to him.
"Yes, why? Do you beg to differ?", she asked, leaning closer to his face. Yue smiled.
"If it's what it takes to get you to kiss me, then my answer is no.", he said, voice lowering. The two leaned forward and pressed their lips together in a sweet kiss. They were about to deepen it, when they heard someone call out to them.
"Woah, what the hell happened here?!", Ace exclaimed as he ran out the door, an equally bewildered Skip and Deuce behind him.
Cassandra broke away from Yue, who looked annoyed at having his time with his girlfriend interrupted. Looking towards the three newly awake boys, she responded.
"That's what we're trying to figure out.", she said, her confusion at the situation evident. Setting Yue back on his feet gently, Cassandra walked over to Eiji.
"You said the tree just appeared out of the ground under his feet?", she asked. Eiji nodded.
"Yeah. He and Griffin were trying to plant a garden over there, ", he pointed towards a small, empty plot of land a ways away from one of the willow trees Ason and the others had planted. ", And they were arguing about what to plant. Griffin wanted to plant flowers, while Yue wanted to be practical and plant herbs and poisons.", Eiji stated with crossed arms and a tired look. Everyone looked at Yue, who eyed them all as if saying 'What?'.
"You never know!", he said defensively. Cassandra sighed and reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"That is true.", she said. Eiji rolled his eyes and continued with what he was saying.
"They started bickering a bit, and Yue stomped his foot on the ground to prove a point. Then the ground started shaking and... well, you know the rest.", he said, shrugging. Ace and the other two he came out with looked up at the tree in awe. They had never seen such a large tree before, in Twisted Wonderland or on earth.
"Almost sounds like...", Deuce trailed off, before Ace finished his sentence for him.
"Magic.", he breathed out in shock. Everyone looked at Yue again, who began to look rather bewildered.
"There's no way.", he said, glaring at everyone save for Cassandra, as if they were to blame for his blight. "If I had magic, I would have known years ago. Not to mention vampires can't use magic unless they were born siphoners and become heretics. It must have been something else.", he said, though he appeared to have a hard time believing his own words. Ace, Deuce and Grim blinked.
"Siphoners? Heretics?", Grim questioned. The other two looked at each other and shrugged. If it was important, someone would tell them later. Secrets weren't a problem in the Court, after all.
Cassandra walked over to him and gently took his hand into her own, bringing it to her lips to place a gentle kiss upon it.
"I have a theory...", She trailed off. Yue looked at her with soft eyes, his mind taken off of the situation at hand a bit by his lover's romantic gesture.
"Oh, do tell~.", he said in a gentle yet sassy whisper. Cassandra smiled and swept Yue's legs out from underneath him, causing him to gasp. She then caught him by the waist and leaned her face close to his. Despite the possible severity of the situation, both had lovesick smiles on their faces.
"When I pulled Excalibur from the stone, it must have sent out some sort of magical shockwave so powerful that it triggered several magical occurrences. We got our marks shortly after I claimed the sword, so-", Cassandra pulled Yue up, dipping him into her other arm's hold and continuing their passionate staring contest.
"It might have activated some other latent abilities of ours. You aren't a nature witch, that's true. However-", she stood Yue up again, winding him up and then spinning him outward, before reeling him back in so she was holding him from behind. She whispered sensationally into his ear.
"Perhaps we, or at the very least you, against all odds and logic, had some sort of latent Twisted Wonderland magic within us. It was fated for you to be with me from the beginning, and perhaps you were gifted this magic so you could stand at my side; it would certainly explain why my visions led me to you so long ago. Perhaps it is just luck, I'm not sure. Either way-", Cassandra then released Yue from her hold, giving him a quick nibble on the ear that caused him to blush. Ash crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at the display of affection, still salty after last night.
"And the verdict, Gomez Addams?", he said, referencing her eccentric display of affection. Cassandra only smiled at him
"I would rather not look a gift horse in the mouth. Yue having magic is a blessing, and we should treat it as such. We'll help him learn and master it together, same for the others if they develop similar powers.", Cassandra declared. With that out of the way, she turned and looked up at the impressive tree her long haired lover had summoned.
"For now, let's just focus on trying to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. Not that I'm complaining about the tree; coastal redwoods are so beautiful, don't you think?", she said, smiling up at the majestic tree. She and everyone else absently nodded, enraptured by the tree's beauty. Deuce, Ace and Grim were especially mesmerized. No tree in twisted wonderland grew as high as this tree, so it was a very interesting experience for them. Cassandra then remembered the reason for her ruined day of relaxation, and looked to her redheaded lover with narrowed eyes. Ace flinched at her burning gaze of annoyance.
"However, since some people have seen it fit to commit tart larceny, and get their magic sealed away, I am unfortunately inclined to help fix the situation, because I am woefully in love with the party at fault.", the tribrid huffed, and Ace laughed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh, so you found out...", he trailed off. Cassandra glared at him in annoyance.
"How could I not? Certainly, you didn't expect Ash to cover for you; though, that wouldn't have done much good, given the extremely noticeable collar on your neck."
Grim flew over from his place on Skip's shoulder to his master and flopped down on her head, yawning as he did so.
"Cassie~, do we really have to help that idiot? I mean, he kinda dug his own grave with this one.", Grim whined, not wanting to sacrifice his day off to fix Ace's blunder. Cassandra sighed tiredly.
"Yes Grim, we do. Because while Ace was a fool for letting this happen-", Ace flinched and felt an arrow pierce his heart at the insult, "He is a member of the Court of Miracles, as well as my lover, and therefore our fool. Due to this, it is our responsibility to help fix his mistakes... no matter how annoying we may find it.", Cassandra said, gritting out the last sentence in a way that made it apparent she was forcing herself to admit this. Grim sighed in resignation.
"Alright~.", he said in a whine voice. Cassandra stroked his head and smiled apologetically, causing him to purr. She then turned to face Ace, walking towards him as Grim relocated to her right shoulder. Frowning, she reached out towards his neck.
"Honestly, while I agree you shouldn't have eaten the tart, putting a metal collar on you was a bit much.", grabbing the collar at both sides with both hands, she felt around it and then the skin of Ace's neck.
"It must hurt to sleep in. Does it chafe? Is it cutting into you? Maybe if I-", the king began to say, worried. She grabbed the collar again, and tried to shimmy it down Ace's neck a bit, hoping to give his skin some relief. What ended up happening, however, was unexpected.
As soon as Cassandra shook the collar with a bit of force, it broke in two and dissolved into dust. Everyone looked on at the scene, shocked. Ace and Deuce's eyes were practically falling out of their sockets.
"I...", Cassandra trailed off, truly shocked by what she had done.
She had researched Unique Magics in the library upon her arrival, and she knew they could usually only be undone by a specific release condition or by the user themself. And since she was assuming not everyone with moderate skill in this world could produce magic canceling collars, and that the release condition wasn't having the collar shimmied (otherwise that would be a pretty useless ability), that meant...
Cassandra shook herself out of her shocked state and put her hands on Ace's shoulders seriously.
"Ace, what did Riddle say when he cast the spell for the collar?!", she asked urgently. Ace came out of his shock and joy at having the collar removed and responded.
"Uh, I think it was 'off with your head!'!, he said. Cassandra took a deep breath and took her magical pen, black with a red gem that Crowley had given her with her schedule, out of her pants pocket. Turning to face Deuce, she pointed her pen at his neck.
"I'm sorry in advance for this, baby.", she said, an apologetic look on her face. Deuce blushed red at the pet name but blinked in confusion when the statement prior to that was processed.
"Wait wha-"
"Off with your head!", she shouted, feeling the magic coursing through her veins flow into the pen and out as the spell. Cassandra had yet to use her magic pen before this, and it felt similar to what she assumed using a wand in Harry Potter was supposed to feel like.
A collar, exactly the same as Riddle's, shot out from the pen and closed around Deuce's neck with a loud metallic 'CLINK'..
Deuce sputtered indignantly.
"Wha- why would you do that?!", he asked, genuinely hurt and upset, tears starting to collect in his eyes. Cassandra panicked and tried to fix the situation.
"Oh no baby, I didn't do it to hurt you, I just needed to see if my hunch was correct. Come here so I can fix it.", she said softly, walking up to her navy haired lover and wiggling the collar a bit, causing it to break in two and come off the same way Ace's did. Deuce blushed a bit when he realized he was getting upset over what he thought was nothing.
"Sorry, I was being stupid...", he mumbled, embarassed. Cassandra felt her eyes soften as she took Deuce's face into her hands, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.
"No baby, don't say that, you're not stupid. I should have been more considerate and told you what I was going to do. I won't do it again honey, I promise.", she said to him, peppering soft kisses on his lips as she whispered sweet nothings to him. Deuce almost wanted to cry again, but didn't because he didn't want to upset Cassandra. He had never felt so loved before.
After a few more kisses and reassurances, Cassandra gave him one last 'I love you' and pulled away with a kiss on the cheek. The king inhaled and exhaled deeply as she turned to face everyone.
"It appears I have unlocked a new ability as well. From the fact I was able to remove Riddle's collar and produce my own with the same spell, I have concluded that I have obtained a Unique Magic which gives me the ability to copy others' Unique Magics and use them as my own through physical contact with the original user. I have been feeling unexplainable shocks when I have skin contact with the residents of this world, and they got stronger and stronger the more time I spent here; I do believe this was my Unique Magic subconsciously taking effect.", Cassandra explained in one breath, shocking everyone present.
"B-but that's impossible! No one can copy someone else's Unique Magic, that's why they're called Unique Magic's!", Deuce stuttered out, recalling one of the cardinal rules of magic. Ace nodded in agreement and Cassandra only sighed.
"Yes well, if you haven't noticed, boys; I'm in the habit of taking that particular word and invalidating its meaning within the English language. My very existence should be impossible, and yet here I am, alive and talking and continuing to render the word obsolete. This is shocking, yes, but it's nothing earth shattering. I literally pulled a magic destiny sword out of a rock and became a monarch last night, so being able to copy others' unique magical abilities isn't too surprising by comparison; if anything, it's a boon given the fact I'm going to have several epic battles in my future.", nature's loophole pointed out, causing Ace and Deuce to think about it for a moment, and just decide to accept it.
It was Cassandra, they honestly should have expected worse.
The tribrid gave her Court a fang filled grin.
"Now, ", she started, "Let's wrap up this whole tart debacle, shall we?"
Another member of the Court has magic now, and he certainly won't be the last. I love people with copy abilities, because I honestly don't think all of you understand just how satisfying it is to watch someone lose their shit about someone using their 'exclusive to them' power, and then proceed to get their ass handed to them by said power. Next time, Cater, a post gone viral, and the painting of roses!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.