Cassandra sat on the ground in the rose maze, legs crossed and a smile on her face as she typed away on her phone. A happily grinning Cater, as she had discovered his name was, was looking at her expectantly and sitting beside her in the same manner. They were mostly left alone, as Skip and Grim had dragged Ace, Ash, Shorter, Eiji and Deuce into a paint fight a ways away (something she wasn't upset about due to the fact she had recently learned a spell to magic stains off of clothes. Frustrated witch mothers across the Quarter would be rioting for it when she got home.). Griffin and Yue had decided to escape the chaos by taking a walk by the nearby lake to admire the flamingos Cater had said tended to frequent it.
After getting over the shock that her plans to fly under the radar had been utterly destroyed not even two days into her stay (and that she had become this world's version of the pointing cat meme, something she really didn't know whether to be proud of or freaked out by.), the two had started a conversation. Apparently, Cater had pissed off Riddle by talking to him before he had finished his coffee, and to get out of being collared, he had promised to spend his extra free period painting roses for the dorm's annual Unbirthday Party. She had also found out the Braincell Trio was responsible for the extra free period, due to the fact the maintenance ghosts had yet to repair the chandelier and replace the tables in the cafeteria, delaying everyone's lunch by a few hours.
After talking for a few minutes about how hard it was to find eco-safe paint for cheap, the conversation had diverted to Magicam. Cassandra had admitted to not having any social media in her home world, something Cater was horrified by. He then insisted on helping her make a Magicam account, which had led them to this.
"... So I can put any name I want for my user name?", she asked the eager third year. Cater nodded enthusiastically.
"Yep! But I would suggest you make two accounts; one for your real-life self, and one under a fake name for stuff you don't want people to know you're involved in, like making jokes about teachers and stuff.", he explained helpfully. Cassandra nodded in understanding.
"Ah, I see.", she said, typing in her information. Once she had finished, she turned to Cater and smiled.
"Done. Thank you for your help.", She said, smiling radiantly. Cater felt his heart skip a beat and gave her a closed-eye smile.
"Hey, no problem! I mean, I kinda owe you after I posted that video without your permission.", the orange haired man said sheepishly. Cater had apologized profusely when the redhead had told him she wasn't trying to draw attention to herself. He knew he should have asked her permission to post the video regardless, but he had been so excited he wasn't thinking. Cassandra wasn't mad, knowing her endeavor to have a quiet school year would likely be futile for many other reasons.
"It's fine, really. I wasn't exactly an unknown beforehand; if anything, I'm happy because you humiliated Crowley.", Cassandra laughed boisterously, recalling all the Crowley slander in the post comments. Cater smiled.
"That's good. You seem really cool. I would hate it if you held a grudge against me for the rest of the year.", he admitted. Cassandra leaned back against the rose bushes behind her, hands behind her head, and smirked at him.
"I've come to find holding grudges is rarely worth it. Forgiveness is a powerful tool; an enemy turned ally can be one of your most loyal assets, if one merely shows them a kindness they have never seen.", Cassandra said, looking Cater in the eyes. Cater blushed.
"Wow, you talk like you're a general or something!", he said. The extroverted young man was finding that this girl was the embodiment of badassery. Cassandra only laughed.
"Something like that!", she laughed. Cater found the sound beautiful and infectious, and soon began to laugh as well. Once the two had finished their laughing fit, Cassandra stood up, hands on her hips. Cater frowned. He didn't want her to leave yet.
"You said you had to have this section of the maze painted by the end of the day, right?", she said with a raised eyebrow and her signature wolfish grin. Cater looked up at her confused until she held a hand out to him.
"Then let's get this done within the hour, shall we?", she said, hair glowing in the sun and eyes shining with good humor. Cater looked at her in awe. She looked ethereal. Then, he snapped out of it when he realized what she was offering and smiled.
"Sure!", he said happily as he took her hand. Cassandra grinned wider in response and pulled him up. Cater was surprised by how easily she did it.
Cassandra pulled her hand away and walked over to the paint buckets. Cater lamented at the loss of warmth with a frown before following after her. Cassandra picked up a brush and frowned.
"Why were you doing it by hand? Surely, there's a spell for this?", she said. Cater shrugged.
"There is, but you first years won't learn it for a while. Also, it wanted to make sure those ones at least looked good for Magicam.", he admitted. Cassandra sighed and shook her head.
"Of course you would.", she said fondly, before turning to Cater with a smile.
"Care to show me the spell?", she asked. Cater showed her how to wave her pen and that she had to say what color she wanted the roses to turn.
"Red!", she shouted, pointing at one of the completely white bushes. At first nothing happened, and Cater chuckled before putting his hand on Cassandra's shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't get upset if it doesn't work at first-", he started, wanting to reassure his new friend if she failed. The spell took a little while to master, so he was expecting it not to work at first.
He was shocked into silence, however, when in a warm blast of magic that rippled throughout the dorm grounds, every flower in the rose maze was dyed crimson.
Cater stood gapping. He had never met anyone with enough magic to do the whole maze in one go. Riddle could only do one bush at a time, and even that tired him out! Ace and the others had ceased their paint fight when they felt the wave of magic brush over them like a warm breeze.
Everyone looked around the maze, awe in their eyes.
"Wow.", Grim stated. The Court remained silent in agreement. Cassandra turned to face Cater, a small smirk on her face, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised in mock inquiry.
"So, did I do it right?", she asked. Cater didn't answer, still shell-shocked. A few moments later, however, he shook himself out of it and began asking questions.
"I- how did you do that?! The amount of magic needed to do the entire maze is probably more than all of Heartslabyul has combined! That's why most of us do this by hand! The maze goes on for miles! I-it would take enough magic to curse a kingdom to paint every flower!", he exclaimed, freaked out by the display of raw power. He knew Cassandra was strong, but this was... wow. Then, he gasped and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Are you okay?! You should be- you should have...", he trailed off in concern. He then took Cassandra's magic pen from her, something she held her hand out for and allowed him to do with an indulgent smile. She assumed he was looking for signs of blot and found his concern endearing.
Looking closely at the magic gem at the top of the pen, he was even more shocked and confused to find not a speck of blot. Handing her pen back to her, Cater looked utterly lost.
"You-I... how?", he asked. Cassandra crossed her arms and cackled.
"I seem to be asked that question quite frequently as of late!", she said good naturedly. Then, she walked up to Cater and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine, Cater; however, I must admit, I find your concern rather flattering.", Cassandra said with a laugh in her voice. Cater blushed.
"Y-you do?", he cursed himself internally for stuttering. Cassandra nodded.
"Of course, who wouldn't find a beautiful boy fussing over their well-being flattering?", Cassandra said, blinking as she answered, as if what she was saying was the most obvious thing in the world. Cater's face was bright red, and he felt his heart practically stop.
"You-you think I'm beautiful?", he asked, twirling a bit of his medium length hair around his finger, averting his eyes from a now smugly smiling Cassandra. He had been called handsome and cute before (usually by his one-off dates or his sisters), but no one had ever called him beautiful. It was nice. Cassandra's smile widened; he was so pretty when his face matched his hair.
"Of course, who wouldn't?", she said seductively. She liked the game they were now playing, even if he didn't know he was playing. It was a game she always won.
"I mean-", she started. Cassandra tilted Cater's head up from the ground. He was over six foot to Cassandra's five ten, so he was a bit taller, but she was easily able to reach up and pull his gaze up away from his shoes. The tribrid brought her face dangerously close to Cater's.
"Your eyes are so expressive. I don't think I've ever seen phosphorescent green eyes before. They always seem to be sparkling. Then there's your hair-", she was backing him up against the roses, something he didn't notice until he felt his back hit the leaves.
"It's not red, but I wouldn't call it orange either. It's more of a burnt sienna; like it a lot.", she whispered, practically purring. Cater had to actively try to keep his knees from giving out. Cassandra caged him with her arms and brought her lips close enough to brush against his ear.
"I could go on and on for hours, but if I go anymore in depth, I'm afraid I might scare you away.", she purred in his ear sensationally. Cater gulped.
"I-I won't get scared.", he breathed out. Cassandra pulled away from his ear and got close to his face, smiling intriguingly.
"Well, let's start with your lips...", she teasingly, her lips a hair's breadth from his own. Then, she abruptly pulled away with a teasing smile on her face. Cater blinked.
"I'm afraid that while I would love to continue, Mr. Diamond, I try not to be in the habit of acting without first declaring my intent.", bowing at the waist, she held a hand out for him to take.
"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me and the Court to lunch this afternoon? We can chat more then, if that is what you would like.", she asked smoothly. Cater smiled and took her hand.
"Sounds great to me! So- uh, it's a date?", he asked uncertainty, given the fact it wouldn't be just the two of them. He felt out of his element. Usually, he was the one putting on the moves and asking people on dates. It was weird to be on the receiving end of flirting... he couldn't say he hated it. Cassandra nodded.
"If that is what you would like it to be. We will be in the cafeteria at one thirty; I hope to see you there.", with a quick kiss on his wrist that made Cater squeak, Cassandra straightened her clothes and was about to walk over to the others to tell them it was time to go, but was stopped when Cater called out to her.
"So uh, each Heartslabyul student gets two plus ones for the Unbirthday party and I haven't used either of mine so... do you want to go with me?", he asked nervously. Cassandra grinned widely.
"Of course! Is it okay if I bring the others? I'm sure we can find a way to procure invitations for them all.", Cassandra asked. Cater knew it would be a pain in his ass if the others came, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her no.
"Sure, I'll ask Trey if they can use his two invites. He's a friend of mine, so he probably won't mind.", Cater said with a closed eye smile, already trying to figure out ways to ditch the others as soon as the party started (not that he disliked them, they seemed cool too; it was just that he didn't want to share his date.). Cassandra grinned back, seeming to look over his shoulder after a while.
"Ah! Yue, Griffin! Nice to see you two are back.", Cassandra said. Cater turned around and saw that the duo had returned from their walk. Yue smiled and shrugged.
"We figured you would be ready to leave by now. We took the liberty of dropping the tart off in the kitchen.", the Chinese boy stated, before turning to look at Cater with a deadpan expression.
"Your dorm makes no fucking sense. Wavy staircases? Really?", he said, and Cater could see that they would have been back sooner if they hadn't likely gotten lost. He smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah well, the dorm was founded on the values of the Queen of Hearts, who ruled over a land of total madness, so...", Cater trailed off, hoping the long haired boy got the point. He only looked even more annoyed.
"Ah yes, the attempted child murder.", Yue nodded to himself. Cater blinked in surprise and was about to ask him what he meant by that when Cassandra shot her lover a look that said 'stop talking' and then turned back to smile at Cater as if nothing happened.
"Well, I suppose that's our cue to leave.", Cassandra said, yelling out to Grim and the others that it was time to go, and then proceeding to exasperatedly clean their clothes with magic. Just as they were about to start back to the mirror gate, however, Cassandra smirked evilly. She had an idea.
A wonderfully wicked idea.
"Hey Cater.", she started slyly, turning back to face the orange haired boy, who was now scrolling through Magicam.
"Hmm?", he said, looking up with a raised eyebrow. Cassandra grinned wickedly and took out her magical pen.
"I apologize for what I'm about to do. Make sure to give me full credit, don't try to cover for me with Riddle.", She stated. Cater was about to ask her what she meant when she stuck her pen up in the air, and in a blast of magic, recolored all the roses in various different colors or patterns, none of which were red.
Cater watched in awe as she pulled off the seemingly impossible feat again with ease. The roses weren't red, but some had red on them, and the patterns were beautiful. There were solidly colored ones in blue, purple, green, yellow, pink, orange and countless other colors scattered about. Some were striped, some were covered in glitter, and some had suit mark patterns.
There was one bush however, that had a pattern that seemed to stand out among all the others. It was the one behind Cater, and the roses did have a red background, but they were patterned with little golden crowns. They reminded Cater of Riddle.
"See you later, Cater!", Cassandra called out, ushering her Court towards the mirror gate at a fast pace, moving quickly due to the fact they didn't know when people would start coming back.
"Don't you think doing that's gonna piss off Riddle?!", Ace asked, struggling to yell through his heavy breathing. Cassandra smirked at him.
"That's the point!", she said, lacing her fingers with his own and Deuce's as she pulled him through the mirror, all of the Court laughing and running all the way back to the dorm.
By the time the third year had snapped out of it, they were long gone. Cater felt the color drain from his face as he looked around at the orderless rose maze.
"Riddle isn't gonna be happy about this...", he whispered to himself, taking out his phone to snap a picture despite it all. As soon as the click of the shutter finished sounding, he heard a familiar yell of rage and jumped.
"CATER! WHAT IN THE QUEEN'S NAME IS THIS?!", Riddle yelled out, his face red with anger as he assumed this was another one of Cater's clout stunts. Trey was beside him, holding what appeared to be a strawberry cake and looking at the maze in awe. The two had returned to check on Cater's progress. The baker was astounded. This was the most beautiful piece of chaos he had ever laid eyes on. Cater waved his hands about frantically as he tried to explain.
"Uh-well, you see, Cassandra came by and-", that was all Riddle needed to hear to know what had happened. He looked down, eyes covered by his bangs, and slowly walked towards the rose maze. Both Cater and Trey looked at him with scared eyes; they had never seen him get like this before.
He walked up to the rose bush Cater was standing in front of and grabbed one of the flowers gently, to avoid the thorns. He looked at the design closely, and then grabbed the flower roughly, snarling as his face became red with anger once more.
"MIKAELSON!", he screamed, loud and long to the heavens. Cater and Trey shared a look.
This wasn't good.
Short chapter, I know, but I couldn't put this in the last one so... Also, the reason why Cassandra didn't feel sparks when she touched Cater is because the pain was her Unique Magic struggling to release itself. It caused her pain because it was trying to break out from being sealed within her for sixteen years. The pain kept getting more intense because the power was getting stronger; now that it's free, she won't feel anything. Riddle and Cassandra's relationship dynamic is going to be 'chill bad girl x high strung good boy' at first, so expect some initial tension. No slow burn, though, we do not welcome that in this house. Next time, Riddle get's out Riddle'd, Yue and Cassandra throw hands (though not with each other), and Cater gets his makeshift date crashed by literally everyone!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.