*Ciel's POV*
When I opened my eye, I saw that I was in the maze again only this time there seems to be a rose bush missing. I looked down to see that I was wearing the same outfit I was wearing the first time I was in a place like this. I looked around to see that the three cards and the blonde girl were gone as well. But before I could go and look for them to see what they were doing I heard a noise behind me. It sounds like someone yelling, I turned around to see something that shocked me.
"Another dream...?" I looked at the blonde haired girl on the floor along with the cards. I looked to see it was the lady from the statue holding a torn rose bush in her hand.
"For painting my roses red, someone will lose his head!" The Queen of Hearts said in anger
"Y-your Majesty, if anyone's to blame, it's him!" Three of Clubs blamed Two of Clubs
"Have mercy, Your Grace. It was the Ace!" Two of clubs blamed Ace of Clubs
"So it was YOU." The Queen asked the Ace of Clubs as he was shaking
"Gah, no, it was the Two!" Ace of Clubs blamed Two of Clubs while being covered in red paint
"Then he will pay." The Queen said while looking at Two of Clubs
"It was the Three, I say!" Two of Clubs blamed Three of Clubs
'Why are they blaming each other?! It's just making their situation worse!' I thought to myself
"Enough of this. Off with ALL their heads!" The Queen ordered as the three cards were dragged away by red cards, leaving the blonde girl left.
"Ooooooooh! Yaaaaay!" The red cards cheered
"Hee hee hee." The Queen chuckled
'This behavior It reminds me of the kinds of people I despise!' I thought to myself as I glared at the Queen
"A fitting end. Color, you can't mend." Two of Diamonds said
"Everyone knows the roses should be red." Three of Spades said
My vision then grows dark as I no longer heard the noise of the maze, the queen or the cards just silence. I tried to wrap my head around the situation and what I had just witnessed in the dream and why it happened. Could these dreams be warning me, are these connected to Riddle in some way? But still what the Queen did was so wrong, they didn't deserved to lose their heads for a small mistake.
'But they're just roses!' I thought to myself as I felt someone shaking me.
"Ciel, wake up." I got up from my bed to see it was Deuce
"Deuce?" I said while still sleepy
"The unbirthday party is today. If we're late, well, you know..." Deuce said
"That's right... The party's today." I said as Deuce left the room
I got out of my bed and quickly changed in my school uniform as I quickly made my way to the lounge area. I looked to see that Ace and Grim were still asleep, though Ace did fall asleep in his school uniform. So changing clothes isn't a problem what so ever for him, same with Grim since he doesn't wear clothes anyways. I looked towards Deuce to see that he had cleaned up the mess and neatly folded the blankets and pillow I gave him. I gave him a thankful smile as I was going to wake Ace and Grim up but was interrupted by some knocks on the door.
"Hmm? It sounds like you have a visitor." Deuce said while looking at the door
"I think I know who it is." I said as the door opens
"Good mooorning! Did you all enjoy your sleepover? Did you bond over pillow fights and card games?" Cater asked as he walked into the lounge
"We didn't have a pillow fight." I said as I let out a yawn as Ace and Grim began to wake up.
"Oh, good morning, Cater. We did play some cards as well as a board game, yeah. But only Old Maid and Monopoly, 'cause those was the only ones Grim and Ciel knew how to play." Ace said as he got up
"For the last time, Ace... I didn't know how to play, I just took chances and guesses..." I said with a groan
"And I still got old maid every time, dang it!" Grim growled
"Let's just say Grim doesn't have a very good poker face. Ciel on the other hand... His poker face is very hard to read." Deuce said with a smile
"It's not that good..." I said awkwardly as Deuce, Ace ad Grim looked at me with a 'yes it is." look.
"Well. you should get one of the tarts we made yesterday and go apologize to Riddle. And you should probably hurry, because after the trouble yesterday, we're a little short-handed." Cater said as I saw that he was sweating and looking a bit tired.
"What does that mean?" Ace asked
"Don't worry. I've totes got it under control. Anyway, off to the party we go!" Cater said as he left the dorm in a hurry.
We looked at each other before shrugging as I got Ace and Grim to fold the blankets and pillows before putting them neatly next to the pile Deuce made. Then I grab the tart from the fridge as I handed it to Ace in a paper bag. He took the back from me as we walked out of the dorm, making sure the door closed behind us. Ace looked determined to get Riddle's forgiveness but I can tell that he was nervous too. I reassured him that he got this, he gave me a thankful smile as we entered the mirror to the dorm and made our way to the dorm's entrance.
"All right, so I'll hand over the tart and say I'm sorry, then-" Ace was cut off from explaining his plan when we saw Cater again, only this time he was in his P.E. clothes.
"Hey, It's about time I got back! Good to see me!" Cater said
"Cater, why are you wearing your-" I was cut off when I saw... Cater?
'But he's-' I looked towards the Cater before us
"And me! Looking good as always, me!" Cater A said
"Bwuh?!" Me and the others cried out in shock
"Th-there're two Caters?!" Deuce questioned in shock
"Are you guys identical twins?!" Ace asked in shock
"I don't think that's the case..." I said while being in shock
"Nope. Don't have any siblings. What I DO have is my signature spell, Split Card. It let's me make magic duplicates of myself." Cater A explains
"This must be how Cater kept coming after we beat him over and over again yesterday..." Deuce said with a wince
"Seems so..." I said with an awkward smile.
"Welcome home, daaarlings." Cater C greeted us, wearing a lab coat and equipment.
"Good to see you, Ciel!" Cater D greeted me, wearing the ceremonial robes
"Good to see you too..." I said with a small smile
"You're late! I was worried sick!" Cater B cried out
"Bwah! There're more of them?" Ace cried out
"J-S-Y-K, I'm actually the real Cater. Making these duplicates is suuuper exhausting, so I can't maintain them for long. Anyway, if we're late, heads will roll. And since we're several people short, we'll need your help. But when this is over, I promise I'll take you straight to Riddle." Cater B explains
"What, MORE roses?" Grim said with a deadpanned look
"And here we go again!" Ace said with an annoyed look
"Get the lead out, peeps! We need to get started!" Cater said
He lead us to the rose maze along with his clones as we stood by a couple of bushes that were either unpainted or half-painted. I can tell that Cater was working very hard to get the roses red, but what confused me why was he doing this alone? What happened that caused the other students to not help him out? My thoughts could only direct to one person, and that was none other than Riddle. Did Riddle collared more students beside Ace and those three students from morning?
"Okay, mes! Split up and get to painting this yard red!" Cater ordered his clones
"Kay-kay!"
"You got it!"
"Sure thing!"
They then went off into different directions, leaving us with Cater to see where he wanted us to go as he smiles at us. After he made sure his clones were gone he handed me and Ace a bucket of paint and paint brushes.
"As for you freshman, you'll be be sticking with me and my Roses." Cater said with a smile
"I'm so over doing this the hard way..." Ace groans as I chuckle
"Don't worry, Ace. This will all be over soon." I said with a smile
"Whining won't get it done. Buckle down already." Deuce tells Ace
"I'm just gonna update my Magicam first... JK! Time to hustle!" Cater said
We each began to paint the roses as we each took a rose bush in Cater's selected area as each Cater had their own area. Thanks to having to paint the roses before yesterday, I wasn't having any trouble what's so ever. The same was said to the others as they too weren't having any trouble as well. Cater seems to be very pleased by this as he continued to paint the roses on each of the bushes. I was done with my bush as I saw Deuce and Grim were almost done with theirs.
"Red... Red... RED!" Deuce chanted as he turned the rose red
"Ooh! Smooth move! We'll be done in time for the party at this rate, no problem!" Cater states
"Anyone would be a master at this after all the work you put us through yesterday." Ace informs Cater
"That's true, we have practice!" I said with a smile
"Myah! Myyyaaah!" Grim changed a couple of the roses red with no trouble.
"Haha! Even Grim's going all in on this one!" Cater said
"Nicely done, Grim." I praised him as he smiles
We then continue to paint the roses as I began to hum to myself while I was painting, what I humming I don't know. But what I didn't expect was that Cater was humming with me as he was trying to follow the tune. I guess he loves music, but I don't know what kind of music maybe I can ask him later. After awhile of painting, I finished with my roses as I saw the others were too besides Deuce. We watched as he only had one left to paint as we waited patiently so we don't make him lose his focus and mess up.
"One more to go... Rose, be red!" Deuce pleaded as he turned the rose red like he wanted.
"Myah... That wasn't easy, but we still got it done!" Grim said
"Yup, that's what truly matters." I stated
"So what's the verdict, Cater? You better LOVE it!" Ace asked Cater as he was thinking
"You wanna know if it makes the grade, huh? Okay... Survey says: Lookin' fresh, freshmen! Gold star and an E for effort!" Cater graded us as we all cheered
'Now, let's go get the tart to Riddle!'