When y/n l/n just can't have a break from trouble when just trying to do her job. Or, when a former blue haired delinquent squashes Ace under a fucking caldron.
"Calm and stoic is this soul's mind, but chaos runs deep within their heart."
Act i, prologue, Welcome to the villains world
Chapter 11- 12, Window Scrubbing to Punishment Ducking
Word count, 4210
Warning; swearing and profanity. (The chapter is mostly? Unedited)
An; I honestly feel so tired right now and I'm trying to muster up some motivation to write this story because my math midterm test is legit this Thursday.
You might not receive a post this week between Thursday to Sunday though because I can't finish a new chapter by the time the weekends roll around because I'd be spending my time creating a review sheet.
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Second.
A Second chance.
This was your second chance.
Granted, you didn't think that sitting upon the cafeteria table as you aimlessly awaited for the headmage to appear would count as a second chance, as this was your third time trying to having a word with him.
And yet you failed. Every time.
"I'm already exhausted from a full day of cleanin'!," Several footsteps echoed through the empty cafeteria, the excited chatter fading into naught but a wisp of a memory, "I can't believe we still gotta wash a hundred windows!,"
The person, or, weasel was not the one that you looking for.
Yuuken—the magicless stranger, stared down at the grey monster in sympathy, a slump in his shoulders as he carried the rag and bucket.
The warm amber brown of his eyes looked around the empty cafeteria. The bumbling band of students that once flooded these seats and stood impatiently in line, now only the shape of one lingering student sitting aimlessly on a table.
Yuuken's amber hues flickered with alarm, lips parting to say a word yet no sound came out of them, poking at the little grey monster by his feet with the tip of his shoes.
The struggle went silent upon flaming deaf ears, the tanuki making wild gestures with his small little hands to put emphasis on his angry pout, "What's buggin' me is, Ace ain't even here yet! To make us wait, after what he did...!,"
As softly as the sound could go, the hum from his lips parted for his voice to bubble from his throat as it trembled with a nervous ease, "grim...!," he whispered, patting the little grey fluff of grim's head as the grey monster's round azure eyes stared back at him.
Yuuken clutched the rag and bucket like it was the only thing keeping him together in twisted wonderland, "somebody is here though, and he's certainly not Ace!,"
With a little "eep!," grim hid behind the magicless janitor's legs, a little wake up call for him to say that he and yuu weren't the only ones in the room, the stranger's unsettling golden flaked eyes and unfriendly frown seemingly unapproachable.
Hopping off the cafeteria table, you stood up, dusting off the invisible germs from the folds of your grey jacket, "I assume that I'm not the one your looking for,"
You maintained a couple seconds of eye contact before looking to the ground, golden flaked irises trailing to the large open doors that continued down the hall, "granted," nervous laughter bubbled from your throat, "you weren't the person I was looking for either,"
Yuuken took a hesitant step forward, a hand reaching out as if to close the uncomfortable distance between you two, "look," he started, the amber of his eyes flickering to the ground.
Everybody yuu had met so far in this, strange school was quite unruly, hostile.
He was already on high alert for any information of where he was, who were here, and if they would help him.
Yuu didn't need any more conflict like what transpired with Ace to occur before he could return home, if he could remember what home was.
The memories were getting blurrier every second he was stuck in this foreign place, and he feared he might loose track of himself in this twisted world of magic.
And certainly, he didn't need this stranger waiting aimlessly in this cafeteria where he so conveniently was tasked to wash a hundred windows to turn into another copy of the redheaded freshman who'd insulted him earlier that day.
The singular red rose under the golden flaked pupils of his eyes matched the scheme of the heart that was also drawn below the crimson of Ace's eyes; the red and black armband all there was needed to prove that they were from the same dorm.
Yuuken cleared his throat, trying to rid of the anxieties bubbling inside, "we're sorry for walking in so abruptly," the gold of their eyes glittered under the fading light of the cafeteria, the sunlight retreating from the sky.
The magicless janitor tucked his hands into the pocket of his clothes, a curious smile spreading across his lips, "Say, have you seen a redhead with a heart under his eye somewhere? That's who we were looking for. The headmage tasked us to wash a hundred windows because the queen of hearts statue had been charred when he started a fight with grim."
The natural frown of your lips curved into a grimace, your gloved hands brushing against your skin as you rubbed the back of your neck, "shoot, that does sound pretty awful. Haven't seen any redheads around here however, sorry to disappoint."
Letting your arms drop to your sides, your brows rose curiously with a twinkle of mischief dancing through the glint of your irises, "the headmage you say?," your lips curved into a smile, akin to that of a business owner offering a deal, "I was just looking for where he might be."
Leaning your body against a cafeteria table, you let your arms fold neatly against your chest in a crisscross, "how about this?," the twinkle in your irises dimmed a little as the corners of your eyes scrunched as your lips spread wider in a charming grin.
What a beautiful smile, such a shame that it was only shone under the pretences of just a coincidental occurrence that so convincingly benefited both parties.
Yuuken shifted uncomfortably, looking to the floor. Although, you could clearly tell that he was listening because he didn't say anything after.
Through the silent room, you spoke, "you were looking for that redhead yes? Perhaps, if I catch this guy running away from his window scrubbing duties, I can get a chat with the headmage when your done."
The little twinkle of mischief appeared in your eyes again, humor dancing across your tongue, "I hear your closely affiliated with him, perhaps from the misconception yesterday?,"
Your voice spilled through your lips and broke the solace of silence in the empty cafeteria, the small crackle of fire going in the kitchens being the only sound present as the cafeteria ghosts busied themselves with work.
The little grey monster jerked up, scrambling to beat yuu before he could even begun to speak, "deal!," the tanuki shouted, his obnoxious voice flooding through what little silence that remained.
He huffed angry, aggressively making exaggerated hand gestures to imitate his frustration, "Even if that little jerk did plan on coming to scrub these stupid windows, he's super late! I'm sure he upped and bailed on us!,"
Yuuken shrugged, an indifferent look washing over his face, "That's very possible, we should look for him soon."
Grim stomped angrily at the ground, almost making a small imprint on the floorboards as he threw his little temper tantrum, "Ain't no may am I doin' his punishment for him!,"
Pouting angrily, the little tanuki tugged on the cuffs of your pants and pointed indignantly at door, his little claws gnawing at the scruffs of your uniform.
"C'mon my new henchmen! I don't care if we gotta drag him kick'n and screamin' because he's washing those windows!,"
You folded your arms against your chest, a mischievous smile pulling across your lips as the gold in your eyes twinkled brightly, "well," you chuckled, stretching an arm to the door in mock politeness.
"We wouldn't want Ace to keep waiting for us any longer would we?,"
With your luck, it should have already been expected.
Of course the first sign of human life other than the grumpy grey cat sitting in one of the desolate classrooms was a talking painting with a bizarre moustache.
The burning blue flame on the tuff of grim's ear flared with vigour, "Hey Ace, get over here! Try to hide from me, will ya!,"
When only his voice echoed through the empty room, he faltered and crossed his little grey arms, looking around the classroom, "...is there really nobody here? Where did everyone even disappear to!,"
It was quite plain, just like every other classroom you've walked by; yellowy green lanterns hanging from the ceiling, a bookshelf pushed to the brick wall, and rows of lecture hall tables to either sides of the room.
Although, the most noticeable thing was the paintings.
There were about five to six paintings; either handing on the wall or leaning against it. There was a pretty lady with auburn hair twirling in her flowery green dress in her portrait and a gentleman tipping his felt top hat to the crowd, a dazzling smile on his face.
Leaning against one of the desks however, was a short man wearing a dark grey trench coat that hung loosely across his shoulders, a red collar and white vest tucked underneath with a singular copper monocle across his eyes.
He peered up at you judgmentally, raising a curious grey eyebrow, "Oh, I wouldn't say that, I'm here," Was the painting mocking you?
The grey monster jumped back, fear igniting in his azure blue irises as he clung onto the fabric of Yuuken's clothes, clearing not expecting for the painting to talk; and even more so, mock him.
Grim shouted, his squeaky voice bouncing off the walls and scratching painfully against your ears—quite a contrast to the silence of the empty room, "Bwaaah! That painting just talked!,"
The man in the portrait crossed his arms, glaring judgementally at grim as if he was just a grease stain beneath his sleek black shoes. "Yes, and...? Is a talking painting such an oddity at this school?,"
He pointed to the other paintings; the earlier pretty lady with the green dress and the man with the charming smile, "the lady in the portrait on that wall talks too, as does the gentleman in the portrait on this one."
The man's dark grey irises eyed you three curiously, "As long as a painting has a mouth, why wouldn't it be able to talk? Is it really so strange?,"
Yuuken stepped in front of grim, further shielding the little grey monster from the painting's view as to regain any honour that had been lost when grim started to speak, "In fact, yes. Paintings don't usually talk."
The man rolled his eyes, the copper monocle on his eye balancing surprisingly well despite being on the teetering edge, "Well your usual and my usual clearly differ," he raised an accusatory eyebrow, "Shall we agree to disagree on the matter?,"
He narrowed his eyes at the strange group; a transfer second year student hanging around a troublesome grey weasel and clueless young janitor as if he could see right through you, "Now, you seem to be searching for someone."
Yuuken nudged the little flaming tanuki; a silent message for him to shut the fuck up before he could cause more trouble, opting for you to take over with the explanation.
Of course, this was your own dormmate after all.
You crossed your arms, staring straight directly into the man in the painting's eyes—one beady little grey pupil tinted by the old stupid ass monocle sitting under his irises, "We're looking for a dormmate of mine, Ace."
The corny, childish insults the redhead had spat burned into your mind as you nearly scoffed out his name, "He wears the same uniform and red band around his arm." How did the dumb ass mirror sort you in the same dorm as him?
You pointed to the rose under your eye, "He also has a red heart mark on his face with dishevelled orange hair and stupid mischievous smirk."
The man scratched his face, eyes scrunching up in familiarity, "Ah, I know that one. A new student, correct? Today was his first day of school, I think he went back to his dorm a while ago."
Dawning hit you in the face like a fucking brick was thrown at your head and dread was left where the pain started to begin.
Of course Ace would flee to the dorms like a little cowardly bitch he is, though you probably also defied countless rules of the queen of hearts just by being here and sticking around the cafeteria in search of the headmage.
Dread bubbled inside your stomach as white fear crawled in goosebumps along your arms. Shit, Riddle's going to be pissed by the time you return back to heartslabyul.
Grim angrily stomped his little feet, claws clattering on the stone floor as he crossed his tiny little arms. "Myaaah! So it's true, he's tryin' to ditch us!," he pointed at you, "new henchman! Your in the same dorm as him aren't you? Which way did he go?,"
You shook your head, trying to shake loose any fear that started to seep inside your mind in worryingly anxious thoughts, "The mirrors to the dorms is in the eastern building,"
Grim tugged against the cuffs of your pants, hurrying for you to lead the way through the empty winding halls of night raven college, "Let's chase after him my henchmens!,"
"Yeah right," a redhead could be seen walking through the desolate halls, "like I was going to wash a hundred windows."
Ace stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking distastefully at the chaotic painted rose bushes through the foggy lilac grey of the mirror, heartslabyul emblazoned onto the stone emblem above it.
Right when he was about to take a step onto the red carpeted stairs and walk into the dorm house, an obnoxiously loud voice made him halt in his steps.
He turned to greet the perpetrator that broke his peace of silence, the voice revealing to belong to the little grey weasel that crashedthe ceremony; the magicless prefect and second year transfer student following close behind, "GOTCHA PUNK!,"
Ace started to bolt down the hallways, abandoning the heartslabyul mirror as he cursed under his breath, "fuck, they saw me."
Grim started to run after him, sprinting to keep up with the redhead's speed as they chased each other around through the empty hallways; yourself and yuuken following swiftly behind them, "Stop right there, pal! No fair gettin' a head start! Wait!,"
Ace stuck his arms up in exasperation before turning his head around and blowing a raspberry, "Who in their right mind would ever let you catch up to me?! Bye, seeya!,"
The burning flame on the tuft of grim's ears started to smoke, his blue fire flickering with new vigour as he angrily shouted profanities, "No way are you gettin' out of this! You think I wanna wash windows?,"
As you ran, your legs started to burn with aching muscles as your lungs strained to regain regular breathing; a ringing in your ears drumming along with the beat of your heart against your chest.
You were never really the best at sports, opting to just sticking to what was comfortably like short length races across the field instead of giving it your all and running full laps around the track for the rest of class.
Bumping into a blue haired boy studying against the wall, Ace tried to push him out of his way as he barrelled through the hall, the stranger's teal green eyes widening with dishevelled shock.
A flame of anger ignited inside the once calm sea of his irises, momentarily surprising you of how deep the aquamarine colour of his pupil seemed to cut depths into his own personality and past, a black spade marking under his eye telling you that you were in the same dorm.
Though something told you that he wasn't anyone familiar to you; a junior you guessed, a singular grade below you.
The blue haired stranger pushed himself up from colliding with the wall, sharply turning to yell at the redhead who had impulsively bumped into him. "Hey! What gives?!,"
His voice was quite average, boringly simple if you will. It certainly wasn't something that you could distinctly pick up from a crowd of chatting students.
But the anger laced inside his tone that had danced across his tongue and the momentary display of anger told you that there was something buried through the depths of those aquamarine hues.
From a vast calming sea with small waves lapping the sandy shore—to a storm of rain and ocean battling each other like mind and past instincts.
Through your greedy gasps of cold air that managed to flow through into chest, you managed to sputter out before using Yuu's shoulders to steady your balance; the latter also struggling to regain calm breath through his lungs.
"The little brat is shrinking his cleaning responsibilities!,"
The fire seemed to wash away, the cinders flowing back into the lake as his anger seemed to retreat just as fast as it had appeared; leaving a moral young honour student in it's sudden disappearance.
Deuce stumbled for his magical pen, the ruby shining dangerously under the yellow light of the hallway lamps, "What? That's not right! But how to stop him?,"
His brows furrowed in concentration, tapping his bottom lip with a gloved black finger, "like, freeze his legs? Or bind them with a rope?
The bluenette muttered to himself, his words stumbling over themselves in a series of inaudible mumbling, carried away by his own lack of decision making skills, "Or maybe I could... Hmm... No..."
By now, grim and Ace were chasing each other in a circle around the hallways; the little grey monster screaming childish insults at the redhead while he tried to be even more petty as to blow more raspberries.
The title flaming tanuki shouted, obnoxious voice adding to the ringing pain in your head, "I don't care how! Just do something! Anything!,"
Deuce flinched back, eyebrows raising as he looked to the weasel in approval, "Anything?! Anything, huh... all right!,"
"Here goes anything!," He whipped out his pen, the ruby red gem glinting dangerously as it was pointing directly at the redhead, perhaps even a little above him as bright shiny sparkles glittered through the empty hallways as he performed the spell.
"I summon thee... something heavy!," As the sparkles disappeared, a giant black shadow emerged from the magical pen, a gigantic metal cauldron appearing from thin air and squashing Ace flat down to the floor.
Grim screamed, "Bwaaah?! Wha?! A pot?!,"
You stared in shock at the scene in front of you, your completely broken moral code sputtering a few giggles as a genuine smile spread across your face.
Ace just got squashed under a motherfucking cauldron.
Laughter.
Pure, beautiful laughter bubbling from your chest.
To bad the reason for your laughter was because you were laughing at Ace, which in itself; was nothing short but karma.
The little flaming tanuki also started to giggle with you; the most childish laughter anyone could ever hear—pure bliss and happiness rising from your lungs in uncontrollable laughter.
Yuuken tried to hide his smile, failing ever so slightly when he let out a snicker slip through his lips. Coughing up the chuckles, he covered it up with his hand as he sputtered into his fist.
The redhead groaned and tried to push the caldron off his back, a sickeningly hilarious crack! making his shoulders slump down again.
The troublesome weasel tugged on the cuff of yuuken's pants, pointing at the tuff of orange hair through the dust and laughing like a little grey furred sadist, "Ahhahahaha! Look, Yuu, look!,"
Leaning against the wall, you coughed and sputtered; the dust clogging up your nose and making you sneeze. The endless onslaught of laughter squeezed against your stomach painfully in tight knit cramps.
Yet, you still laughed.
You laughed for so long you almost wanted to cry.
Yuuken was quite pleasantly surprised—when was the last time you laughed? Your laughter was hoarse and scratchy like sandpaper brushing against wood, yet soft and feathery like the wings of a bird about to take flight.
It held elements of natural world—like the breezy wind of spring; flowery like blooming petals of roses sprouting from the green earth and was also like the laughter of a free child playing tag across a grassy field.
Yuuken never took you as one for laughter; your furrowed brows and downward tug of your lips seemingly most intimidating and unapproachable.
It made him sad to think that you never had many chances to laugh and enjoy yourself. Though, he couldn't really be the one talking.
His memory was getting fuzzier, blurrier like a foggy window on a cold winter night.
It wasn't long after he got here did he wonder when was the last time he had laughed in the company of a loved one—if only he could remember who that person even was.
As the magicless janitor tried to blow the dust away, the little tanuki began to taunt the redhead freshman, him finally receiving his well deserved karma. "Ace got crushed beneath a giant cauldron! It squashed him flat! Ahahaha!,"
"That's what you get!," A wide smile stretched across the little grey monster's face, the redhead groaning again and muttering a faint "shuddap!," under the weight of the cauldron.
The cerulean haired stranger shifted, waving out the dust as he speculated the redhead painfully pushing away the potions pot that crushed his back. "A cauldron?!," he tapped his pen to his lips, "I wasn't expecting that. I may have overdone it this time..."
Finally, Ace stood up and pushed the caldron aside, giving it a dirty look before brushing away the specks of grim on his grey uniform jacket. "Owww...!," he whined, rubbing his back.
The redhead waved irritably with exaggerated hand gestures, rolling his crimson pupils almost to the other side of his head, "What are you bothering me for? You guys coulda just banged out the work yourself!,"
Yuuken glared, crossing his arms indignantly, "There's no "banging out" a hundred windows! It was Headmage's orders. You heard the man."
His aquamarine hues widened a bit, flinching back before shaking his head, "You have to wash a hundred windows as punishment? What the heck did you do?!,"
The redhead leaned against the wall and crossed his arms irritably, his crimson pupils glaring holes into the cauldron, "I was just screwing around with that furball a little." He shooed away the concern, his singular gloved hand waving dismissively.
Ace paused, rethinking his decisions and let a small flicker of doubt pass through his eyes, "Okay, and the statue of the Queen of Hearts got a teeny bit charred. Sue me." Boredom curved across his lips in a thin line.
Yuuken narrowed his eyes, parting his lips into an angry curve, "maybe I will if the world did something right and gave this place a lawyer."
Deuce shifted uncomfortably; his earlier shock doubling almost instantaneously as his aquamarine hues danced with surprise "You damaged a statue of the Great Seven?!," the teal of his pupils narrowed into a pointed look, "No wonder he flew off the handle at you!
Disappointment for his peer's actions, the cerulean haired stranger could only sigh and cross his arms, doubt flickering in a tiny flame across the oceanic colour of his eyes, "After you managed to get into this school?,"
Wonder crashed the flickering flame in a brittle tide down into the sea floor of his pupils, a new fire of mild irritation emerging from the remains, "how could you get in trouble on the very first day?!,"
Ace scoffed, pushing himself from against the wall to stare intently at the cerulean haired stranger's face, scourging the canvas of pale, cream like skin for any imperfections to pick at, "Oh, shut the fuck up. Who are you, anyway?,"
You leaned forward with anticipation, pulling along the grey of Yuuken's sleeves as you awaited the name of the cerulean haired stranger with oceanic green blue eyes.
He crossed his arms, furrowing his brows together as his aquamarine pupils stared with judgement into the redhead's own crimson hues, "My name is Deuce. Deuce Spade."
The black spade symbol under the oceanic blue of the cerulean haired boy's eye seemed at that moment nothing but a joke of irony that clung to his alias.The two of spades; the meaning his name had present.
You touched tentatively at your own mark under your eye, the red rose petals blooming beautifully in a crimson color like heartslabyul's own maze of these thorny flowers, prickling into rows of heart shaped hedges; the once pure petals now tainted with the colour of blood.
But you had no connection to roses, not in the slightest. You had no connection to heartslabyul either, not anything about you that screamed "roses, chaos, and silly rules"
Then why did that dumb ass mirror sort you in the wrong place?
Here you were, standing in the desolate empty halls with a red and black band around your arm trying to received a word with the headmage to set things right.
Not like there was anything right about this situation in the first place.