i, ii, iii

Parts i, ii, ii

wc: 2.8k

A Desperate Heart: 287

A Misappropriated Tart: 1.5k

Garden Decoration: 1.0k

A/N: I did not abandon this story I have midterms coming up and I needed to study ;-;

Please cut on this line: ✄ ╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍╍

i: A Desperate Heart

Weirdly enough, [N] had experienced a dream.

An unfamiliar dream in an unfamiliar land seem to correlate, no?

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

Hurry up and paint those roses red!

Slather them quickly, asforesaid!

(They're painting...roses?)

Why are you painting these white roses red?

Why, you ask? It's quite simple.

We planted the wrong color, you see.

The Queen likes her roses red. If they're white, we'll lose our heads!

Goodness!

And so, we're painting the roses red.

...

"What the hell..." [N] said a bit groggily, "What the hell was that dream? Or was it a memory I had lost...?"

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

[N] woke up in her makeshift bed, finally back in their room.

"Grim," [N] said as they sat up, "I think I just had the craziest dream."

Grim yawned. "Yeah whatever... but I think there's a visitor at our door."

"Maybe it's those pesky ghosts again? They just don't know when to quit." Grim crossed his arms.

The knocking continued, rattling the dorm a bit more.

[N] sighed before getting out of bed, the sheets falling off and revealing their shorts and tank top.

>> ENTRY HALL

"Who would be here at such an ungodly hour?" [N] said as they rubbed their eyes a bit and patted down a few fly-aways in their hair.

A voice spoke from the other side of the door. "It's me, Ace! Just let me in, alright?"

Grim spoke while still a bit tired. "Ace? It's the middle of the night! B-bwah! That collar!"

"I can't go back to Heartslabyul House. I'm joining your dorm. For good." Ace said with a serious expression on his face.

Grim's tired expression changed to one of surprise. "Myah?! Come again?!"

ii: A Misappropriated Tart

"I've never seen a collar like that in my life! Where'd you even get that thing?" Grim said with his arms crossed.

[N] sighed and crossed their legs, "Seems like something you'd see on a misbehaving cat."

"What did you do to get shackled in the first place?" [N] said as they crossed their arms.

Ace looked away in embarrassment. "I ate a tart."

[N] stared at the red head in disbelief. "...You're joking."

"Yeah, that's it! That's all I did!" Ace said. "I was a little hungry, see, so i went down to the dorm kitchen and found some tarts in the fridge.

[N] shook their head. "Your first mistake was taking food that's not yours."

"But there were three whole tarts! Just sittin' in the fridge for someone to take!" Ace shook [N] by the shoulders.

>> FLASHBACK

>> HEARTSLABYUL DORM

"Man, I'm still tired from our little adventure. I missed dinner, too, and now I'm starving!" Ace groaned as he entered the kitchen.

Ace opened the fridge and looked around in it. "Got anything for me, fridge? ...Whoa, score! Tarts! Those look amazing!"

"And plenty to go around, too! No one would notice if i snagged one teeeeensy little slice, right. Of course not." Ace said as he slice into the tart.

Ace took a bit out of the tart with a smile adorning his features.

"Mmph... SO good! I'm in pastry paradise right now!" Ace said in surprise.

A new voice was then heard. "Of course they're good. Trey made them. His tarts are always exceptional."

"Yeah, but i mean.. these are CRAZY good! Like, he could sell these at-- wait, Housewarden?!" Ace had realized who he had just spoken to.

Riddle had crossed his arms. "That you would think to touch something of MINE... well, I'm impressed with your audacity."

"But the Queen of Hearts' rule 89 is quite clear. 'Never eat a tart without the Queen's permission.'" Riddle said.

"The theft of tarts is a serious crime!" Riddle said with seriousness.

"Off With Your Head!"

Ace screamed. "Bwaaaah!!"

>> FLASHBACK END

>> RAMSHACKLE DORM

"And... here i am." Ace said with anger still lacing his features.

Grim stayed quiet. "....."

[N] also decided to stay quiet. "....."

"So... the point is you're both terrible?" Grim said unamused.

Ace shook his head, "You don't think that it's insane for my magic to get sealed away for eating ONE slice of tart?!"

"For a mage, that's like having your arms and legs bound and shackled." Ace placed his hands on his hips.

[N] nodded with a small yawn. "I mean, i wouldn't know since ive never had my magic sealed away for eating a tart."

"Oh har har, you're so funny [N]." Ace just sighed. "But there were like, three whole tarts! THREE! It's not like he could eat 'em all himself!"

"C'mon, you KNOW this is messed up!" Ace said with a frown.

[N] pretended to give Ace's words some thought as they looked through their phone. "Oh yeah, very unfair."

"Don't make it seem like you care!"

Grim chimed in "Yeah, but..."

"I mean, if there were three of 'em, they were probably for a party." Grim nodded at his reasoning.

Grim smiled. "Maybe it was someone's birthday or somethin'? Lookit that! I'm, like, a master detective too!"

"A birthday party, huh...?" Ace thought a bit.

[N] just sighed. "Ace, did you even apologize?"

"Man... I thought you'd be more sympathetic! I'm a victim of the housewarden's tyranny here!" Ace said.

[N] raised their hands up in defense. "Okay but real talk, stealing food is a serious offense."

"Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Ace said has he scratched the back of his head.

[N] spoke as they held both of Ace's hands. "If you go to Riddle tomorrow and apologize, I bet he'll feel so bad that he'd apologize for sealing your magic away for such a dumb reason as eating a piece of a tart."

"Yeah! He'll be grovelin' at my feet while muttering apologies over and over!" Ace said with a slight blush.

Grim grumbled a bit. "Yeah but you can't just mess with another man's meal like that..."

"Hey, wait a minute! I just realized I never got those cans of tuna the headmage promised me!" Grim remembered.

[N] looked down at the beast, "You just realized that?"

"All right, all right. Fine. I get that i should apologize." Ace said with a bit of reluctance. "But you're coming with me, [N]. This was your idea after all."

[N] shrugged their shoulders. "That's alright with me."

"Anyway, you got a place for me to crash tonight?" Ace said as he crossed his arms.

[N] and Grim look at each other before looking back at Ace. "You were serious about that?"

"Outside of the bedroom me and [N] use, this entire place is a fixer-upper in progress." Grim said with his arms crossed.

[N] shrugged, "There's a room right across from ours that i cleaned. You could inhabit that for a bit."

"Aww! Can't i just crash with you and the cat can use that room?" Ace said as he draped his arms over [N]'s shoulders.

"Myaah! No you can-" [N] cut off the beast.

"Sure. I cleaned that room for Grim anyways." [N] said with a small yawn.

Grim just stood there as Ace followed [N] upstairs.

"HENCH-HUMAN! YOU TRAITOR!!" Grim yelled out as tears streamed down his face

>> ROSE-RED TYRANT

Ace woke to someone pounding on the door, causing the whole dorm to echo a bit.

"Duuude.. who is pounding on the door at this hour?!" Ace questioned as he rose from his spot next to [N], who was surprisingly still sleeping.

Ace got out of the bed and slowly made his way downstairs, noticing the hidden dust that started to fly about.

"Bleah! Every hit kicks up a dust storm! I'm coming, i'm coming!" Ace said as he quickly made his way to the entry hall where the front door was.

>> ENTRY HALL

Ace opened the door to reveal Deuce. "I figured i'd find you here."

"Ugh, Deuce..." Ace's face twisted into one of disgust.

Deuce put one hand on his hip. "So, you ate the housewarden's tart."

"You really are an idiot, Ace." Deuce shook his head in disappointment.

Ace crossed his arms. "You came here to tell me that? I was perfectly fine, sleeping next to [N] before you showed up!"

"Anyways, uh... is he still mad?" Ace asked with a small blush.

Deuce thought for a moment, "Not at all. Maybe a touch irritated, if anything. A few of our dormmates overslept this morning..."

"But only three of 'em got your treatment." Deuce nodded.

Ace stared at the blue haired boy in disbelief. "You call that 'not at all' mad?! Sounds like he's still on a rampage, to me."

[N] came into the entry hall, with their hair and clothes disheveled and their shirt riding up their stomach as they scratched their chest.

"Why are you yelling so early in the morning? I could hear you all the way upstairs." [N] said with a yawn.

Deuce stiffened and bowed. "I'm sorry, Prefect!"

"Haha, sorry Prefect. This dunce was banging on the door and it woke me up." Ace said as he put a hand on Deuce's head.

Deuce growled at the red head. "Who ya callin' dunce?!"

>> MAIN STREET

"Move it! Outta the way!" Grim said as he walked down the cobblestone path. "Night Raven College student comin' through!"

[N] tried to fix the fly-aways in their hair while also trying to keep Grim in check. "Grim, stop being rude to people. Keep that up and i'll take your magic away."

"Eeek!!" Grim shrieked at the statement.

Grim looked at Ace and grinned. "Oh? Did my collar catch your eye? It is way better than the one you're stuck with!"

"You know, the one that makes it so you can't use magic?" Grim put his hands on his hips. "But hey, the school could always use another janitor! Bwahahaha!"

[N] shook their head. "That's strike two."

"I'm sorry, henchhuman!" Grim said quickly, hoping to not lose his magic as well.

Ace glared at Grim. "Grrrrr! Trust me Grim, when I get my magic back, your hide is first up on the chopping block!"

"If you want to fight Grim, leave me out of it. I don't want to help clean up another mess of yours." [N] crossed their arms with a sigh.

"Didn't the headmage JUST tell you yesterday, no more incidents?" Deuce said as he looked at Ace in disappointment.

Deuce continued, "Regardless, you're not going to be able to participate in class if you can't use magic."

"Yeah! And didn't you say you would apologize to your housewarden if i came with you? We can go now, and you can get your collar removed for the low price of your ego!" [N] said optimistically.

Ace groaned. "Aaaaaargh! I hate this so! SO! Much!"

"Hmm." Grim hummed, "Ya know, we do still have some time to kill before class starts. And i am kinda curious about the other dorms.

Grim smiled up at [N]. "Guess we'll go along and scope out the place while you make with your groveling."

"Since when did this become a field trip?!" Ace said unamused.

iii: Garden Decoration

>> HEARTSLABYUL DORM

The group of four traveled through the mirror that led to Heartslabyul dorm, ruled by Riddle Rosehearts.

"Dang, this place is swank! This place is nothing like our dumpster of a dorm!" Grim said as he looked around.

[N] nodded. "Our dorm is just a... fixer-upper in progress."

"C'mon! Let's go check out the rose maze!" Ace said as he grabbed [N]'s hand.

Ace rushed ahead with [N] in tow, surprising Deuce and Grim.

"Ace! Don't run that fast! You could hurt [N]!" Deuce followed after the two quickly.

Grim grumbled under his breath. "I always get left for dead..."

>> ROSE MAZE

"Aww yeah, i am getting my paint on!" A ginger haired boy with a diamond painted on his face said.

Grim crossed his arms. "Ah, someone's here."

"They all gotta be red, or it's 'off with my head'!" The ginger said with a smile.

'I've heard that phrase before...' [N] thought back to the dream they had just last night.

The ginger finally noticed the group of freshmen. "Huh...? You guys need something?"

"What are you doing there?" Ace asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Are you blind? I'm painting these roses red, duh." The ginger said with a small laugh.

[N] and Grim looked at each other before looking back at the ginger.

Deuce and Ace recoiled a bit. "What? Why?!"

The ginger chuckled. "Ah ha ha. So naïve, you put the 'n' in newb."

"Hold the phone, i know you! You're the ones who broke a billion-thaumark chandelier and nearly got expelled for it, yeah?" The ginger spoke directly to the two boys.

Ace shook his head. "That chandelier is gonna haunt us till the day we graduate, isn't it?"

"And you!" The ginger pointed to Ace. "You're the one who ate the housewarden's tart that same night!"

"You guys are THE hot topic around campus! I've gotta get  in on this fleeting fame." The ginger said.

[N] snorted. "So much for haunt you till you graduate."

The ginger directed his attention to [N], and his eyes gleam. "Oh! Em! GEE! You're the student who stopped that weasel at orientation! And that speech, it was amazing!"

[N] let a nervous chuckle. "Uh, yeah... that was me."

"You're face card absolutely amazing! It's so magicammable! And your skin, it's glowing! Can we take a pic?"

The ginger draped his arm across the prefect's shoulders, holding up his phone to take a selfie. "Say cheese!"

The ginger took the picture, catching [N] by surprise.

"This will totally get me a bunch of likes! I easily got almost a million views for recording that speech of yours, and i'm still getting likes from when you stopped that weasel from causing havoc!" The ginger said as he looked over the photo.

[N] looked at the two boys, their eyes screaming for help as they both just kept standing still.

"Oi, i thought we were a hot topic around campus." Ace said as he crossed his arms.

The ginger waved a hand at the redhead. "Yeah, but they're a hot topic online! There's even a new hashtag for them!"

The ginger showed the four his phone. "#PowerfulPrefect?"

"Mhm! They've been trending ever since i posted that video! Crazy, isn't it?" The ginger said.

The ginger remembered something. "Oh yeah! Gimme your names. I'm gonna need them so i can tag you."

"I'm Deuce Spade."

"Ace." Ace said as he crossed his arms annoyed.

"I'm Grim, and that's my henchhuman, [N]"

"Uploaded! Sweet." The ginger said as he put away his phone.

"Oh, I'm Cater Diamond, by the way. I'm a junior here at Heartslabyul." Cater said as he held up a peace sign. "But Cater is fine. Or Cay-Cay if you're cray-cray!"

The ginger gave the group a smile. "Sooo nice to meetcha!"

"Wow. That doesn't scream superficial at all." [N] said as they crossed their arms.

The ginger just looked at [N]. "I still can't believe that you became the prefect of  Ramshackle Dorm. That place is so gloomy, and it looks like hot garbage on Magicam. No filter could salvage THAT dump."

"Y'know, you've done nothin' but diss us here, pal!" Grim said with an annoyed expression on his face.

[N] huffed. "Maybe it's because you gave him fuel by being idiots."

"Gah, what am i doing? I don't  have time to chat!" Cater said as his eyes went wide. "The party's tomorrow. If we're not ready, it's 'off with my head'!"

Cater's smile quickly returned to his face. "Hey, you kids wanna help me paint some roses?"

"Yeah, uh... why are you doing that exactly?" Ace asked with his arms crossed.

Cater spoke with uncertainty. "Because red roses are so much more photogenic! Or... something...?"

"And after that, i've gotta start getting things ready for..." Cater's voice started to fade out in [N]'s  mind, it starting to drift off to other things.

Then, a sudden flash of a memory hit them.

₊‧.°.⋆💭•˚₊‧⋆.

Why must the roses be red?

They just have to be!

That doesn't seem all that ethical.

What? Do you want some roses painted black to match your name?

No, that's not it!

Then what is it?

You're always so kind and gentle when we're alone, i just... don't understand why all these rules matter so much when you're out there, commanding those men.

...

Because the last time i couldn't maintain order, i almost lost you.

₊‧.°.⋆💭•˚₊‧⋆.

"Oh, but Ace is on magical house arrest and [N] is daydreaming over there, so it'd probably be best if you two stuck to paint." Cater said as he pointed to the prefect who was still stuck in their own mind.

Deuce gasped and shook [N] out of their trance. "Prefect!"

[N]'s eyes widened at the sudden contact. "Did something happen?"

"I just need you freshies to help me paint the roses red!" Cater said with a small nod.

"Repaint the roses with magic..." Deuce said, a bit nervous.

Grim's face held an unamused expression. "Can't say i've done this before."

"Relax, it'll be fine. You got this! But maybe do it before i lose my head? K-thanx!" Cater said with a small wave.