Hi everyone!

December is here! Remember that updates are going to be on Fridays now, once a week, due to my work schedule. If things calm down, I might go back to updating twice a week.

Hope everybody is doing well! Enjoy!

Chapter 13:

Another dream?

Claire was back in the black and white garden. This time, things had taken for the worse. The cards that had been feverishly painting the white roses red were all prostrating on the ground. Even Alice was lying next to them, frightened out of her wits.

Claire wondered what was going on when she saw a balloon figure glaring down at the pack of terrified cards. Although she was comical-looking with her unibrow and button nose, her expression was filled with nothing but rage. Her dress was deep red and black, and in her beefy hand was one of the rose trees, uprooted and dripping with paint.

The Queen of Hearts…

"Who did this?" she roared, shaking the tree. The paint on the flowers splattered down like blood onto the grass. "Who dares to taint, with this vulgar paint, the royal flower bed?! You better prepare yourself! Someone will be losing their head!"

"Oh no, Your Majesty," the Three of Clubs begged, "It was his fault. HIS fault!" He pointed to his companion, the Two of Clubs, next to him.

"No," the playing card sputtered in denial, "It was Ace! Ace!"

Ace?! Claire looked around wildly, expecting to see the familiar orange firecracker hair, but the Two of Clubs was pointing to the Ace of Club wearing a bucket of red paint on his head.

"It wasn't me!" The card squeaked, pointing back, "It was Deuce!"

"Not me! Trey!"

"No, Deuce!"

"Ace! Ace!"

Claire felt her head about to split as they kept pointing to each other. She was not the only one.

"Enough!" The Queen of Hearts roared as she shook the tree. "Off with their heads! Off with all of their heads! Start with him!" She pointed to Ace of Clover. Before the card could cry out, a quartet of red Diamonds grabbed him by the arms and legs and dragged him away.

"NO!" Claire yelled. She reached out, but the red soldier cards went past her like air. The others stood without care as the poor club cards were dragged off.

"Of course, you would lose your head. Serves your right for planting white instead of red!" they mocked. "I can't believe someone would foolishly mix up red and white."

Claire never saw it happen, but in her mind, she could hear the sickening slice of the axe and the slow dripping sound that soon followed. The next thing she knew, she was back in her room. The Queen of Hearts was nowhere to be found - her singing card soldiers gone. However, Claire felt sick to the stomach and almost threw up as she remembered the nauseating sound.

Why? Why would she do that? Why would she cut their heads for the color of roses? Why did no one stop her?

"Claire?"

She felt the gentle shaking before she managed to open her eyes.

"D-deuce?" She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

"S-sorry," he quickly backed away as she lifted her head. He was already dressed, with his dark blue hair neatly combed. "You were mumbling in your sleep. I've been calling you for several minutes, but you didn't respond." He waited as she yawned widely and rubbed her eyes.

The fog in her mind slowly started to dissipate.

"Today is the Unbirthday Party. We don't want to be late unless we want our heads cut off," Deuce said.

His words gave Claire pause, and she shivered though not from the chill in the air.

"Right… the party…" she mumbled and shakily got up to her feet.

There was little time to get ready if they were going to head out and pick up the tart. Ace and Grim were still fast asleep, snoring on the ground. Yesterday, Claire didn't have time to clean up the rooms upstairs for her new guests, so Deuce insisted that he and Ace will just sleep in the lounge since it was only for one night. Ace then decided to make it into a party and brought out a pack of cards, and Grim refused to let any of them sleep until he has beaten all of them. In turn, the four had all stayed up all night playing before finally passing out in the lounge.

Grim drooled and snorted as he unconsciously scratched his exposed white belly. Still asleep, Ace breathed heavily while curled up in a thin blanket. The collar around his neck peeked out from the top. Claire remembered her dream and, unconsciously, touched her own neck.

"What's wrong?" Deuce asked, seeing her expression.

"I… just have a bad feeling about today," Claire said darkly.

"It'll be fine," Deuce insisted, "We'll go to the party, give Riddle the tart, remove Ace's collar, and everything will finally go back to normal."

Was it going to be that easy? Claire opened her mouth, but there was a knock at the front.

"I'll go get that. You go wake them up," Deuce said, heading to the door. A few seconds later, he came back with Cater in tow.

"Morning, guys!" Cater grinned, just as Ace and Grim stirred from their sleep. "Did you guys have a good sleepover? Was there a pillow fight and card games?"

"Morning," Ace yawned as he stretched his arms high into the air. "We played some cards, but Grim didn't understand the rules, so he kept getting Old Maid."

"I couldn't even win once," Grim hissed in frustration and kicked the cards discarded on the floor.

"That's because you couldn't keep a straight face when you got Joker," Deuce said with a small chuckle.

"Well if you guys are ready, let's go get the tart you guys made and apologize to Riddle," Cater said as Ace and Grim got up, "There's some trouble yesterday, so I need your help."

"Wait, didn't you say yesterday that you would be able to finish?" Claire asked as she bent down to pick up the blankets and pillows. She straightened up and wore a frown on her face. "What happened?"

Ace and Grim looked up, startled by the sharpness of her voice.

"Oh, it's nothing," Cater said a little too quickly, "I'm just a bit low on manpower today. Nothing serious. Anyways, let's hurry to the party!"

Cater led them all back to the Heartslabyul dorm which was undergoing a major transformation. Many of the students were running around with supplies, dishware, hedgehogs, and flamingos. It was a chaotic sight to behold.

"Finally, today's the day. Let's hurry up and give this to the dorm head so I can apologize," Ace said, carrying the large dessert box in his arms. Claire kept wincing as it tilted from one side to the other like a seesaw. Despite Ace's incredible sense of balance and athleticism, it was clear he was unmindful of how delicate the content in the container was. It would be short of a miracle itself if the tart remained intact before the party.

"Hey, guys! I've been waiting for you." A guy, who was an exact replica of Cater, popped out from the Rose Maze with a paintbrush and bucket in hand.

"Hey, I'm back. Sorry for the wait, Me!"," Cater grinned and waved back as everybody gaped and looked back and forth from Cater 1 and Cater 2.

"Wait… WHAT?! There are two of you?!" Deuce sputtered

"Do you have a twin?!" Ace almost dropped the tart box as he pointed to the Cater with the paintbrushes.

"Nope, this is my Unique Magic – 'Split Card'," Cater from the group explained with a mischievous grin. "I can basically make clones of myself."

"Clones?" Grim repeated in shock.

"So that's how you got all four of us yesterday!" Deuce said eyes widened. "I was wondering if that was an illusion spell."

"Hey, guys!" Another Cater came up, carrying a box of plates and cutlery. "About time!"

"Hi there, Claire! Looking beautiful today!" a fourth Cater said, suddenly standing next to her with his phone out.

"So which one of you is the real one?" Claire asked, looking at the four Caters with apprehension. "Or all of you a piece of the whole Cater?"

"That would be me," Cater with the paintbrushes said, giving a peace sign, "Three copies are usually the most I can make, and I can't keep it up for a long time. Anyways, all of you, give me a hand with the painting, will you? After we're done, I'll take you to Riddle."

"More painting?" Grim complained.

"Again?!" Ace narrowed his eyes.

"No complaining," Cater with the phone said, "Ace, why don't you give that tart to Claire? She can put it in the kitchen." He gave her a wink and pushed the box into her arms. "Come on, come on, let's hurry up with the final preparations."

"Hey, wait!" Ace tried to protest but was immediately dragged off with Deuce and Grim to the Rose Maze.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Claire asked as Cater (the original one) led her to the kitchen. Several of the students watched her with great interest. A few whispered and pointed, staring at Cater with wonder.

"I just figured I could give you a break from all the painting. I mean, you had to take care of both our first years last night, so consider it as a thank-you if you will," he said casually, giving a cheerful wink to the students they passed.

Claire remained quiet for a long while before she asked, "Did something happen here last night? Or rather, did something happen with Riddle – I mean, the Dorm Head?"

"What? Where did you get that idea?" He laughed lightly, but Claire didn't look convinced.

"I don't know. Everybody here seems to be on edge." She glanced around as though she could see it in the atmosphere. "You seem to be on edge too," she added quietly.

"That's just your imagination," Cater laughed again and shook his head. "This Unbirthday Party is a very important tradition, so Riddle is very insistent that everything goes according to plan. We're just busy, no big deal."

"Did he cut some students' heads last night?"

"Huh?" The question was abrupt, and Cater realized too late that his silence answered Claire's question.

"Shouldn't we talk to Ridd – I mean, your Dorm Head about this? You guys seem to be in a bind. I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but it looks like you are forcing yourself to smile." Claire said carefully.

Cater stared for a long second before he spoke quietly. "That's so sweet of you, Claire, but you better keep that to yourself, or else you will be eaten up."

"What?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to talk out loud like that. Forget what I said," Cater quickly smiled, but Claire could see it was still forced. "Let's get this tart in the fridge first! You can help with some of the decorations for the garden. And don't worry; this party is going to be a blast! You'll see."

Author's Notes

Oh, the party will be a blast alright..

With this whole chapter, I feel like I'm doing way too much foreshadowing of what will obviously come. XD

Cater's Unique Magic is interesting though I wish they went into further detail about it in the game. Like if I (or someone else) punch Cater, would his clones feel it, or would the real Cater feel it if he 'unsplit' himself? I hope we get to see more of it in the game, especially with the Ignihyde chapter.

Speaking of which but I'm crossing my fingers that Ingnihyde chapter part 2 will come out by early 'late' December (since Twisted Wonderland are notorious for putting things out at the last second) because I need to figure out what is going on before I lose my mind.

-JD