Happy Friday! Another chapter is ready to go!

Thank you all who have commented with such kind words. It really boosts my confidence! There was a comment questioning about this being an original work or not, so I will be addressing them below in my notes section.

Enjoy!

Chapter 5:

Ace and Deuce had chased Grim throughout most of the campus, shooting (and missing) spell after spell, before finally arriving at the empty cafeteria.

"Catch me if you can, losers!" Grim taunted. He quickly jumped on top of the fireplace before crawling up to the rafters like a spider. When he finally stopped, he was sitting high above on the largest chandelier in the cafeteria.

"Damn it!" Ace glared up as the raccoon snickered on the swinging chandelier.

"That's unfair!" Deuce said, unable to find an angle. "Urgh! And we haven't learned any flying spells yet…" He quickly considered his options, calculating different scenarios in his head. They needed to get up there and catch him. Should be simple enough, so the easiest way to do it is… "Oh, I got it!"

"We need to think of a good plan," Ace said. He scratched his head in frustration, not noticing the gleam in Deuce's eyes, "Why don't we… Wait, why are you pointing that at me?"

Ace backed away, staring at the magic pen now pointed straight at his chest.

"Don't worry! I'll just throw you up there!" Deuce explained and waved his pen.

"Wait, are you kidding me?" Ace sputtered as he was magically lifted a couple of feet off the ground. "Stop, stop, stop!" he screamed as he failed his arms wildly.

"Make sure you catch him!" Deuce said, too focused on the task at hand. "On the count of three! One! Two!"

"No! STOP!" Ace panicked as he tried to grab on something.

At this precise moment, Claire finally arrived at the cafeteria. She gasped for air while clinging to the wall for support. "What are you two – wait! HOLD IT!"

"THREE!"

Claire watched in stunned disbelief as Deuce flung the shrieking Ace towards the ceiling. It was like everything was in slow-mo. Ace's flailing body smashed against the crystal chandelier as Grim's eyes slowly widened in horror. Claire could see the links that held the chandelier to the ceiling snapped one at a time.

When the final metal linkage broke, it was like everything fast-forwarded again. The giant chandelier crashed with all of its splendor onto the wooden tables below, sending glass shards, metal bits, and candles everywhere.

"Ace! Grim!" Claire yelled, coughing from the dust that kicked up from the aftershock.

Deuce froze in horror, his pen still out in the air. "Oh shoot! I screwed up! I didn't think about the landing!"

"ARE. YOU. AN IDIOT?!" Ace roared in anger, getting up from the debris. Pieces of glass fell from his orange hair and black blazer and pants. How he managed to survive and stand after that was just short of a miracle.

"Grim!" Ignoring the other two, Claire ran through the pile of glass and metal to pull the raccoon out of the debris. "Are you okay? Grim!"

Grim replied with a groan.

"Head… spinning…" he mumbled.

Claire sighed in relief. Good, he was okay. As soon as he woke up, she was going to kill him.

"Do you understand what you just did?!" Ace roared at the dumbfounded Deuce and pointed to the wreckage. "We may have gotten Grim, but if the headmaster finds out that we destroyed the chandelier…"

"If I find out what now?" A quiet but terrifying voice asked from behind. Ace and Deuce turned to see the last person they wanted to confront standing before them.

"H-headmaster…" Ace sputtered. Deuce froze like a deer in headlights.

Crowley's glowing yellow eyes flickered at the devastation. His jaw was clenched, his hands balled into fists, and the vein on his neck throbbed. Even with his mask on, his fury was readable on his tight-lipped face.

"What. In. The World. HAPPENED HERE?!" he roared and pointed at the wrecked chandelier.

Claire flinched and quickly cowered behind one of the broken tables. Ace and Deuce immediately cringed as they stood there in the face of Crowley's full rage.

"Were you not satisfied with damaging the Great Seven statue that you went out of your way to destroy the chandelier?! Just what are you trying to do here?!" The man didn't give any of them time to defend themselves let alone talk before he gave his decision. "That's it. This is the final straw! You two are EXPELLED!" He said the word with such force that it made the room tremble.

"What?!" Ace and Deuce froze in wide-eyed horror. Claire peeked out above the table she was hiding behind, a bit gobsmacked at the verdict.

"Please, wait! Anything but that! I can't be expelled!" Deuce said, desperation in his voice. "I still have things to do at this school." He wrung his hands as he stared at the Headmaster's cold and unforgiving eyes.

"You have no one to blame but yourself," Crowley said flatly, without a hint of sympathy in his voice. "Your idiocy led you down this path."

"I'll pay for it," Deuce insisted. "Even if it takes me the rest of my life, I will pay for all of it!"

"Pay for it? This is no ordinary chandelier," Crowley said, pressing his finger to his chin as he mentally calculated its worth. "This magical chandelier holds candles that burn for all eternity. It was created by a legendary master and had been entrusted to this school since its very founding which is a little more than a hundred years ago. I have had museums requesting to have it displayed for exhibition. Not to mention the number of collectors who came by…"

Deuce's and Ace's faces paled as the headmaster continued rattle off the historical significance.

"Taking into consideration of this," Crowley finished, "the chandelier is worth no less than a billion madol."

"A-A billion?!" Deuce sputtered, flabbergasted. Claire stared in disbelief. She hadn't figure out the currency system in this world, but if one madol equals to one dollar, then it would take centuries if not decades to raise that kind of money.

"But headmaster," Ace interjected quickly. "You can just fix it with magic… right?" He gave a nervous laugh at the headmaster's furious face.

"Magic is not all-powerful," Crowley said, crossing his arms as if to state the obvious. "More importantly…"

He crossed over to the debris and picked up a broken piece of crystal for them to see. It sparkled colors of blue, red, and green in the dim light.

"This is the chandelier's magic crystal, which has unfortunately been shattered," Crowley explained, "As you already know, the magic crystal is the 'heart' for any magical tool. Crystals obtained from different places cannot be used as a replacement. This particular one, I'm afraid to say, is incredibly rare. No matter how many times I wave my magic pen and fix this thing, this chandelier will never light up again."

"No… that's…" All of Ace's swagger from this morning was nonexistent now.

"What am I going to tell my mom…" Deuce mumbled. Despite everything that had happened, Claire felt a wave of pity for the two as she watched them.

"Oh wait," Crowley spoke up again, his index finger under his chin again, "I suppose there is… one way… it's ludicrous, of course, but there is a way to fix the chandelier."

"What?!" Ace and Deuce looked up with renewed hope; Claire perked up, curious as well.

"This crystal," Crowley held up the broken piece again, "specifically came from the Dwarf's Mine. If we can find another one from the same mine, then repairs may be possible."

"Then, let me go," Deuce said immediately, "I'll go find one!"

"Hold on," Crowley said, raising a hand, "there is no guarantee that there are any left there. The reason why I said this piece was incredibly rare is that mine had been abandoned for quite a while. Most likely, there are no crystals left to replace this one."

"As long as there is a chance, I'll do anything if it means I won't get expelled," Deuce insisted, "Please, Headmaster!"

Crowley stared for a long while before nodding. "Very well. I will give you two one night to get this crystal. If you are not back by dawn tomorrow, I will expel you both as I had intended."

"Yes, I understand!" Deuce said, bowing. "Thank you very much!"

"This sounds like a wild goose chase," Ace muttered, shaking his head but sighed in agreement. "Fine. Let's just get that magic crystal and be done with this."

"Use the Gate in the Mirror Chamber to go to the Dwarf Mine directly," Crowley said, pointing to hallway on the left, "As headmaster, I give you my permission for this travel."

"Yes, Headmaster!" Deuce hurried off with Ace tagging along. After a couple of seconds of silence in the cafeteria, Claire realized that she was all alone with Crowley.

"Miss Claire…" he started, and she shakily stood up from her hiding spot. Grim was still an unconscious ragdoll in her arms.

"I-I'll get a broom and clean this up," she mumbled, heading to the janitor closet.

"Wait, Miss Claire," Crowley said.

She turned, wondering what sort of punishment awaited her. Was he going to kick her out as well? Or perhaps he was going to turn her into a slug? She lifted one of her shoulders up, waiting for the blow.

"I would like you and Grim to go with them."

"What? Me? Go with them?" She lowered her shoulder, wondering if she heard him correctly.

"Yes," he nodded in the direction where Ace and Deuce had left. "I don't think those two boys will be able to handle it out there."

"B-but what can I do?" Claire sputtered. "I don't have magic. I'm not much use."

"Miss Claire," he said this in a soft kind voice that she never heard him used before, "while you may not have magic, I do believe you have something that will be very useful for these two's mission."

She gaped in confusion. What did Crowley think she possessed that could possibly be of any use?

"Call it my teacher's intuition," he said cryptically. "But if I am right, I think you will be able to help them. Also, I am holding you partly responsible for this since I did leave Grim in your care."

"But…" Claire groaned in defeat, realizing that arguing was futile. "Fine. I'll help them find that crystal."

"Excellent, Miss Claire! I will leave you to it," Crowley said. He left her standing there wondering if this was going to be a reoccurring thing.

"W-what happened?" Grim mumbled, coming around, and saw a pair of volcanic eyes glaring down at him. He immediately gulped.

"You are going to wish you stayed unconscious," Claire snarled.

Author's Notes

Me raising my hand high into the air: "Permission to hit Grim on the head? Twice?"

Things just went from annoying to bad and then to nuclear disaster. Now Claire is stuck cleaning up everybody's mess… again.

I will say writing this, I discover some confusing/inconsistent information about these magic crystals and how 'rare' or 'specific' they are. Don't know if there is confusion with the translation, but I made some changes here and there for the sake of this story.

Okay, some important news/updates!

First off, I have also uploaded this prologue story to ArchiveOurOwn site. It is a bit 'behind' in terms of chapters compared to this one but will be updated weekly (Thanks AquaBurst07 for the recommendation!). Feel free to come and check it out if you're also over there!

Also, I forgot to mention this, but the value of the Twisted Wonderland currency (madol) used in this story will be changed to match the 1:1 ratio with US dollars since, from my understanding, madol is supposed to be 1:1 ratio with the Japanese yen. It's just to make things easier for me. For example, if the characters in Twisted Wonderland buy 50 madols worth of groceries, expect the price to be 50 US dollars.

Also, AHHHHHH! Ignihyde is coming on Aug 31! It is a shame they weren't able to get all the voice recording done, but SUPER EXCITED to at least see how the story progress moving forward! :D

Now to address the concern in the comment section:

It seems that there is some confusion, but to restate, this story is fanfiction. Fanfiction is not restricted to 'books'; in the 'browse' section of this website, Fanfiction is open to almost everything – movies, tv shows, comic/manga, video games, etc. Even if you never heard of this fandom, I mentioned in chapter one at the very beginning that this story is based on the Twisted Wonderland mobile game (a simple internet search of thousands of fan art will validate that this is not a hallucination). If the disagreement stems from the opinion that game-fanfics shouldn't be posted on this site, then I would argue that any Pokémon or Final Fantasy or Mario fanfic written here would then have to be 'violating' fanfiction rules. Also, considering how many are written here, I would say that Fanfiction is completely fine with having the other 90+ Twisted Wonderland fanfics posted along with my story.

With that said, I will take this as a compliment to the game and its storytelling if my story can be misinterpreted as an original work.

That's it from me, I'll see you next week with a brand new chapter! And we'll see the Ignihyde dorm!

-JD