Francis left his room and shut the door behind him, finding the hallway for the Clubs wing completely silent. He had woken up rather early today, and couldn't get back to sleep after the break of dawn. If anyone else was already awake, perhaps they could join him for an early breakfast downstairs.
He had the chance to speak briefly with Arthur when he returned from Nodiff late last night. The Queen had successfully retrieved the quarter of the urn, and now kept it in his quarters for the time being. He was exhausted from two days straight of riding, so he had gone to bed very quickly. Once Arthur woke up, they would have to bring him back up to speed on everything he had missed.
Francis walked over to the junction at the end of the hall, with the staircase to the right and the Diamonds guest quarters to the left. Just as Francis turned to stroll down the Diamonds hallway, the door to the Diamond Queen's quarters opened, and Kiku emerged from within.
"Ah Kiku, welcome back," Francis greeted as he walked over, "Did your ride go well?"
"Good morning Francis," Kiku answered as he shut the door to the room, "The ride went well, the quarter of the urn is just in here for now. Has Arthur returned yet?"
"Yes, he is still sleeping," Francis accounted for, "I believe many of the others are still in bed. I am awake though, if you'd like to join me for breakfast."
"That would be nice," Kiku accepted, "I did have a dream the other night back in Zorora, it felt like a memory that I'll have to ask Ludwig and Lovino about."
"Would that happen to be the one where Lovino punched Ludwig in the face?" Francis guessed, recalling the exclusive gossip he heard yesterday that was deliberately being kept secret from Ivan and Natalya for the time being.
"Yes, that is the one," Kiku confirmed, "Did they react in a way I should know about?"
"Lovino insisted on staying away from Ludwig all day," Francis reported, "By pure coincidence, this led Lovino and Alfred to finding Tolys's dictated biography in the Heart Ace Ledgers."
"Tolys's biography?" Kiku noted, "Was there something useful there?"
"He explained the mechanics of the urn's spell," Francis elaborated, "When we reassemble the urn, the magic is very likely to restart itself and kill us all. However, Tolys built in a failsafe that can stop the urn's magic, and it somehow requires using all the sixteen Royal weapons together."
"It seems unlikely that the sixteen of us would've made that happen," Kiku judged, "If that's the case, then how can we possibly still be alive now?"
"We're not sure why yet," Francis disclosed, "Something clearly happened with the way the spell was cast, which might affect what happens when and if we put the urn back together."
"So this was not so easy after all," Kiku remarked.
"Definitely not." Francis chuckled.
The conversation halted as footsteps echoed from down the hall, and Francis glanced over to see Matthew turn from the Spades quarters and rush down towards them. He was still wearing his nightclothes and housecoat, as if he had just rolled out of bed, and seemed rather frazzled.
"Good morning," Matthew acknowledged, "Do either of you know if Arthur is back yet?"
"He has returned, but he's still in bed as far as I know," Francis addressed, "You look like you should be too, is something the matter?"
"I just had another dream," Matthew revealed, "Arthur used the urn."
"So it was him after all?" Francis gasped.
"You too, Matthew?"
The three of them turned to see another door had opened, and Antonio was just emerging from his own quarters.
"Antonio," Matthew checked, "You saw everything, right?"
"Yes, I remember it all," Antonio answered as he walked over, "The three of us were already at the Isle of Mediation when you called for Gilbert."
"Arthur had kicked me out of his study while he was preparing to use the urn," Matthew described, "I called for help, but Gilbert took me away instead."
"You told us what Arthur was up to -"
"And the Jokers identified the urn -"
"We tried to help you intervene -"
"You swung at it with the Diamond Axe and got hit with the recoil -"
"Then all four of us tried at once -"
"And everything went white!"
"Gentlemen, calm down," Francis interrupted the pair of Aces, "Would you please tell us, in full sentences, what happened?"
"I swear on the Deck, you two fuckers better have dreamed what I dreamed!"
The four of them turned at the outburst from the new voice, and turned to see Lovino descending the last steps of the staircase and storming towards them.
"Could you all please explain what you're talking about?" Kiku insisted.
"Arthur used the urn, and we tried to stop him," Matthew narrated, "I asked for the Jokers to help, but Gilbert brought me to the Isle of Mediation instead without knowing any better, where the other three Aces had already gathered."
"Matthew told us everything, and the Jokers identified the urn from Matthew's description," Lovino continued, "We immediately jumped to his aid, and the Jokers brought the four of us to Shoburgh."
"I tried to smash the urn with my Diamond Axe, which had a small effect," Antonio concluded, "Peter told us to try all four Axes at once, which we did."
"That must be why the urn was quartered," Lovino assessed, "That was the four Ace Axes that cut through it, I saw the cracks with my own eyes."
"I saw it too, the blades reached the bottom," Matthew amended, "But the light still blinded everything immediately after."
Just as Matthew finished talking, Francis heard two more voices bickering in the Clubs hallway, and looked over to watch as Arthur and Natalya rounded the corner.
"And here I was mad at Feliciano and Ludwig," Natalya reprimanded, "You might be the biggest fucking idiot in the whole Deck!"
"Matthew, there you are," Arthur approached, "I recalled casting the spell, but the four of you barged in on me. How did you get the other three together so quickly, and why did you bring them into it?"
"I just told you, we had no choice but to intervene," Natalya continued, "You were about to kill us all!"
As Natalya spoke, Ivan emerged from his room and approached the gathering.
"We three were already at the Isle of Mediation," Lovino reiterated, "We were discussing Katerina's death and the war with the Jokers, when Matthew suddenly called for their help."
"The Jokers knew which urn you took as soon as I described it," Matthew illustrated, "And while you were in Nodiff yesterday, we found Tolys's biography in the Ace Ledgers, where the urn's magic is fully detailed."
As Matthew spoke, Francis spotted Feliciano also leaving the Clubs wing, cautiously approaching the group to see what was going on.
"So I really did nearly kill us all," Arthur muttered, "Didn't I?"
"Yes," all four Aces declared at once.
"So Arthur used the urn, but you four intervened?" Francis recapped to get everyone on the same page, "And your method of intervention was to chop the urn in quarters with your Axes?"
"Yes, that's what happened," Antonio confirmed, "I don't know how it kept us alive, or how it scrambled us all, but it did save our lives."
"Isn't it fucking obvious how it happened?" Lovino argued, "Tolys cast both spells during the same seance, creating the Aces and the urn together. The urn's failsafe requires the existence of the Ace Axes, while the Ace Axes needed to fit into whatever form the failsafe requires. The magic of the two spells is connected!"
"So the reason we're all alive is because the four of you intervened?" Feliciano summarized, "And the reason we all got scrambled and lost our memories is also because you intervened?"
"Exactly, Feli!" Lovino justified, "It obviously wasn't the intentional failsafe, but the urn's magic clearly reacted to the Axes because they came from the same original magical source! And Tolys's favourite motto played true again, there was a price to pay for our intervention!"
"Tolys wanted the Aces to work together to protect the Deck," Antonio supported, "We needed all four of our Axes to slice the urn, my Axe alone wasn't enough to stop the urn's magic."
"But Tolys's magic is still active now," Ivan flagged, "Is that because of the Aces or the urn?"
"It has to be because of the urn," Natalya guaranteed, "The Aces have existed for centuries now, while the urn has sat idle at the Isle of Mediation. And Tolys's soul came back to consciousness because of this particular magical clusterfuck."
"So what now?" Arthur digressed, "What do we do next then?"
"We didn't use the proper failsafe, so the urn's magic must have just been halted," Matthew disclosed, "If we reassemble the urn, the triggered spell will resume and try to kill us all -"
"Which is why we need to figure out the failsafe," Lovino took over, "We'll need to use it immediately after the urn is reassembled, as quickly as the others can summon the King Swords, Queen Shields and Jack Bows. It's just a matter of figuring out how exactly to use them."
"What information do we have on this failsafe?" Arthur asked.
"It's also in the Ace Ledger they found yesterday," Kiku answered, "We'll need our chance to read it, as will Erika and Yao when they return with the fourth piece of the urn."
"We can definitely make that happen," Matthew promised, "Has anyone asked the Jokers yet for their whereabouts this morning?"
As Matthew spoke, Francis noticed more movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked down the far end of the hallway. Erika and Yao were just climbing up the last flight of stairs to reach their floor, both looking rather tired from the long journey. Yao held the fourth quarter of the urn in his hands.
"Good morning, Erika," Francis called down to them.
The group turned to look as Erika and Yao approached, clearly bewildered at the group's frenzy.
"Good morning, everyone," Erika answered, "Did we miss something?"