Chapter One
Date: May 29, 2015
Once upon a time, a woman had loved a certain person yet it was only a crushing one-sided feeling. She moved on and found herself for another, not knowing that the one-sided love was not as one-sided as it seemed.
Because even though he was poor, he was kind, fun, hilarious, simply amazing that she couldn't help but fall in love.
She just didn't know. She just found out too late that this person was not simply the opposite of her first love in terms of personality. They were opposite of their whole individual as her first love was a devil and her second was a god.
And as the two lovers became one and another female was taken by the jealous devil, one human child was born with the power of a god at the same time as another was born with the power of a devil.
.oxo.
"So you know him?" Ace asked in a thoughtful look and watched as his new friend snapped out of trace and blinked at him almost as if to ask what he meant. "You two look alike. I thought you two are twins or siblings."
"I...," for some reason, Alice looked back at her doppelganger and flinched when the guy was staring back in her direction. "I don't know him."
I wish! But no, he's definitely that guy so you definitely know him...
'Yet I feel like I do and the voice in my head says I do,' was the thought that she didn't say out loud.
"But how'd you know his name?"
That made the female looked down in embarrassment. She was never good at telling anyone about her powers. "My power...," she slowly started, thankful when the brunet nodded in encouragement. "It allows me to hear voices and sounds not my own so I got his name from those voices."
"Wow, cool~!" Ace grinned in excitement about the idea of her powers, jumping in front of her and throwing his hands around her shoulders and Alice felt a little light. She liked the feeling when someone seemed to be proud of her power. "So do you hear anything now?"
Augh, he's worse than Heart Knight when that knight's on high and that's a saying!
"Yeah, I do," Alice didn't pay the voice in her head an attention and bowed her head a little, embarrassed at what she was saying. "There's this song around you that's very pleasant but there's also a slight secret song underneath it. Like a song with double meaning. I like how it sounds!"
The young brunet blinked a little before smiling widely. "You should smile like that more! You look really cute!" he said truthfully, his hands still around her shoulders. "And I'm glad you like my song. That means you like me, right? Because I already like you!"
"Eh?!" the shy girl all but blushed in embarrassment at what the boy said. "But you just met me! What if you don't really like some stuff about me?"
Pft! I take it back…This guy is nothing like Heart Knight and I like him for that!
"It's fine, it's fine. I think I'll just keep on liking you if I learn more about you. Call it intuition, if you will," Ace winked childishly like his age and let out a happy salute to the girl who still had a faint blush. "After all, we are friends now!"
"Yeah, I guess," Alice just went to agree, choosing to avoid the voice which had been laughing at her dismay but she wouldn't help wonder, 'He must really be nice to everyone. I guess he's just the type to like other people easily.'
Give that like months and it will be a crush. Give it years and that will be love~!
'Please shut up, annoying voice in my head!' continuing to act as if she hadn't heard anything at all, the dark blonde briefly let out a sigh. 'I mean, why talk about love when I'm just 10?!'
Age doesn't matter in love~
"Yeah, right," Alice rolled her eyes and muttered quietly but then blinked when she remembered she was not alone. She looked at her side and blushed a little when Ace's brownish red eyes watched her every move. "Erm…that was…"
"Yeah, something the matter?" her friend asked confused at what he had heard her say before. "You were spacing out… Am I bothering you or something?"
"No!" she quickly replied and blushed awkwardly. She really needed help in socializing with other people. She was too darn bad at it. "I just heard something...that's all."
"Ah, your power, huh?" Ace went to a thinking position. "I wonder how that works or how you'll get to control it or train it."
Alice shrugged, not knowing what would happen as well. She then blinked when she realized something. "How about you?" she asked in curiosity. "What's your power?"
The other let out a cheeky grin and said mysteriously, moving his finger to his lips, "It's a secret."
Well, isn't that just unfair? He knows your power and you don't know his. Ah, maybe, he was just lying about being friends~
Not listening to the voice in her head though one part of her agreed to it, the blonde nodded and just smiled slightly at the brunet.
"Okay, students!" the teacher finally called out and gestured everyone to listen. "Now, that we had gotten to know each other even just a little, let's go with the groupings."
'Groups? What does that...,' Alice's eyes widened in realization and fear. 'There's gonna be groupings?! Oh no...Oh no! Why groups?!'
This is the part where I laugh at the pathetic actions of an awkwardly anti-social girl~ Muahahaha!
'NOT FUNNY! So not funny, just shut up!'
Ace wondered about his new friend who was visibly trembling and made a move to touch her shoulders, causing her to face him with tearful eyes. And was it just Ace or did the female looked a little alike to a scared bunny?
"Are you okay, Alice?" he held back the chuckle in his lips and tried to forget the cute mental image.
Ocean green eyes tensed up as if thinking how it was a stupid thing to ask but the dark blonde only replied politely, lying at that, "Ah...yeah...Yes, I'm okay!"
Whatever Ace was about to say was interrupted by the teacher and they once again resumed to listening to the adult.
"You lot notice that some others are younger or older than others, right?" he received multiple nods from the children. "It is also unusual that there is only one large classroom, which is this one, right? Let me explain..."
He snapped his fingers and suddenly, many different images appeared out of nowhere. He smiled slightly at the dumbstruck faces. His one eye glinted with amusement while the other was covered by an eye patch. Unusually, he had long silver hair.
"Again, my name is Nightmare, your teacher for the Basic Information about your powers. I am also a previous student from the Academy and my power is to create something from nothing and nothing from something. To be exact, I can create illusions."
An image of a small boy with silver hair entering the academy was shown and Alice briefly noted that the voice in her head was not ringing. She frowned in confusion, forgetting to listen as she was too occupied with her thoughts.
"Magic Academy is a specialized boarding school for people with special powers and so, we will be grouping everyone. Each group have to have a minimum of ten members and maximum of twenty members."
He presented a box with a hole in the center and continued, "In the past, a group has one to four members for each age. Like for example, one group has two thirteen-year-old male, two twelve-year girls, two eight-year-old boys, one seven-year-old girl and three five-year-old boys. But now, it's really just by luck."
"If you're lucky, you'll be grouped with many older students who would likely be powerful and if you're not, then you'll be grouped with many younger students."
"So, what?" a rough and cold voice interrupted rudely and Alice found the source to be her male counterpart. Malice scowled at the attention he gained and glared, "I don't see how being in a group is important. Why do we need to be grouped?"
Ah, someone's being grumpy~
'Ah, and the voice's back,' the blonde female sighed sadly and stared at Malice, flinching when the angry male looked back at her. 'Eeek! He saw me and he looks about to kill me with his glares! Scary!'
Malice softened his eyes a little before glaring back at the teacher. Alice and Ace, who saw this, blinked in confusion and the female frowned, even more at the voice in her head.
Hmph. Does he remember or is it just a coincidence?
"I was getting there," Nightmare answered casually, not at all bothered by the rudeness and he snapped his fingers again. An image of people battling with their powers was shown. "Every December, there will be a competition to see how a student grows and seeing as there are 500 students, the principal decided to group them."
"Tch, so it was just for convenient," Malice muttered darkly but he was ignored by the teacher.
I don't like to agree with the idiot but he's actually telling the truth for once.
"It will take some time if it's one-on-one competition so the principal thought of this. Now, it's more of a tradition and helpful asset for students. By being in a group, they can help each other out and can grow together," Nightmare smiled in encouragement. "Let's start..."
Students lined up to get their group number in box and Alice fearfully watched as some others pushed younger students harshly. One even tripped and fell on the hard floor.
Ah, what a fall~! Hehe, I wonder if you'll experience the same thing...
"That's gotta hurt," Ace commented by her side and she only nodded, still as fearful as before. "Wanna sit down first and wait?"
"Yes, please," Alice followed the other and let out a sigh, glancing slightly at her left at the corner of her eyes. She tensed up when she saw that Malice was staring at her and she cried mentally, 'Why is he staring at me?!'
"Hey," the brunet by her side raised an eyebrow and chuckled a little. "Are you sure you don't know Malice? He keeps on staring at you..."
Yup, she does.
"No, I don't," she ignored the voice again. She was getting better at doing that. "If I ever know a scary guy like him, then I won't ever forget him."
"Scary, huh? I don't think he's like that...maybe just angry...," Ace weakly smiled in a weird way. "You're rather easy to scare, aren't you?"
That's an insult if you don't see it~!
"What of it?" Alice blushed furiously, listening to the voice for once and feeling a bit insulted. She pouted in annoyance. "I just don't like scary people!"
He looked taken aback a little before he put his hands in the air as if to surrender. "Woah, calm down! I'm not insulting you or anything! I just thought that with you being a scaredy-cat, you won't be okay in the competition...," he scratched his head nervously. "I was kind of worried."
"Eh?" the female blushed again. This time, it was out of embarrassment. She did listen to the voice and reacted rudely. She faked a cough to hide her awkwardness. "Well, thank you for worrying and I'm sorry for acting unreasonably."
"Naah, it's fine!" Ace grinned brightly. "Actually, you're somehow cute when you're angry... I think I want to tease you more!"
Oh my Kami! He's hilarious! I think I like him! You two should go out~!
'Voice, please shut up, I'm just ten!' Alice blushed harder and she let out fake coughs to compose herself. She replied as normally as she could, "Please don't. I'd really appreciate it if you won't do anything like that."
The grinning male widened his grin, "Wow, I didn't think it was possible...but you really sound like some high class princess~! So sure, ohime-sama! I won't tease you...much."
Pfft! Oh, yes! I'm going to love being with this guy!
The dark blonde sighed, wondering which was worse between her new friend and the voice in her head but then she gasped, widening her eyes when a familiar tune came to her. She looked up and searched for the owner of the song.
A boy with cat ears and tail was seen in her eyesight and she knew why the tune was so familiar. She knew this boy and so the voice of the past went to her head.
I-I'm not a freak? B-but I'm the only one with s-strange p-powers! Eh...y-you're also the same?
"Group 1, huh?" he read aloud the number he got from the box, not looking at where he was walking. When he did look up and did find himself staring at Alice's ocean green eyes, he grinned and moved forward.
Ace looked at the two in confusion, wondering if they knew each other though it didn't escape his eyes that Malice was glaring with pure hatred at the new guy.
"No wonder I smelt someone familiar when I stepped in the room!" the cat-boy waved a finger and winked, his tail swinging back and forth. "Hey, Ali! Good to see you again~"
Of course, you're not a freak! I'm the same as you! Huh? My name? Well, it's—
"Boris!" Alice smiled brightly. "You're here, too? I'm glad!"
"You two knew each other?" Ace wondered in confusion and got nods from the two.
"Yeah, I met Boris when I was still new to my powers," the only female from the three said softly at the sudden talk of the past. "He helped me out with powers and other things but then, he moved away and didn't have cellphone so we couldn't get in contact."
"Speaking of which, I finally got a cellphone!" Boris exclaimed excitedly. "Let's exchange numbers!"
Before anything was said or done, an icy voice interrupted them, "Aren't you guys going to get your number?"
The trio jumped and looked at the source. It was Malice and Alice nodded in fear, immediately going to the teacher to get her number. Ace followed quickly without a second thought.
Boris stared at Malice with a serious face. "I thought it was just a mistake but I guessed I smelled it right," he sighed and glared. "What are you doing here? Or better yet, what do you plan to do with Alice?"
Malice didn't answer and just followed Alice with his glance. Alice got her number and it was one. He answered without emotions, "I don't know what you're talking about."
He gripped his number, which was also one.
.oxo.
The mysterious man chuckled, string at the groupings of this year. "Well, I'll be...," his eyes twinkled with pure amusement and humor. "Fate must really be going with me."
In a document where members of Group 1 were listed, there were only five members, Ace Heart, Alice Liddell, Boris Clover, Vivaldi Dupre and Malice.
"The Twin of Destruction, the Love's Cheshire Cat, the Hate's Heart Knight and the God's Bride together in a group? It's a ticket to total chaos and how I just love chaos~!"
The raven watching this didn't had the same thoughts and neither did the red-haired male laying on the sofa of the principal's office.
"Can't you just fucking shut up?" Black growled, his visible eye glowing in crimson red. "No one wants to hear your damn crazed thoughts!"
The mysterious man just waved off the glare and the killing intent of the other. He snapped his fingers and an image of Alice smiling at Ace and Boris with Malice on the background was shown.
The raven and the male froze in sight.
"Isn't it nice that she's having fun now?" he smirked. "After all, tragedy always finds its way to her...especially if she's together with her twin."
Cat: Alright, I'm finally done with this chapter! Augh, writing series is really not my style. Oh, well! I'm still going to finish this! What do you guys think of this chapter? And for those looking for the older version, well, it's just one teaser actually. Anyway, just forget about that version... I will use it but it'll be way later.