Cater was face down in his bed, not willing to move or even interact with anyone. His depression was hitting hard again, and he knew he was in the middle of a slump, but he lacked the energy to do anything.
It wasn't the first time since he had woken up in the past, and he doubted it would be the last.
His day had started so well too, and he had thought it would be a nice weekend.
And then Rook brought up the fact he refused to interact with Trey Clover, the vice housewarden for Heartsabyl. He then made the comment which had sent Cater into a bad downward spiral.
Cater knew Rook had meant it as a joke, but he had still reacted badly to the very idea of him transferring to the Heartsabyl dorm with how easily he took to the Queen of Heart's rules and how he was able to calm the tyrannical housewarden down from a rage.
Cater had accidentally soaked another Leona with the hose the moment Rook made that comment (Ruggie had been quick to take a picture of a soaking wet Leona looking like a wet rat and hid the evidence), and had attempted to brush it off.
However his good mood was utterly ruined and the moment he was alone in his room, memories of how Trey had utterly abused his signature spell to make his own life easier hit him like a brick.
Don't get him wrong...he did love his time in Heartsabyl. But Trey was an ass who was hadn't hesitated to manipulate and blackmail a fellow card soldier into doing most of the work for him just to keep his tyrannical queen happy. Cater had been utterly exhausted and his grades had tanked below acceptable levels because Trey abused the hell out of his Split Card spell.
It was much easier to get along with the repressed Riddle when they were in different dorms.
Especially since Cater admitted he knew Riddle's mother was a "micromanaging Gothel", and had pulled up reviews from her former coworkers who all bitched about her. It wasn't hard to guess she was even worse at home with her son, where Riddle had even less protections than her coworkers with her behavior.
He could only hope having an ear to vent to would prevent Riddle from going into Overblot again. That had sucked.
In order to keep anyone from knowing he was in a slump, he sent out his clone to class instead.
It had been two days already, and he was starting to feel really, really hungry in a way he knew was a bad thing, but he couldn't find the energy to get up.
Something would have to give, and soon.
Outside Cater's room...
Vil was not amused. Cater had been acting...off...for the past two days, and he knew something was up.
He had followed Cater to his room, as he had promised to explain what was going on. Cater went inside, there was a soft 'poof', and then...nothing. Annoyed, Vil walked in anyway...only to find Cater clearly in the middle of a bad 'slump'.
Vil raised an eyebrow.
"How long have you been like this?" he asked, arms crossed.
"Two days," said Cater, not even looking up.
"Do I dare ask how you managed to attend class and no one noticed you have been like this?"
"Don't have the energy to explain," said Cater, and his stomach rumbled loudly.
Vil was not amused in the least. Cater went with him willingly to the kitchens, and didn't argue when Vil put food in front of him. Considering Cater's "bad habit" was well known by this point, Vil and Rook had several premade meals ready for the times Cater fell into a slump. Cater wisely never argued over this, and the three simply kept quiet about the matter.
Professor Trein had been trying to get Cater into some proper therapy, but it was slow going as he refused to discuss the matter over the computer where he could be recorded.
Vil laid down three of the meals and was silently worried about the fact Cater pretty much devoured all of it, leaving nothing.
"What set it off this time? I thought we had this managed," said Vil.
"It's so stupid. Rook made some comment and it hit me harder than it should have," said Cater, his mood improved a bit.
"What sort of comment?"
Both of them almost jumped when Rook walked in. He took one look at the amount of plates before Cater, and immediately deduced Cater had been in another slump.
Vil turned to Rook.
"What sort of comment did you make to Cater two days ago?"
Rook raised an eyebrow.
"Is this about what I said about how it's not too late to transfer to Heartsabyl, since you fit in so well with them?" he asked Cater.
"What?" said Vil dangerously.
Rook hurried explained himself.
"Roi du Camera has an oddly in-depth knowledge of the Queen of Hearts rules, is able to tame Roi des Roses temper, and is rather good at multi-tasking," said Rook. "Trey has expressed several times how envious he is of the fact Cater is in our dorm and not his."
"I'll bet he is," snarked Cater. "He can play the 'nice older brother' card all he wants, but if I ever transferred to his dorm and he found out what my signature spell is, he'd abuse it in a heartbeat rather than deal with the actual issue with his housewarden."
"Speaking of which..." said Vil, looking at him. "How did you manage to hide you were in a slump for two days straight?"
"And why is your pen darkening?" said Rook.
"What?" said Cater. He looked at his pen, and noticed it was much darker than it should have been. Before he could respond to this, he got a call on his phone. From the ringtone, it was Kalim.
Cater answered it, and suddenly went pale.
"Please tell me you're kidding," said Cater.
"I'd recognize that shade of hair anywhere, and I know your mannerisms...what I'm confused about is where you got the Scarabia uniform," said Kalim seriously.
"Was anyone hurt?" asked Cater.
"Only Jamil's pride..." said Kalim, before adding "However some of the freshmen are still finding little...traps...all over the dorm."
Cater looked downright mortified.
"Oh Seven...Kalim, I'll explain everything later but just know the traps aren't malicious. I will absolutely make up for this later," said Cater.
Kalim was still confused, but not as much as Vil and Rook were at the moment.
Cater looked to the other two.
"I take it this has something to do with your signature spell?" said Vil dangerously.
Cater considered how to explain this, before he settled on the easiest solution.
"He is me and so are we...Split Card."
The look on Vil and Rook's face seeing a second Cater was hilarious and he subtly took a picture of it with his phone.
"What...are these clones?" said Vil in shock.
"Yup!" said Cater 2.
"He seems unusually...cheerful," said Rook.
"I'm his Heartsabyl side. The one causing trouble right now is the Scarabia side," said Cater 2 cheerfully.
Cater winced, as he had figured as much when Kalim called.
Vil looked at him with an appraising expression.
"How many can you make?"
"However many I need, though I prefer to keep it below ten," said Cater. "The more I make, the more taxing it is on me."
After a bit, Vil spoke.
"Cater, let me make this absolutely clear...even if you wanted to transfer to another dorm, I'd never allow it. And you're right... I could absolutely see someone like Trey who is far too lenient with his housewarden abusing a spell like this considering how rowdy Heartsabyl is."
Some time later...
Jamil was beyond irritated, but after hearing Cater's proposition jumped on it in a heartbeat. Having a three day vacation from having to take care of Kalim was too tempting to resist, even if he was slightly confused as to why Cater offered it.
Kalim was more than understanding after Cater showed him his signature spell and explained how certain clones developed an...altered...personality and that the one he ran into was his 'Scarabia' side.
Cater had no idea why Rook kept him far, far away from the dorm, but he was completely unprepared for what awaited him when he finally returned.
"What is this?" he said, baffled. It was clear it was a party, but of what sort he had no idea.
"Vil-sempai said that you were considering moving to another dorm, and that we would have to show why we want to keep you," said one of the freshmen.
Several others nodded at that.
"They asked for suggestions and I pointed them into the direction of a comedic roast," said Vil.
It was a very surreal experience. Cater had acted more like a 'fun, cheerful' older brother to the Heartsabyl students last time, and had mostly replicated that in Pomefiore.
He never realized what an impact he had on the other students until he heard their perspective on him. It was rather heartwarming.
Vil watched smugly from the sidelines, for once ignoring his diet and enjoying the junk food he permitted the other students.
While he knew his dormmates ate junk food occasionally, he had a strict "out of sight, out of mind" policy. Everyone kept their stuff in small coolers or snack cupboards in their rooms, or ate it outside the dorm. It cut down on the headaches he had to deal with regarding to food thieves.
Healthy foods were permitted, but had to be clearly labeled. Case in point, Cater's imported apple products and special meals.
Vil looked at Cater smugly when the night was over.
"Still worried we're going to let you transfer?"
Cater let out a laugh.
"Not by a long shot. I guess I never realized how much everyone wants me here until now."
"Good. While I don't mind loaning you to other dorms, especially with that spell of yours, I refuse to let you leave us permanently."
She was beyond livid. Ever since that boy closed the account, things had been spiraling for her.
First her daughters start slowly, but firmly distancing from her. Then her husband started to ask questions about expenditures, before he turned a more critical eye to their own finances.
She had been given a new card that had a set amount preloaded onto it while their accounts were being audited. It wasn't nearly enough to pay for what she had become accustomed to.
Worse was having to endure pointed questions from her family regarding why she had kept such a 'charming, well mannered boy' hidden from them all this time. She didn't know how, but the boy had also managed to get on the good side of one of her great uncles who was quite rich but had no known heirs.
He had been asking questions of his own about the boy, and the way he spoke of him suggested he was considering Cater as a possible inheritor of his estate.
She was angrily sipping her Chardonnay when her husband came in.
"Relena, we need to have a talk," he said. His tone spoke volumes of how unhappy he was, and that this wasn't optional.
She poured another glass, and knew she would likely need something stronger when it was finished.
"Talk about what?"
"Did you think I wouldn't find out you've been dipping into our son's account using a second card?" he said sharply.
"That thing is not my son," she replied. "I never asked for a third child, much less a boy."
"He is our son."
Relena laughed, coldly.
"That boy is no child of mine," she replied.
He could see he was getting nowhere, as his wife clearly refused to see Cater as their son. He was still kicking himself for allowing it to get to this point without even realizing it.
"I am giving you two choices. Either you agree to attend therapy, or I am filing for divorce."
Relena glared at him, but he did not back down.
Things were only going to go downhill from here, she just knew it.
