Author's Notes: As much as I love the English release of Twisted Wonderland, I was more than a little disappointed to see that they did away with all of Chenya's cat puns, so those babies are coming back with a vengeance in this story.

I was watching the old Team Fortress 2 'Meet the Team' videos and I realized that the fight between the Scout and the Heavy in the 'Meet the Scout' video is pretty much Devon and Jack on Beans Day (except Dev doesn't crack Jack in the head with a baseball bat).

Devon looked around as a familiar rose maze appeared before her, the scent of the flowers coming back to her as well. "Hmm… Guess it's another Disney dream tonight, huh?" She looked down at herself only to see that, yep, she was transparent again. "Alright. Let's see what the House of Mouse has in store for me this time."

She could see Alice and the three card soldiers from her last dream throwing themselves to the ground as, after an elaborate and wonderfully choreographed march of even more card soldiers, the Queen of Hearts made her grand appearance. The statue on Main Street did a wonderful job capturing her likeness; she looked every bit as imposing here as she did captured in stone. The queen set her eyes on her prized roses…only to see that one of them hasn't been completely painted; evidently Alice and the card soldiers didn't have time to finish their task. She stalked over to the tree and yanked it straight out of the ground with one hand, demanding to know who dared to paint her precious roses. The three cards all tried to pass the buck and blame each other but the queen was having none of it. She ordered all three to be beheaded and the remaining soldiers jeered as the offenders were dragged off to meet their fate.

"Okay, I get that the whole point of this place is 'literally nothing makes sense here' but are roses really worth beheading someone over," Devon mused. "At least they tried to fix their mistake…"

The feeling of something poking her cheek pulled Devon out of her dream. She blinked one eye open to see Deuce kneeling over her.

"It's time to get up, Dev," he said, poking her cheek again. "Today's the Unbirthday Party and you know what'll happen if we're late."

"Mmm, right," Devon mumbled. "Unbirthday Party. Got it." She attempted to sit up and stretch, only for something wrapped around her waist to pull her back down. She could only squeak in surprise as Ace groaned in protest as he pulled her against him and nuzzled into her chest. "Ace," Devon called to him.

"Mmmgh, five more minutes…," Ace groaned as he pulled her even closer.

Devon had to angle her head back to avoid hitting it on his collar. "Dude, we gotta get up or we'll be late." Ace groaned again, causing Devon to roll her eyes playfully as she gently scratched his scalp. "You want to get that collar off and use your magic again, don't you?" Ace nodded, his face still hidden in her chest. "Well then, we gotta bring that chestnut tart to Riddle." She tapped Ace's shoulder. "Now let me up so I can get changed."

Ace heaved a sigh but ultimately relented and let Devon go. She wasted no time in running up the stairs to her bedroom, throwing open her closet and grabbing her school uniform. She debated whether or not to wear the skirt Crewel had provided to her, ultimately deciding in favor after remembering his words from the day before. 'Crewel was right. I shouldn't have to stifle myself because I'm afraid of how people will react. The people I care about aren't gonna care either way.'

After changing into her uniform and brushing her hair and teeth, she headed down to the kitchen and set about whipping up a quick breakfast for her and the boys. Recalling Deuce's fondness for eggs, she decided to make arepas con huevo using some pita bread she'd bought the day before to substitute for the actual arepa bread. She was just about to bring them out to the lounge when Regina called out to her.

"What's up, Regina?" she asked. Regina informed her that a boy with orange hair was headed toward Ramshackle's front door. "Orange hair? Does he have a diamond painted on his face?" Regina answered in the affirmative. "Oh, that's Cater! We met him yesterday. It's cool to let him in." She glanced at the arepas in her hands. "Good thing I made a couple extra just in case." She made it back to the lounge just in time to see Cater nearly fall flat on his face as the floorboards brought him inside.

"Whoa! I think my life just flashed before my eyes!" Cater exclaimed. "One second, I'm coming up the stairs to get you guys and the next I'm being pulled inside this place like I'm one of Trey's cakes."

Devon giggled. "Welcome to Ramshackle." She handed Grim and Deuce their arepas before offering one to Cater as well. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet~!" he chirped as he took the arepa. He studied it for a moment before looking back at Devon. "Umm… Not trying to be rude here but…what is this?"

"It's an arepa con huevo," Devon supplied. "Basically it's a raw egg inside a corncake that gets grilled until the egg is cooked. I used pita bread as a substitute since the corncakes I need apparently don't exist here."

"So it's food from your world, then?" Cater asked.

"And it's awesome!" Deuce exclaimed, already finished with his.

"Yeah! I'll eat yours if you don't want it, Cater!" Grim offered.

"Hah! As if I'd be rude enough to turn down my favorite underclassman's cooking~" Cater chirped as he took a bite.

"Woooow thanks, man," Ace drawled as he came down the stairs, straightening out his uniform. He was about to yawn as he reached the bottom of the stairs and Devon shoved an arepa into his mouth once he'd opened it wide enough.

"So how was your sleepover?" Cater asked as he finished his food. "Was it a fun evening full of pillow fights and card games?"

"If by "pillow fight", you mean fighting not to smother Grim with a pillow because he was snoring so dang loud, then yes," Ace snarked, shooting a glare at the feline. "We did play a few card games though. Devon taught us one from her world but we mostly just stuck with Old Maid since Grim had a hard time grasping the rules."

"And even then I still couldn't win!" Grim complained. "It sucked."

"That's because you have the worst poker face ever," Deuce commented with an amused smile.

"In any case, we should probably grab that tart you guys made and get you over to Heartslabyul so you can apologize to Riddle," Cater said. "All the beheadings yesterday left me pretty short-handed so the sooner you all get back, the better."

Ace and Deuce shared a look. "What do you mean by "beheadings"?" Ace asked.

"Ah, nothing. Just talking to myself," Cater dismissed. "Anyway, we'd better get a move-on if we wanna make it to the Unbirthday Party in time. Let's a-go~!"

Ace went to grab the tart from the fridge and they were on their way to the Hall of Mirrors. Grim hopped up onto Devon's shoulder as she waved goodbye to Regina for the day, the enchanted building 'waving' back to her via the window shutters and roof tiles, much like a parent waving their child off to school. "So what do you think Cater meant when he mentioned those "beheadings"?" Grim asked Devon in a whisper.

"Not sure, but I doubt it's anything good," Devon replied.

One quick trip through a mirror portal later and the group was standing at the front gate of Heartslabyul. Ace sucked in a breath as he tried to hype himself up. "Okay, just go in there, hand him the tart and apologize and then-"

"Oh good, you're back!" exclaimed…Cater?! The person speaking was a dead ringer for the junior but this one was wearing a gym uniform. "I've been waiting, Me!"

"Yep, I'm back~! Sorry to keep you waiting, Me!" the Cater that led them back to Heartslabyul greeted with a wave.

The four freshmen couldn't contain their shock; Grim nearly fell off Devon's shoulder but managed to catch himself just in time. Cater didn't seem at all surprised to see this doppelgänger, so he must have known what was going on. Everyone looked toward him expectantly.

"Th-There are two of you?!" Deuce exclaimed.

"Do you have a twin or something?!" Ace asked.

Cater laughed and shook his head. "Nah, fam. I don't have any brothers. What I do have is my Unique Magic, [Split Card]. It lets me make clones of myself."

"That explains why you kept coming back no matter how many times we took you down yesterday," Deuce muttered, shaking his head.

"Welcome back, my dears~!" chirped a third Cater, this one wearing lab gear.

"And of course my sweet baby Dev~!" added a forth Cater in a set of ceremonial robes. This one wrapped his arms around Devon and pulled her into a hug. "You're looking as cute as ever, I see. The skirt's a nice touch."

Devon smiled, returning the hug and nuzzling her face into Cater's chest. "It's good to see you too, Cater. And thank you for bein' so sweet."

"What took you guys so long?" whined the Cater in the gym uniform. "My entire body's aching."

"Just how many of you are there?!" Ace exclaimed.

"Hmm? Oh, this is it," replied gym uniform Cater. "And I'm the OG Cater, just so you know." He sighed and scratched at his cheek with one finger. "Making all these copies is mad exhausting, so I can't keep it up for very long. It'll be off with our heads if we don't get these preparations finished in time and we're already short on manpower as it is. I'd really appreciate it if you guys would lend us a hand. I promise to take you to Riddle as soon as we're done."

"What, you want us to paint more roses?" Grim asked, crossing his arms with an unamused expression on his face.

"You've got a lot of nerve asking us for anything after yesterday," Ace huffed, crossing his arms as well.

"Nevermind all that~!" Cater chirped as he and his clones ushered them all into the rose maze. "Let's get started!" The group of Caters led the freshmen into the maze toward a group of white rose trees. Gym uniform Cater turned to address the clones. "Alright, I need all the other me's to get started in their own areas!"

The Cater clones all shouted their assent as they walked off toward different parts of the maze. "Leave it to me!" "You got it!" "Sure thing, Boss~!"

The original Cater gestured toward the group of trees nearest them. "My precious freshies here will be helping me out with the trees in this area."

"Man, I am so tired of doing this by hand," Ace groaned as Cater handed him and Devon cans of paint. "I wanna use magic again."

"There's no use whining," Deuce replied matter-of-factly. "We just have to get this done."

Cater pulled out his phone. "Just a sec while I update Magicam real quick…," He quickly pocketed his phone again. "is what would normally say, but we've gotta get this done before those flowers wilt."

Deuce closed his eyes as he concentrated on his magic. "Red… Red… Make it red… Hah!" A burst of magic came flying from his magical pen, turning the rose he'd aimed it at a brilliant red hue.

Cater let out an impressed whistle. "Very nice, Deucy~! Very nice indeed! If you keep that up, we should definitely be able to finish these roses in time for the party."

"Well yeah, anyone would be a pro at this after all the painting we had to do yesterday," Ace remarked as he focused on one of his own roses.

Not wanting to be outdone, Grim began focusing his magic as well. "That's nothin'! Check this out!" He quickly cast a spell of his own, turning another white rose an equally brilliant red.

"Looks like Grim's going all-in too!" Cater remarked, clearly amused at the monster's competitiveness.

The rose painting passed much quicker than the day before, thanks in part to all the Cater clones helping out. Before they knew it, they were down to the last unpainted tree.

"Okay," Deuce said as he took a deep breath. "This is the last one." He closed his eyes in concentration again. "Make it red… Make it red…" With one last burst of magic, the final roses were turned red in an instant.

"Fgnya! Well, it was easy but somehow we managed to get all the roses done!" Grim said, wiping his forehead.

"How's it look, Cater?" Ace asked. He turned to Devon and lowered his voice. "If he tells us it's not good enough, I swear…"

"I feel ya, man," Devon replied as she patted his arm. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, though."

Cater took a look at the roses on the tree, inspecting each one carefully. "Cay-Cay says…," He turned to smile at them. "You all pass~! Thanks for all your hard work today, freshies!"

"Well of course the roses turned out amazing~!" Grim boasted, a bit out of breath from all the magic usage. "Anything I have a paw in doing will always be top-notch!"

Deuce huffed a few times, his hands bracing on his knees. "We…We did a lot better than yesterday."

Mm-hmm~! You sure did!" Cater agreed. He glanced at the time on his phone. "Oop! It's about that time." He motioned for his clones to gather round, which they did. "Great job today, Me Squad~! That'll be all for now."

"Aye-aye, sir~!" the Cater clones chorused before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Alright," Cater began as he turned back to the freshmen. "As promised, I'll take you to Riddle. Make sure you've got your tart ready!"

Cater led them to a small tea garden a little ways off from the rose maze. Underneath alternating yellow and blue glass lanterns, there were several tables scattered throughout with an odd mish-mash of items on each one, from a tower of hats to what appeared to be a plastic garden flamingo you might expect to find at a dollar store. There were also various types of seating at each table, different types of chairs at some tables and stools of varying sizes at others. The long table facing outwards toward all the others was what really got their attention, though, especially the chair behind it: it looked almost like a throne with a large heart-shaped back with a red cushion affixed to it. The sweet sugary scent of various baked goods (most likely courtesy of Trey) wafted through the air. Cater ushered them toward where the other students were standing as a trumpet sounded through the garden.

"Make way for our great leader!" announced a Heartslabyul student who was…apparently assigned the role of herald for this party. "The Crimson Ruler! Three cheers for dorm leader Riddle!"

"Dorm leader Riddle! Hooray!" the other students cheered (though none of them were smiling) as Riddle made his way through the garden to the long table with the heart-shaped chair/throne, Trey following a couple steps behind.

Devon resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 'Okay, I get that this is all probably steeped in some tradition that I know absolutely nothing about, but all this pageantry seems more than a little extra. It's like he thinks he's actual royalty.' She let out a soft sigh. 'Then again, maybe he is. Heck, with how self-important most of the guys are here, I wouldn't be surprised if this place was full of royalty.'

Riddle took in the scene before him. "Mmm. The roses are red. The tablecloths are white. This is shaping up to be a perfect Unbirthday Party indeed." He glanced back at Trey. "You made sure there is a dormouse asleep in the teapot, correct?"

Trey nodded. "Of course. And the jam to spread on its nose is also ready should we need it."

"Wonderful," Riddle replied.

"Whoa! Check out their outfits, Dev!" Grim whispered. "They look so cool~!"

Devon looked over at Trey and Riddle and she had to admit that Grim was right. Both of them were wearing outfits with a white, black, and red color scheme. Trey's (and pretty much every other student as well, Devon noticed) consisted of a white undershirt with a vest over it and a predominantly white jacket over top of that, white pants, and a pair of high-tops. Devon noticed that Trey also wore a white fedora-style hat to match with his outfit. She also noticed that whether a student's vest and high-tops were black or red depended on what matched the card suit on their face. Riddle's outfit was definitely the one that stood out the most. While it matched the others in terms of color and overall style, it also included both a cap and tailcoat as well as some pretty impressive high-heeled boots. The kicker though (for Devon, at least) was the tiny golden crown affixed to Riddle's head.

"Heh. Pretty awesome, huh~? That's the Heartslabyul dorm uniform," Cater supplied.

"Hang on. Even the dorms have a specific uniform?" Devon asked incredulously.

Cater laughed. "You're reactions are always beyond cute, Dev-Dev~! I'm guessing that's not a thing where you're from."

"You guessed right," Devon confirmed. "There are plenty of schools that have uniform requirements but I don't think I've ever heard of a dorm having one. I'mma be honest, I'm not really sure how I feel about that."

"C'mon, what's not to like?" Cater countered. "These uniforms are totally on-point style-wise, and they look great on Magicam!" He glanced down as if just noticing he was still in his school uniform. "Speaking of, it's about time for me to get changed too." A snap of his fingers and a brief flash of light later, and Cater was decked out in the dorm uniform as well. He dusted himself off before turning to the four freshmen. "The Queen of Hearts Rules say that we're required to dress formally on party days, so your kind upperclassman will help get you lot ready too." He winked at them. "Consider this a special service~!" Another snap of his fingers and another flash of light and Devon, Ace, and Deuce were suddenly decked out in the Heartslabyul dorm uniform too while Grim got his own matching ribbon.

"Whoa!" Deuce exclaimed.

"Dang, we look good!" Ace commented.

"We all look so cool!" Grim added.

"They say the clothes make the man, after all," Devon remarked dryly as she adjusted the red vest she was wearing; the uniform was a little big for her but she could make do. She snorted when she caught sight of the boys' offended looks. "I'm just kidding. You look great, Deuce." She laughed again as Ace and Grim's faces fell even further.

"Wow, dude. Wow," Ace snarked as he flicked her forehead. "After everything we've been through. Did last night mean nothing to you?!"

"He says as if he wasn't the one clinging onto me all night," Devon snarked back as she poked Ace's cheek. "We all know who the needy one is in this relationship and it ain't me, bub."

Cater quirked an eyebrow, amusement dancing on his features. "As much as I'd love to hear more about…whatever you guys got up to, we've gotta take our seats for the party." He looked over at Devon as he nudged the group toward a table near the large one Riddle was seated at. "Sorry the clothes aren't a perfect fit, Dev. We don't exactly have uniforms tailored to your, ah, unique specifications."

Devon shook her head. "Don't worry about it, man. I'm just happy to be included. Personally, I'd much rather my clothes be too big than too small."

Cater smiled before wrapping her up in a hug as they sat down, Trey grabbing a seat at their table as well. "Personally, I think our dorm uniform suits you. We'll have to take a selfie together later." He let Devon go before looking around for Zephyr, who'd been on tart carrying duty since they started painting the roses. "You guys have the tart ready to give to Riddle, right?" The green Wisp appeared as if on cue and gently deposited the tart onto their table. "Alright, I think we're set."

"Before we begin the croquet match, I'd like to propose a toast," Riddle announced, drawing all eyes to him as he stood up. "You all have your teacups, I trust." He cleared his throat before starting in. "On this most unremarkable of days, I'd like to wish you all a very merry Unbirthday." He raised his teacup. "Cheers, everyone."

"Cheers!" came the parroted response from everyone else.

"Alright Acey, I think now's your chance," Cater whispered as Riddle sat back down.

Ace nodded. "Right." He pulled in a breath, hyping himself up in a lowered voice. "You got this, Trappola." Arming himself with a winning smile, he picked up the tart and walked over to Riddle's table. "Pardon me, dorm leader…"

Riddle glanced at him. "And you are…?" A look of recognition passed over his features. "Ah. If it isn't the freshman tart thief."

"Yeah, about that," Ace began sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "I wanted to apologize for eating your tart the other day, so I brought a new one to replace it."

Riddle hummed, his interest piqued as he turned to face Ace fully. "Is that right? You've got me curious now. What kind of tart is it?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" Ace replied, his smile becoming more relaxed now that things seemed to be going well. He brought the tart closer so Riddle could see it clearly. "It's a chestnut tart! And I can personally assure you that we didn't skimp on the fresh chestnuts."

Riddle immediately recoiled as if the tart had bitten him, his expression an interesting combination of shock, horror, and anger. "A chestnut tart?! Unbelievable!"

"What?" Ace asked, meeting Riddle's incredulously enraged gaze with his own confused one.

"Queen of Hearts Rule 562 clearly states: 'One must never bring a chestnut tart to an Unbirthday Party'!" Riddle seethed. "This is a flagrant violation of the rules!" He shot Ace a glare that could melt steel. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! The Unbirthday Party was perfect and now you've ruined it!"

"R-Rule 562?!" Deuce exclaimed. Everyone at their table could tell the situation was going south fast, if the collective 'Oh, crap' faces were any indication. Unfortunately they couldn't do much at this point but watch it play out.

"Seriously?! How many of these rules are there?!" Devon asked incredulously.

Riddle turned his glare toward Devon. She couldn't decide if she thought it was a 'how dare you speak out of turn, peasant!' type glare or an 'I can't believe ignoramuses like you actually exist…peasant!' type glare. "There are 810 of them and, naturally, I have every one committed to memory. What sort of dorm leader would I be if I didn't?"

'Umm…the normal kind?' Devon thought. 'No wonder none of your residents can stand you.' As much as she would've loved to voice those thoughts aloud, she didn't want to risk making anything worse for Ace. She stilled her tongue for the time being, but held Riddle's glare with one of her own. She could hear Cater whispering to Trey from her seat next to him, his voice hushed and panicked.

"We are so beyond screwed! Did you know about this, Trey?" Cater asked.

Trey shook his head. "Of course not; you know I'd never set them up like that. I've only memorized up to Rule 350, give or take." He sighed. "We definitely underestimated just how far these rules went. I didn't think there'd even be rules to dictate the kind of tarts that can be brought to an Unbirthday Party."

"Heartslabyul was founded on the spirit of the Queen of Hearts' strictness," Riddle reminded them. "As its dorm leader, I cannot turn a blind eye to this egregious offense. Dispose of this travesty of a tart at once!" He made a sweeping gesture toward Ace, Deuce, Devon, and Grim. "And then throw these rule breakers out!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Ace exclaimed. "You're just pulling rules outta your ass at this point!"

"Yeah! I'll eat the tart if you're just gonna toss it!" Grim shouted.

"My deepest apologies, dorm leader," Trey said quickly as he stood up to try and defuse the situation. "I was the one who suggested making a chestnut tart. Please don't blame them."

"I was part of that too," Cater added, standing up as well. "We didn't think there would be a rule the kind of tart to bring. We've failed as upperclassmen, so if you have to punish someone, punish us."

"The fact that the tart was made isn't the problem," Riddle explained, never taking his narrowed gaze off the four freshmen. "It's the fact that they brought it here! Today! Right now! That is the issue here!"

"Do you even hear yourself right now?!" Devon exclaimed as she stood up. There wasn't much of a reason to bite her tongue anymore since Riddle was already angry. Besides, dorm leader or no, she wasn't about to let him steamroll over the people she cared about. "Ace and the others worked really hard to make that tart for you; Ace even peeled the chestnuts by hand! And you're gonna insult them and throw all that work in the trash because…what, it's not National Chestnut Tart Day?!"

"Yeah, she's right!" Ace agreed, walking back to his table. He caught Devon's gaze briefly as he stood beside her, shooting her a grateful look before refocusing on Riddle. "Ever since I met you, the only thing I've heard out of your mouth is a never-ending list of these idiotic rules!"

"What did you say?!" Riddle asked icily, his voice dangerously soft. "You dare call the Queen of Hearts' Rules idiotic?!"

"Wait, stop!" Cater said in a frantic whisper. "Let's not escalate this any further, okay?" He turned toward Riddle, his smile placating despite the clear nervousness in his tone. "Dorm leader, please keep in mind that these four are just freshmen. They've only been here a few days, so it's natural that they don't know the ropes just yet."

"No, this needs to be said and apparently nobody else has the guts to do it!" Ace shot back. "Throwing out a perfectly good whole tart just because of some asinine rule is completely idiotic! He's just on a power trip now. You know it and I know it!"

"I agree that rules are meant to be followed," Deuce chimed in, keeping his voice and expression neutral. "but this is just way too arbitrary."

"You've got some nerve trying to debate with me on this," Riddle growled. "But fine, I'll bite. Allow me to spell out what you simpletons can't seem to grasp: even breaking seemingly insignificant rules can throw open the doors to much bigger problems!"

"Yeah, well this "simpleton" doesn't understand how forbidding your residents from eating hamburgers on Tuesdays is keeping us from descending into anarchy," Devon sniped, recalling the conversation she and the others overheard in the cafeteria the day before. "Just admit that you're trying to flex on everyone and be done with it. At this point, you're nothing but a well-spoken bully."

"How dare you speak to me like that!" Riddle shouted.

Devon's eyes narrowed even further. "I dare because I can."

A hand grabbed her arm. "Devon," Cater whispered in a warning tone, shaking his head. "Don't push this, sweetie."

"Why not, Cater? What's he gonna do?" Devon replied, issuing Riddle a challenging glare. "Collar me and seal off the magic I don't have? I feel for your residents, Riddle. I really do. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to live in constant fear of breaking some rule they've never heard of until the moment you slap one of those collars on them.

"Exactly!" Ace agreed. "Nobody else speaks up because they're too afraid of losing their heads but I know they feel the same way we do!"

Uneasy murmurs sounded from the Heartslabyul residents nearby. "A-Ah… No, that's…"

"Well?" Riddle asked impatiently, turning his glare on the crowd. "Is this louts assessment correct?"

"U-Umm, no… Of course not, dorm leader," one student spoke up timidly.

"Everything is decided by your will…," another student agreed, his voice small.

Grim looked at the crowd in disbelief. "For real?!"

Ace shook his head, fixing the other students with a disappointed scowl. "Tsk, buncha spineless cowards. It's beyond lame."

"Listen well, all of you," Riddle began. "In the year that I've been dorm leader, there hasn't been a single student held back or expelled from Heartslabyul. Ours is the only dorm that can boast such a feat! In this dorm, I am the one with the best grades! I am the one with the strongest magic! That makes me the dorm leader, which means I'm the most correct. All you have to do is follow is follow my rules without question!"

"You've got to be kidding!" Deuce exclaimed.

"Yeah, all you've done is convince me even further that the whole 'dorm leader' thing is just a power trip for you," Devon commented. "If you really cared about your residents, you wouldn't force them to live in fear of you."

"I'm not taking their heads because I want to," Riddle shot back. "I take them because they keep breaking the rules." He returned his glare to Ace, Deuce, and Grim. "If you won't obey me, it'll be off with all of your heads!"

Trey's gaze hardened at Riddle's words but he didn't say anything. Cater, on the other hand, came up behind them and put his hands on the backs of Ace and Deuce's heads, pushing on them gently to try and get them to bow. "Okay, this is the part where we all say "Yes, dorm leader!""

"…I can't," Deuce declined with finality, his voice firm and his eyes steely.

"Same," Devon agreed, crossing her arms as she kept her eyes on Riddle.

"I don't bow to tyrants," Ace added.

"I'm sorry. Would you care to repeat that?" Riddle bit out.

Grim hopped up onto Devon's shoulder. "We're sayin' your nothin' but a hot-headed tyrant who wastes food for his own selfish whims!"

"H-Hold on, Grim, we didn't say all that…," Deuce corrected, but it was too late.

"[OFF WITH YOUR HEAD]!" Riddle shouted, his voice echoing through the tea garden. Deuce and Grim could only shout in pain as the collars materialized around their necks.

"Not this stupid collar again!" Grim moaned.

Deuce tugged at his collar to try and loosen it, wincing in pain as he pulled. "Damn, I can't get it off!"

"Trey! Cater! Get these degenerates out of here at once!" Riddle ordered.

The two juniors looked at each other and the quartet held a brief hope that they would defy Riddle and side with them. It was not to be, however, as Trey and Cater gave a united "Yes, dorm leader…" in response to Riddle's command.

"What gives, you guys?!" Deuce exclaimed, hurt evident in both his eyes and his voice. "I thought you were supposed to be on our side…"

"Sorry, Deucey," Cater chirped, his voice cheerful despite the somber look in his green eyes. "We can't go against the dorm leader, ya know~!"

Trey studied them all for a moment, regret evident on his face. "Please forgive me, guys."

"So that's how it is, huh?" Ace said. He let out a humorless laugh. "Should've figured when push came to shove you'd be just as bad as everyone else. Fine then!" He braced himself and reached for his magical pen, too angry to remember that he couldn't use magic at the moment. "Hit me with your best shot, assholes! Let's do this!"

Devon was about to jump in and support her redheaded friend when she caught sight of the look in the two juniors eyes. They kept their faces carefully neutral, but the regret in their eyes was plain as day. They were just as trapped by Riddle as the rest of Heartslabyul was. Trey seemed especially affected by the hurt look on Deuce's face and years of cheerleading had taught Devon how to pick out a fake smile from a real one; Cater wasn't fooling her with that grin. 'Things are only going to get worse if we start a physical fight here now. I don't especially care about making things harder for Riddle but this is the last thing Trey and Cater need. If anything, I'd say we owe it to Trey to leave quietly after he helped us out with that tart.' She reached out to grab Ace's arm. "Hang on, bud."

"Don't try to stop me, Devon!" Ace growled, pulling his arm out of her grasp while keeping his glare on Trey and Cater. "These two are just as fair-weather as the rest of the guys in Heartslabyul!"

"I get where you're comin' from, man, I promise," Devon assured him. "I'm on your side here, which is why I telling you to stop and think for a minute." She looked past Trey and Cater to see Riddle's self-satisfied smirk. "Trust me, I'd love to knock that brat down a peg or four but this isn't the time or the place to do that."

"And why not?" Ace asked impatiently, finally turning to look at her.

"Because the three of you can't use magic right now," Devon reminded him. "And we've just learned that there's not a single person here who would take our side over Riddle if push came to shove. Let's just get out of here and head back to Ramshackle, okay? We can figure out a way to deal with this after everyone's had a chance to calm down."

Ace still didn't look entirely convinced but he could feel his resolve was weakening as he glanced from Devon, to Deuce and Grim, to Trey and Cater, and finally to Riddle. He turned his red eyes back toward Devon's pleading brown ones and heaved a sigh. "Fine. But only because I owe you for letting me crash with you." With that, he turned on his heel and stalked off toward the front gate of the dorm. Deuce, Devon, and Grim followed closely behind, flanked by Trey and Cater.

"Seems you aren't as dim as you appear to be," Riddle called out to the retreating freshmen, that smug smirk still on his face. "If you can learn to keep falling in line like that, we might make proper Heartslabyul students out of you yet."

Ace's eye twitched and he was dangerously close to whirling back around and reigniting the entire fight. Luckily, Devon reacted before the situation could be re-escalated. She looked over her shoulder as she took Ace's hand in her own to prevent him from charging back in, fixing Riddle with the most disdainful look she could.

"You're a disappointment," was all she said before turning forward again, not bothering to register Riddle's reaction.

"Alright, kiddos, we'll see you later~!" Cater chirped as they reached the dorm's front gate.

"We'll work on calming Riddle down so you guys apologize and get back in the dorm," Trey assured them.

"No way!" Ace shouted as the gates closed. "I will never apologize to that jerk, you hear me?!"

"My goodness," Riddle sighed once Trey and Cater had returned to the tea garden. "Well, let's put that unpleasantness behind us and get back to the party. We still have to get to the croquet match, after all." He pulled out a pocketwatch, his brow furrowing in anger as he checked the time. "We're already 15 minutes behind schedule! This is unacceptable!"

"Yes, dorm leader…," Trey said quietly.

Cater tapped his friend's arm, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Trey… Are you really okay with all this?"

"There's not much more I can do," Trey replied as he adjusted his glasses.

"AAAAAGGH!" Ace shouted in frustration as he paced along what little bit of the rose maze fell outside the front gate. "Screw that stupid, pint-sized dictator! Does he think he's the actual Queen of Hearts or something?!"

"To think I've already been kicked out of my dorm for disobeying the dorm leader," Deuce lamented, ignoring Ace's ranting as he buried his head in his hands. "Enrolling here was supposed to be my chance to turn things around…"

"Trust me, there's nothing wrong with standing up for yourselves," Devon assured him. "It probably doesn't feel like it right now, but you guys are in the right." She glared back in the direction of the tea garden. "Riddle's just a power-hungry asswipe with anger management issues." She chuckled to herself. "And the only reason he gets away with it is because he lucked out at the superpower lottery and landed a powerful Unique Magic. Without that, he's nothing. There's no way he'd survive in my world." She looked over at Ace. "Ya know, I thought you were exaggerating when you told me about what a despot he is, but nope, you were right. If anything, I think you understated it."

"Thank you, New York," Ace replied. "Glad to see you've finally seen the light."

"Yeah, well can ya see a way to get this collar off, Dev?" Grim asked, straining to hold his head up. "This thing's so heavy and hurts…"

Devon gave Grim a sympathetic smile before scooping him up into her arms, letting him brace his head against her shoulder so he didn't have to fight to hold it up.

"Y'all are lookin' pretty stylish in those meow-ching collars~!" chirped an unfamiliar voice nearby.

The group looked around to find the source of the voice…only to see a floating head smirking at them. The head had mischievous-looking golden eyes with hair of varying shades of purple and, most interesting of all, a pair of purple cat ears with multiple piercings. Everyone screamed in unison upon seeing it, causing the head's smirk to widen in amusement.

"Fgnya! A talking head?!" Grim shouted.

The head chuckled before a body began to materialize below it. "Whoops~! Looks like I fur-got to bring out the rest of me!"

The freshman quartet looked at the newcomer, confused. He wasn't wearing a Night Raven college uniform, at least not one that they'd seen before. He had on a white hoodie with what appeared to be a striped purple shirt (funnily enough, the purple stripes matched his hair colors) underneath it along with a pair of blue pants (which might have been jeans, they couldn't be certain) and purple boots. They also noticed that he had a striped purple tail as well. Deuce was the first one to recover from the surprise enough to speak. "S-So you do have a body, huh? Not to be rude, but who are you?"

"The name's Alchemi Alchemivich Pinka," the boy supplied. "I'm a mysterious enigma with magic, both human and cat."

"Alkeh-Alchev... Come again?!" Ace stammered.

"Heheheh, everyone just calls me Chenya," the boy added helpfully. "And trust me," He jerked a thumb back toward the tea garden. "I'm on a whole other level than the guys in there."

Devon tilted her head as she looked at their new…friend, maybe? She wasn't entirely sure but he didn't seem quite as self-absorbed as most of the other people she'd met so far. She didn't see a magical pen on him, so she couldn't be sure what dorm he came from. 'No harm in asking, I guess.' "Hey man, do you mind if I ask what dorm you're from. I have to figure you aren't from Heartslabyul or else you'd be at that Unbirthday Party thing."

"Why not try and guess~?" Chenya suggested as he winked playfully at her.

Grim pressed a paw to his chin in thought. "Well…you've got animal ears so you've gotta be from that…umm, Salmonya dorm, right?"

"Bzzt, bzzt! Incorrect!" Chenya replied. "Salmon swim in the sea, don't they? And I'm an adorable little kitty cat, not a juicy salmon."

"Besides, there are plenty of students in other dorms that have animal ears too," Deuce pointed out. "There was a cat beastman placed in Heartslabyul this year, in fact."

"Look, I like guessing games as much as the next guy but that teapot tyrant sent my mood straight to rock bottom," Ace fumed. "So I don't have time to waste on…whatever this is. Outta my way."

"Riddle the Teapot Tyrant, hmm?" Chenya mused as Ace stalked past him. "Well, mew're not incorrect. He always was a serious tom, even as a little kitten." He chuckled to himself.

"How do you know what Riddle was like when he was little?" Deuce asked.

Chenya quirked a brow. "Did something I said pique your interest? You wanna know more about Riddle?"

"You bet I do!" Ace replied, turning back around to face Chenya again. "I have to know what kind of upbringing leads someone to become…," He gestured vaguely. "that."

"Why don't you ask that fur-end of yours with the glasses?" Chenya suggested.

Glasses…," Deuce repeated. "You mean Trey?"

"Mmhmm. He's known Riddle since we were all just wee little lads," Chenya told them, putting his hands behind his head. "If mew wanna know more about Riddle, he's your guy."

"Wait, are you saying they were childhood friends?" Deuce asked. "It really didn't seem that way…"

"If mew think I'm right, then I'm right. If you think I'm wrong, then I'm wrong," Chenya said with a shrug.

"Which is it?" Grim asked as he crossed his arms.

"At this point, there's nothing for mew to talk to me about meow, is there?" Chenya said as his body began to grow transparent. "I'll be seein' mew guys later."

"Hey, wait!" Deuce shouted as Chenya's body disappeared, leaving only his head visible. He hummed a little tune before his head vanished as well.

"Man, what was with that's guys cat-itude, anyway?" Grim mused. His eyes widened in surprise when he registered what he'd just said. "Oh crap! Now I'm talkin' like him!"

"Our schoolwork will suffer if we have to keep these collars on," Deuce pointed out. "We should find Trey somewhere away from Heartslabyul and see what he has to say and then…" He looked over at Ace.

"I am not going to apologize to get this stupid thing off, so don't even suggest it," Ace huffed, crossing his arms.

"Sounds like we've gotta stage an ambush after classes today," Devon mused.

Ending Notes: I'm starting to realize just how many of Devon's friendships at Night Raven College (Ace, Riddle, Leona, Azul, and to a much lesser extent Ruggie, Sebek, Jade, and Floyd) start with almost nothing but contempt between them only to become ride-or-dies once whatever conflict is going on is resolved. Ace is pretty much already there now and all Devon really has to do to earn Ruggie's friendship is feed him (and convince that she's not doing it because she wants something out of him). I'm especially excited to see this play out for Azul; what I have planned for him is actually really sweet.

I know I've already hinted at DJ's personal conflict in the last chapter but we're finally going to start to address it in the next chapter, along with introducing his other best friends besides Mateo. I know a couple of you have mentioned being curious about DJ's friend group so I hope you'll enjoy it!

Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are more than welcome. Geekinthepink, out!