Chapter 8

~Painting the roses red. We're painting the roses red.~

Marie found herself in a strange garden. Walls made of plants nearly surrounded her on all sides. Trees that were shaped like hearts. The trees contained white roses that were dripping with red paint. In the distance, she could hear the singing of men. Curious, she followed the sound of the melody.

~We dare not stop, or waste a drop, so let the paint be spread.~

A clearing was just up ahead. Picking up the pace, she sprinted the rest of the way. Upon reaching her destination, she was greeted with the sight of giant living play cards. They sang happily as they swung around buckets of red paint. Brandishing their large paint brushes, they slapped their paint over the white roses, turning them red. The suits weren't quite neat with the job as there were large paint splats all over the grass and bushes.

~We're painting the roses reeed. We're painting the roses red."

Suddenly a young girl brushed past Marie. She was dressed in blue and white and wore a black bow in her hair. The girl curiously approached the display with puzzlement clearly painted on her face. Seems Marie shares that in common with the young child.

"Oh pardon me, but Mister Three, why must you paint them red?" the child questioned.

The playing cards paused in confusion before all of them realized the girl truly did not know why.

"Well, the fact is, Miss, we planted white roses by mistake." the two of clovers answered.

Now that was quite peculiar. Painting roses red just cause they planted white roses by mistake. Marie couldn't help but wonder why they would go about such a bizarre way of fixing the mistake. Ponder for long she did not have to as Ace of Clovers answered her question, almost as if it could read her mind.

"The Queen, she likes them red. If she saw white instead, each of us would lose our heads."

Marie's blood ran cold as she slapped her hand over her mouth. Beheadment over a simple mistake. This was no Queen, this was a tyrant. Why would they just stand by and accept this? Surely someone spoke out. No one would stand by and allow this Queen to lop off heads for every single mistake. Even the girl in blue looked concerned for the cards. The suits simply returned to their task as they continued to sing. Marie couldn't believe this. Why are they just going along with this?

~Since this is the part we dread, we're painting the roses red.~

Marie's found herself staring up at the Ramshackle ceiling. She rubbed her face as she sat up in her bed.

"Ugh, what was that?" she grumbled, "Weird dreams again?"

She exhaled loudly as she slid her hand from her face. Suddenly a glimmer caught the corner of her eye. She turned and saw the dusty mirror hanging just above the fireplace. Careful not to wake Grim, she pulled the covers off of herself and got out of bed. Crossing the short distance across the room, she examined the mirror closely. It was strange. Nothing seemed to stand out, yet the mirror seemed out of place within her room. As for why, she couldn't really answer. She scratched her head in puzzlement.

"Wait."

Her eyes widened in surprise. That was her bandaged hand and it didn't hurt. Holding the hand in front of her face, she carefully unwrapped the handkerchief. Her heart stopped. The hand was clean, not a trace of the strange ink. She flexed her fingers for good measure. No stinging, no burning sensation. It was almost as if her hand had never been hurt in the first place. She looked at the red handkerchief. No sign of the ink on it either. "How did-"

Loud knocking filled the air and dirt shook down from the ceiling. Some dust fell on Grim's sleeping face and he immediately jumped up sputtering.

"Fynaaah. Marie, can you tell those ghosts to let us sleep?" the feline drowsily groaned.

"I don't think it's the ghosts, Grim. They wouldn't need to knock; they would have just floated in."

Getting on all fours, Grim hunched his back up with a groan before shifting to his back end up in the air, and letting out a loud yawn. "Well whoever it is, I wanna give them a piece of my mind for waking me up from my sleep."

"You mean your cat nap?"

"Grrr! I'm not a cat, I'm a Great Magician!"

Marie let out a laugh, only for it to be cut off by dirt falling on her head. She spat out her tongue, rubbing the dirt off her face. On the bed, she could see Grim giving her a smug grin.

"Oh laugh it up. Ugh, let's just see who it is already," she grumbled.

Her feline friend jumped off the bed as she opened the door. As she made her way down the stairs, the knocking only increased. Seriously, at this rate, the entire dorm was gonna collapse before she even reached the front door. A bit more harsher than necessary, she gripped the doorknob and nearly threw the door off its hinges. What she saw both confused and annoyed her. Standing pouting in the door was none other than Ace.

"Ace, do you realize how freaking late it is?" she snapped, "Also..." Her eyes took note of something different about his attire. Around his neck was a peculiar collar shaped like a heart. She remembered seeing that collar on the night of the entrance ceremony. That boy with the red hair from that night had used his magic to place it on Grim. The only question was... "Why the heck do you have that weird collar on?"

Ace gritted his teeth as he pushed his way past Marie. "It's a long story, but I refuse to go back to Heartslabyul. I'm staying at your dorm now!"

"Wait what?!" Grim exclaimed, now fully awake.

"Ace, I swear, you got me roped into enough trouble yesterday." she groaned.

She grabbed the boy by the arm, pulling him all the way to the main lobby, and had him plop down on the couch. She let out a sigh as she rubbed her forehead. Seriously, it was too late at night for her to be dealing with this already. She hadn't even started her first day of classes yet. This was gonna prove to be an exhausting school year if things kept up like this.

"Now..." she began as she gestured out her hand, "tell us what happened."

"Yeah." Grim added as he jumped up on the couch next to Ace. "You're wearing the same collar that red-head jerk slapped on me at the entrance ceremony. So why are you wearing one?"

Ace huffed angrily as he leaned back, allowing himself to slouch on the couch with his arms crossed. "Jerk is right. He did this cause I ate a tart!"

Ace groaned as he headed for his dorm's kitchen. After having nearly been expelled and dealing with a nearly unstoppable monster, his body was suffering for it. Duece had made them all leave without getting any food, wanting to get the magic crystal as soon as possible. Now his stomach was growling loudly from having to miss supper.

"Seriously, how did Deuce even manage to get to sleep? You can't tell me he's not as hungry as I am?" he grumbled to himself.

Well, it was no matter how his classmate managed to get to sleep. All he wanted to do was to find some food to snack on. Hopefully, he could find some goodies in the dorm's fridge.

Entering the kitchen, he found not a soul in sight. It was to be expected, it pretty much was in the middle of the night. He opened up the fridge, squinting a bit as the bright light shined in his eyes. Inside made his mouth practically water. There were no typical foods like sandwiches or drinks such as water or juice. Instead, the fridge was filled from top to bottom with tarts. An assortment of tarts in nearly all different flavors. There were peach tarts, blueberry tarts, raspberry tarts, and so much more.

"Ah, there's so many in here. I'm sure no one will miss one piece." Ace smirked, his eyes set on a bright cherry tart.

He got a plate and cut himself a slice. With a happy "Bon Appetit" he placed the first fork full into his mouth. His eyes widened as his taste buds were greeted with a burst of flavor. He couldn't help but scoop a few more bites into his mouth.

"What the hell?! This tastes amazing!" he gushed while still forking the tart into his mouth.

"Of course it does. Trey does not bake tarts that are anything less than exquisite."

"Seriously this is better than the stuff you get in the caf..." Ace replied but then dropped his fork in realization. He wasn't alone. Turning around to the source of the voice, his blood ran cold. Before him was a red-haired boy dressed in a white and red suit with a black cape and a crown adorning his head. The boy was giving him a smile that seemed to hide bubbling rage. Ace knew immediately how this person was. "Dorm Leader Riddle!"

Riddle's icy gray eyes glowered at Ace, all the while the unnerving smile remained painted on his face. He tapped his staff in his black-gloved hand. "You're certainly brave one to lay your hands on which belongs to me."

Ace swallowed hard. Maybe if he just explained to his dorm leader the situation then perhaps he would let him go free. He opened his mouth, but not a word managed to escape as the staff swung to point at him. He could only stare at the red magic crystal within the golden heart glow brightly.

Riddle gritted his teeth with eyes wide with rage."Queen of Hearts Rule #89: 'You shall not eat tarts prepared for the Queen ahead of her!' Tart theft is an unforgivable crime! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

Ace could only scream in pain as the heart-shaped collar clamped around his neck.

By the end of the story, Grim and Marie could only look at each other before giving Ace's deadpan stares.

"So you came knocking at our door at who knows what hour, just to complain about how you were rightfully punished." Marie said exasperatedly.

"Rightfully pun- you gotta be kidding if you're taking his side!" Ace exclaimed, shooting up into a straight sitting position. "Don't you think it's a little much to seal away my magic just cause I took a tiny bit of tart?!"

"Wait, seal your magic?"

"Yeah, as long as this collar is on, I can't use any of my magic. Now you probably wouldn't get it, but for me, having your magic sealed is like having all my arms and legs chained up! Sides, there were loads of tarts in there and he got mad at me for eating one slice! Now you look at me straight in the eyes and tell me again if you think I was 'rightfully punished'!"

Marie bit her lip. When Ace put it that way it really did seem like too severe of a punishment. She shuddered to think of how this Riddle would have reacted had he witnessed her actions yesterday.

"Hey, you said there was a bunch of tarts in the fridge right?" Grim questioned, drawing the attention of the two teens.

"Yeah, why?"

The feline jumped up onto his hind legs with his paws raised excitedly "Well maybe they were for a huge party or something! You know, like a birthday party! Maybe he got mad cause those tarts were really important for the party." He grinned and placed a paw on his chest with a snicker. "I'm a master of deduction I tell ya!"

"I have to say, Grim has a point here." Marie added. Sometimes even the littler monster could speak sense. "I know some people like to bake cakes ahead of time and store them in freezers so they're ready to serve immediately. If those tarts were specially made for a party, that could explain why he was so angry."

"You've got to be kidding me! You can't seriously think he just did that over a simple mistake?!" Ace exclaimed.

Seems the boy was insulted yet again. Frankly, Marie was too tired to care.

"Look, just maybe apologize to him tomorrow. Maybe once he's rested and stuff he'll be willing to hear you out this time."

Ace groaned as he threw his head.

"Ugh, fine." Lifting his head back up, he held out his hand toward the girl. "But you're coming with me when I do it, after all, it's your idea. Deal?"

Marie rolled her eyes before shaking his hand, replying "Deal."

Having that settled, she let out a yawn before picking up Grim into her arms. "Alright, so none of the other rooms are sleepable right now aside from ours. So go ahead and sleep on the couch."

"The couch, oh come on, can't I just sleep with you guys? I promise I don't take up much room!" Ace complained as he stood up, "Just let me sleep with ya."

"Nope." she coolly replied, knocking Ace on his rear with the push of her hand.

As she climbed the stairs, she could still hear Ace trying to bargain with her. She placed Grim on their bed, watching as he immediately fell asleep. Sometimes she was envious of how he could sleep at the drop of the hat. She pulled one of the spare pillows off the bed and picked a blanket off the floor. In the doorway of her room was Ace who still continued to plead for a real bed. Instead of replying she just tossed him the pillow and blanket, both of which ended up smacking him in the face. Before he could even ask a final time, she already slammed the door closed.

Ace groaned as he was awoken by the sound of knocking. His whole body ached, not helped by having to sleep on a rickety couch and a clunky collar around his neck. It wasn't time for classes just yet, he could afford a few more minutes of sleep. He grunted as he turned on his side and closed his eyes. The knocking persisted. He grumbled in objection, throwing the pillow over his head to try to drown out the sound. Unfortunately, it seems the knocking was the least of his worries as part of the ceiling came off and hit him.

He jolted up, kicking his legs wildly to get the blanket off of him. It was official, he was not going back to sleep. Brushing the dust off his clothes, he made his way to the front door.

"Who's even knocking here this early?"

He opened the door and immediately was rewarded with an answer. The only problem was that aside from the Riddle, it was the last person he had hoped to come knocking. It was none other than Deuce Spade.

"So, you did come here." Deuce commented.

"Ugh, what are you doing here Deuce?"

"I heard what happened from the other residents." He let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can't believe you're such an idiot."

"Shut it! I don't need to hear it from you!" Ace snipped back.

"Morning y'all." Marie's voice could be heard along with footsteps

He turned around to see the girl dressed in the full school uniform. She gave a bit of a twirl with her jacket open, showing off her gray vest before closing it. Ace had to admit, the girl looked pretty good. Crowley was right about her easily passing for a boy. Though he didn't feel like voicing this fact, lest he get smacked. If there's one thing he learned, Marie had a temper on her. Of course, her temper paled in comparison to that of Heartslabyul Dorm Leader. Remembering Riddle, he mentally groaned. Today he was supposed to apologize to him.

"Hey Deuce, Dorm Head Riddle, he's not still angry, is he?"

"Not really. He was only irritated at three students who ended up missing roll call. They met the same fate as you."

Ace couldn't believe what he just heard. "Only irritated?! That's only irritated to you?!"

Marie had a bit of an uncertain frown on her face. It seemed she was in deep thought over something. He could only hope that maybe she was second-guessing herself. It should be plain as day to everyone; Riddle Rosehearts was nothing but a tyrant.

"Still, it shouldn't hurt to apologize to him. You did promise you would so no backing out on me." she finally spoke up.

And just like that, his hopes had been dashed.

"Well there's some time before our classes, we could stop by the dorm now." Duece suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Come on, Grim, we're heading out!" Marie replied.

Ace's shoulders slouched in defeat.

"Maybe I was better off getting expelled."

Marie took a look at her surroundings as she exited the magical mirror with her friends. Her mouth was open in awe. She was in a garden with beautiful red roses. In the center of the garden was a large red building with heart-shaped doorways. So this was Heartslabyul. It actually made her feel a bit jealous. Here, Ace and Deuce get to stay in a beautiful rose garden while all she has is a building that looks like it is always on the verge of collapsing. Really, she should have a talk with the birdbrain of headmaster about repairs.

"Whoa! This is gorgeous! It couldn't be more different from ours!" Grim said with eyes beaming in excitement.

"Please, Grim, don't rub it in." she groaned.

"Come on, I think we'll find Dorm Head Rosehearts in the Garden Maze." Deuce said as he led the way.

As they walked through the Garden Maze, Marie stared at her surroundings in confusion. She was nearly surrounded by walls made of plants and the trees were trimmed like hearts. There was something about this. The ground squished a bit under one of her shoes. Looking down she found she had stepped in a puddle of red paint. Why is there paint?

Drip, drip.

Droplets of paint dripped on her black shoes, creating little red spots. Is the paint dripping next to her? She turned her head and saw paint dripping from the red roses. Why are the roses dripping paint? Grasping one of the petals, she carefully rubbed at the paint with her thumb and index finger. It came off with little effort. Much to her surprise, it turned out the roses weren't red at all but rather white.

~Painting the roses red. We're painting the roses red.~

Marie squeezed her eyes shut and held her head. Just what was this sensation of Deja Vu?

"Crap, I gotta hurry and get the roses painted red!" a voice yelled from behind one of the walls, snapping Marie out of her daze.

"Hey, someone's here!" Grim exclaimed.

Curiously, the group made their way to the other side of the wall. In an opening with many rose bushes was an older teen with ginger hair. By the looks of it, he was an upperclassman. Marie noticed that he had a card symbol on his face like Ace and Duece, only his was a red diamond. In his hands, he held a paint bucket and a paintbrush. He was busying himself with the roses till he took note of the group.

"Hm? You guys need something?"

Ace raised a brow at the display. Marie couldn't blame him, she was just as puzzled.
Even Duece, the normal straight-laced student was baffled by the scene. He quickly tried to hide this fact by clearing his throat and asking "Um excuse me, why are you painting the roses red?"

The older teen laughed with a grin. For some reason, that grin didn't seem to reach his eyes.

"Been a while since I got such cute reactions."

He put the paint bucket and brush on the ground and got closer. He kept grinning as he carefully examined Ace and Deuce's faces. "In fact, aren't you the two that broke that 10,000,000 Madol chandelier yesterday?"

Both Deuce and Ace immediately sighed in unison upon being reminded of their chaos.

"We're gonna hear about that chandelier till the day we graduate." Ace whined.

The older teen then turned his attention to Marie and Grim. "And you're that girl and monster that made a huge scene at the entrance ceremony." He chuckled with a wink. "Honestly, I don't think there's not a single person on campus that hasn't heard of you guys."

Marie immediately facepalmed with a whine. "Why does everyone have to bring up the entrance ceremony?!"

"Honestly, I'm so lucky to meet the notorious newcomers first thing in the morning~ Mind if I take a selfie for Magicam?"

Before anyone could really give an answer, the older teen was already leaning next to the group with one arm huddling them all together, and the other holding up a cell phone high in the air. Marie took note of Grim frantically jumping up and down, trying desperately to get into the frame. Typical Grim, he just couldn't resist the spotlight. Helping her feline friend out, she kneeled down to pull him into her arms and held him high enough that his face could be seen with everyone else's.

Three, two, one. Snap.

The older teen moved away and started typing as he muttered out different hashtags. He only paused a moment to request names, which the teens compiled, each introducing themselves. He typed a bit more before finally putting away his phone.

"Thanks, that's sure to get a lot of clicks. The name's Cater Diamond, or if you like you can call me Caycay, your cool third-year upperclassman." he introduced himself with a wink and two fingers at his brow."

"Uh thanks, I think we're good with just Cater." Marie smiled nervously. Seriously, she had just met this guy and so far she had no breathing room at all. He seemed so eccentric and overly friendly. Granted she had already encountered a friendly persona in the form of the boy who gave her the rice cookies. But with the boy, she could genuinely tell he was simply sweet. Cater though, she just imagined him itching at the idea of asking for favors.

"Say, since you guys are here, why don't you help me paint the roses red?" Cater asked.

"I KNEW IT!" Marie blurted out, startling the boys and causing Grim to nearly leap out of her arms.

"Ha haaaa... knew what exactly?" the upperclassman replied uncertainly.

The girl blinked in silence, just now realizing what she had done. In a stiff motion, she placed Grim on the ground and picked up a brush and bucket. Her movement was clunky as she started painting one of the white roses. She looked like a barely functioning robot rather than a human.

"Uhh, is your friend okay?"

Deuce and Ace glanced at each other before shrugging.

Meanwhile, Marie wore a forced grin with her face nearly turning as red as the paint. "Just keep painting, the awkwardness will go away."

It took a few minutes, but they managed to change all the white roses to red. While Marie and Ace had to rely on paints, Deuce and Grim were taught how to change the roses with magic. Granted it did have some failed results, with Duece accidentally turning the roses blue at one point, and Grim ending up setting the roses on fire with his magic.

"You know, why do we even have to turn the roses red?" Ace complained as he dropped his brush into the bucket. "They look much prettier white."

"Well, it's a tradition silly." Cater replied, taking a few snapshots with his phone. "Painting the roses red is just part of the preparations we do for our annual Unbirthday Party. With it being tomorrow, we have a lot of work to do in order to be ready. I still have to color in the flamingos for the croquet match, and there are others that have to get the hedgehogs ready as the balls for the croquet."

"Color flamingos? Hedgehogs as balls? Jeez, those are such weird things." Grim commented.

Marie was inclined to agree.

Cater typed a bit on his phone before sliding it back into his pocket "Even if it's weird, still has to be done. It is said the Queen of Hearts started these traditions herself. So in her honor, we have to make sure everything is perfect. Of course, we do have to get new tarts since Ace here ate the ones that were prepared already."

"Ugh, I get it. I shouldn't have eaten the tarts!" Ace snipped before letting out a loud sigh. "Speaking of which, do you know where Dorm Leader Riddle is? I want to apologize for my mistake."

"Sure, I can tell you. But first, did you bring a tart?"

The group was puzzled by this question.

"Why would he need a tart?" Marie spoke up, "You didn't expect us to provide snacks after finishing painting did you?"

Cater shook his head with a smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Nah, nothing like that. It's just without a tart, I can't let this tart thief see Riddle. In fact, he can't even be here at the dorm."

"WHAT?!" the three teens and cat exclaimed in unison.

"Rule Number 53: 'One must return what they steal'. So in other words, if want to be forgiven, you have to make a tart to replace the one you ate."

Now Marie was mad. "Just what kind of rule is that?!" she yelled at the upperclassman. "Look, I know it was stupid of Ace to eat that food without asking..."
"Gee, thanks, Marie." Ace sarcastically interrupted.
"...but there's no reason to ban him from the premises until he brings a replacement. If anything, that's an overreaction! Seriously, what is wrong with your dorm leader."

For the first time since meeting, Cater's smile disappeared. He gazed at the girl with a serious frown.

"Look, I get you're not a part of Heartslabyul, so you wouldn't understand. Everyone who stays here at the dorm has to follow the rules, lest they lose their heads. I don't want to lose my head, so I am simply following the rules."

The girl clenched her fist. The rules were wrong and too harsh. Even if she were in the Heartslabyul Dorm, she could never stand to follow such strict rules.

"I want to see your Dorm Leader myself and give him a piece of my mind!"

Cater simply clicked his tongue as he began twirling his magic pen between his fingers. "Afraid I can't do that. In fact, I need to get all of you out of here before Riddle even sees you."

"No, I refuse to leave this spot until I speak with him!"

Getting a bit worried, Deuce tugged on Marie's arm and said "Marie, maybe we really should go."

The girl just harshly jerked her arm out of the boy's grip. She understood Deuce was worried; he had already gotten in enough trouble yesterday. But no matter what, she just didn't want to let this go. Ace was her friend, and she couldn't just not defend him. He didn't deserve to have that collar remain clamped around his neck. Maybe if he had deserved it she would have maybe let it slide, but in this case, he didn't.

"Whelp, seeing as you made up your mind." Cater replied. With a grin and his magic pen glowing red briefly, he finished "Guess I'll just have to throw you guys out."

"Yeah, right." Grim smirked at Marie's side. "There's just one of you and four of us. I would like to see you even try to take on us."

Suddenly Marie felt two hands grip her by the shoulders from behind. She glanced back to see Cater's face grinning at her. "Wait, weren't you jus-" Her world spun as she was harshly thrown to the side. It was too blurry to keep track of things, but it felt like she was being passed along by multiple people. The next thing she knew she stumbled and fell onto her hands and knees. She groaned as she shook her head, her vision refocusing to find herself back at the entrance of Heartslabyul.

The sounds of Ace's, Deuce's, and Grim's yells filled her ears before they ended up landing next to her. There was no sign of Cater anywhere.

"Ugh, you just had to say it, Grim. You just had to say you would like to see how he would throw us out." Ace complained.

"Face it, we're just gonna have to do what he said and make an apology tart." Deuce sighed as he stood up while dusting off his pant legs.

He turned and held out his hand for Marie. The girl bit her lip as she accepted the help, now feeling guilty about how rude she had been to him a minute ago. Suddenly the sound of a loud bell echoed through the air. Marie's eyes widened in pain and looking at Deuce she could see he was panicked as well. That was the warning bell.

"We're gonna be late for class!" Deuce exclaimed.

Grim yelped as he immediately started darting for the mirror. "Fnyeh! I can't let my beautiful school life be tarnished on day one."

Deuce had quickly entered a sprint as well, unintentionally pulling Marie along as their hands were still intertwined. Hot on her heels was Ace, who grabbed ahold of a free hand in order to keep up. They could only hope they would make it in time, lest they suffer the teacher's wrath.