Twisted Wonderland: The Rose Red Tyrant
Author's Note: Here is Book 1: The Rose Red Tyrant. This will have some parts left out and others that are completely unique and not apart of the official story in the game. I will do my best to not make it a carbon of the story and hope you enjoy the story. Thanks to anyone who reads this story.
Disclaimer: Despite having the game on my phone, and willingly putting well over hundreds of dollars into the game, I don't own Twisted Wonderland. I only own Aster and whatever O.C's that might appear.
Summary:
Grim and Aster are set to begin their very first day as students of Night Raven Academy. However, before their first day can even begin, they get a late night visitor. It's Ace, who's upset and claims to be leaving Heartslabyul for good after an unfortunate incident between him and the dorm's Housewarden: Riddle Rosehearts.
There's discord in the Queen of Hearts dorm and tensions are rising as the traditional un-birthday party draws closer. With members of the dorm breaking rules intentionally or not, punishments are being handed out more frequently by Riddle and fear and stress are building in everyone in the dorm.
If that wasn't enough for Aster, he's having strange dreams and visions that are confusing and familiar. He'll need to pay attention to the signs that are appearing around him, because they're telling him something even if he isn't sure what. But he does know this much: They're running out of time.
Will they be able to prevent the worst from happening? Or will a soul be too far lost to loneliness to be saved?
Chapter One:
'Aster looked around as his body moved through a maze-like garden on its own. The walls were made up of hedges trimmed smoothly with multiple arches that were topped with heart shaped shrubbery. The hedge maze was rather fetching and well maintained. He tilted his head when he arrived in a clearing full of heart shaped rose trees. Most had white roses, but what really caught his attention though was the Ace of Clubs that was painting the roses red. "Hurry! Paint the roses red!" he called as a two of clubs soon joined him at that tree.
"Quickly as a fore said!"
"Hurry, hurry! There are still roses left to paint!"
Aster blinked. 'They're painting... roses?' he wondered in confusion. That was when a little blonde girl in a pale blue apron dress appeared. The apron was a stark white contrast that matched with the dress perfectly. Somehow, someway, Aster knew that this little girl's name was Alice.
"Why are you painting these white roses red?" Alice asked with childish curiosity. The Ace and Two of Clubs stopped to look at Alice like she was crazy for asking.
"We planted the wrong color, you see." The two explained.
"The Queen likes her roses red. If they're white, we'll lose our heads!" the ace continued.
Aster's brows furrowed in thought. Why was that phrase niggling at him? He and Alice continued to traverse the clearing as they looked at several trees in different stages of completion. They stopped next to a tree where a three of clubs was on a ladder to reach higher in the trees.
"And so, we're painting the roses red." the three finished the explanation. Aster felt his head spin as the scene faded to darkness.'
"Ugh, where am I?" he muttered opening his eyes to the ceiling of his and Grim's dorm room. He blinked the sleep from his eyes, wondering what exactly had woken him. Then he heard the knock on their front door.
Grim stirred awake and let out a yawn. "It's the middle of the night." Grim complained, looking and seeing darkness out their second story window. "Why do we have visitor this late? Is it those pesky ghosts again?" Grim wondered tiredly.
"No, they promised to let us sleep for classes." Aster replied before climbing out of bed to get to the bottom of the situation. He was grateful that Grim followed along with him.
Aster looked at the front door and tried to peer through the door windows without out getting too close. Of course, it was futile, and Aster decided that instead, the windows on the doors would be his next task. "Who is it?" He called cautiously.
"It's me, Ace! Just let me in, all right?" the voice called. Aster and Grim shared a look before Aster pulled open the door- a little more force was necessary because it sometimes got stuck.
"Ace? It's the middle of the night!" Grim called before letting out a yowl and darting back when Ace stepped into the worn-down foyer. "That collar!" And sure enough, that collar that was put on Grim at orientation was snapped snugly around Ace's neck.
"I can't go back to Heartslabyul House. I'm joining your dorm. For good." the angry and tired teen growled.
"Come again?!" Grim asked in disbelief. Aster was a bit taken aback himself, though he figured the other boy was just upset. He sighed and motioned the ginger to come in and led them to the lounge after shouldering the door closed. It was much cleaner than when he had first arrived, but there was still some thick dust and broken furniture in places. He had the duo sit on the couch which was the cleanest piece of furniture in the room. "I'd recognize that collar anywhere." Grim grumbled, staying on the opposite side of the couch. Like he thought the collar was a contagious disease or something.
"Considering you've worn it I would hope so." Aster replied. "So, what did you do to get landed with it?" Aster asked curiously. Ace grumbled his answer, which was unintelligible. Aster raised a dark brow. "Want to try that again Ace? With less gritted teeth this time." Aster suggested.
"I ate a tart!" Ace said, much clearer this time. Silence.
Aster blinked dumbly at the ginger. "I'm sorry? Did you say you 'ate a tart'?"
"Yes! That's all I did!" Ace cried, his frustration and upset at the whole thing bursting out of him. "I was a little hungry since I missed dinner due to the whole fiasco at the mines, so I went down to the kitchen and found some tarts in the fridge. Three whole tarts! Big ones too!" he added. "So I took a tiny little slice and was eating it at the counter. And let me tell you, it was like I was in pastry paradise!" Ace told the two with sparkling eyes. "And I guess I was saying that out loud. Because the next thing I know, a voice behind me speaks up:
'Of course they're good. Trey made them. His tarts are always exceptional.'
And I was too distracted and replied that he could sell them before realizing it was the Housewarden.
'That you would think to touch something of MINE... Well, I'm impressed with your audacity, at least. But the Queen of Hearts's rule 89 is quite clear. "Never eat a tart without the Queen's permission." The theft of tarts is a serious crime! Off With Your Head!"' And... here I am." Ace finished recounting the tale to the two Ramshackle Students.
Silence fell over them for a long moment. "So... The point is that you're both terrible?" Grim asked impassively, though Aster and Ace could both tell the dire beast was harshly judging Ace's actions.
Ace, predictably, got upset at the impassivity. "Don't you think it's insane for me to get my magic sealed away for eating one tiny slice of tart? It's like having my legs and arms shackled!" Ace cried, turning to Aster in hopes of a more sympathetic response than Grim's own. "And there were like, three whole tarts! THREE! It's not like he could have eaten them all by himself. You have to know this is messed up!" Ace pleaded.
Aster sighed. On one hand, yeah, that was a bit of an extreme reaction. On the other hand, what if the tarts were being saved for an important event or something? Also, he highly doubts that Ace apologized for eating it without permission. "I mean, I suppose it's a bit extreme." he decided on. Ace scowled at him.
"Come on, that's such a wishy-washy answer!" he cried.
"Well... yeah. But if there were three of them, they were probably for a party or something." Grim said, having had the same train of thought as Aster, who nodded in agreement. Grim grinned. "Maybe it was for a birthday party or something? Look at that! I'm, like, a master detective or something!" Grim exclaimed, obviously proud of himself as he grinned at Aster, his tail swinging excitedly. Aster chuckled at the action while Ace seemed thoughtful at the explanation.
"It would explain his reaction to the tarts being eaten." Aster pointed out before studying the ginger with eyes narrowed. "I mean, did you even apologize for eating the tart without permission.?" he asked.
Ace pouted as he sunk into the worn cushions a bit. "Man... I thought you'd be more sympathetic! I'm the victim of the house warden's tyranny here!" he exclaimed.
Aster snorted. "Hardly. Yes, it was extreme, I'll admit." Aster said, seeing Grim looking offended while Ace brightened. "However, you stole food that was clearly being saved for something rather than just making a quick sandwich or bowl of cereal. You had other options and chose the one that got you in trouble." he finished, much to Grim's approval and Ace's disappointment.
"Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Ace whined. Aster snorted at the ginger.
"Tomorrow, go and apologize. Maybe he'll forgive you." Aster suggested.
"You don't go messin' with another man's meal..." Grim stated, clearly offended by the act.
"Alright, alright. Fine. I get that I should apologize." Ace finally gave in before looking at Aster with a determined look in his eyes. "But you're coming with me Aster. This was your idea, after all." Aster chuckled and nodded.
"Fair enough."
"Anyway, you got a place for me to crash tonight?" Ace asked. Grim and Aster blinked.
"You were serious about that?" Grim asked, unimpressed with the ginger. "Outside the bedroom me and Aster use, this entire dump is buried under a foot of dust. So if you want to crash, you better start cleaning." Grim told him. Aster rolled his eyes.
"Dude, no way! I hate cleaning!" Ace said with a tired scowl at the cat.
"It's not that bad. We got a lot of it cleaned up pretty well. The lounge especially." Aster retorted to the cat.
Then Ace was smiling at him all charming like. "Just let me stay with you, Aster. I'm real slim and won't take up much space." Ace tried to convince the boy.
Grim gave an offended growl while Aster snorted. "Allow me to introduce you to the lounge sofa." he said with a smirk.
"Tch. You're about as flexible as a brick." Ace grumbled.
"How would you know how flexible I am?" Aster asked with a raised brow.
"Well, fine. The sofa it is. Night!" Ace said, looking away. Aster gave a soft laugh at the boy's behavior before grabbing a clean cover and extra pillow for him. Then he and Grim made their way to the stairs after calling a good night back to him. If Aster was in luck, he'd get a few more hours of sleep.
-The Rose Red Tyrant-
The trio had a loud awakening the next morning as more pounding on the door sounded throughout the dorm, waking all three with a groan. "Dude... Who is pounding on the door at this hour?" Aster heard Ace groan loudly, even up a floor.
Aster sighed, calling out "You don't have room to talk Ace!" as he forced himself from his and Grim's bed. "Answer it please!"
More hammering on the door finally got Ace up and moving. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" Ace cried, moving to the front door. He pulled open the front door with a grunt. 'How did Aster open that so easily last night?' Ace wondered, before his attention landed on none other than Deuce in the doorway.
"I figured I'd find you here." the bluenette said, seeing the collared ginger. Ace scowled at the sight of him. "So, you ate the housewarden's tart. You really are an idiot, Ace." Deuce shook his head.
"Oh, shut up! Like you're one to talk!" Ace scowled before he crossed his arms. "So, um... is he still mad?" Ace asked.
"Not at all. Maybe a touch irritated, if anything. A few of our dorm mates overslept, but only three got the same treatment as you." Deuce answered. Ace looked at the other boy in disbelief.
"You call that 'not at all' mad?! Sounds like he's still on a rampage, to me." Ace cried.
Aster shook his head at the squabbling, shooing Grim out of the room so he could get dressed in the school uniform the Head Mage had provided him. It was much like Ace and Deuce's own uniform- including the black jacket with gold trim. The biggest difference was his vest was a slate blue with gold trim and buttons while Ace and Deuce's were red with gold trim and buttons. His pants were also black but had two gold bands circling around the right thigh two inches apart rather than a single one going down the leg. His dorm arm band matched the white and black stripes of Grim's bow. The golden ornament fixated in the center was the school's emblem- a raven in the center of a mirror with a magic pen in each talon and seven stars in a line right above the raven's head- rather than the emblem of the other dorms. He also had a partial black glove for his left hand and a black and white tie. Finally, his ghost camera was secured around his waist for easy access, but not getting in the way.
He nodded at his reflection after putting his hair into a loose braid, grabbing the school bag with a basic kit of school supplies, and joined his friends down in the lounge, Ace also in a new uniform. "Let's go." Aster said, excited about the classes ahead of him. The others nodded and they headed out.
The walk to the school was peaceful, though full of teasing from Grim to Ace for his collar. "Did my collar catch your eye?" Grim asked with a smirk at the ginger boy. "It's way better than the once you're stuck with. You know, the one that makes it so you can't use magic?" Grim taunted. "But hey, the school could always use another janitor!" Grim started to cackle. Aster chose to stay out of it as Ace growled at the cat.
"Trust me Grim, when I get my magic back, your hide is first up on the chopping block!" Ace glowered with annoyance and embarrassment.
"Didn't the head mage just tell you yesterday, no more incidents?" Deuce asked with a disbelieving sigh. "Regardless, you're not going to be able to participate in class if you can't use magic. So why not just apologize to the house warden? It's a small price to pay for having the collar removed." Deuce suggested.
Ace let out a groan. "I hate this so! So! Much!" the ginger cried, grabbing his hair in annoyance.
"Hmm. Ya know, we do still have some time to kill before class starts. And I am kinda curious about the other dorms." Grim said, looking at Aster subconsciously for agreement. Aster nodded, quite curious about them himself. "Guess I'll go along and scope the place while you make with the groveling." Grim snickered.
Ace huffed and glared at the cat beast. "Since when did this become a field trip?!" he grumbled. But the group of four began to make their way to the Hall of Mirrors anyways. Aster studied the entrance to Heartslabyul as they made their way to it. The entry mirror was surrounded by gray stone playing cards- each of the suits on display- and roses, with the dorm's emblem at the top with two spears crisscrossed over the emblem. On the slight step leading up to it were mushrooms and a red wicker like light on either side. He and Grim followed the other two into the mirror. Aster gasped when he saw what was on the other side.
It resembled a modest castle or large manor of red and white with a stone pathway leading up to the entrance, rose shaped trees lining the pathway and a heart shaped fountain in the center. "Dang, this place is swank!" Grim cried out. "This is nothing like our dumpster of a dorm." Aster could admit the place looked nice, but he also took offense to their dorm being called a dumpster!
"Our dorm is a work in progress!" Aster defended with a huff. This just made the others laugh at him, which caused him to pout just a bit more before shoving Ace and Deuce forward to continue leading the way to where they needed to go. He wasn't expecting a rose maze though. As they walked, he looked around and noted that several paint cans were scattered throughout the maze and- he blinked. 'Is that... red paint on white roses?' he wondered. His mind whirled as they heard a voice nearby. They followed it and the more they heard, the more Aster felt a sense of Deja vu.
They found the source to be a tall boy with orange hair and green eyes. Under his right eye was a red diamond marking and he too wore a school uniform. "They all gotta be red, or it's 'off with my head'!" the older boy was singing. Aster stumbled as a fleeting scene of cards doing the same went through his mind.
"I've seen this before..." he muttered, shaking the dizziness from his head, much to the concern of his friends. At his words, the orange haired boy looked over at them, noticing them.
"Huh...? You guys need something?" he asked with a smile.
"What are you doing?" Ace asked as they watched the older boy approach them.
The boy couldn't help his snicker. "I'm painting the roses red, duh." he answered, which surprised Ace and Deuce.
"What? Why?" Deuce asked. The other boy laughed merrily.
"So naive, you put the 'n' in newb." he told them with a smile. Then his green eyes began to take them in. "Hold the phone, I know you! You're the ones who broke a billion- thaumark chandelier and nearly got expelled for it, yeah?" he asked, really studying the group of freshmen.
Ace and Deuce groaned. "That chandelier is going to haunt us until the day we graduate, isn't it?" Ace asked rhetorically. The boy grinned even brighter.
"And you! You're the one who ate the housewarden's tart that same night! You guys are the hot topic around campus! I've gotta get in on this fleeting fame." he grinned, approaching them. Aster decided to slide away as Ace and Deuce suddenly found themselves right close to the older boy. "I'm just gonna grab a selfie really quick..." The bright flash startled and blinded the two Heartslabyul freshmen. The boy grinned at them. "It's cool if I post this on Magicam, right?" he asked, the two boys nodding as they got the spots out of their eyes. "Gimme your names so I can tag you." he told them.
"I'm Deuce Spade." Deuce said while Ace scowled at the older boy.
"Ace." Grim decided the older boy meant Aster and himself as well and introduced the two of them.
"I'm Grim, and that's my henchman, Aster." Grim said. Aster raised a brow at the dire beast's words.
"I certainly am not anyone's hench anything." Aster smiled sweetly at the other who let out a timid 'eep' and darted behind Ace.
"Uploaded! Sweet." the boy said smiling at them as he put his phone away. It was then that he realized he had yet to introduce himself. "Oh, I'm Cater Diamond, by the way. I'm a junior here at Heartslabyul. But Cater is fine. Or Cay-Cay if you're cray-cray." he said with a wink. "So, nice to meetcha."
"It's a pleasure." Aster said, smiling at the bubbly boy. Cater looked at him.
"Ah, you're the prefect of that so-called Ramshackle House dorm, right?" He asked. Aster sent a glance at the only two who could have possibly spread that information, not surprised to see the duo avoiding his eyes. He sighed before turning back to Cater and nodding. "Like, I can't believe you actually live there!" Cater said, sounding impressed for some reason. "It's all gloomy and looks like hot garbage on Magicam. No filter could salvage that dump." he said cheerfully, Aster's brow twitched and Grim was annoyed himself.
"Y'know, you've done nothin' but dis us here, pal!" Grim growled. Cater suddenly paled.
"What am I doing? I don't have time to chat! The party's tomorrow. If we're not ready, it's 'off with my head'!" Cater stopped his semi-panicking and looked at the four freshmen with a slightly predatory look in his eyes. "Hey, you kids want to help me paint some roses?" Cater asked sweetly. They blinked at the boy.
"Yeah, uh... Why are you doing that exactly?" Ace asked confused.
"Because red roses are so much more photogenic! Or... something...?" Cater said, not sounding very sure at the end there. "And after that, I've gotta start getting things ready for the big croquet tournament. And that means coloring all the flamingos." Cater let out the sigh of someone with too much to do and not enough time to do it all.
Grim looked at Cater with disbelieving eyes. "You're colorin' flamingos now? Isn't anything the right color around here?!"
Deuce nodded. "Now it's coming into focus, Ace. That tart you ate must have been for the housewarden's birthday." Deuce told the ginger. "That explains his reaction." Deuce sighed at his friend- not that he would ever say that out loud, mind you.
"Already figured that out." Grim told the boy smugly.
Cater blinked before smiling at the naive freshmen. "Oh, it's not Riddle's birthday." he told them.
"It's not? Then who's is it?" Ace asked.
"It isn't anyone's birthday. Tomorrow is our dorm's traditional un-birthday party." Cater explained. "It's a special tea party we throw when no one has a birthday- if the house warden feels like it."
"But why would you do that?" Ace asked, as it wasn't making any sense to him.
"Again, with the questions!" Cater said in amusement. "Listen, I need these roses to be red, like yesterday. Can't you guys help out with magic or something?" He asked before focusing his eyes on Ace and Aster. "Ah, but Ace is on magical house arrest and Aster is a total normie. So you two had better stick to paint." he said.
Aster sighed. "At least he didn't say freak." He muttered, before trying to figure out why that had been his first response. He shrugged it off, oh well. He was more interested in painting roses.
"Recolor the roses with magic..." Deuce trailed off, like that thought hadn't occurred to him before.
"Can't say I've ever done this before." Grim dead panned, somehow knowing he was going to be helping as he watched Aster and Ace collect paint cans and brushes.
"Relax, it'll be fine. You got this!" He encouraged. "Thanks!" It turned out that painting the roses red- even without magic- turned out to be an interesting experience. To Aster at least. Ace was very much not a fan and didn't get nearly half as many as Aster had. What could Aster say, it was a fun new experience. Time passed quickly and soon they were on the final bush. Deuce was trying to picture a red rose in his head as Cater had explained. Only, it came out blue.
"Blue?!" Deuce cried. He had been doing so well too. Grim wasn't do better either.
"Change, oh foul color! Change!" Grim ordered, only to set the rose on fire. It took a frantic, few minutes to fix the colors and put out the fire.
Cater gave a sigh. "Wow. You're even less competent than I thought." Cater told the two with magic and Ace. Aster, after all, had been a huge help.
"Maybe you should just leave the roses white! They look perfectly pretty 'n stuff to me." Ace grumbled to their upper dorm mate.
"It's a matter of tradition." Cater explained for the freshmen. "You can't have an un-birthday party without the roses being red. And you can't play croquet without seven-colored flamingos as mallets and a hedgehog for a ball. Oh, but of course, the roses need to be white when the garden flowers put on their spring concert. That's absolutely crucial." Cater explained.
Aster tilted his head. 'That sounds very familiar.' Aster thought. 'But from where?'
"All your rules are completely insane." Grim said.
"They say the Queen of Hearts made up these rules herself- she was one of the Great Seven, you know." he told them, making the four nod. "And Riddle is all about tradition. Probably more than previous house wardens, T-B-H. I'll admit he's, well... a bit extreme." Cater admitted with a sigh.
"Yeah, no kidding. I sure don't have time for this nonsense. Is Riddle here? I gotta talk to him." Ace said, tired of being there.
"Probably." Cater said. "But are you sure that's wise?" he asked. "I mean, did you even bring an apology tart to make up for the one you ate?" Cater asked. Aster sighed. He had a pretty good idea where this was going. And while he doubted Cater would actually hurt any of them, he certainly hadn't been expecting a repeat of yesterday, only with an older student rather than three mischievous ghosts.
"Uh, no...? I came here first thing this morning." Ace answered, not quite following like Aster was.
Cater gave a regretful sigh. "That could be a problem." he admitted. "Have you forgotten rule 53? 'Stolen items must be replaced.' If you're not in compliance, I can't let you in." Cater told the ginger.
"Are you serious?!" Ace cried.
Cater smiled. "All dorm residents must obey the rules. If I let you slide, it would be off with my head next." Cater explained. "I hate to say it, Ace, but I'm gonna need you to skedaddle before Riddle spots you. Thanks." Cater waved at them, magic pen in hand.
Aster sighed and began to do a couple light stretches. "I... think this guy's is for real. You guys, do something!" Ace cried to Deuce and Grim.
Deuce scowled. "Why should we do anything?" he asked.
"C'mon, please! I can't use magic and he's-" Ace began, only to be interrupted when Aster tackled him out of the way of a floral vine. Aster could tell that the spells Cater was using were low level and wouldn't do any real damage. So he held back for the most part, watching from the side lines and only giving advice here and there, or letting them know when to dodge. As the spar- that's really all it was- progressed, Aster could tell that something was off with Cater. Despite every hit he took from Deuce or Grim, there was no outward proof of the hits landing, almost like he was either constantly healing them off or something else... Aster wasn't sure what it was, but still looked around every time it happened. He felt like he needed to look for something but wasn't quite sure what. Either way, the whole incident was interesting none the less.
Cater himself had noticed how Ace kept Aster behind him while the prefect would send guidance to Deuce and Grim every now and then that wasn't questioned. He was curious about it and had at one point decided to replace himself with one of his copies. It was interesting to note that Aster had begun looking for the real him after that before focusing once more on what was in front of them. How intriguing. Ultimately, upon realizing that the freshmen were probably going to be late at this rate, he swiftly sent a wider spread floral attack at Aster and Ace, both who had barely dodged it and thus ending the spar.
By this point the group had found themselves at the entrance of the rose maze they had wandered into. "Don't forget the tart next time. Bye-bye!" He called once he had them out of the maze. He couldn't wait to tell Trey about the interesting first year.
-The Rose Red Tyrant-
"Was that guy for real?" Ace fumed.
"We hit him over and over, but he kept springing back." Deuce said. "Was he using some sort of illusion magic?"
"I think so. There were a few moments there where the magic around him shifted. Nothing changed that I could tell from his appearance or yours. So I don't really know what it was." Aster agreed.
Ace was still hung up on the incident beforehand around the rules. "So let me get this straight: We walked in there totally tart-less and that dude still made us do this whole song and dance before kicking us out! He just wanted us to paint his stupid roses for him!"
"We sure looked like a bunch of chumps." Grim grumbled in agreement. Aster shook his head.
"I, personally, had fun. It was enjoyable. And I got to see more magic that wasn't entirely out of control or going to burn me to a crisp." Aster said.
"We'll just have to get an apology tart and come back. Maybe after class- oh no!" Deuce and Aster cried out in alarm, startling their friends.
"What is it?" Ace and Grim cried.
"We've missed first bell! We're going to be late for our first class!" Deuce exclaimed.
"Me-what!? I can't have a blemish on my record on my first day as a student!" Grim cried in alarm. "We gotta get to the classroom quick!"
"You're freshmen too, right?" Ace asked as they ran. "What class are you in?"
"The head mage said we were in Class 1-A." Grim replied.
"Hey, that's the same one we're in." Deuce said with a grin. "We have potionology first period."
"Oh yeah! That sounds awesome!" Grim said excitedly.
"M-Maybe I don't need magic for that one." Ace muttered. Aster gave the boy a soft smile and patted his shoulder in condolence.