CHAPTER 4: TO THE RESCUE

It started out as an ordinary day… well, for Ace Trappola anyway.

After classes, he and the other Heartslabyuls were in their dorm doing (what else?) preparations for the next unbirthday party.

"Remember, make sure the petals are evenly-colored," Riddle called out to the students on rose duty. "I won't tolerate a single white petal!" He nodded in satisfaction and went to check up on the hedgehogs and flamingos.

"You know," Deuce admitted quietly, "I'm really starting to hate those card soldiers who planted white roses by mistake all those years ago. If it wasn't for their mistake, we wouldn't be planting white roses just to paint them red over and over."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ace huffed. At least he was getting better with color-changing magic, so the chore wasn't as bad as painting the flowers by hand. "A few clumsy soldiers make one mistake, and every generation after them has to pay for it with this extra chore. All the Heartslabyul traditions feel like punishments by now."

Every day was the same around here. Ace wished that something interesting would happen to shake things up.

Unfortunately for Ace, he got his wish in the worst possible way.

He heard a distant rippling noise; someone had entered the gateway connecting Heartslabyul to the Hall of Mirrors. But the rippling kept going. It sounded as if a large group was coming in instead of just one person.

A black-armored soldier literally burst through the hedge walls, not bothering to go through the maze. A horde of identical figures followed suit, and they all ran past the flower-painters to get to the heart of the labyrinth.

"Whoa!" Ace was in the middle of casting, but the shock gave his rose blue polka-dots.

"Hey, who are you guys?!" Deuce demanded.

The other students on rose-painting duty were too intimidated to move, so Ace and Deuce ran forward to where the army was. They heard shouting and felt the crackle of magic in the air. When they reached the center, they could see Riddle, Cater, and Trey fighting the army of skull-faced soldiers. The mages' attacks, while strong, didn't have any effect on the army.

"Subject A," said one of the guards. "If you don't surrender to us, we'll have to use more force."

"I don't know who you are, but you're not authorized here," Riddle claimed. "Leave at once!"

"Seriously, these guys are OP," Cater said through gritted teeth. "Everything we got just bounces off of them!"

"This won't bounce off them," Deuce said. "Cauldron, go!"

A cauldron was summoned over one of the soldier's heads, and it nearly took him by surprise. He barely dodged the attack, and the cauldron scraped against his armor. In the same second, he aimed his staff at Ace and Deuce, and the two were hit with a technomatic force. Their limbs suddenly felt stiff, and they crumpled to the ground. It reminded Ace of when Vil had paralyzed him for eating candy during the VDC training camp.

"Ace! Deuce!" Riddle cried in horror.

More footsteps came from behind; more Heartslabyul students had found their courage and came to help.

The soldiers aimed their staffs at the other students, and with the same movement, a pulse of technomatic energy swept through the crowd. The Heartslabyuls collapsed in the same way.

"NO!" Trey called out.

"How—?!" Cater was nearly too shocked to speak.

"STOP!" Riddle shouted. "Please, stop! If you leave my card soldiers alone, I… I'll go with you."

"Riddle, you don't know who these people are or what they'll do to you!" Cater reasoned.

"I know, but we don't have a choice," Riddle said. "Trey… I'm leaving you in charge of Heartslabyul while I'm gone. Cater, be his vice. You two need to take care of this dorm."

"We will," Trey promised quietly. "We won't let this stand."

Riddle reluctantly stepped up to the soldiers and allowed himself to be handcuffed and taken away. The other students were still injured on the ground and had to be stepped over.

As soon as the soldiers were out of Heartslabyul, Ace and Deuce could feel their paralysis melting away. It seemed that they were attacked on the lowest setting just to get them out of the way.

What's this all about?! Ace thought frustratedly. Were these jerks part of the military or something? Why take Riddle away…? He could only think of one reason: Riddle's overblot. It had been months after the fact, and Riddle hadn't shown any signs of blot, but it didn't change the fact that overblotting was a big deal. And if Riddle was arrested for overblotting, then that meant that all the overblotters were likely being taken too! Leona, Azul, Jamil, Vil, Grim…

Jill…

"I'm reporting this to the faculty," Trey said. "Cater, you make sure our students are okay." And with that, the substitute housewarden turned and got on his phone.

"Got it. Split Card!" Cater separated into seven versions of himself, which all spread out to check up on the group.

"Hey, you two!" one of the Cater duplicates bent down to Ace and Deuce. "Can you hear me? You okay?"

"I've had worse," Deuce grunted, steadying himself onto his knees.

"What did those weirdoes want with Riddle?" Ace demanded.

"How should I know? They just beat us and then took him away!" the Cater said. "Those guys were all kinds of cray-cray!"

"We can't let them get away with this," Deuce said. He tried to stand, but the Cater pushed his back to force the freshman back down.

"No way, little mister. They just mopped the floor with us," the Cater reasoned. "Fighting them again won't change—"

"I can't just sit here!" Deuce said. "We need to go—"

"To the infirmary," Ace finished his sentence. "Our paralysis is wearing off, but we might be more injured than we know. So we need to go to the nurses, and tell them to come here for the other guys." He gave Deuce a meaningful look, and the spade-faced student seemed to get it.

Whenever something happened, they would usually talk to Jill for help. Best case scenario, she would still be at campus and able to help with finding Riddle. But the worst case scenario… no, Ace didn't want to think about that. It would break his bluff.

"That's a better idea," the Cater agreed. He looked at his copies, who were helping the other paralyzed students. "As a dupe, I can't be too far apart from the main Cay-Cay or I'll disappear. So we can recombine and help you to the infirmary—"

"No, you need to stay this way so you can spread out and help around the dorm," Ace argued. "This is just the damage we know about. We saw those guys charge through the maze—there could be other injured students around somewhere. Deuce and I can walk around, so we'll get the nurses."

The Cater clone frowned; Ace wasn't sure if he fell for the lie or not. But the situation was dire, and there wasn't much time to argue. "Okay," the Cater agreed. "Only if you're sure you can walk. And be careful! I don't think Heartslabyul was the only dorm that was attacked."

"Got it, thanks," Deuce said. "We'll be back soon."

The two left the maze and went through the gateway into the Hall of Mirrors.

Well, Heartslabyul was far from the only dorm that was affected. Students were panicking and swarming around the area, calling out and trying to find support. It seemed that Ace's concerns were right on the money.

"JAMIL!" Kalim called out in panic. "Has anyone seen him? Oh please, don't let them take him away…!"

"Hey, where did those weird guys take Azul?" Floyd asked irritably. "I didn't even get to fight!"

"Look, please get out of my way!" Jack cried, forcing his way through the crowd. "I gotta talk to the headmage! I need to know what Styx is!"

"Styx?" Ace asked. He and Deuce approached Jack. "Jack, do you know something about these guys?"

"Ace, Deuce?" Jack stopped in his tracks. "Don't tell me something happened to Riddle!"

"Yeah, these soldiers took him away and kicked all our butts," Deuce said angrily. "Did that happen to Leona?"

"Something like that," Jack explained quickly. "These intruders just burst into our dorm and well, Savanaclaws don't take that lying down. We fought tooth-and-nail, but these guys… they had these anti-magic weapons and armor! We couldn't touch them! Then Leona finally got up from his nap, and he froze like a deer in the headlights as soon as he saw them. Then he ordered us to stand down, put Ruggie in charge, and surrendered. I heard him call them 'Styx', but he didn't explain. Ruggie already left to send some nurses to Savanaclaw. I need to ask the headmage about this so I could maybe help!"

"Good idea," Ace said, then told the truth for once. "We wanted to see if Jill and Grim were unharmed."

"I almost forgot about those two," Jack realized. "They're not in the Hall of Mirrors, so maybe they're okay? I should help you check, though…"

Ace was tempted to take Jack's offer—he was usually a solid ally. But if Jill was taken or injured… well, Ace would definitely react in a way he couldn't hide. And he didn't want anyone to see him like that. Deuce was already with him, and he wouldn't be persuaded to leave. Best not to have another witness if Ace got emotional.

"No, Jack, you need to help find the headmage," Ace reasoned. "We need him more than ever. Deuce and I will check up on Hallowgrim and text you later."

"Alright, thanks. Keep in touch." And then Jack finally muscled his way through the crowd on the way to the main building.

"So what is the main plan?" Deuce whispered to Ace. "I thought we were going after Styx and lied about going to the infirmary—which by the way, I hate that we had to lie to Cater."

"We need to see Jill," Ace whispered back.

"You think she's hurt too?" Deuce asked. At this point, the two freshmen were heading left towards Hallowgrim dorm.

"Think. It's not just Riddle who was taken. Leona, Azul, and Jamil are also gone," Ace said. "What do they have in common?"

"Well, they're all housewardens, except for Jamil, but they all…" Deuce's blue eyes widened in horror. "Oh…"

"They all overblotted," Ace confirmed. "Meaning, Vil's probably gone too. Maybe Jill and Grim. And if that's true…" He didn't know how to finish his sentence.

"Oh, I get it," Deuce realized. "That's why you turned Jack away—so he wouldn't see you act concerned about Jill!"

"What?" Ace blushed. "Don't be dumb!"

Deuce smirked and was about to say something snarky when he suddenly stopped. Ace did too. The two were standing in front of Hallowgrim dorm… or rather, where it stood.

The pumpkin patch was destroyed, and there were several large holes in the building. Jill always maintained her dorm with pride, so there was no way she and Grim would've stood for this. Ace quickly pulled out his phone and tried to call Jill… only for the call to be dropped.

"She and Grim were taken too…" Deuce whispered in shock.

Ace's eyes felt misty, but he quickly rubbed them until they were dry. "They'll pay for this," he vowed.

"My, what raw emotion from both of you! It stirs my heart!" Rook's voice said.

Ace and Deuce jolted, then turned around to see Rook and Epel. The two had backpacks around their shoulders, and they were carrying their brooms.

"You two? What are you doing here?" Deuce demanded.

"What else? We're going after those black-armored hooligans!" Epel said. "No one breaks into our dorm, kidnaps our housewarden, and gets away with it!"

"Yes, it was a revolting event," Rook agreed. "Why, they didn't even let Vil take his skincare products with him! So I'm going to make sure Vil has the care he needs!" He smiled. "And if I could help free all of our lovely allies, that would make a beautiful story! So Epel and I are going. I left a note putting Myron Wallace in charge, so Pomefiore will be in good hands!"

"You're going after Styx…?" Ace asked. It was a possibility, of course, even if Ace didn't know how to beat them. But they had Riddle, and Grim, and Jill…

"You two can come along if you want," Epel offered. "We'll share our brooms with you. But you need to decide fast, okay?"

"We'll go," Ace said automatically.

"Yeah. Like you said, no one takes our housewarden and gets away with it," Deuce agreed, cracking his knuckles.

Suddenly, Philip the ghost appeared within the group, much to their shock.

"We couldn't save Jill or Grimmy…" he said quietly. "But we want to help, so…" He lifted two spare backpacks. "We filled these with provisions… for anyone who wanted to save them…"

"Thank you," Deuce said as and Ace accepted the provisions. "Don't worry, we'll bring Jill and Grim back!"

"Somehow," Ace echoed. But it wasn't the first time he was up against impossible odds, was he? Even if he was out of commission and Jill was left on her own devices, she would find a way to follow Styx and save the others. She wouldn't even think twice about it.

"Thank you, Monsieur Ghost," Rook said. "Your help won't be in vain. We're off!"

And so in the bedlam of Night Raven College, the four students shared two brooms and flew through the hole in the barrier.

Author's Note: I read TW transcripts as a base for dialogue and reactions during canon events. But since "King of Fright" was original, I just used my own memory to describe past events within the timeline. But I forgot that the English name for Book 5's event was SDC, not VDC. Whoops. I'll keep it, though.