A Familiar Scene

The group had separated with Lilia once they had entered the Hall of Mirrors. Silver had decided to join his brother and together, the five of them entered the Mirror Gate to Heartslabyul. "You know, I've never entered Heartslabyul before." Silver admitted, some curiosity in his voice.

"Really? But you've been here for a year. You've never just popped into another dorm to look at it?" Yuukio asked in surprise.

Silver snorted. "You were the one with the habit of exploring new places, not me. And you got us into enough trouble with that habit. Poor Sebek."

"That was one time!" Yuukio said with a pout.

"One time a week maybe." Silver snickered.

Ace and Deuce watched the interaction between the twins with some amusement. Ace marveled at how siblings could be so close, even if they were twins. He already admired his older brother, but he's certain they hadn't ever been as close as Yuukio and Silver seemed to be. Which made him want to wince at the remembrance of their five-year separation.

Deuce, who had no siblings of his own couldn't help but watch the two of them with fascination. To see how they interacted, one could almost believe they hadn't been separated for five years. He couldn't imagine being separated from his mother for that long, let alone a twin.

Grim let out a surprised sound as he took in the Heartslabyul dorm. "Dang. This place is swank!" He cried. Yuukio and Silver stopped their arguing to look around. "It's nothing like our dorm... Yuukio we have to outdo this place for sure!" Grim told the white-haired boy who nodded absentmindedly as he took in the beautiful red castle with white and gold accents and heart motifs. The area was full of maze gardens, triggering something in Yuukio's mind.

"Huh. I know that each dorm is its own pocket dimension, but this is... Wow. The atmosphere is completely different from Diasomnia." Silver said.

"Really? How?" Deuce asked curiously.

"Well, Diasomnia is much less... colorful and bright. Our dorm is on a barren cliffside with the whole thing surrounded by briar thorns. It's usually dark and cloudy."

"Can't you just have the area brightened up?" Ace asked curiously.

Silver shook his head. "No. There's quite a few nocturnal Faye in our dorm, and they're negatively affected by harsh sunlight." Silver explained.

"Huh. I wonder if any of that will come up in our lessons." Deuce said with interest.

"Probably in History at some point. The Faye is a long-lived race and that usually means that they've see their fair share of wars and prosperous times. You might even recognize some of the figures from the History books." Yuukio said with a teasing grin on his face, indicating that he would not be elaborating on it anytime soon.

The group wound up in one of the many hedge mazes when they heard cheerful singing. "Aww yeah! Getting my paint on. I've gotta paint the roses red, or it's 'Off with my head'." The singer was a fair skinned taller boy with orange hair, bright green eyes, and a red diamond marking under his left eye. And he was in fact painting white roses red. Paint was somehow splattered around what is most definitely a normally immaculate lawn despite the painting being done with magic.

Yuukio stumbled to a halt, running into his twin who looked at him in concern when Yuukio's eyes glazed over and his grip on Silver's arm tightened to a bruising degree. "Yuukio?" Silver asked softly, worried. Ace, Deuce, and Grim were right there with him as they all watched the unresponsive boy worriedly.

But Yuukio didn't take notice of them as the scene of card like soldiers painting white roses red and singing something quite similar played through his head. He shook his head, releasing the tight grip he had had on Silver's arm. He groaned at the headache. That was... that was new. He blinked and glanced up at four sets of worried eyes. "Um. Sorry. I'm fine really. Just a sense of Deja vu." He assured them. It wasn't working but at that moment the orange haired boy noticed them.

"Oh hey! You guys need something?" The boy asked, getting their attention off of Yuukio, who was still a little bit pale from the unexpected recollection.

"What are you doing?" Ace asked first.

"Duh! I'm painting roses."

"But why?" Deuce asked in shock.

The boy laughed. "So naïve, you put the 'n' in newb." He stopped as he studied the two Heartslabyul students, as Yuukio and Silver stood more behind the duo with Grim on Yuukio's shoulder. "Hold the phone, I know you! You're the ones who broke a billion-thaumark chandelier and nearly got expelled for it, yeah?" The boy asked.

"That chandelier is going to haunt us until we graduate, isn't it?" Ace asked rhetorically while Deuce just blushed ashamed.

"And you!" the boy pointed at Ace. "You're the one who ate the housewarden's tart that same night! You guys arethehot topic around campus! I've gotta get in on this fleeting fame. I'm just gonna grab a selfie really quick..." The boy did so, surprising all of them with how quickly he had managed to snap a selfie with all five of them included, despite Yuukio and Silver being further back. They could all clearly see their startled faces in the photo. "It's cool if I post this on Magicam, right? Gimme your names so I can tag you." The boy said.

"Deuce Spade." Deuce answered, blinking his eyes from the flash.

"Ace." Ace grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm Grim and this is my master Yuukio and his twin brother Silver." Grim replied, also rubbing at his eyes, unprepared for the flash they had received.

"Oh! Lilia mentions both of you all the time to me and Kalim in the Pop Music Club. I was wondering about you." The boy said to Yuukio.

"Good for you. What's Magicam?" Yuukio grumbled.

"Right, you left before we got our phones." Silver realized before taking out a sleek silver phone with a Diasomnia motif along with several forest animal motifs. "It's a social network thing. You can take pictures, post story or life updates, and share them with others when you've uploaded them." He explained, walking Yuukio through his, admittedly slight gallery on the network. "I'll inform father that you need a phone so you're not completely without any way of getting in touch with us."

"But-"

"No. Father even got Sebek and Malleus phones. You're getting a phone, and our numbers will be the first ones in it." Silver didn't allow anymore argument from his younger twin who pouted but gave in. Silver allowed the other to step away before he went through the family group chat, sending their father a message about Yuukio needing a phone- which got an immediate and affirmative response back.

Then he found the photo of him and Yuukio sleeping that their father had taken that morning and shared in the family chat. He was not surprised by Sebek's immediate rebutting and reprimanding, considering what he had been supposed to do. Malleus had even managed a reply about how something's never changed. He decided to make that photo his save screen. His home screen was a photo of all of them and their Uncle Baur a year before Yuukio had left.

"Uploaded! Sweet!" The boy said before giving them all a bright sparkling smile. "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! So, nice to meetcha!" He greeted them.

"It's a pleasure." Yuukio said for their group. Cater looked Yuukio up and down.

"Aren't you the prefect of Ramshackle Dorm or whatever it's being called?" He asked. Yuukio sent the Ace and Deuce duo a look.

"Oh you know. Perhaps. I wonder how news spread so quickly." The duo whistled and looked away.

"Wow. Like I can't believe the head mage actually put you there. That place looks like hot garbage on Magicam and no filter could make it salvageable." Cater admitted.

Yuukio glanced at him. "Maybe you weren't looking at it in the right light? Most places that have been neglected for decades look better and more ambient during the darker hours." Yuukio stepped in front of the boy with a small smile. "That's also when the best part of its charm is most notable."

"Maybe I'll give it a shot." Cater replied with thought.

"Why are you painting the roses?" Silver asked curiously.

"Ah! What am I doing? I don't have time to stand around chatting. The party's tomorrow and these needed to be painted like, yesterday!" Cater cried. Then froze as he looked at the five before him. Suddenly he got a devious grin on his face.

"How would you all like to paint some roses for me?"

"What?"

"It won't be hard and I could really use the help. It'll be fun even." Cater pleaded.

"But why?" Ace asked, still not getting the reason for why they were being painted.

"Because red roses are more photogenic, or something. Then I still have to get things ready for the croquet tournament." Cater sighed. "Which means coloring all of the flamingos."

"Is anything in this place the right color?" Grim asked.

"So you must have eaten a tart meant for the Housewarden's birthday party Ace." Deuce told the ginger who seemed to blush harder in shame.

"Oh it's not Riddle's birthday tomorrow. It's the traditional Unbirthday Party the dorm throws when it's no one's birthday. You know, if the housewarden feels like it." Cater explained.

"Now, about these roses?" He asked with gleaming green eyes.

"Yeah I'll help." Yuukio said. "Hand me one of those paint buckets." The boy said stepping forward, thus the others ended up joining.

"Sorry Ace. It's the hard way for you too." Yuukio grinned, pawning off one of the buckets of paint and a brush.

"I've done color changing before so it won't be difficult. But this will be a good learning opportunity for you two." Silver told Deuce and Grim who nodded determinedly.

"Aw man! Fine!" Ace grumbled as the group began to paint the roses. As Silver had said, changing the colors of the roses to red was not an issue for him. It came with his experience using his magic.

Ace struggled at first without magic, but with some instructions from his non-magical companion, he got by. Yuukio himself was doing an exceptional job. "It's like you've done this before." Cater congratulated the boy who smiled in reply.

As for Deuce and Grim... Well they were trying. That was what mattered, right? "Make it red. Imagine the roses being red." Deuce said to himself, trying to follow Cater and Silver's suggestions. Then Grim was in front of him just before he cast the spell, and unfortunately what Deuce had noticed were the dire cat's blue flames. "Blue?!" Deuce squeaked.

"Aw, I didn't realize you found me so inspirational. It's not a surprise, I am an inspiring being. But it's flattering none the less." Grim said with a smirk. Only to accidentally set his group of roses on fire.

"That's why you focus Grim." Yuukio sighed as Silver put the fires out. "And Deuce, just imagine the roses as the same color as Ace's eyes." Yuukio whispered that part to the bluenet, getting a fierce red blush over his face in return for his advice. Yuukio snickered and ducked away. It did work though. Those were some beautiful red roses.

"And we're done. You did pretty decently all things considered." Cater told the freshmen and the single sophomore.

"Why didn't you just keep them white? They're pretty enough to me." Ace grumbled, dropping the paint can with relief.

"It's tradition." Cater explained with a shrug. "You can't have an unbirthday 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."

"Those rules sound insane." Grim complained.

"Those rules were made by the Queen of Hearts herself. And as a dorm based on such strictness, we adhere to them." Cater explained to the younger students. "Of course, the Housewarden determines just how closely we follow these rules. And Riddle is all about tradition."

"You're telling me." Ace grumbled. "By the way, where is the housewarden? I gotta talk to him."

"Hm." Cater looked at the time and almost winced. These kids were going to be late for their first class of the day. He'd need to get them out of here fast if they wanted to be on time. "He's probably at the dorm getting stragglers up and about. But are you sure it's a good idea to go talk to him now?" Cater asked with a raised brow.

"I mean, did you even bring an apology tart to make up for the one you ate?" He asked.

"Um, no? I came here first thing this morning." Ace admitted.

"Ah. That could be a problem." Cater sighed, reluctant to continue. "Have you forgotten Rule 53? 'Stolen items must be replaced.' If you're not in compliance, I can't let you in."

"Are you serious?!" Ace cried.

Yuukio put a hand on his shoulder. "We figured this could be the case, remember? We should retreat for now and figure things out." He soothed the ginger who sighed and nodded.

"Fine." It seemed Deuce and Cater both hadn't expected such an easy acceptance.

"Well, I suggest we leave now. Classes begin in ten minutes." Silver told the freshmen who seemed startled by that.

"What?"

"Bye-bye." Cater called after the retreating forms. He shook his head. He had been worried about how hardheaded Ace could be from what he had seen during the ceremony. Here was to hoping things would get by peacefully.