Chapter Text
One night, Briar along with the girls are sleeping in their room as usual. And like before, Briar is suddenly starting to have one of her dreams. When she woke up in the dark abyss, she could hear someone singing.
Briar asks herself, "Is someone...singing?"
Just then, the dark abyss disappears and Briar finds herself in a room. Then a familiar mirror appears in the room.
"The Dark Mirror?! What's it doing here?" Briar asks herself.
Suddenly, Briar hears footsteps and turns to see a very beautiful woman walking towards the mirror. She is wearing a large purple outfit, almost like a dress or a robe. She is also wearing a crown with a white gem on top. From her attire, she looks like a queen, a rather beautiful queen.
She approaches the mirror and says, "Slave in the Magic Mirror, come from the farthest space." Then raises her arms up, "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"
Suddenly, the reflection changes and appearing in the mirror is a similar mask from the Dark Mirror, but the face seems lighter and it doesn't have the marking on the face.
Then the Magic Mirror says, "A lovely maid I see. Lips as red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin as white as snow."
The queen remains silent in shock, and quickly realizes who the lovely maid is, "...Snow White!"
"Snow White?" Briar says, confused.
She starts to wonder, who is this Snow White.
Suddenly, the scenery changes again. Now Briar finds herself in what seems to be a yard. She turns her head to see a young girl looking down the well. Briar notices the girl's appearance is that of a maid, but she looks very beautiful.
"Wow. she's beautiful," Briar says.
The young girl looks at the well and says, "This is a wishing well, as rumors tell. It's only fitting to make a wish. May I find joy in true love's kiss!"
Suddenly, a young man, who looks like a prince, appears before her, and startles her
The prince says, "Hello. Did I frighten you?"
The young girl then runs inside the building which is really a castle. The prince walks up the stairs where the young girl ran.
The Prince says, "Wait! Wait, please. Don't run away."
However, the young girl already runs inside.
Then the Prince says, "Now that I found you, hear what I have to say. I pour my heart into this song. My feelings for you could never be wrong."
The young girl comes out on the balcony and sees the prince with three white doves. Briar continues to watch and judging by the look they have in their eyes, she can suspect that the two have fallen in love with each other. It's love at first sight.
Briar smiles and says, "This is very sweet. The prince and the girl have fallen in love."
Suddenly, Briar begins to notice the girl's appearance and pays close attention, "Wait… lips red as the rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin as white as snow."
Briar soon realizes, "That must be Snow White."
Suddenly, when Briar turns her head, she notices that the queen from before is watching Snow White and the Prince from the window. And suddenly, she closes the window with a rather bitter expression. Briar soon grows concerned to notice the expression on the queen's face.
Suddenly, something has Briar thinking, "That queen… I can't help but feel that… I've seen her before."
The next day, Briar, Sereia, and Trinket are already awake and are dressing up for school. Once dressed, Briar decides to walk towards the mirror. She looks at it closely, hoping she can see the mouse known as Mickey. Sadly, he isn't in the mirror. The door to the girls' room opens and Grim walks in with a blanket wrapped around him.
Shivering, Grim says, "Brrr, it's freezin' in here! Y'think they'd let me take my blanket with me to school?"
"Probably not," Sereia says.
Then Tanzanite and Jasper walk in.
"I don't think they'll allow you to take a blanket to class," Tanzanite says.
Just then, Grim notices Briar is staring at the mirror.
He walks up and replies, "What's up, Briar? You're starin' hard at that mirror. If you're worried about bedhead, don't be. You look fine."
"Don't worry, I'm not worried about my bedhead," Briar says.
"If you say so," Grim replies, "Now let's get to class."
"Okay," Briar says.
After getting ready, the group leave Ramshackle Dorm and walk to school. They soon arrive at Main Street and meet up with Ace and Deuce.
Ace calls out, "Morning, guys. How's it goin'?"
"Good morning. It's pretty chilly today, huh?" Deuce says.
"Yes. It's still pretty cold outside," Sereia answers.
"Grim wanted to take a blanket to class," Jasper says.
"It was really cold today," Tanzanite adds.
Briar plans to say something, but something stops her. She slowly turns her head to the right and sees the Beautiful Queen Statue, one of the Great Seven. The first thing pops into her mind, and realizes…
Briar says in thought, "That's…that's the queen I saw in my dreams!"
Suddenly, Briar feels someone bumping into her. She quickly turns around to see Grim who has fallen.
Grim yelps, "Ow! Briar, don't just stop in the middle of the walkway! I just smacked face-first into your leg!"
"Sorry Grim, are you okay?" Briar asks.
"Not really since I hurt my nose," Grim answers and rubs his nose.
And Briar turns to the queen statue again.
Confused, Ace asks, "You're staring at the Great Seven statues. What's up?"
"Well… um…" Briar says.
Then turns to the Queen of Heart Statue, and realizes that she has a dream of her as well, during her first days she became a student. Then turns to the King of Beast, and remembers having dreams of him during the Spelldrive Tournament. Then turns to the Benevolent Sea Witch, and remembers having dreams of her during the final exam. Then lastly she turns to the Sorcerer of the Sands statues, and remembers having dreams of him during winter Break.
Then Briar realizes in her thoughts, "It's not just now… I've seen them before as well… I've been having dreams of the Great Seven."
Suddenly, Deuce calls out, "Hello? Briar? You're spacing out on us. Are you feeling sick or something?"
Suddenly, she looks up to see the others looking at her in concern.
Then Grim says, "Briar's been acting kinda funny ever since we got up this morning.
"Oh yeah? Did something happen over the holidays?" Ace asks.
Briar then looks at the others and says, "It's not just over the break. I think something's been… happening ever since I got to the school.
Everyone looks at Briar with confused looks, and decides to talk about this when they get to class.
Sometime later, after class, everyone is sitting at their desk, including Briar and the others. There, Briar has explained to her friends the dreams she's been having ever since she has come to the school, and why she's been staring at the Beautiful queen statue.
"You have dreams where the Great Seven appear in the Ramshackle Dorm mirror?" Ace asks.
"Yes," Briar answers with a nod, "And even when I wasn't at the dorm, I somehow was able to have those dreams."
"I guess when you see their statues every day, it's not all that surprising that they'd show up in your dreams," Ace replies.
"Yeah. The dreams I have are kind of vivid. It's like I've walked into a few clips from a movie. And what's weird is that, the dreams I have, don't seem to match the legends," Briar explains.
"I've recited the names of important figures in my sleep after cramming for a magic history test… But what you're describing sounds a little different," Deuce says.
"And if that isn't weird enough. Just recently, I'vebeen hearing a voice, almost like someone is trying to talk to me through the mirror in my room," Briar says.
"Wait, someone was trying to talk to you?" Tanzanite asks. "When?"
"I think it happened after the incident with Azul. The mirror started to glow, and someone was knocking on it," Briar says.
"Did you get good look at it?" Sereia asks.
"No. All I heard was knocking and a voice. And just after the incident at the Scarabia Dorm, I finally was able to talk to the person in the mirror," Briar explains.
"Really?" Jasper asks, surprised. "Did you see their face?
"Yes. What's more, it's not really a person, it's really a mouse with big round ears. He calls himself Mickey," Briar explains.
Surprised, Ace says, " Whoa, that's wild. Who's this Mickey dude?"
"I've never heard that name at this school before," Deuce says.
"Sadly, I barely knew him either," Briar says.
Suddenly, Grim remembers, "Ah, wait a minute. Was this when you stepped on my tail in the middle of the night?"
"Yes. It was," Briar answers with a nod.
FLASHBACK START:
Grim of course is talking in his sleep, "Myah... Mmm... I've got dibs on that turkey…"
Just then, the mirror in the room begins to glow again. Briar soon wakes up from her sleep and looks to see the mirror glowing.
"The mirror… is glowing again," Briar says softly to herself.
Curious, Briar gets out of bed and walks towards the mirror, until she accidentally steps on Grim's tail by mistake.
Grim yelps in his sleep, "Gyah! Watch the tail…" and soon go back to sleep, snoring.
Briar then slowly sneaks past Grim and makes sure to be careful.
FLASHBACK END:
Hearing it leave the others confused.
Deuce places his hand under his chin and says, "Hm. If it's not a dream, what does that leave? Maybe the ghosts are messing with you."
"They're pretty big pranksters, it's true. I wouldn't put it past 'em," Grim replies.
"I'm not sure they would do that," Briar says.
Then Ace has an idea, "Okay, how about this? Next time Mickey shows up in the mirror… Try taking a picture of him with that ghost camera you got from the headmage. It's a magic item that records spirits on film, right? Even ghosts show up fine in pics it takes.
"Makes sense. A photo might be able to shed some light on who this Mickey guy is," Deuce agrees.
"Once we ID the perp, I'll demand compensatory tuna for my bruised tail!" Grim says with a smirk.
"Do you always have to bring food in our conversation?" Sereia asks with a frown.
Grim huffs and says, "Not all the time."
"And hey, if nothing shows up, we can write it off as Briar being a vivid dreamer," Ace says.
"That would be the best idea. Besides, I like to get some answers from him as well," Briar says.
Trinket tinks in reply.
Just then, they hear the bell rings, and Crewel steps into the room.
Crewel calls out, "Get to your seats, puppies, "In this homeroom period, I'm going to tighten the reins you whelps pulled loose over the holidays. I trust you're all aware that the National Arcane Academy Culture Fair is coming up in mid-February. This year, it's going to be held here at Night Raven College."
"Myah? We've got some kinda fair comin' up?" Grim asks.
"The events schedule was posted in September, at the start of the school year. Some of you didn't even look at it, did you? Lazy curs!" Crewel sternly says, and cracks his pointer, "Since we clearly have some bad dogs in this class, and because housebreaking you is my job anyway, I'll recap it for those who need it. The National Arcane Academy Culture Fair is a yearly event for students representing schools across the country. It's a two-day festival that includes fine art, music, research showcases on magic, and speech contests. CrewelIn essence, it's an interscholastic event for culture-oriented clubs. At Night Raven, students spend their senior year at internships and research placements related to their magical professions… And this is the time when the seniors some back to school and announce their findings.
"Y'know, I hadn't thought much about it before now…" Ace replies, "But we haven't run into a single senior since we enrolled, have we?"
Then Deuce says, "All I knew was that they were training off-campus. Better make sure we pay our respects."
"Now that you mention it, it's just freshmen, sophomores, and juniors on campus. I never thought magicians did internships and all that," Briar says.
Crewel continues, "This festival also gets attention from many organizations on the lookout for fresh next-generation talent, such as the Bureau of Magic… As well as the Magic Board of Education, other universities, magic-related businesses, research institutes, and the entertainment industry. All of you art club dogs had best ensure that you're well-groomed and presentable!
"So it's a festival for the arts clubs, huh?" Ace questions.
"We're both in sports clubs, so I guess we won't be doing much here," Deice says.
Then Grim gets excited, "Hey, if it's a festival, that means there's gonna be a ton of food stalls like they had at the Spelldrive tournament!"
"Again with the food?" Jasper questions, annoyed.
Ace agrees, "It's always about food with you. Geez."
"And with that, homeroom time is over," Crewel says, "First period will be a practical lesson in defensive magic. SIT quietly and STAY!"
And with that, the students begin their defensive magic practice, of course with Crewel, an experienced mage and professor, it's proven to be tough training, especially with his strict teaching skills.