Chapter Text
“So birdbrain wanted you to get a magestone?” Leona asked as he sat next to Loona in the Savanahclaw lounge.
“Yeah.” She huffed. Having just gotten back from that little adventure and already exclaimed this to Crowley, she wanted this second interrogation to be over with so she could go to sleep already. “And the mine he sent us to had a giant ink monster in there. He’s just lucky enough that we managed to kill it and get back in time.”
“And it was you, that bird girl, the other transfer girl, and those two Heartslabuyl idiots?”
“And the cherub. So, he shows up in the middle of us getting attacked, acting like he wanted to help us from the goodness of his heart or whatever. To make up for ditching us when we all got in trouble in the first place. Then we killed the giant, brought back the stone, and it turns out sheep-boy only helped out cause if we failed, all of the transfer students were getting sent back and he ‘can’t afford that.’”
“But that’s over now?”
“Thankfully.” Loona sighed. “Oh, and the cat’s a student now.”
“What?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Something about him proving himself, great efforts, Octavia still needs to babysit him, etcetera, etcetera. I honestly don’t remember all the bullshit Crowley kept spewing. So can I go to bed now?”
“Yeah. But be more careful next time you do reckless stuff like that. If the teachers catch you again, you’ll either be expelled or kicked off the team.”
“Whatever.” Loona muttered as she hoisted herself off the couch. “Night, cat boy.”
Leona didn’t respond aside from a “hphm.” Loona couldn’t help but glance back at him one last time in spite of herself. It was a long day, and she was too tired to do anything else or anyone else.
…………………………………………………………
Loona huffed as she took another swing of coffee. Being forced out of bed so early yet again didn’t improve her thoughts of the school, even if the early morning practice did help her wake up. Before she could even start considering biting Ruggie’s hand off for rushing her all morning, she got a text from Octavia telling her to meet at the Great Seven Statues. So, as she finished off her coffee, she went to the scene of yesterday’s squabble. Octavia was there with Grim running around her feet. The cat was dressed in a uniform of his own, which, in Loona’s opinion, just made him look like one of those stuffed animals human children carry around. The ones that they get at those weird human toy stores where they stuff the thing themselves and are dressed up by the child. Then she saw Ace sulking as he leaned on a lamppost. The moment the hellhound spotted the giant metal collar attached around his neck, she barely managed to stop herself from laughing. Of course she remembered Riddle’s collaring attack from orientation. It just looked a lot funnier on a human that a whinny animal
“Hey! Nice necklace.” Loona snarked.
“Haha.” Ace laughed bitterly. “Very funny.”
“Do I even want to know?” Loona asked Octavia.
“We found him in that old Ramshackle dorm.” Octavia explained. “Malleus and I went there to watch the stars- ahem! ‘So he could give me a talking too in private about what happened that night.’”
“Away from the dorm?” Loona asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Drop it. Anyway, Ace stole a tart and got kicked out of his dorm. Housewarden Draconia gave him permission to sleep with us, only for last night though.”
“Cool, and I’m here because…”
“You’re our backup. Remember the redhead from the other night? The one who collared Grim?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Ace needs to apologize to Riddle to get back into the dorm, and if he has to sleep in Diasomnia another night, one of my dorm mates might use him for magic practice. You just need to help us… ‘convince’ Riddle to forgive him. Just in case.”
“So you want me to scare him into agreeing?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Sounds fun.”
“Hey! Wolf girl!” Grim shouted from the ground. “Check me out! I’m a full-fledged student!”
“Yeah, well, so is everyone else here.” Loona deadpanned. “Not that impressive, kitty.”
“I AIN’T A CAT!”
“And I ain’t a wolf.”
“Hey guys!” Everyone turned as Deuce ran towards the group. “Please tell me you all aren’t arguing with each other again. I’d rather not go through the whole mine scenario again.” He paused as he noticed Ace’s collar. “Woah. So the stories are true. You actually did something so stupid as to steal one of the Housewarden’s tarts.”
“Zip it, Juice!” Ace snapped. “I’m not in the mood this morning! Do you know what the Diasomnia couches are like? They’re practically hard as stone! You’d think a dorm with such a grand reputation would have better furniture! Err… by the way, is Housewarden Riddle still mad?”
“I don’t think so. He’s been pretty busy this morning; three students overslept so Riddle collared them.”
“And you call that not mad! The guy’s a full-blown tyrant!”
“Who cares?!” Loona exclaimed. “Let’s just do this already so I can grab some bacon or something before class!”
“You know,” Octavia said as the group started walking towards the Dorm Mirrors. “There are better options at the cafeteria. Apparently this place is suited to people from high society. They have much better stuff. No Hell delicacies, but not bad.”
“Yeah, well some of us don’t have the luxury of comparing fancy foods, princess.”
“Hey!” Deuce exclaimed with his hands in the air. “Let’s hold off on the name calling, okay! I really don’t want to go back to the mines or get expelled.”
“Actually, I really am a princess.” Octavia pointed out.
“You are?!”
“Sweet!” Grim cheered. “I’ve got a princess for a minion!”
“No.” Octavia rolled her eyes. “You’ve got a princess for a babysitter.”
“Hey!”
“So you’re both royalty?!” Deuce questioned.
Loona scoffed. “Please. As if a hellhound from anywhere in the Nine Circles could be royalty. We’re part of the, uh… lower regions of society.”
“Okay, but if you two are from completely different social classes, how do you two know each other?” Ace asked.
“Uhh…” Octavia hesitated, awkwardly rubbing her neck. “It’s a… a long story… see-“
“Our dads are fucking each other.” Loona said bluntly.
Ace, Deuce, and Grim all stared at Loona slack-jawed. Octavia, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at the hellhound, her eyes a glowing, burning red. The awkward silence lasted a few seconds before Deuce eyed one of the mirrors a few times before breaking said silence.
“Hey look!” The bluenette exclaimed. “The mirror! Let’s go!”
Before anyone could say or do anything, Ace and Deuce grabbed the two girls by the wrists and dragged them through the glass. On the other side was a large manor, red with several heart symbols carved into the arches, doors, and windows. It sat across from a clean path and a green garden near a large hedge maze. Loona was nearly overwhelmed by the scent of roses and almost gagged. Floral scents were never her favorites, as she felt they were something that could easily overwhelm her sense of smell.
“Ugh!” She groaned. “This place smells like a perfume parlor! Let’s just find that redhead brat and get this over with.”
“Woah!” Grim exclaimed. “Hey, minion! Look at this place!”
“Eh,” Octavia shrugged. “I’ve seen better manors. You should see my dad’s place. Though, it is a bit less… greeting-card bright like this.”
“Whatever,” Ace said. “Where’s the Housewarden? I wanna get this collar off as soon as possible.”
Loona then heard something off in the maze; the sound of someone humming. “I think I found someone who could give us directions. Follow me.”
The hellhound led the group through the maze before coming upon a clearing filled with rose bushes, each one trimmed in the shape of hearts. Before one of these bushes was a young man with a red diamond painted on his face, his strawberry blonde hair half pulled back. He gently dabbed at the rose petals with a brush dripping with red paint as he talked to himself.
“Gotta paint these roses red, or it’ll be off with my head.” He muttered before turning his head towards the intruders. “Oh! Looks like I’ve got company. By all means, come over. Wait; aren’t you two the new transfers?”
“Octavia Goatia.” Octavia introduced herself. “And this is Loona and Grim.”
“Yeah, I remember now.” Cater smiled. “And you two are the new freshies for the dorm. And not just that; aren’t you the ones who burned the Queen of Hearts statue yesterday?”
“Uh…” Deuce hesitated.
“That incident is going to haunt us until graduation.” Ace bemoaned.
“Yeah,” Cater continued. “You’re also the tart thief from last night, ain’t ya? Small dorm. Hey hey hey, let me get a selfie with you all!”
Before anyone could protest, Cater had already dragged everyone together into a huddle. The Heartslabyul duo were too stunned to do much, Grim smiled at the camera, Octavia only squinted, and Loona proudly held up a middle finger.
“I’ll DM you all later.” Cater said. “What are your names, freshies?”
“Deuce Spade.”
“Ace.”
“So,” Octavia began, trying to change the subject. “Why are you painting flowers, exactly?”
“This?” Cater gestured towards the flowers. “It’s for the party tomorrow.”
“‘Party?’” Ace asked. “Is it really someone’s birthday tomorrow? Is that what those tarts were for?”
“Ehh! Wrong! Tomorrow’s the Unbirthday party.”
“‘Unbirthday?’” Loona questioned with a hand on her hip. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s a Heartslabyul tradition. We pick a day that isn’t anyone’s birthday and we have a tea party out here in the gardens. But the roses all need to be painted red, the hedgehogs and flamingos we use for croquet balls and mallets need to be painted different colors, and-“
“Wait. Like, like flamingos and hedgehogs?” Octavia asked.
“Uh, yeah…”
“Great.” Loona said sarcastically. “Cool to know this place supports animal abuse.”
“Huh?! No, it’s nothing like that! We put protection spells on them so they don’t get hurt! It’s just part of tradition!”
“Just keep telling yourself whatever to keep your conscience clear.”
“Anyway,” Ace said. “We’re looking for Riddle. I’d like to talk to him about last night.”
“Love to help.” Cater said while making an obnoxious pose. “But I need to get these roses finished before I could even think of showing my face to Housewarden Riddle. Hey, why don’t you guys help me out? The faster the work gets done, the sooner I can bring you to Riddle.”
“Pass.” Loona grunted as she already walked to the corner of the garden.
“So,” Octavia began and the hellhound sat down on the grass. “Changing the color of plants… how do we do that?”
“Easy,” Cater grinned as he twirled his magic pen. “Just follow my lead.”
The next twenty minutes were spent turning white petals red as Ace dabbed at the roses with his paintbrush due to his current lack of magic. Loona stayed rooted in her spot away from the group the whole time, attempting to get her phone to connect as she lazily waited for the others. She occasionally looked up and smirked as Grim set rose bushes on fire or Deuce mis-colored the flowers. Octavia was the one who easily mastered the spell. With her help, they were done in five minutes flat.
“Not bad.” Cater said to her.
“Thanks.” Octavia shrugged. “I guess my family just has an affinity for magic.”
“Show off!” Loona playfully yelled from across the garden.
“Whatever,” Ace groaned. Now that we’ve finished that, can we just go see Riddle now?”
“Sure, sure.” Cater said with a grin. “But first… did you bring an apology tart?”
“‘Apology tart?’ No, I just came straight here.”
“Oooooh, that’s a problem. Rule #53: you must replace anything you steal. If I let you guys in now without a new tart, my head will be on the chopping block. Sry, but I’m gonna have to ask you all to leave.”
“What?!” Loona exclaimed as she stood up on her back paws. “After we did all that work for you?!”
“You didn’t really do anything.” Deuce pointed out cautiously.
“It was exhausting watching you all! And besides, I wasted an entire morning to help with this stupid apology, I am not leaving before we see it through!”
“Yeah!” Octavia chimed in. “And you clearly didn’t see us with any kind of tart when we walked up to you! You’ve just been playing us!”
“Now that’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” Cater asked. “Anyways, you guys should go before Riddle sees, or he’s gonna blow a gasket.”
“Uh, first off, fuck you!” Loona exclaimed. “And second off, you better give me one reason why I shouldn’t bury you alive right-“
Her threat was cut short by the sudden sound of a bell off in the distance. It chimes in eight bell rings, gentle yet harsh, and it caught everyone off-guard.
“Wait… was that the warning bell?!” Deuce asked in surprise.
“WHAT?!” The other boys exclaimed, everyone forgetting about Cater. The strawberry blonde managed to sneak past them during the distraction and run off.
“Well,” Octavia said with a shrug. “See you guys in class. Let’s go, Grim.”
“Wha-“
Octavia immediately grabbed Grim, gave the others a middle finger, snapped her fingers, and vanished in a bright swirl of violet light.
“The fuck?!” Loona growled. “Did her dad actually show her how to teleport?! Ugh! Whatever! Later, losers!”
With that, the hellhound took off on all fours. She bolted away, as fast as lightning, leaving the remaining two students in the dust.
“Hey!” Ace exclaimed.
“Wait for us!” Deuce added.
Both boys bolted after her, racing to get to class.