A Queen and Her Kings

A Not so Very Merry Unbirthday

The walk to the rose garden was uneventful and quiet. Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts, most about the events to come (the Court), and some about why Cater was on Cassandra's arm (Trey). The peaceful silence did not dull the group's presence, however. Their outfits made sure of it.

Yue had acquired his coveted Alice in Wonderland themed outfit, though not without difficulty. In the end, he had to have black and red suit symbols sewn along the slit of one of his red cheongsams using his sewing machine, and stole some black and red heart and spade earrings that dangled from silver chains from Cassandra, who did not care and was more amused than anything. With his hair in a ponytail, tied with his usual red tie, as well as his red slip-ons, he looked gorgeous, and Cater had not hesitated to tell him as much the minute he laid eyes upon him, much to his ego's delight.

The rest of the guys were dressed much more simply in black suits with white roses painted white pinned to their front jacket pockets, and a red suit symbol on the end of each of their ties (also courtesy of Yue's sewing machine). They all also wore black oxfords pairs of stud earrings with suit marks in red and black on them as well. Each one had an assigned mark, so to speak. Eiji and Griffin had spades, and Ash and Shorter had hearts. Grim wore a red ribbon with black suit marks around his neck, instead of his usual white and black one, and Skipper wore a red t-shirt with jeans, black converse, and a white and red letterman jacket with black suit symbols up and down the sleeves, as well as what appeared to be a hand of poker cards embroidered on the back. The fact the boy had gone closest surfing in his abyss of a walk-in closest to find the outfit spoke wonders of his hatred for suits.

Cassandra, however, was the one who stole the show. No one knew how she had managed to alter her suit jacket to have a red layered, Victorian chiffon train when she seemed to have no time to breathe all week, or how she acquired a perfectly themed pocket watch for the occasion. When they asked as she locked up the dorm after returning from her quick change of clothes, she merely smiled her all-knowing smile and said that a woman never revealed her secrets.

Which brought them to their current moment. People turned to look at them as they entered the mirror chamber and made their way over to the Heartslabyul mirror. Ignoring their whispers and not-so-subtle pointing as always, Cassandra turned to face her people with a serious expression, gently freeing her arm from Cater's so she could cross them.

"Right. So, does everyone remember the plan?", she asked quietly, so as to not be overheard. Everyone nodded. Cassandra smirked.

"Good. Now remember, stay out of things unless I give the word otherwise, okay? I want to teach Riddle a lesson, not make it so Crowley has to send him home in a body bag for winter break. This is between me and him, got it? Ace? Deuce?", the redhead reiterated, giving the two boys in question pointed looks. The two nodded seriously, and her smirk widened, before she turned to the two boys beside her.

"Cater? Trey?", she asked, her face saying what she couldn't speak. The two third years looked at eachother, before sighing in resignation and returning the serious look.

"Do it. He's going off the rails as it is, and we don't have the power or authority to stop him if things get worse. We'll help you if things get out of control, just please put an end to this.", Trey told her sternly, his eyes telling her how hard this was for him. Putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, Cassandra frowned.

"You're doing the right thing. It's better to nip this in the bud now before he does permanent damage to himself or others.", she assured softly. Trey sighed again, but didn't say anything as she retook Cater's arm. Everyone else followed her example, with Ash taking Eiji's arm, Shorter taking Yue's, Ace taking Duece's, Grim laying on Skip's shoulder, and Griffin and Trey lamenting over their glaring status as lonely singles as they followed Cassandra through the mirror all on their lonesome. Trey smiled as Cater looked back at him and gestured excitedly to Cassandra with a wide grin. He was happy his friend had found someone. The green haired boy jumped when he felt a large hand clap him on the back.