Key of Souls: Twisted Wonderland

Chapter 15: The First Dream and The Unexpected Visitor

3rd POV

It was late at night in Ramshackle Dorm and both Dawn and Grim were sleeping soundly in their room. While sleeping, Dawn was starting to feel a really strange sensation like she was slowly drifting out of reality.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see what was happening and said, "Huh? What's going on?" She looked around and noticed that she wasn't in Ramshackle Dorm anymore, but was in the middle of a large rose garden maze. Just as she was starting to get her senses together, Dawn suddenly heard some voices.

"Hurry and paint the roses red."

"Hurry before the flowers wither."

"Hurry, hurry! We have to them all red!"

Dawn turned around and to her surprise, she sees what she believed was a pair of living playing cards; rushing back and forth between the heart-shaped rose bushes, carrying red paint and paintbrushes, and painting the white rose bushes red. "Paint... the roses?", Dawn said with disbelief, but it didn't seem like the playing cards can hear her.

Suddenly, a pretty little girl approached the living playing cards and asked, "Why do you have to paint the white roses red?"

"Huh?", they replied.

One of the playing cards, the Two of Clubs, approached her and said, "Why you ask? The truth is, we made a mistake and grew white ones."

"The Queen loves red. If she sees white, she'll have our heads!", the Ace of Clubs added on.

Dawn held her hand around her neck not liking the punishment these playing cards might face. The little girl then walked towards one of the rose bushes where the Three of Clubs were. Really?", she asked. "That's right. Therefore, we're painting the roses.", the Three of Clubs replied. Suddenly, a wave of sleep started overtaking her and her vision was starting to blackout. But before losing conscience, she asked, "Where am I exactly?"

*Knock, knock*

A sudden knock at the door jolted Dawn from her sleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes to notice that she was back in her dorm room. 'That was a really strange dream...', she thought while looking around, then she said, "Is someone knocking on the door?" Dawn got out of bed to leave the room when she felt a bit of extra weight on her shoulder. She looked over to see that it was Grim looking very drowsy, hanging off her shoulder. "Munyaa... Hey, you. Sounds like we have a light night visitor.", said Grim with a tired yawn.

Dawn gave Grim a pat on his head when they heard another knock at the door downstairs. "What? Is it those ghosts again? They don't know when to quit.", Grim said. 'Who could come over this late?', Dawn thought as she walked out of her room and made her way towards the foyer and to the door where the knocking was coming from. Once she approached the door she asked, "Hello, who is it?"

"...It's me, Ace. Let me in."

"Ace?", Dawn wondered as she recognized that voice and then she opened the door.

Grim grumbled as he jumped off Dawn's shoulder and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Ace? What are you doing this late?", Grim asked. Just as he looked up at the boy, Grim sprang awake at what he was seeing. "Gehgeh! You have a collar!!"

To both Grim and Dawn's surprise, Ace stomped his way into their dorm with a furious expression on his face. What shocked them, even more, was that a heart-shaped black and red collar is locked around Ace's neck. Ace just looked at the two of them and proclaimed, "I'm never going back to Heartslabyul. Starting today, I'm joining your dorm!"

"WHAT?!", both Dawn and Grim shouted.

Once she calmed Ace down a bit, Dawn escorted him to the lounge where he sat on one of the dusty sofas. Fortunately, the pipes in the dorm still worked so Dawn managed to get Ace a glass of water from the kitchen. "So, why do you suddenly want to be a new member of this dorm?", she asked after Ace finished his drink.