Twisted Wonderland

An Army of One

You open your eyes and you see a blue sky above you. You slowly sit up, realizing you're back in the garden maze. You stand up and dust yourself off. Looking around, you try to find the card soldiers or that girl in the blue dress you saw last time.

Another weird dream?

You hear a commotion behind one of walls of the maze. You slowly approach, hearing someone shouting and sounding very angry. You round the corner to see the card soldiers covered in red paint and bowing. Besides them is the girl who also bows before an imposing figure.

A large woman with a black and red dress stands before the bowed cards. She has a crown atop her beet red face. She furiously rips a heart shaped rose bush from the ground, roots and all, and waves it over the shaking cards. The wet paint dripping on the ground. You gasp at the sheer strength of this enraged woman.

"For painting my roses red, someone will lose his head!"

The three of clubs card shakily gets up on their knees, holding a paintbrush dripping in red paint. "Y-your Majesty, if anyone's to blame, it's him!"

He points to the card beside him who nervously shakes his head. "Have mercy Your Grace, it was the Ace!"

"So it was you!" The Queen steps closer to the Ace who slides a paint bucket off his eyes.

"Gah, no, it was the two!"

"Then he will pay!" The Queen steps to the two of clubs.

"It was three I say!"

"Enough of this!" The Queen furiously throws the bush over the cowering cards. "Off with All their heads!"

Other card soldiers drag the paint covered cards away. The Queen laughs as she watches them being dragged to their deaths. The other card soldiers start to chant.

"A fitting end. Color you can't mend. Everyone knows the roses shouldn't be red."

You back away from the scene before you, a hand to your throat. But they're just roses. Why doesn't anyone stop her?

Once again, you feel yourself being pulled away. Ripples fill your vision until it all fades to black. You wake up though you quickly realize you're not in your bed. You feel something holding onto your waist and you realize you're arms are clinging onto something as well. You look up and see Deuce sleeping with his head resting on the arm of the couch with an arm draped across you.

You bolt upright, realizing you used Deuce as a pillow accidentally. Your sudden movement startle Ace who was sleeping on your lap. He groggily sits up and rubs his eyes. Ace looks to you, his eyes widen and quickly looks away. A blush forms on both of your cheeks.

Deuce also wakes up feeling cold now that you're gone. Your eyes meet with Deuce's own cyan colored eyes but you both look away. Awkward silence suffocates you until Deuce clears his throat.

"We should get ready. The unbirthday party is today. If we're late, well, you know..."

"That's right, the party's today." You say.

You excuse yourself and quickly make your way to your room. You shut the door and flop onto your bed, startling Grim awake. That can't have happened right? It was just another weird dream.

Grim sat up and tilted his head. "What's up with you this morning?"

"Nothing!"

"Sure, whatever." Grim rolls his eyes.

You get dressed in your school uniform all the while trying to calm your racing heart. Once you're finished, you and Grim meet Deuce and Ace in the foyer. They're already dressed and ready for the day.

A knock comes from the front door, Ace walks over to open it. Deuce steps beside you.

"Sounds like you have a visitor."

You nod. As soon as Ace opens the door, Carter bursts in pushing past Ace. He walks over to you and Deuce.

"Good mooorning! Did you all enjoy your sleepover? Did you bond over pillow fights and card games?"

Ace joins besides you. "Oh, good morning, Cater. We did play some cards, yeah. But only Old Maid 'cause that was the only one Grim knew how to play."

Grim folded his arms. "And I still got the old maid every time, dang it!"

Deuce lets out a chuckle. "Let's just say Grim doesn't have a very good poker face."

Carter smiles. "Well, you should get one of the tarts we made yesterday and go apologize to Riddle. And you should probably hurry, because after the trouble yesterday, we're a little short-handed."

Ace tilts his head. "What does that mean?"

Carter waves his hands. "Don't worry. I've totes got it under control. Anyway, off to the party we go!"

After grabbing the tart, you, Ace, Deuce and Carter walk past the gates leading to Heartslabyul. Grim being on your shoulder while you hold the tart. There's round tables out on the lawn with white tablecloths over them. Red and black checkered chairs lined the tables with many delicious treats and tea sets displayed on them. Ace lets out a long sigh.

"All right, so I'll hand over the tart and say I'm sorry, then-"

"Hey, it's about time I got back! Good to see me!"

An identical looking Carter steps out from behind the heart shaped bushes. You do a double take, looking from the Carter you walked in with to this new Carter. The only difference is this new one is wearing their gym uniform while the other wore the school uniform.

"And me! Looking good as always, me!" Carter says as he approaches the doppelgänger.

Deuce and Ace look equally confused as you do.

"Th-there's two Carters?" Deuce stutters.

"Are you guys identical twins?" Ace asks.

The Carter in the school uniform laughs. "Nope. I only have older sisters. What I DO have is my signature spell, Split Card. It lets me make magic duplicates of myself."

Deuce seems to understand. "This must be how Cater kept coming after we beat him over and over again yesterday."

"Welcome home, daaarlings." Another Carter appears, this one wearing their lab coat for potion making class.

"Good to see you, Y/N." A voice from behind causes you to whirl around, seeing yet another Carter wearing the ceremonial robes.

The Carter in the gym uniform shook his head. "You're late! I was worried sick!"

Ace keeps whipping his head around at the different Carters all around you. "There're more of them?"

"J-S-Y-K, I'm actually the real Cater." Says the one in the school uniform. "Making these duplicates is suuuper exhausting, so I can't maintain them for long. Anyway, if we're late, heads will roll. And since we're several people short, we'll need your help. But when this is over, I promise I'll take you straight to Riddle"

"What, MORE roses?" Grim exclaims.

Ace rolls his eyes. "And here we go again."

The real Carter waves your group to follow. "Get the lead out, peeps! We need to get started!"