TWST'D: Keys to the Future

Dealt a Bad Hand pt. 1

"Stop laughing!" Ace whined to his upperclassmen as they each took turns guffawing at him.

The four of them were in Heartslabyul's lounge in a free period playing card games as they discussed the incident at the main street.

"That magicless made a fool outta you!" The tall one with a red spade on his cheek laughed as he rubbed his short blonde hair, "how do you let them steal your magic pen, man?"

"Aw, cut 'im some slack," the shorter one with a small black diamond on his cheek gently tapped his friend, "dude got cocky and let his guard down, okay? I bet if he had a crew, that woulda never happened, okay?"

Ace crossed his arms defensively.

"I don't need a crew. Especially for some weakling nobody and that dumb rat dog that's around them like a lost kitten."

"Huh?" A small student with a red club leaned ahead of the other two, his curly brown hair bouncing as he moved, "you mean after you got saved by that other freshie?"

"Shut up, he didn't save anything! He just stole my thunder is all!"

"He did save you from joining the beheaded, though," Red spade pointed out with a smile.

"I heard he ended up in the Disciplinary Squad, okay?"

"No way!" Red club's eyes widened as he placed his hands on his knees, "Those guys are the only ones the house warden trusts! I mean, they're the only students who never got collared, after all."

"I hear that the Spade guy's a dim bulb, though," red spade added, "you think he's gonna last?"

"I'll give him a week," Ace chimed in snidely, "but I bet he won't even last that long."

"Wait, did you say never?!" Ace blurted out.

"Moreover," black diamond broke in, "did ya wanna dish out some revenge?"

Ace blinked and then scoffed.

"I've got no interest in bothering with that wet sock."

"No, no! Not the Spade, okay?"

He then leaned in as his long hair shadowed his face as he gave a sinister grin.

"I mean the magicless, okay?"

******

"This sucks!" Grim exclaimed as he hauled a bucket of trash down the large trash bin in the cafeteria.

It was a particularly busy lunch, as a pastry place had been selling their famed strawberry and creme tarts for dessert, and as one could imagine, the trash was piled quite high.

It looked like a party was thrown prior.

Camila simply swept her trash into the dust bin, unconcerned with Grim's complaints.

She wanted to make sure this time she and Grim would finish with cleaning by the time the second period came so she could do what she had to do.

"Grim, we're making good pace. Once we take care of everything, I'll treat you to some rainbow trout, okay?"

He raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Oh? I'll hold ya to that!"

She smiled and continued to her cleaning.

It took them a while, but with the aid of the ghosts and breaking each part of the cafeteria into sections, they got through before the dinner crowd came in.

After she convinced one of the ghost chefs to cook up a nice rainbow trout for herself and Grim, they went and made their way to Ramshackle.

From the school's draw bridge, she could tell something was off, though her nose detected something was wrong before her eyes:

The smell of eggs wafted her nose as she and Grim made their way to the

From the school's draw bridge, she could tell something was off, though her nose detected something was wrong before her eyes:

The smell of eggs wafted her nose as she and Grim made their way to the vandalized Ramshackle dorm, which was covered from roof to sidewalk in eggs, toilet paper and graffiti, which were made with derogatory names for both herself and Grim.

"Now what's the big idea?!" Grim growled, "when I find out who dared to insult the Great Grim..."

Camila rushed to pass the soiled gate as she wanted to measure just how bad the damage was.

Luckily it seemed the inside was as she left it, and nobody broke anything or made away with her belongings.

Well, the few that she had, at least.

"Guess those idiots were too scared to come inside, huh?" Grim's voice echoed as he ran to her.

"....."

Disembodied chuckles could be heard as they stood in the center of the guest room.

"You betcha they didn't!" The thin ghost said triumphantly as he placed a thumb to his chest, "when we showed up, those boys went pale as...well, a ghost!"

He and his buddies giggled at his bad pun.

"From what we gathered, they looked like Heartslabyul students," the big one added, "those boys always have some weird card suit on their faces somewhere!"

Grim growled.

"I knew it! Of all the...wait, was that jerk who looked like a red Panda there with 'em?"

"Sure was," the little ghost giggled, "he was the ring leader!"

"C'mon, Camila! We gotta teach these twerps a lesson!"

"No, Grim," she spoke quickly.

He couldn't believe his ears.

"What?! But they're the ones behind this as clear as-"

"We can't get in trouble after the Headmage just told us off with a warning," she reminded Grim, "and even if the ghosts did see him, who's going to stand by us if we were to incite an incident? It's only two of us as opposed to their hundreds. It would never work."