NOTES:

For this chapter, I tried bumping around through perspectives, so I hope it goes well and Y'all like it!

Onwards!!

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Deuce didn't even get to respond before she clocked out in the middle of the street, giving him hardly enough time to catch her while still in a daze from her words.

Those...eggs...won't hatch? For 16 years I thought...I really thought....every time I apologized before eating eggs.....I....

FOCUS DEUCE!!

How am I going to carry her and everything else back?!

Fumbling out his phone, he called the first number he could think of.

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"That dumbass passed out in the middle of the street? Seriously? Calm down, you idiot, its not like she died. Oh fuck you too! What? Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm coming, just stay there and don't do anything stupid."

As the phone clicked off,  Ace turned to his upperclassmen and told him the news before speed walking out of the door.

Trey wasn't surprised, given Che'nya had warned him that Ophelia had been overworking herself  both physically and mentally for the past 2 days. Something must of happened on their way back to tip the scale for her body and cause her to faint from exhaustion.

In theory, from what he knew and had seen so far, Ophelia was a perfect balance for Che'nya to have to work with.

The Cheshire had been more powerful then some of the worlds most successful mages since birth, pulling off stunts even the highly trained couldn't do, just at the age of 5, such as detaching his own body parts, floating, teleporting, going invisible, summoning living beings from thin air (ex: the Hedgehog he threw at Riddle when they first met) etc.

He never had to worry about using up too much strength, because he had it in tons,  Imagination was the source of his and any Cheshire magic, as cliche as it sounds.  Given the day and age, and how open people's imaginations were nowadays, he had an infinite pool that would never run dry.

This led to never fearing most risks, knowing he could reset things if it went horribly wrong.
He loved gambles because it wasn't magic controlled, and he almost never had much to lose.  An only child with a singular living family member, his grandfather, and a few close friends being the only things of value to him.

He wasn't the type to plan ahead too much, or have a backup plan prepared.  Whenever danger struck, most times he knew it couldn't hurt him.

She was the opposite of that.

Magicless, she had fallen into a world full of mages with no power of her own. Her acting and improvisation were good, and she seemed to be pretty intuitive and calculating, yet had no clue how to use or handle the magic he was lending her through the charm.
It was pretty obvious she had done acting before, and definitely worked in a kitchen aswell.

Watching her banter with Ace, it made logical sense that she might also be a younger sibling like him, but possibly had a younger sibling of her own aswell.

After she and Deuce had left, he asked Ace and Vyr about her a bit.

From what they told him, it seemed she was strategic, and was a decent thinker in the heat of a moment, also preferring not to take risks.

Unlike Che'nya, who was bound to live on forever, fae and immortal, without fear of almost anything besides losing those he cared for,

Ophelia was human, and seemed to fear revealing almost anything about herself, and seemingly feared certain people, given the way she nearly flew out of her skin at the sight of Cater alone, but not in the way Idia, someone extremely introverted and shy, does.

Her fear seemed to root from somewhere else, somewhere before they even met, but where?

The similarities between the two was, in Aces words whilst telling the verdette about the prefect of Ramshackle:
"Being a self-sacrificial idiot."

Trey had his suspicions on what, or who she actually was, to Che'nya.  Just remembering the tales the felines grandfather used to tell them, about, what was it again?  "Yuu's"?
And how certain Cheshires, chosen by fate, were tied to them.

Maybe....just maybe...

It was a far stretch, but it was possible

But that also meant disaster was coming, and she had been brought here to stop it.

It made the baker hope his guess just might be wrong.

Sadly, it wasn't, But he doesn't need to know that yet, right?  Lets keep that little fact between us for now.

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After forever, Ace arrived at the scene, half expecting so see a bloodbath from how panicked Deuce sounded over the phone.

Instead, he saw 2 random guys knocked out and stacked on eachother , Deuce holding a cracked egg with the face of someone having a midlife crisis, while Ophelia was asleep on his leg, Grim trying to slap her awake with his tiny paws.

This is officially the weirdest day of my life

"Oi! I'm here!"

"...Eggs..."

"Huh?"

Well thats not weird at all, (it totally is) but right now, the focus was to get the tarts done, deliver that shit, "apologize" , then get this stupid collar off. 

Deuce could have whatever Egg related existential crisis he wanted to afterwards.

Approaching slowly,, the redhead poked his counterpart on the cheek on a very obvious smudge mark now in his eyeliner to see if he'd react. Nothing.

Yikes, what messed him up this bad?

Glancing at the once again slumbering brunette,
(whats with her and knocking herself out?), who was holding some blue wrapped thing , part of him wondered if she was to blame for Deuces spacing. 

Did she tell him some big future secret he couldn't comprehend? Something to do with eggs? Whatever, he could worm it out of Deuce later with a trick or two.

Looking around, he noticed the 5 large bags around the trio.

Oh shit- did he have to carry a human being AND bags back to the cafeteria? Hell no.
The bags were be Deuces problem, not his.

The (definitely) only reason he was willing to help was to maybe, possibly get on Ophelias good side so she'd answer more questions.

Part of his want to know was still curiosity, yeah, but another part was now sheer pride, he had to get that information out, it was now a game of mental tug of war to him, and by the Seven, he intended to win

Looking next to Ophelia, he noticed her bag lying on the ground, unguarded by her or that purple cat that despised him.

Pulling out a small notebook from inside, he placed in his inner blazer pocket.

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Ok, so to start with:  It wasn't his business, but he was dead curious.

They say "an actor knows an actor" right?  Well someone who masks knows someone who masks, and she was DEFINITELY masking 24/7.

Not like Cater was much better, but still.

The rumors around the school about the
blue-hooded student being the mysterious female student from a different world had spiraled a tad bit out of control, to the point the Leech twins and Azul were running some form of bet on who could bring them into the lounge.  Who knows why, but they were. 

When he entered the kitchen, he heard Deuce recounting that someone almost tried to drag her away to cash in the bounty, which was obviously not a good thing, and that she had knocked 2 guys out, which was both terrifying and kinda badass.

He glanced over and saw said Blue-hood absolutely dozing away in the corner, covered in someones coat.

The chestnut tart was great and all, but....ok, he hated it.  It wasn't Treys fault..just sweets....ew

Time to bring out the "Hey Trey wanna show them your unique magic" card!

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Passing out on the street with one friend at 3 and waking up in your house at 6 with one friend felt like a very odd multiplication sequence.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

She nearly socked Ace, who was leaning over the couch to be above her, in the jaw out of shock, causing him to fall into a full body laugh when her arm fell flat.

"Dude! Stop jumpscaring me like that!"

"I'm good, your reactions are too funny!"

"You're an ass."

Stretching and standing up, she noticed Che'nya had returned from his impromptu absence, nudging the blue thing that Sam had given her closer.

"Wheres Deuce, Grim and Vyr?"

"They went to Ignihyde to get Vyr a sleepover pass."

"So I'm stuck with you?"

"Yup."

"How delightful."

Groaning, she made her way to the kitchen to get something edible, and returned with cranberry juice and fruit, sitting beside Ace while he scrolled through something on his phone.

"You're not concerned at all about the sleepover idea?"

"No, why would I be?"

"3 guys you practically just met, sleeping over at your dorm, which, may I add, is the most secluded, furthest from the school, and emptiest  dorm? Are you really not worried at all, or just incredibly dense?"

"I don't get what you're implying, but I trust you three not to kill me in my sleep.  I mean, you could of killed me last night, apparently, and you didn't."

Stealing a strawberry from her bowl, a mischievous grin appeared on his face.

"Really?  I would think someone you put on the "High Danger" list would be a bit nerve-wracking to have just moseying around your house."

Ophelia practically choked on her juice.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆. 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌.

Gritting her teeth, both pissed and anxious, she stood over him, shadowing his figure on the couch.

"Ace. Did you touch my notebook while I was unconscious? If so, give it back. Now."

The jesters grin didn't leave his face as he pulled it from his jacket, passing it into her open hand.

"I read a page or two. Pretty interesting stuff you wrote in there, Estelle."

Her heart and stomach felt as if it was in a plane, and that thing was crashing down, down, down, burning as it did.

He fucking KNEW her real name, and god knows what else now.

Running on the heat of adrenaline, she dragged him upstairs by his shirt collar, her pounding head making everything seem as if it only took moments, and her over beating heart making it too loud to hear Aces protests.

She could barely think, nothing seemingly fitting a thought together, so she just picked a random door and threw them both in, which ended up unluckily being her room, Che'nya following while still in his feline form.

"What the hell?!"

"Ace, what did you read from my notebook."

"It's a just notebook, what, you got government secrets in there?"

"If you read the danger listing all the way down to your name, you should know the answer to that."

"I only read my name before the damn cat started scratching the shit out of my hand!"

She wouldn't have believed him if she didn't notice in that moment that his glove had switched hands. 

Grabbing his hand and pulling the glove off, it revealed several long scratches, obviously untreated.

𝑶𝒉 𝒈𝒐𝒅, 𝑪𝒉𝒆'𝒏𝒚𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌.  

"You idiot, why didn't you patch this up?"

"You were two feet from killing me, and now you're worried about my hand? What are you, my mother?"

"No, but I'm your friend, so shut up and sit down on the bed. I'm going to get the med kit."

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Just when he thought this day couldn't get any weirder, it did.

Yea, so he tried to read the notebook the second the Blue trio had left, but then that damn purple cat just came out of nowhere and scratched the shit out of his hand before he could read anything but her real name and find his own on the "Danger list."

Her explosive reaction to just the idea of him reading that notebook made the itch to actually read it stronger everytime.

What was she hiding that was so serious she'd freak out like that?  It was driving him insane not knowing.
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Coming back with a first aid kit, she walked in to Che'nya and Ace seemingly glaring at eachother, a Cat vs Human standoff, both turning at her entrance.

"Give me your hand."

The redhead did not move, so she just resorted to grabbing it, opening the medkit and beginning to clean the wound with an Antibacterial wipes(?)

"Doesn't this sting at all?  Alcohol wipes usually sting in my world."

He didn't react at all, just turning away and lying down on her bed, causing her to get slightly nervous. She totally fucked up.

"Sorry for lashing out so badly, you scared the shit out of me when you said my real name, I just panicked a bit."

"A bit?  You looked like you were going to kill me. What could possibly be in that notebook that is so important you'd flip so quickly? Can you atleast tell me that?"

Sighing as she searched for the gauze or bandaids, she looked towards the ceiling.

"I can't tell you much, but you know how you keep saying I'm a "seer"?"

"Uh, yea?"

"Well, you're not entirely that far off. I know certain things about the future, not test questions or anything, but certain events, people, things that are going to happen that are a big deal.

The reason I can't tell you is for both our safeties, because yes, there are things in that notebook that could cause...problems..if certain people found it."

Cutting the gauze off and putting medical tape on it, she stood back up and packed the kit away.

"You're a major player in alot of these events, weird I know, but you are, hence why I was so desperate to keep it from you. Unlike Deuce, whos also a major player, you are nosey as hell-"

"Hey!"

"-So I knew it was going to be harder task.
There, now you know, ok? But don't go around telling people that. If you do, both you and
I could wind up dead, or worse."

As if on cue, the sound of the door opening from downstairs paused their rollercoaster of a moment, giving her an escape, and him time to process the insane amount of information he just learned.

Looking at the cat again, Ace glared at it before following Ophelia downstairs.

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Vyr had successfully gotten permission to stay over, and had stopped to create an "comothis",
or "enlargement cookie" , as Deuce and Grim nicknamed it, due to its shape.

Nonetheless it was still a jumpscare when he crumbled it onto the bed, causing both mattress and blankets to grow big enough to fit 4-5 people.
It was lucky she didn't have nearly anything else in the room, or it probably would of been crushed.

The night had gone on quiet normally, Ace hijacking the kitchen and actually making edible food, her surprised remark on this causing Ace to look near insulted, and the rest to cackle a bit.

The group discussed tomorrows events, aka the Unbirthday Party, talked and generally screwed around for a few hours before heading off to bed.

However, Ophelia could not stay asleep whatsoever.

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𝑰𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘

Her bare feet made light taps on the ground as she paced anxiously, writing notes for the secondary backup plan should things go wrong or if its generally needed.

In full honesty, she really, really didn't want to meet Riddle face to face tomorrow, but what choice did she have?  A promise is a promise.

The bubbling anticipation reminded her of being unable to sleep on your birthday or a holiday you love, but instead it being a very bad version of said anticipation.

Grabbing her hoodie and the two books she was working with, opening and closing the door with a soft click, she took a seat outside as to not wake anyone up as she flipped another page, muttering  her own opinions to herself as she listed off the contents.

"Rule number 721:  Any Female ruler may sit anywhere they wish at any time, but a Male Ruler can only move one chair away every hour? 
Ok, weird, but no contradictions there......

....Rule number 722:  Only tulips and Irises are allowed to sing on any day of the week, all others must schedule times with the Queen
—What the hell kinda rule is that? ..I mean, no contradiction...wait...unless a tulip or iris can be referencing certain students..."

Tapping her pencil, she could barely believe Riddle thought students should innately know rules like these. It was absolute stupidity to believe someone could actually remember all this in one day.

Her focus on work kept her from seeing the green lights slowly appearing beside her.

"Rule number 723:  Anyone taller then the Queen by 2.6 centimeters or more are restricted from wearing any form of headgear at any time
—what the shit?— unless authorized by the Queen...Thats a contradiction to.....ooh, fireflies?"

Placing her project down, she focused in on the lights, only to be smacked by the realization of what they actually were.

𝑶𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍, 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑻 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏.

Shaking a bit, she put on the best poker face she could and flipped another page, continuing to work as if nothing was happening. Slowly, she eased into working once more like she had been.

However, she did find herself peeking up at the lights every so often, slightly mesmerized at the sight of them.

After a good amount of time passed, she had almost finished checking all 801 Heartstabyl rules for contradictions within both themselves, and the school rules.

Unsurprisingly, there were ALOT

Great Verbal Ammo, should she need it tomorrow, or was it today already? She wasn't sure.  Every part of her screamed for her to sleep, but she had to finish this.

Scribbling down another note, the sound of flapping reached her ears, a small bat flying in the direction of Ramshackle, seemingly b-lining for her and the green lights, was the source.

Not awake enough to put the obvious facts together to realize who this bat actually was, she simply continued her note-taking as it landed on the banister beside her and chirped at her, her response drowsy.

"Hi, tiny bat.  Are you here because of the shiny lights next to me?  I'm not sure what they are, but I don't think their edible, definitely not for me, and probably not for you either. 
Did you think they were fireflies? Do bats even eat fireflies?  Man, I'm out of it.."

Right as she returned to finish the last two pages, the tiny bat swooped over, stealing her pencil and flying atop a wooden rafter so that she couldn't reach it.

"Seriously..? I was so close to finishing. Could I have that back please?"

It seemed to give her a headshake, and flew off, returning moments later without said pencil.

"Do you know how hard it was to find a pencil in this place? I mean, Vyr probably has more....damn ..I'm tired...You know what, just keep the pencil , I guess I can finish it ins...huh?"

The rulebooks beside her had disappeared, the other notebook the only thing now left on the bench.
Halfheartedly, she pouted at the swarm of lights and bat, still too exhausted to put two and two together, and all but forgetting who the lights were.

"This feels personal."

Another chirp from the bat, and a new set of lights somehow formed a shape, just the words "Rest."

"Fine, but please bring those books back tomorrow...I'm really going to need them."

Begrudgingly, she took her notebook and returned inside, walking until she nearly collapsed on her now gigantified bed, almost knocking into a slumbering Ace in the