Key of Souls: Twisted Wonderland

Chapter 7: The Ace of Hearts

3rd POV

Dawn and Grim walked a great distance from Ramshackle Dorm until they arrived at their designated area where they'll be cleaning at. At Main Street, they notice that there are seven peculiar statues along the route to the academy.

"Uwaaah~ Amazing. So this is Main Street.", Grim said while marvelling at the seven statues.

Dawn took a good look at each of the sculptures and found them to be quite fascinating. 'I wonder if these statues mean something important to this school?', she wondered.

"I didn't get a good look yesterday, but what's with these statues? All seven of them look pretty scary. This granny looks especially snobby.", said Grim while looking at one of them.

"You don't know about the Queen of Hearts?", a voice asked.

Both Dawn and Grim turned around and saw a boy with messy, dark orange hair with red eyes; over his left eye was a red patch shaped like a heart. He was wearing the school's uniform which consists of a black and white striped necktie which he's wearing loosely, and a white dress shirt which was worn underneath a red vest with gold buttons. Over his vest was an unbuttoned black school blazer with gold trimmings and gold buttons, a red and black ribbon with a crest on his left arm; inside his front pocket was a black pen with a red gem on it. He also wore a black glove on his left hand, black pants with a gold stripe on the side of each leg, and a pair of red running shoes.

"Queen of Hearts? Is she important?", asked Grim.

"In the past, she was the queen who lived in the Rose Maze.", the boy explained while pointing at the statue of the woman wearing a crown on her head and holding a heart. "She was someone who valued rules and discipline above all, strict in all things from the march of the Card Soldiers to the colour of rose bushes. It was a land of madness where all submit to her rule. Why do you ask? Because or else it's off with your head!"

Dawn paled at end of that description, as she unconsciously held her neck with her left hand she said, "Were the rules so harsh that you'll up being executed?"

"That terrifying", Grim said as he shuttered.

"It's cool! I like it.", the boy said. "Nobody would listen to a queen who's just nice all the time, right?"

Grim responded, "I suppose. A strong leader is better."

But Dawn thought that a little compassion and understanding would be alright as well and not just strict, harsh punishments. Then Grim asked, "By the way, who are you?"

The boy smiled at the girl and monster and introduced himself. "I'm Ace. A fresh-faced first year. Nice to meetcha." Dawn was a bit shocked to see a boy with a nice attitude greeting them regarding the events of last night and thought, 'Maybe this school has some decent people after all.'

"I am Grim. A genius who'll become the greatest magician.", Grim introduced himself with a smirk. He then pointed at Dawn and said, "The dimwit over there is Dawn. She's my minion."

'Minion?', thought Dawn as she looked at Grim with disbelief. But she decided to be polite and introduce herself, "Please ignore that bit from him, my full name is Dawn Baldwin."

Ace looked at her with a confused look and said, "You've got an odd-sounding name."

Dawn felt a bit embarrassed about how Grim introduced her and that Ace said her name is odd. Nevertheless, Dawn did think that since she was in another world from her own, her name would be a bit weird to other people here. So she smiled brightly at Ace and said, "Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Ace!"

*Ba-bump*

Ace felt his heart beating a bit hard the moment Dawn smiled at him, but decided to dismiss it for now.