#mallace

Something had changed in the abandoned dorm. Someone had cleaned a bit, had removed layered dirt and old artefacts from the students of a lost dorm. Even the air in the building was ever so slightly different. At a place where time seemed to have stopped ages again, someone had reset it. Here a package with modern snacks, there a brand-new schoolbag and on the table some new schoolbooks. Next to the schoolbooks was one of these overrated smartcelltelephones. The choice of things that were left here was odd. Why would someone leave such often used things here?

As stumped as Malleus was to find these items in the previously lost place, he supposed they would shed light on the identity of their owner. He approached the schoolbooks, reached for the uppermost book of the stack- WHACK!

To Malleus' credit, he did not burn whatever had suddenly hit him out of existence, even if his magic flared eagerly up for the fraction of a second. He let out an undignified yelp, though. It was a broom, he realized, the end of a very dirty broom had released a little cloud of dust around him upon contact. As he was squinting the dust out of his eyes, Malleus could make out the silhouette of a person holding the broom and worried for a moment that this opponent was skilled enough to completely hide his presence from him, but as Malleus' vision cleared, he saw the true reason why he couldn't detect the other with his magic sense: He had a magic-blocking collar around his throat, signature spell of Housewarden Rosehearts.

"You don't touch my stuff!", yelled Ace at the shadowy figure that had creeped into the house at night. After having lost his magic and his place in the Heartslabyul dorm mansion, Ace would not let some stupid thief take anything more from him! He took a deep breath with an uncomfortable amount of dust to cuss at the wannabe criminal and intimitate the guy so hard that he would never try something like that again, but at the same time he could get a slightly better view of the other in the darkness of the night and he could recognize-

"Bwah! Prince Malleus?! Oh shit, I'm so dead!"

"There is no need to fear for your life", contradicted Malleus. "But I have to inform you that this place is not your hideout, it is a public site of contemporary history. There are many other places on campus, where you can-"

"Hideout?!", repeated Ace incredulously. "This is my shelter! Because my housewarden is a total madman and doesn't let me into the dorm! And he doesn't let me transfer to another dorm either!" - And then he proceeded to tell his story, one word just flowing out after the other, turning into a rant as Ace got so caught up in his misfortune that just who he was talking to got a bit out of focus.

As Ace rambled, Malleus raised his eyebrows slowly higher and higher. At first he was only surprised, but as the story went on, he sympathized with the student. And when he heard that the boy had not only been banned from his accomodation at the school, but also had his magic blocked for over a week by now, Malleus was shocked that a housewarden would deny one of the students in his care what should be his and make him suffer to such a degree.

He spoke: "I agree. What your housewarden did, was too much. A week is long to go without magic, I am sceptical of such spells in general, but several days! I don't believe this can be right. So..."

Malleus touched the collar and channelled his own magic into the manifested magic of Housewarden Rosehearts, until he overpowered it and the spell gave out. The collar cracked, crumbled and dissolved.

Ace could feel his magic again and the feeling of power and being complete was accompanied by a surge of euphoria - Ace cheered and exclaimed "Thank you!", as he embraced his saviour and dragged him into a little freestyle dance of joy.

Malleus was stunned by the strong reaction for a moment, then he asked as rhetorical question (and berated himself internally for hesitating unprofessionally instead of dodging): "Aren't you too affectionate with me? You are little more than a stranger to me."

"Eh? Oops! I'm Ace Trappola from Class 1A, if it helps. Sorry about the hug, I just went crazy with happiness! It's good that you're so nice and forgiving, I mean if you let that whack with the broom slide, you can be cool about that dumb moment, too, right?"

"I suppose it was not as bad as that broom. But still-" Malleus forgot where he was going with the sentence, as he saw Ace smiling, no: happily smirking at him.

The boy had cowered before him a moment ago, but now, he stood completely unguarded, his grip on the broom even loosened. He was not afraid of Malleus anymore. It wasn't a wonder, after Malleus had been so very lenient with him, but it still felt like a little miracle.

Ace put the broom away and meant: "I won't bother you anymore. I'll just move elsewhere, perhaps into the stables or the greenhouse. Didn't know this dump here was important to anyone."

Malleus watched Ace pack his belongings into his schoolbag and thought, that it would be a shame if he just left like that, without- "Did you even notice the gargoyle sculptures on the walls of this building yet? They are a major factor in this building's value, so I recommend that you take a good look at them, before you leave."

A moment later, they stood both outside underneath one of the gargoyles. Malleus pointed at the gargoyle and made a comment about its magnificent design.

"Wow! It looks amazing!", said Ace, "-is what I might say, if I could see it. But I don't have super night vision, I just see pitch black darkness."

"Oh. I see, it is very clouded tonight. Perhaps we should try this again in a clearer night, a rendezvous under the moonlight, when stars light up the sky", proposed Malleus.

Ace chuckled: "Corny much?"

Malleus looked at the human in astonishment. Speaking in such a light-hearted manner and such a brash comment - he was teasing him!

Before Malleus came up with an appropriate answer for his quip, Ace added: "Sounds fun enough, though. I'm up for it."

Malleus had to chuckle himself at the bizarreness of this encounter: "You are a truly peculiar human", he told Ace.

"Peculiar, you say? Riddle and his followers prefer problematic to describe me, so thanks, I guess", said Ace. "You're way different from the rumours, in a good way. See ya!"

With that said, Ace made a short, casual waving gesture and walked away, in the direction of the greenhouse.

Malleus watched his new acquaintance retreat with a small fond smile on his lips. Then he teleported in front of the Heartslabyul dorm mansion. It was time to give Rosehearts some advice, housewarden to housewarden.