So, recently I saw and very briefly read a fic about Sebek replacing Yuu as the protag of the game.
And you know what that made me think of?
Ace replacing Yuu as the protagonist :))
The year starts the same, of course. Ace gets to NRC, Grim crashes the ceremony, but. Thereβs no Yuu. And Ace feels very, very bad about the dorm heβs been sorted into.
The first day is mostly the same as wellβAce antagonizes Grim, Grim burns a statue, they get in trouble, Deuce gets involved, the Mines.
Until Ace gets back to Heartslabyul and eats that tart.
Riddle kicks him out, as usual.
But Ace doesnβt know where to goβhe doesnβt have any friends here, he doesnβt know where to go at all.
So he wanders. Just walks around campus because, well, what else do you do when your only place to stay is violently ripped away.
Eventually, he stumbles upon Ramshackle, and when he gets inside? Thereβs Grim, shaking in fear and freezing in the drafty building. There are scorch marks on a fireplace he doesnβt know how to light, the couch heβs on is in rough condition, and the laughs in the air make Aceβs stomach curdle in faint terror.
So Ace takes pity on him. Cradles Grim in his arms like heβs a baby, tries to push away the fear and the cold and the terror at his newfound solitude.
When Ace gets to school, Grim in hand because he canβt just leave Grim alone, Deuce asks where the hell he went. Why Riddle wonβt answer, or doesnβt seem concerned that Ace doesnβt technically have anywhere to go aside from Heartslabyul, why Deuce couldnβt find him and where Grim came from.
Ace tells him, very plainly, everything he needs to know. Outlines that, though Heartslabyul is his dorm, he wonβt be attempting to return until Riddle gets over himself.
The story continues. Ace tries to apologize, the replacement tart, Riddle kicking Deuce out tooβand, truth be told, Ace only wants the collar off and to never have to associate with Riddle ever again.
The Overblot happens, of course it does. They manage to defeat Riddle, manage to get him to apologize, and.
And Ace refuses to come back to Heartslabyul.
In fact, heβs quite happy to remain in Ramshackle and ignore Riddle entirely, and Riddle feels quite terrible about that.
Crowley drags his feet accepting Aceβs request to transfer dorms, until Ace threatens to get his parents involved, and then Ace is Ramshackleβs first official student in centuries.
He gets Grim established as a familiar because Crowley wonβt accept him as a student.
They discover, eventually, that Deuce canβt really take Heartslabyul on his own without getting violent. Ace is usually there to engage in a battle of wits instead of fists, and without that, Deuce canβt do it on his own. Ace gets him transferred, too.
Riddle is horribly guilty, tries his best to indulge Deuce to make up for his treatment of him and Ace.
Deuceβs transfer into Ramshackle has Ace getting promoted to Housewarden of Ramshackle, gets them a bit more funding towards repairs because theyβre an actual dorm now.
So they start fixing themselves up, changing Ramshackle. Making friends with the ghosts. Becoming a proper dorm.
And then comes Leonaβs overblot. And then comes Jack. And then comes the rest of the story.
N e ways I donβt have any ideas for what to call this au π.