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twstfanblog · 8 months

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*~It's Okay~*

AN: Well this took me a while. And it's because I started writing Diasomnia almost immediately and that's already half done before I even managed to finish this part XD So that should be done in the coming few days!

Word Count: 5.9K

Warnings: Talk of mental illness. Brief Creepy Neige. Swears. She/They Yuu OC.

Pairings: Alluded to Riddle/Floyd

Enjoy~!

Starter, Part 1(Pomefiore), Part 2 (Here), Part 3 (Diasomnia)

Riddle lived his life by a guideline of very strict rules. Rules he’s learned to live with since he was a child, no matter how they made his insides clench or how unfair they seemed. He learned to deal with the growing loneliness, the growing anger at and from himself, how hard it was for Trey to even talk to him some days…the nights where he could only just cry himself to sleep and wake up the next day to do it all over again.

He’s also learned to make amendments to those rules (Sure it took a mental and emotional breakdown, but he learned to compromise). Little gaps in the guidelines that he’s had to extensively think over to make them more ‘fair’ without making the rule obsolete. Cater told him with the new system, Riddle still ruled with an iron fist, but the hold wasn’t as much of a death sentence as before. And Riddle wondered just how far he had slipped into tyrannical madness to realize only then how good that made him feel.

Things were better in Heartslaybul, rules were rules of course. But, sometimes people preferred honey over sugar cubes, and that was okay. Some rules were flexible and it was okay to bend them if it kept his dorm from cracking like an egg. Riddle could learn to bend a bit more and he had.

But one thing he refused to allow was someone in the bed with him whom he didn’t invite. It wasn’t even a rule, simply a preference, but it was a very strong preference. It was enough to put Floyd Leech on his ‘shit list’ since their first year together (The EelMer still hadn’t explained why he was not only in his bed but how the hell he broke into their dorm after hours). He simply did not like waking up to some unknown person being under the sheets with him. It directly ruined the experience of waking up if he panicked the second he did it.

So ripping the sheets away from the body next to him in panic, he could only sigh and pull a face at the beastman next to him. Chenya gave him just as dirty a look, hair messier than normal and only half-dressed. Riddle glared at the cat beastmen before grabbing his pillow and slamming it on his half-awake friend, “When?”

Chenya huffed, a yawn almost slipping into a growl when he closed his mouth. He rolled over, grabbing the pillow from Riddle’s hands and snuggling into it, “Around midnight…Neige got back really late and by the Seven, I wasn’t dealing with it…”

Roommate discourse, a common reason for Chenya to abscond from Royal Sword. Riddle would allow only this once, like he’s allowed it ‘only once’ over a hundred times before.

He yawns, moving himself off the bed and gathering up his outfit for the day. Glancing back at the bed he raised an eyebrow, “Do you have your medication or do I need Trey to bring your emergency ones?”

“...Shit, knew I forgot something…”

Riddle sighed and shook his head, walking toward his ensuite, “My phone is on the bedside table, just text Trey and he’ll bring them up with some food. Are you staying all day? The campus is open to visitors after all.”

Seeing how he wasn’t going to get more sleep, Chenya yawned and stretched, starfishing onto the bed, “Ok…I’ll see you and Trey at lunch for tea and talk. I got so much to rant about…” He barely notices Riddle’s nod before he reaches for the redhead’s phone, sending a quick message to his other friend. Chenya then curled into his friend’s blankets, not falling back asleep, but simply trying to stay present in the rose and paper-scented sheets.

Chenya wasn’t ever sure if getting his signature spell so young was a blessing or a curse. Disappearing seemed fun to the other kids, and it was. He loved popping in and out of view to scare people. But when he stopped being sure if he was even there, when he wasn’t sure if he was seeing something from a place he went to when he disappeared, it got scary. The doctor told his mom that his signature spell may have jump-started his supposed to be teenage psychosis. It was a hereditary trait in his family, ‘Pinker’s were a bunch of psychos’ his dad would joke.

But, because this was sadly a common trait in his family, he got support and help the second the doctor gave the diagnosis. He’s been taking medication ever since and he’s been very lucky to keep his daffy sanity. Sure, he still had moments where he wasn’t sure of where he was or what he was even hoping to do. But familiar things helped, so he covered himself in them. Every last stupid little trinket and patch he and Trey got from coin machines. All the plain black hair clips Riddle would toss out his window when he saw him walk by and his mother wasn’t watching him. Sure it looked silly, but he was silly and that was okay.

Chenya always had fun on the Night Raven campus. The second anyone saw him, it was like a primal switch flipped and they needed to try to kill him. It was hilarious disappearing and watching them run right by him. It was even more fun watching one of the first years he had seen last year with his family. The older guy with him may as well be a copy-and-paste but enlarged. They even made the same face when they yelled at him, pointing him out as a ‘Royal Sword Punk’. The woman with brown hair yelled at them, stating she raised them better than to point and yell in public, but they had already rilled up the surrounding students. Chenya laughed and disappeared around the corner, deciding he had enough fun with the students and slipped back into Heartslaybul via the mirror.

He kept up his spell, smiling at all of the excited students showing off the newly enlarged dorm to their family or friends. He even saw a stray Royal Sword classmate being toured around, oh he wondered if they were gonna get jumped by the end of the day. That’d be hilarious. Walking back into Riddle’s room, he snickers at the uniform hanging up neatly from the canopy frame. Chenya had no issue with wearing the same clothes twice in two days, but Riddle surely did and Trey never seemed too fond of it either. The Heartslabyul uniform would also keep anyone from chasing him, didn’t want to be late for tea after all. That’d be quite rude.

He hummed under his breath, fiddling with the half-painted rose on his lapel, sending a wink at one RSA student who recognized him and stared at him bewildered. Walking to the center of the rose maze, whistling a jaunty tune, perking up to see Trey and Riddle waiting with tea and sweets, “I meow-de it!”

Riddle huffed, glaring at Chenya and slipping Trey a single Madol bill. Trey smiled toward him, “Hey, Chenya. Feeling better from this morning?”

“...What was that?”

Trey chuckles, slipping the Madol into his wallet while Riddle grumbles into his tea, “Just a little bet I made with Riddle.”

“Well, forgive me for thinking he’d be able to hold back a pun for 5 minutes…”

Chenya sits down, joining Trey in laughing at Riddle, “That was a bad bet, Queenie. I need to pun to stray alive.” He holds his cup up as Riddle gestures to pour the tea for him, “So, status repurrt lads.”

Riddle groans, making peace with the incoming puns yet to be spoken, “Everyone seems very excited with the new changes, I was even able to get Crowley to update and expand the hedgehog and flamingo enclosures. Not to mention with the construction we were able to shift around the maze for a little variety come the school year. We’ve even sectioned off a part farther in the maze to grow flowers other than roses.”

“Huh…that explains how I nearly got lost…” Chenya waved Riddle’s worried glance off, grabbing one of the ‘Eat Me’ cookies, “But you told me all that already. You and Cater have kept me very up to date on everything going on since I wasn’t allowed to visit.”

Trey hummed, “In our defense. We were afraid you would get hit during construction trying to sneak in. Also, you and Cater talk?”

“Cater talks to everyone it seems.” Riddle mumbles, looking to the side with what Chenya could only call a pout.

“True…”

Chenya lets out a groan that slides into a yowl, “Come on! I wanna spill tea, not re-mew stuff you guys told me already.”

“Penelope had her litter. We haven’t told you that yet have we?”

“That’s not- wait, really?” Chenya was instantly invested, Penelope was one of his favorite hedgehogs. She was a delightful shade of plum and knew how to roll in a perfect spiral, “Please tell me one was purple.”

“Yep.” Trey cut at the strawberry tart, making sure Riddle was given the first piece as he preferred, “And her name is Mewple.”

Chenya squeals, drumming his hands against the table in excitement, “Please! Please, I gotta see the baby girl before I go!”

“Of course, Chenya. No need to yell, Riddle already named you godfather-”

“Don’t phrase it like that!”

“Aw~. Riddles~!”

Riddle glares at the beastman, cheeks flushing in a mixture of rage and embarrassment, “It’s merely the fact Crowley has given me permission to take a number of the hedgehogs when I graduate. It only makes sense I would bring my favorites…”

“You have favorites?” Trey questions, smiling teasingly at Riddle.

“...No.”

After a brief laugh session, Chenya leaned his upper body onto the table, ignoring Riddle huffing at him ‘breaking the rules’, ”But anyway, tea. How’s your boyfriend Riddle?”

“Floyd is not my boyfriend!”

“He didn’t say his name, Riddle.”

“Shush.”

Chechnya smiles, sipping at his tea, “Well, that answers cat. But I want mews! I want dirt! Tell me something I don’t know~.”

Riddle sighed, shaking his head while Trey thought to himself.

“Well, Riddle and Yuu almost got into another fistfight over tea…”

“I have never engaged in fisticuffs with that child and you know it, Trey. Plus that isn’t at all what happened.”

“Wait, why? Aren’t you two friends meow? I know she doesn’t like tea but you two spent like a whole week trying flavors out with Kalim, didn’t you?”

Trey snickers, “So about that, it happened after that week and during an unbirthday party…”

The garden had unsurprisingly been the first part of Heartslabyul that was fixed. It acted as a safe haven for the students during more construction noise and allowed them to have their unbirthday parties. At the main table, Yuu sat with the core Heartslabyul crew, quietly stirring their tea as the others chatted and Grim walked the table for treats and banter.

Deuce noticed their quiet nature, asking them if they were okay with a slight nudge under the table.

“...You know…I never really noticed that you make tea with hot water for a reason.”

…

Cater closes his eyes, putting his phone down and reaching over to put his hand over Yuu’s. He took a shuttering breath, as though to gather strength, “Yuu-Chan, sweetie…Have you been making tea with cold water?”

“Yeah? I always thought tea was made hot because it just made the water tea-ify faster.” She sips at the tea, making a face before adding another sugar cube to what could only be hot syrup at this point, “Didn’t think it was the proper process or something…”

Ace leans onto the table, staring at Yuu with a pinched face, “What, are you too impatient to microwave some water for three minutes?”

Yuu opened their mouth to remind him that they didn’t drink tea until it was their only option to drink. Instead, Trey put down his own cup of tea with a muted ‘Clack’, resting the bottom of his face in his clasped hands. The 3rd year looking at Ace with a level of intensity that made the 1st year sit back in his seat nervously.

Trey moved his hands to speak, just so he was heard clearly, “Ace…Why are you putting water in the microwave to boil it…for tea?”

Deuce holds up his hand, frowning with his eyebrows creased, “Clover-Senpai, I don’t think Ace has the patience to boil water on a stove.”

“Deuce-Chan. Water takes less than a minute to boil on a stove.” Cater turned away from Yuu, looking at his underclassmen, an expression of stunned surprise on his face.

Ace scoffs, “Is your stove the sun? How does it take less than a minute?”

Trey pulled his face from his hands, tilting his head to question Ace, “How long do you think water takes to boil?”

“Like Seven minutes!?”

“Look,” Deuce’s fist bangs on the table, drawing everyone’s attention before he addressed Ace, “Just put the mug on the stove on medium heat and it takes like two minutes to boil-”

“You’re putting the whole mug on the stove?”

“I mean sometimes I use a saucepan to do it…?”

Cater was struggling to hold in his laughter, face to the sky as he willed his tears to not ruin his newly gifted sponsored eyeshadow.

Trey looked at the two underclassmen, a hand over his mouth before he whispered under his breath, “How have you two survived this long?”

Cater wheezed, smacking a hand against Trey’s shoulder, “By the Seven, this is gold. I should have been recording…”

Riddle speaks, eyes wide in bewilderment at what he could only call the most frustrating conversation, “Do either of you know what a damn kettle is?”

Yuu sat back, a hand over their mouth to hide their smile as the table descended into madness.

Chechnya giggled, his own wide smile just barely hidden behind his cup, “Oh~. You’ve got your hands full with a bunch of uneducated kits, huh, Riddle?”

“I had to teach both of them how to use a proper kettle…”

“I mean in their defense, they had really good reasons why they never learned to use one…” Trey sighs.

“Mew?”

“Apparently, Ace put a teapot that was supposed to be for serving only on the stove to boil water and it exploded. Deuce’s mom forbade him from using a kettle when he was young because he managed to completely take apart their electric one…Guess he thought she meant every type of kettle.”

Riddle shakes his head, “Deuce still nearly broke our electric one by turning the dial too far.”

Trey laughs under his breath, “Well, at least they know how to make a proper cup now.”

“Ok, but why did mew and Yuu almost fight Riddle?”

“While Cater and I were trying to explain proper tea protocol to Ace and Deuce, Yuu apparently whispered to Riddle ‘This wouldn’t be an issue with coffee’.”

“They don’t even like coffee either! They just hate that I scold them for drowning their tea in cream and sugar!”

“Well, people can like their tea-”

“A simple lemon tea doesn’t need 6 lumps of sugar!”

A moment of silence passed over the table, Trey sighing and leaning back in his chair when Chenya started to snicker again.

“He’s got you there Trey~. Man, what I would give to have simple problems like you guys.”

“In what way-”

Riddle perks up, “Oh. That’s right,” His expression sombers, looking over to Chenya, “You said Neige came back and was acting strangely, more so than usual? Do you know why or would you rather not talk about him?”

“Oh by the SEVENS. I need to talk about this kid, I keep thinking I’m hallucinating half the stuff he does if I didn’t tell you guys about it.”

“So, he came back to your dorm room. What was the scenario?”

“So get this…”

Neige had been gone all day. That wasn’t anything weird or new to Chenya, Neige was usually gone for whole weekends doing model and actor business. This means Chenya either had the whole dorm suite to himself for a few blissful days. Or, Neige had lied and was going to stalk Vil Schoenheit and Chenya had to babysit the dwarves. True, they were capable of tending to themselves and even making meals unsupervised. The problem was most of them were painfully curious and just too short to be left alone.

And Chenya really didn’t mind looking out for them. It mainly was just grabbing things off high shelves so they didn’t climb each other and risk falling. Maybe having to give a few vocab definitions from their textbooks. But all in all, very cushy babysitting gig, since Neige both paid for the service and hush money.

But when 11 pm rolled around and Neige still wasn’t back, all of them were worried. The dwarves increasingly so. Chenya did his best but he was one cat-trophizing thought away from calling the police himself. Sure, Neige was some flavor of an obsessive stalker who could possibly pose a danger to the object of his affection. But what super fan wasn’t? It didn’t mean he wanted the guy to be in a ditch somewhere.

But, their metaphorical prayers were answered a little after 11 pm when Neige stumbled into the dorm room. His pink wig was nothing but a frizzy mess in his hands, his other arm braced against the closed door as he panted. He was coated in dirt, or what Chenya had hoped was dirt, clothing covered in various sweat marks and rips.

“By the seven Neige! Did you get hunted by a wild animal!?” Chenya rushed over, helping Neige to walk to his bed once he saw his roommate start to stumble, “Me-ouch…You’re a mess bud…”

Neige was panting, even when resting on the bed, managing to spare a shaky smile to calm the dwarves. He finally caught his breath, eyes slowly sliding into a thousand-yard stare, “I wish it was a wild animal…A wild animal would give up at some point. He chased me through the whole forest I think…”

Chenya looked over his shoulder, walking to the ensuite to grab their school-issued first aid kit, “Who?”

Brown eyes stared into the air, his breathing still lightly labored, “Green eyes…I can never look at green eyes ever again…”

Ok, he wasn’t going to unpack that. Kneeling on the bed, he looked over the kit. Once satisfied with the contents, he nodded and nudged Neige up from the mattress, “Go shower off all that…what I hope is mud. You reek and I gotta disinfect those cuts.”

Neige comes out from the bathroom 10 minutes later, sheepishly toweling his wet hair. He sat still, letting Chenya dab the rubbing alcohol against the open cuts. One being a long thin slice right along his cheek, as though Neige had just barely dodged something sharp at top speeds. Soon Neige was cleaned and medically tended to, his roommate was even nice enough to place cream on his skin so that it wouldn’t scar.

But, now that he was healed, Chenya and the dwarves all sat in front of him. Each of them glaring with folded arms, even Hop had a fierce frown on his face.

With a shaky laugh, Neige tilted his head, “I should explain huh?”

“You broke into Night Raven to see Vil.” Chenya wasn’t even going to beat around the bush, Neige came in looking like roadkill. His roomie was clearly out doing something to bring one of the Night Raven student’s ire. But even when Chenya was caught, he wasn’t roughed up nearly as much as Neige was. Maybe a ripped shirt, possibly a sprained ankle. Not whatever death match Neige got into with the forest floor.

“W-well, you do it all the time! And Vi is a good friend of mine, it shouldn’t be an issue to go visit him…”

“Maybe it wouldn’t be if you weren’t stalking him.” He ignores Neige shaking his head, trying to make him stop talking about his ‘activities’ in from of the dwarves. Chenya sighs, “I go there expecting to be hunted down and I can handle that. You want there like you were going on a date and come back looking like you got mauled.”

“Wish I was just mauled…”

Chenya would let Neige pass with that muttered comment. He really didn’t want to get involved in his weird going-ons, “Look, I was fine with all the time you’d take in the bathroom. But, I think you need to put the cat back in the bag and hang it up. This… ‘friendship’ you have with Vil is clearly gonna get you killed…”

Neige looked distressed, opening his mouth to plead with Chenya to not get anyone involved. Instead, the dwarves all jumped up, shouting their own disagreement about ending the relationship.

Doc stood on his chair, trying to meet Chenya in the eyes, “No! Vi and Neige need to keep being friends! How else will they be able to work toward their happily ever after!?”

“Neige has worked so hard to be where he is so he can stand by Vil’s side! To tear them apart is too cruel!” Hop wailed, holding up a nearly asleep Shelpie who could only tearily mutter ‘No, no, no’.

Chenya stood baffled as the Dwarves all gave their objections and then moved to crowd around Neige, shouting their support for Neige’s happily ever after. Stating how they always knew of Neige’s overzealous attempts to get closer to Vil, how they did their best whenever on set with him to make shoots longer by sabotaging equipment or erasing photos. How sweet they found Neige’s candle-lit altar with photos of Vil hidden under the floorboards, the one with an empty water bottle Vil had given him years ago on a movie set.

Tears of joy welled in Neige’s eyes. He dropped to his knees, bringing the dwarves into his arms and hugging them all tight, “Thank you guys so much! I never knew you supported me so much! Okay, no more secrets then, we’re gonna be a team and work together to get Vi’s love!”

The room was soon filled with multiple voices, plans of romantic outings and opportunities to ‘meet the family’. Chenya simply shook his head and walked to the door once Neige pulled out his phone to show off all the pictures he took in his infiltration, “Yeah, I’m leaving, don’t wait up.”

“Good night, Chenya! Thank you for hanging out with them!”

“What. Ever.”

“Well, to answer your question, it was Rook. Whatever happened to Neige was most likely Rook.” Trey laughs under his breath, pouring more tea for Riddle, “Even if he does like Neige, Rook is like an over-excited dog sometimes…And he’s robust enough to be a threat even when he’s placid.”

“I don’t understand how Vil hasn’t noticed he’s being stalked so heavily. One would think being near Rook so often he would be able to pinpoint anyone following him.”

Chenya groans, “I think that may be the reason he doesn’t notice Neige’s creepiness. I’ve only met that Rook guy once and he creeps Me-owt.” He sighs, leaning his chair on its back two legs, “I think being around something just makes you used to it. Like us and weird people.”

Trey laughed again, “I’m worse off then. I’ve been used to you guys since we were kids.” he blinked at the silence, looking at Chenya and Riddle. Both of them stared with blank faces, as though they were waiting for a punchline, “...Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Trey, how do I purr this…” Chenya folded his hands, resting his chin on them as he loudly hummed, showing he was thinking. He snapped his fingers, shooting double-finger guns at Trey, “You’re insanely weird, my friend.”

“I…I’m not the weird one!”

“Trey, you like teeth.”

“He’s right. Liking teeth is paw-sitively the weirdest thing, Trey.”

“Caring about my oral hygiene does not make me weirder than you two! What about Riddle’s need for rules? Chenya’s general thirst and need for chaos and discord?”

“I’m Traumatized. I get a pass to have an obsession.”

Chenya shakes his head, placing a hand over Riddle’s, “That’s not how that works, but I’m glad you’re admitting it.” He turns to Trey, his smile widening to his regular teasing expression, “And I don’t care for discord. Chaos sure, but I’m not the kinda cat whose vocation is disharmony.”

Rolling his eyes, Trey huffs, adjusting his glasses. He turned his head away, trying to hide his embarrassed flush, “There’s nothing wrong with caring about my dental health…”

Chenya snickered, leaning closer to Riddle to whisper in his ear, “Does he still use like four different brushes to clean his teeth?”

Riddle nods, whispering from behind his teacup. Grey eyes glancing at Trey as though to judge him, “He’s recently gotten acquainted with one of my equestrian club members. His father’s a dentist.”

“No!” Chenya gasped, holding a hand over his smile in a scandalized gesture.

“Indeed. It’s only a matter of time before Trey acquires a professional dentistry kit.”

“For your information, I already have one.” Trey pointedly ignored the hybrid guffaw and snort Chenya lets out, “And also, I am not the weird one. Of all I have to deal with in this dorm and with you two during summer? I’m the only sane one left.”

Rolling his eyes, Riddle turned toward Trey, “Oh, it can’t be that bad…”

“Oh really. Let me tell you then…”

Trey should have never let Yuu teach the Adeuce duo ‘Pig Latin’. Whatever ancient tongue the two were arguing was lost on most of the dorm. Riddle was somehow able to understand it perfectly, but the house warden wasn’t around to translate for him and Cater.

Leaning against the island, Cater scrolled through his phone. He whistled a low note when the shouting in the next room started to grow in volume, “Should we intervene? They’re getting pretty heated in there.”

Shaking his head Trey keeps kneading his dough, a relaxed smile on his face “Naw. Riddle says they use it to debate homework answers. Since someone teased them mercilessly about one wrong answer, now they do it in code.”

Cater looks away, only having the grace to look slightly bashful as he posed for a selfie, “I said sorry…”

Their chat continued, topics of their own homework or school news filling the kitchen. Cater was recounting a story of something that happened in the Light Music Club. The redhead barely containing his laughter, scrolling through his phone for the video he took before he was interrupted by a bellowing yell from who they could hear was Ace.

“OURYAY OM’SMAY AYAY ILFMAY!”

The silence that followed was almost lethal. Trey and Cater stood stunned, looking at each other in surprise, only to hear footsteps stomping toward them. Soon Deuce entered the kitchen, face red in fury as he grabbed a knife from the block and stormed out of the room.

Only when he was gone did Trey and Cater jump into action, fully realizing what the first year had planned, “Deuce, don’t do it!”

“Your mom is gonna be so disappointed if you kill someone, Deuce-Chan!”

“What…are you doing?” Trey looked at the scene in front of him. He tried not to glare, his face instead showing just how tired he was. His hands gripped the serving platter harder as his nerves started to rise.

Cater was suspended over the railing at the top of The Heartslabyul staircase, nearly tiled over as Ace and Deuce held onto the 3rd year’s legs. He had the nerve to smile and wave over his shoulder, “Hey Trey-Kun~ I’m trying this new photo trend. You take aerial pics from the tops of staircases. They looked so cool and our dorm has the most funky staircase of all! I’m gonna get mad likes. #TopPics #SoCool #WatchYourStep #LOL.”

“Don’t worry Clover-Senpai! We’ve got Diamond-Senpai in safe hands!” Deuce smiled, arms locked tightly over one of Cater’s legs. Ace sniffled from Cater’s other leg, trying to rub his nose onto his shoulder.

“...Okay…” Trey looked away, sighing and turning around to continue to Riddle’s room, “Just make sure you guys are safe.” A smile slowly grows on his face hearing Deuce start to ramble out promises to be responsible.

“You can trust us Clover-Senpai! Ace and me-”

ACHOO

Cater’s fading yell makes Trey drop his serving platter, ruining the tart and glassware, rushing back to the stairwell. He nearly went over the railing as well. Slamming into the metal banister, Trey looked down with wide eyes. He finally relaxed, seeing Cater on the ground floor on top of a few other 3rd years. The poor upperclassmen groaning under the impact Cater surprised them with.

The diamond redhead moaned but gave a shaky thumbs up, his phone still clutched in his hands, “I’m okay…!” His smile faded from his face as he fully slumped over, glaring at the pictures he managed to snap in his panic on the fall, “#IBetterGet100KHitsForThisShit…”

Trey looked to his side, eyes stopping at Ace wiping at his nose with his finger. The hearts redhead sniffled, looking away from Trey and Deuce’s glares, “I didn’t do it on purpose…”

The first thing Trey realized was that it was 2 am. He blinks, trying to take in his blurry surroundings. Trey put his glasses on his face, reaching blindly over to his side table and grabbing his ringing phone. Bleary eyes squinting at the contact reading ‘Jade’ before he answered the call, “Jade? It’s…very late what is this about?”

“So sorry to bother you Trey, but it’s most important that you make your way to Octavinelle. Post haste if you will.”

“...Why?”

Jade chuckled, Trey could visualize the EelMer holding his hand over his mouth, hiding his teeth, “Well, it seems we’ve acquired something of yours and Azul would like it gone before he loses any more sleep.”

“...What?”

He could hear Floyd cackling loudly in the background, being able to make out him yelling, “Come here, Goldfishie~! I wanna give you a squeeze and a kiss!”

“Get away from me, Floyd!”

“...” Trey sighed deeply, sitting up in bed and looking around for his shoes and jacket, “Why is Riddle in Octavinelle?”

“Let me check.” Jade moves away from the phone to yell after Riddle, “Riddle-San? Why are you here again?”

“Rule 124! The sink in my bathroom broke- Go away Floyd- and the faucet soaked me- DON’T YOU TOUCH ME!”

“That’s why.”

Trey could hear the smile in Jade’s voice. He closes his eyes, tilting his head back and bites back his groan, “I’m on my way. Please don’t let Floyd frisk Riddle again.”

“Well, let me go stop him then. You might want to go check on that faucet Riddle was talking about, though.” Jade hangs up, the sounds of Floyd laughing and Riddle screaming in the background clicking off instantly.

Trey sat in his seat glaring at his friends. Riddle and Chenya finding their cups of tea much more interesting. Riddle looked mildly sheepish, Chenya looked ready to burst into laughter. Though the cat beastman knew if he did he wasn’t going to be welcomed in Heartslabyul for quite some time. So he bit into his fist, taking care to not press too hard and break the skin.

“I live every day in terror from the lovable menaces I’m forced to room with. If I’m odd it’s me trying to cope with the madness around me.” Trey frowned, grabbing his own slice of lemon curd and lavender tart he had been experimenting with.

Riddle sighed. Managing to meet Trey’s eyes he nodded his head in apology, “Condolences, Trey. I also feel…overwhelmed at times with our current batch. I didn’t stop to think about how your duties plus looking after everyone was affecting you…And I was no help, yet again…” His expression fell more into sadness as he realized he wasn’t easing Trey’s predicaments as he had tried to do.

Chenya reached over, pinching the fat of Ridle’s cheek and pulling. He ignored his friend’s scolding, face turning his impressive shade of red.

“No more of that~. It’s not purr fault, your mom kinda kept you from learning empathy for your peers. We’re just glad you still turned out to be such a nice kitten!”

“...” Riddle sighed, face going back to its pale shade before he spoke in a slightly slurred tone, “Thank you, Chenya…”

“Plus~. Trey, you should rely on me more too, you know? I’m here a lot in the afternoons most days, I can help around where no one can see me. You guys just try to have a cozy repeat year~.”

Smiling, Trey shakes his head. It was a sweet sentiment. But Chenya was a 3rd year, he needed to focus on his grades and finalizing his internship, “Thanks for the offer Chenya. But, I’ve told you, 3rd years need to work on preparing for their internships. You should do the same. I and most of the other NRC 3rd years got lucky and whoever had a placements got their time extended.”

Chenya tilted his head, “I’m still a 2nd year, though?”

…

Riddle put his teacup onto the saucer, nearly breaking it from the force, eyes wide at the information, “What? How? What class did you fail?” All those hours studying and getting texts full of mind-numbing emojis about aced tests, were those all lies!?

“Nah. I just chose to repeat 2nd year after hearing you had to. I did promise we were going to do our internship together after all.”

“...” Riddle felt his face flush again, only this time in embarrassment—the promise from before their first year. Chenya had managed to meet Riddle in secret. The cat beastman told him all about his tour of Royal Sword, saddened by the fact Riddle had been accepted to Night Raven. But he did promise to make sure they were able to hang out at their internships, “You can’t just…decide to repeat a year for me…”

Chenya smiles, waving his hand and sharing a smile with Trey, “Eh~. Me and Trey had a whole plan for when we graduated. Trey would get the groundwork for a place for us and I take over his ‘Riddle Rangling’ job. The plan doesn’t work if we’re both away from you, goes against the whole thing!”

“I- plan? What plan!?”

Trey leaned on the table, his knuckles gently knocking on the side of Riddle’s head to call his attention, “You’re our friend. We’re gonna want to make sure you don’t have to go back with your mom. We’d at least offer you the choice.”

“...Trey…Chenya…”

Chenya tilted onto the back legs of his chair, smiling at himself with his eyes closed, “In my opinion. Our first plan of just burning your house down with your mom inside was way easier.”

“Chenya.”

Riddle huffed out a laugh, keeping silent as Trey and Chenya bickered about the mortality of ‘Justified Arson’. His friends were odd, he was odd. He took a sip of his tea, the faint taste of honey mixed with lemon pleasant on his tongue.

Trey smiled to himself, letting Chenya continue on about his reasonings. It hurt at times, seeing the way they were now. Happy and together sharing treats, laughing and at peace with simple conversation. Just like that day nearly ten years ago. A part of him always wondered what they’d be like if that day was never ruined. If they were all just left to be friends. But such a day didn’t exist, and his signature spell wasn’t going to ever change the bitter taste it left in his mouth.

But, they had today and plenty of tomorrows to be friends, and that made it all okay.

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst #twst riddle #riddle rosehearts #twst wonderland #chenya #twst chenya #twst trey #trey clover #riddle x floyd #heartslabyul

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marsgod · 2 years

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*＊✿❀【Ｃｒｕｓｈｅｓ~】❀✿＊*

| Info you need!

When RSA has a crush~

tbh i just really hate how empty my blog is:P

Warnings; Neige’s simpful behavior, i have actually not made it that far but i love em so imma do it

NEIGE thinks he’s being discreet, he really does, and is very surprised when anyone thinks he has a crush (“omg they’re so observant i have to step it up”, in which, it only becomes worse)

NEIGE, in my not so humble opinion cus obviously i’m right, is the exact type to give 36 bouquets and counting with sweet little notes tied to them with ribbons on them and thinks you don’t know he has a crush

You smile at him in passing? NEIGE is internally screaming with a dopey grin for the rest of the day,

god help your phone if you ever actually reciprocate cus that’s the day he hugs you with no intention of letting you go but also spams magicam and all of his friends

you’re phone is overheated and the notifications will not stop, but hey! you got a cute boyfriend that’ll be attached to your hip indefinitely!

CHE’NYA would be an unbearable little shit, he’s more discreet than Neige and for a short little while you have a frienemy type thing going?

you hate him(friendly) because he keeps spooking the crap out of you but he tells funny jokes(sometimes) and Che’nya.. does whatever Che’nya wants

anyways, his main focus is now you and he will just appear and scare the crap outta you bc why tf not and he’s bored

idk what to add nothing really changes, he eventually just stops trying to hide that he has a crush and says “i love you”

firmly believe that CHE’NYA would be the boyfriend/or just friend where you try to do anything with (for example, baking) and he will attempt to turn it into some kind of war just because he can

#i just imagine che’nya to be a more acceptable version of floyd #twst headcanons #twst x reader #rsa x reader #royal sword academy #neige leblanche #neige x reader #che’nya #chenya x reader #{..🌸writing🌸..}

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blackbutlerfandomnerddomain · 5 months

Note

I think I've put this in something before but its been a minute so, imma ask for hcs anyways

During the summer riddle is on a family cruise and is getting really tired of his mom's bs, so he's sneakily texting his bf GC all the drama

When riddles mom leave to go to the bathroom, eel Fliyd grabs riddles sleeve and pulls him into the water (he uses magic so riddle doesn't drown or anything lol)

And they swim to a beach nearby where a handful of the other bois are waiting to spend a summer break with riddle while riddles mom panics that her sun is missing

Hcs?

OKAY I love this prompt! It's so cute and PERFECT for Riddle and I made a playlist for this idea!

And I'll add onto the songs for certain ships lol!

Riddle, as mentioned, was very board out of his mind with his mother's "very important business cruise" he was forced to attend thanks to a little thing called "reputation".

Upset and tired, he fished into his jean pockets and found his cellphone and began to text to a specific contact of "Eel Breath" about the party

Curious after a few minutes he puts his phone away and watched as his mother left the dock area, leaving him alone to the sea air

Then a strange splashing sound grabs his attention

Before he could possibly process the sound he felt a pair of strong hands grab him and the cold water wrapped around his form.

Grey eyes snap open at the feeling of cold soft lips on his to see Floyd clinging to him under the ocean waves in her merform. As the merman pulls away, the dorm head was shocked to find himself breathing fine under the ocean and a small bitter flavor on his tongue.

The two swam fast across the ocean waves, Riddle stuck in awe of the view and feeling around him and the feeling of Floyd's scales across his hands

After a few minutes they made it to a island a bit far from the cruise's way and many shadows on the shore helping them up

The sun was perfect for this plan as the gang spent a whole

I'm talking plenty of fun under the sun beams even Idia and Rollo enjoyed, lots of refreshing drinks and treats to cool off to, cute romantic stuff perfect for social media and private

At one point while Riddle swam back first across the ocean in his little colorful strawberry printed swim floaty he felt the urge to look down. Once he did he was too late to catch on on Floyd swimming from under him and grabbing onto him while squeezing into the floating with him

The two laugh until they realize they're both now stuck

Idia got all creamed up from sun screen and prepped Lilia and Riddle happily with it

Rook, Floyd, Jade, Leona, Jack, and Lilia happily caught some fish and crabs for the lovers

After some hours of the beach the group head to the cars and Leona started to drive car one while Rook drove car two, both having a phone/tablet on a video call to keep to update of the rest of them as they drive

The ride was calming on Riddle's part, eyes on the window happily listening to the voices of those so important to him.

Then-

"Oh hold up I love this song!" Shouted Cater from behind Riddle's seat

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand cue Cater starting to sing along to the song on the radio, with Neige and Kalim and Lilia joining in first, then Vil and surprising the most Riddle. Then everyone besides Trey and Rollo and Leona and Jack singing along loudly at the song, some goofy others really trying, Idia didn't join in either but recorded with Azul also quiet and laughing with a silent Jade

Riddle singing to a beach hair brush was the highlight

The first stop of the after-beach fun vacation was the Shaftlands and they did in fact spent the first half of the drop by window shopping and Kalim, Leona, Malleus, and Vil spoiling Riddle and everyone else with items

Then hunger hits them all rather hard. They were ignoring it until hearing Riddle's stomach growl

They went on some voting back and forths with dietary stuff for Vil, Rollo, Jack, and certain food restriction for Jamil and Kalim, and just straight different taste in foods until Riddle sighed, "How about we find three places, different, three groups will go to the three and we come back and eat together?"

So they did just that and met at the city's center happily with verities of food of fast food to sweets to healthy stuff and even gourmet after Malleus convinced Rollo to order a fucking spaghettis set instead of a single croissant and he paid for it

As the gang chilled by the fountain and ate their meals, more cute couple happened from selfies and snuggles and shared drinks

Ace, Riddle, Idia, and Neige shared a strawberry milkshake and all the rest were just melting in love

Kalim dipped his fries in Riddle's shake and did that couple thing of feeding the other by handing it with his teeth

This

Also this happened between Chenya and Neige-

Lots of brave kisses of Riddle happened this moment with him crashing his lips onto Deuce clumsily, sneaking kisses on Jade's temple and Azul's knuckles, and of course some goofy romantic shit happened

The gang chilled at town more after eating with Cater, Neige, and Vil posting on their socials and some booze swapped across everyone thanks to Arie's daddy's card ;)

The cars were left alone during the night and Riddle, again being brave, thanked Floyd for picking him up in the back seat while everyone's busy having fun to notice the two were missing

Riddle sung this while hangout out at a beach bonfire made by everyone as the night drove to the end

Lots of cuddles and kisses swapped as he laid on the sand and towels of the well prepared Trey

The next morning they all went to Epel's family's home and pluck some apples and drank some iced tea and had apple pie and vanilla ice cream and relax

Next stop was Flur City and they also chilled and met up with Giles and Amyir who caught up on cuddles and love for the red head

They knew well Riddle's mum was going to take serious action looking for him so they bid goodbye while Riddle called his mum and said he got home safely.

But Chenya stayed until Riddle fell asleep safe and snuck out on his own

The gang, before arriving to their own vacations and schedules, sent Riddle a bunch of sweets and get well items before they left and video called him every night before the final week of break ended and Riddle was eager to hurry back to Night Raven Collage

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cupids-chamber · 1 year

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— THE CONCUBINE GAME !! ♡. Synposis ; After many months of persuading, the emperor, Y/N L/N had finally agreed to take in a select few concubines and consorts—not an official partner.. but concubines. This caused an uproar in court; however the emperor promised to choose an official partner; amongst the crowd of concubines and consorts.. Who will the emperor choose?

— Themes ; Harem / historical au , Twisted wonderland , multiple characters x reader , royalty au , includes rsa + yuuka/yuuken. ♡ . • . will contain suggestive themes.

ꕟ Notes ; I'll try to research for this but I really just want to experiment around with this, I have an idea in mind for the plot and this may go on for quite a few parts, so prepare for a long read. This isn't a smau, since phones didn't exist back then.

ꔁ Profiles ; Harem entries ; Accepted reports ; To be confirmed ; ♡

♡. chapter one

— taglist ♡ ; @corvids-treasure-box , @queerlordsimon , @treytheslay , @syl-lithy , @liris--noir , @dxmoness , @oogly-oogly , @ravenlking ,@sarah22447 , @merurishi , @gyarunie , @nerdy-simp-7120 , @love-sicklesbian , @islander-posts , @the-dumber-scaramouche , @lunavixia , @senpaiofotome , @sophiethewitch1 , @voasprofile , @dotster001 , @aviagax , @eriislost , @twst-writer , @the-fox-of-the-eclipse , @yandere-kou , @achy-boo , @deathbunnyluv , @despairingy-obsessed , @tiyoin , @mirai-in-the-headspace , @novaloptr , @rose-the-witch1 , @kazusardines , @silvery-stars-above , @aromantic-disaster , @alby-rei , @doomcandy , @shionin ,

♡ . Ask to be tagged... (If you don't see yourself up here, I cant tag you)

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beeboocutes · 8 months

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AzuRido Moriarty the Patriot AU

Riddle appears to be the most law abiding citizen out there but he’s actually one of the most wanted criminals in the Queendom

Azul is the fishiest (lmao) person on campus, possibly even in the deep sea, but is actually really useful in ways of the law/less

Both meet at NRC, they feel a connection but at the same time smth is off with the other, they go throughout the school year trying to figure each other out and their motives, and they have really skewed morals when doin so

Trey n Che’nya are Riddle’s accomplices

Jade n Floyd are there just to cause chaos

Murders do happen on the island because they’re the prime targets for Riddle and his mini crew

Azul at first didn’t want to get involved, but then I’m thinkin either Floyd and Jade get targeted OR Floyd stumbles across a private scene OR Jade gets interested and goes down to try and figure it out himself before “convincing” Azul to help him

They’re all aged up, this is a higher higher education kind of college (almost like a masters) so they will be in their twenties (with maybe some spice between the two as they try to discover concrete proof of the other)

Im used to writing in Riddle’s 3POV but I think I might just do this one as an alternating between Azul and Riddle 3POV or strictly Azul’s, not 100%

#twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #azul ashengrotto #azurido #azul x riddle #trey clover #chenya #jade leech #floyd leech #mtp au #ynm AU #I’ve been thinkin bout this for a while #haven’t really known what to do with it lmao #beebee’s thoughts

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dreamerswriter · 1 year

Text

Masquerade Last Minute Predictions (AKA Rollo is GOING DOWN!) + Updated with Part 4 Stuff

I believe this is the final part before everything goes downhill from here. Or uphill, BECAUSE HE’S GOING DOWN!

Update as of Nov 16, 2022: This is going to have reactions and thoughts because of part 4 being released. I am an idiot and assumed there were only four parts. Anything new is bold and titled “Can this still happen?” The thoughts and ideas will be bold and at the end of this as well.

But in all honesty, for someone who just joined, this is my favorite event. This has my favorite movie, references, and a good plot, my three favorite characters are the SSR characters, the amazing outfits, the setting is beautiful, and so much more.

So, just my last thoughts and what I hope happens.

Malleus punches Rollo I just imagine this 6’5 dragon prince punching the 5’9 priest. Can this still happen? Yes, but Malleus might be a prick if he did that now knowing Rollo’s past

Rollo harms the player I fricken dare you. I dare you to do something to the player. Can this still happen? Yes, but I believe it will be on accident, not on purpose like I thought.

Mallyuu moments Just give me a few more. A dance, fighting together... I just want more moments! I am a shipper! I will drink these moments! Can this still happen? Yes. Let me have this.

Rollo uses his unique magic We haven’t seen it. Unless it is setting everything on fire. Or something along the lines of “Judgement!” play on the fact he’s supposed to be a priest and the judge. Can this still happen? Yes, because I would love to see this.

Rollo awakens his overblot I think we all want this one. KH had an amazing, unique dream eater with this. As well as fantastic boss music. I can’t wait for this. Can this still happen? Unsure. This is an event that events don’t normally have, but this could change.

Somehow everyone works together I want to see Chenya and Neige come back to help the others as they get rid of the flowers. Can this still happen? Clearly no. Both are still out and are being watched by Rook and Deuce.

The people of the city are going after Rollo. Much like in the movie. There’s no way no one is going after him after all this. He literally planned a murder! Can this still happen? Unsure. I can see it, but not with too much malicious intent.

Rollo gets expelled but escapes hinting he’ll return again Personally, I want him to be a reoccurring villain of sorts. The one villain who doesn’t get redeemed. Or, maybe the one villain who is eviler than the others. I don’t think this is the last we will see of him. Can this still happen? Yes, and I’ll talk more about this at the end.

Everyone is traumatized from this and fair. Well, this is self-explanatory, but compared to the Overblots, this is a little worse. Yeah, we triggered the blots, but we NEVER triggered someone to murder us! Oh, well, Vil, I guess. Can this still happen? Everyone seems fine now, but this can change.

Trein is proud of his students (for once) I mean, at least they went BACK to help the others. Sure, it took some convincing, but they did it at the very least. And they actually didn’t cause any trouble. It was a fine culture exchange until the flowers and murder. Can this still happen? Yes, and this seems to be the case, but I can also this ending horribly.

Lilia is impressed and horrified his sons went through this Lilia is never letting them out of his site after this. Malleus almost died! His adoptive son almost lost his magic! Sebek almost lost him too! Just saying that bat dad will be extra doting on his sons. Can this still happen? Yes, comfort your sons after this!

Kalim hugs Jamil who is just tired On the one vacation Jamil gets, he almost died. That is so unfortunate but on par with this series. Kalim give him a paid vacation. Please. He needs it. Can this still happen? Jamil may not like this, but I do hope for something.

The twins are hoping Azul has a gift They do not care, but they also know Azul can handle himself if anything to go by from chapter 6. GIVE THEM A PRESENT AZUL! IT WAS THEIR BIRTHDAY! Can this still happen? Yes. Those twins will not worry. Azul is fine and acting like a tactician.

And everyone is a little scared and concerned for their friends Everyone else is just horrified. I mean... They thought this would be a fun trip. It was the opposite! It went from 0-100 in five seconds! I still called it, but regardless, yeah... Comfort them. Idia’s not leaving his room. You know, every time he leaves his room, something really bad happens... This is a sign, right? Just kidding, I love the blue-haired gamer boy. Can this still happen? Depends on the character at this point. I think this will be another Overblot situation. So, yes and no. Ok, so here is the new stuff from the event I am reacting to. If you don’t want any spoilers, please do not look.

Rollo and Idia Talking Ok, first off, a round of applause for her doing this. Rollo isn’t entirely Frollo, and I am going, to be honest, I like this a lot. Rollo is both Frollo and Quasimodo. I think that’s great. Idia knowing that Rollo lost someone important to him and is willing to help him now? Excellent. That’s what I want. I just want Idia to talk to Rollo. Let them have a conversation (Also, can someone answer this question for me, does Rollo know who Idia is? He’s the hire to the Shroud company and manages it. Everyone at the school didn’t know who Idia was, so did Rollo?)

Idia’s Position If Rollo does know that about Idia, that adds another dynamic to their relationship. It is already pointed out that Rollo lost someone important through magic. Idia’s company works on this. Idia would understand this more than ever and would also sympathize with Rollo which we see. Azul reminds Idia that Rollo’s the enemy. They have to stop him. Being an Idia stan is so great. I hope this is canon, but Idia’s going to relate and just help Rollo now.

Azul + Deuce’s Magic + Azul’s Fall I think we can agree that Idia and Azul are going to fall to Rollo. With their talks of strategy and chess, Malleus being the king piece, I believe both are not going to make it against Rollo. I think Azul will use Deuce’s magic to stand against Rollo, but he’s going to lose. Rollo is a fully powered mage right now. Malleus has to be the one to stand a chance. Azul would be able to wear Rollo down before falling himself. Idia would put up a decent fight too, but after his talk with Rollo, Rollo’s going to defeat him easily.

Malleus’ Magic If a fight breaks out, I want Malleus to win, but I want him to save Rollo. After Rollo loses, he’ll break down and fall apart. Malleus doesn’t harm him at that point. Instead, Malleus pulls Rollo to him, Idia, Azul, and Yuu. They accept him and do their best to calm him down and let him release this grief he has kept to himself.

Yuu, Malleus, or Rollo Rings the Bell Let Yuu ring the bell. I want the player to do something. Let the player ring the bell! Catching everyone by surprise!

Malleus would be poetic too. I can imagine him ringing the bell to save everyone, but I also feel like that’s cheap as well. I wouldn’t mind this though.

Rollo ringing the bell and coming to terms with what happened and that he should move on. Him ringing it would be a good idea. It is he who realizes that he must move on and not harm others.

Cater Checks Magicam That was the funniest thing I’ve seen this week. Ace wondering how his friends are doing then cutting back to Deuce WITH A TWISTED ANKLE! Ace for once, be happy you didn’t come with us!

I want one more, but it is Cater. He’s checking on Magical and is utterly stunned to then showing Trey. We all know he’s the mother of the group! I want his reaction!

We Adopt Rollo They are all horrible, little rat people (affectionate tone), so let’s just take Rollo with us. At this point, we should. Judging by what the gargoyles said he’s been alone, dealing with this grief... Again, Idia’s really fulfilling his role as the Lord of the Dead and helping people move on. I don’t know which dorm Rollo would be in, but let’s just take him with us. Crowley doesn’t get a say in this!

Feel free to add more! Rollo’s going to get a beat down, and I actually like the character. The best event ever.

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olivyh · 2 years

Text

Into Wonderland: Heartslabyul

A/N: Just a quick disclaimer- there will be lots of mistakes as I wrote this a while ago (and am too lazy to reread through ;;;) Not all of these will follow the stories they’re based off of exactly, but they’ll follow the same-ish plot. Also a repost!

Mc wakes up to the sound of panicked footsteps running towards them full force, followed by low murmuring. Before they can open their eyes, they're met with a kick to the stomach, which makes them jolt up and cry out.

"What the-" They start, wincing as they hold their hand over their ribs, which are sure to bruise in due time.

"I'm sorry!" A young boy their age scrambles to their side, large rabbit ears drooping down his back in embarrassment. The boy's face is flushed as he fusses over the person he just tripped over, pausing and frantically shuffling his hands around his checkered uniform. Hos dark blue hair is a mess, and the spade that covers one of his eyes is smudged around the edges, with some of it dragging towards the side of his head.

"I-" Mc begins, staring at the boy's ears as they perk up as he swears under his breath.

"Where is it?!" He whisper yells in a panicked frenzy.

"W-wait!" Mc calls out, standing and trying to get the boy attention. "Where am I?" He crawls around the small patch of grass that they lay in, ignoring them and patting the ground until his hand lays on a bronze pocket watch that ticks ominously. He whimpers as he stares at it.

"I-I'm late!" He yells, scrambling and running towards a path that opened in front of them.

"Wait! Late for what?!" Mc yells, chasing after the rabbit boy and swearing when they realize how fast he is compared to them. "Please! Just tell me where I am!" They chase after him, tripping and falling into a large hole in the ground.

They let out a shrill scream, closing their eyes and bracing for an impact that doesn't come. Slowly, they crack open an eye, staring at the objects that float past them.

"Seriously..." They groan. "What is this place...?" They cross their arms and huff, tapping some of the objects that hover in the air, making them spin and click. They finally hit the ground with a soft thud, making them wince as they roll over onto their side, which in reality ends up making them land on their head, which flips to put them back into their feet. They swallow down the nausea that threatens to rise, hearing a familiar voice from down the hall.

"Mr. Rabbit!" They yell, dashing through the checkered hallway when they see the familiar head of navy hair. The boy turns a corner and sprints through a door, slamming it behind him.

"Wait!" They call after him, not stopping in time and slamming their face into the door. They groan and rub their forehead, offering a weak, half-assed, annoyed sob to leave their lips. "Really! The nerve!" They huff.

They grab the handle, screaming when it sneezes as their hand makes contact. "How rude!" The door chides.

"Listen, I'm very, very sorry about grabbing your face but I desperately need to find that rabbit!" They plead. The door huffs, rolling its eyes.

"Why, if you wanted to get through there, you can just shrink!" The knob exclaims. Mc rolls their eyes, catching sight of a small tart that lay on the ground. Reading the tag, which says 'eat me', they decide to take a small bite, savoring the taste as they feel themselves shrink smaller and smaller. They yelp as they clutch the treat, dropping it in their pocket for later.

Groaning, they stand and approach the doorknob, placing their hands on their hips expectantly.

"Can I go in now?" They ask.

"You need the key! I'm locked, unfortunately..."

"No, I'm not doing this right now." They wait for the doorknob to explain what it means, then takes the opportunity to leap through it's open mouth.

Landing in a wide sea, they choke and gasp as they reach the surface, waves slamming against the side of their head. In the distance, they spot a small island. They decide to swim towards it, the waves pulling and pushing them to and from their destination. They finally land on the island, soaked to the bone and out of breath.

"Is that all you got?" A voice booms with laughter. Mc looks up to find themselves face to face with a very large, scary, muscular man on a tall rock.

"Keep going, children!" The man yells as a wave blasts the students with... wow, more animal ears, huh.

"Mister Vargas please..." One of the students groans, only to be pushed ahead by another one behind him.

"Nonsense! How else are you supposed to get this swole?!" He's met with tired groans. Mc is pushed into the circle, trying to speak with the man before being hit by another wave of water. Before they can get their feet back on solid ground, they feel a pair of cold hands pull them back into the sea.

"Hey! Wait!" They yell, fighting against their captors. The being just laughs gleefully, pulling them along the current until they get to the shore. The man throws them onto the sand roughly, making them cough and sputter.

"What-" They choke on more sand. "What the hell was that for?!"

The man- peeks out from the water, teal and black hair floating next to him as a long tail splashes behind him.

"Hm? You looked like you were having fun and I wanted to have fun too!" The man giggles again. Another head peeks out of the water, smiling ominously. Mc yelps and jolts back, hitting their head against the rock that was behind them.

"T-there's two!" They yell.

"Fufufu... of course there's two. We're twins." The quieter one comments.

"Mhm! Always have been, always wil be..." The other one laughs again, pulling at Mc's feet.

"I wonder how these work-" He mutters until they squirm out of his grasp, before his claws can dig into their skin.

"That is, unless we get eaten like those poor oysters we saw the other day-" The twin with the hair on the left side of his face comments.

The other twin groans. "That wasn't fair at all! I wanted to get to them first! We were waiting for them to grow up so they'd be more tasty! Impatient walrus..." He huffs, sinking into the water so only his downslanted eyes were staring at the human in front of them. Their golden eyes seem to glow, sending a shiver down the human's spine.

"I really, really need to go- as much as I'd like to hear about oysters." They mutter under their breath.

"Aww," The touchier twin whines. "But it was just getting interesting~"

The other twin chuckles. "Patience Floyd, they'll be back very soon."

Like hell I will, The human thinks, crawling up towards the woods that lined the shore. They walk until they find a small cottage, hearing the same rabbit yelling something.

"Mom?" The rabbit yells, running past Mc on the footpath. "Mom!" He yells again.

"There you are!" Mc tries to grab a hold of him but he ends up being too quick, making them slip and fall. They scramble to their feet and follow him into the house, praying that there's no police in this weird world.

"Mom! Where'd you go?" The boy continues to yell, walking back out the door and inspecting the garden.

Mc notices a sticky substance on their leg and they look down, jolting when they see red seeping through their light blue clothing.

"Seriously? Now?" The groan, opening their pocket and pulling out the tart, completely forgetting what it had done to them before and taking a bite. This time, they jump as they begin to grow, pushing the furniture that lay around the house out of the way as they struggle to move.

The rabbit boy in the garden turns and screams upon seeing the giant human in his house.

"Help!" He yells, running in the opposite direction. "Help! Monster!"

"Monster?!" Mc exclaims, trying to wriggle out of the house. The boy comes back not too long later, pulling behind him a small cat-raccoon looking animal with flames in his ears.

"Grim, this is the monster I was telling you about..." The boy's voice shakes, as he walks the cat through his gates.

"And I'm the monster..." They groan.

"Hmm... have you tried telling it to leave?" The cat sniffs at Mc's hand, making them twist to try to get away from it.

"No...!? What makes you think that's gonna work?!" The boy yells, fists clenched at his sides.

"Well, we could always set it on fire?" The cat suggests. The boy jumps as it lets out a breath, setting the corner of the house ablaze in a bright blue flame.

"What?! No!" The rabbit boy yells. Mc nods and tries to blow at the fire, hyperventilating a bit as the fore starts to spread dangerously close to their thigh.

"What he said! Stop!" They plead. "I just need to get back to my normal size!"

"Normal...?" The bunny boy repeats, smacking his forehead when something clicks. "You're the person I tripped over this morning!"

"Yes!" Did it really take him that long? They think bitterly. "Now please! Help me shrink again!" The boy panics, looking back to his garden. He sprints to where the carrots lay and throws them towards Mc, many of them smacking them in the fave before falling to the ground.

"Quick! Eat one of these!" The boy yells as the cat continues to fan the flames at the base of the house.

Mc does as told and shrinks, plummeting to the ground, weighed down by the carrot they're still holding. They scream, before landing in a gloved palm.

"Woah..." The boy inspects them, holding them up by their collar and shaking them off the carrot. They grumble and kick, falling flat back onto the boy's palm. "I didn't think that would actually work..."

"Oh..." Mc mumbles. "Well, thank you for that. Now, how do I go home?"

"Home?" The boy repeats, looking as if he forgot something. He yelps and almost drops Mc, making them cling to his pinky as he runs over to the cat. He casts a spell, causing a small raincloud to appear above the fire.

"Hey!" The cat growls. "I was tryin' to help ya, yanno!"

"The monster is gone!" The boy yells, running a hand through his navy blue hair in frustration. In doing so, he knocks Mc off his hand and they fall to the ground, crashing into a large puddle created by the raincloud.

"Rabbit!" They yell before going underwater, swept down the path by the small creek that had been created. "Rabb-" Their words are muffled by water as they're swept onto a small patch of dirt.

"Now what is this?" A voice calls, and Mc feels themselves be picked up by the back of their shirt once again. They yelp, swinging out of the person's grasp, before opening their eyes to see the most beautiful man they had ever seen, wearing a cape made of flower petals.

"Oh! How splendid!" Another flower grabs them from his grasp, holding them at arms length and spinning them around, making them dizzy. "A new addition to our garden!"

"Not quite- they're not much to look at," The other flower states bitterly, lips pursing into a frown.

"I think they're pretty-" Another smaller flower speaks up from behind the mean flower.

"Quiet, Epel."

"Oh! How delightful! This is so exciting!" The tallest flower continues to exclaim, grabbing Mc by the hand and twirling. "What a peculiar scent! And those petals don't look like petals at all!"

That makes the smallest boy tense. "Could they be-"

"A weed!" The beautiful man fumes, face turning a light red. "How disgraceful!"

"Mon dieu!" The man drops them on the ground with a thud. They wince as he backs away to join the other two.

"I am not a weed! I'm a human!" Mc yells. "I don't belong here at all!"

"Oh? You're the one telling us that?" The beautiful flower strides towards them. "You come down here, bringing with you a flood that destroys the careful arrangements we've been working on, then interrupt our chorus practice-" The man pauses and takes a breath, going back to his regal manner. He pushes Mc down the path.

"Gone with you!" He yells. He can hear chides and similar grumblings among the other flowers in the garden as they're pushed out of the garden. When they regain their balance and turn to face the flowers, they turn to yell at the flowers before one of them is launched at them, exploding in their face.

They stand up straight and sputter, spitting out the pollen that had exploded out of the stem arrow. "How rude!" They yell. A small voice calls out to them from the bushes. They turn to see the smaller flower, his purple hair petals poking out from the dark green leaves.

"I'm sorry about them. I think you're cool- weed or not. I know someone who can help you get back to normal, if you'd like-" Mc nods, rushing towards the boy as he explains of a caterpillar who lives not too far from the garden. They thank him and go on their way, pushing through the thick leaves, only to be met with a puff of smoke to the face.

They cough as a deep voice calls out to them. "Who are you?"

"I-I'm-" They cough out, peeking an eye open to see a man with a large fur coat and split dyed hair, lounging on a mushroom and smoking something out of a pipe. They watch in awe as the smoke forms the shapes of small dogs, yipping and jumping over one another.

"I'm Mc," They announce, and the man look at them suspiciously.

"No, who are you?"The man grumbles, taking another smoke from the pipe.

"I just answered!"

"No, you didn't, little pup." The man chides. He sighs, sitting up straighter and looking down at the scared human with a sadistic smile. "You're a human aren't you?"

"Yes! That's exactly right!" They smile, glad that someone finally understood their situation somewhat.

"You're very lost. That's unfortunate," The man gracefully falls off the mushroom, walking away from the human.

"Wait! Can't you help me?" They call out.

"Help is on the left, pup," The man calls from behind him.

"Left? There's no path here..." They search around them, twisting and craning their neck to find what the caterpillar was talking about.

The man groans in annoyance, turning dramatically and pointing his pipe towards the mushroom. "It's on the left, dear," Their mouth forms an 'o' shape as it clicks in their mind and they smile and nod, making the man's lip quirk up in a smirk. "Good doggy."

With that, the man disappears in a cloud of smoke. Mc stares at the mushroom, yanking a chunk off of it and falling flat to the ground.

"Ow..." They rub their back as they stare at it, taking a small bite. They feel themselves begin to grow again, this time to normal size. They carefully tiptoe through the garden, despite still being annoyed at the flowers for throwing them out. Despite that, they don't want to kill them. After all, the kind purple flower was with them.

They walk along the dirt path, looking around anxiously as they hear someone humming. The voice travels from side to side of the path, until it eventually lands right in their ear. They let out a yelp, jumping back as the boy next to them snickers.

"H-hey!?" They scream, covering their ears and backing away from the catboy.

"Goodbye to you too, dearie~" The boy hums, disappearing before making only his head reappear in a tall tree. His messy purple hair seems to float around him as he stares down at them with a lazy smile.

"What? Okay never mind that part I just- I really, really need to get home and so far nobody has been of any help and-"

"Hmm? Help you say?" The boy hums, tapping his feet in the air behind him.

"Yes! Please!" They exclaim. "How do I get home?!" The cat thinks for a minute, before giggling at their desperation.

"Hmm... methinks mew could find a way. That is, if mewthinks you can survive~" The cat snickers, hanging upside down off the branch.

"S-survive?!" They yelp, a chill running down their spine. "Survive what?"

"Why, the little red tyrant, of course!"

"Little red tyrant...?" Mc repeats, knitting their eyebrows.

"The Queen of Hearts, of course!" The cat howls in laughter, still dangling off the branch.

"How do I get to her?"

"To him."

"To him. Right. Respect pronouns, Mc." They mutter that last part.

"Well just follow this path~!" The cat hums, his tail pointing towards a bright path that points down behind them. "A skip and a jump and a dance later and mew'll find your way!" He giggles, using his tail to tease the human before fading away, a song disappearing on his lips as he vanishes

"Weird..." Mc utters, walking down the path the boy pointed them towards. They can hear things clicking together and loud laughter and singing from a distance. They decide to follow it and find themselves at a small tea party, housing only three people circulating around the long table.

"Happy unbirthday!" The head of the table yells gleefully, snapping a few pictures of the table. The other redhead at the table laughs loudly into his cup, dropping it and opting for a new one.

"It's always a happy unbirthday!" The boy with the heart over his eye wheezes between laughs, making the man with the hat laugh even harder, dropping the tart he'd been eating into his tea. This makes the man howl even louder, clutching his chest as his ginger hair falls out of his large tophat.

The other man at the table sits uncomfortably. Mc looks and recognizes his shaggy blue hair.

"Rabbit!" They yell. The boy sees them and smiles, waving them over. They walk over to him and sit in the seat next to him, wary about the eyes of the other two boys on them.

"I've been trying to escape from them for twenty minutes now! Riddle is going ti have my head!" He whispers in a panic. Mc nods as the other two leap over to their side.

"Is it your unbirthday as well?" The orange haired boy with a diamond under his eye asks, tilting his head and pouring them a cup of tea.

"I- unbirthday?" They ask.

"Do you really not know what an unbirthday is?" The redhead laughs, slamming his hand to his face and smudging the heart on his eye. "Dummy!"

Mc's face lights up a bright red in embarrassment, and the rabbit pats their back comfortingly.

"Be nice Ace!" He yells at the redhead, who sticks his tongue out.

"Stop being such a suck up, Deuce!"

Ignoring the other two's bickering, the ginger sits next to the human, explaining the unbirthday. "You see, the day you're born is your birthday- every other day is your unbirthday!"

"Well, then it's my unbirthday too!" Mc smiles, relaxed by the hatters comforting vibe.

"Thats such a coincidence! It's mine too! I need to tell my followers this! Smile~!" They're blinded for a second by the bright light of a camera before they go back to the two rabbit boys arguing.

"You're always late!" Ace yells at the navy haired boy, whose ears flop against his head as his face flushes a bright red.

"I wouldn't be any more if you didn't break my pocketwatch!" He yells.

"Wait- late for what?" Mc interrupts, cutting off Ace before he can make the situation worse.

"The Queen has a croquet match today!" Deuce says, sighing. "And I was supposed to introduce the opponents-"

"I need to see the Queen! The cat told me that he would help me get home!"

"Ooo this sounds like this is gonna be fun!" The hatter whistles. "Let's go! I need to see how this goes down..."

"You're brutal, Cater!" Ace laughs, drinking out of a small teapot before he grabs Mc's hand to stand and drags them out of the tea party, the other two boys following close behind. They talk about Mc's home, as well as their own experiences with the Queen.

"Oh, he's such a buzzkill!" Ace whine, rolling his eyes. "Always do this and don't do that and oh no the poor, poor rules!" He snorts and Cater laughs behind him. Deuce tries to soften the blow.

"He won't be too bad on you since you're a foreigner, I hope..." He whispers that last part, making Mc shake a bit. They stumble and get a few looks from the three other boys but carry on until they find themselves in a large rose garden.

"What is this?!" Ace yelps, and a tall man with green hair turns, tossing a paintbrush into everyone's hands.

"We're so understaffed!" The man sighs, lifting his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Normally we'd paint the roses if someone accidentally painted white, but there's nobody to help paint!"

Deuce pushes Mc towards a bush, where they paint frantically until nearly every flower is a bright red.

"I've never seen you this upset, Trey," Cater comments, finishing off a rosebush and moving to the next.

"Riddle's been on a rampage since this morning- something about a strange foreigner causing chaos in Wonderland-"

"It was chaotic to begin with!" They hiss under their breath, making Ace laugh loudly next to them. Trumpets interrupt their bickering and they all freeze, shoving the buckets into the large hedges to hide the evidence. Cater and Trey move to kneel, and Deuce pulls down Mc to do the same.

"Presenting your Majesty- the Queen of Hearts!" A card soldier announces, leading a small boy with bright red hair through the group. Mc can hear their heart pounding in their ears as he moves to inspect the bushes, making a satisfied noise when he stops just above Mc.

"Oh? And who might you be?" The boy questions. Mc bites their lip, feeling anxiety pool in their gut as he places his staff below their chin, forcing them to make eye contact with steel gray eyes. "Stand."

They do as they're told, standing to their full height. The boy picks at their posture, lightly smacking his staff against their spine and moving their hands so they're folded against the curve of their back.

"I-I'm-"

"Don't mumble!" The boy hisses, making them freeze. "And open your mouth wider!"

"I am Mc!" They enunciate, moving their jaw uncomfortably wide.

"That's better. You don't look like one of my card soldiers." He stares at them expectantly. They open and close their mouth, struggling to formulate a story to avoid telling the boy about how they were the foreigner that set him off earlier.

"Your majesty-" Trey begins. "If I may speak..."

"You may."

"They were... sheltered by the beasts in the woods and are just now meeting others." The man lies through his teeth.

"That explains the lack of manners." The boy scoffs. "Very well. In that case, I'd like for you to go against me in croquet." They look down at Ace, who shakes his head.

'Say yes!' he mouths.

"Well?"

"Yes-"

"Your Majesty." The boy cuts them off.

"Yes, your Majesty!" They almost yell. The boy smiles and pats them on the head with his staff.

He grabs a small hedgehog from a cage that a card soldier brings forth, winding it back and lightly tapping it with his staff. The hedgehog runs between the small gates, landing perfectly at the end.

When Mc goes to grab a stick, it begins to walk away from them, making them chase it. They trip over Deuce, who still kneels, and lands on Cater, knocking him over. The crowd howls in laughter, clutching their stomach as the small queen looks down at them smugly. As he walks over to retrieve the stick, Mc notices a pink and purple head of hair appear behind the bush. Before they can say anything, a white sneaker peaks out and trips the young Queen, making him fall face first on the ground.

Gasps sound from the audience as he lays there, standing up with a groan. His face turns a bright red as he glares down Mc.

"You should have caught the stick!" He fumes, fists clenched at his sides. "This is humiliating!"

"Your Majesty-" Trey intervenes.

"Off with your head!" He screams. Card soldiers grab at Mc, pulling them forward. They feel three more pairs of hands at their side, grabbing them and running away from the crowd. They stare up at their saviors.

"Ah- we're gonna be killed for this for sure!" Deuce mutters.

"Well? We can just say-" Cater pants as they turn a corner. "That we were chasing them. Easy."

They run through Wonderland, going past every structure and person they'd met along their journey. They go past the tea party, hop through the garden (almost stepping on the beautiful flower man), passing the small cat that sleeps in front of Deuce's house. They find themselves back at that fork in the road, hearing taunts from the mischievous cat. They pass through the woods and pop back out onto the beach.

"Floyd! Jade! Get them back through that door!" Deuce yells as the eels, who pop their heads out of the water.

"What's in it for us?" Floys yawns, floating on his back. They can hear the angry yelling of the Queen close behind them and they gulp.

"You can play with the Queen! He'll be here any minute!" Cater yells, shoving Mc into the water. They gasp as the cold water consumes them. They feel a stan of regret as they yell back to their newfound friends.

"Ace! Deuce! Cater!" They yell as they feel cold claws wrap around their arms.

"We'll be fine!" Deuce yells back at them. "Everything's going to be okay! Trust us!" The bunny boy nervously looks towards the shore before Mc's head is pulled under. They can feel the wind get knocked out of them as the eel holding them squeezes them tightly, and tries to ask the other to help, only to be met with chuckles.

"Okay Shrimpy! Brace for impact!" The giddier eel yells.

"What?" They try to ask, only bubbles pouring out of their mouth.

"3..." The other twin counts.

"2!" Floyd giggles.

"1!" They both laugh as Mc is flung through a door, blacking out as they hit the cold tile.

#twisted wonderland #twst into wonderland #twst #twst fanfic #twisted wonderland fanfiction #twst fanfiction #twisted wonderland fanfic #twst x reader #Heartslabyul #riddle rosehearts #deuce spade #ace trappola #chenyatwst #chenya #trey clover #cater diamond #jade leech #floyd leech

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neoninky · 1 year

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TWST Fanfic "Her Ivory Crown": Chapter 13

Ch. 13: Heads Will Roll

It was dusk and Reine felt herself shiver as she stood alone in the open space just off the main road. The breeze brushing past her felt colder than usual as she stared at her phone, awaiting a response from the number she just dialed. She had come this far. There was no point in going back. This is what the princess told herself, ignoring the itch in her throat. Her breath hitched when the call was finally answered.

"Hello, Zehn. I need to speak with you right away...face to face. Can you please meet me right now?"

Reine was too distracted by her own racing thoughts and nerves to notice that she had been followed already. A familiar floating head quickly appeared with a frown on its face as it mirrored the look of worry on his partner in crime's face. Alyssa whispered for the invisible boy to stay nearby just in case before sneaking off. Che'nya silently nodded and watched Reine's back before disappearing. Alyssa felt conflicted as she hurried back to the hub of the campus, getting frustrated as no one seemed to answer their phone. As her vice dorm leader, Alyssa Ledell followed Reine's rule to a T without question, and never did she wish to step on her toes or do anything without Reine's permission but this just felt off. Reine hadn't told her or anyone else her plans, Alyssa just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time to see Reine walking off alone from the gardens. Fortunately, Che'nya was nearby and willing to go with the younger blonde. Once Alyssa heard her speaking to Zehn, asking him to meet her, the tiny freshman felt genuine worry. She wanted to hope that Zehn Cavalier wouldn't try anything in the face of rejection, which he never took well from anyone from what she had heard, but even so, Alyssa never got a good feeling from him. Alyssa made her way back to the courtyard where a lot of the students still were but not any of the ones she was looking for. She stopped and looked around for anyone that might help her before spotting two tall, familiar boys. Normally they made her feel a bit nervous, just from their towering height alone, but now wasn't the time! Alyssa quickly made her way over to them before they could disappear.

"U-Um excuse me! Jade! Floyd!"

The twins turned and peered down at the small first-year who looked out of breath. Their grins fell a bit at seeing her look of distress. Alyssa took a breath, "Have you seen Elise? or Cowrie or Luna? I need to find them, it's important!"

Reine's eyes narrowed as Zehn entered the empty space with his posse flanking him like guards. She specifically asked that he show up alone so they could speak in private. Zehn and the boys bowed to her in greeting which she promptly ignored, feeling the itch in her throat start to grow.

"Why did you bring them along, Zehn...?"

His face was stoic as he answered calmly as the other RSA boys left his side to stand by any opening to keep anyone from getting in. Or out, perhaps, was more accurate. "Our conversations seem to keep being interrupted so I brought some security along to ensure this one does not. Pay them no mind."

Reine could feel her confidence in her decision skyrocketing. It was so like Zehn to need his boys to be his audience and or witnesses. Did he even care how uncomfortable or how threatening this all felt to her? The princess took a deep breath, determined not to waver, "I'll get right to the point then..."

Zehn noticed that she held her ring box in her hands as she said this and let a satisfied grin spread on his face, "Please do, Lady Reine. I see you've had enough time to make your decision, I'm glad we can finally put this behind us."

"I'm so glad you feel that way, Zehn," Reine's smile held a sharp edge to it as she gladly delivered the final verdict, "Because...this is not for you." The look frozen on Zehn's face would have been hilarious had the tension in the air not been so thick. The other boys tried not to stare as they felt his energy shift in spite of his calm tone.

"I...I beg your pardon, Lady Reine?"

"I said. This..." Reine opened up the box and removed the plain gold band to show him for emphasis, "Is. NOT. For you," before placing it back in the box and back into her pocket, "I have made my decision."

Reine stood tall and unmoved even as Zehn started to laugh as if this was all some childish prank on her part. He couldn't believe this for a second.

"Lady Reine...surely...surely you hear yourself? You can't be serious."

Her calm expression quickly began to turn dark. She had never looked more serious in her life. Zehn's convictions refused to let him cave even in face of his future queen's rejection and he continued more soberly, "You can't be serious...Lady Reine, we have been promised to each other since we were children!"

"I never made such a commitment," she shot back bluntly, "You gained my mother's favor and she gave you hope that perhaps I would choose you someday, constantly pushing you to the front of the line and upon me without even acknowledging ANY of my personal feelings!" Reine paused and let out a shaky breath, "Feelings that I never voiced because...because I thought I was doing the right thing. I'm sorry. That day where I choose you will never come, Mr. Cavalier."

Zehn's eye twitched as he began to process everything Reine was saying. For years his sweet princess, voice always full of kindness, demure elegance, always accepted his company, his promises, his charm, and held eyes for no one else! Now here she was, transformed into some sharp-tongued shrew, trying to cast him aside like some old glove?! Zehn's gold eyes narrowed and reflected the same venom he suddenly had in his tone.

"I see. You have your fun with that crimson brat for a couple of days and suddenly you think you can just leave me and years of planning to rot?"

Reine let out a small shriek as Zehn suddenly rushed towards her and grabbed her arm, aggressively pulling her to him, "You really think that runt is worthy to take my place? That he'll stay by your side through your rule and see your Queendom thrive?! Really? Has your judgment dulled that much since your arrival in this damned place, Lady Reine?!"

Reine tried to pull herself free from his painful grasp as she felt her fear and anger rise at the same time, "It's none of your business who I choose nor who I spend my time with! It never has been! Let go of me right now, Zehn!" Her eyes darted about, looking to the other boys surrounding them but none of them would meet her gaze.

Zehn merely tightened his grasp and he forced her closer to him, leaning in to stare her down as he spoke, "My princess, don't be an idiot...that boy isn't fit to help lead an ant farm much less an entire population of people. I ask you again, do you really think he will stay by your side? That he can give you even a fraction of what I could and have given you all these years? I've given you my entire being. Promised you that you would never be alone, in danger, in want of anything! What more could he possibly do-AHH!!"

Zehn fell back after Reine stomped on his foot with her heel and yanked herself away from him. Her face was covered in dark anger, her hands shaking, and...black ink...dripping from her lips as she coughed roughly. It began to pool at her feet, making Zehn and the others flinch and step back.

"How dare you...," Reine's voice was cold as ice, "Don't you dare insult me...I am your princess...your future QUEEN! I have made my choice and I have had enough of your insolence!"

More ink started to pool at her feet before slowly slinking up her legs, starting to dye the fabric of her uniform in darkness. Zehn's eyes widened as he called out her name, making her shriek in rage.

"BE QUIET! I am the QUEEN, you will listen...you will bow down TO ME!! BOW TO THE QUEEN!!"

The ground shuddered and cracked open as giant twisted thorned branches erupted towards the sky. The pressure from her rage and magic combined rattled their bones as the boys suddenly found themselves ensnared. Zehn quickly used his own magic to cut through the branches and free himself but still found himself immobilized at the sight before him. The pools of ink quickly surrounded Reine in a whirlpool before turning into wicked thorns that surrounded her and a large shadow that rose up behind her. The branches pulled away from Reine as the large shadow fully formed into a warped version of The Queen of Hearts...except only half of it was the Queen of Hearts. The cracked inkwell head was the only solid piece. The body seemed to be two halves stitched together like some Frankenstein-inspired monstrosity; half Queen of Hearts, half Queen of Diamonds. And in its hands stood a terrifying version of Reine: a black, spiked crown on her head, a tattered but full red and black gown covered in wicked rose and thorn patterns and blotches of black ink, the same black ink covered her arms and legs and made her lips black, and her eyes were no longer a soft violet but deep red with the left eye spouting a flame of the same color.

A wicked smile graced Reine's now mad expression as a voice warped from her own left her mouth, "Have I not done everything I was told? Have I NOT exceeded all expectations? I have won my crown, it is MINE! Do you think you can ignore it, that you can defy The Rose Queen and live to tell the tale? We shall see..."

Elise's heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest but her legs wouldn't stop running. The sky had been clear only moments before Alyssa and the twins had found her. Alyssa didn't get a chance to finish explaining when a rush of cold, hard magical energy spread into the air. The sky had grown stormy right over where Alyssa said Reine had gone. Before she could even register what she was doing, Elise told Alyssa to stay with the brothers after they found Riddle before she took off running as fast as she could. Why, why didn't Reine take someone with her?! Why didn't Elise insist on staying by her side?! Elise's mind was going a mile a minute with question after horrified, confused question.

Elsewhere in the greenhouse, Riddle Rosehearts felt a sudden sickening pulse run through him. He knew this feeling. He knew this magical pressure and it terrified him to no end. Riddle jumped to his feet as soon as he heard Alyssa's voice cry out his name.

The wall of thorns continued to rise and fall around them as Zehn and his cohorts used their magic to blast through them. Zehn steeled his nerves and kept pressing forward, trying to get through to the now unhinged princess. He wanted to save her but the only way he could stop her was by subduing her before she killed them and destroyed half of the campus around them. With one more slice of wind magic, Zehn locked eyes with the dark princess and decided then and there that he must do everything he could to knock her out...no matter the cost.

"CHEVALIER GAMBIT!!"

White-hot magic shot from Zehn's magic stone and formed a ring of white armored figures around Reine, all pointing their spears towards her. Before she could retaliate, the knights jabbed their spears all around her, trapping her in place. The princess let out a terrible scream as some of the spearheads cut the flesh on her arms and legs.

"Stay put and submit, Your Highness!" Zehn glared as each word hit her like a dagger but this only made her more furious.

"YOU CANNOT COMMAND ME!!" Reine's cry of outrage alone seemed to cause the spears holding her down to shatter as more branches stabbed into the white knights, turning them to dust, "I will destroy you, impudent welp..."

Zehn gritted his teeth and refused to back down, aiming his magic right at her once again, "Lady Reine, I said stop! Stop this now, you are out of control!"

The thorns shielded their queen with ease as she scoffed, "YOU are out of control, Mr. Cavalier. Your arrogance is disgusting. My mother grants you an inch of privilege and you use it at every opportunity you can to stomp over everyone, EVEN me! You've always treated me like some precious toy to keep all to yourself! Like some prize to not even be won but given freely to you! Now I reject you and you lash out at me, blaming me, insulting me, the Queen?! You...YOU ARE A BEAST!!" Her voice reverberated more wildly with each scream.

The branches quickly wrapped around Zehn's legs as Reine used her own magic to blast the pen from his hands. The black tendrils snaked around him and dragged him to face Reine's furious glare head-on, "And you have snapped your jaws at me for the last time, boy...I will crush you and your piss poor comrades into dust."

Zehn couldn't look away from her as her tone grew more grotesque with each word but he couldn't block out the screams of pain coming from each of the other boys behind him.

"REINE, DON'T!!"

Reine's red eyes filled with shock at the familiar voice that suddenly cried out her name. Her face turned to one full of fear and even regret when her eyes locked onto his silvery grey ones.

"R-Riddle..." her voice almost sounded normal again.

Riddle was breathing hard as he took in the scene before him. His eyes were wide with fear, his hands shaking. The beast behind Reine, his Reine that he almost didn't recognize, shook him to his core as the air froze any hint of warmth the atmosphere had before. Is this what his friends had to face when it was he who possessed by Overblot? And Reine...she had looked so furious, threatening seconds before he called out her name, and now? The princess was looking at him with absolute terror in her eyes, like a cornered wild creature. He had to act quickly before he lost her forever.

"Reine. Please. I know it's hard but please don't do this...let him go...he's not worth it."

Riddle spoke as calmly and evenly as he could as he slowly walked into the cluster of thorns, determined to make his way to his princess. The dark branches started to break apart and turn back into ink that slithered its way back to Reine, releasing Zehn and the others. The other RSA boys didn't waste time in hightailing it away from the area. Zehn fell to the ground and Riddle just stepped over him and continued forward without breaking eye contact with the still scared Reine.

"Reine, it's alright. I promise," Riddle spoke so softly as if it were just the two of them but Reine still recoiled from him. How could he be so calm? How could he face her when she had become such a gruesome thing?!

"Don't!" the ink swirled around Reine in violent splashes like a sporadic barrier, "Get away from me, Riddle!!" Her cry sounded so painful that it broke Riddle's heart. His determination, however, was steadfast as ever.

Without a hint of doubt, Riddle plunged his hand through the ink and grasped her arm, firmly but still gently. Reine let out a gasp as she looked down at his gloved hand. The swirls of ink kept hiding their faces from each other's full view but Riddle's voice was as clear and certain as the dawn, "Reine. I know you are angry and scared. I know because I've been here too...please, let me help you. Please. I'm begging you."

The ink slowly sank back into a puddle at her feet revealing Riddle's face. She could see tears prickling at the edges of his eyes but he didn't look away from her. Even though she could feel his fear trembling in his grasp, he never let go.

"Let me help you before it's too late."

Reine felt a shiver of dread as she suddenly heard Zehn's voice and her arms moved before she could say a word. She shoved Riddle out of the way seconds before another ring of white knights appeared around her and she screamed as one of the spears left gashes on her face and side. Riddle saw red as he turned to Zehn Cavalier who was back on his feet, pointing his magic pen directly at Reine. Riddle knocked him back flat on the ground with a blast from his own magic stone and stomped a foot on Zehn's dominant hand before he could grab his pen again.

"The hell do you think you are doing, Cavalier?!"

"You should be thanking me! She's gone insane and she'll destroy us all if we let-"

"You are HURTING HER, YOU BASTARD!" Riddle dug his other boot into the boy's chest, "Release her. NOW."

Zehn could only grunt in response before making his knights disappear, causing Reine to collapse. Riddle ran to catch her before she completely fell to the ground and held her close to him, whispering assurances to her. Zehn snarled and reached for his pen once more before being knocked back by a new force.

"Heart's Lyre."

Zehn yelped as his arms suddenly folded behind his back and he fell face-first at the feet of his captor. Three pairs of eyes bore into him with looks of hatred as Elise stood over him breathing heavily from all her running, "Oh no. You're not going anywhere, Mr. Cavalier...Luna, hold him tight."

The elder Cerith sister grinned menacingly down at the boy as she held glowing strings of magic between her fingers like a game of Cat's Cradle, "As you wish, Dorm Leader..." Zehn let out another yelp as Luna pulled one of the strands, making his arms pull even tighter. Elise let out a relieved exhale upon seeing Reine in Riddle's arms. At least he had made it in time, or so she hoped. Reine's breathing was becoming more ragged as Riddle held her in his arms. The shadow beast that had been lingering behind her went silent and still as Reine didn't fight against Riddle's embrace but the ink surrounding her still moved more and more as if it were agitated. Reine continued to cough which only generated more ink. The boy looked only to her and gently cradling her head to help her breathe more easily, "Reine...I think I know how I can stop all this."

Riddle actually hated this plan, knowing it would probably cause her some pain which the very thought killed him on the inside but what choice did he have? Just looking at her, the boy knew he was running out of time.

"Reine, I can use my Unique Magic to help you. I will only use it this one time then I will never use any magic against you ever again. I promise. Please just let me do this," Riddle's voice was on the edge of breaking as he pleaded with the princess in his arms. Reine looked in his face, her mind finally feeling a bit more clear. He wouldn't hurt her. He was safe. Safe. Her mind cleared even further as she recalled his voice and touch from only moments ago. Riddle didn't mean her any harm. He didn't raise his voice or hand against her. He was gentle even though he was afraid. He had always been gentle hadn't he...? Memories of their fast budding relationship seemed to put her and the sentient ink at ease. Reine gave the boy a soft nod and relaxed as much as she could in his arms. Riddle took a deep breath as he felt the energy around her already lightening and spoke in a clear voice.

"Off With Your Head."

The moment the collar latched around Reine's throat, the shadow behind her started to chip away in bits of black rose petals that eventually turned to dust. The ink started to dry up and Reine's cough started to cease. The sweetness in her voice returned as she whispered his name before falling against his chest. Riddle felt a rush of panic as he wrapped his arms around her more securely. Only when he felt her breathing return to normal did he relax and kiss her head, murmuring apology after apology after releasing her from the collar. Reine passed out just after hearing him say her name.

When did it start?

Reine had been five years old. It was after the incident with the rabbit in the garden. Her temper got the better of her. The look on her mother's face as the tiny princess wailed and cried fat tears in the middle of the garden was irritated but still somehow poised.

"Reine, stop this. This is no way for a princess to behave!"

Reine was dragged away, not by her mother, but by her servants, and put back into the nursery alone. The Queen never touched her daughter when she was angry. Affection was a reward and her mother refused to reward bad behavior. So whenever Reine was bad, she was locked in the nursery. Alone. For the rest of the day. The only interaction she would have would be with any servant that brought her meals. Even then, the servants were forbidden from speaking to the princess or giving her any sort of physical affection. Even her father, The King, was forbidden from seeing her. That was Reine's punishment for acting out of line.

The King was the one who spent the most time raising Reine as if he were the mother, not the father. So days like this really hurt him...but how could he refuse his Queen's orders?

That was my last day in the nursery...after that, I was moved to a proper room in the tower. That was the last day I ever saw any of my female cousins, the other princesses that I would be competing against in the future. That was the last day before I started to train to become Queen...

More memories floated by in the dark like an old film. The last time she saw Jasper. All the lessons. The harsh punishments for speaking out of turn. The punishments for failure. The first time she met Zehn...

She was nine. He was eleven and already debuting in her mother's court alongside his parents. He always had a serious look on his face even as a young boy. He was very intelligent, always well-spoken, and well-groomed. He was...quite boring in Reine's opinion but she couldn't say that.

Mother would be angry and punish me again...

There were a few other boys in the court but Reine was only really allowed to spend time with Zehn and his family. The other boys were deemed too rowdy or too immature to be in her presence. That's what the chaperons decided, anyway. If the princess couldn't behave then she was punished. If she couldn't perform as desired, she was punished. Always reminded that she could easily be surpassed by one of the other princesses. So she stayed right where she was placed. In lessons, in court, in the castle, under supervision at all times, at Zehn's side as they grew older...

But that's not what I wanted...I knew that, didn't I?

'There was a new boy in court today!'

Reine was fourteen, going on fifteen. She hadn't gone to court that day. She refused just to spite her mother after another argument. Reine continued to stare at her worksheets as she overheard the servants gossip about this new boy. Son of the famous Rosehearts healers, apparently. But...what did it matter? He wasn't Zehn Cavalier or an official member of the White Court so they'd probably never get to properly meet each other anyway.

....why do I feel so sad? Why does it hurt so much?

Why?

Why can't I just be happy?

The day after the Magift game. The day her mother called and refuted her desires yet again....the same mother that withheld such vital information in regards to her freedom.

She was lied to.

Reine was LIED TO. Kept from her family. Kept away from everyone except those that just wanted to keep her in the same spot her entire life!

Why can't you just tell me the truth?! WHY?! Why... Reine mumbled in her sleep as she felt dampness in her eyes. The world was blurry in both sound and vision for a moment when she finally woke up. She felt warmth surround her aching body and realized moments later she had been wrapped up in Riddle's Heartslabyul cape while still secured in his arms. The boy himself seemed to be glaring at someone else and not paying attention to her. The princess tiredly followed his gaze to see Zehn yelling at Luna to let him go from her Unique Magic's grasp while Cowrie yelled at him to shut up before kicking dirt in his face. Elise was nowhere to be seen.

"R-Riddle...?" Her voice was so raspy and weak, she was shocked that he heard her.

Immense relief washed over him as soon as Riddle saw that she was awake, "Reine! Thank the heavens, you're awake. Are you alright?"

Reine could only wince in response. Riddle gently moved to stand, carrying her in his arms bridal style, "Miss Elise went to find the Headmasters and Headmistress. I didn't want to move you until you had woken up but I'm not waiting a minute longer," Riddle turned to the sisters, "Miss Cerith and...uh Miss Cerith. I'm taking Reine to the infirmary."

"Just call us by our names, Riddy, it's less confusing," Cowrie smirked before kicking more dirt into Zehn's coughing face.

"Please look after Reine for us, Riddle. We'll tell Elise and the others what happened. And we'll keep an eye on this brute as well," Luna grinned while pulling more magical strings making the pitiful mage squeal in pain.

Riddle glared down at Zehn Cavalier one last time as he felt Reine cling to his jacket and whimper in pain, "Do your worst while you can, Luna, Cowrie. I never saw a thing."

"Yes sir," the sister chimed in unison with matching wicked grins as Riddle left them to do just that.

The next couple of hours of the night were unusual at best. Not everyone heard what actually happened but each of the dorm leaders from both Night Raven and Sacred Crown was called into Crowley's office for a joint Dorm Leader meeting about the matter. Crowley and the Headmistress were there and Alyssa was there in Reine's stead. Trey did the same for Riddle who was also absent. The situation had been explained in enough detail to cause a very understandable rush of emotions amongst the Sacred Crown girls but they were smart enough to know that look their Headmistress was currently giving them. The girls stood still as statues under their Headmistress' very serious gaze.

"Girls..." The fairy godmother began with a deep sigh, "Hopefully I don't have to explain just how serious this is and how it is to be handled with the students of your dorms should they have any questions. Given Miss Castilene's position, you understand that this is not to be openly discussed with anyone on or off of the designated campus, correct?"

"Yes Headmistress..." the girls answered.

"Good. As far as we are concerned, this never happened. Is that clear?"

The question was poised to the girls but Crowley gave the boy dorm leaders a look that said they would be operating under the same principle as well. A few of the boys had guilty looks on their faces since Overblotting seemed way less uncommon on their campus. Ahem...

Before the Headmistress could continue, Manari's hand suddenly shot up as if she were answering a classroom question. The fairy godmother took a deep breath as if she knew what was coming before acknowledging her, "Yes, Miss Ali?"

"Ok so we all agree that Reine Overblotting didn't actually happen as far as everyone outside here knows but since it did in fact happen, um, IS SHE OK?!"

The rest of the dorm leaders, both male and female, looked to the administrators, waiting for an answer. The Headmistress gave an appropriately lukewarm answer, "I assure you that Miss Castilene is in good hands. Her parents, Their Royal Majesties, have requested that she return home once she wakes up."

The girls all looked at each other, only having more questions. Manari continued at the metaphorical helm, "Ok so what does that mean? Is she going to come back? Also what about friggin' Zehn?! He kind of caused all of this! Where's HIS punishment?!"

The Headmistress threw the girl a stern look, "That is quite enough, Miss Ali. The personal affairs of the royal family are none of your or our concerns. As for Mr. Cavalier, he's been taken back to his own campus's infirmary after an encounter with a certain pair of mermaids...whom I will expect to receive notice of detention from their dorm leader." The Headmistress gave an obviously pointed look towards Elise. The Cerulamare Dorm leader simply returned it with a look of pure innocence. Crowley said nothing but glared in the general direction of his dorm leaders who seemed to find the situation amusing.

"Ok, but is she coming BACK? Because if she doesn't then, the last day of the festival is kind of pointless...?" Manari knew she was pushing her luck but she wanted answers damn it!

"Miss Ali," the Headmistress' voice suddenly grew stern, "You girls are lucky that I'm not sending you straight back to the dorm to pack up your things and leave the campus this instant! Honestly, aside from this one very serious incident, you girls have truly outdone yourselves this time!" The boys suddenly got the feeling that there was more to these girls than they were led to believe. "...Oh, just when I thought you had finally settled down, you run absolutely wild, turning this whole week into one big circus! And don't think I didn't sense you were up to something with that whole display at the Music Contest!"

All seven of the girls silently agreed not to make eye contact with Azul thus completely blowing their cover and his. Instead, they opted to just look anywhere in the room where there wasn't another living person. The Headmistress heaved a big exhausted sigh and turned to apologize to Crowley for her girls' poor behavior. The Headmaster assured her that this was nothing he hadn't dealt with before...though to be frank, Crowley rarely handled anything the boys (or ghosts, or fairies) threw at him head-on.

"Well gentlemen, I do appreciate your understanding in this matter. And thanks to the generous understanding of Her Royal Majesty, Reine's mother, the festival shall proceed as normal. She wishes that nothing seem...out of place in light of this incident."

The girls let out a relieved sigh but it was short-lived.

"Girls," the stern tone had returned, "with that said, curfew is shortened by two hours tonight and tomorrow night. That gives you enough time to gather up the rest of the girls and march back to the dorm. Get moving."

The female dorm leaders mumbled out a response of affirmation before bidding the boys and their headmaster goodnight and shuffling off to round up the rest of the Sacred Crown students. As soon as the girls and their Headmistress all left, Crowley relaxed and addressed his dorm leaders. And Trey.

"...Right. As the fair Headmistress requested, no one is to know about Her Highness' Overblot episode. Furthermore, no one needs to know about any of YOUR Overblot episodes either! Never happened!"

The boys just collectively sighed and or silently glared at their idiot Headmaster before leaving his office.

The world seemed even hazier the second time Reine woke up, still inside the infirmary. She noticed the plain gown she had been changed into and the multiple bandages on her arms and her legs. She winched a little as she tried to sit up but noticed the figure sleeping, hunched over on the side of her bed, and smiled. Reine gently ran her fingers through Riddle's red hair as he started to wake up too. He quickly shot up once he saw her smiling at him, "Reine! How are you feeling?"

The poor boy looked so tired, still in his Heartslabyul uniform which looked like it could use a little TLC as well. Though not near as much as her very rough-looking Rosabyrine one that had been flung over the bed frame. Her throat still hurt a bit so her voice was still a bit weak, "I'm ok...I think...I don't really remember..."

Reine suddenly panicked, "D-Did I hurt you? Did I hurt anyone?!"

Riddle hushed the princess and handed her a glass of water he had waiting for her, "Don't worry about that. If anything, you protected me from harm. Again. And perhaps scared the hell out of some Royal Sword brutes." he chuckled lightly. Good grief, did he feel relieved to see her back to normal. Riddle helped her lay back down and tucked her in properly before sitting back down himself. The princess gave him a tiny smile that was both happy to see him but also concerned.

"Riddle, you look so tired. You should go back to Heartslabyul and rest too. You deserve it after saving me. I do remember that part." Her laugh was weaker than normal but it still warmed his heart.

The soft pink dusted the redhead's cheeks and he gently took her hand in his and gave it a tender kiss, "I don't think I'd be able to sleep tonight. I'd be too worried about you..."

Reine gave him a pouty look before gesturing to the empty bed behind him, "Then stay here and rest. Your princess commands it...and scoot the bed closer so I can still talk to you until you fall asleep."

Riddle was never one to refuse a command from his queen or princess so why start now? He just blushed at her sudden display of authority and did as he was told. Once the bed was close enough for her liking, he proceeded to remove his gloves, jacket, and boots before getting on the bed. This was as comfortable as he could get while still being modest.

"Riddle. Earlier you said you knew how I felt when I was...well...'Overblotted' I guess? Did you mean to say that...you too?"

The boy hesitated in answering at first, half from embarrassment and half from just shame at his past self. On the other hand, the biggest reason he survived the ordeal was because of Trey and the others in Heartslabyul's support. He knew how important that was and that Reine needed it now more than ever.

"Yes. I also experienced what you did today. It was terrifying from both sides, honestly. I was scared when it happened to me because I didn't realize what was really going on at first. And I was scared today because...I thought I might lose you after finally being honest with you about everything. And seeing Cavalier hurt you like that...I couldn't stand it."

Riddle paused when he felt Reine's fingers brush against his. She had turned on her side - thankfully the uninjured one - to face him and reach out to him. "I'm so sorry that I scared you...," her voice was so soft, "I'm so happy you're ok."

Riddle did something he never did before and got up to move the nightstand between their two beds before moving his bed close enough to hers that the two beds were touching. Once he was done, he crawled back into his bed and scooted as close to the princess as he possibly could without hurting her, gently resting his head on top of hers with a sigh.

"I'm the one that should be telling you that, Reine. I never should have let you go alone. But you're still here. That's all that matters."

Reine just smiled and planted a kiss on the tiny bit of exposed skin on his neck before gently snuggling into him with a sigh. Riddle continued to talk about his own experience to put her mind at ease until they both eventually fell asleep.

A couple of hours had passed and the lovebirds were fast asleep when Jasper walked into the infirmary to see an irritated nurse on duty. The school nurse had allowed Riddle to stay once they had finished tending to Reine's wounds and changing her into a proper nightgown so she could rest easier. They had left only to return around the same time as Jasper to find the couple asleep in each other's arms. The nurse normally would never allow such behavior in their infirmary but Jasper assured them that he'd stay to make sure no mischief happened under his watch. Not that he was even remotely worried about that. He just quietly pulled up a chair and sent another update back to his uncle over his phone. The senior sighed at the blissful sight of the two of them together before adding another note to the update.

'Hey Uncle. I think Reine's going to be bringing a guest with her tomorrow...'

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