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It had started with a tea set.
The tea set collection had been in his family's possession for generations, a remnant of the Queen of Hearts, his mother once said when he had asked about it. Riddle, young as he was, although obedient and always followed his mother's rules to the best of his abilities, had been curious.
When his mother had left to check on her newest patients, he had approached it, standing on a nearby chair in order to reach the shelf that contained it. He had barely touched the lid of the kettle when the memories had flooded into his mind.
A memory of a different life, not entirely his nor similar to his own, but familiar as if he had lived it once before.
A land of wonder and oddity, and a Queen who ruled over her subjects with strict rules that never seemed to end. An unbirthday party. A trial. And a croquet game surrounded by a beautiful, sprawling garden full of red roses.
All his life, his life had only revolved around his mother and her rules.
His father was rarely, if ever, at home. And when he was actually home, it was always a matter of time before the arguments started, before the nearest items got thrown at the wall out of frustration. Before his father left again and stayed longer at his office, even longer than his previous visit.
When he got the chance to venture outside the house with his mother, the whispers of their neighbors had reached him. They talked about what a wonderful family they made, having a great future of successes ahead considering both of his parents' works. How his mother had done a great job on his upbringing. How he must be proud to have such talented and smart people as his parents.
And yet, all of those always sounded strange to him.
Because when he listened to them talk, all he could think of were the door slams his father did every time he came home, only to leave as fast as he had arrived. The constant study, study, study and nothing else, repeated every day with barely any breaks in between. Days, hours, minutes spent with his mother to better his magical ability alongside his academics.
His mother's rules were absolute. It's all that he had ever known and all that he had to follow. His life, his meals, his studies, even his future… his mother had planned all of it for him.
He should feel grateful to his mother, for doing her best to ensure he had a great future ahead. But all he felt was… choked up. Chained down by all the rules and disciplines that he had to follow.
All just to make his mother happy.
He loved his mother, he did. She was all he had, and she took care of him, cared for him. But sometimes, sometimes he also wanted to play, like other kids. Sometimes he looked outside the windows of his room and watched kids his age playing at the park, having fun with each other and their own parents, and he wondered.
Why couldn't their family be like them too? Why was having fun forbidden?
(It had been better before. At least then he had been the one that had to be obeyed, not the one forced to submit. Was this how his subjects had felt in his presence back then? With all the rules he had forced them to abide by?)
(If so, perhaps he would have to change his ways of doing things then... because that just wouldn't do.)
(It wouldn't do.)
One day, after his mother left and he had been given the time for independent study, there was the sound of something small hitting the glass of his window from the outside of his room. It started with a small, barely audible knock that was quickly followed by two more, the latter ones louder than the first.
Then, an unfamiliar voice called out to him from the other side, asking for his attention.
Riddle took a nervous glance at the door his mother had left from before slowly approaching the windows and taking a look through the transparent glass. Down below, directly outside of his house, were two boys around his age. Ones that he had seen around town and watched playing together at the park almost every day.
The two asked him to come out and play with them, saying they wanted to get to know him. They wanted to be his friends.
A Cheshire cat appearing and disappearing at will. Only there when he wanted, vanishing when his curiosity had been sated. A constant visitor to the Queen in spite of her manic, everchanging moods. The cat's wisdom was unmatched when he was willing to share it, yet despite that, he was also the maddest of them all.
Her cards were loyal only to her. Always listening to her orders, always bowing to her demands and following through with her whims. Some of them her guards, one of them her executioner, and all of them her soldiers. And among them was someone who's always by her side through all of her lifetime reigning as their Queen. Her King.
Riddle wanted to come with them, wanted to follow them. But he knew his mother. She would be mad if he left, especially if she found him not where he was supposed to be. He had never disobeyed her orders, he didn't know what his punishment would be if she found out. He couldn't risk it.
And he still had a lot of assignments left to be completed before his mother came back as well.
But they insisted.
“'Independent study' just means you can pick what to do yourself, right? My grandpa says play is a form of study too! So, come on!“
“Yeah, just play with us for a little bit. Then we will leave you alone, promise!“
But he didn't want them to leave him alone. He wanted friends too. He wanted to play. Just a little bit would be fine, right...? His mother didn't even have to know, and he would be back before she noticed he had left his room. It should be fine... right?
Their names were Chenya and Trey —the Cheshire cat and his once king— and he introduced himself to them as well when they asked for his name.
(They likely already knew. His mother was, after all, a renowned magical doctor of the Queendom, the same as his father. But they never inquired about her, only asking when it was close to the time he should be getting back. And he found that he didn't mind that at all. This unspoken agreement between them about her.)
The time he spent with them was… fun. Entertaining and enjoyable. They didn't show any signs of remembering a different life that they had once had together, despite that he couldn't help but want to meet up with them more. Hang out more. Play more with them.
The strawberry tart that had been offered to him by Trey's family had been delicious. Sweet, refreshing and tastier than he had expected it to be. He wanted more of it. It didn't have to be all the time or every single day. Just once in a while, or even only for his birthday, would be enough for him.
It would be enough.
But then, his mother found out that he had been sneaking out of his room. She found out that he had gone to play with Chenya and Trey, and ate the tarts that she had forbidden him to try. And his fun, his friendship, was over just like that. Ending as soon as it had started.
He couldn't meet them again. Not allowed to play with them and try new things with them again. Had lost the only free time he had in his schedules, his mother revoking his independent study time alongside his outside time.
And, despite the tears that were free-falling down his cheeks as he stared back at his upset mother, Riddle was... seething. A deep, bubbling fury brewing inside his chest at the unfairness of it all.
He was once a queen with subjects who followed his every demand and order. Disobedience was punished with a beheading. Lying repaid with executions. The Queen had been mad, but how could she not be when ruling over a kingdom of madness itself?
But right now, he was only a child.
A lonely, isolated child who had to follow his mother's every rule and discipline. For his own sake, his mother always said. For his future, his mother often reassured him. But was it really? Was it really for him, when he wasn't at all happy with his life?
So he bided his time.
When his mother finally allowed him back his independent study time, he stayed in his room and held himself back from glancing at his windows. Every time a knock came from the other side of the glass, he ignored the sound and continued with his studies.
(Patience was something that didn't come naturally to him. The Queen had no need for it when her subjects would always listen to her. But for this, to hang out with them again, to taste that delicious tart again, he would give it a try. He would give it his best.)
It took months of keeping his head down. Years of enduring his mother's lectures. But eventually, his way out finally came, in the form of a letter that was handed to him by his mother. An invitation letter to attend the Night Raven College.
His mother had been ecstatic at the news that he had been accepted into such a prestigious school, citing that it had been her guidance that had helped him obtain it.
She told him to study well and to remember all the rules she had laid out for him while he was there before letting him go. A lunch box filled with healthy, nutritious, and just enough food tucked neatly inside his bag, courtesy of his mother.
Riddle endured it. He hugged his mother, kissed her cheek, and bid her goodbye before stepping inside the carriage that would bring him to his new school.
He waited, and waited, and waited.
And only once his coffin had finally opened up to the sight of his new school. A place away from the Queendom of Roses, away from his house and his mother's constant gaze, did he finally relax and allow a small smile to grow on his lips.
Once the orientation had ended and every student had been sorted to each of their dormitories, the Housewarden of his new dorm, Heartslabyul, led them towards the direction of their dorm building, giving them brief information about each place they passed by as he did.
Passing through the mirror and emerging on the other side, Riddle's eyes grew wide at the sight that greeted him, the familiarity of his surroundings hitting him as he took a step towards his new dormitory.
Despite being incredibly different from his previous world, it still felt like it... it still felt like he had found his way back home.
(The Queen's world had been different from his own. It had been a world where nonsense became common sense, impossible became possible, and objects were living people. A dreamlike world full of wonder and insanity, filled to the brim with entertainment.)
A garden maze full of red and white roses, the paint not yet dry on some of them, leaving some of the petals halfway red and, for a few of them, still pure white. Asymmetrical furniture with odd shapes that didn’t quite make sense. A section of the garden dedicated only to tea parties and Unbirthday celebrations. Even a courtroom dedicated to trials on any rule-breaking.
Riddle followed after the other freshmen and their leading Housewarden as they made their tour around the dorm, his gaze wandering all over the place. From the vibrant colors of the flowers they passed by to the sprawling garden around them to the clear blue sky that hung above them.
He took them all in, as if seeing them for the first time.
And, in a way, it was.
Growing up, he had never truly had the chance to simply… observe his surroundings. Take in the view just for his enjoyment, not simply going outside to accompany his mother on one of her errands before having to go back to their house and continue with his studies.
He missed his friends from childhood. Missed tasting the sweet tart on his tongue. Missed having fun, like he had back then.
But now… he could finally do them to his heart's content. He could meet his friends again. He could find them again.
And he did.
Trey was in the same dorm as him, a year his senior, and Chenya popped up at the school every so often despite studying at their rival school, the Royal Sword Academy. And the two of them still remembered him, even after all this time.
As he issued a challenge to the current Housewarden of Heartslabyul and beat him at the duel, he couldn't help but feel the surge of happiness that flooded through him.
Because now?
He could finally do what he used to only be able to dream of, only be able to wish for. Now, he could finally do all that he had wanted before, and more.
His mother wasn't in control anymore. Not as long as he was here at the school. And Riddle was going to make it count.
He was the one in control of the rules now. The one with the authority. And this place… this dormitory… it was going to be his new Wonderland.
Even if he had to remake it into one.