Chapter Text
Night Raven College, one of the most prestigious magic schools in the entirety of Twisted Wonderland. Residing in the North side of the Isle of Sages, only select mages with outstanding potential to be a great mage are invited. Those who are chosen by the magic mirror are picked up by the Black Carriage. There are seven dorms that each worship a historical figure with special values. Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octanivelle, Scarabia, Pomfiore, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia.
Heartslabyul is known for stiff strictness all members must abide by, having over 800 rules that have to be followed. Riddle Rosehearts, the embodiment of these values, serves as the housewarden that keeps everything in check. Riddle is infamous for his unforgiving harshness and intolerance for rule breakers. He believes the rules are always correct, and will not fail to carry out the rules written by the Queen of Hearts. Ever since Riddle became the housewarden, not a single student has failed or dropped out in the Heartslabyul dorm.
Each room is at full capacity in the twisty checkered halls. An awfully complicated dorm to navigate, anyone could easily get lost.
“ELISE! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!”
And of course, some use it to their advantage.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to try harder than that!” Snickered a platinum haired girl.
Riddle points his magical pen toward her “OFF WITH YOU’RE HEAD!”, but she mysteriously disappears.
He clenches his fist and bites his lip. “Always gone in an instant, that rulebreaker.”
It’s a wonder how she manages to live everyday at the Heartslabyul dorm in its full capacity, despite not even being a student. Her name, Elise Hatterine. Short platinum hair and light cerulean eyes reminiscent of the white rabbit. She wears a clock monocle that covers half of her face, making her appear like a boy that attends the school. Her comically large hat with loads of junk on it is the cherry on top with her appearance, and portrays her crazy and mad nature.
Elise constantly pesters Riddle, not being able to take the red-head seriously with how short and small he is. In her eyes, he’s just a tomato colored chihuahua she can’t get enough of annoying. #1 Rule-breaker is a title she’s proud to wear.
Elise laughs from her hiding space “I’m not losing my head to any 5 '3 goldfish.”
“Um, excuse me. Why are you in my room?!?!” A dark blue haired student with a spade symbol on his eye squeals.
“Oopsies, sorry about that! Thanks for letting me hide here.”
“Elise!” Riddle yells in front of the door. “I can hear you very well in there you know!”
“Looks like I gotta go~” Elise holds her magical pen out. “Rabbit hole!” she summons a portal at her feet she falls through. Every time Riddle is after her, all she has to do is use her unique magic Rabbit Hole to escape.
Riddle busts through the door. “ELISE!” He looks around for her, only to meet with the poor student scared to bits.
“Ahaha, hello Housewarden Riddle…”
“Oh, hello Deuce.” He crosses his arms. “I apologize for the door. I trust you didn’t aid her in escaping? Considering you’re a serious student?” Riddle looks sternly at Deuce.
“O-of course not!”
“Very well, thank you for your cooperation. I swear, I’m going to knock some sense into that mad girl sooner or later.” Riddle got up and left, leaving Deuce confused in his room.
Night Raven College is a chaotic school, students constantly getting in fights and stirring trouble. Something that Elise plans to add to and that Riddle has had enough of. Chaos and order go hand in hand, but never along, or will they?
Putting up with Elise certainly wasn’t fun, except, maybe for her. It was a lovely evening, the sky still painted an ideal blue. There were plans for an unbirthday party today, and of course Elise decided she would crash it. The round tables were being set up, draped with pure white cloth. Students were struggling to paint all the roses red, something Elise found thoroughly amusing to observe. Up from the high high vantage point of the Heartslabyul Dorm roof, she sat there waiting for the right opportunity to bring some lighthearted chaos to the strict dorm.
Elis reached in a large bag she was carrying around. “This is sure to make things more colorful around here!” She stuffed her arm in the bag and grabbed a handful of rainbow colored confetti. “Woohoo!” Elise exclaimed as she threw the confetti everywhere, littering the lush green rose bushes.
A piece of confetti fluttered down on Riddle’s hair. Unaware, he stands there still giving directions to the dorm members in the sake of setting the perfect unbirthday party. Hesitantly, Riddle’s close friend Trey speaks up.
“Uh Riddle?”
“What is it Trey? As you can see I am thoroughly busy directing this unbirthday party. The first years haven’t even finished painting the roses yet!” He speaks sternly with a hint of annoyance in his tone.
“Your hair”
“What about it? My hair should be in tiptop shape in accordance with my mother’s haircare instruction.”
“Riddle, there is confetti in your hair” Trey says as he adjusts his glasses, clearly expecting an angry backlash.
Riddle raises hand to feel his hair, and sure enough he was able to pick a few of the rainbow confetti pieces. He stares at his hand for a good few seconds before clenching it.
“Which imbecile thought it would be a good idea to litter the rose garden with these obnoxiously colored microplastics?!?”
The sky then begins to rain rainbow confetti. Riddle looks around to find the source, spotting Elise scattering it everywhere from the roof. He sighs and his face turns red, clearly very upset about this whole ordeal.
“Trey, I trust you with the responsibility of directing this unbirthday party as the Vice Housewarden. I’ll be back soon enough after I finish teaching her a lesson.”
“Got it.”
Riddle storms off and grabs a broom he found laying on the floor.
“Never have I ever been grateful for someone not putting things back where they belong.”
He hops on the broom, and swiftly flies up to the roof. He drops it with an attitude, making a clank noise before he whips out his magical pen.
Elise turns around at the noise. “Hey Riddle! Did you like my decorating job?-”
“OFF WITH YOU’RE HEAD”
Before she can react, Elise is met with the iconic heart shaped collar around her neck. And a not-so happy Riddle.
“Yikes, this thing is tight.”
“Does it look like I care Elise? Actually don’t answer that, I don’t have the brain cells to listen to your nonsense.”
“Well look who's rude today? I even did you a favor by lightening up the stiff air of your dorm.”
“This isn’t my dorm, it is the Queen of Heart’s. And here, I do not tolerate ANY disrespect to her majesty. Do you hear me?”
“Not really, it’s hard to hear anything you say down there at your height.”
“THAT’S IT! I’ve had enough of you!”
Riddle rapidly approaches her and grabs her by the heart shaped collar.
“Not only are you not even a student at this school, but you have the audacity to cause problems every single day! I’ve given you plenty of benevolent grace by letting you stay here like the squatter that you are, but I've had ENOUGH OF IT!”
Elise’s eyes widened, a bit shocked about how stern he is.
“But, I have to stay here.”
“Why in the world do you specifically have to stay here?”
Elise looks down, not really wanting to say her response. Riddle notices this, a rare glimpse of Elise that shows a genuine emotion.
Riddle lets go of the collar. “Fine, but under one condition”
Her eyes light up, look at him gratefully. “Really?”
Riddle sighs, he’s never been the type to make exceptions. But here we are. “Instead of causing trouble, clean up your messes. I’ll let you stay here if you work as a janitor.”
Elise smiles and grasps his hands. “ For real? You’re awesome! You’re such an intelligent, capable, and gorgeous person, so can I please get this collar removed too?”
Elise attempts to cling onto Riddle with her puppy dog eyes, but he pushes her off of him.
“Don’t push it, I still hate you with a burning passion.”
“Using the words ‘a burning passion’ to describe me makes me feel special.” She remarks.
“I’ll have you burned to a crisp if you continue with your snark comments.”
“Yeesh, you really are hard headed.”
“What did I just say?”
“I’ll make sure to eternally appreciate the chance you have given me. I’ll make it a point to not disappoint you again.” She changes her tone, imitating what it would be like if her heart was in it. But she was genuinely grateful, just unable to show it in an acceptable way.
“Very good.”
“Then can we go down to the unbirthday party and grab some strawberry tart?”
Riddle crosses his arms and smiles. A stark contrast to the constant banter between the two.
“I actually don’t disagree with you for once. That’s the only sensible thing you’ve said all day.”
And Elise learns that Riddle Rosehearts does indeed love tart. Maybe he's sweeter than she thought.