Chapter Text
o0o0o0o
Riddle hadn't meant to overhear.
He was supposed to be doing his homework, keeping up with his studies since his Mother had graciously allowed him to come along on this business trip to the coast of the Queendom of Roses.
It was a grand privilege to be able to witness the work of a prominent and elite doctor such as his Mother. Truly more than Riddle deserved – especially after his Mother had discovered him so grievously betraying her trust and eating that strawberry tart with Trey and Chenya not too long ago.
This was Riddle's chance to repent.
To prove he could be good.
No, not good.
Perfect.
After all, his Mother had told him numerous times that she did not bring him on this because he had earned the right to spend time with her. It was because Riddle had proven himself untrustworthy to be left alone. He was unable to pick proper company or be out of her sight without ruining himself further.
Desperate to not make any more mistakes, Riddle sat at the desk with his spine perfectly straight, his small legs dangling over the carpet as his tiny fingers frantically clutched the fountain pen. The heavy silence of the high-end seaside villa pressed down on him, pushing him to focus lest his unworthy thoughts stray further.
There was a clock ticking in the corner, reminding him with every tick that he only wasting more and more time.
Tick
Tick
Tick–
Suddenly, Mother's voice echoed through the villa.
"–I don't care what the local zoning board says, Hector!"
Riddle flinched. The familiar, sharp agitated screams of his Mother sliced through the closed window from the opposite balcony. He tried desperately to focus, but a part of him had been hardwired since birth to listen to her every word – to track her every breath, her every action. He was already so bad at listening to her, so it was essential he at least did that.
Don't get distracted, Riddle Rosehearts, he commanded himself, trying to control the trembling that began every time Mother's voice raised. You have only finished seventeen pages of your history report. You haven't even begun on your magical theory review. If she comes now, she'll be so disappointed–
The sound of her next words stopped him cold, eliminating every other thought.
"You will pull the medical code violations I highlighted and file the injunction immediately!" his Mother shouted into her phone, not looking in Riddle's direction. "I want Clover's Patisserie closed down by the end of the month!"
Riddle's heart stopped.
Clover Patisserie... that's Trey's family's bakery.
"They are a public health hazard," his Mother hissed, the sound of her impatiently tapping her foot echoing even from this distance. "Serving weaponized sugar to children, completely compromising my son's health, and seeking to corrupt him and every other weak-mind person around! If I have to use every connection I have to strip that family of their business license to protect my son from his own lack of discipline, I will!"
Panic, hot and blinding, surged through Riddle's chest.
The rules dictated he never interrupt adults, but he was up and running before he could even think twice. He rushed out of the room and to the balcony where she was taking her call, small hands trembling as he approached her.
"M-Mother, please don't!" Riddle begged, voice cracking with desperation. His eyes were wide with fear and growing tears as he forced himself forward. "Trey didn't do anything wrong! It was my fault! I asked for the tart, I broke the schedule! Please don't close down his bakery or reprimand his parents more, I beg you!"
His mother froze.
Dr. Rosehearts slowly lowered the telephone receiver, placing it onto the balcony railing with a deafening, deliberate click. When she turned to face him, her expression wasn't just angry.
It was furious.
"How dare you," his Mother whispered, voice dripping with ice.
Riddle knew he should stop. Should fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness. Should begin to immediately follow the procedure needed to prepare for his inevitable punishment.
But he couldn't let Trey and his family suffer even more for what he'd done! He'd take whatever extra punishments he needed to!
"Mother, please–"
SMACK
The force of the slap whipped Riddle's head to the side, the sharp, stinging crack echoing off the high villa ceilings. The impact sent him stumbling back against the edge of a velvet armchair. He bit down a cry of pain, his cheek immediately flaring with a bright, throbbing heat.
"You... ungrateful wretched child!" Mother screamed, her face contorting into a mask of pure fury and disgust as she stepped toward him. "I have sacrificed everything to engineer a perfect life, a perfect mind for you! And you stand there, weeping for a lowly, health-corrupting baker!? After I already graciously gave you a chance to repent for your rebellion before? This is even further proof that those wild, undisciplined boys and their disgusting sweets have completely rotted your mind!"
Riddle stared up at her, tears pooling down his cheeks as he clutched his burning face. The way his Mother looked now reminded him of the executioners he'd read history books about. The walls of the villa room felt like they were closing in, coming to suffocate him for yet another grievous failure.
(Why couldn't he do anything right?)
"I am cleansing your life of these distractions for your own good, Riddle," Dr. Rosehearts snapped, turning back to her phone. "Go to your room. I will decide your punishments after I finish this call you so rudely interrupted."
Riddle knew he should go.
That he shouldn't make it even worse.
But he could only think about Trey's bakery. Of the warm, sweet-smelling kitchen where Trey and his family had welcomed him in. Of how they had smiled in a way Riddle had never seen before as they handed him a strawberry tart and said he could come back any time.
But now... those smiles were going to be destroyed.
Worse, without their business, the Clover Family might not even be able to survive. Perhaps they'd become homeless, sent to the streets and unable to find work anywhere. Crying and cursing that they'd ever welcomed such an ungrateful brat like Riddle Rosehearts into their precious home.
All of it ruined.
Because of Riddle.
"Didn't you hear me!?" Mother snapped again, an even more intense fury growing in her eyes as she watched the way her son remain completely motionless. She stepped forward, her voice cutting through his panic like a blade. "You cannot even follow basic instructions now? What have I told you Riddle? Those who cannot obey the rules are worthless! The way you are now... you might as well not exist!"
You might as well not exist.
The words echoed in Riddle's mind, striking his chest like a physical blow.
But within the suffocating sense of failure and pain, there was... something else. A new thought of how he could fix this. A desperate hope to finally make things right.
He just needed to stop existing.
If Riddle eliminated the shared liability from the equation, then everything would be fine, right?
His mother would stop being unhappy.
Trey and his family could keep his bakery.
No one would ever have to suffer from Riddle and his rule-breaking ever again.
Everything would be better.
With one low bow, Riddle spun on his heel and fled from the room. His Mother didn't follow, returning to her phone call the moment that she saw that her son was finally listening to her instructions.
Riddle had to move fast. He had to fix this before she finished with whatever actions she was taking to close down Trey's Bakery.
Moving with a numb, mechanical efficiency, he walked along the hallways of the villa. He didn't encounter any servants on his way, which was fortunate because he wasn't sure what he would say or do if he did.
Bypassing the grand parlor, Riddle pushed open the heavy glass terrace doors at the back of the house. He hesitated only for a moment... then bolted straight out into the freezing evening fog.
The manicured, villa gardens quickly gave way to rough, unpolished earth as he ran blindly towards the roaring coastal cliffs just beyond the property line.
Even as Riddle began to pant with exertion, sweat covering his form, he refused to stop running... not until he had reached the edge. It was only then that he froze, staring down at the dark, violent waves crashing against the stone cliffs far below.
Riddle trembled, hands shaking as he took in the terrifying, chaotic abyss. The heavy air reeked of salt that burned his nose and throat to breathe in. The stormy skies above reflected the churning, treacherous waters below.
For a moment, Riddle wanted to turn back–
The way you are now... you might as well not exist!
As Mother's words echoed in his mind, the lingering hesitation completely evaporated from Riddle's chest.
Closing his eyes, Riddle took one final breath...
...and then threw his small body directly off the cliff. He plunged into the freezing abyss, leaving the world above forever.
The salt burned Riddle's eyes and throat as he instinctively tried to breathe, inhaling freezing salty water instead of air. The heavy fabric of his formal clothes waterlogged immediately, acting like iron weights that quickly dragged his small body down.
He flailed, his limbs growing weak and numb within seconds. The light from the surface grew smaller and smaller, his sight growing fuzzy with every watery blink.
Panic flared, but beneath it, a dark tiredness whispered to Riddle.
It told him to stop fighting. To finally rest after so long. To finally doing something right.
It's better this way.
But before Riddle could completely surrender to the darkness, the water around him suddenly shifted violently.
Through the dark, murky blue waters, a shadow darted towards him with impossible speed and precision.
Terror filled Riddle. Had a monster come to devour him? But before he could even attempt to flee, a pair of long, strangely scaly arms wrap firmly around his waist.
A gilled face pressed close to his – wide, chaotic heterochromia eyes staring into Riddle's dull blue-grey ones.
A... merman child? Riddle thought even as his lungs screamed for air. Is he going to drag me down? To ensure that someone as unworthy as me never sees the surface again?
The merboy grinned, unknown words escaping his lips–
Riddle's vision went dark.
o0o0o0o
Beneath the surface of the ocean, a ten-year-old Floyd Leech was lounging lazily inside a hidden kelp trench. His long, eel-like tail swished back and forth in a slow rhythm as he searched for something to stave off his boredom.
Technically Floyd was supposed to be in detention right now. He'd beaten up some small fry that had been poking fun at Azul again, but there was no way he'd stay someplace so annoying. Especially since Jade and Azul were off doing some sort of lame fungus research, currently holed up in their little hideout cave as they talked about potions and other nerdy stuff.
There's nothing fun, Floyd complained internally, huffing as he rolled onto his back to stare up at the surface. Wish something would happen–
SPLASH
A small, but heavy shock rippled through the water above him, shattering the ocean's quiet rhythm.
Floyd's fins instantly flared, searching for predators, but became curious when he saw what looked to be a glint of red falling fast through the water. He swam upward, his dual-colored eyes tracking the strange shape sinking down toward him.
To his shock, he realized it was a human of all things.
Not only that, but it was a child. Maybe Floyd's age or a few years younger given how tiny the land creature was.
I didn't know it could rain land fishies? Floyd thought as he got closer. And it's an itty bitty little red goldfish!
Floyd eagerly grabbed the tiny red-haired boy by his clothing, poking him excitedly. The boy's bluish-grey eyes were hazy, tiny bubbles leaving his mouth as he stared at Floyd in shock.
"Hey, hey, little red human fish!" Floyd said excitedly. "Let's play in the trenches! Or go chase some sharks!"
However, the boy didn't answer, his small body only growing more and more still.
Floyd's wide, chaotic grin suddenly faltered, his fins twitching as he remembered something Azul had said last week. He'd been lecturing Floyd from behind a thick, biology textbook, citing the parameters of land-dwellers in relation to an upcoming test.
"Humans do not possess gills, Floyd," Azul had nagged for the tenth time that day. "They absolutely cannot breathe underwater, and will die if they stay beneath the waves for too long. It's curious how such a necessary evolutionary trait skipped so much of their population, particularly since the ocean occupies the majority of our world, but it's not the only way land dwellers are incredible fragile–"
"Ah... wait, Azul said you human fishies go pop if you're underwater too long," Floyd mumbled lazily. His face twisted into a massive, disappointed pout as he thrashed his long eel tail. "Tch, so annoying."
He looked at the now motionless, little red goldfishie in his hands, growling at the stupid land-dwelling rules. Stupid oxygen. His brand-new toy was going to break before they could even play a single game!
"You can't die, Goldfishie!" Floyd declared, swimming quickly towards the surface with the boy in his arms. "Not before we play!"
Floyd cut through the freezing currents like a lethal blade, breaking through the churning surface waves and tossing the limp, shivering human boy onto a ledge of reef rocks. For some reason, that made the boy begin to suddenly cough, choking out mouthfuls of saltwater onto the rock beneath them.
"No dying," Floyd reminded, frowning as the boy shivered.
The merchild perked up at the boy shakily turned towards him, staring at the eel with hazy blue-grey eyes. The color looked just like the waters around them, making Floyd wonder if the human land fish was actually made of the sea itself, or if he'd just swallowed too much of it.
But when the boy didn't say a word, Floyd frowned again. He extended a long, webbed finger, poking at a lock of the bright red strands. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen.
Sure, that annoying Prince Rielle had red hair too, but it was just the same unremarkable shade as any old common coral littering the seabed. This Goldfishie's hair was a blazing color, a bright beacon that practically screamed at rivals to come closer – mocking any challenger brave enough to step up.
It also reminded Floyd of the glowing, molten fluid spewing from underwater volcanic vents that Jade enjoyed visiting – warning anyone who dared to come close that they'd be burned should they touch.
Of course, that only made Floyd want to get even closer.
Truly, the two hair colors weren't similar at all.
"Hmm..." Floyd hummed curiously, his wide grin returning in a split second as he tugged on the weirdly bright color in fascination. "It's red, but it's not hot? Land-dwelling fish are so weird!"
"H-Hot?" the boy wheezed out, eyes blinking in confusion. "F-Fire is hot, not... not hair? It... it makes no sense..."
Floyd pouted. "Says the land fishie that can't breathe underwater! That's so much weirder!"
"W-Wait..." The boy's ocean eyes suddenly widened, a bit of clarity returning to them. "You... you saved me?"
Floyd giggled. "Yup!"
"W-Why?"
Floyd paused, then shrugged. "I was bored!"
"B-Bored!?" the boy sputtered.
"Yeah," Floyd said easily, before grinning with his rows of sharp teeth. "And since I found you... it means you're mine now."
The human stared, but not a word came out.
Floyd's grin only sharpened.
"My Goldfishie!"