Andrea's POV:
"... ie... An... die...! Andie...! Come on, wake up!"

"She's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead-"

"Deuce, will you shut up?!"

I groaned as I fluttered my eyes open, and the first people I saw were Ace, Deuce, and Grim, who all sighed in relief as they kneeled over me. "She's alive..." Deuce whispered. "Thank the Great Seven." "Andie~!" Grim sobbed. "I thought you were a goner!" "Are you okay?" Ace asked. "Wha... what happened?" I asked, still trying to regain my senses as Ace gently propped me up in a sitting position.

I was shocked at the sight of the carnage around. I looked around at the rose maze... or what was left of it. Trees had been uprooted, a number of the hedges that made up the walls had been toppled, and there were several craters in the ground from the inky Queen of Hearts trying to murder everyone with giant rose trees.

"Oh my god..." I mumbled, shocked at the damage of the rose maze, "There was this bright light that came out of that puddle of blot," said Ace as I turn to face him. "Then you and Riddle came out of it." I gasped silently as I looked around. "Where is Riddle?! Is he okay?!" "What?" asked Ace in disbelief. "You're seriously more worried about him after what he did?!"

I look at Ace and said, "Ace, that doesn't matter! Right now, I gotta know if he's ok!" "Riddle's over there," said Deuce as he pointed his thumb over at Riddle, who was being held by a kneeling Trey. Cater and Crowley were standing behind him, also looking him over. At that moment, Riddle groaned as he also began to regain consciousness.

"Riddle, are you alright?" Trey asked. "T... Trey...?" Riddle asked, weakly. "He's finally awake." Ace said, as he and Deuce helped me to my feet and slowly walked towards Riddle, "For real, we were agonizing over whether you'd wake up or not..." Cater sighs, he then turns to me and said, "Thank the Queen of Hearts you're ok too, Andie-chan. We were worried sick about you when those weird inky tentacles dragged you into that blot puddle."

"Yeah, we're going to have you get checked out to make sure the blot ink didn't affect you, Andie-san." Deuce said, remembering what Cater and Trey said earlier about the blot ink. Riddle huffs twice as he looks around with widen eyes of horror at the destruction, he caused during his rampage of his overblot. "...What... did I..." "I'm so glad. They both came back to their senses." Crowley said in relief, "Don't worry about the garden right now, Riddle, just try to rest." Trey said gently as he gently patted Riddle's shoulder, much to Ace's dismay.

"Oh, come on! This whole mess started because everyone kept coddling him like that! There's no point in trying to sugarcoat it: the entire rose maze is a total dumpster fire and we've all had the tar beat out of us!" Ace pointed out, angrily, he then gestured to the devastated garden. "I mean, look at this! You think this is a joke?!" "No joke, that is messed up." Deuce agreed, "Seriously, I don't understand why you humans bottled up your stress like that," Grim commented, "It's better to let it out than keep it in so something like this doesn't happen."

I stared down at Riddle, who stared back at me before he cast his eyes to the ground. Right now, I see him just as I did in his memories: a sad, scared little boy who was just lost and alone. I wonder if he actually remembered what they talked about within his subconscious mind in the blot inky puddle. Suddenly, Riddle sniffled, causing everyone to look at him.

"Riddle... are you ok?" I asked softly, as I slowly and carefully sat next to Riddle, wincing from how sore my injured body is. "...I... I really wanted to eat it..." Riddle muttered, "Eat what, Riddle?" Trey inquired. "...I... I actually wanted to eat that chestnut tart you made," Riddle admitted, causing his friend's eyes to widen. Ace blinked in confusion, completely baffled at what he just said. "Huh?" "It actually did look very good... and I felt very bad for ruining it..." He then sniffled, again, as tears began to well up in his eyes, once more. "I... I don't care if the roses are red or not... or what colors the flamingos are... I don't even care what you wear if you feed them...!" He sniffled again as he wiped his eyes, once more, but the tears just kept falling. 

"I... I actually prefer to have honey in my tea more than sugar... and I like milk tea more than lemon tea! And... I don't care about how long we sit during lunch or any kind of meal!" "I... I want to sit and chat with everyone while we eat!" "Riddle...?" Trey whispered in disbelief, "But, most of all... I really wanted to play with you and Che'nya, again, Trey!" Riddle admitted, his tears falling at full force. I felt my heart breaking into pieces when Riddle finally confessed and slowly starting to come out of his shell.

I slowly lifted my arms to wrap around Riddle, pulling him away from Trey and into a hug, knowing he's about to burst. "It's ok Riddle, it's ok." I softly said, "Let it out... Let it all out... Everything's gonna be ok..." I felt him wrapping his arms around me tightly and he began sobbing heavily on my shoulder. But I didn't care about my shoulder getting wet by his tears as I lay my head on top his head and close my eyes as he continues to wail.

"Man... I never thought I'd see the day our dorm leader would be bawling like a baby right in front of me," Cater whispered, his face filled with shock at seeing Riddle's vulnerability for the first time. "Oh, come on. Knock it off already! If you think a few crocodile tears are gonna be enough to make me let you off the hook, you're wrong!" Ace snapped but quickly shuts up when he saw me glaring at him. "You really don't know when to read the room, can you?" Deuce said with a sigh as he shakes his head at Ace.

"...I'm sorry, too." Trey apologized with guilt, as he gently places his hand on Riddle's back as Riddle slightly pulls away from the hug, but still grasping my arms. This made me smile, knowing Trey's taking my advice from the library and manning up to tell Riddle the truth and not holding back anymore. "I knew how much you were suffering but I turned a blind eye to it and said nothing. Well, not anymore." He looked Riddle in the eye, his tone firm but gentle. "Riddle, the way you've been doing things is wrong. You owe everyone a proper apology." Riddle hiccupped and sniffled as he wiped his eyes.

"I... I'm sorry," Riddle whimpered. "I'm so, so sorry, everyone." He turns towards me with remorseful eyes, "I'm... I'm really sorry, Andrea. I'm so sorry for what I said... I shouldn't have said those cruel things to you... I'm sorry!" He apologized, choking on his tears. I gave him a gentle smile and softly said as I wiped his tears away, "It's ok, Riddle. I forgive you. And I'm sorry for punching you in the face and got mad at you and shouted at you. That was uncalled for," Riddle suddenly tackled me into another hug, making me almost lose my balance as he sobbed quietly. I gently hugged him back, rubbing his back as I ran my fingers through his red hair as he sighs softly from all the crying and relaxed against me.

Nobody said anything for a moment until finally, Ace broke the silence. "Ya know, I've been asking myself what I would say to you if we ever got an actual apology from you, and I kept drawin' a blank. But now that we've got one..." Ace said, but what he said next completely kills the mood. "ONE MEASLY APOLOGY ISN'T ENOUGH TO FIX THIS MESS! DON'T THINK I'M GONNA FORGIVE YOU JUST LIKE THAT!!!" Ace boomed, causing everyone to jump. Even Riddle was gobsmacked by his outburst. "Ace, what the fuck?!" I said, glaring at him.

"Eeeeeeh!? You're going to say that right now?!" Cater shrilled, I created a snowball that has dull-pointed icicles on it, surprising Riddle, and threw it at Ace as hard as I can while still hugging Riddle. "Ow! Andie! What the hell?!" Ace whines, rubbing on the spot I hit on his head while glaring at me. "Hey! You deserved it! Riddle's been through enough already! Give him a break!" I yelled while glaring at him, pulling Riddle closer to me. 

"Give him a break!? Are you kidding me, Andie!?" Ace said angrily, glaring back at me, "This little punk gave me hell for the past few days! First, he puts a magic-sealing collar on my neck for eating a stupid tart! Then we practically break our backs to make him a whole new one, including you!! Then, after all that hard work, he threw out the stupid thing and kicks me out, again!! Not to mention he tried to kill us, and we all could have died from that overblot attack, thanks to that temper tantrum he threw!!! There's no way he's getting off THAT easily!!"

"Sheesh, this guy holds a grudge worse than I do," Grim remarks. "And that's saying a lot." I said at Grim, "Hey!" Grim shouted at me. Riddle sniffled again, "But then... what I supposed to do?" asked Riddle as he wiped his eyes, Ace looked at Riddle's tear-stained face, his harshness in his eyes softening just a bit and said, "... My birthday isn't for a while." I raised an eyebrow at him, where is he getting at? Deuce seemed to read my mind as he asked confused, "Where are you going with this, Ace?" 

"So I demand we have a do-over Unbirthday Party," said Ace. "We didn't even get to take part on the last one. And this time, YOU have to make the tart, too! And no getting help from Trey-senpai either! You have to do it yourself!" Ace added. "So don't even think about it! Once you do that, then I might forgive you for all the crap you put us through." I narrowed my eyes at him and raised my hand to active my magic again, "Ok, I'll forgive you!" Ace yells when he saw me about to make another snowball with dull-pointed icicles again.

"This comes from the guy who got help himself, and just wants a tart himself..." I said, rolling my eyes at him as I lower my hand, "Shut up, peanut gallery." Ace retorts. I respond back by flipping him off with my middle finger, Ace rolled his eyes and turns back to Riddle. "Now, you got that, Riddle-senpai?" Riddle sniffled one more time and nodded, "... Yeah, I got it." Riddle replies. "Yes, yes, this is the beauty of compromise. Then the issue is settled." Crowley said with a smile.