Y/N POV

I gaze around my area and quickly remember who's the house I am in. "This is... The Rosehearts mansion." While I was looking around, I noticed Riddle standing in front of a door looking at something. I make my way to him and tap his shoulders gently. "Riddle."

"Y-y/n!" Riddle jumped back in surprise and didn't notice I was standing next to him. As I looked in the room, what he was watching, and there were Ms. Rosehearts and Riddle in his younger self.

"What is this? Why are we here?" I asked Riddle, as he walked to the room. I follow him from behind.

"This is my childhood memory," Riddle replied in a soft voice.

'His memory!?' I thought to myself.

"The woman standing there is my mother and the little boy is me." Riddle pointed his finger.

"Happy eighth birthday, Riddle. Your birthday cake this year is a low-sugar, high lecithin cake made with soy flour and nuts." Ms. Roseheart greet the younger Riddle as they celebrated his birthday.

"Thank you, mama. But, um, I..." Younger Riddle struggled to speak up, "Just once, I really want to try a tart covered in bright red strawberries..."

"How could you say such a thing! That pastry is a mound of sugar that's more like poison. One slice will exceed your ideal daily intake of carbohydrates. Today we're having a tuna sauteed with plenty of docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acid. Ah, but at age eight your ideal caloric intake is... Less than 600 calories per meal so don't eat more than 100 grams. Alright?"

"...Yes, mama."

"For so long... A strawberry tart was... What I wanted to eat. In the cake shops around town... They're displayed in the window... Tarts that look like jewels." Riddle spoke up, as I watch his childhood,

"Let's end your classical magic studies here for today. You have until tomorrow to review the magical ethics that you learned today and get through page 50 of your language philosophy test. To that end, I'll give you an hour to study for your next potions lesson." Ms. Roseheart told the younger Riddle as she stood up.

"Yes, mother." Younger Riddle replied.

"Your mother has an errand to run so I'll be back in an hour." Ms. Roseheart walked past us and left the room.

"My... every moment was crammed to the brim... With every possible discipline. Time spent learning extended until I could do it." Riddle said soon his voice got lower, "But for me... This was 'normal' "

'Normal!?' I questioned myself

Knock...Knock

"...Someone is knocking at the window?" Younger Riddle questions himself. He walked to the window and opened it to see two boys. Riddle and I walk toward the windows' direction.

"Oh, he came!" A green-haired boy said.

"Hey, hey. Come play with us." Another voice said.

'It's Trey and Che'nya on their younger self.' I thought to myself.

"Who are you?" The younger Riddle asked them.

"I'm Che'nya! This is Trey. Let's play croquet."

"Huh... I can't. Now is my self-study time. I have to keep studying." The younger Riddle said.

"Huh? Meow, Self-study means that mew decides what new study. my grand-paw says playing is a kind of study, too."

"Will you come down for a bit?" The young Trey asked the young Riddle.

"...J-just for a bit." The younger Riddle hesitated at first but let go this time. Riddle goes out of the window and jumps down out.

"Can I ask your name?" Trey asked.

"R-Riddle. Riddle Rosehearts." Riddle replied.

"Playing with Trey and Che'nya... Was so much fun. I learned new things and played new games. They taught me so much. From that day on, during my self-study time... Without telling my mother... I left my room." Riddle smiled, "Then... as Trey, Che'nya, and I was playing around the rose garden. I saw a little girl making a crown of roses behind a bush full of roses."

"Excuse me!" The younger Riddle walked to the little girl, as I looked at the girl behind the bush. It was me when I first met Riddle.

"Huh!?" The younger me turned to the younger Riddle.

"Who are you?" Riddle asked her. My younger self stood up on her two feet and removed the dirt from her dress.

"My name is***********. It's nice to meet you." Young Y/n answered but her voice vanished when she mentioned her name.

"Riddle! What are you doing here?" Trey and Che'nya go towards the younger self of Riddle and me. "Oh, hi!" Trey waved his hand.

"Greetings!" Young Y/n said with curtsy down.

"Mew, who mew this?" Che'nya asked Riddle as he walked to Young Y/n.

"Oh! Her name is ***********." Riddle turned Che'nya to Y/n. "Say, ****. What are you doing at my home?"

"My mommy and I are visiting her friend... Ms. Roselina Roseheart." Young Y/n answered with a smile.

"Mew!"

"Roselina Roseaheart is my mother." Riddle told her, "My name is Riddle Roseheart. This is Trey and Che'nya."

"It's nice to meet you, *****." Trey bowed down and his right hand on his chest.

"It's mew to mewt you," Che'nya said happily.

"Soon, we will all become friends... All four of us played games, talked to each other, and made a crown of roses. I have fun, but..." Riddle turned sad as he looked down, "Like every time, I want to remember her name! This ringing sound is covering her voice... I want to remember, I want to ask her name again."

"Huh?! Riddle and *****, you've never had a strawberry tart?" Che'nya exclaimed.

"Mother says it's like poison so I can't.", Riddle replied.

"I never heard of a strawberry tart before. So I haven't tested yet," Young Y/n answered, tilting her head at the side.

"Well, you probably shouldn't eat too much... My family owns a cake shop. Let's go eat some." Trey treats them.

"Huh... but." Riddle hesitated to leave.

"One piece will be fine.", Trey reassured us.

"I could go for a whole one right about meow." Che'nya smiled, as young Y/n grabbed the young Riddle's hand.

"Come on! Riddle, it will be fun. Please" She convinced Riddle to come as he let out a sigh.

"I think, one-piece won't hurt," Riddle said.

"Yahoo! Riddle is coming."

"A top, a pure white plate, a brilliantly red strawberry tart. For me, it shined... Brighter than any jewel. The first bite was wonderfully sweet... It was better than anything I'd ever had."

"Delicious!!" Young Y/n said cheerfully and smiled.

"I agree." Riddle getting lost in tastes.

"AH AH HA! I'm glad you guys like it." Trey said.

"Mew, delicious! Meow." Che'nya said in full mouth.

"I had so much fun! I savored... Each bite... And got lost in it." Riddle said with a smile as it faded to sadness, "Then, I lost track of time."

"How could you! You skipped out on studying to go outside and eat a mound of sugar. Those two instigated it. Along with that, you bring Ms. Kambe's daughter with you. I won't allow you to spend time with those two bad children ever again." Ms. Roseheart scolded Riddle. As Ms. Kambe and young Y/n stood behind Riddle's mother.

"I'm sorry, mother! I won't do it again so forgive me...!" Riddle cried out. As young Y/n runs between Riddle and his mother.

"Stop, stop it! Don't blame Riddle. It's not his fault! It was me. I convinced him to come with us." She spoke up.

"Silence! This is because he broke the rules." Ms. Roseheart told me, then to Riddle. "Ah, I should never have given you so much free time. I have to keep an even better watch over you..."

"Now, now, Roselina! Calm down. It's just a strawberry tart, is it more important that they are safe." Ms. Kambe told Ms. Roseheart as she turned to face her.

"No! You don't tell me, what to do? I know, what's best for my son? So stay out of it, Sayuri." Ms. Roseheart shouted at her friend.

Sayuri sighed then grabbed Roselina's hand to the other room, leaving the two kids alone. "I'm sorry." They both said at some time, as young Riddle and young Y/n turned to face each other.

"I'm sorry, Riddle. I-if I haven't convinced you to come with us, then your mother won't get yelled at you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Young Y/n soon began to cry as she keep on repeating, 'I'm sorry. Young Riddle didn't say a word and was about to pat young Y/n shoulder when Sayuri walk out of the room. This caused young Riddle to pull away from her shoulder, and turn away.

"Y/n will be taking our leave now. Come, let's go." Ms. Kambe grabs young Y/n arm as they walk out.

"If I broke the rules... My time for fun and for my friend... Was completely taken away and I never get a chance to see that girl again... That's why the rules mother makes... I have to follow. In this town mother is the most respected... That makes her correct." Riddle said angry, when I turned to face Riddle, he look upset and tears fell.

"But... tell me, mama. Why? Why does my chest hurt like this? Just on my birthday would be fine... I want to eat a bunch of tarts. I want to play outside for hours. I want to make more and more friends. Tell me, mama... What rules should I follow... To make this pain go away?" Riddle's tears fall to the ground as he keeps on crying. "What rules should I follow? To meet her again... and tell her that it wasn't her fault but mine. If I weren't so careless then neither of us get yelled at. From that day they stop visiting the house, and I didn't get to see her again... or she has already forgotten me."

"Do you think that someone will forget you? Just because she didn't visit your house after that fight." I said to Riddle.

"What do you mean?" Riddle asked.

"Friends don't forget friends! Even if they aren't there with you, right now... but."

"But?" Riddle titled his head.

"They would do anything to be with you, and help you to rise from the darkness and wicked days. A true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else believes your smile. It's about who walked into your life, said 'I'm here for you and proved it." I said then smiled at him, as I wiped Riddle's tears with my hand. Shortly everything around us changed. A seven years old girl in a black dress and an eighteen years old boy standing beside her facing the grave, with 25 people standing from behind.

'Ah! What is this? Why are we here?' I thought to myself.

"Huh!? Wha! Where are we?" Riddle looked around the place.

"I believe... for somehow we went inside my memory," I replied.

"Your... memory?" Riddle mumbled.

"That little girl standing in front there is me," I said, as I pointed my finger. "And the tall man beside me is my brother."

"Is this a graveyard?" Riddle questioned.

"This memory was the day when they buried my mother," I said, Riddle turned his gaze at the little girl, who seemed only staring at the grave and no tears were coming out from her eyes.

"It was a horrific accident, yet the girl somehow survived without a scratch." A man whispered through the crowd.

"Look, she's not even crying." The woman whispered while pointing her finger at my younger self. "She just stands there and stares at her own mother's grave with no tears in her eyes. So heartless child."

"Mh!? Oh, you mean Lady Y/n." Her friend whispered back. "You're right. I'm sure, she doesn't even love her mother, so that's why she isn't crying."

"For what I heard in rumors that kid could use dark magic." The male whispered in fear.

"Ah!? Dark magic, really? Scary." The woman said as her hand was shaking in fear.

"But have you heard about her unique magic?" The other girls whispered from the other side.

"You mean, that. Yeah, I heard it from my husband, magic that brings back someone from the dead and is controlled by her commands." The girl whispered back. "Oh, I wish I would never be one of those dead armies, she is controlling."

"She's a monster."

"A freak."

"A cold-blooded girl."

"Why isn't anyone doing something about this?"

"Why won't she just die already?"

"SHUT UP" Riddle yelled, I flinched and backed away. "How could they say those troublesome things? Can't they see she is ready to lose her mother but all of these people still talk bad about her?"

I stare at Riddle with shock, "Riddle, calm down... half of what they say is actually true. I can be heartless and cold-blood sometimes. But the reason why I didn't cry isn't that I hated her, but because I was so angry at myself that I couldn't be any help for her when I know she needs one."

Soon everyone starts to leave the graveyard all except one little girl. When everyone lifts the place, a maid spoke up from behind the little girl. "Holding back your tears isn't a punishment." The maid hugs young Y/n. "There's nobody here now. So you don't need to act brave anymore, young lady."

"Tears!? Act brave... I don't understand, what are you saying?" Young Y/n mumbled. "Elly, why... aren't you scared of me?" She spoke up a bit louder, and Elly turned the girl to face her. "I am not scary to you?"

"You are my lady and I won't ever be scary and hate you." Elly gently brushes her hair down, "I will be here by your side until the end."

"We will too." An eight-year-old boy with blonde-haired, two wolves, and a dragon walking towards, "We devoted our lives, power, and protection to you because you are our Lady"

"Thank you, everyone." She replied emotionless.

"Everyone thinks of me as a heartless person just because I can't feel a thing. For so long I started to get hard expressing my feelings, and emotion towards anyone up, until this day"

"Expressing? Such as?" Riddle asked.

"Sad, love, fear, and happiness," I answered.

"Happiness, but I just saw you--"

"Smile," I turned to face Riddle, "I only put on a smile, because no one would ever want to see a broken girl, who tried to live a best and most peaceful life. The day I lost my family, I thought I would be alone and no one would accept me. However, thanks to Elly, Felix, Celestia, Olivia, and Lucas, they make me feel that I am not alone. They are the people who always stayed by my side and never were afraid of who I am or what I did. Elly became like a second mother to me and my familiar became my very best friend for as long as I could remember." I said. "Riddle, you always think of yourself and keep all the heavy burdens deep inside you all this time. Not realizing that Trey, Che' nya, and Cater are there with you." Riddle stared at me in shock, "They are with you all the way until this time of day, you were just blinding yourself to think you were alone. But you are not alone and never have been."

"Y/n," Riddle said in a soft voice.

"Life can be cruel sometimes, but if you look deep inside the life you would find a warm feeling." I reached out my right hand to him, "Rules are important, yes. They keep us in order, but too many rules are also not good. Do you feel happy with the way things are now?" Riddle gazed away from my eyes, "If you want to play with your friend. You want to have some fun. As long as it's balanced, it's alright. Just follow your heart, okay. Do what you think is right." My mouth curved into a smile.

"You're... right! And I'm sorry. I can't repeat the past and undo things I said." Riddle's tears fell. "You don't have to forgive me, so the only thing I can say is. I'm sorry for everything. I'm so sorry." I wipe his tears off and hug him.

"It's alright! I forgive you. Now, I'm asking you to wake up, Riddle! Everyone are waiting for you." Riddle nodded his head, as I let go of him. "May your heart be your guide, Riddle," I said before everything disappeared to black.

•◈──────◈✧✦✧◈──────◈•

"Riddle..." Trey and I called out for Riddle soon after he slowly opened his eyes.

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•╰─► 𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅
➤ 𝑼𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅: 04/30/2022