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Frustration was taking stronger hold on his senses with each passing minute. Riddle had tried everything and nothing was working. Little by little, his room had fallen out of order, with every failure, both he and it suffered the consequences of his mistakes.
A greenish, goggled hedgehog watched him intently from a bed full of books, as if empathizing with the human on the verge of despair. Riddle was reading one of them intently, his vision somewhat blurred by the rabid tears growing in his tear ducts. He couldn't afford to cry, it would be useless.
“Trey, I will transform you back to human, whatever it takes. I will be the one to save you, as my name is Riddle Rosehearts!”
When Ace welcomed the new hedgehogs and saw one of an unusual color, he had the bright idea to prank his dorm leader. It was a green animal, normal and attentive to his fellow hedgehogs, come on, it was obvious what was going to happen! He even decided to give him a pair of small glasses that matched its size. At first, his leader didn't believe his words.
“Do you think you are funny, Ace?”
“If you don't believe me, that's your problem, but this animal is Trey-senpai! I've heard it from other students, who have seen him transformed by a spell.”
Then The Seven, or fate, played in their favor. Trey was not answering his phone, nor was Rook. His leader told him that before the incident he had spoken to Cater about Trey and, like Riddle, he knew they had activities with the science club. But when they went there, no one was inside.
Rosehearts began to lose his patience and, to make sure the prank didn't get out of hand, Ace told his leader that he would notify the Headmaster himself. Since his leader couldn't think straight, he bought it. He would get his head chopped off, but he thought it was worth it that time. Besides, it was his little payback for how hard he'd been on him the week before, yes sir.
Once Ace and Riddle had parted ways, Rosehearts used his authority as leader to take numerous books out of the library at once, all of them transformations books, those that now lay neatly, but messily on his bed and desk.
He first checked that it was him in a final attempt to cling to the idea that it was Ace's prank. He put items like a toothbrush and a sweetened violet next to others to make sure he chose the one Trey would pick. And, once again, by the whims of destiny, it had been those that had caught the animal's attention. The results were conclusive: His boyfriend had been transformed into a hedgehog.
So first he began to go over what he knew, confident in his abilities. But then, progressively, he crossed spells off the list of each of the pages, some ancestral, that surrounded him. The anguish of not being able to help Trey grew in him and, if necessary, he would scour the entire Twisted Wonderland to find a way to return him to normal. But, as he promised, he would do it himself.
Now, he was at the last remnants of his scant patience, his face completely flushed with anger. He was at a dead end, no matter how hard he searched the pages for a way out. His red gem stopped glowing as he uttered yet another spell.
“It's useless as well!” He yelled, startling the poor creature, who made his way to the edge of the bed. “Trey, wait! You're going to hurt yourself!”
Riddle was able to get his hands in front of it in time. The hedgehog placed two paws on them and sniffed him for a few seconds. Finding security in the leader of the roses, he curled up on them, and only then did he allow himself to pet it. Even turned into this adorable animal, he managed to extinguish the sparks of his anger.
Careful of the spines, Rosehearts pulled it close to his face. Riddle had gone through the denial phase, the anger phase, and had just finished the bargaining phase; so now it was time for the depression phase. His magical core was almost as depleted as he was after casting so many spells, negative thoughts were beginning to flood his mind, like blot.
“I'm sorry, Trey.”
As he spoke those words, the lump in his throat grew more persistent. The tears in his silver eyes watered them more as he looked at the hedgehog. His boyfriend wasn't going to stay like that forever, but he was beginning to doubt it.
As he caressed its muzzle, he reflected on a way of undoing charms that he remembered reading about in historical books. Usually, curses were referenced, but what if Trey had suffered one? He had to save him at all costs.
Riddle knew the legends of true love and how it was believed to be more powerful than any magic. They were just that, legends, some passed down in the form of stories and others pertaining to the cultures of each country. At Night Raven College they were educated on the greatness of the Seven, but Riddle learned about the other side of the coin.
It was said that by showing proof of it, then any curse could be broken, like the one once placed on a princess by the deity who represented Diasomnia. And, according to the folktales, she awoke from eternal sleep in one way, just as that frog from a different one became human again.
He had to try. He moved Trey closer without hesitation, determined, calculating where he could do it. Rosehearts turned his hands a little and located its small cheek, only to close his eyes and place a kiss on it. He heard a noise similar to his doorknob, and, before he opened his eyes, heard a very familiar voice.
“Riddle?” Trey asked, catching the aforementioned's attention, who turned his attention towards the exit. “I saw your calls and got worried, so I wanted to check that everything was okay, um, are you kissing a hedgehog? And it's unusual for your room to be…”
“Trey!”
Relief swept through him from head to toe at seeing him there, so much so that he allowed himself to unconsciously let his tears fall once he got off the bed – leaving the hedgehog there carefully – to embrace him. After a few hesitant seconds, he ended up feeling his arms around him as well, with a hint of concern.
“What happened?” He questioned as he stroked his back, comforting him.
“Ace.”
“Ace?”
It didn't take long for relief to turn to anger. Ace – of course, Ace had lied to him! He couldn't believe he'd fallen for it like that, but, it all fit together so well, his doubts were dispelled. After grinding his teeth and wiping away his tears, he decided to tell Trey the situation, knowing that he would understand. With a frown and reddened cheeks, he spoke.
“I recognize all hedgehogs, and this one wasn't here before!” He pointed to the creature on his bed. “Ace told me you had transformed, and I didn't believe him at first, but! You weren't picking up the phone, not you, not Rook, and you weren't at the science club and no one knew where you were.” He sobbed. “So it all made sense, I told him to tell the teachers and the headmaster while I searched for a remedy to get you back to normal, but nothing worked. I've tried numerous counterspells and incantations to no avail, I was considering calling in professional doctors and mobilizing all of Twisted Wonderland to find a solution if I couldn't come up with one. Look, I'm going to get off with his head!”
“I see.” He mused. Trey, who had been listening intently, stroked his cheeks to wipe away his tears. His expression was slightly shadowed under that worried grimace. “So our kouhai played a prank on you, and it got out of hand. Honestly, it's not funny at all. I won't tolerate him making you cry, as that's over the line.” His golden eyes fixed on the hedgehog momentarily before looking back up at him. “You've used a lot of magic, let me handle Ace's punishment. You shouldn't use it so much, but I understand you were worried.”
“I don't care if I suffer another overblot if it means I get to save you.”
Maybe it was the decisiveness of what he said, or the sincerity of his words, but it got Trey back to normal. Riddle was willing to give his all to save him, whether he was turned into a hedgehog, or something more serious happened to him. Clover frowned before replying with a sincere smile and flushed cheeks.
“Please don't.”
“I remain firm in my stance.”
Trey sighed resignedly before hugging him again, this time more firmly, as if afraid to let go. It was only a hypothetical, but if it ever happened, Riddle would sacrifice himself in the same way that Trey would sacrifice himself for him.
“Alright.” He conceded. “But I insist that Ace will pay for his sick jokes without getting his head cut off. Leave it to me, we can figure something out together when you calm down, okay?” Riddle nodded. “And what a bummer. Vil has impromptu told us to help him with his club play for Rook and forced us to turn off our mobiles. Then mine was dead on battery, but I heard the messages you left on Rook's voicemail before you came here.”
“You don't have to explain yourself to me, it was Ace's fault.” He insisted. “He needs to be taught a lesson, ASAP!”
“Yes, yes, as soon as possible, but first let's tidy all this up and get the hedgehog back to his mates, shall we?”
Riddle nodded and began to look around for the books. Trey helped him stack them and put them on the desk, leaving everything as neat and tidy as it used to be. Afterwards, they sat down on his bed to finish calming Heartslabyul's leader.
“He even put glasses on it? I can't believe it.” Trey commented with a chuckle, stroking the animal's nose. “I still don't know why you were…”
“I-Irrelevant!” He interrupted.
He was ashamed to tell Trey that he'd used ancient, sappy legends as a last resort to bring him back to normal. His golden eyes looked at him thoughtfully, until he seemed to hit on something that fit the whole issue.
“Oh, wait, the true love kiss thing?”
“Trey!”
“Haha, come on, it's not that strange.” He laughingly remarked. “If you were suffering from a hedgehog curse, I'd give you one to transform into human form too.” Riddle puffed out his cheeks at his mockery, even if it was true. “And it worked, didn't it? I just happened to show up at the right time.”
“Well, yes.” He admitted reluctantly. “But if it didn't, I meant to take care of you, you know? I'd still love you even if you were a hedgehog.”
Trey smiled again at the sincere and direct comment. Riddle, for his part, managed to catch a hint of the opposite gesture, smiling slightly. Clover set the hedgehog down on the sheets before cupping Rosehearts' cheeks, moving closer to his lips. His boyfriend's touch on him, in kisses and caresses, managed to extinguish the remnants of anger within him.
“Did Cater tell you about the worm?” Riddle shook his head, doubtful. “Then forget it. I'd love you too, by the way.” He stressed, squeezing his hand. “And now that I notice you're much calmer, would it be alright if we left our little friend with its own kind, and we consider revenge?”
Riddle took the liberty of kissing him one more time before giving him an answer, finding calm in every moment Trey spent at his side. Then, he broke away from him again, his fingers still clinging to the nape of his neck, between his greenish hair.
Silver eyes turned decisive before he uttered his reply. “Come on, Ace won't get away this time!”
And with that promise, it was Trey who took the animal in his hands that time. Riddle's growing thirst for vengeance was counterbalanced by the adorableness he experienced at the fact that his boyfriend was holding a hedgehog that looked just like him. He smiled. Perhaps not everything had been bad that afternoon.