A Fool's Guide to the In-Between [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 3

 Rule number one about entering the world of In-Between. Make sure that you have your wits about you, and make sure that your mind isn't clouded by emotions.

Rule number two, always make sure that you know where you are going.

Rule number three? Never stay in the In-Between for longer than an hour. You may go in multiple times, but always make sure that you leave before the hour is up, or else you may be stuck there. Permanently.

. . .

To say that Riddle was distraught when he reached the Unbirthday Party was a bit of an understatement. He had no idea how he was going to function with all of the worry that was building up due to the stress that Y/N was causing him. He couldn't imagine being expelled from NRC, and he was sure that she didn't want to be expelled from her school. But she still came to NRC. Her headmistress would never forgive her.

While everyone was having a jolly old time, Riddle was slouched in his chair. He could think of nothing but the expression on Y/N's face as she had faded out of his room. He had never seen her looking so... disheartened, especially at his hand. She had always seemed like such a happy and carefree girl, without a care in the world.

'Was I too hard on her,' Riddle thought, rubbing one side of his head. 'Maybe I could have been a little bit easier on her...' 

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice at first that two freshmen had brought him a tart.

"Um... Dorm Head Riddle," one of them said. 

Riddle immediately straightened up when he realised that he was being watched. He made sure that his crown was straight before addressing them.

"You are... oh yes, the freshman tart thief." Riddle distinctly remembered how he had found the boy, Ace Trappola, in the kitchen after hours, stealing a piece from a tart that Riddle had been saving for the Unbirthday Party. 

"Um... I would like to apologise for eating the tart before. So I baked a new one." The freshman held out the tart, the small brown icing in little swirls on the top sparkling in the sunlight.

Riddle stared at the tart as Ace placed it on the table. "Hmm? I'm curious. What kind of tart is this?"

"Thank you for asking! It is a mont blanc stuffed to the brim with fresh chestnuts!"

"A mont blanc?! I can't believe this!" Suddenly all thoughts of Y/N were banished from Riddle's mind. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Huh?!"

"Laws of the Queen of Hearts, number five hundred sixty-two. 'One must never bring a mont blanc to an Unbirthday Party.' You've violated an imperative rule! How could you do something like this?! The Unbirthday Party is utterly ruined!"

"Number five hundred sixty-two," another freshman asked. Deuce Spade, if Riddle remembered correctly, which of course he did.

Yet another freshman, this one being one that Riddle didn't recognize by name, asked how many rules there were.

"There are eight hundred and ten," Riddle said. "I have every single one memorized. I am the dorm leader after all. As the dorm leader of Heartslabyul, out of respect for the strictness of the Queen of Hearts, I can't close my eyes to this matter." 

He turned to Trey and Cater, who had been whispering behind him. "Dispose of this mont blanc immediately! And throw these rule-breakers out!"

"Wait just a moment," Ace shouted. "You really have dumba** rules like that?"

A little cat-like creature jumped up onto the table. Riddle frowned at it, wondering what it was and what it was doing here. He vaguely remembered collaring it during the entrance ceremony.