The maiden and the spider

XXX

Her body felt far too delicate and vulnerable for her liking, she wondered if this was what it felt like for creatures who molted their old skin as they grew, fearfully hiding from hungry teeth and sharp grasping claws until their exoskeletons hardened and their defenses grew back.

In the space between drug muddled dreams and wakefulness Tiffany dreamed herself dragging her far too soft and vulnerable body to hide beneath an upturned goblet of glass, gold, and precious gems, her injuries slowing her down as she drags, claws, pleads her way until she is safely inside just narrowly missing a shadowy black tendril aiming to spear her body right through-"

Tiffany wakes with a start, breathing deep as she surveys her surroundings, laying perfectly still so as not to give way her position to predators.

Her room in the Charming palace is as beautiful and bright as always, light spilling in through tall windows to bounce off of dozens of mirrors dispersed all around the room illuminating baby blue painted walls and eggshell white Franco-mage molding on the walls and ceiling, a light breeze from the balcony brought in the smell of flowers and summer warmth to her nose as the moving air cooled her sweat dampened face.

It was different from what she was used to; brighter and less saturated in magic than her dorm at Ever After High, where even the non-magic users could feel a sense of some kind of magic in the air. And it was more quiet and airy than her parent's city house where the sounds from the street could be easily heard from her bedroom window and where the slight smell of alcohol and (illegal) seaman's wick smoke permeated the fancy wallpaper and carpets.

The atmosphere here was foreign to her, and yet for some reason she had never felt safer in her entire life.

Guilt gnawed at her gut when she thought about her old home and parents, the feeling of being a bad daughter warring with the defiant rebellious side of her that was relieved that she was safely tucked under the Charming family's wing, for once in a very long while having someone there to help take care of her for once during a time when she was injured or sick.

It had been over a week and her parents had yet to even call her, no word had reached her about them, but then again she hadn't gathered the courage to ask after them yet. In the past it hadn't been uncommon for one of the staff to ask after her for her parents while she was at her uncle's…

Tiffany tried for a bleak moment to remember the last time one of her parents had called her uncle or the Spider family in person while she was with them, hex, she tried to remember if there had ever been a time when either her mother or father had sobered up enough to pick up a mirrorphone and leave a measly message for her while she was at school.

She decided to stop thinking about it right about then, her mouth tasted like old cotton and she was thirsty, she should focus on that, on taking care of herself more.

"Uhgmmm." Tiffany whined sticking out her parched tongue at the heart monitor by her bed, it was kind of addicting watching the little green line move and the numbers change, occasionally there would be a little chirp from the machine indicating that all was still well.

"Hey." A kindly soft voice spoke to her left. "Do you want some water?"

Tiffany perked up at the sight of Dexter looking over at her from the desk situated by her bedside, she could see Pico Paco peer up at the boy from his little nest situated on said desk, the girl nodded gratefully at the boy who promptly poured her a glass and assisted her head up so that she could drink the cool liquid which quenched her drying throat and mouth, Tiffany swore had never tasted water so delicious before.

It seemed to be commonplace now, for somebody from the Charming family to be there either by her bedside or somewhere in one of the rooms nearby, even though her family's old head maid and lady's companion had been assigned to stay in the room adjoining hers so that if she needed them they could rush in.

Dexter felt her forehead after she was finished with the water. "Your fever's gone way down since the other day." He observed. "Promise to try to keep it that way for me?"

Tiffany nodded feeling a little like a child but being far too exasperated at the fact that of all the injuries that she had sustained it was the Evil Queen's blasted poisonous bite that had sent her insides all topsy turvy, it had stayed in her bloodstream for too long landing her with a wicked headache and a fever as her body fought it. It complicated her initial predicted recovery because the healers were wary to operate on her knee while she was so sick, and to top the whole terrible situation off was that the magical poison seemed to be designed to not only screw up a person's insides but to also seek out physical hurts and worsened them by attacking the damaged tissue and bone, thus screwing Tiffany's leg up to the point where they were going to have to replace the entire joint, and rendering her hands completely useless, the one that had been merely sprained was covered black and blue with bruises and ached sharply from stretched ligaments, and her broken hand now had to be kept completely immobile.

Tiffany didn't remember much when they had her under so much pain medication she couldn't see right, but she did recall her hands, back, and legs feeling like they had been set on fire and that she had cried helplessly in pain until they had sedated her and concocted a risky, on the fly, IV formula that pumped her blood with some sort of Bleeding Rebel Heart extract and ultimately saved her life.

"How's Daring doing with this?" Tiffany asked a little worriedly, the older boy had been bitten way more times than she had. "He's hasn't gotten worse like me has he?"

"No, just a mild fever every so often." Dexter assured smoothing back Tiffany's blond hair, much in the same way his other siblings and parents had been doing with her lately. "He still can't use his arm but he had gotten treatment way sooner than you did, and that bite of yours had been way too close to your kidneys so it's only logical that you would be fairing way worse." The boy sighed gently laying his hand on her shoulder.

"You'll be fine though." He promised. "We'll make sure of it."

Tiffany smiled slightly at him, even though she was in a strange place, broken up in places, ill, scared, and feeling overall out of place she felt… oddly comforted for the time being as she let herself doze off once again.

XXX

Edward had somehow found it in himself to forgive Tiffany rather quickly in her opinion (for going off and getting herself nearly killed she had expected him to be more mad at her), dutifully staying by her side as she was transported to the Charming's Kingdom, and being there by her bedside practically every day since. He looked like a wreck those first few days where she was all hazy under the influence of pain medication, and sick from the fever, and in pain from the poison.

Darling had confessed that during the worst night of her fever he had nearly completely convinced himself that she was a stone's throw away from keeling over until one of the healers had took him aside and had given him a firm talking to, the princess-turned knight didn't know what had been said but it had been enough for the boy to scrape himself together and endure 'til her fever broke and everyone was breathing easier, assured that Tiffany would live.

She lost track of how many games of virtual go-fish on a mirror pad (she could move only three fingers on her sprained hand so playing with actual cards was out and even then Pico Paco had to act as a surrogate for her fingers and hands) they had played once Tiffany had gotten just better enough to be awake long enough to be bored and needed something to take her mind off of the upcoming surgery she was to go through, the healers were going to operate on her broken hand and leg simultaneously, and after that was physical therapy and perhaps two more surgeries after that until they were satisfied that they had put the blonde all back together.

They didn't talk about the confession they had before the battle, Tiffany too cautious about what the future was going to throw at her and Edward seemed to be just as keen to let whatever they were at the moment to go unnamed until a more appropriate time.

"Do you like it here?" Edward asked her the evening before her surgery, which was going to take place in the middle of the night for some reason that only the healers really understood.

"At the Charming's?" She asked blinking confusingly at the random question. "Well they're treating me real well, their home is a beautiful place to recuperate in, and… I have to admit that it was probably a better idea to have come here since my parents would not have had the foggiest clue as to what to do back when I was sick a few days ago, hex they can barely take care of themselves when they get a hangover, me being that ill would've stupefied them." Tiffany chuckled imagining her parents arguing with a healer over the matter, knowing them they'd be insisting than some brandy in milk would solve all Tiffany's troubles.

In response Edward leaned over to softly kiss Tiffany's temple. "You find the most worrying things funny or normal." He declared quietly. "Hopefully staying here long enough will help you out with that."

It would be quite sometime later before Tiffany understood what the boy had meant.

XXX

Physical therapy sucked. If she didn't need it so badly and if it weren't clearly working Tiffany would've refused to even associate herself with any relation to it, even it's name she would shun if she could.

At least she was well enough to be wheeled around the palace in a chair, the change in scenery was a god's send for Tiffany, who was beginning to worry she was going to get cabin fever in another two weeks if she had to stay in the same room for that long. Tiffany lived for those small tastes of freedom after her post-PT nap.

"It's warm enough for a detour through outside east footpath miss, would you like to give it a try?" Tiffany's Lady's companion asked as she adjusted Tiffany's shall and selected a lap quilt for the girl to keep her warm. The healers had her on blood thinners, which made the girl susceptible to getting chilled easily.

"That sounds fantastic Tam." Tiffany smiled gratefully at the older blonde woman.

"Jane if you could please run ahead and inform their highnesses and the youngest Lord and Lady Charmings that the little Miss is on their way?" Tam asked Tiffany's former maid, the younger woman nodding before taking her leave.

Tiffany breathed deeply as they began moving, intending to enjoy the moment of peace before joining the Charmings as they all watched the official sentencing of the former Headmaster of Ever After High.

"I can't imagine how difficult this is going to be for Raven." Tiffany sighed laying her head back. "I know that the Headmaster was difficult to deal with but to have to be the one to hand out his punishment, her own grandfather… it's gotta be heartbreaking for her, even if she doesn't manage to show it in public."

"Well Miss that's the thing about blood relatives, sometimes it means nothing at all, you can bargain and hope all you want but that does not mean that those related to you will treat you kindly, or even want anything to do with you at all. That man obviously didn't want to take responsibility that he was a father and practically bullied his only granddaughter, because of that he's missed out knowing how much of a decent person Lady Raven has turned out to be… and perhaps, if the speculation on the news feeds are correct, then he is at least a little bit to be blamed for how his daughter turned out." Tam sniffed speaking about the headmaster the same way she would a bad smell.

"I reckon Miss that good folks who have dealt with family that treat them horribly have to sever their ties with them or risk losing their minds. It's not an easy thing Lady Raven is doing, but it's the right thing for both herself and the world at large. And maybe that man will actually finally see what he has lost because of his actions."

Tiffany tilted her head in thought, the younger blonde had a feeling that there was more to the story than that… but that still did not excuse the entirety of the Headmaster's behavior.

"Raven is usually good at doing what needs to be done fairly. Whatever she's decided on… I think he should be thankful for, because she is not cruel, she'll make sure at the very least he spends the rest of his life in accommodations that will be kind to his age. As for the rest… he's got a lot to be ashamed about and a part of me hopes that he pays for letting that mirror stay on campus." Though not a big part of her, Tiffany had been there, she had seen and heard how much he loved Raven's grandmother, how he fought to protect Raven from her mother. Whatever wrongs he may have committed in the past he made up for most of them on that day.

Despite her understanding Tiffany still found herself feeling… depressed that those past wrongs had landed her in her current injured state. I didn't feel fair that anything that had happened that day had to happen at all.

"I'm glad that I'm getting better." Tiffany admitted looking dejectedly at her bound hands, closing her eyes indulgently at the feel of the sun and warm summer air on her skin.

"We are glad too Miss. So very glad." Tam swore fiercely chancing to bend down and kiss the top of Tiffany's head, a rare show of physical affection that the older blonde showed only when they were alone and when Tiffany seemed to need cheering up.

Tiffany sat in the middle of the large Victorian couch, the remaining Charming siblings on either side of her and their parents sitting in winged back chairs on either side of the couch as they all watched the event on a large golden-framed mirror.

All Tiffany could see were the reddened scars that Raven let show, the pain in her expressive eyes even as she schooled her expression into a stony stoicism (though a big part of that had to do with the camera focusing so closely on Raven practically first thing when she, Apple, and Daring made their entrance).

Tiffany had a small flashback back to that fateful day, of the moment where Raven had been suspended limply in the air and blood and liquid silver metal had burst through the witch's skin-

Dexter and Darling had a similar reaction, the boy reaching his arm around the both of them as Tiffany half hid her face into his jacket and Darling curled around Tiffany, one hand reaching out to meet Dexter's in front of Tiffany's clavicle.

Daring was a strong presence by Raven's side, coming to stand beside the witch's throne, looking handsome and powerful despite his obviously bound injured arm (which was also zoomed in on by the camera).

The camera turned to Apple next, the princess's face hinting at a hot protectiveness as she scanned her clear blue eyes over those present, taking Raven's hand possessively as she seated herself on the throne beside the witch's, an exact identical copy to the first throne to show that Raven and Apple now shared equal power.

All three of them were dressed up gorgeously, being both beautiful and intimidating at the same time. Showing all the realms that they were a united front and that their word would be law once spoken.

Time seemed to both speed up and crawl along after the former Headmaster was brought in by armed guard, and set to sit in a chair at the center of the hall. The old man looked visibly ill at the sight of Raven's revealed injuries, he covered his mouth, as he looked at her, seemingly unable to take what he was seeing before his eyes.

The former Headmaster's brother, Giles, could barely be seen from his place directly below and to the side of the ancient stone stepped platform elevating the thrones just enough above the guards and the prisoner below to give off an element of power while giving a clear view of those who were on it, all Tiffany could make out was his wild hair, the blonde wondered what the man was thinking at that moment.

Raven's face twitched but she turned her head towards Apple, before any emotion could be deciphered, to give her wife a brief nod to confirm that she was to go ahead.

The sentencing went along quicker than Tiffany had expected, usually these kind of things were long and drawn out, leaving the spectators to begin dozing in their seats by the middle of it, but as Apple and Daring said their parts they were stoic and to the point, their tones leaving no room for arguments.

Raven was the quickest out of the three of them, she was also the most emotional, though her tone wasn't at all dramatic, there was enough there to clearly tell that she was upset, though it just seemed to make her words all the more powerful as she sharply listed out the old man's crimes with a force that reminded Tiffany of a hammer driving nails into the wood of a coffin, when she handed down punishment her voice shook slightly but there was enough strength in her clear, confident words and the piercing way she stared at the old man, not looking away from his for a moment, as if she was speaking to him through her gaze alone, that was what seemed to move the ones gathered around her the most, what moved Tiffany the most, so much so that when the witch had finished speaking Tiffany had to remember to breath after it was over.

Oddly enough, before he was led away, the former Headmaster seemed… calmer, looking at Raven as if he was… proud of her, even going as far as to give her a tiny smile and an approving nod over his shoulder before he left the room.

Tiffany wasn't the only one who had noticed.

"Figures the only time he's actually approving of her is when she has to go through the nerve-racking experience of facing and sentencing the grandfather who never took responsibility for either her mother or for her." Jane spat quietly as she looked at Raven's almost sorrowful expression before she, her wife, and Daring stood up to leave the room.

The Charming family gave each other looks that Tiffany was unable to decipher before turning off the mirror.

"She'll make a fine king one day." King Charming observed lightly. "And Daring had seemed to have been doing quite well himself for his first role in a public sentencing, remember children; all the classes in the world can't completely prepare you for becoming a ruler, only experience and having allies you trust can do that."

Tiffany blinked when she found his gaze lingering on her as well as he spoke, she didn't know if it was the tone in his voice or the look he was giving her but she found herself tentatively nodding along like the rest of his children.

XXX

There was a change; a shift in atmosphere in the way the Charming family was treating Tiffany, as far as the blonde girl was concerned she was an outsider, a pity case for them to nurture back to health before sending her on her way, most likely to stay with her uncle (who visited as often as his job would allow) or the Spiders, seeing as how her parents still hadn't called or visited, meaning that they weren't going to come take her back to the townhouse anytime soon (Tiffany wondered if they had decided to waste the rest of their fortune away on a cruse or something)…

Only that wasn't how the family was treating her… actually it felt as though the Charming family and staff was… expecting her to stay longer than her recovery… much longer.

It had taken a while for Tiffany to put two and two together since the Charmings had always treated her like a permanent resident from the start, but it wasn't until King Charming had casually mentioned that he and his wife were arranging for the Charming siblings and herself to have some private lessons until he and the other monarchs could figure out where was a safe place to send their children to school in order to gain the education they needed to run a kingdom… that Tiffany realized that something was up.

The idea that her parents weren't coming back for her was a vaguely abstract concept but it stayed at the edges of her thoughts during the day, and distracted her in the night after she would wake from a nightmare about a shadowy and naked Evil Queen coming to get her in her bed.

It was easier to just get by every day and mentally pretend that it was all a temporary thing, even though Tiffany was starting to suspect that it wasn't, she liked life at the Charming castle and she was fine admitting to herself that whatever drama her parents were pulling, whether they would bother to try to contact her at all, she was fine with not having to address the issue of them yet, because she was not ready to know what was going on with them.

"You haven't asked about your parents." Edward's mama, always blunt, points out one day as she sits by Tiffany under a tree, watching Edward and the Charming siblings fly kites while the other adults were busy at work.

"I'm not ready to know what's going on with them yet." Tiffany admits just as bluntly, having come to peace with this fact about herself by this point. "They haven't called or sent word to me, and everyone seems to be walking on eggshells whenever someone thinks I'm going to ask about them… I'm not ready to know what's going on but… I'll be staying here long after my recovery, won't I?" The blonde asks the woman beside her.

Mama Spider sighs heavily and runs one of her six hands through her hair. "Yeah, you will." She confirms. "Are you going to be ok with that?"

Tiffany hums in thought, waving and smiling back to Daring who flashes her a wide grin as he controls his kite one handedly and still better than Dexter and Edward.

"I think I'm getting used to the idea." Tiffany says contently.

XXX

Tiffany woke up from another dream about the Evil Queen to find Daring sitting at the desk beside her bed and glumly petting a sleeping Pico Paco in the middle of the night.

Tiffany turned over in her bed; it had been a few weeks since the doctors had removed her casts, and while she was still fragile and weaker than she'd like, she could turn over and sleep how she used to on her side, and that was something Tiffany reveled doing whenever possible.

She regarded Daring for a moment before speaking. "Hey." She murmured sleepily.

He startled. "Tiffany, I'm so sorry for intruding-"

"It's fine." Tiffany said honestly, knowingly. "It's nice sometimes when there's somebody there when I wake up after having a bad dream."

Understanding and pity flash across the boy's face. "Do you wish to talk about it?" He asks kindly, his deep voice rumbling something warm in Tiffany's chest.

Tiffany points to the end of the bed. "The Evil Queen was standing right there and she was naked." The girl says. "It's not my scariest nightmare about her but it always wakes me up, and sometimes when Tam lets me bath by myself it feels like the Evil Queen is behind me when I try to wash my hair or when I don't have my back to something so I can see everything around me."

Daring blinked staring at the end of Tiffany's bed as if he could see the Evil Queen standing there too. "I've been having similar dreams." He admits softly. "It has… I always feel dirty when I wake up… when I am alone and that image of her is the only thing my mind wants to conjure up, I knew that her… immodesty would haunt me at the time of the battle but I never imagined…"

"Who woulda thunk that she could cause so many of us who had been there to be scarred for life by practically flashing us all." Tiffany grumbled bitterly.

"Many of us?" Daring asked.

"We're not the only ones who've been having nightmares about her naked." Tiffany sighs as she worries the edge of her blanket with her fingers. "Edward's been talking with a bunch of other people and some of them have confessed to him about it. Hunter says that he's taken to watching Ashlynn as much as she allows him to because the sight of her seems to help scare the images away… and a few other boys have complained that their "dad's" dirty magazines have almost become their worst enemy because all the pictures of the naked women keep reminding them of the Evil Queen, and one girl says that she's afraid to undress or even use the powder room unless it's completely dark or there is very low light because she feels like she's being watched."

Daring scratched the side of his neck slightly awkwardly. "I don't know if that makes me feel better or not." He sighs looking a little blue.

Tiffany has a moment of brief panic, wondering if she had maybe pushed the boy too far out of his comfort zone, charming princes after all were supposed to be seen as virtuous as their princess counterparts, so, offhandedly, admitting that Tiffany could sort of tell that he was struggling with matters of a particular boy nature, it was a suspicion she'd been having for a while seeing as how his usual interest in young women overall had seemed to diminish considerably and he got this spooked look whenever they had to attend a formal ball (Tiffany being allowed to attend such things too for increasingly longer periods of time until she got too tired and had to be brought back to bed, she felt honored though, being considered for such things) and an older busty woman with a slightly risqué dress (up to a certain age they always seemed to be busty and liked to wear borderline indecent gowns) walked up to him for a chat, the spooked look was always particularly severe when the woman seemed to be… a little overly predator-like or cougar-ish, especially if that woman had dark hair, then he would usually use Tiffany as an excuse to politely runaway (excuse me miss but Miss Tiffany is looking a little pale, I must go and check up on her) which Tiffany didn't mind since she felt a little out of her depth with functions featuring polite society (her parents had never taken her to any of their parties) and he seemed more than willing to give her a crash course in polite etiquette and how to read between the lines with people's conversation to see what was really going on around her.

Tiffany was about to apologize when Daring gently reached for her hand, her fingers and palm were so tiny against his, it was almost insane; he seemed to think this too because he was immensely gentle when he lightly trailed his fingers over hers, he looked pained when he turned the appendage over and ran his fingers over the surgical scars trailing over the back of her hand.

"I do feel a little better knowing that I'm not… that it's not just me but… I do not feel at all well with so many of our classmates going through the same thing." The boy confesses awkwardly covering Tiffany's hand completely in his both his own (it would be a long time still before he could move his damaged arm and hand properly, and there was still a chance that her never would) Tiffany could make out the gnarled scars that branded the skin of his hand and all the way up his arm until his t-shirt hid the rest on his shoulder.

"That was my response too." Relieved Tiffany smiled at him briefly before her lips melted back into a rueful pout. "Part of me wants to ask that psychiatrist your dad's having us see if I can do anything to make the images stop… but… um…"

"You're afraid that he'll take it the wrong way." Daring said knowingly his blue eyes meeting hers in understanding.

"I don't want him diagnosing me as a pervert or something." Tiffany said, although she knew that Daring probably felt that particular fear more keenly than she did.

"But we're not." Daring said with conviction while shaking his head. "I don't know why we keep being haunted by that particular image of her even after she is dead and gone but…" He looked at her then, there was something utterly vulnerable and strange about his eyes but for some reason Tiffany understood that vulnerability, suspected that her own eyes were making the same emotion.

"I thought I was going to die." He confessed, his tone thick and shaking. "She had Raven and I thought I was going to die as a failure at protecting my friend. I- I was always told that only the most charming of princes could defeat whatever foes and villains came their way but… I wasn't able to last more than a few minutes against her, none of my training was able to prepare me for… that."

"You were trained to defeat fairytale villains and dragons and was taught to rule a kingdom Daring." Tiffany pointed out. "The Evil Queen wasn't going by any story guidelines or sense of honor, she was actually trying to kill everybody to fulfill her own twisted ambitions. And It didn't help matters any due to her being crazy powerful and poisonous to boot." The girl grimaced thinking about the bite on her side and how much trouble it caused. "I think that it was a combination of your training and your unwillingness to give up that kept you alive and let you be here with us, I'm really glad for that 'cause you're a pretty cool friend and a kind-of big-brother figure to have." She admitted quietly, timidly.

Daring seemed to melt a little at her words, a goofy little smile gracing his features. "I'm glad that you survived too." He told her, his eyes misting over slightly. "And I'm so happy that you're getting better, the rest of the family too, we all are so grateful that you were able to pull through."

Tiffany felt happy at the boy's words, despite the creeping feeling that she might be, maybe, included as a part of Daring's family too.

She brushed that silly thought off as she listened as Daring regaled her with stories of stars, heroes, and grand adventure until she fell into a blessedly dreamless sleep.

XXX

A/n: Chapter Two coming soon…