Author's notes: this story takes place in continuity after several Monster High and Ever After High stories I've done. Specifically, it takes place shortly after a crossover fic called 'Unplanned Exchange Program'.
...
It was the day after Legacy Day. The student body was still reeling from Raven refusing to sign the Storybook of Legends. It was lunchtime in the Castleteria as the various Royals and Rebels sat in tension. As soon as Raven walked near, all the Royals animosity focused on her.
"I know you're all mad at me," Raven addressed the Royals present: Apple, Daring, Briar, Hopper and Lizzie.
"That's putting it mildly," Lizzie said angrily. "By not signing the Storybook of Legends, you may have prevented everyone from following their destinies. And if I can't become the next Queen of Hearts, then I won't be able to undo the damage to Wonderland inflicted by your mother."
"There's no guarantee," Raven began to counter, "that you beginning the Red Queen will lead to Wonderland becoming better."
"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" Lizzie exclaimed. No one around her was worried about this because they knew that she wasn't actually going to go through with it (probably). Furthermore, Raven was not worried because she didn't consider Lizzie to be a serious threat.
"Does anyone have anything else they want to contribute?" Raven asked, un-phased by Lizzie's outburst.
"You selfish bitch," Hopper said with a glare at Raven. "Did you ever stop to think about how this would effect me?"
"Crap," Raven muttered, not having anything off the top of her head to counter how with Hopper's story at risk of never happening, there was a good chance of him spending the rest of his life turning into a frog whenever he got tongue-tied around a girl (which with him, would be often). "I've got nothing for that," she finished with regret.
"Honestly Hooper," Daring began, "I'm surprised you just talked to a girl without frogging out on us."
"My hatred has given me the kind of focus I've only ever dreamed of," Hopper replied grimly.
"Was anyone else creeped out by that?" Raven asked of the people around her.
"Yes," several people answered.
"And let's not forget," Briar spoke up, "that your refusal to sign almost ruined the after-party."
"There are bigger things involved than the after-party, Briar," Daring said, hoping to get her focused.
"Maybe for you," Briar snapped back, "but I'd been looking forward to that party for over half my life." Everyone looked at Briar in puzzlement at her choosing to focus on the party. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"Moving on to something else," Raven interjected, "don't you think it's odd that despite Headmaster Grimm's warnings about ceasing to exist if we don't sign the book, I clearly still exist?"
"Headmaster Grimm already hexplained that," Apple spoke up. "You will cease to exist at some unspecified point and will be at danger of that until you sign the book."
"I know he said that," Raven said, "I just don't believe him." The Royals gasped in unison at this.
"How could you not believe Headmaster Grimm?" Apple asked with a combination of confusion and outrage.
Crap, Raven thought to herself. She had several reasons not to trust the Headmaster but could not share those without revealing secrets that other people confided in her or that Headmaster Grimm wouldn't deny away. Raven was getting very nervous as the assembled Royals starting glaring at her, awaiting an answer that Raven hadn't even begun thinking of. As a result of her anxiety, a silver belt with vertical feather designs and a purple stone in the buckle materialized around Raven's waist.
"What's that?" Briar asked.
"A long story," Apple answered for Raven then faced the (hopefully for her) future evil queen. "You never answered my question."
"It's complicated," Raven replied. Apple paused for a moment, thinking of the right way to express to Raven how she found 'it's complicated' to be a woefully underwhelming answer for Raven risking non-existence and spitting in the face of everything the school stood for.
"Why did you come back here if you weren't going to sign?" Apple asked. Raven took a deep breath as she thought of her answer.
"Because that world was too different from anything I was familiar with," Raven said. "Between having to adjust to a whole new world and living off the generosity of the friends I made there, I decided it was best to come back here because it is what I know."
Apple paused for a while as she thought of a response. While she was thinking, Lizzie was hit from behind by some thrown food. She looked at where it had come from and saw a group of Rebels, with Cerise in the most likely spot where she'd been attacked from. Deciding that Cerise had been responsible, the future queen of hearts grabbed some nearby food and returned fire. Cerise acted on instinct and counterattacked. The opposing groups of Royals and Rebels then went to grab more edible ammunition and prepared to fire.
I didn't make it for food fights, Raven thought as she saw this, but since the belt is out I might as well suit up.
"Henshin," Raven said as she channeled almost all her magic into a purple aura around her left hand and put the magic into the belt buckle. This caused a rather bright flash of black light as Raven was instantly surrounded by a suit of black, non-metallic armor with silver lines along the body and large, purple eyes on the face. Raven had changed into Kamen Rider Nocturnal.
The various Rebels and Royals saw the flash and looked at Raven in her armor. They were so perplexed by this that they forgot about getting their food fight underway. Nocturnal had grabbed some food and was ready to throw but stopped when she was everyone looking at her.
"What, we're not doing this?" She asked as she lowered the food in her hand.
"What the hex are you wearing?" Daring asked, vocalizing what was on the minds of everyone who did not previously know about this.
"Long story short," Nocturnal began, "I channel most of my magic into this belt and it conjures this suit around me."
"It's fairy you," Briar said after taking a good look at it. "Though the helmet's a little bland and seriously, what's with the bug eyes?"
"Ummm," Nocturnal stammered, not sure how to answer that.
"I can hexplain that," Holly O'hair chimed in with a smile. "The belt and armor Raven has are fairy similar to ones used by a breed of warriors called Kamen Riders. A lot of these warriors had insect motifs and somehow, that became a universal trait with all of them."
"How do you know that?" Raven asked as she dispelled her armor in another flash of black light.
"Same way I imagine you did," Holly replied. "I used a magic mirror to observe the exploits of many riders. Where'd you get the belt and the abilities?" Holly gasped as a thought occurred to her. "Were you experimented on?" Holly asked with great anticipation.
"I was not experimented on," Raven answered irritably. "I used my magic to create the belt to see if I could give myself rider abilities and it worked."
"That's not a great origin story," Holly said. "Oh who am I kidding: I'd do the same thing if I could. And I just want you to know that I'm sorry."
"For what?" Raven asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"For this," Holly said smiling as she charged Raven and enveloped her in surprisingly tight hug. Holly said some stuff that was hard to make out about how hexcited she was to actually meet a Kamen Rider along with various hexcited squeals. Raven couldn't touch her belt to transform again and was too taken by surprise to focus her magic in such a way that it would separate them.
"Somebody get her off of me!" Raven yelled, causing several people to laugh at this predicament.
Not what I wanted to happen but still entertaining, Kitty thought as she this from her vantage point on the rafters, only slightly disappointed that her plan to instigate a food fight didn't work out.
...
Everyone calmed down after that and lunch went smoothly. Apple approached Raven about the possibility of having a debate of sorts over their conflicting ideologies after classes. Raven agreed to this, but only if Cupid could stand near her.
They met up in an empty classroom for the interview. Blondie held her mirrortablet, began broadcasting and made an introduction for what was about to happen.
"Now Raven," Apple began calmly. "I know that you don't completely agree with everyone following their parents' footsteps, but it's important for the stories to be retold so they will travel out to other worlds and inspire countless people."
"I find that a convenient position for ... Some people to have," Raven said, having to pause herself from referring to Apple specifically so she didn't make this too personal. "We are all bound by destiny at this school. But the difference is that for some of us, the chain's made of gold and for others, it's the kind shackled to your ankle with a heavy ball on the other end."
Apple paused for a second as she took this in. Despite Raven's best efforts, it was clear that she was talking about Apple and insinuating that Apple only believed in everyone following their pre-assigned fates because she was dealt a good hand.
"And since this school is all about stories," Raven continued, "I'm hoping I can share a new one with everyone watching this."
"Sounds good," Blondie said, always looking to share new content with her viewers.
"It's about something that happened at Monster High," Raven began, then turned to Cupid. "I wasn't there to see it happen but Cupid was, so she'll take it from here."
"Thanks Raven," Cupid said. Ever since Toralei and Raven's switched universes, word had gotten out that Cupid had been at the same school Toralei had come from and that Raven went to. She had been worried at first about sharing this but it had gone well. And now it was about to go better.
"Before I begin, some background information is necessary," Cupid began. "The world I come has a lot of racial tension, both between humans and monsters as well as between different kinds of monsters, particularly werewolves and vampires because they were at war with each other off and on for centuries. So Headmistress Bloodgood extended an invitation to a bunch of werewolf and vampires to come to Monster High in the hopes of fostering good will between the two races."
"Despite a rocky start, things were starting to look up," Cupid continued. "Until this human guy named Van Hellscream showed up saying he wanted to help. What he actually did was get the vampires and werewolves to embrace their own cultures and rubbed salt on old wounds. He almost succeeded in turning Headmistress Bloodgood's attempt at monster unity into a reenactment of the vampire/werewolf wars before he was exposed. After that, things went according to plan with getting vampires and werewolves to get along."
"That's an interesting story, Cupid," Apple said. "But I fail to see what it has to do with the current situation at this school."
"Vanhellscream abused the vampire and werewolves sense of tradition and cultural pride to almost successfully turn back the clock on inter-monster relations," Raven chimed in. "Which I think proves the point I'm about to make: just because things have always been done this way isn't by itself a great reason to keep doing things this way."
Apple stood silent and blinked a few times as she tried to think of a counter to Raven's story.
"Furthermore," Raven continued, "I would like to bring up another point made by Toralei's manifesto."
Of course you read that when you came back, Apple thought to herself.
"Toralei brought up," Raven continued, "how in a powerful wind storm, a tall oak tree will split in half from the storm but a tiny sapling will survive because it bent with the force instead of breaking and that the system of having people follow the roles of their parents is like the oak tree: tall and imposing but rigid and incapable of adapting. Everyone is very tense because I refused to pledge my destiny."
"Yes, people are tense," Apple said in a somewhat scolding tone.
"But when you get down to it," Raven continued, "I'm really just one obstinate teenager. If I can cause so much unrest, what does that say about the system?"
That it's vulnerable to even small disruptions and can't handle things refusing to happen the way it wants, Apple thought. She actually did agree with Raven and Toralie's points about the dangers of cultural rigidity and how tradition doesn't make something infallibly right. Unfortunately, as the most high-profile princess at EA High, she needed to make a token effort to defend the status quo.
"What you're forgetting, Raven," Apple began, "is that without our traditions to act as a framework, there's no idea of what will happen. It would be complete chaos."
"And in that chaos," Raven shot back, "people will be able to make their own choices with what to do with their lives rather than have their choices made for them."
"Do you have any idea how selfish you sound?" Apple said while glaring, getting angry and ignoring their earlier agreement to keep this debate from being personal.
"And how is having me and Hunter," Raven began with a scowl, "accept fates we don't want so you can get everything you want not selfish of you?"
"Because that's just the way it is," Apple said, "and the way it needs to be to keep everything going smoothly."
"And the status quo is incapable of running smoothly without us devoting our entire lives to that," Raven shot back, "as I've already proven. Also, I'd like you to remember the point I tried to make with that story about Vanhellscream. If the current system has its shortcomings, which I've established, what is so wrong about changing it?"
"Because...," Apple paused for a second as she thought of her response and had trouble with that. "Because change is inherently wrong, okay?"
"No, not okay," Raven replied sharply. The two girls glared at each other for a while before Apple spoke up.
"Why did you come back here if you're so set on not following your destiny?" Apple asked.
"Because I thought that there were people here," Raven began, "who gave a crap about me and not just what I can do for them. It's looking increasingly like I was wrong about that," she finished with a malicious tone.
"But I do care about you Raven," Apple said pleadingly. "I care about you so much that I don't want you to stop existing from not signing the Storybook of Legends."
"And yet," Raven started, "you want me to set you on the path to your happily ever after and spend the rest of my life in a dungeon for doing hexactly what was expected of me."
Ouch, Apple thought to herself, unable to deny how Raven's statement validated her claims of Apple's selfishness. Once again, Apple struggled to come up with a decent counter-argument.
"And another thing," Raven began.
"I'm afraid that's all the time we have," Blondie said, deciding to end this debate before the tide turned against the Royal side even more.