He'd survived the first month of classes, and Legacy Day rehearsals. Morning of Monday after those rehearsals had seen Hrafn dragged out of class (maybe not literally, but still) so that he could have the Storybook of Legends and Destiny party-line inexpertly shoved down his throat by the headmaster, a pressured staff member, and four peers – three of whom really had no idea what they'd even been called in to do.

During the lunch period of the day after that, Blondie Lockes's mirror net broadcast came on school wide, and Hrafn watched as he chewed.

"Everyone at school is buzzing about the Royal Student Council Elections," Blondie announced with a smile. "But there's only one choice for President! She's running unopposed – again! Apple White!" she presented happily, and gestured off-screen.

Only for the named girl to walk on-screen, smiling and waving.

"Blondie," Apple greeted. "Just because I don't have an opponent doesn't mean I'm not going to work my crown off," she declared. "I'll use my debate time to outline my plans for Royal Dances, Royal Fundraisers, Royal Can Food Drives -"

Hrafn swallowed his mouthful of food and couldn't help his incredulous, unimpressed 'wow', as he stared at the screen. One of the people who he was sharing the table with heard him.

"You don't sound as impressed as that word itself implies," commented Madeline Hatter with amused curiosity.

"Well, it's just, I may not have been attending Ever After High for all that long, but I'm pretty sure there are more kinds of people than just royalty attending the school," Hrafn said, keeping his tone as reasonable and inoffensive as he could – he didn't know if Madeline Hatter was a friend of Apple White's or not – and shrugged just a little defensively. "Shouldn't there be equal representation?"

"I'll do it!" Madeline declared at once.

"Beg pardon?"

"I will run against Apple for President."

Hrafn blinked in surprise, but accepted that the Mad Hatter's daughter would definitely represent a different group within the school.

"Would you like some help with your campaign?" he offered.

~oOo~

"Wa-how!" Maddie laughed, and clapped her hands as she looked over the presidential campaign that Hrafn had drawn up.

It included a much more diverse range of things than just Royal this and Royal that. Events they hoped to run over the course of the year for the student body – some of which were academic, others social, and a few were sporting. Charities they might be able to get the school involved in, either by doing some kind of fund-raising or just promoting the existence of the charity. Proposed excursions for the student body to various places – in specific relation to certain classes, of course, as excursions were supposed to be educational. They even had a rough outline of how they hoped to fund such things.

All of it quickly thrown together just by talking to the people who were sharing their table in the Castleteria, and those who were sitting at the next nearest and had been drawn in by Maddie's excitement.

"Maybe you should be the one running for President!" Maddie suggested brightly.

"Me?" Hrafn repeated, a little shocked. "But... I'm the new kid. I don't really even know anybody here..."

"Hey, I'll vote for you," Ginger Breadhouse said with an earnest smile.

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"And me!"

As the sentiment went around the table, Maddie giggled and raised a fist in the air.

"Vote for -" she began to cheer, then stopped, blushed, and giggled again. "I'm sorry. I never actually asked your name!"

"Hrafn."

"Vote for Hrafn!" Maddie cheered.

The rest of the group around the table cheered their agreement.

Hrafn's face warmed, a little embarrassed but mostly touched, by the enthusiasm and confidence of all these people who he hardly knew, but who believed in him after only watching him brainstorm a campaign over the course of the lunch period.

~oOo~

It was pure chance. Hrafn had been on his way to catch up with Maddie to talk about what was involved in a proper Wonderlandian Tea Party (as part of his Presidential Campaign he wanted there to be more of those, but he wanted to know exactly what would be involved), when he heard -

"You beat that wolf in a race. How do you do it? I'm all ears."

"Kitty, you can't tell anyone about that -"

"Heeheehee!"

And when Hrafn saw Cerise standing on her own, slumped and defeated, well, Heroics 101 had recently covered how Damsels in Distress were sometimes in emotional rather than physical distress, and that a proper hero would do what they could to ease any kind of distress they found a damsel in.

"Cerise?" Hrafn called softly.

He did not expect the glowing golden eyes of the animalistic growl that answered him.

"Hrafn?" Cerise asked when she realised who had accidentally crept up on her.

"Sorry, sorry," Hrafn apologised quickly. "No creeping up on you, accidental or otherwise, got it."

Cerise grimaced. "You..."

"Want to talk about it?" Hrafn offered kindly. "I'll share a secret too, to keep the blackmail scales balanced, if you think that would help?"

"I just... I guess... it would be a relief to finally tell someone," Cerise allowed, and pulled out a silver locket, held on a chain attached to her belt and that had been tucked away in a pocket.

Hrafn came to stand beside the girl so that as few people as possible would see the evidence of this closely guarded secret.

Cerise popped the locket open to reveal a family photo. Her own younger self in the bottom of the picture at the front, taking up the left side of the picture behind her in a matching hood was the woman who had to be her mother, and on the right, a figure who equally certainly had to be Cerise's father.

Except that Hrafn knew that face. He saw it in every Cross-Cultural Reference Class, and for at least some of every General Villainy Class before he lost his temper enough that human features made way for fur, muzzle, and sharp teeth. Professor Badwolf.

"My family is hiding a secret," Cerise admitted.

"That..." Hrafn hesitated, not out of disapproval for the family – he liked Professor Badwolf just fine. He just wasn't sure what to say.

"Well, I think you know my stance on the following-your-story thing, or destiny or whatever," Hrafn said thoughtfully. Cerise had been present when the initial decision to run for Student Council President had been made, and everybody who had been there had heard his distaste for enforced unhappy endings for select members of the population. "But I also know that a lot of the school thinks that's because of my being raised away from... pretty much everything. So, uh, is there also a Badwolf son or daughter of...?" he trailed off and gestured to Cerise's mother.

"Ramona took the Badwolf name," Cerise confirmed softly. "She's not in the picture because, well..."

"You don't owe me, or anybody, an explanation," Hrafn said firmly, and closed a hand over Cerise's locket – closing it and hiding the picture away with the gesture. "I haven't seen her around," he added, more thoughtfully. "She that much older that she's graduated already?"

"No," Cerise denied, and tucked her locket back into her pocket. "She's attending Dark Forest Reform School this year. Dad didn't like her behaviour last year."

Hrafn nodded in understanding, and pulled out a simple locket of his own. He had promised to keep the secrets and blackmail scales even between them.

"My family isn't hexactly normal either," he said as he clicked it open. "This was the last family picture we took before my mother, well..." Hrafn preferred to not out-and-out say it.

Cerise stared, slack-jawed and shocked.

"You're the son of the -"

"Yep."

"If people knew -"

"I'd rather they didn't."

"Do any of the faculty know?!"

Hrafn hummed as he thought about that, mentally reviewing the enrolment forms he had watched his father fill out. He shook his head.

"I think Dad only put his name on my enrolment forms, and their marriage isn't hexactly general knowledge, so no, probably not," Hrafn said.

Cerise was silent for a while as she thought about it.

"If you need it, I'll talk to my dad, so you'll have someone on your side," Cerise offered. "If you need it."

Hrafn closed his locket and tucked it away.

"I think I'm good," he assured her, "but thanks for the offer, and I'll let you know if it changes. Anyway, I gotta go talk to Maddie. I'll see what I can do to collar Kitty while I'm in Wonderlandian territory. Maybe I'll be able to conjure some catnip."

Cerise heaved a relieved, grateful sigh.
"Thanks," she said with a smile.

~oOo~

"So here we go, fellow fairy tales," Blondie said from her seat on the stage. Her back was to the audience, but that hardly mattered when the mirror net could project her face onto the two large mirrors that were at either side of the stage, as well as onto individual students' mirror-pads. "The Ever After High Royal Student Council Debate."

The debate was the last thing in the lead-up to the vote. Staff would count and tally votes the next day, and the announcement of the new Student Council would go out in the evening. Leaving the matter completely settled while students dressed up for and took part in the Legacy Day Ceremony on Sunday.

"First question goes to Apple White," Blondie said. "Why would anyone not vote for you?"

The mirror-cams switched from Blondie to Apple, where she stood behind one of the podiums on the stage. Hrafn stood opposite her behind his own podium. Apple looked as she always did: her usual dress, pale gold curls, tiny crown atop a red bow... Very pretty.

"Let me just say, I will preside over this school like I will my future kingdom," Apple said into the microphone in front of her. "Perfectly."

Her supporters cheered. This group was especially in the front few rows on Apple's side of the auditorium, but there were more than just those few, and their cheers rung throughout the auditorium. On the other hand, those who had over the past week been won to Hrafn's side by his active campaigning, were unimpressed. Visibly even, as Hrafn could see his staunchest supporters sitting in the front few rows of seats on his side of the auditorium, opposite Apple's.

"And Hrafn," the cameras switched back to Blondie. "My question for you is: why would you run against Apple? Are you -" she snickered a little, plainly incredulous at even the notion of opposing her friend. "Mad?"

Hrafn had made the effort to clean himself up a bit more than his day-to-day look. He'd swapped jeans for pressed slacks. His usual rumpled shirt had been ironed, tucked, and he had a tie around his neck. He'd tamed his curls, straightened his crown, and found a suit jacket that matched the slacks. He might have been an unknown to a lot of the school until recently, but he was definitely a well-put-together unknown.

"Madame Chair of the Debate, Honourable Opposition," Hrafn began formally. "People, fairies, giants, and animals of the student body. The two-part question I have been asked, straight away and without being given the opportunity to offer a rebuttal to my opponent's answer as I should be in a debate setting, shows the bias of the Madame Chair. I will nevertheless answer the second part of the question immediately and with clarity: no, I am not mad. The way my Honourable Opponent did not answer the question posed to her does, however and in part, inform the answer to the rest of the question that was posed to me, and so I may supply my rebuttal as well as answer the question I was asked."

Everybody, even the biased (and blushing, since she'd been called on it) Blondie, was on the edge of their seats to hear what Hrafn had to say.

"I am running against Miss White because I do not want to be presided over," Hrafn declared. "I am running for President of the Student Council because I believe in the diversity of the student body, and that such diversity is a wonderful strength. It is not something that should be ignored in favour of only one group, however privileged that group may be. I am running for President of the Student Council because I want to serve my fellow students, and make your time at Ever After High educationally and socially richer, physically and emotionally safer, and in general a happier period of your lives."

Hrafn's friends (and he'd made more than a few since the campaign began, so he could claim more than just Dexter and Hopper in that number now) in the crowd stood as they cheered for him. His supporters (of which he'd had a fair few before the debate began, and he'd won even more of with that little speech) added to the noise with enthusiasm.

~oOo~

There were a lot of fairy tales. Only a few counted as the 'major' fairy tales – Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella being the biggest of the big – and a lot of fairy tales had more minor roles than they did major ones. All that taken into consideration, there were still students at Ever After High who were not specifically affiliated with any particular fairy tale, and whose 'destinies' were less certain.

That didn't mean that those students didn't have major parts to play in major fairy tales. The various Charmings, for example, could belong in any number of fairy tales. For this reason, those students who weren't obviously attached to a fairy tale, but could potentially be affiliated, signed the book first. Then the students who were part of major fairy tales signed, before finally the students destined to minor fairy tales.

Somehow, Hrafn – due to extreme disassociation from any stories, so far as the staff were aware – was the first to be called upon to sign the Storybook of Legends. He was pretty sure it was a bad idea all over, but he was going along with it. For now.

"I am Hrafn," he said when he reached the podium. He might not be sure about this whole thing, but it was formulaic enough and ritual. He'd double-checked procedure with Madame Yaga during his free period that Monday he'd been called to her office. He figured being pro-active about wanting to clear up his confusion would get Headmaster Grimm off his back about it. Apart from his having been called up first, it seemed to have worked. He'd even gone and dressed up – and not just the little bit tidier that he'd been for the debate on Friday. This was fullest FIG JAM* attire, with fur-lined royal cloak and elaborate, glittering headgear. "And I am ready to learn my destiny."

As promised, an elaborate little key appeared out of thin air. Hrafn reached for it, but before he could grab it, the key fell into his hand. He blinked, but moved on without any other reaction except to – as instructed – put the key into the lock and open the book.

The pages turned, text indistinct but pictures clear and... troubling. When the pages stopped turning, a glass with a gilded frame appeared in the air in front of him. There was one final image reflected back at him from within. It only lingered for a moment before turning into a white feather quill.

It hovered above the book, waiting to be claimed and used to sign the book. No doubt in the blank space at the bottom of the open page.

"Why would anybody sign their name to a destiny like that?" Hrafn questioned, voice clear and incredulous. "Can I close the book, and try again for a new destiny?" he asked, and suited actions to words without waiting for an answer.

The large mirrors that were floating around the stage and podium, giving a clear picture of his face to those who sat below and were too far away to actually see his features, shattered.

"Woah!" he yelped, and with a quick gesture, magic flashed out of his hands to catch the thousands of pieces of broken mirror before they could land on anybody seated below. "Did not mean that to happen!" he said loudly, and with a wave of his hands, fixed the mirrors.

Cheering from the assembled student body reached his ears as his face reappeared on the repaired mirrors.

"Hrafn did it!" he heard someone call out.

"He didn't disappear!" someone else cheered.

That's right. Headmaster Grimm had said that, hadn't he. Very publicly, with certainty and intimidating vehemence.

"No, I didn't disappear," Hrafn confirmed, and turned from the students below and the book before him, to face Headmaster Grimm who stood, frowning, by the stairs. "And I am going to decide my destiny for myself."

Just like at the debate the day before, the student body cheered. Though this was a much shorter speech.

~oOo~

*FIG JAM – Fairy I'm Good, Just Ask Me