PLEASE READ ME!

Okay, so people have been asking me questions so I just wanna clear things up.

Duchess said 'I'm not suppose to die!' because I chose the PG version of Swan Lake originally because otherwise she never would have been born. I have read Swan Lake guys. I did the research. Also I can't tell you what's in the letter! I want to really badly but I have to save that piece of info for a later chapter.

Review Time!

The Lady Greek : Ewww, I hate spitballs! Please! You have to wait and see. I just have a penchant for angst.

Story Lover : I would never cuss someone out for saying the Lord's name. I know some people are like that but I'm Christian so... Of course it's not the end! I'll probably pull another 5 chapters after this.

Anime Pop Circle : Everything is explained above ^UP^

Myths and Madness : Why thank you! I enjoy writing angst but transition between that and other emotions annoys me.

Now you may read...

Chapter 10 - After Ever After

The whole event was in shambles. After Raven refused to pledge everything started unraveling backwards. People ran screaming around the school. Flocks of angry-minded parents were banging on Grimm's door. The Royals ball was not at all fun because everyone was worrying. Duchess still had the faint metallic taste of blood in her mouth. She sat atop the castle's highest tower not fearing should she fall, watching everything go crazy. How had Raven done it? Had the magic tried to restrain her as well? It obviously didn't unless she somehow managed to break it's control. She looked at her hand. The burn mark was still there. What had happened? She was still trying to muddle her way through what had actually transpired that evening. She was wearing an ancient white dress, her ball gown in tatters on her dorm's floor. The strings of pearls broken and scattered in the hallway. Feathers covered everything in her room. She didn't know what had come over her. Her life was in chaos and seemed she wasn't the only one. Apple ran into the forest crying sometime earlier. Ashlynn looked slightly relieved that she hadn't gotten a chance to pledge. She hadn't signed away her love. Duchess sighed and stood. She was barefoot and her hair was no longer contained in it usual ponytail. If anyone had to see her they would think she was a savage. Her cheeks were still stained with tears but her eyes weren't so red anymore. The cold air had given her goosebumps and she decided it was time to go and get a proper look at the damage.

Duchess looked around. She a beautiful ebony-haired woman arguing with Headmaster Grimm near his office. A stark-faced man with white blonde hair stood next to her with his arms crossed. She recognised them as Snow White and her prince charming. The woman looked exactly like Apple, maybe slightly taller, and was impeccably dressed. Duchess felt awkward with her raggedy look near this woman. She started to understand how Raven's mom must have felt in comparison to her. And everyone did compare them. Even in her slightly older state she was gorgeous. Duchess sort of wished her hair was that dark again but it would never be the colour she was born with. She crept past the group and up the stairs towards the girl's dormitories. She could hear the shouting before she saw it.

"How could you? It was going to be the best night of her life! You are just as, as heartless as your mother!" Briar sat in the pooling fabric of her dress, attempting to console a sobbing Apple White.

"I am not! My mother isn't heartless, she's just, hard to understand! None of you know anything!" Raven looked menacing with that dark look on her face.

"Why Raven? Why did you do it? Now I might- I," She started on a fresh round of tears. She kept sniffling and using her skirt to dab at her face. Duchess just stood still and watched. No-one seemed to notice her.

"Gosh Apple, it's not like you're gonna die or something, stop crying!" Cerise walked past the fighting girls and winked at Raven. Duchess stepped back for her to pass and Maddie noticed her.

"Duchess!" Maddie was the only cheery person in the corridor, "What are you doing here? Have you come for tea?" She batted her eyelids and brought out a teapot in offering. Duchess blinked and shook her head. Her curls bounced, alerting her to the fact that wasn't currently socially acceptable.

"No thanks Maddie, maybe another time."

"You!" Apple turned back towards Raven, "See! Even Duchess pledged and she has just about the same fate as you! Tell her Duchess! Tell her that she should have pledged!" Duchess didn't know what to do. She felt trapped. Like she could either run into the lion's den or give herself to the pack of wolves.

"I-" Briar cut her off, sensing her indecision. The same indecision that she was glad to be saved from by the cancelling of Legacy Day.

"Yeah, I have to sleep for 100 years while all of my friends die of old age, how do you think that'll feel for me? Really Raven, you don't have the worst future, Raven looked like she didn't know what to say. Duchess didn't know what to say either. Raven looked at her with a frown on her face.

"Back me up her Duchess," She was using the 'we share a happily never after' thing to make her agree with her views.

"I'm going to bed," Duchess pushed past her and walked down the hallway. No-one cared if she pledged or not, just as she had surmised. What was the point of all the craziness? She needed a night to calm down but as she slipped under the covers she worried about what images would run in her mind.

She was running.

Everything was black.

She kept tripping on the long trailing hem of her dress. Her heart was beating at a million pages a minute. Her hair was in a bun atop her head. Point shoes were on her feet but their ribbons trailed behind her. She didn't know what she was running from, just that she had to get away. Cold laughter echoed from everywhere so she didn't know where to go. A wave of cold hit her, it was sharp and cut her skin like a knife. She stopped and dropped to her knees. Curling into a ball she screamed. The swirling darkness came closer to her and engulfed her frame. She was back by the lake, watching herself commit suicide. The pain made her eyes water, the girl whispered to her again and again.

Please, please, please.

Who?

She sat strait up in bed and clutched her cover to her chest. Her forehead was covered in cold sweat. The room was bright. The drapes were pulled wide open. Duchess was breathing heavily. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stared at her bedside clock. It showed 7:00. Where was Lizzie? She took a few shaky steps towards the bathroom. The cold water soothed her skin as she splashed her face at the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her make-up was smudged so she looked like a raccoon. Imagine the comments she'd get if Sparrow saw her now. She disregarded that thought and shed her clothes. Turning the water up to the highest heat she stepped into the shower. She just sat under the water and let it wash away the memories of last night. Everything was going crazy. Maybe Grimm was right.

The fairy world was tilting.

She walked down to the castleteria slowly. Her neck felt stiff and her ankles were sore. The door to the castleteria was wide open and she just walked in like she always did, only to get a tomato-sauce covered french-fry hit her on her right cheek. She whipped her head around in anger. She really wasn't in the mood or this right now. Cupid faltered under Duchess's stare. It was compassion less, completely enraged and then Duchess smiled. She calmly regarded the bowl of porridge in front of her before grabbing a handful and lobbing it in Cupid's direction. It went splat on the pink-haired girl's cheek and Duchess smirked before ducking to avoid a volley of fries. She crawled towards the royals tables and grabbed a silver tray to protect herself. Briar was doing the same thing.

"What happened?" She demanded. Briar put her finger to her lips and and cocked her head towards the rebel side of the room.

"Someone over there threw a french-fry at my head, I retaliated and and it's gotten messier and messier ever since," Duchess peaked over her tray and squeaked, pulling it over her head as Sparrow shot another volley of French-Fry arrows. She watched in amazement as the royals retaliated with porridge that rained down on the enemy. She felt useless and got up, careful to keep up her shield. She started to fling porridge to help her side.

Then, it got worse.

"Oh my! What is going on in here?" It was Apple White, with a shocked look and scandalised voice. She marched into the room. People starting shouting at her but she waved them away, "One at a time please, Cedar?"

The wooden golem girl stood in the middle of the room with tears in her eyes, "I don't know what to do. Should I sit with my friends like I always have? Or should I sit with the Royals? I'm not a royal but I do want to follow my story and become a real girl but I also want my friends to be able to choose their own destiny so- so I don't know what to do!" Apple sighed.

"Briar, what happened?"

"They threw food at us, so we retaliated. It was kind of hexciting," Briar loved her adrenalin fix.

"No! They threw food first!" Sparrow felt he had to point this out. His fedora dripped porridge into his quiver.

"Liar!" Duchess retorted and put her hand casually over a bunch of bananas, just in case.

"Easy Duchess," Raven stepped towards her. Some of the royals booed. Daring stood and pointed a finger at her.

"You ruined our Legacy Day!"

"Not to mention our Legacy Day Dance! I worked really hard planning that!" Briar added to the reason royals hated Raven. Daring nodded.

"You just did what you wanted without thinking of others didn't you Raven?" Duchess felt like throwing the bananas at him. He was such a hypocrite.

"I think what Raven did was brave," Cedar took a step towards the rebels.

"So she doesn't want to be all evil-ly, what's wrong with that?" Maddie interjected before taking a swig of tea.

"Definitely not," Dexter smiled at Raven and Daring shook his head.

"Friends, don't worry yourselves. We need to be better than this. We are better than this," Raven cocked at eyebrow at Apple.

"Better than what?" Raven walked slowly towards the royals. Blondie picked up a spoon of porridge.

"She should stay there, on the other side with the evil people."

"Evil is such a strong word Blondie, especially when used for everyone," Apple waved her arm towards the rebel side of the room where Cedar had decided to sit, "Can you really call Maddie evil? Mad maybe, but not evil. And Cedar doesn't have an evil bone in her body."

"I don't have any bones actually-"

"Well she's evil," Blondie pointed to Raven. Apple sighed and hung her head.

"She's supposed to be evil, and we're still working towards that. I think in our hearts we're not mad at anyone. We're just worried about what to do since Raven didn't sign the storybook of legends."

"She ruined Legacy Day!" Faybelle got ready to throw again.

"She did not!" This time it was Cedar, "And I can't lie!"

"Raven just made a mistake and her friends are supporting her but I believe that they'll come around and return to their destinies in time," Apple clasped her hands together and smiled. The royals seemed calmed but the rebels looked even madder. Raven shook her head in disbelief.

"Is that what you think? That I was impulsive and am just going to turn around and go back to my destiny any time now?"

"Of course!" Apple was beaming. She faced the Rebels. "As president of the Royal Student Council, I mean, co-president . . ." She smiled at Maddie, who smiled back. She and Maddie had both been elected to the post. "I want you so-called Rebels to know you are still important to all of us here at Ever After High." She opened her arms as if to hug them. "Do you hear that, Rebels? We don't hate you! Not a bit! And we can be patient until you re-decide to follow your destiny!"

"I'm not following my destiny," Raven folded her arms. "That's the whole point. You know it isn't fair to force me into being evil."

"But it's your destiny."

"It should be my choice," said Raven. Grumbles from both sides began to escalate into shouts. Apple looked cnfuse and hurt and Duchess scoffed. She had just made things worse.

"No, listen!" Apple tried again. "I personally still value you even when you make huge mistakes-"A spoonful of porridge flipped from Sparrow Hood's direction and landed with a splat on Apple's cheek. Apple gasped. A stunned silence gripped the Castleteria. Briar stood, pushing up her sleeves.

"It's about to get all nonfiction in here."

"Bring it," said Cerise.

And then the real food fight began.

Not just a few bowls of porridge this time.

A mega-eruption of an all-you-can-eat airborne buffet.

Duchess lobbed her bananas and they hit Cedar smack in the face, she looked scandalised. Cerise started firing cream puffs before Duchess could blink. Apple just stood there in the crossfire. Duchess completely forgot about the nightmares and focused on protecting herself and hitting as many people as possible. Suddenly the doors burst open and all the food stopped in mid-air. Food peeled itself from where it had hit it's mark and made a pile in the middle of the room. Madam Baba Yaga walked in with an unpleasant scowl on her face.

"Detention!"

Duchess slumped, as if she needed that right now.

She sat at a dusty desk with her ankle chained to it's leg. Apparently since she had the ability to 'escape' by turning into a swan she had to be tied down. She was so upset. They had just about put the entire school in detention. Apple White was whimpering quietly. Briar was trying to fall asleep. Maddie was having a healthy conversation with a skeleton in the corner even thought they weren't supposed to talk. Duchess dropped her head to the desk. She couldn't take the boredom. She had to do something. Ashlynn and Hunter sat in desks next to one another and were passing notes. Duchess smirked. One day she was going to catch them in the act. She sighed and stared at the dungeon ceiling. Madam Yaga looked up from her Witches Weekly.

"Quiet!" Everyone jumped in their seats and Duchess felt like screaming she was so bored. She started to think. If she couldn't have her happily ever after by not signing the book she would simple have to take another princesses one. She looked at Ashlynn smiling at her secret boyfriend and smirked. It couldn't be that hard.