You might be wondering what this is, Aquila and everyone else who is reading this.

I (Silver Wolf) have one (1) word for you.

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.

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Surprise!

To commemorate the 100 reviews for AFILAW, I've written this short story-ish thing. Hope you like it!

Cerise Hood wasn't really a pro at romance. Sure, she scored big time with her soul-mate Rosy, but that didn't mean she knew how she did it!

(shhh… don't tell anyone though. Their relationship is still a secret. Her lovely is very shy.)

But she did pride herself on her sensitivity.

Not because of her true and pure feelings, no.

That was her better half's job.

In the wise words of Hermione Granger, she had the emotional range of a teaspoon.

Her sensitivity, was because of her inherited wolf genes.

They warned her whenever something was going to go boom.

Sometimes it was little things- the distressed slump of Rosy's shoulders before she had a nervous meltdown, the rustling of leaves before a not-so-friendly beastie pounced, the wind picking up before her hood slipped off...

Sometimes it was the not so little things- the ground shaking just before twisting vines cracked through the floor, the smell of wet fur before her sister, Ramona Badwolf, crashed EAH,-

The chill that went down her spine when a certain Apple While stomped by.

She wondered what had gotten the daughter of Snow White into such a tizzy.

But she went on her merry way to complete her mission- find a pretty flower for her pretty one while she was absorbed in her book.

She came across a field of flowers, ripe for the picking.

Now which flowers did Rosy say she was allergic to?

You may think that Ever After High was a lovely place to be, couples here, couples there, couples everywhere….

But if you really, truly thought that, well.

Be ready for a rude awakening.

It was a school, yes, for fairy tale creatures- both the heroes and the villains.

You had to watch your every step.

But sometimes, the villains were truer than the heroes.

Because, with their futures written out for them, the lovely princesses and the dashing princes were trapped in a cage of pages.

While it wasn't so obvious in some of the tales - like in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, or the Three Little Piggies , or Jack and the Beanstalk - there were slightly larger cracks in the main characters of others, especially those of the royal tales.

Take herself for example. To be love and to be the love of a beast was no little duty. She'd cracked under pressure in her own way, drawing inward, into herself and into her solace - books. She had shied away from human contact and had ruined any chances for a relationship with Daring, and nearly done the same with her relationship with Cerise.

But then, she hadn't banked on the fact that Cerise Hood was not Daring Charming.

When she refused to bring their relationship to light, they'd fought.

They'd fought over how aloof she was being, how disinterested she seemed, and Rosabelle had broken down.

She'd admitted her insecurities and her weak points.

She'd apologized to Cerise, begging her not to leave her.

She'd taken a leap of faith.

A big one.

And Cerise had answered in kind.

She'd shown Rosabella her ears - her furry wolf ears which marked her apart from the crowd.

The ears which were a proof of all the times she had to hide, all the times she had to run while she could've fought and all the times she wore a stuffy cloak while it was blistering outside.

Rosabelle had giggled at the last one, and Cerise had booped her nose.

"It'll all work out, my sweet," she'd said with a grin, "We'll go at your pace."

And those few words allowed her to breathe again.

She thanked the voices of the Narrators that Cerise Hood was not Daring Charming.

And here she was, her object of desire, rushing towards here with a full blown grin, and clutching in her hand- wait were those daisies?

She knew for a fact that roses were in season and that there had been rose-bushes beside the big oak...

She had a flashback to the time when Daring had sent her a bouquet of roses redder than blood.

Though it had been so romantic and the flowers were beautiful, she'd been in bed for the rest of the evening, hacking and sneezing miserably into her tissue.

She found herself falling in love with Cerise all over again.

Again, she thanked the voices of the Narrators that Cerise Hood was not Daring Charming.

Apple White stormed up the spiral staircase leading to her bedroom.

Her heels clickity-clacked on the marble steps.

Stupid Darling and stupid Queen Charming!

Stupid Raven for rolling around in the forest leaves with that smug, smiling, beauty-marked m-menace.

She loved Raven, she really did, but why didn't Raven look at her anymore?

To top things off, she had just received a call from her mother.

In a nutshell?

'Your popularity is decreasing, you ought to do something about it. And oh, you give my congratulations to Raven on her spelltacular new relationship, won't you, my darling?'

Aargh!

Just thinking about it made her angrier than- than-

Ooh!

Angrier than she had ever been before!

But within that anger, she felt despair.

Despair that she was not good enough, that she would never be good enough, never as good as Darling Charming…

She remembered the way Darling had fearlessly confessed her true heart's desire to Raven, in front of the whole cafeteria at that!

She remembered how Darling had had shown her love to Raven - with heart-shaped gingerbread cookies, a bouquet of flowers which never wilted and a kiss to seal the bargain.

She remembered how Darling had saved Raven from the dragon, when all she had done was scream Raven's name.

But most of all, she remembered how, during the Dragon Games, she had hesitated to follow Raven. And she remembered how Darling had gone after her without even looking at anyone else.

That was what Apple lacked.

She had grown up a princess, being told her whole life that she should wait, that she should not cut in line, that she should not be selfish…

Apple had never wished that she hadn't been born Royal more than she did at that moment.

She felt tears well up in her eyes.

She wished that she had done something- anything, different.

If only she had tried harder, if only she had been brave, if only she had been strong, if only she hadn't hesitated.

If only she had had the courage to be a rebel…

As dusk settled in, Raven gazed dreamily out her window.

She was waiting for Darling to pick her up.

Apparently Darling had a 'surprise' she wanted to show her.

'It's a date' she'd said, smiling sweetly.

Raven couldn't wait to see what it was.

She was sure it would be hexcellent, as all of her girlfriend's surprises were.

She fell onto her bed with a 'flomp'.

She rolled around, giggling giddily.

Her girlfriend! Her girlfriend! Her girlfriend!

Asdfgh! She felt so happy!

Her once-monotonous routine was replaced by a whirlwind of love, adventure and happiness.

It truly felt like her Happy Ever After already!

But little did she know, that her Elysium would be short-lived.

And that trouble was brewing right outside her door.

Literally.

And it was in the form of a pretty princess with blonde hair and a penchant for red.

A/N: How was it?

Oh My God, Thank you so much AK! This was really sweet!

Anyways, for those of you who were wondering, this takes place somewhere in between Chapter 5 and 6. I'm working on Chapter 8 right now, hopefully it'll be up by this weekend!

Cheers,

Aquila