In the end Raven couldn't help herself, couldn't stop herself even if she tried. This was big, and it would definitely get messy, and this time around she couldn't even count on Maddie to be a secret go-between the school and Raven, because she was still royally ticked off at Apple, to the point to where Raven suspected that maybe Maddie gleefully envisioned the princess being banished to sit in a pit of fire, or some other violent scenario if that particular disturbing little grin whenever the princess's name was brought up, was anything to go by…
The point was that Raven was no dummy when it came to people not only attempting to hide things from her, but also attempting to seriously encourage her to go in one, specific, direction in life. In this case being practically everyone from her Wonderland inner circle, in some form or another, wanting Raven to completely write Apple out of her life.
The reasons for each person varied, some, she knew, were mostly based off of genuine concern for Raven, and the actual worry that Apple might manage to harm Raven again if they were to ever meet.
The others on the other hand… well there was some definite political and personal gains to be had by keeping Raven the property of Wonderland, she wasn't naïve enough not to see that, nor was she blind enough not to see that the very popular notion at the moment, from her inner circle all the way to the people she and Lizzie served as their monarchs, was for Raven to finally give up that last thread of uncertainty, the last bit connecting herself with Apple and Ever After, and to permanently tie herself, and her future offspring, to Wonderland.
Raven had a few long vid-chats with Margarete Tampere about just this subject in recent weeks, thankfully Raven's former lover-now-friend-and-ally was willing to help ponder through the issue with Raven, weighing the pros and cons (to the best of their semi-biased abilities) between Raven remaining pliant to Lizzie's court, and Raven seeing for herself where she stood with Apple after the Tale of Wonderland was completed, and have Raven and Apple make up their own minds.
The topic of Lizzie and the popular opinion that Raven should marry her had blind sighted Raven the first time Margarete informed her of the opinion (how could it not be shocking?). But after some time to think it over, Raven did admit that as far as matches went, it would be well conceived one, and both she and Lizzie were suited to each other enough that such a relationship it could workout very well for them, both professionally and personally. In fact Raven (and Margarete shared this sentiment) was certain if she were to make the first tentative move that Lizzie would snatch her up and never let go.
The possibility was there, the timing was right, Lizzie, or any of the Wonderlandian suitors that they still pushed Raven's way, would not object to claiming Raven as one of them through marriage (and thus gain all the kingdom and political benefits all tied up in a very neat bow)… it… would be utterly perfect!
…Well on paper, it would be utterly perfect.
The issue was that Raven still loved Apple.
Raven knew Apple, knew more about Apple and the unreasonable pressures and lies that she had been bombarded with since the princess was born, and how that had shaped and limited Apple, in more ways than perhaps Apple would ever dare want to look too closely into. Raven was disappointed, and if she was perfectly honest, more than a little resentful of how Apple used to treat her, however Raven did understand that most of that negative behavior was Snow White, not Apple. That the princess did genuinely hate to see Raven in pain or in distress, and the witch had known that all the times that Raven was genuinely harmed by Apple's hand, haunted the princess terribly.
Apple, Raven knew, was naturally an overall good person. Raven had witnessed for herself that if left to her own devises in the privacy of the dorm or the forest where Apple did not have to keep up the "perfect" act, Apple could turn into the sweetest sweetheart that the witch had ever met. Someone that genuinely cared about Raven and the world around her, and had a personality that was warm, and smart, and very cleverly attractive in Raven's opinion. That Apple was the one that Raven had fallen in love with, the one she was willing to stay at school for and bare the consequences of being a Rebel in such an intensely traditional environment.
But the witch could also tell that every single time Snow White called to check in (read: lecture and "kindly" bully, as far as Raven could tell), that afterwards Apple was so petrified by "not pleasing her mother" (again) that the Apple Raven knew and loved tended to recede, and suddenly it wasn't Apple Raven was talking to, it was Snow white and the result of countless hours of methodical brainwashing. An alien personality masquerading as the girl Raven cared about.
Raven never got the closure she needed, never knew just where she stood with Apple, or what had become of the princess, when the whole truth of everything tumbled down upon the princess, Raven needed to know for certain, by actually talking to Apple like two reasonable adults, if she should move on from Apple completely, or just remain friends and move on to see about perhaps kindling a romance and marriage with Lizzie…
Or perhaps if Raven stood… maybe a little chance with Apple-…?
No. That wasn't very likely. But Raven still needed to talk to Apple about all of this since it concerned them both.
Most importantly of all Raven needed to know if Apple was safe. There was no way that the princess was okay, after everything that had been revealed about Snow White, there was just no way she would be okay. But Raven needed to see the damage for herself, to see if even an ounce of the real Apple that she had fallen in love with had survived all of this heartbreak and betrayal.
It wouldn't be easy; part of the reason why she hadn't outright demanded Bunny to tell her the absolute truth by now was due to the fact that Raven was petrified at what the answer may be. Along with everything else Raven had directly confessed to being inappropriately in love with her former roommate, and to being considered a prince in her homeland, and Kitty had declared to the entire school about not only the nature of her violent, crippling night terrors, but also the sinister role that many of the Royal faction's population, and Apple especially, had played out in those horrifying dreams.
Raven still wasn't certain that she had recovered enough from that scary time in her life to actually deal with the issue head on, but there was not a choice for her now, this becoming the King of Hearts business was a big deal, and there was no way that Snow White was not going to show up in some form or another to try to stop or illegitimate such an important act.
It was nice being reassured that no matter which path she chose Margarete would be supportive on Raven's side. Raven was a little sad that it hadn't worked out between them.
So here Raven was, hiding from her own friends and allies, feeling like a silly ninny while she was sneaking to and fro trying to find someplace private while also trying to look like she was simply exploring the big expanse of the Heart Castle.
Raven peered around one of the marbled columns surrounding the koi pond cautiously; in Wonderland there were ears and eyes potentially watching in the most inconspicuous of places, and normally the witch wouldn't even trust the fish if it weren't for the fact that she knew that the creatures had been imported from one of the specialty merchants in her home kingdom. They were hardly likely to have the brainpower, let alone the evolutionary capability to understand and parrot back anything to Lizzie or the others later on.
Satisfied that she was alone, but still vigilantly on guard, Raven held up her acquired phone, and dialed.
The number she had dialed went right to voicemail, so with a muttered swear Raven tried a different number.
"What could possibly be so important-… Raven?" Briar's face peered up at the witch in astonishment.
"I can't talk long." Raven hissed out quickly, looking around again in paranoia. "They still don't want me to get too involved, or informed for that matter, with whatever has been going on at school or anything to do with Apple, even when I ask they've refused to tell me anything, so I'll have to be sneaky about this. Listen; The story of Wonderland has started early, to prevent any severe conflicts with Ever After trying to get me back to be forced to become the Evil Queen I've agreed to take on one of the spare roles for the Wonderland story. There is a chance that snow White has heard about this and that she will panic and do something rash to either stop the story or make my role illegitimate somehow. Please, please, please, you've got to make sure that Apple is not dragged into the middle of this! I haven't been allowed any correspondence or knowledge of how Apple has weathered everything since my father took me out of school, for reasons of my own safety and also because Maddie and the others are still really ticked off! But I do know that this has the potential to get even uglier than it has already and I'm really scared about what might happen to Apple if she gets close enough to get hit by the crossfire between Snow White and Wonderland! Please, please help me! The others are too invested in Snow White to be too concerned about Apple; I don't think that they can afford to be! Please you have to keep her safe!"
Raven didn't know why she was desperately begging someone that, as far as she knew, would jump miles and dimensions without a second thought if there was even a whisper of Apple being in danger, maybe it was partly because Raven was really jittery about being caught, and partly an act to beg the gods to be merciful on her for once and let things turn out okay.
Regardless the look Briar was giving her was totally priceless and almost worth the risk of swiping Kitty's phone and calling people Raven knew she was not allowed to call.
"They haven't told you anything about Apple or what's been going on at school?" Briar asked, swatting off someone off screen who was making startled squawks and shouldering off another person who was attempting to peer over Briar's shoulder.
"I was ill, and really weak, for a really long time. At one point when I first got back Maddie nearly worried herself sick, because she was almost certain that I'd never completely recover from my mind's own weaknesses." Raven explained. Though it had been drilled into her that trauma was not a weakness, it still sometimes felt as though Raven had been too weak, instead of too mortal, to have shouldered the burden of real life away from Apple until the princess could better handle it on her own.
"I'm still recovering, and I still… have those dreams from time to time. It's not nearly as horrible or bad as they had been but… it's going to take a very long time before I can heal completely, and the two recent kidnapping attempts from Ever After haven't helped." Raven continued truthfully. "They are probably right in keeping me uninformed and too busy to even try to inquire about Apple or school, since I haven't been able to summon up much energy or bravery to fight for the right to know… anything really. It's a testament to how much the others pitied me to have let me send all of those letters to Apple, even though they obviously really wanted me to have stopped sooner…"
Raven shook herself. "Regardless of my own failings in being a better former roommate and doing better at checking up on Apple... I still do care. And I'm genuinely scared of what might happen to her in the next few days, despite everything that has happened, and just about every ounce of better judgment that Maddie has been trying to instill in me, I'm still-… I'm still too much in love with her to let her get hurt anymore! Please, you have to help!" Raven confessed, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
There seemed to be a collective gasp that faded into the sounds of many, many, people murmuring amongst themselves.
"…Briar how many people have been listening in, currently?" Raven cleared her throat nervously.
"Well…" Briar looked behind, and around her, and cringed. "First off I'd like to assure you that we are already aware of the situation, that Snow White has shown up, but has not dragged Apple anywhere near the attic where your mother is, we know for sure that Apple is not anywhere near the attic or the Headmaster's office anyway because she's forcefully kicked Giles and the Headmaster out of there, and has placed heavily armed guards everywhere in that area with the orders to not let anybody within ten feet of the main school building. We all already know about you being crowned the King of Hearts from an announcement made by Wonderland this morning, It's obvious that Snow White is probably planning something dumb involving your mother. We were all just collaborating on how we could take back the school."
"We?" Raven demanded faintly. "Briar where's Apple? Is she safe?"
"We… don't know where she is. But to be fair we don't know where Blondie is either so-… yeah that doesn't help." Briar sighed, shoulders slumping. "When she first heard about her mother coming here so quickly she ran off with the intention of protecting your mother from her mother, and had practically declared that she was going to abdicate the throne while she was at it. She's convinced that Snow White might try to hurt you in retaliation or something of the like… which is sadly, probably true…"
Raven inhaled sharply. Eyes as wide as they could go. In the background Raven could hear more gasps and murmuring behind Briar.
"What?"
"It's true!" Briar despaired. "We tried to stop her but then she jumped out a window and bit Faybelle while bolting across the lawns! She lost us several times running through the forest, the library, setting loose the dragons from the stables and base jumping off their backs-"
"She did what?" Raven recognized the Headmaster's voice, the witch made a small sound of mortification.
"-and then we lost her for a final time when she proceeded to leap from open window to open window al over the school grounds." Briar soldiered on, gesturing to someone in front of her to drop the dragon issue for now. "We may not know where Apple had disappeared herself this time, however we do know for certain that she is nowhere near this side of your mother's mirror, so… that's good news right?"
Raven had started to nod, but then realized that Apple probably knew that her mother would post heavily armored guards everywhere "just in case the Evil Queen got mad enough to get loose", and thus Raven considered any other options that Apple might try, the witch paling considerably within seconds of her sudden, sickening realization.
"This side of the mirror, Briar… what about the other side of the mirror? Can we say for certain that Apple didn't banish herself into the mirror dimension to try to convince my mother not to get angry at the sight of Snow White and escape?" Raven's voice shook with dread. "I mean, my mother already knows about me becoming the Crown Prince, and has thus far been too entertained by Snow White's… less than perfect reactions to everything since to say anything about wanting me to become the next Evil Queen… and she has said in recent months that while it wasn't what she had envisioned for me, it was a decent enough way to stick it to the school and Snow White, so she's been content to let me do my own thing. And I already made mom promise that she wouldn't take the bait if anybody tried to get her angry enough to escape, but with Snow White there, and if Apple is there… I-I don't think that she'd be able to control herself in that kind of scenario!"
"There's now way that Apple would do that!" Hunter's voice tried to reason. "Not after the horrific time spent to get Raven's mother back into the mirror last time!"
"Oooh yes she would! Yes, yes, indeed Apple would." Briar's face had paled as well. "Apple has been conditioned her entire life that those born in "Good" fairytale families will always win over the "Bad" fairytale families. She's been getting better about that recently but not well enough. She keeps biting Faybelle for some reason and I'm pretty sure that everyone here can agree that under normal parental rearing, not even a deranged, feral dog would try to bite someone like Faybelle, let alone let the Evil Queen out in the first place!" The girl called to whomever was listening in.
There were murmurs of agreement, but then the topic of conversation was temporarily derailed when someone piped up "Wait! I thought that Hraban girl was the Crown Prince!"
"Oh for the love of- do some people still not realize that Hraban is the same word for Raven in my home country's native tongue? That Konigin is the native term for Queen when translated into Ever After standard? That both my home countries don't speak Ever after standard as a first language?" Raven demanded a little irritably.
Sheepish muttering and more than a few snickers were her answer, along with Briar's impressive eye roll.
Raven swore under her breath. "Briar, has Apple been doing anything out of the ordinary enough for you to suspect on how she might banish herself to the mirror dimension? Because her mother had sent her one of those banishing mirrors not long after the Dragon Game fiasco "just incase I suddenly missed having my mother around", and I made sure that Kitty swiped it when my nightmares had gotten bad enough that Apple was starting to wonder if maybe she should go to my mom for help. But there's no guarantee that she hasn't gotten her hands on another one!"
"Or figured out how to get to the mirror dimension herself from all of those magic books she's been reading recently." Ashlynn was the one to point out.
"What?" Raven's swore her heart stopped.
"She's been studying magic." Briar's face indicated that she might have stopped breathing. Eyes looking at Raven but her gaze far away and horrified. "Any and all spellbooks and magic theory tomes that she can lay her hands on… her room looks more like a potions lab than a dorm room…"
"Briar…!" Raven begged, feeling faint.
The image on Raven's screen became a bit jumpy as Briar started to move, Raven studiously attempting to actively ignore the glimpses of all the people that were trying to peer down at Briar's screen as the girl shoved them aside. "Already running!" Briar called out. "You though, you just focus on being the King of Hearts, and not being caught by Kitty with her phone! Bye!" And then Briar hung up.
"Bye…" Raven frowned feeling lost, dipping her free hand's fingers down into the pond's water for the fish to nibble at while she composed herself.
XXX
Not too far away, Kitty lounged invisible atop of one of the columns surrounding the fishpond.
The girl shook her head as she stared down at Raven. "You know my King, that I wouldn't really have minded if you allowed yourself to admit that I let you swipe my phone to call Apple." Kitty sighed. "I'm already on your side with this, Cheshire cats are notorious for going against many things with their own monarchs after all."
"I still don't want you to get into too much trouble." Raven pouted, leaning her face up to the warm rays of the sum. "Maddie's good at hiding it, but I can tell that she'd sooner see Apple at the mercy of my mother's wrath than have her be safe and sound. I've never known her to be so angry. She has a right to be, what with what happened to her mother and everything… it's just that she was always so nice to me, even back when everybody thought that it was my mother who had-…" Raven trailed off looking down.
"You were never evil Raven." Kitty sighed. "Maddie knew from the second she first met you that you were nothing like the monster- I mean bad guy, that your mother let everyone believe she was." Kitty censured herself out of political correctness. "Apple on the other hand, and Snow freaking White… it was worse for her when you got sick, I guess you could say, I mean you're family to her, practically a Hatter yourself if I do say so myself, she didn't get the chance to know her mother all that well but she has gotten to know you incredibly well, and then when she found out that her mother had been disappeared by Snow White because she found out that your mother was not as bad of a person that Snow White wanted everyone to believe she was…"
"It broke her heart." Raven concluded with certainty.
"You were able to be there for her while you guys grew up, relate to her in ways that nobody else could, relate to her in a way that we, her fellow countrymen, couldn't. You were the best thing to happen to her when she first moved to Ever After with the other refugees. She never did ever warm up to Apple but she kept herself polite about it because you cared a lot about Apple, so of course when you started having the nightmares… well let's just say that, combined with what your father and the Queen's mother found out about the White family, it had been the last straw."
"And the rest of you? I know that your guy's reasons for being so cold towards even the mention of Apple's name is partly due to her being the daughter of your enemy… but at the same time you've never extended the same distain for me and my heritage, so why-?"
"We all have our personal reasons. Though how she used to treat you was also a factor." Kitty looked down pointedly, grimacing guiltily. "Some of it is shame though." She was going to let Raven come to conclusions on that one, it was incredibly humiliating, being held captive and quarantined because some spoiled former maiden wanted to play hero maidens in castles and burning evil witches, at least when everyone thought that Raven's mother had been the evil one Wonderland could comfort itself with the fact that she was a great warrior fighting for the glory for her family, and that she was locked up all nice and safe, that a major crisis had been adverted and that all they had to do was sit back and wait for the Grimm Brothers or Snow White to find a cure to the curse in their skies.
They had nothing now to comfort themselves for that time, Wonderland citizens had been victimized by Snow white's media, made to look like a tragic circus attraction filled with idiots who could not defend themselves from a single deranged witch the same way Ever After could, the barbaric rambling idiots who sought shelter in the skirts of someone so "worthy" and "fair" as Snow White, and on, and on the groveling voices of reporters used to swoon over the woman, taking away the issue regarding actually finding a cure, or looking into why Raven's mom went stark raving mad all of a sudden, without so very much warning at all.
No, it had all been replaced in favor of praising Snow White, for years they had all waited, and all they had gotten was more pretty speeches, and more crowds cheering the woman's title name, and no progress at all being put forth into bringing them home.
And then they had found out that Raven, or one of her blood relatives, had been the key to ending the curse and humiliation all along! Once and for all! It had been so simple, so… blatantly obvious that for none of the ones responsible to find a cure to have not known was just… unforgivable! Used as-… as nothing but toys and filler cast for someone else's validation!
It was embarrassing, and while Raven and her mother would definitely be able to understand exactly how Wonderland felt on the matter… there was a major cultural difference, as well as Raven's need to recover from her own encounter with the White family.
"Is it possible for you guys to learn to hate her less? You know if… if Briar's right and Apple really is trying to protect my mom and looking for a way to resolve all of this peacefully? I-… I'm not making excuses for how she behaved while I was at school; don't get me wrong, however… she did do what she did out of fear of her mother and kingdom rejecting her for not being impossibly perfect, she has been emotionally abused her entire life Kitty. You guys can… dislike her for putting so many people in danger all those times, and for her moments being so insensitive towards people like the Rebels… and maybe even people from other races and cultures on certain occasions, but really; she had gotten better about a bunch of things since she started living with a witch, and she wasn't even aware she was doing anything wrong! And she was super embarrassed when she discovered that terms like fox tails and newts eyes referred to old names for plants and not actual animal parts…"
Raven trailed off remembering the princess's confusion and embarrassment when Raven finally got the girl to stop squealing (half in horror, half in nervous glee) about one of the first practice spells Raven conducted in their dorm, just long enough for the witch to shove a modern herbal encyclopedia into Apple's hands, and pointed out that the center part of daisies were what the ancestors referred to as "newts eyes", and that using the animal's actual ocular organs only resulted in a smelly gross mess, not an actual witch's spell.
Raven shook her head she was getting off topic. "My point is that I know what it's like being hated because you're the daughter of so-and-so that everybody hates, it's frustrating and unfair, to be covered in a shadow like that and not be allowed to leave without a fight. I know that you guys are weary because Apple was trained and conditioned to become an exact clone of her mother, but trust me when I say that even when Apple was at her worst with me… she still cared enough to stop when she saw that she had overstepped, or that I really couldn't handle another argument right then. She was willing to make concessions for me despite her fears of not getting a happily ever after, as well for others like me because she hates seeing people hurt. Despite everything bad that did happen, and despite all of Snow White's, and even Apple's best efforts… Apple has not turned into her mother."
Kitty silently considered this for a moment.
"Are you trying to convince me of something, or are you rehearsing the speech that your gonna give Maddie to keep her from slaying Apple first chance she gets?"
"It's only logical to be reasonably concerned, since… yeah, Maddie's never gotten this angry to my recollection!" Raven defended, trying to sound serious but the exasperated whine still managed to escape anyway.
"Do you really believe all that stuff you just said about Apple?" Kitty questioned quietly. "Even after everything she's done to you."
"Yes. I do. …I-I…" Raven sighs through her nose. "I have to believe it. I have to believe that she's really a good person. I already know that she's capable of being a good person without the whole Snow White persona hanging over her head. I have to believe that part of her, the part that's the real Apple, is stronger than her mother's influence!"
They both fell into contemplative silence.
"Well the good news is that if Apple really is serious about doing something productive to keeping the peace, and is actually successful at it to boot, then there is a chance that Maddie'll at least think about not poisoning your princess's tea… or snarling at her…" Kitty mused doubtfully.
"And if Apple stays out of the way for once?" Raven demands because while it was highly unlikely, it was something that Raven was actually hoping for.
Kitty considered this with more consideration than what Raven had expected. "Either start practicing your best begging face, or just give it up already and marry Lizzie." The girl concluded nodding to herself. "It'd give my queen a decent excuse to dress you up in Wonderlandian clothes, and to do more of that "smirking wolfishly at the cameras every time she takes your offered arm", and all that. It'll be good for her sense of pride."
"She's definitely been enjoying the last few hours… so have I actually." Raven chuckled, closing her eyes and leaning back. "I'm certain that would be the noblest… and perhaps wisest rout to take, to court Lizzie properly and see how well becoming the King of Hearts in more than just name works out…"
Kitty smirked. "But since when have you ever done anything in life that was easy and excused it by saying that it was "only the noble way to properly do things?"
The witch huffed a sad laugh. "Never. Not even when it would have been easier to have simply up and left right after Legacy Day. I knew that I couldn't just leave Apple when she was scared and alone like that, just as I know now that I'll never be able to move on with my life until I am certain that Apple is going to be okay, or at the very least answer the question of whether or not she wants to throttle me for the things she's had to deal with these past few months…"
Raven sighed, rolling her eyes. "And if it turns out that she really does want nothing to do with me then I'll be free of my obligations, yada, yada… however I'd think that it's safe to say that while I may broach the tentative subject to Lizzie about us cautiously courting; it's just going to be that, a cautious idea, that may or may not happen." The witch stresses pointedly.
Kitty brightened. "Spring weddings are always popular."
"Kitty!"
"I'm just saying!"