Author's Note: I just noticed but I've got 100 reviews for this story. But I've already reached the amount of content I'm willing to put into this chapter, so celebrations will come next week. Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy!
Chapter 25: Everything Will Be Alright, Evil Queen
Raven's doppelganger had taken to using a rather large blanket to drag her and Nevermore out of the forest, she could see the dragon facing the intruders into the forest all the way from over there. When she made it to the river she could see the undead monster she had made earlier impatiently waiting for orders.
"You'll have your revenge in do time." The Doppelganger stated ignoring the abomination of her own creation for the time being.
"On you or on them?" The spiteful undead asked cocking a imaginary brow at the Doppelganger.
"Don't blame the dragon for roasting you. Blame the fool who told you to walk up to it and poke in the butt with a stick." Saying that the Raven double continued walking.
"Did you assume that taking on that disguise would fool them for very long?" The Undead asked almost amused. "How desperate are you, if you must sink to this low."
"Not so desperate to tolerate you any longer." With a snap of her fingers the armor suddenly collapsed, as if it had the life, or whatever brand of dark magic that was keeping it on it's feet, sucked right out of it.
The group of students from Ever After high, while grateful that their draconic foe who was currently looming several stories above their heads wasn't doing anything, also questioned why it wasn't doing anything, aside from using it's impressively long tail to box them in on all sides.
"Uh Hello!?" Apple stepped forward to talk with the creature whom seemed to only barely take notice of her presence. "Our friend is missing, so if you wouldn't mind..."
"I care not." The massive black beast snapped going back to ignoring the group to stare back off into the distance.
"He can talk." Dexter noted dully.
And it was a he too, as he had unfortunately learned when he sat up on his hind quarters to intimidate the group. So in addition to being scarred for life it also meant that unlike Nevermore his 'Swooning Vision' wouldn't do them any good here.
"Nevermore can't do that, at least as far as I know." Apple commented still a little bit surprised.
"Are your hatchlings so quick to learn your... meager pathetic little tongue?" The giant black dragon asked condescendingly.
Indeed comparing Nevermore to this... beast she does look like a infant.
"Yes well. we still need to find our friend." Apple started now getting back on topic. "Someone of your size and strength will surely be able to cut down on that search by a rather severe margin." Instead of sitting here, using that damnable tail that Apple was sorely tempted to have cut off and made into a line of purses.
"I still care not. You have not been struck down yet only because of the curse that binds all Animals..." The dragon said with a snarl, likely not happy at all about being included in that group. "...of these lands to spare you pathetic creatures." Suddenly a claw slammed down next to the group as the dragon, suddenly more interested, leaned over to leer at the group. "Unless of course, you intend to strike at us first?"
Apple opened her mouth to say something that she would be likely to regret but thankfully for the entire group, was prevented by the firm hand of Baba Yaga.
"Or in defense of the royal family." The witch stated wisdom worthy of her years, old, even by witch standards as Apple recalled Raven mention once, rumors that she might even be the original Baba Yaga had been swirling around for more then a little while. "In which case you are severely neglecting your duties by merely sitting here while the enemies of your country roam free." Unfazed the dragon held his fist above their heads and released from within several small bodies in goblin forged armor. "I don't see the doppelganger in that pile. Which either means that you are still severely neglecting your duties or..." A sudden realization hit Baba and a smile crept on her features. "A member of the royal family requisitioned your services." Seemingly dissatisfied with being found out, the giant dragon returned to sitting upright. "Oh yes I know just who to call to take care of this." Baba stated her thumb pressing down on her mirror phone.
In the mean time Raven's doppelganger was still dragging her and her dragon away from the village, and towards a very specific mirror. The grove she passed through was filled with the usual bright colors that typified Wonderland, great big mushrooms, tall striped trees, were it not for the thorough glamour charms designed to hide this place from the outside world, that old fool of a lord would probably have burned this place down long ago. But it was here, as was the well spring that it spread from, a looking glass, a portal to Wonderland, one that denied access to all but one. And denying access to her was a familiar shriveled form sitting in a wheel chair in front of the mirror. Her body burned beyond the recognition of both and wrapped in cloth bandages.
"Hello daughter." The burned woman greeted warmly.
"Mother. What are you doing here?" The Doppelganger asked cocking a suspicious brow at the broken form of her mother.
"Preventing anymore of your foolishness, Morgan." The younger witch rolled her eyes at having her identity revealed.
"So someone finally figured it out. It's not like I even attempted to disguise myself." The young witch stated sarcastically. "Gotta admit that spell you and the others put on me was a tricky bit of work. A siphon and a seal all in one, my own power became my cage." Hence the reason why the person with a mirror knack was being held inside of a mirror. It's was like trapping a mole in dirt, only one wrong move could bring it all crashing down on her. "The only way I could break out was to put a second seal on myself to reduce my power, a glamour charm to trap myself in the body of my sixteen year old self."
Hence the reason why everyone thought she was Raven, she even used a similar seal on Smok to make him cooperate.
"A seal that you cannot simply casually remove otherwise you would have already." The woman revealed as Morgan's mother Jadis noted scratching her chin with a clothed hand. Then she noted the magic marking Morgan attempted to hide with her sleeves. "Ah yes you are still bound to the original prison."
"What did you expect burning the runes directly onto my body?" Morgan asked in a annoyed tone of voice. "Did you come here to mock me for my life choices or are you going to get out of my way?"
"No I'm here to stop you." Using her good hand, which it should be noted was still covered mostly in burns, the elder witch produced a magic circle. "An ultimatum, I will place a third seal on you, increasing the power of the other two in the process, you will be trapped inside of your prison, in a much younger and weakened form then what you are now, and no one will be able to free you. Or you will return to your cage willingly."
"Is that a fact?" Another magic circle appeared in Morgan's hand. "You can try." Morgan stated fire in her voice as much as her words. "Did you honestly think that sending her to Ever After High of all places was a good idea? They've turned her own clothes against her! Her clothes!"
"I suppose that was the final straw for you wasn't it?" Jadis commented breathing a sigh of understanding.
"She has enemies from all sides! The weapons the dwarf's wielded were goblin forged, the poisoning a fake to draw suspicion. If she can't even trust her own people to not turn against her then where is she suppose to be safe!?" The tension was thick as peasoup, had Morgan a blade she would cut it, but she would have to settle for what was left of her magic, years of not being able to see her family again, and impending sense of misery that she was sure to be in for, was fueling what would be a spectacular explosion.
"At your side Morgan." Jadis stated a smile on her features. "As you have been. Through every mirror of Ever After High. She was no safer when she was home, what with you having to fend off ten assassination attempts on a daily basis, that mountain where the two of you made your home became a fortress, and it only barely held back the tide because of you. Now you're trapped, the fear you inspired by the charade you put above Wonderland has waned. And the attacks renewed. So we sent her to the only place she would be safe."
"Oh bravo." Morgan responded to the actions by clapping her hands together in slow and sarcastic manner. "You sent her under the protection of a witch trapped in another dimension in a school full of lack luster meat shields."
"I sent her under the protection of the strongest and brightest witch alive today, one who shattered through the obstacles before her and is now in the process of bringing her to safety." Jadis stated more than a touch of pride in her voice.
"Oh bravo." Morgan gave a sarcastic clap to her mother. "What a brilliant idea, call in the legendary miracle worker the Evil Queen and she'll will the world to function in a appropriate manner again. It's so nice to see that you've intermingled so well with our neighbors in Ever After."
"It is not the Evil Queen I stand here before today. It is Morgan Konigan, the woman who has had a strategy in place to wipe out her enemies far longer than any of the rest of us have. The woman who devised a plan to lure her daughter out from what she considers a enemy fortress to where she could be snatched up and taken to safety." Jadis leaned forward, eyes pointed at the village Morgan had left. "Tell me something, how long has that Charade been in place?"
"When was the last chance I had to put it up?" Morgan replied cocking a brow.
"With that fancy seal of yours it could be any time that you pleased." Jadis replied looking amused. It was then that Morgan saw a familiar lumbering form of black armor emerge from behind Jadis.
"Hello Corvo." Morgan stated in a dull tone of voice.
"I've come to bring my daughter to safety." Corvo stated in his usual unflappable demeanor.
"Good luck with that. There's not a single safe place in the entire world." Morgan replied in a drained tone of voice. "No where but your side." Was Corvo's response.
"Yes, my power reduced, locked in a cage and surrounded by people who at best, think of me as a insane mad woman who should be locked away for everyone's sake." Morgan stated repeating the same mantra that she had before.
"But with a plan." Corvo pointed out one finger in the air.
"Do you want to know what my plan is!? I am going to take my daughter and I will run as fast and as far away from here as possible and never look back, not on my enemies, not on my supposed allies, not on my own people. Just a lonely old hermit whose daughter is going to spend the rest of her very long life cursing my name! That is my plan!" Morgan snapped long held anger and pain in her voice.
"I don't believe you." Corvo said voice full of cocksure confidence.
"WHY!? WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ALL OF YOU TO BELIEVE THAT I'M NOT SOME KIND OF GOD SENT MIRACLE WORKER!? I'M JUST ME! I'M JUST MORGAN!" Morgan screeched, frustration mounting, the tethers of her sanity pulling away from her.
"Because you are not a messenger of a being who does not care for our existence. You are one who draws her power from her sorrow and tempers it with your hope and undying will to live." Corvo grabbed Morgan by her shoulder. "I know sometimes it feels better to run away, and you're not wrong. But it is never okay to doubt yourself my wife. To do so is to admit defeat."
Morgan couldn't hold her sorrow any longer. She grabbed Corvo around his waist and cried into him. How long had it been that she could see her family, hold them in her arms and not be stifled by a prison of her own design? How long has it been that she let her sorrow loose, for fear of the reprisal she would face for even a hint of weakness? How long had it been that she was surrounded by people she loved?
Raven was slow to stir, the sleeping potion some one dumped down her throat wearing off. Raven had another nightmare, dragged over while someone mumbled her rights, the sight of her mother tearing someone apart with her bare hands, being held down while a knife carved into her back, numbess as something alien entered her veins. When she awoke she was snuggling a miniature Nevermore who was similarly stirring to consciousness. Her pounding headache subsided as she saw someone latched around her father's waist crying.
"What happened?" Suddenly the young girl about her age stopped crying, wiped her tears and excused herself before running off. "Grandma Jadis? Dad? What's going on?"
"The dwarfs struck hard, they attacked you in mid flight, landed in the middle of the forest fire the young lady over there saved you." Corvo stated gesturing off to the direction of the young woman with the strangest resemblance to Raven herself. "Dispatched the assassins and brought you here."
Raven looked around at the bizarre flora, it was strange even by Riordan's standards.
"That mirror there is the Looking Glass, one of the oldest portals to Wonderland, or more accurately it's neighbor Looking-Glass Land. The Magic has a unusual effect on the local plant life or so I'm told." The young witch explained streaks of dried tears on her face. "You should get back to your friends now." The young lady that saved Raven's life stated in melancholic voice. "I left a rather irritable dragon to look after them."
The two Raven's flew back to the group on the back of Nevermore, Raven almost dropping her jaw when she saw Nevermore's grandfather the legendary dragon Smok.
"Smok!? You got Smok to help you? How did you get Smok to help you!? The last person who got Smok to do anything was my grandma!" Raven shrieked clearly confused.
"Mighty he might be but he lacks opposable Thumbs." Hence the reason why Dragons make packs with humans in the first place, as there are some things that they simply cannot do for themselves. Even so they are prideful creatures, so only the mighty may approach them with such offers. Or you could just be a insanely powerful witch even with two high level seals placed on you who sneaked up on the one insanely powerful dragon that was already magically bound not to eat you while he was sleeping and brute forced him into helping you. That would also work, in theory. "Well lets get down there then."
Raven ignored her savior's thoughts on the matter and flew down below. Smok caught sight of them and the corner of his mouth turned upwards in a smirk.
"It would seem that the matter has been resolved." Saying that the massive dragon turned around and got on all fours to take off into the air. Apple squinted at the form of the dragon wondering what he meant.
"Apple, are you guys okay?" Apple spun around and saw Raven on Nevermore's back behind her, and behind her was the Raven Doppelganger. At once Apple charged, Raven had enough time to erect a barrier and prepare for the inevitable death hug. And was surprised when Apple rushed past her and tackled her passenger onto the ground. "Apple?"
"Run Raven! I got her!" Apple stated sinking unnecessary amounts of force into restraining the other witch.
"Apple, let her go." Raven stated, looking more embarrassed then anything else.
"What? No! She..."
"Saved me from a forest fire, recruited a dragon and a undead monster to kill my assassins, and then brought me to safety." Raven stated evenly in no uncertain terms. "Now get off of her. She can probably kill all of us with a nasty glare." Slowly Apple was pulled off of Raven's savior, their eyes never separating except for when the other witch brushed the dirt off of her.
"I don't trust you." Apple stated bluntly causing the Amethyst eyes of the witch to cock. "You kept us from Raven."
"I took no less then the bare minimal precautions to keep her safe." The witch stated looking Apple directly in her eyes. "Including, cutting her off from a potential conspirator in the attempts on her life. If memory serves the most recent attempt before today involved clothing that you had bullied her into wearing." Apple looked more offended then anything else, but before she could say anything Raven's hand stopped her.
"I owe you a great deal for saving my life. But I will not tolerate further insults to my oldest and dearest friend. Am I understood?" Raven asked locking eyes with the other witch that looked a great deal like her.
"Of course." The other witch replied giving a polite bow. "Your father and Grandmother will be arriving at the castle shortly."
"Jadis is gonna be here?" Apple asked looking at the other witch in surprise.
"Correct." The witch gestured around to the mostly ashen landscape. "They're rather concerned about the damages done here. This area is now one of Riordan's vassals, we would like for it to stay intact." A tree collapsing behind the Witch punctuated her sentence. "Mostly intact. With her permission I will escort young Miss Konigan back to the castle." It took some of the group a minuet to process what the witch had told them, specifically Dexter and Daring.
"She means me guys." Raven stated letting out a eye roll. One of these days she was going to find the source of that accursed auto translating spell bound to the campus and she was going to eviscerate it!
The group arrived inside of the castle. Apple eagerly scanned faces as servants went to work preparing the meals for their guests for the evening, trying to find the face of a woman who was like a grandmother to her. Aside from the servants she caught sight of Raven's father Corvo, who was sitting next to the shriveled figure of someone who saw hell.
"I thought you said Jadis was here?" Apple asked shooting the witch a dirty look who gestured to the shriveled woman down the table.
"Oh dear me, I must look worst then I thought if one of my favorite people in the world doesn't even recognize me." The shriveled witch said with a mock pout.
"Grandma Jadis?" Apple asked staring in shock, pushing past servants as she made her way over to Jadis. "What...? How...? Who...?" Apple found herself bubbling with rage with each syllable.
"There was a fire, a attempt on one of our cities, shortly before Morgan... made herself famous." Jadis leaned back as best as she could in her chair. "Hence the reason I could no longer visit." Hence the reason why Morgan set out to make herself the biggest scariest thing in history. "I do feel better now. Raven has dedicated herself to the study of magical medicine, no matter what manner of lunatic is trying to kill her that particular week she always makes sure that I get some of the specialized creams and potions that she makes." And she makes sure no-one has tampered with or replaced, she'd recognize her own grand daughter's magical power any day of the week, imbued with the power of honest to goodness love as few others can.
"That is good to hear grandmother." Raven stated respectfully, relief and sorrow in equal measures. "I fear though that I might be a touch delayed, my alchemy stash was raided by our Chem-myth-ry teacher in the name of homework."
"Oh really?" Jadis muttered something about Rumplestiltskin before her eyes locked with Baba Yaga. "Well if it was homework, then the school should reimburse shouldn't it?" Jadis asked looking directly at Mrs. Yaga.
"I completely agree!" Mrs. Yaga stated in a sing song voice hands flaring to the side. "In fact I know exactly where the little goblin keeps all of his potion supplies." Among other ill gotten gains profited from abuse of students too scared of the little monster to report his blatant abuse. "In fact, a large portion of those ingredients were purchased in this very village."
"Stop stop!" Raven stated waving her arms around the room some. "He already hates me. And I don't need more people trying to kill me. Can we please let this train of thought die here?" Raven asked both hands in a begging position.
Review Section:
DJ: I hope all of your questions have been answered, to say otherwise is proof that you're not paying attention. Not that I think you're not, having caught all of my not so subtle hints.
Guest: Apple will be fine. Told yah she wasn't in any danger. Like she said, it's not like Morgan made the effort to disguise herself, she just made herself look younger and made the same fashion choices.