"Papa?" Raven abandoned her post beside Lizzie's throne and ran forward, bewilderment and concern etched into her young face at the sight of a growling baby in her father's arms, as well as Ginger and the Crumb cousins following dutifully behind their king.

"Please pardon inviting myself and my kingdom's kin here without proper invitation my darling girl. Your highness Queen of Hearts. But I have come with some urgent news of Ever After and both of you- all of you must be informed of it." The Good King spoke clearly but kindly to the room full of Wonderland characters, nodding his head respectfully to Lizzie.

"Your intrusion is forgiven." Lizzie waved away formality impatiently. "Please proceed immediately."

The man looked over to his daughter, this was not going to be easy for someone like her, for in many ways she was just like her mother before her a witch-monarch with strength and loyalty to not just family and state, but also to an ancestral line of human princesses. Raven's loyalties to her princess, even when a fairytale would no longer connect their family lines, was seemingly boundless… as well as potentially dangerous, given how badly things had ended over a year prior. The loyalty, and duty, and even love was still strong in his daughter's attitude towards Apple White, the trust however…

Friendship could be a fragile thing if taken for granted or mishandled. If it were up to him he'd have ensured that events from the past would have never gotten this far.

Regardless he was keenly aware that he held no rights over his wife's need to find her own way of escaping the cursed cycling grip of her fairytale, nor did he have any say over his daughter's legendary will, and her desire to keep one princess safe and happy for the rest of the girl's life.

And so the Good King inhaled. "It is about your mother, Snow White, and little Apple my darling girl. They are all in danger of some quite gruesomely horrible fate I'm afraid."

XXX

This was unforgivable!

Intolerable!

Unprecedented!

Inexcusable!

How dare they?

She was the fair one! The only pure being to have bothered gracing this wretched ungrateful place! They did not have the right to question her! They held no ground to stand in her way! They could not say that she should have to submit to their will! No one should!

Well… perhaps she could do all of those things. But she was her villain, she was special! Born specifically for her. Every story maiden needed a villain, it was the only way to have a happily ever after!

But you never got your happily ever after, now did you? A traitorous voice taunted disdainfully in the back of her mind.

Everything had gone to plan, everything had been perfect. She had been saved from poison, had gotten a prince of reasonable breeding stock and training, had become queen…

But the perfectness of the fairytale had not lingered.

There had been one person, the only person in the entire world capable of maintaining fairytale perfection, of keeping everything in motion and perfect in a constant story loop. It had taken work and a great deal of sacrifice to drag the Evil Queen back into the story, but she had done it, and it had worked…

…until it hadn't.

She was Snow White, the pure princess of Ever After…

Except she wasn't a princess anymore now, wasn't that right?

XXX

The witch had been unaware that the Heart clan had several centuries worth of successful study into the True Love phenomenon. Though in hindsight it probably shouldn't be much of a surprise. Despite other dimension's inability to properly study the occurrence in it's true form under proper conditions, Wonderland has always been… the sort of place where conventional magic and its limits were forced to bow down, as it were.

It was embarrassing really. How grateful she was right now to the same clan she once sought to overthrow, for as a reward for her cooperation in bringing down Snowball they had been planning on forever shielding her heart against the connection it held to the other queen's. Thus granting her a true break from her True Love bond, or at least as best of a new start as she could get without a literal heart transplant, or death.

It wasn't the best of places for this; not with the floor rattling with the sound of tiny, insistent fists, the battle going on not too far away, barely being able to breath let alone move was forcing her to need to be literally carried (like a child no less! It had been ages since she had ever wanted anything to do with the Grimm Brothers, and while this was still not as bad as being imprisoned by them, it was still not her choice to be babied like she was fifteen all over again!) by the two people in the world she'd just rather pretend never existed, the searing electric shocks under her skin that left trails that burned her…

But it would all be worth it just to finally, finally get a moment's peace from Snowball. She'd do anything at this point to be free of the other once and for all! Hex! She'd sell her own kidneys in exchange for a few measly moments of restful clarity at this point!

She could feel Snowball's heart beat in tandem to her own, could sense her presence, could feel her soul intertwined with her magical core. She always could. Even when she was with Raphael, imprisoned in the mirrors… it just… it just had never hurt this much before!

But then again the witch had always been good at hiding their bond from the other, and Snowball being a theoretically pure-bred human (she still wasn't ruling out an abominable-something-or-other being snuck in somewhere in that family tree) did not have the magic to sense out the bond herself, to realize that with just a little bit of reaching that she held the ability to wield the witch's magic as if it were her own.

At least not until now that was… Snowball couldn't use her magic until now. When she had gotten desperate enough to be stupid and summon up the type of magic that was actually designed to eat away at other types of magic and living things like an acid, or some other highly dangerous caustic substance. From the feel of it the witch was guessing that this kind of stuff would normally have been used in the bad old days to efficiently kill off plagues and those infected by them, leaving nothing but dead sanitized things…

But that used to be a duty tasked by plague doctors who would religiously sacrifice their own health at the mercy of their own magic.

This… who knew what different kinds of magicks Snowball mixed in with this, and then there was the True Love factor to put in there to boot! Whatever magic Snowball had originally intended… it was changed now. Mutated beyond recognition.

And if it wasn't stopped soon it could very well end up killing them both.

She at least still had enough clarity of mind to voice her observations. By then the battle had drifted farther away (thanks to some clever Wonderlandian battle techniques no doubt), and somebody had secured the floor and attic door to slow Snowball's minions at least somewhat, so it became easier for the others to hear her over all the noise.

"Blood to blood, heart to heart." Apple quoted like the diligent child she was. "She's got your heart, so that means she has your blood rights to your magic as well."

"It does make sense that your magic isn't holding up well." Giles exchanged a look with his brother. "She did say that she had mixed Morgana's original curse with that old plague doctor cure for illnesses. The two combined-"

"-Is very toxic, even for the wielder." The headmaster finished gravely.

"Yes but which kind of-" The woman gasped, coughed, the feeling of thick hot iron needles digging into her lungs.

"What kind of Plague Flame?" The Headmaster asked gently, rubbing her shoulder paternally.

At the woman's nod he sighed, turning towards the confused glances from the children helping to set down the intricate magic circle with chalk. "She's concerned about the specific type of magic used since every mastered plague doctor had their own special modification of the original spell. Depending on the spell's casting will affect her differently."

"And that sort of unknown is very concerning." Giles finished. "Especially if it has been irresponsibly mutated by an outside curse."

"Well… it could be w-worse." The witch grit her teeth and tried to breathe through another wave of pain. "S-she could b-be usin' that stuff, t' it's full… potential!" She let out the last word as a soft cry, clutching her chest.

"Full potential?" Hunter gaped. "It looks pretty terrifying enough as it is! Even I can sense that stuff, and I don't have magic!"

"T-trust me kiddo." There was a disturbing bubbling noise as the witch breathed out. "With this kind of magic… it-t has the pa- kuff! Potential t-to get w-way worse. It-t may be app-eased by-ahguhk! By what-t it-t ate at-t the cas-tle… but not-t f'r long. Needs more… sac-ri-fice-s. Needs life t' k'p burnin'. Else it-t burns its'lf out-t-t…"

"Stop talking." The Headmaster orders gently. "You need to reserve all of your strength.

The man's heart sunk when the woman obeyed without even a token scowl.

XXX

"That was mom. Cerise and Ramona will be leading students and staff from school to your father's estate in the country, your mother's ancestral palace, and the palace in your nation's capital, via the new train line that was going to be opened next week. She's already called the staff to get ready for a really big emergency influx of refugee teens and school staff." Lizzie informed beckoning the pacing witch over to her throne, taking both the witch's hands in her own.

Taking calming breaths Raven knelt down on one knee and rested her head on top of the other's clasped hands. "I should go and help my father call parents, meet the others at the train platform, something regal and responsible…"

"Give yourself a moment. Just a moment. Breathe so that you can stand up and do what you need to do and not fall apart with worry." Lizzie advised, trying not to think about how much she actually enjoys having someone bow to her in such an interesting manner. Now was not the time for cursed hormones! Or for her conquering breeding to kick in.

It didn't help that Raven was really good at this whole loyalty business, if there was a sure way to get into the heart of a Queen of Hearts it was loyalty, and an agreeable personality, added by good looks. Which Raven was all three. It was very tempting to just steal all that Raven could potentially be offering away for herself. Lizzie was torn between doing the right thing and letting Raven's heart figure itself out, thus leaving Lizzie free from getting tangled into any messy feelings or situations…

…Or… well there was the side of Lizzie who had always been taught about past queens, the ones she was told that she must try to emulate to her best abilities, who just up and decided to have absolutely no mercy upon those who betrayed the safety of Wonderland. If there would ever be a better revenge against Apple (who she was still a little mad at), stealing away both Raven's loyalty and her heart would be the best course to take. With the right words, the right gestures… the right sort of subtle reminder… Lizzie knew that at this moment, she had the power to break this connection Raven still felt towards Apple and cut off their strong bond of friendship for good.

And that was why Lizzie was not going to tread a single romantic toe in Raven's direction. Such a cruel act was not necessary here, and Raven was far from stupid. Why break the girl's heart a second time all because Lizzie was merely curious about whether a romantic entanglement between herself and the witch would work?

This was one story that did not need one of those sorry, tired little love triangles! Over half the time those things were pretty incomplete anyways! To have a complete and true love triangle here Apple would have to have romantic inclinations with Lizzie, to pair with Lizzie's romantic musings towards Raven, to match with Raven's stricken love for Apple! And under those circumstances it wouldn't have been an issue anyways because then Lizzie could have just added Apple to the royal harem and taken over Ever After as a result, married Raven and-

Okay. No. Wait. Lizzie was not going to go there. Too weird. And way too risky trying to overtake so many realms at once! Plus… well it would be rude wouldn't it? To take advantage of the situation to the point where Lizzie ran the risk of overstepping? After all the people of Ever After have had more than enough to deal with without Lizzie coming in and passive-aggressively trying to take the place over. To conquer it as if it was all just a game and not a large chunk of land populated by real life people.

It would be wrong, and it would be going way out of line… but Lizzie could see how tempting the idea to try was. Could see a less… tactful (or smart because trying to rule over a revolting population was just stupid) ruler actually going in and doing all of that; marrying the available royalty and taking over, first by law, then by politics, then by force.

This was why fairytales were important to have around. It kept the monarchy where they belonged: out of the business of making their people miserable.

Well at least it had been that way… until Snow White, the manipulative bitch, wrecked the system that had been working so well for so long.

Raven had been right to rebel, had essentially saved them all from catastrophe and war…

But it was up to both her and Lizzie now to re-outline and reinstate the traditions that worked, scrap the ones that didn't, and redefine what a fairytale was in order to keep the peace. So that when one realm fell on unsteady legs the others would be there to help, not take advantage and seize… just like it had been done in the bad old days.

It wouldn't be easy, and there would be a lot of grumbling from certain parties, but for the sake of the future peace it had to be done, and be done right this time! Give the characters more freedom to be themselves, and to love whom they wanted, yet also keeping the duties and honors that came with being born or adopted into their family's bloodlines.

It was the only way as far as Lizzie could see thus far. Nobody had as of yet to come up with a decent alternative plan!

Besides Raven needed her queen right now and they both had bigger eggs to fry.

"I'll stand beside you." Lizzie decided. "This is our joint realm now, and we shall rule it together as friends and as a united force!"

XXX

She shuttered as the magic circle powered up, inhaling greedily within seconds, suddenly the pain ebbing away, granting her the power to breathe again.

The spell was indeed working stemming the flow of power being leeched out of her while also shielding her heart from the bond that she and the other shared. Something that she had been able to ignore for a good chunk of the past few years, and yet with this, the absence of actually feeling the power of someone else's mind, body, and soul inside her heart was utterly palpable.

It was liberating.

And she wanted to keep it that way.

On her next breath the witch began reciting, her magic erasing the magical code of the illusions that had gotten her into so much trouble in the past, and she breathed, and breathed some more, words forming like a cold fog of fresh air on each exhale, words of power, words of pleading hope, because it would not be enough to just take away the illusions and set back the other's plans a mere few paces.

No. she had to do this right, she had to reach inside the other and clip the emerging poisonous spiny wings of independent sorcery, she had to bind away the other's ability to use magic, in any capacity, she had to snuff out the flames of the toxic spell, she had to assuage the remanence of Morgana's broken and betrayed heart which still howled and screamed even centuries later in every artifact and spell she had ever touched.

The witch had to do it all now, else it very well may never be done at all. And if it was never done right, or soon then they were all screwed. All. Of. Them. Even Snowball would eventually get burned up to a crisp by her own overzealous actions, but whether they'd all be lucky enough for her to just perish when that did happen was still less than a fifty percent chance. Could turn out that whomever survived the initial tantrum tirade long enough to see Snowball get chard up would probably have to be dealing with some form of mutated category undead version of a really pissed off Snowball.

And if Snowball was a nightmare to deal with when she had a bad hair day or gods forbid, a tiny blemish on her "fair skin", then a Snowball with half-to-all of her face melted off would be… actually, there probably isn't a word that could quite encompass just how nightmarish that could get. She knew that even at this point old Snowball was far from getting to her worst point, as difficult as it was to imagine, the other woman, as the witch knew, in her hearts of hearts where they were both linked, was capable of getting way worse if given the opportunity.

Which was why she had to stop Snowball now, even if it ended up killing the both of them.

Wind howled and whipped about, the planks of flooring beneath her palms trembled, the very air itself vibrated with her magic, with her will. This was going to take a lot of energy, energy she wasn't even completely certain she'd have enough to spare after having her insides exposed to the toxin the other was using and because they were connected there was a good chance that this was going to hurt. Considerably. The both of them were going to be feeling this for weeks afterwards if they both managed to survive. One of the many, many downsides to being linked in this way to Snowball the freaking crazy queen; she didn't make anything not painful at the end of the day.

That, the witch had come to realize, was the curse of being stuck in this sort of unhealthy relationship. Unless you cut every tie, burned every bridge, and started running, running so fast and so far until you could not run any further and you collapse in some faraway place, on unfamiliar ground, and it's scary, so, so scary, but you have to make do and move on. There is no choice! Because if you look back for even a moment the person you are linked to, the one that you are trying to get away from, will get you then, they will find you, destroy all that you have built on your own, and lock you up in a mirror in an old attic and never let you out.

Well she had learned her lesson from the last time! This time… this time was going to be different! Somehow, …somehow this cycle was going to change!

Maybe? Hopefully? She wasn't alone anymore… she wasn't having to bear everything by herself this time. There were family and other people who appeared to want to separate Snowball from her life so… maybe it could work out this time! She could be free! Or- well as free as she could be while still being connected by some level of True Love to the other…

It had to be. For everyone's sake. Especially hers.

Suddenly there was lots of shouting, more than there had been a moment ago. A yowling string of rather filthy swear words, along with a near vomit-inducing, tugged and pulled at the bond that was wrapped around and impaled in her heart, violently. So violently and so persistently that the witch lurched and gripped the ground in an effort not to expel bile from her already empty stomach, as Snowball drew power directly from the center of her core with a sickly burning slide type of feeling, making the witch's skin feel clammy and leaving behind the feeling of something akin to cold little microscopic electric eels… or worms, slithering under her skin, swimming along her arteries. It was… slimy. In an acidic sort of way, like a slick cord dipped in a viscous chemical that caused the skin and bone to sting and burn as it slides forwards.

The term heartburn felt a trifle bit too accurate at the moment.

On instinct she looked up, to see what new fresh hell Snowball was trying to use her for this time and-

Oh.

There wasn't time for much thought, or for even a split second to think much about the consequences of what she was going to have to do next. Just a brief impression that she might not be able to get out of this alive, but that was drowned out by the sudden realization that Snowball had gotten desperate again, and was now seeking for ways to replace the sudden loss of magic used to control her little toxin. Oh yes, even for an experienced magic user, controlling that nasty concoction using their own powers and will would have been very trying and difficult.

Snowball, without natural-born magic, and with her source of stolen magic restricted to a trickle of energy, would not stand a chance on her own, no matter how strong her need to enforce her will over everyone and everything truly was.

She'd either have to surrender or perish if left to her own devices.

But of course neither option was acceptable to her, Snowball hated losing, no matter what the consequences were.

Which certainly explained why she had completely ignored the Cheshire woman, and had instead set her sights on the young girl instead.

The old texts describing forbidden magicks always indicated favor towards youth sacrifices. An unnecessary tactic since any age of sacrifice was sufficient, and wholly unnecessary now with modern advancements and the use of symbolic sacrifices that worked just as well, if not better, if only for the lack of having to clean alters of blood and viscera after every single ceremony.

But Snowball wouldn't know that. Not with the choice of weapon she had summoned; the toxic flames ate away at life forces and needed the souls of the living to continue burning. Issue was that it often left behind the smoke of the rage and despair of its feasts, it burned too hot too quick and it would resort to consuming the caster too if it was used improperly and left without sufficient fuel.

Even the people who had created the blasted spell thought it was overkill for dealing with at least ninety percent of extreme crisis. And that was saying something considering the fact that, at the time, they had been dealing with the type of crisis that involved plagues where the skin of the infected would be melting off the bone, or an infestation of fungus that grew on the sufferer while using their insides as fertilizer. The flames had taken out such illnesses t efficiently, some to the point of extinction.

But that was still when the spell had been used properly. And right now; it was definitely not being used the way it was designed.

Such a nuance was obviously overlooked by Snowball however, the witch concluded as her form gave up solidity in preparation to act, the other was fighting off another wave of guards, the girl (why did she look so familiar?) was doing her utmost to book it out of there, but in the confusion the witch knew that without intervention, the girl would be the next to feed the flames in Snowball's quest to win at all cost.

All the other woman had cared about was finding the most powerful, the most impressive, the most perfect everything, anything that she could acquire or force to serve her without question (lest those who rebel face her tantrums). No matter what, the tale of Snow White had to be upheld.

It was almost like a disability in of itself actually; the need for everything to be perfect lest the illusion of a dead woman living on in her descendant be shattered.

And it was sad because perhaps if the witch were better mentally equipped she could have helped her once lover, could have solved the riddle as to why Snowball was so… insane about needing everything to be perfect. Her fears of failure turning her into the monstrous villain and her ambition growing to the point to where the fairytale magic had reversed itself for Ancestor's sake!

And while the witch did hate Snowball right now, wanted nothing more than to be separated from the other's bond and influence upon her heart and life…

…That still did not mean that the witch did not still love the other in a small kind of way. It was wrong, it wasn't right, and it would never be, but that was the crux of True Love; whether it worked out to a happy ending, or a tragic one, love still lived relentlessly on, even when it should have move on long ago.

And it was because Clawstorm still harbored that love for Snowball, that she was going to stop her from murdering that child. Even if it meant the both of them burning from the inside out in agony from the toxin, she'd do it to prevent Snowy from crossing a line that would mark the difference between a lifetime of imprisonment in her own home country, or a downward spiral that could only end with Wonderland, or some other, alien realm (wherever that girl and her friends hailed from), to commit unspeakable acts against her person in retaliation for her crimes, before executing her, and parading her severed head in the streets to cheering crowds…

She still loved stupid Snowball too much to ever see that happen.

It was amazing how much raced across the mind in a matter of moments when so much was happening. One did not have to even think in words apparently, just some quick impressions and emotions, and suddenly everything is shown in a sort of surrealistic clarity, if only just for an instant.

And then no more thoughts came to mind when it came time to act, nothing but the sole movement of instinct and the flow of magic as the cloud of her ethereal shape darted forwards…

XXX

The thread, the damn thread! What the hex was it? It tugged, and pulled, and it hurt her chest for every surge of power she pulled from her will to keep the blasted Heart's Guard off of her! She could sense that it was feeding her the power that she needed, and sure, that made it too useful for her to simply try to use her new abilities to attempt to cut the thread…

But still, did it have to hurt so much?

Was it a latent part of her will? A power that had gone undetected for years until she had gotten her hands on some real magic? She had always felt something similar in her chest ever since her story had been complete, but no matter how many doctors she saw, none of them could find anything physically wrong with her heart.

She hadn't had the time to ponder on its occurrence, but boy could she feel it when it had stopped feeding her the power that she needed, the power that helped her keep the spell in line to do her will's bidding. At least when it was hurting she could feel something there, something tangible and real to grab onto. The absence of… well feeling anything at all in her chest should have been a relief, should have rejoiced at one less distraction, and proceeded to tear into the approaching guards in earnest. Drawing the power that she needed from them instead.

Instead, impossibly enough, she felt… overwhelming panic at the loss of sensation. Enough to get desperate enough to try to get it back mid-battle, despite herself, and her better sense in judgement.

And that was when she had spied the girl.

Supposedly young sacrifices were ideal for more power, or so she had read in the crumbling old texts. At least it sure seemed to be since that was what had been recommended, something young and pretty to give to the gods or whatever. She could only assume the primitive ancestors had assumed that more power from the blood of youths meant that their gods had liked their gifts, when in reality youth was just better all around.

Youthful beauty was perfection, and boy did a Snow White like her know that to be utterly true.

Switching gears from desperately swatting off soldiers to attempting to tear through them to get to the girl. She recognized her to be one of Apple's friends, a child who always dreamed of being a proper royal amongst her tiny community nestled within a quaint little, nobody realm. Obviously quite taken with Apple, the future Snow White, always the willing little busy body to run around her daughter like a happy little servant, serving her betters.

Well Apple wasn't the real Snow White, she was, and if the girl was so happy to serve for the betterment of the Snow White tale, then who was she to not make full use of a handy little sacrifice when it was most needed? She'd be certain that the girl was remembered for her bravery to help her real queen, it was only fair for a dear friend of Apple's. It was regrettable but necessary. Apple would understand.

The events that followed were like a blur to her senses, her only care was to get at the youthful lifeblood before some idiot accidentally trampled over it, and when she finally, finally got close enough, near enough to see that small chest heave fast breaths under dirtied blue bargain-bin cotton, the skin of the neck arteries jump and move in time to the pitter patter of a still beating heart, to see fresh tears well up from tear ducts when she extended inky tendrils of her magical hair to hold the girl still, and to hear her cry out on animal instinct as she raised her magical scepter-

Only for some sort of black smoke to come out of nowhere and block her view as her arms swiftly made their decent down. And when her blade had met flesh…

The agony that felt as though it were ripping open her chest made the sudden flash of horrid red light, so intense through the deafening roar of the following explosion of wind and shaking earth and some sort of unholy wild screaming of something not of this world-… well the pain just made all of that startling over dramatics seem not nearly so important in comparison.

And then the dust and magic had cleared, revealing the cowering youth, pinned beneath the too still body-… robe, or cloak, or some form of dark garment all but ripped to rags and shredded to near non-existence by the force of the magic used-… a body revealed to be one she knew intimately well-… she was so familiar with-… that she- that they- the witch on the ground was-… there was so much blood pouring out of the large slice in her back-… so, so much blood pouring out of skin paling to become as white as snow, her hair black as night blowing in the slight breeze, the girl under Clawstorm breaking out of her shocked stupor, yelling for the witch to wake up, cupping the witch's face with crimson-smeared hands, and the woman could just imagine how those slender fingers were touching lips that she had once known as well as her own and staining them to become as red as her own flowing lifeblood…

And Apple had suddenly appeared, dressed strangely, glowing really, with a book that glowed with her, attached to her belt. The glow burning brighter as both she and her friend worked to try to stop the blood. Numbly she watched, her eyes unable to look away from the sight of Clawstorm's back, her precious Clawstorm's perfect skin, burnt around the wound, spread open in a deep…

The sound she makes catches Apple's attention, the look in the girl's eyes is alien to the point of making her practically look like a stranger, a stranger two seconds away from being deadly.

They both look down to where she's dropped her scepter, the power leeking from it burning away at the hem of Clawstorm's clothes and slightly singing the witch's twitching feet.

When their eyes meet again, Apple looks determined to murder her.

XXX

Apple barely remembers biting Faybelle, and kicking the Headmaster in the groin before managing to escape their hold on her. Spells she's memorized by heart forming on her lips and traveling in the air around her as she moves.

And suddenly her hands join Blondie's, sinking down to apply pressure to the wound that has flayed the witch's back wide open, her emotions flying out of control and her mind closing to an intense fixed point of unrestrained intensity at the sight of the woman who had acted more like a mother towards her than her own, flesh and blood mother, covered in blood! The, smell of burnt flesh making her stomach roil, seared cut skin and muscle parted to the point to where she could see the pale bits of hard bone of her exposed ribs and spine…

Snow White makes a sound catching Apple's attention, when the girl turns to look at the woman her emotions must be plain on her face because Snow White flinches and looks down to where she had dropped her precious scepter.

Apple has never hated anybody so much, with every fiber of her being than at that moment. Snow White senses this, sees it in Apple's eyes as the two stare at one another for a breath, Snow White coming to her own realizations as Apple lays a blood soaked hand on her spellbook. Her rage so intense there is no room for anything in her mind and body aside from the intense need for vengeance if the other even so dares try to reach for the blasted-

Snow White dives for her weapon. Something in Apple's mind snaps sharply at the indignity.

The roaring howl that escapes the princess's mouth as she snarls out the first spell complements the surge of brightly lit magic that sends Snow White flying through the air.

XXX

"Ngguhh!" Clawstorm hisses, barely conscious, unconsciously reaching out to cling onto Blondie's leg. "Owch…!"