"...And next, Raven Queen." The headmaster of Ever After High introduced.
Raven stood at the edge of the platform, Lightning striking the ground a ways away, allowing for a dramatic entrance (not that Raven wanted one). She was extremely nervous, and it was present on her face. It was obvious that she would rather be anywhere else.
She walked up to the podium, trying to ignore the glares of the royals.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before starting her oath.
"I am Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen," she introduced herself. "And I-I pledge...um…" she trailed off, nervous. She didn't want to do this. She glanced behind her at her roommate and headmaster. "I…" she tried again.
She could faintly hear Apple excitedly encourage her to finish and do what she was supposed to, but Raven was unable to.
After a couple seconds of awkward silence as Raven failed to make herself finish the oath, she heard Headmaster Grimm sigh in disappointment.
Raven's key appeared, and she put her hand out to catch it. She gently inserted the key into the keyhole and twisted it as instructed, and watched with bated breath as the book opened to her story.
She quickly skimmed through the words, mostly looking at the pictures, her uneasiness increasing at each page turn.
First it showed her poisoning Apple, then she was shunned and thrown out of the kingdom….she let out a small gasp.
She was left to fend for herself, scrounging for scraps on the streets.
Well that wasn't comforting.
She looked at the last pages of her story dejectedly as the mirror of her ultimate future appeared.
What she saw in the mirror made her gasp in horror.
The older Raven was absolutely covered in chains, crying out for help.
That was terrifying.
She couldn't move, her teary eyes skimming every inch of the picture of her future self, looking for anything, anything, that might tell her of a different future, but it was no use.
The others couldn't see what Raven was seeing, but Raven's close friends were paying attention, watching every reaction to what she was seeing. They knew she was scared to sign, and seeing her reactions to whatever she was seeing worried them.
If it was that bad, she definitely shouldn't have to sign. She shouldn't be subjected to something that scared her so badly.
Raven snapped out of her trance and flinched as the mirror glowed, transforming into a white quill with a purple stem.
It was time.
She didn't notice Cerise furiously shake her head as Raven reluctantly reached for the quill, trying to force herself to sign like everyone expected her to. She however could feel the glares the royals were giving her, daring her to try to go off script.
Almost there, almost there—
Her hand halted, closing into a fist just before it reached the quill.
She couldn't do it.
It was too terrifying.
Her eyes moved back to the book, a beat up looking Raven scrounging for scraps still present on the page, and the tears disappeared and her gaze hardened.
She knew what she had to do.
She looked back at the crowd, her eyes filled with purpose.
"I am Raven Queen, and I'm going to write my own destiny!" She declared. "My happily ever after starts now!" She slammed the book closed, and the mirrors that served as big screens shattered.
She braced herself, waiting to vanish.
The first thing she heard was the chorus of horrified screams and "oh my"s from the royal part of the audistoryum.
Then, the rebel part started cheering for her. "Whoo!" "Raven did it!" "Yaaay!" "Thank goodness!"
She opened her eyes, and she could still see everything. She looked at her hands, they were still there.
She breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. "I-I...I'm still here!" She exclaimed in relief.
Then her eyes hardened, and she whipped around to look at her headmaster. "I didn't disappear!"
Headmaster Grimm just glared at her, and she glared back.
Why did he tell her that if it wasn't true?
Raven's angry state was broken as she flinched at Apple yelling at her. Her gaze snapped to look at her roommate, her expression contorting into one of concern.
"How could you be so...so selfish?!" Apple yelled, her voice shaky from trying not to cry.
Raven ignored the next round of boos and cheers from behind her, the boos much louder to her. "I'm sorry Apple, but I—" she started, but she stopped after she couldn't hear herself over the loud crowd.
She glared at the audience, wanting them to shut up so she could talk to her friend. "Hold EVERYTHING!" She screamed, whipping around to face the audience. As she did so, a large blast of magic shot out of her, freezing everyone in time.
Apple backed away as that happened, her friend's show of raw power intimidating her.
Well, she backed away until she too was frozen in time.
"Woah…." Raven breathed as she looked around at the frozen audience. Everyone had a light purple tint now, giving away that it was her magic that did this. She looked at her shaking hands, scared at what she had done. "I didn't know I could do that…." she whispered.
She looked over at the person she was talking to beforehand, finding that she had frozen her in time as well. She closed her eyes and made a small spell, releasing Apple from her frozen state.
Apple moved a little, getting control of her body back surprising her, and she looked at Raven silently, moving to a more comfortable position. She could tell that she wanted to talk.
"I'm sorry Apple," Raven began. "I don't want anyone to tell me who to be." She shook her head. "I want to figure that out on my own. And don't you understand? I'm not the only one who gets to choose their own destiny now! We all do!" She told her excitedly. "Even you!"
"But..I don't want to choose a new destiny!" Apple protested. "I liked the one I had! And because of you," Raven flinched as Apple pointed an accusing finger at her. "it might not happen!"
"But it might!" Raven tried to assure her with a smile.
Apple shook her head. "I don't know." She sobbed. Raven reached out, wanting to comfort her, but Apple leaned away slightly, and Raven took the hint. "I just don't know." She moved past Raven to go be alone, and Raven watched her go. She considered following her, but shook her head at herself. That would do more harm than good right now. Raven wasn't the one who could help her at the moment.
Raven looked at the audience again, and she smiled at the sight of her excited friends. None made her smile wider than Maddie did though.
She unfroze the wonderlandian, who immediately showed how excited she was.
"Wow!" Maddie exclaimed, disappearing from view and reappearing next to Raven. It didn't phase the witch, as she was used to Maddie's wonderland magic by now. And her antics. "You're still here!" Maddie continued. "No poof, poof poof! Yay!"
Raven chuckled. "I know! It feels good!" She let out another sigh, still not over the fact that she was still safe even after rebelling against everything she and her peers know.
She stood with Maddie for a bit, just glad that everything worked out, until Maddie suddenly yelled at the 'narrorators' again.
"Listen narrorators!" Maddie scolded. "We are trying to have a nice moment here!" She wanted to share this moment with Raven, relieved that her friend was okay, and didn't want it to be ruined by the narrorators' bickering for once. Luckily, the narrorators shut up at her scolding, and Maddie looked back to her friend.
The two girls shared a laugh, and just stood together and talked for a while longer, enjoying each other's company after a long night.