Chapter eleven:
The Evil Queen knew it would not be easy to escape her prison, yet she had no intention of allowing her daughter to carry on walking down the path she was now on, without trying to alter it back to what she considered the proper course.
She was therefore grateful that even during Raven's trip to Wonderland she had been working on a way to free herself. The Evil Queen was so close to being free, she just needed to focus one more big push on the protection around the mirror and she would be out.
The Evil Queen drew up her magic, she pushed it against the magic surrounding her mirror and the protective magics on it shattered. With a crow of delight the Evil Queen stepped out of the mirror into the small tower room where her mirror had been kept.
Quickly and carefully, she cast magic around the room, so no one would notice that she had broken free just yet or be able to hear her up here while she set to work. The Evil Queen needed to buy herself as much time as possible in order to make sure her spell to turn Raven back to the darkness and make her fully evil was ready to be used quickly.
The Evil Queen was not stupid enough to believe that Raven wouldn't fight her if she were to try to cast the spell face to face, her only chance was to catch her daughter by surprise.
The Evil Queen was making her spell as strong as possible, she didn't want the good side of Raven to stand a chance of fighting back, for her friends to somehow to be able to call her back like they did last time or for true love to break the spell.
No, she was determined that she was going to make the cure to her spell extremely difficult. After some thought the Evil Queen decided that the breaking the spell would require three parts, first that someone would have to help Raven fight the darkness with their words, second this person would need to also confess true love for her, then thirdly and lastly share true loves kiss with Raven.
A truly evil laugh left the Evil Queen and she focused onto her work, making sure that the spell would be perfectly constructed so it would work just as she desired and would allow no hope of rescue from it other than the ones she desired.
The silence in the castleteria was broken, by the rebels all surging to their feet and starting to clap and cheer for the new couple.
Briar instantly seeing a reason to throw another one of her signature parties at the school, quickly made her way over to Darling and Raven, and as soon as she reached them Briar addressed them in an excited voice. "Let me throw you both a party tonight to spellibrate! I promise that it will be totally enchanting!"
"Are you really want to throw a party for us?" Raven asked her clearly surprised by this unexpected and kind gesture in Briar's part.
"Hex yes!" Briar enthused, fist pumping at the same time.
Raven looked to Darling and asked her. "I am happy to attend the party, but it's not just up to me. What do you think Darling?"
Nodded and smiled to Raven. "I think that a party is a hexilent idea."
"Great! I'll start organising! And message Raven later with the time and location later today!" As she spoke Briar walked away from them, pulling her phone out and starting to make some calls on it.
Raven and Darling shared a smile and then Darling said softly to Raven. "Our first party as an official couple. I can't wait to dance with you my lady Princess."
A delicate blush spread over Raven's cheeks. "It will be nice not to spend an entire party either as a wallflower or only dancing with Maddie. I am look forwards to dancing with you, I am sure it will be wonderful."
Darling lifted one of Raven's hands and kissed the back of it. "I will be honoured to be at your side all night Raven."
The blush on Raven's face grew, she was sure she heard Kitty mutter something about old married couples and finding a room, but Raven ignored her in favour for smiling brilliantly at Darling. "I am so glad to hear that. Would you like to sit with me while I finish my breakfast?"
"I would love that." Darling said softly.
Together they sat back down at the table, soon Darling, Raven, Maddie, Kitty and Apple were conversing between them about what the party Briar was organising might be like.
When Raven had finished her breakfast, Darling accompanied her out of the castleteria, but before they could go any were, an announcement was being made for them to go to the headmaster's office. The couple shared a concerned look, before taking hold of each other's hand and then making their way through the school towards the headmaster's office.
As they walked through the corridors of the school, Blondie's show was on all the screens around the school relaying the news of Raven and Darling's new relationship to anyone in the school who had not been in the castleteria to see it for themselves.
This new information caused a lot of students to turn and look at the couple with openly surprised or shocked expressions on their faces.
Darling ignored these looks for the most part, but if someone dared to give Raven a dirty look she glared angrily at them, this was a look which was so fierce that it had those students gulping and quickly looking away from the couple.
When they arrived at the door to the headmaster's office, Darling squeezed Raven's hand in a comforting gesture, before saying to her reassuringly. "It will be alright. There is nothing the headmaster can do to force us apart."
Wordlessly Raven nodded to her, she took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. It was opened only a few moments later by miss Trollswoth, who gestured them inside, saying as she did so. "The headmaster is expecting you both, please go inside."
Darling and Raven made their way through miss Trollsworth's office and through the door into the headmaster's office. "You wanted to see us headmaster." Darling said to him in a calm voice.
The headmaster nodded. "I do. I want to talk to you both about what has happened today and the ramifications of this change in your lives. Please sit."
As he said this last part Milton gestured at the two seats standing in front of his desk. Without letting go of each other's hands Raven and Darling sat down.
Once they were settled the headmaster addressed Darling and Raven again. "The first thing I want you to know is that I have no intention of trying to come between the pair of you. It is quite clear that you share a bond of very deep true love…So deep in fact that I am almost tempted to call you both soulmates…Something which has never happened before in fairy tales and therefore might be worth verifying with Cupid. You both need to understand that you are creating an entirely new story between you…Yes, many knights have wooed ladies before…But never a female princess to another female princess, yet it is clear from the fact you have both transformed to fit your new roles better that the power of the stories accepts you both. Where the thread of your story will go next, I do not know, however there is bound to be some trial and tribulation to it. Please take care of each other, love and trust each other through whatever is to come and know that your deep true love will never die."
Darling and Raven both nodded to the Milton and then Darling said to him softly but firmly. "No matter what I will protect, fight for and love my lady princess Raven."
"And I will never stop loving or lose my faith in my Charming lady knight." Raven told him without hesitation.
The headmaster gave them a nod of satisfaction before saying to the couple. "Now your destinies are not what they once were I need to change your class schedules. This should be done by the end of the day. I am therefore permitting the two of you the day off."
"Thank you headmaster." Raven said politely.
"Yes, many thanks sir." Darling said to him just as courteously.
With a nod of recognition for their thanks Milton gestured towards the office door. "You may both go now, but please do think about asking Cupid to confirm if you are soulmates, I believe it could make all the difference for you both at some point in the future."
Raven and Darling nodded to the headmaster, they then made their way out of his office and back into the main part of the school. Once they were there the couple stepped to one side so they would be in no one's way and have some privacy as they talked.
Darling and Raven looked at each other for a moment in silence, and then Raven said to Darling. "It can't hurt to ask Cupid about our true love and the possibility we are actually soulmates…I know a lot of things concern the headmaster, but this sounds very serious."
"No, it can't hurt and as you say it sounds like it might be important to our futures. I'll send her a message and see if Cupid will be able to see us today." Darling said to Raven in agreement, while she got her phone out of her pocket.
Darling sent a hext to Cupid and then turned her attention back onto Raven asking her. "Well, what would you like to do while we wait for an answer from Cupid?"
After thinking for a moment Raven answered this question. "I think a stroll through the enchanted forest together would be perfect."
Without even a moment's hesitation Darling offered her arm to Raven. Smiling at her softly Raven put her arm through Darling's, and together they made their way from the school to the forest.
As they walked along the sun filter through the treats creating dancing spots of golden light on the forest floor, the animals of the forest who had never feared Raven as many would have expected them to would occasionally appear to watch the couple go by them.
To Darling it felt as though the creatures of the woodlands had known that Raven was truly good before any of them did. It brought back to her mind something her mother had once said, which was that animals could tell a person's true nature no matter how well they tried to hide it and that she should trust their instincts.
All at once a unicorn stepped out of the forest and onto their path, Darling and Raven came to a halt, they stood together spell bound as the majestic creature stopped before them. The unicorn was so white it seemed almost to glow, it's golden horn and hooves glinted in the dappled light. Slowly the unicorn turned to look at them, its eyes were a brilliant sapphire blue and seemed to convey an age and wisdom beyond its years.
Darling and Raven were both surprised when the usually skittish creature did not flee at the sight of them, instead it stood watching them intensely, almost as if it was looking for something. It seemed that the unicorn found whatever it had been searching for, because it came towards them and stood before Darling and Raven. After a few more moments of looking at them very closely the unicorn carefully touched the top of their heads with its horn, it then turned and gracefully made its way back into the forest.
After a few moments of stunned silence between them Darling turned to Raven and asked in a shaking voice. "What…What just happened?"
Raven shook her head at Darling. "I'm not sure…But I think the unicorn just gave us its blessing…"
"A unicorn blessing…That's really rare…Wait doesn't that mean nothing within the forest will attack us now?" Darling asked Raven in an awed voice.
"Yes, it does." Raven confirmed with a nod of her head.
A wide smile spread over Darling's face and she said happily to Raven. "It's nice to know that nothing here in this forest will attack us now. We can have one place where we know we will be safe from everyone and everything."
"Very true." Raven agreed with a smile of her own.
Darling and Raven continued on their walk happily taking in the sights and sounds of the forest. After a while Raven looked to her companion and asked Darling curiously. "So why did you choose to woo me with the language of flowers?"
Darling thought about her answer to this question for a few moments and then slowly but truthfully laid her reasons out before Raven. "There were a couple of reasons…I felt doing so would be unique enough to gain your attention, while at the same time allowing me anonymity. I liked the messages I could send you and I felt sure that if you disliked being wooed in such a way, that you would be kind enough to find gentle way to let the floral admirer know this and that way it wouldn't affect the friendship I had been building with you. It also allowed me to say all of the things I felt for you in my heart but was to shy and nervous to tell you in person…I know it sounds strange for a Charming to say they felt shy…But…But to me you were and are the sun, the moon and the starts of my life…I love you so very much."
Raven blushed delicately as Darling explained everything and told her just how much she meant to her. "There is something I want to confess to. The first time I set eyes on you I thought you were the most beautiful and strong damsel I had ever seen…I was sure though you had heard those words before and sure enough I soon found out this was true…I felt you would see my words as just those of another person telling you that you were beautiful without trying to know you…So I decided to just be your friend and listen to you, so that way you would have at least someone you could come to whenever the burden of being the perfect Charming princess was too much for you…Someone who would never judge you."
Darling brought them to a halt, she turned to face Raven and looked into her eyes as she said in an unwavering voice. "I never did thank you enough for being that friend Raven, I always knew what ever I told you and what ever the frustrations I confessed to you, that you would say nothing of them to anyone else…It was in fact that trust I had in you which led me to start to have romantic feelings towards you…When you went on a date with my brother, I was so envious of him that I realised that I had fallen in love with you. I came to the decision then that if Dexter was not successful in winning you then I would try to win your heart for my own."
"I am happy to tell you that you have won my heart completely Darling, I could not imagine being anyone else's now. I am in fact very proud to be your lady princess." Raven told Darling as she lifted a hand to gently stroke the side of Darling's face.
Darling leant into this loving gesture, she then turned her head and kissed Raven's hand before saying to her firmly. "I am so happy to have found you. You love me, accept me just as I am and you are proud to be mine. I cannot think of anyone else at this school who could do any of those things and now you are mine I will never let you go."
Raven smiled brilliantly at Darling as she said reassuringly to her. "I want to stay with you always, no matter what I will always be yours Darling and I will always love you."
Without saying anything more Darling drew Raven close to her and slid her arms around her in a hug. Raven didn't hesitate to snuggle against Darling and put her arms around her in return. Neither of them said anything for a long while they just stood their holding each other and only broke their embrace when Darling's phone chirped to indicate she had a message.
Darling pulled the phone out of her bag, she checked the message and then said to Raven. "Cupid is happy to see us now in her dorm room. Shall I tell her we are on the way?"
"Yes, please do." Raven said with a nod.
While Darling hexted Cupid back, they made their way back to the school and once inside to Cupid and Blondie's room. Raven knocked on the door and it was swiftly answered by a beaming Cupid who gestured them inside.
Once they were in the room Cupid shut the door behind Raven and Darling, then fluttered over to stand before them. "I understand from Darling's messages that the headaster thinks your true love may run very deep and that you might even be soulmates."
Raven and Darling both nodded to her and Raven said. "Yes, he suggested we come to you to see if his hunch about us was correct."
"For once he was wise in his suggestion. Please come over here and sit down." Cupid said guiding the couple across the room to two chairs which sat opposite each other, Darling sat in one chair and Raven the other.
"Good, now I want you to hold both of each other's hands with your palms pressed together and your fingers interlaced." Cupid directed.
Raven and Darling did as they were told and Cupid gave them a nod. "Yes, that's it. Now just think about how much you love each other. I'm going to fire an arrow at you both, don't worry it won't hurt at all, it will simply show me how much true love you hold by casting a coloured aura around you both. Are you ready?"
The couple nodded to cupid, she brought forwards her bow, it glowed with a pink light, Cupid carefully put a golden arrow in place and loosed it, a few inches from the couple it disintegrated into a flash of bright golden and white light which filled the whole room. It was so bright that Darling and Raven had to close their eyes, when the light dimmed a little at last, they opened their eyes to see a glowing Cupid looking at them with wide awe filled eyes. "Oh my…That's…That's wow that's strong…You have the kind of true love which would force Hades himself to retreat…True love stronger than death…I've not heard of that happening for a long time…"
Startled by these words Darling and Raven looked at each other with surprise before they both slowly began to smile. "That would also mean that you more than likely are a soulmate couple too." Cupid said to them drawing the attention of the couple back to her.
"Are you going to test for that now to?" Darling asked her.
"Yes. I need you to stay as you are, just look into each other's eyes and continue focusing on the love you feel for each other." Cupid told them as she went over to her bed and took from the top of it an arrow which she had never had to use before. This arrow was white, it glowed in opalescent colours and its end was shaped to look like a single feather.
Cupid turned back towards Raven and Darling, she could still see their love for each other glowing around them softly, it was a sight which caused her to smile. Recalling herself to her duty Cupid knocked back the arrow and loosed it. The moment it reached Raven and Darling it to exploded like the first arrow, this time though there was no bright light, instead the couple were haloed in a rainbow of light with a glowing white cord doing from one to the other and back again. The cord was thick and strong, Cupid came closer, she could see that it was tied deep inside each of them with a knot which would have put the gordian knot in the shade.
"Yes, you two are definitely soulmates." Cupid told them in a soft voice before addressing them in a very serious tone. "No one will be able to break that bond easily and if anyone tries it, they are in for a nasty shock. I need you to both understand something, if someone should try to part you that bond will protect you both, you will never be able to love anyone else or hurt each other. It's a very good thing neither of you signed that book, it could have led to some disastrous consequences for you both. I'm going to need to have words with the headmaster about having possible hidden true love and soulmate couples tested in the future to prevent any disaster."
Darling and Raven looked at her both shocked and awed, eventually Darling managed to say. "Are you telling us, we were always meant to be together?"
"Yes, Darling I am. You are both the first fairy tale characters to carry not only true love, but the bond of soulmates too and now you have opened up the possibility of soulmate bonds occurring in fairy tales it will probably start to occur more often…It will still be rare though just like true love and I can well imagine a pair such as yourselves which carry both will be even rarer. It doesn't matter how you look at it, the two of you are the start of a whole new line of stories." Cupid explained to them both.
Silence greeted Cupids words and after a moment she said to Raven and Darling. "This is going to be one heck of a story. A princess who was meant to be saved, becoming the hero, knight and Prince who protects her lady Princess and the supposed evil one, who is in fact the kind and good lady Princess. A story of illusions and expectations hiding the truth, that is a powerful moral for a story to have, as it begs us to look beyond what we might first see in order to see the truth."
Darling squeezed Raven's hands as she said affectionately. "I was always able to see how kind and good Raven was and I love her for being herself."
Raven blushed slightly, but spoke. "And I always saw you for what you were your own person, who deserved more than the fate that your family expected you to live out as a Charming princess."
Cupid watched the couple smiling softly at them, this was the reason she loved her job so much, every so often she got to witness love like this, a love that was both exquisite and rare. "I suggest the two of you spend a lot of time together, it will help to make your bonds grow stronger."
"We will be more than happy to take that advice." Raven said shooting Darling a mischievous but loving smile as she spoke.
Slowly Darling and Raven pulled their hands apart, they stood, then held hands again, they both smiled at Cupid and then Darling said to her. "Thank you for your help."
Cupid smiled at them widely as she said. "I was glad to help you both. I'll try to keep your full bond quiet as possible for now, after all you never know when such a secret might become useful."
"Thank you." Raven said to her before the couple left the room.
Once they were outside Darling turned to Raven and said to her softly. "That was quiet the pleasant revelation."
"In deed it was." Raven said in agreement.
Darling smiled at Raven, glad to hear that she too was happy with what Cupid had told them. "Shall we go back to our walk?"
"I'd like that." Raven told her and so the couple set off back to the forest.
