A/N: So I haven't published a story in three months, but what do you know, it's fairytale themed. Again. It's just not DD. Oops. Hope lockdown life is treating you well!
Enjoy this Apple centric fluff.
Apple stared at the bride and groom desperately blinking back tears. It wasn't as if her makeup would run but she never thought she'd be in this situation, looking up at Raven and Dexter solemnly swearing their love for one another, about to start their Happily Ever After. It was surreal, and part of it was painful. She had yet to find her Happily Ever After.
She remembered the fateful Legacy Day when she had coldly told Raven she would never get her happy ending, and she shuddered at the thought. Young Apple hadn't realised in that moment that Raven was never destined to get a Happily Ever After, instead she had been too wrapped up in her own future and her own head. It took her a while to realise that Apple would have lorded it over her Kingdom, and then also Raven's Kingdom, while Raven would have been locked away, incarcerated for the rest of her life.
Her mother had barely spared a thought for the Evil Queen while Apple was growing up, and it occurred to Apple that she probably wouldn't have cared about Raven either. It made her feel sick now.
Her mind continued to wander on the path it was on, her "could have been" life. A life spent on the arm of Daring Charming, producing beautiful babies and having an Ever After. Invited to every ball, swanning across the kingdoms, with dances and galas and fundraisers being her only worries.
Would she have been happy? With her shallow husband and her shallow servants? Constantly listening to the bitching and twisting gripes of her wrong coloured hair but floating over the problems of her commoners. She shuddered again at the thought of the artificial life she would have led for the sake of the story. Part of her longed for the life with a vicious flare, but the rest of her was relieved she was not submerged in her sugary sweet adulthood.
She was drawn back to the wedding with the cheers as Raven and Dexter were pronounced Prince and Princess, and kissed one another with an almost indecent zeal, and Apple was now certain of one more thing. What she had with Daring had not been love, not really. It was kind of an acceptance of their places in life, and it appeared that the Storybook got it wrong. Daring had signed, and he had seen his destiny as Apple's prince, and now many moons later it was so undoubtedly and utterly wrong.
It was weirdly wonderful. Apple's position as top Princess had blinded her to everything, but the years had taken away the blinkers and now she was mostly definitely aware of everyone around her. She had taken an interest in the commoners around her, learnt her servants names not the nicknames she had so playfully given to them. She had listened to problems and rather than giggling and patting their heads, she had used her brains to figure out long lasting results, and not quick fixes. When droughts started to bother the eastern edge of her kingdom she learned about water management, and realised that too many of her homes were drawing water away from the sources. She changed the gardens and set about amending the rivers once more. When storms brought down the southern shore's power and cut off supplies she was stuck in with the other rescuers clearing mud. She became a queen entirely different to her mother and while it was once a little unnerving, her staff and people had stopped discussing only her beauty and had started discussing her brain.
It wasn't just her life that had changed, but also that of her friends. She had attended four weddings in the last eighteen months and it was starting to grate on her nerves, not that she ever showed it. She was still a Royal.
She had been maid of honour for Briar, who was thrilled to not sleep for a hundred years and wake to find her friends dead and buried. Instead Briar had slowly fallen in love with Hopper, and loved him warts and all. Apple had been a bridesmaid for Ashlynn and squealed with the girls as they threw confetti packed with wildflower seeds over Ashlynn and Hunter. She and Raven had attended Duchess' wedding to Sparrow Hood of all people. The dainty princess who had tried to accept her heartbreaking future had clung to her Royal status but even she realised in time that she could have her happiness elsewhere, and Sparrow Hood made her obscenely happy. Raven's wedding was Apple's fourth nuptials and she ignored the ache in her chest.
"You don't have to be all sad silly bean." Maddy had sat down next to her at the tables and she smiled softly at the blonde princess.
"I'm not sad."
"Are you not, then the Narrator must be telling me lies." Maddy shook her fist at the empty air but Apple just rolled with it. "It's a little weird seeing all of our friends being married, makes me feel like an adult and then I feel sad, but then I remember my tea shop and I feel happy again. What do you have to make you feel happy again?" Maddy spooned food onto Apple's plates as the wedding dinner appeared before them and Apple barely knew how to stop her.
"That's okay now...thanks Maddy." Apple held out her hands as she tried to pile more peas onto the tiny sliver of plate that was left. "I promise, I'm not sad."
"But you are a little unhappy." Maddy attacked her food with gusto. "You're a Queen of your Kingdom, and people adore you."
"Yes people do." Apple said woodenly but realised Maddy was staring at her.
"People do…but a person doesn't." She tapped her fork against her lip before spearing more peas and chewing thoughtfully. "You want your true love." She whispered in Apple's ear. Apple didn't have the heart or the energy to tell Madeline she'd got it right. Instead there was a rather pregnant pause
"I…" She tried to fill the silence.
"It's okay, the Narrator told me I got it right." Maddy patted her on the hand. "Eat up, you're going to need your energy." The Hatter said nothing more and instead made sure Apple ate all three courses and then kept a close eye on her when the dancing started. After Maddy, Ashlynn, Briar and Raven had all had Apple spinning and bopping on the dance floor she finally found a quiet space to take a breath. Hiding in the corner of the bar Apple glanced up to where the party was in full swing and then stared down at her apple spiced rum and coke
"Mind if I join you?" A voice that made Apple pause but she waved at the empty bar stool next to her without taking her eyes off her drink.
In truth, Apple White always knew why she was alone. She had fallen in love with the wrong Charming, and now like a shiny bad penny, here that Charming sat.
Darling Charming looked stunning as always; she opted for a powder blue trouser suit but instead of blending her into the background she shone like a beacon. Or was it just Apple that saw the glow around the princess?
"It gets a little much at times right?" Darling smiled softly as the bartender brought her over a vodka and lemonade and she stared back at the dancefloor. "It's good to see my brother so happy though. I never thought he'd pluck up the nerve to ask Raven out, let alone ask her to marry him."
"I think she said yes before he really managed the sentence." Apple giggled and the two women fell into a moment of reckless laughter.
"How's life for you Apple?" Darling took another sip and savoured the taste of the vodka, it was apple flavoured she realised belatedly.
"It's different to what I dreamed." She admitted.
"Good different or bad different?" Darling probed.
"Just different." She said shortly. "What about you Darling, heard you moved out of the family castle."
"Yup." Darling grinned. "I escaped my mother's clutches and ran away. Put myself in a turret with stunning 360° views and never looked back. I rescue myself from whatever crazy situations I put myself in, and any distress I have comes from forgetting to order in food." She gabbled and Apple was momentarily jealous of the passion on the woman's face. "It's amazing."
"What about your mother's kingdom?"
"Daring has it, or one of the other hundred Charmings that breed across the land." She shrugged.
"Would you ever be Queen?"
"For the right person, yes." Darling looked at Apple for a moment too long and Apple felt the breath catch in her throat.
"There you are!" Duchess called from the other side of the bar. "Oh Darling! How fabulous to see you!" The genuine warmth in her voice took the Charming princess aback – she had avoided the royal circles for quite some time, and did realise the happily married Duchess was now a much nicer person than ever before. "Come quickly, Sparrow's about to play and Raven's about to sing!" She grabbed both women and pulled them along, the pair managing to down their drinks on the way.
They stood bopping along to the myriad of music The Merry Men blasted out from the stage and when the slow song came on both Darling and Apple moved to the back of the room and watched their friends spin each other around on the floor. Maddy had been set to drag Apple up with her but a quick word from the Narrator had her dancing with Cerise, Cedar and Duchess instead, trusting the Voice to tell her if something went wrong.
The two women were left stood by the window, shoulders touching, fingers laced together, two snagged champagne flutes in hand and for the first time in a long time, Apple didn't feel the unhappiness that had plagued her before. Maybe find her Happy Ever After wasn't so impossible after all.