A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked the last chapter. I'm keeping all of them relatively short so as to keep all of you engaged, but not get bored. I'm building up this world as I go along, so feel free to ping me suggestions or ideas you have about the characters. I'm also opening up a new Drabble Collection for EAH and Monster High, and I desperately need some ships and prompts, you guys! So HIT ME UP!

Do check out my other EAH story - All is Fair in Love and War. One thing they have in common? Love Triangles.

Chapter 2: The Fae Queen

No, she hadn't been mistaken.

Those eyes, icy blue, cold as flint, shining with a luminous turquoise sheen. The pale, frosty skin; the elfin features; the pointed ears, the fanged teeth – all pointing to her wild, fae heritage.

Faybelle gazed at her, startled.

'Maddie?'

' -and finally four crates of your arrowroot and saffron blend. I'd also like a honeysuckle and sweet pea sampler-'

'It is you!'

Faybelle paused, eyes wavering.

'It really has been a long time, huh?'

Maddie didn't know what to say. She'd forgotten how to speak.

Faybelle had moved away at the beginning of last year to undergo advanced magical training with the Mages of Merlin, in order to prepare her for inheriting her mother's kingdom and legacy.

Many other students had also been pulled out for the same reasons. Lizzie had been called back to Wonderland. Apple had been required to attend various social functions and kingdom inspections with her mother while taking on three advanced courses. Daring had had all his mirrors confiscated and made to take trade commerce classes. Dexter had received therapy for his anxiety issues and had been forced to attend a number of balls to socialize with other princesses. Briar, Rosabella and Ashlynn had also met Apple's fate. Darling had effectively disappeared to go on a number of quests. Cupid had gone away to join her father.

In the end; there had only been her, Raven and a small ragtag bunch of other rebels left.

All the free time Maddie had got, she had put to use. She had took up 2 advanced classes – Unstructured Magic and Spoken Riddlish. She had tried convincing her other Wonderland friends to join her for the latter but Bunny and Alistair had already been struggling with regular classes, and Kitty hadn't bothered to turn up after the first class.

Maddie would have called Raven, but she had spent every spare second cramming for her various 'evil' classes – Home Evilnomics, General Villainy, Dark Magic and Toxicology.

Both of her advanced classes had been one-one-one sessions with Giles Grimm, who had been nothing but understanding and supportive of her and her dreams of seeing the world and exploring it's great wealth of magic, mystery and madness.

She had submitted her university applications on his advice, writing various entrance tests and penning pages and pages of historical analysis and personal essays.

Her finals had gone well too – Crownculus wasn't that hard if you really put your mind to it, and remembering the various formulae had became a kind of game for her. Potioneering and Applied Alchemy was easy when you focused on the individual ingredients and the reactions they underwent.

'It's just like brewing tea', she had reminded herself, 'except with more complicated ingredients. There's a method to everything, even madness.'

She had persevered through it all – Natural History and Herbology, Fairy Tales and Fables, Cooking Classic, Knitting and Home Sciences, Royal Etiquette, Ancient Runes and Hieroglyphics, Dead Languages, Geografairy, Chemythstry, Grimmnastics and even Dragon Games for extra credit.

She had taken up twelve regular subjects and two advanced classes for her Fairytale Finals, much more than any other student in her class. The required minimum was 8, and most of her classmates had complained that it was too much. Thank her Fairy Godmother that no one had come to know that she had taken fourteen subjects, or she would have been the centre of a lot of rage and frustration.

Tomorrow would be the day she'd find out if all her work had paid off.

But now, in her father's Tea Shoppe, with Faybelle standing there in front of her in all her fae glory, all those thoughts flew out of the window.

It was true – subconsciously, she had missed her. Seeing her again stirred up all kinds of memories.

Underneath all the snark, sass and snide comments was a misunderstood girl who hadn't really been given a chance. Underneath the gruff exterior was a girl who cared, a girl who desperately wanted people to look up to her and acknowledge her worth.

Seeing her actions in the Dragon Games had only reinforced her opinion, which led to Maddie asking the isolated Faybelle to pair up with her for their Ancient Runes assignment a couple days after the Evil Queen had been recaptured and imprisoned in the Mirror Realm.

…And had stirred up an entire rats nest of problems in the process.

A/N: Remember, read and review! I also need prompts. Constructive criticism appreciated!