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Reunion and Departure

Rose followed the blue path for a sunset and a sunrise. Paranoid of anything else in the Woods Rose kept his guard up, but he ran into nothing which disturbed him. He hadn't even seen a friendly critter scamper by and the plants were unusually quiet. But he followed the path with his staff in hand.

He saw the castle well before he was near it and anticipation and paranoia increased. The castle looked deserted. The plants surrounding it were dead, even the weeds, with the exception of an apple tree thriving in the wretched place. Everything around it looked gray. When Rose looked upon it he mysteriously felt all happiness and hope drain from him as the gloomy structure seemed to suck it out of him.

Rose silently approached the castle and tried the door to unsurprisingly find it locked. He walked around the castle to find all the doors locked and all the windows barred. Rose went back to the back door and pointed his finger at it. He focused his fear of the place and his anger for the place for holding Raven captive. His finger glowed pink and the door blasted wide open.

Rose cautiously entered prepared for anything to come at him. He gripped his staff and let his eyes adjust to the dark. He walked through what appeared to be the kitchen and wandered around the dusty castle. As he ventured deeper into the castle it seemed to get darker and darker until Rose had to keep his finger glowing casting grotesque shadows everywhere.

Rose continued to explore in search of Raven finding all sorts of rooms. He discovered the dust covered dining hall, the deserted chambers of the Evil Queen, and even a couple of the servants' chambers. But so far, no Raven.

Rose started to worry that this was a trap for him and that Raven wasn't in here at all.


Raven was curled up on the floor. He was tired, cold and hungry. Deep down in the dungeons where the Wicked Stepmother held her laboratory for her magical potions. Raven had found himself incredibly bored these last few days and in need of a distraction from the ghosts that continued to haunt him. He analyzed the room finding and identifying the seventeen potions the Evil Queen had left behind. He had also counted all of the stones on the floor in his cell (there were two hundred seventy three) and even came up with a life story for the shattered skeleton in the cell next to him reaching for an empty cup (his name was Bernard and was a blind woodcutter with two children and found himself captive here because he was unaware of the passing of the Queen and being offended, sent him down here).

Raven heard the door open and he closed his eyes tight. It was apparently time for the haunting. Raven thought of the School for Good. Raven thought of Peter and Cedric. Raven thought of sword lessons with Professor Espada. Rose thought of anything to keep his mind occupied.

Rose's voice came, "Raven? Is that you?" There was a pause as Rose waited for a response. "Raven? Are you alright? She hasn't hurt you, has she? Raven? Raven!"

Raven shut him out the best he could and held himself tighter.

"Raven, answer me, please. I'm here to get you out of here."

There was a pink glow and Raven looked up. It couldn't really be him, could it? The Rose in front of him was dressed in blue. He couldn't remember Rose ever wearing blue. "It—it can't be you. It never is," Raven's voice was still weak. He put his head back down and waited for the haunting to end.

"Raven? What are you talking about? I'm here to save. . ."

The voice never finished. Raven looked up and saw a wall of steel where bars had been. Raven crawled to the barrier and pounded on it. It really had been Rose. It had to be. Raven pounded in vain, though.

And Raven didn't know which hurt more; Raven pushing Rose away like he just had or Rose not saying he loved him like the hauntings had.


"Fool! The blasted mirror! He could have told me Rose was coming! He could have told me! But no, he didn't." Her voice went high in mockery, "'You never asked.' Bah. Useless!"

"Calm down, Hawthorn. Everything is fine."

Hawthorn looked at her minion, Eustis. He was technically right. They had gotten out of the castle with Raven and were moving to her castle now. After all, she deserved her own. She looked at the sleeping Raven in the crystal orb Eustis was pushing. Everything would be fine. She had the perfect plan. She would get her never after and Rose would not get in the way. She would win.

Eustis spoke again, "I still don't understand why you don't finish him off now."

"I've told you over and over the plan I have formed for the boys and I will not use the old hag's home to do it in. It was a nice place to reside until my castle is completed, but I would never seal my story there."

"If you say so. I still think you would have already found your Never After if you had just ended him there."

Hawthorn rubbed her temple and stroked the owl perched on her shoulder. She spoke to the said owl, "Oh, my dear sweet Maggie, what am I to do with him? I've told him over and over how I want to break their hearts and make them suffer before I kill them. True, I probably could have ended Rose quickly in the Evil Queen's castle. It is become corrupt, the best kind of evil. But if I want to truly call myself a villain I will have to do better than just squish my nemesis like a common bug."

The owl, Maggie, hooted. Hawthorn took it as agreement, though she had no idea. Talking to and understanding animals were princess qualities and Hawthorn was far from being a princess.

She took a deep breath, "Everything will be fine. Rose is locked up under the watch of the useless mirror. When he finally gets out we'll be ready at my place. And there Rose will find his end. Come, Eustis. I suppose we can assist in the construction of my castle. It will help it go faster, I suppose. And we'll need to relieve Grimwald. I will be needing him somewhere else in this development."

Eustis was about to say something, then thought better of it. He shouldered against the crystal orb and started trekking north to where Hawthorn's castle was being built.


Rose was banging on the wicked mirror who had posted himself at now the only exit from the castle. Stone walls built up blocking all other doors and windows. Rose banged on the mirror again. "Let me out!"

"Ha. Never."

Rose was getting cross. He levered his staff behind him and bashed it against the mirror cracking it.

"Hahaha, seven years bad luck, you know." The mirror started to seal the cracks back up again and Rose started to bang on it again. He was going to be the hero. He was going to save Raven.

But right now it looked like it was Rose who was in need of saving. Why wasn't there a princess class for How to Rescue Yourself?