Oh, she should have known! She should have known what all of this was for! And to think she actually played the evil minion role… For what? For nothing. Comes the purple chicken and everything's worse than before!
Faybelle was nearly hysterical. Hot tears of both anger and frustration ran down her cheeks, only to be roughly wiped by her arm.
The fairy watched as the Evil Queen went on and on about worlds to conquer, while Raven simply stood there with a flat look on her face. Faybelle on her side was standing in the other end of the room, deciding what to do. Damn family pride, sometimes it could be a real pain in the wings. She wanted to make her mom proud and make a name for herself, not just be discarded like a pawn on a chessboard. She heard the words "mer folk" and "sea world" and that was it.
Nobody drops me as if I were nothing.
And so the Evil Fairy's daughter ripped the bag the Evil Queen had given her and took off in direction of that hideout her classmates had in the Enchanted Forest.
However, it didn't take long to find them, as they were riding their dragons right to Ever After Castle.
"Faybelle?" Apple's voice reached her ears. So the Charming annoyance did his job… Oh, oh. She could foresee drama coming soon. But back onto more pressing matters.
"Bringing wannabe evil back, I see?" she retorted, deciding to use her usual cocky demeanor.
"What are you doing here? Changing sides suddenly?" Darling's voice piped up in a tone both irritated and inquisitive. A better look at the face of the Charming girl and she found out that, indeed, the girl was very angry. Angrier than herself, surprisingly. Faybelle felt the weight of many sets of eyes land on her, but she opted to ignore them in favor of getting to the point at once.
"Well, it isn't fair that I broke my wings working for that woman only to be left ignored. No one treats me like that." The fae's eyes averted to Apple's hands, "I see you've brought the Booking Glass… Great. But let me guess, don't know how to unlock it?" Faybelle crossed her arms and raised a brow.
Holly rolled her eyes and tried her damnest not to throw something at the fae. This is not the time to be fooling around out of arrogance!
Interpreting the silence as a negative answer, a one-sided grin made an appearance on Faybelle's factions, "Just what I thought." She took the hand mirror from Apple –who looked dumbfounded as she remembered the device had a password she did not remember at all-, and began a little choreography.
After the eighth move a sharp command made her pause.
"Will you hurry up already?!" shouted Apple, Darling and Holly in unison with such ferocity that it took her off guard. Just when these girls acquired such an attitude? Yesterday they were sweet simpering things! Well, except for Apple. She was locked in her room doing Goddesses know what until she got kicked out… Literally.
Oh, true. Caged bird was still over there with the Ungrateful Queen.
Faybelle hunched and muttered what was left of the enchantment and a purpleish shining indicated the mirror was now unlocked and ready to work.
"Finally. Let's go, guys! Raven needs us!" Apple shouted again with all of her might, taking the Booking Glass from Faybelle and motioning the fairy to hop on Braebyrn quickly. The fae did not even protest and to Apple's mild content they advanced.
Her sweet Raven could not spend a moment longer with that despicable woman. That nightmare was more than enough to demonstrate how twisted Saundra Queen's mind was. A cold sensation nestled in her chest, remembering those bottomless black pits for eyes and unsettling grin with an undesired level of detail. That wasn't Raven, that wasn't the real, wonderlandiful Raven Queen she tried to force the words into her overflowing mind.
As if it weren't enough, the reactions from Daring, Darling and everyone else were rather… Strange. And judging for Holly and Darling's matching frowns, Holly's rudeness (an extremely uncharacteristic thing coming from her, one of the gentlest maidens in Ever After High) and Darlin's thirst for blood or whatever kind of vengeance the girl was looking for, and this getting to the point of Cerise refraining from saying anything, summed to Daring's over repetitive whining that could be heard even from her position… It couldn't be good, and it had to do with her awakening. One more reason to pick up the pace and get her birdy back, so they could figure out what in the kingdom happened while she was asleep.
So many worlds and so little time. What would they do next? Her birdy was getting suspiciously insistent of leaving Ever After, but again she was here, with her, and not with her meddling and annoying friends. Soon all of that silly rebellion the noisy fae mentioned over twenty times would be done and over with and her daughter would follow her example.
Okay, with her lack of animosity she'd be a pretty boring Evil Queen, instead of a fearsome, wickedly terrifying one. But her powers have developed greatly since she signed the Storybook of Legends in that last adventure of hers in Wonderland, so perhaps… Yes, there must be no doubt.
"Aren't you excited, Raven? So many worlds, dimensions and places, and they'll all bow to us!" she began.
In response, Raven sighed.
Just how many times would she have to deal with this? That's the reason why the Queen surname was tainted, stripped from its former honor and reduced to mere 5 letters and a mad woman attached to them. Well, a crazy woman and her daughter who didn't want to be like her evil mom. She was pretty sure the latter would improve her first impression in others who heard the story and didn't quit at hearing her mom's name or title. She would have to leave Ever After and, with it, her only friends, pet and more importantly her beloved Apple, but if that ensured her friends and lover's safety, then she would do it.
"I am. Just… Let's get away from Ever After and never come back." My friends shall not be harmed anymore.
Raven's fear of not being believed in was confirmed when the older witch's eyes narrowed dangerously before walking over to the shelf with glass boxes and mason jars containing the faculty.
"Well then," Raven observed her mom raise her arm, producing a beam of reddish purple magic that had black slowly tainting it towards the wall and opening a portal to who knows where, "go ahead. Pick one."
And with a nod of her head, the youngest Queen steward understood what her mother meant. She wanted her to toss one of her teachers, the Headmaster, his brother or even Snow White herself into a scary looking portal, that could only lead to a worst looking place. She would have to act, and quick.
Raven suppressed a gasp, but couldn't help the horrified expression that crept up her features as she approached the glass box containing the talking snake form of Queen Snow White. The very faint reflection of her mom on the glass showed a distinctive gleam, one she saw only twice in her life, a gleam that expressed the woman was afraid she'd choose the one inside. But Raven put that thought aside. This was not the time to ponder on her mother's inner conflicts.
"Raven pleassse! You have to help usss!" Snow White hissed in her shriek. The purple haired girl was able to see the equally terrified expression on Apple's mom had even as a snake.
She eyed the other jars and boxes. The Headmaster said something but the overall situation made it hard to want to make an effort and distinguish what he said. Her eyes lowered. Her half-baked plan of getting her mom to spill the solution to Apple's poisoning was scratched off the list without having started even. Great. How was she going to help her girlfriend now? A big part of the student body now had a picture of her ridiculously dressed self and the diehard Royals were probably convinced that she had finally joined her mom in being evil, so they wouldn't be of help. Her Rebel allies (okay, perhaps 'allies' was an over soldierly word, but with all this war ambiance her mom had managed to create it felt much like the right word to use in that precise moment), were in their refugee guarding her dearest Apple's unconscious body, and even if there was something they could do to lend a hand, it'd take too long and be too crazy to execute.
To top it all, her mom was growing more and more suspicious, perhaps because she was taking forever.
"Come on, Raven! Throw any of them to the portal!" the Evil Queen pressed, tired of all of this nonsense. However, when her daughter's eyes reached hers and her expression morphed into a snarl, raised her hand and shot a fireball in her direction it was a surprise. For mere milliseconds, but a surprise nonetheless. Her child had quite the irreverent streak. The fireball was no match for a rapidly erected shield, and the Evil Queen saw no choice but to proceed in her plans alone, for now.
"Nice try Raven. But you forget, I'm more powerful than you!" fire lighted up in the older witch's hands, this time lifting a cylindrical barrier around Raven, adding a little extra strength in case her birdy might want to try and escape, which was most likely to happen.
Raven attempted to pound on the blue film separating her from the rest of the world, only receiving an electric shock in return. She groaned and pounded again with the same result. Dammit, she thought.
The young witch heard Nevermore growl and a chain being placed. The girl lifted her view and found out that indeed, her pet dragon had been chained to the walls again and was struggling to get out of the metallic collar bound around her neck, changing sizes repeatedly with no avail, since the collar adapted magically to each of her transformations.
Gotta find a way, gotta find a way! There must be a weak spot! Raven's mind raced a hundred miles a minute. She could not let this happen! Not again! Not after she fought so hard to change her future and clean her surname!
Raven's out of control heartbeat was thudding loudly in her ears, until the cry of a dragon that wasn't Nevermore echoed in the skies just out of the gigantic hole in the wall of the room they were in.
Both her and her mother's views drifted in direction of the sound, spotting no other than Apple White breaking through the grey clouds riding Braebyrn and sporting a completely feral look on her face as she spurred the yellow reptile to go faster, seemingly right at them.
"Apple! You're awake!" Raven couldn't help but exclaim, because first: she left her in a glass coffin, sleeping like the dead and second: she was heading straight for her mom. Wait, Faybelle? Her thoughts drifted away for a few moments to take on the odd pair, but refocusing when her mom bid her a smug goodbye and jumped out of the building and onto Jinx's back.
However, her focus drifted once again, to another topic this time. One that screamed fot attention since the first second but went ignored unconsciously.
Apple was awake.
And she most definitely wasn't the owner of the lips that broke the spell.
Raven's eyes widened in pure, unmeasured panic before closing tightly as her hands balled into fists and began to throw crazy punches against the barrier, not caring if it hurt more with each electric shock the blue shield gave her with each contact.
The initial flames of a wildfire had been ignited within her, but an ocean of doubt menaced with quenching all hope, all strength, all motive.
Was her love lost and gone without her even knowing? Raven had to know.
Darling saw the Evil Queen coming their way with a few dragons in tow and felt her blood boil. The woman had the nerve not only to try and conquer Ever After a second time, but to force Raven into confronting her own mother.
Well, that's something we all do at some point in our lives, but not like this, she thought. Darling had quite the rough time telling her mom she didn't want to be attached to a man, more specifically any man, and she was yet to tell her about Holly and her desire to forgo the role of helpless damsel, but her mom didn't threaten with bending everyone to her will, and the Evil Queen did, and it made her angry that Raven, one of her Best Friends Forever After, someone who understood her better than many people, someone so kind and selfless, had to deal with this all over.
She still hasn't forgot about the first time she saw Raven, and the rest of the people who would become her class partners years later. The lavender-eyed girl was vibrant, wickedly charming in her own way, and free from the apprehension that always clouded her eyes now.
She had attended the Presentation Ball with her parents, like everyone else. The Queen and White families had been seated in neighboring tables, while Darling's family was seated just aside the Whites- a maneuver of her father to get the younger versions of Daring and Apple to become acquainted, resulting in an fairy tale elite trio. However, Darling remembered Apple getting bored of Daring's ever self-centric nature and going to Raven's table. The Evil Queen hadn't decided to go nuts at that time, but a year and a half later, and, while she kept a strange reserve from Snow White and her husband (the kind of reserve you keep when you're afraid you'll say something you shouldn't to someone important to you, she now realized), she let Raven and Apple talk long and even play together from time to time. Raven seemed more than happy. And now it was the exact opposite.
The Charming girl snapped out of her memories and started giving out orders, "Left side! Take half of her dragons! Right side! The other half! Holly and I will back Apple up while she tries to trap the Evil Queen!" she shouted. Cerise, still silent, gripped on her shoulders as they took off after Apple, who had flown rather far away in short time out of impatience.
Holly had heard her girlfriend, and tugged on Prince Of Scales' reins to give a sharp turn to the left, forming a defensive stance. She spotted one of the Evil Queen's dragons going for Melody and signaled Prince Of Scales to open literal fire against the enemy. The creature complied and she eyed Darling, who was busy icing the readying snout of another dragon that aimed for Apple. The girl had an incomparable beauty even when battling, flying with the grace of Duchess' dancing while taking out random projectiles with her arm gauntlets.
"Holly, watch out!" Poppy's voice punctured her thoughts just in time, as a blazing fireball grazed her head and proceeded past Daring, Hunter and Sparrow's heads as well. The three were sharing Legend and were utterly mortified, Daring still having a pout put on his handsome face. Holly couldn't care less about that and raised a hand to verify if any damage have been done and found her tiara had melted just a bit in the top. That was way too close, the redhead muttered to herself.
Apple had been pursuing the Evil Queen in circles, figure eights and zig-zags up and down the skies trying to find an opening to use the Booking Glass, but in her haste a couple of particularly vicious dragons were too close for her liking, but she couldn't take them down without exposing too much to a surprise attack from Saundra.
"Darling!" Holly exclaimed and the mentioned girl turned to her, a piercing glare with a million emotions concealed meeting her, "Apple needs a hand!" Darling nodded once and both leaded her dragons, speeding to reach the two going after Braebyrn. Once they were close enough, both yelled and between Prince Of Scales' fire and HeroWing's ice mist, the black reptiles fell, meaning Apple (and Faybelle to their dismay) were secure for now.
Darling and Holly closed the distance between them and shared a high five, but before Holly could retreat her hand Darling had intertwined their fingers, dedicating the O'Hair a meaningful stare before depositing a single, little kiss on the back of her hand and finally releasing.
Holly closed her eyes for the smallest of moments, before speaking in a softer yet definitely firm voice, "Apple still needs us. Come on, brave Knight."
Darling felt relieved at the use of the pet name, but this was far from over and Holly's tone still had the shadows of sorrow lingering in it, so they kept defending Apple's behind and helping anyone who needed momentary back up.
Apple growled lowly. The blasted Evil Queen was playing the cat and the mouse with her and it was making her sick. She wanted to tear the woman's hair out. Faybelle would have to spill the beans later, too.
In the corner of her eye she saw Raven, trapped in some kind of magic cell that wobbled everytime the purple-haired girl pounded on it. She also saw Raven's expression becoming more and more pained with each fist she slammed against the barrier.
The Evil Queen turned sharply to the right, making her sight have to abandon all peripheral notions to keep the pace of her target.
The blonde Princess heard another two dragons roar behind her, but just like before she couldn't ask for help in fear of losing Saundra and therefore, the chance of locking her in her deserved prison. But soon, she heard Holly's voice announcing her situation again and in no time she heard both creatures going down.
Apple spurred Braebyrn on.
Just a little more, Raven.
A/N: I'm sorry it took me this long to update, guys. But there were many things happening all at once, mostly from school, and the writing got interrupted. But don't worry, I won't abandon this ship. Next chapter will be posted sooner. Leave your review and, if you like it enough, hit those fave and follow buttons!
GDQ out, xoxo.