Melody's head was aching so bad she thought it would blow up in any minute.
There was this mixture of facts and thoughts fluttering around in her head that made it rather hard to focus on not getting fried by the Evil Queen's dragons, while making sure both Briar and Deejay were alright and worrying about Meeshell.
First of all, she was currently dragon riding in a full blown battle in the skies, sharing dragon with her ex. While she and Briar shared an good relationship as friends and were just as devoted to partying as they were during their time as a couple, it was still a little awkward to have the pink clad brunette clinging to her shoulders as her girlfriend mounted HeroWing along with Darling, whose own girlfriend was riding alone for who knows what reason. It was like one of those teenage soap operas where everybody was connected to everybody for some reason or another. Simply messy.
Oh, and did she mention her friend and crush was still trapped in the flying castle, nowhere to be seen from up there?
"Melody! I know you're thinking about Meeshell, but could you please be more careful? I swear those fireblasts are getting hotter and hotter and I don't want us to become dragon food!" Briar reprimanded. It was just like her to acquire a bossy yet rightfully commanding attitude during tense situations. How had she read her thoughts, Melody didn't want to know.
"Yeah, alright, sorry. I'm just worried. Do you happen to know what happened with Daring back there in the forest?" she asked. Sleeping Beauty's daughter had an inkling to all this, she was sure.
Just as Briar was about to open her mouth to give her a response, another of the Evil Queen's dragons took aim to their left side. Melody saw it and aimed quickly, sending a small purple fireball right at the readying black reptile, that choked a little before flying back to the castle.
"Good shot. I was about to say that while I do have an idea, this isn't the time to talk about it. Just look at Darling and Holly, they're ready to snap people's necks if they say something inappropriate. That, and I know Apple, she's a single step away from unleashing hell." The Pied Piper's daughter halted Deejay momentarily and tilted her head to the side watching as Apple chased Raven's mom and the Charmin-O'Hair pair were acting as bodyguards taking down any direct threats to the blonde. The three girls sported angry looks, and Cerise? Cerise was apparently pointing someone needing help.
"Well, I hope you do at least explain me a bit of what the hell went on there when we get on the ground."
Briar hummed her affirmative response and Melody spurred Deejay on, choosing to keep her thoughts inside her (still) throbbing head for now while she was busy handling the Evil Bag of Nuts' flying minions.
I wonder how's Raven.
"You're not a bad dragon rider yourself, Princess." Faybelle's words came out in a teasing, yet meticulously measured manner. The groans coming from Apple were growing more frequent and angrier. At this point it was more like riding with one of the bears in Goldilocks' story than the next Snow White.
Apple on her side had barely registered the fae's comment. She was so focused on trapping Saundra and letting Raven free, that she didn't pay attention to Faybelle. But thinking about it, perhaps she would need to ride Braebyrn alone, because in all sincerity, she was feeling uncomfortable sharing with the one to help Raven's mom in all of this mess (even if Apple herself in the middle of a crisis had released the Evil Queen; but in her defense, in the very least she didn't condemn their class partners to be trapped in the castle with that blasted woman). At first it seemed like a good idea to have the traitorous fairy under her watch, but the Thorn girl had remained so blessedly quiet, that her gut instinct told her it was okay to postpone her interrogation-slash-punishment.
"Thanks, Faybelle." The blonde paused, picking her next sentence carefully, "Look, I am grateful you've been quiet in the time you've been on the back of my dragon and believe me, I am not in the mood to deal with you puffing your chest in family pride or whatever. I want to get my girlfriend, mother and friends safe as quickly as possible, so I'm asking you nicely to ride with Poppy. Can you do that?"
Faybelle's brows flirted with her hairline. Something about Apple's tone, her squared shoulders, her concentration in not losing the Evil Queen whilst she spoke, her uncharacteristic coldness, made her want to comply. She had to recognize it. She went overboard with this and there was no other thing to do but brace herself for when Apple and her mom ripped her guts out verbally and sent her to court for assisting a dangerous criminal in her attempt to conquer lands. Darling seemed highly annoyed at her too, and there was no doubt the second Charming sibling wouldn't think twice in facing her magic and kick her ass (because of course Raven had taught her how to fight against magic users, and taught her well at that) and hex, even Raven herself would have a turn in the festival.
So, as to make it easier, she mumbled a quick "Sure" and jumped, landing on Poppy's dragon. The O'Hair questioned her presence, and at the mentioning of Apple's orders she frowned, but kept quiet.
Apple flew faster. Taking a chance at aiming the hand mirror, but failing as the Evil Queen made yet another turn and cackled mockingly.
Another turn, another drop, another lift.
Raven's body was at a near collapse with shock after shock of electricity, but her eyes remained trained on Apple as she pursued her mom. She saw Faybelle get off Braebyrn and on Brushfire and felt a little relieved. But then there was the big fat issue of Apple being the one to let her mom loose.
Due to her new control over her powers a lot of people approached her, out of interest or merely because they realized it wasn't her fault that her magic acted wildly, contrary to her good intentions. Snow White had been taking of her daughter's popularity and of course, the weight of looks was put on Apple's shoulders with the extra pounds of mom sweetly complaining. Saundra knew Bianca White well, very well, and of course her mom used that to her advantage, making her Princess desperate enough to succumb to her wishes.
That made sense alright. Apple wasn't really a 100% guilty. But what about that True Love's kiss? Surely Apple couldn't fake, she was a terrible liar when it came to destiny business, specifically when lying to her and Briar, and she recalled Ashlynn having a certain effect on everybody, making them spill anything, be it with her kindness or threatening with a few wild beasts in days she wasn't in the mood to be play nice. So… What the hell happened? Could it be a secondary effect poisoning? Yes, it had to be.
It had to be.
Her mother was no fool. For Ancestor's sake, the woman had years to study all kinds of magic, she must have known the effects of her spells! Specially one that's been running in the family for centuries!
Could it be… Her mom knew the spell wasn't quite right, but still used it? Still planted a poisoned fruit somehow in their food and just… Waited?
There was a beast inside of her and its less than peaceful dormancy has been bothered in an outrageous fashion. A fashion she could not tolerate, not even from her progenitor. It was simply enough!
Perhaps it was the adrenaline pumping in Raven's veins, or the rage she losing control of, but something within her clawed and protested to get out, forcing a growl and fist clenching from the purple-haired girl in a last attempt to keep it at bay, with no avail. In a matter of seconds the barrier Saundra had erected around her shattered to pieces, succumbing to a wave of her now uncontained power. Even her horrendous attire vanished, replacing overblown feathers and excessive makeup for the look she had chosen for the games.
Raven felt more determined than ever after. Being liberated from her restraints, she paced towards Nevermore and with a light touch from her fingertip the metal collar dissipated, leaving the creature free as well.
The purple reptile nuzzled her snout against her mistress' hair, sensing something was off. Raven's irises had acquired a more intense color and a flame concealed in them was menacing to burn everything right then and there.
With no previous command Raven mounted Nevermore and took off, rounding the ruckus between her friends and the dragons her mom had corrupted, finally spotting Jinx and Braebyrn not too far away.
Apple, on her side, finally found an opening and aimed the Booking Glass. In an unsuspected move, the Evil Queen unleashed a tendril of dark purple magic that took the hand mirror from her hands and into hers. The blonde barely had any time to react when she observed another tendril of magic in a much lighter, all too familiar shade of purple, take the mirror away from Saundra. Apple followed the retracting beam and found out it was none other than her rebellious lover, Raven (who judging by the flame literally pouring out of her eyes, was furious).
"Raven? Aw, how cute, helping the enemy! Well, we'll see about that!" the Evil Queen shout indignantly, releasing a blast of fireballs in Raven's direction.
The younger with avoided them with surprising ease, taking aim herself to finish this nonsense her mother had insisted on doing.
"Not today, mom!" Apple could hear Raven's voice had a slight decibel variation in the undertones, meaning her magic was not only going wilder, but more powerful by the second, a signal there was a chance she would turn into her evil self. It made shivers run down her spine, ever since she saw the effects of those power manifestations back in Wonderland, when the always nice Raven was nothing short of joyful by having Courtly Jester on her knees begging for mercy.
Taking Braebyrn's reins the blonde attempted to approach the Queens, only managing to position herself under Nevermore. Raven took a chance and leaped off Nevermore's back, landing on Braebyrn behind Apple. The blonde yelped, but quickly directed her dragon to fly higher, so they were slightly below the Evil Queen. The blue-eyed Princess took the Booking Glass from the girl behind her, pointing.
"Capture the Evil Queen!" she shouted with all of her might making sure the beam of green light produced by the Booking Glass reached its target fully.
At this Saundra countered with a strong flare of her magic, resulting in a clash of forces that Apple was losing. Raven noticed her girlfriend's struggle and placed her hands on her shoulders, channeling as much magic as she could through her and in the magical device in Apple's hands, whilst gritting her teeth out of effort.
In a matter of seconds, the dark purple flare of her mother started to be swallowed by their own flare of combined power, getting closer to its target, the Evil Queen.
"No, no, no!" Saundra Queen, the most feared Evil Queen up to this day panicked, seeing that soon she would have to go back to her prison. Empty, cold, pretty much ignored prison. She suddenly felt her defensive stance being defeated, consequence of her distress.
In one last effort, the Booking Glass' ray enveloped the form of the Evil Queen and quickly retracted, "Evil Queen captured." Informed the mechanical voice coming from the mirror.
"Raven, I-" Before Apple could continue, a stray ice boulder hit Braebyrn's side with enough force to knock them off the reptile and being thousands of feet up in the air, the fall was kind of the scariest thing, right after being poisoned.
Raven's rage had decreased significantly only to make way for panic. Her magical core was drained, and gravity doesn't forgive the momentarily weak magic users in free fall nor their girlfriends.
Oh, curses! Apple! She snapped out of her ironic bubble of thought.
"Apple!" Raven yelled loudly enough to be heard above the whistling of air. The blonde lifted her view and with fear in her eyes she saw the purple-haired girl reach out for her to take her hand. Once upon a time their hands clasped together, Raven interlaced their fingers tightly and tugged Apple forcefully, rounding Snow White's daughter with her arms.
Darling's sight drifted from Holly when Cerise had pronounced the words "Look, Raven's coming!" In fact, the feminine Knight raised brow in confusion, mere moments before she actually saw Nevermore and her rider positioning discreetly, taking the Evil Queen by surprise when Raven snatched the Booking Glass from her.
Her attention on her surroundings had faltered, however, for when Holly alerted her of a couple dragons that were going to aid their mistress and a very brief flash of light occurred, the next thing she knew was that an ice boulder of decent size zoomed in on her, making the Charming have to duck dramatically and pull Cerise down with her if she wanted to avoid any brain concussions.
Darling immediately turned to check on Holly, who just finished dispatching the dragon she guessed was the one to send that, when her eyes widened the size of saucers, "Darling, they fell!" was what the redhead said as she pointed exasperatedly and, indeed, Apple and Raven had fallen off of Braebyrn, presumably for the projectile she just dodged.
"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed, taking on HeroWing's reins but stopping moments after.
Raven could not suppress a shriek when she took an involuntary peek at the ground. Their speed was increasing as they were falling and Apple held onto her for dear life. If only she weren't exhausted from that effort moments prior, she'd encase them in a pretty lilac magic box to land safely, but no. She had to be drained.
She missed the also falling Booking Glass, that passed them quickly due to its extra weight.
The witch's mind was racing to think of something or someone she could call for help, when she felt her lower body impact against something firm, yet in movement. Nevermore had caught them mid-fall.
Apple, still unsure of whether they would end as overly tenderized meat or not, took a few seconds to make sure they were no longer in free fall and an even longer moment to dare and look Raven in the eyes. She had felt such a rush of rage when Raven infused her magic with the mirror's through her, that it left her speechless. Apple just didn't know what to say, because she didn't know what she did wrong (besides letting Saundra Queen free and starting all of this mess of course. Yes, she still felt guilty).
But she had to come clear with whatever she knew. Being apart from Raven was awful enough, thank you.
"Raven, I… I don't know what to say, besides I am awfully sorry about everything that's happened and that I completely understand your annoyance towards me right now, and even if I apologized before I cannot help but do it again."
The lavender-eyed witch remained quiet for a few moments, until she spoke.
"Apple, I already forgave you for letting the crazy bag of nuts that's my mother loose, and it's not that what bothers me in this moment, but the pain of a heart that doesn't know whether to be consumed by flames or desperately try to float in a sea of doubt." Raven's voice cracked and her jaw clenched.
"What? Raven, why do you say that? Is it something I did, or didn't do? Tell me what makes you say such a saddening thing." Apple felt a lump form in her throat and her gut feeling was screaming that it had to do with that damned poisoned apple.
How ironic. Everything goes back to destiny.
"If my lips weren't the fortunate ones to kiss yours free you from the nightmares of an unfair poisoning, then who's?"
Who is it that you hold in your heart so dearly, Princess? Who is it that you love more than me, and less at the same time?
A/N: Hello, dearest readers! Here is the third chapter of "Destiny's Kiss"! I apologize profusely by the delays in updates. Also, I inform you that from this chapter on, canon divergence with Dragon Games will be over. That means, from the fourth chapter on this will be taking a different route, into original plot. You surely noticed differences between here and the movie, but that is to accommodate the plot.
If you liked it, loved it or hated it, tell me in the reviews! Gala Dandelion Queen loves reviews and the great people that submits them.
See you in my next update! Xoxo,
GDQ.