Review Time!

I'd just like to thank everyone that has stuck with me since the beginning. I know most authors give this speech at the end of books but I think Average Everyday Sane Psycho needs recognition. As do Story Lover and Anime Pop Circle and a bunch of other people who read but didn't review. I think that you guys really motivated me so thank you! Virtual choc-chip cookies for everyone! I am contemplating writing a short (2,500 words tops) one-shot of Swan Thief for you guys so if that's what you want please say so. I'll also take suggestions but I have a really good idea in my head right now so...

Thank you!

Chapter 8 - Lies, Letters and Legacies

Duchess was allowed out of the sanatorium after two more days. She was so bored and all she had to do was thronework. Lizzie came and visited her often to give her updates on the whole Apple/Raven debacle. Apparently Raven was still hunting for a way to stop from disappearing without signing the book. Duchess had spent a long time staring at the ceiling thinking about that. What would happen if she didn't sign the book? No one would care most likely. Maybe she wouldn't, but there was always the drag off ending up as a nonexistent person. She had so much work to do for her Princessology assignment but all the things she needed were in the library so the moment they let her out of the room she ran there. The forest would have been her first choice but she only had a week left to complete the project.

"Shh! Quiet!" The evil step-librarians shushed everyone in the room as Duchess walked through the stacks. She had no idea where to begin. She thought her story was a good place to start so she found an old beaten up copy of it and sat down on the comfiest chair she could find before starting her dark tale. The words were becoming blurrier byt the minute. Maybe she really hadn't had enough sleep lately. She yawned and soon she was far away from the library. In a dream world of her own.

"Hey, Duchess? Are you asleep?" Someone was whispering into her ear. She was so comfy and warm though so she just swatted them away. She mumbled and snuggled further into the couch, "Duchess! The library's about to close for lunch!" She groaned and opened her sleep heavy eyes. There stood Sparrow in front of her. The room was brightly lit and there was no-one there but the two of them and the librarians.

"Why'd you have to go and ruin my nap?" She grumbled and got up slowly. She was hungry and secretly grateful to Sparrow for waking her up in time for lunch.

"Come on lazy child, if you miss lunch you might end up as anorexic as Faybelle," Cheerleaders were always thin but Faybelle was painfully so. Duchess was constantly under corset conditions so she had a very thin waist which sometime made it hard to find a dress that fitted properly. She shuddered thinking about how thin Faybelle was.

The castleteria was loud and bright with people getting up and mingling regularly. Duchess just got some fish and a greek salad. As hungry as she was she couldn't afford any extra weight. It was hard being a ballerina at times. You had to be strict with your diet and practice was mandatory. She almost forgot that she had a rehearsal for her Legacy Day concert that afternoon. She knew the concert was important but right now she couldn't be bothered. She and Sparrow didn't usually sit together. He sat with Hunter, Dexter and the other guys while she sat with Lizzie and occasionally Kitty or Maddie. Today they sat together and chatted about the whole legacy Day thing since Sparrow had some experience with it.

"Well it doesn't really feel like anything really. Kind of strange like you don't really need to worry about how your life goes anymore. But for you it could go any way. Last year Ginger Witch didn't really want to sign but she ended up being pressured into doing it by the threat of going 'poof'. I kind of felt sorry for her," Duchess was curious because she knew Ginger vaguely. The poor girl must have felt so bad about ending up eating innocent kids.

"Do you think Raven's going to pledge?" It was the question on everyone's mind since the first Legacy Day rehearsal when she had ran from the podium. Apple had run away crying soon after. Apparently Grimm had tasked her with keeping Raven on track but it was obviously not going well. Sparrow seemed to have an internal debate.

"Well, judging by the way the way her fairy tale goes I don't think so. I mean, who would pledge to do something they know is going to ruin their life?" Duchess nodded. Maybe she should start thinking that way. So far everything that she had hexpected to be a certain way was exactly the opposite. Lizzie was supposed to be someone who hated everyone that disagreed with her and chopped off their heads. Daring was supposed to be perfect in every way and a perfect gentleman and Sparrow- well, Sparrow was supposed to be a no-good thief who ended up pretty much ruining the lives of the rich. She couldn't imagine Lizzie as a ruthless and tyrannical ruler or Daring caring about someone other than himself. And Sparrow was just so... Sparrow.

"Do you think I should pledge?" The question startled her. She hadn't meant to say it aloud. She just needed someone's opinion. It was eating her up on the inside. Sparrow looked at her sympathetically.

"It isn't my choice Duchess, I know you'll do the right thing," he smiled one of his lop-sided smiles and started to get up. Duchess didn't know what to say. She really needed to make a decision.

"Where are you going?" She blurted this out as he got up.

"I have a band rehearsal in a a couple of minutes and I need to fetch my guitar from my dorm, you wanna come?" Duchess nervously looked around the room. None of the girls who danced with her were there, they had probably left the lunch hall early to go and warm up or something. She couldn't decide on her legacy but she needed a break in any case.

"I'm coming," He grinned and grabbed her wrist, pulling her after him up only two flights of stairs,"You guys are so lucky you don't have so many stairs to climb," she giggled as he covered her eyes. He led her through a pair of white doors and into his room.

"Okay, you can open your eyes... now!" She opened her eyes and he removed his hands. The room was entirely done in black wallpaper and on what was presumably his side of the room guitars hung on the wall. They were all shapes, sizes and colours. On the other side of the room a drum set stood and a boy with white-blonde hair sat on the bed with enormous headphones on staring at a laptop screen. He looked up to see Sparrow and Duchess standing by the door and took off his headphones.

"So Sparrow, introduce me to your 'friend'," He said friend as if it held a different meaning.

"Tucker," Sparrow pointed to the blonde boy, "Duchess," he pointed to her. Duchess offered her hand and Tucker sprung off the bed and shook it.

"Nice to finally meet you Duchess, Sparrow's told me so much," Sparrow looked away as if trying to avoid questioning.

"He has huh? I'm interested, what did he say? Hopefully nothing bad."

"Well actually he-"

"Okay, I think you're both properly introduced, we have a band practice to go to," Sparrow grabbed Tucker by the collar and dragged him away to talk to him. Duchess giggled and walked around the room. A dusty keyboard sat in the corner of the room. She brushed the dust off of it and tapped a key. It made a sorry sound and she grimaced. Her mother used to play for her when she practiced ballet at home. She knew some notes of the song her mother loved to sing to her but she was very rusty.

"Ready to go, c'mon Duchess," She turned to see Tucker jump from the window and Sparrow with one leg hooked over the sill, "We always take the window, Grimm hates seeing instruments outside of the muse-ic room," He jumped out and Duchess went towards the sill. There was a blanket of trees below and not getting hurt wasn't a guarantee. She shrugged and dropped, changing half way and flying down to the boys. She changed back to normal and straightened her dress. Tucker whistled.

"You never told me she could do that man!" Sparrow shook his head.

"Whatever after, we need to go. The guys'll be waiting."

Band practice was interesting, to say the least.

Duchess danced down the halls. She never really walked. Something Sparrow pointed out to her the other day. She did occasionally hit someone on the way to class but they were minor incidents to say the most. She twirled around a corner and bumped quite literally into Apple White. She landed on the floor with a thump and looked up to see Apple standing there.

"Oh, it's you," Duchess's tone was flat, "Sorry 'your majesty' I wasn't looking where I w-" Apple grabbed her wrist, pulled her up and dragged her into the nearest empty classroom.

"Woah!" It took Duchess's eyes some time to adjust to the darkness of the room but once they did she looked over at Apple. She looked disheveled. Her usually bright eyes were dull and her dress was wrinkled. She didn't carry herself as well as she used to; in fact her shoulders were rather hunched. She looked as if she hadn't slept in a hundered years.

"You are pledging right? It's not like you really have a choice," Apple looked at Duchess hexpectantly. Duchess took a step back. Apple's accusatory glare was unnerving. Duchess didn't know how to respond. She had been more and more uncertain about Legacy Day recently. She decided to rather avoid the question.

"Why do you care Miss Prissy Knickers? It's not like my destiny affects your's," Duchess crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. Apple sighed and rubbed her arm. She looked really tired, like she had been dealing with bitches all week.

"Look Duchess, I know we never really worked all that stuff out but-"

"That stuff? Oh no you don't Apple White, you are not going to shove all our problems under a rug like this is one of those inconsequential crushes another boy has on you. Goodbye Apple. Hope you have fun with your 'Happily Ever After'!" Duchess tried to leave the room before she exploded but Apple grabbed her forearm with incredible strength for such a petite girl.

"No, Duchess. This time you are going to listen to me. I've had enough of your BS to last me a lifetime. You are going to pledge even if I have to forge your signature for you. Everyone has a role to play, you can't just abandon yours," Apple threw Duchess's arm down and walked out of the empty classroom with as much dignity as she could muster. Duchess stared blankly after her. Apples' harshness scared her. She wasn't anything like the girl she thought she knew. Duchess needed to clear her head.

The halls were empty because everyone was in class already. Duchess decided that she would simply skip class. She walked calmly down the hallways with her head held high. If it looked like she had a purpose then it would be less likely she got caught. She had only one close call. Just as Grimm came around the corner she hid herself behind the thick velvet drapes. She had to flatten her skirt to avoid looking suspicious. The upper corridors and stairs were deserted though. She snuck into her dorm and exhaled as soon as the door was closed. She needed to lie down. Apple's little talk scared her. She jumped onto her bed only to receive a mouthful of feathers. She spat out the feathers and pushed herself up. Her dress! She hopped off the bed and stared at the dress. It reminded her of just how close she was to Legacy Day. She had gone for a dress fitting just 3 days ago with Lizzie and here they had already delivered the dress. The bodice had to be re-fitted because she had started to wear looser corset's than when she was at home. Lizzie had insisted on twirling around the shop with her dress on as the dressmakers stuck pins into and loosened parts of Duchess's dress. She understood then why Briar hated needles.

The dress was beautiful and frightening at the same time. The bodice was midnight black with white ribbon and was down with swirling patterns. The bottom half was completely ballerina. The tulle fanned out in an arc of black and white. A pair of white ballet heels with winding white ribbon lay next to it. A full high collar was made up of white feathers and her white silk cape lay underneath it. A gold heart-shaped brooch with a pink gemstone set into it was pinned to the dress. A letter was underneath it. She recognised the brooch. It was her mother's most treasured possession. Every Legacy Day the kids wore something of their parents and her mother must have thought the brooch was the most significant thing to give her.

She unpinned the brooch and unfurled the letter. The parchment smelt like the lavender that grew near their home. It was written in her mother's italic hand with a silver inked quill. She read it through and gasped. She dropped the letter like it was one fire. It might as well have been. She backed away from it slowly and reached for the doorknob behind her. He eyes shone with unshed tears. She pulled the door back and ran through it, slamming the door as hard as she could as if it would make the curling parchment disappear. She ran down flights of stairs and through the crowds of people leaving their classrooms. They were oblivious to Duchess even though she was trying to fight her way through them. She took the school's front steps two at a time. Dark clouds gathered above her as the sky rumbled ominously with the sound of thunder. She didn't even look to see where she was going as she made her flight into the forest. She knew the path almost too well. When she reached the stream she didn't even contemplate going round. She waded straight through and ruined her shoes but she couldn't care less. She huddled under the tree that had protected her so many times. She pulled her legs towards herself in an attempt to keep out the cold wind that tugged at the loose strands of her hair. It whispered to her sadly as the tears in her eyes threatened to spill over.

"Why? What did I do to deserve this?" She whispered to the sky as the first raindrops fell. A silver tear ran down her cheek as Duchess's heart broke for the first time in her life. All she could think was that she should start learning to accept heart-break. It would never stop hurting. The sky wept with her as the tree tried it's best to protect the heart-broken girl with the haunted eyes.