I know I promised Dexven but this came out instead and I felt the need to incorporate it.
please tell me Daring is done right... DX.
Dexter felt ridiculous, as usual, all that excitement from the previous night had completely washed away when the everlasting waterfall of manly-prince-tears came in the form of his older brother found its way on top of him.
There he lay in bed, squashed underneath the crying and pathetic drama king.
"Daring...you're seriously overreacting. Rebels have to deal with treatment like that ALL THE TIME, you know. You don't see them carrying on like this." He said, trying to ease him.
He only wailed louder, "Oh, yeah, NOW I KNOW! And I hate it! My life is OVER!" He threw a hand up to his face and pathetically slid off the bed to the floor.
Dexter gulped the air hungrily and then sat up, relishing the cool air of the morning after five minutes of sweating under a certain melodramatic.
Dexter watched half in sympathy and half in frustration as his brother carried on on the floor, curled up and feeling royally sorry for himself.
"I sure hope Cerise hasn't seen you like this." Dexter commented, knowing that such a fit like this one would probably earn him the pink slip with ANY girl, and Cerise was one tough girl to please he'd been told.
Daring smacked his head against the floor and moaned, "What does it all matter now? How can I be worthy of her if I couldn't maintain the secrecy of our forbidden love! My poor Cerise, she wouldn't want me now for that was her only condition!
What kind of prince am I, who was sworn to succeed in all that I do, and yet I've chosen to bite the cursed apple of temptation, which lead to sure failure and death! And yet, it was only a better life that I was seeking!
How sweet did it taste, that I should yearn for more until finally someone discovered the bare and scrawny core, and the juices of its tender flesh still lingers on my lips, from which my fair maid would kiss it away" He rambled, sobbing throughout his little soliloquy.
Dexter sighed and rolled his eyes, "Well, that's love for you. It comes with a price to follow your heart."
Daring whimpered a little, looking up at him resentfully, "Oh, you don't think I've realised that already?"
He sat up and then continued, "It sure is easy for you to say that, you don't know what it's like to be in my position!" He pushed him over onto his back and spoke bitterly,
"I'm not just feeling sorry for myself, you ignorant jerk! Don't you think I hate the way it has to be like this? Can you not even fathom what I'm going through right now?"
He pushed off and then spun on his heel to face the door, "it's not even been a day yet and already people are repulsed by my presence... Cerise won't even come near me for fear of what... I don't know..." He admitted, a rare and intimate vulnerability in his voice, all dramatics aside.
"To just think... all this time I thought rebels were just getting what they deserved, but now I see what a jerk I AM...or was."
He looked back slightly, "Having always been so sympathetic with their plight I thought you'd make me feel better but clearly I was wrong."
Dexter watched as he stood there, almost not bothering to speak up about the fact that he did know where he was coming from. But maybe it would help him...
"Actually, Daring, I know now you feel. I've always been an outcast, even though I AM following my story...and as for love, huh, trust me I've got a much bigger problem than you."
Daring looked at him again, "Sorry, its a bit late for that. I'm done talking to you for now."
He decided to let him have his moment, honestly overwhelmed by the sudden sincerity and overcome with a touch of shame for having assumed his brother was just being dramatic.
Now he REALLY felt ridiculous, and scared too. The other night when he had slept in his carefree haze he had imagined that his brother having been as popular, and important and as highly revered as he was... Well could you really blame Dexter for thinking somehow Daring of all people would get away with it somehow?
The other night he had thought that if Daring could get away with it then so could he, but clearly not. He dressed slowly, a pit of deep discomfort and guilt became prevalent inside him and suddenly he began to second guess everything.
Raven was supposedly the heiress to the most evil title in all of ever after, and while some whole heartedly believed otherwise, it wasn't enough people to make a difference. Dexter was already an outcast...
Then it came to him. That was right! He was ALREADY an outcast, and therefore...what did he have to lose? And heck, the evil queen needs a good king to marry doesn't she?
He smiled at himself in the mirror before slowly morphing back into a grimace. That thought didn't help as much as he'd hoped.
Meanwhile, Daring was just trying to find a reason to be alive. While it had only been half a day since everyone had known, it was just so shocking, how fast they'd dropped him.
All that time, his fame, and his respect from the others in society, was all just fake. He should have seriously known that, but being born and raised to expect such things made him completely blind to the suffering of others. When he met cerise and discovered her secret, while at first he was horrified, he soon came to realise that there were others who were so much less fortunate than he was.
It was like seeing for the first time that there was wrong in the world being done by supposedly good people, and he wanted to take her up in his arms and save her from it. Now though, he was a victim too and she had been avoiding him like the plague since that fateful afternoon.
Strolling cautiously down the hallways there was such a thick layer of gossip in the air, one could almost make out its hazy, evil, purple colour.
He was lost in a world of pity, until he caught on to what they were all talking about.
"Hey, look! Cerise Hood is getting interviewed in front of the chemythstry room!" Someone shouted.
Tons of teens began flocking around to see what was going on, and Daring ended up getting swept up in the crowd. Sure enough, there was Cerise, backed up against a locker bay by some students who were pestering her with questions and cameras and other unnecessary tools of media.
"Are you dating Daring to spite Apple for her strong disapproval of the Rebel society?"
"Under what circumstances did this relationship occur?"
"Does Raven and her new story switch up have anything to do with your decisions?"
They kept asking and asking...
"They're totally harassing her!" Daring cried, unheard amongst the students around him. It was so alien to be ignored and pushed around like this.
Cerise had simply wanted to study for her chemythstry exam today and get it over and done with, but as soon as she was so much as a foot from the room, this furious mob of school paper and other social media hounds came running like gingerbread men and women, frantically pestering her with questions.
Her usual shadow cloak was broken thanks to the last mob that plagued her yesterday, and her mother had yet to fix it, loaning her own cloak, which while red, lacked the magical qualities. She couldn't escape, or hide.
Honestly she should have been expecting this. Rotbart when and flipped the script with Raven, and then Duchess being a rebel happened, followed by a sudden shock discovery of Daring and her relationship.
As a central character in this scandalous play of events, naturally everyone wanted to know her opinions but they were being so bigoted and poky and annoying about it. Her feral side was dying to just burst forth and demolish them all and by the second it was getting harder to manage.
Daring wanted to do something, but the crowd was too tight, and he couldn't so much as budge.
He tried calling to her to her attention, but it was to no avail. Soon it became too much for her and she growled viciously at the all, barring fangs and yellowed eyes. Everyone ran and screamed in confusion, and some people cried that she was possessed, or cursed.
Daring was finally set free as people began to move again, and he watched her go off, her hands on her face.
"Cerise..." He muttered. He ran after her.
"No! Go away!" She shouted, not looking back, "Just leave me alone!"
"No wait, I'm not going to harass you...it's just me! Daring!" He pleaded.
She didn't immediately stop, but she slowed, coming to a pause before a window, looking out across the village of bookend in the distance.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"Nothing. I just wanted to know if you're okay." He said. "Because I know I'm not."
She sighed quietly and tugged her cloak tighter around herself, "I'll live. They should just wait until Dad gets back from sick leave. I'd like to see him huff and puff and blow them into the next chapter." She growled.
He smiled a little, having come to like her wolf related jokes, liking that he could be on the inside with their family humor. He came up behind her, and carefully embraced her.
"I tried to stop them. The crowd was too thick. I'm sorry." He admitted.
She shrugged and gingerly folded her arms around his, and they were silent for a while.
"I totally went feral in front of them all. This is so bad..first they all find out about you, and now I'm jeopardising my family..." She broke away from him, but he wasn't taking it.
"No, Cerise, you have to stop running away from me!" He stated desperately.
"All I'm going to do is hurt you and drag you into my messed up world...you should go back to them all, and just be happy." She replied.
"Yeah, you'll hurt me if you leave." He replied.
She stole a glance at him, torn between running away as fast as she could, or running into his arms like a pathetic damsel. She didn't need to be saved by anyone.
"You know, I'm not sure about you but, this is the first time I've had people hate me...I'm just as lost as you are...maybe even more." He said.
"Oh, great..." She sighed, "So you're the one who needs saving?" She joked.
She took him in her arms, truly glad to be there again no matter how fine she thought she felt about leaving him forever.
"I love you more than they hate you, don't worry. I won't leave. We're loyal like that anyway." She whispered to him, and he kissed her.
A dark pair of eyes spied them from afar.
"Oh, how sweet." Apple whispered, clasping her hands in mock joy.
XxXxXxX
Dexter had heard about the whole situation that day, but listened as Daring recounted the whole thing to him, that usual princely spark back in his demeanour and attitude. While he was clearly stretching the details of the events, Dexter was glad to see his brother back up again after his melodramatic slump this morning.
"So you think you'll be with her forever?" He asked casually.
Daring sighed and then shrugged, "I hope so. I don't know how we're going to do it, but it's totally on the to-do list."
Daring looked over at him, and then hummed. "You know, I cut you off this morning before I left your dorm room. You were trying to tell me something, weren't you?" He remembered.
He nodded, and then thought for a moment or two before deciding to answer.
"Well, what if I told you that for the longest time I've been actually chasing a rebel girl myself?" He began.
Daring's eyes lighted up a little, "Oh, really? Seriously? I didn't even know you liked girls!" He exclaimed, and Dexter kindly ignored him.
"Well, yeah, I've been totally after her since first sight, and was even BEFORE legacy day last year. Before rebels even had a name for themselves, I mean." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
"But everyone hates her, and until I heard about you and Cerise I was afraid to do anything about it...I still am after your little tantrum this morning."
Daring rolled his eyes about the 'tantrum' part, but asked, "so? Who is she? Can you tell me? Maybe we could set something up for you..." He nudged his brother in the side with his elbow which earned a couch cushion to the face.
"Oh, can it, Daring. She isn't the kind of girl who goes for little ploys and flirty nonsense. I've got to be straight up with her. I tried to be subtle once, back on True Hearts Day last year, but because I'm an idiot, I signed my love letter 'D. Charming' and she went and thought the letter was from YOU..." He said.
"Wait, true hearts day? You mean that huge party for Ashlynn and Hunter they threw?" He asked, his memory of the party a little hazy since he hadn't known Cerise back then. Yeah, it was that bad.
Dexter shrugged, "Well, sort of. It actually is a holiday for everyone to be true to themselves and their hearts..." He trailed off thinking about how it all went wrong that night.
"Ahem." Daring coughed, "you still haven told me who...?" He prodded.
Dexter snapped back into it and then sat up straighter, "uh.. Oh! Yes, of course... Well you won't believe it but,"
He leaned it, aware that these days secrets were getting less and less safe, "Raven Queen..." He whispered excitedly.
And now, it was Daring's turn to scream in a manly-womanly fashion.
"What? Are you serious?" He asked, "But you're so innocent and awkward! How does a guy like you even FIT with her? I mean...no offence or anything..." He shrugged.
Dexter growled a little, but replied, "Oh please, years of social belittling and torment doesn't leave anybody innocent. And I can just tell from the few times we've interacted that she's not all bad news like everyone thinks she is. You know...beauty lies within and all."
Daring raised and eyebrow, "Does this have anything to do with your destiny?" He asked suddenly.
Dexter sputtered and then scooted away, "No! It actually doesn't!" He retorted, "but...I have been thinking about that lately."
He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, "I don't want to be the beast. I don't know why they want me to. But, that isn't the reason. I just love her the way she is, which is how it should be." He concluded.
"Well, I guess now is a better time than any to do something about it." Daring said.
Dexter looked at him in distress, "But if they're giving you a hard time, then just imagine how much hard it'll be for me! I was sure i could do it before, but now I'm back to square one!"
Daring looked at him and said, "You said so yourself though, years of torment and outcast doesn't leave a person innocent anymore. But, it's up to you anyway."
With that he got up to go to bed.
"Yeah." He replied, "But where to start."
"Well, talking to her, for starters. Maybe you could enrolls in some of her classes to get to know her better..." He relied off.
"Yeah... I'll think about it." He said, and then got up off to bed too.
~To be continued