The next day Apple was up, early and ready to go find this Rotbart she'd been told about way back on the day she'd come back from holidays. She had had some vile interaction with him since that day but today she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

She now realised she would never get through to Raven, and to make it worse, she had somehow managed to seduce yet another good and noble soul to the dark side. Seeing Dexter Charming making those googoo eyes at her, and holding her hands was just the icing on the big and fat DaringxCerise flavoured cake that was smashed into her face.

It was hopeless she felt. She was at her wits end... but maybe if she could at least find out what this other villain was like she might be able to get him to change his mind. After all, since raven was so easily 'converted to good' then maybe this guy could be bent to her will.

The last thing she needed right now was a villain and no one there to rescue her. Unlike Briars curse which was intended to last forever, Snow White's version of the sleeping death could become permanent if not dealt with in time.

Apple was reputed to be the fairest of them all, and by fairy godmother she was going to try her hardest to stay that way.

She passed Daring on her way out of the school and she just looked at him. He looked back and then at the ground. He knew he'd done her harm, but wasn't ready to face her yet. He strode away quickly, wishing he had a specific hooded cape right now to curl up under and hide in the shadows forever.

Apple continued on her quest. She knew very little of this young sorcerer but that he was originally the antagonist of Duchess's story. Facing the wild swan was never a simple or pleasant task, and now that she was a rebel it might even be harder.

Finally she reached the lake, the spinning, twirling princess came to a halt and gazed in her direction neutrally.

Apple curtseyed knowing this was Duchess's domain, "May I have a word with you, Duchess?" She murmured.

Duchess sniffed at her, but decided to humor her, tip toeing over to the spot, "What do you need?" She spat, still upset from her recent life choices, but cheered and thrilled slightly to hear that Apple was faring no better.

"It's about Rotbart. I want to know what he's like." Apple explained, "he was your villain, so you should know a bit about him...and I don't really want to ask him myself." She confessed. "He keeps creepily whispering into my ears about how he wants to kill me.. And I just don't know if I can take it..."

She hoped that whatever humanity was within the other princess would come through.

Duchess gave her a once over with her eyes and then smiled, "well, well, Apple White, the fairest of the all needs my advice and guidance. I never dreamed of such a notion." She taunted.

Apple sighed and continued, "Now is not the time Duchess, my actual LIFE is in danger here!" She tried to sympathise.

Duchess scoffed loudly scaring away some birds, "Life?! Don't talk to me about life! Little damsels like yourself have always had it the easy way! Planned marriages, secure futures, while the lower ranks of royalty get tossed around with corruption and murder. Welcome to the club Granny Smith!"

She twirled away, leaving her with one last jab, "Life? Life's not fair! But if you must know about Rotbart, his ancestors are truly some of the blackest and cruellest, leaving no option out of their plans to success. You'd best be on your toes from now on."

Apple clenched her fists and turned away cursing herself for even bothering to go to her for help. Sometimes she wished everything could just reset. She'd looked into a reset spell but unfortunately one could only reset a person at a time, not time itself.

She would have gone off into the woods, but after hearing about what forbidden activities where taking place within it, even her animal friends couldn't have helped her.

Just when things couldn't possibly get worse...

"Oh, is that the tears of a princess I hear?" A deep softly accented voice cooed. A shock of red hair, shaped like menacing flames invaded her peripheral vision.

Apple yelped and fell to the ground. Rotbart smirked and offered her a gloved hand to help her up at which she disdainfully sneered, batting it away in a manner most unfair.

His smirk dissolved as he stood back up and then asked, "Why wouldn't you come ask me yourself? You would be dealing with someone much more diplomatic than she is I can assure you."

Apple stood up and turned away, "No! I refuse to associate with you. Your aren't meant to be in my story, so get out of it!" She demanded keeping her cool.

He chuckled darkly and replied, suddenly directly behind her, his face close to her ear, "Oh, no, don't tell me...you don't want to be poisoned now? Even after all that time you cheerfully assumed my sister would?" He teased.

She shuddered and pushed him away. "No, I don't. Not by the likes of you! My story was ruined before you 'replaced Raven' but at least it wasn't destroyed!"

"Oh, your story hasn't been destroyed." He said, bored, "trust me, this is an improvement to that dull children's tale."

Apple twirled around and glared at him for calling her mothers life a childish tale.

"Look," he said, "Don't worry about your precious prince situation. I promise I won't poison you until we've found someone to save you." He said, having already read the situation.

She was shocked though, worried he was able to read her so easily.

She folded her arms and retorted, "Well I don't care if you'll wait! So long as you're in my story I'll never, ever eat another apple again!" She stomped her foot.

Her short lived bravado was cut off by a rumbling laugh, "Oh, my little princess, you don't understand. Apples are so last legacy. This is a new Snow White, and I can poison whatever it is I like." He stated.

She gasped backing away, "No! You can't!" She breathed.

"Yes I can. Just think of it...how exciting! To live each day in fear.. poisoned combs...corsets just a little too tight...maybe I might fancy transforming into a little critter, rather than some obvious hag. Admit it, you'd never even suspect me if I did." He grinned wider and wider as he tormented her, feeding the black part of his heart with her fear.

"Hey! You leave her alone!" A voice boomed. They both halted and stared at Daring who was suspiciously covered in fur.

"You said you'd wait for her to have someone to save her...so get lost! Wait then before you torment her, you sick fiend!" He demanded. Cerise stared on from the shadows afraid to come out.

Rotbart frowned, but conceded, not ready to take on the armed prince and his beastly backup. His magic wasn't worth wasting on them.

In a cloud of smoke he fled. Daring looked at Apple compassionately.

"Apple, I think we need to talk about all of this.." He began, but she had had enough.

"Oh, so you think that just because you saved me then, that it makes up for everything that's happened?" She pushed him.

"N-no, of course not!" He stammered, backing away, "I just care about you...I just-"

She pushed him away, enraged that even after he had betrayed her so, that he would even bother to be kind to her. It would be so much easier for her if he hated and mocked her. It would be easier to hate him for hurting her like this.

Before he could speak again she made her way to the forest and didn't stop.

She ran and ran until her feet had blisters and her heels were on the verge of breaking. She collapsed down on an abandoned bench and wept.

Her whole life was over. Even if she lived through all of this, was there even a point?

A hand fell upon her shoulder and she looked up, expecting some kind of fairy godmother...what she saw was even better.

"King Charming?" She asked.

~to be continued