"That isn't a beast, that's my brother!" Dexter shouted, pushing past some guards to try and reach him, but they pulled him aside, shouting for him to come to his senses.

"This monster killed and ate your brother! The queen saw it break into the cell and do it herself! Are you calling your mother a liar?" One shouted at him.

The king halted them and attempted to calm Dexter down, "Please, please son you're just in shock. Calm down!"

Dexter tried to push him away and ran to the bars of the cell, crying. The king grasped him though and towed him back.

"Please.." Dexter pleaded, still pushing away from his father, "don't hurt him!"

The guards looked to the king unsure of what to do,

"This creature deserves to die!" One said, "How can we let it live?"

The others began to reply all at once in agreement but witnessing the distressed and horribly distraught prince, they all felt for him. He must have been traumatised to hear what happened and now was delusional as a result.

It was all according to plan though, the king thought. With Dexter like this, he would beg that the life of the beast be spared and the king could dump his ex-son into some random forest where he may or may not carry out Dexter's story.

And then with that said and done, all that was left was to replace Daring with Dexter as Apple's hero. She would never need to know, and so long as Dexter valued the life of his brother, she never would.

The king sighed and then spoke, "Fine then. On my sons request we will let it live."

The room was filled with gasps and cries of shock, but the king silenced them, Dexter glaring at him, suspiciously, but otherwise concealing his thoughts.

"But," he added carefully, "I believe it would be best to banish this monster to the forest, far away, where he can not kill anyone else. Even though we are all hurt, and upset by this loss, we must be stronger than that." He declared, putting on an air of tough mercy.

The room applauded him and then they began to haul the monster away. His brother, Dexter thought, he would probably never see again.

With one last glare at his father from behind him, he decided that he couldn't take any chances and now that he knew what he was up against he had to think fast.

Escaping to his room silently, knowing the king would come very quickly afterwards, he consulted a mirror on his wall. He opened up his books, the ones that Raven had lent to him, and flipped through the pages hastily, trying to uncover the chapter on mirrors and transferring secret messages through them.

Five minutes passed and he finally found which volume it was in and began to read. He needed help, and he only knew two people that he trusted enough with his matter.

A long while passed, and no sign of the king attempting to speak with him. It was more unnerving than it was relieving to him, but he didn't waste the chance. Finding the right spell he stood back and began to say the incantation, a message he had written in traditional backwards fashion (to transfer properly in the mirror) he began to breathe quickly, the tension building up to become unbearable.

Then suddenly, from behind, a louder and faster incantation boomed. Dexter halted and faltered in his spell, and didn't even get the chance to comprehend what was happening before he was suddenly trapped in the mirror, looking back out at his less than impressed father and a nearly lifeless body in his arms...

It was HIS body! He was trapped in the mirror! His spirit was trapped in the mirror!

"NO! NO! You can't do this!" He shouted from the mirror, pounding uselessly on the magically thick and I breakable glass.

The king didn't respond but instead he dusted something over his body...he muttered something and magically he was transformed!

"Is it even possible?" Dexter breathed, as his own body began to live and breathe as though he were still in it.

The king looked to him and said, "This all ends today. I will keep my promise to Snow White and her daughter, and your brother can be the beast. You should be thankful, Dexter. I could have done worse. I would have rather you actually marry Apple, but since you won't willing cooperate this has to be."

What hurt Dexter the most though as his father walked away, followed by a semi hollow Dexter-replacement, was that his father really sounded as though he cared.

Dexter slid to the ground and couldn't believe it. His father actually, seriously thought he was doing the right thing. He pounded the glass one last time.

"I have to find Raven and Cerise." He said. That was all he could try to do now.

"Dexter?!" A voice asked him.

He jumped back and scrambled over, looking every which way to locate the location of it, and then he screamed when he saw.

It was some kind of monster! A female one, with twisted, foreboding looking wings crafter from a rib age, and her ghostly white skin was tight against her nearly skeletal body, transcending into a silvery, gothic black at the limbs.

"No, no no no no, stop! It's okay! It's just me, Cupid!" She pleaded with him, kneeling down to his level and attempting to grab his hand.

He jerked it away for a moment before fully comprehending what she'd said...

"Cupid?" He asked looking at her again. He looked all over her but no matter how different it seemed to be, this person really did...LOOK like her.

"Dexter, what just happened?" She asked, ignoring the irritating hesitation. She hated this. She never wanted her ever after friends to see her this way for this reason alone.

"Was that your body that just got taken away? Are you alright?" She continued.

He looked into her eyes and then gulped. This really was Cupid. So THATS why she went to a monster school.

"I...I'm alright, and yes." He sighed and looked away, "but we're all going to be in big trouble if we don't hurry. My father got all mad-crazy obsessed with destiny and he turned Daring into The Beast, and then decided to use my body as a drone to marry Apple. Now daring is lost in a random forest, my body is gone and I'm trapped inside a mirror!"

He reeled off in one big breath.

Cupid gasped and covered her mouth, "oh, no! We need to get you out of here and back into Ever After!" She declared, taking his hand.. But it slipped right through.

Dexter looked down at his own hands and screamed again, his whole body as see through as a...

"I'm a GHOST?!" He cried.

Cupid wrung her hands together in a worry, "oh this isn't good at all! Now that you're a ghost it'll be twice as hard to help you navigate out of here! Can you fly?" She asked

He shakily came to his senses and then tried, but all that ended up happening was he began to float up, and up, and up and he didn't seem to be able to stop..

"HEEEEELP!" He whimpered as he began to bumped against a seemingly ghost proof ceiling and went veering off into another direction.

"You stay right there, okay? I have some ghost friends who'll be able to help you out, but for now just don't bump into any mirror portals!"

She ran off as fast as she could.

"Yeah. Don't bump into any portals. Got it." He replied almost sarcastically, trying to manoeuvre himself.

"Please hurry..." He muttered.

~to be continued.

authors note: unfortunately no, I won't be doing any references to the new Haunted movie since it isn't even out yet, this is just a coincidence. I'm thinking Sirena or Spectra. Who do you think I should bring in? I think. Sirena. She's like the Maddie of their world.