A/n: Ok if this chapter manages to get uploaded, I just want to warn people that I think that hasn't been receiving any comments for this fic as of Dec 10, I suspect this because it's not letting me see how many views I've gotten this week, the last time this happened people had difficulties with getting reviews to me, so if you've got something you want to comment about this chapter or last chapter please try to PM me… I'm not sure that this will work but it is worth a try and hopefully things will go back to working order sooner or later.
Once again; curses to whatever bug is preventing me from posting nice long chapters, instead now I have to chop everything up so that things stay under twenty pages.
XXX
Raven pouted as Hunter carried her on his back, she was perfectly capable of walking to wherever this surprise location was, she was all rested up from yesterday and the healers had said that they had apparently gotten the last lingering few micro-talismans out of her blood so she was perfectly healthy now, the witch said as much to her friend.
Hunter just smiled at her. "Just to be safe, take it easy anyway, I don't mind being the pack mule for a while."
"And besides that you've been shivering up a storm in that long-sleeved dress of yours." Ashlynn observed with a kind smile. "Honey, if you had to bring a shawl-wrap to class in seventy degree weather you still have a day or two to go before you are a hundred percent again."
"I guess you have a point." Raven continued to pout, burrowing herself further into her large woolen shall.
Off to the side she caught Faybelle's eye, the fairy was walking just far enough to the side to seem inconspicuous but close enough to clearly state that she was going through with her vow to treat Raven like she was fae property.
If it were a human or most any other race that was treating her in a similar manner Raven would not have put up with that nonsense for a second, the only thing that made Faybelle different was the fact that fairies actually invented a code of conduct when it came to sentient creatures that were considered theirs, a great deal of the "possessive" behavior that the fairy was going to show was mostly just that; a show, something that would keep others fairies at bay and deter all other possible threats, in return for this level of protection Raven would be expected to prove herself useful in some way or another and to keep total transparency towards the fairy so that Faybelle knew what was going on in her future investment's life.
Raven knew that she was a valuable resource and potential ally to Faybelle so she trusted that would allow for the fairy to at least attempt to let them have some form of open communication so that they could find some steadier common ground to start their marriage on.
Faybelle allowed for a small smirk in amusement and a sly wink making Raven smile shyly back at her.
"Alright student's here we are." Professor Baba Yaga called out motioning to an empty clearing. "Behold, the hall of the ancestors."
"Um professor…" Apple raised her hand. "There's nothing there…"
"Give it a moment child." The crone instructed, smugly looking over her student as a second later they all gasped as a building materialized before their eyes. "Now come along, we don't have all day for you to gape."
"This hall only appears in this plain for a few days out of the year, as you should know by now, back before Ever After castle became a school it was a stronghold in the years after Camelot fell and wars raged across the land, this building used to house pilfered magical elements from the fallen soldiers of several enemy kingdoms, but due to an accidental mix of volatile magics the building suddenly disappeared one day, only to return for a short time the next fall." The teacher explained as she led the students in through the large doors framed by columns.
Raven's eyes widened in awe as they were taken to a large hall, much larger on the inside than the outside, lined with stained glass windows, each one depicting a different fairytale character and in front of each window was a stone box. She was so entranced by the intricate artistry of the windows that she didn't notice that the Headmaster had appeared at the end of the long hall from behind a giant (real) book of some kind that propped up for show.
"Since the times of war, this hall has been heavily renovated and repurposed to house formal gifts given to you students from the alumni of this school, your predecessors, these gifts are to aid you in your future roles in fairytales." The man spoke making Raven startle slightly. "This place also houses the part of the Book of Legends that keeps the memory of the original stories of your founding ancestors, as well as an account of each individual that came after them." He said motioning to the book behind him.
That would explain why the thing was so big, Raven thought to herself as Hunter set her down onto the floor, she wrapped her shawl a little more closely to herself as she stared at the large book, she shivered but this time it wasn't because she was cold.
The Headmaster continued on about destiny… or the importance of tradition, to be honest Raven had developed the ability to tune the man out at will by now. She was more interested in why the man was making odd hand gestures and looking over to his right so much.
Apparently so were a lot of other students because noticed that both Faybelle and Ashlynn were turning their heads just as she was hers.
"Tradition is very important." The Headmaster's voice appeared closer to Raven, when she jumped and turned her head, she startled again when she found the man far too close to her than what she was comfortable with, but it did seem to gain back everyone's attention. "It is our duty to honor the ancestors and continue their stories." He stated, his words were structured for the rest of the class but Raven could tell that he was talking to only her when he spoke.
Instead of looking angry or the decency to appear like she was scolded, Raven stood her ground and squinted up at the tall old man suspiciously, her face readable enough to make the Headmaster look unusually nervous as her eyes refused to leave his until he was the first to blink and look away.
So Raven eventually found herself standing in front of her family's box and glaring down at it. All around her she could see most of her peers exclaim gleefully at the gifts they had received from their doting loved ones.
Most being the key word, Raven caught Briar scowling down at a very comfortable pillow as she held it away from her between two fingers as if it smelled bad or something, and she caught sight of Tiffany shooting something lacy and elastic at Edward Spider's head before adorning what looked like a traditional human kingdom wedding veil and irritably demanding that he tell her if there was anything in their story that involved the use of some suspiciously matrimonial items found in her box, the outburst causing Duchess to fall to the floor honking and laughing.
"Aren't you going to open yours?" Apple asked curiously as she came up behind Raven.
"No." Was the witch's reply.
"Why not?" Apple asked sounding hurt for some reason. "Don't you want to know what your mother gave you to help with your story?"
"Knowing my mother there is a fifty percent chance that she's keeping some sort of horrible trinket made from something she had killed herself and a fifty percent chance that se didn't even bother to send anything for me at all." Raven groused bitterly.
"That's a terrible thing to say about your mother." Apple scolded, still sounding like Raven's words were hurting her for reasons that Raven could not understand. It wasn't like she was talking about Apple's mother so what the heck was her problem?
"My dear princess, sometimes the truth is simply terrible, there is no point in hoping that the current Evil Queen will suddenly turn into the doting mother I always wanted her to be." Raven reasoned calmly, standing up straight and putting her covered arms behind her back.
Apple crossed her arms not looking happy in the least about Raven's attitude. "Well you aren't going to know unless you open the box."
Before Raven could move to stop her, the princess had grabbed the lid of the box and took it off, exposing the contents inside.
"Apple wait!" Raven exclaimed throwing her arms around the princess and backing the two of them away fearfully.
"Aren't you overreacting just a tiny bit?" Apple gave Raven a mystified look.
"You don't know my mother." Raven said truthfully, eyeing the open box like it was about to attack.
Apparently having enough of watching Raven twitch, Faybelle walked purposefully up to the squabbling witch and princess to peer into the box Raven was attempting to drag Apple away from.
"It's a wishing well coin." The fairy deadpanned. "How terrible, perhaps the Evil Queen is set on lecturing her daughter about her behavior beyond the confines of prison."
"See Raven I told you that it was nothing." Apple giggled moving to reach her hand in to retrieve the coin when Faybelle took hold of her wrist and moved the princess's arm back to her side.
"Underwhelming as this may be, it would be best to exorcise caution when touching it, we do not know where it has been or if there are any nasty tricks to have come with it." The fairy nodded to Raven who had extracted all the handkerchiefs that Apple made her carry on her person everyday and wrap up the coin in a manner that was more appropriate for a bomb.
"Why are you acting so skittish?" Apple asked Raven while she sent Faybelle a glare, silently reprimanding the fairy for encouraging the witch's fear.
"Because I know my mother." Raven spoke sincerely, hoping that the princess would take the hint and not turn Raven's caution around the coin into an issue.
The witch sighed heavily when her hopes were proved to be in vain, the princess continued to pester over the coin her until class was over.
XXX
"Your princess appears to be either far too naïve about the terrible criminal the Evil Queen actually is, or she's unhealthily attracted to those who are destined to commit atrocious deeds towards her." Faybelle commented as she and Raven walked the empty corridors that led down to the evil-track classrooms.
"Sometimes I think that it's a little bit of both." Raven sighed. "She keeps asking me to poison her food and cackle maniacally while she eats. And she gives me these really depressed looks whenever I do something nice for her without asking."
Faybelle shot Raven a disturbed look.
"I stopped asking why." The witch shook her head when the fairy opened her mouth to no doubt express her sarcasm about the princess's odd preferences in "friends".
"She's not going to be pleased when she finds out that you disposed of that in the school's magical waste system." Faybelle pointed to the small cardboard box kept closed by the three layers of protective spells written on the thin paper strips glued to it, and being tenderly carried in the grip of a pair of tongs that the witch was holding a decent distance away from her body.
They turned into one of the classrooms; Faybelle generously opened one of the large reinforced metal containers used to store class experiments that have finished their use and must be transported to a special facility to be disposed of.
"Yeah well I'm not interested in anything my mother has to say to me." The witch stated with conviction as she carefully set her burden inside. "Though her giving me a wishing well coin instead of a magical weapon that I could use to wipe out my fellow classmates was a pleasant surprise…"
"I have no doubts that it was." Faybelle nodded seriously as she closed the lid with a satisfied flourish. "And I have no doubts that you will be glad to put this behind you."
"Indeed." Raven sighed.
"Who would've thought that there was something in this world that was capable of keeping your famous stubborn curious nature at bay." The fairy commented with false wonder as the two of them made their way out of the room.
"What do mean famous?" Raven's retreating voice could be heard by a large shadowed figure as he silently slunk into the room.
XXX
The Headmaster had been trailing Miss Queen since class had ended, mirror-pad with the video he had one of the staff put together for him tucked securely under his arm. The plan had been to follow the witch to a well of some kind where she should become curious enough to throw the coin in, the spell he had placed into the metal was designed to create a large beam of light that would allow him to discretely project a video onto and give the witch a reason to sign the Book.
Trailing Miss Queen had proved to be a little bit more difficult than anticipated, due to the girl being much faster than he had thought she'd be. Right after class she had approached Miss Hood, and after a quick conversation between the two, the hooded girl had picked up the witch and faster than he could blink the two of them had raced out the door.
It took a while before he had found her again, at one point he and his secretary had split up to cover more ground, he eventually found her in the library where she was studying a large old tome intently while writing something down onto some strips of paper with such focus that she didn't even bat an eye or look up as he experimentally walked passed her table and peered at the protection sigils she was focused on writing out. The only time she stopped her work was to pull her shawl closer to her body as if she was chilled.
His confusion grew as she continued to charge the paper, glue them to a small cardboard box, and seemed insistent on only touching that box with a pair of tongs after that, all while he was standing in plane view of her, yet he still went unnoticed.
He moved out of sight when Miss Thorn came around, the two murmuring in low voices he could not make out before taking their leave.
The walk to the school's dungeons and evil-courses classrooms had been a surprise, but as he listened in to the girl's conversation from behind the open classroom door, his confusion turned to dread, his suspicions being confirmed after the two had left and he snuck into the empty classroom.
The blue glow emanating from the open hatch of the magic-disposal container illuminated the Headmaster's grim face as he reached in to retrieve the small box, (muttering under his breath and shaking his hand back and forth after it had retreated because the containers were always kept at sub-freezing temperatures) a disappointed look crossing his face once he pried the box open (with the help of some scissors and a letter opener he had found because Miss Queen had been liberal with using glue to laminate the box closed) and saw that inside was the wishing well coin, unused and untouched.
It seemed like he was going to have to come up with another idea.
XXX
"I can already name about six princesses and four maidens off the top of my head who might be willing to switch places or give up their roles to Duchess." Raven said easily. "I'm sure that if I asked, some of them would volunteer to give her the option of taking theirs."
"Good, good." Faybelle said distractedly as she looked around uneasily.
"What is it?" Raven asked.
"I just find it strange…" Faybelle said as she looked around. "There are no mirrors down here and yet…"
"We were being followed by someone who wasn't my mother." Raven realized. "I knew I had felt someone watching me in the library, and following us all the way down here, I had just assumed that it was… her."
"I had thought the same thing." Faybelle said grimly, lightning sparking around her as she glared down the corridor. "The feeling stopped after we left the classroom. What do you say we go back and see if we can teach whoever it was a lesson about rudely stalking those that can beat the crap outta them?"
Before Raven could reply (about how they needn't be so violent) her phone beeped indicating that she had a message.
"We might have a bigger situation on our hands." The witch said holding up her phone for the other to see. "That was just my grandmother, she's asking me if I had gotten the note accompanied with the wand she had left in that box for me."
Faybelle met the witch's eyes, the two sharing a moment of dread.
"If your grandmother had left you a wand and a note… then who took those and left that wishing well coin?" Faybelle asked, there was an edge to her voice because she suspected that one of the individuals who were looking to try to manipulate Raven into taking the Evil Queen role had just tried their first shot at getting the witch to do as they wanted.
Raven searched her brain for any clues of her seeing anything strange or out of place that day.
"…Say Faybelle… was it just me or was the Headmaster acting awfully strangely today?"
XXX
"Ooh look girls the bookball team is all together." Apple made a show of swooning dramatically as she and her fellow maidens walked into the gymnasium. "Aren't they all just dreamy?"
"Not really." Briar shook her head, covertly giving Cerise's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Hunter is always handsome in my eyes, and I don't particularly think that the others can pull off his outdoors-y vibe anywhere as well." Ashlynn cheerily waived to her boyfriend, Hunter immediately waved back looking love-struck.
"I'm a lesbian, none of them are dreamy." Cerise snorted out bluntly and completely unashamed.
"Who's a lesbian? Sorry me and Cupid were talking on my earpiece and I didn't quite catch what you guys were talking about." Blondie apologized. "Congratulations to whoever just came out though, as Cupid always says; there is no shame in being who you are."
"Why thank you Blondie, I prefer to be who I am as much as possible." Cerise batted her eyes innocently as she watched Apple twitch.
Apple gave the ceiling a pleading look before sharply turning to her fellow maidens. "Have you guys forgotten completely all that we are supposed to represent as damsels?" She demanded. "How are we supposed to keep up our story cannon appeal if we don't act like we are supposed to?"
"Swooning over a bunch of guys who are probably busy talking about how they are going to get their asses kicked this Friday by a team of giants is maidenly appealing?" Cerise asked flatly.
Apple made an understanding gesture. "I can see your point; but they are heroes and princes, as maidens we are supposed to recognize their inborn charm, we just covered that aspect in class last week in damsel-in-distressing."
"I was asleep." Briar pointed out.
"I dropped that class ages ago." Ashlynn reminded.
"I was trying to sneak out the window that day because I missed the cutoff date before I was able to drop that class." Cerise grumbled sullenly.
"I substitute that course with my work in the school's media mirror-sites." Blondie grinned widely while holding up her mirror-pad, which was displaying one of those sites.
Apple slapped her hand over her face. "Well could you at least pretend that you are swooning like a maiden over their heroic charm?"
"No." came the chorused reply.
"Ya see, it kinda put's me in a bad position." Cerise explained. "I mean, how am I supposed to let the girl I like know that I'm inclined towards… her gender or let her know that she's appreciated if she thinks that I'm… you know…" Cerise makes a face as she flips her hand from side to side. "Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just overall rude to be gawking so openly while you are sort of trying to be romantic with someone."
To Apple's confusion Briar leaned against Cerise, smiling happily before dragging the hooded girl away by the hand.
"I have a boyfriend so I fully agree with everything Cerise just said." Ashlynn nodded to the retreating hooded girl before walking away as well.
"I'm sorry, what were you guys saying? I got distracted." Blondie apologized as she looked up from her computer.
Apple closed her eyes as if pained and rubbed her temple. "Never mind Blondie." She sighed looking around. She felt abandoned by her own peer group, which was happening more and more often as of late, and usually the only thing that would make her feel better about it is if she spent some time with Raven. The witch may not always understand what the big deal was, but she usually had some logical advice and she at least listened.
"…Have you seen Raven?" The blonde princess asked the reporter.
"Last I saw of her she was in the library looking up protective spells so that she could make sure nothing would leak out of that coin she got from the hall once she disposed of it." Blondie said distractedly.
"She what?" Apple exclaimed.
XXX
"It's nothing against you." Daring explained to Cerise in a tone that felt pretty condescending to the hooded girl. "Maidens are just not equipped to handle being a bookball player."
"I have the speed, I have the strength, and I've been playing with my cousins since I was six, how am I not equipped exactly?" Cerise demanded in a dangerous tone. She was tempted to reach out and take away the piece of pizza she had offered to him as a kind offering when she came over to volunteer to help them in the upcoming bookball game that they were stressing so much over.
"She does have a point Daring. Maybe we should let her play, I mean we need all the help that we're going to get if we want to beat those giants… who Tiny says are even bigger than him." Hunter tried to diplomatically point out to the charming prince.
"That doesn't excuse the fact that she's a maiden my man." Daring stated in a jovial tone. "Have you met a maiden who plays sports? Let alone have the strength to match a hero?" He scoffed.
Hunter pointedly looked out across the gymnasium over to where Darling Charming was playing a game of one-on-one basketball with Cupid.
"My sister does not count and Cupid is not a maiden." Daring scolded the other boy gently.
Just then Tiffany walked by carrying two metal folding tables under each arm and balancing a rather heavy looking fruit bowl arrangement atop her head and a clipboard of a list of things to do carried in her mouth.
"…I'll admit that is impressive." Daring muttered, mostly because he had needed help from Sparrow to just carry one of those tables, and the fact that the blonde girl was able to sit down the tables against a wall one-handedly without squishing her fingers was something he would admit being a little jealous over. "But there is no way that she-"
"Incoming Tiffany!" Briar called out her and Cupid's basketball went wide and was coming right towards the unsuspecting blonde.
Before Daring could leap in to save the day, Tiffany jumped up, caught the ball with one hand, rolled it over her arms and across her shoulders, spun it on her finger, and then executed a little jump shot back towards the basket where the ball sailed across half the gym's length and made it through the basket.
"And she lands a half-court shot!" Tiffany cheered her orange dress swaying as she did a little victory dance.
"Nice shot Tiffany!" Tiny cheered.
"Is that enough proof for you?" Sparrow sneered down at Daring. The redheaded boy couldn't help but remember all the days his mother spent teaching him to spar with a sword, or the fact that he was one of Cerise's mentioned cousins and every time he would challenge her to a game she pretty much picked him up and twirled him around until he learned to stop challenging her and instead would make sure that she was on the same team as him when they went up against the other cousins in a game.
"I wouldn't mind it if Cerise was on the team, maybe we could ask Darling and Tiffany too?" Dexter suggested taking a little nibble out of the pizza Cerise had so kindly given him.
"Well we all have to agree that tiffany is in a world of her own." Daring huffed weakly. "But even then she's still a maiden and maidens are not allowed on the team and that's final." He sniffed opening his mouth to take a bite out of his pizza.
"Sexist jerk." Cerise snarled taking Daring's piece of pizza out of his hands before he could take a bite and storming away.
"Nice job sentencing us to an instant loss against the giants." Sparrow spat. "With Cerise on the team we could have at least put up a decent fight."
"Why didn't she take away your slices too?" Daring looked sadly around at the other boys, feeling cheated out of a slice of pizza.
"Did he really just ask that?" Hunter questioned.
All conversation was halted when Daring's phone chimed.
"Looks like I wouldn't have had time for pizza anyways." The blonde prince sighed dramatically as he began walking away. "Dex, will you be so kind as to brief me later on what the rest of this meeting was about? I have to report to the Headmaster's office so that I can help soothe Raven's fears over what her mother had to tell her from that wishing well coin she was being so jumpy about earlier."
"Well now that he's gone, and has alienated our last chance, do any of you guys have a bright idea on how we can avoid getting our butt's kicked?" Sparrow asked the group.
"I… might have something…" Tiny timidly raised his hand.