"Where is Raven?" Apple felt like tearing her hair out in frustration as she read the note that the witch had left for her, stating that the witch had some secret business to attend to and that afterwards she was going to find somewhere else to stay for the night because she knew that Apple was upset and would probably rather not having a Rebel anywhere near her for a while.
Which was a complete misconception because right now the only one Apple wanted to see right now was Raven and the witch was the only one who could calm the princess down on issues not involving destiny, and right now Apple needed help with getting herself to calm down long enough to think!
"She didn't even mention where she's going to be staying!" The princess said in disbelief, Raven had never done that before, she always told Apple where she might be in case of an emergency.
Maybe if Apple called the witch she'd come back…
Apple jumped when she heard her phone which she had abandoned on her desk begin to ring, as the princess drew nearer her heart felt like it had stopped when she saw from the caller ID that it was her mother.
What was she going to do? She couldn't very well tell her mother that she had seen her father… her mother's husband and Prince Charming… doing what he had been doing! Could she really face her mother right now?
To Apple's dread it would seem that she would have to, once the first sets of rings stopped her mother tried calling again, and if she did not answer her mother might get worried enough to call student affairs to find Apple.
Summoning up her best calm expression (something Raven called her poker face) Apple answered the call.
"Hi mom." Apple greeted the woman on the screen neutrally.
"Apple… Bigsbee just handed me a phone whose recent call history says that you were the one to summon him." Snow White said shortly sounding tired. "Why are you calling and why did you hang up in the first place?"
"…Something had come up and I wanted complete privacy for what I'm about to ask you about." Apple said cryptically, fighting the urge to visibly swallow and show any kind of doubt. "I wish to discuss you and your maiden friends in high school… and how you guys treated the current Evil Queen."
Alarm bells rang in Apple's head when her mother visibly paled to deathly shades and her entire frame seemed to quiver guiltily.
"Oh no… no, no, no… Apple sweetie… I had hoped that you would never find out. I was…" Snow White covered her face in shame for a moment before clasping her hands together in a begging motion. "I knew what I had been doing was wrong… but I didn't want to shake the boat by alienating myself from my friends by not participating or saying that we should stop… which was also wrong. So, so wrong and not a day goes by that I don't think about what I had contributed in, or that it had ended up in her insanity, and what state it had left her daughter in the aftermath…"
"You bullied her…" Apple looked at her mother, the woman she had always looked up to, had aspired to become when she grew up… and now? Now Apple didn't know what to think. "But you always taught me that bullying was wrong! That it was not the mark of a good maiden! That I should respect and encourage Raven to become the perfect Evil Queen so that I can get my prince and get my happily ever after!"
Snow White looked down to the polished dark wood of her desk. "I didn't want you growing up repeating my mistakes, I know all those maiden lessons as a little girl were difficult for you, but I just wanted you to be stronger than I was and to never have to be in a situation where you had to choose between fitting in for the sake of somebody else giving you praise to be the perfect princess and going against your core beliefs by being cruel to someone who did not have as good a destiny as you just because everyone else says that you should."
"But I thought that my hair was the reason why you were so tough on me to become better! So that I wouldn't lose my birthright!" Apple instinctually put her hands on her head.
"What? Oh no sweetie that isn't the reason at all! You wouldn't be the first Snow White to have different colored hair from our ancestor, sure there's ridiculous whisperings whenever there is a child born without black hair but those are meaningless, fairytale or no fairytale you are the heir to this kingdom and you would still become queen with or without the title of Snow White. It's written into the legal conditions of the throne that if the eldest daughter does not sign the Book of Legends she still gets the throne." The older woman tried to soothe her child.
Apple went silent, blinking in surprise, that legal document's wording pretty much proving to her that her early ancestors never believed that one would disappear if they did not coincide with tradition.
"Mother… did… did you ever get your happily ever after? The exact same way that you were hoping for as a child?" Apple asked sounding small.
"Oh Apple how silly-" Snow White tried to laugh but the grimace she made gave her away.
"The truth mother." Apple demanded darkly, the images from before conjuring up like a bloody stain in her mind. "I want to know now so that my heart won't break later on when my real ending hits me by surprise!"
Her mother's fake smile wavered. "Daring seems like a nice boy." The woman insisted. "Why? …Is he wavering from you? He's not going out with other girls is he?"
"Mother… Daring and I agreed that since we… were going to get married… permanently… it would be for the best if he had his freedom and dated other girls for a while. Like what you and dad did when you were in school." Apple said carefully.
The fake smile crumbled then, Snow White looking a little fierce now. "Was it his idea?" She almost snapped. "Because if he is turning out to be an ill-suited suitor we can find you a new prince-"
"I will be determining that later mother, and for the record him dating other girls was my idea." Apple frowned at the way her mother was so quick to simply throw Daring away without a destiny. "But right now I need to know if you found your happily ever after or not."
Snow White was silent for a while, looking off to the side. "I'm content…"
"But are you happy?" Apple sighed, nearly at the end of her rope. "Answering me shouldn't be so difficult if you really were happy." Apple spoke more to herself than to her mother, icy dread creeping into her chest.
"On my wedding night, your grandmother took me aside and… explained to me that men have needs and interests that… may be ill-suited for their wives or don't involve their wives at all. That in order for me to have a happy marriage and a stable environment for the heir I must accept this and turn the other cheek should my husband ever lose interest in me, that I should not seek the true love described in the fairytales and that if I can find a level of being content in my situation that would be the best thing I could do with myself." Snow White swallowed and looked down.
"She told me that as long as my husband was discreet that I should be grateful and preform my duties to the best of my abilities, and that I must remain fair and only true to my husband as it is required for a true queen of my reputation and to the duty I have in representing everything that our founding ancestor had done in her short lifetime." The woman spoke solemnly.
"Your father is a good man." Snow White told her severely. "Never question that Apple, but he had never found his level of being content in our marriage until I became pregnant with you and I… he had been so sad, he tried his best to combat his depression and be the perfect Prince Charming and I did my best to ignore it… but one day, while I was pregnant with you I realized that it was not fair to us, nor would it be for you, to continue trying to force ourselves to love each other when in reality… we only loved each other as friends and that if we continued to force ourselves… we would only end up hating each other. So I had a very long talk with him and we agreed to live our private lives only as best friends and to raise you with as much love as we could. We found our level of being content and while neither of us had gotten our promised happy ending, we are happy and our friendship is strong, and we have a beautiful daughter whom we love with all our hearts."
Apple stared at her mother in amazement; she had never seen her mother look… so defeated and yet so passionate all at once before.
"Thank you mother for being truthful… If you don't mind I need some quiet time to think about all of this." Apple said feeling dizzy and nauseous from having the last bit of what she thought to be completely true about the world, turn out to be completely wrong.
"I'm sure you do sweetie." Snow White sighed with a nod before Apple cut off their connection.
XXX
"Is it just me or are you and Faybelle actually getting along? Because I saw her standing next to you in here before she saw me coming and left." Daring asked before taking a mouthful of the wonderfully delicious giant chocolate parfait that the witch had surprised him with by making it all herself. He hummed in ecstasy at the perfect creamy taste of the chocolate ice cream and the warm feeling of the chocolate syrup on his tongue.
Raven smiled slightly, happy that she and the fairy were indeed getting along better, earlier Faybelle had in formed her that she was going to go to one of the foreign magic shops to buy the specially designed fabric needed for the dress Raven would wear when she met her new in-laws and for both of their wedding attire.
The witch made a mental note to call Maddie and Kitty after she was done hanging out with Daring to tell them of the change of plans, instead of leaving after classes they would all be leaving first thing in the morning because the Evil Fairy wanted to try to squeeze in two of those marriage ceremonies instead of just one, which was why Faybelle was attempting to get the fabric for their clothes at one of the foreign shops at Bookends village, because they would not have the time to shop when they got to Faybelle's home.
"I've proven myself to not be a threat to her title, so she is trying to see if I'll be a useful ally to her and her family in their vendetta against the Evil Queen." Raven explained as she sliced up some strawberries to place decoratively on a slice of chocolate Oreo cheesecake. "You know, doing things like; figuring out how to cure the poisoned worlds, and to keep making an extra batch of this shampoo I make myself for Faybelle. Along with Apple, Maddie and a few other people who like using it."
"Is that Apple's secret?" Daring swallowed his mouthful of dessert and seemed to perk up interestedly. "I keep asking her how she's been managing to keep her hair so springy yet so smooth throughout the whole day without having to comb it so often. She won't tell me and it's been driving me crazy trying to figure out her secret."
"Well to be fair I'm pretty sure if the shampoo and conditioner I make is not the sole secret behind what she does to put herself together every morning." Raven chuckled. "I really mostly make it because my hair is so thick that I have to make shampoo specially tailored to make it soft and keep it from getting hopelessly frizzy, especially when the spring rains come and all the moisture in the air plumps it up to an unmanageable volume."
"Well then that just proves that the stuff you make would be fantastic for lots of people's hair if it works so well on yours." Daring stated knowledgably, looking at the witch with big hopeful eyes. "Can you loan me some to try out?"
Raven hummed as she thought about it, if Daring liked her hair-care potions as much as Apple, Faybelle, and the resident Wonderlandians (because during one of their monthly countrymen tea brunches Maddie had blabbed about Raven's potions and after testing a sample Lizzie, Kitty, and the White Queen had gotten very interested) did then Raven would be spending up all of her allowance money making more and more.
However as a bride to the Thorn clan, and thus she had an honorable family of in-laws who might be able to benefit if Raven were to sell some of her recipes under a contract that would give Faybelle a cut of the profits…
Raven was serious about making herself seem as valuable to the Thorn clan as possible in thanks for them giving back her honor.
"You know… I've been thinking about selling that recipe of mine for a while now, and if you like it as much as Apple does then I guess it would be nice if I got a Charming's seal of approval to attract potential buyers." Raven hummed out loud. "I'll see if I can get Apple to take a bottle to you during breakfast tomorrow since I have to leave for a weekend trip right away that morning. Be sure to hext me to tell me whether it has worked out for you, just in case I need to tweak the ingredients to fit your particular hair needs." The witch warned because not everyone was exactly the same and some people needed different things to take care of their specialized needs.
"I'd be more than happy to help out!" Daring vowed happily, he was overjoyed to finally find someone who knew how to make beauty care products so that he didn't have to spend forever testing store bought things out on his siblings to see what worked and what didn't, especially since the best stuff always got discontinued every few months for reasons that Daring could not understand other than that the big rich company's liked to move on to new demographics or change labels for the exact same formula.
"That's great." Raven said honestly. "I need to start preparing for the future and finding ways to support myself without being a bother to others."
"But don't you have a kingdom to run?" Daring asked confused.
Raven waived her hand. "Whether or not I am allowed to ascend to the throne all depends on whether or not me being the Evil Queen's daughter would do more harm to my people than good. Being a Rebel has helped, but as it is I'll most likely end up living a quiet unassuming life in the woods somewhere, and let my grandmother or the Good King assume control until a new heir is birthed by my grandmother, since she has always wanted another child and she is still very much loved in many kingdoms."
Daring took another bite of his dessert and hummed in what sounded to Raven like an understanding tone, so when she turned to get a slice of cake for herself she missed the way the boy's eyes narrowed calculatingly at her as the prince's internal alarms rang over the idea of a fellow future monarch, that he actually cared about, having to give up a birthright over an issue that seemed to be more complex than first glance.
XXX
"Yeah, sure, we understand." Maddie nodded at her phone. "No need to apologize Raven. There is more method to the madness of leaving first thing in the morning, and it was kind for the Good King to call Kitty and I out of morning classes as well. We'll see you in the morning!" The girl smiled at Raven's blushing and relieved face before hanging up.
"Sounds like the Thorn clan is keen on getting things over with as soon as possible." Kitty observed. "I wonder what kind of strings they had to pull in order to get the priests to preform two of those rituals in the space of one weekend."
"It is my understanding that the cranky fairy's uncle is a warlock priest, so family favors such as this would benefit him greatly." Maddie sighed leaning her head on Kitty's shoulder.
"Do you think we did the right thing? Advising our sister to begin weaning herself off the fair one, and do you think that this marriage is the only best option for Raven?" The hatter-girl asked sounding a little worried.
"Well…" Kitty mused. "To be honest I would have been happier if she were marrying someone like Ginger Breadhouse, but from what I've known about Faybelle is that as cranky and manipulative as she is, she will take good care of Raven. And you know that we did the right thing by making her see the truth about the fair one, she loves Apple and since the perfect princess keeps putting her own agendas over Raven's happiness we had to do something before Raven's heart truly broke under such passive aggressive abuse."
"I suppose that it's not like the fair one will suddenly see things from Raven's side and realize the harm that she has been doing, and that she's been bullyragging Raven all this time, or finally come to realize that this whole thing about destiny and tradition has been one big, obvious lie." Maddie huffed. "Not even if it was to hit her full force I'd reckon."
XXX
Apple had gone about her nightly routine on autopilot, going through the familiar motions almost desperately as she mentally tried to cling to something familiar, the facts and events that she had just learned swirled around her brain like haunted ghosts, it was frightening to see them and Apple did not feel the need to touch one and ponder over it yet.
Attempting to get to sleep had been difficult, and she had fitful dreams all night long as her mind fought between trying to understand it all and trying to forget that yesterday ever happened.
In The early hours of the morning when she found herself awake and restless Apple attempted to turn her thoughts to non-destiny or family related distractions, like… Raven! Raven was safe, Raven was nice, Raven-
Don't deny it princess, I know that you are smart enough to see just how much she loves you. Faybelle's taunting tone came rushing back.
Apple's eyes shot open, her heart rate skyrocketing.
XXX
There was a tangible rift growing between them, a rift that Raven had always felt but worked to keep it contained so that she could keep her friendship with Apple; but now it was growing and… Raven began wondering whether or not it would be worth it to attempt to fill in the gaps.
As quietly as she could the witch crept into her dorm blinking in surprise when she saw the food she had brought for Apple yesterday sitting untouched by the door.
If possible Raven tried to make her movements quieter, while she was concerned that the princess had skipped out on two meals, she also knew that it meant that the princess was very, very upset about something.
And Raven was pretty sure that a great deal of that something led right back to her.
So it was a very near thing that the witch didn't scream bloody murder when the lights were suddenly turned on and the first thing Raven saw was a haphazard Apple staring at her intently.
"I'm sorry I woke you up." Raven apologized quietly her blood pounding in her veins from the fright. "I just have to leave earlier than originally planned and I need to-"
Raven startled again when Apple lunged forward and hugged her tight.
"What are you wearing?" The princess mumbled into the intricately printed and embroidered fabric wrapped around the witch. "It's yellow with green on it… and there's pink! You never wear pink!"
Color was very important in the ceremonies that Raven was about to go through, the sea-foam green patterns and writing decorating the bright yellow clothe she wore as a dress and the the sea-foam green veil with yellow designs that she wore did not suit her tastes, but apparently wearing the color of sea-foam on your head symbolized disgrace, the symbols and the strange writing on the pieces of cloth told anybody who was in the know that it was a disgrace handed down by a relative and it advertised that Raven would soon be breaking free of her dishonor, the yellow told pretty much everyone that her status was of imperial royalty (seeing as how both her home kingdoms were so huge and influential, even with all the scandal looming in the background), and the pink that could be seen decorating the ends stated that she would be married off to an honorable family soon.
This dress would be burned ritualistically during the first ceremony and Raven found it ugly enough to not mind that outcome at all.
"The place I'm traveling to is far away, this dress is called a sari, it's important that I wear this to make a good first impression." Raven explained cryptically.
"You have a dot on your head." Apple pointed to the red bindhi between Raven's eyebrows. "And there's something peeking out from your hair." The princess tapped the silver tikka ornament, which was shaped like a starburst and had a tiny amber jewel in the center, on the top-middle of Raven's forehead.
"Trust me it's going to get even more intricate when I get there." Raven told her seriously, dreading the fact that she'll have to get her nose pierced for the nath, which was a circular nose ring worn as the most seductive piece of jewelry of her wedding outfit. "I'm probably going to be wearing about ten pounds of jewelry on my body."
Apple blinked as she took the witch in. "Are you showing your mid-drift?" The princess asked slightly scandalized to see the slightly sheer quality of the fabric around Raven's middle showing that the witch's yellow, skin tight, short sleeved blouse only covered her shoulders and bust.
"It's going to be hot in the desert." Raven defended, Faybelle's homelands were patches of forested oasis surrounded by miles of sand and tall pillars of black lava (and sometimes the remains of an extinct variety of giant) rocks.
"And you can't tell me where you are going, or what you'll be doing." Apple whispered almost betrayed as she snuggled closer.
"No, not yet." Raven said honestly. "But I will tuck you back into bed and call you in sick after I'm done getting a few things."
"What?" Apple asked looking up at the other.
"You haven't eaten, you obviously haven't slept well, you forgot to put your hair into rolls or put moisturizer on your face… and I'm practically holding you upright, if I were to let go you'd crash to the floor." The witch looked down pointedly.
"Oh." Apple peered blearily down in surprise. "I was wondering why I couldn't feel my feet."
"I know that yesterday was difficult for you." Raven hesitated before kissing Apple's temple chastely. "And I'm sorry for that, but right now you need to go back to bed, eat something from the takeout I got you yesterday, and thank the ancestors that someone had invented magical takeout containers that keeps food good and warm for up to three days before trying to get some sleep okay?"
"Why are you always so nice to me?" Apple asked as she was led (carried) back into bed.
"Because I like you." Raven sighed, bracing herself for the custom response of; But Evil Queen's aren't supposed to's, as she turned towards the bathroom to get the spare bottle of shampoo for Daring (she'd give it to Cerise to give to the boy at breakfast instead of Apple).
"Have you ever loved someone… in a non platonic sort of way?" Apple asked instead, making Raven nearly drop the bottle of shampoo.
"Ummm." Raven's mind raced. "Maybe I do… why do you ask?"
"You do love someone?" Apple ignored Raven's question. "Like how much do you love them?"
Raven pinched the bridge of her nose as she walked out of the bathroom and continued to grab things to put into a duffel bag (she mentally patted her back that she had the foresight to make a list so that she wouldn't forget anything if she was distracted).
"It doesn't matter." Raven finally said after a long silence. "She's promised to someone else, and it would be seen as unseemly if my feelings became known to the general public… and I'm pretty sure that she's deck me if she knew. I don't want to risk what little friendship we have so I'm working really hard to get over her as soon as possible."
"She?" Apple's eyes were wide.
"You had to find out about my preferences sometime I suppose." Raven sighed again. "Don't worry Apple I'm not going to be a creep and peek in on you in the shower or whatever else you might be afraid that I'll-"
"I'd never think of you as a creep Raven." Apple chided the witch sternly as she bit into a sandwich. "It's just… a surprise that's all… I was actually talking about the kind of love that involves extreme loyalty, like with an advisor's feelings for their monarch."
Raven looked at Apple oddly. "Well I do have feelings like that too. For you obviously."
"You're afraid of disgracing me." Apple concluded. "But what if we made you a good guy? Like an enchantress who got her orders mixed up, or a meddling matchmaker looking for a good prince for her friend?"
Raven seemed to soften a little even as she shook her head. "Maybe that might pass muster within the human and mage realms, but both fairies and witches are very specific about these kind of things, just the act of poisoning you would be seen as me trying to disgrace you."
"Then how did those realms expect you to go through with your destiny if they looked down on you poisoning me?" Apple demanded growing vexed.
Raven swallowed thickly. "You needn't worry about that, it's… disturbing and you need to keep your mind untroubled so that you can slee-"
"I'm a big girl Raven, just tell me!" Apple ordered tensely.
Raven closed her eyes and bowed her head sadly. "I was expected to force another villain to be chosen for your story… by rendering myself incapable of poisoning you."
"How are you supposed to do that?" Apple shook her head not understanding.
"If the high council had it their way I was to eat the poisoned apple long before it got anywhere near you." Raven stated without emotion. "My unconscious body would then be smuggled out of Ever After and ritualistically cleansed, for a thousand- not necessarily consecutive it would be whenever the priests had the time- hours."
"One of the better potential things that would happen to me is that they could tattoo the blessing symbol of whichever witch religious order wins me in a bid, where I would be stripped of my name and my worldly contacts outside of my family and I would be brought into the fold as a devout priestess living in a mountain somewhere, be called one of the "cleansed ones" regularly, ritualistically deflowered with a stone tool, and pretty much I would have to learn how to dance skyclad in the snow for rituals and stuff."
"Skyclad?" The princess asked sounding a little strangled.
"It's a polite word for naked." Raven clarified.
When Raven looked up to meet Apple's gaze the witch swore that she'd never seen Apple's eyebrows raised that high, and the princess's lips were pursed unhappily. "And what other things could they do with you?" The princess asked trying to remain calm.
"You're not going to like any of em'." Raven warned.
"But you are still going to tell me." Apple growled.
"…I could wake up to find myself married and sold off to one of the honorable houses, the fairytale villain clans that are either witch or fairy or both, married off to the Queen of Heart's harem, Lizzie's harem, some random council member's harem, or… I could be sent to you as your concubine." Raven coughed looking away.
"Aside from marriage I could be left to fight for my honor back in a Wonderlandian gladiator arena, or brought to an assassin's guild to be trained rigorously in order to seek out my mother and kill her, left on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with limited survival supplies and I must find my way back in order to regain my honor-" Raven stopped when she caught sight of Apple, the princess's lips had disappeared into a fine line, she was as tense as a bow, and the hands gripping her bed sheets were turning white.
"But I was never going to actually do that… probably." Raven laughed nervously as the princess squinted at her. "After the fairytale I was just going to disappear until things calmed down before changing my appearance and name and coming back to hide in plane sight-"
"You what?" Apple snapped getting tenser.
"But now none of that has to happen." Raven bobbed her head in a reassuring way.
"You can bet your pointy hat that I wouldn't let that happen!" Apple growled. "What kind of high council are they running over there? What kind of person thinks that any of that is an appropriate way of treating a lone girl who never did anything to them?"
"And I promise you that you will get your happily ever after." Raven finished. "One way or another I'll ensure that it happens."
"I will not let you be taken away by those barbaric nut jobs, and you are not going to change your name and appearance!" Apple ordered with an enraged hiss. "I won't let them or you!"
"I will find a way." Raven promised again while slowly backing away. "So don't ever worry about all that, alright? Just focus on getting some rest over the weekend, I'll be back sometime Sunday night or Monday morning. If I have the time I'll even bring back a souvenir."
"Bunch of barbaric old crones who have nothing better to do then use other people for their entertainment…" Apple fumed.
"Have a good weekend Apple, I'll see you when I get back." Raven said as she tried to sneak out the door. Relief flooded her when she spied Kitty waiting just outside the door.
"Waitaminit!" Apple realized. "This secret business of yours doesn't have anything to do with dealing with those crazy people, or destiny does it?" Apple demanded. "Raven? Raven!"
"To Cerise's dorm!" Raven hissed quietly to a snickering Kitty (who found the princess's tone hilarious), the two of them disappearing before Apple stalked out of her dorm.
"Raven? It has nothing to do with that does it? Raven?" Apple called, jogging brusquely down the hall towards Maddie and Kitty's room in the hopes that the witch had fled to them.