A/n: The comment issue has been fixed! Yay!

XXX

How did it end up like this? Raven wondered looking down at the passed out princess on top of her. One minute Raven had been taking metal bits out of her hair and the next Apple had came in and hugged the stuffing out of her and somehow the two of them had ended up in a tangle of limbs on Raven's bed.

"Mrrr errp? Mrrr!" Nevermore seemed to declare as she landed on Apple's back, continuing to talk at the bewildered witch.

"Since when did you talk so much?" Raven asked her familiar. "When I left on Friday I was lucky if I ever heard you make a little peep noise every once in a while."

"Peep! Peep? Peep." Nevermore parroted.

Raven squinted at her dragon suspiciously. "Did Apple feed you sugarplum flowers again?"

"Mrrrp. Peep!"

XXX

Milton walked calmly down the hallways of the main school building after his usual rounds surveying the weekend lunch hour in the castleteria, keeping his face as normal as possible until he reached a deserted sunning balcony on the sixth floor.

"Were you able to find out what those designs signified?" Milton asked coming up behind Giles who was sitting with a stack of books on a wire top table.

"I have narrowed down those designs to have originated from an ancient tribe of witch-mage hybrids from the Sands and Rivers region neighboring the Jungle Elven lands of Nandor'. Not much yet on the exact purpose of the designs aside from the fact that they are there to cement a contract of sorts and to either restore or take something from Raven, I couldn't tell since the type of designs used were… well they looked older than anything that I've come across from that area in the books I've studied." Giles rubbed his chin in thought.

"If I were to take an educated guess… I'd say that whomever Raven is making a deal with, it has to be with either a powerful witch or mage family… maybe."

Milton shook his head. "What kind of contract requires such… extensive measures for a little girl?" He demanded upset.

Giles cast his brother an odd look. "She's seventeen. At the age of legal witch adulthood Milton."

"I know…" Milton looked off to the side shiftily, wincing when Giles raised his brow pointedly. "I know that I shouldn't be acting so-… and I probably wouldn't be feeling like I should have as much say in whatever is going on or be as concerned as I am if I had never found out about her heritage. But she is my granddaughter, and further more I do not want whatever is going on in the Queen kingdom to harm her as it has done her mother and grandmother… I do not want to mess things up a third time."

"I think that you would have still cared if you had never known." Giles speculated. "Raven had come down to visit me with Madeline on more than one occasion, and whenever she spoke of you she often commented on how she feared that you would worry yourself into the grave if she didn't create a minor token deed of evil whenever you called her down to talk "sense" into her about her life choices."

"She had been pitying me." Milton realized rubbing his temple with shaking fingers. "She had felt sorry for me and so she continued to turn me into a chicken not because she had the inherited urge for an evil deed but… because she felt bad for me." The old man pouted.

Giles rolled his eyes. "Brother… I realize that finding out that girl is your heir has made you feel… a certain level of paternal protectiveness towards her, as you do have some right to be. However I caution you that if she were to find out who you are right now it might not end well, especially if she ends up feeling like she has to choose between you and Elenore."

"I understand that." Milton grumbled sullenly.

"No I don't think that you do." Giles countered sternly. "What I am saying is that you considering wanting to take on the responsibilities as a father and grandfather are too important to leave Elenore in the dark about. Now I know that actually talking to each other will be very difficult for you two, but since you have two young witches who are involved in this as well one of you needs to make the first move and since you are the one who has found out about all of this…"

Milton seemed to deflate a bit. "You are right… but what am I to say to her? She was so certain that I would become a danger to our daughter that she had chosen to keep me in the dark that I was… that I am a father. And ever since then she has had dozens of prime examples of why I would have been a terrible father to throw in my face! How do I keep her from lashing out at me for being the person I was in the past, and how can I think clearly at all when I still love her and I feel guilty for the things that I have done but at the same time I am… so hurt… and angry that she had never told me! Like I had never… mattered to her. She- she didn't trust me with my own child and… it was as if she had thought that I would have been a threat instead of a father!"

Shaking his head Giles fixed his brother a pointed look. "I'm afraid that is something that you are going to have to gather up the courage to ask her about to her face brother."

Giles sighed. "You must remember to keep a cool head when you do ask but nothing can be solved in this unless you two sit down and communicate with each other. You two can be as cold and politely disagreeing all you want if it comes to that, but the fact is we have Clawstorm who is terrified that an enemy that we unwittingly unleashed upon her kingdom and family is going to start a war, and we have Raven who is having to deal with the consequences of trying to avoid war and assassination attempts by refusing to sign the Book of Legends and creating a contract of unknown terms. Unfortunately for you and Elenore, we don't have the luxury of the two of you dancing around this issue, we need to find out what is going on and we need to reestablish communication between our sphere of influence and the leader of the Queen territories."

"I put a new letter in the box I gave Miss Queen." Milton swallowed. "If she doesn't burn them all right away…"

"Elenore will do anything to protect her family, a letter is a good start but it will take more than that to convince her that we are the good guys and to let us help." Giles reasoned. "If you are calm and polite yet very clear about where you stand, I'm sure that the two of you will be able to work things to an equilibrium. But it has to be soon."

"Understood." Milton nodded glumly.

XXX

"So… your dad is gay, your mom just thinks of him as a friend, your mom used to bully my mom, Sleeping Beauty tried to seduce you… and essentially everybody in your family has lied to you about happy ever after's and your legitimacy for your throne." Raven listed off slowly.

"And then you told me that there were people out there who wanted to hurt you and take away your birthright just because of who your mom is. And basically my entire story is one big lie!" Apple finished with a sniffle into Raven's chest.

"So Daring finally told you that the original Snow White didn't have a happy ending." Raven guessed.

Apple nearly asked what the witch was talking about but at the last second decided to bite her tongue. "You were in Daring's story right?" The princess asked shakily.

Raven smiled warmly at the memory. "Yes… it was very interesting actually. I got to meet the memory of the original Snow White; she was… very enchanting and rather kind despite how life had treated her. It could not have been easy to find out that her Prince Charming was actually into necrophilia."

"He was what?" Apple looked up sharply.

"… You never talked to Daring… did you." Raven concluded, disapproval of the princess using such trickery to get answers coloring the witch's tone.

"He said that the original Evil Queen was a nice lady who was just trying to protect Snow White." Apple volunteered. "That means that she was never the horrible person that the story said she was."

"Snow White did love her step-mother." Raven informed sadly. "But she had been young and inexperienced to romance when Prince Charming came around. I don't think it ended well for any of them in the end… I'm sorry Apple."

"You talked with the original Snow White?" Apple asked, trying to distract herself. "Did… what did she say to you?"

"Well…" Raven hummed. "She talked about her story and I talked about my life and…"

The witch studied Apple's face, realizing that there was something specific that the princess wanted to hear, had always wanted to hear from her ancestor since the day she found out that people had a problem with her blonde hair.

"She said that she could feel whether or not her descendants found a real happy ending or not. She said that it broke her heart when some of the new Snow Whites never found their happy endings… she told me that the only thing that she cares about is… that you find happiness." The witch smiled a little at the princess. "It doesn't matter to her what color her descendant's hair or skin is, she just wants her heirs to be happy Apple, in whatever path they choose."

Apple seemed to sag in relief against Raven, tension in her muscles relaxing to the point where the princess seemed to mold into the body below her.

"Pretty…" Apple murmured almost dreamily as she ran fingers up and down one of Raven's arms, the witch uncurled the appendage from around Apple's back to lay submissively beside them for the princess's inspection.

"I'll be stuck with these… and later there will be a few more of these… for a while so… I'm glad you think that they're pretty." Raven sighed into Apple's hair, smelling the familiar scent of the shampoo she made. "At least your reaction is way better than the Headmaster's."

"He didn't like them?" Apple guessed, trailing little patterns into the other's skin.

Raven huffed out a laugh. "No he did not. I was afraid that he was about to have a coronary with they way he reacted, it was a little heartbreaking to see him just itching to lecture somebody about these but at the same time knowing that his opinion does not matter to the people I'm in a contract with. To be honest I think he kind of felt sorry for me, or as sorry for me as he can be, and that's why he had been so nice about it."

"Maybe he feels guilty about the coin incident a few days ago." Apple narrowed her eyes dangerously. "As he should be…"

"I'm sorry that had led to you finding out about all of that stuff and making you feel so down." Raven petted the princess's hair soothingly.

"It's better that I know now and not sometime farther into the future when everything's happened and it's too late to change things." Apple spoke against Raven's collarbone. "I'm… confused and unsure about everything but… I… I'm not as scared anymore about not getting my birthright or a happy ending because I don't fit the script… I… feel a level of control I've never… dreamed about before. It's terrifying because I don't know if my actions will grant me a happy ending but… I have a fighting chance now to- and I can't believe I'm actually saying this- not end up like my parents! I want to find a way to be happy, on my own terms, terms that I have better control over."

"I'll help you in whatever way you need… sans me becoming the Evil Queen of course." Raven swore, reaching her free hand around to cup the princess's face, a bittersweet look in the witch's eyes. "No matter what boy you end up choosing to fall for, I'll support you."

Apple slid her hand down Raven's arm and twined her fingers with Raven's. "And if I didn't want a prince or a boy to spend my happily ever after with? Would you still stay by my side if the one I chose did not fit the script, was not the one I was promised to? Would not be seen as a proper match? "Unseemly" I think is the term you used to describe it."

Raven's eyes blinked wide because… wait. Was Apple, the Apple White-miss-perfect-princess-of-the-century saying that she was… gay? A lesbian? …Or was she saying that she… maybe preferred someone that was a troll or… a naga or something of that nature (even though naga's, a creature with a human upper portion and a snake's tail where it's legs would have been, did not come around Ever After often because it was too cold for their cold blood to do well in the chilly forests) it wasn't unheard of for a human to fall in love with such creatures.

"Uh… it would be pretty hypocritical of me to say that you couldn't… if you were talking about liking someone of the same gender… And if you ended up loving something like a fairy or a were-animal-kin I'd support you then too." Raven supplied helpfully.

Apple rolled her eyes into the side of Raven's neck. Of all the times for the witch to be so clueless about an obvious hint…

"Hey Raven…" Apple began, changing tactics. "That girl you've fallen in love with… don't give up on her yet okay? The stories are all lies and the Book is gone, it'll be confusing for a lot of people to come to terms with that but… with just a little bit more time I think that… there might be a chance that you and she can be together? …She just needs a little bit more time to come to terms with everything so… can you please give her time? You don't have to wait forever, but please just… give her a chance to sort things out about the future… please?"

Raven stared sightlessly up at her canopy.

"How can you be so sure that she'd give me a second glance? I mean she's… a textbook perfect maiden and I'm… not of the right stock and I'm a girl."

"You're perfect in you own ways too Raven." Apple swore fervently. "She'd have to be a complete fool not to see it! Just… trust me on this okay?"

Raven breathed deeply through her nose. "I'll try." The witch allowed. "But I can't wait forever and… I can't say for certain that, if she does get around to saying that she likes me back, that I'll even be available… but right now both she and I have time I guess you could say… because I know that romance for me right now is completely off the table until I get things in my kingdom sorted out and if she is as nearly as confused as… you then she needs time to get all of that other stuff sorted out before she should be thinking about romance too."

"You're so sweet." Apple squeezed Raven's hand and turned her face to peck the witch on the cheek. "Yes I think that princess has a lot to sort through." She assured. "I guess life overall has… made things just way too crazy for a simple answer to things. I'm sorry by the way, for causing you so much grief about destinies. It's ironic, I think, how you refusing to become my villain… actually might have saved me, of all people, some major grief in the future."

"You just wanted a happy ending and concrete assurances that everyone you cared about would still exist… I can't really fault you for that." Raven shrugged her shoulders. "I accepted this about you long ago and… I was willing to put up with it regardless. I-… I care about you too much to just… walk away when you were obviously terrified."

"But I did end up hurting you… and apparently my constant badgering combined with your- very patient by the way- tolerance of it has… given some Royals the impression that you're… my pet? Which is very strange to say out loud by the way." Apple winced guiltily.

"Well I do wear those collars you got me…" Raven trailed off teasingly.

Apple rolled her eyes. "Because you look good in them and they're all feathery, like your namesake, not because I want to own you, or think that I own you like that."

"I know." Raven smiled slightly.

Apple bit her lip. "Thank you for at least considering waiting, even if there is no guarantee on either end of this, and things are just so…"

"Crazy complicated and stressful?" Raven supplied squeezing Apple's hand back.

"Immensely so." The princess grumbled.

"Meee! Mawk. Mewrrrrl?" Nevermore talked to herself as she walked around the short entrance hallway, marveling at the way the walls made the sounds she spoke echo slightly.

"Okay seriously, what did you feed her? Because she wasn't like that when I left." Raven demanded in a confused tone.

"All I did differently was talk to her." Apple shrugged looking confused herself. "I thought that is was cute that she would answer back… she just hasn't really learned how to stop yet."

"Mrrrrp!"

XXX

"So…" Duchess looked at the message that Raven had sent to her mirror pad with both eyebrows raised. "These are all the Rebel maidens who'd like to give their stories to me?"

"Just the ones that I had the chance to talk to last week." Raven said while exchanging books from her locker for Monday morning class.

"There are so many!" Duchess shook her head in disbelief. "How… I never thought I'd say this but; how am I going to choose just one of these?"

"Faybelle's proposed that you go down the list and practice switching roles with a maiden for a week, neither one of you guys has to be particularly good at being each other's stories, but if you, Duchess, end up liking a particular story then you get to keep it. I got all of those maidens to sign a contract so that you get the first pick and they can't give their story away to anybody else until you've decided which is the best fit." Raven informed, all business.

"Why would they want to give up their stories for mine? Or for no story at all?" Duchess shook her head disbelieving; she had thought that most maidens would have stayed away from her story like the plague.

"Well some of them aren't all that enamored with having to live a fairytale and are looking for a way out, and others…" Raven trailed off.

"They don't want to marry a prince." Faybelle said bluntly. "Disturbingly enough there are apparently a lot of maidens who don't mind the idea of escaping that whole marriage thing by… well, you know… I have a sneaking suspicion, that if a girl like Tiffany got your story, that lake would be made up of tears of glee and not sorrow."

The three girls peered down the hallway to where the mentioned girl was, Tiffany had surprised attacked Edward at his locker, tied him up and had secured a wedding veil to his head so that she could methodically dye the white material black by going over it with markers.

Edward seemed to only offer up the occasional gripe about his mistreatment but for the most part resigned himself to suffer in silence in the face of pure disgust and rage emanating from the tiny blonde's body in waves.

"She must be still ticked off about her parents sending her all that wedding stuff." Faybelle observed neutrally.

"Can I try out her destiny first?" Duchess asked, a sort of morbid curiosity lacing her tone. "Tying up Edward and dragging him around looks like fun!"

"We still have ten minutes before class." Faybelle stretched her hand out to motion that her friend should go for it.

"Will Edward be all right after all of this?" Raven looked to Duchess's retreating back in concern.

"Oh don't worry about him, he's used to the treatment." Faybelle waved off the witch's concern. "And might I say that you look positively maidenly today? Especially since you're wearing the Thorn clan's seal out in the open like that?" The fairy grinned wolfishly (which was very effective due to the sharp teeth being displayed) at the witch, as she looked the other up and down in approval.

Raven had chosen to wear one of the simpler outfits she had traded her old clothes for (in most fairy territories shop keepers allowed for customers to trade in a certain percentage of items in exchange for a certain amount of things that they sold in their shop, and since Raven's old daily clothes were of high end quality and had precious metals used as decoration in the outfit itself… the witch had ended up making out like a bandit with some great deals on a new weekly wardrobe) and the fairy had to admit that it did look good on the witch.

The outfit was only comprised of a long sleeved white peasant shirt, a silk purple vest with decorative black buttons (the face of each button decorated with the witch's traditional three sided infinite knot), purple bracelet gloves that were secured in place with a silver middle finger ring (just enough material to hide the tattoos but still not make the wearer overheat), plaid black and purple skirt, skin tight black leggings, and the witch's new dark purple knee-high boots... but it seemed to suit the witch's personality better than her old daily outfits, Faybelle approved. Especially since the witch wore a choker with the Thorn clan seal pendant dangling from it and a matching buckle secured to the belt holding up the witch's skirt.

"That should show Lizzie not to make overtures onto what is mine." Faybelle grumbled heatedly (in Wonderland wearing somebody else's tribal seal on their person meant an engagement or marriage into the advertised family).

"You aren't wearing your crown." The fairy noticed after a moment of mentally tearing into Lizzie Heart's proclamations of marriage to Raven. Instead of a crown the witch wore her bridal tikka and some large cuffs in her mass of hair.

"I haven't really been feeling like I deserve to wear a crown." Raven admitted lowly. "I just feel… like I'm not doing enough, and that I'm being reckless attending a fancy school so far away from my kingdom that might very well need me at a moment's notice, I mean how is a bunch of villain classes supposed to prepare me for serving my people properly?"

"An educated ruler is a wise one for her people and a dangerous one for her enemies." Faybelle said a hand on her hip. "You are a Rebel correct? Then for next quarter sign up for the classes that both interest you and will help you prepare you to serve your people well. By now you should be able to handle the Headmaster if he makes a fuss about it."

"I'm going to end up driving that poor man insane by the time I graduate from this place." Raven shook her head in dismay.

"He's only bringing it on himself so don't feel guilty about it." Faybelle assured sagely. "Good luck with convincing Daring to help sponsor your shampoo later at lunch."

"Thanks." Raven smiled at the other. "The hext I got from Dexter sounded encouraging so I think that maybe Daring sees good things in my potion. Hopefully he can help me convince the O' Hairs to buy the patent and begin mass production starting with their local shop to test things out first."

"See, you're already making a name for yourself as a good little potions master, if necessary, becoming an enchantress will be but a hop and a skip away." Faybelle smirked, feeling content that Raven was taking her part of the token marriage seriously by making herself a valuable asset to the Thorn clan.

"Hopefully that'll happen just like you say." Raven's smile widened before she walked away to get to her first class.

XXX

"I've discovered that in order to get the right amount of heat to be produced in the magic potion of the shaving cream it has to come from scents derived from plants that grow in lots of sunlight." Raven explained passing some vials of sample scents she had prepared earlier for this deal. "These are the scents that Hunter and a few other people have found acceptable."

"If that's the secret then why haven't I been able to find shaving cream that's just as warm as yours on the mirror-net stores?" Daring asked making an agreeing hum when he took a whiff of the vials, which contained a strong citric and cinnamon scent.

"Those companies go for either musky or artificial woodsy scents in their products, since many plants that grow in the sun have a more floral, spicy, or citric scent to them the big companies don't use those scents because they don't fit into their demographic of what men want to buy and they fight tooth and nail against the companies who do try to incorporate the scents that do make the potion warm up properly because it would cause too much competition for them, so these days if you want to get the kind of heated shaving cream that you're looking for, you either have to go to a local source or know somebody who makes it." Raven explained while skimming over the contract that Daring had handed her first thing (much to her surprise) for the O' Hairs to buy her shampoo potion recipe.

"I like these scents better than the strong musk scented stuff I had tried out on Dexter's skin before, and Darling downright despised the scent the moment I uncapped the bottle." Daring mumbled taking a second whiff of a eucalyptus and lavender scent. "And I'm a Charming Prince, I think that their demographic is flawed."

"They are reaching out to desperate non-charming young men who buy their product because they advertise that pretty young women will throw themselves at them if they use their product." Raven chuckled searching her purse for a pen. "It's a false advertising ploy that's worked out for them well in the past, and I advise you to be careful when buying musk scented products in the future, depending on the creature the musk is extracted from you may very well end up either repelling the non-humans around you or attract them a little too well."

"Extracted from… creatures?" Daring asked looking nauseated.

"Musk is extracted from the scent glands of animals." Raven explained. "And since people like the animal-kin and fairies have such strong scent receptors…"

"Ah." Daring nodded understandingly. "Does it bother witches too? Because I heard that you guys can see in the dark like a cat can so do you have an advanced sense of smell too?"

Raven poked the tip of her (still sore) nose self-consciously. "It bothers witchlings and new mothers more than normal adults, because we are trained to handle often strong smelling ingredients in our potions and spells we build up a scent immunity to most things, but if the scent is obnoxious enough we need to wear special masks to combat the offending smell."

"Is that a nose piercing?" Daring tilted his head to peer at the girl's nose in surprise, he had only just noticed since he had been so preoccupied with thoughts about the reasons why the witch had scars on her back and what beauty products he should ask her to make for him.

"I'm conducting business for my kingdom that required me to get this as well as some decorative skin pigment designs done for religious ceremonial purposes." Raven stated breezily as she signed and dated the contract in front of her, extending her hand to shake Daring's as a show of a deal completed.

The witch looked up at the sound of twin cheers of triumph coming from a corner of the outdoor café she and Daring were seated at, her expression turning baffled when she saw that it had been the O' Hair twins who had made the sounds.

"I may have mentioned that Apple and some of the local Wonderlandians used your product regularly." Daring shrugged. "They were impressed when I gave them a small bit to test out on Poppy's hair. They said that they'd be interested in buying any other product formulas you make for me too, "fit for a Prince Charming" is what I believe they called the product line idea."

"I'm flattered." Raven stated honestly, sliding an envelope with her patent, recipe, and copies of her formula notes to the boy. "And thank you for helping me with getting this deal, I really appreciate the help."

"You're my friend." Daring stated as if that explained everything. "And as your friend… I um… I want you to know that whatever is going on in your kingdom right now… if you need me or one of my siblings to help with anything, no matter how small, we'll do it, no questions asked and discreetly if that's what you want."

Raven blinked in surprise completely taken aback, she stared at Daring for a few moments before her expression turned contemplative.

"There is something… a hunch that I have I suppose you could say, I don't know if it'll pan out or not but… can you and Dexter check something out for me? Secretly? I don't expect anything to come out of it but just incase it does… it would be nice having an unbiased third party there to see things with a clarity I do not possess…"

XXX

"You want me to see if there's anything weird with this florist's website?" Dexter asked nodding to his personal dorm computer screen.

"Yes." Raven nodded. "I have been informed that some… potentially hostile individuals to my kingdom have been reported have bought out this company… which is strange because what use does a very rich lord have for one tiny little shop as an income source?"

"Maybe they just like flowers." Daring supplied pointing at Dexter's computer screen. "Like that pretty blue tulip that they have on the home page."

"I didn't know that they sold blue tulips." Dexter commented. "They are rather pretty."

"They don't." Raven shook her head. "Blue tulips are insanely rare, a genetic anomaly that many have tried and failed to replicate, the last recorded one to have existed in Ever After was over five hundred years ago, when an ancestor of mine had gifted one of those to a king of the Great Sands and Stone region by the Middlesea in the hopes of bartering her daughter back from his harem."

"I'm starting to see a pattern with your family." Daring cast the witch a sidelong glance as Dexter began typing onto his computer. "That had a happy ending I hope."

"For my ancestors yes, for the king and the flower… not so much." Raven shook her head in amusement. "The king had a reputation for being way too arrogant for his own good, and like she predicted he smashed the flower and it's pot onto the floor where the deadly creeper vine spell that she had put on the plant's roots had activated, she held both the king and all of his top officials captive and threatened to overtake the kingdom for herself to rule over unless she and her pregnant daughter were given safe passage back home… but in a twist of events the people of that kingdom had already been set to revolt since there had been a drought and the current king had horded all of the emergency food rations to feed both himself and his élite friends in lavish parties at the palace, and so she was crowned a national hero."

Raven shrugged bemusedly. "And after she proposed that she use her magic to create these giant golems to help the local farmers try an irrigation and dam technique to help distribute water to their fields more efficiently… they ended up assassinating their own king and crowning her their new ruler. Her great-great granddaughter the current presiding ruler today, nice lady, very willing to do tulip trading with her relatives in the Queen kingdom."

The two boys turned as one to stare at her.

"Anyways…" Dexter began. "You were right about there being something off with this website; I ran an algorithm on this tulip picture and the reason why the color of the tulip is blue is because somebody has put a large amount of information inside the coding, resulting in the corruption of digital information causing the hue to go from white to blue."

"Are you saying that there is large amount of hidden information hidden inside the color of a flower picture?" Raven asked sounding mystified.

"Oh yes, and by a lot I mean a lot." Dexter moved to the side to show that his computer screen was now filled with neat columns of bright green computer code. "It will take a while before I'm able to decode everything but given the time I think can do it."

"Thank you." Raven smiled at the two brothers. "Thank the both of you. Please contact me as soon as you're able to decipher something, I don't care how small it is."

"Will do." Daring said and Dexter nodded in agreement.