"Well I'll be, you're a lot more polite than I imagined." Maddie giggled at the absurdity of the concept of the Evil Queen being polite.
"Why thank you, I've been working on that, I'm under the understanding that politeness tends to confuse the hell out of one's rude enemies." Clawstorm did a little bow.
"Never imagined that you'd wear white." Kitty hummed tilting her head to the side. "Considering what you are and all."
"I try to conjure up more colorful clothes from time to time." Clawstorm confessed. "When I was younger people used to throw dreadful fits if I didn't constantly look the part you see so now that the tale is done I enjoy indulging in a little more color and a lot more white."
"I can imagine that the same color and design scheme day in and day out would get rather tiresome." Lizzie nodded in understanding.
Kline looked between the teenagers and the woman in befuddlement. "Pardon the interruption but would someone kindly explain to me why you all are being so calm and polite to each other? You're enemies!"
"I hold no personal ill will towards the people of Wonderland, my hatred and the focus of my insanity rests solely with you, Kline-bastard, and your little group of traitors." Clawstorm sniffed.
"And as we said before; you were the one who brought her here, you are the one who put us in the middle of your foreign conflict." Lizzie hissed coldly at the man. "By our laws you are the worse offender between the two of you and therefore you will get an even worse punishment!"
"But she's evil! She's the Evil Queen!" Kline tried to emphasize by gesturing wildly to Clawstorm.
Lizzie furrowed her brows. "So?" She said. "What does her title have anything to do with her punishment?"
"Well don't you people think that evil people would be worse than a simple businessman?" Kline asked exasperated.
"Just because she was born a fairytale villain doesn't have to do with anything." Kitty rolled her eyes. "Gods of ears, eyes, and mouth you're starting to sound like one of those Ever After humans and their simple-minded views." She complained.
"But by your laws her offences have her at a public beheading! How would I get something worse than that?" Kline couldn't help but ask.
"Actually she will just be sentenced to ten years in the coliseum as a professional gladiator." Maddie stated matter-of-factly. "You are the one who will be on the chopping block."
"You see while what she did was very wrong, she also did it to prevent war and to protect her family, added onto that no one had been killed when she cursed us and most of Wonderland preferred being inaccessible to outsiders anyway." Kitty explained. "And since like we said before; you were the one to bring us in the middle of this and since Raven is our clan sister that makes her a Wonderlandian citizen too, so all of your crimes against her and her family are considered crimes against a child of Wonderland."
"But she cursed your world!" Kline exclaimed finally loosing some of his cool. "It doesn't make sense that what she did for the sake of her family would factor into a reduced punishment! I've seen her conjure up giant golems in minutes! She'd thrive in one of your coliseums don't you see?"
"Honestly, for a guy who spent the last few years in Wonderland one would think that you would understand the laws and the importance of family bonds here a lot better." Clawstorm squatted down, resting her forearms on her knees as she observed the man, much like a vulture would observe a carcass.
"I'd like to see you try to understand the impossibilities of the riddlish language!" Kline sneered. "It's not even an exact language!"
"Hiddle dee hiddle dum of faith and loss and girls with talented secrets." Clawstorm deadpanned. "Riddlish is one of the six living languages that I speak."
"With such qualifications she'd bring us great entertainment as a gladiator on the weekends." Lizzie concluded before turning to the others. "Don't you think?"
Kline's eye twitched. "Why aren't you people cowering in fear or attacking her if she's a criminal according to you?" He demanded.
"Because we have the same goal." Maddie giggled drawing a serrated throwing blade out of her hat. "We both want you dead~."
Kline opened his mouth to speak (or to scream, really nobody, not even Kline could be sure since someone giggling merrily to themselves with a blade in their hands was a whole new level of creepy) when the sky suddenly got substantially brighter and the occasional sounds of lighting clashing within the curse cloud ceased.
"What?" Kline looked up. "It's gone?"
"You really don't know why my little black bird was brought here do you?" Clawstorm sighed; sounding almost disappointed that the man's intelligence appeared to be somewhat selective in what was important. "Any minute now she should be lowering the quarantine and opening up all the old portals."
As the woman spoke a burst of light shot up into the sky, separating out into smaller offshoots that disappeared into all directions.
"Now Kline-bastard let's finish the dance we started all those years ago shall we?" Clawstorm dared confidently as she stood up, her fists ablaze with her magic.
XXX
"So." Ramona Badwolf deadpanned. "You're telling me that you and your girlfriend had the Book all along?"
Cerise shifted awkwardly under her sister's intense gaze. "Pretty much. But we don't have it now, we accidentally dropped it in the last portal to Wonderland."
"And that she knows about us being family? About how we both have conflicting destinies?" Ramona kept focus on the issue regarding that an outsider now knew that herself and her sister were both listed as both Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf characters due to their mixed heritage.
Cerise flinched.
"I'll never tell." Briar swore passionately. "I'd never do that to Cerise or her family and it simply doesn't matter to me because what her ancestry is doesn't matter and I don't want my fairytale either! I won't let them make me sleep for a hundred years I just won't!"
Ramona paused, regarding the princess closely. "You've turned Rebel?"
"Completely." Briar assured dead serious. "My fairytale is a lie, I won't disappear if I don't follow it and since I don't have to follow it I won't. I don't want to be put to sleep for a hundred years and lose all of my human friends… to lose Cerise and be forced to be at the mercy of a complete male stranger and have to marry him. I'll fight with everything I have, I'll even run away and forsake my own family if it comes down to it."
"And my sister?" Ramona asks with an arched brow.
"I'd never hurt her by blabbing her- your family's secrets. I have no right to do that, what is your business is personal and… I really do care for her, like a lot, I-I want to have a future with her… if thing work out, I'd really quite like that a whole lot." Briar confessed, shyly looking over at Cerise.
"And I want a future with her too." Cerise told her sister defiantly, grasping Briar's hand.
Ramona looked between the two of them and heaved a long-suffering sigh.
"Fine." The girl said indicating that she'd let the matter drop. "So why are you telling me about this thing with the Book? It's gone now isn't it? What can I possibly do help you sniff it out? Wonderland is quarantined."
"Well first we figured that we probably needed a fresh mind to help us with our dilemma…" Briar began.
"And as for Wonderland…" Cerise coughed. "Let's just say that we have it on good authority that it'll be un-quarantined pretty soon."
Ramona scrunched her face in befuddled disbelief.
"What?" The girl almost laughed at the absurdity, Ramona shook her head not comprehending.
Almost as soon as she spoke there was this melodic ting that filled the forest around them and there was a brief flash that could be seen from over the treetops.
"I don't like the looks of this." Giles voice drifted to the three from somewhere in the forest, the sounds of rapid footfalls sounding close by.
"The quarantine's down!" The Headmaster's voice sounded winded and completely panicked. "Up ahead quickly!"
"Well that doesn't sound good." Cerise whispered lowly.
XXX
"How could you not possibly be tempted by this?" Faybelle asked the magical quill vanished from her fingers and she gave Raven back the Book of Legends, experimentally her newly amped up magic flared in tall blue flames and cackling electricity from her hands. "This boost in power… it's phenomenal!"
"That's why." Raven pointed up at the sky as twinkling lights of magical confetti began drifting to the ground like flakes of snow. "My mother made a simple spell used mostly for tiny children's parties and vamped it up to the point where it was mistaken for a curse of genocide proportions. It could take weeks for this stuff to stop falling from the sky! It makes me a bit nervous is all, that one individual can have all that power."
"I don't think that many Wonderlandians will mind it as much." Alistair hummed at the sky. "Kind of pretty really."
"I'm not too sure the other worlds we just freed will see it like that..." Raven chuckled nervously.
"It's amazing that it only took you to recite two little spells to both get rid of those giant swirling clouds in all of the cursed worlds and to take down the quarantine protocols. If it was that easy why didn't somebody try to smuggle you here sooner?" Apple wondered as she gazed at the sky.
"We were afraid that the Evil Queen might retaliate, but since she's as you say… not that evil, we felt that it was safe to give it a try." Bunny spoke softly as she smiled shyly at the three other girls. "We are very grateful that you were so willing to help us."
Raven shook her head. "I'm the one who should be grateful." She insisted a blush staining her face. "Growing up… the fact that these curses had been conjured up by my mother… I-I…"
"Hey, we get it." Alistair chuckled. "Honor is a big thing here too, a little bit different, but the concept's the same."
"Alright let's go and kick some ass!" Faybelle cheered cracking her knuckles.
"Just as soon as backup comes to take Raven and Apple away to safety." Apple added.
"Right, just as soon as that happens." The fairy amended uncharacteristically without complaint.
"But Mira and the others are-" Raven tried to protest.
"Trying to make sure that the guy sent here to kill you doesn't get anywhere near you." Apple finished seriously. "The fact that Kitty isn't here yet means that this Kline guy is far more difficult to subdue than we originally planned, and that in turn makes him more dangerous to your future existence in this life."
Raven still wasn't convinced. "But what if-"
A particularly loud boom interrupted her, soon followed by the echoing of rocks grinding against one another and the sounds of golems, large ones, roaring to life in the distance.
"Get down!" Apple shrieked and manhandled Raven to the ground when a stray bolt of grey-blue magic raced right for them.
The Book in Raven's arms seemed to glow bright in response to the danger, the glow spreading out until half the connected series of jagged hills were covered in a sphere of bright candlelight yellow magic, the blue-gray ball of enemy magic harmlessly dissipating on contact with the shield.
"What was that?" Faybelle demanded from her position crouched over both Raven and Apple.
"The Book…" Raven breathed as she blinked, stunned, at the artifact, the yellow hue around them fading away just as quickly as it came.
"Why-?" Apple began to say but she was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Hey Guys!" Kitty greeted when she and her two countrymen reappeared, all looking a little beat up and rather worse for wear. "Long story short; Kline is a lot stronger than we originally thought but that's okay because your mom showed up and she's on our side, but things are starting to get too violent so we're going to have to get you far away from here fast."
"What- my mother-? Where is Mira?" Raven demanded once her mind registered that there were only three where there should be four.
"Mira was badly injured but your mother magicked her away to somewhere where she can hide from the battle safely. We are trusting your mother's claim under the assumption that she really isn't all that evil and that her pride was genuine when you took out her curse and opened up Wonderland." Lizzie panted as she gingerly felt out a bruised cut on her side.
"How did she get out of whatever prison that she was in?" Faybelle furrowed her brows, wincing when another explosion landed in an area a little bit closer to them, just outside the rock quarry.
"They are getting closer!" Apple yelped latching onto Raven protectively.
"Can we outrun that on our own?" Alistair asked. "Backup is still a ways off!"
"We can't hide out in Ever After." Faybelle murmured in concern.
"We'd put the students and innocent people in danger if the fight followed us there." Apple agreed.
"I might be able to help you guys out." Darling's voice caused the other teens to startle and turn as one to see the girl's face peeking out of the visor of a white knight armored suit.
"Darling?" Apple questioned weakly.
"I'll explain later." Darling said as she hastily pulled out several rolls of carpets from the satchel she had slung around her suit. "I found a horse chess piece for me to ride on and I figured that you guys might need to get away quickly so I packed some flying carpets for you to use if needed. Where's Mira?"
"Safe." Raven assured, her mother for all of her faults and confusing misdirection did care for the people from her kingdom and if the woman knew that they were in Wonderland then she would have known that Mira was one of their home kingdom's people.
"We have one prisoner, Courtly Jester, a Wonderlandian who had double crossed her highness and who had been intending to kill us all." Bunny warned. "We tied her up in a way that will allow for easy transport to her highness's prisons."
"I'll ride with her." Lizzie volunteered as she took an offered carpet. "I still have some fight left in me and my mother will appreciate a swift explanation when we arrive at the castle. Alistair, Bunny, please lead the way."
"Careful when hopping on princess." Faybelle ordered Apple gently as she helped Raven and the princess onto their assigned carpet which was hovering a foot off the ground. "The two of you keep your heads down yes? Let me worry about steering, I know that the view is interesting but now is not the time to sightsee." The fairy continued on as she got behind the two other girls and crouched protectively over their bent heads.
It only took a few moments for the group to be airborne (with Darling following on the ground on the back of her borrowed steed) speeding away from the advancing battlefield.
XXX
"Oh great, just great, you have a bond with the Book too?" Kline complained as he staggered to his feet.
"Indeed." Clawstorm barely repressed an a depressed huff as she stared at the little tiny yellow glowing wisps flying in and out of her skin. She had never heard of a servant of the Book having to deal with such public displays of magic seeping out of the bone and skin but then again she had never heard about a servant being a witch and the Grimm line tended to hide behind giant oak desks instead of physically fighting their own battles.
For a brief moment the woman wondered at how despite the dampening effects of the rings, bracelets, and the necklace she wore to mask her magical signature, the scent of the Book's magic was almost palpable in the air around her person. She had to end this little fight quickly before something curious and most likely dangerous came sniffing around for a taste (the native fauna of Wonderland having long ago adapted quite terrifyingly spectacularly to the constant wars that used to be fought on their land, most of the time warring parties were forced to create quick temporary truces just so that they could ban together and fight off beasts who lumbered in to snack on the dead, dying, and injured. Such occurrences were so common that Wonderland had formed their own, very special rules of how to conduct a battle, something the invaders from Ever After should have paid closer attention to while they had the chance).
Though Clawstorm had to (grudgingly) admit that having that damnable bond with the thrice-cursed Book did have it's advantages.
For one her senses seemed to sharpen considerably (which was a feat since witch's senses were already one of the most sensitive of any species found in nature), this was a good thing in her opinion because it allowed her to taste the teeny tiny little fragments of her own magic within the vicinity of Kline's breast pocket, such small amounts that even a blood-affinity fairy couldn't detect it unless they had a mouth full of the stuff. There could only be one explanation as to why the made had such tiny traces of her magic on his person and she planned to take full advantage of its presence.
Now it was just a matter of time before he would try to use her own weapon against her, however if she played her cards just right…
There was a horrified shout from above (probably some local who had decided to try to brave coming close enough to get an eyeful) as he lunged at her, gathering up all of his magic to push against hers intending to throw her into the rocky corner that she had inadvertently managed to get herself into with enough force to either knock her out (if he was stupidly lucky) or to stick her with her own invention.
She let him get just near enough to call her own creation back to her (since she had left a good portion of herself in that last batch of micro-talismans she had ever made in person she could easily transport it back to her possession, a three-harvest-old witchling could preform such a simple spell) and the second she felt the syringe touch her palm she simply flew straight up and out of the way.
While the man took a precious moment to gawk at her (the ability to fly without a broom or some other medium was a rare skill for witches) she called upon one of the rock golems she had created earlier and had the seven foot creature seize the startled man before throwing Kline up into the air like he was a very poorly made Frisbee. Breaking the glass housing one of the summoning scrolls both Clawstorm, and the bones of a creature, emerged from a cloud of white magical mist as they flew up to meet the flailing man who was now making the decent back down towards the ground.
Clawstorm met the falling body first; Kline landing on two medium sized spheres of her magic right where his kidneys were located, her palm hit the center of his back, an electric current pushing into his body and spirit (which would not kill someone of Kline's magical caliber but it sure as hell would sting profusely for days afterwards), while the man was thoroughly distracted and screaming to the heavens Clawstorm took the cap off of the appropriated syringe, full of her personally made talismans, with her teeth and plunged the needle into his shoulder, making fast work of injecting the contents into his bloodstream.
And then she let him fall right into the awaiting arms of the golem she had carefully constructed out of the bones of a small pre-adolescent jabberwocky.
"You cheated!" Kline hissed out after he gained back his bearings, he struggled against the boney arms holding his arms, torso, and feet in place and it was obvious that it was extremely painful to do so.
"That's rich coming from you Mr. traitor to his own race." Clawstorm snorted as she hovered off to the side of the man, discreetly applying a bit of magic to melt the metal needle off of the syringe before dropping the thing (a little surprise for Kline for later, he'll be sick as a dog being stuck in his own, witch-murdering, presence).
CLawstorm took a moment to breathe, she was tired, sore, and if the blood that kept trying to drip into her eyes was anything to go by, she knew that she was bleeding pretty badly from a gash on the side of her head.
"C'mon you moron, let's fly you over to the Queen of Heart's dungeons. I personally would like to take a nap." Clawstorm announced, gently patting the skull of the jabberwocky golem, every time she saw the things she couldn't help but feel sorry for the fate of the beings whose spirits used to inhabit the living bone and tissues of the now empty shells.
"What?" Kline's shrill voice sounded panicked.
"According to most people I'm the Evil Queen." Clawstorm reminded with a roll of her eyes. "Not only do I know for a fact that you will rue the day you were born if her highness gets ahold of you but I also know that she will make damn certain that you won't slither your way out of her clutches until your head has departed from your body and the citizens of Wonderland have had their fun with your corpse. Since I am so evil and vengeful this thought agrees with me greatly."
For the first time actual, blind, cold, panic fills Kline's features.
"What were you hoping for Kline-bastard?" Clawstorm sneered. "That I'll be overcome by rage and simply kill you where you stand? So that when the news reached your little horde of witch hunters they'll somehow be inspired enough by the passing of their loving leader to rejuvenate their efforts to try to kill off my family and my people? That they will never find out that you are a warlock and not a human? Did you honestly think that I trapped you and your men here so that I could simply hunt you down and kill you? I wanted you alive Kline-bastard, because even if you follow all the safety advice from the pamphlets a witch hiding out from the law in Wonderland will have no choice but to use their magic to survive the dangers here, and all witches need to use their magic otherwise they will get sick!"
Clawstorm crossed her arms. "Tell me this you traitorous numb-skull; how many of your men accidentally found out about your little secret, hmm? How many did you have to kill or have framed for a crime so that they would not try to find a way to alert your little witch hunting headquarters that they were not being lead by Kline the racist radical human leader, they were being controlled like marionettes by Kline the Warlock who had taken up the torch for his father, Tomak of the High Council?"
Kline flinched back visibly, his eyes wild. "How did you-?"
"You left a lot of DNA from the blood you spilled on me during our last battle, I had my contacts who work at the new council building sneak out a copy of your father's DNA profile that they keep in their records incase of a kidnapping or if a body has to be identified. You are his bastard son Kline, and your human mother was the wife of one of the human lords who had originally helped reanimate the dead secret society of witch hunters. It's so much like a damn Penny Dreadful novel that I could almost laugh at how pathetic it all is." Clawstorm curled her lip in disgust.
"It's all completely obvious really; how old was your mother when she had been married off by her family to some pretentious old guy? If I remember correctly she had been about sixteen and he was like seventy or something, how easy it must have been for dear old Tomak who was still handsome and youthful in comparison to her prune of a human husband. The two of them probably met while Tomak had been masquerading as a human and selling the old goat a grand scheme of how they could use these little tiny kingdoms to start a bunch of wars in Ever After and then profit from the weapons that they would sell to everybody, and then soon after you were born. What did the old lord decide to cement the deal by offering up his wife and your mother to your father like she was some sort of-"
"Shut up!" Kline barked, rage filling his eyes.
Clawstorm regarded him for a moment. "Well that certainly explains why you're so willing to die for your father's war instead of trying to survive and share the glory with him, this has nothing to do with business or money at all, it's just all about family honor!"
"You know nothing!" The man snapped. "He cares greatly for my mother!"
"I should think so since he did assassinate the lord for her." Clawstorm snorted. "Old gnarled thing like that lord with his love of drink probably couldn't manage to stay awake very many nights with your mother to even have a prayer of conceiving a child. It was the honorable thing to do, to protect your mother from being beaten to death or forcefully subjected to an abortion for wanting to keep you."
"You…" Kline bared his teeth. "You've been doing your research haven't you?"
"Of course I have!" Clawstorm exclaimed. "You people killed my grandparents! Killed many of my people, innocent people! Neglected the lives of hundreds living in the filthy excuse of kingdoms that you rule over! And worse of all you tried to kill my mother and daughter! For the past seven years you have been nothing but my greatest obsession! It's hardly surprising!"
"I will commend you on being thorough…" Kline allowed begrudgingly.
"Oh I haven't even begun." Clawstorm assured shoving one manicured clawed finger at his chest. "You see your little stunt for an honorable death doesn't make sense since your father has put you in such an important roll and he's taken such good care of your mother all on his own so it's obvious that he is at least the type of guy who takes care of his children and the mother of his…"
Clawstorm's eyes widened. "Children plural… you have a little sister…"
"Shut your mouth." Kline breathed looking around him wildly, searching for an escape.
"You lost any semblance of rights to demand that I butt out of your family when you dared touch mine!" Clawstorm growled moving back to stare down at the man. "You level of loyalty and sacrifice goes far beyond that of a son fulfilling his father's wishes. Maternal bloodlines mean everything in witch cultures, especially royal ones. This is more than just a con to profit hugely from selling weapons for wars isn't it?" The woman accused.
"You forgot to mention what we did to your father." Kline gritted out.
Clawstorm gave the man an unimpressed look. "The old coot is still drawing breath you ninny, and as annoying as his traditional opinions can get he'd never knowingly put himself or his brother anywhere near your schemes. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if he's got some nasty little tricks up his sleeve to keep your insane plan out of fairytale affairs now that he knows about you."
"Oh I assure you that we hurt both him and your mother long before you were even a possibility." Kline hissed. "I'd tell you to ask him but he might not be around long enough to tell you." The man warned his hand and arm coming alight with grey-blue magic and looking pointedly down.
Clawstorm turned her head to the direction the man was looking, her breath inhaling sharply as her grey eyes met the grey eyes of her father who was standing on a hill and near a ninety-degree drop with Giles right beside him. Both men were close to the boat that the jabberwocky had flown to the connected series of hills earlier that hour. He was looking at her with wide, panicked eyes and the way he and her uncle were slowly starting to back away she guessed that they had heard everything.
"Don't move." Kline warned her lowly. "And the same goes for you two." He shouted down to the humans below. "One blast at that rock and the whole ledge will fall, now I know that your precious little girl will have the time to save you both but not even the feared and all powerful Evil Queen can both save you and keep me from escaping! That is if she even has enough energy left to keep this golem at full strength to keep holding me like this!"
"I'd still have time to cripple you." Clawstorm hissed heatedly, worry rising up her throat despite herself. "If you so much as dare twitch a finger I'll crush your limbs and mess up your ribcage so bad breathing will be nothing but a chore for a really, really long time. You've already pushed my wrath far past their safety mechanisms and you have seen how far I was willing to go! Do not try your luck with pushing me even further."
Kline chuckled lowly. "You're forgetting that I'm a warlock my dear, and as you know all too well, witches are a extremely difficult to kill. Did you really think that I've come this far with the intentions of abandoning my honor just because the most feared woman of several worlds said so?" He asked before releasing the bolt of magic in his hand.
"Damnit!" Clawstorm cried, her voice echoing for miles, quickly twisting her wrist as a command to the jabberwocky bone golem to squeeze its claws and arms together with as much force possible, causing Kline to cry out in pain, before she transported herself behind the two old men and grabbed the back of their collars and then transporting a second time moments before the incoming attack landed.
It had been the second transportation that had done it; she had felt her control slip for just enough time for the golem's claws to slacken and for Kline to drop towards the ground, Clawstorm growled from her spot over a hundred yards away as a bright green light enveloped Kline's falling figure before he vanished from sight.
"Leaper stick." Clawstorm spat out the name of the device used to transport far distances using a large implosion of concentrated magic as she released the two stunned men and flew up towards the sky.
"Clawstorm!" Milton tried to call out to his daughter once he had the presence of mind to find his voice, but by then the witch was already out of reach, both her and the bone jabberwocky golem disappearing into a fine white magical mist.
"I am so contacting Elenore, the second we get Raven squared away back at school." Giles swore fervently leaving no room for argument.
"First she gets engaged to be married, then she smuggles herself to Wonderland, and now this?" Milton asks the sky faintly. "No more surprises for today, when we get Raven Queen back to the school I am locking her up in a tower… I'm calling for emergency action, It's for her own safety that she be hidden away!"
From behind them, hidden behind the boat four sets of wide eyes give each other panicked looks.
Giles snorted. "Yeah, good luck keeping her there. Let me know how that turns out because I will not be apart of that madness. I will however watch from the sidelines and laugh as your plan falls apart spectacularly."