Clawstorm emerged behind the bik-bik boat from a cloud of inky smoke in the form of Mira Shards, the disguised woman making a soft noise of surprise when she saw four of her classmates covertly spying on the Grimm brothers from behind the bik-bik boat.
"Chief?" Mira whispered softly to Blondie as she limped over to the reporter.
"Mira!" The blonde girl nearly shrieked when she turned and spotted the injured witch. "What happened? You're bleeding!" Blondie exclaimed as she raced over to Mira's side.
"Whose there?" The Headmaster's stern voice demanded as he and Giles rounded over from the front of the boat. "Dear gods what in heaven's name happened to you Miss…"
"It's Shards sir, Mira Shards." Mira spoke clearly yet tiredly, resigning herself to the fact that she had better start talking about what had happened (not everything but enough). "I'm a citizen from Honored Lady Raven Queen's kingdom, one of the retired magic mirrors adopted me. We had thought that we were safe sir, we could not foresee whatshisname seducing one of our escorts and convincing her to try to help him kill us sirs."
"Could you please start at the beginning Miss Shards?" Giles asked gently though he looked alarmed.
"Wonderland figured out that Lady Raven was the key to free them from the curse, she agreed to help them." Mira pointed her chin to the sparkles falling from the sky. "It had all been going along just fine until we arrived early to this place to find that the lady who was supposed to give us her highness's the Evil Queen's spellbook was working for an enemy to the Queen lands. We had no choice but to fight sirs, I had been knocked into a wall pretty badly when her highness the Evil Queen showed up to mercifully transport me a ways away from danger for some reason, last I had seen of the others they had little choice but to take Lady Raven and run, I believe that the others had managed to subdue the traitor lady too sirs. I made sure to keep low and transport myself further and further away from the battle until I ended up here."
"What others? How many people were with you? Do you know where they went?" The Headmaster demanded in quick succession.
"These guys… I don't know how they got here sirs, they weren't with the group who came with my Lady." Mira gestured to the four girls gathered protectively around her, no need for them to get into trouble, technically as the lone adult she should be the one to take all the blame as far as she was concerned.
"One moment we were taking a stroll through the woods the next moment we fall through a tripped out rabbit hole and we were here." Cerise agreed with Mira's statement unapologetically.
"Aside from Miss Queen who else was with you?" The Headmaster demanded.
Crap. He was really pushing for names. Apple and Faybelle were the only ones who could end up in big trouble if they were to be found out (since Raven was due to be transferred out of the school immediately after she freed Wonderland and Maddie, Lizzie, and Kitty's wanted, just as their parents wanted, for them to move back to Wonderland immediately). "The Queen of Hearts requested her sirs, she is keen on keeping my lady safe… A small group sir, myself, my lady, the students native to Wonderland, and… um… forgive me for drifting off topic but is it normal for the ground to be swaying?" Mira wobbled dramatically for effect.
"Thank you Miss Shards that will be all, could you four please go back through the rabbit hole you found and take her to the school infirmary? And while you're there could you please warn the faculty about this? We do not want students getting a surprise trip to Wonderland." Giles requested kindly.
"Tell 'em I'm still alive and kicking!" Mira requested as Ramona picked her up and carried her away. "They'd be worried by now, gave quite 'em a scare I'm afraid I did!"
"We can probably call them now that the quarantine is up." Blondie whispered to the witch quietly, discreetly glancing over her shoulder at the two men walking away with oddly purposeful direction, as if they knew exactly where to go. "And warn them that the Grimm bothers are coming."
"You can do that?" Mira asked one eye going wide (it hurt to open the other one too much seeing as how there was a pretty dark bruise forming over her brow).
XXX
"Mira!" Raven exclaimed in relief as the younger witch along with the others from the Wonderland group appeared on the giant mirror-screen in the student media room.
"I told you I'd be A-Okay didn't I?" Mira chuckled as she allowed Daring to carry her to one of the more comfortable chairs provided in the room. Most of the individuals who were in the know were their (save for Ginger who had won some sort of cooking competition and had to stay to receive her winnings, and Tiffany who couldn't get away from Edward long enough to attend (the spider-boy got pretty over protective of the blonde girl when he saw Mira and bought the simple explanation that she had accidentally fallen into a portal to Wonderland, he insisted that Tiffany stick close to him and that they both stayed far away from the forest. Tiffany only allowed this after Mira assured her in a cryptic way that everything was just fine and everyone was safe).
"I say Darling, how did you end up over there?" Mira leaned forward slightly as she peered at the girl in question.
"She helped us escape on a bunch of flying carpets she brought with her." Kitty explained.
"I got worried that something bad might happen with so many bad guys running loose so I decided to tag along." Darling said in her defense, pointedly not looking at her brothers who were currently mute from a mixture of shock and the twitch that their beloved little sister was currently in danger-filled Wonderland.
"And it was a good thing I did!" Darling snapped just as Daring opened his mouth. "I'm a Charming too ya know, just because I'm a girl means nothing, it never stopped mom from taking out that cave ogre or having fencing sparring sessions with daddy!"
That seemed to shut her brothers up but neither looked particularly happy about it.
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the Evil Queen herself saved your behinds." Hunter shook his head, cradling a dozing Nevermore in his arms.
"Yeah well I'm glad she did." Lizzie piped up, gingerly touching her bandaged side beneath her nightgown. "That man Kline was obviously merely playing with us for the most part there, I don't even want to think about what might've happened if he had decided to get really serious with us. By the way did she manage to kill him?"
"No." Mira shook her head. "He escaped, unfortunately."
"The Evil Queen didn't seem to want to kill him." Blondie elaborated. "For the moment she had managed to capture him she had every intention to hand him over to the Queen of Hearts, but then he threatened the Grimm brother's lives and she had no choice but to let him go in favor of saving them! She actually bothered to save them!"
"He was a pretty stubborn bad guy." Cerise grumbled in agreement. "The Evil Queen all but crippled him and he still manages to escape."
"Wait, the Grimm brothers are in Wonderland?" Apple asked in mild alarm. "Did they see you?"
"Unfortunately." Mira sighed. "Somehow they knew that Raven was here, which was weird, but nobody else. I neglected to tell them about your and Faybelle's involvement, and I never knew about Darling so… seeing as how you all still have to go to school here and you're the only three who could get into serious trouble over all this so I only let slip the names of people who won't have to worry about getting detention to appease the brothers."
"You can get into trouble too." Apple insisted.
Mira snorted. "The Headmaster will be more concerned with my parental guardian insisting that I either take more combat classes or that I return home and join the reserves in the witch army in the event our lands have to go to war than he will be me breaking any school rules. In fact I'm fairly certain that he just might go easier on me once he gat's a glimpse of the crazy person who raised me." Because that's precisely what Maid Marion said she'd do if Clawstorms father ever found out that Mira was in Wonderland, she won the little contest that Clawstorm's friends had constructed to see who had the pleasure of masquerading as Mira Shard's parent. There were a surprising amount of them who wanted the chance to tear into the guy.
"Besides you guys should be more worried about the fact that the Grimm brothers are on their way." Mira continued, trying to slide a finger under the bandage covering a cut on her forehead to relieve the itchy feeling only to have her hand swatted away and held down by Blondie.
"Mira's right on that one." Briar crossed her arms. "The Grimm brothers acted as if they knew precisely where they were going."
"It's the Book!" Raven realized. "When we first got here it flew up to us out of nowhere, it's been spilling it's magic from it's seems ever since! The Grimm brothers are able to sense where the Book is as long as it's outside of the school campus's natural protections!"
"And it's leading them right for you." Faybelle sighed irritably as she hugged Raven from behind. "But Raven's transfer forms are in the folder on his desk, the Headmaster can't touch her."
"…Actually it sort of sounded like he was going to try…" Briar shifted uneasily. "Said something about emergency action and hiding Raven in a tower to protect her…"
A pause descended on the teens.
"Like that'll end well." Sparrow snorted in amusement and Hunter couldn't help but snicker at the idea too.
"He wouldn't dare!" Raven hissed outraged her magic flaring up most of the girls in the room looking just as vexed as the witch.
"He does realize how much trouble he'd be getting himself into if he even tried right?" Humphrey whispered to Dexter and Daring, pointing his chin to the females as they all vowed to give the Headmaster hell if he dared try to lock up the witch and practically vibrated with indignity. It was well known to all the teenaged boys at the school by now that for a bunch of maidens and princesses the girls at the school could be downright terrifying if they really wanted to be.
"My family's tea shop is way more safe than a musty old tower that can be exploded down from the base, if Raven needed safety she could always hide out there." Maddie sniffed.
"Towers are for keeping people in. They suck at protecting people." Kitty shook her head at the sheer ridiculousness of the thought.
"Giles seemed to be more realistic about the whole thing." Briar informed a hint of approval in her voice. "He said that he wanted nothing to do with the Headmaster attempting to lock Raven away, he was just going to laugh when his brother's plan failed. And it will fail."
"Giles does seem like the more level headed one." Apple agreed. "So what should we do when they get here?"
"Let my mother's scribe inform them that we will not be returning to school, the brothers don't ever have to know about Apple or Faybelle, so once they find out that us from or adopted into Wonderland are no longer their students they will have no grounds to do anything, we, and our business will cease to be their problem." Lizzie intoned calmly. "Now as for the Book…"
"I'll take care of it." Apple promised a strange predatory gleam in her eye. "Faybelle and I will sneak back to school later when the coast is clear and gather Raven's things up so that she can just travel from here to the witch academy and not have to set one foot at Ever After."
"Thank you." Raven spoke softly to the princess, a soft, grateful smile on her lips.
Apple grabbed Raven's hand and molded herself to the witch's side. "It's no problem, I needed to grab my overnight bag anyway, I'm staying with you for the weekend remember? Just like I promised I would if you had to transfer." The princess stared at their entwined fingers with firm intensity.
Faybelle merely hummed once in token complaint at the princess's proximity, more concerned with the disturbing calm clarity that had settled in the princess's eyes, the fairy couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the blonde human…
XXX
"Miss princess perfect has been… surprisingly useful and not at all indecisive about herself today." Faybelle murmured as she and Raven were walking across one of the roof courtyards of the Heart castle, most everyone was either spending time with their reunited loved ones or taking a well deserved catnap, the royal physician had prescribed Raven with a flask of something that would help the slightly nervous witch relax and sleep until it was time for her to go. But the witch wanted to walk around for a while, enjoy the sights and quiet, Faybelle decided to join her and take the chance to see Wonderland from a rather privileged view. "I don't know whether or not to be thankful or worried."
"I'm happy." Raven confessed. "She was really starting to scare me for a while there, not only was I starting to worry about my wellbeing as her roommate but I was also worried about her and what she'd do if her happy ending didn't live up to what she was hoping for."
"Having a fetish for being poisoned is more than a little worrying." Faybelle stated flatly.
"Actually I think that it's her mom that has that fetish, Apple was just conditioned to expect that good things will happen when she gets poisoned." Raven grimaced. "That and she once confessed to me that she felt nothing for Daring so..."
"A basis for a true happy marriage for sure." Faybelle rolled her eyes."Humans can be so strange sometimes, willingly getting themselves into situations that would benefit them the least, forcing others to conform to their boneheaded ideals and then have the nerve to stand dumbstruck when they've lost all of the friends that mattered and are living out unhappily ever after's. I may be loyal to my story titles but that's because it's about family honor and it's in my best interests, there is more than one way to skin a fairytale but because it has to be completely just like the story or no story at all with Apple I just might have to find Duchess a princess charming and poison her instead of Apple. And Briar? I have no clue as to what to do with her now that she's gone completely Rebel with an attitude and an electric fly swatter! She threatened to hit me with it if I dared to even try to get her anywhere near a spinning wheel! Ever since she's found out about her story obligations being a lie she's gotten downright vicious!"
Raven smiled sadly. "Loopholes and bending the rules to get an agreeable outcome don't appear to register on most human's brains, and when they do, like with Duchess, they are ostracized for it."
"Or are forced to leave their stories altogether because of all the people who would take joy in seeing you and your family suffer." Faybelle eyed the witch with open pity.
"Do you suppose that Apple, before she was knocked into harsh little reality, ever considered what things would be like for you after the story, or even what they were like for you before Legacy Day?" Faybelle asked after a quiet moment.
Raven slowed to a stop, contemplating the black and white chess tiled path thoughtfully.
"I don't think anything mattered to her more than me poisoning her." Raven said softly. "She held this blind faith that everything would turn out all right, that by poisoning her I had the power to force everything to be all right for her. I was supposed to represent this ideal she had in her head that if she worked hard enough, was the best princess in school then I would deem her worthy and swoop in with my tricks and my attitude and just… make all the worries and the fears she had melt away. She said that she saw me more as a god than a mortal witch at the time and hearing her say that was just…"
"Horrible and unfair." Faybelle guessed. "Or at least that's what I'd be feeling."
"Gods often live lonely lives. Often choose to distance themselves from mortals for just this reason." Raven murmured hauntingly. "I'm sorry but… I am happy that she doesn't want to be Snow White any more; anybody else can go through the story and have that title without any issues but she… oh deities Faybelle I'm terrified that the fairytale just might've killed her! If I had known that she held such intense fanatic feelings towards this whole thing I would have… I don't know what I would have done to be honest, but if running away and being out of her reach would have help I would have happily withstood her hating me to the end of her days if it meant that… she ceased to have such destructive thoughts!"
"Unfortunately I agree with you." Faybelle sighed, looking at the twinkling lights falling from the sky. "And what's worse is that I would have ended up refusing to poison her anyway, I think, Apple has never been much concern for me in the past but had she not gotten her head in order after we became married I might've just have had to cut my losses with my obligations."
"What are your feelings towards her now?" Raven asked curiously. "When we first started out you really hated her."
"I'll admit that she's not so bad now, albeit she's still rather clingy of you." The fairy grumbled. "It's like you're married to me, you're my faithful wife, but you have this jealous human concubine who just doesn't want to let up or bargain a sensible non-human system that'll make the three of us work."
Faybelle snickered when the witch blushed deep red at the analogy.
"How do you feel about all of this? About us… and Apple?" Faybelle asked curiously.
"Horribly complicated." Raven sighed, slumping her shoulders. "I had feelings for Apple before, but I knew that as long as she wanted her fairytale and that she wanted me to be this completely different person it would end in heartbreak, and then I married you, and I found out that I like being married to you so far, like I'm starting to… develop feelings for you I like it so much, but then Apple stopped wanting her fairytale and started to act more like the person I first fell for and… it's not monogamous. My feelings for what to do with you two would require more contemplation and a lot of open conversations with the two of you about it… but none of that matters because my instincts are screaming at me that something major is going to happen soon in regards to this conflict my kingdom has with our enemies and I need to focus fully on that. Whether I end up with either, both, or neither one of you does not matter to me right now. I can't let it matter."
Faybelle flinched looking sheepish and almost apologetic. "Yeah okay you don't have to worry about me getting all emotional and demanding that you make a decision like some bad human actress in one of those trashy chick flicks that Duchess keeps dragging me kicking and screaming to. And if Apple cares about you nearly as much as you do her she won't have a problem with it either."
Raven giggled despite herself. "Sometimes it's good being in the real world where life or death situations take precedence over teenaged angst and very unexpected love triangles."
"At the very least the three of us are more badass than the triangle going on between Cupid, Dexter, and Sparrow." Faybelle snorted. "The girl just had to fall for a gay guy who was into bad boys in a band."
"I can top that, Daring has apparently developed his first real crush on my grandmother." Raven revealed with a particularly disturbed look on her face.
"Ouch." Faybelle winced sympathetically. "That's not even funny it's so sad, it's like a rooster falling for a full grown dragoness!"
"Which is why I'm staying out of it." Raven vowed tiredly. "I feel much better now, thank you."
"You're my wife." Faybelle shrugged as if that explained everything, leaning down and giving Raven a soft chaste kiss on the lips. "And personally I think that the normal dynamics of human love triangles are stupid and a lot less fun, I'm sure that something will be figured out."
XXX
Apple stood on the balcony of one of the many towers that made up the Heart castle, silently watching the exchange between the witch and fairy.
Raven was… happy in Faybelle's presence, she was… she felt safe enough to talk to the fairy let herself get close to Faybelle. Raven never asked to have such a complicated home life; she never asked to be the daughter to the Evil Queen…
…She never asked to have Apple as a roommate, making things feel worse and worse with each passing day…
"It was all a lie, Raven knew that Apple's fairytale was a sham from the start and that being near the princess would only cause her grief but the witch stayed, tried to works things out, tried to form a friendship that was kind, healthy, and sane…
And she tried to give Apple what the princess wanted more than anything in the world without getting hurt herself, because Apple was too caught up in herself to see, to ever listen long enough to look past the pretty lies of fairytales to the dark twisted truth that awaited the both of them. The lies were like dark vines that were twisting around ugly sharp gears that turned the movements of the tired old dance of the figures in the music box, the decay slowly creeping up until the clueless figures were engulfed and slowly broken bit by bit, all while the music played cheerfully on.
And maybe Raven had hoped that Apple would find happiness in her delusions, Raven certainly wasn't one to let Apple get hurt purposefully.
And now that Apple had bothered to listen, to see, the princess realized that everything she had wanted to gain out of her fairytale… she actually already had all along in Raven.
But all because of a little old book filled with little old lies Apple's chances to get a real happily ever after were slipping further and further away.
The princess ran a finger down the spine of the Book of Legends.
Would all the lies disappear if the Book of twisted lies was no more? The princess couldn't help but wonder.
XXX
"I'm off to get some sleep, care to join me?" Raven offered shyly.
"In a bit, I want to fly around for a little while, enjoy having a win over the enemy and all." Faybelle shrugged, looking off to the side distractedly.
"Fair enough." Raven chuckled beginning to jog away. "I'll be seeing you!"
The witch continued on her walk, taking the long way back to the guest halls in order to enjoy the whole concept of being in a curse-free Wonderland and the warm fuzzy feeling that came with it.
That is until the sound of quiet grumbling and two aged hands appearing over a railing caught her attention.
"Headmaster?" Raven shrieked when she peered over the side to see the old man trying valiantly to keep hold of the railing in order to keep himself from plummeting hundreds of feet to the ground. "Headmaster you get yourself down from there this instant! It's dangerous playing around like that!" The witch snapped on instinct, as if she were talking to a young warlock.
"I wouldn't be making demands if I were you young lady!" Milton snapped back.
"You're climbing a wall without a safety net or rope!" The girl clutched at her hair. "How do I not have the right to make demands from a grown man who tries to scale a well guarded building with his bare hands? How did you even make it this far?"
"He used to have a flying strip o' cloth Lady Miss." A guard's voice could be heard coming from somewhere below. "But dun worry we shots its down with flamin' arrows."
"Real funny the way he leaped at de banister." A deeper voice snickered. "Got to hand it 't de odder guy, at least he knew how 't fly."
Raven glanced up to see Giles hovering above her head on a carpet; he smiled and waved at her, seemingly unconcerned by his brother's predicament.
"Oh for the love of-" Raven snarled shoving up her sleeves and taking off her gloves before igniting her arm in magic and grabbing the Headmaster's arm.
"Does did mean we can'ts shoot at 'im no more?" A high, disappointed voice asked.
"No more trying to kill these guys!" Raven ordered as she pushed her magic out to engulf the dangling man. "They pose no threat to the queen or her daughter but if you could please send up an armed escort to kindly help the Grimm brothers back into Ever After that would be very much appreciated!"
"You are in so much trouble young lady!" Milton pushed himself up as his granddaughter's magic helped levitate him and she helped guide him safely onto the solid footpath of a tower garden.
"I was in trouble long before I attended Ever After High!" Raven hissed spitefully. "What were you thinking trying to infiltrate one of the most secure castles known to have ever existed? Hex, what were you thinking traveling around Wonderland without an escort or documents for a safe passage? Mira told me how you two were nearly killed today! If my mother hadn't stepped in… are you actively trying to give me a coronary?"
"You're the one to talk about us putting ourselves in danger Miss Queen!" Milton argued back.
"I had five, count them, five Wonderland native guides, The Book of Legends, and as a surprise bonus, a mother trailing behind in the shadows with a mean streak a mile wide and two miles deep! Plus I had just lifted Wonderland and all of the other worlds from the fake curse my mother put on all of them! You may be sneaky Headmaster but if the wrong thing came by you it would be that unicorn incident all over again!" The witch shot at the man. "You need to stop putting yourself in danger for the sake of fairytales! Do you have any idea how guilty I'd feel if you up and kicked it because you were so terrified about the sky falling if the Book wasn't signed you decide to try to convince everybody otherwise only to end up falling off a cliff?"
"And whose fault is that?" Milton crossed his arms.
"Yours!" Raven exclaimed. "Nobody ordered you to get sat on by a giant, or dunk your hand in trolls tears, or nearly get gored by a unicorn! No one told you to go about that whole wishing well coin scam either! It was all you! I have enough to worry about with regaining my honor and protecting my family from being assassinated to even begin to worry about an old man willing to get himself killed for the sake of a story where I could be replaced so easily!"
"It's dangerous to go without the fairytales Miss Queen." Milton tried to reason in a more consoling tone, mollified slightly by the girl's argument.
"Not in my case it isn't!" Raven put her hands on her hips and stared down the older man. "My kingdom isn't protected by the fairytale legal agreements remember? Did you not read the file I left on your desk explaining it all?"
"I didn't have time because I took time out of my schedule to try to find you because I had just figured out that those abhorrent skin decorations mean that you're about to get married!" Milton gestured wildly. "You're too young to get married!"
Raven began gesturing too. "I'm seventeen!"
"Still too young!" Milton shot back.
"I am an adult and I am the future heir to the thrones of the King and Queen lands, and if I want to enter a marriage agreement to make a powerful ally and better the protection of the lives of my people so help me I will always choose this course of action over becoming the next Evil Queen in a purely ceremonial and over dramatized human ritual!" The girl growled with raw emotion.
"But that's not the only option that you have!" Milton shot back waiving his arms some more.
"My mother tried the scare-the-enemy-into-submission-because-she-is-the-freaking-Evil-Queen-and-to-hex-with-the-conciquentces option and it didn't work nearly as well as we needed it to!" Raven exclaimed.
"You could have asked for help!" Milton exclaimed.
"No I couldn't!"
"Yes you could!"
"No I can't!"
"Yes you can!"
Giles watched the two bicker and had a sudden, foreboding realization of what the possible near future was going to look like, and also that there was little doubt that stubbornness was indeed an inherited trait in their family.
"That's why I married Faybelle Thorn!" The witch shouted at last.
"Miss Thorn-? No, I'm talking about coming to myself and my brother for help!" Milton gestured at himself and his still hovering brother desperately.
"And what could you possibly do to help?" Raven demanded. "The Grimm family has to remain neutral at all costs! And if word got out that you had any involvement with you-should-who-know-by-now-since-he-just-tried-to-kill-you no matter how unintentional or in the dark you were about it all-"
"We could've protected you!" Milton cut in. "We can still protect you, if you could just please come with us-"
"I have a responsibility for the safety of my people-"
"You can't do anything if you're killed-"
"What can possibly be done by me hiding, you have no legal grounds to help-"
"I have a lot more grounds than you may think-"
"I can't involve you! I could be putting the school in danger-"
"No you won't be-"
"Yes I will and you know it!"
"Dis is better than television." Giles heard the voice from a guard listening in from far below.