"So people who have been in the "cursed until the fairytale is done" population of Ever After are now… getting un-cursed?" Mira asked incredulously as she soothingly ran her fingers over Cedar's hair.

"We've got confirmed reports from all over Ever After." Dexter reported as he flicked through his mirror-pad. "And Sparrow just hexted me about Duchess's mom finally being able to transform back into human form."

Blondie looked around the infirmary room containing her crew, Cedar, and Daring. "And both Apple and Raven are away at the moment. What should we do?"

She was met by confused shrugs and bewildered looks.

"Um… I'm still new here so… what does my lady and Miss Apple have anything to do with what we should do about this situation? I mean surely the teachers and the Grimm brothers would be fully capable to soothe any worried feathers and figure out what is going on right?" Mira piped up trying to sound both reassuring and confused at the same time.

"That was before Raven denied her destiny." Humphrey scratched the back of his head. "After that… things just tended to get so crazy at times that the teachers tended to get really stumped about what to do… because before all of this revolution stuff things tended to be…"

"Predictable." Mira supplied, thinking back to how people had reacted to the thought of Clawstorm, a future villain, being bullied by a bunch of maidens, and how most people tended to pretend not to see what had been happening because of the whole human notion of everybody having to fit in with their stereotypes.

Which had not been fair in Clawstorm's opinion because she had been the one to be reprimanded for not being scary enough and the maidens and Snowy freaking White, had never even been approached by the human faculty for their un-maidenly behavior, On occasion one of the non-human teachers would catch the girls off guard and lecture them about how they seemed to fit more into the evil villain ideal than most of the actual villains in the school but…

Mira released a breath and focused on not getting worked up over past wounds.

"So being the unofficial leaders to both factions means that it was up to my Lady and Miss Apple to sort out the issues that popped up with this new uncharted territory?" The witch asked peering at the others as they all nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Right." Mira stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. "So perhaps the question that we should all be asking right now is; what would my Lady and Miss Apple do to keep the school population calm while the faculty frantically try to figure out just what is transpiring around here?"

"Umm…" Daring furrowed his brows. "W-well in kingdom management classes we were taught the importance of keeping the masses as calm as possible in any situation so… tell them that there is nothing to be concerned about?"

"That's a good start." Mira praised. "But we also need to remember that people will have lots of questions and that they will need some kind of answer to tide them over and keep them calm until actual facts are discovered and a plan of action is reached."

"But… we don't know whether or not this is a safe or dangerous thing." Humphrey raised his hand timidly. "Not that your idea isn't a very good idea I mean… just by talking to you I feel safer already!" He quickly assured.

"It's fine, that is a very good thing to point out." Mira smiled kindly at the boy and suppressing a guilty wince at the obvious crush the other had on her (Blondie must have noticed too because she was giving Clawstorm a painfully sympathetic look right now). "So now what we have to do is use our common sense; thus far have there been any reports, or can you think of any fairytales where people's lives would be put into danger?"

"No." Cupid shook her head as she started to catch onto what the witch was trying to do. "The only real issue that people would have with this is the Royal side of the faction and whether or not they'd be able to go through with their destinies."

"Alright, so how should we go about soothing those fears?" Mira asked.

"Raven is always reminding us that we have a choice whether or not we follow our destinies." Dexter hummed in thought. "If we tell people that nothing has changed on that front then that should be enough to smooth down any ruffled nerves."

"Good. Now are there any other issues that you think that we should address?" Mira clapped her hands together and gave everyone a proud smile.

"Umm…" Cedar began uncertainly. "I'd like some help with figuring out how to work my new body please." She asked shyly.

"I bet you do." Mira cooed sympathetically. "You must be immensely overwhelmed at the moment. Prince Daring, are you free to look after her until someone gets ahold of her roommate?"

"It would be my honor." Daring dipped his head in acceptance.

"Great, that seems to be everything." Mira smiled to herself satisfied. "Now we just need to broadcast our news."

"We need to find someone who the public can trust to inform them of this news first." Blondie piped up looking at Mira keenly.

"The issue of the Royal vs. Rebel conflict is still a sore issue for most people so we can't pick just anybody to put their face onto the screen. Paranoia of the other faction trying to sabotage the other is still high… mostly due to individuals unnamed who tried to get Raven to win a certain villain contest a few months ago." Dexter explained exchanging looks with the rest of the room. "Aside from Apple and/or Raven there is only one person who the school population will trust without becoming worried about underhandedness."

Mira nodded because she had heard about that particular day where the Headmaster and Apple White had tried to force her daughter into participating in that contest and how her daughter and Faybelle Thorn had foiled their plan in a very public, very effective fashion, and she had practically felt the nervousness over people's split opinions about it.

"Whose this person that people will trust? Do you suppose that they'll allow for us to ask them for a favor?" The witch asked.

The rest of the room stared at her pointedly.

"…Please tell me that you all are not staring at me." Mira gulped nervously.

"You are the only neutral person at this school." Humphrey pled. "And you'd look so perfect on camera with your alluring confidence and your cool persona added onto your exotic beauty- er, that is to say from a totally professional standpoint..."

"Our staff polls show that the student body trusts you as an unofficial third party when it comes to the faction conflict. And more importantly you can see the benefits from both sides of this issue while still being completely neutral, it isn't everyday that we get a student with not only your non-conforming beliefs but also has a vague enough upbringing that you could be seen as either a Rebel or Royal or both by the average student." Cupid argued her point.

"Very assuring to the populace." Dexter nodded. "You are like the unofficial third-in-command to both Apple and Raven due to your beliefs and popularity."

"Popularity?" Mira scrunched up her face incredulously.

"The witchy sweetheart of Ever After High." Cupid smirked smugly in the face of the witch's embarrassment and disbelief. "What with your reporting stories covering issues like uncovering that unsanitary restaurant's illegal pollution dumping secrets to always making those little health charms that you donate to charities you've gained quite the little following."

"…Following?" Mira asked weakly, not quite sure how to compute such a thing. It felt a lot like whiplash to be honest, sure she knew that things had been easier this time around at the school but… to have people actually wanting to depend on her, trust her, treat her kindly… she just didn't want to completely trust it. She didn't think that she'd ever be able to completely trust it, not after all the hell and heartache she went through the first time around.

"I know that I'd feel safe and assured if someone like you were to tell me that I did not have to worry so much about this recent round of strangeness." Daring smiled charmingly as he batted his eyes innocently.

Mira looked to Cedar, who gave her a bright, hopeful look.

"I suppose that you're still into the whole "no lying" thing huh?" Mira grasped Cedar's hand gently.

"Yep." The girl nodded earnestly. "I trust you, and I know that other people can trust you too. It would make me feel lots better if I heard you make that announcement."

There was that word again; trust. When Clawstorm had been her age the word had a twisted and bitter meaning when it came to anything relating to this school, people trusted that the maidens were all inherently fair and right about everything, people trusted that she was a witch and born into a fairytale villain family and therefore she was to be mocked and belittled on principle.

And she had soon trusted that there were very few people that she could actually trust, and when everything in the world got shot to hell she trusted that turning into what would appear to be the very worst bad guy in history was her only option. Because she had begged help from the very same people that could have done something to stop it all before and… they had trusted the idea of maidens and her heritage stereotype over her own words and the blatant, ugly truth standing in front of them and threw her to the scrap heap.

And now people trusted her? Like she was a good thing, like she was an actual person and not a… and not a pile of trash to be thrown away when her use was done?

She just couldn't trust it, not completely.

However…

"I'm not sure whether I'm that much liked." She chuckled embarrassed, running her fingers through the prone girl's soft and curly hair. "But if it makes just one individual like you feel safer for a witch to say such things then I'll be happy to make that broadcast and just see what happened later."

Cedar gave the witch such a brilliant smile that Mira didn't see how the others in the room flinched slightly at her words (Blondie who knew about Mira being Clawstorm only sighed pityingly); they had all sort of guessed that Mira had been exposed to some pretty bad racism towards her kind in the past with the way she always seemed so surprised that they'd want to include a witch like her in anything that wasn't evil related, and they all knew by now that Mira's aversion to standing in the spotlight and making reports herself was mostly due to her worry that people would take it the wrong way if a witch were to speak so openly.

They all had private talks in the past about it, and now they had all resolved themselves to helping the witch understand that she was in a safe place and she didn't have to constantly worry about someone shouting "witch" and gathering up a lynch mob.

"I feel much better already!" Cedar exclaimed.

Mira smiled warmly.

XXX

"It's good to be home." Kitty sighed happily as she snuggled close to Maddie, the two were in a large luxurious bed and room that they had been given while they stayed at the Hearts castle until they could find a place of their own.

"It's good to be in a place where we don't have to hide our engagement." Maddie giggled. "And for the moment we can enjoy it, Wonderland is free, we are together, and Raven is at her new school, far safer than she's ever been in a while."

"She may be safe but let's just see how long her sanity lasts with the fair one and the trickster fairy hanging around. Coupled with the usual trouble that resides in Ever After on a weekly basis. She did say that she had something unbelievable to tell us when we drop by later this week." Kitty reminded.

"Does it sometimes feel like Ever After makes Wonderland seem sane?" Maddie mused.

"More often than I'd like to think about." Kitty snorted, rolling over and burying the two beneath the covers.

XXX

Raven woke up to the sound of obnoxious snoring in one ear, sleepy muttering in her other ear, and two sets of hands that had wandered to groping territories.

It was almost as if her two companions were set on staking a claim even in their sleep.

However Raven soon found that she had regained the ability to sit up and delicately crawl away from her hands-y bedmates, standing and walking were two skills that she was a bit wobbly on but she had been able to sneak out of the room and down the stairs without waking up anybody.

The marriage-housing apartment was smaller than the dorm back at Ever After, but it was designed in a way that it was able to function as a fully functional two room (plus nursery space) and two bath small apartment with a living room and fully stocked kitchen (much to Raven's pleasant surprise) while making the whole area look larger than it actually was.

It was all kind of bare looking, Raven observed as she started cooking dinner, even with the sparse furniture that had to have been either included in the package or bought by someone in the Thorn clan, but Raven had her suspicions that it would not be long before both Faybelle and Apple were bickering over color schemes and wall art. Apple was better at that sort of thing than either Faybelle or she was, mostly because both witch and fairy didn't really care about how presentable their private living spaces were aside from the fact that they were clean, and Raven was kind of a practicing minimalist, mostly using what little she considered hers on a day to day basis and only wearing or using any of the Evil Queen regalia at the dorm in Ever After out of politeness, so Faybelle was probably going to be the one to pitch a fit about always buying matching colors to fit the schemes in each room.

And then there was the issue of the cradle and changing table…

Nevermore, when they moved the dragon in next week (she was staying with Ashlynn and Hunter for the weekend and with Apple for the week), was probably going to be the one to claim the nursery and those two objects as her own if Raven's odd luck continued it's natural course. It would be just like the dragon to become the unofficial love-child of the trio, the creature certainly already acted like it was a child sometimes according to Apple who enjoyed taking videos and pictures of the dragon to post on her my-chapter page.

Hunter and the rest of the Rebels were never going to let her live it down once pictures of Nevermore in a cradle started to pop up.

While plating their meals Raven suddenly realized that there was only one bathroom with a shower for all three of them to share (one on the main floor with the shower in it, the other in the master bedroom), the other one was just a sink and a toilet.

Living with Apple long enough to know that the princess adored spending an hour at least in the bathtub at the dorm and knowing Faybelle enjoyed having some time to unwind in the shower meant that was a definite problem area.

Raven did a quick search of the premises, knowing that there was a mailbox thing containing a bunch of maps and menus for the area somewhere, the witch hoped that there would be a bathhouse somewhere very close by because she had no desire to be the third party in the impending wars for the one shower.

Her quest was halted when the sound of murmured words came from the upper floor.

"Better go head off a fight before it starts." Raven sighed determined to get through the weekend with as minimal bloodshed as possible.

"Why do you love her so much? What made you suddenly decide that you were going to fight me of all people to keep her?" Faybelle's question made Raven still before she dared knock on the door.

"I found out by accident actually." Apple could be heard sighing. "It was just after I had my… major melt down a few months ago, Briar had been ticked off and Ashlynn, I think, was starting to wonder if I was someone even worth the effort to be friends with. They were wondering why I was so bent out of shape about Raven finding me a new villain, since all that I kept saying that I wanted was my fairytale it really shouldn't have been such an issue with me to have someone else do the part, in fact if it had been anybody else I would have been glad to have a different villain."

"But Raven isn't just anybody else to you." Faybelle concluded.

"No, she's not." Apple agreed. "Ashlynn and Briar… they did this thing, where they managed to trick me into voicing what I had been so unwilling to admit to myself for so long, that I had fallen in love with Raven… that I wanted her to be in my life for more than just a villain capacity. And that's when I started to realize how important she is to me, how even when I was freaking out about my story being a lie and my parents lying to me… being so horribly cruel and un-perfect towards other people to the point of hurting them… the only real thing that I wanted right then was Raven, because… she was more to me than just a villain to play fairytale with, she was my partner, the one I trusted and loved the most and the one I knew I could count on to try to make things better!"

"Only she wasn't there, she was with me." Faybelle emphasized.

"Making a contract with you that would benefit both her and me." Apple corrected. "She wanted a better villain for me, which I'll admit that you do fit the bill far better than she does, and she wanted peace and protection for her family and kingdom… and she wanted to protect herself from me."

"So you admit it." Faybelle sounded intrigued.

"That I was hurting her with my obsession to make her the perfect villain for me? Yes… yes I do admit it, I'll also admit that it is my fault that she didn't feel safe trusting me with anything and thus ended up turning to someone else, turning to you for help, and now I have to work all the harder not to lose her." The princess sighed irritably.

"…You do realize that I'm not giving her up either right?" The fairy asked.

"I'm well aware." Apple grumbled dryly. "As I am aware that Raven appears to be fond of us both, equally."

There was a silence after that, Raven looking guiltily down at the carpeted landing because that statement was altogether far too true.

"I still need to poison somebody Apple." Faybelle stated in warning.

"Raven's mother never signed the Book, if my mother ever found out that more than two people knew about this fact she'd have kittens. I'll slip out your name with the most highest recommendations when that event transpires." Apple promised sounding almost righteous in tone.

"You're offering up your own mother?" Faybelle sounded as incredulous as Raven felt.

"A mother who so kindly lied to me, gave me a very disturbing complex towards being poisoned and viewing Raven like she was a god, was willing to knowingly throw me at an unhappily ever after, and had a hand in harming Raven's mother and their kingdom years after the fact." The princess growled. "It would be my utmost pleasure to hand her into your capable hands."

"…You know I never would have thought that I'd ever get to see you actively against fairytales before… or voice the desire to get drastic revenge…" Faybelle trailed off, uncertain.

"My mother adores the idea of being poisoned by Raven's mother far too much, and she'll make my life unbearable if she feels like her damsel image will be taken away from her popularity poles." Apple spat. "Really I'd just be heading off some major trouble by sending you to her."

"…You have been acting very differently lately." Faybelle observed.

"That's because I've stopped acting." Apple countered back. "My whole life I've been expected to become this perfect ideal of something that doesn't exist, the only time that I've ever been myself, just Apple, to anyone is Raven who was somehow always able to bring out my non-maiden princess qualities when we were alone. I'm tired of acting like everything will be all right if I just sit back and act helpless, I'm tired of pretending that I know exactly who I am, and I'm tired of pretending that I'm not capable of anything without a prince around to tell me what to do!"

"That does sound rather exhausting." Faybelle admitted.

"Maidens aren't supposed to be smart or have un-pure needs." Apple grumbled. "I hate myself for being so blind to the point where I pushed Raven into somebody else's arms… when all along she could have been in my arms instead. And what's worse is that you're a decent spouse for her, you care for her and treat her so well, to the point where I can see her fall for you almost as far as she's fallen for me!"

Raven blushed bright red, she hadn't known that she was so transparent about her feelings.

"…We are going to have to work out a truce princess." Faybelle decided. "Raven deserves better than our constant bickering over her right now and it's no longer fun trying to make you cry now that you are acting like a sane person. We'd both end up losing her if we continued as we have been."

"You make it sound so easy." Apple groaned. "Not that I don't begrudgingly agree with you, but… well it's not like we can just share Raven, and it's not as if the tension between us will just go away, even with all of the stuff going on in the background."

"You are thinking about this on strictly human terms in the Ever After human traditional concept that there can only be one spouse for everyone. What you have to remember here princess is that you are dealing with a fairy and a witch." Faybelle reminded with a snicker. "Do you have any idea how many options there are just because of that fact?"

"I do know from my research that there are more different kinds of marriages and marriage agreements than there are different Charming families." Apple admitted reluctantly. "I know from a abstract standpoint that even the strangest of unions have been known to work for the right people but…"

"It still mystifies you as to how relationships involving more than two people can work out." Faybelle finished.

Silence was the fairy's answer.

"Let's promise on a tentative contract level to just… stop trying to steal Raven away from the other, and for the both of us to work towards a mutually beneficial scenario where we defeat the morons causing so much trouble and reach a point where it doesn't harm either of us in whatever Raven chooses to do with us." Faybelle proposed. "As much as I'm supposed to encourage maiden's troubles with the world at large, you are now my princess, and I am obligated to protect you just as much as I am to protect Raven who is my wife. It's just not beneficial to me in the end if we don't- and I can't believe that I of all people am saying this- learn to share."

"…That hurt you to say didn't it."

"You have no idea." Faybelle groaned.

"So what does that make me?" Apple asked. "Is there a term for this kind of relationship?"

The fairy snickered. "Oh yes indeedy princess, amongst both fairy and witch traditions you'd be considered my wife's concubine." Faybelle cackled gleefully.

"From what I've read that means that I get to satisfy her while your busy with other things right?" Apple countered with a taunting lilt in her tone.

"Dinner's ready!" Raven knocked on the door frantically, blushing from head to toe. "And don't forget that we're meeting my grandmother and Faybelle's cousin first thing tomorrow so pick out what you want to wear to breakfast after dinner!"

Those two were going to drive her up the wall if left to their own devises, the witch predicted as she scurried down the stairs.

XXX

"The Book's cover has turned to a silver finish." Giles observed with an exhausted yawn. "But that and the strange occurrences around campus don't appear to be dangerous or life threatening so I feel as though we can afford getting a few hours of sleep tonight-." He glances over to the sun shining in the window, and then looks to the clock. "This afternoon… wow the time really flew by."

"I already had a decent nap while you were off at the healer's checking in on our student's conditions for those few hours earlier. I'm staying up for a while longer… there are some things that I need to look over first." The Headmaster informed distractedly.

"Suit yourself." Giles shrugged walking out.

Milton stared at the picture that he had acquired from Elenore's letter to her granddaughter concerning his identity.

He didn't like to admit that he was wrong; it came with territory of the same stubbornness that he had inherited from his father, but in this case Milton thought that it was necessary to sit down for a moment and take on the difficult task of admitting, if just to himself, the full spectrum to how wrong he had been.

It… frightened him that his granddaughter had not yelled at him, sure when her mother had cursed at him for being her father it had hurt but he was able to deal with it far better than such easy acceptance.

He was a bad man, he was ashamed to say, he had let his grief and anger overpower his moral judgment and because of that…

Clawstorm had been such a tiny thing the last time she had sat in the chair across his desk, bitter, defiant, and armed with the cynicism of a thirty-year-old, but still just a child. A child that had learned to distrust getting help from anybody and had turned herself into a criminal just to hope, even a little bit, that she could scare away all the bad people from those she loved the most.

She could have gone for his help, could have left her injured child in his care while something less damaging to her name could have been done to stop this all, he could have had the ability to stop this years ago. He could have treated her better, could have made her life easier by maybe looking into the reason why a villain of her family standing, and a girl as fearless as she, needed to ask for help against a group of maidens (he guessed that there was something going on behind his back at the time but it was too late now to know exactly what) and maybe he might have found some peace in taking the higher road with his hurting feelings, maybe even find a way to gather up the courage to tell Elenore that he was sorry for being such a social ladder climbing moron and that leaving her was the biggest mistake of his life… or at least not acting like such a pompous bastard about it.

He had hurt so much when he found out that she had found someone else, had produced a child from someone else, he wanted to slight her for moving on and acting as though she hadn't been proclaiming him as her boyfriend and making romantic gestures towards him since practically the day they had met as children, that she made moving on look so easy!

He regretted it. He got no satisfaction out of denying help to the little girl, or calling her a disgrace. In fact he began regretting his actions when she began actively avoiding getting within twenty feet of him, constantly poisoning a young Snow White with an apple (he really should have gotten suspicious when she declared it an act of self defense and that she had been having troubles getting the other girl to stop outright demanding to be poisoned, especially since she had physical evidence and eye-witness accounts that she was telling the truth…), he had left her alone for the most part after that, knowing that he had screwed up but refusing to acknowledge it.

And then Wonderland happened, most of the former staff that had known about Clawstorm's struggles and his refusal to help her had all stood up and quit the next day, and everything had blown up in his face.

He had tried his best to treat Raven Queen fairly, and save for the coin incident, he didn't try to actively go after her for denying destiny, and apparently, beyond all reason, she had actually grown to respect him for it! Which had been slightly worrisome because that meant that she had expected him to act cruelly towards her.

It wasn't that he was complaining or anything but the concept had him utterly baffled.

Still he needed to talk to Elenore. It was the right, responsible thing to do, and this was far more important than any lingering feelings of hurt between them, this was all about the safety of their family! …Even though their family was as fractured as it was…

And even if they weren't related to him it was still his responsibility to protect them. He wanted to protect them.

His daughter was the one he worried the most about at the moment; he had no idea where she was, if she was safe or…

His intelligent powerful daughter, who willingly dishonored her name and allowed herself to be imprisoned for seven years just so that the enemy would fear her wrath and ambiguity to the point of falling silent with their attacks. Never asking for help, never allowing anybody to share the blame, cloaking her true motives in lie after lie in an act of self-sacrifice.

Hell yes he was worried for her the most. How could he not be with those facts staring him in the face?

And he was a grandfather now; he had a chance to be a grandparent in some capacity, act as much like a father as he could given the circumstances (and the limitations in regard to the fact that his daughter seemed to be keen on not speaking to him), he just ached to make up for lost time!

So, so much lost time…

And he couldn't be more proud of both witches, of their accomplishments, of their strong wills and faithful loyalties, the both of them had turned out to be extraordinary women in their own rights who were resiliently adapting the best that they could in the face of overwhelming odds against them. It may hurt to know that he had been cruelly denied the chance to raise them and watch them grow but they both had turned out exceptionally well, and he was keen to keep them alive so that they could continue to live exceptional lives.

He stood up, walking further into his chambers with purpose; he had wasted months of time fretting and worrying and he was getting tired of the constant foreboding feeling of not knowing what would happen if or when he did gather up the courage to come face to face with the mother of his child, the woman he loved so dearly for so long, and his betrayal to her ending up leaving him so broken inside that he had given up finding anybody else to love…

Milton shook his head dispelling those crippling self-sorry thoughts as he clicked closed his packed overnight bag.

Hathor Academy was several hours behind Ever After; it would be mid-morning by the time he reached the school.

He was taking a chance, he was probably going to return with some new heartbreak, and it was going to be incredibly awkward, but at least he was finally going to talk to Elenore and the two of them out of the love for their child and grandchild would come to some sort of plan of attack to protect them.

XXX

Elenore sighed contently as she wheeled herself back to the faculty housing, breathing in the fresh air damp with the smell of water and earth after a good rain. Breakfast at the small outdoor café had gone well and her granddaughter seemed happy, albeit hilariously exasperated by her two companions, Faybelle Thorn and Apple White, but both girls appeared to be dedicated towards Raven's happiness and wellbeing and that was all that really mattered.

And Milton finally told the girl that he was her grandfather (something that had the Thorn girls and little Apple all looked at her in disbelief about, much to Elenore's endless amusement), she hoped that particular issue ended well, though she had a feeling that Milton would be more tied up in knots about what to do than Raven would be.

It was going to be strange, having long-distance dual custody of their offspring, but since Milton had not even tried to contact her again after that discreet secret letter she highly doubted that he wanted to ever see her-

"Elenore?" A bewildered voice caused the witch to halt in her path.

His hair was completely grey now, face and hands weathered with age, and his shocked expression was slightly in shadow due to the wide brim of his hat but there was no mistaking the identity of the man who had called out her name.

"Milton?" Elenore blinked completely thrown for a loop.