A/n: writing about Elenore and the Headmaster is kind of more difficult than I had first thought it would be, it's kind of difficult writing about old people being romantic and it doesn't help that the cannon character of the Headmaster from the series doesn't really give me much to go on character wise so I'm having to look up old Victorian love poetry and redesign and add onto the Headmaster character in this fic in order to get an individual that I can write about.
It also doesn't help that the animated version of the guy is… kind of the manifestation of a clichéd angry old guy/villain found in lots of children's TV shows and who I generally tended to silently hope would get killed off in cannon when I watched these kind of things as a child. But I don't want to kill him off in this story (maybe) and I want to succeed in the challenge in making this guy… a little bit more likable (because the whole thing about the principal/teacher being the evil doer in everything got old real fast for me years ago).
And also I really think that the dude needs a girlfriend, and not some bitty old lady extra, I mean someone who is like Elenore, and isn't afraid to tell him that he's acting like a moron or a child when he gets into one of his tantrums. That I'd pay to see.
XXX
She had a few, small slivers of grey strands of hair intermixed with the deep black body and blood red highlights (unusual for a witch of her age but considering the stress she must be under…), and she was confined to a wheelchair but aside from that Elenore looked exactly the same as she had the last time he had laid eyes on her.
"You came?" Elenore asked her eyes wide and disbelieving.
"Better several decades late than never." Milton shrugged self-consciously.
The witch looked around her worriedly. "It's not safe, if they knew you were here-"
"That contract made on my head if you were ever to come near me again was made back when they had hoped to trick me into marrying one of their own, or get one of their own to become the new Headmaster of the school. Both of their plans failed and I'm fairly confident that Ever After High has been scrapped from their future plans." Milton cut her off, trying to calm the rising terror showing on the woman's face. "And aside from that there are two very important someone's that I need to discuss with you."
"I never wanted to keep Clawstorm a secret from you Milton." Elenore told him truthfully. "And I never felt any vicious satisfaction over it, I always wanted to tell you the truth, but the threats…"
"I know that you kept quiet to protect me." Milton assured quietly. "And I know that you never wanted to hurt me, which was far better than the treatment that I had foolishly extended to you and our daughter. I regret those actions more than anything else in the world."
Elenore bit her bottom lip and inhaled deeply. "You are here because you are worried about Clawstorm and Raven."
"And you too." Milton swore. "You are all in danger, and a lot of it, much to my horror and shame, is my fault in certain ways. I want to help you get all of this to stop, so that you all can have safe futures to do as you please… I know that I'm probably the last person you want to talk to but… please, tell me what is going on, tell me what I can do, just… please don't send me away. I do care about what happens to those girls and… I want to take responsibility for them, and whether you despise me or not for what I've done in the past… rest assured I'll do whatever it takes to be as good of a father, grandfather… and whatever nice label you can come up for… whatever we may turn out to be, as I can."
Elenore was silent for a moment, considering the man's words.
"Okay." She spoke at last, sounding a little hoarse. "Let's give this a try."
XXX
"Your grandmother is a gorgeous, smart, well humored and open minded witch." Apple observed as they walked slowly down the stone cobbled road.
"So how did someone like her end up with the Headmaster?" Faybelle gagged.
"He was a lot younger then." Raven rolled her eyes. "And besides that I try not to concern myself with her preferences in men, she is my grandmother after all and thinking about her with anybody in a romantic capacity… I just try to distance my mind from the concept as much as possible really." The witch scrunches up her face in vague disgust. "Mostly I only compute her love life in abstract values."
"Well trust someone who can't help but think about in in very realism terms; it's kinda disturbing, I mean even by human old guy standards your grandfather is… not exactly the most attractive man in the world…" Charlotte winced.
"And he's not the most trustworthy or really worth being so heartbroken over." Apple sniffed darkly.
"But he still managed to hold her interest long enough to create my mother and he does seem to want to at least try to be a grandfather." Raven reminded them all gently. "That's more than what a lot of people can say about their estranged relatives."
"As long as he doesn't act unprofessionally over me stealing your title and making you my bride." Faybelle huffed. "I'm not going to stop being the Evil Fairy Queen just because he's my in-law."
"Ooh look it's that bathhouse I was checking out on that map earlier." Raven pointed out, trying to change the subject to less controversial matters.
"Yeah pretty much everybody makes use of those around the family areas of the campus." Charlotte nodded. "The small family housing units don't always come with full bathing areas and the bathhouse is a lot cheaper on the monthly water bill rather than a unit with a full bath."
"They have these sorts of places in my maternal home kingdom." Raven recalled. "The ones back home are intersex though, is it the same here?"
"Pretty much." Charlotte nodded. "Though the ones in the residential areas like this one do come with female only pools and private pools, but you have to book the private ones in advance."
"Intersex…?" Apple asked looking worried.
"Oh that's right they don't do that sort of thing in Ever After." Raven realized. "Well… you see Apple- lessee how do I explain this?"
"We generally don't care about nudity nearly as much as your culture does." Faybelle stated bluntly. "There are varying degrees of comfort levels from individual to individual in regards to who they may see naked, but for the most part as long as no one is being a creep no one cares about the whole gender thing when it comes to bathing in a giant public bathing pool."
"So you've both seen boys… naked before?" The princess's brows shot up and her eyes widened at the concept.
"In a strictly platonic fashion, yes." Charolette shrugged as her cousin and Raven both nodded in confirmation.
"Wait…" Apple scrunched her face up as a strange thought hit her. "So… does this apply to whole families too? Like fathers, brothers… cousins…?"
"Yes." Charlotte and Faybelle spoke as one.
"Not in my case." Raven coughed. "On my maternal strictly witchy side of the family I've been conditioned not to worry about it much, especially since many political deals and meetings with the lords from our non-human neighbors and territories feel safer doing business in pools where everyone is naked and without any surprise weapons hidden on their bodies. However, with my human side of the family… things are incredibly different, I'd feel highly uncomfortable if I had to conduct business or take a bath if a male human relative was in the same room, it's just how I was raised."
Apple deflated in immediate relief.
"…We don't want to know what just crossed your mind, do we." Faybelle deadpanned.
"It was just a stray thought, I'd rather forget about it." Apple shook her head. "At any rate… given that there is one tiny shower back at Raven's place this bathhouse thing sounds pretty attractive… aside from having to be naked near the boys part."
"I have enough spending allowance to put us in a private bath." Raven informs as she reads the sign outside the building displaying all the options and services next to the price. "Apple would be more comfortable in a private one since Ever After's general concept to what is defined as female is completely different from ours since Ever After human immigrant run bathhouses in my kingdom seem to struggle with seeing those born in between genders, transvestites, and transgender customers as female."
"Trans-what-now?" The princess blinked in confusion.
"Raven." Faybelle's tone was slightly higher than normal.
"I know." The witch sighed irritably. "I haven't taught her those concepts yet, but in my defense I never thought that she'd be put in a situation where she'd need to learn what those phrases meant! Ever After High is extremely cis-gendered and according to my mother so is the royal family, they next to never get to interact with people who are so open about such things, like with how our culture is so open about such things."
"…Is this another concept about witch culture that my parents have lied to me about?" The princess asked suspiciously.
"It's more likely that they are just blind to it, or they pretend that such people don't exist." Faybelle waved her hand vaguely. "You know how some people can get really weirded out by things that are different."
"Yeah." Apple nodded crossing her arms and looking guiltily away. "So… are these individuals like Raven's mom? They can change genders at will?"
"It's a little bit more complicated than that…" Charlotte scratched her neck. "Let's head over to my dorm building and I can grab you some old text books of mine, that should help you understand things better, and while we're there Faybelle can give me back my shoes that she borrowed and is wearing right now."
"And how do you expect me to walk back without something to cover my feet?" Faybelle teased, her lips pursed in a mock-pout.
"Why have wings if you refuse to use them?" Charlotte mock-sneered a grin soon forming on her darkly tanned face.
XXX
"It's going to be pretty quiet around here now that Raven and the Wonderlandians are gone and Apple is spending her weekends with her." Hunter commented with a sigh. "Everybody who isn't in the know is freaking out about how that'll effect the faction struggle."
"Little do they know." Ashlynn shook her head, adjusting Nevermore's tail to curl around her shoulders and not her face so that she could eat her cake.
"Seems kind of frivolous in comparison doesn't it?" Hunter mused to the sky.
"Let's not forget the fact that many of the Royal faction's leaders are…" Ashlynn looks around the public restaurant while she makes a vague gesture with her hand. "You know…"
"Uh hmm." Hunter nodded, knowing that Daring at least was not going to be come a Prince Charming as long as he could help it. "At least Sparrow and Dexter are being given some reprieve, their first date is today and everyone is too busy freaking out over Raven leaving to have spotted them acting all cute towards one another."
"Oh that's wonderful for them." Ashlynn gushed. "Though I can understand why they would want to keep hush on it for now."
"Yeah, between the shock it would cause the school and Daring's overprotective streak I don't blame them." Hunter snorted in amusement, now that Daring wasn't so full of himself anymore he was acting even more devoted to his siblings than ever.
"And Cupid." Ashlynn reminded.
"Ooh yeah." Hunter winced casting a glance over his shoulder to where said girl was sighing dreamily at her laptop, he could just barely see the picture of Dexter on her screen and the pink heart she was digitally drawing around his face while also coloring over Daring's form.
"Is that a normal thing for girls to do?" Hunter furrowed his brows.
"It's generally believed to be normal." Ashlynn murmured, also staring at the computer screen. "But the same does not apply to boys though, unless they are already in a committed relationship with the person they are drawing hearts around."
"And pasting her face over Daring's in that photograph?" Hunter asked.
"…That is a little worrying." Ashlynn coughed. "Looks like there is a need for some girlfriend intervention later. I'll ask Mira and Blondie for some help."
"Well I hope that Sparrow and Dexter work out, sometimes it feels like we're the only ones in a steady, healthy relationship, I caught some freshmen referring to us as the new mom and dad couple now that Raven is gone and apple will be spending most of her time with her over the weekends and breaks."
"I am too young to be their mother figure." Ashlynn stated plainly. "I'm fine with baby animals seeing us that way but people? It's a bit much- Nevermore stop trying to steal Hopper's food."
"Prrrp! Peep?" Nevermore cooed as she strained in her harness and made grabby paws towards the boy's table (Hopper was too busy squealing to himself at the sight of the cute dragon to notice that she was staring at his sandwich with thieving intent).
"I think that we are just fine just babysitting for now, no need to rush on acquiring adopted children yet." Hunter chuckled.
"I agree." Ashlynn smiled. "We're just fine as we are, so let's just enjoy it while we can."
XXX
"I almost feel like a witchling again." Elenore sighed into the silence of the room, talking had been more difficult than expected for the both of them, one would start speaking but soon changed their minds and settled for blinking at the other owlishly. "It's been so long since I've been near someone who knew me as a child, who was a child as well and grew up with me… people only treat me like an elder and mother now, some are even terrified of my power, the curse I have placed upon myself certainly does nothing to mask the output I'm channeling to my kingdom."
"Thus the reason why you are in a wheelchair." Milton gestured to mentioned object. "Must be tiring for you."
"I've built up a tolerance over the years." Elenore waved off his concern.
"This is very surreal." Milton looked down. "Seeing you… it's as if everything between us happened yesterday, except I was the one to age and you… look just as lovely as you always have been."
"We are both old now Milton." Elenore chuckled sadly. "It's been ages since I've felt young at the very least."
"You were always good at taking care of everyone when something bad happened. I imagine that having to raise a witchling and a kingdom all by yourself was very difficult… I am sorry about what happened to your parents… I was informed of their murders."
"Being a queen to a kingdom means that I never had to worry about finding a sitter while I was at work and Lady Good King was willing to help me out as a friend, it wasn't easy to inherit so soon but I think that I did my mother and father proud. Nothing blew up at the very least." The witch joked good-naturedly.
"If you had told me… even years later, I would have done anything…" Milton swore, trying to speak over the lump growing in his throat. Ancestors he was acting like an awkward teenager who had done something bad and felt twice as young and inexperienced as he had back then.
"I know that you would have, especially if you knew about Clawstorm being our daughter. Which was why I had to remove myself from your life completely and move on with my life, if I did not… I just could not lose either you or Giles like I had lost my parents, enough bloodshed had been spilt already I could not handle any more." Elenore shook her head in grim admission.
"I regret the way I had treated your daughter." Milton mumbled ashamed. "Two of my students had runaway the year before and were presumed dead and… I had just realized that since I would never find anybody who loved me as well as you did… I would have to search for someone who could take my and Giles's place when the time came, and then Lady Evil fairy came into my office one day with her student, your daughter, in tow, asking me for help in reprimanding some maidens who were acting very un-maiden-like and I was just reminded of what a pitiful man I had become and… took it out on her. I was too stubborn to admit that I had gone too far even after I had cooled down long enough to realize that I had just yelled at a child for asking for help."
"I was set on having her come home one weekend and never giving her back to Ever After high." Elenore revealed her tone borderline exasperated. "But my daughter declined my assistance, she said that after Legacy Day and after the fist few times that she poisoned the young Snow White, you, and all the other maidens, save for Snow White, were basically leaving her alone, making school bearable for her again."
"Snow White had been apart of that group?" Milton blinked in surprise. "I had just thought that the only issue was that she was starting to demand that she be poisoned."
"In accordance to family honor Clawstorm was set on leaving Snow White out of it so long as the girl did not prove too troublesome. I'm afraid that, like many popular human rulers, the promise of fame she got from being the victim simply got to her head. And there has always been a certain level of racism at Ever After High despite it being one of the most culturally diverse in this world, children are told by their parents of the big, scary non-humans and when the students see anything that doesn't fit in with what they had been told about the villain descendants they don't take it at all well. You remember how shocked everyone was when it was revealed that I was friends with you and your brother, and they were all just beside themselves when it was revealed that you and I were more than that."
"It was a good thing that I wasn't popular like the Charming boys were or else there would have been a real problem." Milton huffed. "But I was too in love to care about what they thought. How did I lose sight of that?" He wondered, because even with the scandal their relationship had caused it paled in comparison to how he felt knowing that he was loved so much by one of the prettiest and smartest girls he'd ever met.
"Why did you try to keep my daughter at the school when I tried to have her transferred?" Elenore asked, the question had bothered her for years. "If it hurt you so much to see her then why didn't you let her go? Why did you fight so much to keep her there?"
Milton winced. "You had moved on so easily, and I had not. It hurt to think that you had forgotten about me, I had wanted you to know that I was still there… and I wanted to hurt you a little bit because… you didn't really seem to care about sending your daughter to your ex-lover's school. And I got frustrated that you never reacted, that you never even called to yell at me!"
"So that was why." Elenore narrowed her eyes at him. "You only half succeeded there, I was hurt at your behavior, but with the way that you had acted I was beginning to fear that my kingdom's enemies had gotten to you, that you were targeting my daughter like you were because she was a witch. I only tried to pull her out because I feared for her safety."
"That was not the case!" Milton hastily assured, waving his hands around in a peaceful gesture. He knew how much witches overall were still terrified that their human neighbors would turn on them, of the old cautionary tales warning witches off of getting too attached to human friends or else suffer the consequences of being betrayed and strapped to a burning stake. It was such a serious ingrained fear that not even a witch's sensitive instinct was willing to determine whether a human was safe to be around or not. He felt no offence for the woman's past concerns, there was just too much violent history between their races, and Milton had betrayed her once…
"If I had known that you were just throwing a tantrum over complicated emotions and a lack of an heir of your own I would have simply just told Clawstorm that you were her father and had her deal with you." Elenore sniffed indignantly her pupils glowing from the morning light bouncing off of them from the window as she looked down her nose at him.
Milton blinked in confusion.
"The threat was that I could never go near you, the same did not apply to our daughter." Elenore clarified in a tone that was like talking kindly to an invalid. "If I had known that you still cared about me enough to throw such a fit then I could trust you with her, trust you with everything. I was working under the assumption that you didn't care about me, and our past together, as well as the thought that you had turned witch hater one me."
"Sorry." Milton winced. "I really, really am. You have no idea how horrible it had been the day I realized that all of those girls that lords kept throwing my way all did not really want to marry me for me, they just… wanted an in with the fairytales. It was painful when I realized I was just being used and it made my longing for you even worse, not that the whole human propriety and courtship rules made things any easier…"
"Yes well I'm sure that was very restricting and cruel but at the very least those young ladies had gotten a taste of what a passionate suitor was like. I mean you never held back with me once we had managed to find time to be alone back in the good old days." Elenore snorted shaking her head. "Ugh. I am so glad many of the human kingdoms finally had feminist revolutions in royalty circles in the past two decades, I can't believe some of the incompetent old geezers or boring morons that parents had been willing to marry their daughters off to! I felt far too sorry for those girls back then… even if they were flocking over you at the time…"
Milton hid his blushing face in his hand. "It never got that far…" He strangled out, after years of absence he was completely unused to the woman's blunt and unashamed attitude. "I said I was going by human courtship etiquette, as in Ever After human rules of courtship."
"But those rules are broken all the time." Elenore raised a brow. "Half of my ancestors wouldn't have come to be if humans had stayed so prudishly resolved."
"I was trying to be a good future lord! And I didn't feel right being that close to somebody who didn't have a clue in what to do, they all got meek and terrified when they suggested getting closer, and I was especially set against it when it was later revealed that they had been playing up their fear to seem more attractive!" Milton shook his head at a complete loss. "And like I said before, most of them were really not attracted to me, like at all!"
"So there hasn't been anybody who you've…?" Elenore trailed off.
"Not since you." Milton sighed.
"Well that doesn't sound very healthy." The woman commented.
"Some people would find that romantic you know." Milton huffed.
"Are these the same people who find shaking and scared virgins attractive?" The witch asked tilting her head to the side.
Milton rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'll admit that I know that human behavior tends to be immensely irrational and counterintuitive."
"Not all humans." Elenore gave a small, amused smile. "Though certain humans in Ever After do seem to be particularly perplexing…"
"I missed you." Milton admitted. "Good friends are difficult to come by, and loving, faithful lovers even more so."
"I missed you too." Elenore sighed heavily. "Things had been lovely back before we had to grow up."
"Grown up or not we would have been fantastic together if the stars had been kinder." Milton predicted wistfully.
"Oh you think so do you?" Elenore quirked up a brow and leaned forward.
"I'm positive of it." Milton swore. "What we once had… what I had thrown away, it was special. I haven't ever been able to find anything close to it ever since."
That threw the witch slightly.
"I guess I've never realized just how badly it really impacted everything." Elenore murmured. "Them going so close as to hit me in my personal life… I had always assumed… that you had outgrown me, I never would have thought that… you still had feelings-"
"I did, I still do." Milton promised, the man leaving his seat in favor of kneeling down in front of the woman. "It's been years but I still haven't lost my respect or my affection for you, despite what past actions done out of jealously may suggest…"
"So much lost time…" Elenore mourned.
Both shivered as if chilled even though the room itself was rather warm.
"What do we do now?" Milton wondered as he took the witch's hands in his own, relaxing by fractions when she willingly grasped his hands back.
"I am unsure…" Elenore confessed looking lost. "It's not as if anything is at all simple or clear cut, it never was, and I have grown dreadfully tired of dealing with the jumbled mess of feelings that have stubbornly refused to sort themselves out even as time marched on. It's not healthy, I think, that part of me still feels like we are young again, and all the bad stuff that happened between us never transpired, I'd say the death threats upon your life and my denied right to shove fatherhood responsibility in your face has certainly done a number on any sense of closure I am entitled to." The witch grumbled out irritably. "And from the way you just sighed wistfully, as if you understood everything I just said, tells me that you're in need of closure from the past too."
"We both still have feelings for each other." Milton mumbled out nervously. "It's only to be expected that we had trouble moving on from all the things we left unsaid or finding closure."
"Yes but how do we know whether our feelings are genuine or just figments of memories from better times?" The witch shook her head as if pained. "It's not like we can test it out without potentially causing one, the other, or both of us potential harm. We have a granddaughter who has married herself off to one of the Thorn clan, of all the families she could have chosen it just had to be the most scheming and territorial out of the bunch, a daughter who is determined to do things her own way and is gods only know where, probably getting herself blown up as we speak, and finally we have the enemy whose being particularly difficult to smother out of existence! There is just too much at stake to just figure out what is going on with our emotions towards each other!"
Milton's brows furrowed. "Test it?" He asked feeling like they were on the cusp of something but not quite certain of what that something was.
"To figure out whether we are just mourning lost opportunities or whether we are still carrying tiny torches for the other." Elenore clarified. "But like I said, we could very well end up hurting each other in the end so it's not worth it… I just got to see you again and so much has been cleared up… I don't want to end this reunited meeting in a fight or in another round of broken hearts."
"But if we do not figure it out, won't we be guaranteeing those same outcomes?" Milton asked. "I may have been a fool in the past when it came to love but for this relationship to work out to our benefit… don't we need to know where we stand with the other? To know the other's emotions and take as much care not to hurt them as possible and work to forge a new level of trust through honesty? Even if it never again grows to romance?"
"…I'll admit that you do make a good point…" The woman looked at the man oddly.
"Years of being a pining fool have done much to help me address my own emotions." Milton shrugged.
"It was the fact that you sounded like a marriage councilor for a moment that really threw me off." The woman pointed out.
"I have also added lots of relationship advice books to my personal library, and I run a high school filled with students who more often than not fall in love with those outside of their fairytales, until our granddaughter's revolution, some good, brief advice on open communication and boundaries has usually led to content marriages." The man coughed looking shiftily to the side.
"Inescapable arranged marriages are yet another reason why I am thankful to be born a witch." Elenore blew out a breath. "Honestly I'm constantly impressed of how you humans manage."
"Well seeing as how this human ran away on a stolen donkey cart after a particularly horrendous experience at a lord's ball this human probably shouldn't be counted in amongst those other humans." Milton shuddered at the memory.
"What could have been so horrendous?" Elenore questioned. "I've been to plenty of ballroom parties and aside from the dancing and the alcohol- albeit very watered down and weak alcohol to avoid drunken disconduct- they are mostly fairly dull affairs."
"This was a human lord's ball, hosted by one of the leading religious figures to the religion of the holy sword, no respectable ladies or respectable anybody from outside the human race were in attendance. With very potent alcohol, hired prostitutes disguised as nuns, a mind scarring moment when several anthropomorphic beast prostitutes were revealed to be included in that group, finding out that my then fiancé was in an intimate relationship with her brother, and that my potential father-in-law was inbred to the point of insanity, a very difficult fact to ignore when the man tried to mate with himself in the middle of it all." Milton listed out glumly.
Elenore just stared at the man for a while.
"You cannot make this kind of thing up." Milton swore.
"I'm still technically the Evil queen, is there anybody from those days that you'd like me to turn into a slug?" The witch offered generously.
"…I'll think about it. But first thing's first, I do believe that I was just about to convince you of something important in regards to our feelings for each other." The man pointed out.
The witch hesitated.
"You'll stop and tell me the moment something doesn't feel right to you?" She demanded.
"Yes…" Was the confused reply. "Just what exactly are you propose that we-?"
The man was cut off when a pair of soft lips sealed over his own.
Oh. Milton realized before his brain ceased to work properly.
XXX
Giles cast the hastily written letter he had found on his brother's desk a disapproving glare.
Why did he have to leave Giles in charge? Giles hated having to be the responsible stuffy Headmaster, that ridiculousness was his brother's job not his, he didn't even know how to speak stuffy let alone act like it. Really what had his brother been thinking leaving Giles alone the week Professor Baba Yaga was away doing… whatever she did when she went away? What if Giles ended up blowing something up by accendentally-on-purpose-experamenting-with-a-student's-project-again?
In his defense the students in question- Raven and Sparrow Hood- hadn't known what they had accidentally created either, after Mister Hood had accidentally dropped his candy snack into the solution, and Giles had been curious as to what the gooey tentacle filled glass beaker was. How was he supposed to know that lighting the thing on fire would cause the substance to produce an earsplitting shriek as it leaped out of the container, while it was on fire mind, scuttle at top speeds out of the classroom, through the hallways, out the front doors and dive into the fountain where the water reacted to it's chemical make-up and exploded.
And to be fair it was only a tiny explosion, the rest of the volatile reaction came in the form of a tall, thin shot of sparkling fire that may or may not have been fifteen feet tall; it only lasted a few seconds anyway!
But the fact remained that Giles was at his best as the supporting man, not the actual boss.
But then again his brother was finally confronting Elenore…
This really was a tossup situation when it came down to whether it was a good or bad thing. Especially since Giles began to contemplate whether he could perhaps replicate the results to that particular experiment…