Sorry this isn't as long compared to the wait for it. I'm kinda lagging lately due to stuff just happening all of the time. I'm still going forward at least, and I'm going to get better at it. If it keeps happening, I'll figure out how to fix it. At the least, there will be some new playlists coming out when this arc is over.

Either way, I hope that you enjoy and I'll see you next chapter.

The books provided more than enough answers than they expected, but that just meant they needed to get things done faster. Eddy was especially wanting to get things into motion before somebody suspected something.

"Alright, people, we need to get moving before Milton decides to throw a pitch fit! We're lucky we even got this far without him trying to sabotage us, so we need to move." Eddy picked up a few books, putting them into Apple's satchel. "I got a few things to say to some idiots before this is all over, and I'm really eager to get started."

"We're going as fast as we can, you nitwit." Cleo made sure to pack her own notes, moving into the circle that was constructed on the floor. "This circle is safe, right? I don't want to wake up in someone else's body if this goes wrong."

"Don't worry about it, I've gotten a lot better with my drawing." Raven figured since they had the time, she could try and make sure they knew exactly where they needed to be before they teleported. "Besides, the circle isn't important. You just have to be close by before we go forward with this."

"I still think maybe we should try and be a bit gentler with this. It isn't like we need to do all of this immediately." Apple clutched one book in particular, looking scared. After they started finding certain things, things had gone hectic like they usually did. "This information could cause just more chaos. Remember, we did jump the gun with the Book of Legends."

"Yeah, but if we get this done, we'll be able to take down a big source of all our problems, so we should take a chance here." Eddy glanced toward Giles, who he'd kept a hand on. "You okay with doing this, old man? Hope your heart can take it."

Giles gave the boy a raised eyebrow, but still nodded to show he was listening. This boy really had to use all his sass at once, did he?

"That's good. Briar and Daring should send us an update soon on their search for the book, so let's try and give them some time to produce it." Cleo wasn't sure if they would. However, if this worked, another media circus might cancel the other one out. "If they can't, we'll at least have some time before people start going nuts again."

"That's not really a comforting thought." Raven laughed, but it was hollow in comparison to the others. "All we have to do is get to Heritage Hall and deal with that book. It doesn't have to be too bad if we make it."

"We all know that isn't going to be how it works." Apple sighed. She couldn't afford to second guess anything right now, but that didn't mean she couldn't do it while they were finishing all this up. "Are you ready, Eddy?"

"Apple," Eddy smirked, hands lighting up with magic. "I was born ready."

And with that, they all teleported to their places for the final act.

Double D kept his eyes about him as he finalized the last of the adjustments he made to the speakers. The stage set up in the middle of town was as good a place as any, even if this required a bit of hijacking.

"Alright, looks like everything is in position," Double D said into his phone, his work having been meticulous. "All we have to do is get everyone into position and this can go off without a hitch. Are you ready, Ed?"

"Yeah, I'm in position."

Double D frowned. Ed was usually a lot more excited about conducting these operations, especially if it meant "getting the bad guys," so to speak. He guessed it shouldn't be too surprising, though.

"Ed, don't let what Ghoulia said get to you. She learned a few things that she shouldn't have and didn't take it well." Double D understood that too, despite the harsh words. Realizing that a long-time secret was going to break in your lifetime was bound to scare some Monster and Legends. "It was a rare moment of panic for her and maybe we should give her time."

"…Are you sure we can't, y'know, change?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Ed, we can't just make a decision like that without telling each other. And especially not on the fly." The smart Ed boy sighed, fiddling with the sleeves of his lab coat. He remembered how it was one of the first things he got when arrived here. "And even if we did and admitted everything, it isn't like they'd react well anyway. It isn't healthy."

"I know, I know," Ed said, but Double D wasn't sure. Ed could get pretty obsessed with an idea if he wanted to, and this wasn't leaving his mind. "But we can keep it as an option, whether the girls care or not. I don't want to forget any of this, what we did here."

That… that was something Double D could agree on. He didn't want to forget either.

"We'll consider it a back-up plan then. Just in case things go wrong." He hopes that it would never go wrong, but if they did it for that reason, then he could live with it. "But nothing more, nothing less."

"…Deal."

Ed hung up, and Double D let out a breath. No more time to be wasted on feelings, complicated or not. He had a job to do right now.

"I'm not interrupting something, am I?"

Double D didn't jump, turning around to give Headmistress Bloodgood a smile. She arrived on time, making things so much easier.

"Not at all. Just running through a few more plans before heading forward." He hadn't told her anything yet, which he knew would possibly backfire. But he needed her angry when the time came, so here they were. "I won't lie and say you aren't at the center of this one. Well, aside from Milton of course."

"I really don't know how to feel about that statement." Bloodgood saw the man of the hour move onto the stage. He held some papers close, most likely his speech for Thronecoming, or on the Book of Legends situation. Most likely both. "Why do I have a feeling you're about to do something memorable here?"

"You're going to have to wait and see on that one," Double D felt the rare giddy feeling of mischief, but also fear. Looks like he was going to repeat his earlier stunt with Rumpelstiltskin. "But it is going to be memorable. For better or worse."

Milton cleared his throat right then, causing the conversation to halt. The crowd that was forming started coming together, and plenty of glares were being sent the headmaster's way, which did nothing to soothe his nerves.

"Good morning everyone!" Milton tried to be cheery, but that only caused the glares to worsen. He gulped, putting on a more somber expression. "While most of you are here for Thronecoming, there are some things I need to address first. I'm sure that all of you have heard about the situation with the Book of Legends-"

"Oh, everybody has heard plenty already, Milton."

Ed's voice coming through the speakers caused everyone to still, Milton looking around to figure out where it was coming from. He didn't notice as a massive shadow formed behind him, Ed's monstrous form outlined briefly. Some members of the crowd screamed, causing Milton to finally turn around, taking a step back as Ed looked down at him with hostile eyes. Ed moved forward, his form shifting back into his normal one, forcing the headmaster.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I got some things to say." Ed snatched the papers out of Milton's hands, looking them over with a bored expression. "Doesn't seem like you had anything interesting to say anyway, so might as well interrupt now."

Double D cringed at that comment. Looks like Ed's depression had given way to anger. At least it had the desired effect of setting Milton off.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" Milton hissed, the boy ignoring him as he took his place at the podium. He gave the crowd a glance, the last bit of control he had slipping through his fingers. "You can't just interrupt me like-"

"Will the defendant please take a seat before this court comes to order?" Ed shushed him, a smile on his face as the headmaster only seemed to get angrier. "Now, sorry to interrupt you folks, but we have something special planned for today! Make sure to bring out your phones and stream this, because we're about to have Ever After and Monster High's very first Class Trial!"

The stage went up in smoke as small bombs went off, obscuring the stage from view. As it cleared, the stage was revealed to have been changed to have benches and podiums resembling ones from a courtroom. Milton wasn't sure how he got here, trying to get up before being rudely forced to sit down with magic.

"Now that everyone is situated, I'd like to introduce you to our main players for today," Ed waved behind him toward the judges table, where Clawdeen was sitting with a gavel. "Our judge for today will be the fashionable Clawdeen Wolf! May her judgement be swift and bloody!"

"There's not going to be any blood, Ed. I mean, unless someone tries to resist." Clawdeen gave Milton the side eye, twirling her gavel like a weapon. "I'm also pretty sure somebody that doesn't know him should be judging to avoid bias."

"We didn't have time to find someone! Now, onto our defense is Milton Grimm, who will be representing himself for this trial. Unless we have any takers?" Ed looked out into the confused crowd, not seeing anyone raise their hands. "No? Great, makes this easier for us."

"Shouldn't you be finding me a lawyer first?" Milton felt his nerves spike, realizing they were serious. "That is my right."

"Technically, we aren't charging you with anything. Someone else might, though." Cerise had taken up a place at a table with a typewriter, staring down at it with frustration. "Couldn't we have gotten a computer instead?"

"It's for aesthetic! That's Cerise, our bailiff everybody!" Ed waved it off, pointing to the bench opposite to Milton. "And last, but not least, we have our prosecutor and the witnesses!"

A burst of magic signaled everyone else's arrival, the witness stand filling up with Bloodgood, Double D, and Maddie. As for the prosecutor's bench…

"Milton! I hope you're comfortable right now, because me and my client here are going have a field day with you." Eddy clapped Giles on the back, smiling as he saw Milton's face drain of color. He could see Bloodgood almost get up too in alarm, obviously surprised to see her friend. "Honestly, this could take all day if we have to. And it just might, considering what you've done."

This plan was elaborate as all get out, but the goal was deceptively simple; distract everyone from the Book of Legends fiasco and also stall until the guards could come. They'd been called earlier and having this little trial in public made sure that no one could hide what was happening here today, especially not Milton. And since the charges Milton were certainly going to get were at least kidnapping and some form of assault due to the curses he put on his own brother…

Well, even if he somehow didn't get incarcerated or Giles decided not to press charges, no one would let him around kids anymore. A thought that Eddy certainly relished.

"Now," Eddy smirked, putting his chin into his hands as the show of a lifetime began. "Let's start with all those charges you've been racking up…"

Heritage Hall was a surprisingly somber place when nobody was inside. When you didn't hear the sound of footsteps in a place built to be full of people, it could actually be pretty eerie.

Then again, Apple figured that was her own feelings trying to betray here again. She couldn't be thinking about that right now, especially since they needed to get to that giant book in the middle of the hall itself.

"Apple, you're starting to lag behind. We're not going to wait for too long, otherwise someone might catch wind of this." Ghoulia was being a little curt, but she wasn't in the best mood right now. She just wanted today to be over. "We need at least two Legends to get the book to open, so please just get in position."

"Right, sorry. Just thinking over the plan one more time." Apple felt dazed as she moved into the spell circle they made. This was a pretty complex ritual they needed to get done. "What do we need to do to open the book again?"

"We need at least two people from the same story to stand in the circle, and with the right materials, it should open right up and get us inside." Cleo was arranging things carefully, keeping a close eye on the book. "We should find whatever Giles wants us too inside, though I'm not even sure what he wanted. Some kind of scroll?"

"He didn't really say in his notes. I'm sure it isn't going to be anything too wild, though." Raven figured it was a mistake on their part for not asking what it was even for, but considering he gave them dirt on Milton, she didn't care. Not to mention the other stuff he shared too. "Might even help him with his curse too. His brother has to have a way to break it."

"I'd assume so, if only to have some leverage. If he got caught by anyone else, he'd probably use the fact he only knows how to break it as a way to get leniency." Ghoulia stopped, realizing what she just said was horrifying. "I can't believe that man is an educator. What else would he have done if this wasn't found out?"

"Don't think about it too much. We've got him now and that's all that matters." Cleo didn't want to know either. At least this controversy would have some positives. "This is almost like a coup, in an indirect way. I've never been on this side of one, though."

The morbid, casual conversation was ignored by Raven and Apple, who stood in their respective parts of the circle awkwardly. The princess was still spacing out while the sorceress was trying, and failing, to keep the peace. She could tell something was bothering her roommate, though, and it wasn't like they didn't have a little time before getting this done.

"Hey, Apple," Raven started carefully, making sure she didn't scare her. "Is everything okay?"

"Hm?" Apple didn't seem to register anything before shaking her head, getting back to reality. "I'm fine. I'm sure I've said that before."

"Yeah, but you're also a lousy liar. You've been acting weird since we got out of Giles' prison." Raven narrowed her eyes, thinking about everything Giles books had in them before- oh. "You're thinking about the destiny thing aren't you."

"Of course not..." Apple had instinctively riled up at the mention, something she knew revealed her. Her expression morphed into one of annoyance before settling into something more neutral. "Fine, maybe I am. But only a little."

There had been some interesting little tidbits when they'd started going through Giles books at his behest, having to go through several topics before they'd found something interesting.

Giles had found some evidence (clear and present evidence that changed everything) that some of the thoughts on destiny and Legends playing their stories may have been wrong, if slightly altered. While their stories were obligated to continue no matter the circumstances they've found themselves in, it turned out that a person not playing their part would've been all that important in the long run. Legends would end up playing up to a story one way or another as fate designed to repeat them, but they didn't have to force it by being put into a part. The magic that helped create the stories would find a way to, in a roundabout way, make it happen again and again and again, with history backing up Giles' research..

Meaning that no one had to play their parts anymore. That Raven didn't have too either, and neither did she.

"Apple. It's supposed to be good news. Hasn't it been your main concern that people might start vanishing if they don't play along to their roles?" Raven had been ready to celebrate when she heard it. The fact Milton had tried so hard to suppress it proved it was slightly true. "I don't have to play a villain anymore. Anyone can take my place now and nothing would change."

"I get that, I do." Apple was relieved about that, immensely so. Ashlynn and Hunter wouldn't disappear if things stayed serious, all the Rebels would be fine. "I just… I still don't understand. Even if that theory might be true, that is throwing away so many years of tradition all at once."

"Considering Milton's proven how far he's willing to keep it that way, I think it's probably better to just get away from it." Raven scoffed. She muttered, mostly to herself. "Maybe if you'd learn to let it go and live your life…"

Apple heard that. Normally she'd let something like that slide, but everything had just been so stressful lately, with her mother, the book, this whole destiny thing possibly being a lie…

"How? How am I supposed to live my life, Raven?" Apple didn't mean for it to come out so hostile, but God, did her friend not get it? Did she not understand what all this meant to her? "I've worked nearly all my life just so my story can go right, and I can be a good queen. That's how I've lived my life since I was born, and you're just expecting that to be different now?"

Raven blinked, the hostility throwing her off. She put her hands up defensively, slowly keeping an eye on the seething girl. "Apple-"

"My mom has been teaching me about how to manage a kingdom since I learned to speak. I've had to go through beauty pageants since I could walk! We've done so much work for this, and I can't just tell her it's off now!" Apple felt like panicking. Her mother had such high expectations for her, enough to swallow her up, and she felt like was falling under every single one. Snow White would never accept anyone else but Raven as the Evil Queen, Apple knew it. "Everyone else is expecting me to be the next Snow White and I can't just turn away from that."

The breakdown finally caught the attention of the Monsters in the room, and Cleo herself was already moving to stop it from escalating. She paused as she noticed that the book was... glowing?

"Um," Cleo nervously raised a hand to point at the book. "Girls?"

"Of course all that ends up being wasted, just because you didn't want to poison me." Apple took a step forward, pointing at Raven's face. The sorceress would've been offended if the blonde hadn't been crying at this point. "You hate everything your mother stands for? So does everyone else! You didn't have to bring our story into it."

"Apple, stop!" Ghoulia yelled. The firmness in her voice shook as the book only glowed brighter, causing her to falter. "The spell is-"

"I don't care about the spell!" Apple stomped her foot. All her manners fell apart and she couldn't seem to care anymore since everything else was doing the same. "I'm sick of this! I can't... None of this is..."

Apple couldn't breathe anymore as tears fell down her face, a dam finally breaking. She couldn't help but think of being stuck in the well again, back when she was a child. How the water made it hard for her to even think, how she was drowning under the water, negativity, and all her work she'd done so far-

(It isn't fair, I've worked so hard for this, got all of my grades up, did all the activities, made so many friends, enemies, mistakes. I've done so much. I'm the smartest in my class, the most active person on campus, I'M THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL)

And before anyone else could even blink, the storybook in Heritage Hall opened, a flash of light overtaking it. And with it, the only thing left behind was a flashing iCoffin sending a message without its master.

"I really don't understand why we need to check the dorms first. I'm sure somebody would've found it by now if the book was in there."

"Just trust me. I've got a good feeling about this."

Briar was technically lying but clutching the old yearbook to her chest and looking over the numbered doors, she could say that she was confident. More than confident, actually. Which honestly scared her a bit.

"I guess it could be the last place any of us would look. Or would that also make it the first place since most people would think that too?" Daring confused himself even further, faltering as the train of thought continued to derail. "Is that why we're going through them in the middle of the search? We should've gone here first then. Or maybe last."

...Briar hoped Apple had other choices for princes or princesses in the near future. She wished for that with every fiber of her being.

"Just try and see how many of the boys' dorms you can get into. For all we know, the Evil Queen could've been a pervert." Briar figured Daring wouldn't question it too much considering the woman's reputation. She needed him gone, anyhow. "You know how to get in them, right?"

"I've got permission too, don't worry." Daring moved further down one of the halls toward where his own room was. "I'll start at mine and work with whoever's nearby. Meet up in an hour if we don't get word of anything?"

"Sounds good to me." Briar figured that would be more than enough if her guess was correct. "Have fun."

She watched him go for a few seconds before making way to her own room, her pace frantic as she opened the yearbook again. It was the only one she'd taken with her when they left the office, and she didn't want to waste it.

It may have been strange to take a yearbook of all things, but it was the one she could find showing the Evil Queens time in school. It was disturbing to see the future tyrant as just another teenager, but Briar had looked through every possible place she could show up if only to find a clue.

Ironically, despite expecting nothing to result from it, she got gold.

Briar double checked that no one was around before slipping into her own room, thankful that her roommate wasn't here right now. She couldn't imagine how she'd feel seeing Briar move around with the book like a madwoman, trying to find the right angle.

Briar looked at a photo of Red Riding Hood and The Evil Queen, who were apparently messing around in their dorm room together. She recognized it as her own because while the room had certainly been personalized to her tastes, there were still the same dents and designs that were there so long ago.

The picture itself was pretty unassuming and people would probably be forgiven for thinking it wasn't weird. Heck, Cerise's mom took up more of the photo, with the Evil Queen simply messing with something in the back. Something with the floor.

Briar put the book down, grasping at the wood floor to find a loose board, much like the Queen was doing in the picture. She had been holding something in her hands when the picture was taken, and it looked like it was important. Briar could only assume it was a journal, something that the woman had probably kept plans in. Maybe it would detail where the book actually was…

Briar's hands scraped against wood as she finally found purchase in a loose board. She cried out in victory, pulling at it gently to make sure it wouldn't break. Groaning due to age and the disuse as a hiding place, it gave way easily enough. Briar pulled out her phone, turning on the flashlight function to get a good look inside.

Briar's smile weakened, blinking her eyes several times.

"No way." Briar laughed a little, her hand reaching out to the item inside. "You've got to be kidding me."

Briar felt pages and her heart flutter as she, slowly and carefully, pulled the Book of Legends out of the floor.

Before people get too angry at Apple, remember what I've said before; she's a wound-up girl who has been set up for this all her life, and now it turns out that it could be all for nothing. Whether that she didn't need to go through so many hoops or that Raven was never going to play along now, she's going through a really bad response, especially with her mother around. The scene isn't just for salt, I promise.

Okay, I'll see you all next chapter. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.