Page 8 – Four Hearts in Synch
Last chapter we saw Legacy Day, which had quite the surprising revelation.
No kidding! Raven Queen went full evil, and kidnapped Apple White!
That's right. You don't have to get so excited, though.
Mom, what are you talking about?! Since when is Raven supposed to kidnap Apple and fly away with her on Legacy Day?
You're getting too involved in the story again, Brooke.
Oh, sorry, mom. I'll be sure to stay calm when a nice girl suddenly turns evil and kidnaps her roommate!
Villains kidnap beautiful maidens in lots of stories. It doesn't make any sense to panic every single time it happens.
What kind of person just stays calm when someone's in trouble, mom?
A narrator, Brooke.
Keeping one eye on the giant bird winging its way toward the Enchanted Forest, Mendyr raised his mirrorphone to his ear, and let out a soft sigh of relief when he heard the sound of his call being picked up.
"How'd it go?" Cerise asked, sounding out of breath.
"Not so good," Mendyr replied while he kept following the bird with his eyes. "Watch out for a big bird: Raven's on it, and I'm worried she might be coming to get the book."
"Don't worry, she'll never find where I put it," Cerise said, oozing her usual well-earned confidence.
At first he didn't reply, distracted by treeing to see where Raven's bird was coming down as it disappeared into the tree line. Once it was out of sight, he told Cerise, "It's heading into the forest. I'm going after it, to try to save Raven and Apple."
"Headmaster Grimm too, right?"
"Eh…"
Cerise laughed, then added, "I'll meet you there!"
Immediately a part of him wanted to warn her to stay away. Go somewhere safe while he dealt with the monsters.
But the realistic part of him forced him to face the realization she'd never listen, so he just said, "You think you can catch me?"
"You wanna make that a bet?"
"…some other night, Cerise," Mendyr said. He whipped Charge Unicorn's reins and without any hesitation it jumped the railing behind the stage. Its metal hooves dug into the slope of the mountain on which the school rest and it skied roughly down the side.
On the other end of the call, Cerise admitted, "Yeah, some other night."
Another few seconds, and Charge Unicorn had hit the bottom. Mendyr steered his mount toward the place where he'd seen the giant bird descend. "And Cerise?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Then he hung up, put his mirrorphone away, and headed into the forest.
Dark Mirrors, "heroic will" that could give an ordinary kid like him awesome powers, and now something that had taken over his friend's body and turned her into a villain.
Monsters, witches, magic, quests, he knew about those. Everyone did. But everything that'd been happening since the start of school…where was it all coming from? Why now?
Why them?
Holding on tight, Mendyr rode into the forest, hopefully in search of answers.
Meanwhile, the bird circled the middle of the forest, while Raven stood right between its wings. Hands held high while she focused her magic, and a part of the forest seemed to blur, and then a high black tower was just there, as if it had always been, a number of smaller towers surrounding the largest. One more pass, and the giant bird landed on the highest roof.
"Not exactly the trap the story says you fall into, but it'll do while I'm figuring things out," Raven said. She grabbed Apple's dainty wrist and dragged her off the bird's back. The princess stumbled after her, to the trap door leading into the tower.
"You know, after being taken to the top of a tower two times in a row, I'm getting tired of it," Apple said pointedly.
Raven turned back to smile at her as they descended the stairs, and her teeth were just a solid white mass in a mouth of smooth black glass. Apple quivered slightly with how unsettled the sight made her, but stopped when she felt Raven's glassy fingers cut into her skin.
"Last time," she said, "I made the mistake of trying to convince you to see things my way. This time, we'll make sure things happen the right way, as soon as I have the Storybook of Legends back. Then you'll get to live your story just the way you wanted."
"This is not the way I wanted," Apple retorted.
"Then you didn't think hard enough about what you were getting."
They stopped at a doorway, which Raven threw open, before she threw Apple inside. There was nothing on the other side of the door but a plain stone room, with a flickering torch in a sconce in one corner. Its opposite wall had a triangular window with no glass or bars, and Apple peered out. Only to see she was at least fifty feet up, and the trees below didn't look like they'd offer the softest landing.
"Maybe if you had a ladder of hair to climb, your hero could get in that way, but I think that's a different princess," Raven taunted. "But you're the next Snow White, so sit tight, and I'll come get you whenever I have the magic book back."
So saying, she slammed the door and locked it behind her.
Leaving Apple to sit with her back against the wall, and cry into her palms.
A forceful kick knocked the doors to Ever After High's back platform wide open, and Daring Charming sprang through, glistening sword and shield in hand. Quickly glancing around, it didn't take long to see the signs that a fight had occurred there very recently, but in saving the crowd first, he'd missed it.
"Hello? Apple? Headmaster Grimm? Anyone?"
Peering through the doors were a few other students, trying to see what there was to see after all the noise had died down. One of them was Pyotr Lupus, scanning everything with his phone, and trying to get a response from the hexts to his friends.
"DID YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY DITCH ME"
Bubbles appeared in the group hext from Cerise. A few seconds later, came the response: "t sent me 2 hide teh buk idk what happened after"
Furiously, Pyotr hexted again, "T R U THERE ANSWR PLZ"
An answer arrived, but it wasn't from Taylor. Cerise's reponse read: "we have to go fight raven stay safe"
Dropping his hands to his sides, Pyotr gave a defeated sigh.
A pull of the reins slowed Charge Unicorn's courageous gallop through the forest to a stop. He could see a dark tower rising up through the trees, and had no doubt that was where Raven was hiding out now.
Where she was holding Apple White.
And Headmaster Grimm, too, probably.
Mendyr started Charge Unicorn in a cautious walk in a circle around the small fortress, looking for possible ways in. It might be possible to fight his way in, he fully realized, but he'd been raised to solve his problems with his brains. "Any brute can pick up a club, but it's the man who can trick an enemy into clubbing himself, that's truly a hero among heroes," Taylor Sr. had been saying since his son was old enough to understand.
Unless, of course, Raven knew that, and was planning on using it against him.
A strange thought occurred to him, and he put his hand over the mirrorphone in his belt before he stopped himself.
Still, he took it out and opened his contacts, and almost tapped his dad's number.
The Enchanted Forest was a dead zone for phone coverage, he remembered even before he checked and confirmed he was getting zero bars. Had to make sure all the quests that happened inside it placed their heroes in some true danger. That they'd be on their own except for any allies they were destined to make on their journey.
Raven had probably worked that into her plan.
Chasing down monsters had been one thing. He'd been entering danger to help someone in need, like everyone brought up to be the hero of a story was supposed to do. But this…this was storming into the stronghold of an evildoer.
He really wanted to talk to his dad before doing this. Tell the old man something about what was going on, and get some words of encouragement before penetrating the citadel of evil. Hear something about how he could possibly be expected to go in there.
And fight his best friend.
But that wasn't going to happen, and he had to figure it out all by himself.
Suddenly his mount stopped and jerked its head to the side, causing Mendyr to look backward. What he saw made him freeze: a ball of light floating in midair, making a hostile grinding noise as it came closer. Wondering what kind of Dark Mirror was about to attack, he unwound his mace from his belt, only to realize it was the headlight of a moped.
On it, he half-expected to see Cerise Hood, admitting she couldn't make it as fast as he could on Charge Unicorn. Instead, he was surprised to see Blondie Lockes unmasking herself when she exposed her namesake hairstyle by taking off her helmet.
"You don't look like any knight I've ever seen," she immediately observed. "Are you Apple White's prince?"
"…what?" the surprised Mendyr could only reply.
She held out her mirrorphone, no doubt recording him and all his reactions for her news segment. "It's obvious!" Blondie giggled. "Apple White got kidnapped! You must've come out to rescue her! That must mean you're her prince, aren't you?" Without waiting for an answer, Blondie continued her verbal barrage. "What's your name, Sir Knight? Where did you get that suit of armor? Why haven't I heard of you before? I thought all the princes wanted an audience for their heroics."
"I don't really know where the armor came from," he replied, managing to get over a little of his bewilderment. "As for wanting an audience, I'm kind of shy?"
Blondie giggled again when she heard his answer. "Shy? What kind of hero's shy?"
"…Me?" Mendyr tried to retort. "What are you doing out here, miss, chasing down a powerful villain?"
"Going where the news is," Blondie said, in the most casual voice in the kingdom.
Mendyr shook his head, and told her, "Well, you can hear all about it later, back at school. Where it's safe," with added emphasis on the last word.
But she shook her own head. Still smiling, Blondie replied, "Not unless you make sure I go back. And you probably can't take the time to do that, when there's already a damsel in distress needing rescue."
Again he shook his head, sighing this time, which only made Blondie's expression even more confident. "All right, but you'll need to make sure to stay back when something dangerous shows up."
Shrugging, but her grin staying exactly as wide, Blondie next asked him, "So, what's your grand plan for rescuing the princess, sir?"
"I'm figuring that out right now. Come with me and maybe we'll figure one out together.
This is really weird to watch.
It shouldn't be. A hero's coming to the aid of someone in trouble. A storyteller's coming along to make sure the story's known.
But they're doing something really dangerous, mom! Blondie shouldn't be following him like that, when she knows something bad could happen!
That's the nature of stories and their heroes. Doing brave things, even dangerous things, to achieve their goals.
Yeah, mom.
Sounds like you're getting a little too attached to the characters, again.
It's not weird to get attached to the characters in a story you like, mom.
You're not a reader, Brooke, you're a narrator. Remember that.
They'd almost completed their circle around the fortress, there appeared to be few entrances. One that stood out to Mendyr was a lower tower, which he thought, just maybe, he might be able to reach with his mace…
"Okay, I think I see a way up," he told Blondie. "If only I can get this chain long enough…"
Motioning for Blondie to stand back, he whirled Apfel above his head. Soon it was glowing white, and Mendyr brought it behind his back and swung it upward as hard as he could. Just as he was expecting, its chain pulled itself longer and longer while the ball stretched into the sky. Arcing slightly, it sailed up, hit the roof of the tower, and caught itself on the edge of the parapet.
A sharp tug proved it was secure, so Mendyr looped the grip through his belt and pulled himself off the ground. Before he started his climb for real, he gave Blondie Lockes a look. "You still have the chance to head back to the school, instead of sneaking into the evil lair."
"No way! While everybody else is wondering else what happened, I'm gonna be finding out!" she retorted with a smile that bordered on oblivious.
Mendyr sighed, but said, "You better grab onto my shoulders, and hold on tight."
That's what she did. It was no strain on Mendyr with the power his armor afforded him, but this still wasn't how he would've wanted to sneak into an evil sorceress's stronghold.
Then again, he supposed there wasn't really a perfect way to sneak into a castle of evil.
No matter what the stories said.
With that thought, he started his climb up the wall. Unaware of the dark shapes crawling out of the shadows below.
Taylor, Blondie, watch out!
…
What am I doing? I know he can't hear me…but, what if…?
For the briefest of moments, Mendyr felt a strange trembling. Above him, he heard something crack, and crawled out of the way as quick as he could when he saw a piece of the wall falling their way.
But out of reflex, he watched it fall past them. All the way to the bottom of the tower. In doing that Mendyr saw a trio of round, dark shapes gathered around a tall tree. Pushing on it with their clawed hands.
Pushing it toward where he and Blondie were dangling off the wall, easy targets.
"Oh, fox…!" Mendyr gasped.
"Bears!" Blondie shrieked, although it sounded more like surprise than fear. Not that the difference made much difference to Mendyr's mind. The tree they were pushing on creaked, and then leaned at a perilous angle.
Moving with all the speed his charged form could possibly manage, Mendyr pulled himself up the chain. Above the parapet seemed to loom mockingly in the distance, still a good thirty feet away at least.
The shadow of the tree fell over them.
Twenty feet.
Its shadow grew. The sound of earth rumbling made Mendyr's spine tingle while he pulled himself and his passenger higher, faster.
Ten feet.
The entire sky seemed to be swallowed up by a black shape as the tree toppled over completely.
Five feet.
"I'm not dying today!" Mendyr screamed, planting his feet on the wall. He threw himself upward in an awkward jump, and Blondie yelped as a tree branch knocked off one of her shoes as it fell past them. As fast as he could, Mendyr lurched up the wall and dropped them on the solid floor of the battlement.
"That was just right!" Blondie exclaimed the catchphrase from her mirrorcast. "Your timing was perfect! You must be getting A's in Heroics already!"
"I'll worry about that back in class," he replied, and started wrapping the chain of his mace up. "Anyway, Raven must already know we're here, if she sent some Dark Mirrors to get rid of us."
"Dark Mirrors?" Blondie asked excitedly. "What are those? The things that pushed over the tree?"
Mendyr shrugged. "Pretty much? They're shiny black monsters, and they seem to be based on creatures from different stories. I've seen a bunch of different kinds already."
"Really?" Blondie asked, sounding intrigued. "Where do they come from? What are they trying to do? Why hasn't everyone heard of them? Was Raven Queen their leader the whole time?"
"Those are all good questions, and they're all ones I'm still trying to find out the answers to," Mendyr replied, and Blondie frowned. "How about for right now, we settle on seeing what this fort has waiting for us?"
He pushed open the door in the side of the main tower, and stepped inside.
That was close…I'm so relieved Taylor and Blondie saw the Dark Mirrors in time.
But…did I really do that?
Did they see the brick falling because…
Oh, gods…
A textbook sickly green glow blanketed the stark stone room, emanating from the crystal floating in its very center.
Standing facing it was Raven Queen, hands down at her sides, her mirrored face completely expressionless. Opposite her was the hooded figure of the Keeper, eyes shining in the darkness of his cowl.
"Please understand, Raven Queen. I get no joy from taking control of you," he said. "Nor do I do what I do out of malice. Destiny must be upheld…I must be upheld. Surely familiar stories are better than extinction."
She said nothing, standing completely still where he'd left her. As he'd expected.
"I don't even enjoy borrowing this one, but I needed a body to be able to intervene in your kingdom, and he was especially receptive," the Keeper went on. "I'm only doing what needs to be done to preserve your world. Our world. Your part in preserving things will not be forgotten."
Still she was motionless, silent. Even her eyes did not betray any reaction. Then he'd left her nothing to respond with. The stakes had gotten too high to allow that, anymore.
"Of course, the Storybook of Legends is missing, but Mendyr can be my instrument to find where," he continued. "As soon as the bears track him down, and bring him to me…"
The Keeper turned toward the only door in the room to carry out the next steps of his plan. Behind him, Raven's body quivered ever so slightly, still helpless against his power.
Cautiously, Mendyr pushed open another door, but was almost frustrated to find another completely empty room. Behind him, Blondie was much less quiet about her own frustration.
"Isn't this place kind of…boring, for an evil castle?" she asked, scanning in their lack of surroundings on her mirrorphone. "Shouldn't there be cursed weapons on the walls, or cages with angry beasts in them to unleash on intruders?"
"Don't think we should be giving the villain ideas," Mendyr muttered.
"But that's boring! What kind of story is this going to make without any fun encounters to spice up the quest?" Blondie asked him.
"It's refreshing to hear someone who appreciates the work that goes into an exciting story," said a voice off to the side, and Mendyr and Blondie whirled to see the Keeper stepping through a door that hadn't been there a second before. "Again, the gallant hero's arrived to rescue his damsel from the den of evil," the Keeper announced.
Blondie gasped and whirled to look at Mendyr. "His damsel? Are you and Raven Queen…dating?"
"No," Mendyr growled.
The Keeper clapped his hands to silence them. "Oh, no. The brave hero came to save Raven Queen simply because he's answering the call of duty. And she will be released, as soon as the Storybook of Legends is returned to me."
Mendyr lifted the mace from his belt, ready for battle. "Not happening. I won't let anyone force her to sign that stupid book."
Raising his hands placatingly, the Keeper said, "I know how this all looks to one studying to be a great hero someday. But I'm not your enemy."
"You're foxing right!" Mendyr shouted. "Mysterious weirdos who curse maidens are always the villain! If you're not, let Raven go!"
"This is desirably, really," the Keeper replied, very calmly. "If I expect the villains to live up to their roles, I must expect the heroes to live up theirs. Very well. Why don't we see what she thinks of that question?"
He stepped away from the door, and the Dark Mirror that was Raven Queen flew into the room.
With Blondie Lockes holding up her phone to make sure she recorded it all.
It wasn't exactly stalking prey the way she was used to, but Cerise knew the trail of hoofprints, tinged by Taylor's scent, had to be leading her the right away. Weird was the trail that joined it partway into the forest, looking like single tire tracks.
The hoofprints stopped right next to a parked moped, with shining stickers from their school on the back. Whoever its owner was had beaten her out there, but who'd want to follow a warrior as he chased villains into a dark forest?
At the same time she realized that's what she was trying to do.
It was different for her, though, wasn't it? Not that anybody except Taylor, and their little group knew, but she had her dad's genes. She wasn't just some girly-girl princess, waiting around for things to solve themselves without her.
Why would anybody want to be in that kind of story?
Hocus focus, Cerise reminded herself. Above her the black tower was standing tall in the middle of the forest, seeming to dare her to try to find a way in. Finishing her circle around the tower, she couldn't find any door on ground level, but the walls were as smooth as glass. How was she supposed to get in?
But then, the base of the tower suddenly rippled, and an opening was where a wall had been. Out of it charged three dark, round shapes.
Bears, running on all fours. Mouths hanging open to let out bestial roars as they closed the distance between the tower and Cerise.
A little one, a medium one, and a great big one.
"Papa, Mama and Baby Bear," Cerise breathed, and was suddenly very sure of who'd followed Taylor out here into the woods.
"GO BACK!" they all roared with one voice, coming from all three mouths. "PLAY YOUR OWN ROLE!"
Cerise took off running, back down the trail. Away from the tower. Away from the demonic bears trying to force her away from it. A few seconds later she could hear their footfalls slowing, as if they were satisfied they'd chased Cerise off. She ran down the trail still, around a tree, and out of sight. They turned around and headed back toward their stronghold.
The Dark Mirrors barely heard the rush of air in the foliage off to the side, the faint crunch of leaves.
Until Cerise suddenly emerged from the trees in front of them, and dashed through the open doorway into the tower.
"My mighty hero came to save me, I should feel so flattered!" Raven cackled evilly. She held her shining, clawed fingers at him, and a jet of dark fire screamed from their tips in Mendyr's direction. The head of a screeching dragon formed at the front, but was smashed into nothingness by a downward blow from Mendyr's mace.
The dark princess just waved her hands and another jet of fire jumped from each reflective hand. A smaller billowing dragon's head spun from each, peppering the area around Mendyr with tiny white fireballs. Once again he whirled his mace and smashed most out of the air, but a few impacted on his armor and left ugly black burns.
"This is Blondie Lockes, reporting from an evil fortress in the middle of the Enchanted Forest!" she reported aloud. "A mysterious hero's come to rescue Apple White from a monstrous new form Raven Queen's assumed, but he's taking a beating from the Evil Queen's heir!"
"It's…nothing!" Mendyr replied, but Raven's glassy lips turned up at the ends in an evil grin.
"Oh, it's nothing? Then have some more!" Raven seemed to laugh and scream at the same time, her voice echoing with the sound of glass on glass. Another stream of power drifted from each hand, up into the roof of the chamber. Suddenly a giant dark fist formed out of the middle and slammed straight down, right on top of Mendyr's shoulders.
He grunted and pushed back against it with all of his strength, only to be forced to one knee when Raven's body glowed and fed more magic into her construct. Suddenly Mendyr yelled at the top of his voice and thrust his arms upward with great force, smashing the fist back against the ceiling and dispersing the cloud of dark magic.
Grabbing his mace from where it had fallen, he threw himself at Raven before she could attack again. The thought of hurting a friend repulsed him, but it was also what convinced him his opponent wasn't really Raven Queen.
She was his friend, she wouldn't attack him. What had attacked him was something else that had formed a shell around her, to take control her. And the only way Mendyr was going to save her was to rip break it open and reveal who she really was.
With that grim thought in mind, Mendyr crashed into Raven shoulder-first, sending shards of black glass flying. She was knocked back, drifting on the air, and Mendyr whirled his mace once then swung it at her. The ball crashed into her torso, and more of the black glass fell away.
Yet still Mendyr pressed his attack, swinging his mace yet again, but this time Raven had recovered enough to drift out of its way and the spiked ball smashed into the wall just to her side. "Are you trying to crush your princess?" the Dark Mirror demanded.
"No! I'm breaking her out of her prison!" Mendyr retorted.
His direct attack seemed to have shocked everyone, not just Raven herself. The Keeper clutched his head over his hood and wheezed, "What does he think he's doing? This isn't what he's supposed to do!"
Blondie, for her part, was keeping her mirrorphone pointed at the battle while she added her own thoughts. "The mysterious knight has started to attack Raven Queen, seeming determined to break the glass covering her, thinking that will set her free. It's hard to say if his plan will work, but isn't this exciting?"
Barely dodging another swing from the mace, Raven drifted to the back wall and pressed is hands against the stone. Dark magic spread out from her palms to cover the floor, and form into a whirlpool underneath Mendyr's boots. "You can pack a punch," she taunted the masked warrior, "but can you do anything else?"
Already he'd sunk into the floor up to his hips, but Mendyr's mind seemed to be at work. He was whirling his mace again, and Raven moved one hand in front of herself to form a barrier. But he didn't swing it at her; instead he swung it straight up, lodging the ball in the ceiling. He kicked his feet forward, back, then pushed off the back wall went swinging hard and fast in Raven's direction.
For a few seconds he pushed against Raven's magical barrier, and Blondie Lockes watched in awe as cracks formed in it before Mendyr broke through, pinning Raven to the wall. More flecks of black glass fell off her body from the powerful impact. Half of her face was exposed, and a violet eye locked with Mendyr's visor.
"Taylor, please…it hurts, but I feel like I'm getting a little stronger the more that falls off," she whispered.
"I'll get you out of this, Ray. I promise," Mendyr whispered back.
Right before she raised a hand and blasted him across the room with dark magic.
Alert wolf ears could hear the Three Bears Dark Mirrors trampling the ground, closer with every second. Cerise Hood was one of the fastest kids she knew, but she'd yet to put that to the test against something like three demonic bears.
When she felt one sink their teeth into the back of her cloak, she wished she had. Her momentum kept the rest of body going the but the clasp on her cloak dug into her throat and she went down with an undignified gurgle.
Everything went dark thanks to the three bears looming over the breathless girl, and then grabbing her arms and legs. She expected to feel them pulling her apart, but instead the bears lifted her and started walking back toward the doors to the tower.
"This place is not for you!" Papa Bear said very sternly.
"I'm trying to save my friends!" Cerise shouted, struggling in their slippery but sharp glass paws.
"You don't save friends in your story," Mama Bear reprimanded her. "Stay where you belong."
"Wait a tick," said Baby Bear, and his parents stopped suddenly. "It's the girl with the red hood. The one who the boss said hid the Storybook of Legends, innit?"
The Three Bears dropped her on the floor and formed a circle around the annoyed Cerise. "Hey, you're just right, little one," said Papa Bear. "Tell us where you left that book, if you know what's good for you, human."
Cerise answered by getting up and running into the depths of the tower again.
Again the bears were running after her, but letting out horrifying feral roars again. If they caught Cerise, there was no chance they'd just try to kick her out of the building this time. But just hiding the stupid book wasn't enough; how could she just hang back somewhere safe and wait, while she knew her best friend was out risking his life in battle?
"Fox you, Taylor, trying to do something like this all by yourself," Cerise panted when she found a staircase ringing the walls of the tower and charged up for it, looking for any sign of her friends.
Behind her, the bears had started climbing the stairs on all fours, snarling and bellowing, reinforcing her fears. But at the same time, she felt a new energy filling her body, giving her a second wind to keep sprinting!
Cerise passed an open door, saw something, and just bent down and took the stairs even more quickly. Soon the stairs ended at a landing in front of a hall, and Cerise went down that. Around a corner, through into a square room.
With no exits.
And the bears were getting louder behind her again.
A lot of kids would've been scared. Would've fall down and accepted their fate. It was what the whole system they were raised in taught them to do.
Cerise Hood didn't. She threw back her head and howled.
What was that?
Mom! You're back.
Brooke, what was that? I could feel it all the way outside.
I think something happened in the story…
The Three Bears charged into the empty room, but didn't find the girl panicked into running they were expecting.
Cerise Hood stood there, but she was clenching her teeth with fury, and a golden amulet hung from her cloak clasp now: a wolf with ruby eyes, and diamond teeth exposed. Finally, in her hand was a red Ride Book: Wide Eyes, Sharp Teeth, showing a black wolf stalking through a forest.
Instinct guiding her next action, Cerise reached to the amulet and pulled its jaw down. The Ride Book locked neatly into the new space. "Turn the page!" Cerise yelled, as she'd seen her friend do to activate his powers. She pressed hard on the wolf's bottom jaw, and the Ride Book's cover flipped open.
And Cerise Hood was changed.
Her entire body was covered in black armor, with a hood hiding her face that only two yellow lenses like the narrowed eyes of a stalking beast could be seen within, while the amulet dangled from its front, still. Her feet had become the digitigrade shape of a wolf, and not coincidently, a red emblem in the shape of a snarling wolf's head had formed on her chest. Red patterns shaped like flames traveled down her arms and legs, also terminating in the heads of wolves.
On the back of her wrists were bronze-colored rings attached to three splayed, hooked claws that extended past her hands.
A word, no, a name, formed itself in her mind, "Scarlet."
"Scarlet?" echoed Papa Bear. "Is that what you're called now? I'm sure we'll be able to think of something else by the time we're finished with you!" Then the trio of Dark Mirrors rushed at her again. She went into a fighting stance with a skill she'd never known before.
"I'm coming, Taylor! Soon as I'm done with them!" Scarlet promised.
A blast of black fire gushed from Raven's hands held together. Mendyr jumped for the ceiling and the flame singed the soles of his boots. He landed at the side of the room and swung his mace at Raven, but she held her hands together again and fired off another blast that blocked his weapon.
They pushed against each other for a few seconds, but Raven screamed in rage, pouring even more power into her magic and then forcing the mace away. She kept it up, and the blast got even wider, sweeping Mendyr off his feet and dashing him against the far wall. He slid down, landing face-down and unmoving.
"It seems the hero's having trouble with his opponent!" Blondie announced for the recording. "Raven Queen's battering him around the room with her evil magic! Can he recover from a beating like this?"
Mendyr managed to push himself up on his hands and locked eyes with Raven. It seemed the black glass he'd managed to knock off her body was slowly growing back over her skin. One side of her face was still uncovered, and in her quivering eye, Mendyr could see fear.
And that made him think about something he'd heard Blondie comment on the fight.
Raven's evil magic.
She wouldn't use it to attack him, though.
Whatever was threatening to take over her body would.
Maybe he needed to aim for a different kind of target to weaken this enemy, first.
And a faint sound he heard through the wall gave him an idea of what it could be.
"Don't worry, it'll be quick," Raven said while she gathered another blast of dark magic, but it seemed to form slowly, as if contradicting her. Mendyr wasn't surprised; whatever was using her was obviously determined to have her act like a typical evil sorceress.
A plan formed in his head, banking on exactly that. He groaned and clutched a hand to his forehead, trying to look vulnerable.
"So perish all the queen's enemies," Raven said, and fired a column of dark energy that filled half the room. Blondie and even the Keeper had to jump away, backs to the wall, to avoid it.
Mendyr, though, swung his mace again, into the torrent of power, adding his force to it. Its spiked head hit the wall, and Mendyr only yanked his weapon back into his hand swung it again into the middle of the column of magic, increasing its force again. Raven's magic blasted into the wall, which within seconds had turned red, and then started to melt! Soon a hole had formed, and through it, Mendyr was even more sure he heard the sound of a girl crying.
On the other side of the room, Raven fell back against the wall, panting heavily with the exertion she'd just made. Mendyr took advantage of her distraction, and ran, taking powerful, heavy steps that left imprints in the stone floor. On his way he grabbed Blondie over his shoulder, and carried her with him when he climbed through the hole in the wall.
"Hey, slow down! How am I supposed to record what's going on like this?" Blondie protested, but Mendyr kept going. Through the fortress, closer to the sound of the crying girl, and stopping outside the iron door it echoed out from.
"Apple? Apple White?" he called out to the person inside. "I need you to get away from the door, I'm here to rescue you."
"And I'm here to get a live reaction of it!" Blondie added.
Knowing that Raven and the Keeper would be after them any moment, Mendyr smashed his mace into the door. It fell off its hinges and clattered on the floor, but to Mendyr's relief, Apple White was indeed sitting inside, and she looked up in surprise when she saw who'd knocked the door down.
Blondie nudged Mendyr aside to record Apple's reaction. Apple looked up at them, her makeup somehow still flawless despite the telltale redness in her eyes from prolonged crying.
"Who're you?" the princess asked.
"Someone who really needs your help to save Raven Queen," Mendyr replied.
Mama Bear lunged at Scarlet, massive jaws somehow spewing vile spittle as she aimed her teeth at the armored girl's throat. Scarlet held her claws in front of her masked face just before the bear was on top of her then slashed outward, tearing into the black glass on the creature's face.
The other two Dark Mirrors lunged at Scarlet around the first one, but she jumped a few feet backward, leading to the bears' faces crashing together and littering the floor with tiny chunks of black glass. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Scarlet, the sound of the Dark Mirrors crashing together lingering in the air until her feet touched the ground and things returned to normal.
"So this is what it feels like," Scarlet breathed in wonder. Before the stunned monsters could recover, Scarlet dashed around the room in a circle, moving so fast she was little more than a dark blur. She held out an arm and raked her claws across the glassy hides of the Dark Mirrors for her entire circuit around them.
"Fast means weak!" Papa Bear bellowed and raised one massive, shining paw above his head to slam down on Scarlet.
"Does it?" Scarlet retorted, her tone smirking.
"That's the way it's always been!" Papa Bear roared and smashed his paw down. Only to realize he'd hit nothing but the stone floor; Scarlet had dashed away again.
In the next instant she seemed to reappear behind him, just before slicing into his back with her new claws. "Seems to me like things are changing!" she yelled.
"Sounds to me like a child needs to learn to listen to her elders!" Mama Bear yelled as she suddenly swatted Scarlet into the wall.
She and Baby Bear charged at the stunned Scarlet, but she suddenly slashed them both across the torso with her claws, yelling, "You sound just like my grandmother!"
"Maybe you should've listened!" Papa Bear roared, tackling Scarlet and pinning her to the wall. He opened his jaws, but Scarlet held up the claws of one hand in front of his face to block him from biting down on her.
"Maybe you guys need to listen!" Scarlet roared back herself. "Why do we all have to live the way you guys say?!"
There was no time to wait for an answer; somewhere in this fort, Taylor needed her help. The only way she'd get the chance to find him and give that help was by getting rid of the minions. Instinct guided her to push the bottom of her amulet upward, and even more power flowed out of the Ride Book into her body.
"Savage Pack Surrounding!" the amulet announced in the voice of Mendyr's own weaponry.
Scarlet held out her hands, and the wolf designs on her arm came to life, jumping off and racing around the Three Bears at blinding speed. The Dark Mirrors roared and smashed with their mighty paws, doing their level best to defend themselves, but it did them no good. Howling, biting, clawing, and jumping around the room, the wolves tore away at their opponents bit by bit. Soon body parts were falling off the Dark Mirrors, until they'd been reduced to a pile of shiny black debris on the floor.
"That was…spelltacular," Scarlet whispered, then, grinned behind her mask. "I'd like to see what I can do to that Keeper guy!"
Apple gasped when she saw Raven come around a corner and drift down the hall, bits of the dark princess peeking out through holes in the dark shell that had covered her when she attacked Legacy Day.
"Raven!" Apple screamed, holding out a hand to her roommate in pure instinct.
"Help me…" Raven moaned out of one half of her mouth.
"Ready for your apple?" she sneered out of the other.
"What do we do?" Apple asked with a trembling voice, looking up at Mendyr.
"I think you need to try to connect with her," he answered. "Help her fight back against the Dark Mirror that's controlling her." Apple gave him a confused, helpless look for a second.
Then she managed a nod, and got to her feet. With a practiced conciliatory gesture, Apple held out both of her hands toward Raven, who slowed her approach. "I'm sorry, Raven," Apple said, very quietly. "This isn't what I wanted."
"This is exactly what you wanted," Raven retorted, her voice having a sharp, keening note like two panes glass rubbing edges.
"No it's not!" Apple screamed. "I didn't want you to be like, scary, evil! I wanted you to be my frenemy!"
Raven's face, even the mirrored surface, recoiled in surprise. "WHAT?!"
"I wanted us to be friends!" Apple went on. "That's why I had us room together! So we could hang out and get to know each other! Really make it our story!"
"You sheltered little princess…," Raven breathed. "What did you think happened to the villain of your story? Do you know so little, you think villains get happy endings, too?"
"I was hoping if I got really involved, maybe I could…help with that?" Apple offered. "This isn't what I wanted, though! Not a Raven Queen who's just as bad as her mom!"
"She had no idea what she was doing," Mendyr muttered, covering his visor with his hand.
"Her attentions were just right, though," Blondie replied.
Raven stopped drifting closer, a villainous sneer on her reflective lips. Instead, her body was twisting and contorting, then started crashing into one wall, then the other. Apple yelped in terror, ran forward and tried to grab Raven and hold her still, and Mendyr jumped forward and tried to help her.
"Raven, stop!" Apple wailed, tears streaking down her already stained cheeks. "THIS ISN'T YOU!"
"Please, Raven, stop," Mendyr added, grabbing his friend's wrists and slamming her against the wall. "Fight this. You don't want your destiny, that means you have to fight it. But I'm here to help you. Apple's here to help you. Our friends who aren't here, they still want to help you be the person you know you need to be."
"NO!" screamed someone else. "Don't listen to him! THIS is the person you need to be! The Evil Queen, the villain of all villains! How can the biggest story of them all happen the way it's meant, with no villain?"
All of them looked up and saw the Keeper, running down the hall. Sparks of magic were gathering around his hands, and he pointed his fingers at Raven, sending the magic at her. The black glass covering her body started to spread faster, but suddenly someone else appeared behind him.
At first Mendyr's stomach clenched, afraid it was another Dark Mirror monster come to attack them. But then he spotted the Ride Book in the amulet dangling from the hood she wore, and he couldn't even try to keep in a sigh of relief.
"Who's that?" Apple asked, voice full of worry.
"A friend," Mendyr assured her, although he hardly needed to. Scarlet swatted the Keeper aside, and helped the two of them pin Raven to the wall. She hissed and squirmed, but her strength seemed to be fading.
Scarlet helped pin Raven to the wall too, since that was what she saw everyone else doing, her claws scraping off flecks of black glass from her torso in the process. "What are we doing, here?" she asked the others.
"Trying to get the rest of that junk off of Raven," Mendyr replied.
But the dark princess screamed, "NO!" she thrust out her arms, and her dark magic surged out of her, forming a sphere, and knocking the three of them away. "This is Destiny!" she exclaimed, even though her exposed human eye was filled with fear. "This is the Evil Queen's daughter as she's meant to be! This is the world, as it's meant to be!"
"No," Mendyr said, quietly but with a force just waiting to be unleashed. "We'll write our own futures!"
"You'll be ending the world!" Raven shouted, and ravens formed from her magic appeared, swarming and attacking Mendyr and Scarlet. Tearing tiny pieces from their armor and pecking at the lenses of their masks. Still, they hit their Ride Books, charging up for powered attacks.
"Miracle Union! Unbinding Trinity!" both Scarlet and Mendyr's gear announced together. The two gave each other a look, but silently made their attack. Scarlet howled, a wolfpack again forming from the designs on her armor and leaping around, throwing themselves at the attacking birds. Meanwhile, Mendyr swung his mace, glowing spikes flying from the head and piercing the flock of ravens filling the area.
At the same time, Raven noticed a bright light surrounding herself. A feeling of power and wanting to do help someone in need filling her heart. That feeling guided her to reach out and touch the spot above Raven's heart.
It was the golden glow of Heroic Will.
"We're here for you, Raven," Apple whispered, somehow being heard over the caws of the birds and howls of the wolves.
At that word, cracks in Raven's glassy shell raced out from under Apple's hand. Suddenly, Raven reached out and grabbed Scarlet and Mendyr by their wrists, and the golden glow flowed from them into her body as well. Cracks twisted all through the glass, and then with one last, horrible crash, a blast of power rippled from Raven's body and the black glass fell away. Apple, Scarlet, Mendyr and finally even Blondie, her desire to record the news no longer strong enough to keep her on her feet, were thrown backward.
So was the Keeper, his hood blown black by the force. Apple saw it first.
"Headmaster Grimm," she breathed.
"…Wh-what's going on?" he gargled and sat up, clutching his forehead.
"That's what we want to know!" Scarlet snarled. She went over to Grimm, and grabbed him by the arm. Mendyr and Apple kneeled down, and helped Raven sit up. The dark princess was breathing hard, her eyes lidded with fatigue.
"Where are we?" Raven asked when she found her voice. "Am I still…"
Mendyr shook his head. "No, Raven. Everything's okay now. Everything's okay again."
Very tiredly, she smiled and nodded.
Almost as soon as they were outside the fort, it crumbled away to nothing. All of them blinked, and the clearing where it had stood was even full of trees.
"Let's go," Scarlet growled, giving a tug. She'd tied the Keeper's robe around Headmaster Grimm's arms, and dragged him behind her.
"I must protest this treatment! Again!" Grimm did indeed protest, again. "I remember nothing until I woke up just now!"
"Yeah, right," Scarlet retorted, and just kept dragging him through the forest.
Too exhausted to say anything after all they'd just been through, Mendyr unfolded Charge Unicorn's Ride Book. With his mount summoned, he helped Raven, Apple and Blondie onto it for the trip back to school.
No-one else said anything either. The last few birdcalls before all the forest animals headed home to roost for the night were the only things to hear. To break the silence, Apple tapped Mendyr on the shoulder while he walked beside them.
"What's your name, Sir Knight?" she asked.
"Mendyr," he answered her.
Blondie Lockes sighed, and finally lowered her mirrorphone.
That was quite a packed chapter, but hopefully it came out alright.
To explain why the villains might seem kind of scattershot in their approach, they're actually not used to what they're doing either, and are figuring things out just like the Riders.
Speaking of, other people have awakened their own Heroic Will. And it seems some people can manifest it without becoming Riders, so who knows what other forms Heroic Will might take as the story unfolds?
A reviewer asked how the story compares to its origins in a particular way. Here's my answer. Hope the translation isn't too rough:
Habrá romances en esta historia, pero sucederán lentamente. Después de todo, el amor a primera vista es uno de los tropos que se disecciona en las deconstrucciones de cuentos de hadas. Darling Charming aparecerá, pero no puedo prometer que estará en un romance lésbico. Lizzie Hearts es más difícil, pero ya veremos. Sin embargo, nadie será emparejado de inmediato. Espero que eso ayude a explicarlo.