Page 9 – Sign Your Life Away

Last chapter had some major developments, didn't it? Cerise Hood discovered her own Heroic Will and transformed!

I don't think you appreciate the damage this does, dear.

Oh, because Red Riding Hood isn't supposed to be able to fight off the Big Bad Wolf, is she?

Exactly.

So that means we're seeing these stories happen for the first time ever!

Exactly, Brooke.

Why don't we see what happens after the…disruption you two are enjoying so much?

Sounds great, mom!

Hehehe…

"GOOOOOOOOD morning, Ever After High!"

The familiar features of Blondie Lockes, queen of the school news outlet, were on screens all over the building before some kids were even out of bed. Her audience could hardly see the rings under her eyes from being up all night editing her footage.

"Legacy Day was really one to remember, and not all of you might know the whole story yet!" she gushed. "Well, have no fear! Your intrepid reporter on the scene caught everything, and I'm here to share it with you now!"

The footage cut from her smiling face to a bumpy shot of her riding through the woods and surprising Mendyr as he sat on the back of his metallic unicorn.

"Turns out there's a hero this school never told you about…"

XXX

Even before the sun was up, the halls of Ever After High were full of students asking each other what was going on, and eating up what Blondie Lockes said she saw the night before.

Everyone remembered Raven Queen turning into some kind of shiny black monster, and a few of the hero curriculum's more overachieving students remembered seeing her fly off with Apple White and Headmaster Grimm as her prisoners.

A few who hadn't been able to sleep after a villain making a scene on Legacy Day had sworn they'd seen a pair of people in masks and armor bringing them back to school a little after curfew. Matching up with Blondie's story.

They shut up about what time they'd seen the people, when a teacher asked them for details.

Speaking of teachers, they attempted to hold classes as normal, but the only students who seemed to be paying any attention were boys on the hero track during those particular classes. They seemed inspired, having seen armored champions bringing the rescued captives back to school. Everyone else was still gossiping and trading theories about what'd happened.

And feeling the heavy gaze of everyone in school was Raven Queen.

"My roommate says she was faking not wanting to do it this whole time," a girl at the table behind her whispered in Science and Sorcery class.

"Just so she could shock everybody on Legacy Day like that, huh?" whispered her lab partner.

"Not just scary, a liar, too," the first girl whispered again, and both of them snickered.

Raven glanced over her shoulder, eyebrows arched, and both girls recoiled with a gasp of fear.

"Raven Queen!" snarled Rumpelstiltskin. Every student snapped to attention, staring at the bearded gnome standing on a table at the front of the classroom to get anywhere close to their eye level. "If you would please to be answering the question I just be asking you delightful childrens?

"Oh, I, uh, think maybe, it was about pixie d—"

"WRONG! Detention!"

Raven glared over her shoulder at the gossiping girls that time, but faced ahead and stayed that way.

"Totally evil," whispered the first girl.

"Just like her mom," agreed the second.

When the distracted classes started to get a little excited by the clock edging toward the end of the day, the school's PA system suddenly buzzed to life.

"If everyone will please report to the school lobby before last period for a special announcement," grunted Headmaster Grimm's troll secretary through the loudspeaker.

Murmurs immediately started spreading among the teens in every classroom. An announcement? Why in the lobby, instead of the theater or the back platform where the Legacy Day signing was supposed to happen?

What could they be about to hear?

They got their answer when everyone was in the lobby, pressed shoulder to shoulder, and the screens on the wall came to life with Blondie Lockes' face again. Her smiled a little less bright than usual, they all noticed.

"Hi, everyone! I've gotten a hext from Headmaster Grimm. He says he's still in the hospital, but he wants to have me announce something to make sure everyone hears it, otherwise he's afraid of 'anarchy' breaking out," Blondie said, then shut her eyes and chuckled at what she'd just said. More than a few of the viewers did too.

A few were thinking of other things. Like Pyotr Lupus, who nudged Taylor lightly with his elbow. "Hey, you see Raven anywhere?" he asked.

"Yeah," Taylor said, pointing surreptitiously at a corner, where the dark princess was indeed standing by herself. "Her reputation's even worse after yesterday, seems like."

Blondie held up her mirrorphone in front of her face. "Looks like there's more. He says the doctors say he's been tested for every kind of curse and dark mind-controlling magic they know about, and they've cleared him on every single one. He says he'll be back soon, and he's having me announce this because I can reach the students easily, and he doesn't understand the school's PA system well enough to do it himself from the hospital (don't read this part out loud)…oh, whoops."

Snide laughter broke out across the lobby, and Blondie couldn't hide a smirk of her own despite her usual professionalism. She glanced down at her phone again and read off another hext: "There'll be another Legacy Day signing since the last one was interrupted, with just a few students there to, uh, 'minimize disruption this time'. The students who'll be there will be contacted individually.

"That's all I have for you right now, Ever After High! I'll have more news for you soon, whether it's excitement, or drama you're after!"

The screens flicked to an educational film about the life cycles of spotted yellow forest moss, and the students couldn't disperse fast enough. At that point it was easy enough for Pyotr and Taylor to get over to where Raven was standing, with everyone making even more sure to stay out of her way.

With a sigh, Raven said, "Hey, guys."

"Anybody giving you trouble because of last night?" Pyotr asked, a threatening tone in his voice.

"Just dirty looks," she replied, looking out over the room and catching a few students doing exactly that. They looked away, but a few kids wearing dark clothes or make-up smiled in approval.

"Let's get out of here," Taylor suggested.

"Please," an exhausted-sounding Raven agreed.

They mostly had the path around the back of the school to themselves, and somehow the air seemed crisper, more relaxing after the attack on Legacy Day had been taken care of. Pyotr sucked in a loud breath through his nose, and made a satisfied "Ah!" sound.

"What's with you guys?" Pyotr half-laughed, half-demanded of his friends. "Last night was a big win, wasn't it? Why are you both looking so down?"

"I don't know, man," Taylor answered. "It seemed like whoever was doing all this got desperate last night, just taking over Raven's body the way they did. And I'm worried they might get even more desperate soon."

"Don't say 'whoever', it was Headmaster Grimm," Pyotr replied.

Raven shook her head, her expression turning even more glum. "I don't think so. I mean, yeah, he put something in my head when we talked, but after I thought about it last night, it felt more like transferred from him to me. That's why I'm worried it wasn't Headmaster Grimm, but something that took over him, too."

Dubiously, Pyotr let the point stand, but he asked, "Did they find anything when they checked you for curses? Or mind control?"

"You mean the school nurse?" Raven muttered. "Yeah, said there were no signs of any curses or whatever on me either, then told me to go back upstairs and make sure to finish my stupid thronework. It's like it was no big deal, since everybody already expects me to be evil."

"Something's gotta be done," Pyotr also muttered, and Raven nodded.

Raven shook her head. "Look, do you guys mind if we talk later? I didn't get any sleep last night, because…you know, and I'm tired."

"Not me!" exclaimed a crimson and black blur stopped next to their group, revealing Cerise Hood screeching to a halt and grinning viciously. "Taylor, I've been wanting to talk to you since yesterday!" she said, and grabbed his hand. An awkward silence fell over the group, and she added, quietly, "Uh, by ourselves, if you guys are okay with that."

"Perfect timing, Cerise," Raven said. "I'll see you guys later."

"Yeah, me too. I'm pretty worn out after everything, too," Pyotr said, and Cerise gave him a confused look, but he saluted and headed inside again.

With the others gone, Cerise pulled Taylor to a path leading behind the school, smiling.

"You look like you've got something on your mind," Taylor asked once it'd been a minute since he'd seen anyone who might overhear them.

"I do!" Cerise gushed. "How did it feel? The first time you transformed? Did you feel strong? Did you feel fast? How?"

"Honestly, it's kind of hard to pick just one word," Taylor said, looking up at the sky, as if that might help him decide. "When I changed, I knew I could fight, but I also knew I could fool enemies. Even enemies like the Dark Mirrors, at least for a while."

Cerise smirked. "Maybe you should see if you can use it to fool somebody like Headmaster Grimm. Even if that was somebody else using his body last time, he's got it coming for the way he treats Raven."

Taylor mumbled a sound of uncertainty. "I don't think so. It feels wrong, thinking about using those powers for something like getting even with somebody I don't like. Besides, would Heroic Will even work for something little like that?"

"Could it hurt just to try it?" Cerise pressed him.

"What if using it for stuff like pranks means we lose it? Or something worse? Remember what happened to Beauty's sisters, when they said they should just let the Beast die, so they could have all his stuff?" Taylor reminded her, warningly. "Or the guy who killed the goose that laid golden eggs? Power has a way of punishing the unworthy…"

She shivered, but nodded. "Okay, okay. It was just an idea."

His hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Let's take good risks, okay, Cerise?"

She sighed, quietly but happily, and shut her eyes. "Okay."

"…hey, Cerise?" Taylor suddenly asked, eyes pointed at the top of the school.

"…yeah?" she asked, following his eyes.

"Where did you hide the Storybook of Legends?"

"…somewhere nobody would ever look?" she asked, smiling sheepishly.

He met her eyes, looking worried all of a sudden. "Did you throw it through Headmaster Grimm's window?"

"Hey, it's the last place anyone would look for it, right?" Cerise laughed, trying to play it off.

"Except him, when he gets back from the hospital. Any time now, won't he?"

The two walked back toward the front of the school as quick as they could, whistling innocuously. However, Taylor whispered, "You must have a hex of an arm. That window's high."

Cerise smirked and pumped her fist.

A little later, back in his dorm, Taylor couldn't focus on his thronework. He glanced over at Pyotr, doing his own assignments with headphones thumping music.

Time for a break, Taylor thought.

He got his mirrorphone out, realized he was checking for bars even though he was back at school, then heaved himself onto this bed and sighed. His thumb hit the contact for his father.

It beeped twice before someone answered, and at first Taylor heard the sound of young girls screaming. Before one of them screamed right into the phone.

"HI, TAY-TAY!"

"Hi, Thalia. Why are you on dad's phone?"

"HE HAS GAMES AND WON'T GET ME A PHONE WITH GAMES!"

Taylor held the phone away from his mouth and sighed. He really didn't need to be dragged into his little sisters' drama right now.

Thalia paid no attention, of course. "Teagan took me in the woods yesterday! We found a tree where racoons live!"

"That's nice, Thalia. Can you please put dad on?"

" 'That's nice' is grown-up code for you don't want to talk about what we want to talk about!"

"I'm a high school freshman. That's not a grown-up."

"Yes it is!...Hey!"

Over indignant yells, Taylor could now hear his father's voice. "Hi, Taylor! How's school?"

"Better than security at home, sounds like," Taylor chuckled. "If the girls can get your phone away from you that easy."

"They're getting okay at grabbing it, but they stink at holding onto it," his father replied.

"Hey, no we don't!" Thalia yelled.

A pleasant little laugh came from the other end of the phone. "You'll need to take a few more lessons, sweetie. Why don't you go see if Teagan can teach you anything?"

"We don't stink!" Thalia continued to protest.

"Tell you what, I'll grade you next time," Taylor Sr. said, and his son could hear a door closing, and the heavy footfalls of a kid running and not caring how much noise they made fading into the distance. "So, how's school, T? Was Legacy Day fun?"

"That's kind of the thing, dad," Taylor said, his throat suddenly very dry. "I guess nobody else heard yet, but Legacy Day got interrupted. Nobody signed."

Unsurprisingly, his father's reply was very serious. "Really? What happened?"

"It's kind of hard to explain. The Evil Queen's daughter turned into some kind of monster made out of black glass, then she kidnapped Snow White's daughter and the headmaster and flew away. Later I heard some guys in masks saved them, somehow."

"Really?" Taylor Sr. asked. "Is that the same Evil Queen's daughter you're friends with?"

"Yeah. I was really glad when she came back safe," Taylor admitted.

His father snickered, "But not the headmaster, I bet! Is old Milty still giving everyone there a hard time?"

Taylor pointed out, "Dad, you don't think any of the weird stuff I talked about's weird?"

"Son, I graduated from that school, remember? It's there to help you get used to dealing with all kinds of wild things. Give it some time, it'll start seeming more like home than home does."

"I don't know, though, dad. The heroics classes aren't as bad as I worried over summer, but being out here on my own, there's all kinds of…challenges I'm wondering if I can really handle. Being a hero doesn't seem as easy as it did when I was a kid." Taylor said, making very sure to measure his words and not give too much away. "I'm getting a little worried I won't be able to live out your career as well as you did, dad."

"Taylor," his father said, quietly, seriously. "Maybe Headmaster Grimm does, but I don't expect you to be exactly like me. You're there to have your experience, not mine. What kind of father would I be, if I expected you to do everything the exact same way I would?"

"Isn't that the whole point of the school, dad? Doing the same story I got from my parents?" Taylor asked uncertainly.

His father sighed, but asked, "You know a girl there, named Faybelle Thorn?"

"No? Not yet, anyway," Taylor replied.

"Her mom's the fairy who cursed Sleeping Beauty, but the two of us actually dated for a while. Shocking right?" Taylor Sr. said with a little laugh. "I'm a person, just like you are. We have urges, we do whatever seems right at the moment. There's no shame in that. You'll have a job to do, but don't stress so much about being perfect. Be who you need to be, what you need to be."

Taylor sucked in a breath through his nose, and felt the worry that'd built up in him last night in the forest break up, and fade away. "Thanks dad. For, you know, the reassurance."

"Sure, honey. But since I told you a secret, now you owe me one," his father said with a playful snicker. "How are you and Anna Weaver getting along?"

"To be totally honest? Don't know if I like her, the way she thinks I'm supposed to."

"Oh? Is there someone you do like?"

"Mmmmmaybe? There's these others girls I've been hanging out with a lot. They just, get me, you know? They don't have all these expectations for me like Anna Weaver does."

For a while, there was silence on the other end.

"Dad?" Taylor asked.

"…oh my godmother," his father finally breathed.

"What?"

Silence, again.

"Dad, I'm not kidding! What?"

"Nothing, Taylor," his father finally said, his voice sounding distant, but Taylor was sure he was grinning. "Keep hanging out with them, you absolute menace. I should go make sure your sisters haven't stolen your mom's phone while we were talking. Love you."

Then Taylor Sr. hung up.

The sky outside their window had turned the buttery yellow of impending night when Raven opened the door, and locked it behind her, letting out an exhausted sigh.

"Long day?" Apple asked, beaming a supportive smile.

Raven wagged her fingers, trying to work some feeling back into them. "I can't believe I'm spinning straw into gold for a week!"

"It's just a week," Apple giggled. "The year's just starting! We have lots of fun things to look forward to!"

"As long as you don't mean detention with Rumpelstiltskin," Raven grumbled.

Apple got up and took her roommate's hand. "No, it means us bonding, and making our story as good as two best friends forever after can make it!" she laughed, blonde girls bouncing.

"That does sound nice," Raven admitted. "That you want to still hang out and stuff, after…"

"Oh, I'm not worried about that!" Apple assured her. "That wasn't you! We'll just sign the Storybook of Legends, and then we can start getting to know each other, and how we'll be the best frenemies the kingdom's ever seen!"

Raven laughed, sounding pretty tired, and hoping she only sounded a little exasperated. "Wow. You're really fired up about doing this, huh?"

"Of course!" Apple declared, her supportive smile turning determined. "The two of us are gonna show that Keeper guy, we'll make our story our way! Not his way! We'll spellabrate after we both sign the Storybook of Legends!"

"Then we figure out how to be good frenemies?" Raven asked.

Completely undaunted, Apple answer, "That's right! We'll be the bestest frenemies the kingdom's ever, seen!"

Raven hoped her smile was convincing, because she sure wasn't feeling convinced.

Soon, the rhythm of school had returned more or less to normal. Kids went to class, hung out with their friends, and traded rumors, although the rumors about Raven Queen were even more scathing than they'd been before.

Right in the middle of the usual school confusion, no-one paying attention to him, was Taylor Valiant. Which was just fine with him, as he'd been spending the day making up his mind on an important issue.

Now he just needed to think of a good way to tell the people in his school life the decision.

As soon as the last bell rang, and the students started splitting up for their after-school activities, whether going to clubs or just finding their friends to hang out. Someone had been waiting to find Taylor, because as soon as he'd turned the corner toward the stairs, he flinched when he saw the beautiful princess who'd been leaning against the wall just out of sight.

"Hi, Taylor!" exclaimed Anna Weaver, beaming the traditional friendly princess smile. "Want to walk to Fashion Club together?"

"Actually, I don't think that's a great fit for me," he replied. "I'm gonna see if they'll let me into the Swordplay Federation."

"But there's no sword fighting in our story," she told him, again.

Taylor shrugged. "After Legacy Day, maybe it's good to be flexible."

"They said they've got fairies casting spells to protect against anything," Anna protested, and kept following Taylor when he walked past her and started down the stairs. "Why are you afraid of that happening again?"

He sighted, sounding frustrated. "Because the school's already supposed to have spells that protect against anything, but they didn't stop Raven from being turned into a monster and kidnapping people. I plan to be as ready as I can if something like that happens again."

"Why risk our story like that?" Anna demanded.

Taylor gave her a sharp look, both worried and confused at once. "There's a lot more going on than our story."

He walked away, not knowing what else to do.

Soon, Taylor found himself outside the doors to the Swordplay Federation, and it was exactly as pretentious as its name. The entrance was a pair of doors made of varnished mahogany, a raised design of the Charming family's shield design on them with the seam running through the middle. Lance-toting knights on horseback chased snaky dragons up the carved slats of the frame, and what looked like the real stuffed head of a dragon looked blankly down from a mounting on the very center of the top.

All of a sudden, Taylor found himself wondering if this was a good idea. He didn't feel nearly rich enough to be going into a place like this.

He had bigger things to worry about than that, though, and a hero was expected to take on bigger dangers than social anxiety. Taylor reached out and turned the knob.

The inside was just as opulent as the door. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling were wood, polished so brightly Taylor could see a faint reflection cast in them. Most of the floor was taken up by athletic mats, and students in padded fencing uniforms and masks were dueling up down the room.

Most of the duelists near the back of the room stayed focused on their matches. Even though the hinges made no sound—no doubt oiled as meticulously as the surfaces were polished—a few of the closer boys stopped to look at the newcomer standing in the doorway. One proceeded to disarm his opponent—who yipped and clutched his aching hand—then removed his mask to remove his mask, revealing the eternally photogenic face of Daring Charming.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little busy to greet a fan right now," he said.

"I'm not here for an autograph, I wanted to see if I could join. Improve my technique," Taylor replied.

Daring looked him up and down. "I see. Who are you, again? What story are you from?"

"Taylor Valiant, next 'Brave Little Tailor'," Taylor supplied.

Nodding, tapping a finger to his chin thoughtfully, Daring stepped closer and gave Taylor a measuring look. "I see, I see…there's no swordplay in that story, you know," he pointed out.

"It'd look great on my transcript," Taylor responded, "and I'd be a fellow hero you can tell people learned everything he needed to know from you."

"Mmhmm, mmhmm," Daring mumbled, walking in a little around the boy asking to join his club. "It's true I haven't had an apprentice before, but my schedule's pretty full, you know."

"Come on, Daring!" protested the other boy who'd been his opponent, who after unmasking as well, Taylor could see was a skinny kid with frizzy brown hair under a lopsided crown, and thick glasses. It took Taylor a second, but he recognized hearing about this kid in the media: Dexter Charming, Daring's little brother, who tended to fade into the background of all the Charming family's pictures. He went on, "If this guy did join, we could have an even number of members. Then we wouldn't always have someone waiting around for their turn."

Daring tapped his chin again, nodding thoughtfully. "You know, Dex, maybe you're onto something," he said. "Alright, go get Sol. He can duel this guy, and see if our new friend here has what it takes."

Dexter seemed happy to get out of his padded suit, and help Taylor try it on instead. The whole time he was fastening it on, though, he seemed to be squinting at Taylor's face. As if trying hard to recognize him, but not wanting to give away that he was looking by asking.

But the silence in the equipment room was deafening, and finally, the prince asked, "Are you sure you want my brother to mentor you?"

"I want to be ready for anything after what happened on Legacy Day," Taylor answered him.

"…sounds like something a real hero would say," Dexter sighed.

"You okay, man?"

"It's just, kind of hard for someone like me to be the brother of the biggest hero in the school, you know?" the prince looked away, rubbing at his arm uncomfortably.

Shrugging, although it was hardly obvious because of the pads, Taylor said, "I'm the oldest kid in my family, but that sounds kind of rough, yeah. I'm sorry to hear that."

Suddenly, Dexter straightened up, as if he'd had an idea. "Wait, you're Taylor Valiant! You're friends with Raven Queen, right?"

"Yeah…?" Taylor replied, letting his uncertainty show. A little worried his answer would ruin his chances of getting into the group, with how these were all the heroes of big stories, and he was friends with the person who was supposed to be the villain of the biggest story of them all.

Which was shy he was shocked by what Dexter said next. "What's she like?" the prince asked, blushing suddenly and looking away.

"I…uh, well…she's just really normal, actually?" Taylor said. "We just hang out, and play games, and stuff."

"What kind of games?" Dexter pressed.

Before Taylor could answer, Daring called out from outside, "Are you two ready, Dexter?"

They headed back out, and saw that everyone else had stopped their own practice to watch the spectacle. Daring Charming was laughing and long with another boy, with short chestnut brown hair and a royally handsome face of his own. Unlike Daring, who always looked like he'd just had a round with a makeup artist, the other boy's face was a bit darker, his features more rugged. Like someone a little more used to living out in natural light and no air conditioning.

"Sol, meet Taylor," Daring said, introducing him with a grand sweep of the arm. "He'd like a spot in the federation. How about you see what he's got?"

"Tell me what you really think about how good I am," Sol said, but put on his mask and picked up his foil, then went into a stance while he waited for Taylor. Once Taylor had armed himself too, somebody blew a whistle, and Sol came at him.

Expecting a flurry of lightning-fast blows, Taylor was surprised to see his opponent instead stepping back and forth, leaning side to side, no doubt waiting to see if Taylor would telegraph a move. He tried to feint to the right to fake out his opponent, but Sol seemed to see right through it and jab the tip of his foil against Taylor's chest.

A few laughs rippled across the room. Taylor held his stance, and Sol settled back into his. They stood, watching each other, looking for an opening. It seemed Sol spotted one first, when he thrust the tip of his weapon forward suddenly, but Taylor managed to twist himself and it missed by a fraction of an inch.

Going by what he learned fighting Dark Mirrors, Taylor decided the defense was a good offense and made a thrust at Sol's vulnerable chest. Almost comically, Sol knocked his arm away with a swish of his own blade.

"Maybe you need a few more lessons, first," Sol said in a tone that made it obvious he was smirking inside the mesh of his mask.

Taylor replied by suddenly ducking and thrusting his sword up, hitting Sol hard enough on the heart to make the blade bend until Sol took a step back.

"Sneak attacks aren't exactly the forte of an honorable hero," Daring Charming observed.

"Being able to think on his feet's the forte of an effective hero," Taylor countered.

Sol, though, laughed. "Heh. Maybe you're not much of a swordsman, but at least you've got a brain."

He swung his blade at Taylor again, but Taylor raised his own and parried. Sol jumped back, then darted forward, aiming his sword at Taylor's body. Out of reflex, Taylor turned to the side and grabbed him by the wrist.

But the next thing he knew, Taylor's feet slid on the edge of the mat, and he went down, landing with a whump on the polished wood of the floor. As soon as Taylor tried to get up, he saw the tip of Sol's sword an inch away from his face.

"Maybe you've got a brain," Sol said, "but you've got a lot to learn about fighting like a gentleman."

The other boys laughed, and Taylor just lay back in defeat and sighed.

A bottle of pink fairyberry juice thundered down the chute, and Taylor reached inside and pulled it out. When he turned around he gasped, not having seen the student waiting in line behind him.

"Don't mind me," Sol smiled, then put a coin in the vending machine and got his own fairyberry juice.

"I won't," Taylor said, trying to sound confident, despite just losing a duel to his conversation partner.

Sol ripped the cap off his bottle and took a swig, then smiled again, seemingly ignorant of the blue juice mustache decorating his top lip. "Gotta say," he said, "I admire your guts trying to get into the fencing club with all the preppy kids, but Daring Charming's never gonna let in a commoner hero."

"Mind if I ask what you are?" Taylor indeed asked.

Sol put down his bottle and took a bow. "Solaris West, heir to East of the Sun, West of the Moon, at your service. My mom's friends with his mom, and she wants me to be in all the same activities as Daring, because she thinks it'll look really good for me, that I'm a family friend of the Charming dynasty."

Taylor ripped the cap off his own bottle, and said, "If you don't mind me saying so, you looked a little too…real, to be friends with a rich kid like Daring Charming."

Another hard swig, and Sol inflicted himself with another glowing blue mustache. "Ah, he's not so bad. The way he's been brought up, always being told he's gonna be the hero of foxing Snow White. That'd give any kid an ego, you know?"

"Even if it means turning down another story's hero who wants to improve himself, apparently," Taylor muttered.

"Let me tell you something, my good sir," Sol interrupted him, suddenly angered. "There's clever heroes, and there's strong heroes. But there's no such thing as a jealous hero."

Eying Taylor sharply, he slurped down the last of his juice, then tossed the bottle into the bin, and walked off.

When Taylor made it back to the common room, he was stopped by a crowd of students headed the other way. Most were kids he didn't know, but Cerise Hood and Raven Queen were near the back, and he waved the two of them down.

"Hey, T," Cerise said, but sounded glum. "What's up?"

"That's what I'm curious about. Where's everybody going?" he asked back.

Raven sighed, "Headmaster Grimm sent us a fairymail. Since Legacy Day got interrupted by…you know, he's having little Legacy Days so everyone can sign the book and get that taken care of. And I…"

Taylor put his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong, Ray?"

"I don't want to do this," she breathed, and looked down. "Signing the book is what the Dark Mirror wanted me to do, and I don't want to do what it wants me to do. I don't care if Apple thinks we can work it out, I don't want to lock this in now, and see if we can make it work later."

He did an odd thing, then: pressed his fingertip against Raven's forehead and nudged it back until she was looking Taylor in the eye. Her expression was surprised, even more so when she saw the friendly smile on his face. "Then, don't," he said.

"But what if Headmaster Grimm's right? What if everything does go poof?"

"I had talked to this guy from the swordplay club, and it kind of got me thinking," Taylor explained. "There's good traditions, like heroic virtues. But if there's good traditions, there's probably bad ones, too. Like one that forces someone to be evil, if they don't want to be."

"But what about the whole world…?" Raven went on, but Taylor tapped her forehead again.

"You worrying about that proves you can't be evil, Ray," he told her. "Besides, is a world like that worth saving?" Taylor turned to Cerise next. "If the Dark Mirrors try to do something again—"

"I'll stop them," she assured him with a nod.

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "Thanks, Cerise. Good luck, guys."

The girls left to join the rest of the students headed to the ceremony, Cerise's cheeks as red as her hood.

At first, no-one noticed the creature making its way up the hill to Ever After High.

It was a tiny thing with a coat of black fur. With all the squirrels and other wildlife constantly living around the school, just waiting for a beautiful princess to burst into song so they could watch in admiration, most people would've paid it no mind anyway.

But as it got closer to the school, it began to change.

Muscles bulged in its four legs, puffing it up until it was the size of a large dog.

Halfway up, a pair of curved, ivory-white horns sprouted from the sides of its head, getting longer and sharper with every step the creature took.

By the time it had gotten to the top and the school was in sight, it was walking on its hind legs and making foul-smelling snorts through a nose with a brass ring stuck through it. It had become an anthropomorphic bull.

Covered in a shell of shiny black glass.

Even before the first innocent student on their way somewhere screamed in terror, Taylor Valiant felt a sharp pain in the center of his heart. He gasped out and pressed his hand to his chest, then pulled it away with a soft golden glow surrounding his fingers.

"Of course, another attack," he muttered, but a compass arrow formed in his palm, and he hurried downstairs, following its direction. Soon he was out on top of the front steps, watching a massive black bull stomp his way to the school.

His belt formed around his waist, and Taylor locked Apple of Passion into the buckle. "Power for power," he observed. "Turn the page!" Apple-red energy spread over his body and hardened into armor, filling his body with awesome strength, transforming him once again into the masked warrior, Mendyr.

To his surprise, the Dark Mirror stopped in the middle of the driveway and looked up at Mendyr. Not charging or getting angry, despite the bright red of his armor. But then, Mendyr spotted a shiny black bee buzzing through the air. It landed on the bull's hip, and sank its stinger into the bull's skin.

"Of course. It's Ferdinand," Mendyr recognized the story the beast had sprung from. Even before the bull let out an angered bellow and fixed his eyes on Mendyr, then started to scrape the ground with his hoof. The bull charged for the front stairs, and Mendyr jumped right into the bull's path, bracing himself.

There was a sound like a thunderclap when they met, Mendyr grabbing Ferdinand's horns, and trying to wrestle the Dark Mirror back from the school.

"Not this time, friend," Mendyr declared.

Behind the school, chairs had been set up for the students again, but only the percentage Headmaster Grimm felt confident assembling that afternoon.

"When I read your name, come on stage, state your identity and sign your page in the Storybook of Legends," Grimm said to the teens with a frown, looking up as he suddenly heard a sound like a loud CRACK, then shrugged it off. "But keep it simple. We're getting this over with before there are any more interruptions."

He seemed oblivious to the worried looks some of the students were giving him, after some of the rumors already getting around about how he was the mastermind behind the attack on Legacy Day. Still, he'd gotten a clean bill of health from the hospital, and he was in charge of the school. What would happen if they said anything against him?

They waited tensely as Headmaster Grimm put on his reading glasses, raised the list to his face, and called out, "Raven Queen."

"You're gonna do great," Apple said and gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

Raven gulped, and started the walk down the aisle up to the stage.

The Dark Mirror of Ferdinand was leaving great ugly furrows in the driveway of the school, but Mendyr was managing to push him back. Angry red eyes were locked with the lens of Mendyr's mask, sending an unspoken challenge between the two.

Without giving any warning, Mendyr's leg suddenly lashed out and caught Ferdinand in his beefy chest with a powerful kick. A tangle of cracks formed at the point of impact and the Dark Mirror was pushed back almost a foot.

But then the cracks started forming back together.

"This is gonna be tricky," Mendyr muttered, and in the next instant he was proven right.

Not only did the Dark Mirror heal quickly, he could move quicker than his massive size would indicate. In the blink of an eye he'd charged across the short distance between them, caught Mendyr's waist between his horns, and bucked the masked warrior over his head.

Mendyr landed with a crash behind his opponent, dazed and sore, but mostly unhurt. He managed to sit up, but a look over his should showed him Ferdinand had turned around and was about to charge. Reaching one hand down to his belt, Mendyr unhooked the Apfel mace.

Ferdinand made a deafening bellow, stamped his hoof, lowered his head, and ran at Mendyr. Who brought back his arm and swung his mace at the top of the Dark Mirror's head. The spiked ball connected, knocking Ferdinand's head into the asphalt.

The bull's head was still embedded in the ground by the time Mendyr managed to get back to his feet. Thick black fingers sank into the dirt and Ferdinand pulled himself free, grinding glassy teeth together hard enough to actually shoot off sparks.

"That's right. I'm here in front of you. Keep all your attention right here, on me," Mendyr said quietly, more to himself than the raging monster. Ferdinand charged again, horns aimed at Mendyr's chest this time. At the last second Mendyr jumped, stomping hard on the top of his enemy's head and sending chips of black glass falling to the ground. Mendyr pushed himself into the air again off the bull's head, whirling around in midair and racking the spikes on his mace across Ferdinand's back.

This time, Ferdinand hardly reacted at all to his injuries. His body was unmoved. Despite the impacts from Mendyr's attacks. Suddenly he jumped up, stabbing Mendyr's midriff with the sword-like horns on his head and knocking him out of the air.

From that attack, he landed much harder than before. Mendyr hit the ground, and he'd just lifted his face off up before Ferdinand stomped on the back and smashed it down again.

Cracks formed in the lenses of Mendyr's mask, and spread when his face hit the ground once again. He clutched the haft of Apfel and made an awkward swing over his shoulder. Feeling the ball hit something solid, no doubt the Dark Mirror's body, he tried to struggle free, but the hoof came down on the back of his head again. It didn't let up that time, pressing his head hard into the dirt. Mendyr struggled harder as the air in his helmet got thinner.

"Toro!"

The pressure on the back of Mendyr's head let up a little.

"Toro!" came the same voice calling again.

Ferdinand stepped off, and Mendyr shoved himself onto his back to suck in a breath of icy cold air. When his vision managed to focus again, he saw a student standing on the front steps of the school, holding up his jacket with red lining in his hand as if it were a matador's cape.

It was Sol West.

"That's right, over here! Toro!" he taunted the Dark Mirror.

"Get out of here!" Mendyr tried to yell, but it came out as a dry croak after having his head stomped on.

Not surprising him, though, Sol West stayed where he was, waving his jacket to distract the giant bull. He got his wish, and Ferdinand charged him.

Him.

Not the jacket he was waving.

Feet feeling like lead, Raven Queen climbed the stairs to the stage. Headmaster Grimm leaned, indicating the podium with his outstretched arm. On it rested the Storybook of Legends once again, the colorful school logo splashed across the cover, beckoning her to it.

She stepped up to the podium, reluctant to touch the Storybook, afraid it might turn her into a Dark Mirror again. Her fingers touched the cover, and there was no feeling of cold, evil power that she was half-expecting. Instead there was a soft flash, and a purple key appeared in her hand, just like it was supposed to.

"Um, hi, everyone," she said, uncertainly. Most of the kids looking up at her flinched even harder than they had at practice. After what had happened to her the night before, Raven didn't entirely blame them.

Even if that hadn't actually been her.

"I'm…Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen. Snow White's arch-nemesis. I guess I'll be part of the biggest story in the kingdom," Raven announced. She glanced down at Apple in the crowd, and the princess was grinning and nodding at the same time.

"Everyone expects me to grow up to be an evil sorceress, to terrorize Apple White out of jealousy," she went on, not sure what all to say. Or not say. Had anyone else ever had the thoughts she was having, right then? Especially right there, about to lock in their destiny?

Forever?

In the audience, Apple nodded, grinning just a bit wider, but only because she was smiling harder than anyone Raven had ever seen.

Behind her, Headmaster Grimm coughed into his hand. "Pick up the pace, Miss Queen," he ordered. Quietly, but firmly.

"Well, uh, here goes," she said. She inserted her key into the lock on the Storybook of Legends, and gave it a twist. The book swung open to her page, giving off dazzling rays of light.

A red jacket arced through the air, and landed with a soft splash in the school fountain.

Sol West let out a gasp of surprise. It was all he could manage when the bull's head hit him in the stomach with incredible force and knocked the air out of his lungs.

He made no sound at all when they hit the school wall, but his eyes were wide, his mouth gaping in a silent cry of pain.

Ferdinand pulled himself back and let Sol fall to the ground. A red stain was forming on one side of his torso, which he reached slowly over to cover with his hand. Ragged breaths escaped his mouth. The bull raised a hoof to stomp down on Sol.

But he never got the chance.

All of a sudden there was a yell that shook the windows at the front of the school. Ferdinand huffed in surprise to realize Mendyr had come up from behind and hoisted him off the ground. The masked warrior heaved his enemy away, landing headfirst in the fountain and smashing the side, sending the water in the basin spilling all over the grass.

"You okay?" Mendyr shouted to Sol.

"Yeah, it isn't that bad," Sol called back, but a trickle of blood was dripping from one side of his mouth.

Mendyr jumped toward the fountain and came down on Ferdinand, the gravity adding force to the punch he threw that connected with the bull's chest. Like before, cracks raced out from Ferdinand's chest, and like before, they immediately started growing back together.

This time, things were different. Mendyr threw another punch, spreading the wound, and another, spreading it farther. Ferdinand bellow and bucked, trying to throw Mendyr off as the warrior rained down punches, but his strength seemed to be fading.

Sol leaned against the wall of the school and breathed hard, trying to recover. Something caught his eye, and his next breath halted in his throat. A small black shape buzzed through the air, then a curved barb popped out of it, which it stabbed into the back of Mendyr's neck.

"AAaaaagh! What-?!" Mendyr sputtered, and clutched at the wound. With him distracted, the tiny black shape landed on Ferdinand's neck, and stung him.

"Watch out!" Sol yelled, just before red light flooded Ferdinand's eyes and the bull blew a blast of steam from his nose straight into Mendyr's face. He was wiping his eyes clear when Ferdinand punched him in the chest and knocked Mendyr away. Ferdinand looked down and tilted his head, aiming the tip of a horn Mendyr's heart.

"Toro!" Sol's voice yelled.

"Seriously? Again?" Mendyr breathed through his pain.

Just as he was expecting, there Sol was, having grabbed his tattered jacket out of the ruins of the fountain and waving it around more vigorously than before. Ferdinand saw it, and charged him. Sol ran up the driveway, to the front stairs, with the bull right behind him. Mendyr got up and ran after them, only able to think about how everyone he seemed to meet from doing this insisted on throwing themselves into danger.

What Sol did surprised Mendyr even after everything he'd already seen.

Suddenly the teen threw his jacket at the steps to the school, and threw himself to the ground, rolling onto his side so that he was narrow enough that Ferdinand didn't trample him as he ran by, impaling the tips of his horns into the stone step.

What Sol did when he got to his feet surprised Mendyr even more.

A golden light pulsed over his heart, and some instinct seemed to guide Sol's hand to it. Sol looked away from the flare of light that burst from it, but Mendyr looked right into it, knowing what was about to happen. When the light cleared, a silver crescent moon was in one hand, and a Ride Book with a blue frame in the other. Its title said "Celestic Journeyman", over an image of a hooded traveler walking under a sky with both a sun and a crescent moon hanging in it.

Again instinct seemed to guide Sol, this time putting the Ride Book into the moon amulet, its spine locking neatly into place between the moon's points.

"Turn the page," he said.

Behind the school, Raven gripped the podium, staring down at the Storybook of Legends. Waiting to see what it held in store for her future.

On the first page, she saw a scene of Apple White, lying in her poisoned sleep. Nothing unexpected there.

The page flipped showing another picture, of Raven being chased out of a village by an angry mob. Depressing, yes, but expected for a villain.

Another page. There she saw an awakened Apple, ordering her arrest. Immediately the turned itself again, and Raven saw herself, smeared with dirt and living in an alley.

In a soft flash of violet light, a mirror formed in the air in front or Raven, and again she saw herself. Older. Powerful. Regal.

Bound in chains.

Raven looked away, and slammed the Storybook of Legends shut.

"I pledge…I pledge, that from this day forward, I will make my own path toward the future!" Raven declared. "I will be the me, who I decide is the truest!"

Everyone gasped, Headmaster Grimm loudest of all.

Especially when a golden glow surrounded her hand, and her key crumbled to dust from the light.

Another flash of light was clearing in the front of the school, surrounding Sol West. Uncaring, Ferdinand had pulled his head free from the stairs and turned to face his target.

In front of him was a new masked warrior. Amber eyes were lodged in a grey mask with a flat white mouthplate. The torso and inner arms of his new armor were also white, while the outer arms were the dark grey of his mask. Those colors traveled all the way to the toes of his boots. His crescent moon amulet, holding his Ride Book, was now lodged in the buckle of a bronze-colored belt. On his chest was a golden emblem of a circle with a point on the top, and series of letters at the points inside the circle: N, S, E, W.

Held in one hand was a short sceptre the color of dull gold. A transparent crystal orb on the top and a pointed crystal on the bottom. Inscribed on its haft was a name: Daenitre.

"Wanna see a trick?" he snickered, before he reached down and twisted the pointed crystal on the sceptre. The orb turned an icy blue, and at the same time, so did the grey of his armor. While his opponent was still surprised, Sol smashed the sceptre into the Dark Mirror's chest like a club.

Cracks spread out in the wound, but ice had formed inside them from Sol's attack, and they couldn't grow back together. He twisted the pointed crystal again and the crystal ball turned red, along with the parts of his armor that had just been blue. It left a flaming trail in the air when he swung it the wound, and a small fireball erupted when it hit. The fire was small, but hot enough Mendyr could feel it even from where he stood away from the fight.

Ferdinand tried to retreat to get enough room for another charge, but Sol kept up his attack and delivered fiery blow after fiery blow, peppering the grass with chips of burnt glass. One arcing blow made another explosion that was powerful enough to knock Ferdinand on his back. A tiny black shape buzzed by Sol's ear, it taking him only a second to recognize a bee, the same one that had stung Ferdinand for a burst of strength before.

Its stinger lowered. Sol gasped, and swung at it, but it zipped around his weapon, headed for the fallen Ferdinand. He gasped.

…then jumped back in horrified surprise when a spiked ball the color of an apple careened by his shoulder and smashed the Dark Mirror bee into the ground. Mendyr came running, winding up the chain of his mace as he ran.

"Shall we finish this?" Sol asked him, panting, but sounding as if he was enjoying the battle.

"Let's," Mendyr replied. Both hit their gear.

"Journey of Two! Sky and Earth!" their equipment announced in the same voice. Both of them jumped, coming down with one foot aimed at the crater left in Ferdinand's chest. Their kicks went right through his body, and with a last wounded "moo", the Dark Mirror burst into storm of black glass that plinked off the walls of the school, cracking a few windows, before disintegrating completely.

Sol stepped away, looking over at Mendyr, and laughing in an exhausted way. "This is what it's like, huh?" he panted. "Do you know who these things are? What do they want?"

"Don't really know, except they seem to want to force people to live their stories," Mendyr said with a shrug. "Just been calling them 'Dark Mirrors', because they're like an evil reflection of things from stories."

"Dark Mirrors, huh? That's kinda cool, guess I'll use that too," Sol said, a little more breath in his voice. "Guess also, if I'm gonna do this, I should have a dramatic name too…what do they call you, friend?"

"Mendyr."

"Mendyr, huh? That's not bad. What about… 'Reisende'," Sol mused. "… no, 'Reisender'. That's perfect."

Then he looked up, and Mendyr was nowhere to be seen. He popped the Ride Book out of his new moon amulet and shook his head, laughing quietly to himself.

Absolute silence had fallen over the back of the school.

Slowly, pockets of worried-sounding whispering broke out around the seats. A girl with pink pigtails and glasses next to Cerise Hood shut her eyes and sighed. "I thought I was the only one in the whole school," she breathed. Right then noticed Cerise looking at her and gasped, but Cerise smiled and gave her a thumbs up, which got the girl's expression to change to a subdued smile, and a silent nod.

"So, uh, I guess that's it," Raven said, with a forced laugh. "See you guys in class," she finished and turned to walk off the stage.

Unsurprisingly, Headmaster Grimm jumped in her way.

"Just where do you think you're going, young lady?" he demanded.

"Back inside," Raven replied.

"After a display like that?"

"Yes."

"You, Miss Queen, are here to learn to live out your destiny. The most important element of all is signing that book. Not doing so will endanger everything!"

Raven swept her arm over the area, over the other students sitting and looking up at the stage. "I don't see anything going poof."

"That is beside the point!" Grimm blustered. "Destiny works in mysterious ways!"

She just sighed, looked down and pressed her fingertips to her head. "I'm too tired to deal with this. See everybody tomorrow," she announced, and jumped down off the stage.

"Uh, tomorrow's Chapterday," supplied Dexter Charming.

"Thanks for reminding me. A weekend sounds really nice, right now," Raven smiled at him, and walked between the seats with a relieved sigh, before she disappeared through the doors back into school.

Dexter blushed.

Raven was awesome there! I can't wait to read more of her story!

You definitely don't appreciate the damage this does.

Mom, this is a brand new story! Raven's doing her own thing now, instead of just the same thing her mom did!

Yes, and that could destroy everything.

Nothing happened. She even pointed that out.

Yet, Brooke. Yet.

We'll see, mom. We'll see.

Hey, folks. Sorry the end of this little mini-arc took longer to get out, finishing Geats took up a lot of my attention.

This one ended up being kind of full, also, but it's time for the new elements in this chapter to show up. The world's changing, and other people around school are discovering their heroic will.

For the new Rider, I admit his story's a little obscure, but I had to dig deeper to find stories that weren't already represented in EAH. If anyone's curious, I found YT channels The Bookish Nook and Lori Dunevant, who both did readings of Mercer Mayer's version of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", which is pretty much the definitive one to me. Check it out.

If the Dark Mirror from this chapter seemed kind of generic, it's because the one who sends them is really weak after the beating they got in the last chapter. They were desperate to intervene again, but couldn't think of much but a general monster to try to force Raven to sign. Fortunately, they didn't get the chance.

Of course, that only means things will be even worse for the Riders next time.

Thanks for reading! You guys are awesome!