Her bag vibrates like a MirrorPhone. Raven has been trying to ignore it, but the Book seems keen on making its opinions known. She's not in the mood particularly, not after insulting Apple in the Enchanted Forest. She closes the door to her room, tosses her bag on the bed, and pulls out the Book.

"What do you want?!"

"Raven, I'm sorry you're in this situation."

"I don't need you for me to be sorry!" she snaps. "Apple is my friend!

"What kind of friend goes behind her friend's back just to get their destiny?"

"It was a bad move! In fact, it was a really bad move. But she made up for it!"

"You can't defend something like that!"

"I forgave her!" Raven sighs. "She's not a bad person, she just did a bad thing."

"I just don't want to see you end up like - "

The sentence stops abruptly, as if cut off. Raven waits for the text to finish. Instead, the text disappears and is replaced with:

"I don't want to see you hurt, Raven."
"Not by Grimm. Not by destiny."
"And especially not by a Snow White."

"I can take care of myself," she insists. "But thanks."

She sits back as more text appears.

"By the way, what did she do?"

Raven shakes her head. "That's not really important."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she affirms. "I'm sure."

"Okay, okay. Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers."

Raven turns to the lamp and sharply points at it. It flicks on. She flicks her finger towards the closet to open the door, then swirls it back up to bring her her pajamas. She then points her left index finger at her MirrorPod, then points at it twice with her right index finger. The device switches on and plays some rock n troll music. Raven picks up the book again.

"You're getting good."

"I had a good teacher," Raven shrugs. She takes the pajamas off the rack. "Are you able to cast these spells?"

"You think I can do hand motions without hands?"

"Okay, yeah. Fairest enough." She pulls her pajamas over her and waves her hand over them, replacing the clothes in her hand with the ones she'd been wearing. Her pajamas hung loosely over her body. "But, you said that's how you learned them."

"Raven, I -

not

book

can't

student."

Raven drops her clothes on the floor and picks up the book. "What?"

"Can't tell you."

"You can't tell me what?"

Before the book can answer, the door to the dormitory closes. Raven shuts the book and sets it to the side. Apple struts into the room, giving Raven a wave before heading into her closet to change. Raven quickly, and discreetly, opens the book just a crack.

"Would you want to be a book?"

Raven sighs. "I'm so sorry."

"Raven?"

She shoves the book back into her bag. Apple steps out in her nightgown.

"Raven, who are you talking to?"

"Uh..." Raven scrambles for an answer. "Just leaving a comment on MirrorTube."

Apple raises an eyebrow at her.

Raven shifts on her bed. "Uh, so, hexams! That's hexciting, right?" She chuckles nervously.

"Raven?" Apple sits down on her bed. "Is something going on with you?"

"No," Raven says curtly. She sighs. "I'm sorry. That sounded rude. Apple, I just want to get this spellmester out of the way so I can take a break."

"You seem to be enjoying it a little... too much," Apple says carefully.

"Just because I laugh at something while I'm studying doesn't mean I'm having fun."

"Doesn't it?" Apple questions. "I'm just worried about you, Raven. I know you. And, I know you don't want to be evil."

"I'm not evil!" Raven presses. "I'm glad that you're worried about me. Especially since you know that's not who I am. I remember this time last year, you would have been encouraging that."

"I was...I was wruh...I was wr-wraaaaa..." Apple gags.

"Are you trying to say you were wrong?" Raven asks.

Apple nods. "It's not something I'm used to saying, but yes."

Raven chuckles. " ... Kind of took you long enough."

Apple rolls her eyes up to the ceiling. "Yeah yeah, I know."

"Hey," Raven says gently. "We'll both get our happily ever afters."

Apple smiles at her. She slips under the covers. "I'll see you in the morning." She slips on her sleep mask. "Goodnight, Raven."

"Goodnight, Apple." Raven points both of her hands at the curtains and crosses them at the wrists. The curtains close, and Raven lays down to sleep.

"A rose is a rose is a rose
To take, you must grasp the thorns
You hold it tight
And in your might
Your skin and heart is torn..."

Rosabella puts down her quill, looking out onto the lake. The Enchanted Forest is mostly empty before sunset, and quiet. It's a nice place to write poetry. She sighs. Her mind has been wondering, and no amount of work could keep her on track. A chipmunk climbs down the tree beside her and chitters, grabbing an acorn.

"I wasn't trying to make him my prince. I just wanted him to, you know...focus on something other than himself."

The chipmunk chatters.

"He was told that he was Apple's prince. I thought I was helping him!"

More chitters.

"It's complicated. Fairytale beasts are the villains. I'm trying to change that, but not a lot of people are open to the idea. Especially not...not the Charmings. Not people like them..." She gazes into the ripples of the lake. She had never seen her dad as the Beast. There were no pictures or paintings of him as such either. There's only the statue in the garden. "Mom and Dad were always supportive. But, that's because they were open with one another. They were open with everyone. But not everyone is... and sometimes I don't understand why."

The chipmunk scampers off. Rosabella continues to stare at the lake, her face hardening into a resentful scowl. The memories of harsh laughter echo in her head, the yelling and shouting and screaming. She shook her head furiously.

"Does anyone know how hard it is to really be a beast?!" Rosabella closes her diary and sets it on the ground. She sighs, staring at her reflection. "What am I doing? I've been aiming to help hundreds of beasts, and I'm against Daring turning into one? He shouldn't feel ashamed of that. So what's my problem?"

"Do you talk to the lake often?"

She jumps back, landing on the ground. Daring gasps and helps her up.

"My bad. Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no. I'm just lost in my own thoughts." She sits back on the bench and turns her gaze up to the sunset. He takes a seat with her, making sure to leave a few inches of space between them. "You're fairy quiet."

"I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing. What are you looking at?"

She giggles. "The sunset."

He looks at it, then back at her. "The sun goes down every day, you know."

"It's just something my dad and I would do after a long day..." she explains. "Or if we wanted to get away from Mom if I was in trouble."

He smirks. "You? In trouble?"

"Sure," she nods. "You never got in trouble when you were a kid?"

He laughs. "Rarely!"

She chuckles and rolls her eyes.

"What could you possibly have gotten into trouble with?" he asks.

Her smile drops. She gazes at her reflection in the water. Painful memories start bobbing to the surface. "It's not something I like to talk about." She puts on a smile. "I just have a bit more of my dad in me than everyone thinks."

"Oh, is that so?" he asks slyly.

"I'm a Rebel, aren't I?" she reminds him. "Rescuing ogres and dragons and such..." She glances at him. "You realize why I care about this cause so much, right?"

He nods and picks up a pebble. "Because your old man was a beast." He skips the pebble across the lake.

"He means a lot to me and my mom, Daring. When he found out his destiny was to be the beast, he didn't take it well. He was royally hurt and angry until he met my mom." She grips her skirt. "He almost thought he'd stay a beast forever after."

"Well, then it's a good thing he's not a beast anymore," Daring comments, skipping another pebble across the lake.

"He - !" She stops herself. "Y-Yeah..." She scoops up her diary. "Well, Daring. It was nice talking, but I should go!"

"W-Why?" he asks.

"I just have so much work to do." She stands up, rubbing her eyes.

His hand grasps hers. "Can't it wait?"

He's been trying to talk to you all week, she reasons. She sits back down and looks at him. "Okay, Daring."

"So...I've been meaning to ask you...you know that prom is coming up, right?"

Rosabella blinks. Is he asking me to - No! No, don't get ahead of yourself.

"Yes?" she probes.

"Well...I was wondering..." he blushes and says slowly "If you wanted to ... go to Younger Prom with me?"

Rosabella's jaw drops. Even though she considered it, she hadn't thought he'd really ask her. "Daring...you'd want to go with me? The... Beast girl?"

"It doesn't have to be a date thing!" he shrugs. "We can just go as friends, if you want that."

She lets out a breath. Friends. The word is a relief to her. She needs time away from Daring romance right now. She smiles and nods. "I'd love to go with you, Daring."

He jumps off the bench and pumps his fists. "YES! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Yes!"

Rosabella stares at him flabbergasted. He turns back around and clears his throat, composing himself. "I-I mean, thank you! Thank you, Rosabella."

She smiles softly at him. He scratches under her crown. "I thinking of heading to Briar's for a study party. Did you want to join me?"

Her cheeks go red and she scrambles to her feet. "I'm afraid I don't do well at parties. Prom is fine, but...no thank you."

"Oh..." he lets out. "Okay. Some other time, then?"

"Sure!" She points at him with both hands. "Spell you later."

She backs into the brush, tripping over a tree root. "I'm okay! I'm okay!"

Sorry for so much Darabella content. I'm just a sucker for Beauty and the Beast and I wanted to expand the relationship a bit more since I felt Rosabella was underdeveloped as a character. Thanks for those who are reading my story. I am having fun writing this and I hope you'll stay tuned for more. Thank you so much 3