Another Poisoned Apple

by sulo

Summary:

Basically, somehow, and yet again, Apple White and Raven Queen find the former turned totally upside down! Raven would’ve thought that after the first time, there was absolutely no way it could happen ever after again. But she thought wrong, and now she has to desperately attempt to wrangle her down. Luckily, she's not alone! Their friends are there to suffer too. Will they succeed, or will the school go down in flames; or perhaps, even worse?

Chapter 1: Not Again!

Notes:

hi lemme explain what post-canon means rq cause idk if that means what i want it to mean since this franchise never met its proper end but basically the mindset i had when writing this is that all the characters are MOSTLY past their respective arcs and so now they're just a happy little slightly-less dysfunctional family :)

also there's a little bit of colored text so idk if that affects anything cause idk if i should change how bright or dark the hues are so it would be awesome if any1 has feedback on that but uhhh yeah

It's a dark and stormy night.

The noise of the incessant downpour of rain plagues the town.

Light occasionally flashes and flickers across the sky, the lightning stemming out like some sort of monster’s long bony fingers cradling the clouds. The thunderous footsteps boom out, with growls deep from its throat.

The light simply illuminates the dead lamp posts that are scattered and littered about the town. The long shadows creep up on the abandoned stalls and buildings like a slinky snake, ready to pounce.

And the thunder shakes those stalls and buildings, rattling them like a bag of dusty bones. Old, forgotten glasses left on diner tables clink, and the creaking of foggy and fragile windows poked out like laughing from those snakes, hissing and venomous to the ear. 

Two girls drift on the empty streets, like ghosts wafting amidst the lonely town as the wind howls around them. Their shadows engulfs those of the lamp posts like silent ravenous beasts.

BOOM! CRASH! The storm’s rage intensifies. The rain starts to slam into the ground like giants' stomping–

–Storm…? Rain? Who is making all that sound– Dad–!? Are you trying to hide behind that pun tree?

…Of course not, Brooke, honey! I was just… Cleaning up! Oh, would you look at that, is that a rotten pun on the ground? Better pick that up!

Oookay? Then what is Mom doing over there, crouching behind that rock?

…I was also! Uh– ahem– also cleaning up, that is. You must really pick up after yourself when you finish using this place, young lady!

Sorry! But, what were you guys talking about– A storm? Look, there isn’t a drop of rain anywhere! Nothing more than the occasional cool breeze! It’s a perfectly clear, sunny day in the early afternoon, and classes had just gotten out for Raven Queen and Apple White, who are walking happily ever after together down the streets of Book End. They have the widest smiles on their faces, and they’re arm-in-arm! I thought you guys said it was super-duper important to be accurate when narrating?

Of course! But you’re late for your solo narration!

Yes, we thought we could have some fun. Didn’t you say that was important too, Brooke?

Well– Well, of course! But I’m not even that late! It’s only been a couple of minutes!

What were you doing that was so important? Did you finally take out the fallacy trash like I told you to? You hadn’t done it the last time I checked!

Uh– pfft– What do you mean? I would never leave my chores last minute and rush over here, that’s– haha– That’s ridiculous!

…

…

…Okay, wow! Would you look at the time! Can’t keep the readers waiting, right? Like you always tell me; keep to the subject?

Sigh– Alright, sweetie, but don’t forget the rules!

But remember to have fun!

Of course! But, wait! Before you go!

Yes?

I love you guys!

We love you too.

...Whew, okay, time to get to the story! Uh– ahem– Let’s see, where were we? How about we rewind a little?

–

Book End: The popular after-school hangout destination for the students of Ever After High to relax after a long, tiring week of studying, working, studying, thronework, and more studying.
(What a bore! It’s Brooke, by the way. My parents suggested that if I wanted to talk to the reader I should use parentheses– Isn’t that cool! They warned me not to use them too much though…)

This, of course, does not exclude Raven Queen and Apple White, the daughters of the famous fairytale characters: the Evil Queen and Snow White.

However, despite being the daughters of the most famous fairytale rivalry, the two girls talk and smile, walking down the bustling streets of Book End together with their arms interlocked. The village was filled to the brim with people who were, likewise, chatting and roaming about; many of whose faces they could name.

It's a lovely day, the storybook picture perfect scene fit for a happily ever after, with the sun shining down like the path is lit up just for them.

Apple’s laughter fills the air like an upbeat melody, causing some songbirds to settle on the ground near them.

“Raven,” She says, “I am so glad you agreed to hang out today!”

Raven smiles at her, pulling her closer. “Me too. I definitely need it after the hexam I just had.”

She shudders, thinking of Mr. Badwolf’s class– which she, unfortunately, still had to take and pass to graduate– where he had decided on fantastic questions such as, ‘ If a baby carriage was rolling down a hill at an increasing speed, would you; A. Make it go faster; B. Leave it be; or C. Grab a passerby, ensuring that they stand right next to where the carriage would crash so that they would be horrifically shunned and blamed for the incident?’ 

She got that question wrong. It was B, because, apparently, making it go faster would mean more fun for the baby. For C, well, you would just have to assume that there was the slightest chance that passerby would save the baby.

She was tired.

Apple laughs, and Raven can’t help but join in as well.

Raven is waving to a passing Holly and Poppy O’Hair, when all of a sudden she hears a loud gasp beside her.

She takes a deep breath, bracing for whatever could warrant such a sound, before whipping her head in a panicked manner towards Apple.

“...The bookstore?” She says, exhaling. 

It wasn’t exactly a horror– well, not for them anyway. She kept forgetting that Apple’s gasp for anything– whether sad, happy, or pleasantly surprised– sounded horribly similar to a gasp the average person would use if they had seen a ten-foot-tall monster with glistening sharp teeth. She knows that she had committed quite a bit of time to practicing such a sound. It was almost quite impressive despite the heart attack she had nearly just given her.

Apple nods her head excitedly, a bright smile on her face.

“Uh…” Raven looks at the front of the store curiously. It’s littered top to bottom with signs advertising a huge sale.

‘Spell Books: Buy 1, Get 1 FREE!’

‘Spell Books HALF OFF! Hurry before it’s TOO LATE!’

“...A bookstore,” Raven repeats.

“Yes!” Apple exclaims, sliding her arm out of Raven’s to clap giddily. “Isn’t it hexciting! They’re having a book sale!”

Raven looks at her confused. She knew Apple loved a good book– and so did she, to an extent, but…

A spell-book sale?

“Apple…” Raven starts, “...Are you still trying to get me to do evil spells?”

Apple turns to look at Raven immediately, her eyes widening. “What? Of course not! We’re totally on the same page now, aren’t we?”

Raven laughs, nudging her playfully on the shoulder. “Just joking with you. What’s got you so hexcited about this though?”

“Well, I didn’t technically say that I was hexcited, did I?”

Raven raises an eyebrow at her.

Apple laughs nervously. “Fine,” She says, “Okay! It’s just…” She sucks in a breath. “...Perhaps we could consider finding you a more– how do I put this?– convenient way of traveling?”

This time, Raven is the one to gasp, and it’s honestly almost on par with Apple’s.

“No way!” She says. “Is this about last week? When I accidentally–” She emphasizes that word, “–crashed into your One Reflection pillow and destroyed it… again ,” She mumbles the last part, as if she is refusing to acknowledge that it is a recurring problem.

“No,” Apple says, “I’m talking about yesterday when you accidentally catapulted yourself into my project for Kingdom Management… again,” She says that last part with such confidence and exasperation, as if she wanted to intentionally point out that it is, in fact, a recurring problem.

“Okay– Well, that only happened, like, one other time! And… probably the One Reflection thing too!” Raven retorts.

Apple crosses her arms. “Yes, because you destroyed my other projects for my other classes and ruined our other stuff fifty other times!”

Raven scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Well, that’s just over exaggerating.”

“Under,” Apple says. “Fifty-four times.”

Raven sighs. Leave it up to Apple White to keep track of things like this.

“Come on,” Raven says. “You have to admit I’ve gotten better at magic!”

“...I admit that, yet–”

“–Yet what?”

“–Yet, the amount of times you’ve flung yourself into the air and crashed through our window says different,” Apple points out.

Raven looks at her incredulously. “Hey! Last time the window broke because I was flinging Maddie into the air, actually. Not myself.”

Apple blinks at Raven.

Raven groans. “Don’t look at me like that! I can do other things, remember! I can teleport–”

“–You keep teleporting yourself into dumpsters and getting that mess on our floor.”

“I can call Nevermore–”

“–She’s only good for outside; and the last time you called her from inside the school was inside our room and she forgot to size down and destroyed a whole wall.”

…

“...And my One Reflection pillow. Again,” Apple adds, quite helpfully.

Okay, Raven could see why she was in the debate club now. Maybe Apple had a point! Fifty-four times? Really? Besides, Raven had ironed back on that picture of the boy band so many times that she could recite from memory what member was where.
(This includes the clothing they wear, the color of their hair, and– yeesh– just how many of those times was the pillow the victim?)

Raven sighs before relenting. “Alright,” She says, “We can check it out.”

Apple squeals, grabbing her hand, and practically dragging her into the shop.

–

The bell attached to the door of the shop jingles overhead as it opens. 

The two girls step in, still hand-in-hand, their heels tapping softly on the hard wooden floor beneath them.

The door closes quickly behind them, shutting quietly.

Raven takes a deep breath. The air, being a bookstore and all, smells of books. However, it smells like a battle between the musty, old books at the back, and the newer, fresher books that are proudly displayed at the front of the shop. They’re neatly stacked and placed on small displays and shelves. 

Small round tables crowd the space in front of those shelves, more books placed on top.

Raven peers at the covers of the books as her and Apple walk up to them. They seemed to be normal books, filled with information like learning how to fish with a normal fishing pole, rather than casting a spell on the water to make it spit out those fish.

The two girls shrug at each other before traveling around them.

They walk further into the shop, passing the front counter, where behind it is an old woman dozing off. The bell to the store didn’t seem to do anything to wake her; perhaps it needs to be louder.

They reach the very back of the shop. The smell of the old books is winning here, the overwhelming scent of worn out pages and covers invades their sinuses and makes the girls sniffle. Particles of dust float clearly in the air, coming from the numerous crates stationed against the wall where the books are placed haphazardly in. 

Without even looking inside of them, both could tell that these were the books they were looking for. Similar signs to the ones outside are planted above the crates– Except here there was a small sign clarifying that these were used books, placed quietly below the larger, bolder signs advertising the sale.

An even smaller sign below it says, ‘NO REFUNDS.’

Apple finally lets go of Raven’s hand, walking to the crate nearest to her. She sticks her head over it, and not even five seconds go by before she sneezes.

She leans back, sniffling.

“Hexcuse me,” She says, pinching her nose.

Raven chuckles, walking over to join Apple. They simultaneously peek over into the contents of the crate. Their faces side-by-side as they loom over the books like giants, their noses creasing.

The crates are wooden, and it looks like a single touch would give you a splinter. The books seem as if they were thrown in there, with not even a sign of any cushioning for any hopes to protect them. To complete it, a fine layer of dust sits above it all. 

They lift their heads and look at each other.

“So,” Raven says. “What type of transportation spell do you want to find, hexactly?”

 Apple taps her foot against the ground, resting her chin on the palm of her hand to think.

“...One to make you run faster?” She hums. “No, you’ve done that before, and it always ends in something– or someone– getting broken.”

Apple turns back towards the crate. She begins to dig through it, the dust particles rising into the air like a smoky volcano, causing her to cough. She starts to mutter to herself, flipping through the books.

Raven shrugs, moving to another crate on the opposite side to start rifling through one herself.

Each book she touches feels like a woolen blanket. Her fingers get smudged with grey stains. And she was right. The wooden crate feels scratchy and rough, and she's afraid to scrape her hand on it.

She reads through the titles of the books, placing each book that she read to the side, attempting to make a stack. She has to occasionally swipe at the covers to remove the layers of dust so she could read them.

‘Spells for Cleaning Dummies, How 2 Have a Spell-tastic Slumber!, The Ultimate Guide to Make Your Cooking Spelly Great!’

Raven felt like giving up, but her eye finally caught on one: How to Change and Go, Quick and Fast!

Well, that certainly sounded very… transport-y, didn’t it?
(Oh, bolded text! Just when I thought I was getting better at my vocabulary!)

“Hey, Apple,” Raven calls out. “I think I found something.”

Raven turns as she picks up the book, meeting Apple who had just walked over.

Apple grabs the book from her, saying, “Great! Let me look through it!”

Apple starts to flip through the pages. Raven didn’t mind since the sooner they found something, the sooner they could leave.

She moves to stand next to Apple, watching as she lands on a page in the middle of the book.

Apple’s eyes scan the page, moving back and forth as she reads the words out loud:

If you wish to change up,

Then here’s just your luck,

You speak these words here,

So then you can dare,

To be the new you,

Wrong-sided up.

Now, normally, this wasn’t a problem. Someone who wasn’t a magic-user, or just had no intention to cast a spell at all, couldn’t just initiate a magic spell as easily as just reading it from a book.

But now?

Now, Raven wasn’t so sure how much that was true.

She steps back, watching as a strange glint appears in Apple’s eyes.

Raven gasps as her friend turns to look at her with a piercing gaze, almost worthy enough to call…

Evil?

–

“No way!” Raven says, eyes wide. “No way, no way! Apple, are you still… you?

A smirk creeps up Apple’s face, lacing her lips. Her eyes burn with mischief, looking Raven up and down.

She laughs. A laugh that’s sweet, too sweet to the point it’s sickeningly sweet, oozing with sourness and a pitiful tone.

“Great,” Apple says. Her voice is smooth and witty. “It’s Raven Mean again.”

Oh no. This sounded all too familiar.

“What–” Raven says. “How– How did this happen?–”

“–Once evil, always evil!” Apple sings, laughing again. It was chilling enough to compete with Raven’s mom’s.

Raven groans. She wasn’t sure how this was possible, but she was definitely not letting Apple almost cause The End of Ever After again!

This time, the spell book is right there, which meant all she had to do is grab it and find out the reverse!

“Apple…” She says slowly, “...Give me the book.”

Raven takes a small, cautious step towards her. She keeps a trained eye on Apple, like she was a wild animal, prone to leaping at any moment.

Another step. 

Apple grins. It sticks to her face like a chewed up piece of gum. She dangles the book from her hand carelessly.

“Oh…” Apple says, giggling slightly. “...Do you mean this one?” She pauses, humming cheerfully. “Sure would be a shame if someone were to… Rip it!”

“No!” Raven shouts, lunging forward as soon as Apple started to bring her hands together.

As she reaches for the book, Apple holds it over her head, stepping back. But she stumbles in the process, falling flat on the ground.

Raven lands on top of her, the book flying out of Apple’s hands. It falls in front of the counter, where the old lady is still sleeping peacefully.

“Agh!” Raven groans.

Frustrated, she pulls herself off of Apple, rushing towards the book.

That is, rushing until a hand– Apple’s hand– grips her arm, pulling her back. Raven lands right on her butt as Apple stands up and runs past her.

“Oh– Ow!” Raven yelps, more annoyed than hurt, really.

She rubs her behind, standing up.

She looks in front of her to realise that Apple has taken hold of the book, holding it above her head like a child with a first-place trophy, gleaming similarly.

“Fine!” Raven says. “Guess I’ll just have to do this!–” 

Raven’s eyes start to glow. Her hands ignite into purple flames. Like the dust from the crates, magic swirls around her. Her hair floats up.

Apple strains to keep hold of the book as Raven’s magic wraps around it. It tugs, tugs, tugs until she manages to pull it out of her grasp.

“Aha!” Raven says triumphantly. “I got it!”

The spell book floats in between the two girls. “Now, time to turn you back–”

The book bursts into purple flames.
(Ouch.)

Raven watches miserably as the darkened corpse of the spell book plops onto the ground, turning into a pile of ash.

“You’ve got to be kidding me–”

“–You!”

A crabby voice coming from beside Raven snaps her out of it. 

She whips around to face whoever it is, a scowl on her face.

“What is it?–” Her face drops as she realises it’s the old lady, who, at the moment, looks considerably more evil than Apple.

“You kids, always coming into my shop to mess things up!” The lady barks.

Raven gulps.

“I always just kick out– But not today! Today, you pay, or I find other way to make you pay!”

Raven sighs, reaching into her dress to pull out her wallet. It's the right thing to do; the remains of the once-intact book laying on the floor is proof. Besides, it's half-off.

She drops some coins into the old lady’s hands.

“Sorry about the book,” Raven says sheepishly. “It won’t happen again!”

The lady just gives her a blank, unamused stare as she settles back into her chair to go to sleep.

Raven turns around, talking to herself. “As long as I get Apple back to normal, it definitely won’t happen again!”

She puts her hands on her hips as she looks around the store. “Apple. Like the Apple that is not here right now.”

She groans. Of course the little goblin had run off during all that!
(Fun fact: If a character isn’t narrated as they get away, that means the narrator most likely didn’t notice them either! Which is what happened here. I can’t believe I didn’t see her!)

Raven bolts out the door, the jingle of the bell sounding again. This time it seemed to be loud enough; the old lady perks up from her nap, shouting as she runs out. 

"Don’t come back!”

 

Chapter 2: A Shoe-saster!

The Mad Hatter of Wonderland’s Haberdashery & Tea Shoppe is going through a normal day, during a completely normal afternoon.

Well, that is, if you call floating teacups and teakettles going this way and that, pouring all sorts of tea into all sorts of peoples’ cups as the numerous clocks on the walls ring and rang, and the several doors beside those clocks occasionally opening to where and about– normal.
(Whew, what a mouthful!)

And, look! Right over there in the middle of the shop– Or, actually near the side of the shop– Er, currently moving spontaneously around the shop– is Madeline Hatter and her father, The Mad Hatter, themselves, doing what they do best: serving tea and treats to all the customers who walk in and out.

However, one customer didn’t quite seem to need tea and treats at the moment.

Raven bursts through the doors of the shop, panting from exhaustion, with, unfortunately, no Apple in tow.

“Raven!” Madeline laughs. “Raven! Raven! Raven!”

She bounces from the spot where she was just pouring tea into a table’s cups, and hops over to her to give her a gigantic three-bears hug- As if they hadn’t just seen each other at school a couple of hours ago.

She appears to give the air a stink eye. “Well, Brooke,” Madeline says, “I’ll have you know it was actually only one hour ago, thank you very much!”

Sorry! Ahem– I meant; as if they hadn’t just seen each other at school an hour ago.

She smiles.

“Hi, Maddie,” Raven says, awkwardly attempting to not get sweat on her, while completely ignoring the conversation she just had with seemingly no one; entirely too used to it.
(Too bad Raven can’t hear me!)

“Have you been playing Tag?” Maddie asks as they pull apart. “Or perhaps Bag? Or maybe even–” She gasps, “–Rag?”

“No, no,” Raven says, panting. “Just– Just give me a moment to catch my breath.”

“Oh! I know just how to help you!” Maddie says, grabbing Raven’s hand to pull her over to a floating table.

It falls to the ground as soon as Raven sits in the chair next to it.

“You know,” Maddie says, “Brooke said you didn’t need any tea and treats, but that’s just silly! Who doesn’t need tea and treats?”

“I… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a break,” Raven says.

Maddie sits down across from her. “Of course it wouldn’t! I’ll end my shift now so I can hear all about your game of Hag!”

Raven laughs, shaking her head. “I wasn’t playing any games, Maddie.” Her face darkens. “Apple got cursed by an evil spell again, and I can’t find her anywhere!”

“Again?” Maddie gasps. “Well, that just seems overused.”

Raven sighs, placing her face into her hands. “I’ve looked everywhere! Who knows, maybe she’s not even in Book End anymore!”

A teacup flew to the table. Then another. And then a tea kettle and some plates, all hovering next to them.

The Mad Hatter seems to appear from the floor, springing up behind the table in the middle to grab the teacups and set them down in front of the two girls.

Maddie giggles and Raven watches as the tea kettle floats over to each teacup, filling them up. 

He pulls out two pies from the inside of his hat, placing them on the flying plates, and then grabs the plates to put them down as well.

He turns to Raven. “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” He asks.

Raven sighs again, slumping further into her hands. “They don’t have an apple,” She says miserably.

The Mad Hatter hums thoughtfully as he drops some sugar cubes into their tea. “Perhaps,” He says, “But a raven is smart enough to find one, and an apple could be placed on top of the desk!”

He puts his hat back on his head, smiles at the two girls, and walks away.

Raven groans. “Hopefully if she causes The End of Ever After, she’ll do it quicker this time.”

Maddie giggles, picking up her cup of tea after dropping another sugar cube into it.

“Oh, come on, Raven!” She says. “Turn that frown upside down, and have a cup of tea!” She smiles, drinking from her cup, before moving on to scarf down her pie.

Raven smiles back at her. She supposes the most she can do right now is recharge so she can continue searching for Apple. She drinks her tea and eats her pie as well.

“Thanks, Maddie,” She says after taking the last bite of her pie. “I definitely feel better now.”

Maddie grins. “Tea and pie does seem to do that!”

“Now, back to Apple–”

A scream from outside. And another. And then a few more.

“Well, that’s just one scream too much!” Maddie says as she and Raven rush outside to see what could possibly be happening.

They look down the street and see The Glass Slipper.

Several people are running out, shouting. Left behind in the crowd is Ashlynn Ella, standing in front of her shop.

Maddie and Raven run over to her, and as soon as they get there, Ashlynn lets out the worst, most blood-curdling scream as she drops what looks to be like some shoe shine on the ground.

“Ash?” Raven says, covering her ears. “What’s going on? What happened?”

Ashlynn points to the inside of the shop, her finger shaking.

Raven peeks in and sees Apple currently sitting on top of the front counter, which looks like an island surrounded by an ocean of shoes that litter the floor.

Apple laughs as she grabs a shoe next to her, adding it to the mess.

“Does anyone else hear dub-glasstep muse-ic playing right now?” Maddie says.

“Apple–” Ashlynn sniffles, “–She came in and I told her how I needed to run an errand really quick to buy some more shoe shine, and she offered to take care of the shop for me. So, of course, I let her, but I just came back and she was throwing shoes at the customers, knocking everything off the shelves!”

Ashlynn turns to Raven, tears in her eyes. “I just– I just can’t believe she would do something like this!”

“She wouldn’t!” Raven assures her. “She may or may not be a little… cursed right now. She isn’t acting like herself!”

“Cursed?” Ashlynn gasps. “Like… Again?” She whispers, the memory of when she, herself, had gotten cursed flashing back in her mind.

“Yup!” Maddie says. “Exactly like that memory! When you and Hunter got cursed and went all wacky-doodle, and almost destroyed Ever After along with Apple and ate a lot, like, a lot of burgers!”

Ashlynn shudders; the stains upon stains on her dress took days to get out.
(She was told she had to hand wash them, you know– Cinderella’s daughter and all!)

“It’s fine!” Raven says– although, she couldn’t tell if she was trying to convince herself or Ashlynn. “It’s just Apple this time, and all we have to do is catch her!”

Raven steps past Ashlynn and walks into the store, which is quite difficult considering the piles and piles of shoes on the ground. Maddie hops through, while Ashlynn carefully tiptoes around it all.

Apple is still laughing to herself on the counter, continuing to pick up shoes nearby and throwing them onto the ground.

“Apple!” Raven shouts, causing her to stop and slowly turn towards her, but not before throwing the shoe that was in her hand. Raven could hear Ashlynn whimper behind her.

“That’s enough!” Raven says. “You’re coming with me!”

Apple snickers, leaning back on the counter as she crosses her arms.

She raises an eyebrow at Raven. “You? Little Miss Book Burner?”

Ashlynn and Maddie give Raven a confused look.

Raven groans, and she turns around to face them. “It was an accident! I swear! I didn’t mean to burn the spell book!–”

“...Guys?–” Maddie says.

“...You did what?” Ashlynn shrieks.

“...Uh, guys?–”

“...An accident! Let me remind you it was an accident!–”

“...GUYS! ” Maddie yells, causing the two other girls to freeze and look at her.

She pants, pointing towards the backdoor that is just swinging shut. “Apple… Is gone!”
(Boy, is she sneaky, she did it again!)

“Oh, hex it all!” Raven says, breaking out into a mad dash towards the door, not caring as she almost trips over the shoes on the ground several times.

She bursts through the door, and it slams shut after her.

Maddie grabs Ashlynn’s hand, laughing maniacally as she drags the sighing princess out the door after Raven.

They catch up to her, running side-by-side. 

“Grimm,” Raven complains, “I got to stop doing that!”

Raven spots a flash of familiar red fabric turning the corner into a busy street.

“That way!” She points, making a sharp turn.

Maddie and Ashlynn follow suit, running into the street where townspeople were walking, wide eyes and shouts coming from them as the girls nearly crash into them. Luckily, none of their classmates seemed to be out anymore.

“Ouch!”

“Hey!”

“Watch where you’re going!”

Apple starts weaving through the crowd like a thread and needle, flawlessly gliding her way through. Raven picks up the pace, yet she doesn’t waver through as easily– She bumps into several unsuspecting people, and she almost runs over some poor ducks crossing the road.

A passing horse cuts Maddie’s and Ashlynn’s path from Raven.

Ashlynn yelps as she dives left to avoid the horse, almost smashing into a cart of oranges. Maddie almost runs straight into the horse, but then she quite literally runs straight through the passing horse. The horse makes an uncomfortable neighing sound as she follows after Raven.

When Maddie catches up to Ashlynn, Ashlynn looks at her confused. 

“How…” Ashlynn says in between breaths, “...Did you do that?”

“You mean I shouldn’t have?” Maddie says. “I thought it was normal, you know, hitting a horse is very rude!”

“It is!” Ashlynn replies. “Though, that horse didn’t say very delightful things about you running through him.”
(Ashlynn has this thing– she can understand animals! Although, I don’t think my parents would like it if I repeated what that horse said.)

“Oh. Hope another one doesn’t come, I don’t think I can do it again!”
(Maddie also has this thing– she can do the ‘impossible.’ But if it’s possible for her until she finds out it’s impossible, is it really impossible?)

“Watch out!” Raven yells from up ahead. Maddie and Ashlynn can see that she’s right on Apple’s tail.

The three girls shout as Apple knocks over a barrel that, ironically, contained apples. They spill out like a wave, dozens of red fruit covering the ground. They seem to be overripe, and Raven cringes as she accidentally steps on some, leaving a bloody pale-yellow trail of smashed and mashed apples.

They turn another corner, heading towards the playground. Shouts of children fill the air, getting louder and louder as the girls get nearer and nearer.

They screech to a stop next to the play structure in the middle of the playground. Their faces horrified as they look up to see Apple dangling a kid by his foot off the edge.

The kid did seem to be enjoying it though; he squeals happily. Apple, however, wears a malicious smirk on her face.

Maddie pants, taking off her hat to fan herself with it. “You would be hat-tastic at a game of Yag, Apple!”

Apple’s eye twitches. “Oh!” She says, too sweet to be true. “Thanks!” She rolls her eyes.

“You’re welcome!” Maddie laughs, but immediately stops once Ashlynn nudges her, shaking her head.

“Put the kid down, Apple!” Raven yells, “You’re going to hurt him!”

The kid giggles as Apple sways him around. “Is that true?” Apple smiles. “I didn’t even notice! Thanks for telling me, I’ll let him down now.”

“Wait, really?–”

Apple drops the kid over the edge.

The girls panic, rushing over to the ground beneath the kid in a mad frenzy. They smash into each other in an attempt to catch him.

They fall onto the floor in a pile, acting as a safety cushion as the kid lands right on top of them. He runs away unharmed, giggling as he goes back to playing with the other children.

The girls groan as they get up, stumbling around.

Apple’s sick laughter rang out from the play structure.

“Oh, wow!” She says, wiping a tear from her eye. “That was just too good! You guys should see the looks on your faces!”

Raven rubs her head, glaring at Apple.

“That’s it for the show, though! Have fun!” Apple says, beginning to walk away.

“Maddie, Ash!” Raven yells as she runs towards the play structure.

They nod, snapping out of their trance, and start climbing up into the play structure as well.

Ashlynn closes in on Apple from the right, Maddie on the left, and Raven blocks the stairs to go down from the middle.

“Nowhere to go, Apple!” Raven says.

Apple stops. She glances around like she’s looking for something.

Her eyes land back on Raven, making eye contact.

Apple runs straight to the left, diving down the slide.

Maddie shouts, “I got her!” 

She dives into the slide just as Apple does, grabbing her as they tumble down and onto the ground.

They both grunt as they hit the floor, and Ashlynn and Raven run over to where they landed.

“Maddie!” Raven says as she tries to hold in a laugh.

“Oh, my!” Ashlynn gasps, putting a hand over her mouth.

“The Apple… Is down!” Maddie says triumphantly, sitting on top of Apple at the bottom of the slide.

 Apple wriggles beneath her, and both have dirt and sand all over their faces and clothes.

“Get… Off me!” Apple yells, trying to push off the ground, but falling flat when Maddie’s weight pulls her down.

Maddie giggles. “No can do, Apple-not-Apple!”

Apple lets out a frustrated groan.

“So, how are you going to uncurse her?” Ashlynn asks. “Without the book?”

“Baba Yaga knows more about spells and curses than anyone else,” Raven says, hitting the palm of her hand with her fist. “She’ll know what to do!”

“You’re going to drag her all the way to the school?”

Raven looks down at Apple, still very much struggling underneath Maddie, who is now peacefully drinking a cup of tea.

“Uh…” Raven says, thinking. Then, a smile forms on her face as an idea pops into her head.

“Maddie,” She says, causing her to pause mid-sip and look towards her. “Do you have anything in that hat to make sure she stays still?”

“I don’t know!” Maddie says cheerfully.

She stuffs her cup of tea into her pocket and pulls out her hat, digging her whole arm into it. Her arm disappears and her shoulder blade moves back and forth as she searches.

She hums as she pulls out another tea cup, then a whole chair, and then an entire table; throwing each object to the side with a loud CRASH.
(Maybe that’s the reason that Apple can’t possibly lift Maddie off of herself.)

“Aha!” Maddie says, finally pulling out a long, long strand of colorful silk ribbons tied together– the kind that magicians use. “Perfect!”

“Okay,” Raven says, walking over to Maddie and Apple, crouching down next to them. “Maddie, you tie her up while I hold her down.”

“Huh–”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Maddie says, hopping off Apple, allowing Raven to pin her down while she tied her up in a blink of an eye.

“Tada!” Maddie says, showing off the finished product as Raven takes a step back.

Apple was now wrapped in the ribbons, looking like a mummy and squirming around like a worm. She grunts as she tries to break free, but to no avail. She almost looks like one of those roasted pig dishes; the ones with an apple in its mouth.

“You’re right, Brooke!” Maddie says, giggling. “And to finish the switch-a-roo, we need a pig!”

She digs into her pockets this time, pulling out a small, pink, plastic toy pig, and shoves it into Apple’s mouth.

Instead of a pig with an apple in its mouth, it was now an Apple with a pig in her mouth.

Ashlynn and Raven look at each other, and– despite their best efforts– immediately burst out laughing.

“Ha, ha, ha,” Apple says, mocking them. However, with the pig in her mouth, it came out sounding more like ‘Hmm, hm, hm.’

This just causes Ashlynn and Raven to laugh even more, and Apple rolls her eyes.

Raven finally takes a deep breath, calming herself down.

“Whew– I’m sorry,” Raven says, stepping back towards Apple, bending down, and taking the pig out of her mouth.

“Blegh!” Apple spits out the taste of plastic from her mouth. “Could you be any more barbaric?”

Raven stands up, ignoring Apple, and turns back towards Ashlynn and Maddie. She hands Maddie the toy, who throws it into her hat.

“Do you really want to tie me up?” Apple asks from the ground. “I mean, don’t you think it would be so hard to carry me? It is a hot day, ever after all!” She smiles, batting her eyelashes at the three girls.

Raven winces. She's not wrong. She looks at the other two for answers.

“Oh! Oh! Me! Me!” Maddie says, jumping up and down with her hand held high.

“Yes, Maddie?” Raven says.

“I have a wonderlandiful idea! You can use your magic to bring her to the school!”

“Oh!” Raven says. “You’re right, Maddie!” She lifts her hands up, ready to cast a spell. “I’ll just do a simple levitation spell–” 

“–No!” Ashlynn shouts, grabbing Raven’s hands. “Uh… I mean–” She chuckles nervously as she lowers Raven’s hands slowly. “–I don’t think we should risk the ribbons– or Apple – getting lit on fire…”

“You too, Ash?” Raven says. “Does everyone really still think I’m that bad at magic?”

“No, no, that’s not it,” Ashlynn laughs reassuringly. “I mean, it’s just that you just told us how you burned the spell book– accidentally. Maybe you’re stressed?” She smiles at Raven apologetically.

Raven groans. She’s right.

“Okay.” Raven sighs. “Carrying her it is, then!”

Raven grabs Apple from her feet. “Maddie!” She says, gesturing to Apple’s head.

“You got it!” She says, bouncing over. She places her hands on Apple’s shoulders.

With a final huff and puff, the two girls manage to successfully hold up Apple as if they were carrying a coffin. Maddie’s arms are outstretched all the way, holding Apple up by the sides of her arms, while Raven’s arms could be bent, holding Apple by where her ankles were wrapped.

“This seems royally unnecessary, are you sure you idiots can’t come up with a single smarter idea than this?” Apple complains.

“Nope!” Raven says. “And just for that, we aren’t going to try!”

Apple would shoot her a glare if she could.

“Are you guys fine on your own? I have to go clean up the shop,” Ashlynn says, sighing from exhaustion at the thought.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Raven says. “Thanks for the help, Ash.”

“Of course! I’ll spell you guys later!”

Maddie and Raven would’ve waved back at Ashlynn as she walked away if they weren’t so focused on keeping Apple steady.

Chapter 3: Close Calls!

Raven is really regretting not using her magic.

She and Maddie had been slugging through the village of Book End, getting some strange looks here and there.

That isn't the bad part. The bad part is the sun. Carrying a full grown teenage girl through an entire town during the midafternoon, where the sun had no mercy after she feels like she had just ran a marathon, is not something Raven thought she would ever have to experience. And it was definitely something she's going to make sure she never has to experience again.

The worst part, though? The worst part is Apple’s constant complaining.

‘Can you stop bouncing me up and down? You’re giving me a headache!’

‘Stop gripping so hard there!’

‘Don’t move around so much!’

‘I’d rather you attempt levitating me so I would burst into flames–’

“–Ugh!” Raven shouts. She plants her feet on the ground. “I’ve had it with your complaining, Apple! Just–”

Apple starts crying.

“–Huh?”

And then she starts crying.

“I can’t believe you’re saying all these mean things to me!” Apple wails. “Especially after you’ve kidnapped me?” She makes sure to put extra oomph into that word, shouting it loud enough for passersby to stop and look at them

“I thought we were best friends forever after! I really, really had thought you changed– But no!” She sobs. “You really are just a witch! A big old witch that has kidnapped me! ” She repeats.
(She’s in the drama club for a reason!)

Raven scoffs. “Why you–”

“...Did you hear that?–”

“...Kidnapped?–”

“...Witch?”

Raven looks around, realising that a crowd of villagers has gathered around the three girls, whispering and eyeing them strangely.

“Uh… Hey,” Raven says, smiling nervously. “It’s not what it looks like–”

“ ...Is that Apple White?–”

They kept whispering.

“...And Raven Queen?–”

And kept whispering.

“...I knew it! There’s no way the daughter of the Evil Queen would ever be good!–”

And they wouldn’t stop.

“...We have to save the princess from that witch!”

Uh oh.

“Citizens of Book End!” Maddie announces. “There is no need for alarm! Raven isn’t evil, Apple is–”

“–Would you really want to believe a mad girl over me?” Apple interrupts. “She’s so mad that this witch has tricked her into believing anything she says! Help! Help me!” Apple cries.

“Wait– wait– wait!–” Raven attempts.

But it’s too late, the crowd around them only has red to see.

“–GET THEM!” The crowd shouts, breaking into a mad rush towards the three girls.

“RUN!” Raven screams.

She and Maddie burst through the crowd, still holding Apple, run, run, running as fast as they can.

The crowd behind them is an angry tsunami, cries and shouts erupting from them like fireworks that are only fueled by Apple’s calls for help.

“Help! Help! Help!” She yells.

“MADDIE,” Raven screams, “MADDIE, THE PIG!”

“I got it, I got it!” Maddie says, shifting her hold on Apple to using one hand in order to grab her hat, almost causing them to trip.

“Help! Help! Help!”

“...Not that,” Maddie says, shaking out the contents of her hat. Books pour out, causing the crowd to stumble over them.

“...Not that either,” She says as a large vase falls out, shattering on the ground. The crowd behind them tiptoes through it.

“...Or that!” A chainsaw falls out, and the crowd screams as they jump out of the way.

“MADDIE!” Raven yells.

“Got it! Oh no–” The pig drops out of the hat, nearly landing on the ground, when Maddie’s pet dormouse, Earl Grey, pops out and catches it for her.

“–Yay! Thank you, Earl Grey!”

Earl Grey squeaks as Maddie lifts him up to Apple’s face, allowing him to shove the pig into Apple’s mouth, shutting her up.

“Help! Help! Hel– mmph!”

They continue running, the crowd significantly lessened by Maddie’s items.

As the stampede behind Maddie and Raven chases them, they run past onlookers who peek out of shop windows and doors, curious about the commotion. Even animals freeze and stop to watch. 

They manage to get to the toll bridge that separates Book End from the school, a good distance away from the mob.

A troll jumps out from beneath the bridge, stopping the girls right in their tracks.

“Who dares to cross my bridge?” He asks.

“An innocent girl with no ill intent!–” Raven sputters out, glancing behind her nervously. “–An innocent girl with no ill intent!”

The troll nods slowly, oblivious to the situation. “Leave the toll and be quick!” He booms.

Raven desperately looks for her wallet in her pocket, getting it out so fast that she almost drops it.

She dumps out the contents onto the ground, the coins rolling and clinking, not caring that it is way more than the actual toll.

The troll lets them pass, and they dart to the other side.

Raven and Maddie get to the school grounds, screeching to a stop right in front of the school entrance.

They put Apple down gently on the pavement, who makes muffled sounds of annoyance.

Raven collapses to the floor, gasping for air, and behind them, she can hear the mob trying to get past the bridge troll.

“... Let us in!”

“...That witch kidnapped the princess!”

Raven couldn’t help but feel stung by that word. Did people really still see her that way?

“Raven?” Maddie says, a hint of worry in her voice, breaking Raven out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” She says, shaking her head.

“Those meanies don’t know what they’re talking about!”

Raven looks away. She stares at the ground, her eyes dry and the corners of her mouth tugging down.

“...Yeah. Yeah, sure,” She replies, her voice quiet.

Maddie looks at her, watching as her back rises and falls slowly.

Raven takes a deep breath, wishing to just get this whole not-Apple thing over with.

She stands up and grabs Apple without a word. Maddie does so as well– yet not without sparing Raven another concerned glance.

“Oh, Brooke,” Maddie whispers. “Raven shouldn’t let those mean words get to her, but if this is what she wants right now, then that’s what we’ll do!”

You guys got this, Maddie!

–

Walking through the hallways of their school is somehow considerably worse than getting chased by an angry mob in the sweltering sun.

Despite no one actually bothering to ask any questions, the sideways glances and hushed whispers they get causes Raven to burn up all the same, embarrassment flaring through her. 

She knows that people are definitely going to be gossiping about this, and that questions would be flying as soon as class started up next week. And she really hopes no weird rumors would start up, but she knows that’s a lost cause.
(The great fears of high school!)

It probably isn't helping that Maddie is cheerfully humming a tune while Apple wiggles and squirms, making noises underneath the plastic pig still in her mouth.

But fine. It was okay. As long as she didn’t get caught by a faculty member before she figured out the cure, maybe she could deal with it. If Headmaster Grimm found out that she accidentally cursed the future ruler of Ever After with a spell she didn’t even know the cure for, she would be in big, bad trouble. No matter how much Headmaster Grimm and her have disagreed before, they both could very much agree that making Apple White evil is way off book.

“Raven? Maddie?” A new voice says.

The two girls stop, and Raven has to awkwardly crane her head around Apple’s body to see who it is.

“Oh, hey, Cerise!” Raven smiles. “Hey, Cedar!”

Both Cerise and Cedar stare at Maddie and Raven.

“Uh…” Raven says. “...What is it?”

“...’What is it?’” Cedar chuckles, walking up to them with an amused face. “What do you mean ‘what is it?’ Is that Apple White all tied up? You told me once Apple was complaining about her feet hurting in her heels once, is this your solution?” She asks curiously.

Cedar walks closer, looking at Apple’s face. “And is that a pig in her mouth?” She says, holding in her laughter. Apple glares at her, causing her to back off a little and chuckle nervously.

“Uh…” Raven blinks.

Maddie giggles. “Yes, it is!”

Cerise glances at Cedar confused for a second before saying, “...Should we, uh, be concerned?”

Maddie hums. “How concerning is an evil curse, again?”

“An evil curse?!” Cedar and Cerise shout, causing heads to turn towards the group.

Cerise clears her throat, lowering her voice. “Ah, sorry. An evil curse?” She repeats, whispering.

“It’s a… long story,” Raven says, giving her a smile. “Well, kind of? But not really?”

“Apple got cursed, making her go–” Maddie makes incomprehensible noises, “–and now she’s evil!” She says with extra dramatics. “Oh, and Raven burned the spell book so now we have to go to Baba Yaga.”

Cedar and Cerise look at Raven.

“Oh, come on– an accident! How many times do I have to say this– an accident!” She groans.

“Mmph– mmph– BLEGH!” Apple spits out the plastic pig from her mouth. It squeaks as it bounces on the ground and lands next to Cedar’s and Cerise’s feet.

“What the hex–”

Apple snickers, looking at Cedar and Cerise. “Not the brightest bird in the flock, is she?”

“Did you really just spit that thing out just to insult me?” Raven says.

Apple hums thoughtfully. “...Did I?”

Her gaze seems to have gone past Cedar and Cerise, and then…

“Oh, Blondie!" Apple calls out, her voice disgustingly sweet. “Blondie, over here!”

Oh no.

Raven looks down the hallway in horror, seeing Blondie Lockes walking past the corridor. She freezes, her face lighting up as she hears Apple’s voice.

The problem isn’t Blondie herself, really, but rather what she’s holding. She’s holding her trusty, sky blue mirrorpad, clutched in front of her body. And if Raven knew anything about Blondie and mirrorpads, it’s that she was either ready to record, or already recording. And by Raven’s luck, it's probably the second one! If she caught this scene on camera, gossip would spread like wildfire, and word would definitely get the headmasters faster than Maddie could tie up an Apple.

“Blondie!– Mmph!–” Apple shouts are stopped by Maddie covering her mouth with one of her hands.

“Uh oh, time to go!” Maddie says, scurrying down the hallway to their left as Raven follows.

Cerise and Cedar jump in front of them as Blondie walks up to them, a nervous smile on both their faces.

“Hey girls!” Blondie says, shoving the mirrorpad in their faces.

“Oh–” She realises, lowering her mirrorpad and turning it to face herself. “–Almost forgot about that! You girls mind being recorded? I’m doing an afternoon swoop around, you know, get the scoop on everyone’s afternoon doings? It hasn’t been successful though, I cannot wait for something interesting to happen.”

Cedar’s mouth tightens as Cerise immediately pulls her hood closer around her head as a habit. 

“Uh, yeah, we mind; thanks, Blondie,” Cerise says, giving her a small smile.

“Oh, okay,” Blondie says, a little disappointedly, but she nevertheless turns off her mirrorpad and puts it to rest on her side.

She tilts her head at them. “Have you seen Apple, by the way? I swear I heard her over here.”

Cedar slaps her hands over her mouth, her face grimacing as if she’s about to hurl. Cerise’s eyes widen as she looks at her, slapping her hands over hers.

“Uh…” Blondie says, giving them a strange look. “...Is everything alright?”

Cerise laughs awkwardly, her eyes darting around.

“Of– Of course!” Cerise says, glancing over to Cedar, whose hands feel like they are clawing at her mouth underneath. “It’s just us two, no Apple! You must’ve misheard us saying–” She pauses, trying to think. “–Clondie!”

Blondie eyes them. “...Clondie?”

Cerise laughs even more, a pained expression on her face. “Yup! Clondie! They’re a popular, uh, singer! I’m surprised you don’t know them!”

She glances over at Cedar again, who looks like she’s about to explode. “Nice seeing you, Blondie! Gotta go!”

Cerise grabs Cedar by the hand, dragging her down the hallway, and zooming away as fast as her half-wolf legs could take her before Blondie can respond.

Cedar’s words blurt out of her, but by then she’s so far away from Blondie that they’re incomprehensible.
(Poor Cedar! Cursed to tell the truth no matter what!)

Blondie shrugs.

“Clondie, huh? Sounds interesting, maybe I’ll check it out later… Is that a pig on the floor?”

–

Raven and Maddie had continued running down the hallway until they were seemingly alone, screeching to a stop right outside a doorway that leads to the field next to the school.

Raven groans agonizingly, and this time they drop Apple to the ground roughly, causing her to land with a THUD.

“Ow – Hey, what was that for?” Apple complains.

“You know what that was for!” Raven says, glaring down at her.

Apple just rolls her eyes.

Raven ignores her and turns to Maddie, who is sitting on the ground next to Apple, panting.

“Whew!” Maddie says, taking out a teacup from her pocket, and holding it out as Earl Grey pops out of her hat holding a tea kettle. A stream of tea flows out of it, landing into her cup.

“Who knew carrying around an Apple with one hand was so hard!” She says.

Earl Grey slid back into her hat once the cup was full, allowing Maddie to drink from it.

“Okay,” Raven says. “How are we going to get her into Baba Yaga’s hut?”

Baba Yaga’s office is located in a cottage that just so happened to be alive. And have chicken legs. Which meant it could run. Fast. And Raven was betting that it wouldn’t happen to be up to having three girls stroll in at the moment.

“You could always untie me!” Apple suggests.

“Hex no!” Raven says, almost offended at the idea. “I am not untying you–”

“–Vell, vell, vell. Vhat do we have here, Cousin Gus?”

“A leetle birdy and a mad girl running around vid a stolen princess, Cousin Helga?”

Great.

Raven and Maddie turn and look up to see the Crumb cousins, the son of Gretel and the daughter of Hansel. They sit atop some lockers, licking lollipops, as their feet dangle over the edge giddily. Their faces loom over the two in a wicked fashion, their impish smiles mocking them.

“Gus, Helga,” Raven pleads, “I swear it’s not what it looks like!”

Helga hums. “Vhat do you dink it looks like, Cousin Gus?”

“I dink it looks like candy from Headmaster Grimm, Cousin Helga.”

Raven sighs. The two would do anything for candy, and trying to scare them away didn’t seem to work anymore considering that they had made friends with Ginger Breadhouse, who was originally supposed to be the very villain of their story.
(She won them over with sweets and baked goods. I don’t blame them!)

“Wait!” Raven says, causing the two to look at her with curiosity as she turns to Maddie.

“Please tell me you have candy somewhere on you.” She asks her.

Maddie takes off her hat again, digging through it. Various sounds burst out of it as she searches, including the sound of fifteen chimpanzees, glass breaking, and the shrill of two bells.

She puts her hat back on, moving on to her pockets. A squeak of a rubber ball, a whistle of a train, and a growl of a bear come out. 

“Nope!” She says, pulling out a biscuit. “I only have some scones and biscuits!”

She takes a large bite of it, before dropping it back into her pocket.

“If de leetle birdy has no candy, den Headmaster Grimm vill!” Gus says.

“I have candy!” Apple says, smiling.

Raven looks down at her, her eyebrow raised. “Really,” She says, crossing her arms skeptically. “I’m sure you do.”

The Crumb cousins begin sniffing the air. They hop down from the lockers, their heads held high and low as they sniff all around Apple like a bunch of dogs looking for their lost bone.

“Ja!” Helga says, lifting her head. “She does have candy!”

“The sweetest caramels!” Gus adds.

“And all you have to do is untie me!” Apple says sing-songy.

“What? No way I’m doing that!” Raven says.

“Aw,” Apple says, pouting her face. “I guess you’ll just let them tell Headmaster Grimm, then?”

“I–” Raven looks at Gus and Helga, who look at her expectedly.

“I–” She stutters, looking at Maddie, who just gives her a grin.

“I–” She says one last time, looking back at Apple who gives her the most innocent, puppy-eyed look.

“–Fine!” Raven groans. “Maddie, grab her so she doesn’t run!”

Maddie salutes her and bends down to pick up Apple, resting her on the floor so that she’s standing upright. She holds her as Raven unties the ribbons around her.

As soon as she finishes, the Crumbs speed to Apple, running around her like a wild hurricane and greedily grabbing the caramels from her pockets.
(She puts them in there just in case she ever came across a child who she’d think needs something to make them feel better! Now it’s being used to give into blackmail.)

“Ve saw nothing, right my Cousin Gus?”

“Right!”

The two hop away, chewing and sucking loudly on the caramels.

Raven exhales in relief. She turns to Apple and Maddie, putting her hands on her hips.

“Time to get you wrapped again,” Raven says, starting to walk towards them.

“Wait!” Apple says, stepping as much away as she can with Maddie holding her arm. “Are you sure you want to do that?” She smiles.

Raven blinks at her. “Yes? Why wouldn’t I be?” She scoffs.

“Think about it,” Apple says. “Don’t tie me up, and you don’t have to carry me around anymore! If you don’t have to carry me around anymore, won’t it look a lot less suspicious? And it would be a lot less tiring!”

Raven eyes her. Raven wasn’t sure how much she wanted to carry her around while trying to chase down a giant cottage on chicken legs. She didn’t even have her running shoes on! And three close calls with the angry mob, Blondie, and the Crumbs, were three close calls enough.

“A girl’s got to stretch sometimes!” Apple offers.

“Oh, does your body feel like wet noodles too?” Maddie asks her.

“Yeah!” Apple says. “Sure!”

Raven thinks about it, her eyes squinting in concentration. All they had to do now was get to Baba Yaga, who was sure to know what to do about her. It wouldn’t be much longer until Apple was back to her non-evil uncursed self, right? Besides, Raven has had a lot of practice getting to her office since her first year, how hard could it be with an evil Apple in tow?

“Okay,” Raven says slowly, grabbing hold of Apple’s other arm. “You’ll walk then.”

“How hexcellent!” Apple chimes, smiling at her.

Notes:

i guess technically raven's considered more of a sorceress but that sounds too nice smh

Chapter 4: What's The Cure, Baba Yaga?

Raven opens the door to the outside of the school, pulling Maddie and Apple along with her.

If she's being honest, even though the cottage had a tendency to lurk near the forests that grew near the school grounds, she isn't a hundred percent certain that the cottage is on this side of the school. However, it's still bright outside, so Raven hopes it will be easy to find it. It is a large house with giant chicken legs, after all.

As the three girls walk through the field, it’s quiet. Almost unnervingly quiet. Apple isn't saying any witty remarks, and Maddie seems to just be enjoying the sunshine. Really, the only sound is the cool breeze and the occasional animal who would try to walk up to Apple, expecting the normal hug or some sort of excitement from the princess. But, instead, she would give them each a glare that makes them squeal and run away.

As they get closer to the forest, it’s no longer as quiet. The wind continues to blow calmly, rustling the trees enough to cause leaves to fall onto the ground near them. Shades of green whirl around them, the sun poking through the trees to give the leaves a glowing orange underlayer. 

The chatter of squirrels playing in the branches of the trees and the chirping of birds fills the girls' ears, and Raven couldn’t help but notice the way they look wearily at Apple when they pass. Perhaps the animals she had scared off had warned them, because they seem to grow quiet, watching the girls cautiously.

The wind seems to stop too, and Raven couldn’t help but wince every time a stick snaps, or a leaf crunches underneath their shoes; she didn’t want to alert the cottage if it's near.

Maddie begins to sing quietly. “Over the sticks and through the woods, to Baba Yaga’s we go!”

She does just as she says, taking careful steps, making sure to tiptoe over all the sticks and leaves with ease.

Raven tries to tiptoe through as well, but any attempt to stay silent is countered by Apple carelessly kicking up leaves and dirt.

“Could you try being any more careful?” Raven hisses at her.

Apple spares her a glance before she opens her mouth to speak loudly. “I said I needed to stretch, didn’t I? Tiptoeing would just hurt my poor feet.”

“Okay, okay!” Raven cups her mouth with her free hand. “I get it! Just stop talking so loud!”

Apple rolls her eyes, and continues to kick a stone into a tree trunk. It lands with a small thwack.

Raven sighs. She regrets leaving the pig behind.

“Me too!” Maddie whispers. “I named him, you know, poor Baby is all alone now!”

“That’s a stupid name, why would you name a pig Baby?” Apple tries to say, but her mouth is still covered, so it comes out more like “Mat’s a shumid mane, mhy would ju mane a pig mabe?”

Maddie gasps, offended. “Well, if you can think a baby is named Pig, why can’t you think a pig is named Baby?”

“Maddie!” Raven says, grabbing her attention as they slow to a stop. Raven uses her head to gesture in front of them.

There’s a small clearing, the trees surrounding a rounded area where Baba Yaga’s cottage is laying, resting on the dirt floor. The sun shines down on it, the rich brown color of the wooden walls glistening. It makes small rising and falling movements, as if it’s sleeping and slowly breathing in and out. The wind had crept back, now lightly blowing the hay that the roof is made out of. Smoke rises out of the chimney, a sign that Baba Yaga is inside. 

The back of the hut is turned towards them. It doesn’t see them.

Maddie and Raven look at each other, nodding. Each lift a singular foot up, preparing to take a step. But, before they could even hit the ground, Apple screams as loud as she can underneath Raven’s hand.

“What the hex!” Raven shouts, watching in horror as the cottage jolts awake, turning around slowly to look at the three girls.

It moans, standing upright on its two chicken legs. Its feet land hard against the ground, causing it to shake. Dirt drips from the bottom of the house.

The hut’s front two windows bores into the girls; a dark, deep void of space. Its curtains move slightly from the wind that dares to touch it.

A beat passes and Raven sucks in a breath.

It bolts off.

“...Great.”

Raven darts after it, dragging Apple and Maddie along with her, linked together like a chain. She nearly stumbles several times as she struggles to run whilst keeping a hold on Apple, her heels digging into the ground.

The house runs through the forest, somehow maneuvering quickly and easily through and between trees, bushes, and boulders. Its chimney leaves a smoky grey trail through the sky. 

Birds and critters jump and fly out of the trees its path is in, their footsteps pattering away as they flee.

A flower bush is completely flattened by it, a corpse of now-dirt smeared pancaked flowers left behind in a coffin of leaves.

Maddie and Raven now running at the same pace with Apple in the middle. They almost trip over several roots and branches on the ground and Apple clearly  attempts to slow them down by dragging her feet on the floor as much as she could without falling over flat. Raven only responds by tugging even harder.

“You…” Raven says in between breaths to Apple as she jumps over large rocks, “...Are… So… Lucky… You’re… Cursed… Right now!”

It's like they're on a wild mother-goose chase.

“You mean wild chicken-hut chase, Brooke!” Maddie shouts as they get dragged through a bush, emerging with twigs and leaves entangled in their hair, and scratches on their arms.

Oh, right! Wild chicken-hut chase!

Anyway, the girls continue to chase after the house, turning this way and that, almost falling down and responding by jumping up, until they found themselves heading straight towards the school.

“Oh, Grimm! How are we going to catch this thing? It’s impossible!” Raven yells.

Maybe trying to get to Baba Yaga’s office with two extra people is actually harder than she thought it would be. 

“Nothing is impossible, Raven!” Maddie says. “Use your magic!”

“But– But what if I mess up?”

Apple snickers. “You will–”

“–You will mess up!” Maddie shouts. “But that doesn’t mean it’ll be bad!”

Raven looks at the cottage, which is still way too far away for them to ever catch on foot. She takes a deep breath, thinking. If she could use her magic to throw them at it, they could be able to land on it.

“Okay,” Raven decides. “Hold on, Maddie!”

As they keep running, Raven’s eyes start to glow a purple-ish hue. She concentrates on casting a spell on all three of them, envisioning the magic wrapping around them. She can feel the magic course up through her until it bursts out, causing them to launch into the air, straight towards the cottage.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!” Apple and Raven scream.

“WEEEEEEEEEE!” Maddie giggles.

The cottage turns around, as if it was wondering what all the noise is about.

Raven realises their trajectory is way too low to land on the roof.

“Oh, not the window, not the window!” Raven yells, bracing for impact. “Why is it always the window!?–”

CRASH!

The three girls smash through one of the front windows, landing on the floor with a great THUD.

They all groan, stumbling as they get up, but the second they do the house collapses to the ground with a creak and a moan causing them to fall right over again.

Everything in the house is perfectly fine– That is, except for the window. Luckily, the spell Raven had casted on them provided a magical barrier and prevented them from getting hurt from the glass shards that now lay about on the wooden floor.

“...What in the Ever After is going on?” Baba Yaga says, who was peacefully sipping on a mug near her fireplace when they had crashed through the window.

She flies over to the three girls on a stool that hovered above the floor, waiting for them to get up.

“What did you do this time, Ms. Queen?” She asks, raising an eyebrow and returning to peacefully sipping her mug.

“Huh–? Hey, why are you immediately assuming I did something?” Raven says, leaning on a chair for support.

Baba Yaga says nothing, raising her eyebrow even higher as she takes a long, loud sip from her cup.
(Ooh! I know! She’s probably thinking about the time Raven had accidentally caused gingerbread men to come alive– They were helpful at first, but then they tried to take over the school! Or, maybe, she’s thinking about that time when technically she and Nevermore burnt down the arena! Or– Whew– Sorry. Almost lost track there. Back to the story!)

“Okay, fine!” Raven says, huffing. “Let’s just say, if someone were to hypothetically be cursed–”

“–Apple is cursed, isn’t she?”

Raven blinks. “...Maybe. How’d you know?”

“If you listened to me in class you would know! The tell-tale signs are there, a common curse spell!”

She looks past Raven. “...And her trying to escape out the window isn’t helping. Oh, won’t Headmaster Grimm be surprised you decided to follow your destiny ever after all!” She says, floating her cup over to a bubbling cauldron overtop the crackling fireplace to clap her hands joyfully.

Raven looks behind herself to see that Apple is, in fact, trying to cross the pile of glass shards to jump out the window.

“Maddie!” Raven says.

Maddie throws her a thumbs-up as she grabs Apple’s dress and pulls her down with a thump . She giggles as Apple throws her a nasty look, crossing her arms as they sit down together on the floor.

Raven looks back at Baba Yaga, who has now turned around, focusing on the cauldron. She floats different ingredients to the pot. A bone or two, an eye– probably of a newt–, a frog’s leg, and some mysterious jars filled with powders of all sorts of colors. The labels on those are some ancient language that Raven can’t bother to try and read at the moment.

Raven steps closer to her. “I haven’t decided to be evil, Madam Baba Yaga–”

“–Yes, yes!” She waves her hand around to dismiss her as she continues working, a strange bowl of green slime floating its way towards the cauldron now. “Just pulling your arm, girl, ‘I follow my own path’ and whatnot!”

“No– Well, yes– Just– What I’m trying to say is that Apple got cursed by accident! She got cursed by just reading a spell out somehow, and…” She looks away sheepishly. “...I might have accidentally… burned the book with the reversal in it.”

“What?” Baba Yaga says, turning slightly to her while still keeping an eye on the cauldron. She puts a hand to her ear. “Speak up, you know I’m getting old!”

“I burned the book by accident and now we don’t know how to cure her!” Raven sputters out.

Baba Yaga cackles. “If you chose to be evil, you wouldn’t be having this problem, would you?”

Raven sighs. And if she chose to be evil, people would treat her like that mob did today everyday. 

“Oh, don’t look so down, Ms. Queen,” Baba Yaga says. “I merely mean that you would have better control of your powers!”

“...Right,” Raven says. She shakes her head, focusing. “Just– Do you know how to fix this or not?”

“Which spell did she say?”

“I don’t know, it was like, ‘If you wish to change up, Then here’s just your…’ Luck? Muck? Something like that?”

Baba Yaga shakes her head disappointedly. “What was the book?”

“‘How to Change and Go, Quick and Fast!’ I think?”

“What did you say?”

Raven sighs. The old lady’s hearing must’ve been acting up again. She raises her voice. “‘How to Change and Go, Quick and–’”

The jars and bowls and ingredients that Baba Yaga is floating drop to the ground. She whips around, holding her mug in her hands, her eyes wide as she faces Raven.

“–Curses!” She says. “That blasted old book!”

“Um, do you know it?” Raven asks.

“Know it? That was my book! I thought it was a spell book for changing clothes quickly, but it wasn’t! I threw it out–” She chuckles slightly, “–And perhaps I placed a tiny curse on it. By accident.”

"What?” Raven shouts. “You placed a curse on the book, and now Apple is cursed because of that?”

“Happy accidents,” Baba Yaga shrugs.

“I– Whatever after, do you know the cure at least?”

“Er–” Baba Yaga clasps her hands together on her mug. “–Yes and no.”

Raven almost feels like laughing. “What do you mean?”

“There is none.”

Raven stares at her teacher.

“...You’re saying…” Raven says slowly, “...That there’s no cure, and Apple is stuck like that forever after?”

“Forever after– Godmother, girl, no!” Baba Yaga says. “One day! The spells from that book last for one day!”

Raven exhales out of relief. She really couldn’t have said that sooner? Really?

“So, what am I supposed to do with her for a day?” Raven asks.

“There’s nothing much you can do,” Baba Yaga says simply. “She’ll just be like that for the rest of the day until the curse is broken the next morning.”

“You’re–” Raven covers her face in frustration. “–You’re saying I have to babysit her?”

“Well, I didn’t hexactly say that; you could just let her run around, but considering what happened last time and that you don’t want to be evil…”

“Okay,” Raven says. “Fine.”

She takes another deep breath and exhales slowly. She could do this. She could do this! One day. That's not that bad! It could've been three days… Or even five days…

Baba Yaga peers around Raven strangely. “If I’m not mistaken,” She says, “The blonde one is supposed to be here, correct? Unless your friend ate her. Is that normal for her?”

Raven tilts her head. “Uh, what?–”

She stops. And she slowly turns around.

And she sees Maddie, and only Maddie, because Apple is gone and Maddie is shoulder deep into one of Baba Yaga’s wooden chests, surrounded by numerous items splayed out on the floor.

“Maddie!” Raven says, running up to her and pulling her out of the chest.

When she does, Maddie looks at her with an innocent face, holding the skull of an ogre in one hand and the horn of a unicorn in the other.

“Maddie,” Raven says, “What happened? Where is Apple?”

“Huh,” Maddie says, looking around. “I would like to know the answer to that too! Apple told me that she had a cut from the glass shards on the floor, and I was like, ‘Oh, no! We can’t have that can we?’ Because I didn’t want her to get a big ol’ nasty boo-boo. I mean, there’s a reason they’re called boo-boos, and not woo-hoos!” She looks down at the items in her hands.

“So, I told her I would find a bandage for her, and I guess I need to stock up on candy and bandages, because I couldn’t find any on me! Then I had the hat-tastic idea that Baba Yaga has to have one, right? But I guess all she has is this skull and this horn.” She finishes, looking defeated.

“Oh, Maddie,” Raven says sympathetically, “Apple tricked you!”
(If you must know, dear reader, I actually noticed her this time! This happens to be one of the few times that narrators choose not to narrate something for shock value!)

“What?” Maddie says. “But I love tricks! Like when Kitty tricks Alistair into going the upside down way, and we have to stand on our hands while moving backwards. Not-Apple’s trick is not fun at all!”

“I know,” Raven says. She grabs Maddie by the hand. “Come on, we have to find her before she pulls anything!”

She drags Maddie out the door, slamming it shut behind them.

Baba Yaga looks at the door after them and takes a sip of her cup.

“Euugh,” She says. “Too much goblin breath.”

Chapter 5: A Totally Charming Day!

The three Charming siblings, the children of two of the many King and Queen Charmings, are lounging in the school’s common room.

It’s empty there, aside from them. Everyone else seemed to have wanted to hang out in other places; the hallways, the dorm rooms, maybe they’re playing in the fields.

It’s warm, as the sun was getting closer to setting; shining mercilessly through the large windows, painting the room in a bright orange glow. The large tree column in the corner and the vines and leaves surrounding the windows illuminate a bright fluorescent green, and every once in a while a small leaf or two would come drifting down slowly, landing quietly on the floor or even on the wooden coffee table.

While the three of them sit in comfortable silence, birds chirp outside, singing beautiful melodies that flow into the room. Footsteps come and go occasionally outside of the propped open double doors that lead to the common room, along with the low chatter of their classmates walking by.

Daring Charming, the eldest of the three, snugly claims a red cushioned chair all to himself. He sits lazily, the back of his knees draped over one the armrests, while the back of his neck rests on the other. He scrolls through his mirrorphone, and every once in a while he would lift it up to take selfies of himself and of his siblings.

His younger twin siblings, Darling and Dexter Charming, sit on the similarly red cushioned couch, also scrolling on their mirrorphones. 

Dexter sits on one end of the couch, near Daring. His elbow is resting on the armrest, using his hand to hold the side of his face. He appears to be uninterested, swiping his finger mindlessly on his mirrorphone, the bright screen reflecting on his glasses.

Darling sits on the other end. She’s leaning back on the couch, far back enough to where her elbows lay on the seat, and her mirrorphone is held near her stomach. A bright smile appears on her face.

“Hey,” She says, getting her brothers’ attention. “Did you guys know that Charity was able to convince her parents to get a new cat?”

She flips her mirrorphone over to show them a picture of their cousin taking a selfie with a small white kitten.

Daring sighs, heaving his chest in and out. “A cat?” He says, putting down his mirrorphone.  “She couldn’t have begged for something cooler? Boring!”

Darling snickers. “I’ll tell her you said that her cat is boring.”

Her eyes light up with mischievous delight as her fingers glide over her screen, typing furiously.

Daring jolts out of his seat, running over to her, attempting to snatch her mirrorphone away.

Darling only laughs more when her reflexes are just too quick for him, being able to turn away from him before he could, blocking him as she continues to type.

“Oh, come on, Darling! Don’t do this to me!” He says dramatically, holding his hand against his forehead in anguish.

“Too late!” She sticks her tongue out at him, grinning.

Daring plops in between the twins on the couch, saying, “What did I ever do to you, my dear, dear sister?” He says in a heartbroken tone, holding his hands over his heart to exaggerate it even more.

“My dear, dear brother,” She mocks before dropping into a deadpan voice, “You ruined Sir Gallopad’s coat, that’s what!”

Daring gasps, pretending to look offended. “Pfft– Come on! Ruin is a strong word, don’t you think?” He waves his hand around. “I wouldn’t say ruin, I would say I bettered it, even!”

He nudges Dexter with his elbow, who looked like he was half listening, half still scrolling on his mirrorphone. “Right, Dex?” He says.

“I don’t know, Daring. Accidentally dropping a bucket of red hair dye onto Sir Gallopad doesn’t seem like bettering it,” He replies monotonically, rolling his eyes amusingly.

“That…” Daring says, “...Was all part of the plan!” He pats Dexter’s shoulder, as if he was trying to convince him. “Don’t you see, Sir Gallopad is most likely appreciating his cool new hair color right now! His white hair was getting quite boring.”

“Because his hair is dyed now, he can’t even camouflage properly!” Darling complains. “Isn’t that more boring?” She says, laughing.
(Darling’s horse, Sir Gallopad, has the ability to camouflage– But now that he’s all colored red, if he tries to blend in with something green, like leaves, he just ends up looking like red leaves!)

Daring gives Darling a wide smile, looking at her. He blinks. “...Would you rather have a red horse or a white horse?” He offers.

Darling laughs again, pushing him away playfully. “That’s not the point!” She says. “I’m literally never letting you pet-sit ever after again. Why were you even at the pet salon? I told you to just take him for a walk!”

“Hey!” Daring says. “We were walking, and then I saw that they were having a half-off sale for haircuts! Don’t you think he deserves an awesome haircut?”

“He couldn’t even get the haircut because you guys spent the rest of the day trying to wash out the dye!”

“In my defense, the only thing on sale was the haircut– not the dye. And guess who walked out of there with a free dye job?”

Darling raises an eyebrow, smirking. “But not a free haircut?”

“Again,” Daring says. “All part of the plan!”

Darling scoffs. “Yes, all part of the plan, like how I’m sure you picking the endangered flowers near the school to give to Rosabella the other day was all part of the plan.”

Daring waves her off. “Of course it was! I got to spend quality time with her to replant those flowers afterwards–”

Screaming. The birds stop chirping, and panicked footsteps and screaming come from outside the room.

All three immediately freeze, their faces dropping.

They stand up, simultaneously moving to look at the double doors. Their heads are perked up like meerkats standing on their hind legs. 

Daring looks intensely at the doorway, putting his hand up as he listens intently. His eyes start to glance around the room as if he was searching for the meaning behind the shrieking outside.

The other two give each other a confused look.

Suddenly, Daring gasps. He shifts into a heroic pose, his hands on his hips. “I smell evil afoot!” He announces.

“You… You can smell that?” Dexter says.

Daring puts his arm around Dexter’s shoulder, pulling him in. “Of course, little brother!” He says, matter-of-factly. “You should know by now that as Charmings, it’s practically a sixth sense!–” He pauses, wrapping his other arm around Darling, pulling her closer as well. “–And, as Charmings, it is our duty to save those who cannot save themselves from this evil!”

“Uh…” Dexter chuckles. “...I haven’t fought anything much lately, you sure I should come?”

“Of course, brother! You and Darling are as much a Charming as me!” Daring says, smiling brightly at him.

“Well, come on then!–” Darling says, grabbing Daring’s arm to hold it steady as she ducks under it to run to the door. “–Let’s see what’s going on!”

She runs out of the room, Daring and Dexter following close behind.

–

As the three run through the hallways of Ever After High, it only became more and more apparent that something was definitely, totally wrong. Students are everywhere, too busy shouting their heads off to answer any questions. 

Several of them are smeared with dirt, and the ground has mud tracks everywhere.

Some lockers appear to be dented, like something huge and heavy had rammed into them. There are also slight cracks in the walls, like they had been hit with something hard. 

People keep accidentally bumping into the lockers, bumping into each other, and slipping on the strangely wet floor.

Dexter had been knocked down multiple times by distraught students, and Daring and Darling are barely managing to avoid getting hit.

They eventually come across Blondie and Humphrey Dumpty. Blondie is struggling, dragging Humphrey by the arms, who is currently unconscious. His glasses are crooked and his crown is threatening to have a great fall off of his head.

“Blondie!” Darling says.

Blondie stops, and looks at the three running over to her. She stands upright, still holding Humphrey.

“Is Humphrey okay?” Darling asks. “What’s going on?”

Blondie frowns. “I would love to know that too! Humphrey and I were heading towards the action to record, but he tripped and fell! And now our mirrorpad is broken… And him. Well, I mean, he fainted after falling.”

She pauses and looks at Dexter with curious eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to have a mirrorpad right now, would you?”

“Uh, I would love to be your cameraman, Blondie,” Dexter says, “But I don’t have my mirrorpad… And don’t you think you should take care of Humphrey first?”

Blondie looks down at Humphrey. She doesn’t say anything for a moment, like she was genuinely considering it.

He groans, and Blondie looks back up.

“Oh,” She says. “I guess.”

She sighs, giving the siblings a small smile as she continues dragging Humphrey away. They can hear her muttering, saying, “Come on, Humphrey, let’s go get you patched up. Let’s hope all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can put you back together again…”

Dexter looks at Darling and Daring and shrugs.

Down, further down the hallway they go, passing even more panicked students. It grew less now, at least– most seemed to have run away in the crowd– but there are still some stragglers.

Dexter gets hit in the shoulder by Sparrow Hood, knocking him to the floor. He yelps as he lands on his behind.

“SORRY, DUDE!–” Sparrow screams, screeching to a stop. His eyes widen upon realising that it was the Charmings, and he quickly pulls out his signature green guitar.

As Darling grabs Dexter up by the hands, Sparrow slides up on his knees to them, shredding his guitar. He pops up around them, screeching, “–BY THE WAY, YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS TOTALLY EVIL! YEOWWW–” 

“Huh?” Dexter says. “Sparrow, wait–” But the wanna-be rockstar runs away, strumming his guitar, before Dexter can finish his sentence.

“You don’t think he was talking about Apple, do you?” Darling says to him as he stabilizes himself on the ground.

He adjusts his glasses. “I hate to say it, but he was probably talking to me about Raven.”

Daring comes up behind them, patting their backs. “That does seem more likely, perhaps she turned his Merry Men into goblins again!”
(Some of the water pipes are still totally busted from when that happened. That’s a story for another time, though!)

Darling shakes her head, starting to run again, her brain shuffling through all the possibilities.

Up further ahead, she notices some more of their classmates.

Bunny Blanc is in her rabbit form, hopping away frantically. She finally takes one huge leap into Alistair Wonderland’s arms.

Similar to Bunny, Hopper Croakington II is also leaping away in his frog form. However, at the moment, he has no one’s arms to jump into.

Duchess Swan is also leaping, but she’s leaping in a graceful sort of way, although honking in a totally non-graceful way.

The Three Little Pigs are oinking all over the place, constantly running into the Three Billy Goats Gruff, who are bleating all over the place.

“This way, everyone!” Hunter Huntsman is directing people out of the chaos.

His eyes are diligent, burning with the passion only a Huntsman could have when in danger. One hand holds his trusty axe, and the other points in the direction the three siblings came from.

He was also shirtless, and Darling had a feeling he had struck the classic Huntsman-To-the-Rescue Move just moments before… Which explains the faint trumpet noises she had heard through all the screaming earlier.
(No one knows where the trumpet fanfares come from when Hunter tears his shirt off to pose with his hands on his hips, but no one has really ever bothered to ask!)

“Hunter!” Daring calls out. “What is going on?–”

The ground begins to shake with the force of what feels like a thousand giants. It wasn’t. It was only one giant.

Tiny’s panicked footsteps slam against the earth, causing all the students nearby to yelp and yell as they all get knocked up and down and all around.

His humongous feet come barreling in between Daring and Hunter, almost smushing the former in the process.

“Tiny, my good man, watch where you’re going! You don’t want to ruin this pretty face!” Daring shrieks.

Unfortunately for him, Tiny does not hear him as his shrill shouts fill the air. Also, the roof collapsing in front of Daring, blocking his path to Hunter, was pretty unfortunate too.

“Hunter!” Daring cries.

“I’m good!” Hunter shouts from behind the rubble.

Daring puts his hands over his heart. “Don’t worry! I will avenge you!”

“Um, I’m not dead! And I also don’t think you should try to hurt anyone over this…”

His pleas fall on deaf ears as Daring is dragged away by Darling and Dexter to head even further into the school. They near a corner, where there is more dirt and mud all over the walls– and are those large flower petals on the ground?

Darling spots Kitty Cheshire crouching in front of Lizzie Hearts near some lockers. One that they're near is heavily dented.

“Lizzie!” Darling shouts, running up to them. “Are you hurt?”

Kitty looks up at her, a rare concerned look on her face, as the future Queen of Hearts in her arms turns around slowly, sniffling.

“I’m not–” She turns around fully, showing a small hedgehog in her hands. “–But Shuffle is!”

“Huh?” Darling says. She would’ve immediately been more concerned if she wasn’t confused with how that was possible. “Isn’t your hedgehog almost indestructible?”
(Wonderland hedgehogs are used for this reason for fun games of croquet!)

“Yes, well–” She stops to wipe her eyes. “–Apparently not to giant plants.”

Giant plants? What in Ever After could be going on?

“What? What do you mean– What happened?” Darling asks.

“Apple,” Kitty says. “Apple happened.”

Darling’s eyes widen. “...Apple?”

“Usually I would find that funny, I know! But–” Kitty looks down at Lizzie and Shuffle. “–But this isn’t funny!”

Darling shakes her head, clearing her thoughts to focus on the three.

“If you need any help with Shuffle,” She says, “You can ask Rosabella in our dorm room. I’ve taught her how to take care of Wonderland beasts.”

Lizzie nods, standing up with Kitty.

Darling watches as the two girls run down the hallway together, her thoughts spiraling in her mind.

Apple did this? Apple White? The very same Apple she had watched just yesterday scold Briar Beauty for being late to class; that Apple?

“Darling!” Dexter's voice calls out to her. “You might want to see this!”

Darling realises her brothers had gone on without her, and are peering around the corner.

She runs over, joining the two. And when she gets there, her heart sinks into her stomach.

Chapter 6: Maddie Plays A Guessing Game!

Maddie and Raven had just gotten out from Baba Yaga’s office, running down the hallway, and– 

–Brooke! You’re back!

Huh? Oh, why, yes! Yes I am! Hi, Maddie!

It got so quiet for a tick there, and I realised: Brooke is gone! Were you off napping? Getting a snack? I heard even you narrators have to do those things sometimes.

Haha, not this time, Maddie. Sometimes, a helpful technique in narration is to switch focus on what characters you follow! I had to do that while waiting for you guys to run through the building. I have to admit it gets a little boring watching you two run around all day.

Wow! What a hat-tastic idea! I’ll keep that in mind if I ever have to narrate again! Although, I’m not sure how I would do that.

I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

Gasp– Wait. Does this mean more of our super-wonderlandiful friends are going to be joining us?

Uh…

Who is it? Who is it?

Well, I–

–I know! I’ll play a guessing game! Is it someone as short and stout as a teapot? Or someone as tall as a giant? Is it someone that’s tall with a short name– like Tiny? Can they balance a teacup on their head? Or maybe two? There’s so many possibilities; won’t you give me a teeny-tiny tall hint, Brooke?

Nope! No hints, Maddie!

Aw, but your parents give me hints all the time!

I know. They complain to me about that every time. But sorry, you’re just going to have to wait and see for yourself. Besides, I know it won’t take very long. 

Know? Like, abso-lutely-tutely know? Is this one of those things where you hop and skip through time, and you know what’s going to happen to us soon?

…

So, is our tall friend going to stumble across us while balancing a teacup? Or is it our short friend stumbling across us with two teacups? Or even; both?

Again, Maddie. No spoilers! Especially since telling you what happens would spoil the readers too!

Okay, okay! Continue on with your narration, Brooke! I can’t wait to see what’ll happen!

Chapter 7: A Wordy Deck Of Cards

Raven and Maddie had skid to a stop next to a stairwell once Raven realised they have no idea where they’re actually going.

“Curses!” She says to Maddie. “Where do you think she went?”

Maddie hums, tapping her chin with her finger. “Well, if I had to guess, I would say–”

A loud CRASH from the lower floor echoes up, stopping Maddie mid sentence.

“–Down there!”

Raven sucks in a breath, staring down at the deep, dark abyss of the stairwell. The bottom floors? Where all the villain classes were? She shuddered at the thought. She hates it down there.

“...Are you sure?” Raven laughs nervously. “I mean, a crash from down there? Maybe it was just one of the skeletons falling.”

“Hm,” Maddie says, "If you’re feeling unsure, we can check if it was a truly evil crash, coming from Evil Apple!”

She walks over to the beginning of the stairs, leaning over to stick her head out with her hand cupped near her ear as if she was listening for something.

“A crash is only a good crash if the crash apologizes after crashing, but this crash seems to have forgotten its manners,” She says.

Maddie cups her hands near her mouth. “MR. CRASH!!!” She yells. “DON’T FORGET TO SAY SORRY!”

She stops, listening. But there is nothing.

“Well.” She huffs, crossing her arms. “How rude!”

Raven laughs, walking up to Maddie to place a hand on her shoulder. “Okay, so that’s definitely Apple down there. I guess I don’t know who else would willingly be there.”

“Us?” Maddie says, jumping onto the banister of the stairs.

She starts to slide down, giggling.

“Weeeee!” She exclaims, her laughter echoing as she disappears into the darkness.

Raven smiles and walks down the stairs after her. The sound of her footsteps’ pitter-patter bounces off the walls as well, until she makes it to the bottom of the stairs where Maddie is waiting for her.

Plink! Plink! Plink!

The only sound down there now is the faint dripping sound of leaky pipes underground. There’s also the occasional rat that scurried and squeaked by. Every once in a while, even the pipes would stop, and somehow the silence still seems to fill their ears.

It’s cold and damp, mother-goosebumps forming on both girls’ bodies. Raven could feel them when she rubbed her arms, shivering.

The long outstretched hallway seems to never end. The darkness that awaited them spiral in their minds. It’s barely lit, the few lights dim, some flickering, and some completely out.

They begin walking; their footsteps feel light, yet their heels tap against the hard concrete ground to echo loudly.

Raven swipes at a cobweb.

“Maddie,” She whispers, afraid to speak louder. “Where do you think she is? There’s so many classrooms.”

On each side of them stands several doors looking down on them imposingly from above. The doorknobs stick out like intimidating mutt heads snapping at them.

Every few doors have a light next to them, and Raven can see flies and bugs circle around the ones that were actually on.

“If I was an Apple, where would I go?” Maddie whispers back. “The door to the left, or the door to the right? Or maybe, the one that’s opened just right.”

Maddie points to a door that had been swung open. It's the only open one in the hallway. Raven couldn’t see anything inside from the angle they were looking at it from, but she knew it was the Home Evilnomics classroom. What could Apple be doing there?

“...Huh,” Raven says.

A deafening roar comes out of the classroom just as Raven says it. It bounces off the walls and all around their ears, continuing to travel far down the hallway. The walls shake, and the ceilings rumble, causing spiders, roaches, and other creepy crawlies to come out of their hiding places. The lights flicker at the sound, and even the pipe drippings seem to heed for it.

A disturbing feeling settles deep in Raven’s stomach. If Apple was in that classroom then…

“My project!” She screams as a giant, nearly ten feet tall, mutated plant monster comes stumbling out of the classroom.

It slams clumsily into the door across from it, nearly breaking it in half. It wobbles back up, nearly tipping right over as its huge head, holding a set of large, sharp teeth in an ugly mouth, almost makes it lose balance.

Its full head of giant, colorful petals rustle back and forth, and its long, slithering uplifted roots are being used as legs like the tentacles of an octopus.

It groans as it lurches forward, moving hastily towards the two girls. Mud drips down its stem, a dirt trail smearing behind it.

Maddie and Raven yelp and dive out of the way just as its long leaves, acting as arms, nearly hits them in the faces. Strangely enough, the plant shows no interest in them, and instead greedily continues forward. Its movements are focused and precise, like it’s on a mission for something.

Its screeches echo down the hallway as it moves closer to the stairs.

“Oh, that is so not good!” Raven says, rushing to the door of the classroom. 

If Apple is in there, then that means she has access to the evil plants that they had to create for class!

…Which also meant that there was no way she was getting an A now. Perhaps this was Apple taking revenge for all the projects of hers that Raven had destroyed by accident. That made her feel even more grateful that she wasn’t actually evil.

She grips the doorframe, looking in. She gasps when she sees Apple in the middle of breaking out another plant from its pot cage.

“Look out!” Raven shouts to Maddie, ducking away from what she was pretty sure was Faybelle Thorn’s project.
(Ooh. Faybelle is not going to be happy about that.)

Maddie cartwheels out of the way, accidentally tumbling into Raven, which sends them both crashing into the room.

“Ow!–”

“Sorry!–”

Laughter erupts in front of them. Apple stands next to a mutated plant, stroking its leaf as her head is thrown back, laughing.

Her laughter dies down to snickers, and she looks down at Raven and Maddie, who are in a pile on the floor.

“This is pitiful!” She says in an artificially sorrowful tone.

The two girls scramble to get up.

Raven glares at Apple, her hands on her hips. Maddie is doing the same, except Raven quickly realises that she’s facing the completely wrong way, so she grabs her shoulders and turns her right around.

This just makes Apple laugh even more; she bends over laughing hard enough where she has to hold her stomach with her arms.

“Oh,” She says, breathy, standing more upright to wipe a tear from her eyes. “Remind me to hire you two as jesters when I become queen!”

The corners of Raven’s mouth twitch, and she frowns. Her eyebrows crease, and she has to take a deep breath to remind herself to stay calm.

An annoyed sigh can’t help but come out as she shouts, “Apple, just stay away from the plants!”

Apple pretends to think about it, an amused smile on her face as her eyes carelessly drift. She hums, tapping her finger on her chin, and her the tip of her heel on the floor. “Oh, my… The plants?” Apple says. “You mean, like this one?”

She turns to the plant next to her, kicking the large brown pot it rests in harshly, creating a small crack. The plant shrieks, and it begins moving, as if it was trying to wriggle out.

“Stop that!” Raven says, hesitant to step closer. There’s no telling what Apple would do.

Apple keeps a watchful gaze on her, smirking.

“Please?” Maddie says, “Pretty, pretty please? With an extra red apple on top?”

Apple scoffs, crossing her arms. “Now that you’ve finally realised there’s no cure, what’s stopping me from making chaos?–” She laughs a bit. “–You? I don’t think so.”

“Realised–?” Raven says, her face painted with confusion. It quickly gets washed over with anger. “You– You knew that the entire time?”

“Using your brain for the first time; how enchanting!” Apple exclaims brightly, smiling at her.

“Some of us don’t read as slow as you.” She sneers.

Raven’s hands turn into clenched fists, and her nostrils flare.

“You know,” Apple says, casually checking her nails, “I truly would’ve told you sooner, but watching you two fuss over me like a bunch of lowly servants was just too fun!”

Raven’s breaths become heavy, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

“Raven…” Maddie says softly, but her words seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

“I mean, talk about playing the part! You two carrying me around like lackeys?” Apple laughs. “Thanks to you, I didn’t have to move a muscle!”

Raven looks down at herself. Her tights are ripped, her heels have scuff marks everywhere. Her hands are scraped and stained, and her arms are bruised and aching. Her hair is a mess, she knew– tangled, muddied, and littered with leaves. 

Apple is spotless, her clothes perfectly untouched. Her heels barely show any sign of the dirt they had trekked across. And not a single blemish or scratch on her. Worst of all, Raven knew she hadn’t broken a sweat. 

It never failed to irk Raven every time, but this time was different. The way Apple’s laughter rings in her ears, and the way she points to her, ridiculing her. The way she wears a stupid grin on her face, mocking her.

She understands why this time feels different. It reminds her of how Apple is truly a princess, and that Raven is a witch.

“...And, honestly,” Apple continues, “Seeing how miserably hopeless you are is just plain pathetic.”

“Pathetic?” Raven says, her voice growing loud. “You’re calling me pathetic?” Raven yells, her eyes and hands glowing a bright, furious purple.

Magic starts to swirl around her, covering Raven in a dark, misty fog.

It starts to take over the entire room, blanketing the floor, filling up to the ceiling. It becomes hard to see, the magic whirling all around them like a mad hurricane. Piles of papers on the tables start to fly, book pages start flapping before being thrown off the desks, and the glass vials on the shelves of the room start tipping over, shattering on the floor.

The stools start to tremble, falling to the ground. The potted plants start shaking as well, the sound of the ceramic pots making clinking noises against the concrete. They scream, crying out like an unholy choir.

“All you’ve done all day is cause trouble, and I’m pathetic for trying to stop you?” Raven’s voice booms through all the noise; it sounds distorted, yet regal.

Apple stands unmoving, her arms crossed, saying nothing, but still wearing that stupid, stupid smirk on her face.

“Raven!” Maddie shouts, ducking and leaping out of the way from flying chairs, books, and papers. “Raven!” She huffs, “Don’t listen to her!”

Raven doesn’t hear her, she’s too busy yelling at Apple. “You’ve been throwing insults at me all day!” She shouts.

She thrusts out her hands, causing a purple beam of magic to burst out of it, straight towards her.

Apple dives behind the plant just in time, letting the beam hit the pot instead of herself.

The pot instantly shatters, letting the plant free, it roars and starts slithering towards the door.

“Raven!” Maddie shouts again, jumping, weaving, and crawling away from the plant.

“I’m the idiot for your behavior?” Raven screams, shooting another beam, breaking another pot as Apple ducked behind it.

Maddie yelps as this plant seemed to find her particularly annoying, trying to slap her with one of its leafy arms as it stumbled out the door.

“I’m the– the witch?” Raven sputters out, tears in her eyes. “For trying to help you?”

Another beam. Another pot shattered.

“The witch…” Raven begins to sob, the magic around her slowing down. “...For trying to hurt you.”

She drops to her knees, sobbing into her hands. The magic disintegrates, fading away slowly. Only a few specks can be seen dancing around before vanishing away.

Apple puffs air through her nose amusingly. “Just like your mother, aren’t you?” She says bitterly, smashing the last pot.

Raven doesn’t respond as Apple jumps up onto the plant’s stem.

It was the largest plant of them all, its body thick enough for Apple to ride on comfortably. It screeches before it bursts out of the room, its roars echoing in the hallway.

Raven sits there, her hands pressing against her eyes as they squeeze out burning tears. She sees stars dancing around in her vision. And her hair sticks to the dampness of her skin.

The cold was back, prickling at her arms, and making her throat become dry and scratchy, her lungs desperate to collapse. Her chest makes rapid movements in and out as she struggles to breathe, the sharp intakes of breaths she was taking sounding shallow, while her nose made sharp, sniffling noises.

Her neck and spine are tired. Her mind feels fuzzy, and the slightest push on her temples from her fingers creates a dull pang against what feels like the soft flesh of her mind. Her head wants to explode.

She refuses to move, her legs limp underneath her.

“Oh, Raven,” Maddie breathes, running over to drop next to her.

She places a hand on Raven’s back, making circular motions to rub her.

Raven just starts quivering even more, breaking out into audible pained sobs. The sound of Maddie’s voice is so soft, too soft, it makes her tears flow out like waterworks.

Maddie stays silent as Raven continues crying. They stay like that for a while, and eventually Raven’s sobs faded into empty, hollow hiccups. 

Raven takes one last shuddering breath, and Maddie stops rubbing her, placing her hand on the cold, dirty ground, looking at her.

Raven coughs, wiping her nose and her eyes, before finally dropping her hands to the floor as well. Her and Maddie’s pinkie fingers touch, a quiet sign of solidarity. Her other hand presses against the concrete, like daggers upon her skin.

What had just gotten into her right now? That anger, that rage. It was awful. She felt blinded by her frustration– frustration for someone who isn't even herself right now. Just a second ago, she couldn’t have cared less whether or not Apple had gotten seriously hurt. She couldn’t have cared less if she had been the cause of Apple getting seriously hurt.

And now she wanted to throw up because of that.

It wasn’t Apple’s fault, but not-Apple’s fault, and she shouldn’t have tried– wanted– to hurt not-Apple as long as she was in the same body as Apple. She shouldn’t even want to hurt anyone at all! Hurting others– with no remorse? She couldn’t stand the thought of it.

And yet, it wasn’t the first time this had happened, was it?

She only saw not-Apple, and she wanted nothing more than to hurt her. Just like how she had seen Courtly Jester that one day in Wonderland. She wanted to hurt them, out of her own anger. Her own anger that she couldn’t control.

Raven could’ve sworn that just a second ago, all she could hear in her head was her mother’s words, repeating and repeating over and over again. Crush your enemies.

Her mother, who is evil, and who hurts others.

Like she had almost done to Apple. Her friend.

She felt even more nauseous at the thought.

“... They’re right, Maddie,” Raven whispers, closing her eyes. The words squeeze out of her throat, and she chokes on them. “...They’re right,” She repeats.

“Who’s right, Raven?” Maddie asks.

“Those people–” Raven says, squeezing her already shut eyes, “–Those people in Book End. They’re right. I’m always going to be like my mother, no matter what I do.”

She sniffles, opening her eyes to look at the dark floor. “...A witch.”

Maddie hums softly. “...Of course you’re a witch, silly,” She says, “But that doesn’t mean that you’re like your mom.”

Raven blinks, her eyes sore.

“My mom has done so many things to hurt people, Maddie; I wanted to hurt Apple.” Raven sniffs. “I was just so angry.”

“A book may have the same cover, but the contents don’t have to be the same,” Maddie says. “Your mom wanted to hurt people just because she wanted to. You wanted to hurt Apple because you were angry, but you stopped when you realised that’s not what you actually wanted. Your mom didn’t stop. She never stopped.”

Maddie chuckles. “Why, being a witch doesn’t even mean you’re evil at all! When people call me mad, sometimes they want to be mean, and sometimes I’m just mad! I am mad, but do others think mad, mad, or mad? When you have a full deck of cards illustrated with the same shape, it's up to the person on which value they take.” She grins.

Raven’s eyes widen, and she immediately lifts her head to look at Maddie in the face. She grabs Maddie’s hands in her own.

“Oh, Maddie!” Raven gasps. “What Apple said to those people about you–!”

She squeezes Maddie's hands, looking straight into her eyes. “You may be mad, but I would walk into the belly of a beast backwards and blindfolded in a heartbeat if you told me it was safe,” She says.

Maddie’s face breaks out into a wide smile, and her laughter bubbles up and out of her mouth.

She throws her hands up and falls onto Raven, hugging her tightly. “Really, Raven?” She says, “You would really do that for me? I mean, I know I’m mad, and people think I’m mad, and I know they think I’m mad, but I don’t know if all the things I say are mad, even though other people seem to know it’s mad. And I think that maybe I do say mad things! But you’re right, Raven– How do they know it’s mad? I know what I said wasn’t mad at all, it really was Apple being the evil one earlier, not you!”

Raven laughs before hugging her back. “The daughter of the Mad Hatter telling me that she wasn’t mad?” She jokes.

Maddie giggles, standing up and lending Raven a hand. She pulls her up, and Raven has to lean on her for support.

The world spins for a moment, and Raven feels like throwing up from actual dizziness this time.

“Oh, man,” Raven says, groaning. “My legs are killing me.”

She attempts to stretch, but it aches too much for her to even try. Raven frowns. “We still have to stop Apple, though.”

Maddie nods, holding Raven’s arm over her shoulder, starting to slowly maneuver herself and Raven towards the door. 

“And the scary plant monsters!” Maddie says.

“...And the scary plant monsters.” Raven sighs.

Chapter 8: The Plant-Apocalypse Begins!

Finding Apple didn’t take long, in fact, it only took the amount of time it took to get from the bottom of the stairs to the top of the stairs– which was only slightly longer than the time it took to get from the top of the stairs to the bottom of the stairs because Maddie had to practically help pull Raven up each step.

It didn’t take very long; not because of the dirt laying on the ground, or the smashed walls and lockers, or the slimy wet trails everywhere; but because right out of the entrance of the stairwell, attached to the tall windows peacefully are the mutated plants.

They bask in the bright sunlight streaming through the glass, and Raven could swear she could hear them purring like a cat. It was almost unnerving to hear such a delicate sound come from something that looked like it had walked out of a witch’s cauldron– actually, not looked like they did, because they probably literally did.
(At least, Raven knew for a fact that Ginger Breadhouse’s did.)

Apple was no longer on the huge plant she had ridden out on, but sitting casually on some lockers next to it. Large vines and roots coming from the plant reach the floor, splayed out like electrical wiring. She must’ve climbed them to get up there, and the warm glow of the sun hits her cheeks ever so slightly.

Her feet sway back and forth, and Raven couldn’t help but feel disgusted as she’s reminded of the earlier encounter they had with the Crumbs. 

“Is today Sitting on Lockers Day?” Maddie asks.

“Uh… I wouldn’t think so,” Raven says.

Raven slowly slides her arm off of Maddie, walking cautiously towards Apple as Maddie follows close behind. She wishes she could say she’s walking slowly because it’s Evil Apple they’re dealing with, but she’s so weak that she has to limp.

Apple barely looks up as they come near.

She hums. “Back from our little sob session, are we?” She says, eyeing them.

Raven sighs, and she chooses not to acknowledge that. Maddie gives her a small smile that she sees out of the corner of her eyes.

“What’s all of this, Apple?” Raven says.

She knows that Apple definitely has a trick up her sleeve, but she just can’t figure out what. She doubts she would actually answer truthfully though.

Apple’s legs stop swaying, and she pulls them up to sit with them crossed, the leaves decorating the tops of the lockers grazing past her grey tights. She folds her hands in her lap, smiling innocently at them.

“Keeping these plants down there in the dark? With no light?” She sighs, feigning compassion in her voice. “It's so heartbreaking, don’t you think? You call me the evil one for trying to give them the sunlight they need, while you want to put them back in that horrid dungeon!”

She puts a hand to her forehead. “Oh! Can you believe that?” She cries.

Raven’s hand clenches and unclenches as she takes a deep breath. They feel numb, she doesn’t think she has it in her to cast another spell.

“Yeah, well.” Raven scoffs. “They’re also giant man-eating monsters.” 

Apple gasps dramatically, a hand over her heart. “Monsters? And here I thought you were the one getting mad at me for calling you a witch!”

Raven sighs, stepping closer. “Look, whatever you’re trying to do right now isn’t going to work– you’re not going to get me mad again!”

“Oh.” Apple smiles. “Is that what I’m trying to do?”

The sun starts to set, long golden rays stretching out into the room, reaching desperately for one final touch of the school. With the rays, the plants begin to slink down; slowly at first to try and savor every last bit of light, but then they start to slide down faster and faster as the sun sets quicker and quicker.

Raven watches her shadow grow, getting consumed by the larger, darker shadows of the plants and the lockers, covering the ground until there’s nothing left but the dimmer, artificial white light of the school’s lighting. 

The final blip of sun is gone, and suddenly the purring of the plants turn into discontent growling.

The plants’ roots and vines spill out like a wave underneath them. Flopping outwards with a flourish, Raven has to take several steps back to avoid getting wrapped up in the giant’s one.

“Uh…” Raven says.

“Poor things,” Apple says as, one-by-one, each plant landed on the ground. The largest plant next to her is the last to make it down. “I don’t think they’ve gotten enough sun to fill their appetites.”

The last plant turns to look at Raven and Maddie, and Apple smiles.

“Guess they’ll have to find something else to eat.” 

The plant roars, and Raven and Maddie scream. Turning on their heels, they run down the hallway.

Apple jumps onto the large plant again just before it starts slithering after them, the other plants following suit.

Raven gasps for air; she had ran way too much for one day already! Sharp pains stab through her feet every single time she takes a step– which, if you couldn’t tell, were a lot.

She screams again, a plant arm reaching out for her, nearly swiping the two girls off their feet.

“Raven!” Maddie shouts, “I’m sure you have a wonderlandiful plan, right?” She yelps as she ducks under another long, leafy arm.

“Uh–” Raven panics, looking around wildly. “–Right!”

She then skids to the right, causing two of the plants to slam into some lockers, and another one into a wall. They groan and moan, but quickly recover, joining back in the chase.

“Right?” Maddie says. “Right, as in, ‘Right, I have a plan!’; or right, as in, ‘Turn right!’ right?”

Raven dares to look behind them, and her heart jumps out of her ribcage when she realises the large one is gaining on them, snapping its huge mouth.

“Right, as in, go left!” Raven screams.

A sharp left. More running. A sharp right. More running. 

Fortunately for them, the plants are terrible at slowing down enough to turn properly, and Raven can hear Apple cursing everytime they rammed into something.

Unfortunately for them, Apple wasn’t joking about them being starving.

They make it to a hallway near the main entrance, and Raven almost wants to cry when she realises that the chatter of students is loud here, and that she can hear footsteps from every direction in front of them. She braces for the screams.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!” 

Her classmates shriek as they burst into the main hallway.

One of the plants tries to lunge at Raven and Maddie, and instead hits a water fountain, water spurting out like an actual fountain now.

The plants stop chasing after Raven and Maddie, and instead begin chasing after everyone else.

Panicked kids running hit Raven twice on the shoulder, Maddie three times on the side. Tiny’s stomps cause them to lose balance and Raven falls onto the floor.

Through the blur of students, Raven could see Nina Thumbell in the grasps of one of the monsters. 

CHOMP!

The plant bites down on thin air as Nina had managed to shrink down just in time.

Another plant tries to advance on one of Lily-Bo Peep’s sheeps, but the other ones come to its rescue, running around the monster in circles to confuse it. It fails at grabbing any of them, and the sheeps run away baa-ing loudly.

The plant roars angrily, and the other plants join in, furiously howling. Apple joyous cackles fit in perfectly as she rides over it all.

Maddie tries to get up, but is knocked over again. “Raven,” She says, “What’s the plan, again?”

“I–” Raven gulps. It’s too loud to focus, to think! “–I don’t know!” Raven screams.

A burst of magic comes out from her, it’s bright and blinding. It sends students flying, giving many a chance to escape. The monsters screech as they get thrown to the floor, at the walls, and the supporting pillars.

The ground shakes, the lockers rattle, and the lights buzz and flicker on and off.

The screaming fades out as the last students run away, and all that’s left is Apple’s muffled shouts underneath the largest plant.

It looks up to the ceiling, noticing the flickering of the huge light now swaying on the ceiling, eventually flickering back to life to glow a bright, yellow color. A bright, yellow color much like the sun.

The plant bolts up, carrying Apple with it. It climbs the wooden pillars of the school, all the way to the tippy-top where it’s as close to the light as it could possibly be.

The pillar creaks and moans as the plant inserts its roots into it, making sharp jagged cracks appear. Some of its vines drop down to wrap around it for extra stability, winding around and around until its vines are bunched up securely.

Apple shouts, before quickly getting encased by the arms of the plant; its remaining vines tightly wrapping around her like a snake. She disappears from sight behind it all, her voice gone. The only sign that she’s still alive are the struggling, wiggling movements that Raven can see from underneath.

Raven gasps. “Apple!” She screams.

“Raven, Maddie!” A new voice yells.

Raven and Maddie look down the hallway to see Darling, Dexter, and Daring running towards them.

Raven and Maddie slowly get up, and the three make it to them.

“Are you hurt?” Dexter asks.

“Did I just see Apple up there?” Darling says.

“Can someone please tell us what’s going on!” Daring complains.

“I–” Raven says, nearly tripping over. She grabs Dexter’s shoulder for support, and he places a hand on hers. “–I would love to answer your guys’ questions, but–”

The plants still on the ground start to moan, groaning as they get up. Beneath them, Raven can see the floor cracked. Their roots push themselves off the ground and rise slowly, their heads looking around dazed as they stumble around clumsily.

“–But I think we have bigger issues right now!” Raven says.

Dexter gulps. “How are we going to stop those monsters?”

A wide grin breaks out on Darling’s face. She turns to Maddie.

“Got anything sharp in that hat?”

Chapter 9: Fight!

Notes:

hi so lowk i’ve been thinking and imma be cleaning up the tags a bit 💀💀because i’m ngl i dunno what i’m doing with those lol; i’m still fairly new to posting on here and this is my first multi-chapter, so i was kinda unsure about what to tag. the thing was that the rest of the fic pretty much exists rn, it just takes me a while to post cause i gotta be in the mood and i have to edit and read and yadda yadda, so i was just really confused on what was important to tag. but i think after actually posting some chapters i understand what to tag a bit better, so hopefully this fic won’t look as fat 💀; and i also just wanna clarify that the ships i tagged saying are a bit more focused on, i really mean a bit at least compared to the other ships for sure lmao. not saying this because of anyone's comments btw bc i was unsure of those tags b4 i posted this fic too lmfaoo, it's just that, idk, romance is a lot for me so tbh something that’s a lot for me might be small for others but i’ll try n clarify that anyways. lol thanks 4 the comments and kudos and everything so far!! :))

“Guys!” Raven says, pointing at the large plant that had taken Apple. “Me and Maddie will take care of that one, you guys worry about the rest!”

Darling nods, turning towards the monsters as Raven and Maddie busied themselves with the larger one. She holds out a sword that she had gotten from Maddie.

Daring is next to her, holding an axe.

Beside Daring, Dexter holds a golf club, because, apparently, that was the only thing that Maddie had left on her that resembled anything close to a weapon.

Well, it was either that or a wooden stick.
(Dexter had fought with a wooden mop once, but a metal club was probably a better choice than a wooden stick. Probably.)

The plants seem to be regaining their footing. Their heads slowly turn towards the three siblings.

Darling grips her sword in anticipation, ready to strike.

The plants roar, leaping at the three.

Darling takes a running start, sliding underneath an arm of one of the two plants charging at her. 

One looks like a deformed Venus flytrap; its long, sharp teeth poke out of what looks to be the mouth– in which the inside is bright red and fleshy looking. Its huge green heads are thin, but its body is thick and long. It has five of these heads, and Darling realises two of them are acting as arms. They all snap and bite at her like angry piranhas.

The other seems to be some sort of pitcher plant; it has a long, long head, holding a mouth large enough to fit a whole person. It’s gaping, revealing curling, pointy teeth. Getting swallowed by that plant would be a deathtrap. It looks almost fuzzy, tiny spikes coming out of every inch of its body. It's a mix of a dark red and brighter green, like blood splashed onto it. This plant is shorter than the other one, yet has longer, thicker leafy arms that drag on the floor with longer legs to come with it.

The two plants slam loudly into the lockers behind her, growling. The Venus flytrap whips around quickly to face Darling, slapping the other in its face and hitting it straight back into the lockers again. 

Darling takes a second to glance at her brothers, noticing Daring fighting against two as well– one is also a Venus flytrap, and the other seems to be more flowery, a bright purple tulip where in the middle of the petals lay a huge pink tongue and menacing teeth. He ducks and weaves and dodges his way through them, chopping off the roots and leaves as he can. 

Dexter handles one that appears to resemble a daisy– except its large white petals are stained with dark brown dirt, and are curled in to be in the form of a mouth. He jumps up, piercing the end of his club into its soft pistil face. 

Darling turns back to her own battle, seeing the flytrap looking dead at her. The other one is on the ground, groaning, and Darling doesn’t have time to observe further as the flytrap lunges at her. 

Its arms, that are really just heads, reach out for her, snapping furiously. The three heads all shriek, the longer one in the middle stretching out to try and bite her.

She rolls, narrowly avoiding her dress getting a chomp, and she quickly hops back up to push off of a locker.

It gives her momentum to dash towards the plant, and, before it can react, she slices right through one of the arms.

It lands with a thud, and the monster cries out in pain.

The arm-head twitches a moment on the ground, before crumpling up and freezing.

Darling laughs victoriously, those sparring practices with Chase Redford had really been paying off! Though, the battle was just getting started.

The pitcher plant is now getting up, turning towards her with a snarl. She finds herself in between the pitcher and the flytrap.

They simultaneously begin charging at her, and she jumps out of the way just before they get to her.

They slam into each other with a WHACK sending both of them flying to the floor. 

She runs up to the pitcher plant, quickly slicing the bottom of its stem easily to remove the roots.

The roots crawl around on the floor before ramming straight into a wall, falling over dead.

She gets a safe distance away to carefully watch the two plants get up, planning her next move.

Though she managed to cut off the pitcher’s legs, it isn’t immobilized, and it begins using its long arms to drag itself along the floor. Its huge mouth is making it hard to do so, and so Darling decides she can focus on the other for now.

She gives the flytrap a smile as it approaches her slowly. The remaining heads of the flytrap circle around its body, as if trying to memorize her.

She holds her sword tightly, charging at it, causing the plant to leap at her. She fakes it out by sliding left.

Darling quickly turns around, jumping up, and stabbing it right through one of the heads. She pulls it out as she falls to the ground.

The head goes limp, and it drags on the floor behind the flytrap.

This time, the plant is truly enraged, and it uses its long roots to grab her foot.

She shouts, stumbling back.

It pulls her up, and she struggles trying to push herself out of its grip.

It tries to send her straight into the mouth of one of its heads, but she uses that opportunity to quickly slash at the root, using her close proximity to the startled head to cut it right down the middle.

As that head jolts back, the other two lunge at her.

Darling ducks to avoid one, her tiara dropping to the ground, and she jumps up to avoid the other one. She lands on them, squishing them both beneath her feet, and digging her heel into their thin, green outside. She can feel their muffled screams.

She lifts her sword up and delivers the final blow, piercing right through its heads.

As she picks up her tiara, putting it back on her head, the plant’s body goes limp, slumping to the ground.

Darling is about to celebrate when she hears a growl behind her. The pitcher plant had snuck up behind her!

Before she can react, it grabs her by its arms. Her sword clatters to the floor.

The arms grow around her, tighter and tighter, squeezing her lungs until she can’t breathe.

She tries to grunt, wriggling her way out, but only coarse air comes out from her mouth and her arms start to feel numb as her head grows light.

It slowly brings her to its mouth, and she closes her eyes, sucking in one last breath.

SLICE!

Darling opens her eyes to see Daring there behind the head, huffing and puffing. He had swung the axe down right through the middle of the plant, and its head laid open like a peeled banana. 

The grip around Darling loosens, and she falls to the ground, gasping for air.

“Darling!” Daring says, picking her up.

“Are you okay?” He asks, worry all over his face as he looks Darling up and down, checking for any injuries.

“Yeah,” Darling breathes, hugging him. “I’m okay.”

Daring lets out a relieved sigh, hugging her back tightly. Darling notices the plants he was fighting are already on the ground, sliced and chopped up. Dexter had managed to trick his monster into accidentally wrapping itself by its own arms and legs, so it's wriggling around in a heap of its own body, unable to move.
(Oh, boy! I wish I narrated it, dear reader, seeing Dexter do the tango around that thing to trick it was hilarious!)

Darling pushes out of Daring’s arms to grab her sword, and she rushes over to Dexter, slicing the head off of Dexter’s plant.

“Thanks.” He grins.

Daring joins them, but they had no time to rest as shouts from the pillar where Apple was taken grabs their attention.

Maddie and Raven are climbing up the pillar on opposite sides, using the vines that wrap around it like a rope as they shuffle towards where it seems Apple is struggling.

The monster’s head– that, while being a different flower, are petals shaped like the tulip monster. However, it has a nasty opening for a mouth akin to a crocodile. It looms above them, snapping like one too, as its vines and arms grow tighter and tighter around Apple. Darling winces, despair growing deep in her stomach like a sickening storm. What if she couldn't breathe?

The Charmings rush over to the bottom of the pillar.

“Can’t you use magic or something?” Daring shouts.

“My magic is still weak, we’re trying to get closer to see if I can give it some small zaps!” Raven shouts back.

“Let us help!” Dexter says.

“No!” Raven says. “This pillar could fall over at any moment, we can’t put more weight on it!”

Darling investigates the pillar further, and she realises that more cracks are appearing by the second as the plant puts more pressure on it. The creaking of the wood gets louder and longer.

“Hurry!” She shouts. “You don’t have much time!”

All Darling can do is watch helplessly with her brothers as Raven and Maddie climb closer and closer to Apple.

“Maddie, distract it for me!” Raven says to her as they reach Apple.

“On it!” Maddie says.

 “Hey, Mr. Plant Monster!” She hollers, using her free hand to wave. This causes the plant to stop biting and instead turn to her.

“What did one plant say to the other?” Maddie asks.

The plant growls.

She giggles, saying, “No, silly! It didn’t say anything, it sang!”

Maddie begins singing a tune, awfully off-key, and the plant shrivels up, as if it's trying to hide from the sound.
(If you’re wondering, she’s singing Ring Around the Rosie! ...If you can call it that.)

Raven hoists herself up to where Apple’s cage is.

She takes a deep breath, looking at the fingers of the hand she wasn’t using to hold onto the pillar. Flexing them, tidbits of purple magic spit out like tiny electrical shocks.

“Okay,” She says to herself, lifting up her hand. “I hope this is strong enough!”

She thrusts the hand towards one of the arms encasing Apple, zapping it with her fingers. She visibly winces, it had to be painful having to use her magic at the moment.

The plant roars loudly, that one arm slithering away.

“Great,” She sighs. “One down, a lot more to go.”

She continues zapping and zapping away as Maddie sings and sings away.

Each stem and vine scurry off, slowly revealing a strand of Apple’s hair here, and a piece of her dress there.

The pillar starts to groan more painfully, yearning to break.

“Raven!” Darling screams.

“Hold on!” Raven shouts.

Finally, Apple’s face is revealed.

Apple breathes in and out, inhaling the fresh air.

“Ugh!” She exhales. “Took you long enough!”

“Hello to you too,” Raven replies, zapping the plant again.

Spontaneously, the plant releases Apple completely from its grip, causing her to drop towards the ground at an alarming rate.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Apple screams, flailing her arms around.

Darling's eyes widen, quickly springing into action. Apple lands with an oof into Darling’s arms, opening her eyes slowly.

Darling gives her a half-smile as the pillar begins making snapping noises.

“Down, down we go!” Maddie yells, jumping from the pillar.

Raven gasps. “Maddie! What–” She sighs in relief when Daring catches her.

“Raven, jump down too, I’ll catch you!” Dexter shouts.

Raven nods, taking a deep breath. She closes her eyes as she pushes herself off the pillar to head towards Dexter.

She lands safely in Dexter’s arms, smiling up at him. He smiles back, but Raven’s suddenly drops, shouting, “WATCH OUT!–”

A large shadow looms over him as he looks up to see the pillar beginning to fall over. He quickly runs out of the way, the pillar groaning and creaking like a whale.

CRASH!

It falls to the ground, and a gaping hole is left in the wall. Dust rises, covering all six of them in dirt. As the dust clears, Darling can see the way the pillar had crashed into pieces onto the floor, with blips of green poking out from the rumble.

The giant plant’s limbs and vines are darkened, and for a moment Darling can see a few of the blips shiver before going limp and dead. The head is nowhere to be seen.

Dexter coughs. “That was a close one!” He breathes, putting Raven down softly.

“Wow! Thanks, Daring! I was just going to try and land on the floor, but I guess this was better!” Maddie says, hopping out of his arms.

He chuckles. “Catching falling girls out of the sky– kind of a Charming thing.”

Darling stands still with Apple in her arms. She looks down at Apple again, who has wide eyes. Darling's about to open her mouth to talk but Apple snaps out of her shock before she can.

“Well, you’re a lot more competent than your brother, aren’t you?” Apple says to her, giving a pointed look at Daring.

“Uh…”

“Hey! That was one time!” Daring says, pouting. “Besides, you landed in a bush! Even in my cursed form, I would never let a damsel get hurt.” Daring smiles proudly.

“Right–” Raven says, walking up to Darling. “–About that. Apple is cursed, by the way.”

“What–?” She gasps, her grip suddenly tightening on Apple.

“Yeah, uh, just put her down first so I can tie her up, and then I’ll hexplain–”

“Ms. Queen!”

Raven turns as Apple is set down, holding her by the arm tightly. She looks towards the voice to see Milton Grimm stomping towards her with his brother, Giles Grimm, behind. Darling swears she can see smoke coming out of his ears.
(Uh oh! Busted!)

“What is the meaning of this?” He shouts, pointing a finger at Raven. “I demand an answer, now! ”

“Look, Headmaster Grimm, I didn’t do this–”

“Don’t lie to me!” He waves his hands around to gesture at the mess surrounding them. “Who else here but you would cause such a– such a disaster!”

“Um…” She says. “...Apple?”

“That was not a question for you to answer!”

“No–” Raven pleads. “–I mean, it really was Apple!”

He looks at Apple, who smiles, fluttering her eyelashes at him innocently. 

“You really hexpect me to believe that Ms. White caused all this?”

“Uh–”

His face gets red as he points down the hallway in the direction he came from.

“To my office, now!”

Chapter 10: Escaping A Fate Worse Than Death: Detention!

Notes:

apologies 4 sorta long periods between posting chapters lol :) takes me an eternity to get pumped enough to post anyways sometimes i wonder what milton's relationship w raven woulda been like after everything ‘cause ngl dunno wtf was goin on in the show but in that one timeskip scene he seemed so fond of her lol BUT THEN in the books no timeskip but bro had it OUT for her 24/7 oml and usually when i write i kinda just combine the books and the show somehow so i just made milton tired of these kids’ bs and tbh if i was a headmaster and my students are THESE GUYS then i would be tired asf too because wdym even the most highly regarded well behaved literal next heir to the throne of ever after managed to free the worst evil actual extremely wanted criminal from her maximum security mirror prison like tf wrong with these kids bruh (jk jk)

idk if y’all mind me yappin in these but oh well thanks anyway :D

Tick… TOCK! Tick… TOCK!

The clock on the wall sits loudly. Raven can feel a chill graze each bead of sweat that appears on her with each second.

Headmaster Grimm silently glares at Raven from his seat in front of her behind his desk, while behind him, Giles stands awkwardly, attempting to give Raven a smile.

Next to her, Apple sits on a chair, casually checking out her nails. 

Raven can’t help but shuffle uncomfortably in her own chair. It creaks slightly when she does, and she winces, taking in a sharp breath that somehow makes her throat go drier.

Headmaster Grimm sighs deeply into his clasped hands propped up in front of his face; a sound that Raven hears too often.

He clears his throat. “...Ms. Queen. How about you start from the beginning?”

She sits upright immediately, making eye contact. Raven puts on her best smile, swallowing before saying, “Uh, okay… Apple and I went to this bookstore in Book End, and she read this spell book that Baba Yaga cursed? Which made her turn all evil, and then a bunch of the Home Evilnomics’ projects got released and…”

Headmaster Grimm raises an eyebrow at her.

“...And now we’re here?” She chuckles sheepishly.

Another sigh. 

Headmaster Grimm’s eyebrows crease, and he rubs his forehead.

“...You’re saying,” He says slowly, “That one of our very own esteemed faculty members put Ms. White in danger–”

“–Well, she does teach the villain classes–”

He narrows his eyes at her. “–And cursed her to do evil things?”

Raven shrinks in her chair. “...Yes?”

“Enough,” He says, turning to Apple, who is now idly twirling her golden hair around her finger.

“What do you have to say, Ms. White?” He asks.

Apple pauses, slowly releasing the lock of hair she had on her finger. She puts down her hand, looking up at Headmaster Grimm with a blank face.

Raven sucks in a breath.

“Oh, Headmaster Grimm…” Apple says, her face suddenly changing into despair. “...I’d say that none of that is true at all! She’s lying!”

Raven jolts out of her seat, shouting, “What?–”

Headmaster Grimm gives Raven a look that causes her to immediately shut up and plop back down in her seat grumbling. There’s no way he would fall for her tricks, right?

Apple starts to choke up, continuing her facade. “Headmaster Grimm, it’s just awful! She’s the one who let out those horrible monsters! She wanted to put the blame on me because she was jealous of the project I did when I was in that class!”

She sniffles. “Isn’t that just so evil of her?”

Raven groans. “Headmaster Grimm, she’s the one who’s lying!–”

Headmaster Grimm clears his throat loudly. The two girls look at him.

He opens his mouth to begin to speak, but Giles quickly buts in, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“...If– If I may,” He says, stammering. He looks at Milton. “Brother, should we not consider the possibility that Apple is cursed? If Raven is telling the truth, would Apple not try to twist it?”

He gives a small smile to Raven, who gives him one back.

“...And, be honest, brother, when has Raven ever wanted to be evil?”

Headmaster Grimm freezes for a moment, thinking as he strokes his mustache. Raven immediately has flashbacks to all the times when she and him had argued over her destiny– and she’s almost certain that he’s reliving that too.
(You know, that time before Legacy Day, during Legacy Day, after Legacy Day… All the times after Legacy Day.)

Apple breaks character and groans.

“Ugh!” She says, rolling her eyes. “Fine. You want to know what I really have to say?” 

Headmaster Grimm peers at her curiously. He glances at Giles, who shrugs.

He looks back at Apple and asks, “...What?”

She smiles at him, a cheerful glint in her eyes. “Lose the mustache. It’s really not doing you any favors.”

He makes a small sound that sounds like a surprised grunt as he touches his face with one of his hands while his eyes widen.

He turns back to Raven, clearing his throat awkwardly into his hand. “...I see now,” He says.

Raven gives him a smile.

“Well, you will still receive detention for–”

Raven’s smile instantly drops. “–What?”

“Detention, for damaging school property–”

“–I was trying to stop Apple from causing damage! ” Raven says, scowling. “What about her? Why doesn’t she get detention?”

“She is not herself right now. She can’t be held accountable.”

“But–”

“– Someone has to be held responsible for this mess, Ms. Queen,” He says harshly, “And as I see it, the best candidate is you.”

“That’s–”

“–End of story.” He waves. “Now, I will be working with Baba Yaga to find a cure–”

“–She said there’s no cure!” Raven blurts out.

Silence fills the room. Apple snickers next to her, and all Raven allows herself to do is put her face into her hands to breathe in deeply. What were those calming breathing exercises again? Breath in and out slowly for three seconds?

“May I provide a solution?” Giles says, holding up his finger. “If there is no cure, then someone has to take care of Apple, correct?”

Milton and Raven look at him as he continues.

“...So, if Raven is successful at keeping her under control, should that not provide ample compensation in placement of a detention?”

One tick of the clock. A tock. Milton is silent. The sound of the clock rings louder in Raven’s ears, and his stare burns deeper into her skin.

She gulps. Why is he taking so long to decide? Maybe old age is getting to him too–

“...Very well.” He sighs. “If you manage to keep her from destroying the school, no detention will be served.”

“Yes!” Raven exclaims, pumping her fist.

Headmaster Grimm gives her a look. “Don’t make me regret this.”

She stands up, grabbing Apple’s arm.

“You won’t!” Raven says. “I promise!”

He doesn’t answer as Raven practically drags Apple out the door, slamming it closed.

“Brother,” Headmaster Grimm says, “ When this goes wrong, I’m blaming you.”

Giles chuckles. “I know.”

–

“Raven!” Dexter says, running up to her and giving her a huge hug as the office doors close behind her and Apple.

Apple nearly topples over as Raven lets go of her from surprise, and Darling, who is right behind Dexter, grabs her by the arm, pulling her up before she loses balance.

Raven smiles, allowing him to hug her as she melts into his embrace.

He takes her by the hand and looks at her sheepishly. “Ah–” He says, chuckling shyly. “Sorry.”

Raven laughs, looking at him with warm eyes. “It’s okay.” She smirks. “Guess who just got out of detention?”

Dexter’s face lights up and she hears some cheers from behind him.

She looks around him to see Daring leaning on the wall, and next to him is Maddie, both smiling wide. Hunter and Ashlynn are there too, sitting together on the ground, holding hands. Raven can’t help but notice that Hunter appears to be wearing a completely different shirt than she remembers him wearing this morning. 

Raven laughs. “Were you guys waiting for me?”

Maddie giggles, bouncing over to Dexter and Raven to envelope both of them in a giant group hug.

“Of course we were, Raven!” Maddie says. “Why, that’s an even sillier question than the time you asked me why a mouse would need a pair of pants!”
(She told Raven in response, and I quote, “A mouse without pants is like a house without plants!” Which I totally agree with– what’s the point of something if you can’t decorate it? A table or legs?)

Raven and Dexter laugh, standing up straight as Maddie lets them go.

“So,” Raven says, turning to Hunter and Ashlynn. “Where’d you guys come from?”

“Well, I finished cleaning up my shop and decided to find you guys,” Ashlynn says.

Hunter smiles. “Ash found me earlier and while she was explaining to me what she knew, we saw these four over here.”

“Maddie had to explain the whole thing to us,” Daring says, “Which, by the way, took far too many times before she made any sense!”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Maddie says. “It made a lot of sense to me! Maybe you’re the one who needs to change your sense!” She says to Daring.

Daring scoffs playfully, saying with a cocky smile, “I have the best sense, it would never need any changing!”

“Uh-huh,” Dexter says, chuckling. “Like the sense you were making earlier with Darling?”

The two siblings begin to bicker, and Raven looks over to Darling, who she realises has been silent the whole time. Not that it's the strangest thing, but, the way she looks frozen in place holding Apple's wrist in her hand makes her think otherwise. Unlike Apple, who's watching the two brothers argue with amusement, Darling almost looks… uncomfortable? Yet, she's looking at Apple, who doesn't care to spare even a glance towards her.

“... Right, Darling? ” Daring says, snapping Raven back into the moment. “Darling?”

Darling seems to snap back into the moment as well, looking up with surprise. Everyone is looking at her, even Apple.

Darling glances at Apple for a second, before looking back at Daring. 

“...Huh?” She says. She pauses for a second, clearly anxious from the attention from everyone. “...Uh, right!” She laughs nervously. “Totally!”

Dexter gives her a worried look. “Are you okay, Darling?”

“Of course!” Darling says, smiling, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Raven can see her grip on Apple slightly tighten, like she was afraid to let go.

Apple peers down at Darling’s hand, yet she doesn’t say anything. Raven would even say it looks like she was thinking.

“It’s only a day,” Raven reminds her softly.

Darling nods, looking away.

“APPLE!” A voice cries out from behind Darling and Apple.

Briar Beauty is running down the hallway, waving her hand at the group. Flying behind her is Faybelle Thorn– who honestly looks like she’s having a tough time keeping up with Briar somehow.

“Apple!” Briar shouts again, slamming into her before anyone could react.

Darling jumps in surprise, and Dexter and Raven have to quickly move out of the way as Apple nearly gets tackled to the ground by Briar.

“Apple,” Briar says one more time, grabbing her by the shoulders frantically and shaking her back and forth. “Say it isn’t true!” She cries out, “Say there is absolutely, one hundred percent, no way you did all of that!”

Apple grunts and shoves Briar off of her, who gives her an offended gasp.

Raven quickly grabs Apple’s arm to prevent her from trying anything.

Apple rolls her eyes. “Obsessive much, don’t you think?” 

Raven ignores her, looking at Briar. “Please don’t believe anything she says.”

“Huh–”

Faybelle flies in between them, sticking her face out towards Apple. She starts flying all over her and Raven, poking and prodding Apple like some sort of mad scientist. Raven has to duck a few times.

Apple scowls and slaps Faybelle’s hands away from her.

“Hey!–” Faybelle yelps. “–What was that for?”

“I don’t know,” Apple shoots back. “Maybe it’s for you touching me like some sort of grubby child?”

Faybelle gasps. “No way,” She says. “No way!”

She flies over to Briar’s side, whose jaw is dropped looking at Apple.

Faybelle grabs Briar’s shoulders, pulling her in to whisper in her ears– rather loudly– “Little Miss Goody Two Shoes Apple White really has turned over a new leaf!” 

Briar sobs dramatically, putting a hand to her heart. “My BFFA would never do that!”

Raven shakes her head, snapping out of her confusion. “Whoa, whoa, whoa– Wait!” She says, “What are you guys talking about? Where– Where did you come from?”

Briar places a hand on Faybelle’s shoulder, which Faybelle’s wings flutter a bit at. “We were hanging out in my dorm room when we heard about what happened!” Briar says. “Faybelle got a hext from Duchess saying that Apple was riding one of the stolen Home Evilnomics projects that were attacking everyone. Crazy, right?– I'm surprised Blondie hasn't caught wind of this yet!”

Darling, Dexter, and Daring look at each other and wince.

Faybelle scowls. “Including my project?”
(Told you she wouldn’t be happy about that!)

Raven laughs sheepishly, smiling apologetically. “Uh… If it makes you feel better, Faybelle, mine is destroyed too?”

Faybelle raises an eyebrow at her, unamused.

“We’re both going to get F’s,” Faybelle says monotonically. “Fairy fail.”

“I know!” Raven groans. “Everyone is!”

Faybelle gasps, making a realisation. “We’re going to get worse than a F for having a princess ruin our projects!” She says.

Raven groans again. “I get it! I get it! I won’t let it happen again!”

“You’re going to stop her from doing it again?” Faybelle says incredulously. “You?”

“Whose side are you on!?–”

Apple giggles sweetly, cutting through the two girls’ bickering. They both turn to look at her.

“Aw,” Apple says, “Don’t say that about poor Raven!”

Raven takes offense. “Poor?–”

Apple cuts her off, smiling kindly. “–I think she would do a fablelous job at that!”

Faybelle looks at Raven confused, who’s too busy looking at Apple confused. The change in attitude leaves a sour taste in Raven’s mouth.

“...What?” Raven says.

Apple scoffs at Raven and Faybelle. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot how stupid both of you are.”

Raven exhales. And she’s back.

Apple continues, “Let me say this in a way you can both understand.” She slows down her voice, as if she were speaking to infants, “I’m saying, that compared to someone as incompetent as you –” Apple looks at Faybelle, looking her up and down. “–You make Raven look like she’s capable!”

She smiles innocently.

Raven bites her tongue, watching as Faybelle’s face turns into anger.

“What?” Faybelle shrieks, flapping her wings furiously. She zips right into Apple’s face. “Me? I’m at least more competent than Raven, of all people!”

Raven slaps her forehead in disbelief. “Faybelle, just drop it–”

“–Oh, really?” Apple smirks. “Prove it.”

Faybelle laughs. “Gladly.”

Raven’s face drops as she realises what’s about to happen.

“Faybelle, wait–”

ZAP!

It happens in a blink; a bright flash of light blue magic erupting from Faybelle’s hands.

And Apple is gone.

Raven looks down at her empty hands. Everyone stares at the empty spot on the floor.

“Woo!” Faybelle says, landing on the ground, dusting her hands off. “Who’s incompetent now–”

Everyone starts screaming.

“FAYBELLE, WHAT DID YOU DO?” Raven shrieks.

“WHERE DID SHE GO?” Ashlynn worries.

“Wow, that was a hat-tastic disappearing act!” Maddie exclaims.

“FAYBELLE, DID YOU JUST KILL MY BEST FRIEND FOREVER AFTER ?” Briar yells.

Faybelle chokes. “N–No?–” She says, looking at everyone.

“It was just a teleportation spell.” She shrugs. “What’s the problem, you guys think she can get lost that easily? Wow, and I thought I was the one who was supposed to think that kind of stuff about her. Honestly a little offended on her behalf.”

Raven grabs Faybelle by the shoulders, shaking her aggressively.

“...Faybelle,” She says slowly. “You teleported Apple. Apple White. Apple White who is very much cursed right now. To where?”

“She–” Faybelle chokes again, grabbing Raven by the shoulders back. “–She’s cursed?” She yells. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I thought you guys knew?” Raven says in disbelief.

“No?” Briar says, looking confused. “But I knew it!” She laughs, patting herself on the shoulder. “My BFFA would never do something like that.”

“Haven’t you been paying attention in class?” Raven says to Faybelle, who is groaning. “Didn’t you notice she was cursed?”

Faybelle scoffs. “Why would I study the signs of a curse? I know it all up here!” She taps her forehead proudly.

Raven stares at her.

Faybelle coughs, stammering. “...B-Besides! When my story was to hex Briar I would just have to see if she was snoring or not.” She tilts her head. “But, I did think something seemed off about Apple. I thought she just painted her nails a different color or something.”

Raven facepalms, sliding her hand down her face. “...She put on a clear gloss color this morning,” She mumbles defeatedly.

“See!” Faybelle says. “I wasn’t wrong!”

Ashlynn speaks up, chuckling nervously. “...So, where did Apple go?”

Raven shoots a glare at Faybelle, expecting an answer.

“Uh…” Faybelle says. “...I mean, how long does this last anyway?” She laughs nervously.

Raven sighs. “A day.”

“See, I'm sure she'll just tire herself out–”

“–Faybelle,” Raven starts again, “Me not having detention depends on Apple not destroying the school!”

“Wow, really?” Faybelle says, “You must’ve been desperate–”

“Faybelle,” Maddie says, popping up next to Raven, her hands on her hips, staring her down.

Faybelle gulps. “Oh, right. I, uh–” She glances around at Briar, Darling, and Ashlynn, who are all giving her a look. “–I don’t know if I should say hexactly what I was thinking about when I teleported Apple, but…”

Raven raises her eyebrow.

“...But she might be in the bathrooms?” Faybelle grins sheepishly.
(Yikes, I can’t tell you what Faybelle was thinking either. It was worse than the horse.)

“The bathrooms–” Raven says, “–Which bathrooms?”

Faybelle blinks.

“The ones in the locker rooms?” Daring offers.

“The second floor? Third?” Dexter asks.

“Ooh! The one in the outhouse in the Enchanted Forest next to that bubbling swamp?” Maddie says.

Faybelle blinks again. “...I don’t know?” She smiles painfully.

Raven sighs deeply. Hey, she almost sounded like Headmaster Grimm there!

“...We’re going to have to split up.” Raven groans. “Can someone distract the headmasters?”

Daring squeals. “I’ll do it!” He says, placing a hand over his heart. “I’ll distract them with my devilishly good looks and charm!”

“You’re going to use your good looks to distract the old men sitting in there?” Dexter says, raising an eyebrow.

Daring blinks blankly. “I’ll distract them with my devilishly charming personality!” He amends, flashing his signature smile.

“Uh…” Hunter chuckles. “While you have a great personality, Daring–”

“–Thank you!–”

“–I don’t think that’s going to be enough.”

Daring scoffs, resting his elbow on Hunter’s shoulder to lean on him. “I was merely joking, of course!” He waves his hand around, speaking, “I’m going to talk about how… how the bookball team should totally get new uniforms! I mean, that striped red shirt? What a bore!”

“Uh, dude,” Hunter says, “Why don’t we talk about how Coach Gingerbreadman should change the practices? Like the team has been talking about? Just run, run, running as fast as we can every practice seems like a waste!”

Dexter’s head perks up. “Oh, man! You’re right, I finished the presentation for that!”

“Great!” Raven says, pushing the three boys towards the office doors. “You guys distract the headmasters while we go find Apple.”

Daring gives her a big thumbs up. “Sounds like a plan!–”

The doors slam shut.

Raven exhales, turning to the others. “Okay,” She says. “How should we split up?”

“I’ll be with Ash!” Briar squeals, rushing over to Ashlynn’s side to interlock their arms together.

Ashlynn smiles brightly at Briar… after nearly getting shoved over by her. 

“Oh, come on!” Faybelle whines, fluttering her wings. “You’re just going to abandon me like that?”

Briar laughs amusingly. “I’ve spent the whole day with you, Faybelle; I’m sure Ashlynn was just aching to spend time with her best friend forever after!”

Ashlynn chuckles, smiling apologetically at Faybelle. “Aw, cheer up, Faybelle! Why don’t you go with Raven?”

“NO,” Faybelle and Raven blurt out, looking at each other with an offended face as if they hadn’t just said the same exact thing.

Raven turns away. “Uh– I mean– I think Darling wants to spend some quality time with Faybelle! Right, Darling?”

“Uh, sure?–”

“–Alright!” Raven says, dragging Maddie away. “It's decided! Come on, Maddie!”

Maddie laughs wildly as they walk away, the sound of her laughter fading.

Faybelle turns to the remaining three. “Gee,” She says. “And I thought we made up after I teamed up with her evil mom once.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Briar says, shaking her head. “You did just kind of teleported Apple to who-knows-where,” She points out.

“...And now she could get detention,” Ashlynn adds.

“Well!” Faybelle says, nudging Darling with her elbow. “Guess we better get to it, huh?”

Darling gives Faybelle a weak smile, turning to walk off as Faybelle flies after her.

Chapter 11: A Dupli-What Potion?!

Maddie and Raven rush to the nearest bathroom they can find, skidding to a stop in front of a door of a girl’s bathroom to rip it open.

They poke their heads in. The bathroom seems to be relatively normal. 

The black and white checkered floor sparkles due to the bright lights underneath the vegetation growing along the room and above the tall mirrors over each sink. Next to the sinks, long tree trunks placed in each corner stretch out to the ceilings, past the windows, casting shadows that dull parts of the floor. More vegetation grows at the roots of the trees that crawl along the floor and wrap around the trees as well.

Some stalls are wide open, some are cracked open, and some are shut tight. 

It all seems normal. And it all seems empty.

That is, until a loud flush comes out of one of the closed stalls.

Maddie doesn’t lose time. “APPLE!” She shouts. “APPLE, IS THAT YOU IN THERE?”

Light footsteps, a click of the stall’s lock, and the stall’s doors open slowly.

But, instead of a red-dressed princess, Melody Piper comes out peering around the stall walls.

When she spots Raven and Maddie looking at her with wide eyes, she blinks, but then smiles amusingly at them and continues on her way to the sink to wash her hands.

Maddie and Raven quickly move out of the way to let her out, and as she passes she gives them another friendly smile without saying anything, casually adjusting her headphones.

“...Okay,” Raven says. “Maybe we shouldn’t shout next time.”

Maddie hums, thinking. “I guess you’re right,” She says, lowering her voice to a hush. “We can whisper to catch her off guard!”

Raven laughs, moving inside as Maddie follows.

They knock on each of the stall doors before opening them to search for Apple, creating a small routine of switching back and forth between who knocks and who pushes the door open.

First door? Nothing. Second? Also nothing. Unless you count the empty toilet paper roll as something.

Raven has to hold back her disappointment each time before they finally reach the last one, allowing herself to sigh when there is also, shockingly, nothing.

Stepping out of the bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind them, Raven turns to Maddie.

“Do you think we should check the boys’ bathrooms?” She asks.

Maddie tilts her head. “Why, it would be quite evil-genius of her to hide in there! Who would hexpect that?” She giggles.

Raven groans. She didn’t want to have to go into the boys’ bathroom, but this had to be considered an emergency.

The two girls step towards the boys’ bathroom, located right next to the girls’. Raven didn’t want to have to explain to anyone in there why they were snooping around. They were lucky enough Melody didn’t seem to want to ask any questions. Raven lifts her hand up to knock on the door, when suddenly a loud BOOM comes from far down the hallway.

She freezes, turning around slowly to look down the hallway in horror, watching a door fly open.

Literally fly.

The door had exploded out of the doorframe, slamming into the wall opposite of it, landing on the ground with a THWACK that echoed loud enough that Raven and Maddie could hear it ringing in their ears from where they stand.
(...They’re really racking up the property damage, aren't they?)

“Oh my fairy godmother,” Raven breathes, seeing none other than Apple White come barreling out of the classroom with a cart full of what appeared to be vials filled with colorful fluids.

She scurries down the hallway, the cart bumping and thrashing behind her, threatening to flip over. As she swivels around the corner and disappears, some vials even fall out, smashing onto the ground, weird sprouts growing out from them.

Realisation hits Raven like a rock.

“Maddie, the Chemythstry classroom!” She cries, running down the hallway.

“Quick!” She says, gasping as she and Maddie rush to get to the room. “Hext the others, tell them we found her!”

They continue running and Maddie whips out her mirrorphone from her pockets, doing exactly as Raven had said.

It wasn’t long before she made a sound similar to a pig squeal. Earl Grey even came out of her hat, taking one glance at her screen and making the same sound, but in a tinier, more high-pitched squeak. A dormouse squeal, really.

“What?” Raven asks. “What is it?”

They reach the classroom, breathing heavily, and Raven has to lean on the now-doorless door frame for support. It’s black and charred.

Maddie laughs nervously. “Uh, well, you know how sometimes in the Castleteria, you want to sit with your friends, so they tell you where they’re sitting, and so you go look for that chair? But then, the problem is that all the chairs look the same, and you keep going to the wrong table and the wrong chair, because none of the chairs there care to tell you where the right chair is– Isn’t that rude? So, then–”

“–Maddie!” Raven says, placing her hands on her shoulders to stop her from rambling. “What are you saying?”

She takes a deep breath in, and spits her words out quickly. “...Briar and Faybelle said that they also found Apple!”

“...What.”

Raven snatches Maddie’s mirrorphone, reading through the past hext messages.

Maddie: We found her!!! {:-) 

Briar: found her!

Faybelle: GOT HER

Briar: what.

Faybelle: What

Maddie: GUYS IT’S RAVEN WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FOUND HER

Briar: I mean me n ash are literally chasing her down???

Faybelle: SHE IS RUNNING AWAY

Faybelle: FAST

Briar: I don’t see you anywhere? What?

Faybelle: DRAGON STABLJSJ

Faybelle: 

Briar: uh??? WE’RE HEADING TOWARDS THE POOL?

Maddie: ME AND MAD ARE AT THE CHEMYTHSTRY CLASSROOM???

Briar: ???

Maddie: Hold on

Raven looks up from the mirrorphone and walks hastily into the classroom. Her stomach drops at the sight. The wooden racks that are supposed to hold the classes’ chemythstry projects on each desk– where they had to create a random potion and be able to replicate the process at least twice– are totally, completely empty.

Including hers.

She rushes over to the desk she sits at.

“No, no, no!” She says, picking up the rack frantically, twisting and turning it around as if a vial is hiding somewhere on it.

“My project!” She groans.

At this point, Raven feels like Apple’s main objective is to make sure she doesn’t graduate. Or maybe she just wants Raven to get detention. Or maybe, honestly, both. It’s truly evil.

She sucks it up, beginning to hext the others once more.

Maddie: MY PROJECT WAS A DUPLICATION POTION I THINK APPLE DRANK IT PLEASE GET HER HERE SO I CAN REVERSE IT

No one responds, and Raven just has to hope that they’ll see her hext. 

She turns to Maddie, who’s looking curiously at a brown puddle on the floor– more goop than liquid– that must have come from the broken vial next to it. She looks like she’s about to touch it, which she absolutely should not try or even attempt to do, because that would most likely have extremely horrible irreversible consequences considering how several bubbles pop on the surface as if it is boiling.

“Wow,” Maddie says, “You make a good point, Brooke!”

I know.

“Maddie,” Raven says, running up to her. “Maddie, we have to go!”

Raven can only think of the several literal explosions that happened during class while they were working on their projects and she shudders.

–

Maddie and Raven run down the hallways of Ever After High… again.
(Whew, I’m not even the one running, and I’m getting tired!)

This time, the air stinks of mysterious odors that probably come from the various mix of potions splattered against the walls and floors of the school, painting the walls in colorful hues. Some of them are literal paint splatters, and Raven remembers how Cedar had told her that she was running out of time on her project and didn’t want Rumpelstiltskin to get mad at her for doing no work, so she just stuffed her vials with paint.

Again, it isn’t very hard to find her, and Raven wonders if Apple just likes the chase. Nasty burn marks line the walls of the hallways and red liquid seeps into several lockers. Several splotches of green solution are slowly dissolving parts of the floor with faint sizzling noises.

Maddie and Raven have to leap over several suspicious looking trails of purple potion on the ground, which quickly warp the floor beneath them to a rainbow of colors.

Goo drips from the ceilings, nearly hitting their heads, which makes it a good thing that they weave out of the way because as soon as the globs touch the ground, the floor starts bulging out ever so slightly.

They turn the corner, watching as the hallway turns into a splitting image of a spider’s nest. Yellow, web-like substances stretch from the ceiling to the floor, corners to corners. Layers upon layers sit on top of the ground and heaps stick to lockers. 

Raven gasps when she realises one of these heaps is moving, wriggling around, and she screeches to a stop, pulling Maddie along with her.

Raven steps closer to it. It thrashes, and Raven realises she can hear muffled shouting and grunting underneath.

“Mmmph–! Help–! Help!”

“Maddie!” Raven quickly says, rushing to rip the webbing off of the locker.

Maddie joins her in taking off the webs.

“...Oh, gross!” Raven complains, tugging hard at a particularly stubborn piece.

“Let’s play a guessing game!” Maddie giggles. “Maybe it’s a huge caterpillar underneath!”

Raven yanks the piece off, tumbling back and landing on her behind.

She looks up to see C.A. Cupid breathing heavily, entangled in the webs.

“...Hey…” She breathes, “...Guys… Thanks…” She takes a deep breath again.

“Cupid!” Maddie smiles. “You’re not a huge caterpillar!”

Cupid gives her a weak smile back.

“What happened to you?” Raven says, getting up.

Cupid laughs nervously. “I… I don’t know! Apple ran down the hallway with a wagon full of the Chemythstry projects and threw them at us! I think these webs came from Justine’s?”

“Us?” Raven repeats with wide eyes.

Cupid gestures her head at the rest of the hallway, which Raven now notices is filled with other wriggling molds of webs. “She has really good aim, apparently. Got everyone in the hallway. You think I should ask her for tips?”
(When you’re the daughter of the God of love, magical arrows can have dire consequences that require marksman worthy aim! …Which is why Cupid prefers other methods of matchmaking.)

Raven chuckles, continuing to pull on the webs, freeing one of Cupid’s wings that have a nasty amount of webs tangled into the feathers. “Probably not right now,” Raven says, “she’s cursed.” 

Cupid gasps as her arm gets released. “Really? I heard about those plant monsters earlier, but I just assumed it was some sort of misunderstanding!”

Maddie frees the area around her other arm, allowing Cupid to easily push through the webs that were still covering her.

“Oh!” She says, stretching her wings,  nearly losing her footing as she lands on the ground. “That feels much better!”

Raven nods. “You don’t mind helping everyone else?” She says. “We have to go and find Apple.”

Cupid smiles at her. “Of course! I think I saw her go that way–” She points down the hallway. “–Also, I’m pretty sure I saw my project in her wagon too. Rumpelstiltskin is totally making all of us spin gold for him.”

Raven grimaces, but she was pretty sure he would’ve somehow found something wrong with their projects and make them do that anyway. 

Raven flicks a piece of web off of Cupid’s shoulder. “At least we’ll suffer together?” She offers.

Cupid laughs. “I guess so!”

“Alright, thanks for the directions, bye, Cupid!” Raven says, waving at her as she and Maddie run off.

Cupid waves back, and Raven sees her begin to move towards a pile of moving webs.

The situation seems to be better in this part of the hallway. It’s more of a puddle here and there laying next to a broken vial, and Raven assumes that these came from vials that accidentally fell out of Apple’s wagon, rather than vials used as deliberate weapons to hurt people.

Unfortunately, Raven notices what direction they’re heading. The Castleteria. And it’s awfully close to dinner time.

She sees the huge doors to the Castleteria swing shut, a familiar wagon peeking out before they do.

“Oh, godmother, Maddie!” Raven says, “You don’t think she’s going to pour those potions into the food?”

“That’s horrible!” Maddie exclaims. “Especially if they taste as bad as they look!" They get to the double doors, pushing them open. The Castleteria is currently empty, and the only sounds that Raven can hear are the sounds of pots clanking and clattering coming from the kitchen area behind a closed door.

Raven can’t think of anywhere else Apple would hide but in there.

She and Maddie rush over to the door, and Raven slams against it. It doesn’t budge, even as she continues to keep pressing her body weight against it. Something heavy must be propped up against it from the other side!

“What the hex?” Raven says, groaning and leaning hopelessly on the door.

Maddie gasps. “Listen, Raven!”

Raven goes silent, doing as Maddie says. They press their ears against the stiff wooden door, and Raven can hear a cheery voice from behind it.

“Once upon a hi, Ms. Hagatha!” Apple’s voice sings from inside.

A rough sound, reminiscent of a low grunt, responds back.

“You know, I really, truly, appreciate the time you spend cooking for all of us at Ever After High. It must be hard work! And your food? Just fableous!” Apple says in a tone dripping with sweet honey. “Everyone knows just how amazing a cook you are, and I think there’s a way to really knock their crowns off!”

Another grunt. It’s curious this time.

Raven panics, turning to Maddie. She looks down at her fingers, red and aching. She flexes them and bright magic sparks out of them. They’re stronger than before.

“Okay,” She says. “Okay, I have an idea, and I hope I have enough strength to do this.”

Maddie giggles. “The first step in following a path is to know where to step!”

Raven inhales, closing her eyes. She tenses and relaxes her shoulders, preparing to cast a spell. She still feels woozy from everything so far, but she can only hope that she has regained enough energy to do this properly.

Once again, magic extends out from the palms of her hands to the tips of her fingers. Her eyebrows crease as the magic shoots outwards, encircling her and Maddie in a purple hue. She sucks in a breath, holding it as she visualizes where she wants to teleport: into the Castleteria’s kitchen.

She forces the image to appear vividly in her head. The cold, white tile floor. The metal shelves lined with cans of who-knows-what and boxes filled with what-knows-who. Stoves fired up with bubbling cauldrons of porridge, and pans with sizzling meat. The oven, on and baking hot cross buns. Dirty dishes and utensils filling the sink. The infamous nine-day old peas porridge sitting in an untouched pot in the back, ready to be wheeled out everyday.

And she really wants to believe that she had gotten better at this spell since the time they had gone to Wonderland.

She exhales, casting the spell, magic bursting out from where their bodies were. And when she opens her eyes…

SPLASH!

They fall from the ceiling, straight into a pot of soup large enough to feed a giant, considering, well, there is a giant at Ever After High.

Raven internally screams, soup shooting up her nose. She can feel it leaking into her mouth. 

She surfaces, gasping for air, grasping at the sides of the pot to lift herself up.

Heaving herself up, she pushes herself out of the pot, and she falls straight onto the ground with a SPLAT as soup drips from her body to form a puddle underneath her. 

She coughs, hacking out thankfully-not-steaming-but-lukewarm soup from her mouth. Small bits of potato and celery fly out of her throat and she nearly chokes on some. She nearly throws up from that, and a sour acidic taste rises from the back of her mouth, making her gag.

The soup itself actually tastes kind of good for once, though. Too bad it’s ruined.

“Weeeee!”

Maddie comes barreling out of the pot, somehow managing to tip the entire thing over. The soup pours out from behind Raven like a wave, flooding the entire kitchen with it. Assorted meat and vegetables cover the ground, looking like some sort of sludgy green and brown mosaic.

Maddie lands next to Raven, and she shakes like a wet dog, soup splattering everywhere. Raven is unfortunate enough to say that some drops managed to fling into her eyes.

Apple stands next to where the now-toppled-over pot once was on a large table. She stands on a tall stepping stool, staring at the mess below her as she idly holds an opened vial over top where the soup should be.

Raven thinks that this is the first time she’s actually seen not-Apple at a loss for words. But, before anyone can react, Raven suddenly finds herself getting lifted up off the ground effortlessly. Maddie is also lifted up, and both are turned around to face Hagatha the lunch lady. She’s surprisingly strong.
(Must be all those years of stirring those big pots of soup!)

Hagatha says nothing, but the angry expression on her face says it all.

“W–Wait!” Raven stammers out. She points at Apple. “She’s cursed! She’s trying to poison the food!”

Hagatha looks over at Apple, raising her bushy eyebrow. Apple smiles innocently.

“Would you really believe her?” Apple sneers, “Over me?” Apple flutters her eyelashes. “I mean, who is supposedly destined to be poisoning people, again?”

“Oh, come on!” Raven says. “I wouldn’t be covered in soup right now if I was trying to poison everyone!”

Apple gasps. “But– What if–” She starts choking up, and Raven wants to gag again– not from the soup this time. “–What if that was just an elaborate plan to try and serve your evil food in place of the soup!” She cries.

“That doesn’t even make sense–”

Hagatha drops Raven and Maddie, causing Raven’s words to fall back into her stomach as they almost slip on the ground.

She turns towards the kitchen door, kicking the bags of rocks– which Raven sadly realises would probably be served today in her signature rock soup instead of the pot they had just landed in– that were laying on it out of the way.

Raven blinks. “Uh–”

Raven gets pushed into Maddie, and Apple gets shoved between them. Hagatha escorts them hastily towards the door, pushing them out with a final heave. The door slams rudely behind the three.

“...You think she’s mad?” Maddie asks. She giggles. “Mad as in angry, of course!”

“Yuck!” Apple says, pushing the two off of her. “Get your slimy arms off of me!” 

She flairs her hands around, attempting to fling off the bits of meat and veggies that Maddie and Raven had accidentally smeared on her.

Raven grins at Maddie, and without words they simultaneously grab Apple's arms to slide their own arms underneath hers to interlock them tightly. 

Apple thrashes, trying to shake them off of her.

“You guys are gross!” She complains. She lifts up her hand to pinch her nostrils. “And you smell gross too.”

Raven laughs. “Consider this payback.”

And the girls walk off, dragging a fussy Apple, while a trail of soup drips behind them.

Notes:

writing is so awesome cuz i forget everything i write and whenever i read things back it's just "who tf wrote this" while giggling

Chapter 12: Sliding In A Winter Wonder-Water!

Notes:

well i may have accidentally mixed up what mh's pool looks like with eah's so now their pool is super big here but honestly dude they kinda needed that upgrade because WHAT was that tiny square-shaped room in the show wtf??? personally i like to think they led a revolt to advocate a bigger pool for meeshell and blew the old one up in the process give that girl her swimming space!!!! ahhh!!! revolution!!!!

Meanwhile, Briar and Ashlynn are nearing the indoor swimming pool of Ever After High, chasing down another Apple White.

Both had seen the hext that Raven had sent everyone saying how there is now, apparently, multiple not-Apple Whites running around, which the very thought disturbs both girls greatly.

For starters, they both know that whatever trouble– now triple the trouble– that Apple could get into would be a pain in the crown for not-evil her and Snow White to maintain her public image. Her poor dwarf in charge of publicity would be working overtime after this! There’s no way Apple would enjoy a long lecture from her mother about such things– having personal experience with their own respective parents.
(Eugh– I think a shiver just went down my spine; parent lectures are the worst!)

After all, what would the people of their kingdoms think if they heard that their future rulers are causing chaos?

Also, the possibility of mass destruction was probably pretty bad too.

Briar shoves her mirrorphone back into the pocket sewn into her dress after she and Ashlynn finished reading it– which is considerably difficult to do while you’re in a mad dash after an evil princess. Not that Briar isn’t talented at hexting and running at the same time, of course.

“Godmother,” Ashlynn huffs, turning the corner to head down the hallway towards the large doors of the entrance to the pool. “You think maybe digesting a duplication potion would make her too full to run, but look at her! She’s not even wearing good running shoes!”

“Ash, I’m pretty sure, like, all the princesses here have been put into heels the moment they could walk,” Briar responds.

“I know,” Ashlynn says, “But that doesn’t mean running shoes wouldn’t help!”

Briar shrugs, and she watches as Apple bursts open the double doors, swiftly heading inside.

Both Ashlynn and Briar make it there after her, slamming them open. They stumble clumsily through them, gasping for air.

“Oh, wow,” Briar breathes. “I think she should add track to her list of clubs.”

She stands up straight, scanning the room for any sign of Apple.

The indoor pool room is a large, rectangular shaped room, only an amount smaller than the bottom floor of the school’s Castleteria. It’s dim in there, with a blue ambiance glow coming from the shimmering diamond-colored pool in the center. Its memorizing small ripples shine onto the ceiling, making it look like the pattern of a turtle’s shell. Shell shaped arches line the longer walls with turquoise lights emitting from below them. Tall windows that are no longer shining at this time of day sit on the shorter walls.

On the other side of the room, Crystal Winter is crouching near the end of the pool talking to Meeshell Mermaid, who looks like a small pink blob floating in the water.

Near the entrance of the room, but across the pool, is Farrah Goodfairy. She’s tinkering with what seems to be a small, yellow stopwatch while sitting on a white bench near the water.

And, unfortunately, making a beeline straight to her is Apple White. Her bright red dress is bouncing far too merrily from the spring in her step.

“Uh oh,” Briar says. “That can’t be good.”

Ashlynn squeaks as Briar quickly grabs her hand and starts running, basically dragging her along the floor before she manages to match her speed.

“Farrah!” Briar shrieks. “Don’t do it!”

Farrah notices them, and tilts her head. She mouths the word, ‘ huh?’ at them.

Apple glances at them as they wrap around the corner of the pool and she immediately begins shouting at Farrah as she waves her hand at her.

“Farrah!” Apple yells. “It’s so nice to see you!”

Farrah reciprocates her wave and her smile, placing down her stopwatch to look at her.

“Farrah!” Briar screams, but her words are drowned out by Apple’s.

“I just have a quick favor to ask, if you don’t mind!” Apple rings out sweetly, sliding to sit next to Farrah.

Apple leans in, holding her hand next to her face as she whispers into Farrah’s ear.

“Don’t!” Ashlynn says, as her and Briar get closer and closer.

But it’s too late. Farrah’s wings and face drop in confusion.

Briar leaps at Apple, tackling her to the ground. They land with an oomph.

“Get off you ruffian!” Apple yelps, attempting to shove Briar off of her.

Briar holds her down, struggling to keep her on the floor as Apple tries to hit her on the sides. “No way!” She grunts, pushing her harshly. “This is for your own good!”

Briar’s experience with wrestling her eight brothers seem to have come in handy, as she’s able to prevent her from escaping as Ashlynn grabs Farrah by the shoulders.
(The only times she’s lost playing with her brothers is when she falls asleep in the middle of the game!)

Ashlynn shakes Farrah desperately. “Please, please, please don’t grant whatever she just told you!” She pleads.

“I’m sorry, Ash!” Farrah says, wincing. “I have to! Godmother’s code!”

Farrah pulls out her wand.

Ashlynn holds her breath.

And with a flick of her wrist, a bright blue– so bright that it looks white– magic beam shoots out of it. Ashlynn is momentarily blinded, but she can hear cheery chords of music playing softly and feel magic coursing through her body.

She blinks rapidly, dots dancing across her vision, and the light and music fades away.

“Uh, what just happened– Woah! –” Ashlynn yells as she suddenly loses her footing on the ground.

She slips, falling forward into Farrah, who is halfway through dropping her wand.

They both yelp as they crash onto the ground. And, as Ashlynn looks up trying to gain a sense of what is happening, she realises that both of them are now zooming straight towards the wall uncontrollably.

She hears a shout behind her, and she flips her head to see Briar slipping off of Apple. Her screams mix together with Apple’s laughter.

Ashlynn and Farrah smash into the wall with an oomph , and it isn't long until Briar collides right into them.

The impact from Briar causes all three girls to bounce off of the wall, sliding towards the bench that Farrah was sitting on.

They all scramble, trying to get a grip on the ground to stop themselves, but their hands and their fingers and their feet slip over the surface of the floor like ice.

“What the hex?” Briar shrieks. “What’s going on? It’s like there’s no friction!”

“I’m so sorry!” Farrah shouts. “She wished for us to be as slippery as ice statues on a hot tray!”

“What time is it?” Ashlynn says.

Briar pulls out her mirrorphone, but it immediately flies right out of her hand, hitting the wall and flopping onto the ground with two loud smacks.

“Ugh, that better not be cracked.” Briar whines.

“I got it!” Farrah says, doing her best to push herself off the ground.

She slips backwards, landing on her butt. She flaps her wings aggressively, trying to pull off of the ground.

However, she notices that even flying through the air feels a little unstable; she struggles to stop properly, nearly crashing into the wall as she hovers over the mirrorphone to peek at the lock screen’s time.

“Well…” She says. “...Midnight isn’t until a couple hours!”

“Hours?” Briar shrieks. “We’re going to be stuck like this for hours?”
(Good ol’ fairy godmother magic! Magic that lasts until the clock strikes twelve can be both a blessing and a curse. In their case, it’s a curse. If it’s in Apple’s case, however, it’s a blessing!)

Both Ashlynn and Briar had managed to stabilize themselves by pressing themselves against the bench, holding onto it for dear life. They’re both slumped over the bench like a sloth to a tree branch.

“Whatever after!” Ashlynn says. “Farrah, can you try and stop Apple?”

“I can try, do you guys want to make any wishes?” She asks.

“Oh, right!” Briar says, looking over to where Apple is talking to Crystal and Meeshell. Both Crystal and Meeshell are glancing over to where the three are, but Apple holds their attention.

“Uh,” Briar says, “I wish that, uh–”

“Quick, Briar!” Ashlynn says. She doesn’t even want to imagine what Apple could be planning.

“Okay! I wish that– Uh oh–” Briar feels that familiar itch. The kind of itch similar to when you’re about to sneeze, and she flops over, passing out.

Ashlynn groans, restraining the urge to facepalm because doing so would probably send her flying off onto the ground.

“I wish that Apple would freeze in place!” She says.

Farrah nods, flying towards where her wand had dropped near the bench. She reaches down slowly, picking it up carefully. It flies out of her grip, and she juggles it for a few moments before finally managing to hold it awkwardly in her arms.

She doesn’t dare to flick it, and she instead pulls her face into concentration.

White sparks start to fly out of the wand, and…

Apple is still talking to Meeshell and Crystal.

“W-What happened?” Ashlynn says.

“I don’t know!” Farrah says. “That should’ve worked!”

“...Do you think it has anything to do with her being a clone?”

“Her being a what?”Farrah shrieks.

Suddenly, Briar wakes up with a jolt, nearly slipping off of the bench.

“ Woah– I’m awake!” Briar says.

She tries to stand up, forgetting about the wish, but she immediately flops onto the ground. She sighs.

“I could hear them, by the way,” Briar says. “Apple is trying to convince Crystal to use her magic. Also, I heard the lunch lady grunting about the soup for some reason? Wonder what that’s about.”
(Briar can hear really far away when she’s asleep– though, everything sounds hazy as if it’s in a dream.)

“Great.” Ashlynn sighs. “Farrah, can you fly over and stop her?”

Farrah laughs nervously. “Uh, I think this whole slippery thing is affecting my wings too, but–” She smiles. “–I’ll try!”

She waves at them before shooting off towards the three girls, leaving Briar and Ashlynn exhausted on the floor. Her wand clatters to the ground in front of them.

“You know,” Briar says, grinning, “I was thinking about it, and this slipping wish is super cool, actually! Like, imagine…”

–

The air rushes past Farrah’s ears as she zooms over the pool. Her wings strain, flapping fiercely. She isn’t used to flying this fast, she’s never had to! Especially not with a slippery wish.

Her eyes are locked dead on to Apple and Crystal, and she can hear them chatting as she draws near.

“...So, you want me to show off a freezing spell for your research?” Crystal says, holding her wand.

Apple smiles. “Yup! I’m doing research on–”

“–Watch out!” Farrah yells.

Farrah realises too late that her wings refuse to hit the brakes. They feel like they have a mind of their own, like a plastic bag whipping and thrashing around helplessly in a strong wind. Now it’s either crash onto the floor, or somehow pull herself up in time to fly straight over the girls.

She’s actually unable to do either, and instead flies straight into Crystal as Apple dives out of the way.

It goes dark for Farrah as she closes her eyes, but she can hear Crystal grunt as they smack onto the ground. With the slippery spell still active, Farrah slides right over Crystal’s body, smashing into the wall.

She ricochets off of it, slamming into Crystal again right as she sits up.

Crystal tries to grab her, and the impact causes her wand to fly out of her hands, but Farrah manages to stay put by clutching onto her clothes.

The wand glows bright with magic, falling right into the pool water next to Meeshell.

“No!–” Crystal shouts, keeping one hand on Farrah, but reaching the other out towards the wand.

It’s too late, however, and Farrah looks up just in time to see ice spreading across the pool, freezing the entirety of the water and taking Meeshell along with it. Meeshell is frozen in fear, literally.

“Oh, wow!” Apple says, laughing as she claps her hands slowly. “That is not what I wanted to do, but that’s just perfect!”

She looks at Farrah, smiling wide. “Nice going, Farrah!” She spits out her name mockingly, continuing to laugh.

Farrah stares at her in shock, but her face quickly grows resentful. She isn’t sure what is going on with Apple, but she does know that she had just hurt her friend and Farrah herself!

Farrah pulls out of Crystal’s grip, who looks at her confused.

Carefully, she flies slowly to Apple, making sure she’s able to stop right in front of her face.

“L-Look,” Farrah says, nervously swallowing. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into you but–” She looks away for a split second before staring right back into Apple’s eyes with a determined face. “–But I don’t appreciate you taking advantage of my magic; especially when you use it to hurt our friends!”

Apple’s smile slowly drops into a scowl. She looks inquisitively at Farrah, and Farrah can feel her face heating up.

Crystal looks between them, dumbfounded.

“Oh, really?” Apple says, poking Farrah hard in the chest.

Apple lets a small amused chuckle escape her. “Is it really my fault? I mean, who’s the one who just rammed straight into her–” She glances down at Crystal with a scrunched nose, “–like a careless bull?”

Farrah blinks. “I…”

“Hey,” Crystal says, getting up to softly push Apple away from Farrah. “It was an accident!” She says. “You’re–” Crystal’s eyes widen, looking at Apple more closely. “–You’re acting just like that kindness blindness curse!”

She looks her over one more time, remembering the tell-tale signs of a curse that Baba Yaga had taught her as Apple lets her do so with a smirk.
(Wow, maybe Raven and Faybelle could use some tutoring from her.)

“You’re cursed!” Crystal gasps.

Apple laughs. “Oh, congratulations!” She says flatly. “Do you want a gold star for that?”

“I–” Crystal looks at Ashlynn and Briar laying down on the floor on the other side of the pool.

She narrows her eyes at Apple.

“–What did you do to them?” She says.

Apple puffs air out of her nose. “Nothing you need to be worried about.” She glances at Farrah. “But thanks for leaving me a little gift!”

She dashes off, jumping onto the now-frozen pool water to slide on it gracefully, heading straight towards where Briar and Ashlynn are.

“My wand!” Farrah panics, seeing it laying next to the two girls.

“Come on!” Crystal says to her, bolting towards the ice.

Farrah nods as she watches Crystal’s ice skates pop out as she lands on the ground, allowing her to skate effortlessly towards Apple.

And, thankfully, her shoes are tied!

Farrah starts flying towards Apple, ensuring to keep her pace a little slower to Crystal in fear of smashing into the wall– or someone– again.

Apple is no match for Crystal’s speed, and just as the three girls reach the end of the pool, Crystal manages to leap at her, knocking both of them to the ground.

Farrah zooms past them, grabbing her wand.

“I got it!” She exclaims, but it then immediately slips out of her grip, hitting Ashlynn in the head as it bounces to the ground.

“I don’t got it!”

Apple shoves Crystal off of her by kicking her off, her heel digging into her stomach.

She scrambles towards the wand, but Ashlynn thrusts off of the bench, sliding her body to push the wand out of the way before Apple could snatch it.

Ashlynn screams as she heads towards the wall. “Briar, get it!”

Briar pushes herself onto the ground towards the wand. She lifts her body up to flop over it so it won’t slip away, but now she’s just sliding around on the floor aimlessly with the wand tucked beneath her.

“Uh, what now?” She yells.

Crystal gets up with a groan and runs towards Briar, with Apple in close pursuit.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Crystal shouts, diving towards Briar before Apple can.

Briar yelps as Crystal’s impact makes both of them roll like a snowball going down a hill. In that chaos, Crystal somehow manages to grab the wand as they hit the wall.

Briar slumps onto the ground, dazed, and Crystal jumps up. She locks eyes with Farrah.

“Catch!” She shouts to Farrah, throwing it over to where she’s hovering.

“Um– I don’t think I can–!” Farrah squeaks as the wand flings towards her.

She grabs it. And then she loses it. And then she grabs it. And then loses it again. It’s like her two hands are playing hot potato.

Apple starts to run towards her, but Crystal tackles her to the ground, landing right in front of Farrah.

“Farrah, I wish that the pool was unfrozen!” Crystal yells, pushing Apple to the ground.

Farrah sweats, the wand still ping-ponging between her hands.

“Wish…” She finally gets a grip on it. “...Granted!”

The wand bursts with magic, sending a beam flying towards the pool, and the wand drops out of her hands.

The light of the magic envelops the entire pool. It fades out slowly from the middle as the water begins to come back to life, and it isn’t long until the girls can see Meeshell splash around at the end of the pool.

Crystal grunts as Apple tries kicking her again, but she pushes her head down and presses against her legs, preventing her from doing so.

“Meeshell!” She yells, “Get my wand at the bottom of the pool!”

Meeshell stares blankly at her for a moment, unsure of what she said. It takes a few seconds for the dots to connect, and she throws her a thumbs up before diving down into the water.

A couple seconds go by again until her head suddenly bursts out from the water next to where the girls are.

“Here!” Meeshell whispers, throwing Crystal’s wand at her.

Crystal reaches out, grabbing it with one hand, while pushing Apple away with the other.

She shoves Apple off of her, and with one swift movement, she turns to Apple, flicking her wand, and freezing her into a big block of ice.

Crystal lets out a huge sigh, flopping over onto the floor. Her chest rises and falls as she breathes heavily.

“...Oh my fairy godmother, Crystal, you did it!” Briar exclaims, smiling brightly. “I would so give you a giant hug right now if I could get to you!”

Crystal laughs wearily. “How long have you guys been dealing with that?”

“Not long, actually,” Ashlynn says. “You should ask Raven that, that poor girl has been stuck with her the whole day!” She shudders.

Ashlynn looks over to the frozen Apple. “But, is she going to be okay in there?”

“Yeah,” Crystal says. “Shouldn’t kill her or anything, like, look at Meeshell!”

Meeshell gives them a small smile, speaking softly. “...Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

“Apple got cursed; blah, blah, blah; now she’s cloned; blah, blah, blah ; slippery wish, and here we are!” Briar says, in a strange type of enthusiasm.

“...Oh.” Is all that Meeshell manages to get out.

“What now?” Farrah asks.

“Oh, you know,” Briar says, “Head to the Chemythstry classroom, put her back together, and hope that’s all.”

Briar blinks. “...How are we going to do that, again?” She says, looking at Ashlynn.

“Hex, I’m not sure, we’re so slippery we can barely stand up!” She responds.

Crystal hums as she gets up, scrunching her eyebrows in thought. “...Slippery,” She repeats. “Like ice?”

“Well, that is what she wished,” Briar says.

“And, Farrah, you’re slippery too?”

Farrah nods, landing on the ground. She nearly stumbles over, but Crystal manages to catch her, holding her up.

“Have you tried acting like you’re ice skating?” Crystal asks.

Ashlynn and Briar look at each other.

“...No.” They both admit.

Crystal smiles. “Let’s test it out!”

She flicks her wand to cover the floor beneath her in ice. This makes Farrah start to slip away, and she yelps, waving her arms around clumsily.

Crystal laughs, skating up next to her elegantly. “Follow my movements!” She says.

Farrah timidly moves her feet out to match Crystal’s, and her face lights up as she starts to get the hang of it. They move across the ice in unison, and at the point where the ice ends Crystal skids to a stop while Farrah keeps moving around the floor, laughing.

“Come on!” Crystal says to Briar and Ashlynn. “Try it out, guys!”

After a few failed attempts at trying to pick Ashlynn and Briar off the floor, they successfully manage to get them standing on the ground properly. They start skating across the floor in no time, and Meeshell laughs as she watches the girls glide around on the floor.

“Woo!” Briar shouts, sliding up to Crystal. “Thanks! I don’t think we would’ve known what to do without your help!”

Crystal smiles. “Of course! I guess when you live surrounded by ice your whole life, it’s the first thing you think of.”

She gestures towards the Apple ice block. “You guys going to be okay moving her to the Chemythstry classroom by yourselves?”

Ashlynn tries pushing Apple towards the door, and smiles as they both slide across the ground easily.

“Yeah,” Ashlynn says. “Looks like it. Thanks again for your help, guys!” She waves to the other three as Briar slides up to her, helping her push Apple towards the doors.

“Bye!” Crystal waves.

As Briar tries to pull the door handle, her hand slips right off of it, nearly making her lose her balance.

“Uh…” Briar laughs nervously. “Yeah, we might need a little help opening this door, actually.”

Crystal laughs as she walks towards them, holding the door open for them. “Bye– for real now.”

Both Ashlynn and Briar grin at her as they give Apple one last final shove out the door.

The door shuts and Farrah turns to Meeshell as Crystal comes walking back.

“Wow, Meeshell!” Farrah says excitedly. “I think you beat your record time swimming across the whole pool!”

“Really?” Meeshell beams. “Cedar will be so happy to hear that!”

Chapter 13: The A In Apple Stands For (Attempted) Arson

Notes:

this chapter's title makes me giggle so hard it's not funny no more

“Faybelle, watch out!”

Darling’s warning is too late as Faybelle flies smack dab into a tree, proceeding to flop right onto the ground. Her mirrorphone bounces down to the grass beside her.

Apparently, Faybelle isn’t as good at moving while hexting like Briar is.

Darling skids to a stop next to her, looking down at Faybelle with a worried glance. When she looks back up, the Apple they had been chasing is nowhere to be seen, but the large doors to the dragon stables near them are swinging shut.

Sighing, she bends down to pick up Faybelle’s mirrorphone for her.

She stifles a laugh while she looks at the screen as Faybelle groans as she sits up.

“Did you mean to send that?” Darling says, looking at the jumbled up words of Faybelle’s hext.

Faybelle snatches the mirrorphone out of Darling’s hands, her face in a scowl. “Thanks,” She says, glancing at the screen. “And, no, I didn’t.”

“Did you see the recent hext? From Raven?” Darling asks.

Faybelle scrolls down, suddenly groaning again.

“There’s three of them now? That’s like– triple as annoying!”

Darling raises an eyebrow at her.

Faybelle smiles apologetically. “Oh– Uh, I meant… you know…”

She coughs into her arm, looking away.

Darling rolls her eyes amusingly, holding out a hand for Faybelle to grab.

“Are you okay?” Darling asks as she pulls her up.

Faybelle stretches her wings. “Yeah,” She replies.

Darling and Faybelle look around the area. They’re near the outskirts of the forest around the dragon stables. It’s quite dark outside, the only light emitting from the inside of the stables and the moon above. The trees rustle, from a light wind, rather than any critters. It’s peaceful, and if Darling wasn’t busy trying to chase down Apple, she would’ve been planning to sneak out tonight.

Darling’s eyes narrow at the sight of the stables. While the inside glows with warm light, protruding out from the thin cracks of the doors and the small windows lining the blue roofs and white brick walls, it stands in the dark so cold and distant.

“Come on,” Darling says softly. “She’s in there.”

Darling starts walking on the brown dirt path leading up to the front doors, rocks and gravel crunching beneath her feet, while Faybelle flutters beside her.

“Great. The dragons,” Faybelle says, sarcasm lining her tone. “Wonder what she could possibly want with fire-breathing dragons.”

Darling bites her lip nervously. Everyone in Ever After knows how dangerous dragons can be, no matter how cute or friendly they are. They can always get into some sort of trouble, whether intentional or not.
(Like that one time Daring crashed into the school building with his dragon! Darling couldn’t believe her ears when her brothers told her about that incident.)

She breathes out. They’d better hurry up.

She picks up the pace, stopping right in front of the door.

Looking up, she traces the way the grey metal decorating the wooden doors stretch from the dirt floor to the white arch that rims them.

The doors loom over the two girls as Darling slowly reaches her hand out to push one open.

Suddenly, a crash comes from inside, and a bright light, way too warm , shoots at the doors. 

Darling shouts as she stumbles back, landing on the ground roughly with small pebbles clawing at her behind and scraping her hands.

Thankfully, the stables are built with your classic dragon-breath proof material, able to withstand any type of nasty burn, shock, or freeze from a dragon’s mouth.

Unfortunately, Darling is not.

The horrid realisation washes over Darling. She didn’t think, or at least she hoped, that even while evil, Apple would purposefully try burning their faces off, but…

“How…” She says, picking herself off the ground to look at Faybelle. “...How are we going to stop her without getting hurt?”

The armors that they use for the Dragon Games are currently stored safely all the way in the locker rooms– waiting for the season to start up again– and Darling doesn’t even want to imagine what trouble Apple could get into in the amount of time it takes to get there, put the outfits on, and get back.

“Uh, hello?” Faybelle scoffs, gesturing to herself. “Dark fairy with super cool magical powers here, remember?”

She rubs her hands, grinning at Darling. “I’m sure this’ll work,“ Faybelle says, cracking her knuckles.

Darling steps back, watching Faybelle fly further up into the air. “Uh…”

Faybelle starts hopping in the air as if she’s practicing a cheer routine, throwing her fists up.

She starts chanting, grey and teal clouds of magic building up around her. Electric sparkles flicker in the dark. “Two, four, six, eight! Dragon breath is nothing great!” 

The clouds start to swirl wildly, the electricity growing more and more aggressive. “Magic burns, hey what’s that? Gust of wind is where it’s at!”

She suddenly thrusts her hands towards Darling, and the magic starts encircling both of them.

A tickle of magic streams through Darling, sending shivers up her body. She closes her eyes, letting it trickle in.

The magic fades out, and Faybelle slowly lands on the ground in front of her as she opens her eyes.

“There we go; I just made us immune to dragon breath!” Faybelle says, dusting off her hands. “No need for applause.”

“Wow!” Darling exclaims. “How long does it last?”

Faybelle blinks. “Uh…”

A beat passes.

“H-How long?” Faybelle says.

Darling stares incredulously at her. “You– You don’t know?” She says. “What if it wears off and we get blasted by fire? Or worse…”

Darling shudders, thinking of Apple’s dragon, Braebyrn, who has the ability to breathe electricity rather than fire. She isn’t sure if being electrocuted would hurt more than being burned alive, but, needless to say, she didn’t want to find out.

“Well…” Faybelle laughs sheepishly, putting an arm around Darling’s shoulder. “...That’s the thrill of it, I guess!”

Darling looks at her.

“...Don’t worry!” Faybelle says, smiling at her. “I’m sure that it’ll last more than a couple of minutes! My magic is just that good, ever after all.” She adds in cheekily.

“Okay, okay,” Darling says, laughing. “I trust you.”

It isn’t like risking her life is anything new to Darling.

Faybelle grins at her, sliding her arm off. 

Darling turns to the doors, reaching out for it again. She breathes in deeply as she pushes it open– successfully, this time.

The hinges creak as the girls pop their heads in, the sharp sound cutting through the silence inside.

One step, two; the floor feels spongy as they walk on the hay covering the path inside.

Torches on the wall flicker, the warm air touching the girls’ skin, melting away the coolness from outside.

Their shadows creep along the walls as they walk further in, into the large middle area where the dragons’ eggs used to lay in the now empty patches of hay underneath a huge skylight. The silver light of the moon shines through.

Darling takes a look around. It’s quiet. Too quiet. The dragons shouldn’t be asleep just yet. Even though they’re supposed to be resting in their individual pens at this time, their soft snorts and shuffling should be audible.

“Darling,” Faybelle says, getting her attention.

Darling looks over to Faybelle, who’s standing next to a trail of food. Dragon’s grub.

They follow the grey-brown trail, towards the right side of the stables.

The pens’ gates are swung wide open, and at the end of the wall are several of the once-evil, but now just incredibly mischievous, dragons licking the floor clean of the grub.

The fire light shines on their dark black scales, illuminating their silvery-white accents.

Darling breathes out.

“Why did Apple leave them over here?” Darling asks.

“Beats me,” Faybelle says, strolling up next to them.

She reaches her hand out to pet one, but it quickly whips around, smacking her hand with its tail.

“Ow!” Faybelle whines, rubbing her hand as she turns away. “I think I figured out why.”

Darling chuckles, stepping away from the dragons to let them eat in peace.

“So, they’re there…” Darling says, looking over to the empty left side of the stables where the other dragons should be. “...Then where are the others?”

A loud roar erupts from outside. The walls start to shake, and the evil dragons begin to growl in discontent. Darling and Faybelle cover their ears.

They rush back to the middle area, heading towards the backdoors leading to a little field right outside as soon as the roaring stops. Darling and Faybelle crack open the doors once again, peeking out.

Apple is holding a large bag of dragon food, stretching her hand out to the dragons that are crowded together in a group, standing opposite to her.

Braebyrn stands in front of all of them, warily looking at her. Her wings are outstretched, shielding the other dragons. She’s lurched back, like she’s afraid to be in the same space as Apple.

“Come on, Braebyrn!” Apple says sweetly, shaking her hand. It seems to be filled with grub.

Braebyrn cautiously takes a small step towards her, sniffing the air.

“Braebyrn,” Apple says. This time her tone is sharp. “Come on.” 

Braebyrn grunts, pulling back as if she’s offended, pushing the others behind her.

“They must be able to tell something’s off,” Darling mutters.

“Braebyrn!” Apple groans. “You already ate the food off the floor, what’s the big difference if it’s out of my hand!”

She shakes her hand again. “Just take it already!” 

Braebyrn whimpers.

Apple huffs for a second before pulling herself together.

“I– I can’t believe you’re treating me like this!” Apple cries. “I thought we had a connection!” 

She turns around, pretending to sob into her hands, dropping the bag and the food onto the floor.

“Godmother,” Faybelle says, raising an eyebrow. “She’s really putting on the waterworks.”

Darling notices Braeburn stepping towards Apple again, her head stretching out to her as she whines sympathetically. 

“–And it’s time to stop it before it works,” Darling says.

Darling dashes out to the dragons, screeching to a stop between Apple and Braebyrn.

“Stop!” She shouts.

Braebyrn pulls her head back, looking at Darling with a confused tilt.

Apple whips around, looking at Darling with a scowl.

“Don’t listen to her!–” Darling yelps as Apple shoves her to the side, running past her.

Apple jumps up on Braebyrn’s back, the poor dragon screeching as Apple pulls on her reins, forcing her into the air.

Darling regains her balance in time to watch as they fly away, wind blowing into her face.

“Oh, godmother– Faybelle, come on!” 

Darling whistles, causing her dragon, Herowing, to break out from the group of scared dragons.

She rushes over to her, and Darling gives her a fast embrace on the head before quickly getting on her, launching off of the ground in a mad chase after Apple.

Faybelle glances nervously at the remaining dragons, who stare at her blankly.

“So…” She says, rapping her fingers against each other nervously. “You guys aren’t mad at me for anything, right?”

She chuckles awkwardly, taking a hesitant step towards them. Before she can even touch one of them, they snort and turn away.

Faybelle groans. “Okay, fine! I’ll just take the old-fashioned way then.”

She turns around, lifting herself off the ground, flapping furiously after Darling and Apple.

–

Darling leans forward, her eyes set on Apple.

She had no trouble catching up to her, her and Herowing are managing to trail right behind Apple and Braebryn, her tail nearly touching Herowing’s snout. It certainly helps that Braebryn is thrashing around wildly, afraid and confused, while Apple’s angry shouts fill the air.

Knowing that trying to reason with Apple at the moment is useless, Darling bites her lips as she focuses on gaining enough momentum to cut Apple off.

She swerves to the left, trying to move next to her, wind rushing past her ears.

Apple seems to understand what she’s trying to do, and she sends Braebryn into a dive to the right.

Darling grunts, tugging Herowing’s reins to signal to follow after her. 

Herowing pulls her wings inward as she points downwards, plunging towards Apple. The wind beats against Darling’s face, making her hair flap behind her.

Apple suddenly takes a sharp turn, towards the school.

Darling reacts quickly, pulling on Herowing again to follow her movements to a tee.

Apple looks behind her, a nasty glare on her face.

Suddenly, she jerks Braebryn’s reins back. Braebyrn shrieks as she is forced to abruptly turn around to face Herowing.

Darling’s eyes widen, and she pulls desperately on Herowing. Her knuckles turn white as she grips hard onto her reins, straining to pull back. They manage to screech to a stop just before the two dragons collide.

There’s a second that the two girls lock eyes.

A second where Apple smiles.

A second before Apple kicks Braebryn on the side, causing her to cry out, blasting a breath of electricity out right towards her.

Herowing screeches as the stream of electricity hits her straight in the face, running through her body. Darling can feel it too, but it’s more of a small tickle, and she silently thanks Faybelle for her spell.

Herowing jerks back in surprise before going limp, dropping for a freefall towards the ground, headfirst. 

Darling clenches her teeth, the wind clawing at the sides of her face. She can feel her stomach dropping as the wind screams around her, whistling loudly in her ears. 

She clutches close to Herowing, watching as the ground underneath them gets concerningly large.

“Herowing!” She shouts, shaking her reins.

Herowing weakly lifts her head, a sign that she’s conscious. 

Darling yanks on her reins with all her might to pull Herowing into a glide.

She braces for impact, closing her eyes and sucking in a deep breath as they crash into the trees.

Branches scrape at her, cutting her skin. She can feel her clothes tearing away from her, and her tiara flies away. She grunts as leaves and twigs smack her in the face. Birds and squirrels that were resting peacefully in the trees squeal as they jump out.

Herowing zooms underneath a large branch, causing Darling to smack into it with a thud, unable to duck away, hitting her straight in the gut. She gets stuck to the tree as Herowing crashes onto the ground, slamming into some bushes.

Darling groans. Her vision is blurry, and she can feel her grip going limp and weak as she drops helplessly out of the tree and towards the ground.

She lands in the dirt, the stench making her gag as it presses against her nose and leaks into her mouth. 

Forcing herself to roll over, she rests her cheek on the cold ground. Tears spike out of the corner of her eyes as she squeezes them shut. An ache pounds against her eyelids.

She groans again, trying her best to lift a hand to her eyes to rub them despite knowing that her face must be smeared with dirt now; and as her hand runs over her eyelids she pulls them open. Little stars dance across her vision, and the greenery around her look as if they’re warping.

She remembers to try and breathe, but her breaths are haggard, and she nearly chokes as she starts to cough, spitting out leaves and dirt.

She clenches her fists before dragging herself up onto her chest, forcing herself to look up. A sharp pain shoots through her head, but she clenches her teeth and ignores it, crawling towards the tree she had rammed into.

With a final heave, she pulls herself onto the base of the tree, leaning against it for support.

The world spins around her, one bush becomes two, and she wants nothing more to hurl now.

She winces, looking down at herself. 

Her dress and her body is stained brown from the dirt, and when wind blows through the trees it sends cold air into the exposed cuts and scrapes that line Darling’s limbs through the small rips littering her dress.

She lifts her arms up weakly, checking to make sure they aren’t broken. They aren’t– thank Grimm– but they definitely ache. Oh, how they ache.

She slides her hands down from the trunk, onto some roots growing out from the ground right next to her, attempting to pull herself up. But her legs wobble underneath her, threatening to collapse, and she still has to lean on the tree for support.

She groans, clutching her stomach as she limps towards where Herowing had crashed.

“...Herowing?” She says, her voice scratchy and rough. She coughs.

She finds her in the bushes, moving towards the front of her body. She drops down next to her to stroke her head.

Harrowing barely moves her head to look up at her, but she relaxes into her touch, whining until it melts into a soft purr.

Darling exhales in relief, looking over Herowing to check her. She didn’t seem to physically suffer much from the fall or the shock; her skin should be tough and thick enough. She’s obviously exhausted, though.

Darling sighs. She leans down, whispering gently to Herowing, keeping an eye on how her body slowly rises and falls. “I’ll be back, okay? Get back to the dragon stables if you can. I’ll check up on you later.”

Herowing snorts, the warm puff of air grazing Darling’s hand.

Darling gets up slowly, hobbling towards the open field beside the woods.
(If I had a coin for every time Darling fell off her dragon because of Apple, I would have two. Not a lot, but more than you would expect.)

She looks up at the sky. The only stars she sees now are the ones that are actually in the sky. The last direction they were heading was…

The school. They were heading towards the school.

She squints her eyes, noticing a silhouette flying over her.

She really hopes Faybelle is close by. Where is she, anyway?

–

“Ugh!” Faybelle groans. “I can’t believe I’m stuck flying after them!”

Faybelle flaps her wings as fast as she can, but they’re aching. Put a dragon against a fairy in a wing race? It would be a no-brainer who would win! The size of fairy wings are nothing compared to a dragon’s.

She’s been following the direction she assumed they went in, but she honestly has no idea if she’s going the right way. She had lost them the second she was able to get into the sky.

She can barely see anything too! Her eyes are getting tired of all this dark.

Faint dragon roaring suddenly erupts behind her, towards the school.

Great. She’s going the wrong way ever after all.

Faybelle groans loudly again as she turns around reluctantly to flap towards the school.

“I swear, they better stay put there!”

–

Darling races frantically towards the school, pure determination fueling her. All she has to do is run through Book End, over the bridge, and to the school grounds… while also ignoring the pain in each step she takes.

She tries to push away deeper thoughts about Apple in her head– trying to push away the images of the apathetic smile and the cold look in her eyes that she gave her as she and Herowing fell to the ground. Seeing her like– like that? Her heart wants to twist and twist until it shrivels, when usually it would beat with excitement. 

But it doesn’t matter; there’s only one thought she needs to focus on: Finding Apple.

She runs into the streets of Book End, hard pavement hitting her feet.

“Look, isn’t that Princess Darling?”

Oh, great. Here it comes.

Ever since she had started dating Apple, the amount of suitors after her had lessened once the news had spread.

Unfortunately, while they didn’t want her hand in marriage anymore, boys were still desperate to assist her. And she definitely looks like she's in need of aid.

At least maybe this time Darling had successfully managed to ruin her hairstyle somehow.
(Hopeful wishes… except there’s only two leaves in her hair.)

A crash, next to her; a village boy had tripped over a wagon of vegetables. He looks up at her, smiling brightly. 

“Are you hurt?” He asks.

Darling smiles at him, keeping her mouth shut. Is she hurt? Absolutely. Does she have time for this? No.

She runs past him, ignoring the chaos around her as another boy walks right into a light pole. Another smack into an empty stall. One boy falls off his chair, his cup clattering to the ground.

A boy trips over his own two feet, landing right in front of her.

“Let me help you walk to the school?” The boy asks, grinning at her.

“Uh, no thank you!” Darling says apologetically, stepping over him awkwardly.

She squeezes her eyes shut, wishing she could just get out of there in a snap!

Oh wait.

Darling doesn’t even have to check that the boys are looking at her. She knows they are.

She flips her hair, watching as everything around her slows down. A boy is stuck midway in his path walking up to her.
(Time-slowing hair! Helpful for when you need to get out of a tough situation! Or, in Darling’s case: escape from eager-to-please boys.)

She grins, breathing out in relief. She runs to the end of the village, over the bridge– skipping the troll fee– and straight in front of the beanstalk growing in front of the school as time returns to its normal pace.

She doesn’t have time to rest. There’s shouting. Darling looks up to investigate the source.

Jillian Beanstalk is hanging from the beanstalk, one hand gripping a vine tightly as she uses the other to gesture to someone angrily. “What’s the matter with you, huh? What was–”

“–Jillian!” Darling calls out, causing her to pause and look down.

“Darling!” She greets. “What’s going on with Apple? She just tried to shoot electricity right on my beanstalk! Could’ve caused a fire!”

Yup. That someone is Apple.

Darling sighs. “She’s cursed.”

Jillian’s eyes widen. “Cursed? Woah!–”

She lets out a small shout as Apple uses Braebryn to knock her off, sending her tumbling towards the ground.

Darling panics, immediately moving to position herself underneath her. She holds her arms out for Jillian to land safely in her arms, but she stumbles backwards, fighting the want to fall over as her limbs wobble.

Darling lets out a huge breath as she lets Jillian on the ground.

“Thanks for catching me!” Jillian says, brushing her dress off. “Think I would’ve been just fine landing on the ground, but I suppose this was a nicer fall."

Darling laughs, though it comes out weak. She rubs her arms. “You know what they say, ‘kind of a Charming thing!’” She says, quoting her brother.

Jillian chuckles. “Not much of a ‘damsel in distress,’ but, I guess the logic's the same–”

Jillian gasps as she looks up at Darling. “–Whoa!” She says. “You, uh, okay there, friend? You kind of got a little something…” She trails off, gesturing towards Darling’s body.

Darling forces a smile and shakes her head. “I’m fine. We just need to focus on getting Apple.”

She looks up, seeing the faint silhouette of Braebryn heading higher up.

“Looks like we’re going to have to climb to reach her,” Jillian says.

Darling grins, looking back at Jillian. “Race you?”

Jillian smiles. “You’re on!”

The two girls immediately dash off towards the beanstalk.

Darling leaps up, grabbing the nearest vine. It’s cool in her grip as she pulls herself up, feeling her muscles ache as she strains them. 

She grunts, struggling to gather what strength she has left to climb up the beanstalk. She nearly slips several times, her heart dropping in her chest. Her knuckles are white as she looks around for Jillian.

She spots her way farther up, gracefully maneuvering between the vines by using them to swing upwards. She crawls up the beanstalk effortlessly, like a mouse running up a clock.

Darling laughs. She may have learned how to climb from sneaking out of her bedroom tower and her dorm room, but a wall is a joke compared to a beanstalk. This could hardly be considered a race!

And… maybe she’s realising a race was kind of an impulsive decision in her state.

Eventually, Darling manages to catch up with Jillian. They’re on a vine that’s large and stable enough for them to stand comfortably on.

“Took you long enough!” Jillian teases.

“Your last name is literally Beanstalk,” Darling says as she gasps for air.

“And your last name is Charming. I thought you guys were good at climbing hair?”

Darling opens her mouth to respond that technically only her brothers had been trained to do that, but she’s interrupted by a loud roar on the opposite side of the beanstalk.
(She would be lying if she said she’s never secretly tried out the mock hair climb her family has at their castle!)

Darling and Jillian creep along the sides of the beanstalk until Braebryn and Apple come into view, flying right next to it.

Braebryn is twisting and turning, thrashing about in the sky, trying desperately to turn away from the beanstalk; but Apple keeps yanking her back to face it by tugging on her reins.

Loud, painful, whining and screeches penetrate the sky. Loud enough to where it rings in Darling’s ears, and she can’t help but wince at the sound.

“Come on!” Apple groans. “Why won’t you do it? Aren’t you a dragon? You’re, like, supposed to destroy things!”

Her words are followed by a quick yelp as Braebryn nearly shakes her off her saddle.

Darling freezes, trying to think about how to deal with this. Again, reasoning with Apple is completely out the window.

She observes Braebryn and Apple closely. Braebryn is being pretty successful at refusing Apple’s demands, and maybe she could figure out to land on the ground safely. But with the way Braebryn is moving, she doesn’t seem to care if Apple falls off her saddle or not.

She looks down. The distance between the beanstalk and those two is way too far for Darling to even consider trying to jump on.

She looks up. She could try climbing higher, then jump off to land on them to take control of Braebryn.

Sucking in a breath, she looks back at Apple. It would be risky, there’s no telling how Braebryn would move.

But she doesn’t have to decide what to do, though. Jillian shoves past Darling before she can.

Jillian stomps towards Apple, fuming.

“Hey, why don’t you go on and get lost now, would you?” She shouts at Apple, shaking her fist once again. “Leave the beanstalk alone!”

“Jillian–” Darling sighs, stepping next to her to put a hand on her shoulder. “–I can’t just let her leave.”

Jillian crosses her arms. “You can’t just let her burn down the beanstalk either!”

“I know, but–”

Apple laughs, cutting her off. Darling’s stomach twists. Usually she finds her laugh to be the sweetest thing, but right now it’s just rotten.

“Aw, and yet you can’t stop me, can you?” Apple pouts sympathetically at them. “What is poor, sweet Jillian going to do to save her precious little beanstalk?”

“You’re talking; you can’t even control your own dragon!” Jillian yells.

Apple’s smile curls into a frown. She scoffs.

“Braebryn will listen to me,” She says, looking down at her, petting her head. “Isn’t that right, Braebryn?”

Braebryn just huffs, turning her head away.

Apple’s grip tightens on the reins.

Jillian snorts. “Hah! See, you’re just bluffing!”

“Jillian, you really shouldn’t get her angry,” Darling says.

Apple lets out an amused breath. “Why?” She says. “Are you afraid, Darling?” She cocks her head.

“I…”

“That really hurts,” Apple continues, her voice cracking. “I thought you would do more to defend me!”

Darling breathes, unsure of how to respond. Her stomach churns even more, like it wants to jump out of her throat. She tries to swallow but it just leaves a lump.

Apple sighs dramatically. “Of all people, I would’ve thought my girlfriend would support me, but– You’re trying to hurt me? Treating me like a monster?”

Darling stares hard at her. Her eyebrows begin to press together and tears start to sting in the corners of her eyes.

“I guess I was wrong,” Apple says carelessly. “You are good-for-nothing. It’s a pity, really–” She chuckles, not one that’s fond, one that’s pitiful. “–Even your brother in his cowardly state was more useful to me. But you?” She looks right at Darling, the corners of her mouth wrinkled in disgust.

“You’re just a coward. A useless coward.”

Darling looks away. She can’t– she doesn’t want to look at her. The words repeat over and over in her mind and the tears start to drop. They trickle down her cheeks to her chin, dripping onto her feet. It’s hot and warm and sticky. It burns. Hurts.

Hurts more than the way her limbs ache. More than the way her cuts and scratches prickle when the wind blows against it.

She knows that it isn’t really Apple saying it. But yet it is her. It looks like her. Sounds like her. 

And it hurts.

She takes a deep breath, pushing her turned stomach back down. She swallows again, getting rid of the lump this time.

She refuses to let the words get to her. She has a mission, and a knight never gives up on their mission.

Darling turns back to Apple, wiping her eyes. She doesn’t dare blink. Her face heats up from the way Apple is watching her.

“I– I know you don’t mean that right now, Apple,” Darling says, voice shaky. She has to stop for a second to gather herself.

She spots something out of the corner of her eye, flying towards the beanstalk. Is… Is that Faybelle? She just has to distract Apple a little longer.

“...I am not a coward,” Darling says, her voice growing steady. “Being afraid isn’t cowardly, it’s when you give up it is. I know that I would never give up until I get you back to the real you.”

Apple looks at her. Darling could dare to say thoughtfulness traced her features.

“...The real you who I know knows that too.”

Faybelle slams into Apple, nearly knocking her straight off of Braebryn.

“I got her!” Faybelle yells, grabbing hold of Apple by wrapping the entirety of her arms around her so she couldn’t move.

Apple tries to wriggle out of her grip, grunting, but Faybelle manages to hold her down.

“Faybelle!” Darling says. “Where have you been?”

“Well, my bad that flying with two fairy wings isn’t as fast as two dragon wings.” Faybelle scoffs, nearly getting elbowed in the face by Apple. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

Darling smiles. “Bring them down, we’ll meet you there!”

Faybelle nods, taking control of Braebryn– who is actually happier to be in control by Faybelle than Apple at the moment– and starts flying towards the ground.

Jillian turns to Darling. “You feeling alright?”

Darling blinks, turning away from her. “...Yeah. Yeah, of course. Let’s just–” She looks down. “–Let’s just get down.”

Jillian stays silent as she follows Darling down the beanstalk. She lets Darling stay ahead of her.

They reach the ground, where Faybelle is holding Apple by the arm and Braebryn is sitting behind them.

“Let’s go and get this over with!” Faybelle says as they walk over.

“Okay,” Darling says. “Just hold on for a spell.”

She walks past them to Braebryn. She places a hand on her head, petting her gently.

“Hey, girl,” Darling whispers. “Sorry about Apple, I promise she’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”

Braebyrn exhales softly.

“Could you go into the forest behind the village and check if Herowing is there and okay? If not, check if she’s in the stables. Thank you.”

Braebryn slowly blinks at Darling. She slides out of her touch carefully, huffing approvingly.

She takes off, leaving the four girls on the ground.

Darling turns around, looking at Jillian. “Charm you later, Jillian! Sorry about the whole, almost-burning-down-the-beanstalk thing!” She smiles apologetically.

Jillian smiles, waving at Faybelle and Darling. “No need for you to apologise. Take care!”

Darling waves back as she grabs hold of Apple’s other arm, marching her back into the school.

Chapter 14: And Everything Went... Normal?

“...And that’s why the bookball team should actually use a darker shade of purple and red!”

Daring stands proudly, a satisfied smile on his face, as Dexter and Hunter look awkwardly at the two headmasters.

The headmasters sit on the two cushioned seats that Apple and Raven had sat at. They had been moved to be behind the headmaster’s desk, while the three boys stand opposite to them in front of a large whiteboard that a presentation is being projected onto.

The slide they’re on displays two blocks of colors. One is a lighter shade of purple, crossed out with a huge red X, while the other is a darker shade, with a big, fat yellow thumbs up over it.
(I think I see where the boys are coming from! That darker purple has a lovely hue to it.)

The headmasters are snoring softly, and it’s just barely covered by the hum of the projector sitting on the desk.

“Uh, Headmasters?” Hunter says.

Giles shakes himself awake, blubbering, “–Oh, oh!”

He turns to tap Milton awake. “Milton!” Giles whispers.

He jolts up, looking wildly at the boys. “Right! What– What wonderlandiful presentations, boys!”

“Yes!” Giles clears his throat. “Very… insightful! Both of them!”

Milton nods, smiling at the boys. “I agree; now, if you hexcuse us–”

“–Wait!” Hunter shouts, stopping him midway in getting out of his chair.

Hunter quickly puts on a smile. “Uh… I mean– Could you please wait a spell? We just have…” His eyes dart around. “...Some discussion to do! Yeah, some discussion!”

He pulls the other two boys away from the headmasters, making sure that they’re far enough so that he can pull them into a circle and talk without them hearing.

“Guys,” Hunter whispers. “I don’t think the girls are done yet; what are we going to do? We already went through the training presentation and… Daring’s uniform presentation,” He adds, a bit less enthusiastically.

“Thank you!” Daring says.

“I didn’t say anything good about it?”

“It was implied.”

“Look,” Dexter says. “The last thing the girls sent in the group chat was that whole thing about there being multiple Apples, and that was forever after ago! They have to be close to being done!”

He glances at the headmasters nervously. They seem to be confused.

“We just have to distract the headmasters a little longer,” He continues.

Hunter gulps. “But with what–”

“–Boys,” Milton interrupts harshly.

The three of them freeze and look up.

“If you are done now,” He says, “We really have important things to get to–”

“–No!” Hunter blurts out. He laughs nervously. “No– No, we’re not done yet, uh, right, Dexter?”

“Don’t put this on me!” Dexter hisses at Hunter.

He looks at the headmasters, grinning awkwardly.

“Yeah!” Dexter says. “Because– Because we have that presentation about…”

Dexter looks at Daring, who notices and decides to groan. Loudly. The other two give him a nasty look.

“We have that…” Daring looks around wildly. “...That thing!”

“Thing?” Milton says, raising his eyebrow.

“Yeah, you know, the– the!–”

Rumpelstiltskin bursts through the office doors.

“My door!” He shrieks, hopping up and down madly, shaking his arms all around. Even though he’s jumping, he can barely reach half the height of the boys’. “Stupid door gone! It’s too heavy!”

He stops hopping, staring straight at the three boys, er– at least I think so. It’s kind of hard to tell with that giant, fuzzy hat on his head.

“You!” He says, wagging an angry fist at them. “Did you do this? Detention for you! All of you!”

“W–What?” Dexter says, stepping back. “Professor Rumpelstiltskin, what are you talking about?”

Rumpelstiltskin spits on the ground. “Troublemakers! Ruining my door!”

The three boys look at the two headmasters, begging for help.

Milton clears his throat, speaking calmly. “Rumpelstiltskin, please.”

Rumpelstiltskin huffs, tapping his impatient little feet on the ground. “You follow,” He says, whipping around to march back towards the door.

Milton and Giles start to do so, but Hunter quickly slides in front of them right before they make it out the door.

“Wait!” He says, smiling sheepishly. “Are you sure you don’t want to hear about the thing?”

Milton grunts, pushing him out of the way gently. He walks out.

Giles turns to Hunter before following. “Shame, I would really love to hear about the thing; but alas! Headmaster duty calls!”

Hunter groans.

“Come on!” He says to Daring and Dexter.

He runs out with the other two boys close behind.

–

Meanwhile, Raven and Maddie are waiting patiently for the other four girls to show up with their Apple in the Chemythstry classroom. They had just gotten there, and Raven feels like she could finally relax as they sit on top of the desks while her and Maddie each hold their Apple by an arm.

“...You think we should hext them or something?” Raven asks. “I mean, surely they’ve gotten her by now.”

Maddie swings her legs, humming cheerfully. “Hm…”

A loud slamming noise comes from outside the classroom, along with two voices clamoring.

“Nope!” Maddie says.

A few seconds tick by before an exhausted looking Briar and Ashlynn come sliding in, pushing their Apple ice block.

They burst through the door, literally bursting through it, because the black and charred door flops over flat on the ground.
(Must be a pretty strong door for it to still be intact!)

Raven stares at them horrified. One, because of the frozen block of ice that has Apple in it, and two, because she had just fixed that door with her levitation magic!

She doesn’t have much time to stare, however, because Ashlynn, Briar, and the frozen Apple continue to slide right towards her and Maddie.

Briar and Ashlynn yell, telling them to get out of the way.

Raven yelps, leaping away and diving straight to the ground. She can hear Maddie and their non-frozen Apple shout, also hitting the floor.

The frozen block of Apple ice clunks right where they used to sit, bouncing off to drift away towards the wall slowly. 

Shortly after, Ashlynn and Briar crash into the desk, grunting as the wind gets knocked out of their pipes. Some equipment rattles and shakes before smashing onto the ground.

“Whew!” Briar says, gasping as she attempts to stabilize herself. “You know, it was easier than I thought it would be to stop; we just had to aim for a locker whenever we wanted to turn!”

Raven gets up, grabbing onto the table. Once she’s stable, she lifts her hands as they glow in a purplish hue. The door on the ground begins to shake before being lifted up by her magic. It slowly moves to the doorframe until it’s smoothly reinserted.

“What in the Ever After happened to you guys? And Apple?” Raven says, looking at the two.

“I think we should be asking you guys that!” Ashlynn says. “Why does the room smell like Hagatha’s soup?” She pauses, looking at the ground, the table, and the three girls.

Ashlynn scrunches her nose. “...And why is everything covered in it?”

The door literally bursts open. Again.

This time, it’s Faybelle, Darling, and their Apple.

Darling groans, immediately stumbling over to the teacher’s desk and collapsing onto it, leaving Faybelle to casually walk up to everyone else with Apple in her grasp.

“Guess who we have!” Faybelle sings, waving their Apple’s arm around.

It goes silent and Raven can’t help but stare incredulously at Darling. Her dress is ripped, sleeves unevenly pulled up and down, and she’s smeared from top to bottom with dirt– actually, not really top to bottom, because her hair seems perfectly normal, aside from the absence of her tiara and a few stray hairs here and there.

“...Oh my godmother, Darling, are you hurt?” Raven asks.

Darling is face planted on the desk, breathing heavily. She shoots Raven a thumbs up. But then she lifts her head up, realising that it probably looked like she was saying, ‘Yes, I am hurt,’ instead of a, ‘No, I’m good,’ so she changes it to a thumbs down before slamming her face back onto the desk.

“Okay, why do you literally look untouched, Faybelle?” Briar says.

“Um, hexcuse me?” Faybelle says. “What are we accusing me of? I’ll have you know that I was the one who was able to get a hold of this thing!” She gestures to Apple.

“...Whatever after,” Raven says, walking towards Faybelle. “That’s not important right now; what’s important is that we put Apple back together.”

She can hear her and Maddie’s Apple groan behind her. Faybelle and Darling’s rolls her eyes. And Ashlynn and Briar’s?

…Let’s just say she would be doing both.
(Sheesh, I’m starting to think the biggest pain with dealing with Evil Apple is her attitude!)

Raven levitates the door to the doorframe, again, before doing anything else, hoping that this time it would stay on.

She walks over to the Apple block of ice and places a hand on it to keep it from sliding.

“Faybelle, Maddie,” She instructs, “Bring her over here.”

Faybelle nods, dragging her Apple to the left of the block of ice.

Maddie hops up, pulling her Apple along with her to the right side of the ice.

“Alright…” Raven says, wriggling her fingers as she lifts up her hands. “...Here goes nothing!”

Once more, her eyes glow, her hair lifting up as she chants a spell. Indecipherable whispers echo throughout the classroom, and she thrusts her hands out, shooting magic out of her fingertips.

When the steam of magic fades, they’re left with one, singular Apple White.

Raven cheers. “I did it!–”

The door bursts open. Again, again.

Milton, Giles, Rumpelstiltskin, and the boys stream in, stepping awkwardly over the door.

Darling immediately drops to the ground, disappearing beneath the desk before she can get spotted. Briar and Ashlynn attempt to look normal, like they aren’t about to slip over and crash into a wall. Maddie wears a wide grin on her face, and Faybelle wears an unbothered smirk.

Raven frowns.

“Why–” Milton pauses, scanning the situation. “–Why are you and Ms. Hatter covered in–” He sniffs the air, “–In soup, Ms. Queen?”

“Uh–”

Rumpelstiltskin charges at Raven, barking at her. “You! You did this! Detention! Detention for all of you! My door! My door!”

“Huh–”

“–Yup!” Apple says, “It–”

Maddie shoves a biscuit into her mouth.

Giles pulls Rumpelstiltskin aside as he thrashes wildly in his hands.

“Ms. Queen, what is going on here?” Milton points a finger at her.

It was Raven’s turn to awkwardly smile. “Oh! Um…”

“...We were feeding Apple!” Maddie says for her, giggling. “We figured– evil-sitting, babysitting, what’s the difference?”

All of the girls nod.

Maddie giggles again, pushing Apple into Faybelle so she can hold her.

She then hops over to Milton, standing beside him. She holds out her hands, beginning to wave them around as if she was illustrating her explanation.

“You see, Headmaster Grimm–”

Milton quickly places his hand over her arms, lowering them down slowly.

“Please, no Hattersplaining,” He pleads.

Giles ahems loudly, looking at Milton with a raised eyebrow.

Milton sighs, then retracts his arm. “...Fine,” he says. “Continue.”

Maddie grins, waving her hands around once more. “–We were worried Apple would cause a huge scene in the Castleteria, so we went here instead. When we were trying to feed Apple, she got all fussy like a big baby! Which is why we’re covered in soup. She had knocked over the bowl of soup that we worked so hard to get for her! Raven was all like, ‘That wasn’t very nice of you, missy!–”

Maddie stomps around, acting as if she was Raven.

“–But, obviously,” She says, stopping, “She still has to eat! So, you just walked into us feeding her these super yummy biscuits!” She pulls out a tray of biscuits from her pockets, holding it out to Milton as if she was offering him one.

She smiles at him.

He blinks.

“And we’re here for moral support!” Briar adds helpfully.

“I… see,” He says, turning to Maddie. “...Thank you for the hexplanation, Ms. Hatter.”

“Of course!”

“And–” Giles says, holding down the rabid Rumpelstiltskin, “–What of the door?”

“Uh…” Raven says, scratching her head innocently. “...What about it?”

Giles looks down at Rumpelstiltskin, clawing at his arms.

“My door!” He cries. “My door! You troublemakers ruined my door!”

Faybelle whistles. “I don’t know about that,” She says. “If anything, all I could tell is that Headmaster Grimm was the one who ruined your door. It was perfectly fine before he pushed it over.”

Milton coughs into his sleeve, turning red. “W-Well, I–”

“–Don’t worry, Headmaster Grimm!” Raven says cheerfully. “I’ll fix it for you!”

She levitates the door up one more time, sliding it into the doorframe.

She smiles at him. “You’re welcome!”

“It’s still ruined!” Rumpelstiltskin yells. “Black! Black! Why is it black!”

Faybelle shrugs. “If I remember correctly, a certain someone kept causing explosions during class…” She raises an eyebrow at Rumpelstiltskin.

Rumpelstiltskin freezes, crosses his arms, and starts grumbling to himself.

“I…” Milton says, looking between the girls and Giles.

“Brother, I think we should take Rumpelstiltskin out for some air, don’t you think?” Giles asks.

Rumpelstiltskin immediately tries to object, screaming and shouting incomprehensible words.

“...Right,” Milton says. “I… I suppose– if that is all– then we should get going.”

He looks at the girls again. “Remember to keep her out of trouble, and make sure you clean up this mess!”

“Of course, Headmaster Grimm!” Raven says sweetly.

Satisfied, Milton turns on his heels, marching out the door– this time pushing it open as gently as he could.

Giles winks at Maddie, who winks back, before dragging Rumpelstiltskin out the door after him.

Everyone can hear his muffled screaming in the hallway. Once it finally fades out, the room lets out a collective sigh of relief.

“...Okay,” Hunter says. “What actually happened here?”

Notes:

rumpelstinkyskin can kill me now i misspelled this little freak's name wrong the entire time when i first wrote this chapter 💔💔

Chapter 15: A Mini-Slumber-Party!

Raven opens the door to her and Apple’s dorm room with an agonizing shove. The door bangs against the wall, and her friends trailing behind her look at each other as if the door snapped off the hinges.

She groans, stumbling just past the foyer walls before crumpling onto the ground, smashing her face into the floor near her mirror.

The others walk in– or, slide in, in Briar and Ashlynn’s case– as well, also groaning.

Maddie flops onto the ground next to Raven; Ashlynn and Briar slam into the window opposite to the door, causing both of them to slide down onto the ground where they– thankfully– stayed; Darling pulls herself along the walls of the foyer before falling onto the floor next to Apple’s mirror; Hunter and Dexter both collapse on the ground in the foyer, sitting against the wall; and Faybelle flies over to lay happily in front of Apple’s bed next to Darling, swinging her feet in the air while propping her chin up on her hands.

Daring, who was assigned the task of holding Apple, stands awkwardly with her in the middle of the room. He looks around at everyone with a confused face.

“...Uh, what do I do with her?” He asks.

Raven words come out muffled, barely comprehensible. “Just throw her in the closet or something.”

Daring shrugs, dragging Apple to her closet.

Apple tries to pull away. “Hey–”

Daring pulls open the closet doors and pushes her in. He slams the doors shut; objects inside fall down with a crash, followed by several yelps.
(She’s okay in there… I think.)

He slides down on the closet door to sit against it, making sure to press on it hard.

Several beats pass, and heavy breathing fills the air.

“So…” Faybelle says, popping her lips. She looks at Raven and Maddie.  “...You guys aren’t even going to take a shower first?”

Raven flops over, her chest rising and falling. “Faybelle…” She says, gasping, “...I am so tired that I would rather smell like soup for a week than not sleep right now.”

“I agree,” Ashlynn says, yawning. “...Do you mind if we stay here until curfew to rest?”

“Not at all,” Raven mumbles, her words slowly becoming sluggish. “Make yourself at home…” She trails off as she begins to snore softly.

“Woo!” Briar says, a little too energetically. “Slumber party!”

She throws her hands up, but she then immediately passes out, slumping down. She starts sliding across the room slowly.

Ashlynn sighs, closing her eyes. She slumps down too, but not enough to where she starts sliding as well.

Hunter and Dexter blink drowsily, and Hunter is first to go, his head hitting the wall. Dexter yawns, resting his head on Hunter’s shoulder before dozing off.

Daring crosses his arms, nodding his head sleepily as he starts to snooze.

Maddie giggles. “Yay, slumber party!” She whisper-shouts before falling asleep as well, with a smile painted on her face.

Darling and Faybelle look at each other.

“You’re really not tired after all of that?” Faybelle asks, crossing her arms.

“...No– Well–” Darling pauses, biting her lip. “–I am,” She admits.

She looks towards the closet. “...But, I don’t know if I can sleep while she’s awake in there.”

“Even cursed, evil princesses have to sleep sometimes,” Faybelle reasons.

“Maybe,” Darling replies, pushing herself off the ground.

She walks towards the closet, sitting down next to Daring. She leans on him, listening to his soft snores as she rises and falls with his breathing.

Faybelle shrugs. She gets up to flip the light switch.

“Didn’t even bother turning the lights off,” She says, walking over to plop down next to Darling.

“You aren’t going to sleep?” Darling asks.

Faybelle hums. “Nah,” She says, “I figured that there’s no way anyone here would actually end up waking up from the curfew bell. And who else but me to give a rude awakening?”

Darling chuckles. “Are you saying that I won’t stay awake long enough to do that?”

“I bet you won’t make it five minutes.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The clock on Apple’s nightstand ticks, filling the silence.

Faybelle coughs.

“So…” She says. “Are you, like…”

Darling lifts herself off Daring to look at her, cocking an eyebrow.

“Like…” Faybelle continues.

Darling nods, signaling for her to go on.

“Ugh, never mind!” Faybelle says, turning away. Her wings flitter.

Darling blinks. “Uh, okay…” She says, turning back to face the room.

“Are you okay?” Faybelle blurts out. “That’s– That’s what I meant to say.”

Darling looks at Faybelle again, staring at her. Faybelle stares back.

“Stop–!” Faybelle says, her wings folding in as if she’s embarrassed. “Why are you looking at me like that? Never mind!”

She’s about to turn away again until Darling starts to laugh.

Faybelle’s eyes widen, looking at her offended.

“No!– No, I’m sorry!–” Darling says, attempting to stifle her laugh by covering her mouth with her hand. 

“Why are you laughing?” Faybelle complains as her wings relax.

“I’m not laughing!” Darling protests, obviously laughing. “I just–” She takes a deep breath, lowering her hand. “–Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Aside from the physical pain you’re in?” Faybelle says. “When I was flying towards Apple, you kind of looked like you were crying. Sounded like it too.”

Darling’s face drops.

Oh.

She shifts uncomfortably, looking away from her. 

“...It’s–” Darling stops and purses her lips in thought. “–Nothing. Really. It’s just that Apple said some… hurtful things.”

Faybelle goes quiet, and Darling looks at her sleeping friends. Maddie shuffles around, accidentally slapping Raven in the face with her hand. Raven grunts, pushing her hand off, yet they both continue to slumber on.

“...Well, whatever she said,” Faybelle says, her tone suddenly warm, “There’s no way she meant it, you know.”

Darling looks at Faybelle, searching her eyes. She’s surprised to see her features so soft. Understanding.

“Yeah,” Darling whispers, glancing away. “Yeah, I know.”

“I hate to admit it, but…” Faybelle groans quietly, turning away bashfully as she rubs her face.

As her hands slide down, tugging at her skin, she turns back to Darling, wincing as if what she's about to say is physically hurting her. “...But Apple is actually one of the nicest people at this school. The fact that she’s acting this way only when she has a literal curse placed on her shows how lucky you are.”

Darling blinks at Faybelle again. And she can’t help but laugh a little.

“What– Hey! You’re doing it again!” Faybelle whines, shoving her away light-heartedly. “Whatever after; that’s the last time I’m being nice!”

Darling breathes, putting a hand on Faybelle’s shoulder apologetically. “I’m sorry!” She says, “I–” She sighs, smiling at her. “–You’re right. It’s only for a day, anyway, not for–” She stops, gasping as she slaps her hands over her mouth.

“–A hundred years?” Faybelle finishes, raising an eyebrow.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

“–No, no, it’s fine,” Faybelle sighs, turning to lean on the closet door this time.

Darling looks at her, trying to gauge what she’s thinking, but her face only has the slightest frown. She can’t tell if she’s upset or if she’s just thinking. Darling just decides to sit back on the door as well.

In the silence, she can’t help but trace her eyes towards where Briar is sleeping. She had somehow hit Apple’s mirror, gliding back towards the window where Ashlynn is sleeping peacefully. Briar's snores seem to be the loudest out of all of them, and her crownglasses had fallen onto the bridge of her nose at some point; though they’re crooked.

“...Do you ever wonder about it?” Darling asks.

“About what?”

“About what would’ve happened if you and Briar decided to follow your pre-determined destinies?”

Darling doesn’t look at Faybelle, but she can hear her shuffle against the ground.

She doesn’t respond for a while, and Darling worries that maybe she shouldn’t have asked about it.

“You don’t have to answer–”

“–What’s there to wonder about?” Faybelle says. “If we did, I would have cursed her, she would’ve fallen asleep, waking up in a hundred years and…”

“And?”

“...And I wouldn’t have the chance to love her.”

Darling blinks, looking out into the room again. She watches as Dexter’s glasses fall off his face, landing onto Hunter’s lap. It doesn’t seem to bother him, though, and he continues snoring on top of Dexter’s head.

“...Yeah.” Is all that Darling can say.

The clock ticks take over the silence again, and Darling listens to Daring’s snores. They’re so soft that the ticking is just barely louder than them. At this point, his arms are slumped down and his head is tilted towards his shoulder. His crown looks as if it's about to slide off.

“Looks like I won that bet,” Darling says.

“Huh?”

Darling gestures at the clock. “It’s been six minutes.”

“Oh, come on!” Faybelle says. “I was joking!”

Darling laughs, and this time Faybelle joins in.

“I know–” Darling says, shifting to lean on Daring again. The soft fabric of his jacket presses against her cheek, warming her. “–Goodnight, Faybelle. Promise that you won’t wake me up as rudely as the others?”

Faybelle scoffs amusingly. “Sure,” She replies.

But Darling is already out cold, her breathing matching the pace of her brother’s.

Notes:

oh no they put her back in the closet :( she just got out of there :(

also sorry to any1 who saw that one extra tag ‘bout bribelle when i first started posting this fic lmfaoo i’ve properly thought about it now :D

Chapter 16: A (Not-So) Evil Epilogue!

And so, the sun rises the next morning, and–

–Brooke, honey, are you finished yet?

Dad! Mom! I’m not done! You’re interrupting the epilogue!

Oh, how exciting! You’re at the end already!

SNIFF, SNIFF!
I can’t believe it!– SNIFF!– You finished a solo narration… All by yourself! SNIFF!

What– Dad! Why are you acting like this is the first time I’ve narrated by myself? Are you really going to do this every single time? And I’m not even done yet!

Of course I will! I’m just so… so… SNORKKKK!

Sigh– Here, sweetie, take a tissue.

Sniff– Thank you, sweetheart.

What your dad’s trying to say is, we’re just so proud of you!

Aww– Thanks, you guys! But seriously, let me finish the epilogue first before you start crying!

Okay, okay, honey, we’ll let you get back to it. Right, sweetie?

Sniff, sniff!– Uh-huh!– Sniff, sniff!

Alright… Come on… Let’s get you some more tissues…

…
Okaaay… Haha– Sorry about that, dear reader! My parents tend to get a little sentimental whenever I narrate. But, uh, back to our regularly scheduled epilogue!

–

The sunlight filters in through the windows of Raven and Apple’s dorm room, creeping gracefully across the walls. The room glows orange with small white specks dancing, glittering and shimmering like silvery fairy dust.

Birds whistle cheerfully outside, singing happy little tunes that flow into the room as they wait patiently for the window to crack open.

Inside, Raven sleeps soundly. Her friends had gone, packed up and left once the curfew bell– really Faybelle– had woken them up, but they had made sure that she had been placed on her bed.

From Apple’s side of the dorm room, the closet’s doors start to shake a bit, sounds of movements inside from the princess who had caused so much trouble last night waking up.

A faint yawn can be heard, followed by a drowsy voice. “Oh, Raven! You won’t believe the dream I just had–”

A pause, and then a high-pitched squeak coming from Apple as she tumbles out of the closet, sending several boxes of shoes and hangers and dresses and skirts and other clothing to the ground with her.

“–Oh my,” She says. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?”

–

CLANK, CLANK, CLANK

Raven drags a janitor’s cart along the school floor. A mop hangs out of the bright yellow cart and slides across the ground, leaving a slimy wet trail. Containers of disinfectant, soap, and other cleaning materials jiggle and shake as the old wheels clatter, clunk, and creak against the ground. The bleach-scented water swishes loudly in the bucket that sways dangerously on the side.

Suddenly, the bucket falls off, hitting the ground with a CRASH. Water splatters everywhere, splashing onto Raven’s clothes.

She groans, looking down as she turns around to pick it up.

Though as she bends down, a familiar pale hand grabs the bucket before she can do so, holding it out to her.

Raven looks up, and is met face-to-face with a bright smile, and the princess it belongs to.

“Apple!” Raven says, taking the bucket. “What are you doing here?”

She puts the bucket back onto the cart, nearly dropping it again.

Apple fidgets sheepishly with her hair, tucking it away from her face as she rocks back and forth on her heels.

“Oh, you know… “ She says, “...After that– well– incident, I don’t think it’s right for you to be cleaning the mess around the school all by yourself.”

“Headmaster Grimm seems to think so,” Raven grumbles.

She begins tugging on the cart to get it moving, still rolling as noisily as before. Apple walks beside her.

Raven knows it was impossible for Headmaster Grimm not to notice; he had found out about the mess they had left around the school. And, consequently, she was assigned cleaning duty. At least he didn’t give her detention along with it.

Raven eyes Apple, giving her a little smirk. “So,” She says, “Are you saying you want to clean up the school by yourself instead? I’d gladly let you.” She laughs.

Apple doesn’t laugh. Instead, she looks straight ahead with a determined face, hitting the palm of her hand with a fist. “Of course,” She says, “It was me who was cursed ever after all! I should be the one to take responsibility; I don’t know why the punishment wasn’t given to me!–”

“–Whoa, Apple!” Raven laughs, stopping to turn to her. “I was joking!” She says, “How about we do it together?”

Apple looks at her hesitantly, but before long, a smile creeps up her lips.

“Are you sure?” She asks. “Like I said, totally on me.”

“I’m sure,” Raven says. “Besides, I think it would be a lot more fun that way.”

Apple’s face bursts out into a full smile. “Yeah,” She says. “I think so too.”

Raven then loops her arm around Apple’s, holding the cart’s handle with her other hand as they begin to walk down the hallway.

“...Blondie was asking me if she could interview me about the whole curse thing,” Apple says, “And, I figured that I should because– you know– half the school probably thinks that I’m evil now.”

“You,–” Raven laughs, “–Apple White, evil?”

“Yes, well, just in case!” Apple chuckles. “And then she started going on about this singer named Clondie? Have you ever heard of them?”

Raven laughs, and Apple joins in. As they walk arm-in-arm down the hallways of Ever After High together, their laughter and chatter fill the air so that not even the rattling of the noisy old cart could bother them.

And Raven smiles knowing that with a friend by her side, maybe, just maybe, this punishment wouldn’t be half-bad ever after all.

The End…
…is just the beginning.

Notes:

brooke had to hit y'all with the tagline at the end fr

ANYWAYS THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!! was really excited to post the last chapter cuz this is my first multi-chapter :) super awesome!! :)) thank y'all so much for reading or kudo-ing or commenting or whatever, the support has been super awesome and cool and sweet!! :D i'm really happy to hear about how much some of y'all enjoyed reading this, and i'm really happy i got to make some of y'all laugh and smile or whatever so thank you so much idk how to say it enough 'cause y'all are so sweet fr :)) thank you again! <3 :D