Chapter Text
A melancholic atmosphere was breathed in Ever After High, which was also accompanied by heavy rain. Daring missed classes and locked himself in his room, he didn't want to leave, he wanted to be alone. He was sitting near the window, the raindrops slid on the fogged glass. He tried to put his thoughts in order by looking towards the Enchanted Forest, as it was difficult for him to process what had happened there. He had never gone through such a complicated situation.
As much as he tried he could not get answers, although the circunstances were not the same, the important elements in his destiny had occurred. Apple had eaten the poisoned apple of the Evil Queen, she fell into an enchanted dream that only he could save her ... Or so she believed.
He felt so guilty and useless, his younger brother did nothing but reiterate that it had not been his mistake. He valued his laudable intention to comfort him but Daring didn't think the same. He lucidly remembered that Apple told him that she had seen them together when she signed her page at the Legacy Day ceremony. He found that memory so tortuous; her eyes sparkled a particular glow every time she talked about their destiny, she looked hopeful and full of life ... He couldn't help thinking that he had failed her.
Maybe true that the Storybook had turned out to be a copy to hide that the real one was missing, even so it had to be exactly the same as the original book, otherwise someone would notice.
Were their entire lives based on a lie? He refused to believe it, he was sure to be her prince but the events indicated otherwise. He strongly wanted to go back time, when everything was easier. When they only swore to follow in their parents' footsteps, if so Apple would be safe ...
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The traditional trip to the Legacy Orchard was taking place, which was great for students to break the usual routine. Apple was very hexcited as she would have the opportunity to see in person what previous generations had been, in particular her mother's. Snow White had already told her some things but this would be more special. Raven walked beside her, which generated a total contrast because she looked serious. She wanted to look forward to rewrite her own happily ever after, it seems that Director Grimm was determined to remind her of her past. This school trip was an excellent pretext for it but it was not going to work.
As expected, Daring challenged Hunter and Sparrow to a small race, it was something simple; See who of them was the fastest. He naturally led the way over his friends. As captain of the school team he enjoyed the best physical condition after Cerise followed him, the most recent element.
The boys passed everyone else, Sparrow stepped into Dexter's side, shoving him with his shoulder, causing his glasses to collapse to the ground. He was going so fast and didn't even stop to apologize, he just thought of winning. This did not surprise him at all because he was like the invisible boy to almost everyone, except one person: Cupid.
"Are you okay?" She lifted her glasses from the floor as she realized that the boy could not find them. I really needed them much further than to complement their pseudo hipster look with geek-style touches. Dexter smiled at the winged girl shyly, he didn't know what would happen to him without her, she was his best friend forever after.
"Yes, thanks Cupid." The prince extended his arm to get hooked on it, he wanted to travel the rest of the way by her side. Eros' daughter looked behind the boy's back because he had left Blondie behind to go to his aid. She didn't want to leave her alone but that didn't seem to matter because she raised both thumbs in approval as she smiled mischievously. Cupid was as shy as the youngest of the Charming, so she hesitated, however she ended up accepting.
She felt strange, she didn't know what to do, that feeling was something new. It was ironic since she had always taken care of other people's love but had not allowed herself to experience it herself. It was not common for the Gods of Love to fall in love.
Raven who came later they were watching "sneakily", not wanting to let out a sigh. Luckily Apple did not listen to her since she was very attentive to what the Grimm brothers explained about the place they were going.
"This is so hexciting!" The daughter of the Evil Queen rolled her eyes, she didn't understand her eagerness to hold on to the past so much "aren't you curious to know what your mother was like before?"
"Uh ..." Although it wasn't funny that they reminded him of his dark legacy at every opportunity, he had to admit that he had raised an interesting question.
How was her mother when she was her age? Was signing the Storybook what changed her forever? They were riddles that suddenly afflicted Raven, sometimes she thought that could have a lot to do with her mother's way of being today. Anyway, that would be a problem for another day, as long as the Storyook of Legends remained missing, she wouldn't even have to think about it.
"The fastest one there here is!" Daring shouted triumphantly, touching the entrance gate before Raven could answer Apple's question. He was barely tasting his sweet victory on the faces of Hunter and Sparrow, who ran weakly to reach him.
«I must put them to train, their performance has declined.» He thought when he saw the boys leaning on their own knees, catching their breath.
"With this time ... I don't think so!" Cerise intervened in a mocking tone, who leaned her back against the wall right next to the fence. The blond was quite puzzled. A moment ago when he arrived he would swear by Fairy Goodmother that there was no one there. How could he not have seen her? She gave him a look implying how superior she felt for merit. Hunter and Sparrow were speechless, each day that hooded girl surprised them.
The older Charming began to set aside those baseless prejudices that limited advances in his team. He was proud to be the most progressive Captain in school's history. Which he would not have achieved without help from his future queen.
The Grimm brothers opened the gate. Milton did not miss the opportunity to make a mini speech. The man had an eloquence like no other, so he was an excellent speaker. To the regret of his students, he abused it.
"How enchanting!" Apple exclaimed being almost the first to enter.
"Yes, how enchanting." Raven said behind her in an apathetic tone.
At first glance it was noted that it was a unique site in its class. It was as if he had a life of his own, as they entered the garden, the yearbooks that were attached to them by some vines descended from the trees.
Kitty had climbed the tree branch to take a little nap. From there he could see that Alistair and Bunny walked together. The albino was flushed but the boy paid no attention to it. The cat just watched in silence as they read a yearbook together, the two changed the page at the same time making their hands collide. Distressed people looked away pretending that had not happened. Kitty winced. She thought they were exasperating since half the world knew about their feelings except the two of them.
"Ridiculous, they will never leave the Friendzone." She thought making a sly smile. In fact, she wanted it to be that way, she believed that this girl was nothing good for Alistair.
Raven seeing the place began to change her mind. She leafed through the first book that went down to her. Everything looked very nice, Ever After High was a school full of wonderful stories; graduation dances, bookball games. She even recognized in the photos some trophy of those that were in the showcases. Suddenly the shouts of Director Grimm interrupted her pleasant reading.
"Guys!" Milton Grimm exclaimed waving his fist in the air with anger "Don't use that yearbook as Bookball!" He sighed frustrated, he no longer felt the same energy as in previous years.
The O'hair sisters were near there watching everything. When he saw the boys play Poppy, he remembered the conversation with Holly who stayed halfway a couple of days ago because the bell rang to go to class.
"Hey sis, aren't you going to tell me who your enchanted crush is?" She asked, hitting her with his elbow, the long-haired girl was thoughtful watching the blond prince who had made a clean launch towards Hopper. "Poppy have you ever felt that you waste your time on something that will never happen?" She replied with a shrug. She didn't want to talk about it but I was relieved to let it out.
Hunter turned away from his friends in order to be with his beloved Ashlynn. In turn, Sparrow met with his two best friends. Holly wasn't the only one keeping secrets between them. She also had an impossible crush. That trio began to laugh at something they saw in the yearbook held by Faybelle. She watched as Sparrow enveloped Duchess with his arm pulling her closer to him. She didn't like the idea but it was obvious that Sparrow felt something special for Duchess.
"You know, I thought I wasn't important because I didn't have a destiny like you." Holly raised both eyebrows upon hearing that. "But I learned that each of us has the power to change things. Look at me! I wouldn't be in Ever After High if it wasn't for you."
"You say I could make it happen?" Her youngest twin nodded with a sincere smile. Poppy didn't know but she was a little envious, she knew that deep down he would like to be a little independent as Poppy was.
She kept analyzing her sister words. It made it sound simple and maybe it was for a determined girl like her. The problem was that this was not Holly's case, besides the matter went beyond that. She remembered perfectly how unprotected she felt in her first year at school by being alone and away from home. She didn't know how to do it, she didn't have friends.
However there was a girl who was interested in talking to her. Thanks to her kind treatment she helped her feel part of the school. They became friends in a short time. Everything was going well until she learned that her enchanted crush was destined to marry her. It was a fairy disaster, in the name of friendship Holly decided to give up but his feelings were still there.
The young prince had been left alone, abandoned by his friends. He was reading a yearbook, suddenly he lowered the book as he felt a glance over it. He could see Rapunzel's daughters from where he was, he noticed that Holly had been watching him for a while. He winked at her causing her to blush and look away. He just laughed down, he was used to causing that kind of thing on girls.
"Daring come, you have to see this!" Apple with an obvious emotion in her voice. She took him by the hand and led him through the garden until he reached a tree that contained the yearbook of the previous generation; that of his parents.
Poppy noticed that her sister was following them with her eyes, when she let out a sigh everything was clear. She had discovered the identity of the boy who was stealing Holly's breath.
It was an incredible find. It was a picture of Snow White and the Evil Queen. Both mounted on fierce dragons, he recognized that one of them was Leyend. Although it was a static image, he perceived that all the people in the stands looked quite excited. School colors everywhere, shirts, hats, pennants and even confetti.
"Would you teach me how to ride a dragon?" she questioned him with an air of innocence, looking straight into his eyes, smiling sweetly. The boy tried to process the nature of that strange request. That was one of the craziest things someone had asked for.
"I-i don't know ..." He paused because he was speechless. Apple looked at him with silent expectation "I mean, this is a dangerous thing. I don't think it's a good idea."
"Please ..." he replied in a pleading tone, clasping his hands with intertwined fingers."
"You are the best dragon rider in the whole school!"
"Well..." he scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully chuckling, his compliment made his guard drop. "Yeah, that's right. Only, I consider it risky." He affirmed looking at her small and fragile body from head to toe, giving him the impression that she could break.
"You think I couldn't do it, right?" answered crestfallen hiding his arms in his back.
"I-I ..." He hesitated, it was as if she had read his mind. "Yes ... I mean, no!" Agh, I mean why so much interest in the Dragon Sport?"
"I donn't know. It's just that... if my mother was good at this sport, it's possible that I can do it too!" She replied firmly, looking up. Daring understood very well her desire to be the best in everything she wanted. He felt it constantly the same way.
"Students!" Giles Grimm clapped a few times in the air and the books got up. "We hope you had a day full of stories." He announced ending that trip.
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Daring didn't know how he had come up with that memory that seemed so far away. A strong sorrow invaded him in the loneliness of his bedroom. In those days everything was stable, he had nothing to worry about, instead he was in a situation that he didn't know how to handle. His world was all messy and sad.
No one was able to give him comfort. The person who cared most lay in a glass coffin. Caught on the threshold of life and death. He wasn't even able to imagine what that should be.
Suddenly a knock on his door stopped his mental wanderings. Obviously it wasn't Hopper, he would only use his key to enter. He wasn't in the mood to see anyone, not fans, friends, not even family. So he continued savoring his pain sitting near his window, had no intention of getting up. But whoever was outside was becoming insistent playing several times until Daring lost the little patience he had.
"I'm going!" He huffed in a voice that sounded strong by how serious he was. When he went to see who went to bother him in his room he found an unpleasant surprise.
"Daring, I know I am the last person you would like to see right now." Said the daughter of the Evil Queen trying to ignore the unfortunate appearance of the blond. His hair looked like he hadn't had a comb all day. The outline of his eyes had darkened a little in addition to the fact that it could be seen that the area was swollen, most likely because of crying for a long time. His clothes were unkempt, his tie was untied, his black shirt was partially unbuttoned and unfastened. What alarmed the girl the most is that he dared to open the door because his appearance was of the utmost importance.
"What do you want, Raven?" He asked, rolling his eyes in disgust, leaning on the door frame.
"We have to turn the page ..." He paused briefly because the prince began to thunder the fingers of his hands avoiding looking at her "We both know Apple, do you think she would want to see you like that?" Daring stopped cracking his joints abruptly. He raised his eyebrow, making his indignation evident. "My mother was the one who did this ..." He continued speaking when he noticed that he got his attention. "Maybe I could find a way to reverse it."
"What Apple would want... Did you say?" He interrupted her and made a sarcastic laugh.
"W-what?" She stammered at the sudden questioning.
"Sorry, I don't think I listened well." Daring pretended to wipe his ears in a mocking way. "Did you ever care what she wanted?"
"I ... Emm ..."
"You said that by giving us our pages it would still be possible to follow our destinies." He spat without letting her even speak, it bothered him that he acted as if everything was so simple ignoring the seriousness of the situation.
"Yes! I did it with all the care in the world so as not to alter things!" She exclaimed in a broken voice, he felt like crying but he was resisting and that caused him great pain.
"But I still couldn't wake her up! Our story is in the air! If I'm not her prince, who the fuck is he then?!" He raised his voice shaking Raven so much that she took a step back, Daring felt weird to have done that. He shrugged his shoulders and looked away.
"I don't understand ... This shouldn't be happening, but together we can solve it."
"... Make me a favor and get the fuck out of here. You have done enough!" Daring got tired of that conversation and closed the door in her face. He leaned on the other side, dropped to the ground, covered his face as he felt his eyes wet. Raven kept calling him but his mind was so saturated suddenly everything was silent. Seeing that there was no answer, she gave up.
It was frustrating that he took out his anger with her, however she was not surprised, he had noticed that since the Legacy Day he held some resentment. Raven wanted to be patient, because he was Dexter's brother. Besides she couldn't judge him, everything had been recent. She would wait for to be calmer to talk with him. His words managed to make her feel bad. Deep down she also thought it had caused that disaster. She always believed that the devilish book only served to control people, he believed that he did the world a favor when he got rid of it.
"Maybe Imade a mistake ..." Raven thought.
To be continued...