Work Text:
LOOK she lied for a good reason!
Raven had not spent the day with the wonderland couple as she told her snoozing girlfriend, in fact, she hadn’t been in Ever After High for the whole day. She had just mentally prepared herself for that lie as she walked in, though not expecting to see her girlfriend still awake at such an hour and spilling it quickly.
What shocked the witchling more is that her father had spent the day with Apple, with that newly gained information her odd encounter today must have been a scheme made by Apple’s mother and her father. Or perhaps they weren’t in cahoots at all, and Apple’s mother used Apple as a distraction, honestly, that makes more sense than her father approving what she’s been through today.
She closed her eyes, trying to rest as her limp girlfriend nuzzled into her neck, still wrapping her head around the idea of everything that happened today. She was tired and honestly just wanted to forget about it all, her girlfriend’s warmth can only do so much, though.
The day had started normally, Apple left for her queen training much before Raven was even a peep awake. She was used to it but missed the warmth her lover provided. She rolled out of bed with a groan as she got to her feet, snapping her fingers as a toothbrush brushed her teeth for her and then splashing water in her eyes, trying to wake herself up as she waltzed out with a light yawn.
Next thing she knew, things became pitch black and everything was a blur, her magic flared up and shot across the room as she felt herself hit the floor but after that? Her eyes closed as she was much too weak to fight back with the newfound drugs in her system. Mumbling filled her ears as she softly drifted out of consciousness. It sounded irritating. All she could decipher before succumbing is “clean this up”.
Next thing she woke up inside a white limousine, chained to the seats and wearing a Pendant of Repulsion. It is an ancient relic that possesses the power to seal away the magical aura of the wearer for a temporary amount of time depending on the strength of the bearer, preventing any kind of magic use from the user, it was once used to seal old Evil Queen’s temporarily as they find a punishment, however with the discovery of the Mirror Realm, there was no need to keep it around for uses like that. It became rather useless in time, seeing as the Evil Queen’s power is the strongest in the land as it continued to improve and strengthen down the bloodline, however, it still numbs until challenged.
She knew the history of her lineage because of her mother warning her of things like this being able to happen. Did she ever expect something like this to actually happen? No. Not at all, regardless of her relationship with the future queen, she still expected whoever would come after her would be less rough about it.
She winced as she began to try and wiggle her way out of the chains, though she heard a glass be put down and her attention snapped up to her current captor. Snow White, the Queen of all of Ever After, or by an even more intimidating title, her girlfriend’s mother. At this moment she wished that her captor truly was a bounty hunter who had gotten incorrect information.
“About time, it seems like you and your mother share a lack of spatial awareness!” Snow White laughed, taking a sip of her apple cider from a wine glass, the two of them haven't spoken much, Apple invited her to Christmas at the palace but that was still a few weeks away, and Raven has already tried countless times to talk her out of the idea. Raven met gazes with the ruler and while trying to be formal, she had clear irritation in her expressions.
“Your majesty, I would like to know what could be so important that you KIDNAPPED me for.” Her anger leaked through her words, she knew that if she truly willed it, she could break from the restraints and escape if attacked, however, she wasn’t exactly looking to become a fugitive and she presumed Snow White didn’t have a death wish.
“Don’t take it personally my dear! It’s simply for safety measures. We all saw the Dragon Games, setting the stadium on fire really does paint a bad picture.” The pure rage in Raven must have been showing as she began her annoying laugh again, she would have begun to speak again if Raven hadn’t cut her off.
‘That wasn’t me!-” Snow White’s expression grew firm and cold as the witchlit stood up for herself, her expression becoming stoic and as if she had never laughed in the first place, as she simply began to speak in a demeaning tone.
“You’d make a great lawyer, you know that?” She practically hissed out, Raven decided it was best to back down after that comment, wondering what hell this woman put Apple through in her childhood. While she acknowledged that the woman before her had been an awful influence on her roommate, she had never learned the true extent, her line of thought was interrupted by the clearing of a throat from the ghastly white lady.
“My apologies! Though you should be less argumentative, we wouldn’t want dear Apolline getting sick of you so quickly, now would we?” She smiled after finishing those words, but the tense aura knew those words were nothing but sweet, without another pause she continued, seeming not to care if Raven had anything else to contribute. “I’ve brought you out to my kingdom today! I’d like to know the one who has dear Apolline’s heart, perhaps it could… bring us to a better understanding of one another!” She clapped in delight as the car stopped, assuming they had reached their destination, Apple had been ignoring her mother for a while now. Was this her way of making an effort to try and come back into her life outside of work? Or worse… She was taking Raven to Apple in the middle of her internship, the reason she leaves so early is to come to the Heart, after all.
All Raven had been sure of was the amount of unbridled rage that fills her whenever she hears her lovers mother call her that nickname, it infuriated her to hear the delusional queen pretend that everything is fine between the two of them when anyone with a knack of gossip knew that they hadn’t been seeing eye-to-eye lately, at least Apple had been acting civil about it. Snow White unlocked her chains and the door opened for the both of them, she slipped out before Raven as well, Raven finally got a look at the windows to see exactly where they were, her eyes focusing on what was before her. Shaking her head as if this was a freakish nightmare she could wake up from.
She was in the heart of Ever After, the Royal Castle. Raven wasn’t surprised. Outside were lines of dwarfs in black suits blocking them from the general public, Snow White took a large breath as she let the birds preen her hair and clean up her appearance, the sun was shining brightly so a dwarf quickly ran up to her with a parasol to block the rays, then she finally noticed a red carpet lined to a… parade float?!
“Welcome! Welcome! Impressive, isn’t it? I’d love to give you a tour, but we can save that for Christmas! You have agreed to come over, yes? I’m sure your father wouldn’t mind. We are on good political terms and he wouldn’t want to risk that!” The small threat rubbed Raven the wrong way, while the kingdom’s were mostly at peace due to the creation of the StoryBook of Legends and everything being foreseen, war and battles were basically nonexistent, though Snow White insinuated that she wouldn’t hesitate if things weren’t going her way.
“Right… So why am I here?” Raven piped, she had come to her own conclusions but she had always been known for having a wild imagination, Snow White couldn’t possibly…
“We’re going sightseeing together! You’ll be with me on my parade float today, it’ll represent peacekeeping between the White’s and Queen’s even without the book! Isn’t it such a hexellent idea? Came up with it myself.” She rambled with glee, Raven’s expression becoming more sour as she fed into her own ego with those compliments.
Before Raven could even agree to the idea- which trust her, was not what she was going to do, the dwarfs began pushing her onto the float, there were two seats on the float, seeming to be the first float in the entire parade line, one was gold and red with a golden apple sitting on top of it, the second one black and purple with bat wings sticking out from the side and a malicious look. Well, that wasn't an obvious jab at her evil lineage at all, no, why would it be?
Raven swallowed a groan as she sat down, dwarfs surrounding the floats from the sides as Snow White sat down next to her, a smile as shiny as a diamond plastered on her face, she was quite familiar with that expression from her roommate, but she couldn’t help but feel repulsed seeing it on Snow White. She hated seeing the similarities between the two.
The parade soon began, the float starting to move throughout the road as Snow White waved to her citizens, Raven sat there disinterested for the start, her expression bored and dull as everyone cheered her on, she knew that most everyone she knew would be in classes at the moment, so it’s not as if she would need to hide. Apple was the only one she could run into and well, knowing what little she does about the former's mother, there was not a chance in hell.
Soon enough, Snow White glanced over to Raven and scowled for a quick moment, before putting on her facade for the civilians again, she began to whisper in a curt tone towards Raven, aggression clear through her voice, however, you wouldn’t be able to tell from below that she was scolding the daughter of the strongest witch.
“Smile, Raven, people are looking.” She grumbled, awaiting for Raven to change her expression, when the other had made it clear she had no intention to smile, her patience clearly beginning to run thin with the queen, she began to chastise the other, her tone growing in intensity.
“Raven,” She sneered. “I said to smile for the crowd,'' You're capable of such a simple task, yes? After all, no one will love you if you’re apathetic! Not even Apple will stay with you if you’re such a pathetic excuse of an Evil Queen!” She laughs, continuing to wave to the crowd as if she hadn’t dropped a large insult to the high schooler. She hadn’t respected Snow White before today, but she hated the others' guts by now. Though the queen continued in her taunt. Raven kept her expression cold and firm.
“I’ve been wondering why my Apolline had been dating you, and I think I’ve finally figured it out, after spending all this time with you. I believe she’s still trying to salvage what’s left of her destiny. Did you think I hadn’t heard about the kiss? I know you woke her up. You’re simply just fulfilling her false hopes of things ever being the same. That you’re destined to be together.” Snow White began to laugh as Raven shot her a glance of confusion, she continued as she wiped away the tears of laughter that left her. “Isn’t that just pathetic for you? Indulging in the thing you despised most simply to live a fantasy?” She continued to cackle, Raven, sitting there speechless as she processed the words.
BANG!
Well, that wasn’t a lot of time to process, a bullet was fired at their float, and Raven soon turned to look at the damages, spotting the Queen’s shoulder bleeding out, Raven sighed as she ripped the pendant off her chest and stomping on it, a magical purple swirl surrounding her as her magic repression was released, dwarfs began surrounding the wounded queen as Raven raised to the sky, shooting purple beams of energy at the building tops, hoping to hit the sniper. Though she didn’t see anyone, all the roofs had their basics, fans, one of them was hosting a rooftop sale, Raven eyed up the stand however, nothing stood out to her. The seller was selling herbs and all other sorts of trinkets, mirrors, potions, all sorts of treats, and trinkets. Raven sighed in defeat as she realized they must have gotten away.
She was saving a woman who hated her guts. Wonderful, she soon descended back down as there was no sight of the sniper, the dwarfs initially kept Raven away from the injured ruler, however, she waved them away, holding herself stable with one arm, the other putting pressure on the bullet wound. Raven put a hand on her shoulder and the two of them suddenly surrounded in a purple glow, treating the wound for long enough until they got to the hospital.
What? She can be a little petty.
The next few hours were blurry, she spent a lot of it in an ambulance with Snow White, being the queen’s chosen plus one on the ride to the palace doctor. It had become dark by the time they got to the palace, due to Raven not being family, she was sitting outside. Though she knew she wouldn’t be going inside today, she didn’t have a fast way back to Ever After High. So she needed to wait for the Queen to order a ride. Raven had been listening to music, trying to relax as she finally saw the concerned texts she was getting from her schoolmates as the communication barrier was dropped and the group chat filled with her close rebel friends was blowing up.
Magical Beings + Darling: 8:12PM
Mittens: Raven what the hex! Where are you?! Maddie’s been worried sick!
Woofhood: You’ve been ignoring our calls and texts, not cool, by the way, are you okay?
LesbianInShiningArmor: Guys! Let’s not overwhelm her, I don’t know why she’s been at the Heart of Ever After or not responding, but clearly something happened and she needs a minute.
Mittens: I don’t like seeing Maddie like this, she’s been trembling and pouring tea! Tea for spell's sake!
Woofhood: Calm down Kitty, I know you don’t like your girlfriend panicking (and secretly using her to express your own worry), but who does? All we can do is wait and offer support.
Mittens: That’s just plain rude, I’m not worried.
LesbianInShiningArmor: We can head over to the Heart, I think Raven would appreciate the company and it gives us an excuse to check on her, I don’t think all of us have eaten dinner anyway.
Mittens: Yes!
Mittens: I mean, Mads and I can go.
Woofhood: Even if I have, no way I’m missing out on this.
LesbianInShiningArmor: It’s decided then! We’ll be there soon, Raven.
...So that was about an hour ago. Seems like they’ll be here soon, then. She noticed a few texts from Apple too, but none were about the situation at hand so she made the executive decision to ignore them. She didn’t know if Apple saw everything that happened tonight, but if she knew the royals, they could hide it until tomorrow, spare the girl some grief until she can do something about it. Apple had a way with words that could get the truth out of Raven, so she decided to not take any risky moves for right now, no matter how much she wanted to talk to Apple right now.
She sighed as she glanced at the clock, 9:26 PM, Apple must have been in the room by now, trying to sleep or waiting for Raven, the witch prayed for the former instead of the latter, but she knew that more likely than not, it was the latter. She slumped back down as she tapped her thigh. Awaiting a way home, or her friends to arrive.
Kitty, Maddie, Darling, and Cerise all showed up about twenty minutes later, 9:47 PM was the current time, if they truly intended to spend more time in the city, they’d be getting back to campus much after curfew, though they did have the excuse of Snow White so they doubt it’d cause much trouble.
“Raven! It’s hatastic to see you okay!” Maddie chirped as she ran over for a hug, Raven rubbed her back awkwardly as she let out a sheepish laugh. Her best friend tends to be able to keep her composure with ease however, it seemed the assassination attempt Raven fell in the middle of truly frightened her.
“Yeah- Sorry about not replying, I only saw them like 10 minutes ago, they had a communication jammer because of the incident.” Raven explained with a calm expression, Darling simply gave her a nod, Kitty was mostly content to see both of them safe and Cerise had a harsh glare towards Raven.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were in the Heart of Ever After? It’s not like you to not tell anyone where you’re going.” She snarled, though it wasn’t aggressive, it was fond and filled with care. Darling put a hand on the wolf girl's shoulder and added to her statement. “Especially being on a float with Snow White? How did you manage that?” Darling questions, before Raven sighs and begins to explain.
“You see, it wasn’t exactly my free will.” She started with a huff before explaining the all and all of today. Kitty burst into laughter as she heard the details of the day. Maddie remained quiet and just nodded to the stories, though you could sense the anger from the Hatter. Cerise's eyes flashed gold in anger as Raven kept going with all, baring her claws, Darling put a hand on Cerise's shoulder as she seemed dismayed and disheartened by the queen’s true nature.
“That's all of it, honestly I just want to go home, but I can’t unless Snow White summons me a chauffeur, but she can’t really do that in surgery, I was expecting to spend the night.” Raven concluded, watching all the different girls' reactions. Darling quickly took the silence as a moment to speak up.
“That’s… awful, Raven. We have a dragon to get us back, let’s just go get us all some food, and head home, does that sound good?” Darling proposed, glancing at the other girls who simply nodded in agreement, leaving the final choice to Raven.
“Yes please.” She replied with a smile, she wanted to get out of this palace as quickly as she could. She knew she wasn't exactly loved by the running staff due to her bloodline, and really didn’t want to spend the night, as they began to leave and they got onto Darling’s dragon’s back
“So… has anyone told Apple?” Kitty mused with a lighthearted tone, knowing how all hell will break loose if Apple found out about what had happened today, not only her mother being shot, but how she treated Raven alone would be enough to cause pure calamity.
“Oh! Shoot- I ignored her texts” Raven remembered, then before she could pull her phone back out, Cerise quickly stopped her by grabbing her wrist firmly, however not enough to harm the witch.
“She can wait for a little, let’s not risk slipping.” Cerise stated in a gentle tone, Raven was known to not be fond of lying to Apple and then Apple always managed to push the others' buttons correctly to get information.
They landed at a local family diner, Darling letting her dragon lie in the car park as they all loaded off, before entering the cozy environment. They sat down together and quickly ordered, Raven got some nachos with water, Kitty got spring rolls with iced tea, Cerise got wings, Maddie only got a tea refill and Darling got fries and a milkshake.
Before shredding into her wings, Cerise paused and looked at Raven, hesitating before asking. “So, are you feeling alright? Tonight’s been a mess.” She asked, before popping a wing into her mouth and only pulling out the bones, impressive.
“I’m alright, really. I just needed a way out of there.” Raven insisted, picking up a chip and crunching it, the toppings weren’t her favorite but, she wasn’t complaining after today. Maddie sipped her tea before speaking up.
“You seem tense, Darling. You must remember a cover is not the book, you must have read between the lines, no?” Maddie hummed, taking another sip of her drink, Kitty batted her tail at Maddie, it was a small gesture but Raven could tell it was her way to tell her to lay off.
“Of course- I just didn’t expect her to go this far.” Darling sighed, munching on a fry as she kept her thoughtful expression on her pale face. Cerise simply shrugged, eating another wing before deciding to voice her opinion.
“The queen’s an ass, it’s as simple as that, I don’t know why you needed more proof after the Dragon Game’s incident.” Cerise said with a content expression, clearly not shocked by the lengths that the queen went through.
“Vulgar, but it’s true.” Kitty purred, sipping her tea as she ate the rolls, offering some to Maddie who kindly rejected, Darling muttering under her breath with a smug expression plastered on her porcelain features.
“Consent is like a cup of tea.”
“NOT THAT JOKE.” Kitty yelped as she heard the knight. Cerise bursting into a laugh mixed with howls, and Raven biting back her laughter. Maddie simply snickered at the reference.
Soon enough they found themselves on a few-hour trip back to Ever After High, seeing as they hadn’t exactly had many trips to the Heart and let alone not on a dragon, it took them two hours to get back. At a point, Raven was considering teleportation before being reminded they were mid-air. They reached the stables and Darling walked in, putting her dragon to sleep.
“Right, my prepared lie is I was with Maddie and Kitty and Kitty took my phone, that works with you two, right?” Raven questioned, still a little nervous about the plan to lie to Apple for the night, even though she knew she’d be caught in the morning, she wanted to give her peace of mind for the night.
“That’s purrfect.” Kitty yawned, before taking Maddie’s hand and keeping it to her side, Cerise noticed the tired expressions from everyone before beginning to speak.
“Seems it’s about time to head to bed, I’ll wait for Darling, you guys go on ahead.” Cerise suggested, Maddie simply nodded before lightly pulling her lover along with her, who was already beginning to nod off to sleeps
“Thanks, for getting me home you guys.” Raven commented before beginning to walk off, preparing herself for if Apple was still awake. She was expecting her to be, seeing how the other always insisted to cuddle in the night, Raven wondered if it’s because she felt as though she wasn’t around enough.
Now she was here, after her girlfriend's revelation, trying to sleep. She was drained and soon, her eyes closed as she drifted out of consciousness, she could deal with what came next in the morning.