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Her hair was dark as a crow's feather, and her eyes were purple like the poisonous berries, Bunny had been warned not to touch by her dad, when she was a little girl and was starting to learn the basics of how to hop like a rabbit.
Her dad's words rang in her head, but despite it, Bunny's tiny hands would one day pluck one off, gently but anxiously holding it, expecting a bad thing to happen to her now that she broke her dad's rules. But nothing happened no matter how many minutes had passed. The berry stayed cooped up in her palms and Bunny continued to gaze at it, eyes wide and curious.
She leaned in, closer to see it better and to inspect them as that was the riddle that she always had with these berries - were they poisonous or not? Before the young rabbit could figure out the answer to this mystery, her father had noticed what she was doing and dashed to her, slapping the berry out of her hands.
"I thought you were gonna eat it!" her dad would tell. "Please, don't do that ever again. Those berries are not good for you." the old rabbit explained, pointing at the bush filled with even more berries.
"But they are pretty," the little girl said, her rabbit ears slouching down. Her father looked at her, not saying much. "Oh, Bunny," he ruffled her white hair. "Those berries may be…pretty, my dear. But pretty things can still cause harm."
Back then her kid brain couldn't wrap her brain around such an odd concept, but as the young rabbit became older, she started to understand her dad's words. Especially after meeting her - the Evil Queen.
Bunny could never forget that horrid woman's wicked smile. And her eyes…even when disguised as an old witch, the queen did not lose the deadly look in her cold-yellow eyes that would send shivers down the spine to the bravest of knights. The Evil Queen may be the fairest of her world, but that beauty could never match the evilness in her heart.
Bunny would be lying if she said she didn't find Raven to be beautiful, but a single look at the girl's eyes was needed to guess who's daughter she was. Even with different eye colors, the resemblance to the Evil Queen didn't fade away much to Bunny's (and unbeknownst to her, also to Raven's) disappointment.
Bunny didn't hate the girl and didn't want to.
She saw how close Maddie was to the daughter of the Evil Queen and if her close friend - the daughter of the Mad Hatter, had no problem being friends with a person who's mother poisoned her home, then it should be a sign that Raven was nothing like her name-sake. But the young rabbit could never shake off the fear she had that Raven was only playing pretend with Maddie, with her other friends, with others at school…and even with her.
She was destined to be evil, wasn't she not? Wouldn't it make sense for Raven to pretend to be "good" to ward off anyone's suspicions, so that when they would drop their guard, the girl could accomplish her evil deeds? What were her evil deeds…Bunny didn't know, but she did know that she didn't want to gamble with trust when it came to the daughter of the Evil Queen.
Hextbooks and binders held to her chest, like she was scared of losing them, Bunny hopped down the hallway in a never seen rush. Her pocket watch ticked and tocked, reminding the girl she was late. Bunny was never the type of rabbit to be late to class, but thanks to her roommate's - Faybelle Thorn's, failed sleeping spell for her homework, both girls fell asleep and when they came to be, they had slept through two of their morning classes.
Bunny turned around the corner when she clashed into a person. Landing on her butt, the young rabbit profusely gave apology after apology to the person while grabbing her fallen folders and notes for her class. She didn't look at anything else, outside of stealing a few glances at her pocket watch which only increased her anxiety. No wonder why her dad was always so worried.
"Here," the girl lifted her gaze. In front of her, one of her hextbooks was handed to her by the person she bumped into. Looking up, Bunny saw the person was Raven. Shivers went down the young rabbit's spine as the image of the Evil Queen flashed in her mind. Hesitantly, she took back her hextbook, mumbling out a quiet "thank you" to the girl. Like in her memory of the Evil Queen, Raven was too smiling at her, but unlike her mother - her smile was genuine and kind.
Guilt snuck into Bunny's heart for comparing the two Queens when she knew Raven hadn't treated anyone the way her mother had treated others. The memory of her father's old words, of how pretty things can cause harm, rushed back to Bunny, reassuring the girl she's not wrong for feeling distrustful of the future Evil Queen.
Raven seemed to notice Bunny's wariness of her, but instead of blowing up at the rabbit's face about it, she gave her an understanding glance. Still giving her a warm smile. Guilt in Bunny's heart became tighter.
"What got you in such a rush, anyway? I've never seen you in such a hurry." Raven asked, her purple eyes glancing at something above Bunny. Remembering her classes, Bunny reached for her pocket watch like her life depended on it. Seeing the time, she was about to inform Raven that she can't stay to chat or she'll be late to another lesson, when the dark haired girl came close to Bunny.
The rabbit didn't understand what she was about to do, but then realized that Raven was straightening up her hat that had tilted after the two girls collided. But that wasn't what Bunny focused on.
She focused on Raven's purple eyes.
Bunny knew what color the girl's eyes were, but she never saw Raven's eyes up close like right now. When she first saw Raven's eyes, all she could see was the Evil Queen. There was no reason to look deeper. But now as Bunny looked closer, she didn't see the Evil Queen. There was no vile or malicious look in her eyes that would hint Raven having ulterior motives of doing something as simple as fixing up a hat for a fellow classmate. Instead, there was care and kindness in those eyes of hers.
Bunny could feel herself ease up. Relief washed over, seeing that Raven didn't seem to be like her mom after all. Not only that, but Raven's eyes weren't as dark as she believed them to be.
"There! Now it's better." Raven proudly smiled. With magic that does evil even when trying to use it good, she was worried for a second that her magic might attempt to break out of her control and try to burn her classmate's hat. Stepping away, did she then notice the other girl looking at her.
As their eyes met, Bunny realized she had been staring a bit too long and shyly looked away. The rabbit was about to thank the girl when her watch started ringing like crazy.
"Oh, no, I'm late to professor's Rumpelstiltskin's class!" she shrieked in horror, pulling down her ears. "I'm sorry-Gotta go-But thanks!" She ran past Raven. While Bunny was concerned about how the teacher would react to her being late, a part of her was occupied with thinking about Raven. The image of her purple eyes came to mind.
Beautiful…and kind.
Her dad once upon a time warned her about the purple berries. There were two kinds of those berries - non-poisonous and poisonous ones. But there was a trick to know which berry was which. If you looked closely, you would notice that despite both berries being purple, they are in different shapes - poisonous ones were round figures stuck together, while the non-poisonous ones were like triangles that had stuck together. Because the berries themselves were small, such a difference could go unnoticed on the first look.
On the first glance, Raven seemed to be similar to her mother, but when Bunny looked closer, there was that small difference between them that set the two Queens apart - when the Evil Queen looked at her and Alistair, her glare set fear in everyone in the land. But when Raven looked at Bunny, she didn't feel scared. There was no reason to fear her and Raven didn't try to make her fear her. Not that Raven would ever want to.
Bunny clutched her notes closer. Maybe…maybe, it was worth it to trust Raven Queen, after all.