Archive of Our Own

Tommy hadn't been back to Logstedshire in months.

The ruined campsite emerged from the snow exactly as he remembered it. Abandoned, broken, and haunted by memories he would've preferred to leave buried. For a moment, he hesitated at the edge of the clearing. The smart thing would've been to turn around. To pretend he hadn't heard the rumors spreading across the server.

Dream escaped prison. And he was out there somewhere. Out there looking for him.

Even now, the thought made his stomach twist.

Tommy swallowed hard and forced himself forward. He wasn't here because he wanted to be. He was here because there was something buried beneath the dirt. Something important.

The Axe of Peace.

If Dream was free, then he needed it back.

The frozen ground fought him every step of the way, and his fingers were already numb from the cold. He dropped to his knees anyway, immediately beginning to dig. The dirt and snow scattered around him.

Tommy dug deeper.

And deeper.

And deeper.

Nothing.

His breathing quickened.

"No."

He shoved another handful of dirt aside.

Still nothing.

The hole was empty.

For a few seconds, he simply stared at it, trying to convince himself he'd made a mistake. Maybe he'd misremembered the location. Maybe he'd buried it somewhere nearby. Maybe—

A slow clap echoed through the clearing.

Tommy's entire body went rigid. The sound was unmistakable. His heart immediately dropped into his stomach. "No..." he whispered.

"Kinda disappointing, honestly."

Tommy turned.

Dream stood near the remains of the old walls, half-hidden in the shadows. The Axe of Peace rested casually across his shoulders. The sight of it sent a wave of dread crashing through Tommy's chest.

Dream looked exactly the same.

That was the worst part.

Months had passed. Prison had happened. Everything had changed. And yet somehow Dream still looked exactly like the monster from Tommy's nightmares.

"Looking for this?" Dream asked, lifting the axe slightly.

Tommy scrambled to his feet. His instincts screamed at him to run. Instead, he heard himself say, "Give it back."

Dream laughed.

The sound was light and amused, as if they were having a normal conversation.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because it's mine."

"It was never yours."

Tommy's jaw clenched.

Dream took a slow step forward.

Then another.

"I'm actually impressed," Dream continued. "The second you heard I escaped, you came straight here."

Tommy hated how accurate that was. He hated that Dream knew him well enough to predict exactly what he'd do.

Dream smiled. The same smile Tommy remembered from exile. The one that always meant something terrible was about to happen. "You know," Dream said thoughtfully, "prison gave me a lot of time to think."

Tommy remained silent. Every instinct told him that whatever came next wasn't something he wanted to hear. "I learned a lot while I was locked up." Dream reached into his inventory. A book appeared in his hand.

Tommy froze.

The moment he saw the book, his stomach dropped.

The Revival Book.

A sharp wave of nausea crashed over him. He knew that book. He knew exactly what it could do. The memory came back all at once. The pain, the darkness, and then the impossible sensation of being dragged back into the world after he'd already died.

Suddenly, Dream's escape from prison felt insignificant compared to the realization settling in his chest.

Dream saw the exact moment Tommy understood. And he looked delighted.

"You get it now, don't you?" he asked quietly.

Tommy's breathing became uneven.

"Dream..."

"I can kill you."

The words landed like a physical blow.

Dream's voice remained calm.

"I can bring you back."

Tommy took another step backward.

Dream followed.

"I can kill you again."

The distance between them felt impossibly small.

"I can revive you."

Again.

"I can kill you."

Again.

Again.

Again.

Tommy's stomach lurched.

For years, death had been terrifying. Now it suddenly felt merciful. Because death ended. Death was an escape. Dream wasn't. "You used to have something I couldn't take from you," Dream said softly. "

You could always get away." Dream lifted the book slightly. "But not anymore." The panic rising in Tommy's chest became difficult to breathe through. Dream's expression remained almost pleasant. "I could revive you a hundred times."

Tommy started to back away.

"I could revive you a thousand times."

Another step.

"I could keep doing it until you stopped fighting."

Tommy's vision blurred.

"Do you know how easy it would be?" Dream asked.

His voice had dropped lower now. "I could make everyone think you've finally lost it."

"You already spent months telling people what happened during exile." Dream's smile sharpened. "What happens when nobody believes you this time?" Tommy couldn't breathe. The snow beneath his boots felt unstable. The entire world felt unstable.

Dream took another step forward. "And who's going to stop me?"

Run.

The thought slammed into Tommy's mind. Dream was still talking, but Tommy didn't hear the rest. The moment his body finally obeyed, he turned and bolted. His lungs burned. His legs screamed. Branches tore across his sleeves as he disappeared into the forest. He didn't dare look back. Didn't dare slow down.

As he was running, the ground dipped unexpectedly beneath a layer of snow. His foot caught on a hidden root and for one brief moment, he lost his balance. Tommy stumbled forward. Normally, that would've been it. He would've caught himself, cursed under his breath, and kept running.

Instead, the world split open beneath his feet.

Tommy barely had time to register the flash of light before the ground vanished entirely. His stomach dropped.  The forest slowly disappeared as the sky shattered into impossible colors.

And suddenly, he was falling.

Instead of hitting the ground, Tommy kept falling.

The snow-covered trees stretched away into darkness, swallowed by swirling colors and drifting lights. One moment he could still see the outline of the world he'd come from, and the next it was gone entirely.

Colors spiraled around him in slow-moving ribbons of gold, purple, and silver. Strange objects floated past.

A pocket watch.

A teacup.

A stack of books that seemed to flap through the air like birds before disappearing into the distance.

Tommy stared after them.

"What?"

His voice sounded oddly muted. As though the space around him absorbed every word.

More objects drifted by. Each one spun lazily through the air before vanishing into the glowing mist below. The entire place felt unreal.

Tommy reached toward a floating lantern as it drifted past. His fingers brushed the edge of it, sending it spinning away into the darkness.

The lantern dissolved into a shower of golden sparks.

"What is this place?"

The fall continued.

For the first time since fleeing Logstedshire, the panic began to fade beneath a growing sense of confusion.

He wasn't running anymore. There was nowhere to run. Only the endless descent through a tunnel of light and impossible things. But for one terrifying moment, he thought Dream had done this. The thought sent a fresh spike of panic through him.

Maybe this was another prison. Maybe this was another trick. Maybe Dream had finally found a way to lock him somewhere no one would ever find him.

Then, far below, he saw something.

A circle of bright white light.

The opening grew larger as he fell closer. Tommy barely had time to shout before he shot through the light and crashed directly into a hedge.

The impact knocked the air from his lungs.

For several seconds, he could do nothing but lie there, staring up at a cloudless blue sky while his body tried to remember how breathing worked.

Then slowly, he pushed himself up.

The first thing he noticed was that he was no longer cold. The snow was gone. The bitter winter air that had followed him across the server for weeks had vanished completely. Instead, a warm breeze drifted through the trees, carrying the scent of flowers.

He climbed to his feet and finally looked around. The sight that greeted him made him question whether he'd hit his head during the fall.

A stone pathway stretched through a sprawling garden filled with flowering bushes and neatly trimmed hedges. Beyond it stood an enormous castle-like building, its towers rising above the treeline. Sunlight glinted off stained-glass windows, and colorful banners fluttered from balconies high overhead.

Everything looked liked someone had taken one of the fairy tale books he’d used to read to Micheal and built an entire world out of it.

Tommy turned in a slow circle. The portal, or whatever the hell had brought him here, was nowhere to be found.

His pulse immediately began to quicken.

"No."

He took several steps back toward the hedge he'd fallen through.

"No, no, come on."

Nothing happened.

The air remained stubbornly normal. Tommy clenched his fists. This wasn't happening. He was supposed to be running.

Dream was still out there looking for him.

The thought alone was enough to make his chest tighten.

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut. For a brief moment, he could almost hear Dream's voice again. You could always get away. But not anymore. His stomach twisted.

A branch shifted overhead.

Instinct took over immediately. He stumbled backward and searched for a weapon that wasn't there. His inventory remained frustratingly empty.

The figure perched in the tree raised an eyebrow.

She looked around his age, maybe a little older. Purple hair spilled over one shoulder, and a thick book rested open in her lap.

Unlike Tommy, she seemed entirely unconcerned by the situation. "You know," she said, closing the book, "most people use the front gates."

Tommy stared.

"What?"

The girl gestured vaguely toward the hedge behind him.

"Instead of falling out of the sky."

For a moment, Tommy simply blinked at her. Then he looked upward. Then back at her.

"Right," he said slowly. "Of course. Because that's the weird part."

The girl studied him.

Tommy immediately got the unpleasant feeling that she was far more observant than she appeared.

"You don't go here." It wasn't a question.

"No."

"Are you lost?" Tommy barked out a laugh before he could stop himself. The sound came out harsher than intended. "You could say that."

The girl remained quiet.

Finally, she swung herself down from the branch and landed lightly on the ground. Up close, she somehow looked even more out of place. Not because there was anything strange about her, but because she fit this world perfectly. Meanwhile, he was covered in dirt and scratches and looked like he'd just run for his life. Which, to be fair, he had.

"I'm Raven Queen," she said.

Tommy hesitated.

Part of him considered lying.

The instinct surprised him. The old him would've introduced himself immediately. Now he found himself weighing the risks.

Eventually, exhaustion won.

"I'm Tommy."

"Tommy," Raven repeated thoughtfully. "Just Tommy?"

"What's wrong with Tommy?"

"Nothing." she replied.

A bell rang somewhere in the distance. The sound echoed across the grounds. Raven groaned. "Seriously?" Tommy glanced toward the castle. "What was that?"

"Class."

The answer came with the sort of resignation normally reserved for impending disasters. Tommy stared at her.

"You have class?"

Raven gave him a look. "Yes."

The absurdity of the situation nearly made him laugh.

Dream had just threatened to kill and revive him forever, he'd somehow fallen into another universe, and apparently he'd landed in a place where people were still worried about being late to class.

The contrast was so ridiculous that it almost hurt.

Raven seemed to notice the look on his face. Her expression softened slightly. "You look like you've had a rough day."

Tommy let out a short laugh.

"A bit."

Neither of them spoke for a moment. Then Raven glanced toward the school before looking back at him.

"Well," she said, "you clearly don't know where you are, and standing in the gardens talking to yourself is eventually going to attract attention."

She then nodded toward the path. "You coming?"

Tommy looked from her to the enormous castle in the distance. He had absolutely no idea where he was. No idea how to get home. No idea whether Dream could somehow follow him here. But for the first time since leaving Logstedshire, nobody was chasing him.

Nobody was threatening him. Nobody was holding the Revival Book over his head. The feeling was unfamiliar enough that he didn't quite know what to do with it.

After a moment, Tommy followed Raven down the path.

For now, it was better than being alone.

Tommy quickly discovered that the giant castle was, in fact, a school.

A real school. With classrooms. And students. And apparently enough staircases to qualify as a form of psychological warfare.

By the time Raven led him through the front doors, he had stopped trying to make sense of any of it. The entrance hall alone was larger than some of the nations he'd lived in.

Students filled the corridors, moving between classes in groups. Some carried books. Others chatted loudly with friends. A few looked like they'd stepped directly out of fairy tale illustrations.

A guy with a perfectly balanced crown on golden hair walked past, admiring himself with a hand-held mirror. Meanwhile, a locker was slammed shut, as a girl who appeared to have actual fairy wings fluttered away.

Tommy watched her disappear around a corner.

He then remembered something. "Earlier, you said I don't go here."

Raven hummed.

"Because you don't."

"How could you tell?"

She looked at him for a moment. "You're dressed differently."

Tommy glanced down at himself.

Fair.

"Also," Raven continued, "you looked like you were expecting the gardens to attack you."

Tommy winced.

"Was it that obvious?"

"Very."

That was unfortunate.

The two of them rounded another corner.

A large stained-glass window stretched across the wall beside them, casting colored light across the floor. Tommy barely noticed it. His attention had caught on a banner hanging overhead. The words embroidered across it made him slow to a stop.

Every Story Has A Destiny.

Tommy frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Raven stopped walking. For the first time since they'd met, her expression became difficult to read. "You really aren't from around here."

"No kidding."

She looked up at the banner.

"It's kind of the whole point of this place."

Tommy waited. When she didn't immediately continue, he added, "That explains absolutely nothing."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Raven's mouth. Then it disappeared. "This school exists to prepare students for their destinies."

Tommy blinked.

"Their what?"

"Their destinies." Raven said the word like it was obvious "Most of us are supposed to take over our parents' stories someday."

Tommy stared.

"...What?"

"My mother is the Evil Queen."

Tommy stared harder.

Raven continued before he could interrupt. "The Evil Queen from Snow White."

"Okay."

"The actual one." she continued.

"Right." he replied

"And someday I'm supposed to become the next Evil Queen."

Tommy waited for the punchline, but Raven didn't say anything.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm completely serious."

Tommy looked around.

Nobody else seemed concerned. Nobody was laughing. Nobody looked confused. The realization hit him slowly.

"Oh my god."

Raven sighed. "Yeah."

"They all believe this?"

"It's not really a belief." Raven corrected,

"What does that mean?"

"It means that's how things work."

Those words bothered him more than anything else he'd heard since arriving. "And what if you don't want to?" The question escaped before he could stop it.

Raven's expression shifted.

Something guarded flickered across her face. "What?"

"What if you don't want to become the next Evil Queen?"

For a moment, neither of them moved.

The hallway around them remained busy, students passing by without paying attention. Yet suddenly it felt like they were the only two people there.

Finally, Raven looked away.

"It's complicated."

Tommy laughed.

"No, it's not."

Raven frowned.

"It really is."

"No." The answer came sharper than intended.

Tommy rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean... if you don't want to do something, then don't."

The words sounded obvious. Raven looked at him as if he'd just suggested setting the school on fire. "I don't wanna do it, obviously," then sarcastically, "but the headmaster says our stories will go poof if I don't."

Tommy thought about every moment someone had told him what he was supposed to be.

"That sucks," he said quietly.

For a second, Raven simply stared at him. Then the bell rang again, the noise interupting the moment.

Raven blinked.

"We're definitely late now."

Tommy let out a breath.

"Good."

Raven rolled her eyes.

Despite herself, she looked amused.

"Come on.”

As they continued down the hallway, Tommy glanced once more at the banner hanging overhead. He didn't know much about this world yet. He didn't even know how he got here, or how he was going to get back home. But one thing already bothered him.

If this place expected everyone to follow a story that had already been written for them, then Tommy was probably going to be a problem.

By lunchtime, Tommy had come to three conclusions.

First, Ever After High was insane. Second, nobody else seemed to realize it was insane. And third, Raven was somehow one of the more normal people he'd met so far. The dining hall looked less like a cafeteria and more like a royal banquet. Long tables stretched across the room beneath glittering chandeliers, and students filled nearly every seat.

Tommy followed Raven inside and immediately stopped walking.

"Why is it so big?"

Raven glanced up from her book.

"This is the castleteria."

Tommy followed reluctantly, drawing more than a few curious stares along the way. To be fair, he couldn't really blame them.

A girl with perfectly styled blonde hair spotted Raven and immediately stood from her seat.

"Raven!"

Raven sighed.

Tommy got the distinct impression she already knew how this conversation would go.

The blonde girl approached with a bright smile. Then she noticed Tommy.

"Oh." Her smile faltered. "Who's this?"

He opened his mouth, but Raven beat him to it.

"This is Tommy."

The blonde girl blinked.

"Tommy?"

"That's my name, yeah."

She looked genuinely confused.

Tommy wasn't sure whether to be offended.

"I'm Apple White," she said after a moment.

Tommy nearly choked.

"Your name is Apple?"

Apple blinked.

"Yes."

"And you're judging me for Tommy?"

Raven snorted.

Apple looked mildly horrified. Tommy considered that a victory. "I'm not judging you," Apple said. He folded his arms. "You looked confused."

"I was surprised."

"That's judging."

Apple frowned. "It isn't."

"It absolutely is."

Raven snorted into her drink. Apple shot her a betrayed look.

"Is he always like this?"

"I've known him for three hours."

"Fair point."

Tommy grinned despite himself. At least this conversation wasn't about death. That alone was enough to improve his mood.

Apple eventually recovered and offered him a polite smile.

"Nice to meet you, Tommy."

"Yeah, you too."

A strange look crossed her face. Almost thoughtful. As though she were trying to figure him out. He was becoming increasingly familiar with that expression.

However, before either of them could continue the conversation, a blur of turquoise and purple cartwheeled across the dining hall.

Tommy barely had enough time to register that a person was rapidly approaching before she planted both hands on the table, swung herself into a handstand, and somehow continued moving forward upside down.

Several students didn't even look up as if this was normal. He was beginning to suspect he would never understand this school.

The girl balanced effortlessly on one hand before flipping back onto her feet. Without missing a beat, she swept off her oversized teacup hat and performed an elaborate bow.

"Greetings, mysterious falling boy!" she declared. "I am Maddie Hatter, daughter of the Mad Hatter!”

As she did, a tiny gray dormouse poked its head out from inside the hat. The mouse gave a cheerful little wave. Tommy flinched. The dormouse seemed delighted by the reaction and waved more enthusiastically.

"That's Earl Gray," Raven supplied.

"Why is there a mouse in her hat?"

"That's actually one of the less confusing things about Maddie."

Earl Gray squeaked in what sounded suspiciously like agreement.

Tommy stared.

The girl straightened and beamed at him.

"You fell out of the sky."

"I did."

"Most people arrive through the front gates."

"So I've been told."

Maddie nodded thoughtfully. "I think the sky entrance is much more hexciting!” She pulled a chair away from the table and sat in it backward. Or at least she attempted to. Somehow, halfway through the motion, she ended up sitting normally despite having approached the chair from entirely the wrong direction.

Tommy wasn't sure how she'd managed it. He wasn't entirely convinced the laws of physics applied to her.

Maddie leaned forward eagerly.

"I've never met anyone who fell from another world before."

Tommy blinked. She said it as though it were the most obvious thing imaginable. “How’d you evem know that?”

“The narrators told me!”

Tommy glanced toward Raven. Raven took a long sip of her drink.

"Don't ask."

"I wasn't going to."

"Good."

Maddie gasped dramatically. "You should ask! Questions are wonderful. Answers are less wonderful, but only because they tend to stop the questions."

Tommy opened his mouth. Then closed it. After a moment, he pointed at Maddie.

"What exactly is her deal?"

"Nobody knows," Raven answered immediately.

Tommy wasn't sure if that answer helped.

Before he could decide, another girl slid into the seat across from them. Loose brown curls framed her face, vibrant pink highlights woven throughout them. She looked entirely too relaxed for someone attending a school dedicated to destiny.

"Please tell me this is the new guy everyone's talking about."

Tommy immediately disliked the phrase everyone's talking about.

"Depends."

The girl smiled. "Depends on what?"

"Whether that's a good thing."

The girl laughed.

"I like him."

"That's Briar," Raven informed him.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"You look confused," Briar added.

Tommy pointed at her.

"See? She gets it."

Briar laughed again. Raven looked as though she regretted introducing them. For the first time since arriving, Tommy felt some of the tension in his shoulders begin to ease. The conversation around him drifted into school gossip, upcoming classes, and names he didn't recognize.

For a while, he simply listened.

It was strange.

Nobody was talking about wars. Nobody was talking about politics. Nobody was preparing for the next disaster.

It felt unfamiliar. Like he'd forgotten how to exist without constantly looking over his shoulder.

"You okay?"

Tommy blinked.

Apple was watching him. The concern in her expression caught him off guard.

He quickly looked away.

"Yeah."

The lie came automatically. Apple didn't seem convinced. Neither did Raven. However they didn't push. For that, Tommy was grateful. The conversation resumed. Maddie began explaining something about talking mirrors. Briar immediately started encouraging her. Apple looked concerned. Raven looked resigned. And for the first time all day, Tommy found himself laughing.

A real laugh.

The sound surprised him almost as much as everyone else. For a brief moment, he forgot about Dream.

The feeling only lasted a few seconds. But it was enough to remind him that maybe, just maybe, there was more to life than surviving. Even if he had somehow ended up in the weirdest place imaginable.

Tommy should have known the peace wouldn't last.

The problem with unusual arrivals was that eventually people noticed them. In Tommy's case, "eventually" turned out to be less than twenty-four hours. He was halfway through lunch when a scroll unfolded itself in front of Raven's face.

Raven barely looked up from her food. "A message from Headmaster Grimm."

Tommy frowned.

"Is that bad?"

The look Raven gave him answered the question immediately. Five minutes later, he found himself being marched through the halls toward the Headmaster's office.

"This is your fault."

Raven glanced at him.

"How?"

"You were the first person I met."

"That isn't how fault works."

"It feels like it should be."

Raven rolled her eyes. The office doors swung open before either of them could continue. Headmaster Grimm was already pacing.

The moment he spotted Tommy, he stopped so abruptly that he nearly tripped over his own robes.

"There he is!"

Tommy pointed at himself.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

Grimm rushed forward. "Raven!" he shouted.

"What?"

"You brought an anomaly into my school!"

Tommy blinked.

"A what?"

"An anomaly!"

Grimm pointed dramatically. "You are not supposed to be here." Tommy folded his arms.

"Bit rude." The Headmaster ignored him. Instead, he rounded on Raven. "I knew it."

Raven immediately looked annoyed.

"Knew what?"

"This is because you didn't sign the Storybook of Legends."

Tommy frowned.

"The what?"

Raven pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That doesn't even make sense."

"It makes perfect sense."

"No, it doesn't."

"First Legacy Day falls into chaos, and now boys are falling out of the sky!"

Tommy raised a hand. "I feel like those aren't connected."

Grimm pointed at him.

"You don't know that."

Tommy didn’t say anything. Unfortunately, the man had a point. He didn't even know what exactly a "Legacy Day" or "Storybook of Legends" were.

The Headmaster resumed pacing. "The stories are becoming unstable." Raven sighed. "The stories are fine."

"A student from another world appeared in the school gardens!" Tommy lifted a finger.

"To be fair, I didn't mean to."

The office doors sundenlly opened. A girl with long ginger hair stepped inside carrying a stack of papers. She stopped immediately upon noticing the argument.

She blinked. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Yes," Grimm answered.

"No," Raven answered.

The girl looked between them. Then at Tommy. Then back to Raven.

"Is this the falling boy?"

Tommy groaned. "Why does everyone know about that?" The girl smiled apologetically.

"I'm Ashlynn." Before he could respond, another student slipped through the partially open doorway behind her.

Tommy recognized her from lunch. Or at least he thought he did. The girl wore a red hood and remained suspiciously quiet. She seemed content to stand near the wall and observe.

"That's Cerise," Ashlynn explained.

Cerise gave a small wave.

Tommy waved back.

A loud crash echoed from somewhere in the hallway.

Everyone jumped.

Everyone except Raven. "That'll be Sparrow."

Sure enough, an off-key guitar chord rang through the corridor.

A moment later, a ginger-haired boy stumbled past the doorway carrying an electric guitar nearly as large as he was.

He strummed dramatically. "I wanna fall through the skyyy~"

Tommy stared.

The boy pointed at him. "This one's for you, sky boy!"

"I've been here for three days!"

Sparrow struck another dramatic chord.

"SPARROW!" Headmaster Grimm yelled.

The boy laughed and immediately sprinted down the hallway before Grimm could catch him. The guitar music continued for several seconds after he disappeared around the corner. Grimm looked seconds away from developing a headache. The office door opened yet again.

This time, a girl in a pale purple dress entered.

She carried herself with perfect posture. Her expression immediately soured when she noticed Raven.

"Duchess," Raven greeted flatly.

"Raven."

The tension between them was immediate. Tommy didn't know the details, but he knew enough to recognize mutual dislike when he saw it.

Duchess's gaze shifted toward Tommy.

"So that's him."

Tommy frowned.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"You've become something of a topic."

"Great."

"Not in a good way."

"Even better."

Duchess looked pleased by his annoyance. Tommy instantly disliked her. Then, Grimm suddenly slammed both hands onto his desk.

Everyone fell silent.

The Headmaster took a deep breath. Finally, he looked directly at Tommy. "You need to go home."

The room became quiet.

Tommy's stomach dropped. Grimm continued before anyone could interrupt. "I'll find a way to send you back. It may take time, but I'll find one." He should have been relieved. At first, he would've done anything to get back home. Now he wasn't so sure.

Home meant returning to a life he'd spent days trying not to think about. Tommy found himself wondering something he hadn't allowed himself to consider before. What if he didn't want to go back?

The thought lingered long after the meeting ended.

And somehow, that scared him more than Headmaster Grimm ever could.

The world of Ever After was becoming stranger and more confusing the longer he stayed.

Destiny.

The word still irritated him, especially after his meeting with Headmaster Grimm.

Every time Tommy thought about the Headmaster promising to find a way home, his stomach twisted. He still hadn't decided whether that was a good thing.

He was currently sitting beside Raven at lunch while trying not to stare at the schedule she'd shown him earlier. "General Villainy?" Tommy repeated. Raven took another bite of her lunch. "Yep."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means learning how to be a villain."

Tommy looked at her. "That's an actual class."

"Unfortunately."

"And people willingly attend it?"

"We don't really get a choice."

The answer immediately soured Tommy's mood. Across the table, Apple looked up from the book she'd been reading. "It's important."

Tommy had a feeling he wasn't going to like whatever came next. "How?"

"As preparation," Apple said. "For our futures."

"There it is again." Tommy gestured vaguely with the class schedule. "The future thing. The destiny thing. The everyone's-life-is-already-decided thing."

A few students nearby looked up from their lunches, their conversations beginning to quiet. Tommy wasn't surprised. Apparently he was the only person in this school who thought the entire system sounded completely ridiculous.

Apple slowly closed her book and set it on the table. "It isn't already decided." Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Apple, your future literally has a script."

"It isn't that simple."

"Isn't it?" Tommy leaned back in his chair. "You've all got classes preparing you for lives somebody else already wrote. How is that not decided?" Apple hesitated, and for just a moment the confidence she'd spoken with faltered. "Because..." She searched for the right words. "Because our stories exist for a reason."

"That doesn't answer my question." he replied.

"It means our destinies matter."

"And what if you don't want them?" The words slipped out before Tommy could stop them.

The table fell quiet. Apple's expression tightened. "Not everyone gets to choose." Tommy frowned. "Exactly."

"No." Apple shook her head. "I mean not everyone should choose."

Tommy stared at her.

"You're serious."

"If everyone ignored their destiny, the stories would disappear." There was an urgency to her voice now, stronger than before. "The kingdoms, the families, the balance between all our worlds, it all depends on those stories continuing."

Tommy couldn't help laughing. It wasn't a happy laugh. "So the plan is just... everyone keeps doing something they might not even want because somebody wrote it down?"

Apple looked genuinely frustrated.

"It's more complicated than that."

"Is it?"

Beside Tommy, Raven quietly lifted her drink to hide the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Apple noticed immediately.

"Raven."

"What?"

"Don't encourage him."

Raven lowered her cup, her expression perfectly innocent. "I'm not." Apple gave her a look that said she wasn't fooling anyone. "You absolutely are."

"I haven't said a word."

"You didn't have to."

Tommy grinned. The conversation might've continued if Briar hadn't suddenly dropped into the empty seat beside him. "Okay," she announced. "I have a question."

Tommy immediately became suspicious.

"Why?"

"Because you're interesting." That wasn't reassuring. Briar ignored his concern. "If you had a story, what would it be?"

The question caught him off guard.

For a moment, the chatter of the dining hall seemed to fade into the background. Tommy found himself thinking about L'Manberg, about Wilbur and Tubbo, and about all the people he'd lost along the way. His thoughts drifted to exile, then prison, and finally to Dream.

If his life was a story, it was a terrible one. It was the kind of story where every victory came at a cost, where every happy ending unraveled sooner or later, and where the people he cared about always seemed to end up hurt because of him.

"I don't know," he admitted. Briar blinked. "You don't?" Tommy shook his head. "No." The answer felt strange.

"I've never really thought about it." He shrugged. That wasn't entirely true. He'd thought about it plenty of times. Usually during the nights when he couldn't sleep, when his mind wandered through every decision he'd ever made and every moment he wished he could take back. He'd spent hours wondering if things would've been different if he'd chosen another path, if he'd said the right thing, if he'd been just a little smarter.

But those thoughts always led somewhere painful. Eventually, he'd learned to stop following them.

"Well, what would you want it to be?" Briar asked.

Tommy hesitated.

Nobody had ever asked him that before. Not what his story was. What he wanted it to be. The difference felt important. "I don't know," he repeated more quietly.

Across from him, Apple frowned.

"You really don't have a plan?"

Tommy laughed. The sound came out more bitter than intended. "My plans usually explode." That earned a few confused looks. He wasn't about to explain.

Fortunately, Maddie chose that exact moment to arrive carrying an alarming number of teacups.

"Perfect!" she declared.

Everyone immediately looked concerned. Maddie took this as encouragement. "We're having a tea emergency."

Apple pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes."

Maddie began distributing teacups around the table. Nobody resisted. Tommy got the distinct impression this had happened before.

He accepted one automatically. "What exactly is a tea emergency?"

Maddie gasped. "You've never had one?"

"Should I have?"

"Absolutely."

Tommy looked at Raven, but she just looked away.

That was not a promising sign.

The next ten minutes dissolved into complete nonsense. At one point, Maddie attempted to explain something involving time, hats, sentient teaspoons, and still trying to claim the existence of narrators.

"It's true!" Maddie exclaimed suddenly. "I can hear you right now!" Tommy looked at her in confusion. "Uh... what? I didn't say anything."

"Not you, silly." Maddie waved a hand dismissively.

Raven chuckled.

Tommy understood approximately none of it. But he couldn't remember the last time he'd been part of a conversation where people were just simply... talking.

By the time lunch was over, Tommy realized he'd laughed more than once. The thought caught him off guard. He hadn't been forcing himself to smile or pretending everything was fine. For a little while, he'd simply forgotten to be afraid.

He’d spent so long being defined by everyone else's expectations that he wasn't entirely sure who he was without them.

The thought lingered long after lunch ended. It followed him through the halls. Through classes. Through the rest of the afternoon. By the time the final bell rang, his head hurt. Tommy found himself wandering outside without really meaning to.

The grounds were quieter now. Most students were heading back to their dorms. The gardens glowed gold beneath the setting sun.

He barely noticed somebody approaching him.

"You've been thinking all day."

Tommy glanced up. Raven stood nearby, a book tucked beneath one arm. He wasn't even surprised she'd noticed.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"Brilliant."

Raven sat beside him on the stone bench. For a while, neither of them spoke. Eventually, Tommy looked out toward the distant forest.

"Can I ask something?"

Raven nodded.

"Why do you stay?" The question seemed to surprise her. Tommy continued before he could lose his nerve. "If everyone expects you to become someone you don't want to be... why stay here?"

Raven was silent for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer than usual. "Because leaving doesn't make the problem disappear."

Tommy looked away.

The answer hit closer to home than either of them probably intended.

He thought about Dream, and about the prison. He’s always thought about running, but then he thought about Headmaster Grimm promising to send him back.

"No," he admitted quietly. "I guess it doesn't."

The sun continued sinking below the horizon. And for the first time since arriving in Ever After, Tommy wondered whether running forever was really an option.

Because eventually, every story caught up with you.

Even the ones you were trying to escape.

The next day, Tommy quickly found out that becoming the school's biggest piece of gossip would eventually come back to haunt him.

The hallway was unusually crowded that morning. Students moved between classes in clusters, conversations bouncing off the castle walls.

Tommy was halfway through explaining to Raven why enchanted mirrors were a terrible communication system when someone abruptly stepped directly into his path. He nearly walked into her.

"Oh. There you are."

The girl standing in front of him had long golden curls and an expression that immediately set off alarm bells.

"Uh—"

Before he could continue, a mirror appeared in her hand. Not a small mirror. A giant mirror mounted on a decorative handle.

Tommy stared.

"Blondie Locks," Raven said flatly.

"Raven." Blondie barely spared her a glance. Her entire attention remained fixed on Tommy. "You are Tommy, correct?"

Tommy immediately became suspicious.

"Depends."

Blondie's smile widened.

"Oh, definitely Tommy."

She flipped open a notebook. "Blondie Locks, MirrorCast News. I'd like to ask you a few questions." Tommy glanced at Raven. Raven looked exhausted already.

Blondie stepped closer.

"How does it feel to fall from another dimension?"

Tommy blinked.

"What?"

"Do alternate worlds have dragons?"

"What?"

"Do they have princes?"

"What?"

"How many magical portals have you fallen through?"

"One!"

Blondie scribbled something down. "Interesting."

"What part of that was interesting?"

She ignored him. "Would you describe your arrival as heroic, mysterious, or dramatic?"

"I fell into a hedge."

Blondie nodded.

"Mysterious."

"It wasn't mysterious."

"It absolutely was."

Tommy looked at Raven.

"Help."

Raven took one look at Blondie. Then grabbed Tommy by the sleeve. "We're leaving."

"Raven!" Blondie called out.

"We're leaving." Blondie immediately followed them. "Wait! One more question!"

"No."

"Just one!"

"No."

"Would you say your arrival is connected to Raven Queen's refusal to sign the Storybook of Legends?"

Raven stopped walking. The hallway suddenly became very quiet. Tommy looked at Blondie. Then at Raven. Then back at Blondie.

"Right." He pointed at Blondie. "That one was definitely not 'one more question.'"

They managed to escape Blondie eventually. Mostly because Raven knew several shortcuts through the castle. Tommy was beginning to suspect she'd memorized them specifically for situations like this. Unfortunately, the shortcuts only led them into a different problem.

"Well, well."

Tommy turned.

A girl leaned casually against a nearby window. Purple curls framed a mischievous smile. Something about her immediately reminded him of someone who enjoyed causing problems for fun.

The fact that she was grinning at Raven only confirmed it.

"Hey, Kitty," Raven sighed.

The girl's attention shifted toward Tommy. Her smile widened. "Oh." Tommy didn't like that look. "You're the falling boy."

"Why does everyone know that?"

"Because it's entertaining."

At least she was honest.

Kitty pushed away from the wall and circled him once. Tommy felt oddly like a cat was inspecting him. "Interesting."

"What is?"

"You."

Tommy groaned. "Not this again." Kitty laughed. "You have the strangest story smell."

Tommy stared.

"The what?"

"The story smell."

"What does that mean?"

"No idea," Kitty replied cheerfully.

She gave Tommy a small wave before dissolving into a cloud of purple sparkles. Within seconds, only her Cheshire grin remained suspended in the hallway.

It hung there for a moment as though laughing at his confusion.

Then it slowly faded away.

Later that afternoon, Tommy found himself standing outside an office he had never seen before. "This is a terrible idea."

"It'll be fine," Raven said.

"You don't sound convinced."

"I'm not."

"Spelltastic." The office door opened before either of them could continue. An elderly woman stepped out. Her wild white hair seemed to defy gravity entirely. Sharp eyes settled on him immediately. "Hm."

Tommy suddenly felt like he'd been examined from every possible angle. "You are the boy from another world."

It wasn't a question. Tommy sighed. "Apparently."

The woman nodded. "I am Baba Yaga."

Tommy froze. "The Baba Yaga?"

Raven looked surprised. "You know who she is?"

"No." Tommy pointed at the counselor. "I just feel like that's a name people shouldn't have."

Baba Yaga laughed. The sound was unexpectedly warm.

“Good. Sit down."

Tommy immediately became more nervous.

Unfortunately, Raven was already pushing him toward the chair.

The counselor's eyes remained fixed on him. And for some reason, Tommy had the feeling this conversation was going to be important.

He sat across from Baba Yaga while Raven occupied a chair near the door. The counselor's office was surprisingly cozy. Shelves filled with books lined the walls, and several strange plants occupied every available surface.

One of them appeared to be watching him. Tommy chose not to acknowledge that. Baba Yaga folded her hands together.

"So."

Tommy immediately braced himself. "So," he repeated.

The counselor nodded. "You've had an unusual week."

"That's one way of putting it."

"I imagine falling between worlds is rather stressful." Tommy shrugged. "I've had worse." The answer slipped out before he could stop it. Baba Yaga's eyebrows rose slightly. He immediately regretted speaking.

Unfortunately, the counselor noticed.

"You say that very casually."

Tommy stared at a nearby bookshelf.

"It wasn't meant to be casual."

"No?"

"No."

The silence stretched. Tommy hated silences. People always expected him to fill them.

Baba Yaga seemed perfectly content to wait. Eventually, Tommy sighed. "I just mean..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "My life's weird."

Raven made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Tommy pointed at her.

"Don't."

"I'm not saying anything."

"You don't have to." Baba Yaga's expression remained thoughtful. "Headmaster Grimm informed me that he intends to find a way to return you home."

Tommy's shoulders tensed. There it was. The thing he'd been avoiding. The counselor noticed immediately. "That bothers you."

He looked away.

"No, it doesn't."

"Tommy."

He hated it when adults used that voice. The patient one. The one that suggested they already knew the answer.

"Fine." His fingers tightened around the armrest. "Maybe a little."

"A little?"

Tommy snorted.

"Okay, maybe more than a little."

The confession sat heavily between them. Baba Yaga didn't rush to fill the silence. Eventually she asked, "Why?"

The question should've been simple. It wasn't. Because the answer wasn't simple. Home wasn't one thing. Home was a nation that didn't exist anymore. Home was friends he missed. Home was a memory that hurt.

The thought alone made Tommy's stomach twist.

He stared at the floor.

"If I go back..." His voice faltered. For a moment, he considered lying. Then he remembered that there wasn't much point. "If I go back, there's someone waiting for me."

Baba Yaga nodded slowly.

"Someone dangerous." Tommy laughed. The sound wasn't particularly happy. "That's one word for it."

The room grew quiet. Raven's expression had softened. Tommy avoided looking at her.

"You don't have to tell us everything," Baba Yaga said gently.

"But?"

"But sometimes naming the thing you're afraid of makes it easier to face."

Tommy swallowed.

"I can't."

Baba Yaga studied him for a moment. Then she nodded. "Very well." To Tommy's surprise, she let the subject drop. Instead, she asked, "Do you want to stay here?"

Tommy blinked.

The question caught him completely off guard. "I..." He stopped. Because he didn't know. Part of him wanted to stay. Ever After High was strange and confusing and completely ridiculous. But nobody here expected him to save the world. Nobody looked at him and saw a symbol. Nobody looked at him and saw a weapon.

For the first time in years, he could just exist.

"I don't know," he admitted.

The answer felt painfully honest. Baba Yaga smiled slightly.

"That is a perfectly acceptable answer."

Something about the conversation felt strangely familiar.

Baba Yaga wasn't asking many questions. She wasn't pushing him to talk or pretending she already knew the answers. She simply listened, waiting for him to fill the silence whenever he was ready.

It reminded Tommy of the therapy sessions he'd had with Puffy. The thought stopped him short. He hadn't thought about her since arriving at Ever After High.

For a moment, he could almost picture her sitting across from him, offering the same patient look whenever he insisted he was "fine."

Tommy frowned.

Why was he thinking about home? More importantly...why did the thought make his chest ache?

He'd spent days convincing himself he didn't want to go back. Home meant Dream. Home meant fear, loss, and everything he'd been trying not to think about.

So why did he suddenly miss it?

Or maybe... not it. Maybe he just missed the people who had made it feel like home. The realization unsettled him far more than any of Baba Yaga's questions had.

When the meeting finally ended, Tommy stepped back into the hallway feeling more unsettled than before.

Not because Baba Yaga had said anything wrong. Because she'd asked the right questions. He hated those.

"You survived," Raven observed.

"Barely."

"You were in there for forty minutes."

"It felt like four years."

Raven rolled her eyes. They had barely made it halfway down the hall when someone collided with Tommy.

"Sorry!"

A girl stumbled backward.

Wooden joints creaked softly as she caught herself. Tommy blinked. Then blinked again. The girl looked almost normal. Almost. If normal people were made entirely of carved wood.

"Wait a splinter, you're the falling boy!"

The girl froze.

"I wasn't supposed to say that."

Tommy stared. "You weren't supposed to say what?"

"I wasn't supposed to say that I wasn't supposed to say that." The girl immediately slapped both hands over her mouth.

Raven sighed.

"Tommy, this is Cedar Wood."

Cedar groaned. "I wasn't going to introduce myself like that." Tommy frowned. "What's wrong?" The brunette girl slowly lowered her hands. Then, despite looking deeply embarrassed, she answered immediately.

"I can't lie."

Tommy waited. Then waited some more."...That's it?"

"That's it."

"That's your curse?"

"Yes."

Tommy stared.

Cedar stared back.

A laugh escaped him before he could stop it.

Cedar looked offended. "Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry." He wasn't sorry. "I just know people who would be absolutely doomed."

That only made him laugh harder.

For the first time all afternoon, the knot in his chest loosened slightly.

Maybe only a little.

But it was enough to make tomorrow feel a little less frightening than it had yesterday.

Tommy returned to the empty dorm room Headmaster Grimm had lent him.

The room was comfortably furnished, with a neatly made bed tucked beneath a large window overlooking the school grounds. Moonlight spilled across the wooden floor, illuminating the handful of borrowed belongings he'd accumulated over the past few days.

It still didn't feel like his. It felt more like a place someone had paused their life for a while and let him borrow the space in between.

Tommy changed into the spare pajamas the school had somehow managed to find for him and climbed into bed. Sleep didn't come easily because every time he closed his eyes, Baba Yaga's questions came rushing back.

Do you want to stay here?

If I go back... there's someone waiting for me.

He turned onto his side and pulled the blanket a little tighter around himself. Eventually, exhaustion won.

That night, Tommy dreamed of the smp. He dreamed of the old bench outside his house, of discs playing softly in the distance, of laughing with Tubbo until his sides hurt.

At first, it felt like home.

Then the colors began to drain from the world. The music faltered, Tubbo's voice grew distant, and the comforting memories slipped through Tommy's fingers like sand.

When the dream settled again, he was no longer standing outside his house.

He was back in exile.

He hadn't been there in days.

Not physically.

But his mind didn't seem to care.

The ruins stretched endlessly beneath a gray sky. Snow drifted across the crater. The old walls stood exactly where he'd left them.

Dream stood in the middle of it all.

Waiting.

"You can't stay here forever." Dream's voice echoed across the empty landscape. "You know that, right?"

The smile beneath the mask felt familiar.

"You still have to go back eventually."

Tommy woke up with a start.

For a few seconds, he remained frozen beneath the blankets, staring at the ceiling of his dorm room while his heart hammered against his ribs.

The dream faded quickly.

The fear didn't.

He sat up and rubbed a hand across his face. Outside his window, morning sunlight filtered through the trees. Everything was quiet. He felt safe here. And somehow that made the ache in his chest worse.

Because Dream had been right about one thing. Tommy couldn't stay forever. Sooner or later, he'd have to decide what came next.

The thought felt impossible to ignore. Which was probably why he found himself sitting beneath a tree in the gardens after classes ended, staring at nothing in particular.

"You're doing it again." Tommy glanced up.

Raven stood nearby.

"Doing what?"

"Thinking."

He groaned. "Can everyone here tell when I'm having an existential crisis?"

"Only the obvious ones."

"Wow."

Raven sat down beside him. For a while, neither of them spoke. The silence stretched comfortably between them.

Eventually, Tommy broke it. "I never told you why I came here."

Raven looked over.

"No."

"I didn't exactly mean to."

That earned the smallest hint of a smile.

Tommy stared down at his hands. For the first time since arriving, he considered telling someone the truth.

The idea was terrifying. But somehow less terrifying than keeping it to himself. "Like I said there was someone." Raven remained silent, attentively listening. "He... wasn't a good person."

Understatement of the century.

Tommy laughed quietly. The sound lacked humor. "He hurt a lot of people."

His throat tightened. "He hurt me."

The words came easier than expected. Perhaps because Raven didn't interrupt. Didn't judge. Didn't look at him with pity.

She simply listened.

Tommy told her about exile.

He didn’t tell her everything, but enough to explain the fear. Enough to explain why hearing Dream's name still made his chest tighten. Enough to explain the Revival Book. That part was harder to explain.

Raven's expression shifted the moment he described it. "You died?"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah." The word felt strange spoken aloud. "He brought me back." For a moment, neither of them spoke. The garden suddenly felt very quiet.

Finally, Raven exhaled.

"That's horrible."

Tommy laughed. A real one this time. Short and tired.

"Yeah."

It was.

For years, people had tried to justify things. To explain them. To make them sound smaller. Raven didn't. She simply acknowledged that it had been awful. And somehow that helped.

"I ran," Tommy admitted. The confession sat heavily between them. "I got scared and I ran."

"You were being threatened."

"Still."

Tommy stared at the grass. "Part of me keeps thinking I should've stayed." The words slipped out before he could stop them.

Raven was quiet for a moment.

Then she asked, "Why?"

Tommy frowned.

"What?"

"Why should you have stayed?"

The question caught him off guard.

"Because—"

He stopped.

Because what? Because people expected him to? Because he'd always been the one fighting? Because he'd convinced himself that leaving made him a coward?

None of those answers sounded particularly convincing. Raven seemed to notice. "You don't owe someone your suffering."

Tommy looked up. Raven's gaze remained fixed on the horizon. "You don't have to stay somewhere that's hurting you just because leaving feels easier."

Tommy blinked.

The words settled heavily in his chest. Then he laughed quietly. "You know, for someone who hates destiny, you're surprisingly good at dramatic speeches."

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell anyone."

"I absolutely will."

The threat lacked conviction. Raven knew it. Tommy knew it. Neither mentioned it. The sun was beginning to set.

Golden light spilled across the gardens. Students crossed the grounds in small groups, laughing and talking as they headed back toward the school.

For the first time since arriving, Tommy found himself looking at the scene without feeling like an outsider. Not because he belonged here.

He didn't.

But because he finally understood something. The people here weren't so different from the people back home. They were scared. They were trying to figure out who they wanted to be. They were fighting against expectations.

Just like him.

"I think I'm going home." The words escaped before he could reconsider them.

Raven looked over.

"You found a way?"

Tommy nodded.

Earlier that morning, Headmaster Grimm had informed him that the strange portal magic that brought him here could likely be recreated. The possibility had sat in the back of his mind all day.

Waiting.

"I think I have to."

The fear was still there. Dream was still waiting. None of that had changed. But running forever wouldn't change it either.

Raven was right. Leaving a problem didn't make it disappear. The difference was that now Tommy felt ready to face it. Or at least more ready than before.

Raven smiled. "I'm glad."

Tommy stood.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then Raven held out her hand. He laughed. "What is this?"

"A goodbye."

"That's incredibly awkward."

"Just shake my hand."

Tommy did.

Raven immediately rolled her eyes.

"You're impossible."

"Yeah." The grin that spread across his face felt lighter than it had in weeks. "Probably."

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Tommy found himself thinking about stories.

About destinies.

About endings.

Maybe the people at Ever After High were wrong. Maybe stories weren't meant to be followed. Maybe they were meant to be rewritten. And maybe, for the first time in a long time, Tommy was finally ready to write his own.