Chapter Text
Raven Queen runs away from Ever After High deep into the dark forest. She had once more endured an entire day being pressured and bullied by the Royals, Headmaster Grimm and the rest of the staff to sign the Storybook of Legends. Raven was tired of this, and she wanted out. She didn’t want to live in EAH. She wants to write her own story, her future. Sadly, reality seems to be oh-so cruel.
She finally stopped running after she reached a hidden spot in the forest. It is a clearing with a waterfall and a lake with the surface being so clear it’s a mirror. This clearing was found by her predecessors, and whenever they needed time to be alone and not be found by anyone they hid there. The clearing is warded, runed and protected to the high heavens.
They, the Queen line, wanted a place for their descendants to have a safe place to escape to whenever reality became too much after all just because the Queen’s needed to be mean in front of everyone doesn’t mean they all are. All Queen’s have a soft spot for their children and Raven’s mother was no exception, she just couldn’t show it as she was being watched nearly 24/7.
Raven shook her head not wanting to think about the complicated relationship the Queen line had. She was here to relax and she will relax, she sat down by the edge of the lake and took meditation breathing exercises to calm her nerves. Once she was done, she heard the rustling of leaves not far from her, she knew there could only be one being that could cross the barrier surrounding this place. The familiars have bonded with the Queen line, so the rustling must be, “Nevermore, please stop hiding I know it’s you.”
From the bushes peeked out a small dragon with various shades of purple as scales and gems littered all over her body. The dragon let out a happy chirp before rushing towards Raven barrelling into her lap and asking for scritches, which Raven happily gave to her. Raven sighed wishing she could talk to her mother more openly, seeing as she isn’t as insane as most believe her to be.
Nearly everyone forgets one another’s name once they do their destiny and instead use the name of the role ones playing, like Evil Queen or the Wicked Witch of the West, and so on. Only a few people remember the real names, and Raven’s mother the previous Evil Queen’s name is Evelyn Queen. Raven remembered what her mother was like, before the mirror prison, before the insanity spell. She was kind to Raven and cold to everyone else.
Raven remembered that her mother told her stories and the history of the Queen line. How her mother wasn’t the first of the Queen line to try and free themselves from their destiny, and how every single Queen who continues to rebel is put under the insanity spell by Milton Grimm. So, that he and his entourage can punish/banish them all without any consequences, then she remembered the history of the first Evil Queen aka Grimhilde Queen.
How she and 6 others she considers allies made a land far away from Ever After, a land free of destiny, where all its inhabitants can choose their destiny. How only one of the 7 were able to escape into these lands. Her mother then told her about the hidden history of the so-called dark faeries that make up the previous and next Maleficent, how they are nothing but a sub-species of 2 different species. The Fae and the Fairies, she told her how the Fae were nearly extinct all because of one Milton Grimm’s fear of their powers.
He had wanted all fairy tales under his control and the Fae’s were special in regards that, certain types of magic couldn’t harm them unless the castor had enough power to back him. Meaning he had wanted them gone for his plan to work, that was why only one of the 7 had escaped, because the other 6 distracted the Grimm Fanily long enough for the entirety of the Fae species to disappear without a trace.
Raven sighed she wished she could go to this mystical land that her ancestor had made, but she didn’t even know where to start. So, what can she do other than continue to rebel? Until they finally put her under an insanity spell like the rest of the Queen line who had rebelled in the past. A tear slid down her cheek as she silently cried over the loss of her freedom.
Nevermore sensing Raven’s sadness stood on her hind paws with her front paws on Raven’s chest before she started licking Raven’s cheek trying to cheer her up. It worked, Raven laughed and smiled at Nevermore in response. She continued to give Nevermore scritches before she started to practice her magic once more, she’s better than what people think. She just didn’t want anyone of the faculty to find out about it just so that they could use it as an excuse that she was ‘evil’ because she had complete control over her magic.
She continued practising her magic not focusing on anything else before she accidentally caused one of the spells that she was practising to explode in her face. She didn’t think much of it seeing as this happens a lot especially when you are new to the spell. She looked down onto her lap checking whether Nevermore had awakened or not because of the explosion only to see that she didn’t. Raven smiled and was about to stand up to return to EAH, but before she could she heard a voice calling out to her.
“Ah, my dear beloved.
A lovely and noble flower of evil.”
‘Why does everyone keep on saying that I am evil?! I am not evil!’ Raven thought as she hugged Nevermore closer wary of whoever was speaking.
“No, not evil of course not, but
Truly you are the most beautiful Queen of all.”
‘I- thank you?’
“Mirror, mirror on the wall
Who is the…”
‘Rhyming? But that hasn’t been used in a long time, especially for a mirror spell…’ That was Raven’s last thought before she fainted.
During the trip, Raven saw the carriage she was in being pulled by a rather scary-looking horse that seemed similar to a Thestral, but without the wings. She also saw that the carriage was going through what seemed to be the dark forest and on the other side of the road, she saw a large palace similar to the palaces in which the ‘villains’ of the fairy tales live. She could still feel Nevermore close before she blacked out once more.
“Those who are guided by the dark mirror.
As long as your heart desires,
Take the hand that appears in the mirror
And do not let go.”
In a dark ceremonial-looking room, we could see a beautiful mirror floating in the middle of this chamber. This mirror seems to be alive, and a face appears on said mirror looking quite ecstatic, “Oh young Queen, it seems that Milton has finally let his guard down. My dear Queen rest assured that you will be safe here, where the chains of destiny can only be decided by the choices you make. For now, sleep my dear when you awaken everything will be alright.”