Chapter Text
Apple had been chasing Raven down all day, hoping to change her mind about making her pledge on Legacy Day. She should have known something was up when—after chasing her all day—she found Raven sitting calmly by the fountain, reading a book.
Apple ran over to her. “Raven!” She clapped her hands. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Raven closed her book and looked up at Apple.
“So, about Legacy day—”
Raven’s voice cut her off like an axe. “I’m not making the pledge.”
Apple’s mouth snapped shut before she began shouting. “YOU’RE WHAT?!”
“I’m not—”
Apple felt like the world was crashing around her. “How could you do this to me?” She wailed. “I thought—I thought we were friends!”
Raven didn’t rush to comfort her like she normally would, instead glaring at Apple.
“How could—how could you be so…so selfish?”
“I could say the same thing about you,” Raven responded in a quiet voice.
That shut Apple up quicker than a poisoned apple fritter. “What?”
“Do you want your Happily Ever After even knowing it means I will be locked up and miserable? Because that’s what will happen, Apple.” Raven stood up and it brought her nose to nose with Apple, causing the latter to flinch. “Snow White only gets her Happily Ever After if the Evil Queen is punished—why do you deserve a Happy Ending and I don’t?”
Apple’s eyes were wide as she took a step back. “Raven, that’s how it’s always been—”
Raven’s voice rose. “Then I will make my own destiny!”
Others were looking at them and Apple wanted to crawl away and hide at the judging looks. “But Headmaster Grimm—”
Apple wasn’t breathing at this point, her world spinning as the Headmaster approached.
“What is the meaning of this?” He bellowed.
Blondie had appeared from the crowd when Apple wasn’t looking and was letting Apple lean against her.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Raven snapped. “I’m not signing the book!”
The headmaster’s eyes widened, then he scowled. “Ms. Queen—”
“You can’t force me to sign the book, Giles told us it won’t change anything.”
The headmaster gaped like a fish. “You—you spoke to my brother?”
“Yes, he told us that the story continues even if the book isn’t signed.”
Apple breathed a sigh of relief.
“But I’m still not going to be the Evil Queen,” Raven said, “I’m not going to marry your father or poison you or do anything that would risk me being locked away like my mother.” Raven’s voice got louder as she spoke until she was practically shouting. “ The story ends with me! ”
There was magic in her words. Apple wasn’t well-versed in magic, but she could feel it in her teeth as if she had eaten too many sweets.
The headmaster’s face was red. “Ms. Queen, you must play your role—you have no idea what you are doing.”
Raven laughed. “That’s the best part isn’t it? If there is no Evil Queen, then there is no Snow White.”
That’s when Apple realized something. All of the Evil Queens had tried to prevent their Snow White’s Happily Ever After with huntsmen, ribbons that crushed their ribs, poisoned combs, and—most often and most famously—with poison apples. Raven Queen could prevent Apple White's Happily Ever After by doing nothing .