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Apple rubbed the lotion into her arms, delicately making sure she reached every spot, especially her Soul Marks. On her right hand, it read Daring Charming in shiny gold cursive font. She rubbed her finger over it, closing her eyes for a moment as though he was in front of her, reassuring her of their future together. she paused, glancing for a moment at the spiky purple letters on her other arm, Raven Queen. She’d known from the start that this was the name of her Soul-Enemy, but she couldn’t resist showing kindness to the person who would help her fulfill her destiny. She placed a gentle finger on that wrist, a warm feeling growing in her chest. She’ll help me fulfil my destiny! Thought Apple happily. As long as she takes her role seriously, her subconcious added bitterly.
When she was done, she looked at Raven. Putting aside any sourness, her heart swelled as she imagined the future they had together, which would end with her beautiful prince charming kissing her awake.
She sighed, petting a bluebird that had flown onto her bed, a lily of the valley held out for her. “Aren’t you most excited about Legacy Day this year, dearest enemy?”
“Oh yes, I absolutely hate you Apple White.” Raven said, looking disinterested.
Apple rolled her eyes. The greasy-haired queen would come around, “Well, I’ll see you later.” She could feel Raven’s eyes lift to gaze into the back of her head, but she pushed down the doubt that hung like a knot in her stomach. Surely Raven will come around—won’t she?
She closed the door behind her and looked at her wrists. Even in the dead of winter, she’d never hid her marks from the world. With a proud smile, she began to strut, chin held high, to class.
Apple liked to wear her Soulmate and Soul-Enemy proudly, but Raven was perfectly fine keeping hers well tucked away underneath her long, black sleeves. Most assumed she just didn’t want to be reminded of her destiny, but she knew that they’d be shocked at what she truly hid under the sleeves.
She stretched, as she guessed that she would have to get ready soon. Apple always left out much earlier than she needed, which gave Raven a good warning as to when to get up. She took one look at her left wrist, gazing with a warm smile at the bubbly letters saying Madeline Hatter. She remember Apple deciding they were going to be roomates and felt a twinge of annoyance, but she shook it off, knowing she’d be spending the rest of her time with Maddie and Cedar.
She grabbed her bag, throwing what she needed into the satchel, and headed out the door. A glance at her pocket watch told her she had quite a bit of time, so she decided to get Maddie and Cedar and walk with them to class.
“Cedar? Maddie?” Raven called, knocking on the girls dorm room. Despite her dissapointment at not sharing a room with Maddie, she was happy that Cedar spent her first year in the girls dorm with a friend.
“Raven! It’s so good to see you, Maddie kept me up all night!” Cedar opened the door with a grin and gave Raven a one armed hug, swinging her backpack on with the other.
“Oh, did she?”
“I’m so sorry Cedar! I didn’t know you were annoyed…” Maddie followed, her aura passionate and fun, despite the frown on her face.
“Oh it’s okay, I’m not mad.” Cedar looked at the ground, seemingly embarrassed that she’d blurted out the truth.
“Do you guys wanna go to class with me? I got out of the dorm early.”
“Okay!” Maddie looked excited again and ran back to grab her things.
“Sure.”
After a moment, the trio began making their way down the hall, chatting about their classes and things. Raven and Maddie’s hands quickly found their way to each other, and Raven felt their Soul Marks brush against each other as they strolled, and found it difficult to follow what Cedar was saying.
Cedar looked as if she was about to call Raven out on this when they stepped up in front of Cedar’s classroom.
“Bye Cedar, see you at lunch!” Maddie called with a bright expression.
“See you!” She said, slipping into the classroom. Once she was gone, Raven and Maddie stepped off again, their steps matching in rhythm, just as their still attached hands. They only broke apart just before entering the first class of the day, but Raven couldn’t help wishing she was still holding onto Maddie.
“Daring!” Apple strained to stay calm as she frantically began to wipe down her dress of the tea.
“I’m sorry, Apple, I was just so distracted by my reflection!” Apple didn’t think the apology was genuine, especially considering that he had not stopped looking at his reflection.
“Daring! What kind of prince doesn’t help a fair maiden if he spills tea on her?” Called the professor from the front of the classroom. He blushed, putting down the mirror. “Take her out to be cleaned up, she’ll need a fresh dress!” She turned and addressed the class, “That’s an example of how not to react when a maiden had her dress dirtied.
“I’m sorry, Apple, I’ve been ever so distracted lately.” Said Daring as he led Apple out of the classroom.
“What, looking at yourself in the mirror all the time?” Apple regretting it as soon as she said it. Sure she was annoyed, but she was the fair maiden, sweet daughter of Snow White! “I-I mean—”
“It’s okay Apple, but no, it’s not that.”
A touch of nervousness fluttered in Apple’s stomach as she blinked in confusion.
“It’s—well what happens that causes Lizzie Hearts to be my enemy? Does she reach out of her story and do sometime to me—or to you? Why is she my enemy?”
“I’m sure it’s not important Daring, what’s important is that you are my Soulmate, nothing bad can happen as long as we follow the script.”
“And Raven. As long as we and Raven follow the script.” Daring added.
“Of course she will!” Insisted Apple, but she felt a prickling in her skin as she said it. Raven had always been nice and she’d been sweet, not like an evil queen at all.
“If you say so, Apple.” Daring carried her to her dorm room (Apple rolled her eyes, but even she couldn’t stop Daring from being heroic) and let her change. She came back to class soon and the event was forgotten as the proffessor screeched about proper tea-sipping techniques.
“And then—oh hey Raven! I was just describing how I totally beat Daring at Bookball and now he won’t look at me.” Cerise’s eyes glittered with mischeif as she patted the seat next to her in the Castleteria
“Hey, Cerise.” Raven laid down her tray, yawning. The morning classes had been boring, and she was in no mood to go to more of them.
“Do you have Music today?” Cedar asked, noticing Raven’s expression.
“No, I have Gym today, sadly.” Raven poked at her food, pouting.
“Raven!” Said Maddie, stepping up to the table and sitting right across from her girlfriend. “Remember that book that I thought was about ‘Mastering Dark Magic’, that was in Riddlish? Turns out its about mastering the magic of burnt food which is, while exciting, not as useful as I thought.”
Raven chuckled, her pout melting from her face. “That’s a sweet gesture, I wonder exactly how much magic you can capture from burnt food.”
“Well you can read the first chapter if you like, but it only gets into the good stuff in like, chapter four.”
“That’s okay Maddie, I think I’ll just stay away from magic instead.”
“Okay! I’m not staying long, I promised Lizzie that I would hang out with her today, and I suspect Kitty is going to tag along.”
“Okay,” Raven said just before Maddie quickly drank a cup of tea and headed off to meet the other Wonderlandians.