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Chapter Text

Hester glared out the window of their incredibly large house.

"Knew we shouldn't have given that troll the spell," she muttered to her wife.

Anadil rolled her eyes, having heard this several times in the past few minutes.

"Hes, nothing's even happened yet. You're being over protective."

The demon tattoo twitched on Hester's neck as she glowered out at Hilda and Amber.

"But every time Hilda sees her she just... I recognize that look, Ani."

"From where?" Anadil asked as she helped pack Hilda's suitcase. They were supposed to leave for the School in about a week and Anadil knew better than to let mini Hester pack on her own.

"From how you look at me," Hester said with a smirk.

Anadil rolled her eyes.

"If I remember correctly, you asked me out first," Anadil said.

"Yeah, after you kissed me."

Anadil waved a hand as if to say that particular detail was of no importance.

Hester rolled her eyes.

"Plus, she isn't even here. Why are you all worked up?" Anadil asked.

"Because that's our little girl out there!" Hester snapped, demon glaring at her wife along with her.

"Hester, she's fourteen now. She isn't a baby."

Hester just let out a sigh of frustration.

"That girl's just got too much of her mothers in her."

Anadil chuckled. The same could be said for Amber.

The two girls sat outside, talking a bit excitedly about their classes that were supposed to start next week.

The first was Hilda. She was a bit taller than average (something she'd gotten from Hester) with devious bright red eyes, green streaks in her white hair, and a matching green demon tattoo sat on her neck, its tail trailing along her neck until it ended at her collarbone, and she was ghostly pale, only slightly more tan than an albino. She was a perfect mix of her two mothers (though in appearance she leaned significantly more toward Anadil and in personality she veered more toward Hester).

The second girl was Amber. She had dark black hair and was about average height with dark black eyes. Three white mice scuttled across her tunic, occasionally peeking out and looking around. Though she resembled Hester much more than Anadil, she was always more like her albino mother's personality, just the opposite of her twin sister.

Hester shook her head.

They were growing up so fast...

~

Tedros looked out at his eldest fondly as a sword flashed through the air.

His child was just the swordsman he himself was, taking down guard after guard effortlessly with Excalibur in hand.

Tedros hadn't let Excalibur be touched by anyone but himself and Agatha in years... but he'd decided it was time as school was coming up so soon.

As his eldest disarmed the last guard, they triumphantly threw off their helmet.

Theresa shook out silky blond hair, running a hand through to settle it. Her hair went about to halfway down her cheeks and paired well with her pristine blue eyes. She had tan skin just like her father's and had a surprisingly muscular (and tall, even for a boy) form that made boys from both Schools drool. The only thing that ruined her Princess appearance was the sword and chain mail armor. Though Theresa was more like her father, she had the same capability to defy all expectations of women just as her mother.

Tedros knew that a father wasn't supposed to have a favorite child... but Theresa was his spitting image in almost every way... except for the fact that she had a bit of her mother's sarcasm and intelligence.

But Tedros knew he wasn't the only parent that had a favorite child.

He looked over to the side, catching sight of his son, Axel.

He had an ugly, balding cat in his lap that just so happened to be Reaper's son.

Axel was abnormally short, his sister actually towering three to four inches taller than him, and had short jet-black hair. He had that same glint in his dark brown eyes that his mother did. Despite his lackluster height, he somehow still managed to look gangly and awkward with his small stature. He was thee second born, having come a little over a year after Theresa.

Axel was more like his mother. He was witty and a bit of a book worm. Despite his literal years of training from the best swordsmen in the Endless Woods, he could barely wield one without cuting his own arm off. He preferred magic and couldn't wait to get his finger glow unlocked when he got to school so he could finally preform all those spells his mother had told him about.

Tedros saw Theresa saunter up, looking exactly as smug as his younger self had been when he had won such sword fights.

Theresa handed the sword back to her father, but not before marveling at the blade for a solid minute.

Tedros glanced at his son, nose buried in his book.

He'd offered Axel the chance to use Excalibur, but he'd adamantly refused.

The two of them knew how things ended when he touched a blade.

Tedros shook his head and turned back to his eldest.

"And that's why the School for Good is going to let you be in the swordsmanship class," He said proudly.

Theresa beamed at him, looking incredibly excited.

They'd been at war against the school (not literally, of course) for the past few months, trying to get an exception.

It had been Evil's Dean that had finally convinced the School to allow it.

It never hurt to have a sister-in-law working at the School... except when Sophie was exceedingly annoying.

He heard footsteps and turned to see his wife making her way out of the castle.

"They're going to get here soon," Agatha said, smiling at her kids.

"Mom! Did you see that?" Theresa asked, thrusting Excalibur around proudly in front of her mother.

Agatha gave her a smile.

"It was very impressive. Now come on, they're going to be here soon."

Theresa's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Calm down, Ther. They come over all the time," Agatha said, laughing at her child's excitement.

"Don't you see them everyday?" Tedros asked.

Theresa rolled her eyes at her parents.

"But they never get to come to the castle anymore!"

Axel laughed at his sister and she rolled her eyes.

~

"C'mon, Dot!" Hester barked, waiting outside the large house.

Despite Hester and Anadil's marriage (and Dot's as well), the Coven had refused to move apart. Old habits died hard... or if you were as stubborn as the witches they didn't die at all.

"I'm coming!" Dot called from inside the house.

"If you aren't out here in the next ten seconds I'm sending my demon to throw your ugly arse out!" Hester yelled.

Anadil slapped Hester on the arm and pointed at their twins.

"Don't speak like that in front of the kids!" she chided.

Hester sighed and nodded.

Amber and Hilda snickered at their mother's expense.

"You're so whipped," Hilda said.

Hester had to physically restrain herself from pointing out just how whipped Hilda was when it came to her crush.

"Aw, c'mon, Ma. I've heard worse," Amber said to Anadil.

The albino kept glaring at Hester until the tattooed witch sighed dramatically and turned to her daughters.

"Don't use that kind of language," she said robotically.

Hilda raised an eyebrow and, despite her physical likeness to Anadil, looked just like Hester.

The tattooed witch idly wondered if it was this hard to raise her... then again, her mother had died when she was young.

Probably saved herself a whole lot of frustration, too.

Hester looked back at the door and growled as Dot was still bustling in the kitchen.

Anadil grabbed her hand and Hester felt the anger drain out of her.

It wasn't too bad if they were a few minutes late.

Anadil's presence always seemed to be able to calm her down.

Dede came skipping out of the house, looking like the spitting image of her mother as she got distracted by a butterfly that flew over her head.

Dede joined her friends and waited for her mom to finish whatever she was doing in there.

Dede wasn't super skinny, but she wasn't plump either. She had short, curly brown hair and her matching eyes were permanently alight with an excited glow. She had her hair in pigtails, making her look even younger than she was (about half a year younger than the twins). There was a bit of chocolate in her hand and she beamed at her friends. She was a perfect mix of her parents, getting her sweet and excitable personality from both sides.

Hester could have sworn she saw Dot turn a spoon into chocolate through the window.

When Dot finally stepped out, she had a wide grin and a basket full of chocolate chip cookies.

"Lemme guess, the ol' ball and chain had you bake those?" Hester asked.

Dot smiled fondly and nodded.

Dot had been married about two years less than Hester and Anadil, but their kids were still about the same age as the latter two had been very hesitant to have kids... plus, it had taken them a solid six months to find the spell to let them have biological daughters together.

"Where is the annoying brat anyway?" Anadil asked.

"Probably out picking roses," Hester mulled.

"Probably turning them into little wreaths they can wear," Anadil asked.

The two witches snickered and Dot glared.

"No... that was yesterday," she muttered.

The two other members of the Coven roared with laughter.

~

Sophie led her daughter toward the carriage that had come to take them to the meeting. 

Serenity had naturally tan skin, a little effect mix of creamy white and dark chocolaty skin. Despite her dark skin tone, she had fluffy blond hair and brilliant emerald eyes. Considering her lineage, people were constantly wondering whether she was to be the greatest Never since her parents' time... or an advocate for Evers everywhere.

"Come, come. We can't be late or Agatha will have my head. She can do that, you know. She's a queen."

Serenity rolled her eyes, looking just like her mother as she did so.

"I doubt she'd have you killed, mom," she said.

Sophie rolled her eyes as well.

Why did I marry someone with so much sarcasm? I should have known our daughter would end up like this. Sophie thought as they made he journey up to the castle.

~

Milly sat on the grass, looking out into the woods and listening to the bird calls and fox howls with a small smile.

By her feet, a golden wolfhound  lay, slumbering by its master's feet.

Despite her darker skin tone, Milly had dirty blond hair with strikes of brown that matched well with her elusive grey eyes the color of storm clouds.

She heard her mother complaining to some servant and tried not to laugh at how predictable that was.

She heard her silence for a moment and assumed that the one person in the world that could calm her down had just pulled her in for a kiss.

Milly couldn't help but find that romantic...

And those thoughts of romance made her attention shift back to what she had been trying to avoid.

Just then, her mom walked out of their house (a house that was more accurately described as a mini castle) and Milly found a distraction.

Her mother held her True Love along by the hand, practically tugging them after her.

Milly knew better than to dillydally when her mother was like this, so she quickly hopped to her feet and chased after them, her wolfhound bounding along behind her.

~

Hort's eyes widened dramatically as he saw the time.

"Oh no," he muttered.

They had to get going right now because if they didn't literally sprint to the castle they'd be late... and Hester was known for using her demon to attack the stragglers.

"Babe, we gotta go!" Hort shouted, snatching into Nathan's hand and pulling his son out the door of their large Camelot home.

Nathan he had long, oily black hair and a slim form that many would compare to some type of rodent. His skin was a pasty brown color and his eyes were a matching dull color. He was the youngest of their friend group, but not by much.

"I'm coming!"

~

And as the six families converged on the castle, they easily became a singular one...

If only they knew what was to come.

Chapter Text

"I'm here! I'm here!" calls an annoyingly chipper voice.

Hester groans and rolled her eyes as Kiko runs up to join them.

Anadil snickered, hand still holding Hester's own.

Dot beams and turns around to look at the Evergirl.

Kiko had matured, but she still seemed as youthful and excitable as ever as she threw her arms around Dot in a hug, encompassing Dede as well.

"I missed you!" Kiko said happily.

"You've been gone for two hours," Anadil said levelly.

"Not nearly long enough," Hester added.

The two witches laughed and Dot would have turned around to go on one of her rare tirades, but Kiko was pulling something from behind her back.

She held out a rose.

"I saw this in the market and it made me think of you," Kiko said excitedly.

Dot grinned broadly and watched Kiko put it right behind her ear.

Dede looked at her two mothers with a grin while Hester, Anadil, Hilda, and Amber all gagged at the romantic gesture.

"Keep laughing and I'll turn all the spoons into chocolate again," Dot said before leaning in to kiss her wife.

"I knew you did something to the spoons!" Hester growled, demon twitching irritably.

Kiko giggled at Dot's threat while Anadil gripped Hester's hand tighter to keep her from doing anything to the happy couple.

Dot and Kiko had been married for a little over fourteen years now, but the two still seemed to be in the honeymoon phase.

They hardly ever fought and Kiko found some way to be romantic with Dot everyday.

Hester and Anadil also found a way to be disgusted with their best friend and her wife everyday.

Dot often claimed that, since Hester and Anadil were to mean, they should just move out.

It was about that time when Hester and Anadil swallowed their pride and apologized.

Dot had gotten better at making those two admit they cared for her over the years and couldn't be happier about it.

Kiko grabbed Dot's hand and the two walked behind Hester and Anadil.

The three girls had scampered off and were planning something mischievous... well, they couldn't be sure it was something bad, but knowing who the twins' parents were it was quite obvious what they were likely to do.

~

Tedros heard a knock on the door and raised an eyebrow. Most of their friends were more likely to barge in than to knock.

That meant it had to be...

"Come in, Kiko," he said with a smile.

The small woman poked a head in and grinned at him.

Tedros rolled his eyes as Hester shoved the door open behind Kiko and stormed in, Anadil at her side.

Hester's daughters exchanged grins before Hilda grabbed onto Dede and the three raced from the room.

Tedros shook his head sufferingly.

They were most likely going to go and mess with his kids...

Hester and Anadil's kids seemed to like his daughter just as much as Hester and Anadil liked him when they were that age.

Agatha stepped in and smiled at the Coven (and Kiko) and walked up for a hug.

Hester sidestepped and snatched the crown off of Agatha's head.

"Still can't talk to your friends with that on," Anadil chided as Hester set it on Dot's head.

Ever since that time in Avalon, Hester stole Agatha's crown and gave it to Dot whenever she got the chance to do so.

"Yes, you've told me that several times," Agatha said, though she was still grinning.

Dot and Kiko seemed to make up for Hester and Anadil's reluctance to hug by giving Agatha crushingly strong ones.

~

Milly saw the castle come into sight and found herself smiling.

In front of her, her parents walked down the trail, Beatrix complaining about something (as always).

Reena sidled up next to Beatrix slyly as if they were still students and gave her a grin.

"Come on, you'll get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that," Reena said.

"Women can have wrinkles," Beatrix said, clearly remembering what she'd been taught back in heir second year at school.

"Yes, but you're prettier when you smile," Reena responded with a laugh.

Milly rolled her eyes at the exceedingly romantic way her mothers spoke. It seemed like all the couples in their friend group did that (even Hester and Anadil, despite how often they denied it. Milly has seen Anadil sitting in Hester's lap and playing with her red streaked hair more times than she could count).

"Are we almost there?" Milly asked impatiently.

"You sound just like your mother... your other mother, that is," Beatrix said with a smirk at Reena.

Reena rolled her eyes and turned to their only child.

"About three minutes."

Milly sighed and anxiously waited to get to see her friends.

~

Serenity twirled her blond hair around her finger as they sat in the carriage and looked over at her mother.

"Is mom going to be there?" she asked.

"Don't know why you'd want her there when I'm the perfect mother." Sophie flipped her hair and Serenity gave her a look that matched perfectly with her other mother's.

"Yes, she's back," Sophie said with an eye roll.

Serenity smiled and tried to act like she wasn't excited to see her mother.

~

Nathan and his parents burst into the castle, all three of them panting.

They'd run the whole way there and had barely gotten there on time.

"You guys are late every time. Maybe you should get ready earlier," Agatha said.

"Or not come," Hester muttered.

Anadil cackled and Beatrix let out an annoyed huff.

Hester muttered something about Beatrix pulling a stick out of her arse and Anadil slapped her arm angrily.

"What?! Amber and Hilda aren't here!" Hester snapped.

Anadil rolled her eyes sufferingly before pointing at Nathan.

"Ani, Ravan curses even more than I do. Plus, Hort already ruined the kid."

Anadil snickered and Hort threw up his hands in annoyance.

"Can you not insult me and my family for a second?!" Hort snapped.

Hester paused for a moment.

"Nah," she said, smirking.

Anadil's rats tittered at the words and scurried along her shoulders.

"I'm here, I'm here!" a voice said, accompanying a small form that ran into the castle.

Sophie and Serenity looked at the door, both having the same excited look on their faces... that is until Sophie cooled her features and crossed her arms against her chest.

Nicola of Woods Beyond strode into the room and Serenity sprinted toward her, wrapping her mother in a hug.

Nicola has been gone for two months trying to see who should come to the School for Good and Evil.

She was the head of recruitment for the past few years and was also Good's history professor.

Nicola looked at her wife and was met by Sophie sniffing and looking away.

Nicola let out a sigh as she tried to figure out how to get her wife to stop being passive aggressive... but knowing Sophie, that was pretty much impossible.

But Nicola was able to stand her for a reason (well, a reason other than her extraordinary good looks).

Hester rolled her eyes as she saw Sophie being petty. What a shocker.

She sometimes wondered how those two had gotten married in the first place considering how often they butted heads.

But then again she also wondered how anyone put up with Beatrix enough to have a child with her. Reena was a saint.

"Well, now that everyone's here we can finally start eating!" Agatha said with a grin.

These gatherings were held at least once a week, though sometimes one or more attendants weren't able to make it. But, as a rule, everyone was pretty consistent about their presence at the lunches.

Most of them wouldn't admit it, but ever since their fairytale they were all pretty close... even if some of them (Hester and Beatrix) still didn't know why they didn't throttle each other.

Nicola took the seat beside Sophie, trying to give her wife a smile to ease the tension.

Sophie let out a huffing sound and looked away from her pointedly.

Nicola briefly wondered why she'd ever fallen for this annoying blond.

~

Amber followed her sister as she snuck through the castle halls to where they assumed to prince and princess would be.

"Why are we doing this again?" Dede asked as she followed her friends.

As the three snuck through the halls, they resembled their mother's own coven quite well.

"Because she's a stuck up princess," Hilda said easily.

"But I'm a princess too!" Dede responded.

Amber snorted.

"Yeah, a princess that lives in a house on a hill with four other people," she said.

Dede muttered something under her breath that sounded like turning her friends into white chocolate.

Neither paid her any heed.

"And isn't Milly a princess too? I thought you two got along well," Dede said, trying to reason with Hilda.

The older girl froze for half a second before she continued to stalk through the halls like a cat hunting a canary.

"She is still a princess... but Theresa's way worse. Plus, we don't 'get along well,' we're friends of convenience for when I need something out of her."

Dede frowned, finding that this argument made less sense than Hilda's normal comebacks.

Amber even glanced at her sister with a confused look on her face as well.

"I like Theresa. She's really good with her sword and she's super sweet," Dede said with a small smile on her face.

Amber and Hilda whipped around, both giving her glares identical to that of their tattooed mother.

Dede fell silent and followed after them with her head down.

One Hester was bad, but when both of those girls gave that glare... well, even their albino mother would look a bit unnerved (but Hester would usually put them in their place quite firmly... and they didn't have too much fun with those consequences).

~

Milly whistled idly, seeing birds land in a circle around her, drawn to her voice.

She was used to random woodland creatures being drawn to her. It was something her mothers had both told her about.

But it seemed as if she was a bit better at it than them. She tried not to be smug whenever she thought of that, but it was difficult.

She heard footsteps and turned to look down the hall.

She squinted and caught sight of the 'new and improved Coven'.

She smiled a bit. She'd always been close to those three.

She looked down at her wolfhound, Bernard, and whistled sharply. His head popped up and she led him down toward the three familiar forms.

None of them noticed the form watching them go with a smirk on his lips.

~

"You can't be mad at me forever," Nicola whispered with a glare.

Sophie gave her a look that Nicola interrupted as a 'can too'.

"You were gone for three months last year!" Nicola pointed out angrily.

"You're being hypocritical."

"Yes, well, that's one of the perks of being a Never, dear. I get to be hypocritical."

Nicola could have beat her head against the table... would have been more productive than talking to Sophie about this.

Nicola would just have to wear her down until she decided to say she'd missed her and was glad she was back.

Nicola saw Serenity reading from a fairytale, a rare one Nicola had never even used on a test (not even as a bonus question, which said a lot as to how obscure the book was), and smiled.

Nobody in the Endless Woods was completely sure whether Serenity was an Ever or Never considering her mothers, but it didn't matter to Nicola. She'd love her either way... she already loved the most famous villain in the whole Woods after all.

~

Milly caught up with the three girls and gave them a small greeting.

Dede grabbed her in a hug and she tried to pretend she wasn't super excited to see them.

Hilda thought excited greetings were lame, so she tried not to do them around her.

Milly didn't let herself worry about why she cared so much about what Hilda thought.

Chapter Text

The adults had now migrated into a sitting room after eating. They talked about current events and reminisced as their children did... whatever they did when parents weren't watching.

Hester rolled her eyes as she saw the disgusting displays of affection

Kiko was leaning on Dot's shoulder and playing with her hair while talking to Agatha about something or the other.

Agatha was sitting on the armrest of Tedros' chair with his arm around her waist.

Hort and Ravan were loudly making out in the corner (something Hester wished she had never seen).

Nicola had even worn Sophie down a bit and they were talking in hushed tones on the couch, clearly still arguing but nonetheless nearing a resolution.

Anadil smirked as she saw Hester's distaste of the blatant PDA in the sitting room.

Anadil took a seat on Hester's armrest before she practically fell against her, making the tattooed witch grunt in surprise.

Hester gave her a confused look as the albino sat there in a jumble of limbs.

Nonetheless, Hester wrapped her arms around Anadil's waist and set her down in her own lap comfortably.

Dot looked at Hester and Anadil.

The albino has triumphantly leaned the recliner back and sat between Hester's sprawled out legs, whispering something (probably an insult) in the tattooed witch's ear. 

"And you complained about us?" Dot asked, scandalized.

Hester held up a finger and Anadil jabbed her with an elbow to the ribs.

Hester growled at her wife and pointed out there weren't any kids in the room.

"No, that was for being a hypocrite," Anadil said.

"See?!" Nicola suddenly exploded at her wife, pointing at Hester and Anadil.

"Nevers don't just get to be hypocrites!"

Sophie and Hester both rolled their eyes, looking at each other with similar exasperation.

Hester was internally disgusted that she agreed with the blond witch.

Nicola turned back to look at her wife with a small glare.

"Are you ever going to forgive me or are you going to get the divorce paper ready?!" she snapped.

People would have been shocked silent should this have been the first time Nicola had ever made that threat.

Unfortunately for her, she used that every single time they had a serious argument.

Sophie was silent for a moment, glaring at the other girl, before she let out a huff and a sigh.

She fell against the couch and crossed her arms.

"Fine."

Nicola smirked and opened her mouth to speak, but Sophie was too quick.

"But you'll have to make it up to me."

Nicola raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Sophie gained a mischievous smirk and she was suddenly standing up and grabbing her True Love's hand.

She tugged the other girl out of the room and Hester made a gagging sound (even as Anadil played with her hair).

Sophie didn't seem to care about the disgusted look on her best friend's face either.

She was looking forward to a bit of... catching up.

Tedros and Agatha shared a suffering look before shaking their heads and turning back to their conversations.

~

Theresa was just minding her own business when she suddenly heard snickering from behind a column.

She jumped to her feet and raised her (practice) sword warily.

"Who's there?" she asked, proud that her voice sounded strong and sure of itself.

~

Amber glared vehemently.

How did she know?! Her stupid, weird super hearing. I'll cut her ears off one day, mark my words, she thought.

"Can't wait until we get our finger glows unlocked," Hilda muttered with a scowl.

Amber nodded her agreement, but she was already planning how to get Theresa later.

That princess just rubbed her the wrong way.

~

Theresa saw four forms walk out from behind the bush and her sword lowered as she recognized them.

She gave them a blinding grin.

Is she smiling at us?! That's it, I'm going to kill her, thought Amber.

She wasn't sure why she hated this girl so much, but she did.

Usually it was Hilda to led them into picking on someone, but Amber herself had been the one to pick this princess.

Hilda had eagerly gone along as it gave her the ability to make fun of someone and play pranks.

"Hey guys!" Theresa said as she sheathed her sword.

Amber hated how smug she looked about that new sheath she had gotten from her father on her fifteenth birthday.

Amber wouldn't say she hated Theresa (how could she truly hate her when they had grown up together like this), but she would say that she strongly disliked her.

Dede couldn't help herself and she hurried forward to give the Ever a tight hug.

The tall girl laughed and hugged her back with a small pat on the back.

Hilda gave a curt hello, but Amber stayed silent.

Theresa didn't seem to care.

She had somehow gotten an easygoing steak from... somewhere?

It seemed like she was super chill until a time of danger and then she immediately took charge.

Not that Amber really paid attention to what the other girl did.

Of course she didn't.

Because that girl was super annoying and she wanted to choke the life out of her half the time.

There were loud footsteps and they all turned to see both Axel and Nathan coming in.

They were the only two boys (because when two girls had a child using the spell, they had to have a girl (A/N: just comment if you want me to explain that logic) and had always been a bit closer because of that fact.

Both were awkward and clearly lanky.

They were the two youngest of the group and always slightly shunned (whether on purpose or just as a side affect of those two facts), so they had become close fairly quickly.

Although Nathan was clearly a Never at heart, he was able to be just the right amount of weirdly endearing to have an Ever best friend that's as quite like Agatha.

~

The dark form smirked.

Just one more...

~

Serenity froze for a moment as she watched the group of friends.

Her eyes were drawn to a particular kid and she felt her face heat up.

She shook her head and didn't allow herself to think about her reaction.

She took a deep breath and walked into the clearing.

She was always happy to see her friends.

~

Milly glanced at Hilda and raised an eyebrow, watching her tattoo.

She wasn't sure if it had moved or not.

Many of them had started to speculate on her Special Talent.

It was probably just like Hester's... but she felt like there had to be something different, right?

Like Amber's wasn't exactly like Anadil's. Hers were mice, not rats (even if that difference seemed minimal at best).

Milly shouldn't be thinking so much about that, however.

~

The dark shadow whirled his cloak and strode into the clearing in a dramatic fashion.

Serenity has just walked up to greet her friends and they were all finally in the right place for his plan.

~

Theresa suddenly saw a form out of the corner of her eyes.

She whirled, hand on her sword hilt, and found a very familiar form.

(Amber was certainly not impressed by how quickly she had recognized a possible threat. Nope. Definitely not at all).

The form smiled broadly.

"Your father was never able to do that," he commented with more than a bit of pride.

Theresa's face suddenly split into a wide, beaming grin and she ran forward.

"Merlin!" she cried.

Axel's eyes widened in recognition and he too ran forward to grab the old wizard in a bone-crushing hug.

There was a long moment of greeting before Milly suddenly asked what everyone was thinking.

"Why are you suddenly visiting?"

Amber raised an eyebrow.

That sounded like something Hilda would say.

She glanced at her twin and, sure enough, she was staring at Milly with slightly widened eyes.

Clearly the words had just been stolen from the tip of her tongue.

Milly had gotten her bluntness from Beatrix.

Merlin laughed good naturedly at the question.

"Why I'm here to fix the past," he said.

His tone was casual.

He could have just as easily been discussing the weather or their lunch plans for next week.

"What?" Hilda and Amber asked at the same time.

It was a twin thing.

Merlin's eyes twinkled with mischief and he nodded at the children surrounding him.

"I'm here to make sure you all are born."

This time every child said 'what?!' together, not just the twins.

"You see, should you not go back and help, none of your parents will have you," he explained simply.

Serenity frowned.

"That doesn't make sense. That's a paradox. If we go back to change the past and make sure we're born, then how were we ever born in the first place to go back and change it?" she asked, channeling her inner Nicola quite fully.

Merlin chuckled.

"Clearly it works, child, or you would have simply never been born."

Serenity moves her jaw up and down, but no words were able to come out.

She spluttered for a good minute before Dede put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she just sighed and shook her head, looking down at the ground dejectedly while muttered about how it didn't make sense.

"Now! Who's ready to go back in time and make sure you're born?" Merlin asked with a wide grin.

Nobody responded, but t seemed as if it had been a rhetorical question anyways.

He waved his wand in a complex way and, before any of them had time to protest or even cry out, they were sucked into the wizard's hat.

~

Hilda growled and lifted her head up.

She found herself in a mass and tangle of limbs.

She growled and tried to shove everyone out of the way.

But she found she was at the very bottom of a vey annoying huddle of their friend group and instead had to wait for everyone else to get up.

She definitely didn't notice that she was laying very close to Milly.

She couldn't wait to shove that partially unconscious girl off of her.

She let out a loud noise, telling all of them to wake up and stop crushing her with their fat selves.

~

Amber awoke groggily and picked her head up.

She was about to sit up, but she found several forces holding her down.

The greatest being an arm that was lazily laying across her waist.

She looked over and found Theresa.

The blind had her vibrant blue eyes closed and her usually tense face was relaxed.

Amber just stared at her for a long moment before she found heat rushing to her face.

She shoved the girl off of her and the warrior princess woke up with a start.

She tumbled off the pile of bodies and Hilda let out a thankful noise as one less person was piled on top of her.

Everyone slowly started to get up, but Hilda hurried them along.

"If you don't speed up I'll show you why I'm Hester of Ravenswood's daughter!" she roared.

Even Amber hurried to get off of the pile for fear of her twin's wrath.

~

Serenity looked around and frowned.

Where were they?

It was seemingly the middle of the woods, but that was in no way shape or form helpful.

She turned in a full circle before she caught sight of something she had only seen pictures of in her books.

The gates to the School for Good and Evil.

That crazy old wizard had sent them to the School!

She stiffened suddenly as she remembered what had happened.

Were they...?

Had they actually been sent back in time?!

She felt her brain start to hurt as she considered the paradoxes that this would undoubtedly make and instead focused on how they were going to get out of this mess the wizard had created.

She sighed and shook her head.

She guessed there was only one way out.

Do as he said.

Make sure they were born.

Chapter Text

Before reading, comment which children you think are Nevers and which are Evers.

Hilda sighed and shoved herself to her feet.

She popped her back and glared at their particularly heavy friend's (Nathan, she's looking at you).

"What year is it?" she asked.

"Oh let me just check the newspaper," Milly said with a scoff.

Hilda looked like she was torn between laughter and killing the other girl.

She went with neither and just stayed quiet.

"We should go find our parents," Amber said suddenly.

"But if we do that we could just upset time! Make it so we're never born!" Serenity cried worriedly.

"Yeah and we'll never be born if we don't do anything either," Theresa snapped before making her way toward the school.

Amber found herself following the princess and growled lowly.

She didn't like that stupid sword wielding girl.

Hilda joined Amber at her side and glanced at her.

Hilda usually led the two of them, but Amber has suddenly found herself following that other girl.

It made her want to scream or pull out her black hair.

Hilda glanced at her twin and raised an eyebrow with a concerned look on her face.

The group soon followed the princess of Camelot to the school gates.

She was a natural born leader (even if Amber would never willingly admit that).

"Amb, you okay?" Hilda whispered.

Amber shook her head for a moment to clear it before looking at Hilda.

"Yeah," she muttered softly.

Hilda raised an eyebrow and shrugged and turned around to look at the school.

None of them had ever seen the school and all of them momentarily froze, losing their sense of purpose and just staring at the beautiful sight.

There were several bustling students, some of which they recognized either from their parents friendship with them in future or their fairytale they'd all read several times.

They really were back in time, but the true meaning of this was shown when they saw a very familiar black-haired, bug-eyed princess.

Axel and Theresa watched with disbelief as their mother, now their own age, walked only a few dozen feet in front of them.

"Mom?" Axel whispered.

Theresa slapped a hand over her brother's mouth.

"While we're here, that's Agatha. Just plain old Agatha."

Axel glanced at her and, upon nodding, she let go and turned back around.

Suddenly, another familiar face appeared and grinned at them.

"You must be new students this year! Come, come!"

The woman, Professor Anemone, led all of them to the middle of halfway bridge.

"No assumptions this year! Pick a side and see if it picks you too!"

The woman was far too chipper for Hilda and Amber's taste and they hurried to the Evil side.

They were accepted warmly and immediately.

"I'll take mom you take ma?" Hilda hissed.

It sounded like a question, but both knew it was more of an order.

Amber nodded anyways and they turned around to see the sides their friends had taken.

Theresa was, obviously, on the other side and accompanied by her brother.

Milly joined them and Hilda frowned slightly, looking away from the slightly mischievous princess.

She'd known she would be on the other side but...

She shook her head and cleared it of those weird thoughts.

Nathan joined them on their side and both the twins took a step away from him.

All that was left were Dede and Serenity.

Both seemed frozen between the two moats.

Serenity glanced at Good and the beautiful, glistening towers.

The part of her that came from Sophie said that she belonged there, belonged where everything was the most beautiful and perfect.

She glanced at the Evil tower and something deep inside her stirred.

She wasn't sure what it was, but she was sure what it meant.

She confidently took a step toward Evil while Dede took a step toward Good.

Everything was as it should be-

That is until the barrier bounced both of them back with a "Good with Good, Evil with Evil."

Both girls stared at each other with wide eyes.

Professor Anemone didn't seem too shocked, Serenity did have the princess look to her and Dede (in Anemone's opinion) was far too plum to have the self-control to be an Evil, and she guided the two to their respective schools.

Dede passed through easily and the twins hooted in triumph, claiming their Coven has been completed.

Dede easily sunk into the celebrations and the three walked to the Evil castle in high (demonic) spirits.

Dede glanced back and gave Serenity one final look before following her friends.

Nathan scurried after them with a "wait up guys!"

Serenity stepped toward Good and felt parts from both her mothers filling her.

The need to be the best and the need to help people.

She worried that that mix could be disastrous... but perhaps it could be... good?

Because she was the daughter of the Witch of Beyond, she had always thought she would go to Evil.

She had studied up on spells and curses, but every time she did it she felt as if it was wrong for her.

She had told herself that was her inner Sophie-the-diva-queen speaking, and perhaps that had been part of it, but it had also been her inner do-gooder-Nicola.

She smiled a bit and walked beside her fellow Evers to the castle in the distance.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that everyone else did the same.

Odd.

~

The new Nevers were greeted by Professor Sheeks and she looked them all over.

Her eyes landed on Hilda's tattoo and Amber's mice.

She muttered something about "copycats" and stared in shock as Dede turned something to chocolate with a grin.

The professor shook her head and gestured for them to enter the school.

"Give your names to Castor."

Dede subtly slid closer to Hilda as she saw several unfamiliar Nevers glaring at her.

Hilda whipped her head around.

She met the gaze of all the Nevers that were leering at Dede.

"This one is my henchman, got it?! Anyone comes closer, I'll rip your head off!" she roared.

Many other henchman were cowed and even a few leaders weren't looking at her or Dede.

A few leaders snickered.

"Look at that first year. She thinks she's all that."

Hilda's demon twitch and Amber put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

It didn't work.

Her demon tattoo moved, stretching over her skin until it covered every inch of her.

When it had, Hilda was no longer standing there and in her place a bright green demon stood, roaring at the students.

Leaders and henchmen alike scurried away from her wrath and she found a smirk on her lips.

She glanced down, as she was now six inches taller and had wings extending from her back, and saw Nathan and Amber.

She let out a low, ground shaking growl.

"These three are mine."

As she started to shrink down, she saw a very familiar form.

Not only did she look just like Amber but with red streaks in her hair, but she was the spitting image of her mom.

That could be explained because she was, in fact, her mom.

Hester had a smug smirk on her face that Hilda herself made quite often and she looked her up and down.

She turned to Castor.

"I'm taking this one," she said simply.

Hilda wasn't sure what she was taking her for, but she was alright with that.

This was her mother... whether she knew it or not.

The girl beside her stepped forward.

She had long, pale white hair that was the same shade as her skin. Her red eyes were insanely familiar as they were practically her own.

She looked at Amber, who had her mice scurrying around her hair and shoulders like always, and said "That one's mine."

Dot hurried forward, always the last to arrive, and panted heavily as if their mothers had left her behind to see what all the commotion was about.

"I'll take that one!" she said hurriedly between deep breaths.

She was pointing right at Dede and the girl grinned and even giggled at her mother's instant interest in her for... whatever this was for.

"Hester, this is a very random sorting-"

Hester was already walking away.

She glanced over her shoulder and gave Hilda and Amber a look they both recognized very well.

It meant to follow her.

They did as silently commanded and the three girls scurried after their respective mothers.

Nathan, having been told very recently that he was under Hilda's protection, followed after his friends.

Hester stared at him in disdain and Hilda silently agreed with her mother's assessment of him.

"You can go to... Hort or Ravan"

She waved her hand to dismiss him and the three girls muttered goodbyes before following.

None of her knew what they were following them for, however.

~

Theresa grabbed onto her brother's hand as the four Evers made their way to the School for Good.

She was Axel's older sister and she took that title quite seriously.

She would protect him with her life.

She suddenly ran into a very familiar form.

She looked up and caught sight of a boy just a few inches taller than herself.

He was shirtless and sweating from a recent workout.

The sword at his hip was all that she needed to be sure of who this was.

This was her father.

Axel gaped and she quickly tried to cover for them.

"Sorry," he said with his best princely smile.

"It's my fault, I should have been lookin where I was going," Theresa said instantly.

She needed to get out of here.

She couldn't be here with her father for too long or either she or her brother would mess it up.

"You look familiar," Tedros said with a small frown.

Theresa shook her head, her short locks of vibrant blond hair shaking with it.

"Nope! We've never met!"

She was too cheerful and she grimaced.

"Well, I'm Tedros of Camelot."

He held out his hand for her to shake.

She took it and gave it a firm squeeze, just as her father had taught her.

His eyes widened and he grinned.

"Never met a princess with that kind of grip."

Theresa tried not to roll her eyes.

She heard that all the time.

"Thanks," she said a bit sarcastically.

Her cousin, Serenity, was still looking around at the castle.

"You look familiar too," he said to Serenity.

The girl's face paled and she shook her head.

"Don't know why!"

Tedros was about to talk, but Chaddick came over and told his friend something interesting.

"Did you hear? Every fourth year has to tutor a first."

Tedros frowned at his friend and as they talked the four Evers slipped away.

~

"What did you pick up for?" Hilda asked with her best no-nonsense-Hester-voice.

Her mom glanced at her and smirked.

"I like her, Ani."

The albino stared at her with narrowed eyes.

Hilda cursed how similar she and Amber looked to their mothers.

"What's your name?" Hester asked.

"Hilda."

She thought rapidly.

"Hilda of Mount Celesta."

She was legally Hilda of Camelot because she'd been born and raised there, but... well, in this one only Tedros could be 'of Camelot'.

"And this is my twin sister, Amber of Mount Celesta. This is Dede of Wolfsring."

Amber and Dede looked at her and silently praised her for her quick thinking.

Hester raised an eyebrow and looked between her and Amber.

"Twins?" she asked skeptically.

She'd clearly had some run ins with twins before (see School Master, Agatha and Sophie, or Rhian and Jepeth).

"Not identical, clearly," Hilda said with a dull expression that perfect mimicked Hester's.

Hester stared at her before smirking.

"You're here because we picked you because we're supposed to be your 'mentors'."

She put air quotations at the word mentors with her fingers.

Hilda didn't think this could be going any better.

They had certainly been lucky.

She caught sight of a star sticker on the wall.

Or had it been luck at all?

Chapter Text

Milly saw her mothers a few yards away and grinned-that is until she saw who they were sitting next to.

Millicent.

As in the woman she'd been named after.

The woman who had died.

She was already starting her transformation into a deer.

She wanted nothing more than to run over and tell her to run.

To never come back and maybe she'd live.

But if Millicent didn't die... Reena and Beatrix would.

And then Milly would never be born and could never warn her.

"Stay away from paradoxes," Serenity whispered as if she had known what Milly was thinking.

She sighed and looked away from the trio on the bench.

Theresa put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

Theresa was always good at comforting people.

Milly sniffled and looked away.

Theresa sighed and pulled Milly into a hug.

Serenity was about to help, but that's when she saw her.

Her mother was across the moat at the School for Evil and being thrown out of rooms.

She remembered hearing about this from her.

She laughed as she was thrown right into the pond beside them.

Nicola pulled herself out of the water, soaking wet, and let out a huff and shook like a dog.

Serenity kept laughing and Nicola glared at her vehemently.

Serenity rolled her eyes and pulled a towel out of her small purse.

Axel stared at his cousin in open shock.

"HOW DID YOU FIT A TOWEL IN THERE?!"

Serenity sniffed.

"My mother taught me."

Axel was about to go off about how impossible that was, but Serenity clearly didn't care as she walked over to give her mom a towel.

"Thanks..." she said skeptically.

Serenity shrugged.

"It's what Evers do."

Nicola stared at her.

"A very wise woman once told me that," she said.

It had been her mom.

Nicola nodded and dried off.

"I don't think I'm a Never," she said dryly as she stared at the castle on the other side of the bridge.

Serenity laughed.

"Yeah, it rejected me too."

Nicola handed back the now soaking towel and Serenity somehow folded it and put it back in, Axel crying out how impossible it was all the way.

"Shut up!" she hissed at her cousin before straightening.

"I'm Nicola."

Serenity stared at her and took her hand, shaking it.

"I'm Serenity."

"That's a really nice name. I've never heard it before."

Serenity internally screamed.

Had she just named herself?!

That's a PARADOX!

She took a deep breath and gave her mom a tight smile.

"Thank you."

She withdrew and joined her friends with a slightly concerned look on her face.

"We need to get out of here," Serenity said levelly.

"Not until we make sure we're born," Milly snapped a bit more aggressively than she had to.

Serenity sighed and wished she could argue with her, but she couldn't.

She hoped that the Nevers were doing a better job than her at making sure there weren't any paradoxes.

~

Dede was laughing and talking to her mother.

She enjoyed having a conversation with her were they were about the same age.

It made her feel like she could get to know her better.

Amber and Anadil were sitting in tense silence while the latter stared at her and then glanced at Hester, frowning.

Amber was holding her breath and hoping she didn't somehow figure it out.

She wasn't sure how she would, but knowing her mothers, they always found a way.

That was part of the reason why they failed at so many of their prank ideas.

Hilda and Hester were both discussing the best way to survive the school.

She was getting the inside scoop about the hidden passage ways that her mother would never tell her in the future (mostly because Anadil would get upset and talk about not actively helping their children get in trouble... but Hester would probably just write her notes or sneak it to her when Anadil was out).

Hester suddenly stopped as she found herself smiling.

Hilda has made her smile.

She never smiled.

She instantly frowned and stared at the slightly younger girl.

Why did she feel like she should know who this person is?

Like they'd met before?

She shrugged it off and continued giving advice.

"You know, Hester, these three are like mini us!" Dot said excitedly.

Amber shifted slightly and locked eyes with Hilda.

The two communicated silently that they had to get Anadil and Hester together quickly if they wanted to remain undiscovered.

"It is quite coincidental that Hilda has a demon too..." Hester stared at her with narrowed eyes for a moment before shrugging it off.

She pulled out a map of the castle and pointed out a few more things.

"And Amber has mice..." Anadil mused quietly, almost quiet enough that Amber didn't hear her.

She just shrugged and glanced at her mice as they scurried across the ground, playing with Anadil's rats like they did in the future.

Mouse one, Leo, glanced at Amber and squeaked.

She nodded just slightly.

She glanced over at Hilda and gestured at the mice with a small shake of the head.

Hilda nodded and turned back to Hester, their mothers none the wiser of their silent conversation.

The mice had searched the castle up and down for a trace of Merlin and hadn't found anything.

Either he had gone back to the present or he was at Good.

~

Tedros had, finally, put on a shirt and gone to get his assignment for his mentorship.

He found himself grinning as he recognized the name.

It was the girl he had met earlier, Theresa.

He had hoped for a swordsman, but he guessed a girl that knew the difference between the two ends of a practice sword would have to do.

He found an odd kinship with her that he couldn't explain.

He shook his head to clear it and then went off to search for the new girl.

~

Hort grinned as he met the young Never he was supposed to mentor.

He was super excited to make a difference in a kid's life.

One day he really wanted to have a kid of his own, preferably with Sophie.

He met the boy, Nathan, and instantly felt the need to protect him from... anything. Anything that could possibly harm him.

If he felt like this for a boy he'd just met how would he feel for any kid he had one day?

~

Nathan tried not to freak out as he saw a younger version of his father.

He looked very similar to the man he knew as dad, but just a bit younger.

Nathan looked more like Ravan with his facial features, but the shape of his face and form made him look like his weasel of a father.

His father was still in his buff phase, but Nathan knew he would give that up once he got together with Ravan.

Oh yeah.

That was why he was here.

To make sure that they got together.

He had to make sure that he was born one day.

No pressure, just his whole existence relying on this.

He wasn't stressed or worried about this at all.

~

Axel tried not to be shoved over by the oncoming mass of students.

His sister was suddenly there.

She grabbed his hand and guided him through the crowd.

She always did this.

She was always there to help him every time he struggled, no matter what.

Sometimes he just wanted to do it on his own...

He knew he wasn't being fair.

He'd never told her this.

She was just always there to fix his problems.

He was just the annoying little brother (even I she would never say that and would stab anyone that would).

Maybe these were just his own insecurities that he was laying at her feet unjustly.

He had a tendency to do that, something he has inherited from his father.

He was feeling petty, so he ripped his hand out of Theresa's grasp and sighed.

His sister stared at him with a concerned expression, but he ignored her and pushed forward to see who his mentor was going to be.

He scanned for his name and then looked across to find...

Agatha.

He paled slightly.

He had been intent on watching and helping from the shadows, but now that was blown as he had to meet his mother and learn from her.

He sighed and was about to turn around and complain to Theresa, but she was grinning.

He looked at her name and saw Tedros beside it.

He sighed dramatically and shook his head.

Of course it was their father.

She was his favorite.

She always was.

He was just the son that couldn't use the sword.

She was the one that would inherit and rule Camelot one day.

He just wasn't strong enough for his father's taste.

He was scrawny and weak, not the son his father had always imagined.

In many ways, Theresa was the perfect son, even if she was a girl.

Axel shook his head and looked away from his beaming sister.

The one she could never compete with.

~

"Lessons start in fifteen minutes. You three better start getting ready," Hester said without looking up from her bag.

"Ani, do you have my Advanced Henchmen Training textbook?" Hester asked.

Anadil made a grunting sound that Amber and Hilda recognized as a 'yes' and then threw the textbook at Hester.

She caught it without looking at Anadil.

"Hester-"

The tattooed witch (the older one that is) threw Anadil her notebook.

Their pattern felt so familiar that Hilda and Amber found themselves chiming in.

"Zip up your backpack," Hilda chided as Hester started to sling her backpack on her shoulders.

"Don't forget rat three," Amber said as her mother got ready.

"Eight minutes!" Dede called as she grabbed her few supplies.

The pattern continued for another thirty seconds before they left through the door.

Anadil suddenly paused and glanced at Hester.

That was weird.

How had... how had Hilda and Amber known all those things?

It had felt... right to have them there.

Like they complimented them in some necessary way.

Hester met Anadil's eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Anadil shook her head.

She was just being insane, that's all.

It was just because they were supposed to be these kids' mentors.

~

"Milly, who did you get?" Theresa asked with a smile.

The blond Arabian princess looked up.

"M-Beatrix."

Theresa gave her a long look.

"You have to be careful," she said.

"Says the girl that almost called Tedros 'Dad'," Axel muttered with a dark scowl.

His sister gave him a glare.

"What's your problem?" she asked, her hand unconsciously going to her sword with her left hand.

Unlike her family, she was left-handed, something that gave her the upper hand in lots of sword fights (especially considering that she would occasionally trick someone into thinking she was right handed before switching to the left and finishing their duel).

"Nothing," Axel snapped.

Theresa sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever, Axe."

She shoved past him and he almost fell over.

Serenity settled him on his feet and the slim boy nodded, about to thank her, but Serenity was following Theresa.

Axel sighed.

He was always the outsider, the third wheel.

With Theresa and Tedros, Theresa and Serenity, their friend group in general...

He was just a background character in everyone else's lives.

Not important enough to have his own story one day.

He'd be lucky if he was even mentioned in Theresa's one day.

Probably be something like "-and the beautiful warrior princess saved her miserable, ugly wretch of a brother before swooping off to kiss her husband and dropping what's-his-face in the mud."

Because that was his life. 

He wasn't important.

In times like these he always went to one of two people.

He turned around-

And there she was.

Agatha of Camelot, his mother.

She was just as awkward as he was.

And even now he couldn't turn to her.

Nobody cared.

Chapter Text

The old and new Coven entered the classroom together.

"Ani, this is just like when we had those animal henchmen in first year," Hester whispered.

Hilda gave her mother a glare.

Anadil snickered.

"You were pretty good with that baby ogre. Had him potty trained and spitballing Evers," Anadil responded.

"Still can't believe you got that python to be friends with your rats, Ani."

"If that's all there is to parenting, we'd be great at it," Anadil said with an evil smirk.

"Raise then to be the next generation of Evil," Hester added, finding that she was smiling as well.

And then, as if thy had both suddenly realized they were discussing having kids (perhaps they had each thought together), they both turned a light red color and looked away.

Hilda growled internally.

They were so close! They just had to admit how they felt!

How hard could it be to just go and tell someone you liked them?!

Her parents were being wusses.

If she had a crush on someone, she would tell them immediately.

Of course she would.

To do otherwise would be silly.

Amber glanced at her sister and raised an eyebrow as if she could sense her twin's thoughts.

Before Amber could say anything, the professor entered.

Sheeba Sheeks.

Hilda glanced down at their class schedule and smirked.

This was the class she was most excited for.

Special Talents.

~

Agatha glanced at Axel and looked him up and down.

"So you're with me," she said.

Axel swallowed, trying to calm his nerves.

"Yeah."

He bet Theresa didn't get nervous.

She was just so perfect.

He sighed.

He needed to stop being so petty.

Maybe that was one way that he and his father were similar, at least.

Agatha nodded and then glanced up, looking distracted.

He took the chance to slip away.

When Agatha turned back around, he was gone.

~

Hester grinned as the professor told them about showing off their Special Talents.

She said something about not expecting everyone to have a talent.

She felt oddly smug and proud of Hilda as the girl smirked just like Hester did.

Dede grabs Dot's textbook and turned it into white chocolate.

Hester sighed.

"Do we really need another girl that has the power to become obese instantly?"

Dot slapped Hester's arm and glared with surprising vehemence.

Hester quieted and Anadil raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two.

Dede made a look of concentration and turned another small object into chocolate.

Dot clapped loudly, whistling happily.

Amber smirked and stood as she was called, making her way to the center of the room.

Her mice scurried around and responded to her mere thoughts before their final stunt.

The mice gathered together in a small circle before a bright light appeared.

When the light disappeared, the three mice had somehow become one, much larger, mouse.

It was only about a foot long, but it looked intensely menacing now.

Hilda whooped and cheered for her twin while Anadil smirked just slightly.

Nathan was next.

He stood and took a deep breath.

He tapped his foot as if to imaginary music.

After a moment, a loud crack sounded and a small animal appeared next to him.

Not just any animal.

A wolf.

When he tapped his foot again, there was another loud crack and the wolf grew a second head.

And then a third.

After the third, the wolf let out a loud howl and started to breathe fire.

Before it could, however, it puffed out in smoke and disappeared.

"Because that's just what Evil needs. A mini Cerberus that can't even last a minute," Sheeks said sully before pointing at Hilda.

"Mini Hester, you're up."

Hilda bristled.

She stood and gripped the desk and soon her demon tattoo twitched.

"Another copycat?" Sheeks said, but she fell silent as the tattoo didn't remove itself from Hilda, but instead stretched thin over Hilda's whole body.

Sheeks raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Now there's an interesting one," she mulled quietly.

"My name isn't 'Mini Hester,' it's Hilda."

Hilda smirked smugly and tossed her twin a wink.

Amber rolled her eyes and she shook her head.

"Whatever, Hil," she responded.

Her mice scurried across their table and came close to Hilda's hands.

Hilda scooped one up and dropped it on her shoulder.

Hester raised an eyebrow as the second mouse, Theodora, laid down on her shoulder, nuzzling her neck.

Hilda prided herself on being mostly emotionless, like Hester, but she found herself smiling just slightly at her twin.

Hester stared at them for a long moment and then glanced at Anadil.

She wondered if she could ever be that close to Ani...

But the idea of being like sisters with Anadil made her feel uncomfortable, however.

She did like the idea of being closer with Anadil, however.

Hester wasn't sure why she felt all... weird at the idea.

Anadil looked up and met her gaze.

She could tell she was thinking something much the same.

The idea made her really excited.

(Not that she would let that show. She had dignity and a reputation to uphold, after all).

Hilda and Amber avidly watched their mothers as they had weird, emotionally charged eye contact.

Hilda wondered if this might be taken care of faster than expected...

But as they looked away from each other, both having narrowed eyes and a small blush on their faces, she sighed.

They were so annoying with this 'will they or won't they' thing.

She thought that whole thing was silly.

~

Milly nervously ran a hand through her hair.

What if her mother somehow figured it out?

That didn't seem possible, but when Beatrix was inquisitive and determined... well, there's a reason Milly was stubborn enough to make a mule bow its head in shame... and pigheaded enough to wear down a mountain with one look.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

Her mother, the blond one, walked over and looked her up and down.

She stood tall, prim and proper, and gave her best princess smile that Beatrix herself would teach her in about fifteen years.

Beatrix seemed slightly impressed, but she just raised an eyebrow.

Beatrix's hair was about her own's length, but that wasn't a surprise. Ever since Beatrix has cut her hair in their second year, she'd kept it short.

Milly silently rejoiced in the fact that she wasn't like Hilda, looking just like her mother.

Hilda or Amber, she meant.

Of course.

Not just Hilda.

Not like she had that Never on her mind or anything.

"Are you Milly?" Beatrix asked.

She nodded her head properly.

Beatrix had told her that she didn't want her to ever be the stereotypical popular girl like she was, but she had taught Milly the game anyways.

Just in case.

Milly didn't enjoy playing the 'game' as her mother called it, but she certainly was good at it.

Beatrix nodded and motioned for Milly to follow her.

She did so and walked beside her.

Beatrix raised an eyebrow.

"I expect you already have your eyes on a prince your own age?" Beatrix asked.

Milly stumbled.

A prince?

She hadn't noticed any.

The only prince she knew was Axel, but she suspected the younger version of her mother wouldn't call that a real prince.

She thought for the right thing to, so she just decided to tell the truth.

"No."

Beatrix raised an eyebrow and that small, almost smirk played on her lips.

"Really? I thought every princess did when they started school," she said.

Milly wondered if she'd made a tactical mistake.

"A prince is a distraction anyways," she said.

Beatrix smirked and soon she was chuckling.

"You've already learned what took me a year in the School for Girls."

Milly let out a sigh and relaxed slightly.

They walked past Theresa and Tedros, the two already talking about swords and undoubtedly scheduling a duel, and Milly gave a subtle thumbs up.

Theresa met it with her own and gave her a grin.

Her smile was a mix of the perfect princess one taught at school and the princely grin that she had copied from her father at a young age.

It was an odd mix, but it was undoubtedly pretty, something proved by the fact that not one but two princes walked into a wall.

One princess even stared at her for a moment before realizing it was a girl in armor and not a boy and looking away with wide eyes and a bright red color on her face.

"They better not be letting her into the sword fighting class. They don't let any girls in that class."

Beatrix sounded annoyed and a bit petty, but Milly was used to her mother sounding like that.

"I don't know. I've seen her and she's pretty good."

Beatrix raised an eyebrow and looked her over.

"Remember, that's a princess."

Something about Beatrix's tone made Milly feel like it was something she had to remind herself of everyday.

Was it?

Why would she think that so often?

Milly didn't have the time to think that over, but she put it in a file to save for later.

~

Nathan stared across the bridge with a sigh.

Serenity was over there.

The girl of his dreams.

She was smart and funny, beautiful and sweet...

She was a mix of her mothers, both of which had made one of his father's drool and almost never have Nathan.

One couldn't blame him for having a crush on her when she was so perfect.

He found himself missing another Ever as well.

Axel.

They were best friends.

He was the only one that really understood what it felt like to be overshadowed by everyone else.

Nathan grew up amongst the greatest Evers and Nevers in the Endless Woods and their kids.

He never knew how to live up to the expectation and, to make matters worse, it seemed like everyone else did. Everyone but Nathan.

Hilda and Amber perfectly embodies their mothers with their evil smirks and witchy cackles, not to mention their special talents that far surpassed any others at their age.

Theresa was already a blade master that could defeat practically everyone in the Endless Woods.

Dede was happy and cheerful as her mothers and somehow felt none of the stress to live up to anything.

Milly was already a genius when it came to Ever politics and she already had all the animals in the Endless Woods at her beckon call.

Serenity was quick as a whip, beautiful as the sunrise, and somehow in Good.

And then there was Axel and Nathan, neither of which could live up to what their fathers had done.

And so sometimes t felt like it was them against the world.

Nathan shook his head and turned around to find a younger version of his father giving him a beaming smile.

"You did so well with your talent! I couldn't do anything more than grow a chest hair my first time!" Hort said with enthusiasm.

"But Hilda and Amber did better," Nathan grumbled.

"Yeah, they were pretty cool. But you did your best and it's clear you've been working on it. I'm sure you'll be able to dominate this year at the Circus of Talents with just a bit of work! Maybe I can even help!" Hort said it all with the same exuberance he always emitted, even in the future.

Nathan found himself smiling.

"You really think so?" he asked quietly.

Hort nodded.

"If you work hard, then definitely."

For once, Nathan didn't compare himself to his friends.

They were special and talented, but he could be too.

Maybe not in the same way, and maybe not nearly as powerful, but he could be better.

Who knows how far he could get if he stopped worrying about what others did and focusing how he did.

Hort could see that he was growing more and more confident and grinned wider.

"That's the spirit, Nathan!"

Even if Hort didn't know why, his words truly had left an impact on Nathan.

Chapter Text

Theresa popped her neck and prepared for the first day of school tradition.

Unlike the Nevers, the Evers prepared for the first day of school ceremony instead of having classes.

She had spent the first half of the day with Tedros.

They had started with sword training.

He started out with an insultingly easy practice before she'd pompously turned around.

"How about we just have a duel?"

She smirked as his eyes widened.

He'd had that same look when five-year-old her had requested to learn the sword.

"I'm not sure if you're ready for that-"

"You scared?"

Theresa knew exactly how to goad her father into a fight considering she spent a fair portion of her time doing so.

Tedros raised his practice sword and stepped forward.

Theresa smirked as he attacked first.

He always did.

She parried his first thrust and struck with lightning speed, almost stabbing his stomach.

He blocked at the last second and looked up at her.

She wasn't as strong as the boys her age, but what she lacked in pure muscle she made up for with brains in speed.

That was the part of her mother that actually helped with sword fighting.

Tedros attacked again and she blow after blow before striking like a viper.

She jabbed at his chest and, as he went to block it, she changed directions at the last moment and hit his stomach.

He stumbled back and almost fell.

She supposed this wasn't quite fair as she knew all his best moves and he had no idea what her weaknesses were, but she took joy in her accomplishment anyways.

"How'd you learn that?" Tedros asked in a shocked turn.

Theresa smirked.

"I had a good teacher."

He raised his sword again and attacked.

He came too forcefully and she easily sidestepped, making him unbalanced and not ready for when she stabbed him in the back.

"Always keep your balance on your back foot. That's the first thing yo-," she coughed, "my dad taught me."

Tedros frowned and considered the advice.

"I've never heard that before."

Theresa silently made a reminder to not tell Serenity that she had just effective taught her dad what her taught her in the future.

They went a few more rounds until they were both on equal footing.

Theresa taught Tedros a few of her, meaning his own, tricks.

Her brain started to hurt when she considered the paradox, but she pushed it from her mind.

By the end, the two of them were each winning half of the time, no more and no less.

Tedros finally stopped and wiped his brow.

He grinned.

"Never met someone that could keep up with me," he said.

Theresa laughed.

"Never met a girl that could use a sword before either," he marveled.

"Like I said, my dad taught me."

Tedros nodded.

"I want to have a son one day. Show him everything I know."

Theresa bristled.

"Why not a daughter?" she found herself asking.

Tedros looked up and a light glowed in his pristine blue eyes.

"Why not a girl..." he muttered before turning back around.

Theresa had always felt out of place.

She would never let her brother hear this, because he seemed to look up to her and she didn't want him to see her flaws, but she always felt like she had to live up to Tedros.

She was his first child and a girl.

In almost every kingdom, she wouldn't be allowed to inherit the throne.

But, upon her birth, her father had changed the law.

That meant she didn't just have to live up to the greatest king in the Endless Woods, but she also had to show that women deserved the right to rule.

She felt like she wasn't just representing Evers, but also women everywhere.

Perhaps she was being a bit full of herself, she would be quite prone to that considering who her father was, but that's how she imagined it.

She had told herself that she had to be perfect, just the perfect lady.

But every time she tried that, she failed.

She couldn't walk in heels and every time she wore a dress she would trip and tear it.

She skinned her knees and almost broke several bones climbing trees.

One day, she had seen her father dueling three of his knights at once.

It had instantly captivated her.

She had asked her father to teach her as soon as he was done.

By the end of the day, she was in breeches and a loose shirt and wielding a sword with confidence (even if that could have been a false sense of one at the time).

She had never felt at home when she tried to be a lady, but apparently she was right in her element being everything she shouldn't be.

She decided that, since she couldn't be the proper lady, she could be the proper warrior.

She shook her head and turned back to the matter at hand.

"So what is the opening ceremony?" she asked.

Tedros turned around, his shirt already off as he changed.

She shielded her eyes at the sight of her father.

"Please refrain from undressing in front of me," she said quickly.

Tedros turned red and hurriedly changed shirts.

He had never felt weird about being shirtless in front of someone, other than Agatha.

But this was different.

This wasn't self conscious about what the girl would think, but...

Different.

He shook his head and turned back to the girl.

He ran a hand through his hair and saw her doing the same.

Odd.

"Sorry. The opening ceremony is where all the princes," he paused and glanced at her, "plus you, I guess, showcase their sword fighting before throwing their rose into the crowd for a princess to catch. It's a time honored tradition."

Theresa snickered and shook her head.

"I think I'll refrain from throwing a rose."

Tedros glanced at her and laughed.

Theresa didn't have her eyes on anyone in particular and didn't intend on having a crush anytime soon.

She had important things to do, namely not failing at being the heir to the throne of Camelot.

There was a loud chime and Tedros looked up.

He turned around to look at Theresa with a grin.

"It's time."

~

"Do we really need to go to this ceremony?" Hilda grouched.

"Yeah, I just got away from those Evers and I'm not particularly looking forward to seeing them again," Amber added, "especially that nitwit princess."

Hester and Anadil glanced at them.

"You already know the Evers?" Hester asked.

At the same time, Anadil turned to Amber.

"Which princess?"

"We're... associated with a few of them, yes," Hilda said levelly.

"Theresa," Amber said, practically spitting out the name.

"Well, I'm excited! We're going to get to see them all again! See how...," she paused and glanced at the other Coven, "they're doing."

Hilda and Amber rolled their eyes at the same time and turned around.

Dede mumbled something about the twins being far too in sync before turning to talk to Dot.

"Yes, we have to go," Hester finally answered before turning and leading them to the ceremony.

~

Serenity followed her mother out of the Good castle.

She was paired with Kiko, an awkward situation for her.

She had given her the slip as soon as possible.

Kiko didn't seem intent on letting her go and soon popped up beside her from seemingly nowhere.

"Come on! With your looks I'm sure there's going to be lots of strapping princes that throw you their roses."

Kiko looked excited and Serenity raised an eyebrow.

She reminded her a lot of Dede, what a shocker.

"I don't really care," she said truthfully.

She had more important things than the shallow choices of the male population to deal with, namely making sure that she was born.

She hadn't seen her blond mother since getting here and was getting a bit worried.

What if they didn't meet for months?! Then what would she do?!

She could feel herself spiraling and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

It worked partially and she got a hold of herself.

She was prone to panic attacks, occasionally.

She'd gotten that from Nicola, even if you never see that Ever waver, she certainly did internally.

She had started getting panic attacks when she was younger and everyone was wondering whether she was a Never or an Ever.

They wouldn't leave her alone wherever she went and she started to have an identity crisis at the ripe age of eight.

She started to wonder if one of her parents would love her less if she wasn't on their side.

Both of them had come to comfort her when they'd figured out what was wrong, but it still made her nervous to this day.

Especially considering she was an Ever and, should she have an angry mother, she would have a petty and wrathful Sophie on her hands.

~

Both schools were situated on opposite sides of the hall and were in a heated debate about who was better, Evers or Nevers.

Neither side could ever truly win considering they would never be able to sway the other side to their way of thinking.

Amber and Hilda looked around for their friends, wondering if they'd somehow already messed everything up.

"I bet that stupid princess already blew everything. Probably ran up to her daddy screaming about how scared she was."

Hilda raised an eyebrow and looked at Amber.

She knew her twin always looked for a reason to taunt or insult Theresa, but that really wasn't realistic.

"This Theresa, you hate her?" Anadil asked.

Hester looked over with a vaguely interested expression that nobody but her family would have recognized as such.

"Y-um-I... it's complicated."

Their mothers both raised an eyebrow each.

Hilda stepped in.

"We've known each other our whole lives. It's hard to hate someone you've been 'friends' with for that long."

Hester and Anadil didn't seem completely convinced.

Amber pointed looked away from her parents and sister, finding that her eyes landed on the stage as she tried to avoid their gazes.

Just then, there were loud boots off to the side of the stage.

The Ever side.

Amber, having forgotten the ceremony she had been warned about from both of her mothers several times (and completely ignored and instead focused on ways she could prank or mess with Theresa), frowned and looked at the doors with confusion.

The door was suddenly flung open and several practically drooling princesses stared excitedly at those entering.

Amber couldn't care less about the princes, but their sword fighting interested her.

She hoped one got stabbed.

She watched the swords with undivided attention, not even giving a spare glance to who was wielding them.

The boys were almost done when the door slammed open once again.

A boy with a dark helmet on had kicked the door open and held a sword in both hands with evident experience.

The princes all turned their attention to him.

So did Amber.

The bravest of he few sprinted forward at him and, even though he had on a helmet, she could swear he smirked.

He lifted the sword and moved with the speed and grace that only a cheetah could possess.

He disarmed prince after prince without a second thought.

Once all of the new princes had been shown the best among them, they all looked to their leader.

They clearly were waiting for him to throw his rose to the girl he would clearly claim to be his own on the first day.

That was a silly custom that Amber found sexist and-

He paused for a moment before he threw the rose into the air without a second glance.

Amber found her eyes watching as it flew through the air.

Princesses jumped for it, all wanting to have this mysterious boy's rose as their own.

It sailed over them and to-

Amber felt a rose slap her in the face and then tumble into her lap, right into her hands.

The prince took off his helmet-

And she was met by familiar curly, fluffy blond hair.

Theresa.

Chapter Text

The princes and princesses stared with shock at Theresa as the blond princess ran a hand through her hair.

She gave them all a beaming, mischievous grin.

"What are you louts waiting for? These lovely ladies are patiently awaiting their roses and you're just standing there!"

The boys were instantly brought back to reality and threw their roses at the princesses.

Several girls didn't catch the roses as they just stared at the prince they had all been daydreaming about dating that had turned out to be...

A princess.

But there was nobody more shocked than Amber as she looked down at the rose still sitting in her hand peacefully.

It had soared over dozens of princesses just to find its way to her.

It was almost as if she was a magnet and it a piece of metal.

Theresa glanced around and her eyes landed on Amber.

She spotted her rose gripped lightly in her fingers.

She could tell it was hers because she had gotten the one the color of blood while all the boys had gone for the pink ones that would undoubtedly please the princesses in the audience.

Amber glanced up and Theresa gave her a smirk.

Amber's face turned the color of her rose and she looked down, not wanting to meet the princess' gaze for unknown reasons.

"Who's that?" Hester asked as she watched the sword-wielding princess stride down the steps with a confident saunter.

"That's Theresa," Hilda responded.

She glanced at her twin and then at the rose.

She'd never seen Amber look so...

Well, however she looked right now!

~

Serenity and Milly both had healthy piles of flowers in their laps.

Molly found herself not interested in any of the boys that had tossed her their roses.

Serenity was too busy looking for Sophie to care about all the princes that were giving her long looks.

~

Nathan glared at all the boys that were practically leering at Serenity.

He wanted to go over here and strangle them himself.

His eyes suddenly met dark brown ones and he was momentarily distracted.

He had made eye contact with Axel and the two silently communicated just how bored they were with this ceremony.

Axel had been the only prince not to participate in the sword fighting ceremony.

He was still sending glares at his sister as if this was somehow her fault.

Nathan had notice that he often blamed her for anything she did that upstaged him.

It didn't seem healthy, but, to be fair, Nathan had been doing that exact thing with his friends before that eye opening discussion he had with his dad.

He glanced back at Serenity and she wasn't looking anywhere near him.

Like always.

~

Theresa saw many princes staring at her with either anger or admiration.

There were even a few boys that were giving her the same looks they were giving Serenity (in fact, there were more than a few that looked like they might just start drooling. They'd obviously never met a girl that could wield a sword).

Castle and Pollux walked up to the stage and started to talk about rules, but the Ever side wouldn't shut up.

They were talking about her.

She took a seat beside Tedros and he gave her a grin.

"I think you made a name for yourself," he said.

She laughed.

Girls were either looking at her with jealousy for stealing the attention of the boys or Barry hidden anxiety for having been attracted to her while she had fought.

She was used to that kind of thing.

She'd always had trouble making friends with any girls outside of their friend group.

She'd always understood boys better.

She set her sword down and rested her left hand on it.

Tedros frowned and looked down at it.

"Are you left handed?"

She smirked.

She made a shushing sound and winked at her father.

"Don't tell anyone."

He laughed and got the stick-eye from Pollux.

"Is this even allowed?" a particular princess said a bit louder than the others.

Pollux sighed as he was interrupted yet again.

"Is what allowed?" he asked with pointed look at the girl.

"Her."

She pointed at Theresa and the princess met her gaze with a wink and her best grin.

The girl turned a bit red and looked away.

"There is nothing in the rules against it... but perhaps after this year there will be."

He said the last part quieter than the first and Theresa wondered if she was the reason she would have to fight to be allowed to enter the sword fighting class in the future.

That made her brain hurt and she shook her head.

Tedros laughed and looked at Theresa, already considering her like one of his mates.

She was different from the other girls and he couldn't help but be excited to have a chance to have a friend that could keep up with his sword fighting.

Someone that could fight at his side without falling behind.

The idea was intoxicating to the young boy and he found himself grinning even wider.

There was the shuffling of loud clumps and he looked up at the familiar sound.

Agatha.

She plopped down on the chair he'd saved for her.

"Sorry I'm late. Got a little distracted."

Tedros just gave her a small smile and looped an arm around her shoulders.

She stiffened for a moment, but soon she relaxed under his touch.

Theresa raised an eyebrow.

They seemed as close as ever... but she did remember the bump start her parents had had in their relationship and how they had almost not ended up together.

They would fight constantly just around this time...

She sighed.

Tedros glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head as if to say that nothing was wrong.

He nodded and then turned back to what Castor and Pollux were saying... even if he wasn't truly listening to a word.

He often pretended to listen like that, even in the future.

Theresa almost laughed at the familiar expression.

She glanced over and saw her brother sitting beside Agatha.

She gave him a grin and he looked away.

She frowned.

What was up with him lately?

Ever since they'd been sent back in time he'd been acting all weird.

She shrugged and quickly diagnosed him with TTBS.

Typical Teenage Boy Syndrome.

She smirked at her own cleverness and didn't notice the form across the hall glaring vehemently at her.

~

Amber had the rose in her hand, gripping it as if it was a neck she was trying to strangle instead of a flower.

She was still glaring at Theresa.

What was that girl thinking?!

Throwing her flower to Amber?!

She suddenly wondered if it had been an accident.

For some reason that made her feel... weird?

Somewhat... bad?

She shook her head angrily and debated ripping the flower to shreds.

She almost did, but paused the second before she would have viciously destroyed it.

For some reason she just... couldn't.

She growled and found herself slipping it into her pocket.

Hilda frowned thoroughly at the action and she ignored her sister.

She wasn't being weird.

Of course not.

~

Serenity suddenly saw a flash of familiar blond hair at the side of the stage.

She sat up quickly and waited for another glimpse.

About a minute passed before she got what she wished.

Castor and Pollux introduced the deans.

Clarissa Dovey... and Sophie of Woods Beyond.

She gave her best smile and Serenity found it achingly familiar.

She had always taken comfort in that smile whenever she saw it.

It was like a glimpse of home in this desolate desert.

Sophie gave a short speech about how amazing this year was going to be and ended it by announcing her another No Ball.

Serenity's heart sped up.

That was her chance.

She just had to get Sophie and Nicola to go to it together and everything would work itself out...

But how would she convince either of them to do that?!

She wasn't sure.

But part of a plan was better than no plan at all, she supposed.

She was pretty sure she'd heard Nicola say that at least once (probably before doing something dangerous and slightly idiotic).

Sophie then did a curtsy and blew a few kissed before striding from the stage.

Hester and Anadil let out loud boos and she glared at them.

~

The ceremony ended soon after and both Schools were excused from the hall.

Amber couldn't be more ready to get out of there.

Stupid Theresa and her stupid flower.

She should throw it out, rip it to shreds.

It stayed safely in her pocket.

Hester was already leading the two Covens to their next class.

Hilda slowed down slightly to check on Amber.

"You okay? You were acting kinda off back there."

Amber nodded.

"I'm fine."

She said it too quickly, making her twin more than a bit suspicious of her.

But Hilda didn't say a word.

She'd get it out of her sister sooner or later (most likely sooner considering how well she knew her twin).

~

Theresa walked beside Tedros and grinned.

"What's next?" she asked.

Tedros glanced at the schedule.

He grinned as well.

"Sword fighting."

She rubbed her hands together in excitement.

She'd been waiting practically her whole life to go to a School for Good sword fighting class.

She heard they had the best teacher in the whole Endless Woods, though she doubted it.

Her father was the best she'd ever seen and she'd heard he'd beat the teacher in a duel (though, to be honest, that was a rumor she'd once heard and had no idea if it was true or not).

She gave her brother a parting look and a squeeze on the arm.

He shook her hand off and she glared at him, silently asking what his problem was.

He looked away and strode off with Agatha.

She growled and looked back at her father.

Normally they would share a look of confusion whenever Axel would do something they didn't understand, but this time Tedros didn't notice.

Of course he didn't.

He didn't know that Axel was his son.

They hadn't even really spoken yet.

She wondered for a moment if that could be upsetting Axel, but before she could truly consider it, they were already in the tower with the sword training and she felt excitement fill her up.

She couldn't wait to finally do this.

Tedros gave her a grin and, for just a second, his face changed into the one she remembered.

She saw the slightly older man (though to be fair he wasn't older than thirty-three in her time. Yes, all their parents had had them young, but that was quite typical) with a bit of a scraggly beard and playful blue eyes with only a few more years of experience.

She saw her father, the real version of him, inside of this Tedros.

She grinned wider.

The second ended and he was left with just a young, slightly foolish Tedros that she had just met.

But that moment had made everything more real for her.

She wasn't sure why, but it seemed important.

~

Axel glanced over his shoulder at his sister and father.

She was glaring at him and he couldn't meet her gaze any longer.

He felt guilty.

This was petty.

He shouldn't be holding a grudge.

It wasn't her fault she was just so undeniably perfect in so many ways.

It wasn't her fault that Evers and Nevers alike, boy and girls even, had been staring at her during her showcase of talent and strength.

It was just his fault.

He couldn't do anything right.

Before he could go any further into his self-deprecating thoughts, he was pulled out by his mother's voice.

"Axel, are you not in the sword fighting class?" she asked.

He shook his head.

She grinned slightly.

"Good. I always thought it was overrated anyways."

His spirits soared.

That's right.

He didn't have to be great at the sword.

There were other things in life.

He found himself grinning as he walked by his mother's side, his hope restored, if only slightly.

Chapter Text

Theresa followed Tedros into the classroom.

It was wide and had several small fields for duels.

There were a few chairs lining the walls, but most of the room was filled with the dueling fields and small armory stations for students to put their swords.

It smelled like sweat and hard work, but Theresa grinned at the smell.

Nothing could bring her spirit down now that she was finally here.

Everything was perfect in here.

That is until the teacher turned around and frowned a she watched her.

"Princess, I believe that this is the wrong classroom. Beautification is in the Purity Tower."

Tedros snorted and before Theresa could speak, he threw an arm around her shoulders like he often would in the present.

"I think she'll fit in better here."

There were several princes watching from around the room, glancing from Theresa to Tedros.

He frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"In that case, why don't you give the class a demonstration?"

He threw his coat off and stepped into a dueling field, holding his sword aloft and staring at her.

She found herself smirking and she drew her sword with her right hand.

"Gladly, Professor," she said with a cocky tone.

He raised an eyebrow at her confidence as she practically strutted into the arena.

She raised her sword and beckoned for him to start.

A clear sign that she was confident of her own abilities.

He bristled at that and came forward with a small glare on his face.

All their classmates surrounded them and watched with wide eyes.

Theresa felt her fear starting to grab hold of her.

What was she doing?!

She was barley allowed to join the class because she was a girl and she was already challenging the teacher to a duel!

There was no way she could win!

That's when her eyes met Tedros'.

He gave her a confident grin looking as if he was completely certain that she would out stage this professor.

That was the same look he always gave her before she fought against a particularly talented knight or guard.

And she always won.

She grinned and looked back at the professor that was stalking toward her with a slight scowl on his face.

He swung his sword almost leisurely as if expecting that she would fold immediately.

She did nothing of the kind.

She actually fell to the ground just underneath the sword and kicked out, sweeping his legs out from under him.

She went to put her sword to his throat, but he rolled and hurried to his feet with slightly wide eyes.

He thrust his sword at her an she parried.

They continued this pattern for a minute until the professor smirked, obviously sure he was going to win.

He stabbed at her and, instead of parrying, she threw her sword in the air.

She twirled like a dancer until she was behind his back and triumphant caught her sword by the hilt with her left hand.

She had yet to use it in this fight.

The professor whirled and she instantly started an onslaught of attacks.

She had him backed up in the corner of the field and going as fast as he could to block her myriad of attacks.

Her change in attack lasted for about thirty seconds before she disarmed him and held her sword to his throat triumphantly.

The professor stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"You're left handed?" he asked quietly once he had found his voice.

She grinned and nodded, slipping her sword into its sheath and turning to give Tedros a smirk.

He was also smirking and she felt herself fill up with pride.

She'd done it.

She'd beaten him.

And to think she'd almost given up before she'd even started.

The princes all stared at her and she grinned.

The professor scooped up his sword as she walked back over to Tedros.

The professor tried to gather his dignity while beginning to teach.

Theresa stayed silent and calm, allowing the professor to lecture them about proper form as both the first and fourth years listened.

She didn't interrupt or disrespect him despite having berated him in combat.

When he realized them to practice form, Tedros and Theresa talked and laughed in the corner while pretending to work.

The professor didn't say anything to them and Theresa took that as silent permission for them to continue.

As their time in class wound down, he told each of them to pair up with their mentor and have a two on two group with another pair.

Theresa and Tedros found no challenge in two and were soon challenged with four, then six, right, and so on until it seemed as if the whole class was against them.

They worked as one, both giving commands to the other.

"Parry right!" Theresa called.

"Watch your left!" Tedros responded.

"Switch!" both of them said at the same time.

Tedros bent down and Theresa vaulted over his back easily, partying two swords at once and giving a wide grin as she watched her father do the same out of the corner of her eyes.

Soon, they had disarmed every student, first and fourth year alike, and were beaming at each other.

Tedros felt like he'd finally felt someone that could keep up with him when he fought,

Chaddick and his mentor, whose name he hadn't caught, were the last to go down and Tedros' friend looked at him with a frown on his face.

Tedros and Chaddick had always been close, but they had just been... on different levels.

Tedros felt like he had finally met another person that could fight like he could.

Someone he could rely on and not have to protect constantly.

It was exhilarating.

Theresa sheathed her sword with a dramatic twirl of the hilt and Tedros laughed, doing the same, but slightly more intricate.

"Show off," she said with a laugh.

Tedros smirked.

"Pot calling the kettle black," he said.

"That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say," Theresa responded just as evenly.

Tedros laughed and looped an arm around her shoulder as they left for their next class.

~

Axel followed Agatha to Animal Communications.

He was not at all surprised that he was the only boy in the class.

Beside him sat Serenity and Milly.

Princess Uma was talking with animals in the distance and laughing every once in a while.

She told them about communicating with animals and how it could save their lives, but it would take time to learn their languages.

Milly frowned and raised her hand.

Princess Uma seemed surprised, but she called on her nonetheless.

"What do you mean by 'time'?" she asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

Uma raised an eyebrow.

"It's like any language. Although, once you've learned one you can understand practically all of them."

Milly still looked confused.

Uma gave her a rather fake looking smile.

"You can't call animals to your aid now, dear, but I promise that at the end of this year, all of you will be able to call at least s bird."

Milly felt the Beatrix in her rising up inside of her.

She let out a loud whistle and Uma glanced at her.

There was a moment of silence before loud padded footsteps sounded.

Two beautiful golden wolfhounds burst in through the forest and skidded to a stop beside her.

She stroked its head and glanced up as birds swooped overhead and stared down at her, all chirping.

The wolfhounds in front of her was Gildy and Gordon.

She'd met the hounds about a year and a half ago when Milly .

They had been left alone in the Woods near Camelot, both mewling and alone.

She had taken them back home and nursed them back to health.

Ever since then, the two didn't leave her side (that is until they got sent back in time and she kept them away for safety until now).

The two wolfhounds laid down beside her, resting their heads in her lap.

A rabbit hopped from the woods and squeaked quietly to her.

She grinned and responded with a squeak of her own and the rabbit tittered and laid down beside Gildy.

Serenity and Axel both smirked at their friend's showcase of skill and Princess Uma stared at her in shock.

Milly gave her a grin and laid her hand on Gordon's head, stroking him gently.

Axel rolled his eyes as once again one of his friend's found their talent they were better at than anyone else while he was so boringly normal.

He just wanted to be able to be good at something for once.

Princess Uma glanced from Milly to Beatrix to Reena, both of which were sitting near her.

Milly shrugged and looked at her mothers.

Both of them looked impressed and she grinned smugly.

She had been excited to show the younger forms of her mothers her talent.

Princess Uma was still staring at her in disbelief.

Milly gave her an innocent smile and then turned to Axel.

He could tell she was smug and proud.

He frowned slightly.

He’d always been good at guessing people’s emotions... but this was different.

He gently set his hand on her.

He felt confusion as she glanced at him.

He felt sorry for the mission they were on and-

His eyes widened and he tried to probe that deeper, but Milly swatted his hand and glared.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“You... you have a crush,” he said with certainty.

Molly’s eyes popped.

“What?! No I don’t,” she hissed.

Axel had felt it, but he wasn’t sure on who.

She’d pulled away too quickly.

“Yes you do,” he said.

She blushed and looked away.

He could feel her embarrassment coming off of her in waves.

He turned around and looked at Serenity.

She was nervous and confused.

He knew there was more, but he knew that he would have to touch her to know the rest.

How he knew this... well, he wasn’t sure.

He guessed he knew in the same way that Hester knew her demon could come to life, or the way Dot knew she could turn things into chocolate.

He just did.

Axel found himself grinning.

He’d done it.

He’d found his talent.

Something he could do that nobody else could.

Suddenly, an idea popped out at him.

He needed to see Theresa.

~

As Axel walked by, he could feel the disbelief and slight concern from Uma.

He could feel Serenity’s awkwardness as she stood beside Kiko.

He wasn’t sure why that was, but for the moment he ignored that.

He had more important things to do.

“Where’s my sister?” He asked Agatha.

Agatha paused.

“Well, she must be with Tedros, so I assume that she would be headed to her room.”

Apparently, they’d finished their classes of the day.

Axel grinned.

“Perfect.”

He took off at a run, though his sprint was not impressive, toward where he assumed he’d catch up to Theresa.

~

Theresa heard familiar, clumpy footsteps.

Both she and Tedros turned around and looked.

Tedros clearly expected Agatha, but Theresa was sure this was Axel by his slow, leaping stride.

He skidded to a stop, almost falling over, and looked at his sister.

He didn’t wait a moment before he grabbed her wrist and held it tight.

She would have ripped her hand out of the weak grip of it had been anyone else but him.

~

Axel allowed her emotions to follow through him.

He felt pride and smugness, he should have guessed it.

 Nothing underneath that.

He almost let go-

But he felt something stirring deep inside of her.

After a moment she burst with insecurity and anxiety.

She looked at him and her worry bloomed.

She looked around the room for someone attacking and her protectiveness flare.

He found himself bursting with joy.

She... cared that much?

The anxiety and doubt was palpable and he soon realized it was always there.

She was worried about living up to their father.

Just like he was.

Theresa realized there was no threat and grinned down at him.

How could she always be so happy with such worry and doubt?!

He noticed something familiar-

But she gently removed her wrist from his grasp and put it on his shoulder.

Her was left with just the surface emotions again.

“Are you okay?”

Axel finally understood.

Everyone worried about it.

He wasn’t the only imperfect one.

They all were.

Even Theresa.

He grabbed her in a tight hug and burrowed his face in her shoulder.

Chapter Text

Amber stared down at the rose in her hands and tried to figure out why Theresa would throw it to her.

Probably just to mess with her.

And that smirk she'd flashed when she'd seen the rose in Amber's hands...

That was just because she'd pulled off a prank.

Obviously

And, even more obviously, it hadn't worked.

It hadn't affected her at all.

Nope.

That was why she was going to throw the rose away.

Right now.

Her hand kept stroking the rose.

She was going to throw it out right... now!

She didn't.

She just found that she couldn't.

She saw Hilda coming over and she shoved it into her pocket.

"I heard we're starting Surviving Fairy Tales tomorrow. Can't wait to mess with some Evers," she said with an evil smirk.

Amber smirked as well and her mice twittered in her lap.

They'd had lunch in their respective schools for the first day while getting acclimated to the new surroundings and it had just ended.

Dede turned around and looked at them fervently.

"They're coming," she whispered quietly.

Amber and Hilda both looked up and watched as they both their mothers coming.

The two walked in sync, just as they did in the future.

Hester had her evil scowl and looked distastefully at any that passed by.

One new Never dropped their pencil in front of them and went to pick it up, but as he saw the look on Hester's face, he paled and scurried away from her with his pencil lying on the ground long forgotten.

Hester didn't spare him another look as she and Anadil, plus Dot (but she wouldn't have given her a glance as she cheerfully greeted their fellow classmates, walking just a few steps behind them), walked toward their table.

Hilda threw his tray away and glared at Dede until she followed suit.

"But I wasn't done!"

"You can turn anything into chocolate. You're going to be fine," Hilda snapped.

Amber normally would have added onto what Hilda said, but she was preoccupied by running her finger up and down the rose in her pocket.

Hilda glanced at her and raised an eyebrow as if asking what was wrong.

Amber shook her head as if to say to not worry about it and Hilda nodded.

She strode up confidently to Hester.

She met her mother's cold gaze.

"What's next?" she asked.

Hester cracked the bare minimum of what could be considered a smile.

"Now you get your room."

Hester spun on her heel and the Covens, both old and new, followed after her.

~

Hester and Anadil walked close together, though not how Hilda and Amber were accustomed.

Usually they walked with about an inch between their shoulder, looking as if they were perpetually ready for a fight and would be prepared to protect each other.

Now they walked with their shoulders about four inches apart.

Hilda thought of a great way to fix their walking arrangement.

She hurried forward and walked beside Hester.

The hall was narrow and Hilda made sure to take up as much room as she could while still looking casual and talking to Hester.

The older tattooed witch was pushed up against the albino.

Anadil glanced down as their hands brushed.

Hester was busy with her conversation with Hilda and didn't seem to notice.

That is until her eyes just barely flickered to Anadil and then back again.

Hilda tried her hardest not to grin.

Dede was already tryin to talk up Kiko and be subtle about it.

"Do you have any Ever friends?"

Dot thought for a moment.

"Umm, I'm friends with Agatha. What about you?"

Dede got sidetracked for a moment.

"Yup! Four of them! There's Axel, he's really emo and always talks about how his dad doesn't like him. Oh! Then there's Milly, she's really good with animals, which is surprising considering how bossy she is. And Serenity... she's really nice. She's super nerdy, but like in a cool way. She's really fun to hang out with. And the last one is Theresa-"

"Can we please stop discussing that nitwit of an Ever?! I'm surprised she's smart enough to distinguish the two sides of her sword!" Amber snapped.

The old and new Coven looked at her, all of them appearing confused at her outburst.

Hilda glared at her as Hester and Anadil moved slightly away from each other.

Amber fell silent, her face turning lightly crimson.

Hilda made sure to get back into her strategic position beside her mothers.

Dot and Dede went back to and started talking about Evers.

"I always thought Kiko was a great character! She was always so faithful to her friends and never strayed from her beliefs," Dede said, glancing at Dot.

Hester scoffed.

"Even if those beliefs were stupid."

Dede's temper flared up.

It didn't happen often, but when it did she could even cow Hilda.

Just like her mom.

"Just because someone's beliefs are different from yours doesn't mean they're stupid, it just make YOU ignorant, A-Hester!" Dede had almost slipped and called Aunt Hester.

Hilda and Amber were staring at her.

After a moment, both of the younger witches and turned on their mother, glaring as well.

It took a lot to truly upset Dede and they always defended her when someone did.

Dede was meeting Hester's gaze levelly as if daring her to say something.

Hester looked away and muttered something under her breath.

Anadil turned as well and all of them advanced as a pack in silence.

"She might be on the other side, but she does had a good work ethic," Dot said softly after a moment.

Dede beamed and tried to hide it from her mother.

Hilda saw Hester's hand clenched into a fist and Anadil glancing at her.

She made her move immediately.

"T?" Hilda whispered.

"Read my mind," Amber responded coolly.

And with that, they executed plan T.

Amber stuck out her foot in front of her.

Hilda 'tripped' over it and stumbled into Hester and Anadil.

As the pair tumbled, Amber grabbed Hilda by the hand and pulled her right back to her feet as if they'd done this a million times before (and they had done it quite a few times, especially with Theresa... Amber had been the one to fake fall then and once Theresa had even beat Hilda to catching her. After that, Amber and Hilda had never done it again).

Hester bumped into Anadil and the two tumbled to the ground.

The albino flailed out and grabbed onto Hester, her rats squeaking as they dangled from her hair.

Hester reacted just as quickly, grabbing around the waist with one hand and throwing out her other one to catch them on the wall.

Anadil had her hands around Hester's neck and her legs were barely set against the ground, having had to stretch farther across the hall until they almost reached the halfway point, but they were giving her no support.

Hester's red-streaked hair dangled down in Anadil's face, but somehow did not obstruct her view of Hester's face only a few inches above her own.

Hester was holding her up and just staring at her for a long moment.

Amber and Hilda stood side by side and fist bumped behind their backs with perfectly straight faces.

They looked completely innocent, but Hester and Anadil didn't notice as they just looked at each other.

Dot went to go help, but Dede caught her arm.

"Hester might just kill you if you touch her," she said smoothly.

Hilda and Amber both sent her slightly surprised but impressed looks for her quick thinking.

Anadil stared at the concern on Hester's face as she made sure that she didn't fall. It made her stomach get a weird, churning sensation.

Hester watched as Anadil's hair cascaded down below her, almost touching the ground.

After about a minute, Hester pushed herself up off the wall and set Anadil back on her feet with surprising gentleness from the top Never.

The albino turned a dull pink color and looked away.

Hester didn't look at her, but Anadil kept finding her eyes drawn to the tattooed witch.

Hilda and Amber hung back after that, both of them quite proud of how they'd done so far.

Dede and Dot were still talking in the back and had gotten onto the topic of boys.

Dot was mooning over Hort and Dede awkwardly tried not to imagine Dot marrying her Uncle Horty that came over most weekends with his son to their meetings and always had some spare candy for her.

Dede changed the topic and got onto Nathan and Axel, speaking of how cute she found the former and how the latter had the hot 'brooding' thing going on.

Dot nodded immediately in agreement.

"That's always a plus," she said.

Hilda and Amber both made gagging sounds just as their mothers did.

They glanced at them and all of them broke into evil cackles together.

Hilda glanced at Hester and Anadil, finding both of them glancing at each other every once in a while before looking away pointedly.

It wasn't much, but she supposed that it was a start.

~

Serenity plotted how to get her mothers to meet, let alone fall in love, when she saw Kiko come prancing up.

She was suddenly reminded of something. Well, someone, that is.

Dede.

Serenity wasn't the only one with both a Never and an Ever for parents.

She had to help Dede make sure her parents fell in love as well.

So when Kiko came into Serenity's room (she was supposed to be sharing with Milly, but the girl was busy, likely trying to get her mothers together) and she had her room to herself, she said something she hated and never wanted to say ever again.

"Let's have some girl time."

She almost threw up as she said it, but it was out there and she just had to deal with it.

Kiko squealed in glee and clapped her hands.

She fell into the bed beside Serenity and gave her a wide grin.

The younger Ever had to remind herself that she was doing this for Dede.

~

Serenity had finally manipulated the conversation to where she wanted it to be.

Crushes.

Kiko talked about Tristan for a good eight minutes before Serenity got her off of the subject.

"I don't know... I've always preferred the Nevers myself. They have that whole edgy streak going on and it's exciting."

Kiko stared at her with wide, bulging eyes.

Serenity was lying to manipulate the conversation, of course.

Of course.

"But the Nevers scare me! Especially Hester!" Kiko looked over her shoulder as if she expected the witch to appear from the shadows at the mere mention of her name.

Serenity tried not to laugh at the irony that Kiko would be living with her in about fifteen years.

"Not all of them are scary. Dot seems pretty nice."

Serenity realized that was too on the nose and was about to say another not-so-scary Never, but Kiko was already grinning.

"Yeah, she isn't too bad. I can't believe she's even a Never at all. She must had a little bit of a wild streak somewhere... but she's so sweet and kind most of the time."

Serenity found herself smiling as well.

"Yup!"

Kiko stopped speaking for a moment and just went into a contemplative silence before she was suddenly off on some tangent about something Serenity honestly didn't care about.

~

Hilda, Amber, and Dede had been given their own room and the twins were trying their best to think up ways to get their parents closer together.

"Dede, you need to utilize the time at lunch because I think that's the only time they're together," Hilda said.

Amber seemed slightly distracted, her hand back in the pocket of her dress.

Hilda frowned in confusion.

What could be more interesting than ensuring their own existence?!

She shook her head and tried to think of every single terrible, horrible romantic setup she'd heard Evers swoon and moan about.

Her eyes lit up with a dangerous glint.

"I've got it."

Chapter Text

"Don't worry, De. It's going to be fine."

"That's what you always say, Hil, and it always goes wrong!"

"Not this time!"

Amber was still a bit distracted by her rose in the pocket of her dress and tried to pay attention.

"Stop complaining, De," Amber said, taking her twin's side as per usual.

Dede sighed and watched with worried eyes as Hilda 'accidentally' knocked the latter over and allowed it to start a small fire in their room.

Dede knew she was going to regret this.

~

Nathan glanced between his two fathers as the two sat silently, both studying their textbooks side by side in the library.

Neither seemed to have acknowledged the other's existence more than a quick look when they had first sat down.

It was infuriating!

How was he supposed to get them to have him if neither of them ever spoke?!

~

The fire flickered and attached itself to the walls of the room with a vengeful passion.

The way it costed everything in sight was somehow a powerful message for the three witches.

It somehow jumped from one side of the room to the already torn up curtains to the other side.

They waited for another second before having Dede call out for help.

"Help! Somebody help!"

There was silence for a long moment and Hilda cursed the stupid Nevers in this castle.

Then she heard the full sound of boots.

Half a minute passed before three familiar forms appeared in the doorway.

Hester's demon detached from her neck and grabbed the one blanket that wasn't on fire, smothering the flames the best she could.

Anadil's finger glowed a bright green color and water fell from the roof a few feet above the fire and she helped Hester put the fire out.

Dot grabbed the three girls and herded them out of danger as quickly as possible.

The three witches had the flames under control in only a few moments and Hilda had to bite her lip to stop from smirking.

A support beam for the room fell and slammed against the floor with a sickening THUNK.

"What happened?!" Hester roared.

"Dede knocked the lantern over and started a fire."

"What?! I didn't knock it over!" Dede protested loudly.

Amber shook her head in disappointment.

"Dede, stop lying. We know it was an accident, but you have to deal with the consequences of your actions."

Dede looked at Amber with an expression of pure betrayal on her face.

When Hester, Anadil, and Dot looked away, both twins she her a quick apologetic look.

She looked away from them petulantly and crossed her arms in distaste.

"Come with me," Hester growled before stalking out of their, still smoldering, room.

The three followed after her.

Anadil stalked by her side, only a half step behind.

Dot hurried forward with a quick "Wait up, guys!"

They walked up two floors of winding stairs until they reached an overly decorated door.

At the top, a name was printed in pink, sparkly letters.

Dean Sophie.

Hester pushes the door open and glared at the three until they went in.

"These three burned down their room," Hester growled.

"On the first day!" Anadil added with a slightly disgusted and slightly impressed look on her face.

Hester looked much the same, but she was trying to cover it up.

Sophie turned around in her chair and stared at them.

Dede was instantly reminded of Serenity.

She needed to find a way to get those two to meet...

"Is it too destroyed for them to sleep in?" she asked, looking at Hester.

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't," Hester snapped.

"And these are the ones you're supposed to be looking after?" she asked.

Hester nodded.

Sophie looked back down at her book (Beautiful Evil: Ten Steps To Make Your Scowl More Enticing To Princes).

"Then let them stay with you," she said simply.

Hester let out a loud "WHAT?!"

Sophie didn't look back up.

"You heard me, Hester."

"You nitwit we only have three beds!"

Sophie looked up, a dangerous glint to her eyes.

"You shouldn't talk to your Dean that way."

Hester's demon twitched irritably on her neck and Anadil set a gentle hand on her arm.

Her pale fingers barely touched her, but it was enough to get Hester's attention from Sophie to Anadil long enough for the albino to communicate silently that this would undoubtedly be a doom room visit if she played her cards wrong.

Hester took a deep, shuddering breath as she tried to calm herself.

"Fine," she growled out before spinning on her heel and stalking out like an irate cat.

The rest of them followed after her.

As they left, Amber and Hilda did another fist bump behind their backs at their perfectly executed plan.

~

Milly looked between her mothers.

They were doing everything together from classwork to eating.

But neither of them seemed to have the slightest interest in the other!

It was simply infuriating!

They acted just like every other friendship she knew.

They acted like her and Hilda or her and-

Beatrix's hand brushed against Reena's hand as she reached for her pencil.

Both of them froze for a second and they glanced at each other.

Beatrix looked at Reena's hand and Reena looked at Beatrix's.

Both of them seemed immobile due to disbelief.

Milly found herself grinning confidently.

Not quite friends after all.

Not quite like her and Hilda...

Not at all...

~

Theresa prepared to follow her father to his room as many students had been double bunked with their mentors.

But as the two went to his room, they were quickly stopped by a teacher.

Clarissa Dovey.

"Tedros, you know she cannot spend the night in your room!"

Tedros looked confused for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened.

"Oh, uh, we would never-I mean, I'm already engaged-but...," he took a breath, "You're right."

Both Tedros and Theresa were disgusted at the mere idea of anything going on between them.

"Come with me, Princess."

Tedros snorted and Theresa shot him a glance, the two of them locking eyes before rolling them in sync.

"We can switch you with... ah! Come along, dear."

~

Theresa was led down a few hallways before reaching another tower.

"You can switch with your brother for sleeping arrangements, I'm sure."

The dean didn't wait long enough for her to respond and instead turned to her brother and told him to follow her.

Theresa caught Axel's hand as he passed and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go.

She turned to the door and found s very familiar raven-haired girl standing there.

"Hi, I'm Theresa."

She held out her hand, but Agatha didn't take it.

"I'm Agatha."

She turned around and went back to her room.

Theresa saw that it was unoccupied and she had two open beds.

Theresa set her small bag on the middle one beside Agatha's.

"Your room's really nice. Especially compared to Tedros', his was a complete pigsty."

She let out a laugh and expected her mother to join in.

She didn't.

Agatha eyed her up and down.

"You were in his room?" she asked lowly.

Theresa shifted a bit uncomfortably.

"I mean, for about a second before Dovey came and got me."

Agatha continued to stare at her and Theresa ran a hand through her unruly, fluffy hair.

"Why?"

Agatha didn't answer and instead turned around to unpack her things.

Theresa frowned and went back to her own unpacking, feeling weirdly awkward.

~

"So you're the brother I've heard so much about," Tedros said as he eyed Axel up and down.

The short Ever tried not to feel intimidated by the younger form of his dad.

He could sense a bit of disbelief and humor and it made the hair on the back of Axel's neck stand up straight.

"We don't look very alike, I know," Axel said levelly as he threw his stuff down on the free bed.

"I don't know. Your eyes look similar."

Axel turned around and glared at him with said eyes levelly.

"Hers are blue, mine are brown. Are you color blind?"

Tedros shook his head and went to his own bed.

"I meant behind your eyes."

Axel frowned.

"What do you mean?" he found himself asking.

"I mean that you have the same look in your eyes. It's... nice."

Axel stared at his father for a long moment before tearing his eyes away from him and looking at his small bag of luggage.

~

Hester was still fuming when they got back to their room.

"Don't set this one on fire too!" she snapped at Dede when they got inside.

"Hester, that's not fair. I remember the time you almost set the library on fire," Dot said with a surprisingly confrontational tone.

"Your demon did shoot a fireball at a few books," Anadil conceded.

Hester growled and grumbled under her breath about something before throwing her stuff on her bed.

"Whatever," she finally said.

"Dot, can I share a bed with you?" Dede instantly asked.

The older witch nodded at her daughter and the two went to the corner of the room to talk in hushed voices about something unknown to everyone else.

"I am not sharing with one of those fire starters!" Hester snapped.

Anadil nodded in agreement and the two suddenly realized what that meant.

Anadil's face turned a light pink color and Hester turned around quickly.

Hilda and Amber gave each other smug looks before they headed for the center bed, normally occupied by albino.

Hester and Anadil both stood awkwardly at the former's bed for a minute before Hester growled and threw the covers off of it.

"We have early classes tomorrow. I can't be up all night, Ani."

And with that, the two witches both laid down on Hester's bed as if they did it everyday.

That wasn't far from the truth considering the future, Amber supposed.

Hilda and Amber both got into the middle bed easily, both used to having to share a bed occasionally back in the future when they went on trips.

Amber quietly slipped her rose out of her pocket and set it down on her bedside gently.

"Amb, go to sleep," Hilda mumbled as she pressed her head into her pillow.

Amber rolled over and set her head on Hilda's shoulder, falling asleep quite quickly.

When she did slip into a quiet slumber, she found herself dreaming of a minty scent and fluffy blond hair.

~

Hilda fell asleep with thoughts of that ceremony as well, though hers were pondering why someone had gotten so many roses.

~

Anadil tried to ignore where all she and Hester touched as they shared the small bed that really was only meant for one person.

She finally fell asleep at the corner of the bed and was resting peacefully.

Then the world started to tilt and she was awakened by an arm grabbing her around the waist and pulling her back onto the bed.

Hester grumbled in a tired haze as she pulled Anadil back onto the bed.

“Be careful, Ani.”

The albino instantly felt her face turn crimson.

She waited for Hester to let go, but she didn’t and shook she could hear Hester’s gentle snores.

She felt her heart hammering in her chest and simultaneously skipping a beat, something that sounded very much like an oxymoron.

Anadil fell asleep a few minutes later, surprised by how warm Hester felt behind her.

She slept better that night than she could ever remember.

~

“Why do you hate me?” Theresa finally asked, channeling the bluntness she’d inherited from her mother.

Agatha turned around.

“I don’t have you.”

“Fine! Then why are you so rude to me?” Theresa snapped.

Agatha was silent.

“Are you upset I was spending time with Tedros?” she asked.

Agatha nodded only slightly.

“Wait.. are you... jealous?!”

Agatha blushed just slightly.

Theresa laughed.

“Don’t worry, I would never-I mean... I’m not interested in Tedros in the slightest. Never would be,” she said with a beaming grin.

Agatha made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth.

Theresa didn’t notice and went along packing her things.

Agatha didn’t worry about it again.

Chapter Text

Tedros watched as Axel sat down on his bed.

He wondered what was going on in that boy's head and he certainly would wonder again.

Axel was focusing on the emotions coming off of Tedros in waves.

He felt confused, awkward, a bit uncomfortable...

Axel smirked slightly.

This new talent really was helpful.

"So... what's your talent?" Tedros asked, clearly trying to start some kind of conversation with him to dispel the awkward silence in the air.

Axel looked up.

He'd told his sister and was planning to tell all his friends tomorrow at lunch, but he wasn't sure if he should tell Tedros.

A part of him said yes because this was his father, but another said no for precisely the same reason.

The former side won and he told him quietly.

"That's amazing! I've never met someone would can do that! Must make some things awkward, huh? A lot of people must not want to be around someone who can do that kind of thing."

Axel paused.

Theresa had been quite shocked when he had told her and she had given him a long, level look.

Then she'd pulled him into a long, bone-crushing hug while excitedly saying he'd found his talent.

So his sister was okay with it... but what about his friends?

What about Nathan?

They'd always been on the same side, but what if it make him uncomfortable to know Axel could sense what he was feeling (at least to an extent, to feel everything he had to actually physically touch hi ).

"Yes, I suppose people might be uncomfortable."

~

Amber woke up that morning and found herself blushing at something that must have happened in her dream.

She didn't remember exactly.

She could remember... the color yellow? But like, the color you could see someone have for hair.

She also remembered blue.

Pristine, intense blue.

She wished she could remember what it was.

She saw Hilda shifting where she slept and Amber shook her awake.

Hilda growled and shoved her face back in her pillow.

Amber pulled her up by the shoulders and then pointed across the room.

At Hester and Anadil.

The former was holding the latter around the waist and the albino was curled up against her.

Hilda and Amber made eye contact and smirked, both congratulating each other for their successful plans.

~

Anadil woke up to a warm form behind her and a familiar scent.

The smell of cauldrons and old spell books.

She recognized it.

It was the scent of Hester.

It was a familiar, comforting even.

She took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell for a second before realizing what she was doing.

And where she was.

Her eyes flashed open and she looked over her shoulder.

She caught sight of a sleeping Hester and turned a light pink color.

She slid out of the bed, moving Hester's arm off of her and onto the bed.

Hester grumbled in her sleep before rolling over and continuing to slumber.

Anadil let out a sigh and turned around to get ready-

Only to find the twins staring at her.

They were looking at her with small, evil smirks and the same expression on their faces.

They looked like they should be in a horror movie and asking her to play with them forever. And ever. And ever.

Anadil looked away from the two and started to get her things together.

~

The two Covens made their way to the dining hall.

As Anadil went to grab her food, she naturally grabbed a black coffee.

She slid it in front of Hester as the grouchy witch sat down.

She really wasn't a morning person.

Hester grunted her thanks before practically inhaling the drink.

Hilda wondered how she didn't burn herself.

Amber looked at her twin and the two both grinned.

Anadil would always get Hester coffee in the morning in the future, so it was a good sign she was doing it now.

Dede sat down beside Dot and the two continued to whisper about whatever they'd been talking about.

Hilda wondered if they were talking about them, but she didn't really care.

As long as Dede made sure she was born.

~

Dede thought the whole day about how to get Nicola and Sophie together.

She was taking the bet that Serenity was doing the same for her.

They'd always had a certain bond, having both been from parents on opposing sides of Good and Evil.

When she got to Cursed and Death traps, she let out an audible sigh as she saw Sophie at the front of the class.

She was clearly not used to this and soon assigned reading.

As she walked by, Dede made her move.

"Dean Sophie," Hester growled at the word 'Dean' and Dede ignored her interruption, "is there really going to be another No Ball this year?"

Sophie's face lit up.

"Why of course there will be! Nevers have just as much a right to find love as Evers!"

She went on about how she was planning to have a super glittery and fun party, but Dede stopped listening.

"Pfft. Nevers finding love," Hester said as she finished her pages.

Anadil glanced at her but didn't say anything.

Amber and Hilda, however, both whipped their heads around.

"Nevers can love," Amber said quickly, knowing her life might very well depend on what she said in the next minute.

Hester and Anadil both looked at her.

"Our parents are in love," Hilda said just as fervently.

"And we turned out quite Evil," Amber said with a smirk.

Hilda nodded and allowed her demon to twitch on her neck.

Hester stared at the two for a long moment.

"Mine are too!" Dede added.

Hester's eyes snapped to her and narrowed.

"Whatever," she finally growled out before turning around and starting a conversation with a blushing Anadil.

Hilda and Amber smirked at each other.

"Were they really?" Dot asked in a soft voice.

"Still are," Amber said with surprising comfort in her voice.

Dot started to grin slightly.

"That's... great."

Hilda quietly added that she at least hoped their parents were still together considering everything they were doing...

~

It was the second day of school and Serenity still had no idea what her talent was yet.

At least Axel didn't either.

At least that's what she thought until she got to lunch.

It was a nice clearing between the two schools and she found herself excited to see her Never friends.

She hoped none of them had messed up.

She could tell Dede that she was working with Kiko, trying to help the girl to look at Dot like she was an option.

She'd gotten the other Ever to talk about her on two separate occasions so far and she was quite proud of herself for that.

She took a seat at an open table and saw many princes looking her way.

She ignored them all and tried to find her friends in the crowd.

The next to arrive was Theresa.

She strutted up and was followed by a few princes, each holding the swords at their hips as if they should be ready to attack or defend.

One or two of them may have even started drooling when Theresa grinned at the sight of her cousin.

She practically flopped onto the seat beside Serenity.

"So, how's everything going?" she asked casually.

But Serenity knew what she meant.

And this conversation was precisely why she'd chosen a table in the corner of the clearing that would be mostly secluded from everyone else.

"Alright, I suppose. You?"

Theresa shrugged.

"Seems pretty stable so far."

Serenity nodded and glanced up.

She saw Nathan coming toward them with him weasel grin.

He moved to sit beside her, but suddenly Dede was there.

"Serry!" she said happily, giving her a tight hug.

"I was worried about you!"

Again, she could tell they weren't talking about their days at school.

Serenity returned the hug and whispered in her ear.

"I'm trying to help with Kiko."

Dede grinned and informed her about her work with Sophie.

Serenity found herself smiling more than she should be at the news.

Perhaps it was because of the infectiously excited way that Dede gave it.

The witch sat down beside Serenity and Nathan frowned.

He was pushed to the side, again, and took a seat beside Dede.

Axel sat beside him and gave him a small smile.

The prince frowned and looked from Nathan to Serenity.

The Never had a crush on her.

He could feel it.

It felt... weird.

Sure he'd felt that Milly had a crush, but this somehow seemed different.

Speaking of Milly, she took the seat beside Axel and gave him a kind smile.

The two started up a conversation, but it was interrupted as the final two members of their group appeared.

Dede had ran ahead to get to their friends quicker, but those two would not be seen sprinting to see friends.

They were above such things.

Hilda took the seat beside Milly and the only one left was beside...

Theresa.

Amber ground her teeth and took the seat beside her twin, not looking at the princess beside her.

Theresa was not an easy person to ignore, however.

She was soon talking loudly and gestured dramatically with her hands.

She was discussing something with Serenity, Nathan, and Dede.

Suddenly, Nathan said something and Theresa burst out laughing.

It was a giggly laugh like most of the princesses.

No, hers was loud and filled with joy that could not be faked no matter how hard one would try.

Amber glanced at her, catching the way she threw her head back in laughter.

She looked away quickly and definitely did not stroke the flower in her pocket.

She tried to distract herself with her twin, but she was talking with Milly.

Theresa had told her about how she'd set their room on fire and the other girl was grinning.

"That's pretty clever, actually."

Hilda glared at her.

"You act as if I'm not always."

Milly raised an eyebrow.

"I still remember the time you jumped off the roof with an umbrella, claiming that you could fly."

Hilda's pale cheeks blushed slightly and she glared at the other girl.

"But I bet I can fly. Just need to practice my talent some more."

Milly laughed, hers far more subdued than Theresa's, but still filled with merriment.

"Just don't go throwing yourself off a roof this time."

Hilda huffed and rolled her eyes, but she glanced at Milly as she laughed again.

Axel watched everyone at the table with a look of understanding.

He could feel it.

All of them.

He could feel Nathan's attentiveness as he listened to Serenity.

He could feel something weird coming from the twins that he had no word for.

Theresa was exceedingly joyous at the moment and that alone brought a smile to his lips.

Milly was feeling humorous and finding something quite endearing, though he knew not what.

He finally decided he had to tell them.

He couldn't wait for a lull in the conversation, mostly because there never was when they were all together.

It was just the right of them changing topics and who they were talking to like a never ending flow, such as a river perhaps.

He just shouted it out.

Everyone stared at him.

"You can what?" Hilda demanded with narrowed eyes.

"I can sense emotions," he repeated.

There was silence for a few seconds before everyone exploded into conversation at once.

They stayed on that topic for about a minute, all of them asking him at least one question and Serenity asking no less than fifteen.

But then they moved on as if it was no big deal.

He found himself smiling.

None of them really cared.

They still cared for him.

It was a shockingly sweet sentiment and he had to force himself not to cry.

The conversation turned to their predicament at hand and they talked for a little over five minutes about their parents before the end of lunch was reached and they were all forced back to their next classes.

Chapter Text

Hilda latched onto Amber's hand and she pushed them through the mass of bodies around them until they made it to the flag they were trying to reach.

Group three.

As in Surviving Fairytales.

She would say the odds of all her friends being in the same group with all of their mentors was impossible, but then she remembered the star she had seen.

This was not merely some chance.

Merlin has made it so.

She stopped right under the flag and let go of her sister's hand.

Dede has latched onto Amber as they had gone and now released her with a relieved expression.

About a minute later, their whole group was there together.

Hilda, Amber, Dede, Milly, Theresa, Axel, Nathan, and Serenity.

The mentors were there as well.

Hester, Amber, Dot, Beatrix, Tedros, Agatha, Hort, and Kiko (in that order).

Milly cursed quietly as she saw that Reena was not in their group and was instead in four.

Beside Chaddick.

Flirting.

She felt her skin crawl uncomfortably and looked away.

He eyes landed on Beatrix and she saw that the blond was glaring at the two.

She took that as a victory and silently cheered.

Perhaps she hadn't done much, not more than getting the two to sit a bit closer to each other when she was around, but it seemed like whatever it was did something.

She just hoped that Beatrix didn't still have that crush on Chaddick (though, to be honest, she wasn't sure if her mother had ever had a crush on him... but then again, wasn't sure meant she couldn't say ether way definitively).

Yuba looked up at them and raised an eyebrow.

He was about to speak, but he caught sight of a star on a tree about five paces away.

The calling card of his greatest student.

Whatever abnormal things that were occurring here were his doing.

And Yuba trusted him.

So the gnome said nothing about the weird, and frankly obvious, resemblance between the children.

He simply led them into the blue forest.

~

The first challenge he gave them was quite simple.

All they had to do was find one of their kind.

Evil find Evil, a Good find Good.

Just as it had been for as long as documentation had recorded.

It was the coffin exercise he had performed first year, he did it with all his first years, but slightly different to throw off the fourth years.

This time, he had both girls and boys in and out of the coffins.

Theresa was not interested in participating.

All she wanted was for her father to find the coffin within which her mother resided.

Yuba pointed at her with his walking stick.

"Everyone must participate!" he snapped.

She sighed and turned to the coffins, intent to just choose the first she saw.

But she found her eyes drawn to the one to the far left.

Her curiosity was peaked and she headed toward that one.

~

Nathan sat in his coffin, hoping against hope that Serenity was out there and would somehow find him.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside.

He couldn't see the person outside, but the footsteps were light and clearly didn't belong to someone any heavier than Serenity.

He found himself beaming.

It must be her.

~

Hester really didn't want to do this.

It was boring and pointless.

She did it anyways.

She was going to be Class Captain this year and some stupid challenge wasn't going to get in her way.

Not a chance.

She analyzed the coffins with narrowed eyes and looked for the one that resinated with Evil.

None of them stood out...

That is until one seemed to just glow.

She strode toward that one and shoved Dot away as they both tried to go for the same one.

This one, and whoever was in it, was hers.

~

Dot glared at Hester, grumbling.

She hadn't even been sure she wanted that one.

She had just been looking at all of them to see if any stood out or looked different.

None did.

Time was running out and she worried she wouldn't be able to see anything and would just have to pick one.

But, suddenly, she saw one that was just a bit different than the others.

She wasn't sure how, but she was sure it was.

She stood by that coffin and prepared to open it, hoping that perhaps she would find Dede in there and at least have a Never in it.

~

Hilda looks around, intent on finding her sister.

Her eyes landed on one for a moment, but then she saw another form going for that one and she immediately disqualified it from further scrutiny.

Anything Theresa would pick had to be absolutely terrible.

And so Hilda turned and watched each coffin as if waiting for one to literally speak to her and say that they held a Never within their depths.

Of course, none did anything of the sort.

But she did find one that metaphorically spoke to her and she headed toward that one.

Perhaps this one truly held her sister within it.

~

Neither Beatrix or Hort felt anything special from any of the coffins, even as Yuba snapped at them to choose.

They found they were the last two to have not picked and they each hurried to one of the two left.

~

Yuba instructed them each to open the coffin and transform the occupants back by pulling them from its depths.

Each of those in the coffins were in forms which had incredibly bad eyesight and, perhaps conveniently, could not tell who was helping them from their coffins.

~

Tedros lifted the occupant from their coffin without difficulty and, as he watched his betrothed turn back into her beautiful form, kissed her.

Agatha reached her hand up and cupped his cheek gently, enjoying the feeling of her beloved's arms, and lips, on her.

~

Nathan saw light coming as the coffin was opened.

Thin, weak arms pulled him out of his coffin and he prepared to be met with those beautiful emerald green eyes.

As his vision cleared, he found his eyes staring into deep brown ones that looked just as surprised as he felt.

"Axel?"

~

Dot reached into the coffin and, with all her might, pulled the unknown person from its depths.

She stumbled and barely kept herself and the transforming person balanced.

After a moment, she was met with pigtails and adorable puppy eyes.

She almost fell again as she spoke.

"Kiko!?"

~

Hester scooped her arms around the coffin's dweller and lifted much as Tedros had lifted Agatha into his arms.

A form transformed in her grip and she looked down intently, hoping it was a Never.

She was met not only with a Never, but with startling red eyes.

Anadil has felt warm, strong arms wrap themselves around her and she had almost thrashed in their grip.

But something about it felt familiar.

As she was lifted, her vision started to clear.

She realized who it was only a moment before she regained her sight, having recognized the scent.

Cauldrons and old, musty spell textbooks one could only find in the very back of the library if they were dedicated enough to go searching for it.

Her eyes regained focus and she soon realized that she was, just as she suspected. Hester's arms.

The two stared at each other with wide eyes, both turning light red colors.

They just stood there for a long moment, Hester gripping Anadil securely as if the other girl could not support herself on her own legs should she be set down.

To be fair, that might have been a true statement.

Hester set her down and Anadil supposed that had been true after all as she stumbled.

She reached out and grabbed Hester around the shoulders.

The two almost fell and were in almost the same position they had been in yesterday after Hilda had bumped into them.

The albino felt heat rush to her cheeks as Hester easily put her back on her feet for the second time.

"Don't worry. I've got you, Ani," she said softly.

It sent a shiver down Anadil's spine.

~

Hilda saw her Hester grab onto the form within her chosen coffin in a strong, secure grip.

Hilda wasn't sure that she would want Amber to change back into herself in that position, as it was decidedly romantic and therefore gross to do with one's sister, so she instead grabbed her form around the waist and hoisted her into the air and down in front of her.

The form let out a small surprised sound and seems not to trust Hilda's grasp, despite how secure it had been.

The form struggled and the two tumbled over, rolling down a hill as the form continued to change back into a human.

When they landed, Milly's vision finally cleared and she could see Hilda's face only inches from her own.

The two had rolled a good ten feet and now Hilda was holding herself up by her hands which were located on either side of Milly's shoulder.

Milly felt her heartbeat speed up as she looked into those bright, devious red eyes just a little ways away from her own.

White and green hair dangled down and tickles her nose, but she found she didn't care.

All she could think about was how close Hilda was.

~

Theresa was the last to pull her form from the coffin.

She had started laughing as Hilda and Milly tunneled down the hill and had tried not to whoop in triumph as Tedros and Agatha kissed.

Yuba prodded her with his staff and she jumped.

"I'm going!" she hissed, opening the coffin easily.

She scooped the coffin's form into her arms and easily held them aloft.

Like her father, she was quite strong and could easily hold a person in such a way, especially considering the fact that this one was especially light.

Theresa felt her hair falling down from its place behind her ears and it obscured her vision of everything except for the transforming figure in her arms.

~

Amber was growing impatient.

When was this idiot going to get her out of this coffin?

It was probably just Hilda messing with her and making her stay in here longer.

She was about to bang on the glass when a bright, brilliant light appeared and blinded what little sight she had at the moment.

She felt foreign arms wrap around her shoulders and waist, hoisting her out of the coffin.

She let out an indignant sound and planned to slap whoever, Hilda, had pulled her out of this coffin when she got her sight.

Her vision slowly cleared.

All she could see for a moment was brilliant blond hair.

Then the pristine blue eyes staring down at her.

She felt her face immediately turn red as she recognized the infuriating princess that had picked her.

She was shocked into inaction for a long moment as she just stared at the girl.

Her short hair was just long enough to block out the entire outside world as she looked down at Amber with such worry and care.

She felt something inside of her stomach squirm, something very uncomfortable and unsettling, and she thrashed in the girl's arms.

Theresa's eyes widened and she gripped her tighter to ensure she didn't fall from her arms and onto the hard ground.

That just made Amber struggle harder and try to escape the girl's grasp.

"Hey, calm down! Just give me a second and I'll put you down!" Theresa said.

Amber's face was still red and getting brighter as time passed and Theresa had that worried look on her face.

Her heart was beating super fast and she couldn't stop trying to escape her right grip.

Finally, the two started to fall and Theresa turned so that she would hit the ground first and absorb the impact.

They fell into the coffin and the door slammed close behind them.

Chapter Text

Amber let out a loud, and embarrassing, shriek as the coffin closed behind her.

She could still feel hands around her waist and she looked down at Theresa.

The princess had wide eyes and stared past her at the closed coffin door.

Theresa's hand moved from Amber and both pushed up, clearly trying to open the coffin.

It didn't work.

Amber stared down at Theresa, wondering how she had ended up beneath her.

She remembered her tilting just as they fell.

To absorb the brunt of the fall.

Her face turned a light pink color.

"Are you okay?" Theresa asked.

Amber didn't answer and instead looked up.

She called out for help and soon saw several students crowding the coffin's door.

Hilda was the first there and she was already raising a tree branch to break the glass coffin.

Just before she was going to swing, there was a magical force that stopped her.

She struggled against it and looked at Yuba.

"Let them learn their lesson," he said with a small sparkle to his eyes.

Hilda growled and went to kick the door, but he glared at her.

"You'll stop this instant or you'll have your own fairytale punishment too."

She froze and stared down at her twin.

Amber was finding it hard to focus.

She was far too close to the annoying princess.

Axel set his hand on the coffin gently and Theresa reached hers up, touching where his lay on the other side of the glass.

Amber made eye contact with her sister and silently pleaded for help.

Hilda shifted and moved her branch just slightly as if considering.

She glanced at the gnome and then at her sister.

"I'll come back for you after class," she said softly.

"Try to learn your lesson quick, okay?"

Amber felt like screaming, but the class was already leaving and it would be no use.

Dede gave her one last backwards glance and a sympathetic look.

Axel looked like he was about to break the coffin open himself, but Theresa shook her head vehemently.

"No, I don't want you gettin into trouble too."

Amber glared down at the princess.

How come she had to be so nice?

Stupid Ever.

She hated her.

Well, hate was a strong word.

Perhaps she didn't hate her, but she strongly disliked her.

There was a long time where they both laid there in silence.

Theresa suddenly offered her best smile.

She shifted and moved Amber onto her side so that she was no longer holding herself up and instead laying down beside her, face to face.

Their noses brushed against each other.

Amber shrieked as she was moved onto her side and tried to slap Theresa, but it didn't seem to have an effect.

"That seemed really uncomfortable," Theresa said innocently.

Amber felt her heart beating in her throat and glare at her, wondering whether she should punch her or yell at her.

"So, what lesson do you think we're supposed to learn?" Theresa asked kindly.

Amber didn't answer.

She looked anywhere but at Theresa.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Theresa asked.

Amber's eyes snapped to her.

Theresa was as blunt as her mother, that's for sure.

"I don't hate you," Amber gritted out.

Theresa raised a, perfect, eyebrow.

"Really? So you just act like you do."

Amber growled.

Theresa didn't seem phased.

"Why is that?"

Amber was silent for so long that Theresa didn't think she was going to respond to her question.

"Because you're an annoying, pompous princess."

Theresa laughed.

"Well I've always been like that, but we got along pretty well when we were younger. What happened?"

Amber still wouldn't look at her.

"We grew up."

Theresa shifted slightly and Amber felt her warm, minty breath.

How did she always smell so perfect?!

Not that she smelled good!

She hated the scent of mint and other Ever smells.

But she still wondered how she always smelled like that, even when they were in this coffin that was exceedingly warm.

The girl had to be sweating, right?

Amber certainly was.

"So? I don't think that means we can't still be friends."

Amber didn't want to be her friend.

Of course she didn't.

"But me not wanting to be your friend does mean we can't."

Theresa frowned.

"I don't think you want to be enemies."

"Oh yeah? What makes you so sure of that."

Theresa moved closer to her, her pristine blue eyes looking into dark black ones.

"Because I know you. I've known you my whole life."

Amber suddenly found that she couldn't breathe.

~

Hilda hoped her sister was okay.

She knew she had some weird hatred for the princess and she hoped they didn't kill each other while she was gone.

But she had left because she had the dimmest hope the two could work out whatever this was.

They'd been antagonistic toward each other for a little under six months now.

At first it had been fun to do pranks with her sister, but then it just got to be overkill.

They used to be super close.

Hilda could remember the day it had happened, too.

Amber had come storming into the house screaming about Theresa's haircut and how annoying it looked. About how much she hated those sky blue eyes. About a whole myriad of things that she now suddenly despised about the other girl.

She tried to remember what else had happened that day, but she was suddenly distracted.

She saw her mothers both glancing at each other before quickly looking away.

Mostly it was Anadil, but every once in a while Hester would glance her way as well.

It was a good sign, she supposed.

She could see Dot and Kiko talking as they walked by.

The two of them had gotten some of the worst ranks in class for having chosen the wrong school, but neither seemed to care.

Kiko remarked that she was hungry and Dot suddenly pulled a bit of chocolate out of her pocket.

Hilda believed it was a pencil.

Kiko adamantly refused.

"I can't have chocolate!"

Dot frowned and looked her up and down.

"I think you'd look just as pretty with a few more pounds," she said simply.

Kiko stared at her for a moment and suddenly her face turned a light shade of red.

"Really?"

Dot just smiled and nodded.

Kiko hesitantly took the offered pencil and ate it in just a few bites.

Dot laughed and told her she had a bit of chocolate on her mouth.

Kiko looked even more embarrassed and hurriedly wiped it off.

Dot shook her head and brought her hand up.

She remarked that Kiko had missed some and gently cleaned it off.

She gave Kiko a sweet smile.

"There you go!"

Kiko looked away and Hilda could practically hear the girl's rapid heartbeat from her.

Serenity and Dede walked together a few feet behind them and both grinned at the two.

"Thanks," Dede whispered.

Serenity smiled and said it was no problem.

Dede still gave her a big smile.

"I'm still trying to get Sophie to allow Evers to the dance. It probably won't be hard. Plus, I prefer you being alive much more than you being dead."

It was a silly and, if you asked Hilda, a very stupid comment, but Serenity didn't seem to care as she found herself grinning at Dede.

She looked away after a moment and focused very hard on the other girls ahead of them.

Hilda watched them for a moment longer before she turned and watched Tedros and Agatha.

The two seemed closer than the last time she'd seen them.

They were walking hand in hand, both giving each their not so subtle and very in love looks every once in a while.

Behind them, Axel and Nathan walked together.

"Thanks for helping me out of the coffin. I didn't think that anyone was going to choose me," Nathan said softly.

Axel frowned.

He spoke, using with all of the tact he possessed.

"That's stupid."

Nathan glanced at him and suddenly smiled just slightly.

"That's the nicest way anyone's ever called me stupid."

Hilda rolled her eyes and was about to try and think up a way to get her mothers to have another awkward romantic moment when Milly walked up.

"Sorry I knocked us over back there," Milly said softly.

Hilda glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.

"It's fine."

"And I'm sorry about your sister."

Hilda snickered, remembering the look of panic on her sister's face.

"Oh, I'm really not to upset about that."

Milly looked at her for a short moment before she laughed.

Hilda glanced at her and then looked away.

"She'll be fine. I mean, she might live the rest of her life in that coffin because she's as stubborn as mom, but she'll live."

Milly kept laughing and was soon very hard to ignore.

Her elusive gray eyes eyes were slightly closed form so much laughter and her blond had splayed over her shoulders.

Hilda looked away pointedly, instead watching her parents.

She suddenly saw that Anadil was laughing and Hester was glancing at her out of the corner of her eyes.

Anadil was cackling like a witch, but somehow she still mirrored Milly.

Hester and Hilda both glanced at the girl to their right and suddenly Hilda blushed.

That was a bit odd, but nothing more.

Nothing more.

~

Amber barely caught her breath and wasn't sure how she found the strength to speak.

"Just because you've known me for so long doesn't mean that you understand me."

Theresa was now less than an inch away and her blue eyes were so sincere.

"But I want to."

Amber suddenly found herself drawn into those ocean eyes and was drowning in them like they were real pools of water.

"Give me a chance?" Theresa asked.

She didn't sound as sure about herself as she usually did.

Her voice wavered just slightly and she looked at Amber with hope.

Right now she wasn't the pompous and highly skilled warrior princess.

Right now she was just Theresa, a hopeful and nervous teenager that just wanted to have a chance to have a new friend.

Amber found herself nodding just slightly.

Nodding against her will, that is.

"One chance," she breathed.

Theresa was suddenly grinning, beaming even.

"Great! So, tell me about yourself, Amb."

Amber felt her heart just about stop beating at the nickname.

She opened her mouth to object to it, but Theresa shook her head.

"You promised me a chance. Now neither of us are princes, but I still think a promise means something."

Amber wanted to object, but she found that she couldn't get the words from her throat.

Theresa, obviously, took that as a yes as she continued to smile and said she was going to make the most of this deal.

Amber tried not to stare at her wide smile, but it was difficult.

She just was so... blinding when she smiled like that.

Her smile was so infectious that even Amber almost found herself grinning.

She stopped herself just before she did, however.

She had a reputation to protect, after all.

Theresa said a few plans she had for about Ive minutes, but Amber couldn't focus on her words.

She was just staring at her sparkling eyes.

She was so happy because... of Amber.

That made her stomach churn.

She hated how it made her feel... good.

Happy.

"Don't mess up your only chance," Amber said levelly.

As levelly as she could.

So, not as much as she wished.

Theresa laughed, throwing her head back and almost hitting the top of the coffin.

"I'll try my best," she said with a wide grin.

Amber felt her throat close up and the barest, tiniest smile grew on her lips.

Suddenly, the coffin door popped open.

Theresa and Amber both jumped.

The princess pushed herself to her feet.

She was about to walk off, but suddenly turned.

She held her hand out to Amber.

The witch stared at it for a long moment before she gripped it and allowed the princess to pull her to her feet.

She found her face turning red at the contact.

What had she gotten herself in to?!

Chapter Text

When they had gotten out of the coffin, Theresa turned and dropped to one knee.

"My name is Princess Theresa of Camelot, daughter of King Tedros, first born and heir to the throne. It is an honor to make your acquaintance."

Amber stared at her with confusion for a long moment.

Theresa smirked.

"Second chance, remember?"

She held out her hand and Amber reluctantly took it.

She introduced herself with less enthusiasm.

Theresa didn't seem to care about her unwillingness to contribute.

"I look forward to getting to know you better, Amber of Camelot."

She stood and took Amber's hand.

The witch found her face heating up for unknown reasons as she glanced down at where they touched and then back at her beaming grin.

Amber shook her head and let go of her hand as soon as possible, feeling a weird sensation where she had touched Theresa.

For a brief moment, she wondered if somehow the princess had cast a spell on her.

She knew it was a silly thought had had no idea why she considered t.

Her brain just seemed scattered right now for inexplicable reasons.

A minute later, Amber and Theresa walked out of the blue forest side by side and Amber kept glancing at Theresa.

The princess was still clearly excited about the fact that Amber had given her a chance.

The Never forced her eyes away from the Ever.

Theresa was in the middle of something, though Amber didn't know what as she was slightly distracted for some reason, when suddenly their friends came through the woods.

Hilda suddenly smiled, only just slightly of course, at the sight of her sister.

It grew a bit when she saw that she was walking side by side with Theresa.

Perhaps they had settled their differences, whatever those might be.

She really had never figured out why they argued.

And it only seemed like Amber argued and Theresa just dealt with it like she didn't really care.

Axel gave his sister a smile and went to put his hand on her shoulder.

She stared at him and slightly shook her head.

He frowned in confusion, but kept his hand to himself.

The wolves howled just then and all the students looked up.

They made quick goodbyes and then each of them left.

Theresa gave Amber a formal goodbye with a bow and the witch rolled her eyes sufferingly.

~

Theresa walked with a small bounce to her steps.

She had finally gotten what she'd been trying to get for the past six months.

It had taken lots of failed attempts, several occasions of being tripped by Amber, many snide remarks, and the luck of a rose falling into a witch's lap by chance.

But she'd finally got what she wanted.

Axel glanced at her and she could tell he was confused by her refusal to let him sense all of her emotions.

She didn't offer up an explanation.

She was far too happy by how the evening had ended to feel guilty.

~

Amber was far more confused than Theresa.

She couldn't figure out the weird feeling in her stomach or why she actually was... happy to give her another shot.

Not that Theresa had ever really done anything to mess the first one up.

One day she had just started feeling all weird around the girl and wanted nothing g more than to make that feeling stop.

It seemed bullying and annoying hadn't worked.

She now decided it was the sensation of friendship with the other girl.

A part of her said that she absolutely did not feel that way with Dede, but she ignored that part.

That wasn't important.

What was important was that Hester and Anadil were both studying quietly on Hester's bed.

Dot and Dede were talking about earlier and how Kiko had pulled the former from her coffi.

"I think you two would really like each other if you ever just spent time together," Dede said with a smile and an encouraging look in her eyes.

Dot glanced at Hester and Anadil, wondering if they could hear their conversation.

They seemed far too distracted, so she responded.

"Maybe you're right. She seemed fun, at least."

Dot looked away and she flashed the twins a wide grin and two thumbs up.

The twins both rolled their eyes, but they both seemed slightly distracted as well.

Hilda was also thinking about the test in surviving fairytales and wondering how she could have possibly chosen an Ever.

It didn't make sense.

There were plenty of Nevers she could have found.

Perhaps she was just not good at sensing the difference between schools.

Maybe because she had been raised with both Evers and Nevers everywhere and that made it harder for her to distinguish.

She wasn't sure, but that sounded likely.

~

Axel finally cornered Theresa when their parents were busy 'studying' (read as making out in the corner of the library).

"Okay, what's going on with you? You've been super happy and excited ever since you got out of that coffin."

Theresa opened her mouth to deny it.

"Don't play coy with me. I can sense it, remember?"

Theresa closed her mouth and Axel kept staring at her with the big eyes he had inherited from their mother.

"Amber said she would give me a second chance to be her friend," Theresa said simply.

Axel stared at her.

"And that makes you happy why?"

Theresa shrugged.

"We used to be close. I missed her."

Axel narrowed his eyes at her and then looked at her arm as if he wished to touch her to sense her emotions fully.

Theresa raised an eyebrow.

"Try it and you get smacked by a training sword. It might not be steel, but wood can hurt just as much."

Axel's face drained of color, making him look even paler than usual.

"Fine. But you're going to tell me sooner or later. That or you'll let your guard down."

Theresa stared at him and he nodded before turning and making his way to his room.

~

Serenity found her thoughts acting weird.

She suddenly couldn't get this Never out of her mind.

They hadn't interacted much recently with all of the craziness of going back in time and constantly causing paradoxes that made her infuriated, but that didn't stop her mind from imagining the smallest things.

From the Never's small nervous ticks to the smile that could light up a room.

She wondered what they were up to right now.

Probably trying to make sure that we're born.

Something she should be doing right now as well.

But she was distracted and had no idea where Nicola was at the moment.

So, for now, she found herself daydreaming.

~

Milly sat on her bed, quietly watching Beatrix and Reena.

The two were studying for some class Milly hadn't caught the name of.

Reena leaned over Beatrix's shoulder to read something and Beatrix was soon staring at her, clearly lost in the other princess's elusive gray eyes.

In the future, Beatrix often bought things the color of Rena's eyes whenever she saw them, claiming they reminded her of her whenever she saw one.

She often spoke of how she loved those eyes and how it made her look very different from anyone Beatrix had ever met.

Milly suddenly wondered what people thought about her eyes.

Well, not people.

Just one person.

One person with the cruelest evil snicker.

One person with eyes that lit up with malicious delight that made Milly just freeze sometimes.

One person that, if you couldn't already tell, was Hilda.

She just made the Ever feel something she never felt from anyone else.

She wasn't sure what it was, but it was as intoxicating as it was terrifying.

She watched her mothers as they studied together and wondered how they felt right now.

Was it a familiar feeling for Milly?

She wasn't sure.

~

Nathan sulked as he ate his dinner.

He had really been hoping that Serenity would choose his coffin.

But Axel had been the one to help him.

He guessed it was okay considering the fact that Serenity had also been in a coffin at the same time.

It wasn't bad that Axel had chosen him, it's just...

Well, it definitely bad.

He liked Axel.

He was sweet and just the right amount of teenage emo to understand how Nathan was feeling all the time.

They were close and had been for their entire lives.

He had hoped for Serenity to help, but he supposed Axel was a good substitute.

Definitely not the worst.

Weird thoughts.

But since when had Nathan had regular, normal thoughts?

He supposed the answer would be never, which made sense considering who his fathers were.

Speaking of, both of them were eating dinner across from him and quietly talking about the thugs they'd done today.

Nathan wished they'd simply get past the pleasantries and start kissing, but it seemed like that was a lot ways away.

~

The next week passed in a similar pattern.

The kids would try to get their parents into romantic situations and it would either work (such as when Theresa and Axel were able to get their parents to have a heart to heart in the King Arthur garden on Wednesday) or failed horribly (such as when Nathan, in a fit of annoyance and impatience, had tried to force his parents together by tripping them down the stairs. He had not been as practiced as the twins and the two had just gone tumbling down a whole flight of stairs and then laid there in a tangle of limbs while moaning in pain).

Romance was slowly blossoming with their parents, such as how Hester has actually complimented Anadil in her training of her rats the other day and the albino had just stood there with shocked eyes and a small red tint to her face.

The lunches were an odd occurrence as well.

Theresa was still very determined to make the most of her new chance with Amber and had gotten her not one, but two gifts.

The first had been the simple bouquet of flowers.

Amber had burned them while staring Theresa in the eyes.

The second gift had been a spell book that was specifically geared toward villain talents that had to do with animals.

Amber had accepted it with the quietest "thanks, I guess" ever spoken.

Later hat night she had read half of it and used several of the techniques.

Serenity was acting strangely around Nathan and Dede and sometimes fidgeting whenever one of them laughed.

Milly and Hilda were now talking more and more while Theresa and Amber had their weird conversations.

Hilda would complain about her sister’s recent distracted nature and Milly would commiserate with her.

One day, Milly had even gone so far as to offer to help with a prank they could pull on Amber together.

Hilda had been incredibly surprised and turned a light shade of pink at the question.

She had considered for a moment before rejecting it.

She had, however, said they could prank Nathan.

The next day, the Never woke up to itching powder in all of his uniforms.

They had taken the idea from Amber and Hilda’s mothers in their first year when they had been helping Sophie get revenge on Tedros for breaking his promise to her.

Axel had helped Nathan clean his clothes and even let him borrow some of his own while the latter worried that Serenity would bear the story.

She had and had said it was rude of Hilda and whoever had helped her (everyone had assumed it was Amber, but she had had an alibi with Theresa as the princess had been giving her advice on how to get Hester and Anadil to notice each other), though she had secretly laughed at it when she was alone.

They had reached a steady routine.

But everything seemed to change the day they had their finger glows unlocked.

Chapter Text

Axel was incredibly excited to get his finger glow unlocked.

He'd been waiting for this for years.

But nobody, NOBODY, was more excited for this than Serenity.

She was the only one that hadn't gotten her special talent and she was itching to find it, especially since she was supposed to start school right when they got back to the present.

She knew her mother was really good at spells and was excited.

Maybe she could show off.

Catch someone's attention.

If she was, theoretically, interested in that kind of thing.

~

Amber was going insane.

She just couldn't get Theresa out of her mind.

She would just be doing something and then the Ever just popped into her brain.

It was annoying and frustrating.

And it didn't help that she somehow found herself excited to go to Surviving Fairytales.

She tried to tell herself that it was because she wanted her finger glow unlocked.

Of course a part of herself said that wasn't completely true.

But since when had she, or anyone in this school, listened to that part of herself that rang true?

The answer? Never.

And so she tried her best to pay attention to everything that Hester and Anadil did.

And definitely didn't notice when Theresa threw her head back and laughed (especially not when Amber made her laugh. Definitely not).

Or when she smiled (usually when she smirked at her own joke...)

Or when she leaned over Amber's shoulder and pointed at something.

Or when she just... breathed.

Amber definitely didn't pay attention to anything Theresa did.

And Amber didn't think about how pretty Theresa was, with the way her fluffy blond hair curled just at the base of her cheek that accented her tan skin...

"Amber-" 

"What?!"

Dede raised an eyebrow and stared at Amber.

"What were you thinking about?"

Amber swallowed uncomfortably.

"Nothing."

Dede raised an eyebrow and then glanced at Hilda.

She was slightly preoccupied by the thought of a certain gray-eyed, blond haired Ever.

An Ever with sweet smiles and kind eyes.

Dede stared at the twins.

Something was going on with them. Both of them.

What could it possibly be?

~

Nathan has thoughts of Serenity.

Her playful smirk and kind thoughts.

The way her fluffy hair, which greatly resembled Theresa's, which was not surprising as they were cousins, gently curled and hung on her shoulders...

Nathan had a crush and it didn't seem like it was going away anytime soon.

Her emerald green eyes and vivacious yearning for  knowledge..

He was just like his father, for better or worse.

Speaking of, his fathers were still getting closer every day.

If only a little bit.

Now they would actually acknowledge each other's existence whenever they saw each other, if only with a quick hello every once in a while.

At least he was more likely to exist in the first place now.

He wasn't sure how his parents had come so far considering they barely even talked.

~

Amber glanced at her mothers.

They silently worked together and, if she didn't know how hard it was for Hester to actually trust anyone, she would have thought they were nothing but friends.

Hester sat with Anadil on her bed.

Anadil yawned and blinked.

She hadn't slept much last night considering she'd been studying last night, like they were now.

The albino suddenly just couldn't keep her eyes open and her head sagged, leaning over to the right further and further until her head suddenly fell onto Hester's shoulder:

The tattooed witch, the older one that is, jumped slightly and looked at the albino.

Her red eyes were closed and her chest rose and fell to a steady rhythm, clearly having fallen asleep.

For a moment, Amber and Hilda wondered if Hester was going to throw their other parent off of her.

But Hester just sat there, looking at Anadil for a long moment.

When she looked away, she left Anadil comfortably laying on her shoulder.

When Anadil almost fell backwards, Hester gently grabbed her around the waist and leaned back until they were resting their backs against the wall.

Amber and Hilda both grinned.

That is until Amber suddenly found herself thinking about something-or rather someone-else.

Her face turned pink and she looked away from her parents... until she was looking right at the Good Tower.

Purity.

As in Theresa's tower.

She wasn't sure which was worse, the fact that she was looking at where Theresa was or the fact that she knew which tower she lived in.

~

Beatrix and Reena were both reading their mandatory textbook pages in silence.

That is until Reena suddenly groaned and stretched across the bed they were sitting on.

She laid down and her head landed on Beatrix's lap.

She continued to read and Beatrix looked down at her.

The blond's face turned red and she just stared down at her friend.

Her breathing was erratic and she couldn't stop the way her stomach filled with butterflies.

Why was she so nervous?

It was just her friend.

Just Reena.

She's known her for years.

Just Reena...

But that name wasn't just anything.

When Beatrix heard that name, there were so many thoughts that came with it.

So many feelings.

Joy, anticipation... love...

She wasn't sure why that came to mind.

She didn't notice that Milly was watching them... although, she was only half watching them.

The other half of her was paying attention she to the weird, and slightly unsettling, thoughts she was having at the moment.

Thoughts about a certain Never with white hair with beautiful green highlights in it...

A Never with a perpetual mischievous smile on her face that made Milly's heart race at just the mere thought.

Milly couldn't help but smile just slightly at the thought of her friend.

She wasn't sure why it made her feel so weird to think about her...

She might have been slightly Evil and constantly cooking up evil schemes, but Milly just always thought of her as the sweet girl that she was.

The same girl that always made sure her friends were okay, even if she pretended she didn't care.

~

The day went by quickly for all of the students, both old and new.

That is until they came to their final class.

Surviving Fairytales.

Serenity was practically vibrating with energy.

She couldn't wait to get her finger glow unlocked.

She saw Dede coming and the two shared an excited grin.

Dede bounced up and down, grabbing onto Serenity's hands.

"I can't wait!" she said.

Serenity found herself watching her friend's joyful expression.

For a moment she forgot about getting her finger glow unlocked and just stared at her best friend.

Serenity cleared her throat.

"Yeah... yeah it's going to be great," Serenity said.

Dede frowned and leaned closer.

"Aren't you excited?" she asked as she moved closer, her face getting much to close to Serenity's own.

She stared back and gave her a large grin.

"Of course I'm excited!"

Dede smiled back at her.

"Good!"

Dede leaned back and Serenity let out a breath.

They both turned back to their other friends.

Yuba appeared a few minutes later and led them to the blue forest.

Axel and his cousin, Serenity, exchanged a wide grin.

Both of them were excited to see what they could do with their unlocked finger glows.

Theresa came up and surprised Amber.

She flung her arm around Amber's shoulders and grinned over at the black-haired girl.

"You excited?" Theresa asked.

Amber felt her heartbeat in her throat and stared at her friend turned enemy turned friend.

Amber didn't feel like she could speak, so she just grunted in response to her friend's question.

Theresa smiled broadly at her, not seeming to care at the monosyllabic response.

"Me too! I don't know if I'll be able to even use magic that well considering my dad, but it's still cool. I wonder what color mine will be."

Amber didn't respond.

"I bet yours will be red or green, like your moms."

Amber nodded in response to her friend.

She'd always thought that before.

Dede and Serenity were talking when Dede suddenly called Nathan over and gave him a broad grin.

Serenity frowned and found herself feeling weird at the addition of Nathan.

She kept shooting him glances... that and the way Dede kept staring at him.

Many had spoken about how they thought Dede had a crush on Nathan.

Did he like her too?

It was somehow a concerning thought for Serenity, but she didn't know why.

It was a weird feeling.

Nathan shot Serenity side eyed glances.

Was she looking at him?

A thrill shot through his heart at the idea.

Did she like him too?!

He didn't notice Dede looking at him.

~

Yuba glances back at the group and saw another star sitting in the tree behind them.

These were the ones Merlin had decided to send back?

He shook his head.

It made sense that bad group would give birth to one of their own.

~

Yuba stopped the group after a minute of walking.

He pulled a key from his pocket.

He went from each of the children and let the key sink into their fingers, turning their bones all the way around.

He coached them on how to get their fingers to glow.

"Emotion?" Dede frowned and shook her finger up and down.

Nathan did the same.

Serenity is the first to get her finger glow to work.

It was a hot pink color, just like Sophie's.

It glowed almost immediately after being unlocked and she grinned.

Axel was second.

His was purple.

Surprisingly, Theresa was third.

She grinned.

"I guess I do have a bit of mom in me, huh Axel?" she asked.

Amber found an infuriating emotion as she smirked.

Amber couldn't get her finger to glow.

She watched her twin do it and Milly followed after her.

Theresa walked up to Amber and gave her a grin.

"Just focus on an emotion, Amb."

She felt too distracted to focus on an emotion.

Theresa put her hand on Amber's shoulder.

"I know you can do it," she said with that infuriating grin.

Amber found something stir in her heart.

Just then, Amber's finger glowed.

She looked at her own.

Theresa's was golden, just like her parents, and Amber's was-

Orange.

She frowned and looked down at her finger.

The color flickered for a moment, but Theresa's hand tightened on Amber's shoulder.

"You did it! I really like your color, it's really pretty."

Amber glanced at Theresa and found that her face colored along with her light orange finger.

"Thanks," she said softly.

Theresa was still grinning at her and the two just stared at each other for a long moment.

~

Dede was still trying to make her finger glow.

Serenity walked over and smiled at her.

Beside Dede stood Nathan and she wondered which one of them Serenity was smiling at.

She glanced at Nathan and then back at Serenity.

"How did you get your finger to glow so easily?" Dede's question was equal parts intrigued and petulant, sounding whiny.

Serenity shrugged.

"I don't know. It's just... easy for me. It'd be like it's just like me asking how you turn things to chocolate."

Dede frowned in thought.

Serenity continued to coach her friends, both Dede and Nathan, to use their finger glows.

Dede's suddenly flickered to life.

It glowed a deep blue and she grinned broadly.

"I did it!"

She jumped around excitedly and her finger glowed even brighter.

Serenity's did too.

Nathan channeled as well as he stared at Serenity, his finger turning brown.

Dede watched Nathan with a somewhat starstruck look on her face for a moment.

~

Hilda and Milly stood side by side, both trying to make their fingers glow.

Suddenly, Hilda's glowed.

It was a deep blood red color.

Hilda smirked a bit mischievously.

Milly stared at that smile and her finger glowed as well, turning-

A red color, precisely the shade of Hilda's eyes.

~

Yuba shook her head at the group.

They were all so blind.

Chapter Text

Serenity waved her glowing pink finger and a small cloud appeared overhead.

Dede stared at it with awe, clapping her hands.

The cloud started to snow and Dede giggled, sticking her tongue out and catching a snowflake on it.

Serenity smiled, but it faded as Nathan walked up and gave her a wide grin.

Dede glanced at the other Never and Serenity frowned.

The cloud grew a dark gray color as her finger glowed brighter and it started to rain, a small bolt of lightning striking Nathan on the ear.

He yelped and his hand flew to his injured ear.

Dede giggled and grinned at Serenity.

The cloud turned back into a white fluffy one again and snow gently fell.

Axel came up to check on Nathan's ear and gave Serenity a small glare.

Serenity rolled her eyes and glanced back at Dede as she watched the snow fall delicately around her.

Serenity's heart beat a bit faster as Dede's eyes, still filled with an almost child-like wonder, turned on her.

Dede had dark eyes, just like both her mothers, but the light within them didn't portray anything but excitement.

Serenity swallowed and her finger glowed brighter.

Dede didn't seem to notice Serenity's response.

She also didn't notice as Axel gently checked for any other injuries on Nathan.

~

Theresa's finger still glowed its royal gold color and beside it Amber's shown with the orange of the setting sun.

Amber kept glancing between her finger and Theresa's, feeling weird about it.

They were quite similar colors, but then she supposed that there weren't that many colors to pick from, so it wasn't really a surprise.

While Serenity showed off her talents across from them, Theresa was trying her hardest to form something.

Yuba had told them to start with a simple transmogrification or weather spell.

Amber found it hard to concentrate.

Theresa was suddenly grinning and Amber was so distracted by her expression that she didn't notice the small cloud that had formed over her head.

Theresa's grin turned mischievous and suddenly water poured down on Amber.

She gasped and immediately leapt from her spot under the storm cloud.

She glared and her finger glowed as well.

A moment later, a cloud appeared above Theresa as well.

The princess rolled to the side a moment before thunder crackled and rain poured down from above.

Amber growled and her finger followed after the running girl.

Her mice scampered down from her hair and legs, running toward the other girl.

Theresa was still grinning with mischief and enjoyment, even as Amber's mice scampered toward her.

The cloud neared Theresa and she glanced up.

The smile didn't slip one bit, even as it thundered menacingly.

"Theresa!"

The princess glanced over her shoulder and saw her father grinning.

He tossed her a shield and she gave him a quick "Thanks!" before raising it over her head and blocking the rain.

Her finger glowed gold and Amber threw herself to the side just as more rain poured down over her.

Lightning crackled above Theresa and she glanced up.

As she did, her eyes momentarily passed over Amber's rats.

Lightning flashed above her head and the mice glanced up.

Theresa had an idea and smirked.

She rolled across the ground and scooped all three rats up, cradling them in the crook of her left arm while raising the shield with her right to block the rain and lightning.

Amber's eyes widened as she heard the squeaking of her mice.

What was Theresa doing?!

~

Theresa aimed to hit Amber with rain, but a glowing red finger dispelled the spell easily.

Hilda glanced over at Hester, the only one apart from herself with a red glow, and saw her glaring at Tedros.

He had taken Theresa's side and Hester had clearly taken Amber's.

As the cloud dispelled, it was shot away and bits of rain splashdd Milly.

Hilda whipped her head around.

Rage suddenly filled her and her finger glowed as well.

Another rain cloud formed above Theresa.

She stalked forward and joined her twin by her side.

Milly watched with shock (and a bit of cold from the rain).

Theresa let out a surprised sound and pulled herself into a ball to keep from getting wet.

Agatha glanced up and frowned.

She dispelled the attack from the twins.

She felt oddly protective of Theresa and she cast a gust of wind, blowing the cloud away from Theresa.

It landed above Dede and the girl shrieked as she was coated in water.

Serenity's eyes shot to the twins with cold fury.

Her finger glowed hot pink and she stalked forward.

She grabbed Theresa's outstretched hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Let's show those two, cus."

Theresa's grin widened.

"What are we waiting for?"

And that's how people started to get sucked into a small, playful fight turned into a war.

Hester and Anadil instantly joined the twins with Agatha and Tedros joined Theresa's side.

Axel joined his sister while Dot joined her covenmates.

Kiko joined Theresa whole Hort joined Hilda and Amber.

Dede and Milly watched with shock as this turned into a full fledged war.

Milly soon joined Amber and Hilda's side of the amazing army.

Serenity raised hell and soaked both twins thoroughly while Theresa defended her from counterattacks using back her shield and her finger glow.

Axel joined his sister and cousin, cousin.

He doused Nathan quite thoroughly, but got as good as he gave from the boy's father.

Beatrix, having thought herself above this whole thing, found herself drenched by Hester and joined in heartily with loud yells. She even hit her own daughter (though of course she didn't know that) as she had taken the opposite side.

Dede was the only one just watching.

Yuba had given them a few minutes to practice with a muttered reason to leave that none of them remembered now.

Dede was torn between both sides, so she took the opportunity to just watch how they each 'fought'.

Milly let out a loud, high pitched whistle.

Gildy and Gordon burst into the clearing.

As Milly barked and howled at the two, Hilda took a protective position beside her friend.

Serenity flicked her wrist and a storm cloud appeared above Milly.

She'd clearly sensed the threat Milly would be with her wolfhounds.

Hilda let out a low growl and her finger glowed red.

Her green demon tattoo grew and stretched across her skin until she was suddenly surrounded by it, becoming the demon herself.

She let out a roar and grabbed Milly around the waist, picking her up in the middle of a bark and saving her from a lightning strike.

Milly's face turned as red as Hilda's finger glow.

The wolfhounds has, apparently, gotten enough instruction from their master as they leapt into the fray, trying to tackle friends and take them from the fight (gently of course).

Milly couldn't pay attention with Hilda so close, even in her demon form.

Most people would be terrified by Hilda like this, but Milly found it amazing.

She looked so strong and in control, her neon green wings folding over her back sand covering Milly as another storm cloud formed.

Her wings were long enough that when she wrapped them around the two, it completely blocked out the exterior world.

All she could see was Hilda.

The wings formed a green dome around them and the light made a rather... romantic lighting.

She blushed furiously at the thought.

"Stupid Theresa. Knew this was a trap," Hilda muttered.

Her voice was deeper and a bit more gravelly than usual, but Milly could hear the resemblance nonetheless.

One thing that stayed the same was Hilda's eyes.

Her vibrant, blood red eyes that were the same color as Anadil's.

Milly found herself lost within those eyes.

Hilda said something else she didn't catch and then stood up straight, unraveling her wings from around Milly and looking back toward the other side with a vengeful look in her eyes.

Milly knew she wouldn't be able to do much else in her demon form at the moment.

She was strong, but she still needed to build up her endurance some.

Hilda took advantage of the remaining time and took off into the hair, her wings flapping hard.

She dive bombed toward the other side and grabbed onto one of the Evers.

It was Axel.

He let out an embarrassingly high pitched shriek as Hilda flew off and dropped him into a tree.

Nathan looked up and his eyes widened.

"I'm coming, Ax!" he called loudly.

He didn't get far before he was tripped by Anadil's rat, however.

The albino smirked as Hester cackled, her demon already streaming through the ranks and shoving or pushing the other army's members over.

Amber wondered if Theresa still had her mice.

She glared and advanced on the girl, intent on knowing if she still held them.

No other reason.

~

Dot was knocked back by Hort as the other Never fell over.

Dot bumped into Anadil and fell against Kiko.

Anadil fell against Hester and Kiko hit the ground beneath Dot, but not before hitting Tedros.

The prince fell against his princess and soon all of the older generation, who had been fighting each other as their spells were a bit more advanced, were on the ground.

Dede watched with wide eyes and tried not to laugh as the younger generation, her friends, were the only ones left fighting as the older generation was left to awkwardly look at the others who they had fallen against.

Tedros was gently clutching Agatha and was the only thing that kept the two of them from joining the group splayed out in a pile.

Inside the pile, Hort a foot in his mouth and was at the very bottom.

Hester and Anadil were sprawled out as well.

Both of them stared at each other, their faces less than an inch apart.

Anadil’s heart actually stopped for a moment and she just stared at Hester with wide eyes.

The tattooed witch’s face turned red and she tried to push her way out, but her eyes somehow stayed glued to Anadil’s.

Dot and Kiko were at the top with Beatrix a platform between them and Hester and Anadil.

Kiko was groaning and didn’t know that Hester was likely to explode with people crushing her.

Kiko just laid there for a moment, catching her breath.

Dot knew better than to do that and scurried to her feet.

She could heard a growl from Hester and her eyes widened fearfully.

She reached her hand out and yanked Kiko up just before Hester literally threw Beatrix off of the pile, making the girl yell and utter a few phrases a princess really shouldn’t know.

None of them knew who had caused the pile.

They only knew Hort had tripped.

They didn’t realize that Dede had easily tripped the Never.

She smirked a bit evilly and then turned back to watch her friends as they continued to ‘fight’.

~

Amber caught sight of Theresa and growled.

She stalked toward the girl, watching as she defended her cousin from one of Hilda’s storm clouds.

Theresa was still grinning despite being soaked quite thoroughly.

Amber glared at the expression and she snapped her glowing finger.

She knew she didn’t need to snap, but she liked the extra bit of drama it offered, even if she wouldn’t say it.

Lightning crackled above Theresa and the Ever’s eyes widened.

It hit her in the head.

The lightning was nothing powerful, Amber wasn’t strong enough to make one that could hurt her and if she could she wouldn’t have, but Theresa still let out a grunt.

Theresa looked up and caught sight of Amber.

Her fluffy blond hair was all frizzy now, but the princess reached a hand back and smoothed it down a bur.

It wouldn’t stay put, but Theresa didn’t seem to care.

Her eyes grew a mischievous glint again and she stalked toward her.

Amber found herself watching with wide eyes.

She stared at the slightly insane hair (how could it still look so pretty when it was all tangled from the electricity?!) and the way her lips curved up with the same devious intent of her eyes.

Amber gulped, suddenly finding that her mouth felt dry.

What was going on with her?!

Chapter Text

Theresa brandished her shield and her finger glowed gold.

Amber swallowed and took a breath.

She finally found her voice as Theresa neared.

"Do you have my mice?"

Theresa was still smirking.

"Mice... hmmm..." Theresa put her finger on the edge of her lip and tapped as if in thought.

Amber tried not to stare at where her finger touched.

"Oh! Those mice. Must have slipped my mind."

Amber broke her eyes away from where Theresa tapped and stared into her pristine blue eyes.

A bit of her frizzled hair hung in her face, but Theresa Either didn't notice or didn't care.

Theresa suddenly moved her shield so that Amber could see where her arm hooked into the shield to hold it.

She hadn't noticed how the shield appeared before.

It bore the seal of Camelot on the front, its lions and eagles staring back at her.

But that was the front of the shield and now Amber was looking at the back of it.

It was a deep, thick shield with small straps that hooked around Theresa's forearm and wrist, which she held to with her hand.

Right above Theresa's hand and arm (had Amber never seen how strong those arms were before? What was wrong with her?!), there were several small holes within it.

Amber had no idea what those could be used for, but before she could wonder, she saw three small firms huddled in them.

Her mice.

Theresa was still grinning and Amber's mice didn't seem too upset with their location.

"I didn't want them to get all wet, so I thought I'd keep them there."

Amber felt her face burning and thought it was a wonder she wasn't somehow on fire.

Amber felt her finger glow and raised it, the orange color looking somehow a lighter color than before.

"Give them back."

Her tone was menacing and had all the cold she had been taught in her time spent at the School for Evil.

Though her masterful tone had won praise from her teachers, Theresa didn't seem to notice any difference.

The Ever just grinned at her.

"You want them back?" Theresa took another step forward and the two stood only a few feet apart now.

Theresa closed the distance until they were only a few inches away.

Amber felt frozen.

If she had been in her normal state, she would have cursed Theresa and stolen her mice back.

But right now she couldn't seem to do anything but stare at Theresa.

The princess leaned forward, her face dipping down so that she was at about the same height as Amber, which was saying something considering the height difference.

"Then take them," she whispered.

As the last word left her lips, the Ever bounced backwards and grinned broadly, holding her shield aloft slightly and locking eyes with Amber.

She suddenly regained the ability to think and her face turned red with anger (of course with anger. Why else would her face turn red?!).

Theresa took a few steps backwards and sunk into the depths of the 'battle'.

Amber stalked after her with a vengeful light in her jet black eyes.

~

"You're really good at spells!" Dede said with a grin.

Serenity glanced at Dede.

Her finger glowed brighter.

The witch put her hand on Serenity's arm and squeezed with a bright grin and then turned to look at the other side.

She was still the only one that hadn't chosen a side and was just commenting to her friend.

"I, uh," Serenity cleared her throat, "thanks."

Dede gave her a quick grin before she hurried off to the sideline before she got hit by a spell.

Did... she come over just to tell me that? Serenity thought.

Her eyes followed after Dede.

Dede stopped and stared at the tree that Axel was still stuck in while Nathan tried to help him, but Dede just giggled and continued to watch all of them.

Serenity almost tripped when Dede flashed her a giant grin.

Her heart was beating a bit quicker and she was distracted enough that Hilda was able to summon a cloud above Serenity and soak her.

It was the first time she'd gotten wet, she really was good at these spells, and she gasped.

She could hear familiar laughing and Serenity looked up.

Dede was laughing and staring at her.

Serenity moved her hair out of her face and blushed.

She found herself laughing despite her hair being in her face and how wet she was.

Seeing Dede laughing just made her... insides melt.

~

Amber chases Theresa thought their 'battlefield'.

What was wrong with her?

Why was she feeling so weird?!

She pushed those thoughts aside and paid more attention to the mice she was supposed to be saving.

Her mice.

That stupid Ever had stolen them.

Theresa turned and faced her, her golden finger pointing at her.

A storm cloud appeared over her head and soaked Amber thoroughly.

She gasped and wiped her face.

She glared at Theresa and suddenly went insane.

She was cold, wet, missing her mice, and didn't understand her feelings.

And so, in a moment of temporary insanity, she tackled her.

She just went into a flying leap and threw herself against the other girl.

Theresa's eyes widened and the grin slipped slightly.

Amber felt a grim sort of satisfaction at the thought.

Finally she wasn't so cool and composed.

How was she always like that?

Theresa grunted and the two fell to the ground.

Amber heard her mice shriek and smirked.

Her hands were holding Theresa's wrists down on the ground so that the other girl couldn't get up.

But that smirk fell when she saw that Theresa was smirking yet again.

Theresa, although lying flat on her back, grinned and reached her hands up.

Her Camelot shield was discarded and she didn't seem to notice as the mice scurried about.

Theresa lifted her head up until her mouth was almost touching Amber's ear.

"Maybe you should remember who you're fighting against."

Theresa then lifted her wrists, pushing Amber's hands off of her.

She put her hands on Amber's waist and the Never's eyes bulged as the Ever lifted her up, still grinning.

Then, in one fluid motion, Theresa flipped her over.

Theresa smirked widely before she stood up.

She had only been there for a moment, but Amber was still just laying there on her back, her face bright red and she just laid on the ground for a long moment.

At least it felt like a long moment, but she guessed that it wasn't because Theresa was still standing there, holding her hand out for Amber.

She reached out and took her hand, allowing the Ever to pull her to her feet.

Amber was still somewhat distracted and she stumbled.

Theresa didn't seem to mind and steadied Amber.

The Never couldn't breathe and Theresa just grinned at her.

"I think I owe you something," Theresa said.

She leaned down and Amber found her eyes drifting closed slowly for unknown reasons.

Theresa grabbed onto her shield and held out her hands, gently cupping something in them.

In her hand, three mice lay.

Two of them were even asleep.

Theresa suddenly looked slightly... nervous? Embarrassed?

Amber wasn't sure, but she found it oddly endearing.

"Don't worry, I took good care of them."

Amber found her face heating up and she reached out, scooping the mice into her hands with a sense of relief.

Even as the mice scampered into her hand and onto her shoulders, she could still feel where her hands had touched Theresa's

Just then, a loud voice yelled from the corner of the clearing.

"What is going on here?!" Yuba bellowed.

All of them flinched, even the older students that were just now getting back to their feet.

Hester took a quick breath and put her greatest skill to use.

Not her demon, not her spells, but her ability to lie with a perfectly straight face.

"Just a few accidents. These first years really aren't good with spells," she said.

Amber smirked and wished she was that good at lying.

Yuba glared at them all and grumbled about their bad group.

Amber shivered and glared at Theresa.

She couldn't believe that immature Ever had started all this.

Theresa glanced at her and grabbed her cloak, which she'd set down at the start of their lesson.

She threw it over Amber's shoulders and the girl jumped.

She looked at the jacket.

It was soft and made of satin. It had blue lace with a red trim along the bottom with golden yellow buttons that matched the two lions on each side along the chest.

Amber moved to take the jacket off, and perhaps throw it on the ground, but Theresa put a hand on her shoulder to still her.

"I know you're cold. Sorry I splashed you so many times," Theresa said with a small smile.

Amber felt her face heat up and looked over at the Camelot princess.

"Whatever."

She grabbed onto the edge of the jacket and pulled it around her shoulders.

The jacket was surprisingly warm and had a light, minty scent that she recognized.

It was Theresa's scent.

She didn't know how she knew that and she didn't want to think about it.

The wolves howled and the Ever bell rang.

"See you, Amb!" Theresa said with a grin.

Amber didn't even have the chance to give her back her jacket back.

That's when Amber was intercepted by Hilda.

"Is that Theresa's jacket?"

Dede frowned and stared at it.

"No. Yes. Whatever!" Amber pushed past her friends and pulled the jacket closer to her shoulders.

~

Hester glanced at Anadil.

Both of them were soaked to the core.

Hester's finger glowed and a sudden wind overtook them.

Anadil shivered and suddenly grabbed onto Hester's arm in surprise.

The tattooed girl suddenly blushed.

The wind died done and the two were dry thanks to the spell.

Anadil's hands stayed on Hester's arm for a long moment.

Neither of them seemed to want to let the other go.

Hester stared at the albino for a long moment and the other girl slowly let go.

Hester immediately missed the feeling of her friend's hands on her arm.

~

Dot helped Kiko to her feet and gave her a small grin.

"I'll, um, see you tomorrow," Dot said awkwardly.

Kiko gave her a small smile.

"Yeah... can't wait."

She was just as awkward, but that was alright.

Dot was about to go, but suddenly Kiko grabbed onto her and pulled her in for a hug.

Kiko never needed an excuse for a hug, but this one seemed even more sudden than usual.

Dot just stood there for a second, but then she suddenly grinned and hugged her back.

~

Axel frowned in confusion.

Did Amber steal Theresa's jacket?

He put his hand on her arm to pull her back.

Just then, emotions exploded out of her and his eyes widened.

Her sorted through them, but soon came to a very surprising one.

He gasped, a strangled sound coming from his throat.

"You-you have a crush!" he hissed.

Theresa didn't break her stride and just grinned.

"Yeah, I know," she said simply.

He gaped at her.

"What?! Oh who?!"

Theresa glanced over her shoulder and watched Amber's retreating form.

His eyes bulged.

"You like AMBER?!"

Theresa nodded, not looking at him.

"Of course I do. I'm not subtle," Theresa said with a grin.

Axel gaped.

"Wait, that's why you wouldn't let me touch you?!"

Theresa nodded.

"But if you're not being subtle, then why didn't you let me?" he asked, clearly trying to catch her in a lie.

"Because I knew you'd shout about it in front of her and that would be awkward," Theresa said with a laugh.

Axel didn't say how true that was.

"Soooo... how long has this been going on?" Axel asked with over the top subtleness that was clearly faked.

"Ax, don't do this."

He sighed and shook his head.

"I'd tell you if I liked someone!"

Theresa snorted.

"Yeah, sure you would."

He frowned at her receding form before hurrying to catch up.

Chapter Text

Theresa had had a crush on Amber for about a month and a half.

At least that's when she'd realized how she felt.

It had been when Amber had been scheming, her black and flirty eyes alight with mischievous intent, when she'd realized.

And ever since then she's been trying her hardest to flirt with the Never.

She was quite sure it was working, too.

She'd seen the way that Amber would glance at her and then look away with a growl and a faint pink tint to her cheeks.

Theresa had seen the way she responded when they fought today.

The way she had colored at Theresa helping her rats and their somewhat odd positioning on the ground.

She saw the way some of her friends had feelings for others but wouldn't admit it to themselves, let alone other people.

But Theresa realized she liked Amber and she was going for it.

She had gotten the girl a flower, after all!

Amber was clearly having trouble figuring out things (her feelings for Theresa, the princess assumed).

Axel might be able to feel emotions, but Theresa could read them.

She could tell what they meant.

Axel was, undoubtedly, better at this sort of thing, but that didn't make Theresa bad at it.

How could she not like Amber?

She had the prettiest black hair that Theresa just wanted to play with and run her hands through. And she couldn't forget about the way her eyes seemed to be nothing but the dark abyss of black when you first looked, but soon you could see the light within. Just like with Amber. You could see the hard and tough exterior, but Theresa knew she was just as gentle and soft as anyone else.

More so, even, she thought.

Yes, Theresa had a crush on Amber.

But did that make it impossible for her to talk to the other girl or formulate a comprehensible statement?

No.

She was a strong and powerful princess and nothing would stop her, not even a rather surprising crush.

She hadn't thought she'd like someone like Amber.

They were polar opposites, and yet Theresa found that she liked the way Amber was different from her.

She liked Amber and she was okay with that.

~

Theresa dealt with her emotions much better than Amber.

Amber still wasn't sure if she wanted to be friends with Theresa or if she wanted to murder the other girl.

She liked the way Theresa talked and the way she smiled... but Amber didn't like it when she smiled.

It made her feel all... weird.

And when the princess gave her that playful grin, the one that was slightly mischievous, it made Amber feel like she was the only person in the world. Like Theresa didn't care about anyone but her.

It made Amber feel like something was going on in her stomach and she thought she liked that feeling, but then it made her feel embarrassed and nervous. Sometimes her face even turned all red.

That made her want to punch the other girl.

In the face.

Gently.

With her own face.

When she told Dede that, the girl's eyes widened dramatically and she'd stared at Amber.

"You want to kiss her?!"

Amber's face filled with heat.

She shook her head dramatically.

"What?! No, I don't!"

"You just said you did!"

"I said I wanted to punch her!"

"Yeah, but a gentle punch with your mouth on someone else's mouth is just a kiss!"

Amber blushed and glared at her friend.

"No it's not!"

Dede stared at her.

"YES IT IS!"

Amber flinched.

"Keep your voice down!" Amber hissed, her face turning redder by the second.

"You like Theresa!" Dede cried.

Amber felt her heart start beating three times as fast as normal.

"No I don't!"

Just then, the Dot opened and came into the dorm room.

"Don't what?" she asked sweetly.

Dede went to speak, but Amber slapped a hand over her mouth, her face still a blazingly red color.

Dede shoved Amber off of her.

"Amber likes Theresa!" she said with a smug smirk.

"I do not!" Amber roared.

"Do too!" Dede snapped.

Dot stared at them.

"Which one's Theresa?" Dot asked

"The princess with the sword!" Dede responded.

"Princess? You mean she likes an... Ever?" Dot asked.

Dede nodded and didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

"But... Evers and Never's aren't supposed to mix."

Dede frowned and stared at her mother.

The one that married Kiko.

She had almost forgotten that she was back in time.

Everything has just felt natural.

"Well if Never's can fall in love, why cant they fall in love with Evers?" Dede asked pointedly, hoping that it would help Dot open up to the idea that she could date an Ever.

Kiko specifically.

"And that means that Amber can fall in love with Theresa!" Dede said with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle toward her friend.

Amber blushed deeper.

"I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH THERESA!"

Her mice twittered in agreement and one tried to bite Dede.

"Then why haven't you given her your jacket back?" Dot asked, pointing at the blue coat.

It sat, neatly folded, beside Hilda and Amber's bed and right beside the latter's pillow.

She wouldn't admit it, but she could smell the faint minty scent of Theresa when she fell asleep.

"I just, um, forgot."

Dede and Dot both stared at her.

"I don't like her!" Amber sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that fact and Dede could tell.

"Nevers really can like Evers?" Dot asked quietly, fiddling with her thumbs in her lap.

"Of course! My parents were form different schools."

"Who were your parents?" Dot asked.

Dede paled.

Amber cut in.

"I don't like Theresa! She's just an annoying, stupid Ever!"

"I bet you know her favorite color," Dede said with a smirk.

"Of course I do! It's her finger glow!"

Dot suddenly spoke up.

"Do you think her annoying habits are cute?"

Amber shook her head.

"Of course not!"

"You were literally just complaining about how annoying it is when she pushes her hair out of her face. And then you started staring off into space with a creepy little smile on your face," Dede said.

Dot giggled and Amber blushed.

"Whatever! That doesn't mean I like her!"

Dede twirled her hair around her finger.

"I heard that if you know how they smell you can tell you have a crush."

Amber turned a deeper shade of red.

"Wait, do you really?!" Dede asked incredulously.

"I was just making a joke!"

Amber looked down at her lap and twiddled with her thumbs awkwardly.

"Of course I don't!"

"You'd think such an accomplished Never would be better at lying," Dot said.

"Or better at dealing with a crush," Dede said with a grin.

Amber's finger glowed and she glared at Dede, clearly ready to attack.

"Never noticed how golden that glow looks. Kind of like Theresa's," Dede mused with a grin.

Nobody could tell which was a brighter color, Amber's face or her finger.

The door opened and Hilda strode into the room.

Her finger glowed as soon as she saw Amber's.

"Who are we attacking?" she asked levelly, as if they did this all of the time.

"You attack me and I fell your sister you fell for that Ever," Dede hissed.

Amber made her finger stop glowing and she looked away from her.

"Nobody. Just practicing."

Hilda nodded and her finger glow faded as well.

"I don't like her!" Amber hissed quietly.

Dede laughed.

~

"So you really like Amber?!" Axel asked with incredulity.

"I already said I do!" Theresa snapped.

"Her?! She's insane!" Axel cried.

"You insult her one more time and I'm going to beat you with my sword," Theresa said without looking up.

"You like her?! She's the most evil person I know! And she has that weird thing twin thing where they can tell what the other is thinking!"

Theresa whipped her sword out of its sheath with a dark glare.

"I said not to say that again."

Axel's eyes widened.

Just as Theresa raised her sword, the door swung open and Tedros strode in.

His eyes widened and he pulled out his own practice sword, defending Axel from a strike to his backside.

Theresa growled.

"Take it back!"

Axel cowered behind their father.

"She's a Never!" Axel snapped.

"I've seen the way you look at Nathan! Don't pretend you don't have a crush on him!" Theresa roared back at him.

Axel turned red.

"What's going on?!" Tedros cried.

"Theresa has a crush on a Never!" Axel called like he was ratting her out to their father. Oh wait, he was.

Theresa growled.

"So do you!"

Tedros stared at the two younger kids.

"Nevers?! No, no, no, never have a romance with a Never."

"Just because you chose A-Sophie to date and you both failed doesn't mean that I'd make the same mistake!"

She had almost slipped up and said Aunt Sophie.

"Nevers will always break your heart," Tedros said with a side eye at both her and and Axel.

Theresa rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said with an eye roll.

"Who is it?" Tedros asked.

Axel opened his mouth and Theresa's eyes shit to him.

"You say it and I tell him about your crush."

Axel's mouth closed with a click and looked at his father.

"Night, Theresa. Sorry I snapped."

Theresa stared at him for a moment before she nodded.

She shoved her sword back into her sheath.

"Night," she said stiffly before making her way out of the room.

He didn't get it.

Even in the future he was blinded by his past.

He would never think she could care for Amber without it stabbing her in the back.

That's why she'd never told him about how she felt about Amber. Him and Axel.

She shoved her way out of the room, keeping her head down with a sigh.

She shoved open her dorm room and stormed in.

Agatha looked up from her textbook.

"Theresa, are you okay?" she asked.

The blond didn't answer and just angrily shoved her things down, unstrapping her sword sheath and throwing down her bag.

"Tell me what happened."

Theresa recognized that voice.

It was the voice Agatha always made when she was serious.

"Axel and Tedros are being jerks. But it doesn't matter. I don't care what they think," Theresa said bitterly.

Agatha moved over and patted the bed she was laying on.

"Tell me what's going on."

Theresa took a seat next to her mother, remembering the times her mother had comforted her like this in the future.

She explained her situation.

Agatha have her a consoling look and a pulled her in for a hug.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered gently.

~

Amber couldn’t think about anything but the conversation from earlier.

She didn’t like Theresa.

Of course she didn’t.

She barely even noticed when Hester stroked one of Anadil’s rats idly with her hand and allowed the other two to scurry around her shoulder and hair.

The way Anadil stared at Hester with a bright blush on her face.

Apparently the way to woo a witch was to take care of her rats.

That thought made Amber’s heart stop beating.

Like how Theresa has taken care of her mice earlier...

She didn’t like Theresa.

She couldn’t.

Of course not.

Right?

Amber laid down on the bed and could smell the faint scent of her minty coat.

She should give Theresa her jacket back.

But she found that she didn’t want to.

She had liked wearing that jacket.

It was soft and made of great material.

That’s why.

Not because it still had Theresa’s scent and the idea of wearing the princess’s jacket made her feel all warm inside.

How could her jacket still smell like her?

She guessed she had a really strong scent.

Or maybe Amber just really paid attention to that smell.

Oh no.

Please no.

Not this.

Amber growled loudly.

No.

She punched her pillow twice before she shoved her face into it.

She saw a familiar face haunting her, laughing at her as she closed her eyes.

Theresa’s face.

Her crush’s face.

Chapter Text

Hilda glanced at her twin.

She was still somewhat screaming into the pillow.

She raised an eyebrow and wondered if she wanted to ask Amber what was wrong.

Amber grabbed the jacket on the counter and stormed out of the room.

She guessed she shouldn't.

~

Amber sat down in an obscure corner of the castle, the jacket in her arm.

She wanted to burn it.

She sighed and found herself wrapping the jacket around herself.

She couldn't believe she had a crush on Theresa of all people.

She'd been sure she'd never fall for anyone.

And yet...

She pulled the jacket closer to herself.

She felt like laughing.

She had no idea what to do.

All of the sudden she couldn't think of anything but Theresa's face.

Of everything the two of them had done together.

Amber has no idea how long she'd liked Theresa.

She guessed about six months now that she looked back.

Right when she'd started feeling weird around the other girl and didn't want to be her friend anymore.

She still didn't want to be Theresa's friend.

She wanted to be her girlfriend.

Amber screamed into the other girl's jacket.

She hated her.

She wanted to pull out her cute fluffy hair and beautiful grin.

She couldn't even make herself believe that lie anymore.

She sighed and tried to think of the girl's most annoying habit.

There were so many.

The weird way she always had her hand on that sword.

The way she had that weird snorting laugh sometimes when she thought something was really funny.

But she couldn't find any of these things as bad anymore.

She really did like her.

More screaming ensued.

How was she going to deal with this?

There was no way Theresa could like her back.

No possible way.

How could she like this princess?

She'd always hated those terrible, annoying, and pretentious princesses.

She'd always wanted to trip Theresa and make fun of her.

But now she just wanted to kiss her.

She shoved her face into the coat in embarrassment.

All that did was remind her of Theresa.

~

Theresa had her head on Agatha's shoulder and felt her mother's arms around her.

She was much taller than Agatha, about three and a half inches, but that didn't stop her from curling up beside her like a child.

She knew that this wasn't her father, not yet at least, but it still stung.

She hoped that Axel was okay.

She shouldn't have said anything about his crush on Nathan.

It was uncalled for, but it was in the heat of the moment and she was angry.

Agatha stroked her hair and whispered kind words into her ear.

~

Hester glanced at Anadil.

The albino kept looking over at her every once in a while.

Her red eyes would go to her rats and then flicker to Hester, then away from her with a weird red tint to her pale cheeks.

Hester didn't know why that look on Anadil's face made her want to grin like some silly Ever.

~

Anadil couldn't take her eyes off of Hester for more than a minute.

Then she would see Hester sitting there with her rats and it just made her heart skip a beat.

She looked so caring and compassionate, a side of Hester she never got to see.

She thought that Hester would make a really good mother.

That brought a blush to her cheeks.

She didn't know why that made her feel all embarrassed.

She also didn't know why it made her feel all warm inside.

~

Dot glanced at Dede.

Were her parents really from different schools?

It made her feel all weird inside.

She really liked the idea of Evers and Nevers falling in love with each other.

Her mind shifted to Kiko and earlier today.

It had been a really nice moment, saving her from Hester's wrath and the way she threw Beatrix off of her.

Kiko really was a sweet girl.

So sweet and pure.

She thought the two of them could be... friends.

Good friends.

Even if they were on opposite sides.

Kiko kind of looked like Dede now that she thought about it.

They both had those sweet, innocent smiles and pretty pigtails.

Kiko had really pretty hair...

~

Beatrix was still laying down next to Reena.

When she had gotten back to their room after Surviving Fairytales, Reena had overreacted.

She'd grabbed a fresh set of clothes and a towel for Beatrix instantly and had her go change.

After that, Beatrix had given her a quick "Thanks," and gone to study.

Reena has not been willing to allow that.

"Get over here! I'm not letting you get a cold!" she'd said.

She'd grabbed onto Beatrix's hand, making her blush, and pulled her over to one of their beds.

She pulled the covers over them and held Beatrix.

"Reena, I'm fine," Beatrix said with a deep blush on her face.

Wherever Reena touched her, her skin felt on fire.

Maybe she really was just that cold.

Beatrix had meant to get up after a few minutes, but then she'd fallen asleep in Rena's arms.

When she woke up, Reena was asleep too and she couldn't seem to find it within herself to wake the other girl up.

She looked so cute with her beautiful gray eyes closed and her breath coming out in a relaxing rhythm.

She really was gorgeous.

Beatrix let out a sigh and stared at her.

Just then, the door opened and a familiar form walked in.

It was Milly.

She stared at the two of them and broke into a wide grin.

Beatrix felt her face turn red at the look.

Milly went to the other bed and didn't say anything about the two, but she did keep looking over at them.

~

Milly found her thoughts straying to earlier today.

To when Hilda has saved her in her demon form.

She couldn't get the romantic green lighting Hilda's wings had given the two of them.

The way her red eyes had stared into her own

The way she'd both literally and figurative blocked out the entire world around her.

When Hilda was around it seemed like everyone else just disappeared.

It was weird, but she really liked it.

It didn't happen around anyone but Hilda.

She wasn't sure why her.

~

Serenity closed her dorm room door behind her and slid down until she was sitting down.

She sighed and put her head in her hands.

She found herself grinning.

She couldn't think about anything other than Dede.

She had the prettiest smile and the sweetest laugh.

The way she wouldn't even join a side because she had friends on both sides she didn't want to hurt them.

She was so innocent.

She wasn't sure why Dede was a Never...

She wants to see why...

Actually, she just wanted to see Dede at all.

It didn't matter what they were doing.

She heard a voice and looked up.

She saw Kiko and Nicola both sitting a few feet away.

She found herself blushing.

She'd thought she was all alone.

"Are you okay?" Kiko asked.

Serenity nodded and looked away from the two.

Nicola was still staring at her.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Serenity asked her mother.

"Kiko wanted to help me because I don't have a mentor. I must have gotten here too late of something, so now she's my mentor."

Serenity raised an eyebrow, but she just nodded and made her way to her own bed.

Serenity could hear her mom talking about Hort and she tried not to vomit in her mouth.

This was her mom, but she was pining over Uncle Hort.

This was messed up.

She'd always known that Nicola had had a thing for Hort once, but it had been one thing to know it and another thin entirely to see her mother talking about the weasel boy.

She guessed it was a good sign that she was still here.

That meant she had a chance to get her parents together still.

It was hardly a comforting though, however.

But she didn't seem to find time to dwell on it.

Her brain was preoccupied with thoughts of Dede.

She wondered if the other girl had been trying to help her with convincing Sophie.

She hoped so because she'd been doing her best to convince Kiko that Nevers and Evers could be together.

That thought made her blush.

Weird.

~

Axel found himself going over what his sister had said to him today.

That he had a crush on Nathan.

Of course he didn't.

He did.

He definitely did.

He shook her head in irritation and looked at his father.

He was sitting on his bed, looking off into the distance.

"Who is it? Which one does she like?" he asked suddenly.

Nathan was silent, considering.

"Amber."

Tedros stared at him.

"Wait... it's a girl?!"

Axel forgot that not everyone was... open to that.

And even less people at around this time.

"Umm, yeah," he said awkwardly.

"She really likes her."

Tedros just stared at him.

Suddenly, he shrugged.

"Okay. I get that... but a Never? And Amber?! She's like a mini Anadil. And Hester. It's actually kind of weird."

Axel coughed uncomfortably.

"Umm, well, she's basically a mini you. I guess it's not really that weird."

Tedros paused for a moment and then nodded.

"You're right. But she had to pick a Never?! Does she have to like that?! She could have a nice sweet Ever princess. Like Milly or something."

"If you'd picked someone like Milly, you would have picked Beatrix instead of a darkly dressed and completely unexpected Agatha."

Tedros stared at him for a long moment.

"That's... actually a good point."

Axel smirked at the words.

"I know. I always have good points."

"You sound like Agatha," Tedros said with an eye roll.

"I get that a lot," Axel said with a deadpan expression.

"Not surprising."

Axel laughed and looked at his father.

This was the best conversation he had ever had with his dad.

It made his heart soar.

It was so amazing to have such a good conversation with his dad.

~

Theresa pulled back from her mother and Agatha gave her a long look.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

Theresa nodded.

"Good because I'm going to go yell at Tedros."

Theresa's eyes widened at the words.

"Wait you're going to what?!"

Agatha turned around with a small glare.

"He's always been too judgmental ever since he and Sophie broke up."

Theresa shook her head violently.

She was here to make sure her parents got to together, not to make them fight.

“No, no, it’s okay!” Theresa said, getting up and trying to block the door.

Agatha frowned at her.

“You don’t have to be scared of him,” Agatha said with a raised eyebrow..

Theresa chuckled.

“Trust me, I’m not. It’s okay, just sit down.”

Agatha stared at her.

“You really do look like Tedros. And Axel... thy Amber girl is practically Hester’s twin... and Hilda...”

Theresa gulped and forced a laugh.

“I know right? It’s so weird! What are the chances?”

Agatha continued to watch her.

“Next to none...”

Theresa nervously ran a hand through her hair and tried to give Agatha a comforting smile.

She couldn’t figure this out.

Of course she couldn’t.

Theresa herself could hardly believe it and she had been the one actually sent back in time!

Agatha was quiet for a while after that, just staring at Theresa. But her eyes were distant, like she was thinking about something else.

~

Nathan laid back and closed his eyes.

His mind filled with images of Serenity from today.

The way she laughed, the smile she got whenever she did a spell... she really was good at those.

Maybe he could ask her to tutor him....

The idea sounded wonderful, but something seemed to say... otherwise.

He wasn’t sure what.

~

Dede found herself thinking about Nathan.

His weasel face and mischievous grin...

And Axel.

He was small and really thin, but he was still cute...

She shook her head and stopped thinking about boys.

She instead thought of her friends.

Especially Serenity.

Chapter Text

A/N: It never really says any heights so I have head-canons for this. Deal with it. Sophie is super short and IT IS NOW WRITTEN IN CANON STONE.

This was the third time this week they were having this meeting.

"I don't care what the bridge said, she is enrolled in your school and I can't pick up your slack," Professor Dovey said with a scowl.

Sophie bristled and stood taller.

Even at her full height (and with two inch red stylish heels that she was wearing) she was still a bit shorter than Dovey.

Sophie wasn't short exactly... but then again, she was.

She would never say such a thing, but she stood about head and shoulders shorter than Hester and even Agatha was about two inches taller than her.

Even Dot, the annoying rotund witch, was about an inch and a half taller than Sophie.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that Sophie was not taking that annoying girl back into her school!

"Just because you've been a dean longer than me doesn't mean you can make me back down, Clarissa."

The dean of Good gave her a not so Good glare, but Sophie stood her ground.

There was a long moment in which the two just stared each other down.

But at the end, Professor Dovey had come up with a compromise.

Sophie had almost disagreed, but she planned on having a five hour bath tonight and she needed to get back to Evil...

So she sighed and agreed hastily before turning on her heel and walking out

~

And that's how Sophie found herself stuff with the annoying little know-it-all in her classroom.

She wanted nothing more than to strangle the life out of her.

She seemed to be answering more questions than Hester.

She had even pointed out a mistake that Sophie had made.

She had almost thrown the chalk in her hand at the girl.

Nichole (Sophie thought was her name at least, but she could easily be wrong) was smirking as she looked at her.

Did she enjoy making Sophie angry?!

She wasn't sure, but it was certainly working.

The blond was just about foaming at the mouth (though of course she didn't look that way. She had standards to uphold, even if she was a Never. Everyone has the duty to look respectable in front of others).

"Can anyone tell me what snake skin is used for?"

The girl (Natasha?!) was the first to raise her hand, but she didn't wait to be called on to answer.

"It's used for invisibility. But anyone that's read your story knows that."

She had that annoying smirk on her face that made Sophie want to throttle her.

Nobody would mind if she killed just one infuriating student, would they?!

She took a calming breath.

"Well, if you know so much about the subject, how about you come up here and identify the snakeskin for yourself?"

Sophie knew she sounded confrontational.

That was because she was confrontational.

She threw fifteen types of fabric onto the desk.

The girl (Natalie?!) stood and came to the front of the room, not even seeming to notice as all her classmates stared at her with scowls and barely concealed whispers.

She stopped when she reached the edge of Sophie desk and threw her head back, pulling a small hair tie off of her wrist and putting her hair up quickly and professionally.

Sophie scoffed at the action and rolled her eyes.

Even just putting up her hair this girl seemed cocky.

Sophie wanted nothing more than to wipe the smugness off of the girl's face.

The girl (Natalia?!) stood up straight and stared into Sophie's eyes with quiet rebellion.

But to meet her gaze, Sophie had to crane her neck.

The girl was slender with medium to long black hair. She wasn't exactly tall, but she was above average and that made her practically a giant compared to Sophie.

The girl (Nova?!) looked down at the fabrics and slowly felt through all of them.

Her hair cascaded down and hung on her neck, barely held back by the hair tie.

Her hair was kind of pretty...

Sophie had no idea what was wrong with her.

"This one."

Sophie was gazing up into the girl's eyes for a moment before she remembered what they were talking about.

She looked down at the fabric in the girl's hands.

It was, indeed, the snakeskin.

She ground her teeth.

"That's right."

The girl (Nora?!) was still smirking as she looked at the dean.

She wanted to destroy the other girl.

How did she know everything?!

Sophie wanted nothing more than to find something that the slightly younger girl didn't know!

The girl's eyes glinted with a smug light and she looked into Sophie's.

The blond found that she suddenly couldn't breathe.

The girl (Naomi?!) really did have the most beautiful eyes. Even though she looked like a know-it-all nerd and really was one... well, sometimes nerds could be pretty...

Sophie felt her eyes widening.

Why would she find the girl (Nevaeh?!) pretty?!

She had no idea what was wrong with her.

She didn't notice the way Amber, Hilda, and Dede stared at them.

All three of them looked excited, especially Dede who was currently almost giggling and had to clamp a hand over mouth to stop herself.

The girl (Nadia?!) turned around far too quickly and walked back to her seat.

She wasn't facing her, but Sophie could still imagine that insufferable smirk on her face.

Just because she was kinda sorta pretty didn't mean she should be so smug.

Alright, now Sophie just wasn't making any sense.

But did she ever?

If you asked Agatha (or pretty much anyone), the answer would be no.

Sophie realized the girl (Norah?!) was back at her seat and she coughed, clearing her throat and looking away, trying to remember where to go next in her lesson.

She found she was distracted for the rest of class and was even more upset with the girl (Natalya?!) than she was earlier.

What was wrong with that crazy girl?!

That stupid know-it-all.

That sounded like an oxymoron.

But this girl (Nadine?!) had her all rattled.

The girl-Sophie almost let out a growl.

What was her name?!

Why hadn't she listened more during her meeting with Professor Dovey.

The girl (Nelly?!) was staring at her with a (perfect) raised eyebrow.

The rest of the class was staring at her too.

She turned away to write on the blackboard.

She didn't look back at the other students and felt her face heating up.

What was happening to her?!

~

The end of class couldn't come soon enough.

By the end of the school day, Sophie was still thinking about the girl (Nyah?!) and how she wanted to figure out something that stumped her.

Something that she couldn't possibly know so she could laugh in the girl's face (Norinne?!) because she didn't know something that Sophie did.

That sounded so tantalizing that she found herself smirking.

There was a knock on the door and Professor Dovey entered the room.

She had a small smile.

"She's an Ever."

Sophie would have danced in excitement if she had said that yesterday, but now she felt something in her heart stir.

"Really?" she asked.

Professor Dovey smiled at her and nodded.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about her anymore."

The words made her heart sink.

She didn't know why...

She suddenly figured out why.

Because she wanted to find something she knew more about than that girl (Neila?!).

What was the girl's name?!

She was getting all frustrated now.

"Well, I say she's a Never."

Professor Dovey stared at her in shock.

"What?"

Sophie stared at her, making eye contact.

"I said that she's a Never."

"This morning, you would have done anything to get her out of your school, but now you want to keep her. What happened?"

Sophie paused for a moment.

What had happened?

An annoying, frustrating, know-it-all Ever came into my class and I decided to knock her down a peg, Sophie thought.

Of course that was what had happened.

She smiled, a fake smile of course, and looked into Professor Dovey's eyes.

"Because she's a Never," she said sweetly.

What is her name?!

Sophie went through a list of names that started with 'n'.

Nona?

Nari?

Naomie?

Nobuko?

Nioma?

Nysa?!

She was starting to just make up names at this point.

"Nicola is an Ever, she got a perfect score on my test today."

Nicola! That's her name!

"And she got first place in my class today. As always, the best Never is one that can convince everyone they're an Ever."

She turned on her heel and strode out again.

She was tired of talking to the other dean.

She was tired of thinking about this Nicola girl.

At least she knew her name now.

But that didn't stop her from thinking about her. Or thinking about the way she would outsmart the other girl.

Nicola.

It was a pretty name.

She should have guessed it.

How had she ever forgotten that name?

She wasn't sure.

The girl was... definitely unique.

Very smart.

~

The next day, when she saw Nicola in her classroom, she watched her closely.

She called on her at the end of class and asked her to classify the curse and its affects.

She easily did and had that insufferable smirk that she always had.

It made Sophie want to scream.

The day after that, she asked the girl to demonstrate an appropriate death trap for a princess.

She created an easy one in which a rabbit was seemingly caught in a hunter's trap and crying as loudly as it could.

As soon as the princess touched the animal, she would be hoisted into the air in a net and dangled a few feet above head.

Sophie soon found that she wasn't sure if she knew anything the younger girl (Nicola!) didn't.

She was coming to a blank.

But she'd come up with something.

Of course she would.

Of course.

And she definitely didn't spend her bath the following night reading up on obscure spells and curses that she could possibly have the other girl try to and figure out.

~

Dede had been spending all her time trying to convince Nicola that Sophie deserved a chance.

She didn't seem interested in friendship or romance with the other girl, but she was definitely intrigued by the notion of irritating Sophie as much as possible.

The young girl supposed that was a first step.

That's what Amber had done with Theresa too, so she guessed that was good enough for now.

As if thinking the same thing, Amber blushed from her place on her and Hilda's bed.

She hadn't said anything about it since the day she'd discovered her feelings for Theresa.

She tried to ignore the girl at lunch, but the princess of Camelot would always find a way to get her to talk.

But then Amber would turn red and become what is scientifically referred to as a stammering mess of emotions.

Dede had trouble not laughing every time it would happen.

Theresa would get all confused and make sure Amber was okay, in the process coming closer to the other girl than Amber was currently capable of handling.

Yes, it was an awkward situation all around.

~

Nicola was tired of going to both schools.

She had twice as much homework and twice as many classes.

But to be honest she was enjoying it.

She slept in the School for Good, as her things were already there, and shared a room with Serenity and Reena.

There was something familiar about Serenity, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Snot that she focused much on that.

She was too busy wondering what test Sophie would have for her tomorrow and how she could beat the Evil dean.

That was her favorite part of the day.

That and getting to see Hort in all of their shared classes...

She grinned and her thoughts circled between the two, very different, Nevers.

Serenity quietly watched her with a worried expression.

Chapter Text

Amber wasn't good with emotions.

He just wasn't.

And that meant she ended up trying her best to ignore Theresa.

But the princess was now sitting beside her at lunch and giving her biggest grin.

"I heard Nicola and Sophie are making progress. How are your moms?"

Amber looked into her eyes and wondered for a moment if she was just messing with her.

But Theresa looked so genuine... and pretty... and Amber felt her face heating up.

"They're fine," she said gruffly and looked down at her food to avoid meeting those warm, inviting ocean blue eyes.

"That's good. I'd rather see you be born."

It wasn't even that nice of a sentiment, but Amber still found her heart beating three times faster than normal.

Felt her palms sweating and her face reddening.

She didn't respond to that, but Theresa didn't seem to care.

She launched into a conversation about this or that, her school life and her parents, her sword training and placement in school ranks (top of the new generation).

And Amber wanted to find that annoying.

She blissfully frustrating.

But for everything she would have said Theresa gloated about, she asked about Amber.

Her pristine blue eyes looked into Amber's black ones and she kept that somewhat playful smirk in place on her lips.

Amber tried her hardest not to stare at those lips.

Hilda seemed to be getting worried about her and sometimes glaring at Theresa as if her sister suddenly getting tongue-tied was her fault.

And it was, but not for the reasons Hilda seemed to think.

And for all she noticed about Amber, she seemed so cursedly ignorant about Milly.

The way Milly still watched her and would blush whenever Hilda talked about her evil schemes.

Amber was still waiting for Theresa to demand her jacket back, but she didn't even seem to remember it existed.

And so the Never kept it by her bed.

She told herself that she would give it back if and when Theresa asked for it, but she also knew that if she did ask she would just lie and say she threw it away or burned it.

Emotions were stupid.

~

Anadil was shooting Hester fervent glanced as they sat at their bench under their tree.

The tattooed Never didn't seem to notice the way Anadil kept looking at her, but another witch did.

Dot.

Of course she noticed.

Anyone who wasn't blind would have seen the way Anadil stared at Hester.

Or how Anadil would suddenly not be so pale when Hester would brush up against her as they sat.

Or when Anadil would wake up beside Hester in the morning (they'd been doing this ever since Dede had burned down the room they'd had and the three had started staying in theirs) and suddenly have a mini heart attack.

Dot saw it all.

And that's why she had pointed it out to Anadil as the albino was as blind as Hester was.

She needed to tell her if she was ever going to do anything about her feelings.

That had been last night.

Dot had been reminded of how Amber had reacted when Dede had spoken to her.

It was... eerily similar to say the least.

Anadil had denied it fervently and glared at Dot, looking like she wanted to curse her.

But when Hester had come into the room with her devious eyes alight with what could only be mischief and her mouth turned into a malicious smirk... Anadil had gone speechless as she watched the tattooed witch.

After that, she wouldn't even look at Dot.

She took that as a victory.

Of course it was a victory!

Anadil had feelings for Hester!

It was only cemented more when Hester laughed at a cruel joke Anadil had somehow been able to make (Dot wasn't sure how she'd managed it considering she had been tongue-tied for almost five minutes before hand) and Anadil had just watched her with her beady blood red eyes wide.

But as Anadil sat in the dorm room, all alone, she finally let out a growl.

She screamed into her pillow until she suddenly heard the door opening.

She looked up and saw a small form making their way in.

It was Amber.

She looked very frustrated and like she was going to punch something (or someone, both equally likely knowing her).

"What's up?" Amber asked.

She wanted to turn her thoughts away from Theresa and her stupid beautiful blue eyes.

Anadil was silent.

Amber took a second to consider.

Screaming into her pillow and not wanting to talk about it.

She recognized that.

Recognized it because that was how she herself was acting.

About Theresa.

About her horrible, frustrating, annoying crush on the heir of Camelot.

"You like Hester."

Anadil's head shot up and she stared at Amber with wide eyes.

"No I don't. Did Dot tell you?!"

Amber laughed at the contradiction her mother had just made.

"No, she didn't tell me."

"Then how do you know?"

Amber took a moment to consider.

Telling the truth was preferable to what she was about to say.

"Because you're acting like me."

Anadil looked confused and stared at Amber.

"I...," she took a deep breath and then forged ahead.

"I like someone too and this is how I have been... dealing."

She word dealing was laughable considering this was practically just burying her head in the sand and hoping her problem would go away.

Anadil stared at her with those blood red eyes that were almost the perfect match to Hilda's.

"Who?"

Amber would rather choke her own mother than tell her, but she forced herself to say it.

"Theresa."

She grated the name out and looked like she was about to throw up as she did it.

Anadil just stared at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I know she's an Ever. Trust me, I'm as enthused as you."

"You can't control who you like," Anadil said with a sigh.

Amber stared at her.

She hadn't realized she and her mom were feeling the same way.

She had a chance here.

A chance to make sure she was born.

"I think you should just tell her how you feel," Amber said.

Anadil stared at her incredulously.

"Yeah right. You're not going to tell Theresa, so why should I tell Hester?"

Amber cursed internally.

She had a chance.

If she told Theresa she liked her, then she could get Anadil to tell Hester.

A part of Amber said she would rather bite off her own foot.

"Whatever, I was just trying to help."

Anadil rolled her eyes.

"Well, don't."

She turned her back on Amber and the two were silent.

Amber knew she'd messed up and she had to do something.

A part of her screamed to tell Theresa, but she squashed it.

She was not telling that stupid princess just to get rejected.

"Feelings suck."

Anadil turned her head and looked at her daughter.

"Yeah."

"I was perfectly fine without them! I would have been happy to just do my own thing, but no. I have to fall for the most infuriating princess in history."

Anadil snorted.

"At least you don't have to spend all day with her. Hester is always around. I want to be upset, but I'd just miss her."

Amber nodded in understanding.

She'd always thought her parents had a storybook romance (well literally they did because it was in an actual storybook, but she didn't mean it that way), but now she was seeing how they were before.

Anadil was just as confused and frustrated as she was with Theresa.

She silenced the voice that told her maybe things could work between her and the princess.

Anadil's eyes suddenly glinted with mirth.

"Do you still have her jacket."

Amber blushed.

"If you aren't careful I'll throw it at you."

Anadil snickered.

"By the way, I've seen you in the mornings when you wake up beside Hester," Amber said.

Anadil instantly turned pink and glared at her.

Amber laughed and shook her head at her mom.

"We really have it bad," the younger girl muttered.

"We're hopeless."

Amber felt her heart sinking slightly.

One of them was hopeless, but she knew for a fact that Anadil wasn't.

She pushed that thought away.

The two spent the next half hour complaining about emotions and how life would be much better without them.

But they also sprinkled in their favorite things about their respective crushes.

It seemed as if they contradicted themselves at least once a minute.

"I can't believe you like Theresa! She's like the Tedros of your friend group," Anadil said.

Amber glared.

"She's way smarter than that oaf."

She paused for a moment and then continued.

"And better with spells."

Anadil shook her head as she laughed and Amber felt her face heating up.

She was about to snap and tell Anadil to stop insulting Theresa, but the door opened and two forms strode in.

They walked in perfect sync, looking almost identical in confidence and demeanor (although the clear physical similarities were their height and their respective tattoos).

Hilda looked between the two and then her red eyes flashed in understanding.

Amber could tell she was asking if she'd made any progress with Anadil.

She nodded just slightly, something that nobody else would have noticed.

She raised one eyebrow just a hair (puns) and glanced at Hester.

Hilda rolled her eyes and made an annoyed expression, holding up her hands and looking like she wanted to throttle Hester's neck.

Amber snickered and glanced at Anadil, wondering if she'd noticed.

But she shouldn't have worried.

Anadil was watching Hester as she sat down on their bed beside her.

The two had a whispered conversation and Anadil seemed to be in a dazed state as she watched her.

Amber rolled her eyes.

She didn't look like that when she was with Theresa.

Of course not.

But suddenly she remembered the other day when she and Theresa had been talking at lunch.

Theresa had been smirking as always and Amber hadn't noticed her twin trying to get her attention until she actually screamed her name.

Amber blushed and turned away from her sister.

Hilda raised an eyebrow and stared at her sister.

She needed to figure out what was going on with her.

But all of her thoughts seemed to revolve around one specific Ever that was just so...

She didn't know how to explain it.

Milly was just... different.

She saw everything in such an amazing, unique way that Hilda had never seen anyone else do.

She wasn't sure why she was thinking like this.

It was weird.

She shook her head and then sat down beside her sister, glancing at their parents.

Hester had leaned over and was whispering to Anadil, their faces less than an inch apart.

The albino didn't seem so devoid of color anymore as she tried not to focus on the close proximity of her future wife.

Hilda rolled her eyes.

People were always in denial about their crushes and it was annoying.

She had more important things than dealing with these emotionally stunted people.

Such as tying to figure out why Milly made her heart beat twice as fast.

That was far more important.

~

There was an awkward silence between Theresa and Tedros.

There had been ever since he had heard she liked Amber.

But as they entered the sword training class, Theresa broke it.

She drew her sword and grinned at her father.

"Let's go show them what real swordsmen look like."

Tedros stared at her for a long moment, clearly considering.

He finally made the same grin that she herself was making.

"We'll see if you can keep up."

"Me?! Keep up?! Come on, old man."

Tedros laughed and they prepared themselves for the inevitable onslaught of their fellow classmates.

By the end of class, they were back to normal.

Tedros still didn't think it was okay for Theresa to like Amber, but he let it be and they were soon joking and laughing together.

Everything was back to normal for them.

But not everything was normal for several others.

Chapter Text

Nevers can love Evers?

Dot was still thinking about that.

Was she right?

Her eyes traveled across the lunch clearing and landed on a certain Ever that was wearing her cute little black hair in pigtails.

In case you couldn't tell, she meant that she was thinking about Kiko.

She was so cute.

Kiko spilled a bit of food onto her lap and let out a little shriek.

Dot giggled, making Hester and Anadil look at her with confused looks.

But the albino looked away after a minute and started to subtly watch Hester.

Hester was complaining about something or other and Anadil was trying her hardest not to stare at her in awe.

Ever since she'd realized how she felt about Hester, she'd been having a hard time not practically screaming how she felt about the tattooed witch whenever they were within a few feet of each other.

The way she looked at Hester perfectly mirrored her younger daughter, Amber, as she sat beside Theresa.

Theresa didn't seem to notice and she kept talking to her, but she was also quite obviously trying to invade the other girl's personal space (something that made Amber get very flustered and uncomfortable, but also annoyingly excited which just made her angry at stupid feelings).

"Ther, where's your jacket by the way?" Axel asked from across the table.

Hilda started snickering beside Amber and the latter started blushing and trying not to look at Theresa.

"Ummm, I think I lost track of it. I'll get one when we get back home," Theresa said, but she knew that Amber had it and tried not to smirk too much as the other girl coughed awkwardly and looked away.

Milly looked at Amber with a raised eyebrow and then back at Hilda (who she had barely taken her eyes off of all lunch).

Hilda leaned over and whispered about the jacket in her ear and Milly started blushing.

Dede and Nathan were talking.

Serenity and Axel, who were sitting beside each other, were both staring at the two with the same expression. It wasn't hard to tell they were related, even though they weren't similar in appearance at all.

Axel glanced at his cousin and frowned, looking over at Dede and Nathan.

His heart stuttered for a moment.

Did she like Nathan?!

Were they going to get together?!

It made his heart ache.

But he'd be happy for Nathan, right? He'd try at least and-

He stopped that train of thought as he caught sight of Dede saying something to Serenity.

His cousin lit up with excitement and looked very happy with the turn out.

His eyes widened as he watched Dede playfully punch Serenity on the arm, making the latter girl go all pink and stutter for a moment.

That confirmed his suspicions.

Serenity liked Dede.

That made his heart start beating again.

She didn't like Nathan.

He felt guilty about that, but he grinned anyways.

Then he realized that he and Serenity both liked people that were clearly in love with other people.

He set a hand on Serenity's shoulder consolingly.

She made a frown, looking confused.

He glanced at Dede and then back at her for a second to try and communicate his thoughts.

She didn't look any less confused and he decided to talk to her after lunch.

Across the clearing, Hester watched Amber and Theresa with narrowed eyes and a distasteful expression on her face.

She didn't like that princess.

Not one bit.

She didn't like her cocky attitude or her self assured smiles... but the thing she liked least about the younger girl was the way she and Amber talked.

How Amber wouldn't take her eyes off of the swordswoman and they had suddenly gotten closer a few days ago.

For some inexplicable reason, Hester felt protective of Amber and Hilda.

She didn't like it.

She'd only felt protective over two other people in her life, those two being Dot and Anadil.

Anadil raised an eyebrow and continued to watch Hester.

"Who are you glaring at?" she asked bluntly.

Hester jumped and then shot a look at Anadil.

"Theresa. I don't like that girl."

Anadil was silent do a moment, remembering what Amber had confided in her about the warrior princess.

"She's alright."

Hester whipped her head around and glared at Anadil.

The albino tried not to get lost in those amazingly beautiful dark, flinty black eyes that made Anadil's heart flutter like some stupid Ever and she hated those eyes (she's lying, she loves them).

"She's annoying and a good influence on Amber, which is bad!"

Anadil laughed quietly.

Hester raised an eyebrow and Anadil tried to look anywhere but at Hester and her attractiveness...

Anadil may or may not be having lots of trouble dealing with her crush on Hester.

Across the clearing, someone else was having the same problem.

Beatrix glanced at Reena as she set her head on Beatrix's shoulder.

"I hope someone asks me to the Snow Ball this year...," she said with a pointed look at Beatrix and a raised eyebrow.

Beatrix did not get the memo and started to think about someone taking Reena to the Snow Ball.

It made her heart ache.

Then she imagined going with Reena.

As friends, of course.

Of course.