Chapter Text
The Trial by Tale was coming up soon and in both schools and they were doing their best to prepare their students.
The top ten had been chosen for both trials and thy were giving last minute advice and making the uniforms for the competition.
The Trial by Tale was just a few days from now and every student, whether they were competitor or not, was excited and nervous.
~
Theresa was side by side with her father, the two of them fighting off all their classmates without fail.
Tedros was second in his year, his fiancé in first, and his daughter was the same in her own year.
Theresa's cousin, Serenity, was first in their year due to her obnoxious amount of studying.
Axel was in third, but he was barely hanging on to it as Nicola was fighting for it tooth and nail ever since she'd gotten out of the School for Evil.
Milly held fifth place, but she too was close to Axel's third place and they'd been switching back and forth all year.
Theresa leapt over her father's back and they traded advisories.
They didn't have to, but they were enjoying their showing off more than anything.
Kiko has secured tenth place for herself while Beatrix and Reena has secured third and sixth respectively.
On the Never side, Hester and Anadil were first and third while Hort managed to shove himself in between them at second (something Hester had threatened to kill him for because he'd separate her and her Ani). Dot had claimed sixth place and was quite proud of it. Ravan was in fourth and Hort said he'd wait the thirty minutes for his friend so they could enter together (even if that meant he'd have to wait in the shadows so Hester didn't catch sight of him and angrily sick her demon on him for taking Anadil's place).
On the other side of things, the younger side of things she meant, there was Hilda in first place with Amber in second right behind her (Theresa was rather excited that they were going to enter the Trial at the same time as each other and she intended to ask about a truce, do what the older generation never could). Dede was in seventh while Nathan occupies eighth and was quite proud of it.
These were their final places and they were just getting practice in today while they viewed the blue forest.
Theresa and Tedros, having just won, were now on their way to the forest themselves, actually.
~
Hester growled at Hort and his eyes widened as her demon twitched menacingly.
He hurried off further into the forest to look for where to conduct his plan, but really right now he was just trying to escape Hester.
Anadil walked silently by Hester's side and tried not to think about how upset Hester was that she didn't have second place.
"I'll kill that little weasel," she muttered.
Anadil didn't say that he'd beaten her fair and square.
She liked watching Hester when she was angry, but she definitely didn't like it when that anger was directed at her.
"Remember, I'll be waiting over there," Hester whispered as she pointed at the top of a tree.
"I'll be here when you enter and then we can go and take out all the Evers."
Hester didn't mention the fact that she was entering with Agatha and did not intend to harm her friend.
Amber and Hilda were planning pretty much the same thing as their parents, aside from Anadil and Hester totally wanting to go to a corner of the blue forest and make out (even though they wouldn't admit it).
Amber also didn't mention how she was supposed to be entering with Theresa and she didn't think she would be able to attack the girl.
And it was comforting to think that she didn't believe the other girl would hurt her either.
At least she hoped she wouldn't.
Her mice skittered across her shoulders and squeaked at her, as if they were excited at the prospect of hanging out with Theresa as well.
It made her want to growl in frustration.
To kill the other girl...
To kiss her...
She blushed and looked down.
She ignored the confused look on her twin's face.
~
Theresa was currently planning on not attacking Amber at all, instead wondering how she could somehow get a romantic setting in the Trial by Tale and perhaps fantasizing about having Hilda out of the Trial and protecting Amber...
She grinned and for a moment forgot what her father was saying.
It was something about how he was worried for her and was giving advice for her first Trial by Tale.
But he'd told her all this in the future when they were packing and preparing for her to do to the School for Good.
Beside her, Axel was slightly nervous and looking all around.
"Tedros, you should talk to Axel," Theresa whispered to him.
He frowned for a moment and then glanced at his twitching son.
He looked back at Theresa and she made a shooing motion toward Axel.
He nodded and then dropped back to walk by him.
After a few minutes, he was back to describing the best way to survive the Trial by Tale.
Axel was surprised his father was speaking to him and was honestly enjoying the conversation.
Tedros didn't understand half the questions that Axe asked about certain situations and said "just go with your gut," as if it was that simple.
Axel had always been an over thinker and wasn't used to trusting his instincts.
Tedros seemed to be helping Axel with it right now, however.
Agatha fell into place beside Theresa and gave her a small smile.
"That was a nice thing you did for your brother there. I really think he looks up to Tedros," Agatha whispered.
Theresa grinned, enjoying the compliment from her mother.
"Thanks. I try to push those two together."
Agatha gave her a long look and raised an eyebrow as if confused about something she'd said, but soon schooled her features, almost as if putting on a mask.
~
Milly could see the twins, Amber and Hilda, as they worked out their plans.
They were hunched over beside each other and whispering about it.
She wondered what would happen if she crossed paths with Hilda.
The thought made her both nervous and hopeful at the same time.
She looked away as Amber picked her head up to look around, but her yes never landed on Milly.
Instead, she looked past her and her eyes landed on a different Ever.
~
"I can't believe you got first place!" Dede said excitedly as she walked by Serenity's side.
Nathan has joined them as well, but Serenity had honestly not really noticed his addition.
She was rather focused on the other girl beside her.
"It's so cool!" Dede continued.
Serenity felt her face turning red and she looked away from those cute chocolate eyes and the way they lit up when she looked at Serenity.
"It really isn't that impressive," Serenity said quietly.
Dede shook her head in disagreement.
"What are you talking about?! It's amazing!"
Serenity glanced back at her and felt herself lost in those big brown eyes.
Nathan glanced between the two and frowned in confusion at the weird way Serenity almost tripped while looking at Dede (but she didn't seem to notice or care when she almost face planted).
Nathan felt strangely... out of place beside the two.
~
"Now remember, I'll wait right here for you, Axe."
Theresa and Axel had plans to go together but...
Axel felt as if he did everything by her side.
She was the heir to the throne of Camelot and her father's favorite (even if he would never say such a thing).
And she was better in school than he was (even if she was only a place above him, there were many points between them).
And she was better at dealing with people than he was.
She even had a girl that liked her.
What did Axel have?
Jealousy and a crush on a guy that would never like him back.
How perfect.
He guessed he had a cool Talent, but that didn't seem like much when he saw Theresa with her sword, taking down swordsman after swordsman.
He was from the most famous magical family in history (not only was he descended from King Arthur himself, but his parents were the Agatha and Tedros, his aunt the Sophie), but he was still such a disappointment that couldn't do anything right.
"Ther, I want to do this on my own."
She froze mid-sentence and looked over at him.
She frowned in confusion, her pristine blue eyes looking concerned.
She'd even gotten their father's good looks while Axel looked like a rat that had been drowned five days ago (or perhaps like Reaper and Reaper's son).
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Axel cleared his throat.
"I want to do this challenge on my own."
Theresa paled.
On her own?
Her brother...
He was her rock.
He was the reason she could fight, the reason she could be brave.
Knowing that she had to protect someone made it easier to be brave.
And he was always the one that could tell when there were traps and could remember he smallest detail that she'd forgotten years ago.
She... had never imagined doing this without him.
"You do?"
He nodded.
"Uh, okay. We can split up."
Axel nodded and Theresa tried not to be nervous.
But she was.
How would she do this without Axel?
But then her eyes landed on Amber as she plotted with her sister.
The girl looked up and black eyes met blue.
Amber's face turned red and she looked away from the other girl.
Theresa found herself making her way over to the twins.
Axel watched her go with confusion.
"Hey, it seems that my alliance has fallen through."
Amber looked back up with wide eyes, surprised that the other girl was so close now.
Hilda looked like she was about to go off about something, but then she looked at Amber's face and frowned in confusion.
"And I was wondering if I could work with you two."
Hilda was about to say a hard, absolute no.
But Amber found herself nodding.
"Yeah," she breathed.
Theresa was grinning and she looked at Hilda.
The other girl nodded and glanced at her sister with a frown.
"Great!"
She took a seat beside Amber and there was an awkward moment where they both glanced at each other and Theresa gave Amber her best smile.
Axel was gaping in disbelief.
Did Theresa just join the twins?!
As in the two that didn't let anyone into their group except Dede (on good days)?!
"Amber, are you okay?" Hilda whispered.
She jumped and looked back at her twin, nodding.
"Of course. We just need to catch her up on the plan."
Hilda nodded slowly.
"Didn't we originally plan on three people before Dede started hanging out with Nathan and Serenity?" Amber added after a moment.
Hilda nodded again and then turned to Theresa and filled her in on the plan.
~
Hester and Anadil were still discussing how they intend to take out their competition.
Hester had growled that she would take care of Hort by herself.
Anadil tried to ignore how it made her heart beat twice as fast when she thought about how Hester was angry about Hort taking her place.
"Ani, remember I'll be right here," she whispered.
Anadil nodded and rolled her bright red eyes.
This was at least the fifth time she'd said it.
"I know, Hester," she said with a sigh.
Hester glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.
Perhaps she was being a bit overwhelming.
After a few seconds they were back at the from of the blue forest and Anadil caught sight of Theresa beside Amber and raised an eyebrow at her.
She blushed and looked away.
It seemed like everything was going well.
But that was going to change when they entered the Trial.