Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of weeks since the Evil Queen had been sent back to her mirror prison, despite being over the memories that had been fresh in everyone’s mind were still there. For some, they could laugh it off as a tale to tell far into the future. For others, however, things weren’t so easy. 

Apple White sat in front of her mirror, the golden light of the sunset shone through the window of her dorm room, bathing the objects that resided within the room in a soft, warm glow. As she brushed her hair, eyes sunken in, skin paler than before, the light made almost a halo-like effect around her body. The sight was as depressing as it was beautiful; for you see, she had begun to rethink herself. Her roommate Raven had been sleeping over with Maddie for a little while, Raven had wanted to give Apple space after recent events as a way to collect her thoughts without fearing judgment. 

Apple was lost in her head, all her life she had been promised a handsome prince to save her; to marry in the future and continue the story of Snow White. However, the boy she believed to be her predestined prince was not the one. She had found out later that his sister, Darling Charming had been the one to break the spell. At that moment, her whole life came crashing down around her like a crumbling castle made of stone. Apple was supposed to be perfect, have the perfect destiny, the perfect prince, and the perfect life. So why was this happening? There was no way her mother could know, Snow White had always expected the best from her daughter and that carried over into the whole saved by a prince aspect. 

Tears began to lace long, beautiful lashes and fell down rosy cheeks as she continued to brush her long, golden hair. Apple had been spiraling ever since she found out, she hadn’t spoken to Daring or Darling since she just.. Couldn’t face either of them. 

“Am I… So pathetic? So pathetic that I can’t… face them?” 

The words were spoken into the air and hung above Apple’s head like a threat, Her voice was shaking as she continued to cry. She wondered if she was pathetic in the way that she couldn’t handle seeing the two people who needed closure the most. Apple was one who never could comprehend too much change too fast, she was very one track in the sense that once something showed to be heading towards a change she would worry and freak out irrationally. It happened when Raven chose to rewrite her destiny and when Ashlynn revealed her relationship with Hunter. Her nature was selfish and that was something she had been trying to come to terms with. 

However, it seems that now, the problem wasn’t selfishness. The problem was trying to comprehend that destiny had other plans for her… the problem was that she had to finally acknowledge the feelings she had been locking away ever since she had laid eyes on Darling all those years ago. She had forced herself to love Daring. Despite feeling awful about it, it was what she had to do. She was expected to love him despite the feeling of wrongness that swirled in her chest whenever they held hands. The feeling was icky and made her feel like something was wrong but she had to ignore it and put on a happy face. Use that lovestruck stare she had practiced in the mirror time and time again to get it just right so no one would suspect a thing. 

Though now that it was revealed that Daring wasn’t her prince charming did this mean she could act upon the urges she had felt for so long? To hold Darling in her arms? To lay with Darling until the sun came up and bathed the two in its morning warmth? To kiss those soft-looking lips…? 
The thought of such a thing caused Apple to drop her brush and lean forward, wrapping her arms around her torso in an attempt to ground herself. She shook her head rapidly trying to shake these un-ladylike desires from her head. 

“Who am I kidding... A princess could never marry another princess..” 

Apple tilted her head up and stared into the mirror, she looked like a mess. Almost like a shipwreck that you couldn’t look away from. If you looked close enough you could see the self-doubt and disgust that weighed heavy on Apple’s soul. Her pale blue eyes were dull and full of hatred, her soul was disgusting, and her feelings were disgusting. She wasn’t supposed to be this way, what would her mother think? She wanted to peel away her skin and wash away all the shame and guilt she felt, she wanted to sink into the ground and never return. If that happened then maybe she could avoid the awkward discussion that would inevitably happen between her and Daring. The conversation between her and Darling wouldn’t be easy either, Apple couldn’t help but think of all that could go wrong. How much she would stutter under the angelic gaze of that beautiful princess, how hard it would be to explain why she had avoided Darling, and why she had been locking herself away for so long. 

Her friends were worried and that much Apple knew, she saw the way Raven looked at her with sympathy and concern. Raven had her own struggles but she somehow always knew how to cheer people up, her whole thing was to follow your heart and live how you want to live. In theory, living the way you want sounds amazing, not having to abide by set rules and expectations truly is a freeing experience. But it's not that easy.

As she stared into her reflection, Apple began to think about the conversation she and Raven had after everything had happened. 

 “You being with Darling will still give you your destiny. It was proven that she is your destined prince- well princess. I just don’t see what’s wrong” 

Raven crossed her arms as Apple sat on her bed, eyes puffy from consistent crying. 

“The problem is that a princess can’t marry another princess! My mother would flip her crown if she found out about this. I can’t be with Darling, it has to be a mistake!” 

Apple wiped her eyes as she glared down at her lap, cursing the world for causing her this much confusion and anxiety. 

“Your mother can’t tell you what to do Apple! It's your destiny now not hers. She had her moment and now it’s time for you to have yours. You can follow your heart and your destiny at the same time.” 

The memory was clear and sound, almost as if it had happened just yesterday. Raven encouraged Apple to follow her heart and destiny at the same time which wasn’t impossible. Clearly, her heart and destiny were the same now, her childhood crush turned out to be her true love and Apple couldn’t be more happy than she was afraid. She was happy because now maybe there was a chance she could finally put her feelings first but she was also afraid to do so due to standards placed upon her at such a young age. Even though her true love was a girl it still felt like a rebellion against her mother, the mother who taught her everything there was to know about being a princess and raised her into the girl she is today.

Apple stood up and wiped her tears trying to calm the ever-racing thoughts that plagued her mind, a small dizzy spell washed over her. Most likely from the non-stop crying which definitely caused some sort of dehydration. 
She walked towards the mirror and held herself tightly. 
She opened her mouth, although it was dry and she desperately needed some water.  
Her words came out broken and raspy, her face desperate and pleading.

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Will I be happy after all?” 

There was no response.

Chapter Text

From a young age, Darling knew who she was. She knew she didn’t have an interest in playing the delicate damsel role like she was expected to do. She wanted to be the hero, the knight in shining armor who saves a beautiful princess from a vicious curse. Both of those ideas were meant to be scrubbed from the brain, never to return, no matter the cost; however, Darling couldn’t get rid of her extravagant fantasy. 

She had met Apple when they were little children who were barely knowledgeable about their destinies, but knew just enough to realize that they weren’t supposed to be meant for each other. Despite all this, Darling felt a spark the first time she had seen those gorgeous, bright blue eyes and that long, healthy blonde hair. In that moment, the room seemed to light up in a rainbow of vibrant colors unseen by the human eye. Darling knew then that they were meant to be in each other’s lives. 

The only issue, though, was that Apple was introduced to the three charming children as Daring’s future wife. The idea of that made the young girl nauseous and uncomfortable, but unfortunately, you cannot change destiny, and it seemed to be set in stone. 

From that day on, Darling watched from afar, admiring Apple’s many talents, her intelligence, her beauty, everything there was to admire. It was a tragic, doomed love story from the beginning. A princess desperately waiting to be noticed by another princess, waiting to be wanted and loved like they would die in a heartbeat, but ultimately being denied that right by the universe itself. 

That is… until the Evil Queen poisoned Apple White. 

Only a couple of weeks prior was the horrifying event that almost led the school and world into ruin, and only a couple of weeks prior… did Darling Charming wake Apple white from her enchanted sleep. A girl had succeeded where her brother had failed, and that was devastating for all parties involved in the so-called “drama”. The shock and confusion swept through the students like a strong wind, daring to tip them over and crash onto their heads. One person was giddy with excitement at first, and that was Darling; she finally knew her destiny and would have the one she had desired for all these years. She felt euphoric, like her mind was dancing on clouds. But that is until she had seen Apple’s reaction to the news, the poor girl had looked horrified and confused, almost as if fear itself had crushed her in its jaws and refused to let Apple go. 

From that moment onward, the two girls hadn’t spoken. Anytime Apple saw Darling, she would speed off in the opposite direction, refusing to meet her eyes. Then the eyebags started to show, the school’s mood began to dampen, and suddenly Apple had been staying in her room; it all had happened so fast that it would cause any normal person whiplash. 

Currently, Raven was rooming with Maddie and Kitty as a way to give Apple some space, and no one had seen Apple in days. It was starting to eat at Darling, and she felt unbearably guilty.  

She had ended up pacing around her shared room as Rosabella sat on her bed, trying to help Darling through her crisis. 

“I just don’t know what to do, Bella. How am I supposed to fix this when the girl I love doesn’t even want to look at me because she’s scared of me?” Darling’s voice came out stressed. Usually, she was able to think of solutions quicker than one could blink, but now? She was at a full loss, a fork in the road to happiness, and the worst of it was that she couldn’t even get close enough without Apple backing away in what looked like fear. Fear of what? No one could tell. Many ideas came to mind about what exactly Apple was afraid of, but the most common thought was that it was specifically Darling that she was afraid of. 

“Have you ever considered that she’s just scared of change and you didn’t exactly do anything wrong?” Rosabella suggested, her tone was calm and collected, almost as if she had practiced this conversation in her head a million times. 

“What do you mean?” Darling’s head snapped towards her best friend and tilted slightly to the right in confusion. 

Rosabella stood up from her comfortable position on her bed, walking up to Darling and placing both hands on her shoulders. The touch was light and sweet, like a feather, and that warmth carried over into the small, sympathetic smile that was stretched across the girl's face. 

“What I mean is exactly what I said, I know that this seems so hard and that everything is your fault, but it isn’t. Without you, Apple would’ve stayed asleep forever. I think that this all happened so fast and Apple doesn’t know how to handle it. She’s very prone to breaking down when change happens unexpectedly. It’s not you she’s scared of, it's the change.” 

Looking into Rosabella’s eyes, Darling began to think it over. That did make a lot of sense. Apple barely took the change well; that was evident in her reaction to Ashlynn and Hunter being together and Raven refusing to sign the Storybook of Legends at the beginning of the year. Despite trying her best to be more accepting and get over her fear of drastic and uncomfortable changes, she was still overly sensitive to them. That’s usually what happens when you’re taught a certain way of life and thinking practically from the moment you take your first breath. 

Maybe Darling had just been misinterpreting the situation? That was a very likely possibility; emotions were high for her, and everything had felt insanely tense. A misunderstanding wasn’t an unthinkable thing. In contrast to her usual calm and collected demeanor, Darling was currently going through what seemed like a mental breakdown at the very thought that Apple wanted nothing to do with her ever again. Not to mention the way her brother looked so defeated and lost ever since that day, his smiles had gotten less frequent and he wasn’t himself. Daring had begun to doubt himself and his abilities even more, and that did no favors for anyone involved. But maybe the idea of the two people she loved most in the world being hurt was causing some unprecedented guilt to worm its way into her heart and soul. 

“Well… that does make sense, I’m sorry for freaking out, I just..I’m just worried,” Darling confessed as she looked down at the floor.

“And that is completely reasonable, that just shows what kind of person you are. You’ll get through this just like every other obstacle you’ve come across. You just need to take initiative and do what you do best.” 

“Which is?”

“Be a hero, be a knight in shining armor like you were meant to be.” The hands on Darling’s shoulders traveled upwards until they gently grasped her cheeks, her face was guided upwards, and her pastel blue eyes met Rosabella’s shining brown ones. The smile on the brunette’s face was encouraging and soft, 

Leave it to Bella to be the voice of reason. 

The two of them stayed in that position for a moment before Darling shook any nasty thoughts from her head and smiled. She could do this; everything was going to be okay. 

Everything would be like it should be. 

“Thanks, Bella… what would I do without you?” 

“Probably continue wallowing in unnecessary guilt.” 

The two of them paused for a second before laughing. Rosabella and Darling knew exactly how to make each other see the good in everything. When one of them had doubts, the other came and lifted their spirits with soft touches and words of encouragement. 

Darling wouldn’t change it for the world.