A Little Bit of Grey

Chapter One: In Between

Two years had passed since the Evil's Queen curse had been broken by a certain Emma Swan and Raven couldn't have been more overjoyed by this. She had spent 28 years pretending as if everything was normal and there was no such thing as magic. When the curse broke it was a relief to be able to resume her life. Her mother had eventually redeemed herself and that was something Raven was proud of. Her mother was truly breaking down the barriers that divided the harshly set lines of 'Good' and 'Evil'. They were able to work on their relationship and they were closer then they had ever been.

The last two years were absolutely crazy. One year she was finally able to meet her grandmother and boom. She was dead basically the next day. Then out of nowhere they are traveling to Neverland to save her adopted little brother Henry from Peter Pan. After that her dear Aunt Zelena came into the picture and while Raven was so hopefully to have a fun Aunt it turns out she wasn't all that fun. Then came the year of Snow Queen and honestly Raven was ready to just throw in the towel and call it on the life of being a story book character when three of her dear mother's friends came into the town.

One thing through this all that Raven never truly understood was the way her friends and family saw Evil and Good. She thought it was silly that a person is solely defined on those things. She herself was considered a 'Good' guy but she was far from innocent. God knows how many people had died because of her back in the Enchanted Forest or how many people she could have actually defended if she wanted to. It wasn't until her mother began her road to redemption that everyone began to look at Good and Evil differently.

Now present day, it had been a decently quiet day and Raven was beyond thankful for that for the first few hours of her shift but was pretty quick to regret it. She had been working the late shift at the Rabbit Hole, the small towns only real drinking establishment and of course it being a weekday the only actually customers were Grumpy and a couple of the Vikings from god knows who's story. Her blue eyes darted up to the clock that was on the wall, silently cursing as she saw that she still had two hours left of her shift. With a groan she shifted to tie her long dark loose waved hair up into a ponytail before sauntering over to grab the wet cloth that sat on the counter.

"Raven, have you ever thought of brightening up your look?" Grumpy asked as he brought his pint of beer up to his mouth to sip. Instantly, the dark haired woman looked down at her outfit. If there was one thing she was known for, besides her magic and genuine kindness, it was her traditional black clothing. That night she had sported a black crop top that tied up at the bottom, a pair of black jeans that probably had more holes in them then material, and of course her traditional black converse. Her makeup was simple, blacked wing eyeliner with mascara.

"Fuck off Leroy. You know damn well black makes this lovely snow white skin colour I have pop." She said before the both of them began laughing at her small joke. It was the one thing she could thank her father for. Most of her looks had thankfully come from her mother but he had gifted her with the same beautiful skin tone her half sister, Snow White, has. "All I'm saying is that technically princess's weren't allowed to wear black. It labeled them as evil or identified that someone they loved passed away." he pointed out as he set down his empty pint before throwing some cash onto the wooden counter.

"But I suppose you aren't a regular princess. You are Raven Mills! The Princess with a big heart and an attitude that could put her own mothers to shame!" he cheered as he jumped off the seat. Raven laughed heartily as she moved over to grab the cash off the counter. "I'm the in-between Leroy. The grey space per say." she said as her eyes remained on him while he wandered over to the front door of the bar, his gruff hands pulling his hat onto his head. "I hear ya sister. Have a goodnight Raven, I'll see ya around!" he said as he waved his hand in the air. "Night! Have a safe walk home!" she said as she watched the dwarf push the door open and exit the building.