Sabrina walked out of the school gym showers (which were surprisingly clean, thank god), as she dried her hair with a small white and gold towel. She had no idea she had to bathe after all her hero classes, but Daring came through and offered to let her borrow his shower stuff, an offer which she readily accepted. Sabrina sighed in contentment as she sat down on one of the cushioned benches outside of the showers, happy to feel clean.
"Thanks for letting me borrow your stuff, Daring.", she told her friend, who was sitting beside her, with a grateful smile. Daring grinned at her, showing much less teeth than he usually did when he smiled.
"It was no trouble. Though I hope you don't mind smelling like a prince for a day.", he joked. Sabrina scoffed.
"Of course not. What is this, anyway? Ocean breeze? Lavender? It doesn't have a label.", she asked, holding up the unmarked glass bottle of body wash she had borrowed from Daring. The blonde boy smirked at her.
"It's actually water from the Enchanted Lake. A little known fact about it is that the water from it can clean anything, and I mean anything. It can even wash off enchantments.", Daring told her. Sabrina blinked at the bottle in surprise.
"Really? Where did you learn that? No offense Daring, but you don't seem like the DIY type.", she teased him. Daring chuckled.
"No, I am not. I got it from a friend of mine, Asher Ella, son of Cinderella. He's really into 'natural remedies' and those sorts of things.", the prince said. Sabrina scowled.
"He's one of those essential oil people, isn't he?", she asked in an annoyed voice. Daring laughed nervously at his friend's sudden change in tone.
"No, no. He just loves nature. If he's not running his shoe store in Bookend, he's in the woods somewhere.", he denied. Sabrina raised an eyebrow.
"In what way does he love nature?", she asked. Daring's eyes gained a... mildly terrified glint as he seemed to recall some sort of repressed memory. The memory he was recalling was one from middle school, where Daring had been one of the unlucky witnesses who had seen Asher threaten to shove hemlock down the throat of someone who littered at a park in front of him.
"In the way that he knows how to kill a man with it in five dozen different ways.", Daring admitted. Sabrina, much to his worry and slight fear, laughed.
"Then he sounds like my type of guy.", she commented, and Daring gave her a nervous smile.
"Yeah... So, I could get Asher to give you some of the lake water if you would like.", Daring told her, drawing out the 'yeah' due to his fear of her comment. Sabrina grinned at him.
"That would be great. I haven't felt this clean in ages.", she said. Daring nodded.
"Then I'll be sure to talk to him. But we should probably hurry to lunch now. We've been talking here for quite a while.", he said. Sabrina checked the time on her mirror phone and cursed.
"Crap, you're right. Come on, I need to meet my other friends. You can come too if you want, Daring.", Sabrina offered as she stood up and grabbed her things. Daring nodded and followed her example.
"It would be my honor.", he accepted, but they weren't able to take three steps down the hallway before a crowd of their Heroics 101 classmates showed up from around the corner behind them, wide grins on their faces.
"Hey, Sabrina, right?", one of them called out. Sabrina turned around and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah?", she answered, curious as to why someone she had never spoken to before had stopped her in the hallway. All the boys gave her welcoming grins.
"We were wondering if you wanted to have lunch with us. You seem really cool.", the one who had spoken earlier said. Sabrina thought about their offer, and after a moment, turned to properly look at them, smiled and nodded.
"Yeah sure.", she agreed, before starting to walk towards them. Daring looked at her in confusion.
"But your friends- ", he started to say, but Sabrina cut him off.
"Can meet up with us in the castleteria. They know I wouldn't skip on them. Come on Daring, it'll just be for a few minutes.", she reasoned with her friend.
The blonde looked a bit skeptical, but followed nonetheless as his friend was enveloped by the crowd of teenage boys, feeling odd because for once, he wasn't the center of attention.
—---------------------------------------------------
Maddock and Raven were walking to the castleteria together. They had met up for the first time that day in their History of Tall Tales class. They hadn't seen each other that morning at breakfast because Maddie had gone to visit his father, the current Mad Hatter, at his tea shop in Bookend. They were talking about Sabrina; well, Raven was talking, and Maddie was providing his typical hilarious commentary.
"She's thought ahead, Maddie. She's got this... plan for Legacy Day, and it involves me. And I'm gonna go through with it.", he told his friend, his eyes serious and glued to the ground as he walked. When he didn't get a response after a few seconds, he lifted his gaze up from the ground in confusion.
"Maddie, are you listening to me?", he asked his multi-hair colored friend as he looked back at him, only to be greeted by the sight of him rifling through his hat. Raven looked at him strangely.
"What are you doing?", the black and purple haired boy asked. Maddie looked up from his hat and grinned at him.
"Looking for my marbles. I seem to have lost them.", he told him with a chuckle. Raven smiled and shook his head as he kept walking and talking.
"The plan isn't all that hard to carry out. It's the aftermath that's going to be hard to deal with. I just hope she's thought of a plan for that, too.", Raven expressed worriedly. Maddie laughed at him.
"Raven, Raven, Raven. You worry too much! Destiny this, Legacy Day that. If you keep talking about things like that, you'll turn into Headmaster Grimm!", Maddie exclaimed as he continued to search through his hat. Raven looked horrified by the prospect of turning into his less than likable headmaster, and Maddie laughed at the look on his face. Raven sighed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. But Legacy Day is next week, Maddie. And whether or not I sign the book is one of the biggest decisions I'll ever make. I just... when I choose, I don't want to make the wrong choice, you know?", he mused. Maddie shook his head.
"This is why you and a writing desk have nothing in common. Oh hey, my marbles!", the Wonderlandian said as he finally pulled out a bag of blue and purple swirled marbles out of his hat. Raven laughed, the tension leaving him due to the sheer absurdity of the situation. Maddie blinked at him.
"What's so funny?", he asked. Raven started laughing harder.
—--------------------------------------------------
"Apple, be honest with me. What's up with you? It's like you've been a different person since yesterday!", a young man said as he walked hurriedly beside Apple, hissing his concerns quietly enough so that no eavesdroppers (read: Blondie Lockes) would overhear.
He was tall, with long brown hair with bright pink highlights that flowed down to his waist, and pink translucent sunglasses perched on top of his head. He wasn't dressed very conservatively. He wore a pink, lace up corset with pink roses decorating it over a black blouse, and black shorts over tights decorated with lace thorns. He had two black bracelets with pink roses pinned to them on each wrist, and a black fabric choker with a pink rose pinned to the side. His shoes were tall pink heels that clicked as he walked. He had on pink lipstick, sparkly pink eyeshadow, and eyeliner. He looked like he was about to go to a party.
Apple kept his gaze forward, avoiding eye contact.
"Briar, I have no idea what you're talking about.", he responded, hoping to keep the lie out of his voice. His friend looked at him skeptically.
"Apple, we've been friends forever after. I know when something is up. You've been acting weird all day, you've been sighing for no reason, and you've nearly walked into three walls. Talk.", Briar ordered. Apple huffed.
"I hate it when you do that.", he whined, referring to the tone Briar had used, the one he could never say no to. Briar grinned at him.
"Yeah, but you know you love me.", he said with a wink. Apple groaned.
"Okay, I'll tell you. I met this girl- ", the blonde started to say, only to be interrupted by Briar's excited squealing.
"EEEEEH! You're finally dating?! What's she like?! Who is she?! Is it Darling?! I always knew you two would be cute together- !", Briar started to ramble loudly. Thankfully, his exclamations were covered up by the noise in the hallway. Apple grabbed him by his shoulder to ground him and pulled him off to the side of the hall.
"SHHHH! Not so loud! And no, it's not Darling. I've known her for years, we don't like each other like that. It's someone else.", Apple said, shaking his head at the prospect of him and Darling being a couple. Briar raised an eyebrow and cocked a hand on his hip.
"Then who is it?", he asked. Apple gulped. He knew he was going to have to tell him eventually, but it wouldn't be pleasant.
"Well first of all, she's a Rebel.", he told Briar, triggering an affronted gasp from his friend. Apple continued speaking with barely a pause.
"And second of all, you don't know her. She's new.", Apple went on. Briar continued to stare at him, worried and horrified.
"Apple, are you out of your mind?! A Rebel?! What will our friends say?! What will your mother say?!", the tanned skinned boy asked in rapid succession. Apple frowned, but he didn't let his worry appear on his face.
"I don't know, but I hope that they will support me and understand me. You haven't met her, Briar. Her name's Sabrina. She's smart, and beautiful. She's got ideas.", Apple told him, a bit of awe making its way into his tone. Briar scoffed in exasperateration, trying to make his friend see that this was crazy.
"Everyone has ideas!", Briar exclaimed. Apple shook his head.
"Not like her's. She has ideas about fate, about destiny. She thinks we can write our own stories- ", Apple tried to explain, but Briar cut him off.
"So does every other Rebel in existence! I don't understand why you would throw away your happily ever after! She's just some girl! She's not worth it!", Briar hissed. Apple narrowed his eyes at him.
"She's not 'just some girl'. She wants everyone to be happy, not just the Royals or the Rebels, and she's willing to do things the others aren't to make that happen. She doesn't want to destroy our stories, she just wants us to be able to choose whether or not we play our parts.", Apple tried to explain. Briar glared at him.
"That's no different than what the Rebels already want!", he refuted. Apple shook his head again.
"Yes, it is. Raven doesn't want to sign, and since she knows I want to follow my destiny, she's willing to do what it takes to make us both happy. She's offered to take his place, Briar.", Apple finally admitted. Briar gaped at him.
"She what?", he asked. Apple looked deeply into his brown eyes.
"Sabrina's offered to take Raven's place as the next Evil Queen and sign his page in the Storybook of Legends. She'll poison me, in exchange for legal immunity for the poisoning.", the blonde explained. Briar contemplated this new, game changing information.
Briar's main reason for not supporting the Rebels was the fact that his best friend was a Royal, who was deeply invested in his destiny. Being the next King of Ever After was everything to Apple, and as a result, being poisoned was also everything to him. Briar didn't like his destiny, but he had never said it aloud, thinking it would scandalize his friends. He didn't want to sleep for a hundred years, only to get woken up by some weird necrophile he didn't even know kissing him. He didn't want to outlive all his friends and family. He wanted to live life to the fullest.
But Apple was the Royalest Royal there was, so he kept his mouth shut so he wouldn't upset his friend. But now things were different. Apple wasn't as staunchly Royal anymore. He was willing to bend the rules if it meant the happiness of himself and his friends, and Briar... Briar wondered if he would be willing to do the same for him. Taking a deep breath, Briar finally spoke.
"What if... what if I don't want to sign, either? What if I want to write my own destiny?", he asked. Apple's eyes widened in shock, and he smiled softly at his friend as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Then I'm sure there's something she can do. I don't blame you for not wanting to sleep for a hundred years, Briar.", he said. Briar tried not to cry. He didn't want to cry and ruin his makeup.
"Really?", Briar asked in a choked voice. Apple nodded.
"Really.", he assured. Briar looked at him with watery eyes.
"But what if I disappear?", he asked in a stressed voice. Apple shook his head.
"You won't.", he said. Briar looked at him intensely.
"But what if I do?", he asked desperately. Apple's gaze intensified.
"You won't. We've done our research. It's just a myth Headmaster Grimm has been feeding us to keep us in line. We're gonna be alright.", Apple assured him. Briar rubbed his bicep with his other hand.
"What about the others? What are they going to say?", he asked, referring to their Royal friends. Apple's comforting smile remained.
"They'll see reason. We shouldn't be dividing ourselves based on things like Royal or Rebel. We're all suffering because of the same system here, and the others need to realize that. The Rebels aren't our enemies here, the headmaster and his allies.", Apple told him, before releasing his shoulder and starting to walk away. Briar hurriedly followed after him.
"How can you be so certain about all this? How can you be so willing to change?", Briar asked, still coming to terms with the situation. Apple turned and gave him a proud smile.
"I can be certain because I trust Sabrina. I love her, Briar, and I trust that she wouldn't lead me astray. And besides, times are changing. It's time Ever After learned that it's free to choose it's own path, regardless of what that path is.", Apple said with conviction, and Briar felt himself become a little more convinced.
A few moments later, they arrived at the castleteria, and Apple smirked when he saw a laughing crowd of boys surrounding a familiar head of black hair. Briar paused in his trek to see what Apple was so fascinated by, a look of confusion on his face.
"Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Looks like we won't have to worry about the Royals reacting too negatively.", Apple observed. Briar continued to look confused, until two of the boys moved out of the way, revealing a gorgeous girl around their age, laughing at something one of the boys said, all of whom were Royals. Briar openly stared at her, and Apple's smirk widened when he noticed.
"See something you like?", he asked knowingly. Briar turned red and went stiff.
"N-No!", he responded. Apple laughed, and that was the sight Raven and Maddie walked into.
"I see she's started working her magic.", Raven commented behind them. Briar jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of the unknown voice, but Apple didn't react and turned to speak to him like it was nothing.
"Hey Raven, Maddie.", he greeted. Raven nodded, and Maddie tipped his hat. Apple then gestured to Briar.
"You remember Briar, right?", he said. Briar waved weakly, and Raven nodded.
"Yeah. It's been a while, hasn't it? Last time I saw you, you- ", Raven started to say. Briar gave a small smile and nodded along with his words.
"-Blew up Mr. Rumplestiltskin's classroom trying to make dry ice punch for an end of school party. Can't blame you for remembering that.", Briar responded. Raven laughed.
"Yeah. Seems like Sabrina's already gotten her hooks into Daring.", Raven pointed out as he watched Daring, who was sitting to the right of Sabrina at their crowded lunch table, laugh at something Sabrina said. Apple nodded.
"She sure does work quickly. Gotta say though, I expected Daring to be the hardest to get on our side.", the blonde admitted. Raven shrugged.
"Goes to show she shouldn't be underestimated.", the sorcerer responded, and they, as well as their two friends, watched as the next few minutes unfolded before them.
"... So then I told the guy at the pub 'kiss my ass, ya git!', and before he could even start throwing hands about it, I threw him through a window!", Sabrina exclaimed from her seat at the lunch table. She was telling a funny drunk story about her time in Galway last year, which was met with roaring laughter by her peers. Daring was laughing as well, and that made the already large grin on Sabrina's face get even larger, and making her fangs very obvious. Briar noticed this
"She seems really... excited.", he remarked. Raven laughed.
"She's always excited.", he told him, before looking at him with a serious look in his eyes.
"You're with us, right? Apple told you everything?", he asked. Briar nodded.
"Then do you want to sit with us?", Raven asked. Briar nodded again.
"Yeah.", he answered. Raven nodded as well.
"Alright then. You wanna sit with us? Sit with her? Ease up a little bit. For someone whose usually so fearless, you look like a spooked deer. Act casual.", the black and purple haired boy suggested to him. Briar nodded for a third time.
"Casual.", Briar repeated, and like that, Raven and Apple started walking towards Sabrina. Maddie and Briar, being the loyal best friends they were, followed after them. Sabrina finally noticed them, and her eyes lit up.
"Raven, Apple! You made it!", she called out to them, causing everyone at the table to look at them. Some of the boys started whispering, and Daring perked up as well. Apple and Raven smiled at them.
"Hey Sabrina, Daring.", Raven said. Sabrina then focused her attention on her boyfriend's newly arrived best friends.
"Hey Maddie, and... ", the black haired girl started to say, until she finally got a good look at Briar. He was pretty, with long hair, feminine clothes and sparkly eyeshadow. He was totally her type. She got up and walked over to them, hoping to have a private conversation with the newcomer.
"Who are you? I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name.", Sabrina asked as she stared intently at the young man, her grin turning a bit salacious. Briar didn't fail to notice this and gulped nervously.
"It's uh, it's Briar.", he stuttered. Sabrina smirked.
"Briar, huh?", she responded. At this point, Briar was red as a rose, and Apple took that as his sign to intervene. He walked up behind his friend and gave his girlfriend a wide smile.
"Yep. We've known each other for years. He's one of my best friends forever after.", Apple told her cheerfully. Sabrina caught on to the implications behind that and raised an eyebrow.
"Is he a Royal?", she asked. Apple was about to answer for Briar, when the boy frowned and decided to speak for himself.
"Not anymore. I'm Sleeping Beauty's eldest son. Do you know what that means?", he asked. Sabrina nodded, frowning as she recalled the original twisted tale of the girl cursed to sleep for a hundred years.
"I can make an inference.", she said. Briar laughed sharply and bitterly.
"It means that, since my mother has no daughters, I'm going to be the next Sleeping Beauty. I'm assuming you know how that story goes.", he admitted harshly. Apple frowned and was about to ask him to ease up on his tone, but Sabrina shot him a look and he didn't speak.
"Who doesn't? But I can see you don't like that.", she said. Briar shook his head.
"I don't want to sleep for a hundred years, outlive all my friends, and miss out on their lives, only to be woken up by and have to marry someone I don't even know. Forget 'bittersweet happily ever after', it's not sweet, and it's sure as hex not happy.", the brunette prince fumed, finally admitting all the things he had been thinking for years. Then he looked at Sabrina with hope in her eyes.
"But if what Apple said is true, then you have a plan so that no one has to sign.", he stated, praying to whatever deity would listen that what he had been told was true. Sabrina, much to his hope and relief, nodded.
"Not if they don't want to, no. If you want out of your destiny, then you've come to the right place. But we'll need to take care of some things first.", the red eyed girl assured him. Briar steeled his resolve and his expression. If he said what he was about to, there was no going back. His parents would be horrified, and the headmaster would be outraged.
'But what do I care?', he thought tiredly. His freedom and happiness was worth more than what his parents or the headmaster would think. He wanted this, and he was going to do whatever it took to make it happen.
"I'll help you with anything you need.", Briar told Sabrina, and she grinned at him. It was filled with hope, for him, for their friends, for the future, and it was so nice that Briar had to smile as well.
"I'm glad to hear that. I have a plan, but I'm gonna need your help to make it work.", she told the boy seriously. Briar nodded.
"Okay.", he said, and he blushed as Sabrina grabbed his wrist and brought him to an easily ignored corner of the castleteria. Sabrina then turned to look at Daring, who was entertaining their classmates with a story of his own. He was laughing, but when he saw Sabrina waving him over, he gave everyone at the table a charming smile.
"Apologies, gentlemen. It seems I'm needed elsewhere.", he told the young men as he walked over to Sabrina. When he saw her smileless face, he frowned and became stoic.
"What's up?", he asked the girl.
"You'll see.", she told him. She then waved over Raven and Maddie, and Apple got closer as well. To outsiders, they seemed to be having a team huddle of sorts. Sabrina took a deep breath and started to speak.
"Okay, so as you all know, our main objective right now is to find the real Storybook of Legends before Legacy Day, so we can use it to enact our master plan. Now, we know where it is, but retrieving it- ", Sabrina started to explain. Then she was cut off by loud sputtering and gasping.
"What do you mean the REAL Storybook of Legends?!", Briar yelped, brown eyes extremely wide. Daring looked shell shocked.
"I-plan for Legacy Day? Sabrina, what the hex is going on?", the blonde Charming asked hurriedly. Maddie, meanwhile, was taking everything more in stride than the others, because he was cackling madly instead of barking questions.
"HAHAHAHA! You mean the Storybook of Legends is a fake? How hatastic! How madly exciting!", Maddie yelled. Sabrina stared at the group of hysterical teenagers and wondered what could have set them off so badly about that rehash.
Then she realized. Raven and Apple understood what she was talking about, because she had already explained the situation to them much earlier. But she hadn't seen Maddie since yesterday when he introduced himself, and she had only met Briar and Daring that day. They didn't know anything about her plan. Sabrina sighed as questions kept getting asked, and Maddie kept laughing.
"Calm down, I'll explain everything!", she assured them, but the questions just kept getting asked in worried and hushed whispers, and Sabrina sighed again at the chaos she had created.
'This may take a while... '
Here's the next chapter, and Briar along with it. I hope I didn't glaze over his character and motivations too much, because I loved OG Briar as a kid. She was the bad bitch I always wanted to be. The reason he wasn't very outgoing here was because of all the bombshells he's had dropped on his head. Finding out shocking news makes people act off. Next time, more school shenanigans.
So Long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.