Chapter Text
Dexter was honestly questioning his place in the Charming family.
It wasn’t just that, actually; for some time now, he had been questioning the Charming family as a whole, and his doubts seemed to be growing stronger each day.
The night Daring told him he thought his wife was having an affair with their sister, he was certain that their whole life was one huge, resounding farce.
“I can’t even… blame her” his older brother confessed, in the middle of the night with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. “I don’t think I really love her, or that she loves me, but isn’t that wrong? Shouldn’t we be each other’s true love?”
Dexter took a moment to think; at least now things made sense—he had definitely noticed that his twin had been acting really weird lately.
“I think so, but why?” He furrowed his brow as he answered. “Why are things just like this? Sometimes I feel like we’re puppets in someone’s hands.”
Daring laughed, but not much, and then sighed a little more. The younger Charming offered him a cigarette; he refused it, saying that was a horrible vice for a prince to have. Dexter knew that was true, but that vice was also one of the only things that made him feel like himself in that world of fake happy endings.
“What about you?”
“Me?” Dexter asked, feeling the taste of the smoke linger in his mouth; it wasn’t even good. If he stopped to think about it, he didn’t even understand why he liked it. “What about me?”
"Do you think this is your happy ending?"
He hadn’t stopped to think about it— but what did he have? Nothing, really; he didn’t have a fairy-tale true love or a grand heroic quest; he just… existed. Sometimes, Dexter felt like he’d spent his whole life waiting for something big to happen, something specific, but he didn’t know what it was.
"No" He took another drag on his cigarette "I don’t think so."
His horse had never been the most docile in the land of fairy tales, but it had also never rebelled the way it was doing that afternoon.
He had no idea where Night had led them; he had the feeling he’d never been to that part of the enchanted forest—in fact, he didn’t even know if they were still in the enchanted forest.
“Great, boy,” he muttered to his horse, guiding him by the reins as he wandered aimlessly. “Now we’re lost.”
The tree canopies seemed to grow ever denser, leaving no space for the sun to reach the ground. Slippery moss grew amid twisted trunks, giving the place a frightening aura, and Dexter took a deep breath as he admitted to himself that he was in the dark forest. All right, he just had to find the way out and…
"Who are you?"
The voice sounded cold and sharp amid the rustling of the trees, and Dexter felt his heart skip a beat before turning toward it.
There, in the middle of the dark forest, stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. She wore a long black dress that covered her entire body and an even longer cloak over it; her lips and eyes were painted a shimmering purple, and her hair was as dark as the depths of a black hole.
She seemed to act like one, too—all the light in the place appeared to be absorbed by her body, leaving none to be reflected around her. The moment his eyes met her pale face, Dexter knew who she was.
“Raven Queen,” he said, low enough to echo among the trees.
He knew more about the Evil Queen than he’d care to admit out loud, and not just from the stories Princess Apple had told him about her stepmother. He watched any news that mentioned her, had read the tales of her family more times than he could remember; something about her wickedness intrigued him. Raven didn’t seem to be like all the other evil queens who had ever existed; something in her gaze was different. He could feel it, even though it was the first time he’d looked into it.
Her face twisted when his words reached her ears, and her previously neutral expression became a little more… wicked.
“If you don’t want to die, start by calling me Your Majesty.” She took a step forward, and suddenly magic was streaming from her hands and wrapping itself around the prince’s body. Dexter only realized he was trapped when it was already too late. “I’ll ask one more time: who are you?”
He didn’t try to struggle against the ropes, and he knew he should be trembling with fear; he knew she was the Evil Queen, the same one who had poisoned his sister-in-law; he knew she could hang him in the town square for fun or something like that, but Dexter couldn’t feel a shred of fear, not when…
The Queen moved closer, and her eyes were so violet they made him dizzy.
“I am… my name is Dexterous”—she raised an eyebrow, and that was enough to make him finish—“Dexterous Charming.”
A little chuckle escaped her purple lips, but at the same time her eyes narrowed; he knew what she was thinking: he didn’t look like a Charming, she should never have heard of a “Dexterous” Charming—was he a distant cousin of the family? But she didn’t say any of that.
"The scientist" The Queen murmured, more to herself, and Dexter blushed as her magic tightened around his torso "What a surprise."
For some reason he didn’t understand, he was released, and his legs were so unsteady he almost fell the ground. He heard her laughing at him and blushed even more—what was wrong with him? It had been a long time since he’d done something as stupid as blushing.
“And what are you doing on my side of the forest, Dexterous?” Raven raised her eyebrows, circling him like a predator ready to pounce.
“I got lost,” he replied, looking for Night, who, yes, was still there, wearing the most innocent expression a horse could a few meters away from them. “My horse got lost, actually, and brought me along. I had no idea this was your place; if I’d known, I…
“Wouldn’t have come?” A smile touched her lips—not a normal smile, but one of those sinister ones—though he could barely notice it. “That would be a shame; it’s been a long time since I’ve had any visitors.”
“Do you offer them apples?” He teased, and then cursed himself mentally, he nedeed to start thinking again! He was usually great at that!
She narrowed her eyes, and Dexter felt a twinge in his chest, but he didn’t mind. Raven moved closer, close enough for him to notice she smelled of cinnamon, close enough for her hair to brush against his body.
“You don’t want to find out, do you?” Her voice was soft and firm at the same time, seeping into his mind like sweet poison. Of course the answer was no, so why did he feel he’d accept an apple from her if she offered it? No words were spoken, and Raven narrowed her eyes even further, moving a little closer before trapping the prince’s face between her long nails. Dexter closed his eyes and let a sigh escape his lips, with no desire to open them to see her reaction.
“You’re not afraid,” she stated, and Dexter felt her nails sink into his skin. “Why?”
He opened his eyes to meet hers; he didn’t understand either, didn’t know why he wasn’t afraid, and didn’t know where he’d found the courage to take a step forward.
“You just… don’t seem scary to me,” he confessed. Her eyes widened. “If I didn’t know who you were, I think I’d ask for your hand right now."
Again, not thinking.
He couldn’t help but notice that her neck flushed, even though her expression hadn’t changed.
“My beauty can be deceiving.”
“That’s not what caught my attention the most.” he replied. As much as she looked like a sculpture of the gods, what intrigued him most was that flame that shone deep in her eyes. Suddenly, she stepped back, shaking her head and laughing in an almost hysterical way.
“Go away,” she commanded, looking at him with an expression bordering on contempt. “Before I change my mind and decide to hurt your pretty little face.”
It took Dexter a moment to process that she had called his face pretty, but he grabbed Night’s reins and left as soon as he did. Every step he took away from that woman, the Evil Queen, felt like a step in the wrong direction, and his heart seemed to beat strongly like a compass pointing toward her.
After so many years of waiting, he finally seemed to have found the beginning of what could be his story.