Scattered Pages

The Vault of Lost Tales

Sabrina sighed as she folded her hands in front of her face, resting her elbows on the table in front of her as she braced for the storm of questions that was likely to come. She had just gotten done explaining everything about the Storybook of Legends to Briar and the others. She had taken their discussion to the student lounge Daring had told her about during one of their classes so they wouldn't be overheard. It was lunch, so the area was empty aside from her and her friends. Briar, who was sitting on a couch across from her with Apple and Daring, took a deep breath before speaking.

"Woo, okay. So, just to make sure we covered everything; the Storybook of Legends that the school has been using for the last decade or so is a fake, the real Storybook of Legends is apparently in my dorm room, and despite what Headmaster Grimm and our parents say, none of us actually have to sign the book or follow our stories exactly. Oh, and our entire lives have been a lie.", Briar squeaked, sounding very stressed out. Sabrina nodded.

"Basically.", she concurred, suddenly very glad she had kept the Evil Queen bits a secret. Daring looked at the ground with a thousand yard stare.

"What the hex?", he breathed hopelessly. Apple looked at them both with sympathy.

"It's a lot, but you'll come to terms with it. I know I did.", the blonde told them, and the two now ex-Royals felt their hopes rise. If Apple, the ex-Royal poster child, could be okay with their new reality, then they could be too. Raven, meanwhile, who was sitting on another couch beside theirs with Maddie, looked at his friend in confusion. The Wonderlandian was being strangely quiet.

"Maddie? Are you okay?", Raven asked. Maddie seemed to snap out of the strange trance he was in, and smiled at his friend.

"Oh, yeah. I was just... thinking.", the hatter responded, sounding casual. But Raven, being the good best friend he was, picked up on the melancholy in Maddie's tone.

"About what?", Raven asked. Maddie's smile dropped, and he sighed tiredly. At this point, he had everyone's attention.

"The book. My destiny. Normally I don't make a big deal out of this kind of stuff, but... it's just weird to me. How the one thing that tied me and so many of the important people in my life together isn't as concrete as I thought.", Maddie explained, and Raven and the others (and to an extent, Sabrina) understood.

Alice in Wonderland was one of the few stories that everyone with a role in it was more than happy to participate in. The story had no official ending, it was an ambiguous tale of madness and adventure that was more an interesting series of inconsequential events than a fairytale. Everyone got a good part. Alice was an adventurer lost in a new land, and everyone else in the tale were the friends she made along the way. No one died, and no one was truly the villain. It was a never ending party for everyone involved, and the Wonderlandians were honored to be guests.

Maddie had always been very tight-knit with his Wonderland friends, just as much as he was with Raven. They had been raised together from a young age, and had probably grown up playing games themed after and daydreaming about their stories, in a much different way than fairytale princes and princesses likely did. So finding out that all of that had been baseless by some definitions... it must have been jarring, even for someone as laid back as Maddie. Raven rested a sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I get it, Maddie. It's hard coming to terms with everything. Even if your destiny is... less than desirable, like mine, it's still hard.", Raven told him, and Maddie gave him a small smile.

"Thanks Raven. It's nice having a friend like you.", the blue eyed Wonderlandian said, and then, as quickly as his mood had taken a downward spiral, it shot back up again. Maddie grinned at everyone.