Chapter Text
It been 5 days since Raven Queen has been taken away from Apple White, she was locked in the abandoned chambers that nobody dared to go in at night time, the edges of the walls had cobwebs tangled in corners, the stairs were a safety hazard – you'd rather lose your balance than try to get to the top.
She's tried everything in the books to get rid of grievance, but here's the scary part: Raven isn't dead, she's been “sleeping” for 3 days, hadn't seen sunlight in a week and she smelled unfortunate now – the coldness of that Hell you'd call a jail cell created subtle blisters on her arms that stings whenever she touches them. Apple couldn't sleep after the first day of her friend's disappearance, it was like a wound.
Something that was irrationality on your skin, it was too painful to get rid of, too messy to scratch because it'll leave blood on your arm–that's how Apple felt when she heard. She didn't sleep in a while either, underneath her eyes, purple smudges were inevitable to remove and fuck she hated it.
Apple was overlooked as “normal”, “kind and generous” but deep down under all those titles people would call her as an obligation, she was suffering with the separation anxiety of a girl who considered her as a “friend” after her death during Dragon Games, the same girl who even took responsibility for breaking her mirror that one time even though it was a childish accident, Raven Queen was a great friend to Apple – and she prayed, almost every night, that she came back in her arms so she can kiss her bare body and claim what's hers.
Raven Queen was a name that nobody has heard of in 5 fucking days, that's how long she's been exiled from everyone she's ever cared about. The cell was making her skin ache like small insects were biting her skin until she had the urge to rip it off. Every thought that crossed her mind about Apple was threading into uncontrollable bits of sadism, she smiled at the thought of it but she's never confronted herself on it.
She's thought of self-disciplining herself in ways that were uncannily disturbing to her stomach, her body repeatedly rocked back-and-forth with an eye twitching in the process, she's either really impatient with Apple's arrival to come see her or she's just desperate for her touch, her soft… gentle but sickening touch of her hands that felt too good for a massage, she wanted Apple's hands to, touch her in places that were healthy, like a simple head rub or a back rub, or she wanted it in a different way.
Apple White, please come back to me.
I miss your voice, your smile, I miss how you'll comfort me whenever I'm genuinely feeling down, I wanna be that match to your flames and I will happily burn myself out for you… I just need you back.
Please, come back, for me.
Apple's body jerked up. Her heart is hammering against her chest and a heartbreaking whimper ripped out of her throat, she screamed and cried for Raven to come back. Her heart rate got faster and more difficult to control, she breathlessly exhaled into her inhaler, now looking at the other side of the room – all of Raven's things sat untouched, unworn and undone, her bed was still made neatly, almost everything in that area fixed, except for the missing bed: there was no Raven staring back at her with those doe, violet eyes and a smile that could easily brighten up a room.
“Don't visit me at all.” Apple looked up in shock to Raven's eyes, they were a bright magenta color… was she under her mother's evil spell? There's a chance that she is because her voice sounded disordered and deep and raspy around the edges.
“You think that you could just visit me after all the shit you put me through, huh?”
“Raven–” Apple choked out, feeling the fingertips of her cold hands touch her cheek, she didn't push her away either, it's just like old times: Them kissing in private and glances stolen every single thing and physical affection. Raven's a sucker for PDA. (Which Apple has written down mentally for so many reasons), and she doesn't know why.
She disappeared–it's like she was never there in the first place: was Apple hallucinating? Is it the pills that she's been taking treating her like this?
Probably so.
She quickly stood up too fast for her liking, all she's about to do is visit an old friend, hopefully there's nothing else she has to say to her or she's fucked, literally.
“Raven?” Apple called out to her gently when she opens the chamber doors, the moon was the only light she had whatsoever besides flashlight that was slowly dying just like herself mentally. “It's me.”
“Apple.” The princess stopped when she hears the venomous edge in her roommate's voice, sounding raspy and agitated too. “You must've grown a beating heart overnight or something.”
Apple really stared at her, purple eyes turned darkeningly emotionless and scary to look at, her arms were chained to the wall, she looks a lot paler too. She looked different from her baby pictures: She looked happy in every picture she had, she was either smiling in one or posing with a stuffed animal that's a resemblance of her–now? She looks meaner and more stronger, and her body felt refined when Apple touched her cold-as-ice skin for the first time in forever.
“How's life treating you, are you living lavishly with Daring?” Raven said sarcastically, now trying to thrash away from the restraint of these metal chains, she hissed in pain. “Goddamn it, you're just gonna stand there?”
“Yeah.”
“I- wait, what?”
“You… heard me.”
Raven huffed almost sounded like a laugh or a sob, it doesn't matter because she's in denial right now. “Oh really? A little princess like you can get cocky all of a sudden? You must've forgotten about my powers. Powers I weaponize when I need to.”
Apple started to shake visibly on the spot. “You're not the Raven Queen I know… who are you?”
“The same Raven you'll always know, baby… I'm just, more meaner is all,” Raven shrugged while she managed to use her powers to free her from the chains, Apple's eyes widened and she took a step back before she sees her friend disappear in the blink of an eye.
Then, she reappeared by pinning Apple into a corner that was very cramped that she couldn't hear herself breathe for a moment before Raven stared her down, something cold and bitter in her eyes. “You haven't been checking in on me like you've been promising, so you played with my feelings like they were just some big joke to you, huh?”
“No– I–” Apple's eyes widened again when Raven's lips enveloped her so suddenly that she might throw up soon and ruin the moment, she sunk into the magical moment even further by putting the weight of her arms around Raven's neck, they stopped in the speed of light, and the Rebel casually cleared her throat and shook her head. “You should leave, I think the window is the safest option for you right now.”
Apple's face is flustered, but it turned pale. “Wait, why?”
“I might come back with some injuries.” Raven said simply before giving her one more kiss before encompassing her body back into the shadows. “I'll see you sooner than later, okay?”
“W–wait, what are you doing?” Apple's cries are so damn heartbreaking to hear, even for Raven right now.
Fuck.
“I'm doing this for us,” was the last thing Apple heard before everything went dark in a nanosecond, Raven winced at the syringe being brought out of her skin, and she fell onto Apple's unconscious body.
I'm just doing this for us…right?
Totally! Just for us, only, no one else.