Scarlet (An SGE Fanfic)

Good vs. Evil

Hester

There's something I learned in that moment, the moment I let a witch back into the school: rage can blind us. Looking back, I don't know why I had felt so betrayed, both by the students of Good and by Agatha. Perhaps it was being caught in the act of our impromptu ball and the embarrassment of such a thing. Or maybe it was that, for a moment, I had been foolish enough to think we deserved to have the same as the other side.

Now, Sophie and Agatha twirled across the ballroom, a wrong, demented sort of a dance, Sophie smiling wickedly and Agatha's face frozen in terror. They spinned robotically as the violins played their slow, mournful dirge, then picked up the pace of the music, and the two girls spun faster and faster until—

Crash! The mob of Evers broke through the door just in time to see the waltz in full bloom.

"Poor Teddy," Sophie crooned, silencing the music with the wave of a warted finger. She released Agatha from her grasp, locking eyes with Camelot's prince. "Every time he finds his princess, it turns out she's a witch."

"That's not true!" Agatha yelled, trying to break Sophie's grip. "Hester! Dot! Tell them!"

We stared back, but said nothing. I wasn't sure what was worse; a murderous witch, or an army of bloodthirsty Evers.

"She's lying!" Agatha protested. "You have to believe me!"

"How do you think she survived the fall? Why do you think she came to warn us of your attack? Yes, Teddy, I'm afraid your ball date is also mine."

The Evers' eyes flitted to the banner on the wall. A look of disgust, of shock rippled across their faces, reminding us how this life worked, and how it always would.

"I knew you were a witch," said Tedros quietly.

"Tedros..."

"I knew it all along."

Both of their eyes flitted to Excalibur, fallen to the floor between them. Agatha got there first. As Agatha held Tedros's own sword to his throat, Evers drew their weapons in horror.

"See?" Sophie grinned. "Sword to the throat."

"Prepare to attack!" Tedros yelled. The Ever's readied their weapons; swords, spears, arrows pointing toward us.

So this was how I was going to die. Humiliated, worthless, unarmed. I'd never live up to my mother's name, never become the great witch I had deluded myself into thinking I could be.

"Fire!" Tedros yelled, and, like a coward, I closed my eyes, waiting for death. But it never came. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see the Ever's weapons, transformed into daisies, float to the ground.

Sophie grinned. "Learned that from my favorite princess." Agatha collapsed into sobs.

"No!" said Tedros, realizing what he had done.

"Prince tries to kill his princess," Sophie mused. "Luckily Evil was there to save the day. Which begs the question..." She picked up the daisy meant for Agatha's heart. "What happens when Evil becomes Good?"

When she smiled, her rotting teeth were pure white. Her long, blonde hair grew out even more voluminous than before, her skin cleared, until before us all stood a princess with a wicked grin on her face. I looked down and shrieked.

My dress was pink. The hideous color I had always reserved for the worst of Evers, touching my own body. I felt my hair gain volume, and the lingering ache in my chest, which hadn't quite cleared since the Trial, disappeared. I felt more powerful than before, as if I could do anything, but also so very... wrong.

I wondered what Madam Meredith would think if she saw me now? How she'd laugh, confirm that I was just as much of a disgrace as she always thought I was.

I looked to my covenmates, my friends. Dot was nearly unrecognizable, her body curvy and lithe, a light sheen of makeup on her face. And Anadil's hair had gone chestnut, her eyes no longer their familiar scarlet. Was this what Good saw as beautiful? Taking away a person's identity? Taking away what makes them unique?

Once the transformations were complete, Sophie turned on the Evers. "And what happens when Good becomes Evil?" We watched as the Evers shrank down to hideous crones, their bodies bending in unnatural ways. They looked to each other, weak and horrified. And we laughed. Laughed at their so called beauty reduced to rubble, laughed that our weakness was now theirs to bear.

"All hail the prince!" the Nevers took up the chant, their mocking voices swelling as Evers flooded through the doors.

"All of you should really learn your rules," Sophie sighed, twirling a ringlet between her fingers. The Evers stopped in their tracks. "You attacked. Now we defend."

Sophie's shrill note shattered the windows; ravens, locusts, wasps assaulting the fleeing Evers. Never after Never joined the fray, attacking fallen princes and princesses as they tried to run. Becoming the petty villains most believe us to be.

What I've told Sophie from the beginning is coming to pass. This isn't school anymore, not at all. This is a fairy tale, however twisted, and fairytales mean war.