Twisted Wonderland

A Stealthy Snack

A girl screams.

You open your eyes with a start. Sitting up, you realize you're in a forest. Just up ahead, you see the girl from before cowering by a large rock. A man in hunter's clothes towers above her and he raises a dagger in the air. You jump to your feet and are about to stop the man when his hands shake and drops the dagger.

The Hunter falls to his knees. "I can't! I can't do it!" He holds the ends of the girls dress. "I beg of you Your Highness, please forgive me!"

Snow White looks to the hunter in confusion. "I don't understand..."

"She's mad! Jealous of you!" The hunter cries. "She'll stop at nothing!"

"But who?" She asks.

"The Queen!" The hunter stands. "Now quick, child! Run away! Hide in the woods!"

Snow White runs further into the forest. The world distorts around you and you find yourself in a dark room.

"The blundering fool!"

You flinch, hiding behind a stone column. You see the Queen angrily throwing different materials into a large cauldron. She takes a chalice and holds it close to her lips.

"Now to transform my beauty into ugliness."

She takes a sip and a flash of lighting lights up the room. The Queen clutches her throat as her hair morphs into a matted gray mess. Her back becomes hunched and her delicate hands grow wrinkled. Her nose becomes bumpy and warts appear on her face. Whatever she drank made her look like a witch.

She cackles. "A perfect disguise. And now a special death for one so fair. What shall it be?"

The Queen flips through a large book. She stops on a picture of an apple covered in a liquid substance.

"Ah, a poisoned apple. A sleeping death! One taste of the poison apple and the victims eyes will close forever the sleeping death."

Your vision is filled with ripples and you close your eyes. You hear someone calling your name. You blearily open your eyes to see Grim standing on your chest.

"What's going on?" You groan.

"About time you got up. Follow me and be stealthy about it." Grim hops off the bed. "Everybody else is sleepin', so stay on your tip-toes!"

You stand up and stretch. "Grim, what are you doing?"

"Just be quiet and follow me."

You trail after Grim, still thinking about your dream. Did the queen turn herself ugly to become more beautiful? I don't get it. She was still beautiful even though she wasn't the most popular...

You step down the steps and see Deuce and Ace in the lounge.

"Ah, there you are." Ace waves you over. "C'mon, over here."

"Uh, guys? What's going on?" You ask.

"That dinner we had just wasn't filling." Ace smirks and gestures to the mini fridge Kalim brought over. "So I was thinkin' about the pastries Trey made for us. The ones sitting in the fridge right now. Wouldn't it be a shame to let perfectly good food go to waste? Trey said we should eat them today, too."

Deuce folds his arms. "I'm not here for sweets. I'm just, uh... thirsty! I want a drink of water."

Grim chuckles. "Snacks taste a hundred times better when you're sneakin' 'em at night. Throw that fridge door wide, baby!"

Grim throws the fridge door open and Ace grabs the cake. "I'll grab a piece of the chocolate cake."

"Uh, I don't think we should be doing this..." You rub your arm.

Grim waves you off and slides the pie tin out of the fridge. "That apple pie's callin' my name!"

Deuce turns his back on the two. "I'm not looking. I don't see any of this."

Ace winks at you as he stands directly behind Deuce. "Hey, Deuce. Turn this way a sec."

"Hm? Mmph!"

Ace shoves a spoonful of pie into Deuce's mouth.

"Whaphza big idea?"

Ace only smirks. "How's Trey's homemade apple pie? Now that you've had a bite, you're our partner in crime."

Grim mumbles an agreement through a mouthful of food. "Everything tastes better when it's forbidden!"

Deuce finishes his bite. "Well, I can't let the slice go to waste now that I've bitten into it. If it's just one piece..."

Ace pops open a soda can. "I think I'll wash this down with some of our confiscated soda."

You run a hand across your face. "This is a very bad idea. We shouldn't be doing this."

The lights flick on, causing you and the boys to jump.

"My, my. What have we here? A pack of little rats scurrying through the kitchen under cover of night?"

Grim drops his piece of cake. "Myah!"

Vil descends from the stairs. "Disobedient children require discipline. Y/N's right you know. This was indeed a very bad idea."

You take a step back, your heart hammering in your chest. Vil stops just beside you and folds his arms.

Ace narrows his eyes. "Look, we're growing boys, okay? Of course we're gonna get hungry at night."

Deuce stands next to Ace. "Speaking as a Heartslabyul student, I can't possibly ignore Trey's homemade sweets. That would just be wrong."

Vil smirks. "Any moment now."

Ace quirks an eye. "Huh? Whaddaya mean, any-"

Ace collapses to the floor mid-sentence. Grim and Deuce both fall to the floor as well.

You gasp in shock. "Oh my god! Are you guys okay?"

"B-body's going numb..." Ace groans.

"I can't stand!" Grim struggles to move.

"What's going on?" Panic flashing through Deuce's eyes.

Ace's eyes widen. "Wait... Did you poison the food in the fridge?"

Vil chuckles. "It's not poison. It's a curse."

"A curse?" Deuce asks. "How do you curse food?"

"It's my signature spell: Fairest One of All." Vil explains. "It gives me the power to place a curse upon anything I touch. A curse so potent, not even I can lift it before its stated conditions are met. I imagine you'd like to know how I've hexed the food I confiscated from you today. Shall I tell you? Any fool who partakes of this shall be immobilized until the next sunrise."

You bring a hand to your hide your open mouth. "You can do that?"

"That's even more sinister than poison!" Ace shouts. "It doesn't even taste any different!"

Vil examines his nails. "told you to avoid foods loaded with sugars and additives until the SDC show. You clearly aren't taking your roles as ensemble members seriously! You can stay on the hard floor until morning as punishment."

Deuce stutters. "B-but I didn't even take the food! Someone else shoved it in my mouth!"

"No excuses! This is collective responsibility." Vil looks to you. "Little flower, seeing as you did not partake, I'll let you off this time. I'm glad you at least followed the rules. But don't start indulging just because you're not going out on stage. Now get back to your room, unless you want to root yourself into the floor with the spuds."

"Y-yes, sir." You look to the boys sadly before climbing up the stairs. "Sorry, guys..."

"Myaaah!" Grim cries. "Y/N! Don't leave meee!"

"Cease your yowling!" Vil snaps. "You need to leave Y/N out of your mess! She's got more sense than all three of you combined."

Vil makes his way up the stairs. "Why must they all act in such an unbecoming manner? I simply cannot fathom why."