A/N: Hello, guys. I decided to go ahead and give you the Lizven story before I finish "Destiny's Kiss". Please note this takes place waaay before the events in DK, so no need to panic about Apple and Raven's future.

Hope you enjoy this baby. Now on with the reading I say!

Lizzie Hearts wasn't someone to be easily amused, being born and raised in a place such as Wonderland, where amusement was literally everywhere.

But then there was this… Situation she'd found herself in. It was amusing for her, even more for her Wonderlandian pals, who'd seen the long string of flings the Princess of Hearts had in her short life.

What situation, you ask?

Raven Queen, that's the situation.

Once you moved past the "Her mother's the Evil Queen!" thingy, you realized the girl had a charm, an easy-going way to carry herself even when her blood ties threatened to bring her down, a simply fascinating mindset, mystifying soul and admirable heart.

Lizzie found that out the easy way, when she finally stopped yelling "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" at everything every five minutes and had an amiable chat with the witch. Said chat was filled with Raven's persistent apologies, even though she took no part in Wonderland's poisoning. To say that charmed Lizzie off her feet was understatement.

An even bigger understatement was to say that Raven Queen was decent-looking. The ebony and red-haired girl would be hexed if Raven wasn't a goddess under the cover of a high school student. It just couldn't be, it couldn't be that someone was so perfect.

Lizzie was in the middle of Kingdom Management, forgoing to take notes on the subject (something about just punishments on subjects, a thing her mother would teach her more than appropriately. She was the Queen of Wonderland, for crying out loud), in favor of staring at Raven, who was a mere seat away and to the right, giving the Wonderlandian royal a good view.

Lizzie shivered a little and remembered her previous thought of the witch being a divine entity and not just a teenager able to perform magic, although not completely right just yet. She was impossibly gorgeous. Those legs that could go for miles; those hips that sashayed in a confident, almost cocky manner; that delicate hour-glass waist of hers, so tempting; that generous chest, too covered for her liking; the elegant line of her shoulders and neck, that were almost calling Lizzie to leave her mark; that angelic face; those full, inviting lips; that thick mane of black, purple a red-wine colored streaks…

And how to forget those entrancing, other-worldly, hypnotizing and simply irresistible eyes, those irises lavender in color and infinite in sentiment. Those eyes that were poetry, emotion put in motion, the bearers of her essence, the introduction of her very being.

Lizzie was beginning to feel the pull of figurative gravity on her. She knew she was falling, and falling hard for that matter, for Raven Queen. But it was really hard not to, especially when the girl wasn't shying away from her subtle and not-so-subtle advances. In fact, she seemed very responsive.

Kitty had been nagging her all week, teasing her about how the all-mighty Elizabeth Hearts was falling for Raven Queen and how this supposed the inoccupation of the throne belonging to the Charmer in Chief, a title they'd invented in their younger years and usual joke. Lizzie had paid no mind to all of it.

Raven was something else. She was much, much more worth. Considering her fling material would be like dropping wrappers right in front of the statue of a God in its own temple, plain offensive. Raven was a jewel. Whether the jewel was in brute or not wasn't her business. All she knew was that she was a jewel. All that she wanted was to treat the jewel as it, she deserved. All she needed was a kiss, a hug, a nod, a simple yes, anything that would mean her granted permission to do as she wanted.

Lizzie was so lost in her musings, that she didn't notice the lavender orbs she worshipped seeing her from the corner of Raven's vision.

This lasted for a long while, until the bell signaled it was time for lunch.

Lizzie, now out of her Raven-induced reverie, put her pen inside her purse and took both book and binder in arms, ready to go out until a soft, warm hand touched her shoulder. She turned, and was pleasingly surprised to see the purple-clad Rebel.

"Hi, Lizzie, I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me today." Raven asked, but in the undertones Lizzie could detect that she knew she wouldn't say no.

"I'd love to. Mind if I drop this in my locker first?" Lizzie raised a bit her arms to show what she was referring to. Raven simply shrugged good-naturedly and followed her to her locker, that wasn't far away from the Kingdom Management classroom.

Once Lizzie's locker had been shut closed, the Princess of Hearts offered her arm to Raven, who took it gladly. Their way to the Castleteria was filled with whispers and gasps belonging to nearly everyone that was not engrossed in a conversation and saw them walk together.

"Are they BFFA now?" A girl said.

"The duo of terror!" panicked a guy.

"Well, they do look powerful together." claimed a known voice, Briar Beauty.

Both girls ignored everything said until that moment, when they broke in giggles at Briar's comment, but continued to walk until they reached their destination and got in the line at once upon a time trays in hand.

"You know, you make it really fun." Raven said.

"Make what fun?" the Wonderlandian asked, without a clue as to what her acquaintance was referring.

"The comments, the whispers, they usually bother me until I tune them off, but when we were walking back there it was really fun hearing that we looked like we could kill them and probably would." Raven answered honestly.

Lizzie laughed and Raven smiled, completely smitten with the melodious sound.

"Indeed. But we do look astounding together, Raerae." Lizzie only half-hoped that the nickname would distract Raven enough from her enormous double-meaning. The other half desperately wanted a reaction and reply to that.

"Raerae, huh? Well, I'm not Cedar but can't lie either, you're right. We're quite the stunners, Strawberry." Raven winked and proceeded to serve food on her tray.

Lizzie smirked at her own nickname and imitated Raven. Soon they were both seated in one of the tables near the tall windows of the Castleteria taking sips of their drinks. Raven was the first to speak:

"What's your favorite food, Strawberry?" she asked.

Lizzie smiled at the nickname again before answering, "Oatmeal with mixed berries. It's good for the heart. And yours, Raerae?"

"Mine's salted caramel, it's so yummy. On an unrelated note, I'm ashamed I don't really remember when your birthday is, I feel like I should've known that ages ago. It's on mid-January, I think?" Raven admitted, blushing a bit.

The ebony-haired girl waved a hand in dismissal, "To be honest, I can't remember yours very well either, so we're even. And you got that right, actually. My birthday is on January 18th. I'm a Capricorn." She paused, brows knitted together in thought before she resumed, "I do know you're a Sagittarius. I just don't remember which day of its period is your birthday."

Lizzie had a deeply rooted belief in stars. They only spoke truths, and whether they were nice or ugly wasn't their problem. Learning those lavender eyes belonged to a Sagittarius made her wonder, but the raking of information would be later. Right now she wanted to know the exact day (and hour if possible) the beautiful bird in front of her was born. However, she didn't anticipate Raven's answer.

"I was born on November 24th, Sagittarius indeed. You know, I've always believed the zodiac is more than meets the eye. People say it's dumb because they only see the dumb side of it, the simplistic, even insulting side. Stars are wise, more than any of us, but we certainly can acquire some of their wisdom if we want. I believe a lot in them, and personally I think you do too." The purple-clad Rebel said, with much intensity conveyed in her eyes.

Bless November 24th then, the ebony-haired Goddess thought.

"I do. In Wonderland, we have a class that's all about the sky. Clouds, Sun, Moon, stars, everything that's up there, you learn about it. The constellations are the only topic you keep seeing year after year due to the difficulty of understanding what they mean and what they really say." Lizzie commented, smile on her face and faraway look in her eyes.

Raven noticed this, and did the only thing that seemed logical to her. In a quick, surprisingly graceful motion, she stood from her seat and deposited a small kiss on the Wonderlandian's cheek. Raven retreated, certainly enjoying the fact that the nostalgia that plagued Lizzie moments ago had been replaced by utter surprise and slight embarrassment, judging by the red tint that her face adopted.

What was that?

Lizzie's head was spinning. She certainly was used to spacing off a little every time she remembered Wonderland, but that small, seemingly meaningless kiss to her cheek had left her speechless. She quickly willed herself to do something, and smiled as charmingly as she could, both to herself and to Raven, before resuming her task of eating. She had to keep her mouth occupied if she didn't want to blurt out all the things that were running wild in her head.

"My homeland allows freedom of belief, as long as it's safe and not disrespectful to others, but my people believe mostly in the powers of nature. All the processes that involve plants, like cropping or attending a flower shop are managed according to the phases of the Moon, and so is the merchant navy. Sailors refuse to go into deep sea if they consider the Moon will have a prejudicial effect on the tides. The freakiest thing is, they're right. The few that ignore that never get to port." Raven said, taking a sip of her juice, observing her acquaintance carefully.

"They do well in respecting nature. You will be a great Queen, Raven." Lizzie said and Raven seemed troubled at this, so she clarified, "Not like that. Evil or not evil, a Queen is a Queen, Raven. I know you don't want to become an Evil Queen and I didn't mean to imply you have to be. I only meant to say the truth."

Raven's factions relaxed, "I guess that if you say so, it must be. I don't take you for someone who only says what people want to hear and I for one wish to be spoken with the truth."

Lizzie nodded, and a silent, implicit agreement had been made. We'll be sincere with each other.

They kept eating in comfortable silence. Once upon a time they ended their lunch and before the lavender-eyed girl could move a muscle, Lizzie stood and returned their trays to their place, not oblivious to the weight of Raven's eyes scanning her from head to toe.

When Lizzie came back feeling a little cocky, she sat and, with her arms crossed she inclined over the table, lifting an inquisitive eyebrow and looking straight into the eyes of her crush, purple eyes so vivid and awake, so curious and kind that they were lavender in color "So, why'd you choose Strawberry for me, Raerae?"

The alluded girl's brows lifted in mild surprise, and just as her plum-colored lips opened to give a response the bell ringed, meaning she had to get to Home Evilnomics.

Both Lizzie's and Raven's lids lowered mid-eye in an annoyed expression before they huffed, standing up. Raven insisted on accompanying the Wonderlandian to Chemythstry, and once again enjoyed themselves at hearing all that was being said of them.

To their dismay, they reached the classroom rather soon.

At the door, Lizzie turned to Raven and said, "I would walk with you every day if it meant that those comments won't bother you."

Raven smiled a small smile, one that expressed resignation and gratitude. Her eyes, Lizzie noted, held a different message in their irises lavender in color, one of playfulness and mirth, but a mirth she knew was because of her, and then Lizzie knew that if she was at the bottom of the pit already for Raven Queen, then she was now excavating.

"Charm you later?" Raven asked, conscious that she was imitating Daring… A bit. He wouldn't ask. He'd be sure that the answer was a yes. But the implication didn't change much, she admitted.

"Of course, you still owe me an explanation as to why I'm Strawberry now." Lizzie entered her class and winked.

Raven smirked and left, too submerged in her contentedness about Lizzie to notice a pair of blue eyes watching her curiously.