Hey Royals and Rebels! Roybel Tangled4ever here. :) I'm finally writing a fanfic for EAH. I've shipped Dexven forever after, but could never come up with a good storyline. Until now. ;)

This fic is based on 'Dragon Games', which was released earlier this year. Yes, I am aware 'Epic Winter' comes out tomorrow (sooo hex-cited for it!); I actually started working on this months ago. As my loyal readers would know, my mum suffers from Parkinson's disease, and over recent months I've had to assume the role of her full-time carer during the day while Dad's at work, which by the evening often leaves me too drained to write. I haven't seen anyone else write this idea, but if they have, please accept this as my own work and not a rewrite of someone else's.

Ok, so I watched Dragon Games as soon as it was up on Netflix, and I thought it was spell-tacular from start to finish. (: The animation was beautiful, the plot was in-character but still not overly predictable, and the whole thing was great fun to watch. One thing I really loved was the massive attention to detail. For example if you watch the movie with subtitles, any time the "booking glass" speaks, the voice is listed as 'Mirrie', as a play-on-words of Siri. Although my absolute favourite has to be when Raven leaves Apple's funeral to confront her mother. If you watch closely as she runs past, you can see Dexter reach out to her in a supportive, comforting sort of way. Talk about a sweetheart. :)

Anyway, after watching the movie about 5 times, I couldn't help but notice the gamble Faybelle took when planting the Evil Queen's poison apple. After all, she couldn't guarantee Apple would take it, and like I thought to myself, 'What if Raven was the one who ate the apple?' Then it hit me; what if Raven WAS the one who ate the apple?! That being said, onto the story! :D

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Chapter 1 ~ A Plan Gone Wrong

If ever there was a time for Madame Thorn – the Dark Fairy and notorious fairy royal – to be proud of her young protégé, this had to be it; at least in her daughter's opinion. Faybelle for one could not be more proud of herself. Being one of those students happy to follow their destiny, she was always up for crashing a party or causing some mayhem, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she'd be doing the bidding of Raven's infamously wicked mother – the Evil Queen! Her own mother was evil sure, but the Evil Queen had always been an idol of hers. And now, she had the chance to prove herself to the greatest villain in fairy tale history.

Her task: kick off Apple White's destiny as the next Snow White. And as luck would have it, those stupid pixies had done the hard part for her. One of them was carrying a large basket of assorted fruits to their guests, who were sitting by the fire in their poorly-lit campsite. Now, if she could just get close enough…

Had it not been for the looming knowledge of the Evil Queen's hostile takeover, the hideout would be the picture of tranquillity. Tiny pixies fluttered around the secret garden, as the flames of the campfire danced in their own rhythmic patterns. But the girls' minds were elsewhere – aside from Maddie, who was snoring lightly on Ashlynn's shoulder – mainly on the friends and family still imprisoned within the school walls.

Basket of fresh fruit in hand, Featherly walked up to Ashlynn, chattering some words of wisdom.

"Why thank you, Featherly." Reaching into the basket, she picked out some food for herself and Maddie, who stirred at the sudden movement. "The pixies say, if we plan to face the Evil Queen, we need to nourish ourselves."

Apple began to explain how things were back at school, and Faybelle saw her window of opportunity. With a few soft wingbeats, she slipped soundlessly from her branch, carefully crawling into a thick bush. The poisoned fruit grasped in her hand, she waited for the foolish pixie to walk past, then slipped the apple into the basket right under their noses. Now she just had to sit back and wait.

Though now that she thought about it, she really didn't need to stick around. The trap had been set, the plan was in motion; all that was left was for dear, sweet Apple to take the dreaded bait. She might as well go meet up with the dark dragons. So, silently slinking back into the shadows, she darted off into the night, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. But what Faybelle didn't know was that her perfectly orchestrated plan was about to unravel at the seams, and turn the world of Ever After on its head…

"Then we need our strength."

Sitting up straighter, Raven reached into the basket at random, her hand colliding with Apple's as they both went to take the same item.

"Oh, sorry Apple," she apologised, politely pulling her hand back.

"It's ok, you take it," Apple replied, pulling back her own hand to rub her arm. "I don't really feel like apples right now…"

Raven simply smiled, taking the apple and handing her roommate a small cluster of grapes. For that one moment, all was calm, then fate struck its cruel, heartbreaking blow, and the apple was bitten. No one saw the sickening black juice ooze from the fruit's centre, but as menacing, evil magic coursed throughout her body like a wave of icy fire, Raven became instantly, and painfully, aware of the dark fate that had befallen her.

Violet eyes wide with unspoken terror as the apple shrivelled and blackened in her hand, she shakily rose to her feet, staggering away from the warm, welcoming campfire as violent coughs raked through her chest.

Swallowing the grape she was eating, Apple looked up in concern, "Raven?"

"Are you ok?" Holly asked as she and the others turned to watch their friend, worry deep in their faces.

Raven stopped in her tracks, clearly unsteady as her body swayed in her stance, then turned to look straight at Apple. Her bright purple eyes, which usually shone like radiant amethysts, were frightened and unfocused, but most alarmingly, knowing. Without warning, her eyes rolled back, her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the cold, forest floor.

"Raven!" Hastily tossing her grapes aside, Apple raced to where her roomie had fallen, closely followed by the others. Immediately spotting the dark, diseased apple still grasped in her friend's hand, she quickly scooped it up, gasping in horror as it dissolved to nothing but magenta dust, "Where did that come from?!"

"What kind of apple turns black?"

"Is she ok?" Maddie asked urgently, her teal-blue eyes filled with tears as Ashlynn knelt down next to Raven.

As Ashlynn carefully lifted their friend's head off the ground, she came to for a brief moment, uttering something with her final breath.

"Can you understand what's she's saying?"

Her voice was barely a whisper, yet it echoed hauntingly in the air around them; a rasped sound, inaudible to the distant ear. No sooner had the words left her lips, Raven's eyes closed once more; this time, for what could be forever…

Tears welling in her own eyes, Ashlynn gently lay her back down, sorrowfully turning to Apple, "She says, 'she hopes you can forgive her, Apple'…"

Those words were all it took to make Apple's tears overflow, rolling down her cheeks like drops of rain. 'She forgive her?' More like 'could she forgive her?' When the Evil Queen first walked free from her mirror prison, all she'd thought about was her getting her own 'happily ever after'. But thanks to her, all Ever After was at the cruel mercy of the Evil Queen. To think she'd once labelled Raven as selfish for wanting a 'happily ever after', only to risk this much to get her own…

Vision blurred from the tears, she barely noticed Darling as she knelt down beside them. "We better check if she's breathing…"

Ashlynn moved back so Darling could check Raven's heartbeat, before turning back to the others. Holly and Poppy stood a hair's breadth from each other, watching on with wide eyes. Poor Maddie – Raven's best friend and the one who stood by her when no one else would – had tears streaming down her face, her intricate eye make-up starting to smear into a coloured mess on her cheeks. Gently wiping away the girl's ruined make-up, Ashlynn asked the question no one else dared to. "Is she…?"

Eventually, Darling sat up again, but her face was solemn, "She's breathing, but it's faint…"

Poppy shared a worried look with her twin sister, "But, if it was meant for Apple, shouldn't it just be a simple sleeping curse?"

"That apple was made from the same magic she was born with," Darling explained, getting to her feet. "Maybe it works differently on her…"

An all-too familiar roar stole their attention, and they gasped in fear seeing three dark dragons circling above, one of them carrying the Evil Queen's newest minion on its back.

"Get Raven- what?!"

Faybelle's smug grin vanished the moment she caught sight of the scene below her. Instead of Apple, she was met with Raven's unconscious form, pale and unmoving in the moonlight. This in turn made her an easy target for the other two dragons, who wasted no time in diving towards their victim.

The girls screamed in terror, each darting out of the way. Apple leapt in front of Raven, shielding her from the oncoming dragons, "We need to save Raven!"

"But how?" Holly shouted over the noise as the dragons flew back up for a second attempt. "Raven's the only one with magic that could stop them!"

Dashing over to Ashlynn with Harelow and Deerla in tow, Featherly tugged at her flowing skirt, chattering urgently.

Ashlynn nodded in understanding, turning to the others, "Everyone! Form a ring around Raven!"

Jumping to their feet, the six girls raced to Raven's side, joining hands to form a human circle around their friend as she lay still on the forest floor. The three woodland pixies began to chatter in unison, uttering a spell to repel the evil dragons as they made another dive towards Raven.

'Dark dragons that attack by night, love casts you back till morning light!'

A burst of light purple magic surrounded Apple and the girls, quickly expanding to form a protective dome around the campsite, pushing back the dragons as it grew. One tried to burn a hole in the magical force field, but the hot pink flames simply bounced off the surface and hit the other, who whimpered in pain before retreating with the first.

"No! Heel!" Faybelle exclaimed in anger. "What are you, dragons or chickens?!"

Clearly displeased by the remark, the sole remaining dragon threw her off its back, taking off in the same direction as the others.

Quickly steading herself in mid-air, Faybelle cast one final glare at the glowing purple dome that now surrounded Raven's hideout, before starting her long flight back to Ever After High. But as she slowly neared the floating fortress of evil, fear began to churn in her stomach. The Evil Queen would not take kindly to the news that the apple she'd created for the daughter of her arch-nemesis had poisoned her own daughter by mistake, and with someone as 'evil' as the greatest villain in fairy tale history, 'not take kindly' was a foolishly optimistic substitute for 'guaranteed curse for life'. There was no doubt in the mind of the Dark Fairy's daughter that she was in for serious trouble; the only uncertainty was just how far the vengeful queen would go…

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Finally posting something! I'M BACK! :D Sorry, it's been forever for me, and I'm so excited for this fic. :)

Anyway, HUGE thank you to my dad, Trekrider, for making this FABLEOUS COVER PHOTO! :D I want to also thank him for doing my final spellcheck for me. Usually Mum would do it, but neither of my parents know the EAH franchise and with Mum's condition it would take too long to explain it to her.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. See you over the page! (: