The cafeteria was bustling with life and activity as students hurried to get their breakfast before class. Some were simply rushing through the lines and taking food to go, while others had set aside extra time to chat with friends and classmates while they ate. Either way, the amount of noise was much too much for poor Sandra- hm, Sandy.

She was already exhausted after spending another night wide awake thanks to insomnia and homework. She had promised her father that she would use her powers to share good dreams with the students of Storybook University, but going through all of the dream requests she and her father had collected (during his short initial visit) took a long time. That, plus the brutal project her history class had assigned, and she had successfully closed her eyes for all of ten minutes before having to leave her dorm that morning.

Sandy dug into her book bag for a large leather folder with an hourglass pressed into the cover. Inside was a seemingly endless stack of papers each bearing the dream requests. Some were notebook paper she had hastily scrawled whatever a student had told her, others took the time to send friends to make the requests, meaning she had to decipher half of the contents to figure out what they wanted. Some requests were vague, a simple 'no nightmares' or 'nice day on the beach' while others were painfully specific, ranging from winning arguments from years ago to entire adventures beyond their assigned fairy tale.

Yawning, she flipped through a few of the papers, not reading a word. Her eyes drooped and her head tipped forward. The constant chatter of the cafeteria became a comforting white noise.

"Excuse me, dream girl!" Someone gently tapped her on the shoulder, "Are you busy at the moment?"

Sandy roughly shook her head, forcing her brain back to the present and squinted up at Thorne Rose, the son of Queen Aurora and King Phillip. They had math together but hadn't ever exchanged more than a few passing hellos. He seemed... popular.

She rubbed the grogginess out of her eyes and smiled. "Sandy, it's Sandy... uh, hi Thorne, yes- I mean no, I'm not busy."

"Good, good, I was-" Thorne started to say as he sat down across from her. Meeting her eyes, he stopped talking, furrowing his eyebrows, "Are you alright? Not to be rude but, um... you look exhausted. Would you like me to buy you a coffee or something?"

"That would be amazing, thank you." She stretched her arms up and sighed when the tension was relieved slightly. "Sorry, I'm probably a complete mess. I didn't have much chance to sleep last night, but that's my usual." She hoped she didn't sound too embarrassed and her guilt could be disguised as exhaustion.

"Anything for a friend!" Thorne smiled and made his way over to the little kiosk where students could pay for their meals, "Do you have a flavor preference?"

Sandy reclosed her folder and followed him over to the menu board, which she squinted at for a moment before the words became legible. "Um... French vanilla? Yeah, that sounds delicious." She said letting out a small sigh.

"Two of those, please! One for myself and the lady." Thorne flashed her a winning smile and paid probably more than he was supposed to before taking the drinks and walking her back to her table. "So... what's been keeping you awake as of lately?"

Sandy wrapped her hands around the warm cup and chuckled. "Oh I've always had sleep problems. It's ironic, isn't it, but I can't use my powers on myself because- ah, well that's a long story." She shook her head. "But yeah, I usually put lavender oil under my pillow to help relax, but I ran out the other day and haven't had a chance to take a trip to the village and get more."

"Oh- well worry not! I'll see to it that you get that sleepy scent!" He wrote a note down on a piece of paper and tucked it into his shirt pocket. "I'll give this to one of my men and they'll pick it up for you! You won't need to lift a finger!"

"Your men? Oh right-" Sandy shook her head, "Sometimes I forget people are royalty here." She said with a small smile, "Thank you, you'd be surprised how well it works."

"Of course! It's no problem. Can't have our favorite dream girl tired on the job!"

Sandy bit her lip and looked away at the 'on the job' comment. Right, this was her job. He wanted something. She put on a wider, but less sincere, smile, "So how can I help you?"

"Well, I'd hate to request your generosity while you're clearly so exhausted. It's fine, I can wait a week if I must." He glanced aside coyly.

"No no it's okay!" She insisted, shaking her head, "Like you said, I'm on the job. Here to make good dreams." She took a long sip from her coffee; it was delicious, and just the right temperature. "What's up?"

"Well... there's this girl I'm really into..." Thorne began, putting on an uncharacteristically bashful exterior. "She's smart and clever and strong, but she doesn't seem to notice or care that I exist. I'm sure you hear this all the time, but I was just wondering if... perhaps you could send her a good dream or two about me? Just something to put my face in her head, y'know?" Aw, it was cute to see someone as confident and popular as Thorne be so embarrassed.

Sandy smiled. "I can send her a dream, but how she interprets it is up to her. No guarantee I can make the dream have the results you want." She dug into her pile of papers and pulled out a pen, "So who is this mystery girl?"

"Well... It sounds silly... but it's Precious. Precious Charming."

"Oh. Precious. Interesting..." Sandy hummed, making a note on a new sheet of paper. Not that she walked through other people's dreams often, but she'd caught a number of students dreaming about her lately. Sometimes when she slept, her powers went a bit haywire and she'd roll through the minds of her neighbors. She wrote down the name and dream request before tucking it away into her folder. "Obviously I've got a fair few dreams to get to, but I should be able to send it her way this week."

"Thanks Dream Girl, I owe you one, and I'll get that lavender oil to you by tonight!" He sent her another winning smile and stood up. "Give my coffee a good home, I wasn't really thirsty! I'll catch you in class!"

Sandy grit her teeth, but managed to disguise it as a smile. "Yeah, see you later!" She said as he walked off. She took a sip of her coffee and looked down at the list, letting out a sigh. She had another long night ahead of her.

-----

Outside, the athletics field was also bustling with activity. Several clubs were gathering for their very first meeting of the year and taking advantage of the cool morning air. The tennis team had claimed one side of the field while the gymnastics had the other. Bordering the field was a long path where the track and field club were placing goal posts and markers.

Precious was mostly directing her team, helping them measure the distances they needed and passing out stopwatches to everyone that checked in from the box on her hip. She was in her element, commanding and instructing where each member should be before finally addressing the entire group.

"Attention track and field! I'm so excited to welcome everyone to our first club meeting." She said, garnering the group's attention and radiating confidence. She was good at that, looking confident. Queens never showed their nerves on their faces, after all. "Our school is about preparing us for our futures and improving our present, which is why instead of definite tryouts, we have decided to keep track and field an open club this year! The only person you will worry about beating is yourself! Relay teams will be decided in a few weeks and will compete against each other at school events." She held up the box and gave it a shake. "All of you get stretched out for warmups and find a partner. Make sure you've got a stopwatch and a time paper, because today we're finding our baselines!"

Evora huffed and rolled her eyes, looking tired of listening already, despite having not followed any instructions since arriving. Perhaps she thought herself capable of timing herself without a partner. Some athletes preferred less distractions, after all.

Instead of going to the box Precious held, she watched as Evora snatched the watch out of another student's hand. Sighing, Precious grabbed one for herself and made her way over to the standoffish girl.

"Excuse me, Miss Wolf? You'll need a partner to time you. I'd be happy to do so if you'd like." She smiled sweetly, voice dripping honey.

"Thanks. But no." Evora said, not looking up from her ready position, "I'm perfectly capable of doing this myself. You'll break my focus."

"You'll break your own focus trying to time yourself." Precious held out her hand for the stopwatch. "You won't even know I'm there, and if you want to run top speed, you can't have something in your hand."

"You clearly haven't seen me run, princess." She said, again not looking at her, "I've done this a thousand times by myself. So just leave me alone." She narrowed her eyes at the track.

"This is a team, Miss Wolf, not a solo show. We are doing this together or not at all." Precious sidestepped back into Evora's path and placed her hands behind her back. "I insist you let me time you."

"Don't call me Miss Wolf. This isn't some office job. I'm not your coworker." She growled. She paused for a few moments, staring her down before throwing the timer down on the ground. "Take it." Evora shouldered past her and took a few more deep breaths, muttering quietly, "Weightless. Head forward, eyes fixed, Evora."

"Alright then, Evora." Precious frowned curiously. "This is just a baseline, a warmup, really. It's just to track your progress." She spoke loudly, as if she was addressing the entire team, and not reassuring the strangely nervous Evora. "Three laps around the entire field! That's one kilometer!" She stepped off to the side of the field and held out an arm. "On my mark! Set, run!"

Evora was off like a shot, the dust from the track flew up, almost covering her legs in a cloud of dirt. She rounded the track and came to a stop at the starting line once again, looking at Precious with a smirk, "Time?"

"You're still being timed, I said three laps, Evora." Precious smiled cheekily. "Three laps are the standard for most contests. Would you like to start again?"

Evora rolled her eyes, "It's hard to listen to you when your voice could give a girl a cavity."

"Aw, are you calling me sweet like candy?"

She scoffed and folded her arms. It might have been intimidating if Precious didn't outweigh her significantly. "More like an ice cream headache."

Precious giggled. "With a cherry on top?"

"Nah, I hate cherries. You're like that syrupy stuff with nuts in it." She wasn't quite smiling while she said it, but her frustrated eyebrow had softened and Precious laughed harder.

"That would certainly give you the energy to run the laps, good for coating the throat."

"Are you gonna start my timer again or what?" Evora crouched down again, avoiding her eyes.

"Of course, ready, go!"

She dashed back down the track, claws scratching the ground and kicking up even more dust than before. She was genuinely amazing, with long legs and a lean figure- wolves were certainly made for speed. "Don't make me ask for my time again." Evora said, slowing to a stop and wasting no time after finishing.

"Not bad, very good time. Three minutes and sixteen seconds. You have good control and regulation of your speed and breathing, but your stance could use refinement, and you should dig your feet into the track less." Precious pointed to the scuff marks left behind by Evora's feet. "Since it's a flat track and not a dirt path it works against you." She offered Evora the timer.

"Shit. I could've done so much better." She dusted off her legs, "Three minutes even, at least." She took the timer and sat on a bleacher, frowning. Precious hoped her critique hadn't been too harsh. "Probably would've done better if I was by myself."

The first half of the team finished their laps and Precious glanced back at Evora, "Will you track my time for me, next, please?" She asked, pulling her hair back and stretching her arms for when her turn came around.

"Yeah. Sure." She sort of rolled her eyes, but she still held the timer up with a shrug.

Precious beamed and took her starting crouch. The rest of the second group lined up beside her and Evora raised her arm to call the start. Precious didn't look to be as fast as Evora, taking off with less of a skid and almost no dust in her wake. The first lap ticked past the minute mark, the second lap the second, then, in the third lap she put on a sudden burst of speed, passing the rest of the runners and finishing with a clear lead. She jogged to a halt several yards past the finish line and straightened with a glowing smile. "Time?" She was barely panting.

"Nice." Evora tossed the timer back. "Three minutes ten seconds."

"Oh wow! That's a new personal best!" Precious lit up. "I spent my summer focusing on weight training, I was so sure I was slower!" Another runner congratulated her and she collected and wrote down everyone's time on a clipboard from the same box as timers.

"No one asked, princess. Go find someone else to time you, I'm doing this by myself." Evora snapped, grabbing one of the hurdles out of their pile. She seemed a bit upset, perhaps it was because Precious had beaten her time? For someone who insisted she didn't care about anything, she sure did seem to care a lot about this. After setting up a line of hurdles, she was darting back and forth across the track, perhaps to stretch out or something.

"Alright team, don't tire yourselves out just yet!" Precious said to the group, and definitely not to the one runner who was sprinting back and forth trying to ignore them. "We're going to set up the hurdles and time ourselves again. We'll need to know who's reliable for the relay races before we assign the individual teams! Group one, please line up. We're just doing one lap with the hurdles. The arrangement doesn't matter so long as they're spaced evenly enough." She herself grabbed two of the hurdles under each arm and carted them onto the track. There were seven in total for each runner's path. Five to jump over and two to duck beneath. Precious walked to the grass and watched the group as half of them lined up. "On my mark! Get set, Run!" Precious dropped her arm again and started the timer.

Once again, Evora was off. She jumped over hurdles on all fours, flying past everyone behind her. Jumping over the first hurdle, second, third, fourth, fifth, six, and the seventh. She got off of all fours and sped towards the stop line, finishing and having to completely skid to a halt. She brushed herself off and high-fived another runner. Precious smiled, pleased that she was having fun finally.

"Wow, Evora! Fifty-five seconds!" Precious grinned, following her to the water fountain. "You'll be excellent on the relay team, maybe even a captain! Careful to keep your elbows up though, you clipped one hurdle and that's an extra five-second penalty during competitions."

"55?" Evora seemed less aggressive, and more... shocked? Was it worry? "... Yeah. Sure."

Precious paused and frowned at Evora's lowering of mood. She was up next to run, however, and couldn't console her just yet.

She was somewhat off her game this lap, it seemed. Precious put on that burst of speed early, but it wasn't enough to make up for the hurdles. She wasn't quite as agile as she was fast, and her replacement partner clicked her at one minute six seconds. "Ah, that's more than last year." Precious frowned at the timer and shook her head. "I suppose I'm a bit bulkier." She glanced back over to their wayward team member.

Evora was frowning and staring at the field, but she didn't seem to be seeing anything.

Precious concluded the meet after a few more drills and watched Evora leave early. That wasn't good, she was an excellent runner, it would be unfortunate if she quit just because she hadn't met her personal expectations.

Perhaps Precious had been too harsh with her critiques. Evora had been remarkably rude the other day but seemed less keen on being mean today, so she gathered her pride and followed the wolf girl off the track to apologize.

-----

Evora ran out of school grounds and found herself a decently sized clearing in the forest. Stolen timer clutched in one hand, she set distance markers and timed herself running back and forth across it. She skidded to a stop, checked the timer, sighed, and started again. Stupid track field, she'd stopped digging her claws in like that stupid princess had said and now wasn't getting the traction she needed on the grass.

Ten or so minutes went by as she grew increasingly frustrated.

"Evora, darling? May I interrupt?" Speak of the damn devil. That soft lilty voice was even more annoying when it was quiet.

"No." Evora said, setting herself back up again, "You should leave. And don't call me 'darling'." It felt weird. Her family didn't even use pet names like that. Bleh.

Precious pinched her lips and continued anyway. "I am glad to see your devotion to improving, but I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I believe I was harsher than I should have been while critiquing you due to... my personal feelings. As team captain I am expected to be above such pettiness during club time." She wasn't wearing a skirt, but she still attempted a curtsy.

"You think I'm upset about that? You must think I'm the most sensitive wolf on the planet." She glared. "I'm not improving for you."

Precious blinked and straightened her back. "Then why are you upset? You were much faster than me on the hurdles."

"The world doesn't revolve around you, you know that? I don't care about being faster than you or anybody." She huffed and ran again, looking at the time and cursing under her breath.

"You're not going to magically get faster in a day, you know." Precious leaned against a tree and folded her arms, showing no sign that she planned to leave. "Especially not without rest and food first. Why don't we go get something to eat?"

Evora stood up straight, "Listen. It's real nice you came here to try and apologize and 'comfort' me or something, but I don't need your help. I know when to eat and rest." She crossed her arms, "Why are you being like this anyway? Are you still on that BS about being my friend?"

Precious frowned, but beside being not pleased, her expression was annoyingly hard to read. Most people couldn't mask their feelings from Evora, and she didn't like having to talk to someone who could. She seemed to think about her answer before finally saying, "You're easily one of the fastest on the team, and definitely the fastest on the hurdles. You would make a good team leader for the relays."

"Oh. Cool." Evora nodded and set herself up to run again, going back from one tree to another, "So you didn't actually want to apologize. You could've just told me that and left."

"No, I also wanted to apologize. You left such a poor sport I thought you were quitting."

"Quitting? You've gotta be kidding me." Evora snickered, "My entire life revolves around speed and running. I can't use the field without team related permission, you know. If I quit track I'd have no way to keep myself in shape, I'd barely be a wolf."

"Alright, so long as you're staying with the team I'll go about my day. But as your captain I will say, you can talk to me about anything and I will help where I can."

She finally stopped running. "I don't need a reminder that you're captain any more than I need one that you're a princess."

"We've only had three conversations, two of which have been about the track team, of which I am captain." Precious raised an eyebrow, teasing. "If you want me to stop talking about it, talk to me about something else."

"What else is there? I've been observing you. Everyone, really." She picked at her nails, "I mean- not to be rude-" was that hypocritical for her to say? Eh, she didn't care. "But you never shut up. You always dominate conversations like you're trying to prove something." While it was true she talked a lot, Evora was mostly pulling nonsense out of her ass. All she really knew about her was that she was a princess, the rest was largely guesswork. "We don't exactly share many interests."

"Well, when you're as short as I am you have to be loud." Evora snorted and Precious grinned. "And you don't know what my interests are. I'm willing to bet we've a few in common. I'm a girl of many talents." Her face wasn't dramatically expressive, but it did look... not as annoying when she winked like that.

Evora sat down on the ground with a huff, "I didn't know there was a ton to do in finishing school or with your private tutors or wherever you were before this." She crossed one leg over the other. "So what hobbies do you have, then?"

"My life hasn't always been so simple." Precious checked the root of a tree to ensure there were no bugs or sharp sticks before sitting down as well. "Let's see... chess and croquet, sewing, dancing, formulating my own hair products," Yawn. "Painting, wrestling, shopping, weight lifting, interior design, saber, rock climbing, aaaand embroidery." She counted them off on her fingers. "I think that's most of them." Huh, guess she wasn't kidding.

"Have you fought a Griffin before? They're great wrestling partners." Evora asked, "They're really aggressive, though. Might get scratched up a bit." She said, sort of gesturing to the scar on her eye, heh, that had been a fun day. "But interesting that someone like you would wrestle." She paused, it sort of made sense based on the princess's figure. "Let me guess, you're captain of the wrestling team too, aren't you?"

Precious giggled again. "Of course not. I can only captain one team at a time. I imagine one of those Gaston boys will get the spot." She tugged her hair out of its ponytail and scratched her nails through it to pull the curls apart. "I've wrestled ogres, harpy, and a mountain lion once. And a dragon, of course, but never a griffin. I haven't had much reason to stray into one's territory before." Damn, a dragon? Did she mean Drago or did that count?

"Well, from what I've seen, those two Gaston guys are as boring as they are dumb. They don't look like they'd be good leaders. A pixie could be a better choice." One of them shared a literature class with her while the other was in biology with her. She grinned cruelly, picking at her nails.

"I thought they were funny. Have you even spoken to them?"

"What does it matter? None of this means a thing once we leave school, you know." Evora rolled her eyes.

"Why not?"

"When you're someone like me, you don't get bonus points for being a good girl in school." She stood up and stuffed her hands into her pockets. "When I graduate and be the big bad wolf, everything I did at this school goes out the window. I'll just be a beast that eats old ladies and scares stupid pigs." She laughed once without amusement. "I don't get anything out of being here like you. No one with a bad ending does."

"That's not true." Precious tried to say, but Evora just stared at her.

"I get it, we don't have a choice how we're viewed. You and the rest of the 'good guys' with happily ever afters will get praised for everything you do, but I won't." She leaned against the tree again. "It's not a bad thing necessarily, it's just how it goes."

"So?"

"What?"

"So what if you don't get praise and cheer. Does it make you feel better to be mean and alone now?" The hell? Who did this princess think she was?

"You know that's not what I mean. I'm saying I'm going to grow up and be a beast no matter if I'm good now or not. Might as well not get my hopes up."

"Do you have to, though?" Precious didn't look up at her when she spoke, voice a bit distant.

"What do you mean?"

"What if you just didn't? Don't be the beast, don't eat people or follow the story... just don't." She ran a hand through her hair, either just fidgeting or hiding her face further on purpose. "What's the worst that would happen if you just... didn't?"

"You act like we've got a choice. Like I have a choice." Evora kicked at the ground. "Since I was born, all I've ever been taught was that I'm going to be the big bad wolf. I didn't make friends, because who wants to be friends with that?" She flashed her teeth. "Being nice gets me nowhere. Being friends gets me nothing. Being feared at least garners me some respect. Just like how everyone wants you to be stuck in a tower or some shit, this is what people want." She tilted her head to try and see if her words struck any kind of chord to the princess. "We can't go against our stories, we don't know what will happen."

There was a long silence, before Precious finally said. "I do. I've already been in the tower." She said it casually, conversationally, but too stiff as if she was burying her true thoughts. "I quit my story and... could very well have lost my happily ever after. At least you don't have anything to lose."

Evora raised her eyebrows. "Wow. Since when were you a rule breaker?" She shook her head, "But you're still wrong. I'd get kicked out of my entire family line." She swallowed. "I can't have that happen." Her face turned extremely serious as she narrowed her eyes not directly at Precious, but just past her. "My dad won't let it."

"Your family line... of beasts that eat children and terrify livestock." Precious returned to herself and raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a terrible loss."

"Don't talk about my family like that." She snapped, voice nearly a snarl, narrowing her eyes and pointing a sharp nail at Precious. Her eyes were practically glowing with malice. "You're one to talk about families. You grew up surrounded by luxury. That tower's probably nicer than my entire house." She growled, infuriated and hoping her anger masked the disappointment.

Because she wasn't disappointed. She didn't want to get along with this princess anyway.

Precious finally stood up, taking a long breath through her nose. Fucking finally there was some emotion on her face, albeit said emotion being barely controlled rage and pain. Her cheek seemed to dip oddly when she flexed her jaw from a lopsided dimple or something. Evora braced herself for more selfish anger or arguing, but the princess simply dusted the back of her legs off.

"I see I've touched a nerve. I'd hate to say something I would regret, and I certainly have no interest in fighting a pointless battle." She turned to leave.

"God, you're so full of it!" Evora shouted before she could go. "Go ahead! Run off again instead of doing anything. See you at practice!" she squeaked the last sentence like she was mimicking Precious.

"You are the only one of us who has run away since we met. You've made up your mind about me and I would only upset myself trying to change that mind. When you're interested in actually talking instead of assuming things, I'm more than open. Good day, Evora." She didn't wait for an answer and left the forest without looking back.

What a stuck-up bitch! Evora rolled her eyes and started her timer again. She had a hell of a lot of nerve for a princess, slandering the Wolf name and acting like she was something better for doing nothing. So what if she quit her story? That didn't mean shit.

Though, Evora couldn't help but wonder what was so bad about her story that she would give it up.

Not that it mattered. She probably just got tired of no servants after a week in the tower and called Queen Mommy to come take her home.

She ran back and forth until the sun reached the top of the sky and her stomach grumbled uncomfortably. Logically she knew her mood would only be worse if she was hungry, but her stubborn nature wanted to insist it wouldn't help and she kept running. Back and forth, back and forth, until the sound of footsteps reached her ears and she stopped again.

They came from the forest, which meant it wasn't Precious again. The shadow that skulked closer and closer gave away his identity, however, and she stood up straight. "Dad, what are you doing here?"

Her father slipped out of the shadows, footsteps quieting. He must have been walking loudly on purpose, as she knew he could crawl through the thickest of leaves near silently. Standing all the way, he almost doubled his daughter in height, and definitely doubled her in width. She had always hoped to be as big as him some day.

"I heard track tryouts were today. How did they go?" He said, voice deep and heavy. His voice, too, was the source of much envy for her. If it could chill her to the bone, she couldn't imagine what it did for others.

Evora huffed, "Fine. I don't want to do it."

"Did you not make it?" Unlike Precious, the Big Bad Wolf made no attempt to hide his thoughts when he spoke, and the threat was very clear in every word.

"No, dad. I did. I'm a Wolf." She leaned against a tree, feigning nonchalance, "But Precious Charming is the captain." She rolled her eyes.

"And the issue with that is?"

"Uh, she's a huge, selfish bitch?" Evora said, obviously. "You know how the Charmings are, they don't give a crap about anybody but themselves. She just wants to break my focus and insult my family, but who cares as long as I lead a relay team, right?"

"What did she say?" Her father asked, his interest peaked.

Evora's hands scrunched up into fists and a slight growl was heard behind her words, "She called us child killers. As if it was our choice to be that way. She didn't even think twice about it." She said, somewhat untruthfully. That's what she meant, of course, so that's what her father needed to know. He loved to hate people, anyway.

As expected, he grinned. "Then give her a piece of your mind, Evora."

"I did. But she was a brat and ran away. I wasn't about to chase after her-"

"Physically, Evora." He cut her off.

Evora blinked a few times. "What?"

"You're a Wolf, Evora. You know how to fight." He circled around her, narrowing his eyes, "I got into plenty of fights at your age and won. You should start doing the same. Accept the position, show the girl where she belongs."

"Dad, I'll get kicked out of school." She said. "She's, like, The Fairy Godmother's favorite kid."

"Don't talk back to me, Evora." Her father snapped and she flinched, quickly snapping her mouth closed. "If she views us as cruel beasts, give her one. Put her in her place, make sure she knows that you're a Wolf. And she should be aware of, and afraid of that."

She stared down at her shoes. Precious hadn't actually said anything confrontational, it would be hard to come up with a reason to fight her.

"Are you listening, Evora?" Her father aggressively lifted her chin to force her to stare at him.

"Yes, dad. I am." She said quickly.

He removed his hand from her chin. "Good." He took a step back, "You have to prove you're a Wolf still, Evora. So listen to what I tell you, yes?"

Evora nodded slowly.

"Good." He turned around, "This is a good spot. I expect to see you here Thursday at 4 for training. We'll stay here until I'm happy with what you've done."

"Yeah, dad."

"Good." He didn't make a noise when he left, feet expertly finding the soft spots on the ground and reminding her she only knew he was coming when he wanted her to.

-----

Sandy made her way into the common room, a large stack of papers held to her chest and making a real struggle of opening the door. She managed to finagle enough things under her arm after a moment, however, and thankfully got inside without dropping anything.

Inside, she noticed her usual couch was half-occupied by the boy from the mixer that she'd given a little horse to. He was curled up in the corner by the fireplace reading a book. Sandy was glad to see him again, as they hadn't crossed paths since, not even for a dream request. She smiled as she took the opposite side of the couch and set her stack down on the coffee table.

"Hello again!" She smiled pleasantly.

The boy looked up, his blue eyes shining, "Oh, hi! You're..." He snapped his fingers, "Sandra, right?"

Sandy nodded, "Yep, that's me! You can call me Sandy." She sat up to face him better. "I'm sorry, I don't think I ever got your name... but I remember you from the mixer. How are you?" She asked.

"Auden, Auden Charming." He said, setting his book down on the table.

"Well it's a pleasure to officially meet you, Auden Charming." Sandy said with a chuckle, "Cinderella's child I'm guessing?"

Auden nodded with a smile, rubbing the back of his neck, "Y-yes. My sister and I are her children, yes." He clasped his hands together. "And you're the child of Sandman, right?"

Sandy nodded, "Yep, what gave it away? My super creative name, I'll bet. Sandra Sandman." She joked. She looked down a little, biting her lip in indecision of whether she should bring up the horse she made at the mixer. Deciding to mention it, she asked, "Did the horse help? At the mixer I mean. You seemed anxious, wanted to help."

Auden nodded profusely, "Very much so! I shared it with the others and they all seemed to love it." His voice softens. "Thank you."

Sandy grinned, "That's good to hear." She looked down at her stack of papers, "If it won't distract you I was going to practice making some things, do you mind?"

Auden shook his head, "No not at all, wasn't really paying attention to the book anyway, heh. It's for class."

Sandy nodded, "Alright-" she rolled up the sleeves of her sweater and cracked her knuckles, "Let's see what they sent in this time..." she turned to the first page in the stack of papers, "Flying deer in the forest. Okay..." she waved her hands and stuck her tongue out in concentration, manipulating the sand into a forest scene with a normal deer. Real things weren't usually hard to conjure since dreams were usually made from memories. "Come on..." she urged herself before willing the sand deer to fly around the room, rather haphazardly until it ran into a wall and dissipated. "Ah, damn. They never do what I want."

Auden frowned at her reaction, "Forgive me if I'm out of line but I don't think you should be so hard on yourself. Even if you didn't get the result you wanted, what you did was still amazing."

She blushed, "Sorry, I just... I gotta get it right." She insisted, "You know, people to make happy in dreams, if it's not right they won't be happy...." she trailed off, "I better try again. Making things fly without giving them wings is hard."

He nodded, looking a little embarrassed as well, "I understand. Sorry. I don't know the first thing about dreams so I shouldn't have said anything."

She shook her head quickly, "No, no! You're right it's just... I get frustrated when I can't get it right because... well..." she quieted down a little, "My dad always gets it right on the first try, and he really wants me to do well."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I get it, really. I'm in your same shoes, but for like, everything." he shrugged. "Sometimes it helps to talk about it, though."

Sandy looked saddened, "I'm sorry..." she said softly. She scooted closer. "I guess it's just the pressure for me... Dad always shows me off so proudly so I feel like I need to be able to... live up to those expectations, y'know? Be The Sandman, make people happy." She flipped through the pages of paper, "Get through these requests like- well like magic!" She chuckled a little. She looked over at Auden, locking eyes, "Is- I mean, it's different for everyone but- um... are you in a similar situation?" She asked. She didn't know why she had let so much personal information out to a boy she'd only met once, but he seemed very easy to talk to.

"Well, I'm just some random guy but I think what you did was very cool." He paused. "Yeah, more or less. I've never really... fit into the royal scene. I mean, I'll put on a face and act like I'm enjoying myself, but I honestly hate it. My sister Precious is way more cut out for the royal stuff. Sometimes it feels like she's the big sibling and not the other way around."

Sandy nodded as she listened. "That must be hard. Does having your sister with you help with it at all?" She asked. She straightened, "Sorry sorry that's intrusive isn't it-"

"No, no! You're fine! She's always been the tougher one, and she protects me a lot more than I think she knows. Don't tell her I said that, though, she wouldn't let me live it down." He laughed. "Really though, it's fine."

Sandy smiled and laughed along with him. As she laughed, some magic sand trickled out of her hair, landing on the table in front of them and taking shape without her noticing or even thinking about it. The dust took form into tiny deer, more like fawns, that started to leap up and float a tiny bit off the table.

Auden was laughing when he looked down. "Woah! Sandy, Sandy look!" He exclaimed, pointing.

Sandy's eyes followed his hand and went wide. "Oh my god- oops!" She said, jumping forward out of her chair to catch one of the does from falling off the table, but she didn't need to. The fawn galloped as hard as it could before floating around the room. It was obvious it took the little creature effort, but it was working nonetheless. "I-I did it!" Sandy exclaimed, "Go little deer! You can do it!" She cheered the others on to float.

Auden's face was glowing with pride and awe. "Look at them go!" He laughs, watching the little does flying in the air. He reaches his hands out towards them, smiling.

Sandy giggled as some of the does came over to her, one landing and forming a small bed in her hair, another landing in hand. One flew over to Auden and landed on his hand before bounding over and up his arm, nuzzling his cheek. Sandy saw this and laughed, "That one likes you." She teased.

Auden looked like he could cry of happiness. He felt completely at ease, "Hi little guy!" He giggles. "Speaking of dreams, may I ask you something?"

Sandy smiled, with the combination of her success with the sand and seeing Auden's smile made her feel amazing. She shook her head, getting back to reality, "Dreams? Yes of course! Right person to ask." She joked.

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of any remedies I could use to sleep better." He looked down at Sandy's large stack of dream requests. "I would hate to add to your workload."

Sandy looked from her stack of papers to Auden and put on a smile. "I wouldn't mind, I mean it's my job, right?" She said with a shrug. She didn't notice but the deer started to seem a little more sluggish when her workload was mentioned. "Do you want a certain dream?"

"No, I mean it. I mean- I need to learn how to manage my nigh- my dreams and sleep myself." He reddens and adds quickly. "Not that I don't appreciate your offer."

Sandy looked at Auden curiously, most people didn't want to manage things themselves, just the easy fix she could provide via sand. This wasn't her job, though, just helping someone get rest. "I think I can help." She said, scooting closer. "Honestly," she leaned in as if it was a secret, "I have sleep problems too. Big time insomnia." She whispered. Sitting back she said, "Let's see, there's smells that help you fall asleep, lavender is a good one, as for staying asleep, it sounds silly but I use stuffed animals. Helps you feel safer. Oh! A weighted blanket helps with anxiety, too. Certain light colors can help you relax." She didn't need her stack of papers for this, just her own memory and a hand to count the remedies on.

He seemed to perk up, however, and nodded while she listed things. "I'll take whatever I can get." He shrugged bashfully. "I know my problems are all anxiety things. I get nightmares about-" he cut himself off. "I-um, sorry I shouldn't have brought it up." He looked down at his hands.

Sandy looked at Auden curiously, holding her hand out, "It's alright, you don't have to tell me, but sometimes it helps to get it off your chest, it gets it off your mind too." She said with a gentle smile.

Auden's eyes met hers and he sighed a little, "Well... when I was a kid, some robbers came into my room, they held me down and stole... many things. I couldn't do anything before the guards came... I have a recurring nightmare of that night."

Sandy's eyes widened with shock, "What? Oh my god that's terrible- that's... I don't even know what to say..." She gently rubbed his shoulder. "Did they take something special to you?"

He laughed without amusement. "Yeah. My sister."

"Oh." Her chest sank. How horrible! No wonder he had nightmares.

He shrugged, clearly trying to play off how much the memory bothered him. "I mean, it comes with being royalty I suppose. She had it way worse, being kidnapped and all."

"That doesn't make your problems any less valid! You should be able to feel safe at night!" Sandy retorted. She bounced her leg and looked around the room, as if something that would solve this problem would just show up. "Well... I can't say it will help completely, and it may sound childish, but sometimes a nightlight will help. They have cool ones that spray a scent and rotate through colors, if you wake up in the middle of the night you won't be in complete darkness, you'll be able to see that no one's there. I don't know if that helps much but..." she trailed off.

Auden's eyes lit up, "Really? That's cool!" He bounced in his seat like a small child. "Would you like to come with me to pick one out?" He blurted out, immediately turning as red as a beet, "I mean- you don't have to of course."

Sandy simply giggled and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds fun!" She said, "I've been meaning to check out the shops in the village, anyway!"

He smiled wide, still red, but clearly grateful. "A-Awesome! Thank you Sandy!"

She grinned, "Of course! Oh- here-" she said, pulling out her iMirror and handing it to him, "Put your number in and message me when you want to go!"

Auden took the iMirror, tapping in his own mirror's signature and humming a happy little tune as he did so. He made sure his own was attuned before handing it back. "Looking forward to it!"

Sandy put the iMirror back in her pocket and looked over to the clock as it struck the hour, "Shoot, I gotta get to my next class! I'll see you later Auden!" She said, picking up her papers and heading for the door.

Auden stood up and hurried ahead of her, opening the door like a gentleman so she wouldn't have to struggle with her papers again, "See you later Sandy!"

Sandy gave a small wave and smiled to herself as she walked down the hall, feeling a little more chipper.

--------------------------------

Evora didn't often go to her classes on purpose. Sometimes she'd be in the area when the bell rang so she would wander in late, other times she'd leave early, ignoring the teachers' pointless calls for her to stay. She did wander the halls nearly constantly, however, as people-watching the petty nonsense of her classmates amused her greatly.

The afternoon's interest was one Gavin Musclehead (as she called him in her mind). He was in her literature class and took about as much interest in said subject as herself. The two weren't friends, but they did occasionally share a laugh at their teacher's expense.

Gavin was standing over something in the hallway, a brown cloak held high like he was shielding it. Evora had to get another angle to see that what was behind it, was none other than Gavin's equally big and dumb brother, both of whom were looking down at Drago, crouched on the ground.

Drago had his hands held about six inches apart and was maintaining some kind of spell that produced a soft lavender fire, freely hovering between his fingers. While Evora watched, it shifted to light pink, then back to purple.

"Well, isn't that something." Evora stepped closer, eager to see more.

Unfortunately, her speaking looked to break Drago's concentration, and the fire crackled before turning a vibrant green and falling towards the ground.

Thankfully, it didn't manage to do any harm when it landed. Gavin was too quick with his cloak, smothering it quickly and cleanly. Drago looked frustrated, but the two Gaston brothers seemed thrilled, high fiving and congratulating him.

"That's the longest you've held it, dude!" Gavin said, shaking the cloak free of soot.

"You're amazing! Can you do other colors?" His brother asked. Evora searched her brain for his name and came up blank. To be fair, he was a pretty boring-looking guy, despite being beefy as hell. At least he wasn't identical to Gavin and wore glasses.

"Yeah, but I can't control the colors yet. It's random every time." Drago flexed his hands as if working out a cramp. "I don't know why it's random, but it is."

"Maybe there's a component you haven't considered. Like what you ate today or the weather." Four-eyes said, tapping his chin. Nerd.

"Some of the books say something about emotional states, but I don't feel any difference between tries."

"Might be a good idea to take this outside. I don't mind being damage control, but we might set off the fire alarm at this rate." Gavin suggested, folding the cloak.

The three of them stood up and collected their school bags.

"Hey, dragon guy." Evora folded her arms and called for his attention, which came in the form of an admittedly spooky pair of eyes.

"My name isn't hard to remember. We share a math class." He frowned.

"Yeah I know, it's just fun to annoy you. Why are you wasting your time like that?" She grinned and wandered closer, not even acknowledging the Gaston brutes.

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen you shapeshift, like, half of your body before. Why are you wasting your time on wimpy light spells? Isn't that way beneath your abilities?"

"Shapeshifting isn't magic, it's an innate ability I possess. Changing my cloak to wings is more like stretching a muscle than spellcasting." His voice went quieter, as if he was somehow embarrassed to be talking about it.

"That's so cool..." Four-eyes whispered, staring at him in goofy amazement. Jeez, drool much?

Evora leaned closer, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. "Come on, I know you can do bigger magic. I've also seen the scorch marks in the forest."

"Those are accidents!" Drago's shoulders rose defensively. "It's a lot easier for me to do... negativity based magic. I'm trying to learn light-based spells."

She rolled her eyes. "Yawn! What would you want to do that for?"

He opened his mouth to argue or defend himself, but another voice interrupted them all.

"Right over here, Godmother. They're trying to avoid you or something." Yelling from the end of the hallway, a short boy with long blond hair was pointing them out. Floating around the corner, The Fairy Godmother followed his hand and smiled serenely, gesturing for him to relax before approaching the gathered villains.

"Hello students, may I ask what is happening here?" Her tone set Evora's teeth on edge, and she shifted her feet to a more defensive stance.

"We were just leaving, ma'am." Drago said quietly.

"Ronan tells me you were casting spells in the hallways, Drago." The thinly veiled accusation made Evora's hackles rise. "Is that true?"

"I was practicing light spells." She wanted to tell the dragon to shut up, and not to confess to anything, but wasn't fast enough. "Non-physical light. Gavin was making sure it didn't touch anything, too. We were just going to the courtyard to be safe, though." It sure sucked that someone as dangerous as Drago was so visibly afraid of one crappy old lady.

The headmistress laughed like she pitied him, a condescending giggle that was somehow worse than the damn princess's. "Now, Drago, you know that's not allowed on school grounds. We talked about this when you enrolled."

"You said dark magic wasn't allowed. I've been trying light magic-"

"Do not talk back to me." All three boys flinched at her sharp tongue. Evora bared her teeth. "I didn't wish to resort to such a thing, but to protect my school and its students, I will be putting a spell lock around the grounds. If you wish to practice magic you will do so off school property."

"But that means he has to go all the way to the forest at least!" Four-eyes protested.

"Why can't we just go out into the courtyard?" Gavin groaned.

"Too much foot traffic, I'm afraid." Fairy Godmother shook her head, producing her wand from within her sleeve and waving it in a vague figure-eight.

"What about Sandy?" Four-eyes asked.

"Who?" She paused in her spell casting.

"Sandy-er Sandra. She does magic too, are you going to make her leave every night to perform dream magic?"

"Don't be silly, Gabriel. Her kind of magic will be exempt from the spell lock, of course."

Evora wasn't surprised, but she still felt solidarity with her fellow villains and folded her arms. "That's bullshit."

"Language, Evora." The headmistress said, pointlessly.

"Well it is. Why does golden girl get to use magic but he can't?" It was a rhetorical question. She knew full well why little miss dream dust got to screw around doing wild dream shit and Drago couldn't even practice lame glowing shapes.

"Sandra's magic is entirely harmless."

"Like hell it is. She's got a direct line to everyone's brains with her dirt." She hadn't requested any magic dreams for herself in case it put her on some kind of tracking list. If magic in general didn't creep her out already, the mind-controlling sand certainly would have. "Plus, can't she knock people out with it too and conjure shit if she wants?"

"One more inappropriate word out of you and you'll have detention for a week, young lady." The Fairy Godmother snapped, and Evora grit her teeth to keep from growling. Detention would make her miss her father's training. "Sandra's magic has been vouched for by her father and cleared by me. She is trusted not to misuse it." She finished casting her own spell and turned to the crowd with an infuriating smile.

"I still don't see why he can't use light spells. They're in the books you lend out at the library." Four-eyes, or Gabriel, as she had called him, argued again.

"Drago is well aware of the rules surrounding his use of magic. The type of spells don't matter. I will not argue this any further. You should all get to class." With that, their gracious and magnificently prejudiced principal waved her wand and disappeared with a pop.

"Bitch." Evora muttered at her vacated spot.

"Are you ok?" Gabriel had a hand on Drago's shoulder, and, despite asking the question, looked far more upset than the latter.

"Fine. I don't mind going to the forest." He tugged his cloak tighter around his arms and schooled his face into neutrality. Evora searched his eyes for anything beyond the blank numbness and briefly wondered if Precious was really as good at reading his emotions as she claimed.

"That's such a hike, dude. You won't be able to practice between classes." Gavin frowned.

"I know. I'll survive." A twitch in his forehead gave his irritation away. "Thanks for trying to help, though. All of you." Drago glanced up from the ground at Evora and nodded his gratitude.

"Any time." Gabriel smiled- again, drool much?

"Oh yeah. You were heckling him not two seconds before, why'd you change your tune so fast, Evora?" Gavin rounded on her, eyebrow raised.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Because I hate that damn fairy, as every villain with half a brain should. I knew she wasn't gonna change her mind no matter what we said, but it's still fun to get under her wings."

"Maybe if we get Sandy to say something to her she might reconsider." Gabriel suggested. "I'm sure there's other students that will want the spell lock lifted, too."

"The spell lock won't affect other students, dumbass."

"Huh?"

Evora was about to explain, when she caught a flicker in Drago's eyes. "Tell him."

He ducked his head and his cheeks took on a weird bluish color (wait was that what it looked like when he blushed? That was so weird- well, It made sense considering the green skin. Still, gnarly). "Large-scale spell locks that... neutralize all magic- with and without exceptions- are... they consume a lot of energy. It's a lot easier to just neutralize my magical signature within a certain radius."

"So she's just singling you out?!" Gabriel almost shouted.

"Was that not fucking obvious?" Evora shook her head. "For such a nerd, you sure are dense. Must run in the family." She grinned and punched Gavin's shoulder.

"Nah, I just got all the brains, right bro?" Gavin passed the punch on to his brother. "I got the brains, brawn, good looks, and eyesight! If you weren't taller than me, I'll bet folks wouldn't even know your name."

"Ha ha. You're so hilarious I forgot how to laugh." Gabriel said sarcastically. "I might not be doing our dad's entire regime every day, but I can still fold you like a chair."

"Ohhh, is that a challenge, four-eyes?" Heh. Maybe Evora should reconsider hanging out with Gavin more often.

"Bring it on, meathead!" Gabriel scooped him under one arm and made to dig his knuckles into his head. He managed a solid four-second noogie before Gavin threw him clear over his shoulder, rolling with him and trying to grab him in a headlock. Ok, she was starting to understand why Precious found them funny.

Drago and Evora both took a step back from the two wrestling brothers and the stream of students bottlenecked in the hallway to watch the impromptu spar. Fairy Godmother bullshit was quickly forgotten in favor of taking bets on who would win.

Evora won the bets, of course. It didn't take a genius to guess that Gavin would play dirty. People watching was her favorite pastime, after all.