Tobias Earwicket's POV

Tobias splashed cold water onto his face, hunched over the sink in the boys' washroom at Wonderland High. Pull yourself together, he thought as he gripped the sink for support. A dozen thoughts swirled around his mind as he clenched his teeth. Shutting his eyes, he tried to block out the voices. His throat ran dry as his head pounded, on the verge of another headache. "Good Godmothers," he muttered, wiping the water droplets off his face with the sleeve of his sweater. Heading out of the washroom, he collided with someone.

His heart skyrocketed. "Oh my word, I'm so sorry—" His jaw dropped. "Melina?"

Melina blinked. "Tobias! Oh, hi, erm, hi."

Cue the awkward silence.

"Tobi, Tobi, look they're all back!" Katrina Cheshire's voice filled the empty hallways. Tobias glanced around, seeing that most of his Wonderlandian friends had returned. Maxwell Hearts, Chase Redforth, and Scarlett Rouge had also returned. Katrina wrestled Chase into a bear hug, her cat tail wagging from side to side. "Wait, we're missing two people."

Tobias squinted, pushing up his glasses. "Blaise Blanc and Vesperina Hatter."

"They're busy elsewhere," Scarlett filled in.

"How is Blaise by the way?" Rina asked briskly as they wandered through the halls of Wonderland High. It was their free period, but most students chose to spend it in the Courtyard. Tobias vaguely remembered Blaise's and Rina's breakup. It was the end of Freedom Year and the Wonderland Curse had only worsened.

I'm leaving Wonderland, Kitty, he had told her. You should come with me, the curse is a risk.

I'm staying, she replied. They had gotten into an argument shortly after that, though Tobias really didn't want to involve himself in that. By the end of the day, Blaise had left Wonderland and Rina had remained in Wonderland. She merely said, "It'll be good for him, you know?"

"Fine, just a whole lot... different," Melina amended.

"Oooh, how's Vespy?"

"Still mad, so she's doing fine," Maxwell replied as they came to a stop. He gestured to a new girl next to him. She looked as if she was foreign to Wonderland. "This is Dahlia Dopey, she's a newcomer. She's helping us on our mission."

Tobias greeted her awkwardly whilst Katrina stared at Dahlia. Unblinking, unfazed. She didn't smile, but she didn't quite back away. Dear Grimm, not again... The Cheshires claimed that they would sense bad omens as cats do, but Tobias didn't exactly believe her. Omens? Seriously? "Anyways," Tobias said quickly, steering Rina away by the shoulders. "What mission were you talking about?"

The voices in his head buzzed as Melina explained what happened in Ever After High. Panic rose and fell rapidly and repeatedly as he stared at her. He should apologize. No, but that meant he actually had to talk to her. But he would be an ass if he didn't. Stop arguing with yourself, Tobi!

"Book pages?" Rina asked, her voice snapping Tobias out of his thoughts. "Hmm, I think I've heard a few rumours, but you're not going to like it."

"Tell us," Scarlett urged.

"Word has it that mysterious pages arrived in the Chess Battlefield. The same battlefield that can only be used or unlocked in the scenario of war. War between the White and Red sides." Rina glanced between Melina and Scarlett. "If it's the Storybook of Legends' pages you seek, then you need to accept your destiny. You need to go to war."

"Hex no!" Melina and Scarlett said in unison. Maybe they had more things in common than they realized.

"Well, there's only one person who can unlock the battlefield without the war occuring."

Maxwell sighed. "The Queen of Hearts; my mother."

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After school ended, they were walking towards the Castle of Hearts. It was good to catch up with his friends, it took some stress off Tobias' mind. "Well, Tobi and I have just been trying to survive the Wonderland Curse," Rina said, pointing up to the sky. A green vortex had stayed there for quite some time, and it would only get worse.

Chase frowned. "If only there was some way to cleanse the place."

"Maybe another day," Melina said. "Hey, we'll catch up to you guys later." And by we, Tobias realized she meant him and her. Shoot me in the head right now, he thought. And he was seriously considering it. She smiled brightly at him as the others went ahead. "So, how has life been going in Wonderland?"

"Rina summed it up," he said awkwardly.

"Great. Now, I want answers."

"What?"

"I know, it sounds terribly rude of me to spring this on you last-minute, but I want to know why. Tobi, you're a good friend of mine even before we became, well, whatever we were. So I want to know the truth." Tobias had suddenly realized just how drastically her Riddlish accent had diminished and her words were more fluent, more modern. A lot of things had changed between them since their breakup.

Tobias was sure he was acting manic now, his heart going a dozen miles an hour. Blood rushed to his head as he tried to form the words. Talking was never his strong-suit, especially in high-pressure situations. It's just Melina, you big baby, his mind reminded him as he felt a sense of impending doom. You used to tell her everything, what changed?

"You might want to sit down for this o-one," he spluttered, though it was mostly for him. He wiped the sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand as he fiddled with his thumbs. "Uh, I-I really don't know how to start the conversation."

"Try to," Melina encouraged.

"You know h-how I'm the next March Hare right? A total piece of anxiety, right?" Tobias fidgeted the collar of his sweatshirt. The voices attacked him all at once as he closed his eyes shut, failing to go on. It felt as if he couldn't breathe. "My wh-whole destiny is to be just that. Us Earwickets have several mental illnesses, it gets worse with each generation." Oh, now you ruined it all by telling Melina you're madder than the Mad Hatter. "Guess I got the short end of the stick."

"Mental illnesses?"

Tobias was dreading this conversation. "I dunno, like anxiety attacks are just worse for me." He was always sort of stingy talking about his issues, he was afraid of judgement. He stood up, his palms slick from sweat. "Actually, you know, t-this isn't a big deal. We should catch up with the others and forget this ever happened—"

Melina tugged him back down. "No, we're going to have a decent chat about this."

Reluctantly, Tobias sat back down. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he supposed the only thing he could do now was explain. "I... I knew my anxiety started to worsen around the time I started Wonderland High. It's really terrible, Melina, it's as if my own mind is torturing me. Bringing out the scared, worst parts of me. I-I didn't want you to see that!"

"So you broke things off."

"Sort of, yeah. I'm better now, Dad finally got me on meds." Tobias was sure he was sweating an entire waterfall now. "I know, I'm weird and stuff, but—"

Melina gave him a big hug. "I'm here for you, okay?"

Wait, wha-aaaaaa-t? He was surprised, he had tried to predict a million outcomes, but this was not one. It was a bit strange, foreign to him even. In Wonderland, everyone was supposed to be mad, you couldn't be struggling with mental issues and call it a problem. It was normal here. Maybe that's why it took Tobias so long to reach out, everyone laughed it off before. "This is awkward," he said bluntly as Melina laughed. "Like, super awkward."

Standing up, Melina smiled at him. It was a comforting smile, a smile he remembered. "Well, if we're not going to date, can we at least be friends? Like how we used to?" To that, Tobias agreed. Suddenly, that prior dread lessened and he felt a bit lighter. Just a bit happier.

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Raven Queen's POV

"Holy hex," she breathed, a trail of freezing vapour escaping her mouth. They had gone north, reaching colder temperatures. They had to stop a few times to stock up on winter clothes and snow boots. Right now, she is buried under a pile of sweaters. In front of them, there was a huge snow blizzard. Or, rather, a snow tornado. "This is actually insane."

"So how do we get to the Top of the World?" Lyric questioned.

Winter pointed at the tornado that was coming closer to them. "Go."

Luka blinked blankly. "You want us to go into the tornado, which possibly could rip us to shreds and not mention I'm wooden, and trust it to whisk us away? Good Godmothers... we're all going to die."

"We need to follow Winter's instructions and—" It was too late, the snow tornado had already neared and devoured them. Raven was ripped off from Corbin's back, the howling wind screeching in her mind. They started to go round and round as the tornado started to get higher. "Oh, for Grimm's sake, hold on tight!"

Snow blinded Raven's line of vision as she was swept away. Her stomach churned and just when she was convinced she'd throw up, she was thrown headfirst into the snow. She hacked, thumping her chest, dazed. She sat up, her hair tangled by the hail. The tornado was gone and they were suddenly somewhere else.

Her whole body felt sore, though the snow seemed to have cushioned their fall. "Guys?" Raven squinted, rising from the snow. Her legs felt heavy as she trudged through the snow, finding Winter laying on the icy ground a few feet away from her. She shook his shoulders gently. "Wake up!"

Winter jerked up, scrunching up his nose. He brushed the snow off his knees before standing up. "Are you okay?" Raven asked and he merely nodded. "I wonder where Lyric and Luka are. And Crowley and Corbin for that matter..." They walked around for a bit, trying to find their comrades, but it was fruitless. She cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting out. "Luka! Lyric! Crowley! Corbin! What the hex, where are they?"

Winter had a grave expression on his face, pointing to the distance. Raven squinted, seeing two figures and two car-sized birds in the horizon. However, it seemed as if they were being attacked by polar bears? No, the polar bears were humanoid and forced them into a carriage. "Oh my Grimm," Raven said, horrified. "They're getting kidnapped, we have to help them—"

Winter tugged on her sleeve. "Don't." He pulled Raven away and sighed. "They're my mother's soldiers," he said slowly. It was odd to hear him speak. "We can't attack, we wait. Then we follow."

"No, but they're in danger!" This went against everything Raven believed in, everything she fought for. She didn't want to see her friends hurt, she had to fight for them. She knew she was being rash, but quick decisions like these were the ones that determine the outcome of people's lives.

"The Queen won't hurt them. It's me she wants." Winter had a distant look in his eyes, deep in thought. By then, the carriage was gone; Lyric, Luka, and the crows were gone with it. "We plan first."

Raven sighed heavily. "We can't afford to lose any time."

"Then walk." Alongside, they started to trudge through the snow, following the carriage at a far distance. The cold was biting down on Raven, she was sure she was freezing her toes off. Winter, though, seemed unaffected, he was used to this type of weather. "Why would your mom want to kidnap our friends?"

Winter's upper lip twitched. "To goad me."

"Ah." Raven had to confess that she and Winter were quite alike. Both were born to be heirs of an evil destiny, they both didn't believe their mothers' teachings. Raven had no intent in becoming the Evil Queen, and it seemed Winter was rather disheartened at the mention of the Snow Queen. Both of their destinies were complicated, but it sort of gave Raven a sense of relief to not be alone. Not to be the only one in a situation like this. "Well, where do you think they'll keep Lyric and Luka?"

He exhaled sharply. "The cellar."

A/N: I know Tobias' POV was poorly written, but writing burnout is so real  😭