Blaise Blanc's POV

Blaise cleaned the blood off his sword with a cloth, seated on a rock. The droplets of blood reminded him of red. Red. They were at Tristan's tribal village after a large feast for their welcome, they retired to Tristan's house. Blaise didn't want to go to bed just yet, he had a lot on his mind. The secret was eating him alive, devouring any sense of self-respect Blaise retained for himself. It was easier to lie in Wonderland, but EAH was a whole different story. Blaise felt guilty because he was. It gnawed at him, or more likely, jabbed at him like the tip of a sword.

"Oooh, shiny and sharp sword!"

"Holy shit—" Blaise spun around and nearly stabbed Ladeline in the stomach. "Good Godmothers... Don't sneak up on me again." He sheathed the sword and crossed his arms. Ladeline Laddin was strange—not just her name—but her entire persona. She was rather persistent with befriending him. Okay, fine, that was a lie. She was super persistent.

"I thought you slept with one eye open," she teased.

"Unfortunately, a knight can only do so much," he replied sarcastically. Ladeline itched a weird part of his brain, if that actually ever made sense, and it felt odd. "Okay, seriously, why are you here?"

"Why am I doing this? Isn't it obvious? I like you, duh."

Blaise's mind went blank. "What did you just say?"

"Wait, wait, were you expecting this to be a slowburn romance or something? I don't have the patience to wait for there to be some romantic kiss at the end, I like being straightforward. Nadine, back me up here." Unfortunately, Ladeline, I am not an expert in romance. Though, I appreciate the fact you're not wasting a billion chapters... "Damnit, Nadine."

Who the hex is Ladeline talking to...? Another mystery he'd have to solve. "Hold on, you like me?" Blaise blinked blankly, trying to process all of this (Blaise is a bit slow when it involves romantic feeling, give him a sec). "No, no, that's not how it works. Good night." He hopped off the rock and started to head towards the house.

"What? You're not going to follow up? You're not going to pepper me with more questions? I know I think you're kind of hot, but you're sort of being an asshole right now." Ladeline popped up next to him. How does she keep doing that...? "I'd like an answer, at least."

Blaise was losing his marbles. "An answer? Eline, this isn't freaking Faelock Holmes where you rat out answers! I physically can't like you because it goes against my rules even if I did! And I do! But it goes against everything I fought for, everything my dad and mom fought for—"

"Hold on, Melina said you never knew your mom," Ladeline said suspiciously.

Shit. A careless mistake. "Yeah, I just meant my dad."

She narrowed her eyes. "What's the truth, Blaise? Be honest, you've been on edge since the Lifairy fire, the disappearance of the Book, and since joining Neverland and not Wonderland." Then she looked horrified. "Hold on, are you behind this all?"

"Oh, hell no. I'm an asshole, but not that much of an asshole."

"Then what's going on?"

You can't tell anyone, Dad's voice entered Blaise's mind. It will only cause chaos, it will cause war. Yet, it felt as if Blaise wasn't living, he was just surviving. "I think I know who the thief is," he admitted.

"What?" Ladeline was shocked. "And you didn't tell us? Blaise, everyone's lives are at risk and you didn't speak up?" She punched his shoulder, which hurt more than he'd admit. "What the actual fuck?!"

Blaise sighed. "Correction: I know someone who knows. God, you might want to sit down for this." So they plopped down on the grass as Blaise rubbed his tired eyes. "Long ago, Milton Grimm had a brother named Giles. But Giles believed people should have freedom whilst Headmaster Grimm disagreed, so Milton cursed Giles with a babbling curse so he wouldn't spread these 'unlawful thoughts.' Giles was locked away in the Vault of Lost Stories, which is under the Lifairy.

"I stumbled across Giles in the vault once, a few days before the fire, and Riddlish sounded similar to the babbling curse Giles had. We talked and... and..." Blaise stopped seeing flashes of Giles' face.

Guilt. Shame. Embarrassment.

"I don't know how, but he knew a lot about me. Mostly about my family history."

Ladeline was puzzled. "Blaise, are you ashamed of your ancestry? Don't be, I came from a rather poor background and I don't regret a second of it."

"No, no, it's not like that." He struggled to form the words. "You know the White and Red chess board? How are they enemies? Quite literally, each side has to go to war and kill each other." When Ladeline nodded, he exhaled sharply. "My father, Whittaker Blanc, was the last White Knight, but my mom was Omaira Corsen. She was a bishop; she was the Red Bishop."

Ladeline's eyes widened. "But that means—"

Blaise had to fake his entire childhood. He kept bleaching his hair to hide the red streaks, he had to send unaddressed letters to speak to his mom, and he eventually chose the White side to be with his father. "My parents' marriage was not loveless, but it was complicated. The White and Red Queen hate each other, if they caught word of this, a war could start. When Giles told me this, I freaked out. I left Giles and, well, here we are."

She blinked, processing all this information. "Good Godmothers," she muttered under her breath. "Wait, you said that Giles was cursed with a babbling curse and locked in the Vault of Lost Stories, which is under the Lifairy."

"I'm 100% sure that Giles knows who did this, but I was too selfish and scared to tell anyone. I didn't want Giles to tell everyone about my family, it would ruin everything." Blaise shook his head. "Doesn't matter, I already told you. I'm ruined. My family is ruined."

"Just wait a damn minute, Blaise! Our friends—well, except Ali, duh—are back at EAH and are looking for our culprit. We need to tell them about Giles, we need to help them!" Ladeline yanked Blaise to his feet. "Nadine, Nadine! We need your help!"

How may I be of service? "Notify the group back at EAH about Giles!" Already done, I was, uhm, spying on your conversation. "Good Godmothers..." Ladeline certainly seemed mad talking to thin air. She glanced at Blaise. "I know I have a big mouth, but I swear on my life that I won't breathe to a soul about this."

Blaise was surprised. "Oh. Erm, I appreciate that." He hadn't expected that. After so many years of hiding this family secret, he hadn't really considered the possibility that someone would show him a fraction of kindness. "Thanks, Eline."

Cue awkward silence.

"So now that we're done trauma-dumping, are we not going to talk about our previous conversation?" she asked bluntly. Yeah, it had been a while since Blaise dated or flirted with anyone. Back in Wonderland High, he dated so many people that he actually couldn't point fingers at Ali anymore. Oof, especially not what happened with Katrina... "Are you just going to zone out or...?"

Blaise turned bright red. "Well—"

Winnie burst through the front door on the porch. "Tristan's gone, he's missing!"

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TW: Eating disorder & body dysmorphia & thoughts of self-harm & violence. I don't want to give spoilers away, but there are some mild sexual harassment themes. PLEASE SKIP ANA'S POV IF THESE SUBJECTS ARE TOO MATURE OR MAKE YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE.

Ana Tremaine's POV

Four years ago...

Ana was always the fat kid, whether it was in Spellementary School or Ever After High. Despite being called a fatass daily, she was actually aware of much space she took up. The way she would stare at a plate of food and insist she wasn't hungry. Or maybe how she wished the numbers on the weight scale would go down instead of up.

It had really only gotten worse when Ana was in her last year of Spellementary School, which was eighth grade. Daphne and Aurelio had graduated and went to high school, leaving her alone for an entire year. She was waiting at the bus stop by the school, Daphne promised to pick her up so they could have a girls' night at the Tremaine Bakery, which Ana's parents owned.

A group of boys walked by—older students who attended EAH—and spotted Ana. One of the boys laughed and whispered 'fat whore' under his breath. Ana may be fat, but she wasn't deaf. As she wrapped her arms around her waist, the boys snickered and muttered.

"Repeat that for me." Daphne had arrived and was glaring at the boys.

Ana tugged Daphne's sleeve. "Let's go."

"No, stay here." She walked up to the boy who whispered 'fat whore' and narrowed her eyes. "If you said it then, then say it to my face." They glared at each other as the boy laughed. He was older than her and much bigger. Though, he looked mildly embarrassed to be called out in front of his pals. "Repeat what you said back to me, you bâtard."

Bastard. That should have been the end, but it wasn't. Overcome with embarrassment, the boy struck Daphne across the face. Daphne merely scoffed and pushed the boy. A light shove, harmless at best. But the boy took it further, goading his friends to step up. Ana didn't remember how it happened—the boys grabbed Daphne's hair and had snapped her glasses. Ana, frozen in place, had watched the lens fall to the ground and shatter.

She snapped out of it. "Hey, stop it! Get off her, you sick fucks—" Pain blossomed in her lower jaw as someone punched her. Ana was never in fights, not even the silly food fights, so imagine her shock when she saw her cousin—really, her blood sister—get absolutely beaten the shit out of her. Daphne on the pavement, bruised and bloodied, glaring up at the boy. The ringleader, almost.

The boy laughed in her face. "What are you going to do? Cry?"

"I'll burn this place to the ground before I do," Daphne spat, bloody spittle flying out of her mouth. Suddenly, she swung at the boy with a deafening crack! Blood erupted from the boy's nose and it crooked. Holy hex, Daphne just broke that guy's nose. Daphne stood up, her glare hardening. Immediately, the boy's eyes changed from rage to fear. The group of boys left shortly after that, leaving Ana and Daphne alone.

So, Daphne, with half of her face battered and bruised, asked, "Do I get a discount at the bakery now?"

"You're bleeding. Like, a lot," Ana said, mortified. "Why did you fight those fools?!"

"So that they'll learn to never mess with you again." Daphne cracked her knuckles, shaking her bruised fist. "I suck ass at fighting, though pretty good for my first time." When Ana failed to get the joke, Daphne rolled her eyes and said more seriously, "You're my baby cousin, I protect you. Always. No matter how dangerous, no matter how ruthless."

That was the day that Ana discovered how far Daphne would go.

Unfortunately, that would be Daphne's fatal flaw.

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Three years ago...

Ana sat at the corner of her dorm, mascara bleeding as she hugged her knees. Lucifer meowed, sitting on her lap as she scratched him behind his ears. He always liked that. It was her first year, how did she manage to mess it up already? She hated her body—she hated how rolls of fat stuck out around her waist, how thick her thighs were, and her stupid red hair that could never be tamed. It was all too ironic, she fit into her destiny perfectly; the ugly Stepsister whose beauty could not be compared to Cinderella's.

She heard the door unlock. "Ana, you will not believe what Aurelio told me about Poison Apple Theory—" Daphne stopped mid-sentence, seeing their trashed dorm. The mirror was shattered to bits, Ana had thrown stuff at it after seeing her reflection. "What in the world—" She spotted Ana sitting in the corner. "Annie?"

"I'm sorry."

"Screw 'I'm sorry,' I'll clean it up later." Daphne threw her things on the floor, walking up to Ana and slid down the wall. "Wrists, right now." Ana let out a sigh, showing Daphne her wrists. She had never hurt herself, she just thought of it once or twice.

"Thank Grimm." Daphne let Ana rest her head on her shoulder. Ana wished things like this were more common, but Daphne was a different person in EAH. She was more... cold and mean. Daphne's heart was only reserved for a few people, nothing more. "Did you eat today?"

"Yeah..."

"Liar." Ana swore that her cousin had eyes and ears everywhere.

"I want to sleep. I want to forget everything."

"What even happened?"

Ana cried, which was dumb since she had already shed so many tears that she was sure it had formed a pool. "I'm so stupid, I didn't notice him." She buried her head into Daphne's shoulder. "I can't believe I-I let him have those photos, it d-doesn't even make sense, and—"

"Ana, what photos?"

A/N: And so the lore with Ana, Daphne, and Aurelio begins! These themes are rather mature, so I suggest you skip certain chapters with these kinds of tigger warnings if you're not comfortable with it. Anyways, I need to give Ana a big hug... plus the rest of the cast, they're all kind of traumatized ngl...