Chapter 2
Clarissa had always known how it would end. She had been raised on Happily Ever Afters and When You Wish Upon a Stars, after all. She knew that it would end with True Love conquering all.
But there had been periods in her life when Clarrisa had doubted that.
When she was six, her father had sat her down and explained what it meant to be a Dovey, the expectations she needed to live up to, the goals she had to achieve. The Dovey name carried weight, he had told her. You must make us proud.
When she was eight, her mother had explained that Happily Ever Afters were between a prince and a princess, and that was why she had to succeed at school. So she could find her own prince and ensure the Dovey legacy would continue to shine.
Nobody had asked her if she wanted that life.
But still, she had poured every fiber of her being into making her parents proud. She had excelled in classes and had been on track to graduate at the top of her class.
But as her classmates gossiped about the princes and knights in their grade, she had found herself watching the curve of her friend’s neck as she sang, basking in the warmth of her roommate’s laugh, stealing glances of her classmate in her new dress. She had found herself envying the boys dancing with her friends at balls.
She had wondered if she was broken. She knew she could never be the daughter her parents wanted her to be. And so, she had become a Fairy Godmother instead.
Her parents had been devastated.
When she had first started teaching at the school, on those nights when sleep evaded her and her only companion were the ungraded essays on her desk, she wondered if she had done the right thing. She had been told that the only way to Happily Ever Afters was through true love and only princesses and princes shared True Love’s kiss.
Perhaps she would just have to resign herself to a loveless life, to be content with helping others find their True Love instead.
But then she had met the striking woman with piercing green eyes and a smirk that hid a lifetime of pain and suffering, and all of Clarissa’s fears had disappeared. At that moment, she had known how it would end.
The fact that she had immediately nicknamed her “Princess” made her smile all these years later. Perhaps there was some kind of grand design, some sort of fate that guided them on their paths.Because how could it be anything but fate that had brought this woman to her?
And as she had stared at the woman who would become her Evil counterpart for the first time, Clarissa had known she was a goner.
Because how could anybody look at her and not be blown away? Not just by her beauty (which Clarissa was the first to admit was beyond comprehension) but by her personality, her heart, her spirit. She had tried to bury it beneath layers of acidic wit and intimidating stares – especially at the beginning when she was still trying to prove herself as a teacher and then dean – but Clarissa had been the first to see through that act.
She was everything Clarissa had been taught to distrust, to pity, to other . She was sharp, jagged lines where Clarissa was soft, sanded edges. She was the sound of broken glass while Clarissa was the tinkle of wind chimes. She was the harsh, biting words to Clarissa’s soothing, comforting ones.
But she was more than that. She was the hilarious one with the perfect quip for every occasion. And Clarissa knew she was the luckiest of any Ever because she was one of the few who had the privilege of hearing her laugh.
She was the spontaneous one. The only one who knew how to get Clarissa out of her head and simply embrace the life in front of her. She was the grounded one when Clarissa’s thoughts spiraled.
She was everything Clarissa was not. And that’s what had made them work so well together.
And yes, she raged and threatened and lashed out. After all, she was carrying the weight of a failed legacy and the expectation to be the one to turn it around. But even then, she had never backed down.
And that made her admire her even more.
She had been up against unbeatable odds time after time again, and she had never given up. Instead, she continued to get back up on her feet, wiping blood off her mouth with her sleeve, spitting out “Is that the best you’ve got?”
She was the culmination of thousands of years of Nevers being told they were not enough.
And she hadn’t accepted it. Instead, she had thrown herself into proving everybody wrong.
And she loved her all the more for that.
And she didn’t care that she was an Ever and she was a Never. She didn’t care that this woman had more walls up than the most fortified castles. She didn’t care that she was determined to keep her air of indifference and casual coolness about her. All she cared about was showing this woman that she was worthy of love.
And they had been on that road. Clarissa knew that.
And Clarissa had known how it would end. With True Love’s Kiss. And they would be happy together. It wouldn't be perfect – she wasn’t naive enough to believe things would be easy or perfect – but they would learn to live with their pain and scars and heal together .
And slowly, so very slowly — for how could one who had been hurt and used and abandoned so many times over the years learn to trust overnight? — she had been proven right. From their first meeting, she had known that this woman who professed herself Evil and unfeeling was more than a heartless villain. And as they grew as colleagues and then as friends, those rare occasions when the mask had slipped and Clarissa could see between the cracks grew more frequent.
And then — Clarissa still wasn’t sure when — the mask no longer slipped. It was purposefully taken off, the walls were lowered, and Clarissa had seen Lesso.
No, she corrected herself, tears streaming down her face. She had seen Leonora.
And so, Clarissa had always known how it would end.
The years continued to pass, and their friendship began to evolve into something else.
There were moments of tenderness, of companionship, of something more. Something neither of them were willing to name. Out of worry that naming it would scare it off. Out of fear that others would destroy the tentative and fragile thing that was beginning to take hold in their hearts. Out of the knowledge that others would never accept them and would instead stare in horror at them, reminding them that an Ever and a Never could not end up together.
But despite the hesitance, despite the odds, despite the illogicality of it all, she had known that she had fallen in love with Leonora just as she had known Leonora had fallen in love with her.
But she had never been brave enough to act on it.
There had been plenty of opportunities. When Leonora had given her the pumpkin paperweight. When she had gifted Leonora the cane with a songbird shaped handle. Any of those countless evenings they spent together in their shared office, neither of them wanting to admit they’d already finished grading because it would mean they’d have to leave the other’s company.
But she had never been brave. She had been loving and optimistic and encouraging. But she had not been brave. Not where it counted. Not when she needed it.
There had been plenty of opportunities. But she had always told herself there would be more.
After all, Clarissa had always known how it would end.
What Clarissa hadn’t known was that True Love could fail.
But now, as she held her dying lover in her arms, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding that was coming too fast, was running too deep, was staining too dark, she realized that there would not be another opportunity.
They were out of time before they even had the chance to begin.
And so, as she felt the body of the only one she had ever truly loved grow cold in her arms, begging Leonora not to go without her, Clarissa let herself wonder.
Could it have been enough? Just the two of us? If I’d ignored what others said, dared to defy the rules, if I had said the words we were both thinking. Would it have been enough?
But it was too late for that line of questioning.
That way lies madness, she knew.
But still, she wondered. Every morning when she saw the sun rise and she woke to an empty bed. During every class she taught when she would glance across the room to share a look with the dean that wasn’t there. Every time she came across a student with that same swagger and barbed wit that was used as armor against a cruel and heartless world. Every time, she wondered.
If she had been taught it was okay to love, if I had been taught that those voices were wrong, if the world had been different, could it have been enough?
And so she dedicates herself to changing the rules. To combining the schools, to teaching the students that everybody is worthy and deserving of love. That Evil and Good are labels but that they do not define a person. It is one’s actions and the character of their heart that defines a person.
But still she wonders. And that way lies madness indeed.
Until one day, after a life of fighting for change, she finds herself staring up into those shining eyes she thought she’d never see again. She feels the warmth of two hands, a warmth that was never present in life, as they entangle with her own, pulling her up towards her .
And as Leonora Lesso pulls her into an embrace and whispers, “Welcome home,” Clarissa stops wondering and lets herself rest.