My Golden Life

Chapter 62

We had set our plan in motion and were ready to spring into action. While Fiona, her mum, and the rest of the princesses went to infiltrate the castle, Donkey, Puss, and I proceeded to rescue our other friends. We firstly headed to the zoo and searched for anyone we could find. Looking in each of the inclosures, I suddenly spotted Donkey's kids lying inside one of them with sad looks on their faces.

"Guys," I called out. "Over here."

"How can we get them out?" Donkey asked. "There's no key."

"That hasn't stopped me before," I laughed. I pulled out a pin from my hair and proceeded to pick at the lock. I clearly hadn't lost my touch as the gate opened in no time.

"My babies!" Donkey cried.

However, since he was stuck in the wrong body, his kids immediately flew over to Puss, which was quite funny to watch. They attacked him with hugs and kisses, which Puss wasn't happy with at all.

"Come on," I said. "We've got to find everyone else."

We managed to rescue Pinocchio from being trapped inside the theatre box and quickly found Gingy, who was inside a bakery shop. But the question was how to break him out as he behind a glass window.

Donkey tried to cut the glass the way Puss could, but he was going incredibly slow, and his cutting skills weren't exactly the best.

"Could you be anymore faster?" I groaned. "We don't have all day."

"I got it, I got it. Don't worry." He assured me.

I could see Puss growing impatient, so he used his hoof to shatter the glass, and I let Gingy jump onto my hand.

"You ok there, Gingy?" I asked.

"I am now," He smiled. "I thought I was going to get eaten. Thanks, guys."

It didn't take us too long to find the others, and once we did, we all ran towards the castle and crouched down behind a bush. Puss peeped his head around it to make sure the front gate was no longer guarded, and thankfully it wasn't thanks to Fiona and the princesses.

"O to the K. The coast has cleared." Puss said, turning back to us.

"All right, people, let's do this thing!" Donkey cheered. Go Team Dy-No-Mite!!"

"I thought we agreed we would go by the name of "Team Super Cool," Pinocchio said

"As I recall, it was Team Awesome," Gingy added.

"Guys, this is seriously unnecessary," I moaned. "It doesn't matter!"

Clearly, my words fell on deaf ears as they continued discussing a team name. It was honestly like talking to a brick wall.

"I voted for Team Alpha Wolf Squadron," The Big Bad Wolf uttered.

"Alright! Alright! Alright!" Donkey said. "From henceforth, we are to be known as Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynomite Wolf Squadron."

"Ach to Lieber!" One of the pigs cried. "There is some strange little girl over there staring at us!"

When we all turned around, I felt my heart begin to flutter again.

That was no girl that we were staring at, but someone I knew all too well.

"Artie!" Donkey called out to him, but he just kept walking away.

Puss hurried on after him while Donkey and I followed behind.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hey! Where is the fire, Senor?" Puss asked, but Artie just pushed past him.

"Oh please, don't act so innocent." He scoffed. "The three of you knew what was going on the whole time, and you kept it to yourselves."

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes again, but I refused to let myself cry again, especially in front of Artie.

"Artie, it's not like it seems," Donkey said.

"It's not? I think it seems pretty clear. He was using me. That's all there is to it." He turned and began walking down the path again.

"Using you?" Donkey gasped. "Man, you really don't get it!"

"Shrek only said those things to protect you!" Puss added.

"Charming was going to kill you, Artie!" Donkey called out, making him stop in his tracks. "Shrek saved your life."

"And now his life is on the life," I said.

Artie stood where he was for a few moments before turning back to face us. I walked over to him, a funny feeling was bubbling inside my chest.

"If we don't do something, Shrek will die," I explained. "I know what he did was wrong. He shouldn't have lied to you about this whole king business, but right now, he needs us."

He let out a short sigh and then looked down at the ground. I took my hand and gently lifted his chin up so that he was staring right at me.

"You mean so much to me, Artie. I would never ever hurt you like this," I whispered. "I swear I honestly didn't know Shrek was supposed to be king. You know I would have told you, right?"

Artie continued to stare at me, a look of guilt growing on his face before nodding.

"I...I know," he stuttered. "You wouldn't keep something like that from me. And what I said about you and your past... that was way out of order. I'm so so sorry."

"It's ok," I said softly. "You were upset and angry, I understand."

"No, it's not ok," he argued, taking my hand in his. "I hurt you, Katie. You don't deserve someone who is like that towards you. I feel so terrible and I-"

I immediately cut him off by pressing my lips against his. I could tell he was startled by this, but he eventually wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. Just having Artie with me was more than enough to keep me smiling. He meant the world to me, and I didn't want us to fall apart over this. We then pulled away, both of us smiling at each other.

"So... we're good then? You forgive me?" He asked.

"Yea, we're good. And of course, I forgive you." I chuckled.

"Sorry to interrupt this lovely moment," Puss interrupted. "But we need to get going and fast."

"Sorry, you're right." I nodded. "We have a play to crash. You in Arthur?"

"Of course," He declared. "We also have an ogre and a kingdom to save as well."

So with that, we rejoined the group, and all of us hurried towards the castle. Time was ticking, and we needed to put a stop to Charming's plan, or else all hope would be lost.