"This. Is. Impossible!" Henry exasperatedly exclaims after attempting to open the jar with his bare hands.
"Xander put a spell on it, I think..." Liam furrows his brows together.
Aiden inspects the jar once again and asks,"Is he a wizard?"
"Yeah." Niall nods his head.
"Hmm, let me try." Zayla says, taking the jar from her brother, being careful not to jostle her two uncles trapped inside it.
The cat girl twirls her hand around the jar's lid, letting her magic do the rest, and to her and everyone else's surprise, it pops open.
Liam and Niall quickly fly out and change into their human sized forms, thankful that they can stretch out their wings properly now that they're not encased in the jar.
"Oh how I've missed the outside world!" Niall dramatically falls to his knees and kisses the floor.
Liam tsks at his best mate's behavior before turning his attention to the three shape shifters, "mind introducing yourselves?" he calmly asks with a smile.
"Sure!" Zayla enthusiastically agrees, "my name's Zayla, I'm the youngest." she starts off, then points to her brothers, "the one on the right is Henry, and the one on the left is Aiden, the eldest."
"We're fraternal triplets." Henry adds.
"Ah, I see. So I'm guessing your other father is a shapeshifter?"
At the mention of their papa, the triplets exchange worried glances with each other.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"I-It's our papa... He's being held against his will by an evil warlock named Simon." Zayla tells them sadly.
"Oh god, Simon? I've heard a lot about that guy. He's bad news." Niall says with a hint of annoyance.
Aiden contemplates whether they should help their dad or papa first, feeling worry for both of his parents because they both are in danger.
"Hey now, no need to over think." The brunette pixie places a hand on the eldest sibling's shoulder after seeing the distressed look on his face. "Why don't we split up?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. That way we can make sure both your parents are okay."
"I vote to save Harry!" Niall instantly decides, not liking the idea of battling with an evil warlock.
"And I'll go with uncle Niall!" Henry sides with his blonde headed uncle.
"Okay then, that leaves me, Aiden, and Zayla to go save their papa." Liam states, then looks at his accomplices, "you know where Simon's place is, right?"
"Er, no. But we know it's in the dark forest..."
Liam nods, "we better start heading out then."
_____
"You pathetic fool! You seriously thought you could escape me that easily? Might I remind you that you are under MY possession spell, so no matter where you are or go, you will still belong to ME." Simon scolds the poor blue eyed shapeshifter, who is back in his human form and is hissing in pain because of his wounded leg.
"I am not a fucking object you can just own and claim as yours!" Louis retorts with gritted teeth.
"What? Is the spell not enough to prove it for you? Would you prefer to have it be visible? Because I can easily conjure up a branding iron to do so." The warlock smirks triumphantly at seeing the boy's horrified look.
"Y-...you wouldn't."
"Oh I would, Tomlinson, want me to prove it-"
"NO! Please! I won't try to escape again! Just please, don't!" The poor lad pleads helplessly.
He already hates the fact that he's under a spell. He'd rather be dead than to have a visible reminder that he'll never be free for the rest of his life.
"That's what I thought."
Before leaving, Simon chains both of Louis' hands to the wall then exits the dungeon with a content evil grin, not giving a second thought for the boy's wound. He deserves it.
"Argh..." Louis groans, letting a few tears drip down his face because the pain was truly excruciating to bare. There's nothing he can do but sit on the cold cemented floor of the dungeon.
After a few minutes, the door opens once again. But it wasn't Simon who came in, it's his wizard friend Zayn.
"Shit. Lou, hold on." The raven haired boy curses and hurries to kneel next to the pained shapeshifter.
"It fucking hurts, Z." The blue eyed lad whimpers pathetically.
"Sh... just calm down, yeah? I can heal it."
Muttering the healing spell under his breath, the wizard lad presses his hands to Louis' wound, which made the boy wince, but later calmed down once the wound healed.
"There, all good?" Zayn faces his friend after making sure the wound was completely gone.
"Y-yeah, yeah I-... Z, thank you for all your help."
"It's no problem, Lou."
"But I'm-... I'm still here. You helped me escape but I'm still here." The older lad's voice cracks at the end.
Zayn instantly wraps the boy in a hug, not caring that it's one-sided cause of the chains restraining Louis from returning it, "it's alright, bro."
"No it isn't..." Louis sobs into his friend's shoulder, "I'm sick of doing what he says. I hate it here. And I know you do, too."
"Yeah, I do." Zayn says after pulling away from the hug.
"Why don't you just quit?"
"I can't do that."
"Well why not? No one is stopping you. Simon can easily find a replacement for you. I don't understand why you choose to stay when you're fully capable of leaving all of this behind!"
"Louis, I know that..."
"Then wh-"
Zayn cuts him off.
"To leave all of this behind would mean leaving you, too. Lou, I can't do that."
"So I'm the one holding you back? Z, please, just forget about me and live your life the way you want to." Louis insists, having lost all hope for himself, so he doesn't want his best mate to suffer as well.
"I've made many stupid decisions in my life. One of those is having to work for Modest. But if I were to up and leave you right now, that would top to be the worst decision of all. I'm not leaving without you, Lou. Whether you like it or not, I'm staying by your side."
"You're a fucking sap, you know that?" The shape shifter laughs through his tears, extremely grateful to have Zayn as his best friend, "c'mere and give me another hug."
Zayn chuckles and does as told, embracing the older lad once again, "Remember the promise we made a few years ago? That even if it all goes wrong..."
Louis pulls away with a smile, and finishes it, "I'll be with you, my friend, from dusk till dawn."
