Ellie's Flames BOOK 2

13: The Two Towers

"---three---"

"---AHAHAHAHA---"

"---two---"

"Sera, I'd shut up." I say tightly.

"---AHAHAHAHA---"

"One."

"Ha." Sera says mockingly, closing her mouth with a smug grin on her face. Gothel doesn't even move. Pitch's face slowly falls back to paste, and he breathes, trying to calm himself.

"Fine." He hisses. "Fine. Now, Gothel, can you please figure out whatever it was you needed from his daughter so I can exact my revenge?"

"What about me?" Cruella demands. "And baby!" She squeaks her puppy again. I feel a newborn sympathy for Carlos having to grow up with this cuckoo as his mother.

Pitch rolls his eyes. "Fine. You can do whatever you like with her before Gothel, as long as you're quick."

Cruella grins and primps her Einstein 'do before crossing to my bars and pressing a keycode into whatever pad is next to my door. My bars groan as they slide open, and Cruella walks inside. I start to stand up, but Pitch waves his hands and sand trickles from his dress, wrapping around my fists and connecting to the ground as very short shackles.

Great. Now I really feel like my mom. Except she froze hers off, and I can't. Maybe I can burn them, but there's no guarantee I'll be able to do it fast enough right now before Pitch takes those, too. So I don't struggle when Cruella waves the other two away, and they cover Sera's cell with a curtain before exiting.

"Hi." I say. Easy enough to start a conversation with 'hi', even to crazy old bats.

Cruella looks surprised. "Oh. Hi?"

"So... can you, you know, exact revenge quickly?" I prompt. "So I can move on to the other two?"

Cruella looks further confused, and stays standing so my neck starts to cramp looking up at her.

"So..." I draw the word out. "We're in Rapunzel's tower?"

Cruella's face is hilarious. "How'd you know?"

I point out of the cell, where the walls are covered in peeling paint. "I figured."

"Well, yes, I suppose we're in her tower. But we're in the second tower, the one Gothel used when Rapunzel was very young. As you can see... Rapunzel was quite the artist, even at a young age. But she was tiny enough that she won't remember this tower, making it very safe."

"For you." I point out. "I'm here against my will, most likely about to be killed."

Cruella still looks surprised, so I'm wondering if this is her resting face. "Well, of course. Why else would you be here?"

"Polite scolding?" I suggest.

"What? Scolding? No, of course not. You took my son away from me! Why would I scold you for that!?"

I look down at the floor, tired of feeling my neck spasm. "I didn't take Carlos away from you. He chose to stay on his own accord. If you were an awful parent, then that's your own fault."

She stiffens, that much I can see from my angle of her ankles. "I was an amazing parent! I actually stuck around, unlike your low-down father!"

My head snaps back up. "So you do know that Hades is my dad!"

"Of course!"

"Because Pitch took my mom's powers." I explain. "Not my dad's."

"Then why haven't you used your powers to escape?" She asks, not seeming to realize she's asking a very flammable girl why she's not on fire.

"Because..." I look down again, staring at my encased hands. "I can't."

"Well, why not?"

"Because I don't want to hurt anyone, you old bat!" I snap.

She groans as she sits down next to me on the stone. "Why? Hurting people is the best fun!"

"No, it's not!" I yell. "Fun is running around, reading a book, listening to music, hanging with friends! Fun is going on a date with my boyfriend, making fun of Uma and her seafood crew! Fun is being sane, not a weird old crone!"

She stares at me.

"I don't expect you to understand." I turn away from her, cursing myself for giving so much away. I've always heard Cruella doesn't have powers, but there's something that radiates off of her, coaxing words out.

Possibly it's the fact that she looks so crazy she can't possibly be smart enough to blow my secrets.

Cruella pats my knee consolingly. "Don't worry, girlie. You'll be dead soon enough, and then you won't have to think about hurting people!"

I glare at her, my idea of her being too crazy cemented. "Gee, I feel so much better."

"Good!" She stands. "Bye! Say bye, Baby!" She squeaks her stuffed puppy once more and flounces out of my cell. Gothel and Pitch join her in the doorway, and Sera's curtain is lifted. The expression on her face tells me that she heard every word that was said.

She mouths the word crazy to me, and then grins towards Cruella, nodding feverently. I wonder whether my friend is at all sane.

Pitch cracks his knuckles. "Now, Gothel, what was it you said you wanted with Jack's darling girl?"

My mouth pops open. "Wait. What?"

_________________________________

TA DA

that is all that needs saying.

TA. DA.

Also, props to Meloetta246 for guessing both Cruella De Vil and Mother Gothel!! 

I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was a LOT of fun to write, what with Cruella being banana balls and all.