De Fragee Prutia

f o u r t e e n

Nami brought the book closer to her. She bookmarked the page that the shadow showed and went to the beginning of the book. It was a mix of a spellbook and an anthology. Everything on magic could be found here.

As she flipped through the chapters on pixie dust and mermaids, her eyes caught the words 'fae' and 'Maleficent'. Nami stopped real quick at the sketch of a dragon and read it was a quality Maleficent's kin possessed. She wondered if Mal knew she had that ability, she'd have to tell her at the Cotillion.

Nami finally worked up the nerve to go back to the dog-eared page the shadow initially showed her. On the page was a creature that looked vaguely similar to the one in front of her. She scanned through the pages. What she was reading couldn't have been correct. She always associated voodoo with Dr. Facilier and his dark forces.

Yet, here was Mama Odie saying otherwise. Here, she was reading voodoo can be used for good or evil. Shadow magic didn't mean bad, not necessarily. It was about the intentions of your heart. And her heart was slowly being poisoned. All that suppressed magic needed somewhere to go and the only place available was her heart. That's why she had been in so much pain. She wasn't fighting off dark magic, she had been slowly killing herself.

"This is crazy," Nami muttered to herself as she got up. "I can't believe I'm about to do this, this is freakin' insane."

Nami filled up a glass with water from the bathroom sink and grabbed the little pot of pixie dust off the shelf. Nami returned to sit in front of her shadow. If Mama Odie was right, she was going to stop fighting. The pixie dust had been helping her suppress the shadow, keeping it chained to the pot so it couldn't get more out of hand than it already was.

"If this is a trick, so help me, I'll crawl from the depths of the Underworld myself to kill you."

The shadow said nothing. Nami drowned the pixie dust in water, watching all the glitter and twinkle fade as the dust went out. The shadow creature crawled towards her. The shadow touched the side where the wound was. She could feel it healing completely. It picked up its crown from the ground and placed it on her head.

"Me, friend."

The creature sank to the floor. It returned to being a plain shadow of her sitting on the floor. Nami stood up slowly, nothing happened. The shadow didn't do anything weird, it behaved like normal. She figured it out. She had to tell Ben.

Ben wasn't back yet and hadn't answered any of Nami's calls; whatever he had to handle at Seaside was taking longer than she thought. She wasn't sure if he would make it in time for Cotillion to start. Nami still couldn't believe the committee got the boat she wanted.

Well, it stayed park in the Auradon Harbor; but she still got the boat and ocean venue she hoped for. Nami placed her phone with the ushers at the start of the red carpet and just hoped Ben would make it in time. Right now though, she had to represent both of them and walk the carpet alone.

This is was the part she hated. Cotillion was fun but it was technically a Royal Event, which meant a red carpet, press, and Nami wearing a crown. The cameras snapped as she struck different poses. She made her way to the entrance at the top of the stairs. It was customary that every guest's name be announced but they could opt out. Nami, being Ben's date, had no choice. Lumière announced her presence and the entire Cotillion watched as she descended the steps.

"Hey, Ben is on his way." Beast and Belle greeted her at the bottom.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart."

"Oh, thank you."

Evie came to collect Nami. She brought the girl over to the rest of the VKs, along with Doug and Lonnie.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like, I'm running on limited time." She knew what she had read in Mama Odie's spellbook; but, she was still skeptical.

"Hey, look, if anything happens we're right here for you."

Nami gave them all a hug.

"M, you won't believe what I found out you could do..." Nami made small talk while they waited for Ben.

"Huh, really? Wicked! You want to test it out?" Maybe she shouldn't have told Mal, she seemed a little too excited about it.

"Maybe not right now..."

The fanfare of trumpets drew everyone to attention as Lumière announced Ben's name. Nami smiled as Ben came down the stairs. He smiled at her but it seemed awkward, it never made it to his eyes. Ben formally bowed to her. Nami curtsied back awkwardly; this wasn't something the two ever did, not even at Royal Events.

"I'm so sorry, I tried to call you. You didn't pick up the phone. I wish I got the time to explain... I didn't mean to embarrass..."

"Ben, what are you talking about?"

He didn't have to explain because she could see Uma at the top of the stairs. The crowd murmured as she gave a shy smile at the top. Nami was stunned into silence as everyone watched Ben go halfway up the stairs to escort Uma down. He kissed the Beast ring that was resting on Uma's pointer finger. So that's why Nami hadn't seen him wear it or give it back to her after the Isle.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry. It all just happened so fast and I thought I'd be back in time to explain. Something happened to me with Uma on the Isle. I tried to ignore it but..."

Ben and Uma smiled at each other, noses touching. Nami already knew what was happening but she needed to hear it out loud.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying..."

"It was love!" Uma cut him off all smiley.

"It was."

"I just realized how much Ben and I are alike, you know?"

"We are," Ben said, giddy.

"I know." Uma's voice held the same emotion as Ben.

"Not too thrilled I risked my life for him," Carlos spat out.

"Did you go back for her?" Mal asked.

"He didn't have to... I dove through the border before it closed. I'm a pretty decent swimmer."

"You are," Ben chuckled.

They were all mushy over each other. Very different than Nami and Ben had ever been.

"I understand you now, NaNa. Why you never wanted to say I love you. You knew we weren't meant to be together. It's okay, I get it now. You don't have to pretend."

"That's not fair, Ben. I wasn't lying about anything. I wasn't pretending."

Did he really think she made up what she told him as an excuse to avoid saying it? Nami watched as they prepared for the first dance. The music started and she watched them perform a waltz that took her ages to perfect. The VKs pulled her closer to them.

"We're with you, Nami." Lonnie put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's get you out of here."

Jay was by her other side, ready to escort her out. Beast and Belle stopped them on the way out.

"Honey, we're so sorry. We had no idea. I'm gonna talk to him."

Jane ran up ahead and asked Lumière to do something.

"And now for the unveiling of King Ben's masterpiece! Designed especially for his lady," Lumière called out.