Higgs opened his eyes and was surprised to find Merida in his arms and her lips on his. He pulled back and looked down at her in confusion.
"What..."
"It worked?"
"Huh?" He looked at himself and touched his face. "What the... You kissed me."
"Aye."
"Passionately."
"Aye."
"I... I'm normal?" He said, patting his body again in confusion. "What in the hell..."
"Wake up, ye divvy. It's quite obvious what happened."
"I know that but I'm thoroughly confused. How could this be possible? It can't be possible..." He gasped. "Elizabeth!"
"Really?" Merida said with a frown.
"She's upstairs!" he hissed.
"Are ye really that thickheaded?"
"I just... I... I don't... How..."
"Hakuna matata." She said with a shrug.
"What?"
"Something Edgar picked up from our guest last month. It means 'no worries'."
"Edgar!" he yelled, running back to the couch where he had deposited him.
Merida made a face. Dear lord, did I give him brain damage? She walked into the living room as Higgs held Edgar's hand for a moment. Hearing her, he looked at her and stood up.
"I'm quite certain he just passed out from the ride back."
"What exactly did ye do? I got lost in the translation."
"The Dullahan has mentioned before that it could put people on the list if it wanted to... so I thought what if I put Edgar Dunbrough on the list?"
"Alright..."
"But since Edgar's time wasn't near, I didn't really want to kill him, so I used a loophole: what if I 'killed' Edgar Dunbrough but saved Edgar Northumberly? Two Edgars, but not the same... kind of... It was extremely hard to keep that thing tamed and-"
"Shut up, ye're havering." She growled, grabbing his shirt and pulling him to her.
She planted another kiss on him but this time he was prepared and pulled away from her, looking at her in confusion.
"What is happening?"
"Cannae ye obviously see it? Ye and me are supposed to be this way."
"That's not possible."
"Why?! Why do ye always run away from me-"
"Because it's too good to be true!" he screamed, starting to hyperventilate. "You... you're too good to be real... I just... I'm very, very confused. First Elizabeth broke a curse and now you? This has never happened before."
"An ye would make up yer mind-"
"No. That's not how this works. You cannot love more than one person at a time. Even if you like two people, you still love someone more and the curse is only broken if that romantic love is from both parties. The fact that both of you lifted a curse..."
"Both of us lifted a curse?" a voice said from the door. Higgs and Merida looked over, finding Elizabeth. "Is that what I heard?"
"I... well..."
"Isnae it a strange thing? I was so distraught about Edgar and Mr. Higgs was kind enough to go and retrieve him for me. I was so elated about his kindness that I just couldnae contain myself and planted a kiss right on him and weel... somehow it cured the Dullahan so... Tada!" she said, displaying Higgs' human form.
Elizabeth looked between Higgs and Merida, narrowing her eyes at Merida. A strange feeling seemed to crackle the air but it was the briefest of things as Elizabeth plastered on a smile.
"How quaint. It seems that your curse is quite the fickle one, isn't it? At first it was slightly amusing but now I think I need to be a little more firm in the matter: I am not one to be toyed with. Take your pick, Lord Northumberly: will you choose a woman of equal social ranking that comes from a long line of nobility such as myself, or will you choose a bushy haired Scotswoman with no title, not couth, and nothing for you to gain? Not to mention the fact that she is your employee. I will not play games with this ragamuffin and to be quite honest, it's insulting to the both of us. You say your curse can only be broken by true love's kiss, but yet both of us were able to break a curse? Are you sure you're not just saying things to get the woman you want? As the ones on the giving end, please do us both a favor and choose who you want, Lord Northumberly. I can see my own way out, thank you."
She left the room and Higgs out his head in his hands. He had to be only Northumberly in history to have two people vying for him and also cure a curse without messing it up.
"As much as I dislike her, Lady Elizabeth is right." Higgs looked up. "Tisnae fair to either of us in this strange turn of events. Dinnae ken what's going on with the curse, but ye need to choose the one ye want to be with and help ye get back to normal and stick with it."
"What if I choose wrong?"
"Ye cannae live ye life pussyfooting around decisions that need to be made. An ye knew what yer decisions held, ye'd always make the right ones... In this situation, I am (apparently) 'too good to be true', even when the evidence is right there on yer shoulders. But I can help ye choose: go to Lady Elizabeth."
"But-"
Merida held up her hand. "Listen to me carefully. My heart can only take so much of this wishy-washy business ye keep putting me through. I gave my time and effort to ye for four years and ye didnae take it. Ye chose to pursue Lady Elizabeth, and when she kissed ye, ye said it was a miracle; but when I kiss ye, I'm apparently impossible? I cannae live my life like that. I willnae leave, but I'm withdrawing from this. I thank ye from the bottom of my heart that ye were able to get my boy back to me. I will forever be in yer debt for that, but this has to stop. Just be with Elizabeth, ye have my consent. I'm going to get Ailers and see if he can help me put Edgar to bed."
She walked off and Higgs groaned, throwing his face in his hands. Things were so easy when it was just Elizabeth, but now everything became complicated again. Even though Merida said to go with Elizabeth, was that really alright? She had broken a curse too, a far more entwined one than the Naga... Higgs sighed and decided to think harder on the subject.
********************
Since the Dullahan was cured early in August and Merida had given up consent to him pursuing Elizabeth, he decided to spend most of the month begging her to forgive him and to prove that she was the one he wanted. Although it was a bit of a jab, Merida kept to her own promises and didn't get involved in anything that Higgs was doing regarding Elizabeth. She kept to her duties as his maid and took up trying to set up Edgar for going to live with Margaret. Things were looking alright at first, but then she announced that she would be moving into Jamison's manor, giving the current one to Fuchsia, and so it wouldn't be feasible to keep Edgar. Edgar promised he wouldn't do anything to compromise the tranquility of his mother's employer, happy enough to stay silent as a thank you for his rescue. Merida filled him in about what had happened when he was returned that night and at first Edgar wanted to throttle Higgs, but he realized it wouldn't do anyone any good. He was just happy to be with Merida, it was more than enough.
The month came to a close with nothing new and Merida felt guilty that breaking the curses would make life so very mundane for her. She knew it was a good thing, but the unexpected kept her on her toes and the days very interesting.
"Me-ri-da!" Higgs said overly joyful on the first day of September.
He booped her on the nose in the hallway and Merida made a face.
"What?"
"It's a new month. Guess what I am." He said, rocking back and forth on his heels.
"A nuisance."
"Wrong. Guess again."
Merida thought for a moment. "Merman?"
"You are correct." He said, booping her again.
"Ugh, does that mean I have to deal with ye navigating Elizabeth even more now?"
"Not only that, I'm quite randy to the point that I feel like doing anything to everyone. I'm in such crazy elated high that I'm quite unsure what to do."
Merida blinked. "Ye're awfully calm for someone who is supposedly in a high state of libido."
"Believe me, I'm having a hard time keeping my composure. I want to shag any woman that crosses my path, you included."
"Is this how this is supposed to work? I feel like this isnae supposed to be so... painful."
"Hell if I know. I'm so hyped and angry and confused and scared but I also want to fuck you right now!" he said, losing his composure and slamming Merida against the hall wall with quite a bit of force.
"MR. HIGGS!" she screamed.
"I'm sorry!" he yelled, practically throwing himself away from her. "Please lock me in a room or something! And get my father!"
"Ye dinnae have to tell me twice." She mumbled.
She led the way to one of the rooms he had set up from before, wrestling and fighting him the whole way as he tried to grab her at various angles. She finally shoved him into the room marked M and slammed the door shut, locking it. Edgar came out of another room with some dirty clothes and blinked at her.
"Ma?"
"Ye dinnae let that thing out until I get back, ye hear?"
"Is everything alright?"
"Hopefully they will be soon. I have to go find Laird Northumberly... or someone." She growled, heading out the door.
*******************
Forgetting that Margaret was moving, Merida ran into Boston instead of Jamison and he said he could come take a look at his friend. It was his duty, after all, as his doctor to try and figure things out and he had a feeling he was going to be coming in a lot more contact with Higgs than usual now that he lived at the base of the hill. He followed Merida to the room where she unlocked it and let him in.
A while later he came out of the room and found Merida waiting for him.
"Well?"
"It's quite clear that his libido is quite high, obviously to a point that he can't even control it."
"Do ye ken it's 'that time' then?"
"Considering I've never known Higgs to be like that before, I will assume so, but I'll also ask Lord Jami when I see him to confirm."
"What am I supposed to do with that in the meantime? Let him run it out?"
Boston chuckled. "I don't think that will lower his sex drive. Here," he said, handing her a piece of paper. "Take this to the apothecary; it should calm his mania down to a manageable level. I don't think normal medicines would do."
"Thank ye. I'll do that as soon as ye leave. How is the move coming?"
"It's exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. For Fuchsia it's a mix of emotions. It's solemn because it was her home with her mother and now she's taking over it but she's excited and elated that her parents are going to live together in one home. It's something she has dreamed of as a child, so I think happiness takes over more."
"I'm glad to hear that things are going weel."
"I hear it is a bit of the opposite here." Merida lifted an eyebrow. "I heard rumor that you kissed him and broke the Dullahan."
"Aye, I did."
"And yet I also hear that Higgs has been desperately trying to win back Elizabeth's favor over some dispute."
She sighed. "I dinnae ken what's wrong with the man. It was perfectly clear that there is still something between us and Higgs is right, ye cannae love two people equally, but it's all so strange. I mean... I could have sworn that it would have knocked him to his senses."
"How could you have been so sure though? What if it actually had caused damage?"
"I ken it wouldnae have... Can I tell ye something? Something only one other person knows about."
"Of course."
Merida grabbed Boston's hand and dragged him into another room on the off chance that Higgs could hear them outside of the room.
"When Mr. Higgs used the Dullahan to go and rescue Edgar I was able to meet the curse."
"Meet the curse? What do you mean?"
"Well, we've said before how it seems like the curse sometimes has a mind of its own."
"Yes."
"Well, apparently it does in a way. The things that seem like separate issues such as the Dullahan's duties, turning into the ogre at night, this heightened libido issue, it's actually the curse itself taking over for the functions of the creature. It would make sense since the curse uses myths from all over the known world. How could someone from England know all the intricacies of a mythological creature of the Asias?"
"That does make sense..."
"Since the curse is the driving force behind the actions of certain things, going against it could seem to almost require some permission to go off course, so to speak."
"But are you sure it was the actual curse?"
"Aye, I'm quite certain. I mentioned that it didnae sound like Mr. Higgs at all and it told me that 'it was in all and all were it; it has seen me through many angles, many eyes, and through many forms'. Sounds like the curse to me."
"I guess that's pretty damning evidence, riddle as it may be."
"The reason I bring it up is because it had mentioned that I was important to Higgs, but I said that I wasnae. It said that there was something amiss that even it couldn't understand fully what was happening and when I wanted to thank it, it was the one that allowed the kiss. It plainly said, 'ye are the one I recognize'."
Boston blinked. "So the curse has a preference?"
"It would make sense considering how to break it. One true love for that one person, not two. It allowed me to kiss him because it knew Higgs' heart but it also said that it was confused. If the curse itself is confused about how things have happened, then that means that there is something verra, verra wrong." Merida began to pace. "I'm quite worried about this mermaid transformation what with the heightened libido. From what I have heard, it isnae pleasant and makes ye want to fuck everrathing in sight. Knowing Higgs..."
"He'll want to keep it as low key as possible. You think he'll try to involve Lady Hinkley?"
"Aye, and my gut is telling me that that is a horrible idea."
"I see. I have a feeling you're right and would advise you to try and keep that from happening at all costs. Anyone he has sex with this month while in this frenzy will get pregnant and it will be a boy. It hasn't failed in any generation so far, from what Father has told me, and especially if what you say is true about the curse, it won't fail again."
"I'll do what I can..."
"This will be our little secret, Ms. Dunbrough. May I ask who the other person is that knows about this?"
"Edgar. I had to explain what happened when he was rescued and that the Dullahan will no longer be here. He wears his emotions on his sleeves, but he can keep a secret like a tomb. Only the three of us are aware of the 'personality' of the curse. Not even Mr. Higgs knows about it."
"I see. My lips are sealed."
They left the room and Boston reminded her to go and get the tonic made at the apothecary. Merida decided to keep her employer locked up until she came back with the tonic to keep him in check. It was going to be a bumpy month.