Everything had gone downhill so quickly. Bean was lying on a pile of gold as she slowly raised her head and looked up at Hilda, possessed by Gabriel's vengeful spirit, as she was floating in the air. Gabriel tossed scorching flames at Rupert, Tuppence, Elfo, and Luci. Luci, of course, had no problems getting hit by fireballs since he was a demon. But for the other three, they ran around in circles, dodging the incoming flames. Elfo lunges himself over a pile of gold, almost getting his butt burned. Rupert and Tuppence nearly got burned head to toe by a wave of fire that almost hit them.
Koga was back on his feet. He stared at Hilda, then looked at Bean and said, "Bean, I'm going for the necklace! I'll slash it off if you and the others can distract her!" Bean looks at Koga and nods, "R-Right!" She said as she picked up pieces of gold and tossed them at Hilda. "H-HEY! YOU SPOOKY GHOST BASTARD! OVER HERE!" She called out to her. The gold hit Hilda in the legs, and she snapped her head towards Bean. Hilda blasts a wave of fire at her, and Bean narrowly avoids it, with only her shoulder slightly getting burned. Elfo and Luci began distracting Hilda by shouting and screaming at her while tossing gold. Hilda began to grow angrier and angrier. She holds out her hand, and an orb of fire appears out of thin air. This orb of fire began shooting out rapidly at everyone in the room. Everyone was avoiding the fire the best they could. One of the fireballs ends up grazing over Tuppenece's head, burning a few of the hairs he had left on his head.
Koga deflects a few fireballs, hops in the air, and swings the blade at Hilda's necklace, cutting it off. "GOT IT!" He shouted in victory as he landed on the ground. Bean cheered as well, "NICE ONE KOGA!" She said jubilantly.
However, their victory seemed to come to a quick end. They noticed that Hilda didn't turn back to normal. She remained possessed by Gabriel. Bean looked at Hilda, confused. "W-What? But...she picked up the necklace...she got possessed because of it!" Hilda looks down at Koga and sends a powerful shockwave that sends him flying into a wall. "ARGH!" Koga groaned. "Goddamn it...why didn't that work?" He stared up at Hilda, who began laughing. "FOOLS!" Hilda spat. "DID YOU THINK IT WOULD BE THAT EASY?!" Hilda flies down and grabs Koga by his neck, slams him against the wall repeatedly, and then hurdles him across the room. Koga lands on a pile of gold where Elfo and Luci are hiding. Luci frowns at Koga and says, "Thanks, Dumbass, you just gave away my hiding spot!"
Bean was at a loss. She sat there watching Hilda float toward Elfo, Luci, and Koga. She looked around, trying to find something that could help. But what could help? They destroyed the necklace, but Gabriel's spirit still controlled her body. Bean moved her hand forward while grasping random things around her. Her hand touched the handle of an object buried beneath some gold. That's when it happened. Bean's eyes glowed a shade of blue. Everything around her was flashing images as if it were a vivid dream. She saw a man holding a necklace in his hand, standing next to some statue of himself. Groups of people wielding weapons surrounded Gabriel, but they looked frightened. The flashes cut from the figure glowing and the gold lifting around them. Then, there was another flash of light, and Bean's eyes turned normal. Bean looked around and saw that she was back in her standard time. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Bean thought. But she looked over at Hilda, hovering slowly down to Elfo, Luci, and Koga.
"GUYS!" Bean called out to them, "The necklace isn't the only thing that Gabriel's spirit's in! It's in a statue of himself hidden in this room!"
"A STATUE? WHERE?" Koga said as he grabbed Elfo and Luci and hopped out of the way at Hilda's flames. Hilda would then snap her eyes upon Bean and glare. "YOU! HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THAT?!" She sneered at her. Hilda sends another wave of fire at Bean. Bean managed to jump out of the way, and the fire hit the pile of gold behind her.
"Look for the statue! I'll hold her back!" Koga called out to everyone as he sat down Elfo and Luci and charged over at Hilda.
"Guys, come on, look for that big statue!" said Bean, Elfo, and Luci. Meanwhile, Koga was able to push Hilda back, but once she regained her composure, she sent a wave of fire at him. Koga swings his colossal greatsword, and a large gust of wind blows back the fire. Bean, Elfo, and Luci were digging until they finally uncovered it. The statue of Gabriel buried beneath some gold was revealed to the three. And on the center of its chest was a red emerald. "BEAN! WE FOUND IT!" Elfo exclaimed. Hilda looked past Koga and saw the three next to the statue. "NOOOOOOOO!" She whaled, dashed past Koga, and flew toward the three. Bean quickly reaches for a sword near her and stabs the emerald in the state, shattering it. Hilda stopped mid-air and screamed. The gold that filled the room began to levitate, along with the whales of Hilda's screams. Out from Hilda's mouth came a white transparent figure that bore a hideous face with its mouth open to let out a deep cry of pain before it vanished. Koga hurried forward and caught Hilda before she fell to the ground.
"HILDA!" Bean called out as she, along with Elfo, Luci, Rupert, and Tuppence, followed. Koga examined Hilda closely and said, "She's fine. She's just unconscious," He reassured. Bean let out a sigh of relief, and so did Rupert and Tuppence. "Thank god..." said Bean with a smile.
"WHAT THE HELL? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TREASURE?" roared Luci.
Everyone looked over at Luci, who fell to his knees. That's when everyone looked around the room. All the shiny gold they saw when they entered the room was gone and replaced with Cole. The jewels, necklaces, crowns, sceptres, and so on were all nothing but Cole.
"You gotta be kidding me..." said Bean, disappointed.
"Oh wow, that's very unfortunate," said Elfo, indifferent.
"All the gold...turned to stone...WE DID ALL OF THIS FOR NOTHING!" said Tuppence angrily.
"Oh well, it happens," said Koga as he picked up Hilda's bridal style. "We can all be angry about it when we leave the cave! Come on, folks, let's look for the exit."
Everyone searched around the room until Elfo found a switch on the wall. Once Bean pressed it, a pathway opened up. Once they walked through the path, they returned to the outside. The sun was beginning to rise. Elfo took a deep breath and exhaled. "Oh man, it feels like we've been there DAYS!" He said in an exhausted tone.
"Where are we? Where's the wagon?" Bean asked, looking around.
"We're probably on the other side where we came," Koga replied.
"UGH!" said Luci and Bean together.
Koga rolls his eyes. "Oh, stop! It shouldn't be that long of a walk!"
Once Koga said that, Hilda began waking up in Koga's arms. As Hilda was coming through, Koga let her down lightly, and Hilda held her head. "Ooooh...what happened?" She asked in a dazed tone.
"You got possessed by the spirit of Gabriel and almost burned us all alive," Elfo explained. "Oh yeah, and all of the gold turned to Cole."
"WHAT?" Hilda gasped. "OH, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! UGGGH!"
"So...does that mean we're heading to the slammer?" asked Rupert.
They all looked at Koga. Koga just shrugged. "Oh, forget about it. I just wanted to go on a dungeon adventure. You guys are good to go," He said as he walked. "Come on, let's go look for the wagon."
The three thieves all sighed in relief. Bean looked over at Hilda as the group began following Koga.
"Are you ok, Hilda?" The Princess asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I feel like I'm going to puke. I didn't hurt you, did I?" Hilda asked, looking at Bean worriedly.
"No, you're fine!" Bean reassured, "I mean, you had an old cranky, greedy spirit guy possessing you. I can't get mad at you for that!"
"You were breathing fire all over the place!" said Elfo.
"No wonder my mouth tastes like charcoal," Hilda said as she began coughing and gagging.
"Yup, that's just about what my mouth tastes like at times," said Luci.
"At times? Isn't that all the time?" asked Elfo
"Shut up, Elfo," Luci replied quickly.
Once they found the wagon, they boarded it, and Bean sat next to Koga. Hilda sat with Ruppert and Tuppence as the three began discussing what they would do now.
Koga looks over at Bean. "How did you know about the statue?" He asked her.
"I...Oh man, how do I explain this?" Bean said as she looked at her hand. Bean would explain that when she grabbed a random sword buried beneath a pile of gold. She explained how she saw into the past when Gabriel was alive. Koga's jaw dropped slightly, and Elfo and Luci were shocked at Bean's explanation.
"Hold on a second," said Elfo, "You saw into the past? How?"
"I don't know. It just happened," said Bean.
"You think it's something to do with your magic?" said Koga.
"Probably..."
"You know, you should try and ask someone about that..." said Elfo, with a hint of worry in his voice.
"No way," said Bean as Koga snapped the wagon's reins and began riding down the dirt road. "If anyone knew about me having finger lightning and seeing into the past, they'd burn me at the stake in a heartbeat!"
"That never made any sense to me," said Koga, "You can have a wizard, but not a witch?"
"I know. It's so stupid!"
"It's political propaganda and a source of putting women in a bad spotlight," Luci stated.
"Seems like it," said Koga. "Why not ask your brother about it?"
Bean pondered on the thought. Tavish is older than she, and he might've had similar experiences with the magic she probably doesn't know of. Tavish could help her...but. "I don't know...I'll think about it...." She said softly.
"Hey, bean," said Hilda. Bean turns around to look at Hilda. "When you're not busy doing princess stuff...do you think we can catch up properly? I'd love it if we hung out again."
Bean smiled. "Hell yeah! I'd love to do that!"
"Great!" Hilda said excitedly.
Bean looked forward with a smile on her face. She didn't think that having Hilda back in her life would make her so happy. But it did. She began to think about her magic once more.
Maybe asking Tavish about it is not a bad idea.