No One's POV:
Rushing through the woods and all the way down the tattered streets of the Dimenscape kingdom village, Chat Blanc finally takes the chance to catch his breath when reaching the castle gates. A chilling wind trickles up his spine as he felt the unwanted presence of Noah nearby. He looks up to see his master glaring bloody daggers at him with a disgruntled scowl before leaving the window.
"Took you long enough." The harsh voice of Vian startles the feline from the front door. "We've been here, waiting for you for almost an hour now."
"Sorry, I ran into... some trouble." Chat apologizes.
"Don't fucking apologize to me, asshole." Vian growls. He didn't have the Megastone but he would have easily shot Aiden down with his crossbow that was always on him, ever since losing the powerful gem. His eyes weren't their usual baby blue like their opposite's, but, instead, they were a golden yellow that seemed to shoot angrier looks with each glare, and his fangs glistening with every snarl. "Mom made hot chocolate. Now, get the fuck in." Vian then marches back into the castle.
A cold Chat Blanc says nothing and just follows his supposed comrade inside.
It wasn't any better inside than it was outside. Cold breezes lived through the halls that causes poor Aiden to shake. Little Elio began to whimper sadly from the severe temperature drop, clinging onto her holder for warmth. Aiden purrs suddenly at this, almost making him and Vian stop in their tracks, but he quickly controls himself and stops the loving sounds immediately so the other clone could notice. He places a warm, yet shivering paw on the infant for comfort.
They eventually make it to the Study, where an unpleasant Noah stood awaiting their presence. Lila sat by the fireplace, basking in whatever warmth she could get from the frozen tower, a mug of hot chocolate in her hands, marshmallows and all for the occasion. Spencer, or Penemuel, stood by the window, gazing into the distance as if searching for something. His tall figure almost towering over the bookshelves in there. Charcoal, Leon, and Zuk were by the couch with their own mugs.
Once in the Study, Noah makes his way over to Aiden, his eyes aim straight at the baby that was being held with a sort of unpleasant craze that needed to be fed. Noah slightly moves the blanket in order to see Elio but quickly snatches his hand back as if the baby had a contagious disease.
"There's nothing wrong with it?" He questions with a low breath. "And don't you dare lie to me. I'm on my last straw with you, things."
Aiden shakes his head vigorously in fear, not looking Noah in the eyes while doing so. "N-no sir. She's perfectly fine. J-just cold."
"Is that the baby?" Lila asks in a cheerier tone than her husband's, standing up and placing her mug on the fireplace's mantel. "Ooh! Let me see her, let me see her!" She lifts her hands up in a reaching motion so she could hold Elio.
Aiden carefully gives Elio over to Lila who is beaming with absolute joy. Elio on the other hand, stayed silent, staring at the woman in both confusion and an unsure hatred towards her. Although, the wanted criminal was having the time of her life, almost as if she had never seen a baby before, cooing happy noises to the baby, trying her best to make her laugh to no avail. Elio was a locked vault who just kept on staring at her.
Noah, walking towards his wife, grimaces at the sight of Lila being kind to their enemies' newborn. "What are you doing?" His scowls alerts Lila, since she had never seen him this disgusted before. "Put that thing down."
"Don't call her that!" She defends the baby, hugging little Elio protectively close to her chest. "She's just a baby. And look at how cute she is! Isn't she just adorable!" Facing Elio in Noah's direction this makes the baby cry loudly.
Their wailing angers Noah, covering his ears and grimacing at the awful sound while walking away from his wife. Penemuel takes a glance from the window to the commotion then back to the window, unfazed by the ruckus.
"OH MY GOD! SHUT THAT THING UP!" The evil doctor roars through the cries. A few of the clones were covering their ears as well. "DO IT NOW BEFORE I SHOOT IT! I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL!" He was ready to grab his gun and take the shot, but Lila wouldn't let him.
She holds Elio even closer to her when hearing her husband's threats, yelling threats of her own if he was to ever do such a thing. The two kept bantering like this until it was too much for Aiden to bear.
Snatching poor Elio away from Lila, he hugs the baby, gently shushing and cradling them until the finally quieted down. The whole room watches as Aiden fearfully continues to do this, eyes closed, while telling the infant that everything was fine.
"Hey, it's okay..." he softly breathes, keeping his vision averted from everyone. "It's okay, little kitty. Everything's gonna be okay.... I'm here, I'm here. Shhh, shhh, shhh...."
Elio's wails of horror were instantly hushed away by the clone's sudden act of kindness, leaving everyone in the room dumbfounded. Even Penemuel looked mildly surprised for a split second, yet his former strict manner returns as quickly as it had left. The other clones stare at their comrade with so much perplexity, they looked like begging children seeing a brand-new toy for the first time, their minds bustling with so many questions. Lila was, too, confused but also impressed by his quick thinking and cool parenting skills. Noah, however, was blazing with hatred towards the clone.
Marching over to Aiden, he could sense the fear in him, "give me the baby," Noah orders firmly. When Aiden doesn't do it right away, he raises his voice. "Now! Give me the baby, bitch!"
Something came over Aiden while Noah was bossing him around. He wasn't sure if it was pure stupidity or the feeling that he needed to protect this child, but after Noah had commanded him to give Elio to him; Aiden said no.
A gasp was shared amongst everyone in the room as all eyes were now on Aiden.
"What did you say to me?" The mad doctor barks aggressively, pulling out his pistol aimed straight towards the clone. "Say it again. I dare you!" Noah's eyes were flickering with unused dark energy that was starting to flow through his veins, and his hair was flying in diverted patterns as small patches of black appeared to boil through his skin without any pain being caused. "SAY IT!!!"
"NO!" Aiden shouts defensively, backing away from the gun pointed at him and blocking Elio from the supposed shot that was to come. 'You're gonna hurt her! That's all you want to do!"
Noah's eye twitches furiously, "THAT'S WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO!" The gun was now being pointed at Elio who clung onto Aiden for dear life, not making a single noise. "We bring the hostage in, rough them up, and then show them to the enemy so they know that we're not messing around! You're the vessels of evil for crying out loud! How could not do a simple thing like this?!"
"Noah, calm down!" Lila was now in between the two, trying to break up the fight. "You are not shooting either one of them, do you hear me! This baby is way too important to be just thrown to the side right after getting them. The important thing is that we have them. Knowing Tabitha, she will do anything just to get them back."
Noah was going to make a disapproving remark when Aiden speaks up again.
"You gonna beat her how you beat us? Huh?" The feline clone hisses, now gripping Elio tighter and taking a step forward with confidence. The other clones seem to sense this and watch curiously. "I may be evil from what you did--!"
"I MADE YOU!" Noah pushes Lila to get to the clone, but she shoves him away, trying her best to stop the conflict, telling Aiden to be quiet and just give her Elio. "WITHOUT ME YOU WOULD BE NOTHING!"
"AND WHAT OF IT?!" Aiden now had tears in his eyes, something he hadn't experienced in a very long time. "WHAT IF I WANTED TO STAY DEAD!" He was fully crying now but his eyes showed rage. "I DIDN'T ASK TO BE AKUMATIZED BY MY FATHER BACK THEN! I DIDN'T ASK TO BE CORRUPTED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT BACK THEN AS WELL! AND I CERTAINLY DIDN'T ASK TO BE MADE!!!"
The shouts of each claim Aiden made punched holes into the clones' heart as they realized the same thing. All their chances they ever had to be good were stripped from them. The evil darkness in them would always make them see things in a cold, and cruel way that would never go away, and it was all because of Noah. Their other halves had things good with their kindness treating them well while they had to fight for what they want even if it was wrong, yet they couldn't help themselves.
Aiden finds that his fellow duplicates were feeling the same way. One by one each of them goes by his side, getting both their weapons and powers ready for a brawl if Noah intended to hurt Elio. However, Charcoal, he stayed where he stood. His eyes not leaving the infant's gaze in a sort of longing way, yet not moving a muscle.
"Charc, you not gonna help us?" Leon questions with a tilt of his head. "Come on." He motions a hand over for their friend to join but it doesn't work.
Charcoal continues to stand where he is. A cold stare coming from the evil vampire.
"Stand down guys. It's not worth it." This was all he said before leaving the room.
Seeing that their leader was on Noah's side, Vian, Leon, and Zuk each slowly but surely made their ways away from Aiden, putting away their weapons in fear and holding onto each other before rushing away.
Aiden was left alone with an infuriated Noah, a shocked Lila, and impressed Penemuel, who was still, in fact, standing by the window. The cat-man shivers when seeing his master's dead eyes changing colors once again. This time Lila was too scared to even stop him, stepping back from her husband as he marched over to Aiden, who was beyond frightened.
Gun in his hand, Noah aims the weapon at Elio and shoots.
Aiden was quick on his feet to turn around right before the bullet could hit the baby he held, hitting him in the shoulder instead. A shrill, bone-chilling scream echoes through the halls. Aiden falls to the floor, almost dropping Elio but carefully doesn't. He clutches his bleeding shoulder which gushed out a beautiful red that dripped onto the polished oak floor, staining it to no end.
"NOAH!" Lila's petrified scream only goes through his ears. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Noah just walks towards the fireplace. He tosses the gun on a nearby chair.
"Oh, you poor thing." Lila crouches down to Aiden's level, "you should've just listened. Here, let me help you."
"No." The voice of Penemuel orders her. "I'll handle this. You take care of your husband. I'll escort him out." He was now right in front of the two, staring firmly down at them with warning eyes. "Get up and follow me."
Aiden gets up with a stumble but manages to follow the evil spirit out of the room. Along the way to the dungeon, Penemuel magically heals his arm, yet when Aiden was going to thank him, he only waves a hand in his direction, keeping the cat-man quiet.
He was thankful for Noah's father. Unlike his son, he was reasonable and easy to converse problems with without getting punished for doing so. Although, he didn't know Penemuel very well, Aiden trusted him, minus the whole taking over the In-Between business. He knew how to control his
Penemuel leads Aiden all the way to the dungeon, giving him his own self and adding things of comfort for him, including a few blankets, pillows, a small heater, and even a crib for Elio, yet Aiden felt like he never wanted to let the baby go after what had happened.
"Get some rest, young one. After this is all done, I'll make sure to stop Noah's insanity." Penemuel states, closing the door and locking it in the process. "I fear my son has grown mad, craving his powers. All I want is my role as Guardian of Souls, that's it."
This peaks Aiden's interest.
"If that's all you want, then why do all of this?" He asks. "Couldn't you have just asked?"
Penemuel raises an eyebrow at the clone's question, "true. I could have but after all Noah's has done, I don't think that just asking for the position is on our plate now. That boy just wants power and I'm afraid that I only fed into that addiction." He sighs sadly at this, his wings slightly drooping in disappointment. Properly standing back up to keep his stern composure, the spirit nods his head before leaving.
The slamming of the dungeon's entrance door lets Aiden know that he was now alone, sighing in relief. He sits down on the cot, still holding Elio for dear life with his healed arm. The precious baby was whimpering in fear, looking up at him for comfort that almost causes Aiden to cry once more.
However, he begins to sing a lullaby to the infant in order to keep both Elio, and himself calm. He lays down, placing the blanket over his body, wraps his tail around Elio. Aiden then began to purr blissfully as the two of them fall to sleep in each other's arms. The sound of his purring rumbling through the harrowing prison.
_______________________
Tabitha and Cole had found Lee unconscious in their tent almost twenty minutes after Chat Blanc had left for the castle. And boy, things went south afterwards.
Tabitha had cried for hours. Cole almost burnt down the entire forest due to his anger fueling every inch of him. He wouldn't have torn the whole camp apart if it weren't for Max and his brothers' kind gestures to calm him down. Lee had to be sent to the Healing Tent in order to treat her wound.
"Cole!" Izuku hops away from a falling tree after Cole had punched it in half. "BUDDY CALM DOWN!" He looks to the others frightfully, "he's gonna destroy the whole forest if he keeps this up! How do we stop him? Get in his head?"
Adrien shakes his head, unsure of what to do but also totally against Izuku's suggestion. "There's no way I'm going back into his mind! Last time we did that, we were almost killed hundreds of times."
"I don't think that might work either, bunny boy!" Walter admits, trying to keep his footing. His powers made his hair a flowy white which swayed in the wind mystically, and his eyes glowed the purest of gold. An unnatural yellow mark of a star was also on his forehead.
Cole's infuriated roars echo loudly in the woods as he continues to fight an imaginary enemy. He stomps his foot on the ground which makes it violently shake with much vigor that the boys almost tumble to their feet. The king marches over to a field part of the woods to cause more damage due to his anger, yet this was when Yugataro decides to take action as he zooms pass the boys to go through with his plan. With Max by his side, the two surround the king in the small field to create a Clearstone prison to trap Cole inside of.
The king punches at the wall to break through, not thinking straight because of his anger, but the Clearstone was way too thick for him. It was until his fists began to bleed that Cole finally stopped attacking. The Vampire King looks up at his brothers and his son, swaying tiredly from his raging crisis whilst trying his best to hold himself together. The Clearstone prison magically disappears, finally letting Cole fall to his knees and cry.
Max hurries over to his father, hugging the man in hopes that would cheer him up. Cole cries as he holds his child close to him, as if he was afraid Max would be taken away too.
Meanwhile, Varian, and the girls were trying to keep Tabitha calm and collected as she lay on the grassy tent floor, bawling her eyes out. She often switched from screaming to crying, but now she was back to being sad. They weren't sure why, so they just blamed it on postpartum hormones.
"Tabitha, please, just calm down." Lily sits by her side, trying to get her daughter-in-law to relax and get up from the ground. "We'll think of something to get her back. Trust me, baby girl, we will get her back. You just need to calm down so we can think of a plan."
Tabitha shakes her head, "WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?! WE TRUSTED THEM!" Her wails ring through their ears for all to hear. "I thought they didn't want to work for him!" She now clings onto Lily for support. Cole's mother rubs her hand on her back in a circling motion as an attempt to help calm her down. "I thought that they were our friends! And now she's gone!"
Varian, while trying his best to help out, couldn't stop from pacing angrily around the tent where the abduction took place. Marinette walks over to the alchemist, seeing if she could calm him down but it was no use. The queen's advisor wanted to calm his siter down, but it was not going to work if he was riling himself up like this.
"I knew this was gonna happen. I absolutely saw something bad happening if we invited those... those ASSHOLES over!" Varian screeches which almost sounded demonic as his tongued forked when hissing, and his eyes turning pink due to the Megastone. "We never should have brought them here!"
"Varian, calm down! Yelling and pacing isn't going to do anything to bring Elio back." Perillia says from the entrance of the tent. Her frowning expression was full of sadness over the loss of the princess. "We'll figure something out soon."
As the queen continues to cry into Lily arms, Cole and the rest of the boys enter the tent. An unknown feeling floats through everyone that was inside the tent. Whether it was sorrow or if it was fury, only one thing remained. The silence.
Cole's knuckles had been bandaged by Yugataro for the time being before he could head to the Infirmary. He sheepishly kept his eye contact to the ground away from anyone, embarrassed of his previous actions and not wanting to talk to anyone about them. Although, when hearing the muffled wails of his wife, he swiftly hurries over to her side to take her into his own arms, hugging Tabitha with all his might while fighting back unshed tears.
Max looks to the large group of family and friends, including himself and his siblings, deciding it best for them all to leave the tent for Tabitha and Cole to be alone, together.
"Come on, everyone." The young prince says aloud for the rest to hear, motioning his arms to signal them. "They need time to think. Let's give them some space."
"But..." Adrien wanted to politely deny the order but stops, knowing that it was for the best. "Okay."
One by one, each person left with a sympathetic frown on their face, Max being the last member of the group to leave. He takes one last glance at his parents before sadly closing the tent's entrance. A soft sniffling could be heard as he left.
Things were silent for the two monarchs after everyone had left.
No one said a word.
It wasn't until almost twenty minutes until one of them finally spoke up. Cole had led Tabitha to their bed as she wipes her tears away, and sniffles continuously. He keeps standing up, pacing before he speaks, wondering what he should say.
"What... what are we gonna do, Tab? Alondra, I don't know what to do anymore." Cole's exasperated breaths were growing more frequent when holding back on crying again. He grits his teeth and takes a deep breath before looking at her, eyes still in a watery state. "I can't take any more of this. I just want this whole fucking thing to end. I just can't take this anymore."
Tabitha stays silent. She stands up and walks to an area where they kept a few weapons; swords, bows and arrows, knives, anything lethal if used. A strange sense of concern enters Cole as she fiddles with a dagger.
"Alondra...?" He slowly inches over to her. "What are you doing?"
No response came from the queen.
"Alondra." His voice more concerned than before.
"I'm getting her back." Tabitha replies. "I'm gonna fix this, don't worry. I swear to God, I'm fixing everything and there's no one from ANY WORLD that can stop me!" Swinging the dagger in Cole's direction, she almost slices his face but luckily, he was able to back away just in time before she could do so.
Placing the dagger in a hostler strapped around her thigh, Tabitha starts making her way towards the entrance of the tent, but Cole was quick to block her path.
"Woah, woah, woah! Calm down!" His words were steady, yet his body was shaken from the sudden attack and declares coming from Tabitha. "Where do you think you're going?! We need to think of a plan before going over to take down Noah! Think Tab, what will you do once you get there? You'll be outnumbered!"
"Move out of the way Cole!" Tabitha hollers, shoving him harshly over to the side. "I'm doing this with or without you! Now pick a side because Noah has really tested my patience, and I'm out for blood!" Gnashing her fangs threateningly, Tabitha was ready to fight her way out in order to bring justice to the Dimenscape. "Are you in or are you out?"
Cole was torn by the options. He desperately wanted to save Elio and take Noah down, but he knew that whatever Tabitha was going to do wasn't a healthy way of doing so. He needed to stop her before she could even take a step outside of their tent. Even if it meant that they had to fight each other.
Cole shakes his head, raising his bloody bandaged fists in defense. "I can't let you do that Tabitha."
The queen growls angrily, taking the dagger back out for the small battle. "Fine. I don't need your help anyway."
The fight begins with Tabitha thrusting her weapon at Cole's arms which he easily dodges due to her sloppy form, because of the anger filling every inch of her body. However, her posture perfects the longer they fight. His punches don't land any blows but when he was behind her, Cole was able to flip her over that makes her hit the ground harshly with a loud thud. The mixtures of kicks, punches, thrust of weapons, and shouts continue for a good while.
Cole manages to pin Tabitha to the ground with his super strength, and even uses his earth powers to wrap stone cuffs around her wrists, and ankles in order to stop her from attacking him. However, Tabitha had a counter move. She turns into a shadow, slides under the bed, and then teleports herself on top of Cole. The two of them tackle and toss each other around, hissing and snarling at each other, eyes glowing a vibrant red while their vampire strength to overtake the other.
Tabitha eventually hops off of her husband and tosses a table at Cole. He ducks carefully in order to not be hit, only to be grabbed by thick vines and pulled over to the table. Thorns poke out of the vines and into his wrists which makes him bleed even more, causing poor Cole to scream. He was just about to use his powers to make the thorns go away, yet they were working.
Around his wrists were cuffs made of Vengestone.
Tabitha could be seen kneeling on the ground as if weakened, her skin almost pale.
"Tab... did you just...?" The king pants tiredly, horror filling his soul with what just occurred. However, realization hits him. "Nononononono! NO! Tabitha! Don't go, please!"
Tabitha just takes a shaky breath then runs away.
"ALONDRA!!!"
Cole's screams of agony had been heard from throughout the camp as people begun to worry what was going on. Friends and family began to hurry to the tent but was it was already too late.
Tabitha was gone.