Brielle POV
I know I just saw Harry maybe an hour or so ago, but I was worried about him and such. I don't want him to get hurt, so seeing him completely unscathed just lit my heart up in so many good feelings I felt my feet move quicker without me telling them too. I felt lighter and just ran to him, right past my brother yes. I'm glad he's not dead, doesn't mean I have to be happy with him all of a sudden.
I ignored my brother as he looked at me right as I ran right past him, right into Harry's comforting arms. I kinda jumped into it so his breathing took a quick hitch and he stepped back to catch my momentum with me all as he, without a question about my enthusiasm to see him, wrapped his arms around me and lovingly laughed some at my enthusiasm,
"Ello there ta ye too my love"
He said amongst his laughter. I giggled and took my head from nestling in his chest to look up at him with a big dorky smile and a childlike giggle,
"Hi"
I said like a complete idiot, what can I say? I'm a lovestruck idiot. He joined me in my idiotic giggling and tilted his head some at me,
"Judging by how happy ye are right now, can I safely assume that yer alright and not hurt in any way shape or form that I don't already know about?"
I nodded and tilted my head in the same direction as he did,
"How about you? I was worried"
I said, immediately feeling a lil bit bashful for being worried about someone that I maybe shouldn't be so worried about. I mean it's Harry, especially with a group he's practically invincible. Maybe I'm gushing... yeah I'm totally gushing I'll shut up now,
"I'm alright, yer brother nearly ripped meh face off but obviously that didn't happen so all is well. Audrey turned him into a literal beast"
My eyes widened just a little bit, it's a scary thought but obviously he's alright and such. But what did surprise me was that Audrey turned Ben into a beast, which must've been weird to witness. I nonetheless put both of my hands onto each of his cheeks to cup his jaw and did a visual scan,
"Yup, your face is there alright"
I said with a light giggle. Harry chuckled and leaned down to press his forehead against mine,
"I'm glad yer alright, I couldn't stop thinking about ya"
He whispered to me, absolutely making a pretty heavy blush creep onto my cheeks. Before I could say anything he leaned in and pulled me into him at the same time, suddenly he slid one hand behind my neck and began quickly kissing my face and even parts of my neck all over. I absolutely had to conceal a squeal because it all happened so quickly that's what normally happens when he does this. I was able to keep my squeal down to a squeak and erupted into contagious giggling. I couldn't say anything because I was too busy giggling like an absolute dork,
"B-Brielle?"
A shaky and sad yet also happy all at once voice spoke from behind me. Harry paused his kissing extravaganza, making me take a deep sigh of disappointment as I was really enjoying being showered in loving, tender, and passionate kisses. I of course I recognized my brother's voice and slowly turned my head to look at him. Mal had run to him for a hug, but Ben had been looking at me the whole time. I raised a brow at him,
"Hey Ben"
I said simply, trust me I don't want to be mad at him but this has been a long time coming. Ben sighed and parted from Mal and walked over to us, Harry slowly let his arms slip from sitting comfortably around me which allowed me to turn to face Ben. I noticed he had tears in his eyes, making me only soften up on the outside a little. He suddenly stepped towards me and engulfed me in a hug, one where I could practically feel him lean on me almost immediately. I furrowed my brow but hugged back nonetheless,
"I-I thought y-you were a g-goner"
He muttered with a shaky and cracking voice. I furrowed my brow even more and pulled back from the hug to look at him, raising a brow once I locked eyes with him,
"Huh?"
I asked with a very confused tone. He took a deep breath before continuing,
"Audrey t-told me she kidnapped y-you and stuff... said s-she abandoned you in the w-woods for the wolves s-so I came out here t-to try to find you, but h-here you are"
He explained. I took a deep breath and just looked at my brother for a second as I honestly... I don't know what to do. For once I looked at my brother and just didn't feel like I normally do. I felt distant from him, so all I could do is stare at him and slowly nod,
"Okay... well I was in my office the whole time so no feeding me to the wolves"
I awkwardly responded. Without any other words, he pulled me into another hug, I simply went with it at this point. He whispered only loud enough so I could hear,
"P-Please Brielle... I'm sorry I-I just... I w-was scared okay? P-Please just... hold me would y-you?"
I felt a little bad, I could just accept his apology and let it go... but that didn't feel right for some reason. But nonetheless, I re-wrapped my arms around him and hugged back, but I didn't say anything. I just stood there and held him as he wanted, but that was the most I could do as much as that hurt. We eventually parted, and as soon as we did he looked at me with pleading eyes, pleading to me that I'd forgive him.
But I'm not ready for that yet.
So I gave him a very small smile before turning back to Harry and trotting back over to him. He looked at me with a soft smile and took me back into his arms where I was truly the most comfortable,
"Hey... I don't mean ta ruin any moments but how are the twins? Are they alright?"
I immediately felt myself sink some. I don't exactly know how to break it to him, so I simply took his hand and motioned for him to follow me. We had to be quick since we have to get to Fairy Cottage, but he deserves to see the twins and understand that they're asleep too.
We walked into the room where the twins were asleep on the couch. I felt Harry's hand tense as soon as he looked at them,
"A-Are they?"
He asked me, I led him over to them and kneeled down beside the couch,
"Unfortunately yes, they're asleep asleep"
I said, making him tense up more and kneel beside me. I put a supportive arm around him and leaned my head on his shoulder as he brought his hand up and brushed each twin's hair back some. I looked from the twins over to him to see that he was silently crying. I immediately adjusted how I was crouching to be able to hug him from the side,
"It's going to be alright Har, I promise you we'll wake them up okay? They're in dreamland, they don't know anything bad is happening and when they wake up they would've just had a long nap okay? It's all going to be okay and they aren't frightened, that's a good thing isn't it?"
He slowly nodded and wiped his tears, taking a deep breath in the process,
"I guess, they don't deserve this though. They are completely innocent"
He whispered. I knew it bothered him a whole lot, and I know the only way to fix that for him is going to be waking them up which obviously happens by defeating Audrey,
"They are, and I know it's hard seeing them like this but guess what? We're close to beating Audrey and when we do they'll wake up, so how about we go continue our journey? I can feel that we're close to being done with all of this"
Harry nodded some and looked back over to me with a smile again. I smiled at him too and wiped the remainder of the tears on his cheeks away and leaned in to give him a long kiss on the cheek now that I could actually reach his cheek for once. Once I pulled away from him I saw him wearing the dorkiest smile on those beautiful lips of his. I giggled some at his expression and rubbed his back some,
"Let's go get them woken up shall we?"
I said with an enthusiastic and eager tone. Harry nodded once and stood up, grabbing my hands on the way up and pulling me up to my feet, catching a little air due to the fact that obviously, I'm quite small and obviously, he's... very strong so heaving me up with any sort of huge force is overkill. I ended up basically flying and landing on his chest with the momentum. Harry very easily swung me around and kept one arm around my waist and led me out the door to everyone else to continue this journey.
I just hope it's really going to be over soon.
Third Person
"Ugh! Everything I throw at them they get past dammit!"
Audrey asked with frustration as she came to her wit's end. Chad flinched some and nervously laughed. Chad was noticing that Audrey was changing the longer she was doing all these evil deeds. She was growing more tense and agitated and while Chad had been able to get Audrey to spare him, he was starting to regret that move.
Audrey was getting progressively worse, slamming the dangerous scepter down more and shouting more as well. Chad could see the wild in her eye and he was starting to feel afraid of his once crush gone evil psycho,
"U-Uhm Audrey? May I ask what you want from all of this? I mean- I don't mean to be rude but... what's the point of doing all this evil stuff?"
Chad cautiously asked with a bit of a scared whimper when she snapped her head over to him. Audrey gritted her teeth and angrily shouted,
"I want my old life back! I want a happy ending dammit! I deserve it!"
She shouted whilst slamming the scepter down on the ground. Chad jumped back and tripped on his own feet, causing him to fall back. He scuttled back and pressed himself flat against the wall.
Audrey's own words had brought herself something, Audrey's gritted teeth began slowly twisting into a wicked smirk as she had gotten a wonderfully awful idea. Her eyes seemed to take on a new light as if they were lit up in an evil curiosity,
"I want my old life back... that's it"
She said with an ear to ear devilish smirk. Chad nervously chuckled and shakily stood back up onto his feet,
"Uhm Audrey? What do you mean?"
Chad asked, attempting to sound braver than the last time he spoke. Audrey swirled her hand around the scepter to show the view of Ben and Mal reuniting and Harry beginning to kiss Brielle all over. Audrey narrowed her eyes at the sight of all of the very happy individuals. While she sat suffering all alone, they were living the dream. She snarled at them and spoke,
"I'll just get my old life back. That's what I'll do, I liked my life so much more back in the day. Do you remember Chad? Remember back in the day where Benny Boo and I would be locked arm and arm? That's what I deserve, you know what? Remember before that pirate came over? You used to chase Brielle around all the time, oh those were the good old times. Back then Brielle was cold, quiet, and harsh. Now look at her, all... happy and stuff. I much prefer how she was back then compared to how she is now. She just... doesn't know how to shut up! It's infuriating! That loud-mouthed pirate is a bad influence. And Ben? Well Ben doesn't deserve a villain as his queen"
Audrey snarled with a glare down into her scepter. Chad slowly tilted his head a little at Audrey's off behavior. She quickly waved around the scepter to make the image of the happy reunion go away. She slowly began to cackle, progressively getting louder and louder as the evil continued to seep into her being,
"That's just what I'll do! My life was a fairytale before the VKs came over, and I'm going to get my fairytale back! One by one, they'll all fall down those damn VKs. Turn to stone, put to sleep, I don't care! As long as they're out of the picture, as for Mal herself... I wouldn't exactly be upset if when we finally have our showdown and I accidentally go too far and put her into an eternal sleep of death... oh do you reckon I could erase memories with this thing?"
Audrey said as she looked back to Chad and motioned to the scepter. Chad was quite taken aback with a sudden new sense of fear and realism,
"U-Uh I hope it can't"
He muttered with fear as she seemed to be leaning the scepter towards him some,
"Oh I hope it can! Just imagine it, all the VKs put in their place and out of my way... then I can erase everyone's memory of their existence! Especially Ben and Brielle's! It'll all go back to how it used to be, Ben will love me and Brielle will go back to her old ways of leading all the princes on and being in the background just as she should be. Brielle and that... pirate have something... there's something about them yes. Mal's not terribly affectionate so it's hard to tell. Ben was never like that with me yes, but if I can't have that no one can! Besides, how could he even love her if she's not affectionate? There is so much wrong here! Don't fret Benny Boo, I'll make it all right!"
Audrey shouted with a vengeance. Chad flinched at her powerful yell and his eyes widened considerably,
"Audrey, you don't mean you're going to basically make the first five VKs disappear from... history even? T-That's not possible, it can't be possible"
Audrey shot Chad a wicked grin and look and slowly began stalking up to him with villainous intentions,
"Anything is possible when you have all the wicked power in the world. Now Chad, would you like to be the first to witness this feat of terrifying proportions?"
Chad's eyes widened some and began backing up from Audrey towards the pantry,
"U-Uh not really Audrey, hey uhm can I just ask a teeny weeny favor from you? I mean it should be teeny weeny because you're so... powerful and all"
Chad said, hoping to smooth talk his way from becoming a guinea pig to the memory-erasing spell. Audrey raised a brow and smirked at the cowering and begging Chad,
"Alright, it depends"
Chad stood up a bit straighter and gave Audrey a pleading smile,
"W-Well you did mention earlier that I used to chase Brielle around all the time and all... well I was wondering if maybe you could wave that little scepter around some and maybe... make her love me instead of Harry anyway since ya know, you're going to wipe everyone's memory of all of them anyway?"
Audrey got a wicked smile about her and chuckled some and waved a hand over the scepter to see a vision of Harry and Brielle, the two were crouching in front of the sleeping twins. She watched intently as Brielle hugged Harry from the side all until she planted a long and tender kiss on Harry's cheek and actively watched Harry's eyes go from somber to dazzling within seconds.
Audrey scowled at them and looked back up at Chad. However, she faked a nice smile to Chad as she had her plans in the forefront of her mind, not his. She could care less whether or not Chad got Brielle once the VKs were erased from history itself, so she decided to play a conniving joke on Chad. Audrey tilted her head at him some,
"Sure, why not?"
She said simply before waving her hand over the scepter and completely faking a spell. Chad looked on hopefully as she simply waved her hand about in the air, but she was busy thinking about the future of going back to the past. She put her hand back down with a smirk,
"Violà"
Audrey said confidently, confident in her ploy that is. Chad smiled and jumped for joy some,
"Aha! Now she doesn't have a damn choice but to like me, more than like me! She'll be all over me! Finally! Thanks, Audrey, I owe you!"
Audrey nodded and pretended to get an idea,
"Actually, if you owe me then there is something you could do for me?"
Chad stood straight up again and saluted to her,
"Anything!"
Suddenly Audrey's lips twisted back into an evil smirk,
"You could stand very still and make this a bit easier"
Audrey quickly charged the staff, deciding to erase Chad's memory about the conversation they had about her ploy so he couldn't tell the VKs or the King or Queen when they got there. Chad's eyes immediately widened but Audrey could only cackle. She shot the Dragon's Eye right at Chad with momentous force. A direct hit in the chest by a deep purple smoke sent him flying back, Audrey waited in anticipation as the smoke cleared.
Chad sat up and looked around with a furrowed brow, giving Audrey a very good feeling about her spell before he even spoke,
"Uhm... sorry Audrey but I guess I spaced out, what were we talking about?"
Audrey lit up in a more wicked and psychotic smirk than ever before and tilted her head at him, however unable to mask her wild eyes as the evil power was going to her head stronger and stronger by the minute. Her focus on reality was slowly blurring by the wicked and evil deed at her hand. At this rate, she'd have the power to erase the memory of everyone in the United Kingdoms of Auradon and get rid of the original five VKs somehow without a problem,
"Oh it's alright, I was just talking about how, because you've been so loyal to my cause, I went ahead and placed a very powerful love spell on Brielle for you. As soon as she sees you she'll fall out of love with Harry and into love with you, so I gotta go but they're on their way here now. I suggest you stay put to claim your Queen yeah?"
Chad lit up all over again and jumped to his feet and clapped in excitement,
"Oh my gods! Thank you so much Audrey, I owe you! She'll be all over me finally!"
Audrey chuckled at his lack of variety when it came to his response and slowly nodded,
"No problem, now I do have to make sure you stay here so... no hard feelings for this"
She said before bringing up her hand and making him sit on the ground with force before forcing her hand back and the door to the pantry and forced him into it via sliding. The door slammed shut and locked automatically right after, and Chad wasn't even frightened,
"Ah! If Ben dies early I'll become King! Thanks Audrey!"
He shouted with ample enthusiasm. Audrey cackled and sent out billowing dark pink smoke around her before quickly spinning, disappearing into thin air and leaving the smoke to dissipate. Audrey had move conniving to go do, not to mention she had plenty of traps to set for the unsuspecting VKs. Wiping everyone's memory would be easy, she just wanted to figure out special ways to get rid of the main VKs in her way of getting her fairytale back.
Harry and Mal.
A/N
Hiya!
..........
This chapter y'all, when I say I fine tuned this chapter for a week to get it just right, I'm not joking XD
Things just got quite serious, didn't they? I'd love to hear your thoughts about our current situation as we really just got slapped in the face with the reality of the situation, theories and ideas are more welcome now than ever :D
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even despite the dark undertone it has XD
Remember to stay hydrated and to be kind to yourself today :D
-Brooke