A/N: The gown Harry changes Brielle into ^^^ I think it's super pretty :D
Third Person
Fairy Godmother had been led up to the tower where the battle had been finished by Mal. As soon as they got up there Fairy Godmother rushed to Audrey in a slight panic but calmed down once she realized she was alive. Mal furrowed her brow as she looked down at her mother's scepter, and at least to her it looked worn out and broken. She carefully picked it up and turned to Fairy Godmother,
"Hey FG, come take a look at this"
She said which made Fairy Godmother trot over to her and look at the crystal as well. Fairy Godmother raised a brow and slowly took it from Mal as she examined the cracked Dragons Eye,
"It wasn't like this before it was stolen, do you have a clue what could've done this?"
Mal could only shake her head, but Fairy Godmother had a bit of an idea about the cracked scepter. She'd have to look into that later when she gets the chance. Mal suddenly realized that's why the fight was so easy, the scepter was damaged and losing energy, no wonder it wasn't anywhere near strong enough to beat her.
But the question is, what would be strong enough to break the scepter in such a dramatic way?
Harry had carefully gotten Brielle out of the restricting and rather tight-fitting outfit and into something he knew she enjoys far greater. A pastel blue flowy gown that was all about being loose-fitting. He had carefully laid her hair across her pillow and had taken her hairbrush from her vanity and gently brushed through her hair with slow care. He then went to the bathroom and got out her nightly routine of products as he's seen her do it plenty so he decided to do it for her. He gently wiped off all of her makeup before going as far as to use moisturizer and all, all while he sat staring at her unchanging facial expression.
Once Harry was finished settling a far more comfortable Brielle, he sat back down in the chair he had pulled up next to her bedside. He gently grasped her hand in both of his and silently allowed tears to fall as he just stared at her peaceful figure, watching her chest rise and fall like a slow metronome. Harry felt the guilt all rush back to him as the scene replayed in his head over and over again, for he truly believed that he should be the one laying here unresponsive, not Brielle.
Harry didn't believe Brielle deserved to be cursed at all, he began thinking how many bad things that he had done in his life and began to wonder so many terrible thoughts as no one was there to stop him. Did he deserve to be saved from the curse? He didn't believe so, but he knew he couldn't keep going down that thought train. Harry was very aware of how dangerous such negative thoughts could be.
So Harry decided to do something that normally helped stop those thoughts, he scooted his chair a little closer to Brielle's bedside and gently laid his head on her chest like he always did. He smiled a bit as he felt the rise and fall of her chest now. He kept one of her hands in his and brought his other hand up to cup her cheek, all while he fiddled with her ring finger once again. He knew the ring was in his pocket at this very moment and it was killing him, but he looked at Brielle with a smile for he was trying to keep his spirits light for her.
As Harry fiddled with Brielle's ring finger, he subconsciously began to think of a much happier scene. The day Harry looked at Brielle and time seemed to stop for a moment or two, about three months ago they were at the enchanted lake for a date when the two were having a romantic moment. The two had begun slow dancing in the gazebo for no real reason, they just wanted to. The exact moment was when Harry had slowly spun Brielle, but just as her hair flipped around and their eyes met again while she smiled a bright smile, it was like the world stopped. The dazzle in her eye and the way her gaze carried so much unconditional love for him, all the way to the way she batted her lashes and giggled like a child as they danced in the soft sunlight beside the shimmering lake.
That was the first time Harry ever looked at Brielle and thought of asking her to marry him.
The thoughts brought a bigger smile to Harry's face and reminded him that Brielle did love him, no matter what the intrusive thoughts said. Harry heard some chatter outside Brielle's door and stopped his daydreaming. He sighed as he had to bring himself back from his happy reminiscing as he heard some knocks on the door. He sighed and forced himself away from Brielle, but not before he gently laid her hands together on her stomach and gently brushed his hand over her cheek, then he stood and walked over to the door and opened it to those in the hallway. Fairy Godmother, Adam, Belle, Ben, Mal, and Jane, who had insisted to her mother that she wanted to see her best friend again, were all in the hallway. Harry didn't say a thing while he let everyone in, all of which already were at least a little bit teary-eyed. However, Adam and Belle were the ones to push through everyone with very worried expressions practically ran to Brielle's side,
"Oh B-Brielle h-honey..."
Belle said in a motherly panic as she was the first of the couple to get to their daughter and drop to her knees and shakily grasp Brielle's hands. Adam quickly joined her and stood over Brielle with tears quickly forming in his eyes. Belle quickly burst into tears and completely fell over onto the floor beside Brielle's bed in complete disarray. Ben and Adam quickly came to Belle's side and helped her to her shaky feet,
"... m-my b-b-baby... oh g-gods..."
Belle muttered just as Adam pulled her into a tight hug as she sobbed. Adam let the tears fall, but they didn't come nearly as hard as they did for Belle. Ben rubbed his mothers back and began to cry too all while Jane was struck by shock all over again but had to contain herself in order to allow Brielle's family to take it all in,
"H-Hey mom s-she's not d-dead r-remember?"
Ben whispered to try to console his mother, but Belle only slowly shook her head. Harry could barely keep himself any sort of together as he watched the family had their initial reactions. Fairy Godmother came in last and shut the door behind her as even she had to hold back tears,
"As hard as this is to even say, I'm going to have to ask everyone to settle down some. As difficult as this is, there is a very important series of things I have to ask Harry here about what happened and he can't answer those questions if he's having a breakdown"
Fairy Godmother said in her kindest tone. The entire room seemed to look at Harry at that moment, but Harry didn't look at anyone else. He still had his eyes locked on Brielle, he slowly began walking over to her bed and sat beside her, and took one of her hands in his so he wouldn't have to disturb Brielle's family. Stray tears continued to fall down Harry's flushed cheeks as he slowly looked up to Fairy Godmother, waiting for the questions she wanted to ask him.
Mal went to Jane's side and began to console her as reality finally began to hit her. Adam wiped Belle's tears and gave her a loving kiss on the forehead to calm her down some as tears continued down his face, all while Ben looked at Brielle's peaceful form with a heavy amount of guilt on his shoulders. Fairy Godmother got Belle to take a seat as she was looking quite faint before starting Harry's tough questioning. She looked at Harry and took a deep sigh,
"I understand how hard this is going to be, I completely understand if you need to take breathers in between questions, but there is one thing. I will have to be very direct and I need direct answers, no sugar coating yes?"
Harry could only nod as he began feeling all of his energy and will to stay awake was wavering on him, it had been a long and pretty straining day and his body was finally catching up with the effects of the prolonged exhaustion,
"Alright, has Brielle moved on her own even the slightest bit since she was cursed? Any slight shifts?"
Harry slowly shook his head as his eyes inevitably drifted back over to Brielle, he began drawing circles on her hand to keep himself from bursting into tears once again,
"Okay, has she made any sort of noise? Even if it was just a coo or a hum?"
Harry slowly shook his head and took a breath to speak,
"No... s-she always hums w-when she sleeps t-too"
Harry quietly answered. Adam specifically furrowed his brow and tilted his head some at the broken boy,
"How do you know?"
Harry looked up at Adam and had zero energy to try to lie, so he simply told the truth to the overprotective father even if it might make him blow up some,
"W-We sleep t-together a lot... c-cuddling with her helps m-me with my n-nightmares a-and it helps h-her fall a-asleep faster... I k-know she hums b-because its o-one of the things t-that reminds m-me I'm in a s-safe p-place"
Harry quietly responded to the father who surprisingly didn't blow up, but in fact, he softened up some and nodded to the boy, glad to have not gotten a completely different answer. Fairy Godmother decided to act like the no girls and boys sleeping in the same room rule didn't exist for a moment to allow Harry or Brielle to not get in trouble as they weren't doing anything reckless,
"Besides that, I've noticed her heartbeat has slowed down, has her breathing slowed down too? Have you noticed?"
Harry nodded,
"Y-Yeah, it's w-way slower"
Harry strategically decided to leave out the fact that he knows that because he lays on Brielle's chest a lot because he thought that would be a lot for her father to handle, and he wasn't in the mood for a fight of any sort to happen. Harry then remembered something he hadn't told Fairy Godmother or anyone at that,
"I-If it helps, U-Uma tried ta lift t-the curse and this d-deep green aura a-almost swirled around B-Brielle ta b-block Uma's magic b-before sinking b-back in... it w-was like Uma's a-anti-curse spell c-couldn't e-even get n-near her"
Fairy Godmother seemed a little taken aback at that, immediately sinking into a far more sympathetic and sad look than before which really worried Harry and Brielle's family. Fairy Godmother looked to her daughter and motioned to her to bring her her wand which Jane promptly did with tears running down her cheeks. Fairy Godmother raised her wand and swirled it about and sent a light stream of magic to Brielle just to see what Harry was talking about.
Suddenly, right as the light was seemingly about to enter Brielle's body, a deep green malicious magic struck out and completely annihilated the light. It then slowly swirled back around Brielle's body before sinking back in. Everyone had jumped back besides Harry, he stayed completely still and continued to hold Brielle's hand as the curse had shown itself. Fairy Godmother took a shaky breath as everyone looked on in shock at the terrifying sight,
"T-That's what I was afraid of..."
Fairy Godmother began, Adam and Belle looked over to Fairy Godmother with fear struck expressions while Ben had to cover his mouth to avoid breaking into sobbing,
"... this is no elementary curse, this is the sleeping curse, better known as the one used on Aurora all those years ago. Not the same one used on all of Auradon as everyone could still move and make sound, this is a sleep like death"
Belle harshly gasped and promptly fainted into Adam who caught her and immediately began consoling his broken-hearted wife. Harry's eyes widened and shot up to Fairy Godmother in terror, this is what he was afraid of too. Ben sobbed through his hand and quickly found Mal for support and tightly hugged her and let it all out. Jane went to her mother for support, but Harry had no one. His person was the one under the curse, he wanted to cry on her shoulder, no one else's. He looked back over to Brielle and slowly began shaking his head before he could feel himself coming to his breaking point, the point in which no matter who was there he couldn't keep it in. He covered part of his face with his free hand and began sobbing and shaking all over again, all because one thought was circulating over and over again in his head,
"I-I-It's m-my f-fault..."
Harry sobbed out. Belle looked over to him and felt a bit of her motherly instinct kick in looking at the broken boy as he blamed himself for Brielle's comatose,
"... i-it s-should've b-been m-m-me... y-ye d-don't deserve t-this l-love"
Harry choked out while he shakily squeezed Brielle's hand. Belle quickly shook her head and slowly broke away from Adam. Ben had told them how Harry was supposed to take the curse but Brielle jumped in the way to protect him from it, and as always Belle did think Brielle's actions were tremendously brave no matter how much it hurt her heart to see her daughter in such a state. Belle didn't want Harry to think this was his fault and no one was telling him that it wasn't, so as always Belle was willing to step in. She walked around Brielle's bed and sat next to Harry and carefully put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump and look at her with bloodshot eyes,
"N-No t-thoughts like that, I-I heard w-what happened and I w-won't let the p-person Brielle w-was willing to d-do this for t-think it's his f-fault. It is m-most certainly not, I-I'm sure B-Brielle doesn't w-want you t-thinking that"
Belle softly spoke. Harry relaxed some but continued to shake profusely,
"B-But I-I always p-promised... t-ta protect h-her... a-and I d-didn't"
Harry spoke with a shaky voice. Belle smiled some and internally cooed, she did always have a good feeling about Harry after the initial shock of her daughter announcing her boyfriend was not just an Isle boy, but a pirate too wore off. She was slowly seeing why Brielle chose him over every prince in the kingdom,
"H-Harry, that's very s-sweet of you but we b-both know Brielle q-quite well. I-If you promised t-to protect her t-then she probably promised t-to protect you too. S-She's very l-loyal to those s-she loves, a-as much as t-the news hurts I-I wasn't s-surprised to h-hear she did t-this..."
Belle saw the tremendous sense of doubt in Harry's eye and decided to shift gears some as Harry was able to bring his shaking down to a minimum. Belle smiled and whispered,
"... s-she wouldn't have d-done w-what she did if s-she didn't love y-you, I c-can tell s-she loves y-you very much b-by this a-act alone"
Harry softened up some and nodded, getting his smile back in the process. He slowly looked back over to Brielle and felt the tiredness return as his remaining tears fell onto his cheeks. Belle smiled at Harry and slowly stood back up and walked back over to Adam while Fairy Godmother had begun ushering Mal, Jane, and Ben out of the room first as midnight approached,
"Harry, you need rest"
Fairy Godmother quietly said as she tried to get him to leave Brielle's room too, but Harry looked up at her and didn't budge while Adam consoled Belle and slowly began walking out,
"Harry, that means its time to go"
Harry locked eyes with Fairy Godmother and shook his head to her surprise. Belle held back some to see why Harry was refusing to leave. Adam stayed back some too and watched with heightened interest,
"I-I promised h-her I w-wouldn't leave h-her side until s-she's awake, I-I'm not one ta b-break promises like that w-with all due respect"
Harry proudly got out. Belle smiled some more at him and looked to Fairy Godmother,
"L-Let him stay please, if I-I were in B-Brielle's place I w-wouldn't want to be a-alone either"
Fairy Godmother nodded to Harry and gave him a sympathetic smile before following Belle and Adam out of the room and quietly shut the door behind them, leaving a very tired Harry being with Brielle. Harry slowly got up and closed the curtains and shut the lights off before tiredly stumbling back over to Brielle's bedside and to the chair he had placed there and sat down. He took off his jacket and boots and any extra accessories like rings and his sword holster to get more comfortable before he took one more long look at Brielle. Harry slowly laid his head on her stomach and gently held one of her hands again and scooted closer to her bedside,
"G-Goodnight m-my love, s-sweet dreams mon chéri"
Harry tiredly spoke before finally closing his still teary and exhausted eyes. Harry very quickly fell asleep from exhaustion that night, but he didn't even move once so Brielle knew he was close and was staying close.
Meanwhile, Fairy Godmother dismissed Jane, Ben, and Mal and got them to head back to their dorms so they could assess Audrey in the morning. Fairy Godmother pulled Adam and Belle aside in a quiet hall and had a very important conversation with the couple,
"What is it?"
Adam asked right as Fairy Godmother stopped leading them away and turned to them,
"It's about Harry, I know that now we know what's wrong with Brielle the urge to pressure Harry to try true loves kiss is strong, but I don't think either of you should say a word to him about it"
Fairy Godmother quietly spoke. Belle and Adam immediately got a little panicked and looked up at each other in disbelief before looking back to Fairy Godmother,
"What?! Fairy Godmother my daughter is in a spell induced death-like coma and Harry could lift the spell, why can't we even suggest it?"
Belle said with panic. Adam hugged his still shaky wife by the side and supportively rubbed her side,
"Now, we can't just think about Brielle here you two. We have to remember that Harry had gone through something truly traumatic. He was the only one besides Audrey herself at the scene, but Harry experienced something no one else has. Brielle, whom he loves very much, fell into his arms and proceeded to slowly fall victim to the curse all while Harry was holding her and pleading to her to stay awake all while she inevitably couldn't. Can you imagine going through that? Not to mention Harry shared that he thought Brielle was actually dead for a good while, the boy is badly shaken up. Putting the pressure of needing to kiss Brielle to wake her up could open a can of worms for the poor boy! He's stressed and anxious as it is, if we put that on his plate he could have a severe problem. We have to be patient with him"
Fairy Godmother supportively spoke to Adam and Belle, hoping they would take her advice and not possibly overwhelm Harry to a point of breaking him completely,
"I guess that's right, but all he has to do is kiss her. It can't be that hard right?"
Adam said as for a moment he forgot that he himself at one point needed true love's kiss to free him from his old curse and forgot how difficult that was. Belle furrowed her brow and gave him a look that seemed to kick his memory into place again, but Fairy Godmother was going to continue her rant no matter what,
"It doesn't seem hard to you or I, but to him... well Harry doesn't think like we do. I obviously see his grades and such, and some teachers have written me notes about him and such as part of making sure the students are alright and such. Some of the teachers have noticed that he's a very anxious boy, but outside of class, he isn't. Why? Well, when he's out of class he's almost always with Brielle, he does not have any classes with Brielle. The longer he's around her after not being with her he tends to relax a considerable amount, I don't know why that is but that leads me to believe that the longer we let him stay with her the more he'll relax, the more he relaxes the better he'll feel about the situation and himself, the better he feels the better the chance that we can introduce the idea of true loves kiss to him without overwhelming him. Harry is obviously attached to Brielle, the longer we allow him to stay with her the better yeah?"
Fairy Godmother stated. Belle and Adam eventually nodded, but they were scared that Harry might never get to the point that he could calm down enough to introduce the idea of true love's kiss. Little did they know the thought was already on Harry's mind and he was already processing it.
With that, Belle and Adam stayed in an empty dorm for the night so they could be close to their daughter and called it a night.
Auradon Prep was eerily quiet that night, the news that Brielle was in a comatose hadn't made it out and yet the entire atmosphere was dimmed with sadness. Those who knew could barely stop talking about it, not even Uma and the Hook sisters who had let Uma stay with them. Mal continued to help Ben with his emotions as best as she could, already beginning her transformation as a better person rather than a self-absorbed and paranoid girl who causes nothing but problems.
No matter how much everyone talked of the incident or tried to console each other, no one felt it like the person that vowed to stay by Brielle's bedside. Harry's light had been dimmed more than any other that day, the girl that had brought so much light into his once very dark life being in a comatose had done a number on him already and it had been less than a day after the incident that left the Queen in that comatose.
A/N
Hiya! I wanna hug Harry so bad right now, it is fucking sad how much I wanna hug him D:
Imma be real with y'all, I'm super tired right now and don't feel like I can successfully stay awake any longer to write a full authors note so I gotta call it, it's nearly 1am for me XD
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter despite it's sadness :D
Remember to stay hydrated and to be kind to yourself today :D
-Brooke