Wormwood's Holiday Hijinks
Summary: Wormwood has been in a rather mischievous mood lately, and he's causing all sorts of chaos around the castle. What he doesn't realize is someone is watching his every move.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Ah, Wormy's back, and he's in a chaotic/mischievous mood… 😉 Just a hint. I will have an OC in here from one of my stories a while ago: "Raven Haven." Some of you already know who it is. :D Just wanted to give you a heads up. Have fun!
*Story*
"We'll be back in a little while, Wormy," Cedric announced to the raven as he and Sofia were heading toward the door.
"And why am I not invited?" Wormwood whined, pouting. He usually never acted this way, because he was better than that, but Cedric and Sofia had been doing more stuff together recently and leaving him out, and he'd had just about enough. "It's always 'Cedric and Sofia' this, or 'Sofia and Cedric' that. Why can't it be 'Cedric, Sofia, and Wormwood?' Hmm? I was here first, little princess! Don't forget that!"
Sofia laughed incredulously. "Wormwood, I'd never forget that. It's just…"
Cedric silenced his apprentice by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Stop acting jealous, Wormy. We're only going to be gone for a little while, and you simply can't come along. That's that. No questions needed."
"But Mr. Cedric, maybe we should—" She blinked as he held one finger to her mouth, shushing her.
"He's a mature enough raven to understand that sometimes he's not welcome on certain adventures during certain times of the year. This is one of them." He gave the raven a reproachful look. "Be good, Wormwood. We'll be back soon." He guided Sofia out of the workshop and shut the door behind them.
"Argh! Okay, fine! I've had it." Wormwood paced back and forth on Cedric's cabinet. "You want to hang out with the princess? Fine. Do what you want. But don't expect me to be silent about it. You give her all your attention now, and she gets to do everything, and what does Wormwood get? 'Stay here and be good.' Good!" He grumbled. "Why can't I be bad? I'm so much better at it! That little princess ruins everything."
He looked up, a determined expression on his face. "Fine then. You two go off and be goody-goodies together, and take your little trips and do your little Wassailia shopping. I'm going to have some fun…" He smirked and flew over to the door, yanking it open with his talons and flying out.
He didn't notice the startled pair of eyes at the window where he'd just been sitting.
"Let's see. What should I adjust first?" Wormwood hovered around the hallway, glaring at all the decorations Baileywick and his staff had worked so hard to put up. "Yuck. All this merriment… Too much green. Not to mention tacky. Just because it's a holiday doesn't mean there doesn't have to be some tastefulness to it." He grinned. "Let's fix that…"
He fluttered up to the wall and grabbed the garland, yanking it down and watching as it landed in a large heap on the floor. "Oh, that was fun… What's next?" He sang loudly as he flew off, "Wassailia…is a rubbish holiday with too much greenery in the castle!"
The little form following after him panted in exhaustion before picking up the pace.
"Bows, wreathes, candles… Stupid, boring, and worthless." Wormwood ripped several bows from the windows and knocked a wreath askew before finally landing before his big target: the tree. "Hmm…"
"Don't even think about it!"
Wormwood gasped as a familiar small form rounded his head and flew directly in front of him, narrowed eyes peering into his. "Nina!" he sputtered. "H-How did you get in here?"
The little raven rolled her eyes. "You left the window open upstairs." She landed on the floor and gestured around at the mess her friend had created. "Mr. Wormwood, look what you've done!"
He grinned. "I know. Isn't it awesome?"
"I think you need a dictionary, because this isn't what I'd call 'awesome.' You're destroying the castle!"
"No, Nina! I'm destroying the Wassailia decorations."
"But…why?" She blinked. "What do you have against Wassailia?"
"Cedric and that pesky princess have been gushing over it the last several weeks and are always doing things…without me. It's like Wormy doesn't exist anymore, and they go gallivanting off on new Wassailia adventures everyday while I'm stuck in this overly-cheerful castle!"
Nina fluttered her feathers a bit before tilting her head. "So…you're lonely."
Wormwood would have blushed if his genetic makeup permitted it, but instead he averted his eyes. "I'm a raven—I'm a natural loner. I don't get lonely."
"Mr. Wormwood, lonely birds do terrible things sometimes…like destroying Wassailia decorations because they feel left out of the festivities." She hopped up to him a bit, nuzzling him under his neck feathers to give him a hug, which startled him a bit. "If you wanted someone to spend time with, you could have asked me! I'd love to spend time with you."
"Nina, I appreciate it, but…" He sighed. "Cedric was my friend until that princess came along."
"Mr. Cedric is allowed to have more than one friend, you know…and for the record, so are you."
Realizing she was speaking the truth, the raven sighed. "I've been a poor excuse for a raven."
"Yes, you have." She grinned when he shot her a sarcastic look. "But maybe you can make amends by fixing the problems you've caused."
"Mm… Maybe I can take care of this before anyone sees…"
"Oh, my goodness!" Baileywick lamented from the hallway as he saw the utter messy state of the castle. "What happened to my Wassailia decorations?!"
"So much for that," Nina sighed.
"Oh, my," Cedric's voice came next, which was surprising. He and Sofia hadn't even been gone half an hour at this point. "Baileywick, did someone rob the castle?"
Nina and Wormwood flew into the hallway and perched on a side table as they watched the scene unfold.
Sofia peeked out from behind Cedric and gasped. "Oh, no…this is terrible. I'm so sorry, Baileywick."
"My beautiful decorations—gone! Ruined!" The steward pulled out his pocket watch and groaned. "I'll never find more in enough time… King Roland will not be thrilled about this." He sighed sadly and trudged off, supposedly in a vain attempt to find some replacement decorations.
Wormwood turned and attempted to sneak away until Nina stuck out her talon and tripped him, causing him to fall flat on his face. He glared at the little raven. "Hey!"
"Wormwood!"
The bird in question looked up, only to see Cedric glaring at him, his arms folded. "Yes?"
"Did you do this?"
"Do what?"
Nina nodded fervently. "He did, Mr. Cedric."
Wormwood gave the little raven a pointed look. "Traitor."
"He said he was jealous that Princess Sofia got to spend so much time with you during Wassailia, and that he felt left out."
Cedric sighed heavily and rubbed his temple as Wormwood looked away sheepishly. "Wormwood… Did it ever occur to you that sometimes the reason I invite Sofia along and not you is because I might need help looking for your Wassailia gift?"
"…Huh?" His beak fell open. "My gift?"
"Although maybe we should bypass your gift this year, especially if you're going to act like this. There was no need to destroy the castle, you whiny raven." He pulled out his wand and began fixing the mess his companion had created.
"Aw, Mr. Cedric," Sofia started with her hands clasped, "I know he was wrong for doing that, but I can understand where he's coming from. Don't take away his Wassailia gift. He's actually been better this year until today."
Wormwood grinned and gestured toward the girl. "Listen to the princess, Cedric!"
"The same princess you described as 'pesky' thirty minutes ago?" Nina asked before Wormwood pressed his wing against her beak to get her to stop talking.
"Fine," Cedric relented before giving the bird a stern look. "But you're on potion bottle cleaning duty for a week."
"I thought that was your apprentice's job!"
"My apprentice didn't destroy the Wassailia decorations, Wormy." He smirked as Nina removed Wormwood's wing and huffed. "Perhaps Nina would be so kind as to assist you, though I don't think she should be subjected to such a thing. It was, after all, your fault."
"It's okay, Mr. Cedric," Nina cooed with a smile. "I don't mind helping Mr. Wormwood. If he wanted some attention and someone to hang out with for a while, I don't mind doing it."
"Why would you do that?" Wormwood asked curiously.
"Because I like you, Mr. Wormwood," she said sweetly with a charming smile. "You're funny and smart, and most days you're really calm and collected. You just had a little…setback."
"Well, then, that's settled," Cedric stated with a calmer smile. "Thank you, Nina. Come along, Sofia. Let's go help calm Baileywick down before fixing this mess. Wormwood, workshop. Now."
The older raven pouted before flying off, his young friend flying behind him. While his master and the princess took off to settle the steward's dilemma, the two ravens conversed in the workshop.
"I apologize that you had to see that side of me," Wormwood said as he avoided the younger raven's gaze. "I'm usually far more composed than that."
"It's okay, Mr. Wormwood. I don't think any less of you." She grinned. "You're still the coolest raven ever."
"Really… Well, then, in that case, you fly home and get some rest. Tomorrow, while the humans are busy, you and I will have our own Wassailia adventure."
Nina gasped. "Really?! Oh, yay!" She flew around her friend's head, giggling, before finally landing before him. "You're awesome, Mr. Wormwood!" She nuzzled his feathers again before flying up and out the window. "See you tomorrow!" she called as she took off.
Wormwood smiled thoughtfully as he shook out his ruffled feathers. "Hmm." With that, he decided he might as well get a nap in, especially since Cedric would likely make him start working on his punishment bottle cleaning once he'd aided poor Baileywick. Nestling down onto his perch, he sighed in contentment…only to be interrupted by the door slamming open a few moments later. He whined as he saw the pointed look on the sorcerer's face as he entered. "Cedric…"
"Potion bottle cleaning part one," Cedric announced as he held up a rag, "begins now."
Wormwood groaned. This was going to be a long afternoon.
The end