I haven't really written anything for a while now, mostly been working on my novel, so I decided it was a good idea to fall victim to Disney again. So please enjoy this very sudden fanfic, by me!
The sound of music and dancing drifted from the streets below. Flowers flitted everywhere you walked, making the brick roads soft like pure silk. The sun was low in the sky, night was just in a few hours, not a cloud was in sight but instead birds; beautiful blue jays, robins, and sparrows filled the endless blue.
"Quit spacing out, its time to focus."
I shook my head to clear it. "Right."
I quickly scanned the crowd in the square. Most of the guards were there on the sidelines. Good, we'd want them to stay out of the way.
I nodded to Alarica. She began moving forward through the shadows of the buildings. I followed her, sneaking between alley's when a guard came forward. Soon, she began to quietly laugh.
"I can't believe that stupid Flynn gave this job up. This is the most amazing rush in the world!" She let her head back and laughed deeper.
"I don't know, I heard he found love." I shrugged and looked around to see if anyone had heard her. Oh, it's a party. No one would care.
"Yeah, he found love and married the princess. Yeah, right." She rolled her beautiful pastel green eyes. "And I found a stash of beautiful diamonds and became rich beyond our wildest dreams!"
I smacked her shoulder and continued forward.
"I actually heard, many years back, he was captured and hung." She raced ahead, climbing up the side of a building and over its rooftop. I rolled my eyes, showoff. "Kidnap, thieving the crown... Stuff like that."
"No, at the local tavern, they said he escaped." I followed her movements and peered over the point of the roof. Alarica pointed to the wall of the castle. I looked at her with wide eyes and she snickered.
"Don't be a baby, Druella." She stood and threw a rope with a hook on the end, getting it caught on the side of the wall. She grabbed the end of the rope and jumped from the roof, climbing upwards and over. I looked down, the grass swaying under the house below, and I held onto the chimney.
"Your turn, Dru." She tossed the end of the rope to me and I caught it then edged towards the wall, watching the ground below me.
"I don't think we should do this." I called to her, my vision began to sway.
"Hurry up, the guards are going to find us." She called, yanking to rope. I held on tightly, swinging forward off the roof and smacking into the bricks.
Alarica pulled me up and I climbed over. We jumped onto one of the castle rooftops and ran across. Alarica knelt and reached down, over the edge. I looked around once again, the square was beginning to light with torches, lanterns, and candles. A hand pulled my arm and I stumbled forward towards the ledge. Alarica swung herself over and through an open window. I copied and looked around the wondrous room.
Decorated across the walls were golden flowers against a dark purple background, the royal insignia. Glass cases pressed against the walls, golden statues hidden inside. I looked towards the door, it was halfway open, guards stood outside oblivious to what was happening. I looked to Alarica and put on finger to my lips. Quiet. She nodded then pointed. I followed to where she was looking; in a far corner there was a huge base with a giant golden flower. In the middle of the flower was a purple jewel, a rare gem, only one was ever found in the forbidden meadow.
Alarica snuck over and walked up the steps. She used both her hands to pry out the jewel that was the size of her face. Turning to me, she wrapped it in a dusty cloth and placed it in the bag slung over my shoulders. Something shifted out the door, then voices drifted down the hall into the room.
"Your majesty!" Saluted the guards.
"You know you don't have to do that," The woman laughed. The queen was out there!
We bolted towards the window, Alarica climbed out and jumped, hauling herself over the roof. I climbed into the sill and reached up to her. I heard a gasp behind me and turned to look. Standing on the far side of the room was the queen and her husband, Eugene. My eyes met hers and she looked curious, not at all frightened or worried. Eugene looked all around the room and I grabbed a hold of Alarica's hands. As she lifted me, he caught sight of the empty golden flower.
He turned to me, angrily, and began running. Alarica pulled me up and we dashed across the roof, jumped onto the wall and climbed down the rope. The king chased us until we got to the rope, guards appeared at his sides and he pounding a fist into the blocks. I looked at him apologetically before catching up to Alarica. His expression had softened just a bit before he turned and started talking to the guards.
We ran over the bridge and started through the dark woods. The pack clapped against my hip, heavy with the jewel. We did it. We actually succeeded.
"That was amazing!" Alarica laughed, jumping over a fallen log. I hauled over it and slowed to a stop.
"We just stole from the king and queen..." I ran my hands through my dark hair. "This is bad, this is very bad."
"Druella, I just won you food for a lifetime." She sauntered over, putting her hands on my shoulders. "You should be happy, my sister."
"How can I be happy when we just stole the rarest gem in the whole world! I'm pretty sure this is treason, thieving from royalty!" I shook my head, pressing the heels of my hands into my forehead. "We should never have done this, we're public enemies now!"
"Good thing they've only seen my face." She snickered. I gasped at her.
"What in the world does that mean?" My eyes narrowed.
"Well, sister, it means you must hide." She took my hand and began fast-walking. "We need to find a place they will never find you, no matter how much they search."
"Where! They'll find us anywhere!" I pulled my hand out of hers and stopped.
She stopped and put a hand under her chin in thought. After a minute, her face lit up.
"I know just the place."
She began running again. I followed out of habit, dodging branches and bushes that blocked my path. It being night didn't help, I could barely see ahead of me until it was too late. Soon, we came across a sign. Many started filling our paths, all saying the same thing; STAY AWAY! FORBIDDEN!
"The forbidden meadow?" I gasped. She smirked, but didn't slow. "We can't, they strictly made it against the law to go there!"
"That is why its the best place to go." She pulled back overgrown vines from a tunnel of rocks. "They would never suspect it."
I paused, uncertain about going. All our lives we were told to never go there, but here we are, breaking the laws that were so well grounded into us. Suddenly, I heard voices. Horses bounded in the forest. I turned and saw the shadows of the guards. I looked back to the tunnel and took a deep breath before walking through. I heard the vines move back in place and Alarica took my hand.
"Do not worry, if there is anything in the meadow, I will protect you." She squeezed my hand.
"I don't think any of this was worth it." I whispered.
We stepped through more vines, tall grass swayed in the night breeze. A wolf howled in the distance, the full moon shining directly overhead. A lonesome tower stood in the middle of the meadow, next to a small stream. It was tilted and crumbling from the years of abandonment.
"What is this?" I stopped at the stream, staring up at the tower. "Why did they forbid this place? It's beautiful!"
"I don't know," Alarica walked up next to me. She turned and smiled, holding out her hands. "Let me see the jewel."
I took the pack off my shoulders and opened it up. She reached in and pulled out the purple gem, removing the ugly old cloth from around it. Her eyes widened along with her smile. The wind began to blow, tossing her long black hair around her shoulders. The jewel began to glow bright pink, sending rays of light all across the meadow. The rays began to dance and swirl, in ways that were impossible in this world. I gasped and took a few steps back from Alarica. The light began to swirl around her, caressing her face and shoulders.
I figure began to form amongst the light, it made Alarica scream. The figure's hair billowed out in black ringlets around her thin shoulders, she towered Alarica. She opened her eyes, they were the same pastel green as Alarica, except this woman's had a faint purple tint from the light. A dark pink dress trailed against the ground, it had lighter seams down the bodice.
"Oh, finally you get to this rat hole of a place." Her voice was rough, like a woman who had a life well lived.
Alarica gaped at the woman next to her. She tried forming words on her lips but they didn't come out.
"Who are you?" I said for her.
"Oh, my dear, you are the one who carried me here!" She came over and wrapped her ghostly arms around my shoulders. "I owe you so much, in fact, I shall repay you for getting me out of that dreaded castle!"
I looked over the woman's shoulder. A faint trail of light led from her to the gem. Alarica was making the same observation, though being more amazed at it.
"You're a spirit." I pulled away from her.
She laughed. "Of course, but not just any spirit."
"You're attached to the gem." I glared at her and she laughed more.
"Close... I am the gem." Her smile became more sinister. "I'm afraid something happened while I was alive..."
She threw an arm over her forehead in a dramatic way and sat on a nearby log. "I'm afraid I was cheated out of life!"
I looked to Alarica who shook herself then looked down at the gem in her arms. She shoved it back into my arms.
"You were right, bad idea to take the gem." She stuttered through the whole sentence. I sighed, rolling my eyes, and pulled my sweater closer around me, kneeling in the grass in front of the woman.
"How were you cheated out of life?"
"Do you know why this meadow is forbidden?" Her voice went quiet. She pet the log under her, tracing the markings on it with her fingers. I shook my head, sitting cross legged and putting the gem in my lap. "I spent the last moments of my life here, want to know how I died? I was young and beautiful! Cheated out of life! Murdered!"
My hand flew to my mouth to cover my gasp. The light around her intensified, growing larger before fading back to normal. She sighed, looking up at the tower.
"Somehow, over time, my body gather into a solid form." She nodded to me. "That crystal. I'd call it magic, but I highly doubt today's generation believes in that sort of stuff." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. She smiled to Alarica, who was pacing and pulling her hair out, and me. "You two seem like very nice young ladies. Would you mind helping me with something?"
I looked to Alarica. She paused and turned, stepping towards us.
"Depends." I shrugged. "What is it you want?"
"Oh, nothing completely impossible, and trust me when I say there will be a very handsome reward for your troubles." She smirked to us, looking back and forth between us and her nails.
"I'm listening, now." Alarica smiled. She made it her life's work to get a good enough payment to get us out of the life of beggars.
"The thing I want, more than anything in the whole world, is..." She sighed, turning away from us. "No, never mind, I can't risk it. You wouldn't help me."
"Tell us, we'll help." Alarica begged.
"Do you promise?" The woman sniffed. Alarica nodded vigorously. "Okay... The thing I want, more than anything... Is revenge."
My eyes widened. "Against your killer?"
She stood, nodding. A grimace appeared on her beautiful face. "I'd like to get back the life I once had, everything was absolutely perfect until..."
"We'll help you!" Alarica shouted, smirking mischievously.
"Solemnly swear, dear girl?" The woman drifted to Alarica, caressing her cheek with her hand. The light swirled around my sister in a sinister way.
"I solemnly swear. I will help you, anyway I can, to get back at who did this to you."
The woman began laughing, it was dark and it echoed through the meadow. The light thickening, the swirls turned into sharp edges in the night. They crowded around Alarica, and began piercing through her skin. She cried out and I shot up, moving the gem to the side. I began towards her but was locked in place. I looked below and the light had trapped me to the ground I was standing on.
"Alarica!" I shouted. I struggled until the light grabbed a hold of my arms. I thrashed around screaming for my sister. "Alarica, no!"
More light twisted around her body, the woman began to fade into her. It was like a terrible storm was filling the meadow, it blew the grass all around us, ripping up some of it. The woman began to laugh then, as she faded, Alarica began to laugh too. The woman disappeared completely into my sister and the light faded back into the crystal, which had turned black.
"Oh, it is so GOOD to be back!" Alarica stood slowly, reaching her hands out in front of her, stretching her fingers and staring at her palms and the back of her hands. "This body is quite young. I shall enjoy being here."
"Alarica?" My voice quavered. What just happened to my sister? I took a step towards her, noticing I was no longer hindered by the shackles. "Alarica, is that you?"
"Oh, my dear sweet girl," My heart faltered at her tone. It matched the woman's. "Your sister is here still, but I'm afraid I'm occupying this body for a time, until she fulfills her promise."
"For revenge?" The woman nodded. I sighed. "Then you'll let go of my sister?" She nodded again.
"Cross my heart," She made the motion on her chest with her finger. "You will have her back once I am done."
I nodded, glaring at the body of my sister. "Then I will help too, just to make sure you don't do anything to that body that would damage it."
"I would never!" A hand flew to her chest, as if offended.
"What is your name?" I picked the crystal back up and shoved it into the pack.
"My name?" She laughed. "No one has asked in a long time, they've always just known... I've been locked in that castle far too long..."
"Your name!" I commanded. Her smile disappeared and she placed her hands on her hips.
"Mother Gothel." She said in the same dominant tone.
"Mother Gothel," I sighed, motioning her to follow, tears daring themselves to appear in my eyes. "Let's get this show on the road."
I hope you enjoy, and look for the next chapter!
Please review!