Guided by the Light
Summary: After a mishap in Cedric's workshop causes her to be permanently blind, Sofia is confused and scared in her now dark, sightless world. Cedric, in a mass overload of guilt and anger at himself, tries to help her get through it despite his lack of knowledge of the blind. Rewrite!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sofia the First.
Author's Note: I know it sounds crazy to write something like this but we know that Cedric works with potions at times and I always wondered what would happen if they exploded at the wrong time while Sofia was helping him or having a lesson with him and this story was born. And yes Cedric will be the Anne Sullivan to Sofia's Helen Keller.
Chapter One
It wasn't supposed to happen. His apprentice wasn't supposed to be screaming bloody murder, King Roland wasn't supposed to be upset with the situation and blame him for it even though they knew that it wasn't his fault, Queen Miranda wasn't supposed be sobbing when her daughter had opened her eyes and didn't see her face, and Amber and James weren't supposed to look at him with cold, disowning glares for blinding their stepsister before the sounds of their stepmother's sorrow had taken over them and their emotions.
But it did thanks to a lesson that Cedric was supposed to teach Sofia going horribly wrong.
The lessons between sorcerer and apprentice were normally harmless with a few spills and laughs here and there with danger never coming. At least that's what Cedric had thought before the potion he and Sofia had been working on exploded at the wrong time.
From his first days of sorcery, Cedric knew to stay away from an exploding potion, knowing how dangerous they were because of the chemicals they produced. Poor Sofia, on the other hand, didn't know as she was learning basic to medium magic skills at Royal Prep, causing the potion to explode right into her baby blue eyes and have her scream out in pain.
An hour had passed since the explosion, since Sofia had lost her sight as Cedric was in distraught, holding his apprentice's sparkling purple hat that had fallen off her head when she had put her hands close to her face to ease the pain in her burning eyes.
He realized that Sofia would never be able to see her family, her friends or even him ever again. She wouldn't even see the sun or the magic that the spells she was learning produced.
And it was his fault even though he knew that it wasn't. The distraught sorcerer thought that he could've just plan the potion for another day, that his lesson with Sofia could've been a spell that she was learning in class.
But it was too late now to do any of his thoughts as Cedric was now hugging Sofia's apprentice hat as his raven, sensing some distress, flew over to him, putting a wing to his cheek, leaving Cedric a bit surprised as Wormwood was never that fond of affection towards others except for himself.
"I really screwed up this time, Wormy. I screwed up my apprentice's life! Now she can't see anything!" Cedric had put down his apprentice's hat as he put a hand to his forehead. "Merlin's mushrooms! How can I make it up to Sofia when I barely know anything about blindness!?" The raven squawked in concern even though he hated the youngest princess of Enchancia with a passion. "I should try to help Sofia? Well, I could, Wormy, I could. But how?"
…
Sofia blinked. The last thing she saw was the potion that she and her mentor, someone who she considered to be her best friend, were trying to make as part as a lesson, come towards her eyes. Now she saw nothing but darkness.
The darkness terrified her as she felt something soft, almost like a blanket. Was she in bed already? She couldn't be in bed! She had seen the sun before going into Cedric's workshop as her mind was telling her that it was still daylight but her eyes told a different story.
"We'll have to get her new books, fabrics that she can feel, and clothes that she can find on her own. And you said that nothing terrible would happen during her lessons with Cedric!"
Sofia heard her father's voice. He didn't sound too pleased as she was confused. What did he mean by new books and other things? What did he mean by nothing terrible would happen during her lessons with Cedric?
Panic ran through her mind like wild fire. Was her mentor okay? Did he get hurt? Was he ill? Did something happen to him during their lesson?
The only thing Sofia could do was scream as she heard racing footsteps come towards her.
"Sofia, sweetheart, turn to my voice." Sofia listened, turning to her mother's voice as she smelled the rose perfume that Miranda had always worn around her since her early childhood days. "Honey, there was an accident in Cedric's workshop this afternoon. A potion that you and him were working on exploded and was very harmful to your eyes."
"What your mother means is, Sofia, is that the potion and its chemicals caused you to lose your eyesight," Roland tried to explain to her gently as realization came to Sofia and with that realization, brought tears.
"No…" Tears flowed down Sofia's face like water falls as she tried to feel her face with her hands but failure overtook her. "I'm scared. I can't see anything anymore. I won't be able to fly in the derby, I won't be able to practice fencing with James, and I won't be able to do magic with Mr. Cedric! Everything's so confusing right now!"
Miranda had always hated seeing her daughter cry but now that Sofia was blind, it only made hearing her daughter's cries much more heartbreaking as Sofia was scared and confused with why she could only hear the ones she loved and not see them.
"We know it is but things will get better. And Sofia, we were all scared about what happened to you today." Roland looked at his stepdaughter and ruffled her hair. "We just want what's best for you and even if we have get you things that you need just to cope with your blindness, we'll try our best."
"Mom? Dad? Can Amber and James come in please?" Sofia asked gently through her tears. "I would like to hear their voices." There was silence before she spoke again, but not as gentle as she had once been. "I guess that they don't want to come in so I can hear their voices is because they hate me!"
"Sofia, Amber and James don't hate you. They're scared and a bit angry. In fact, James had locked himself in his room nearly two hours after you had lost your sight mainly for the second reason. Amber's calm enough but is still a little scared to be near you." Miranda looked at her daughter, squeezing her hand so she wouldn't start crying again. "They wanted us to tell you that they love you and will stick by you throughout all this. They don't want you to be alone."
"Good," Sofia acknowledged, feeling a warm chill go down her back. "I don't want to be alone. I never want to be alone." She blinked as she wondered about the daylight. "Mom, is it light outside?"
Miranda was about to shake her head before remembering that her daughter wouldn't be able to see it as she clapped her hands twice while explaining to the staring princess that twice meant no and once meant yes.
Sofia still was confused even after the explanation. She couldn't understand why her mother couldn't just tell her what it was like outside. The colors, the people, the animals. She just wanted to visualize everything in her mind as Sofia began to smack herself repeatedly in the forehead before Roland had taken her hand away from her forehead.
"It's just not fair!" Sofia yelled in fright as she felt herself shivering. "I want to see things for myself but I can't! And I hate the dark! I-I hate it! Why did my eyesight go away? It was just fine this morning! Now it's gone and I feel useless!"
Miranda and Roland looked at each other, heartbroken at Sofia's current state. They knew that her blindness was going to be difficult for Sofia to accept in one day and they could understand why she had gone into denial about it but they knew that overtime, the little girl was going to get used to it as if she had been born blind, not by an accident in Cedric's workshop.
Sofia was still in fright when her parents had left an hour later. The sound of Clover sniffing around scared her the most. How could she hear him that well when she couldn't before?
Nothing made sense to the youngest princess of Enchancia as she heard Clover calling her name which only made her start to cry, knowing that she couldn't see his gray fur anymore or his eyes light up whenever food was mentioned.
She had tried to talk to him like she normally would when she had her sight but it wasn't the same. Clover had tried his best to comfort her but Sofia had bid him farewell as she cried herself to sleep in her now dark, sightless world.
