Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Newsies!
Author's Note: Okay, I know I shouldn't start two stories at once, but I just couldn't help myself. Please read and review!
Chapter One: The Trade
"Now Noa," the king said gently, "Try to be reasonable about this. You're a princess of Mora, he's a…well, an absolute nobody from Graylen."
"I love him," she ground out, tears of frustration stinging behind her eyes.
I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry. Her jaw clenched tightly and her bow shaped lips drew into a narrow line.
He spoke simply, and each word cut like a knife on her skin.
"I cannot allow it."
Noa drew a shaky breath, this is it, she thought, he's not leaving me any other option.
"Well," she paused, raising her chin defiantly and staring into his piercing eyes, "I'm not asking you to."
With that she turned on her heel and strode quickly from the chamber, willing herself not to smirk with self-satisfaction at the gasp her mother elicited before the door slammed behind her.
Slinging the bag she had left sitting in the hallway over her shoulder she ran swiftly to the stairwell, leaping down the steps three at a time. She planned to be well out of the castle before her father gathered enough wits about him to send someone after her.
Outside she breathed in the sweet spring air and made her way into the forest that began just beyond the castle grounds.
"Dayne!" She yelped in surprise upon seeing her lover, the slender young man leaning against a gnarled oak tree, "You shouldn't have come this close! What if someone had seen you?"
He shrugged nonchalantly, a mischievous grin on his face, "They wouldn't have known who I was. Besides," he said, wrapping his arms around Noa to pull her in for a kiss, "I didn't want you walking through these woods all by yourself."
Noa rolled her eyes, "I'm a big girl, dummy," she placed her hands on his chest and looked up at him, "I told him I wasn't asking for his permission, you know. I did it, we're free," she smiled teasingly, tweaking one of his pointed elfin ears, "Just so long as you don't mind not being with a princess, because I'm pretty sure this loses me my title."
"You know none of that's ever been important to me," Dayne whispered, brushing a lock of hair away from her face.
Nodded, she moved away from him, "Well then what are we waiting for? No use standing around here, let's go!"
Dayne transferred her pack onto his own shoulder and hand in hand they walked further into the forest.
· · · · ·
"LOREN!" The king thundered, and the servants in the hallway flinched as they went about their duties.
In a grand and completely unnecessary puff of dark smoke the wizard appeared, folding away his wand into his robes as he bowed low to his ruler.
"Your majesty," Loren said graciously as he straightened, "What may I do for you?"
"Noa," The king spit out angrily, and the queen was sent into another crying fit at the mention of her daughter's name, "Has run off with that…elf."
"Ah," Loren spoke thoughtfully, "I see. That is most…unfortunate, to say the least."
"Yes, well, I want you take care of it. By any…means…necessary. Understand, Loren," the king's voiced turned deathly serious, "That the life of the elf is rather…inconsequential to me."
"Say no more, my lord," Loren said with a confident smile and a wave of his hand, "I shall see to it. I am assuming we would like Noa returned to the castle?"
"I would like my daughter back, yes," the king said, his eyes narrowing at his advisor's use of the royal we, "I would like Noa brought back to the castle."
Loren coughed uncomfortably, "Yes of course, your majesty. She shall be home before nightfall," the wizard swept into another bow, "My lord, my lady."
With a flourish his wand appeared and he was gone in an instant as another burst of thick smoke filled the room.
· · · · ·
Noa stopped suddenly and looked around in alarm.
"What?" Dayne asked worriedly, "What's the matter?"
"Someone's here," she said, turning to him with wide eyes, "My father's sent someone. Quick, run ahead, I'll catch up to you."
"But—"
"Please just go," she begged him, shoving him forward, "They won't hurt me, my father would never allow it. But you…just go!"
Dayne gave her pleading eyes a long look before he finally turned and ran.
Moments later, when Loren appeared with his usual flare, he found Noa standing with her arms folded over her chest, glaring daggers at him.
"Loren," she said curtly, "I thought I felt your particular…presence nearby."
"Princess," he bowed to her but did not lower his gaze from her eyes. Noa's stare hardened at the marked sign of distrust from the wizard.
"I suppose you're here to bring me back kicking and screaming."
"Your father did send me to return you, yes, but I believe he also had another task in mind when he summoned me."
Noa began to feel sick at the twisted gleam in Loren's eye.
"If you harm one hair on his—"
"Oh come, come, princess," the wizard all but laughed, "Let's be honest with ourselves. I'm at least twenty some years your senior. Do we need to discuss the difference in our levels of magic?"
A thought occurred to Noa, and before she had any time to consider the consequences she blurted out, "What if we made a trade?"
Loren was thrown; he had expected her to cry and to beg, but to bargain? That was something he had not anticipated.
"What sort of trade?" He asked suspiciously.
Noa licked her dry lips and swallowed hard, "Well," she began slowly, the knots in her stomach growing tighter by the second, "You can only use wand magic, right?"
"Right…" Loren affirmed.
"What if…" Noa paused, completely unsure how her proposal would be met, "What if I gave you my magic?"
Loren stood stunned, and it was a good while before he found his voice again.
"…What…?"
"I could give you my magic," Noa charged ahead, "In exchange for Dayne's life. I would give you my powers."
"And what would I tell the king?" Loren couldn't hide the temptation in his voice, try as he might. The thought of possessing sorceress magic, of having powers unhindered by having to use a wand, the uses to which such an unknown increase in power could be put… the attraction of her offer was by no means trivial.
"Tell him…" Noa thought hard, "Tell him that you did kill Dayne, but in a fit of anguish I took my own life before you could prevent it."
"You want me to tell your father that you killed yourself? Over that…that elf?"
"If you accept my deal, then yes. I'd say it's a pretty fair trade, sorceress magic for a life."
"How do you know I won't go back on our agreement?" Loren asked slyly.
"Because we'll both sign the contract in blood. I'm no silly schoolgirl," Noa said, irritated, "I know the rules of magic."
"Then you know that if you give up your magic you'll have to leave Enara? You know it's forbidden for someone who doesn't possess powers to stay he—"
"I KNOW," Noa yelled, losing her calm demeanor entirely, "Don't make me offer it again, Loren."
"So be it," Loren said evenly, "I accept your deal."
The royal advisor drew patterns in the air with his wand until a foot long length of parchment appeared, the words of their agreement detailed in black ink with two lines at the bottom for both of their signatures.
"You first, my princess," Loren smirked at her wickedly.
Noa pulled a pin out of her hair and pricked the tip of her right index finger, signing her name on the paper as it floated midair.
After drawing blood from his own finger with a short blade he pulled from his robes, Loren followed suit.
With both signatures in place the parchment disappeared with a pop, and Noa turned to Loren with an expectant look on her face.
"Now what?" she asked, as she could still feel the magic coursing through her veins.
"Now you hold still," Loren instructed, approaching her with his wand held aloft.
Noa resisted the urge to back up, and she swallowed against the bile rising in her throat.
Loren placed the tip of his wand against Noa's forehead and locked eyes with her as he muttered an incantation. The white-hot fire that consumed her entire body came completely unexpected, and Noa screamed in agony as she collapsed to her knees.
It was done in mere minutes, and when his wand was safely stowed away Loren flexed his hands experimentally, stretching his fingers and grinning broadly at the new magic he felt seeping into his being.
"Oh don't worry princess," he spat condescendingly at Noa as she lay inert on the forest floor, "I'm sure it'll stop hurting soon."
Noa hardly noticed when he disappeared in a cloud, and she lay unmoving for quite some time, letting the pain fade to a throbbing ache before she managed to pull herself into an upright position. She stared at her hands in wonder; never had she felt so dull, so utterly lifeless.
Nevertheless she made herself stand up, and she took off in the direction that Dayne had gone not so long before.
She found him only a twenty-minute walk away, pacing back and forth and wearing a path in the underbrush.
"Hey there," she smiled when she saw him, falling forward and stumbling into his outstretched arms.
"Noa!" Dayne caught her in surprise, "I was so worried, what happened, what did you—" The minute his hands touched her he backpedaled away from her in horror.
"You—you—Noa, what have you done?" He looked at her aghast, the blood draining from his face.
"I made a deal," Noa reassured him, "I made a deal with my father's advisor, Loren. I traded my magic for you."
"You…what?"
"He was going to kill you," tears began streaming down her face, "My father sent him to kill you and to bring me back, so I traded him. Your life, for my magic."
"Noa…"
"Don't you see?" She tried to smile brightly, "We can go through one of the portals, we can live in the human world. It was the only way, Dayne, he would have killed you."
Dayne went silent and regarded her pityingly.
"I…I can't do that Noa…"
"What?" She choked out, her stomach dropping like a stone.
"I can't live in the human world. You've never been there but I—I have…and it's dreary, and gray, and they have huge tall buildings made of metal that spew black smoke that smells like death. I can't leave Enara."
"But I—I…What will I do?" Noa looked at him with beseeching eyes, and Dayne cringed inwardly as the tears spilled over them and onto her cheeks.
"Look," he came toward her comfortingly, "I'll take you to a portal, but that's as far as I can go."
Noa nodded numbly, and allowed him to steer her toward the nearest city. It was on the outskirts of the small town of Clorum that Dayne held the princess gently, kissed her kindly on the top of her head, and whispered goodbye.
As she watched him walk away without even a look back it occurred to her that she had never realized you could actually feel your heart breaking. Her breathing became more labored as each shard broke off and buried itself deep within her chest.
The portal was easy enough to find, as the mirror was located in the center of Clorum and there was a line of impatient looking Enarians leading up to it. Noa pulled her passport from her bag and wiped the tears from her face, trying to look inconspicuous.
When she reached the front of the line the gnome in uniform eyed her suspiciously.
"Papers, please," he said gruffly, holding out his small hand.
Noa passed him her ID and he glanced over it. If he was surprised to see the princess in Clorum, he blessedly made no fuss over it.
"Go on ahead," he said to her, already turning to the next person in the queue.
She approached the mirror and stared at its ornate silver backing in apprehension.
"Location, please," a pleasant voice came out of its milky surface.
"I um, I don't know," Noa said in panic. She hadn't thought that far ahead, and she realized with dread that she didn't know anything about anywhere in the human world.
"Location unknown. Please try again," the voice prompted.
"Why didn't Dayne tell me a—" Noa began to ask herself, when the surface of the mirror started to swirl.
"Duane Street, New York," the mirror spoke clearly, "Please say 'yes' to confirm location."
"What? Oh, yes," Noa said, startled.
The surface continued to turn into a spiral and Noa found herself mesmerized by the pattern until the voice spoke again, "Access granted. You may enter the portal. Please mind your step."
Squaring her shoulders Noa stepped into the mirror and promptly collapsed in a heap of exhaustion on the other side, her last thought being a tiny prayer that the human world would not be as horrible as Dayne had described.
· · · · ·
Dutchy was vigorously filing away reports when the mirror across the room from him began to glow, and its surface whirled rapidly.
Well that was fast, he thought.
Not bothering to look up from his work when he heard someone step through he asked aloud, "Now that didn't take long at all, huh Race?"
Dutchy's head snapped up in alarm at sound of a body hitting the floor.
"…You're not Racetrack…" He mused as he cautiously walked over to the still form of a girl, clutching a large bag to her like a lifeline.
"Jack!" Dutchy called over his shoulder, "Jack you better come in here, we have a visitor!"
Jack Kelly pounded down the hallway and into the room, crossing swiftly to Dutchy when he saw the body sprawled across the wooden floor.
"What do you make of this?" Dutchy asked, gesturing to the girl.
"Well I—wait a second…" Jack said as he bent closer to the girl's face, "I know you…I know—Oh my god, Dutchy!" He exclaimed, "It's the princess, it's Noa, I'd bet my life on it. I saw her the last time I met with King Aaren."
"Well what's she doing here?" Dutchy scratched the back of his head.
"I don't have a clue," Jack answered, "But she doesn't look too good. Let's get her into a bunk and when she wakes up we can figure out what's going on."
"Should we send someone to the king?"
"Yeah, but help me get her up first," Jack leaned down to grasp her arms but then jumped away as if burned.
"What? What was that?" Dutchy asked in concern.
Jack's face paled, "All of her magic," he whispered, shaken, "It's all gone."
"What?" Dutchy asked stunned.
"All right, change of plans," Jack said, "We're going to put her in a bed in the sick room and you're going to sit there and keep an eye on her. Don't tell anyone else that she's here. If anyone asks where you are I'm going to tell them that you're mega puking or something, so they can't go in there. The second she wakes up, and I mean the instant she opens her eyes, you come get me, okay?"
Dutchy nodded and helped Jack hoist Noa up. The two boys tiptoed quietly down the hallway and brought the sleeping princess into the sick room, laying her down carefully onto a bunk.
"I'll come get you as soon as she's awake," Dutchy assured Jack as he closed the door.
Jack shuddered as he walked back down the stairs. He'd touched non-magical creatures before of course, living in the human world he came into contact with them every day. But there was something chilling about touching someone that had literally had the magic drained right out of them.
He rubbed his thumb over the tips of his fingers and shuddered. The phantom feeling of touching sorceress flesh devoid of magic disturbed him, and it wasn't until Noa woke up hours later that he realized his own discomfort paled deeply in comparison to the haunting he saw behind her eyes.
Author's Note: Well, I know that was kind of an odd start, but I promise the actual newsies are going to be playing central roles in all of the chapters to come. Let me know what you think!