A/N
I am so sorry it took so long. My computer suddenly crashed and when I got it repaired, I lost ALL of my files. And I had to rewrite all my stories all over again which is so hard because some parts are now gone and I don't remember much. The next chapter might take a while because I'm still in the process of recovering the files, apps, etc. that I lost.
Chapter 2
"My name is Princess Cynthia. I am from the kingdom of Avalor."
"Avalor? What kind of kingdom is that? And here I thought I know all the kingdoms." Amber said
"Kingdom of Avalor? Does this mean this amulet is—?" Sofia asked
"Yes, it is from our kingdom." Princess Cynthia said. "But we have given it to the kingdom of Enchancia for protection."
"Avalor? Now where have I—" Flora kept thinking about the place that seemed so familiar to her. "Could it be the legend is true?"
"What legend?" James asked Flora
"It was said that before any other kingdoms were made, the very first one was the kingdom of Avalor. It was said to be the source of every magic spells and objects and creatures ever made. Though it's the most ancient kingdom, it had advanced greatly to all magic. But no one has ever seen it for a very long time that it became a legend. No one truly knows if it's real or not… until now." Flora explained
"Yes that is all true but not exactly the entire story. But now is not the time for this, Sofia…" Cynthia said in a serious tone
"Yes?"
"Your life and the rest of the magical world are in danger. As Flora had told you, you had been struck by the Blackthorn Curse which can kill you if you are not cured. And if you die the world will be in chaos."
"How can this affect the whole world?!" Sofia exclaimed
"Sofia, the Amulet of Avalor is special. It was made hundreds of years ago which would mean it possesses the greatest magical powers since the beginning of time. And you alone can control it. If you die, there will be no else to do it and if it falls into the wrong hands, it will be destruction of life as we know it. Even other princes and princesses in here now cannot do it and it might even result to a disaster, because no one else has a pure heart such as yours, Sofia. The Amulet of Avalor is neither good nor bad as what you have known its rule…"
"With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse!" Sofia stated
"Yes that is its rule. It knows its wearer's heart. If the person had a good heart, the amulet become good and grants powerful blessings but if the person has an evil heart then the amulet becomes evil that brings out curses."
"I've been wearing this amulet for years and I only know so little of its power."
"The Amulet of Avalor does possess a lot of mysteries that even I have yet to uncover." Cynthia said
"Sofia, what is happening here? What's the thing with your amulet?" Amber demanded an explanation
Sofia thought for a moment if she should tell everything. She looked at Princess Cynthia for an answer and she nodded at her. She has decided to finally tell everyone about the secret she's been keeping for ten years.
"I think it's about time you know…"
"…" Her friends were ready to listen
"This amulet is called the Amulet of Avalor. It's very special because it gives powers. It gave me a power to talk to animals. It gave me that flower because I did a good deed by helping a baby bird."
"So that's why you hang around and talk to that bunny all the time."
"Yes, but that's not all. It can also summon the princesses. They always come to help me whenever I needed advice on something."
"Like, when we met Princess Jasmine and Mulan? That was because of your amulet?"
"Yeah, but it can also give me a curse for doing something bad."
"So you've been keeping this a secret for ten years? Why didn't you ever tell me? I'm your sister." Amber got a bit mad at her
"W-well technically I did but…"
"Sofia, I would've remembered if it was something as important as this you know…"
"It's a long story, Amber."
"Alright, fine…" Amber sighed but she knew she couldn't stay mad at Sofia that long though she's still sulking that she didn't know about it.
"Princess Cynthia?" James said to get Cynthia's attention
"Yes, Prince James?"
"Do you have any idea on how to cure Sofia? That amulet must've brought you here for a reason right?!" James pleaded
"Supposedly…" Cynthia said sadly
"What do you mean?" Sofia asked
"That Blackthorn curse is a very ancient curse that's known by so little. There used to be a cure for that but…"
"But?" they all said
"The book that had about how to cure it had been stolen…"
"What?!"
"Someone broke into our kingdom and stole the sacred ancient book. We don't know who it is. We don't even know when they did it since we hardly check the library since there's a great creature guarding it but apparently, whoever stole it had great magic since he or she was able to tame this creature. We only found out about it recently when the Amulet of Avalor warned us since it's still magically connected to our kingdom." Cynthia said
"So how are we going to break this curse?"
"It's best if you come to Avalor, maybe we'll somehow find the answers if Sofia and the amulet are there…"
"Then how do we get there?" James immediately asked
"James…? You're coming?" Sofia's eyes widened with shock
"Of course, I am. You can't do this on your own and I won't let you."
"I'm coming too!" Amber raised her hand
"Me too." Hugo raised his hand too
"Amber… Hugo?"
"You're my sister, Sof… You can't expect me to just sit around and watch you die. If had a chance to do something to help you, I'd take it no matter what the consequences are…" Amber said with a serious face
"Oh Amber, thank you…" Sofia hugged her older sister. "Hugo?"
"Hey somebody has to look after you too and little princey here." Hugo smirked as he teased James
"Oh really? We'll see who's the little princey when we get there, Hugo." James answered with confidence and annoyance
"Bring it then." Hugo grinned
"Hey count us in!" Zandar, Vivian, Hildegard, Clio raised their hands too
"What? Vivian, you know that you don't have to do this." Sofia said
"But I want to do it Sofia, especially if it means helping you, you know I'd do it. You would've done the same for me." Vivian hugged Sofia
"Thanks." Sofia hugged her back
"Hey, I couldn't let my best friend, James go without me. We're stuck together and that's that." Zandar said as he patted James's back
"Thank buddy." James patted Zandar's back in return
"Clio, Hildegard… are you sure you want to go?"
"Of course!" Clio nodded her head
"We're sure Amber. You know that we couldn't possibly leave you. And besides it'd be great to tell this to the other princes and princesses about this. They'd be really impressed with me— I- I meant us." Hildegard fluttered her fan on her face
"Are you all sure? It won't be easy… you'll face a lot of dangers in this journey that if you don't work together, you might not be able to come back." Cynthia warned them
The princes and princesses all looked at each other and nodded.
"We're sure." They all said
"Alright… you all must first go to the Kingdom of Hakalo. The families of Avalor and Hakalo during the ancient time had been close friends and there is a hidden portal somewhere in Hakalo that can lead you to Avalor."
"But how are going to get to Hakalo? It's a hidden island after all. There's no way we can find it." Amber said
"You will just have to use the Emerald Key then." Cynthia said
"Oh yeah, I remember. But the royal family of Hakalo had already returned to Hakalo…" James frowned
"Wait maybe Lei-Lani can help. If we can find a way to communicate with her, maybe she can help us to go to Hakalo." Sofia said
"Alright then!"
"Sofia, before you go… I need to put a slightly counter spell on you. In case you couldn't make the whole journey and started to feel yourself blacking out, I'll make you fall asleep but only for a period of time so you wouldn't have to die right away. But you wouldn't have much time."
"Okay."
Cynthia started to raise her hands and recite the spell.
"I summon the ancient sun and moon, to lend us your power and heal this princess from the cursed blackthorn to cease. Make her sleep for a period of time just before the dark eternal slumber arrives…"
A bright white glow surrounded Sofia. She was lifted to the air and let the light consume her. Princess Cynthia slowly lowered her hands and Sofia was slowly brought down to the ground asleep. James immediately caught the sleeping Sofia in his arms.
"Don't worry the… she's only resting, the spell is probably taking affect. Since a counter spell is inside her, the two spells will be fighting and she might get tired often but that only means that this spell I used is too weak and only shows that the curse is taking affect in her body though she won't feel any pain, you can at least see it." Cynthia explained
A white flower suddenly appeared on Sofia's arm.
"What is this?" James asked
"It can tell you how long before she can last. Each petal will turn black as time passes by. Once it turns completely black, she will fall under a deep sleep. And when the flower completely disappears… it will be too late by then…"
"How long do we have?"
"I only slowed the process but that doesn't mean that you have much time. I'd say about a month or so but that isn't much time at all so you have to hurry before it fully consumes her and she would supposedly be gone but the counter spell will make her fall asleep and give her a few more hours. But I hope it wouldn't come to that point…"
"Alright… we'll leave in a few hours." James said to the others
"Ok, let's go back to the palace then." Amber said
"You go on ahead. I have to get our horses for this trip. I'll see you guys there. Oh and also prepare a coach." Hugo said as he ran back to the stables
"Of course." Amber replied
They all went back to their carriage and flew back to Enchancia.
"Amber, James? Back so soon— what happened to Sofia?!" Roland was shocked when he saw Sofia unconscious.
"Oh no, is she alright? Is she hurt?" Miranda worriedly asked
"She's just resting Mom, Dad, but…"
"What?"
"We'll explain it to you later right now let's get Sofia to her bedroom." Amber immediately said
Roland and Miranda nodded. They all went to Sofia's room and stayed with her. James and Amber started to explain what happened.
"So now we have to go to Hakalo so they can lead us to Avalor."
"Oh no, so Sofia is cursed?! A-and s-she might—" Miranda started to crying at the thought of her daughter dying
"Mom, please don't cry. We'll find the cure. I promise…" James smiled reassuringly to Miranda.
"When will you leave?" Roland asked
"We don't know. We haven't got a clue on how we are going to find Hakalo." James said
"Sofia did say that we just need to find Princess Lei-Lani and she can help us." Amber said
"Yeah, but how? She's also in Hakalo you know."
"hmm…" Sofia weakly mumbled
"Sofia!" James quickly went to Sofia to aid her
"Sofia, you're awake!" Amber squealed
"Are you alright now?" Miranda asked
"Yeah, I'm alright." Sofia nodded as she sat up
"Ah, you shouldn't get up so fast, Sof. You still need to rest." James insisted
"I'm fine James… and besides you need help to find Lei-Lani. I may be asleep but I could still hear your voices and I know that you need my help."
"Yeah, but we still don't know how. We haven't even heard from them in years since." James said
"I think I know someone who can help…"
"Hand me that bottle over there, Wormy." Cedric pointed at one of the shelves while he stirred the potion in the cauldron
The raven handed Cedric the bottle.
"Thank you." Cedric said as he took the bottle and opened it. "Now be still, we have to be very careful not to put too much…" Cedric started to slowly pour the liquid
"Mr. Cedric!" a certain princess yelled as she knocked at the door
"Whoa!" Cedric's hand slipped and dropped the bottle as he was surprised by the sudden but not so unusual noise.
The potion in the cauldron exploded and covered the room. Wormwood opened the window to let the smoke out. Cedric sighed as he casted a spell to make the smoke disappear and to clean up the mess.
Cedric was still the Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia. He stopped trying to steal the Amulet of Avalor from Sofia, though he still wants it, but decided to withdraw from doing so. There are times when he'd pull a stunt on stealing the amulet but obviously fails. Soon he became close to the royal family, especially Sofia, that he became loyal to them. He eventually followed the footsteps of his father, which his mother disapproved and was disappointed of but she accepted him in the end though sometimes she still encourages Cedric to be a dark sorcerer. He became a great sorcerer and rarely made mistakes on his magic.
"Yes?" Cedric said with annoyance as he opened the door. "What is it that you want Princess Sofia—?" Cedric was surprised to see that Sofia wasn't alone. "And Prince James? Princess Amber?"
"We need your help." Sofia said
Cedric was about to protest at them, thinking that it's another stunt like party games, magic shows, and other stupid things that they made him do, but he saw how serious their faces were and realized that it's not another silly game.
"What is it?" Cedric asked
"We need a spell to communicate with a person from a far and unknown location." Sofia answered
"That a difficult one especially if we do not have a specific location. Who is it that you need to speak with? Do you at least know the name of this place?"
"Well, it's Princess Lei-Lani from the kingdom of Hakalo."
"The Kingdom of Hakalo? That will be hard since Hakalo is a hidden kingdom after all."
"We know… that's why we needed your help Cedric." Amber
"I see… it might take a while, but I'm positive I can conjure a spell to do it. I might be able to give it to you tomorrow in the afternoon."
"Thank you Mr. Cedric." Sofia said
"Let's go and tell the others so we can start preparing and planning for this trip." James said
"Okay." Sofia nodded
They all thanked and bowed to Cedric before they left the room.
Sofia, Amber, and James were walking down the hall when they heard a noise from outside.
"Hey did I just hear someone neigh?" James said
"It's Hugo with Minimus and the others. They're finally here." Sofia said as she was looking out the window.
"Uh— yeah, finally…" James sighed
Sofia immediately ran outside to meet Hugo.
"Wait up, Sof!" James tried to catch up to her. Did she want to see Hugo that badly that she'd leave her brother like that? James became irritated and slightly jealous at the thought.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Amber yelled at James as she was left alone at the door
"Hugo!" Sofia called
"Oh hello Sofia. I brought Electra, Minimus, and Bolt so we can use them for the coach. We'll need the best flying horses for this trip so we can get there faster." Hugo said
"Yeah, thanks. Where's Minimus?"
"He's over there with your bunny. Hey you know… before we leave, why don't you and I ride th— Sofia?" Hugo looked around and saw that Sofia was not in front of him anymore. He turned around and saw that she was already with Minimus.
'Hello, Princess." Clover greeted
"Hi Clover, Hi Minimus." Sofia waved at them
'Hey Sof, what's the deal? Back at Royal Prep, Hugo came and brought us here. While we were on our way, he was talking to us? He said something about you being cursed and now you have to find a cure? What the heck is going on Sof?' Minimus asked
"Well, you see it's a long story. Those thorns earlier were cursed and now we have to go to Avalor to find a cure. You see I told them the power the amulet gave me so they know you can understand them. Anyways for now you all should probably get some rest."
'Ok. I'll get Electra and Bolt." Minimus walked away towards the other horses
'I'll stay with them, okay?' Clover asked
"Okay…" Sofia watched her animal friend walk away
"Hey Sofia, can we ta—" Hugo was cut off when they heard someone yelling
"Sofia!" James was running towards them. He was trying to catch his breath when he reached them
"Tch." Hugo was really irritated to be interrupted, again.
"James! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it Sof." James smiled at her
"Sorry, I suddenly left you back there. I was just excited to see Minimus since I didn't get the chance to see him at the academy."
"I understand…" James smiled even more when he found out the reason wasn't Hugo
"Anyways, Minimus and the others are already at the stables resting."
"Ok, we should probably head to the others now. We have to tell them what to do next." James said
"Geez, seriously why did you two have to run like that and leave me here waiting?" Amber crossed her arms with an angry face
"I'm really sorry Amber. I was worried about Minimus. I didn't see him after what happened at the infirmary."
"Sorry sis." James tried to hold his laughter
"Fine, whatever. Let's just go. The others must be terribly worried about us by now."
"Hey guys. We're back." James said
"Oh welcome back, we were starting to get worried about you." Vivian said
"Hugo's back too…" Zandar said
"Yeah. I just arrived earlier. I had to place the horses in the stables to get them ready for tomorrow." Hugo said
"Tomorrow? But I thought we were going to leave today." Hildegard asked
"Apparently we still have to wait because Cedric is still trying to figure out the right spell." James replied
"But it's alright, at least now we can all have some rest. We'll all be too tired anyway to go on a trip today." Sofia said
"Ok, I guess."
"We'll ask Baileywick to have the guest rooms prepared." Roland said as he and Miranda left the room.
"Thank you Father, Mother." Amber said
"So now what do we do?" Zandar asked
"Hey since we're in the library why don't we try and search for something here while we wait. Who knows… maybe we can find something about that amulet or something." Hugo said
They suddenly stared at Hugo for a moment with a curious and strange look in their eyes.
"What?" Hugo raised his eyebrow
"N-nothing, it's just that… it's kinda hard for us to believe you'd say something like that…"
"What the heck do you mean?"
"Hugo, you don't really seem like the type who'd actually like books or even read them."
"Hey! I read books in fact I kinda like them. I often hang with Sofia at the library when we don't have derby practices or anything else to do, right Sofia?"
"True. Even I was shocked at first when I found him there." Sofia giggled
"Urgh nevermind let's just go and search already…"
The princes and princesses searched and searched the entire library but they didn't find anything in the end. Sofia looked outside the window and noticed how late it was already.
"I think we should all head to our rooms now. It's getting pretty late." Sofia said
James looked outside the window "Oh you're right Sof."
"I'll call Baileywick and have you all escorted you to your rooms." Amber left the library
As soon as Baileywick arrived, he Vivian, Hildegard, Clio, Zandar, and Hugo to the guest rooms while James, Sofia, and Amber went to their own rooms.
Sofia arrived at her room and went to her closet to change her clothes.
"Hey Clover—" She looked around and remembered that Clover was staying at the stables with Minimus.
Sofia lied down on her bed and tried to sleep but she couldn't. Sofia kept thinking about the curse and Avalor. For ten years, she knew the power of the amulet but she never once was curious about where it came from. She was so shocked to learn all of these. She just found out that there is a kingdom called Avalor. Now she actually has to go there… it was too much for her. And she also has a curse on her that can kill her. Her being cursed isn't new to her, she's been cursed before but it never put her life in danger and not to mention the entire world. The fate of the entire world is actually in the hands of an 18 years old girl. Sofia couldn't help but think of 'what ifs'. It scared her…
Sofia couldn't sleep so she decided to take a walk around the gardens and get some fresh air.
Meanwhile a certain young prince was thinking about the same problems and another.
James couldn't sleep either. He kept on thinking of what to do. It'd be easier if they actually knew the place so they wouldn't have any trouble of finding it so they could get there faster. He was so afraid of what's happening to Sofia. Sure, she doesn't feel anything but deep inside she's dying. The thought of James losing the only girl he had ever loved was painful to him that he could feel heart tearing apart. He couldn't take any more of these kinds of thoughts so he walked out of his room to calm down and release some of these worries.
Sofia was walking around the gardens and let out a big sigh. "What should I do?"
Suddenly she heard something rustle behind the bushes.
"Who's there?" Sofia asked nervously
"Huh? Sof? Is that you?"
Sofia recognized whose voice it is and calmed down. "James?"
James came out and walked to wards Sofia. "What are you doing here Sofia?" he asked
"Me? What are you doing here? You scared me for a moment there."
"Sorry Sof. I couldn't sleep and just thought of relaxing here for a while."
"You too?" Sofia sighed
"I guess you couldn't sleep either?"
Sofia nodded. "I'm just so worried and I guess a bit afraid of what's going to happen… I mean I still have a month before this stupid curse consumes me but still—"
"Is a month enough time…" James finished Sofia's sentence. "I know, eve I'm scared too. I'm also worried about that. It's a race against time…"
"Exactly…"
"Let's go somewhere that we don't have anything to worry about tonight. We'll just talk and have fun. No curses, no magic, no amulet, no Avalor…" James suggested
"Okay…" Sofia thought of a great place. "I know! Come on James." Sofia grabbed James's hand and pulled him to that special place.
After they went through the maze, they suddenly stopped.
James was still catching his breath. "Hey Sofia where are we?"
"We're here, James."
"Huh? Here?" James looked around and saw nothing but tall walls of hedges.
"Here James." Sofia pointed at a part of the hedge
"Uh Sofia, that's still a hedge." James was confused
"No silly." Sofia giggled. She started to pull some leaves at a part of it and revealed a doorknob.
"Whoa." James realized that it was a door and remembered what it was. "Sofia could this be—?"
"My secret garden." Sofia pushed the door and revealed a beautiful and magical place
"Wow… it's been a long time."
"Yeah, we haven't had any tea party in here for years. Amber probably doesn't even remember this so this just became my own secret garden. I come here every now and then." Sofia grabbed a cloth that she kept hidden in one of the trees, and set it on the ground.
"How nostalgic… we used to play around here a lot when we were kids." James sat beside Sofia
"Yeah… The door was hidden because the plant kept growing and covered it so now it really became a secret and hidden garden." Sofia giggled
"I really liked this place. It's the only place where I can stand Amber's tea parties." James laughed
"You have to admit, Amber's tea parties that were held here were great. It was relaxing and you can really feel the warm and soft breeze." Sofia closed her eyes for a bit and felt the cold wind of the night that passed through her skin
"And I can actually play around here unlike the tea parties or any parties held in the castle. It's like when I'm here I don't have to worry. I can be myself here…" James smiled at the thought. He doesn't have to worry about being prince and future king
"I'm glad that we're actually enjoying ourselves." Sofia smiled
"We don't have to talk about the problems that we have right now because it's tomorrow's problem." James said
"Tomorrow… we're going to leave tomorrow. It's going to be the start of this adventure. We won't have the time to do this again." Sofia frowned
"Don't worry about that now Sof and let's just enjoy this moment of peace that we have right now…" James gently pulled Sofia head to his shoulder and let her fall asleep.
James took Sofia to her room. He lied her down on her bed and gently covered her with her blanket. He tucked her in and caressed her face.
"I promise you Sofia that I'll definitely find the cure to remove this curse from you no matter what, even if it costs me my own life… I love you…" James whispered and kissed Sofia's forehead before leaving the room.
A/N
Please write your reviews and comments about this chapter.
And by the way I stated it from the start that this will be a James/Sofia fanfic don't complain about it. And it is not incest because they aren't biological siblings but step-siblings. I like the pairing James and Sofia because it has a bit of that forbidden love thing like Romeo and Juliet or whatever. It adds more drama to the story which means that they have more obstacles to overcome than normal couples which is adorable for me because it shows how much they are willing to go through for their love.