Kry: okay so here is Chapter two. Like I said I already have the first three chapters and since I already got a review I decided to go ahead and throw this up here. I hope it doesn't anger my one reviewer that things aren't going quite as you expected. There will be ones this is pretty fluffy but there will be just a many dark times. This is a story where time will pass quickly from chapter to chapter once I have all of the character development out of the way.
I paced around my room anxiously. The sun was setting through my window and I found it hard to believe that I had wasted the whole day with the royal family. I was worn out though I was finding it hard to enjoy the silence of my room. Wormwood was somehow still asleep in the workshop upstairs and this too caused me to worry.
Deciding that I should probably try and force him to eat something I turned and quietly walked up the stairs. I made my way to his cage that hung above the center of the room and reached inside gently stroking his feathers to sooth him awake.
He cawed at me and I could hear how tired he was. I bowed my head down and let my bangs hide my face from him in shame.
"I'm sorry Wormy. I should have been here for you." I whispered and then gently picked him up and lifted him out of the cage and carried him to my work table. He gave no fight as he rested his little head against my hand.
I pulled my wand out of my pocket where it had sat unused throughout the day since no one required me to use even one spell this afternoon. He raised his head slightly and pointed his beady black eyes at me in question and I found myself wishing that I could conmunicate with my oldest friend as I had many times before.
I started reciting a healing spell and Wormy jumped up and began shaking his head and flapping his wings. I lowered my wand and he collapsed again in exhaustion on the top of my desk.
"But Wormy you'll die." I drain and lowered my face to be close to his. How had I not noticed how old he was getting. Or how sick he was, had I spent that much time drunk and lost in my own sadness that I hadn't even noticed as he began to wither away.
"I am ready." I stared down at him in shock. Did he just speak? Did I understand him? Pushing these thoughts aside I reached out and cradled him against my chest. I had had Wormy since I was a child, he had always been by my side.
"Wormy?" I questioned with a quavering voice and he lifted his head up just slightly to lock eyes with me.
"For each deed preformed for better or for worse a gift is granted a blessing or a curse." He recited and my eyes widened. The amulet! I knew that Sofia used to be able to speak with animals, she had confided to me that she saved a baby bird one day and that was her reward. Of course now that I had the amulet she wouldn't be able too anymore.
Had the amulet granted me the ability to speak with Wormwood because I tried to heal him, or because I wasn't thinking about myself for once.
"Oh Wormwood please let me heal you and then I can whip up a spell that will restore your youth." I said now that I was sure he could understand me. He sighed but otherwise said nothing for several long moments before he opened his beak and rasped out what sounded suspiciously like a cough.
"No old friend. My time has come and I am ready. But you must be careful, darkness is coming. Coming so fast and only you can protect her." He whimpered as he closed his eyes and it was almost like he could see the darkness he spoke of as he shook in my hands. I gently nudged him but he went limp in my grasp.
"What do you mean darkness is coming? Wormy who do I have to protect?" I asked but he didn't reply. Instead his head lolled off to the side and he rasped out one final breath. I stared at him in shock and shook his tiny frame.
"No... No Wormy. Wormwood!"I yelled as I lowered my head and let the tears of frustration and sorrow overwhelm me. My door flew open and I looked up to see Baileywick standing there with a rather shocked look on his normally calm features.
"Cedric are you alright? I heard shouting..." He trailed off as he took in my apperance and saw how I held my dead familiar against my chest. His gaze softened and he took a step forward.
"Tell the king that I am going to visit my mother and I will return before princess Sofia arrives on the day after the morrow." I said as I raised my wand and teleported myself out of the musty old workshop.
When I opened my eyes I was standing outside of my parents rtirerment home in mystic meadows. I stared at the door unable to knock and raindrops began to fall on my head. I looked down at Wormy who was also getting wet though it didn't matter now since he was dead and then raised my hand to knock on the hard surface of the door.
"Cedric?" My mother exclaimed as she swung the door open and pulled me inside. She immediatly began wiping rain off of my already soaked robe only to stop when she saw the reason I was here.
"Oh Cedikins, poor dear. Now come along I have some fly cakes waiting for you and I will take your bird and find a good box so that we can give him a proper burial in the morning." She said and I let her pull my pet from my hands even though I didn't want to let him go.
I walked to the kitchen and sat at the small table that only had two seats and frowned. Mother must get lonely here all alone since father died. It's been what, three years since I visited her? Too lost in my own problems to pay mind to the fact that slowly everyone I loved was slipping away.
"Here dear have some fly cakes." Mother said startling me as she shoved a plate in front of me. I stared at what would have been delicious I'm sure but found that after being forced to spend the afternoon with the royals for whatever reason I was too full to even take a bite.
I turned my attention to the rain outside and tried to think about something else, not having any problem keeping Sofia off of my mind which came as quite a relief after not being able to think of anything else for the last four years. I wondered idly why the amulet had chosen now to bless me instead of curse me. I reached under my robes idly an began to finger the warm surface of Sofia's necklace.
"Cedric, you have... My gods!" She gasped and I turned to see my mother eyeing the Amulet of Avalor with actual fear in her grey eyes.
"Mother what's wrong?" I asked reaching my arm out over the table to try and comfort her. She jerked her hand away but looked at me sadly and I didn't understand why.
"Oh my dear sweet boy. You have no idea what troubles are waiting for you." She said and I must have made a face because she forced her expression to calm. I pushed the amulet back under my robes already wishing for this awful day to be over with. First the royals being secretive with me then loosing my poor Wormy an now even my own mother is being cryptic.
"Before he died Wormwood mentioned that the darkness is coming. He said I had to protect her...what was he talking about who do I have to protect?" I asked and watched her closely to gauge her reaction. It was slight but for just a moment her expression darkened before she smiled and rested her hand on my shoulder.
"Since when could little Wormy talk dear?" She asked and I shoved her arm off of my shoulder.
"Don't change the subject mother! What did he mean?" I demented and she sighed before she stood up and dissapeared out of the kitchen. She returned with a book that was old and worn out. The leather was exquisitely designed but the lay gauge was foreign to me.
"You will find your answers in here but only when you are ready." She said while holding the large book out for me to take. I grabbed it and studied the cover and was appaulded to realize that this was human leather and very very old.
"this is a forbidden text! Mother how did you get your hands on this? What would father say?" I scolded as I looked at the petered flesh tht was the binding. I ran my finger over the title but was unable to read it.
"He would tell me you aren't ready. But he isn't here son and the darkness is coming. This is the only defense we have right now. Well this And the Amulet of Avalor, though I pray you never have to use it." She said and I tore my gaze from the book in question and stared at my mother.
"So dad knew about this?" I asked motioning towards the forbidden book and she nodded with a sad look in her eyes.
"Sofia will return soon and then I'm sure that she can explain everything else to you." She said an at that I stood and threw my hand on the table in anger.
"Why does everybody seem to know about what the princess is doing but me? Why is everyone being so damn cryptic?" I demanded pacing through the house with my mother hot on my tail until I reached the portrait of my parents that sat above the fireplace.
"Cedikins please calm down. I can't tell you and neither can the king and queen. Only Sofia can explain this to you and you must be patient." She said while she stared up at the portrait with me.
"Where are you dad? You were suppose to live forever, the greatest sorcerer of all time! You're not suppose to be dead dad! I need you, I don't even know how to be a good sorcerer and now there's talk about some great darkness that I don't know how to face... You're gone Wormy is gone..." I started out screaming but as the rage waved through me and ebbed away leaving only sadness in it's wake. I took a step forward and touched the edge of the canvas where the family wand rested at the hilt of his belt. My wand, that I didn't deserve.
"Oh Cedric, Youre father loved you very much. There were many nights that he stayed up into the early morning hours trying to find another way, another path for you to take. I'm sure none of this is making any sense... Come on." She said andheld her hand out to me. I took hers without hesitation and felt my stomach clench as we teleported.
"What! Winifred...Cedic?" I opened my eyes at the sound of her angelic voice. Sure it had deepened a little over the years but I would recognize it anywhere.
"Princess Sofia!" I gasped and took in her apperance, she was wearing her blue night gown and her hair was wet and hung against her shoulders and bak. Her blue eyes were wide and she held one arm out towards me almost as if she couldn't believe I was actually here. Then She turned to my mom and began acting as if I wasn't even here.
"Winifred, we talked about this." She sighed and crossed the room until she sat on her bed an I realized that I was in her room in Freezenburg. Why had I never thought about coming here to see her, but the thought caused my head to hurt so severely that I grabbed my head and winced.
"I'm sorry Sofia but this has gone on long enough. Cedric is suffering, and he isn't learning anything. We both know that danger is coming and yet you still refuse to come home even though the profecy..." My mother started but Sofia jumped forward and threw a hand over her mouth. I was too dazed to react and just stood still and watched as Sofia looked back
"I was coming home in two more days Winifred, I was going to tell him the truth and reverce the forgetting spell.." She sighed dramatically and I stepped forward.
"Forgetting spell?" I asked and watched her as she dropped her hand and stepped away from my mother. I got the feeling that she didn't want to face me.
"I'm sorry Cedric." She said and raised a wand up out of nowhere. My eyes widened and I raised my own wand. Sofia's eyes widened and she took a step back.
"Momma!" Screamed a small child from the door way and all eyes turned toward the voice. I stared into to the bright blue eyes of a raven haired little girl who couldn't be much older than two. She ran towards Sofia who immediatly dropped down and scooped the little girl up.
I dropped my wand and watched this encounter with sadness. Was this Sofia's child, here I was worried about my feelings for her when obviously she had moved on. My mother grew rigid next to me and dropped her hand that I didn't even know was resting on my shoulder. I spared her one glance to see her staring at this little girl with a strange look.
"Nama!" The little girl yelled as she saw my mom and she squirmed herself out of Sofia's arms and launched herself at my mom breezing past me. I looked between Sofia who had lowered her eyes to the floor and dropped her wand and my mother who hugged this mystery child.
"Somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on right now!" I snapped suddenly causing all eyes to turn on me.
"Bad word." The little girl sang as she clapped her hands at me and I felt the tingle of a blush at being scolded by a toddler. I rubbed a hand across the back of my neck and lowered myself to her level in my mothers arms. Sofia watched me cautiously but made no move to stop me.
" yes your right that was a naughty word. You're pretty smart huh?" I asked while I examine her face closely. She had Sofia's small nose and almond shaped sapphire eyes. But her skin was paler and her shoulder length curly midnight hair was as striking difference to her mother.
"Yea smart!" She giggled as she repeated me and I got the feeling that she was just as intelligent as her mom had been as a little girl. As she bobbed her head up an down I caught a glimps of a silvery patch of hair under her bangs. My eyes widened and I looked back at Sofia who was watching me with sorrow clear in her cerulean eyes and back at the little girl still tucked in my mothers grasp. She yawned and layed her hean down on my moms shoulder.
"Getting sleepy little princess?" I asked and she shook her head from side to side even as she rubbed her eyes and I chuckled.
"Why don't I just take you to bed little lady." I offered and held out my hand. She lifted her head causing her curls to bounce and made a thoughtful face making her brow to knit up in and adorable crease.
"Otay." She finally decided and pushed her way down. I locked eyes with my mom as she lowered her to the floor and she had tears in her eyes. I saw many things in her grey eyes. Sadness, guilt, fear and something else I couldn't decypher.
She grabbe my hand and began to lead me out of the room but stopped and held her hand up to Sofia who grabbed it without hesitation and let the little girl escort us out of the room and to the next door sweet.
Sofia opened the door and led us into a typical princess sweet that was a variety of blues and whites. The little girl ran forward and jumped into her bed. I stood back awkwardly as Sofia lifted the navy blanket over her and then brushed her fingers through the silvery lock of hair and then leaned forward and placed a tender kiss against her fourhead.
"Night night momma." She whispered in her baby voice and reached a hand up to touch Sofia's cheek and Sofia smiled back down at her all signs of sadness wiped from her face as she stared at her daughter.
"Good night Emma." She spoke softly and Emma's eyes closed as she sighed In to her pillow. Sofia stood then and made eye contact with me for the first time and all the sorrow returned as she motioned us out of the room.
I waited until she closed the door and then leaned her had against the door before I spoke.
"Sofia I'm not stupid, I mean I've seen her but how? How is it even possible?" I asked and grabbed her shoulder so I could turn her to face me all formalities aside.
"I made you forget." She whispered and looked away but I grabbed her face and made her look at me once more, she was so different than the last time I saw her some three years ago on her fourteenth birthday when she came home for two weeks. Trying to remember was making my head hurt and I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Please tell me this is some kind of joke." I said and she closed her eyes so she didn't have to face me. Where was the Sofia I remembered who would stand against me instead of trying to hide.
"I'm sorry." She wailed and tried to escape and not knowing what else to do I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her back against me to keep her from running. I couldn't let her go, I missed her too much and I didn't understand what exactly happened but I knew in my heart that somehow the little girl in that room was mine. The Gravity of the situation hit me then and I dropped my head on Sofia's shoulder.
"Please don't go Sofia." I said and she froze up for a moment before she relaxed and sighed. She reached back and grabbed my wand from the hand I had around her waist.
She pointed it at me and recited a remembering spell and then stepped out of my grasp while my attention was elsewhere. At first my head ached but slowly things started to make sense. I could remember when she came home, for her birthday and to decide if she would return home or keep living in Freezenburg. Apparently she had found her real father and didn't know what to do.
By this time she had come to my workshop in tears and confessed her confussion. I did what I knew I should and comforted her and then when she apologized for the way she left the year before I tried to give her the amulet back. It was the memories after that that I always had trouble remembering but with the hazy parts clearing I could remember how I had screamed and ordered her out after she tried to confess that she still loved me.
I ended up drinking myself into what I thought was oblivion and wandered to the secret part of the garden. That was where I found Sofia in tears and too inebriated I had held her under the moonlight until she calmed wen though I felt fluttery and strange, even more so that drinking usually made me feel.
The next morning I woke up alone in the garden without my shirt on with no recollection of Sofia being with me. She left early and returned to Freezenburg. After that my drinking became a nightly thing while I forced myself to recall every detail about Sofia I could even if I didn't understand why.
"I'm so sorry." I gasped as I fell to my knees in front of the princess I loved. She sat on the floor next to me and made a confussed face but didn't say anything.
"You were only fourteen. My god I'm a monster." I said and hid my face in my hands. I didn't know how much more I could take. First the loss of wormy and then this profecy of darkness nonsense and now I find out that not only am I the father of a princess but that I'm a rapist too.
"No Cedric don't think that way!" Sofia gasped and reached a hand out to touch my shoulder in a panic and I realized that once again I must have voiced my thoughts. I looked at her like she was crazy.
"You were just a little girl. You're still just a girl and I made you a mother without even knowing. I wasn't here for you or for our child. I kept you from your home, wait... Merlin's mushrooms King Roland will have my head when he finds out." I panicked and imagined the ways he would execute me. This earned a giggle from Sofia and I quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Mom and dad already know about Emma." She said and my mouth fell open in shock. Did everyone know besides myself?
"And he choose not to kill me why?" I asked as I stood up and offered her my hand. She took it hesitantly and let me help her up.
"Probably because he is completely in love with Emma, And also because I told him the truth. You were the one drunk Cedric and I was sober. I may have only been fourteen but I knew what I was doing. I told them everything how I confessed my feelings when I was thirteen and you shot me down and how I erased your memories using a spell I learned after we had sex. Of Course daddy was furious but he was more disappointed with me. I'm so sorry Cedric but I couldn't tell you. Not after I heard the profecy." She walked back into her own room with me and I found my mother waiting for us to return. She shot Sofia an apologetic look band Sofia merely smiled at her.
"The princess and the sorcerer. The tale of the first magical king and the princess of darkness." Mom said as she watched me and I laughed.
"That's just a bedtime story you used to tell me to make me believe I could be whatever I wanted. That's why I used to want to be king." I chuckled and she frowned at me as did sofia. It was about a sorcerer who fell in love with a princess and they had a secret life together until she gave birth to a baby who had the power to controls the night. The darkness. Together the sorcerer and the princess took the throne and helped the baby control this power that threatened the world.
"I used to tell you a sugar coated version Cedric. The real story is much darker and though some details are different we have reason to believe that Emma harbors this same devestating power. The legend said that a princess would rise from poverty and enchant the whole kingdom with her kindness and that the son of a great sorcerer would rise to steal away the princesses innocence. But that he would learn the true meaning of love and that their child would grow up to be the bearer of the most powerful magic the world has ever seen and that only the sorcerer would be able to rise up and stop the darkness by using the Amulet of Avalor." As I listened I realized that I had heard this before. Probably early on when Sofia was still a kid and I was still actively trying to gain the amulet. I knew about the first magical king Solomon. and how the legend sai a new sorcerer would use the amulet to take the throne but I had paid little attention to the rest of the legend. If I was the sorcerer and Sofia and Emma were the future queen and princess then that would mean I was the hero. I was future king and though in the past this would have made me happy now the thought just troubled me.
" and King Roland knows all of this?" I aske Sofia who nodded her head solomly.
"At first they didn't know it was you . I told mom that I gave the amulet to Emma's father because he was chosen to have it. About a year ago her and dad visited and cornered me with the truth. You were Emma's father, you had the amulet and you were the savior. Of course he couldn't kill you when he has been trained since he was a prince to know that one day a new era would begin where a new king would rise up and save the whole world. Though I'm sure he wishes it was anyone but you." She smirked and I leaned against a wall in complete shock.
"Why did you keep all of this from me?" I asked her seriously and this caused her to lower her gaze to the floor. She raised one hand to wrap it around her waist as she collected her thoughts.
"At first I was just afraid. I mean I knew you didn't love me. You kept telling me over and over while you were drunk how wrong it was for you to love me... And I though it would make things easier if you didn't even remember. I thought it would ruin our friendship. But then as the months went by and I realized I was pregnant I panicked. I was too scared to tell you and you wouldn't have believed me and back then it would have gotten you executed. I waited until Emma was born to tell my parents about her and I told them that it was all my fault and that I took full responsibility over the situation. When she turned one she threw a tantrum and smothered all the light. I mean all of it Cedric every candle ever ray of light from the sun. Everything for miles turned so dark you couldn't see an inch in front of you. She dissapeared and I panicked. I almost came to you then but your mom helped me find her. We got into a bit of a fight about telling you it I had heard the prophecy by then and I had seen her power for myself. If it's all true then one day she will do horrible things and you will have to stop her. I thought I could spare you the pain if you didn't know she was your daughter." Sofia was almost crying by the time she stopped talking and I could tell it was helping her to get this off of her chest.
"But you were coming home how would you keep it from me then?" I asked and reached a hand out to touch hers.
" I wasn't planning on it. I talked to my parents and I wanted you to be there so I could restore your memories and explain myself and introduce you too her. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I also knew that she needed you. I'm a pretty good sorceress but I'm nothing compared you you and she needs someone to teach her how to control her powers. I've tried so hard. I wanted to protect you from the truth but I can't do this alone anymore. I'm so scared of what she is going to do, it's like I've already failed." She covered her face then her voice cracking as sobs wreakeda though her. My mother sat with a disturbed look on he face as well and I just didn't understand.
"Sofia hush, she hasn't done anything yet. Right now she's just a sweet faced little angel. We can change things, things are already happening differently than the legend like mother said. I bet if we love her to the moon and back and teach her how to be good then we can help her overcome this burden. As long as we are there to help her carry it always." I wasn't sure where the words came from but I meant all of it. Nothing else mattered now besides protecting these two girls. Our situation might be odd but this was my family now. My own family, a smile spread across my face and she looked into my eyes and a smile of her own graced her soft lips.
"Oh Cedric do you mean that?" She asked hope sparkling in those beautiful blue eyes. Maybe I should have been mad at her, at least upset but I couldn't be. As much as I secretly loved her before I loved her even more now. It was strange to look at her and not see the little girl but a woman. Though she wasn't quite a woman yet but she was the mother of my child. In less than an hour I went from thinking I had nothing to knowing I had everything. How could I ever repay her for that?
"I should have told you this four years ago but I was afraid. I am twelve years older than you and though you were intelligent far beyond your years we could not have been together. We should not have been together. I can't stress enough how wrong it was on my part Sofia and I'm so sorry. Not that I am not thrilled with the results... But I wish I would have told you all those years ago because I see now it would have saved a lot of heart ache for everyone." I said but froze up. I felt my heart race and even felt like I couldn't breath for a moment as a bout of old anxiety welled in my chest. She might not still feel the same, did I want to make myself vulnerable by saying it first. Besides she still isn't even of age and it's not like we could ever really be together. She was royalty and I was... What was I? A sorcerer, future royalty? Too many questions and too little answers.
"Tell me what Cedric?" She asked and I looked into her eyes against my will as she but her bottom lip. The way she looked at me as if I had all the power to either make her happy or break her heart. The same way she looked at me all those years ago and I knew that she still loved me. How could she not, if all of this was true we were meant to be together. No wonder it was so hard to not love her. I was destined to love Sofia of Enchancia.
"I should have told you that I loved you to but that we needed to wait. I shouldn't have hurt you and that's why the amulet cursed me. Because I chose the path that hurt us the most." I said and held eye contact with her as one tear rolled down her cheek. My mom stood up and quietly teleported herself out of the room. Back home I suppose.
" I love you Cedric." She said and stood and wrapped her arms around ne. I stiffened and struggled with what I knew was still very wrong and what my heart longed for me to do. I ended up burying my head in her thick hair that was now dry and waving all over the place.
"We can not be together. Not yet at least." I said and she nodded but didn't say anything. For now it was enough to hold her and know that maybe there was some kind of end to this painful life we were living.