Shadow
Summary: *Continued from "Shaken"* As Sofia and Cedric delve deeper into the cause of their individual nightmares, they soon discover that this matter is more complicated than they initially imagined.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Sofia the First!"
A/N: Thanks for the reviews and feedback on the first chapter. :) And for those who got to see the preview for "Cedric Be Good," I'm jealous. Lol. I'm so ready for the episode though. Should be wonderful. In this part, you'll get to see the return of one of my favorite visitors (some of you probably already know or have an idea of who it is), and of course Cedric's dilemma along with Sofia and Wormy working together. Here we go!
"Where are we going?" Wormwood asked his current travel companion as he still rested on her shoulder. They were piled into a flying coach and already soaring through the air. He was kind of annoyed that she'd been so secretive the last hour or so, not telling him much of anything, including any plans she'd devised to help his master.
"Rudistan," she responded as she held onto a bag she'd brought with her.
"Ugh…" He rolled his eyes. "Figures you'd bring Greylock into this."
"Wormwood, if anyone can help us with Mr. Cedric, it's Mr. Greylock." She smiled thoughtfully. "They may not always agree on everything, but they're good friends—even if they don't act like it sometimes."
"Hmm." The raven sighed before moving from the girl's shoulder onto the seat beside her. "And why is it that you chose to leave me in the dark on your decision exactly?"
"Because you would have said no," she responded honestly as she glanced down at him. Seeing his dry look, she shrugged. "I know you better than you think I do, Wormwood."
"I see that. It's a little frightening too, to be honest." He rolled his eyes as she laughed softly.
The rest of the ride was relatively quiet, the only sounds heard coming from the air moving past the coach and the occasional bird calling beside them.
Meanwhile, Cedric had barricaded himself in his tower. He hadn't been able to find Sofia despite his search, so he settled on what became known as "Plan B: Barricade." If he couldn't locate the princess for his plans, then he'd do some research on the next best option: spells and curses.
He was more annoyed with the fact that even Wormwood seemed to have abandoned him. Seriously, even his feathered friend didn't want to be near him in his current state? Fine. He could do without the raven for a while.
"Shadows," he muttered as he skimmed his spell book. "Shadows, spells, curses, darkness, fatigue…ugh!" He slammed his book and threw it against the wall, watching it fall open in a haphazard way. He now wrestled with the back-and-forth of his actual self and the entity known as 'Shadow Cedric.' To be honest, he could barely tell the difference. 'Shadow Cedric' was him…in a way.
He turned toward a mirror that had been placed on the wall and glared into it. The reflection, not his own at this point, folded his arms and smirked at him. "What are you acting so smug about?" Cedric asked with a scoff.
Shadow Cedric rolled his eyes and chuckled. "You really think you have any say over what you do anymore? No, pardon me—what I do. We've done things your way for the last few years, and look how that's panned out: no amulet, no kingdom, and a pesky princess who follows you around like a puppy. And what's worse is you let her! You play into her wishes to study magic and sorcery under you, and you've softened, Cedric. You're not the same."
Cedric glared at his reflection and folded his arms. "I…I don't see why that's such a…bad thing."
"Oh, wake up, would you! See, this is the problem." Shadow Cedric waved his hands around in the air emphatically. "You give up too easily! What happened to the sorcerer who had plans and a goal? The one who'd stop at nothing to get what he wanted?"
"I—"
"You gave up! You stopped listening to yourself and started listening to everyone around you. And the worst of those is Princess Sofia." He lifted his own wand.
Cedric's eyes widened worriedly. "Wh-What are you doing with…that?"
"If you won't fix the problem…" He generated an image of Sofia before Cedric, who watched speechlessly as the generated Sofia appeared to clutch her heart and fall over. "…Then I will."
Cedric whipped his head toward the mirror to respond, but his eyes became vacant momentarily before closing and opening again. Once again, Shadow Cedric had taken over.
"Ah, Princess Sofia!" Greylock greeted spiritedly as the young girl rushed into his own workshop in Rudistan. He blinked in surprise when she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Uh, Princess, are you all right?" He knelt down to the girl, realizing she was crying again. "Oh, no, no, dear girl. This won't do." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and lifted her head, gently dabbing at her tears. "What's the matter?" He then frowned as something hit him. "Are you here by yourself?"
She sniffled and took the handkerchief from him as she tried to compose herself. "W-Well, Wormwood came with me." She pointed up at the raven, who'd settled on a coat rack near the door.
Greylock sighed in humor before shaking his head. "What I mean is, did anyone else—an adult, perhaps—come with you? Where's Cedric?"
"Oh, here we go," Wormwood muttered with a huff.
"Mr. Cedric…is the reason I'm here." She looked up at the older man with a meaningful stare. "Something's wrong with him, Mr. Greylock. He's talking strangely, and he's just…not himself. I keep feeling like he's trying to hurt me and that he's going to hurt himself, and I just…don't know what to do." She sniffled and hugged him again.
The brown-haired man sighed and returned her hug, gently rocking her to ease her a bit. "Do your parents know you're here?"
She shook her head as she composed herself a bit better. "…No…" Sofia looked up at Greylock. "They're both very busy right now, which is probably for the best. If my dad saw Mr. Cedric like he is now, I don't think he'd let him stay…" She reached up again and wiped her tear-stained face. "C-Can you help me figure out what's wrong with him?"
"Well, of course I can." He stood up and grabbed his wand from his desk. "King Magnus is away at a meeting for a few days anyway, so luckily this won't be a problem."
"The longer we stay here, the worse Cedric is probably getting," Wormwood reminded the girl as he swooped down from the coat rack and onto her shoulder again.
"I know," she whispered gently as Greylock slid his robe on.
"Well, Princess Sofia," Greylock began as he held his wand down to his side, "lead the way."
Along the way to Enchancia, Sofia gave more details about the situation at hand. She covered the nightmares both she and Cedric had, his strange behavior and switching back and forth between normal and otherwise, the character of Shadow Cedric, and whatever else came to her mind. Greylock listened fervently, taking in the girl's words. He was concerned not only for Cedric but also for his young friend. Whatever was going on with the other sorcerer was obviously having or going to have some sort of impact on the princess.
"So let me get this straight." The sorcerer of Rudistan tapped his wand against his shoulder a few times as he took in her words. "Cedric is acting like an entirely different person—this Shadow Cedric you mentioned—and has, what, threatened you?"
"I don't know if 'threatened' is the right word," Sofia admitted as she looked down at her hands. "More like… He yelled at me to 'wake up' and seemed upset or annoyed that I try to look on the positive side of things." Recalling this bit of information only made the girl more upset.
Greylock sighed and wrapped one arm around her. "Sofia, you mustn't be disheartened by this. None of this is your fault, and we're going to figure out what is wrong with Cedric. And he will apologize to you, because you didn't deserve to be spoken to that way."
She sighed before looking up at him. "But I don't believe this is actually his fault, Mr. Greylock… At least, I hope it's not."
"We'll figure this out. I promise."
It had taken every ounce of determination and concentration she had within her for Sofia to ease up to Cedric's door and knock hesitantly. She feared going back inside, but she knew her friend needed her help. Their help.
Greylock stood beside the girl while the raven had found a nice perch on his shoulder. "Why knock?" he asked curiously.
"The last thing I want is him getting more upset with me," Sofia admitted softly. "Who's to say that he'll even open the door?"
Cedric turned from his recently-retrieved spell book and glared at the door when he heard the familiar knock. "Mm." A smirk formed on his features. Actually, this was rather perfect, wasn't it? Instead of going to find the little princess, she'd come to him. Well, he knew it was only a matter of time after all. "Come in." His smirk changed to a scowl when he saw who was with her. "What are you doing here?"
Greylock rolled his eyes as Sofia walked in behind him. "That's a fine way of greeting an old friend."
"I'm not your friend. I'm not anyone's friend."
Sofia bit her lip. She wasn't going to cry anymore. She'd done more than enough of that today. And besides, she knew it wasn't her Mr. Cedric talking…right?
"That's rather rude. And here I travelled all the way from Rudistan to help you." Greylock made a face as he looked around the workshop. "What have you done in here, Cedric?"
"None of your business, Greylock. Why don't you travel on back to your kingdom and leave me alone?" He buried his face in his book again. "Besides, Princess Sofia and I have matters to discuss that don't concern you."
Greylock glanced down at the worried girl and shook his head. "I'm afraid whatever you have to say to her, you'll have to say to me as well. From what I hear, you've been rather rude to the princess."
Cedric scoffed and slammed his book. "If you think telling her the truth and correcting a few scenarios is being 'rude,' then yes, I suppose I have been. However, that's always the problem, isn't it? People can't handle the truth." He looked down behind Greylock and noticed Sofia standing there, watching him carefully and uncertainly. "Isn't that right, Princess?"
Sofia stayed quiet and remained in her current location. She glanced up at Wormwood, who shook his head.
"Ah, Wormy. I wondered where you'd gone." Cedric lifted his wand. "I see you have chosen someone else to pester for a while."
"Princess Sofia," the raven began as he looked toward her, "if you ever wanted to use your learned spells to blast him for that comment and for his behavior toward you, I wouldn't mind, you know."
She sighed and shook her head. It just wasn't right…
"Sofia," Greylock said softly as he placed one hand on her shoulder. "Would you mind leaving us for a few minutes? Cedric and I need to have a chat."
She nodded and exited the room, her level of comfort rising a bit as she distanced herself from her mentor. She descended the stairs about halfway and sat down, putting her head to her hands out of frustration.
Cedric made a sound of annoyance as Greylock shut and locked his door. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I might ask you the same thing." The brown-haired sorcerer marched to the table where Cedric stood and slammed his hands against it, making the Enchancian Royal Sorcerer jump back in surprise. "What did you say to her, Cedric? You have frightened the one person who cares enough about you to defend you to the world, and you're going to treat her like this?"
Cedric held a hand to his head as he eased out of one phase and back to his normal self, Shadow Cedric seeming to take a backseat for now. He blinked toward his friend. "I just…"
"Cedric, you're being stupid." He scoffed when his friend gasped at his accusation. "I'm sorry to tell you that, but you're out of control. Do you have any idea what the king would do to you if he found out how you've treated his daughter?"
"I know! Don't think I don't!" He growled in frustration and gripped his wand tighter. "It's like… Ugh, I don't know how to explain this."
"Well, you'd better start trying before you do or say something else you'll regret." Greylock folded his arms.
"Well, if you're here, then you obviously came for a reason. And Princess Sofia must have told you something about what's going on."
"Mm, who's Shadow Cedric?"
Cedric blinked in surprise before shaking his head. "Who?"
"Sofia told me you told her to call you 'Shadow Cedric' earlier. She said you weren't acting like yourself at all." He glared at his friend. "Don't tell me you don't remember this."
"Shadow…?" He looked cautiously at the mirror beside him and blanched when he saw his reflection smirk at him, shake his head, and put a finger to his lips, as if telling him to keep quiet. "I…" He closed his eyes for a few seconds before sighing in resignation. He gathered the mirror from the wall and turned it around, making it face away from him. "Greylock, there's something I should tell you…"
Wormwood watched from his perch as Cedric recollected the events with his nightmares and the grim figure in his dreams a few weeks ago. Then his master moved onto more recent changes in the nightmares, where the figure turned out to be the dark side of himself, or so he believed. Shadow Cedric was obviously a manifestation of his darker desires and wishes to obtain something he couldn't quite seem to get.
"And what's that?" Greylock prodded as he folded his arms.
Cedric stayed still for a few moments before admitting quietly, "Sofia's amulet…"
Wormwood's beak dropped. Had he seriously just admitted his secret to Greylock? Oh, boy, this could only get more complicated. He cawed at his master, who shot him a look to stay out of it. "Great…"
"Sofia's…" The brown-haired man frowned. "Are you talking about that purple necklace she always wears? What in Merlin's name could you possibly want with-?"
"It's the Amulet of Avalor, okay?!" Cedric threw his hands up. "It's the Amulet of Avalor, what I've been searching for forever, what we heard about at Hexley Hall, and she has it! With it, I could work wonders and prove myself to the king and everyone. I could show them I'm more than a bumbling sorcerer and some Goodwin the Great wannabe! I could actually be Cedric the Sensational, and with good reason—I'd have the power to back it up!"
"And you'd risk your friendship with Sofia for something as ridiculous as that? You'd break her heart for power and glory?" Greylock sighed and held up his wand. "Cedric, I've always known that you had a different sort of mind and even a bit of a temper, but I never thought you'd be capable of something like this."
Cedric eased back, seeing the other sorcerer's wand raised. "What are you doing?"
A focused look set itself on Greylock's face. "Protecting Sofia." He aimed his wand at Cedric. "Dearmo!"
The dark-haired sorcerer's wand flew across the workshop and rolled under the closet door. He glared at Greylock, his eyes becoming darker and his demeanor changing. "How dare you!"
"I won't let any harm come to Sofia, and I won't let anyone, even you, speak to her in such a derogatory manner as you have done." As he noticed the complete change in Cedric's stance, the sorcerer smirked. "Shadow Cedric, I presume."
"You don't know who you're messing with, Greylock. One way or another, I will get that amulet, and neither you nor the princess will be able to stop me."
"We'll see about that. Incarcero." He watched as his wand tossed a stream of magic at Cedric, sealing an invisible bond around him and essentially capturing him. He flicked the wand once, making Cedric bond to a chair, for the second time that year. "I'd say take some time to reflect on your actions…but I have a feeling you've done more than enough of that." He turned and marched toward the door.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Cedric growled as he fought against the bonds.
"What I have to do." Greylock looked back at his friend. "Until you return to normal, you're a danger to everyone, especially yourself." He looked toward the door as a knock fell upon it. 'I can't let Princess Sofia see Cedric like this,' he thought desperately.
"Mr. Cedric?" she called worriedly, having heard Cedric shouting. "Mr. Greylock?"
Cedric smirked. "And as always, there's the dear princess to the rescue. I dare you to tell her she can't do anything about this. You'll find that she has a way of getting exactly what she wants."
"…Good point." Greylock unlocked the door and opened it, pulling the princess inside. "Now, Princess Sofia, don't get upset…"
"Why would I…?" She paused, seeing Cedric struggling against his invisible bonds and attempting to get up from the chair. "What happened?"
"Cedric isn't himself right now. I think you realize that…" Greylock placed a hand on her shoulder. "You were right."
Sofia's eyes trailed from Cedric to Greylock. "This is the one time in my life I don't want to be right, Mr. Greylock…"
"I know." He looked toward the other sorcerer. "Is this what you want, Cedric? You want to be overtaken by selfishness and darkness? So be it. But look what you'll lose." He gestured around. "You'll lose your workshop. You'll lose Wormwood. You'll lose Sofia."
Cedric stopped moving to pay more attention to Greylock's words.
"You'll lose any bit of respect you've garnered over the last few years, including your father's and King Roland's. You'll end up imprisoned or exiled. So I repeat: is this what you want?"
"…No."
Sofia gasped when Greylock released Cedric from his bonds. She watched as her mentor fell onto the floor and moved over to the wall, leaning forward to clutch his head. She rushed to him, kneeling beside him. "Mr. Cedric? Are you okay?"
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, struggling to keep the darkness within. "I've really messed up, and I feel as though I can't fix it this time, nor can you…"
The princess frowned. "Please, Mr. Cedric, don't give up. Whatever's wrong, we'll figure it out and you'll get better."
"You mustn't be discouraged, Sofia," Cedric told his apprentice softly and weakly as he leaned against the wall. "Just because there's a darkness in me, that doesn't mean it will be the same for everyone…" He sighed, resting a hand over his heart. "…Maybe I can't be saved, but… I do thank you for trying, and for not giving up on me."
Sofia looked at him in surprise. "What are you talking about, can't be saved? Everyone can be saved, Mr. Cedric." She took his hands, making him look up at her. "I just don't want you giving up. If you don't believe in yourself, then let me do it for you."
"Sofia…"
"I believe in you, Mr. Cedric." She smiled for the first time in a while, bringing a sense of comfort to him. "And no 'Shadow Cedric' is going to convince me otherwise. You may have a dark side, but we all do. We decide who's going to be in control, not the darkness."
Cedric's eyes caught sight of a faint glowing from the girl's amulet, and he felt a gentle warmth wash over him. "I…"
Greylock stood back, watching in astonishment. Perhaps there was more to the princess than he'd originally believed. She truly was unique.
"Please, Mr. Cedric," Sofia pleaded gently. "Let me help you."
He nodded weakly. "Okay, Sofia…okay." He then collapsed to the floor, knocked out.
Wormwood sighed. "This is getting to be a habit with him."
A few hours later, Cedric woke up in his bed. He yawned, still feeling a bit groggy. He sat up in his bed, wondering what time it was and how he'd even gotten there in the first place. He didn't remember much about the day. The details were fuzzy. All he knew was the headaches were gone…and he also hadn't had that horrid nightmare.
He looked to the side of his bed and saw a note resting on his nightstand. He picked it up and read over it.
Dear Mr. Cedric,
In case you're wondering, you passed out. Mr. Greylock got you in bed. Wormwood was worried about you, and so were we. Mr. Greylock said he'd stay to make sure you're all right before heading back to Rudistan.
If you wake up before tomorrow, we'll be in your workshop waiting for you. I hope you're feeling better.
Love,
Sofia
Cedric shook his head and put the note aside before standing up perhaps a little too quickly. He fought off a feeling of dizziness before slowly easing forward, his thoughts clearing. He opened the door and made his way into his workshop.
Sofia smiled brightly when she saw her friend walking toward them, slowly but surely. "Mr. Cedric," she enthused happily, moving forward and hugging him gently. "Are you feeling better?"
"I am," he admitted, seeing Greylock leaning against the table and watching him. "How long was I asleep?"
"I'd say about three hours," Greylock told him. "I took Sofia to get something to eat about an hour ago. You really did a number on yourself, Cedric."
"It wasn't his fault," Sofia defended as she pulled her mentor toward a chair, helping him sit down. "Mr. Cedric wouldn't hurt anyone, not on purpose."
Cedric averted his eyes when the brown-haired sorcerer gave him a pointed look. "Uh, r-right… Well, suffice it to say, I apologize for anything I said or did. I don't know what came over me… I didn't realize nightmares had the ability to do something such as creating a dark persona…"
Greylock hummed. "Well, technically, they don't. I believe what happened to you is something I studied a while ago known as 'La Sombra Syndrome.' From what I studied, La Sombra Syndrome, or LSS, creates a secondary personality via a network—dreams, for example—and is usually called a person's 'dark side' or, in your case, 'shadow.'"
Cedric massaged his forehead. "And who has access to something like that, and why would someone want to do that?"
"Any magical being has the ability to do it, and as far as why: take your pick. Do you have any enemies?"
The dark-haired sorcerer started laughing.
Sofia smiled uneasily at Greylock. "You could say that… We've encountered a lot of people, good and bad, recently." She frowned. "But it does worry me now that we have this new information… If someone could reach you through your dreams, Mr. Cedric, who knows what else they might do?"
"I know, Sofia," he said gently, soothing her a bit. "But we can't let this worry us right now. Whoever it is, believe me, I'll be repaying the favor. And if it's that wretch Nettle, I'm going to teach her a lesson she'll never forget."
"But what if it's not Miss Nettle? What if it's…someone else?" She blinked when Cedric took one of her hands.
"Sofia, please, don't worry. Whatever happened earlier seemed to heal me in a way. I didn't have any nightmares when I was asleep. So that's a good sign."
She smiled, though the apprehension still lingered. "I guess so…" She looked up at Greylock for clarification.
He smiled. "Cedric's right, Princess Sofia. We'll face things head on when we need to, and I'll even help you out. But for right now, let's just be glad old Broomstick here is back to normal." He smirked when Cedric growled and Sofia laughed.
"I swear I'm going to start wearing a nametag around you people."
Cedric's forgotten spell book, placed aside, glowed only once before dousing the light. Wormwood caught sight of it but shook his head, believing himself to be seeing things. He flew down to Cedric's shoulder and sat in on their conversation.
Meanwhile, in an unknown location, someone smirked and chuckled a little too knowingly. "La Sombra Syndrome indeed… Meddling sorcerers." A hand reached up, caressing a globe that had Sofia's image embedded. The hand fell to the location of the amulet and made a clutching motion. "So close… Be on your guard, little princess, for one day that amulet will be mine."
The end (and to be continued in "Lavender Legend: Secrets of Avalor")
A/N: Because "Lavender Legend" won't be out for quite some time, I'll leave you all to develop your theories about the ending. I love how Cedric always thinks it's Miss Nettle now. Lol. Hint: it's not. ;) I hope you liked "Shadow!" I just started typing and couldn't stop, and you know how much I love using Greylock in my stories. He's just awesome. ;D And I hope they bring him back in future episodes! He's too awesome not to bring back. Anyway, that's it for now! Keep an eye out, because soon enough my next story "All Nighter" will be out! It's much more lighthearted and the twins will be back. ;) Night, all! ~AquaTurquoise