In Which Sunny Confesses To Dawn
"Sunny!"
"Dawn?"
"You're okay!"
"Dawn, what are you doing here?"
"Marianne and I came to save you!" She reached through the bars and he took her hand. "Don't worry, we'll make the goblins let you go."
"Dawn … I …" He shook his head. "You shouldn't have … I'm not …"
"And don't you dare say you aren't worth it! You are worth every risk, Sunny; I love you so much." Dawn blushed gorgeously. "I know that sounds like it came out of nowhere, but I do love you, and even if you don't love me back that way, you're still my best friend –"
"I love you, too." She went starry-eyed. It killed Sunny to take that from her. "And, there's something else I need to tell you."
Below them, Marianne and the Bog King were debating his sentence.
"If trespassing is so terrible, then I would think you would want him out of your kingdom, so it shouldn't be a hardship to give him back to ours."
"That's not the worst of what he did. Do you know what primroses are for?"
"I'm aware, yes, and I'll have you know that the Fairy Kingdom restricts the use of love potions as well, so it's not like he'd be getting off the hook entirely."
"YOU WHAT?" Dawn's wings closed and she fell to the ground, reopening them just enough not to hurt herself when she landed. She dropped to her knees, buried her face in her hands, and started sobbing.
In that moment, the sheer awkwardness of being facing with a crying stranger would have made the Bog King yield to almost any concession if it would make them leave.
Ignoring him, Marianne went to Dawn and gently hugged her, saying in her fiercest whisper, "What did he do?"