Chapter 9:

Artie's POV:

'I should have listened to Mr. Merlin. Celeste never cared about me. None of them did. I feel like such an idiot.'

Celeste's POV:

They took Shrek in chains. They hauled Puss and Donkey off to the dungeons. And they dragged me off to some location. I waited in a dark room for almost 30 minutes before Charming came in.

"So. Will you join the winning side? Seeing as right now your good side is losing." I shake my head and chuckle. "You just don't get it, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Charming asks me. "You're going to lose, no matter what. Just give up Charming." Charming doesn't like what he hears. He motions to a guard. "Keep her here until the show. You know what to do from there."

Charming leaves and I glare a hole into the back of his neck. 'Sisters, what do you have planned?'

Artie's POV:

I stop to stare at the group of animals who are arguing. "Okay, from now on we shall be know as Team Super Dynamite Awesome Cool Alpha Wolf Squadron." Donkey says. One of the pigs points at me. "Look, some weird little girl is staring at us." 'Well that hurt my ego.'

I begin to walk away, but Puss and Donkey call out to me. "Artie, wait!" I ignore them and keep walking. "Artie, stop and listen to us." They block my way. "Why should I? They made me out to be a fool."

"Look, they only said those things to save your life!" Donkey says. I blink. "What?"

"Shrek only said those things so you could live. Charming would have killed you if he hadn't." Donkey explains. I scowl. "What about Celeste, huh? I don't exactly think she was trying to save my life. I can understand Shrek's motive, but her."

"SeƱor, you did not hear the pain she went through. She cried out for them to kill her. I've only heard that kind of tormented screams from someone whose had their heart broken."

I blink again. 'Celeste...loves me.' "Now, Charming plans on killing them both tonight. So what are you going to do?" Donkey asks me as my plan begins to take shape.

Celeste's POV:

The cell door opens. "It's time for the show, Miss Storymaker." The guard taunts me. I only scowl at him as he pulls by my chains. He takes me to beneath the stage to wait. Music begins to play and I can hear Charming's out of key singing.

Shrek's and my lever are pulled and we are lifted up through the stage floor.

Please rescue me
From these monstrosities.
Worry not, honey lamb,
I'll these two up like pieces of ham!

"Ugh, singing." I roll my eyes as Shre agrees. Charming continues with his performance."Prepare foul beast and witch, for you are about to enter a world of pain in which you are not...familiar!" He sings the last word on a super high pitch, breaking several glasses in the audience.

"Can't be more painful than the lousy performance you're giving." The audience laughs and Charming narrows his eyes. "Prepare foul beast." Rumplestiltskin whispers from the opening in the floor. "Prepare foul beasts. Your time is done."

"Oh, could you kill us and then sing?" I ask him sarcastically. This time a drum plays and the audience laughs even more. Charming turns red. "Be quiet!" He shouts at them, but they keep laughing. "Awe come on, we're just having some fun with ya. That's actually a nice leotard."

You can practically see Charming's ego inflate. "Ah, thank you."

"Does it come in men's sizes?" I ask. The crowd goes nuts. Even Hook laughs. "Enough!" Charming loses it. He breathes in deeply and turns back towards me and Shrek. "Now, you'll both now what it's like, to have everything you've worked for, everything that is precious to you taken away. Now you'll know how I felt!" Charming raises his sword and prepares to bring it down on us, but he's stopped by the blast of fire that melts his sword.

The dragon flies overhead, and soon we are joined by all of the fairytale characters. Fiona kicks down the door on the swamp house. "Hi honey, sorry we're late." She says, walking up to Shrek. "You don't know how glad I am to see you."

Charming begins to laugh hysterically. "He planned for this." I say. Charming snaps his fingers and all of the villains surround us. Several pirates tie Fiona up. "Now, for my happily ever after." Charming says, preparing to bring his sword down on my head.

"Stop!" Charming puts the word down. "Oh, what now?!" 'Artie.' He jumps down from off of the stage clouds and lands on the stage. "Who thinks we need to settle things this way?" He asks. Almost all of the villains raise their hands.

"You mean you want to be villains your whole lives?" He asks the villains. "But we are villains. It's the only thing we know." Hook tells him. "You never wish you could be something else?" Artie continues.

"Easy for you to say. You're not some evil enchanted tree." A tree says. "You morons! Don't listen to him, attack!" Charming yells at him, but the other tree grabs him and muffles his words. "What Steve means is that it's hard to come by honest work when the whole world is against you." The tree that's holding Charming says.

"Right. Thanks, Ed." The other tree says to him. "Fair enough. You're right. I'm not a talking tree. But you know, a good friend once told me that just because people treat you like an ogre, or a villain, or even just a loser, it doesn't mean you are one." He says, looking at Shrek.

"What matters most..." He continues. "Is what you think of yourself. If there's something you really want or someone you want to be, whose to stop you from doing that?" The villains all point at me. "Hey, I just take orders. Personally, I think you're the most important people in the story. So why shouldn't you get your own happy ending."

"Exactly." Artie says. "Do what makes you happy." The Headless Horseman speaks up. "I've always wanted to play the flute."

"I'd like to open up a spa...in France." The Evil Queen tells us. "I grow daffodils. And they're beautiful." Hook tells us. Everyone else is slightly shocked, but not me. The villains begins to throw down there weapons and embrace one another.

Charming becomes angrier by the second and breaks free from the tree. He goes for the sword and swings at Artie. "Artie!" I manage to step in front of him and the sword pierces my torso. Charming smirks at my defeat and turns to the crowd. "Now, I shall be the new king of Far Far Away. And no one will stop me."

His head turns back to look at me. "Not even the Storymaker herself."