Romeo's POV (Next Day):
Nyerf... ugh... *yawn*... Wha...? I feel sunlight on my eyes. Is it morning? Ugggggghhhhhhh! I don't wanna get up! I'm too comfy! And for whatever reason my bed smells really... really nice...
Wendy's POV:
Uh... *yawn*... Is it morning? I can feel the sun on my eyes. Didn't Carla close the curtains last night? Whatever. A few more minutes can't hurt. For some reason, my bed is really... really warm...
Normal POV:
Romeo was the first to open his eyes, and he was greeted with the sight of his blue haired best friend, sleeping contently as can be, his arm wrapped around her. 'Huh, Wendy's in my bed...'
Then Wendy's eyes fluttered open, and her brown eyes looked right into the fire mage's still-sleepy dark-green ones. 'Oh, I slept with Romeo...'
They both shrugged it off in their still somewhat drowsy states and tried going back to sleep. A few seconds past. Then their eyes shot wide open, and you could almost hear the sound of glass breaking.
'Ehhhhhhh?! WENDY?!/ROMEO?!'
The two mages sprang away from each other as though the other one was made of fire, which is what their faces felt like (and if there had been magic in this world, Romeo might have actually caught on fire). Wendy managed to land on one side of the surprisingly large bed, but was still hyperventilating a little. Romeo on the other hand wasn't quite as lucky. He landed on the very edge of the bed and ended up falling to the floor with a hard thud, yanking a most of the blankets with him.
As soon as the blankets were gone and Wendy realized they both still had clothes on, she breathed a sigh of relief (and, minor, disappointment). She then started looking around and realized she wasn't in her room in Fairy Hills, or Romeo's room for that matter (She'd been there a few times to play video games on his Lacri-U, with the door open mind you). As she recalled the events of the past day, Romeo recovered from his fall, so he could start his panic attack now.
"Uh, Wendy?" Romeo groaned as he got up, still a little dazed. "EH?! Wendy?! What are you doing here?!" Romeo started freaking out, "I-! Did we-!? I'm so sorry! I-! Crap! Natsu's gonna kill me! Erza's gonna kill me! Carla's gonna kill me!-"
"Romeo!" Wendy shouted as the boy continued to list the people who were going to kill him. It was a surprisingly long list to the girl. Just how many people were protective of her?
"-My dad's gonna kill me! Laxus's gonna kill me! Gajeel's gonna kill me!-"
"Romeo!" Wendy shouted again to no avail. Now he was getting into people from the other guilds.
"-Sting'll kill me, Chelia might high-five me then kill me-"
"Romeo would you calm down for a minute!"
"At least tell me I was good at it! If I'm dying, I'm dying awesome!"
"ROMEO!" the bluenette finally caught his attention, and was too caught up with that to actually hear what he said. "No, we did not do... that."
"Oh," said the now-embarrassed fire user, "Ahhhhhhhhh..."
"Look around. Don't you remember any of what happened yesterday?"
And so, Romeo took a quick glance around the room and realized it wasn't his, and the memories of where he was and what had happened last night came flooding back.
Flashback Romeo POV (A/N:Doing these a lot, aren't I?) :
"Hey, Wendy," I say as she lays up in the bed and I take a seat in one of these uncomfortable chair things, "Can you tell me what happens in the rest of the story? I don't want any more... surprises... like today."
"Okay!" Her eyes light up like Christmas lights and she leaped down to the foot of the bed.
Damn, she must really like this book.
"Well, in your case, tomorrow you'll have to get up before sunrise so you can leave for Mantua. You'll have to stay there for at least until Thursday. On Wednesday you don't have to do anything, and then on Thursday you'll receive word of my death and-"
"Wait-" I say, uncertain of if I heard her correctly, "Your WHAT?!"
"My death," she repeated, "but-"
"No!" I shout, "You can't die!"
"But-"
"How can you die?! This isn't how these stories go!"
"But you al-"
"There's no way! You can't-"
"Romeo we both die in the end!"
I just stood there as I tried to process what she had just said. "We... what?"
"We both die," she said again, more calmly this time, "Romeo and Juliet ends with both of the characters killing themselves because they believe that's the only way they can be together. You find me dead in a tomb and drink poison that you get from an apothecary on the way there. That's what we have to do, too."
"Wha... What kind of ending is that?!We can't do that! I won't let us do that!"
"Romeo, we have to! It's the only way we can leave!"
"NO!" I keep shouting, starting to get a little angry, "We're not doing that! Neither one of us is dying, we'll find another way out."
"There is no other way!" Wendy shouted back, also getting angry now, "Once we're both dead, the story ends and we wake up. We have to do this."
"But what if we don't wake up?" I ask worriedly.
"We will."
"But what if we don't! What if this is some sicko trap meant to execute the both of us?"
"Romeo, think about it! If there were a mage powerful enough to both create this world and put both of our minds in it, then why would they even bother with this? They could have easily just put us to sleep then killed us."
"You don't know dark mages, Wendy! What if this is their messed up way of toying with us until we die!" I honestly didn't like that this was evolving into a screaming match, but I couldn't just accept this either.
"But what if it's not!" she was getting louder now. "The narrator said we had to act out the story to leave. Our deaths are a part of the story."
"But why should we trust him," I was also getting louder, "He's just a part of the spell."
"Exactly," said Wendy, "So we should ask him what will happen to us."
She looked up towards the ceiling and asked, "Narrator, we will wake up when we complete the story, right?"
There was silence for a few moments as we waited for a response. "Uhm, Narrator?" she repeated, a bit more nervously.
"Erm... Eh, eh heh..." the voice laughed nervously, "How do I put this...?"
"Narrator, please, just tell us. Will we wake up if we complete the story?"
"...I don't know."
Once again, silence as both me and Wendy processed this. Then-
"WHAT?!" we both scream, followed by me adding, "How can you not know?!" and Wendy adding, "You are the spell! How can you not know how you work?!"
"And you're a skin-sack filled with a bunch of bones, organs, and blood vessels. Do you know how they all work?"
"Yes."
"Okay well you're a medical professional so you don't count. But I'll bet hot-head over there doesn't."
"Hey!"
"Look, what I'm saying is, I don't know because my caster didn't know. She didn't know how the book ended, so she didn't bother to look up what happened if you died. And as a non-living magical entity, I can only get knowledge from the sources given during my creation. Those sources being the caster, and my intended targets, i.e., you, and the book itself. So, since she didn't know you were going to die, and you don't know what will happen to you, then I don't know what will happen to you.
It's possible you dying could result in the story being complete and you going home. Or it could result in you dying in real life. I'm not sure, but all I know is this spell can't end until the story does."
"Then I say we don't do it," I said, crossing my arms.
"But it still sounds like the only way!" cried Wendy.
"Then we'll find another way!" I snap back, "We'll find another way and get back home. Without dying."
"And if we can't?" she asked nervously.
"Then we stay here until the guild notices our absence and gets us out of here."
"But, Romeo," she says again, "who knows how long that will be? They should have at least noticed it by now. So where are they? I'll be married to Count Mestis Thursday! And so far me killing myself is the only way to prevent that from happening!"
"Then we'll prevent it some other way!" I stubbornly reply.
"How!?" she questioned.
"I'll fight for you or something. Isn't that a thing they did back in this time?"
"Maybe," she said hesitantly, "But you're also banished! You just being in this city is grounds for your execution!"
"Then I'll take you to this Man-tooha place and we'll stay there until we figure something out."
"Mantua." she corrected, sounding a little annoyed that I got the name of a place in her favorite book wrong. Oops. "And that might not work either. What if my parents come looking for me?"
"Doesn't matter. If they find us in Mantua we'll run away again. Or fight them. Either way we're not going to kill ourselves."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"It will."
"You can't be certain..."
"I am. I'll make it work. You won't be married to Pestis, you won't be committing suicide, and we'll leave this dumb story and go back home. I promise." I was deadly serious.
"Mestis," she corrected (I knew what I said), "And how will you make it work?"
"Hmmm..." I think about that, "Easy. I just won't leave your side until we're out of here." I say with a grin, probably also blushing a little.
Looks like she had no more arguments after that. Her only response was her going wide-eyed and getting rosy cheeks as well. She then let out a small yawn.
I ended up yawning too. It's been a long day for both of us. "We should probably get some sleep."
"Yeah," she agrees as she moves back up and gets under the covers.
I go over to grab a few blankets and she asks, "What are you doing?"
I answer with "Grabbing some blankets to sleep on the floor."
"Oh... well... um... you don't... have to do that." I don't really get what she means until she moves over a little. "We could... share," she almost whispers, then nervously adds, "If you want to!"
"Oh, ahm..." was my intelligent response, "You, you sure?"
"You said you didn't want to leave my side..." She lifts up part of the blankets go give me a space to sleep. It was a little awkward trying to get in there, seeing as we both were trying to stay on one side and not touch each other. I was also trying to hide my face as it was now probably brighter than Rudolph's nose. (A/N: Feelin' Christmas-y... Don't know why)
Back to the Future! A.K.A. The Present (Normal POV)
"Oh, right," Romeo says as he's still a little embarrassed from the last few minutes, "Well, should we get going then?"
"What do you mean?" Wendy asked, confused.
"To Mantua," he clarified, "I think I said that right."
"You did, but..." she seemed a little nervous, "I'm not sure I should go."
"Don't tell me you're still hung up on that 'killing ourselves will get us out of here' thing."
"Ahm..."
"Ah, Wendy!" he shouted, "I thought we talked about this! We said we'll find another way out!" he crossed his arms and furrow his eyebrows.
"We did, but... what if there really isn't another way out?"
"There is and we'll find it."
Before she could make any more arguments, Nurse Lucy called from out in the hall.
"Wendiet!" the blonde cried as she entered the room, then gasped as she saw Romeo, "What is he still doing here?! Wendiet, your mother is on her way here now!"
"Romeo, you need to go!" Wendy panics.
"No! I already said I'm not leaving you. Either you come with me or I'll stay."
"Ah, you might want to hurry up," the nurse nervously reminds us. "She's almost here."
"Fine!" Wendy sighs, "Hide under the bed. We'll leave as soon as she's gone."
He quickly does as she says, and no sooner than when he's completely hidden does Carla call for Wendy.
"Ho, daughter! Are you up?" Romeo wasn't surprised Carla's Wendy's mom here. (A/N: Carla was not calling her a "ho". She just meant hi and that was the actual line from the play)
"Is it my mother that calls?" Wendy says.
Carla enters the room and smiles to her 'daughter', "Why, how now, Wendiet!"
"I am not well, mother." the bluenette said in a depressed tone.
Meanwhile, under the bed, Romeo was starting to feel his nose twitch a little. Man it's dusty under here, he thought.
"Yes, I know you still mourn for your cousin," the feline gloomily stated, "But," she was a bit more cheerful now, "I bring thee joyful tidings."
"And joy comes well in this needy time. Tell me, mother, what are they?"
"Next Thursday morn, the gallant and noble gentleman, The County Mestis, shall happily make thee there a joyful bride."
"What's with the haste?" Wendy gasped, "I pray you tell my lord that I shall not marry yet. And, when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo-," Romeo liked hearing this. "-who I hate,-" Didn't really like this part. "rather than Mestis," Liked this again. "who I despise!" Really liked hearing this.
"Well then," Carla said in her normal scolding voice, "to say you'd rather marry that scoundrel." (Romeo thought this was the real Carla for a second.) "Thou should be thankful, for your father to have found you such a gentleman."
Gentleman my ass, Romeo thought bitterly, as more dust seemed to enter his nostrils and he had to fight back a sneeze. Has no one ever cleaned under here?!
"But I'm afraid I am not, mother. For I believe Romeo could be much more a 'gentleman', than this Count Mestis could ever be."
Carla huffed in annoyance. "Well, if that's how you feel, then we'll just see what your father says once he's done with his meeting, with the Count."
Carla turned away and stomped towards the door. Both Wendy and Romeo breathed sighs of relief at her leaving, but just as she was in the door frame-
"Achoo!"
The white Exceed snapped her head back, and stared directly into the soul of the now pale bluenette.
"Daughter, what was that?"
"Um... bless me?" Wendy shrugged.
Carla raised her eyebrow. "That was you that sneezed?"
"Yes?" The girl was starting to sweat now.
"Then why did it sound like it came from under your bed?"
"Ah..." Wendy's eyes nervously darted around the room for answers. When they landed on an equally paled nurse, they gave her a pleading look.
She just shrugged.
Thanks a lot nurse.
Carla moved closer to the bed to examine it. She found nothing when she looked under the covers, and when she went to look under the bed she found...
...also nothing. Oh well, maybe her daughter just sneezes like a man. Hopefully Mestis can overlook that.
She sent one final glare at Wendy along with a reiteration about her telling her father of what she said, and left. Leaving just Wendy and Nurse Lucy standing in the room.
The two waited to make sure she was gone before either spoke.
"You can come out now, boy," the nurse said with an icy tone.
Her rather large skirt began to ruffle, and out from under it came an incredibly red-faced Romeo.
"That was too close..."
"For you and me both." The nurse dryly stated, "Now hurry up! You must leave here at once." And with that, the nurse left the room.
"Well, c'mon, Wendy," the fire mage said as he recovered from his "hiding spot". He strolled over to the balcony and started putting his foot over the railing, only to realize Wendy wasn't following him. "Wendy?"
Wendy was silent. She didn't know what to do. Part of her thought she should trust Romeo with his idea to run away, and avoid the possibility that dying here meant dying in real life... But then they could be trapped here forever! Could she really stay here? What if they really would get out once the story reached its end?
Romeo was already halfway over the railing at this point, but wouldn't go any further until he knew if she was coming with him or not. "C'mon Wendy." he said again.
Without thinking, Wendy took one step forward. Then another. She was still unsure if this really was the best thing to do. But when she saw the ravenette, holding out his hand and smiling at her, all those doubts seemed to melt away.
But there was still one, "person", who would have none of that.
"No, no, no!" the narrator shouts and stops Wendy dead in her tracks, "This isn't how the story goes! You don't run away to Mantua with him!"
"Why not?" Wendy asks. (A/N: Seriously? Why didn't they just do that in the original?)
"Because this is a tragedy! You're not supposed to get a happy ending!" he says, but sees she's not listening. "Looks like I need to take matters into my own hands."
Down below them, Romeo and Wendy could hear two of the servants talking.
"Oi, what's this?" asked one.
"Looks like some kind of ladder." said the other, "Oh well, we should probably get rid of it."
"Yeah, don't want any creeps sneakin' in here."
The raven haired boy felt a tug on his leg. He realized his foot was caught in the very rope ladder he used to get up here, and that the two servants were trying to get rid of now.
At the same time, Carla was still feeling uneasy about what had occurred in her daughter's room. She decided she might as well have a second look to make sure she wasn't hiding anything.
Romeo kept yanking his leg, hoping to get his foot free. Wendy was now helping him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him backwards.
Fortunately, it only took one large pull to get the boy free. Unfortunately, once he was free, the two ended up stumbling backwards, and falling into the ever-cliche position of Wendy being on the ground while Romeo had her caged between his arms. Wendy's cheeks were ablaze with embarrassment. Romeo's would have been too, except for the fact that he caught sight of Carla's fiery gaze.
And it was aimed right at them.
"H-Hey..." the boy nervously stuttered, taking a quick glance down at Wendy, then back to Carla.
"...does this look as bad as it looks?"
A/N:
Well, that's a wrap on this chapter. I'll admit, during the beginning of the story I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to continue. It was really your guys' support that helped this story get here, so thank you. And I'm glad it did, 'cuz now I get to do things like this!
Now, some of you scholars reading this (or just random people who happen to remember this from this play.)may have realized Wendy saying her dying was how her and Mestis' wedding was supposed to be prevented. This wasn't a mistake. It was fully intentional, and you'll see exactly why soon enough.
Random thing: I gave Romeo a Lacri-U because Nintendo FTW.
This was beta-ed by BarelyProdigies. He's a cool guy and a writer, so go check some of his stuff out as well.
Thank you all so much for reading! Leave a review.