The gang and the cursed girl – Christmas special!
Last Part
Mark and Emily left the village while somewhere along the way Viola joined them in escaping the village.
"Em, why did you give them the paper? I'm not worth it." Mark said while looking at Emily with a serious look.
"You're worth every piece of paper Mark." Emily said making Mark blush slightly.
"Especially a fake remake!" Emily then continued with a grin on her face.
"…. Wait?! That was a fake?!" it took Mark a moment to figure out what Emily meant.
"Yep! It sure was! The original got burned." Emily answered while her grin only grew.
"No way?! We did it then! We actually did it!" Mark said while making a little victory gesture.
"Yay!" Viola cheered out loud.
"Yes we sure did! Now let's see if we can find our way back to the others! Then Viola can meet her uncles and aunt!" Emily said as she also cheered a little.
"I would love that! But…" Viola suddenly looked a bit sad.
"But what? What's wrong?" Mark asked.
"I'm afraid that I'll just bring you both in danger. I heard what the men said.. They're right you know.. In my family there were some strange happenings and my aunt in particular held a grudge against the villagers.. And even if my powers won't be dangerous to you two the villagers will. They won't stop chasing me." Viola explained.
"Wow, uhm kid.. Even if they still chase you, even if we end up being cursed. I won't give up on you. You deserve a better life." Emily responded.
"Mom, dad? Can we go to the lake?" Viola asked.
"Sure, I don't see why not! Maybe it will cheer you up!" Mark said as he took the lead.
Meanwhile the gang fought their way through the heavy snowfall.
It seemed as if the whether was holding them back.
Then the strange light appeared again.
The gang decided to follow since it seemed to be heading towards the lake.
The lake was still a while away.
But when they followed the light they noticed that the whether was less effecting them.
Almost as if the light was dodging the wind and heavy snowfall or creating a shield.
They managed to walk a lot faster now.
While Noel who was on their trail ran into a little problem, she kept hearing a loud screech.
Like some kind of owl, it sent chills down Noels spine.
But her attention then turned elsewhere.
She saw the white stag standing in the way.
"Hello.. pretty deer. I'm just going to pass and I'll be on my way." Noel said.
However the stag wouldn't let her pass.
He was blocking the way for her.
"Move! I have to get them back to the hotel!" Noel yelled as she tried to scare the stag off.
In return the stag moved his right front leg in the snow while starting to breath heavily.
It looked like he was about to charge forward.
Noel in term pulled out a dagger she held on her.
"Oh yeah! You wanna go?" She asked as she readied her weapon.
The stag then charged forward and trashed his horns around.
Noel was ready for it, she leaped out of the way and threw her knife.
The knife would have hit the stag in the back of the head but something black colored had leaped in front and blocked the knife with a large wing.
It was a giant black owl with a white face.
The area around it seemed to turn darker.
Noel gasped as she stared at the creature.
It didn't take her long before noticing that it's white face was actually a skull or mask that looked like a skull.
(Spoiler alert! It looked like an owl impersonation of death, so we got an owl looking like death and a stag seemingly life.)
Noel started running as the two beings chased her.
They herded her all the way back to the hotel.
Meanwhile Emily, Mark and Viola reached the lake as the night became lighter and dawn grew closer.
Viola walked over to the edge of the lake.
"Mom, dad.. I'm not going to bring either of in danger.. I think I'm going to travel on my own for a while.. Until I know that the villagers won't chase me.. Until I learn to control my power.." Viola said with a sad look, while she returned Emily's jacket.
"Viola, what are you saying? We can protect you!" Mark said.
"Let us help you." Emily continued.
"No, I'd hate to see you get hurt more because of me." Viola answered while looking at Emily's head wound and Mark's bruises due to the fight with the two men.
"You don't have to worry about us! We're fine!" Mark said.
"...I'd hate to see that change.." Viola said as she stepped onto the frozen lake.
"W-Wait!" Emily said as she and Mark both tried to follow but the ice broke making a split between them and Viola.
"Please, let me do this. I have to. I'll come back, I promise! As soon as I know it's safe." Viola said with tears in her eyes but a gentle smile on her face.
"No don't go!" Emily called out also with tears in her eye's.
"I'm sorry mom." Then a light appeared and started swirling around Viola.
"Mom, dad… Go back home and wait for me.. I will come back to you." Viola assured.
She then started fading into the light.
"Noooo! Wait!" Emily and Mark both yelled out.
Then with a bright flash of light Viola was gone.
Emily hugged Mark while crying and Mark hugged her back.
After a full minute of hugging they sat down on their jackets looking out over the lake as they saw the sun rising from behind the mountain.
They dried their tears and watched the sunrise, while Em put her head on Mark's shoulder.
"Mark? Em?" A familiar voice was heard from behind them.
"Brother!" Emily said as she stood up and hugged him, soon after Jack joined their hug.
Meanwhile Mark hugged David and Lindsey in a group family hug.
"Where have you guys been? What happened to you?" David asked with relief all over his face.
"Well you know that I was chasing this goofus! Then we… uhm were in the mountain and heard two man talking about a blond haired girl they were looking for so just in case we hit somewhere." Emily told them only the smallest part of the story.
She didn't know why but she didn't want to tell the other what exactly happened since she knew she'd be in trouble as soon as they'd hear what kind of dangerous things they did.
"Really? Then we just missed each other!" Jack said.
"Oh sis, we found your scarf." Micheal said as he handed Emily her scarf.
"Thanks! I was afraid I'd never see it again." Emily said with a smile.
"Now sis, how about you tell us what actually happened?" Micheal continued.
"What?" Emily asked confused, as she started thinking "how could he have known."
"Em, your head is bleeding!" Micheal then said as the others noticed too.
"Oh… uhm we fell.." Emily lied.
"I'm not sure whether to believe you sis, but for now let's head back.
When they arrived at the hotel they were surprised to find someone else behind the lobby desk.
"Where's Noel?" Jack asked.
"She wanted to quit, apparently something out in the woods scared her." The new girl replied.
"Oh, well I think you're already an improvement! May I know your name?" Jack flirted.
"Thanks! My name is Zoey." The girl said.
"Zoey?" Emily asked as she appeared from behind her brother.
"Emily? Emily Jones! Hahaha I though I'd never see you again after our last… encounter." Zoey said, she then noticed that Emily was bleeding. "Wow, you look better!" She continued.
"Haha very funny, see ya around chicken-wings!" Emily said as she dragged the others along.
They went to eat at the restaurant and then to sleep at the hotel for their last night.
The others asked Emily about it and she simply replied with: "Just forget about her, we won't see her again after this."
Jack was the only one who seemed a little sad about it but quickly dropped the subject.
The next morning they were all well rested and ready to head home.
They threw their bags in the car and headed out.
When they got home their family was already there to surprise them.
They had used the spare key and put all the presents underneath the tree.
After a couple of hours of joy the gang had already forgotten about what had happened in pine forest.
Only with Emily and Mark the memory of their time with their daughter never would fade away.
Their Christmas day went by in the blink of an eye.
Soon it got dark and their family left.
Jack, Mark and David felt tired and decided enough was enough, so they went off to bed.
Leaving Emily, Lindsey and Micheal downstairs.
After a bit of drinking rum and playing board games Lindsey had passed out.
"I'll bring Linds to her room and then I'll crash in mine, goodnight." Micheal said as he yawned.
He picked up Lindsey and started making his way to the stairs.
"Sure bro! Try not to make out with Linds if she wakes up." Emily teased.
Micheal then blushed a bright red color. "Em!" He yelled as he quickly went upstairs.
He quietly put Linds in her bed and pulled her blanket carefully over her.
In the meantime Emily walked to the window and looked at the night sky.
Thinking that somewhere Viola would be looking at the same starry night.
She noticed an oddly satisfying light that flew across the sky like a falling star.
She knew deep within that Viola would be alright and she was looking forward to the day she'd return.
The end, for now.
(Hiya! That was that for this special! Perhaps in the next special Viola could return! But who knows. So that's all for now! See ya on the flip side!)