Artie didn't run after me. I didn't expect it.

Everyone else we ran into the castle while Puss, Donkey, and I waited for his Dragon. We heard a big roar come from above us.

We looked up and saw Donkey's Dragon flying down towards us along with his babies.

"Babies, My love! You're okay!" Donkey yelled as he ran to hug her. She backed away as if she was confused.

"Donkey, she doesn't recognize you." I said as I walked to the Dragon.

"Hey there, this may be confusing but Donkey isn't Donkey. It's kinda a long story. So technically, your husband is inside of Puss' Body and Puss is in Donkey's body."

She growled softly and looked at me and Donkey's body. She smiled and walked towards him.

"Don't worry, we'll get this fixed later but right now we have to save Shrek from being Shiskabobbed." Donkey said as Puss jumped on her back. I carried donkey and climbed on her back.

Boy I felt scared but excited at the same time.

"Alright, love, to the castle." She growled and flew up into the air and towards the castle.

We came into a middle of a fight. Charming had his crown and sword while Shrek was in chains. Charming was raising his sword to hit Shrek but Dragon burned it to the core.

We jumped off her back and stood in front of Charming.

"Pray for mercy from Puss"

"And Donkey." He yelled and grabbed Puss's sword and made a D on Pinocchio butt.

"Hey!" Pinocchio yelled as he tried to check out his butt.

We heard banging coming from one of the sets on stage and out came Queen Lillian and the princesses.

Then, another banging came from behind then a ripping sound. It was Princess Fiona kicking her way inside.

"Hi, honey. Sorry we're late. You okay?"

Shrek smiled and looked at her. "Much better now that you're here."

The whole audience began to awe at their cute little romance.

"So, Charming, you want to let me out of theses so we can settle this ogre-to-man?"

"Oooh, that sounds fun. But I have a better idea." Charming said as he clapped.

Hordes of villains came towards us with weapons and started grabbing each of us including me.

They wrapped rope around Fiona and cornered the princesses and the rest of us. Some villain grabbed my arms and twisted up so I wouldn't budge.

"Ah! No! Let go of me!" Fiona yelled as they started to drag her away.

"EVERYBODY STOP!" Someone yelled. It sounded high above but familiar.

"Oh! What is it now?" Charming yelled.

"Artie?" Shrek asked. A figure from above started jumping across the props above the stage and jumped down in the middle of Charming and Shrek.

My heart started beating hard again and I smiled. It felt so good to see him again.

"Who really thinks we need to settle things this way?" He said to the villains. All the villains raised their hands in response to his question.

"You're telling me you just want to be villains your whole life?"

"But we are villains," Hook answered. "It's the only thing we know."

"Didn't you wish you could be something else?" Artie asked.

One of trees began to talk." Well, it's easy for you to say. You're not some evil enchanted tree."

"Oh, you morons! Don't listen to him. Attack them." Charming yelled as he got close to the tree. The tree, however, grabs him and clasps his mouth shut with his hand-barks.

Another trees started to talk. "What Steve is trying to say is that it's hard to come by on honest work when the whole world is against you."

"Right, thanks, Ed."

"Okay, fair enough. You're right, I'm not a talking tree," Artie began. But I knew deep down he was so much more than that. "But you know…a good friend of mine once told me that just because people treat you like a villain or an ogre…or just some loser…it doesn't mean you are one. The thing that matters most is what you think of yourself. If there's something you really want or someone you really want to be…then the only person standing in your way is you." he pointed to Rumpelstiltskin as he said his speech.

"Me?'

"Get him Lads!" Some villains said as they were about to grab him before Artie go their attention.

"No, no, no, no, no. What…What I mean is each of you is standing in your own way.

All the villains said, "Oh!" as they realized what he meant.

The headless man came forward and started to speak. "I've always wanted to play the flute."

Then, Snow white's stepmother came forward and started to lower her dagger that she had on Queen Lillian's neck.

"I'd like to open up a spa…in France!"

Now, Hook was coming forward also. "I grow Daffodils. And they're beautiful." He then drops his sword and everyone else started to do it.

The person who had me let me go and everyone else was being released. All the weapons were thrown on the ground.

Everyone was happily talking to each other and looking around. However, Charming managed to get out of the tree's grip.

Time slowed as I saw him grab the nearest sword and run towards Artie. All the other sound was being blocked. All I could hear was my own heart beating rapidly as I saw Charming getting closer and closer to Artie. I couldn't reach Artie in time to save him.

I couldn't move. Everything was frozen. I moved my mouth but it felt so slow and I couldn't make them move faster.

"!" I yelled.

He saw the sword and he covered his face.

I saw Shrek jump in between Artie and grab the sword Charming had. Time sped up as they fought and struggled.

Charming pushed the sword into Shrek. "Ugh!" Was all he said as he fell to his knees and the sword plunged to his side.

"A new ear finally begins! Now, all of you, bow before your king!"

Shrek opened his eyes and winked as we knew that he was not dead. He walked behind Charming with the sword on his side.

"A-hem! You need to work on your aim." Shrek said as he took out the sword and tossed it aside.

He grabbed his collar and raised him above.

"This was supposed to be my happily after."

"Well, I guess you need to keep looking…cause I'm not giving up mine." Shrek pushes him near the tower and Dragon used her tail to smack the tower so it can fall on top of him.

"Mommy?" Charming said before the tower came on top of him and crushed him to death. The crown was rolling on the ground until Artie stopped it with his foot.

He bent and picked it up.

"It's your if you want it, you know. But this time, it's your choice." Shrek said.

Artie walked ahead to the audience, raises the crown and puts it on his head.

The audience clapped including the villains.

Some guys came to Artie and raised him on their shoulder.

"Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie! Artie!" People chanted as they congratulated him and applauded.

I hadn't realized that I was crying and I felt proud and joy because Artie was now King but it also meant sadness and heartbreak. Since he was now King, I could not be with him. He was a prince and was to marry a princess, something that I was not.

The audience began to disperse and I decided to leave without saying another word to him. If I stayed and said good-bye to him, it will be too hard for me and I'm not good at saying good-byes.

I quietly made my way to the exit and left without another word.