Chapter 12

It's Time

A cool gloved hand touched her face.

Cora quickly open her blood shot eyes to find her Wyb looking down at her with worried mismatched eyes. She had to squint from the bright light that came through the cherry tree branches that she and he were resting on. The button clipped girl had come here to get some peace from her nagging twin and Wyb, well he must of come looking for her.

Cora chuckled, "I'm sorry, I must have dozed off."

Wyb worried face worsened as she rubbed her eyes, noticing the bags under them had gotten worse. It had almost a week now since Cora was attacked in her dreams and ever since then she had been avoiding sleep all together. It got to the point now that Cora would faint on her feet or falls asleep at the dinner table; at the rate she was going she was going to break into a million pieces.

Her twin, her boyfriend and his twin had no choice but to force Cora to sleep. Each of them would take turns watching her and when they saw the slightest bit of something going wrong, they would wake her up. Things went well as first, Cora would at least get an hour in before they had to wake her up, but her time was getting shorter and shorter. The Other Coraline would only get a solid 10-15 minutes before her mother would invade her dreams.

Wyb collected the girl in his arms, working on plucked the cherry blossom petals that were stuck in her hair. Cora protested at first but she let her words drone off, deciding to rest her chin on the crook of his arm with a baby pout of her face. When the boy had removed all the fluffy pink petals, he placed his head upon her bluish black hair, placing his lips on her head. The girl found herself blushing lightly, grasping his coat with her pale hands.

"I'm ok…really Wybie…"

But Wyb didn't listen; he only tightened his grip even more. It didn't take Cora long to figure out what he was thinking. Cora found it very easy to know what Wyb wanted to say despite his lack of a voice. She knew he was extremely worried about her; then again so were Wybie and Coraline, she was worrying everyone.

"I'm all right, please don't worry about me…please…"

Wyb felt her droop on him; she must have fallen asleep. He smiled lightly; she looked so peaceful when she slept, even with the bags under her eyes. The golden, green eyed boy leaned up against a sturdy tree branch, looking up at the sky with an expressionless face. Things were getting nasty; Beldam would never let Cora have peace, or any of them for that matter. The only way to stop this would have to destroy the monster. But how could he asked Cora to fight against her, and her condition, and on top of that Cora didn't need to go back to such a place with such horrible memories. No. He would never force her to do that.

Cora shifted in his arms, letting out a low pitch whine and a pained look on her face. Wyb's eyes widen in fear as he quickly shook her by the shoulders. It didn't take too long for her to open her tired eyes; she scoffed before resting her head on his shoulder in defeat.

"Sorry…"

Wyb had to find a way to save her, save all of them. They were running out of time.

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"You want us to go back?!"

Coraline and Wybie looked at the Other Wybie with dropped jaws, especially at the message he wrote of his trusty mini chalkboard. Cora was off somewhere and Wyb thought this was a great chance to propose his idea. He didn't predict their Other's reactions though.

"N-not that I don't think we should help out but heh, I dunno if this is the way to go Wyb."

Wyb glared at his Other before wiping off his previous message and writing a new one.

How DO you propose we do it?

"Isn't there some way we can do it from here?" Coraline inquired.

Wyb tilted his head at Coraline with a raised eyebrow. The human girl sighed as she took a seat across Wyb, "that's right, magic doesn't work here." Wybie groaned lightly as he sat down.

"But how can we defeat her? Is there a way to do it?"

"There is."

The three of them looked over to find a serious Cora standing in the kitchen doorway; a surprised look on all their faces. The button clipped girl began to walk over, "according to my books, as well as a reliable source, that if we destroy the Beldam's eyes, they we destroy her, seeing as how it is her life source and where she gets her magic." Coraline looked at her curiously, "reliable source?"

"Mrrow."

All of them looked down to find Cat sitting next to Wybie's leg, his head held high with such pride. Cora chuckled, "superior creatures…" she said in a sing song tone that made her twin growl. Cat made his way under the table towards Cora, who picked him up and placed him upon her lap.

"But Cora, are you ready for this? Can you handle it?"

Wyb took Cora's hand in his under the table before she spoke up. "This is the only way to save all of us, if we don't she'll keep taking children and attacking us in any way she can," she gulped down her fear, "she'll never stop, not unless we stop her now."

"Aren't you scared?" Wybie asked.

Cora looked up at the people in the room with an unsure face. She gulped once again. The Other Coraline was about to let something come out that she never admitted out loud before; something she never even admitted to Wyb.

"I'm terrified."

That hit Coraline hard. Cora was such a strong girl. She always took everything with stride and showed bravery when she had to. The fact that Cora was scared and was still willing to go into the belly of the beast, well, Coraline had new found admiration for her look alike.

"I won't ask you to go with me, but I don't want you to stop me either-"

"What are you talking about?" Wybie asked.

"Of course we're going with you!" Coraline added.

Cora jolted up in her seat in surprise at the two's declaration. "We're in this together Cora, not matter what," Coraline stated as she looked at her best friend. "Yeah! We're gonna finish this!" Wybie said with determination. The squeeze of her hand made Cora turn to look at her smiling boyfriend, a smile that made her know he wasn't going to back out of this either. Cora's surprised face turned tender and living with a smile that could melt the coldest heart.

"Thank you."

The four of them talked about their plan for a little bit longer before they collected the things they needed. Cora handed each of them some unique looking items, one of which was a stone that looked similar to the one Coraline used to defeat the Beldam the first time. Once they were ready, they waited for Coraline's parents to fall asleep; they used the excuse that they were having a slumber party in the family room. When they heard her father's deep snoring coming through the ceiling, they made their way to the little door.

Coraline let out a deep breathe, "let's do this."

Cora opened the door.

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End of Chapter 12

Hi guys! So sorry I haven't updated in awhile; finals took up my time and for some reason I took summer classes too *faints*. In any case I'm done, I've been re-inspired and I'm ready to go! Next chapter is in the works ladies and gents. Please comment! See ya!