Chapter 6: Are You Ready? (For a Bit of an Explanation)
"Tao, you're going to make yourself sick worrying so much about him." Ivan pointed out as the swan once again started to pace around the street.
"What else can I do? We have to wait for Heracles and Kiku to get back with Katyusha! Oliver is in trouble, and probably scared. I can't just sit around and wait until someone else saves him."
"Then we can go look for him together."
"What?"
"We can both fly, da? Why not try and find either Magnus or Jacque in the crowd? They can lead us to Oliver."
"You're a genius, aru!" Tao got so excited that she hugged Ivan, who blushed a bright red. She didn't notice and took off of the ground, Ivan following after her. Taking to the sky, the two birds looked across the crowds that littered the grounds of the main street. Tao could see everyone of her friends, most of them riding amongst the countless floats. One float caught her attention, however. A tall Russian man was staring deeply into the eyes of Natalia, who was giggling madly, a preacher behind them. It seemed like they were being married.
"That's Magnus!" Ivan snarled.
"Really? I thought he was Danish, aru."
"He stole my appearance."
"Then let's go and make him miserable." Tao grinned and dove for the float, pecking at a decoration to rip it off of the float.
"What the hell!?" Magnus screamed as Ivan tore at his sleeve, his eyes widening as he saw who it was attacking him. Natalia screamed as he shoved her over to escape the angry swan, flailing as he tripped over another decoration. Alice, Amelia, and Arthur had taken notice of their plight, and stopped the parade, running towards the marriage ceremony to try and help.
As Alice began to shout a spell, Tao screamed at the top of her lungs. "Alice! It's us, don't shoot!" The old mage froze in confusion.
"Tao?"
"Yes, we've been put under a spell. That isn't Ivan! Ivan is the other swan." Speaking of Ivan, it seemed Magnus had taken a hold of him, plucking out his feathers. Tao squawked and bolted towards him, slamming into his side, and knocking Ivan free of his grasp. Magnus turned to try and grab her this time, but was stopped as a large black jaguar snarled at him in warning. He whimpered and backed away and into a brown coated leopard. Katyusha crossed her arms in a condescending manner, smirking as the two shapeshifters circled the fake prince.
"Now, I must say, you are a very bad person. First, you made me leave my house. Then, you use a poor kid's energy to make you famous. And now, you're the fifth person in this town that I know that doesn't have a match! Do you know how infuriating it is when this entire town is perfectly paired off together on their own? It is the most truly lovey-dovey town in existence! And then you had to go and ruin it along with those other girls."
"What is she going on about?" Tao asked Kiku.
"She's been amazed by how many people have true love in this town, she was in shock most of the trip." He muttered. Tao nodded, not quite understanding, but not really caring either. Alice and the others had long since surrounded them during Katyusha's speech.
"I should do you all a favor!" Katyusha pointed a finger at Magnus and his fake shape was warped into that of a lizard. "There! Now you can find true love and break your own spell and not be so infuriating! I swear, I wouldn't marry you even if I was paid!" Placing a group of some more reptiles down, one with eyes that looked mysteriously like Olivia's, she shooed them off.
"Did she just-" Arthur sputtered.
"I think she did." Amelia acknowledged.
Tao smiled as the reptiles slinked off before she remembered why they were really here. Looking around frantically, she started to fret. "Where is Oliver?"
"Oliver is gone?" Alice asked.
"Jacque kidnapped him-"
"His brother?"
"Yes, aru, but he's the one that turned Ivan into a swan and therefore turned me into a swan. He's been stealing Oliver's magic for years now!" Tao wanted to scream but kept calm. "We have to find him."
"Everyone fan out and look for Oliver!" Arthur yelled to the crowd. Tao noted most of the town followed the instructions. Arthur, Amelia, and Alice stayed. He turned to the two birds. "Do you know where Jacque might be keeping him?"
"He'll be with him." Katyusha stated. "Oliver's his battery, he can't be too far away for him to work his magic, especially after breaking the wards I placed around my house. It would take too much of his reserves to do anything else without an instant source."
"You're quite right." Jacque's voice stated from behind them. The group turned around to see the man approach from inside one of the floats. His skeleton mask was still present, and his eyes glowed dangerously from inside the dead sockets. "Those wards were a very formidable opponent."
"Jacque, where is Oliver?" Tao growled.
"Don't worry, he isn't far, and he's safe as he can be. Especially now that the woman who was planning on getting rid of him is out of his life."
"W-what?"
"Katyusha isn't the only one that can read the hearts and minds of lesser beings." Jacque looked at Tao evenly. "Oliver was so destroyed when he found out that your dream was so much more important than his… I think you broke him."
"No… I didn't mean…" Tao couldn't finish her statement, eyes glistening.
"You single-handedly made it so that I could win this fight. A broken battery, makes me all the more powerful." Jacque smirked, his hands slowly filling with dark energy. Alice dove into action first, her cane whipping out to lash out with a surge of energy. Jacque swept it away with a wave of his hand. "You'll have to do much better than that." He whipped out his own spell, knocking Arthur into a wall, distracting Amelia, who had just been about to cast her own spell.
"Arthur!" She cried out, not noticing the next wave of darkness until she followed her husband into the wall. Alice growled at the treatment of her family and dove towards Jacque. Katyusha followed suit, Kiku and Heracles bounding at her sides.
"Tao." Ivan whispered, nudging Tao. "We need to find Oliver."
"Y-yeah." The Chinese girl nodded and they went off to go search for the small boy, letting the others fight the battle of spells.
"Oliver?" Tao whispered as they walked around the floats. Jacque had appeared from inside one of them, and it seemed like the best place to check out. The darkened shadows became more and more ominous as they searched. There was silence as they walked, only a small whimper of pain piercing the lack of noise. Tao froze as she recognized the whimper. "Oliver!" She cried out as she saw a small foot sticking out from a corner, scratched and bony. Rushing over, she could see just how bad he had become. Whatever Jacque was doing to him, it was draining him. His normally skinny body was shrunken, his frame looking brittle and bruised. Tao fell to her small knees in horror as she saw what had become of her charge.
"Oh, Oliver… I'm so sorry."
"You really should be." A cold voice stated. Tao's head snapped up to see Jacque standing in front of them. But how? He couldn't have defeated the others so quickly could he? He must have been able to see her thoughts as he laughed. "Those fools are merely fighting one of my shadow selves. Thanks to Ollie here, I have many more to choose from whenever I want. Isn't that right, buddy?" He sneered as he kicked Oliver in the stomach.
"Oliver!" Tao and Ivan cried out, hurrying to his side, but ultimately being stopped by a wall of dark magic.
"You two aren't going anywhere. You both've caused me too much trouble to be spared. I will make your ending's painful." Jacque snarled as he reached out, a shadowy hand starting towards them. Tao ducked away in time to not be snatched, but Ivan wasn't so lucky. The swan flailed as the hand brought him back to Jacque. The man cackled as he began to pluck out Ivan's feathers, the Russian Prince honking out cries of pain. Tao ran to attack Jacque, when she saw the orb swinging across his frame. It was glowing with the same energy as the chains that held Oliver down.
"Ivan, aru! His necklace!" Tao shouted. Jacque reacted too late as Ivan swung his wing down, forcing the necklace to fall to the ground, where Tao snatched it in her beak. Cracking it as she applied pressure, she saw Jacque gasp in pain, and the shackles that bound Oliver flicker.
"Tao… Tao…" Jacque tried to become a more friendly person. "Certainly we can come up with some sort of deal…"
"I don't make deals with those who hurt my son!" The words escaped her before she could stop herself. She snapped down on the orb, shattering it. The world seemed to go silent as the spell was broken. The chains snapped, and Jacque threw Ivan across the room, grabbing the shattered pieces of the orb in his hands.
"No… no!" Jacque screamed.
A small voice chuckled from the other corner of the room. "Are you ready?" Tao looked to see Oliver standing up, his normally glowing pink eyes swirling a dark maroon. "Are you ready?" The words were flat and didn't seem his own.
"Oliver? Sweetie?" Tao tried.
"Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum…" Oliver started to hum a tune as he reached towards Jacque, the skeleton mask melting away. The sky swirled with dark green clouds, lightning flashing in the sky. Some of the people, now returning from their parts of the search for Oliver screamed as the ground began to shake. Katyusha, Kiku, Heracles, Amelia, Arthur (both of whom were limping and leaning on each other for support), and Alice ran towards them.
"What is that?" Arthur asked in a slurred manner as a vortex began to appear in the sky, blowing debris amongst the wind, and whipping at their clothes.
Katyusha gasped. "Oliver… he's lost control. All of the magic that Jacque has been stealing for years is flooding back, and he can't control all of it. He's going to kill himself and everyone else in the town if we don't stop him." She stepped forward, only to be stopped as Tao put a wing out in front of her legs.
"I will do it, aru."
"But-"
"I got us into this mess, and I let Jacque hurt him."
"You didn't know, it wasn't your fault-" Tao looked at Ivan sadly. Giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"I'll be back." She stated before flying into the center of the storm towards Oliver and Jacque.
Oliver's world swirled in a mass of colors and shapes, each changing as easy as the wind. His aching body was of no concern, and he couldn't seem to remember how he had gotten there. Or how all of this power had come to being in his control. The world seemed to be at his fingertips, one lazy stroke of a finger and he could change matter and time. He stared listlessly as his brother tried to reason with him.
"Now come on Ollie, I am your brother and it would be wrong to kill me."
"Are you ready?" Was all Oliver could manage, his voice weak from prior screaming. He couldn't remember why, but he knew he had been screaming. A world of pain awaited him, and he flinched and whined at the thought, unknowingly creating an earthquake.
"Oliver!" A shout in the distance came and the world of colors and shapes froze. The memory of a kind faced lady came to mind, and he hummed at the thought, tilting his head to stare as a bird flew towards him. It was white and fluffy. Oh, how he wanted to see how soft the pretty feathers were. In an instant, the bird was in his arms, he didn't remember grabbing for the animal, but it didn't matter. Petting it, he listened as it spoke again (Ha! Birds can talk!). "Oliver, can you understand me?"
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Oliver, please, it's me… Tao."
"Are you ready?"
"Don't you remember, all those days we went to the diner and had juice and ice cream? Or when you would draw pictures and we would take them to everyone? Or that time that you accidently called Natalia's father a really bad word that you learned from Arthur? Please, Oliver, you have to remember!" The bird looked so sad. Oliver pet its head dutifully. Nobody should have to be sad. Not even big white birdies with nice voices.
"Are you ready?"
"Oliver… please…." The bird choked up her next words. "You called me your mother before… do you remember that? Remember the restaurant that you wanted to help me build?" The bird stopped at those words, carefully thinking about what to say next. "Sweetie, I made you a promise a really long time ago. I told you that I would always take care of you because you made me feel like I could be a mother without having all of the responsibility. I was so selfish in my thinking, and I'm so sorry. Please. Oliver. Come back to me. I want to read you bedtime stories again, tuck you in at night. It could just be us against the world if that is what it takes to make you happy. That's what I need. I need love. The type that I get when I take care of you, and see through your eyes."
Oliver looked at the birdie. "Sad?" He asked.
"Y-yes Oliver, I am sad. But I'm mostly scared."
"Why. Scared?"
"I'm scared that my son won't come back to me." She cried.
"Son?" Oliver asked. A small memory trickled at the back of his mind, though the sea of magic around him tried to fight it off, wanting the chaos he provided as a conduit to rein on the earth. "Story time?"
Tao, that was the birdie's name after all, snapped her head up. "Story time? You want a story? Is that it? Oliver, you can do this, I'll read you as many stories as you want."
"Story. Happy. Ending. Scared. Mommy. Want. Hurts." He whined, rocking back in forth as the magic started to build up pressure within him.
"Shh… I'll make it better, aru. Just make the storm die down and we can find help, okay?"
"Hurts. Tired. Sleepy. Bedtime. Story?" He looked at her with wide eyes filled with pain. Tao sobbed.
"Okay… I can tell you a bedtime story while you rest." Oliver gave a pained smile and lied down, clutching onto Tao. His word went white before she even started to say the words 'Once upon a time'.
"Tao!" Katyusha called out as she, Kiku, and Heracles fought through the storm, only for it to vanish within a few seconds. In the distance they saw a swan, alone amongst the rubble. The group ran forward, noting the silence of the town. It was like nobody was there anymore. Tao was sitting next to a story book, crying over it as she flipped through the pages. "Tao, what happened?"
"Oliver disappeared. I don't know where, but the book-"
"Let me see." Katyusha snatched it away and began to turn the pages, frowning as she went. "Do you make a habit of using people from town's names as your characters?"
"What do you mean? I use the traditional names like Cinderella and Rose." Tao stated.
"Oh dear." Katyusha dropped the book in shock as the page flipped open to the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or at least the version that Tao used. "I fear something terrible has happened."
"What?"
"Oliver's sucked every one of the townspeople into the book."
"What do you mean?"
"Look around, everyone else is missing, except us four." She was right. There wasn't a single person in sight.
"So what do we do?"
"Let me try something." Katyusha waved her hands over the last story, frowning as she did so before snatching her hand back like she had been burned. "Well, I think I just made it worse."
"What?"
"I tried to change the story around, add myself in to tell Oliver to snap out of it, he's the only one that can break the spell."
"And?"
"I just became the villain."
"Then how can we let Oliver know?"
Kiku thought for a moment before speaking. "Why doesn't Tao-san try? These are her stories, and we can all help. Heracles-chan and I are shapeshifters by nature, we can fill the roles of the story that aren't specified and try and find Oliver-chan with Tao-san's help. She can read the story and tell us where to go next."
"But how will I get the messages to you?"
"You are the author, leave us clues, and we will follow."
"That might work." Katyusha said. "But you'd have to go in, not just have a part go into the story. Are you willing to take that risk?"
"For Oliver, sure." Heracles shrugged. "The kitten deserves so much more than this."
"Hai." Kiku agreed.
"Then I guess we'd better get to work."
End of Story 8
