A/N: I'm so sorry
Gideon Gold
I didn't want to get out of bed that morning, I'm still hung up on what happened to Roderick, but I remembered my promise to him. I promised him that I would stop Fiona, and if going to this ball meant stopping Fiona.. that was enough for me.
We got in easier than any of us had expected, thanks to Charlie.
"Hi, Peter Howells should've written and changed his invitation to Charlotte Flynn?"
The guy checking everyone off the list groaned, seeming to be annoyed with having to search for her name. He looked oddly familiar, to me at least, but I couldn't figure out why.
"Ah yes, here you are."
"Great," Charlie beams at him and puts her hand on Neal's arm. "This is my date, Wren, along with my cousin Margot and her date James. I hope you don't mind that I brought so many people."
The guy smiled painfully before taking a look at all of us, the smiling turning into a different emotion, an emotion that made my stomach uneasy. "Not at all... go on in."
The look from the guy immediately left my brain as we entered the ball. I didn't think I would ever be the type to be fawning over the gorgeousness of a castle, but here we are.
The inside was just as beautiful as the inside, but I couldn't make out much of it as people were dancing everywhere. I did notice the staircase in the middle of the room, there are two different stairways that meet up to create one. There's a ribbon that is twisting and turning all down the railing.
There's a piano in the corner of the room with a pianist behind it, powerfully playing music that is echoing all throughout the ballroom.
I notice Robin, who was still attached to my arm, is looking at everything in awe as well. Fiona's castle never looked like this. Her's was always dark and dusty, she would've never even have thought about having a party.
Then again, who would come besides everyone she holds captive? Everyone else is afraid of her.
I look back in front of me after I've finished looking all around the room, seeing Neal extending his hand. I take it he's asking Charlie to dance.
I can tell he likes her, I saw how he was looking at her back at the cottage a few hours before. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about her yet, though.
Charlie and Neal walk over to the group of people dancing, and then Robin comes into my view. "I don't think you want to dance, do you?" She asks me, already knowing that I don't particularly want to.
"I'm not opposed to the idea, but no."
"I don't want to either. Is that.. cake?"
I turn my head to look in the direction that Robin is now facing, only to come across a table I hadn't noticed before. The table is filled with all sorts of sweets, small sandwiches, fruit and vegetables, and other things I couldn't make out from the distance I am.
Before I get a chance to answer, Robin is already halfway to the food table. I hurried after her, not realizing how hungry I was until now.
There are so many options to choose from at the table, and I ended up grabbing the sandwiches, stuffing my face with them while Robin eats a square chocolate cake looking thing.
"I don't think I've ever had a sandwich so good," I say with my mouth full and Robin wipes the crumbs that were on her lips off with a napkin.
"And that was the.." Robin trails off, not sure what to call the thing she just ate. We never had anything like that before.
"Well, it was the first I had of whatever that was."
"Let me try one," I say and pick one up, taking a bite of it, feeling as if I'm melting from the taste.
"I need the recipe for this.. Like now."
"Maybe Charlie knows how to make them."
As if she overheard us, I hear Charlie laugh in the distance. I look over in the direction of the laugh and see that she's still dancing with Neal.
After a few more sandwiches, the soft music stops, and something a bit louder begins to play. This song must be pretty important because everyone rushed to the center of the ballroom. Robin and I both join the group of people to see what is going on, pushing our way through people to get to Neal and Charlie who are at the front.
That's when I see two elderly people, both wearing crowns. I assume that's the king and queen. Everyone in the room bows at them and I awkwardly bend over, not having any experience with bowing, ever. Is there a certain way to do it?
Then, when we all straighten back up, I see two people walking on the stairs. Both of them coming down different sides. On the left, there's a guy. He's wearing a black suit, a matching black mask, and his black hair is tied up in a man bun. On the right, there's a girl who's wearing a long, flowy blue dress, a beautiful mask that was more of a design than a certain color. Unlike the boy, her black hair is down at shoulder length. The two meet at the top of the staircase and begin walking down towards the crowd, everyone watching them closely.
I'm assuming these are the Whittaker twins.
The two greet their parents and the father does a hand gesture. I can recognize it as magic, but not what spell it is.
The king silences the pianist and his voice suddenly starts echoing throughout the ballroom. "Welcome! To the annual Whittaker ball!"
I glance over at Princess Mariah and Prince Gustin, noticing the two of them standing there awkwardly. I can tell neither of them doesn't want to be here. I'm not fond of being here either, and it must be even worse having the attention on you.
"Now! For the annual birthday dance!" The what?
Mariah and Gustin make their way towards the crowd, Gustin taking the hand of some girl and Mariah making her way over to our group.
I thought she was about to ask Neal, or maybe Robin, but she stands in front of me.
"Do you want to dance?" She asked casually.
"Er- Sure," I reply awkwardly.
Robin raises an eyebrow at me while I take Mariah's hand, and she leads me over to the floor.
Mariah faces me and grabs my hands, starting the dance when the music starts. I don't know what to do. I've never danced before, let alone with a girl. Mariah clearly notices this and gives me a small smile.
"You've never danced before, have you?" She asks me, having a very thick English accent that I wasn't expecting to hear. Her dad didn't seem to have an accent.
"Not with a girl, no.." I say to make myself seem less lame, but then realize that I outed myself, and just admitting that I can't dance probably would've been better.
Her smile doesn't fall like I had been expecting, though. "Ah, I see. It's rather easy, just follow my lead."
Mariah steps backward and I step forward. It didn't help how I could feel everyone watching us, which is something I didn't want.
"Don't worry, you're not the first person I've met at one of these balls that doesn't know how to waltz," Mariah states to reassure me.
I realize how this is my chance to propose the deal that the four of us had come here to make. "Well, I didn't exactly come here to waltz," I spun her around as I talked.
"Was it for the food?"
"No.." I glance at Neal, who nods at me, giving me permission to talk to her (as if he read my mind) about the situation. Not that he needed to do that, of course, but I needed to be sure the timing was appropriate.
"No, not that either."
Mariah doesn't answer, instead, she just gives me a curious look, waiting for me to continue.
"I'm sure you've heard of the black fairy," I say, rather quietly but still loud enough for Mariah to hear.
Mariah must be pretty smart because it dawned on her instantly. "You're one of the runaways, aren't you."
My face paled. What if she turns me, Neal, and Robin in now? "How- You know about me?"
"Everyone in the land knows about you. Don't worry, I'm not going to take you back to her. I applaud you for being able to escape, actually. Just.. don't let my parents find out. They'd just send you right back to her."
I wish I can understand why they would want to. They don't seem like they necessarily need the prize money.
I glance around and look at the other twin. "What about your brother?"
"He could give less of a flying fuck about it, honestly." She says, which causes me to giggle.
As the song comes to an end, Gustin departs from the girl he was dancing with, and the group dissolves back into their own world, but Mariah continues to stand in front of me. I see Robin and Neal making their way up to us out of the corner of my eye.
"So, why exactly did you come here? It's a big risk, you being here." Mariah looks over at Neal and Robin as they approach. "All three of you," She states but seems kind of surprised about all of us being here.
"We were wondering if you and your brother could help us, be fully free from her. Since you have magic and a royal status," Neal implies.
Mariah thinks about it for a second. "I'm not sure how exactly you guys want me to help you but.. I will. I can't speak for Gustin, but I'm sure he will."
All three of us grin at her. "Thank you, really," Robin says and Mariah shrugs a little. "I don't like her either.. Let's talk more about this later. My parents are going to want me to talk to all the princes. They want me to get married," She says grimly before walking off.
Neal and I high five.
"She asked me to dance with her," I grin at him. I wasn't grinning because it was her that asked me to dance (because I don't like girls), I'm grinning because someone actually asked me to.
Neal grins back at me. "I know, I saw."
Charlie basically skips up to us. "So? How did it go?"
"It went great. She agreed to help us," Robin tells her, and Charlie cheers, earning a few annoyed stares from people. Neal sent them all a death glare.
"Wait, Charlie Charlie Charlie," I say as I remember the chocolate cakes. I grab her arm and lead her over to the food table. "Do you know how to make these?" I ask and point at them.
"Brownies?"
"Yes! Do you know how to make brownies?"
"Yeah, of course," Charlie nods. "Do you want me to make you some sometime?"
"Please. Robin too," I say.
I look over and see Robin and Neal swiftly walking up to the two of us. Speak of the devil.
They both looked panicked, neither of them seeming to be able to speak.
"What's wrong?" I ask them, looking puzzled.
"We have a problem," Neal manages to say and puts to the entrance of the ballroom.
I look over, seeing Carmen, Dennis, and Gerard walk in.
That's when It dawned on me. The guy with the list earlier.. was Gerard.
Well shit, now we're in trouble.
Neal Nolan
"Wait- If the goonies are here, then that means-" Gideon gets cut off by gasps and cries from the crowd. None of us needed to look and see who it was. We can feel her presence.
How does she know we're here? Is the only thought that is running through my mind.
"We need to go, now," Robin commands, and we start running the opposite way from the door.
We have no clue where we're going. We don't know this castle, but that's when I notice Mariah looking right at us, pointing behind the staircase.
She's helping us.
Luckily, the goonies and Fiona are on the other side of the ballroom, so we have an advantage.
"This way," I tell the group and grab Charlie's hand, as she's the closest one towards me. I make my way behind the staircase, Charlie, Gideon, and Robin following right on my heel.
That's when I was greeted by double doors. I looked back over at the crowd to see if we had been spotted. We hadn't. Good. I swing open the doors and hold one open so the others can run through, following behind them. It led to a hallway with a door at the end. We all silently agree that we should go through them and bolt in that direction.
We all fought our way through the doors that led to the outside world. We're back in front of the castle.
"Neal- Our weapons!" Robin remembers and starts running to the weapon basket. I'm not doing this without my sword. There's no way.
We get there and Robin pulls out her bow and arrow and I grab my sword. I was about to attach it to my belt when she stopped me.
"Wait- Give your sword to Charlie."
She did not justask me to give up my sword.
"You can have my bow. Charlie needs a weapon, and you only trained her with your sword."
Robin's right. She has magic, but Charlie doesn't have anything. I walk over to Charlie and hand her my sword. "Use this."
She takes it from me. "Thanks."
I nod while Gideon eyes me weird. Weird as in 'why did you just give up your sword?'
Robin hands me her bow before throwing her mask on the ground. "Can't see," She mumbles and we all repeat that action. We all agree that we should go back to Charlie's uncles, so we run into the forest, passing Fiona's carriage that had a portable cell attached to it. That only confirmed what we had all already been thinking.
We ran through the forest, hearing the sound of horses. Fiona must've realized quickly that we weren't in the ballroom.
We have to get to Uncle Peter's and we have to get there fast.
Just then, Robin's foot gets caught and falls. as if a spell had made the root grow. All hope of us out running Fiona's carriage is lost as we all realize that Fiona can see us better than we can see her. Robin tries to get up but she cries out in pain.
I rushed to her side and helped her up, Gideon as well and Charlie examines her.
"What hurts?" Charlie asks her.
"My ankle. I think I sprained it."
That's when I made a choice, one I know that Robin would be against, but I didn't care. I look over at Gideon, sending him a silent signal to him saying what I wanted to do. He catches on and nods.
Silent communication is something Gideon and I picked up while being with Fiona, as we had to silently communicate most of the time.
"Charlie, take Robin and get the hell out of here."
"What? No! I'm not leaving you two!" Robin protests and I just shake my head.
"You can't fight with a sprained ankle!"
"Robin, please," Gideon pleads.
I can see Charlie looking at me with concern. She doesn't want to leave either, but she knows she has to.
"They're right, Robin," Charlie says quietly to her and Robin sighs in defeat.
"Alright.. but if anything happens to the two of y-"
I cut her off. "Nothing is going to happen to the two of us."
Robin looks skeptical but allows Charlie to wrap her arm around her waist. Charlie hands the sword back to me, but I shake my head, wanting her to keep it in case she needs to use it. Plus, I still have Robin's bow.
"Thank you," I say to Charlie before looking at both of the girls. "Now go!"
Charlie didn't think twice and started heading as quickly as she could to her uncle's cottage. Gideon and I begin to run in the direction we were already running, hoping to distract Fiona from the two of them.
Because if Fiona is taking anyone tonight, I would rather it be me than them, especially not Charlie. I don't want Charlie to ever have to go through what I endured with Fiona.
As we run, I hear the sound of people running towards us.
Oh god, not the goonies.
"There's like 15 of them!" Gideon exclaims, who had turned back to look at them.
I stop, knowing that Gideon and I won't be able to get out of this without a fight. "That's okay. We can take them."
"Maybe YOU can, but I-"
"Gideon now is not the time to belittle yourself!"
Gideon shuts up and gets ready to blast the group of them, and I point an arrow at them. I distinctly look at Dennis, who just smirks at me. With a flick of his wrist, the bow flies out of my grasp.
Huh?!
Gideon's jaw dropped before getting thrown back by.. Mark. Mark is here, and he and Dennis both have magic.
"See how it feels now, Gold?!" He shouts and Gideon groans from the ground.
The group of goonies all form a circle around us.
"Where's Robin?" Carmen asks and I shrug. "Don't know."
"You do know, and what about that redhead? What's her name.. Carlie?" Dennis asks.
My fists ball up. "What do you know of her?!" I yell, which causes Dennis to smirk.
"Maybe you should ask her the next time you see her- or should I say.. if you see her."
I hear Gideon get up from behind me, mumbling the spell which knocked some of the goonies to the side, breaking the circle we were in.
I didn't bother to find Robin's bow, she wouldn't be mad given the circumstances. Gideon and I race by the circle, but not all the goonies had gotten hit by Gideon's spell.
"Stupefy!" I hear one of them yell, which causes my body to freeze. I couldn't move, not even my finger.
The spell didn't hit Gideon though, as he kept running, not noticing I wasn't beside him. And I intend to keep it that way. If I call out to him, he'll come back for me, and I want him to be able to escape this. I'm not letting him go back to that witch.
The goonies walk up to me, grabbing my hands and tying them behind my back, a few of them running after Gideon.
I hear Fiona's voice yelling at all the goonies to retreat before they dragged me to that portable cell, throwing me into it.
Gideon Gold
I hadn't even noticed Neal wasn't next to me anymore until it was too late. I had been able to outrun the goonies, but in doing so, I got lost. I have no idea where Robin and Neal are.
I start running more, my legs wanting to give out. That's when I came across Charlie and Robin. I stopped in front of them, panting and feeling as if I'm about to collapse.
"Where's Neal?" Charlie panicked.
"They got him," I say, starting to tear up.
"How the hell did they get him?!" Charlie yells.
"I don't know! They all had magic!" I argue and I can notice how Robin is also starting to tear up, but she limps in between the two of us.
"Okay, guys, guys. Neal's though. He'll be able to hold on long enough for us to get to him. Do you have any clue where they went, Gideon?"
I shake my head. "I can't even remember where I ran here from."
Robin looks as if she's about to panic now. "Okay.. okay. It's fine. What's a spell that can help with that?"
"A locator spell," I state and Robin grabs the sword from Charlie. "Would this work as the object?"
I nod and Robin sets the sword down on the ground. I say the incantation to the spell and the sword floats up into the air, starting to fly in the direction that Neal is.
"Magic is so cool," I hear Charlie say, who has wrapped her arm around Robin again, I do the same and start following the sword.
We were able to catch back up with Fiona's carriage, having to hide from a few goonies in the process. The horses that were leading the carriage weren't running anymore like they were earlier. The three of us keep our distance and follow the carriage. We spot Neal in the cell, but he doesn't notice us.
I feel horrible for leaving him there, but I'm going to save him. He's going to be okay.
But at that moment, I hadn't realized that Neal wasn't the only one that I needed to protect from Fiona.
The carriage made an abrupt stop, and Robin wiggled her way out of Charlie and I's grasp, charging at the carriage the best she could with her sprained ankle.
"Robin!" I hissed, but she didn't hear me. We still weren't that close to Fiona, but I could see her figure in the distance. I knew she could see Robin coming for her, but she didn't move, instead, she threw something that I couldn't make out until I saw Robin starting to fall into a pit of green.
Oh my god, Fiona has a magic bean!
Charlie and I run as quick as we can and grab Robin's hands, to keep her from falling in all the way.
"Pull her up!" I yelled at Charlie, as I wasn't successfully able to do so.
"I'm.. trying.." Charlie groans loudly.
"Guys, It's pulling me in!" Robin yells loudly, and I can see Fiona starting to walk towards us.
"Fiona's coming! Hurry up!"
When I look back down at Robin, I can see her looking at me sadly. "Gideon, I'm going to fall through one way or another. Let go, please.. Get away from her."
"I'm not letting go of you!"
"You have to! It's pulling me in, I'm going down either way."
Tears form up in my eyes. I know she's right, but I didn't want any of what would happen to happen. I didn't want any of this to happen.
Charlie had already let go of Robin's hand. I knew I should let her go too, but I didn't want to yet.
"Gideon! Let me go!" Robin commands.
I look down at her with tears running down my face. "I'll find you!" I say...
And I let her go. I heard her screaming as she fell far down into the portal, and I was about to jump in after her, but the portal closed.
I panicked on the inside as I saw Fiona getting closer.
I didn't care what happened to me anymore, but I know Neal would break out of his cell (And Robin would magically come back from wherever she is now) to kill me if I let Fiona get to Charlie.
Though, if that brought them back, then..
I pushed that thought out of my mind and quickly thought of spells.
"Gideon!" I hear, not even sure if it's Fiona or Charlie.
I then remember the spell that I was trying to think of. I put my hand on Charlie's shoulder.
"Forgive me," I whisper, but not exactly directed to Charlie, but also to Neal and Robin.
"Wha-"
"Lanuae Mmagicae patrui petrus est scriptor," I say, hearing Fiona yell "NO!" as we teleport back to Charlie's uncles.
I fell on the porch there, my knees basically giving out. Charlie looked as if she was about to throw up.
I just sit there, my brain still not fully processing everything that has just happened. Tears stream down my face as I realize why this all happened..
"This is my price."
A/N: I am SO sorry for ending it like that.. but it had to be done. thank you to everyone who kept reading this book.. and there will be a sequel (obviously- I'm not just gonna let robin and neal go like that), and it should be out sometime at the end of January, whenever I finish writing my julie and the phantoms fanfic (which you should read if you like jatp and si-fi). since it'll be a bit until the next book, I'll give you guys a hint as to what's to come..
a new character (who is from the once upon a time series) and new villains who are not fiona or the goonies!
be sure to be checking my tumblr euphoricsx for updates on book 2!
also sorry that its super sloppy towards the end, i got tired as i had been writing for three hours