Chapter 32

Aurora had Phillip and Merida under her deceptive spell. They clashed their blades, not knowing they were fighting each other, but instead thinking they were avenging each other's death. Aurora's spell caused each of them to see a wicked swordsman where the other was.

Phillip and Merida fight viciously, furious in the misconception that the other was dead. Aurora was very pleased with herself, watching them fall for her trick.

Merida growled, "He didn't deserve that! I'll kill you!" But Phillip didn't hear her. Aurora had something different for him to hear.

As Aurora spoke, she had Phillip see and hear the swordsman saying what she was saying. Phillip heard the swordsman say, "Better for her to die than for her to be with you."

"Silence!" Phillip demanded, swinging hard at Merida.

Merida blocked his attack and when their blades were locked, Phillip heard the swordsman say, "I can't imagine what you would have done to Merida if it weren't for me. You certainly had no mercy for the last seventeen-year-old girl you claimed to love."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Phillip growled.

Phillip pushed Merida a few feet away. He swung again at her and when he missed, Merida thought she had an opening for a counterattack. She tried to exploit it, but Phillip blocked with his shield. The next five times Phillip swung at her, she blocked, but he was slashing with so much force, Merida was barely able to keep a grip of her sword. Between Phillip's superior defenses and overwhelming strength, Merida knew she couldn't brute force her way to victory.

After deflecting a strike from Phillip, Merida grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. Phillip wasn't hurt much by the fall, but Merida had bought herself time to switch to her bow and arrows. Phillip quickly got to his feet and started blocking the arrows she was shooting at him. Phillip was using his shield to protect his face; that was what Merida was counting on. While Phillip held his shield high, Merida shot an arrow into his leg.

Phillip grunted in pain, falling to one knee and still holding up his shield. While he was down on one knee, he was able to keep more of his body covered as more arrows came.

Phillip heard the swordsman say, "You claimed to love Aurora and you helped ruin her life. Aurora was young and vulnerable and you took advantage of that."

"I tried to help her!"

"Admit that you wanted Merida because she was young like Aurora was. Admit that you're a predator!"

In a rage, Phillip ripped the arrow out of his leg and ran at Merida, bashing her with his shield. Merida fell to the ground and dropped her bow. Phillip kicked her bow far out of her reach and swung down at her, but Merida rolled out of the way in time.

As he kept trying to strike his rolling opponent, Phillip shouted, "I was never a predator! I knew Aurora was too young for marriage and what marriage calls for! I was willing to wait!"

As Merida got up and drew her sword, Phillip heard the swordsman asked, "Did you wait to kiss her?"

"She was my betrothed!"

"Excuses, excuses. You're a predator, Phillip. Only predators kiss seventeen year olds at your age."

"SILENCE!" Phillip hated how much the taunting was working on him.

As they fought, Merida knew she'd have to be clever to survive. As their blades clashed repeatedly, Merida kept backing up. Eventually, Merida backed into a wall of house. Phillip plunged his sword forward and Merida dodged to the side just in time, causing Phillip to stab his sword into the wooden wall. Phillip could've pulled it out . . . if he had a second or two. Merida didn't have her bow in hand, but she still had a few arrows. She quickly pulled an arrow out of her quiver and stuck it into Phillip's side, causing him to back away without his sword. Phillip pulled the arrow out of his side, starting to get nervous. He would have to fight with nothing but his shield.

Merida attack viciously with her sword, but Phillip kept up his defenses. Phillip blocked a strike from Merida and then punched her with his free arm.

Merida figured she wasn't going to get her sword past that shield. So, surprisingly, she sheathed her weapon for the time. Phillip ran at her with his shield in front. Merida stood her ground, prepared and when Phillip arrived, she grabbed his shield, stepped to the side, and, when he passed by, she ripped the shield away from him. Merida tossed the shield aside and redrew her sword to attack on unarmed opponent.

Phillip had to keep moving as Merida slashed at him. A few times, Merida managed to land a shallow cut. Filled with rage, Merida plunged forward, stabbing into Phillip.

But she only sank her blade an inch into his flesh. That was because Phillip had caught the blade in his hands and halted its stab. Merida tried to push it further into his flesh, but he was strong enough to pull it out despite his hands being cut by the blade they were gripping. Phillip walked backwards and pulled the sword while Merida kept her grip. Phillip ran with the blade, taking Merida with him. Phillip stuck Merida's blade into a wall as she had with his. Then he punched her even harder than before, breaking her nose and getting some distance between her and her weapon. At that point, they were both unarmed.

Merida put her hands over her broken nose as if that would make it better. Phillip put up his fists as a challenge and waited for her to do the same. Merida took her hands away from her face, revealing the blood flowing out of her nose. Merida put up her fists, ready to keep fighting.

Phillip and Merida traded blows. Merida tried to be faster than him, but even that proved difficult. Phillip could keep up with her and he could hit harder than her. Sure Merida got a few good hits in here and there, but the longer they fought, the more often Phillip broke through her defenses and pummel her. In time, Merida couldn't fight back anymore. Phillip beat her relentlessly, striking hard over and over again. Phillip punched her in the face especially hard, cracking open a cut in her cheek and sending her to the ground. That didn't mean he was done with her. Phillip grabbed Merida's dress and pulled her up to keep hitting her over and over again. By the time he stopped, her face was a bloodied mess and was barely conscious. Phillip dropped her and quickly retrieved his sword.

Phillip returned to where he left Merida. She hadn't gone anywhere. Phillip said vengefully, "This is for Merida."

Phillip heard the swordsman say, "You were the death of Merida." It was a cruel joke from Aurora. She was getting giddy at the idea of dropping the illusion right after Phillip kills Merida.

Phillip raised his sword and something hit him near his eyes. Phillip was momentarily dazed before his vision cleared up and saw Merida beneath him, bloody and broken. "Merida?" Phillip asked horrified by her battered state, but also relieved to see she was still alive.

"Phillip?" Merida croaked.

"What happened?!"

"Aurora tricked you into fighting each other," Fauna explained, being the one who had broken the spell just in time.

Phillip was devastated by the realization. He was the one who had beaten Merida so badly. He backed away from Merida, dropping his sword. Phillip said in a panic, "Merida I . . . I'm didn't . . ."

"I know, I know," Merida said, not holding any grudge. "She hit me with the same thing." Merida began the process of standing up which proved to take a while.

"You shouldn't be surprised," said Aurora, trying to get in Phillip's head. "This is what he does to girls our age."

"YOU did this!" Merida spat, halfway to her feet.

"That's right," Fauna agreed, helping Merida the rest of the way up.

Phillip wasn't to blame for this, but it brought up some troubling concepts.

Merryweather stepped forward and said, "Fauna, get these two someplace safe. I'll . . . I'll handle Aurora." Even then, it was hard to say such things.

"You're not leaving!" Aurora screamed. She cast a spell which flew through the air until it was intercepted by another spell cast by Merryweather. The colliding spells exploded into harmless showering of fairy dust.

"Yes, they are," Merryweather corrected.

Merryweather and Aurora stared at each other as Fauna left with Phillip and Merida.

"I can wrap my head around your being angry with your parents. But what did Phillip ever do to deserve a thing like that?" Merryweather asked.

"You mean besides pretending to love?"

"You think he was pretending? He did everything he could for you."

"He did everything he could to control me!"

Merryweather shook her head. "Phillip didn't choose your status. He just tried to make the path easier."

"None of it matters anymore. He deserves to die for standing against the Enchantress."

"Oh, yes, how rude of him to fight a mad witch hell-bent on global anarchy," Merryweather said sarcastically. "We raised you better than to believe her nonsense!"

"Don't act like you raised me the way I needed to be raised!" Aurora hissed. "You left me completely unprepared for every day after my sixteenth birthday."

"I . . ." Merryweather swallowed her pride. "I admit we could've done better. We should have told you that you were a princess even if that wasn't what the king wanted. But that doesn't mean you can throw the baby out with bathwater. I can admit that we made mistakes. Now can you admit that you made a mistake, joining a mad woman who wants to end all government?"

Aurora didn't even think twice before saying, "My biggest mistake was not doing this sooner."

Merryweather huffed, starting to warm up to the idea of fighting Aurora. "Then I'm done trying to talk sense into you! Hand over that wand!"

"You'll have to take it from me."

"Don't be foolish. I have centuries more experience with magic and the wand you're using hasn't been the same since that poor Fairy Godmother died. May she rest in peace."

"I'll take my chances. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!" Aurora cast a spell that turned parts of the ground into knives that flew at Merryweather. With a twirl, Merryweather shrank to a small size and flew around the incoming knives. Merryweather cast a spell into a water lane, causing a flow of water to lift out of the lane and fly towards Aurora. Aurora saw it coming, but she didn't have the time or reflexes required to get out of the way. The water slammed into Aurora, absorbing her into the flying current. The water flow all over the place, crashing into walls and dragging against the ground. All the while Aurora took impact after impact while losing her grip on the air in her lunges. Merryweather conducted the flow with her wand, watching Aurora take her punishment. She couldn't help but see the girl she help raise even after the betrayal. Merryweather shed a tear, but she kept going, wiping the tear from her cheek with disdain. To finish it, the water poured directly onto the ground and spilled out in many directions. Aurora was left lying there, coughing up water and cradling her wounds. She pointed the wand and croaked, "Bibbidi Bo-"

Merryweather, at full size, grabbed the wand, frightening the defeated traitor. "That doesn't belong to you." Merryweather said before ripping the wand out of Aurora's hand.

Merryweather cast a spell that sent a ball of sparks that bounced around around Aurora, creating a metal bar with every bounce. When it was done, Aurora was trapped in a roofless jail cell. "No!" Aurora growled, pounding her fist against one of the bars. "You can't do this to me! I . . . I am your princess, remember."

Merryweather shook her head and turned away. She couldn't bear to stay and listen to Aurora, so she walked away while Aurora kept shouting at her to come back and let her out.

"That's my wand!" Aurora insisted. Though nothing could be further from the truth. "You know the world needs to be fixed. Why can't you see that the Enchantress is fixing it?!" But Merryweather kept walking, never looking back.

One of the cultists grabbed a woman by the arm and pulled her into a house against her will as she screamed. She struggled, knowing what the cultist had planned for her, but he was too strong and he had a dagger to threaten her with. The cultist was about to begin something horrible when, suddenly, a green whip wrapped around his neck and pulled him out of the house. Outside, he fell to the ground and the Enchantress put her foot on his chest.

The Enchantress yelled furiously, "I told you to harm only the royals."

The cultist chocked out the words, "What did you expect? This chaos is what you wanted, isn't it?"

The Enchantress was appalled by the cultist who dared imply that her intention was to cause such things. The Enchantress stomped on his head to knock him out. But the cultist's words still haunted her. The Enchantress took a good look at her surroundings. People were screaming in terror, there was looting and assault; this wasn't what she had envisioned. The Enchantress had thought that bringing the cultist to help kill the royals would be poetic justice she could rub in their faces. She had imagined herself gloating to Ariel about how her banishing them had come back to bite her. Ariel had denied them the freedom to practice their cult's traditions and it was the Enchantress wanted that to be her undoing. The Enchantress thought this would prove her morally superior by using the freedom she promised to the cultists. But what she saw told a different tale; a tale of a benevolent queen who had cast out evil ways to protect her kingdom and a misguided enchantress who brought terrible harm to a utopia. The Enchantress had been dreaming of a world without government or law. But this chaos, fear, and destruction was both not what she wanted and frighteningly a display of exactly what she wanted. Was this the world she had been fighting to create? Was this a taste of her freedom? The Enchantress trembling under the weight of it all. She couldn't stomach the idea that if she succeeded in removing government from the world, this would be the result.

The Enchantress saw in the distance, another cultist attacking a helpless family. The cultist plunged her dagger into the gut of the father of the family. The Enchantress was filled with rage. She planned to fly over to this cultist and make an example out of her. But then, someone beat her too it. The Enchantress saw Rapunzel bash the cultist out of consciousness. The Enchantress froze, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Rapunzel, a royal, seemed to care for the family of commoners she had never met before. This flew in the face of the Enchantress's opinions of people like Rapunzel. What was even more disproving was that Rapunzel then went out of her way to place her magic hair onto the father's wound and magically heal him. The Enchantress watched as Rapunzel caringly made sure everyone in the family was alright before they ran off in search if their home. The Enchantress could hardly breathe. This chaos was her doing. And the royals she had been trying to kill were protecting the innocent from that chaos.

The Enchantress thought, "Could I possibly be wrong? Have I been fighting for the wrong cause?"

"NO!" the Enchantress roared. She thought, "I am no villain! And to prove my benevolence, I shall correct my mistake by removing this infestation of cultists!" The Enchantress willed the suits of armor to do her biding as she screamed, "Kill the cultists! Kill them! KILL THEM ALL!"

The royals were confused to see the suits of armor attacking the cultists. So were the beasts apparently. But the beasts knew that they were only following commands from the Enchantress; commands that they didn't question and thus the beasts didn't interfere with the killing of the cultists and some of them even joined in, knowing it was the Enchantress's wishes. Though it wasn't clear to the beasts or the royals why this was happening, there were those on each side who correctly guessed her reason.

It wasn't long before every last cultist was dead. Between the suits of armor, some of the beasts, and the royals, the cultists didn't have a chance. And so ended the cult of the deep. Their destructive teachings would be lost and their foolish beliefs would have no one to continue them.

Despite the Enchantress ordering a portion of her forces to death, there were still much for the royals to fight. Ariel had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but she was getting desperate. Ariel tapped her trident on the ground a few times as it sparkled. And then . . .

A great shadow was cast over many of the royals. They looked up and saw something big. Ariel was massive and growing bigger by the second. Ariel become a giant, towering high over everything around. She looked down with hateful eyes at the terrified fiends that dared attack her kingdom.

Rapunzel asked Eugene, "When was she going to tell us she could do THAT!"

"LEAVE!" Ariel boomed loud enough for everyone in the city to hear her. Ariel rampaged as she walked down the street, crushing enemies and blasting enemies, but still careful not to destroy any of the houses. "GET OUT OF MY KINGDOM!"

As if they were commanded to do so, the beasts, suits of armor, and cultists ran towards the forest. Ariel kept advancing, making sure they kept running.

"And stay out!" Eugene shouted.

As the group of royals gathered, apart from Ariel, M asked, "Should we help her drive them off?"

"I think Ariel has got that part down herself."

Rapunzel said, "I know we didn't know a lot about Ariel, but for some reason, I'm surprised the Enchantress didn't know about this."

"Yeah, that is strange," Elsa said, furrowing her eyebrows. Elsa looked hard at the enemies who were running toward the forest and she wondered why the Enchantress wasn't trying to make them stay. She thought, "Those suits of armor aren't real people. They shouldn't be able to feel fear. So why are they running from Ariel just like the others." Elsa was horrified by the realization. She told the others, "They're not running away! They're leading Ariel into a trap!" Elsa ran off, desperate to warn Ariel.

Suddenly, a number of beasts and suits, sprang out of various hiding places and ambushed the group. Elsa stopped for just a moment before Rapunzel shouted, "We'll handle them! Go help Ariel!"

Elsa ran as fast as she could, only blasting at beasts when they tried to stop her. Elsa kept screaming warnings at Ariel, but she couldn't hear her. Elsa thought, "If Jack were here, he could have gotten to her much faster because he can fly. He also could have seen the Enchantress sneaking in because he doesn't sleep. Maybe we should've let Snow White go alone."

Elsa was too late to warn Ariel. Two figures emerged out of the forest and grew larger; larger even than Ariel. They were like centaurs with their human-like torso mounted on a horse's bodies. But unlike the usual centaur image, these horse-beasts had horse-like heads. One of the horse-beasts was white while the other was black. They quickly positioned themselves on each side of Ariel and attack. The black horse-beast punched Ariel in the face, sending her walking backward into a two hooved kick from the white horse-beast.

While the horse-beasts kept Ariel busy, the other beasts and the suits of armor turned around and ran back toward the city. Many of them met Elsa, as she was the one closest one.

As Elsa defended herself, she thought, "This was all part of the Enchantress's plan. They immediate retreat at the sight of Ariel in giant from, the beasts who secretly stayed behind to ambush the rest of us, the horse things waiting for the retreat to bring Ariel near the forest; this was all planned!"

Elsa was surrounded by enemies. She tried to blast them all, but they were closing in on her too quickly. To save herself, Elsa lifted her arms and rose up on an extending platform made of ice. From the elevated vantage point, Elsa shot at the enemies below her and created cover out of ice as needed. She wasn't going to be safe forever. There were beasts climbing up the ice platform and they would be upon her in less than a minute. There were too many of them. Phillip and Merida were each injured and couldn't find Rapunzel to heal them. There were still enough beasts that came out of hiding to handle the others. Jack and Snow White weren't there. Elsa was being overrun and Ariel couldn't handle the two horse-beasts by herself. All seemed lost.

Elsa, Ariel, and all the beasts around them stopped when they heard a surprising voice shout, "Get! Away! From my sister!"

Elsa couldn't believe her ears. Was that really who she thought it was? Elsa looked at the figure who had just appeared out of the forest and called out worriedly, "Anna?!"

Author's Note: Okay, let's talk about why I had Phillip win a fight against Merida. No, I didn't have him win because he's a man. From an in universe perspective, I thought it made sense because Phillip killed a dragon and Merida couldn't defeat a bear. (Her mother was the one who killed Mor'du.) The reason I wanted him to win from a story development perspective is because now he's struggling with the idea that he might not be good for her. Those are the reasons.

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DON'T FORGET! the first chapter of Star Wars: the Unending will be posted on October 31st.