Just a reminder peeps, R&R por favor!!!
Leora opened her forest green eyes that morning, feeling warm and comfortable. She sat up in the bed, looking around. It was a quaint room, and reminded her much of her own bedroom. There was a double window, a chair with needlework, a nightstand, and a quilted-sheet bed that she was snuggled up in. For some strange reason, Leora felt safe and at home here; but she didn't know why. Then, she heard a quiet knock at the bedroom door.
Knowing who it was, Leora sleepily said, "Come in." The door opened, and there with breakfast was Damien. He smiled at her and walked over to her bed and sat down next to her. "Good morning princess." Leora got goose bumps from the word, princess. She smiled back at him and asked, "Is that our breakfast?" He had two small bowls set down on a tray, both filled with dark berries.
"Yes. Eat up; we have a lot of ground to cover today! And, we also have to find Virginia and Wolf, we cannot do this by ourselves you know." Leora nodded and popped a berry in her mouth. Damien did the same. Swallowing it, Leora made a grotesque face but tried covering it with a smile, "They're...interesting!" Damien made a disgusted face as well, and said, "It's all I could find outside! There are no animals around in this frost, and these were frozen solid, so I warmed them in the fire. Please, we have to eat something!"
Enjoying his kindness and courteousness, Leora ate every last berry, even though they tasted worse than sour grapes. After she was done, Damien brought Leora her clothes. "They're dry, I'll go downstairs and let you dress." He set her clothes next to her on the bed, and before he moved his hands, Leora placed hers on top of his. Unknowingly, he looked up into her bright eyes and she said in but a whisper, "Thank you Damien. I couldn't have gone through last night without you." She held his hands more deeply, and being as suave as he is, Damien took her left hand and kissed it politely before exiting the room. Leora sighed and collapsed back onto the bed. She couldn't get over it, she was falling for Prince Charming, literally!
Leora floated down the stairs to find Damien looking quite handsome. He had put on his old clothes and was looking around the house at different things. He suddenly gasped, and Leora ran over to him, "What is it?" He was kneeling in front of a table, and lifted up a book and showed it to her. "Its...its..." Damien couldn't believe what he was holding, and Leora grew impatient. "Huff puff! What is it?!? Tell me!" Once Leora stopped talking, she suddenly realized she had said 'huff puff'. 'Great, I'm becoming more like Wolf by the day!'
"It's Sleeping Beauty's diary. This must've been the cottage she had grown up in, when she was hiding from Maleficent. You know, with her three fairy godmothers?" She nodded at him mechanically, not believing what he had just said. He handed her the book; it was very old, and covered with dust. She wiped it away to find it was a brown leather cover upon it, and had the name 'Brier Rose' printed onto it. "Since it was your great-grandmother's book, you should keep it. I'm sure she would have wanted you to have it. So, Leora took it as the left the small little cottage, carrying the book preciously as she went.
They began leaving the house, when not but ten minutes had passed, a snow storm picked up. Damien put his arm around Leora and they tried hard to walk against the mighty wind. "I can't see anything! We have to turn around!" "No!" Leora replied, "There's no way we could find that cottage in this! We need to keep going, it'll die down eventually!" "Eventually?!?" Damien hollered back. The wind was so fierce that they had to scream to understand each other. As they tried to get through the weather, Leora heard someone whistle. She stopped in her tracks and Damien kept going.
Leora walked to her left and disappeared into the snow. Damien looked back and saw that she was gone. He looked around and yelled, "Leora!!" He ran into the direction she had gone, screaming for her. "Where are y-" But before he finished, he felt someone grab him from behind and pull him into a cave.
He took the person's hands off of him and turned to see it was Wolf. "Wolf! It's so good to see you! Leora and I have been lost for quite a while!" He shook the confused man's hand and looked behind him to see Leora was there, safe and comfortably sitting down with Virginia talking. She looked at him and smiled. He hurried over to her and she stood up to meet him. He hugged her and whispered, "Oh, I thought I'd lost you!" "Lost me? I was only out of your sight for a minute!" He took her out of his arms and looked deeply into her eyes, "That minute was the longest minute of my life!" Leora laughed at him flirtatiously. She just couldn't help it, she'd never felt so happy with a guy before.
The two went and sat down next to Virginia. Wolf walked up to the group and asked them, "Where have you two been? First I find a slaughtered goblin, and then from the trail scent I followed, you went over a waterfall!" Damien and Leora exchanged looks secretly and smiled. Damien turned to Wolf and stated, "Nothing, it was just some trouble with the goblins, it's no big deal!" "No big deal? You could've been killed; or worse, Leora could've been killed!" Damien stood up and got into Wolf's face, "Listen, I would never let anything happen to her! Why don't you trust me?" "Because you lied to us! And from what I hear about the royal Charming family lately, you've been pretty unfaithful when it comes to threats in the kingdom!"
Completely offended, Damien gaped his mouth wide and said firmly, "Rubbish! That is absolute rubbish! Just because of certain actions that I happened to not be involved with doesn't make me untrustworthy!" Virginia sighed and got down on the floor, getting ready for sleep. Leora sat calmly and wisely still, watching the two argue.
"OH! I think it most certainly does! Why don't I mention the Troll King last year? Or the elf crisis a month before that? You Prince Damien are not worthy of wearing that crown!" And just before the young man and wolf took a swing at each other, they heard a scream.
"STOP!" And they froze, right before they hit each other's faces. Their heads turned and found Leora standing there; she walked towards them and pushed their fists from each other and she stood between them. "It's been a long day! I suggest we all get some sleep until this storm calms down! So, desist the testosterone issue for now! Please."
The men gave each other evil glares before they slowly put their fists down. "Thank you." Leora said before going to sit back down again. Wolf went over and laid down next to Virginia, talking to her before they slept. Damien laid down and Leora put his head in her lap. "I'm sorry about that." He said.
"It's alright, I know things are getting hectic around here. And hey, thanks for not telling Wolf about what happened." Damien nodded and said, "Of course, I know you don't want him to know about the murder yet, and that you did transform. I understand."
Leora smiled, and giggled a little bit. "What is it? You did mean that didn't you?" Damien asked. She shook her head, "I meant about us sleeping in the same bed last night. I know we didn't do anything, but, I don't think he'd like the idea of me and you holding each other in a warm cottage all night!" Damien laughed softly and agreed, "I know what you mean, trust me! Do you think he'll like me one day though?" Leora looked at him curisouly, "Who? Wolf?" "Yes Wolf!" "One day he'll come to realize you're the most charming man there is. And why wouldn't he? He is family!" They laughed together and talked a little longer, all the time enjoying the time they had with each other. Then, slowly, Damien drifted off to sleep.
Leora, however, would find no sleep. The fight had upset her dreadfully, she knew that the two didn't get along at all. She had to talk to Wolf about the murder. She looked over and saw that he and Virginia were comfortably sleeping in each others arms; so Leora sighed, and stood up and walked towards the cave's entrance.
The wind was blowing hard outside; and Leora couldn't see much but white. She stood there and watched it anyway, finding no comfort in what would come tomorrow. She had talked to Virginia earlier; from Wolf's knowledge, it would take but a few hours to reach the castle from here. The Ice Palace; once known as the Sleeping Queen's Castle. But everything was now snow and ice, including everyone back in the fourth kingdom. The fate of all the 10 kingdoms rested on Leora's shoulders. Wolf had said that the hair to the throne of Sleeping Beauty was the only one to defeat the Ice Queen; and Leora was scared, more than she had ever been. All her life she had wanted to live in her books about adventures with evil queens and dragons, but not until now, she wished she could wake up.
"I shouldn't be here." She spoke softly to herself. "I can't do anything." "I don't believe that. If you tried, I believe you could accomplish great things here." Leora turned and found Wolf coming toward her, looking out at the storm. "I thought you were sleeping." She told him. "And I thought you were stronger than this. Why are you frightened?" "Because it's a witch Wolf; I can't match up against a queen!" "Yes you can Leora, you have the strength; you just have to have confidence in yourself." "Confidence? That got me no where in New York! No matter what play I tried out for, what job I applied to, who I asked to the prom; it's all the same thing, failure. Why bother trying if there isn't anyway I'll succeed?"
"Because you can succeed! You can do good things, great things if you tried!" "Oh like what? Like murdering a goblin, eating it's flesh while it was screaming for mercy? What 'good' that was!" Leora then suddenly realized that she hadn't told Wolf about that, and moved her eyes from his glare. She was silent, she didn't know what to do or say to him. Right before she did say something, Wolf told her, "I knew Leora. It's alright! I know what you're going through; it's not like I myself haven't killed before! I have! Look," He came towards her and held her by the shoulders. "Being a wolf isn't easy. It's something you need to keep control of. Leora, I'm here to help you, to guide you through this, so you can go on and be a princess!"
"Princess? Princess?!? Did anyone ever ask me if I even wanted to job? Cause I don't, I'm not cut out for it, I'm not good enough! They're just gonna have to pick someone else to run a country!" "It's not a country Leora! And it's your destiny!" "Well I don't want it to be my destiny! I don't want it Wolf!" She suddenly realized she had been screaming. Wolf turned silent, and Leora started to shed tears. Without thinking, she turned and ran off into the snow storm.
"Leora!!!" Wolf yelled after her. In a matter of seconds, she was out of his sight from the thickness of the snow. Damien ran to the cave entranced and gave Wolf an angry look once he saw Leora had run off. They both ran out into the snow to look for her.
She didn't care anymore; as far as Leora was concerned, she was done with the adventure. She wanted to go back home, to New York. But now, she didn't have one, and her aunt was dead. She had no one, just the cold snow. She ran without even looking, eyes closed trying to hold back the tears. Then suddenly, Leora felt herself drop. She had obviously stepped on some weak ground and fell for what seemed forever.
WHAM! Leora hit the ground hard. She coughed, and slowly came to her feet, looking around. It suddenly was very warm, and Leora could no longer see her breath. It looked as though she was in an underground garden; life was springing up everywhere. There were flowers and butterflies, and a grass pathway. She followed it, not knowing where I would lead. Leora didn't know what was going on, but she suddenly felt safe and protected from everything in the world.