(I really struggle with scenes like this, so I've done my best with it! So please no one hate me!)
Chapter twenty four:
The moment the door opens bright golden light edged with a rainbow hue came exploding out of the room, it brought with it a massive rush of wind, causing those in the hallway to shield their eyes with their arms and leaning forwards into the ferocious wind.
Once the wind at last died down and the light reduced in brightness a little, they brought their arms down and then very cautiously made their way into the tower room.
The moment they got inside the room Darling's eyes immediately fell on Raven, she instantaneously noticed the grey tone of her pale skin, the darkness in her veins and the darkening of Raven's magic. Furry filled Darling alongside with fear for Raven, Darling decided at that moment to allow the anger she felt fuel her actions for now.
Darling's enraged gaze roamed the room, when her eyes fell on the Evil Queen, her gaze somehow became even angrier than before and the Evil Queen felt as though she was being scorched by the fire she could see Darling's enraged eyes. "What. Did. You. Do To. Raven?" Darling asked her in a ferocious voice.
The Evil Queen made another attempt to move from her position, but she found she was still pinioned tightly to the wall by the light streaming out of Raven. After a few moments of struggling to get free the Evil Queen gave up the fight and answered Darling's question. "I wanted to make my daughter into a proper young Evil Queen as she should be!"
"Are you crazy?! What possessed you to think that was a good idea? You've probably hurt Raven a lot with this selfish act! Doing something like that would have probably killed her rather than transformed Raven!" Darling yelled angrily at the Evil Queen.
The barely contained fury in Darling's voice caused the Evil Queen flinch, at the same time she felt worry rush through her, she knew that an incensed Prince Charming was never a good thing, they battled for the ones they loved like a dragon protecting its hoard and they did not give up until they had saved their princess.
Still there was a stubborn part of the Evil Queen which was reluctant to give up her battle to change Raven, especially when she had managed to come this far with it. She knew her daughter was strong and felt sure that Charming was over exaggerating when she said doing this would probably kill Raven.
Frantically the Evil Queen searched for a way to break the hold the true love had on her and get rid of this rescue party so that she could continue on with her evil plan.
The Evil Queen was broken out of all of her musings when Darling addressed her in a demanding voice. "How do I undo what you have done to her?!"
"No! I will never tell you how to do that! Raven must become as evil and dark as myself!" The Evil Queen yelled at her, as she started to once more fight against the true love's grip on her.
Every time the Evil Queen managed to move her arm just a few inches from the wall, it was snapped back against the wall hard once more and caused her to let out a hiss of pain. The Evil Queen summon some of her magic, as it touched the golden light was instantly absorbed by the light and dispersed by it into nothing.
Hearing the Evil Queen say this and seeing her try to fight the grip which the true love had on her, managed to make Darling even more enraged than before, and she addressed the Evil Queen in a cold, but outraged voice. "Did you not hear me the first time?! What you are trying to do will kill your daughter! Do you understand! Raven. Will. Die. If. You. Continue! Do you not care if your daughter dies?!"
The Evil Queen refused to believe this and said to Darling in denial. "Raven is too strong to be killed by what I have planned for her!"
"Raven doesn't want to be evil! She wouldn't want to be trapped inside herself and be watching, but unable to do anything while you make her do horrible and probably deadly things to her friends, people she cares about and the one she loves! Raven would rather die before it was possible for her to be to do any of that!" Darling tells her with a scowl on her face.
Quickly Darling looked around the room trying to find some clue as to how she can start to set Raven free of her mother's dark enchantments, or even just to lessen the hold the dark magic had on her true love.
After taking a good look around the tower room Darling noticed the dark runes on the wall and the seal on the floor. She instantly knew that they had something to do with Raven's state, Darling decided that the first thing to do was to use Draco to get rid of them.
Darling hopped that by doing this it would at least stop what was happening to Raven from being able to get any further along and hopefully let the out of action Raven know that someone was trying to rescue her.
Darling drew Draco from the scabbard, she took a careful step further into the room and let out a small sigh of relief when the true love force filling the room did not pin her to the wall as it did the Evil Queen.
Cautiously Darling approached the rune on the wall nearest to her, she halted before the small mount of dark purple light still oozing from it to make sure that it didn't somehow didn't touch her and infect her too.
Darling quickly swung Draco out towards the rune, as she did this the sword lit with a light purple glow, it cut through the dark purple light and the black rune, which let out a hiss which sounded like that of an enraged snake before it dissolved into nothing.
Seeing that this had worked on the first rune Darling made her way around the room and used Draco to dispel all the runes on the walls. Once they were gone Darling could feel that the dark magic in the room which the true love had been repressing was slowly fading from the room.
Darling then turned her attention to the seal on the floor of the room, she grabbed Draco around the hilt with both hands, Darling directing the point of the blade towards the floor, then she thrust the point of the sword down towards the seal. The sword lit up again, there was a crackle like static electricity, followed by several flashes of purple light which arced across the floor area the seal took up like lightening.
The power of the dark seal tried to push Darling back, but she put all her strength into pushing Draco against the dark power determined to break this part of the spell. After a short spell of push and pull with the magic of the seal, Darling called up from inside of her all the love she felt for Raven and this made Darling glow slightly golden with the true love she felt for Raven.
In response to this powerful love Draco lit up brighter than before and Darling managed to at last push the sword through the centre of the seal and into the floor.
Everything in the tower room went suddenly silent, then there came a low long howling moan from the seal before there was a small explosion of dark light, which was swallowed again by the light of true love filling the room, the seal then fragmented and dissolved into nothing.
Darling turned to the others in the door way and addressed them. "Dexter, Daring keep an eye on the Evil Queen while I attempt to save Raven from the curse!"
They nodded, made their way into the room and moved into a defensive position before the Evil Queen, who shot them both malevolent glares.
Darling then looked over to Giles and Milton, she approached them and then said in soft voice so that the Evil Queen wouldn't over hear her. "Can you both enchant the room so that the Evil Queen cannot somehow escape it?"
"Yes." Giles answers in a soft voice, before quickly pulling his shocked older brother away from the entrance of the room, so they can cast the necessary spells to prevent the Evil Queen from escaping the room in any way.
As the brothers worked on these spells, Darling turns her attention to Cerise and addresses her in a quiet voice so as not to be overheard by the enemy. "Since your not needed for a distraction, I want you to keep watch and if this all goes badly I need grab who you can out of the room and go for help. Do you understand?"
Cerise nodded to her, as she said reassuringly to Darling. "I understand perfectly."
"Good." Darling said softly, before turning to Kitty and Maddie and speaking to them. "Kitty I want you to go with Maddie as she takes care of the Evil Queen, that way if it is necessary you can teleport her safely away. Maddie are you ready to do what is needed?"
"I sure am." Maddie told her, while at the same time Kitty nodded her acceptance of Darling's orders from Maddie's side.
"Good." Darling said to them, they turned away from them and made her way over to the floating Raven.
Gently and carefully Raven put her hands out, she took Raven into her arms and said to her in a soft loving voice. "I'm here now my lady princess and I am not going to allow your mother to hurt you any more than she already has."
The weightlessness which had been holding Raven up slowly released her into Darlings arms. Carefully Darling knelt down on the floor with Raven still in her arms and then she made sure Raven was comfortably positioned against her.
Darling looked at the infected magical aura around her and said to her in upset voice. "Oh, my poor love, look at what she has done to you. I hope you can hear me…I'm right here with you and I won't leave your side until you defeat this darkness. I know that you can win over this, you have done so before and I am here to support you through it this time. If you come back weak from what has happened and need help to do things, I will happily give it to you until you are feeling better."
Softly Darling kissed Raven's forehead and was glad to see that darkness in her veins retreat a bit and the deep purple in her magic get lighter again as she did this. "That's it my love. You can fight this and win, I know you can, your stubborn, determined and the strongest woman I know."
She was glad to see that her words were causing more of the darkness in her to retreat. Darling smiled with relief, she then gently started stroke once of her hands over the side of Raven's face and then over Raven's soft dark hair. "You can do this. You deserve to be free of the darkness and to be able to live in the light just as you have always wanted to." Darling said to Raven encouragingly.
Once more the magical aura around Raven lightened, the darkness in her veins retreating more, Raven's skin become less grey and became a it's more natural light colour. "You're doing so very well my lady princess. My princess Good King…When this is all over, I want to take you to meet my mother and father and be able to introduce you to them as my true love. I also hope that you will want to take me to meet your father and introduce me to him as your true love."
As Darling continued to talk to Raven and encourage her to fight what her mother had done to her, Dexter and Daring where making sure that the Evil Queen wouldn't escape before Maddie could confine her to the bag of holding.
Kitty and Maddie were carefully approaching the Evil Queen both of them with disturbingly toothy smiles spread over their faces. Maddie pulls out the bag of holding, she opens the top of it, while at the same time Kitty asks her in a faux cheerful voice. "Now, will you tell us how to fully revive Raven or shall we make entering this bag very painful for you?"
The Evil Queen let out a low angry growl and shakes her head at them. Kitty turns to Maddie and says to her with a sadistic smile on her face. "Okay my lovely hatter, make this slow and painful for her!"
"Okies dokie! Caterpillar smokie!" Maddie said as she nodded to her, she placed the open end of the bag to the Evil Queen's finger. Instantly it started to suck her finger into the bag and caused intense pain to run through the Evil Queen and she cried out in pain.
"So, how about now?" Kitty asked her with false cheer.
The Evil Queen watched with wide eyes and pain surging through her as her arm disappeared into the bag. "Alright! Alright!" She cried out in a pain filled voice. "I'll tell you how to cure Raven just stop using the bag of holding like that!"
"Very well tell us." Kitty commanded, while Maddie halted what she was doing for a moment.
With a nod the Evil Queen knowing that she had no room to trick them told Maddie and Kitty the answer to their question truthfully. "Firstly, someone would have to help Raven fight the darkness with their words, secondly this person would need to also confess true love for her, then thirdly and lastly share true loves kiss with Raven. Now please just put me inside the bag of holding whole!"
"Very well we shall, however if it turns out what you have told us about how to save Raven is not the truth, we will make you suffer for it." Kitty promised the Evil Queen in a voice which gave her no doubt that she would keep her word if she had lied to her.
"I swear what I have told you is the truth!" She told them in a voice which wobbled with fear.
"You had better have." Kitty said ominously to her, before turning to Maddie and saying to her. "Put her into the bag!"
With a nod of agreement to Kitty's words Maddie opened up the bag of holding wide at the top and touched the top to the Evil Queen's other arm. This time she was sucked quickly into the bag without any pain. As soon as the last of the Evil Queen entered the bag, Maddie closed the top and tied it tightly shut with an ornate Wonderland knot.
Kitty called out to the room in general. "The Evil Queen is secured in the bag of holding!"
These words drew sighs of relief and some small cheers from those present. Darling smiled down at Raven in her arms and said to her in a voice full of delight. "Did you hear that my love your mother has been caught one more, she can't hurt you anymore. She also told us how to save you, hopefully the Evil Queen told us the truth of how to break the hold of this spell. We shall soon know I love you truly, you are my true love and I am yours."
After she made this confession to Raven Darling looked around the others in the room and said to them. "I'm going to kiss Raven so you may all want to cover your eyes."
With nods of understanding to Darling they all did as she advised and covered their eyes. Once Darling was sure that everyone had covered their eyes, she leant down and kissed Raven softly, but fully on the lips.
The moment Darling did this, a massive amount of bright golden and rainbow edged light washed out of the two of them and as it did before a wind came with the light, buffeting against all those present. The true loves kiss wash pushing the darkness in her veins back out of Raven, it was turning her skin back to its normal pail shade, at the same time the dark purple in Raven's magic was returning to its light lavender shade.
As Darling continued to kiss Raven, their glowing soulmate bond flared into life, the light from it began to get brighter and brighter, as this occurred the final part of the darkness washed out of Raven and was obliterated by the light.
(Yes a cliff hanger I know…Well sort of…I'm working on the next part already, I want it to be just right and am working hard on it.)
