(A/N: This takes place before the events of Interlude 1, just to clear up any confusions of anything that happens)
I was sitting in my room, AKA, the closet under the stairs. Pro: I have a small place to think to myself and sleep. Con: Pearl really makes it her job to stomp down the stairs. That, and Sinbad really likes to annoy me by pecking the door.
Anyways, I was sitting in the room, reading when Madi kicked the door open. "Get up. You're getting your own room." Madi said with a grin. "But don't I already have one? *Gesture around the room* And why did you kick the door in? It opens outwards." I reminded her.
"This isn't a room, it's a closet where I keep all my skeletons." Madi said simply. "Uh, you're kidding. Right?" I asked nervously. "I. Never. Kid." Madi said as she pointed behind me. I turned to look to see a skeleton, hidden among the clothing. Long story short, I gave a short scream and jumped a couple of inches in fright.
"See." Madi said with a smug smirk. "Okay, okay. No need to rub it in my face." I told her as I grab all my stuff and follow her upstairs, towards one of the extra rooms. "Here it is." Madi said as she opened the door. It looked like a regular bedroom, with a desk, a bedroom, a window showing the outside, and a door to the bathroom for some reason. Otherwise, it was bland and tasteless.
"Uh, it looks...great?" I said nervously with a thumbs up. "What is it now?" Madi asked, a bit annoyed. "Well, it's just, well, it's too bland." I said bluntly. "It's a room. What did you expect?" Madi asked. "A bit more life. Possibly some wallpapers, some carpets. Anything. It looks like you just made this room just to rub it in people's faces that you have more rooms than they do." I said.
"Again, it's a room. Do what you want with it." Madi said. "Why are you even giving me this room? I thought you wanted me to be miserable." I said. "Because." Madi said. "Because what? Oh my goodness, this is exactly how Beauty and the Beast turned out. You want to marry me!" I accused.
"NO! I did this because I can." Madi said. "Yeah, just like Prince Adams. Wait, is Pearl and SinbadIago under a curse?" I asked. "They are a curse." Madi said. "...Touche. But why are you being nice? I mean, wouldn't this ruin your whole 'I'm Madison, the Devil' bit you have going on?" I asked. "Not really." Madi said.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm not the Devil." Madi said. "B-But you said-" I began. "That's just what I say to make the Netherworld fear me." Madi said. "NetherRealm. And wait, you mean to tell me you lied to me? Why?" I asked.
"I just say it because no one will be none the wiser." Madi said. "But why are you doing this? What could you ever hope to gain from this? Hope to gain from taking me?!" I asked Madi, trying to figure out her goals.
"Hilda. And for me to forget my past." Madi said. "Hilda? What does Hilda have to do with any of this?" I asked Madi. "She left me to die." Madi said. "Hilda left you to die. We're still talking about the same Hilda Spellman? The same Hilda Spellman who focuses on making herself beautiful?" I asked Madi.
"The same." Madi said. "Why would she leave you to die? And don't lie either." I said. "I loved Zelda. Still do. Hilda just never liked me." Madi said. "And? What happened?" I asked. "Me and Zelda were about to get married, and well, Hilda kicked me out of the altar. And, well, my soul's bound to Greendale." Madi said.
"But what does that have to do with me? How do I fit into your plan of revenge? I don't hate Hilda, Zelda and I watch the Xenaverse on weekends and Sabrina and I are best friends." I said, still trying to understand where I fit in all of this. "You're leverage against the Spellmans." Madi said.
"No, I'm not. No matter what you do to me, I won't betray any of them." I told Madi. "Oh, yes you will. Soon, your friendship will fall to history." Madi said. "Why are you this cruel? And don't tell me it's Hilda, because I doubt that's the only reason." I said. "My father." Madi said.
"Your father is the reason why you're cruel?" I asked. "Yes." Madi answered. "How?" I asked. "He just did. What more do you need!" Madi shouted. "What I need is for you to grow the heck up and smell the coffee! You're just being petty! Do you even think Hilda even remembers you anymore? Because I don't think she does!" I shouted back.
"She will." Madi said. "*Scoffs* With what? Me as leverage? Newsflash, she may know me as Sabrina's friend, but she won't do anything to save me. In fact, there are times she believes Sabrina and I could be even more than that. Heh, fat chance of that." I said.
"That's the point." Madi said. "What's the point? That she'll just remember you as soon as you say your name? That she'll give you Zelda in exchange for me? That everything you think will work out? Because if that's how Hilda Spellman was back then, that's not who she is now!" I snapped.
"Yes, exactly." Madi said. "How could we be talking about the same person and yet have different views on her?" I asked. "I'm older, so I know m-" Madi began. "Don't you dare pull that excuse! Yes, you are older, but that does not mean you know more than me! So you, Hilda, Zelda and everyone who pulls that excuse can shove it back in your mouths, because I'm tired of hearing it!" I exclaimed as I turned Super Saiyan.
"Turn that off, you're going to burn someone." Madi said. "Not until you shut up and listen for once in your life! Hilda is different than how you knew her! All she cares about is herself! She won't even bat an eye that I'm gone! So get it through your thick skull!" I yelled.
"She hasn't changed at all." Madi said, pulling out earplugs. "Y-You had...You know, I wonder why Zelda wanted to marry you at all. Because from what I'm getting from you, it's you who hasn't changed at all." I coldly said. "That's why she wanted to marry me. I let her have fun." Madi said.
"Heh, yeah. We're talking about Zelda Spellman. The one who tells everyone that magic should only be used as a last resort? That Zelda Spellman?" I asked, with obvious doubt. "She loved terrorising the innocent, burning a few villages". Madi said.
"Are you not listening? Zelda has changed. She's the responsible one. She's the one telling us to be responsible with our magic. The one who tells us to not watch Rated-R movies. The one who reprimands us for using magic irresponsibly. Long story short, she's a 180 of the Zelda you knew." I told Madi.
"Hilda's influence." Madi said. "Oh for good-Will you just drop it? You weren't even there for all of that. And it's not even Hilda, since she's the one who acts like a teenager. In fact, I more believe that Hilda might do those stuff than Zelda does them." I retorted. "My mother used to tell me, 'No one really changes'." Madi said.
"Then you need to open up your eyes because people can change. It's just up to them to determine how they're gonna do that. And if you can't see that, if you can't change, then you're gonna be stuck in the past, making yourself miserable for no reason. So what are you gonna do, stay in the past and keep being miserable? Or are you gonna try to change yourself and possibly make life, or in your case, the afterlife, better for yourself?" I asked Madi.
"Yeah, I'm going to ask you why you watch Hanna-Barbera cartoons." Madi said. "Why do you want to know?" I asked. "Because." Madi said. "Because wh- *Sighs* I get the feeling we're just gonna go around in circles, with you never gonna explain why, are we?" I asked her. "Yes." Madi said.
"Well, it all started when Sabrina and I were six years old. It was barely the week before Christmas. Long story short, Sabrina wanted to impress everyone and convinced me to try skiing and I was trapped in an avalanche for three hours. First time my Gem powers kicked in. Anyways, it was the first time I ever showed proper emotions the way I needed to." I said.
"Get on with it." Madi said, getting impatient. "I'm getting there. If you can take a chill pill. Anyways, an hour later, a doctor said it was a miracle that I survived and told my parents to keep me in our room for the rest of our stay, just so I could warm up. It was an hour after that, while I was warming up, that Sabrina came into the room, wanted to apologize." I told Madi.
Flashback-Greendale Skiing Resort, 7, almost 8, years ago
"Hey, Aaron." Sabrina said, coming into the room me and my parents were staying in. "H-Hey S-S-Sabreeny." I managed to stammer out with a weak smile, due to being cold. To say it was awful to feel fear when being buried under that pile of snow was an understatement. It was like feeling a veil of life was ripped off the eyes of my mind, revealing all these emotions and the proper ways to show them.
"Look, I'm sorry, Aaron. I'm the reason you almost died. And after you almost died six months ago." Sabrina said, about to cry. "N-N-No. I-It's n-not y-your f-f-fault t-that t-t-this h-happened. I-It was Gem's. If she never egged you on, this wouldn't have happened in the first place." I reassured, no longer stammering, but still trembling from the cold.
"But I should've ignored her. It's my fault that you almost died. It's my fault that you'll now live with the fear of being in dark, enclosed spaces like that." Sabrina said before sobbing. "Look. We can't change what happened in the past. But we can learn from the mistakes and use them as lessons, to never do it again. Okay?" I asked Sabrina. "O-Okay." She said with a sniffle.
It took a couple of minutes for her to finally stop crying. "By the way, I brought these for you. As an apology for what happened." Sabrina said, holding out a bag. I opened the bag to see a bunch of DVDs with some cartoon animals on them. "What are these?" I asked Sabrina.
"Those are Hanna-Barbera cartoons. I thought you might need something to cheer you up while you warm up." Sabrina said. "Uh, okay." I said, a bit doubtful about it. But since Sabrina was doing it to make up for the incident, and since I was told to stay in bed, what else do I have to lose? Sabrina popped in the DVD player and we soon watched it.
Present time
"Those cartoons helped me feel like a normal child, especially when I started to show my emotions the way I wanted. Those cartoons managed to put a smile on Sabrina and my faces. Those cartoons even caused me to laugh a lot. And they helped me realize what kind of hero I want to be. The type to make people smile. The type to spread happiness even if one day I'm no longer capable of doing it myself. That the hero I want to be. And you're not changing that." I told Madi.
"How quaint." Madi said. "So? Why did you want to know?" I asked. "Because I wondered why you make unfunny jokes." Madi said. "Oh, and you could do better?" I asked. "Yes, yes I can." Madi said. "Really? Because it seems like your jokes are just emotionally putting down someone or hurting me with cartoon physics." I said. "All the kids love that." Madi said.
"Look, I'm not being your leverage against the Spellmans. Because if you're using me against Hilda, you're also using me against Zelda and Sabrina." I told Madi. "That's not your choice at this moment." Madi said, turning around and about to leave the room.
Please forgive me for this, Zelda. I said in my thoughts. "Wait! How about a deal?" I asked Madi. "What now?" Madi asked, turning to face me. "If I convince Zelda to give you a second chance at a relationship with you, will you stop all of this? Stop trying to get revenge if she does? Will you promise not to go after any of my friends and family?" I asked Madi.
"Don't make promises that no one'll ever keep." Madi said. "Just answer me. Will you promise that you won't do anything to anyone if I can convince Zelda to give you a second chance?" I asked. "Stay out of my things, I stay out of yours. No deal." Madi said. "Does this means you'll leave them alone then?" I asked.
"The Spellmans are all I'm after. Your family will prosper." Madi said. "Just please leave Sabrina alone. She didn't do anything to you. Heck, she knows nothing about you and she wasn't there back then. Just, please leave her out of this." I pleaded to Madi. "Leave her to her deranged fate." Madi said as she left, leaving me more devastated and confused. What does she mean, Sabrina's deranged fate?
