A/N: I know, I'm not doing too well with updates. But life does sometimes get in the way of that. Also I would like to say thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. It's a little shorter than what I usually write, but hopefully it's good for you guys.

Chapter 14

Odette lied upon her bed on her stomach and crying in her arms. As she lay there crying, she remembered the argument between Rothbart and Uberta a few minutes ago. How they both shouted and said terrible things to each other. It was very unnerving for her. Part of her didn't understand why they were fighting in the first place. After all, this day was turning out so well at first. She was spending time with Rothbart and actually getting to know the real him. About his past and how he was in love with her mother. She was having one of the grandest moment of her life. Then it suddenly took a wrong turn and she found herself in the middle of an argument between her mother-in-law and her godfather.

Now, it wasn't the first time she'd seen Uberta blow her top before. Even Rothbart had his moment when he was holding her captive. Although that might not count since her was trying to protect her in the first place. But she had seen Uberta when her face was as red as a tomato. But that really didn't bother her before. Then again, she wasn't pregnant during those times and she wasn't a cauldron of nervous ready to explode.

'Is this what pregnancy does to you?' she asked herself as tears still continued to slide down her face. She continued to cry and almost failed to notice the knocking at her bedroom door. The only reason she did was that the door opened soon after, but she did not turn around to see who it was.

"Odette?" she heard a gentle voice say. It was Jacob's. "Odette, are you alright?"

Odette lifted her head up to wipe away the tears that were still present in her eyes and on her cheeks.

"Yes," she answered. "I'm fine." She then heard his footsteps draw closer the her and felt him sit on the bed beside her. She then felt a hand placed on her upper back.

"Are you sure?" He knew it was a stupid question, but it was one that he knew he would get the most answers from. Odette, who gave one last sniff, suddenly sat up to face Jacob.

"No! I'm not alright!" she shouted. "I'm a mess! I'm pregnant! I'm an emotional wreck! Two members of my family are downstairs ready to kill one another! And to top it all off, I have a psychopathic brother who wants to steal my baby away to rule the world and there's not a thing I can do to stop it!" She once again fell flat on her bed and began crying again. Jacob looked on at the princess with great sympathy. He placed a hand on her back again and began to rub up and down in a comforting manner. Odette twitched at the contacted but didn't push it away, finding comfort in the small action.

"Everything is going to be fine," Jacob said. "I can promise you that."

"How?" Odette said without looking up.

"Because you have a loving family that loves you and will do everything they can to protect you." He then looked towards the door with narrowed eyes. "Even though two of them are being nothing but little immature brats." This seemed to get a small chuckle out of her. She lifted her head up a bit to look over at Jacob and wiped her eyes again.

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "They are being rather childish." Jacob also gave a chuckle.

"Don't pay any attention to them. They have a lot of issues with each other." Odette had sat up completely to face Jacob while leaning on her left arm.

"Why are they like that?" she asked. "I thought you all were friends when you were younger." Jacob was silent for a moment before looked down at the floor.

"We were," he said. "But then Sargon invaded your father's kingdom and Dmitri and I left to fight in the war. Uberta wasn't too fond of the idea of Dmitri leaving, fearing should would lose him. Even though the invasion had only started, word spread quickly of the terrible deeds he had done and the power he possessed. Even I was fearful to go. But we could not leave our dear friend to fight alone. After we defeated Sargon, Uberta got word that Dmitri didn't make it. She was devastated beyond words. Even at the funeral she looked completely broken, like she would never be fixed."

"But she was fine all the times I've seen her," Odette said. "Even as a little girl. She would sometimes play tea parties with me when Derek absolutely refused to." Jacob chuckled a bit at this.

"Yeah," he said as he looked up at Odette with a smile. "Uberta would do that. She would do anything to feel young again, even play a little girl's game."

"So what happened?" Jacob's smile faded as he looked back at the floor.

"She found someone to blame." Odette opened her moth to ask who before her eyes widen in realization and her expression turned sad.

"Rothbart." Jacob nodded.

"Once she found out that Rothbart was learning the Forbidden Arts, she blamed him for his death. Saying that he should have done more. William and I tried to defend him but she wouldn't listen. She said that Rothbart was no better than Sargon."

"That's horrible," Odette said.

"It was," Jacob agreed. "But that wasn't the worst part."

"What's the worst part?" Jacob breathed in and released a big sigh.

"The worst part was that Rothbart believed her." Odette's eyes widened.

"What?" she asked loudly. "Why?" Jacob released another sigh.

"He felt the he could have done more to stop the war, and to save Dmitri. He felt that he failed everyone because he couldn't save the lives of so many people, including the life of a dear friend." Odette looked towards the ground.

"He's had such a rough life." It was more of a statement rather than a question, but Jacob nodded nonetheless.

"He has. His life as an orphan wasn't too pleasant. But then he met us and we tried to do everything we could to make his life better. But there was only so much we could do. The one day, you father finally decided to let Rothbart stay in the castle." Odette looked curiously at Jacob.

"Really?" Jacob nodded.

"Of course, his parents weren't really fond of the idea. But your father would not give in. He fought with his parents until they finally decided to let Rothbart stay. And even then, Your grandfather would treat Rothbart like trash. Your grandmother finally started to warm up to Rothbart and started to accept him as another son. And defending him against your grandfather." Odette smiled at that last statement.

"At least some good came out of it." Jacob smiled as well.

"Yes. Things worked out quite well for him." Suddenly his smile faded. "That is, until Sargon came into the picture." Odette's own smile fade as well and was replaced with a stern frown. Jacob seemed to notice this and quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry, Odette," he said. "I didn't mean to bring him up."

"No, it's fine," she said. "I want to hear it." Jacob looked at her worriedly for a moment before continuing.

"Well," he said, "When Sargon was young, he was just like most children. But then when he found the Forbidden Arts, he was noticeably changing. He grew more ambitious and a bit more cruel. Rothbart was the first to notice this and decided to put him to the test." Odette raised an eyebrow.

"A test?"

"Yes," he answered. "A test to see if Sargon was truly right for the throne. I'm not familiar with all the details but I'm sure that's something for you and Rothbart to discuss at a later time." Odette nodded, but then another thought came to mind.

"Sargon said that you were his master once," she said. "What exactly did you teach him?" Odette almost regretted asking the question as she saw the look on Jacob's face darken.

"Yes," he said. "But that was before he fond the forbidden arts. I use to train him in the arts of discipline of respect of martial arts, just as my father taught me." He looked over and saw the confused look in her eyes and continued.

"I can't have any kids," he said. Odette's eyes widened in shock.

"What?" she said. Jacob nodded.

"I have some scarring in..." he paused, "...certain places that prevent me from having any children. And after my wife passed away when we we young, I was too devastated that I decided not to remarry. Plus, what was the point since I couldn't have any children. So I decided to trained Sargon as my apprentice and give him my kingdom when I passed on. Little did I know that would be the biggest mistake of my life."

"For obvious reasons," Odette chimed in, causing Jacob to chuckle a bit.

"Exactly. But at the time I trusted Sargon with my knowledge in the hopes he would be a better King. And he learned very fast. He had already surpassed me by the time he found the Forbidden Arts." Jacob frowned as he looked towards the floor once more. "So I am partially to blame for his success."

"That's not true," Odette said with a strong voice. Jacob looked at her with a confused expression and saw that Odette had a stern look in her eyes. "It was not your fault that Sargon betrayed all of you. It was his own choice to become evil. He chose to study the Forbidden Arts and use it for his own purposes. He was the one that killed Derek's father. He lead the invasion and destroyed so many lives. No one is to blame but him." Jacob continued to look at Odette with an open mouth, as if trying to speak but not finding the words.

"It was no one's fault," Odette continued. "Not you. Not Rothbart. Not anyone. And will not sit here and let you all talk down to yourselves. Uberta has no right to Blame Rothbart. Yes she was heart broken and that it very understandable and no one can blame her for that. But putting the blame on someone who had no control over what happened in the past is not right."

"You're right my dear," came a new voice. Both Odette and Jacob quickly looked towards the bedroom door to see Uberta, standing there in the doorway with her hands together and looking towards the floor. Odette looked at her questioningly.

"Uberta," she said. "What are you doing here? And how long have you been there?" Uberta hesitantly looked up to meet her daughter-in-law's eyes.

"Long enough," she said. "I came up to apologies for what happened and overheard what you two have been saying. And you're right, Dear." Odette raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Right about what?" she asked, although she knew what Uberta was talking about, she just wanted her to say it. Said queen sighed.

"You're right about me being wrong. About blaming Rothbart for what happened to Dmitri. I just didn't know how to handle the pain of loosing my dear husband. I needed something to blame to make me feel better. So I took it all out on Rothbart, even when I knew he had nothing to do with it." Tears started to form in her eyes as she spoke.

"I was a coward," Uberta continued with a broken voice. "I was too much of a coward to apologies to him. And after I heard that he tried to take over William's Kingdom, I partially blamed myself. I felt that I drove him to being bad and I made the pain even worse. So after William Banished him, I felt guilty for all those years because I had lost a another best friend. That's why me and your father were so determined for you and Derek to marry. So that we wouldn't loose anyone else and gain a family. But then when Willy died, I felt like everything in this world was coming down on me."

Odette listened as she saw the tears roll down Uberta's face the the broken voice she spoke in. She truly felt sorry for her mother-in-law. After loosing her father and what happened with Derek before that, she felt alone in the world. So she understood a bit of what Uberta was feeling. Jacob was feeling bad as well because he also was partially responsible for Uberta's pain. He wasn't there for her as much as he wanted to be, or needed to be. He stood up and walked over to Uberta and embraced her in a warm hug, which she gladly welcomed. Odette was about to speak looked back at Uberta and saw that her face began to show a bit of anger and noticed that her fists were starting to clench.

"But then seeing Rothbart again," Uberta said as she held onto Jacob, "I felt angry. So angry that all that pain came back again ten fold. I couldn't take the pain and went right back to blaming him for everything. But then Rothbart told us that everything was just a plot to deceive Sargon and everything was just too confusing. I didn't know how to feel about anything. So all I did was respond with anger again. I knew it was wrong but so many emotions were running through my head that it was too much." Odette let out a small sigh.

"Honestly Uberta," she said causing said queen to look up at her, "I think you are telling all of this to the wrong person." Uberta looked at Odette for a moment longer before sighing and looking back at the floor.

"I know," was all she said. Jacob looked down at Uberta.

"Where is he now?" he asked. Uberta, for the first time in a long while, chuckled.

"You know him when he gets angry. The first place he goes to is the kitchen. That's one thing that you two have in common." Jacob smiled down at her.

"Food can be the best medicine for an angry stomach." Uberta shook her head but smiled nonetheless.

"You and food." Odette smiled as she stood up and walked over to the two older Royals.

"Come on," She said. "Let's go find Rothbart. So that you two can be friends again." Uberta, although hesitantly, smiled and nodded her head. And with that, all three of them went to go find the Enchanter and hopefully make things right.

They found Rothbart right where Uberta said they'd find him. Rothbart was sitting in the kitchen next to Rogers, who he had a bag of ice on his head, and had made himself a giant sandwich and was halfway done with it when they had found him. Once he saw Odette, he immediately tried to apologies. Odette smiled and shook it, saying that it wasn't necessary and that she was over it. She did, however, turn to Uberta and told Rothbart that she had something to say. The Enchanter understandably, refused to speak. But the pleading look in Odette's eyes were too much to refuse, so he agreed to speak with her.

Uberta, although hesitantly, told Rothbart everything that she had told Odette as he remained silent as he listened. And as she spoke, Rothbart's facial features slowly turned from anger to one of neutral. He didn't show any emotion as he let Uberta continue to speak her mind. Uberta told Rothbart about how she was was too much of a coward to tell Rothbart that she was wrong because the pain was too great. She also told him how When Uberta finally finished saying what she needed to say, she looked up at Rothbart.

"So, what I'm trying to say is," she said, "I'm sorry Rothbart. Can you forgive me?" Rothbart continued to look at her with a neutral look. Uberta was a little nervous that Rothbart wouldn't forgive her, and she understood why after everything she did to him. Everyone in the room was silent as they waited for Rothbart's answer. But then, Rothbart suddenly had a wide smile as he opened his arms to her. Uberta smiled as well as she went to embrace Rothbart in a tight hug, feeling relieved and overjoyed at her friendship with Rothbart was restored after do many years of pain.

Rothbart felt happier than he felt in a long time. Finally realizing how Uberta felt all these years, how could he be angry with her anymore? He still felt partially responsible for a lot that happened in their lives, but it was good to hear to Uberta had forgiven him. He was happy that everything was returning to normal again. Well, as normal as it could be.

"Thank you for telling me all this Uberta," he said. Uberta nodded as she and Rothbart stayed in that position for over a minute as the enjoyed the moment they were sharing. Finally, they both let go of one another and turned towards everyone else in the room. Odette, who was the, arguable, the happiest person in the room, spoke first.

"So does this mean that you two are friends again?" she asked. Rothbart and Uberta looked at one another before simultaneously nodded.

"Yes, it does," Uberta said.

"Great!" Jacob shouted as he walked over to them, standing between them and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders. "All of us, best friends once again. Things couldn't get any better."

"I couldn't agree more Jake," Rothbart said.

"Absolutely," Uberta agreed.

"Wonderful," Odette chimed in. "Now what do you say we spend the rest of the day together? I want to hear about all the adventures you all use to share when you were kids."

"That sounds lovely," Uberta said as she walked over to her and took one of her arms. "I could tell about this one time where I made all the boys do something that almost got their reputations shattered." This caused Odette to smile at her anxiously.

"What?!" Jacob and Rothbart yelled simultaneously.

"Uberta, you are not telling that story!" Jacob warned. Uberta ignored him as she took Odette out of the kitchen. Jacob and Rothbart looked at one another before chasing after them, trying to get Uberta to not tell that particular event. Odette and Uberta were laughing at their reaction as the Queen began to tell the most embarrassing story about her best friends.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter was a little short, but I wanted to update for my Birthday for you guys. Again, thank you to those who wished me a happy birthday, you guys are the best audience anyone could ask for. Please tell me your thoughts and I will hopefully write the next chapter soon.