A/N: Dedicated to my virtual twin for his B-day and a little bit in collaboration with AquaTurqoise with half the editing!


A Raven's Vengeance

When criminals are defeated and hauled away to prisons, they would ALWAYS hear the words: "Where you are going, you'll have enough time to think about what you have done." Some did do that but there were others out there that thought differently in their time of solitude.

Wormwood was one of them. He had thought he deserved better in the world of villainy. However, he also believed Cedric and his precious princess were the reasons why he was here. Had things been different that day, his relationship with Cedric wouldn't have been so broken as it was now.

In the past, Cedric's goal was to steal Sofia's amulet to take over the kingdom. And as his familiar, Wormwood did everything he could to see that the sorcerer succeeded in this endeavor. While they were successful in taking the amulet, they realized the jewel would become more of an obstacle in their overtaking and were given a much better opportunity to reach that dream later down the road.

The person who presented this opportunity had been Grimtrix. He had suggested using a Medusa stone. Once they had seen that this magical object would make their goal easier the sorcerer used it to freeze everyone that was in his way. Of course, when Sofia came along to stop him the dream died.

The reason why things were as they were now was because of Sofia. She had tried to befriend his master but also brainwashed him with the idea of friendship. Thinking about the very word of "friendship" made the fowl gag.

"The very idea...," Wormwood mumbled under his breath as he continued to sit in the cage Cedric had placed him in. "I don't know how you could be so dumb to believe those sweet words of hers, Cedric, but if I ever get out of here, I'll show you that everything she said was a lie. And you'll regret taking her side."

Just moments after the raven mumbled those words a chuckle and footsteps could be heard down the hall. "What if I told you I can make that possible?" asked a familiar voice.

Wormwood narrowed his eyes as the figure stepped in front of his cage and into the light. "Grimtrix, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help free you, my feathered friend. And if you have any hope of getting out of here I suggest dropping the scowl and saving it for Cedric when you see him," the gray-haired man added as he smirked at the bird. "It wasn't right that your master completely dropped the goal you both worked so hard for, was it?"

"Yeah, that pesky Princess Sofia had him under her thumb," Wormwood muttered.

"And what's worse is that he throws away the one thing that connects you and him, and then he runs to her instead, forgetting all about you. If I were you, I'd escape from here and go take back the relationship you lost so long ago.

"I will get out of here," Wormwood said. " But I won't rekindle the bond Cedric and I once had."

"Oh?"

"First, I'm am going to make him suffer by killing Sofia, and then I'm going give him a slow and painful death as well."

"That does sound like a plan," Grimtrix said as he broke the cage open with his magic, allowing the bird to fly out and land on the sorcerer's hand. "But I don't think you'll be able to accomplish that in your current form. How would you like to become human?"

"As much as I don't like the idea of getting help from you, I have no choice."

"Smart bird." Grimtrix smirked as the bird flew off his hand and landed on the floor for the transformation.

With a flick of his wand the bird transformed into human. His hair was black, his eyes stayed his usual green color, and his clothes were similar to that of a villager, yet on top wore a dark gray robe. "I like this form."

"Good, because if you succeed in killing both Cedric and Sofia, you get to stay this way." Grimtrix began to lead the human Wormwood out of the prison. "Now, we must get out of here before the protectors come to check on you."

"Agreed. Next stop: Enchancia!"

Hearing this made Grimtrix chuckle. "Let's get you magically set up first, so to speak."


"The last thing we need to do, Your Majesty, is go over the guest list for New Year's ," Baileywick said as he marked off a task that was on the long piece of parchment. The four members of the royal family were currently spending time together in the throne room as Roland was trying to finish up his duties for the evening before dinner was served.

"Hm," Roland hummed with a smile after hearing the topic. Turning toward Amber and James, who were on their own thrones, he suggested, "How would you two like to take care of this one?"

"Are you sure, Dad?" James asked with a smirk aimed at his older sibling. "The last time Amber helped out with one of those special events, she went overboard." Hearing a huff out the princess the prince laughed and quickly jumped out of his chair before Amber could hit him with her fan.

"Very funny, dear brother, but this is only the guest list; Mom and Dad will be handling the rest,"she retorted back with a frown then smiled at her parents. "We would be happy to, Daddy."

"Yeah, we'll take care of it. No problem."

"Good, have the list ready before this weekend, and then we'll take care of making the invitations from there," Baileywick informed the two teens as he scribbled something down and rolled the parchment up. "That should do it for the day, Your Majesty. I'll go see how the dinner preparations are coming along."

As the steward left the throne room, the four were left to themselves to chat for a while. To the four of them, it felt great to have the extra free time, which was rare for them.

"You can put away the fan, sis. I was just joking with you," James said as he walked back to the others.

"It better have been a joke," Amber said as she did as her brother said and laid the fan over her lap. "If you had been serious, then you would be regretting your insult."

"It's hard to believe the three of you are nearly grown," Miranda said as she started to shed a tear and used a handkerchief to wipe it away. "Soon the three of you will be tasked to rule and protect the kingdom together."

"But that is still two years down the road. Right now, we'll just finish our schooling and enjoy what we can do now," Amber said as she consoled her mother.

"I am afraid you two won't get to enjoy that luxury."

Looking up, the quartet saw a strange man walking down the carpet with a menacing smile on his face. "No, I do not believe you two will get to have those experiences, because I will be dethroning dear old daddy," he mocked as he pulled out a wand.

Before the new wizard could use it, though, James tried tackling the man while Roland pulled out his sword from his sheath to cut the magical stick in half. Sadly, both attempts were proven futile as the blonde boy fell to the floor and the sword was magically caught and was sent flying through the doors of the entrance, nearly cutting Baileywick, who was watching outside in the hallway.

"You royals should really have majored in advanced magic in school. If you had, then maybe you wouldn't have been needing royal sorcerers in your court to rescue you all the time. I guess today, you'll be learning that lesson the hard way."

Using his wand, Wormwood magically lifted the four family members, bounded their arms and legs, and then sat them against the wall.

"Who are you?" Miranda asked as she glared their captor. "Why come after us?"

"Yeah, we've done nothing to you!" shouted Amber. "So as future queen of Enchancia, I demand you set us free and leave the kingdom!"

"It is true that you have done nothing to me, but Cedric is a different story," the man said as he ignored the princess's demand and watched from the corner of his eyes as the steward ran off. "…Who I am sure will be arriving soon enough, once your friend delivers the message about my presence here..."


"Where does this jar of snail slime go, Uncle Ceddy?" Calista asked Cedric as they were cleaning up from the lesson they just had.

"That goes on the top shelf."

"Okay." Using her wand the little girl magically sent the jar to its proper place then continued seeing to the other materials on the table while Cedric was putting away the spell books. "It's too bad Sofia couldn't join us this time."

"Yes, well, I suppose she can make it up by studying it herself. She's almost mastered the art of magic, so I don't think she'll need me as a teacher anymore..."

"So, if she's going to graduate and be given the title of sorceress, does that mean it would be the perfect time to tell her how you feel?" the girl asked with a cheeky grin forming on her face.

Hearing that question made the sorcerer drop the stack of books he had in his arms to the floor. "What?!"

"You know. When are you going to tell her that you love her?" Calista asked again as she placed her little fisted hands on her cheeks and gushed about the two's past interactions together. "Like that time on Valentine's Day when you gave her flowers, or this past Wassailia when Sofia kissed you on the cheek under the mistletoe. I can't wait to see what she gets you for your birthday this year."

Heaving an exaggerated sigh, the sorcerer pulled up his rolling chair, sat in it, and then gently pulled Calista to his side. "I see Sofia as my best friend, not a lover-"

"LIAR!" Calista pointed her finger in his face, making him blink. "I've seen you two cuddling under the same blanket near the fire place, having dinner together, and spending every minute of the day with each other. Face it, Uncle Ceddy: you are in love with Sofia and have no idea you are courting her." The little girl smirked.

"CALISTA! YOU'VE BEEN SPYING ON US!"

"Don't change the subject, Uncle Ceddy. The fact is that you are in love with Sofia and everybody knows it."

"Everybody knows it?"

"Yep."

After hearing this fact, the sorcerer buried his now red face into his hands. If everybody knew he loved the youngest princess surely this meant her father was going to start coming after him again, only this time much worse. Maybe now was a good time to start considering changing his name and moving to another realm. Yeah, that way Roland would never find him.

"When Sofia gets back from school you will have to tell her."

"Calista-"

"No arguments, Uncle Ceddy. After all you've been through, life is too short to be denying the person who loves you."

Before the sorcerer could counterargue that statement the door to the workshop burst open with a tired Baileywick falling to his knees.

"Baileywick! Are you okay?" the little sorceress asked the panting man as she tried her best to help him stand back up.

After finally catching his breath the steward spoke, "The royal family is in trouble! Some strange sorcerer walked in and tied them up. He's demanding to get revenge against you."

"Who?"

"I don't know. I didn't recognize him."

"Is Sofia with them?" asked Calista.

"She hasn't come back yet."

"I'll take care of our intruder then," the sorcerer said as he grabbed his wand and any other magical item that he could find useful. He started to make his way toward the door when he felt a tiny tug on his robe.

"I'll help you," Calista added as she let go of his robe and pulled out her wand from the sleeve of her robe, but she frowned when Cedric placed a hand on her arm and lowered it.

"It's best that you stay out of this fight, Calista. This man could be very dangerous."

"But Uncle Ceddy!" Calista whined as hot tears stared to roll down her cheeks. I want to help!"

"You will. Just stay here where you are safe." Cedric then walked out of the workshop with Baileywick following behind.

Once she was alone, the little girl crossed her arms in a pout at her uncle's orders. "You probably wouldn't have said that if I was bigger."

After a long moment of recalling all the previous battles the purple clad sorcerer had been in, the little one knew that he was in just as much danger as she was. She needed to get a message to Sofia and fast. Who knew how long her uncle could take on this enemy alone?

Taking the stairs to the back door of the tower, Calista quickly ran to the garden. "Robin, Mia, I need your help!"

During the last few years that Calista lived at the Enchancian castle, she'd gotten to know Sofia's animal friends. While it took a bit of time and a little bit of the speaking potion for Clover to start liking the sorceress due to Cedric's past deeds, the feud was eventually over once she had started giving the bunny her vegetables just so she could get past her uncle's demands of eating them.

"What's the deal? Why did you have to wake me up from my nap, kid?" Clover grumpily muttered once he popped his head out from behind the tomato plants in the garden.

"Calm down, I'm sure she had a good reason," said Robin.

"The royal family is being held captive by some strange man in the castle, and Uncle Ceddy just went off to face him. I'm not sure how long he will be able to hold him off. We need to get Sofia back here to help."

"You know, for having so much high praise for Cedric, I'm surprised you doubt his abilities; but then again, he has been knocked out too many times..." The bunny smirked.

"Clover!" Calista and the birds glared at him.

"What?" he questioned. "I'm just pointing out what she's clearly stating here."

"I'm not saying Uncle Ceddy can't beat anyone. I'm saying he and Sofia take down the villains quicker when they work together." Calista said then turned to the birds. "Can you guys go warn Sofia?"

"Sure thing," said Mia.

After watching the birds fly off Calista picked up Clover and headed toward the throne room. "Let's go see how Uncle Ceddy is holding up."

"Wait, why are you bringing me along?" Clover asked in surprise as the little girl ran. "I can't help in this mess! Take me back to the garden!" Seeing that his demands were futile at the moment, the bunny slumped in the girl's arms. "Great, there goes my midnight snack time."


When Cedric reached the throne room, he saw that the royal family was tied up while a gray clad sorcerer sat on the king's throne. "Ah, Cedric, it's nice that you finally decided to join us. But don't start asking who I am. I've already gone through that with my captives," Wormwood said as he turned his head toward the royals then back to his former master. "I feel it would be best if you figured that out yourself, but then again, I wonder if you can..." The humanized raven smirked as he leaned his head in the palm of his hand.

"I don't care who you are. You are going to get your butt out of that chair and out of this castle. If you don't, I'm afraid I'll have to deal with you the hard way."

After laughing at the purple clad sorcerer's statement, the man wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, please, you couldn't take on anything that fell under that category. I always had to help you with your schoolwork and your career. You were a pathetic sorcerer then and you still are today."

For moment, Cedric didn't know how to argue against his claims. It was true that he'd needed help with those things, but how this man knew about his past was beyond him. If he had really been with him throughout his life, then why couldn't he remember him? Still, that voice did sound familiar…

Seeing that Cedric was confused by his words was not surprising at all. Vacating the throne, he walked down the stairs toward his former master. "You really are slow, aren't you? Why don't I help you figure this out?" He quickly withdrew his wand then sent the two-toned-haired man flying across the room.

Outside in the hall, Baileywick was trying to hold tight to an angry little red-clad sorceress, who was kicking to get free. "Calm down, Calista. The fight has only just begun, and I don't think Cedric got majorly hurt by that."

"Who does this guy think he is, insulting Uncle Ceddy like that? " Calista asked once the steward had placed her to her feet again. "He is a great sorcerer."

"Yes, well, back when he was little, he did struggle with schoolwork. His early career wasn't much different either."

"Oh, right," Calista muttered sadly but quickly perked up and gave the elderly man a determined grin. "However, when Sofia gets here, I'm sure they'll both defeat this guy together."

"You mean, you sent a message to Sofia?"

"Yep, and soon things will be back to normal."

"If Sof don't get back here soon, Cedric may already be knocked out by then," Clover said as he sat by the sorceress's feet.

"If you are as powerful as believe yourself to be, I'm afraid you are going to have to do more than just a scratch," Cedric declared as he got up, not caring about the small hole in his robe.

"I intend to, but not everyone in the group is here yet."

"What do you mean?" Cedric asked in confusion. "I thought I was the one you were after. Who else could you possibly want revenge against?"

"Oh, Cedric, surely you would know by now. Who is the one who always wants to help others? Who is the person who always saves the day when no can? And who was it who stopped you from taking over the kingdom when clearly it should have been ours?!"

"Sofia..." Cedric trailed off in horrified shock.

"Yes, had it not been for that pesky princess, the kingdom would have finally been ours! But after all the years of her brainwashing you with this friendship and love trash, she finally succeeded on making you give up. Had I been human then, I would have stopped her from getting to you and we could have had the kingdom. But not to worry: I will set you free from her spell. Once Princess Sofia returns, I will murder her right in front of your very eyes and then I will slowly kill you myself! I have had enough of you two ruining everything! Today, things are about to change, and there is nothing you can do to stop it from happening!"

"Now it's clear to me," Cedric said as he locked his jaw and glared at the man. "The only one that has helped me in school and with my work? It seems now you are filled with hatred after all these years, Wormwood."

After the humanized bird had finished his rant, everyone's mouths opened in shock. Wormwood had finally given away his identity, but it seemed the very question of how a bird could turn human was what still confused everyone.

"You have got to be kidding me," Clover said in shock from where he, Calista, and Baileywick were standing. "Are you telling me that birdbrain made himself human?"

"Amazing," Baileywick muttered. "I don't know how Cedric's raven could have used magic on himself, but it seems animals can be capable of doing just as much as human can."

"Not exactly; animals can't use magic," Calista corrected. "But if they are picked as an animal helper to any magic wielder, they can probably gain knowledge of any type of magic that exists. It all depends if the animal is really smart and Wormwood is very intelligent. What's worse is that since Uncle Ceddy has been Wormwood's master for years, this could mean that Wormwood is now Cedric's equal."

"Say what?" asked Clover.

"What does that mean?" asked Baileywick.

"It means their powers could equally match and this would be a tie, but if Sofia gets here in time before uncle Ceddy is out of magic and strength, then there's no doubt they'll be able to take Wormwood down."

"You think turning yourself human will give you a major advantage over me? We'll just see about that. You may be a human now, Wormy, but deep down you know you'll always be a raven. And due to that rotten attitude of yours, it only shows you'll always be full of hate!" Cedric finished as he aimed his wand at his target then sent the magic attack that burned his opponent's left arm.

The raven grunted at the pain then glared back at his former master. "You know what? I was going to save your death for last, but it seems you have really done it now!"

"Bring it!"

Suddenly both green and gray magical streams lit up the room, blinding everyone from seeing the fight.

With everyone blinded by the bright lights no knew what was going on or who was winning. At the moment, the situation was looking grim. If Wormwood did end up killing Cedric they all knew that it would be the end of Enchancia. Where was Sofia when they needed her?

Eventually, after being blinded for so long the lights died down. Once her vision had cleared Calista saw that her uncle was on his knees while Wormwood was still standing. To her amazement, the humanized bird wasn't breaking a sweat. Where was he getting all this amazing magical strength?

Giving a glare towards Wormwood, who was clinging to his injured arm, Calista decided that she couldn't wait for Sofia any longer. If she didn't do something now, the little girl knew she would end up losing the one person she loved most! Pulling her wand out she ran inside the throne room "Wormwood, you have been one bad bird!"

"Calista, come back!" Baileywick shouted as uncertainty of what to do to help sunk into him.

Hearing his niece's name being called, Cedric jerked his head up as they all watched the little one running in. "You have done enough damage! I won't let you harm uncle Ceddy anymore!" The red-clad girl said as she sent her red stream of magic towards Wormwood which sent his wand flying across the room and inuring his right hand in the process

Wormwood gritted his teeth in pain as he watched Cedric quickly run to the little girl and bent down to her level. "Calista, you shouldn't have ran in like you did. You could have gotten hurt."

"I may be little uncle Cedddy but I know a lot more than you think I do. We have to work together in order to defeat him."

"Even if you are a prodigy, you are are still too young for this."

"But Uncle Ceddy..." Calista muttered in a whisper as a tear started to slide down her face.

Too late, uncle Ceddy," Wormwood mocked the girl with a smirk. "If the girl wants to join you in death I'll be more than happy to let it happen." "Before either sorcerer could retort back a gray stream of magic was sent their way!

Quickly, Cedric pulled Calista into a protective hug as the attack hit his back sending him to the ground with the little girl in his arms.

Once they both hit the ground, Calista opened to her eyes, crawled out of the purple clad sorcerer's embrace and gently shook him. "Uncle Ceddy, get up. The attack it's-" Suddenly, she stopped mid sentence to check where the attack had hit. To her dismay, Cedric had taken great amount of damage on his back. "Oh no..."

"Uncle Ceddy, please wake up. PLEASE!" Calista screamed as hot tears started to fall. "You can't leave yet..." She cried, laying her head him.

Suddenly, feeling a hand grip the back of her robe and lifting her into the air, Calista's tear-stained face met Wormwood's once again but only this time they were inches apart. "You'll pay for what you did to my Uncle Ceddy! I'll make your life miserable!" She said as she kicked and squirmed to get free.

"Nice try you little runt but I'm afraid your uncle has already done so for you." Wormwood said with a glare then threw her across the room.

"It's time to finish what I came here to do." Wormwood said as he lifted his left hand and conjured a pool of of of black magic.

"I don't think you are going to have that chance, Wormwood." A new voice said as a magical lasso wrapped around Wormwood's arm which made the dark magic to disappear. "You are going back to to the Mystic Isles!"

"Princess Sofia, it's good to see you again but I'm afraid this reunion will be a bittersweet one." the man said as he magically cut the lasso from his arm and sent an attack towards her. To his dismay a magical pink shield protected her.

"I see you have come a long way in magic the last I saw you."

"You have no idea." Sofia answered as she magically summoned a cube to encase Wormwood in it.

"A cube prison? This will not contain me, princess!"

"It's not suppose to." Sofia said with a smirk.

Before the man could ask what she meant an explosion clouded the the throne room which shook the whole castle.

Once the ground stopped shaking and the smoke had cleared, Sofia ran to her mentor on the floor and gently patted his face a few times to wake him. "Cedric, please open your eyes."

Hearing a tiny moan, Cedric's eyes opened to see his former apprentice. "Sofia?"

"Yeah, just relax. I'll take care of things from here." She said as she brushed his bangs out of his eyes and was about to get up until she felt a gloved hand grabbed hers pulling her back down.

"I'll help you, " Cedric said as he tried to stand back up. "Now, that we got two magic experts here instead of one we can finish him."

"You shouldn't in the condition you're in now. The injury on your back could get worse. You are already bleeding through your robe." Sofia reminded him as she held his arm so he wouldn't fall.

"This won't take long. In fact, I think this spell will require three sorcerers." Cedric said he looked toward Calista then back towards an out cold Wormwood. "But we better get to it before Wormwood wakes up."


"What happened..." Wormwood muttered weakly a few minutes later as he struggled to get up but found himself too weak.

"Wormwood, I'm afraid your revenge spree has finally come to an end." Cedric said making the human raven become fully alert.

Taking a good look around, Wormwood saw that the entire throne room floor was covered in a magical, blue, circle and Cedric, Sofia and Calista all stood in three smaller circles with their hands folded together . "W-wait. I can't-"

All of a sudden the blue circle lit up which sent magic to Wormwood but instead of empowering him, it drained his magic making Wormwood to turn back into a his raven form.

"No! How could I have lost?"

"Taking over a kingdom won't make you happy, Wormwood," Cedric said as he glared at the wounded raven then turned toward Sofia, who walked up to him and wrapped his arm around her neck to make sure he wouldn't fall. "And until you find a friend like Sofia you'll never understand how I feel." He finished as the pain from earlier returned. Making the man to groan.

"Take it easy, it's over now," Sofia comforted her friend as his head dropped. "Let's get you the the hospital wing. Baileywick and the guards will take care of the rest here."


Sofia took a sip of the punch she had in her goblet as she watched the many guests enjoy themselves at the New Years ball. While the protector had joined in the little bit of fun with friends and family she couldn't help but wonder how Cedric was doing.

After Wormwood's defeat, Sofia and the royal doctor did their best to oversee Cedric's wounds. While they were able to deal with minor cuts and bruises easily, the damage that was done to the sorcerer's back was far worse than they could handle. This lead to the decision of sending Cedric to Merlin, who they believed could undo the damage the black magic had done since Goodwyn and Winifred were unavailable at the moment.

Looking away from the activity, Sofia sadly gazed into the goblet she held in her hands. She wished Merlin had let her stay at the Tower of Dragonhold to help but after giving his own examination at the damage Cedric took, the elder wizard had deduced it would take few months to heal the wound and take away the dark magic that was placed on Cedric.

Giving a sigh, Sofia placed her cup on a tray a servant held as he passed by. If she couldn't get herself to enjoy the ball maybe she should go back to her room wile also go check on Calista.

As she started to make her way out of the ball room a familiar voice called out to her from behind. "Surely, you're not going to bed on new year's eve this early princess," Turning around she found Cedric standing there in a purple tuxedo, fingerless gloves on his hands and his two-toned hair combed back. "I was hoping you would honor my request of a dance to welcome the new year in."

"C-Cedric, what are doing here?" Sofia asked worriedly as walked up to him. "Coming back when you're not completely healed yet is very dangerous."

"Magic has some perks to it, my dear. I used one pain relief spell on myself and Merlin agreed to give me the Cinderella deal," Cedric said as he picked up her hand, kissed the back of it and smiled. "So I am yours till the midnight."

"Well, if you are sure it won't make things worse for you then I will dance with you." Sofia said as a smile finally made it's way to her face again.

Taking her hand, he lead to the dance floor and joined in the waltz. After a few moments of getting into the rhythm of of the music both began to think of a way to start the conversation but it didn't take the auburn-haired girl long to decide what to say. "I'm sorry for not being able to come help stop Wormwood sooner. If I had been home after school-"

"Don't blame yourself, Sofia," Cedric interrupted her. "It's my fault for not being strong enough to stop my own familiar. Knowing that he still held some bitterness towards me after the Vor takeover I should have been more prepared. I should have known he would come back for revenge. I guess this means I need to work harder at my job."

"You've done a great job so far. We all need to work harder to improve our abilities."

"Perhaps."

"Speaking of blame, Calista believes your injuries are her fault. Ever since that day she hasn't been her happy, bubbly-natured self since you left."

"I talked to her before I came to the ballroom. She's sure to be back to her normal self when you see her in the morning. In fact, before I left she kept begging me to stay after I promised I would return to Enchancia soon." Cedric said, giving chuckle as he remembered his nieces antics.

"That's good to hear," Sofia said after giving her own chuckle. "It guess we all are healing well from the incident."

Cedric hummed at the thought of the rest of the royal family and Baileywick. "I'm sure we all will be fine now but I don't think Wormwood is going to go through any sort of healing. Did the protectors decide to take him back to the Mystic Isles?"

"Yeah, only this time he will be watched everyday. To make things worse for him Orion thought a really good punishment would be to magically take away his wings so he won't be able to fly even if he does escape."

"That sounds fitting to me. You must thank Orion for me." Cedric said with a playful smirk at the thought of a wingless Wormwood.

"I'll be sure to do that the next time I get called up there."

With the subject of the Wormwood incident over, Cedric remembered the conversation he had with his niece before this whole mess started. Should he tell Sofia how he felt about her or should he keep it a secret and let her find love with someone else? In a way, both sides were still at a tug of war inside him.

Seeing that Cedric had been silent for the rest of the song, Sofia decided maybe he was either just enjoying the moment or thinking. Could this be a good time to tell him how she felt about him? Perhaps, it was time. After all, she didn't want to lose him like she almost did THAT day.

After the long silence both talked over each with what they wanted to say which made them both laugh at that. "Go on. Say what you need to first. You look like you've been thinking about something real deeply tonight." Sofia said with a smile.

"Actually, I've been thinking about this ever since that day with Wormwood," Cedric muttered. "Before this whole mess started Calista was giving me a pep talk about it and she said it's really important that I tell you. It's funny the way that kid thinks..." He trailed off.

"What's that?" She asked curiously as they stopped dancing and moved to the side of the room out of earshot from anyone.

"I don't know how it started but you've been a real good friend to me for a long time now. You are my best friend. And you are the reason I am the person you see before you today. Over time as you grew, I realized you would one day leave the kingdom, leave me..."

"Cedric..."

"And the question I kept asking myself was: 'Will I be strong enough to watch you go out into the world on your own?'" Cedric said as he closed his eyes for a moment then continued. " I eventually learned the answer to my question. 'I won't be.' When you leave to marry a nobleman I'll continue to wonder about you. Suffer the pain of worrying about if this man is treating you right. I also hope the man will love you so much that you'll forget all about this old sorcerer you've come to admire."

Seeing that he had his princess in tears now he began to wipe them away with his fingers as he continued. "I figured if I can survive all the pain of mistreatment people have given me in the past then I know I can survive suffering the pain of all I just mentioned and let you go. Whoever you choose to marry, my dear, I will be alright with it. I can't be selfish and keep that beautiful heart of yours to myself."

As he finished Sofia's hand lowered Cedric's a little as tears continued to flow. Were those really his thoughts? Was he really willing to let her go and marry some other man? This was NOT what she had hoped to hear. Did this mean he he did not lover in 'that way'?

"N-no. I-I." The princess stuttered until she finally broke down which surprised Cedric. "I'm never going to look for another man, Cedric."

"But Sofia you deserve to find someone..."

"That's just it. You know I admired you ever since I moved to the castle. The truth is that I had a crush on you as a kid. I loved everything about you. Your magic drew me in. I thought your hair was cool. I went to you about each nightmare or any magic problem I had. To me you were my best friend and you still are. When I first moved into the castle I felt I was alone in this new world of royalty and in a way I realized you felt alone to. No one could understand us but we built a friendship. Fought many villains together. I can't imagine my life without you in it, Cedric. I've loved you for a long time and fact that you were nearly taken way from me broke me. I can't marry any other man cause I always hoped it would be you one day but if you don't feel the same I will understand."

After a moment Sofia watched Cedric smile and became curious of what that expression meant. Was it good or bad?

Lowering her hands. Cedric wiped away the rest of her tears, kissed her temple and cupped her face in his hands. "Sofia, I do feel the same way for you. I only said all that in case you loved some other boy. I never wanted to see you marry someone else. But now that I know that there is no one in the way..."

Cedric pulled her face close to his, closed his eyes and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips which made her to return the kiss as she closed her eyes.

When they parted Cedric rubbed his thumb across her cheek as she held his hand with hers. "I love you, Sofia."

"I love you too, Cedric."

Suddenly, both saw people starting to head to the balcony. "I guess it's time for the countdown already but I don't think we'll get good view of the fire works." Sofia said surprised that time had passed by while they were talking.

"I know a good spot where we'll be able to see them better." Cedric said with a smirk then used a teleportation spell to make them disappear in a puff of green smoke and had then reappear in the same manner in her secret garden.

As the duo heard the crowd on the balcony count down to midnight Cedric pulled Sofia close him as he placed his hand on her cheek again. "It looks like my time is up, my dear. Take care Calista for me while I'm gone."

"Cedric-"

"It's not goodbye forever, my love. I'll only be gone for a few months. When I return we'll start back where we left off. I promise..." Cedric said as he cupped her face in both of his hands again and kissed her passionately making Sofia to return it in the same way.

As they parted Sofia watched as Cedric began to slowly disappear as fireworks began to go off into the sky.

"Till we meet again, Sofia." Cedric's voice echoed into the breeze.

Once Cedric was completely gone Sofia muttered with a smile. "Until we meet again...Cedric."


A/N: After months of working on it/ procrastination/ slash trying to make this a awesome story I hope you enjoyed this emotional roller coaster! Please review!