Chapter 11: Red Shoes' Kiss

Prince Average walked into his office, clearly defeated.

"Ah! What are you doing here!?" Prince Average asked frightfully as Regina stood before him.

"I've come for my shoes." She appeared before him with an outstretched hand.

"Well I had them I mean I saw them, but those, those dwarves-"

"So you failed?" She asked as she placed a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes in disappointment.

"This is just a calculated time out." Prince Average said so defensively.

"Silence! Have a bite." At the latter, Regina offered him an apple.

"Apples, the most suspicious of fruits." Prince Average said as he looked at the apple suspiciously.

"I don't have much time for this. Just remember, what's bad for me will be very bad for you. Lethal even." Regina winked as she disappeared. A moment later, Prince Average shrugged and decided to at least try the apple, thus he and his two guards took a bite of their apples, when suddenly they were transformed as a mysterious black smoke enveloped them.

The next day, Pino, Nocci, and Cchio were able to get their wooden giant to fly with the use of the magic broom Red Shoes crash landed into their tree when she had first arrived there.

"That's amazing!" Red Shoes was thoroughly impressed as she watched Cchio making copies of the missing person's poster of her father with their invention. Merlin got jealous and pushed Cchio out of the way.

"Here, let me!" Merlin began making copies quickly.

"Let's do this!" Red Shoes jumped into the air as she hugged Pino, Nocci, and Cchio, thanking them for all their hard work. Thus, they loaded the posters into the wooden giant and took off flying

Red Shoes and Merlin decided to fly the magic broomstick on the back of the giant. Red Shoes was thoroughly excited, but Merlin was terrified. He did his best to put on his brave face in order to impress her, though his heart leapt into his throat as he closed his eyes. Then he felt Red Shoes' arms around him as he sighed in relief, imaging what it would be like not to be cursed and for her to be holding him in his princely form. Pino let the flyers go as Merlin whooped for joy.

"You know Merlin; I fell so lucky that I met you." Red Shoes said with a brilliant smile across her face.

"Oh, I feel so lucky that I met you too. I feel like anything is possible." Merlin stood as he once again imagined what it would be like for them to be standing at the front of the broom, Red shoes in front of him as he held her close, they shared a kiss as they then stared into each other's eyes dreamily.

"Merlin! Merlin! Watch out!" Red Shoes shouted as he opened his eyes and realized they were about to hit a tree. The two were able to aim the wooden giant up, but they were struck by the branches and fell off.

"Woah! Ahh!" Red Shoes and Merlin both yelled as they fell out of a tree and Merlin landed on top of Red Shoes.

"Merlin, Merlin, everything ok?" Red Shoes said dreamily as Merlin slowly opened his eyes and realized he was gripping onto her arm.

"Oh, yeah of course." He hopped up and began swinging his arms nervously.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, so why are we talking about it? When we should be going, this way." Merlin quickly pointed to the direction of the "castle" as Red Shoes got up and began following him.

"Wait!" Red Shoes went after him.

"So, about these magic shoes." Red Shoes began rather nervously.

"What, they're still bothering you? What kind of magic do those shoes have?" Merlin looked her up and down.

"Well, uh, how do I put this?" Red Shoes scratched the back of her neck as she tried to put the explanation of the shoes into as few of words as possible.

"Merlin, I used to be strong. Really strong, and I was always proud of that. But um, the shoes' magic made me a little . . . dainty." Red Shoes smiled as she watched for his reaction.

"Sorry to hear." Merlin shrugged, rather apologetically.

"The shoes made me, lose a little weight." Red Shoes shrugged nonchalantly.

"That's no so bad. Could be worse." Merlin shrugged indifferently.

"Ok, a lot of weight." Red Shoes added.

"Ah, well I know what it's like to look different on the outside from what you are on the inside." Merlin clapped his hands together as he looked over his right shoulder at the river; the sun was slowly setting.

"Merlin, I'd like to give you a token, of my appreciation. Give me one of your spells." Red Shoes smiled at him, she felt as though they not only had a connection, but that they truly understood one another.

"Why?" Merlin looked at her rather perplexed and suspiciously.

"Oh come on, I'm not going to zap you." Red Shoes shrugged as he agreed. She found a nearby tree trunk and sat atop it as she secretly folded up the spell into a type of flower. Merlin peeked over her shoulder, but Red Shoes caught him and he turned away. She quickly kissed the token and handed it to him.

"There, consider it your good luck charm." She turned away bashfully as she looked up at the clouds.

"Ah, thank you." Merlin quickly began kissing the lipstick on the token numerous times, as he closed his eyes and looked at his hand, but they were just the same: green, chubby, and small. He hadn't changed. He grumbled to himself.

"Merlin, do you think we'd be happier if we were our old selves again?" Red Shoes asked as she watched the sun slowly setting beyond the horizon.

"Yep. Yep. Yep. Definitely we would." Merlin said straightforwardly.

"I don't know. I like how we are. Right here, right now." Red Shoes looked over at him.

"Even if I'm, an ugly green monster." Merlin said teasingly as he made a face with his fingers lifting up his upper lip acting like teeth and made his voice sound nasally.

"Ha! I don't care about what height or what color you are." Red Shoes shrugged.

"I mean, that's the way you feel about me. Right?" Red Shoes asked rather timidly.

"Yes, of course. I mean, duh." Merlin joked again as Red Shoes laughed.

"I think we're both just trapped under the same spell." She looked at him through half lidded eyes as Merlin suddenly realized she was leaning in to kiss him.

As Red Shoes closed her eyes, Prince Merlin appeared and they shared their first kiss. They both felt elated, but Merlin was exceedingly excited to have had finally broken his curse. As they pulled back slowly, Merlin could still feel the warmth of her lips, then he put his hand over her eyes.

"Merlin?"

"Wait, just, don't, don't open your eyes yet."
"What, why?"
"Just trust me. When you open your eyes, there will be a handsome, man in front of you. Someone worthy of you, someone you'll be proud to be seen with."
"Haha, I think you're right." Red Shoes giggled as Prince Merlin stood up and began dancing around.

"And—oh it's such a great day to break a curse—open you eyes. You just got Merlined! What do you think? Mission impossibly handsome. Right?" He sang and danced as Red Shoes giggled.

"Haha." Red Shoes continued giggling at how humorous and flirty Merlin was being.

"Oh, it's ok. I know this is a lot to take in. But you can let your happiness flag fly. This. This, is the real me!" Merlin danced around, then as he stretched out his hands, he realized his curse wasn't broken yet.

"It's stupid." Red Shoes was referring to the act Merlin was doing, or at least what she thought was an act.

"What!? Wait a minute! My fingers are still green sausages. No! I look the same!"

"Yes, impossibly handsome." Red Shoes smiled at him honestly.

"This, doesn't make sense. You're the most beautiful woman in the world. Why do I look the same!?"
"What are you talking about Merlin?" Red Shoes tilted her head to the side.

"Do I need a longer kiss? Two kisses!? Let's try again." Merlin turned back to look at Red Shoes.

"Um, you're not making any sense." There was a sudden growl behind her as a giant bear looking warrior appeared before them, swinging its arms around and knocking trees over.

"Come on!" Merlin took her hand as they ran away from it.

"What is that?" Red Shoes continued running as she tried to look back.

"This kingdom has a serious monster problem!" Merlin ran even faster as another wooden bear monster appeared before them. They made their way around it, and Merlin had noticed a pile of rocks, he pulled out a paper talisman and struck one of the rocks below, but it wasn't enough to take out one of the monsters. They continued running as yet a third wooden bear monster appeared.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Merlin shouted as he noticed the rocks had in fact finally moved and one of the monsters was thrown into the river below them, he then looked over at Red Shoes.

"Close your eyes!" He told her.

"Merlin, this is no time for kissing!"

"Just do it, please! Trust me." He pleaded, Red Shoes agreed as she stood behind him and Prince Merlin managed to use his magic on the other two monsters to temporarily distract them.

"Don't turn around, but do you see that tree on the other side of the bridge over there?" Prince Merlin asked.

"Yes."

"Run to it, but whatever you do, don't look back."
"I can't leave you."
"I'll be find, just please, go."

"Alright." Red Shoes took off running as Prince Merlin readied his magic and fought the two monsters with ease, momentarily defeating them, teasing them as he said over and over "You just got Merlined, yes you did." In a rather puppy-dog voice. He was at last walking towards the tree where Red Shoes was waiting for him when suddenly the third monster appeared once again. The monster shouted as Prince Merlin threw a ball of lightening at it, the monster tumbled over as Prince Merlin walked over smugly.

"Ha, you're even more pathetic than Prince Average."

"It's Ah-vuh-rhage!" The monster yelled at him as Prince Merlin was taken aback. The monster (Prince Average) managed to take a hold of Prince Merlin as the two fell into the river beneath them.

"Merlin!" Red Shoes heard the giant splash as she ran over and saw Merlin sink to the bottom. She quickly dove in after him, but a rock had pinned him down. In her dainty Red Shoes persona, she could not lift the rock off him. Thus she desperately took off her red shoes with ease as her strength returned.

Luckily Merlin did not loose consciousness and Snow White was able to get the two (along with her red shoes) to the surface and dragged them over to shore as they both coughed up water. Merlin looked over at Snow White in shock.

"Huh! Snow White!" The three small wooden bears suddenly appeared as Snow White looked up at them before laying her head down in exhaustion. The wooden bunny also appeared as it helped the three wooden bears pull her and Merlin into the forest for safety. Regina was able to see through the eyes of the wooden bunny and realized Snow White had been the one to take the red shoes. She thus devised a plan to get them back.