Bad Habits
Summary: A few days before Sofia's 18th birthday, she and Cedric are cursed by an unknown source, who absorbs the goodness within them and turns them wicked, forcing them to do his evil bidding. If the curse isn't reversed within 48 hours, they'll remain wicked forever.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sofia the First. I only own the concept of the Never Realm, which will make its appearance in the next story.
A/N: Ah, I love all the speculation. ;p And I really love how people are jumping all over Roland for jumping to conclusions. That seems to be a theme with him (and Cedric, but usually for different reasons, lol). Watch Wormwood, of course. You all seem to realize pretty early that he's an integral part of this story, whether he wants to be or not. 😊 Gotta love Wormy!
Chapter 3: Magnus and Mayhem
Upon arriving in Rudistan, Wormwood managed to remain hidden while the two friends exited the AutoCoach, gleefully approaching the castle in the distance and chatting about what they'll do when they seize the kingdom. He flew along behind them, darting in and out of hiding places while eavesdropping on their conversation.
"You know, we don't have to turn the kingdom over to Mr. Doom-and-Gloom," she reasoned, referencing the cloaked stranger with her nickname for him. "We're obviously more powerful than he is; otherwise, he never would have sent us on this mission."
"Yes, I suppose…" Cedric shrugged. "What would we do with this kingdom though? Practically everyone who worked for the man was either fired or quit, so we'd have no staff."
"Yes, but if we pull this off, you'll be King Cedric!" She linked her right arm with his left and used her free hand to dramatically gesture before her. "Picture it, Mr. Cedric. The kingdom bowing at your feet! Everyone at your beck and call!"
He smirked, intrigued by the possibility, recalling the old days of his plotting to take over Enchancia. "That does sound nice. And you say everyone will be bowing at my feet and heeding my requests?" He turned his gaze to her, chuckling playfully as she scoffed.
"Well, not me. We're supposed to be partners. If anything, you should bow to me."
Cedric blinked before rolling his eyes. "I don't think so. You may have been a princess longer than I'll be a king, but bowing to you is out of the question."
"And why is that?" she challenged.
"Because…regardless of our situation, you're the closest thing I have to a friend and even family right now, and adding that barrier between us could be…dangerous."
Sofia faltered for a bit, surprised by his words. That didn't sound like her wicked sorcerer. It sounded more like a sentimental sap. "Mr. Cedric…" And she was being taken in by it.
He cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the situation he'd set up. "A-Anyway, my point is, we're in this together: King Cedric and Princess Sofia, magical rulers of Rudistan." He winked at her, causing her to giggle. "Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"If we can get away with it, then it absolutely does."
Wormwood huffed quietly as he discreetly followed them. "And yet when I wanted him to take over Enchancia, it was all, 'No! I can't disappoint Sofia!' And now that Sofia wants to be evil and take over a kingdom, he's just like, 'Kay!' Hypocritical sorcerer. Whatever Sofia wants, Sofia gets, I see." He rolled his eyes and continued on his way.
After sneaking inside the castle through an underground passageway, Cedric and Sofia hurried along the corridors and up to the main floor of the castle.
"We need to figure out where this blasted sword is," Cedric quipped. "What was it called again?"
"The Sword of Declan the Chevalier," Sofia recalled, smirking as she grasped her Enchantlet. "And I know just what to do." She summoned her Which-Way Bow before pulling back on it. "Which-Way Bow, show us the way to the Sword of Declan the Chevalier!" As she released the magical arrow, she told her friend, "I hope this thing works on objects… I usually only use it to find people."
Both were satisfied when the arrow shot down the pathway.
"I suppose there is only one way to find out," Cedric reasoned, falling in step with Sofia as they both began running to chase after it.
They soon were led to a large ivory-colored door coated in rubies and diamonds. The arrow darted all around the door before diving back into Sofia's Enchantlet.
"I'm going to make an educated guess and say it's inside here," Cedric remarked as he held one hand up to the door. He winced and recoiled as his fingers brushed the doorknob, which zapped him with a spark of electricity. "Someone is certainly protective of something in here."
"I bet that's his hiding spot for his royal jewels or something. I've got it." She withdrew her wand and, muttering a quick spell, blasted the door off its hinges. She grinned in satisfaction as Cedric gaped at her.
"Remind me not to get you angry…again." He smiled mischievously as she laughed and led him inside. "So, this isn't exactly what I was expecting…"
As they looked around, they noticed that the room wasn't filled with jewels and gold like they'd expected, although there were a few cases of crowns and tiaras lining the topmost layer of the room. Instead, it was filled with at least a hundred portraits…of Magnus.
"Why would anyone want to protect these?" Sofia asked in disgust, shying away from one portrait that she'd accidently brushed against. She shivered a bit as she noticed that it was a portrait of the man in his royal bathing suit. "If this is what he considers 'treasure,' I seriously question his perspective."
"Enough about Mr. Self-Absorbed. Let's find that sword." Cedric tossed a few of the smaller portraits aside before shoving some of the bigger ones toward the sides of the room. "If I were a sword, where would I be?"
The princess laughed. "Probably in a stone…" She smirked as he blinked at her. "You know? Like King Arthur? Who knew Merlin? The sword in the…? Never mind." She scoffed. "For being such a huge fan of Merlin, you know so little about his history with royalty."
"Forgive me if I find royalty less fascinating than Merlin," he quipped, digging through some of the piles of useless items. "It would help if we knew what it looked like though."
"I'm going with long and pointy, and probably encased or something." She bumped into the wall and gasped sharply when something clanged to the stone floor. Leaning down, she picked up a sheath that had a sword handle sticking out of it. "…Or it could have just been hanging on the wall, buried behind a bunch of tacky portraits of Magnus." She grinned toward Cedric, tossing the sword to him and watching as he caught it. "There you go. Part one is done. Now, let's deal with the king."
King Magnus was lounging in his throne, a stack of papers strewn across a lap desk before him. He yawned as he signed each page, not even bothering to preview the content written on it. "Barclay!" He frowned as an older gentleman dressed in a dark gray suit, his thinning white hair tied back at his nape, shuffled into the throne room. "I thought you said I'd be done signing all these papers within the hour." He showed the old man his pocket watch, which indicated that the minute hand was two minutes past the hour. "It's been sixty-two minutes, Barclay."
"My apologies, sire," the man told him kindly. "Perhaps I miscalculated."
"You know, if I had that steward from Enchancia—what's-his-face…Baking Bits?—this never would happen. That man has a schedule and system he sticks to." He frowned as he moved the lap desk down to the floor. "You're getting to be about as useless as the last steward I had."
Barclay swallowed nervously before bowing lowly. "I apologize profusely, King Magnus. You can finish signing the documents at a later date. Nothing is due immediately."
The royal man huffed. "You could have told me that before I started this, Barclay."
"I am truly sorry, sire." He bowed once more before gathering the documents and stumbling out of the room.
King Magnus sighed heavily. "You just can't find good help these days."
"Or maybe you can, but you just have goals that are far too lofty."
The ruler gasped and sat up straight, looking toward the door. His mouth hung open as he saw two familiar faces before him. "Princess Sofia? And that sorcerer…er, your name escapes me."
Cedric deadpanned at the man before withdrawing his wand. "Oh, trust me, King Magnus…" He smirked dangerously. "I'll make sure that never happens again. Confuto!" He laughed as the king, who'd begun attempting to flee, paused in his tracks. Frozen in place, he could only watch and listen as the two friends approached him. "You seem stressed, Your Majesty. Is the work of a king too much for you to handle? The princess and I would gladly take over for you."
The king's eyes widened as he attempted to speak, but he was silenced by the spell.
Sofia giggled, spinning around victoriously. "We did it, Mr. Cedric! Rudistan belongs to us!"
"I don't think so."
The twosome turned around, seeing the dark-cloaked figure standing nearby. With one steady hand reaching forward and yanking down the hood from his disguise, he was revealed to be…
"Slickwell!" Sofia growled, dropping to a defensive stance. "I should have known you were the slimy cretin behind that cloak."
"You have a lot of nerve calling me slimy, Princess Sofia," Slickwell countered, grinning. "I'm well aware of what you and your little sorcerer friend did to your own kingdom before coming here. And hey, as much as I admire your nasty, naughty little display, I gave you two a job: steal the Sword of Declan the Chevalier, and seize the kingdom for me. I never said anything about you ruling this kingdom." He lifted his hands, which were both covered in dark marks, and pooled a bit of negative energy between his palms.
"Wait a minute." Sofia frowned as she looked toward Cedric. "Slickwell doesn't know magic. When he went after Baileywick, he used a magical object, but he's not powerful at all…"
Cedric hummed thoughtfully. "Those marks are from a cult…" He raised his eyebrows at the brown-haired man. "Someone's been dabbling in dark magic from the Never Realm, I take it."
Slickwell grinned. "Very astute, sorcerer. And I'm sure you know all about that!" He threw a blast of dark magic toward them, laughing maniacally as Cedric grabbed Sofia, pulling her toward him as the magic just barely missed them. "Aww, isn't that sweet? Even under a wicked spell, the two Enchancian do-gooders still cling to each other for support."
Wormwood finally caught up to the others, resting on the rafters of the throne room as he listened to the three of them arguing.
"We did all the work, Slickwell!" Sofia wriggled out of Cedric's hold and pointed at the former Rudistanian steward with a deep frown on her face. "We deserve the kingdom!"
"You petulant princess! I'm the one who sent you on this quest!" Using his new form of cult magic, he absorbed the sword from Cedric's hold and laughed as he caught it. "I made you, and I can break you. And you'll never be good again unless you somehow manage to find the Crown of Angelique anyway, so good luck with that!" He laughed.
"The Crown of Angelique," Wormwood muttered to himself. He knew about that crown. (In fact, he knew all about several crowns, as evidenced in the past.) This particular diadem was infused with Light Magic that could counteract any curse placed upon someone. "The last owner of that crown was…" He gasped softly. "Magnus." With that in mind, he turned and swiftly flew off.
"Do you really think we're concerned with being 'good' again?" Cedric challenged. "This isn't about that, Slickwell. Right now, you're interfering with a much more important matter." He grinned wickedly. "And maybe you haven't heard, but we're Cedric and Sofia, and we don't lose." He directed his wand toward the other man, the magic from it sparking out haphazardly.
Sofia mimicked his actions.
"If that's the case," Slickwell chortled, holding his hands out toward the duo, "bring it on."
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Lighten Up