The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts
Chapter 8: Awakened Powers
In the distance Garren watched worriedly as Archer stood his ground, his bowstring stretched back as far as it can go. Standing in front of Lucy was a little girl a little under his own height. The look in her eyes was sheer determination. He knew that well because he had seen Archer with those same eyes. But as Garren looked upon his eyes now, for some reason they were not the same eyes that he had come to know. Archer's eyes had gone cold with no trace of any warm kindness.
"I have to stop him! He's gone mad!"
Garren looked on at them, trying to hear their conversation. He then saw Archer slowly closing in on the two girls. As much as Garren wanted to stop him, his feet did not move forward. He was scared of the way he looked, he knew that it was not him at all.
Suddenly he heard a very loud rustle coming from right behind them. Being very scared as he was now Garren quickly turned only to feel violent tremors beneath his feet.
Garren knew at that moment that a storm was coming.
And he knew just who it was.
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Lucy could not find the words to speak as she stared helpless at the drawn arrow aimed right at her. She could see that Vanellope was shocked as she still stood her ground.
"You know this guy?!" she finally whispered turning towards her.
"Yes she does." Archer's voice answered back, "And she's going to pay for what she did!"
Lucy turned her attention to him, a feeling of confusion mixed with curiosity jumbled inside her head.
"What do you mean?" she asked, "What did I do to you?"
"You know perfectly well what you did to me!" he yelled back making her flinch.
Vanellope turned back to Archer looking as confused as Lucy was, "What exactly did Lucy do to you, might I ask?"
He hesitated, his bowstring drawing tighter with each passing moment. In the corner of Lucy's eye she spotted a little boy in the distance. He looked as if he was scared to come any closer.
"Why does he look familar? Have I seen-"
"She was the one that broke my heart!" Archer bellowed deeply.
Lucy flinched, gasping as she came back to Archer now slowly approaching her. His eyes were just about as cold as stone. She thought this rather odd somehow.
"Even if Archer was chasing after me, he would never have cold eyes like that. Something is definitely wrong."
"You were the one who turned me away when I wanted to be with you! You were the one that shut me out when the darkness was taking you apart!" Archer shouted at Lucy.
Archer was now almost up to the two of them as an unpleasant smile came across his face. Lucy shivered at the sight, wishing that she was somewhere other than where she was now.
"Now...I get to have my revenge!"
His tensed arm pulling the arrow back was now at the point to release. Lucy now understood why Archer was acting this way.
He's under a shadow's control.
Then very slightly, Lucy felt something tremble beneath her feet. The ground below her seemed to be trembling violently.
"Lucy! Take my hand, quickly!"
Vanellope ran herself into Lucy, grabbing her arm and pulling her down to her level. Then without warning they left the solid ground below. All Lucy could see was hot, blue pixels surrounding her before her eyes faded to black.
Before fading into unconsciousness, Lucy could have sworn she had seen the big figure of Ralph heading towards her and Vanellope.
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Having heard voices at the racetrack, Ralph followed them determined to find Lucy before she got herself hurt. He had stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice. The voice of the man called Archer. Even though he was very far from them, he could still see the three figures in the distance. One of them having pointed his bow and arrow at two of the figures, who stood in silence.
Ralph tried his best to understand what they were saying, but even having very good hearing it was of no use. Looking closer he could clearly make out the one holding the bow was definitely Archer, but something was wrong. Very wrong.
"Why in the world is he-" Ralph stopped midsentence when his eyes caught onto the other two figures. The smaller one he knew all to well, for he knew what Vanellope looked like anyday. But the other figure made him stop dead.
It was Lucy.
She stood there unmoved as Archer had his bow raised right up to her.
At this point, his bad-guy code had given away to blind rage, but inside he knew that it was his courage to protect his friends. Both of them.
Ralph charged forward running as fast as he could. He ran so fast that he barely noticed that he ran past the little boy that always was with Archer. Within that split second, the boy gave a frightened but surprised expression as he passed by.
With one swing of his wrecking fist, he hit the target that was Archer. As soon as Ralph's fist hit him, Archer collapsed to the ground in a daze. For a moment he lay there with a shocked expression on his face.
At the moment Ralph snapped out of his blind rage. He lowered his hands as he looked down at the dazed man that lay there. Then he realized that the two girls had disappeared. Looking all around him he tried to spot them. To his relief Ralph spotted Vanellope's waving hand over at the starting line of the racetrack; and Lucy was there as well, apparently having lost consciousness.
The sound of Archer waking out of his daze snapped him back to where he was. He stood up slowly to meet Ralph, but this time Archer was not about to walk away.
Ralph raised his fists high, ready for his attack.
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"Ow..." Lucy groaned as she slowly regained consciousness.
When she opened her eyes, she was surprised by the sight of Vanellope looking right at her closely.
"Oh good, you're awake and alright, girlie." she sighed in relief.
Slowly Lucy sat up, looking at her surroundings. Looking across from her Lucy saw the white and pink checkered starting line, and looking up she saw the word "Start" on the colorful archway.
"This is...the racetrack." she muttered in amazement.
Vanellope gave a big smirk, "Yep, I glitched us down here out of harm's way."
Lucy gasped now remembering that a few moments before they were standing before Archer's arrow.
"What happened?! Where's Archer?!" she exclaimed terrified.
Vanellope pointed up to the hill that they were just on. As Lucy looked in Vanellope's direction, she could just see Archer perched there on the hill. Except he was not standing there, but instead he was laying on the ground, dazed. Her attention then was turned to the other figure that had appeared out of nowhere. Her eyes widened as she gazed at the sight of Ralph, just as dazed as Archer was.
"C'mon girlie!" she heard Vanellope's voice say, "We've got to get out of here before something terrible happens!"
She grabbed her hand and tugged on it, but Lucy did not budge. She still watched as Archer slowly came back up on his feet.
"Ralph..."
Lucy felt Vanellope's tugs stop dead. Curious she looked down at her wondering what was wrong.
"How...?" she asked dazed, "How do you know my friend Ralph?"
Lucy looked down at the little girl. She suddenly realized that she had seen her before.
At the DDR party, where she had met Ralph.
"Wait...I do know you." Lucy said slowly.
Vanellope looked back at her confused. "So, you do remember."
Lucy nodded, "Yeah, I saw you last night...barely...at that party."
She then showed her the cloth that Ralph had wrapped around her arm.
"He helped me when I was in trouble and when my arm got bruised." she smiled at the girl, "You're friend...he is very kind."
The both of them just sat there as Vanellope stared at Lucy's wrapped arm. Lucy knew that Vanellope was just as shocked as scared as she was. Suddenly Lucy gasped silently as she realized that Ralph was in trouble.
"Vanellope, we have to go back there." Lucy said starting to get up.
"WHAT?! NO WAY!" Vanellope tugged back on Lucy making her fall down, "Did you see the look in that guy's eyes? He means to hurt you."
"But I know a way to save them." Lucy answered diligently.
Vanellope only gave her a concerned look. She knew that the little girl did not want to go back to the possible danger that lay up on the hill.
Lucy took the little girl's hand in hers,"Look Vanellope, we're both friends with Ralph right? And we want to make sure he's safe and sound, right?"
She felt Vanellope's hands tremble inside of hers as she slowly nodded silently.
"Then...we have to go back."
She gave Vanellope a warm smile, telling her that it would be alright. The girl sniffled once, then squeezed her hands into Lucy's.
"What's your plan then girlie." she responded with determination.
"I can do something to stop Archer, but...it's just been so long since I've used it."
She looked up towards the hill, "I just hope this works."
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Left and right Ralph dodged his incoming attacks as Archer swung and shot arrows at him.
"He's fast, I'll give him that much. But his attacks are just...way to violent."
Another arrow whizzed past him as he barely dodged it.
"Oh, you're going to wish you hadn't done that." Ralph growled.
He charged straight at him, ready to blow another punch to his head. Instead of hitting him though, his hands only felt air as his fists came down onto the sugary ground. Ralph quickly got to his feet, looking around confusingly. Then he heard another arrow being shot, but he could not see Archer anywhere.
"Where's the arrow coming from?"
Confused as he was, Ralph only just barely missed the arrow by a few inches. As soon as he dodged the arrow, their was an ominous silence that followed. The silence shattered Ralph's sudden determination to a mere cowardly stance. He did not know what was coming, for he could not see Archer at all.
Then in only a split second did an arrow graze his arm.
Ralph winced painfully as he quickly clutched his arm. Looking at it he was relieved that the one big cut did not go too deep.
But at that moment Archer appeared before him, his bow drawn all the way back.
"Huh, you're not much of a bright one are you?" Archer said smiling.
"Yeah, well you're not much of a good shot are you?" Ralph mockingly replied back.
"Don't test me wrecker!" Archer shouted pulling his bow back more.
Ralph tried to move, or knock his bow away, but he could not move at all. His arm was getting more painful by the minute, but if he didn't move, Archer's arrow was going to...
Unexpectedly he felt himself be transported, blue pixels dancing around him. The last thing he saw was Archer's shocked expression as he left him speechless.
When the ground became visible again, Ralph cautiously looked around. He was shocked to see that his friend Vanellope was right beside him.
"Kid!" he exclaimed, "What are you-"
"Helping you out, doy!" she replied, "Besides, it was her idea to get you out of the way."
"Her?" Ralph asked, "What do you mean?"
Vanellope did not say anything, but instead pointed at something. He followed her direction, only to see that Archer was still some feet away.
And right inbetween the two of them and him, was Lucy.
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She was scared out of her mind as she stood in front of Archer. At first he was stunned at the sudden appearance she had made. Slowly his stunned expression turned to hate, as he pulled another arrow back on the bow. No matter how much she wanted to run, Lucy stood her ground as the arrow was aimed right at her. She narrowed her eyes as she was prepared for the worst to come.
"I really hope this works."
With a whoosh he had let go of the arrow, flying straight at her head. All the world had suddenly slowed down, as she watched the arrow come closer and closer. Lucy closed her eyes and concentrated. She knew that now was the time to use it.
The time to use her powers.
At the last second, she swiftly stepped out of the way of the arrow. It whizzed past her flying into the racetrack below. She opened her eyes to a sight that sent shivers down her whole body.
Alongside Archer floated a dark shadow, smiling a sharp toothy smile back at her.
"Just like I thought."
The shadow itself was little than him and was attached to Archer, but not from his feet. It was attached to his whole body. From what she saw Lucy knew exactly what to do next.
In one quick motion Lucy found herself running towards him. Her right hand was raised in front of her as she quickened her pace. The shadow's smile faded into a look of worry. It pulled Archer back along with it, but Lucy was closing in fast on them.
"I didn't know I could run this fast! But now's not the time to think of that, I have to try and save Archer."
With one last step Lucy lunged herself forward, her hand outstretched flat. In one last attempt the shadow tried to step out of the way. But it was too late. With all of her strength Lucy pushed her hand right into Archer's chest, causing him to stumble and lose his balance. The shadow was taken aback by this sudden strength. It detached itself from Archer completely, with it being vulnerable for an outright attack.
Lucy acted quickly by pushing the now dazed Archer out of harm, with him collapsing behind her. The shadow was still too stunned to move or to act. "Now's your chance Lucy!"
With another running start, she outstretched her hand once more. With sheer force she pushed her hand into the shadow's form. It screeched and cried as she touched it with her hand flat on its figure. A light shone from Lucy's hand as she pushed down on the shadow monster. Her face lighted up, "It's actually working!"
In an instant, the shadow itself disappeared in a small blast of light. Lucy's eyes widened as she watched the lights slowly fade as the shadow became no more.
"Whoa!" she whispered.
For the first time in her life, Lucy was amazed at her locked away powers she had not used for 9 years. She had thought the magic powers she had as a child were lost to her long ago. Lucy looked down at her hands, in which the light coming from them had faded away entirely. She looked at them for a long time, wondering what secrets they held. If only I knew...
"Ungh...what in the world happened?"
She looked up from her deep thoughts, turning to find that Archer had sat up rubbing his head. As soon as she set eyes on him he looked right in her direction. As she stared back Lucy could not decide whether to stay back or go to him. For she did not know if he was fully out of the shadow's control.
"ARCHER!"
The voice made Lucy jump in fright. She blinked curious eyes as suddenly a little boy ran past her rather quickly. He ran right into Archer's arms crying and sobbing, but his sobs were happy as if the boy knew Archer well.
Dazed Archer stared down at the little boy clutching to him very tightly, with a look of confusion on his face. Then he wrapped his arms around the boy, cuddling him deeper into the hug.
"Garren!" Archer sobbed, "I'm sorry that I scared you."
Lucy smiled at them as she watched them embrace. "They do know each other. They must be close friends or brothers it looks like."
"Lucy!" Vanellope's voice called out to her.
She looked in her direction curiously, tilting her head. Then she noticed that Ralph was next to her, and he did not look good at all.
Quickly she ran to them, with a look of worry on her face.
"Please be alright Ralph."
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A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter, it was pretty hard to write. Well it was sort of a writer's block, but I finally managed to write it. The next chapter there's going to be some racing involved, as well as other things. So until then, I will see you next chapter guys!