The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts

Chapter 20: The Moment of Truth

"Guys, just give it a rest." Ralph chuckled as he flawlessly kept Eris and Arren separated with his huge arms.

"He's the one always starting these things!" Eris complained trying to get past him. Her fingers made Ralph's arms a little chilled, but nonetheless it didn't affect him as much.

"What, I try to have fun!" Arren replied not even trying to get past the big guy.

"Can we all please settle down from all this fighting?" Felix asked with a nervous smile on his face.

Ralph chuckled again, though he noticed that not everyone was with the group. Then a strange silence spread over everyone as they all seemed to stare at something in the distance.

"Guys?" Ralph frowned looking at what got them so quiet.

Oh my User!

He could only see dark shadows spreading everywhere, the light from outside the cabinet almost all gone. He felt sudden chills go through him, as if something was really off.

"How dare you!" Eris's voice shrieked as he saw her charging towards the source of the shadows with an icy spear in her hand.

Like she knew about something he didn't.

"Wait!" Arren rushed after her, before stopping to catch Eris as she was knocked back.

Now everyone around him seemed to be ready to attack this strange thing that had showed up. Ralph picked up Vanellope as she held onto him in a tight manner.

"What is all this?" he said aloud feeling like he couldn't hear himself think.

"I don't know!" Vanellope shouted back.

"Whatever this thing is, we can't have it keep doing whatever it's going to do!" Calhoun barked and fired one shot from the gun she carried.

Unfortunately, the shot had disintegrated before it could even reach the dark being. The same happened when Archer fired some arrows. But what blocked them looked to have a specific shape.

"Wait…it looks like a-" Ralph squinted before something dark was thrown directly at him. He barely acted quickly and dodged it before it could hit him and the kid. It was then that he was reminded of something. Someone.

"Lucy!"

He looked around for the girl, but there wasn't enough light now to see her at all. He couldn't even see past his hands. He then saw something faint that wasn't too far from him. He looked at Vanellope and could tell that she had the same idea. They both made their way towards what looked like Eris.

"Ah, there you two are. Hurry!" she shouted as they made their way to the group.

A faint, small barrier was formed around them all, though the shadows that were blowing at them was making it shudder under their pressure. Eris was obviously struggling to keep them safe, even though she put on a brave face.

"What do we do? We don't even know what this crazy thing is, and it looks like it's planning on swallowing Ralph's game whole!" Vanellope choked as everyone including Ralph was feeling the desperation and fear of this situation.

"Whatever this thing is, I'm not going to stand here and let Lucy face this on her own!" Ralph shouted making everyone turn their heads towards him in fear.

"She's still out there? Why didn't you tell us?!" Archer yelled back at him.

"I didn't know she was there, alright!" Ralph shouted back as his temper was about to get out of control.

"And she'll still be there if we don't do something, you idiots!" Eris barked.

The small barrier now seemed to shudder and falter even more as everyone stayed quiet out of the fear that the light would disappear.

"Fine. I'm going." Ralph said putting Vanellope in Eris's arms and turning to leave the barrier. It was a dumb idea he knew that, but this was something that he couldn't just sit by and let happen.

Lucy was…important to him no matter what.

He felt two hands tug on his arm, one small and one cool to the touch.

"Ralph…you better come out of this alive. And…bring her back to us safe." Eris's voice echoed.

"Yeah, and don't try to get hurt again like the last time you went to save her Stinkbrain!"

He chuckled, "I'll be back with her, I promise."

Feeling the hands let go of him, he felt the dark envelope his sight once again.

But Ralph pushed on to find the girl that he now began to love.

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"Lucille Lily Tate."

The dark figure made their way towards her, as Lucy continued to stare in horror. Memories were coming back of that night. The smile, the glowing eyes, fire, the dark.

"You have definitely grown up so fast. Not a little girl anymore I see."

Lucy said nothing but her body began to quiver. She could hear Tobi's growls get louder as the figure got closer. A dark hand reached out to the scar by her eye, and her shivering grew more obvious.

"Do you know who I am, little girl?"

Without a word she nodded, her fear growing as the scar on her face became darker in color.

"Good. You are a smart girl to know who your enemy is."

Lucy gasped when she heard a loud shriek behind her. She turned to see that Tobi had again increased in size and was running towards the figure. He simply smiled and with one swipe sent Tobi flying.

"NO!" Lucy cried as the Cybug disappeared into the dark.

Feeling her legs again she tried to run, but something kept her grounded. She struggled to get free but dark branches grabbed onto her ankles, slowly making their way up to her arms. Lucy squirmed even more in desperation to get out, but the branches held her tight in the same spot.

"Such a fool. To think I would let you get away this easily."

Lucy gave him an angered frown. "Let me go Shadowman!" she shouted at him.

This made him blink, but his smile never wavered.

"You certainly have gained a lot of courage now, haven't you?" he chuckled and again continued his approach to her.

Lucy struggled to get away from him but she was stuck tight. She felt so helpless, not being able to defend herself or move.

"But…your strength lacks more than the sheer courage you possess. Seeing you struggle so much in a simple magical trap makes me disappointed."

He stopped just a foot from her as his hand lifted up to meet her face. At first a swirl of dark magic formed in his hand, which soon turned into a dark ball of magic. And it was aimed right at her. Lucy's eyes widened as she tried to think of a way out of this, something. But nothing came to mind. She could already feel the darkness around her closing in.

"It's sad really. I thought you would be more of an interesting fight. But now the only thing I see is another potential shadow to rule." Shadowman smiled as he was about to blast her with his dark magic.

But before her eyes it was knocked in a different direction by something thrown at it. And it…looked like a broken brick?

Lucy tried to look around her, but she couldn't see the one that had potentially saved her life. She felt like an idiot for being someone that always was being saved. Yet as she looked at the Shadowman once more, he was distracted and thrown off by whoever had saved her. Seeing this as an opportunity Lucy closed her eyes and concentrated.

Please let me get out of this. How can I get free?
"SHOW YOURSELF!" she heard the dark figure cry out.

Suddenly she gasped and opened her eyes. The branches were still continued to wrap around her, but there was one spot on her shoulder that was untouched. The symbol of her magic glowed a bright golden color that fended off the branches from coming any further.

That's it! I got to reach for my magic…I got to reach!

She struggled to move her hand up to her shoulder as the dark branches had firmly gripped onto her wrists.

"Come on, come on!" she whispered in desperation as she tried to move her hand forcefully upward.

A familiar shriek of an angry Cybug forced her to stop and look up. She was relieved to see Tobi was there, growling at the Shadowman, who looked to be both shocked and impressed.

"Well, well. Seems the Cybug survived my attack."

Lucy was now more desperate to break free as she just barely grabbed her shoulder with her hand. For a moment the hand began to glow the same color as the symbol, then one by one the branches started to turn white. Then they all disappeared causing the girl to fall to the ground. She lay there trying to get up, but was weakened too much from breaking free.

She saw the Shadowman turn back to her with a look of anger.

"How dare you!" he shouted as he quickly paced over to her.

Before he could get there however something fast charged up to the figure and threw him with one punch in the other direction. Lucy watched in awe for a moment, not really believing what had just happened. Her vision was suddenly blurred with tears as she got to her feet and ran into Ralph's arms.

"I've got you, I got you," he said holding her gently to his chest.

She nodded through the sobs and tears that came from her eyes. She was just glad to see him, out of all the ones to save her she was glad that it was Ralph.

"So very touching."

Suddenly Lucy knew that they were not even close to surviving this yet.

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Ralph's temper was about to burst as he faced the dark figure of a man. He knew that it was the shape of a human beforehand, now as he faced the new foe it was like he could feel all of his fears coming back again. The only thing he could think of now was to protect Lucy, trembling and crying in his arms.

"You must be the giant who is a friend of Lucy's." the figure said smiling.

"And you must be the one that she mentioned before." Ralph growled back.

"Yes, I am called the Shadowman that she speaks so much about."

Carefully Ralph slowly stood with Lucy still close to him. She had stopped trembling but still kept close. He could tell that she really was scared of this thing.

"Stay close to me," he told her and smiled down to comfort her.

She looked up at him with worried eyes, knowing that what he was going to do was very dangerous. Yet she nodded and stayed by his side.

The Shadowman smiled at him as a few dark spears formed a circle around him. The points being directed towards the two.

"Let's see what you are made of," he smiled as the spears were thrown at them.

Though Ralph was quick enough to dodge them, swooping Lucy up in his arms as he charged out of the way of the incoming spears. But as soon as he stopped, there were more spears coming at them. It seemed like an endless game of dodging. He was growing more irritated now with each set of spears passing by. He knew that his temper was going to get the best of him again.

He then felt something graze his arm as one of the spears flew right close to him. Ralph winced a bit at the pain. Ah I'm so stupid, getting distracted like this! This isn't the time to stand around either. What can I do…?

"Impressive. You managed to dodge most of my spears."

The Shadowman smiled at them with the evilest grin.

"But not impressive enough."

Suddenly he found that he couldn't move. Dark branches came from the ground and trapped him in that spot, which caused him to lose grip of Lucy. He struggled to get out, shaking the branches and weakening them some, but he couldn't break free of them.

Why? Why can't I become stronger than him?

Ralph was at a loss as the dark figure came towards them again. This time he held one of the spears in his hand. He tried to move his arms, but the wound he got earlier shot pain through him, making it more difficult to break the bondages that kept him down.

"It's a shame. You seemed to be a worthy opponent. Too bad that I have to end this."

The Shadowman smiled again as he charged at him, the spear raised. Frustrated Ralph struggled even more, but found it very difficult to move at all.

"Come on!" he shouted in frustration and shut his eyes.

From what he heard, something opposed the spear with another ringing of something sharp.

Opening his eyes was a real sight. Lucy had managed to get up, and had somehow obtained a sword that shown brightly in her magic. He actually noticed that she was all glowing in the same golden color. Ralph suddenly was able to move again as the branches keeping him still had disappeared, leaving only the wound in his arm and some bruises from his struggles. But his eyes were trained on the clash between the magical girl and the leader of shadows.

"Leave him alone!" Lucy exclaimed as she used her strength with her sword to push the Shadowman back with power that he had never seen before.

This made him stumbled and fall to his knees as Lucy stood her ground with the sword glowing in her hands, pointing it right at him. Shadowman smiled as he slowly stood up and crossed his arms.

"You surprised me, little girl. How interesting."

And with that he disappeared into a puff of dark magic. The light from the outside started to pour back in as he could see his game once more. The stars were back in the sky, and the Niceland apartment stood tall as it ever was.

"Are…are you okay?"

Lucy's small voice brought his attention back to her as she looked at him with a very concerned look on her face. Ralph nodded and smiled. Though he could see that she was hiding something back from the small smile that she returned.

"Lucy…" he started but felt the tight hug from Vanellope distracting him, "Ow, kid careful of my arm," he said cringing a bit in pain.

When he looked up again, she had disappeared, leaving the sword she held that was stabbed into the ground in front of him. He watched as the sword slowly dissolve into magic sparkles.

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Lucy kept running as fast as she could blindly forward. Too embarrassed to say anything to anyone that she passed by, even Eris and Arren as they tried to stop her.

I guess it'll always be this way, I keep running away each time I do something brave. Why is it I can't face all these challenges head on?! Why can't I tell him that I…?

Lucy yelped as she almost tripped over herself and stopped to catch her breath. She only then got a good look at her surroundings, finding that she was back in the place called East Niceland, where Ralph's house was. But this time she came across a big squared tree that sat in the middle of the walkway. Lucy's body was shaking as she sat down to try and calm herself from what had just happened.

"Did I just face the man…no thing that was responsible for throwing me out of my own game?!" she whispered to herself, hugging her arms together.

"I can't believe…. w-why would I do something like that? Why did I stand up to fight him, when I knew I would get killed?"

A sudden thought came to her as she gasped from the sudden hit of memory.

Daisy was smiling as she watched Lucy make her first attempt at her magic, leaning against a rock that lay outside of the cave where strange carvings lay. Her little sister had successfully created a very tiny light orb in her hands.

"Sis, look! I did it, I made magic!" Lucy smiled showing Daisy the little orb in her hands like it was a little insect she found.

"That's so wonderful Lucy!" Daisy smiled and walked over to her. She ruffled the little girl's hair with a look of fondness.

"I love you, little sister," she said in a warm tone.

Lucy looked at her curiously as the light orb faded from her hands. "What's that?"

"Hmm?"

"What is this…l-lave…live….?"

"Love?" Daisy corrected her.

Lucy nodded with an eager curiousness.

"Well it's…hmm. This is a bit hard to explain."

"Please?! I want to know!" Lucy said tugging her sister's arm.

"Alright, alright! Well…it's something you feel here." Daisy said pointing to her chest, "And you feel this when you really care about someone very much. Or…when you have some sort of feelings for them."

"A…feeling?" Lucy said patting her own chest.

"Yes, something you feel in your heart. Love."

"That's…right. You were the one that told me about it, huh sis?" Lucy sighed.

She placed her own hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating fast, from the running? No…from something much more than that.

"Lucy!"

She flinched when she heard his voice. In her mind she wanted to run, to be alone for a little while longer. But something inside her told her to stay. She needed to stay. She knew she was ready now to tell him.

This was the moment of truth.

"Ralph!" she called running over to him.

She got worried when he stopped and knelt over. As she got closer Lucy could see that his arm was still pretty injured and not taken care of. She could also hear that he was out of breath from catching up to her.

"What are you thinking? You're still hurt!" she said as she sat on her knees, gently grabbing his arm within her hands.

She could hear Ralph in pain as her hands flowed with healing magic. She couldn't help but think of the first time she used her powers on him to heal his wounds. It was a comforting thought that at least she was helpful enough to heal his wounds.

"I'm sorry."

Lucy looked up to see that his face was not just in pain, but was also filled with sadness and guilt.

"Don't be. You saved me again." Lucy said and gave him a small smile.

"No…you saved me in the end," he sighed as a different kind of pain etched across his face.

"That's not what I—" she paused and sighed as well.

"I couldn't protect you this time. I tried but…I wasn't strong enough in the end. I was such an idiot for thinking that I could stand up to this!" Ralph said as she could feel his arms tense up.

"Ralph…."

"I knew that it would be dangerous and—"

"Ralph!"

He stopped and looked at her with a confused but angered expression.

"The only reason I stood up against him was so that I didn't have to lose you! I care about you too much to…let you get hurt," she gasped as her face turned red realizing what she had said.

They both stared at each other silently for a few moments before Lucy averted her eyes away.

"I…never got a chance to tell you this earlier, because I was scared of what you would say. But…the truth is that…."

Lucy paused, took a long deep breath, then moved closer to him with her hands still on his arm. With her eyes closed and her heart beating in her ears she said three words:

"I love you."

Through her closed eyes she could feel the cuts on his arm disappear. There was also silence as she sat there, unmoving and doubting herself.

I messed up…I knew it; I shouldn't have…!

She gasped and opened her eyes as she was enveloped in Ralph's arms. She couldn't even tell how red her face was anymore, feeling both embarrassed and confused. Her eyes looked over to his face, but she could not make any expressions out from where she was.

"I…I didn't mean to say…."

"I love you too."

Lucy's eyes started to blur with tears, but they weren't sad ones. She felt happier now than she had ever felt in all her coded lifetime. With a smile spread across her face, and tears spilling down her cheeks she returned his hug for as long as she could. Through her tears she saw another surprise that made her even more happy.

Ralph had a faint red magic glowing around him. Her face brightened as she could see her strong magical glow wrapped in his, creating an orange swirl of magic around them. Lucy's big golden eyes stared at the magic around them, even until it quickly faded away.

Wow…I've never seen this type of magic before.

"Um…Lucy, you're glowing." Ralph's voice said waking her up from her amazed trance.

"W-What?" she pulled away to look down at herself.

Sure enough she was glowing, rather brightly too.

"I-I'm sorry, is that bad? I mean it's kinda pretty a-and looks cool. B-But I could try and…." Lucy stammered embarrassingly.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Ralph smiled at her, making her fidget even more.

"S-So…what do we do now that, um…." Lucy fidgeted unable to finish the sentence.

"I'm not really sure." Ralph replied rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "I suppose we should get back. The last thing I heard was Eris's worrying about you running off without saying hello to her."

"She's really that protective of me?" Lucy tilted her head.

"Like a hen with a baby chick," he said with a chuckle.

This made Lucy laugh, knowing that this was true. The hugs she got from Eris did prove that she was very protective of her, but she would also sometimes stay with her during the arcade hours.

"I'm…really happy right now. Is it normal to feel this happy when in…? you know," Lucy said almost embarrassed about saying the word.

"I don't know about that. I never have had…well strong feelings for someone." Ralph chuckled a little nervously. He then placed on of his hands on one of Lucy's small ones.

"Still…I'm glad you were the one to tell me. You really have a lot of courage."

"Yeah." Lucy said giving him a sincere smile, "I completely agree with you."

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A/N: Wow, I have finally finished the 20th chapter, this took so long. But I'm pretty much proud to have completed it. And this is only the beginning, there's so much more of this story left to tell. So for now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you in the next installment. :)