The Magical Bond Between Two Hearts

Chapter 22: A Visitor From The Past

Everything was bright and colorful, though he wasn't at all used to it being this bright.

Walking through the candy tree forest, this man had one goal in mind. He kept his mask tightly over his eyes, never wanting to take it off. The mask was helpful to hide the horrible things that his own master had done to him.

I never wanted to work for him, but I had no choice.

Shane sighed softly as he found a few pairs of footsteps leading deeper into the forest. He slowly began to follow them as he had starting from the entrance to Sugar Rush.

"Let's hope I can make it to her before they find out I'm gone." Shane whispered to himself as he journeyed on to find the only magical girl capable enough to stop the Shadowman.

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"I swear these two are even more troublesome than I am." Vanellope mumbled to herself as she glitched her way through the forest. Though she could not help but feel giddy for the two, having their little date.

"Oh where could the unusual couple be?!" she called out in a singing voice to the trees.

She stopped hearing a rustling next to her. With a smirk she went towards the sound figuring that it was at least one of them. Pushing back a brush she came onto a big candy tree and looked up at it in awe.

"Never seen this tree here," she said before running into something big. She backed off seeing the huge Cybug, but on a closer look could tell it was Lucy's little bug Tobi. The bug turned to her and chirped in a lower tone, then looked back up at the tree.

Vanellope's smirk grew wider.

"Soo…you just hanging out up there Stinkbrain?" she called up to the wrecker playfully.

Ralph was not pleased at all hearing her voice and glared at her, with both hands hanging onto a branch that was just above the ground.

"Why yes I am, thanks for asking." he replied sarcastically but with a defeated sigh.

Vanellope was trying to hold back her laughter, though she was obviously not hiding it well enough.

"Could you at least help out kid?" Ralph grumbled in annoyance.

"Alright, alright. Though you are close to the ground." she replied pointing out the ground beneath him.

With another annoyed sigh Ralph let go of the branch and landed safely on the ground below. Tobi chirped again as if in worry as he was looking farther up. Vanellope noticed that there was someone missing.

"Where's the girlie?" she asked her friend.

His face then turned from annoyed to worried. "Oh no, she's still high up there."

"You left her up there?!" Vanellope said as her eyes widened.

"It wasn't like I left her there on purpose!" Ralph argued back.

They both then heard a small yelp above them. Vanellope looked to see a pair of dangling bare feet and a girl trying to hold onto a branch farther up.

"Guys, a little help getting down." Lucy called down to them with a worried look in her big eyes.

Vanellope turned back to her friend giving him a look that meant he had some explaining to do. Though she heard the big bug suddenly fly up in the air towards the girl as if he was going to get her down. She watched in awe as Tobi singlehandedly caught Lucy and brought her down to the ground. She shook her head, always surprised still by how this Cybug was the girl's friend.

"I'm…guessing that I'm in big trouble." Ralph said guiltily.

Vanellope looked at him for a second, and for a moment was thinking he was right.

"Nah, I'll let it pass," she said crossing her arms, "Besides…you have a date going on remember?"

She was expecting him to argue back with her, but he just nodded silently which surprised her a bit.

So he finally admits it. What did happen between these two?

"Hi Miss President," she heard Lucy say before being scooped up in her arms in a hug.

"You seem happy considering you were hanging from a branch." Vanellope smirked returning the hug.

Lucy blinked, "Oh, well…it's a bit of my fault there. We were both trying to climb down and I stepped on a double striped one," she admitted bashfully.

"That does explain a lot." Vanellope looked from the girl to Ralph with a knowing smile.

"But we both got down here safely and that's what counts," he said joining the hug and picking up the two in his arms.

Lucy squealed and giggled, while the president was squirming to try and pry free from his huge grasp.

Yep, these two are adorable when they don't have a firm grip on me.

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After a while of walking, Lucy could not shake the feeling of something off. Though she did not show it to the others, she was thinking that something was watching them. So she stayed as close to Ralph as possible, feeling at least safe around him.

"I can't wait for this rematch!" Vanellope said happily as she sat on Ralph's shoulder.

"If I can remember where my kart is." Lucy admitted a bit bashfully.

It had been a while since she had raced, so she was pretty excited to be given another opportunity. She heard Ralph sigh disappointingly, thinking that he was sad that the two didn't spend a good amount together alone. She reassured him that they would go back to their secret place afterwards, which made him feel a bit better.

Her ears then heard something strange behind her. The feeling that Lucy had before came back up as she turned her head. She frowned and tilted her head when she saw a figure shrouded in shadows watching them.

Why does this figure look…so familiar?

Without a word she stopped and fully turned to face it. It still stared back at her, though she could not see any eyes looking at her.

"H-Hello?" she managed to say taking a step closer.

There was no movement from what Lucy could see, but then the figure appeared out of the shadow of the trees making her flinch back.

It was the guy in the mask from before, back in Shining Arrows.

"You are Lucy aren't you?"

Lucy just stood there without a word, her head tilted as she frowned in both fear and confusion.

The man smiled at her and chuckled, "I guess you are her." He stepped closer but still kept a distance, which Lucy was thankful for.

"What do you want from me?" she asked in an unsure voice.

He paused before answering: "My name is Shane. I'm here to help you destroy the Shadowman."

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Shane was not the only one to be looking for someone. In fact, a woman who had blueish skin and a red dress was also floating along in Sugar Rush. She was known as Sorceress to many of her villainous colleagues at Bad Anon. Even though she didn't talk as much and was a villain herself, she was actually a very nice person when not in game.

"Where is he? I know I saw him come here today." Sorceress mumbled to herself, floating along until reaching the racetrack.

She looked around seeing small children with karts, and all sorts of different candies and treats cheering them on. Yet she could not find any trace of who she was looking for. Sighing and shaking her head she went off in a different direction towards a hill overlooking the track. She stopped and landed her feet on the ground, pushing some of the hair that was in her face.

"This place is a lot bigger than I thought it would be," she said sighing in defeat.

"Sorceress?" a familiar voice called behind her.

Her expression changed right then, feeling like she had luck on her side as she turned toward the voice calling her name.

"There you are, I've been looking for you," Sorceress said walking up to Ralph and his small friend Vanellope.

"Looking for me? How come?" Ralph asked as he looked a bit confused by this.

"Well…" Sorceress paused as she realized that she wasn't sure what she came here to ask.

I could have sworn that I knew beforehand why I came…

"Hey, where did she go?" Vanellope asked interrupting her thoughts.

"Who?"

The two of them looked at Sorceress a bit taken by surprise. Though she only gave them a confused look back.

"Well…you remember that I talked about my new friend Lucy right?" Ralph asked.

"Oh, she's with you?" she asked looking behind them and around again.

She turned back to see on their faces that she wasn't. Sorceress was always curious to what the girl Lucy looked like, though never did get the chance to meet her. She also wondered why this girl was shy and never did show herself at the station at all.

"We should go look for her then right? I'll help," she offered trying not to fidget.

Ralph and Vanellope looked at each other before looking back at her and nodding.

"Right, let's go then," the wrecker replied as he turned back to the candy tree forest.

Sorceress followed behind eagerly, both wondering who this girl was.

And how she would tell him about something she wanted to say for a long time.

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Lucy was shocked and unsure of how to think of this. This man Shane wants to help me out in destroying the Shadowman, the one he works for? This doesn't make any sense to me at all.

"How…do you know who I am?" she asked after some silence between them.

"I've known you for a very long time." Shane replied.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know you at all." Lucy frowned backing a step away.

Shane in turn stepped forward once more, closing the gap a little each time.

"Please listen to me, you're in danger now that he's found you. I only want to help you get stronger to defeat him," he said in a desperate voice.

"Why should I believe you? You work for him!" Lucy shouted with uncertainty in her voice.

"I never wanted to work for this evil thing! You must believe me!" he shouted back in a heavier tone.

"Leave me alone!" Lucy exclaimed as she quickly turned and ran as fast as she could.

She didn't even bother to look back as she looked for her friends, realizing that they were gone as well. Lucy knew that Tobi could help her out in getting back to them, but before she could call out his name, she felt a sudden dizziness overtake her head and body. Trembling she collapsed to the ground on her knees, her hands flying to her head as it was hurting.

What the…?
A golden flash of light made her cringe and close her eyes. The second she opened them she found herself in a completely different place. A familiar place. There were trees around her, the sky was dark with clouds and…it was raining.

Lucy gasped looking around until she found a small child standing in the middle of the rain. She had her small hands raised to the sky as if to catch the raindrops.

That's…me! This is my dream that I had! But…why—

"Lucy! Come on, you know your mom will worry about us getting soaked."

The small child turned as Lucy was struck with the familiar golden eyes she had herself. She turned to the sound of the voice, seeing a small cottage in the distance with a boy about the girl's age waving them over. Lucy slowly got to her feet and walked towards the boy, the girl having already running towards him.

"Coming!" she said with a gleeful smile.

She stopped seeing that this boy looked oddly familiar. He had grey eyes and messy black hair. His skin was of a darker tone than hers. This reminded her of the man she had run away from. Shane.

"No…it-it can't be. It can't be!" Lucy cried shutting her eyes and clutching her head again.

She gasped opening her eyes to find that she was back in the candy forest, and the rain was all but gone as well as the figures she saw.

"What…in User was that?" she whispered finding she was still on her knees.

Lucy got afraid that this was something her head made up, getting to her feet and continuing to run. Her hand clutched the ring Daisy gave her that she had taken out of her pocket at that time. She didn't know which direction she was heading now, still feeling dizzy as she bumped into something unexpectedly.

"Ah sorry I—"

She paused in fear, seeing two shadowy people standing there with grins on their faces. Before she could react she felt a blow to her chest, realizing it was shadow magic that struck her. Her head now was more painful than she had ever felt. Lucy stumbled to get her balance, but was pulled off of the ground with her feet dangling in the air. She was too dizzy to move or talk, looking at them with confusion and fear.

"That was easier than we thought, huh sister?"

"Now brother, don't assume things like you usually do. Think for a moment."

Lucy could barely hear them feeling faint as if she would go unconscious at any moment. It was at this moment that she was able to grab the hands that held her in the air.

Her hands almost exactly matched the black color of the woman's skin.

She widened her eyes in fear. Not now…Oh User please not this time!

All she could do was nothing, as she dangled in fear. She only remembered being let go and falling, with nothing but the brother and sister shadows smiling down as she fell.

As well as the sound of something small and circular clinking to the ground.

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Shane hurried along to where she had run off, silently cursing himself.

"How could you be so stupid?! I shouldn't have come here to find her, now I messed up."

He knew that the twins were sent here to try and destroy the magical girl next, wanting to get there before they did. He stopped as he had reached the bottom of a cliff wall, frowning as he had never seen this before. Looking up he tried to figure a way to climb up.

But was surprised to find something floating down towards him in a golden light.

"Thank User, it's her." Shane sighed in relief, holding out his arms to catch Lucy.

Her frail looking body floated all the way down slowly, until she was safe in Shane's arms. He was shocked to find that the curse was spreading faster through her body as he held her. He knew now that saving her and making her stronger was more important than ever.

"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe, I promise that," he whispered to her.

Looking back up again he frowned at the two figures watching from above. They stared back for a moment before quickly disappearing. Shane knew that he had to leave if there was a chance to get away.

So he made his way deeper into the forest, a darker place where no one could find them.

Only fools would come and try to find her.

A/N: Hello my readers. Once again I have a cliffhanger to a pretty short chapter. I promise that it'll only get much more interesting in the upcoming chapters. Fortunately I have the next handful of chapters planned, so expect the next one to be coming soon. Until then, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and see you next time. :)