All You've Got
Shrek stepped defiantly in between Felix and the cell, "Yer not getting anywhere. You wanna keep some kids in yer cage? Find someone else's," he sneered at his enemy, roughly shoving the man away.
Felix stumbled back a little, though nowhere near as much as Shrek expected from the weight he put behind the action. The man smirked at him, "Is that really all you've got? I kidnapped your precious children..."
Shrek clenched his teeth. It had been a while since he'd had an actual fight. He narrowed his eyes at his opponent. Felix's smirk grew, he lifted an arm, magic energy began to cloud in his palm. The ogre sucked in a breath and ducked as the magic was thrown over him, crashing into the wall. He glanced again to the children. They were huddled together, clasped onto each other. "Stop," Shrek turned back to Felix, the fear he felt rivalling the anger. As much as he would have liked to stretch his muscles, he didn't want magic flying around the room where his children were vulnerable.
"Don't worry about them, you don't need to anymore," was the cool reply. Shrek recognised the statement from earlier. "You should be worrying about yourself." The man pointed at him.
Shrek didn't have time to agonize over it as he felt a jolt on his shoulder, it was painful and it didn't stop. He clenched his teeth, unwilling to show any of the pain he felt. He had an audience after all. Thinking quickly, the ogre grabbed the armchair and scooted it into the attacker. Felix dropped his hand to hold onto the back of the chair, pulling himself upright, though he was not successful as Shrek forcefully pushed the chair away. It crashed into the opposite wall, taking the man with it.
There was a groan and then a chuckle, "Yes!" Felix exclaimed amongst laugher, "That's more like it." He breathlessly stood, and pointed at Shrek again.
The ogre instinctively moved away from the cell, he'd rather not sidestep something and have his children be hit instead. Plus, he didn't quite know how good the witch's aim was, he didn't want to be diving in front of a poor throw either. As Shrek sidestepped around the room, he couldn't help but feel confused. The man came at him but Shrek easily grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him into the wall. Felix was clearly holding back, he had seemed incredibly threatening and powerful before, now he was barely touching the ogre. In fact, it even appeared to Shrek that he was winning. Not that Felix was sad about it. There was something going on and it made him uneasy. He spared a glance once again to the triplets, they seemed more at ease, they were closer to the bars. Felix could easily just put his hand through and grab any one of them. "Get back!" his command startled them. He didn't want them to be scared, he hated that, but he was terrified they wouldn't be afraid of the man who stood before them when they should be. As much as Felix, the real Felix had helped and could help them. He was still this... the person who kept them captive, and was possessed by a witch.
"Wait," an idea hit the ogre, "Felix... If yer in there, ye need t'come out," he spoke uneasily.
Felix dropped his arms, and rolled his eyes. "You think that's going to work?" he snickered, "Of course you do, everyone does. The stupid boy doesn't realise it's what makes people let their guard down," he shook his head and stepped closer. "I'll tell you a secret," he smirked, "A couple of our guests could have probably escaped, gotten the better of me, but they didn't want to hurt him," he laughed, "Perhaps if he didn't play the perfect host in his desperate attempt to be liked, they might have won," the man took another step closer, "Don't tell him," he spoke in a hushed voice at the ogre, "It'll crush the poor boy."
Shrek couldn't help but shake his head. The sympathy didn't sink far enough. It was held back by the confusion he felt. It was almost as if the witch wanted him to win. He was conflicted, knowing that secret helped, but he didn't exactly want to pull the whole stereotypical ogre trip in front of his children. The most they knew about that was a roar. The fears of becoming his father resurfaced. If they saw him beating someone, someone who looked after them, surely they'd be scared of him. Just one flinch from one of them would crush the ogre. He had to be tactical.
"Though," Felix stopped and turned his head, "In their plight to not hurt him, it worked. I don't feel any of the pain as soon as I leave his body. That's just a wonderful parting gift for him. Feel free to leave him the same," the witch winked at the ogre.
Shrek didn't move, only staring squarely at him. His mind was racing with dozens of potential ways to get the kids out. He didn't dare shift his gaze elsewhere, he had to stay steps ahead of the witch, that didn't involve giving away his plans with accidental eye movements.
Sighing, the witch raised a brow, "Felix isn't the one who will get you angry," he spoke mindlessly, gaze drifting elsewhere. Shrek felt his breath catch in his throat as Felix looked directly at the triplets. "After all," he paused and looked up, closing his eyes, "it's almost time now."
"Hey," Shrek tried to remain as calm as he could, trying to bring the attention back to himself. Just seeing him look at the triplets was enough for the ogre to envision crushing the man. But he couldn't, not in front of them.
Felix crouched at the bars of the cage, "Come here, children." He had a smirk spread across his face.
"Don't go near him!" Shrek instructed quickly.
"If you come here, I won't hurt your father," he spoke in a slow, condescending voice. The triplets looked between them both, they clung tighter to each other.
"Stay away," the ogre kept his voice even, countering the speech, "I said before, leave 'em alone." Felix only raised an eyebrow, not looking away from the children. "If you touch them, I swear I'll..."
Shrek was cut off as Felix reached out a hand into the cell, he took hold of the air and began pulling it towards him. Shrek gritted his teeth at the scream that came from his daughter. She was being dragged closer to the villain, her brothers grasping onto her arms and dress, tugging against the magic. "Daddy help!" It brought him back to when they were floating away from him in the sea.
If Felix wanted angry, he'd get angry.
"She looks just like her mo-"
Felix's speech was cut off as Shrek barrelled into him, knocking him to the ground. As he began to pick himself off the floor, the ogre grabbed hold of his tunic and slammed him into the wall. The man struggled to catch his breath, the wind knocked out of him. "I said, don't touch them," he tightened his grip, "I don't know who you are, or what ye want with me, or them... All I know is yer gonna leave 'em alone, got it?" There was silence, Shrek slammed Felix into the wall again. The man nodded. "Great. I'm gonna need some answers now," Shrek took advantage of the lead while he had it. Though he was only met with silence. Taking a sly glance back to the children, he moved a little so he blocked their view. The ogre carefully slid a hand to the man's throat. He didn't intend to bring harm to Felix, only suggest it, at least that was the plan. "If ye not gonna speak, we can get going now hm?" Felix only closed his eyes. The lack of speech suddenly seemed jarring. He had been so confident before, now there was nothing. It was almost enough to think that the real Felix was back. "Hey," Shrek knocked his head back into the wall again, albeit with less force this time. Met with more silence, and his eyes closed, Shrek took a sharp breath. Perhaps it was time to roar.
"Stop!"
Shrek felt his body become rigid.
Felix's eyes were suddenly open, "Release me," he spoke menacingly. The ogre's grip automatically opened as commanded, against his will. Felix dropped to the ground, and stood next to him, brushing himself down. Shrek tried to struggle against the magic but it only shot pain down his spine. He couldn't move a muscle. He heard small, frightened whimpers from his children. But Felix's eyes were firmly on him. "She's moving."
"Who?" Shrek struggled to speak.
Felix put a hand on the ogre's shoulder and pushed gently, though Shrek was thrown back into the wall with a crash. A couple of teetering books fell from the shelves. "It's time for my turn."
Fiona carefully slipped her legs out of bed and gently sat up. She looked to her mother who was sleeping delicately on the other side of the bed. Lillian always had such self-control it almost made the ogress jealous, it was odd seeing her sleep. But Fiona knew she couldn't just do as her mother wished and sleep too. Her eyes drifted to the door. Merlin had permanently teleported people to another place, she knew that. She knew that he could do it. She could be taken there properly. It was what she wanted before, but she had been denied of that. She wouldn't let that happen again.
Her mother told her it wasn't her destiny to save her children. But it wasn't supposed to be her destiny to have those children in the first place. If she had settled for what she was originally destined for, she would have married Farquaad. Or worse, Charming. Her destiny had been twisted before in the most strange of ways, because she had taken the chance to let it be changed. The doubt crept into her mind, maybe it was all her destiny after all... She shook her head, now was her chance again. There was no way she was sitting back and letting her husband control the destiny of their children alone. They were in this together, whether he liked it or not.
She gently eased herself off of the bed, careful not to wake her mother. She didn't want to deal with an argument. With barely any sleep in the past few days, she might end up saying something she would regret. Fiona crept out of the room, slowly closing the door behind her until it clicked quietly shut. She looked up the corridor to the stair well. She had taken a mental note of where the odd wizard had located himself before, and she ran for it. Fiona didn't want to waste any more time.
As she approached his room, she heard him make a strange yelping sound and a glow appeared from under the door. The ogress hesitated, quietly listening to what was going on. She wasn't sure she wanted to burst in on whatever he was doing. He was muttering to himself, though she heard one statement clearly, "Oh no. That's not good... not good at all."
It was all the confirmation Fiona needed as she threw open his door and found herself staring at a vision of her husband, pinned against the wall by that hooded stranger, her children pressed together in some kind of cage. "No!" she stood in the doorway, staring in horror at the burry image illuminated in the room.
"Ah!" the wizard startled, jumping backwards. He quickly flicked his wrist and the image disappeared, "You definitely were not supposed to see that," he chuckled awkwardly and gave her a crooked smile. "Everything's fine. Your husband is fine, your children are fine. Now there's nothing to worry about," he approached her, "You just go back to bed," he tried to usher her out.
Fiona stood squarely in the doorway, "I need to get back to my husband now!" she exclaimed at him.
"Um... no you don't?" he offered cautiously to her, smiling.
Fiona grabbed his wrist and pulled it upwards. The wizard made a squawk sound, as he was lifted onto his toes. "Permanently this time."
Merlin had barely nodded before Fiona practically threw him in the direction of the stairs to find the spell, while she quietly slipped back into her bedroom to get dressed before her mother awoke. She didn't want an argument, she didn't want anyone standing in her way. And yet it seemed someone always was.
"She's calling you," Merlin spoke indigently as she entered the dim room with the shield still laying on the floor, "you shouldn't go... that's crazy. What are you? Crazy?"
She allowed an eye roll, "I don't care if it's a trap. If it means I save my family, then I'll be her sacrifice," Fiona was unwavering.
"Or, you know it could, possibly, mean you'll doom everyone," he started mumbling again to himself.
The ogress sighed, raising her eyebrows, "How?"
He paused, shrugging.
"I'm not changing my mind!" she felt exasperated. Every last part of her positivity had been drained.
"Well," he began leafing through the spell book with twitchy hands, "she can't control you here. You're too far away. You're far far away. Who knows what you could do. You could do anything really. You're unpredictable if you stay. If you stay."
"I need to help my family," Fiona spoke with resolve, "Whatever the consequences are, I'll take them."
Felix held his hand out in the direction of the ogre against the wall, he moved forward slowly. Though his hand wasn't even near Shrek's body, he could feel the pressure on his chest increasing. He didn't want to be scared, but the ogre couldn't help but feel the fear begin to take over. If something happened to him, who would save the triplets? He couldn't even get them out of the cage. Though, in the corner of his eye he could see they had edged away from the wall and were staring at the lock. Felix closed his eyes again, lifting his head. Shrek stared intently at them, they looked between him and the door, Fergus pointed at the lock with the key firmly slotted into it. Shrek nodded quickly at him. The ogre couldn't believe he was only helping his children rescue themselves. They were four. As Felix's eyes sprang open again, Shrek moved his gaze. He didn't want to turn any attention to them. If they managed to get out, they might be able to hide until someone else came along. The ogre wasn't stupid, he knew the guys on the boat would have immediately tried to figure out a way to follow him. They'd succeed eventually, he knew they wouldn't give up, as much as he had first wanted them to.
"Oh everything is coming together. I can feel it," Felix spoke, he was grinning.
"Oh yeah?" Shrek tried to prompt an explanation as he became aware of Fergus on his toes, grasping onto the key. The child was barely tall enough to reach the key, being able to purposefully turn it would be difficult. Shrek tried desperately to not directly look at them.
"Yes. Oh all will become clear soon enough. For now though, I just need to bide my time," Felix seemed oblivious, too distracted by this victory that was still puzzling the ogre.
"Biding time, that's just great," Shrek spoke as slowly as he dared. Fergus gave up, but Farkle was clambering onto him, climbing onto his shoulders. "I guess my job is t' just stay here until yer done."
Felix chuckled, he began to turn his head-
"What's it take..." Shrek pulled his attention back, "yanno, t'overthrow ye then?" Farkle managed to stand up straight, Fergus stayed strong, though they wobbled just a little. Felicia stood on her toes, clasping her hands against Farkle's legs, keeping him steady.
Felix laughed, "Hm, what did the others do?" he pressed a little more against the invisible force. Shrek grunted at the increased pressure. He took shallower breaths. "Some of them were magic themselves," he continued.
Shrek tried to stare intently at the man in front of him, hoping the children didn't fall or make any noise. "So yer letting me know I'm doomed then, huh? Strength doesn't beat magic, I know that." He spoke the first words that entered his head, just to keep up the conversation, just to mask any sound the triplets were making.
"Maybe," the man smirked, though Shrek wasn't looking at him anymore.
Relief washed over the ogre as the cage door finally swung open. "Run!" he shouted at them. They hesitated, watching him with frightened eyes. "Go!" he told them again. The triplets did, they cautiously looked back as they left. He could hear their footsteps running down the stairs.
"Yes, run children, run," Felix repeated the statement, "I don't need them."
Their escape didn't soothe Shrek for long, he only began to worry about what they would do by themselves. Being so young, it was difficult to predict their actions. Though he was relieved that Felix's attention did not move from him. Whatever they did out there, they could do in relative safety. Shrek just had to buy his own time now. Enough for someone to get into the island and rescue them. Though the ogre didn't know how long that would take. He just had to hold on for as long as he could. Looking grimly at the smiling face of his opponent, still stuck to the wall, struggling to breathe. He wasn't sure what his own fate would be.
