A/N: You may wish to re-read Chapter 2 (Chapter I) first as a little refresher if you don't recall who Dallas is. :)
Many thanks to WinterFairy7337 & Anne for their beta help.
There'll be a small mention of violence.
I do not own Austin & Ally.
Both Ally and the boy she was speaking to turned around as Austin's rapid steps brought him up to them quickly.
"Dallas, what are you doing here?" Austin asked incredulously.
"Erm, sorry…do I know you?" the boy asked uncertainly.
Meanwhile, Ally was looking between the two confusedly.
"What do you mean by 'do I know you'? Dallas! It is me, Austin!"
"Um, I'm pretty sure I've never met you before. Sorry dude. You probably got the wrong person." The guy with the same name and face as Dallas patted Austin on the shoulder. "I gotta get to class. See you around, Ally."
Ally waved a quick goodbye to Dallas and turned back to Austin only to find him walking away, deep in thought.
'What an oddball,' she thought.
"You are sure it was Dallas?" Dez repeated, trying to make sense of what Austin was telling him.
"Yes, Dez! I saw him with my own eyes!" Austin confirmed for the umpteenth time. "Unless it was not my eyes, but it was!"
Dez looked at his friend strangely before shrugging. "But there is no way Dallas could be here. Unless your parents sent him here to watch over us…" He suddenly gasped as if he had an epiphany.
"Or maybe he came over here secretly to help us!"
"I am not sure about that…why would he pretend not to know me then?"
"Maybe he panicked?" suggested Dez.
"Maybe…But I have got to speak to him again," Austin resolved. The stubborn look on his face told Dez that nothing he could say or do would change the blonde's mind.
"Alright, but I am coming with you this time."
Austin nodded in agreement. "So, what happened to you last night? I only heard that you met Trish in the park. Did the both of you manage to talk?"
Dez's expression darkened at the mention of last night.
"Whoa. So she slapped you?"
Dez nodded and sighed. The both of them had decided to skip class. It was just gym anyway, so they decided to laze around behind the bleachers of the outdoor field and speak about Dez's distress.
"I'm sure that she was just confused." Austin attempted to comfort Dez.
"Perhaps…" Dez laid down on the grass and stared at the clouds.
"You know that funny old lady we met at the fair weeks before all of this happened?" asked Austin.
"Yeah?"
"The woman whispered that she had the magical ability to find lost things. We should have gotten her card."
Dez smiled. "But that lady said she specialised only in finding kitty cats. I remember both Trish's and Ally's eyes lighting up when she said that."
Austin sniggered, "They almost adopted every single feline at the cat shelter when the lady led them to it."
Dez laughed along with his best friend.
"Austin?" Dez's voice dropped to a serious whisper.
"Yeah?"
"We will get them back right?"
"Yes, Dez. Yes we will."
"Well, the both of them seem to be up to something. They're acting really weird."
"And I think you're being overdramatic as always. They might act a little different, but they're nice."
Trish was speaking to Ally in hushed tones at their lockers, the former keeping a constant lookout for the boys.
Ally looked at her friend in concern. Trish seemed rather harried. But why? "Can you give me a reason as to why you might think they're up to something?" she calmly asked.
"I-I can't explain it, but—"
"Then I don't think you should judge them based only on a couple of encounters with them," Ally said flatly.
Trish sighed, "Fine. Suit yourself, Ally. Just don't forget that I told you so."
"I remember!"
Austin jumped slightly at Dez's sudden shout and whipped his head around, just in time to see the redhead bolt upright into a sitting position on the grass. His friend's blue eyes were wild.
"Remember what?" he asked, slightly alarmed.
"I remember what happened before we fell unconscious!"
Austin kicked at the leaves along the pavement as he wandered around town. After both he and Dez were able to recall the moment the girls had been taken away from them, they'd parted ways to search for them again. However, Austin had yet to encounter Ally.
The prince then noticed two familiar faces in the carpark of a nearby supermarket.
Dallas and Ally were standing near the parking lot, and Ally appeared to be giggling in response to something that Dallas was whispering into her ear. The male was leaning in very closely towards the blushing girl. They looked very much like a couple, which infuriated Austin to no end.
Finally he could take it no more and before he knew what he was doing, Austin felt his feet moving on their own, stomping towards the giggling duo. He grabbed Ally's arm and to her surprise, pulled her into his embrace, his other arm looping around her waist as he hugged her from behind.
"Go away, Dallas," he growled.
Dallas raised his hands in surrender. "Whoa. Hey, chill dude. I didn't know the two of you were dating."
Ally struggled against Austin's hold. "Dallas, it's not what you think!" she tried to explain.
"It's cool, Ally. I won't make a move on another dude's chick." Dallas smiled and backed away before turning around. Neither Austin nor Ally noticed the way Dallas' smile disappeared as he turned from them.
Ally felt her heart drop as she stared at Dallas' back moving away. She was suddenly angry and found the strength to wrench herself out of Austin's grasp. "Austin, what do you think you're doing?!" she snapped. "We don't even know each other that well!"
"Yes, we do! You belong with me!"
"Listen here you crazy stalker, I'm not interested in you!"
"Stalker?!"
"Yes, you. The weirdly…well-mannered fella who's just…weird!"
Austin was at a loss for words.
"Whatever you think of me, I cannot allow you to hang out with that despicable man!"
"Austin, what on earth are you talking about?"
Austin stared at Dez who had just exclaimed his memories' return.
"You remember what happened?"
Dez nodded solemnly.
"Well, what happened?!"
"Try to remember, Austin. Try to remember."
Austin too, sat upright and thought hard. Both of them, along with Dallas had rushed into the girls' bedchambers after they had heard a scream and then…
The men had barged into the bedchambers of the girls and were looking around frantically. What they saw made their blood run cold.
Both Ally and Trish were tied up, and somehow, they were levitating mid-air, conscious, whimpering, and so very frightened.
But what really made them turn to ice was the sight of the woman with long, dark blonde hair and cold blue eyes sitting on the bed in between the princesses. The look on her face was smug.
"Hello, my princes."
"Cassidy?!" cried Austin.
"I am surprised that you still remember me."
The blonde woman stood up letting her heavy velvet cloak fall to her side, exposing her skin. The crisscrossing of scars was apparent on her bare arms and legs.
Cassidy Peeples. She was a beautiful melodist, well known throughout the kingdom of Neilaz and the rest of the world. Favoured by the current kings, she often travelled together with her family and performed for dignitaries.
"What—" Austin tried to speak, but words failed him. Questions piled up in his mind. What had happened to the girl in front of him? How did she become this scarred person? Why and what was she doing here? Were Ally and Trish in certain danger? What exactly did Cassidy want from them?
He noticed that Ally and Trish seemed to be having a hard time staying conscious.
Cassidy cocked her head to one side, watching the conflicted prince indifferently. Her gaze wandered onto Dez, who was concernedly looking between the girls and her.
"Why, Cassidy?" asked Dez.
The look in her eyes suddenly grew so cold Dez thought it could freeze even the fires of hell. He suddenly wished that he hadn't opened his mouth in the first place.
She raised her hand and pointed an accusing finger at them.
"After you and your stupid kingdoms destroyed my family, after your senseless guards ripped my siblings apart and fed them to the dogs, after your men cut deep into my flesh to prevent another man from wanting me. After all this, you dare ask me why?!" Her voice shook with fury.
The princes looked confused. They had never heard of such a happening in their lives, and there was no way they would have decreed such barbaric punishments, no matter what she or her family did.
"The last time we saw you, you were perfectly happy and frolicking around the joint music and art festival fair between the kingdoms!" Austin spoke up.
Cassidy stared at Austin. A flicker of emotion—was it sadness?—passed over her eyes, but they remained cold and unforgiving. "Yes. I was. Perfectly happy. Until the both of you spoke to that little old lady who could find lost things."
The two boys were even more muddled now.
"The cat shelter lady? What does she have to do with this?" asked Dez.
"She had everything to do with it. She was my grandmother. A woman with special powers. you might say. She could find lost things, mainly pets. She had a link with the animal spirits."
Austin frowned. "And? We left her at the cat shelter and she was fine!"
Cassidy's eyes filled with sorrow. "You still do not understand how powerful the both of you are, do you?" she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Austin and Dez looked at each other.
"You," she pointed at Austin. "You scoffed and said that she was just a little old lady playing around and tricking others into adopting abandoned animals."
"I was just saying that because they weren't exactly 'lost animals'. It was clearly just a gimmick to get people to adopt them! And I did not do anything to her after leaving. I swear it!"
"It was not a gimmick and she was not a liar! And even if she was, did it warrant the torturous death of dismemberment by being tied to four horses?!" sobbed Cassidy.
Austin turned pale and Dez looked like he was about to throw up.
"We never knew! We had absolutely no idea-" began Austin but he was cut off by Cassidy.
"And then you executed my entire family. An 'extermination', the executors called it. I do not even have the heart to bring up the many ways the killings were performed."
Dez was shaking his head in disbelief. "We have never heard of such a thing."
"LIARS!" cried Cassidy, now clearly livid. "Even now you dare to disclaim your responsibilities for the horrifying demise of my family!"
Austin and Dez were distracted by Dallas' sudden locking of the doors.
"Dallas? What are you doing?" questioned Austin, frowning at the other man.
"The both of you knew and the both of you caused my entire family's deaths," Cassidy continued with little emotion. "Because of one small mindless comment, your men decided that my grandmother was an evil witch and deserved death! An old lady who never harmed even an insect in her life! Even my cousin's new-born infant was not spared!"
Dallas surprised the princes by striding over to Cassidy and standing next to her.
"Dallas? Are you helping her?!" Dez asked disbelievingly.
Dallas looked back at them stonily.
"Enough talk. It's time for the both of you to experience the pain of witnessing the loss of your loved ones. We shall start with these two," said Cassidy as she waved her hands towards the princesses.
The princes tensed. "What are you going to do to them?" Austin demanded. Dez glared at Cassidy and Dallas with all the intensity he could muster. Neither of them flinched.
"You are going to lose them. More than once," was Cassidy's simple answer.
With that, she muttered a string of unfamiliar words and the windows to the room shattered. The wind howled and rain splashed in.
The princes literally watched their lives with the two princesses flash in reverse before their eyes. The outings they enjoyed, the laughter they shared, the moments they met…and then. Nothing.
"Dallas is not a good man!" urged Austin.
"Oh, and you are?" challenged Ally, her eyes flashing.
"I am not who you think I am!"
"Then who are you exactly?"
"I am Prince Austin hailing from the kingdom of Neilaz and you are my princess!"
-end-
A/N: Ooh, we've reached the part of the story's summary! Yay! Anyway secrets have been revealed and there's more in store! We're almost at the end!
So the dog's gone back to its owners and I managed to walk it twice. Guess I've somewhat overcome the phobia? Just a tad. Heh. Oh, and I just skipped two days of work. I have horrible work ethics. Meh. ^_^
By the way, there will be several flashback sequences in a future chapter where you get to read about the guys and girls' interactions with each other since they first met. How they met for the first time and one of their dates is already in the works. What other scenes would you like to see? I'll try to incorporate them if I can! :)