The Kingdom Keepers

Azalea's P.O.V.

We hid in the shadows of Wonders of Life. The snake Gigabyte made his way to Wonders, slithering out front. "We have twelve minutes to get in get Wayne and get out," Philby stated, looking at his watch.

"Let's go," Maybeck whispered, motioning for Finn and me to follow him. We ran to the wall where we would have to go all clear to get through. I went through first. I heard a few bumps from outside before Finn and Maybeck walked through the wall. We slid down the ladder and headed for the board room. Maybeck's phone rang but he chose to ignore it.

We entered the boardroom silently, but no one was there. Wayne was gone. Finn angrily kicked the chair. "He's not here, we have to leave. This has to be a trap," I told Finn, placing a hand on Finn's shoulder.

"No it is not, stop thinking that way!" Finn cursed.

"Listen, there's lions at the front and Gigabyte at the back. This was a trap, and they used Wayne as bait!" Maybeck stated, putting his cell phone down.

"Tell the girls to head to Nemo, no sense in all of us getting capture," Finn sighed.

"Charlene's tied up with the lions out front, and Philby's still in the booth," Maybeck reported. I looked out the boardroom windows, seeing two jesters and a crash test dummy making their way up to us.

"Guys, we got to go, there's some OT's heading up here," I warned. Maybeck called Philby.

"I have a plan of exit for you guys," Philby said into the phone," but you're not going to like it."

"Why?" Maybeck asked.

"It involves small spaces and heights," Philby responded. I saw the boys shoulders sag.

"We have to go, c'mon," I interrupted their mopping session. As Philby told us his plan, I open the air conditioning duct. Maybeck and Finn hesitated to follow me in. "Look, I don't want to be around here when the OT's show up so you guys can follow me or get captured," I retorted, crawling down the duct. I heard scratching as the boys filed in behind me. Rolling my eyes, I continued on. Getting to the grate Philby had specified, I pushed it.

The boys behind me were arguing as I carefully grabbed the grate and placed it on the other side of the vent. I slid out onto the ladder and climbed down silently. The boys tumbled out behind me. "Alright, we've got a bit of a dilemma now," I stated.

"That being," Finn asked.

"We need to get to that carousel, and there's not a clear path to said carousel." Maybeck grabbed a plank and placed it on the stepladder resting next to the railing. Finn and I held it steady as he walked over until he was forced to jump to the carousel. Another plank was placed down, and Finn went next. I gasped as the jesters made their way up the stairs, heading straight for me.

"C'mon Azalea!" Maybeck shouted frantically. I stood on the plank and started to walk over. As I hit the half-way point, the make-shift bridge started to wobble. I walked faster, trying not to fall when the plank fell out from beneath me. I screamed, latching onto the plank, and missing a plummet that would have possibly ended me.

"Azalea!" Finn shouted, looking over the edge.

"A little help," I called, losing my grip on the plank due to the sweat that was percolating on my palms. Maybeck and Finn heaved the plank up. I hooked my knee on the railing and climbed over, falling onto the floor at Finn and Maybeck's feet.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked.

"Why am I the one who always almost falls to her death?" I panted. Maybeck helped me up, before turning our attention to Philby at the other side of the once bridge, the jokers trying to climb for us on this side. "There's no bridge but there's a wire," I said pointing to the steel wire that travelled the same distance as the bridge had.

"You'll have to tightrope!" Finn hollered.

"Are you crazy?" Philby shouted back.

"It's either that or we leave you!" Maybeck retorted. Muttering, Philby stepped onto the wire, somehow grabbing a pole he used for balance. After he made it across, we climbed to the roof. There was no sign of Gigabyte or the lions.

"While I was tightrope walking I think I figured out what the OT's are up to. Seat belts aren't coming undone. They're trying to trap visitors on rides. We'll have to listen to their demands otherwise the rides will end up like those in the past. Test track, it's a small world, etc. Except I have a feeling there won't be a good chance at escaping."

"You figured all of that out while tight roping?" Maybeck said, incredulously. We ran to Nemo, the rendezvous point, glad to see that Charlene had made it as well. "Well now, what do we do?" Maybeck asked.

"Five am," Finn started, standing up," when I hitched a ride from some Imagineers one of the guys was saying something about how they were doing runs of Fantansmic at five am." It was decided that we would locate the truck but in doing so we would have to split up with such little time. Finn and I were searching behind America when Willa called saying that she had found the truck behind China. We quickly made our way there.

Everyone but Maybeck and Jess, a partnered group, had not shown up. "We have to leave without them," Philby said quietly. We jumped into the back of the pickup, pulling a tarp over us. I considered calling Wanda to have her get Maybeck and Jess over to the Studios. Suddenly, Finn motioned for us to get out.

"Are you crazy?" Philby responded. Finn ignored him and jumped out of the truck. I sighed and followed suit, with the others hopping out after me. We hid in a ditch until the truck passed. When the truck had passed, I called Wanda who agreed to bring Maybeck and Jess over to the Studios. We wandered over to Fantasmic, Finn clutching the sword tightly. I placed a comforting had over his trembling one and he seemed to calm down.

"Alright, planning time. What have you got, Philby?" Finn said, stopping just outside of Fantasmic. Philby listed off basically the whole lay out of it.

"So it's basically the large scale base of the OT's, where they wouldn't be questioned for hanging around," Willa summed up. The sound of the show starting was in the distance. Charlene, Amanda, Finn, and I hid in the brush while Philby went up to the control center.

"I think I can get you guys in," Charlene stated. We all nodded as she ran off to open the door for us. Finn started to flicker and I grabbed his hand to settle him again. He kept his gaze pointed forward. Charlene reappeared behind us. "There's a deep shadow behind the stage, if we stay in it, we should be able to get in undetected."

The plan was to get Finn in position to defeat the beast while Charlene was to find a way to subdue the dragon. I was to stay up to of the stage, looking things over ready to spill the fire retardant liquid on Chernabog or Maleficent, whichever required more taming. Charlene climbed before us before letting a rope down for us. Finn went first, the sword after him, and them me. When I got to the top, we signaled for Amanda to come up.

She wasn't there. "Where is she?" I asked, looking over the side.

"You don't think that . . ." Charlene started. I gulped, not needing Charlene to finish the sentence. What if Amanda was the betrayal Wayne warned us about? I sighed.

"We'll have to go one without her, if this is what I think it is, we shouldn't hang around here much longer," I stated. Finn and Charlene looked just as hurt as I felt.

"She wouldn't betray us, right?" Finn replied. I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. He nodded and we went to our positions. It's show time. I watched as Finn taunted Maleficent on stage. I gulped as Finn missed a blast from Maleficent. Chernabog, the dragon, had appeared and Charlene wasn't in her position. Everything was going wrong.

I grabbed a rope and sighed. "Any last words, Azalea? Yeah, I wish I had a better plan!" I told myself before jumping off the catwalk and swinging towards the dragon, to keep it occupied with someone other than Finn who was busy with Maleficent. "HEY! OVER HERE YOU OVERGROWN LIZARD!" I shouted.

The beast turned its attention to me. I growled. I gulped as the dragon roared. It sucked in a breath, and breathed fire. I was able to dodge most of the blast but a part of the flame licked my shoulder. I screamed in pain. I sucked in a breath as the dragon reared back, about to cook me with his fire breath when he suddenly cried out.

It redirected its blast somewhere else. With a last terrifying roar, Chernabog fell, Charlene standing triumphantly holding a spear in one hand. She quickly ran over to me, helping me up before we both ran off the stage towards Soundstage B. We were the last to arrive, my shoulder slowing me down a bit. When we arrived, we met by a pacing Finn, a sobbing Wanda, and a jittery Maybeck.

"There you guys are!" Willa shouted, hugging us tightly. I winced as she accidently hit my burnt shoulder. "You're hurt!" Willa led me over to a chair where she examined the burn. I winced as she rubbed something on it.

"So what's everyone mopping about?" I asked, wincing as Willa applied more of whatever it was on my shoulder. Everyone suddenly turned somber. "What's wrong?"

" . . . Wayne's dead." I felt my heart clench as I looked down in sorrow. "The second blast of fire from the dragon killed him," Finn explained. I felt guilty, seeing as that blast was meant for me. I ignored the throbbing in my shoulder and walked away from the others. I heard someone follow me but I ignored them. After I was a good distance from the group, I let out a silent sob, holding my hand to my mouth to silence my whimpers. "Azalea . . ."

I turned around to see Finn standing there, sorrow littering his features. "It's all my fault," I whispered.

"No, it's not. There was nothing you could have done, Lea," Finn sighed, using my nickname that only people I trust are allowed to use without worry for certain death from me.

"You don't understand Finn that that blast was meant for me. But when he fell over, it got redirected at Wayne. Wayne's dead because of me," I sobbed. Finn grabbed my uninjured shoulder gently but firmly, my chin in the other. He directed my chin so that I was staring into his eyes, which were glittering with unshed tears.

"Listen to me. There was nothing you could have done, nothing. Do you understand?" Finn stated, punctuating every word. I nodded silently, letting a few tears slip. He pulled me into a strong hug, me hugging back quickly. As we hugged, I wet his shirt with my tears and I felt my hair get damp as his tears came out. We stood in silence for a while just letting the sorrow we felt for the loss of our dear mentor sink in. After we had calmed ourselves and dried our tears, we walked back to the group.