Here's the next chapter, enjoy!

Cerise walked over to Daring and caressed his face as gently as she could. She was careful in maneuvering her hand around because of the respirator Daring was currently connected to.

After Apple was taken down to Hades and made to pay the price for her sins against the citizens of the land, a much stronger evil had been unleashed. The battle that Darling and Daring had been involved in wasn't originally so large and chaotic but, Apple had already put spells in place to do harm even if she wasn't going to be around to do it herself.

"He's going to be okay, I know it!" A wheelchair-bound Darling insisted as she entered Daring's hospital room, "My brother isn't one to go down without a fight. This is no different."

Dexter had finally seemed to gain control of his 'beastly side'. Well, he'd gained control of the 'bringing his beastly side forth' part. He was still a little bit shaky when it came to using all of that brute strength while transformed but, he was certainly doing much better than before.

He only wished that Daring and Darling could be doing so well…

"Why the long face?" Darling rolled into the room at full speed.

"It's nothing," The bespectacled prince assured his younger sister.

If Dexter was going to be honest, he had plenty of reasons as to why he was frowning.

For starters, Raven had been in a coma for some time now and he wasn't able to do anything to help that until Maddie, Cerise and Cupid weighed in, his siblings were both hurt, and once more on top of it all: he felt useless.

Darling let out a frustrated sigh. She knew for a fact that Dexter was lying about being bothered about 'nothing.' Though, Darling was willing to let it slide because she knew how much Dexter's heart was hurting over Raven. However, the knightly princess was certain that Raven and Dexter would be together soon.

"This is not 'love potion' of any kind it's…" Cupid started.

"Cupid, we get it," Cerise offered, "It's a waking elixir and as Dexter kisses Raven awake, this elixir will penetrate the air and has the ability to 'awaken' feelings in both of them and wake Raven up. That's it, isn't it?"

"That's it exactly!" The pink haired maiden smiled widely.

Maddie said nothing as she moved across the room to open the door.

"Maddie! It's been too long," Ginger gave her a hug as she was ushered inside.

"Too long, indeed," Maddie giggled excitedly.

At Maddie's suggestion, one more form of the 'Waking Elixir' was to be mixed up. This form would be tea-like and while she had more than enough faith in Cupid's 'heart grenades' filled with the stuff, she thought concentrating such a substance into some leaves and crafting a tea to flood a room with might be another good safety net to have going for them.

While Maddie knew all of the odds and ends of making the perfect batch of tea, she needed Ginger's help to make a tea truly full of love and that 'first kiss' sweetness that only a baker could translate properly.

Dexter didn't move as Cerise adjusted his shackles, then his handcuffs and made sure he was firmly secured by the chains on him. This was going to be Dexter's final test of control. If he could transform to break free of his chains and then phase back into his human form, he was ready to kiss Raven do attempt to wake her.

"Remind me again why I have to master this 'beastly' stuff before I can attempt to wake Raven?" Dexter asked.

"Because if you can't, that means your emotions are still ruling you. If your emotions are still ruling you, assuming that everything we're doing to wake Raven plus your kiss true love doesn't work, we have to be certain that you'll be able to keep it together after. I've told you before, you and the beast within you are in the same body for a reason. That side of you is something to embrace with pride but, with that pride comes the need for control. In beast or human form, you are you, Dexter. Don't let anyone take that from you," Cerise patted him on the shoulder.

The red hooded maiden stepped back away from him and waited patiently, "Now, you wanna break those chains or not?"

Letting out a long sigh first, Dexter closed his eyes. He thought of Raven, where she lay in Maddie's guest room as if she were sleeping. But, no…She wasn't sleeping, she was deep under probably suffering from whatever spell Apple had her under and—

At that thought, a strong roar escaped Dexter and his claws began to sprout. Instantaneously, he transformed the rest of the way and ripped out of his chains.

"Great job, Dex!" Cerise began congratulating him.

Next, Dexter gave a worried roar and charged straight for Cerise.

"Wait, wait! Dexter, what in the world are you…"

Cerise's voice trailed off as Dexter tackled her to the ground. She looked up to see that Dexter's back had been bombarded with arrows. She looked up at him in thanks. Dexter was by no means attacking her, he was protecting her.

"Are you okay?" Dexter's voice started as a roar at the beginning of his statement and as he phased back to human, his voice returned to normal.

"You saved me," Cerise smiled and then began to help Dexter get up, "C'mon, it's now or never because we've got to get you healed the second you've woken Raven."

Dexter thought he was going to fall over but, thanks to Cerise, he stayed standing. He could smell the blood he was loosing from his back; most of the arrows had popped out of his back by now but, the damage had already been done.

"Cerise, get him to Maddie and Alistair's now!" Darling ran out from the castle and tossed Cerise a small pouch, "We're under attack. We might be rid of Apple but, we're certainly not rid of the plans she already had set in place. Please, go!"

Cerise opened the pouch and sprinkled the powder inside on herself and Dexter; the only way left to beat the clock was by use of teleportation. Time was usually on the side of true love, this had to work.

A/N: I apologize for the shortness of the chapter and yet another cliffhanger but, this was what I wanted to do here. Next chap should be the last of this story and I'll be moving onto the following part (I am going to do a separate continuation story). Also, I really am working on finishing up my other stories. Thanks everyone, happy holidays!