Douse the Flame
Summary: When Sofia gets word that Greeneyes has been revived and is out for revenge against Sofia and her family, she calls for help to eradicate the evil entity for good.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Sofia the First, as they belong to Craig Gerber. I own Serena, Charlie, Angel (mentioned), Takoda (mentioned), Butterford, Muscles, and several others. MarionetteJ2X owns Nana and Tanya (both mentioned).
Chapter 4: Scattered Puzzle
About half an hour later, Charlie awoke to the sound of the downpour of rain outside his window. He didn't mind the rain, but the lightning that sometimes accompanied it was another story. There was something frightening about a flash of light that could kill…
He looked toward his sister's bed and frowned, noticing that she wasn't there. Sure, she might have gotten something to drink or headed to the lavatory, so he wasn't all that worried, and he lay back down. However, when ten minutes had passed and Serena still hadn't returned, he grew worried.
Charlie got out of his warm bed and looked all over the room, even in the closet where they would sometimes hide from each other during their games. He checked Cedric's smaller workshop, the living room, the study, and even Nana's and Tanya's bedroom, but she wasn't anywhere. Finally, he hurried to his parents' room, knocking hurriedly on the door. "Mama! Papa!"
Sofia jumped upon hearing her son's voice, and she slid from Cedric's arms onto the floor. Swiftly, she grabbed her discarded pajamas from earlier, pulled them on hastily, and worked on buttoning the shirt as she stumbled to the door in the darkness. "Ow! Cedric, I thought you put your shoes away!"
"Those are your shoes, love," he teased as he put his own clothes back on, using his wand to illuminate the room so they could see better. He nodded toward Sofia's boots that were lying on the carpet. "See? I believe I recall you kicking them off the moment we got in here, because I also remember you pushing me against the wall, and—" He was cut off the moment she shushed him and pressed a finger to his lips, her ears trained just outside the door. "Mm?"
"Cedric, Charlie. He's crying…" She pulled the door open and gasped, lowering to the floor and wrapping her arms around her crying son. "Sweetie, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Charlie sniffled as he moved back a bit, rubbing at his eyes to stop the tears. "It's Serena," he told her sadly. "I woke up 'cause of the storm, and I saw she wasn't in bed. So, I looked for her, but I couldn't find her. I think she ran away, Mama. She's gone!" He resumed crying, and Sofia collected him into her arms again, standing with him sobbing against her shoulder.
"Serena…" Cedric hurried to the children's room and looked all over, including under her bed. Like Charlie, he scoped the entire apartment, but his daughter was nowhere to be found. When he returned to Sofia, he knew his face said it all. He didn't have to say a word.
"She's really gone," Sofia murmured, a mix of anger and despair overwhelming her, but she tried not to show it as she continued to comfort Charlie. Holding it together, she asked her husband, "What do we do, Cedric?"
Cedric appeared disheartened as he raked his hands through his hair. "I should have put the barrier up sooner… This wouldn't have happened…"
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. We need to find Serena. I know you've got some kind of spell or something to reach her, right?"
He paused, looking at her contemplatively. "Yes… Come with me."
When she'd turned three years old, Cedric had gifted Serena with an amulet that was similar to Sofia's. The metal base was fashioned into an 'S' formation, and the gem in the center was lavender. As soon as the amulet was around her neck, the sorcerer had enchanted it, installing the jewelry with a magical tracking mechanism, just in case.
With this knowledge, Cedric led Sofia into his workshop, arranged to look similar to his old one, as he withdrew his family wand from its special case, holding it up before his wife. "We'll trace her whereabouts and get her back home."
Sofia nodded, watching as he muttered some strange spell, and she continued comforting the sniffling Charlie all the while.
Cedric watched a holographic image appear before him, streaming from the end of the family wand, and he frowned in confusion. "This isn't possible…"
"What?" Sofia stepped up next to him, trying to make sense of the hologram. "What is it, Cedric?"
"She's not…here. Not in our world, and maybe not even in our time…" He slowly turned to her, his face a bit pale. "Sofia… Do you remember what happened several years ago? With…Sunni?"
She paused, realization washing over her. "It can't be… But… That doesn't make any sense, Cedric. Our future selves didn't have Charlie with them, and Serena doesn't have amnesia. And we're not frozen in time…"
"Yet," he suggested, his eyes narrowed. "And her eyes during that time… They were green, remember? Before she got her memories back…"
"But those men who were involved don't exist this time around. This is Greeneyes. This is all her, and no one else." She scowled as she felt her heart speeding up, her anger boiling within her. "I swear, Cedric, if she harms her in any way, I'll do far worse to her than she ever did to me… I don't care if she's inhuman or immortal. I'll find a way to make her suffer."
Cedric stayed calm as he stepped up to her, gently gathering Charlie into his arms as the boy had all but cried himself to sleep, and he used his left arm to wrap it around his wife, who sighed heavily and leaned into him. "We're going to get her back, Sofia. But that realm, whatever it is, is impossible to access without much stronger magic than either of us has."
She stared up at him. "So… How do we get there? Who has more powerful magic and can get us to wherever she is?"
He thought for a moment before telling her, "The Protectors will always be our best connectors. They have the most potent magic of any I've met. I'm quite sure even just Orion would be able to gain access to this realm, wherever and whatever it is."
"Then, let's not waste time talking about it," she insisted, her expression still solemn yet determined. "Let's go so we can get her back. I don't want our daughter with that shrew for long."
Cedric was only slightly stunned by Sofia's title for Greeneyes, as she rarely uttered any form of curse or negative expression, regardless of how mild it was. However, this one time… He felt that term certainly applied to the evil entity. In fact, had it been him, he would have called Greeneyes a far more derogatory name, and she had certainly earned it. Gathering his wits about him, he nodded after hearing his wife's suggestion. "Right… To the Mystic Isles then."
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Standing By