Matthew took a few protective steps forward to be in front of Alex, wanting to block her, should Zelda try something. But Alex didn't want to be protected at the moment. She moved in front of him, taking a slightly offensive stance.

Zelda turned her head downward from her fireball to face Alex head on, and for a stunning moment, Alex began to remember everything.

However, Zelda remembered nothing about this girl who had easily recognized her. She didn't at all remember the girl who had called out her name and who was now staring her down with the most fierce eyes and angry expression on her face.

"Who are you?" Zelda demanded.

"I should think you'd recognize me, Zelda. I can't be too easy to forget."

"So, you have returned," Zelda said, finally placing the girl. Alex had changed after years of being away. Not being raised in the castle definitely gave her a more edgy look than the rest of her family, but there was no mistaking the resemblance to Odette. "I'm so happy to see it."

"Hey, you can be evil all you want. That's one thing, but don't lie to my face, Zelda. And yeah, I'm back. I guess you're just not good at killing people, or memories, now are you?"

"So, my little spell didn't work? Well, I have-"

"Oh it worked," Alex interrupted, "just not that well. And, I know, you have another spell that will kill me. Well, you'd better use it pretty quick before-"

Alex was cut off by the sound of the ballroom doors bursting open. A near army of castle guards flooded in, armed with bows and swords, the former ready and aimed at Zelda.

"Too late," she finished smoothly, glad for the good timing.

Before the arrows could be loosed, however, Zelda was already flying off, too fast for the archers, who weren't accustomed to there being attacks on the castle, since Chamburg was a generally peaceful land.

"Too late, indeed," Zelda called down as she started to escape.

Alex stood watching for a few more minutes until Derek and Odette started to run toward the stable. Alex, who knew she couldn't ride as well as her parents, having never rode on horseback before, Alex turned to Eli, Joan, and Matthew, who stared back at her, as if waiting for orders.

"Come on," Alex half barked at them. She started out the door, allowing Matthew and the others to go ahead of her. Before she passed up the last guard, she relieved him of his bow and quiver of arrows.

"Thanks!" she called behind her as she bolted off after Matthew and her siblings.

When she caught up, Matthew, to her slight chagrin, was waiting on her. "Why do you have that?!" he asked, a little peeved that he had not thought of it himself.

"It seemed appropriate," she replied.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?"

"Well, now would be a good time to learn, I suppose."

Alex slung the quiver over her shoulder as they took off again. After a few minutes of being slowed down by her largely impractical shoes, Alex stopped momentarily to kick them off. Eli, Joan, Derek, and Odette were well ahead of her and Matthew, a thought that filled her with unease. She didn't want anything – good or bad – to happen if she wasn't there.

Fortunately for her – and her bare feet - Zelda was looking for a fight, and thus, didn't go too far. In fact, everyone was gathered a spot that wasn't far from where Matthew and Alex had first seen the green light of Zelda's fireballs.

Zelda stared at Alex in amazement and hatred.

"So, did you come to finish the job, or were you just bitter because you didn't get an invitation?" Alex asked, a sly, challenging grin on her face.

"I've come to finish you all off," Zelda replied, ignoring the taunts and aiming a fireball at her. "This time, no mistakes, no missing notes, just all of you wretches against me."

Zelda threw the fireball. When it was flying at her, Alex found herself frozen, ironically enough. She couldn't make her legs move, for some reason. Matthew, knowing this rushed over and tackled her to the ground, saving her from Zelda's magic.

"Thanks," Alex said. "I-I don't know what happened to me…"

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "You can thank me if we live through this."

"Come on now, have you given up so soon?" Zelda jeered. "The fun's only just begun. I had heard you returned, and I was hoping for a challenge, but you're actually making this boring, princess."

"She's very antagonistic," Matthew noted.

"You're telling me," Alex muttered sarcastically, cupping her forehead in her hand.

"Are you alright?"

"I will be…"

And suddenly, she knew what was happening. It was one of the migraines, and it was happening because she was remembering everything. All the memories, the lost years and missing names and faces… they were all coming back to her, rushing into her mind, flooding her brain with new information that it almost couldn't handle.

Knowing Alex was going to have trouble for at least a few more minutes, Matthew led her off to hide behind a nearby clutch of trees.

He turned his attention back to his friends, watching Zelda's movements. Now, she was firing at Joan, who was narrowly dodging the attacks. Odette, Derek, and Eli were trying to get Zelda's attention off the youngest member of the family, but to no avail.

"Hey, Zelda!" Matt barked. "You want a fight? I'm right here."

"We're right here," Alex corrected, now able to step up beside him. She pushed the pain to the back of her mind, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand.

Zelda, unable to resist their challenge, immediately began blasting them with her magic. They easily dodged the first few blasts, but they were soon too defensive to be able to come up with a good offense.

"Yikes!" Matthew yelped just as a fireball barely missed him. It was so close that he could feel its heat. Had the fireball hit him, he knew he would have lost a foot.

Alex, though afraid for Matthew and her family, was not afraid for herself. She bravely stood up, not obscured by any kind of cover that could possibly safe her life. "Is that all you've got, Zelda? You're going to have to do better than that!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Zelda attacked again, this time in a ditch effort to shut Alex up permanently.

Having dropped the bow when Matthew tackled her to safety, Alex picked up a rock and lobbed it with perfect accuracy at Zelda. It would have hit, but Zelda destroyed it with the fireball that was intended for Alex before it was within three feet of her.

The corners Alex's smirking mouth dropped along with the bits of rock. She had no idea how she was going to win and keep her family safe at the same time.

"Not the most polite little princess of the bunch, now are you?" Zelda taunted, seeing Alex's slight distress.

Alex's reply showed only complete confidence, regardless of how bad things were at that moment.

"No, and you have only yourself to blame for that. Couldn't leave well enough alone, now could you?"

"You think you know me. Let me guess, your dear mother told you the story, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and when I asked her about it last week, she didn't leave out the good parts. I know exactly what you did, and it won't happen again, to any of my family."

"Would you be willing to make a deal?" Zelda asked, knowing she was going to get the better end of it.

The odds were, of course, tilted in her favor, a fact Alex was fully aware of, not that she cared. She didn't care about anything except for getting her family, Matthew both included and especially, away safely.

"Alright. I'll make a deal with the devil's daughter. Name your stakes."

"Fine. You for all of them."

"Done," Alex said confidently. She turned to Matthew, who was standing slack-jawed, not believing what he was both hearing and seeing. "Matthew, you and the others can go now."

"But, Alex…" Matthew attempted to reason, but Alex would have none of it.

"Go. Now. There might be a chance that I can win this."

Just as he was about to try to protest once more when he realized her head was tilted back, if only slightly. He looked in the direction she was discretely indicating. It was the bow she had dropped. He nodded, a barely visible motion, and walked past her.

"You heard her. Let's go," he called to everyone else, letting them leave before him.

Odette and Derek led the way, trusting that Alex had something under her sleeve. Even if she didn't, they didn't plan to go far.

"Smart move," Zelda said, keeping the triumphant laughter out of her voice. "At least the rest of you will survive."

"You talk too much," Alex muttered.

"Feeling sore, are we?"

"Nah. I just really wish you'd shut up."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, a fireball was flying toward her. She dodged it, looking only momentarily at the smoldering crater that was left where she was standing. She looked up at Matthew, who had grabbed the bow. She nodded curtly.

Matthew, understanding the signal as if she had said it aloud, threw the bow to her with all his might. Zelda, who had been distracted by Matthew's movement, aimed a fireball at him while Alex notched her arrow.

"Hey, Zelda!" Alex yelled before Matthew would have had to dodge the fireball that was clearly being aimed at him. Zelda let the fireball go just as Alex loosed the arrow with deadly accuracy.

The arrow flew straight over to Zelda, piercing her heart. A luckier shot was never seen before and would never be seen again.

The arrow to her heart jolted Zelda's arm, making her aim go down by a few degrees. Alex had stepped back only slightly after releasing her arrow, so the fireball hit the ground beside her.

It was a large, deadly fireball, to be sure. It was definitely a destroyer. Although it didn't hit her directly, Alex was still knocked to the ground by the impact. She was conscious, though she could not move. She felt like the ground was shaking, but she knew it had to be still, as she could see Matthew and her parents and siblings, who were well behind him, running toward her without trouble.

"Alex? Alex!" Matthew yelled.

She couldn't respond. She could barely understand what he was saying, for that matter. Nothing on her would respond to her mind's commands. Everything was still rattling so violently that she could barely concentrate.

"Alex, can you hear me?!"

Finally, the shaking stopped. Even the migraine was gone. She sat up, too fast for Matthew's liking.

"Hey, take it easy," he cooed protectively. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her; glad she was feeling well enough to rush her own recovery.

"You're okay," she gasped as she threw her arms around him.

"I'm okay?" he repeated, almost exasperated by her downplaying what had just happened – and what had nearly happened. "I'm glad you're okay! That was amazing! You were amazing, Alex. You"

She cut him off with a swift kiss of thanks, both for his being alive and her victory. Of course, he couldn't help but fall into it, even as Odette, Derek, Eli, and Joan were approaching.

"Hey, you two," Eli said as he reached them. He was grinning, but not out of spite for them. He was, like the rest of the family, genuinely glad everyone was okay.

"Did you see that?" Joan exclaimed.

"It was pretty hard to miss," Derek said as Matthew helped Alex up.

"Are you alright?" Odette asked, her mind still on the fireball that would have undoubtedly killed Alex, had it hit its target.

"Yes, I'm fine. Really, I am."

"That was a perfectly skilled shot," Derek complimented her.

"No. Just lucky."

"Whatever it was," Matthew said, "it was amazing."