Deal of a Lifetime

Selena had been wallowing in her room ever since her sister yelled at her. She stopped crying long ago, but she was still disappointed. She was turning eighteen tomorrow, and her sister still treated her like a child. Of course, she didn't expect Ambrose to apologize. Ambrose never apologized because she hated being wrong; Ambrose always had to be right. It was the one flaw she hated about her sister.

"It wouldn't hurt if she just said sorry every once and awhile," Selena said as she petted Lupe soothingly. Her head laid in her lap as she lazily listened to her master. "I mean, Ambrose is always there for me, but now that I think about it, she can be more of a child than I ever was."

The wolf barked in reply.

"Maybe I was asking for too much."

Lupe sat right up and shook her head.

"You're right. But even if Ambrose isn't being fair, she's still my older sister. She's just thinking of what's best for me."

The wolf rose an eyebrow as if she was implying something.

"Who am I kidding? Why do I keep making excuses for her?"

The conversation was interrupted when a knock was heard at the door. "Selena!"

Selena rolled her eyes. "Speak of the devil…" Lupe jumped off her bed and hid in the corner, just like she did every time her older sister entered the room. Ambrose was never very fond of animals, especially Lupe, so the wolf avoided her at any cost.

Ambrose slowly came into the flowery decorated room. The younger woman doubtfully looked up at her sister's face and was surprised to see how sorry she looked.

Maybe she did come to apologize, she thought hopefully.

"Selena," she said. She sat down next to her dear little sister and put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm so very sorry that I yelled at you earlier. It's just… ever since Mother died…" Ambrose began to tear up. She quickly recovered. "I've been responsible for you ever since then. If something were to happen to you… if I let you outside and you were to get hurt, I would never be able to forgive myself, and I don't think Mother would either."

Selena suddenly felt guilty. She never knew their mother—Ambrose told her she died when she was just a baby—but if she was still alive, she knew she would say the same thing.

Of course, that wasn't going to stop her plan.

"I'm sorry, Ambrose. I didn't mean to upset you." She hugged her sister in apology. "Please don't cry. I don't want to go outside, anymore."

Ambrose smiled. "I'm glad to here it."

The sisters hugged one more time before Ambrose decided to leave. When she was halfway through the door, Selena called out to her sister, "Ambrose."

"Yes, dear sister?"

Selena twiddled her fingers a bit. "I've decided… I-I want something else for… my birthday."

Ambrose suddenly became elated. "Oh good! What is it?"

"I… I wanted, um…" The young woman glanced around the room looking from canvas to canvas. "… those buttercups that I weave into necklaces, like the one I made you for your birthday last year. I wanted some for one of my creations." She held her breath as her sister fell into contemplation. She wasn't sure if this plan would work, but she had to try, if only to have freedom for a day.

Ambrose sighed. "Selena, those buttercups are all the way in Corona. It'll take me hours to get there, and I might have to stay over night."

"Well, I thought that it was a better gift than leaving the house." She lowered her head a bit, feigning her disappointment. "It's okay if you can't get them."

When she heard a sigh, she knew she was victorious. Ambrose entered the room again and made her way over to her little sister. "Will you be alright by yourself while I'm gone?"

"I've taken care of myself plenty of times before. I'll be fine. I promise."

"Alright then. I'll get you those buttercups."

The two got ready for Ambrose's departure. Selena prepared a basket of fresh fruit, bread, and cheese for her older sister's journey. Ambrose tied the cloak around her neck and put the hood over her blonde head before receiving her basket.

"I'll be back soon. You know what to do when a stranger comes to the door."

"Don't answer it."

"And if a hoodlum breaks in…"

"Hit him with a frying pan and put him outside."

Ambrose patted her head lightly. "Good girl."

The sisters hugged one last time before she left. "Take care, Sis."

"You, too."

As soon as Ambrose was gone, Selena sighed. "Lupe, she's gone!" The gray wolf ran down to her master and barked happily. "Now don't get too excited. She locked the door, so we're going to have to find some other way to get out of here. Now start sniffing!"

The two spent the next few hours trying to find some way to escape their hovel. The windows were too high up and there wasn't any weak crevices that allowed her to dig her way out. The only available escape was the little doggy door for Lupe, but it was too small for her.

"It's no use, Lupe. I guess having Ambrose leave was a waste."

The wolf whimpered sadly.

"It's okay. You can come and go as you please. You don't have to stay here with me all the time." Lupe shook her head and nudged the back of Selena's knee. The young woman knelt down to her level and petted her tenderly. "You're the greatest, Lupe."

Suddenly, both of their stomachs growled. Selena laughed. "We haven't eaten since this morning, have we? Let's look for something to eat." Lupe followed her white-haired master into the kitchen and waited to see what she would feed her. "Let's see… oh! How about we share some of that cinnamon raisin bread Ambrose bought!" Selena set the basket on the table and uncovered the bread. When she reached for a slice, she brought her hand back. "Maybe I shouldn't take one," she thought to herself. "Ambrose might get mad again. What do you think, Lupe?"

The wolf suddenly growled and ran up to her room. "Lupe?" Leaving the bread exposed, Selena ran upstairs to see what made her friend upset. Lupe was found on her bed with her forepaws on the windowsill. She was still snarling under breath. "What is it, girl?" Selena joined her on the bed and looked out the window. She saw a young man approaching their little hovel. When his hand reached for the rusty knob, she gasped and ran for the kitchen, Lupe right on her tail.

Selena stopped at the top of the staircase when she saw the door open.

"Hello?" a masculine voice said. "If anyone's here, I'm just going to hide in here for awhile, if you don't mind." When no one answered, the young man came into the house.

"That's weird," Selena said. "I thought Ambrose locked the door."

The two continued to observe the man as he entered the kitchen and eyed the basket of cinnamon raisin bread Selena left on the table. Lupe growled again and ran down the stairs. "Lupe, no!" she hissed. Selena ran after her and grabbed the scruff of her neck before she could maul the stranger. However, when she did so, she accidentally knocked over her stool. The young woman held her breath as the stranger looked up from the bread and over at her direction. She finally let her breath out when his attention was drawn away by the giant mirror beside the fireplace.

Selena released Lupe but not before she gave her a glare warning her not to kill the stranger. She had to listen to her sister. She quickly scattered into the kitchen to retrieve the frying pan.

"Oh man. Look at me," she heard the stranger say. "This is my first day in the wilderness and I look like this. What a day."

Selena gripped the frying pan firmly, readying herself to whack the man unconscious. She heard a growl next to her and quickly shushed it. She then tiptoed up to the stranger as he ogled himself in the mirror. However, when her image slowly appeared in the mirror, the stranger stopped what he was doing and looked in her direction. She quickly hid in a dark corner before he had a chance to see her. But she did get a chance to see his face.

For a hoodlum, he was actually quite handsome. He looked about as young as she was, maybe a bit older. Despite his dirty clothes and hat hair, he was glowing. His eyes were hazel and his hair was gorgeously blonde, more gorgeous than her sister's blonde hair; she didn't think that was even possible but it was, and the proof was standing right in front of her.

When the hoodlum was sure he saw nothing, he shrugged. "I guess it's just my crazy imagination gone wild, again," he said. "Now, back to my smolder—"

Selena closed her eyes and swung her frying pan before the stranger could even blink. And then she shrieked and ran behind the mirror. She peeked over to see if he was dead or not, but she was too frightened to walk over and check herself. Lupe, who was observing from the kitchen, stalked over to the unconscious body and sniffed him briefly. She barked once, indicating that he wasn't dead.

The young woman slowly crept towards the comatose hoodlum and poked him with the handle of her weapon. "He's out cold," she murmured. And then she gasped. "I knocked him out!" she suddenly shouted in joy. The wolf looked at her master as if she had suddenly become mad. "Did you see that, Lupe? I knocked him out! Me!" Selena laughed and looked in the mirror in satisfaction. "Too weak to handle myself out there, huh, Ambrose?" she said as she twirled her frying pan. "Ask my trusty frying pa—ow!" She frowned at her frying pan and checked in the mirror for any bruises.

As she looked, something in her periphery caught her eye. The hoodlum had two bags strapped around him. The dirtier bag had something shiny protruding from it. She flipped the bag open to find something dazzling. The object had a giant hole in the middle, big enough for her arm to slip through. When she did, Lupe shook her head. She looked through one of jewels; the multiple Lupes she saw shook their heads. She then turned to the mirror, placing the glistening object on her head. It seemed to fit her just right, but the wolf still didn't like it.

Selena put the object back in the bag she found it in and decided to look in the other bag to see if there was also anything interesting in it. She only found a few apples and a water canteen. At the bottom of the bag, she found something green squirming around. When she scooped it out, she ogled the little creature. "You're so adorable!" she squealed as she lightly petted the creature's head. "What were you doing in that dirty bag, little guy?"

The little lizard chirped in delight when he received the affection.

She set the chameleon on her shoulder and turned to her wolf friend. She growled when she saw the new animal. "Be nice," Selena scolded her. Lupe complied reluctantly. The young woman then turned back to the unconscious man on the floor.

"We should probably get rid of this guy now, Lupe. Help me drag him out…" As she grabbed the hoodlum's feet, a thought came to mind. "On second thought… I have an idea." She looked at her new friend on her shoulder. "Maybe you can help us."

The chameleon chirped happily in reply.

Flynn felt pain before. He had magic hair that could heal injuries and sickness, so he never caught a cold and had flawless skin for eighteen years. But he still had his share of painful endeavors. But never in his life had he ever suffered the pain of being struck in the back of the head by a blunt object. The aftermath felt worse.

When the young prince woke up, he had the worst headache ever. His head was pounding so hard, and he could only see dots of color. "Ow… what hit me?"

His vision cleared soon after, and he could see that he was still in the little hovel. He was sure no one was around when he entered the house, but he was sorely mistaken. And now, as he searched for the door, he realized he was tied up. "Great, just when my day couldn't get any worse…"

Suddenly, a wolf jumped out of the shadows in front of Flynn barking at him viciously. "Whoa! Down, dog! Down!" With his arms and legs bond to the chair, he had no way to defend himself. By some miracle, a whistle blew, and the wolf retreated back into the shadows. His eyes followed the wolf and saw that there was another figure in the dark.

"S-Struggling is pointless," a voice suddenly spoke up. "I know what you are, a-and I'm not afraid of you."

Flynn shook his head. "What?"

The dark figure slowly stepped out of the shadows into the light. The prince's eyes widened when he saw that it was a young women grasping a frying pan, probably as young as he was. She looked beautiful, with her lavender eyes and her cerulean gown. What really made him speechless was her luscious snow-white hair that almost went past her waist. She looked like a goddess.

"Who are you, and how did you find me?" she asked.

He said nothing.

"Who are you, and how did you find me?" she reiterated. She held the frying pan a bit higher as if she were getting ready to hit him again. "If you don't answer, I'll call Lupe in here again, and you'll have to deal with her."

He didn't know how he was going to answer her. He couldn't just say, "I'm Flynnigan Frederick Fitzherbert, the prince of Corona. By the way, I ran away from home because of my overprotective mother." It was suspicious enough that he invaded her home.

Now's the perfect time to use that Fitzherbert charm.

"I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you," he began sincerely. "But may I just say…" Flynn broke from his sincere face and gave her a debonair smile. "Hi. How you doing? My name's Flynn."

"Flynn? As in Flynn Rider, the infamous thief?"

"Um…" Flynn didn't think this through. Before his father joined the life of royalty, he was a notorious thief. His father told him many anecdotes of his adventures; they were old tales, so he didn't think anyone would still know about him. This girl didn't know him or his dad, but if he were to use his father's old persona, how much trouble could he possibly get in? "Yeah, I guess," he finally answered.

"My sister told me you were the most wanted criminal before I was born, but then you suddenly disappeared. Have you come for me, Flynn Rider?" she asked vehemently. "And who else knows my location?"

He sighed. This girl wasn't making any sense. "Listen, Snow White—"

"Selena."

"—here's the deal. I was in a tight situation, gallivanting through the forest. I came across your cozy, little hovel and…" Flynn stopped his story when he suddenly remembered something. He anxiously glanced around the room to find that his satchels were missing. "Oh! Oh, no. Where are my bags?" The girl tossed one bag in front of him. A few apples fell out and rolled near his boots. "I said bags. Where is my other satchel?"

"I've hidden it," Selena said confidently. "Somewhere you'll never find it."

Flynn glanced around again and found an empty pot sitting in the corner of the room. "It's in that pot, isn't it?"

Before he could blink, he was once again hit by the loathsome frying pan.

…

When Flynn woke up again, he saw the girl smirking with her arms crossed. "Would you stop hitting me with that blasted frying pan?"

"Now it's hidden where you'll never find it. So, what do you want with my hair?" She twirled one of her curls curiously. "To cut it?"

"What?"

"Sell it?"

"No! Why on Earth would I want your hair? Sure, the color is… unique, but the only thing I want right now is to leave."

She released the curl twisted around her finger in surprise. "You… you're serious?"

"Yes! Look, I was being chased, I saw your hovel, and I hid in it. End of story." Selena pointed the pan at his face. On that command, Lupe came out of the shadows again and sniffed Flynn to find any hint of deception. Then she growled at him before returning to her owner.

Girl and dog each exchanged glances as if they were communicating in their own silent language. Selena gave her an unsure look. Lupe glared back telling her to go on with her plan. It was either now or never.

Flynn had no idea what was going on, but he needed to leave before this Selena girl decided to do something worse than hitting him with a frying pan.

"Okay, Flynn Rider," Selena finally said. "I'll make you a deal."

"Deal?" he echoed.

She ignored him as she walked across the room. She then pulled a string, releasing the blinds and allowing light to enter the dark room. "Look over here." She pulled out the canvas that showed the floating petals she saw outside her window every year on her birthday. Lupe did the honors of pushing his chair over so he could see. But when she did, the chair fell sideways. "Do you know what these are?" Selena asked.

Flynn tried his best to decipher her petal collage. The blue flowers looked like a river flowing downhill. White flowers were flowing in the river of blue petals. Next to the river was a cluster of pale, dusty-colored flowers that materialized into the hovel they were in. Above the scene was a midnight sky and the full moon, which were also made of petals. In the sky were a few yellow and orange petals. He recognized the flowers in the river that Selena was pointing at as lupines, the ones that flowed into Corona every year on his birthday. That meant the amber petals in the sky were the lanterns.

"Those are the glowing lupines the people of Luna send down the river for their lost princess," he explained.

"Lupines?" Selena repeated to herself. "So that's what they're called. I knew they weren't stars." She cleared her throat before speaking to Flynn again. "What do you call these then?" She pointed at the amber petals.

"Those are the lanterns they send into the sky for the prince of Corona."

"Well, tomorrow evening, the rivers will be flowing with these 'glowing lupines', and the night sky will be lit with these 'lanterns'. You," she pointed her frying pan at him, "will act as my guide, take me to see these the lupines and the lanterns, and return me home safely."

"Wait, you just want me to take you outside, and then you'll give me my satchel back?"

"You can't just simply take me outside; you have to do more than that. I want you to take me to the border of the kingdoms Corona and Luna so I can watch both festivities. And then, and only then, I will return your other satchel to you. That is my deal."

The deal sounded simple enough, except for the part when he had to take her to the Corona and Luna border. If they were to get caught, the soldiers from Luna would arrest him, and then not only would his mother kill him, but he would be in so much trouble, there would be enough punishment left over for Rosemarie, Teddy, and even his father, the king of Corona.

"Yeah, I don't think so. Unfortunately, the kingdom and I aren't 'simpatico' at the moment, so I won't be taking you anywhere."

Selena exchanged glances at Lupe again. They smirked at each other before turning back to the young man tied to the upturned chair.

"Something brought you here, Flynn Rider," Selena said as she stepped closer to him. "Call it what you will: fate, destiny…"

"A horse."

"So I've decided to trust you."

"Not a very smart thing to do, if you ask me."

"But trust me when I tell you this." Selena flipped the chair back up with her foot and caught the back of the chair so now they were face-to-face. "You can tear this place apart stone by stone, but without my help, you will never find your precious satchel. I promise you that." Flynn stared at her in disbelief. "And when I promise something, I never, ever break that promise." He raised an eyebrow. "Ever."

"Sorry, but not even your dog over there is going to convince me." Lupe growled at him.

"Are you sure?" Selena released the chair and Flynn fell on his face. "You wouldn't want to risk your little friend's life, would you?"

"Wittle fwiend?" Flynn's muffled voice replied. His attention was drawn over to the cauldron in the fireplace. Something green was squirming over the caldron. "Pascal?" Selena pulled the chair up so Flynn could fully see the little chameleon tied to the stake over the cauldron. "Pascal! You followed me?"

"I found him in your bag. He's our hostage, for now, but if you don't escort me to the kingdom of Luna to see the festivities, he'll be dinner for Lupe." The wolf licked her lips at the mention of dinner.

Flynn looked back and forth from Selena to Pascal. "How stupid do you think I am?"

Selena sighed. "Pascal, you can come down now." The little chameleon crawled off the stake and onto the young woman's shoulder. "How'd you call my bluff?"

"Are you kidding me? The fireplace isn't even lit."

Selena and Lupe face-palmed. "Alright, alright. I would never hurt this little guy just to get what I want. He's too cute." She scratched his chin and he purred happily. "And besides, Lupe doesn't eat anything alive. But," she leaned forward on the chair so they were face-to-face again, "I do promise not to return your satchel until you commit to our deal."

Flynn sighed. "Alright, listen. I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder." He bowed his head down to prepare to show off his signature smolder. When he pulled his head up, his lips pursed out, and he looked up at the young woman adoringly. She merely stared at him. "This is kind of an off day for me. This doesn't normally happen." She continued to stare at him completely unaffected by his smolder. He gave in. "Fine! I'll do it."

"Really!" Selena cried out. She released Flynn's chair and he fell down again. Selena ran over to Lupe and hugged her. "We did it, girl! We're finally leaving this place!" Lupe barked happily in reply. The two danced around the room until their little celebration was interrupted by a moan. Selena looked back at the young man lying facedown on the floor. "Oops," Selena said shyly. "Sorry."

"You broke my smolder!"

R&R!