Thank freaking God I finally finished this bloody chapter!
Chapter Seventeen: Glass Coffins and Endings
The twenty minute run was tense and with nothing but silence and the soft sound of feet running over snow, the girls glided through the air quickly keeping pace with the guys. Heart pounding in her chest Bloom kept her eyes peeled for any place where the enemy may have been hiding out as well as an eye on the rising sun on the horizon, the first few rays lighting the sky. It didn't take the group long to find the clearing where Icy, Cassandra and the 'dead' Musa were camped out. The first thing Bloom noticed as she glided toward the gap of trees was the large black tree stump that sprung up from the earth unnaturally, purple smoke spilling out of the top. Icy stood in front of the makeshift caldron with her arms crossed and a seriously superior look on her face, Cassandra stood off to the side, for the first time since she'd seen her in this land the blond woman looked...nervous. Bloom then laid eyes on Musa and something inside her went from ice cold to burning hot rage, their friend was trapped in an ice coffin, not of glass, it lay on the ground behind the tree stump as black vines encircled it. It looked sturdy and unbreakable. The guys slowed their run when they got to the edge of the trees and decided to carefully walk into the circle clearing as the three girls floating gracefully above them, not bothering to walk but to remain above and in charge. It looked like Bloom was the leader of this little fight, she few forward and looked Icy right in the eye.
"Give us back our friend Icy and no one has to get hurt" Bloom stated in a clear voice, she didn't precisely feel that way but being on the good side you kind of had to say it.
Icy chuckled "Oh Red, I always thought you were a loner and a naive little girl but I never took you for fool. What makes you think you could possibly make me give her back?"
Bloom didn't answer, instead she fisted her fingers and let her power flow more aggressively through her veins, burning light poured out of her; she could feel Flora and Stella doing the same. You'd have to be blind not to physically feel the magic coming off them, their power.
Icy raised a hand and smiled "I'll admit you have some skill. But not nearly enough to beat us"
"I don't think so" Stella replied with a cool voice "You're kind of outnumbered, there's seven of us and two of you, at this point: You be screwed"
Cassandra smiled at that and stepped forward, her eyes on Stella "You always were a little dense Cinderella darling, you see there's seven of you and three of us" To make the point a sudden fierce howl ripped through the air, it sounded like that howl was made by a hundred rabid wolves but in reality it was only one. Didn't make it less terrifying though.
Icy spoke next "Red my husband is a little put out by you; you did after all smash an axe into his shoulder"
Bloom felt her mouth turn down in dread at that little remark. Sky stepped forward and brandished his sword "He'll have to fight me first"
"You'll have to fight all of us" Brandon added on, swinging his sword in a last arch in his hand, his eyes shooting between Cassandra and Icy.
"And you'll lose" Flora said lastly, the confidence in her voice rang true.
Something in Icy changed as her eyes swept over everyone present, even looking back at Musa for a moment "I'm surprised, I've watched all eight of you for years now and I must confess I never saw much in any one of you. You were all so weak and spineless, but put you all together and you suddenly become the lands number one fighting team" She sighed and shook her head "What nonsense"
"Well the hero always changes dramatically before the big battle" Bloom replied with an easy smile.
"You're not heroes yet"
"Can we quit the pre fight monologue and just cut to the fighting?" Riven asked impatiently, he fixed his angry eyes on Icy "Musa or Belle, I don't care what her name is. You're going to let her go"
Icy laughed for a long time before going quiet for an instant "Come and get her" Icy snarled with a wicked smile curling her lips, with a quick flick of her wrist the entire forest came alive...and it was angry. It started with just a strong wind blowing past them, sending leaves and snow swirling into the air. Suddenly there came a terrible screaming sound that sounded like it came from the depths of the earth, the roots of the trees sprung up and crawled on the ground and stretched until each tree was like a monster out of a horror story. The guys braced themselves and gripped their weapons, the girls strengthened the force of their wings and waited for the first blow with magic absolutely blast out of their hands, begging to be used.
"What you think a couple of trees are gonna scare us?" Stella demanded with an equally chilling smile.
Icy raised an eyebrow and before Stella could even blink one of the nearby black trees sent a root spiralling her way, it knocked her from the air and sent her crashing to the ground with a yell. Bloom and Flora looked at their friend with wide eyes and gaping mouths.
"Oh crap baskets" Bloom muttered before she and Flora started sending off powerful blasts while the stunned fairy on the ground growled and fired of a few of her own. The guys were quick and skilled in their fighting of the demonic trees, the branches were easy to cut through but the sheer quantity of them made things so much more difficult. The two girls still flying above them had to dodge swiping tree branches and Stella on the ground moved with impressive speed over to Brandon, she grabbed him by the arm and yelled above the roar of the forest.
"Come on! We have to get to Cassandra!" The two of them stumbled to the edge of the trees and disappeared.
The constant stream of branches forced the two remaining fairies to join the fight on the ground; Flora landed next to Helia and was able to spin both of them away from a particularly savage branch. She also grabbed Riven by the fore arm and shouted "Go get Musa, all this is for nothing if you guys don't get your happy ending"
Riven paused to smash one last branch before running through the clearing with Flora and Helia blasting the way behind him, this left Bloom and Sky in the middle with a hell of a job to do, both back to back they shot and slashed at the enemy. Bloom was sure to keep the corner of her eye directed toward Icy at all times, the witch didn't move but just stood there enjoying the show. She didn't know how much time passed and she never could have counted, her mind was just so solely focussed on defeating the trees around her. After a minute or so it seemed to her that their efforts were doing nothing, frustrated she whirled in a circle and with a great yell fired off a fire ball at the base of a tree. The whole thing lit up and after a moment the branches that were connected went limp "It's the trees; you have to take out the source!" After that Bloom and Sky put their energy into trimming the forest of a few trees.
Stella yelled as a tree that was pretty much fully on fire fell over right in front of her and Brandon as they ran around the space of the clearing, both screeched to a halt and changed directions. When they came around the side of a thick tree Stella was hit by something in the chest, sending her flying back into a tree trunk.
"Stella!" Brandon called after her as she toppled to the ground, he quickly gripped his sword and spun to slice another branch that had been about to send him back too, the thing was cut in half and Brandon was able to set eyes on Cassandra standing just a few metres off, hand raised.
Stella who was on the ground rolled her eyes and mumbled "Stop throwing me" And stood up to direct her gaze at Cassandra. There was no speaking, the three of them immediately went into battle, the older woman had significant power over the environment around them, even the skies above. The trees parted in places as the sky darkened, Brandon was about to charge the woman with sword in hand when a lightning bolt struck just two metres in front of him. Both Stella and Brandon stumbled back with stunned faces, the thought that they'd have to evade both evil trees and freaky lightening hadn't occurred to them...ever. Taking a deep breath both charged Cassandra, Stella flew overhead to attack her at the head while Brandon went low to try and get the middle. If Stella had any illusions that her once step mother would be an easy task, those were shattered immediately. Cassandra was quick as lightening, Brandon was kicked back where he'd come from and Stella was literally tossed over the woman's head and into a swarm of thorn bushes. Cassandra laughed and stepped forward shaking her head "Pitiful"
Brandon looked over and saw that Stella was totally knocked out, slumping over in the bushes. He made a grab for his fallen sword but it was zoomed away by Cassandra, he looked up defiantly as she closed in. A spark of lightening appearing between her fingers, it buzzed with imminent death as a sadistic smile grew on her face. A dull thwack sounded and Brandon had to blink hard when the woman's face suddenly went blank and she fell to the ground, behind her stood a seriously pissed of Stella holding a shovel "I told you to stop throwing me, you piece of home wrecking trash!"
"Whoa..." Brandon said with shock, he had to keep looking between the two woman, still expecting a lightning bolt to come and shock him off the planet "How...where did you get that?" he pointed to the shovel she still held.
Stella smiled "Oh this?" She twirled the shovel and then tossed it into the air where it disappeared with a flash of white light "I may not have been the most attentive student back at my school but I did ace the part where you can create objects out of nowhere, comes in handy when I need a lipstick or something" She tossed her hair over her shoulder before helping Brandon to his feet.
Bloom and Sky were killing it in the clearing, almost all the trees had been incinerated or chopped down, both were so high on adrenaline that they were actively calling out compliments and encouragement. Bloom had just burned the last tree for a few yards around and turned to smile at Sky when abruptly the giant Valtor wolf sprung from the black burned trees and landed in between them, growling and setting his eyes on Bloom first and then Sky. The beast leapt at him with shocking speed, Bloom heard her scream out unconsciously "Sky, no!"
Sky, to his credit, was fast to react. Leaping to the right and doing an impressive display of rolling away he landed just as the wolf dragged it's paws into the ground to slow the jump it had just done, obviously frustrated that it had missed it's meal the large wolf turned with red eyes to Sky again. Now Bloom knew that you had to follow the rules of any fairy tale, letting Sky defeat the wolf was what was supposed to happen but seriously, what did they expect her to do? Sit on the side lines and be Sky's fanfare, wave a flag or two. Nope, that wasn't her style at all. Bloom shot forward using her wings to increase speed and whizzed her legs to the front so she could slam her legs right into the rib cage of the wolf as it leapt forward, the animal was sent crashing to the ground two metres away and Bloom's legs hurt like a bitch. Before Bloom could spiral out of control after the rough attack Sky was able to quickly jump up and grab her hand, angling her back to the ground "In the story, how do I defeat the wolf?"
"Well..." Bloom hesitated for a moment "It's sort of vague in that area, I guess you just come along after Red Riding Hood is eaten by the wolf and cut the thing open and save the day"
Sky turned to her with wide eyes "You get eaten?! And survive it?! That's not very realistic!"
Bloom rolled her eyes at him "Sky the wolf dressed up as my grandmother and I didn't notice, I think realistic is a lost cause at this point!"
...
Riven yelled a surprise as a sudden tree branch from hell shot out and thwacked him upside the head "Oh son of a bi-"
"Language!" Flora yelled a metre away with Helia still holding her hand as the three of them made their way through the clearing that was a graveyard of dead trees and ash, they could still faintly hear Bloom and Sky battling it out yards back but they were too focused on their mission. They had successfully navigated their way forward and after a seemingly long battle had the glass/ice coffin in their sights, the Ice queen floated above just a few metres away with her focus on the two fighting the wolf. The three of them sneaked over to the coffin, Riven looked down through the ice fog to see the small girl with her eyes shut, her skin much paler than before with a ghostly look about her. Flora was next to him and kept glancing up at the hovering Icy; she gave Helia a questioning look and gestured to the coffin.
How do we get through all this ice? Her expression said, Helia looked over the ice coffin and finally shrugged. Riven was however getting impatient with the lack of rescuing and decided to grab his sword and smash the end of the handle into the ice coffin, the sound that erupted from the crash sent shockwaves through everyone. Icy above them glared down, angry at being passed and without a word shot hundreds of black spiked vines at them, it would have been terrifying if it had not been for Flora. Without pausing the girl shot up on top of the ice coffin and with a swing of her arm sent an equally astounding amount of vines to counter them, Helia and Riven stared up at her with mouths agape. Flora smiled a bashful but sneaky smile "You think you're the only one with power over Mother Nature?!"
Thus began another wave of fighting, Helia took up position just in front of Flora who moved down to the bottom of the coffin, Riven was torn between staying with Musa or joining the fray. He didn't have to think about it long before Flora turned and in a rare moment of feistiness grabbed the front of his shirt and gave him a hard look "For the love of all the gods in Magix, open the damn thing and kiss her!"
Riven watched for a moment as Flora and Helia continued fighting, a small feeling a nervousness entering his stomach at the prospect of actually kissing Belle or Musa, one of the reasons he acted like a jerk was because he didn't want to find himself in this exact situation. For all his toughness he couldn't get his head around actually caring for someone and showing that kind of affection, he'd known for the longest time that if you ever let yourself love someone they'd eventually leave you. But all he could think right now as he gazed through to the sleeping girl was that he didn't want her to go, not yet...not her. With steel had determination Riven wielded his sword once more and proceeded to smash away at the ice coffin, it was hard work but he pushed through it. After a while he had smash enough of the side to throw down the sword and with strength fuelled by adrenaline was able to slide off the top of the coffin. It fell away with a thump and smash onto the snowy ground, Riven breathed a sigh of relief as he gazed down at the girl who had pushed her way into his life and refused to leave it, silly stubborn girl. In the space of a moment a hundred thoughts whooshed through his head as he breached the subject of actually kissing a girl, conclusion: "Please don't slap me for this"
Riven took one last peek over at the epic battle taking place around him and when he was confident that he wasn't being watched critically he took one last deep breath before leaning over the girl and pressing his lips to hers. Since it was only a one sided kiss it didn't start out with confidence but when he felt the softness and the warm feeling that came from those lips a warm rush of elation came over him, a golden glow was cast out of both of them. It only lasted a moment but the act itself was precious...until...
Slap!
One moment she was dead, the next Musa had hoisted herself up onto her elbows and was glaring with wide eyes, taking in the whole scene "Who said you could do that?!" Riven looked at her with a stubborn expression as Musa blinked at him, her expression going from outrage to shock "Oh, it's you Riven. Well then...never mind" After a brief moment of thought Musa sat up quickly and grabbed Riven with both hands, bringing their lips back together again in a more gloriously passionate kiss as war raged around them. It would have gone on for a long time but after a short moment Stella and Brandon stepped into the mass of battle, Stella rolled her eyes "Okay break it up you two! War zone, life in danger and all that!"
Just then a startled scream echoed through the clearing over the roar of the thunder and killer trees.
...
Bloom let out a startled scream as the wolf caught both her and Sky off guard, the beast tackled her to the ground, its jaw opening to clamp down on her neck. Luckily Bloom was quick under pressure and was able to use her forearms to block the attack and scream out "Sky! Help me!"
Sky looked up from where he had tumbled and shot up to run head first at the animal with all his strength but unfortunately he had underestimated just how big the wolf was, his strength barely shifted the thing. The wolf continued to sneer and snap its jaws at Bloom's face, her being barely able to dodge the blows. She knew that her arms wouldn't hold the wolf at bay for long and Sky would never be able to help her, all they could do was delay the inevitable.
...
Flora gasped as she spotted the dangerous situation Bloom and Sky had found themselves in, she whirled around to see the other guys were just as stunned, before anyone could even blink Musa had shot up from the ice coffin and wretched Stella over to her "Stella, axe!"
Stella couldn't tear her eyes away from Bloom who looked seconds from death, the realization that they'd never make it over to them in time had already registered in her head but her mind refused to accept it, therefore she was frozen to the spot. Musa shook her and yelled louder "Axe!"
Stella blinked at the words as she watched Brandon, Helia and Riven bolt off to assist their friends while the girls stood frozen, she turned to Musa with wide eyes, her mind working slowly "What?"
Musa gritted her teeth together and yelled out once more "SUMMON A GODDAMN AXE!"
"Oh" Stella automatically held out her hand and in the width of a second a strong heavy axe with a steel handle had been created in her palm, Musa snatched it quickly, standing up tall on top of the ice coffin and setting her sights on the too far away fighting scene between Bloom, Sky and the wolf "Flora, Vines!"
Not hesitating Flora shot out her palm and with it one single long green vine was whooshed off into the direction of the battle, Musa quickly drew breath and yelled out with everything she had "HEADS UP SKY!" And with impeccable aim tossed the axe to be captured by the vine and shoot off toward the trio. Bloom screamed again in terror as the wolfs sharp teeth shot passed her cheek and grazed the skin, probably drawing blood. It registered in the back of her mind that she might have heard her friend Musa call out something but she was too busy staring death in the face, in the corner of her eye she spotted Sky whirl around from where he was trying to force the wolf away and catch something. As soon as his fingers made contact with the handle of the axe Blooms forearms gave out, finally giving the wolf the advantage to kill her in an instant. She had enough time to summon up a good scream in her lungs before the wolf lunged one last time at her; she hoped Sky would have stopped it somehow so it came as a slight shock when it didn't happen.
Nope, no saving.
The wolfs teeth bit deep in Bloom's neck and shoulder, the scream dying on her lips and her whole body jerking with the shock, a choking sound could be heard over the roaring of the trees, the scream of a distant friend and the high pitched laughing of Icy. Bloom's eyes went skyward as she fought for control over her body and tried not to think of the red gushing liquid down her front, the eyes saw with shocking clarity as an axe was swung over the wolfs neck and with a strange thudding set itself into half way into the animal on top of her. The wolves teeth sharpened in her neck for a moment before slacking as Bloom heard a distant yelling from Stella "Do it again! DO IT AGAIN!"
The axe disappeared from view and with another shock came crashing down, automatically making the wolf tighten instinctively on her neck, Bloom through the haze felt the need the roll her eyes and yell out angrily to her friends to stop with the chopping and get the wolf off her so she could slowly near death in peace. The wolf made a nervous growling sound before the axe came down once more and finally the breath left the animal altogether, Bloom still felt its weight crushing her and the warm blood slowly tickling down her sparkly Charmix outfit. Through the foggy haze she saw Brandon, Helia and Riven finally arrive from the forest line, running at top speed toward her and Sky, after a brief moment the weight of the wolf was shifted and Bloom could feel icy bits of snow land on her from the sky, as well she being propped up some by Sky's arms. She wanted to look at him and tell him she was alright but after being chomped on by a horse sized wolf deep in the neck she suspected she was in shock and quite unable to form words at this point.
"Oh my god, oh my god!" Stella screamed as she landed with grace on the snowy ground next to Bloom and the guys, her eyes barely registered the dead wolf lying just a few feet away. Stella watched in horror as her beloved friend Bloom lie looking pale in Sky's arms with blood streaming down her neck, she had to swallow back bile before she could speak "Why didn't you finish the wolf before she got bitten?" She was too shocked to put the venom into her words.
Sky shook his head "I couldn't, no matter how much I tried to swing the axe at him it wouldn't go in, he needed to eat her first, that's the way it happened in the fairy tale"
Stella couldn't get air fast enough "But in the story she doesn't bleed to death after!" Brandon stepped up beside her and held her tightly, half confronting her and half protecting Sky from being attacked. At that moment Flora and Musa ran head first into the clearing, out of breath. Stella turned her anger on them "What the hell took you so long?!"
Flora began talking but when she caught sight of Bloom she stood frozen to the spot, Musa spoke for her "Calm down, I don't have magic so I had to run and Flora wasn't about to let me run through the woods unprotected. What happened here?"
Stella just closed her eyes and shook her head; Brandon squeezed her tighter in his arms. So it was left to Helia to speak "The wolf got her, it was the only way to defeat it" Flora moved forward with tears brimming in her eyes "Is she gonna be okay?" Helia took him in his arms aswell, the fairy of nature's eyes never leaving her friend. Sky spoke with a heavy voice "I don't know, she looks so out of it, I think the blood loss is getting to her...she won't last long"
Flora let out a sob as Riven moved to stand just behind Musa, they didn't hold each other but she did reach behind her and grab his hand tightly. Stella breathed in a deep breath "No, we can save her. If we get all the happy endings we can go back, right?" She looked to Musa who nodded without a word. Flora got a flash of hope in her eyes "That's it? That'll save her?" She looked to Sky "Then hurry up and kiss her, she won't survive much longer, we need to go!"
No sooner had the words left her lips that all eight of them were wrenched from where they were and sent spiralling into the air to float soundlessly; Bloom had closed her eyes and looked startlingly pale as small droplets of blood fell the ground below. The guys fought against the strangeness of being suspended in air for the first time without falling while the girls, who were used to heights, struggled against the invisible bonds that held them. A sharp laughter broke through the forest as all the trees, wind and skies went suddenly quiet. All seven of the conscious ones looked with shock at icy who was still floating in the sky just above them; she had crossed her arms with a wide smile "Did you forget me? You've killed my husband the wolf, incapacitated my best friend Cassandra, freed your little friend from my ice coffin and now you have the audacity to try to save my enemy?"
"Oh I was hoping someone had kicked your ass by now" Stella mumbled as she fought against the force holding her in the air.
"I leave for one night and this happens! What the hell people?!" Musa raged at her friends, unhappy at being restrained and in Icy's grasp again.
"You people do make a habit of underestimating me" Icy mused as she watched them struggle.
"Well you make a habit of underestimating me when I'm pissed off!" Musa yelled back at her. Beside her Flora stopped struggling and gave icy a cold stare "I may be a gentle soul but if you hurt any of my friends, I'll make you pay!"
Icy laughed some more "Oh that's lovely, you really think you can defeat me when I've got you all tied up?"
The girls didn't say anything until a warm gust of wind blew past them and a sudden purple smoke filled the air between the floating people and Icy, after a moment out popped Miss F with a sweet smile "Hello my darlings, I came to see how the final battle was—sweet blind mice! What the devil is going on here?!"
"Granny!" The good guys yelled in unison, all smiling brightly at her. The older woman spun in a circle giving each person a shocked look until her gaze rested on a terrible looking Bloom, everyone could practically see the rage build in the woman when without a word she shot out a hand and blasted icy right out of the sky. Everyone felt the binds around them fall away and fell to the ground, even Bloom floated slowly to the snowy floor where Sky waited to catch her. Granny still in the air had a frightening look on her face "Whatever happens now you do as I tell you, no interfering and no talking back!"
"How dare you!" Icy raged from a nearby tree, twigs and leaves littering her hair.
"Run!" Granny bellowed as Icy jumped from the tree and ripped through the air to tackle her with a yell of utter rage.
See here was the problem: Whenever I write a story before I begin writing I do a whole other document of what's going to happen in point form, for example "Bloom is freaking out over the whole Stella, flora thing. Bloom goes to the castle and begs them to release her, they lead her up to the tower where Stella has been turned into a hag and is forced to spin straw into gold for the rest of her days. Brandon seems greatly saddened over this" That's why I'm able to get chapters out so quick because I know exactly what I'm gonna write next. Now here is why my problem with the ending came in: This is what I had down "They finish them off, riven kisses Musa and all the happily ever after are complete" WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?! CAN I GET ANYMORE VAGUE?! *Sigh* This is why I hate writing endings; I'm terrible at them because they take me FOREVER to write! My apologise.