Lorelei and Chevalier emerged from the water into an underwater cave.
Chevalier was coughing. "At least - it wasn't - too deep - but - damn!"
Lorelei on the other hand was fine. The Knight assumed that was because she was in fact a wizardess and therefore didn't have a problem breathing underwater. "Chev, look! You were right!"
"What?" He calmed down enough to look up from his bent over position on the ground. In the middle of the cave was the Prince's sword, illuminating the darkness. "There it is. It's just there. But-"
"Let's go get it and get out of this depressing place. The sooner we find the Prince, the better."
He reached up and grabbed her wrist before she could approach the sword. "Lorelei, wait. Shouldn't there be some kind of, I don't know, guard or something? They're making it awfully easy to take."
She stopped. "Maybe you're right, but still, there aren't any crows down here right now. Maybe the Raven just slipped up?"
"I doubt that. If he's making it this easy to do, then he probably has a reason. Maybe he wants the Prince to get the sword back."
"Then why steal it in the first place?" Lorelei said, but mostly to herself.
Chevalier sighed. "Alright. But I'll grab it."
"Why you? Big tough guy afraid of getting upstaged by a weak little girl?" She grinned.
He smiled back at her. "No. You said the Raven himself would end me. And last I checked he was a bit too big to fit in here. I know I'll get out of here alive."
Her grin disappeared. "You still trust me that much? Even after I lied to you about everything? "
"I see no reason not to."
"But Chevalier, that was in the old story, I've already changed it so there's no saying what will happen-"
"I have a say now, don't I? And I've decided that I'm not going to die yet." Without waiting for her response, he strode over to the tableau the sword was resting on, and then he slowly wrapped his fingers around the handle. "Here goes." He whispered under his breath.
Both their hearts skipped a beat as he quickly lifted the sword from the rock.
But nothing happened.
Two minutes later, still nothing happened.
"I guess you were wrong. Thank god for that."
"No... Something's not right. There should have been something. Anything. But this nothing worries me even more." His eyes scanned every inch of the cave.
Lorelei walked up to him. "Let's get out of here." She breathed. "There's a slight breeze coming from that direction." She pointed to one of the small caves openings.
"Yeah, okay." He tried to shake the feeling that something was off, but he kept thinking The Raven wanted us to get the sword back. He wants the Prince to try and fight.
"We'd better hurry. It's getting late."
...
Siegfried ran through the woods, completely lost. He was sure that they had entered the clearing at the east side, but he had been wandering around for at least an hour, and he should have emerged onto the path leading back to town long ago. Now he couldn't find the path or the clearing he had been in.
"I have a really bad feeling about this." He lifted the hood of his cloak and hid his face. He didn't need any unsavory characters stumbling across him, recognizing him, and kidnapping him. Worse, his white hair wasn't exactly camouflage, and he wanted to make sure more crows didn't spot him. But he was slightly comforted by one thought. "Lorelei didn't say anything about me meeting anyone on my way back, so maybe I have nothing to worry about." There was an unsettling rustle in the bushes. "Then again, maybe I do."
Luckily, it was Lorelei's voice he heard from the greenery. "Prince! We found you!"
She and Chevalier stepped out from behind the trees. "What are you doing all the way out here, Sig?" Chevalier asked.
"I got lost on the way back to the castle." He looked down at Chevalier's hands to see he was holding two swords. "You found it."
"Yes."
"How did you get it back?" The Prince looked at his friend, surprised that, with the exception of being drenched in water, he was as he had been when they'd last seen each other.
"It was hidden, but other than that, there was no obstacle in retreiving it." Lorelei answered.
"Time to get you ready for battle." Chevalier held the sword out to him. "The Raven left his cave a while ago. It's probably best you never made your way back to town."
SIegfried took his white sword. "That reminds me. I want to get the Raven as far away from the town as possible. There is no need that innocent blood be spilt tonight."
Chevalier hid a slight smile. Just like the Prince, putting the helpless first. "Right. But where?"
Lorelei gestured behind them. "How does a mountain setting sound?"
The two turned. The mountain outside the town was tall and deserted. No one would accidentally stumble across their fight.
"Perfect." The Prince looked at Lorelei. "At sunset, we need to be up there, prepared to give Tullia the power she needs. Are you still sure you'll be able to do it?"
She nodded. "She didn't completely vanish. Right now, she's nothing more than a ghost, really." Lorelei pulled a scroll out of her cloak. "I grabbed this from my hut before we left. It's a little soggy, but I think it will tell me a bit more about transferring powers. I should have a plan by tonight."
The Prince nodded, too. "Then we should get going. It will take awhile to climb the mountain."
...
A few hours later, the trio was nearing the summit of the mountain. Fortunately for them, there was a winding road leading to the top, so very little climbing was actually necessary. An hour before sunset, they stood at the top. Chevalier and Lorelei sat on the ground discussing their options, and Siegfried sat with his eyes closed, preparing himself. Nearing sunset, he stood and walked over to the edge.
"Oh no."
They looked up to see the Prince, staring in the direction of his kingdom, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. They turned and gasped when they saw.
The Raven was soaring above the town, crashing into buildings, lifting up townspeople and dropping them from hundreds of feet in the air. But as they watched, they saw that the people were no longer as they had once been: they now were covered in black, shining feathers, dancing below the soaring Raven.
"Those poor people. That's the only reason he had the sword stolen in the first place. He wanted to buy himself time so he could torture my people even more." Siegfried clenched his fists. Then in a voice Chevalier had never heard him use before, said. "If it is the last thing I do, I swear am going to kill that foul, wretched beast."
"Prince..." Lorelei stood and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You will, I promise you. But blood lust is a dangerous way to fight."
He shook her off. Still sounding angry, and with tears coming faster, he said. "I don't care. I don't even care if I die in the process, that damned bird is going to die."
Chevalier stood up quickly and turned the Prince so he was facing him. Then he did something he never thought he'd do: he slapped him. "You need to calm down, you hear me? Talking like this solves nothing. And no matter who you are, it's wrong to take killing someone so lightly. Even if it is someone as evil as the Raven. Do you understand?"
As soon as he was done talking, he regretted all of it. For awhile, there was an awkward silence between the three. In all the years he had looked after the Prince, never once had he scolded or laid a hand on him. Chevalier hadn't meant to shout at him, either, or to hit him at all. All he was trying to do was get him to stop saying things that were clearly dangerous things to be saying.
But then Siegfried stopped crying, and he actually hugged Chevalier.
"I didn't mean any of what I said. I'm so sorry." He whispered into his friend's shoulder, slight sorrow evident in his soft voice.
"I- No. I'm sorry, Sig. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, or hit you." He hugged his friend back. "You were scaring me though. Just don't ever say anything like that again, okay?"
The Prince pulled away. "Okay."
Lorelei, who had been watching the two the whole time, softly remarked. "We'd better hurry. It'll be sunset soon."
"What did you find out?" Siegfried wiped away the last tears and sat next to the scroll on the rock.
"Not much. I can give my power to whomever I want, but there's no telling what she'll be able to do, seeing as she is only a ghost right now."
"That has to be good enough I guess." Siegfried sighed.
"There is something else. She won't be the same person you knew. Our personalities will fuse, so she could be completely different then before."
Chevalier and Siegfried looked at her confused.
Lorelei continued, "She won't be as shy and weak as before. At least we know she'll be of some use to you."
They nodded.
"One more thing." Lorelei looked at the Prince uncomfortably, then took Chevalier a few steps back and whispered. "You know why she disappeared the first time. If I do this we'll have no control over anything that happens in the other world. She could accidentally tell him she loves him again and no one will stop her." She paused. "Last time she became a ghost, but now she's living only a fraction of an existence. If she ever does it again, she won't just turn to a spirit, she'll be gone for good. Her soul itself will become nonexistent."
"Are you suggesting we don't do this?" Chevalier, who already thought returning the Prince's heart to him would be a bad idea, asked eagerly.
"Of course not." She rolled her eyes. "But maybe it would be a good idea to tell him why she disappeared, just in case, so he can avoid that?"
"No. He already blames himself enough for what happened. Besides, you said all his memories would be gone."
Lorelei sighed. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. But we need to make a decision now, because in thirty seconds, I won't be here anymore."
Suddenly Chevalier realized how little time he had left to tell her something he hadn't even wanted to say before. "The Prince made the decision, so let's not waste any time."
"Waste time for what?" She asked in the innocent tone he heard many times before. He smiled with a single tear in his eye.
"You know what."
"Goodbye, Chevalier."
"Goodbye, Lorelei."
And they kissed for the first, last and only time.
Lorelei took a half step back and looked up into the Knight's face. "I- I think I'm scared. I'm actually scared." She was trembling, and laughed halfheartedly as she said the second part.
Chevalier held her tighter, and rested his head on hers. "You're going to be fine." He whispered. "And I'll be coming for you soon."
Both cried silently as they held each other. Chevalier could feel the air cool dramatically as the sun went sown, and he held her even tighter than before.
He felt her disappear from his arms.
"No..." He whispered.
He stepped back, and in front of him stood Princess Tullia, vaguely translucent, wearing the same swan costume she'd had on the night she'd vanished.
"My Prince?" She said, sounding dazed and confused.
"Tutu, listen to me. We don't have much time. This is important. I'm going to-" But she interrupted and smiled down at him.
"I know, my Prince. Somehow I know a lot of things I didn't used to know, though I'm not entirely sure I understand it all. But there is something you need to know. I cannot exist for long here, and so I'll need a place to rest until my time comes. This girl who helped you... Lorelei... she says the safest place for me to wait is inside your very own heart." Her voice was soft like it had always been, but it sounded more elegant somehow.
"Inside my heart..." The Prince touched his chest. "But when I pierce my heart-"
"She says that when that time comes, I will not be harmed. Do not be afraid, my Prince." She walked over to him en pointe, and placed her ghostly hand over the Prince's own. "I must now take my place within your heart. The Raven is fast approaching." Without another word, she faded away, and again Siegfried clutched his chest.
"She did it. Lorelei did it." Chevalier whispered, exasperated.
"Yeah... And the Raven is headed this way."
...
Okay guys... First of all, I'm really sorry for the late update. I've had the last two chapters finished for awhile, but after I posted 5, I wanted to completely rewrite them, but then school got in the way along with a bunch of other stuff, so I never got to. So I decided I'll just post them both now.
Rereading this chapter, it's really not as bad as I had originally thought (and I read it probably 20 times). Everything happened that I wanted to, but I should probably explain somethings.
First, the rushed relationship between Lorelei and Chevalier. Here's the deal, Lorelei was never meant to be in the story, so I had the idea that Drosselmeyer would decide to use her to aid the tragedy as best he could by making them fall in love. That's it. I wanted to explain in the story, but I couldn't find a place to put it, so I thought I'd leave it out completely, but that didn't go well either.
Next, yes I did have Chevalier slap Siegfried. I went there. It felt right at the time and I'll stand by that.
Lastly, the ended of this chapter is short and cliche. No need to tell me. Unless you think it's really really bad. Then maybe I should know...
Anyway thanks for reading and commenting!