Second to last chapter! Thank you LoveInTheBattleField for supporting my work the whole way through, and additional thanks to MadilineCheshire and TropicalRemix!
Chapter 17: The Heir to the Throne Part 2!
Sugar's heart stopped momentarily when she beheld the sight of her parents behind Lord Licorice and his generals. They stared at her with a sense of confusion since they didn't recognize her, but they had clearly just woken up after she had healed them earlier. She tried to run towards them, but the Duke of Swirl and the girls pointed their weapons at her, making her stop.
"Mom! Dad! It's me, Sugar!" Sugar cried, getting their attention.
"Wait a minute, you're telling me that these humans were the ones who raised you when the Candy Brigade took you away?" This made Lord Licorice laugh. "No wonder I couldn't find you, because you grew up in complete ignorance of your own destiny, Princess!"
While Lord Licorice continued laughing, Ginger Snaps nodded to the other generals, and they in turn made a gesture towards Sugar.
"Eliminate her!" they said in unison.
While the Duke of Swirl stayed back, the four girls surrounded Sugar, and attacked from all sides. Sugar managed to dodge their assaults for the most part, but there were times where she came close to getting burned, getting frozen, getting zapped, or getting cut to ribbons. She felt tempted to use her wand, but was reminded that they were still her friends, even though they were attacking her. Then she remembered the new power she had learned in the forest, and quickly got out of the circle the four girls formed. When they turned around, they gathered and prepared to attack together, but Sugar raised her wand before they could use their weapons.
"Candy Chocolate Therapy!" Sugar cried, covering her friends in a chocolate swirl that came out of her wand.
A few seconds later, they broke out. They were healthier-looking than before, but the candy necklaces were still on them, and their eyes didn't change. This made Sugar swear under her breath as they charged at her. Without anytime to dodge, she quickly said, "Candy Kiss Explosion!"
A bright white light flashed, but it didn't reach far enough to injure them. While the four girls were blinded, Sugar tried to run towards the open door that lead into the tunnels, but there was a blur of pink, and soon she was being held by the Duke of Swirl with his axe at her throat. Sugar tried to struggle, but that only made the Duke of Swirl push the axe closer. He then forced her to face Lord Licorice, who had finished laughing, and was now slowly clapping his hands.
"So this is what my monsters were destroyed by in the human world," Lord Licorice said. "Then again, they were weak, but you're not so powerful anymore, once you no longer have 'friends' to depend on."
He snapped his fingers, causing the Duke of Swirl to lower his axe as he threw Sugar towards the girls. Crème and Meringue immediately grabbed her arms, while Aroma and Pepper pointed their spear and gun at the base of Sugar's neck and the back of her head, respectively. She didn't bother to struggle against them, because she knew one move would kill her.
"Now before I kill you, I would like you to answer me one question." Lord Licorice got up from his throne, but he was a little wobbly, so the generals assisted him as he climbed down the stairs to the throne. "If you were capable of overwhelming me, Princess, then why didn't you finish me off when you had the chance?"
"I can answer that one," Meringue suddenly said. But then she lowered her head. "If your Lordship will permit me, that is."
"I asked the Princess, Soldier, not you." Lord Licorice then took out his Saber and threw it at Meringue.
While Meringue didn't move, Sugar tried to stop it, but was strongly held by Crème, while Aroma's spear touched the bottom of her chin and Pepper's gun clicked. So Kit Kat, who had been silently following Princess Lolly since he got separated from Meringue, suddenly jumped from behind a pillar and took the saber instead. It went right through his chocolate body, but it didn't manage to penetrate Meringue's skin. While Kit Kat fell from the blow, Meringue and the others looked down at him. As Kit Kat was dying, the girls' eyes suddenly started to change, causing them to shake their heads as crimson sparks started flickering from the necklaces. The Duke of Swirl was too far away to see, so he wasn't affected. While the girls were fighting whatever evil came from the necklaces, their grip on Sugar loosened, which allowed her to break free, and kneel down before Kit Kat. She picked him up, but the saber had caused his body to completely split, though he was still breathing. Behind her, the girls continued to struggle, while the generals and Lord Licorice watched with hints of anxiety.
"Kit Kat? Are you still there?" Sugar said, speaking to the disembodied chocolate bunny.
His upper half wiggled slightly as he used his front legs to prop up, then he said weakly, "Yeah…I'm here."
"What should I do? My parents are in danger, my friends and the Duke of Swirl are brainwashed, and you're hurt."
"Don't worry…about me. You should think about…your friends."
"But I tried using my new healing power on them, and it didn't work!"
"That's because…" Kit Kat suddenly coughed, causing chocolate syrup to leak from his mouth, and stain Sugar's white gloves. "…you didn't break…the necklaces."
"Then how did they not break when they were in the chocolate shells? I managed to banish the evil that possessed you when you ate that candy."
"But that was different. Once I swallowed the candy, it…became an internal…discomfort. These girls are suffering from…an external discomfort."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
Just then, a small jawbreaker with a fuse on it landed in Sugar's hands. She immediately dropped it as it exploded in mid-fall, causing Kit Kat to break into more pieces. Meanwhile, the girls were slowly stumbling towards Sugar with their weapons drawn, though they were more reluctant than before. The blast was weak, but it was enough to knock Sugar down to her feet. She then noticed the Licorice Saber, and reached for it. But the Duke of Swirl was there first, and kicked it back towards the generals, one of whom picked it up and gave it back to Lord Licorice. He then ordered the Duke of Swirl to accompany him as Sugar was crab-walking back from the girls, who were advancing closer to her, until her back hit a pillar that was parallel to the one on the other side of the room where Kit Kat came out of.
She thrust the Lollipop Wand out in front of her, but realized that if she used the Candy Kiss Explosion again, it might hurt her friends. So she hugged it close to her heart, and mentally called out to Princess Lolly, wherever she was. In her mind, she was standing in a bedroom that looked like the one she had on earth, only it was white. There were all kinds of sweets scattered about, such as cakes, chocolates, gingerbread houses, lollipops, and so forth. In the middle of this room lay a baby cradle with a pink canopy over it. Sugar reached out and pulled the curtain back. It was her as a baby, but with a purple tuft of hair instead. But as she watched, the purple tuft slowly changed to brown, and then back to purple.
"You must make a choice, Sugar," a voice said next to Sugar's ear.
Sugar looked to her right, and saw Princess Lolly standing next to her, looking at the baby as well. Initially, Sugar was surprised at how similar she and Princess Lolly looked, but then she reminded herself that this was her other self. For a while, neither responded, so Sugar decided to start the inevitable conversation.
"So, what is this choice I have to make?" Sugar asked.
Princess Lolly didn't look at her. "You must decide whether you want to embrace your true power as the Princess of Candyland and take the throne, or leave and live a normal life back on Earth."
"But how can I leave when we're the same person?"
"The Rainbow Pop Staff…has the power to grant its user any wish. That's why Lord Licorice is after you, but if you wished to be separate from me, I can fight him as my own person while you will be yourself. After the battle is over, I will use the Rainbow Pop to whisk you and your parents back to Earth, where you three can carry on with your lives there."
"What about the Candy Brigade?"
"They will remain here. After all, they are my bodyguards."
"But they were my friends, and they helped me fight the monsters on Earth while you were off doing…wait, if you're a part of me, why didn't you manifest before when the Lollipop Wand accepted me?"
"The wand accepted you because it recognized that you were the legitimate heir to Candyland, though you didn't know it at the time, and the potential power you were capable of wielding, which is what I represent. With each monster you fought, your potential grew stronger, until it manifested in me when your emotions were at their peak during the fight at the portal. I attempted to carry out your destiny, but your inner doubts held me back, causing me to change back into you. Then when you fell into another emotional state when you saw your parents and your beloved Duke being carried to Licorice's palace, you wanted to do everything you could to protect them, and so I took over. But during your battle with Lord Licorice, you had doubts about whether you were going to win or not, and so we switched once more."
Sugar looked back and forth between the baby with the changing tuft of hair, and Princess Lolly. In her frustration, she whined, "Why did this happen to me?"
"Because you were not human to begin with, and yet you were raised by humans," Princess Lolly answered. "Thus, you were given two possible destinies instead of one, and now you must choose the path you wish to go on. But keep in mind that whatever decision you make will affect the future of Candyland and your own life."
"Do I have to decide now? I was about to get killed when I reached out to you."
Princess Lolly shook her head. "There is no rush. Here in your mind, you have all the time in the world to think."
So that's what Sugar did.
End of Chapter 17
