When Jaden finally opened her eyes it was late in the evening. It didn't take her very long to realise that she was tucked up in a bed, in a room she didn't immediately recognise. The room was mostly decorated in a Disney theme, silhouettes of recognisable various Disney characters were all over the walls and furniture, something that annoyed Jaden to some extent. No matter how long she had been stuck in this valley, she still couldn't shake that feeling of irritation off her. It was something she had accepted would never go away.

She then heard her phone vibrate against the bedside table. Reaching over, she picked it up, shocked to see she had over a thousand messages. With clearly nothing better to do with her time, she decided to read through them, only after a short while to give up and put the phone back onto the table before getting out of bed.

She nearly screamed out in pain as her knee gave out and she had to hold onto the bedside table for support. Putting as little pressure on her knee as possible, she slowly made her way over to the door, taking her time as she adjusted to limping on her leg that had the bad knee. Once she made it to the door, she leaned against the door frame and saw Malibu and Brooklyn on the sofa, with Brooklyn fast asleep, her head on Malibu's lap.

Jaden's attention then drifted over to the TV mounted on the wall, its volume turned down low. She noticed that it was a bloody Disney movie playing. Unable to restrain herself, she shot a fireball just above the TV, missing it on purpose.

The blast startled Malibu and woke up Brooklyn. Both girls quickly turned toward the doorway and saw Jaden heavily leaning against the door frame for support. Malibu quickly got up and rushed over to Jaden's side.
"You shouldn't be out of bed." Malibu told her. She helped Jaden over to the sofa and carefully laid her down, planting a kiss on Jaden's forehead. Heading into the bedroom, Malibu grabbed a blanket so that she could cover Jaden, who she guessed must be freezing. Once she was sure Jaden was comfortable, she took her seat back next to Brooklyn.
"Oh, just so you know, Jay, you're fixing that yourself." Malibu said, gesturing to the burning hole above the TV.

"I built one house and somehow I'm now a professional carpenter, great…" Jaden weakly muttered, but both Barbie's were still able to hear her comment.

"From what we've seen of our house, you've done an amazing job." Brooklyn said as she reached over to the pizza box that was sitting on the coffee table. She opened it to find it was empty. The disappointment quickly washed over her as she cast a playful glare at Malibu. "Should have known you'd eat all the pizza while I was asleep."

Malibu looked away nervously. "Uh…would you believe me if I said Renee came in and stole most of it?"

"Not in the slightest. She would have stayed and ordered more pizza." Brooklyn told her, not buying her bullshit.

Barbie sighed, knowing when she was defeated. "Guess I better order some more then."

Jaden sat up from her place on the sofa. "I could…" She offered, trying to be helpful only for Malibu to shake her head.

"Jay, you couldn't even walk the short distance from your bed to the door. But, if you're so insistent I'm not going to stop you." Malibu told her as the woman attempted to stand up from the sofa. Malibu stood by Jaden's side, in case the mage might need her assistance.

Managing to stay on her own two feet, Jaden took a few short steps before her knee inevitably gave out. Jaden felt Malibu's arms wrap around her waist as she quickly caught her before Jaden could fall to the floor. Malibu gently set the mage back down onto the sofa.

"Just as I thought," Malibu tutted, her eyes betraying a great concern she held for Jaden. "Can you be any more stubborn? Take the well-deserved break for once and rest before you push yourself too far." Malibu felt as if her scolding was like talking to a persistent child. But if that's what it took for Jaden to listen, then she was going to treat her like one.

Jaden sighed but appeared to take the lecture on board when she nodded her understanding. Malibu smiled down at her, pleased that she at least seemed to be listening. "Good. Now, I'm going to the restaurant. I'll be back shortly." She informed them both, leaving the house with a spring in her step and a beaming smile on her face.

Once Malibu was gone, Jaden rolled onto her side and started throwing up blood. Brooklyn swiftly grabbed the nearby bin next to the sofa and placed it beside Jaden, so she could be sick in the bin instead of the floor.

From the corner of her vision, Jaden spotted Merlin step out of the kitchen a few moments later with a tray of drinks. She wasn't even aware that he had been there in the first place until now, but she greeted him with a muttered hello when she had finished throwing up.

The wizard walked over to the pair and placed the tray of drinks onto the coffee table. He smiled slightly when he saw that Jaden was out of bed, even though she was instead lying on the sofa in the same weakened state. He knew it wasn't wise for her to be out of bed, but he was glad that she was at least awake.
"How are you feeling?" The elderly wizard asked Jaden kindly.

Jaden shrugged her shoulders weakly that it was hard to tell that she had even done it. "Like I fought a dragon and barely survived…" She mumbled, her speech barely coherent.

Merlin narrowed his eyes at this. "A dragon? What a strange analogy. The pain must be that bad for you to compare it with a creature of legend." He considered, rubbing at his white, bushy beard.

Jaden raised a brow at this but didn't comment. She had no energy to argue about the existence of dragons. Something that if she was at full strength, would happily argue about for hours.

The wizard carefully helped Jaden sit up within the corner of the sofa, trying to manoeuvre her into a more comfortable position. Handing her a cup of tea, Merlin's heart went out to the poor woman. Her usually young features had suddenly vanished overnight. Her bright green eyes were dull in colour, her smooth skin that made her look much younger than her years had turned a ghostly, pasty white and her already thin frame made her look underweight and unhealthy. The girl needed a damn good rest and it was good that they had managed to catch her at this stage before it got worse.

Jaden held out her hands to take the cup from Merlin. "Thanks…" Her voice was tiny and husky, sounding like a scared, frightened child. She took a sip of the tea and nearly spat it out, the taste vile and bitter. But a stern look from Merlin told her not to do it, so she swallowed it, hoping she wouldn't throw it back up.

She glanced around the room, still having no clue as to where she currently was. Nothing in this room screamed familiarity to her. "Where am I?" She asked Merlin and Brooklyn, her voice gradually gaining back its strength.

Merlin chuckled. "Ah, I imagine this looks different than when you were last here. But, this is your house." He swept his arms around the room in a grand gesture. "Miss Barbie Roberts and uh…Miss Barbie Roberts have spent a lot of time on making this house a nice living space for you."

Brooklyn nodded at this. "He's right. We couldn't let you live in that dump you called a home and, honestly it smelled like something had died in here. I think I speak for everyone when I say it's about damn time you have a bathroom, you can finally have a shower." Despite the seriousness of her words, Brooklyn's tone was light and cheery, as if she was pleased for Jaden to have this much needed necessity.

Jaden couldn't help chuckling at that. "I don't smell that bad, do I?" She joked.

Brooklyn raised a brow. "Jaden, I'm refusing to even kiss you right now until you have a shower."

Jaden scoffed playfully. "That bad, huh? I'd ask if you'd like to join me in the shower, but I think a shower can wait." She was silent for a few seconds, trying to wrap her head around what had just been given to her without having to ask for it.
"So, while I was building your house, you were here redecorating and expanding my house? But why? You didn't have to do this. I'm not saying I'm not ungrateful or anything, far from it." Jaden was generally confused as what she did to deserve this such kind treatment coming from these two women. It was a gesture she very much appreciated and, after the hellish month she had been put through, it was definitely something she needed to bring her spirits back up. It showed that at least there were a few people in her life that cared enough about her wellbeing.

Brooklyn shrugged her shoulders. "It's what we do. We can't walk away when someone's in trouble and you were in dire need of help."

"I…thank you…if I wasn't sick I would give you a hug." Jaden felt her low mood lifting, the smile she gave Brooklyn splitting her cheeks. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this happy, this carefree and relaxed that Ken and his abuse hadn't even entered her mind. She was just about to tell Brooklyn her newfound joy when another thought sprang to mind. "So, let me get this straight, you're both called Barbie Roberts?"

Brooklyn produced a hearty laugh, glad that Jaden had finally caught onto that. "Yep, even we were both surprised when we found out. We met at a summer high school where there was a bit of a room mix up. The door had what I thought was my name on it, but turns out it was also Malibu's name! That's when we decided on using nicknames for each other. I'm Barbie Roberts from Brooklyn, and Malibu is the Barbie Roberts from well, Malibu."

"Wow, that must be confusing, no wonder you use the nicknames. Think I'll just stick to Malibu and Brooklyn." Jaden grinned, finding the situation both amusing and strange, considering the two Barbie's were dating whilst having the exact same names.

Merlin, still standing from his place by the sofa, saw Jaden take another sip from her tea, smiling when he saw Jaden wince at the taste. At least she was drinking it. "That tea should help you, Jaden." Merlin told her. "If it's going to help you get better, then it's meant to taste disgusting."

Jaden frowned. "Yeah, speaking of which…that poison was supposed to kill me…so why am I not dead?" She questioned the old man, a hint of disappointment leaking into her voice.

Merlin heaved a deep sigh. He knew he should have expected this. It wasn't like this was something that could easily be swept under the rug and forgotten about. He should have prepared an answer to this, something that could easily be explained away but in all honesty, Merlin was kind of hoping Jaden wouldn't bring it up. How wrong he was. "You thought I would simply give you a poison that would kill you? Jaden, I will not help you kill yourself. This valley needs you and, who's to say if you die here that you wouldn't die in the real word? You have children to think about." Merlin hoped that that was reason enough to make Jaden understand why he had deceived her, even if she didn't outrightly agree with him.

But Jaden on the other hand, didn't see round to his way of thinking. "So you tricked me?" Her voice rose in anger as she shot off of the sofa and blasted Merlin with a powerful spell of magic. Brooklyn quickly shot off from the sofa and grabbed Jaden by her shoulders, hoping to calm the irate mage down. When her hands gripped Jaden's shoulders she heard a faint hiss of pain coming from the mage. Brooklyn frowned slightly and loosened her grip, the worry she felt etched all over her features. When Brooklyn whispered an apology to Jaden, she noticed a few bruises on the mage's neck, littering all the way down to her back. Shocked at the sight, Brooklyn lightly ran a finger over one of the bruises on Jaden's neck, causing Jaden to flinch and quickly turn around, grabbing Brooklyn's hand. Brooklyn had expected to see a look of anger in Jaden's eyes but instead saw a look of fear. "Don't…" Jaden whispered. It sounded more like a plea instead of a threat.

Brooklyn hugged Jaden tightly, hoping the gesture would comfort her. Brooklyn realised that Jaden was refusing to hug her back, her arms glued firmly to her sides. She did however lean into Brooklyn for support, which was more of a sign of her lessened strength than a sigh of affection, Brooklyn reminded herself. She helped Jaden back down onto the sofa, getting her into a more comfortable position.

Merlin pushed himself to his feet, wanting to resolve this issue once and for all. "Jaden, I'm sorry for tricking you. But I didn't have much choice in the matter. You would have stolen a poison that would have actually been fatal to you if I didn't give you one myself, but like I said, I couldn't let you kill yourself."

Jaden thought about what he had told her then sighed. "I get that. But still, I don't appreciate being tricked like that. And I'm sorry, I shouldn't have become angry and blasted you with magic." Though the apology itself sounded childish in nature, Jaden's voice sounded genuinely sorry, ashamed almost, as if she didn't quite know how to apologise.

Merlin gave her a small chuckle, accompanied with a warm smile. "No need to apologise, Jaden." He informed her, but glad all the same that she had at least tried.

The sound of the door opening caused the three people in the room to turn their heads towards the noise. Malibu had returned with three pizza boxes in her hands. She walked over to the sofa and placed the boxes onto the coffee table. Sitting herself down next to Brooklyn, she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders.

Jaden eyed the pizza boxes hungrily, but while she was starving she also wasn't in the mood to eat. Her thoughts rapidly diminished away from the thoughts of food to something more drastic as she realised something with a growing dread forming in her chest. "Wait, how long was I out for?" Her eyes took on a more crazed appearance, widening to their utmost as she attempted to conceal the panic out of her tone.

Malibu and Brooklyn shrugged. "We found you this morning. It's now what, ten p.m.?" Malibu casually asked, checking her phone to find out that she was indeed correct.

"Shit!" Jaden exclaimed, her panic turning to adrenaline. She was supposed to meet Ken two hours ago. With a lightning fast speed, she hurriedly got off the sofa, only for Merlin to grab her shoulders to stop her from running out the door.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait. You are in no condition to be walking around." He stated as he gently set her back down onto the sofa with the same amount of care you'd offer a delicate, China doll. She might have felt offended at the gesture if she wasn't so feeble.

"I…suppose you're right…." She really had no excuse to leave and coming up with a quick explanation would probably cause Malibu or Brooklyn to call her out on lying. Although, if she was being honest, she'd much rather prefer the company of these two ladies than spending the remainder of the night with Ken. She would just have to suffer the consequences of ditching him for the night. Not that it was her fault, he was the one who stabbed and put her in this situation, after all, but try telling his tone deaf ass that.

With an approved nod, Merlin checked her over again, wanting to be sure that the wound was indeed healing properly. Once he was sure she'd be alright, he covered her with the blanket. Malibu and Brooklyn promised him that they would keep an eye on Jaden and look after her. Satisfied with their answer and seeing that he was no longer needed, he bid the three ladies farewell and left the house.

The trio sat there for hours, watching Disney movies and eating the pizza Malibu brought them. Though Jaden didn't eat much of it, to be exact she managed to stomach half a slice at the most, something that worried both Malibu and Brooklyn greatly. The movie night ended when Jaden fell asleep, with Malibu taking Jaden back to her bed so she could be more comfortable. Both Malibu and Brooklyn cleaned up the living room and put the leftover pizza in the fridge.

It was late evening by the time they had finished, the room back to its unusually tidy state. The two ladies didn't feel comfortable leaving Jaden alone, especially in the state that she was currently in, so they decided to stay the rest of the night.
That was until Ken walked in, striding into the room as if he owned the place, not even bothering to knock.

Malibu frowned when she saw him, standing there all important and if she had to admit to herself, looking slightly intimating. Whether that was because of the recent tear-up between Jaden and Ken, or the look of thunder on his face, she wasn't entirely sure. "What are you doing here?" She asked him, trying to keep the resentment out of her voice.

Ken shrugged, his posture straight and stiff. "I heard about Jaden, so I thought I'd stop by and see how she's doing," he answered her, avoiding her sharp, questioning gaze. He followed up with, "it was my fault after all and I feel terrible that I caused her pain." The words would have sounded genuine enough if it wasn't said in the most unsympathetic tone of voice ever.

Malibu, however, seeing the good in every person she came into contact with, couldn't see through his lies and deception and fell right into his trap. She sighed and pointed to the bedroom. "She's in there, fast asleep." She guided him, clearly thinking he wanted to do more good than harm.

Ken nodded at her directions. "Look, I'll take care of her while you two head home. You both look like you could use some sleep."

Brooklyn, unlike her naïve girlfriend, narrowed her eyes at Ken, not forgetting the pure rage and determination Ken had when driving the poisoned blade into Jaden's knee, as well as flinging Brooklyn herself across the room like a ragdoll when she tried to defend Jaden in her helpless state. "Are we sure that's a good idea?" Brooklyn directed the question at Malibu, her suspicions against the blonde man rising. Unlike Malibu, Brooklyn didn't possess the rose tinted glasses that Malibu had on for her childhood best friend. "I mean, he did stab Jaden, maybe having him look after her wouldn't be the greatest idea."

"If he says he feels bad for what he's done, then I believe him." Malibu replied automatically, ready to jump to her best friend's defence. Never mind the fact that he had ignored her wishes to not be romantically involved with him, threw her girlfriend into the wall and could have nearly killed Jaden.

Ken pulled Malibu into a hug. "Thank you." He let her go and went straight into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him before Malibu could reply.

"So, shall we head home?" Malibu asked Brooklyn, trying to ignore the pestering anxiety growing in her chest, causing her heart to thump harder.

Brooklyn took Malibu's hand and nodded. She still didn't feel right leaving Ken alone with Jaden, but didn't say anything more to Malibu. If Malibu trusted Ken, then maybe she was right about him. They had been friends since childhood after all. Perhaps Ken had finally learned the error of his ways and had finally accepted that Malibu would never be with him.
"Let's go." Brooklyn said, the pair leaving the house.

Unbeknownst to them, Ken had stripped himself of his clothing and slipped into bed behind Jaden, wrapping an arm around her thin figure, his movements slow as to not wake the resting mage. The man pulled her closer to him, his erect penis resting against her ass. Bending his head into the crook of her neck, Ken gave her neck a few sloppy kisses, slipping his hand down her trousers and underwear and inserting a finger inside her exposed cunt.

Ken waited a while to see if Jaden would stir into wakefulness from his actions before he climbed himself on top of her, pinning her wrists down onto the bed. "I suppose I should punish you for not showing up earlier," he whispered in her ear, licking her neck all the way up to her earlobe, "but I think you're already in enough pain right now. No, instead I'll just fuck you so damn hard you'll know I've been here. Remember Jaden, this isn't a punishment, this is my present to you and you better enjoy it."

Jaden was so out of it from her exhausting day that she didn't wake up from Ken having his way with her. To be completely defenceless and at his mercy whilst she slept made something inside Ken go wild with sexual excitement.
It was something Ken never thought he ever needed in his life. But now that his eyes had been opened, it was like he was a born-again man.