Chapter XXXII ~ The Field of Stars

 Faer had been dodging in and then out of his dreams through out the chaos of the night. The moment of dread had come. The inevitable came to be directly before the crushed, weeping man in the snow. There, before the might of the bear, the entire family was together once more, as it was meant to be. Quasimodo pressed backward, as though to avoid his father’s eye as he broke down. His own attempts would not bring much ease to the man, however, he lingered in ache as he felt the sun. Eleonor kept her gaze taut onto the coming light of day, her hair whipping about her shoulders in a mess while Odette leaned in against Quasimodo’s healed flank. 

Frollo’s horror had initially froze him, lending his men and a few of the Dwarfs to help him up to his feet. He still kept his eyes on the bear, almost reaching out in desperation, only for him to falter and fall back to his knees. The family could only be wary and hold back when the snow brightened from the reaching ray of sun. Eleonor held Ida close, and Mary at her other… Each of their faces works masks of terror when they seemed to have been taken by surprise by the arrival of the sun. Quasimodo’s girthy form had seemed to curl low in utter pain with Odette trying to comfort him by his side. He naturally moved his massive arm over her as if to try to protect her from the same shadow, but it was no use.

Before their eyes revealed the same exact fate that awaited the flock, however this held an immense weight — more than ever before. The Men all stood nearby witnessing all this, all seeming to cling to both hope and despair when Dopey noticed the golden shimmer of sun dancing over the towering trees. Frollo tread near through the snow, coming to the moment that caused them all to hold their breaths.

Odette slowly sat up when she saw the light touch the Bear’s arching shoulder, and her face paled at the chance that she could hopefully share a word… Even for just a second. Hot breath shot out his snout, barely waking. The urge to look to the water was painful but she had to stay her head to watch him shift as the sky brightened. The brighter it got, the Bear opened his eyes and locked them on the hooded woman, and tried to even call to her.

It was too late… A flash of heat and ache came to them both, and Quasimodo awoke to a bat of feather on his cheek and he blinked to see a swan flapping her wings in the rising sun. A flock of stunning white surrounded him, and the Diamond laid lame in the shimmering, melting snow. Blinded by aches, Quasimodo rose his head high only to see the pure white swan nestled beneath his hand, just at his reach. She had craned her neck down, her wing opened and reached to try and drape over his hand… He tried to gasp for air, as his chest felt tight and constricted from the sudden emerging from bristle and heat. His bright, reddened and tearful eyes drew up from the swan, towards his father rising before him before they began to unfocus and roll upward. 

All at once, the Dwarfs swept as close as could be to the flock and the exposed man among them. Doc tore Odette’s cloak from his own shoulders and threw it over Quasimodo’s broad body as he slumped down into the snow, in shivering pain.

“… Quasimodo…” Frollo’s voice drawled, as soft as the wind as he drew himself closer. Odette brought her bill into Quasimodo’s sweat bound red hair, nibbling against him while soothing her head feathers along his brow. She was trying to speak to him, in any way she could.

“I love you, I love you, we all love you… Quasimodo, we found you, we found you… please. Breathe for us. Keep breathing.” she prayed deep, and trembling from her own transformation. 

Eleonor, amidst the other swans approached with their wings wide open as if to try and shield the recovering man from the shame, however, Quasimodo felt a hand soothed over his nape. “My son. Forgive me, my only son.”

Quasimodo worked devastatingly to open his eyes when he heard his father’s grief. Slow, as he soothed Odette’s soft feathers, Quasimodo then covered Frollo’s hand. “… father.”

“When I was in darkness to have to see you as you were, I took it as a hellish illusion, just as it was in the mines. Please, forgive me.”

Quasimodo’s eyes sharpened after a moment of breath intake, before he began to prop himself up, covered in his beloved’s cloak that was passed on from loved one to loved one on this perilous journey of magic and awakening. Right then, he was able to spot the others with close approach to where he lay. The Dwarfs with bowed heads, Jiminy on the shoulder of the allied Huntsman, and his poor Pony among the Knight’s steeds, with his father’s Fresian observing close by. 

“She thought she had us under her thumb.” Quasimodo croaked, eventually… his voice exhausted from the change. “It is her wish for us to tear at each other like ravenous wolves, succumbing to her madness — If Odette had succumbed to her lost memories, we would not have gone this far with her abuse. She is afraid…”

Claude Frollo had locked his gaze low, yet they sharply rose toward his son’s river bright gaze. Quasimodo sniffled after that, rising a soft but shaken hand to stroke Odette’s wing, with pure adoration. “She thought twisting the form of this lady’s light in her life would fully break her, but look at her.”

Odette’s small, delicate neck stretched at ease toward Quasimodo’s gaze, softly turning her cheek to each side in a loving courting dance that defined such in the language of the swan — a declaration. Frollo’s face had fallen into a very dark resolve as he witnessed the silenced swan’s Vow in pure physical form. The Vow Maleficent saw to shatter remained steadfast and eternal. Jiminy Cricket — who was a purely silent witness — had to force himself to gaze away for a second only to hide another tear as it trailed down his lime colored cheek. Humbert thought he heard him utter something precious under his breath…

“… love. Love Undying,” Jiminy spoke, his voice airy and brokenly soft. Humbert gave a low hum of grace as he settled the one dagger that was used to inflict such a curse. No doubt, only nearby, laid Quasimodo’s own spared vest and belt within his own satchel. He took that close and came toward the recovering lovers, among the flock. With Frollo standing guard right then, Humbert offered the satchel before Quasimodo and his Swan, gently beside the beautifully aglow Diamond that remained free of its brooch ever since the first attack of the brambles. Jiminy was able to bound down onto the satchel while Quasimodo thankfully gleamed gratitude to his curse’s Keeper, and curtly nodded. With an open hand, he had Jiminy walk right onto his palm.

“Armand, bring forth Faer…” Frollo was uncharacteristically quiet as he commanded his second. Odette ducked her head low as she stayed beneath Quasimodo’s chest and arm. His eyes sparked alert before they tracked the soldier stepping with care, carrying a weak body.

“Faer…” Quasimodo gasped, as his eyes became glassy once they landed on it.

“He had come to me frozen, having brought me the bristles of your own hide. He had endured through until his wings were torn.” Frollo told his son. Odette rose her head as the auburn body was placed into the nook of Quasimodo’s arm. There came a dreary moan from the poor elven, as he felt a shift from chill to warmth as soon as he was cradled by his first friend in this world. Odette’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at Faer in a way she had never seen him, but alive as could be. She soothed her bill along his fur in hopes that he would open his eyes.

“We’re together, Faer. We’re all here… please. Please, wake up…” her thoughts rang in Jiminy’s ears, as the Blue Fairy’s spell still stood.

“Come on, old sport.” Jiminy cooed as he witnessed close. A tear trailed Quasimodo’s cheek as he stroked a tuft of fur up from Faer’s closed eyes.

At that voice. Faer’s face scrunched a little before he strained to open his eyes, which were odd and unfocused at first. He groaned, his throat dry and itched from the dry cold air.

“We have you, Faer. We have you. You made it.” Quasimodo’s voice sang to him before he even saw anything. He blinked rapidly. He felt warm, bound and tired.

“… quasi…?”

“Yes, my friend. It’s me…” Quasimodo answered, surely. Faer’s vision sharpened around his face, seeing the aquamarine blur of his eyes before it all widened before him. That tired, loving crooked smile greeted him like a bright summer day. “It is I, Odette… Jim is here. We’re all here, Faer.” he began with pride, as other familiar faces drew near. Faer’s tired eyes darted from left to right as though to memorize each of their faces before they welled up.

“… that’s good.” Faer’s smile was wobbly and weepingly tense, but he nodded. “Good.” he sniffled when the realization hit that the entire family had come together again. A tear ran down his cheek, of which Quasimodo had warmly wiped away with his thumb. Quasimodo’s loving smile soon lowered to pure fatherly resolve as he nodded. He took in his friend’s weak condition, one piece at a time.

“There is n-no need to move right now, Faer. You rest now.”

Jiminy adjusted his hat and straightened his coat as they all were falling into the same mindset, sharing that same protective air with the rest of the men. Odette soothed her small head along Faer’s cheek as he was falling back to sleep, in deep trust in them. Grumpy had to swipe his cheek to get rid of his own heartbreak for a second, struck his pick handle down to the ground before eyeing his mates who equally knew what to do next and each had firm grips on their personal weapons and moved on to go and gather their steeds - the Bucks. Or as many as they could rustle, while Quasimodo were to make himself decent.

While supporting his resting, warming friend, Quasimodo took it upon himself to reach forward to scoop the Diamond safe into his hands as Jiminy stayed safe atop his broad shoulder. Tender with it with his gaze softly landing on Odette as she touched her bill to the stone. To that, it flickered with the heartbeat of her father who remained in enchanted sleep. 

“I cannot express to you of how terrified I was … to leave you in that hallow.” Quasimodo began to speak to her as he began to adorn himself in his effects. “… when it would have been our final kiss, our last gaze at each other. Now we… we find ourselves on opposite sides of the coin.”

“Yet we’re still in the same world, where we can see each other, even in different bodies. Our minds and hearts are together. No curse can stop that, and will never stop it.” Odette’s mind rang again and Jiminy’s gaze remained soft at her as he listened. Seeing Jiminy’s entranced look, Quasimodo waited a moment to give him the chance to translate… Jiminy blinked when he noticed the Woodsman’s tired gaze.

“… forgive me, yes… She has no doubts in her mind. This curse has done nothing to tear a rift between your hearts. She is whole.” he replied with a curve in his lip as he began to smile as he spoke. Yet, Quasimodo could see just how exhausted the poor gentleman was, after the terror of their entrapment, after thinking he had perished in the shadow’s storm. Quasimodo glanced at the sleeping Faer and then to the one on his shoulder.

“You need to sleep, Jiminy.” the Cricket overheard Odette encourage him. Even at her voice, his eyes dipped a little.

“M’lady.” Jiminy tried to interject, but his mind was sluggish.

“I’ll carry you both.” Quasimodo stated, after clearing his gruff throat. “Come, you are as precious as us all. You have been at the frontlines just the same. Come lay in Faer’s fur. He’s very warm.” he offered.

“You dare to tempt me, Woodsman?” Jiminy laid a dry joke, as he felt a rush of dizziness. His tiny body weeping for rest.

“I dare.”

“… graciousness. I - wh-why I-I…” Jiminy stammered, how he only slept in the pouch with the stone for only a couple hours in the hallow. That did absolutely nothing.

“Ssh, ssh, you’re fainting. Here, easy, dear friend…” Quasimodo worried for a moment when Jiminy had nearly lost strength when he slumped right onto his palm again. Sleep was already claiming the poor cricket, once again as he did not speak another word, other than being unable to open his eyes. His breathing, deepening, completely raptured by the warmth of the two’s mere presence.

“Oh, sweet Jiminy. We thought we lost you to those ravens… Even she couldn’t keep you quiet. Sleep, safe and sure, Jiminy Cricket. You took care of us, now we will take care of you.” Odette’s heart sang as Jiminy’s thoughts soon flittered away to dreams.

“This voyage was beginning to hurt him,” Quasimodo whispered as soon as Jiminy was fast asleep, snug in the elven’s fur, close to his chest. The two slumbered on, healing. Odette shut her eyes in a sort of anguish that this evil had touched them all, when she was only six years of age. Quasimodo observed that as he slowly settled Faer down onto the cloak for a moment as he would prepare for the day’s journey. Odette watched as he tucked the Diamond deeply into the satchel prior to sweeping his leather vest back on. Lastly were his boots when he was listening close to the Knighthood gathering and readying their steeds while keeping his eyes on the sleeping ones. The pain in his bones lingered, however. As soon as he was adorned and ready, he addressed her.

“My love,” his voice was tender, despite how exhausted he was. Her head bowed and rose again as if to try and touch his cheek. He studied the cloak that was passed on during their imprisonment, but now a new day had dawned and they endured through it. “… your father rests by my side by day, and the he will be yours by night.” he began and she only could respond with a dip of her head again. Even after saying that, he merely gazed at her with gleaming devotion in his eyes — besides the fact that she trusted every word he told her. “You kept yourself safe, you made sure you were found first.”

“I was so sorely tempted to go after you. To at least see where you were, yet if I had, I would not be able to bear the weight of it. Jiminy persuaded me not to touch Fidele when he was tied. I wished so much to go and free him… but we couldn’t do that. We would have been attacked or captured…” Odette’s thoughts ran wild.

“You waited for me, as each of us came together again. That was all we needed.” Quasimodo continued before a ray of sunshine pierced through the clouds.

Odette noticed how his gaze was drawn up towards it and he winced to fight against the pull of it, and she knew. She and her flock were always drawn towards the moon at each change. His was the sun.

“He feels it too, ‘Ette…” Eleonor stated as she came near. “At the start, we would stare at the moon all night…”

“That enticing lull to the moonlight… It is the same for him… only the sun.” Ida’s tone trembled.

“It’s the same spell, only on the other side of the coin…” Odette replied, sadly.

“Are you well, lad? You are drifting towards it again.” Humbert’s voice broke in as he came by with Fidele and one of the spare horses at the ready. Quasimodo blinked, and shook it off a bit before he focused on Faer and Jiminy, who slept deep, warmed by it before he knelt to them to scoop them back up.

“As well as a bear can be, I suppose.” he replied, his voice slightly gruffer than he intended. Gentle, he pulled the strap of the satchel around his shoulders, grimacing at the pull of his burning muscles. However, as soon as his eyes caught onto his saved pony, he was able to smile.

“Fidele… How I missed you,” Quasimodo sighed, smoothing a palm along the side of his tired pony’s snout. Fidele softly blinked and lowered his head to nuzzle his rider. He was gleeful that he was alive. “You are safe.”

Greeting his steed, Quasimodo finally gazed at his beloved who took to his side with open wings. Fidele felt his rider grip the saddle and Quasimodo was able to mount, with the two sleepers in his hold. Odette turned toward her comrades who all rose their wings, as it was time to fly. Humbert mounted the spare as soon as Quasimodo was able to settle.

“We need to ride out of these brambles as soon as we can help it.” he heard Humbert advise.

“I do not think I stand another night in one place,” Quasimodo responded, averting his gaze from the dazzling sun rays on the sparkling snow below him.

“Let me know when you need me to hold them. We will alternate.” Humbert offered.

“No. Allow me this.” Quasimodo denied. “My body had been tormented for them, so I need to carry them.”

Odette walked among the other birds, her breast now unburdoned by the brooch she held for three years, her wings held high as she stood tall and flapped them wide to rid of the pulling ache from the change. 

“We’ll first see if we are permitted to fly. I am not sure if we should yet.” Odette noted.

“Will we be attacked again if we take the air? What happened to Faer and when you flew into the camp —“ Antoinette hovered her head a little.

“That’s the trick isn’t it? She has us all caged…” Ida shivered so that her back feathers ruffled too high.

Acknowledging the shimmer in the satchel and sharing one last gaze at Odette, Quasimodo studied how the birds huddled together as though they were a primary focus away from the light brightening around them. “Son.” sharpened Frollo’s tone. “Have your wits about you? Do you not adhere to the order?”

“I beg your pardon, sire. My mind’s a fog.” Quasimodo snapped out of the trance before he began to lead the head of his horse to go along side his father’s.

“You have been twisted into a form that does not agree with you, just as the woman you chose. Therefore you suffer with her.” Frollo noted. “Are you well enough to ride?” he asked with just concern. Quasimodo could make out the left over tears of those moments before the change between him and the flock.

“My strength is taut. I must make use of myself, regardless.” Quasimodo responded as Faer stirred in his exhausted sleep. Jiminy was snug in the nook of Faer’s gangly arm, his face slightly buried into his arms with his hat laid to rest above by his side.

“Quasimodo. I have never seen a man give his life for the woman he loves in real time. No man has ever dedicated so, save for one. In ages past…” Frollo grew grave, envious even as he studied how Quasimodo carried himself in spite of his pain. “Her ilk can have an end yet. I only desired it to be eradicated with force, but that is not the way as the Star Fairy had proven. Where is the Diamond?”

“Within this satchel,”

“Give it over to me, then.” Frollo commanded, and so Quasimodo passed the satchel on, full of trust and in no shape to argue.

“Be gentle with him.” Quasimodo whispered. “His love for her was what burnt the brambles, and what gave us a path to escape through.” he explained.

“Him, you state?”

“Yes, father.”

Frollo studied Quasimodo’s honest gleam in those tired eyes. As Quasimodo adjusted the cloak around the resting ones, Frollo gently lifted the buckle of the satchel as this brilliance leaked out of it. Pure sapphire light that seemed to pulse with a certain beat. Tucked amidst rabbit furs and leather was the beautiful Diamond stone, lacking the golden brooch that was once Odette’s own crown since her arrival into this world. Frollo dared not to just grab it, however he only studied it, at how it seemed to breathe. 

“… she told me she saw a reflection inside of it, from the world she was born in.” Quasimodo continued. “It aided her when she took it in hand. She brought it close to the stab wound that nearly took my life, and my skin knit back together. Even as a bear I was able to hear, see and feel everything. Every word that was uttered. My mind was intact through out. It was moments before you found us. Her father is under a spell, sire. The man who raised her lives through this stone…”

To the men riding side by side, Odette had taken wing and had flown up to perch on Quasimodo’s calf for a moment, while her sisters went to follow Eleonor ahead. Her silence was overcome by how animated her wide wings were. She was so relieved to have her chosen soul back that she couldn’t stand another moment apart, especially after that attack. As startled as Quasimodo was for a second, his eyes watered at her choice. She tucked her head into his palm, closing her eyes before nibbling his skin and bracer. She pinched out of mere affection and he smiled, tearfully.

“She chose you.” Frollo sorrowfully acknowledged.

“I was a foolish boy. That one act of kindness had led to a broken heart believing I was chosen when that wasn’t true.” Quasimodo recalled when he was short at twenty years of age when La Esmeralda sparked rage and passion in their lives. Quasimodo knew well that he fooled himself to a degree that her kindness meant that she loved him. Never was she at fault at all, he only misunderstood.

“I could account for that, my boy.”

Quasimodo tenderly stroked over her eyes, her bill and head. Her strong body settled close against his belt before the healing duo in the cloak. Though, he noticed his father’s tone and glanced a little, with a turn of his cheek. “I look back knowing how things were, how things felt. I do not look back with resentment… I have spent a great time in it, and I am tired of it. This sweet woman, this beautiful woman had her own journey in isolation, close to how I had. She was a babe then… unwanted. Until one man saw her. He saw her and never took his eyes away… A little girl who just watched, was then chosen by someone who… who was able to see who she would become. As though he knew, an intuition.”

Speaking, he kept touching his Lady as she found solace in staying at his side, keeping watch over the elven and the cricket. The light in the satchel seemed to brighten and the dim down in intervals. “That is who we are holding inside that element… That’s who the Fairy is guarding, so she can be free for him one day.”

“… Doc had given her a new title, as of late.” Jiminy’s voice lightly came in. It drew both men and swan to look to the sling. Jiminy had awoke for a moment, able to listen to what was being said. Quasimodo’s face softened further, even as the beginnings of a smile began to tug at his lips.

“What could it be, sir?”

“… lady swan.” Jiminy lightly yawned, even as he leaned deeper into Faer’s lush fur.

“Why, is it not the gentleman to soon join us?” Frollo hummed, drearily. Odette’s eyes brightened at Jiminy when she moved down at Faer’s form where he lay. Jiminy was able to reach and touch the tip of her bill, sleepily blinking and too comfortable to move.

“… Lady Swan.” Quasimodo sang those two words, with the utmost reverence and devotion. The back of her head swept along his cheek, drying his cheek. He had not noticed that he was crying. “Oh~ Cass…” he drew in deep elated breath as he calmed his weeping. “… I love you… I love you.”

“As I love you… Quasimodo… Quasimodo mine.” her thoughts were like precious rain to Jiminy’s ears.

Witnessing this marriage under the sun, Frollo deeply sighed as he knew his son was beyond help on this front. His heart, mind and soul had been entirely chosen and claimed by the woman he saw transform from a feathers of a swan. A sight forseen from the enchanted prisms, no less. Love was a fire that could prove dangerous to those who oppose it — that much he knew. Quasimodo’s breath sobbed as the tender moment passed before he gazed deeply into his lady’s eyes. She turned her head ahead as he did, both of their spirits ready to move forward, away from this awful prison. 

Jiminy began open his eyes a little, feeling the shift. He felt the heat of the other horses gathering near as each swan had selected a rider as flight was still a danger in this awful land. Yet, he felt Quasimodo soothe his calloused thumb along his back to his shoulder to coax him back to his dreams, which was greatly invited. He wished to be awake, to help the lovers speak, and the ladies but he couldn’t move. He was so tired after such terror, and near loss. His heart would have burst the same way Richard’s almost had. He fought still. He fought to open his eyes…

“Stay still, Jim. Stay still. Sleep. Stay asleep.” Quasimodo hushed. “It’s going to be a long day… The least we can do for you is to keep you strong. We need to be strong, together.”

Faer gave a gargled huff of air, stretching his neck slightly against Quasimodo’s chest as he adjusted the blessed cloak further. He pressed his loyal pony to keep up with the Knighthood, just in time as they breached a melting riverside. A part of the forest that was free of the thorned brambles. The horses began to tread all along the banks in order to gain bearings, as did the Dwarfs and their bucks. However, when he was flanking Frollo’s dark steed, Quasimodo was riding with a confidence until the horizon caught his eye. Odette’s worries were justified when she saw how drawn he was to the beauty of the current sunrise. His eyes completely glazed over for a solid second when she noticed him captivated by the field across that would lend them path still toward Paris.

“My love, as trapped as we are. You need to be stronger than light, and I know you are.” she could only give a whistled breath before she boldly chose some hair on the back of his neck, near his ear, to peck.

He winced at that, snapping out of it at once… much to her relief. He looked at her in shock at what just happened, and she focused right on his eyes.

“I know you can’t hear me right now, but the heavenly bodies will entice you. It wants you to vanish, it wants your self to vanish… I won’t let it happen to you, Quasimodo. I promise. My sisters and I were entranced by the moon at the start… It’s a frightening loss of time as well, we would just stare at it and forget. Please, don’t let the gold make you forget… You have given yourself for me to never forget again. I will not let it happen to you either…”

“This is part of it, I know that…” he breathed, truly frightened for a moment. “Oh Cass…” Quasimodo ultimately knew he was inside the mind of the curse. As to how he would observe how they would transform under the moon. The enticement was a strong chain, especially during the moments before and after the shift. Her fears and distance before were all unnatural. It was never her. Never.

“I have finally found my second heart in my life. We have until the Winter Solstice, which is four months away… We must make it together until then.”

“I dared to be fooled again.” he solemnly admitted, realizing that he was now under the same powerful spell she was under. He was reminded that each change for the flock, they were enticed, drawn, spellbound to the waters ~ toward the moonlight. It only struck him right then that his temptation was the sunlight… 

“God, I hate this… I can’t stand not being able to speak to you.” Odette despaired and he could tell by how her wings arched. “It was right when we felt right, when it felt safe.”

“I feel your heart, darling. I can feel your heart.” he replied in a tight whisper. “Keep me awake, you kept me sound when I was trudging through that snow. I have faith in enduring through with you, as long as it means that I get to see you all free again…”

He soothed over her wings, urging her to keep them close to her body, and she shifted to sit more forward with him upon the saddle. “I know how you looked when you overthought at night, your fears of losing your mind. I find that I am in that same spiral. We’ll both be stronger than the lights who rule us. I appreciate being bitten, let me tell you.”

*

Cracked

Deep in the ever silent homestead of the terrible Queen, Grimhilde of Germania, the regal woman was in a state of absolute fear. Slamming the grand doors to her throne room wide open, their strike against the stone walls vibrated the endless cold halls. Her wild green eyes scanned the empty space, scaling from her throne to the purely dead glass of the mighty mirror centering the room. Her gaze locked onto the lone blood red gem that crowned the outer border of her precious mirror. There was a genuine deep crack in the stone that rivered entirely across it…

Her heavy velvet robes, dyed of the blood of the youth, hissed along the freezing flagstones as she lunged forward. She lacked her sovereign grace ~ she was panicked and in a selfish fright as her crinkling face reflected back at her when she realized that her youth was draining. 

“No… No no.” she gasped as she clawed at her face, her deepening cheeks that began to look more prominent. “I was promised eternal youth -! I was promised! The blood pacts - they were meant to keep me immortal!” she stammered in a rare desperation before she gazed up at the cracked gem.

Clawing at the dead glass, she snarled at her reflection before planting her palm against it.

“Mirror Mirror on the Wall - Tell me ~ what is the reason for this fall? The Hunchback was meant to be torn from her, she is supposed to be mine to consume! Her beauty is supposed be mine, not his! Speak to me!!” she screamed as though to the high heavens that speckled the arches above her. 

After she spoke, the space within the looking glass began to ripple and churn, before those hellish flames overtook it with an intense heat. She hissed and tore her aged hands away before that placid mask had dared to show himself. He was a mask of judgement and sorrow when he appeared to her…

“Speak you. Or I shall shatter you~”

“Oh, Queen of Fading Grace…” the mirror’s voice boomed. “Your scales have tipped. The labyrinth of spite and ice, belief that flesh can be torn by the dark. Failure to weigh the marrow of their bond.”

“Those women were meant to be bled for me… She vowed she would make me immortal through their willingly given blood. Now my bones groan! My hair turned white! The stone is cracked~”

“They are guarded by starlight and adorned in a love that is peircing through malice and hate. I have once spoken that she would either predict thy doom, or bring thy light…”

“It is a lie!” Grimilde tore away, with her back to the Mirror as a dark wind began to pick up within the stony space. “She… lied to me…”

“Malice is a currency that always collects its debt from the hand that spends it.” the Spirit of the Mirror continued. 

The aging Queen’s eyes sparked with a maddened flame before she gripped a chalic from one of the tables and clenched her eyes shut as heated tears streamed down her paling face. A strand of white hair dare to hang from beneath her cowl. She let out a deep, withering scream. A scream that rivaled that of a banshees as she twisted round and threw the jeweled chalice.

As soon as it left her hand, the chalice flew directly at the center of the featureless mask. It cut through the howling quiet of the throne room, glinting the pale light of the rafters before colliding scarely with the cold glass of the mighty face. The sound was not the simply shattering of glass… The heart of the mirror splintered into a spiderweb of jagged white fractures that raced outward in every direction, viciously carving through to the brass and stone frame. From the shards that threatened to spew out, a shimmer of deep starlight seemed to illuminate each jagged edge. Just in moments these shards began to float in midair. 

The terrible Queen had fallen back with such shock that she had fell to the stone on her knees just beyond the threshold before her empty throne. Her once prideful eyes glimmered with pure fear as she observed what was coming over the ancient artifact as these shards were being collected into a storm of lightening magic within her own domain — There was a matter of wrath behind it as the open void of the mirror remained an untouchable void before her very eyes. 

“Your very essence had been poured into this scried mirror, and now behold that you have nothing left to give it.”

Boomed a voice, as deep as a well.

While those shards flew aside, soon vanishing into that starlit glamour, someone within the darkened chamber began to make himself known to the downed woman. A tall, extraordinary figure, adorned in dark blue, regal robes. The broken Queen quickly averted her gaze to the floor as she was now bowing low to the floor just as a servant would. His voice felt as cool as the rain and as swift as the moon, carrying a protective cadence that once guided one little girl to call her fallen protector - her father - back to the light.

“Now you lie on the floor just as you forced others… The lives you stole for your own ends shall leave you shrivelled, Grimilde. You have failed your own Kingdom long ago when you chose to chase after the life of a young, and innocent child. By use of a Soul Shard…”

“I beg of you, Master… Druid of the North… Leader of the stars — It was given to me, as a bargain~”

“A bargain, my lady? On what grounds was this ruined gem used to steal the life of this land. To torment the princess I have been protecting, and those she meets along her voyage? She was meant to step in with the man who raised her — Do you not realize what this selfishness had led to? Use of the Ancient troves, the lost dragons of our time, their protected treasures used to siphon the lives of innocent souls… You have marked your own gravestone, Hag.”

The wicked Queen’s spine seemed to curve more as something else was overcoming her very bones. Her whitening hair began to splay past her shrivelling face as her form had began to grow smaller by comparison… Her gnarled fingers tried to dig into the brick. The Master whom she had addressed and was now at the mercy of had soon stepped up toward the destroyed mirror’s face, soon softly soothing his aged palm along the golden brass frame. He reached high and plucked the cracked starstone directly from its crown. He was a man with a splendidly silver beard that tailed down so long towards the flooring — his eyes a deep, sharp sapphire but they held a terrible judgement towards her. Towards this war that now fully relied on the union of hearts in its resistence. The very fellowship that was formed around that little girl he watched behind the panes of the mirrors in the past. He witnessed Odette’s father be attacked, however it was not by Grimilde’s hand, and he knew that.

“Who gave you this Shard?” was his next harrowing question.

“… curse you to Hades - Curse you!” came the Queen’s twisted voice as she was pawing and trying to crawl from beneath her robes, her voice thin and as cracked as thin twigs.

“I’d be delighted. Now answer me - Who. Gave. You. This Shard?”

“… damn you — … it was given to me - to me - by the Dark Fairy… The Black Shade you have so eagerly chased after… The Black Swan. The one who swore war between the druids and the Star Fairy, Evangeline… The pathetic thing is keeping our spells from reaching that world I took her from… Her f-first heart — I WAS SUPPOSED TO EAT IT —“

“You were never given permission, nor will you ever being able to touch her First Heart. The kindly writer of dreams, a weaver of stories, seeing a princess for who she was before she ever came close to realizing it… He is held in deep rest, free from tyrrany and hate that you so relish in. You have always been defeated, your Highness. Your own Huntsman now serves the Fellowship with no regrets. That child has grown into a Queen. And so her King rests until she sees the light of the Solstice’ Final Sunrise. His eyes will open, she will see the eyes of her True Home. When that day comes, the Dark Kingdoms will fall.”

“Her True Home?” the Hag cackled. “… trapped in the body of a bear as she is a damned bird… He is thralled by the sun —“

“They are strong and unified. One thing you have always failed to realize with your own enemies is that they see what truth and light really is. It lies on the unselfish, the kind and the loyal, the tender and the just. Love… Love has always been your foil, and shall be hers as well…” he remarked, hinting at Maleficent’s failure. “The Swan Queen, and the Bear King… they shall see an end to this war by merely seeking each other. The father will wake, and the spell shall break.”

The entire chamber seemed to rumble from the mere magical prowess he was harboring, and she shrunk at his feet. Even as he had his back to her, to tend to the mirror. As though in sorrow for its apparent use for selfish ends, the Druid soon waved his hand over the face, before the empty space within before a white sheet of freezing water began to ripple over that void. As this liquid began to form a sheet, it began to freeze beautifully into pure crystalline glass, reverting the relic back to its original form, and purpose.

“Sleep now, old friend…” the Master sighed as the glass settled, gleaming with pure white like a winter’s kiss. “The day will come, for you will wake to her touch…”