Gabrielle - After Happy Ever After

Snow White?

“Yes, it’s me. Can you trust that if I take your body that I will give it back? Can you let me in?” she asked.

Take my body? You mean switch?

“Yes.”

But you’re dead!

“Yes. I need you to die. Once I have fixed things as much as I can, you will live again. But you need to let me in. I can’t do anything unless I have your complete trust. You must hurry. There isn’t much time,” Snow White urged.

But I…

Ivy focused on the dark elf’s hand moving closer to Faolan. Somehow at the same time she saw Danielle’s hand moving closer to the witch’s.

Okay.

“I need more than an okay.”

Yes! Switch us! What do you want from me? I trust you. Now, save my friends!

Ivy felt her breathing stop. The cold swelled and seeped through her entire body. Her lungs froze, but burned for air at the same time. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t get it out. For one moment she felt betrayed and a hundred other emotions at the same time. Then, everything stopped.

Faolan felt more than anything else that Ivy was stirring behind him. He felt a little hope at the same time as he was filled with a sinking despair. It wasn’t until he felt cool hands pushing him back did he break free of the dark elf’s gaze. He saw Ivy step into his place just as the elf’s hand closed on her shoulder. He saw a shudder run through her and from her to the elf. The elf’s eyes went wide. His reaction was mirrored by Ivy. They both fell to their knees. Ivy shuddered again and fell back on the ground. Her eyes closed and her body went limp. A moment later, the dark elf’s eyes dimmed to black and he, too, fell to the ground, limp.

Faolan snapped out of his haze and fell to his knees next to Ivy. He hurriedly searched for a pulse. There was none. He checked the dark elf. They were both…dead. Faolan howled and everyone stopped.

Danielle jerked back, snatching her hand back to her. She looked from it to the witch, shocked at what she had been about to do. Her hands curled into fists and dropped back to her sides. Her mouth was set in a grim line as she slowly rose to her feet. The witch would pay for making her feel that way, for saying those things.

“Okay, now it’s time for major butt-kicking.”

Danielle thrust her arms out in front of her, opening her fists at the last moment. She felt power run down her arms and burst out her hands. It hit the witch and she stumbled. Danielle hit her again and this time she fell to her knees. A third time nearly knocked her unconscious. Danielle paused. She felt that she could kill her, but she wasn’t ready to do that. She couldn’t kill somebody! But what should she do? This was the part where the calvary was supposed to show up and take the bad guy away. According to The Handbook. but there wasn’t any calvary in sight.

Before Danielle could react, the witch lunged at her and knocked her to the ground. She pulled a knife from her clothing and pressed it against Danielle’s throat. Danielle struggled, but she felt the knife break the skin.

The next thing she knew the witch was yanked off her. She looked up and saw Wendell throwing the witch aside. He looked down at her quickly. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, stunned.

“Good,” he said quickly.

Danielle scrambled to her feet in a hurry. She turned to see that the witch was lying face down in the grass, unmoving. Wendell turned her over and Danielle saw that she had fallen on her knife. And the witch was an old woman again. Wendell looked back at Danielle. He looked sick.

“She’s dead,” he said.

Maive appeared next to Wendell and checked for herself. “I don’t understand. I thought she was nearly invincible with the rose,” she said in confusion.

“She was,” Danielle said. She opened her fist to show them the golden rose in her hand. “She dropped it,” Danielle said quietly.

Faolan tried not to cry, but it was too hard. He couldn’t believe she had saved him, given her life. No, no, no. He couldn’t live happily ever after without her. Faolan buried his face against her shoulder.

“As long as you’re there, could you scratch the top of my shoulder? Got a bad itch.”

Faolan’s head shot up. Ivy smiled at his surprise and sat up. “You’re alive,” he said in disbelief. “You…you’re alive!” He hugged her so suddenly and fiercely that she fell over. He didn’t seem to notice, he was too busy touching her face frantically with his hands, as if afraid that she wasn’t all there.

“Yeah. I am,” she agreed and didn’t bother to push him off.

Faolan seemed to gain a little control over himself and pulled back, pulling her back up into a sitting position. “But how?” he asked, holding her hand tightly. Faolan didn’t know how to tell her that he was afraid to let go. He had an over-whelming fear that the moment he let go she would be gone again. He was surprised when she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“Well, Snow White came to me and said that she could help, but I had to switch bodies with her. And since she was dead, I had to die once to do it. She had to die again in my body to kill the dark elf. It was the only way. She told me it was worth it. She also said that she thinks you’re cute.” Ivy smiled.

“You died twice! For us?” he asked, gesturing at the group.

“Yeah,” Ivy nodded. “And you know what? I’ve never felt so…good.”

Faolan hugged her again. She finally laughed and pushed him away. She got to her feet and pulled Faolan up after her. He followed her over to her friends, still holding her hand tightly.

“So what do we do now?” Virginia was asking. Her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying. So were many of the others.

“I think we should bury her and the rose,” Wolf said, fidgeting nervously.

“The rose, too?” Cinnamon asked. Everyone shot a look at her. “I mean, after all the trouble…oh, forget it. I want that rose,” Cinnamon admitted and tried to snatch the rose from Danielle.

“Cinnamon!” Wolf cried in surprise.

Cinnamon growled. The influence of the dark elf and the witch had set off some of the wolf impulses that she had surpressed. The bad wolf impulses. Truth be told, the reason she lived all alone in the deepest woods was that she had been exiled from all nearby villages. She stole what she could and traded it to travelers for supplies such as food when the hunting was bad. She hadn’t missed the villages much. A half-wolf girl was considered free game among village boys and the lowliest form of life by the village girls. Especially an orphan half-wolf. Those same villagers had paid for harassing her, though. If they wandered into her woods, she would chase them, scare them, and ensure they stayed out of her territory. If they didn’t wander from their cozy little homes, she would target them for her theft. She knew each and every one of them by name, face, and scent. Oh, yes. She had had a long time to memorize them all. “Okay, I admit it. I’m a bad wolf. But I’ve been good. I helped stop the witch. Shouldn’t I get some kind of reward?” she demanded.

“No one should have that rose. It’s caused enough trouble,” Tony announced.

“What am I saying? I want to be a good wolf, I really do,” Cinnamon said almost a whine and before she realized what she was doing spilled out her story to them all.

“We’ll help you, Cinnamon. But right now we have to get rid of that rose,” Wolf said.

“Could I see it?” Ivy asked. Everyone turned on her. Before anyone could question Ivy’s intentions, Danielle gave the rose to her. “Thank you,” she said shortly. She looked at Faolan quickly, and slowly he released her hand but stayed very close to her. She smiled reassuringly, then turned back to the rose. She cupped her hands around it and closed her eyes. There was a small flash and that was all. She opened her hands to show everyone that the flower was wilted and dead.

"What did you do?" Danielle asked.

"I used the last of both my and its magic to fix things. Time's a little different when you're dead. I had a lot of time to think. Plus, I had Snow White to advise me for a little. I stopped the wars; that was the rose's magic. And I changed me. Much as I was coming to enjoy being a half-wolf, I realized that I couldn't stay that way. I didn't have enough power to make me completely human - I still have a little wolf in me, but nothing that could endanger me or anyone else. Cinnamon, I had to give the necklace back to the goblins. They'd declared war on wolves and sneaky red-heads. It was the only way to satisfy them. Sorry," she finished.

Cinnamon surpressed a growl and nodded. She didn't need it, she didn't. It was for the best really. Yes, this was the start of her being a good wolf.

"Dead?" Virginia asked, thankfully distracting her.

Ivy smiled again. "Twice actually. I'll explain later. I think it's about time Wendell got back to his castle."

No one argued with that. Least of all, Wendell. By the time they had reached Wendell's throne room, Ivy had managed to explain almost everything as best she could. She hadn't been able to restore everything. Riding Hood still fumed at Wendell and Wolf, the Council of the Nine Kingdoms was still upset with each other, there were still hard feelings all over. As for the Tenth Kingdom, it was back to its normal self, which was pretty shaky at that. She had even explained her new-found enlightenment about this whole adventure, that everything had to have happened. That had been hardest to explain:

"See, the reason Danielle and I were brought here was to learn something. That was the purpose behind all of this. Each of us had something that we needed to discover. I needed to learn trust. Danielle needed to learn to believe in herself. Wendell needed to relearn humility and a small lesson about self-pity. Cinnamon needed to find the good wolf inside her. Wolf needed to find his sister and learn a little about raising a cub. After Danielle, your cub'll be a breeze. Tony, you needed to find that you don't need to prove yourself to anyone. You needed to find your own self-worth. Maive needed to find that she is a good witch…"

At that point she had been interrupted by Maive who claimed that she wasn't. Ivy smiled softly. "But you are. You just don't know your talent. You brought out the magic in two Tenth Kingdom girls who didn't know they had it. Snow White believes the Major Coven will use you as the tester of new witchs' potentials. You see?"

Maive had nodded slowly, her eyes had been very wide.

"Breena needed to break free of the other fairies and learn to be her own person…er…fairy. Faolan, you needed to learn almost the same thing. You needed to be your own wolf, not the one your parents wanted you to be, or even the one Randal wanted you to be. Or the one I wanted you to be. Plus, you were supposed to help me and you did. Randal needed to learn a little about fending for himself. Sorry, kid."

Randal had made a face.

"What about me?" Virginia had asked.

"Virginia, we were supposed to break you into the task of helping lost girls, but it didn't turn out too well. You needed to have faith in Wolf and Tony and in yourself. By the way, Snow White is very proud of you. Oh, and Wolf. She reminded me to give this to you. She said not to read it, just to have it sent to Queen Riding Hood." Ivy had then handed Wolf the letter.

Wolf had looked confused, but he'd taken it and nodded.

Later, when she got the chance, she might try to explain in detail. How becoming a half-wolf had allowed her to see that on the inside she was half like what Snow White had told her Virginia had been like and half like she was also informed Wolf was like. Unfortunately, the Virginia side had won out for a long time. And how Faolan had ultimately pushed her to the point where she could see these things and she could make a decision like the one Snow White had given her. But that was too much for now.

"You know," Danielle's voice cut through Ivy's musing as it often did, "if I were a psychologist type person, and from what Maive's told me about that witch, I'd say this was a classic cry for attention."

"What?" more than one of the group demanded.

"Well, think about it. She was ignored by her village, ignored by the other witches. Plus, she's had a lifetime to stew about it. Just seems that's what it was," Danielle shrugged.

Wolf scratched his temple. "And she was different, even from the other witches. Being different is a lonely path in life," he said, looking towards Virginia.

For a long moment, no one spoke. Then Wendell cleared his throat noisily to get their attention. "Perhaps we should all get some food and rest. If you're quite sure my guards are all under my command and not the witch's?" he paused for Ivy to nod. "Good. For those of you who are hungry, I can have dinner ready in half an hour. If not, I can have rooms found for you. That is, as soon as I find Lord Rupert. Excuse me," Wendell said, and left the room.

Everyone seemed a little lost. Now that it was all over, they didn't know what to do.

"Are you hungry?" a voice asked near Ivy's ear. Ivy jumped and spun around. Faolan grinned. Ivy relaxed and smiled back. How many times was he going to do that to her before she would catch him at it?

"Not really. I'd rather just get some sleep. But I do need to talk to you." Faolan nodded. "You do realize that I have to leave? Go back to the Tenth Kingdom," Ivy asked.

Faolan frowned. He hadn't realized that. "Why?" he asked.

"I have to finish school. I've already missed like a week. And I want to go to college," Ivy said.

Faolan's frown deepened. "You're still in school? What's college and how long will it take? If you're going I want to go, too!" he said with such conviction that it made her smile.

"College is a school where you learn things, like for a job. College is usually four years long. But you have to be really smart to get into the best ones," Ivy explained.

"But…that means I can't go, right?" Faolan sounded terribly disappointed.

"I don't think so. Not because you're not smart enough, it's just…well, you don't have any records, any grades. Do you even have a last name?" Ivy wondered.

"Last names are for humans. I have a pack name. Four years is much too long. I'm going with you to the Tenth Kingdom and that's that," he said with a huff and crossed his arms, as if daring her to say otherwise.

"Where will you stay?"

"With you," he said liked she had asked a very stupid question.

"You can't stay with me! I live with my parents! I just don't see…" Ivy began, staring at her hands as if they might hold the answer to the problem.

Faolan kissed her quickly. "Shhh. Don't worry. Something will work out," he said, changing his tactics so quickly that she fell for it.

"Oh, my god! Can it be?" Danielle cried, hurrying over, "Ivy's first boyfriend? Am I delusional?"

"Shut up," Ivy said, trying hard not to blush. She broke into a yawn. "I'm tired. Faolan, we can talk with Wolf and Virginia tomorrow."

"Actually, would you mind if I went to talk to Wolf now? Just some private wolf stuff," Faolan said hurriedly.

"That's fine," Ivy shrugged.

Faolan quickly went over to where Wolf and Virginia were talking. Danielle grinned at her friend. "Not bad. He's pretty cute. He seems to really care about you," she said.

"He does," Ivy nodded, "I can see that now."

"Uh…excuse me?" Faolan said uncertainly. Wolf and Virginia turned towards him. With both their gazes on him, Faolan was even more nervous. He fidgeted. "Snow White said I should talk to you, Wolf. And that Ivy should talk with you, Virginia. But she's really tired. What I'm trying to say is…Wolf, could I talk to you?" Faolan said quickly before Wolf could refuse.

Wolf looked at Virginia, then at Faolan and shrugged. "Sure," he said.

Virginia kissed him on the cheek. "I'm tired, too. I'm going up to our room," she said.

Wolf nodded. He watched Virginia until she left the room, then turned back to Faolan. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked. Faolan glanced back at Ivy who was now talking to the recently located Lord Rupert. Wolf followed his gaze. "Oh," he said.

"Yeah," Faolan agreed. "I really, really like her. And I think she likes me. Well, now she does. But it's been pretty shaky. I just want to make sure…" Faolan trailed off uncertainly.

Wolf nodded and grinned. He steered Faolan over to a corner where they sat down. "If you want, tell her that she's your very first girlfriend and about wolves mating for life. Virginia seemed surprised by that. But huff-puff, don't be surprised if you're not her first…" Wolf began.

"Oh, I am. Her friend said so. I've been teaching her to be a wolf. It wasn't hard, really. I think she's a wolf at heart," Faolan said, glancing at her again and sighing.

"Lucky you. She seems like a nice girl. She reminds me of Virginia. And you remind me of me when I was younger, matter of fact. Oh! Whatever you do, don't even discuss shepherdesses around her. They don't like that," Wolf warned.

"Shepherdesses? I guess that excludes milk maids and farm girls, too, huh?"