Labyrinth Fanfic - "The Tenacious And The Merciless"

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One would think that the statement “this can’t be happening” would stop being thought after spending enough time in Somnius. Yet this place continued to bring new horrors that the princess could never even fathom before.

 

Not the place. Vaeros. Because, really, surely, it wasn’t the entire living world against the Dreamers. Couldn’t be. If it was, the last tethers of her sanity would snap. Right here, right now, she needed to be rational if she was to survive this.

 

Princess Jasmine took a few more gulps of air before she could try to tap into her shapeshifting ability. Her tiger form was much faster, but at the same time she was reluctant to use it. She wanted to – believed so desperately – be able to talk to her pursuer. The little girl had to still be in there, deep down. The sweet little duckling who wanted to befriend everyone, who was always available for a hug and a pep talk, who – who – who the last anyone had heard from, before the current round of madness started, had been screaming in sheer agony.

 

“Jaaasmine~!”

 

She slapped her hands over her mouth, as if that would silence her breath. To be this terrified of the child she thought of a little sister…!

 

“Big Sis Jaaasmine. Come on ouuut. You’re not playing riiight.”

 

The sound of her blade could be heard dragging through the dirt. Like it was merely a ragdoll that she was loosely holding onto during playtime. But now the wielder was a grown woman, even if she was hardly acting like it. The knight was swaying back and forth as she walked around, treating the whole hunt like it was a game. Jasmine had only caught one glance at that blade, and it was rusted red with blood and oh, whose blood had that been?!

 

“Hiding is siiilly. We’re not playing hide and seeeeeeeeek.” She stretched the word out, giggling sweetly at her own little joke. Was she trying to mimic the flock of Skesis she now controlled, or was this another symptom of her Vaeros-induced madness? “Songbird will fiiiind you. Nuvia will fiiiind you. But only I get to caaapture you. And theeen. I will briiing you… to Uncle Vaeros~!”

 

Another playful giggle, and she kicked up a flurry of leaves, dancing around in a circle. For the briefest of moments, anger replaced fear within Jasmine – that sick tyrant! What had he done to her precious friend? To the innocent civilians and Dreamers of Somnius? He’d never be forgiven, not even if he went on his hands and knees. There had to be some way to cure –

 

“Ah, we won’t find her, this deep in the woodsss.” One Skesis suddenly spoke up, spittle dripping from his maw.

 

The playful singing and dancing instantly stopped. Even the other footsteps from the other Skesis halted.

 

“One troublesome woman isss hardly worth all this trouble. Let’sss head back into town, scrounge up some real coin.”

 

The silence continued. Jasmine hesitated, then dared to begin inching around the thick tree she’d been hiding behind. The foremost figure was, of course, the Knight of the Dawn – no longer holding that exact title, Jasmine figured. Her once adorable armor coated in pinks, purples and hearts was now coated in rich reds and blacks – hoping beyond hope the red was paint and not even more blood – and while one or two hearts remained, they were visibly broken. A cape that had seen better days fluttered in the wind, almost obscuring how many feathers the young woman had either lost or dyed black for reasons Jasmine couldn’t guess. Jasmine couldn’t see her face – she was looking at the outspoken Skesis. What sort of expression was the girl making?

 

The other birds – four? Five? – still hadn’t dared to move, their eyes widened at the audacity of what had just occurred. They knew something Jasmine didn’t. Jasmine opened her mouth, ready to reveal herself –

 

Then came the crunch of bone.

 

The knight’s hand had lashed out and grabbed the Skesis by the throat, slamming him into the closest tree, ignoring his pained cries as she continued to destroy his larynx. “ARE YOU,” she slammed him to the tree again, “DEFYING,” again, “THE WILL,” again, “OF UNCLE VAEROS?!”

 

Jasmine felt the strength in her knees give out. She would have given anything to be able to look away and could not. In that fragment of time, she suddenly recalled little Webbigail Vanderquack laying on her stomach on the grass and drawing pictures of her friends and enemies in crayon, merrily offering Jasmine her own caricature.

 

“I WILL NOT LOSE LENA BECAUSE OF YOU!” She screamed, continuing to beat her subordinate into the tree despite him having long since lost consciousness – one could only pray that was his fate. “I WILL NOT LOSE MY PRECIOUS FAMILY BECAUSE OF YOU! IT! WON’T! BE! MY! FAULT!”

 

Someone else finally screamed, but it wasn’t the Skesis.

 

“WEBBY, PLEASE STOP!”

 

 Jasmine hadn’t been able to stop herself. It was a foolish move, but she couldn’t stand by and allow little Webby – no longer little, no longer Webby – to commit murder. Would not allow herself to think that Webby had done it before. Did not want to think of all her friends as changed and warped as this creature in front of her. Aladdin, Aladdin, please, Aladdin, may she never see your face in this terrible land –

 

The knight did stop. She curiously tilted her head at Jasmine, and a smile spread across her beak. She let the Skesis drop, and he never rose again. “Jaaasmine!” She ran a hand through her hair of feathers, matting them with bits of blood and other disgusting matters. In a twisted thought of comedy, Jasmine couldn’t help but think of what Vil would say if he saw Webby treating herself so shabbily – but then, whatever counted as “Vil” here probably didn’t give a damn about Webby. Not compared to the glory and love of Vaeros.

 

“There you aaare!” She skipped once, twice, three times in Jasmine’s direction, and now that Jasmine was closer she could see that the knot around Webby’s neck that was holding the cape was lined with teeth. “I wiiin~!” She leaned over the kneeling princess, arms around her back, swaying back and forth. “You’re gunna come niiiice and eeeasy with me, to Uncle Vaeros, riiight?”

 

Jasmine’s mouth felt dry. She had wanted so badly to speak to the girl and now couldn’t think of what to say. Once upon a time, those eyes had been filled with bubbly curiosity that could never quite be satisfied. Now they were hollow, empty, like a spiraling torrent of ash without end. With her heart racing, she attempted to straighten her back, needing to be both Princess and Friend at once.

 

“Webby, this isn’t you.” Her voice shook at first, but gained conviction as she continued. “I know the real you. You use your knighthood for good, to help others, to defend those who can’t defend themselves! Your friendship has always been one of your greatest strengths! Whatever Vaeros is telling you, it’s full of lies! All of your friends are so, so worried about you, and just want you to come home!”

 

The Skesis had gathered around their ruler, ignoring their fallen brethren. Jasmine did not look at any of them, keeping her gaze fixed on her friend whose expression had yet to change.

 

Was she even blinking?

 

Jasmine raised her hand, lightly brushing Webby’s cheek – a feather came off as she pressed it to the girl’s flesh. “Please… let’s go home together.”

 

Slowly, every so slowly, Webby began to copy the gesture. She raised her hand, gloved in cold steel, and touched Jasmine’s cheek…

 

And kept going further, until she grasped a fistful of Jasmine’s dark hair, and yanked upward.

 

“Uncle Vaeros will surely reward me for capturing yooou!” Webby squealed, taking in Jasmine’s shrieking and starting to pull her along, like a child would their tag-a-long red wagon. “This time, he will give me the one I love mooost!” She yanked up further, forcing Jasmine to her feet, and now their faces were so close Jasmine gagged on the smell of dead flesh.

 

“You were riiight, you knooow?” Webby sang, the sword abandoned so she could cup Jasmine’s tear-stained cheeks in a firm grip. “Love is so very… very… very important… which is whyyy… I must do anythiiing… for the one I love…let’s go hooome, shall weee?”

 

Releasing her hold on Jasmine’s face, the Knight of the Dark urged her comrades forward, and there arose a great cry as they paraded onward, praises that would echo into the night and across the land, chanted over and over by familiar faces that were forever lost to the princess.

 

“ALL HAIL LORD VAEROS!

ALL HAIL LORD VAEROS!

GLORY AND FAVOR FOREVER TO OUR LORD VAEROS!”