Chapter Text
A wave of emotions stirred within Tavish as he sat on the stool in his mother's dressing room. The prince looked into his reflection, watching his mother comb his long white hair. It was such a beautiful experience; for the longest time, he had stared at Bunty's reflection in the mirror, watching her cut his hair and style it. But now it was his birth mother, humming an enchanting lullaby as she took the comb through his snowy hair.
He had forgotten that tonight he would bear the crown and be called the king of Maru.
"You've taken such good care of your hair, Tavish," said Dagmar, sliding her fingers through his hair.
"You should thank Bunty for that." Tavish smiles. "I was the one who always let my hair get out of control."
"I'm sure with hair like this you'll catch the eye of a wonderful woman." Dagmar placed the comb down and grabbed a pair of scissors. "What's wrong, dear? Did I say something wrong?" The queen stared at Tavish's somber expression in the mirror.
"It's...it's just a little too soon to be thinking about that, mother," The image of Hilda appeared in the prince's mind. "If I'm going to be king of Maru, can we please take things a little slow?"
"Oh, of course, dear," said Dagmar, patting Tavish's shoulder. "Although, that Annabel girl doesn't seem too bad."
"Mother, please..."
"Oh, come now, there's nothing wrong with liking a girl with a bit of crazy," said Dagmar, smirking from ear to ear as she cut Tavish's hair. "I heard those are usually the best ones in bed."
Tavish gasped. "Mother!"
"What? What did I say?"
After trimming Tavish's hair, she informed Tavish that he must wear the ceremonial garb and arrive at the ballroom. The purple ceremonial garb had golden seams at the pointed shoulders and looked too big even for Tavish. The prince showed his obvious displeasure with the outfit, which Dagmar understood and told him it was only for tonight.
Dagmar pecked Tavish on the cheek and left the room. "I'll see you in ten minutes, dear."
As Tavish held up the ceremonial garb with disgust, he sucked it up and put it on. Right away, Tavish noticed it was far too big for him. It was after that Tavish noticed just how small he was.
The torches on the stone walls went ablaze as Tavish walked by. He stopped at an enormous iron door decorated with the Maruvian eye. The door opened, and Tavish faced the ballroom decorated with gold and purple banners. The only ones present in the room, where himself, Dagmar, Cloyd, Becky and Grandma Helga; all of them wearing ceremonial robes. A green fire danced behind them, casting their towering shadows across the room.
Tavish walked into the ballroom, shoulders straight, and kept his focus on his family. As Tavish got closer, he could see the silver crown come into view. It sat gently in the hand of his smiling, proud mother.
Tavish continued on until he stopped at the base of the steps and kneeled.
Dagmar stepped towards Tavish and held the crown over his head. "Tavish Mariabeanie De le Rochambeau Grunkwitz. I, Queen Dagmar, daughter of the former ruler of Maru Olivia—"
"Oh, for the love of god Dagmar, please don't do this!" Helga whined. "I'm immortal, but get to the point already!"
Dagmar clicked her tongue, then sighed. "The one time I wanted to be formal. Oh, whatever. Please remove your hood."
Tavish did so. Dagmar stepped closer to Tavish and began lowering the crown towards his head. Cloyd, Becky, and Helga watched in anticipation. Then two brown balls fell in front of them. The three lowered their eyes; staring at it. The spheres exploded into a cloud of smoke, blinding them and covering the room.
"What in the world—OOF!" Cloyd felt a heavy force knock him to the ground and restrain him.
"What's happening—AH!" Becky shouts.
"Is he wearing the crown yet?!" Helga asked. She let out a shout, feeling someone tie her arms down.
"What the hell is going—" Dagmar paused, feeling a blade placed around her neck. She didn't need to look to know it was Koga's broad stature.
"Move, and this sword is going through your body..." said the wanderer, his voice oozing venom.
"Well, aren't you the dirty talker..." said Dagmar.
The smoke cleared. Cloyd, Becky, and Helga lay on the ground tied up. Bean, Miri, Luci and Jerry stood over them. Miri gave a swift kick to Becky in the face, causing the enchantress to let out to scream. "Ow!"
Miri glared at Becky. "That's for nearly giving me a concussion!"
Cloyd glared at Jerry. "You mentally deranged fool, what are you doing?!"
"The right thing!" Jerry said proudly.
"I wouldn't try anything funny, Dagmar," said Oscar, standing by the entrance. "I'll ensure I block your demented illusions! "
Tavish's sprung to his feet, eyes wide and jaw hanging open in bewilderment. "What the hell is going on? Koga? Miri? Remove that blade from my mother at once!"
Bean stepped forward. "Tavish, you need to listen. She's not the woman who you think she is sh—" But Tavish cut her off.
"Listen? You have Koga holding a deadly weapon to our mother's throat!" Tavish shouts.
"Yeah, I am! Because she's the one who destroyed Dreamland!" Bean shouted back.
Tavish looked at Bean, baffled. "W-what are you saying? Do you have any idea what you—are you insane?!"
"It's true, Tavish!" Bean reached into a satchel and pulled out the stonification bottle; holding it to Tavish. "When you were lying in bed sick and she sent me to the basement, I found this!"
Tavish recognized the bottle. It was the same bottle that had been sitting in the living room the day everyone turned to stone. "T-That can't be..." he shook his head. "No, there has to be some kind of mistake..."
"It's not! She even tried to kill me when I confronted her about it!" Bean lifted her shirt, revealing the healed wound. "Everything she told us was a lie, including crowning you to be a king! She's not crowning you to rule Maru. She's doing it so that our evil ancestor Alaric can take your body! His soul is in that crown!"
Tavish's mouth went dry. He shook his head in denial. The prince placed his eyes upon her mother. His heart stopped when he saw her expression. The once kind eyes he adored were gone; replaced with darkness and emotionless eyes that proved Bean right.
"M-Mother...you..."
"Oh, not this again..." said Dagmar irritably. "I already went through this with your sister. Please don't make a big fuss about this."
Tavish felt as if something had sucked all the breath out of his body. "It's true...you...you killed everyone..." His hands shook and his breathing quickened. "Hilda...Bunty...you...everyone died because..." green and black lightning cracked and popped around Tavish's arms.
Koga felt the murderous intent radiating from Tavish. "Hey clone! Don't do anything crazy!" The wanderer warned.
"You...lying...wench..." The prince muttered; his magic flashing around his body. "You killed Hilda..." His glowed the same shade as black and green lightning.
"I don't think I raised you to talk to your mother that way, Tavish," Dagmar grinned.
Tavish's lightning screeched as it flew from his hands. Bean and Koga leaped out of the way just in time before the lightning crashed into Dagmar. Dust filled the room as strands of lightning shot from his body and zapped randomly around the room. A few strands struck near Jerry, Miri and Luci, forcing them to jump out of the way.
Black and red lightning erupted from where Dagmar stood. Before the prince could react, Dagmar had her hand around his throat and held him in the air. The dust particles broke apart, revealing the scene to everyone in the room.
"Now, now, let's not have a pointless tantrum," said Dagmar, tightening the grip around her son's neck.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Tavish roared, gripping his hands around Dagmar's wrist and letting his magic envelope his mother's body. But it was no use. It had no effect on her.
"Oh, my wonderful little boy," Dagmar's grin grew wider. "You're still nothing more than a child..." Dagmar's magic consumed Tavish's body; fragments of Dagmar's magic flared from the prince's body; his agonizing screams filled the room. She quelled her magic, and Tavish's hands dangled against his sides.
"TAVISH!" Bean cried.
"Enough!" Oscar lifts his hands to cast his magic, but a golem erects from the ground and places its enormous hands around Oscar's body. "ARGH!"
Bean and Koga turned around and saw Luci, Miri and Jerry laid out on the ground. Their energy zapped from their bodies. "Just because you tied us up doesn't mean we couldn't use our magic," stated Becky.
"How in the world did you idiots let them get the drop on us like that?!" Helga gripped.
"Honestly, I don't know why you thought that was going to work," said Cloyd. "Oh no you don't!" The enchanter blasted his black and purple magic at Bean and Koga, who tried to free Tavish from Dagmar's grasp. They fall to their knees. Koga had no energy to lift his longsword.
"GODDAMN IT!" Koga bellowed angrily. The wanderer tried to power through, but his body refused to listen.
"GET YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF MY BROTHER!" Bean's scream at the top of her lungs.
"Oh, enough with the theatrics," said Dagmar, letting go of Tavish, and he dropped to his knees. "You act as though I'm going to kill him." She kneeled to pick up the silver crown. "I could never kill my precious firstborn..." She raised the crown above his head. "Especially one that will fulfill his destiny..."
"NO!" Bean yelled while tears formed in her eyes. "NOOOO!"
Tavish snapped his eyes open, and a flash wave of black and green discharge blew from his body. The golem that held Oscar disappeared. Bean, Koga, and the others didn't feel weak anymore.
"What?!" Dagmar gasped.
Tavish slowly rose to his feet, his white hair standing upright and his eyes flaring bright green. He struck Dagmar with a powerful blast, sending her flying across the room. The silver crown hurled into the air and hit the ground with a clang.
Becky's lightning screeched and flew towards Tavish, but a barrier deflected it. Her jaw dropped; witnessing Tavish, with no movement of his body, use his magic to remove chunks of earth from the ground and mold them into sharp spears and hurl them towards his aunt and uncle. Cloyd and Becky barely dodged the spears when they collided with the walls behind them.
Black and green lightning uncontrollably fired from Tavish's body, shooting across the room. A few bolts nearly hit Luci, Jerry, Oscar and Miri. Koga grabbed Bean and moved her out of the way of a bolt that nearly struck her.
"This plan went to hell fast! I never want to go on another adventure with you guys ever again!" Miri yelled.
"What the hell is happening to him?!" said Koga.
"How am I supposed to know?!" said Bean.
"He's losing control!" shouted Oscar. "Tavish unleashed whatever dormant power was within him! We need to calm him down!"
"And how the hell are we supposed to do that, you crazy old wizard?!" said Luci.
"Damn it!" said Bean, getting to her feet and walking towards Tavish. The distant sound of Koga calling out to her to come back faded when she got closer to Tavish. "Tavish! Tavish, stop! You're going to kill everyone! You can kill Dagmar, Cloyd and Becky but don't sit here and zap everyone else!"
Tavish clenched his teeth and hands. He could hear his sister, but his body was fighting against him. "I-I'm trying!" he dropped to his knees. "It's too much!"
Bean rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him. The magic clung to Bean's body. She could feel it dig into her. The pain was immense, but she didn't care. "I'm here! I'm not letting go!"
"B-Bean...NO!" Tavish winced. "Y-you'll die!"
"I'm not going anywhere..." Bean whispered.
The green light around Tavish's eyes dimmed, returning to normal. The lightning quelled, and Tavish's hair fell. Bean let go of her brother, and their eyes met. "See...I told you got this."
"Are you hurt?" Tavish asked.
"I'm fine," said Bean, getting to her feet and helping her brother get to his.
"Can we haul ass and get out of here now?" asked Luci.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," said Miri.
Koga hurried past them. "Yeah, we can have this mushy bull-crap later. Let's run bef—" The wanderer paused. His eyes lay transfixed on the exit to the ballroom. Goosebumps eroded his body, and he stared at the lit hallways leading out of the room.
"Koga, what's wrong?" Bean asked.
Everyone turned towards the exit. They could hear the faint sound of metal footsteps reverberating from the darkness. That's when he came into view. A man standing as tall as Koga clad in black armor. His shoulders were broad; the armor plates spiked, and his helmet had long horns similar to depictions of Satan.
The Dark Knight stopped at the entrance. Everyone glanced at him with their mouths hanging open. The knight reached for his helmet and pulled...and pulled...and pulled some more.
"Oh, damn it..." His voice was rough, raspy voice gripped. He held tightly onto the helmet, tugging at it, until finally it came off. His long, curly brown hair fell onto his shoulders. The man's skin color was pale, and he wore a small beard around his face. "There we go! Ugh, I will never wear a helmet again. That's what I get for wanting a gimmick with my army..."
Alexander, the leader of the dark knight legion, looked at the gang. He raised his hand. "Greeting's everyone. Am i too late for the coronation?"