What Once Was Mine (Marianas Trench Ever After Album fanfic)

What Once Was Mine Chapter Eleven

Wow, I'm posting again *cough* so soon. Almost done. Just one more to go, and six-ish days until Astoria drops. I can totally make it... right?

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I certainly enjoyed writing it, at least more than the previous one. Again, I might rewrite it one day, but by then you'll have moved on, if you haven't already.

Edit: I changed the end of this chapter a bit. 12/04/2016

Chapter Eleven-So Soon

But the king had come, and he had come with a plan. He would lead the troops into battle. The prince, princess, and the boy were to make their way into the castle. There they would fight the Queen. When the Queen fell, the battle would be over.

Josh's P.O.V.

"Plan B," I repeat. "What do you mean by plan B?" The king and the other toys began to charge at the toy soldiers, but the three of us stayed behind. "Why am I your plan B?"

The prince ignored me. "We're going in from the left. Hopefully there will be less resistance from the side."

He hurries to the left of the castle, and Porcelain does to too. I follow the two of them reluctantly, hoping that this plan wasn't about to get me killed.

There is absolutely nobody at the left entrance of the castle. I found it a little odd, but I didn't say anything. I followed the prince and Porcelain up the winding stairs. We flitted through empty halls. The walls were bare, and so were the floors. They had only their colours to decorate them.

We moved quickly and found ourselves in another stairwell. We marched upwards and the noise from the battle grew softer. By the cries of pain I could tell our side was hurting, but luckily that didn't mean their side wasn't either. The toy soldiers simply did not react to the pain as the other toys did.

"This is it," the prince tells us when we approach the door. The door is slightly ajar. He pokes it cautiously with his sword, then opens it the rest of the way.

At the centre of the room is a box. A treasure chest. It was black, with silver trimmings. On it was a giant metal lock that seemed to glow, but the aura surrounding the box was dark. We stepped into the room, and the door closed behind us.

"Shame on you, for making it this far."

[The Queen was waiting for us at the toy box. She came at me. I couldn't hold her off.]

She had her back turned to us, but I recognized her dress and her hair, both blacker than midnight.

"Don't you know what happens next?" she asks. She's looking out a window at the carnage below. "Next, you people will die." She turns to the prince. "They'll die, long before you do."

She lashes out at him, a whip in one hand, and a sword in the other. The prince reacts quickly to block the blows. They trade blow after blow, the queen's whip only giving her an advantage in terms of speed. Ignoring the battle, Porcelain hurries to the toy box,and beckons me to follow. I attempt to do so, but the queen notices. She takes a moment of her time to swing her whip across the room into the fireplace. The whip lights on fire, burning green, and she drops it on the floor. She's lost a weapon, but has gained a burning barrier.

"Nice try, boy," she says between swings, "but it wouldn't have mattered anyways. You don't have the key."

At this, I look at Porcelain, then at the prince, and I knew what I had to do. I take up the sword at my side and rush at the two clashing blades. The three swords collide, but I knock the queen down with a tackle.

The prince looks into my eyes, then runs past the flaming whip to the toy box. The queen quickly recovers from the fall though, and picks herself back up. She holds her sword at my throat and kicks mine to the door.

"I know you can't do it," she tells the prince. "You value yourself too much to do this."

The look of pain upon the prince's face tells me what she is saying is true. Whatever it is he must do now, he won't do it.

"Do what?" Porcelain asks her uncle.

The prince falls to his knees. "I can't. I just can't."

The queen laughs. "Well then, I suppose now," she says as she crouches down. "I'll be taking your heart."

With her clawlike hands she reaches at my chest.

[As she reached hungrily at my chest, Porcelain and the Prince unlocked the Toy Box. I was blinded in a wash of light. From the courtyard, we heard joyous screaming. When my eyes focused again, I saw Porcelain, now powerful, standing over the Queen, sword drawn. The Stuttering Prince lay motionless. The other half of the key had been his own heart. He had sacrificed himself to free the hearts of everyone else.]

Almost too late, a blinding blast of light comes out from the toy box. The queen screams, and when I next see her, she's been thrown against the wall. Porcelain walks up to her, her sword now firmly held in her hands. Towering over the quivering queen, Porcelain points her sword at the queen's throat. The girl was glowing now, the same glow that was once on the prince.

The prince lay motionless on the ground. In his hands was the half-key that once hung around Porcelain's neck. The lid of the treasure chest had flown open the moment he shoved it into the lock. It was now that I realized what it was that the king, prince, and even the queen had been talking about. To unlock the box, the prince had to sacrifice his life. In the center of his chest was a giant hole. His heart had been the other half of the key. The queen had placed it in there, knowing he wouldn't make the sacrifice. Unfortunately for the both of them, she had been wrong.

[Porcelain picked up the Queen, and threw her from the tower window into the courtyard below, where she was overwhelmed by a sea of angry toys.]

The sounds of battle had stopped in the courtyard. Soon it was replaced by cheering when they realized that they had gotten their hearts back, even the toy soldiers who had their hearts taken out before they were born. Porcelain lifted the queen up and threw her out the window. She was quickly overwhelmed by the tortured citizens and soldiers.

"Well, that's that," Porcelain tells me. "Now we just have to get you back home."

Despite all that I'd been through, the end felt like it had come too soon. I wanted to go back. I knew I had somewhere I needed to return to.

A few minutes later the toy king entered the room, followed by many others. They all glowed in the same way Porcelain did. Their hearts had been returned.

"Thank you, Josh, Porcelain, for taking on this dangerous mission and saving the kingdom," the king says. "Especially you, Josh."

"I didn't do anything," I tell him. It was the honest truth.

"How much a hero believes in his worth doesn't define it," he countered. "Nevertheless, I thank you still."

Porcelain ran to hug her father. "Oh, thank goodness you are alright."

"Yes child, but I'm afraid that this is goodbye."

"What?" She questions. "But why?"

The king patted her head sadly.

"My dearest daughter, you are not of this world, nor do you belong in it. You belong in the place he was from."

As his hand points to me, my eyes widen in shock. Would that-? Could that be true?

"You are like him, flesh and blood. You need to return. I'm sure whomever lost you misses you very much."

"I-" the princess stammered, "I see."

The king motioned to a woman behind him.

"Then it is decided. I wish you luck on your journey back."

The woman waves her arms and says a chant. A large swirling hole appears out of nowhere. I look to Porcelain, and hold out a hand.

"You ready?"

She takes it in her own.

"Yes."