Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 9)

Ch.16 Love

(Flashback) Now in the Enchanted Forest, Ginger made her way down the trail as she gazed around at the sightings of the forest. She knew that pretty soon she would have to go through the Dark Forest in order to get to her mother's house, and even though the Dark Forest gave her the creeps, she knew she had to go through it.

But as she was walking, she suddenly heard a rustle as she turned around but saw nothing. Hoping it was just an animal, she shrugged it off as she continued walking. But that's when she heard it again as she turned and saw a figure hide behind a tree.

"Who's there?" she demanded, but no answer.

But then a scent caught her nose, realizing what it was, she gave a frown.

"Helga! Gus! Come out from behind the trees! I can smell your sugar breaths!" she ordered.

At that point Helga and Gus peeked out from behind the trees with guilty looks.

"Are you guys following me?" Ginger asked with a frown.

"Ve thought ve veren't" Helga said "Faybelle told us das there was a shortcut."

"And you actually believed her?" Ginger said with doubt.

"Maybe" Gus said with guilt.

Ginger gave a sigh.

"You guys know how to go back to Ever After right?" she asked.

"Do ve have to?" Gus whined "Ve can't even try a bite of your mother's house?"

"Don't you guys already have tons of candies to last you a life time?"

"Vell yes-" Helga said "But ve heard das your mother's candies are even better."

"Is das true?" Gus asked.

"I guess so, but look guys, I'm only getting one thing from my mother's house and then I'm heading back to Ever After, plus I don't think my mother would like it if I allowed you to take candies from her house without permission."

"Vill she notice?" Helga asked.

"Of course she will, she has the eyes of a hawk."

They both gave sad sighs.

"Looks guys-" Ginger added "I'm about to enter the Dark Forest, and I don't think you guys will enjoy that."

"Oh please-" Helga smirked "Ve've been in Dark Forest many times, ve only know one trail and das's to another candy house."

"Yeah well the trail I'm about to take is nothing like that one you're used to. Now would you guys please go back to Ever After before it gets dark? And don't try to follow me."

"Fine" they both sighed with disappointment as they started to head off.

After that, Ginger gave a sigh in relief as she started on the trail again.

When they made it to the hospital, Olivia and Elena went into the room where they saw Mira sitting next to David's bed.

"Hey" they both said calmly.

"Hey" Mira replied with a small smile.

"How's it going?" Olivia asked.

"Still no sign of him waking up" Mira sighed with disappointment.

They all turned to David who was still in his coma.

"You think he knows he's alive?" Elena asked.

"I don't know" Mira said "I mean if he had died by an actually cause of death, then his soul would of been in heaven, but with the Olympian Crystal, it's kinda hard to know."

"Well since he's in a coma-" Olivia spoke up "He could probably be dreaming now, or just in a deep sleep where he doesn't remember anything."

"Now that's something I'm worried about" Mira said with a nervous look "Danny said that there's a chance David could be a different person if he wakes up, or he wont remember anything. I don't know which is worse, but if he doesn't remember anything, then I don't know how we could bring back his memory."

"And what if he's a different person?" Elena asked.

"If he ends up being the total opposite of himself, I don't know what we're gonna do."

Elena then gave a sad sigh.

"Do you think this was a good idea?" she asked "I mean I'm glad he's back, but what if he never wakes up?"

"I don't know Elena" Mira sighed "When I heard that there a way to bring dad back, I just went for it, no matter what I wanted him back. And if he never wakes up, then I guess that's how it's gonna be."

Elena turned to her dad with a sad look as she pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

"I guess I'll leave you guys alone" Olivia said as she left the room.

Now alone with David, Mira and Elena continued to stare at David.

"You know I've always wanted to meet dad when he was young" Elena suddenly said "I always thought that when he was alive, we would like make a younger duplicate on him just like how you did it to yourself. And that way the two of you could be together without having to be awkward."

"Yeah I've thought of that too, but I never got a chance to actually try it."

"Do you remember your first date with dad?"

"Well-" Mira smiled "It was years ago when we were still students at Ever After High, it was during summer break, and it had been a week since we first met, and a week since the death of your grandfather. And this one day I was feeling down because I was missing my father, and David decided to take me on a date to cheer me up. I was so surprised when he asked me on a date because I never thought that a guy would want to date me being the Evil Queen and all, but I accepted it and we had our date at this restaurant. Although during our date we kept getting these looks from people, they were probably thinking why a prince was hanging out with the next Evil Queen."

"Yeah people used to do that to me back at Ever After whenever I hung out with Terrence, but that was when everyone thought I was going to follow my destiny."

"Yeah well that's what happens when you have dark magic in your blood" Mira sighed "Anyway, we decided to leave the restaurant and go star gazing in a meadow near the Enchanted Forest, and it was really relaxing and fun. He was my first date, and I had a lot of fun. He was the only person who actually cared for me after my dad's death, I've never met anyone who was so kind to me."

"Well he is the Good King" Elena smiled "And I'm glad you two met."

Mira smiled as they turned to David as she caressed his cheek.

"If only he knew how much I love him" she said with a sad look.