𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥 𝔗𝔦𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔗𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔰 ✓

Never Give Up

"How long have we been here for?" I asked, pacing through the room.

"Uhh 30 minutes," Hunter offered. Looking at him lounging on the couch just made me even more upset.

"Are you not trying to find a way to get out of here?" I asked him.

"Calm down Mina. You've been iritable since you appeared in this story."

I gave a "really" face before he realized his mistake. Never ever tell an iritable person to calm down, especially in a very stressful situation.

"I mean, oh never mind. Just keep pacing furiously," he sighed in defeat. "You were the one who let all the other princesses get captured. You can find the solution."

Now that was the worst thing he could've said.

"I know I let the others get captured!" I practically screamed. "And I'm sorry, but doing this hero thing alone isn't easy! I haven't had help since the first story! You abandoned me and Aldus abandoned me. Everyone abandoned me!"

And by this time tears were streaming down my face from my outburst. The feelings of anger at Morgana, irritation at Hunter, and most of all disappointment in myself.

"I give up," I whispered, flopping on the couch. "Just...do what you want."

Hunter gave Ariel a worried look and touched my back. I slapped his hand away, still buried in the cushions.

"I'm sorry Mina," he apologized. "I didn't realize how hard it must be to try and figure out everything by yourself, but I'm here now and I'm not going to let you have to take all his stress anymore. I'm here to help."

I looked back up as he gave me a gentle smile. I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion, but the look in his eyes told me that he was telling the truth.

"Me too," Ariel replied, stepping up. "I won't let you do this on your own. You helped me get my happy ending so now I'll support you."

"Come on," Eric added, looking at the various princesses who were also feeling dejected.

"You might not have been able to stop us from getting captured, but it's never too late to finish a story," Snow White spoke, standing up.

"And we'll do this for everyone," Rapunzel added. "For Mina and all the other princesses who weren't successful with their princes."

"Mina, it's perfectly understandable why you couldn't help us all," Ariel assured. "None of us are mad at you. We all need someone to support us when times are tough."

"And it's extremely humble that you knew you couldn't do this on your own," Hunter finished. "It takes one person to give up immediately and another to be too cocky that they can do everything themselves, but it's that someone special who knows they might need help along the way, yet won't give up even when they might not receive it."

All the princesses stood around me. I was both amazed and grateful at the same time.

"Ok," I told them. "Ok let's do this then. Let's find a way to get the heck out of here."

"I think it might be too late for that," the voice all of them dreaded to hear said. I turned to see Morgana coming through the portal with her spellbook and a wand.

"My potion's almost done and then I'll have the ability to easily destroy all of you," she grinned.

Chanting a few words, Morgana created a special protective bubble around her, which made it so no one could touch her but she couldn't touch anyone in return. Morgana was busy with her potion while all I could do was stare at her.

"Psst," a hushed voice whispered. "To use this spell, doesn't she need all of the princesses?"

I turned to Hunter and nodded. "Why?"

He turned back and said nothing, but it was obvious he knew something I didn't. She has all the princesses, I thought. Including us so double the points for her...except that she didn't.

My eyes widened as I stared at Hunter, who gave me a huge grin. Morgana didn't have all the princesses! We still had a chance!

As Morgana slipped into a different room, Hunter quickly locked the door and ran over to the bookshelf, pulling out another spell book.

"That's not going to hold her back, but it'll give me the second I need," Hunter told me, rummaging through the book. He turned to a specific page and read the lines, but from here I couldn't tell what he was saying.

"Who locked this?" a threatening voice boomed, but I wasn't even scared of it anymore.

Hunter quickly slipped the book back in its place right as the door was blasted open.

"Who did that?" she barked, but none of us made a sound.

Scanning the room, Morgana immediately smiled. "Well foolish child, a flimsy lock won't hold on me."

Satisfied with her words, she went back to work on the potion in her protective bubble while we could only stare at her.

Suddenly, I heard the soft click of the door being open. Morgana's back was turned and I could only sigh in relief when a familiar blonde-haired princess poked her head through the door.