Surviving Camp Cedar

Chapter Sixteen

"Jack!" Elsa screamed as she saw him disappearing into the woods with an unfamiliar girl. Just as she screamed it out, another girl came barreling toward her, blonde hair flying as she cried out Jack's name as well. 

"Elsa, who is that girl?" Phillip asked, meaning the one leading Jack to whatever dangers were lurking in the woods, dangers that Elsa correctly assumed had something to do with Ursula. She shook her head, indicating that she didn't know who the girl was.

"Elsa... You were his girlfriend, right? Before Ursula changed him?" The new girl asked, turning her wide green eyes onto Elsa with an accusation unspoken in their shining irises. Elsa swallowed the lump of guilt in her throat.

"Something like that. Yeah. This is my fault-" Elsa started to explain, feeling her cheeks heat up with the stress and embarrassment of her situation.

"Yeah, I know. And so you're going to help me fix it." Rapunzel stated matter-of-factly. Elsa had never spoken to this girl before, not like this, and she wondered what her motivation was. As far as Elsa knew, she hadn't talked to Jack much... It seemed strange. At that moment, Flynn Rider ran over, panting as he caught up to Rapunzel.

"Hey, Blondie, slow your roll." He gasped.

"I hate that nickname." Rapunzel replied, her bottom lip pushing out.

"Too bad." Flynn replied. It was obvious to Elsa that they were flirting, and she wondered how a girl as bossy as Rapunzel seemed managed to get Golden Boy Flynn Rider. She hid the question away, fully intending to revisit it later. 

"Well, are we saving Jack or not?" Elsa asked, impatient with the situation. Phillip had left, mumbling something about a sword, though Elsa wasn't sure she wanted him to help out in this particular area. He seemed like the wrong sort of guy to bring along to save your boyfriend. 

"Yes. Let's go. It's gonna be a really difficult journey." Rapunzel spoke, as if reading notecards. She seemed so tired and rehearsed, it slightly unnerved Elsa. Flynn reached for Rapunzel's hand, feeling immensely relieved when she grabbed it back, squeezing lightly as she continued talking. "They're not in the woods." She explained.

"What do you mean not in the woods? And who is they?" Elsa asked, impatient for information. Flynn, too, was intrigued by Rapunzel's words. He was also curious as to where she had gotten her information. She wasn't usually out of his sight for long.

"They're Maleficent, Queen and Ursula. Three teenage witches with a talent for being evil, selfish, excuse my language, bitches. They want Jack's soul and his innocence and eventually they'll just kill him because they don't care. If we ca get there and show him that his true love is there, he won't forget himself and his innocence, and then they can't take it. They told me all of this last night, thinking I would help them. We have to follow them, find them, whatever. We have to save Jack." Rapunzel explained, the information coming quick and confusing Elsa more than anything else. Flynn stared between the two girls, wondering who was going to lead their expedition. Also, he wondered where they were going if the witches weren't in the woods. He had a lot of questions, but those were the two main ones at this point.

"I get that. Saving Jack is my main priority. How do we know where they are, if they're not in the woods? I mean, they just walked into the woods, but if they're not in there, then where are they?" Elsa asked, her tone razor sharp. She was in no mood to be bossed around by a girl she barely knew, especially when her boyfriend's life was in danger. Was he her boyfriend? She hoped so, almost as much as she hoped this would all work out.

"Well, they're witches. So, yeah, technically they went into the woods, but that doesn't mean they stayed there. They have magic they can use to teleport places." Rapunzel spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Before Elsa could retort and start an argument as the look on her face suggested she was about to, Flynn butted in.

"Hey, girls, here's an idea. Why don't we just go into the woods and see if we can figure out where they might have gone? Clock's ticking." He suggested. Prompting both of them to look at him in awe.

"Right. So, let's go." Rapunzel spoke, leading the threesome into the foliage with confidence Flynn had never quite seen in her before.

"Who said you get to be the leader?" Elsa whined, anger and frustration radiating off of her body in waves Flynn could practically feel. Rapunzel was growing increasingly irritated by the blonde girl. She may have everyone else groveling at her feet, but Rapunzel didn't play that game and Elsa was going to need to learn that. 

"Me." She answered simply, her tone enough to suggest it was a good idea that Elsa leave it at that. Though her disappointment was palpable, no one said a word about it. They continued walking in silence and frustration, Rapunzel desperately hoping she was going the right way.

                                                                                                            ***

Jack woke up on the damp floor of what he assumed was a cave, the dark obscuring any chance he had of taking in his surroundings. He sat up, his body aching as if he had been simply thrown onto the hard floor, and as he stretched he wondered if that wasn't exactly what had happened. With the limited light he was given, he could see nothing more than the vague outline of a cot in the corner (which made him wonder why he had not woken up in that), and a toilet in the other corner. There were no obvious doors to the cave, no visible openings that he could make out. Very confused, he sat down on the cot, feeling it creak and sigh under his weight. He sneezed suddenly, and with a pop three girls appeared.

"Well, it's about time!" One cackled. She was short and heavy set, and some part of him burned with anger at the sight of her. Ursula, he realized, was her name. She had taken his memories. HE didn't know how he knew it, he could just feel it deep in his stomach.

"Oh, Ursula, shut up." The second girl, the one who had lured him here spoke. "I'm Queenie." She smiled, her face much less appealing in the bleak light. He nodded at her, grimacing in place of the smile he attempted.

"I'm Maleficent." Spoke the third girl, her features and voice much sharper and more regal than the other girls. She gave off an air of aloofness, as if she didn't have a care in the world besides herself. It seemed weird, how he could tell personality traits for all three girls. Ursula was evil, craving people's utmost desires and breaking promises like candy canes. Queenie was incredibly vain, loving to hang out with young and innocent people and get the compliments they would naively afford her. He didn't like any of them.

"Why am I here?" He asked, not feeling the need for small talk. He knew these girls, or more accurately, women wanted nothing more than his life. They seemed very different than they had just a few moments ago, as if something about wherever they were was changing them before his very eyes. He couldn't place it and he didn't like the feeling. 

"Oh, you'll find out in time, dear. For now, sleep, growing boys need rest." Maleficent spoke, her tone cold, sending a chill up Jack's spine. They disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived and he was left alone.

He sat down on the cot, thinking of Elsa. He knew somehow how he had lost his memories, realized she was only doing it to save herself from... Well, herself. He knew that she hadn't wanted to do it, though the way she had easily surrendered his soul left him wounded slightly. How could she have done that without a second thought? Her powers may have hindered her life, but living without a soul? Well, that wasn't living at all. Jack recalled his snowy white hair and trademark cutoff khakis, looking from his dark bangs to his blue jeans in dismay. Who had he become in the short amount of time he had stopped being Jack? Jackson Overland was someone he had never met, and just thinking about himself that way made him want to never have heard about Camp Cedar in his life.