When Midnight Strikes-Sequel to Rumpelstiltskin's Reign (An FTRS/RAR AU)

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---warning----If you haven't read the first book, I'm not going to do any flashbacks toward the events of the first one, and it will make absolutely no sense if you haven't read it, so I would HIGHLY recommend that you do. Just a heads up.

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DEVIN

Rerzal village was quiet. As always. Devin paced her one-room house. Some might say Rerzal was a step up from traditional prisons, but it was no different than a cell to her. A wooden bed frame covered with a single quilt, a modest closet, small bathroom, and a small brown table. The table was enchanted so that simple meals appeared twice a day. It seemed that Olivina wanted Devin and the others alive, but helpless.

Devin ate her bland breakfast of unadorned bread and a neatly sliced apple with water. Finding her daily outfit hanging up in her closet as always, she changed quickly. Soon she wore simple brown pants, black loafers, and a white blouse, her hair tied back in a light blue bandana.

She wasn't starving or in pain but Rerzal was it's own kind of torture. Olivina designed the place so that each person was forced into the same schedule every single day, unable to leave the village or contact anyone outside of Rerzal. They were unable to help, or do anything. Devin hated feeling useless, and Olivina knew it.

Exiting her home, she walked out into the square in front of the dry fountain, awaiting the other's arrival. They'd collectively decided to rebel against the enforced schedule their own way-meeting early at the square every day, to have thirty minutes of conversing before the schedules began. They only saw each other morning, noon, and night. They'd chosen to make the most of it.

Rerzal was much too big for the five of them. There were dozens of houses, all empty. They were the same size and model, from what she could tell. Devin knew Rerzal couldn't have been designed only for her small band, but still, she couldn't see what else it might be used for.

Devin was a few minutes early. She closed her eyes as she leaned against the abalone fountain. It was as dry as the beige-colored earth beneath her feet. Enjoy my little experiment. Olivina had spoken those words just as she'd sent the crew to Rerzal. Devin obsessed over the words night and day. What did she mean? The schedule, the isolation, the conditions...Devin and the others could think of nothing, besides some sort of punishment for other enemies of Olivina and Rumpelstiltskin.

They'd caught wind that Olivina was planning some sort of experiment with Rumpelstiltskin-it had to be part of the whole taking-over-Enchantasia thing. Devin had acted rashly, and it had landed them here. Though she apologized every day, and her friends had accepted, she knew there were times, however fleeting, when they resented her.

Devin's melancholy train of thought screeched to a halt at the sound of boots crunching against the gravel. Warm fingers interlaced with hers as she opened her eyes. "Hey, Heath."

He kissed her forehead. "Hey."

Devin had never been sure whether or not Olivina was monitoring them in Rerzal. She supposed so. But Devin didn't care. She was way past the blushing girl she'd been when she'd first met Heath. "How are you?"

"I'm supposed to be asking you that." Heath smiled. "Alright. Sleep okay?"

Devin shrugged. Heath put his arm around her. Sasha and Logan appeared in the distance, Raina not far behind. Devin closed her eyes again under Heath's touch.

It had been so long since she'd been in the kingdom of Enchantasia. A year-maybe less or more, had passed from their imprisonment. They'd been driven crazy trying to cheat the enchantment. And this time, Devin had no clever ace up her sleeve. There was nothing she could do.