The Archer's Legacy

★彡01|13 - "Every castle has secret passageways."彡★

Y/n's eyes followed the match but her heart weighed heavy in her chest. She wanted to believe that her closest friends in Auradon had not just put a love spell on the prince but all the facts spoke against it. They were kids of villains so they probably had enough motives to want to take over the country. During their time in school, they'd asked an awful lot about Fairy Godmother's wand, which was going to be at the coronation. To be near the wand one would coincidentally have to be the prince's family member or his girlfriend.

But there was one thought that plagued Y/n's mind more than the others as her eyes followed Carlos, who'd just been subbed in for the first time during the whole game. I'm an heir to the throne just like Ben. Is that why they befriended me, too? Her whole life people had treated her differently because of her heritage. Coming to Auradon and meeting the four she realized that maybe she wasn't the only one. She thought that maybe she'd make a few friends besides Asher, who, as Alice's son, had never cared about positions of power and such.

Now she feared she had been wrong.

The final whistle sounded and Y/n numbly clapped with everyone else, nodding to whatever her roommate was saying beside her. Their school's team had won and everyone was ecstatic. Y/n wanted to be happy, too. She wanted to forget the thoughts that hurt her. But when her eyes found Carlos' through the crowd, her posture crumbled.

Y/n jabbed an elbow at Lonnie. "Hey, I gotta go."

"Yeah, alright," Lonnie yelled at her through the cheering before starting to jump up and down again, cheering along with everyone else.

Y/n muttered excuses as she pushed through the crowd, trying to force her foggy mind to think. But, she feared, her mind had never been clearer. It was her heart that was confused.

And her heart didn't stay to listen to Ben interrupt the commentator. She heard the prince yelling about some letters but then she already disappeared behind the corner, entering the stone schoolhouse. It had been a castle so it was natural that it reminded her of home. So, almost instinctively, she turned left and walked to the end of the hallway, her feet finding the library.

She thought back to the times she snuck out with Asher, muttering the words she'd once told her friend. "Every castle has secret passageways."

She stopped, looking around the library, feeling the stillness in the air. She knew that the library windows were never open and the fires in the fireplaces were ever-burning because it was best for the books if the temperature of the room remained the same. So when she felt a slight breeze, she didn't hesitate to follow where it had come from.

The breeze led her to the back of the library, a place where the shelves were dusty and the chairs weren't worn, indicating that the place had not been visited for a long while.

The breeze was a bit stronger then and the girl observed the bookshelves in front of her, her eyes taking in the titles of the books.

Cinderella's Diary

The Best Way To Ward Off Witches

Record Of Royalty

Y/n felt like she'd stumbled into an archive of a sort. It felt like those books should've been in a museum but, then again, they probably weren't harmful enough to be put away like that.

The girl's eyes flitted from one shelf to another, searching for anything. A single speck less of dust, a worn-out edge of a shelf, a...

Y/n's eyes narrowed. The book had no title and it looked almost brand new compared to everything beside it. Hesitantly she reached out, grabbing the book by the upper part of its spine. It tilted but didn't come out.

The girl stepped back, waiting for something to happen. A second later the shelf creaked and started moving, sliding open. A gust of wind blew into Y/n's face and in front of her was a staircase, descending into darkness.

She looked back one last time, something inside her tingling at the sight of the stairs, pushing her heart to be brave as she stepped closer and onto the stairs, identifying the lever that would open the bookshelf again before pulling it closed behind her. Thus, she was left in the dark.