Ever After - Ella Enchanted AU

Ever After - Chapter 8

"Elves aren't that short, you know. That's just a myth created by that stupid Elves and the Shoemaker story. Just horrible writing."

Marinette let out a soft snort at Alya's critique at how elves were depicted in modern media. They had been walking for about a day and a half, and had thus far spent most of it simply listening to Alya talk, not that Marinette minded. The more Alya talked, the less she had to, and so long as there weren't any commands thrown into the mix, she didn't see any harm in allowing it to continue. Wayzz, though, had taken to bickering with their small friend in an uncharacteristic manner, but after the last retort from Alya, he had gone quiet in her arms.

"Do I look small enough to fit in a shoe?" Alya huffed, standing proudly to the side on the path they had been following, pulling herself up to her full height. She felt Wayzz twinge in her arms, ready to make a comment of his own, but with a suggestive squeeze from Marinette, he remained silent and she merely snickered at the picture before her of an elf trying to appear tall.

"No, I suppose you don't," Marinette chuckled. Alya swelled up some before they continued walked. "Stinking Grimm Brothers."

Alya went quiet for a moment before she sighed frustratedly and gestured to the forest around them. "We've been walking through the same patch of woods for what feels like forever. Are you sure he knows where he's going?"

Wayzz shuddered in Marinette's arms, as if craning himself to try and get a better look at his accuser without having a neck to do so. "Excuse me, ma'am, I'm right here. Just because I am a book, doesn't mean that I don't have ears! I know perfectly where we are going."

"Guys, if you can't play nice, you can't play together," Marinette teased while they continued walking. Sure, it wasn't the path Marinette had intended to take when they first started out, but taking the longer route wasn't nearly as strenuous when she had two very energetic partners around to keep her company.

Along the path, a set of bushes began to shake and tremble as if there were something lurking just behind them. Alya, ever the courageous hero, took a step closer to Marinette and grabbed her by the forearm while pointing a shaky finger at the undergrowth. "Oh, no. The rustling always comes before the screaming and the running. They'll just find pieces of us scattered across the floor."

Despite knowing Alya had a flair for the dramatics, Marinette couldn't help but tremble at the thought that she may have been right. Ogres had been roaming the Forest of Pim as rogues ever since King Gabriel banished them there, and she had a feeling they weren't going to take too friendly to humans in their wood.

They stood there trembling together, waiting for the worst when a brown hare, not a blood thirsty ogre, leapt out of the bushes and scampered across the path before disappearing once more on the opposite side.

Wayzz came to first and let out a breathy chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Oh, a bunny. There never has been reports of bunny attacks in the Forest of Pim, Alya."

Alya stepped away from Marinette and Wayzz, pouting once more at the book Marinette carried in her arms. "Well, it never hurts to be on your guard."

Again, the bush from where the bunny had appeared began to shake and there was a distinct twig snap just beyond in the thicket. Alya must have been tired of being teased by Wayzz and threw up her hands with a confident smile. "No need to panic, no need to panic. I've got this."

She swaggered over to the bramble bushes and thickets along the walking path, Marinette and Wayzz following just behind. Alya stood confidently before the thicket and called into the undergrowth. "Oi! Thumper! Out of the forest or no more carrots for you."