The Flames that Engulfed Us

Chapter 48: My Disney Prince

All the voices sounded painfully loud. My head throbbed, and my limbs were stiff. Multiple pairs of hands were all grabbing at me, squeezing me with a pressure that was too tight for me. I felt C.C.'s hands, hard and calloused, next to Lincoln's arms, smelling like sweat. Lincoln's sweat doesn't smell bad. It doesn't exactly smell good, but it's not bad or gross or anything. It's just mildly salty smelling, and I've learned to love it. Wrinkly hands pulled at one of my arms, feeling as though they were about to rip it off. Char. Lincoln was yelling something, his tone sounding like he was whispering.

"Leave her alone, please."

I wanted to smile, but my face felt frozen stiff. I wanted to laugh and ask Lincoln what'd suddenly given him the manners to use the magic words adults always told me about, but my lips didn't budge.

I felt rope touch my wrist, the same side that Char was on. It was scratchy and itchy, and I wanted to whine annoyingly until they took it away, but the rope only wrapped around. Why? It didn't make sense, but around and around it went.

My head tipped back, and I felt it sink back until it was against Lincoln's stomach, pumping as he breathed. It was soothing, but I became slowly aware that Lincoln was holding one of my arms, and C.C. the other, so that I didn't fall. I couldn't be that high up. They'd only need one of them to do it. I became aware of my breathing, fast and unsteady. I focused on that, and it slowed. My heart controlled itself too.

I could feel every muscle in my body, so defined that I wasn't quite sure what to do. I moved my finger, making it tingle so violently I was afraid to move again.

"Her finger twitched," C.C. observed, his voice pounding in my ears.

"Is she waking up?"

"Maybe," C.C. answered, and I almost made a move to cover my ears, but my muscles are seemed to vibrate, and I didn't, couldn't follow through with something that simple.

Char didn't seem to notice as she lifted my hand, wrapped in the irritating length of rope, in front of me, bringing the other wrist so it touched. Then, I knew what was happening. She was binding my hands. What was it, that Lincoln and C.C. were holding me for her to do it?

I tried to speak, or mumble or something, but all that came out was a pitiful moan. The rope coiled around me, and eventually, Char's hands left me alone with the rope altogether. C.C. dropped me, so it was just Lincoln holding me. I felt myself being lifted up, and then his arms wrapped around my legs and one under my back. My whole body was against his chest. I felt his heartbeat in the marrow of my bones.

I tried to talk again. "Lin," and the rest came at as an unintelligible babble, but it was enough to get his attention.

"Shh. It'll be fine, Sky. It'll all work out."

"Wha—"

"It'll be fine."

I wanted to ask what had or was now happening, but I couldn't must the strength for anything else, so I just let myself be held by him.

"What's going to happen?" C.C. was kind enough to yell for me. He probably wasn't yelling, but it seemed that way to me.

"Her senses are probably sensitive," Mr. Devil actually yelled, making my ears physically, and in every other possible way, hurt, "so you might want to keep your voices down."

I whimpered, only proving his point, and Lincoln's heart beat furiously in his chest.

"You didn't answer the question," Lincoln murmured, and he must have been barely audible, but it was normal speaking volume to me.

"Oh," Mr. Devil hollered, his voice intolerably loud, "whatever I want. I could make a big show of going somewhere for you, but I prefer just doing the portal trick. More convenient."

I opened my eyes, quickly closing them again as the light was blinding. I squinted, my eyes adjusting, and the sound going back to normal. Lincoln's face took up my entire field of vision, and he looked down at me.

"It'll be fine." He told me, his voice cracking so much that I doubted he believed himself.

"Yeah," I told him. "It will. Everything will be just great in the end." My voice sounded bad, raw and full of an emotion I didn't even know I was feeling.

"The end is a long time away," he whispered.

"We'll get there."

"Do you believe that? Do you think we'll have a happily ever after?"

"Of course. You are my prince charming, I'm your damsel in distress who talks to animals when she gets bored. There has to be a happy ending."

"You think this is a Disney movie?"

"I think it's a fairy tale."

"Disney never makes anything this dark and horrible."

"The original fairy tales are dark."

"They don't have guaranteed happy endings."

"Lincoln..."

"Yeah?"

"I love you. Just don't ever forget that okay? I love you and that'll have to be enough. It will be too. It'll be enough that I love you. Just believe that, for me."

"I won't forget, Sky. I love you too. I love you more than any prince charming's loved his damsel in distress. Because they didn't have girls who were strong, and brave. They had girls who were beautiful, and I have one too, but you're braver and smarter than any of them. Princes included."

"What about animal sidekicks?"

"Them too."

"Sabastian from the Little Mermaid?"

"Yep. I love you, Sky."

"You must since you watched that with me so many times..."

"I do love you that much. I'll watch whatever animals you want sing songs with unrealistic expectations. Fish, frogs, lions. Whatever you want. I'm quite literally going to carry you through hell."

"Lincoln..."

"Yeah?"

I kissed him on the lips and forgot anyone else existed. I put my arms, bound as they were, over his head. I kept them there, even as the Devil barked at us to stop. I pulled back, and Lincoln took a moment, looking as though he'd forgotten about everything else too. Then the Devil opened a portal in the wall, and Lincoln didn't move.

Unrealistic expectations my butt. These were exactly my expectations. Well, not exactly. I had expectations that he'd be romantic and sweet like this. My Disney prince.