Blinded (A Sequel to "Sight")

Redeemed Or Not Redeemed?

    Rose scrambled down hallways, up stairs, but Rae was nowhere to be found. She couldn’t have gone too far, Rose thought.

    Halting to a stop, Rose saw a figure up ahead. They anxiously looked behind them, their eyes widening once they saw Rose.

    “Rae!” Rose called after her as she continued to run. Rose dashed after her. Reaching out her hand, Rose grabbed onto the collar of Rae’s jacket, causing her to jerk backwards.

    Rae reached for Rose’s hand. “Get off of me!”
    “No!” Rose turned Rae around so that she was facing her. “Rae, listen to me!” 

    Rae stopped struggling and glared up at Rose. “Fine. Talk.”

    Rose sighed. “I know I’ve been a terrible friend. I feel awful for it. And whatever payback you want, I deserve it. But please, these people don’t deserve to be punished for what I did.” Rae’s gaze softened. “And I know you wouldn’t want to, but if there is anyway-- anyway-- to resolve this, please let me know. I-I can’t stand seeing you like this. It breaks my heart.”

    Rae stared at Rose for a few heartbeats before collapsing into a hug. Tears rolled down her face. Rose could feel her own eyes sting with tears. 

    “Rose, I’m sorry. I-I never really wanted to hurt anyone. I wanted to stop as soon as I had started, but I kept getting deeper and deeper, and there was no hope of getting back out.” Rae looked up at Rose, her face wet with tears. “Please say you’ll forgive me.”

    “Of course I will,” Rose told her with a warm smile. “But can you forgive me, after how awful I’ve been?”

    Rae was silent for a moment. “It does still make me a little angry. But if you promise you’ll get better at being my friend, I… I’ll forgive you.”

    “I promise,” Rose told her. There was a large roar that came from outside. “But we should probably get rid of those beasts.”

    “Oh, right!” Rae said. She brought out a small bottle that looked like a salt shaker. “Here, go free the princess and the others. I’ll go return the beasts back to normal.”

    As Rae started walking away, Rose called out to her. “Rae!” The red head looked back at Rose. “Be careful, out there. No one knows that you’re on our side now.”

    Rae nodded, then headed down the hallway, and back outside. Rose stared after her for a moment before returning to the throne room.

    “Where’s Rae?” Rapunzel asked as Rose bent down to shake the substance onto the goop.

    “She’s going to help get rid of the beasts,” Rose told her, a smile forming on her face. “She’s with us now.”

“That’s great!” Rapunzel exclaimed, once free of the goop. After everyone had been freed, Rose put the salt shaker-type-thing in her pocket. There was more growling from outside.

“We better go help them,” Rose said, readying her bow in her hand. Together, they all ran through the doorway.

    Most of the beasts had been reverted to their original form, just a few beasts running around. But the thing that worried Rose the most was the scene unfolding right before her.

    Varian, still on beast Rudiger, stared down at Rae, who held her hands up. Elisha stood next to him, an arrow pointed at Rae. Rose dropped her bow and ran in front of Rae.

    “Stop!” Rose yelled. Both Elisha and Varian stared at her in surprise. “Rae is trying to help us.”

    “How can we trust her, after all that she’s done?” Varian asked, narrowing his eyes.

    “If you can trust me, you can trust her,” Rose told him.

    Varian held Rose’s gaze before saying, “Fine.”

    Rae held up a small vial full of a dark blue liquid. “This will turn the beasts back to normal. I just need to get close enough to them.”

    Varian slid off of Rudiger. “Here, take Rudiger.”

    Rae gave him a small smile. “Thanks.” As she was about to get on Rudiger, she looked down for a moment. “And about what had happened earlier… I’m sorry. I was just angry.”

    Varian put a hand on Rae’s shoulder. “It’s okay.”

    Rae smiled at him again before sitting atop beast Rudiger. She grabbed onto a few tufts of his fur, and directed him towards a large beast who was searching for someone to terrorize.

    Rose padded up to Varian. “What happened earlier?”

    Varian waved a hand. “Eh, it was nothing.”

    Rose chuckled. “Alright. As long as you guys are good again.”

    “Yeah.” Then he glanced over at her. “Are you guys good now?”

    Rose watched as Rae turned a giant beast back into a tiny squirrel. “Yeah. I told her I’d try to be a better friend. I just… I can’t believe how awful of a friend I was.”

    Varian put a hand on her arm. “Hey, you were a great friend. You just needed to spend time with her, too, instead of leaving her out.”

“I know,” Rose sighed. “I hope I can make it up to her.”

Rae circled back to where they all stood. She hopped off of Rudiger. “I got them all! Phew.”

Rose gave Rae a hug. “Thank goodness we have you back again.” Rae gave her a shy smile.

They all stared at the deserted village before them. Rose turned to look at the others. “Well, what now?”