Work Text:
The Truest Spell
by Pirate Turner
"I am the King here!" the blonde royal hotly exclaimed. "Your word has no sway in this court!"
"He's my father, and he's coming with me!" the petite woman snapped back as she pulled harder on the arm of the man she was trying to take with her despite the uproar of protests that echoed through the castle.
"This isn't right, Virginia!" Wolf snapped. His eyes flashed on yellow as he glared furiously at her. He grabbed a hold to Tony's other arm, his hands maneuvering just underneath Wendell's. The knuckles of his calloused hands itched as he fought down the wolf that ached to be released so that he might tear apart the obstinate girl who had made his life a living Hell and now threatened to do the same to his oldest and dearest friends.
"You don't scare me, Wolf!" the brunette retorted. "Never have, never will! And this isn't about you! Get over yourself!"
"You would be wise to take your own advice, Virginia," Wendell remarked as he tugged even harder, desperate not to lose his grasp on the man he loved. "This isn't about you! It is about Tony, and you have no right to waltz in here and take him away like this!"
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO KEEP HIM HERE!" Virginia yelled, her face turning red. "I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU KEEP HIM LOCKED IN THIS TWISTED IVORY TOWER OR KEEP HIM IN THIS CRAZY WORLD OF," she managed a bitter, scoffing bark in the back of her throat, "FAIRY TALES!"
"WE HAVE NOT TRAPPED HIM HERE!" Wendell returned, his voice booming as loudly, hotly, and indignantly as the girl's. "HE IS FREE TO LEAVE AT ANY TIME!"
"THEN LET HIM GO!"
"ONLY IF IT IS HIS WILL!"
"HE DOESN'T WANT TO STAY HERE WITH YOU IN THIS LAND FOR THE INSANE!"
"HE DOESN'T WANT TO GO HOME WITH YOU! GROW UP, DADDY'S GIRL!"
While they had been arguing, Wendell and Wolf had been tugging at one of Tony's arms while Virginia pulled with all her strength on his other arm. Poor Tony was dazed, and his arms burned with more pain than he had ever known. He had been trying desperately to find a way to gently tell Virginia that he would never return home with her, not now or ever, when the two most important people in all the world to him hit a very sore spot within his heart.
"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE WANTS TO STAY HERE WITH YOU AND A RAUNCHY WOLF TO RULE THE KINGDOM OF CRAZIES YOU'RE INCAPABLE OF RUNNING, BLONDIE?!"
"I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THAT! I RUN MY KINGDOM AND LET TONY HANDLE WHATEVER CAPTIVATES HIS ATTENTION!" He glared even more fiercely at the impudent girl.
"YOU'RE NOT KEEPING MY FATHER!!!" Virginia screeched.
Wendell's eyes nearly shot out of his head so fierce was the glare of anger that filled them. For a second, his lips pursed together, and then his voice rang out loud, clear, and demanding. "GUARDS! GUARDS!"
The bellow that broke from Tony's angry lips rang throughout the entire castle and caused all those nearest him to jump. "THAT IS ENOUGH!!!" He snatched both of his arms free and, as he stepped away, the world around him spun, and he nearly fell. He caught himself, waving away the six hands that reached out to help as he did so. "Virginia," he said with surprising calm to his tone that fury laced clearly just underneath, "I am not going home with you. I shall never leave this castle or these lands but not because I am trapped here. It has always been my decision to stay here, and your divorce from Wolf changed nothing for me."
"I am sorry that your prejudice blinds you to the goodness of these people and the beauty of their lands, but I have finally found not only my home but the love of my life as well." He stepped beside Wendell, his eyes casting a look upon Virginia that simultaneously reminded her of his undying love for her and pleaded with her to try to find it within herself to understand his position. "I'm in love, Virginia. Wendell is not my captor. He is the man I love, my soul mate, and I will stay with him forever."
Virginia stared at her father in disbelief for a long moment before she whirled furiously on Wendell. Her accusing finger thrust into his face as she demanded, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!"
Wendell's heart had soared at Tony's speech as he finally came out of the closet to his daughter but now it sank again as he realized that Tony's family would never accept their union. "N-Nothing! I have done nothing to him but love him and be there for him when he needed me!"
"I am the one who's to be there when he needs some one!"
"You were, Virginia, for a long time," Tony again sought to explain, "but now I finally have what I wished for you to have for so long, my daughter. Please try to understand. I love you, but you no longer need me. You're a grown woman. It's past time you found your own life, your own world if you would, and your own true love. I'm sorry things didn't work out between Wolf and you, but no power in the Kingdoms will ever get me to abandon my man."
Virginia's eyes were seething full of anger as she cast accusing glances back and forth between Wendell and Tony before finally settling her gaze upon Wolf, who stood loyally behind the two men. She screamed and then turned to march away. She stopped at the entrance to the room and glared back at them over her shoulder. "THIS ISN'T OVER! WHEN I FIND HOW TO BREAK THE SPELL YOU PLACED ON HIM, I'LL BE BACK!"
She then stormed out of their lives, but the prediction she had declared would never come to happen for Tony was under no meager spell of sorcery. He was under the truest spell of all: that of true love. He lived happily ever after with Wendell while Wolf watched protectively over them and helped them whenever and however he could. Virginia's hatred slowly ate away at her until there was nothing left of the woman Tony had hoped his daughter would grow into but a shell filled with seething, furious hatred for all others save her own self.
The End