Obscure

Summary: Cedric and Sofia finally discover the final link that connects their nightmares, and together they must confront the one who's been tormenting them. But things aren't going to be easy for them, and they'll have to learn how to be strong together to overcome their biggest obstacle: the truth. *carried over from "Lavender Legend"*

Disclaimer: I do not own "Sofia the First."

A/N: Hi, guys! It's been a while, and I'm sorry I've been sort of missing. I started my final two grad classes (yay!) and work has been hectic. But here's the final chapter of "Obscure." I hope you like it. It's been a long time coming, this ending of the "nightmare" series. Enjoy!

A/N 2: By the way, some of you were asking me about my stories in relation to this particular subject becoming "AU-ish," and I'm doing my best to be as consistent as I can. Clearly, this type of situation more than likely won't happen in the show, but I'm trying to keep it as close to a timeline as I can. Yes, I'll mention a few certain events/pieces of information that will be in relation to the show itself, so don't worry. Even if this particular section of my stories, the "nightmare series," is stand-alone, I'm okay with that. :) The rest of my stories—the individual ones—will tend to go along with the show more or less. Thanks for your concerns and ideas. ;)

Chapter 3: Dreamscapes

Previously…

"Sofia, please, wake up," Cedric began shakily as he lowered to the marble floor and gently patted the girl's pale face. His own face slowly began draining of color. "…Sofia?"

Sofia lay still and quiet, her dress somewhat tattered with several pearls now missing. Around her neck lay the remnants of her once beautiful and precious amulet. She was so still that it looked as though…

"She's not breathing," the sorcerer whispered to himself in disbelief as he gasped and gathered the unresponsive girl into his arms.

"Perdere," he'd declared, intending to destroy Lady Deyanira…and the spell had instead unwittingly been directed at…

"Sofia!" He was inconsolable as his body shook with sobs, the princess cradled in his hold. "What have I done?"

Five minutes. Five aching, agonizing minutes had gone by. Cedric stared at his apprentice, her pale skin growing colder and her eyes still closed. Oh, he'd give anything to see those blue eyes alight with life again… But he'd just…

He held the girl closer to him and exhaled in a shuddering manner. He gave up. How could he possibly win now with his best friend gone? He didn't care anymore. If it weren't for her, he never would have tried to be better in the first place; now with her…gone, what else was there to believe in?

"I wish I could undo this spell," he whispered, talking either to himself or to the lifeless girl in his arms—he wasn't sure. "I wish…"

"That was a pretty powerful spell, Cedric."

Cedric turned around, his breath caught in his throat as the voice had startled him. His eyes widened. "M-Merlin?" 'What is he doing here? How did he get here?' He wasn't sure…

The older wizard smiled in return and knelt next to the two friends. "Well, I'd say this is a rather dire situation."

The younger sorcerer frowned. "I'm in no mood for joking, as you can clearly tell."

"I'm not joking, Cedric. I'm being perfectly serious." He wielded his own wand, the end lit already. "I believe I can help you both."

"Y-You can?"

"Cedric, your magic is powerful enough to destroy," Merlin explained as he lowered his wand to the girl's amulet, unleashing a stream of magic and allowing it to flow gently, spilling into every crevice of the shattered gem. "However, you also have the power to heal." His eyes lifted to stare meaningfully at the Royal Sorcerer. "Have you forgotten that?"

"Merlin, I used the 'Perdere' spell! I can't undo that. I-I can't…" He closed his eyes, fighting back another wave of overwhelming emotion.

"Perdere?" Merlin blinked at the word and sighed, a relieved smile on his face. "Cedric, that isn't the ultimate destruction spell. And it didn't truly harm Sofia."

Cedric's brown eyes opened again, widening at the older man's admission. "I-It's not? Then what did my spell do? And if it didn't harm her, then why isn't she responding to me?"

"Well, from what I can tell, her amulet had previously been tampered with." He lifted his wand as the amulet was restored to its former glory, beautifully purple and reflective. A glittering of its own magic even poured out of it before backing away to a slight glimmer and glow. "I believe it is back to normal now. And as for Sofia, she's simply had the wind knocked out of her. She is unconscious, but I see no reason for her not to make a full recovery."

Cedric frowned. "But that sorceress, as she calls herself, used her as a shield, and I hit Sofia instead of her!"

"No, Cedric, you hit her amulet. Sofia wasn't harmed. Not by you, anyway…" Merlin smiled gently as the girl suddenly gasped for a breath of air, coughing and attempting to sit up. He carefully slid the princess over to the sorcerer, easing her into his arms. "Take care of her, Cedric. And if next time you need to use a spell so powerful, a couple of things: one, make sure your aim is correct, and two, the proper spell is 'Interficio.'" With a simple nod, he vanished.

Sofia opened her eyes as she stirred, her vision a bit blurry. "M-Mr. Cedric?" she asked, confused as to her whereabouts.

Cedric sighed in relief. He never thought he'd be so happy to hear his name spoken by her before… "Sofia," he laughed, hugging her and surprising her.

"Oh!" She slowly began to smile as she felt her mentor holding her much tighter and more firmly than he ever had before. "I… What's going on?"

He released her and sighed. "I'm afraid Lady Deyanira got away… She, um…" Should he tell her what had happened? He figured they had enough secrets between them, and this one in particular she needed to know. "Sofia, she used you as a shield when I used a spell to destroy her…after she'd attacked you. I thought you were…"

Sofia frowned, realizing what had actually happened. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know." He stood, pulling the girl to her feet. "But at this rate, I say we just go back to Enchancia before we have another run-in with her and get ourselves destroyed. Come on." He held his hand out to her, waiting for her response.

The girl looked at his hand before shaking her head. "No, Mr. Cedric."

He blinked.

"If we run away, she wins. And she'll keep winning. Your nightmares will come back, my amulet will start trying to turn against me, and we'll never escape her. We have to face our fears head on and deal with them."

Cedric lowered his hand, sighing. "I don't know if I can, Sofia…"

She smiled encouragingly, taking his previously offered hand. "Mr. Cedric, don't give up on me. I've never given up on you, and I never will."

He studied her for a few moments before returning her smile, his hand squeezing hers gently and affirmatively. "Anything for you, Sofia." He held up his wand in his free hand, murmuring something and restoring her dress to normal, the pearls in their proper place and the rips resewn. The wounds in her skin also healed, no evidence of the attack left.

Sofia beamed at his actions and giggled. "Thanks, Mr. Cedric."

"Lady Deyanira," Payó began uncertainly as he approached her in their new realm. Evidently, she'd fancied it important enough to pull him along for the ride.

"What is it, Payó?" she snapped, ceasing her actions with filing her claw-like nails. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Y-Yes, my lady, but I thought you might want to know that…the princess is unharmed, and so is her amulet."

The blonde woman glowered at him, and she snapped the nail file in two. "What?"

"I—I saw everything through that crystal ball of yours, and somehow the princess is alive, and the two of them seem to be determined to find you."

The sorceress growled under her breath before ceasing, a wicked smile forming on her lips. "Let them come, Payó. In fact…" She waved her hand, wrapping magic around her assistant and turning him into a dragon once more. "I will leave you to it. Bring them to me."

"Do you know where we're going?" Cedric asked tiredly as he continued following the princess.

She shook her head. "Everything looks the same now…" She sighed, stopping and leaning against a wall as Cedric leaned against the opposite one. "You'd think she would have left some kind of sign or something."

The sorcerer couldn't help rolling his head. "She's a wayward sorceress, Princess Sofia—not a riddle-writer. I don't expect her to offer us any sort of clues or hints as to her whereabouts."

The girl frowned and reached up to her amulet, sliding it against the chain. She blinked when she saw it shimmer a little bit. "Hmm." She glanced up at her mentor, only to see him massaging his forehead. "Mr. Cedric, you don't know this sorceress by any chance, do you?"

Cedric lowered his hand and blinked at the girl's question. "What?"

"Well, I mean, you went to school with lots of sorcerers and sorceresses, right? She wasn't one of your classmates or anything, was she?"

The sorcerer raised an eyebrow at her query. "Sofia, she said she'd been planning this for hundreds of years. I'm not that old."

She grinned a little, making her friend give her a pointed look. "Just curious." She gasped when a thud landed next to her and shook the ground they were standing on. "M-Mr. Cedric!"

Payó, in his dragon form, growled and reached out, aiming to capture the friends once more.

Cedric stepped in front of the girl, shielding her with one arm while using his other hand to hold up his wand. "Desino!" He watched as the red dragon ceased his actions, effectively frozen. He grabbed Sofia's hand, pulling her along. "He won't be like that for long. We must keep going."

Their shoes clacked against the marble floor, a sickening echo to remind them of their current whereabouts. Every corridor looked the same. Every door held some unknown destination. It was like a labyrinth: impossible.

"Mr. Cedric, can't we just transport out of here?" Sofia finally asked, squeezing his hand to get his attention through his muttering about locations.

"Don't you think I tried that?" he sighed. "It doesn't work. That wretched woman is far too strong in her magic for us to do that."

"There's got to be some way out of here…" She reached for her amulet once more as they paused at yet another door. "Maybe my amulet can do…something." Secretly she wished for a princess to come whisk them out of the castle. Maybe Jasmine could come with her magic carpet?

Cedric folded his arms, distressed by the predicament. "If only it could…"

Sofia frowned. He was acting rather distant all of a sudden. It was as if he had simply given up and reserved himself to the fact that they were indeed trapped with little hope of escaping. She took her friend's hand and sighed. "Mr. Cedric, are you mad at me?"

The sorcerer's ears perked at this question, and he watched her in surprise. "What?"

The young girl released his hand and clasped her own together. "I know sometimes I may do the wrong thing or get us into trouble, and I should expect you to continue saving me or helping me… And I can take it if you're annoyed with my dreams and my problems… But I don't like it when you're mad."

Cedric paused before smiling gently, kneeling to his apprentice's level. "Sofia, I am not mad at you. Yes, I'm a bit frustrated with the entire situation, but none of this is your fault." He had to remind himself that he'd nearly lost her today. Not long ago, he'd held her…near lifeless body in his arms. He shook his head to rid his mind of that mental image. That's the last thing he needed to focus on now.

The princess lunged forward, hugging her friend fervently.

The sorcerer sighed and returned her embrace, sheltering her from their current surroundings and just taking in the sincerity and incredibly real moment.

"How touching…"

The friends parted quickly when they heard a familiar and wholly unwelcome voice.

Lady Deyanira appeared with a ragged-looking Payó in dragon form by her side. He looked as if he'd been attacked…and Cedric and Sofia wouldn't put it past the sorceress to have done such a thing. "Still alive, I see."

"No thanks to you." Cedric glared up at her as he pushed Sofia behind him.

"Now Cedric, that hurts." She smirked, holding out one hand with a glowing orb of energy. "Look, I'm not a violent person."

Now that was the biggest lie the two friends had ever heard.

"But even my patience can only be stretched so far. So here's what we're going to do." She flexed her hand the energy expanding and glowing brighter. "The princess is going to hand over the amulet. You two are going to be transferred back to the beginning of your story, minus the amulet, and we're all going to go on about our lives in a merry manner."

Sofia frowned, holding her amulet securely. "Why do you want my amulet anyway?"

"I need something to match my Wassailia costume," Lady Deyanira quipped sarcastically. "Why do you think, little princess? I'm tired of asking!" She threw the blast of energy at the two friends, missing as they dodged out of the way. "Be still!"

Cedric grabbed Sofia by the shoulders and looked at her seriously. "Sofia, I need you to run. Don't look back. Don't worry about me. Just run."

She gasped, shaking her head. "No, I won't!" She shrieked as another blast of energy soared at them. "Mr. Cedric! What are we going to do?"

Neither had time to think as Payó suddenly gained a wave of strength and rushed forward, grabbing the princess and slamming her rather hard against a pillar.

Sofia knocked her head against the hard surface and fell to the marble floor, passed out.

"Sofia!" Cedric clutched his wand defensively, aiming it at Payó. "You'll pay for that." He glared intently at the red dragon. "Interficio."

Payó yelled as he suddenly was wrapped in a gleam of light, literally torn apart into oblivion.

Lady Deyanira didn't even blink. She smirked down at Cedric. "Rather violent for a royal sorcerer, aren't you?"

"You don't know the half of it. Inter—"

The woman growled and floated down, yanking his wand away and snapping it in half, much to his dismay. "Some half-rate sorcerer isn't going to destroy me that easily." She grinned wickedly, holding up another orb of energy in one hand while grasping his robe with the other. "Now then, Cedric dear…any final words?"

"Y-Yes…" He suddenly wielded another wand, his Family Wand to be exact, from within his robe, much to her surprise. Thankfully, while he seldom used it, Cedric never went anywhere these days without it.

"Y-You… You!"

Cedric smirked, pointing the wand at her gleaming ruby pendant around her neck, whispering, "Interficio."

"No!"

A blinding light poured throughout the room, the vision of Lady Deyanira fading to nothing more than a mere glimmer of light before ultimately dousing for good.

Cedric panted as he gathered his wits about him. He then recalled something rather important. "Sofia." He hurried over to the girl and knelt next to her, lifting her gently to a sitting position. He noticed the minor gash on her forehead, a small trickle of crimson streaming from it. He used his wand to still the flow and partially heal the wound before magically placing a bandage over it. "Sofia?"

The girl stirred, her vision swimming and her head pounding. "M… Mr. Cedric?" She winced as she tried to open her eyes, though the surrounding brightness made it nearly impossible. "Wh-Where are we?"

"Oh, um… We're in my workshop, of course!" As if by magic, the scene faded away and the two literally appeared in his workshop. Cedric blinked, wondering what in the world was going on. He smiled sheepishly. "Yep. That's…exactly where we are." He placed a hand on her head, careful not to irritate her wound. "Are you all right?"

"I think so. What happened?" She finally found the strength to open her eyes, though she was having trouble with her balance. She was grateful he had stilled her and made her sit down on the floor.

"You, uh… What all do you remember?"

She yawned, shrugging. "I was having bad dreams about someone evil trying to take my amulet. And I think you were having bad dreams too? I don't know. I don't remember anything else." She rubbed her head and immediately regretted it, whimpering. "Ow…"

Wait a minute. She didn't remember…any of that? "Oh, it must have just been a nightmare," he soothed, smiling. "We all have them from time to time. Nothing to be afraid of, right?"

Sofia finally settled her vision on him, though she wasn't entirely convinced of his reasoning. "I…guess so? But what happened to my head?"

"You fell and bumped it earlier." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie…

The princess blinked and then became concerned. "Mr. Cedric, what if someone really is after my amulet?"

He chuckled, nervously rubbing his arm. "Sofia, who would be silly enough to try?"

She gave him a dubious look. "Well, Miss Nettle for one…" She pouted when he rolled his eyes. "But I guess you're right… But if someone else did try—"

"I'd stop them. You have my word." He smiled when she seemed satisfied with his answer, if her hug was any indication. "Now then, I think you'd better get some rest. You took quite a fall earlier."

"I'll say… Thanks, Mr. Cedric." She gave him one more hug before making her way toward the door.

Cedric raised an eyebrow at the girl, who seemed to be swaying. "Why don't I walk with you so you don't end up like Humpty Dumpty?"

She giggled as he took hold of her arm. "Thanks… You're the best, Mr. Cedric."

"Coming from you, that means a lot, Sofia." He chuckled as they left the workshop together.

The end

A/N: Yay! It's finally done! :) By the way, I'm not entirely convinced that Sofia's completely lost her memories of Lady Deyanira… Just throwing that out there. :p If I do decide to do a follow-up on that, it will be a long time down the road. Hehe. Hope you liked it. Thanks to all who stuck with this story line for so long! I truly appreciate it. ;) I have three stories in the works right now: "Never Forgotten," "Hot Potato," and "Heroic." :D Till next time! ~AquaTurquoise