Third times a charm!

Once Upon a Time

There was an Enchanted Forest and within it a War

A War of Darkness Vs the Light. An evil kingdom against a small group of rebels, a small family

One day, they found themselves trapped in a world where all their happy endings were stolen.

Our World.

Hidden deep in the mountains, stood a dark fortress, that stood more as a hideout than it was a castle.

The owner hiding in the fortress was plotting something dangerous and truly evil.

Inside the building, a single knight dressed in his black and white uniform, was running through the many long hallways.

Throwing open two large doors, tge m ight rushed inside towards a large balcony, where the master of the fortress stood watching over the vast forest.

With his dark cloak, one might have mistaken him for a shadow, that and his appearance. His complexion was paler than what was normal for a human. The dark hood covered his hair and it cast a shadow over the upper part of his face, making his bright yellow eyes and red face paint marking stand out more.

Many in the realm had given him the name, The Grand Inquisitor.

He once had been the king of the Enchanted Forest, until he was overthrown by a group of rebels who took away his kingdom and left him to rot away in the hidden fortress.

That last part wasn't all bad because it gave him time to plot his revenge.

Just behind the dark ruler, the knight came to a stop before bowing in front of the former king, "Sir, the item you requested we have it" he held up a small black wooden box.

The Dark Ruler turned and quickly grasped the box. The knight knew he was no longer required, so he bowed with respect and quickly scurrying out of the room.

With an evil smile, the Inquisitor opened the box, a vial containing a glowing green substance laid.

A memory potion.

The final ingredient to his revenge.

"Enjoy your last few moments together Rebels, cause now I shall destroy your happiness" he laughed holding the vial high...

'For he knew that he was one step closer to his achievement, causing great despair upon the family who call themselves Rebels.'

These words were written in beautiful cursive writing, next to a picture of the "Dark Lord" holding a glowing vial in front of him

A woman had the book laid open on a counter as she read the story, she had two pigtails that hung over her shoulders and was wearing an apron that had the name of the diner she owned on it in green cursive writing The Asteroid Belt.

The ding of a bell caught her attention, looking up she saw a man walking into the diner.

A police officer with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail underneath his hat, his name tag said K. Jarrus. The woman closed the book and pushed it aside, the cover was all black with big orange writing on it that said, Rebels of the Enchanted Forest.

"Hey Kanan, Milk or Cream?" the women asked pulling out a cup and began to pour coffee into it.

"Cream please, but that's not why I'm here Hera," Kanan said taking his hat off in a nervous manner, he took a deep breath. Hera looked curiously before she realized why he was nervous

"How many complaints about Chopper was it this time?" she asked in an irritated voice

"Three," Hera rolled her eyes, Kanan placed his hat on the counter and continued, "This is the second time this week I had to come down here. You can't keep brushing this off Hera, the next person might press charges"

"It's not my fault that Chopper barks a lot, and gets playful around strangers"

"Playful?" Kanan scoffed, "He bites anyone who gets near him, I still have the mark on my ankle from last week"

Hera giggled and set the coffee cup in front of him, while Kanan glared "If this keeps up, you will be ordered by law to keep him on a leash"

"It's not my fault that people get too close," Hera protested, "Whatever hard past Chopper had before the shelter is beyond our control, it's not his fault that he doesn't trust strangers."

Kanan sighed "We all have had tough past, we just got to learn to move on. At least Chopper was lucky enough to have you"

Tension grew in the shop, Hera knew Kanan was talking about his mother, Depa Billaba. She was also on the police force, but she was killed in a shoot down. Driven by grief, Kanan isolated himself away from his friends, and pretty much the whole town. Throwing himself into his work and keeping a cold face on.

Kanan sighed and shook his head, his gaze then fell upon the book Hera had been reading earlier

"Good book?" he asked desperate to change the subject.

"Yeah, I found it in my closet a couple of days ago, but I have no idea what it was doing in there. I've never seen it before in my life"

Kanan grabbed the book and flipped it open to a random spot, on the right page there was a picture of a mysterious hooded figure standing in a dark room with a young boy sitting against a wall, huddled in on himself.

Just then Kanan's phone rang, he quickly pulled it out and answered, "Officer Jarrus" Hera grabbed the book again and turned it to face her "Okay, I'll be right there" he hung up "Double Parker," he said grabbing his hat and cup of coffee.

Hera smiled "Once again Officer Jarrus has saved Lothal"

"Hardy-Har" Kanan said with his natural straight face and walked out of the diner.

Hera opened the book to another section, this time it had the picture of a torch lighting up a pathway. Two hooded figures were seen walking down the pathway, a tall one in a brown cloak and a smaller one in a white cloak.

The two cloaked figures continued down the path to the dungeon. The figure in the brown cloak stopped and grabbed the arm of the one white cloak

The brown cloak's hood was pulled down to reveal the ponytail man, Kanan. The white cloak's hood was also removed to reveal Hera, but her hair was down.

"Are you sure you want to speak to... him?" Kanan said worriedly

"Kanan, I have not had a restful night ever since he came to us. If anyone knows anything about the Empire's plan, he does. It's the only way we can be sure the threat is real or not"

Kanan wanted to argue but with the look in Hera's eyes, he knew she wasn't going to change her mind. He nodded and the two continued along their way.

Soon enough they reached a cell, one that was farther from the others. Behind the bars, a tall man with dark skin and hair shaved close to his head sat on the ground. On his left eyebrow, there was a long scar, similar to the ones across his arms. He looked up at the couple as they drew close.

"Well if it isn't my lucky day, the King and Queen of the Enchanted Forest," the prisoner sneered standing up straight.

"Can it Vizago," Kanan said, still not happy that they were here "We came to ask you about-"

"Yes yes, I know why you're here!" Vizago boomed cutting him off, "You want to know about the Inquisitor's threat"

Hera tried to step forward but Kanan kept a protective arm around her, "What do you know of this?" she said

Vizago sneered, "It wouldn't matter whether you knew or not. The threat is very real, and it's coming,"

Hera moved around Kanan, despite his protests and stepped closer to the man in the cell, fear, and determination in her eyes, "What's coming?"

Vizagos' grin grew, and he spoke in a low voice, "A curse, a dark curse. Unlike anything, anyone has ever seen. Everyone will be banished somewhere horrible, where time will stop and we'll all be trapped in an endless cycle of pain and suffering. And the Inquisitor shall finally gain his vengeance for all eternity,"

Horror was painted on both of the royals faces, a sudden twitch of fear appeared in Kanan's eye before he blinked it away and stepped up to Vizago, "What can we do?"

"There's nothing that can be done," Vizago backed away from the bars and turned away from the couple, "You've already lost,"

"There must be something we can do!" Hera objected

Vizago then froze as if he remembered something important. Slowly the man turned back towards the bars, but a cold smile was on his face.

"As I said before, you cannot do anything, "But, there is someone who can. Only one, the Product of True Love,"

Hope reflected in Hera's eyes but Kanan still seemed skeptical, "Who is it?" Hera asked

Vizago smirked mischievously before turning towards Kanan's stern face.

"Your Boy," Vizago answered, he smiled at their widened eyes "The little blue haired lad, he's our only hope"

"Ezra," Kanan whispered to himself but was clearly heard by both people.

"But- but we don't know where he is, he was taken" Hera sputtered

"Then I suggest you say goodbye to your loved ones, because by this time tomorrow the curse will be here, and everything you fought so hard for, will be gone."

Back in the Asteroid Belt, the lunch hour had begun.

Hera was taking the order of a woman and her baby granddaughter that had just came into the diner.

"Hello, what can I get for you?" Hera smiled

The woman looked away from the baby in her arm and was about to order...

When she was cut off by the muffled sound of music coming from the room next to the diner. Hera looked at her watch, knowing what was causing the noise, "Excuse me a minute please," Before she could receive a response, Hera walked away towards the garage of the building.

The diner had an apartment above it, where Hera lived. Well, Hera and her daughter.

Hera opened the door that connected the diner to the garage. All along the walls of the garage, paintings were hung like priceless artifacts.

The noise was revealed to be an iPod blasting music loudly.

Near the far wall of the garage, a teenage girl had her back turned to Hera as she was spraypainting on a painting easel.

Hera sighed, shaking her head. Walking more into the garage, Hera swiftly turned off the iPod., Quickly grabbing the girls' attention and she turned.

The girl had hair that was dyed the colors, orange and blue, and she had brown eyes. Her name was Sabine.

Sabine pulled down the cloth she had on her lower face, "Mom! I was in the zone!" she complained

"Well, it's time to get out of the zone," Hera said holding out a spare apron that matched her own, "Your shift started five minutes ago,"

"Just a few more minutes," the young artist begged, "I'm so close to finishing this one,"

As a mother, Hera knew the best to deal with her daughter. Bargaining always seemed to work but if it didn't, there was always punishing. The latter was the most fun, for Hera anyway.

"Tell you what, if you do your shift right now. On Friday, we can go to that art shop and you can get three, and only three, new paint colors,"

Sabine quickly threw down her face cloth and placed away her art supplies before walking over to her mother, "Make it five and I'll do the dishes," the girl said with a playful and hopeful smile as she tied the apron around her waist.

"No deal, it's your night anyway,"

With a pout, Sabine headed towards the diner.

Before following her daughter, Hera looked back at the painting she had been working on.

It was a beautifully detailed painting of a small cottage surrounded by a field of flowers and behind it was an unfinished batch of trees.

The scenery almost seemed... familiar.

Shaking her head of the thoughts, Hera closed the garage door to get back to work.

A tan and white castle stood proudly deep in the woods of the kingdom.

In a room of the royal castle, Hera was pacing nervously, while Kanan sat on a chair with his head in his hands

"Kanan this is insane, we can't just sit here. We have to fight back" Hera said as she came to a pause in her pacing.

"What's the point? The only one who can save us is angry at us" Kanan sighed, his hands falling on his lap, "What was I thinking telling him a secret that big? I should have known he wouldn't be able to handle it. It's my fault he was kidnapped,"

Hera walked up next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, gripping tight in a show of support, "This is not your fault. Ezra needed time to let the truth sink in, it wasn't his or your fault that he was kidnapped,"

"You heard Vizago, the curse is coming and the only one who can defeat it is missing" Kanan shrugged off her hand and stood from his position "It's hopeless, he may not even come with us. Face it Hera, we lost him again!"

Kanan marched away towards a balcony to stare out into the forest.

Hera marched after him "I refuse to believe that, we lost him once and then he found us, remember?" Kanan only glanced at her, in his mind he was trying to push away the memory before it could resurface.

"We must have faith that he will find us again, we have to trust that he'll find his way back home." Hera reached over and grasped his hand, Kanan snapped from his trance and wrapped his arms around Hera, and she embraced him back

"I do trust him, but for how long? How long are we going to be apart from each other?"

Hera pulled away and grasped his face, "We will find each other again too, I believe it. You must have faith too"

Kanan looked into the green eyes of his wife before pulling her into a kiss. They remained in each other embrace with no intentions of ever leaving the others side

Suddenly Hera pulled away, a look of fear in her eyes.

"What is it?" Kanan asked the ringing of the emergency bell came from the lookout tower. Hera's gaze remained frozen on the forest in front of them.

Kanan looked out into the woods to see a large cloud of purple and green smoke running through the woods, swallowing everything in its way. Dragons and birds flew in the sky at breakneck speed trying to outrun the cloud.

"No" Kanan whispered

"It's the-" Hera was cut off by a knight in the lookout tower as he rang the bell louder and screamed,

"The Curse! It's HHHEEEERRREEE!"

Kanan got out of his police car in front of a dollar store.

Another police officer and a man in a mechanic uniform were having a small argument in front of a pick-up truck that was poorly parked.

Kanan sighed once she recognized the two men. Officer Kallus, his co-worker, and Zeb, his sort of friend.

"The tags don't expire until tomorrow," Zeb said, the anger he was desperately trying to suppress was very easy to hear.

"The tags expire this afternoon," Officer Kallus replied before handing Zeb the ticket he had been writing, "Maybe you should pay more attention to the date on the calendar instead of the bottom of your wine bottles,"

With a growl, Zeb smacked the ticket out of the police's hand, "I'm not paying for this, you slimy-"

"Who-okay!" Kanan stood in between the two men before anything else could happen, "You two have been at each other's throats for years,"

"Officer Jarrus, if you please. I was here first," Kallus said with an annoyed look, "I will handle this,"

"Obviously you're not handling this, you two cannot keep making every one of your interactions personal,"

"What's going on here?!"

Everyone turned to see a man with long white-blonde hair, dark clothing, and hazel eyes approaching the group. Other occupants surrounding the scene saw the man and quickly walked away or went back to the store.

"Mr. Mayor," Kanan greeted trying to remain calm with his ever-growing headache, "Everything's being handled, just a little-"

"Here I was, on my afternoon walk and I have to do work on break," the Mayor said cutting off Kanan. The Mayor turned towards the muttonchop wearing officer, "Officer Kallus, excellent work on handling the situation. You're dismissed,"

Kallus smirked before handing a newly written ticket to Zeb who snatched it out of his hand with a snarl. With no other words, Kallus walked away and the Mayor turned towards Kanan.

"Officer Jarrus, you need to work on your timing and be at the scene of the crime before it gets too out of hand,"

Kanan bit his tongue before he could say it wasn't a crime. Instead, he put on his stoic mask and replied in a crisp voice, "Yes, sir"

The Mayor nodded before a cruel smirk came across his face, "Since you're the only officer still here, you'll be the one to clean it up. I expect a full report on this situation by tomorrow evening," Kanan's mask fell in a look of protest but he didn't say anything. The Mayor raised his eyebrow, "Is that a problem?"

"No sir," Kanan responded quickly trying to pull back his mask, knowing that even though Zeb was in his truck, he was still listening.

"Let me guess," the Mayor moved closer to Kanan's car and saw a single red rose lying on the passenger's seat, "You were planning on visiting, your mother grave again. Weren't you?" Kanan didn't say anything but his eyes showed a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "Well if you can't balance grief with reality then maybe you shouldn't have this job," the mayor sais lightly tapping Kanan's L.P.D. badge, "Have I made myself clear?

Kanan sighed before nodding, "Yes, sir,"

"Good," the Mayor's smile quickly dropped into a sneer, "Now get back to work,"

Without another word, the Mayor walked away. Everyone who was within 3 feet of his path immediately backed away.

Kanan stood there for a moment before walking towards his car. As he started up the engine, Zeb tapped on his window. Without looking at him, Kanan lowered the window halfway.

"You okay, mate?"

Kanan looked over at him with his usual stoic expression, "I'm always okay," he stated monotonously before rolling up the window and driving away. Zeb watched silently before crumpling the ticket into a ball and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

Of course, Kanan was fine. He was fine because it was the same crap every day, and nothing was going to change.

The purple smoke swallowed everything in sight. The entire forest began to disappear within the curse.

Dragons and birds flew as fast as they could in the air and small critters ran as fast as they could on the ground but neither one could outrun the terrible darkness.

Families all throughout the kingdom were huddled together as the curse tore through the kingdom as well, causing everything and everyone to disappear.

Kanan and Hera watched helplessly as the curse began to approach them. They both held the other tightly in a silent promise of never letting go.

As Hera buried her face into the king's shoulder, Kanan whispered softly to himself, "Ezra, wherever you are, find us,"

Finally, the curse surrounded them and everything in the Enchanted Forest disappeared.

Nighttime draped over Lothal. Stars filled the night sky and the town was asleep.

In the Lothals hospital, there was a young boy lying asleep and alone.

The teenager was lying comatose in the ICU room, a ventilator was attatched to him as well as an IV and many other medical equitments that will keep him alive as he slept.

His hair was a dark black that almost seemed to be a shade of blue.

For as long as anyone in town could remember, the teen had been lying asleep in the hospital.

The word was that years ago, the Mayor had been on an afternoon stroll when he found a car crashed inside a ditch. The couple in the front seats had already been dead before the ambulance arrived, but the child sitting in the back was still breathing.

It was rumored that the boy was seven-years-old when the Mayor found him,ithers sat it was only months ago but no one was for sure. It was the Mayors decree that the hospital was not to give out any details of the boys predictament until he woke up and explained his parents tragic death.

If he woke up at all that is.

All this time, the boy showed no signs of waking up at all.

Many had given up hope that the boy would wake up, the Mayor was first but one doctor held onto hope. So they kept him here, under constant supervision but throughout the years, everything remained the same.

Until tonight.

One of his fingers twitched.

So here's part 1... again.

I promise, this is the last time that I'll redo this story. Cross My Heart!

The other chapters will be along soon, I hope.