"Will she help us?" A young woman's voice asked insistently.
She looked down at the prone girl, who remained unresponsive to all of the movement that was happening around her. The silver haired villainess looked so innocent in her slumber. She laid on her side, her breathing evident by the rising and falling of the arm that crossed her chest, her hand resting under her head. The other lay away from her, her palm laying upward. This caused the other woman to frown. She did not like how the silver haired witch was so lax, not bothered by the mishaps she let behind in her escape.
"She has no choice," the other person, a young man, answered her. He was making himself comfortable, trying to shake out the instability that mirror travel usually caused. Only those who were well adept in magic could perform the task, but such skill could only mitigate the worst of the risks. He, too, took to studying the villainess. His hatred for her had not been tempered by time. In fact, it had reignited when their world began to seemingly unravel after their happy ending.
When they had executed the villainess, they were so happy that they would finally begin the next chapter of their lives. Her family had long since been absolved of her crimes, working behind the scenes with the crown prince to bring punishment to the evil girl. They collected evidence of her misdeeds through the testimonies of the other students at her academy. Her own brother was only all too happy when it came to knocking his sister off of her pedestal. When they had to confront her during the winter ball, everyone was tense. They were not certain that they would even be able to carry out their plans as the villainess was always able to manipulate herself out of most punishments.
Not this time.
With the backing of the majority of nobility, the crown prince and his beloved stood side by side as they condemned the villainess for her actions. He did not take any joy in her anger and hurt but felt satisfaction when she was imprisoned and soon excited for her more malicious crimes. That was suppose to be the beginning of their new lives. Having his beloved take refuge to heal after such a heavy event. He took to apologizing to their citizens for the offenses committed by the foolish girl, and they began their campaign to have the public be accepting of his courtship with his dear girl.
Then it began to happen.
It started with his knight's sword...disappearing.
The poor man was unable to fight to his fullest capacity. Paiges and squires were able to best him from time to time in duels. Something that had long since proved to be impossible. He had spoken to him to get to the bottom of his issue, soon being subjected to his aggravation. When he tried to get him to calm down and explain what was the cause of his supposed dry spell, he would not answer. He only told him that he would take care of it. Worried, he asked the other knights to get to the bottom of his friend's issue. He heard strange talk about him being more pale. Heard how he would forget how to properly put on his armor. Heard how he was getting more and more distracted in practice.
Then he saw it. He saw how the sword fell in an arc, something that has happened many times. Only this time, he saw the blade shiver in the air for a second, becoming incorporeal before slamming into the shield of the opposing side in practice. Immediately he stopped the duel wanting to get to the bottom of it. He truly believed that there had been evident foul play, but nothing came of his investigation. It did not just end there for the well esteemed knight. His sword became halved. It did not break in half. Half of it just vanished one day, as if it was never whole.
His own beloved was dealing with some strange phenomenon as well. She had accidentally offended one of the attending noble ladies at a tea party later in the year, months after the death of the wretched villainess. She was speaking to the other women there, many still making sure to keep her comfortable after her ordeal. She then introduced herself to one of the women there, something she had always done to make sure that everyone could participate in the festivities. She realized something was wrong when everyone had become silent. The other woman had raised her eyebrows in surprised, her teacup halfway to her lips. Lowering the porcelain cup, she replaced it on its plate.
Clearing her throat. "You've already met me miss," she informed her.
The other woman felt her face flush in embarrassment. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" In her hurry, she misplaced her own cup and spilled the lukewarm contents on her gloved hands. There was an awkward silence that would be periodically punctuated by silent murmurings.
"It's alright," the other woman belatedly reassured her. "You've been through a lot during the last few years. It makes sense that you may not be able to keep your wits about you."
Not too long ago, that very sentence would have been accompanied by a sneer as she tried to navigate the world of higher nobles after spending most of her life as a countess. But she saw the genuine worry in the other's eyes that she did not take any offence. And yet, it did not end there. There were other incidences. The high priest was unable to perform a high level exorcism in a cursed part of the forest. The mercenary was ambushed and became heavily injured from the following skirmish.
The good fortune that the lady was able to bless them with was fading.
Even her own parents were affected. They would spent countless of days enjoying a stress free day and now, her mother was unable to enjoy unexpected perks on her daily outing to a famous bakery and her father would also be afflicted by two-faced business partners who managed to steal business dealings from him. Her own brother almost lost his life at sea on one of his many voyages.
What was going on?
Soon rumors spread that maybe the lady of the kingdom was not as lucky as she proclaimed herself to be. Maybe all of her good fortunes we're nothing more than coincidences. Using the knowledge of the most powerful magician, they were able to pinpoint that the beginning of the misfortune could be traced back to the day the villainess was condemned. For some reason, it seemed as if their world began to shift. In what direction, they did not know, but there was something that had been undone. And because of that undoing, they were all affected.
That began their journey to finding a way to negate whatever misfortune that woman had befell them. It had hurt they lady so much knowing that she had disregarded her morals concerning human life so that she could spare her friends the bidding of that horrible woman only to still be affected by her. The crowned prince was nothing short of livid seeing the distress this had brought up on his beloved. Incensed, he was determined to be freed of the wretched girl's influence once and for all. Then an oracle showed them what had became of her.
Instead of being told where to find her sniveling spirit so that the high priest could exorcise it into nothingness, they were made privy to her new life in a different world. One where she had friends with skin of darker complexion, making him wary if she found been in contact with more being of darkness. This became more of a worry when they saw that her "brother" was one of the very being from their world. Thus gave them more validity that she had to be the reason for their bad luck.
"So," gritted out an infuriated prince. "She not only caused us a headache when she was plaguing our lives, she now lived unfettered in a new world just enjoying her own paradise?"
"She will not get her happy ending."
From that moment on, they worked in overtime to find a way to drag the villainess back into their world to pay for her new crimes. Accepting the fact that they may never be free of her, they decided that the best thing to do was imprison her instead. And this time, make her truly pay for all of her misdeeds. First, they tried to contact her through her dreams. But something was blocking them from seeing her. Some how, their messages were passing from their world to her own, but once they passed the barrier that separated them, they would disappear. They were not flitting about in her world absorbed by something or someone. She was not the one receiving them. Then they saw that she was not getting the images or visions.
Her darker friend, Iris, was.
They thought that they could use this avenue to get to the villainess. But they were unable to manipulate the girl. Something prevented them from going that far. Their next step was to try to appear in some way in her world. They tried by using reflective surfaces, like her mirrors and the like only to run into her overprotective "brother". They grew more and more frustrated as more of their world unraveled. The villainess's own brother developed an obsession with their beloved lady. He apologized, promising to become better, to get help. Instead he became depraved enough to attempt to kidnap the vulnerable woman.
He was currently under house arrest undergoing medical help.
Desperate, they rushed to find a solution. After months of trial and error, they finally found one. And now, they would be able to punish the villainess for all she had done. Now they just had to wait for her to wake up. The crowned prince wrapped his arms around his beloved, his presence and warmth reassuring her that this time, everything would be OK. Behind them, they heard the prone girl moan, shifting in the thin mattress from where she laid.
They watched, waiting for her to awaken so that she could forced to save them from their fate.