5. a-vu-rauge

It was the morning of the next day. After regrouping with the rest of the team yesterday, the eight had a rather normal evening. Currently, Merlin was in the downhill garden of the house, picking and placing carrots in a bucket. As he stood up after grabbing what he needed, he inhaled deeply and a peaceful smile came over his face as he reminisced about the almost-kiss he and Cinderella shared yesterday.

He could see a vision of her descending from the clouds and as he puckered his lips to kiss her, he was hit on the head by a carrot, courtesy of his current number one rival for the blonde's affections, Arthur.

"What was that for?"

"You sir, are sabotaging my relationship with Cinderella," Arthur responded with one hundred percent seriousness. "What relationship are you talking about?" 

Excalibur's ex-wielder then looked skyward proudly. "Cinderella and I share a secret. I won't tell you what it is but...it's a secret!"

"Well while your keeping secrets, I'm going to break my curse." Retorted the wizard.

"Your nothing without your spells, magic boy."

"And your nothing without Excalibur!" Merlin then gasped, realizing what this 'secret' might be. "Your not waiting for someone to pull it out for you. Are you?"

"How did you know?" Arthur cried as he grabbed his comrade by his collar. "Well is it true?" But before Arthur could respond, a net was thrown over them, no one in sight to save the pair.

*******

Meanwhile back at the house, Hans was hard at work in the kitchen, baking a sheet of doughnuts for Cinderella. After all, the way to a woman's heart was through her stomach.

Once he was finished, he brought the plate out to the girl of the hour, who was sitting on the sofa. "Ah, Hans! You shouldn't have!" She looked at the confections, her moth practically watering. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten a sweet.

"Something sweet for someone sweeter," the red-head replied as Cinderella took a bite out a blue-glazed doughnut, moaning at the taste as she chewed. "This is amazing!"

"Oh, it's nothing," he waved his hand at her. "Just let me know what you want. Anytime for the rest of your life. Do you like fondue?"

"Behold," the french accent of Jack cried as he came down the stairs into the living room. "Carved by the finest jewelers out of all the jewelers I know. Which is a lot." He then stopped in front of Cinderella and presented to her the single biggest diamond ring she had ever seen in her life. 

"Well this is another level of extreme," She inwardly snickered as Jack continued. "And it's yours, for absolutely nothing. Except maybe a kiss." At this attempt to charm her, the servant girl rolled her eyes playfully.  "That's very sweet and flattering Jack, but I can't accept it. I don't want any objects, just good intentions. Plus it would make me feel like I was scamming you."

However this statement seemed to go over his head. 'My intentions are more then good, they are surperb."

There conversation was cut short when they heard a nasally voice speaking over what sounded like a megaphone. "Testing, testing. 1,2. Testing, testing.. No don't push that you dolt." The person said. 

The three currently gathered int he living room looked around in confusion before looking out the window. Their stood a slimy looking prince on his horse, surrounded by a whole royal guard, and worst of all, Merlin and Arthur tied up at the front. "Attention, you hideous dwarfs!" The prince called, only to pull the mike away and ask himself, "Is is dwarfs with an 'f' or with a 'v'? I wanna use whatever's more offensive."

"Ah, it's that loser, Prince Average," Jack explained from within the house. "You know him?" Cinderella questioned.

"Heard that," Average piped in. "It's pronounced Avu-rauge!"

"Ah, please," Hans groaned, before weasel-like prince continued. "Inside your amateur's attempt at a facade of a sham, of a travesty of a veneer of a castle is a gorgeous, WANTED, criminal! I hereby command that all of you exit the premises and surrender post-haste. Fair to comply, and you will never see these two again," he gestured to his two hostages.

"Your have until 3. One!" he shouted and the soldiers fanned out. "Two! I lied. Charge," he shouted, the soldiers doing just that. Inside the house, Cinderella weighed her options and decided to go with the one that would give the best outcome to her friends. With that she threw open the front door and stepped out to meet Prince Average.

As soon as the soldiers saw her however, the stumbled and fell in a heap, only for the weasel prince, to step over them, his eyes fixated on the servant girl. That crone who came to him was right about her, although the photo didn't do her justice. "Am I who you want?" she asked him to which he responded hazily," Yes. Yes you are. Though I don't know if you're a person or a vision of  beauty. Some kind of angelic...thing with wings. Angelic wing thing."

Ignoring his statement, Cinderella continued on, though not before making some demands of her own. "I will come with you, but only after you release my friends."

"Do it! Do it!" Average screeched as a soldier removed the bindings on Merlin and Arthur, the two making their way back to the girls side as the prince continued to run his mouth. "Now here's the good news. It's my birthday, and you are going to be the bell of the ball!"

"While I'm humbled by the offer, really, I..." She was once again cut off by the Prince. "Oh, I wasn't offering, more like ordering. Prepare the lady's carriage," he told a nearby soldier.

"She said she doesn't want to go with you, Average," Merlin defended her.

"A-VU-RAUGE! Don't troll me troll."

"Uh, how rude," Cinderella spat as she marched toward the Prince, who apparently didn't get the memo. "I know, right. I couldn't agree more, subjects these days," however he made a grave mistake when he gripped her forearm, giving her a valid reason to finally deck Average in the face, sending him flying.

He was helped to his feet by two soldiers, as Cinderella glared at him and Merlin and Arthur laughed at his predicament. "Get her!" he growled, causing the guards to begin descending on the three who were having their own...issues.

"You hold off the guards, I'll get her out of here," Arthur told Merlin as the two played tug-o-war with Cinderella's arms. "No, I'm faster," Merlin argued. "You stay here and buy us time."

The two were snapped out the squabble as two guards sung their fists at them, sending them flying away towards the house. Just as they were about to get overwhelmed, a shield flew out in front of them, knocking the guards back. It boomeranged back to Hans, who caught it only for his weapon to pin him a wooden beam.

"Here's an idea," He hollered at the two. "Stop fighting, and fight!" The two then got their individual weapons tossed at the, Merlin's satchel, and Arthur's sword, courtesy of Jack. "What's the plan?" he asked. "Let's rescue Cinderella," Arthur replied, unsheathing his sword. 

"Like the old days guys," said Merlin as he prepared two spell cards, and Jack donned his invisibility cloak. As the soldiers charged at them, the 4/7's of the F7 leaped up in the air, Merlin being propelled by his lighting, and they each tackled a man to the ground. The battle commenced, and very quickly it turned in the dwarfs favor, they seemingly still retaining their battle skills.

"Get this over with, their just dwarfs," Average muttered in disappointment as he watched his men get decimated. Meanwhile behind him, while being held in place by two guards, Cinderella was having her own brainstorming session, finally connecting the dot's about the dwarfs true identities.

"Their fighting styles and weapons are to similar. Not to mention their clothes and names...gosh I really am dense sometimes. But now I have almost no doubt. The guys...are the Fearless Seven!" Her eyes widened at the truth, before coming to rest on Merlin. So they were under a curse, and that must be why they were coming on so strong in the flirting department. 

All of a sudden, the guard to her left lost his footing an fell, his lance appearing to fly up and knock the other out after a command of "Duck," was called out in a familiar french accent. When she was released, Jack appeared from under his cloak and signed for her to follow him.

Prince Average took note of this and promptly responded with, "Oh, hello guards. Taking a break? Well FYI, their getting away!" This sent a whole pack of men on Cinderella and Jack's tails. 

Merlin looked up from where he lay to see his friend and Cinderella running away as another guard prepared to toss a spiked-ball at them. To try and protect them, he reached for a spell, only to find his satchel empty. Rapidly thinking, he saw the bunny and an idea sparked. Merlin promptly threw a carrot at the spike-ball throwing guards head, and unknown to him, his fate was sealed at the wooden bunny tackled him.

"Yeah," he shouted in victory. "You just got Merlined!" His words instantly lost meaning however when the same guard hit the bunny at him like a baseball, sending them both through a wall into the house. 

Back with Cinderella and Jack, the two were running through a system of support beam for the houses front, the guards eventually getting stuck.Jack turned to laugh, but the girl grabbed his hand to continue running. With her height, they were able to jump over a sizeable gap onto another piece of rising land, until they were cornered on both ends by guards. Putting her brain to work, Cinderella snatched Jack's cloak and yelled to duck, both vanishing into thin air.

Back with Merlin, just as he was pulling himself out of the rubble, and invisible force flew on top of him, the removal of the cloak letting him see it was Cinderella and Jack. "I'm sorry, are you okay," the girl winced while still sitting on him, to which the wizard replied no.

Arthur and Hans rejoined the group then, the two blondes hopping of Merlin so he could stand as the lances closed in on them. "Um, gentlemen," Jack said while pushing Arthur forward. "he surrenders." However just when things looked most hopeless, Pino, Noki, and Kio busted through a wall in their robot to save them. Before long, the robot had decimated the guards and finished it's display by sticking a super-hero landing, complete with an explosion off to the side.

The celebrated to soon, as of all things, Average wheeled forward a FREAKING canon. "You've got to be kidding," Jack groaned as the prince continued to run his mouth. "Finally, the big guns. Thank you! FIRE!"

With two successive strikes, the robot was on the ground and Cinderella rushed to get them out, not realizing where she was standing. "Fire," Average commanded again, however this time it was on course to blow Cinderella's head off but just in the nick of time, Merlin pushed her out of the way as the two tumbled back, him landing on her side and the canon ball lodging itself in a support beam.

Realizing where he was, Merlin instantly jumped off of the girl, a blush blooming on both their faces. "Whoa, close. Uh, the canon ball, not you." However this excuse made Merlin take note of the ball's position and the waning stability of the front frame of the house as Average continued to rant.

"Time out! You almost blew her up, and she can't go to my party if you blow her up! Okay. Are we good? Good. Time back in." He then strode up to the group and yelled, "Surrender monsters!"

"Wait," Cinderella called, ready to surrender herself for the sake of her new friends. Just as she started to walk forward, she was held in place, and looking back she saw Merlin grasping her hand, shaking his head 'no'. He then walked in front of her, the other six following suit. They were...protecting her.

Merlin then, to everyone confusion, stepped backwards and two the side revealing the canon ball. Without warning he picked it up and hurled it at Average, getting a scream from the prince only the ball barely went three feet. But the damage was done.

The castle front of the home started to fall forward from it's plot much to the horror of everyone present. The wizard then kicked the front door open and yelled, "Everyone inside," as all eight of them dove through the door, leaving the frame to crash down.

By some miracle however, Average was left standing and unscathed as he glared at them all. "You messed with the wrong prince. There is nothing average about A-vu-rauge. I shall return! On Tuesday...no wait, let me check my calander...Thursday. I shall return Thursday," and with that he ran of leaving the gang of eight cheering. 

"We'll be waiting," said Jack.

"And ready," added Arthur.

"Arevederci," "Ciao for now," "Bye bye," taunted the triplets.

"You just got dwarfed. I don't know, Merlined might be better," said the wizard before Cinderella swept him up into a hug which left him wide eyed. She then took note of their audience, who promptly lifted their arms asking for a hug. The blonde nervously laughed and placed Merlin back on the ground, thinking about her actions.

"Maybe I do like him."

NOTE: Sorry for not writing out the full battle scene, but it made me feel overwhelmed considering everything that goes on, and the fact that the specifics have no bearing on the story. Speaking of which, I hope your enjoying it and practicing that o-so-crucial social distancing. Keep safe- Lulu

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