EP.171|A Healer's Kiss

Freddie looked up at the sky aimlessly, her thoughts drifting back to that mysterious woman from years ago.

A young Freddie was being carried on the back of the healer as she walked through town "I thought I would meet the demon first but I guess order doesn't mean anything to the Gods and Goddesses." she muttered, she looked up at Freddie "you are adorable, I'll give you that."

"You remind me of your mother, she was just like you when you were little," she noticed Freddie's eyes fluttering open "but those eyes, those are from Facilier."

"You know...my parents...?" Freddie yawned, she was still weak. "I know a lot of things, Freddie, especially about you and friends," she answered.

"I don't have friends...all I have is Voodoo..." Freddie had a sad look in her eyes. "For now, but I promise, you're gonna meet the best people when your older, and the love of your life." she moved Freddie's hair behind her ear.

"That would be nice...I remember my dad's stories about him and my mother...like one year on Valentine's day, her birthday, he decorated the entire house with white, pink, and red roses. He said he's never seen her happier in his entire life." Freddie smiled softly, she wanted that with her future partner.

"It'll take a while, but once you meet him, you two will be inseparable," she promised, putting Freddie down. "Miss, why did you save me?" Freddie asked, holding on to the woman's hand as they continued walking.

"You're a very special girl Freddie," she replied, Freddie looked down, the only person who ever gave her this much affection was her parents.

It was different.

In a good way.

"Miss, I don't have a lot of money, I won't be able to pay you back," Freddie mumbled. "Who said you had to pay me back?" she crouched down to Freddie's height "I'm doing this because you needed help."

Freddie's eyes were glued to her feet, she didn't want to look at her, not that Freddie was ashamed of the woman, she was worried the woman was ashamed of her.

"Freddie," she cupped Freddie's small hands "did you know, there was a small tribe years ago that had the strength of a thousand gods and goddesses."

"There was?" Freddie tilted her head.

"Yep, they say they could flatten the mountains with one punch!" she exclaimed, punching the air.

"You gotta take me to go see them Miss! They sound amazing!" Freddie's eyes glistened with the moonlight.

"I have to leave soon Freddie, but one day, when you find me," she kissed her forehead, Freddie never knew complete peace until that moment, it was like that one kiss took all her problems away "we'll travel the world."

Freddie woke up the next morning, trying her best to remember who saved her and how she ended up in a dressing up on a cot

"You're Freddie, aren't you?" Peggy asked, approaching Freddie slowly, the small girl flinched.

Freddie grabbed the dagger from her pocket and pointed it at Peggy, "I-I-I-I'll stab you!" she warned.

Preggy chuckled and walked closer "we're friends of your parents, my name is Peggy, my husband, Alex, and I are your godparents."

Freddie looked at her wrist, she remembers her mother writing down Peggy and Alex's names on her, telling Freddie that they would protect her.

"Y-You kne-knew my mom?" Freddie stuttered. Peggy nodded, "yeah, you look so much like Acadia."

"Were you...the one...who healed me?" she asked, hoping the answer was yes. "Heal you? Wait..." her eyes turned pink, she looked at Freddie's forehead to see a small symbol in the shape of a sun.

"Well, I'll be damned...she was right," Peggy mumbled. "I didn't heal you, but the person who did put me in charge of keeping you safe."

"Miss Peggy..." Freddie muttered getting the dancer's attention "yes?"

"You...you won't leave me...right?"

Peggy smiled and hugged the little girl "of course not, I'll never leave you."

"FREDDIE! Hello!" Operetta yelled, snapping her fingers in Operetta's face.

Freddie snapped out of her thoughts, coming back to the real world "what? Did I say something stupid?"

"No, but you kept muttering a bunch of stuff about some healer, are you sure you're okay?" Operetta questioned.

"Yeah! I'm great." Freddie smiled, trying to throw Operetta off her trail. Operetta scoffed "okay, my paternal instincts are kicking in, and they're telling me you're lying."

"When I was little, this lady, I can't remember her name for the life of me, saved me when my parents died. I can only remember that she told me I would find great friends and that I would grow up to be a great woman."

Operetta stopped her in her tracks "did she have white and black hair, a white cape that covered her eyes, and the most calming voice ever?"

Freddie nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"I saw her too." Operetta replied. Freddie's eyes widened "thank the gods and goddesses! I thought I was going crazy!"

"When did you see her?" Freddie asked hastily. "I think I was 8, maybe 9 when I did." Operetta recalled that fateful day.

Operetta walked past her mother's laboratory to see her cooking yet another potion and decided to peek in.

"1 drop of dragon spit." Christine read, using the eyedropper to add the dragon spit "stir till pink." she continued to read.

"Mom," she got Cristine's attention "whatcha doing?"

"Well," she looked at Operetta, while stirring the potion "the other day I got a phone call from Yzma. She needs me to make some weird potion that turns a person into a Llama."

Operetta giggled "um...why?"

"Gods if I know. She said something about a guy named Kuzco." Christine laughed, pouring the potion into a vile, she then put the vile in a small white box, putting the words POTIONS BY CHRISTINE in fancy lettering.

She whistled loudly, opening the window to allow an owl to fly in and pick up the box before flying away.

"Mom," Operetta sat on top of the counter "why'd you give up singing to make potions? You have an amazing voice."

"As fun as singing was, it kept me away from my friends and family, especially you and Phantom, so I decided to give up singing and travel the world with your dad," Christine explained, putting away her materials.

"You and dad went around the world?" Operetta swung her legs back and forth.

"Yeah, after we met, he wasn't able to go on tour with us so I said goodbye to music and hello to love. Every month we would go to a new place." Christine smiled, taking a bottle of goblin eyes off the counter and in the overhead cabinet.

"Sounds magical!" Operetta's eyes glistened with excitement.

"It was, I love every minute of it! But, after years of traveling, and finally winning the Hero and Villain war, we settled down in the Villain Isles," Christine tapped Operetta's little nose "then you were born."

Operetta grinned, "do you ever miss singing?"

"Nope, there's nothing that can match the kind of feeling I get when I think about my life with you and your father." Christine hugged Operetta tightly.

Their sweet moment was interrupted by an owl flying in with a letter, Christine took the letter from the owl and began to read.

"Dear Christine Phantom, we chancellors at the National Potions Accostation on the Villain Isles have noticed your excellent achievements over the years and would like to reward you by inviting you to be a chancellor."

Christine's eyes widened, "PHANTOM!!!" she yelled as her husband came running "is everything okay?"

"I'm gonna be a chancellor!" Christine tackled him in a hug. It took Phantom a minute to realize what was happening, but one look at his wife's excited face was all he needed to know that this was big.

"As in The National Potion Association?" Phantom asked Christine, nodded quickly, tears brimming her eyes.

Phantom picked her up and spun her around "my wife's gonna be a chancellor!! I can now say my wife's a chancellor!"

"What's a chancellor?" Operetta asked, hopping down from the counter.

"A chancellor is someone who's very important, especially in the NPA, it's the highest honor anyone can get!" Christine explained, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

She continued to read the letter "they want me to take the final test on November 5th."

"That's only 3 days away." Phantom noted. "It takes at least a day and a half to get there!" Christine placed the letter down and began packing.

"I'll help mom back down here, why don't you get started getting packed too." Phantom suggested Operetta nodded and skipped upstairs.

She pulled out her empty suitcase and began folding her clothes, she grabbed a pretty sundress and looked in the mirror.

Her parents said she looked so pretty in dress, it even reminded Christine of how she looked when she was younger.

Operetta then noticed her red hair "why is it always red..." she muttered, "doesn't make sense, mom and dad don't have red hair...so why is mine's red."

"It's because of your different Operetta." Phantom said, standing at the doorway. "Why do I have to be different?" Operetta saddened.

"It's not a bad thing, sweetie, not a lot of people are born with bright red hair," Phantom told her. "Yeah, but at school, everyone knows me as the girl with red hair," Operetta mumbled.

"So? Would you rather have boring regular hair or amazing red hair." Phantom wagered Operetta sighed "red hair."

"Exactly," Phantom kissed her forehead "now let's finish packing."

Once Operetta finished packing, her, Christine, and Phantom were on their way to the NPA's HomeBase in Willesden, they had a long way to go.

"Is she asleep?" Phantom whispered, pointing to his daughter who laid asleep on his wife's lap. "Yeah, let her sleep." Christine smiled, running her fingers through Operetta's red hair.

Christine sighed, "why did Operetta have to be the one she chose?"

"You know why Christine, it's not like we could do anything to stop it." Phantom sighed as well.

"But she's 9, Phantom, she's 9 years old and has to deal with the fact that she's one of the 10 people who might save our world one day." Christine stated, as a mother, she didn't want to put all that pressure on her daughter.

"She'll be okay."

Phantom and Christine looked to the other side of the train compartment to see a woman who had a beautiful golden honey skin, white hair with black streaks, plump semi pink lips. She couldn't see the woman's eyes because the hood shielded them.

"You could warn us when you're coming!" Christine scolded. "I could," she smiled smugly "but that wouldn't be fun, now would it?"

"Still the same as always I see." Phantom muttered. "You know I'll never change." she winked at it, her eyes then focused on Operetta.

"She's grown up a lot since I last saw her. The red hair grew in nicely." she played with Operetta's red hair.

"You haven't seen her since her birth, that was the day...of the bequeathing..." Christine looked away from her.

"I didn't want to bequeath, Operetta, believe me I didn't, but Belinda...she..." she started, Christine nodded sadly. "I know, but why...I spent my entire life trying to make sure she didn't go through what I did."

"But it was bound to happen, Christine." Phantom rested his hand on Christine's shoulder. "If she's right, then Operetta...she'll," Christine began to choke up, her eyes tearing up.

She hugged Christine tightly, assuring her everything was gonna be okay "don't worry, she's gonna find someone who'll protect her as his life depends on it real soon."

"What do you mean?" Phantom tilted his head like a confused puppy. She stood at the door of the train car "demons' don't let their mates get hurt," she opened the door "and on the rare chance they do get hurt, the demon will demolish their attacker."

She closed the door and left, leaving a small trail of white and black dust when she walked.

She stepped off the train, her feet hitting the slightly hot desert sand "now, where are the little snake boy and the blueberry?"

Back on the train, Christine noticed Operetta waking up "where you talk to someone Mommy?" she rubbed her eyes groggily.

"Yeah, and an old friend came by a couple of minutes ago, you'll meet her one day," Christine replied. "She sounds...nice..." Operetta laid back down on Christine's lap.

"Yeah, she's really nice." Christine smiled, raking her hands through Operetta's hair.

Operetta snapped out of her flashback when she felt something hit her leg, she looked down to see Ben in his lion form, but he looked smaller and thinner than usual.

"BEN BEASTLY!! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!!" Briar's voice boom throughout the camp. "Run!" Operetta picked up Ben and held him close to her chest as the trio began to run away from the Briar's vines.

"Hey, Ben! Ben! Ben wake up!" Operetta yelled as Ben gumbled and turned away. "Ben! I didn't come in this murder house just for you to not answer me!"

She looked behind her to see Briar's vines advancing, Freddie looked ahead, they were soon going to reach a dead end.

Freddie looked at her fist, saying a silent prayer to the gods and goddesses above.

Fist don't fail me now!

She slammed her fist into the ground, shattering some of the earth and Briar's vines.

Freddie smirked to herself. Maybe I do have inner strength after all.

~A/N~

So important news!! I have descided NOT to go through with a second arc after this one.

This is because of 2 things

1) I love the way this book is gonna end and starting another arc would complicate things.

2) I want to get started on the Twisted Tale series. Especially my first story! I think u'll love it.

Stay Sweet,
Sugar_And_Spice125 💕