Take my hand

As she drew closer to the light, she noticed it was actually coming from a door. She stopped in her tracks, turning back one last time and on seeing  nothing but darkness, she kept moving forward until she finally reached the door. Taking a deep breath, Cruella reached for the door but paused as another bright light began to form beside her. She studied it patiently waiting to see what would happen next but instead, a human figure began forming and soon she could see clearly whom it is.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jason asked with a frown.

"Jason!" Cruella exclaimed and hugged him as tight as possible. "I knew you would save me, thank you Jason," she said as a tear escaped from her eyes, down her cheek. Jason hugged her back with a sad expression. Technically speaking,  he didn't save her. He let her down, he let her get hurt ...he failed.

"Jason stop saying that..it wasn't your fault." Cruella said causing Jason to look at her a bit confused.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean by what do I mean? Stop saying you let me down. It wasn't your fault I got hurt, it wasn't your fault at all so stop blaming yourself."

"Cru-Cruella...that-that was my thought. I-I never said anything out loud." Jason stuttered.

"What do you mean? I heard you loud and clear," Cruella frowned and Jason's eyes widened in surprise.

"You-you can read minds!" he almost shouted.

Cruella sighed as she was already beginning to believe this magic stuff. What she doesn't understand now is how she got here.

"Jason, where I'm I?" She asked looking around at the void, causing Jason to frown as he remembered why he came here in the first place. Since his soul left his body, he's been with Cruella and when her soul left her body, he followed it through it's door and it ended up here. He knew what that meant and decided to wait until the crossover period which took longer than expected.

"This is a cross void in Neville, for supernatural beings. You-your soul is about to cross over to the afterlife."

"What's Neville? and what afterlife? Are-are you saying I'm.." Cruella's eyes went wide as she couldn't even complete her sentence. The realization was maddening. She can't die now, not that she enjoys being bullied or staying home alone but she still didn't want to die. She still had a long way to go in life. She still had a lot of unaccomplished things on Earth. She is yet to graduate from high school, she's yet to fall in love and have her first kiss, get into college, graduate with honors degree, make her mom proud, get married and watch her kids grow up and have their own kids as well and live happily ever after..these are the enthusiastic thoughts she's had since first grade but now she's never going to experience any of them...how is this even possible? All she did was take few lashes of that spinny wip, did she bleed that much?

This made her conclude that all Elsa told her were false. If she was some kind of superhuman, wouldn't she have healed herself? or even still escaped from that evil woman named Azula?

"You're not dead Cruella, but you're dying and you need to go back. Neville is our home. The original home of all supernatural beings and when we die, our souls come here for final resolution before moving on to the afterlife." Jason said snapping her out of her disoriented thoughts.

"

"How do I go back? I don't wanna..wait... if I'm dying, then how are you here?, is this some kind of magic teleportation?" Cruella asked stressing the word teleportation. Jason's face fell at her question.

"I-I'll explain everything when you get back, take my hand Cruella." Jason said stretching out his hand.

***

"What's going on!" Nila asked even though she knew the answer. "Cruella stay with us, please stay with us! You-you can't leave...not now!" She begged watching Ethan trying to revive her with an awakening spell.

"Where's Estella! We need her!" Ethan yelled as he tried unsuccessfully again to revive her.

"She's not back yet..she's not here," Nila replied. She couldn't loose her daughter this way. She already sacrificed her powers to protect her 5 centuries ago so she couldn't afford loosing her..not in this life.

"it's not working..why wouldn't she wanna come back?"

"It's because of Jason, somehow her subconscious knows he's dead and she doesn't wanna come back knowing she's the reason he died," Estella's voice jolted the two.

Ethan quickly moved aside giving her space to do her magic. if anyone could bring her back it'll definitely be Estella She immediately placed her hands on Cruella's chest , closing her eyes to meditate

"What are you doing?" Nila asked feeling a bit uncomfortable but Estella ignored her and continued mediating. Palena had given her clues on how to heal Cruella forcefully but before she could start chanting her spell, Cruella's eye lids opened.

"Jason!" She gasped trying to stand up but fell back on the bed due to her wounds.

"Cruella stay down..I need to heal you first," Estella said and started chanting her spell.

While she did this, Cruella stayed frozen on the bed, not because of the spell but because of the lady before her. She didn't even notice her wounds healing up, she was focused on the lady before her..

Nila on the other hand was cleaning her teary eyes.

She couldn't bear loosing her daughter, that the thought alone already made her shed baby tears.

"Done, now you just need to rest." Estella said and made to leave but Cruella grabbed her hand suddenly feeling stronger.

She parted her lips but closed then back, unable to say anything, she just looked at Estella as if her eyes carried the words her mouth couldn't utter.

"Rest sister, we'll talk later," Estella said understanding her expression and Cruella obediently left her hand, laying back on the bed. Her mind drifted to the void...to Jason.

(IN THE VOID.)

"How do I go back? I don't wanna..wait, if I'm dying, then how are you here? Is this some kind of magic teleportation?" she asked stressing the word teleportation. Jason's face fell at her question.

"I-I will explain everything when you get back, take my hand," he said stretching out his hand to her.

"I want to know now. I'm tired of being in darkness, I wanna know everything... about magic and what I really am. What that terrifying creature that almost killed me is and who that woman is as well. How old am I? why is Maggie all of a sudden super strong and what's with her red eyes? Why did Mr Bradson really give me a guardian because other notorious students didn't get one. I want to know everything Jason, please." Cruella begged, pouring her heart out.

"There isn't enough time to explain it all.."

"The make it short," she cut in. "At least tell me something, anything."

Jason gave a long sigh, shutting his eyes a bit before opening them again and gazing intently into her eyes.

"I'm dead Cruella, that's why I'm here, to bring you back. You're not supposed to die now, it's because your body is weak, your powers are trying to surface but your body can't take them and that's why you're here. The moment you walk through that door, you'll be gone forever. So please, take my hand and I promise when you get back, you'll get your answers to all your questions." Jason said still holding her gaze.

Cruella couldn't help but laugh out loud like a maniac that even Jason became confused as to why she's laughing. She wasn't laughing because she felt what he said is funny but because she's trying her best not to believe he's actually dead. She's laughing because part of her wishes it's only a joke. She can't possibly go back now knowing that he died in saving her...she can't possibly go back knowing that she's the cause of all these. If she had listen to Elsa before now, she might have prevented all these from happening and so she had to laugh, hoping that she would open her eyes and find herself in her room, like nothing ever happened and Jason would be alright.

"You're joking right? Tell me you're joking," she said, her laughter slowly turning into sobs.

"I'm sorry Cruella, you just have to move on without me. you have Ethan now to guide you.."

"I don't want any guardian!" she cut him off. "I want you Jason, I need you." Cruella said with pleading eyes. She really hoped her pleading would bring him back..who knows what other power she possessed

"I'm sorry Cruella but I can't go back..I don't know why I haven't crossed over yet but I can't go back to my body. Ripper really drained the life out of me." Jason said shifting his gaze to the empty dark void.

"We're running out of time Cruella, please take my hand," he added stretching his already stretched hands further.

"Be-because of me," Cruella muttered.

"What?" he asked cocking his head to the side which made him look so adorable but Cruella couldn't register that because of the pain she felt.

"Yo-you died because of me, it's all my fault. You..sacrificed yourself to save me..it's all because of me." She said, now crying like a baby.

Jason pulled her closer with his stretched arm, engaging her in a bear hug. He knew they both had little or no time left so he couldn't wait for her to take it willingly anymore.

"Stop crying, maybe it's for the best." he said, rubbing her back to calm her down a bit and that somehow worked. "Now it's time to go home Cruella," he added and before she could even say anything else, a bright light surrounded them both and his face slowly disappeared till she could see nothing but the light and then total darkness before her eye lids opened, bringing her to the real world.

***

Cruella wiped her teary eyes as she remembered the void . She closed her eyes , trying to force herself to sleep but she just couldn't stop thinking about him.

She needs to visit Elsa, she needs to know more about supernatural beings and about her true origin. She needs to know if there's anyway to bring him back because she couldn't imagine staying in this world without him. She will only feel nothing but guilt.. blaming herself for his death over and over again. But she still needs her energy back if she wants to do any of these. She would rest for now and when she's strong enough, she'll find a way to bring him back.

**

(Black Forest)

Cecilia could be seen fighting Rippers who tried to invade the Forest. Most of her people were dead but she didn't care. Her powers were given to her specially to protect the black forest. It wasn't just the home of the Balen's but also the seat of all magic. Most clans have tried to invade black forest to possess this powers for themselves but Cecelia got rid of them all.

Little did she know that today's attack wasn't at all an attack but a set up to grab a body of a Balen.

Even though Azula had no body, the fact that she's still alive was enough to control the Rippers to bid her will and so while Cecilia was distracted fighting four Rippers, another ripper grabbed a Balen dead body and left the black forest to the Grutina's.

It brought the body to the witch tower as they called it , where Azula's head was kept.

"Good boy," Azula said as Zia picked the body and placed it on a flat long table. She took a bottle which contains an ancient necromancers blood stolen from the Irish king of 700BN (Before Neville), till now no one knows about the Grutina's possessing this and no one will. Zia picked up Azula's head and placed it close to the body

She opened the bottle, dropped 3 drops of the blood into Azula's mouth and began chanting a dark resurrection spell.

"With the blood of the necromancer, rise and take your new form" She said this 3 times and at the third, the body began forming and joining with Azula's head. Azula screamed in pain as the process was a painful one. Outside the witch tower, Azula's painful screams could be heard and one would think Zia was torturing her.

***

(D'VILA'S RESIDENCE)

Cruella sat on the couch opposite Estella. She couldn't believe her eyes. They were all waiting for Nila to start explaining, all except Ethan who went to check up on Maggie.

Nila came to the living room and sat beside Cruella as she knew Estella wouldn't want to be close to her.

"So, are you going to tell her or should I?" Estella asked rudely. All she felt was hatred towards this woman called her mother. No matter her reason, it isn't enough to justify what she did to them. She took away 500yrs of their life and that's something a simple apology can never fix.

Nila nodded, placing a box on the center table.

"I'll start now." She said taking a deep breath. The door came open and everyone's attention was fixed on the door. Cruella's jaw dropped when she saw someone she wasn't expecting to see for another two years.

"Xavier?"