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"Hey! Where you going?" Merid called after his mum, as he and (Y/n) made their way out of the water.

Merid grabbed his cloak and and bow and ran after his mum, not noticing (Y/n) had slowed down behind him and started staring off again.

"Mum, come back." Merid tapped his mum on the back making her turn around and growl at him.

"Woah...uh..." Merid reached out to put a protective arm around (Y/n) only to see that she wasn't next to him.

Merid looked behind him and saw her standing a few feet away, looking around with a confused look on her face. He slowly made his way back to her while keeping an eye on his mum.

"(Y/n), are you alright?" He asked.

"Merid? How did we get into the forest? Why are we all wet?" She asked.

"What are you talking about, love? You're scaring me." He grabbed her shoulders in a tight grip.

A growl was heard behind them and (Y/n) turned and screamed.

"Bear!" She pointed, making Elinor snarl.

Merid threw his arm in front of (Y/n) and started to slowly back them away, as Elinor continued growling.

"What are you waiting for? Shoot it!" (Y/n) whispered.

"What are you talking about? I'm not shooting my mum!"

"You're mum?!"

Merid turned and faced his mum to try and get her to calm down.

"Mum, is that you?" He asked, extending his hand.

Elinor roared and raised her paw to attack them. Merid threw his arms around (Y/n) to shield her.

Elinor paused mid swipe and looked at her paw in disbelief. She stood back up on her hind legs.

"Uh...mum?" Merid turned around to face her. "You changed. Like you were a...I mean, like you were a bear on the inside."

"Ugh..." (Y/n) moaned, clutching her head.

"(Y/n)! Are you alright?" He asked, grabbing her cheeks.

"Yeah...I'm fine. My head just hurts for some reason."

"(Y/n)...something's happening to you." Merid said, slowly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just a minute ago, you couldn't remember why you were here. And you thought mum was a real bear."

"I-I did? I don't remember..." she said.

"It was like back at the witch's cottage. You spaced out. The same thing happened with my mum. She was acting like a real bear."

"Merid, I'm scared." (Y/n) confessed.

"I know, but I promise love, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He placed a kiss on her forehead.

Elinor looked at the two and smiled at seeing her son so protective over (Y/n). Suddenly, she heard a noise and looked behind them. Merid noticed her staring and turned around to see a wisp floating a few feet in front of them.

"A wisp." Merid whispered.

Elinor suddenly charged forward and tried to catch the wisp, but it disappeared before she could.

"Mum! Stop it." Merid called.

The wisp appeared above (Y/n)'s head and Elinor lunges at her.

"Mum, no!" Merid pulled (Y/n) aside just as Elinor's paws swiped at her.

Elinor continued chasing the wisp until it ran her into a tree.

"Jings, crivens, help ma boab." Merid muttered, and stomped over to his mother. "Mum, I know you're scared, you're tired, you don't understand, but we've got to keep our heads. Just calm down. Listen."

The three stood still and listened as whispers could be heard through out the forest. Eventually the wisps appeared behind them, making a trail that led into the forest.

"They'll show us the way." (Y/n) said.

...

The three followed the trail of wisps until they eventually came upon a stone arch that had a symbol carved into it. The symbol has two crossed axes, and was the same symbol on the ring the witch showed them.

"Mum, (Y/n), look."

Past the stone arch was an old abandoned castle that was severely broken.

"Why would the wisps bring us here?" (Y/n) asked.

"I don't know love." Merid replied.

They walked up some steps that led into what used to be the castle.

"Well, whoever they were they've been gone for a long, long time-Ah!" (Y/n) screamed as the floor underneath her broke away and she fell down into a room.

"(Y/n)!" Merid screamed in fear, and Elinor whined after her.

"I'm alright! I'm fine." She reassure them.

"Stay there. I'm coming down." Merid said, and he leapt down the hole to where (Y/n) was.

He ran over to her and grabbed her face, checking her over.

"Are you sure you're not hurt? Nothing's broken?"

(Y/n) placed her hand over his. "Merid I'm ok, I promise." She reassured.

Merid sighed with relief and kissed her forehead and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Don't ever scare me like that again." He said.

"I'm sorry, I promise I won't do it again." She said with a small smile.

"Good, because if you do, I'm never letting you out of my sight again." He threatened, only half joking.

(Y/n) giggled at his overprotectiveness, before looking at their surroundings.

"It's, uh...a throne room." (Y/n) said, noticing the four stone chairs.

"You suppose this could've been the kingdom in that story you were telling me mum? The one with the princes." Merid called up to her.

Merid noticed a large stone that had four men carved into it, only the fourth one was cut off from the other three and had claw marks on the mans face.

"One, two, three...four." Merid counted. "The oldest. Split, like the tapestry."

Merid placed his hand on the stone and was met with a series of visions.

...

An image of Merid slicing the tapestry

Next an image of the oldest son separating his stone portrait from the others with an axe, and then growing a bear head.

And finally, the image of when (Y/n) and Merid first met, except everything faded away.

...

Merid gasped and drew his hand back.

"The spell. It's happened before." He realized.

He looked around and noticed the claw marks all over the walls and the hundreds of skeletons littering the room.

"Strength of ten men. Fate be changed. Changed his fate. Oh, no. The prince became..."

A growl was heard behind them and the two turned around to be met with a giant shaggy black bear.

"Mor'du." (Y/n) finished.

Elinor let out a roar which caused Mor'du to let out his own roar. Merid shot an arrow at him but it did very little. Merid and (Y/n) fell back and ran to the thrones. Merid fired another arrow as Mor'du crashed into one of the thrones.

The force caused (Y/n) and Merid to fall to the ground. Mor'du swiped at them again, but missed. They both started to climb the pile of rocks to make their way back to Elinor. Elinor stretched her paw out for them but they couldn't quite reach. Mor'du was still pawing at them. Then Merid picked (Y/n) up by her waist and threw her onto his mum who caught her and pulled her out. Merid took a deep breath and jumped as well and barely dodged Mor'du's claws as he swiped at him. Merid grabbed Elinor's paw and she pulled him out.

(Y/n) helped Merid up just as Mor'du's face came bursting out of the floor. Elinor stood behind a pillar of rocks and pushed them over onto him knocking him back. Merid and (Y/n) climbed onto Elinor's back and they ran out of the kingdom, and into the thick fog.

Through the fog, Merid saw that they passed some tall pillars Merid looked forward and saw that they were about to run into one. They all screamed as Elinor slid to a stop and rammed into the pillar. Thankfully, it didn't fall over. Once the fog cleared, they saw that they were back in the circle of tall stone pillars.

"Mum, (Y/n), we need to get back to the castle. If we don't hurry, you'll become like Mor'du. A bear! A real bear. Forever! And (Y/n), you'll lose your memory!"

"What?" She asked, shocked.

"I saw it. Every memory you have of us, you'll lose. You won't remember dad, or mum, or the boys or...me. I'll lose you forever!"

(Y/n)'s eyes widened in fear.

"'Mend the bond torn by pride.' The witch gave us the answer. The tapestry."

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