[IC] 🌠 Once Upon A Time 🌠(Concluded)

[KazAlkemi]

---

---

Cassiopeia Hood

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Team Genie
Skills:

---

---

Cassiopeia took out a few guards successfully during this fight, but nothing would compare to watching the chandelier fall and crush the remaining soldiers. Cassiopeia chuckled at the sight and shook her head. ”No one is going to believe that just happened. Nice work, Rose!” Cassiopeia called out to them before she turned to focus on her sister.
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes and went to turn around when Layla withdrew a throwing knife. She watched her twin launch it at Maleficent. Cassi’s eyes widened as it made its mark. She knew that wasn’t going to be a good thing. The wicked fairy hurled a fireball at Layla, knocking her back, and Cassiopeia yelped before racing forward.
”Lala, are you okay?! That was a really dumb idea,” she informed her twin, quickly looking Layla over.

---

---

Willow Jones

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Distraction Team
Skills: Kickboxing; Acrobatic

---

---

It was quiet for a moment, which allowed Willow to catch her breath. The fighting quickly resumed, though, causing Willow to let go of Sierra’s hand to avoid being attacked by a soldier. Sierra didn’t fare so well, but Willow had her own fight at the moment. Heart pounding in her chest, Willow dodged the attack and went to retaliate with a straight punch to the guard’s face.
Willow did her best to avoid all the guard’s attacks and fight back with her kickboxing and acrobatic skills.

Roll Request

All the rolls for punching her current assailant out.

[Nallore]

---

---

@Morose@BlueSky44@Kirah@Trainerblue192@KazAlkemi

---

---

---

---

Sierra Finley

Location: Rapunzel's Tower
Skills: N/A

---

---

The fighting continued as Gabriella started to control the undead dragons as they swooped down and started to breath fire down on the enemies coming out of the castle lighting some places on fire. The remaining soldiers who were still outside started to panic as one of the dragons landed down next to their master The remaining soldiers started to panic and they started to retreat at the sight of the undead dragon in front of them.

The soldier that was attacking Willow managed to get knocked down pretty easily thanks to her skills, the courtyard was clear now and the group would be able to enter the castle now. However some areas looked like they weren't in the best condition right now as Sierra looked at the others and then at her father, seeing that his men managed to capture the retreating soldiers pretty easily. "Should we move on?" Sierra asked her father and Arthur.

"There could be more inside of the castle and the others inside might need our help so we should push onward." Arthur answered he didn't want to leave anything to chance really right now. Sierra nodded as she moved forward with her father and started to head inside. "Just be very careful." Her father said to everyone, if they needed to they'll retreat. Inside of the castle it looked like a mess as some of the area appeared to be on fire and smoke was filling the area as well to making it slightly hard to see.

---

---

Layla Hood

Location: The Moors
Skills: N/A

---

---

Layla looked over at her sister and nodded slightly. "I'm fine just a few burns and stuff." Layla answered Cassi as her attention turned towards Maddie as he used the genie lamp that they had grabbed was summoned. He looked a lot like the genie from the movie Aladin surprisingly as he stretched out slightly, he cracked his neck slightly looking at the group before him. He quickly recognized Merlin pretty easily. "Long time no see there." Aladin said to him as Merlin nodded slightly, and he then turned to face Maleficent and glared at her.

His attention then turned towards the person who had summoned him. "Thank you for freeing me, and you have two more wishes what were the other two?" He asked as he happily snapped his fingers as he worked his magic. Maleficent was about to use her own magic on the genie as she tried to hurl a bolt of lightening at him only for nothing to come out. "What did you do to me?" She demanded as she turned to glare at Maddie, she reached down and to grab a sword from one of her followers and quickly charged right at Maddie swinging the sword right at him, cutting him pretty badly with it.

[Kirah]

---

---

Rose Buckner

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Team Genie
Skills: Archery

---

---

Her arrows were basically useless against Maleficent. "That's not my fault, Layla, she's stopping them." Rose sighed. Maddie was pulling out the Genie's lamp and he made his wish. She arched an eyebrow. That wasn't the worst wish. She did still think they should have decided on the wishes prior to storming the castle, but too late now.

The Genie came out and she had a pang of sadness for Robin Williams. He snapped his fingers and Maleficient became useless, well magically useless. She attacked Maddie with a sword. Quickly, Rose shot some more arrows at Maleficient, now that she was no longer magical she hoped to get through her defenses. But between movement and trying to avoid sticking a friendly Rose was only able to graze her.

---

---

Colby Jackson

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Distraction Team
Skills: Magic

Colby had been fighting to protect himself. However, the dragons that were apparently on their side caused the morale of all the soldiers to vanish and they ran away. Chickens.

As they progressed there was a lot of fire and smoke. All things considered that made sense. He reached out with his magic and tried to put the fire out. He didn't have a lot of ideas on how to do that. And nothing happened. So he figured that he would need to work on that or, it wasn't something he could do. Instead, he just pulled his shirt up to cover his mouth and nose.

[Morose]

---

---

Megan Pendragon

---

Location: Maleficent's Gates -> Maleficent
Skills: Fencing

---

---

The way was clear, so they pressed onwards, entering the castle itself. Smoke filled the air from the burning fires and Megan breathed in deeply. She adored the scent. As a child, she used to intentionally sit in front of a fire in the direction where the smoke would blow the most, basking in it. And she still went weak in the knees for a lovely woman with a cigarette. But as much as she appreciated the atmosphere, her father was right - they needed to keep on going. The job was not done yet - the day was not yet won.

It wasn't long until they came across the others. Maleficent was armed with a sword, and didn't seem to be using her magic. Megan's blade was already drawn, and she felt an eager pulse through Excalibur, as she then engaged Maleficent. "Hello, dark one," she murmured. She could appreciate Maleficent on an aesthetic level, if nothing else. The first strike of her blade, Maleficent managed to block - the second, Megan missed - but on the third, she left a nasty gash across her chest. "First blood is mine, then. Will you yield?" she asked, fully anticipating the answer was no.

She was looking forward to a duel to the death.

[Trainerblue192]

---

---

Matthew Madigan

Location: Team Genie
Skills:

---

---

Maddie was glad to see his wish had worked. He saw the rage and disbelief in Maleficent's eyes as she questioned him on what he had done. ”I've rendered you useless, that's what.” He said, a bit of cockyness in his voice left over from a well done wish. But he spoke too soon. As the dark faerie grabbed a blade and cut him down. He gripped onto the lamp tight, falling backwards onto the ground before the goth warrior stepped in and began to fight. It afforded him enough time to place a hand on the wound, blood coated his hand as he winced from the pain. ”Sorry…Genie…hadn't thought…that for ah-h-head.”

He spoke falteringly as he watched the others join the fight. His attention turned towards Rosalia, mustering some strength to yell out while Megan held Maleficent's attention. ”Rosalia, second ones yours. I'm sure you'll think of something great…but remember not to use the third.” Maddie said as he gripped the lamp, some blood pressing into the golden features of it. He could see Colby off in the distance, and he smiled, whispering ”Sorry, I was careless.”

[BlueSky44]

---

---

Jack Gold

---

Location: Maleficent's Castle
Skills: N/A

---

---

Things were starting to wind down a bit surprisingly when it came to things currently outside of the castle, and now they were going to see about moving onwards inside to actually potentially deal with those still there. Though he was wondering how things were going for those who had snuck it. Which they likely were going to find out the answer to that fairly soon as everyone started moving into the area, seeing more of the carnage that had happened with all of the fighting and more of the goons were there.

Figuring there was nothing better to do as they were able to see the others and there were still more of the soldiers around, he decided to see about tossing more fire or whatever at them to take more of them out. The first managed to knock down some of the goons, so that was a good thing. Meg was getting into a fight with Maleficent, and it looked like the other group had summoned up the genie so that they could make wishes. Which meant this likely was going to end soon, hopefully anyway.

---

---

Rosalia Rider

---

Location: Maleficent's Castle
Skills: N/A

---

---

Wait, did he really just tell her to make the second wish and to make sure to not use the third one? Why her? Just, why? She wasn't sure what to wish for, but she knew that she had to be careful since they didn't exactly have any extra ones to spare. Still though, she was supposed to make a wish, to help in this situation? Ok, she can do this, probably. Easily solution? What would be the easiest solution to come up with and easiest way to word it so that it didn't get all screwed up? Right, Maleficent, make her gone and the others might crumble right? Hopefully anyway maybe.

Could make her get transported elsewhere? No, that's not good enough, that would result in her likely eventually coming back to kill them all with another army or something. Put into a deep sleep? No, would have to have her put somewhere, and then it'd be easier for someone to find her body and figure out a way to wake her. Trap in a mirror? No, wait, while that would be more permanent of a solution and all, didn't look like there were mirrors nearby anyway. Plus wrong fairy tale, magic mirror is known for the Snow White story and the Evil Queen not Maleficent. This was a lot harder to come up with then people would think...

Her mind was racing, trying to think of a solution, when she remembered something else that she typically carried around with her. It wasn't a super big one, but she pulled out the sketch pad that she carried around, and flipped to a blank page. That might work. Despite the carnage around her, she turned to look at the genie. "I wish for Maleficent to be trapped in my sketch pad as a drawing," she said to him, holding up the book with a blank page showing now.

[KazAlkemi]

---

---

Cassiopeia Hood

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Team Genie
Skills:

---

---

Cassiopeia looked at the Genie fondly. Although the Aladdin movie had crossed boundaries, it had been a classic for its time and Genie was incredibly entertaining as a kid and as an adult.
Maleficent was not happy with the wish Matt made but it was a genius move on his part. The fairy attacked of course, but Rosalia was able to make an epic second wish.
”Ooooo, that's a good one!” To have Maleficent trapped would be the best case. Who knew if she could even be killed.

---

---

Willow Jones

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Distraction Team
Skills: Kickboxing; Acrobatic

---

---

Willow's assailant wasn't finally defeated and the rest of the fighting came to a quick end. Willow ran a hand through her hair, feeling spent, but they weren't done yet. Standing near Sierra, Willow stood to catch her breath while they formed a plan.
Willow looked up at the castle, finding it daunting, but they had to get inside and see how the others were fairing. She followed the group inside, resting her hands on her waist as she continued to catch her breath, and mentally prepared herself for another fight.

[Nallore]

---

---

@Morose@BlueSky44@Kirah@Trainerblue192@KazAlkemi

---

---

---

---

Sierra Finley

Location: Rapunzel's Tower
Skills: N/A

Layla Hood

Location: The Moors
Skills: N/A

---

---

Sierra decided to follow Megan deeper into the castle, the area was filled with smoke and it was a bit hard to actually see but she was still able to see enough and followed Megan through the castle. It didn't take to long until they were finally in the throne room of Maleficent. Just in time to see her striking Maddie, the wound didn't look to bad but he'd need some stitches by the looks of it Sierra quickly ran over towards him and helped Maddie back up to his feet. "Are you alright?" She asked him, just as Megan went in and took a few swings at Maleficent managing to get her on the third strike.

"You will die like the rest of them." Maleficent said as she took a swing at Megan managing to hit her in the arm with her sword. It would leave a nasty gash on her arm but nothing fatal really as Rosalia took the lamp and made the second wish. Sierra watched as Rosalia pulled out her notepad to an empty page. "Easy enough, just make sure you don't loose that." The genie said as he snapped his fingers, and Maleficent started to scream as she was quickly sucked into the notepad. She was now trapped inside of the notepad, and Rosalia could see her trying to get out and moved around as a drawing inside.

Layla watched as Rosalia made her wish and watched the villain quickly getting sucked into the notepad, she started to relax as she looked over at the others who started to come into the room. That meant that they had one more wish to use Maleficent was defeated now which was a good thing then. She knew that the genie probably wanted to be free from his duties and granting everyone wishes as she turned towards him. "I guess i'll make the last wish then." Layla said as she looked at him. "I wish that you were free, and to put that notepad in there." Layla said as the genie looked very happy and smiled.

"Thank you." He said as he snapped his fingers, and the lamp quickly sucked the notepad out from Rosalia's hand and into the lamp effectively sealing Maleficent away for good just as it fell to the ground. "Looks like my job is done now thank you all for freeing me, and if you ever need me feel free to reach out." The genie said as he quickly used his magic and disappeared Layla then went over and picked up the lamp and looked at everyone. "I guess it's all over now then." Layla said smiling slightly as she handed the lamp over to Merlin.

"It is all finally over now thanks to all of you." Merlin said as he looked at everyone. "I know some of you want to go back you are free to go back to your lives here or you are more than welcome to stay here if you'd like." Merlin said as Layla looked over at her sister, which ever she decided she'd follow her no matter what really. Sierra looked over at her father and smiled towards him she wanted to stay here with her parents. "I'm going to stay here." Layla said as she looked over at Willow and smiled at her hoping that she'd stay as well to.

[Morose]

---

---

Megan Pendragon

---

Location: Maleficent's Castle
Skills: N/A

---

---

"We all die," Megan told Maleficent with a hint of a smile. She was slow to block Maleficent's next attack though, resulting in a nasty gash on her arm. It stung, but the adrenaline coursed through her veins - she only felt more and more alive. The pain was a blessing, a screaming symphony. She went for another attack, hoping to continue the deadly duel between the two of them, but instead something else happened - something unexpected, yet magical and strange. Maleficent was gone, sucked into the packages of a notebook - and then, trapped inside an enchanted lamp.

It was the first time one of her duels had ended like that, in what was more or less a draw. It smarted slightly. But that was fine. It was more important that Maleficent had been defeated, that they could now liberate these lands. Megan didn't imagine that it would be a final victory - she expected there would be some battles to go, some remnants and loyalists to handle, but that was fine. They had cut off the head of the beast after all.

Merlin confirmed that it was all over, and that they were free to return where they wished. Megan had no intention of going back to Kansas - no intention of trading her sword for a scalpel. Instead, she knelt to the ground. She lacked a ring to offer. "Gabriella, I offer you my blood, my body, my flesh, my spirit," Megan murmured. She held a hand to her bleeding wound on her opposite arm, and then extended those bloodied fingertips to Gabriella. "Your enemies will be mine. Your dreams and fantasies, I shall strive to make true. My penumbral mistress... my Gabriella... will you marry me?"

[Kirah]

---

---

Rose Buckner

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Team Genie
Skills:

---

---

Well, that ended all of that. Maleficent was gone. Sealed away. Rose sighed and looked at Cassiopeia. She pulled Cassiopeia into a hug. She was thankful to be out of that fight. She'd very much like to live a quiet life after this.

"I want to see my childhood home. But I don't think I want to stay here forever." She looked at Merlin. "Would we be able to traverse between the two worlds?" Rose didn't want to give up her mom, and this world, but she didn't want to live here full-time.

---

---

Colby Jackson

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle - Distraction Team
Skills: Magic

Colby saw Maddie and ran straight to him. Colby started checking him over and found the wounds inflicted on him. For the magic that Colby had he couldn't heal. Maybe that'd be something he'd have to learn.

"That's okay. I was almost stabbed too...also there was a dragon." He grinned his standard lopsided grin. "What about you do you want to stay here or return? Personally, I want to stay. I want to have magic and everything else that this world has." Colby looked at his father, "As long as you're okay with it? I mean I want to see Wonderland."

[Trainerblue192]

---

---

Matthew Madigan

Location: Team Genie
Skills:

---

---

Maddie felt a little bad for having put Rosalia on the spot like that. Coming up with wishes was hard, and he doubted he could think of two in quick succession that could help turn the tide and win the battle. He knew she was stealthy enough to slink past the fight and get to the lamp so that she could make a wish. He also banked on her clever mind to find a way to help seal Maleficent without having major drawbacks. While the Genie was a friend of theirs, there was no telling if this magical contract forced monkey paw situations where there was space for them. His thoughts felt proven correct when the Genie mentioned ensuring they didn't lose the paper. It would need to be locked up afterwards in such a way that none of her cronies could get to it, perhaps with mystical wards given that none of them had magic now.

Maddie was about to stand up, to try and touch the lamp in Rosalia's hands to make the final wish, to free the Genie. But before he could muster the strength to do so, Layla got to it and made the final wish. Maddie relaxed upon hearing that he had been freed, letting out a sigh of relief. More so when he'd used his old abode (read prison) as a new vault and jail for Maleficent. He didn't think conjunction wishes were allowed, but if it worked it worked. Either that or Genie was throwing them a free one given his new found freedom. Maddie watched as his boyfriend fretted over him, checking his wounds before trying to ease his worries. That dorky lopsided grin came out that made him fall in love all over again just before he popped the question. Maddie had no care for Kansas, for the real world, nor did he have much attachment to this land of Fairytales. What he did have an attachment to was Colby. He wrapped his arm around Colbys neck and pulled him in for a long kiss before finally pulling away and wincing at the pain. ” You. I chose you dork. If you want to stay here I will gladly follow, we can go on more adventures together.”

[KazAlkemi]

---

---

Cassiopeia Hood

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle
Skills:

---

---

”Yes!” Cass cheered when Rosalia trapped Maleficent into her notebook, and Layla made the last wish, trapping Maleficent forever and freeing Genie. ”Straight out of a Disney movie. I love it,” she said and wrapped her arm around Layla’s shoulders. ”I don’t know about all of you, but I definitely think we need to have a massive party before we all go our separate ways.”
Cassiopeia was thrilled to have defeated Maleficent and Rumple. She didn’t know what happened to Jafar, but that would be a future issue. For right now, they had a victory to celebrate. Cassiopeia looked between her sister and Rose. Rose asked Merlin if they could travel back and forth between worlds. Cass seriously hoped so because as much as she loved being Robin Hood’s daughter, Cassiopeia wanted to return to Kansas. However, she would love to visit her father and his band of fighters from time to time. Cass had much to learn from the great archer.

---

---

Willow Jones

---

Location: Maleficent’s Castle
Skills:

---

---

The defeat of the enemy came swiftly. So swiftly that it took Willow a moment to understand they had won. Genie was leaving, and Merlin congratulated them all before she realized it was over. It was all over. Now, the question posed was to go home or stay. Of course, Willow had declared her decision long ago. She wanted to remain with her mother in this realm. She knew her adoptive parents would understand. Willow needed to do this for herself. However, something was happening that could make this potentially problematic.
Willow looked at Sierra to find the woman was already staring at her. Willow blushed and walked over to Sierra. ”I don’t really know how to say this, but if you are staying here, would you maybe want to meet up for drinks or…or go on a date with me?” Willow was certain her entire face was the same colour as Cassiopeia’s red hood as Willow confessed her attraction to Sierra. Willow had never had feelings for a woman before, but this connection between her and Sierra was undeniable.

[BlueSky44]

---

---

Jack Gold

---

Location: Maleficent's Castle
Skills: N/A

---

---

Well that fight seemed to be a bit anticlimactic to say the least. Megan had looked fully ready to duel Maleficent to the death right then and there, and suddenly she got trapped in the pages of a notebook. That was always something to laugh about later. Though he did wonder where his father had gotten off to. He'd taken off before this, which meant he was still out there and likely was going to cause some issues later. Something to potentially look forward to.

His attention shifted towards Megan and he had to stop himself from laughing slightly. It was a bit fitting that they were in a fairy tale world, and she seemed to be getting a bit of a fairy tale ending. That, and adding onto the fact that she hadn't known Gabriella for very long, seemed like she was almost like the classic Disney princesses who basically fell in love and dove head first into things. Nothing wrong with that, if that was what she wanted, and it made it apparent that she was going to be staying in this world and not going back. Which had actually been what he'd been leaning towards doing for a little bit now, and that more or less just confirmed his thoughts of sticking around here and not going back.

---

---

Rosalia Rider

---

Location: Maleficent's Castle
Skills: N/A

---

---

She honestly was a bit surprised that that idea had actually worked, and that someone actually agreed that it was a good one. Rosalia was still a bit weirded out by the fact that she had made a wish with a genie to try and take out the person causing all of the issues. Looking down at the piece of paper in her hands, knowing perfectly well that the genie was right about making sure to not lose it, she saw Maleficent moving around as a drawing, clearly trying to get out. That was definitely weird.

Her attention shifted as Layla used the third wish, and the notebook went straight into the lamp, making it a bit easier to protect it and make sure Maleficent truly was trapped or something like that. That was a good thing, made it so that it wasn't really her problem anymore with regards to what happened to the paper. Though now she needed a new notepad or something to doodle on or whatever. Well, at least the whole situation was over with, as Merlin asked more or less of what they wanted to do now, the truth was that she didn't know. At all. She didn't exactly have anyone to go back to in the real world, but here she knew next to nothing about people. It was a weird thing to try and think about.

[Nallore]

---

---

@Morose@BlueSky44@Kirah@Trainerblue192@KazAlkemi

---

---

---

---

Sierra Finley

Location: Rapunzel's Tower
Skills: N/A

Layla Hood

Location: The Moors
Skills: N/A

---

---

Sierra turned to look at Willow as she approached her and blushed slightly as she looked the girl in the eyes, she had to admit that she didn't see her approaching and asking her out on a date and smiled. She was attracted to Willow but with everything that had been going on in the last few days she didn't really think about it much.. "I'd actually like that a lot." Sierra said as she quickly leaned in and gave Willow a loving kiss as she continued to hold her hand.

Gabriella looked at Megan as she got down on one knee and proposed to her, she smiled as she knelt down and pulled Megan into a passionate kiss. "I would love you to be my queen we have a lot to plan for then my love." She said as she gently ran a hand through Megan's hair, Arthur smiled at his daughter he was glad that she had found someone.

Merlin took the lamp and looked it once over as he turned his attention towards the group some of them wanted to return to their normal lives which was understandable. "It'll take sometime to figure something out but i'll be able to make it work it'll take a lot of magic to create something to allow you all to come and go as you please." Merlin said, but it was something that was doable actually and if the others that wanted to stay they could have that option as well to.

Prologue One Month Later..

It took a little bit over a month everyone was invited to Camelot in order to celebrate the marriage between Megan Pendragon and her new wife. There was a lot of dancing, music and drinking to be had as just about everyone from around Arcadia came to the wedding and all of the guests presented gifts to the newly weds as well to.

Merlin had spent most of that time but he was able to create some enchanted rings for everyone, and handed them all out to each of the kids. The rings would be able to transport them to and from Arcadia to Earth whenever they chose to come and visit their friends and family from both worlds.

Layla: Layla ultimately chose to stay in Arcadia she wanted to spend as much time as she could with her father, him and his merry men spent a lot of time helping those who needed it and rebuilt their destroyed homes or retaking towns from a few of Maleficent's remaining forces scattered around the countryside. Layla would occasionally come home and visit her sister and Rose whenever she could between fights against other threats.

Jack: Jack ultimately chose to stay in Arcadia as well to, and one day was approached by Merlin seeing the potential in the son of Rumpelstiltskin, and he offered to teach him and bring him on as an apprentice. Seeing as he needed to eventually pass on his knowledge onto someone else and he was the perfect candidate.

Rosalia: Rosalia was approached both by her parents Rapunzel and Flynn, they both offered her a place in their home if she chose to stay with them or not. Rosalia was given the ring to come and go as she pleased much like all of the others did, but it was completely up to her on what she wanted to do.

Megan & Gabriella: Megan and Gabriella are both happily married together now, it took a few more weeks but Lancelot was eventually able to make a full recovery from his injuries. He approached her one day and offered to train her under his wing and took her on as his personal squire. It would take sometime but Megan would become a full knight and upon King Arthur and Queen Queen Guineveres passing the title of Queen would go to Megan as well.

Cassiopeia & Rose: Cassi and Rose are happily dating now and they both chose to return to their normal lives back on Earth, but with the enchanted rings Merlin had given the two of them they could come and go as they pleased. Red Rose's mother stayed with Robin Hood's men and they would occasionally help with retaking some land as well between that and spending time with her sister Layla.

Mathew & Colby: Colby and Mathew are still happily dating one another they returned to Wonderland with their fathers the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat, it took sometime but they were able to retake the land from the Queen of Hearts was eventually ousted. After the land was retaken there were constant tea parties pretty much daily and life was normal in Wonderland once again.

Sierra & Willow: Sierra and Willow would start happily dating each other, though the relationship was long distance but Sierra would always come and visit Willow and her mother. Life in Atlantica was back to normal as well, and the two kingdoms between Aurora's and Atlantica became very close allies.

Life in Arcadia slowly started to return to normal with pockets of Malfecient's followers around the world rumors however started to circulate that they were now following Rumple. With rumored sightings around Arcadia but nothing concrete though some of them had their magic removed, the land was still full of magic and mystery. He would one day make a return and continue what Maleficent had started but only time would tell.