Note: Stormy belongs to GeekyCookie1.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jesse!"

Opening her eyes, Aliya tried to stand but Stormy caught her from falling in the nick of time. "Flower blossom, you need to calm down," Stormy urged her, helping her back on the couch.

"He's in trouble though!" Aliya protested, the images flashing in her mind. She could see Jesse suffering and gradually falling into Iris's trance. "Sweetheart, I'm sure Jesse is fine," Amara gently said as Aliya shook her head.

"No, he's not. Iris has him and she's luring Jesse into a trance," she insisted. "Love, you're not feeling well, that's all," Issac insisted as Aliya sat up. "I know what I saw," she strongly stated, protesting against all of them. She even held out her arm for Stormy to confirm.

As Stormy held her arm, her eyes momentarily glowed at once, seeing each event from Aliya's perspective. When she had opened her eyes, Stormy and Aliya locked eyes and a subtle nod came from her aunt. "She's right. Iris did lure Jesse into a trance," Stormy confirmed as Aliya nodded.

"Okay, but how?" Amara and Issac asked the two. "Iris is a faerie by nature. Faeries don't just randomly lure people to their bidding with their voice," Amara insisted as Stormy shook her head.

"That's because Iris isn't a faerie. At least, not a full one, anyways," Aliya pitched in, now holding onto the couch for support. She knew she would be lying down, but Aliya couldn't shake those images off. "If this is the case...." Issac continued as Stormy's eyes widened. "Then the Senior Fae lied to everyone about his daughter's heritage," Stormy finished.

"It's possible to assume he has more secrets besides Iris's other set of powers," Amara insisted, casually grabbing the back of her daughter's shirt. "Aliya, I'm begging you to just stay still at this point," she added as she saw her daughter weakly tugging her way out. "She has your spirit, Mar," Stormy softly insisted, chuckling softly.

When the three were finally able to get Aliya to lie down and rest, Issac sighed at his latest healing attempt. "I wish I could heal her at the same pace as everyone else," he insisted as Amara encouragingly squeezed his hand. "Hey, you're doing great," Amara began, lightly kissing his cheek.

"It's just like the doctor said. Her body doesn't automatically responds to healing magic, so it's going to make the healing process longer on her end," Stormy explained, glancing  at the sleeping girl with a sigh. "At least, now she's asleep," Issac said, glancing over at his bag of medical supplies.

The three were momentarily quiet, before each one subconsciously realized something about Aliya's response. "Do either of you remember when I said I had visions of you two getting hurt?" Amara slowly asked as Issac and Stormy glanced at each other, before nodding. "Neither of you believed me at first," she continued. "But then, you two got visions of me getting hurt and...." Amara said, trailing off.

"That's when we realized there was a possibility of three of us being soulmates," Issac insisted, glancing back to their daughter. "Are you saying—" he continued as Stormy slowly nodded. "Aliya is at that age when Avalonians start getting a idea of who their soulmate is, but if this is the case then..." Amara continued, then Issac stood up.

"There's a possibility of Jesse being her soulmate?" Issac whispered, his eyes widened by the realization. "I don't know how I feel about Jesse being hers .... That boy gives me mixed feelings," he awkwardly admitted. "We can't say for sure. Jesse would have to get a vision of Aliya getting hurt for the theory to be confirmed," Amara pointed out.

"Right?"

"I thought so, but when I was in Aliya's mind, I realized her case with him might be different," Stormy began. "When Jesse was momentarily under Iris's control, he seemed set on hurting her, but when Aliya kissed him, his eyes and his gem returned to normal," she explained.

"It's possible she could be his soulmate, since...."

"This isn't the first time that Aliya managed to snap Jesse out of something," Amara finished as Stormy and Issac nodded. "The first time Jesse snapped, nearly half the town was destroyed and only stopped when Aliya managed to calm him down," Issac continued.

"To which she had kissed him as a last resort and the gesture worked," Stormy added as she crossed her arms. "Twice, she managed to get Jesse back in control, whether it was through Cain," she paused as the name spoke volumes to them. "Or, with Iris," she continued.

"Okay, but twice now, each incident that involved Jesse also had Aliya getting hurt in the aftermath," Issac pointed out, gesturing to their daughter for reference. "I'm just saying, what if Jesse loses control to Cain or someone else and something happens to Aliya?" he continued, now visibly shaking.

"What if she gets hurt to the point where my powers become useless in her need? What if—" Issac continued as Stormy and Amara each squeezed his hand, before he calmed himself down with a heavy sigh. "I just don't want to lose her, not again," he insisted as Stormy and Issac both held him for a hug.

"Issac, none of us wants to lose her," Amara and Stormy softly told him. "The day we lose her is the day we all collectively snap and we burn Avalon as payback," Stormy excitedly spoke as Amara blinked.

"... Or, we could just all leave Avalon together for good," Amara slowly stated as Stormy shook her head. "No, that's too easy, love. The Senior Fae would want us to leave as a group, then he'll probably kill us one by one in the human realm," Stormy countered back as she also sighed, glancing back at Aliya.

"Well, let's hope this is the last time Aliya gets hurt by Jesse's controlled state," Issac insisted as Stormy's golden eyes slightly flickered when looking at Aliya. Somehow, she knew Issac's statement was wishful thinking at this point. Deep down, she knew this wouldn't be the last time their daughter got hurt, but to tell Amara and Issac that.... No, she couldn't.

She wouldn't tell them. Maybe, Stormy was wrong. Maybe, nothing would happen to Aliya again, at least not directly involving Jesse in his controlled state. Everything was going to be fine. At least, that's what she kept telling herself when she nodded.

"Please. I don't know how I'm going to handle seeing her hurt every time. It's just going to break my heart at this point," Amara solemnly said, feeling Stormy and Issac's warm embrace.

"Hey, our girl is a fighter," Stormy confidently stated. "She'll pull through and when she does, it will be the last time Aliya ever gets hurt," she persisted as Issac and Amara stared at her, the couple half-hopeful in her words and half-skeptical by her claim.

"Promise?"

Swallowing the truth, Stormy smiled towards Amara and Issac, while her heart sank from her deception. Even if it was just small, she felt terrible for lying to them, but seeing the two distressed from Aliya would only make things worse if she brought up what she saw. So instead, Stormy merely nodded, maintaining her perfect-posed smile.

"Promise."

—————————

Two days after being spellbound by Iris, Jesse resumed his regular duties as he began passing out invitations to everyone in town. From a stranger's perspective, there was nothing wrong with him when Jesse happily greeted his legion of adoring fans, being his usual playful self.

When passing out invitations, Jesse spoke with his usual excitement. He hung out with just about anyone, maintaining the same attitude but when he saw a set of siblings, a wave of disgust overwhelmed him.

While observing the teal-haired girl fixing her mist green dress, Jesse noticed the girl's sibling weirdly fixated on him (in particular). "Oh, it's you two," Jesse began at once, much to the confusion of the two siblings, who only glanced at each other.

"Hey, Jesse," the girl first began, rather shyly but that was within her element. After all, one would expect a shadow-manipulating faerie to portray herself as innocent before slaughtering everyone else around her in the dark. "How are you feeling?" she followed up.

"Fine, why?" Jesse suspiciously asked her as the girl's eyes slightly widen from the sudden sharpness of his tone.

"You're not here to spy on me for that wingless freak, are you?" he suddenly asked. "I would be rather hurt, especially since I still have your invitations to my birthday bash," he slowly continued, which caught the attention of one of the siblings.

"Lillian, Jaxon, neither of you would sell my friendship to appease some freak, right?"

"Hey, who are you calling—" Lillian sharply began, only to get cut off by their sibling covering her mouth. "No, of course not. Why would we ever do such a thing?" Jaxon quickly finished, awkwardly smiling afterwards. While Jesse raised his eyebrow at their response, he nonetheless gave Jaxon and Lillian their invitations, trusting them to do the right thing.

"Good. Don't let me down."

With that, Jesse left the two behind, making his way to Iris. "Good morning, princess, how are you today?" Jesse affectionately asked her, openly kissing her as Iris softly giggled, her hair glowing brightly from his touch.

"Whoa. Jesse, are you good, man? You're hardly affectionate with Iris," Castor asked curiously, envious of the way Iris glanced at Jesse as if he was truly special. "Of course, he's fine!" Iris snapped at Castor, who was confused by the girl's sudden switch in tone.

"Okay?" Castor merely began, forming his response like a question. "That's um—" he awkwardly continued, struggling to find the right words as Iris glared at him accusingly.

"Are you some spy for Aliya?" she asked as Castor's confusion only grew stronger. "No! Why would I serve some freak when I already have to deal with the King and Queen's weirdo prince? Why would I want to double my load and deal with twice the misery?" Castor strongly persisted, his eyes secretly stunned by the allegations. Did Iris think that low of him?

"Good. We just wanted to check your allegation to us," Jesse answered, much to Castor's surprise.

"Okay, dude, something is seriously wrong with you!" Castor exclaimed at once. "I don't know what happened, but you're not you," he insisted, the male's eyes staring at Iris in accusation. "Since when did you care about allegations?" Castor followed up.

"Since now. If you got a problem, feel free to leave."

"Gladly."

Without another word, Castor angrily stormed off as Jesse laughed. "Tell me why we're friends with him again. He's such a idiot," Jesse responded as Iris giggled. "Agreed, but every royal couple needs a jester," Iris insisted as Jesse nodded. "I can see why Cas fits the bill," he continued as Iris nodded before softly kissing his cheek.

"I love you. You know that?"

"I know," Jesse sheepishly answered before kissing back. "I love you too, babe," he continued as the girl's grin grew brighter. Even if this was under-the-spell Jesse, she chose to take her victories when she got them.

"I love you more."

———————

"There's something wrong with your weirdo boyfriend."

At once, Aliya wondered why Castor was even at her house or why he felt the need to refer to Jesse as her "weirdo boyfriend." Blowing on her tea, she listened as Jaxon and Lillian relay their tale to her. "It was so weird! Like there was no warmth in him at all," Lillian exclaimed as Jaxon and Castor nodded.

"I'm seriously starting to think Iris is a terrible influence on him at this point," Castor chimed in. "I know she's responsible for the way he's acting, but how do we prove it?" he asked, much to the surprise of the others.

"We?" Aliya, Jaxon and Lillian all asked at once. "Since when did it become we?" the three followed up. "Since now," Castor responded as the three glanced at each other with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up, you dorks. Our alliance is only temporary. Once Jesse is back to normal, I can go back to ignoring you two freaks," he then paused and turned to Aliya. "While ensuring your life is well-spent in misery," Castor finished as she rolled her eyes. "Here I thought you actually liked me," she sarcastically mumbled.

"Anyways, Jesse is only acting like this because Iris has him in her trance," Aliya stated, before explaining her own experience with Iris. "Whoa. The Ice Queen is a hybrid like us?" Jaxon asked, glancing to their sister and back at themselves. "Possibly. I don't have any proof yet to confirm this," Aliya insisted as Castor blinked.

"But you could get that proof."

"How? Jesse's birthday bash is tomorrow night and like usual, I'm singled out," Aliya explained as Castor, Jaxon and Lillian glanced at each other before smirking. "Who said anything about a invite?" Castor smugly asked, her eyes widening.

"You wouldn't—"

"I would."

"But—"

"Look, I need Jesse away from Iris. I thought I liked Iris, but now she's nothing more than a reflection of my poor taste. So, I'm willing to break the rules and get you in," Castor explained as Aliya blinked.

Maybe, she had underestimated the young knight. "Plus, since Libby and I already got our invitations, we can act as the distraction," Jaxon insisted, much to the girl's main surprise. "W... What? No way! Iris will eat me alive!" Lillian nervously exclaimed, the two siblings playfully fighting in her house.

"I don't have a costume, or a way to hide my wings," Aliya logically pointed out, though she was unsure how she felt. She hadn't sneak her way into Jesse's room since that night.... Blinking back the memories, she refused to relive the past.

"That's where we come in."

Glancing over, the four teenagers saw Amara, Issac and Stormy, who all overheard everything within their conversations, but chose not to intervene. "Aliya, love, if there's a will, then there's a way," Amara began at once. "In other words, we will gladly assist you sneaking into Jesse's birthday bash, if it means getting the real him back," Issac continued.

"Plus, someone has to put their sewing skills to the test," Stormy pitched in, now grinning as Aliya's eyes widened. "As the illusionist, I can trick everyone into thinking their wings are new," Castor chimed in, the two siblings grinning in the background.

"Basically, you have no excuses to come with us tomorrow night," Jaxon and Lillian insisted as Aliya nodded. Her father said she was stable enough to walk, she just had to take things easy. So, she truly had ran out of excuses.... But still, Jesse needed their help. For better or for worse, Aliya was going all in.

"Okay then, team," Aliya began, standing up as she stared at her family, friends and Castor. 'Let's get to work," she continued, clapping her hands to establish control of the room.

"We got a party to crash!"