SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: THERE IS A EXPLICIT DISPLAY OF SELF-HARM (slightly mild).

I do not own the following characters in this chapter: Poseidon, Stormy, Chepi [mentioned], Nancy [mentioned], Ember [mentioned], Nightflutter [mentioned], Turtle Titan [mentioned], the Siren siblings [mentioned] and the Timekeeper [mentioned] belongs to GeekyCookie1

Additionally, this is a rather small (but insignificant) spoiler (I feel like) but the part about Jesse and his parents writing apology letters in comes from a comment written by the one and only GeekyCookie1, so shout out to her!

Official note here: This is the last chapter for "Part of Your World!" As you all can tell, I've hardly managed to ever complete a book, so this is pretty exciting (at least for me)!

But since we're here: what are your thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Feel free to ask anything and I'll do my best to answer in a timely manner.

After this chapter, there is a final author's note with other miscellaneous items listed, so yeah! I hope you all enjoy this final entry to this lovely book of mine and can't wait to hear from you! Peace! 💕

~~~~~~~~~~

"We need to talk."

Before Aliya could give her response, the two witness a black portal appearing across the sky. Moments later, Faustin and Aliya's family fell from the portal with Poseidon, Amara and Lillian breaking their fall. As everyone ran to greet Aliya, Stormy silently thanked the god for finding her daughter.

"It's not a problem," Poseidon softly said, grinning afterwards as the older woman's lovers came to approach her and the god. "Kore, you never mentioned being friends with a god before," Amara cheekily said before politely curtsying in the god's direction as a form of respect.

"See, I would be jealous except I'm friends with a bard from a witch coven, so I guess that's my flex," Issac chimed in before eyeing the god (who was in his human form) as his eyes lit up from seeing him in person. "Actually, I take it back. He's gorgeous," he fondly whispered, thinking no one would hear him.

However, Stormy and Amara did hear their husband as the two women playfully shook their heads, grinning softly at Issac's response. "My name is Poseidon, but I'm sure you already know this," the god greeted as Amara softly smiled. "I'm Amaranth but people call me Amara for short," she greeted, the two shaking hands.

"Amara, fitting for a woman like you. I'll keep this in mind for our conversations in the future," Poseidon cheekily said before making his way to Issac, whose hair immediately glowed on sight. "I..It's a..." the healer started to say, only to clear his throat and regain his composure as he tried to confidently stare at the god (who wasn't even in his natural form).

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Issac," Issac quickly started once more, the words practically spilling out of his mouth as the older man felt his heart rate elevating, which only worsened when Poseidon smiled warmly in his direction. "The pleasure is all mine, Issac. I've heard great things about you," the god softly said, shaking the healer's hand whose hair glowed brighter on sight.

It was impossible for Amara and Stormy not to laugh when Issac went into this state, so despite their best efforts to suppress their laughter, their husband's rambling nature had caused the older women to laugh. While the god simply smiled and paid no mind to Amara nor Stormy, Issac only glared at the two.

However when Issac made his way to his two wives, the women were teasingly mocking their husband's stutter as Issac lightly punched the two, who continued to get in the last of their laughs before finally calming down.

"You both are terrible. Tell me again why I married you two," Issac lightly joked, though he was careful to keep his voice low. "Because you love us," Amara and Stormy cheekily responded as Issac softly smiled in their direction.

"You three are polyamorous?" Faustin briefly asked as Issac, Amara and Stormy turned to see their friend grinning. At once, the three Avalonians began to trip, each one trying to cover up their personal intimate moment when the fortune teller simply laughed at their response.

"Relax. I'm cool with you three being a couple, which actually makes sense on why all of you are always together and living in the same house," Faustin truthfully said, the three now sighing in relief. However, a flash of anger came across his face and the three had assumed the worst.

"Fèlix—"

"Now that I think of it... I'm hurt none of you invited me to your real wedding! I would have kept my mouth shut," he added as the three started to blink, before laughing with ease once again. "We invited you to the other wedding," Issac chimed in as the fortune teller blinked.

"That was different! I didn't know you three were hiding your polyamorous relationship then!"

"Technically speaking, we're still hiding our polyamorous relationship from everyone else," Amara quietly mumbled. "Plus in our defense, you just tend to be terrible with secrets," Stormy continued as the fortune teller held their hands up.

"No way, that's not true at all! I'm great with secrets and you all know this!" the fortune teller protested, but Issac, Amara and Stormy skeptically raised their eyebrows in sync before eyeing him.

"Fèlix, you do know you're the reason why we can't do surprise parties anymore because you give everything away... right?" the three slowly followed up as Faustin opened his mouth before briefly stopping himself.

"Yeah, okay, that's fair," Faustin defeatedly responded as the three softly laughed, now grinning. "Listen, if we decide to renew our vows together, you'll get invited to the real wedding. Deal?" the three followed up as the fortune teller happily grinned from their response.

"Deal!" Faustin proudly exclaimed and as he took in his friendship with the three, the fortune teller felt honored to know their secret since polyamorous marriages (much less relationships) were viewed with scrutiny.

Although Avalon itself was open to some aspects of expressing oneself through gender, sexuality was (more or less) could be a hit or miss for some as was the case with Issac, Amara and Stormy, who were married in the human realm for fear of being judged by their Avalonian peers.

But to cover their real marriage up, Amara and Issac got publicly married in Avalon with Stormy serving as the couple's best maid of honor and Faustin as their best man.

"Wait, do your kids know about you three..." Faustin began, only for the three to shake their heads.

"Sadly, no. We were all going to tell Aliya at first, but after she was ridiculed at the gift ceremony for being magic-less and getting called you-know-what, we all decided that if anyone knew she had three parents, things would just get worse for her. So we were going to wait but once we got Jaxon and Lillian, we dismissed the idea of telling her altogether," Issac began as the fortune teller's smile fell.

"We should tell her but... we didn't want Aliya to get attacked further just because the three of us are in a polyamorous relationship," Issac started with a sigh. "Just like we should tell Jaxon and Lillian, but we didn't want the two viewing us differently," Issac further added as Amara and Stormy nodded.

"Wait, so how do you..."

"We just got used to referring to Stormy as her aunt that Aliya was able to latch onto the idea of having her aunt live with us. Then once we adopted Jaxon and Lillian, they latch onto the idea of knowing Stormy as an aunt, so convincing them wasn't hard," Amara started before sighing.

"Maybe, one day we'll get around to telling her, Jaxon and Lillian about the truth about Stormy being their godmother. But until then, it's best if the three don't know..." Amara continued, softly trailing off. "At least, not right at this moment," Issac chimed in with his two wives nodding at his statement.

"Those kids have enough going on in their lives as it is," Stormy defensively added, only to find herself frowning when she saw the fortune teller staring at her goddaughter with a subtle sadness, his eyes momentarily flickering as he gave out a tiny sigh.

"Poor girl. You will end up enduring many hardships and grief — oh — so much grief on your journey," Faustin mumbled, his eyes still trained on Aliya. "Fèlix, what is it?" she sharply asked, a sense of dread forming inside her. But instead, Faustin simply shook his head, a tense smile on his lips.

"It's nothing. I'm sure I was just looking at the wrong person," he insisted as Amara and Issac caught onto their wife's reaction. The three were trying to reach him, but now he was off, chatting to Poseidon.

"Storm, can't you just read his mind or get access to his memories by touching him?" Amara and Issac insisted as the mind seer reluctantly sighed to herself, before looking over to see their eager eyes.

"No, I can't, sadly. Fortune tellers like him have their mind shield off from being read or access by mind seers like me and Atticus, so I can't read him, no matter which approach I try to take to get the truth from him," the older woman continues, following up on her previous response as Amara and Issac joined their wife in her sigh.

"I'm sure it's not like major, right?" Issac nervously began as Amara glanced at Issac and Stormy before sighing. "My brother, Moreno, was a psychic like Faustin. When his eyes lingered on someone, that was a sign of a unforeseen situation that would become predicated by them," she slowly began before sighing. "I pray this won't be the case with our precious Aliya, but..." Amara continued, only to trail off.

"Hey, our daughter is going to be fine, okay? Maybe, it is what Faustin said and he was simply looking at the wrong person. I'm sure that was the case here," Stormy insisted, trying to retain an optimistic outlook but as Issac eyed his daughter talking to her two siblings, he suddenly felt his heart sank.

Somehow — he didn't know how, but some unknown force must be telling him — Issac got the sense that Stormy's words (while reassuring and full of promise) wouldn't amount to much.

The musical healer felt Faustin's reaction and response held deeper meaning, which made him feel as though, danger was coming. Danger that would come with no mercy and somehow, just somehow, Issac got the sense that Aliya was going to be caught in the crossfire of everything.

"Heh... That could be the case, but when has Faustin ever look at the wrong person and said something that wouldn't come true?" Issac slowly asked, his voice now devoid from emotions as the three were stuck deciphering with the true meaning behind Faustin's response and wondering amongst themselves....

Just how much of the fortune teller's words would have an impact on Aliya and just how much their lives were going to change.

~~~~~

"Where's your boyfriend?" Jaxon and Lillian curiously asked as Aliya skeptically eyed her siblings, who only shook their heads at their sister's oblivious nature when it came to dealing with love in itself. "Oh, come on. It's pretty obvious," the two insisted as Aliya blinked, now crossing her arms.

"We have all see the way Castor looks like you, sis. It may not have been apparent to us beforehand, but after we crashed Jesse's birthday bash and you were unconscious, you should have seen him. I've never seen a knight in distress more than in that moment," Jaxon stated as Lillian nodded.

"Plus, you should have seen him when we came back from the surface realm. Castor got into this huge fight with Jesse over how he should have protected you. When Jesse got upset and claimed he wouldn't have done better, Castor insisted he would have made a deal with Narcissa before you could," Lillian softly began.

"He even said he would exchange his life for yours, because he actually cared about you and refused to ever see you get hurt," she added before chuckling. "That knight of yours is definitely super cheesy, but he's adorable, I'll give you that," Lillian finished as Aliya thought over the knight's words with a soft grin.

"Yeah, that knight sure is sweet, huh?" Aliya softly asked, her grin slowly growing wider until she caught her siblings smugly looking in her direction. In response. Aliya quickly dropped her grin and promptly cleared her throat.

"It is not what you think it is," she strictly clarified as Lillian and Jaxon eyed each other before facing their sister. "Right," the two briefly said, now winking at each other while their sister merely rolled her eyes.

"Y'all, Castor is just a friend," Aliya persisted, but naturally her siblings only looked at her with skepticism, which didn't surprise her much. "You two are something else," she mumbled, playfully shaking her head before the three siblings looked up to see a bright yellow light appearing near the trees.

"I bet that's him right now," Jaxon and Lillian stated with their smug smile. "That could be anyone," Aliya weakly protested but the her siblings merely raised their eyebrow in skepticism once more.

"Mhm, sure. Anyways, the knight is going to fall and guess who is going to catch him?" Jaxon started as their sister opened her mouth. "You are," they added, just as the portal opened. "I'm sure anyone will end up catching him," she protested, but in that moment, Jaxon's eyes began to glow.

"Jax," Aliya sternly warned but as their eyes glowed once more, she glanced down at her feet, which were now illuminating a faint white light. She began to open her mouth and turned to address her sibling on dropping their powers, but instead, she was suddenly facing Castor.

"Hold on! I'll catch you!" Aliya called out, momentarily glaring at Jaxon as they turned to Lillian, who smugly grinned. "You won't make it!" Castor protested but in response, the girl simply laughed. When the knight felt he was going to hit the ground, he forcibly closed his eyes, expecting to feel the rough impact from the fall.

However when Castor had opened his eyes, the knight found himself staring at Aliya, who quietly gave a sigh of relief. "Hey, are you alright, Co-Captain? That was some fall you were going to take," she softly began but the illusionist found himself momentarily distracted by the girl's smile to answer.

"... Anyways, like I said, I always make it, no matter how hard the situation is. So, it's a good thing I was here to catch you, huh?" he heard Aliya casually asked, tuning back in to listen as she turned toward his direction.

"Yeah, I guess you could say you're my lucky charm, huh?" Castor lightly teased as she lightly chuckled. "I would be the worst charm out there," she half-joked but the knight merely shook his head from her response.

"That's not true. I felt pretty lucky since meeting you," the knight truthfully insisted as he noticed the girl's light brown eyes softened from his words. "Cas..." she began, only to trail off as the two momentarily made eye contact.

Moments later, Jaxon cleared their throat, their eyes and necklace now returning to their natural state.

"You were saying?"

In that moment, Aliya and Castor both returned to their senses as she quickly dropped the knight, who stood up shortly afterwards. This time when the two made eye contact, a light but mostly awkward laugh quickly escaped their lips before glancing away from each other.

"I stand corrected," Jaxon smugly added as Lillian lightly punched her sibling. "You mean, we stand corrected," Lillian chimed in as Jaxon nodded, agreeing with their sister's statement.

"Nothing happened," Castor and Aliya defensively stated, actively trying to glance away from each other. "Mhm... sure," Jaxon and Lillian lightly stated, winking at each other once more as Castor managed to laugh while Aliya attempted to hide her (now) glowing hair. In the end, she gave up as the faerie buried her face in embarrassment.

"Those are my siblings for you," Aliya chimed in as Castor playfully smiled, his hair also glowing. "Axon and Lilith are quite the dynamic duo," Castor commented, which led the faerie to laugh at his response.

"Yeah, Jax and Lily are truly something, but at the end of the day, I'm just glad they get to be my siblings. I'm always going to have their back just like they have mine... even if we end up getting on each other's nerves," Aliya softly said, smiling towards her siblings while Castor found himself looking at the girl, who didn't notice.

"Just word of advice to you: don't think you can fall in love with Aliya and serve as my replacement, because between you and me, we both know you're not worth the effort. At the end of the day, you're just a half-breed pretending to be a knight. You're not special and just like Aliya, you won't amount to anything either."

Castor's smile faded as he recalled Jesse's words to him. Shaking his head as he quietly gave a light scoff, the knight gently pulled himself away from the girl. His movement had caught her attention as she looked in the knight's direction, her light brown eyes concernedly turning towards him.

"Hey, you okay?" Aliya softly asked him as the knight weakly smiled in her direction, his heart slightly breaking. "Y... Yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking," he awkwardly told her, now rubbing on his right arm and looking away from her eyes. "Sorry," Castor added in an apologetic but awkward manner.

"You know, I should get going. I'm sure I have practice later," Castor dismissively added as he activated his bracelet, before looking back at Aliya, who realized she still had his other bracelet. "Oh," she said, her voice unable to read but nonetheless, she nodded at his response. "Right..." she said, handing the knight back his bracelet.

"Thanks and I'm sorry for taking your bracelet in the heat of the moment. I'll make sure not to um do it again," she meekly added. "I'm just glad nothing happened to you, but let's try not to take my bracelets in the future. Deal?" he told her as she nodded. "Deal," Aliya softly said, offering the knight a gentle smile.

As Castor saw her gentle smile, the knight felt half-tempted into staying as he figured his training could be slightly delayed. So as she began walking away, the knight ran back toward the young faerie, lightly holding onto her arm as she looked toward his direction.

"Yeah?"

"Aliya..." Castor softly began, trying to figure out why he had stopped her in the first round. "I... I...." he began once more, trying to get his thoughts together (again) when the knight found he was holding her hand.

"You really think you're good enough for anyone, much less her? Ha! You're nothing more than a disappointment. Everyone leaves because you're not worth staying, Cas. That girl will be no different and besides, it's not like she'll be able to love you anyways. You're a disgrace to your family's name and a failure at that. Why would anyone want to deal with that when it's easier to leave you instead?"

Holding back whatever he was going to say, Castor pulled his hand from her grasp, now activating his bracelets. "I'm glad you're back," he managed to say, smiling in the girl's direction in spite of how he felt. When she had tried to reach out to him, the bracelets had recharged and not long after, the knight vanished.

"Cas..."

~~~~~~~~

As Aliya found herself staring at the place the knight stood, her heart slightly sank from Castor's reaction. She couldn't help but wonder why she had cared. After all, she barely knew the knight as the two only met upon planning and later, crashing Jesse's birthday bash.

Still... Aliya knew the knight was well... different.

At the surface, the knight came across to her like every arrogant Avalonian she has ever met, so it only made sense for her to avoid him. After all, that was one less person she had to endure and Castor felt that much about her. At least in that sense, the two were alike in not wanting to deal with the other.

Yet when Aliya, Jaxon, Lillian and Castor crashed Jesse's birthday bash... something had changed between her and the knight. Granted, the young faerie couldn't quite place her finger on how things had changed, but somehow, she just had a feeling. She would have wondered more on the subject, only she had other matters to focus on.

"Hey, where did the knight go?" Jaxon and Lillian asked as Aliya merely shrugged. "He had practice later, so Castor left," she answered just in time for the three to get roped into a hug by their parents and aunt.

"We can't breathe!" Aliya, Jaxon and Lillian half-jokingly exclaimed, but it was a losing battle between the siblings and their guardians. As such, the three eventually accepted the hug and once they did that, the siblings were then released. Checking on each other and realizing they could still breathe, the siblings then sighed in relief.

"Now, we need to talk," Poseidon reiterated with Faustin behind him. "Right, there's something you should know," Amara began, looking at her two lovers before staring at Aliya, who merely sighed.

"Mama, if this is about you, dad and auntie knowing about Jesse playing a role in my near drowning, then all of you should know that part has already established by the love fairy when me and Castor were chasing after him," Aliya dully answered before sighing once more.

"Look, I'm sorry. I should have told all of you when the memories first came back to me but in truth, I didn't want to think Jesse in that sense, because we were friends. I just could not see him betraying me for the sake of gaining more popularity, you know?" she began, now rubbing on her arms.

"So when I tried to trick Aunt Stormy using the stuff I learned from another mind seer, I actually just ended up tricking myself into forgetting about Jesse's involvement in the whole drowning scandal," Aliya later clarified with a sigh. "I guess it was easier for me to befriend him again if I forgot, but even then, that didn't work out, so that's my fault," she added to which everyone disagreed with her statement.

"Oh, Mi amor, that is not your fault," Issac softly started as his daughter looked. "Jesse is the one who ruined the friendship with you. He made those decisions that led to this moment and the love fairy has to live with the consequences," he added, softly brushing her hair back as Aliya hugged him.

"It can be difficult losing a friend, Flower Blossom, but eventually time will tell whether or not, Jesse will become worthy again," Stormy wisely said as Issac nodded. "I have no doubt you and Jesse will become close once more but he has to grow to become a better person and friend to you," he continued, holding his daughter close before pulling away, softly smiling at her.

"Thanks, papi," Aliya softly said as Issac happily ruffled her hair. "Anytime, kiddo," he affectionately added as Lillian and Jaxon eagerly looked toward their father's direction. As he chuckled, Issac then proceeded to ruffled the two's hairs as both of them gleefully giggling from the affection.

"Well with this issue settled, I have other matters to attend. It was a pleasure to meet you, Amara and Issac. I hope we can meet again soon," Poseidon softly said, shaking hands with the two as Stormy went over to thank her friend once more.

"Once again, it's not a problem," he softly told her. "I am always happy to help," he said before shaking hands with Aliya's siblings, who couldn't stop themselves from freaking out from the touch. As Poseidon began to glow and vanish from view, Jaxon and Lillian excitedly gushed over the moment as Aliya chuckled.

"Now about the other matter," Stormy promptly began, crossing her arms as the three siblings cautiously eyed each other, knowing what their aunt was talking about. "I—" Aliya slowly began, only to get cut off as she and her sister witnessed Jaxon stepped forward.

"It's my fault. I made the mistake of telling my sister some things I shouldn't have said back in the human world. I led her to believe her life wasn't of importance when that's not true. I let my jealousy fester and turn me into someone I wasn't and for that, I'm terribly sorry for being an awful sibling and a friend to you, Aliya. You deserve better and I understand if you don't want me around anymore."

"Jax, what are you talking about?" Aliya puzzling asked. "You're my sibling. Of course, I want you around. What you said really hurt, yes, but you apologized. That's more than what can be said for Jesse, Marcellus, Iris and anyone else who has hurt me before you," she truthfully added.

"I'm partially upset and maybe, that won't disappear completely but I will forgive you, Jax, as long as you promise to me that you won't let your jealousy define our friendship moving forward. Deal?" she added, holding out her hand as Jaxon's eyes swelled before pulling their sister in a hug.

"Deal."

~~~~~~

Arriving back home, Jaxon and Lillian began running inside with Aliya was about to follow until Amara caught her arm. "Mija, where do you think you're going?" the girl's mother bluntly asked as Aliya briefly tilted her head to see her father and aunt eyeing her, which was slightly confusing to say the least.

"I don't understand. I thought we addressed everything," Aliya slowly said, furrowing her eyebrows as Issac turned to Stormy, who merely sighed. "We still have to address something else with you," her aunt added, which had initially confused the young faerie, who had blinked.

"I don't...."

"Wait, isn't this the marking of a iron marker?" she recalled her asked as Aliya pulled her hand away. "It's nothing important," she insisted but Stormy skeptically eyed her.

"Aliya."

"It's a long story, but I promise to tell you if you don't tell them what you saw straight away," she answered as Aliya's aunt sighed. "When you come back, you're telling the three of us what happened," her aunt sternly stated as the girl recalled surrendering to her defeat.

"Okay."

"Ohh..." Aliya mumbled before she gave a solemn sigh. "Right, well, um, about that..." she stammered, trying to talk her way out of having to endure yet another lecture but as she was dragged inside by her parents, Aliya was promptly placed in front of the couch with her three guardians sitting directly in front of her.

"Okay, I'm guessing there's no way out of this," Aliya mumbled, rubbing her arm while actively avoiding eye contact with her parents and aunt. "Aliya, why do you have a iron marker on your hand?" the three promptly asked, getting straight to the point as the young faerie absentmindedly continued to rub her arm.

"Well, you see..." Aliya awkwardly began, only to trail off as she tried to figure out how to gather her thoughts. When the young faerie forced herself to look into the eyes of her three guardians, she stumbled from the intensity of the stares of her parents but her aunt was worse.

As she stared into those jade eyes of her aunt, Stormy's eyes pierced themselves deeply into her soul, urging her to confess as her aunt's eyes gawked at her soul. From there, it didn't take Aliya long to open up as the pressure poured out.

"Okay, okay! I confess! I made a deal with Atticus!" Aliya quickly responded, standing up as the girl couldn't take their eyes on her anymore. "You did what?" her parents and aunt sharply asked, half-confused and half-concerned as the young faerie found herself sighing once more.

"After I had talked to Fèlix and decided it was best to find Jesse on my own, I was trying to find the best way to avoid the mob when I indirectly found Atticus. We um talked for a little bit and when I got around to asking about Jesse, the mage had agreed to help me in exchange for a favor."

"Favor?"

"There's this..." Aliya began before awkwardly glancing at her arm. "Lamp. Or rather, Atticus thinks there's this lamp and he specifically wants me to find it. He says it's in this cave, but only one that is worthy of being this mythical diamond in the rough can enter," she continued, now rubbing her arm once more.

"In my defense, I was completely against making the deal from the start, especially when the mage started talking about power," Aliya sharply stressed, not wanting her parents and aunt to think she made the deal without thinking.

"However, once I had politely declined his offer, Atticus threatened to expose my hiding spot, which wasn't far from the crowd, so naturally, I panicked and..." she continued, only to sheepishly trail off.

"That's when you agreed to the deal," Stormy slowly stated as the girl solemnly sighed, maintaining her sheepish smile. "Yeah... I honestly thought the deal in itself would have paid off but now with all of the events that occurred, I would have rather face the mob than endure whatever Atticus has planned for me regarding this so-called lamp," Aliya truthfully admitted.

"After I had agreed to the deal, Atticus and I shook hands and that's when I discovered the mage had placed this nifty iron marker on my hand," Aliya continued, revealing the engraved 'A' more clearly as she rubbed her arm. "The marker can only be removed by Atticus himself and he won't remove the mark until I complete the deal," the girl added, enduring the sighs from her guardians.

"So... Why does Atticus need — or rather — want this so-called lamp?" Issac asked after a few, brief moments of silence. "The mage insists he's only going to use the lamp to get rid of the curse his ex placed on him, but going back on his talk about power, I don't see him using the lamp to address his curse," she continued.

"If that's true... then what happens if Atticus decides to go against his initial claim and decides to use this 'lamp' for more selfish reasons?" Amara slowly followed up as Aliya continued to rub her arm.

"Try to take the lamp back, I guess. Maybe, I can prevent the wish for coming true if this happens to be the case," she answered, but from their eyes, Aliya could tell there was another matter that had to be addressed.

"If this so-called lamp exists like the mage claims, then it's only a matter of time until he becomes corrupt. So, if this is all hypothetically true then what happens if..." Amara and Issac slowly began, only to trail off at the end as the two eyed Stormy, who assumed the question would fall on her.

"What happens if somewhere along the way, Atticus decides to betray you?" Stormy reluctantly asked as the girl eyed the mind seer. "When you say betrayal, are we just talking about the mage misusing the lamp or...." she slowly asked, but mostly the girl hesitated in asking because a part of her already knew where her aunt was going with her question.

"I mean stab-you-with-an-iron-dagger, push you into the cave and leave you to die type of betrayal," Stormy bluntly clarified as Aliya's eyes widened. "That might have been too much, Storm," Issac and Amara whispered to their lover, who dismissively shrugged off her lovers' comments. "What? She wanted to know," Stormy whispered back in defense to her response.

"Okay... That's oddly specific but hypothetically if that happens to be the case, then I would take Atticus with me and at the last moment, try to activate his staff, so I can get myself out. Either that or if I'm too late, then I'll simply let him think he has the lamp when in reality, I'll just pull the lamp with me."

As a wave of awkwardness grew upon the four, Aliya realized she had to address the other aspect of the betrayal situation because her parents and aunt couldn't quite find the right words to bring about the topic.

"If those options end up failing, then I'm going to succumb to my injuries and die in the cave by myself. There's no other way to address the possibility that I could die from this deal," Aliya briefly said, careful to mask the dismissive tone that was slowly creeping in on her statement.

"Besides if Atticus did — or chooses to — betray me in the end, then it wouldn't be the first time I've been betrayed. Plus, I'll have to deal with the consequences of misplacing my trust in people, which won't be anything new either," Aliya briefly continued, though now she was trying to mask her exhaustion and pain from following up on her response.

Aliya wanted to say she was successful, but their stares led her to believe she failed in hiding her dismissive, exhausted and pain-like approach in her tone, which only made her feel worse.

"Aliya—"

"I'm fine," Aliya bluntly stated, now forcing a laugh as she took a step from her parents, who wanted to approach their daughter until her aunt stepped toward the girl. "Flower Blossom, you know you can always talk to us about how you really feel, right?" Stormy softly asked as she managed to approach her goddaughter without getting pushed away.

"You don't need to hide how you truly feel just for our sake. We are always going to be here to help you," Issac and Amara softly added as Aliya pulled herself back from her aunt. "Yeah, I know," Aliya mumbled as her parents and aunt solemnly eyed each other before looking back at the girl.

When Aliya caught their looks, she felt the need to tell them about everything but she just... she didn't want to embarrass her parents or her aunt any further. Sometimes she wondered why they have even chose to keep her in spite of everything going on. She was a mistake, why couldn't her guardians and siblings see that?

"Look, I understand your concerns but I'm fine, really. I'm just tired from looking for Jesse and being in the human realm for three days. That's all there is to it," Aliya simply stated, though the girl could not bring herself to believe that everything she, her siblings and the love fairy endured truly took place in the span of three days.

"Okay, you win but your mother, your aunt, your siblings and I, we all love you. I know everyone out there thinks you're not worth anything, but to us, you're worth more than half of those Avalonians out there. One day, they'll come to understand your value too and if they don't, well that's their fault," Issac softly said as Aliya smiled for her father's sake.

"Thanks," she said as Issac ruffled her hair once more. "You're welcome, love," he softly said before kissing her forehead. "We were going to make a welcome back dinner, but I'm sure you, Jaxon and Lillian are tired from the journey," Issac continued as Amara nodded.

"Plus, I'm sure you want to rest after enduring what you did today, so we won't keep you up any further," she added, now kissing her daughter's forehead. "Sleep tight, Flower Blossom," Stormy softly said, warmly grinning towards her goddaughter's direction, who had smiled back.

"Night."

~~~~~~

When Aliya made her way upstairs and disappeared from their sight, Stormy quietly frowned. "I swear I'm going to beat Jesse and I don't care if his parents want to sue me for attacking their kid," she firmly stated as Issac nodded. "Mind if I tag along?" Issac promptly asked as Amara rolled her eyes.

"Adding violence to more violence isn't going to solve anything, you know. Just look at what happened when we agreed to let Reaper deal with the near drowning incident," Amara reluctantly pointed out, much to Stormy's dismay.

"When we let Reaper have her way, she only made things worse for our daughter when Marcellus and his friends recovered," she added as Issac and Stormy glanced at each other before sighing.

"Fine, you're right, but you have to admit Reaper taught Marcellus and his friends a lesson that night. It's a shame she'll never get to Jesse," Issac stated as he and Amara noticed Stormy's eyes flickering between her jade eyes to Reaper's electric dark purple eyes.

"Issac, don't encourage her into summoning Reaper!" Amara quietly exclaimed as Issac eyed his wife before sighing in defeat as he realized she was right. "Fine... Another time, Reaper. Your services will be used one day, just not tonight," he said as the mind seer's eyes flickered once more before her eyes permanently returned to her natural jade eyes.

"She really wanted to go hunt Jesse down, you know," Stormy insisted as Amara simply shook her head from her wife's response about Reaper. "No. We will address this issue without Reaper's assistance. Besides, the last thing we need is another repeat of her so-called repercussions in avenging our daughter," Amara firmly stated.

"But—"

"No! You two will listen to me!" Amara firmly but quietly exclaimed, not wanting to wake up the kids. "Reaper might be easy to control now, but eventually she will want out and you know this, Issac," the older woman firmly continued before sighing once more.

"If we were to let Stormy carelessly call on Reaper to solve our problems, Isaac, Avalon wouldn't even be standing! All that would be left is rubble. Plus, we would never get our beloved firecracker back because so forgive me on being stubborn, but I'm just tired of losing people and I just..." Amaranth reluctantly trailed off, trying to prevent her own voice from breaking.

"Amara—"

"I can't bring myself to think about losing you or Corentine over these foolish and irresponsibly reckless ideas," Amara heartbreakingly confessed before looking away from her lovers, who were now looking at each other with guilt.

"I'm going to sleep. Whatever happens tonight will not be my fault and no, I'll not be your lawyer again if things go wrong," Amara followed up before heading towards the stairs. She just made it to their shared bedroom when Issac and Stormy appeared on the bed, both attempting to get their wife's attention.

"On second thought, I should sleep on the couch," Amara insisted, preparing to leave when Issac and Stormy shook their heads. "No! Come on, M! We're sorry! Don't leave us! We'll be super lonely without you! Plus, Issac is boring!" Stormy insisted as Issac punched her shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Mara, you can't leave me with Kore by myself! She talks endlessly, half the time on pointless things! She'll bore me and we both benefit more when you're here because you're our glue, Amara," Issac insisted as Stormy punched his shoulder.

"Ow!"

"M, we love you and though our idea was terrible, we would have never act without your permission first because we value your words more than you think," Stormy sincerely said as Issac nodded. "We never wanted to upset you, we were just tired of seeing Aliya get hurt all the time," he added as Amara nodded.

"I know. I'm tired of seeing Aliya get hurt too and I understand the need to avenge our daughter, but we need to think about things from a logical standpoint. That's all and as for your apology, you're both forgiven," Amara softly said, happily wrapping herself in between her two lovers, who affectionately held her close.

"I knew we could win you over again," Stormy and Issac lightly teased as Amara giggled from their response. "Well, duh. You two know the way to my heart and that's knowing when you two admit you're wrong and I'm right," Amara cheekily shot back as Stormy and Issac eyed each other before looking at their wife.

"Hey!"

~~~~~~~~~

"You're useless, Aliya! You can't do anything because you're just some magic-less nobody! If things had just gone as planned that night, I wouldn't be here dealing with you! Things would be perfect because you wouldn't exist!"

Biting her tongue back from releasing her cries, Aliya sunk to her knees, silently trying to keep herself together in the midst of the quiet house. As she absentmindedly held the iron dagger in her hand, she suddenly gripped the blade with a deep, internal amount of fury.

"Why can't I ever be good enough for anything? Why couldn't I just get something to contribute to my family without being such a burden? Why do I have to be such a screw up and ruin everything? All I do is cause trouble and make things worse for everyone else around. Fae-Maid, mistake, trouble magnet, that's all I'll ever be. Nothing more, nothing less."

Quietly wincing from the dagger's cold touch to her warm skin, Aliya silently witnessed droplets of her metallic, dark sliver blood flowing out from her wrists before those small amounts developed into a gradual, thicker flow.

When she snapped out from her inner trance, Aliya quickly cleaned the wounds she recently made, applied new bandages to her arms and effectively removed any sight of blood from the recently polished wooden floor.

As she closed the cabinet in her bathroom, Aliya felt a wave of dizziness as she gripped onto the sink to prevent herself from falling. Releasing a tiny grunt, she tried to keep herself steady in spite of her surroundings slowly spinning.

"Come on, pull yourself together," she strictly but quietly told herself as Aliya's eyes lingered on her reflection for the first time since being possessed by Erebus.

Aliya's raven hair, which was usually curly, is now fizzing out of control with various strands refusing to remain in place. Her arms which were once free from scars were covered with thick, bandaged material and seeing her light brown eyes hidden in the midst of her deeply sunk, crescent shaped eye bags only made things worse.

Yet as she looked closer, Aliya found a glimmer of black surfacing in her light brown eyes which caught her by surprise. However when she looked again, she found her eyes to be perfectly normal. Silently laughing, Aliya shook her head and blamed herself for being paranoid.

"You're just imagining things, Aliya, that's all. Jax, Jesse and Lillian got rid of Erebus by using the heart of purity and besides, you don't even have an Avalonian necklace," she told herself in an attempt to calm her nerves.

"Besides, he can't hurt you here. I mean, why would he? You're not his pawn anymore. I'm just being paranoid over nothing," she added, preparing to leave when the lights began flickering in the bathroom, which caused the girl to quietly groan before she felt her balance slipping.

As she held onto the sink once more, the lights turn dim as Aliya forced herself to look, expecting to see her reflection so she could just blame the light and move on. She was, however, forced to face the reality of the person invading her mirror as Aliya didn't see her reflection, which meant the faerie could no longer simply blame the mechanics of the lights and move on.

"Miss me, champion?"

In the mirror, Aliya saw the figure retain his light shadow form which partially mixed with his purple skin. In place of his suit, he was now wearing a cosmic sliver but slightly transparent robe, which literally held the galaxies of otherworldly universes. As the god flipped his long, sliver hair, Aliya caught a glimpse of Avalonian symbols engraved on his body.

"Erebus. Never thought I would see you again," Aliya bitterly stated as the god lightly scoffed from her words. "Well, I had to remind my fellow champion that I still exist just in case she forgot," he smugly stated, flashing a wooden miniature sculpture of Aliya, which oddly resembled a doll.

"You didn't think the heart of purity could get rid of me that easily, did you, champion? It may have helped out the knight, but not you. In spite of you lacking an Avalonian necklace of your own though, that's not a reason to be scared. I only needed the necklace to initiate contact with you. Now, I could just control you through this doll," Erebus explained, taking the words out of the girl's mouth who found herself sighing.

As her vision spun, Aliya gripped onto the corners of the sink for stability. "Things can get worse, oh, they can definitely get worse," she mumbled as she released a solemn but dry scoff. "Look, I'm not in the mood to deal with you, so if I walk away, I can still play this off as a hallucination, so bye," she dismissed the god, preparing to leave when her legs magically froze.

Forcibly turned, she found Erebus grinning mischievously with the wooden doll as Aliya held back her frustration.

"This should be fun, but since I am in regeneration mode, I won't be able to do much of anything until I am fully healed, so you can consider yourself lucky for now," Erebus insisted, releasing the doll's arms as Aliya felt a sharp gasp as she briefly coughed, glaring at him.

"Why do you even want me back? I'm useless and I'm pretty sure I failed your orders at least more than once," Aliya pointed out as the god crossed his legs, now eyeing the girl, who looked as though she was on the verge of collapsing.

"True, but you are now the new seeker, which means everyone is trying to get their hands on you, since you're more valuable now. As such, I had to remind everyone around me who had control before your title elevated you," Erebus swiftly explained as she rubbed her eyes.

"Seeker. Do I even want to know why that word alone suddenly makes me valuable and why exactly I should care?" Aliya bluntly mumbled. "Seekers are quite famous for being able to locate special people and relics that others simply cannot. As such, if someone were to control a seeker, they win the game," he explained.

"You should also care because pretty soon, lots of people are going to want to kill you if they didn't want to end your life now, champion," Erebus firmly added as Aliya blinked before shaking her head. "Okay, well then you should know: I would rather die by their hands then end up as your pawn a second time," she insisted as the god laughed.

"Aliya, you don't get a say in this. You will be my pawn because that is your purpose. Gods and seekers have always gone hand-in-hand and depending on which god won over the generation's seeker, that has always determined the fate of Avalon," Erebus further explained.

"You want Avalon for the sake of releasing your shadows to consume Avalon and thrive from their fear. But, I want Avalon to improve for the better. Avalon will change, but not through fear. If gods and seekers truly go hand-in-hand, consider this exchange our permanent separation," she firmly countered.

"Say what you want, dear seeker, but monsters are made, not born. You think you are a hero destined to overcome her challenges, but I don't view you in that sense. I like to think of you being the one who sets the downfall of Avalon through destruction. That is how Avalon will change."

"No!"

"After all, that's what the last seeker did. If you're anything like them, then you'll follow into his footsteps easily enough."

"You can't be serious," Aliya insisted as she stared at him. "The last seeker sided with you?" she followed up, only to shake her head. "Whatever. I'm not like them and unlike him, I'm ending this," she continued, walking away when Aliya found herself dragged back to the sink as Erebus held the wooden doll.

"Listen, I would like to say you have a choice in this, but you don't. The last seeker thought the same way, but failed all the same. So while you may seek to change this world, dear champion, you are only destined to destroy just like the previous seeker."

"We'll talk further once I've fully recovered. I just came here to remind you of your fate," Erebus smugly said as Aliya stared at the god, who held the wooden doll in his possession. Aliya could only stare in annoyance because she couldn't access the doll from the mirror dimension and they both knew this.

"You can try to outrun your destiny, but gods? You can run, sure, but you can never hide from me, Aliya. We are linked together, you see. The clever mastermind and his little monstrous seeker. Together, we are destined to forge a new Avalon through the destruction of this one just like me and the previous seeker did."

With those words, Erebus vanished from sight as the lights began to flicker once more, where instead of the god, she found her own reflection.

As the girl looked at her reflection, Aliya found a pair of black, ebony eyes staring back at her as she was now dressed in a sparkling raven black dress, donned in dark jewelry as a sadistic smile formed over her lips.

But when Aliya had blinked again, the lights went black to normal and when she stared at herself, the young faerie knew it would be the last time she would ever bring herself to face the mirror.

As Aliya managed to get herself out of the bathroom, she kept her dagger hidden as the girl leaned against her windowsill, somewhere between wanting sleep and wanting to avoid the nightmares that lingered in her thoughts. Rubbing her eyes to avoid sleep, she briefly yawned before hearing footsteps.

Grabbing her nearby set of identical strapless gloves, Aliya steadily hid her bandages just as she heard a light knock on her door.

"Li?"

Turning around, Aliya rubbed her eyes before seeing Jaxon and Lillian shyly hovering by her door. "Can we sleep with you tonight? We both got identical nightmares and we were hoping we would get some sleep if you were here to keep us company," she faintly heard the two say as she nodded, more focused on trying to keep herself awake.

"Yeah, I plan on sleeping near the windowsill anyways. so my bed is completely free to use," she casually said as Jaxon and Lillian teleported to her bed with a grin. "Thanks, sis! You're the best!" the two exclaimed as Aliya gave a small smile.

"You're welcome," she softly added, only to glance over to see her siblings fast asleep as Aliya playfully shook her head.

"Sleep tight."

~~~~~~

"Aliya!"

Iris witnessed Aliya climbing down her windowsill when the girl approached her as the faerie blinked upon seeing her. "Iris? It's two in the morning. What are you even doing here?" the wingless faerie asked as Iris sighed.

"I need you to take Jesse back," Iris admitted, noting the girl's laughter. "You wanted him for years and now that you have him, you're done?" Aliya bluntly stated, openly mocking the girl.

"Aliya, you don't understand!" Iris whined at once. "He's... he's horrible! Jesse just kept talking to me as though he owned me! All because I'm a half-breed! Can you believe that?" Iris promptly complained as she heard the girl's quiet chuckle.

"Welcome to the life of being a social outcast," she heard Aliya mock, but even then, Iris noticed her voice was fully exhausted and Iris almost wanted to ask before shaking her head.

"I am not a social outcast. Okay? Unlike you, I actually have power and wealth," Iris angrily shot back. "Your life is built on lies, genius. At this point, you are a social outcast, Iris, or rather, you will be soon enough when everyone finds out about you and your father," Aliya shot back, her voice becoming fainter.

"At least, I'm liked."

"People like your father's money, not you. I'm pretty sure those who say otherwise are liars. You can claim you made friends, but you're probably the loneliest person here between you and me."

"I am not lonely! Okay? People adore me! When it comes to you, people feel nothing but disgust and hatred to you. That's why you really drowned that night. No one wanted you around. People still don't want you around," Iris angrily snapped, which did little to faze her rival.

"Yet when the dust settles, you will still be the one polishing my shoes while I partake in the royal riches," Aliya sharply shot back as the Senior Fae's daughter once again found herself speechless by her rival's response.

Silently fuming, Iris grabbed a few strands of Aliya's hair as the girl blinked. "Ow," she heard her rival briefly mumble. "Wait, why are you collecting strands of my hair?" Aliya curiously asked as Iris stared at her. "I need this," Iris simply stated, placing her rival's strands inside of a cylindrical bottle.

"Yeah, I know, but for what?" the girl's rival bluntly followed up as Iris pocketed the strands back in her pocket. "You'll find out what I did when you and Jesse see each other again," Iris cryptically answered, which made her smile as she saw her rival's frustration.

"Well, this has been fun, but I must go," Iris dismissively stated. "You really just came here to complain about your boyfriend, fight with me and take strands of my hair?" Aliya bluntly asked as Iris grinned.

"Jesse is not my boyfriend and yes, I fought with you just to get several strands of your hair," Iris cheekily said as her rival merely shook her head. "You are the most confusing person I've ever met, Iris," her rival insisted as Iris briefly nodded before she chuckled from the response.

"Likewise, Aliya. I thought I had you all figured out, but your confidence is a change I'm still getting used to," Iris truthfully admitted and for a brief moment, the two shared a rare, genuine smile towards each other.

"You know, as much as I hate to admit it, you were right about what you had said to me earlier. Maybe I won't ever rule since I'm not a real Avalonian, but I grew up believing that being a royal would be in the cards for me. So even if it doesn't come true, I can at least fight for a chance to make my destiny true and make that wish a reality for me and my dad. You know?" Iris continued with a sigh.

"Still, I owe you an apology. I should have never made that stupid play mocking your suicide attempt. I mean, it was a hit, but you know, it was also wrong. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're not dead."

"You are?"

"Yeah! Who else is going to be my rival?" Iris proudly followed up, before hearing her rival laugh. "Do you not consider Crystallia and Chepi as your rivals?" Aliya countered as the girl scoffed.

"Crystallia and I have a friendship going, but I'm sure she prefers to hang out with her girlfriend, Ember, over me sometimes. As for Chepi, we're not quite rivals but we're not quite friends. I'm not sure where I stand with her exactly, but we don't like each other. I know that much," Iris simply explained.

"On the other hand, you challenge me, Aliya. No one else so far has been able to stand up to me. Plus with your newfound confidence, I can tell our future conversations are going to be fun," she added as Aliya laughed and for a brief moment, Iris felt her heart skip a beat.

Iris quickly brushed off this strange feeling, wondering why she felt this way towards her rival (out of all people). "Look, I know I say things, but the truth is simple: I need you. You make my life a little bit less dull," she truthfully admitted, now lying on the grass with Aliya, who laughed once more.

"Aww Iris, stop. You make it seem like we've always been friends," Aliya cheekily stated but underneath, Iris could detect a sense of sarcasm. "We... We could be friends," Iris softly said before quickly covering her mouth, her heart racing in the dark as her rival turned to face her.

"I... If you want!" Iris found herself stammering as her hair began to glow from half-embarrassment, which only made her rival smile from the sight. Her rival's gesture, however, did not help Iris from recovering as her hair only glowed brighter and her heart raced faster with Aliya laughing.

"I never thought I would see the day where I make the Ice Queen blush and witness the event for myself," Aliya cheekily began, lightly teasing the girl. "Still, you and I are not quite ready to be friends. You did humiliate me a couple of times with the play being the latest act," Aliya followed up before standing up.

"Besides if we're both being honest here, this is just going to be a one time thing. You'll go back to despising me tomorrow, so it's best if we just maintain our rivalry," her rival briefly stated as Aliya held out her hand. When Iris took her hand, she tried (and failed) to stop her heart from beating as she stared at the girl.

"Still, this side of you, while a bit strange, is endearing. If you weren't such a complete jerk to me over the years, I would even go on to say that this side of you is cute," Aliya sincerely admitted before sighing. "But as your rival, I must respectfully refer to you as a dork for thinking we could become friends," she continued, now chuckling while Iris felt her heart race once more.

"Oh and I know you said otherwise, but Jesse is still your boyfriend, so have fun dealing with him because the love fairy is your problem," Iris's rival cheekily added as she held out her bag. "Uh, good luck on whatever you have planned with my hair strands," Aliya awkwardly concluded before pulling away from Iris.

"Wait!" Iris exclaimed with panic but her rival was already making her way back to her house. When Aliya kept walking, Iris stared at her now repaired Avalonian necklace and took a deep breath.

"I order you to stay," Iris firmly stated, activating her powers but frowned when Aliya's eyes were still the same as her rival shook her head. "Nice try, but in case you forgot, I'm not so easy to control," Aliya smugly shot back, before Iris saw her rival turning away from her.

"Good night, Iris."

~~~~~~

"Apologize to her, they said," Jesse bitterly mumbled as he awkwardly held the flowers in his possession. "Make your apology sincere, they said," he continued, now tugging at his tuxedo.

Jesse had promised his parents (and to some extent, his advisor, Atticus) that he would go find Aliya and give the girl a proper apology. Despite his protest that he would only make things worse, his parents and Atticus were persistent in having their way, which was why he was now flying through Avalon in the afternoon.

"This is pointless, why would she even—" Jesse bitterly complained, before stopping himself as he spotted the faerie from afar. Moving closer, Jesse saw Aliya wearing a lavender dress with her curly hair now braided and decorated with various colored flowers.

Tugging on his tuxedo again, Jesse tried to calm his nerves — more specifically, his heart — as his hair began to glow from seeing the girl.

"Aliya!"

As Jesse began making his way to her, the love fairy's path to her was blocked by the incoming crowd. Moving through the crowd, he was about halfway through reaching the girl when he found her with the knight, who was outside of his uniform and now in casual clothing.

"Oh, it's just you," the love fairy heard Aliya say as she shook her head. "Sorry, I thought I heard someone else..." she followed up, now looking around. When she glanced back, the knight presented a white lilac flower to her.

"You know we are just running errands, right?" Aliya lightly asked him, but graciously accepted the white lilac flower from Castor nonetheless. "Eh, doing stuff like this helps pass the time," the knight cheekily responded, smirking as he tossed an gold coin to the nearest fruit stand as the knight picked up the apple.

"Yeah, how so?" Aliya curiously asked as Castor merely grinned. "Just watch this," he insisted, trickling an apple down his back and bowed, presenting the fruit to her as she placed the white lilac flower in her head as she chuckled in awe.

"A knight, a illusionist and a magician. You sir are a man of many wonders," she fondly complimented, accepting the apple afterwards. "Well, I aim to impress, Captain," Castor flirtatiously stated as Jesse noticed the girl softly giggling. "You're such a dork, Cas. No wonder why you're still single," she teased as Castor laughed.

Gripping onto the flowers tightly, a surge of anger ran through Jesse as he concentrated his focus solely on Aliya and Castor, who were enjoying themselves. With this level of intensity, the love fairy's eyes turned black and seconds later, Castor fell to his knees, which startled the wingless faerie.

"Cas?" she called out, her voice naturally heightened by panic when the knight didn't respond. "Cas!" Aliya called out in a panicked tone, preparing to go get help for the knight. Yet she seemed to calm down slightly when the knight stood back up as she nervously chuckled.

"My stardust! Castor, you really had me there," she slowly began, lightly brushing her hair back with her hand. "How's your head?" she followed up as Jesse quietly smirked from afar, his rose-gold gemstone now black.

"I told you not to get close, half-breed. Now you have to pay the price," the love fairy mumbled, now releasing a dark chuckle which Castor had mimicked, catching the girl off-guard once again, her fear now heightened.

"Castor?" Aliya slowly repeated, hesitation in her voice as Jesse smirked at the thought of controlling Castor as he held the knight's string in his hand. "Time to have some fun," the love fairy said, his voice now merging with the knight, who devilishly smirked as he forged his bracelets into a sword.

"Cas..." she slowly said as Jesse lift his head, which led to the knight lifting his head, as Aliya saw Castor's eyes were now black. "Darling, let's have some fun," Jesse spoke as the knight repeated each word in his voice.

"I got a little game designed for just you and me. Ready to play?" he/Castor followed up, unsheathing his (the knight's) sword, noting the fear she was trying to hide within her eyes.

"Castor—"

"The game is starting. You might want to start running before I find you," he told her, swinging the sword as the knight sliced through a wooden fruit stand. With the stand coming undone in seconds, the merchant and other civilians were sent into a panic as Jesse laughed from the sight.

In the midst of the chaos, Jesse lost sight of the wingless faerie so as he momentarily attempted to undo his (the knight's) sword. "The girl is behind him," Cain whispered and seconds later, Jesse spun around, which led to Castor being able to effectively grab the girl, pinning Aliya to the wall as the screams continued to plague the center side of Avalon.

"You know, you were always a fool, my dear. The first to trust and the first to bleed from the impact. Well, you should know better than to trust me," Jesse cruelly mocked as the girl as Castor repeated the words, only for the knight to freeze upon holding the bronze sword, which was inches from the wingless faerie's throat.

It was a temporary setback for Jesse, who was trying to regain control but a moment of opportunity for Aliya, who spotted Castor's gemstone momentarily pause in the midst of turning black. It was a sign to the girl and the love fairy that the knight was fighting back, even if he physically told the two nothing.

"Not a fool, just a unfortunate optimistic who hopes for the best," she sharply clarified, silently mumbling an apology. Then moments later, she directly kicked the knight from the chin, causing Castor to fall onto the ground as Aliya caught the knight's new sword before pinning the sword towards him.

"Get out of his head, Jesse, and come face me in person," she firmly stated, turning the sword from Castor towards the direction of the love fairy, whose spot was now exposed as Jesse's eyes widened as the girl scoffed.

"Unless, you're too much of a coward to handle that task," she harshly added, which had directly hurt Jesse more than he cared to admit. So when Jesse flew toward the two and reluctantly reverse his possession spell, he saw the girl approach Castor, who began to cough.

"Did I hurt you?" Castor immediately asked in concern as Aliya helped the knight into a comfortable position. "No, not at all. No scratches on me, promise," she softly assured him as the knight sighed in relief before wincing.

"I um might have accidentally hurt you though. Sorry," she apologetically admitted as the knight shook his head and waved off her apology. "Nah, I don't blame you, Cap," he assured her as she looked at Castor with fondness before she held the sword directly toward him (the love fairy).

"How long were you watching us? Answer the question or I'll show you what it's like to bleed for once," Aliya quietly but coldly threatened, aiming the sword toward him just as Jesse briefly saw her eyes flickering from her light brown eyes toward a darker shade of black, which quickly caught the love fairy's attention.

"Aliya—"

"Answer the question," Aliya firmly but slowly dragged out, the sword now inches away from making contact with the love fairy's throat. In her eyes, Jesse found no signs of warmth nor compassion but rather, he discovered a seething amount of rage and pain targeted toward him specifically.

"Long enough for my jealousy to kick in," Jesse reluctantly answered, trying to mask his injured state, but the love fairy knew his eyes gave him away because that's when her own eyes returned to normal as she dropped Castor's sword.

"Look, I—" he quickly began but Aliya only shook her head, promptly stopping him from continuing.

"Oh, you meant every word and every action. You meant for Castor to hurt me just like you meant to refer to me as a fool," she bitterly told him as Jesse could only look down in shame. "Get it through your head, Jesse. When will you learn I'm not in love with you?" she angrily continued.

"Aliya—"

"You don't get the right to interfere in my life because you're jealous of losing something that we never had," Aliya firmly added, her light brown eyes now clouded by the girl's anger. "You were right. We did change," she solemnly said, picking up Castor's bronze sword before pocketing the item in her pocket.

"Aliya, look I made a lot of stupid decisions and I get it. I was in the wrong but—" Jesse quickly began, feeling as though his relationship with her would truly change in this moment, only to get interrupted as she bitterly chuckled.

"I think we're past the point of apologies now, Jesse. In fact, I think you said it best: I should know better than to trust you," she sharply stated, her demeanor now cold and distant but from the way her eyes began to water, Jesse truly saw just how much he had done to her.

"Aliya, please—"

"Jesse, we've both past the point of repairing this broken mess. Time and time, I let you break me just like you got used for me excusing your cruelty, but someone has to put their foot down, so I guess it'll be me."

"Aliya, no. Come on, please. I'm sorry! Please don't do this! I need you! Please! Please don't go!" Jesse now pleaded with the girl, desperately trying to refrain the faerie from going through with her decision just like he was clinging onto hope that things would work out between them.

"You don't need me, Jesse. You never needed me. I was just stupid enough to think that I actually mattered to you," Aliya coldly stated, her eyes now glaring at him like daggers.

In that moment, Jesse knew exactly where he stood with Aliya. As his heart crumbled from the weight of her words, he found himself repeatedly telling her not to leave him but she only gave him a sad chuckle.

"You did this, Jesse. Everything that happened to us is because of you. You're the one who caused our bridges to burn. You said it to me best: you're on your own just like you always wanted, fairy," Aliya harshly stated, pushing past Jesse as she began to help Castor stand.

"Aliya, stop!" Jesse solemnly exclaimed, now reaching out to her. "Why are you leaving me?" he later shouted, attempting to get close when she instinctively held the love fairy by his face.,

"Because you are a jinx, Jesse! Lillian was right about you. You singlehandedly destroy everything you touch," she angrily answered, before she harshly pushed Jesse onto the ground.

Now teary-eyed, Jesse stubbornly rubbed his eyes as he saw the wingless faerie debate between approaching him or no. The girl began moving forward before Aliya decided against it, now turning away from him.

"Hey, it's still you and me against the world, right?" the love fairy asked her in between his sniffles, clinging onto some kind of hope in which he and Aliya could maintain their friendship because no matter how much he tried to move on or forget, Jesse did care about her... and despite what he did, he wanted to make things right.

Aliya glanced at him, if only for a brief moment. She eyed him as the love fairy noticed the girl going through mixed emotions. She began to open her mouth before the faerie glanced at her hands, now sighing to herself.

"No, Jesse, not this time. You're on your own now," she told him in a emotionless tone, her eyes shifted away from the love fairy. As Jesse saw the girl glance in his direction, she gave him a small solemn smile, wanting to add something else before she shook her head and began walking away.

"Aliya!" Jesse heart-achingly exclaimed, scrambling to stand up as the girl halt her pace, if only slightly. The girl reluctantly turned around to face him before she took a long, sorrowful breath.

"I'm sorry," the love fairy quietly heard her said, sensing a heartache in her tone before Aliya resumed her pace, no longer bothering to look back in his direction. When the girl and the knight left, Jesse fell onto his knees.

Clenching his fist, the love fairy tried to calm himself down but gradually, Jesse's shaky breaths evolved to a downward spiral as the love fairy gripped his head. With a wave of neglect and despair swirling around him, Jesse couldn't stop himself from lashing out, his heart-wrenching screams heard across Avalon.

Some say when a love fairy deeply mourns a intense loss with someone (relationship, family, friends, etc), a part of the fairy's soul dies with them. Well on that particular day, Jesse lost a part of his soul when Aliya chose to walk out of his life. Granted, as of late, the two were always fighting but this... this was different.

When Jesse felt his emotions calming down, his grief gradually shift towards anger as he was upset with himself for destroying the only, real friendship he ever had. But more importantly, the love fairy was upset with Aliya for abandoning him and throwing away everything the two have ever built together.

So as the love fairy clenched his fist harder, Jesse made a silent vow: Jesse was going to make sure he never felt like this again, and for better or worse, the love fairy knew just how to make good on his word.

~~~~~~~~~

"Done!"

Swishing the dark purple potion around, Iris grinned from her successful attempt as she placed the lid on. Lightly twirling in her dark midnight blue dress, the half-hybrid hum quietly to herself as she applied more volume onto her hair, adapting a more luxurious style.

Applying a few droplets of a rosé scent fragrance onto her skin, Iris then applied a light amount of blush before switching out her pearl earrings in favor of using a set of tear-shaped diamond ones.

The hybrid wanted to look at herself, but decided against the idea as Iris wasn't ready to know what her siren form would look like. From what she could see though, Iris saw she looked great, so her brief, limited glance was more than enough confirmation for her to assume she simply looked stunning.

Pleased by herself, Iris securely grabbed the purple potion, slid on her black flats before sliding down the stairs just in time for the hybrid to hear her doorbell ringing, knowing exactly who would arrive as she glanced at the time. "Coming!" she called out, opening the door seconds later.

As she stared at the love fairy, Iris saw his pink hair, which was now at medium-length, his light skin and brown eyes complemented by his rose-gold tint wings, which were now shaped similarly to the appearance of a broken heart. Observing the love fairy tug awkwardly at his tuxedo, Iris could see his eyes were slightly red.

Iris slightly frowned from the sight, but immediately replaced the frown as she didn't want the love fairy to think she cared. After all, she was falling out of love with him and Jesse was still obsessed with the Fae — Aliya. Her rival's name was Aliya, Iris mentally corrected, which caught the hybrid by surprise.

Why did she suddenly care about how to address her rival? It's not like the wingless faerie was anyone special. Aliya was magic-less, gift-less and wing-less at that. She resembled a human without her wings and yet...

"Aww Iris, stop. You make it seem like we've always been friends."

"We... We could be friends... I... If you want!"

Aliya was the one who made her stammer. She was the one who undeniably made her nervous and as of last night, Iris found herself viewing her rival differently, which was partly annoying because this new appreciation for her rival was going to complicate the plan.

But Iris figured she could deal with the impending situation as she and her father got closer to executing the plan. Besides if the lamp came through and her father became King and ruled over Avalon (as planned), then Iris would become a royal as well (like intended).

If this was the case then, maybe just maybe, she and Aliya could.... Iris dismissed the thought immediately, wondering why her latest thoughts on the wingless faerie were changing, especially since she and Aliya were nothing more than rivals.

Not wanting to think about the faerie any longer, she turned her attention to the love fairy, whose presence annoyed her. Iris swallowed her disdain for Jesse, reminding herself of the plan before plastering a smile.

"Jessi-kins!" Iris cheerfully (or at least, she hoped she came across to the love fairy as cheerful) exclaimed, noting Jesse's tense smile. "Hey, beautiful," Jesse softly greeted, but even the word 'beautiful' came across as forced.

When she could pick up on the lies, it only made Iris angrier because at least, she was placing effort into what she told him. Couldn't Jesse give her the courtesy of displaying the same amount? Plus, his change in behavior only made things confusing because she couldn't tell when he genuinely loved her and when he despised her.

Iris pretended she hadn't noticed the forced lie underlying in his tone just like she chose to gloss over the boy's very tense smile. After all, ignoring these changes made things easier and besides, it's not like the love fairy wanted to be here.

No, Jesse was only here because she had what he needed to forget about his actual love interest: Aliya.

"I got you these," Jesse softly continued, presenting her with a variety bouquet of roses as Iris politely took his gift. "Why thank you," the hybrid continued, before inviting the love fairy into her house.

Closing the door from behind her, Iris then flew to the table before placing the roses in a clear, glass vase. As she placed the flowers in the vase, water automatically appeared the moment the roses touched the vase, as Iris grinned at her latest purchase. Then she turned toward the love fairy and her smile fell again.

Taking a deep breath, Iris restored her smile and casually approached the love fairy as she attempted to wrap her arms around him, but he quickly moved, resulting in the girl absentmindedly falling onto the ground.

"Ow."

"Sorry about that," Jesse apologetically began before making his way back to Iris, who skeptically eyed him. "Here, let me help you," he added, holding out his hand to her but as revenge, she had pulled the love fairy down with her.

Jesse had stared at the girl for a moment before he began laughing. "That's the best you got?" Jesse lightly asked in between his laughs as Iris playfully punched him, which led the love fairy into laughing harder. "You are a dork, Iris," he insisted as Iris's hair lightly glowed from his response.

"How come I never saw that side of you before?" Jesse curiously added, now crossing his legs as Iris sat up. "You were obsessed with Aliya that you never bother to get to know me," she admitted, noticing his frown.

"Well if you're willing to take me back, I would like to officially be your boyfriend and get to know you better," he sincerely offered as she cautiously blinked.

Iris wanted to ask why her when she had lured him into his siren spell a few times and laughed at his human collection (among other things she did to him). In fact, Iris had to make sure she wasn't the one controlling him and found herself partially relieved when her gemstone did not glow.

"Of course. You're the only one who can capture my heart, my dashing Prince," she reluctantly said, lightly touching the tip of his nose and caught the boy giving her a smitten smile.

Even without using her powers, Iris still had a way with words and for that, she was internally grateful. So as the hours passed, she did get the date she wanted with Jesse, the two chatting and laughing about endless things.

When Iris glanced at the clock and saw it was a few hours away from midnight, she saw Jesse stare at the time, now standing up. "I should probably get a move on," he insisted as Iris stood up.

"Wait! I have something for you," she insisted, entering the kitchen where she pour the potion onto a muffin, the liquid absorbing itself into the bread. When Iris was convince she couldn't smell the potion, she then wrapped the muffin in a tiny, plastic box before presenting the sweet treat to Jesse.

"Here, I made this for you," she continued as Jesse smiled softly. "Thanks, Iris. That's so sweet of you," he said before staring at her. "Oh and don't worry about what I said yesterday. I'm sure I'll find another way to deal with my Aliya situation, so you don't need to help me forget about her or her family," he sincerely added, lightly kissing her cheek.

"Okay, I'm heading out now," Jesse cheekily added as Iris briefly opened her mouth before deciding against telling him. After all, he wasn't about to waste her efforts, so whether the love fairy liked it or not, he was going to forget.

"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow then, my Prince," she concluded when Jesse ran and lightly planted a kiss on her right cheek, catching Iris by surprise as she hadn't anticipated the move.

"Right back at you, my Queen."

~~~~~~~~~

"How did the apology go? Did she take it well?"

"The..." Jesse quietly mumbled before his eyes widened. "The apology! Right! The one I was supposed to give to Aliya for witnessing her near death moment and other terrible things I did to her. That one," the love fairy nervously rambled, causing his parents to suspiciously stare at him, their arms crossed.

"You did apologize to her... right?" his parents followed up as Jesse immediately nodded his head.

"Of course! She um... she..."

"I think we're past the point of apologies now, Jesse. In fact, I think you said it best: I should know better than to trust you."

"She..."

"You did this, Jesse. Everything that happened to us is because of you. You're the one who caused our bridges to burn. You said it to me best: you're on your own just like you always wanted."

"Aliya took the apology really well," Jesse insisted, quietly sighing in relief when his parents smiled. "Well, that's good. Hopefully, you two will see eye-to-eye again," Talia warmly told him as Jesse weakly chuckled from her words.

"Sure..."

"Anyways, we figured you were at their house and that's why you came so late with only a muffin to show," Shiron further added as Talia's eyes lit up from seeing the treat. "Aw, Issac made you a truce muffin! That's so sweet of him, especially when he didn't need to make you anything," she happily gushed as Jesse nodded.

"Yep! Oh hey, where's Atticus?" the love fairy followed up as his parents glanced at each other. "Oh, you know, our advisor is always doing something at this hour. I'm sure he'll turn up in the morning like the mage usually does," Shiron dismissively answered with a shrug.

"Besides, I'm sure you're tired, so why don't you get some rest? Tomorrow, you get the sole pleasure of addressing every apology letter from the endless Avalonians you bullied and trust me, there are hundreds," Jesse's parents insisted, gesturing to several bins of untouched letters.

"Oh... yay... that's going to be s... so much f... fun," Jesse sarcastically mumbled, forcing the words out of his mouth. "Oh and get this! You have to hand deliver these letters too when you're done!" Talia cheekily added as the love fairy perked up.

"Oh, that won't be—"

"Did we mention that you will be required to walk when hand delivering your letters?"

"What!"

"Yep! No wings! You will walk and hand deliver these letters until everyone on the list is crossed out. When you succeed, then you can have your flying rights again," his father cheekily continued as Jesse groaned.

"Aw man..."

Now back in his room, Jesse attempted to get started on responding to every apology letter but when he opened the first bin, his room became flooded by letters. "Okay, I'm not doing this," he mumbled, grabbing the letters from the ground before the love fairy managed to get the lid closed.

Grabbing the plastic box containing his muffin, Jesse opened his window in an attempt to get some fresh air, casually looking around when he did a double take and jumped in shock.

"A — Aliya!"

As Jesse stared at Aliya, he saw she was wearing a light green set of matching pajamas which were designed with turtles. "What are you doing? Last time I checked, you said I was on my own," he insisted, now crossing his arms as she sighed. "True, but I'm only here to apologize then I will leave you alone," Aliya quickly stated as Jesse stared at her.

"I realized I went too far when I called you a jinx. You've done a lot of terrible things, but you're not a jinx. If anything, you were just looking out for your best interests and that doesn't make you a jinx for choosing to be selfish. So, I'm sorry in terms of calling you a jinx, but that's about it."

"You said this was an apology."

"I did, but it wouldn't be right if I didn't call you selfish, because you are," she sharply added as he reluctantly sighed. "You're right... I've always been selfish and I was wrong for not helping you. I shouldn't have let popularity and my newfound status get in the way of our friendship," he admitted, leaning against his windowsill as Aliya sat on the edge.

"I was also stupid for being jealous. I shouldn't interfere in your love life just because you like someone else. I mean, I wasn't even there for you as a friend, much less a best friend after I got my wings. You were right for choosing Castor over me and I can see why he likes you so much."

"Look, I shouldn't have been upset about you rejecting me because you were fair in that department too. I haven't done much to prove myself worthy of being your boyfriend, so I was also stupid in the sense of saying those things to you back in the human realm. I just..." he trailed off before sighing.

"I do care about you, Aliya. I really do... it's just my mind has been wired to go with the Avalonian way of thinking for so long that every time we get into a fight, I revert back into going against you and things only got worse from there," Jesse truthfully admitted before sighing once more.

"How did we ever get to this point, Jesse? I swear we used to be so close when we were younger," Aliya solemnly said as Jesse nodded, having the similar statement in mind.

"Yeah, we were." Jesse softly said with a chuckle. "Then the gift ceremony happened and our lives changed but not necessarily for the better. Granted, I benefited greatly, given my gift but I would have never been known as a love fairy had you not help me discover my gift, so..." he continued before taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for never being more appreciative of you, Aliya. You were the first and only genuine friend I had. You defended me when no one else did and you always went out of your way to prove your loyalty to me, while I did nothing but hurt and neglect you over the years."

"I know you said we're past the point of apologizing and fixing the broken, fragile state of our friendship but if you're willing to take me back as your best friend... could we try again?" Jesse softly offered as she saw her smile, which gave him hope the two were going to rekindle their friendship.

Yet when she saw her smile fading, he frowned.

"Jesse, I want to believe you. Really I do, but we've been on this road countless times and each time I decide to let you in, I always get the worse end of things. So while I appreciate your string of apologies, I will view your words at face-value until you actually put merit into what you said."

"Meaning...?"

"Basically, you need to prove to me that you still value our friendship in order for me to take you seriously and reclaim your best friend status back," she answered as he opened his mouth, realizing he had done something to prove his worth. "You saving me from drowning by Narcissa's eels is a one time thing that only occurred in the human world," she added, causing Jesse to close his mouth again.

"For what it's worth, this is a good start. Maybe, we could be best friends again but for now, we should probably take a break from each other."

"But I—"

"I know you apologized, Jesse, but it's so much more than that. Ever since the drowning incident, I have been plagued by the moment and each time after that, I've experienced more things that eventually led me to dread being alone with my thoughts because for me, I'll never be able to escape the past."

"Aliya—"

"I've drowned at least a few times now, I've been stabbed, choked and nearly strangled through you in terms of Cain and you just being mind-controlled, your father trapped me in his fire-fueled force shield before nearly stabbing me to death, I nearly died from overexposure to iron, I got possessed — well, I'm still possessed by a god and that's all within the past up to now!"

"Aliya—"

"Who knows what will happen to me next year? I made a deal with your advisor to find you and guess what? My tía already thinks Atticus is going to betray me, stab me and leave me to die alone in a cave all over a lamp, Jesse. A lamp!" she exclaimed before she gave a weak laugh.

"Aliya..."

"I should get going. It's getting late and I'm sure you're tired," Aliya dismissively said as she stood up from his windowsill.

"Aliya—"

"In the meantime, I hope you're able to find some happiness and I'm sorry you never got a chance to become human. I know you really wanted to be part of their world," she continued as Jesse sighed.

"What?"

"It's not important. Besides, it's getting late like you said and I have the pleasure of writing apologies to all of the Avalonian kids I've ever bullied," he briefly answered, gesturing towards the bins in his room.

"Ah, well I should leave you to your letters then," Aliya simply said before she held out her hand, to which Jesse found himself overwhelmed by his emotions and pulled her into a deep, sincere hug.

"I will make things right between us and we will become best friends again. Maybe not now, but within time, I'll prove my worth because there's nothing more important in this world to me than you."

"Jesse—"

"You will always be my best friend, no matter how long it takes for me to prove myself to you. Okay? I will make things right between us and when we're best friends again, we are going to restart our human appreciation club to celebrate and if you're willing to take me back by then, I would love to have you as my vice president again."

Jesse could see the girl's eyes flickering with mixed emotions but this time, her eyes softened.

"I'm going to regret this, but if we become best friends again, I would be honored to restart the human appreciation club with you as your vice president," she said, a small smile now forming as the love fairy excitedly jumped from her response.

"But I will hold you to your word, so if you're really committed to making things right between us, then don't let me down... please, I don't want to get hurt again," she said, her voice cracking and fading as a whisper. Jesse quietly frowned before he briefly left before returning with two charm bracelets.

"Here," Jesse began as he saw the girl's confused face. "Charm bracelets?" she asked as he laughed. "No, Aliya, these are promise bracelets," he told her as the girl reluctantly held her hand out.

"I realize each time I say something, I always end up breaking my word but with these, I'll be more motivated to keep my word since our promise will be held together by these bond charms," he explained, placing the bracelet on her. "Besides if I break my promise to you, then I'll get severely punished and if I fail too many times, then I will die, so..." he later added as her eyes widened.

"Jesse!"

"I'll place my promise bracelet on if you agree to promise me something," Jesse went on, ignoring her remark as he saw the girl blink. "Okay... what is it you want me to promise?" she reluctantly followed up.

"I want you to promise me that you'll stop hurting yourself through the use of iron and find happiness for yourself for a change. You don't have to neglect yourself just for the sake of everyone else, okay? You deserve to be happy too," Jesse sincerely told her as her eyes further softened.

"Okay, Jesse. I'll buy into your idea. I promise to stop harming myself through iron and find happiness for myself if you promise to start changing for the better and prove to me our friendship is worth salvaging," she truthfully said, her charm bracelet glowing as Jesse firmly nodded.

"In exchange for you keeping your promise to me, I will honor my promise to you by starting to change myself for the better and prove to you that our friendship is worth salvaging," Jesse truthfully told her, his charm bracelet now glowing as the two were lift into the air and engulfed in a bright, golden light before being placed back down, their bracelets now retaining a golden crystallized shine.

"With that, we are now bound to our promises. It should be noted that if you break your promise to me, you will be severely punish and if you break your word too many times, then you will die," he strictly reminded her as she lightly scoffed. "Please, this will be easy. When have I ever broken my word to you?" she smugly countered back to which the love fairy struggled to come up with an answer.

"Exactly," she cheekily responded before standing up. "Alright, then I'll see you around, Jesse," Aliya softly said as she prepared to jump from his windowsill before he had stopped her.

"Hmm?"

"It's late and I'm keeping you up. I'm sorry. Maybe one day, I'll tell you," Jesse solemnly said though he masked his voice by maintaining a hopeful tone. "I hope you manage to get some sleep tonight," he softly added as Aliya returned the gesture.

"You too."

As Jesse saw Aliya jump down from his windowsill, he saw the girl land safely onto the ground before she disappeared into the night. With a heavy heart, Jesse leaned toward his windowsill as he opened the container, taking out the muffin inside.

"I actually wanted to be part of your world," Jesse finally said with a sigh, heartbrokenly munching on the muffin before the love fairy fell asleep with a heart half-broken but not quite whole. 

~~~~~~~

As the next day came, Jesse didn't feel any different. Aside from a minor headache, he felt fine. He had breakfast with his parents and started to work on crafting his apology letter to all of the kids he had bullied.

By the time Jesse got done with his tenth letter, the sun had reached its highest point and his parents felt like he was committing, so Shiron and Talia granted him a break as the love fairy excitedly slid down the stairs.

"Yes!"

"Hey! You need to be back here by—" his parents began but Jesse was already out of the door as Talia playfully shook her head. "He gets it from you," she teased as Shiron rolled his eyes.

"Atticus, go check on Jesse for us. Please. We have to go work on making things with um... how many people did we offend, love?" Shiron followed up as his wife gestured towards their own bins, which would twice the size of their son's bins he gathered over the years.

"About half of Fairytopia," Talia answered as the couple groaned. "On second thought, I should go keep an eye on Jesse," Shiron cheekily said, preparing to dash when his wife grabbed his collarbone. "Come on, Shiro. These letters aren't going to write themselves now," she said as he lightly pout.

"Fine."

As Jesse made his way to the center area of Avalon, the love fairy realized he wasn't quite sure what led him to the marketplace. But as he glanced toward the different vendors and endless selections to behold, the love fairy heard light laughter coming from the sidewalk closest to him.

Distracted by the laughter, he was caught off-guard by a passing Avalonian, who was trying to motion him to move. "Look out!" the Avalonian exclaimed, but he reacted too late and shortly thereafter, the two crashed into each other.

"Sorry! I was trying to test my latest invention. I call them rocket boots!" the Avalonian exclaimed, shaking her head as she took off her helmet. "Are you ok?" the girl asked, holding her hand out as Jesse rubbed his head.

"Yeah, I think so," he said, accepting the girl's offer before she pulled him up. "Thanks," Jesse later followed, now looking at the girl more closely as he was caught off-guard by her beauty.

Despite the soot on her face, the girl's hair was neatly pinned to the side of her shoulder as she was surrounded with her gadgets. Wearing a bronze T-shirt and black leggings, he found the girl sporting tall mechanical boots and fully-covered black gloves, which he found a little bit odd but he liked her outfit.

She looked cute.

"Yeah, no problem," she said before gasping at him, which left the love fairy slightly confused.

"Jesse! Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you but look! I got inspired by what you said, so I'm trying to explore other ways for me to get around with flying since I like inventing stuff," she said, gesturing to her boots once more.

"That's great but... um, how exactly do you know my name?" Jesse curiously asked as the mystery girl chuckled from his response. "Um, how would I not know your name?" she lightly joked.

"You were my best friend at one point, Jesse, of course I would know your name, silly," she persisted as Jesse blinked. "We were best friends?" Jesse briefly asked, noticing the girl's playful nature morphed into a look of confusion. "Jesse, come on now. We met as young changelings after you were getting bullied by Marcellus and his friends for your human obsession," she started as her eyes were trained on him.

"One day during school, it got particularly bad, so I came to your defense and personally knocked Marcel out. Then the next day, I got into a fight with his second-in-command, Katsu, and lost and we both got sent home early from the fight. You literally came over to my house the next day to check on me," she explained but the events weren't lining up with him.

Jesse knew he was getting bullied by Marcellus and his friends but he couldn't recall anyone coming to his defense. "Do you really not remember?" she asked, her look of confusion now morphing into a look of pure concern.

"No, I remember being bullied by Marcellus and his friends for my human obsession, that much is perfectly clear to me. But I..." Jesse slowly trailed off, trying to figure out how to tell mystery girl he didn't know her before he eventually sighed, realizing there was no way to go around the matter.

"I just don't remember anyone defending me from Marcellus and his friends or how you knew about my human obsession when I only told Iris about that and telling her sorta blew up in my face," Jesse awkwardly admitted, his heart oddly sunk from seeing the girl's face fall by his response.

He had frowned from her reaction before wondering why he had cared.

"Jesse—"

"To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen you around here. Are you new?" the love fairy curiously followed up, his heart oddly sinking again when he saw the mystery girl's eyes flicker from disbelief to a look of pure sadness.

"We met when we were younger, but..." the mystery girl trailed off before she shook her head. "It doesn't matter. In fact, you're right. I only knew your name from everyone else but everything prior to this conversation has been purely coincidental at best, so forgive me, sir. I had mistaken you for someone else," she continued, but Jesse heard her voice crack towards the end of her statement.

"I'm sure you're busy, so I'll go. Besides, I'm supposed to be running errands anyways," the mystery girl insisted as she stood up. "Here, the least I can do is help you up for all the trouble I caused you," she followed up as the mystery girl held out her hand to him with an apologetic smile.

"Thanks, but you didn't cause me any trouble," Jesse admitted as he took her hand, the girl pulling him up with ease. "Oh, what happened to your wings? I thought every faerie was given wings after reaching a certain age and obtaining their gift," he followed up as the love fairy saw her smile fall.

"My wings were..." she began before shaking her head as the mystery girl laughed at his response. "Actually, don't worry about my wings. I've been operating just fine without them," she insisted, finishing up her laugh. "Right, well... sorry about crashing into you with my rocket boots. I'll try to be more careful in the future," she continued before the mystery girl gave him a small smile.

"As for you, try to look and pay attention to when you're being asked to move. Alright?" she followed up as he laughed. "Yeah, okay. You got it," Jesse cheekily said. "I'll see you around then?" he optimistically asked her as she gave him a brief but cryptic look in his direction.

"We will see," the mystery girl briefly said. "Only time can tell and fate will determine whether or not we meet again," she continued as the mystery girl grabbed her helmet before dismantling the rocket boosters on the side of her shoes. "So, it's a hopefully then?" he eagerly followed up.

"It's a maybe at best," she admitted at last before turning away from him. As she began walking away from him, Jesse stared at the mystery girl, trying to wonder why she felt familiar to him despite never meeting her. Then, it occurred to him that he never got her name.

"Wait! Rocket girl, hold up!" Jesse immediately exclaimed, but as he flew in an attempt to get her location, the mystery girl was gone. "I never got your name..." he solemnly mumbled just as his advisor spotted him. Grinning, he flew to his advisor, who sighed in relief.

"There you are. Come on, let's go. You still have letters to finish," the mage said as Jesse nodded, now walking beside his advisor. "Atticus! I just had the strangest conversation with a wingless faerie in rocket boots!" the love fairy excitedly began as he noticed his advisor giving him a look of confusion.

As Jesse began explaining how he met "rocket girl" (because he forgot to get her name) and their conversation, he saw Atticus's look of confusion gradually turn into a look of realization.

"Who is she, Atticus? I never met her, but she claimed I was her best friend at one point and I just..." he began, only to trail off as the love fairy sighed afterwards. "I have the strangest feeling that she might have been right, but I just don't know why," the love fairy truthfully admitted before sighing.

"She feels familiar... Maybe, I should seek her out and try to befriend her. I'm sure after a few more conversations, she'll start to click for me," Jesse softly suggested as the mage promptly shook his head at the boy's idea. "I would advise you against doing so, Jesse," Atticus simply said, refusing to give up more information.

"Besides, she's no one important," his advisor told him, but Jesse stubbornly shook his head. "No... she feels important, somehow. Well, regardless, I'm going to find her and get to the bottom of this," the love fairy insisted with determination as his advisor only shook his head.

As he and Atticus began making their way out of the marketplace, Jesse stared back at the endless crowd of Avalonians coming and going. Somewhere among the thousands of Avalonians, there stood the mystery girl who couldn't just seem to leave his mind since their (rather odd) encounter, which had somewhat bothered him.

Jesse wanted to know why mystery girl had known him and why she lied for his sake. So for a brief moment, the love fairy surveyed the crowd, hoping to spot her but when this plan had failed, a determined look came across his face as the love fairy vowed to get his answers — now more than ever.

"I will find you again... whoever you are, rocket girl."

~~~~~~~~

Later on in the day as the sun settled down and the dark night-lit skies blanketed over across Avalon and its cities (both big and small), the Senior Fae went toward the darker parts of his home with only a candle as his source of light.

Upon entering a dungeon hidden within his basement, the Senior Fae stared at his latest captive: a light skinned merchant who actually resembled the appearance of a pirate.

"One of my men died in the cave and you still fail to provide me with answers. So, I'll ask you again: who is this diamond in the rough?" he sternly began as the merchant promptly shook his head, the chains clasping against his chest.

"No? Hmm, well if you don't answer me, then perhaps I could use your foresight for my benefit," he darkly said, now staring at his necklace as the crystal container was on the verge of being empty. The Senior Fae tried not to think of the consequences associated with his necklace in regards to the upcoming full moon.

"It is the wingless Fae!" the merchant exclaimed at last as the Senior Fae stared at him, somewhat cautiously and in disbelief. "Show me," the Senior Fae sharply ordered as the merchant revealed a typical, ordinary hourglass, which was quickly seized by Ambrose, who peered closer.

As the sand swirled in the hourglass, the sand eventually revealed an image of Aliya, who was climbing a brick wall. When she reached the top, the girl held her hand toward the boy, who the Senior Fae recognized the knight as the recruit who won the Trials of Avalon.

"Aliya, where are we even going?" the knight curiously asked, before he took her hand as she pulled him up. "You know I can't tell you anything about it. That would ruin the whole surprise," she cheekily answered, only for the knight to start tumbling.

"Cas!" she exclaimed shortly afterwards. In response, Aliya quickly grabbed Castor from falling and pulled him farther from the ledge. However, in the process, the knight and the girl indirectly fell onto each other, both landing onto the ground.

"Hey, are you alright?" Aliya asked, her voice laced with concern as Castor rubbed his head before he gave her a nod. "Yeah, I'm alright," the knight answered before turning to her. "What about you?" Castor followed up as she checked herself before shrugging.

"I don't have any broken bones so... I'm still good," Aliya cheekily answered as she saw Castor picking up his bracelets. "That's great, because I'm convinced you only fall for me," Castor teased as Aliya lightly punched the knight, who laughed.

"Oh, shush," Aliya lightly told the knight before grabbing his hand. "Anyways, come on. It's not much farther from here," she added as the knight let out a small shriek. As the two teens ran through the night, the sand began to stop swirling.

As such, the hourglass began focusing its attention solely on the wingless faerie before she too faded from view as the sand helplessly fell back into place. "See? I didn't lie! The guardian of the cave chose her to seek out his lamp and only the girl alone can find what has long been lost," the merchant briefly answered, attempting to hide their impending fear.

"So you were right after all, but now I know you allowed my men to die on purpose," he darkly told the merchant, who began to shake in fear. "So, yes, you did your job but still, I have less men now. Less men mean I'll have a smaller army and one cannot overthrow the forces of the Crownsguard without more reinforcement," the Senior Fae calmly told the merchant, whose eyes danced with fear.

"You can see where I'm going with this, now can't you?" the Senior Fae continued as he stared at the merchant with an insatiable amount of hunger in his eyes. He relished the merchant's fear, which his poor captive failed to mask. "Thanks to you, I'll need to start my recruitment season earlier and in turn, you have betrayed the future ruler of Avalon by failing to tell me the diamond in the rough's identity sooner," the Senior Fae added, his voice deathly calm.

"I wanted to tell you, sire, b... but I was s... sworn n... not to...." the merchant frantically began, trying to get the words out but his own tongue betrayed him. "I see. So there are still more of you," the Senior Fae bitterly continued. "Apparently, the Great War didn't kill all of you pathetic djinn after all," the Senior Fae added before shaking his head by this newfound discovery.

"Of course, it would be in their best interest to keep you djinn hidden from the rest of us for your safety. Well, there are no heroes to save you now so when I find this grand djinn of yours, I'll personally kill him myself and say you sent me," he continued as the merchant's eyes widened.

"Oh and thank you for your help, djinn. Your service has been greatly... appreciated," the Senior Fae slowly stated, a bit of cruelty in his tone as he began to laugh.

As the moonlight shined on Ambrose, he smirked as his body began to morph into one of a staggered beast. With white, hairy fur, his eyes became a coldly shade of grey, now standing on all fours as this beast eerily lacked any resemblance of a soul. With his long, sharp nails, the beast then released a heinous growl.

"Soul seeker."

Widening his eyes, the poor merchant tried tugging on his chains to free himself and quickly came to the realization his plan wouldn't work.

So the merchant began rattling the chains, hoping that anyone — someone — heard the sound, so he could be rescued. But no one came to his aid and as the soul seeker pounced onto the merchant, some would later claim a soul-crushing, defiant scream could be heard from across Avalon.

That night, the sound of the surviving djinn grieved from the loss of another fallen jinn before more of the djinn's lives were lost. Those who managed to stay alive long enough grieved harder than ever; their numbers now smaller by the hour. By daylight, only a fraction were left with the grand djinn being among the survivors.

However, only the djinn had mourned the loss of the fallen as the other Avalonians neither knew of their existence (having long sent been deemed "dead" from the Great War). Or if they had known, the Avalonians put themselves first and left the djinn to fend for themselves in what would soon be known as the first, official sighting of the mythical creature known as the soul seeker.

With the daylight restored, the Senior Fae returned to his form, placing the blood of the deceased djinn in several crystallized necklaces designed specifically for him. As he placed the latest necklace on and shattered the old one, Ambrose's eyes darted to an image of him standing alongside the fallen heroes.

Nightflutter and Turtle Titan stood together at the front with the Siren siblings in the middle alongside the Timekeeper as Ambrose and the seeker stood in the back, the two outcasts in the group. Regardless of how he felt now towards the other six members in the group, all of them were smiling and for a moment, he wished he could go back and revisit that day.

"Ambrose? Is that really what you call yourself now? Have you forgotten your actual name? Or is that the name you acquired when you took this poor man's life away and got his title as the Senior Fae?"

Turning around, the Senior Fae found a silhouette before spotting the dark-skinned Avalonian nature elf with a dagger directly on his chest. With their damp hair and hallow black eyes, his light grey suit was stained with (now) dried blood, their soul staring directly into Ambrose, who glared at the shadow with disgust.

"It's funny that you little curse led you to outlive everyone when you should have been the first to go. After all, we were all happy until you destroyed our friends."

"You led them all to die, seeker. Don't act like the fault is all mine!" Ambrose angrily snapped as the seeker blinked. "I may have led our friends to die, yes, but you were the one to seal their fate, Ambrose. Let's not forget that you weren't exactly innocent, either," the seeker bitterly stated before sighing.

"If I sealed their fate, then you definitely jumpstart their deaths by going to Erebus. I told you not to make the deal with the god. I told you about the consequences that striking a deal with a god, but did you listen?" Ambrose angrily continued as the seeker eyed the traitor with half-bored but literal dead eyes.

"No! You didn't listen at all and that's how you got your dark magic at the expense of your life. You chose power over your friends, Florian. So no, I won't feel bad for you because you deserve what you got. You deserve to be forgotten."

"Yet it's how you chose to pin the blame on me just to cover your part in the death of the fallen heroes. Everyone would rather blame the nature faerie with dark magic if they killed the heroes and the King's loyal soldier. Ha! Little did they all know, their traitorous soldier lived on," they viciously snapped at the Senior Fae, who crossed his arms at the dead seeker.

"That's not my fault and you know it, Florian."

"No, it is your fault and here's why: Just like you told me not to make a deal with Erebus, I told you not to make a deal with Deidamia."

"I did not—"

"You had the foresight. You knew how things were going to go and you chose to let the events unfold. You can pretend through this poor man's body that you are a real, authentic faerie, but deep down you're still the same pathetic shape-shifter psychic elf who sold his soul to a goddess to become a cursed power-drainer."

"Florian—"

"I didn't have your foresight, but you're right. You told me not to make a deal with Erebus and I did. Well, whether it's my fault or not, I refuse to let myself get forgotten any further, so I finally committed and I chose my seeker," Florian began, observing the fear in Ambrose's eyes.

"Oh, yes. Already as we speak, the gods and mages know of the new seeker. Pretty soon, everyone else will know too. As for the seeker, my lovely replacement will start getting visions of the past, reunite the reincarnation spirits of the fallen heroes and expose you as the traitorous liar you are, soldier."

"Well if your replacement is anything like you, then I should have no problem getting the new seeker to my side. After all, I won you over with efficient ease," Ambrose firmly mocked as, observing as the seeker's hallow black eyes weakened. "You never loved me, did you, Quirico?" Florian heartbrokenly whispered as a flash of remorse came through the Senior Fae's eyes, which Ambrose quickly covered up.

"All is fair in the game of war, Flor. Sooner or later, you would have known that I was just using you to advance my own goals," Ambrose briskly answered, trying to sound harsh but even as he said the words, the Senior Fae felt unwanted emotions toward the dead seeker.

"Heh. Nightflutter and Turtle Titan were right. I would only get my heart broken by your hands after all. Even now that I'm dead, you managed to break what was left of me," Florian bitterly but sorrowfully spoke.

"Well, I chose my side just like I chose the decisions that led me here. But this time, the new seeker of mine will fix my mistakes and do something that I should have done at the start: end you for good..." he continued, now crossing their arms as the seeker eyed Ambrose, who scoffed.

"Go ahead. Send your replacement, but I'll just kill them the same way that I killed you, Flor."

"Ha! I would like to see you try to kill the new seeker, so when you lose, you can think about the lives you robbed, the people you corrupted and the fact that you betrayed everyone just so you can live in the present for a crown you still haven't secured," the seeker spoke before giving Ambrose a harsh but dry laugh.

"It's kinda pathetic. You did all of this, just to watch as my seeker not only defeats you, but kills you and obtains the throne. Really, it's truly tragic. After all, you can't escape your own fate, shifter, no matter how many times you think you can hide behind that fake skin of yours... Quirico," Florian firmly stated as Ambrose angrily growled from his response.

"Shut up!"

As the Senior Fae threw an item towards the silhouette, Florian's cruel laughter could be heard as the ghost disappeared, leaving Ambrose with only his thoughts at what he did. As he composed himself, the Senior Fae brushed off his past — No, he brushed off Quirico's past — and left his basement.

As Ambrose discarded his own clothes and masked the scent of the rotting body he was in, the Senior Fae then changed into his outfit before changing his form to be himself a more, youthful version of the man he was possessing.

Satisfied with his look, Ambrose then grabbed his bag before he ventured out into the world before him. With the people slowly turning on the royal family, Ambrose thought this would be the best time to advocate himself as their next ruler. So when he found his latest flyers shred, a sour but grim look came over him.

"Senior Fae, sir. The demigod. She struck us again," one of his mindless soldier told him as the Senior Fae picked up the shred paper before noticing a small but noticeable 'sun' design on the top upper-left corner of the flyer, a flash of anger in his eyes as he held the remains of his flyer with a tighter grip. "Nancy," the Senior Fae immediately spoke with disdainful disgust for the young princess.

"She's aiming to revolt against you at the festival next year. The demigod, she's—"

"Yes, I'm well aware of the demigod's plans of a so-called revolution against me. That is why you and your men will stop her when the time has come. In the meantime, let the princess gather her supporters, if she'll even have any," the Senior Fae sharply stated before ordering his soldier to replace the destroyed flyers with new ones.

Left alone, Ambrose heard faint laughter as he glanced over to see Florian's ghost who stared at him mockingly.

"Say what you want, Flor, but I will become King. I will rule over this world but first...." Ambrose insisted before trailing off as another one of his mindless drone ran to his side.

"What is it now?" the Senior Fae dully asked. "I didn't find the demigod, but I found the Fae-Maid, sir! Did you want me to arrest her?" his follower asked as Ambrose shook his head.

"No. When I give you the order, then you will arrest Aliya. However, the next time you arrest her, I need you to actually catch the faerie and make sure she doesn't escape from her cell. Got it?" the Senior Fae bluntly stated as his drone meekly nodded from his command.

"Good, now go help the other one with flyers," the Senior Fae harshly barked as the officer meekly ran.

Now alone, Ambrose touched his acquired scar as a subtle amount of rage came to him.
He wanted to make the girl pay for what she did to him, but first, Ambrose needed Aliya to recover the lamp. As Ambrose thought about ways to get her arrested, the Senior Fae smirked from the realization of reuniting with his enemy and getting one step closer to obtaining the lost lamp.

"Oh, Fae-Maid. You and I have much to discuss."

~Fin~