Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Princess Averna sits up in her bed. She yawns, stretches, then turns to the side, scoots off the bed, and slides on her royal slippers. She walks out onto the balcony into the warm morning sunlight dripping down through the large hole in the clouds above the palace. 

She can’t believe this is real. Any of it. It feels too good to be true. But it is. And it’s incredible. At least, most of it is. 

“Maybe it’s not too good to be true,” she thinks somberly in realization, but she tries to put all that aside and focus on her new life. Her true life - not the fake one.

She leans onto the balustrade and admires the palace towers and spires around her, then turns her gaze downward to the sprawling city below and beyond the palace, before looking up to the sky at the odd hole in the clouds. She wonders why it’s only around the palace.

“I’ll probably get an answer to that today,” she thinks. She’s looking forward to the grand tour of the palace that her brother had promised her yesterday. 

She looks down at the big glowing ball in the courtyard. She’s very curious about that too. It looks very interesting, and she’s excited to learn about it aswell.

“Princess Averna, his majesty is waiting for you,” says Cedric. She turns around to face him standing by the open door onto the balcony.

“He can wait a bit longer. I can’t exactly see him dressed like this now, can I?”

“Of course not. We have plenty of selection for you, your highness”

“Do you still have that dress I was wearing yesterday?”

“Didn’t you say that…”

“...I know what I said,” Averna interrupts.

“Very well then, I will fetch it for you”

Once dressed, Averna heads all the way downstairs and makes her way to the throne room.

“Hey Phobos! Are you ready to give me that grand tour of the palace?” She asks upon approaching her brother, sitting on the throne.

“I thought you’d never ask!” He replies delightfully.

He stands up and the two begin walking together down the long, grand nave of the throne room.

“So where are we going?” Asks Averna.

“To the courtyard. I have something very important to show you”

Averna already knows what he’s talking about. She can’t wait to see it.

When they finally reach the other end of the massive space, two guards push open the huge pair of doors at the end of the throne room, revealing the giant glowing orb. Averna’s eyes fill with wonder and awe.

“Woah,” she gasps.

“This is the sphere of light. I made it to protect Meridian from the darkness. At first, it worked wonderfully, but as the darkness grew stronger, its power was unable to resist, and it began to encroach upon Meridian. Now, this small hole you see above us is all it is able to hold back, and soon, this too will close, leaving all of Metamoor in total darkness. That is, unless you stop it”

As they reach the bottom of the steps, Averna begins stepping over the vines that cover the ground.

“Why are all these roots everywhere?” She asks.

“The darkness wants the sphere destroyed, and it is slowly draining its power. I wish I could stop it, but these roots contain a vile acid they release when damaged to protect themselves”

“That’s awful. What kind of plant are they?”

“I don’t know. There’s nothing like it in the botanical garden”

“You have a botanical garden?!”

“Of course! Would you like to see it?”

“Would I?!?”

Chapter Text

Earth, 2 weeks later:

Alchemy is scrubbing the floor of the living room while her parents sit around drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. She looks out the front window. The snow has melted enough that she can see the front lawn. Spring has finally arrived. She wishes she could go outside to enjoy the sun.

There's a knock on the front door. Alchemy doesn’t think much of it. Her mom gets up and answers it.

“Hello, is this the home of Alya Ethel?” Asks an unseen man. Alchemy’s head pricks up as she hears her name. She doesn't dare say a word though.

“No, she doesn’t live here,” answers her mother.

“Are you sure this is the right address?” Asks a female voice.

“I could’ve sworn it was,” the male one responds.

“Well in that case, have a nice day,” says the female. Yuliya shuts the door again and returns to her seat. 

About five minutes later, there’s another knock on the door. Yuliya gets up once again to answer it.

“We said she doesn’t live here,” Alchemy’s mother says upon opening the door.

“That’s odd, because we double checked our sources and confirmed that this is, in fact, the home of Alya Ethel, and if I’m not mistaken, you are Yuliya Ethel, her mother”

“Who are you and why do you want my daughter?”

“We are private detectives investigating the disappearance of the Brown family. My name is Detective Joel McTiennan, and this is my partner Detective Maria Medina. We believe your daughter is a close acquaintance of Elyon Brown, and would like to ask her some questions”

“You will not be talking to our daughter”

“Very well then, have a nice day”

Yuliya shuts the door and sits back down, slightly irritated. Alchemy continues scrubbing the floor. She begins brushing her fathers leg with her elbow as she scrubs.

“Alya, go find another room to clean, why don’t you?” He says. She’s relieved her plan had worked as intended. It was a very risky move, but anything for Elyon. 

Alchemy picks up the plastic pail, goes to the bathroom, and shuts the door. She then opens and climbs out the window into the brisk spring air just as a black SUV is pulling out of the driveway. She sprints down the concrete after it.

“Wait! I wanna talk!!” She yells as she runs. The car comes to a stop and pulls back into the driveway. It stops beside her and the window rolls down, revealing the two people inside. 

“My name is Alya Ethel. You wanted to see me?” Alchemy says, panting.

“Do your parents know about this?” Asks Medina.

“No, but if they did, you wouldn’t be able to talk to me”

The two in the car look at eachother for a few moments, then back to Alchemy.

“So be it. Get in the back. We’ll go somewhere more private to talk”

Alchemy is thrilled. She happily gets in the car and they drive off. They only go a few blocks before parking in an empty parking lot. One of the two in the front adjusts the rearview mirror so they can see Alchemy behind them.

“Now then, when was the last time you saw Elyon Brown?” Asks McTiennan.

“At school, 2 days before her birthday. I didn’t see her the day before because I was too busy shoveling the house”

“Do you know the other people in this photo?” Asks Medina, holding up the picture from Halloween.

“Please don’t show that to my parents,” Alchemy winces.

“Only if it’s necessary, now answer the question please,” says McTiennan.

“You probably know who Elyon is, but the others are Irma Lair, Taranee uh, Cook I think it is? Cornelia Hale, and that last one’s Haylin. I don’t know her last name though”

“Her full name is Hay Lin. First name Hay, last name Lin,” Medina informs her.

“Really?!” Says Alchemy in surprise.

“Do you know where they went when they went looking for Elyon that night?” Asks McTiennen.

“I have no idea. Maybe you could try asking them?” 

“We would if we could,” says Medina.

“Well then I could ask them for you tomorrow if you like?”

McTiennen responds, “That would be ideal. We will be waiting here in this spot for you tomorrow. Now then, onto the next question: was Elyon doing anything suspicious leading up to her disappearance?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it suspicious, but she was spending alot of time at this bookstore called ‘Ye Olde Bookshop’”

“Do you happen to know the address of this bookstore?” Inquires Medina.

“No. But I do know it was near 5th and Main. I know that because that’s the corner I told Elyon to meet me at when I first showed her the place”

“You were the one who found the bookstore?” Questions McTiennen, intrigued.

“Tell us, how come you knew about it?” Inquires Medina.

“To be honest, I actually never even stepped foot in there. I only saw something in the window display that looked like the antikythera mechanism, which Elyon happened to be studying at the time, so I called her up and decided to show her. After that she just kept going back there. At first I assumed it was for research, but when I asked her, she started spouting a bunch of conspiracy nonsense. So I told her she wasn’t doing proper research, and she seemed kinda offended by that”

The two ‘detectives’ look very intrigued.

“What kind of conspiracy nonsense?” Questions McTiennen.

“Something about the lost land of Metamoor being another world, magic portals, a mystical veil, some evil guardians. Really bizarre stuff”

There’s a pause as the two in the front seats look at eachother.

“Thank you, Miss Ethel, you have been of great help,” says Medina, looking back to Alchemy.

“Meet us in this same parking lot tomorrow after school,” adds McTiennan.

“What time?” Alchemy asks.

“Any time. We’ll be here from noon to sundown,” he answers.

“Ok! I hope you can find her. I really miss her, but right now, I need to get home before my parents start getting suspicious, bye!”

Alchemy runs out of the car and across the parking lot in the direction of her house. 

Anyone who knew the two agents would instantly recognize the so-called private detectives as agents Richmond and Hamilton in disguise. They both wear trenchcoats instead of their usual suits. And neither wear sunglasses. Hamilton (or rather, Medina) has her hair in a ponytail instead of her usual bun. She wears ordinary glasses, and the burn on her face is miraculously gone. Richmond (or rather, McTiennan) looks mostly the same, but somehow, his hair has grown by at least six inches.

Richmond pulls out a laptop from beside his seat and begins clacking at the keyboard.

“I can’t find a place in Heatherfield with that name in the business permit database,” he says.

“Maybe try ‘bookstore’ instead of ‘bookshop’?” Suggests Hamilton.

He clacks a few more words into the keyboard.

“Still nothing,” he adds, “this is very suspicious indeed. But at least we have an idea of the area, so let’s go see what we can find”

The car pulls out of the parking lot.

The next day at lunch, Alchemy sits down with the guardians.

“So much for that ‘vacation,’ right?” She says.

“Yeah…” sighs Cornelia.

There’s a sollow lull, which is broken by Alchemy asking, “Hey Cornelia, whatever happened to Caleb? I haven’t seen him in weeks”

“He went back to his old school. He said it was too much of a hassle to make the drive every day. Don’t worry though, I still see him all the time”

“Hey, guys, you’ll never guess what happened yesterday!” Inserts Will excitedly, unable to keep it in any longer.

The others look at her.

“Whiskers finally woke up from his hibernation!” She exclaims.

“That’s great news!!” Exclaims Hay Lin.

“Is that your dormouse?” Asks Cornelia.

“I still can’t believe what Uriah did to him,” Irma comments.

“That was definitely a new low, and that’s saying something,” adds Cornelia.

“I really wanna get back at him for that. But I can’t think of anything that would match what he did without being just as bad as him,” says Will. 

“And that right there is why revenge is never the answer,” says Taranee.

“It’s not revenge, it’s *A*venge”

“Avange is just revenge but morally acceptable,” Taranee adds.

“Exactly, that’s why I’m doing it!” Replies Will.

There’s a lull.

Alchemy speaks, “When you all went to find Elyon that night, where exactly did you guys go?”

Will explains, “we went to her place, then we went to that bookshop, and it was closed. But we saw a trail of footprints in snow that began at the door, so we followed them until they became buried”

“What direction were the footprints heading?”

“Away from the bookshop,” answers Irma.

“Why do you wanna know?” Asks Will with an accusative infliction, raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms.

“Well yesterday I talked to some detectives who might help us find Elyon! And they wanted to know”

“What were their names?” Asks Cornelia.

“I don’t remember, but I think one of them was McTianenmen or something”

“Can you describe these ‘detectives’?” Asks Taranee.

“Was one of them a big hot guy with blond hair?” Asks Hay Lin.

“I wouldn’t exactly call him ‘hot,’ but one of them was a guy who was particularly muscular”

“I believe that is called ‘hot’,” says Cornelia.

“To each their own,” adds Irma.

“Was the other a woman?” Asks Taranee.

“Yeah. She also had caramel skin. Maybe closer to milk chocolate. Not, like, dark chocolate like Taranee, but…” Alchemy pauses and her face looks surprised as she realizes Taranee has her neck jutted out towards her, crossing her arms with an intense scowl.

“Oh, uh, sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“Yes,” grumbles Taranee. Irma puts her hand infront of Taranee, signalling her to sit back. She does and relaxes, dropping her shoulders.

“Now then, did she happen to have a large burn on her face?” Asks Cornelia.

“No. She also had glasses. And, for what it’s worth, the guy also had long blonde hair, and I think they both had brown eyes too”

Just then, the bell rings.

Hamilton and Richmond walk up to Ye Olde Bookshop. Hamilton tries to open the door, but it’s locked.

“Step aside, I have a gadget for this,” says Richmond.

She does. He opens up his trenchcoat, revealing his suit underneath. He lifts up his shirt and reveals a belt full of all sorts of odd devices. He takes out something that looks like a cross between a screwdriver and key. It also has a button on the handle. He sticks the tip into the keyhole and pushes the button under his thumb.

*Wrrrr, click click click* it goes before he turns the device in the lock, then pulls it out and tucks it back in his belt. He proceeds to push open the door.

“This is why I like working with CIA agents,” comments Hamilton as she enters the building. Richmond follows.

They both step inside the empty bookstore and start looking around. They begin examining the shelves of odd books.

“If what those girls told us is true, then whatever info is in these books could be highly valuable,” says Hamilton.

“Especially for the CIA,” adds Richmond.

“Judging by the fact that they have no business permit, I don’t think it would be difficult to seize this place and get access to all of this information”

“Not only that, but I couldn’t find any record of this place at all, so I highly doubt they’ve been paying their taxes either”

Back at the school, Hay Lin is sitting in history class; the last class of the day. She’s excited for spring break, and it came just in time too!

“No snowy spring break this year! (hopefully)” She thinks. She can’t wait to get home.

Then the teacher walks up to her desk.

“Hay Lin, the principal would like to see you in her office,” Mr. Collins says softly, “Don’t worry, your not in trouble”

Hay Lin is slightly confused. She gets up and heads to the office, as instructed.

“You wanted to see me, Principal Knickerbrocker?” She asks, poking her head through the door.

“Yes. Please have a seat”

She does.

“Hay Lin. I just got off the phone with your parents, and I regret to inform you that… your grandmother has unfortunately passed away”

The words hit Hay Lin like a truck. She doesn’t even react at first, and just sits in the chair with her hands on her lap, staring blankly as she feels a hand squeezing her heart like a lemon. Then she begins to sob.

“B-but she was supposed to be ok!!” Hay Lin weeps.

“I’m so sorry Hay Lin, but these things do happen. Would you like to have the rest of the day off?”
Hay Lin nods lightly as she rubs tears out of her eyes with her sleeve.

“Can you get my friends? I want to talk to them”

“Of course”

Chapter Text

Three days later, Will is on her way to Yan Lin’s funeral, riding her bike through the cool spring weather. She’s not smiling, quite the opposite, even though she’s riding her bike for the first time in months while wearing her favorite black dress. Two of her favorite things at once. And they bring her no joy. 

Even though she’d only known her for six months, Yan Lin was Will’s mentor.

The dress is the same one she wore for Halloween, as well as pretty much every excuse she can get to wear it. Although she kinda wishes she didn’t wear it today, and not just because it usually makes her happy, but also because she now realizes she’d underestimated the temperature (it’s bearable though).

Some of her friends had already attended the funeral in the days prior, but not herself. 

Unrelated to that, Yan Lin wanted all the guardians to be there for the final lowering of the casket, which is being done today. 

The snow is all but gone by now - and Will hopes it doesn’t come back.

She parks her bike by the entrance to where Yan Lin is being buried. The entrance is a small paifang gate with a sign hanging from it in Chinese. Below which, in smaller English text, it reads, “Heatherfield Chinese Cemetery”. Cherry blossom trees surround the cemetery, their petals flutter to the ground all around Will as she leans her bike against the side of the gate. They litter the shaded grass and concrete walkway. The sight is quite beautiful, and helps to take her mind off why she’s there. She wants to smile, but can’t bring herself to do so given the circumstances. 

Then she realizes she doesn’t like how the falling petals remind her of snow (she’s so sick of that)

She gets off her bike and walks through the gate, bits of pink confetti stuck in her hair. What she sees on the other side is exactly what she expected - a Chinese cemetery. It looks like any other cemetery, but the graves are all written in Chinese. The mausoleum also has a distinct Asian style. If there’s anything else that sets it apart from an ordinary graveyard, Will isn’t keen enough to notice. But she immediately notices where she’s going: clearly the place people are gathered and smoke is rising from. She looks at the papers in her hands, she hopes it’s the right stuff. She can’t remember what they’re called. Some special papers for burning or something.

Will walks up to the group of people. Hay Lin approaches her.

“Hey Will,” she says softly. She wears a white robe. It’s odd to see Hay Lin wearing something so colorless. It almost feels like seeing her naked.

“Oh, uh, by the way, Will, those aren’t joss papers. Those are napkins,” she says.

Will looks at napkins in her hand.

“Of course they are,” she groans.

“They should still work… I hope,” adds Hay Lin. 

Not only is she not dressed like herself, but she isn’t talking like herself either. There’s only been one other time Hay Lin has spoken like this, and that was just before they all became the guardians. 

Will notices Hay Lin’s parents are also wearing white, as well as several other people she doesn’t recognize too. Suddenly she feels embarrassed for wearing black. Then she sees Cornelia and Taranee, who are also wearing black. She feels relieved. Either this is the right thing to do, or she isn’t the only one doing it wrong. Either way, it makes her feel better about herself.

She sees the open casket.

“May I?” She asks Hay Lin. Hay Lin nods lightly. Will approaches the coffin. It’s surrounded by flowers and burning incense sticks, and there are also food offerings by the foot. Will peers inside and feels her eyes beginning to swell.

“I don’t know if I'd've been able to do it without you,” she murmurs, “Noone else truly understood. Thank you. Thank you for helping me understand. I promise I’ll finish what you and the others couldn’t. I’ll free Metamoor and heal the veil. I’ll protect the heart with my life. You had to entrust it to me, and I can’t imagine having to give something so important to someone you just met. You won’t have to worry about that. I’ll make sure we are the guardians you wanted us to be”

Will pauses and closes her eyes for a moment as she sighs.

“I never saw you while you were a guardian, but I know you are the greatest guardian that ever was. Rest easy, Yan Lin, Guardian of Air”

Irma walks up beside her. Will walks off to let her have a moment with the fallen guardian. She sees Hay Lin sitting crosslegged by what looks to be a red burning oil drum with a hole near the bottom. Will sits down beside her.

“If I remember correctly, aren’t you supposed to be burning those? Not doing origami with them?” Will says.

“It’s for grandma. You fold the joss paper into offerings and burn them. Most people just give money or gold ingots, but I wanna give my grandma what she really wants”

“Wait, how would you make origami money? Do people just throw a piece of paper in there and call it money?”

“Pretty much, yeah”

“That’s the laziest origami I’ve ever heard of”

Hay Lin then holds up her creation and turns it in her hands to examine it.

“Is that a dog?” Asks Will.

“It’s supposed to be. But this one doesn’t look right either”

She crumples it up and tosses it to the side with several other crumpled balls, then picks up another sheet and begins folding it in her lap.

“Grandma always wanted a dog, but she didn’t like the implications of owning one while living in a Chinese restaurant. But now she no longer has to worry about that”

Will takes a piece of paper off the stack and begins folding it too. Then she notices something on the ground behind Hay Lin.

“Hey, what’s that?” Will asks. Hay Lin turns her back around and picks up the piece of paper. It’s a painting of her and Yan Lin.

“I forgot I brought this,” she sniffs a tear, “I was gonna give it to her, but I never got the chance”

“Wow. I’ve seen alot of your work, and this is by far the best”

“Thank you, that means alot. I’m very proud of it”

She tosses it in the fire.

“And I’m sure grandma will be too,” she adds.

“Well, do you think she’d want an airplane?” Asks Will, holding up the only origami she knows.

“Who wouldn’t,” says Hay Lin. Will throws it in. Hay Lin holds up another dog and begins examining it too. 

“There. It’s perfect,” she says, “they’ll be best friends”

She tosses it into the flames.

“We’ll be closing the casket soon. If anyone wants to offer some last words or get one final look, now would be the time to do it,” says the voice of a man.

They all begin gathering around Yan Lin. Looking around, Will realizes it must be awkward for the others that there are four non-family members there, but Yan Lin had wanted them to attend. Someone Will doesn’t recognize steps up and begins speaking in Chinese.

Irma leans over to Will and whispers in her ear, “Hey Will you know how we’re on a hill right now?”

“Uh, yeah?” Will murmurs back.

“Well, I was thinking, it’s a good thing that stand there under the casket isn’t on wheels. Otherwise we’d need some cough drops”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, how else are you supposed to stop the caughin’?”

Will sighs, “Irma, there’s time and a place for jokes. A fucking funeral isn’t one of them!”

Will listens as those who have one step up to say a word. Some of them are in Chinese, but Will tries to listen anyway. 

Then Hay Lin steps up.

She begins, “Yan Lin was so much more than any of you will ever know. She was a guardian. To me and many others. She was a hero. She was braver, stronger, and more resilient than anyone could possibly imagine. She had to make some of the hardest choices anyone could ever make, and she always did what was right. She took me under her wing so I could take her under mine. She is incredibly fortunate to make it this far, and I will miss her very, very, very…”

She sniffs a tear.

“...very, very, very, very much”

She looks into the coffin.

“Fly high, grandma,” she murmurs, eyes watering. She then walks up to her father and begins sobbing into his shoulder. A few more words are said before everyone turns their backs as the casket lid is sealed forever.

Chapter Text

Averna is sitting on the ground, admiring the plants in the botanical garden, when she hears Cedric’s voice say from behind her, “You sure do spend alot of time here, your highness”

“Well, this is my favorite place in the palace, if that wasn’t obvious,” she responds with a light chuckle, "It's just so beautiful! And all the plants here are incredible!”

“It sure is something, isn’t it? I’m glad you like it. But it seems something is troubling you”

Averna sighs, “Yeah. I’m just feeling kinda lonely. I wish there was someone my age for me to make friends with, you know,” she says.

“I see. Maybe when he has a moment, we could ask your brother to see if something can be arranged?”

Averna looks at Cedric, seeming a bit more cheerful.

“I’d like that,” she says.

Phobos is taking a bath in a clawfoot tub under the beaming light of a tall stained glass window towering over it. There’s a knock on the door.

“Your majesty, it is I, a word when you are finished?” Asks the voice of Cedric.

“Come in. I am not busy,” the king responds. Cedric opens the door and walks across the elongated image of the stained glass window cast against the marble floor, leading him to the tub.

“Your sister would like company. Company more like her”

Phobos sighs, “fine then, so be it.. Miranda!!”

The arachnid-like creature with four humanoid limbs crawls into the room through the top of the doorway, then across the ceiling and down the wall before stopping infront of Phobos. 

“Your arm, please,” he asks. She lifts it up for him. He picks up his sword, which had been leaning by the side of the tub, and uses it to carve a gash in her arm, which oozes blood onto the floor. He then picks up a bottle of alcohol from beside him, dumps the remaining drink into the bath with him for some reason, then uses the bottle to collect the dribbling blood. Once full, he sets it aside, and says to Miranda, “What I am about to do to you is only temporary. Do not think you are free. Now then”

Phobos’ eyes glow as he looks at Miranda. She begins to shrink and morph until she becomes the young girl that had looked after Phobos as a child.

She’s in a downward dog position. She looks up at him slowly. Her eyes are traumatized. They are the eyes of someone pushed so far beyond their emotional brink that their very soul has been ruptured, likely beyond repair. Phobos doesn’t seem to care one bit, despite staring straight into her hollow holes of eye sockets from which faint cries for help echo from deep within. She collapses backwards into a kneeling position and looks at her hands in disbelief. Then her stomach groans and she clenches it in pain. She vomits a red, chunky slurry onto the floor, and does so several times, gasping for air in between dumps.

“Just kill me, I deserve it,” she begs, still grasping her stomach in pain, looking at the bloody mess on the floor infront of her.

“I would, but then there would be noone to dispose of the body. Now are you quite finished vomiting?”

“I think so,” she moans, still clenching her stomach. Miranda then throws up again with a heave followed by the sound of another wet splatter. 

“Ok, I think that’s it”

“Good. I need you to drink this,” he reaches beside himself and hands her the bottle of blood. She begins drinking it without hesitation. He adds, “Don’t puke again or you’ll make this more complicated than it needs to be. Now then, what I need you to do is make sure our guest doesn’t feel so alone”

The king waits for her to finish. Once she does, he says, “Off you go now. If Averna is suspicious of you at all, there will be consequences"

Cedric grabs her by the collar and drags her off. 

“Now then, let me fill you in…” he begins as he leads her down the hall. She repeatedly stumbles on her own feet as he pulls her along.

Averna is still sitting in the botanical garden.

“Averna, I have someone you might like to meet,” says Cedric. Averna is somewhat surprised, she hadn’t heard him enter. She turns around to face him. A girl about her age steps out from behind the man.

“Hi, I’m Miranda. I heard you were looking for someone to talk to,” she says in a shy voice. 

“Hi. You probably know who I am,” Averna says shyly aswell, “You’re the maid, right?”

“Unfortuanatly,” Miranda responds softly.

Cedric nudges Miranda with his elbow and gives her a subtle glare.

“...anyway, I’ve been eager to meet you!” She says in a more chipper tone, “So what are you doing?”

“Not much, just looking at plants”

“Plants are neat,” Miranda says as she walks up and kneels down beside the princess.

“Hey, wanna see what I can do?” Asks Averna.

“Sure!”

Averna plucks a pod off one of the plants infront of her and plants it in the soil.

“Viriditas ignis, germinate,” she says. Her eyes glow and the pod sprouts. Orange linear type leaves begin erupting from the pod. They crawl into the air and wrap around eachother in a tangled manner, resembling flames. Once the growing of the blades slows, several narrow chutes crawl up out of the tuft and star-like structures bloom from the ends, each of their points another pod like the one Averna had planted.

“Wow, fireweed! I remember when this stuff used to grow everywhere,” says Miranda.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make it so it will again,” reassures Averna. Miranda’s lips drop and she looks at her knees.

Back on Earth, the guardians are continuing to look around Ye Olde Bookshop for anything of use.

“Still dealing with the loss of your grandma, hey?” Taranee says to Hay Lin, who sits in the corner, not doing anything. She nods in response. 

“Me too,” Taranee adds softly.

Cornelia walks in, holding a piece of paper. “Guys, I just found this in the mailbox out back,” she says, "It says if this place doesn’t pay its income tax by June 16, they’ll be seizing the building! Also they’ll send Cedric to jail. Like that’s ever gonna happen though”

“I wish. But I’d like to see them try,” comments Irma.

“Well what are we gonna do! We can’t let them have any of this stuff!” Says Hay Lin.

“We can’t let them have the building at all! Who knows what else is hidden around here!” Adds Will.

“So what are we gonna do?” Asks Taranee.

“Maybe we could buy this place ourselves?" Suggests Hay Lin.

“I don’t think this place is for sale,” says Irma.

“I don’t think it needs to be,” realizes Taranee, “I’ve heard my parents talking about this legal rule that states that the finder of an abandoned property holds title to it against everyone except the true owner. So basically, as long as Cedric is nowhere to be found, we can claim this place as our own”

“I only understood the last sentence. But whatever you said, are you sure it’ll work?” Asks Will.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to talk with my dad”

“If that does work, then we’re gonna have to start running a bookshop you know,” says Cornelia.

“And what’s so bad about that?” Responds Taranee.

“Teenagers running a business, what could go wrong?” Cornelia sarcastically answers.

“Exactly!” Adds Irma confidently.

“Ok, but we certainly can’t sell all these books. So what are we gonna do with all them?” Questions Will.

“You know the upper floors of this building are completely empty, right?” Says Cornelia.

“Oh yeah, I forgot this building has four floors,” Will says.

“Technically, you could say it only has two,” comments Taranee.

“Well that makes no sense,” adds Irma.

Taranee explains, “Well, we’re standing on the ground floor. That up there is the mezzanine, which doesn’t count as floor, then above that is the first floor, and above that is the second floor”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. This building clearly has 3 floors,” says Irma.

“No, it has four,” argues Cornelia.

“Guys, it doesn’t really matter,” inserts Taranee

Will adds, “What does matter though is who owns the upper floors anyway?”

Cornelia responds, “Judging by the fact that the staircase from the mezzanine leads straight up to the 3rd floor, I’d say Cedric owns the entire building”

“Don’t you mean the second floor?” Asks Irma.

“No, I meant the 3rd floor. Wait, didn’t Taranee say that was technically the first floor?”

“I was talking about that floor,” says Irma, pointing to the mezzanine.

“Well now you’re confusing even me,” adds Taranee, “wait, actually, nevermind, I see what you mean”

“Ok enough,” Cornelia interjects, “4 floors. No ‘mezzanine’, no ‘ground floor’. Just four floors. Got it?”

“Maybe we could call that the halfth floor, and then the floor above that could be the 1st and a halfth floor?” Suggests Irma.

“Not a chance. That’s even worse than what Taranee said,” says Cornelia.

“Ok. I agree with Cornelia. No confusion that way,” says Taranee, “Now then, how can we be sure Cedric owns the upper floors?”

“We can’t. He probably does though judging by that staircase. But just in case he doesn’t: Irma tends to have a way with words,” says Will.

Irma doesn’t look too sure about that idea.

“Well, looks like we have alot of work cut out for us,” says Hay Lin, looking at all the stuff around the shop.

“But hey, guess what, we’re gonna own a bookstore!” Exclaims Irma.

“I know! It’s gonna be totally cosmic!!!” Yeeks Hay Lin.

Averna and Miranda arrive in the bedroom. 

“I wish I had a place this nice to sleep,” comments Miranda.

“Where do you sleep anyway?” Asks Averna.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna see it. It’s kind of a mess”

Miranda walks up to one of the windows and looks out.

“I haven’t been up here in a long time!” She says.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“It’s incredible. It was so much more beautiful when this place was still glistening white”

“Well, do you wanna see the view from the balcony?”

“Do I ever!”

They both step outside. Miranda runs up to the balustrade and leans out in awe.

After a few moments, she turns back to Averna, and her gaze shifts upwards. Averna turns around too to see what she’s looking at, and realizes it’s the tall black spire that tops the tower, looming over them. 

“Follow me,” says Miranda before running back inside. Curiously, Averna follows after. They head through the bedroom and back to the spiral staircase used to descend the tower. But instead of going down, Miranda continues up.

“I thought there was just storage up this way,” says Averna.

“There is,” Miranda responds.

They ascend a few rotations before reaching the final door at the top. Miranda heads inside, and Averna follows. They find themselves in a storage room/attic. The highest room in the tower. It has a vaulted stone ceiling, and is filled with barrels and crates. The room is octagonal, and the arched vaults that form the walls/ceiling meet in a sort of star shape at the top above the middle of the room. Where they join, the underside of a wooden trapdoor is visible in the center. Miranda immediately grabs a ladder upon entering the room and sets it down, perfectly aligning with the sides of the trapdoor. It was clearly intended for just that purpose. She climbs up it, and Averna follows.

Miranda pushes open the trapdoor at the top and the two climb up into an octagonal gazebo-like space inside the spire. It gives them a full unobstructed view of everything in all directions. Averna walks up to the railing and looks down upon her balcony below. The tips of the tower’s four smaller spires that surround the main one soar right next to her. One of which is slightly bigger and taller than the other three: the one that contains the staircase.

“I wish I knew about this before!” Says Averna.

“We’re not done yet,” says Miranda as she climbs up onto the railing, leans out, and reaches up to wrap her arms around the neck of one of the gargoyles that protrude from each of the corners. Averna leans further out to look up and ask her what she’s doing.

“Going to the top! You coming? Our young bodies can do anything!” Miranda responds gleefully.

“I think I’m good”

“Suit yourself!”

Averna continues to watch her. Miranda proceeds to hoist herself up onto the stone head, then sets her gaze on the tall, steep spike of a roof that tops the so-called gazebo. The elongated hexagonal cone forms the tip of the spire and tower. She begins to climb up one of the rows of knob-like crockets that adorn the corners. 

She finally reaches the finial ornament that sits at the very tip of the tall mast of a roof. She boulders up and over the finial, then grasps the needle at the very summit. She hangs outward, holding the needle by one hand. She puts her arm and leg out like a star and begins spinning around the pole, yelling with joy. Then she slows to a stop and her legs and arms go limp as she dangles. Her smile fades and she looks down towards the ground hundreds of feet below with an unreadable expression for several moments. Then begins to climb back down the spire.

Soon enough, she climbs back into the enclosed area with Averna.

“Let’s go back inside, it’s kinda windy up here,” she says. 

They do.

Averna and Miranda enter the bedroom and they both flop down on the bed, catching their breath after running.

“This is the best day of my life! You should’ve gone up there! It was great!”

“Nah, I’m good, I think I’m too important anyway”

“About that…” Miranda says in a less enthusiastic tone, “Averna, do you trust me?”

“Yeah”

“I don’t want to tell you what I’m about to tell you. This is the first time I’ve felt happy in many, many years, and I don’t want that to go away. But you need to know this: you’re not safe here. Your brother is not what he looks like. He’s a tyrannical ruler hiding behind a façade. He won’t let you leave. We are both his captives. I don’t know what he has planned for you, but I can tell you it’s most certainly not good. Averna, you need to get out of here!”

Averna looks suspicious.

“I’m gonna go talk to him about this,” she says as she rolls her feet onto the floor. She walks towards the door as Miranda quickly crawls across the bed towards her saying, “no, don’t!” Grasping at the air in Averna’s direction, who turns and raises an eyebrow at her.

“Why?” She asks in an accusative tone.

Miranda lowers her arm and sits back into a kneel on the bed, “no reason,” she mutters.

Averna turns back and continues out the door. 

Miranda instantly regrets everything. How could she have been so stupid? The moment the door shuts, she frantically jumps off the bed, rips off the bedsheets, and throws them into a pile on the floor. She scurries over to the dresser and begins slamming drawers open and shut in a hurry. When she finds the right drawer, she starts tossing bedsheets out of it, adding them to the others behind her. Then she realizes there’s a faster way to do this as she pulls out the whole drawer and dumps it on the pile. She rips a sheet from the heap and ties it to a bedpost then begins tying the others together into a rope as fast as she can.

Once fished, she carries the ball of makeshift rope out onto the balcony and throws it off the tower. She feels a sigh of relief as she watches the end of the chain pile on a low rooftop below. She begins climbing down.

“I wish I could still walk on walls,” she thinks.

About halfway down the tower, she sees Averna peer over the balustrade high above. Phobos peers over beside her.

“I told you she wasn’t the real Miranda,” the king says to his sister, “The real Miranda would never do this. Here, let me try something”

Phobos’ eyes glow as he looks at Miranda below. She knows exactly what’s about to happen. Her skin quickly begins to lose its color. She feels long, needle-like hairs sprouting from every square inch of it, including her face. But not on the skin of her legs and arms. Her flesh continues to dull as it becomes an inhumanly grey color. Her muscles swell in size. Her face becomes completely obscured so that it’s reduced to nothing but glowing eyes through the thick hair. Her spine begins to arch uncontrollably as her skeleton stretches and morphs inside of her. A second pair of eyes open up in her cheeks. The hairs become so long they reduce her body to a ball of black fuzz with grey, muscular limbs sticking out of it and four glowing eyes. 

She is back in the unfortunately familiar body of an arachnibrate once again. 

“What did you do to her?!” Averna asks as she steps back from the edge.

“I revealed her true form, and it’s as I feared: the real Miranda is no more”

Averna sighs. 

Phobos slashes his sword at the tensed bedsheet beside him, severing the chain and sending Miranda falling. Averna makes a quick, almost reflexive, step forward the instant he does as if to try and stop the trailing rope, only to immediately change her mind the very next instant as she pulls her foot back into her dress before even lifting the other one.

Miranda sees a flying buttress leaning against the base of the tower. It speeds towards her. She manages to attach a web to it, leaving her dangling in the air. She can’t ‘shoot’ webs so to say, but she can guzzle out loose ones in a certain direction as she’s falling and let them catch hold of things due to their stickiness. 

“Guards, capture that beast!” Phobos orders. The two guards stationed by the door run out.

Miranda reels in her web and crawls along the top of the buttress to the pinnacle at the end, which she climbs around and finds herself looking over the cliff to the city below. She crawls down the outer wall, and as she does, hears guards firing bows at her from somewhere, but can’t see where. She crawls quicker, and manages to get under the overhang without being shot. But she’s still not free, there are still several inverted spires hanging from the bottom of the palace like massive icicles, and they might be accessible from above, which could allow guards to shoot her from them. She climbs down one of the vines that flow down the cliff face. As she does, the realization dawns on her: this might actually be happening. She might finally be free. After all these years, this nightmare would finally come to an end. She’s still a monster, which is less than ideal, but at least she’d be a free monster.

Once close enough to the ground, Miranda jumps off the cliff face and lands on a rooftop. She begins to run, dashing over the roofs and leaping across alleys, aiming in a straight line towards the wall at the edge of the city. She’s so close to freedom. The guards below try to chase her, but can’t keep up with her through the maze of streets as she cuts across the buildings over the rooftops. Some try to get to roofs, but even with their training, they still can’t match her speed and agility. 

She makes it to the wall and begins climbing up it. She hears arrows from below hitting the stone bricks around her, and even feels the almost unbearable pain of a sharp flint head embedding itself in her hairball of a body. But she can’t let that stop her. She’s too close. She fights through it. 

She makes it to the top and sees guards charging at her from both directions along the wall. She bolts across the walkway and does the only thing she can to get to the ground on the other side fast enough: she jumps.

Her body violently slams into the earth. The resulting pain is immense, but despite it, she gets to her feet immediately. She hears and sees arrows darting into the ground infront of her. She has to get away before they can send hugongs after her. She dashes off into the vast empty wasteland before her as fast as she can, not looking back for a second. She continues running for as long as she can, long enough that the dripping blood from the arrow still pierced in her flesh ceases. When she finally has to stop to catch her breath, she looks back in the direction she came. There is no trail of blood, the wall is out of sight, and noone is coming after her.

She’s free.

Chapter Text

Will sets down another heavy box of books with a thud, careful not to crush her fingers again. 

The five of them had been hauling the boxes upstairs all day. It’s exhausting work. 

Will heads back downstairs to get another one.

“Can you guys get these outta here faster, I need to go pee but I’m kinda walled off, and these walls only keep getting taller”

“I’m sorry, but not all of us have telekinesis!” Says Will, “You know, maybe you should be the one hauling all these heavy boxes instead of the rest of us”

“That’s not how it works. It would be just as much effort for me to move them telepathically. I’m not moving the boxes because it’s much more efficient for me to fill them instead of you. I’ve already explained that”

“No you haven't," says Irma as she picks up another box.

“Yeah, you just said, ‘I’ll fill the boxes, everyone else takes them upstairs’,” adds Hay Lin, picking up another Hay Lin sized box.

“Also, since when is that your call to make?” Accuses Will.

“Well you guys listened to me, didn’t you?”

Just then, Taranee walks in and says, “So I just got off the phone with my dad, and I have good news and bad news: the good news is that we can, in fact, legally secure the rights to this place as long as Cedric doesn’t return. The bad news is that we have to be 18 to do pretty much anything with it”

“Well, my birthday is in a few months,” says Cornelia.

“When exactly is it?” Asks Will. Cornelia looks offended.

“It’s May 10th,” answers Irma, coming back from upstairs. “Don’t forget it,” she adds, “trust me, you’ll regret it”

“And I’ll make sure of that,” adds Cornelia.

“I’m sure you will,” says Will unenthusiastically.

“Also, the reason I’m making the decisions is because this is my bookshop. So my rules,” Cornelia states.

“Well, firstly, you couldn’t’ve known that until just now, and secondly, it’s all of our’s. At least, it will be,” corrects Taranee.

“I don’t think so. I’m the one signing the documents, am I not?”

“I guess so,” admits Taranee, scratching the back of her head. Cornelia looks smug and proud.

“Speaking of which, when did that thing you got in the mail say the deadline was?” Questions Will.

“June 16,” answers Cornelia.

“So you’re saying we’ll have only a month to get an entire business up and running?!” Realizes Hay Lin.

“Yup!” Cornelia says confidently in response.

“We can do it! We’ve saved a rebellion and fought off armies! We can set up a bookstore, right?” Says Irma.

“I hope so,” mutters Will. 

Her cellphone starts ringing.

“Hello?” She answers. It’s Caleb.

“Hey, can you open a portal to Helmina? I’m coming back to Earth. I’ll explain to you all why once I get there”

“Sure thing”

So she does, and Caleb steps out of a portal into the shop.

“What are you guys doing?” He asks, looking around.

“It’s a long story. We’ll talk about it later. Now why are you here exactly, and why do you have those?”

Caleb looks down at the pair of wooden swords in his hand.

“Wait, do you want to teach us to swordfight?” Asks Hay Lin.

“Yes and no; I want to teach you all to fight. Not just with swords”

“We can fight! We do it all the time!” Says Will, raising her voice, somewhat offended.

“No, you can’t. If it wasn’t for your powers, you wouldn’t stand a chance”

Will tries to think of a comeback, but quickly realizes he’s right.

“Fair enough,” she says.

“Now then, we need somewhere with lots of space. Somewhere noone will watch us,” says Caleb.

“What about the roof?” Suggests Hay Lin.

Everyone looks at eachother in agreement.

They all step out onto the roof.

“Why do you look so shocked?” Cornelia asks Caleb.

“Oh, it just amazes me how fast the seasons change around here,” he responds, “now then, who wants to go first?”

“Ooh me!!” Says Hay Lin enthusiastically, jumping and raising her hand.

“I kinda wanted to go first you know!” Says Cornelia.

“Ok then, you go first!” Allows Hay Lin.

Cornelia steps up to Caleb, who hands her a sword.

“So, first, I wanna see how you guys do without your powers. So, imagine you're not a guardian, and I’m a guard. All you need to do is kill me before I kill you, got it?”

“This’ll be a piece of cake. I’ve killed more guards than I can count!”

Will shutters upon hearing this statement. The grin Cornelia makes as she says it is sickening. But Will knows Cornelia isn’t a monster, far from it, and Will had already made sense of it all too: Cornelia doesn’t see the guards -or anyone they fight for that matter- as people; individuals just like her. No, instead, she thinks of them as objects. Nothing more than something standing in her way. It’s sickening.

Will had known Cornelia was heading down this path for a while (the others are also starting to head in that direction too). But to see Cornelia gleefully admit to being a seasoned killer really makes it all the more real, and worse than she thought too. Will suddenly can’t look at her friend in the same way she always had. She can only imagine that face being the last thing she ever saw; Cornelia taking everything with a mindless thought, a snap of her fingers, and not a hint of regret.

“If only I could make her see it how I see it,” Will thinks.

But she can’t. Not just because of Cornelia being Cornelia, but because that’s what everyone expects of them; the guardians. *Will* would be the one that would be frowned upon, not Cornelia. All Will can do is make sure she never becomes like that herself, no matter how hard people try to make her. She will only ever kill if it is absolutely necessary. She would never go down that path. And she’ll make sure of it.

Then it hits her: she already is. She used to never kill anyone. Not under any circumstances. But now she does. She regrets every single one of them, and each one haunts her, even though every single time there was truly nothing else she could’ve done in the moment. If Will from six months ago saw Will now, she would be horrified. The worst part is she didn’t notice any of this change until just now. But it gets worse as she remembers that when Elyon left, she tried to kill Cedric. She knew exactly what she was doing. And she felt nothing as she did. Maybe she would've, had she succeeded. 

But it only gets worse from there: as she remembers that she did, in fact, succeed at killing someone in cold blood: she killed Phobos (one of them, at least)

“Next thing I know I’ll be like Cornelia!” She thinks in horror, subconsciously touching her fingers to her lips.

Her downward spiraling thoughts are interrupted by Caleb as he says, “Ok, ready?” To Cornelia. 

Will pulls herself back into the moment and out of her head. She tries to push the thoughts away, even though she feels doing so is only going to make the problems worse, it’s not relevant right now.

“Anyone else ready to see Corny’s ego get absolutely shattered by her own boyfriend?” Asks Irma.

“Absoulutly stoked,” responds Will.

“Remember, no powers. Now, on 3: 1, 2, 3!!”

Cornelia stabs at Caleb’s neck. He quickly squats to avoid it and stabs at her stomach. She immediately steps to the side. He then stands up from his crouching position, and as he does, performs a roundhouse kick, hitting her straight in the stomach with his calf, knocking her to the ground. Just as she tries to push herself up, she finds his sword pointed straight in her throat.

He says, “Your reflexes are good, which is not surprising. But you lack the technique”

Caleb lowers his sword. Cornelia stands up and brushes herself off.

“I wouldn’t’ve worn this if I knew I’d be doing this today,” she says, “also, I thought this was a swordfight, not a sword and kick fight. I couldn't've seen that coming”

“There are no rules on the battlefield,” Caleb responds.

“Oh, so I can use my powers then?”

“I’m trying to teach you to fight even without them. This will make you a much better guardian”

“Ok, how about we try that again, this time, I’ll know what to expect”

“Ok then, ready? 1, 2, 3!!”

Once again, Cornelia attacks first. She swings her sword at his neck and he immediately blocks it, allowing him to punch her in the face, followed by a side kick in the stomach, knocking her to the ground once again. She tries to crawl backwards as he walks towards her, but quickly finds his sword pointed straight at her chest.

“Let me guess, you didn’t think punches were allowed either?” Snarks Will from the sidelines.

Cornelia looks conflicted. Then after a few moments, she admits, “ok, fine. You were right. I suck at this. How about I just stick to using my powers”

“Cornelia, listen,” says Caleb in a comforting tone, “the only way to get better at something is to practice and learn from those who are more experienced. Noone is naturally good at everything, and you understand that, I know you do. And I know you understand you’re no different than everyone else when it comes to that”

Cornelia crosses her arms and looks away from Caleb. There’s a pause.

“I think I know what’s going through your head right now,” he says, “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but, I believe part of you is telling yourself to threaten our relationship. You don’t intend to end it though, you don’t want that. You only want to avoid having to keep making a fool of yourself infront of your friends. You understand how incredibly petty that is though, and are afraid of being seen as such, and you are also afraid of losing me for real if you try it”

Cornelia unfolds her arms and they drop to her sides as she looks back up towards Caleb with a soft expression.

“That’s right,” she murmurs, slightly astounded, then adds, “I’m sorry for thinking that. I didn’t know you could read minds”

Caleb chuckles, “I can’t read minds! But I can read yours sometimes. And by the way, don’t be sorry about thinking that. Now then, what do you say we get going here?”

Cornelia picks up her wooden sword off the ground and gets to her feet. Caleb begins,

“Ok, so first thing’s first: always stand with one foot behind you to absorb the blow if your opponent decides to throw a kick. Now, always face your opponent, and never take your eyes off them”

Cornelia positions herself appropriately.

“Good. Now, you see, it's all about outwitting your opponent. Your goal is to give yourself as many options as possible while limiting your opponent’s, of course, all the while attacking and counteracting as necessary. Does that make sense?”

Cornelia nods.

“I don’t know the Earth terminology for any of this, but I’m going to be calling things what we call them on Metamoor.

“There are two basic kinds of attacks: stabbing and slicing. We’ll only be discussing side slicing for now. For either of these attacks, the key is to aim low enough that the opponent can’t duck or crouch to avoid it, but high enough that they can’t jump over it. Hence reducing their options. 

“When faced with these attacks, each of them has 3 basic counteractive maneuvers you can choose from. For stabbing, you can only avoid it in one of three directions. Never attempt to block a stab, it won’t work, and if it does, it’s not worth the risk. And as for slicing, you have two directions to evade, or you can block. Now, the reason upper slices and downwards slices are not preferred is because not only are there 3 directions for evasion, but they also have the ability to be blocked. You got all that?”

Cornelia nods.

“Ok, let’s try this again, and this time, we’ll do it slowly. Ready?”

Cornelia nods again. Slowly, Caleb lunges his sword at her, and she steps back. She swings hers in response, and he steps to the side before stabbing at her legs. She steps backwards.

“Didn’t you say not to aim too low?” She accuses.

“I also said there are no rules on the battlefield. Anything I tell you is only general advice”

They continue.

Each of the guardians take turns going up against Caleb. He teaches them many different tactics, such as using unconventional moves to take the enemy by surprise, trying to move the fight somewhere that puts you at an advantage such as a wall or corner, and much more. 

Irma is the last one to go.

“Remember: no powers,” he tells her.

“Got it,” Irma answers.

“And no sneaky powers either!”

“Wait, what?! No sneaky powers?! Well then how the hell am I supposed to use them!?!”

“That’s the neat part: you don’t”

Irma pouts.

“You guys make sure she doesn’t use her powers, ok?” Caleb says, looking towards the other girls on the sidelines.

“Ok, ok, fine, I won’t use my powers. Trust me,” reassures Irma.

“I don’t”

“Fair enough”

“Ok, now, do you wanna start slow, or…”

“Let’s jump right in,” Irma answers before he even has time to finish his sentence.

“Ok then, 1, 2, 3!!”

Irma immediately proceeds to kick him the balls. But instead of the expected result, there’s a metallic ding the moment her foot impacts his pelvis, followed by Irma hopping around on one foot, grasping the other in pain. She yells, “no wonder you're so brave!!” As she does.

“Oh yeah, did I tell you guys he always wears steel panties?” Says Cornelia, then adds, “It’s so hot”

“It’s called a codpiece,” Caleb corrects, “now let’s get back to business”

Soon enough, they’re all able to fight Caleb at full speed, reading his motions and reacting accordingly. After many hours, they are all able to consistently hold him off for 5-10 seconds, but not a single one of them has been able to beat him. 

The sun is beginning to set, and the air is getting chilly and bitter. They’re all covered in bruises. It’s Will’s turn to fight Caleb once again. Hay Lin hands her the sword and she walks up to him. They both begin circling eachother slowly, looking for an opening as they try to step around the other. The tips of their swords are nearly touching.

Caleb strikes first. He swings his sword to Will’s left side and Will does the same in response. They both step back to evade eachother’s swings and the wooden blades make a musical clunk as they collide. Caleb pulls back his sword, ready to stab, and Will steps to her right just before he does, but she’s too fast, as he readjusts his aim and lunges at her, but she moves back to the left. Caleb swings at her from his current position and she quickly raises her sword to block it and pushes it away before swiping at his forward foot, forcing him to step back, thwarting his next move. She lunges at him, and he evades to the side, swinging at her. She raises her sword to block it before lifting her knee and hitting him straight in the liver. He grasps it in pain and collapses to the ground. Will walks up to him shriveled up on the gravel, ready to slice at his neck. But just before she does, he pulls at her pant leg, causing her to fall to the ground. He picks up his sword beside him and slams it down on her neck. It feels like a hiccup as the wood bounces off her rubbery throat.

“Ugh!! I was so close!!” Will growls, pushing herself up.

“Are you ok?!” Wails Cornelia as she runs up to Caleb and crouches beside.

“I’m fine, it’ll pass,” he says sorely as he scoots himself into a sitting position, still clenching just below his ribs, wincing.

Hay Lin’s cellphone rings yet again. She answers, “yes, I’m still fine dad, I’ll be home soon, bye”

She hangs up. “I never realized how much grandma covered up my absences,” she says.

“Speaking of which, we should all probably get home,” says Taranee.

Will quickly pulls out her phone to check the time, “Oh no! I missed work! I gotta go, bye!”

She dashes off.

“Wait, Will, before you go, how about we all meet here again tomorrow and find a way to fit sparring lessons into all of your day to day routines,” says Caleb.

“Ok, sounds like a plan! Tootles!”

Not long later, Will arrives at the door to Herbert’s pet shop. It’s closed. She knocks on the glass and peers in the window. She sees Matt coming.

“Hey! Sorry about this. I completely forgot!” She says as he opens the door for her.

“Will!” Cries a small, squicky voice. Whiskers runs out the door beside Matt and climbs up Will’s leg and up her back, curling up on her shoulder”

“Whiskers!” She exclaims as she pets him, grinning.

“How did he get out of his cage?” Wonders Matt.

“Oh! I pushed down on the little thingy and it opened right up!” Says Whiskers.

Will chuckles.

“What’s so funny?” Asks Matt.

“Oh, nothing, I think you should probably get different latches for the cages,” replies Will.

“I’ll ask Herbert about that. Well, anyway, we checked him up, and Whiskers didn’t catch anything over the winter!”

“That’s great! Sorry again for not making it today. I got caught up. Is there anything I can do to make up for it?”

“Uh, no, sorry. Everything’s already been done and I’m just about to head home”

“Oh. Well, uh, since you're done working, wanna come over to my place?”

“I’d like that,” Matt answers with a smile.

They both enter the apartment, only to find Susan and Dean sitting at the table having a romantic dinner, complete with candles, flowers, and champagne. 

“Hey Will!” Says Dean.

“I thought you said you were staying at your friend’s place tonight?” Says her mom.

“That’s tomorrow night,” answers Will. Her mom and Dean look at eachother, then back to Will and Matt.

“Well, there’s some food on the stove for you,” says Dean, "There's enough for your friend too if he’d like,” he adds.

“I think I’m good,” says Will as she closes the door. Her and Matt stand in the hall.

“Maybe we could go get dinner somewhere together?” Suggests Will.

“I think that can wait. Something tells me the sunset is really beautiful this evening. Maybe we could go up to the roof and watch it together”

“That is super cliché and I’m all for it,” replies Will.

They both emerge onto the rooftop.

“I’ve actually never been up here before,” realizes Will as they step out the rooftop exit. They both walk around the side of the brick bulkhead and see a beautiful sight: the silhouette of the Heatherfield skyline against a sunset of orange, yellow, pink, purple, and blue over the rooftops and water towers.

“Now I wish I had,” Will adds. They both walk across the roof to the front of the building. They sit beside eachother on the cornice, their feet hanging infront of the stonework.

They sit there for a while in silence. Soon, the lights of the skyscrapers start to become visible.

“Will, there’s something I wanna tell you”

“Go ahead”

There’s a pause.

“I, I, think I’m in love with you”

Will blushes harder than she ever had.

“I love you too,” she peeps.

Will scoots closer to Matt, and Matt scoots closer to her. They look at eachother, smiling as they admire eachother’s eyes.

“I like your eyes,” says Will.

“I like my eyes too, because without them, I wouldn’t be able to see yours”

Will smiles even harder, and they both wrap their arms around eachother, and they kiss. They stay like this for several minutes. As they do, Susan and Dean emerge from behind the bulkhead and stop in their tracks as they see the two cuddling eachother, backlit by the sunset over the city. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t watch the sunset together,” murmurs Dean.

“Yeah, kinda cliché anyway,” adds Susan. Dean walks back inside. Susan looks for a few more moments as she smiles and puts her interlaced hands against her cheek before following after Dean.

Will and Matt pull away from eachother and their hands slide down to grasp eachother’s upper arms. They still look at eachother, smiling dearly, completely oblivious to what had just happened behind them.

“Wanna take this a bit further?” Asks Matt. Will nods in response.

They pull themselves towards eachother once again, squeezing the other even tighter than before, then fall backwards onto the roof, disappearing from view behind the cornice. I’d describe what happens next, but that’s not the point of this story. Needless to say, it’s a good thing her mom came up when she did.

Chapter Text

Miranda crawls through the Metamoorish wasteland. It has been days since she escaped Meridian, and she hasn’t eaten or drank anything since then. She’s so thirsty and hungry. But there’s no food or water. Then she feels a sting on her skin: acid rain. She frantically looks for somewhere to hide, but there’s nothing. No rocky overhangs or caves, no abandoned buildings, just bleak rolling hills dotted with wiry dead trees. She feels another one, and another. Panic sets in and she begins to run. The drops begin to polka dot the dry ground. She screeches from the pain and frantically starts digging into the dirt. Then the rain ceases. 

“That was a close one,” she thinks. She needs to find food. Where there’s food, there’s blood to satisfy her thirst. She hears a larvek screech somewhere nearby, and she continues moving before it finds her.

After a few more hours of walking through endless wasteland, she feels like she’s gonna collapse. She makes it to the top of another hill and she sees another outpost. It frustrates her. Now she has to turn around before they see her and kill her. Then she realizes something: there are guards there, and guards are food. Her hunger overtakes her reasoning and she continues towards the outpost, knowing going there is practically suicide. As she approaches, an arrow stabs into her, but she ignores it and continues, trailing dripping blood on the ground as she does. Then another hits her. She realizes how stupid this idea was and turns around.

In the outpost, one of the guards trains his bow on Miranda.

“Enough, it’s leaving. Don’t waste your arrows,” another one says to him.

“Is that an arachnibrate?” Realizes the other guard, “I thought those went extinct!”

“It would appear not”

Miranda tries to crawl away, she feels her strength depleting. She’s leaving two trails of blood behind her. This pain is familiar to her.

As she withdraws from the outpost, she notices a humanoid figure on the horizon over yonder that appears to be heading towards the same outpost she’s fleeing. She begins towards it, only thinking of one thing.

Before she even makes any reasonable progress, she collapses from exhaustion. She tries to push herself to her feet again, only to collapse again after a few shaky steps. Then the world ceases to exist.

Miranda wakes up to the face of a human man. He wears Earth clothes. He seems worried about her as he looks into her four half-open eyes with concern.

“You’re alive!” He says with joy, “are you ok? What are you? I pulled these out of your… AAARRGH!!”

Miranda jumps at the man, to his surprise and horror. She doesn’t care who he is. All she sees is food. All she can think about is food. 

The human hits the ground running as it frantically bolts out of her way. Miranda can’t let this opportunity go to waste. This may be her only chance to eat. She uses all her strength to charge after it.

It runs up to and climbs up a nearby gnarled snag that was once a tree. But it’s clearly unaware she can do that much better than it can.

She climbs up after, and the man frantically climbs out to one of the few remaining limbs. Despite its thickness, the weakened wood breaks under the weight and falls to the ground along with the man, which clenches its leg upon impacting the ground, screaming in pain. Miranda jumps ontop of it from the tree, pinning it to the ground before ripping at its throat, killing it, then beginning to feast.

Will is suddenly awoken by the ancient blaring phone by her bed. She knows exactly why.

“I hate this job,” she groans before reaching for the phone and picking it up off the ringer.

“Where’s the stupid portal this time”

“I dunno,” answers Taranee, “you need to help me find it now, remember? Just place your portal compass on that compass rose Hay Lin gave you and tell me what number it’s pointing to. You made sure it’s in line with the real cardinal directions, right?”

Will nods.

“...right?” Asks Taranee again.

Will feels very stupid.

“Yeah, I’ll go do that,” she says.

She takes the glowing compass out of her drawer and places it in the center of the compass rose taped to the top of her dresser. She takes note of the number and climbs back across her ped and picks up the dangling phone.

“It’s pointing to 317,” she says.

“Ok, 317 degrees northwest, let’s see here…”

Will waits for a few moments as Taranee does whatever she needs to do on the other end. She then hears her gasp.

“Will! That would put the portal right in the middle of a subdivision! We need to get there quick before someone sees it!”

“Ok, I’ll call the others!”

“No, we don’t have time! They don’t have compasses to follow. We’d all have to meet somewhere first, but we need to get there right away! It would be best if you and I transform and follow our compasses straight there”

“Ok, you ready?” Will asks as she takes the heart of her nightstand.

“Yup”

“Quintessence, fire, unite”

They both land at the portal in the front lawn of a house. Thankfully, they don’t see any lights on. Will pulls out the heart and closes the portal before they both quickly take off and head home. Shortly after they depart, a woman exits the house across the street and runs across to the lawn the portal had just been. She stands directly where it was and looks around distraughtly.

Chapter Text

Agent Richmond sits down in an interrogation room with a woman. 

“Before we begin, I need you to confirm your first and last name,” he says.

“Sue Merry,” she answers.

“Sue your first name, yes?” He asks to confirm. 

Sue nods.

“Well that’s a relief. Now then, tell me what you saw?”

She begins, “Last night, I awoke to the phone ringing. My brother -who lives just across the street- was calling me, saying there was a weird, glowing, swirly disc in my yard. I didn’t believe him at first, until I looked out the window and couldn’t believe my eyes! He wanted to check it out, so I let him, and when he did, he disappeared through it like some sort of a portal! I waited for him to come back, but I got worried, so I went through and found myself in an utter hellscape! I called for him and looked around a bit, but headed back before I ended up like him too. I decided to wake his husband to tell him about all this, but when I showed him out the window, the thing was gone”

“And what did Gary’s husband say?”

“He didn’t believe me. He didn’t believe any of it”

“That is very fortunate for him. Thank you for the information, Mrs. Merry. Unfortunately, we will have to classify both you and your brother as missing”

“Wait, what? Me?!”

“Yes. You know too much, and the info you may or may not know is too valuable”

He turns his attention away from her.

“Take her to the holding cell with the others,” he says.

“How long am I gonna be here?!” Sue asks frantically as two black-suited agents in sunglasses lift her out of her chair by the armpits.

“Indefinitly,” answers Richmond, putting on his sunglasses as she’s dragged away.

Once Sue is out of his sight, another agent approaches Richmond.

“Sir, we’ve gathered intel that the valuable contents of the bookstore are being moved upstairs. We suspect they are preparing to be transported elsewhere. Possibly via one of those wormholes," the agent informs him.

“I see”

The guardians enter the bookstore for another long day of hauling items upstairs. They shut the blinds so noone sees them using their powers and get to work.

“You know, grandma never liked us using our powers for things like this,” says Hay Lin.

“Relax, this *is* guardian stuff,” Irma reassures. Hay Lin doesn’t look too sure, and neither does Taranee.

Will heads upstairs and turns on the light to the empty floor, now full of boxes. Cornelia walks up beside her and stops in her tracks, looking somewhat puzzled.

“Is it just me, or were there more boxes here before?” She says.

Irma walks up beside Cornelia.

“Nah, it’s just you,” she says, “now let’s get to work”

Several hours later, Will receives a call from Caleb. It’s time for sparring lessons. They all head up to the roof and Will opens a portal. To her surprise, Caleb and someone else she doesn’t recognize step through. It’s a meridianite. He shields his eyes from the sun.

“What’s that thing in the sky!! And why does it hurt to look at?!” He exclaims.

Caleb chuckles, “It’s called the sun. There’s one in Metamoor too. You just can’t see it”

“Wait, who’s this?” Asks Cornelia.

“Can we go somewhere I can open my eyes without them being seared off first?”

“I guess we can go inside?” Suggests Will.

“Please!!”

They all walk down the stairs into the empty top floor. They hadn’t cleared out the shop enough to need this floor yet, but they soon would.

“Ahh. That’s so much better. Now then, my name is James, and I’m a wizard who just joined the rebellion, and I heard you guys have every single volume of CMUME”

“What’s that?” Asks Hay Lin.

“‘Controling, Manipulating, and Using Magical Energy,’ they’re the most important books to any magician,” answers Caleb, “Knowledge is power. Many will kill for them”

“Oh! I think I’ve seen those!” Says Taranee, “I don’t remember what box it was in, but I’ll go find them for you!”

Taranee heads downstairs. 

“If they’re so valuable, then why not duplicate them and make a million of them?” Wonders Hay Lin

Suddenly, Megan appears out of nowhere.

“Same reason you can’t duplicate the Heart of Kandrakar, remember?” She says, "Trust me, if every single magician knew all of their abilities, the world would descend into anarchy. Also, you forgot to close the portal”

“Hey, what were you doing in Helmina?” Accuses Caleb.

“I’m there all the time. You can’t see me though. That’s also how I spend time with Thorwin. But nevermind all that, you’re the new wizard, right? Well, I’m Megan, and you won’t be needing those silly books. Trust me, I can tell you everything you need to know about magic. Just ask Thorwin! In fact, I know so much about magic that the books I did have, I turned into knowledge elixirs and drank them even though I already knew everything in them!!”

“You did what!? Do you have any idea how rare those things are!?!” Shouts James, “If you’re gonna waste them like that, you could at least give it to somebody who actually needs it!!”

“They don’t need the books if they have me!”

“Even if you're telling the truth about yourself, that means everyone needs to rely on you!”

“Now you get it,” says Megan with a smirk.

“Sorry, I’m not buying this”

“I can teach you things that aren’t even in the books,” she says with a smirk.

“Like?” Asks James, unconvinced.

“Like how to make a mirage locket”

James’ eyes go wide.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Caleb questions, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

“Thorwin told me. He’s always known, but didn’t tell anyone for obvious reasons”

“So you’re saying you just spilt his secret?” Will accuses.

Megan facepalms, “Shit! I’m such a fucking idiot!! I need to go apologize to him. Just trust me James, you’d be much better off learning from me than the books. Bye!”

And with that, Megan disappears just as Taranee reaches the top of the stairs.

“Don’t listen to her,” Caleb tells James.

“Trust me, I won’t. Is that that witch you were telling me about? The one that got kicked out?”

“That’s her”

“I knew I heard Megan up here,” murmurs Taranee in realization.

“Now, did you find those books?” Asks James, looking to Taranee.

“No, that’s what I was coming up here to say,” she answers.

“Maybe I can help,” James offers, “I’d recognize those books anywhere”

He joins Taranee as they both head back down to the third floor, or was it the second floor? Or the first? Ugh, it’s the one below the top floor! You know the one I mean! Anyway…

“How about we get on with sparring in the meantime,” says Caleb, “there’s no point in standing around here while they look”

They all head back up to the roof.

This is the third day they have done this. They’d been able to hold Caleb off for longer more consistently, but still noone has been able to defeat him.

“Irma was the last to go yesterday, which means it’s Taranee’s turn. But since she’s busy, that means it’s my turn,” states Cornelia. 

“Caleb?” She asks, holding out her hand. Caleb hands her a wooden sword.

“Ready? 1, 2, 3”

They both start circling eachother slowly, looking for an opening. Caleb strikes first, swiping at Cornelia’s feet. She jumps back, but doesn’t give a response. They continue circling eachother with their eyes dead set on the other’s.

Cornelia lashes at him with a diagonal uppercut, aiming for his armpit. Caleb steps back and raises his sword infront of him horizontally to block it, then pushes her sword away, swiping at her neck in the process. She crouches to avoid it, and he kicks her, aiming for her head. She begins to thrust herself out of her crouching position before the kick lands, but it still hits her in the breast, knocking her backwards to the gravel. He lunges at her, but she rolls out of the way then swipes at his legs from the ground. He blocks it, giving her enough time to jump back to her feet.

She lunges at him, and he skirts to the left. She then spins around 360 degrees to slash at him from the left. He goes to the other side, and she spins around once again in the other direction, but right in the middle of it, she’s jabbed in the back as she’s facing away from Caleb and stumbles forward.

“Your fancy twirls might look cool, but they’re only practical for subverting expectations,” he says.

“Yay my turn!!” Hay Lin says excitedly. She happily skips up to the displeased Cornelia and takes the sword.

“Ready? 3, 2, 1”

Hay Lin doesn’t waste any time. She cuts straight to it as she slices at Caleb, who immediately blocks it. He lunges at her, and she leans to the side. He quickly lunges at her again, and she leans to the other. She swipes at him, but he ducks and swipes at her legs. She jumps towards him to avoid it, sword above her head like an axe. He quickly leans back with his sword above him and blocks the blow. Hay Lin jumps up onto the parapet. Caleb jabs at her, and she jumps off straight towards him. He tries to swipe at her in midair, but is too low, just barely scraping her stomach. She pounces on his face like a cat and knocks him to his back. She raises her sword to stab him in the face, but he swipes at her, forcing her to jump off. He quickly gets to a crouching position, and as he stands up and turns around to face Hay Lin, she jabs him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards.

“I win,” she says proudly, crossing her arms with a smile.

Irma claps excitedly, yelling, “You go Hay Lin!!”

So does Will, although not hooting and hollering like Irma. Cornelia just stands there and pouts, crossing her arms. She then says, “you used your powers, didn’t you? There’s no way you of all people are the first to beat him!”

“Oh come on, just let her have this!” Says Will.

“Well I guess it’s my turn now,” Irma states as she walks up to Caleb, giving Hay Lin a high five as she hands her the sword.

Taranee and James walk out onto the roof.

“Uh, guys? I have some bad news,” she says. Everyone stops and looks at her.

“A whole bunch of stuff is missing!” She states.

“See! I told you!” Says Cornelia.

“How do you know?” Says Caleb to Taranee.

“Well, there was stuff that was there before that isn’t there now! I was suspicious at first, but now I’m sure of it!”

“Well where could it have gone?” Wonders Will.

“Maybe Phobos took it!” Hay Lin hypothesizes.

“It couldn’t be him dumb dumb!” Says Cornelia.

“Cornelia, not so rude!” Scolds Taranee politely.

Cornelia continues, "It couldn’t’ve been him because he has an entire library, remember?”

“Well then who else could it be?” Wonders Irma.

“The only other people who are interested in that stuff!” Realizes Will, “the agents, remember?” 

The others visibly realize that it all makes sense.

“Caleb, James, how about you two go back to Metamoor. We have some guardian business to do”

Cornelia’s red punch buggy rolls into the parking lot of the Heatherfield FBI building. The place is much different than the last time the guardians were there. The parking lot is filled with numerous temporary buildings which have the seal of the CIA on the doors. As well as construction equipment, there are also many black vehicles in the parking lot, and people in black suits and sunglasses are dotted around. Scaffolding still covers parts of the building itself, although Will doesn’t recall that the exterior wall was ever damaged in the collapse. But she could be misremembering, as she often does.

The black-suited agents look at them as they walk across the parking lot. Will knows exactly why: they know who they are. But it doesn’t make her feel any less uncomfortable.

They enter the front door to the reception area, the only room of the building open to the general public. She feels very anxious being here, and for good reason. She walks up to the woman behind the counter.

“Hey, um, there’s some very valuable stuff missing from a certain bookstore. We were wondering if you could help us,” Will says.

“Sorry. You’ve come to the wrong place”

“I don’t think we have,” adds Cornelia snarkily.

The woman looks confused. She either really doesn’t know who they are or is pretending not to for one reason or another.

“We’d like to talk to Agent… what’s his name again?”

“Richmond,” Taranee answers.

“...Richmond. We’d like to talk to Agent Richmond,” Will finishes.

“Agent Richmond works for the CIA. We are the FBI. If you would like to speak with him, you are not permitted to. He has been placed in charge of a very important operation”

“Well what’s all that CIA stuff doing outside?” Asks Cornelia.

“That is of none of your concern”

Will reaches into her pocket.

“Will, don’t,” says Taranee, “We don’t know if they really took it or not”

Will turns around and sees a crowd of agents in black suits and sunglasses standing outside the glass doors, watching them. Amongst them is one she recognizes: Richmond.

“Excuse us for a moment,” says Will.

The guardians walk outside and approach him.

“What brings you here, ‘guardians’?” He asks.

“We’re looking for some things of ours that we believe you have taken,” answers Will.

“We made a deal, remember? We didn’t touch anything of yours”

“He’s lying, it’s in there,” Taranee says, pointing to one of the box buildings in the parking lot. Several agents immediately surround it.

“Give it back, or we’ll take it,” demands Will.

They stare at eachother intensely for several moments as Will waits for Richmond to respond. He doesn’t.

“Fine then, have it your way,” Will takes out the Heart of Kandrakar and says, “guardians, unite”

The moment she mutters the words, FBI SWAT agents pour out of the building and surround the guardians and train their guns, but don’t fire.

The guardians emerge transformed, and the moment they do, they are swallowed by the ground beneath them and the hole quickly closes just as quickly as it had formed.

Taranee lights a flame so they can see. Hay Lin gasps. Everyone readies for whatever’s about to come, then she adds, “Awww look at Corny’s little baby wings!!! They’re so cute!!”

Will facepalms. “Cornelia, can you fly?” She asks.

Cornelia flaps her wings, then says, “nope”

Hay Lin squeals, “Aww, look at them!! They’re so cute when they flutter!!!”

“This is embarrassing,” Cornelia groans.

Suddenly, they are all blasted with sunlight as an excavator breaks through the ceiling. Several SWAT agents jump into the hole with them. Cornelia thrusts her hands forward and a tunnel burrows itself into the side of the hole. Will picks up Cornelia and they all fly down it. Irma raises a gravity-defying wall of water between them and the agents. They fire their weapons, but the bullets slow to a halt as they travel through the thick wall of water. Cornelia thrusts her hands forward and the bullets are sent flying backwards towards where they came.

“Why can’t you just stop the bullets in midair?” Will asks Cornelia.

“I don’t know! Don’t think I haven't tried!”

“It’s impossible! Bullets travel faster than your brain can comprehend!” Taranee says.

The agents begin trudging through the wall. Irma thrusts her hand forward and the wall of water is sent shooting back, taking many agents along with it, but some are dropped along the way and begin running at the guardians.

Hay Lin takes a deep breath and exhales, creating a wind tunnel effect in the earthen tube, sending all the agents flying down. They are all slammed against the back wall (the edge of the original hole). 

They get back to their feet and point their guns towards the guardians. Cornelia claps her hands together like she’s praying and the walls of the tunnel slam together like sliding doors. Leaving them in darkness. Taranee lights a flame to illuminate the space.

“Which direction was that building in again?” Asks Taranee.

Everyone shrugs their shoulders, looking around at the others.

“Hay Lin, you turn invisible and go see where it is so Corny can burrow to it. Corny, open a hole for a brief second so she can fly out,” instructs Will.

Hay Lin turns invisible and a hole opens in the ceiling for a few moments. They feel a gust of wind as Hay Lin dashes off. The hole quickly closes.

“Cornelia, remember that thing you did to their guns last time we fought these guys?” Asks Will.

“I can’t bend them for some reason!”

“Didn’t that not work very well anyway?” recalls Irma.

“It messed up their aim, and that’s good enough,” responds Cornelia.

“Maybe they read those books and figured out how to make asterium?” Hypothesizes Will.

“No, they’d need magic to do that,” says Taranee, “it’s probably carbon fiber or something”

“What’s that?” Asks Will.

“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s fiber made from carbon,” says Irma.

“I think you’re right!” Says Will.

“Guys, people tryna kill us right now?! Remember!” Exclaims Taranee.

“Nah, we’re safe here,” says Will.

Noone responds and there’s an awkward silence following Will’s statement. The only sound is that of Taranee’s foot lightly tapping on the ground.

“Aren’t you gonna come at me with a counterargument?" Will says to break the quiet.

Cornelia responds, “Just wait for it, now. Since you said what you did something’s bound to happen”

They wait for several more moments. Just as it begins to get awkward again, an excavator -probably the same one from before- suddenly smashes through the ceiling. This time, Cornelia closes the ceiling up around it, crushing the bucket in the process.

“How exactly was Hay Lin supposed to convey the information to us?” Asks Cornelia.

“I never really thought of that,” admits Will.

The ceiling opens up and the floor rises and they emerge from the parking lot. They find themselves staring down the barrels of dozens of guns. Hay Lin appears in the air above them.

“Guys! It’s over there!” She calls, pointing with both hands.

“Thank you captain obvious,” snarks Will.

The building blows up.

“I stand corrected,” says Hay Lin, looking at the burning pile of rubble.

“Now then, will you leave us alone?” Asks the voice of Agent Hamilton. They all turn towards the voice and see her and Richmond.

“Will *you* leave *us* alone?” Asks Will harshly.

“We never did. Even if we did, you have no way to prove it. Which means our agreement was never broken” says Richmond.

Will grumbles in frustration.

“You slippery little…” Will hisses.

“Well guess what, now you destroyed your only info source on magic and Metamoor”

Richmond responds, “We can take as much as we want, taking things people don’t want taken is what we do best. There are plenty of experiments we’d like to do, so if you’d rather we don’t do that, I suggest you leave”

Will pulls out the heart.

“Guardians, disjoint”

They keep their eyes locked on eachother as the guardians walk back to Cornelia’s car. They all get in and drive away.

“Are you sure destroying that stuff was the right idea?” Hamilton asks Richmond.

“It was the most sure-fire way to make them leave. And now, as I said, they have no proof we ever broke our deal”

“As I assumed. Just making sure we’re on the same page. I still think we should try to capture them instead of keeping them away”

“They will escape. It’s better we don’t risk losing everything”

“I know; I stand by you, but beg to differ”

The guardians return to Ye Olde Bookshop to continue working.

“Wow, we’re almost done!” Realizes Hay Lin upon entering.

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll have this place clean by tomorrow!” Says Irma.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get back to it!” Says Will. She then notices a spilt box of books on the stairs. 

“I don’t recall anyone dropping that,” she says. Cornelia walks towards it and suddenly bumps into something invisible. There’s a thud. Megan appears on the ground, sitting, rubbing her head.

“Meggie! How did you get here!?” Asks Cornelia harshly.

“I never left”

“Wait, were *you* the one stealing books?” Questions Hay Lin.

“I am now!”

Will takes out the heart and opens a portal. 

“Back to Metamoor with you. For real this time,” says Will, pointing into the portal.

Megan reluctantly enters.

“Uh, will, you forgot to shut the blinds before doing that,” Irma tells her.

Will’s eyes go wide as she realizes this and quickly shuts it before anyone sees.

On the other side of the portal, Megan waits for the portal to close behind her, then pulls out a portal compass.

“This will make things easier,” she mutters. 

Epilogue

Sue is thrown into a cell. It’s quite a large cell, about the size of a small classroom. It stinks, and is filled with other people. Sue freezes when she realizes some of the people in there with her aren’t exactly, well, people. Their skin is leathery and not any normal skin color: some grey, some sand green, and a handful are blue. They have slit eyes like cats, no hair, and they all have horns on their head, each one’s are unique in their number, position, shape, and size. As for the regular people, most of them wear regular clothes, but some look like they’ve been ripped straight out of the middle ages.

Sue starts hyperventilating. Everything just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

“Don’t worry, we’re not gonna hurt you,” says one of the strange humanoid creatures.

“Ugh, do we have to go through this all again! I’m sick of having to explain everything with every new arrival!!” Complains another one of the strange creatures in a gruffy voice.

“Yes Zoltan, she’s clearly scared and confused,” says a man dressed in more normal clothing.

Zoltan rolls his eyes.

One of the creatures offers Sue her hand, “here let me help you,” she says. Sue bats the hand away, yelling, “don’t touch me you monster!!!”

“Here, let me try,” says the voice of another woman as she sits up off the bench. She walks over to Sue and sits down beside her. She wears what can only be described as a smelly, ratty peasant’s dress.

“Hey there, noone here is going to hurt you. What’s your name?” She asks in a soft, comforting tone.

“Sue,” she answers nervously.

“Welcome to the group, Sue! My name is Vatheka”

“That’s an odd name”

“Not where I’m from. You see, some of us here -such as me- aren’t from around here. We’re from another world called Metamoor. And these odd looking fellows are meridianites. They might look different on the outside, but they're really just like anyone else. You see, there’s this veil…”

Vatheka continues explaining.