Cheryl wasn't prepared to bump into Violet on her way past the border.

"Violet! What are you doing here? I told you to stay at the palace!", she asked in surprise.

Violet ran to hug her. "Lux was there. I had to leave."

"Of course she was...", Cheryl grumbled, holding her tighter. "Are you okay?"

The younger witch pulled away. "Yeah, just tired... I haven't been in the woods in a long tim o it's been rough.", she shrugged. "Oh, I almost forgot. Cheryl, these are Charles and Jackson. Guys, this is my friend, Cheryl.", she introduced them.

"Nice to meet you!", Charles extended his hand.

"You too!", Cheryl smiled, shaking it.

"Sorry to interrupt, guys, but I really need to talk to Cheryl.", Violet said urgently.

"Alright. We'll keep up with the introductions later.", Charles shrugged. "Jackson, come on! I wanna see what this part of the kingdom looks like!", he grabbed his boyfriend's hand and dragged him along.

"Okay, okay! Damn, you're enthusiastic about this!", Jackson laughed as they ran off.

"V, what's going on?", Cheryl asked her worriedly.

"You might want to sit down for this...", Violet sighed.



Violet started pacing around as Cheryl sat down on a stump.

"Well?"

"Okay, so remember when you sent me to the palace to keep an eye on Tristan? Well... I did. The thing is that we got quite drunk one night and cast a binding spell.", she rushed and gulped.

"Violet!", Cheryl shot up. I only know of one more person who's ever cast this spell successfully...

"Wait, that's not what I wanted to tell you!", Violet said defensively.

"There's more?!", Cheryl's eyes widened.

"Well, Alastor found Crystal and she was at the palace even after she ran away, Caroline got her out but her father and Lux found out and were blaming her and Tristan for bailing Crystal and her friend Scott out of the dungeons, but I was going to leave anyway to tell you about Lux, so I took the blame for them.", she rambled.



Cheryl ran a hand through her hair and tried to calm herself.

"Anyway, Tristan left the palace a couple of days after I did. He overheard Lux and Alastor talking in the cellars. Something about Alastor planning to take over the rest of the kingdom. Tristan is making his way to Daniel's palace as we speak, but he's going to need your help in convincing him."

"Tristan can't go to Daniel. Not yet.", Cheryl muttered.

"I know, but I couldn't really stop him! We spoke last night through the link created by the binding spell. You need to talk to Daniel!", Violet urged her.

"I can't and you know it! Goddammit, things just got way more complicated..."

"People will die if you don't! Tristan doesn't have to be there when you tell Daniel, you can go yourself!"

"Violet, you don't understand! The same way Daniel and Tristan can meet up yet, I can't talk with Daniel either!"

"Why the hell not? Are you really ready to sacrifice all these people just because you're not ready to talk to your husband yet?"

"I promised I'd return when everything was over. This is only getting started."

"So you mean to tell me that you didn't drop by Daniel's palace at all while you were in this part of the kingdom, huh?", Violet crossed her arms.

"I did, but I didn't talk to him! I barely saw him and it was by accident!"

"I don't care, Cheryl! People will die! What the hell is wrong with you? You are supposed to be a Queen and Queens are supposed to put their people first, but you're willing to let them be slaughtered just because you refuse to see your husband?"

Cheryl looked taken aback. "I--"

"You obviously still love him! You made a stupid promise that does no good to anyone! No one will be mad if you break it, so why don't you just walk up to him, make things right and go kick Alastor's sorry butt for causing all this trouble?"

Cheryl frowned and bit her lip. "I wish it was that easy, V."

"It is! You're the one complicating things!"

Cheryl was about to tell back at her, but Violet clutched her heart.

The queen rushed to her. "Are you okay?"

Violet looked up smiling. "It's Tristan! He's near!", she started bouncing up and down in excitement.

"What?! No! He can't see me!"

"He already has...", Tristan waved at them awkwardly.

"Tristan!", Violet laughed and ran towards him, hugging him so tightly that he stumbled backwards.

He blushed. "Good to see you too...", he chuckled, hugging her back.



Cheryl stared at them for a moment and then started backing away as quietly as possible to hide.

"Hey, auntie! What's the rush?", he asked her.

"Dammit...", she muttered.



This was about to get really awkward.



°~*~°



Crystal and Scott had arrived in a tiny village, but Crystal hadn't realised because she had passed out again. It had also started raining a lot; it was a downpour and it was getting harder for Scott to carry her around. He had tried to get her on Ash, but Ash didn't really like Scott and the rain was making things that were already hard even harder.

She'd woken up at some point while Scott was dragging her through the woods and asked about Phoebe. She'd been pretty mad at Scott for leaving his sister behind, but she didn't get the chance to argue with him about it because he laid her on the ground and grabbed the knife off her side to patch up the wound (with a piece of cloth he ripped off his shirt) and keep it from getting infected.

He hadn't done it earlier because he wanted to get as far away as possible from Erebos and Phoebe. He didn't want to be there and witness the beating Erebos earned for himself. Phoebe had sounded pretty furious when she yelled at Scott to take Crystal and leave.


The village seemed to be made up of a dozen buildings, more or less. It was late at night and pretty dark, but Scott managed to spot a small house that had a sign which read "Healer" hanging outside.

Sighing in relief, he carried Crystal a little longer and knocked on the door urgently. A couple minutes passed, but no-one answered.

He knocked again, harder this time. He was soaked from the rain and cold and Crystal kept slipping from his grasp. Despite the cloth around her bleeding side, the blood had dripped on the floor and formed a pool.

He had started getting desperate and was about to knock again when the door opened and an old lady appeared at the doorframe.

"Who are you and what do you want this late at night?", the lady hissed, glaring at Scott.

"My friend is hurt, I don't know what to do!", Scott sobbed, trying to hold Crystal up.

Her eyes widened when she noticed the girl bleeding out. "Oh, my! Come on in!", she urged them inside as Scott lifted Crystal bridal-style and carried her inside.



The old lady led them to a room down a short corridor, where a single bed was at the corner under a window.

"Lay her down here and light the fireplace. I'm going to need light if I'm going to patch her up properly.", she ordered him. He didn't stick around to argue and rushed to do as the lady said.



The lady herself rushed to a cupboard out in the hallway to get everything she needed. Scott stood frozen as Crystal started having a coughing fit. She slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room.

"Scott?", she whispered. He was about to rush to her when the old lady returned to the room.

"Stay back and let me do my job. You can check up on her once we know she'll live.", she grumbled. "Goddammit, that's now what I signed up for when I chose to become a healer... She's going to need stitches.", she muttered to herself. "What are you staring at? Get out of here! I'll come get you when I'm done. I don't want you getting in my feet!", she snapped at Scott, who hesitantly walked up to the door. "She'll be fine, go!"

He did as the old lady said. He didn't want to distract her any more than he already had. He Sat down on the small couch in the living room sighing and ran a hand through his hair nervously.

Goddammit, princess! Why did you have to go ahead and play hero?, he thought, rubbing his forehead.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. He was about to go back to the room, despite what the healer had told him when the healer herself walked into the living room.

Scott shot up from the couch.

"Is she--"

"Your friend is fine, but we need to talk.", the old lady told him. "Who are you two and what the hell happened? What have you gotten yourselves into?"

Scott gulped. She needed to know, she'd taken them in and patched Crystal up, despite how late it had been when they arrived. "We're fugitives.", he confessed.

"What kind of fugitives? You don't seem that dangerous."

"Look, this isn't my secret to tell. I get that now that we're here it's your business too, but if you're going to find out, you're going to hear the full story from Crystal, okay?"

"Alright.", she shrugged. "Eleanor.", she extended her arm.

"Scott.", he shook it.

"I'm guessing that Crystal is your friend?", Eleanor asked him. Scott nodded.



That's when he noticed a figure at the beginning of the corridor, approaching the couch. Crystal leaned panting against the doorframe.

"Princess! What the hell are you doing?", he rushed to her.

"I wanted to- I wanted to make sure you're okay.", she frowned. "Are you?"

"Of course I am, don't be stupid... Let's get you back to bed...", he sighed and helped her walk. "Are you okay?", he asked her as she sat down on the bed.

"Peachy...", she rolled her eyes.

"I'm a bad influence on you when it comes to sarcasm...", he smiled faintly.

"Well...", she chuckled, but stopped abruptly and clutched her side. "Ouch..."

"Why would you do that?", he asked her.

"He was going to get you... I couldn't let him get you!", Crystal muttered. "Besides, I owed you..."

"What for? What are you talking about?", he furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's my fault we got caught the first time... Everything that happened to the dungeons was my fault... I want to make up for it.", she frowned. "I should have listened to you... I'm so sorry...", she sobbed.

"Princess--"

"I shouldn't have gotten you involved in this mess. I'm so sorry..."

Scott couldn't bear this he wanted to storm off but he knew that it would make matters worse. He cupped her cheek and wiped her tears, trying to calm her down. "Hey, look at me. Look at me.", Crystal looked up sobbing. "You didn't drag me into this mess, I got myself into it. I could have walked away anytime and I chose not to.", he talked her calmly.

"But--"

"No. Stop it. Yeah, you made a mistake but everything is fine now. Stop beating yourself over it.", he reassured her.

Crystal wiped a couple more tears. "Can I hug you?"

Scott hesitated for a moment. "Come here...", he said eventually. They both got up and hugged each other. Scott rubbed Crystal's back soothingly and she seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"You're a good hugger...", she said after a while.



Scott didn't get the chance to reply because Eleanor walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's late and you-", she pointed at Crystal, "- need to rest. Let's call it a night or whatever.", she added. "You can sleep on the couch.", she told Scott.

"Right. Get some sleep princess, will you?", Scott told Crystal.

"Same goes for you!", she crossed her arms.

"Yeah, right...", he rolled his eyes, but a glare from Crystal made him give in. "Fine! I'll try."

"Good.", she smiled in approval of his answer.



They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before Scott left the room to go sleep on the couch.

Dammit, she's going to kill me when she finds out, was his last thought before he finally drifted to sleep.

The next morning, Scott woke up with a start. Eleanor was shaking his shoulder, telling him to wake up.

"Whuh?", he shot up. "What's going on?", he asked her.

Eleanor held up two wanted posters; one of Crystal and one of Scott himself. Instead of "Cornel", though, Crystal's poster read "Meadows".

"Dammit!", he grabbed one of them, running a hand through his hair. "Does Crystal know?"

"Not yet and you'd better explain to me what the hell is going on because I'll make sure you don't see the light of day again.", she yelled at him, a little too seriously. Something about the tone of her voice made Scott think that she really meant it and that she wasn't all bark and no bite. Eleanor seemed the type of person to deliver on her threats.

"Stop shouting! Just let me get Crystal and we'll tell you!", he tried to go past her, but she blocked his path.

"You're either telling me now, or your friend dies.", she hissed.

"What?", he asked in confusion.

"Well, I wasn't sure if you'd tell me the truth, so I poisoned her. If you don't tell me the truth I won't give her the antidote.", Eleanor smirked.

Scott pushed her aside and rushed to check on Crystal. He didn't want to believe what the healer was saying but froze when he saw his friend still in bed, seemingly asleep.

"Princess?", he called in disbelief. He kneeled by her bed and shook her lightly. "Princess, wake up!", he panicked. "Crystal, wake up, dammit!"

Eleanor, who was leaning against the doorframe, chuckled. "Yeah, she isn't going to wake up anytime soon. You have less than an hour until the effects become permanent and my antidote is useless. Start talking."

"I'll talk, just give her the antidote!", Scott pleaded. He'd never been this worried before. He was feeling light-headed.

"Tik-toc... You'd better hurry...", Eleanor taunted him.

"Fine! Crystal is in the run from her father, I'm just helping her out!", Scott snapped. He started pacing, but his worried gaze remained on his friend.

"Her father sounds important...", the so-called healer smirked.

"No.", he shook his head, refusing to say anything on the matter. Eleanor glared at him threateningly. "It's the King! Please wake her up!", Scott begged her.

"The King, you say...", she said with a tint of interest in her voice. Then she said two words that made Scott's blood run cold. "Which one?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Which one?", she insisted.

He gulped. "Alastor."

"Are you lying to me?", she narrowed her eyes at him.

He looked at her dead in the eye. "No.", he gritted his teeth.

She eyed him suspiciously. "Why do I not believe that?"

"I don't know! I'm telling the truth! Stop stalling and give Crystal the antidote!"

"I never had royalty in my humble home before... Maybe if I inform the king of his daughter's whereabouts, he'll be generous.", Eleanor shrugged.

"Hey! You said--"

"I said I'd give her the antidote, and I will, but I never said anything about not turning the two of you in."



Scott glanced at Crystal worriedly one more time. She was turning unnaturally pale. He felt the need to cry but tried to stay calm. He wasn't doing really well though; his eyes were red and stinging and his hands were shaking. He bit his bottom lip to stop it from trembling.

"Just heal her.", he repeated, eventually, clinching his jaw and fists.

"Alright.", Eleanor shrugged again and approached Crystal. She took a small vial from a pocket on her dress and let two drops fall into the princess' mouth.

Crystal immediately shot up gasping. Scott got up from the floor, sat on the bed and hugged her as tight as he could. She was too surprised to react for a couple of seconds, but she returned the favour.

"Thank God you're okay...", he muttered.

"What? What happened?", she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I- I'll explain later. We have to get out of here as fast as possible.", he whispered quietly.

She pulled away and looked at him quizzically. Scott glanced at Eleanor sideways to let Crystal know what the problem was. She seemed to be getting the hint because she nodded lightly.

"I think we should get going now... We don't want to be any more of a burden.", she said sweetly at Eleanor.

"You two aren't going anywhere. Turning you in is going to make me rich.", Eleanor crossed her arms.

"Turning us in? What are you--", Crystal froze as the healer held up one of the wanted posters. She gave Scott a terrified glance.

"Look, we don't want any trouble. We just want to go over the border and away from all this.", Crystal motioned at the posters.

"Well, I want my money and I wouldn't mind some trouble if it means getting it."

"Why can't you just leave us alone!", Crystal snapped. The window burst open. Eleanor glanced at it fearfully.

"Princess, calm down...", Scott tried to get her to relax.

"No! I'm done with this! I didn't run away for some lady in the woods to get me caught! We are leaving and you won't get in our way.", Crystal hissed.



Air started blowing through the open window, and soon all the other windows in the house burst open too.

"Princess, calm down. This isn't you.", Scott said carefully. Crystal ignored him. "Crystal!", he grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. He didn't have any other choice, the air was becoming so strong it had started to push Eleanor down the corridor.



Crystal snapped out of it and turned to look at Scott.

"We have to go. Now.", he told her. They got up and grabbed their stuff. Crystal swung Benny's old bow and quiver over her shoulder and they headed for the living room.



Eleanor was blocking the front door.

"You aren't going anywhere!", she yelled at them. Crystal didn't hesitate. She aimed an arrow at Eleanor, glaring at her. "You won't shoot me!", Eleanor mocked her.

"Try me.", Crystal growled and shot an arrow that whizzed past inches from the healer's face and hit the door.



Trembling, Eleanor ran past the two teenagers and away from them, finally letting them go.

"I never thought I'd say this, but you can be scary.", Scott told Crystal.

"Thanks?", she shrugged. "Now tell me what happened in there."

"Alright...", he sighed.



As Scott explained everything to Crystal and Crystal teased him a little about being worried (she thanked him too, though), they started walking away, not noticing that Eleanor was standing on the front door.

And just as the two of them left the village behind, it started dissolving into ashes along with Eleanor's disguise. Eventually, all that was left was Cecilia Dotter, smiling to herself.

"Oh, he knows. Lux is going to want to hear this."