Scott and Crystal had set camp in a vast valley, under a big tree and away from most people but still about half an hour away from the nearest village.

"How are we on money?", Scott asked as he laid some sort of rug on the grass.

"Pretty good, surprisingly. We haven't even spent half the money Caroline gave us.", Crystal replied, dropping the firewood a few feet further.

"We need to hurry up with the preparations here; it's getting dark.", Scott sighed.

"I know...", she ran a hand through her hair.

"What's left to do?"

"Light the fire and brush Ash's mane."

"Alright, I'll take care of it.", he walked up to her.

"What? Why? I've got this.", she crossed her arms.

"No offence, but you look like a mess. You need to rest."

"Scott, I'm fine.", Crystal insisted and went ahead to light he fire.

"Fine, if you're so sure."

"It's just a fire and grooming a horse.", she shool her head, chuckling. She got up, looking proudly at the fire she'd lit.

"Still! I wanted to help."

"Okay, you can feed Ash if you really want to.", she laughed.

"Seriously? You do know that I find your horse insufferable.", Scott looked at her with a deadpan expression. He seemed confused.

"Oh, come on! What did Ash ever do to you?", she laughed harder.

"He's evil! I can see it in his eyes.", Scott glared at the horse, making it whiny. "Shut up."

"Scott!", Crystal's eyes widened. She doubled over from all the laughter. Scott looked at her, seemingly offended. The horse seemed to be enjoying this entire conversation. "Come on.", she motioned at him towards Ash with her head. She first got the brush from her stuff, then followed Scott.

She showed him how to groom Ash properly then handed him the brush.

"Give it a try."

"Princess...", he whined. She raised an eyebrow.

"Come on... For me?", she pouted. Scott turned red.

Dammit, she's cute..., he thought.

"Fine...", he grumbled. Ash turned and looked at him curiously. "Don't look at me like that!", he hissed at the horse. Crystal burst out laughing again.


After a long session of brushing Ash's mane, Crystal and Scott sat down at the rug the latter had laid down earlier.

It was a pretty big one; four people could sleep on it comfortably and there would still be space for a cat or small dog.

"Okay, I told you why I'm not a fan of your horse. Now it's your turn to tell me why you love him so much. I mean, of course you love him, he's your horse, but there seems to be more to the story.", Scott asked her.

Crystal tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to look at him. "Ash was Benny's goodbye gift when I left for the palace.", she explained. "Like, Ash was born when I was very little and we grew up together, but he and Benny's bow are all I have left from my old life.", she shrugged.

"Oh... I- I didn't know he was so important to you...", he frowned.

"How would you know? I hadn't told you.", Crystal joked.

"Good point.", Scott chuckled.


They fell silent and turned to look at the sky as the sun set. Scott laid his back against the tree.

"Can I lay my head on your shoulder?", Crystal asked shyly.

"Sure.", he shrugged and as Crystal laid down he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.


He tried to act as if it was no big deal, but he could feel his stomach and heart exploding. He wanted to get close to Crystal. She'd been the first person to make him open up about his troubles and not judge him in a very long time.

Scott turned to tell her something, but saw that she was fast asleep.

He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't let himself move (no matter how much he might have wanted it).

Eventually he fell asleep too.

When Scott opened his eyes a few hours later, because he was sleeping in a pretty uncomfortable position, he realised that Crystal was gone. Again.

In the dim moonlight, he spotted a figure sitting down on the ground.

What's up with her and disappearing whenever I'm sleeping?, Scott wondered, getting up to make his way to her.

"Princess?", he approached her slowly. She didn't acknowledge him, at first. He noticed she was shaking strangely, as if she was sobbing. "Princess, are you okay?"


She muttered something incoherent.

"What?", he asked, reaching for her shoulder. "Crystal, you're worrying me...", he gulped.


Before he could touch her, she turned around with tears in her eyes.

"How could you?", she yelled at him.

"What are you talking about?", he asked, more confused than ever.

"Stop playing dumb!", she yelled again, standing up, sidestepping a bit.

Suddenly he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Let me explain--"

"Explain why you betrayed me? You- you knew how much my freedom meant to me! I trusted you!"

"I'm sorry!"

"You don't get to be sorry!", she screamed. "You were supposed to be my friend! How am I supposed to trust anyone after this? Were you even a real friend, or was it all you playing pretend?", her voice cracked.

"Princess--"

"Don't princess me! I have a name, you know! Or did that not matter?"

"I had no choice!"

"You could have told me or given me a goddamn warning!"

"I--"

"I don't care about your excuses! I hate you!", she shrieked. "I hate you!", she said again. She kept repeating that all the time.

Then he gasped and shot forward, looking around curiously. Crystal was still on his shoulder though she seemed to have woken up due to his sudden movement.

"Scott?", she called groggily.

"It wasn't real...", he muttered to himself, burying his face in his palms.

"What's wasn't real? Did you have another nightmare?", Crystal asked.

"It wasn't real...", he repeated.

But it could become reality soon..., his inner voice told him.

"Shut up.", he hissed.

"Scott!", Crystal exclaimed.

"Sorry, I wasn't- I wasn't talking to you.", he rushed.

"Then who were you talking to?", she looked at him with worry evident all over her face.

"Myself.", Scott turned red.

"Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?", she asked again. He shook his head. "Let me help you...", she frowned.

"I'm fine, don't worry. Go back to sleep.", he got up.

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk. I'll be back in a bit." he walked off. Crystal made a move to go after him, but he stopped her. "Please don't.", he shook his head.


When he returned, Crystal was sitting expectantly on the rug.

"I told you to go back to sleep.", he said.

"I couldn't.", she replied. "And I already told you that I want to help."

"I don't need any help; I'm fine.", he shrugged.

"You didn't seem fine a while ago!", she argued, standing up. She walked up to him and stared up at him, her fists clenched.

"You need to stop helping others and start helping yourself. I'm done giving you my own burden."

"What if we help each other?", she suggested, trying to relax.

Scott shook his head again. "There's no helping me."

"Of course there is. You just don't want to be helped. You'd rather drown in your problems than ask someone to save you.", she said sadly.

"I won't drown; I'll teach myself how to swim."

"What if you're not fast enough?"

"Look, princess, I appreciate the fact that you're looking out for me, but...", there was a strange tone in the way he said princess and Crystal noticed. He sounded... sadder.

"But what, Scott?"

"You can't help. Not on this one."

"Fine.", she sighed. She didn't like pushing people, so she didn't pressure him any further.


She looked up at the sky.

"What are you looking at?", he asked her.

"The stars. There are so many of them and they're so beautiful...", she changed the subject.

"They're nothing compared to you.", he said before he could stop himself then turned red. He felt lucky it was dark, he wouldn't hsve wanted to be seen blushing.

Crystal turned to look at him at lighting speed, just as red as he was. "Wh- what?", she stammered, getting more and more flustered over what Scott told her.

"I- I mean--", he stuttered. "To hell with it...", he said eventually, pulling Crystal closer by the waist. She wrapped her hands around his neck.

They stared into each other's eyes, then leaned in until their foreheads touched.

Don't do it..., Scott kept telling himself. You'll only make things worse...

"We have a long trip ahead of us tomorrow. We should- we should go to sleep.", he said eventually.

Crystal frowned, but nodded lightly, stifling a yawn. "Yeah...", she said, looking a little disappointed.

They walked back to the rug were about to lie down for real that time, when Crystal gave Scott a hasty peck on the cheek, before quickly turning her back on him and lying down.

"Goodnight, Scott."

"Goodnight, princess."


*~°~*


Phoebe missed her brother, but hadn't regretted her decision to follow Violet and Cheryl.

The three of them were making their way past the border again, when Cheryl told them that they all needed to talk.

"No matter how fast we go, we won't arrive at Alastor's for another three days the least. We need someone to go to the palace ahead of the other two and inform us on what's going on there.", she started.

"Well, we all know who that someone is...", Violet sighed. "You can't go because Alastor will recognise you, I can't go because everyone else will recognise me... Do you see where this is going?", she turned to Phoebe.

"Alright, I'm fine with this, but how am I supposed to get there faster than the two of you?", Phoebe asked.

"It's going to be tough... You've been to the palace before, haven't you?", Cheryl asked her.

"Yes..?"

"Well, I could teleport you there, with magic of course, but I'm going to need Violet's help with that.", the former Queen replied.

"Are you sure I won't lose an arm or leg?", Phoebe asked again, looking worried this time.

"Not completely but close enough.", Cheryl shrugged. Violet elbowed her.

"You're not helping!", she hissed at her. "Don't worry, Phoebes. It's absolutely safe.", she reassured her friend.

"Right...", Phoebe gulped. "And if I agree to do this, what should I do once I arrive at the palace? What should I look for?"

The two witches exchanged a look. "Anything that sounds important.", Cheryl said eventually.

"Servants like to gossip and you've already acquainted yourself with Caroline. You've got some friends in high places; take advantage of that.", Violet added.

"You had me at Caroline.", Phoebe muttered. "Alright, I'm in.", she sighed again.

"Good. The spell is a short one--"

"Wait. How am I supposed to contact you if I find anything of interest?", Phoebe interrupted Cheryl.

"Right! I almost forgot!", Cheryl exclaimed and started digging through the excessive amount of pockets in her dress. Eventually she found a necklace and clipped it around Phoebe's neck. "This has magic dust in it. If you find anything of importance, write me a letter and sprinkle this on it. It will appear in my hand immediately.", Cheryl explained.

"Hey! How come you didn't give me any of this when you sent me off to the palace?", Violet crossed her arms.

"This is my last one and I was keeping it for an emergency.", the older witch replied. Phoebe stuck her tongue out at Violet, who glared at her. "Anyway, as I was saying it's a quick spell, but a hard one. Violet, you're a master at teleporting."

"Yeah, but it's hard, I've never tried to move someone else and I'm a little rusty."

"I know. This is going to be harder, so just do the same thing you do when you want to teleport yourself, but focus the entire spell on Phoebe. I'll take care of the location, okay?", Cheryl squeezed her shoulder. "You'll do great."


Violet nodded.

"Are you ready?", Cheryl asked Phoebe.

"I'd say no, but I'm not in an honest mood right now.", Phoebe gulped.

"Relax. If you're stressed, it's only going to be harder for all of us."

"Gee, no pressure...", the young girl muttered. "Okay, let's do this. If I die, tell my brother that he's a moron."

"With pleasure...", Violet smirked.


Then the two witches focused on Phoebe and extended both their hands at her. Phoebe started feeling a tingling sensation all over her body and then dizziness and some sort of seasickness struck her. She tried to keep her balance.

"It's working!", Violet cheered.

"Violet, focus!", Cheryl grumbled.

"Oh, right. Sorry!"


Phoebe looked down at her feet and regretted that decision immediately.

"Guys, are you trying to kill me? Why am I turning into a bloody ghost?", she asked, seeing that she was now semi-transparent.


And when she blinked, she was no longer standing in front of the two witches. Instead, she was in an empty garden, standing in front of the one and only Caroline Cornel.

"Phoebe?!", Caroline exclaimed.

Phoebe held up her finger, then turned around and barfed all over the grass. The princess' eyes widened, and she rushed to hold her hair. She didn't say anything, but both girls knew that Phoebe would have a lot of explaining to do after she was done puking her guts out.

*~°~*

Cheryl clutched her knees, panting. Violet almost collapsed.

"I'm getting rusty...", the former muttered.

"Tell me about it...", Violet replied. "Do you think she made it in one piece?"

"I think so... I don't see any blood or anything on the floor, so she should be fine.

"Good."


And as the two witches decided to go to sleep, neither noticed the necklace that was to be around Phoebe's neck, glimmering under the wardrobe.