Cheryl was furious. She gritted her teeth, hid her stuff well in a tree and marched off to return to the village.

Who did Lux think she was? The leader of the village or something? Who have her the right to kidnap someone and get away with it?

Well, she was the leader of the village and she didn't need anyone to give her permission, so she could pretty much do whatever she wanted, when the only thing everyone else could do was deal with it.

That's what infuriated Cheryl even more; abuse of power. She had seen it before. It had taken people away from her back then too.

The similarities between Lux and Alastor were eerie. It would be a disaster if they ever found each other...

No one tried to stop her when she walked down the streets towards the palace. She had her murder look on.

Lux should feel honoured; Cheryl reserved that look only for people she hated with every fiber of her existence and only for really special occasions. She hadn't given that look to anyone for about sixteen years when Lux had been the receiver once again.

This time, Cheryl was so furious she also felt like delivering the murder her look suggested.

As she approached the small palace's gate, she extended her arm and it flew open. The guards stepped aside.

The exact same thing happened as she entered the throne room. Her royal evilness, Lux Bailey (or as she was more commonly known as, Lux the Bright) was sitting on her throne looking bored and sighed as Cheryl walked in.

Not that Lux was royalty or anything; she just loved pretending she was.

“What? No bow?”, she raised an eyebrow.

“I'd tell you to go to hell, but I'm gonna have to settle for you letting Violet go and granting me my freedom.”, Cheryl glared at her.

“Be respectful when you address Lux the Bright, peasant!”, a guard snarled. Cheryl's eye started twitching.

“I'm not the peasant here, or did you forget that your self-proclaimed queen made sure I stayed away from my throne and my family?”, Cheryl growled. “And Bright? Really? Kidnapping Violet and making me mad doesn't sound so bright.”, she rolled her eyes.

“Always a pleasure to have you around, Floreline.”, Lux did the same. “You're late.”

“Sorry, the invitation didn't say what time the party started.”, Cheryl retorted.

“That's why you had no invitation, sweetie. It's a lot like you to pop up uninvited.”

“You seem to have experience in that too! I can name an example or two... Like the day you came to my life!”

“Cheryl, please don't make this harder than it already is...”, Cecilia walked into the room.

“I'll address your betrayal after I'm done roasting this--”, Cheryl was interrupted by a force pushing her towards the nearest wall.

Lux got up yawning in a bored manner. Her palm was extended, holding Cheryl behind as she struggled to free herself.

“Let me go, you coward!”, Cheryl growled.

"You're losing your charm, Floreline.", Lux rolled her eyes. “And you've started to get on my nerves more than usual. You have such pretty hair, Cheryl. I didn't want things to come to this...”, she shook her head.

Cheryl's eyes widened and she struggled harder. “No...”, she muttered.

“Yes.”, Lux replied calmly and rolled Cheryl against the wall so that her back and hair were exposed. With a wave of her hand, Cheryl's long hair that reached the back of her knees, fell to the ground. They disappeared as Lux burnt them with a blink.

She stumbled away from the wall, stroking her hair, which weren't even touching her shoulder anymore.

She looked up and glared at Lux with an ever more murderous look. She waved her hand to slam her into a wall, but nothing happened.

“You've obviously never had your hair cut. You're going to be powerless for a while.”, Lux scoffed. “Which means I get to have a little fun...”, she smirked and slammed her against the ceiling, then letting her fall down.

Cheryl grunted as she fell on the ground.

“Lux... Please don't... You've already humiliated her enough.”, Cecilia pleaded.

“Shut up, Cecilia! This is all your fault!”, the red head hissed.

“I've been wanting to do this for such a long time...”, Lux smirked again, ignoring them both.

She got Cheryl mid-air and started stretching her. Cheryl started screaming in pain, but Lux smiled evilly.

“You've caused me much trouble, Cherry...”, she shook her head.

“Don't call me that! Only one person is allowed to call me that, and that's not you!”, Cheryl snapped. A streak of silver energy exploded from her chest and hit the ground between Lux's feet. Lux backed away in surprise, letting her fall back to the ground.

Cheryl's blue irises were gone, making her eyes entirely white. Her glare was still pretty visible, though.

“Where's Violet?”, she growled.

"At the dungeons. Good luck getting her out!", Lux sneered.

"I won't be needing it.", Cheryl replied. She waved her arm the same way Lux had done before, and slammed her against the wall so hard that she fell unconscious. She was tempted to cut her hair too, but figured that getting Violet out of there was more important.

She marched down to the dungeons and freed Violet in a matter of seconds. By the time Lux woke up, Cheryl's eyes had turned back to normal and she and Violet were long gone.

“I'm so sorry I let them take you! I shouldn't have left you alone!”, Cheryl exclaimed when they were far away enough and hugged Violet tightly.

“Don't worry about it, I'm tougher than I look...”, Violet smiled weakly and hugged her back. “I'm more worried about what happened to your hair.”, she frowned, letting go.

Cheryl's face fell. “Don't sweat it. I had it coming.”, she lied. “Getting on Lux's nerves so much... It was never food for anyone's health.”, she sighed. “I'm just glad you're okay.”

“That makes two of us...”, Violet laughed awkwardly.

“Let's go; I want to be as far from this place as possible. We have a long trip ahead of us...”, her guardian sighed. Violet nodded as they walked away, leaving that cursed village behind.

°~*~°

Caroline and Crystal had come up with the best plan ever, only it wasn't exactly what Crystal had hoped it would be.

It turned out that Tristan knew the palace way better than Caroline did and Andy knew the guard shifts by heart, so they would be needing their help too. Margaret would also bee needed, as she knew better than anyone what Crystal would be needing on her trip.

“I'll go get them all. You'll get lost trying to find their rooms. Just go back to yours and I'll take care of it.”, Caroline told her.

“But--”, Crystal tried to protest.

“Go to your room before I change my mind and decide to tell dad.”, Caroline glared at her.

Crystal gasped. “You wouldn't!”

“Let's not get into the matter of what I would and wouldn't do. It tires me.”, her sister sighed.

“Fine...”, Crystal grumbled. “I just hope we don't get caught.”

“We won't. Do you know how many times we've help Tristan get out?” , Caroline asked.

“No...”, Crystal shook her head.

“Neither does dad!”, Caroline cracked a smile.

“Huh... That's rare.”, Crystal smiled back.

“What?”, her sister's smile wavered a bit, but didn't disappear completely.

“You don't smile a lot. You should do it more often.”

“Oh!”, Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. “I guess I'll give it a try when dad's not around.”, she shrugged.

“What's up with him anyway?”

“Who? Dad?”, Caroline looked taken aback. “I don't know what you're talking about.”, she lied. Crystal could see that she wasn't telling the truth, but didn't want to push her. She had gotten her to open up a bit and this question was getting her walls back up. “Do you have any other questions, or is this interrogation over?”

“Just one more. You don't have to answer it.”

“I know I don't have to answer it. It's my right to keep my mouth shut.”, Caroline shrugged. Crystal raised an eyebrow. “Right. Sorry. Ask away!”

“Why does dad call you Carol when you obviously hate it?”, Crystal frowned. She didn't want to get into the matter called "dad", but she couldn't help herself.

“I- Mom used to call me that when I was little and before she... I- I was the one that found her. I was three years old when that happened.”, Caroline explained. “You know when you don't remember stuff from when you were little? Well, I remember every single detail of it, as if it happened a few seconds ago.”, she choked back a sob. “I guess he just calls me that to prove that even mom would be ashamed of me, just like he is. It's a reminder that I'm a failure.”, she shrugged eventually, but Crystal could see the tears glistening in her eyes.

“You're not a failure, Caroline! No one is! Everyone succeeds in something in their own way. So far, dad has only succeeded in being the worst father in the world. Don't let him get to you. Keep your head up and show him who's the boss.”, Crystal reassured her.

Caroline looked away. “Thanks... I needed that...”, she hit her lip.

“Can I hug you?”, Crystal asked. She had learned the bad way, that lots of people don't like hugs.

“No. We're not there yet.”, her sister shook her head.

“Okay.”, Crystal pursed her lips. There was an awkward silence for a couple moments. “I'm going to go to my room now...”, she smiled thinly.

“Yeah...”, Caroline agreed.

Soon after Crystal arrived to her room, Caroline arrived along with Tristan, Andy, Margaret and another girl that seemed to be her age.

“Um... Crystal, this is Faith. Faith, this is Crystal. We bumped into her somewhere in the corridors and she decided she wanted to help.”, Caroline looked to the ground.

“Nice to meet you!”, Crystal extended her arm.

“Nice to meet you too!”, Faith smiled.

“Alright. Now that we all know each other, we need to get down to business. Caroline explained most of the plan on the way here, but we're not done yet.”, Tristan interrupted. He glared at Crystal a bit.

“Right. We need to hurry. Andy, how long do we have until the next shift change?”, Caroline asked.

“Not much. About half an hour.”, he replied.

“Margaret, how long will it take you to pack up the essentials for Crystal?”, Caroline asked again.

“I've been doing this job for years, so it shouldn't take long. We'll make it on time for the shift change.”, Margaret smiled.

“Tristan, you know what route we're going to follow, right?”, she asked her brother, who nodded.

“Wait... What are we going to do?”, Faith asked pointing between Crystal and herself.

“Crystal will help your mom with the packing and you'll be going ahead as a distraction. No one will suspect you, because you're known for your sleepwalking, from the nights you helped out with getting Tristan out.”, Caroline smiled at her. Faith blushed but looked away.

“Right.”, she bit her lip. Margaret eyed them suspiciously for a second, but then started helping Crystal out with packing.

Soon, they were all heading out. Everything went according to plan, something that no one had expected, but they didn't want to jinx it, so they didn't mention it. It was like a quiet agreement and no one spoke of it.

They also stopped by at the stables so that Crystal could take Ash with her, because she would never leave him behind.

Tristan would also be the one to help Crystal get out of town.

“Hey, Tristan?”, she started once they got out of the palace.

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to apologise for leaving like this... I know it sounds selfish, but I miss Benny. He's the one that raised me and... He taught me everything I know. Horseriding? Check. Archery? Check. Proper tree-climbing? Double check.”, she explained. “And I miss my home... I'm no city girl or royal. Dad said so himself, I grew up a peasant and I know that I'm not changing anytime soon. It's not what you're born, it's what you grow up to be.”, she explained.

“No, Crystal... I'm the one being selfish, because I don't have the freedom to run away. You said it yourself, it's not what you're born, it's what you grow up to be. Well, you might be a peasant at heart, but I grew up in a palace. As much as I hate it, I'm trapped in this life...”, he frowned.

“Of course you're not! You can be whatever you want! Be yourself and don't listen to anyone trying to tell you otherwise. It's your life to live; yours. Not anyone else's.”, she reassured him.

“Thanks...”, he smiled as they reached the edge of town. "I guess this is goodbye for now.", he shrugged.

“Yeah... I hope we meet again soon. Not everyone has a twin like you.”, she laughed.

“You flatterer! Stop it...”, he joked.

“Hug?”, she reluctantly extended her arms. Tristan pulled her in a tight hug and bid her farewell.

And then she mounted Ash and rode away.