Hey guys, I know it's been like 5 months and I'm really sorry for that. And it'll probably be a while before I update again. While i was working on this chapter i planned out the rest of the story too and I've decided to finish the whole story before I start putting more chapters up.

Anyway R&R please.


Alex

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"Are you ready?" she asked her brother, her eyes narrowing and the corners of her mouth curling downwards as she watched him for any signs of hesitation. Luckily he met her challenge and she could see just how determined he was by the fire in his eyes. They were about to teleport to the Kloden Wildwoods to begin their mission. The objective, to capture and bring back Mason and Juliet. Alex had devised a tracking spell with the help of Justin and she had, just moments ago, received the required spell to turn the two back.

"Okay then, let's go," she announced. She then started waving her wand with the intention of teleporting but a loud "Wait!" made her stop.

A disheveled Master Eraqus orbed into the room.

"Master Eraqus, what's wrong?" Justin asked while she remained silent, mocking Eraqus' appearance deep inside the caverns of her mind. It may have seemed cruel to anyone who knew what she was thinking, but really, the man looked like a hobo.

"I was attacked by some dark force," he said. "I was talking to Crumbs after Alex left and he attacked me. He was an impersonator, he revealed himself after he screwed up, as you young ones say, Crumbs' character."

"You're an all powerful Chosen," Alex deadpanned. "Are you seriously telling me that you couldn't fight him off?"

"I do not know," Eraqus stated solemnly. "I didn't stick around to find out. The man was using a very powerful glamour, meaning that he must have been quite capable in the field of magic. Or he was working for someone with great strength."

Alex rolled her eyes as she felt a headache coming on. This was just terrific! They were just about to rescue their partners and now they had to be on the lookout for some powerful evil psycho's.

"Miss Russo, I believe this evil is after you and your family. He seemed to want revenge. And oddly enough he was ranting about beards when I escaped."

Alex scoffed, not the least bit worried. She could deal with a psycho maniac wizard; what she couldn't deal with though, was a second longer away from her Mason. This was a girl with a mission, a love to fight for and nothing would stop her from getting what she wanted – and she wanted Mason.

"Beards?" Justin asked after a moment's silence, snapping Alex out of her determined thoughts. "That sounds familiar."

At that precise moment Alex's eyes widened, almost comically, as she realized the menace's identity; "Ronald Longcape Junior!" she exclaimed in surprise. She couldn't believe that the nasty little freak that pretended to love her, only to reveal himself to be a double crossing bastard! It filled her with ire just thinking about it.

"How did he get his powers back, or make them that powerful? I remember him being a creepy, slimy weasel that had to use you to do any serious magic."

"I don't even care!" the sorceress screamed. "I'll take the bastard down anyway!"

There was no way she would let that menace walk free, and as they said; hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – and if you think that's bad try a Wizard scorned. Ronald was about to endure a pain like no other in his god forsaken life.

But first, she had a wolf to save

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"Alex?" Justin's voice permeated the thick canopy of the Kloden Wildwood. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," she replied in a raspy voice, her throat as dry as sand paper from lack of use. The siblings had been silent as they worked their way up the forest, looking for Mason and Juliet. Alex's tracking spell wasn't working as well as they had hoped and so Mason could be anywhere in or beyond the forest.

"This is going to take forever! Isn't there another way to track them?"

"Why are you asking me?" Alex demanded.

"You're the chosen one here, aren't you?" he responded in quiet, almost mourning, voice that sounded nothing like the overbearing, cocky brother she had once known and grudgingly come to love.

Alex didn't know what she was expecting but her brother's response really startled her. "What is up with you?" She demanded again, this time lacking the usual bark in her voice. "I know I'm more powerful and I'm all serious now but you're still the smart one," Alex scoffed, feeling sick at his sudden insecurities. She did not do feelings and the only times that she did were either with Mason or by miracle, like the last heart to heart she had with Justin.

Justin stayed silent for a few moments, poker face on and lips stretched into a grim horizontal line, but his eyes; his eyes were full of so many emotions that none were decipherable. Eventually he nodded and smiled at his sister.

"Thanks," he said. "I really needed that."

"No problem," she replied. "You know how much I love to knock you down a peg. Except in this case I ended up lifting you up one inst-" Alex paused as she saw that her brother was no longer paying attention to her and instead had his eyes closed and seemed to be deep in thought. Alex raised her hand meaning to put it on his shoulder as a supportive gesture, but was cut off by the opening of his eyes.

"I know how to track them down."

Justin

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Despite the seriousness of the situation, Justin had to admit the shocked look on his sisters face was absolutely priceless.

"Already?"

The elder Russo nodded before turning around and kneeling down and picking up a small blue flower.

"Alex," he said. "Do you know what's in this flower?"

"Uh, plant sap or goo or whatever you call it," she answered, which was more than Justin expected after seeing the disinterested look on her face.

"Um, no that's no it; but that's still more than I expected from you so good job," Justin told his sister, who by the look on her face was clearly not impressed. Impatience was always one of his sister's biggest faults so naturally she just wanted him to get to the point. And if he didn't, well he should probably expect to be hung from another pole.

"Anyway," he continued, "this flower like all living things contains life essence or mana – you know that cliched aspect of magic they have in video games. It's one of the only things mortals got right about us."

I remember reading about a way to track something using it's mana. Problem is, mana magic is really complicated and only a few wizards can get the hang of it."

Disappointment flooded his sister's face, even as she tried to mask it with a look of nonchalance.

"Well," she said finally, "we'll just have to try it anyway. Hopefully one of us will be able to do what needs to be done."

Surprised at his sisters optimism, Justin nodded and began explaining what had to be done.

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"Okay, you try it first," Justin instructed. It was half an hour later and Alex had finally grasped the concept of what they were about to do.

"Okay," she replied. "Just give me a moment to focus."

Alex took a couple of deep breaths before closing her eyes and sitting down on the floor with her legs crossed. "Who first?" she asked.

"Juliet - if you don't mind, that is," Justin replied giving Alex a necklace that once belonged to Juliet.

Justin watched his sister take hold the necklace in between her hands before she went still for a few minutes. Eventually, the girl sighed and opened her eyes, the look in her eyes telling Justin all he needed to know.

Alex handed him the necklace, silently communicating her apologies. Justin just smiled reassuringly and repeated the steps that his sister did. First, Justin sat down cross legged before relaxing his body and mind. The wizard then focused his energies to tap into the 'frequency' of the mana around him. He gasped when he finally found it and could feel all the mana around him. The forest was just filled with life! He could feel everything around him, from the smallest ant, to the largest tree; and he could even feel his own sister who was making faces behind his back.

Justin concentrated again as he tried to get the second part of this task done. Tapping into the mana was relatively easy but controlling it was incredibly hard.

A headache was coming on, Justin could feel it throbbing distantly in the back of his head. Beads of sweat were also starting to form. He didn't know if he could do this much longer, the mental power needed was really taking its toll on him, but he was so close – to give up now would be absolutely obtuse.

He was so close. He could almost feel the mana start to respond and…success!

Alex

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It worked! Alex could barely suppress the excitement threatening to leak out of her as she saw her brother start to float. The sight was somewhat amusing and reminded her of those Asian mystics that meditated and floated while doing so. More so, the necklace and Justin's hands were glowing green, as were his eyes.

Minutes later, he descended again, his eyes flickering back to normal before all signs of magic disappeared.

"I think I know where she is," he said whilst an ear to ear grin overtook his face.

Alex smiled. Seeing Justin display such happiness, made her feel happy in turn. The fact that Juliet was her friend also contributed to her enthusiasm.

Justin laughed in delight. "You'll never guess where she is!" he exclaimed.

"Where," asked Alex?

Justin smirked and pretended to think. "Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't I tell you to guess?"

"You're in an awfully good mood," noted Alex. "Okay, let me guess, she's near our house?" A shake of his head. "In the Wizard World?" Wrong again. "Okay I give up! Tell me!"

"Right above us," he said. Alex's eyes widened as she frantically searched the canopy of the forest with her eyes. Nothing was there, however. Sending Justin a curious look, Alex called out as loud as she could. "Juliet, get your ass down here!"

"What do you want?" asked a tired old voice that was unmistakably feminine and familiar.

Alex rolled her eyes. Juliet must have lost many IQ points if she couldn't figure out what the duo wanted. "We want you to get down here."

"Very well," replied Juliet, after a few seconds of silence. Moments passed before a small rustling was heard and a bat flew down from the canopy of the Wildwood. Juliet landed a few feet away from them and then transformed into her human form, which was – to say the least – absolutely hideous. Her face was wrinkled and looked like it might fall of at any minute; her hair had lost its colour and appeared to contain at least a million species of lice and other dubious creatures.

As bad as her outer appearance was, Juliet's eyes were the worst of her features as they revealed all the sorrow she held within her heart.

"Why are you here?" Juliet demanded. Her voice however was lacking any force due to its raspy quality. "You shouldn't be here," she continued, not allowing them to answer. "I don't want you here. You shouldn't even be seeing me, I'm hideous!"

"Juliet, with all due respect, shut up!" Alex replied. "I know you don't want Justin to see you looking like a wrinkly old hag but I think he can make that decision for himself."

Justin nodded, stepping closer to Juliet and grabbing her hand – though Alex didn't know how he could stand to touch it. "I love you Juliet and no force on this planet is going to stop me from being with you. I don't care if you're a thousand years old, you're still the same Juliet I fell in love with. Besides," Justin let out a small smirk, "you're not staying that way for long."

Juliet had only a moment to look confused before Alex took out her wand and started chanting.

"In this place and in this hour,

I call upon the Chosen's power

To restore a life impaired by hate,

Of two opposing races set apart by fate."

With the final syllable uttered, a flash of light emitted from Alex's wand and there, standing in all her youthful glory was Juliet.