a/n: trigger warning for verbal abuse, and one instance of physical violence in this chapter. nothing too graphic, promise!
"And Caleb has graced us with his presence."
The words of the prince interrupt his reverie. His thoughts had been racing, tripping over themselves and reaching worrying conclusions since he crossed the Veil earlier that evening. It seemed that the faces of Meridian's people would forever be embedded behind his eyelids. It had never occurred to Caleb that those protesting Phobos' rule may have legitimate grounds to do so. He had always believed that the other Meridianites shared the same simple, sheltered, albeit unfulfilling lifestyle he lived. Crossing a portal to the Veil, however, Caleb saw a glimpse of the truth for the first time in his life.
It was only a short walk to the palace, but countless people roamed the narrow streets; they begged him for food or money with desperate, bloodshot eyes, their bones protruding from their grey skin at unnatural angles. His heart faltered at the sight of skeletal families, with children who had only ever known poverty. Every face he passed was unsmiling and sickly. He had grown accustomed to Earth's vivid blue sky, but now Meridian's heavy clouds seemed dark and sombre.
Nothing could ever be the same, not now.
"I'm sorry, Prince Phobos." He kneels in front of the supposed oppressor of these people with a heavy feeling of powerlessness. Do the rebels have a point, after all? he wonders. "The Guardians close the portals frequently, and I don't have many chances to cross the Veil."
"Nevermind your incompetence," he snaps, his lips curling upward in a snarl. "Is my sister prepared to come to Meridian or not?"
Panic lances through him like a sharp blade. "Not quite yet, your grace," he stammers, "but soon, certainly."
"I need not remind you that you have failed me many times before," Phobos says through his teeth. "What makes you so sure I should trust your capabilities?
A bead of sweat rolls down Caleb's back, and he attempt to lists everything he knows about the girl without revealing his...personal involvement in the mission. "Your sister's name is Elyon Brown. She is close friends with the Guardians, particularly the one who controls earth. She attends Sheffield Institute, and lives with her…" he weighs his words carefully, settling on, "adoptive parents, Thomas and Eleanor Brown. I have obtained residence in a bookshop in her home town of Heatherfield, which she visits frequently."
"That is not enough!" The prince rises from his throne, his body beginning to quiver with rage. "How long will it take for her to be convinced of her position here?"
"A few days at most, my prince," Caleb lies. "As of late, her faith in her friends is shaken; the princess has all the more reason to desire an...alternative." He gulps. Is it wrong to manipulate her, even if she was stolen from her rightful home? he wonders with a pang of guilt. Doubts run through his mind even as the prince appraises him.
Phobos sinks down to his throne once more, anger dissipating. "The time grows short," he says. "We must prepare for her transfer now. It is time for the ceremony of the amalgamation to begin to weaken my sister's resistance." The prince levels his expectant gaze on Caleb.
"Representations of the princess." He offers a slowly deflating balloon, a hairbrush, and a completed math quiz. "Her mind, body, and spirit."
"Do not fail me," Phobos warns a final time, before giving him a dismissive nod. "Your mother will see you in the grand dining hall before your departure."
"Hello, mother."
Silence greets Caleb as he closes the door behind him. The Mage's back is turned, and he takes tentative footsteps in her direction. "Mother?"
"I have done everything within my power to…" she cuts off suddenly, seething with rage. "I give you life, I feed and clothe you, I educate you, I connect you with some of the most powerful people in Meridian. And this is how you repay me, by failing a simple task for the ruler of our world?"
Caleb resists the urge to sigh. "Mother, I-"
"Listen to me," she snaps. Still, she does not turn to him, gripping the railing as her knuckles whiten. "You will not fail me, as you have done countless times before. You will bring this girl back to her brother, and then you will return home and continue to serve Prince Phobos as if your life is worth anything."
Caleb does not expect understanding from his mother, but there's ice cutting his gut and guilt weighing heavy in his heart; he feels he has no choice but to vocalise this feeling, or risk it eating him alive. He takes a shaky breath to steady himself before speaking. "Mother," he says fearfully, "what if I don't want to?"
Finally, the Mage turns to face him. Her eyes bulge out of her head. "What you want does not matter. What I say matters, and you will do as I say as if your life depends on it." Her threat does not go unnoticed, but Caleb is more afraid of what this guilt will do to him than what his mother ever could.
"You're not listening to me!" he exclaims, trying to keep a level head. "I know Elyon, and she doesn't deserve to be manipulated into coming here. And the Guardians are good people. All they want is to keep their world safe."
"The Guardians!" she cries. "How dare you speak to me in such a tone! What would you know about being a Guardian?"
"The Guardians simply want peace, and they want to help people!" He thinks of the starving children in Meridian's streets who have been begging strangers from the moment they can speak, and of those who are trying to help. Phobos' rule couldn't possible be justified.
"I…." the Mage begins, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, like a fish. She shakes whatever thought occurs to her away; she knows what she has to do. "You have fallen in love with her, haven't you?" She spits the word 'love' like a disease, a curse.
"What?" Caleb's eyes narrow at his mother.
"The earth girl with the blonde hair?" Her tone is sinister, mocking, but Caleb can only notice the words and not the inflection behind them.
He recoils from her in shock. "Mother...did you cross the Veil?"
"You do love her!" she laughs menacingly. The Mage begins to circle him, a shark appraising her prey. "You are just like your father. Weak, pathetic, preoccupied with notions of love and kindness…"
"Did you cross the Veil?" Caleb speaks through his teeth.
"Of course I had to come to Earth to assess your progress. You couldn't possibly be competent enough to perform your duty unaided!" she derides, before composing herself. The Mage levels a cool gaze on her son. "Caleb, if you become entangled with these Earthlings, there will be dire consequences for you. Do you understand?"
"They're good people!" he blurts out, too hotheaded, too unthinking, too stupid. The words that escape his mouth next will haunt him until his dying breath. "Isn't that more than we can say for Phobos?"
Caleb rocks back on his feet when the flat of her palm stings his cheek.
"You will do your duty and bring the princess back, whether you like it or not!" she roars. "Do not forget that I brought you into this world, and I can just as easily take you out of it."
"You're mad at me," she says to him when they sit together on the park bench.
"No kidding," he grumbles, folding his arms.
The wind shakes her golden hair, and he is mesmerised by the smell of roses. "You know, it sucks that we never remember these dreams."
He fixes her with his gaze, sea green eyes meeting arctic blue. "So you're not going to tell me you're a Guardian?" he asks.
"And you're not going to tell me that you're taking my best friend to the prince of evil?" she retorts.
"Hey, I don't know that he's the prince of evil!" he protests.
"Real Caleb doesn't, but dream Caleb does," she says.
"And we've already established that there's a disconnect between the two." They share a pregnant silence for an indeterminate amount of time.
And then their hands touch. Caleb curses under his breath, begins to smile.
"What?"
"I really can't stay mad at you," he replies, a smile in his voice.
Cornelia's face contorts in anger. "Could you try?" Her voice drips with sarcasm. "I'm still mad at you."
"I know you are." He entwines his fingers with hers one by one, his grin growing wider with each touch. "What do we do now?"
"Caleb, do you think maybe we're taking things too fast?"
"It's hard not to," he says with a sheepish smile. "When I'm dreaming, I know everything about you."
"And I know everything about you," she agrees. "But soon we're going to wake up, and all we'll remember is how we feel."
"Well then, maybe we should try to hold on to something more important?" he answers.
The unspoken words, the ones that will change things, finally leave their mouths. They repeat the same mantra to each other over and over; she is sure she will remember these words when she rises. "Caleb is taking Elyon to Phobos, Caleb is taking Elyon to Phobos, Caleb is taking Elyon to Phobos…"
When Cornelia wakes, all she takes from her dreams is forgiveness.
a/n: hello all! firstly, i am sorry phobos and nerissa are both evil as hell. i wish i could write a loving mother for caleb like he deserves, but alas we would then have no plot. i hope you guys liked my characterisation of our Big Baddies in this chapter anyway. much kudos to those of you who guessed that nerissa crossed the veil to spy on caleb and cornelia!
i also decided to clarify a little more on the whole dream stuff here, as i don't want their unconscious interactions to just be some vague, deus-ex-machina plot device with no real substance or rules to it. let me know what you guys think via reviews, private messages, smoke signals, carrier pigeons, etc.
big love,
A xxx