"Elyon! I didn't expect to see you here."

Elyon leans around the corner of the bookshelf. Meeting her friend's abashed expression, she resists the urge to roll her eyes. "I called you last night," she says, a thousand accusations in her tone. "Your mom said you were off with the other girls."

Panic colours Cornelia's cheeks as she stammers a response. "Oh! Um...we had to close a…" Think, Cornelia, she urges herself. Any excuse will do! "...there was this…Will's frog was sick."

"Her frog is a stuffed animal," Elyon deadpans.

"You know, it wasn't so much an illness as a washing machine accident!" Even as she quarrels with her best friend, attempting to come with excuses as her voice rises in panic, she cannot help but notice him.

Elyon turns away, pretending to stack books as Cornelia fidgets with the hem of her skirt. Every ounce of her strength goes into ignoring Caleb's presence, his energy, the feeling that always settles in her stomach with him in the room. . "Elyon, I'm actually here to talk to Caleb…" she says with a nervous laugh.

"Sure, what do I matter anyway?" Elyon says under her breath as she storms off.

A moment's silence passes before Cornelia meets his gaze. He shoves a pile of books to the side and faces her with a wary expression. There's something else in his face, too, chagrin or sympathy, something she simply can't place. "I'm sorry," she says, closing the gap between them.

"I'm sorry too," Caleb responds. He drinks in what could be his last view of her greedily. Her, the girl from his dreams. Her, on his mind always. Her, the girl with the power over earth. Her, her, her. "More than you'll ever know."

Suddenly, she springs into his arms. "You've been reading too much Propertius," she teases, wrapping her arms around Caleb's neck and resisting the urge to run her fingers through his dark hair.

"Do you remember any of it?" he asks tentatively, rubbing slow circles on her back. As he folds himself into her embrace, he wonders if her hair naturally smells of wild roses, or if the side effect comes with being the Guardian of earth. The scent is intoxicating.

"Nope," she says. "Just the park and the breeze." She breaks away from him, pacing with frustration. "Why can't we just remember?"

"Maybe the universe doesn't want us to?" Caleb offers, the only logical excuse he can come up with for the illogical dream world they share together. He scratches his neck, a nervous habit.

"Well, the universe sucks!"

He chuckles, forcing himself to look at Cornelia; her sun kissed hair and moon kissed skin, the way she holds herself with such ardour, the permanent pout of her lip and the lines in her forehead, the energetic glint in her eyes. He was going to lose it all. "Yeah, it really does."

"Hey, so our school is having this pretty lame parent's night thing later…" Alarm flashes across her features.

"You know you don't have to walk on eggshells around me, Cornelia." Caleb approaches her, every cell in his body aching to touch her again. "And anyway, I was pretty young when he died."

"I'm sorry!" she says sincerely. "Do you...remember what he was like?"

Caleb's eyes seem to glaze over with some faraway memory. He gazes out the window, watching as the people pass by. "He was kind and noble. He really cared about me and my mom, you know?" She nods with a sad smile. "He used to tell me some old fairytale every night before bed."

He looks into her eyes. He has never wanted to stay somewhere so desperately. Coward, he scolds himself.

"He was brave and strong. Basically, everything that I'm not," Caleb finishes with a morbid laugh.

"Since when are you not brave and strong?" He knows that she firmly believes this as he drowns in the depths of her ocean eyes. He can see himself taking her hands, finally telling her the truth. It would be so easy. They would devise a plan together, and overcome these insurmountable obstacles. He would be on her side, running with the rebels and the Guardians. He could be everything she needed, and he would die before he let anything happen to her.

Caleb sees his mother, feels the smart of her hand on his face. He thinks of how she could hurt them, and rationalises his cowardice in this way, pushing away the guilt and remembering his duty to his mother, to Phobos, to Meridian. No, he wants to say. I am not brave, and I am not strong.

"I've got work to do." He turns his back on Cornelia for the final time.

"Ok," she says, more a question than a statement. "See you later?"

Caleb gives a stiff nod and tries to swallow the tightness in his throat.


"All this family talk is awful," Elyon groans. She watches the parents of her fellow students, most of whom she will never see again, shuffle around the school hall. They stifle yawns, tucking stray hairs behind their children's' faces as they groan and swat their hands away.

"Been there," he agrees. And then he remembers. "I mean, why?"

"My folks refuse to tell me anything! They're acting so secretive and weird. It's like I don't even have a family."

Caleb lets himself indulge in the thought that her parents are heartless abusers, and that he's doing her a favour by taking her to Phobos. Then his conscience resurfaces, and he sighs heavily. He knows what he must do. "Elyon, there's something I've wanted to tell you for some time now."

Caleb and Elyon reach the top of the stairs, the rain battering the windows in a staccato rhythm. Figures, he grumbles to himself. Best get this over and done with. "Those people have been lying to you," he tells her.

"Those...people?" she asks, incredulous. "What are you talking about?"

"Your friends, and your family." He is unable to meet her eyes, but he tries to sound as sincere as possible, reminding himself that he isn't exactly deceiving her. "I did some research; city records. Everyone born in Heatherfield twelve years ago, on March 13th."

"My birthday. So?" she queries, scanning the papers Caleb hands to her. "I'm not on here! But I know I was born on that day."

"You were," he tells her, "but not here on Earth."

"What are you saying?" Elyon asks, fear and dread clouding her expression. "Why would my parents lie to me?"

"They lied about who you are, and they lied about what they are," Caleb says, making sure to inject the right amount of regret and sadness into his tone.

As if on cue, Caleb hears Eleanor Brown's face. "Elyon, honey?" she calls, hands laced with her husband's as they search for her.

He reaches into his pocket for the Star of Threbe.

Elyon shrieks in horror when their true forms are revealed to her for the first time. As Caleb holds the stone above her parents, they are no longer human, with splotchy, grey-green skin. Their ears are abnormally pointy, their limbs unnatural; they are vile and disgusting, something from their daughter's worst nightmares.

"What are you?" Elyon cries in horror. She feels like her lungs are constricting. Backing away from them, the walls seem to close in around her as their forms return to human.

"Elyon, we brought you here to save your life," her mother insists.

"You must understand," her father says, "you needed protection from your brother!"

"I have a brother?" She retreats backwards in terror.

"Honey, you know we love you!"

They took her away from her home, Caleb has to remind himself. She is meant to be on Meridian. "Elyon, it's not safe for you here. We must leave," he says, offering her his hand.

"Don't listen to him!"

Tears well in Elyon's eyes, and she runs as far as her legs can carry her.


"It isn't...it's not true," she cries. "It...it can't be!"

Drops of rain drum against Elyon's skin, soaking her hair. She does not care; she is numb, her senses dulled as the pieces of her life begin to click into place.

"Don't you see how this explains everything?" Caleb seems to vocalise her thoughts. "You were born in Meridian, a wonderful kingdom far from here."

"It's not possible."

"I can't lie to Meridian's rightful princess," he says.

"What?" she shrieks. "This morning I was a teenager with no friends, now I'm a princess?"

"In Meridian you'll have real friends," Caleb assures her, grasping her shoulders, "and a real family. You have a brother who misses you very much. It's time for you to go home."

Caleb can feel her presence before he hears her broken voice.

"Caleb?" Cornelia asks. "What are you doing?"

"Elyon, don't believe in anything he says!" Will calls. Her red hair billows around her like a storm cloud, and he sees her hand twitch to reach for the Heart.

Well, there's no going back now, Caleb thinks. Guilt constricts in his chest like a vise as he turns to Elyon. "Your so-called friends have known about this all along."

"What?" Her face seems to contort in pain, and Caleb's heart falters.

"They've kept you from knowing who you really are," he says.

Elyon turns to face her friends; Will, Irma, Taranee, Reva, Hay Lin, and...Cornelia. Her best friend. "When were you going to tell me?" she spits through her teeth.

"I wanted to!" she cries. "Elyon, no matter what he's told you, he's…" Cornelia turns to the boy from her dreams, a mix of doubt and devastation painting her features, her eyes smarting with tears.

"You've been lying to me all this time!" Elyon breathes. "Why shouldn't I go to this Meridian? At least they're honest there."

"You don't know what you're saying!" Cornelia exclaims.

"Oh that's right," Elyon says, "I never know anything! It's Cornelia who always has the special secrets."

Caleb swallows the guilt like broken glass, lacerating his throat. "Come, princess," he says, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"No, you don't!"

The rebel leader springs into action, charging at him, but Caleb manages to pin her down in a matter of seconds; the time it takes for Will to raise the crystal and transform the Guardians. They hover with new bodies on fluttering wings as Elyon watches, her jaw dropping in sheer terror.

"What are you?" she cries, horrified, as they attack Caleb.

It all happens too fast. Taranee uses her fire powers to break Reva and Caleb up, while Cornelia causes the earth to quake, wrapping vines around the boy trying to take her best friend. The Guardians and the rebel leader encircle him, and Caleb silently prays that they will incapacitate him and tell the princess the truth.

"Stop, what are you doing?" Elyon calls.

Caleb breaks out of the vines with some effort, but Reva darts after him, forcing him to the ground and pinning his arms behind his back.

"He's defenseless!" Elyon exclaims. "Stop it!"

Caleb struggles under Reva's grip, gasping for air. "Elyon, you can keep them away," he shouts. "You know how!"

The princess of Meridian raises her hand. With a blinding flash of light, she smashes windows, bends streetlights, causes the concrete to quake, overturns cars, explodes fire hydrants, and immobilises Reva and the Guardians.

"What was that?" Elyon asks, petrified. "Caleb, what did I do?"

He is on his feet in an instant, without a backward glance. "I'll tell you everything," he assures her, "but we have to go now!"

Caleb takes Elyon's hand and leads her to a particular spot in the bookshop, the one that he has memorised. "Now is the time, princess," Caleb says solemnly. "Do you want to stay here, or are you ready to go to your kingdom? To cross to Meridian, it must be your own free will."

"I don't know!" Caleb sees countless emotions flash across her face - anticipation, rage, courage, fear, indignation, surprise - and his heart falls into his stomach when the princess chooses bravery.

"I'm ready."


a/n: yikes. I dont think i'd ever be satisfied with this chapter no matter how long i spend on it, so here we are! i really wish i didnt have to do this to our loves but hey, we'd have no plot otherwise. i have seen this coming since day one, and still this chapter broke. my. heart. welp

i feel like the next few chapters are gonna be a bit all over the place; ive had to move some plot points around for the purpose of this story, nothing too major, but im gonna try make it the least amount of messy as i can. hope you guys enjoyed this nonetheless!

also, a few parish announcements: i've written a handful more w.i.t.c.h fics recently that you can check out, both of which are around 1k words in total so manageable enough, and quite elyon-centric. id love if you guys would take a look, you may find something you like!

hope this chapter wasnt too heartbreaking, and thank you so so much for all the reviews. you guys make my heart happy!

a whole lotta love,

A

xxxx