Chapter Eleven

"So, it's a dance floor?" Caleb hesitantly asked Daria.

Daria nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Caleb blushed, just slightly. "Well, I might have a small crush on your older sister."

Daria looked over at Morgan, who was talking to Lydia a ways away. Caleb quickly followed her gaze, but his eyes stayed on the redhead longer. "Isn't she beautiful?" he sighed.

Daria shot him a glance that showed she was slightly disturbed. "Okay, TMI, dude."

Caleb grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Daria said, elbowing Caleb slightly in the ribs. "Why don't you ask her to dance?"

"Well, you should've seen Morgan the last time she sensed someone was trying to hit on her."

Daria glanced back at her older sister. "I won't bother asking what happened."

Caleb nodded gratefully. "Thanks. I'd prefer not to recount the story."

"But you should still ask her. My sister isn't cold and heartless, so she probably wouldn't treat a friend of her's a rotten way. Also, no one said it had to be one of those soft, romancy songs. Morgan would probably enjoy dancing to pop or rock music."

"Well, I'd prefer the 'romancy' music, but it would be great just to dance with her," Caleb admitted. "I guess I should just go ask now."

"You go, boy!" Daria slapped Caleb on the back as he walked towards the redhead.

Morgan turned around when Caleb arrived. "Hey, Caleb. What's up?"

Caleb rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, um, I was wondering, if, um, you'd like to dance with me?"

"You know, why not?" Morgan smiled, taking Caleb's hand which was held out.

Caleb blushed slightly and led her to the floor. Daria smirked, waved her hand, and a song came on.

Lydia squealed. "I love this song!"

"What song is it?" Caylie asked.

"You Found Me, by Kelly Clarkson," Lydia replied, beginning to hum along.

As the soft music played, Caleb and Morgan danced a waltz. Caleb's cheeks were slightly tinged pink, and Lydia was surprised to see Morgan was blushing also. Then came the familiar lyrics.

"I'd become comfortably numb until you opened up my eyes."

The music picked up tempo, thus speeding up the waltz.

"You found me, when no one else was looking. How did you know just where I would be?"

Daria smiled, seeing a romance bloom between her sister and friend.

"The ups and the downs and you still didn't leave. I guess that you saw what nobody could see, you found me."

Caylie smirked, then blushed as Nico held out his hand to her. She took it, and Nico led her to the dance floor next to Caleb and Morgan. The two couples danced as the song continued.

"You're by my side, now everything's fine. I can't believe you found me, when no one else was looking, how did you know just where I would be?"

Lydia cheered as her counterpart and best friend danced.

As the chorus continued, Firestar and Sandstorm began dancing. Lightpelt and Ivyclaw quickly followed. When the bridge of the song began, Jace walked up to Lydia and held out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

Lydia blushed. "Sure." The two kids walked onto the dance floor and tried following everyone else, quickly figuring out the steps.

"And I was hiding, 'till you came along, and showed me where I belong."

Once the music got soft again, Lydia began singing along quietly. "You found me, when no one else was looking, how did you know." She stopped as the song rose loud again.

"How did you know? You found me, when no one else was looking. How did you know just where I would be?"

Jace looked at her as they danced. "You're a great singer," he said softly, causing Lydia to blush.

"Thanks," she replied, looking at her feet.

"The good and the bad, and the things in between. You found me."

All the couples slowed down as the song ended.

"You found me."

Everyone who wasn't dancing cheered and clapped, causing some of the kids to blush, and some of them to bow. Lydia did both, and Jace chuckled.

Daria walked up to Caleb, who looked lost in heaven. "How was it?"

"Wonderful," came the reply.

"You know, you seem really soft next to my sis."

"She is the toughest girl I've ever seen," Caleb admitted. "That might be part of why I fell for her."

Daria smirked. "You have to tell Morgan how you feel."

Caleb looked over at her, a shocked expression on his face. "Are you kidding me?"

Daria shook her head. "No, I'm serious. But if it helps, I could find out if Morgan feels the same way about you."

Caleb shook his head, also. "I want to find out straight from Morgan herself."

Daria nodded in understanding. "Okay, I suppose that's good."

Just then, Morgan walked up to them.

Daria smirked. "I'll leave you two alone," she said, suddenly disappearing in a cloud of blue magic.

"Where did Daria go?" Morgan asked, finally in front of Caleb.

Caleb shrugged. "I don't know. All she said was that she had something to do she had just remembered about."

Morgan smirked and shook her head. "Just like Daria. Always forgetting until the last minute." Caleb smiled, and Morgan continued. "However, I have to admit that I can be that way at times. It must be a family tribute."

She and Caleb chuckled for a minute. "It's funny, I was gonna ask her if she could leave so it would just be the two of us anyway," Morgan admitted, continuing.

Caleb blushed. "Really?"

Morgan nodded. "Yeah, I mean, we're best friends. All best friends need some alone time, just the two of them. That's how those long lasting bonds are formed."

Caleb's countenance fell just a tiny bit. "Oh, okay." They sat awkwardly for a minute, then Caleb spoke up again. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Ummm," Morgan thought for a minute. "You can answer this if you want, but you don't have to. Do you have a crush?"

Caleb blinked. "Yes, I do. Do I have to name who I have a crush on?"

Morgan laughed and shook her head. "No, I was just wondering."

"Do you have a crush?" Caleb asked, his spirit rising.

Morgan blushed and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Caleb's face fell. "Oh."

"But I don't think he feels the same way," Morgan continued. "We're deep in the friend zone, and I don't want to blow our friendship by telling him that I have a crush on him. He could hate me."

Caleb stared at her. "Well, maybe he feels the same way about you." He didn't want Morgan to get with someone else, but he also didn't want his friend to feel miserable. "I know that if one of my friends told me they had a crush on me that I'd be fine with it, whether I felt the same way or not."

Morgan turned to him, a confused look on her face. "Really?"

Caleb nodded. "Yeah, really."

Morgan opened her mouth to talk more, but the two teens suddenly saw a fight break out between Dayleaf and Ivyclaw. Morgan stood up. "Sorry, Caleb. We'll have to end this conversation now."

She vanished in a purple cloud, then reappeared in between the former cats. "Alright, break it up."

Daria walked up to Caleb. "How'd it go?"

Caleb sighed and put his head in his hands. "She has a crush on someone."

Daria looked at him, obviously bewildered. "Did she give any more explanation than that?"

"Well, she did say that she was deep in the friend zone with him and didn't want to ruin their friendship."

Daria gave him a look of exasperation. "Did it not once cross your mind that she might have been saying she had a crush on you?"

Caleb gave her a confused look. "No, it didn't cross my mind."

Daria facepalmed. "I'm living a cliché romance story," she muttered.

Caleb stood up and threw his hands up in the air. "Listen, sorry! I can't help it, and if you don't like it just keep your nose out of my business!"

Daria smirked. "Mm-hmm, I knew that somewhere in you was your tough part. Sorry, I just wanted to see what was needed to make you angry. I was trying to push the right buttons to figure out what makes you tick. Apparently that general area related to something negative about you and Morgan is what causes it."

Daria paused, taking a deep breath in, then continuing. "You really do like her."

Morgan walked over to them, the fight broken up. "Alright, Daria. You bugging Caleb?"

Daria smiled sheepishly at her older half-sister. "Sorry, I was performing a test."

"By making someone mad?" Morgan asked rhetorically, shaking her head.

"You really are my sister." Daria smiled, and Morgan continued.

"Actually, this time it's not a good thing. You and I both do something bad then say it's for a good reason. We must both get it from Dad."

A whooshing noise suddenly appeared, and Caylie groaned, while Lydia squealed. "I know what that sound means."

At the same time, Lydia said, "I wonder who it's gonna be."

As everyone braced themselves, a huge portal opened up and out of it stepped three women and three men. The first woman had dark brown hair that was tied up in a braid over her shoulder. She had a bow slung over her shoulder, and she had gray eyes.

The second was a woman with a lot of makeup over her eyes in the shape of butterflies. She had a butterfly decoration in her hair, and she seemed to be wearing butterflies for a dress. She had gray eyes that started to fade to hazel.

One of the men had long, dirty blonde hair and gray eyes. He was holding a huge bottle of alcohol, chugging down giant gulps occasionally.

Another man had light brown hair and blue eyes, and he was next to the final man, who had dark brown hair and gray eyes.

The final woman looked a bit more like a teenager, and she had dark brown hair tied back in a French braid, and hazel eyes.

Upon seeing the latter female, Nico looked up from where he was sitting next to Caylie, and Katie looked up also.

They ran up to her. "Hi, Anna!" Katie said, hugging the female called Anna.

"What are you doing here?" Nico asked.

Anna shrugged. "I dunno really. I was hanging out with Jason, Leo, and Hazel, we were trying to get Frank out of his cabin, I saw the portal, and decided to take a look, and then someone pushed me in. Then I ended up here, but where is 'here'?"

"What about you guys?" Morgan asked, looking at Katniss for an answer.

"We were just walking Effie back to the train station, and we fell through a hole." Caylie sighed, and Lydia elbowed her in the ribs, although it was more rather ankled her in the ribs, as Lydia was still sitting on the log.

Nico and Katie shrugged, turning to Morgan for an answer. She replied sounding somewhat unsure. "Well, you are in another universe. The only problem is that I can't figure out what universe it is. I've visited hundreds of parallel universes, and I don't recognize this one."

Anna looked at her in curiosity. "Who are you?" She looked around her surroundings at everyone else. "Who are all these people?"

"I should be asking you that," Morgan retorted. "I'm not about to tell a complete stranger my life story."

Anna shot her a confused look. "Well, my name is Anna..."

"Yes, yes, I know that," Morgan interrupted, obviously losing patience. "I mean, how do Katie and Nico know you."

"So, basically, you're asking about my family tree."

"You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine," Morgan stated simply.

"Alright," Anna said. "I'm Katie's and Nico's sister."

"So you're a daughter of Hades?"

Anna nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"Then you're pretty powerful," Morgan observed.

Anna nodded again. "Yes, but Katie is the most powerful. Now, what about your family?"

"Have you heard of Rumplestiltsken?" Anna slowly nodded her head.

"Wasn't he the guy who wove gold out of hay?" Morgan nodded, while Rumple rolled his eyes at her explanation of what he did.

"Yeah, he's my dad." Anna nodded, and looked at Rumple, not knowing that she'd kind of insulted him.

Daria, not wanting to be left out, spoke up also. "He's my father also. Morgan and I are half-sisters."

"Wow," Anna said. "You must be really powerful, huh?"

Morgan and Daria nodded.

"But Morgan is a lot more powerful than I am," Daria admitted.

Morgan countered her sister. "Actually, you're just about as powerful as I am. You just need more practice."

Lydia spoke up, squealing slightly. "Oh my gosh! It's Katniss, Peeta, Effie, Haymitch, and Gale!"

"With a relative of Nico's thrown in," Caylie said, immediately regretting it, as Lydia smirked at her for specifying Nico in the sentence.

"How do you know our names?" Gale asked, suspicion in his tone.

"You're famous!" Rebecca said, walking up from where she was sitting next to the 11th Doctor.

"Really?" Haymitch asked, sounding slightly drunk. He also swung his drink around, spilling some onto Daria. Morgan used her magic to make a shield, so she didn't get wet.

Caylie threw a book into Katniss' arms, not trusting Haymitch with her baby.

"Yeah, see." Katniss looked at the title of the book, and looked up, shocked that anyone outside of Panem would know about it.

Daria groaned and shook her arms, trying to get the alcohol off. "Why did one of the 'famous people' have to be drunk, of all possible choices?"

Morgan smirked at her little sister. "Would you rather a bloodthirsty, sociopath murderer?"

"Maybe!" came the retort, and Caylie face palmed at Daria's answer.

"Even if we already have one here?" a female voice asked. Everyone turned and saw River Song grinning at them.

"But you're not that bad!" The 11th Doctor said, and Daria nodded.

"Really? Would you rather have Luke Castilian?" Daria gulped, and shook her head, as did Percy and Nico, though the boys shuddered at the mention of his name.

"Fair point," Daria admitted, still trying to shake the alcohol off of her arms.

Morgan smirked at her sister, who started smelling like rum. "You know, you could use magic to get the drink off of you."

"The drink's smell, too?"

Morgan nodded. "Yep. You wanna try?"

"No way!" Daria shook her head. "I want a professional, which is, in this case, you."

Morgan smirked and waved her arms, talking as she worked. "Technically, a professional is someone who gets money from what they do for a living."

"Well, 'technically,' you could make money with your magic," Daria argued.

"In that case, 'technically,' you're a professional also."

"'Technically,' I could crush your heart!" Daria retorted.

Morgan smirked, realizing her sister couldn't come up with a good comeback. She opened her mouth to say something. "Well-"

Caylie nudged Lydia. "You'd better stop this from going any further."

"Alright, girls, stop," Bell said, speaking for the first time in hours.

"Sorry," Daria apologized, looking at the ground.

Morgan glared at her stepmother. "Why would I listen to you? You're not my MOM."

Rumplestiltsken and Captain Hook winced at the mention of Milah.

"You'll listen to me because even though I am not your birth mother, I am your stepmother and have taken place of Milah."

"I will NOT listen to you," Morgan retaliated. "Because you are NOT my mom and no one can replace her! Especially not YOU!" Morgan began yelling at Bell.

It may have just been Lydia's imagination, but she saw tears beginning to well up in Morgan's eyes.

Bell opened her mouth to continue, but Lydia and Rumplestiltsken noticed something at the same time and leaped towards Bell.

Morgan's eyes had been getting darker and darker during the argument, and Caylie knew that wasn't supposed to happen.

Lydia clasped her hand over Bell's mouth. "Shut up!" She whispered sharply through her clenched teeth.

Rumplestiltsken had walked over to Morgan and hugged her, whispering something to her that no one else could hear.

After a little bit, Morgan's eyes cleared up, and returned to their normal color. She nodded grimly at Rumplestiltsken, then walked off. Caleb began to run after her, but Lydia held him back. "No," she said firmly.

"But-"

"No!" Lydia said again. "Leave her alone, unless you have a death wish."

Caleb nodded in understanding. "Okay. But why?"

When Lydia looked at him in confusion, he explained his question.

"What happened to Morgan, and why can't I talk to her?"

"It's a long story," was the only reply he got.

"Gee, thanks," he muttered.

"No problem!" Lydia said brightly.

Everyone continued the game, trying not to worry about Morgan.

"This is Morgan we're talking about," Emma Swan tried reminding everyone. The people from her universe, including Rumplestiltsken, agreed, as they knew Morgan the best out of everyone at the game.

Perry, who had quickly become friends with the easily likable girl, also knew that Morgan could take care of herself. But he wasn't sure how much he believed the 'magic' part of it. I mean, I don't have magic, but I can still defend myself easily, Perry thought, trying to convince himself that Morgan couldn't have magic.

Caleb agreed with Emma also, but most of the other people seemed bound and determined to believe that she was an ordinary human girl, even with everything they had seen Morgan do.

Eventually Morgan returned, not a scratch on her. She had a determined gleam in her eyes, and she smiled at everyone. She did, however, shoot a couple daggers at Bell with a glare that could kill a horse as she passed.

Bell, who sensed some hostility from her stepdaughter, looked at the ground.

Daria ran up to her sister, Caleb held back by Lydia again. "Are you okay?" There wasn't much fear in Daria's voice, just a touch of concern. Her voice was mainly calm, though, as if what happened, whatever happened, was normal.

Morgan nodded. "It was a bit worse than usual. I think that's the closest I've ever gotten to falling into it without being overcome."

"What are they talking about?" Caleb whispered to Lydia. Much to Caleb's disappointment, she didn't answer. He heard other people asking the same question, but he didn't hear any of the voices of people from the Once Upon A Time universe in the hushed questions.

A little while later, Morgan walked up to Caleb and grabbed him by the wrist, beginning to drag him. Caleb, who learned not to question Morgan, just went along with his crush's behavior. However, then Morgan grabbed and began dragging Caylie the same way.

The feisty middleschooler did not like this, and so she started complaining. "What are you doing? Tell me right now! You're hurting my wrist!"

At her last statement, Caleb began chuckling, Morgan quickly following. Eventually, both kids were laughing, leaving Caylie angrier than ever.

"Stop!" But everyone knows laughter is contagious, and thus, much against her will, Caylie found herself beginning to laugh also. The three kids laughed until Morgan had dragged Caylie and Caleb to were Perry was sitting.

He was talking with two other people.

They were Lydia (of course), and Percy, who claimed to understand platypus.

Morgan suddenly turned serious, letting go of Caleb and Caylie. Caylie grabbed her aching, red wrist, holding it in pain.

Morgan waved her hand, and Lydia and Percy disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Perry stared at her as she sat down next to him and motioned for Caylie and Caleb to sit also. "Okay, I guess you want to talk with us."

Morgan sighed. "Well, you guys are my only friends here that don't know what happens to me, so I'm gonna tell you."

Caleb blinked, not expecting that. Morgan never struck him as the kind of person that willingly shares her feelings and secrets.

"Well, what happens?" Caylie asked, sounding impatient.

"Caylie, you know this. No one else does, so I'm directing this to you two." Morgan turned her attention to the two males.

"My father is- was, a very powerful sorcerer called the Dark One. If you can't tell from the name, he wasn't a good sorcerer. He was actually one of the evilest men alive. When I was born, I inherited his dark magic."

Perry held up his hand, motioning for Morgan to stop. "So you not only have magic, you have evil magic?" Morgan nodded, and Perry inhaled deeply. "This goes against everything I've believed my whole life."

"Sorry," Morgan said apologetically.

"I thought that magic didn't exist," Perry said inquisitively, looking at his friend.

"It doesn't naturally exist in this universe," Morgan said. "But I was born in a universe where magic is common."

Caleb blinked. "So you're an alien. You must be if you were born in another universe."

"Ehh," Morgan said, shrugging. "It depends how you look at it. I was born in another universe, but it's a parallel universe. So it basically just depends on one person's view."

"Okay, well what about what happened a little bit ago? What does that have to do with this?" Perry asked.

"Alright, this is directed to all three of you. When my father became the Dark One, the darkness overcame him, and it controlled him until he lost the magic. I was lucky, because even though the magic is in me, I'm able to keep it at bay so I don't get overtaken by it. However, I was not lucky, because the darkness does occasionally overcome me, and it takes control and is much more dangerous than my father was. That only happens when I become really angry though, fortunately."

"So that's what happened," Caleb murmured, looking sympathetically at Morgan.

Caylie looked confused. "But if your father doesn't have his magic anymore, then how do you still have yours?"

Morgan gave the twelve year old a "really?" look. "If a girl gets her mother's hair color, and then her mother dies her hair, does the girl's hair change to that color also?"

Caylie shook her head, then yawned.

Caleb blinked, so much had happened that he forgot it was night.

So, that is the end of the chapter, what do you think? Also, Merry Christmas! I posted this on Christmas in the US, so hopefully you celebrate Christmas, if not, Happy Holidays! Or just Great Job Getting Through The Day! I don't really know what I'm doing anymore, isn't that sad? Well, now I'm just rambling, so I'm going to sign off, and hopefully I will have Chapter Twelve up in a few days, but I'm not making any promises. And I have a cover image, finally! Yay! I made an accomplishment! *sighs at my failed life, and decides to go cry in a hole*

Yours Truly,

Caylie, who has failed at life! :-) *this is my sheepish smile, tehe*