Chapter 14-

Yay, here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

"What is wrong?" Caleb says shaking the crying girl. "Talk to me."

"Its…I…" she stammers trying to pull away from his grasp. "I have to go to the palace."

She finishes with a slight whine.

"Hope, talk to me, what is wrong? Where is Matt? Did he hurt you?" He says while each word he utters keep rising in volume.

"Shh." The princess says quietly. "We don't want to wake the whole village."

Caleb lets go of her and run both of his hands through his hair.

"Then answer me." He finally says.

"I don't know where Matt. For some reason I fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone." She says as a fresh flood of tears start streaming down her cheeks. "I have no idea where he is. All I know is that he is gone and…"

"And what?" He says almost screaming.

"I don't know where the crystal is." She finishes looking away in shame.

"What do you mean that you don't know where the crystal is?" He says trying to keep his temper down.

"Well, we left the palace so quickly this morning that I don't remember if I had it with me or…"

"Come on." He says pulling her towards the palace by the arm. "We better hope that it is in your room."

She nods in agreement as she lets herself be pull by the hand by Caleb.

An hour later Ellyon and the other guardian from Lilick find Hope and Caleb in the middle of the princess' room. Most of the furniture was up turn and there is items littering every inch of the floor.

In the middle of the mess kneels what looks to be a crying Hope with her hands covering her face and her body shaking from the unheard tears.

Standing next to her is a livid Caleb. His hands are ball up into fist and his face is red as he looks down on her.

"What happened here?" Ellyon asks.

"Hope, where is Matt?" Ice asks her friend walking towards her.

Ice stops at the look her friend has on her face once she looks up at her. A look despair and anger mix in with sadness makes her steps falter. Something is definitely wrong.

"Hope?" Mapple and Kay say coming in.

Lexa stands leaning on the doorframe next to the queen.

"He took it." Lexa says.

Hope looks at the other guardian with a surprise look.

"Sure looks that way." Caleb answers almost spitting out every syllable. "I knew I didn't trust him."

Kay, Mapple and Ice hug their leader as Lexa walks into the room and gives her leader a supporting smile.

"We are so screw." Hope finally answers. "He knows where my parents and along with their supporters. He has our power source and we can't get near the palace."

"Come on, Hope, don't blame yourself. We all trusted him." Lexa says kneeling in front of her friends. She has known the princess for years, exactly the day that she came home from Meridian, so she knows what she is thinking. "You had the dream but we all know how crypted your dreams can be. This was a risk we had to take."

"Don't worry, girl." Kay says standing up with the others. "We will fight till the end and your parents will be alright."

"We will fight to the death." Mapple says.

"Don't forget we have study all types of fighting. That includes hand in hand fights without our powers and all types of weapons." Ice says.

"And we will stick by your side." Ellyon says helping Hope stand up.

Hope gives them a small and honest smile.

"Thank you, all of you." Hope says looking around the room. "You have no idea how much your words have made me feel better."

"Come on, let's go for a walk." Caleb says grabbing the girl's hand. "Don't worry about her I'll make sure she'll be okay. You all should go back to bed because we will be up early and heading for Lilick the moment the sun comes out."

"Every time I am feeling down I would come here for a long walk." Caleb says as he walks hand in hand with his childhood friend. "Do you recognize this place?"

"It's been years, but I still remember." She looks up at him with a smile on her face. "I am actually surprise that you still remember."

"How can I forget? We use to run in these fields for hours. I also remember that one day I caught you and we fell. I fell on top of you and when I look at you I couldn't stop looking into your eyes."

"Then you lean down and gave me a sweet soft kiss." She finishes the story letting out a soft laugh. "It was so short, but we were just kids." She stops and looks away. "That was so long ago. Look at us now."

"Getting ready to go of to war on your home land." He says.

"By reminiscing of years so far back but not forgotten." She looks at him sadly. "Caleb?"

"Yes." He says looking down at her.

She smiles at him and shakes her head.

"What?" He says with laughter in her voice.

"It is nice to be here with you thinking about the past. I just wish I could see the future."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know what will happen to me. I don't even see me ruling Lilick."

Caleb stops them in their tracks and makes her face him.

"Look I know this is a very tough time for you and your family, but I don't like what I am hearing. You sound like you are going to die tomorrow."

"Caleb, the crystal is gone. I can't even go to the palace where my royal powers are stronger. I am not saying that we won't win. I am just saying that I might not live long enough to see tomorrow."

"This is unbelievable. I will tell you this." He says pointing a finger to her face. "If that is how you honestly feel you're not going with us."

He then turns away from her and she lets out an unbelievable laugh.

"No, you are so not doing this to me." She walks to him and turns him around to face her. "You can't tell me what to do. We have been through this same conversation a lot of times. I am tired of it."

Caleb grabs onto her shoulders exasperated by this girl.

"If you want to go into war you need to have a clear head. You are a leader, Hope; you can't be talking like this. What would your friends say? Us? Your family?"

"I am scared, Caleb."

"I know." He says holding her tight onto his chest. "That is why I am going to stay by your side until the end."

"No matter what happens?" She asks in a childish voice.

"No matter what happens." He says kissing her on the top of her head. "I love you, Hope. I always will no matter if we marry other people and have children with them. Even if we end up finding our soul mates. You are my first real friend and love and that is something I will never forget."

"I know what you mean, because I feel the same way."

They lay down looking up at the night sky just like when they were children before the first light of day awakes them and they head back to the palace to get ready for the battle.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. If so don't forget to review, if you want. Anyway I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but no promises.