A/N: Caleb's Trial is harder than I thought it would be. I'm trying to keep a good balance on how much the two sets of characters get the spotlight, but Danny's group should be getting more of the emphasis. After all, Caleb's being drawn into the level, so it's up to Team Phantom to find a way to break out of the trap and get some sense back in his head. For those looking to find some background info on Caleb, the ToS fics I've written will provide a lot of the missing data. Otherwise, just hang around Danny and co.; they'll be getting some inside info on him really soon.
35
Caleb decided he'd had enough rest and headed out of the room, making his way back to the bridge by following his own little mental map. It was tiny, since he hadn't had the chance to explore, and he made the mental note to do that later on. For now, he just wanted to check on the ship's bridge crew and see if he could find any other familiar faces.
The door slid aside at the touch of his fingertips to the panel beside it, and Caleb jerked his hand back, startled at first, then giving his hand a faintly suspicious glare before letting it drop back to his side. Entering the bridge with every intention of scanning the crew, he instead found himself greeted by the blonde Wonder Chef almost immediately, his hand waving eagerly towards him.
"Ah, Caleb! I was just thinking of going to see you!" Wren exclaimed with a laugh and patted the empty seat beside him, "Here. I saved this spot for you. I don't have a First Mate, so that's a perfect position for you. Did you have a chance to process everything? It's only been a couple of hours since that talk, so I know you couldn't have been asleep." Caleb gave him a weak smile, accepting the seat and leaning back to run his hands through his hair, more for a slight distraction as he tried to fully organize his thoughts. Wren watched him with a fond expression, the Fork held lazily in one hand. "You changed your hair." he added idly, "You used to look exactly like Zelos, but not anymore."
"I had to modernize it about a millennia or so ago." the redhead returned with a sigh, letting strands of his fringe fall from his fingers just as lazily, "According to some people, it looked rather refined and foxy." He rolled his head to one side, gazing at his friend with a faintly neutral expression. "Those people are dead now... have been for a long time, according to what humans now consider as 'long'." he added quietly, "And so have you. You've been dead for countless generations, you know." Wren gazed back, nodding slightly.
"I have been. But I'm back. Just like I promised." he returned, and smiled warmly, patiently waiting for Caleb to smile back before facing forward to gesture out at the bridge, "So, have you got a grip on the Wonder Fleet? How we're set up and run?" Caleb sat up straighter, steepling his fingertips together with a smirk.
"From what you've told me, you're basically divided into three major fleets of ships; yours, your sister's, and your cousin's, and to be honest, hearing the name of your cousin was just as much a shock as anything else." he began, watching Wren nod before going on, "Each ship, save for the fighters, has a massive galley dedicated to training the majority of your cooks and chefs for countering whatever horrors you say Martel is bringing down on these planets."
"You still don't believe me about what Martel's doing?" the blonde asked in exasperation, "When's the last time I misdirected you about anything?" Caleb gave him a flat glare, arms folding over his chest. "Hima doesn't count!" Wren yelled, face turning red, "That was to protect the both of us, you know!"
"DuGorge and his Dark Chefs still took me hostage." the android growled, tugging gently at several strands of the smaller chef's hair, "You owe me for that trauma! I told you I hate-!" He stopped suddenly, blinking at Wren a few times before letting go and sitting back, suddenly subdued. "You're commanding this fleet of ships towards the nearest planet, and a few hours' travel behind us are Eve's fleet and Gluttonious DuGorge's fleet." he went on in a more sedate voice, "They'll be meeting with us later on to coordinate an attack on the Great Seeds bearing down on that world. If your fighters can't destroy all the Seeds, you'll just send one of the galley-equipped ships down to land on the planet before the mana shield raises completely." He glanced aside at the chef. "Is that the crux of it?" Caleb asked quietly, watching the blonde as though in anticipation. Wren gave him a strange look in return.
"In a nutshell? Yeah." he returned, eyebrow lifting at the android's relieved expression, "You've been acting strange. Are you sure you're all right? We still don't know how you were teleported onto the FireBlossom, so your systems might be a bit..." He yelped when Caleb suddenly twisted in his seat, gripping Wren's shoulders and staring wide-eyed into his face.
"What did you say?" he blurted out, "The what?" Wren blinked in confusion before realization finally dawned on him, cheeks turning a shade of red at the sudden change of subjects. He carefully lifted a hand and pointed upwards.
"This ship, my flagship." he explained slowly, "I named it the FireBlossom, in her honor." He watched Caleb's expression go from awe to a tearful smile, an ancient sadness in the way his mouth curved, and the chef seemed to realize something himself, blue eye widening slightly. "Caleb... where is Pepper? You've never traveled without her if you could help it, and she's supposed to be as timeless as you are, being a mana beast and everything... I thought..." he whispered faintly, beginning to tremble, "I thought she was with you... I remember she was with you, the last time I saw you... just before I died."
Caleb only shook his head, a sad and guilty expression on his face.
"What's this?" Sam wondered, her fingers tracing over an insignia displayed on a screen in the galley, "Looks like some kind of gryphon, but none I've ever seen in Goth art." She tilted her head, taking in the image of a white and red beast with wings spread from its back and wearing something like a green collar with a golden sphere. Intrigued by the design, she read the name that spun slowly beneath it. "FireBlossom. That's a pretty cool name for a ship." She ran a finger along the collar, "This looks familiar..." She turned to the others finishing off their gourmet lunches and set her arms akimbo. "Are we done stuffing our faces?" the Goth asked dryly.
"Even if it's not like Caleb's cooking, this stuff's still awesome!" Tucker exclaimed with a laugh, pushing away a plate that used to hold several slices of a honey-glazed spiral ham and generous portions of potatoes and collard greens. He uttered a satisfied burp -which gave Valerie reason enough to scoot her chair further from him- and sat back with a grin. "Okay, so what's next? Do we keep following Caleb around and try to haunt him into realizing what's happening?"
"We still don't know how this level really works... what it's ultimate goal is." Jazz pointed out seriously, watching Danny as she spoke, "We know from what Danny said that this level is supposed to reveal Caleb's one big sin, something that's going to make Martel lock him up and throw away the key. It has to do with these Miracle Cooks..."
"Wonder Organization." Danny corrected half-heartedly, attention on something else.
"Whatever. Point is, Caleb's sin must be tied to this group. We figure out what this group means to him, how they're connected, and maybe we'll get a few clues as to what Nebilim's planning here." the carrot-top muttered, tucking a stray strand of hair back behind her ear, "We know what the Organization did in the past, how they basically operate and why they exist. What we have to learn is how Caleb got tied up in them; he couldn't be as good of a cook back then as he is now, right? He can't taste anything."
The teens all sat back in their chairs, lightweight steel seats that were suited for the galley, easy to clean but not easy on the body. A collective sigh of exasperation and faint frustration rose from them.
"That info's not in the main Archives; I already checked." Tucker told them, annoyed, folding his arms behind his head to cushion it.
"He got involved by accident. Or maybe it was fate, considering he got his soul only a week or two before they met." Danny muttered, twisting his fork in a tangle of vegetables that looked more like moldy shoelaces than greens. He glanced up at the teens staring at him, then went back to playing with his food. "The Wonder Chef got jumped by these guys called the Dark Chef Alliance. They're like chef terrorists or something, I dunno." the halfa went on with an uncaring shrug, "They cook just as well as the Wonder Organization, even have their own version of the Wonder Chef, but their food is meant to get people addicted so they always have control. Thing is, they can't get absolute control until they get their hands on the Wonder Fork and the Ultimate Recipe, so they had to capture the Wonder Chef." He finally pushed the plate away, frowning at it. "Long story short, Caleb got in their way of getting rid of Wren, and then kept doing it because they'd become friends. ...Does this food taste weird to you guys?"
Team Phantom blinked at him, baffled by the sudden change in subjects before turning their gazes onto their plates. Why had he brought that up? What did the food's taste have to do with anything?
"It tasted delicious to me. Very tasty." Valerie remarked with a smirk, "This is what food should taste like." Danny still didn't look too convinced by that, but he shrugged it off, slowly, then lifted his head to think something over.
"So Caleb and the Wonder Organization were on the same side." Sam summed up, gesturing with both hands to one side as a demonstration, "Their leader and Caleb were best friends; that would explain why Caleb learned the Ultimate Recipe." Her expression suddenly went blank, as though it tripped over something, backtracked, and then hit a wall. "Wait a second..." she added, scowling as she shot up from her chair, palms flat on the table as she leaned towards the halfa, "I thought you said that Caleb's memory of it got erased! Why would that happen if he was on the same side as the Wonder Chef?"
"Didn't you hear what was said back in Caleb's room?" Jazz pointed out matter-of-factly, "It wasn't safe for Caleb to know it back then. There's the possibility that the Miracle Cooks were suffering from extreme paranoia concerning their centuries-long duty of protecting the Wonder Chef and the Ultimate Recipe, and considered the added burden of Caleb knowing the recipe too much of a strain on their resources." She smiled at her own cleverness, nose lifting as she folded her arms over her chest. "So to relieve that burden, the Wonder Chef deleted the recipe from Caleb's memory." she finished proudly. At the lack of applause, she opened her eyes and looked around herself, finding that the galley was completely empty. She'd been ditched.
One eye twitched at the sight before Jazz yelled at the top of her lungs. "You're not allowed to ditch in a Trial Level!"
He had looked over everyone in the bridge, but of all the cooks there, only Wren was familiar. Caleb couldn't help but feel as if that should have been more comforting, because it wasn't. Something inside him was railing against everything, strained to turn and run whenever he got close to the cheerful little blonde, and it was a struggle to ignore it and focus.
This was what he wanted! He had waited and waited and waited so long for this day...!
"If only I'd been more patient, Pepper." the redhead whispered, gazing out at the stars. He blinked at the sudden contact on his arm, looking aside at Wren's concerned expression.
"Everything okay?" the chef asked. Caleb gave him a long considering gaze, unsure for the first time he could remember of what to say to his best friend. He wanted to speak freely, the way he'd always done with him before, but that one part of him was still screaming to run. But he couldn't lie either, not with that gentle and innocent face looking up at him, full of trust and good nature, that familiar face that belonged to the one person in all Symphonia that he'd defied his own soul to protect.
"Where's the galley?" he finally returned, getting up from his chair, "I relax better when I'm cooking." Wren jumped to his feet, Wonder Fork still in his grip. Caleb noticed how he hadn't let go of it since he'd handed it back, at least not while he was around to see it.
"Oh! Follow me then! I think I could use some cooking too; now that I've got the Fork, I want to really prove my skills to it and to everyone!" the little blonde exclaimed brightly. He walked ahead, leading the way with a bounce in his step. Caleb followed behind at a calmer pace, face carefully neutral to hide the storm of conflicting thoughts in his head.
This was what he wanted, to be with his long lost friend again. It took thousands of years, countless eons, and many hardships and sacrifices, but he'd reached his ultimate goal; reuniting with Wren, picking up almost exactly where they'd left off. It was a dream come true.
So, why didn't this feel right?
"Raven, can you hear me? Please, answer me." he called out softly, projecting his voice on every frequency he could think of, "Raven, can you hear me? Please, answer me. Raven, can you hear me?..."
The galley was stocked with every kind of ingredient and cookware imaginable. Two pots were heating water to boil as Caleb and Wren stood side by side at the nearby counter, chopping vegetables in eerie unison with their movements perfectly mirrored. They chatted idly about the ingredients they were using, what recipe they were making and what changes might have been made over the centuries. From what the blonde spoke about, every one of the Wonder Recipes remained exactly the same.
"They've been preserved as they are since they already do so well. Changing them didn't bring us any results that equaled or bettered the overall effects of the original recipes, so we just kept them as they were." Wren explained, sliding his chopped vegetables into one of the pots. The android frowned slightly, then shook off the uneasy feeling that gave him and added his vegetables to his own pot.
"Has Ginger returned as well?" he asked and the little chef chuckled.
"Are you going to go right back to getting me married off again? Too bad, Caleb; Ginger Spicewood wasn't taken in by Martel, so her soul broke back down into pure mana." he returned and started picking through the jars of spices, glancing aside at Caleb's more somber expression. "Don't be like that. I was sad about it too, for the first few months. But I had to move on; there were worlds in trouble and my knowledge of the Ultimate Recipe was needed to save lives."
Caleb's hand froze over a jar of black satay. Why did that last statement sound... wrong? But it was fact that Wren would know the recipe, being the Wonder Chef and everything. It was passed down only to the Wonder Chef's successor and forbidden from being written down or recorded in any other way. The only way to keep the Recipe alive was to teach or tell it to the successor directly, and since Wren's memories transferred over he still knew it by heart.
"Oh. That's true." he finally murmured and pulled his hand back, "Actually, I'm still a bit overwhelmed. I'm sorry, Wren, but I think I'll go and rest a bit more." He gave the blonde a slightly strained smile. "Would you forgive me for leaving this soup in your care?" he asked, and the little blonde gave him a pout, lower lip jutting out childishly before letting it transform into a winsome smile.
"It's fine. I'll handle it. You go and get your rest; I may need your help on the bridge later and you should be at full capacity first." Wren replied brightly, plucking up the black satay and unscrewing the lid. As Caleb gave a short bow and walked away, leaving the galley, the Wonder Chef frowned and glared down at the two pots, screwing the lid back onto the jar. He reached into his pocket, setting the jar aside, then pulled out a small gold disk and flicked it open. "I need two cooks in the galley to finish preparing chicken soup." he ordered and clapped the disc closed, walking away from the stove to sit at the table once laden with food, then glancing at several empty plates before allowing a tiny smile to form on his lips.
He hadn't gotten any response to his calls while in the galley, even though he was broadcasting through himself, allowing him to call out while still speaking normally. It put a little more strain on Caleb's resources but it was either that or look crazy for running around the ship and scanning rooms at random. The android was now back in his quarters, arms folded over his chest. There was no denying that he was happy beyond words to have Wren back. It brought back memories of his old life, before learning all those things that made him want to just rip out his own Tri-Crystal System and be done with life entirely. Memories of exploring the world together, seeing everything for the first time, the awe and wonder and excitement of experiencing brand new things and adventures; memories of being innocent, oblivious, and happy with his part in life.
But at the same time, Caleb was bound and determined to find the truth behind everything. Danny Phantom did exist at one point, he had the records to prove that, but he was no longer here. They'd been traveling through the Book, and now he was here, alone, reunited with Wren but divided from Raven. One bird lost, another bird found. If that teleporter was a trap, then logically, he should still be inside the Book, and all of this would just be a huge lie created by Nebilim.
Yet, Wren had his memories, every one of them, and his mana was a match to his records. He was whole, he was real, and something real couldn't exist inside the Book on a scale this grand. So either Wren had somehow been reincarnated and then sucked into the Book and then lost all sense of reality, or Nebilim pulled out all the stops in creating this level. But why? Why create a level that catered to what he wanted most?
Caleb stiffened, eyes widening as a sudden thought struck him. Everyone else had faced Trial levels, revealing their sins for all to hear and see. Was it possible that... this level contained...?
"Martel! Can you hear me?" he yelled suddenly, desperate for a response. He reached out for his sister, extending a link that surpassed death and time and space to make contact with the only true family left to him in the universe, "Martel!" He reached out further, shutting his eyes to focus entirely on establishing that link... and a violent backlash hit him, throwing him off the bed and against the far wall. The android slid down to the floor, staring out at empty space in shock, a hurt expression replacing it soon after. What was that? Why had that happened?
"Are you rejecting me? ...No! My sister would never say those things! You're lying! Heh heh heh ha ha ha ha~!"
"No! That's not my memory!" Caleb screamed, clutching his head tightly, "She said those things to save you, but you didn't listen and you died! You died! You're dead and you're not me!" He sat in a huddle, curling in on himself to further block out the intrusion of foreign memories. He shuddered, gave a soft sob, then cried out again. "Raven! Where are you?"
The lights flickered and Danny lifted his head to blink at them. Sam and Tucker were busily arguing over which dishes were the best to eat, divided once again by their personal tastes, but it seemed half-hearted. Like, they were more interested in eating than in fighting over what to eat. Valerie refereed mostly by threatening to eat whatever it was that caught their attentions for that moment.
"What was that?" Danny wondered under his breath, glaring at the lights as though daring them to do it again.
"What is it, Danny?" his sister questioned in concern, her textbook open on her lap. She'd found the group had escaped to the lounge and promptly dragged them back to the galley, where the halfa spent a majority of their time there just glaring at Wren when he and Caleb started cooking soup, then ignored the blonde when the android left. Now they sat around the table, picking out plates of whatever was left over from the cooking while Jazz set to reading the Symphonian Cultures textbook in hopes of finding some way of identifying a sin based on the chefs around them. Danny kept to himself, growing withdrawn as the minutes passed.
"The lights flickered, didn't you see?" he returned, waving a finger up at them, "Like, some kind of power surge." Jazz gave the ceiling a suspicious look of her own, then sighed and set the book down in front of her brother.
"Look here. Any mentions of the Wonder Chef has a code attached to it, but those codes don't exist in the main Archives. The Wonder Fork appears there, yes, but we can assume that it's simply because Caleb's been using it all this time." she began, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as her brother looked over the words, "What if there's a second Archive? One just for the Wonder Chef? If Caleb is as obsessed with the Organization as he is with his friend, then wouldn't it be reasonable to assume he would take the bulk of their data and create a special, separate database for them?"
"That's probably why we couldn't find the data on the Wonder Organization." Tucker agreed, surprising the Fentons with his attention. He looked between them with wide eyes. "What? Sam and I got bored of arguing, so now we're just listening to the two of you." he remarked, "What's the second Archive? If we knew the name of it, I could probably get access to it."
The teens huddled around the book, searching it for clues. Not far from them, the door to the galley opened again, and a small boy with silver-white hair entered, dressed in the prim whites of a cook, a red neckerchief tied around his neck. He looked around the room carefully, a faintly grim expression on his face, before spotting Team Phantom at the table. He blinked a few times, then sighed, bending to let his arms hang almost tiredly before straightening back up.
"I should tell Martel to send Regal next time. This chess game's such a pain!" the boy complained and walked past the cooks in the galley working on the two soups, flinching when he accidentally walked through one of them. "That's just creepy." he added under his breath and made his way to the group of teens. They were so focused on the book that none of them seemed to register the fact that the boy had just joined in their huddle, arms folded on the table as he blinked at the book.
"Well, if we try and think like Caleb, we might get it. What would he name an archive dedicated to the Wonder Organization?" Sam mused, peering at the words like they'd tell her the answer if she glared enough. The boy blinked at her.
"That's easy enough. He called it the Wonder Archive." he told her and now all eyes shot to his face, surprised expressions all around as the teens jerked back. "What is it? Never seen a half-elf before?" he questioned in equal surprise.
"Agh! You can see us?" Valerie exclaimed, pointing at the boy, "Wait, I know you! You're one of the Sages! The little one!"
"Hey! I hit my growth spurt! I grew a whole inch that summer!" he shot back in irritation, "And yeah, I can see you! I can hear you too. Martel sent me in to balance the playing field again, but it looks like Nebilim's pulled another trick, so she'll be sending in more help for you guys." He held out a hand, grinning widely, "Genis Sage, from the time of Ratatosk's awakening. Nice to meet you; Lloyd's told me a lot about you guys."
One after another, the teens shook his hand, still a bit stunned by the appearance of another of the Heroes of Union. Why were they being sent into the Book more often? First Welgaia, then Danny's level, now here? They'd gotten used to the fakes appearing to battle against them, but having the souls of the real Heroes showing up was just too weird!
"What are you doing here?" Danny asked, not entirely trusting of the boy's appearance, "You're not here to try convincing Caleb to get put under that spell again, are you?" Genis shook his head.
"Nope, we've got bigger problems." he replied firmly, "Besides, I was sent in to synch with you guys. Nebilim's first trick for this level was to separate you from Caleb, shifting all of you just a little out of phase from him so he can't see, hear or detect you himself, and it keeps you from being able to touch anything but food and cooking items in order to stay alive." He reached out to poke at Danny's chest. "Namely you. He can't escape Ratatosk's seal if you're not able to hold him as a vessel."
"And how does that tie in with you being here?" Sam questioned suspiciously, folding her arms over her chest. Genis sighed again, lifting his hands in a shrug and shaking his head.
"Didn't Caleb tell you several times already? Nebilim has to play by the Book's rules in order to escape through it. If he breaks or bends them to his favor, Martel gets the power to do the same in order to balance the levels." he explained, "It's a little like a card game, but the fighting's done by what's on the field; you never see the cards and the field has to have an even number at all times. Nebilim puts down cards to tip things to his side, and Martel gets to put down an equal number to keep the game fair." He placed a hand over his heart, a serious look on her face. "I'm her first card, here to help balance her mistake."
The teens looked at one another in concern. A mistake? Martel had made a mistake? When? How?
"What do you mean?" Jazz asked of the boy. Genis looked downcast, as if he were about to cry.
"Martel made the mistake of sending in Lloyd and Kratos to seal Caleb's heart again. She should have waited until you were all out of the Book, but she panicked a little." he began softly, "She'd been worried sick ever since she first lost contact with Caleb in the Welgaia level." Danny blinked, thinking back to that time. It was when they were able to rescue everyone that had been kidnapped from Casper High, including Jack and Maddie Fenton. A massive army of robots had been on its way to execute them all, and Caleb had demolished a huge portion of his systems fighting them before shutting down until he could be repaired. Had him going offline like that sent a signal to Martel that he was in trouble and she sent Lloyd to help?
"That was when Caleb went offline because of the damages." he finally murmured and the teens glanced at him in shared remembering before returning their attentions to Genis. The boy nodded.
"Martel and Caleb are in near-constant contact, like a psychic bond. When it gets interrupted, Martel freaks. I mean, he's her little brother and everything." he went on, "Anyway, by sending in Lloyd and Kratos, she put in two cards she wasn't supposed to, and that gave Nebilim just the loophole he needed to create a level that would split him away from you guys. This is his Trial, but he's supposed to have help from his party to get through it." Tucker rubbed his head, wincing as he tried to wrap his head around that.
"And how does that equal Lloyd and Kratos?" he muttered, "He didn't seem too happy to see them, even before they started arguing."
"We used to be a party, with Caleb." Genis sighed, tracing a circle around the textbook with a fingertip, "Back when we were trying to avert the Wonder War, and when the Angels of Vinhelm tried to resurrect Mithos. A party for a party, that was the loophole. Lloyd and Kratos combined are very powerful, more than a match for all of you guys, so Nebilim separated all of you from Caleb to make it 'equal'." He lifted his hands and made quote signs in the air with his fingers. The teens nodded in understanding, but Sam still looked a bit puzzled, scratching her head as she seemed to think things over more carefully.
"Well, if us being separated is balancing Martel sending those two, then how is it that you're able to come here? Did Nebilim do something to throw things off?" she questioned and Genis lit up, a wide smile on his face.
"Hey, you're pretty smart for a human!" he exclaimed, laughing sheepishly at the glares sent his way, "Sorry. Old habit! But yeah, he bent a rule his way. He's got an agent on the same synch as you guys, doing things to keep you distracted from Caleb's movements." He shrugged, "Some ghost lady, I don't know much about her." Team Phantom looked at one another, knowing looks in their eyes. Desiree. No doubt now, she was definitely here. "But since she's operating on your wavelength, Martel sent me in on the same synch to help you." Genis looked up at Danny, determined expression on his face.
"You're the leader of the party, Danny Phantom. Will you accept me as a member?" the half-elf asked. Danny swallowed hard, mouth dry as his mind raced. One of the Heroes of Union, joining him? Actually being part of his team? It was almost unbelievable!
"Uh... sure..." he managed to stammer out, blinking at the boy with wide eyes, "Welcome to the group? Is there some special thing we have to do?" Genis laughed, shaking his head.
"Nah. Just accepting me is all I need to make sure any spells I cast don't hit you guys." he told them and looked to Tucker, "You wanted access to the Wonder Archive? What for?"
Team Phantom filled him in on the scattered bits of information they'd managed to gather about the level, and added the growing number of questions that were arising from it all. Genis listened in silence, that grim look on his face again. He nodded slowly at some points, flinching at others, then finally sat back and sighed.
"You won't be able to get access to the Wonder Archive, that's for sure. Caleb sealed it from even himself." the boy remarked bluntly, "All the information in there is for the Wonder Chef's eyes only; that's why it's password locked and set with Caleb's own personality as a security guard. Only a true Wonder Chef can break the lock and get to all that info." He lifted his hands again in another shrug, and Danny was beginning to see it as something of a signature gesture for Genis. "I talked to Adam about it, and he said that he was the one who designed that lock, implanting it into Caleb's mind so it could be built without Caleb knowing what it was he was creating or what the password could be."
"Wait, Adam as in Adam Voraci?" Sam blurted out, grabbing the boy's shoulders suddenly, "The real Wonder Chef?" When he nodded, she gave him a little shake, "Then bring him here! If the real Wren's in here, he can snap Caleb out of this illusion!"
"He can't!" Genis exclaimed, startled. He shook his head quickly, almost in a panic, "Martel made that her number one rule; Caleb and Adam can never face each other again, not while he's part of her."
"Why not?" Danny demanded, shooting up from his seat and glaring at the boy, "Caleb's going to keep us stuck here because he thinks Wren came back to life! If you show him the real Wren's soul...!"
"They can't meet!" the half-elf declared in exasperation, pushing Sam's hands off him, "It was part of the conditions of the spell that Martel cast the first time, when she made him perfectly neutral. Caleb had agreed to it! They can never meet in death!" He trembled, tears now beginning to run down his cheeks. "As long as Martel has Adam's soul, he won't be able to meet with Caleb because Martel won't let him go. And since Martel closed off access to her tree for the passing of other souls, if Caleb ever dies, he'll never go to Martel. His soul will be lost forever, and he'll never be reunited with Adam."
They stood in silence together, gazing down at the boy before looking at one another with helpless gazes. Caleb knew this condition as well, since he agreed to it. This just made it harder for them to be able to talk him out of the illusion, if they were able to find a way to talk to him at all.