Guillaume hadn't moved. Not since they had carried her away. He had sat up, his head throbbing from Dedra's blow but nothing could ever hurt as much as his heart did at that moment, and had remained there on the riverbank alone; his dark eyes staring at the black castle and tears slowly coursing down his face.
It felt like some part of him had been ripped out and while he wasn't dying or bleeding, he felt as if the pain would overwhelm him at any moment and drown him in his own hopelessness. He felt like part of himself had been torn away and he feared it would never be brought back.
The sound of approaching feet pulled him back to reality.
" You alright…?" Aradia asked gently as she approached him.
" Not really…" Guillaume sighed, dragging the back of his hand over his eyes to wipe the tears away. " You…?"
" I've been better…" She admitted with a heavy sigh.
" How's…how's Mithras…?" Guillaume's eyes never moved from the castle.
" A mess, but Lina and Jenny are looking after him," The princess explained. " A lot of it is just superficial stuff…cuts and bruises…plus he's starving…"
" I'm not surprised," Guillaume nodded his agreement. " I meant to come in but I just couldn't…" His voice tailed off.
" We know…" Aradia said sympathetically, letting her own eyes wander over to the castle on the horizon. " He's…er…He's been telling us as much as he's been able to work out about Obsequious' plans…" Aradia began to fiddle with a stray piece of cotton on her shirt. " And about why he wanted Jo…"
Guillaume's entire body stiffened and when he spoke, his voice was taut with barely suppressed anger.
" And why's that…?"
" Because…because of who she is…" Aradia replied, biting her lip as another wave of emotions threatened to wash over her and wash her away with them.
" You mean, because she's our leader…?" Guillaume's tone wavered slightly.
" Kind of, but…not really…" Aradia admitted. " It's a little more complicated than that…"
Guillaume looked up at her, one dark eyebrow raised suspiciously.
" Complicated how…?"
" Well, you remember all those dreams Jo had about me as a child, with Mithras…?"
" Ye-e-es," Guillaume replied slowly.
" And that when we were in Crystallia, Ella and Tom told us about that legendary second heir who Jo worked out could be my childhood friend, Julia…?"
" Ye-e-es," There was a definite tone of rising concern in Guillaume's voice.
" Well…" Aradia found her mouth increasingly dry. " Mithras has just told us a couple of things which…well…relate to that…"
" And what things are they, Aradia?" Guillaume asked firmly.
" Jo was right, for one thing, Julia was my sister…and so the rightful heir to Vaniria…"
" That's great," Guillaume didn't smile. " What's that got to do with Jo being taken by Obsequious though…?"
" Well, Julia escaped from Aesina when it was attacked by…going through a Gyratory, only it didn't completely work and part of her was kept inside the Gyratory waiting for someone else to come through who was like Julia…"
Realisation started to filter onto Guillaume's face.
" And that someone was Jo…?" He asked tentatively.
" Apparently…" Aradia wiped at her cheeks, suddenly aware there were tears there.
" So, what you're telling me is not only has Obsequious taken away my fiancée, but to make matters worse, she's actually the rightful heir to the throne of Vaniria…?"
" Yes."
" Oh well that's just fan-bloody-tastic isn't it?" Guillaume exclaimed.
" It does mean though that he'll be taking care of her," Aradia urged, trying to convince herself as much as Guillaume.
" So she's a bargaining piece now…" Guillaume said darkly, looking at the castle with renewed hatred.
" Kind of, but…not really…" Aradia admitted. " It's a little more complicated than that…"
Guillaume looked up at her, one dark eyebrow raised suspiciously once more.
" Explain, because I don't see how this can get any more complicated!"
" Well, Mithras will be able to explain it better but, basically, Obsequious wanted Jo because he wants to rule Vaniria and one way of achieving a legitimate claim to the throne, one which wouldn't be overthrown by the reformation of the crystal would be to…"
" Marry the heir…" Guillaume's face became horrified.
" But we won't let him…and I shouldn't imagine Jo will either," Aradia tried to smile but it was lost on Guillaume.
" If he lays so much as a finger on her, I'll kill him…and I'll do it so slowly and painfully…" Guillaume's tone was threatening, but his voice was faltering.
" We will get her back…" Aradia murmured, sitting down beside him. Her voice unusually quiet and her eyes, Guillaume noticed as he turned to glance at her, were red from crying herself. " You do know that, don't you…?"
" I know…" Guillaume replied, putting a comforting arm around the princess' shoulders as he tried to ignore the pain deep within him. Reasoning that he had almost lost her so many times and she had always come back. But the cold fear of doubt kept creeping into the back of his mind and arguing that perhaps, for once, she may have gone to a place from which there would be no escape this time.
The pair of them sat in silence staring at the castle, both surrounded by their own cocoon of emotions and neither one knowing how to make it all go away.

In the tower Jo wasn't faring much better.
She had managed to score a minor victory in that her guards had survived her singing "The Court of King Caratacus" song for only two renditions before they decided to guard her from outside the room, and on the other side of the huge, thick oaken door which, conveniently enough, blocked out the song.
It had been not long after she had sung the immortal line, " So if you want to take some pictures of the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches in the breeches of the boys who put the powder on the noses on the faces of the ladies of the harem of the court of King Caratacus you're too late, because they've just…passed…by!" for the second time that they had beat a speedy retreat and left her alone to try and figure a way out of this madness she had gotten herself into.
But all she could think about was what she had just been told by Obsequious. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.
She would have known, something as important and deep rooted as this she surely would have known. And besides, Mithras would have told her. Or even Aradia herself. Unless they hadn't know either…
Jo shoved her hands into her pockets and wandered over to the window. Below her, the ground was covered in tents and milling between them were hundreds of ant like soldiers. She grinned to herself,
" Where's Rapunzel when you need her, eh?"
With a heavy sigh Jo let her eyes roam over the enemy camp towards the river and to the small camp on the other side. Her camp. Her friends. Everything she had left behind. The pain in her heart returned with a vengeance and made her tear her eyes away from the agonizing sight. Leaning back against the bricks around the glass less window arch as the tears returned to her eyes and flowed down her cheeks.
She pulled her hand out of her tunic pocket to wipe her eyes on her sleeve when something caught her eye. Caught on the corner of her sleeve was a piece of forest green ribbon. It was the ribbon Aradia had worn in her hair the night of the ball and the same piece of ribbon Phillipe had used to hold his steel coloured ponytail in place until the night he had…
Jo carefully took the material in her fingers and looked at it. This, if everything she had been told was true, belonged to her sister…
" My sister…"
How strange the words sounded coming from her mouth. With a faint smile she carefully tied the ribbon around her wrist, knotting it tightly.
" I'll make sure I give this back…" She said to no one. Hoping it was a promise she'd be able to keep…

Aradia and Guillaume sat side by side, watching the black castle. Both of them filled with the feeling of loss, and neither one knowing what to do next…
" I've been living to see you. Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this. This was unexpected, what do I do now? Could we start again please?" Aradia sang quietly to herself, to a half remembered tune from one of the stories she had been told of Jo's adventures before arriving in Vaniria.

" I've been very hopeful, so far. Now for the first time, I think we're going wrong. Hurry up and tell me, this is just a dream. Oh could we start again please?" Jo sang to herself, turning back over to the window and looking out towards where she had left her friends behind.

" I think you've made your point now. You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home. Before it gets too frightening, we ought to call a halt, so could we start again please?" Guillaume continued, his mind filled with the images of the last time he had sung the same words.

" I've been living to see you. Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this. This was unexpected, what do I do now? Could we start again please?" Jo looked down at the green ribbon around her wrist and ached inside. There were so many things she wanted to say to Aradia, ask her…things she now regretted doing. Would she have a chance to before it was too late?

" I think you've made your point now. You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home. Before it gets too frightening, we ought to call a halt, So could we start again please?" Guillaume and Aradia sang together.

" Could we start again please?" Jo sang in the loneliness of the tower room, wandering back to sit on her bed. Sliding back to rest against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. Hoping with all her heart that she would get at least one more chance to tell those she cared for the most, just how much they meant to her.

" Could we start again please?" Aradia sang, closing her eyes and making a silent oath to herself that she would never ever be rude or obnoxious to anyone ever again, regardless of their station in life, if only she could see Jo again. Her sister.
" Could we start again please?" Guillaume sang, closing his eyes and seeing a thousand different images of his Jo in his mind. Swearing to each one it would not be the last time he would see her. He had nearly lost her so many times. He simply couldn't lose her now. Not after all they'd been through. He just couldn't.

" Could we start…again…?" Their words carried on the evening breeze, a question that only time would be able to answer.

" Julius Caesar!" Rosie suddenly exclaimed, her dark eyes wide.
" You what?" The others looked completely mystified.
" Remember what Jo said about Julius getting stabbed in the back and how Julia came from Julius…" Rosie's eyes flitted around the concerned faces surrounding her. " That's what Aitor…I mean Dedra did…!"
They had all amassed in the largest of their tents to try and figure out what their next move should be. They had cooked some of the fresh meats that the Meanders had brought with them but, as the full plates testified, no one had much of an appetite that evening.
" Oh great," murmured Lucy.
" What about all those things Alvejan told Jo, back in the Blue Woods…" Jenny added hesitantly.
" Didn't he say something about friend's disappointing…well that's Dedra all over, isn't it!" Marius exclaimed with uncharacteristic venom.
" He also spoke about events happening which would be beyond Jo's control, and all this Princess stuff certainly is. You can't help who you are…" Mark said thoughtfully.
" So, what do we do now…?" Rosie asked the large group before her.
" Well, I reckon we storm the castle and get Jo out, but maybe that's just me…" Jerest's blue eyes twinkled.
" Any idea when we might see some more Meanders…?" Lina asked openly. " I mean, I'm all for the castle storming myself," She grinned, twirling her dagger through her fingers without thinking. " But I think we could do with just a few more people on our side, to even the odds a little bit…"
" Any time…" Jerest replied. " Some are already on their way, we just rushed a bit to get here first," He laughed slightly. " But there'll definitely be more here by morning…couldn't tell you how many…but there will be more…"
" That settles it then," Guillaume stood up and looked over the faces before him, determination written all over his face. " We attack at dawn!"

The next morning Jerest had been proven right. A couple of hundred Meanders had drifted into their camp over the course of the night, with word of hundreds more, drifting across the countryside to meet them on their way to Vaniria.
The small army stood at the river waiting as the sun rose before them.

Guillaume and Aradia were at the very front, stood looking out towards the castle.
It was clear that Obsequious' army had been given similar instructions to their own as the number of tents between the friends and the castle was greatly reduced. Just as their own camp was now pretty non-existent. All their tents had been taken down and packed away, along with their provisions. They just hoped they weren't too late and Obsequious and his army were still in the castle.
Then, as the first rays of sunlight came over the horizon, Guillaume let out a bellowing cry of "Charge!" before running out over the bridge, sword in hand, followed by everyone else.
They got quite far before they met the first of the soldiers who were waiting for them. Then the fighting began. Swords flashed in the early morning sunlight and the sound of arrows zipping through the air could be heard in amongst the clashing of metal against metal.
Slowly but surely the friends made more and more ground, getting ever closer to the castle. Soon they were at the outer walls of the castle and the dark soldiers here were fewer.
Amos struck out and his sword pierced the stomach of a soldier. He let out a cry that froze Amos' blood before pulling off his helmet to reveal a boy not much older than Amos himself. He staggered back, clutching at his wound before finally loosing his footing and falling to the ground, and not moving.
Amos collapsed onto a nearby wall. He was sat very still, shaking almost constantly and was so pale that his blood shot eyes seemed even more vivid. Martin sat beside him and tentatively squeezed his shoulder making the younger man jump considerably.
" You alright?" Martin frowned slightly.
" Uh…uh huh," Amos nodded vigorously.
" You sure…?" Martin looked out over the scene before him as Amos swallowed a few times.
" It's just…I've never…" A trembling became more evident in Amos' voice.
" I know…" Martin squeezed his shoulder again, trying himself to block out the vision of the young soldier he himself had run through. " I know…"
" He wasn't more than a boy, not much older then me…than either of us…"
" It's not going to be something any of us will forget lightly…" Martin's dark eyes looked solemnly at Amos' face. " But if we are to continue…we must…"
The young American gave him a brave smile and clutched his sword tighter in his hand.
" I know…it's what makes us human after all, it wouldn't be right if we didn't feel anything, would it…?" Amos stood up and took a steadying breath. " Come on…don't want to get left behind…"
The two of them ran over the drawbridge after their friends and into the castle.
They followed the tapestries on the walls, using the logic that such decoration probably led to a great hall, rather than the dungeons. Then they stopped.
They stood before two large, black doors. Carved with gothic patterns and with large, highly ornate, silver door-handles.
" This is it…" Guillaume's voice was barely above an angry whisper. " Who knows what may lay in store for us beyond this door…but if we stand together, nothing can defeat us!" The others smiled grimly, as the Meanders amassed behind them. " Come on…let's get Jo back!" With that Guillaume let out a cry and charged through the doors followed by the rest of the friends and the Meanders. They travelled a few feet before coming to an abrupt halt.
" What the…?" Rosie's eyes were wide with confusion.
" I don't …I just don't believe it…!" Lina stammered.
" What the hell do we do now?"

"Could We Start Again Please" from 'Jesus Christ Superstar',
Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice