There was currently nothing left for them back at the Ghetto ~ Not until the witchhunt was over… Even if Charlot was returned with a sound mind, the girls place there was shattered. At this point though, Anya didn't care. Her goal to was to find her friends, to make sure they were safe… Hannah was determined with the same goal, even after Anya had to reveal herself for self preservation. Their love for one Barber was enough to throw all that fear aside.

As of this moment, Anya flew through what was this invisible force and she barely felt the pressure as she soared through it — That meant it was weakening. She kept an eye on Hannah who was in pursuit and began to search for safe hiding place for them both so they could figure out where to start their search.

Finding the safest place to land was no easy picking and so the bird chose to circle around this one lonely tree amidst a patch of overgrown grass. Hannah saw the bird soar low and land at that tree and aimed for it with all she had.

When she got there, what awaited Hannah was no hawk, but it was Anya almost dishiveled and of course, deeply mournful just as Hannah was. Anya watched Hannah come closer with Charlot's jacket over her shoulders. Anya was not sure of how to explain all this, but all she really knew was to take it one thing at a time. Hannah's estranged look sent shivers down her spine…

Anya just did not approach her or say much at all other than one short sigh and a deflated shrug, with the wand in her hand. The silent stare off was shortly lived as the angered orphan spoke the question Anya dreaded to hear.

"… who are you?"

"Jeakel spoke true. I am a witch." Anya began.

Hannah innocently kept her distance, as if she was in the company of a sleeping lion.

"All that… With us finding you, helping you… It was all just some sick trick?"

"No." Anya denied that. "Michelle and I, we intended to stick close in-in order to protect you…"

"From who…?" Hannah paled as she asked.

"Someone not like us. They took Charlie. And Michelle followed after…"

"But… what do they want with him? Only that he is dear to this city? I still can't understand…" Hannah choked up again. "Please, do not come near me, I-I am still shaken…"

"I won't…" Anya promised. "… this one who took him, is trying to change events. To change them so abruptly that a generation will be changed forever, giving way for another tyrant to return. Hannah… I am a witch who's not from this time period…"

"What do you m-?"

"I am from the year 1998. Almost 60 years from now…" Anya told her and shocked Hannah so much that she backed away. "I know someone in 1998, who is related to Charlie… If we lose him tonight, she will never be born. You and he, play a huge part in the coming future… That is why it's crucial that we bring him back! … However, it isn't only that reason…"

Hannah looked too worried to know of what Anya meant by that exactly. It was as if Anya had grown three heads… As if the wand she held wasn't enough. The poor woman could collapse from an aneurysm if she wasn't too careful. However, she ran it through her head… that if they never joined the family at all and only watched from afar… they would have been killed. That caravan was turned to ash… and it was probably a sneak in through the night hours. No one batted an eye at the smoke because of the Confundus; not even them until Anya herself took a fly over.

Then, an idea came to her. It was risky but it would prove more fruitful. They would be able to find them, quick and efficiently however it would risk her being shot out of the sky. There was no protection out here.

"… it was you two who made it worth coming." Anya continued. "Something was calling me to find you, and lo, we bump into each other." Anya smiled to try to lessen the foul mood yet she was starting to weep. Anya hardened though, before going on~ "… I am willing to die to find him, and I will stop at nothing — un-until we do… I know for certain that he needs you, so I am begging for you — to trust me…"

"It is only the fact that he trusted you." Hannah said after a moment. "That last word he gave you…"

"It's as if he said it only a moment ago…" Anya tensed.

"Do you know…? Every maiden he came across, year after year, all abandoned him, and he stuck with them until he knew that they would be all right… and not once asked for anything in return?" Hannah deeply said, testing.

"Heroic…"

"After me, then you came along… I have never seen Charlie return so gently. He hadn't smiled the way he used to for years… until he met you. I hardly care that you're a witch, from where ever you came from… What I care about, right now, is the hope that you are not like the others he'd helped…"

"I am not…"

"I only followed you for him, Anya. It is what Charlie would have done for you…"

The witch, Anya nodded to that. She did not need forgiveness. This deed was considered unforgivable, to go in disguise, beguiling the entire homestead, no matter what the intention was. No one deserved to live their lives in some sort of dreamy point of view where time had no place in. It was equivilant to being drugged and not realizing it… As soon as all this was settled safely, they were going to leave.

"I am not arguing against that, madame. What we need to do now is to find out where they went. I have an idea…"

"Please, do hurry~ I must understand why he fled so quick…" Hannah begged.

"Judging by the stain on the floor, Charlot touched a Fate orb…"

"A f-fate o-orb?"

"A cruel creation made by evil spirited people who are just as magical as Michelle and I, Hannah. While some use enchantment to help others, some seek to hurt others for their own selfish means… Once you touch a fate orb, it throws your mind into a state of awful despair… and it tempts you more and more to throw your life away."

"No… Please, Lord Almighty, no!"

"However, strong willed people are able to avoid that fate no matter how harsh the temptation is. Our kidnapper apparently chose that as a way to lure Charlot out to a more vulnerable position… Yet, Michelle is in the way… Follow me and keep yourself hidden until I say you can come out. Your life is just as precious as his."

Shelly's lungs were beginning to burn just as much as her four legs did just trying to keep up with the spirited little man. For the longest time, she tried to keep up with his step. She had to chase him all the way out to the ouskirt roads of dirt and Charlot became ever more aimless as he would pause every so often and shake off something incoherent before jogging farther.

Observing, Shelly could see he was in a some inner battle with himself and he winced and grated awful sayings to himself. The curse was holding strong onto his mind, no matter what help or loving word she would encourage… A warmth charm at his general direction was all she could silently offer, besides trying to enchant him to sleep… But the curse blocked that…

Shelly returned to her human form when Charlot waved off something unseen before he just stood still for a moment, merely looking around the empty dirt road. His emerald eyes continuously looked haunted.

"Charlie?" Shelly tried again, exhausted but unwilling to ever leave him. "Can- can you hear me…?"

Not once did he look her in the eye, but he kept his gaze fixed on the horizon as it was deepening.

"I-I can see that you're fighting it hard. You must realize that none of it is true… It has only been a few days, but we love you, Charlie… You're loved and we need you back home."

Shelly tried once more to touch along his arm, but not once did he turn his attention to her.

'God, Anya… where the hell are you? I can't get him to come to his senses… It's like I am talking straight to the wall…' Shelly thought, grieved.

"Loved." Charlot hummed before shaking his head and he winced again, placing a hand to his ear before he began to curl down again. "No-no no no~ I can't- I can't~ Please don't! Not them~ I'll die!"

Shelly's heart hit her throat when she heard that and she was sure Charlot would never speak this way. Even though she was helpless in trying to bring him back to earth, there was something in the air that she began to pick up on… A cold wind began to whirl the dirt on the road and the scent of moist dirt caught her onto that same nasty presence she felt on the eve of Anya's arrival to the Ghetto. She had a death grip on her wand and kept a hand planted on Charlot's back as he was in his own battle.

This slick black strip seemed to zigzag through some of the grass that the blonde witch seemed to catch that aimed right at the Barber's leg.

"Incendio!" she barked, launching a spark at the form, having it leap aside as the dirt caught on fire.

It was an enormous Black Cobra. It flattened its head and rose itself high, angered. The woman faced off with it, fuming.

"You stay away from him, you bastard!" she hissed as it rose higher, as if to soon spit at the two. "Bombarda!"

At that word, the ground beneath the snake was blasted and it sent the thing flying back, which got Shelly the chance to merely grab the entranced Barber by his hand and collar and she had thrusted him to go into the overgrown grass. Yelling at him in any capacity was useless, but it was better than nothing —

The launched snake curled at first before delivering one horrifying hiss… Just before it began to change its form, a set of sharp talons barrelled down atop its head. A great hawk began to mercilessly stab down and tear at it, non-stop, whilst keeping a firm foot, keeping its mouth shut. Shelly witnessed the two forms tumble off into the grass. "ANYA!"

Charlot had lost his footing after being shoved and was sobbing into his arms. Choking up, Shelly had to physically press him up to get him to run… She was thankful that he was quite stout for a man in this regard~ The hawk granted them a chance, yet — who was to help said hawk?

Anya felt a jolt of pain when someone pressed their weight onto her and her body was pinned to the ground as they were now both human. She opened her eyes to find this seething raven haired man glaring death down at her, even as she inclined to struggle…

"So, the little canary's decided to finally take matters seriously?" he taunted, whipping out his wand that resembled a knife almost. "Easy to purchase, fates. You'd be surprised…"

"You will pay for this!" Anya growled as she tried to formulate a means of escape, by sneakily reaching for the wand in her apron pocket.

"Oh, will I, child? So sweet that your little charade got you closer to the little fellow, yet you have forgotten. Some are smarter than you — Even without a little help, your Barber will blow all this off all by himself~ Like a good chap."

"No, he WON'T!"

Anya was seeing red when she launched a resounding expelliarmus in order to get him off of her! Locating her friends had made her viciously determined to put up a fight~ and she has had it up to her neck with this! At once when he was thrown again, Rudolphus Lestrange dropped the class act and began heartlessly firing at the teenager…

Shelly wanted to go back to defend Anya, yet her place was to defend Charlie. Leaving him in these wilds with his head spinning was the worst thing she could do… The tour through the grass was worrying as she was trying to keep up with him. The shoots seemed to grow taller, although that could have been her own imagination. This maze he was unwittingly created for her not only angered her but she needed to be thankful that they were hidden from the fight. Shelly had a scare though, when she looked away for one second… Charlot had vanished…

Through his eyes everything was a pure blur like vision through a clear glass of water. His legs felt weighed down as though his feet were held in concrete yet he was moving. Or was he still? He was not sure… A great sorrow was torturing him, so intensely the more his thoughts screamed the most heinous words… In his own voice, he heard them!

Words of awful hate screamed at him from left and right speaking of how he was better off in jail, and how he was better off a tramp that no one dared to look at. Those he had helped only had used him for their own benefit~ no matter how much he tried to love them, their love was empty. All these were past thoughts he had himself…before he would put them far aside during hard times because he had no use for such thoughts. His heart would often be aglow for other people, however he was cautious…

'You need to get out~They never cared for what you did for them…
'They used you! Do not be stupid —'

"Stop talking~ I-I can't think! Anya… Hannah, where are they?"

'They abandoned you. Haven't you realized by now…?'

"Now you're just making me angry… I never get angry. I… I am remembering~ Hannah was there, upon the eve of ever working in the factories, everything was never the same again. We journeyed along the road… We came into Tomania with hope. Jeakel kept trying to convince us to stay — we had to stay… I never felt the feeling of home before back then."

'They only pitied you —'

"No. It was not pitying ~ The Ghetto trusted us. They love us… as we were, in rags and dust —"

'They USED you…'

"Shut up! … We embraced our truths, we were never forced into a work that would do more harm than good. A family that looked out for each other… Anya knew something was wrong, and she was trying to tell me…"

'She lied to you but you speak of her as if she did you the favor…'

"She had done us the favor… Something was frightening her. She wished to protect us from this~"

'You insignificant fool!'

"Then the war took me away. That was when this nightmare began… I became trapped in this half dream world… All this is waking me up~ Perhaps I should thank you for that."

The maze was becoming tedious and frightful for his protector, right then until he came out from the grass as if Charlot was granted a breath of fresh air. For once, the little Barber just stopped when this lovely sight greeted him at this lonely bank. The sun appeared to be diving low in the horizon as this light purple hue began to blanket the sky, leaving the clouds pinkish.

With Charlot finally at a standstill, Shelly was able to find him after they both left the chaos behind them, but the danger was still imminent… She was able to see that the sunset was proving as an element of healing by how focused he was on it. As though drawn, he slowly stepped out close to the bank of the lake.

It was beauty in general that has always kept him full of hope… The young witch by his side was at a solid loss of what to do. Thus far things were turning out awfully unpredictable, whether he was to whisk away again or not.

"Charlot…?" Shelly whispered before the commotion far off made her turn her head. Relieved that he was in one peace, Shelly slowly walked along the bank with him as he gazed on.

"It's beautiful, isn't it…?" Shelly muttered.

It seemed that the endless chase had taken a toll and Charlot had to lamely slip down and sit, half leaning with one arm almost behind him. His heavy breaths were not enough and the toll grew so much that his view of the horizon grew sparked and hazy. Finally, the man had lost consciousness and slumped down onto the soft ground with a mournful sigh… The girl caught his head from landing too roughly but she panicked as it was so sudden.

"Charlie!" Shelly feared for his life if this meant there was more than the mental torture.

Planting her ear over his chest, Shelly felt a beat and his breathing was still very heavy. He was pale though, despite the well-deserved peace over his calmed face. "… please, wake up!" the poor teenager begged, scared.

With the danger lingering ever closer, Shelly had to make a tough decision. Slow, she took out her wand. As soon as she was sure Charlot was sound, she rose up, facing the noise and Anya's cries.

Anya was in peril!
Shelly winced as she thought to try and remember another spell to roof over the Barber as he was recovering. Not sure she found the right incantation, Shelly began to utter~ Ab amico meo defende et repelle malum. and she repeated this thrice. A sound as if they were in a bubble vibrated around them, which told her that she chose the right incantation.

It was meanwhile when Anya was keeping this dark wizard away from the field they fled into… All she could manage was defensive strikes as she was shot with bombarding hexes, left and right. It was becoming so hectic that she was starting to tire out. This brought a chance to one woman who hid her best in the brush, watched on in horror as this supernatural struggle went on… She saw Shelly escape away with Charlot before her and she needed to get to the other side of the road in order to reach them. Whatever and however, she had to get to him when she had the chance… All this evil done would cease. When Anya repelled another hit, something struck the tree nearest to Hannah and she had to run before a branch fell off.

Rodolphus spotted her and shot a bolt of what resembled lightning at the woman, missing only by an inch! Anya saw her flee across the road and her enemy seemed to vanish into a flash of black smoke. The air fell dead for the girls, with Shelly diving through the grass making it in time to see Hannah come running. However something was on the rise above them~

"Get down! Get down!" Shelly yelled at Hannah.

Something barrelled down between them before a mighty wall of flames separated the two! Hannah's screaming led Anya not too far behind but was smacked with this new reality that now there was a vicious barricade aimed to keep them from reaching the lake~! Shelly was knocked down on the other side, and Hannah was face down in the grass. Even at Shelly's attempt to try to push the flames open with a protective spell, the wall of flames would not let off for a second, threatening its heat over their heads.

It would seem fighting against this new obstacle came off as funny since someone behind Anya manifested and chuckled. This young man threw a red as blood curse close to Hannah, enraging Anya just enough to shoot back. One sharp whirl with her wand sent a shot of air harshly against him, and all the while Shelly was having trouble trying to make an opening in the flames.

"LITTLE HELP!?" she had to blare out amidst all the chaotic noise. "Hannah! Hannah!" were the only indicators of what needed to be done — To get Hannah to Charlot.

Anya got the almost subtle message through all that noise and had to throw a protego over herself and Hannah who was as frozen as a deer caught by a hunter's gun barrel. With the same spell being repeated, mentally… Anya began to help Shelly on the other side to try and spread enough space for Hannah to leap through. This took so much strength to do even for two young women. It was almost like they were trying to tame a wild horse. Hannah was frozen still, even when there were chance by chance that there was a moment for her to escape through…

"Hannah! RUN! GO - NOW!" Anya yelled at her, almost inclined to kick her but she was too far.

Eventually, the poor woman shook herself out of it and got to her feet to run through the opening before it would chomp at her like some rabid dog. Hannah was finally free from the wizard's threat and Shelly let herself to lax for just a moment.

'God! Finally!' Shelly's thoughts rang. 'Go~ go to him, while you still have the chance —'

Hannah just kept going as fast as her legs could take her, as blindly as a mole through dirt to search high and low for any sign of her dear one… hoping for dear life that he was all right! If she lost him, oh! She could not bear the thought of that! Ever! Losing him once, she was not going to ever lose him again — especially not like this.

Her frazzled journey had taken her all the way to the undisturbed bank where she could now see the stars beginning to sparkle, however the distant fire she left behind her was filling the sky with smoke… The water was softly kissing the shore and she searched for any sign of the poor Barber…

Hannah kept going along the shore until she saw an odd form simply lying in the moist brush, motionless. A little man, in a torn vest, slacks, lightly shaded pink striped shirt. His face was fair, calm… handsome despite the careworn over his features. His chest rose and fell…

She gasped as tears sprung to her blue eyes before she dashed to his side, swiping the jacket off to return it to its proper owner~ blanketing it over him.

"No! Charlie!?" Hannah began to beg, gently but hurriedly settling his limb head onto her lap. "… charlie, it's me… Hannah…" she began to motherly stroke his brow to through his hair in hopes that he would rouse. He was as cold as ice. "Please come back~ We came all this way to find you… Please, oh please wake up…"

Heartbroken, poor Hannah bent down and embraced him to weep. "Why!? Oh why! I-I know you would never run from me. It was you who always pushed me along~ Now I must push you the rest of the way… Anya and Michelle, they can't do this on their own… You've been a leader before all this… You gave our nation a new voice! You cannot allow them to take that away again, you cannot! You spoke of a kindly world, a world where we live to help each other… We mustn't forget that — never, never, never…" Hannah sobbed. "I love you, Charlot… I love you~ We all love you, so much~"