A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Life got crazy busy.

Chapter 7

Dave walked aimlessly through the darkened streets of New York City. He was angry. Angry at Balthazar for keeping secrets. Angry at Arya for not backing him up. Just… angry at the situation. He walked until he shivered from the cold night. His hands had gone numb and he stuffed them in his pockets to try for a little bit of warmth.

He sighed. He really shouldn't have stormed out of the lab.

Dave wanted somewhere quiet to think. The science nerd lets his feet take him through the city without noticing anything as he walked. Stumbling at what appears to be a restaurant, he catches the sight of Becky hanging out with her friends with Andre enjoying himself with his coffee. None of Becky's friends notice the science nerd as he takes his time looking at them sadly before walked away, uncertain with the fate of his relationship with Becky.

Arriving at the balcony of Chrysler Building, he reminisces about his reunion with Balthazar a few days prior there and looked at Merlin's ring forlornly for a few minutes. Part of him screamed to just throw the darn thing off the side of the building and be done with it all. When he finally decided to throw it, he was interrupted by Becky who turned out had noticed him and subsequently followed him.

"Dave?" Becky started, hesitantly, seeing the position he was in.

Dave hastily puts his hands and the ring into his pocket while turning on Becky at the same time, "W-what are you doing here?"

"I saw you outside the coffee shop, so I followed you." Dave face-palms, exasperated that his predicament seemingly worsens, "You looked a little more distressed than usual"

Dave sighed, "That bad, huh?"

"Did you really think that one botched date was going to make me hate you forever?"

"Yeah." Dave said nervously.

"I do have to ask you this one thing. What are you doing up here?"

"Yeah. A friend of mine brought me here once." Dave said, thinking about the reunion with Balthazar.

Becky took a glance as if to look over the edge but stayed where she was, "And the height doesn't bother you?"

"Are you afraid of heights?"

"A little bit, yeah."

"Trust me. Here, come on." Dave cautiously took Becky's hand, "Come on. You're good. You're good."

"I don't know." Becky tentatively let Dave pull her over to the railing before being awed by the beautiful night landscape of New York City presented by the science nerd. Becky let out a breath, "Wow."

Dave sighed, "Yeah. Wow."

"Do you remember when you drew King Kong on the bus window? And he lined up with the Empire State Building?"

Dave looked at Becky, surprised that she remembered that, "You remember that?"

Becky gave a shy smile, "It was cool. You saw the world in your own way."

Dave fidgeted, "I was just trying to impress you."

"Well, it worked. Not bad for a 10-year-old kid."

"Yeah, right. What happened?"

"What? What do you mean?"

Dave gave a bitter laugh, "The bitter irony of the fact that 10-year-old me is far cooler than 20-year-old me."

"I think 20-year-old Dave is... He's all right."

"Like, "all right" all right, or "all right!" all right?"

Becky laughed before sighing in content, "I think he is somewhere in the middle."

Dave smiled, "That's a diplomatic answer. And thank you."

Dave and Becky's eyes meet. Turns out it takes more than a botched date to ruin their relationships after all.

"I'm sure Dave didn't mean those things. He was just angry and wasn't thinking." Arya stated after a while of silence while cleaning up the mess.

"Oh, I'm sure." Balthazar muttered as he picked up a mop to move back to the storage closet.

"He's frustrated." Arya sighed. "He just has to get used to the idea of magic. Like I said earlier, Dave's brain needs logic to function and magic is anything but logical."

Balthazar sighed as he picked up the wet Encantus up off of the floor. He heard someone entering the lab, looked up, and noticed that it was Dave.

"Hey." Dave stated.

"Hello." Balthazar stated back to Dave, a bit surprised that Dave is back this quickly.

Dave walked halfway down the grated stairs, "I'm sorry. I think you and I need to have a talk."

Balthazar put the wet Encantus on the table and stepped toward Dave, "No apology necessary. Let us move on."

Dave flashed him a smile, "You're a diamond, mate." Balthazar looks up in alarm upon Dave's sudden out-of-character moment, particularly his British accent until he notices the black nail polish on the science nerd's fingers. Before he could react, "Dave" grinned as he pinned the Merlinean against one of the larger circular fan-like Tesla coil. with a well-aimed air blast before restraining him with copper wires telekinetically.

"Balthazar!" Arya yelled, shocked, "Dave, what the fuck?!"

"Ah, the infamous Protector." Dave stalked down the stairs and slowly morphed back into Drake Stone as Horvath revealed himself at the top of the stairs.

"Shit." Arya glances around for her sword but before she could locate it in the mess, Drake had already pushed her back with magic and slammed her into one of the Tesla coil towers. She groaned at the impact and tried to move her hands but the coils wrapped around her wrists and ankles, forcing her to stop moving.

Horvath gave Drake a surprised smile, "Surprisingly well done. Now go find the Grimhold." Drake begins searching the lab while Horvath began to talk to Balthazar, "You seem to have rather a soft spot for that boy." He sneered, "Has Balthazar made a new friend?"

"I don't see the Grimhold." Drake said after looking around the trashed lab.

Horvath rolled his eyes, "That's because you're using your eyes." He smirked at Balthazar, "Clever Balthazar." He brandished his glowing cane, "Always up to his little tricks." He conjured a sphere of fog which he then splits into guided fog trails that fly searching through different corners of the room. As his nemesis busily searches the lab, Balthazar carefully freezes the wires that his hands and feet are bound with, encasing them within a thin layer of ice. As he does, Horvath summons another fog trail that flows over a spot that is shaped like the Grimhold, revealing its location to Drake.

"Found it." Drake exclaimed. He moved to reach the doll only for it to fly right into Horvath's waiting hand.

"It's lighter than I remember." Horvath reminisced.

"We once fought together, Maxim."

Horvath's face hardened, "A lot happened since those days."

"This isn't about that."

Horvath glared at Balthazar, "Oh, yes, it is, Balthazar. It's always been about that! Veronica chose you instead of me, the great Balthazar Blake, my best friend. Well, I'm going to let you watch me release Morgana. Let you watch your world crumble into nothing!"

Breaking his ringed hand free, Balthazar slams an air blast against Horvath before removing the rest of his limbs. This prompts Drake to knock the Merlinean into his knees with an air blast of his own, leaving him open to Horvath who telekinetically hurls his knife against Balthazar. The Merlinean sorcerer closes his eyes as he braces for the worst, only for the projectiles stopped in mid-air much to Drake's shock and Horvath's fury.

Balthazar, Horvath, Drake, and Arya look up and see the real Dave has arrived and stopped the knives in the nick of time, "Dave!" Arya shouted, worried that she couldn't help protect Dave from both Horvath and Drake while she was tied up. But, thankfully, they choose to flee the lab instead of engaging him since they already got what they wanted.

"Drake. Let's go." Horvath stated and the two fled out the back way as Dave raced down the stairs to Balthazar and Arya..

"Nice catch." Balthazar stated as Dave helped him to his feet.

"I owed you one."

"Uh, a little help?" Arya reminded the men.

"Arya!" Dave rushed forward but all Balthazar had to do was wave his hand and the coils snaked back to their original form. Arya slid down five feet to the floor and landed with a thud on her feet.

"They got the doll, Dave." Arya said as Dave raced over to her to check to see if she was alright.

Dave looked down at her and gave her a determined smile, "Let's get it back."

The trio sprinted outside just as Horvath and Drake made their escape in Drake's SUV. Arya hopped into the back as Dave and Balthazar got into the front of Balthazar's 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe. Balthazar backs out of his parking space and races after the gray SUV.

"Hang on!" He decelerates the car to the streets before hitting the gas to speed off.

Dave, having taken his bulldog, Tank, with him stated, "Hang on, Tank."

Arya glanced at Dave, "I can't believe you took Tank with us during a car chase."

Dave glared back at Arya, "I wasn't leaving him in the lab alone."

The car chase begins as Balthazar waves through the busy city traffic with skill, quickly gaining on Drake's SUV. But then, Horvath notices a large truck nearby as it is about to make a left turn.

Balthazar saw Horvath dangerously swerve the SUV through the truck's path. Balthazar maneuvers his car through the truck's rear… only to stumble upon the sight of a sea of identical yellow taxi cabs.

"Whoa!" Dave exclaimed.

"What the..." Arya started.

Balthazar cursed, "Shit. Horvath! He's in here somewhere."

"Wait. He has the power to turn his car into a taxi?!" Dave turned to Balthazar with a look of amazement. He was slowly learning just what magic could do.

"Use your ring and lock in on the Grimhold. Remember, it moves with the ring."

Dave nodded, "Okay, yeah. Right, right, right." Dave gave Balthazar a look of realization as he finally understood how he managed to summon the Grimhold back at Arcana Cabana all those years ago. Dave emulates the feat where this time, through his own will. Focusing on the Grimhold, he splays his hand and gestures as if he bashes the doll in a random direction, causing it to fly smacking at the left side of Drake's face that he unwittingly swerves his disguised SUV violently. This in turn, gives away his and Horvath's location a few cars ahead of the Merlineans' Phantom.

"There!" Arya pointed with a shout.

Dave bashes the Grimhold for another good measure, "Go! Go!"

Horvath places his hand and cane out the window on the top of the cab, transmogrifies it into a stunning black Ferrari F430 with a water ripple-like effect which then speeds away while shedding the summoned taxi roof light with a loud thump.

"Whoa! What the heck?!"

Horvath is not the only one who has such a neat trick. Calmly putting his ringed hand out of the window on top of his car, Balthazar evens their ground by magically transmogrify the Phantom into a silver Mercedes McLaren SLR complete with the leather racing interior. The car transforms with a similar water ripple-like effect.

"Hey! Well, look at that." Dave stated, impressed.

"Hang on you two." Balthazar floors the transmogrified Phantom, causing its supercharged engine to roar as they speed through the streets of downtown Manhattan.

Dave was surprised to see the Phantom's current form being as fast as the car it mimicked, "Oh, my God."

The SUV brings the chase into a tunnel, disregarding the tunnel's traffic signs which say that they shouldn't enter through the entrance they are now heading due to exiting cars from opposing directions. Unable to lose Morganians' tracks, Dave and Balthazar choose to do the same. As both the transformed SUV and Phantom swerve and weave around oncoming cars, Dave struggles to maintain his death grip on the sides of the passenger seat. "Shit, shit, shit!" Arya yelled as Balthazar barely missed colliding with the oncoming traffic, gripping the door armrest for dear life.

Sticking his cane out of the window, Horvath conjures fog with greater output than one he used to search Dave's lab some time ago, creating a smokescreen for everybody in the tunnel to travel through with difficulty without causing accidents. "Wh-what is that, smoke?" Dave asked.

Balthazar cringed at Horvath but pressed on regardless and dodged the oncoming cars with inches to spare.

"Oh, come on!" Dave exclaimed as the car chase dragged out.

Both cars finally make it out of the tunnel and approach a construction site ahead. Horvath notices some construction workers fastening chains around a piece of glass for their crane to lift, which gives him an idea to get rid of their pursuer.

Arya noticed that Horvath pointed his cane out of the window at one of the building's windows and the window glasses rippled like the top of the water. Arya had a very bad feeling and thought back to the bathroom at NYU where Balthazar had previously trapped Horvath in, "Balthazar, wait!"

However, Arya's warning came too late and both Arya and Dave screamed as the transformed Phanom helplessly flew into the trap and crashed into a strange dimension by the wheels where everything, even insides of their car, is backward much to his confusion, "Uh, uh, uh, what the heck is this?" Dave asked, panicking.

"Yes, we drove through a mirror. We're trapped in a reverse world." Balthazar glanced back at Arya through the overhead mirror, "How did you know?"

Arya shrugged, "Remembered from your trick in the bathroom. Assumed it was either the same or a similar spell."

Balthazar nodded, "It is, it is. Horvath's payback for trapping him in the bathroom mirror no doubt." He interrupted Dave before he can say anything, "No, no. We won't die as long as we get out of here soon.…"

"Okay." Dave said.

Arya crossed her arms, "That's not exactly reassuring."

"Well, would you like to be the one who drives?"

"Nope. Shutting up now." Arya muttered.

"How do we get out?" Dave asked before any awkward silence could ensue.

"By driving through our own reflection."

Dave nodded, "Fantastic." He notices the transformed Phantom's reflection in the mirrored windows on the buildings they are driving past; their ticket to get out of the mirror and Horvath and Drake's SUV-turned black Ferrari, "There! In the window."

"This is it." Balthazar sped their Phantom-turned Mercedes towards the building's reflective mirrors. Predictably, Horvath blasts the windows from the real world with plasma bolts to keep them from getting out as Dave and Arya take cover from the debris. When the Morganian ceased his attacks, however, he inadvertently spared a damaged yet still intact second-floor window that was about to fall.

Dave realized what Balthazar is about to do, "No, no, no, no, no. You're not…."

"Here we go." Balthazar yelled, speeding the transformed Phantom towards the falling window.

"No! Are you crazy?" Arya yelled from the back.

Dave nodded in agreement, "We're not going to make that! We're not — NOOOOOOO!" Both Dave and Arya braced as they drove through the window just before it shattered into pieces. With a ripple of energy, they come out to the other side fully intact. Dave looks back and sees everything has returned to normal and that they are still alive, for now.

"I'd say that was a success." Balthazar said, breathing heavily.

Arya groaned, "My stomach didn't like that."

Balthazar's eyes widened, "If you throw up in my car…" Balthazar trailed off, leaving his threat unsaid. Arya glared and bit her tongue, not wanting to get into an argument during a car chase. She would chew him out afterward.

They continue the chase through Times Square, dodging traffic and pedestrians as they go. Drake takes a right turn into an alley full of garbage trucks seemingly by mistake, allowing the Merlineans to corner them at last. But suddenly, Balthazar abruptly hits the brakes causing his apprentice to yelp in shock – instead of an SUV-turned black Ferrari, Horvath and Drake have changed their vehicle into a similar truck with a lifted heavy dumpster to turn the tide of their cat-and-mouse game.

Horvath grins from the cab of the SUV-turned garbage truck, "Hello, Balthazar."

Balthazar grins back. The truck is about to crush their Phantom-turned Mercedes with the dumpster, "Oh, man. Oh, man. No, no, no. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up." Dave yelled. Balthazar reverses the car prompting the Morganians to pursue their fleeing enemies' transformed Phantom. "Oh, man." An idea forms in Dave's mind upon recalling how Balthazar morphed their car moments ago, "Uh, I've got an idea. I've got an idea."

"Dave, don't." Balthazar pleaded.

"Please, just let me do it!" Dave casts the spell anyway off-screen only for it misses off-screen and turns their car into an old, barely operational one instead of the oncoming garbage truck.

"Dave!" Arya yelled.

Balthazar glared at Dave, "73 Pinto? This is your idea?!"

Balthazar tried to keep their car moving with any manner of speed, "No! No. My idea was to turn their car into a beater."

Horvath's and Drake's truck pins the then defunct Phantom-turned Pinto against multiple cars behind it and Arya could hear Horvath yell at Drake, "Finish it."

"Right!" Drake lowers their SUV-turned garbage truck's dumpster against Phantom-turned Pinto along with the panic Merlineans inside. Arya ducked down as the top of the car buckled and she let out a scream. Tank covers between Dave's feet as his owner and Balthazar brace for what will be their deaths only for the dumpster to abruptly stop. Luckily, the bewitched Phantom's sturdy frame saved them from being harmed despite the considerable damage it received.

"I think he stopped!" Dave breathed out. Balthazar crawls his way out of his crushed Phantom-turned Pinto and looks up at the SUV-turned garbage truck's cab, which is already empty. The pedestrians surround the scene as the veteran Merlinean scans the streets for their fleeing enemies while Dave evacuates his beloved bulldog pet, "Hold on, Tank. Hold on, Tank. I got you, buddy."

Balthazar turned around and pried the crushed door out and helped a disheveled Arya out of the car, "You okay?"

"Let's never do that again." She breathed out.

Balthazar snorted, "Agreed." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Horvath leaving the crowd and gave chase.

"Hey! Wait up!" Arya yelled and sprinted after Balthazar, leaving Dave to deal with the car and Tank.

With a spiteful glance on his pursuing nemesis, Horvath magically morphs a woman that walks by into the image of Veronica via a gentle touch as one last trick to divert their pursuers. The sight of the transformed pedestrian stops Balthazar in his tracks, cracking his collected demeanor and causing him to forget the chase.

Arya looked between the transformed women and Balthazar, her eyes widening as she made the connection. "Who was that?" Arya asked quietly. Still reeling from this turn of events, Balthazar reaches out to grab her without thinking twice, causing her to yelp in shock.

Transformed Pedestrian turns around while reverting to her original form in an instant, "Hey!"

Balthazar gasped silently after realizing that was indeed Horvath's trick and collected himself at once, "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else." The pedestrian walks away in annoyance just as Dave catches up with Balthazar while carrying Tank at last.

Arya stared at Balthazar's far-off expression, "You okay?"

"Where- where's Horvath?" Dave said from behind and Balthazar turned around sadly for the Morganians who were already long gone by this point, "Did he get away? Where's the Grimhold?"

"Who was that? That was her, wasn't it? The third apprentice?" Dave asked Balthazar.

Disheartened at the loss of the Grimhold, the Merlineans headed back to the lab. The mess Dave left behind from his failed spell has been cleaned up, with damages done on his electronics apparently undone as well.

Balthazar, Dave, and Arya were sitting next to each other on the concrete steps down into the lab. He was showing Dave and Arya the medieval renderings of his and Veronica's past battles, "For centuries, Veronica, Horvath, and I were the only thing standing between Morgana and man's destruction. Our friendship and our magic were what Veronica and I depended on."

"You fell for her, didn't you?" Arya stated.

Balthazar gave Arya a pained look, "I fell for her." He reminisces about his and Veronica's time at a bazaar in Britain back during the medieval era, in which he notices her looking at a beautiful necklace being sold by a merchant longingly. "Like you, Dave, all Veronica wanted was to be normal. Normal things, normal life. I fell." After a beat, "And so did Horvath." Dave looked surprised, "That's why Horvath betrayed us." Balthazar explained.

"For 1,000 years, you've been carrying her around with you in the Grimhold." Dave stated.

Balthazar reveals the necklace from within the bundle of cloth in his possession sadly, which revealed to be the same one from the bazaar long ago, "I was going to give this to her that night."

Arya stared at the beautiful necklace and realized how much Balthazar missed Veronica and that his love for her is his greatest drive to fulfill his quest instead of mere obligation as a Merlinean sorcerer.

Dave's thinking was similar to Arya's in that he related more to Balthazar now that he was in a relationship with Becky, "I'm sorry." A determination is etched across his face as the science nerd finds his own spark, "Okay, Balthazar. We are going to get Veronica out AND destroy Morgana."

Balthazar looked at Dave, startled that he had a change of heart about his magic training, "What's happened to you?"

Dave shifted, trying to awkwardly hide his true feelings, "Nothing."

"You're still a bad liar."

"Why does everyone-" Dave began, annoyed.

"You know, I am glad she likes you. No, I am not surprised. Only glad. There's nothing like it, is there?" Dave shakes his head in agreement, "Put your... old man shoes back on. We have some work to do." Balthazar looked over to Arya, "You too, Arya. We need to train harder knowing that Horvath will unleash another sorcerer from the Grimhold."

Arya nodded and stood up, "I'm ready."