A/N: The final chapter of this story, basically the same moment, told from Avalon's point of view.
Avalon sighed, as he threw
off his clothes and plunged into bed. His capture by Darkar left him
weak and exhausted. After a quick recap of what happened when he was
away, Faragonda offered him a room to rest. Sure, he would rather be
at the front-lines together with the faeries, but he could barely
stand. So, pulling up the sheets, Avalon prepared to go to sleep.
A knock on his door and
Avalon groaned, who would want to see him? Certainly not any of the
faeries.
"Who's there?"
He asked to whoever was outside his room. No answer came for a few
moments, before a young elf with golden eyes and long brown hair
entered, dressed in white pants and a green vest, quite handsome
actually. "Oh, and you are...?" Avalon asked friendly, the
elf seemed quite timid around him, borderlining at being nervous.
"It's, erhm...
Palladium, I'm a proffesor at Elfea." The elf stuttered.
"A colleague, hmm?"
Avalon said to him, slightly sitting up. Palladium started to blush.
Boy, this elf was really timid, but somehow, Avalon liked it. It
fitted with it's delicate appearance. Why would Palladium visit him?
"Is something wrong?" He asked.
"N-no, of course
not!" Palladium said, backing away. "Just... checking up,
but I can see you're fine, byebye!" Avalon looked at the leaving
elf strangely, what was with this guy?
"Proffesor, would you
mind telling me what's going on?" He asked, putting Palladium
even more on edge with his tone. He then noticed his sheets had
lowered quite a bit... maybe that was the reason. He pulled them up.
Palladium joined him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"As far has I know,
your Shadowclone has kidnapped Bloom and now the other fairies
are..." Palladium started, but Avalon cut him off. Those were
things he already knew.
"Not that, I want to
know why you're acting so strange." He said, Palladium just
looked down. "Does it have anything to do with my Shadowclone?"
Avalon felt himself anger just thinking of that dirty trick Darkar
pulled with an imposter of him.
"It does... has
Faragonda told you how the codex from the Pixie village was stolen?"
He could see Palladium looking down and clench his fists. Oh god, he
could see where this was going...
"Not completely, but
she told me that my... clone... tricked one of the staff members,
together with a pixie, to show Icy the village." Avalon couldn't
help but to spit out the word clone.
"Well, that staff
member... that was me." Yep, it was just as he expected, he
looked at the guilt-ridden elf on his bed, afraid to open his eyes
and look at him. Maybe that was better, he wouldn't like the guilty
look into those magnificent golden eyes.
"Poor soul... you
must've felt awfull." Avalon said to sooth Palladium, but
somehow he felt so much compassion that it turned into rage towards
who caused this distress. "Damn that clone, and damn Darkar!"
He suddenly shouted, surprising Palladium. "Abusing the kind
spirit of elves and pixies alike! If I wasn't this weak, I would've
joined the fearies at the front lines.""Maybe I
shouldn't have fallen for it, maybe if I wasn't so gullible..."
Palladium tried, Avalon would have nothing of it.
"Nonsense, those
months in Darkar's dungeon thaught me how cruel and cunning he is, he
must've worked towards it since the beginning and abusing those who
trusted his minion." This brought him back... back to that time.
"Welcome,
Professor Avalon, to your new home." He was chained to a wall.
"Of course you
will be missed, but I can take care of that." A large part of
his very life was drained, unknowingly used for the clone.
"Oh, I almost
forgot you were here, just like everyone else." He was taunted.
How he hated being
there... the pain and anguish were still to fresh. His companion
must've felt that.
"I should go, you
need your rest." Palladium said, preparing to leave. And altough
Avalon felt tired, he needed to cheer up Palladium one way or
another, it would better his mood as well."Wait!" He
practically shouted, halting Palladium. "Listen, I... don't
blame you for what happened." Good, now for the cheering part.
"You did nothing wrong, so take that frown off your beautiful
face and smile at me." Okay, he didn't know where that came
from, but it helped. A small, delicate smile appeared. "That's
what I like about elves; their smiles brighten everyones day."
"Please..."
Palladium waved away the last comment, before leaving. Avalon fell
back into his bed, also smiling.
"If that was his colleague, he would be in for a good time at Elfea.
