"Malvaron!" Arkayna yelled as soon as she, Zarya, and Piper reached the stronghold. "We need help, now!"

"That's not something I like to hear after a mission," Malvaron said from the living room. He met them at the front door, with Doug following closely behind. Their eyes widened as they saw Zarya, and they rushed towards the girls. "Who did this? Was it Tazma?"

"This is the curse from before," Zarya said. "It came back."

"What curse?" Doug asked.

"Tazma cast a spell on Zarya a while ago, and Aunt Yaga reversed it," Malvaron said. "At least, I thought she did."

Arkayna, and Piper helped Zarya to the couch as Doug and Malvaron followed closely behind. "Wait, it came back?" Malvaron said. "But how?"

"Proxima said that life-drain spells can come back sometimes," Zarya said as she sat on the couch. Piper sat next to her, and Arkayna, Doug, and Malvaron remained standing.

"I...I'll get Mom," Arkayna said. With that, Arkayna ran out of the stronghold.

"I'm calling Aunt Yaga," Malvaron said. He looked at Doug. "See if you can find any books on life-drain spells."

"On it," Doug said. With that, Malvaron went to another room, and Doug went to the study, leaving Piper and Zarya alone in the stronghold.

Zarya saw the young elf holding her arms tightly to her body as she looked at Zarya, and then at the ground. Zarya tried to think of a way to make Piper feel better, but comforting others wasn't exactly one of her strengths. Back in the Undercity, she used to find something to distract Piper.

"I still have the tickets to the demolition derby," Zarya said. "Why don't you go on without me, so at least one ticket doesn't go to waste."

Piper shook her head. "I don't want to go without you."

Zarya guessed that Piper would say that. "Then how about when this whole thing is over with, we'll find something else to do together? If we go to the Forest of Brynn, we can see if we can find Ziggy."

Piper's eyes lit up. "That would be so cool!" Her face fell. "But what if..." Piper's voice trailed off as she began to cry.

"Hey, I'll be fine," Zarya said, forcing a smile. "Proxima's already looking for a way to reverse this, and once Malvaron tells Aunt Yaga what's going on, they'll both be helping figure this out to. We will get rid of this curse." Zarya winced as she felt the curse spread through more of her body.

Piper wiped her eyes and extended her pinky finger. "Pinky promise?"

"Piper promise," Zarya said as she wrapped her pinky finger around Piper's.

Just then, Arkayna ran into the stronghold, Queen Goodfey following closely behind. "By the stars," Queen Goodfey said as she rushed to Zarya's side. "How did this happen?"

"Tazma did this a while ago," Zarya said. "It came back."

"Don't worry," Queen Goodfey said, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Your stepfather is looking for a reversal spell in the royal library. We will save you."

Malvaron returned to the living room. "Aunt Yaga and Nova Terron will be here as soon as they can, but their van broke down. Aunt Yaga said she she can fix it in an hour."

"But what if that's too long?" Piper said.

Queen Goodfey forced a smile as she looked at Piper. "We don't have to wait for them to figure this out. We can get to work right away."

"Yeah," Zarya agreed. "Not to mention that Proxima already got a head start researching."

Doug came into the living room, carrying a large stack of books. "Where you I put them?"

"The coffee table," Malvaron said. "Thanks."

Arkayna looked at Malvaron. "Why is this happening?"

"I don't know," Malvaron said. "We weren't taught a lot about life-drain spells at the academy, just what they look like."

Zarya looked away, and Queen Goodfey seemed to notice. "You know something about this, don't you?"

Zarya sighed. "According to a book Proxima found at the Academy, the chances of this happening gets higher the longer it took to reverse the curse."

"What?" A voice behind them asked. They all turned around, and saw Em standing at the edge of the living room, her purple eyes wide and filling with tears.

"Em," Arkayna said.

"I...I'm sorry," Em stammered before running to her room.

"Em!" Zarya called out. She quickly stood up from the couch, only to be met by an immense wave of pain, forcing her to cry out as she fell on her knees. Queen Goodfey and Arkayna helped Zarya back on the couch.

XXX

Em tried to focus on her spellpad as she searched for a way to save Zarya, but the tears in her eyes blurred her vision. She tried to wipe the tears away, but they immediately came back. She was pacing as she researched for a while, but then found herself sitting down against one of her bedroom walls.

She couldn't believe that this was happening. Despite all the obstacles that they had faced, and all the time Em spent hesitating, they did manage to find Aunt Yaga. She thought the curse was over with the moment she watched the purple lines disappear. There was no warning that it would come back.

"Are you O.K?" A voice asked.

Em looked up and saw Doug standing in the middle of the doorway with a concerned look on his face. Em shook her head and cried harder.

"It's my fault this happened," Em said between sobs. "Zarya needed me to be brave for her when it first came, and all I did was hesitate. And I called the centaurs we saw cute, so they attacked us."

Doug sat down beside Em. "It sounds like that was a rough quest."

Em wiped tears out of her eyes. "You don't think it's my fault?"

Doug shook his head. "You can't possibly know everything about every creature, so no one can blame you for not knowing that centaurs don't like being called cute."

"But what about hesitating?" Em asked.

"You were scared," Doug said. "That happens to everyone."

"Maybe," Em said.

"And think of it this way," Doug said. "The other Mysticons made mistakes to. Do you hold it against them?"

"No," Em said.

Doug smiled. "Then why do that to yourself? You deserve just as much as they do."

Em smiled. "Thanks, Doug." She stood up. "Let's get back to the others." With that, they left the bedroom.

Note: I personally don't think the original curse was Em's fault. She used her bracer right before, so I don't think she could have used it again. However, I really don't think Em sees it this way, and Doug wasn't there to point it out, so that idea didn't come up in their conversation.