"Transporto!" and she disappeared into a cloud of periwinkle smoke, re-materializing in Cedric's workshop. She still hadn't perfected the spell and her lack of practice was evident. It left her reeling. Her stomach lurched and her legs felt weak and unsteady. She reached out hoping to find something to help her keep her balance, but finding nothing she braced her body for impact as she felt herself start to fall.

She didn't. A hand grabbed hers, and steadied her, the other grabbing her by the waist.
It was Cedric. He must have caught her instinctively. He also must have known she was going to come, because he'd left his bedchamber. The Sorcerer stared at her, his expression a mixture of concern and anger and she noticed he had haphazardly thrown his robes around his pyjamas.
Suddenly she remembered what had brought her here, She had come to confront him. She jumped from his arms like he was burning her, pointing her wand at him defensively. He looked hurt for a moment, but then the anger returned.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?! You Promised me you would never use a Transport spell alone until we had it perfected! And you were Astral Projecting! Do you know how dangerous that can be?! What if something had happened to you?!"
Anger filled her. How dare he pretend he care about her well being.
"Don't act like you care, Cedric! I'm sure you'd be thrilled if something happened to me!" she cried, finally dropping his affectionate title after all these years.
The hurt look returned to his eyes, but only momentarily.

"How can you say that?!"

"It'd make it so much easier to get my Amulet, wouldn't it?!"
He didn't reply. He gulped and turned away from her.

"Well, aren't you going to deny it?!"

"How can I? You very clearly saw what you saw." he replied his voice calm and cold now.

"How Could you?!"
He shrugged in reply, but wouldn't face her.

"For how long?"
"Sofia…"
"For How long?!"
He sighed heavily.
"I'd been attempting to acquire the Amulet of Avalor for years before you came to the castle. I just hadn't known it was right under my nose the whole time until, it was given to you." he stated coldly and mechanically.
The revelation was a bit too much for Sofia. She felt the anger give way to sorrow and betrayal.

"So… all this time… were you ever even my friend? Did you ever care at all? Or was it always about the Amulet? About getting to rule the Kingdom? And then after that, what would you have done with us? Had us killed?!"
"No!"
"Then what?!"
"I-I'd never thought that far ahead." he admitted.

"In your dream… you… you almost hurt me…"

He was breathing heavily.

"I know... but I'd never really… " he trailed off. He looked close to tears for a moment.

There was silence for a moment as she processed everything. He was never her friend. He'd never cared. He wanted her amulet all this time. Not her. Not her friendship. All those words, all those little gestures, when he said she made him happy, that he adored her, that she was a good thing in his life… he hadn't meant it. Not a word. The pain was unbearable. And although she did believe him when he said he'd never hurt her physically, the damage to the rest of her had been done.

"Why?" she asked as tears began to fall.
"It's not something someone like you could ever understand!" he spat venomously.

"Well, then explain it to me! Make me understand!"
"Do you know what if feels like to be thought so lowly of? Do you know what it feels like to know no one respects you? That you're a complete joke? To know that the majority of the kingdom hates you?!"

"That's not true!" she shouted, suddenly feeling a pang of sympathy for the man.

"Yes it is! I know what they say about me!"
"What about me?! You know I never thought those things.. all I've ever done is try to support you and encourage you and show everyone how truly amazing you are. Because you are! All I've ever done is try to be kind to you. To be your friend! Doesn't that count for anything?"
"You're just one person, Sofia." he replied softly.

"Just one person?! I… I love you…" she'd finally said it. She hadn't meant to, but she had. The words sounded so wretchedly pathetic leaving her mouth.

"I love you. I'm in love with you. Doesn't that count for anything?" she asked quietly.

Cedric stared at her completely stunned. He looked so very touched for a moment… the coldness in his eyes melted away and he seemed to want to go to her, to hold her, but he refrained from doing so. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again they were unreadable.

"Don't say things you don't mean, Sofia!" he hissed.

"But I do mean it! I love you!" she said earnestly.

He stared at her mouth agape and just shook his head.

"No you don't. You can't! Your little infatuation is not love. You don't feel anything real for me. How can you now?!"

"Yes I do! Whether I want to or not and right now I wish I didn't. I love you. Don't you believe me?"

He just shook his head.
"You can't love me. You don't even know me. Not really. You saw what I wanted you to see. I'm not a good man. How you ever thought I was is still a mystery to me. You saw just now my thoughts, what I dream of. I'm a Villain, Sofia! That's all i'll ever be. I can't feel anything for you." there was a look of regret in his eyes as he spoke.
Yes, that was true, but she remembered it seemed more like a nightmare to him too. He'd dreamt of other things. Of her. She must mean something to him...

"We kissed." she said softly. She watched as he stiffened and turned his eyes away from her yet again.

"So? What of it?" he said quickly.

" So, I think you do feel something for me. Don't you?"
"No." he said flatly, still not meeting her gaze.

"What are you so afraid of?!" She cried out exasperated.

"Are you calling me a coward?!" he shrieked.

"No! No, I'm not saying that at all … I just… do you even know how much that kiss meant to me? How much you mean to me?" she asked, her voice breaking.
"Sofia…" he began, but stopped and then almost inaudibly he murmured something to himself that sounded like "Princesses don't fall in love with Sorcerers." but she couldn't be sure. He hung his head low and hunched his shoulders, still avoiding her gaze. He looked so very wretched and defeated.
That pang of sympathy returned and she came to him, a half crazed look in her eyes. She suddenly had the desire to embrace him. Why? Well, she wasn't completely sure. He had betrayed her. He had just admitted that their friendship of the last thirteen years was built on a lie. He wanted her most valuable possession for his own gain, he had been plotting treason against her father, and he'd rebuffed her when she said she loved him, so to embrace him after all this was madness. Then again, so was this entire situation. She felt her tears starting anew. "Cedric." she sobbed as she threw her arms around him, and buried her face in his chest, hoping to find some comfort their, even then. She murmured his name over and over. "Don't!" he said sharply, sounding panicked. "Don't…" he said again after a moment, his voice suddenly gentle, and she didn't know if he meant "Don't touch me" or "Don't cry" but she continued to do both, until she felt his arms wrap around her.

"Why?" she asked again as her sobs began to subside. He didn't answer, but he held her tighter. They stood like that for several minutes. There was an absurdity in it. They stood like two lovers. The lovers that never were. Perhaps, they were both wishing that all that had been revealed could be forgotten, perhaps, they were both hoping to somehow postpone the reality of the situation. Or perhaps, it was another ploy by the Sorcerer. She would never know.
"Sofia...What do you expect from me? What is it you want?" he whispered in her ear and being in such a close proximity, she could feel the heat from his breath on her neck and it made her shudder.

"I just want you." she whimpered.

"Even now?" he asked with a hint of scorn.

"Yes! I could forgive you. I think I could forgive you!" she cried desperately.

"Could you?" he asked flatly. How?" his voice was soft now and in a fleeting and perhaps unconscious moment of tenderness, he reached up and gently caressed her cheek.

"Just- just tell me that you don't want my Amulet anymore… Because I truly don't think you do… just say that you want… me."

He pushed her away from him then, and looked at her strangely with those tired, red rimmed brown eyes.
"Sweet child… " he whispered softly but then he shook his head and laughed bitterly. "Could you believe me if I did?" he said gazing pointedly at her Amulet. " How would you know it wasn't just another lie? As we've established, I've done a great deal of that over the years. No, Sofia, I can't tell you that." he said, his voice hard and bitter.
"Then it's true? All this time I was never anything more to you then a means to an end in getting my Amulet? Is that what you're saying?!" she asked, feeling her body begin to tremble.
"I'm not saying that or anything else. You saw what you saw, I think you can make your own judgements. People have secrets for reasons. You wanted the truth and now you know it. I hope you're happy!"

"That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair, Princess!" he yelled harshly. He stared at her for a long while before saying wearily:"You know what you know. Take that and do with it what you will. Just leave!"
"No! No, I won't leave again! We can work this out. Talk to me! Tell me why and maybe I can understand. Help me to understand. Please! If I ever meant anything to you, then say something!" but he stood there mute, averting his eyes from her penetrating gaze.
"I see." she said. She could feel whatever hope was left within her wither away and she felt as if a part of her heart had died.

"I'll go then… but know that I do love you. Even now. I think a part of me always will." and she turned the handle to exit. She hoped to hear him call out to her, to ask her to stay, to say of course she wasn't a means to an end, that she meant so much to him. She didn't even need a reciprocation of the romantic feelings at that moment, she just needed to hear that she was more important to him than some jewel. That he wanted her in his life. She prayed deep inside her that he would say something. He didn't.

She exited quietly taking on an air of grace and dignity as she vanished from his sight, that didn't last for long. She collapsed in front of his door, weeping silently as hurt, sorrow and anger boiled inside her. She felt her world crumbling around her as she came to doubt all that she once held as true. Her heart had been broken. But, she did still love him, in spite of the betrayal."He didn't mean it. He didn't mean it. He didn't mean it." was a mantra she repeated over and over in her head. It was foolish and she was half mad as she still hung on to a childish hope he would come out to her and apologize. That he would hold her in an embrace. That he would kiss her and say it was her he wanted and only her. She held on to that delusion. He would. He must… but once again,

he didn't.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, but she knew she couldn't go back through the castle in the state she was in and risk waking everyone up. So, finally, she used her wand to transport herself back to her bedchamber. She staggered feeling dizzy and ill and realizing it wasn't just the after effects of the Transport spell, she was ill. There was no one there to catch her this time when she fell. There would be no one to catch her ever again. So she just stayed where she lay, her tears spilling on to the floor until she had no more left to shed. Inside she had gone completely numb, she was lost and alone. She feared she would never be the same. Her heart was broken, no longer her own it belonged to someone who she had greatly misread and for her folly she would suffer. Her heart was his now and he didn't want it. She lay in this agony until darkness descended upon her and she fell into slumber. If only she could truly fade away...