Tea woke in the middle of the night to a banging on her door.
"Wha? What time is it?" She mumbled, pushing the red covers off her and stumbling to open the door. "Low?" She muttered, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"MG's having a panic attack again, we need you to calm her down." Rek asked desperately, pushing her way into Tea's room. "Get dressed, what are you still doing asleep? Hurry up, Tea!" Rek commanded, turning the lights on and slamming the closet door open. "This will work, get dressed!" Rek ordered, throwing an outfit on the bed and leaving the room to give the half asleep girl some privacy. Tea stumbled over to the bed, muttering about annoying Egyptians, to find a beautiful peach skirt with an interlocking design of swirls and spirals decorating the peach in a darker hue and a black tank top. Not really caring, Tea threw them on and exited her room to be grabbed by Rek and hauled to the front yard. Up ahead, Tea could see MG crying by the gate, trying to push it open but being thwarted by a determined Kuriboh.
"Let me out, Kuri, there's no point of being here if he doesn't care about me! I loved him, and he just-just doesn't!"
"MG, what's wrong? What happened?" Tea gasped, jolted awake by her friends plight and immediately ran to the tragic magician. Slowly prying the mage's from the gate bars, Tea turned the girl into her embrace with soothing words. "Tell me what happened, M, weren't things going great?" Tea asked, her voice warm with sympathy and care.
"He-He- It started great, but he thought it was just some joke! He didn't-didn't real-real-" And with that MG burst into a new round of tears.
"Sh, sh, it's alright, it's okay. Sh, MG, it's going to be okay, it'll get better, okay? You just have to push through the pain to find true happiness. You never know, what if DM back there isn't your knight in shining armor?"
"Of course he's not." MG sniffled. "He's a mage, why would he wear armor? And he's no knight either, Tea, why would he be?" Tea shook her head at MG's reply.
"How could I be so silly?" Tea rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Can you tell Kuriboh to open the gate? I just want Noah to get me already, there's no point being here if DM doesn't care about me."
"MG, never say that! Boys are the dumbest things in the world, you shouldn't lose your head over them. And trust me, my three best friends are all boys, I know what I'm talking about. I don't want DM to have this much control over you, M. don't you want to be in control of your own life? Or do you want DM to decide everything you do?" Tea asked gently, firmness laced behind her words.
"I-I want-" She hiccuped.
"Want what?" Tea asked, trying to wipe away the blond's tears.
"I want to be in control, I- I want- not to do this- I don't want DM to c-control me- I want-want to be strong." She sniffled, rubbing her nose.
"That's right, you are strong, M. don't forget that. You shouldn't let DM destroy you like this." Tea told the girl resolutely. "How long have you had this crush on him?"
"Since before Tepey became the Guardian." She sniffled, trying to stand on her own two feet. Tea's jaw dropped at the answer. From before the Saew's became guardians? How long could DM not have noticed? You can usually tell when someone's in love, and this just added to DM obliviousness. The Great Magician had some serious issues apparently, on top of being a numb skull.
"Can we go back inside now?" Tea asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts.
"Okay." MG sighed, letting Tea lead her toward the house. Running down the path, well flying down the path actually, came DM at full speed.
"I'm so sorry, MG! I didn't know, and I never meant to hurt your feelings, it's just that-" MG burst into tears again and ripped the miniature wand from her necklace.
"Maximize." She sobbed, and the wand grew full scale. She turned to the gate and burst a huge fireball at it, knocking it to the ground despite Kuriboh's angry chirps. Crying, MG ran through the gate, away from DM.
"MG!" Tea called, and ran after her. "MG, wait! Come back!" Suddenly MG disappeared, and Tea froze as the horror of what had happened just sunk in.
MG had been Taken.
She was going to be Taken.
Turning, Tea ran back toward the gate, and the safety of the Saew's barrier. Abruptly, a tingly feeling spread itself over Tea's skin and she tried to call out to Rek, or DM, or somebody, but unexpectedly she disappeared.
Taken.