He teleported towards his tent and overheard a conversation in Molly's tent. "I don't know, Finn. Just… everyone's so… able to do stuff, and I'm kind of… useless." Wizard walked closer to the tent.
Finn told her, "I don't think you're useless. You're a very strong person!" She paused a little and said, "I appreciate the sentiment, but you and I have known each other for years. Have you seen what they've been able to do in just the past day? Wizard built a boat out of sand. Sand! All I could do was sit there and watch. I tried to help by getting apples, but… Witch Princess just caught a ton of fish and made our seats. Wizard made our tents, with beds. All I could do was sit by and just… I don't know. They're so amazing and cool, and I'm…"
Wizard frowned; he was sad to hear she felt like that. He remembered her determination in the mines, and how strong she was going through the cave while all he could do was carry a lamp, even after she inhaled the poison gas. He didn't think she was useless.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Molly, but I don't think the others felt like that… maybe Witch Princess, but only to a certain degree." He heard her giggle a little. "I don't know. I'm just happy to talk about this with someone, you know? I don't think I could really tell this to Wizard. He's so great and amazing, and I wouldn't want him to feel like I don't appreciate him." He smiled at that; he thought the same thing about her. "I don't think he would, Molly; he's your friend… right?" He could feel his heart racing. Was he only a friend to her? "Good night, Finn. I'll talk to you in the morning." His heart sank; what did that mean, he thought, does she like me as a friend, or something else? He went into his tent, ready to get some sleep.
Some hours passed before Molly woke up with a start. She looked around before hearing a blood curdling scream. "Finn, can you go see who's screaming?" she requested, worried that it was Wizard making the screams. He flew out in an instant and looked into the next tent, and as suspected, he was screaming in his sleep. He flew around him, shouting "Wizard! Wizard! Wake up!" and flying into him with third blow finally waking him. He seemed dazed, and was worried about something. "You were having a nightmare, I think. You were screaming." He could feel his heart beating and a cold sweat on his forehead. "Are you all right? It scared me and Molly." Before he could answer, Witch Princess walked in and yelled, "First, you think loud, then you dream loud, and now you scream in your sleep?! What's the matter with you?!" Wizard and sighed and apologized. "I can't even remember what I dreamed about."
"I do. Guess who it was about?" she taunted. "Shh, please! Not now."
"Whatever," she said, "just be a better sleeper."
Before she left, Molly walked in and announced, "It's sunrise. Should we make breakfast?" Wizard looked surprised and Witch exclaimed, "What?" and stormed out of the tent to see the sun on the horizon. "Damnit!"
Wizard walked out and asked, "Molly, could you catch some fish for breakfast? We could use it for breakfast." Molly looked at him, a little confused, and answered, "Okay. Come on, Finn. I think I still have my fishing pole." She and her little sparkle walked off towards the shore, while Wizard grabbed a bag. "Where are you off to?" she asked. "I'm going to look for fruit. Do you want to come?" She chortled and said, "I don't want to, but I will, lest you try to lecture me again."
Molly sat at the shoreline, fishing pole in hand and Finn flying around with ease, flying by the fish and pointing to them. "Here's one!" He flew to another. "Here's one!" One more he flew to. "Here's one!" She was laughing and enjoying the time. The sun was rising steadily and reflected across the water, and the sky was pink mixed with blue. "I can't believe we have to leave this," said Molly, "it's so beautiful here."
"Think of it this way, we're going somewhere better."
She realized something important. "I don't know, Finn. Maybe we are, but… I have no idea what we're going to do when we get there." She pulled out the third fish caught and went to preparing it. "I know that we have to help whoever's on Waffle Island restore it, but I don't know how we're going about it." Finn floated gently, looking at her, as usual out of an answer. "I guess you'll just have to wing it."
"I'm not good at winging things."
They continued to play with the fish, watching the sunrise, and catching fish until she caught just enough fish for breakfast. Of course, the worry was still in the back of her mind, but there was nothing she could do. Maybe I'll talk to them about it, she thought, and we can figure something out. They took their haul and walked back to the campsite, where she found Witch Princess and Wizard at odds.
Her hands were glowing a pink glow, and she was fuming. Wizard kept yelling, "I don't want to fight you!" She shot blasts of magic while he strategically avoided each one. "You always thought you were so perfect! You always thought you were so smart! Well, guess what?! I'm just as good as you!" He kept hiding behind trees, desperately trying to avoid conflict. "Where are you even getting this from, Witch Princess?! What are you talking about?!" She growled and shot a ray of magic that made the tree hiding him explode. He teleported before it exploded to another location. Before she could try to shoot him again, Molly cried out, "What are you doing?!" She turned around and looked at her with confusion, unaware that a blast of magic was moving towards her quickly. It hit Molly in the chest, and it felt like the force that hit her chest spread across her body, leaving a pain that felt like a mixture of electrocution and burning in fire.
Molly fell to the ground in a fetal position, shivering in pain. Witch Princess walked towards her, spewing out a slew of apologies, and tried to prepare her magic to heal, but wasn't sure how to. "Move out of the way!" demanded Wizard, landing on his knees, ready to tend to her. He waved his arms around her body with a purple glow. Witch Princess was stammering, "I… I didn't… it just… I…" Wizard glared at her, with tears in his eyes. She ran off somewhere and Wizard continued to heal her.
"Stay with me. Molly, please stay with me. Finn, help me keep her awake." He flew around her face so something could distract her, and keep her conscious. He kept going, looking for every organ impacted by the shot. He knew about that particular shot, and how badly it could end up for her life if she were hit hard enough. He had to repair every last tissue and make it to every vital organ. He was stressed, and she was in horrible pain. She could feel his repairs running through her body. It was a tingling sensation that affected her chest and stomach in particular. He knew the tissue repair was complete, and all that was left was to have the magic released from her body. "Molly, cough for me." She did so, and all she could see was pink dust leaving her mouth. He made a sigh of relief, and asked, "Do you feel better?" She forced herself up and told him, "I'm never leaving you two alone again." He smiled at this, and started to laugh, but a joyous laughter of relief and hugged her. "I'm glad you're okay." She smiled and hugged him back. After a minute, she pulled back gently, and asked, "Why did that start in the first place?" He answered, "We have a long history together… some of it isn't pretty…"
"I guess not talking to each other for half a century doesn't help. I should go talk to her."
"I'll come with—"
Before he could finish, they both look at each other and he said, "I'll stay here. Let me take you near her."
He held her hand and in an instant, Molly was taken in a purple swirl and she was near the shore where just a few moments ago, she was having the time of her life with Finn. She was sitting in Wizard's magic boat, looking into the water. After he transported back to the campsite, Molly walked up to the shore, close enough to the boat, and asked, "Are you okay?" Witch Princess looked up and said, "He's good, isn't he?" before muttering under her breath, "Pompous jerk."
"I don't understand why things happened between you two like that. What did he say?"
"It's always been like this. I thought I could deal, but he's always lecturing me. As if I don't know that I should study. I don't want to, but I know I should. I don't want to hear about it, but then he always acts like he's so much better when we talk." Molly was a little lost; he never seemed like the guy who would think he's better than someone. He always seemed reserved…
"He tried to lecture me on my technique when we were getting apples, saying that I need to 'hold my wrists at a curved angle' and 'the hold won't last that way; hurry and put it in the bag'. It's annoying. I lived for longer than him, but because he does nothing with his life but study, he thinks he's better than me. So I glare at him and ask, 'Do you want to get them down?' so he hands me the bag. He gets it down as perfect and graceful as he usually gets it, so I levitate it up like he did, and once it got in, I lost hold and all the apples fell to the ground. I knew exactly what he was going to say and… I lost it. I exploded—quite literally exploded—and knocked him back to the campsite…" Molly could only sit there and listen. She didn't really know the dynamic of the relationship. She couldn't counsel very well. "I… I didn't mean… to hurt you, Molly. I'm… I'm sorry." She seemed legitimately upset with her actions. "I know it was an accident. I forgive you." Witch Princess seemed shocked by this. "He holds everything so personally. I thought… I thought you would too." Molly smiled and suggested, "Maybe you should talk to Wizard now, sans magic." She stood up and said, "Yeah, you're right. He's going to be so condescending about it." She took Molly's hands and in a pink swirl, they were both back at the campsite.
"Wizard, I have a proposition for you." Wizard seemed attentive enough, sitting in the seat where his tent once was located. "I want to say this, so you and Witch Princess can avoid conflict in the future; she's going to tell you something, and when you do, you say nothing more." He hesitated, but nodded his head, and stood up. "Wizard… I'm… I'm…" She groaned and levitated a fish to make it say, "I'm sorry". He looked at her hands and let her know, "You're using the proper technique." He smiled, and she did too. "Let's eat, so I can fly and you can set sail. Molly didn't spend hours catching fish for nothing."
"It wasn't hours… was it?" she asked Finn. He shrugged. Wizard prepared her tent to turn back into a seat, and ate. For once, it didn't feel too tense at the fire. There was talking, and laughter that came at the expense of no one. It was during this time that they finally formulated a plan of action.
"So, here's the deal: we're going to be invisible, me and Wizard, because they don't have a witch and wizard on that island, but you won't, so we'll have to cloak you. Once we get there, we're going to look for the nearest forest, and camp out there. The person has to believe they're doing this on their own. Restoring Castanet wouldn't have worked so well for you if you knew someone else was doing all the work. It has to be whoever is handling this. The three of us are just secretly there for the secret magic, and to assist… secretly." Molly nodded as she chowed down on the final fish. She pulled her broom towards her, and said, "See you guys there. If I get there before you, let me know so I can teleport you." She hopped on, and went on her way. "Let's set sail."
They sat on the boat for a few hours more, letting the magic guide his boat to see. They talked about what happened to her when she was attacked, and why he was screaming at 6:00 in the morning. They talked about the last Plague and how long he and Witch Princess knew one another. He didn't quite know the reason why they stopped talking for over fifty years, but it happened, and he had a feeling a lot of it had come to what had happened in the fight. He brought up one more topic, something personal. "Molly… do you… ever think about… your future?" Molly raised her eyebrows and asked, "Can't you see it?" He chuckled, and responded, "Only if you ask. I only ask because… I think about mine too."
"Your future is unlimited, Wizard."
"Yours could be too, Molly."
She was confused, but before he could answer, the two of them were taken in a pink smoke, and before they knew it, there was an enchanted forest surrounding them, and Witch Princess looking down to him.
"I win."