I know it's been a long time since I uploaded, but here's the next chapter.

Taranee was sitting in her living room, sipping tea with two old friends, Irma and Cornelia. Their gazes went back and forth between each other and the beautiful mountain view. There were psych books scattered around the room. They had been discussing recent developments in their visits to Hay Lin. "Well, from what you've told me, I'd say she's delusional. Definitely cognitive dissonance or just plain old denial."

"You're telling me." Cornelia commented as she sipped her tea.

"A big part of her hasn't accepted that she lost, that she has no power anymore, and that you're no longer her thralls. And that's because she doesn't want to accept it."

"If I were in her shoes I'd be pretty nostalgic too." Irma quipped.

"But speaking of all that…" Taranee began to say. "…there's still a lot of things that I think you two need to accept in order to move on."

"What do you mean?" Irma asked.

"Well, first thing, it was definitely a good move to have your memories locked away. If you remembered half the things I saw you doing, you'd have a real hard time living with yourselves."

"Thanks for the reminder…" Irma said rolling her eyes.

"But you know that no one blames you for any of that. But I can tell you're still blaming yourselves for something."

Cornelia suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Taranee continued. "I think it's not so much for the things she made you do…as it is that you blame yourselves…for not resisting her. Is that it?"

They both went wide-eyed and sat up straight when they heard her ask that. "Are you using your life force to read our minds?" Cornelia asked.

"Nope. I just know you." She answered with a confident smile.

Cornelia went back to her tea. "So what are these things we need to accept?" Irma asked.

"Well, for one thing, that you could be completely controlled by someone else."

"I'm pretty sure we've figured that one out." Irma answered in a somewhat frustrated tone.

"Then why do you still blame yourselves?" Taranee asked. Neither Irma nor Cornelia answered. "Remember when we were under the spell of the Horn of Hypnos? Or how about that time when that evil wizard mind-zapped me and made me betray all of you? Remember how much trouble I got you guys into?"

"Yeah, we almost got killed." Cornelia said remembering what happened.

"But that wasn't your fault." Irma said.

"I know." Taranee replied. "But did you notice how much easier it was to tell me what I was made to do wasn't my fault than to accept that what you were made to do wasn't yours?"

They both paused.

"The point I'm trying to make is that it's important to accept that free will isn't always absolute. One moment you can be totally in control of your actions, and the next you can be a puppet on strings. And that can happen to anyone, so you shouldn't blame yourselves."

"But I know we did try to resist sometimes…" Cornelia said.

"I even broke out once." Irma added.

"Right, when you saw one of us nearby."

"I think that's just the thing." Irma explained. "Andrew kissing me, or seeing Chris with Lilian could shock me out of Hay Lin's control, but all the terrible things she made me do, I don't think I resisted at all." She said. Cornelia nodded with her.

"That's totally normal." Taranee answered. "Or at least as far as your situation was, it was normal. You might have tried to resist at first, but her spell was just too strong. And without any hope of escape, you stopped resisting. Then you became numb to everything she forced you to do. The same thing would have happened to anyone, and no one has any right to blame you for it." She explained. "You tried to resist when we were around because that gave you hope, and that's why Hay Lin reinforced her spell so much, she knew that you two would try to break free every time we were near you. And eventually, you succeeded."

They both took in what she said as they sipped their tea. Cornelia then spoke up. "The thing is, it just doesn't feel right that we get to live good, happy lives after so many people were hurt because of us."

"You stood up for all of those people when we stood against Hay Lin." She said. "And you have to admit, we were pretty awesome out there." She added with a cocky smile.

"Yeah, that's true…" Irma said with a similar confident smile as she stared off, remembering that epic battle where they faced Hay Lin head on.

"But in all seriousness, to put yourselves at ease with all this, I think you should focus on one person who you know Hay Lin used you to hurt, and make things right with them. That should give you some peace." Irma and Cornelia understood the logic behind what Taranee was saying, and agreed with her. "And, from what I can gather…I think you two have already started on that." They both looked like they were thinking of something, and Taranee smiled.

They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, laughing, going outside and enjoying the scenery. When Irma and Cornelia had to get back, they hugged Taranee goodbye at the front door. "I just hope we'll be as accepting of all this as you are." Irma said before leaving.

"Just give it time." Taranee said before waving them goodbye.

When they were gone, Taranee went back into her living room, looking at all the psych books scattered across the floor. *Exams are in 2 weeks, and I've only gotten through one book!* she thought to herself. Then she looked at a picture on a table beside the couch. It was a picture of her whole family – Her mom, dad, Peter, and herself, all looking happy. She picked it up, smiling at the memory. Then something she hadn't noticed building up came out. Her fingers traced over the faces, and soon enough she burst into tears and held the picture close to her. She then lay down on the couch, crying uncontrollably while clutching the picture.

Flashback

The days after coming back for a break from College were surreal for Taranee. Her powers coming back a month ago was strange enough, but now her family was acting strange, and Irma and Cornelia had moved in with Hay Lin after their families mysteriously disappeared, and were trying to coerce her into getting in on her "business opportunity." The most disturbing part was that when she told her parents about it, they said she should work for Hay Lin too! After getting into contact with Caleb and Nigel, they agreed on a place to meet later that night.

She was sure that Hay Lin, Irma, and Cornelia had done something to her family. She didn't know what, and didn't want to know. All she knew was that they weren't themselves, and she had to get to Caleb before she could even think about what to do next. She was about to head out, when her mother, her father, and Peter confronted her. Now they were trying to kill her. Lionel lunged at her, but she jumped out of the way. Then she felt her head being jerked back by her hair, only to see that it was her mother. "You should have listened!" She shouted with an angry voice.

Taranee jabbed her mother with her elbow and jumped free. "Stop!" She shouted. "What are you doing?" None of them answered, and she tried to get away, running to the kitchen. But then Peter came at her with a knife, their mother and father behind him. He violently slashed at her, but Taranee jumped out of the way. "Come on Peter! Stop it!" But as soon as she dodged one, the other two would be right there, like they were in perfect teamwork.

Again, peter lunged at her. But this time, when she dodged, she tried to talk to him. "Come on, Peter, it's me!" After dodging another slash, she yelled "Remember, little sis, big bro forever?" But he barely stopped, he seemed to hesitate, but still looked at her with blank eyes like he didn't even recognize her. In fact, they all looked at her like she was a stranger. Then she tried to contact him telepathically. Putting her fingers to her temple, she projected her thoughts…*Peter, it's me, Taranee. Can you hear me?* But she could feel something was blocking her. She tried harder. *Come on Peter, it's me!* She could still feel that same thing blocking her out, but then she heard something faint. A groan, just for a second. Then he went back to slashing at her. She gasped, and concentrated again, trying to read his mind. She heard that same groan, a groan of agony. Then she focused on her mother. Trying hard, she found she was also being blocked out, but it felt like the same thing that kept her from reaching peter. She concentrated, and heard another faint groan. Then she heard the same from her father. After jumping out of the way again, she tried to contact and listen to all three of them. When Taranee concentrated, she found that the same power that was blocking her from them, also connected their minds together. Each one could hear the enthralled thoughts of the other two. As soon as one began to recover some free will, the other two would overwhelm him or her. But she could still hear them underneath its power. They were groaning in agony, begging for mercy.

"WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO YOU?" Taranee screamed in horror as she broke off the telepathy.

Peter then lunged at her with the knife. She was still in shock so she barely noticed until the knife was almost in her chest. Instinctively, she raised her hand with fire swirling, but she couldn't bring herself to hurt her brother, so she weakly forced his knife to the side, causing him to plunge it into her shoulder. At first, she didn't feel anything. Then the pain was overwhelming when she turned her head and saw it. She screamed in pain, looking into Peter's empty eyes. Taranee's scream managed to shock Peter enough for him to speak. His eyes went back to normal and he pleaded with her. "Taranee…please…you have to kill us…" was all he could say before his eyes went back to the way they were and he pulled the knife out of her shoulder.

"No!" she shouted with a swirl of emotions, anger, pain, and fear, plus the physical pain of her wound. But then Peter came back, and she raised her hand and melted his knife, then she punched him in the stomach, making him fall backwards. With her parents on both sides, she jumped on top of the island counter and ran into the living room. The three of them followed her in, when Theresa grabbed a chair and ran at her. Taranee instinctively raised her hand and pushed the chair away, setting it on fire. Theresa fell back onto Lionel, pushing both into a tapestry on the wall. The tapestry fell on top of them and caught fire. They both screamed in pain, and Taranee screamed as well, but then she heard another scream. It was peter, running at her with an expensive bottle of brandy from the shelf. Fire was still coming from her hands when she tried to push him back, sending fire at him. The fire caused the bottle to break, making all the brandy catch fire as it spilled over his face and shirt. He then screamed in pain as he fell onto the carpet.

The entire house was catching fire now as smoke filled the room. Taranee was so stricken that she forgot about her wound as she ran out the door, not looking back as tears ran down her face. If she had looked back, she would have seen smoke and flames coming out of the windows, and a trail of blood if she looked more closely. She ran into the street trying to get away, away from danger, and away from what had just happened. However, due to exhaustion and her loss of blood, she collapsed on the pavement. Just before she lost consciousness, one thought fully settled in her mind: she had just burned her family, her mother, her father, and her big brother. Alive.

When she woke up, she found her wound was healed, but had an itch in her back. She wouldn't learn that it was a tattoo of the fire symbol until after she escaped from Hay Lin's mansion and found Caleb. It was also thanks to Caleb that she chose to continue living, and fighting.

End Flashback.

Taranee finished crying and put the picture back on a table before Nigel returned. When he walked in with Georgi, he could see that she looked troubled. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

"…yeah…" she sighed softly, not really looking at either of them.

"I think you should get to your homework." Nigel said to Georgi. She quickly went to her room to do just that. With her out of the room, he moved closer. "Are you sure?" he asked with a sympathetic voice.

She sighed again, looking distantly across the room. "Its fine…I just…thought about…" Nigel could see where she was looking, towards the old family picture.

He looked back and held her. "I know they'd be proud of you." He said. Taranee just cried into his shoulder.

That night, when she and Nigel went to bed together, she went into what was clearly an uneasy sleep. But then she began to breathe more peacefully as she went into an unforgettable dream…

….

There was white all around her. Above the white walls, she could see blue sky and clouds. . Looking down at her body, Taranee could see that she was wearing a white kimono that went down to her ankles. There was no doubt as to where she was. It was Kandrakar. But why was she here? Did Will summon her? Is it just a lucid dream? No, it can't be just a dream.

Soon enough, she could see a figure approaching her. Once the distinctive red hair came into view, she heard a familiar voice. "Welcome, Taranee."

Taranee rushed and embraced her. "Will!" She exclaimed as they both hugged. "Thank you…" she whispered "…for making me human again…"

"Once a Guardian, always a Guardian." Will responded. "Oh, and this is definitely real. You're still asleep in your bed, but this is no ordinary dream." Will said as they broke off from each other. Taranee looked at her questioningly. "I suppose you're wondering why I've brought you here…"

Now she began to wonder. Could something be wrong? Will did ask her to become her advisor, so was there some kind of emergency? However, Will didn't let her wonder for very long.

"…someone wants to say goodbye…" she said as she disappeared. Now Taranee was more confused than ever. A huge set of doors behind her opened, revealing another white room, but the light shining towards her was too blinding for her to make anything out, so she walked through it…

…she walked into another grand room, filled with light. As she walked inside, she saw three figures, all dressed in the same Kandrakarian robes. *Is this the council?* she thought. But then she saw who they were. An African-American man, an Asian woman, and a mixed young man with his hair in dreadlocks. She couldn't believe her eyes! She could barely speak as she ran towards them.

"Taranee…" Theresa exclaimed as they embraced.

"Mom!" she shouted as tears ran down her face. For a second, she thought, *are these tears real? Am I crying back in my bed too? How can I even be crying here anyway If I'm not really here? Why am I even thinking about that at a time like this?* Lionel and Peter hugged her from the sides as she couldn't stop crying in happiness. She looked at both of them. "Dad…Peter…" she could barely say as she was overwhelmed with joy.

Theresa gently put her hands on Taranee's shoulders as she gradually broke off the hug, so she could talk to her. When she looked at her mother, she remembered that terrible night. "I…I…" but Theresa hushed her.

"We want you to know that we forgive you…" She said. Taranee just whimpered as she hugged her again. "…and we're proud of you." She continued as they separated again.

"Yeah, how could I ever guess I had a super hero for a daughter?" Lionel joked. Taranee silently hugged him, which he gladly returned.

"I love you Dad!" she spoke through her tears.

"And I've always loved you."

"I'm sorry…I know you raised me never to lie and-"

"Oh come on, sis…" Peter interjected. "…if anyone's got a good excuse for that, it's you."

"Peter!" She said as she moved over and he lifted her up off the ground. "Big bro…"

"Little sis…"

"…Forever." They both said together.

"We're all proud of everything you've done, Taranee." Theresa assured her. "And we're proud of the life you're living now."

"I always knew you were going to grow up to help people." Loinel said. "And trust me, a lot of people are going to need you."

"Your friends need you already." Theresa said. "And Georgi needs you, more than you know."

"And please, quit worrying about your exams. You'll do great." Peter added.

"I just wish it could have been different…" Taranee admitted.

"Ssshhh…" Theresa said to comfort her. "As you can see, we're fine now, and you'll always be our little girl."

"Thank you…" she whispered.

"Unfortunately, it's time for you to return to Earth."

"We don't have much time to say goodbye, Taranee." Lionel said.

"I know." She replied, tears coming back to her eyes.

"Just know that we love you, and we're very proud of you." Theresa said. Taranee watched as the light around them grew brighter.

"Goodbye Taranee." They each said as they slowly vanished into the light.

"Goodbye…" She answered…

…..

"Goodbye" Nigel heard Taranee whisper. Her eyes fluttered open, and she felt a wetness beside her head. She realized that her pillow was stained with tears.

"Hey, everything alright?" Nigel asked as he slowly woke up.

Taranee breathed deeply for a few seconds, then answered. "Yes…" with a look of relief and joy on her face. Then she moved in to kiss him deeply.