Description: She had tried so hard to keep her feelings hidden so nothing like this would happen. Now he was in danger and it was all because she had failed to keep her love inside.
AN: This is based on a dream I had about The Passageway, so I apologize if it's a little weird. Also, thanks for the views and I know I'm bad at updating, but I have a lot to do since exams are starting soon. Anyway enjoy!
Jessica flinched as Magor drew closer to her. "We'll have such a good time when your friends arrive, won't we?" She gasped, realizing that Lucas and Toby were now in grave danger, and moved away from him. "Especially the Lord of Water." Her eyes widened as Magor grabbed her, and she struggled as he spoke in an angry hiss, "I know your feelings for him, how you long for him to notice you and how you wish you could tell him."
"You're lying," Jessica began, her voice trembling, not with fear but with anger. "I swear if you hurt him- them, I'll-" It took her a few seconds to realize that she had just played right into Magor's hands and revealed that she did, in fact, have feelings for Toby.
Magor laughed evilly. "What a shame, Lord of Air!," he said in a mock sympathetic tone. "You tried so hard to hide your feelings but I see it all! I see how you look at him, how you always try to protect him and how you always call his name when you're in danger. I see it all, and when he and the Lord of Forest arrive, they will be subjected to the same fate as the Lord of Earth. After we've had a bit of fun with your friend, of course!" He swept from the room dramatically, leaving Jessica curled up in a ball, wondering what had gone wrong.
Flashback:
Nick and Jessica raced toward their orbs, floating there tantalizingly, without wondering about the possibility that it could be a trap. Jessica stretched her hand out toward her orb, her fingers about to brush the surface when suddenly she felt herself being grabbed and moved away from her orb. Looking up, she saw she was in Magor's clutches and he had a particularly evil smirk on his malevolent face.
"Not so fast, Lord of Air," he spoke In that chilling, evil tone that frightened Jessica, though she would never admit it out loud. "I have other plans for you." Jessica shuddered, not knowing what he meant. Behind her, there was a bright flash and a yell, before she heard footsteps and what sounded distinctly like Nick's voice but it sounded wrong, almost evil. She forced herself out of Magor's grip and turned round, coming face to face with Nick and what she saw almost made her scream.
Nick had, for lack of a better description, transformed into a Lava Gormiti, the garish orange replacing the yellow that represented the Earth element. She turned toward Magor and yelled, "What have you done to him? Change him back!"
Magor shook his head, commiserating her. "Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that. It would ruin my plan, you see." He turned to Nick and spoke, "The other Lords of Nature will be here soon. Go and greet them, my soldier!" Nick nodded and left, his movements zombie-like, without even looking at Jessica or giving any sign that he even recognized her.
"Why are you doing this?" Jessica demanded angrily. She didn't have a clue what Magor was planning but she wasn't letting him execute it.
"Now that would be telling!," he let out a harsh laugh. "You'll find out when your friends arrive!"
End of Flashback
Toby and Lucas landed with a thud outside the inner entrance to the volcano. They quickly discovered their friends' footprints and followed them until they reached a chamber with their orbs. They hi-fived, grins on exhilaration on their faces as they raced toward them. However Toby couldn't shake the niggling feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was very wrong.
Looking at the orbs, he saw that one of them, Nick's, had turned lava in color. Eyes wide with horror, he yelled, "Lucas, don't touch the orbs, they've been bewitched- Lucas, no!" Toby realized that he had been too late in warning his friend as Lucas' hand closed around his orb. There was a flash of bright light and when it cleared, Lucas the Forest Lord was gone. In his place stood a Lava Gormiti version of Lucas, his eyes glowing orange.
Toby backed away, being careful not to turn his back on Lucas, in case he attacked him. Suddenly he felt a pair of arms grab him from behind. "Master Magor requires your presence!" Toby's heart thumped as he recognized his brother's voice, but it sounded tainted, evil. A second pair of arms grabbed him and Toby, knowing he would not be able to overpower them as they were both physically stronger, found himself being marched to another chamber by Nick and Lucas.
On the way there, Toby found himself vaguely wondering about Jessica. Her orb hadn't been lava colored, but perhaps Magor had found another way of bending her to his whim. He hoped that she was safe, at least. He doubted he would be able to take on Magor alone.
Jessica looked up as she saw them enter. To her horror, she saw that Lucas had also been transformed, but, to her utter relief, Toby had not. Her eyes met his and she saw the relief she felt reflected in his ocean-blue eyes. He wrestled himself out of the vice-like grip Nick and Lucas had had him in, winced momentarily, before rushing toward her. She wasn't aware that she, too, had started moving until she felt his arms wrap around her and heard his expression of surprise. "Jess, I'm okay-you're okay! You're not cursed!" The relief in his voice was obvious, like the fact that Nick and Lucas were standing like sentinels at the entrance to the chamber, as he hugged her, hope filling his expression.
"I-I have to tell you something," she began, trying and failing to look into his eyes without blushing. "There's no point in trying to keep it hidden now, after all." Toby looked curiously at her, clearly wondering what she was saying.
"What do you-" he began.
"I won't blame you if you laugh at me, hate me for eternity or refuse to speak to me forevermore." Jessica said in an uncharacteristically small voice. Toby frowned and promised that he wouldn't dream of doing any of those things.
"I-I" The words seemed to be stuck in her throat. She could feel them rising up, as though she wanted to shout them out but then they got caught. It also didn't help that he still had his arms wrapped around her, which wasn't helping her concentration at all. She took a deep breath before it spilt out, "I love you. Now go ahead. Laugh. Do whatever you want."
She gulped as Toby caught her chin with his free hand, his other still wrapped around her waist, and tilted her face towards his. "Oh, Jess, don't you see?" he said softly. "I love you too." This said, he leant down and placed the gentlest of kisses on her lips. If the situation they were in wasn't so dire, Jessica thought she might have done a happy dance. Instead she had to make do with flinging her arms around him, feeling as though nothing could take this moment from her.
"When we make it out of here, will you-" Evil laughter cut Toby off in the middle of his question. Jessica noticed numbly that Toby had said "When" rather than "If" and wished she shared his confidence. To tell the truth, she was terrified. As far as she knew, Magor had never killed anyone, but she was sure he wouldn't hesitate to kill them, if he was given the chance.
"You know, Lord of Water, you may not be as unintelligent as you appear to be. I must say I did not intend for this to happen. Still, it was rather a pleasant surprise when you fools laid your feelings out in the open for me!"
They both gave each other horrified looks as it dawned on them that , by admitting their true feelings they had kept hidden for so long, they had given Magor exactly what he wanted. Toby glared at Magor with rage, stepping slightly in front of Jessica to protect her. "Our feelings are not yours to control!" he began angrily. "We will find a way to reverse what you've done to our orbs. You will not triumph this time-we won't let you!"
Magor chuckled evilly. "I think it will take more than the two of you to stop me! Do not try to fool yourselves into thinking you can win!" He then turned to Nick and Lucas and commanded, "Get them!"
As Nick and Lucas approached them, Toby felt trapped. He couldn't attack his own brother and his best friend! All of a sudden, he felt his feet leaving the ground and realized that Jessica was flying him as high as she could, as far from their friends as possible. When they landed, she looked around and said, "That should give us enough time to contact Old Sage and figure out what we're supposed to do."
Toby smiled at her as he traced the portal symbol that would summon Old Sage. "And whatever it is we have to do, we'll do it...together."
AN 2: In regard to the request I received in a review, I will take it into consideration, but please be patient as I have exams coming up very soon which means I may not be able to update as much. Thanks for reading this chapter and sorry for the abrupt ending but this was the part where I woke up and I didn't want to rewrite the whole episode!