Lia kept her eyes on her book while she enjoyed a bite from one of the fruits in the bowl that she had sat next to it. Cassandra was seated beside her around the small library table. The brunette watched as the fawn skimmed along the pages with precision. She had to have gone through this book numerous times before.

It was late in the morning, but everyone inside the castle had slept with softened hearts following what happened the previous night. It brought a sense of closure, as if the things that often kept them up could finally rest. Lia looked so alive as she resumed her tasks. It had to have been such a great relief to know that Leta still loved her with all her heart.

The fawn's thin finger glided along the yellowed page as she turned it. Cassandra took another bite of the bread and meat that Milo had prepared for her. It was a tasty breakfast, one of which Lia had remarked as being a personal favorite. Even though the woman appeared as slender as she was, her appetite rivaled that of the brunette.

Her plate did not last more than a couple of minutes.

"Don't you ever get bored of reading?" Cassandra asked as she shoved another piece of bread into her mouth.

Lia cracked a small grin as she raised her left shoulder. Her eyes remained on the book. "Sometimes. A lot of this stuff gets repetitive after a while."

"What is it that you're searching for?" Cassandra knew that the book was about the studies of other realms. That was a no-brainer. The entire point of Lia shifting through its pages was to find out how to get her home. The brunette just couldn't understand why she toiled around the same book so endlessly.

"Patterns," Lia explained. "There's no recipe for opening up doors to different realms. Even if there was, I need to know what to expect. The knowledge of how time works in between realms is…novice, at best."

There was a flash of interest in Cassandra's heart. She had been thinking about where she would land if Lia somehow figured out how to bring her back. Would she arrive back in the snow where she died? She hoped that she would be able to find herself at an earlier point where she had time to change things. Such an outcome sounded irrational, but in Locwitary, irrational was not defined the way it was in her world.

"From what I understand…" Cassandra dipped her next piece of bread in the dark sauce that was off to the side. "All of this is just theory?"

"Exactly." Lia exhaled a long wind as she turned her green eyes toward her friend. She relaxed her posture, conscious to not get too engrossed in her reading as she often did. There was company to be kept – one that she actually enjoyed. "Over the years, poils and fawns took notes of what they observed and learned. Everything I know is based on what they've seen. It's a lot of guesses. Everyone just makes the same guess and assumes it's correct."

"Science," Cassandra chuckled.

"Yeah…science…" Lia smiled before she took another bite of her fruit. "Does that make me smart?" Cassandra playfully shrugged her shoulders, which prompted Lia's smile to fuse with a curl and a squint of her eyes.

The fawn gently tapped her friend's arm with the back of her hand as her smile widened. "Rude."

With a low laugh, Cassandra took another bite of her food and washed it down with a chalice of water. She wiped her lips and pointed to the book in front of Lia. "So, what do you think? What are my chances of getting home?"

Lia sighed as she kept her eyes affixed on the woman across from her. It was like that comment dismayed her to some degree. "You're asking me to do something that only a small group of people managed to accomplish centuries ago, with power greater than that of my own." She turned her gaze to her book. "Understand that this isn't something easy. My hope is that you can serve as a link of some sort, as those that came before me had nothing to go on. Just a dagger with immense power that they could not control."

"That dagger is really important, isn't it?"

"It was," Lia replied as she flipped through some pages. Her fingers eventually landed on one that showcased various drawings and notes about the infamous Dagger of Death's Flowers. For Cassandra, it was surreal to see the artifact that was kept inside her castle be regarded with such mythology. She knew that it had been of great significance in the course of Locwitary's history, but as a blade that was kept in the dark, she often forgot about it.

The fawn shifted her chair closer to her, bringing the book along as she did so. "This dagger was infused with the powers of many fawns – surges, in particular." Lia touched on various points of the blade. "Their power was encapsulated inside the handle, not the blade itself. Wielding it meant that its beholder had to be capable of withstanding such an influx of energy. That was why a strong surge was chosen to use it when the time came to put it to use. It was so concentrated that it tore an opening through the barriers."

Lia brought her eyes to the book, a somber tone to her voice. "Evidently, it was also powerful enough to kill some of the group that possessed it. The fawn who held it was never found, either."

"The barriers?" Cassandra asked, as that detail concerned her the most out of everything.

"We believe that these realms aren't scattered around the planes of existence," Lia told her as she flipped through some more pages, landing on one that mapped out the potential relationship between universes. "That dagger could not cut a path of untold length. What it had cut into, it had to have been relative to the location it was in. Therefore, these realms are believed to exist within each other. Blended, if you prefer to think of it that way. It's hard to explain, but imagine both of our words as a mixed, flowing liquid separated by its properties. The barriers are seamless and constant. Time may not be accurate between them, as they flow in various directions."

If time is not persistent, then does that mean…

"Lia, can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" The fawn appeared puzzled at how concerned Cassandra had just become.

"Is it even possible that I can arrive in my world before Ethan Winters showed up? Better yet: would I even find myself anywhere remotely near my sisters?" She asked that question with a heavy degree of uncertainty in her own voice. Cassandra wanted to believe that such a thing was possible. It was what had kept her together throughout this entire journey of hers so far. The belief that there was a chance to go back and rectify her past gave the brunette hope.

It was only now after the relationships that were formed with these people that she began to question her own comforts. Crossing realms was one thing. Time travel was another. It all sounded so far-fetched, but she wanted to believe it, even though she had been preparing herself to accept the likeliest of outcomes.

There had to be a chance.

Lia stared at her with a caring gaze in her eyes; expressionless otherwise. The fawn wanted to make her feel better, but she also gravitated toward honesty. There would be no good in false hope in the long run. Cassandra would only crash harder.

"I'm not going to lie to you," she said. "I don't know." Lia could already see the disappointment as it grew on her friend's face. "But, there are a lot of things that I don't know. If time flows the way we think it does, then it is likely you can end up at any point in time. No one has ever willingly been able to cross realms. They have only viewed them as I have. However, because you are here with us, I believe you will be the best link to where you came from and when you left."

Cassandra lifted her eyes a little. That disappointment had reversed into a small glimmer of hope. "How so?"

"I've never seen your world – or any world – that close before through my windows. Because of the connection I've established with you, I finally could see more. Before that, it was only ariel views at best. I could hardly make out whatever was down below, and trust me, none of that is easy on my body." Lia took another bite of her fruit before she discarded it for a fresh one out of the bowl. Her smile widened as she rested her soft hand on Cassandra's forearm.

The fawn gleamed as she gently squeezed her. "You can help me in so many ways. Please, let's learn together, shall we?"

The blue glow of Lia's powers steadily flashed from the tip of her fingers as she waved her hand around in the air. Trails of bright particles detailed her palm's path as they lingered around. Cassandra could not take her eyes off the beauty of her friend's essence. It was truly a dazzling sight.

Lia kept her left hand flat on the page she was reading, tracing each word with her finger as she read it carefully. "If I move my forefinger and shortest finger in a clockwise fashion, the energy inside me will tunnel upward. I must be careful, it says, as the heat generated will be significant." She squinted as she peered closer at the text. "Oh, only in minuscule amounts," she laughed. "Nothing more than a pinprick."

She waved her hand across her body, feeling the slightest sting at the tips of her fingers. The streak of blue that it left was well-worth the little punishment. The way the light reflected off her friend's amber eyes only made repeating the action all the more tempting.

"You must love learning new things," Cassandra remarked.

"I should have learned this years ago," Lia replied. "It's nothing serious, just a display of what we can do. Even most non-surges can perform this if they learned it. I dedicated my time to the more complex things. Light tricks are well…for kids, I suppose."

"And Lia is too mature for any sort of fun." Cassandra threw a jab at her often-serious attitude.

In a way, Lia was like Bela. The blonde was always so wrapped up in whatever it was that she had to accomplish that she was hardly ever seen sitting down. She'd go from room to room, checking up on the staff and fixing any 'messes' that she could find.

The fawn may not have sought anyone's praise, but she seemed to take pride in the image she had of herself. There was a fun-loving side that existed in there. Cassandra could see it. The brunette only hoped to bring it out some more.

Lia creased her brow and glared at Cassandra with a crooked smile. "Oh, am I no fun?"

Cassandra tapped the page with her finger. "Is there a chapter in there where you can cast a spell that makes you fun?"

There was a small, yet playful grumble in Lia's throat as she swiftly moved her book away from Cassandra. "I don't know what you mean by 'spell,' but, I cannot influence people's minds."

"If you could, what would have made me think?"

Lia stared at her for a second before she dipped her eyes and closed them, breathing a low giggle. "Nothing. Your mind is good enough in my opinion."

"Oh!" Cassandra was having fun with her antics. She leaned in closer, slowly moving to put her hand back on Lia's book, but her deliberately sluggish pace prompted her friend to push the book away even further. "Well, if I could influence your mind, I would make you less uptight."

"I don't know what that means." Lia raised an eyebrow.

"See," Cassandra smiled. "That's what I mean."

"Ugh…" Lia shook her head. "I'll never understand you, no matter how much I try."

"Keep trying…"

"Fine." Lia closed her book and stood up from the table, taking it with her. "How's about later today you and I go out and pick some fruit together, hmm? Whatever this 'uptight' means, I am sure that I will prove to be quite the opposite." She turned around teasingly, knowing that Cassandra would not want her to walk away. "Evidently, I am too serious when I study."

Cassandra clicked her tongue. "Lia…"

She rolled her head as she came back around. "I am just kidding! Well, sort of." Lia sat back down at the table. "I must confess that I am not the best at jokes, but I am still learning."

"You need to learn jokes?"

Lia shrugged her shoulder. "I never really had someone that I could joke around with often. Not like you, so…yes, I am learning." She set the book back down and opened it to where they had left off. "Life is always about learning."

"It seems like your lifelong companion is that book," Cassandra said.

"If you ever saw a commune of fawns, you would understand how important our teachings are to us. The study of our magic and how it connects to the surrounding realms is in our blood. If you don't know someone's a fawn, just pay attention to how much they cling to these kinds of books."

"Sounds like my sister, Daniela, was a fawn as well."

Lia rolled her lips into a half-smile as she glanced at the large binding of knowledge that she had spent her life reading through. "We view these pages like they are us because they are. So many fawns in the past have spent their lives discovering what is written on these pages. I look forward to the day I can write something in it myself."

Her green eyes turned to the pale brunette beside her. "I want it to be about you. That's an easy way of saying that you don't know how much you mean to me. More than science, but…this truly helps me."

Cassandra felt honored to have heard such a thing. She wanted to help Lia in any way she could. She knew she didn't understand exactly what this meant for her as a fawn, but as a friend, she would make her happy. "Anything I can do, I'll do it."

"Hmm," Lia smiled. "So, about my offer? Would you like to go out with me later today?"

"That would be wonderful."

Milo wiped the sweat from his forehead as he shoveled the dirt near the castle's entrance. The Spector Moons were unusually warm at the hour, but that did not stop him from tending to his job. The collar of his white shirt was dampened with a ring of moisture. As Cassandra approached him, she envisioned him as one of the strong working men that her old village frequently used for the heavy lifting around the farms.

She often found their labor amusing as she watched from her castle window with a glass of wine in her hand. Feeling the breath of the hot stars above her, she found a sense of respect for what those people had to contend with. Milo hardly gave the impression of a rough man due to his scientific nature as well as his kind demeanor, but what did she know?

"You're not digging my grave, are you?" She joked as she appeared around his right side.

Milo breathed in a large breath of air as he turned to glance at her. He stabbed the shovel into the ground before he stretched his back, reliving a half-hour's worth of stress in one loud crack of his spine. "Ah…not until I hop in the ground first, young lady."

She giggled as she messed with her braided her. The rays from the sky glimmered on her pale skin that lay exposed on her arms and chest. Lia had lent her another gown that mirrored her usual wear. Grey with a white stitched seam that trailed down the back. The fawn had to apply it for her earlier in the morning.

If not her, then Leta would have been a safe choice. Asking Milo would have been a little too awkward for the both of them.

"I think I am older than you," she mused as she picked up the shovel and scooped up a headful of dirt. Milo gestured to the pile behind her, and Cassandra hauled the lump of soil toward the rest.

"As strange as it is to admit…" Milo raised his eyebrow as he wiped more droplets off his scalp. "…you are."

"It's okay." Cassandra leaned over the shovel as she faced him. "I'll still count you as the old man," she giggled once again. Milo scoffed at her comment, which prompted her to try and impress him with another, heavier, shoveling of the dirt.

It was already too much for her to carry. The shovel rotated and the clumps of Locwitary fell back onto the ground. Cassandra rolled her lips as she saw his eyelids squinting to suppress a laugh.

With a sigh, she tossed the shovel back to him, and he quickly caught it.

Not as slow as you look…

"So…" Milo returned to his work. "What brings you to me?"

"Lia and I were going to go pick fruit together later. I was curious if there were any fruits you wanted me to collect?"

"Lilops and nertefs are my personal favorites," he said. "Lia loves caipous, so expect her to pick a bunch of those."

Uhm…I'll try to remember that…

"Very well." She tried to put on her best smile, even though she knew that she would forget the names of those fruits within the hour.

"So, you and Lia are going to spend the afternoon together?"

Cassandra nodded with confidence. "Yeah, I figure we both need to get out of this castle for a little while."

Milo gave a soft nod of his own before he shoveled another heap of dirt. As soon as he stood back up, he glanced at Cassandra with a sort of curiosity. "I'm happy you two have become friends. Lia is a wonderful woman and I've always wanted to see her have a friend."

Has she never had one?

"Before I showed up, what did she do?"

"She did everything she says she does. That woman was always out there picking fruit, reading her books, and spending time with Leta. You know…the usual stuff." Milo pushed his shovel deeper into the ground. "It is just that she always just kept to herself. She spends a lot of time alone in that room of hers making all these arts and crafts. You wouldn't believe how many she has made over the years."

"Well…" Cassandra crossed her arms and tilted her head. "She had mentioned that you weren't a fan of her work or the amount of space it takes up."

"Oh, she has?" Milo laughed. "I'm guessing she didn't tell you who buys the materials. I love her enough to be doing her a favor, but…ah…there are so many coins in this world. Nevertheless, it's worth the effort to see her happy. She loves what she does and I'm glad she has a hobby. My daughter, Julianna, was the same way. Before she made her first friend, she did not leave home all that much. To know that Lia has a friend that she is very excited about brings a smile to my face. She wouldn't invite just anyone to go pic fruits with her besides Leta." He cleaned his pores from the last of his sweat before he set the rag on top of the shovel's handle.

"That activity is something deeply personal to her," he finished off. It gave Cassandra a different viewpoint on their friendship, as Lia had been someone who was so guarded and secretive about her personal life. To invite her to something so near and dear made the brunette wonder just how much she wanted a friend.

"She has a good father, and so did your daughter," she said.

Milo felt a sense of warmth come over him that was greater than that of the Spector Moons. "Thank you, Cassandra," he said with a smile. "Thank you."

"Can I ask you a question, while we're here?"

"Sure." Milo rested his arm on top of the shovel as he awaited whatever it was that she had to ask.

"I should have asked Lia this earlier, but about the dagger that killed me: do you think it is the best way for me to get home?"

Milo pressed his lips and raised his brow. He did not appear to be too certain, which only made Cassandra wonder what the best path to returning to her world was. The man stepped away from his digging, approaching the brunette with his hands in his trouser pockets. "Perhaps, or perhaps not. Between everything that has been going on, I've been reading up on what people have written concerning that dagger. Seeing that it indeed was what brought you here, I'm confident that it still holds enough power to affect the barriers of realms. The question isn't just how we can harness that power – but if we can."

Cassandra seemed dismayed. How could anyone – even Lia – interact with the dagger if it was far out of reach? She figured that she had spent her time looking in the wrong direction. What good was a key if it may never reach its lock?

He patted her on the shoulder, which caught her off guard, as she was too deep in her thoughts to even notice that his hand was coming up to her. She turned her eyes to him after a light jolt, but his fatherly smile kept her at ease. "Lia has probably told you that you're the best chance we got at getting you back. The dagger itself doesn't have to be the key. It can be a bridge if it must. Unlocking the barrier is something Lia will have to accomplish."

"You said the dagger holds enough power to open up this barrier, but what happens if Lia's powers overwhelm her?" Cassandra asked with concern. "I don't want her to…well…"

Milo sighed as he nodded. "She won't. She's a smart surge. She knows when to stop."

"I hope so."

"Burn-outs, as they call them, are quite rare," Milo remarked. "A fawn has to willingly force so much power through their body that they light up. Lia may end up burning her hands, but I have never seen any fawn control their power like her. She is the strongest."

"That makes me feel a little bit better," Cassandra replied. She did not want to cause Lia any risks to her health. The woman had already gone through enough when the brunette first arrived here. The massive influx of energy was something the fawn had not expected when she first held her bare hand. Thankfully, Lia was able to prepare herself for it going forward.

Such an outburst of energy caused her to witness every atrocity she had ever committed. While the view it offered of her world was substantial, it –

Wait…that event. When Lia fell weak because of my touch, she saw everything. She said she never saw any world that close. Did that affect me as well?

"Milo!" Cassandra's voice picked up. The man gave her his full attention immediately. "When Lia lost consciousness, I did too. What do you think could have caused that? Is it possible that I could be connected to her somehow?"

His eyes floated across the ground as he pondered such a possibility. "Huh…I never thought about that. I'll have to talk to Lia about it. I remember you stumbling around and then you blacked out. You were fine when you awoke, but the amount of time that had passed was at least a day." He brought his hand across the back of his head. "Admittingly, I was worried that you were a goner. Without Lia, there was only so much that I could do."

"I heard someone speak in my head right before I lost consciousness." Cassandra replayed the words as they were when she heard them.

"Goodbye, Rosemary." That had to be Ethan. It sounded like him.

"Do you know who it was?"

Cassandra sheepishly turned her gaze over to the forest that was a mile behind Milo's shoulders. She felt ashamed. "Ethan: the man who I fought before I died. The man who entered my castle looking for his daughter. It had to have been him."

"Ah…" Milo nodded again. "Well, your memories were practically a web of recollections. Lia was able to pull those of others from your own, and it has to be connected to that…thing in there. Whatever connection it has to your home world is probably the link."

He paused for a moment as his words caught up to him. "Hmm…a link between realms? You died and you arrived here…and so did that woman with the claws…" Milo was practically talking to himself at this point as he began to pace around in a small circle. Without warning, he lifted his head and glanced at the castle. "I'll have to mention this to Lia. There is something about the barriers between realms that lies in loose theory, but now, it seems to be more than just that."

"Wait." She stopped him before he could move any further. She needed to know what was going on. "Explain. I don't want to be left out of this."

"Sorry." Milo took a breath and steadied himself. As excited as he was, there was no point in rushing back in. Cassandra needed him more than Lia did at the moment. "Nothing about this is certain. What I know…or, what I have read, is that the realms are the way they are because they are each made up of what makes them unique. For instance, some realms contain worlds that we believe to harbor dark and infectious energy."

He turned his eyes toward the edge of the castle wall. The look of excitement suddenly re-emerged on his face. "Come! Sit down and I'll tell you more!" It was either the expression of an engrossed scientist, or a father who was eager to tell his daughter something he thought was interesting.

Cassandra couldn't choose which one.

The two took their place on the grass, their backs pressed against the stone exterior of the fortress behind them. Milo kept his legs apart, knees up as he motioned in various directions with his hands. "Imagine a world of pure decay. Just rot and infestation. Filled with nothing but darkness and what we believe to be corpses."

He briefly closed his eyes and vigorously nodded his head. "I know, I know. It isn't pleasant to think about. But, we are talking about an entire world here. Now, fawns have known about this world for millennia. It is part of a chain of realms that seem to be natural for potentially parasitic organisms. We believe them to be infectious because it has been recorded over the centuries by fawns that the planets they've observed would gradually become host to these moldy or shadowy afflictions. That planet I first mentioned is the one fawns have viewed the most out of this chain. Its inhabitants are carnivorous, climbing literal mountains of dead bodies and expelling these dark clouds from their faces. No one has ever gotten a perfect view of that world, but all they seem to do is eat and fight and –"

Milo cut himself off. "Sorry, I'm getting off subject. Fawns look at that planet in particular, as its dark clouds are believed to be the cause of the state of that world. They live in it. When crossing realms was called into question, many wondered if the attributes of a virus, for example, would carry over to a new world. Fawns theorize that because the barriers that transcend realms are comprised of such incredible force, they filter everything but the most natural of compounds. Imagine it as a safety net."

Is he saying that I'm carrying a virus?

"How does this affect me?" Cassandra asked.

"I don't know," Milo said. It was clear that he was not trying to downplay the truth. The man truly was at a loss for answers. "My guess is that whatever those ladies implanted inside your head is what allowed you to change your body into those insects. Admittingly, I still can't piece my mind around how such a thing is possible, but your world has shown me so many unimaginable things, both astounding and horrific. I can only conclude that each realm is host to its own brand of unique and incredible, and for balance, it would not allow you to enter ours with them. Fawns believed they would lose their powers if they dispersed into particles and re-formed on the other side."

"That's what happened to me, but what about my death? Could that have something to do with it too?"

"Maybe. I wish I could tell you."

Cassandra had another idea that came to mind. "But, Lia is trying to open a window, correct? Would I enter my old world as I am now, or do you think I would change back into what I used to be?"

Milo spread his palms open with a mix of uncertainty and acceptance. At this point, it seemed that anything was possible. "I suppose. I mean…the fawns did believe that if someone were to open up a direct opening between realms, then whatever was on the other side could enter as it was." He slowly lifted his eyebrows as an unsettling thought crossed his mind. "If whatever was coming through was one of those things, then…I don't know. The consequences would be irreparable."

The brunette rested the back of her head on the wall as she stared up at the bright, blue sky above her. She yearned to be able to get back to Bela and Daniela. There had to be a way, she believed. It could not all be lost.

"I just want to be able to save my sisters," she said to him in a low voice. "There's nothing else for me in my world besides them."

"I was thinking about that too." He turned his head to her. There was a strong amount of concern for the fate of a woman he cared about. He knew her world was dangerous, filled with evil. "I do not want something to happen to you. Even if you can arrive at a certain point in time that will allow you to reconnect with them, you still have to worry about what that tall woman and the one in the mask will do to you."

"I know. I have so much to fight against. I just want to be able to change some of my mistakes."

"Sometimes we have to live with them."

"I know…"

Milo turned his eyes to the sky as well. "That Ethan Winters you mentioned, what about him?"

"Ethan?" Cassandra shifted her amber stare to Milo for a second before it returned to the sky. "I've been thinking about that for a while now. I thought he was my enemy, but, now that I know the truth, he was just another victim of Miranda and Alcina. He wanted to find his daughter and…we had a part of her."

Milo slowly turned his head at her. "What does that mean?"

Cassandra dipped her chin and closed her eyes. She drew a long sigh as she prepared to explain another thing that he should have hated her for. "Miranda separated Ethan's daughter into four parts and gave each of her 'children' a flask with a part of her inside. Our castle was given the flask that contained her head. It was all part of Miranda's plan, which also seemed to involve us dying too."

"I…" He bordered on many different emotions.

"I've never killed a child, let alone an infant." Cassandra sought to wash her hands of total guilt, though she knew she still played her part in the horrific act. "It doesn't change us trying to stop him from rescuing her. My sisters and I still did what we did. If I can go back, I would help him. I need my sisters to help him too. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I need to show them the truth. They didn't get a second chance like I did."

Milo stayed silent as he listened to her words, allowing them to settle in his mind before he took a breath. "I'm sorry," he responded. "I must remember that the woman next to me is not the woman from before. Cassandra, as a father, I can relate to this Ethan. I would have done everything I could too. But, when it comes to your sisters, I can also speak as a father who has lost a child. If they cannot be saved, it is something that you will have to overcome. Lia and I will do everything in our power to get you back to them, but sometimes, we have to live with the pain of loss."

A small tear crept up along Cassandra's right eye, which he was quick to wipe away. He did not want to see her cry. She glanced at him with a wide gaze, as if his comfort still came as such a surprise amid all her horrid truths.

Milo dried off his finger on the edge of his trousers as he stared at her hands. "I echo Lia's previous sentiment that we're not sending a killer back to her world. You may not get a chance to right those wrongs, but you can still save another life someday. Forgiveness is one thing. Atonement is another."

Atonement…

A faint smile pulled along Cassandra's mouth. It was a bittersweet thought, heightened only by his faith that she would do the right thing. She wanted to be able to pull Bela and Daniela back from what Alcina had instilled in them. It was only fair, but everyone in this castle was proof of an unfair world – regardless of realms.

"Thanks, Milo." She got up from the ground, turning toward the castle entrance. "I appreciate it. I think I'll go help Leta with some things before Lia and I go out."

"Wait…" Milo patted the ground for her to sit back down. "I must be fair to you."

What does he mean?

Cassandra paused before she slowly sat back down. Her gaze was fixed on him. He took a breath as he stared at the ground. Something heavy had to be weighing on his mind. "What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

That look that he held on his face when she told him about Ethan came right back. However, it was directed at himself. She could see it in the look in his eyes. It was the classic expression of regret that had nowhere else to go but forward. She felt it on herself when she spoke to Leta the previous night.

As good as it was to take that weight off her chest, it was not without its struggles. Milo clearly harbored guilt about his past. Lia had alluded to it, and the way he reacted to the things around him spoke of experience with the traumatic and the terrible.

Milo slowly clasped his face in both his hands before he collapsed them against the edges of his nose. He leaned his head back up to the sky, where he often looked on and wondered about where his life had taken him. Though he could not see her, he hoped that Julianna was still looking down at him, knowing that he never gave up on rectifying his mistakes.

Lia had forgiven him, which in itself meant the world. It was the reason why he was here now, calling Cassandra back when he could have let her simply leave. In a way, maybe it was also because he did not want her to feel like she was the only person in this world who had caused someone's death. The more he thought about why he was doing this, the more he believed both causes were the reason.

He had to forgive himself, just like Cassandra was working on doing.

"I'm not one to judge people, at least not anymore," he said. "My days of that are long over. I've grown a lot as the years went on. Even at my old age, you never stop growing." He grinned as a short laugh escaped his teeth. "I'm sure you know all about that."

She briefly giggled, recalling their earlier jokes about age. It was a subtle way to ease him into what he had to say. It couldn't have been simple for him, she thought.

"It was only when you showed up that I realized what I was running from. Actually, I always knew, but I never found it in me to admit it. I watched you quickly grow from this violent woman to one of the most caring individuals I've ever met." His eyes fell to his hands. "In just a few days…it's incredible."

Cassandra tried to remain humble. She understood that she had come a long way and was nothing like how she was before she died. To her, she was still a work in progress and was still reaching for the day when she could turn back and see all her problems behind her.

But, maybe Milo was right. Maybe those problems would never go away.

Yeah, Milo…just a few days. Hmm…what a few days it was.

"Thank you." That was all she could say.

He nodded as he interlocked his fingers together. "Of course. You've earned it." Milo still looked like he was considering how he would approach this. The delays in his sentences exemplified his natural sense of consideration. This was all new ground to him. "I've made mistakes before, too. I've allowed my anger to propel my decision-making, and Lia and Leta were the products of that – for a time."

"What do you mean?" She could sense that something grim was on the horizon.

"When Julianna was born, her mother and I were still in the early stages of our relationship," Milo began to allow the light to uncover the shadows of his past. "I was once married, but my wife had passed away from a sickness that we couldn't heal at the time. I stayed by myself until I met Lorette. She was a beautiful woman. I guess love took its natural course because before we knew it, we both had our daughter."

He paused again and shut his eyes. "I thought things would be different this time around, but she got sick too. Passed away unexpectedly one morning. I thought she would have been fine, but…too late for regrets, I suppose." His eyelids split as he dug the heel of his shoe into the ground. "Anyways, Julianna was an infant when her mother died. I couldn't let the loss of Lorette diminish the care I needed to provide for our child. That wouldn't be fair. So, I did what I had to do. I raised her until she became a teenager. I was afraid of losing her, which put us at odds occasionally. She wanted to grow up and I was scared to see that happen. Locwitary can be a dangerous world sometimes, and I didn't believe that she understood that. When she met the fawns that had settled close by, she made a friend."

Cassandra kept quiet as he talked. Milo chuckled to himself as he tilted his head toward the castle. "Lia knows about this part. She met a fawn named Ismana, and the two were inseparable. Best friends. Unfortunately, Ismana was a surge whose powers got the better of her one day when they were playing. It was a tragic accident that was nobody's fault. Her body unleashed a fiery explosion that ended up taking both their lives."

Milo…I am so sorry…

A tear trailed down his cheek but he did not move to take it away. To him, it needed to stay there for the time being. "When I lost Julianna, all the pain that I kept away all those years came boiling up. I lost everyone and everything and I was so…so angry, that I blamed the fawns for the loss of my daughter. I shut the world out and let my resentment fester until it propelled my future choices."

"What did you do?"

"I found other poils who had lost someone they knew to fawn magic over the years. Others came by to lend their support as well. We talked, and I told them that the surges were the cause of these tragedies. They quickly agreed and we started a campaign to ensure that surges wouldn't place regular people at risk. I wanted their elders to do their part to regulate the individuals with exceptional powers. Locwitary had seen enough bloodshed in its past between fawns and poils. We understood that as a group, the fawns had long since moved away from the ancient times and stayed away from poils. But, when some would branch off, tragedies like Ismana would happen."

He drew in another breath as he graced his receding hair with his hand. "I said that something had to be done. I led this group of men to a nearby fawn commune that had been known for an above-average number of surges in their group. I figured we could start there. I personally spoke to the elders and told them about our losses, and the women there were sympathetic to our cause. As much as I blamed them, I still saw how much they wanted peace. They agreed to take the adult surges to another commune where the most experienced elders resided. That way, those women could learn how to properly control their powers and no poil would ever lose another child. I thought I had made the right decision."

Cassandra tried to make him feel better. "You made the best decision that you thought you could have made. You just lost your daughter. You can't blame yourself for –"

"No," he cut her off. "It's not…it's not about that. I may have hated fawns for a long time, but my decision was with prosperity in mind. I was doing this for Julianna. I was also doing it for the next Julianna. It wasn't that. It was what happened after…"

"What happened, Milo?"

His eyes suddenly broke out into a slew of tears, but he did not sob. The man sat there, frozen like a statue as he recalled the second-worst day of his life. "When the elders took the grown-up surges and teleported away, we were left with the rest of the fawns who were either adolescent surges or adults of little abilities. I thanked our group for their efforts and prepared to move on to the next commune to continue our work. I had just met these people only a few weeks before, and I thought I knew them well enough, but…I was wrong."

Cassandra could already feel her heart binding.

"These men…I saw the way they were looking at those young women. Some of them were angry over the deaths of their family. Others, well, they had a different look in their eyes entirely. We were a group of around twenty poils. I brought nineteen men to those fawns who should have never been brought there."

The brunette reached out to touch his shoulder but as her hand drew closer, the more Milo seemed like he was about to break. She considered allowing him to cry his troubles out, but a part of her felt that he needed to get every single possible word out. She retracted her hand at that very moment.

Milo wiped his eyes but the tears quickly returned. "They just…went at them. When they realized that there were no surges around to protect these girls, they became the impossible. Savages. I turned around but everyone was in front of me. Then, I heard the girls screaming and I saw members of our group chasing after them. I saw grown men beating and throwing these young women around, some of them children. Fawns were running into their little homes to hide, but some of the men followed them inside. At that point, I already knew I had made a terrible decision. I tried my best to stop them, but they turned on me. Beat me to the dirt. Said I was a traitor. They told me that the fawns deserved this."

The sobbing finally took over. "None of those girls deserved what happened to them. Fawns were getting murdered before my very eyes. Beaten to death. They cut the throat of one of the adults and let her bleed out on the grass. Others…were raped. It didn't matter how old they were. The poils just grabbed whoever they could grab. I've heard young girls scream in pain from severe injuries during my years as a doctor. I thought I had seen the worst."

Milo groaned as he pushed more of the tears out. "I've never heard that kind of scream before. As a father…I…"

This is…horrible…

Milo filled his lungs as he fought on. "They eventually singled out one of the adults before they had their fill. A few of the girls were herded into one of the huts soon after, which the men lit on fire. Lia's mother came running out of her own hut and tried to plead with them to stop. One of the men struck her in the face and she fell down. I was still on the ground in pain, alternating between consciousness, but I watched as they mobbed her to death. I watched as that hut burned. I could still hear the crying. When they saw I was still awake, they beat me again and I blacked out for a moment. When I woke up, everyone was gone. By that time, the elders had returned and saw what had happened. I was ready for their retribution. I brought this tragedy upon them, after all. Why not kill me, right?"

Cassandra released a tear of her own as she reeled in his story. It was a heartbreaking event. She could not even begin to fathom the amount of guilt this man had been carrying with himself for all those years. "Milo…that wasn't your fault."

"They thought the same thing in the end. The elders wanted to punish me, but when they touched my face as I lay there on my knees, they said they could feel how sorrowful I was. They told me they could feel my daughter's loss, and that they knew violence was not what I wanted. They told me that while I was forgiven for what I had brought to them, I could atone for it."

Milo took his hands away from his face as he looked up at the castle behind them. "They led me to Lia and her infant sister, telling me that if I wanted to make things right, I would raise them as my own. I didn't want to do that, but the elders insisted on it, and I decided that I would. I needed to do whatever I could. Not only that, but I had to make things right."

"So, that's how you came to take care of Lia and Leta?" Cassandra asked. It all made sense now. She could see why the fawn had held so much resentment toward Milo when tensions ran high. The underlying anger and the sense of a life that was stolen from her all came together. It was no wonder why Lia was hesitant to discuss such matters. She had to have remembered those days so clearly.

"Yes," Milo replied. "I was given those two girls, some books, and sent away. The elders did not want this massacre to be the final wedge between poils and fawns. They believed that our futures could still be mended. They said that we needed to understand each other, and that meant growing up together. I knew I was in over my head by accepting it, but all I could think about was Julianna. She would have never wanted any of the fawns to get hurt, and yet, here was her father who started all this. I thought I had failed my daughter. She would have run away from me, as Leta did from Lia. Violence only tears people apart, Cassandra."

Her chest shuddered as she agreed. "It does…" She wiped the additional tears away from her eyes before she hugged him. By now, Milo had ceased his sobbing, cleared of what he had harbored for so long. To him, Cassandra and Lia's acceptance was proof that he wasn't the monster he thought he was. "The fawns taught you to forgive, and you taught me."

Despite the positive outcome of his confession, there was still one more shred of gloom left in his soul. "I still think about all those fawns that got hurt that day. I know they are brought up to forgive. Some of them even gently placed their hands on me as I was leaving, trying to heal my wounds. It didn't mean that they weren't still in anguish over what had happened to them. Not all the fawns joined in. Many were still in tears. Others were mourning those that were killed. I knew that no matter what: we had destroyed their lives."

Milo glanced toward the forest, as his mind drifted away from the dead and to that of the living. "I remember, as I was leaving, I saw this one adult fawn sitting on the ground. Some of the others were trying to comfort her after what she had been through. The way her eyes were wide and how she bared her teeth at me. The force behind her breathing."

One final tear broke free. "It wasn't sadness. It was hate."

NOTES:

Welcome back! Hope this chapter was worth the wait for you all! So, I wanted to lay down some of the 'laws' that these worlds adhere to. I didn't want to dive too heavily into it, as the heart of the story is the world it takes place in.

Worlds of decay and rot? Well, that sounds familiar…

But, yeah, a lot of you have been wondering why Cassandra doesn't have her powers, and there is the answer: the realms filter organisms to their basic forms, which is relevant to infections or alterations, or enhanced abilities.

Now, there is something I haven't revealed yet that I will reveal soon that will completely explain why Cassandra is the way she is here.

And yeah…Milo's past has been revealed. He himself is not a monster, but he lives with the guilt of the tragedy he brought to fruition. He was tolerant of Cassandra's monstrosity because he knew how the fawns may have viewed him, even though he was better than that in heart. I didn't want to throw another moment of crying into this story so soon, but his story needed to be told.

When can you expect the next chapter? Well, tomorrow, actually!

Now, the reason is that the next chapter is going to be something different. Like Cassandra's true past; I originally was going to include the upcoming chapter as a flashback. However, being that it is all OC, I didn't want diehard Cassandra fans to have to wait another two weeks for one without our favorite brunette.

Nonetheless, this is a chapter I've been wanting to write for months and it will be a very important one. Brace yourselves.

That chapter will be out in less than twenty-four hours.

This story is drawing closer to its third act, where everything will come together. I can only promise that the next chapter will give a hint about what to expect. In the meantime, thank you for reading this and supporting my work! You all have been so wonderful to me! I hope life has been treating you all well! Stay safe and stay happy! I will see you very soon! 😊