Stormy belongs to GeekyCookie1 (I do however own the dark/possessed version of GeekyCookie1's character, which will be further explored in the next chapter).

Side note: There is also a brief, implied discussion of lust between the one of the main characters (Aliya) and a older character (specifically Atticus).

Please read with caution.

Thank you.

~~~~~~

"So, what's our plan here, gang?"

"Trying not to die, obviously," Stormy bluntly stated towards Shiron, who awkwardly glanced away. "Right well, if Narcissa is planning on going after Castor, then he's going to need some help," Amara stated, turning her focus on Jaxon and Lillian, who eyed their mother.

"Castor will be fine! He's a knight for Avalon's sake! Besides, me and Jax have fought Cain before!"

"It's a whole bunch of animated souls and Cain. He's just one person. I'm pretty the adults in the room can take care of this matter," Faustin proudly boasted as the group moved closer to each other in an attempt to discuss their strategy.

"But you don't understand, he's—"

"Libby, it's okay. I'm sure Félix and the others can take down Narcissa's army and Cain, but right now, we need to get to Aliya and help out Castor," Jaxon firmly stated, much to their sister's disappointment. "Fine, but just be careful. Cain can be quite a handful," she warned Faustin as Amara, Issac and Stormy hugged the two once more.

"We'll be safe."

So Lillian reluctantly summoned a portal and dragged Jaxon along with her, the portal closing from behind them as the two Avalonians left. "Are you sure our kids are going to be okay on their own?" Issac quietly whispered to Amara and Stormy as the two women confidently nodded.

"Our kids can handle anything."

~~~~~~~~~

Inside the dungeon, Aliya's eyes widened as she managed to grab and hold the chain in the right angle, allowing the monstrous beast to break the chain using its sharp, dagger-like claws.

Able to move her feet again, the young faerie repeated the same action with her arms (which was risky as she was in direct contact with the beast) and before long, she had freed her arms, which were now scarred from the iron restraints.

Rubbing her arms, Aliya tried to get a moment to catch her breath but quickly jumped at the sight of the scale beast charging towards her.

In a moment of panic, she tried to search for a way out, but a jolt struck the young faerie which the beast took advantage, throwing the girl across the room, causing Aliya to land onto the ground with twice the pain she was used to feeling. So what would be a typical "thump" for her quickly evolved to a thousand burning embers breaking onto her back, each bone in her body aching from the intensity of the throw.

Aliya aggressively bit her tongue to ignore the urge to scream, not that she could even if she wanted to do so. But because of her decision, she could taste the blood in the back of her throat, which made everything so much worse. She tried to stand, but even trying to go through that motion felt like a dozen knives going inside her.

Leaning onto the wall for support, Aliya's eyes widened as the beast flared its nostrils in her face. As her heart thumped loudly in her chest and adrenaline pumped in her veins, Aliya found herself wondering how her situation might have gone if she had let Jaxon and Jesse fend for themselves.

So as she ducked the beast's tail, Aliya inadvertently tripped, which did little to soothe the aching nerves of her body. But when the faerie spotted a yellow, golden floating orb approaching her, she thought maybe she would get a weapon. Instead, the orb went straight to her throat as Aliya found herself coughing for the first time since her voice was taken.

"My voice... it's back," Aliya said, her eyes widening as she realized this meant someone broke Narcissa's seashell necklace. Then, she facepalmed herself, realizing that there was the possibility of her family and friends being here.

"I am so getting lectured by my parents and Aunt Stormy when all of this is over..." she mumbled, releasing a panicked scream when Aliya found herself jumping again.

"Aliya!"

As Aliya looked up, she tried to mask her inner excitement at seeing the knight at the front entrance of the dungeon with the key in hand. "You got her key? Where was it?" Aliya called out, surprised by the hoarseness of her tone. "I don't know, but Jesse gave me the key!" he called out.

"Jesse?" Aliya repeated, more so to herself now. "He's here?" she mumbled, wondering why the love fairy bothered to come when he was clearly upset over the rejection. "Aliya, look out!" he called and for a slight second, Aliya tried to keep track of Castor, who had quickly disappeared.

Turning around, Aliya saw the dragon on the verge of grabbing her and she had the spilt notion to duck and come up with another alternative to the run-and-duck idea she's been using for the past two hours.

Yet as another sudden jolt gave way, this one was more painful than the last as she ended up falling just as the knight reappeared, catching her in the midst of the fall.

"Hey, I got you," Castor reassured her, ensuring he wasn't grabbing her too tightly. As he teleported the two outside of the dungeon, he placed Aliya gently on the ground, his eyes flinching with each wince she gave out. "You're safe now," he softly added as Aliya weakly chuckled and gave him a small smile.

"If I went with you guys, none of this would have had happened to you. This is all my fault. I should have been there to protect you," Castor sincerely said as Aliya shook her head, seeing the self-loathing and inner disgust in his eyes. "Cas, look, this would have had happened—" she started, trying to tell him it wouldn't have mattered but she was interrupted.

"I can't be a good knight, because I'm just a fake. I'm not a good son, because I couldn't even get my dad to stay. Even now, I just... I just screw up everything I touch," Castor solemnly said before looking away.

"I'm sorry, Aliya. I failed you."

In that moment, Aliya felt her heart shatter at the realization that she wasn't the only broken thing around here. The faerie knew about the countless nights she cried herself to sleep, the self-loathing and disgust she held for herself because all she ever was a trouble magnet, who couldn't fix anything.

She knew the feeling all too well, but seeing someone as sweet as Castor go through the same kind of mindset as hers... In that moment, her heart shattered from the idea that Castor (out of all people) thought he failed her.

"Castor, stop! Please stop!" Aliya desperately pleaded with him as she held his hand, the knight staring at her in surprise. "You didn't fail me and you didn't do anything wrong!" she continued as she ignored her voice breaking. "You're not a screw up either! Okay? You're a great knight and a great son, who shouldn't let his father's absence define who you are!"

"The world is always going to try to push you around and tell you things — cruel, selfish spiteful things because the world fears what they don't understand. But you shouldn't let anyone have power and control over you because what makes you different is what makes you strong," she continued, pulling Castor into a hug as Aliya ignored the inner burning sensation in her muscles.

"This world is always going to tear people like you and me down, but what is important is that we weirdos got to stick together. The world doesn't stand a chance when it's just us against them," she added, pulling away from the hug to see Castor's light brown eyes glistening with tears — tears he furiously tried to wipe away.

"Sure, but what if we stick together and then one of us gets left behind?" Castor pointed out as Aliya stood up. "Cas, I'm not going to leave you behind. I know Iris said I was going to leave you like everyone else back at the birthday bash, but I meant my words back then and I mean my words now," she firmly stated.

"It's you and me against the world, and nothing is ever going to change that," the faerie followed up, before holding out her hand to the knight. "You can't be serious," Castor countered back with a small laugh as he waited for the punchline, but when she saw the girl trying to wipe away her tears, he realized she meant every word. Castor started to take her hand before hesitating.

What if he screwed this up? What if the world managed to tear them apart? What if Iris was right and he was the reason Aliya left him?

"No, I'm not leaving you behind. I don't care whether you think I'm stupid for taking you along with me, or what, but you're my friend, Cas. No matter what happens, we can deal with it, together."

Castor knew it was his insecurities talking because he knew Aliya wouldn't be the one to screw him over. But still...

"Promise?"

Aliya could recall the moment she and Jesse first said those words, young changelings who were convinced that the world would work in their favor.

Young, innocent and naive kids who didn't know any better. Those kids that grew up would soon be dealt with the harsh consequences of reality and before long, their words spoken in their youth flew away as quickly as a summer breeze.

Quickly, promises turn to lies. Lies turn to distrust. Distrust turns into betrayal and before long, those kids were now pit against together, no longer allies against a cruel world but foes against themselves while the world watches on, making bets and seeing who would come out on top.

Aliya wasn't sure if she could salvage her friendship with Jesse at this point. She wasn't sure if he even wanted to remain friends or if the two were become enemies, pit against together by a system that valued a person's worth by the powers and abilities they are given at a young age.

The brighter an Avalonian's wings were, the greater the powers would become, which led to higher potential and opportunities to succeed in this game called life. She knew of the benefits and pleasures Jesse got for being a love fairy, while the wingless faerie has been dealt a series of losing cards, each one more depriving than the last.

Aliya knew what it was to make a promise to someone like Jesse, quickly learning that in the game to power, the weak ones always got left behind.

After all, Jesse was the one who taught her that lesson the day he had shoved her in their youth, walking away from her alongside his parents and Iris, who were all special while she served as the mere speck in their polished life. She refused to make another mistake like that again.

Jesse might have broken his promises to her, but Aliya wasn't about to create a cycle of anguish with Castor. She would keep her promises and she would come to Castor's defense because he was a weirdo like her and they had to stick together to survive in this cruel game.

"Promise."

Castor debated for a moment longer before accepting the faerie's hand, the two now bonded by a promise. When Aliya proceeded to lift him up and released his hand, she found herself spun as Castor pulled her into a hug.

No words were spoken in that moment, but she didn't need words to get the knight's gratitude.

When the two pulled away, Aliya glanced down to see their hands slightly touching as she smiled. "Oh, would you look at that," she lightly teased as Castor glanced down to see their hands touching.

The two had assumed the other would let go, but when it became clear no one was releasing the other's hand, Castor then chose to intertwined their hands. "Oh, this is nice," he said as Aliya softly chuckled from his response. When the two had stared at each other, time seemed to slow down.

Then Aliya spotted the beast's raging fire breath coming towards Castor's direction and time picked itself back up. As she snapped herself back to reality, the faerie pulled him toward her direction, the two pinned together against a wall as the fire reached the spot where the knight originally stood.

"You saved my life!" Castor loudly exclaimed as Aliya cheekily grinned. "Just like you saved mine. Now, we're even," she said, the two laughing before smiling softly in each other's direction.

When the two heard the sound of flapping wings, Aliya and Castor eyed each other before sharply moving out of the way as the beast emerged out of the dungeon and staring viciously in their direction.

"Stand back, Aliya. I got this," Castor confidently told her, pulling out his sword as Aliya playfully rolled her eyes. She would have said something witty had the faerie not felt another jolt in her body, causing her to fall.

"Aliya!"

"I'm fine," she dismissively told him yet her tone came out as a mix between hurt and exhaustion. As Castor debated his options, he chose to grab Aliya and teleport the two to the opposite side as the beast flared its nostrils. "You're not fine, Aliya, but that's okay. I'm here for you," Castor reassured her as the girl softly smiled.

"Your sword!" Aliya sharply called out, her eyes widening as the knight saw the beast kick his sword away. He wanted to grab the sword, but he refused to abandon Aliya, so Castor thought to rely on his teleporting abilities.

However as he tried to teleport once more, Castor and Aliya remained in the same spot, which led to his eyes widening. Not long after, he and Aliya came to the realization the knight used up the last of his power jumps, forcing the two into a dead-end situation as the beast's direction shifted towards them.

"Oh no..."

~~~~~~~

"We can't handle this!"

Immediately after transporting to the other side of Narcissa's lair, Jaxon and Lillian were met alongside Aliya and Castor, who were cornered by a large, red scaled beast.

"Jax! Lily!" Aliya happily cried out as Castor gently placed her down, observing softly as the girl ran to reunite with her two siblings. Leaning against the wall, the knight softly smiled to himself at the sight of Aliya's happiness.

"Aliya!" Jaxon and Lillian happily exclaimed, spinning their sister around as the three laughed. "Do not scare us like that again!" Lillian exclaimed, pulling on her ear as Aliya quietly winced. "Ow, ow, ow — okay!" Aliya agreed at the end, apologizing on the spot as Lillian released her ear.

"What happened to you? You look like a mess!" Jaxon sharply exclaimed, gesturing toward Aliya's torn clothing, iron marks and a couple pieces of burnt chard marks on her clothes. When the two siblings looked closer, Jaxon and Lillian could have sworn they saw her hair partially charred.

Before Aliya could respond, the four heard the sound of a loud roar shaking the ground as Jaxon caught Lillian on instinct while Castor caught Aliya. "What is that!" the two siblings immediately asked. "That is a fire-breathing dragon. I should know because I almost got burned myself," Castor explained.

"Well... that dragon is actually Atticus," Aliya slowly said, leaning on Castor for support as the three Avalonians stared at her and back at the dragon. "You can't be serious!" the three protested. "Nope. That is Atticus in his cursed form," Aliya casually answered as Jaxon and Lillian's eyes widened from her response.

"H... How!" the siblings loudly exclaimed, their minds unable to wrap around the idea of Atticus — a human mage and Jesse's advisor — could somehow be a fire-breathing dragon in disguise! But then, another blast of fire came towards the four and the group hid behind the wall.

"Let's try to deal with Atticus first, then I'll explain everything," Aliya suggested as the three nodded. "If you two are here though, then where is Jesse? Castor said he was here, but I have yet to see him," she slowly continued as Jaxon and Lillian glanced at each other, before looking at Castor.

"Yeah, about Jesse..." the three started, only to stop when the group saw Aliya leaning harder on Castor, who was quick at ensuring the faerie wouldn't fall face-forward onto the pavement. "These jolts are getting worse," Castor noted as Aliya weakly smiled in his direction.

"Aliya!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Aliya assured her siblings and Castor, but it was clear from her tone, her body was slowly dying on her. "What's happening to you?" the two asked as Aliya took a shaky breath. "It's the soulmate curse. Jesse kissed the sea witch when the curse was in effect, so when he had transformed into Cain..." Castor began, only to trail off, unable to finish the rest.

"I started getting weaker. That's what the jolts are. Cain is drawing his energy from me since Jesse is clearly more power-leveled than I am," Aliya finished, briefly coughing afterwards.

"If soulmate blessings are meant to help people, then soulmate curses are meant to harm. In a soulmate curse, the curse is specifically designed to bring out the wicked, twisted side of the couple," she continued.

"Each curse varies for each type of Avalonian, but given how Jesse is a love fairy whose dark side got released early and I don't really have any powers to my name..." she slowly trailed off, despising how she kept gripping onto Castor to retain her balance.

"Jesse in this case is the one who is heavily influenced by the curse as Cain has complete control over him, hence why he is able to draw his strength from me," she further added on to help her case. "When I'm away from him, Cain gradually gets his strength but if I were to ever get close to him, he can accelerate the process faster through inflicting pain on me. If he were to ever become strong enough, then I would end up collapsing on the spot," she continued.

"How can you reverse the effects to where he loses his strength and you regain yours?" Lillian and Jaxon curiously asked. "From what Narcissa told me, I am unable to reverse the effects since I am the weaker one. Cain would have to reverse the effects himself, but that scenario seems highly unlikely," Aliya slowly explained, her voice becoming more and more like a whisper.

"But we can deal with that problem later. Right now, we have a dragon to deal with," Aliya concluded, gesturing to the flames that threatened to consume the group. "That's a good point," Jaxon chimed in. "Well, what are you supposed to fight a dragon with?" Lillian promptly asked.

"I have my sword, but I can't teleport. I finished all of my hyper jumps and it'll take a few hours for me to get all of my jumps back," Castor explained. "If I could get someone to teleport me, I might be able to serve as a distraction," he added as Lillian took a peek at the dragon to where Castor's sword remained perfectly untouched.

"I'll teleport you there and serve as a cover," Lillian firmly stated as Jaxon and Aliya's eyes widened. "Libby, you're never dealt with a dragon before! You could get seriously hurt!" the two siblings protested as it was Lillian's turn to laugh.

"It's fine. Besides, Castor will be there to keep me from getting burned," Lillian insisted, much to the dismay of her older siblings. But in the end, Aliya was the one who gave the girl her approval. "Okay, just be safe," Aliya softly told her, pulling Lillian in a tight hug which she had gladly returned.

"I will," Lillian reassured her. "Jax, you're in charge of keeping Aliya alive," she sharply told her sibling, who blinked. They opened their mouth, but when Lillian turned around to face them, Jaxon decided to say whatever was on their mind as a sister's wrath was worse than facing a fire-breathing dragon.

"Yeah, cool. Not a problem," Jaxon quickly stated, rushing to Aliya's side as Castor was less reluctant in letting her go. "Cas, it's fine. I promise I won't do anything stupid while you and Lily are out there. I mean, it's not like I can, anyways," she assured him and only then, did Castor let go and allow Jaxon to watch over her.

"Ready?" Lillian asked, offering Castor her hand as the knight looked over back at Aliya and Jaxon, who both gave him thumbs-up.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

~~~~~~

Teleporting behind the dragon, Lillian landed on a soft note, catching the knight from falling. When she felt confident he was steady enough to stand on his own, she released him as Castor went to grab his sword with great ease.

"So, what's the plan?" Lillian curiously asked, flexing her hands as she eagerly looked at his direction. "How do we plan on taking down Atticus?" she continued as Castor held his sword steady, before peeking out slightly to analyze the dragon's movements when he spotted the necklace hanging from his neck. As he turned back, Castor then eyed Lillian who held a shadow orb in her hand.

"I'm going to serve as the distraction, while you teleport yourself to Atticus and rip the necklace from his neck. I think if we take off the necklace, then we might be able to get Atticus back to normal," Castor explained as Lillian's eyes sparkled in delight from the sound of his plan.

"Perfect!"

So with the plan in mind, Castor grabbed his sword and clashed his bracelets together to create a shield. "Hey, remember me? I'm back!" Castor yelled, causing the dragon to focus on him and when Lillian saw her moment of opportunity, she quickly teleported herself to Atticus.

As Lillian took in Atticus's scales and admired the unique structure, she spotted a dark jade necklace with ancient runes she couldn't decipher, at least not on her own. "Found you," the hybrid mumbled, on the verge of grabbing the necklace when she was spotted by Atticus himself.

As Lillian awkwardly fluttered her wings in place, she nervously chuckled while waving towards the dragon. "Hey, Atticus. Any chance you wouldn't just want to hand over your necklace to me, right?" she casually asked, trying to ignore the increased elevation of her heart rate.

When Lillian saw Atticus's nostrils flare, that's when the hybrid bowed and quickly took her leave as she teleported herself out of the way just in time for Atticus to blow in the spot she once was.

"Lillian, look out!" Castor called, only to turn around as Lillian pulled on his ear. "Ow, ow, ow!" Castor protested as the hybrid crossed her arms. "Your warning came a little bit too late. Besides, I think we should switch positions. I can distract him better since I can summon my shadow orbs and you can grab his necklace," Lillian quickly explained as Castor held his shield to prevent the two from being burned.

"Relax, I'll teleport you out though by then, Atticus should be phasing out of his dragon state," she added as Castor nodded. "Okay, just let me know when—" he began, only to get cut off by the sound of a swirling portal. "Alright, go make us proud," Lillian smugly said, lightly shoving the knight inside with a grin.

While Lillian held Castor's shield and sword, she proceeded to teleport her way in front of Atticus. "Hey, hothead! Come and get it!" Lillian exclaimed, tossing her shadow orbs in the air before using the sword as a bat. As each orb went towards his face, little bursts of black smoke appeared, distracting the dragon from using his vision.

With the dragon preoccupied, Castor found himself holding onto Atticus's neck, trying to take off the necklace to no avail. When Lillian saw the latter struggling, she quickly teleported his sword back to the knight.

Catching the sword in mid-air, Castor then proceeded to rip the necklace off before a sudden shift in Atticus's direction caused the knight to lose his balance. Bracing himself for the fall, Castor closed his eyes. However when he opened his eyes to the sound of laughter, the knight merely glared in her direction.

"You're welcome," Lillian noted, dropping the knight without a second thought. "Ow!" Castor cried out, rubbing his head as the girl rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that bad," she noted, tossing back his shield as Castor tapped on the shield twice to revert back to his bracelets.

"Thank you," Castor sincerely said, but by then, Lillian was back with her two siblings and excitedly telling the two about her journey with battling a dragon. He didn't mean to stare at Aliya so much, but the knight was personally thrilled each time he could spot the girl being joyful in the moment.

Feeling like he was staring at her for too long, Castor turned his focus on the necklace in his possession. As he studied the engraved runes on the jade gemstone, he felt the item being oddly familiar to him. He almost attempted to read what the words were when Atticus grabbed the necklace from him.

"Oh, Atticus! You look like you're in good spirits," Castor awkwardly began, pretending that he wasn't invested in the advisor's necklace. "Mhm," Atticus sarcastically mumbled in response to the boy's lie. As Castor stared at Atticus, he could see the scales reverting back to his skin as the knight winced at the sight.

"It gets better with time, but I'll be able to reverse this curse of mine, very, very soon," Atticus told the knight as Castor spotted the latter staring at Aliya. "Uh, how do you plan on doing that?" he asked, mostly in an effort to get the advisor to quit staring at Aliya.

"That, my boy, remains a secret. You'll be able to know within time though," Atticus sharply told him, before grabbing and twisting Castor's nose as the boy pulled back, rubbing his nose.

The illusionist only got a odd feeling about the advisor and quickly stood by the girl's side from there. "Oh, hey, Cas! Lily was just telling us about your fall," Aliya chimed in as Castor playfully rolled his eyes.

"If my powers were still available to me, I would have saved myself," Castor countered back as he crossed his eyes. "But you didn't! Admit it, I was great back there," Lillian confidently gloated toward the knight as Jaxon and Aliya playfully chuckled at their sister's response.

"You were great back there," Castor reluctantly but truthfully admitted as Lillian's eyes lit up.

"I knew it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, since my friends technically broke your curse, we can just forget about finding the lamp, right?" Aliya cheekily asked while her siblings and Castor (who was reluctant about leaving her to deal with Atticus alone) walked ahead of the two.

"No. If anything, that just means you and I need to find the location of the lamp as soon as possible to break the curse off for good," Atticus firmly answered, much to the latter's dismay though she couldn't say she wasn't surprised by his answer. "But I can only find the lamp through—" he continued as Aliya sighed.

"The diamond in the rough, I know. You still have yet to explain what the term means or why you keep thinking I'm the key to finding this so-called lamp of yours," she countered back. "You'll learn with time, my dear," he simply answered, preparing to brush her hair back when Aliya caught his arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" Aliya sharply inquired, the sharpness in her tone catching the advisor off-guard. "You had something in your hair," he responded as she blinked, clearly knowing that his prolonged response and lack of awareness made him a liar, especially because they both knew there was nothing in her hair.

"Okay, I see we got to set boundaries. I didn't think this was possible considering you're like a couple of centuries only than me but here we go," she sharply responded, shaking her head. "Let me just make myself clear. You are not going to touch me or stroke my hair or whatever your little heart thinks it desires," she strictly began.

"I am only stuck with you because of a deal we made. Out of respect, I intend to uphold my end of that deal, even if I think the whole idea of a lamp is completely pointless," she said before reminding herself to focus.

"However, if you overstep these boundaries of mine, I will not be afraid to break every bone of your body and I'm sure whatever I can't break, Stormy and the others would be glad to finish where I left off. Do I make myself clear, advisor?" she finished as Atticus slowly nodded. "Of course, Aliya. Whatever you say," Atticus told her as she reluctantly released his arm.

Though Atticus had politely bowed to her soon afterwards, it was the tone of possible seduction that caused her to raise an eyebrow in his direction. Aliya meant to question the advisor further, but by then, she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to hear anymore of what he had to say.

In the end, the faerie chose to remove herself from Atticus's presence, rather choosing to regroup with her siblings and Castor. "Hey, are you alright?" Castor whispered to her as Aliya nodded, not wanting to look back. "Yeah, I'm fine," she whispered back to him with a grin.

As the four and Atticus made their way to the front entrance, Aliya felt a sudden, more intensified jolt as Castor steadily caught her from falling. "T... Thanks," she managed to say.

"Oh, leaving so soon?" Narcissa lightly mocked the group and Atticus. "Why, you just barely got here! You haven't even experienced the real fun," she continued as Cain stepped in front of the sea witch, darkly eyeing Aliya. "We can take him down again!" Lillian loudly protested as the sea witch chuckled.

"Sure, but can you take down Cain and his second-in-command?" Narcissa continued as the group and Atticus all eyed each other in confusion. "Since when did Cain get a second-in-command?" the group asked among themselves before a sharp, cold laughter cut everyone off.

"Since now," the woman firmly stated. As everyone stared at the woman next to Cain, no one was as shocked or nearly as surprised as Aliya, Lillian and Jaxon, who all stared at her and back at each other in disbelief.

"Stormy?"