Rachel woke with a start, sitting up quickly and slamming her forehead into Alan's. "OW!" he yelped, falling backwards onto his bottom. His medical supplies went flying, and Red and Merlin scrambled to retrieve them. "What was that for?"

Rachel didn't answer. She curled her knees to her chest and barely even heard his question. She hadn't even felt the impact from their heads colliding. She felt the tears falling on her cheeks, but didn't have the strength to wipe them away.

It seemed impossible that she could have just witnessed that, but she had. Rachel had seen the deaths of her parents at Guy's hand, from Will's eyes. But that was impossible! Will couldn't have been dreaming about that; the Guardians—no, Ewan—had wiped his memories of it! Was it possible someone had allowed him to remember that?

The Editor. It had to be. The Editor had known Rachel would absorb that dream and had forced Will to remember it. That was the only reasonable explanation.

But that didn't stop her from crying. She had witnessed her parents' deaths. She covered her face with her hands, sobbing quietly. It took her several minutes to realize Merlin was saying her name repeatedly. She looked up at him. "Rachel, what is it? What's wrong?" he asked, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder. His eyes were crinkled in concern.

"I...I saw," she stammered, unable to continue for a moment. He knelt in front of her, putting his hands on both of her shoulders and squeezing them.

"Breathe," he told her calmly. "Calm yourself before you try and tell me anything. Otherwise it will all come out jumbled up."

She struggled to take deep breaths, feeling ridiculous as they came with little hiccupping sobs. She despised crying in front of anybody, but that dream had hit her right where it hurt. After about ten minutes Rachel had regained enough control of her emotions to relate the entire dream to Merlin. She finished with, "But it simply shouldn't have happened—Will was supposed to have forgotten everything." It was easier to focus on that then the image of Guy's sword going through her father's body.

Merlin shrugged helplessly. "I've no idea," he confessed. Rachel felt a pang of guilt as she realized she hadn't told any of them a very important fact about Will; he was the Editor's son.

It was in looking away from Merlin to hide her guilt that Rachel realized they were no longer in Eline's Story. They were in a large garden behind a mansion somewhere. "What Story is this?" Rachel asked, then frowned down at herself. She was wearing some ridiculous frilly blue dress and painful...dancing shoes?

"Judging from the shining castle in the distance and the ball that's supposedly occurring," Merlin said with a little grin, "I think we're in the Cinderella Story."

"That explains this stupide dress," Red muttered, picking at her equally frilly red dress. "What are we doing here?"

"First of all," Alan said in a self-important voice, rubbing the mark on his forehead ruefully, "Lady Rachel nearly died to the Sea Witch. Secondly—"

"Whoa, wait," Rachel interrupted, suddenly remembering the seaweed around her throat. Touching her neck, she felt the marking left, but thankfully no seaweed. "What exactly happened? How...how am I still alive?"

"Well, the Sea Witch was attempting to kill you," Guinevere explained. "Alan cut the seaweed from your throat, and Eline finished the witch off."

"Then we had to clear out pretty quickly," Alan put in, a little miffed at being interrupted, "because Red's air was running out. So Merlin made a rush-door, and this is where we ended up!"

Rachel examined the others' clothing. Gwen's hadn't changed much, but both the men were wearing odd shirts that buttoned on their shoulder. It was a stranger sight than Merlin as a merman to see him dressed in ball clothes.

"So..." Merlin said, aware of Rachel's gaze assessing his outfit and blushing, "shall we attend the ball?" Flicking his wrist, he produced five invitations and distributed them to each person.

Rachel accepted the invitation reluctantly. She didn't know how to dance, and she still felt like an emotional wreck after that strange dream. But Merlin seemed to be looking forward to the ball, oddly, and before Rachel knew it he had practically dragged all five of them to the gates of the castle. They looked up at the castle as huge swarms of people maneuvered around them and went inside. "Are you sure about this?" Rachel asked in a small voice.

"Non," Red said.

"I don't dance," Alan insisted—the same thing he'd been insisting in the entire walk from the mansion, in fact.

"I haven't been to a ball in forever," Gwen said with great relish.

"I'm ready," Merlin agreed, offering Gwen his arm. No longer such a mystery as to why Merlin was so excited, Rachel scowled. Before she could protest, both Merlin and Guinevere had handed over their forged invitations and gone inside.

Alan glanced at the remaining two girls a trifle anxiously. "Who should I...?" he asked, motioning helplessly at them.

Rachel pushed Red forward. "Here," she said.

"What?" Before Red could say anything, Alan took her arm and led her inside.

Rachel smiled a little before approaching by herself. The man looked at her in a peculiar manner when he saw her by herself, but her invitation all seemed to be in order and she was waved in.

The massive ballroom was made entirely of marble, and a huge staircase led down to the dance floor. Rachel could see Merlin and Guinevere dancing already; she rolled her eyes. Merlin seemed intent on ruining his friendship with King Arthur by falling for his Queen.

Rachel had warned him. She'd cautioned him and tried to stop him, but he insisted on continuing the ill-fated relationship. Rachel had done all she could; the choice remained only Merlin's. Shrugging the thought aside, Rachel descended the stairs, keep a firm hold on the railing. She just wasn't used to walking shoes like that. Grimacing, she finally reached the last step and moved towards the dance floor.

Gwen and Merlin twirled past her, Guinevere giggling girlishly. Rachel couldn't help but smile a little at their obvious joy of being together, but it also hurt. She should have been married at this point. Not only was it frustrating that her and Guy's wedding had been postponed indefinitely, she didn't know if it would ever happen. From the things she'd learned about Guy on her journey so far, she wasn't sure he was the man she had thought he was.

Rachel's attention was distracted by Alan's arguing with one of the musicians. Red stood close by, looking annoyed. Rachel chuckled as the musicians turned their backs on Alan and started playing a waltz.

Rachel felt someone tap her shoulder and she turned around. Instantly she wished she hadn't as she met the eyes of her fiancé, Guy of Gisborne. "G—Guy?" she gasped, instinctively drawing away.

He held out his hand to her. "May I have this dance, milady?" he asked cordially.

I should say no. Put my foot down. He basically left me at the altar. But she found herself putting her hand in his and saying aloofly, "I suppose."

He put his right hand on the small of her back, and she mirrored the movement with him. His left hand held hers. As they caught the beat, Guy began leading Rachel in the dance. It was painfully apparent that Rachel couldn't dance, but Guy was a skilled dancer. As they danced amongst all the other couples, Rachel looked up at him, squinting her eyes a little. "Where have you been?" she demanded.

He smiled a little. "That would take a good deal of explaining. Far longer than this song will last, I think." He twirled her, but she refused to be distracted.

"Okay, so if you won't answer that, what the heck were you thinking?" she said, taking a different route. "You disappeared on the day of our wedding! We were supposed to be married, Guy. What was I supposed to think? You'd better have a good explanation for this!"

"Again—I'm afraid any explanation I could give you would take far too long. I can only stay for one song, and I would like to enjoy it." Guy seemed extremely lethargic, and perhaps even a bit sad. He leaned in as they swayed to the music and kissed Rachel's forehead tenderly. "I do love you, Rachel. Nothing that has happened has changed it. We may be on opposite sides in this war, but that doesn't change that fact."

"Your actions say much differently," Rachel protested. "And aren't you aware that the Editor's side has attempted to kill all of us at least twenty times already?"

"Will sends his regards," Guy said, taking a completely different direction to the conversation than Rachel had expected.

"I don't care!" Rachel cried. Those dancing near them cast the couple a strange look, but Rachel ignored them. "Will has nothing to do with this! This is about you, and me, and Will's got nothing to do with that! Answer my blasted question!"

Guy's eyes grew very distant. "Everything I do is for you," he whispered, a stark contrast to Rachel's loud and furious tone. "I don't care about any others. If I can protect you, through what I'm doing, then so be it."

Rachel looked past Guy. She saw Merlin and Guinevere dancing not far away, and she saw the clumsy way Merlin danced—worse than her. Yet they seemed to be having the time of their life. Beyond them, Red was standing in a corner frowning disapprovingly at Alan, who had accosted one of the musicians and stolen his lute. The pouting musician sat beside the musicians on the floor, having lost both his instrument and seat to Alan.

They were her friends. She didn't do anything to protect just one person; she did it for all those she cared about. She turned back to Guy. "I don't approve of what you're doing," she told him in a voice low with anger. "Especially if you're doing it in my name! Switch sides, Guy. Leave the Editor and come to our side. If you don't, then...you're my enemy. Make your choice."

"I already have," Guy replied simply. The song was nearing its end, yet Rachel wished it never would. "And I'm sorry. But the Editor is a cruel mistress. She will never let me escape this servitude, even if I wanted to."

"She?" Rachel said, frowning. "The Editor is a woman?"

Guy smiled grimly. "I dropped that same hint to Will, but he didn't even notice," he said, evidently satisfied. "And now, I'm afraid our time is upon us."

Rachel held onto his hand as the song swelled and slowed to the end. "Don't go," she begged, suddenly extremely emotional. She couldn't lose him, not like she'd lost Ewan! "Please!"

But Guy leaned forward and kissed her before breaking away from her. "The clock strikes midnight," he noted, listening with a small smile. "How appropriate. I'd best be going. Farewell, Rachel."

She didn't respond. Guy turned and walked away. The edges of Rachel's vision blurred with sudden tears. She barely even heard the chaos as Cinderella fled the ball.