Though at first glance, she did not seem much older than Calcifer in appearance, Serena Maguire's youth was evident in her demeanor. She was a woman of gold. Despite the sun having died away for the evening, she glittered with the fire in her eyes, the radiance of her hair, and the dance of her smile. Gwenda's smile. Lona's eyes. Both of their blonde hair - an eerie combination of the Maguire sisters.

And here stood their mother.

"Sorry I'm late, honey." She spoke casually as she inched her fingers around the bag's handle to close the front door. As the door shut, the dial on the wall zipped to its original placement and the exterior of the Wastes was in sight through the windows once more. "I didn't realize you invited guests."

Serena glanced to the three individuals whom she had never met, but who stared at her with such odd remembrance. Sophie and Howl sat stunned, having only recently been aware of the predicament of the Maguire sisters' situation, yet presented themselves with a more poised attitude.

Calcifer, however, was not so polite in his presence.

Countless stories he lived; a myriad of nights Gwenda awoke screaming and crying as the memory of her mother vanishing from her life haunted her once more. The name Serena had become a limitless punching bag of horrid remembrances that the fact of her existence in reality was something for which Calcifer had never planned.

He had hoped should this day come, he would stand beside Gwenda in support. Never did it occur that he would meet his mother-in-law without the woman he married.

Serena tilted her head - in the same manner as Gwenda, nonetheless - then turned to Ben for an explanation. Though he could not see, it was as if he knew she had turned to him for answers. "This is Howl and his wife, Sophie, the ones I told you about earlier. This is also Calcifer, Gwenda's husband and a very old friend of Vega's."

Serena sucked in a quick breath, instinctually dropping the bag with its contents of groceries to the floor. She stood frozen in time, taking in Calcifer as if memorizing an image. She stared at him, from his fiery hair to the unshaven beard that grew in his weeklong slumber to his battered loafers. Now that his identity had been revealed, it made sense the scowl she had seen him wear since the moment she walked through the door.

Calicfer didn't know what Serena was thinking. Did she disapprove of him as Gwenda's husband? Worry that he disapproved of her, now finally meeting the woman who the core result of Gwenda's anger and pain? Was she wondering why he came without her daughter, or why he had come at all? Or maybe, she was scared that her actions in the past were finally catching up to her.

None of these, however, came to fruition. Instead, she relaxed herself with a calming breath and, to Calcifer's surprise, even returned her smile. "I have to admit, you look a little... well, a lot older than my daughter should be right now."

Vega chuckled. "Just a millennium."

Calcifer turned his scowl to Vega, who simply rolled her eyes in Ben's cane. Not so long ago, it was Calcifer who would have made such quips to lighten the mood of a damp conversation. Yet now that he had become the focal of so much strife, passing cheery jokes was the least of his concerns. Vega, apparently, had never lost her whimsy.

Serena took cautious steps toward Calcifer and, with every ounce of courage she had, extended her hand forward. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. My daughter seems to really love you."

Calcifer dropped his gaze to her empty hand, not bothering to lift his own. "And how would you know, other than your secret conversations with Lona?"

"Cal," Vega interceded softly, "The least you can do is shake her hand. She is the mother of the woman you love so much."

In that moment, Calicfer felt a pang in his chest, like a knife just barely inching its way through him. While this was all fabricated in his mind and not real, physical pain, it presented itself as something very real to him. The sting was too familiar to ignore, as it reminded him of all the internal suffering he felt with each outburst and spurt of anger he had expressed within the last month of insomnia.

This was the path leading away from where they hoped Markl would go - the path with which he was now intertwined wherever Markl chose from here on out - and if Calicfer's own spiteful words could inflict the feeling of true pain inside him, how far could this curse eventually take him?

His words and actions were just as much a root cause as Markl's would be, and the young magician would cause far more infliction now that the curse was in full effect. How he went about his interactions with those around him would make all the difference in that boy's final fate.

As well as his own.

"I'm sure you must hate me," Serena said, her gaze firm on Calcifer. Something so slight in her manners, yet it was another particular remembrance of Gwenda and Lona whenever they felt compelled to share their thoughts on any matter regardless if someone wanted to hear it or not. She would speak her peace for herself and no one else. "I did terrible things as a mother, things I can't ever go back and undo. And yet I also did things as a woman who loved someone so much I couldn't bear to live with someone else who treated me so unfairly. Ben was there for me where Adam never could, and I don't regret my decision to leave him. I don't ask for forgiveness, I don't even ask that you understand. I just need you to know that no matter what I did, I still loved my girls."

Serena slowly dropped her hand back to her side, lingering slightly in the hopes that Calcifer might extend some ounce of camaraderie. Yet that was far too much to ask for given all that he had known about Gwenda's upbringing. His perspective was limited to the experiences of a child turned teenager growing up in an unloving household. He had not seen the turmoil of the wife and mother who had done everything she could to piece together a family that was breaking at the seams.

Calcifer turned to Ben, who used the hilt of his cane to help him stand. Towering over all present, he gracefully walked toward Serena and held her in a warm embrace. She nuzzled close to him, nodding with each soft word he spoke only to her. His voice, low and calm, eased her burden and returned her smile. When she looked Ben in the eyes and whispered I love you, Calcifer could feel how true her words were to him.

The way they clung to each other, like the sky to the earth, it reminded Calcifer of the way he and Gwenda had been before he had gone astray. While he may not have understood the full history of the Maguire family, he did understand what it meant to truly love another person - and Ben and Serena surely did.

Calcifer held tight fists at his side, exhaling a weight of pride as he spoke. "I cannot speak on behalf of Gwenda. I've taken enough from her as it is, and she is the only one who can share her feelings about you - either of you. We have more pressing matters to fix."

Serena's eyes glistened with the light of Vega's fire, and though she did not smile, she nodded in response. Ben adjusted his glasses as he said, "Right you are."

He turned his attention to Howl as he spoke. "Markl has been wrestling with a heap of emotions since the day I left him at your doorstep, Howl. Since then, he has only felt abandonment from me and you. While Calcifer has great power that can indeed help sway Markl to the path of righteousness, you have as much of a role in this as we do. It's up to you to clarify to him if you're the father he deserves."

Sophie rubbed soft fingers around Howl's shoulder, watching as his gaze wandered around the room. Such heavy responsibility for a man who already carried so much in his life, yet this was always going to be. Instinctually, they knew the path Markl was gradually falling toward and yet they were blinded by other seemingly more urgent needs.

Howl spoke. "I'm not even sure I know the difference between good and evil anymore, so I wonder what use I am here to help Markl. Ever since Morgan was born, since Sophie came into my life and we began our beautiful family, I thought I always chose good from that point on. And yet, I pushed Markl to the side as if he was second in my life. He must hate me completely."

"Children hating their parents is nothing new," Serena said, "Trust me, I know from experience. But if you admit your wrongdoings and show that you're a human who is also prone to making mistakes, that message goes a lot further in the eyes of our children who are simply looking for where they fit into this beautiful, cruel world."

Howl nodded, remembering his own experiences at Markl's age. He, too, was just a young wizard in a vast world that had so much potential to offer. The forces of good and evil were nowhere on his mind, and yet he still naturally acted in whichever way he pleased.

Markl, however, was not raised the same way he was, and good and evil was always at the forefront of his life. The Witch of the Wastes; Madame Suliman; King Roland and Justin and all the magicians who sided with the evil sorceress had been prime examples of how evil conquered and destroyed purely for power's sake. Markl had seen their ways from his early youth, yet he had also seen the ways of those who yearned for peace and love.

Whatever he chose now, whichever path he was following, was of his own volitation, and the thought of Markl turning toward the ways of Madame Suliman was enough to fill Howl with a righteous anger and pure determination to make sure he did not fall down the wrong path.

✧ ･ﾟ: * ✧ ･ﾟ: * ✧ ･ﾟ: * ✧ ･ﾟ: * ✧ ･ﾟ: * ✧ ･ﾟ: * ✧

The fading sun drew quickly away beyond the expanse of the Wastes, as was traditionally the case in the time of winter. The light of day should have held longer during the daytime, what with the coming spring and hope for new life approaching, yet it seemed as though the timeframe for sunlight had stayed stagnant, like a broken clock.

Xarx had lost count of the days he spent there, clinging to his remarkable reputation of hermitry quite well. Days welded together like metal and the flow between time became as fluid as the wind. The more he concentrated on the whereabouts of his supposed pupil, the hours of spellcasting and mediating spent on Markl, the more frustrated he became.

Yet even in his solitude, he felt it pointless to expose any show of emotion.

Focus, he thought. He had been fixating for so long it was now a naturally ingrained instinct. However, his efforts were proving futile the longer he went without answers. When Markl didn't want to be found, he made damn sure that was the case.

Xarx grunted to release the bit of irritation that arose out of him, then reverted himself back to normal. Frustration. Anger. Disappointment. While these were valid, everyday feelings that added to the effects of humanity, he knew they added no value to his life or needs in the moment. What he needed was to find his student, whip him out of this rebellious state, and return to their regularly scheduled training sessions.

Somehow, he knew this wasn't the answer - yet it was the only thing that would keep stability in both of their lives.

"I can't imagine what fun it is to always be a downer." Xarx looked up, but did not see another soul with him in the Wastes. He was alone, the way he always was, or at least the way he always tried to be. One swift turn to his right, though, and he realized how wrong he was. Sitting in her forever childlike state on a hefty boulder, was a soul he expected to have been lost forever.

Her long, black hair flowed like a river of darkness, yet her eyes shone like the sun above. Even in death, she was a sight to be seen.

Xarx choked on her name before saying, "Martha." He remembered that extremely skilled Seers could materialize after death, but only for a short time and only once. It required such strength and discipline in life to be able to focus whatever energy from their souls still remained in the mortal world. Normally a Seer would choose a family member or someone close to them from their life - it was a shock and complete mystery to Xarx why she materialized her soul for him at this moment.

She quirked her smile. "Surprised to see me?"

"Surprised you chose me." Xarx replied, "Wouldn't you rather see your sister? Or maybe your nephew?"

Martha smiled at the mention of those two. She leaned forward with glee. "That's right, I remember hearing it was a boy. That was the last thing I heard Kenta say. Mind me asking his name?"

Xarx stared unmoving. "Morgan."

Martha stared off for a moment, taking in the name. It must have had some importance to her, as even in her ghostly state, her eyes glistened as if tears would stream against her will. "I always loved that name. Sophie is just so sweet, isn't she?"

"Why are you here?" Xarx asked bluntly. This was no time to fluff, no time to reminisce on happy times and fond memories. With a Seer of her calibre visiting him, he wasn't about to waste whatever advantage he could get from her. "Why come back now?"

However, Martha was not in as much of a time crunch as Xarx appeared. To a ghost, she had all the time in the world. "So many questions from a man who pretends he knows everything."

"I do not." She raised her eyebrows at his response, to which he crossed his arms and held his position. "I know a lot of things, so I don't pretend."

Martha hummed in agreement, but knew not to amp up his ego. "True, yet you really don't know how to show people you actually care about them."

"Yeah, and where did that ever get anyone?" Xarx countered. He gestured toward her opaque state. "Take yourself for example."

Martha scanned her body head to toe, standing up and twirling slightly in her dark dress. The same dress she died in, the same mannerisms with which she lived. "What's wrong with me?"

Xarx scoffed, as if the answer to her question was the most obvious thing in the world. "You died. We watched you fall to your death with Suliman and-"

"I still don't see the problem with that." Martha interrupted casually. "If you ask me, I'd call myself a pretty awesome legend. I stopped the worst magician in the world from taking the next strongest magician under her control. I'd say death was a pretty fair trade in that matter."

"He's still so young," Xarx replied, his mind drifting miles away from where they stood, "he doesn't deserve to see the hateful things of this world that still exist even after Suliman."

"Are we talking about Morgan or Markl now?"

Xarx turned to her, observing how her childlike behavior gained a wave of solemnity all within one sentence. She wasn't a master of disguise as he was, but rather a master of showing her true intentions so very clearly. In the way she spoke, the words she had voiced, and the way she tore at a person's facade and broke it entirely into miniscule pieces.

She was a master at unveiling the mask.

Xarx sighed. "Both, I guess."

Martha smiled. "Markl is very special to you, isn't he?"

Xarx avoided eye contact with her. He tried to focus on the reality of the situation, but a Seer defied reality. It was highly probable that she received visions in her life about the events that were currently taking place. It was probable that Martha witnessed Markl's runaway scheme years before she even met the kid. And it was probable she even knew the outcome of what was near.

Whether she was willing to share such sensitive information with him, however, was up to Martha.

"He's my student." Xarx replied, thinking it was the only logical answer available. "Of course I take special interest in preparing him with the tools necessary for-"

"My goodness, now I know why people don't like hanging out around you." Martha cut him off again, this time adding a charming laugh in her speech. "Everything you say is so dry, like you haven't an ounce of emotion in your soul."

"This is why I prefer my time alone." Xarx laid on the grassy plain of the Wastes, watching as the night sky began overtaking the expansive area. Though the lack of sunlight decreased his ability, that was never an issue with his powers in the past. Sunlight amplified his strength, but it was not the reason for his skill.

Xarx continued. "You people with your wishy-washy emotions and feelings think you're so superior to those who rely on logic and reason to guide them. I'd rather have a dry personality than let my emotions dictate my decisions."

Martha lightened her smile, like a mother calming a child with ease, and ignored his words. "He's more than your student. Markl is like your kid."

Xarx gritted his teeth and pushed himself up to look Martha in the eyes. His golden eyes, even without the light of the sun, were blinding. "That's what happens when his real parents and then his second family both abandon him. I never wanted such responsibility over a child!"

"And yet you still chose to train him." Martha pointed out, her voice calm. "Why?"

Xarx pressed his palms over his face as if to withhold another outburst. He relaxed his breathing, slowed his heart as he had done time and time again when someone pent him up as much as he felt in this moment. Somehow, in the last weeks since Markl's disappearance, the feelings he had buried deep within his soul were itching to release and expose themselves.

Xarx took in one more deep breath before admitting to her, "You said Morgan is the next greatest magician - you said that before he was even born. I know as a Seer your skill is stronger and more potent than I could ever dream." He dropped his hands and looked at Martha directly. "And yet I still think you're wrong."

Martha smiled brighter than before, as if that was the answer she had hoped to hear. "Markl is special indeed; I knew that from the moment we met."

"You probably saw a lot into his future."

"And his past," she added with a sigh, "a past with too much history I don't have the time here to begin explaining. In regards to his future, however, those events have dramatically changed now that Suliman died twenty years too early."

Though Xarx's curiosity begged for Martha to share, even some piece of a future that was no longer in existence, he knew she would not. Seers were graced with millions and millions of possibilities and probabilities, countless events in hazy obscurity or exact definition. The majority of their lives in the moment were filled with events of the past, present, and coming future. They, in Martha's words, were a plague without a cure.

No wonder they never lived long - she was obviously no exception.

Martha continued. "He's in trouble and you know it."

Xarx didn't need a Seer's wisdom to know that was true. He grazed his fingers though his greasy hair, sighing in desperation. "But what can I do to stop him from completely destroying himself? There's no telling whom he's trusted and what's happened since he left. I feel like I've failed my student by not doing enough or not pushing him hard enough or-"

"You know his strength more than anyone else," Martha interrupted, her tone reverting to more stern and motherly. "Even better than Howl. You know fully well what he's capable of and no amount of training made him that way. He was inherently an expert from the moment you made him your apprentice and you know it."

Xarx scoffed. "That word has lost so much meaning. Apprentice used to mean so much more than how we treat it in this day in age. Suliman made sure of that with her bogus schooling."

"She turned an apprenticeship into an assembly for her army, but it doesn't have to always be that way." Martha said. "You don't have to teach Markl the way you were taught, especially knowing what her school did to you."

Xarx closed his eyes and turned to the side, not fond of reliving horrid memories of Suliman taunting and berating him during his youth. A school she called it. Daily lessons and relentless training and specialized courses designed to create a mindless army of loyal soldiers in which he regrettably partook. While his mind had stayed intact, which was the least he could say for many of his classmates, the scar of her academy was still heavily ingrained within him.

He wondered if that was the result of all the fighting and yelling he and Markl engaged in on a daily basis during even the most basic lessons.

Martha broke their silence, her charming voice losing its stringency. "I always liked you, you know."

This took Xarx by surprise, and his only response was to laugh. He hadn't laughed like this in years, but her words were so preposterous he couldn't help it. "You met me the day you died."

"And I knew immediately you were a kind soul trapped in a broken history." Martha said. Her ghost stood up, slowly taking elegant steps toward him. Her opaque figure slowly became more transparent, as her time left in the mortal world was lessening. Xarx still questioned her reasons for choosing him when she had so much more reason for choosing her family. She could have seen the people who loved her; she could have seen the people who yearned for just a few more minutes to share final thoughts and tell her all the things they regretted not saying in life.

She could have chosen them - and yet she chose him.

Martha stood so close to him, he would have felt her breathing if she were truly alive. "Dying for the people you love doesn't make you weak - it's the ultimate testament of love."

Xarx sighed, but without realizing it showed the slightest hint of a genuine smile. "For a dead girl, you seem pretty wise."

"For a living man, you have so much wasted potential."

Xarx stared off into the distant darkness. He wondered for years what his potential was, what his purpose would be in this world. There was no life without purpose, and for a long time he believed that to be Markl.

Maybe it still was.

"You have a choice to make," Martha continued, her voice etched with urgency, "and very soon. I'd hurry up to Markl as soon as possible."

Xarx rolled his eyes. "That would be wonderful if I even knew how to get to him."

"Try Seren Saethu." Martha said with a light tap on her fading chin. "I'd bet my life that he'll be there right about now."

Xarx sighed with his first sign of relief in weeks. The Seer finally revealed what he needed, meaning she knew the various probabilities that were to come. "Even in death, you can still see the future."

"Just because I can see it, doesn't mean it's all set in stone." Martha reminded him. She raised her hand gently to his face, cupping one side. For a moment, Xarx thought he could actually feel her human skin brushing tenderly against his own. "I changed the future once - so can you."

Xarx nodded. "I'll try."

Martha smiled one last time before her soul gradually faded out of existence. As her materialized figure disappeared, her final words stayed gravely with the heartless man with which she spent her last moments. "Your mom told me to say hi. She's really proud of you and misses you a lot."

As the fragments of her soul dissipated into thin air, as the thunderclouds rolled with a heavy rage, the man with a heart of stone felt teardrops fall from his eyes without his control.