The two kids continued to sob and for a moment, Theo was at loss on what to do. Being an only child in a nuclear family, he never dealt with children before. Should he try to comfort them? Should he pat them on the head and get them out of the horrifying area into a more pleasant area? Should he make silly faces or tell a funny story? Or should he just let them spill their tears till none comes forth?

"Died when I was born, my mother." A voice spoke and Theo jumped when he realised it came from little Hugo. The tiny elf continued to cry as Theo gaped at him, trying hard to digest it when at the corner of his eyes, he saw little Psyche decide to speak as well.

"Who is my mother?" She asked out loud, tears welling up in her eyes before she continued to sob. Theo felt himself panicking inside, his mind coming with ridiculous random answers which Theo was sure he was going to blabber it out loud and regret it for a lifetime later when little Hugo spoke again.

"Tried to kill me when mother died, my father." Theo suppressed a gasp as Hugo sniffled and hugged his knees. By then, the blonde lad began to piece together what was going on.

He still didn't know why he was there, or where he was, but right then, both these kids are really Hugo and Psyche, their child versions at least. According to what the voice told him, about listening their story, Theo realised they were talking about the events that had happened in their past. He wasn't sure whether they were even aware that he was there, but they were narrating out their reality nevertheless.

"Who is my father? Who am I?" Psyche said once more, and Theo was starting to get the pattern. They were speaking in turns. Little Hugo would say one thing, and then little Psyche would say something as well. Then, the little elf would continue again, like an endless cycle.

As he came to this conclusion, he soon began to pity the two of them. He couldn't imagine how Hugo dealt with the knowledge of his own father trying to kill him when his mother died during childbirth.

How could anyone would want to kill a new-born? When they are just innocent and unaware of the things around them? Even though it was unfortunate, what evidence was there that Hugo had killing intentions towards his mother when he was just born?

Also, from the sounds of it, Psyche seemed to have lost her memories, suffering from amnesia. Theo could only fathom what she felt during that time, but he knew that anyone would have felt scared to have all their memories gone. They would have been so lost and so confused.

"A strange wizard with a box head saved me and took me away." The little elf continued before sniffing.

"A strange wizard with a box head took me and gave me an identity." Little Psyche spoke.

"Placed me in the dungeons, he did. To fix my curse, he tried. But gentle and kind, he was."

"He taught me all the things I forgotten, he gave me a home."

"Remove the poison, he couldn't, but stop it from spreading, he did."

"He accidentally cut my hair too short. I look like a boy now, but he apologized a lot."

"Perfect, it wasn't. But worked, it did."

"He couldn't figure out what or who I was, but he didn't give up."

By then, Theo had a vague idea on what happened on both of their history. They were saved by the Oracle and he took them in, like adopting them from an orphanage. During their stay with him, the box headed man became a father figure to them as he treated them with kindness.

While Theo couldn't bring himself to imagine Oracle as a hero or as a dependable adult, proof of which he cut Psyche's hair short in accident, the thought of him taking both Hugo and Psyche and providing them a home made him respect the eccentric man.

At the same time though, an ugly feeling blossomed in his chest. He felt envious towards the two and knew it was wrong to feel that way. He couldn't help it though, as his own father wasn't great at his job as a parent. In fact, it was his mother he played both the role as a mom and dad. Many times, Theo had tried to remove the awkward strain between the two of them, and many times he failed.

"Took me out of the dungeon to a cabin with two big sisters, he did. When curse breaks out, puts me back." Little Hugo continued, pulling Theo out of his dark hole.

"He continued to teach me, he said I wasn't ready yet." Psyche spoke, continuing the cycle.

"A new boy came to the cabin. Red eyes, he had. Voice, he had not. He seems nice though."

"The wizard took me to a cabin with an elf and two girls. I was too shy to talk, but they seem kind."

"My curse breaks out a lot, back to the dungeons, I go. Talk to the new boy, I wanted though."

"The elf goes missing a lot, I wonder where he goes. I hope we can be friends."

Theo frowned a bit, trying to get the story. The taking in turns to speak their background was harder to absorb than he thought. Even so, he was able to separate Hugo's and Psyche's sentences, forming two different stories.

From what he pieced together, Oracle had made continues attempts to stop Hugo's poison from spreading, but kept failing, which resulted the elf to visit the dungeon several times, making him less present in the cabin unlike Psyche and two other people.

That explained why Hugo didn't  found out Psyche's true gender and her ability to speak though. It was because he didn't had the proper chance to get to know her and vice versa.

Theo also recalled Hugo bringing up that his gloves acts as a Limiter, but he never explained further on why he wore them everyday. So maybe at that time, the Oracle was trying to find Hugo a decent Limiter.

He also didn't introduce Psyche to the cabin until some time later on. By then, both Psyche and Hugo had met in the same cabin, but the elf mistook Psyche as a boy thanks to Oracle's little accident. It seemed like they got along, at least, to the point where both of them had showed signs of wanting to be friends.

However, Theo had no idea who these 'two girls' were. Hugo mentioned that only Psyche and him were in their cabin at present. So did Flint and Oracle. Then again, Breanne had also mentioned that there used to be two girls who teased Psyche day in and day out. Were these the same girls? Did they graduate? Was this why they weren't in the cabin anymore?

Then all of a sudden, Theo felt the air around the two kids grew heavy, making the small hairs at the back of his neck to rise. A shudder ran down his spine and the painful sensation came back in his chest again. This time though, it lasted for one heartbeat.

"One day, those three disappeared. Came back alive, only two." Little Hugo spoke and Theo felt his heart stop.

"I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't save her." Little Psyche sobbed before she started crying harder.

"Asleep, big sister was. Never to awake again. Fault, its mine."

"Big sister died, and it's all my fault."

"Left Arcadia, that second sister. Stop her, I couldn't."

"Second big sister left Arcadia, I couldn't stop her."

"A cursed being, I am."

"I shouldn't have existed."

Theo felt his heart ram against his chest like an angry bull when the two stopped taking turns and spoke at the same time, breaking the pattern and bringing their story, their truth, their reality to a big, dramatic, finale.

"I killed big sister, I am a monster."

The two kids broke into sobs once more, chanting the words, I am a monster, over and over again to themselves. Theo sat there, dazed and shocked with what he heard, taking his time to process what the two kids said in his mind with great denial.

"That's enough, time to wake up." Alazne whispered against his ear, making him shiver.

Theo blinked in surprise when a second later, the world around him shattered, like a mirror with its fragments flying out everywhere. His whole surrounding was pure white, blinding him, making him close his eyes.

It lasted for a second and when Theo looked opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the white ceiling. There was a spider crawling over it, but irrespective of that, four familiar looking faces hovered over him, making him yelp. On instincts, he snapped his arm out to punch the closest one, who stumbled back and crashed into something with loud clattering noises filling the air.

"He's awake." Hugo's tired voice announced and within seconds, he heard an irritated Xellos bellow.

"I DO HAVE EYES YOU KLANK OF A BASTARD!"

Which sounded more like...

"I DYOO HAB ICE YOU PLANK OF A MUSTARD."

"Whaa....?" Theo asked aloud, ignoring the weird accents his voice made. He felt as though some sort of slug was drawing his brain out through his earhole. He supposed it was because of the strange event that had happened earlier, yet it caused such agony that breathing and lying down were about all he could manage.

Breanne must have noticed because Theo saw her hush the two boys and pressed a cool hand on his forehead. At once, he felt the pain melt away under her touch, decreasing in size until it no longer existed. What's more, he felt less lethargic and more alert and refreshed.

It took him a while to recall that while she was a student in Arcadia, she was also a nurse in training, learning all types of healing spells. Once he felt his had enough energy to move around, Theo pushed himself from the bed, with the help of Breanne and Hugo at that and sat around to take in his surroundings.

He was in the large infirmary, on one of the beds. There were white bandages wrapped around both his arms and he could feel it under his shirt as well. Xellos was at corner of the room, having an ice pack on his nose that was now swollen, no thanks to the blonde lad.

To his left, Hugo was sitting on a stool with an IV bag connected to his right arm. He was bandaged too, to the point that Theo would have mistaken him as a mummy from Egypt. His whole body was covered with white bandages from face down to all the way up to his ankles.

Even his pointed ears were wrapped with gauzes. To top it off, he was wearing gloves again, this time navy blue in colour rather than black, making him look ridiculous. Theo must have stared at him for too long when the elf crossed his arms over his chest, which was puffed out in irritation.

"Go ahead, laugh all you want." Hugo muttered in an exhausted tone. "If I care, see that will you?"

Theo blinked and opened his mouth to reply before shutting his mouth again, remembering the little curse. That's when he felt something poke to his right, which made him turn to see Psyche. Like Hugo, she too was bandaged, but not as much as Hugo and but not as less as Theo as well. She had a pen and paper in hand, offering it to him.

Surprised and bemused by her sudden generosity, Theo took it with a smile and wasted no time in writing his thoughts down. Then he lifted the paper up, allowing others to see it.

What had happened?

"There was a phantom attack." Breanne answered. "The three of you were attacked by it and then it turned to a Shadow. Hugo said you were the one who exterminated the Shadow and a little while after you did, you passed out from blood loss."

Theo jerked up, gawking at Breanne before jotting down on the paper again.

Blood loss?

"Yea." Hugo replied, pointing his index finger at Theo's chest, where his heart is. "Tried to stab you in the heart, the Shadow did, remember? Lucky that it missed by an inch, you were. Explains why you haven't bitten the dust yet."

"...Eeeeeh?" Theo cried out before patting over his chest, wincing when a surge of pain passed through him. To this, he saw Hugo shake his head in disbelief.

"Honestly, know what to do with you, I don't." Hugo said. To this, Theo let a small chuckle escape though his lips while his mind wandered. He could have sworn he was in another realm, where the younger versions of Hugo and Psyche was, for about ten minutes. However, right now, it seemed like that a couple of hours had passed by then.

Did that mean everything he heard was all a dream?

Theo decided not, there were just too many things that made sense. Their story explained why Hugo never knew Psyche was a girl and had the ability to speak. It explained why the two of them, as mismatched but similar as they were, did not get along. It was because they never even had the chance to have a proper socialisation, and Theo realised that it needed some serious fixing.

"I get why you are shocked." Xellos muttered, his voice nasal as he stepped closer to Theo, the icepack still on his nose.

"But did you really have to punch my beautiful face in the nose?" At this, Breanne hushed him and gave a light slap on her Scabbard's shoulder. At the same time, Theo flashed him a sheepish and awkward smile, scratching the back of his head while being mindful that action alone hurt more than he would like to admit.

"So yea..." Breanne continued, clapping her hands as if resuming a class. "About a few seconds later the Oracle found all three of you and send you to the infirmary right away. It's been about four hours till then."

"What I don't get..." Hugo butted in, crossing his arms over his chest again. "Is that why wasn't he there to stop the phantom earlier? I mean his territory, the whole school is, he has a barrier put up around the school. Sense all the Shadows in the forest where Arcadia is surrounded, he can. Let a phantom roam in Arcadia, how did he?"

"That's.... um..." Breanne trailed off, unable to come up with an answer. By then, even Theo wanted to know all the answers to Hugo's question. While Oracle was clumsy, he was powerful wizard. He was able to perform complicated spells with a flick of his hand. He always checked for cracks in the barriers around school about five times a day. So how did a phantom break into school territory?

"It's complicated." Xellos finished for Breanne, taking off his ice pack before changing his mind and placing it on his nose again.

"If you want to know the details though, you should go meet Delic. He knows everything that ever happened in Arcadia. Learn a thing or two about Phantoms and then you will understand."

Beside him, Theo felt Psyche stiffened. It lasted for a second though as she leaned back on her chair and relaxed.

"Delic?" Theo repeated when he felt a small tug at the back of his mind. That name, why did it sound so familiar?

"He is our librarian." Breanne chirped, back to smiles again. "He is very sweet, I am sure you and him will get along."

"But you can meet him at a particular time though." Xellos said as he pointed towards a clock. "At exactly two thirty five a.m. after midnight, you will have to figure out the Wasd code and then you can meet him. If you don't figure the code out by then, you will have to try again on the next day. Time flows quite differently here after all."

Theo frowned, trying to take in all the information at once before scribbling down on a paper again.

What's the Wasd Code?

"Oh it's a puzzle really, a very complicated puzzle in the library" Breanne answered. "Not many can solve it. I managed to solve it once by chance. But you are smart and you really good at solving puzzles, so I am sure it would be a piece of cake for you."

Theo froze, torn between feeling flattered by the compliment or be humble and shrug it off. He decided it with the former and wrote Breanne a small thank you.

"Once you solve it though, you can ask Delic anything you want." Xellos said. "Like who got how much marks did someone get on this particular subject on this particular day, or how many goals this particular person made on this particular sports event. The dude knows everything, from the past to the very present. You could say he was alive even before this school was built, which was millions and millions of years ago!"

Theo blinked, wondering if Xellos was pulling his leg. After all, just like his first impression of him, Xellos was a prankster at heart, often placing frogs on Breanne's shoulder without her knowing just to see how long it would take her to react. He even pranked the Head Master, Oracle himself, dozens of times too, that Theo lost count.

Despite that, Xellos was neat and does his work, even listens to the teachers if his mood was up for it. His head was straight in that aspect, as strange as it was.

Regardless, as Theo glanced at Breanne, who would dispel all of Xellos's trickery with ease. This time though, she said nothing, further confirming what her Scabbard said was true.

"So he is Immortal?" Hugo asked aloud. "I didn't know about this, how come?"

"Because you don't read books silly." Breanne retorted, pinching Hugo's nose in an affectionate manner to which the elf scrunched up in annoyance in response. The scene made Theo almost laugh, which came out as a cough instead when he felt Hugo's gold eyes boring holes on him, daring him to do so.

Then, realisation dawned on him. Theo was Princess Alazne Leonheart's second life, he knew most things about her, her family, her friends, her abilities, but there were still holes in his memory. Like the time when she was on the floor, feeling defeated as she debated on to whether to kill the phantom, the one that had silver knives for wings.

No matter how hard he tried to recall it, Theo just couldn't remember what were the events that happened before and after. The same scene replayed around his head over and over, never moving forward, never moving backward either.

He still couldn't remember the faces of all the children she allied up with and the names of some of them. It was like he was reading through a story that had major plot holes that needed to be filled.

If what Xellos said was true, and judging from Breanne, it is true, if Theo managed to crack the Wasd Code and meet Delic, Theo could ask him about what happened during the time where Alazne existed.

If he was a millions years old, the chances of him knowing about Terabithia and the Royal Leonheart family were not slim. In fact, this was his first break through at figuring out all those unanswered questions.

"But you probably can't right now." Breanne said all of a sudden, slicing through his thoughts. Theo looked up at her in surprise when she pointed to all three of them and wiggled one finger, as one would do to a naughty child.

"You all need rest and recover from your injuries." She said. "So I suggest you not to move around much till all of them heals."

Theo felt his enthusiasm die down like a punctured balloon, though he tried not to look too dejected. Breanne was right after all, every sudden movement sent sharp pains from his chest to the rest of his body. Perhaps he could try on another day

.... Or sneak into the library while everybody is asleep. No one would know.

"Okay." Theo answered, grateful that at least this word was comprehensible.

"Oh..." Breanne said, blinking as several times as if in shock. "Well... that was easy. Anyway, we have to go now. Visiting hours are way overdue at the moment. Come on Xellos, let's bail before the nurse catches us."

Theo watched and waved as the Hugo's cousin started to drag Xellos away by the arm, who continued to complain and whine about his face becoming distorted like a child, still holding the icepack to his nose. Once they were out of sight, Theo heard both Psyche and Hugo sigh under their breaths at the same time.

"So what time are we going to the library tonight?" Psyche asked, breaking the ice. Theo froze.

"Ha... so figured out Theo's plan too, have you?" Hugo spoke.

"It seemed like something like an idiot would do." Psyche continued to which earned a small chuckle from Hugo.

"A very Theo thing to do, I agree." The elf spoke. By then, Theo glanced between Psyche and Hugo, back and forth several times before groaning out loud. Was he that easy to read that both of them saw past his white lie?

Then again, a smile formed in his lips as both Psyche and Hugo exhaled out another long sigh again. These two were so different, yet so similar in their own way. If what he heard and saw was true, they both suffered, they both blamed themselves and they both continued to view themselves as monsters. He still didn't get the whole picture, but he knew they both also lost something dear to them, driving them apart and become like outcasts.

Feeling pity towards the two of them and yearning them to feel better, to assure them that they are not monsters in his eyes, Theo grinned and wrapped his arms around their neck. This action took both of them in surprise as Theo hugged them, driving them closer. He chuckled at the look on their faces, both filled with shock, and cuddled them closer.

Soon, Hugo was smirking too while Psyche just scowled. However, Theo saw the corner of Psyche's lips tipped up into a small smile, making him grin even further.

"All for one and one for all!" Theo cheered, earning a puzzled look from the elf while Psyche slapped her forehead in disbelief.

"What a bloody, idiotic nerd." Psyche muttered.

"Even though, understand what he said, I don't, I agree." Hugo hummed.

"OH COME ON! LET ME HAVE MY EPIC COOL MOMENT HERE!"

Author's note: There! Done! Whoo! All thanks goes to my real life best friend and beta reader (Bicksyby) for giving me her views and responses on this chapter! By the way, you guys should read her second (short) story! (Metaphorical Heights). It's very relatable and I am sure most of you would feel refreshed after reading it. She is a genius in weaving stories that makes you think.

Anyway, so about my mental illness (its written in the last part of my other work, 'Blessed Combat, for those who don't know) my parents decided that I won't take medications and would go to therapy first, so that I wouldn't be dependant on them and would learn to live with it in an easier way. So far I had one therapy, and I have a psychological assessment to go for on Monday, so will update on you once its done. Don't worry though, Bicksby and some wattpad buddies had been supporting me so I am mostly okay! So anyway, if you see any mistakes that we both overlooked, please notify!

Oh, and don't forget to vote!