"Clara... how did you get here?" I asked.

"Magic, of course," she replied. Her face was cold and stony, the love in her eyes that she once had for me now gone.

The feeling was mutual. "Nice dress. Someone's moved up in the world. Unless you decided to go with that 'fairy godmother' shtick. That I made up for you."

"I am a fairy godmother. That's the title I chose. Julia chose something, too."

"Julia? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while. So she's still talking to you, but not me?" I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. It's not like she matters anymore. I think I've made it clear that I've cut you both from my life."

"I know that," she said, tucking what I assumed was a wand into her sleeve. "Julia and I are good witches. Even Julia is at least a more neutral sort. But you... you're just evil."

I leaned in closer. "So what if I am? You say the darkness is corrupting me, but I like it," I leaned back. "And so does Joseph."

"Again with the prince," she said. "Joseph is just as drunk on the darkness as you. Without your powers, or Beau's legacy, he may not have given you a second look."

Clara approached me slowly, now looking down at Briar Rose. "And now look at what you've done. You've destroyed any sliver of light left in your heart. It's all just... darkness." She looked disgusted.

For some reason, that really hit me. Not her words, but her face. I'd never seen Clara look disgusted, let alone at me. But I had seen that face before; at the ball, when my hand was exposed. I knew that kind of stare, the fear that comes with seeing the ugliness of my hand. But Clara, Clara never looked at me like that. She saw what was inside. But now, all she saw was darkness. To her, I was just as disgusting as my hands.

"Maybe it's mostly darkness, but you're forgetting something," I waved my hand a bit in the air and summoned the door back. It swung open, and Joseph stepped into the room, his eyes instantly focusing on Clara. "I do have a little light left. Joseph and I, we have true love. That's light."

Joseph came up behind me and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned back into him, closing my eyes with a sense of rapture. "I suggest you leave us alone, woman. Clearly, you have magic as well, but it's nothing compared to Elise."

"Your highness, do you not recognize me?" She asked.

"I do. I met you in the garden at the ball. You were Elise's friend. That is the reason why I'm allowing you a chance to leave, rather than just killing you outright."

I got out of Joseph's grip and turned back to him. "She's no friend of mine anymore. Feel free."

I looked back at her with a smirk, my eyebrows curled downwards. Joseph smiled in the same way and drew a dagger from inside his shirt. "With pleasure."

He charged towards Clara, but she quickly retrieved her wand from her sleeve and pointed it in front of her. Joseph ran straight into an invisible wall. A shield. He staggered back, but regained his footing and tried to lunge again, the dagger still bumping into the wall. He gave up after a few more tries, steppin back.

"Someone's been practicing," I said.

"I've had time. And so have you."

I sighed and gave an exaggerated shrug. "So. What exactly did you come here to do? Lecture me? Because there's nothing you can really do here."

"Actually, I came to rectify this situation. I'm not here for you. For once. I'm here to help wake Briar Rose." She turned back to the bed, gently brushing the hair out of the princess's face.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Joseph said. "Besides, Briar Rose can't wake up anyway."

Clara gave him an angry look, one more fierce than any I had seen from her in my life. "Yes, she can. See, on my travels, I met this young maid, put in service to her stepfamily. I allowed her one night at the prince's ball-"

"Seems familiar," I said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"I'll admit, I got some inspiration from my work with Connor. But that's not what matters here. What matters is that, after the ball, he was struck with a curse by the maid's stepmother. He could not remember who the girl at the ball was. Being desperate, he used to girl's lost glove to narrow down the subjects, getting down to only four girls; one being the maid."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, he didn't believe that the maid could have been the girl, so he told the guards to take her away. But at the last second, she got free, and she kissed him," Clara looked back at us. "At that moment, he remembered everything."

"True love's kiss." I muttered under my breath.

"Exactly. And it was a powerful curse, too. Yet a simple kiss was able to break it. This power, true love, is the strongest type of magic I have ever seen. The ultimate undo spell, the purest protector. It will break Briar Rose's curse."

I stepped forward. "Sorry Clara, but I'm afraid that I took that into account. If you look down, you'll see that I've dealt with him."

Clara shook her head, smiling. "He's not dead, Else. If he was, I wouldn't have sensed his heart this whole time. Another perk of goodness; I can sense people's hearts. His is still beating strong."

She raised her wand ever so slightly, and right behind her, we saw Connor's limp body, still and dark against the moon behind him, floating in midair. He floated into the room, landing gently on the ground in front of Clara, still blocked by the shield.

He was still cut up beyond all belief. His eyes were still beaten and destroyed. It was a horrific sight. Clara knelt down beside him and touched the tip of the wand to his forehead. Joseph and I watched as Connor's smaller wounds magically patched themselves up. His eyes remained the same, to everyone's utter discomfort.

We started to hear his groaning, then moans of pain. Clara gave a quiet, calming "Shh.." and touched a finger right in between his eyes. His groans of pain got duller and duller, until finally, they went away entirely.

"I can't feel it," he said, shocked and slightly terrified. "I can't feel the pain. Who are you?"

"A friend," Clara said with her signature, kindly smile. Even though he was blind, I knew that Connor could sense that smile on her face. Seeing it even now, even after all this, still made me feel a little bit of warmth. Not from anger, but from love. But I had learned to ignore it now, it wouldn't get into my head.

"Let me help you," Clara said. She took her white trumpet sleeve, and ripped off the edge, leaving a jagged cut at the end of the now shorter sleeve. She wrapped the cloth around his eyes, lifting his head slightly to tie it behind his head. With his eyes now bandaged, Clara helped to lift him up.

Joseph once again tried to hit them, but Clara's shield was too strong. "What are you waiting for? Hit them!" He shouted at me.

"All I have is FIRE, Joseph. We'd all burn to death."

He gritted his teeth and turned back to them. "You'll pay for this, woman."

"I assumed I would," she said as she helped Connor get onto the bed. She helped guide his hands to Briar Rose's, and we saw Connor smile. He gave a small, breathy laugh of relief as his finger rubbed against Briar Rose's thumb.

We watched as he leaned over, slowly as only a blind man could be, and, powerless to stop him, Joseph and I watched as he planted a kiss on Briar Rose's lips. He leaned back and faced outwards, his head bowed in grief.

And to our horror, the princess's finger moved.

She twitched, she stirred. With a small moan, she woke up. Her eyes, fluttering open, focused on Connor's face, blindfold and all. He felt her moving. "Briar Rose, I-"

She cut him off, sitting straight up, grabbing his head by the side, and kissing him with all her heart. Clara was smiling. Finally, she separated from him, and we could all see her crying. "I thought I lost you," she said with a smile. Despite her tears of agony looking so ugly, her tears of joy were beautiful.

"So did I." He put his hand over her cheek.

"You're blind," she said.

"It doesn't matter. I have you now. I don't need my eyes to see that beauty." His thumb stroked her cheek. "I can feel you, right here." He guided her hand to his chest.

Watching them gaze into each other's eyes, illuminated by the blue glow of the moon, stirred the anger inside me more. When I looked at Joseph, all I saw was his hate. His anger, frustration. He couldn't look at me with that love. I couldn't look at him that way either. Now that Briar Rose was back, we had no chance. All we had left was the very darkness that Clara warned me about.

I screamed.

Everyone stopped and stared at me. My screaming was loud, raw, filled with agony. Even Joseph stepped back. Connor took Briar Rose in his arms, guarding her. With his love. I grabbed my head and screamed louder upon that sight. I knew I was crying, and I didn't care. I looked back up, seeing Clara now in front of the window.

"Is this what you wanted me to see?!" I screamed, pointing at them. "I'm seeing it now! True love! Hearts joined by light. And look at us!" I gestured towards Joseph. "You're right! There's no light in our hearts! We don't have anything but the darkness to bind us. And when your light breaks through it, it breaks through us," I pointed back towards Connor and Briar Rose. "That's what I wanted! That's what I thought I could have had, but no. You were right! I'm lost in the dark. I let him drag me there!" I realize now that I was slowly approaching Clara, who had lost her stoic attitude towards me and was now looking shocked. Maybe even a little sympathetic, not just for me, but for herself.

I grabbed her by the top of her dress and pulled her in. "Maybe you were right!" I started laughing, still through the tears. "Maybe I should have picked you! Maybe he was corrupting me the whole time!"

"Elise-"

"Tell me, Clara. If I picked you, could I have had that?" I pointed to them again. "What will it take for my heart to be light again?!"

"I don't know!" Now she was screaming as well.

"Let's see." Without really thinking, I pulled her in. I kissed her. I kissed Clara. Her eyes were open wide the whole time, shocked and terrified. When I finally let go, I still stood close to her. "Is that what you wanted? Because I still don't feel that light."

Clara panicked. "Get back!" She screamed. She shoved me backwards, but both of us realized her mistake at the same time. She had pushed me back with such force that she fell back, too. She fell backwards, right out the window. Her wand had fallen, still in the tower, laying at my feet, so she wasn't going to catch herself. I leaned out the window, watching her fall to the thorns below.

The world seemed to act in slow motion. All I could see was Clara, falling towards the earth. This was her own doing. All I wanted was a little bit of her light. I thought, maybe she could have given it to me, but she wasn't even willing to share. It didn't matter anymore. I didn't want her light.

I raised my hand, extended out the window, then relaxed it. Just in the nick of time, too, because as soon as I did, Clara fell onto the trap I had just made.

A large thorn, directly through her heart.