Happy (almost) New Year! I still have a few hours to go in good old Texas. To those of you already in 2016, greetings from the past! :D

The song of the day is "Who We Are" by Imagine Dragons. It makes me think of the wizards and what they must feel like in the world they're in, hunted and out of place. Who knows, maybe they'll find a way home some day, if there's a home to return to... Mianite did mention in his attempted contract with Sparklez that the pockets of draining quintessence were close to the Realm of Mianite as well as Ruxomar. Hm... I really am curious what the story team for Mianite Season 3 will do whenever it comes around. Can anyone believe that we're only a month out from the one year anniversary of the start of Season 2? 

Ok, now that I've given all of you a nostalgia trip, lets get on with the chapter...

*KillerTom's POV*

Ah, that party had been great fun, especially messing with my brothers. Somehow waking up without a hangover the next morning was even better. I said morning, but one look outside told me the day was turning to early afternoon. We had stayed up pretty late singing, decorating the tree with the mortals, and breaking in Tucker's disco dance floor. A smile crossed my lips at the fond—if fuzzy—memories.

I stretched and straightened my robes. Apparently I hadn't felt compelled to change before sleeping. After I'd made myself presentable, I went in search of my brothers. I found Phil, Matt, Echo, and Kay on the ground floor of the tower heatedly discussing something. Matt must have made a comment about Echo's size again. I rolled my eyes but couldn't keep a grin off my face as I floated down through the central opening in the second floor. Matt enjoyed teasing apprentices, forgetting that he was supposed to be a master wizard, not everyone's big brother.

"Matt, 1 v. 1 me without magic, and I will wreck you!" Echo proclaimed, rolling up one sleeve of her green hoodie as if she were about to punch my laughing brother.

"No, please; have mercy," Matt squeezed out between shrill laughs. He held up one hand to ward her off.

Echo had that look in her eye. I quickly interjected, "Echo, no flipping people in the tower." The others looked up as I finished floating down to land behind Matt. "You know our policy on fighting."

"Save it for the arena," Echo recited with annoyance still evident on her face. She sent a glare Matt's way that told him this wasn't over. She then turned to stalk out of the tower. Kay moved to follow her friend, shooting Phil and I an apologetic glance over her shoulder.

"Phil, have you seen Donella this morning?" I asked. I couldn't remember seeing her leave the party, but she definitely would have been up by now if she was here.

Phil appeared to be having a hard time remembering last night as well. While he wracked his brain I flashed a look in the direction the apprentices had gone. Kay stood frozen in our tower's doorway. She appeared to be staring at something northwest of here.

I couldn't see anything from where I stood, but there was a good deal of wildlife in the area. I didn't think anything of her behavior until she put a hand out to brace herself against the doorframe a few seconds later and began to look sick to her stomach. Phil followed my gaze. "Kay, are you alright?" Phil inquired.

Kay didn't act as if she'd heard us at all. When she visibly staggered the three of us hastened across the polished purple-white floor. "Kay!" I called. When we reached her, Phil and I guided her into a sitting position; she was still acting like she might fall. Her mind was somewhere else; she was looking through us as if we weren't right in front of her.

"Echo! Echo, come back! Something's wrong with Kay," Matt shot out of the doorway to retrieve the apprentice. It took less than a minute for the two to return. In the meantime, a few tears had trailed down Kay's cheeks. She seemed to be back with us, but neither Phil nor I had been able to prize a word from her.

Echo crouched next to her as soon as she reached us and shook her shoulder to get her attention. "Another vision?" Kay nodded. I had sensed Kay's power had grown in her absence, but I did not know she'd developed future sight. "How bad is it?"

"It's my fault. The guards find the craters I made. Of course they'd know they were caused by magic. There are so many of them this time; we can't win." Kay shook her head before lowering it to rest in her hands.

"Kay, what time of day was it? Could you see the sun or which way the shadows pointed?" Echo grilled her. I think Echo's done this before, I speculated.

After concentrating for a moment, Kay relaxed ever so slightly. "Late afternoon." With a burst of determination and hope, she rose and sprinted across the bridge. "We need to go now if we want to warn them!" She called without turning around.

When we didn't immediately move, Echo urged us, "Please, we have to go! Her visions haven't been wrong yet, and they've gotten us out of a lot of tough scrapes. We'd have all died months ago if we ignored her."

I shrugged off my shock and nodded to Echo. "We'll get a few supplies and meet you in front of the tower in five minutes. Go get your weapons," I ordered. Echo bolted before the last words left my mouth. "Matt, call Donella and tell her what's happened and that we're leaving earlier than planned. Phil, get some medical supplies." I went to fetch our weapons from our rooms. Well, we're not at full power, but this can't wait.

I mentally reached out for the Tower Heart as I ascended the floors of our home. A familiar warmth edged into my mind as the Tower Heart responded to my call and read what had transpired from my memory. I'll give you and Phil as much power as I can spare. Matt is remaining behind, She stated more than asked.

Sadly, yes. I was still a bit tired from saving Wag, and Matt had been worse off by far. No way was he coming.

Very well. By this point, I'd reached my room. I quickly collected my scythe and Phil's sword and needle gun. I opted for ducking out Phil's window and flying down the outside of the tower for the return trip. As I descended at breakneck speed, I felt a surge of magic. Good luck, wizard. With that, the Tower Heart faded from my mind.

I slowed my descent to land at the town end of the bridge where Kay and Echo were waiting for me with their pets. Phil joined us a few moments later, and Matt sprinted across the bridge with his rapier in hand. Phil and I looked at each other with concern. Being the older brother, it fell to me to clarify, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm coming with. Our apprentices are in trouble," My brother said as if it were obvious.

Matt knew perfectly well that the original plan had been for him to remain behind while Phil and I went to retrieve the apprentices. I love you Matt, but some days I don't know what to do with you. "You aren't well enough to come, Matthew. There may be fighting. Don't be foolish."

Matt's eyes literally flared with anger, and he balled his hands into fists at his side. "I can fight just fine; you are not leaving me here!" He snarled.

I hated when he forced me to be the bad guy, but I wasn't about to let him get himself killed, which would land him in even worse condition. I crossed my arms and played my trump card. "Fly without your angel ring, and I'll let you come with." The fierce glow in Matt's eyes paled, and I smirked, knowing I had won. Matt had pushed himself too far once before, not long after we first got our powers, and it had taken him a full week to be able to fly and work his spells effectively again.

"I thought so." I turned away from my deflated brother and directed my next sentence to the apprentices. "We'd best be going." I muttered a quick spell to share enough of my magic to allow Kay and Echo to fly. We'd used it many times before when we were working on large builds, and the girls had not forgotten the basics of flight.

"I'm sorry, Matt." I heard Phil say behind me. He then fanned his golden wings and swept them down, jolting himself into the air. The apprentices and Kay's owl fell in behind him as they began flying away.

I hesitated. Really, I wanted to soften the blow I'd just dealt Matt, but words stubbornly refused to come. I sighed, studying him one more time. I'll have to make this up to him later, I decided. I lifted myself into the air and soared after the others. At least Donella can keep an eye on him while we're gone.

We'd spent a few hours in silence flying over dense forests and heavily flowered meadows before conversation picked up. Somehow Echo coaxed Kay into telling us more about how her visions worked. If nothing else, it kept her mind off of things as we traveled. "Most of the time, they're more a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is wrong; I'll get really on edge and jumpy for no apparent reason. Sometimes I see flashes of events that are going to happen. Those are pretty accurate when I get them." Then what did she see today? I wondered, remembering that she had been crying afterwards.

"So, these happen all the time?" Phil asked, curious.

"No, I only get them when I or those I care about have their lives threatened." Kay looked as if she would say more, but guilt washed over her face as we came upon a large break in the trees. Below us, the meadow was riddled with large holes blasted and burned into the soft earth.

"You did this?" I asked in disbelief, stalling my forward motion to appreciate the extent of the damage. It looked like one of the old battlegrounds from the war.

"Y-yeah. It didn't look this bad at night."

Phil hovered next to me and scratched at his chin before volunteering, "The hunters haven't been this way yet; there're no boot prints. Maybe we could patch the holes before they get here? Tom and I are pretty good with liquid dirt." I glared at him out of the corner of my eye.

That was where the conversation ended, though. None of us got to offer an affirmation or retort, because the sound of branches snapping on the south side of the clearing reached us then. We wordlessly ducked below the spotty canopy of dried oak and sycamore leaves on the western side of the meadow. If we'd lingered a second longer in the open air, we would have been seen. I looked back over my shoulder to count more than a score of heavily armed and armored men trudging out of the forest, and I could hear more behind them. I motioned for everyone to keep moving as a shout sounded behind us. One of the men had found the craters. We were running out of time.

Kay let Echo take the lead, and we quickly cut across the terrain, winging around trees and over gullies and creeks crowded with thirsty underbrush. As we flew I decided that those men had not been a band of wizard hunters like the ones the girls had told us about. These men were expecting a battle with other mortals the way they were dressed. You don't go scouting with dozens of your closest friends, all in full terrasteel armor, unless you know there will be a fight, and they looked more than ready for one. They were organized in the way they moved too. I think we might have a fully trained military company on our tails. With that realization, any thoughts of fighting fled my mind. I remembered the war too well. With only myself and my brother fully trained and a handful of healthy apprentices, half of which didn't have magic useful in combat, we wouldn't stand a chance. We had to find the others and get out of here. I had to find Winter and get her out of here.

Phil quickly picked up on my agitation with how frequently I checked over my shoulder. He glided over next to me and matched pace with me. He rested one hand on my shoulder (not an easy thing to do with both of our sets of wings, and mine invisible at that) and gave me a reassuring grin. I couldn't bring myself to return it, even when we heard a whoop in greeting from below us. A lone apprentice jumped out of a bush, waving his bow above his head. He had been stalking a deer—which we had scared away. Our presence seemed to more than make up for the lost kill though. We waited while Echo exchanged a few quick words with him, and we continued on. Jax—Echo's emerald tree monitor—watched as the other apprentice disappeared back into the brush so quickly it was like he had never been there in the first place.

"He'll contact the other hunters. They'll take the longest to get back to camp," Echo explained. "We're almost there."

Kay had fallen behind a tiny bit as we drew closer to our goal. Her expression gave away the guilt eating her alive. I slowed down to urge her on and caught her talking quietly to herself with a sigh. "Alea iacta est." The die is cast. (Basically, what's done is done.) I recognized the dusty old language but was surprised to here it from so young a wizard. Then again she had studied under Wag.

About that time Echo yelled ahead of us. Looking forward once more, I found a rather ragtag spread of worn tents and small campfires. The apprentices were already gathering to meet us at the edge of camp when we landed amidst the white, grey, and mottled tree trunks. An apprentice I recognized ran up to Echo and Kay and wrapped them both in a hug. It took me a moment to remember her name; she had mostly trained with Rythian. "It's so good to see you two! I was starting to get worried," Ilanna professed, releasing her friends. "What took so long? Is Waglington okay? And where's Matt?" She asked, studying Phil and I.

"We'll catch up later," Phil said with a grin. "Right now, we need to get all of you out of here."

The apprentices looked at Phil a little confused until Kay whistled and yelled, "Scramble!" The group of students sprung to life at that. They rapidly dispersed, except for Ilanna, who seemed anxious. Kay scanned the area as the apprentices left to tear down tents and pack bags. Frowning, she asked her friend, "Where are Nikki and Charlie?"

Ilanna fiddled with a strand of her purple tipped hair before meeting Kay's focused gaze with her own apologetic one. "Michael and his group are in the area; they arrived yesterday. Charlie really needed some more medical supplies. So they went to trade with them today."

"Michael?" I asked. I was pretty good with names, but I did not recognize that one.

Echo explained while Kay whispered urgently to Ilanna. "We met Michael and his band of blood mages early this year while traveling. They're mortals, but they're outlaws too. Apparently they used to serve Mianite until he started giving "questionable" orders. They're rogues now, hunted just like we are."

Kay chimed in, having finished her discussion with Ilanna, "Ilanna's going to fetch them and warn Michael." Ilanna waved and teleported away. "We should go help the infirmary patients get ready until Charlie gets back."

We speed walked past apprentices rolling collapsed tents and using magic and spades to move dirt to fill the slight depressions where the campfires had rested. Other students fetched large armfuls of leaves to cover any traces that humans had disturbed the quiet of the wood. At the center of the camp was a larger fire pit. That must be where they had done their cooking. A mound of dirt sat on a tarp next to the pit for just such an occasion. Two students were lifting the far edges of the tarp to dump all of the dirt back into the pit and smother the fire burning there. Other students were carefully wrapping pots, pans, and tin dishes in scraps of stained cloth to prevent them clanking together when packed.

We walked on into a cluster of thick trunked, grey-brown trees with soft yellow leaves. This must be the infirmary. I could easily see how Charlie had run low on supplies; there were a lot of apprentices here. But where is Winter? I knew Echo had told me she was injured. Echo must have known what I was thinking, because she tugged on my black and blue sleeve and nodded her head to the side to tell me to follow her. She and Jax led me further into the grove to a secluded tent. They left me there and turned back to help Kay and Phil. I cautiously approached the front of the tent, heart racing. Why am I nervous? I'm sure Winter will be glad to see me. But what do I say to her?

I rounded the tent, still unsure where to begin. I ended up saying nothing as Winter was fast asleep. She looked so peaceful; I couldn't bring myself to wake her. Her long white hair was pulled back from her face, and a thick, padded bandage wound around her head. A dark purple bruise bloomed on the left side of her face with the edges fading to green and yellow where it was partially healed. It stretched from the bridge of her nose to just below the distal corner of her left eye. Those were her only visible injuries, which made me worry. Head injuries tended to be worse than they appeared, and she had already been in the infirmary for over a week. Hm. A bad head injury means no teleporting you home. I'll have to fly you back. (If you don't remember from chapter 14—which to be fair was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away—head injuries and teleportation magic don't mix well.) I'd gladly spend all my magic to heal her right here and now, but then I wouldn't be able to defend the others if worse came to worse.

I quietly knelt to her left and ran my fingers through her long white hair, wondering if anyone was keeping it brushed out for her. She had complained to me once about how much time it took to tame her hair every morning. I had laughed and jokingly called her a drama queen at the time, which made both of us laugh; we both knew she was anything but. Winter was much more inclined to bottle things up and keep to herself than make a fuss over an inconvenience. For a moment, I let myself forget the world outside this tent, just savoring the fact that she was alive, and I had found her.

As I played with a tangle in her pearly hair, Winter's eyes fluttered open. Her anisocoric blue and white eyes looked up at me in confusion once they focused. The pupil of her blind eye was usually a little larger than that of her good eye, but the size difference was more pronounced now, indicating she'd definitely had a concussion. "Hey there," I greeted softly. I didn't want to give her more of a headache than she already had.

"Hi," She echoed, still unsure if I was real. She considered me for a few moments more before asking, "Am I dead right now?"

"No, no we're not dead," I assured her with a chuckle. And not for a long time if I have anything to say about it, I added mentally. I never wanted to see her this hurt ever again. I let the knotted strand of hair I'd been trifling with fall from my hands. I very gingerly brushed my right hand along the left side of her face, careful to avoid the ugly bruise. "How do you feel?"

"I've been better."

Winter would have said more, but Kay rushed over then, on the verge of panic. To her credit she kept her voice even when she asked, "Why aren't you packed yet? We have to leave." Shooting me a pleading glance, she directed, "Tom, take Winter; I'll finish up here." She started to pull up the stakes keeping the tent upright as she talked.

I seriously doubted Winter would be able to keep her feet if I let her stand. So when she started to prop herself up on her elbows and tuck her feet under her, I scooped her up in my arms. She weakly protested, but I silenced her with a feather light kiss above her left eye. "I won't let anything happen to you. Relax."

Winter smiled and blushed as she reached her left hand to touch where I had kissed her. Too soon that smile vanished as anxiety darkened her eyes, and I saw her feeling around the left side of her face for something that wasn't there: her eye patch. It must have been lost when she was injured. She would not be calm as long as it was missing, I realized. She buried her face in my chest as I carried her out of the tent; she really did hate people seeing her blind eye. As much as I enjoyed the snuggling, I couldn't stand her being this uncomfortable when I could do something to fix it. I used a bit of the Tower Heart's magic to make her a new eye patch, as white as quartz. The new eye patch appeared above her lap. Sensing I had done something, she pulled her face away from my robes just enough to see her present floating there.

A smile lit her face as she tentatively took the item in hand, turning it over to better examine it. It was a perfect replica of the original. She shifted in my arms to place it over her head in its customary resting place, though she did wince as it came to rest on a portion of her bruise.

"Thank you, Tom." It was my turn to blush madly and crack a smile when she stretched to place a quick kiss on my right cheek, earning whistles of approval and clapping from my brother and a few apprentices who happened to notice. I barely even registered that they were there. The skin she had kissed tingled long after she relaxed in my arms and rested her head against my chest. It was good to have Winter back.

I may have posted this without my editor reading it. Much love for Ceruleansky22 . <3 I'm heading out of town again tomorrow for the weekend, and I wanted to post it before I left. :)

If you all want to read another really cute Wag one-shot, I recommend Shadows-in-moonlight 's "Little Magic". I am in love with that story, atm. :3