My Mother showed up early this morning with a letter from my father.

To say that I was stunned and confused isn't nearly enough words to describe me. She explained that it was written a few days before he died. There were four, one for each of his remaining family members. Mother said to read it and keep it private. We all should.

She also reveals that because my Father knew he was going to die, he took a larger insurance plan six months before his death. Mother said that it was enough to put each of us through school, or whatever we wanted to do, as well take care of her for a while, if not forever.

She told me to consider going to college. I told her I would.

As I open the door to my apartment, I see candles lit all around the room. I quickly spot David putting two plates of what could pass for spaghetti on the table. He's wearing a tux and I can't help but admire how good he looks in it. He sits the plates down and smiles up at me.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"We've been dating for a long time but I don't think we had many dates." David smiles. He pulls out a chair, "You deserve a lot of things."

I take the seat he pulled out and he moves around the table and sits. I never figured him for romance. Honestly, he's more of a romantic than I could have ever imagined.

"Is this just to get me into bed?" I ask.

David smirks, "Is it working?" He asks.

"Maybe."

"No. It's not but that was be extremely awesome." David smiles, "I hope you like spaghetti. I'm not much of a cook."

"Me either. I guess if we live together there'll have to be a lot of eating out."

David chuckles and my cheeks warm.

"Food."

"Thank you." He says. It catches me off guard. He continues, "I don't deserve another chance. But you always give me so much more than I deserve. More than I imagine."

My cheeks warm again as I smile at him, "Wise use of the key. So, this whole Marked-Soulmates thing is actually legit. I just—Are you sure I'm yours?" I ask.

"The minute I changed into a werewolf, I saw you. I knew that it was you. It made sense to me. It showed me that I love you."

"You know I probably can't leave this place."

His face contorts, "Huh?" He asks.

"If you choose me, then we might never leave here." I say sadly.

"I'm a communication major. I can work at the local news station."

"Is that what you want?"

"Let's get this straight right now. I didn't choose you. Destiny chose us. And as far as you feeling like you're holding me back...I don't care. My family is more than well off." David frowns at me, "You are my destiny. I wish I knew some kind of poem or quote to say to show you. I know a limerick, would that work."

My heart warms, as well as my nether regions. I can't understand why I didn't see this. I don't know how I could have missed him all this time. I let my anger get in the way of seeing what he is to me.

I love him.

"I love you."

He smiles at me from across the table, "I love you too."

"I want you. Right now." I say as I stand and round the table to him.

He stands and pull him into me, our lips crashing in one passionate movement. In one swift movement, David picks me up off the ground and I wrap my legs around his waist as we move to the bed. He gently puts me on the bed and crawls on top of me. I lift his shirt over his head and he unbuckles my pants. I do the same as he assaults me with his tongue.

"You sure?" He asks.

I nod, "More than sure." I smile.

                                                                      -----

The next morning, I awaken to see David staring at me.

I must have fallen asleep after hours of activity. I'm surprisingly pleased with David's stamina. I can't believe how much I missed him. He was my first. And he's possibly going to be my last. A year and a half ago, I wished for this. It took too long to get here.

I smile at him and move myself into a comfortable position. I feel something weird, like sticking into my arm. I pull my arm around into view to see a bracelet on my wrist. I examine it and see that pure gold with the word 'forever' etched on it.

"I hope you like. I thought about a ring but you might freak out again." David says as he sits up in the bed, "I figured you'd like it."

I am speechless as I look at the bracelet.

"Oh, this isn't going well."

"Shut up." I quietly. I smile up at him, "It's beautiful."

"Not compared to you."

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I may be sarcastic and cold to a lot of people but I feel different about you. You're the most frustrating, beautiful person I know." He chortles, "I need to get to class. I could skip."

"No. Go. I'll be here."

He nods and gets up. He moves into the bathroom and out of sight. I wonder if I should join him. I slide out of bed to join him. As I head to the bathroom, I hear the doorbell ring. Not wanting to be seen totally naked, I slip a pair of jeans on and head for the door.

I open it to see Tituba staring at her fingernails. As I try to close the door, I freeze. I'm unable to move my body. Tituba smirks as she pulls me out of the door.

                                                                        -----  

"Exactly what do you mean he's gone?" Porter asks as he enters the apartment with his Mother close behind him. He looks around for any sign of foul play before turning to David, "A person doesn't just disappear!"

"Even if the person is Perry? I mean, he did it before." David asks. Penny enters behind him. He stares at her, "Where's Peyton."

"Charlotte and Eva are with her," Penny says as she looks around the apartment, "No foul play...only the remnants of a very special night, I see."

David's cheeks redden and he stammers out an incoherent sentence.

"Perry's an adult now. If someone is—if he's—I'm glad it's with you." Penny says, "I don't want to hear details though."

"Yeah, no details." Porter frowns as he studies the wall beside the door, "Mom, do you see this?"

Penny moves over behind him and her eyes snap to it, "Magical residue? A binding charm. The residue is familiar." Her eyes grow wide in her head, "He's in trouble. It's Tituba."

"Of course he is." Porter nods, "My brother, the trouble magnet. So, any idea where she would take him?"

"You think she knows about the cavern?" Penny asks, "If she's found it..."

"She'll use Perry to open it." David's throat is suddenly dry. He looks between the two as he moves to the door. Penny calls out to him and he turns to her, "Mrs. Bennett, I know I'm rash and impulsive and a hot head but this time, I'm right. I just got him back and I'm not going to lose him because the Wicked Witch of Endor wants to open a portal to who-the-Hell-cares."

"I wasn't going to stop you. I was going to say find him and kick her ass."

David raises an eyebrow before smiling at her, "Right." He nods.

Porter moves past his mother, "You're not alone."

David grabs his coat and keys as he and Porter exit the apartment.

                                                                        -----  

Tituba uses her power to throw me to the ground.

She brings me to the cavern that I haven't gotten around to checking out yet. She uses some kind of paralysis spell to get me inside. Never having actually been in the cavern, I marvel at how beautiful it is.

The cavern is cold and uninviting, though the stalagmites and water effects cause a sort of iridescent light. It's one of the only things I can honestly say is a good thing. It's only when we reach the remnants of a large temple do I realize how truly large the cavern is. I muse that the temple must have been from years ago, centuries maybe, and somehow it sunk below the surface.

The temple is basically a large, open room, surrounded by pillars with what I'm certain is Latin on them. I also see bits of hieroglyphics. The writing and pictures looks familiar but I cannot place them. It's honestly the oddest feeling, as if the answer is right in front of my face and I can't see it. My eyes linger on what looks like just another wall with some writing I know is not Latin. I think it's a dead language. I also notice that it's not just a wall, it's a doorway.

She releases me and fall into the dirty cement floor. I cough as bits of dirt fill my mouth and throat. I roll over onto my back to see her moving past me to a large door. She stands in front of it, running her fingers across the words.

"It's magnificent. Such craftsmanship. I can feel the very magic emanating from it." She glances back at me, "A dead language based on a mix of Sumerian, Latin and Egyptian hieroglyphs. They all descend from this. It's really very stunning."

"Bite me, Elphaba." I hiss as I sit up on my elbows.

"A fighter to the very end. I always thought you were Chosen because you were smarter or more compassionate. Those things are very true. I see that. But I've never realized that you were such a fighter. Such a righteous, pious young man." Tituba says as she turns to me, "I almost admire it. It's you're relentless fight that will be your undoing, as it was before."

"What do you know about 'before'?"

"I know you sacrificed yourself for your father. I'm curious what it was like to die."

"You'll find out soon enough." I say angrily.

"Don't you tire of always saving them? Of sacrificing yourself for them?" She asks. I stare at her, wondering if she's right. Tituba sighs, "You remind me of him. Phoenix, I mean. I raised him from infancy. I loved him like I've loved no other and he turned on me. It makes sense that you're like him and unlike him in so many ways. My heart aches for you, Perry."

"What is that you want, Tituba? What purpose do you have to open the gate? Or to bring Hecate here?" I ask. Her eyes narrow on me. I sigh at her, "Do you really think she's the messiah of the magical race? Do you really believe that she'll just play by your rules?"

"No, I don't." Tituba frowns, "I know you read often. I have to ask you, have you ever read the Crucible? Do you know the story, how I was branded a witch and tortured but not killed? Those were monsters with human faces condemning me for not being like them. Puritans."

"Tituba, there are other ways."

Her head sags to the side a bit as she studies my face, "It's something Phoenix would and has said. I've lived centuries, do you think I haven't exhausted every single alternative?" She sneers at me, "Hecate is our kind's only hope. And to answer your question, No I don't. I believe you're a messiah. You were Chosen as the gatekeeper. There was none before you and there will be none after you. Whatever that means, it makes you extremely rare."

"I see it, you know. The fear. What the Puritans did to you is inexcusable but people are not the same now."

"Yes, they love to hear about witches and idolize us as long as we're 'good' witches. As long as we don't really exist." Tituba turns back to the door, "It's only fitting that you're the One that must open the door."

"Did you try? Is that how the Echidna and the other demons came into our world? You attempted to open the gate?" I ask. My mind races at the realization. I am the Bastion, the keeper of the gate. How is it that she can do it?

"You're conundrum. I don't think you accept how powerful you are. It's one thing I do admire. Your naivety, your unwillingness to give up and your unwavering moral compass. You fight until you can't. I'm afraid I was never so brave." She says softly, "I was never as brave. I wasn't always your nemesis. I was much like you. A witch with enumerable power who never asked for it, as my mother before me and her mother before her. But it's our lot in life to be who we are."

I try to stand and only succeed as I lean on the jagged wall. I can feel the jagged wall cutting into my finger. I wince at the pain but my eyes never leave her, "Tituba, you have to stop this. I understand, I do, but we've all lost so much. You keep saying how you admire me and how I remind you of Phoenix. Why would you hurt me?"

"Hurt you? Dear, I've nothing but protect you since I found you. From the vampires, from your ignorant father and from yourself. Phoenix knew that the greater good must be served. He was so close but he ran out of time. I won't." Tituba still has her back to me.

"You know I'll stop you. You know this is a fight you will not win."

"I don't know that. Neither do you. Hecate is the mother of the supernatural. She was once revered. She was once named Lilith."

"The Lilith? Yeah, I might be screwed."

"No, she won't kill you. Not right away, dear." Tituba runs her hand over the gateway and sighs, "For so long I thought Phoenix was the Keeper. I thought I'd be able to mold him to my will. My mistake is believing that I could ever 'mold' him and also that I wouldn't get attached. I'm surprised and captivated."

"Good to know the world still amazes you."

"The world is a cesspool. The people in it are complete and total morons. In a millennia, the only thing that's changed is that the world has become colder, harsher. Humans kill each other in the most magnificent ways." Tituba laughs, "They fight and die and their only concerns are screwing each other and doing opioids."

"Drugs, say drugs."

She turns to me and looks further, "Your weakness is your friends. I will kill them. All of them and you will be free."

"They'll come for me."

"They already have." Tituba frowns, "I'll undo you, make you beg for me to open the gates."

She claps her hands together and disperses in a wisp of dark particles. I stare up at the opening as Finn, David and Kai enter. They enter cautious but swiftly. As they reach me, David pulls me into a hug. Finn and Kai look past me, at the gateway.

For the first time in a long time, I feel helpless.

-

I asked David to round up everyone in my group.

They all showed up in record time. I had them sit in the living room as I stood, looking at myself in the mirror. If I want to win this, I need them to pull me back from where I have to go. To defeat the darkness, I have to become the darkness.

I feel it's time. I take one last look in the mirror before breathing in and out. I step outside the bathroom and all theirs eyes snap to me. My Mother instantly moves to me, inspecting my cuts. I tell her I'm fine and look to the rest of the group.

"What is it, Perry? Why did you want to see us?" Porter asks.

"Yeah, the suspense is killing me." Charlotte says.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Sorry if I don't sound coherent. Tituba messed with mind with the paralysis spell."

Eva frowns, "Are you okay?" She asks.

"No...and yes." I say softly. Their confused faces are all I need to continue. I take a deep breath, "I know how unbelievably slim are chances of getting out of this alive. I'm not really afraid to die again. Not because I want to. Because I will do anything to save any one of you."

"You don't have to sacrifice..." David began.

"I already have. On the flipside of that, I'm not dying soon. Tituba thinks that she can win this but she's wrong. She played her cards. I'm not impressed." I says angrily, "This is my town. These are my people. And if I'm the Chosen One, the Gatekeeper or the Bastion, it doesn't matter. None of it matters. Because if she wants this fight, if she wants to go against me, her funeral."

I can feel it. A shiver runs up my spine. It's time to take this to the next level.

"We're going deeper down the rabbit hole than ever before. It's time that Tituba learns what 'humans' do. If the gate opens we all die. We're the underdogs. The world is working against us." I look to David, "It's why we fight. It's why we win."

My eyes flutter back to the rest of the group.

"Any questions?"

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