"Have you seen our son?"

"Sorry, no."

After their son had failed to come home the following morning, Shiron and Talia Åarons began searching for Jesse. But with each attempt, their efforts grew more and more furtive. No one knew where Jesse was, or even that he went missing until his parents brought the subject up.

So when Talia spotted Iris chatting alongside her friends, she shook her husband. "Iris was with him last. Maybe, she would know," she began as Shiron blinked. "Perhaps, but do we really want to stress Iris out with the bad news?" he countered back as Talia sighed.

"No, but we don't really have much of a choice."

———————

"Oh!" Iris quietly exclaimed, surprised to see Talia and Shiron approaching her. Despite this, she meant to seek the couple out as Iris wanted to know Jesse's response... which speaking of the boy, she hadn't seen him since last night. No matter, she was sure her beloved Jessibear would pop up at some point.

"Talia! Shiron!" Iris affectionately greeted, waving towards the couple who attempted to match her energy, but tragically failed. She slightly felt sorry for the couple, but Iris had other manners at hand.

"What did Jesse say about my marriage proposal?" she immediately asked, glancing towards the couple who could only look at each other before sighing. "He said no," the couple answered, much to Iris's annoyance. The only reason her Jessibear said no to her beautiful marriage proposal was because of that stupid, incompetent wingless faerie who shattered her Avalonian necklace.

When Iris found that smug little disgrace of an Avalonian, she vowed to make the girl pay for ruining her night. If Aliya hadn't shattered her necklace, Jesse and the others would still be wrapped around her finger. Jesse would have said yes to her proposal and everything would have gone smoothly.

Instead, Aliya and her weirdo half-hybrids freaks crashed the party and made her plans come undone! The damage was horrendous enough, but now, her father was barely starting to recover from the wingless faerie's little stunt. She was lucky that no one would believe Aliya or her friends that her father was a soul seeker.

The last thing she wanted was word coming out about her father's true state and Iris's status as a half-hybrid. If either one of them had wanted to see their dreams come true, it all came down to Aliya and the others keeping their mouth shut. Though, once she thought about Castor, she nearly growled from the thought of that traitor.

More importantly though, Iris wondered how Aliya somehow managed to get Castor to switch sides! Where was Iris going to find another skilled illusionist who happened to be a knight? Just thinking about that wingless faerie nearly made her blood boil. So she had calmed herself down by imagining the girl succumbed to her injuries, believing she would get lucky.

"Oh," Iris solemnly said, wiping her tears. "That's a shame. I was really hoping he would have said yes," she insisted, now sniffling as Talia held the girl close. "Hey, maybe he'll consider the idea again, or maybe you two could just remain friends in the meantime," the boy's mother began, much to Iris's annoyance.

"I agree. Maybe, it was too early for your proposal and Jesse got startled," Shiron insisted before sighing. Iris realized her chances of elevating her status was quickly slipping away.

She needed to get her Avalonian necklace fixed and fast, so she could "convince" Jesse to change his mind about her marriage proposal. "Either way, neither one of us will truly know," he solemnly continued before shaking his head, which caught the girl's attention. "What do you mean?" Iris curiously asked, trying to keep her tone neutral.

"Jesse went missing. We thought maybe since he was with you last, maybe you would know where he went," the couple insisted as Iris shook her head. "No, I haven't seen him, but..." she paused, realizing just how she would get her revenge on that wingless freak and ensure her status would become elevated.

"I know someone else who saw him last," Iris finished, catching the couple's attention as intended. "Who?" the couple unwittingly asked and when Iris had turned around to see Aliya and Castor together in the distance, that's when she saw the pieces aligning.

"The Fae-Maid!" Iris exclaimed, suddenly bursting into tears. "I tried convincing her not to take my beloved Jessibear away from me and his family, but clearly harming my selfless father wasn't enough for her," she continued, knowing she had the couple fooled when Talia had held her close.

"Well, at least we got a lead," Shiron insisted as he stared at his lead. "I can't believe we had forgotten about the freak," he added as Talia nodded. "No, but at least now, she'll have no choice but to give up where she's keeping Jesse," Talia insisted as Shiron nodded in turn.

While the couple were busy talking amongst themselves, neither of them had noticed Iris's distressed smile turn into a sinister smirk. By now, she even cleared up her tears, moved by motivation to see Aliya crushed. If the spear didn't kill her, then Iris would make sure the wingless faerie felt her hatred.

"It's payback time, freak. You'll regret messing with me."

———————

"Hey, Castor. How are you holding up?"

Now lying beside each other and admiring the sky on the tender grass in the deep parts of the forest away from Aliya's house and the entrance to Fairytopia, Castor sat up with a sigh.

"To be honest, pretty terrible. I can still feel Iris on me, like she's still in my head," he admitted before glancing back at Aliya, whose eyes remained solely on the sky. "What about you?" he followed up, half-expecting the girl's answer.

"Similar situation. I can still feel Jesse's strong grip on my throat and the look he gave me before piercing the spear into my body will take weeks to get out of my mind," she truthfully admitted as he saw the girl fumbling with her hands. "It's fine though," she insisted.

"But it's not fine."

"He was under Iris's control, Castor, just like you."

"That doesn't excuse his behavior though," Castor defensively stated. "He could have snapped himself out of her control at any time just like I did," he pointed out. "I get that Jesse is your best friend and all, but this isn't the first time you've been hurt by him, isn't it?" he continued as she sighed, holding herself close.

"No."

As the girl looked away and continued hugging herself, Castor frowned before moving himself closer to her. "Hey, maybe this time he'll change but if he doesn't, how many excuses are you going to come up for him before you end up reaching your limit?" he softly asked while retaining the firmness of his tone.

"Cas..."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt again. That's all."

"I guess we're both going to struggle for a little while, huh?" she asked as Castor sighed, lying back as his eyes were trained on the sky. "Pretty much," he mumbled, before glancing over at Aliya with a soft smile.

"At least, I got someone in my corner I can go to when things get rough," he softly said as Aliya returned the smile. "Me too," she softly said, making eye contact with Castor, who found his heart skipping a beat. "I'm really lucky that we met," the two said in sync as Aliya and Castor both stared at each other before laughing.

Once their laughter had settled down, Castor gently lift Aliya up as his heart continued skipping a beat. When she smiled warmly in his direction, his heart practically began pounding. Castor knew it was too soon to ask her out, so he thought about just asking if she would be interested in going on a date with him.

If she had said yes, then Castor would clearly be ecstatic. However if she said no, then at least the two could still be friends, and Castor figured that was good enough for him.

"Hey, Aliya," he began, gently holding her hand as Aliya briefly stopped. "Yeah?" she softly asked as Castor did his best to control his nerves. After taking a deep breath, he turned to face her.

"Maybe, some time in the future, w... would you ... maybe want to..."

—————————

"Castor, look out!"

Pushing the boy out of the way, Aliya quickly found herself trapped inside a fire force shield as Castor could only helplessly watch. "Aliya!" he cried out, but his fears only intensified upon seeing Iris. While Castor was busy dealing with Iris, Aliya was forced to deal with the excessive amount of heat created within the force shield.

She knew she had no changes of escaping as the flames would only follow her. As she coughed, her eyes lingered on Jesse's father, who blew out the miniature flame on his finger and observed the girl with a cruel smile on his lips. "Long time no see," he began as Aliya quietly groaned to herself.

How could she forget? Jesse's father was a natural-born fire starter. Of course, it made sense for Shiron to be the one to trap her, while his wife observed from outside. He would never do anything to put Talia in harm's way, but unfortunately, that courtesy did not extend to Aliya, who was now feeling the effects of the intense heat.

"What are you trying to do? Kill me by fire?" she asked, coughing once more. When he didn't answer, her eyes widened upon the realization. "You can't really be serious," she insisted, another cough escaping her. "The flames will only grow until you admit where you're keeping my son," Shiron answered as Aliya coughed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Liar!" Shiron exclaimed as his eyes quickly flashed to a brighter blue. In turn, the color of the flames intensified as the smoke began consuming Aliya. "I really don't know!" she exclaimed, feeling her knees wanting to buckle as she wiped her eyes, which were now constantly watery by the overexposure of the flames.

"Jesse didn't return home last night and Iris said you saw him last, so where are you keeping him, Fae-Maid?" Shiron sharply asked as Aliya thought about attempting to leave, only to quickly back out of her decision when Shiron reappeared directly next to her. "I don't know," she answered, now holding onto her head.

"Look, I had nothing to do with Jesse. If anything, I was recovering from the wounds your son gave me at the expense of Iris," she insisted, trying to speak normally, but her throat now felt sore. "If you want someone to blame, go back and look at yourself," she snapped, which might have been a poor decision on her end as Shiron summoned a fire sword.

"Clearly, the fire force shield wasn't enough for you," Shiron growled as Aliya's eyes widened again. "You're really amplifying your talent, huh?" she weakly asked. "I don't know what more you want me to say. I already told you all I knew," she insisted, backing away as Shiron strike in her direction.

"Liar!"

As she dodged, Aliya felt her body ache as surges of pain ran through her. Biting down her tongue, she resisted the urge to scream. "You're hiding something and if I have to fight fire with fire to get answers, so be it!" Shiron exclaimed as he struck again. While she barely managed to pull herself up in time, she felt the tip of the fire sword on her neck as Aliya silently winced from the burn mark before frowning at the burnt streaks in her hair.

If Aliya said the same thing again, she was absolutely certain Shiron was going to kill her right here with his wife watching. She thought about appealing to his morals, but something told her that Shiron wasn't one to listen to reason. She could only stare at Talia from the distance, wondering just how Jesse managed to get them as his parents.

At this point, Aliya had no choice but to rely on her memory and hope for the best. She couldn't rely on Talia to talk her husband out of this nor could she rely on Castor, who was busy fighting Iris. When Shiron charged at her with the sword, she quickly raised her arms as some kind of protection.

"He's in the human realm!" Aliya exclaimed at last, hoping that would be enough to get Shiron to finally stop. "I don't know where in the human realm, but if I was your son and I ran away, that's where I would go. Now, please stop," she quickly stated as her voice escalated to a desperate plead.

She had expected the flames to dial down, but when she heard Shiron coldly laugh, her heart sank. "No..." she mumbled, realizing that Shiron didn't believe her. "Why would he go to the human realm? There's nothing for him there," Shiron briskly answered as Aliya weakly shook her head.

"No, please. I'm telling you the truth," she whispered as Shiron laughed harder. She had wanted to continue defending herself, but she as felt the area spinning, Aliya knew she lost. There was simply no way to convince the boy's father that she was innocent.

"Please... you have to believe me," she pleaded to him once more before falling onto the ground. As Aliya struggled to stand, she quickly sat up as Shiron held the fire sword directly at her throat. As she released a tiny scream, Aliya felt her heart racing from the occurring events.

"Why would anyone believe you when no one takes your word seriously?" Shiron asked in turn. "When I find him, I'll make sure Jesse doesn't remember anything about you. This way, he'll never get hurt by you again, not that it would matter. Either way, this is where your journey ends," he snarled, much to Aliya's dismay as she closed her eyes.

Once the smoke had cleared, Shiron fell on the ground, realizing he had overstepped his boundaries with his powers. As Talia ran to his side and helped him up, the couple saw Aliya was nowhere to be seen. "Where did she go?" Talia asked her husband as the two heard a weak laugh.

Glancing over, the couple saw Castor smirking at the two. He too could barely stand from the aftermath of his fight against Iris. "You'll never find her," he insisted as he hid his bracelets before collapsing from his fight with the girl.

"No!" Shiron exclaimed before growling. "It's fine. Avalon isn't a huge place. She could be anywhere," Talia assured her husband as she helped Iris stand up, who was staring at the unconscious Castor. "You were stupid for picking the wrong side. Now, I'll make sure you suffer just like her, but first I got a bone to pick with your girlfriend," Iris whispered to Castor before standing up.

"When we find Aliya, I'll make sure she pays for this."