Stormy (mentioned) belongs to GeekyCookie1.

~~~

"Narcissa, welcome to my realm."

Upon hearing these words, Jesse noticed the woman warmly grinning in his direction, though her eyes held some kind of power hunger — one he wasn't used to commonly seeing. Staring at the woman, Jesse noticed her pale skin complimented the black, ebony dress flowing behind her, though she was barefoot (like the little girl).

Regardless, he might have continued analyzing her, had the witch's eyes not glowed as she stared into his soul. "I'm assuming you're here because you want a way out of your life. If this is the case, then your solution is simple. You'll just have to become a human, yourself," she advised the young love fairy as Narcissa glanced towards her endless amount of potions.

"If I wanted to do that, I could have just gone through the portal myself," Jesse insisted as Narcissa scoffed at his response. "Love, the portal is only good at turning Avalonians human for a temporary amount of time. You can't even go a day without having to return back to Avalon," she calmly explained as Jesse's face fell.

"Oh."

"But," she paused to stroke Jesse's chin, analyzing his face. "If you complete this simple favor, I can permanently make you human. You would be able to live your life without the worries of expectations holding you back," she insisted as Jesse found himself intrigued by the idea.

To become human... that was all he ever wanted, but Jesse would be leaving everyone behind. Jesse didn't mind leaving his parents behind, or Iris, or — Actually, he didn't mind leaving Avalon. He hardly had parents, getting rid of Iris would have been a major relief and Jesse didn't have much tying him back to Avalon.

But the thought of leaving Aliya behind... He didn't get a chance to ask her if she wanted to come along... Not that Jesse assumed she would have agreed. Maybe if tonight didn't happen, Jesse might have been able to ask. But even then, he was asking Aliya to give her life away to permanently join him in the human realm.

Unlike him, she actually had family who she adored. Plus, it also didn't help that neither Stormy nor her parents approved of Jesse at this point. Stabbing their daughter with a spear might have just been the nail in the coffin to ensure that apologizing wouldn't get him a easy pass back into their life.

In hindsight, Aliya wouldn't be nearly as willing as he was to give her life away to join him, especially after he took tonight's incident into account. Tonight wasn't the first time he had hurt the girl, but Jesse was almost certain it would be the last time. He had sworn up and down to himself that he would never hurt his best friend, time and time again.

Only... it was never just "the last time" with him, was it? Besides if he took romantic feelings into account, Aliya might have been out of love with him (if she actually had feelings for him at all, by this point). He couldn't stop himself from thinking about the way Castor held onto Aliya in her weakened state, angrily glaring in his direction.

"She tried saving you, and you are so incredibly stupid to realize just how important she is! If anything happens to her, I will—"

The way Castor held Aliya, the aggressiveness in his tone... Jesse wasn't stupid. Even if he wasn't a love fairy, Jesse knew what love had looked like. It only took a string to form around Castor to Aliya to cement his point: Castor had fell for Aliya tonight and the idea of possibly losing her to his hypnotized state, even if Jesse was sincerely apologetic about the whole matter simply made no different.

In the end, him apologizing wasn't going to heal the girl directly... If she even managed to heal at all. The two were friends beforehand, but as of tonight, Jesse unintentionally made himself one of Castor's enemies.

The thing was though... Did Aliya love Castor back? Would she be willing to throw away their history together as best friends to pursue some guy who barely fell in love with her? Better yet, would Jesse actually allow it?

As a love faerie, he technically got to control people's state of love (no matter which type of love occurred in the moment), so what was stopping him from controlling Aliya's love life to ensure she actually fell in love with him? While he couldn't influence Aliya into falling for him, Jesse could (very well) influence her lovers to fall out of love with her.

If Jesse chose to leave now, he could influence Castor's pure romantic feelings towards Aliya and tear their newfound bond apart. Since the feeling between them was strong, Jesse knew Castor would feel the full effects. So to Jesse, what did it matter if the two were just becoming friends? What did it matter if Castor was the first male friend that Aliya had outside of him?

Jesse wasn't jealous.

He couldn't have been jealous.

So, what did it matter if Jesse found himself glowing with envy and fear at the thought of Aliya choosing Castor over him (just because he managed to put Aliya above his own status, something Jesse just couldn't bring himself to do, no matter how many times he tried)? What did it matter if Jesse found himself envious of Castor in that moment?

In the end, Jesse knew if there was a possibility that Castor made Aliya happy, she would most likely take it... which is why, Jesse found his heart twist and turn at the thought of seeing Castor and Aliya together.

In fact, it took everything out of him not to change his goals to exact a way to ensure Aliya fell in love with him, because in his mind, no one else could have her. But then, in the midst of going through his inner thoughts, Jesse realized he was slowly becoming like Iris and found himself internally disgusted by his thoughts.

How could he be possessive of someone he barely fought for? Castor (who only got to know Aliya for a little bit) actually managed to stand up to Iris and stood by Aliya's side, while Jesse (who knew Aliya for the majority of her life) managed stand up to Iris and stand by Aliya's side, only after the girl got hurt.

Each time beforehand, Jesse never took Aliya's side nor did he bother to stand up to Iris. What did that end up saying about him? The love faerie who supposedly prided himself on spreading positivity around Avalon?

Maybe, Aliya was better off without him....

Maybe, everyone was.

...

"What would this simple favor be?" Jesse asked, trying to maintain the neutrality of his tone. As he subconsciously rubbed on his arm, he tried to push aside the sound of his aching heart and the flashbacks of Aliya's weakened state each time he found himself hurting her.

"Well, darling, it's super easy. All I need are four relics," Narcissa began, throwing a few potions into her cauldron to create a hologram of the specific relics. As Jesse looked up, he saw four objects amidst the flames. "The first relic is the dagger of Atlas," she began, focusing her attention on the slightly curved dagger.

"Hailing from the prince of Atlas, this dagger was last seen in New York held by this individual," she continued, snapping her fingers as the image changed. But while his eyes were focused on the image, Jesse's mindset was not. Rather, his thoughts were once again drifting back to Aliya.

"The second relic is the Avalonian heart of purity," Narcissa continued, switching the image towards a crystal heart-shaped necklace with a white lace. While the necklace was neat, he didn't see how she possibly needed this.

"Held captive by my former protégé in the more seedier parts of the city, she cursed this necklace to prevent anyone from seeking it. If you're pure of heart, then the location of the necklace should come naturally to you," she continued as Jesse absentmindedly nodded.

"The last two relics are jointly intertwined and it's essentially you bring both relics together as the object cannot be separated," Narcissa strictly advised the love fairy before switching the image once more. In the previous image's place, Jesse stared at some kind of scepter and a gemstone.

"The scepter and gem of eternal darkness are meant to be combined together. Only to get both parts, you must seek out and defeat my rival, Erebus," she continued, as an image of her rival's human state (if Jesse was actually paying attention) appeared afterwards.

"He may control the shadows at night, but Ere has a way of defeating his opponents with his mind by exploiting their fears. You'll have to be sharp enough to withstand him," she later advised, before clearing the smoke.

"If you bring these four relics to me by the last sunset on the third day, then I'll grant your desire and permanently turn you human," she later finished as Jesse nodded, understanding that much of their conversation. "However, we should really discuss your payment..." she followed up as Jesse's eyes widened.

"Payment? But I—"

"Oh, don't worry, love. I just need your voice," Narcissa dismissively answered, much to Jesse's surprise. "My voice? Are you sure I can't offer you anything else?" he insisted as Narcissa skeptically eyed him. "Do you have anything else on you?" she countered back as Jesse felt the words viciously come back to attack him.

"What about my Avalonian necklace?" Jesse insisted, preparing to take off his necklace when the sea witch stopped him. "No, those have become so common lately, I've quit accepting them," she insisted as Jesse sighed. "All I had was just the necklace," he insisted as Narcissa pretended to appear shock.

"Then, I suppose, your voice will have to do."

"But if I do this, I won't be able to return to Avalon again. My parents... my friends..." Jesse countered back, trying to sound sympathetic in hopes of the sea witch taking pity on him... even if he truthfully cared less about his parents or his friends (excluding Aliya, of course).

"Life's full of tough choices, isn't it?" Narcissa countered back in turn. "Love, either you give up your voice, or we have no deal," she firmly stated as Jesse quickly internalized through the consequences of his decisions.

Without a voice, Jesse wouldn't be able to speak, which was going to be a problem if he was going to be on his own. He could write sure, but how far would that get him? He didn't know any sign language, and... Jesse was beginning to realize he hadn't thought his plan out throughly enough.

Still... This was the closest he got to achieving his goal. Besides, he just needed to find four relics by the last sunset on the third day. So, that gave him roughly three days to succeed.

How hard could this be?

"Okay, we have a deal," he insisted, preparing to shake her hand when Narcissa scoffed. "No, no, my boy. My deals are made on ink," she countered back, snapping her fingers as Jesse found himself groaning upon the length of the contract. "You can't seriously expect me to read all of this," he countered back as Narcissa merely laughed.

"She really expects me to read all of this," Jesse mumbled, glancing over at the first length of the sentence before tapping out. It was just simply too long and he didn't have time to read whatever she wrote. If it was truly important, she would have told him upfront.

But had he read the contract, Jesse would have realized a more, simpler way to become human through true love's kiss. Alas, he chose his path the hard way when Jesse closed his eyes and quickly signed the contract.

"Now, we're in business!" Narcissa happily exclaimed as the quill quickly vanished from his hand. "Now, sing," she ordered as Jesse awkwardly scuffled. "See, I don't really have that great of a singing voice," he insisted, trying to now talk his way out of this. "Oh, is that right?" Narcissa darkly taunted.

"You gave your word and signed the contract. I recommend you start singing before I change my mind and curse you right here," Narcissa darkly responded, a bit of anger surfacing over as Jesse quickly nodded. "Okay, okay," he mumbled before clearing his throat and began singing.

As he sang, Narcissa held a seashell necklace up. "Sing louder!" she ordered to which Jesse obliged. When he got to the last notes, his voice went inside the seashell necklace as Jesse tried to speak... only for no words to come out. Eyes-widening, Jesse suddenly felt lightheaded as the room spun around him.

Holding onto his head, Jesse tried to keep his balance steady but the room only grew smaller as the boy found himself struggling to breath, much less keep his thoughts in order. Closing the necklace, Narcissa held onto the boy's chin, grinning darkly as Jesse found himself blacking out. As his vision darkened, he only had enough strength to hear one thing.

"Good luck."