Lizzy groaned loudly, flickering her eyes open. She put her hand on her forehead and asked,

"What happened?"

"Lizzy, you're awake!" Keiza exclaimed happily. "That's so wonderful!"

"Yeah...how long was I out?"

"You were out for at least a day.."

"A day?!" Lizzy immediately sat up, shocked that she was unconscious for that long. "W-What's been happening?"

"A lot has happened while you were asleep..." Keiza started to explain what has happened in the past few hours. Although she wasn't there when it occurred, William came upstairs to explain to Aaliyah and Keiza what happened. After the explanation, Lizzy's eyes stared at her feet on the bed, shocked.

"W-Why did it come to this?" Lizzy stuttered. "Just because they're kids, doesn't mean they would be oblivious to what has been happening."

"And I honestly don't know who to blame," Aaliyah said with a sigh. "It seems like it's everyone's fault."

"No, it's my fault!! This wouldn't have happened if I left the potion out of the cupboard, and I haven't figured out an antidote yet."

"Liz, stay calm," Keiza said. "You're stressing about this too much. It'll be okay."

"No, it won't!" Lizzy cried. "I can't even master my own powers. How am I supposed to help anyone if I can't tap into my magic anymore?!

"There are plenty of ways you can help! You can't resort yourself to magic all the-"

"How am I supposed to be of use to anyone without my magic? My magic is supposed to heal, bring light, and have the ability to find people by aura. How do you think I was able to find you guys? If I can't get my magic to work, my efforts would've been for nothing."

"Your efforts haven't been for nothing!" Aaliyah exclaimed. "Don't tell yourself that! You can find a way to get through this."

"But how?!" Lizzy yelled, now with tears streaming down her face. "HOW?! I can't even do alchemy anymore. What can I do now? I'm just useless...and I've left our friends to be possibly stuck as kids." She let her head fall on Keiza's shoulder and she began to cry uncontrollably, not caring of what will happen next. She only thought of her past actions, even before she left Yuina, and kept sobbing. Keiza held Lizzy tight in her arms, trying to calm her down but knew that she wouldn't be too successful. Aaliyah was silent, watching the two. She then began to think of why Lizzy would think this sort of way, believing that only magic will be helpful. A memory struck Aaliyah's mind..

Aaliyah walked past the school gym, whistling happily with no care in the world. She glanced up at the sky and then heard a scream from inside the gym. She quickly ran to the gym door and peeked inside. She saw her good friend Lizzy on the ground, scraped up with wounds on her arms and legs. Lizzy panted a bit and a voice exclaimed,

"You are weak, child! Your training is imperative to keeping the people of Yuina safe. If not, you will amount to nothing but failure! You must not have any distractions when it comes to your duty. Do you understand, child?"

"Y-Yes!" Lizzy said, standing back up slowly. She yelped a tiny bit, holding her arm in pain.

"No weakness!" the voice exclaimed. "You must not show any weaknesses whatsoever!" Lizzy gritted her teeth and stood firm, not holding her arm anymore. She concentrated on her magic again, letting a yellow hue grow in her hands. She and the voice began to train more ferociously. Aaliyah watched their training, not making a sound.

Aaliyah had that memory at the back of her head as she stared at Keiza comforting the sobbing Lizzy. "Oh Lizzy.." she said softly.

******************************************

James sat on the steps in front of the house, looking up at the sun-setting sky. He thought about the entire day and how everything fell apart. He groaned and said,

"What have I done? i'm supposed to be a leader to my friends. But I've caused more trouble than I have stopped it. Now what do I do?"

"As the leader, you should fix it, right?" Dylan said, sitting next to him.

"That easier said than done, dude," James sighed.

"I know. Remember that time when I wouldn't talk much during classes and wouldn't be with anyone from school?"

"I barely remember that, Dylan. When you were a first year in high school, I was a fourth year."

"That's besides the point. Anyway, it took time for me to reach out and make friends. Of course I made a few mistakes but it was okay. Everyone makes mistakes once and awhile and that's why we're not perfect. I'm sure you made a few mistakes as well, right?"

"Yeah, I've made quite a few."

"Well, that shouldn't stop you from trying again, right? I'm sure Jarod made mistakes too!" James immediately thought of his best friend Jarod as soon as his name was mentioned. Back in Yuina, Jarod and James were childhood friends, along with their good friend Bryan. Along the way, they met the three siblings, Keiza, Summer, and Jewel, and soon Jarod had a step-sibling, Lizzy. Jarod was declared the leader of closely-knit group of seven and made quite a few mistakes as leader, most which that the rest of the group forgave him for. Jarod still kept a positive attitude when it came to leadership, which James liked of his friend. James smiled at Dylan and said,

"You're right. That means I can't give up yet!"

"Yup!" Dylan grinned. "All you have to do now is bring everyone back together again."

"It won't be easy but I will definitely give it a good try. But there's one thing I have to do first before I do that."

"What is it?"

"There's a little guy I have to go talk to. Do you know where Jack is?"

"Um...I actually don't. He might be in the living room but I'm not sure."

"Okay, I'll go find him." James stood up and went back inside the house, going first in the living room. He didn't see Jack in there so he decided to check around a bit more. That was when he heard some commotion in the kitchen, so he went over there as quickly as possible. There he saw his young friend on the ground, staring up at the fridge. "Hungry?" James chuckled. Little Jack jolted like lightning and turned to James. The boy's countenance turned more placid as he nodded slowly, looking back up at the fridge. James smiled and grabbed the water boiler from atop of the fridge. "Hey, I'm sorry about the other day. I honestly didn't pay attention to what was going on and I almost lost you and Crow. I don't have any excuses and again, I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me?" James turned to the young boy and saw his eyes wide. Little Jack stared at James for a few moments. He wasn't expecting an apology from James, let alone a tiny speech. After a minute, little Jack smiled and then gave James a hug. "Whoa, I never imagined you being a hugger, buddy," James said, hugging back.

"I know," the blonde boy answered. "I forgive you."

"Thanks, little man. Now let's have ramen!"

"Ok!"

All right, that's the end of this chapter! Thanks for reading and see you next chapter! :)