Sage simply couldn't sleep, visions of failing Aqua and possibly dying were plaguing his mind. So, he ended up getting up around six, lazily getting dressed and making his way downstairs. He heard a familiar voice, "Couldn't sleep either?" Aqua asked, he thought he smelt pancake batter.
"You don't have to make me breakfast every morning y'know?" Sage said, going to the fridge to get syrup.
"I know I don't have to, but consider it a thank you for letting me stay here." Aqua said, as they brought the pancake mix to the stove and got out a pan.
"Oh, well, I'm glad you appreciate me letting you sleep on a table." Sage said, he sat down at the table, his head sunk as he silently thought the very thoughts that kept him up at night. Aqua placed a plate full of pancakes at his head, "Hey." They shook him a bit to wake him up if he had fallen back asleep, his head shot up when he remembered something. "Hey, I still don't know your last name, you never told me!" Sage said, Aqua sat down across from him with another plate full of pancakes. "Well, if you really want to know, my last name is Bellflower." Aqua said, "So you're Aqua Bellflower?" Sage asked, "Well 'Aqua' isn't exactly my full name." This definitely sparked Sage's interest, "You've had a full name this whole time?? Now you have to tell me! What is it? What is it?" Sage said, now completely distracted from what he had been dwelling on before. "Do you know about crystals?" Aqua asked, it was a weird question, yes Sage did know that sparkly rocks existed but he had no clue why that was relevant, "Why do you ask?" He asked.
"Do you WANT to know about Crystals?" Aqua asked, "Yeah? I guess..." Sage responded, "Well then I'll tell you on the way there." Aqua said, picking up their empty plate and tossing it in the sink. "We're leaving now?" Sage asked, "Yeah, I just have to grab all the potions, I left them upstairs." Aqua headed up the stairs and the room went silent again.
The fear set in again.
Why did he have to do this? Why wasn't he running away? Aqua wasn't here anymore...they wouldn't hear him leaving...this was his chance...
"I tossed some invisibility and strength potions in here. Please only use one strength potion, the side effects of potion overdose aren't pretty."
Sage was brought out of his own thoughts, Aqua started putting on their shoes and he knew he had to do the same, despite his mind telling him this was a mistake.
Instead of taking an invisibility potion like they usually would, Aqua grabbed a large jacket and threw it over their wings, not hiding them very well. Sage didn't have any time to question how this was possibly going to prevent people from seeing them, Aqua was already holding the door open for him, as if to make sure he would leave.
"So, you're gonna tell me about crystals now?" Sage asked.
"Oh yeah, I can't believe Brooklyn didn't bother to teach you this. When every fairy is born a crystal is assigned to them, a crystal specifically designed to help them on their journey. Each fairy has a different one, and many fairies are named after their crystal. I was named after my crystal too, which is why my name is Aquamarine, but I mostly go by Aqua." Aqua explained.
"Your name is Aquamarine? That sounds really fancy. Hey...what's MY last name?" Sage said, Aqua was clearly distracted while they were explaining crystals and ended up turning back because they were leading Sage in the wrong direction.
"You haven't figured it out yet? If domains are named after the last names of their rulers, and you are the prince of the Mushroom Domain..." Aqua hinted.
"My last name is Mushroom? My name is Sage Mushroom? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Sage said, he looked ahead, he didn't see Huling road yet, they still had more to walk.
"I kind of thought your parents named you Aqua because of...water." Sage said, Aqua giggled a little, "That was another reason, yeah. When I was born I could breathe underwater, granted all water fairies can but they don't usually learn so early, so that might have also contributed to my name." Aqua said. "Are you sure you don't want some invisibility potion? I think people can see your wings..." Sage asked, looking at the jacket and the two giant lumps in the back, it really wasn't fooling anyone. "I didn't brew enough for the both of us, you need it for your battle." Aqua said, Sage reached into Aqua's purse to see how many they were carrying, they had two. He picked up one of them and held it up to Aqua, "I don't need two, you can have one." Aqua took the bottle from his hands considering it, and then handed it back to him, "What if you do? The best way to attack someone is a surprise attack, but what if it wears off? Then she'll see you, know exactly who are and she'll kill you all the way dead."
"What if hunters see you with your wings out and kill YOU all the way dead?" Sage asked, handing Aqua the potion once again, "I'm not the ruler of an entire domain." Aqua passed the potion back.
"THAT'S IT." Sage said, he abruptly stopped walking and held the potion over the sidewalk, "Drink this now or I'll break it."
Aqua paused, planning their next move carefully...
"You're being a bit paranoid, hunters don't just lurk in the bushes, they get tips about 'suspicious' people that might be fairies in disguise or they raid villages where they know fairies are hiding, no one's going to kill me." Aqua calmly explained, Sage sighed, and reluctantly went to put the potion back in their purse when he felt the bottle slip from his hands, and heard a gentle crash as the glass bottle broke on the sidewalk. The blue glowing liquid spread across the sidewalk, Sage's first instinct was to clean it somehow, but he didn't really want to touch the glass, Aqua grabbed his hand and led him away from the broken potion. Sage realized they already passed Huling road by now, for a second he thought they both were going the wrong way, until he asked "Didn't we already pass Huling road?"
"We're not going to Village Centre, we're going to what used to be the main village, Orchid Village, where we used to live. The only reason Josephine's setting up her hunter base there is because it's the only village with a throne room and she's quite full of herself."
Orchid Village was a lot further than Village Centre, they must have been walking for hours. The only sign they were close was when Sage spotted another forest, Aqua told him that this is the forest the village is in, but they needed to walk a little further before they'd see the entrance. Sage almost cheered when he finally saw the entrance, it meant a break from walking at least. But Aqua walked straight in the entrance without stopping for even a minute, "Woah, you don't wanna prepare before I risk my life in there?" Sage asked, "We'll have plenty of time to prepare, I'm not leading you to Josephine right now, I'm just getting us out of public view so we can talk about what's going to happen." Aqua said.
Sage followed them as they led him down a path in the forest, the path led to a pond with a willow tree beside it and a rock that faced the water. Both of them sat down together on the rock, Aqua took off their jacket and opened their purse to make sure all the potions were okay, they then passed the bag to Sage, "Drink the invisibility potion right before you go in, but not a second before, it'll make it last as long as possible. And only take one strength potion, I gave you two, but only use one, I only use the extra one if you're actually about to die." Aqua explained, Sage took the purse from them, but stayed staring at the pond, there were little ducks at the far end. "You ready, Sage?" Aqua asked, he stayed silent, just looking at the water, not bothering to face them. "Are you mad at me or something? I'm sorry, but I didn't choose this quest, if I had it my way I would be back in the River Domain with my aunt." Aqua said, Sage turned back to them with tears in his eyes, "My parents wouldn't know I was dead." He said, tilting his head up and blinking away the tears, "If I didn't come home they would've thought I ran away, it wouldn't be the first time anyway." Aqua held his hand, they weren't really sure what to say so they just listened instead.
"I don't want to do this, I don't want to die here."
"You won't die, at least not yet." Aqua said, "How can you be so sure?" Sage asked, "Because, we did everything right, unless we didn't...but I think we did. Yeah, we definitely did." Aqua said, "But...what if I do?" Aqua shook their head, "You won't."
"If I do, will you tell my parents I love them? And tell my best friend he's a loser?" Aqua nodded, "Of course." Silence fell over the pond, only sounds of the water, the willow tree and the nearby ducks swimming.
"Are you going back to the River Domain after this?" Sage asked, "Well I don't have a house here, I can't stay at your place forever." Sage sighed at this, "I'm sorry, but I don't have a reason to stay here."
"It's okay, we'll keep in touch no matter what." Sage said, Aqua nodded "Of course, you can call anytime." They said, finally letting go of Sage's hand.
Sage stood up from the rock, slung Aqua's purse around his shoulders and said "I'm ready." Aqua stood up too, "Are you sure?" They asked, "I am." Sage said, he confidently walked across the same path they came from, the one that led to the street. He quickly realized he was going the wrong way when Aqua started walking in the opposite direction, he dashed after Aqua and caught up with them. They then said "Be quiet, okay? Only whispers from now on." Sage nodded. They went quietly across the path, with only the sounds of their feet brushing against the grass and the birds singing, as completely unaware of anything as always. Aqua slowed down and stopped walking, "I can't go any farther, you have to do this alone." Aqua said in a whisper, "The moment you see her, take the invisibility potion and strike her when she least expects it. I'll see you on the other side, okay?" Sage nodded and waved to Aqua as they walked back across the path. Now he was all on his own, walking until he saw her. Aqua left as soon as the houses started appearing out of the forest, he could see cabins and houses on the ground and in the trees, however it wasn't as bright and whimsical as Village Centre, everything was quiet, dark and cold. As he was walking he heard a sound apart from his steps and the nearby birds, he could hear scratching, and he knew he was getting closer. He stopped at a hill, full of large rocks like the one near the pond, they all led up to the big rock at the top of the hill, one that looked like a seat, like a throne, with gold etched into it, the one Josephine was sitting in.
The minute Sage saw her he gasped quietly and ducked behind a tree, pulling the invisibility potion out of Aqua's purse. He drank all of the potion and when he looked down he couldn't see his own legs. He didn't imagine he would be able to stop fighting long enough to take a strength potion so he might as well take it now. He felt around to find it and raised the bottom of the bottle to the sky. It tasted like Aqua threw a bunch of dirt and water in there and stirred it together, but he had bigger fish to fry than Aqua's questionable potion making skills. He quietly moved away from the tree, he saw Josephine again, she was writing something, a letter, is what it looked like. The scratching of the pencil on the paper got louder as Sage climbed up the rocky hill quietly. Josephine folded the piece of paper, tucked it into an envelope and grabbed a small crystal that was sitting beside it, she tapped the crystal twice and said "Send this to hunter headquarters, 207 Florence street." And just like that, the letter disappeared. Sage had climbed to the top of the hill and was now standing behind Josephine, he now noticed all the burn marks on her legs. He looked around him for a way he could take her out in one shot, the less time he had to spend here, the better. That's when he remembered how strong he was, he could probably pick up one of these bigger rocks...
And so he tried, he picked up a massive rock with ease, but he couldn't quite hold it over his head, so he used a bit of his telekinesis too, to lift the boulder over his head, he then threw his arms forward, let go of the rock with his hands and threw it straight at Josephine. She flew straight up before the rock even had a chance to hit her, and she of course started looking for whoever threw it, "HEY! Who was that? Another little fairy thinking they can take me? Do you know how many others have tried? And where do they all end up? The hunter headquarters of course! Chained up like little dogs..." Josephine stepped closer to where she saw the rock come from, she was alert now, meaning Sage didn't dare to make a single noise, he didn't dare to move an inch. "Are you maybe...invisible? From a charm or a potion?" She inched closer to Sage, "It certainly smells like invisibility potion." Sage had also noticed invisibility potions had a certain smell to them, they smelt oddly like citrus. "Invisibility doesn't work on someone with fire powers, you do realize that, right?" Josephine stomped in the direction she was facing, causing a line of fire to come out of the ground and burn all the grass in its way. "Especially since I don't mind tearing this place apart." She turned backwards, stomped her foot and summoned another line of fire. Sage knew eventually she'd guess where he was, and he didn't really like the game of roulette they were playing together. He flapped his wings and flew up, unfortunately he had never noticed how loud his wings were before, at least not until it was far too late, the sound of his wings alerted Josephine and she sent a blast of fire his way, he tried to fly up to escape it but a bit of the flame hit his ankle and he fell the the ground hissing in pain. Josephine flew over to where she heard him fall, "Aw, how about we get you to headquarters?" She said, reaching for Sage, but she was pulled back by a massive vine he had grown, it wrapped around her and spiked her with its thorns, just like he said he would do. She burned straight through the vine with her fire, and she went to burn through Sage too, but she only set the grass on fire, he had already gone somewhere else to escape her and plan his next move. He felt he had bit off more than he could chew this time, he was quite literally playing with fire. What use was any of his plants if Josephine could simply burn through them? "I know you're still here" She said, "Your potion's going to wear off soon…I'd run if I were you." Man, if only Aqua were here, if he could make his plants wet somehow, that way Josephine couldn't burn through them. But that gave him an idea…
He was standing behind a tree, so he pulled a branch back and rustled all the leaves, making noise on purpose. Josephine hit the tree with a blast of fire, but by then he was already flying down the path he walked with Aqua, the one that led to the pond. He dragged his feet and rustled the leaves of nearby trees, making as much noise as possible to ensure Josephine would follow him. Josephine flew at a speed that was even faster than his, if hadn't got a head start she would've caught him already. When he reached the pond he started growing the seaweed at the very bottom of it, but he was caught off-guard when he heard Josephine say "Sage?"
He turned around and faced Josephine, then he looked down and realized the invisibility had worn off, if only someone had packed him two bottles. "Why didn't you say you were coming for a visit?" Josephine asked, "I thought you'd call me after dancing with me all night." Sage looked at her angrily, "That was before you tried to kill everyone at that ball!" He shouted. "Oh please, I wasn't trying to kill them, those ones were meant to be specimens, we don't just kill fairies, we also run tests to see how they work. Although I must admit, no matter how many lifetimes we meet, you simply never change." Josephine said, Sage kept growing the seaweed in the pond, just in case she planned on striking again while she distracted him. "What's that supposed to mean?" Sage asked, "I mean you always switch up on me like this, we're the best of friends until you find out I've killed several fairies." Josephine said. "Really? 'Cause I've seen my past memories and I watched you give me a curse that made my teeth fall out." Sage argued, "Oh c'mon, that one was just funny." Josephine retorted. "I don't think I found it very funny…" Sage said, "Oh you've never found anything funny. For a prince, you tend to be quite the crybaby." Josephine said, and the minute she said that Sage pulled all the seaweed he had been growing out of the water and wrapped it around Josephine in a quick motion, he tried to spike her with thorns, but for some reason he couldn't grow thorns on the seaweed. He thought he had cornered her, until he felt a blast of fire on his back, he screamed with pain and jumped into the pond beside him. The water put out the fire but it somehow made the burn hurt way worse than it did before, and it made another problem, Sage couldn't swim that well. When he realized this he tried to swim up, but something grabbed hold of his arm, he turned to it and opened his eyes. It was Aqua, they put up one finger, signaling Sage to give them a minute. They focused and made a small air bubble appear out of their finger, then they made it bigger and bigger and bigger until it covered both of their heads. Sage immediately took a deep breath, happy he was able to breathe again, but still in a lot of pain. "I can't do this, I can't!! I tried, okay? I can't beat her! This is the worst pain I've ever felt, just let me go home!!" Sage yelled into the bubble that surrounded both of their heads, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! I want to help, I do, but it might change the prophecy the time fairy gave me, and in that prophecy you live and I can't risk ruining that!!" Sage looked down, almost in shame, "I know." he said. "One second, I got something that might help." Aqua said, they then pulled their head out of the bubble, and swam down to the bottom of the pond. They came back up with a bottle, and squeezed their head into the bubble again so Sage could hear them talk, "This should help, it numbs all pain, but it's temporary, and it's not recommended because the fairies that use it don't experience any pain in those areas meaning if they get injured they can't feel it so just…be careful please." Aqua handed Sage a bottle, he took the lid off and rubbed it on the burn on his back and his ankle. "Oh hey, this stuff works fast." Sage said, amazed that he already felt much better. "You can do this Sage, you're more powerful than you think you are." Aqua raised their finger and the air bubble started shrinking again, "Thank you." is all Sage could say before he had to take another deep breath. Sage didn't like opening his eyes underwater, but he felt Aqua take his arm and help him swim almost back up to the surface before they swam back down and out of sight. Sage appeared out of the water and flew up immediately, catching Josephine's attention, "Oh hey, I thought you drowned." She made a ring of black fire appear around her as defense, and got ready for another attack, but Sage could not be paying less attention to her. Instead, he reached into his pockets and pulled out the package of vine seeds, he spilled all of them on the ground and started growing them slowly. Josephine tried to throw another blast of fire at him, but he grew one of the vines faster and used it as a shield. It took the blow of the fire and burned away, but Sage wasn't phased at all. He encased Josephine in vines, which she easily got out of by burning them away, but more came, and more, and more, and more, they encased her no matter how much she burned more came, and more and more and more, the whole section of the forest they were in was covered in vines. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!" Josephine yelled at him, but he didn't care, he didn't care if he passed out from this like he did at the ball, he wanted the fairies to be happy. But more than that, he wanted to go home. Not back to his parent's house, but his house. He encased Josephine in vines for the last time, and then he spiked her with thorns again, she screamed in pain and burned through the vines, but she had nowhere to go. Sage made thorns appear on every vine, every place she stepped was a wrong move. She flew up and tried to blast Sage with fire once again but he used the seaweed on the ground to protect him. The fire couldn't burn through the seaweed, and without any other place to go, it came straight back at Josephine. She dodged it narrowly and flew away, far past the trees and far past where Sage could see. Sage retracted all the thorns and fell to the ground panting. Josephine got away. You still failed.
Sage didn't have any energy to chase after her, he was drained of all energy, all he could do was lie on the vine-covered ground. He heard the water splashing though, and Aqua saying "Sage, you did it, you did it!!" they sat down beside him, "I said you wouldn't die!!" they said happily. "Josephine escaped. She's gone, I didn't kill her." Sage said between panting. "Did you think I expected you to?" Aqua asked, Sage looked up at them despite how tired he was, "You said I had to free this domain?" He questioned, "You did!! It can't be under Josephine's control if she's too busy running away from you." Aqua explained. Sage didn't even have the energy to say anything back, he was just glad he didn't mess everything up.
"I have a surprise for you once you're all rested up." Aqua said, "What is it?" Sage asked, "It's something you left here a long time ago, Josephine would have destroyed it but I don't think she knows where it is." Aqua said. Sage sat up, and then he stood up, "I think I'm good as long as I don't use my magic for anything." Aqua stood up too, and led Sage down the same path they went to find Josephine. "You know, if you would have had both invisibility potions on you, it would've been a lot easier to take her down." Aqua said, "I didn't mean to drop it, I was gonna give it back to you!!" Sage said, "I know, I'm just making fun of you." The forest seemed to have brightened up since Sage last went down this path, like a dark cloud passed. Another thing Sage noticed, nothing was on fire, after a fight that consisted of a lot of fire. "Who put out all these fires?" Sage asked, but by Aqua's proud smile he already knew the answer, "You did? But you were underwater! …Clever hiding spot by the way." Aqua chuckled, "I was putting out the fires you guys left behind when suddenly you started running down the path, I started following you to make sure you were okay and then I jumped in the water so she wouldn't see me." they said. Aqua continued walking up the hill with the throne on it, until they had reached the very throne Josephine was sitting in. "Stand back." Aqua warned Sage, they then grabbed some of the water on the ground they had used to put the fires out and used it to break the throne in half. Sage was very confused as to what they were doing until he saw that the throne was hollow, and it had something shiny inside. Aqua motioned Sage to come closer, when he did they pulled a golden crown with emerald jewels out of the throne and passed it to Sage. "You never liked wearing this in your past life, but I figured you'd like to have it now." Aqua said, Sage picked it up carefully, as if it was another potion he would surely break. He then placed the crown on his head, like a true prince. "Ah, sorry for breaking your throne." Aqua apologized when they realized the mess they had made, "Ah, don't be, I didn't plan on sitting in it." Sage said. "What do you mean? This is your domain, you have to rule over the main village!" Aqua said, "Nah, I'll make a new main village, one that's really close to my house, that way I can go between both of my homes!" Sage responded, "But who will rule the Orchid Village?" Aqua asked, Sage only thought about it for a second before saying "You could!" "What? But I'm not fit to rule!" Aqua argued, "Says who? You're clearly more responsible than I am which makes you even more fit to rule than me, and it would give you a reason to stay in Mushroom Domain…that is if you wanted to." Sage explained, "Well…if you seriously are appointing me as a village ruler…then thank you for the honor, I would love to." Aqua said. "We can visit each other's villages! Aw, I'm so happy you're staying here!" Sage said, hugging Aqua and kissing them on the cheek out of excitement. "I'm happy to be staying here too." Aqua said, hugging Sage as well. "Oh, one more thing." Aqua said, "What's up?" Sage asked.
"Promise me you'll help me clean up all the vines you left in the pond?"
"No promises."