-||Truth Behind the Mask||-

[Rosalind Bloom]

Haven ran after Alexander but only caught the end of the conversation before she saw Alexander running off. She blinked a bit and stopped where she was. She didn't know what was going on or what to do. She still felt someone was hurt but she didn't know where.

She let out a small frustrated huff and looked around. She hoped her mother was still in her room and sleeping soundly and not hurt.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

A woman in a maids outfit, though dulled down to a gray had come running up the stairs in a frenzy. She had dark brown hair that was threaded down to past her shoulders in a long braid. She looked almost mad with fear. "Please miss, Juliette," she said. "She is hurt and I do not know if she will live much longer. Please she is my cousin and I do not want to lose her like the rest of my family. Please!"

The desperation in her voice was raw and clear. She was pointing frantically in the direction of where Juliette was lying on the cold tile floor in almost the exact spot where Alex's mother had lain. It had been three or four, maybe more years since then but the maids hadn't wanted to keep track of it.

The pursuit had begun. Victor was keeping just far enough ahead of Alex so he wouldn't get caught but going slow enough so that Alex could follow his trail. Victor knew this would be fun but it gave Alex's father a clear route to the castle and possibly the girl's grandmother. The more that they could work on Haven the more they'd be able to get rid of Alex.

Alex was panting by now but still pursuing. He couldn't understand why this guy had so much stamina. When he'd slow down however it seemed like the man would slow down. There was something he didn't like about this guy, something different about him that seemed dangerous.  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Haven looked to the maid and nodded. She started in that direction but was cut off by an older woman. When she looked at her closer, her eyes widened in fear. It was not just any old woman but her grandmother. "Hello Haven dear." she said and Haven blinked. "How did you get in here?" She demanded and her grandmother smirked. "I can transport myself places. I could probably teach you that but first, you'll need to come with me." She said and Haven took a few steps back.

"No." She said but her Grandmother had other plans. She stepped foward, grabbed Haven's wrist and in a flash, they were gone.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

It was at this point that Alex's father had arrived at the castle. Many people knew him as the Duke of some land or rather they called him Duke Richard, or whatever he was pleased to be called. He knew that the old witch had come already and when he walked in he saw Juliette dying. That was the one person he hadn't wanted to die. He'd respected her but sacrifices had to be maid. He walked past her and began to make his way to his own room. There were secret things he needed to take from there so that no one would be able to look up his past.

The pursuit was hot and Alex was beginning to run out of energy. The man stopped suddenly as Alex came to a halt. He was miles away from home now with no way to get back and his heart ached when he thought of Haven and Juliette. They were the two that he deeply loved now. He wouldn't admit his love for Haven right away but he could feel it welling up inside of him. He gave out a mournful howl before sitting down on the ground exhausted. He collapsed after another moment and the world went black.

The maids in the castle were in a frenzy. The one who had gone to find Alex and Haven was in a faint while the others were going up to talk to Beth to find any information they could. When they reached there they could see she was sleeping peacefully. "Excuse me miss please wake up," one of the maids said frantically, afraid to touch her. She was Alexis, the blond that was almost the age of Juliette and a good friend of her.  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Beth woke up quickly and not because the maid woke her up. "Where's my daughter?" She asked. Her mother's instinct had kicked in and she knew something had happened. She then blinked a little and looked at the maid. "What is it? What's happened?" She asked.

Haven blinked and looked around. "Where are we?" She demanded and her Grandmother smirked. "We're in what I guess you could call a hide out." She said simply and Haven turned to glare at her. "What do you want with me anyways?" she asked and her Grandmother said, "All in good time dear, all in good time." Haven could feel in her heart that Alexander had gone unconscious. She then decided to try something. Her grandmother said she could teleport and that she could learn.

She closed her eyes and thought about Alexander. Her grandmother let out a hearty laugh and shook her head. "Honey, you aren't going to be able to reach him and you're not going anywhere." She said and Haven crossed her arms in frustration. "I don't understand why you're trying to fight with me anyways." Her grandmother said sitting down and motioning for Haven to do the same.

She just stood there and looked at her in utter disbelief. "You put a horrible curse on someone I l- care deeply about." She said, a little shocked she as about to say love. "And my mother told me not to trust you." Her Grandmother shook her head a bit at that. "I think you misunderstand." Her Grandmother started. She was beginning to plant the seed of doubt in Haven's mind now.

"I do everything for the good of things. He truly is extremely selfish and deserved everything that came to him and your mother? You would believe the woman who kept the biggest secret about you from you? If she hadn't demanded I leave you two alone, I would have told you and helped you learn by now." She said. Of course some of the things she was saying were lies, though, she really did do things for good reasons, just not things everyone would call good.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

Alexis began to weep at that moment, not even sure what to say herself. She'd grown to care for Alex but that was because she'd watched him suffer so much and the way that he loved Haven, even though he wouldn't admit it. "She disappeared, ma'am," she said after a moment. "A girl saw it happen. She said that an old woman had grabbed hold of Haven and they just disappeared. The old woman had come out of nowhere." She was shaking from a combination of fear and concern at this point, bitterly weeping the death of a friend and the disappearance of two friends.

A young man had come across the passed out wolf. He'd been studying magic for years and could see the curse almost immediately. He picked the wolf up and placed him on the back of his horse, who seemed to skitter about when he did so. He lived deep in the forest, hiding from a few people that were out to get him. He'd heard rumors of a woman cursing a boy and that his father had left him but he didn't believe them at first.

He began to lead the horse towards his small cottage then, making sure to hide where they had been with the scent of something else. Other animals criss-crossed there path after they walked making it nearly impossible to see the hoof marks on the ground.

Richard had gotten the things he needed but he noticed that his journal was missing. It enraged him but since he needed to get back to the headquarters he ignored it. He wished he could have just teleported with the old witch but it was better this way. It was easier to get Haven on there side and they would need a healer if he wanted to take his castle back and survive. The wolves there had been well trained and he'd had to bring guards to ward them off on the trip here.  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Beth's face paled and she shook her head. "Her damned grandmother." She said and then asked, "What else happened? There must be more! Where is Alexander and Juliette?"

Haven listened to her Grandmother speak and said, "My mother didn't tell me because she wanted to keep me safe from you." Agatha smirked a bit and said, "Have you ever seen me do anything wrong?" Haven opened her mouth to speak but then closed her. Her grandmother made a good point, she had never seen her do anything bad before. "See Haven? Your mother wasn't trying to keep you safe from anything. She just never wanted you to learn what you really are. She didn't want her daughter to be as she put it 'some freak of nature'." Haven's heart dropped at the words and asked, "She- She called me that?"

Agatha nodded in response, of course it was a lie, her mother cared for her dearly but it seemed to be working so far. Thankfully for them, Haven was easily influenced. "I'm sorry dear, the only person you can really trust is me." She said and Haven went silent for a moment, trying to accept this. Her mother didn't care for her? She couldn't believe it and yet, everything her grandmother had said made sense.

Agatha knew that Richard was on his way back and that he had finished what he left to do. She would need all the help she could get to change Haven's view on things.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

"I do not know where Alex is but I believe her ran after someone. Another maid says that there is is a broken window that he could have jumped out of," she said in a frightened voice. "Juliette.. I don't know. She's in the entrance room but I don't know if she'll survive."

She was crying again, unable to save her own sanity with the potential loss of her friend. She was shaking too, unable to keep things reasonable. Another maid had come in to see what was happening.

Richard was on his way back to the based now, watching what was going on. He was impatient to be beyond the forest because the wolves were beginning to frighten him. The idea that they were with Alex and obeyed him made him even more uneasy. His son could easily over take him but he knew that he was out for the count when he saw Victor hop on where the horses were.

Alex awoke slowly, confused by where he was and what was going on. He was in a house, which was the only thing he realized at the moment. The young man who had taken him in was mixing up something, a food most likely that would help Alex regain his strength. "Who are you?" Alex growled. There was a pause before the guy turned around. "I'm Ray. There is nothing to worry about though. I'm making some food for you so that you can get your strength back, " the guy said. There was silence again  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Beth nodded and said, "Let's go find Juliette then."

Haven looked at her Grandmother and kept quiet. "Haven, why won't you believe me? I've said nothing but the truth." she said. Haven bit her lip a bit and said, "I....maybe.....I'm still trying to process this." Agatha smiled a bit then said, "Let me show you what I mean." She pulled out a bowl and then filled it with water. She said a simple spell quietly and an image appeared in the water.

It was Haven's mother sitting on the edge of the bed with a calm expression on her face. "See? She doesn't even miss you." Agatha said and Haven blinked a bit. It was right there in front of her, her mother didn't care about her it was true.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

Juliette laid on the floor trying to muster the strenght to move. There were two maids attending to her, cleaning her up just in case Haven returned to help her. None of the were sure if Beth could even help. Alex would presume her to dead so he wouldn't return for a long time. The wind howled more outside and the storm that was coming over him boomed through the air.

Alex had been hungry almost the entire day and the food that was placed in front of him had a pleasing aroma to it. When the large amount of food was placed in front of him he began to eat slowly. Stomaching the food was the difficult part because it seemed to have something in it that he wasn't used to and on top of that Juliette was dead and he had no clue if Haven was okay.

He had a bitter and mournful expression on his face despite the fact he was enjoying the food. He stopped after a while and began to pace restlessly. Ray was sitting finally, watching him with a quizzical expression.

"You miss her don't you?" Ray asked finally, knowing about Haven already. He had the ability to see things but that was about it to the spells that he'd learned. The visions he had were usually useless but occasionally he could use them for someone else's benefit and he knew these had centered around Alex.

Richard had reached the castle by now and wanted to talk to the old woman. Since he had collected there secrets he decided it was a good idea to give her back her things. He walked down to the lower reaches of the manor that he'd built to find her room. When he reached it he knocked.  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Beth reached Juliette and kneeled down beside her. She looked at the wound for a long while before finally sighing. "I don't know what to do." She said softly, feeling awful that she couldn't help.

Haven was still standing there when she heard the knock. Agatha got up from sitting and opened the door. "Ah! Welcome back, sir. I'd like you to meet someone..." She said smirking a bit and stood aside so he could come in. Haven didn't know who this was or what was going on. She was still extremely confused as to what to think.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

"You don't know me," Richard said in a slightly dull tone. "But I am Richard, Alex's father." His voice seemed to waver however when he said this as if a great sadness hit him. He looked away for a moment before collecting his thoughts. It was an act of course and he'd been told how Haven needed to be influenced to get the best result.

He was hesitant then as he opened his mouth, seeming to want to talk and yet not at the same time. "Alex is different," he said after a moment. "When he was young he was a splendid child, giving dances to multiple of the young girls that came to visit him. As time wore on though he became more and more selfish only dancing with girls if they gave him certain gifts or visits before hand. I don't know what I would have done if I had stayed there. His foolishness and self-appreciating actions were almost unbearble even to my wife. She killed herself after I'd left for a meeting." There was silence again and it seemed as if Richard was weeping inwardly. He looked up at Haven with a sad expression. He knew about her already though and the act would probably do her good. She needed to be taught properly and the way she was raised wouldn't do any good.

Alex groaned slightly before moving back to his food. He nibbled it bit by bit but not really wanting it. He would be more hungry in the morning after he was able to truly rest and think about what had happened. He went over to a corner but Ray began to lead him to a spare room he had that contained a bed. The fixing were primitive compared to what he was used to. He got up onto the bed and laid down next to one of the pillows. He shut his eyes but now he couldn't sleep.

"You can stay by me," Juliette said in a weak voice. "I am so frightened right now. Please promise me you will take care of Alex. I get so worried about him sometimes and he will be very sad when he hears about me." She taken Beth's hand into both of hers and was looking up at her, head shifted so that she didn't have to use much energy to do so.  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Beth nodded and sat there with her, holding her hands gently.

Haven listened to Richard and blinked a bit. "She kill herself?" She asked shocked. "Because of his selfishness?" She asked then looked to her Grandmother who nodded. Haven blinked a bit then shook her head. How could she have possibly feel for someone who caused their own mother to take her own life?

"See Haven? I told you that you need to trust me but also Richard as well. We need your help to set things right." She said softly and Haven looked at her curiously for a moment before asked, "What do you need help with?" Did she seriously just ask that? She couldn't believe it but she felt that she had to help. She couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to fall for her mother's actions as well as Alex's words.  

[- symphonic disaster -]

"Whatever happens," Juliette said. "Please keep him safe." She said it almost as if Alex needed protecting but there was some truth to this. She had close her eyes at this point and she could feel herself drifting. After a moment everything went black and her body went limp.

Alex fell asleep soon after he was put into the bed. He seemed restless though, his eyes darting back and forth beaneath their lids. Ray had sat in the chair in the corner, neglecting his own sleep in case anything bad happened. He'd been told at some point there would be a wolf in the area that would be like him and he instinctively knew that this was Alex, even Alex admitted it when he talked. There was a trust between the two that most wouldn't have been able to recognize.  

[Rosalind Bloom]

Beth nodded and said, "Of course." She looked to the others now after Juliette's body went limp so they could help her.

Haven looked at her Grandmother questioningly, still awaiting an answer. "I will let Richard explain that to you. I have some matters to attend to if you don't mind." Agatha said then gave Richard a look to signify that he still needed to be careful then left the room.

Haven was still unsure if she should be helping but it made sense. Her mother had lied to her and Alexander had caused his mother to die. Her grandmother had only been trying to help her and that's it. She assumed that if her grandmother trusted Richard then she should too.