Loss

It's only when we lose something that we realize how important it was to us.

Umber and Faye searched for hours and hours, trying and trying to find Trix. But he was nowhere. Not a piece of his cloak or a footstep.

Why did Faye run? Why didn't she stay there and help him? Guilt pushed through Faye's senses, taking over everything and making her light-headed. She stumbled into Umber, making them both fall.

"Are you okay?" Umber asked.

Faye couldn't answer. All she could think about was how she killed Trix. It was all her fault. She wasn't right for the Neverseen. They were heartless fools.

"Faye?" Umber asked again.

Faye looked up at Umber. Who really was she? Was the person she had known all her life been a murderer just as long? How about Trix? He had kidnapped Wylie and helped torture him. Could Trix kill someone? "I'm okay," Faye said. She wasn't really, though. Not in the slightest amount.

"Are you sure?" Umber tried asking, but Faye cut her off.

"I'm fine!" Faye screamed, so loud another piece of a wall shifted. Faye was never going to be fine. Never. Ever. Again. Especially with her mind racing back to the one thing she could never fix.

She had killed someone.

A tear reluctantly dripped down Faye's face, ever so slowly. I can't reverse it. She told herself. I can't change anything in the past.

The past.

Is that what this was? Has everything that has happened just been 'part of the past'? Was it all a plan? Did Gisela and Fintan plan for this? Was it all a joke? Did they want her to kill Trix? Did Umber want this?

"I killed him," Faye muttered, she kneeled down on all rubble and put her head in her hands. "I killed him."

Umber kneeled down next to Faye. "No, Faye. It's not your fault," She said. "And, besides, he may not even be gone. He still might be here, waiting for us. We have to keep looking."

Faye didn't want to. She knew all hope was lost. But, she knew that Umber could be optimistic at times. Faye stood up and nodded.

They looked for several more hours, but could find nothing except for a couple of pancakes in a bag. They ate silently.

After looking for a little longer, they got tired. So tired that they could barely search any more. Faye found a spot on the ground free from rocks and rubble and fell asleep there. Umber was a few feet away.

Faye opened her eyes and saw the pale blue curtains around her bed. She sat up quickly, not comprehending anything that was happening. She wasn't lying on the cold ground of a destroyed building! She was in her room. Her nice, warm room.

She stood up and ran out of her room. She ran down the hallway into the cafeteria, where Umber and Trix usually were in the mornings.

She saw Umber first, who was crying. Faye had only seen Umber cry once, but she didn't know why then. This time she knew.

Trix was sitting next to her, trying to console her. Umber's head was resting on his shoulder.

"Oh my-" Umber exclaimed when she looked up and saw Faye. "You're alive too!" She quickly wiped the tears off her face and ran over to Faye.

"What- what happened?" Faye asked. "I mean, I remember everything collapsing, but I don't know how this is all fixed and..." Faye paused for a moment. "I thought Trix was dead."

"I know," Trix said. "I could hear you yelling and everything. Once I told you to run, I lost control of the wind and fell. Rocks covered me and I could barely breathe. I don't know how this..." Trix seemed to fumble for words. "How this didn't happen.

"Answers," Lady Gisela said as she walked in. "Are a much-wanted thing. Fortunately, though, we don't always have to give you them."

Faye, Trix, and Umber had confused faces.

"Oh, stupid teenagers." Gisela said, but didn't stop talking. "You were put in a 'fake world', to say it simply. You went through it, yet you didn't. You were all put under a special sedative - no, I'm not saying what it's called - and then administered something that causes traumatic events. If you all are given the... whatever you want to call it within the same couple seconds, then you all will be in the same event. Why did I do this? To see if you all were capable of things normal elves couldn't do. Trix was the victim because he has already proven himself with Wylie. Umber, I can tell, is also capable, because she has tried to kill the council multiple times. Glimmer, on the other hand, is a mess. I don't know where you got this thought that what we were doing isn't right, but it doesn't work around here. We're doing the right thing for the world. You have to be able to do what Umber and Trix and Annalise can do, but with even less remorse. You are one of the people that can do anything, no matter how terrible it may seem."

Faye took in the information slowly. What was she supposed to do with this power?

And how could it change her?

A/N: Ta-Da!