23 Alone

"Thank the Heavens she didn't die, or else it would create some nasty anomalies," commented Baldwin, laying the blanket down onto the girl. Mavislin stood by the bedside, looking at Nova's sleeping face.

"Baldwin was right, no matter how hard we try, we'll always end up losing our daughter. Just in multiple ways," lamented Mavislin, ruffling her child's hair. Raiyen gave a punch towards Baldwin.

"Oi! Not my fault!"

"The fact that she said 'multiple ways' is a hint that someone allowed my girl to Time Travel behind my back," huffed Raiyen, crossing his arms.

"Not that, it's just... We've spent over four years trying to find her." Raiyen was taken aback. Four years?!

"Problem now is trying to get her home," explained Gillian, who stood by the doorway.

"Isn't this her rightful home?" asked Z.

"If she stays here, the Time Stream will be affected. It would mean that there would be two Raiyens running around. And besides, if she doesn't get to her actual Time Stream soon, she'll be captured once again or even worse," said Raiyen. Mavislin plopped down beside the sleeping princess.

"She won't be able to remember all of this, would she?' asked Mavislin, in a sorrowful tone. Raiyen shook her head.

"So how do you plan to fix all of this and place her back into her kingdom?" asked Baldwin.

"She's not an item I can just 'return', you know," answered the Time Mage.

"You're right. It's going to be difficult. We've got to take her back to a Time where does not know about her power yet," said Gillian, expression mixed with feelings.

"What do you mean?"

"She didn't lose her mind. There's a reason why the spell is quite forbidden. It's not sacrificing her mind, it's sacrificing her powers. When she wakes up, she'll forget about everything from the moment she'd met Raiyen and her powers would be gone. She'll even forget that she had powers in the first place. There's no way to fix it, the only thing you can do now is getting her back to her own time. And meet us at your own as well, Time Boy," explained the Headmaster, walking away. Raiyen hung his head in shame as the other began to leave the room. Had he not tried to save the princess, none of this would have affected her. He had, once again, failed to keep a promise. Opening the Time Portals, he closed his eyes and selected the proper Time to fit her back into. Before he could move, Mavislin abruptly embraced him from the back.

"You alright, Raiyen?" asked Mavislin, burying her face into the boy's back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. After I've placed her back, I'll go back to my own Time as well. I'll continue on with my journeys. I won't be tampering too much though. I don't want to have another repeat of this kind of scenarios again," explained Raiyen, facing forward. The room sparkled as the Time Portals were fading in and out of existence, accompanied by the fact that stars were beginning to appear outside.

"Alone?" asked the girl.

"Yeah, alone, I'll always be alone in the end. Being around me, look at what happened. Perhaps I should go back home to see that daft face of Angry Man's. Or learn how to make my own Club Sandwich. Or I'll give another try on the Coding thingy that Z had been interested in. Surely this Time should have that..." Mavislin gave a gentle squeeze.

"Just... Be safe," said the Valkyrie, releasing the Time Mage. With a heavy heart, the partners parted ways once more. As Raiyen placed the sleeping princess down, he whispered words of encouragement.

"You were great, Nova Orlaith, Avon Harmony." As he stepped foot outside of the palace, he witnessed the stars gleaming as the commoners around laid down on the grassy fields to look at the night sky. Being the sweet tooth that he always would be, Raiyen then pulled out a chocolate bar to eat.

"What's that?" asked a young woman, approaching him in a gown. Raiyen turned around in shock, still having a piece of it in his mouth.

"Chocolate," he mumbled, looking at the young woman before him. Her dress sparkled in the dark as so did her crown. Chestnut locks streamed down freely, her eyes were red, an effect of using the spell. That didn't seem to bring any problems since she is a princess.

"What's 'chocolate'? Can I try?" asked the girl once more. Raiyen sighed as he tossed an extra bar of 'Cadbury' in the princess's direction. She looked perplexed as she tried to open the piece of wrapper.

"It won't kill you, try it," said Raiyen walking away. As the girl slowly began munching it, her eyes brightened.

"This is fantastic! I've got to show Big Sis!" cried out the princess. Her smile went away as she tried to find the mystery person who gave the most remarkable thing she'd tasted.

"Princess Nova! What are you doing outside? You'll catch a cold," said a woman, approaching the youngster eating the bar of chocolate.

"Mama! Please let Chef Jake remake this wonderful item. It's called chocolate and I want more of it," pleaded the young princess. The mother smiled as she nodded, taking the girl away and back into the castle.

Raiyen looked from the hilltop, underneath a huge oak tree. He smiled as stepped back into the Time Portals once more. There was no need to say goodbye if it did not matter anymore.

But nevermind that, these are just the saddest moments in this Time Mage's life. Only a tiny fraction. Where would his next adventure lead him to?