Episode Nine: Miranda

Far off in another realm. . .

A long figure walked through the woods, her senses telling her that something was amiss. "Something is wrong. . . I can feel it."

Her eyes caught a glimmer in a bed of mushrooms. "Hmm? That's odd," she said, walking over to the mushrooms. She knelt down and picked up the object that had caught her eyes. A glimmering, milky white orbe lay in his hand. "Willamina. . ."

The woman stood up, glancing around. "Something has happened to the Crystal. I must find Willamina and discover what has caused this!" The woman held her hand up, snapped her fingers, and an ornately decorated blue staff fell into her hand. "Bring me to Willamina in the In Between!"

"Mia, are, are you sure?" asked Nash.

"Of course I'm sure," said Mia. "I, I know I'm ready for this. I've been thinking about it for a very long time."

"You have?" asked Nash. "About us-"

"Making love? Absolutely. I told you that I love you and I mean that," said Mia. "And I feel ready for the next step." She ran her hand lightly over his arm, smiling knowingly at him.

Nash blinked. "But Mia, what it-"

Mia shook her head, placing a finger to her lover's lips. "Shh, don't talk, just feel, please," she said. "I just want to forget about the guild for a few hours and just concentrate on something I want to be doing."

"I, I can understand that, but are you sure that this is the right decision?" asked Nash. "I don't want to do this if you aren't absolutely one hundred fifty percent sure that this is what you want. I'd never forgive myself if I hurt you like that. . ." He ran the back of his hand up and down her cheek. "You're too beautiful for that."

Mia smiled, resting her head on Nash's shoulder. "I appreciate your concern, and I am-"

"Mia!"

Nash cursed under his breath. "Your mother calls. . ." he said.

Mia frowned. "We'll finish this later," she said, giving his a quick kiss before leaving.

Nash woke up, then fell back down onto his pillow. He mumbled into the pillow, hugging it tightly. He sat up, yawning. "Whht tmm is it?" he said, trying to speak through a yawn. The dream had been of something that had nearly happened between him and Mia. I don't think I've ever, ever wanted her this bad before, ever since I first met her, he thought to himself.

He suddenly heard a shimmering sound from outside of his room. "What is that?" he asked, standing up and going to investigate. Glad he'd fallen asleep in his jeans, he darted down the hallway to see Willamina and a strange woman hugging each other like old friends. Nash blinked, wondering sleepily what was going on.

Willamina turned to see Nash. "Nash? What are you doing up?"

"What are you doing up and who's she?" he asked.

"I asked you first," retorted Willamina.

"Well. . . I had a dream and woke up, then heard something and went to investigate, Your turn."

"This is an old friend of mine, Miranda," said Willamina. Miranda was indeed, strange. Her outfit was similar to Willamina's, only more pink and orange than blue and brown. She also carried a tall, blue staff. "Miranda, this is Nash."

"He's cute, you chose a good new flame," said Miranda.

Willamina face faulted. "Um, Nash isn't my boyfriend."

"You're engaged? Or even married!? Oh, congratulations!" said Miranda, hugging Willamina. Then, she frowned. "Why didn't you-"

"Miranda, Nash and I aren't romantically involved at all. Could you please-"

"Willamina, who's that?" asked Jessica, sleepily standing over by Nash in a large, blue and white shirt.

"Her name is Miranda, she's a friend of Willamina, and thinks I'm Willamina's love interest," said Nash.

"Sorry, Nash and Willamina aren't like that," said Jessica.

Miranda blinked. "Well, your two friends there are nice, but something has happened to the crystal," she said, revealing another crystal particle. "I found this near my home. Willamina, what happened?"

Willamina shook her head. "Nash, Jessica, and their friends got lost in a cave, somehow found the crystal, and after it decided to investigate two of their friends, they blew it up," she said. "I'm having them going through the realms collecting the pieces."

"Well, it was an honest mistake," said Miranda.

"They're good kids, but I'm afraid I caused them ANOTHER problem," said Willamina. She then looked over at Nash and Jessica. "Between the two of you you're wearing one outfit. Nash, put a shirt on and Jessica, get some pants."

"I'm wearing a pair of shorts under this," said Jessica. She turned to her husband and grinned. "You need to put a shirt on."

Nash looked down and realized he was, indeed, wearing only his jeans. "Oops, I'll be right back."

Once Nash returned after grabbing a sweatshirt out of the wardrobe that Willamina had provided them with and quickly brushing his hair, he headed back out into the main living area, where Willamina and Miranda were sitting next to each other, talking and joking about something.

"I remember that! You looked so cute in that outfit!" said Willamina.

"Oh, I know! I'm telling you, the guy with the tight butt sent me some serious vibes that night, Willie, and you know we made it to first base," said Miranda.

Jessica was seating on one of the other couches, cuddled up to one of the arm rests. Nash sat on her other side. Jessica sent him a look, acknowledging his presence, and turned her eyes back to Willamina.

Willamina turned back to Nash and Jessica. "Oops! I'm sorry, I forgot all about you. It's just been a few hundred years since we've seen each other, that's all," said the Keeper of the Realms. "Miranda can travel between realms with her staff. She's a useful spy for me."

"Really?" said Jessica.

"Oh, there's a lot she needs to know that I tell her," said Miranda. "Interesting, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," said Jessica.

"Well, I guess I'd better tell you how I screwed up," said Willamina.

"Willamina, what happened wasn't your fault," said Nash.

Miranda turned to Willamina. "From what Nick here-"

"Uh, my name is Nash," said the mage.

"Right, right, from what this guy's saying something pretty bad happened that you didn't have a lot of control over," said Miranda. "What happened?"

"Well, I was really mad and threatened to kill them," said Willamina. "After one of them, Alex, offered to help fix the jewel and the others agreed, I separated them and told them to find each other and the crystal."

"Uh huh, normal procedure," said Miranda.

"Well, that was where Elvina's branch of the Disciples live," said Willamina. "The Disciples tricked Nash and Jessica into thinking that they'd offer them a warm place to sleep when they actually wanted to use them for a ritual."

"They put us through a lot of enchantments and beatings," said Nash. "But what the real problem that she created was a blood-locked marriage."

"Ugh, I hate those damn things," said Miranda. "So you try to hang out with your non-male buds and they get a nasty shock?"

Jessica frowned. "That's another complication. Nash and I were never romantically involved. In fact, I was engaged to someone else and he was in a fairly young relationship with someone else."

"Oh, that's even worse!" said Miranda. "There's nothing worse than being forced into a blood lock without any romantic feelings."

"That's why we're staying here and the others are going out," said Jessica. "We're causing trouble."

"But it's not your fault," said Miranda. "In fact, I can probably help you two. I didn't loose any of my power, and I'm immune to blood lock affects."

"You are?" said Nash.

"Sure, Nate."

"Nash."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, but I can probably break the spell," she said. "Tomorrow morning you'll both be blood lock free."

"Thank you so much!" said Jessica, getting to her feet. "Did you hear that, Neil? I'm not gonna be married to you anymore!"

Nash frowned. "You're screwing my name up on purpose, Jackie."

"Shut up, Bob."

"Emily."

"Ted."

"Louise."

"Fred."

"Betty."

"Quit it, you two," said Willamina. "Go back to sleep and tomorrow she'll see what she can do about fixing you both up."

"All right, I need a few things before we begin. First, you have to be dressed in whatever clothing it was that you were married in," said Miranda. The group was gathered in Willamina's dining room, eating pancakes Nash had made.

"Sure, no problem," said Jessica.

Nash whimpered. "Kyle threw them out after they-"

"I saved them," said Jessica.

"Why!?" asked Nash. The look he'd sent his soon to be ex-wife was filled with confusion and alarm.

Jessica shrugged. "I thought they might come in handy."

"Good, good, good, now I need a green and a blue knife," said Miranda. "You two go get dressed in those while Willamina and I hunt down those knives."

"Not more slicing," said Nash.

"That's the whole ritual. I have to remove Jessica's blood from your body, Noah."

"For the last time, my name is Nash," he grumbled, standing up. "I really am thankful for what you're doing but could you please try to remember my name?"

"At this point she's teasing you, Nash," said Willamina. "Just go ahead, okay?"

Jessica stood up. "I'll go change, bring Nash his clothes, and wait for him to change," she said. "See you in a few minutes."

Willamina had already left to retrieve the knives. "You were traumatized by knives as a child, weren't you?"

Nash looked around nervously. "Well, yes."

"How?"
"I don't want to say," he said.

"I need to know. If it's serious, I need to adjust the ceremony," said Miranda.

Nash gulped. "When I was six, someone turned a knife on me, that's all."

"Oh?" asked Miranda. "Someone close to you?"

"No really," he said nervously. Before Miranda could ask another question, Jessica returned, gave Nash the outfit, and he gladly walked off. "Thanks, Jessica."

Jessica scratched her head, turning to Miranda, who shrugged. "I don't understand him. You'd have a better guess than I would."

"Well, I've got them," said Willamina, returning with two knives similar to the ones that Elvina had used. "Well, you sure changed fast."

Jessica smiled. "I was excited about it. So close, SO CLOSE!" she said. "It won't be long until I don't have to worry about unintentionally hurting Alex and Kyle."

"So now we just wait for Norman and we'll get this underway," said Miranda.

"Just because he isn't here, his name is Nash," said Jessica. "Say it with me. Nash."

"Nash."

"Good."

"Nash."

Willamina laughed. "She's got it."

"Yeah, finally," said Jessica. She leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. "So, tell me, what exactly are you doing to be doing?"

"Draining his blood from your body and vice versa," said Miranda. "That's the tricky part; draining just their blood and only their blood, which is why it need high grade magic."

Once Nash was finished changing Miranda had them sit next to each other. "All right, let's start with Nash here and get it over with," said Miranda. Nash gulped as Miranda clutched his hand, chanting something. Suddenly, his hand felt really fuzzy.

"What-"

"All of Jessica's blood is in your hand right now," said Miranda, slowly making a new incision. She held it over a bowl, causing the blood to drip down into a crimson pool. "When it stops dripping, all of Jessica's blood will have left your body, but it's not broken until you've both been drained." She rested his opened palm over the bowl and the repeated the process for Jessica.

"How long does this usually take?" asked Jessica.

"Usually about an hour," said Miranda. "Don't worry. It's not as bad as it seems. Just keep your hand over the bowl, and if you have an itch, you have a free hand."

"Now I know why she told us to go to the bathroom before we started," said Nash. "Good thing I complied."

Miranda sighed heavily. "Whatever, just sit tight for a while."

"So we just sit here for an hour waiting for all the blood to drain?" said Jessica.

"Yup. And no food or drink during that time," said Miranda. Jessica whimpered, causing Nash to roll his eyes. "Just. . . discuss something while you wait."

"Suggestions?" asked Jessica.

"Oh, just shoot the breeze on anything! I know, how's about sharing amusing childhood stories?" said Miranda. "That's always a good conversation starter."

"When are we done?" asked Nash.

"The hand heals up, but don't lift up your hand. You have to keep it and the bowl down," said Miranda. "Try looking under your hand and seeing if there's any blood dripping. Start looking for that when about an hour's passed."

". . . by Althena herself, Kyle looked SOO funny!" said Jessica, laughing at the memory. "My dad thought it was cute, but Kyle's father wasn't too happy."

"Now I know why Kyle doesn't mind cross-dressing so much," said Nash. "You made him do it as a kid."

"What's even funnier is that he LIKED it!" said Jessica. "Okay, I've shared a pet story, two Kyle stories, and a story about my Dad making a fool of himself, so, what's about you? I'm sure there must be something you have to say about some time you tried to impress Mia. Or what about when you were a kid?"

Nash froze. "Uh, when I was a kid? Oh, I, uh, had a very, very boring childhood. Now my Mia stories are good, like the time I tried to climb up the vines leading to her room to give her a bouquet of roses, lost my footing, and fell into a water fountain. I was SOOO lucky that she bought my lost Starlight theory," he said.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "You sure seemed to avoid that childhood question very well. You're hiding something, aren't you?"

Nash turned a bright red. "What makes you say that?"

"You're bright red, you were quick to avoid childhood stories, and you're shaking," said Jessica. "I won't interrogate you about that, but try stopping me from telling Mia about this."

Nash shook her head. "No, please don't," he said. "Look, I had a BAD childhood, okay? I didn't like in some big, fancy Magic Guild to the Guildmaster. I did have to work to where I got as Ghaleon's apprentice, which on the way up looked good. I didn't grow up spoiled by my father while living in a big mansion. I didn't have kind, loving parents like Alex's parents who would've let me keep some strange, smart-mouthing flying cat. Please, just-"

"Okay, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't make you," said Jessica. She looked into the bowl. Her hand was in the way of her getting a good view. "I can't tell if my hand is done dripping. It's been about an hour, hasn't it?"

Nash looked into his bowl. "I think I still see a little blood dripping out," he said. "Miranda said that we're done when our hands seal back up, right?"

"Right," said Jessica. "Think about it, just a little longer and we're marriage free!"

"Yeah, that'll be one of the happiest days in my life," said Nash.

Jessica shot him a look. "What!?"

"Jess, you're a good friend, I'll admit that," said Nash. "But I love Mia, and it was a PAIN not being able to come into any sort of physical contact with anyone but other guys and you."

"Point taken," said Jessica. "Okay, tell me a Mia story."

Nash bit his bottom lip and closed one of his eyes. "You know that Mia's been obsessed with Gorgons since she was little, right?"

"Yeah," said Jessica. "Until Damon, I was pretty sure she was over that."

"She has a Gorgon doll that she sleeps with," said Nash. "So once, I tried to catch a live one for her. This was when I was like, fifteen. So Ghaleon told me to try the Weird Woods and that I had to be careful. In fact, he gave me one of his good weapons for me to use. I don't remember what it was though."

"And?" asked Jessica.

"Well, I thought that catching a baby Gorgon would be smart, since then it could be trained easier. So I found a nest after searching for hours and found like, six baby Gorgons. I took one and, well, Mommy Gorgon wasn't happy," said Nash.

"Oh my gosh!" said Jessica, laughing at the retelling of the encounter. "What happened?"

"I dropped the baby and ran for my life. My spells had just about no effect on her," said Nash. "I came back to Vane scratched up, at a loss of most of my health and magic, which was like, twenty some at the time, and ready to pass out."

Jessica shook her head. "The things you do for Mia's love, Nash, really."

"You know, if I tried that now I bet I could succeed," said Nash. "And I wouldn't get chased out of the woods."

"Yeah, but you're taking the baby away from its mother," said Jessica.

"Right," said Nash. "Unless I find a baby without a mother."

"You do that," said Jessica. "I'm checking again."

"But it was less than five minutes ago that I checked on that!" said Nash.

As if on cue, Miranda and Willamina came in. "So, how's it going?" asked Miranda.

"Even though we looked a few minutes ago, Jess wants to check again," said Nash.

Miranda placed two fingers on the back of Nash's hand. "It's just now finishing up. Just a few more seconds and. . . I now pronounce you divorced."

"YIPPE!" said Jessica, jumping up and dancing excitedly. Nash soon joined her, the two giving each other a hug and shouting about it finally being over. Willamina and Miranda couldn't help but laugh.

"You know, I'm getting rid of these once and for all," said Jessica. "Unless we might need them again."

"You never know," said Miranda. "I'd keep them, just in case."

Nash groaned. "All I care about is that I'm a free man again," he said.

Once the two were finally feeling normal again, Jessica was, for some reason, in the mirror room. Why did I come in here? she thought to herself.

Suddenly, a shimmer sound was heard as Luna emerged from the mirror, distraught and crying hysterically. She took note that Alex, Mia, and Kyle weren't following her. "Luna!" she cried, kneeling next to the former goddess. "Luna, are you all right?"

"Oh Jessica, things just got really, really bad," she said. She produced an orbe. "Here, I at least got this."

"Luna, what happened?" asked Jessica. Luna was taking in deep breaths, trying very hard to calm down. "Luna, I don't care about the orbes right now. If it's the whole blood lock you're worried about, a friend of Willamina's fixed that, so what the heck happened and where are the others?"

By now, Nash, Willamina, and Miranda had gathered in the room. Luna finally spoke up. "When we got to the crystal, these, goblins, attacked us. Alex gave me the orbe and told me to get help," he said.

"What?" asked Nash. "Mia and the others are in trouble?!"

"Yes," said Luna, nodding grimly. "One of the monsters destroyed Kyle's watch and Alex gave me his." She held up the watch. "I'm afraid, I'm really afraid. Mia's magic wasn't doing a lot of harm, and. . ."

"Calm down," said Jessica. "We'll go back with you, and we'll bust the others out."

"I can't go," said Miranda. "I'm needed back home by now."

"And I can't leave the In Between for long period of time," said Willamina. "Can you three manage it?"

"Of course we can, Willamina, I'll take good care of them," said Nash.

"Sure, but who's gonna take care of you?" asked Jessica.