-...So when I use that note, nothing happens, but when I use this one afterward...

Camalia triggered the cord and a sudden burst of green fog appeared from the guitare, before landing on the ground... And making a small green circle.

-Look ! Why does it make grass ?! I don't have any other melodies that make things out of nowhere !

Ruddiger sniffed the small patch of grass out of curiosity. When nothing happened, he decided it was a great place to sleep. Until Varian pushed him out of the way to look closely at the spot. He mumbled something then went to a corner of the cell and checked the ground. He stood back up with a satisfied smile and took that voice he usually makes when he figured something out and he knows he's the only one to understand.

-Well, my friend, it is actually quite simple ! You don't "make things out of nowhere", this is not what the melody does. Look, if you watch closely, you can see this is not the kind of grass you find outside !

Camalia crossed her arms and glared at him.

-Oh, hum... Right... Heh, sorry. Anyway, if you go to any other spot in the cell, like... this one for example, and you look at the ground, you'll see small green stuffs ! I believe it's moss. Not sure, but it probably is.

-Okay, yes, you figured there was moss on the ground, congrats Ball.

-No no no, the point is : this melody doesn't create grass, it just grows the moss ! Or the green stuffs ! I still don't know.

The guitare girl frowned and nodded slowly. She bowed and yes, she could indeed see moss.

-Mmh, yes, but what happens if...

She took her guitare and started playing the melody repeatedly above the circle of grass. Varian's eyes opened wide and he jumped at her, trying to quickly stop her.

-No, wAIT- !

But it was too late and the entire cell was filled with giant grass within seconds, trapping Varian and Camalia in the process. A few seconds went by to let their heart rate slow down before the blue strip boy speaked again.

-...and I guess you don't have a melody that reverse other melodies or something ?

-I can't even reach my guitare.

She pointed at the instrument stuck near the ceiling. The music mage tried to reach for it, but a string of grass stopped her hand, and she couldn't pull any further anyway as her arm was trapped between two blades of grass.

-Well sorry if I can't see it, I've been "grounded" by the plants.

Camalia looked down to see that Varian was stuck upside down, feet in the air and head centimeters from the ground. His face was hidden by his apron that fell due to gravity.

She giggled at the sight, earning some displeased grunts from the alchemist.

-Would you please hurry, I can feel my head getting hotter by the second and if it continues nothing guarantee that it will not explode !

-Yes, yes, sorry.

Camalia looked up again to see that a very frightened Ruddiger was against the ceiling, very close to the guitare. The instrument was only balanced and could easily be pushed down.

-Hey Ruddiger ! It's okay, it's just grass. Could you please just push the guitare to me ? Just a little. Come on, there's no need to be afraid.

The entire clump of grass shook as Varian was desesperatly trying to get back up, which only scared more the poor raccoon and ironically put the guitare furter away from Camalia. She angrily told Varian to stop moving if he wanted to get out of these one day, and the reaction was instant. The grass got back to his stable state, but not the raccoon. His wide eyes were searching for another source of danger, and he was clenching on his tail and blade of glass like his life depended on it. The music mage sighed and reached out for sunflower's seeds to put in her stuck hand, closer to Ruddiger. The animal immediatly seemed to relax a bit and sniff out for the food.

-Come one, little one, cooooome on...

The raccoon finally walked on the blade and reached out for the seeds, allowing the music mage to pet him and made him relax completely.

-Okay, little guy. Now please just push the guitare to me.

Since he was relaxed and had a great snack, Ruddiger happily obeyed and gave the instrument to Camalia.

-Yes ! Ball, I've got the guitare !

-Great ! Now please get us out of there.

Camalia looked at the guitare and her smile disappeared.

-Mmh... Sure, but I never had to reverse one of my melody before. I need to think.

-Try to play the notes in reverse. Suggested Varian.

The music mage took a deep breath and played the same notes but the second in first and the first in second. Suprisingly enough, it worked and the grass shrunk to the joy of the two friends. After a few more notes they were back on the ground, with a lot of relief for Varian. Camalia gave a lot of other sunflower's seeds to Ruddiger, even if it was the only one she got, to congratulate him.

-Now that this is over, what melody should we do next ?

The guitare girl looked at her friend in surprise.

-You still want to continue ?

-Well, yeah ! I mean, I often have accidents like that when I am doing alchemy ! Doesn't stop me. It's like that time I tried to make hot water and blew up Old Corona, heh.

-You what now ?

The alchemist realized his mistake and tried to change the subject quickly, not really wanting to dive in this dangerous path. Camalia just snorted in front of his embarrassment and respected his will.

-Actually, no, I don't think I can continue, I have been a bit nauseous lately, it may be because of the overuse of the melodies. I think it's probably better if I rest now.

-Oh, okay. It's fine, just... just rest well ! I think I uh... I might need to sleep too anyway.

-You sure ?

-Yeah, yeah, of course ! Don't worry about me, just go to sleep.

-Okay, thank you Ball !

-Sure, no problem.

To be completely honest, Varian was, in fact, a little bit disappointed. He loved to study and discover new stuffs, and especially something that could be used in alchemy. He adored sharing his passion with someone. And so far the only someone he had ever find that was really interested (not for personal reasons) to alchemy was Camalia. He could see that she really enjoyed their tests on melodies and he loved them too.

So yes, Varian was disappointed that their hangout was shortened, but he would never put his personnal enjoyment in front of her health.

Camalia didn't tell the whole truth. She was feeling nauseous, but also had a few headaches and pain in her chest. She didn't want to alarm her friend, but it was really unusual. She wasn't used to be sick. Since it was something that could be deadly in the street, the melody of healing was the first one she learnt, to heal small wounds or something like the flu. Obviously the first thing she did when she felt the headaches was playing the melody of healing, which drew Varian's curiosity to her. Usually, once the melody is done, the pain is gone and you move on. But this time, it only disappeared for half an hour, before it came back with nausea. It was odd.

She thought that maybe sleeping it off would work.

But the next morning, when her stomach started terribly aching, she had to admit it did not. Good point though, the headaches and pain in chest were gone.

It felt like swords and spikes where piercing her right through. Every breath was taken carefully, and she couldn't move from that ball she made with her legs her arms. In the middle of all that pain, she had the ironical thought that she looked exactly like Varian on the day they met, and he also was into a ball to avoid pain. But a quite different one.

The hurt was sent in waves. Camalia had moments when the pain flowed back and forth, which was oh so uncomfortable. But let's be honest, what is comfortable when you are in that amount of pain.

Suddenly, the music mage froze when she felt dripping coming out of a place where there shouldn't be dripping. Unless she wanted to. Panicking, she lowered her pant (Thank god Varian was still asleep) to see that she was dripping blood. This, plus the demonic pain in her belly ? Yep, she was definitely dying of an unknown disease.

But unknown for her.

Maybe not for the genius sleeping five meters away.

Varian was in the middle of a very sweet dream. His father was back, he was friend again with Rapunzel, Cassandra and everyone else, and everyone had forgiven him for his past mistakes. But someone was missing. No matter where he was looking, he couldn't see Camalia. He decided to go search for her and left the party that was put up for the return of Quirin. He put the entire town upside down but couldn't seem to find his friend. A bit short on options, he went straight to Captain.

-Hey, great party right ? I am really glad everything went back to normal. You were really a pain to keep in jail, haha.

The alchemist was a little thrown off as it was really out of character for the Captain of the guards to greet... really, anyone like this.

-Hum, yes. Anyway, have you seen Camalia ? I can't find her anywhere.

That's when everything went downhill. Cap looked at him as if a second head grew on him, before chuckling nervously.

-Sorry Varian, but who is that Camalia ?

This answer had the effect of a punch in the stomach for the alchemist. He ran around asking everyone about the young music mage but no one seemed to know who she was, except him. It was as if... as if she never existed. A soothing hand landed on his shoulder and he turned around to face his father.

-Is everything alright, son ?

Everyone was looking at him in worry, as if he was the one acting strange. Rapunzel approached her very stressed friend.

-Are you okay, Varian ? You seem really tensed.

Varian stepped back, suddenly feeling very oppressed by everyone. He felt sick. It wasn't right. Panicking, he sprinted down to the prison and called Camalia's name over and over again but only the silence answered. Varian had no idea what was going on. And at that exact moment, even if his dad was back, even if everything was back to normal, it never felt worst. A little nudge on his leg got him out of his dark thoughts and he looked down to see Ruddiger looking at him with a bit of worry in his eyes. The alchemist picked him up and looked straight into the raccoon's eyes.

-And you ? You remember Camalia, right ?

The animal had a very confused look before something catched his attention behind the boy. Varian felt his legs giving up on him and he fell down, as the knot in his stomach was growing more and more. Did he imagined her ? Did he created someone because he felt so alone and he needed someone so bad ? Wasn't Camalia... real ?

-Varian !

He snapped his head back up. It was her voice. He got up and ran down the stairs to the darkest part of the prison, where the voice was coming from.

-Varian, please wake up !

The voice was getting stronger and stronger at every step he took, and hope replaced the knot in his belly.

-Varian !

He took the last turn.

-Varian, would you please wake up !

Two giant black snakes were there, blocking the way. They had their back turned on him, and Varian slipped trying to brutally stop. He landed violently, and all of the air in his lungs was cast out. But the snakes didn't turn to him. They were staring at something in front of them. On the ground. The alchemist got back up and looked between the snakes. It was... someone. It was...

-Varian !

It was a corpse.

-Varian, wake up !

It was Camalia.

-VARIAN !

The blue strip boy finally rose from his bed, in cold sweats.

-Oh my good lord, I had no idea you were such an heavy sleeper !

He turned to the side of his bed, where Camalia was sitting, her legs pressed against her stomach. She looked in a lot of pain. He took the time to take a few breaths in and out to calm the insane beat of his heart. He remembered the dream way to clearly, and especially the last part. The last, horrifying part. He shook the image out of his mind and focused on the real, living and breathing Camalia beside him.

-Are you okay, Varian ? You seem really tensed.

He felt a shiver run down his spine but decided to ignore it.

-Y-yeah, I'm okay. You, on the other hand, do not seem okay at all.

-Well, it may be because I am not. Camalia said sarcastically.

The alchemist got out of his bed and sat beside the music mage on the ground. He noticed the door of his cell was still open, just like her's. Since Cap's shoutout, she always made sure to close his cell behind her, so it was very unusual. In the corridor, Ruddiger was running around, happy to be out of this square he had been in for the last two months. Varian's attention fell back to Camalia, in disbelief of what he was seeing.

-Varian I think I am dying ?