Reality Check

Anything For Our Family

OK (by Wallows)

"'Cause there's no need to explain, I know what you want to say. We could just say goodnight if you think that's alright . . ."

___

It seemed like ages before the pure possibility fell away, replaced by the familiar ceiling that Bethany deciphered as the Magister's tower. Wait. The Magister's tower? Bethany blinked at it in confusion, feeling as if she'd just woken up from the longest nap of her life, filled with dreams of recreating worlds and talking to her imaginary father and friends. Last thing she really remembered was stepping inside the pure possibility, letting it absorb her, and everything after that felt sort of fuzzy. How was she back here?

You're back here because you rewrote yourself back into existence, a voice in her heard head said. You just saved the worlds!

A face appeared above her, and it was then that Bethany realized she was laying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling. Against the bright sunlight that was strewn across the room, she could make out the face of her best friend, Owen Conners, crouching next to her with an excited expression.

"Bethany!" he shouted, a huge grin on his face. "You're back!"

Bethany furrowed her brows as she stared at him, a question in her mind, one that she needed to hear the answer to. "Did it work? Did I do it?"

He nodded vigorously. "You did it! It's gone— the pure possibility just vanished a few minutes after you went in there, and look, everything is changing back to normal!"

He pointed to something across the floor, and Bethany glanced over to see Alphonse, who was shifting back to his normal self— and then out the window, to see that the dozens of portals that had formed were closing. If Bethany could guess, the same thing was happening to every world, everywhere. People who'd been missing were returning, and any changes that'd been made were being reversed, transforming back into what it previously had been. Just like that, the worlds were fixing themselves.

Pride swelled up in her chest. She had done that.

"I can't even believe it," Bethany found herself whispering, and Owen laughed, looking like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He leaned down for a hug, wrapping his good arm around her and letting his injured one fall to his side. Without hesitation, Bethany reached up and threw her arms around him. It was a relief to hold him in her arms, when she wasn't sure if she'd ever see him again.

"I'm sorry," she choked out.

He pulled away to stare at her in shock. "What are you sorry for? You saved everyone!"

She barely shook her head. "Not about that. I'm sorry for . . . everything. I know that being friends with me isn't easy. And I'm sorry — again — for getting you trapped in that Pick The Plot book."

Owen raised a hand. "Stop blaming yourself for that. Seriously! Nobody did that to me. It had nothing to do with you."

"Bethany!" shouted a voice, and Bethany turned just in time to see Kiel Gnomenfoot rushing over to her, kneeling beside her and Owen on the floor. It came as a slight shock to see him wearing all black, his usual cape sweeping over his shoulders. Joy filled her when she saw wand-knives at his sides— so he'd been written back to normal, too. Alphonse had lodged himself around Kiel's shoulders, though that didn't stop Kiel from throwing one arm around Bethany in a quick side-hug, causing her to almost smash face-first into the cat. She laughed.

"And Kiel's normal again, too!" Owen confirmed (though that didn't need much confirming). "Kiel, show her your magic!"

Kiel eagerly reached into his belt, pulling out a miniature version of his spellbook, which instantly grew into a gigantic size. It landed at their feet, and as Kiel placed a hand over it, it instantly started flipping through the pages, a glow radiating from them. Bethany's cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much. Last time her and Owen had tried using the spell book, none of the magic within it had worked. But this confirmed it. If Kiel was rewritten, if everything outside looked normal again, that was because it'd worked.