The Champion *ON HOLD*

Chapter 25- Leovar's Departure

A/N: So this is the very last chapter that has gone through editing. Everything after this will be fresh, new material. Chances are uploads will be somewhat slower, since I'm closing in on finals. Hopefully I'll have a new chapter up by Thanksgiving. Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 25 of The Champion.

Avery remained in a crumpled heap on the floor for a long time. She wasn't sure how long, but the sudden protest of her muscles when she finally sat up gave her some indication that she had been like that for a while. Her dogs, so attentive, licked tears from her face, making her chuckle before crying harder.

She couldn't go home. She would never be able to go home. That thought alone made her chest constrict painfully and sobs wrack her body. She didn't know why she hadn't seen it before. It was so obvious after Leovar pointed it out to her. It made sense and that made her angry. She wanted to scream and call him a liar. She wanted to pound her fists into something. She didn't want his words to be true.

Diesel and Koda whined, curling their massive, furry bodies around her in an effort to console her. They had never liked it when she was upset, and apparently changing into gigantic beasts had not changed that. She buried her face into their large bodies, and gripping onto chunks of their fur, she cried.

She cried for her friends, her remaining family, her career, her ranch, her house, her bed, hell she cried for her coffee pot. She would never see any of it again. She was stuck here. A prisoner. Forever.

After having cried for hours, Avery fell asleep on the floor, curled up with her dogs. It wasn't until the next morning that she finally woke up. Stumbling into the en suite bathroom, Avery looked at herself in the mirror and winced. She looked like shit.

Her hair was a tangled mess, her skin red and blotchy. Her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed and her nose was beyond stuffed. She could feel a headache pound away behind her temples and figured a shower would do her a world of good.

After her shower, Avery felt better, at least physically. Emotionally she felt drained. She had grieved for the loss of her home and now that her eyes had dried up, she felt empty. Going home was no longer an option, and as much as she wished she could return to her world, she knew it would do no good. The old saying, "if wishes were horses, then everyone would ride," came to mind. The thought made her shake her head.

So she couldn't go back home. She would have to learn to live with that. In the meantime, she would have to find something to do. Before Avery learned she couldn't go back to her world, she had been extremely interested in her newfound power and had been excited at the prospect of learning to control it and do things she never dreamed of before. Now, even though she knew she would have the rest of her life to practice and learn her newfound craft, she felt no joy. If she could, she would have traded all the magic in the world to go home, but therein again, she couldn't. So, she decided to learn.

With a sort of grim determination, Avery dressed herself and made her way downstairs. When she reached the first floor, the first thing she noticed was that Leovar was missing. Cian was moving about the cluttered room, mumbling to himself, papers filling his hands. He looked like he was in the midst of some important research, so she walked to the front door and made her way outside.

Avery had found a rather large, thick coat in the closet in her room and discovered it was much more effective than her cloak. The snow wasn't as deep, making it easier to walk around, but it was still extremely cold to her. Looking about, she couldn't find any sign of Leovar. She decided not to think about him for the time being and made her way behind the tower where the horses were bedded down.