Beyond the Vale

Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards Vs Aliens or any of its characters. Anything you may recognize belongs to CBBC, Russell T. Davies, and Phil Ford. 

A/N: This was written for a writing challenge.

Tom Clarke was dressed in all black. He stood in the corner of the living room, next to the old couch, as everyone crowded into their house. They had just come from the funeral and now they were having the wake. There were a bunch of people, mostly people that lived in town and knew them. Some distant family and some of Tom's friends from school were there. Tom didn't want to be here. They had buried his mother earlier in the day and that had been hard enough. Now he had to be here with all these people he knew and they wanted to talk about how lovely his mother had been and that they would miss her. Tom didn't want to talk about it. He just wanted it all to be over.

Tom sat in the corner, picking at his nail bed when two of his mates from school, Katie and Quinn, came over.

"Hey." Quinn couldn't think of anything to say at first.

"Are you doing okay?" Katie asked though she didn't have to ask to know how he was doing. His mum had died only a week ago. Of course, he isn't alright!

Tom only offered a shrug in response.

"Do you need anything?" Katie wanted to help if she could. But she wasn't sure how.

"Maybe if you ate you'd feel better," Quinn suggested as he continued to stuff his face with a few biscuits he had already taken from the kitchen. "These are brilliant."

"Not hungry," Tom muttered in a voice that was barely audible for his friends to hear. The last thing on his mind right now was food. The thought alone made him feel ill. He had barely eaten since it happened, and the same could be said about Michael and Ursula. The irony was that there was more food in the house than ever before between all the dishes their neighbors had been bringing over. But none of the three could stomach it.

"Well, do you want to maybe take a walk?" Katie remembered when she went to the funeral for her grandfather, she took a walk with her cousins. "It could help to get away."

"No."

"Alright, we don't have to do that..." Katie looked to Quinn desperately for an idea.

"We could kick the ball around outside?"

"Seriously Quinn?" Katie couldn't believe that Quinn was suggesting they play football at a time like this?

"What?" Quinn seemed clueless. "That always makes me feel better."

"You've never lost your mum." Katie tried to keep her voice low but it was useless. Tom was sitting only a few feet away from them.

"It sounded better than going on a walk."

Tom stood up, not wanting to listen to this anymore. "Just leave me alone!" He shouted before pushing past his friends and then running into the bathroom. He locked the door and then slid down against the wall across from the door. He brought his knees to his chest and began to sob.

"Tom."

Tom didn't stop crying. He had heard his voice and at first, he assumed it had been Katie or Quinn, wanting to check up on him. Or maybe even his dad if he heard he had runoff. But then he heard it again and he recognized the voice. He stopped his crying and looked up. I must be mad. He thought. He knew that voice and he knew it couldn't be real. His mother was dead. He had been there when it happened and there was no coming back. He couldn't have heard her voice, but somehow he did.

"Tom." Then in front of him, she appeared. He blinked and then rubbed his eyes, unable to believe it. There she was, his mother in her wizard's robe and right in front of him.

"Mum?" Little Tom sniffled as she came closer to him. "How are you here?" He asked, but he didn't care about the how. "I'm so sorry." He had to say it. He regretted that day more than any other. If he could go back, he would. If he hadn't gone out of that car, maybe then she would still be here.

"It is not your fault."

"It is." Tom insisted as more tears formed. "You died saving me." The entity came after him and she got in the way to save him.

Helen nodded and she would have done it a thousand times over; anything to save her child. "The entity could have killed me even if you had stayed away." They would never know what truly could have happened if Tom stayed away. But it was a possibility. The entity had been nothing that Helen had never seen before.

"I miss you." Tom whimpered and Helen crouched in front of him and cupped his chin.

"I know." She offered a small smile.

"Don't go—don't leave me again!" Tom begged.

"I have to go, my time here is done." Helen could not stay long. Her place now was beyond the vale with the other wizards that have passed on. But she could not leave without saying one final goodbye to her son. "But remember, I'll always be with you." She put her hand over his heart and then blew him a kiss.

"I love you."

"And I love you." Helen stood to her feet and began to fade away. "Take care of your father for me." She added before she faded away.

Tom waited a few moments before getting to his feet and leaving the toilet. As he entered the main room, his father went over to him. "There you are," Michael sounded relieved. "I didn't know where you had gotten to."

"I just needed to be alone."

Michael could understand. "I know today is hard," It was hard for him as well. "But you know they it gets easier." Though truthfully Michael was struggling to believe that. "And though she's gone, I'm sure she'll always be with us."

Tom nodded. "She will be." And he knew that not only because she had told him, but because there was something she left behind that kept them connected; his magic. He got it from her and whenever he did a spell, he could think of her and know she was watching him from beyond the vale; and that brought Tom comfort.