Young Writers Society

"Awesome," said Harry, "let's move then."

They left the forest and returned to the ruins that they had first met in. Mage struggled a little to reach the part of the doorway that the bell was supposed to be hanging from, but he managed to put the bell in its rightful place when he stood on his toes.

He took a large step back, careful not to repeat the tripping that had accidentally gotten him to this world in the first place. The archway glowed just like it was supposed to.

Mage turned back to Harry.

"I guess it's time for me to go now," he said, traitorous, almost-about-to-cry eyes facing down at Harry's feet instead of his face. He managed to fight back the tears as he raised his head to look up at Harry. "I'm...I'm going to miss you."

Harry stood in front of the archway and realized that he had a tiny pang in his chest too. To think that he'd stood her a few hours ago, annoyed at the fact that he was going to miss out on a movie...and now here he was, actually wishing this could somehow be longer.

"Me too," said Harry, voice rather soft.

Mage turned and started to head towards the doorway.

Then an impulsive idea came to him, and he spun back around. He darted over to Harry, gave him a quick, tight hug, and then went back to where he had been standing just moments before.

"Bye," Mage said. He turned back around and took a deep breath. The bell rung as stepped through the doorway into the world that would always be his, even if his only friend was worlds apart from him now.

He climbed up through the dark ruins. His flame Sin was his only company.

When he reached the entrance, he had to shield his eyes with his free hand—day had arrived when he was on Harry's world.

Harry stood there watching as Mage made his way to the doorway to get back to him homeworld. He was then caught completely off guard as Mage ran over to him to give him a hug.

Harry stood there frozen for a moment as Mage let go just as suddenly as he'd run over. No one had ever hugged him quite like that besides his sister, well no one who was alive anyway.

There was a quick "Bye" from Mage and for a moment Harry was almost too frozen to answer before he managed a quick "Bye" in a voice that was a little thick with emotion.

Mage stepped through the doorway with a ringing sound he remembered from Mage's first arrival here and Harry stood and stared at it for a moment. He'd come here annoyed and ready to deflect, instead he'd somehow found a friend and he was now gone...although thankfully this wasn't permanent. There'd be a few too many friends in his life who'd gone to never really return. He made a promise to himself that he would find Mage again someday.

He then waved his hand around the portal, erecting a small but powerful spell to guard the portal so that it could never be disturbed again. He sealed the doorway he'd come through, marking the doorway as MRB - 17. He flashed back to headquarters, logging the new entry before adding to the map of the world, marking MRB - 17 as a gateway that was not to be touched.

With a final smile at the brand new location marker that had popped up on the screen, Harry said another soft goodbye to it, hoping his new friend was doing alright.

Almost immediately his communicator. Taking a look at the new message he sighed. Reality as usual was not going to wait for him. With a deep breath, he memorized the coordinates of the new location, preparing to visit his sister on the way there.