The dragon stood up faster than Sabrina could blink. "Stay here," he said, his eyes pleading but his tone commanding, and then he sped out the door, tail barely missing the doorframe. Little Cecilia bounded after him, her feet barely making contact with the ground. Sabrina waited a few breaths, but then she put down the book and followed after them. Whoever this was, if it was she he really wanted, then she was not going to let them get hurt in the process. They had been too kind to deserve that fate.

She nearly flew through the hallway, her slippers tapping on the floor like a fierce ballet. She supposed the dragon would be angry, but nothing really mattered except her rushing blood and the stranger's weapon. Her world was not allowed to change in a moment again. She had dealt with too many changes already. She wished she had known this was going to happen, and she wished she had known how to deal with it. She wished she had learned something, anything, about diplomacy - but all she had counted on was war.

When she threw open the door she saw them. The dragon was high in the air, anger on his face but fear in his eyes. Cecilia was on the ground, her fur sticking up, hissing at the horse. And on top of the horse, wearing enemy livery over his armor, sword pointing upward, visor up, was...

"George," she spat. And the bastard heard her and turned, his stupid face lighting up.

"Sabrina!" he shouted, clearly overjoyed to see her. She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes.

Cecilia stopped hissing and stood, turning to face her. "Wait, you know him?"

Sabrina sighed. "Regretfully."

George sheathed his sword and climbed - sort of fell, actually - off his horse. He was nice to look at, she had to admit, but he was absolutely - "I've come to save you!" he shouted - insufferable. His armor clinked and clanged as he jogged towards her, clearly feeling like he was the hero. And his armor was cold when he attempted to embrace her, while she tried to wriggle out of his arms.

"Get the hell off of me," she mumbled.

"I'm so glad I found you," he murmured in reply, squeezing her even tighter.

The dragon landed behind George, and Sabrina met his eyes. She looked at him, hoping he could read her plea off of her face. "What's going on?" he asked, his voice deeper and rougher - it did not fit his face. He was trying to be intimidating, she realized, and it was working. George let go of her immediately and pulled out his sword.

"Release the maiden to me and you will live to see another day," the prince shouted, his voice squeaking on the word "see." His sword trembled just slightly, and the dragon made a face that she supposed was him raising an eyebrow.

She sighed. "George, listen -"

But he would not listen, which was nothing new for him. "She is now under the protection of the Crown Prince of Phrygia!" he shouted again. She put a hand to her face and sighed again.

"George -"

He kept going. "This fair maiden you have captured is my betrothed, and she will be your prisoner no more! You will allow me to leave with her unharmed, or you will be dest-"

"George! Will you just shut up and let me speak?" she interrupted, and he stopped mid-speech, his mouth hanging open. She cleared her throat. "Number one, I'm not your betrothed. I don't know if anyone's told you, but I was exiled because I plotted to kill you. Number two, I'm not a prisoner here. I'm... boarding, so to speak."

The boy's eyes darted around for a moment as he closed his mouth. "Oh," he said finally. He lowered his sword slowly, and then opened his mouth to add, "But she said you'd been kidnapped."

"She?" the dragon asked, his voice faltering.

George nodded, though he lifted his sword ever so slightly. "The fae. She came and told me that Sabrina had been kidnapped and she gave me this," he gestured to his sword, "because it's enchanted to kill dragons." Cecilia turned to look at the dragon, who glanced at her uneasily.

"Did she say anything else?" Cecilia asked him.

George's face twisted up. Whatever he was trying to remember, he had clearly not thought of it as enough of a priority to put in his memory. "Umm... she said... something about... if he changes his mind it won't harm him?" The dragon's eyes darted back and forth nervously and Sabrina could hear his breathing speed up. She also was certain Cecilia was swearing under her breath.

"Well, you can put that away," Sabrina spat. "Nobody's going to have to be violent."

And amazingly, he sheathed his sword and turned, slowly walking back towards his horse. At one point, he stopped and turned. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking her square in the eye.

She took a deep breath. The dragon sat in her peripheral vision, his face dark. Cecilia looked at her expectantly. She knew she had a choice to make. She could stay, with the first people to treat her like a person in ages, or she could go, a comfortable prisoner in a gilded cage. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do - but it would be the hardest thing she ever had to do.

"Yes." She took another deep breath, ignoring the hurt written across the dragon's face. Her feet walked forward almost out of her control. Her heart beat angrily, but she had made her decision. Every second dragged on for years, but she finally found herself next to George, who helped her onto his horse and then mounted, placing himself in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist.

She looked back at the dragon and the racoon just as her hand found the hilt of his sword. Before she even realized what she was doing, she had jumped off the horse, enchanted sword in her hand. "Run!" she was shouting - ordering. "Leave us. You are not welcome here." The sword was heavy, but she held it up anyway, the real threat burning in her eyes as she glared at the little prince on top of his steed.

He stared at her with wide eyes, and she smirked at him as she held up his sword. The prince and the horse disappeared rather quickly into the forest. Her chest heaved as she dropped the sword. She turned her head slowly, almost afraid of what she would see on the dragon's face. Her fear had been unfounded, though, because what she saw on his face was an enormous grin that sparkled in his eyes.

She bent down and picked the sword back up. Engraved on the side was the word "Ascalon."

"Thank you," she thought she heard herself say, though she wasn't quite sure who she was saying it to and why she was saying it. No matter what the reason was, she took the sword in her hands and brought it inside, through the hallways and into the library, where she lay it on the table. It seemed right that an enchanted sword, given by some mysterious fairy woman, should share a room with LaMorteDarthur.

Suddenly the day seemed to have been so long, and her body could barely take her down the hall and up the stairs into her room. It took concentrated effort to change into her nightclothes, and her last thought before sleep was that she had dealt with enough that day, and a conversation with Lucas was the last thing she wanted, and maybe if she thought hard enough she could shut her mind...

She was looking down on her sleeping self, but she was younger and back in her bedroom at home. The Sabrina of the dream sat up suddenly, blinking rapidly and breathing quickly. She seemed to mumble into the air. "You can't give up… I'd go back… anything." Dream Sabrina came to her senses enough to look around the room and stop mumbling. Someone walked through the door.

But it was not Lucas, and Sabrina did not snap into lucidity. Someone walked through the door, and her old nightmare reared its head.

A/N: Hi, everyone! I'm a little bit late so I might not update on Wednesday. Sorry about that! Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed since the last time I thanked. I'm not doing as well as I hoped at replying individually. And just a reminder that if I get to 20 reviews before March 10, I'll write something for the 20th reviewer! You're all such lovely people and I'm so grateful for all the support.