Chapter Thirty One: The Real Sacrifice

Once dinner had finished, Penny had decided to retire back to her room where she began preparing herself for the journey back to Earth. She still had plenty of time before she would truly be needed here though returning to Earth would present its own challenges. She would at some point, have to at least leave Lysette behind and she worried that this was something she would not easily be forgiven for.

" But why should I care? I am doing the right thing. I am doing what Lysette has wanted me to do this entire time. Restore the Underworld to a place of peace. No more resets, and even if she can't return immediately, she will be able to someday. And then there was Ember, who wanted to see the Underworld, a dream that Penny wanted to make a reality. Though, by bringing her to the Underworld, would that put her in danger. If people, tried to stop Penny from taking Gabriel out of the picture, would they try to use Ember against Penny? These were all things that the young savior would have to consider before making any bold moves. Everyone that would be brought into this, would pay some consequence. Even Penny, whom, if discovered, would most likely be outcasted or hunted by the people of the Underworld. But this was the risk that she would have to take. And to her understanding, Penny could not erase anyone else from existence, because that in itself would corrupt the world even more. It was Gabriel and only Gabriel. It had always been him. Not because of the actions he took but because of what he meant to the world itself. But this, was rather sad to Penny. The Lycans, whom had already lost so much, would have to lose even more, for the world to be restored. But why? Why must they suffer so much? Why must their suffering be the one thing that brings peace to an entire world when they have done nothing wrong? Penny tried to not linger on those thoughts for too long. If she questioned every single decision with this, then she might not be able to do what was needed.

" I don't want to erase anyone. But I also, cannot make the same mistakes as my father before me. But.." Penny began thinking back on seeing her father, watching Gabriel before turning away from him. She remembered clearly her father's face, and his eyes which were wrecked with indecision and pain. " I wish I could just talk with you..I wish I could know what to do..I wish you could help " Penny sighed as she fell down on the bed, crashing her face deep into her pillows.

" I need to just get back to Earth.." Penny rolls over to now stare up at the ceiling above her bed. The ceiling was black and void of anything, even reflections which Penny found herself mesmerized with.

As she laid there, Thinking of returning home and what she would have to do but have to do going forward in the future, Penny heard heard a small voice calling to her from the corner of a room.

" Penny, it me, Gooblin" the voice called as Penny shot up from her bed and was met with the strange little Goblin, hiding in the corner of her room. " Gooblin? How did you get here? Why did you leave when grandpa showed up? " Penny asked as she walked over to the little creature, kneeling down to meet him face to face.

" Me not Allowed in his presence" Gooblin explains. " You are not allowed in his presence? Why? " Penny could not understand what this little Goblin could have possibly done to upset her grandfather in such a way. " Gooblin fix things, Gooblin know things" The small Goblin smiles as he takes Penny by the hand and they are transported to a room, large in its size, with walls with multicolored walls that seemed to swirl around and mix the colors together in a way that was almost nauseating to Penny. " Where are we? " Penny asked as Gooblin let go of her hand and took a few steps forward. " Gooblin show you what you are missing" the small Goblin says happily, seeming to be far more comfortable here than in her grandfather's palace.

Gooblin raised his hand which brought two people forward from the walls and into the room. One of them was a man and the other a woman. The male was immediatly recognized as Gabriel, Penny having seen him before but the other one, was someone that Penny had not seen before.

" Who is she? Penny asked, seeing the beautiful young woman, whom was close to her age with eyes of violet and brunette hair pulled back into a ponytail.

" That is Kara, the future Queen of the Witches. She is the daughter of Aurora. And she is the love of Gabriel" Gooblin explains as the two began to move closer to Gooblin and Penny. " Many things wrong. These two bad for each other. Perceived by many" Gooblin explains.

" But they not bad. Many against them. In shadows. Not happy with change" Penny tried her best to piece together what gooblin was saying but she found it very hard to do so. And it seemed as though Gooblin noticed this because he walked over to the two lovers and raised his hand again, which allowed for them to now speak.

" Since before our own time, we were destined to fail. We were destined to have conflict" Gabriel spoke, his tone commanding and firm, something that Penny had almost expected considering his Lycan heritage.

" We were the product of a prophcy that was meant to be fulfilled. Our births, were merely a goal to reach that end" Kara chimed in, her voice was graceful and soothing.

" And despite knowing what we could do for the world, people plotted against us. They did not want to see us succeed. For they feared they they themselves would lose their power" Gabriel added, now looking to Kara who met his gaze with a look of sadness.

" Even my Own mother had plotted against us. She knew all too well what we could do and even then, she wanted us to fail. She wanted the power, and that power could only be achieved through chaos" Kara announced.

" The struggles that we dealt with, existed long before we arrived in the world. The greed and hatred..the selfishness of others all had a part to play in our demise. But we, we too grew selfish" Gabriel, now had a tear running down his face and his pain was matched by Kara.

"And now everything will rest within the hands of someone untainted by this world. And all that we can ask, is that whoever you are, you free us" and with that, both Gabriel and Kara dissapeared from the room as quickly as they had appeared.

Penny, had not seem too phased by what she had heard. She knew they were lovers at one point in time, but she also knew that they were never destined to work. This information was something that was not new to Penny.

" Why did you show me this? " Penny questioned the Goblin who raised his hand again, now the wall in front of them, had turned into a giant screen of sorts. This screen displayed all the events before the last reset. Penny could see for herself, with her very own eyes for the first time, what the Underworld was truly all about. "It sounds..like it was toxic. I mean..there were alot of things working against them..sure..but they had choices to make. And because they made those choices, the world was reset. If anything, this shows me that what my Grandfather had said was correct all this time" Penny felt bad for the two, but she couldn't justify the world consistently being demolished all because of a toxic relationship.

" No " Gooblin stops Penny, showing her another image on the screen, this time, it was a small child. This child, was Penny before she had left The Underworld, before the reset.

" Thats..me..why are you showing me this? " Penny asked, and then, in flash of clarity amidst the choas, she realized what Gooblin was trying to say.

If Penny, was successful, and she did Erase Gabriel, that would mean that there would be two of her existing within the world. If the world was fixed and she never had to leave, then, she would have stayed and that would leave Two Penny's in the world.

" So..this is why you brought me here. " Penny said in a cold tone, the sadness growing within her was beginning to consume every fiber of her being. " If there are two me's, that would mess everything up. Which means..once I finish my job, I'll have to go into hiding somewhere else. And that also means I'll never get to meet my father..or my mother" Penny's realization was hitting her far more than she suspected. This was a hard pill that she would have to swallow. In order to do what was right, she would have to sacrifice everything she had ever wanted..just to make a world, a home, a home that she never gotten to truly experience and a family from which are never got to experience love.

" If the world, is so messed up, that it needs that much sacrifice..." Penny stopped herself, rethinking her decision for a moment before continuing as tears streamed down her face. " Then I'll do it. I'll give it up. I'll give everything up so just so this horrible freaking place can just exist" Penny tightly closed her eyes to close off the oncoming tears, and turned to Gooblin. " I know you are trying to help. But right now...right now I just want to go home.." Penny commanded Gooblin who nodded and snapped his fingers, which sent Penny right back into her room, in the cabin, back on earth.