Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. and its characters are the property of Disney and are used without profit in this fan-work. Is that even a word?Meh.

Summary: Questioned about his motivations, Matt Olsen reveals why he does what he does: why he loves and fights, what he dreams and where that Shagon look came from.

Author's Note: What is up with that Olsen guy? Well, let's ask him.

M.I.N.E.: Music Is Not Enough

Why? Why what? Oh, right. You're asking that because most guys wouldn't hang around through all this stuff. Well, I'm not most guys, pal, and not just cause I turn into a black-winged angel with a gold mask and serious pecs. And a tail; I always forget about the tail until I knock something over with it.

I know what you're thinking. You're looking at me right now and it's like I've got a big sign on me that says: Glory Hog. It's the obvious explanation, I know; why else would a guy with everything I got risk his life even before he got the superpowers? It's a good question, one I've been asking myself lots of times since I persuaded Caleb to train me.

Caleb... now there's a guy to be. Hey, hey, don't get the wrong idea now, I ain't like that! But... I have to say that Caleb's a big part of the Answer. You know how you meet someone completely different from you and it changes the whole way you look at things? Yeah, I know that's what I should be saying about Will, but the truth is we're more alike than she probably thinks. Why's that? Let me explain Caleb first, okay?

I saw the guy hanging around Will's crew a lot and I... well, I'll admit that I was a little worried. Are you laughing? Geez... could you blame me? Guys know if another guy's good-looking or not, we just don't admit it. And even though he's only got two years on me, the look in his eyes could be a guy in his thirties or forties; I guess running a rebellion puts extra time on you, like being buried alive one shovel-full at a time... hey, nice lyric. Anyway, I was seriously relieved when I saw him fighting like cats-and-dogs with Cornelia; you could tell that they were totally into each other from that.

Caleb was a cool enough guy. Not the friendliest, mind you, but you could tell that he'd been through hell (or was even still going through it), so it was understandable that he'd be... stand-off-ish. And it made a lot of sense when I found he was an alien; when I followed you guys through that portal I could tell somehow that this was Caleb's world, he just fit in it. I was so freaked out I didn't notice this until later, of course.

Me, all I ever wanted to be was a singer and make albums but Caleb... I mean, this was a guy with a plan. A mission! He was going to get it done no matter and that was seriously cool. The more I learned about the Guardian thing and the struggle against Phobos I was like, hell yeah! I want to help! Why did I care? Well... don't know if you noticed this, but Earth isn't an entirely happy place.

Well, Heatherfield is, but there places like Iraq and Africa where people want to kill each other just for being a different religion or where they were born. I mean, it's... it's so stupid! Life is short, man, too short. My folks have never been religious so an afterlife hasn't really been discussed much; even with the whole magic thing going on I still can't help but think that this is it, this is our one chance. And yeah, that's probably gonna be in a song, too.

My point is, the world can really suck at times and there's not a lot that a person can do to change that. Not without giving up a lot, and sometimes that still doesn't matter. Me, I'm a wannabe rock-star in high school; best I could hope to be is the next Bono and play at Farm-Aid or something. Which is good, but when I saw Will and the others making a difference like right now, I wanted in on it. Yeah, I wanted to impress Will, too, but I'm not stupid; if that was all it was I'd just write a lot of songs about her. Believe me, that wouldn't be hard... and it would hurt less, I'll admit.

So I want to help, but I think I'm disqualified for Guardian-Hood for possessing a penis which, considering the tights, is probably a good thing (I want to have a bunch of a kids, after all... don't tell her that! It might creep her out.) So, my only real option is to become a warrior like Caleb, who I notice is having trouble adjusting to life on Earth. And hey, I know Earth pretty well.

A deal is made and I get my training. It's no cakewalk, for sure, but every time I needed encouragement I just remembered being blasted away by Phobos. That and seeing Will at his mercy that day got me riled up enough to not care about the pain and the bruises; my parents thought I was getting beat up or something. Hell, I was getting beat up, but I was learning, too.

Will wasn't too happy about it when she found out which sorta surprised me. I thought it would impress her a little, you know, not the main goal but a nice fringe benefit. But she was all worried at first... man, let's be honest, she never wanted me involved in the first place. I know she was just worried about me, didn't want me to get hurt, yeah yeah yeah, but what guy is going to let his girl do dangerous stuff like that and not want to help her a little? No guy I'd want to be. So I realized I'd have to deal with the fact that Will wouldn't approve of what I was doing so I could help her out... and all the while she treated me like a four-year-old.

Girls...

So, I helped out as much as I could during the Knights of Vengeance thing and things were going fairly well until Nerissa made the big entrance. Nerissa... it's so messed up that I can still pity that woman after all she did to me, but... when I was Shagon I had this link to her and I got a feel for her situation. You know how a person won't know how messed up they are until someone points it out and they're like, "Who, me?" Happens all the time in movies.

She did some horrible stuff, I'm not denying (though I really believe what happened to Cassidy was an accident) She was uber-nasty to me and Mr. H. and the other Knights of Destruction, she hurt the girls big time and even tried to kill Will while I was playing at Mrs. Rudolph's going away bash (which made it really easy for her to make me over in Shagon cause I already hated her before she started torturing Huggles). But... she was in a total disconnect, you know? Completely out-of-sync with the world. I think the right word for it was "criminally insane."

I read about Hitler and Mussolini in Prof. C's history class, but he's (Mr. Collins, I mean) he's always saying that no one person is responsible for the Holocaust or world wars, that it was lots of different people making decisions that led to it. I think he's trying to reassure us that true evil doesn't exist. Great guy, the prof. Might even by Will's step-dad one day.

"Daddy-in-law?" Funny...

Still, I wonder what Professor Dean would think if he'd seen Meridian under Phobos and then when Elyon took over; talk about "before" and "after". If the person at the top is psycho, that doesn't do much for the people under'em, right? And then I imagine every world controlled by Nerissa and her whack-job sense of right and wrong. Makes me glad she's in that jewel, you know? Pity or not.

Shagon was scary? Be glad you weren't sharing a body with him. To be honest, he annoyed and pissed me off more than he frightened me because when it came down to it, he was like a momma's boy to Nerissa; always doing her bidding and kissing up to her. I mean, she created him yeah, but you'd think a guy made of hate would have a little more edge. "Mistress, as you command." "Mistress, how may I serve?" "Mistress, would you like your pillow fluffed?" No, I'm not making that last one up, he actually said it.

Scary-looking, you mean? Hmmm... you know, I think I might have had a hand in that. You see, I'm always trying to design new CD covers for Wreck 55 (I'm no Hay Lin, but I can sketch) and I look at other bands' albums for inspiration. Lots of flaming skulls, motorcycles, blah, blah, blah... anyway, I always liked the few angels they used and Led Zeppelin had this one for their record label showing this guy-might be the Devil falling from heaven or something-and I'm thinking, "blacks wings would be cooler, and maybe a mask and definitely some clothes." I think Nerissa took that idea from my head and made Shagon from it; Mrs. Lin said that Mr. Angel of Malice was like a corrupted Altermere or something, like Mira and Will's but made only from negative feelings; that's how I... I took him out, with positive feelings. For Will.

I guess... as we grow up we realize that "bad guys" rarely exist and what we think of bad is really just messed up. Look at Will's strategy for trapping Phobos with his vow; she had to deceive everyone in Meridian for that to work and it wrecked her for doing it. She told me it seemed like something Nerissa would, but I managed to convince her that wasn't that case.

Will...

Whoa, I spaced? Sorry. Happens a lot lately... like Will? That's an understatement, man. Remember when I said I could write songs about her? Ain't no lie. Why? Sigh... yeah, I'm getting that question a lot lately. And it ticks me off.

Why does it tick me off? Well, mainly because everyone's got this weird picture of me in their heads. I don't how it started, when it started or even why, but somewhere in my life I got labeled as "cool". And I really hate it.

There's like this line that divides everyone at school. It's not as bad at Sheffield as it is in some places, but it's still there and somehow I'm on the upper half. Or not even half, maybe a third or less of us are "cool". There are different ways to "cool"; money's the easiest, sad to say, sports is another and at least that takes skill or, well, you could be in a rock band.

It's not like I just said to myself one day, "I want to be popular so I'll sing in front of people." It just sort of happened when my parents were putting me through my paces as a kid, trying to expose me to as much culture and stuff as possible. They came from next to nothing so they were real keen on giving me the leg-up; when most kids were watching puppets teach them the ABC's I was getting the Mozart and the Bach and language lessons and tai chi.

TAI CHI. WHEN I WAS FOUR. Nothing wrong with that, I guess, but I've always been clumsy so I fell on my butt a lot. You remember my training, right? Me getting fished out of the pool. This one time I saw Mrs. Lin doing her morning workout and my butt started to hurt just from the memory.

Anyway, nothing really stuck except the music. Piano was okay, but strings were always my best and soon I was holding recitals in front of people I didn't know. It was scary at first, but then I got used to the sound of applause when I was done. The transition to rock was fairly easy and soon Wreck 55 was born.

Wasn't an easy birth by any means. My parents were wayyyyyyy not thrilled with the whole idea. Doctor or lawyer were the only routes they had in mind, rockstar not even being an option. Not that they discouraged me, but I could tell their hearts weren't in it; should just be happy that they let us use the garage to practice. The paying gigs helped when they came, but man... it hurts a little that they think it's a phase I'm going through. I'm never happier than when I'm on-stage and the crowd is going nuts and I'm more than just a kid with a guitar and a dream. There's nothing better than that... least, that what's I used to think...

But my point is, the musician thing is the quick-ticket to the Elite of Sheffield. And once you're in that there are... expectations people have for you. Like, say, who you should be dating.

Man, man, man... To hell with 'em! That's what I want to say to their faces! The kids at school, my guys in the band, even my parents sometimes. It's always, "Why her?" Like I could do better. Huh? You're asking, too? Well, with you I can let it slide 'cause I know that you're tight with Will. Hmmm... would it be pig-headed to say it was her looks that got my attention in the first place?

I admit, I like to look at cute girls. Before I hooked up with Will there was that fake foreign exchange student that she challenged to that race. Man, I was scared when that happened... wait, I should have been more scared? What do you... oh, Guardian stuff. What, was Cedric hiding in the woods or something?

...you have got to be kidding me.

Ahem, back to that girl-what was her name? Uh, no, that's not a real name... the girls called her that? Yeesh, and here I thought they were the nice gender. Well, she wasn't very nice, either, found that out pretty quick. But after that I really began to think seriously about Will because, uh, well, the whole racing to sit beside me deal was pretty cool. After the fact.

Ladies' man? As if! I mean, I gave her a dormouse for a present. What a player... But seriously, she looked so different from any girl I had ever seen. Red hair like silk woven from roses, eyes of chocolate-stained glass and skin... well, I'm still working on that song. She looked distinct, you know? The birthday party I went to was because Cornelia invited me-she probably picked up that Will was interested in, er, me (geez, that sounds conceited). And I saw Will standing out on the sidewalk like she was...no, no, I can't say it because it sounds so... arrgh, alright, I thought she was waiting for me, okay?

I mean, I have my dumb moments but even I noticed how red her face got when we looked at each other. I knew I was in a good position, I had the advantage... I just didn't have the nerve! Never could set up a real date with her, just "Maybe I'll see you there!" Sheesh... It wasn't like I was holding out, but when it's real you realize that if you mess it up you're losing something. Who knows how long we would have run around in circles if Will hadn't taken the iniative with me.

Hah! Maybe that would bothered some guys, but not me. If a girl wants to kiss me that bad, I'll take that as a good sign, thank you very much! And life's been better since I first saw that red hair.

Not that we haven't had our problems. Hoo boy... I guess "possessive" would be getting right to the point, huh? I don't want to go into it-me and Will have already talked it over-but I think it's fair to say I realize what I got into now. I always thought that little bit of insecurity was cute, but it can grow into something scary fast. Maybe it's just a feature of the human race, or maybe Will's been hurt before, I don't know; I read somewhere that kids of divorce have psychological hang-ups about being left. Me leave? Of course not, but... I'm more worried that she would push me away. Will's a good name for her 'cause she has a strong one.

But hey, that's not a big deal. We're doing great and I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.

So, I guess that's "us" in a nutshell. Did that answer your question?

"...Not really. Blunk wanted to know why Will's Boy throw away perfectly good socks!"

Huh? Dude, those aren't socks, they're panty hose. My mom's panty hose...

"Oh, sorry. Blunk give back!"

No, no! Keep'em, man! They, uh... they look... good on you.

"Really? Thanks! Blunk go show girls! Don't worry; Blunk no tell Will about Will-Matt Babies!"

...sure. And there he goes... did I just pour my heart and soul out to a goblin wearing my mom's stockings? Heh, and Will thinks she doesn't make my life interesting enough. Now let's see... hair woven from red silk, eyes of chocolate, vanillla skin, ooh ooh, you're my own Valentine's Day, can't you see, baby, hear me say...

(Long)Author's Note: I never really liked Matt, and not just because I'm all about Will in my fandom. He was just... there. He was (to me) the Dream Guy next to Caleb's more substantial Rebel With A Cause and he was just eye candy, the male equivalent of the Busty Blonde Ditz. He wasn't like Ron Stoppable or Jake Long or other flawed but endearing characters you wanted to get the girl because you knew they were the ones who need them the most because, honestly, he just doesn't seem to need Will or the crap that comes with dating a Guardian. I kept thinking, what was his deal? Why would he go for Will in the first place/try to fight evil/put up with her jealousy and insecurity when he could likely have any/every girl in Sheffield?

And then I got to thinking about empathy. If Matt was an all-around good guy like he's presented, he'd doubtless have empathy and thus would sympathize with Meridian's plight and the Guardians' problems. Since Will is so crazy about him it wouldn't make sense for him to put his life on the line to impress her, after all, but why was he so fixated on her? Well... my favorite aspect about Will is her obvious vulnerability contrasting with her hidden strength and it's not unlikely that Matt would feel the same way as he strikes me as a "protector" type.

As an emphatic individual Matt would want to help people and while musicians like U2's Bono can do good it's obvious from the show he prefers a more direct approach. From what I saw of Matt's parents in the episode "The Final Battle" they seemed very conservative, if only by judging their dress and it's not hard to imagine them being unhappy with Matt's choice of lifestyle. At this point I realized I knew exactly how he'd feel in that situation because we're both artists in our own ways. Basically, I now think Matt is the Dreamer instead of the Dream Guy and he's probably the only character on the show that has at one point decided, "I want to be a hero."

The Guardians were practically drafted, Caleb was born into his war, Blunk definitely doesn't want to fight and Napoleon and Huggles just happen to be the wrong pets of the right/wrong people. And I admit, at this point I started liking Matt because I want to be a superhero and change the world, too; just about everybody does and now his choice doesn't seem so far-fetched at all. So, yeah, I'm a converted Matt fan now (at least of his television incarnation.)

As for Blunk, I figured he was the perfect confidant because honestly no one can completely understand anything he says and he frequently misunderstands what the human characters mean. I dropped a few hints as to who he was, but I hoped it came as a surprise. "Daddy-in-law?"