Chapter One
Everyone was heading into the auditorium, finding seats, settling down. Principal Knickerbocker walked onto the stage.
"Hello, boys and girls. Today we will watch an anti-bullying video, courtesy of our own Mr. Sylla. He filmed various students and found other footage. So sit back and enjoy!"
Martin groaned.
The video started.
Five girls are walking into a construction zone. Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin. Irma looks upset.
A voice speaks. "I smell pain, and now I wanna taste!"
W.I.T.C.H. and Matt stiffened.
Everyone was confused.
Will speaks. "Who-Who are you?"
Another voice speaks, an echoing yet familiar tone. "I am Shagon. And this is Tridart, Khor, and Ember. We are Nerissa's Knights of Destruction. Your destruction."
"This doesn't look like bullying!" Principal Knickerbocker said to Mr. Sylla.
"No," he replied, "but I think it will be… interesting."
"Prepare for your doom, Guardians!"
"Guardians?" asked Nigel.
"There is desperation in you heart, for a boy you have no chance with, leaving you lonely and cold." speaks Tridart to Hay Lin. She leans away, purple-red flames rippling off of her.
Hay Lin blushed.
Tridart sprays ice at her and she cartwheels away.
"Ohh, you are glorious! So exquisitely tortured by hot, sticky pain!" Ember launched lava drops at Irma, who ran.
Taranee clenched her fist; it burst into flames.
Surprised cries from the audience, while Taranee silently stared.
"Grrr," Khor snarls, grabbing her wrist.
"Hey! Get away!" shouts Cornelia, lifting her hand. Bolts fly out of a nearby piece of equipment.
Shocked cries as people twisted to stare.
Pew! A green flash and the bolts are disintegrated.
Shagon is standing nearby.
Will shouts, "Stay away from them!"
Will flushed and shrank in her seat, remembering what came next.
"Like I stayed away from Matt?" taunts Shagon.
Everybody stared at Matt.
Will looks shocked. "Matt? Did you hurt him?"
"How much would you hate me if I had?" Shagon asks, sounding taunting.
"You're about to find out!" Will shouts, throwing out her hand. Lightning crackles from her palm and strikes Shagon.
Gasps echoed from the audience.
Shagon throws aside the lightning. "Tickles."
Then lasers shoot from his eyes. Will is frozen, but Cornelia yanks her aside and they start running. They hide under a piece of equipment with Taranee.
Cornelia shouts, "Irma! Hay Lin! Over here!"
The two race over.
"That guy did something to Matt," Will says, clenching her fists.
"That's his story. Get us out of here!" cries Cornelia.
"How is she supposed to do that?" Alchemy wondered.
Khor lifts the equipment. There is no one below.
The scene shifts to the basement of the Silver Dragon.
"I gotta go." says Irma, walking away.
"Irma wait-*sigh* You know, those Knight things, they totally fed off of our drama." Cornelia notes. "Lava Chick was gloating about Irma being in pain, which she is, over Martin. Ice Dude called you"-to Hay Lin- "desperate, which you are, for Eric,"
"Thanks for noticing." Hay Lin responds.
Hay Lin blushed slightly.
"And you, Taranee-"
"I can't be fussed if I'm mad at my mom." Taranee argues.
"Just try to keep it in check." Cornelia advises. "Especially you, Will. Dark Angel wanted you hating him."
Will clenches her fists. "Then he knew his stuff." She pauses. "Wait, since when are you Miss Intuitive?"
"Perspective." Cornelia responds. "I'm the only one not starring in a soap opera."
"This week." Will and Hay Lin respond in unision.
The screen fades to black.
Everybody began to chatter.
"We're doomed." muttered Will.
"Look on the bright side," offered Hay Lin. "At least now everyone will understand if we're absent for saving-the-worlds stuff."
Principal Knickerbocker looked stunned. She turned on Mr. Sylla. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I suggest you ask the Guardians and the Regents." he responded.
The screen lit up with another scene.
Three monoliths are sitting in a row on a snowy mountain. A woman is approaching. It is Yan Lin. She lays a bouquet of flowers on the grave, then speaks.
"It has been too long, Cassidy. My old friend. I promise I shall see you again soon."
A sound rips through the air, and Yan Lin disappears.
"Perhaps sooner than you might think," a voice says, then green rings form around the base of the two flanking monoliths and rise, revealing Shagon to one side, and an old woman in dark clothes to the other.
Shagon is wrapped in his wings. He snaps them out, then scoops up the flowers. "Aw, flowers. She shouldn't have."
"He looks cold." Eric noticed.
"Mount Thanos is freezing." muttered Matt.
The woman turns to Shagon. "I have business to attend to, and the Guardians must not interfere."
"I'll drive them to distraction." Shagon declares. "Especially Will." He pulls a petal off the flowers. "She hates me, she hates me not, she hates me, she hates me not. Oh, who am I kidding?" He rips the bouquet in half. "She really, really hates me." He throws his arms up and disappears with the same strange sound.
The woman turns to the monolith.
"A grave…" realized Nigel.
The woman speaks. "Quintessence!"
"Quin-what?" asked Alchemy. Then their attention is drawn to the screen.
Lightning strikes the grave, and smoke billows. Then a face emerges, followed by the rest of a person. A ghost. She speaks. "Nerissa…"
She looks at the woman. "Wow! You look awful!"
Nerissa does not smile.
"Draining our life force for power, are we?" Cassidy says knowingly. "Of course, you have the sad disadvantage of having to live on this world, while I-" she stops, looking said.
"I apologize for any role I may have played in your- accident." Nerissa says.
"Might have played?" laughs Cassidy. "That's like me saying I might have missed curfew on prom night."
Shock rippled through the students and teachers.
"Oh, but where I just was, we don't hold grudges. Now, if you could send me back-"
"Cassidy, we were Guardians together. I feel as if it is my duty to show you what you've missed. And since I have bound to the earth plane with the Heart of Meridian we will stick to the plan. For your own good."
"A field trip ya can't get out of, that's good for you?" Cassidy says, then she notes, "Wow. Even the afterlife is like high school!"
Several people laughed.
The scene shifts to a house. In front, Nerissa and Cassidy are there. Cassidy speaks, her voice strained. "I want-to live!"
Nerissa speaks. "Compassion is a powerful thing, especially when if fuels desire. The desire for something you can not, should not have is the chink in the armor of your soul, and all I need to make you mine."
Cassidy's eyes open. They are blank.
A shock went through the audience.
"You shall live again, Cassidy, very soon."
The strange sound occurs and the woman and the ghost vanish, reappearing on a mountaintop where the Knights wait.
"As soon as your service to me is complete."
The screen goes black.
"What the heck?" asked Nigel.
No one had a response. Then the screen lit up once more.
Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin are standing on a beach. A bald man in long, iridescent robes is standing nearby.
Will speaks. "So I guess… we failed you." She pulls a pink crystal out of her shirt.
Hay Lin speaks. "Wait. Got one question for the Oracle. What's the dealio with your shadow?"
The shadow is that of a woman with a staff. The shadow hisses.
Will says, "You want the Heart, you got it!"
"What?" asked Eric.
Will cries, "Guardians, Unite!"
Lights flash and sound and color fill the auditorium.
Irma throws her arms over her head. "Water!"
Taranee flings her arms to either side. "Fire!"
Cornelia turns her head to one side. "Earth!"
Hay Lin lifts her arms. "Air!"
Will stretches her arms to either side. "Quintessence!"
Everybody stared at them. The Guardians shifted uncomfortably.
Mr. Sylla was smirking. So far, things were going his way.
The screen lit up again.
A cave, complete with a cell. The cell has glowing magical bars. A woman is standing in front of it. Nerissa. A huge gray thing is standing next to her. There's someone inside the cell.
With a shock, everyone realized it was Matt, who was tense and silent, head down and refusing to look at anyone. Will silently took his hand, realizing what this was.
"My… Knights of Vengeance were a… disappointment. Perhaps you would make a suitable replacement." Nerissa speaks. She puts her hand out, and lightning arcs from it. The bars dissolve. Matt steps out. He speaks.
"Yeah? Except I have this whole problem with authority. And pure evil?"
"Then of what use are you? Khor!"
Matt flinched slightly, an action not missed by the teachers and students.
The beast leaps forward, pinning Matt to the ground. He looks terrified for a moment, then the beast lets him up.
Everyone was surprised, and Will whispered to Matt, "He was still loyal, huh?"
Matt nodded tightly.
"So, I guess you lose." Matt said.
"While I do appreciate loyalty, I cannot stand disobedience." Nerissa says. Lightning arcs from the jewel in her hand. Khor knocks Matt aside and takes the blast, roaring in pain.
"Stop! You're hurting him!" Matt screams.
"And you hate me for it, don't you?" Nerissa declares with relish as she turns towards Matt.
He clenches his fist, and purple-red flames ripple off of him. An electric image rears above him, then dives into him. Lightning arcs from Nerissa's jewel and strikes Matt, and he starts to scream.
Matt covered his ears and shut his eyes. His strong reaction(he was visibly shaking) worried his friends and teachers, and they wondered what happened next.
Matt's scream cuts out, but it is clear the pain hasn't stopped. Matt doubles forward, and wings burst out of his back, extending.
Everyone gasped in shock.
"You are Shagon, my Angel of Malice," Nerissa says as a tail snakes out, then Matt's hair lengthens and writhes. "Where Khor's power comes from the anger of his enemies, you shall feed off of their hatred!"
There is no Matt anymore, only the masked Shagon. He speaks. "Yes, mistress."
The screen went black and everyone gaped at Matt. He didn't look at any of them, focusing his attention on the floor.
First chapter done! I've always thought it was strange that W.I.T.C.H. didn't notice the similarities between Matt's voice and Shagon's, so I made the latter's voice sound familiar to everyone who knew Matt. If you want a scene done, please note which scene in a review and I'll see if I can put it in.(If I remember it.)
I do not own any of the dialogue in italics, nor do I own the characters and events.