Cat:This is an alternate ending that I actually wrote as part of a bigger story that I'll never post. Anyway, Elyon ran away and lived with the rebels until Phobos decided to finally start that stupid war. Oh yeah, and all the parents know about W.i.t.c.h, powers and all. Also, this story is fantasy and may contain some historical inaccuracies, as well as creative license.
Rae: Is that it?
Cat: Almost. I was just wondering if Digi-Dragon is out there. If you're out there, I'm really sorry that I never finished my last fic. This was how it would end though!
Rae: now are we done.
Cat: What are we missing?
Rae: Disclaimer!
Disclaimer: I don't own W.i.t.c.h. in name, plot, TV, comic, or book form. In fact, I don't own W.i.t.c.h. at all. Please don't sue. I haven't done anything to you.
"But Dad—" Irma began but her father cut her off.
"I'm coming too."
"But—"
"Now listen Irma," Mr. Liar said firmly. "If something happened and there was nothing I could do, I would feel terrible. But if something happens and I could've helped you girls…" He trailed off.
"That's very generous of you." Will said loudly, shooting Irma a look. For Irma's part, her mouth moved but no sound came out. How could Will possibly be agreeing with this? It was madness! Someone was going to get killed! Probably Dad. Irma thought darkly, then stopped herself. No way am I going to let that happen. Not in a million, trillion, gazillion years!
"Why are we meeting here again?" Cornelia asked loudly, most likely to mask discomfort, fear, and anxiety. "We already closed this portal." She has a point. We did close the portal at the shell cave.
"The Veil is so thin that we could probably open a portal anywhere." Will explained.
"And after today it won't matter anyway." Hay Lin added. "Either we win and Elyon's on her throne and we won't need the Veil, Or Phobos wins and the Veil is destroyed." And it's over. Irma added silently. Everything would be over. Metamoore, Earth, Candracar, everything. Gone in a puff of magic.
Irma watched Will's dormouse scuttle up her arm and come to rest on Will's shoulder. "We'd better go." Taranee said suddenly and Will nodded and held out a hand. Pink magic swirled around the cave for a moment, and then a large rip appeared in the air. The portal floated menacingly before them and Irma couldn't help but remember that they'd never come off better from a trip to Metamoore.
She glanced at each one of her friends in turn as the stepped up to the portal. If it were any normal battle Taranee would be trembling, but this wasn't a normal battle. She stood tall and resolute, though Irma could only guess at where she'd gained the strength.
Hay Lin was just as calm as ever, though maybe a little less gleeful than usual. I mean, Irma thought, she's not skipping or anything, but she's not running around and screaming.
Her eyes turned to Cornelia, who, when put under pressure previously, had refused to show even an once of fear. Now though, she was fidgeting with a lock of her long blonde hair and glancing around the cave. Her shoulders were tense and her mouth was pulling into a taught line.
Irma looked last at Will. Of all the Guardians her nervous habits were the hardest to peg, but looking at her now, you wouldn't think that this battle was different. She didn't look scared, or particularly brave. She didn't look strong either, but that wasn't to say that she looked weak. I guess she just looks, Irma cast about in her mind trying to find the right word. Ready. She deiced finally. Will looks really ready.
But for what? The words slid unbidden across her mind and it felt like someone had just dunked her head in ice water. Thankfully she was distracted from such dark thoughts when Will held the Heart of Candracar out in her hand.
She felt the magic curl around her and couldn't help but feel infused with new strength and courage as wings sprouted from her back and her magical powers were magnified by about ten times. Growing a few extra inches didn't hurt either. But the real kicker was the look on her dad's face.
Irma smiled sheepishly. "Guess I should have warned you about that, huh?"
"Have you been running around like that?" Mr. Liar asked loudly. Irma decided it was better not to mention the time she gone to a party as her magical self.
"Sort of." She admitted.
Cornelia strode right over to the portal, purposefully breaking up the impending lecture, and glanced back. "See you guys later." She said finally and stepped through.
Will watched her friends go through one by one until it was only her, her dormouse. Stepping lightly through the veil she had the strangest sensation. For some reason, she felt as though she was saying goodbye. Of course there was no way she could tell her friends, not when they most needed bravery, but Will couldn't shake thoughts from her head. That is, not until she caught sight of what captivated the other's attention.
There were two lines. One was looking very thin and straggly. Most of them had ragged clothes. This was the line that Will and her friends were standing in, and Elyon was striding down it. But facing the rebels was what had Will worried. Very worried.
Phobos himself was standing in the very back. Apparently he's too good to soil his hands with something like this. Will thought disdainfully, but continued to gaze at her opponents.
In the very front of the line was Cedric in all his snaky glory. Beside him was frost, again riding on his trusted rino. Behind them were about a hundred rainbow colored Murmurers and behind them were creatures that Will had never even heard of.
They looked something like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without weapons and with large red masks that covered most of their faces. Not only did they look like they could take a lot of damage, but they also radiated power. And as if that wasn't enough, there were about three hundred of them.
Will glanced back at their forces, which looked very meager by comparison. There were only about two hundred of them all told. Most were hungry and utilizing crude weapons like bags filled with bricks and garden tools. Will even saw several wielding what looked like legs from tables and chairs.
But even as she compared the two fighting forces, she knew that the rebels had something the Phobos and his army would never have. They had passion. Will knew that none of them would rest until Phobos was taken down. And, she realized with a slight smile, they had the ability to think for themselves. The Murmurers weren't intelligent; they just did whatever Phobos told them. The turtle things had the same look.
Will's eyes flicked to Vetech (or whatever the heck the blue guy's name is). His eyes were glimmering with hope and it lightened her heart. Behind her Will could hear the other Gaurdains getting into line with the other rebels. Not in front, not behind. This was Elyon's fight, and she was the one who stepped forward.
"Brother. You issue a challenge and then cower behind your men!" Elyon shouted. Will smiled slightly to hear Irma whispering franticly to her dad.
"You see all those blue and green guys over there?" she asked pointing at the opposing army. "They're the bad guys. Don't shoot any of the rebels. I repeat DO NOT SHOOT THE REBLES!"
"I do not cower. I was merely waiting for you to prepare." Phobos said calmly. "I was waiting for you to realize how hopeless it is to resist. You cannot fight my Murmurers, or my new Levelers!" he motioned at the freakish turtles creatures.
"We will fight both you and your army!" Elyon declared. "And what's more. We will win!" There was an instant roar from the rebels.
"How am I supposed to tell which ones are rebels?" Mr. Lair was asking.
"Ok, either shoot at the Levelers, they kind of stick out, or shoot at Cedric, he's the annoying snake thing."
"Shoot the snake. I think I've got it." Will could hardly contain her giggles. She noticed that Hay Lin was having the same problem.
"What is the Earth phrase that I like?" Phobos asked, thinking calmly. "Oh yes. Bring it on."
With that all hell broke loose.
The rebels charged, and Phobos charged and soon everyone was split up. Hay Lin and Mr. Liar found themselves fighting Cedric, while Irma was separated from them by about ten Murmurers, fifteen rebels and Frost. Taranee was completely surrounded by Levelers and Cornelia was helping a small band of rebels deal with a nasty bunch of Murmurers. Will's dormouse had dashed off somewhere in the fray but she had no time to worry about him as she was locked in her own battle against who knows how many Levelers.
Elyon stared her brother down. They were about five feet apart and it must have been the only clear five feet in the joint because everywhere else bodies were pressed together so closely that they reminded Elyon of sardines. She spared a glance at her surroundings. There weren't even people for five feet around them!
"So, Elyon." Phobos asked faking interest. "How's life with the rebels?"
"Much better then life with you." Elyon spat.
"You should know that it is not smart to make me angry."
"And you should know by now that I don't care." Elyon lobbed a globe of white hot magic at him. He caught it, though he looked rather startled. He glanced down at the attack and tossed it right back.
Elyon rolled out of the way and where it struck the ground it left a deep crater. She stood up hastily. How can he have that much power? Elyon wondered. Unfortunately for her, her wonder had dragged her attention away from the fight and Phobos had thrown his own magic at her.
The bolt sizzled menacingly as it crossed the expanse, but it found it's target all to soon and Elyon was blown backwards.
She lay face down in the dirt. She turned her head weakly and tried to bring her brother back into focus, but couldn't. He was just getting fainter and fainter and then she blacked out.
From where she stood, Will saw Phobos advancing towards the injured Elyon laughing his head off. She felt rage boil up inside of her and she sent a crippling blast of her pink magic at the prince. It hit him full in the side but all it did was push him a few feet and take him mind off of Elyon, which had been the intent. Phobos glared at her.
"Didn't I get rid of you already?" He snarled. I guess I made him mad too. Will thought. I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing.
"You tried." Will replied, trying to sound as brave as possible. In truth she was feeling more courageous then she ever had before, even though she was fighting one of the most powerful people alive.
"Oh." Prince Phobos shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to try again."
Mr. Lair was glaring at Cedric. He had no clue what was going on, but Irma had told him that this snake was the bad guy, and Hay Lin was glaring at him, so he did too. Cedric seemed to notice him for the first time, even though Mr. Liar had already unloaded about four rounds into the creature.
"You were so desperate that you brought in a puny human?" He scoffed.
"Do I have to remind you," Hay Lin asked casually, "that we 'puny humans' have beat you up too many times to count?"
"That may be so, but I have one more trick." Cedric said grinning evilly. "And this trick will be your downfall." Mr. Lair watched as the snake creature's back melted and morphed and two pointy red wings pushed their way out. At the same time Cedric's tail shrunk into two muscular legs. Cedric no long resembled a snake so much as a mutated action figure of one of Superman's disgusting villains.
Hay Lin gulped and Mr. Lair shuddered. Ok, what now? He wondered when both Cedric and Hay Lin took to the sky. With his wings outstretched Mr. Lair found it was child's play to put around fifty holes in them, and even Lord Cedric will notice if you've just put fifty holes in him.
He wheeled around and this time it was his turn to glare. Mr. Lair instinctively put another bullet through the thing's left eye as it dove toward him. Mr. Lair knew enough about attacking criminals to duck and cover his head, especially since Hay Lin right above him was blowing Cedric off course even as he did so.
When he looked up, Mr. Lair saw something that did far more than dim his sense of triumph. It utterly destroyed it. His eyes were wide with horror and he completely forgot about Cedric and Hay Lin as he watched.
Cornelia tried to fight her way over to where Elyon lay sprawled but she kept running into those ever annoying Murmurers. You would think, she thought irritably, that after you buried a dozen of their comrades alive, and then tied a dozen more all in one big bunch, and then you took a dozen more and stuck them all in a pit, that they would learn not to mess with you. But no. I'm stuck dealing with even more of them.
She refused to think about the scars that she would have from all the times she had gotten hit by their electrified spears, just as she refused to think about the pain that was running through her body.
The spear of a blue Murmerer pierced her left shoulder and Cornelia winced even as she was yanking the weapon from his grasp. She spun it around an imbedded it deep in an orange creature who had been sneaking up on her. For Blue she picked him up and tossed him into two Levelers who incinerated him instinctively.
I guess they don't believe in loyalty to each other. Cornelia thought with a shiver. If you're in the way, you get killed with everyone else. Not that she felt bad for the Murmurers for anything. They were, after all, mindless drones created to be the eyes and ears of Phobos.
"I wonder." Cornelia said, her eyes glowing with a mischievous spark. She grabbed a red Murmerer and put it in the headlock. "If you poke a Murmerer in the eye, does it poke Phobos in the eye?" She proceeded to do so and as the creature was brandishing about its spear, not even noticing its own pain, thick vines sprang from the soil and engulfed it up to its knees. Cornelia was practically glowing with pride. Red wasn't going anywhere in a long time.
Two Levelers were holding Taranee, one grasping each arm, holding them away from her body in a T shape. "Not smart." Taranee warned before hitting them with fire balls simoltaniously. They dropped like rocks just as a third grabbed her from behind. It had her arms pinned to her sides with one massive green arm, and the other arm was around her neck.
Taranee struggled insanly, trying to use her increased strength to break the Leveler's grip but it was useless. However strong she may be, it was far stronger. She was having trouble breathing. Why can't I think straight? Tarnee wondered. I should be able to use my magic and get out of this…in…a…heart-…-beat. The Leveler's arm was blocking her windpipe and the lack of oxygen was getting to her. That fact never really regesered but she did know one thing. I don't want it to end like this. She thought vaugly and a minute later the Leveler dropped her motionless form.
Irma looked at Frost and gulped. He was grinning toothily at her, raising his club to prepare another strike. Ok, recap. Irma thought, desperately trying to think up some sort of plan. His rhinoceros? It's history! Frost? He's perfectly fine. Me? She took a quick stock of her injuries. Various cuts littered her body, and she suspected a broken rib but couldn't be sure. I'm in trouble.
Frost advanced, swinging his club around menacingly. Irma took an involuntary step backward and the bounty hunter smiled wider. Irma bumped up against something both very pointy and very painful. She wheeled around and grabbed it instinctively. Great. She thought. A Murmerer. Isn't Frost enough to mess with? Apparently the rebels thought so too because Vetchek bashed the offending Murmerer over the head with a piece of plumbing before moving on to knock out another one.
Irma turned back to Frost, now armed with a pointy painful thing. She jabbed it at him threateningly, and he seemed to recoil. But of course he springs right back. She thought despondently. Frost swung the club again, this time narrowly missing Irma. But Irma didn't miss him. She hit him full in the chest and he fell backwards.
Frost scrambled to his feet and Irma spared a moment to wish that he hadn't before he charged at her. That's suicide! She thought her eyes wide. He impaled himself on the spear but at the same time swung his club one last time. It struck its target squarely and Irma went crashing about twenty yards. She came to rest at a leathery green foot.
When she looked up, her vision was clouded and blurry. A trickle of blood was running from her skull and pooling in the dust. She could just barely make out the dim shape of one of the Levelers. It looked at her, almost in surprise but lowered one gigantic foot.
It seemed to descend in slow motion, but Irma could make herself move. She could hardly see anymore, her vision was fading fast. All that Irma really knew was that it hurt. She was hurting a lot, and she closed her eyes weakly before the Leveler struck.
Elyon opened an eye blearily. What happened? She wondered. The last thing I remember I was fighting Phobos and now…. Elyon looked around quickly. She stood up, her eyes traveling to Hay Lin and Cedric fighting high above her head.
They were too high up for Elyon to make out much clearly, but she could see that Cedric had roughly grabbed the Guardian's shoulders. She watched him wrench the flowery wings right out of her back and blanched.
Blood splattered everywhere, including on Elyon herself, but she continued to watch as Hay Lin screamed and Cedric dropped her with a laugh.
She looked away. She dropped from more then a hundred and fifty feet, only to land in a throng of Levelers. Elyon didn't want to watch.
Her gaze flicked to Cornelia beside her. Her friend was watching the proceedings with as much horror as Elyon was.
Looking out again at the fight, Elyon saw Mr. Lair yelling a curse, towering above Irma's corpse. He turned angrily and unloaded on the nearest target, Cedric. The Metamoorian didn't even have a chance.
Everything seemed to be moving slowly, as though the world wanted Elyon to see how cruel it was. She could see the way Cedric's tattered wings crumpled beneath him and the way that Mr. Lair didn't stop shooting until Vetcek pulled the gun form his grasp. The blue dude looked at the father compassionately and turned the borrowed weapon on some nearby Murmurers.
Elyon turned away again and her eyes fell on Will and Phobos. The Guardian's pink magic was struggling against a stream of white magic. Magic that looked very familiar to her. Phobos' magic easily overcame the pink glow and Will was sent flying. She moaned weakly but Elyon could hardly hear it over Phobos's laughter as he towered above her, preparing a killing blow.
It never fell. A brown furry shape landed on the prince's face, scrabbling madly with his little claws. Elyon had to smile as Phobos staggered backwards, clawing at his face. The dormouse looked down just in time to see white magic gathering in Phobos's fists. The creature leapt down and dashed off, dodging Murmurers who decided that it was in the way, while Phobos shot at him angrily with that same white magic. The magic that was still strangely familiar. This was of course because it was –
"Mine." Elyon croaked. Cornelia was staring at her, but Elyon was too busy glaring at Phobos. "That magic is mine!" she yelled and yanked at her powers. The return of her full powers was like a cold draft to her face. Phobos whoever, have a look in his eye that looked a lot like fear.
Suddenly powerless, Will's magic caught him in the chest propelling him backwards. She looked around nervously, clearly confused, and Elyon caught her eye. Will nodded in understanding and stepped aside. This was her brother. Her world. Her fight.
Elyon stalked up to Phobos coldly. She levitated him a few feet using her magic and wound tight magical ropes around him. "You stole my crown." She began. "You forced me to flee my own land. Then you imprisoned my adoptive parents and stole my magic." Phobos gulped, and then grinned shakily. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't destroy you."
"Because," Phobos said, "I'm your brother." Cain and Able were brothers! A small part of Elyon screamed. The bigger part of her sighed deeply.
"Fine." She huffed. "I sentence you to life in prison." She waved a hand and Phobos, along with the remaining Murmurers and Levelers (not that there were that many left) vanished.
"All hail the Light of Meridian!" someone in the crowed shouted and Elyon turned sharply. The rebels were cheering and shouting so loudly that it was impossibly to concern what exactly it was that they were saying.
Elyon searched the faces in the crowed and her heart sunk. Will, Cornelia, and a man Elyon recognized dimly as Irma's father were off to the side, gazing sadly at the group of joyous rebels. Even as they celebrated Elyon could see that almost all of them were injured and many were missing all together. The entire group was showered in blood and Elyon felt tears gather at the edge of her eyes. It was such a high price for freedom!
"Long live Elyon!" Will cried suddenly and Elyon felt her face flush. The Guardians had paid a very high price, but they thought it was worth it. She couldn't help but stop a tear from trailing down her check.
It left a thick track in the grime that completely covered her and hit the ground with a quiet pat.
Lush green grass swept out from that point and covered the entire field. It passed outward in all directions and out over the horizon. Wildflowers grew everywhere, and many flowers that weren't wild grew anyway. Elyon watched Cornelia raise a hand and a huge maple tree sprung out of the ground. She saw that rebels whisper to each other in amazement before someone else called out, "long live Elyon!"
Before long it was a chant that would wake the dead, and they shy little girl from Heatherfield was almost sent into a state of shock. She turned back to her friends, but they were already gone, a portal between the worlds slowly closing behind them.
"I still can't believe it." Will admitted three days later. She and Cornelia were sitting at her kitchen table, holding mugs of tea which had gone cold long ago. "It just seems like everything's gone all of a sudden."
Cornelia nodded in agreement. "And everyone blames us."
"If you'll excuse me Miss Will," James began hesitantly. "But, I don't blame you." The dormouse skittered up Will's arm and nuzzled her affectionately, squeaking an agreement.
"I know." Will sighed, stroking her pet idly. "And thanks James, dormouse." To be honest, Will blamed herself for what happened, even though she knew full well that there was nothing more she could have done.
"But the Lin's blame us. They won't even look at me." Cornelia said angrily. "And we've been banned from Taranee's funeral! How could anyone be so horrible?" Will looked up.
"The Cook's won't speak to me." She said quietly. "I didn't even know that there was going to be a funeral." Why would someone take such pains to keep someone away? Will wondered, closing her eyes to guard against tears. It was bad enough without people hating her too. "But at least the Lairs understand. Even if they aren't helping us out."
"I can't take it." Cornelia said softly. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. I'm tired of putting up with people. My family and I, we're moving to Meridian." She looked at Will carefully. "Are you ok with that?"
Will swallowed hard, and then nodded. "Yeah. I know just how you feel. Besides, the Veil's down, so we can cross between worlds anytime."
"It'll be just like I'm around the corner." Cornelia agreed, even though they both knew it wouldn't be. Cornelia was leaving Heatherfield behind and Will with it. She was trying to escape more than just the people. She was trying to escape something Will herself felt almost all the time now. Grief and loneliness.
Will glanced around the now empty apartment. She rinsed the mugs that she and Cornelia had been drinking out of half heartedly and left them in the sink. She shuffled past the fridge, and James offered her some chocolate hopefully. "No thanks James. Maybe later." She said sadly and slowly made her way into her bedroom.
When Will got there however, she found that her frog collection gave her no consolation and she decided to go for a bike ride.
The weather outside seemed to echo Will's mood and rain felt lightly as she skimmed down the side walk. Her eyes caught on the boarded up window of Ye Olde Bookshop and she looked away quickly. How could she have forgotten that this was where she had first discovered her powers? She peddled hard and blindly until she almost ran right into Matt Olsen.
Usually the sight of him sent her into elation, but now she didn't want to see him anymore than she wanted to see anyone else. But apparently he wanted to see her.
"Hey Will." He said warmly. Will pulled to a hesitant halt and refused to meet his eye. Matt however, went on completely unperturbed. "How ya doin'? Look um, I know that crash must've been hard for you but I was wonder—" He stopped because Will was glaring daggers at him.
"Irma, Hay Lin, and Taranee didn't die in a car crash!" she shouted and began biking franticly again, tears leaking from her eyes and falling with the rain. She slowed down as soon as he was out of sight and began gazing sadly around as she peddled.
She passed Olsen Pet Shop where she had been briefly employed. Inside the pets were crying pitifully, picking up on Will's sadness even from outside. Over the din she could hear Mr. Olsen speaking comfortingly to them and over him she could hear the parrot squawking, "All my fault…All my fault!" at the top of his lungs and Will wished that the animals couldn't read her mind.
She kept one biking and refused to look at the Art Museum where they had once been trapped in a painting or at the law firm where Mr. Cook worked.
Will passed several people, all out riding bikes or walking in the rain. So much pain. She thought sadly. So many people. She found Martin outside muttering, "Irma used to love the rain" and refused to look at Irma's would-be boyfriend any more than she had looked at the museum.
When she passed the Silver Dragon, Will stopped involuntarily. She gazed at it without really seeing it. Not only was this the restaurant that the Lins owned and lived over, but this was where Yan Lin had told them all about their powers. Her mind was back on that day.
They'd just been sitting around discussing strangely similar dreams when their lives had changed forever. Would it have been different if… Will couldn't complete the thought as two pairs of eyes were glaring at her out of the store window. Will lowered her head shamefully and peddled off.
The rain eased up, then finally stopped and more people started coming out. Will didn't realize what day it was until a man in a banana suit walked down the street, whistling a cheery tune. It's Halloween. She mused. I came to Heatherfield a year ago yesterday. But it seems like a lot longer ago. Like I haven't lived in Fadden Hills for a lifetime.
But it was more then just the anniversary of the day that Will arrived in Heatherfield. It had been exactly one year ago that the Guardians had met. Exactly a year ago that Elyon met Cedric. Exactly a year. All of this started exactly a year ago.
Will skidded past Sheffield Institute recalling the time that Uriah had nearly set the building on fire. And then there was the time that Mrs. Rudolph had been a math teacher. There had just been too many times for the Guardians. Too many.
Despite her serious jaunt down Memory Lane, Will didn't actually start sobbing until she skimmed past the shell cave. Here she stopped and burst into uncontrollable tears. It felt like her life as a Guardian was stalking her. There wasn't a place she could go without being reminded.
"I can't take it anymore." She said finally. Will stood up, wiped her eyes and remounted her bike. "I can't live another second in this city."
Behind them, the moving van was trailing like a faithful dog, and before them lay a stretch of open highway. Will turned to take one last look at Heatherfield. She sucked in a deep breath and tears pricked at the back of her eyes once again.
"Goodbye Healtherfield." She said quietly. "Goodbye Sheffield and goodbye pet shop and goodbye crushes and goodbye portals.
"Goodbye Shell cave and goodbye Veil. Goodbye Cedric. Goodbye Frost. Goodbye boyfriends.
"Goodbye Meiridian. Goodbye Metamoore." Her voice broke and her throat constricted.
Goodbye Guardians. She finished silently. Then she turned back and looked back out the font window.
Goodbye.
Just goodbye.
Cat: hoped you like it. Next chapter is a preview of a possible sequel. It would contain no more angst and blood; instead it would be filled with fluff, skating, and movies. I know it appeals to an entirely different audience, but it would still have loads of action and minor tragedy (on account of the death of most of the Guardians). If you want me to write up the sequel, tell me in a nice little review.
Rae: every author loves reviews.
Cat: You've got that right.