Okay, so I'm thinking a little CxC perhaps, and some subtle CxW, but not enought yet for this to be classed as a romance.. Sorry guys, but I don't want to ruin the w.i.t.c.h.-ness of it. Did, however, find out that this guy I know happens to really like w.i.t.c.h. I swear I thought he was pretty awesome before, but I now f***ing love him. Also... TTigerz.. proves you wrong about the whole 'guys don't like w.i.t.c.h thing' hehehe.. :)

And, for my friend Joel, and any males reading this.. A big shout out to you, and a high five for awesomeness.

m d^.^b m


What force and strength cannot get through..

I with a gentle touch can do.

And many in these twisted halls would stand

Were I not, as a friend, at hand..

A key.

...Phobos' castle...

Thunder teamed with lightning, stirring shrieks from creatures, batlike in the blackness, the spread their wings. For, not even the monsters of our darkest dreams, would be able to face the shudders in this land, without feeling a little uneased. And these creatures could only be identified as monsters, because any good that dare clutch as they to the castle walls would have perished within moments.

"My Prince. When the rebel leader-"

"Caleb."

It uneased even Lord Cedric, that his darkest prince would call respect upon his own failure of creation. The boy had escaped Phobos, yet the ruler had laughed. An eerie echo as it passed from the young man, through his shells. The filthy beasts from which their fiercest criminal had come to be. And yet Phobos put his faith in them. He will come back to me. He will be tired and blooded and on his knees.That is what the prince had originally cackled. But now he sang a different song. Lord Cedric was nothing but faithful in his leige. But if he were to have only one doubt.. It would be Caleb.

"When it escaped."

"He, Cedric. He is a man after all. Or so he proclaimed to us so many times."

"He. When he escaped, we found these." Cedric swallowed his disgust of reffering to the filthy murmur boy as any other than that, and held up a pair of shackles to the suspicious creatures around him. He shivered as one closened, looking at the dull metal with eyes the same texture as it's skin. It truely did not seem as though it should be able to see, and Cedric for a moment wondered if assuming it did would seem foolish. "Shackles my potentate. Either he picked the lock. Or he was given the only key. Which is now missing."

"Vathek is obviously a traitor."

"I must've lost the key in the battle!"

"How convenient."

Cedric remembered clearly the argument of two of his best. Vathek had held the key, and Raythor was now blaming him for it's disappearance. It made him writhe in anger that one might bother to disobey the young Phobos.

"If Vathek is telling the truth, the key is still here."

The obviousness of the sneering whisper ashamed Cedric. He lowered his bow and looked at the cold stone beneath him. "I will order the castle to be searched. I apologise for my inanity."

Once out of the indoor garden, Cedric allowed transformation. He felt more confident, if only a little, in his monsterous form.