Disclaimer: If I owned W.I.T.C.H Cornelia and Irma would be a couple by now. Cornelia and Irma are not a couple, ergo I don't own W.I.T.C.H
AN: As one of the next gen guardians is in the past, I've labelled the timeline past and present to avoid confusion. (Something I learned writing Chaos Theory)
Present
Irma stared down the shotguns barrel at the scared young girl holding the gun. The tension in the room was intense, as the girl looked them with a mixture of fear and defiant fierceness in her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, Irma saw her partner Paul make a series of gestures with his hands. The girl glared at Paul and nodded.
"What did you just say to her?" Irma whispered to him.
"I asked her whether she was Sarah Hall." He whispered back and proceeded to make another series of hand gestures. Sarah glared at him. Slowly, he reached into his coat pocket and withdrew his police badge. Seeing this, Sarah steadily lowered her shotgun and made a series of gestures of her own. As Paul explained why they were here, Irma watched as Sarah turned pale and the turned and ran.
"Sarah, wait!" Irma yelled out after her. She's deaf you idiot! She mentally cursed to herself.
Charging after her, Irma chased Sarah into her room. There, Sarah was sitting on the bed, tears running down her eyes as she started to rock herself from side to side. Seeing Irma enter the room, Sarah rushed forward and hugged her, feeling a closeness to her that she didn't understand. Despite the fact that Sarah had never even SEEN Irma Lair before today, she felt like she'd known her for a very long time.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Past
Rose Farm, Sussex, England, 1942
Ellie 'Greenfingers' Smith slowly opened her eyes as the rooster started crowing.
"Alright, alright, I'm up you over-energetic dinner!" she yelled at the window. The cockerel continued to crow on regardless. Ellie grinned and shook her head. The cockerel and Ellie had been at odds for as long as she had been there, in a friendly, ongoing battle. After her parent's death, Ellie had been evacuated, like most children her age. That had been back in 1940. Some evacuees had been lucky and had been taken in by families that actually cared about the children they were taking in, becoming family in all but name.
"Get up child!" A shrill voice cut across Ellie's thoughts. Then again, not all evacuees got taken in by people who cared. And Silvia Potter CERTAINLY didn't care about Ellie, beyond the fact that Ellie represented a free farm labourer.
"I'm coming Aunt Silvia!" Ellie called back as she pulled on a knee-length black skirt and grey blouse on.
She started on her morning chores, starting with searching the henhouse for eggs. After she finished doing that, she fed them and turned to the vegetable patch. As she checked over the patch, pulling out weeds wherever she found them. Then, carefully looking over her shoulder to make sure that nobody could see her, Ellie held her hand out above the tomatoes.
With a slight tingling sensation running down her arm, the tomatoes began growing beneath her hand. When she'd first discovered this ability six months ago, Ellie had freaked out a bit. Despite a lot of surreptitious research (She had no intention of showing anybody this ability of hers.) Ellie was still no closer to discovering what was going on. Humming to herself, she harvested the now ripe tomatoes to sell to her classmates later.
00000000000000000000000000000000
Present, Sya'tal hive 456 approximately 25 light years from Earth
The hive was under attack. Swarms of heavily armoured Sya'tal warrior drones charged to repel the intruders. The drones all looked alike, having six legs directly below their bodies and two antennas atop their insectoid heads. Instead of a mouth, they had mandibles. Their backs were long sleek shells of deepest black, covering a set of insect like wings. Cybernetic implants and enhancements covered their bodies. Twin nanotech machine cannons were mounted on their antennae and cybernetic eyepieces fed them tactical data from the central system and in turn provided information to the central system. Various other cybernetic tools and weapons covered their bodies, filling various functions.
But among them there was an oddity. Standing on two legs, wearing a nanotech suit of armour (the drones had this grown in them from the egg, but alas this girl was not Sya'tal and had not been subjected to the same treatments.), an eyepiece exactly identical to those worn by the other drones (scaled to fit her anatomy) and a nanotech machine cannon mounted on her arm. Drone 790 Laura was the only human in the hive. In fact she was the only human in ANY Sya'tal hive.
Locating the attackers, Laura levelled her arm out straight and took aim. Her targeting computer swung her arm into the right position and with a simple mental command, her nanotech machine cannon opened fire, tearing apart the first three intruders as they charged towards the Sya'tal nurseries. Ant-like creatures, the Wasra were regular attackers of the Sya'tal. Unlike the Sya'tal, they lacked the collective intelligence of a hive mind and were easily beaten off though.
Although the nanotech machine cannon was only twenty centimetres long, six centimetres across and one centimetre high, it fired over 2000 shells per minute and each shell could stop a Meridian baby mudslug in its tracks.
Taking position outside the nursery, Laura took up her position. The Sya'tal had raised her since she was only a few days old and had cared for her as best they could, but to them she was something of a puzzle. The Sya'tal tended to grow from egg to adult in six months. Six months after that, they tended to die of old age. Laura was fourteen and still not completely mature. Nor was she completely helpless. Eventually the Sya'tal set her to guard the nursery as a tactical drone. (Having discovered that she was due to become a guardian, it seemed the logical thing to do.)
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Present, Heatherfield Coroners office.
"We can't seem to get anything to ID the dead woman properly. Her dental records are none-existent Her identity forms like her birth certificate and driving license are fakes. The only details of hers that aren't fake are those relating to her daughter." Coroner Samuel Grey told Irma.
"Compare her dental records to those of a girl who went missing some fourteen years called Cornelia Hale." Irma instructed him. He gave her a strange look. "I think I recognise the woman who was killed from her photos." Irma elaborated. Raising a bushy, grey eyebrow at her, he called up the records.
"Come back in about an hours time, I'll be able to confirm or deny your theory." He told her calmly. Irma let out a sigh and Samuel glared at her. With his bushy, flyaway grey eyebrows, light blue eyes and balding grey hair, it was rather like being glared at by Casper. "Detective Lair, I am not a miracle worker." He stated angrily.
"Okay then. I'll dig up the addresses of Cornelia's family while I wait. Her little sister Lillian, I know. But as for the parents, well I've no idea where they are now." Irma said as she left the coroners office.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Present, Students residence, Fadden Hills University.
To the casual observer, the tall, blonde haired girl with a streak of black in it looked nothing like the person you'd associate with being a successful businesswoman. The long skull and crossbones tattoos on her arms and nose piercing would look more in place on a Hells Angel or a college dropout instead of a woman whose financial assets were worth an estimated two million dollars. With her hair cut short, dark clothes and pale skin, she looked like she had been dead for weeks. But as we all know, looks can be deceiving. And in the case of Lillian Hale, looks were very deceiving.
There was a knock on the door to her room and Lillian opened the door to see a very familiar face.
"Irma!" Lillian exclaimed excitedly as she hugged her. "What brings you here?"
"Hi Lillian." Irma said dejectedly. "Can I come in? I've got something important to tell you."
"Sure, come on in." Lillian said as she gestured for Irma to come into her surprisingly tidy student digs. If there was one thing Lillian had in common with Cornelia, it was that she was tidy.
"I'm here to talk to you about something I've just discovered about Cornelia." Irma said to Lillian and the atmosphere in the room changed from relaxed to very, very tense. Unfortunately, with Lillian being the Heart of Earth, it caused a sudden and minor earthquake.
"Umm…. Perhaps we should take this discussion outside?" Irma suggested, well aware that Lillian was not going to like what Irma had to say.
"No…I've gotten it under control." Lillian said as she closed her eyes and started to slowly breath in and out. "So what do you have to tell me? And is someone telling mom and dad?"
"Yes your parents are being told." Irma replied, before continuing. "It appears that Cornelia has been alive for these past fourteen years."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Lillian exclaimed, standing up and making the Earth shake once more, this time more violently. Standing up, Irma quickly swept Lillian's feet from beneath her and dropped her back onto her bed. Closing her eyes, Lillian calmed herself down once more and gestured for Irma to continue.
"Well, we don't know all the details, but it appears that she's spent the past fourteen years living under the name Julia Hall." Irma paused briefly, unsure as to how to continue. "She had a daughter named Sarah, who I'm guessing is Caleb's child, she's the right age and she has her fathers hair and eyes."
"Had?" Lillian asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well the only reason that we found Cornelia is that she was killed last night in a tragic accident last night. At Cornelia's flat, I recognised her from her pictures. We confirmed my suspicions by checking the dental records. I'm sorry." Irma replied, not looking at Lillian.
"Oh. Ok." Lillian said in a flat voice, the information having not fully sunk in. "Umm…It's been good to see you Irma, but could you please leave me alone for now?"
Irma nodded. "If you want to talk, you know my number."
As Irma left the room, she could've sworn she heard a sob come from behind her.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Present, Sheffield Institute. Mr Collins history class.
Tamora Constant was bored. Admittedly that wasn't an unusual state for her in Mr Collins class. It wasn't that she didn't think he was ok as a person, but he was not one of those inspirational teachers that could inspire his pupils. And history was never Tamora's favourite subject. Still, there was one good thing history was good for and that was for story ideas. Unfortunately, she couldn't really concentrate on what Mr Collins was saying. It kept on coming back to that dream she'd had last night.
It had started off with her flying. Well that wasn't an unusual aspect of her dreams. What was unusual was what was in front of her. Sitting amongst the clouds was a floating palace of some kind, a positively ethereal building of spires and arches. And hovering above her was a pink orb on a string. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it wasn't for her, but for someone else, someone to lead her and her friends.
Tamora brushed her short blond hair back and tried to focus on Mr Collins once more. Her grades in history were passable, but far from being good enough to let her get away with not paying attention.
From one of the boys on a table nearby, she drew an admiring glance. With her short page boy haircut, blue eyes and heart shaped face, Tamora was used to drawing admirers. Sneaking a glance at the boy, she gave him a smile, causing him to blush. He wasn't a bad looking boy either. If she played her cards right, she might well have a date this weekend. Admittedly, she'd then break things off. Tamora after all had no intention of getting involved with a boy on a serious level after all. Who wanted to be tied down by a boyfriend after all?
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Present, Sheffield institute, Mrs Cook's dance class.
Emma Black loved dancing. She loved to let her body sway with the music. She loved to respond to all its various flavours and colours. Well, as close to colours as she was likely to ever experience anyway.
As she turned into a particularly complicated dance manoeuvre, she was suddenly distracted by a sudden whisper in her ear, that caused her to suddenly lose her balance and fall badly. Mrs Cook ran over to her and Emma would've guessed that she had a look of concern on her face.
"Hold still." Mrs Cook ordered firmly as Emma tried to get to her feet. "Now tell me, does this hurt?" she asked as she pressed on Emma's leg near her thigh and Emma felt a rush of pain shoot through her.
"Yes." Emma said through gritted teeth.
"Feels like you've pulled a muscle. Put some ice on it and take it easy on this leg for a few days, ok?" Mrs Cook told Emma firmly. Being blind, Emma couldn't tell if Mrs Cook was looking at her when she said this, but guessed she was.
"Damn and I was planning on running the Heatherfield marathon this year." Emma joked as an ice pack was applied to her leg. But where had that whisper come from Emma wondered to herself. Nobody was there to whisper in her ear then and besides, why would someone want to whisper in her ear in the middle of a routine? It was almost as if the whisper had come out of the very air itself. But that was impossible, wasn't it?
000000000000000000000000000000000
Present, Will and Caleb's apartment
"Listen, I know you and Cornelia had your differences, but she never pointed a shotgun at you as far as I can tell, did she?" Will asked with a slight grin on her face.
"No I don't think so. The thing is, I believe Sarah is Caleb's daughter." Irma replied and Will's face suddenly became very tense.
"My daughter? What makes you say that?" Caleb asked in a dangerously level voice as he glared at Irma.
"Because the woman who was killed was Cornelia." Irma replied firmly, looking Caleb firmly in the eye. "It appears she didn't die all those years ago."
"But, but, but why did she never contact us? We would've been there for her!" Will exclaimed angrily.
Irma shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know. Yet. But I plan to investigate further. In the meantime, Sarah is staying with her grandparents."
Will and Caleb nodded and Irma said her goodbyes and left. As she left, Irma could hear a furious discussion going on behind her as Caleb and Will discussed the bombshell she'd dumped on them. With three children already aged between eleven and six, it would be difficult to find space for another child as well, especially a deaf mute. Still, Irma had a different task in front of her, one that required her attention, namely find out why Cornelia stayed hidden from everyone she cared about for so long.