AN: Here is chapter 3 I hope you all like it.
First I would like to thank Darev (used to be known as Knight) for helping with this fic. I decided to get a beta after getting a flame and don't want to give said person a reason to come back. I would also like to give Darev credit for the Frog Girl idea I used in this fic from his own story "Broken Mirrors"
Also, I would like to thank the following people for reviewing: rose lily potter, DadaWars, DayDreamer9, Lily312, an0n., Darev, Philip Gipson, DREAMCOLE, cartoonloverfan101, Lily887787, yellow 14
Disclaimer: Don't own W.I.T.C.H. wish I did though.
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Chapter 3: Facing the Guardians and the Council
The next stop on the Vandom family's schedule was the mall, mainly to pick up new clothes for Will and Willow. Will had protested this a bit, since once again, she did not want to leech off her mother. Susan of course, ignored this.
The oldest of the Vandom family knew Will needed good clothes of her own and not barrowing her mother's, so she was going help Will gets those no matter what. Plus, Willow needed new clothes as well, for when she went to preschool or daycare. If Willow went in the semi worn clothes she had, people might think something was wrong and call child services.
Susan knew loosing Willow would destroy Will, especially if it was over a misunderstanding. Upon telling Will this, the oldest redhead finally caved in and went to go look at clothes.
Will made sure to select her choices carefully though, since she did not want to waste her mother's money, but still pick enough things that would satisfy the dark haired woman.
While will was looking at a pair of pants, Will accidentally bumped into someone and quickly turned around to apologize. "Sorry about that. I…." Will started to say, but then realized whom she had bumped into. Cornelia Hale.
Both women stared in shock at one another in shock, until Susan came up with a few shirts in hand. "Will, I found…oh hello Cornelia," Susan started to say, then saw the blonde with her daughter.
Susan knew Will was still not ready to face her friends, so she knew she needed to give Will an excuse to leave, fast! "Will, go try these on, then we can go see what we can find for Willow," Susan told her daughter and handed her the shirts.
Will eagerly agreed and went off towards the changing room, while Susan went to go check on Willow. Meanwhile, Cornelia was clumsily reached for her cell phone. She needed to call the girls ASAP.
Susan knew this would happen, but also knew getting Cornelia Hale to be quit about Will's return would be impossible. All the dark haired woman could do was hopefully play referee between the five young women, until Will was ready.
000
Three hours later the Vandom trio was finally head back to the car and loading up the trunk, when four certain girls approached them. Will was tempted to hide behind her mother, the redhead still had her pride and did not want to look weak in front of her daughter, so she stood her ground and waited for one of them to speak.
"Will…I know this is a bit sudden but can you…" Hay Lin started to say, being the expected gentle one of the group, but Cornelia jumped in with bit sharper finish.
"Come with us now," The blonde said a bit coldly, like when she was mad at Will for loosing Elyon to Phobos.
"Cornelia! We are all upset, but you don't think…" Taranee started to say, but like Hay Lin, the blonde cut her off.
"Yeah well we have to…get a lot out of the way. So let's just get this over with," Cornelia stated and started to walk away, all knowing it was a clear 'follow me command'. Will knew Cornelia was trying to refer to a trip to Candracar without saying it, since Susan and Willow were nearby. Which was of course, was what Will feared most.
"Hold it just one minute! I don't care if you are her friend Ms. Hale, you don't order my daughter around!" Susan Vandom stated as she quickly stepped in front of Will and made it clear it was mama grizzly time if anyone dared to cross her.
Even at her coldest, Cornelia would never dare talk back to Susan Vandom when she was like this. No sane person would, not if they wanted to live a little longer.
While Susan was staring down the four girls, Taranee tried the only approach that she could talk to Will with out drawing Susan Vandom's wrath. By using good old Fire Guardian Telepathy.
'Will, please just come along. Sooner or later the Oracle will find out your back, if he has not already, will remind us we are to bring you to him at once. Or he might even do worse, he might come personally, so please just come with us so we can all sort this mess out.' Taranee begged the redhead, who could understand Taranee's pleas.
If the Oracle had given that order four years ago, then they had to follow it. The only thing is, Will was still too scared to. But since it was best to not risk the chance of bringing the Oracle to Earth in person, Will knew she needed to face the Council and her punishment.
"Mom…it's okay. They have the right to know certain things after all these years. We'll go sort this all out and I'll tell you how it when I get home." Will told her mother, who looked very reluctant to let Will go.
Willow was equal resistant to the idea and latched onto her mother's leg. "My Mommy, you can't have her. Go away!" Willow stated with an angry kid glare. Willow was of course too young to intimidate the four women, but it was cute to watch her try and do so.
After Will pried herself loose from Willow death lock on her leg, Will handed the four years old to Susan and said, "I'll see you at home." The oldest redhead then walked away and Susan knew she could do nothing. Will was going to get this over and done with and all the dark haired woman could do was hope Will's still have four very good friends after this was all over.
What Susan didn't not know, that it was duty and not friendship that was motivating the action of the other girls right now. They did not want to drag Will before the Council, but they had to or be in trouble as well. They could not help Will if they were in trouble to, so they needed to follow orders and hope they could help their friend in what was to come.
000
When they were far enough away, Cornelia took out the Heart and opened a fold. Will was not surprised the Earth Guardian had been given the Heart, she was the 'leader' before Will came to Heatherfield after all.
"Okay Will, let's get the meeting with. If we can we'll throw what ever good words in when we can," Irma told Will and tried to gently guide the former Keeper of the Heart into the fold, but Will resisted.
"Wait, I need to…" Will started to say, hoping to tell them of her vow, but others were too focused on their task to realize it.
"We know you scared about facing the Council Will, but you've got to face them sooner or later. Sooner is probably better, so let's go," Taranee said as she and Hay Lin tried to push Will though, but the redhead was proving to be an unmovable object.
"You don't understand! I can't…" Will tired to say again, but was once again cut off, this time by Cornelia.
"Sorry to do this Will, but you leave us no choice." Cornelia said and Will saw the blonde took several steps back before charging forward. Will knew what was to come and vainly called out, "But I broke a vow on Candracar's power!"
The blonde heard this to late and her hand had collided with Will's back and shoved Will forward. The others were thrown off balance as well and could not grab onto Will before the redhead stumbled though the fold.
As Will fell forward onto her hands and knees after stumbling thought the fold, the redhead waited for the clash of thunder or what ever is supposed happen upon setting foot in Candracar, but nothing did.
"Well…at last they got her though." Will heard the voice of Halinor say and slowly looked up to see the she was in the Council Chamber. Halinor, Luba, Althor, Tibor and the Oracle were look at Will, while the other Guardians quickly entered the chamber.
All five young women looked a bit panicked at the moment, but the Oracle raised his hand to silence any words that were to come. "I thank for honoring the order I gave you four years ago, Guardians. Though you did carry it out bit more roughly then I had hoped." Oracle said in his usual serene manner, then looked towards Will.
"I know what you fear Will, and all will be explained as to why nothing has happened when you set foot in Candracar, but let's deal with more pressing matters first. Your rather abrupt departure to be exact." The Oracle said in his normal tone, which confused Will. She had been expecting disappointment at the very least, yet he was talking like it had been any other time she came to Candracar when she was younger.
"Now, your departure had been a great inconvenience, since a new threat could happen at any time, though we were fortunate there was none in the fours years you were gone thankfully. Of course, I have not overlooked the fact you made sure to leave the Heart behind and swear an oath to not use magic ever again and kept until recently. Which was broken in an acceptable manner." The Oracle continued, which confused Will and the other Guardians. There was a right way to break a vow?
"Now as you know, I can not overlook you forsaking your duties as you did. But can I assure you that your punishment is brief but firm enough to suit the crime. Candracar does not like to give long punishments if possible; Nerissa was only given one because she murdered Cassidy. Your punishment on the other hand will be…for your fellow Guardians to see what you do not want them to." Oracle said told Will and before anyone could ask what he meant, flash of white light engulfed the room.
The next thing anyone knew was they were all seeing Will and Willow walking down dawn a hallway of a rundown apartment building. They looked like they were carrying groceries, though Willow of course was only carrying one bag. The contents of course were things the little girl liked; cookies, milk and a new stuffed frog for the younger redhead.
'No…not this, please don't let them see this!' Everyone heard Will's voice say in their minds and made everyone realize their voices did not work, only telepathic words formed when this was tried.
The other were about to ask what Will was talking about when the two entered one of the apartments and the image of Will said to Willow, "Okay sweetie, go to your room until I tell you to come out. You know how Daddy has been grouchy lately and I want him only yelling at mommy, okay?"
The little girl clearly did not agree with this and said with a pout on her face, "But Daddy is mean. He gives you lots of ouchies Mommy."
The other girls gasped at hearing this and were worried about how bad these 'ouchies' were and if Will got them often. They were about to find out soon though while they watched image of Will talk to her daughter.
"Don't you worry about that, you just go to your room and play quietly," Will instructed to her daughter and sent her off to her room. Will then went into the kitchen and looked she was about to start getting dinner ready.
Will had just gotten out a few pots, when the door to the apartment burst open and drunken looking Matt stumbled through, with a case of bear in one hand and a bottle of the same substance in the other. Matt clear had not even bothered to use his keys to get in, since the door now had a massive dent the size of Matt's foot on it.
The other Guardians could hear Matt grumbling something about talent scout knowing nothing, before he looked at Will and growled out, "Why isn't dinner ready?!"
"B-But you're h-h-home…" Will started to say in a stutter, but was cut off by Matt hitting Will in the gut with the case of beer.
The others were shocked the timid nature Will was displaying and were disgusted by Matt's actions. What had been going the last four years to make the two change so much?
'Matthew Olsen could not become the famous musician he wanted to be. At first he took it well and he and the former Keeper tried to hold out until the former Regent of Earth got his 'big break'. But after constant rejection, the strain got to him and Mathew become bitter,' The Oracle's voice said inside the Guardian's mind, while the beating before them continued.
'Eventually, Matthew came to the conclusion it was not his fault, but the Keeper and Willow. They had been the only changes in his life, so they seemed like a likely scapegoat for the now angry man. The Keeper was hopeful the old Matthew would return so she took the beatings in hopes of things returning back to normal. But then everything changed," The Oracle's voice continued and the four women watched on, while the real Will begged for the Oracle to stop.
Eventually Matt stopped hitting Will and started to head towards Willow's room. "I'm tired of dealing with only half the problem. It's time the little brat paid for ruining my dreams," The drunken musician slurred out, but was about to find out that was his biggest mistake.
"If you…take one more step…towards that room…I swear on…every heart in existence…I'll stop you no matter what!" Will said as she struggled to get back to her feet, an aura of electricity radiating off Will's body as she spoke.
Matt did not seem to care and continued advancing on Willow's room and made Will act to protect her child. "Quintessence!" Will screamed out and blasted Matt in the back with a powerful bolt of lighting. Will kept up this attack for a good two minutes and when she finally stopped, Matt was out cold.
That was when the redhead rushed over to her daughter's room and packed their things to return to Heatherfield, which was when the illusion the Oracle had raised finally ended.
000
Will was on her knees crying, which caused Hay Lin and Taranee to rush over to Will's side to comfort her.
Irma on the other hand showed support in a different way, a more violent way. "Where is he? I want at him! I swear I'll rip his you know what's! He'll wish I was going to go Guardian on him by the time I'm done!" Irma ranted, while Cornelia looked like she was in deep thought.
'I yelled at Caleb on the phone when he said he already knew Will was back in town and that we should wait for her to approach us. If I had only listened, this might have been so much easier on Will.' Cornelia thought to herself, knowing she would need to talk with him later and see if she could fix the damage she had done.
Deep down though, Cornelia knew her relationship with Caleb was ending. The downfall had started when Will had left four years ago. In anger, Cornelia had ranted about Will being irresponsible and that should not have ran away from her problems.
Caleb has tried to reason with Cornelia, knowing she was just upset that Will had left with out saying goodbye, but then Cornelia went too far in Caleb's mind. She screamed out Will should have done the smart thing and get an abortion, something the young man from Meridian did not agree with one bit.
Caleb's people never had such options, so they had all been raised on the belief that if you create a child, you take responsibility for it. In Caleb's eyes, Will had done that, though not in the most convenient way when one was a Guardian, but she still chose to go through with have her daughter. For Cornelia to say that had angered Caleb and the two fought worse then they had ever done before.
It took three months for them to speak to each other again and even then, the relationship was strained. They fought more often and with more intensity, everyone but them had finally admitted it was over. But that would most likely be happening very soon.
Cornelia was broken out of her train of thought when she heard the Oracle speak up. "Now that we finally have that out of the way, we have one last thing to deal with before you leave," The Oracle said and held his hand out to Cornelia.
"Please give me the Heart, Earth Guardian," The Oracle requested and the blonde complied without hesitation, though she was confused as to why the Oracle wanted it and what it had to do with this final thing they needed to do.
The Oracle took the necklace and then went over to where Will was still crying. He gently held the Heart out to Will, who looked up confusion as to why he was doing so.
"You may have forsaken your duties to raise your daughter, but you are still more then worth of being the Keeper of the Heart. At your age, the Council tries to keep missions to strictly necessary and there is none at the moment, but we prefer to have a group ready as a precaution," The Oracle explained and held the Heart a little close to Will.
Will glanced at her friends, as if asking if they wanted her to take it. They either gave a small nod or a smile, which was all the answer Will needed. She slowly reached out of the necklace and when she had firm grip on the string, a familiar and comforting energy flowed over her.
It had soothed the distraught redhead from the vision. She had become so upset because her friends had scene how pathetic she had become, yet she was surprised they wanted her back, regardless of being weaker then when she was a teenager.
The Oracle then waved his hand and created a fold for the Guardians, since Will was a bit out of practice. As they started to leave, Will remembered what the Oracle said about breaking her oath the right was and knew she needed to ask what he meant.
"Oracle, you said you'd explain why I was not in danger from my oath to not use magic ever again. How did that…" Will started to ask, but the Oracle signaled her to stop, most likely so he could answer.
"There are two reasons actually. The first of witch is as the Oracle, I can free anyone of their vow to Candracar, which I did when the former Regent of Earth began harming you. I had been hoping you would have used your powers out of reflex to protect yourself but as we can tell, you took the punishment and kept to the vow that no longer bound you. The second reason is very simple and would have freed you of your vow even if I had not," The Oracle explained and had the five women waiting eagerly to hear this second reason.
"You made a second vow, one that negated your first. Remember, you swore all the Hearts in existence that if the former Regent took one more step toward your daughter's room, you would stop him. He did not comply and thus you did what you had to do to protect you child from harm. Swearing on all the Hearts was a bit much, but a mother protecting her child rarely thinks in a rational manner," The Oracle finished explaining, looking a bit amused when he pointed out the last part, while Will blushed a bit at her overkill vow.
With that, the five women headed for the fold, partially discussing what they would tell Susan Vandom when they got Will back to the apartment. As the fold closed behind them Halinor asked, "Oracle…why did you say the vision was punishment? I thought it was so the other guardians would know what she has gone through and would be able to support her better."
"The Keeper was expecting a punishment, so I made her think she was given one. Now her won't have guilt eating away at her 'getting off easy'." The Oracle explained and the council then went about its normal task.
000
When the girls arrived back on the mall parking lot, they all got into Cornelia's car and they drove will home. They all agreed that the group should confront Susan, so any fears the oldest Vandom had would be (hopefully) settled.
Plus they wanted to officially meet their niece.
When the arrived, Susan was glad to see they had came back as a group, though the older Vandom knew it would be a while before the old bonds the five shared were back to their old strength.
Willow on the other hand, was less then happy to see the other four. "You're bad for kidnapping my Mommy! I go get someone to punish you!" Willow stated and marched off to her room, while Will looked a little amused and a little worried at the same time.
"You guys might want to get your cell phones out if they can take pictures because you are so going to want pictures of this. Also…watch you your shins and ankles," Will told her friends and Mother.
The four young women looked confused, but the oldest Vandom had already grabbed her digital camera, making the redhead wonder if the woman had an idea what was coming from a possible rant her daughter had, while the members of W.I.T.C.H. were in Candracar.
A few minutes later, the heard the sound plastic hitting the hard wood floor and saw a rather interesting sight come around the corner and enter the living room.
Willow was now wearing a one piece green swim suit with a smiling frog on the front, she had two frog like swimming flippers on her feet, a green tool belt around her waist, a pair of green gloves on her hand, was wearing a small blanket with little frogs all over it like a cape and was wearing a pair of green swimming goggles on her face.
"I'm am the mighty Frog Girl and you are all a hop, skip and a jump away from justice!" Will had to use all her strength to keep her herself form laughing while her friends stared dumbly at Willow, while she continued her monolog.
"Willow sent me to punish you for taking her Mommy, so prepared to be licked!" Willow then walked as best she should while wearing flippers and stood right in front Cornelia, then started doing something strange with her hands.
"Secret Froggy Technique: Five Pronged Froggy Kick!" Willowed said as she did the weird movement with her hands, making the two anime experts of the group (Irma and Hay Lin) think the smaller redhead had seen a few to many Naruto episodes or something because of 'Frog Girl' was going through 'hand signs' to get her attack ready. Then everyone but Cornelia started laughing when they saw what happened next.
Willow started kicking Cornelia in the ankles, a total of five times to be exact. Cornelia let out a yelp of pain with each kick and fell on her butt after the fifth one hit. The others were laughing, while Susan was taking pictures like there was no tomorrow.
"Now for the rest of you!" 'Frog Girl' stated, but Will quickly stepped to save her other friends from the 'dreaded' Five Prong Froggy Kick.
"Don't worry Frog Girl, I'm sure the others are shaking in fear so much they would not dare hurt me again." Will told 'Frog Girl', while Irma added a little fuel to the fire.
The Water Guardian dropped to her knees said in a begging tone as she played along with Willow's game, "Please Frog Girl, spare us! We stand no chance against your might!"
'Frog Girl' clearly looked satisfied and said, "Very well, then I'll go tell Willow justice has been done. Hop! Hop! And away!"
'Frog Girl' did a few tiny little hops like she was leaping great bounds and then ran off to her room, while Cornelia glared daggers at the retreating girl and nursed her sore ankles.
"Will…I'm going to kill your kid." Cornelia grumbled as she tried to stand again, while the others laughed at her.
"I'm sorry Cornelia, but when she goes 'Frog Girl' it's hard to stop her. It's better to play along. I know you're mad about the kicking, but please don't spoil her fun and tell her you know her 'secret'." Will pleaded with the Earth Guardian.
"Cornelia, Willow is four years old. You can't be mad at a four year old for 'protecting' her mother." Taranee said as she tried to add the voice of reason to the conversation. It seemed to work, though the blonde still seemed a bit upset at being taken down by a child in a makeshift superhero costume.
A few minutes later, Willow came running out and say happy and excited tone, "Mommy did you see? Frog Girl was here!"
Most of the women present smiled at the girl's antics, while Will played along with her daughter's game. "Yes sweetie, I saw her. She really scared your aunties with her great power," Will said to her daughter who was now looking back and forth between her mother and the other four women.
"Aunties?" Willow asked in confusion, while Will scooped the smaller redhead up into her arms and took her to see her 'aunties'.
"That's right Willow, these are your aunties. That one is Irma, next to her is Hay Lin, then there is Taranee and then Cornelia." Will told her daughter and pointed to each woman as Will said her name.
Hay Lin was the most excited of the group of course and had taken Willow out of Will's arms and gave the small redhead a few pecks on the cheek, while Willow called out, "No! Not the yucky kisses!"
Will had to smile as she watched her daughter bond with her aunts, while Susan stood next to Will and said while eyes the familiar necklace around her daughter's neck, "Its good to see you are all still friends Will. I got a bit worried when they first showed up and wanted to speak with you, but it looks like you settled everything already."
"Well…I did leave rather suddenly and I was cornered into talking about…what happened. They seemed to be a little less upset after being told the truth," Will replied back, while fingering the Heart a bit, glad to have it back around her neck once again.
Susan said nothing else, glad to hear her daughter had told her old friends. The oldest Vandom did not like the idea of that information being forced out, but at least the friendship from four years ago seemed to be getting back on track.
Things were not completely back to what they once were, but it was a start.
000
AN: And there you go. Hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought.