Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. Do you have a problem with that?

AN: I'm glad I was able to get this up on time. Really.

Melinda felt her head spin as Joan's magic began to take effect. Memories began to flicker through her mind, some of them were hers, others from Caleb or Joan. Every embarrassing moment, every fear and doubt she ever had came rushing back to her with startling sharpness. But it wasn't just her memories. Caleb's memories were there and Joan's as well.

Flashback (Melinda)

Melinda is three years old. Her dad Caleb is playing with her, in an energetic game of tickling.

Flashback(Caleb)

Caleb is five years old. He taps his friend Aldarn on the shoulder and grins.

"Your it." He says in his child's voice, before turning to run away, Aldarn chasing him as fast as he can.

Flashback(Joan)

Joan looked down at the small bundle the nurse had just given her and felt an overwhelming surge of love for the child she held in her arms. Looking up at her husband Chen, she smiled at him and said.

"Isn't she beautiful? Our little girl Hay."

Flashback (Melinda)

It's Melinda's fourteenth birthday and she's having a party. A small celebration for her and her brother, with a few close friends. Thomas and his friend Lewis are having a friendly wrestling match in the garden, egged on by their friends. The girls on the other hand, have decided to play a game of truth or dare in the kitchen. It's Anzu's turn and the stubborn Japanese girl's face is furrowed in concentration as she tries to conceive a good dare for Alice. They're interrupted by Melinda's mum, Will Vandom.

"Girls" Will begins "I'm going to tell you a story that will be very important to you…"

Flashback(Caleb)

Caleb nocked the arrow to his bow. Drawing back the bowstring, he took aim and let it go. His opponent does the same thing a second later. Both arrows hit the target, but it is his opponents shot that is a bullseye and not his. Oh it's not far out, but his shot is slightly out.

"Bad luck Caleb. Looks like I win the archery tournament." His opponent says to him. Caleb smiles at him.

"Aldarn." He begins "You're the better shot. You beat me fair and square. Well done"

Flashback (Joan)

Joan is walking Hay Lin to school for the first time and for once, her little girl isn't bouncing off the walls. As they arrive at the school gates, Hay Lin's face lights up as she spots her kindergarten friend, Irma Lair. Although Irma has proven herself adept at getting both herself and Hay Lin into trouble, Joan sense's a good heart in her.

The memories continue to come flowing through, in a wave that threatens to engulf them, but Joan controls their flow and neither Caleb nor Melinda are overwhelmed. The memories appear in random order. The memories aren't sequential, but their shared link provides them with a sense of time and place. As the spell ends and the link was broken, Joan collapsed on the table.

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"I don't recall Heatherfield Central Park looking like this." Alice commented sardonically as the three girls arrived.

Hannah pointed to the war memorial that sat in the middle of the space they were in. (She didn't think that the word park could really apply to the battlefield that lay around them) "That's definitely the war memorial." She began "And it's at the same place as we remember. It's just… different."

Alice let out a slight laugh. "That's rather like saying Niagara Falls is a little big. Whatever Rebecca changed, it was big."

"I'm not so sure it was." Sarah replied, her face wearing a curious expression.

Hannah and Alice stared at their friend in disbelief. It was Alice who spoke first.

"This isn't the time for joking around Sarah." She said firmly. Sarah shook her head.

"I wasn't joking Al. My best friend's out there somewhere and she's all alone. We at least have each other." She paused, feeling uncertain about how to continue. "It's called the butterfly effect or to give it its proper title, chaos theory. Essentially it states that a small disturbance can create a big disturbance. The best example is the butterfly flapping its wings. A butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and nine months later it causes a hurricane in New Orleans."

"That's ridiculous!" her friends exclaimed. Sarah merely smiled.

"Well in 99 of cases the motion of the butterfly is cancelled out. But in 1 of cases, it does just that. It sounds ridiculous, but it's the only way to explain weather systems. I'm guessing that time is similar."

Alice opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of a dozen assault rifle bolts clicking into place. Turning to face the sound, they found themselves staring down the barrels of a dozen M-16's held by a dozen US Marines.

"Oh damn." Was all Alice could say.

00000000000000000000000000000000

"Tell us again where your friends house is, that is to say the one they were visiting?" the soldier asked Anzu for what felt like the thousandth time. Anzu rolled her eyes and wished her friends were there. Alice would probably have some sarcastic remark on the tip of her tongue, meanwhile her best friend Sarah would be close to losing her temper. Hannah on the other hand would be sitting there calmly, perhaps preventing Anzu and Alice from getting into yet another fight.

As a guardian, Anzu was used to getting into tough situations. But she always had her friends with her and she always had her powers. Of the two, it was her friends she was missing now.

With a weary sigh, she turned towards the soldier and gave him the address once more. He looked at her doubtfully.

"We've already checked there and found no-one. Are you sure?" he asked her and Anzu felt her temper rise.

"Yes I'm sure! Search again dammit!" she snapped in annoyance.

"There's no need to snap you know." A voice said sarcastically from her right. She turned and glared angrily at the voices owner.

"You'd snap too if you were in my position, Mr Thomas Vandom!" she snapped at him. Thomas Vandom just smiled back at her.

"I'm not in your position Anzu. Aren't I lucky?" he asked sardonically.

Suddenly Anzu smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead.

"I've been such an idiot!" she exclaimed.

"Well I could've told you that." Thomas replied with a smirk on his face. Anzu merely ignored him.

"Caleb! What about searching Heatherfield Central park as well? Maybe they made their way there when this stuff kicked off."

"Worth a try I suppose." Caleb said doubtfully, so Anzu tried to explain further.

"It's not the first time that we've faced weird stuff like this and they knew I was going to be there, so perhaps they went looking for me. It's got to be worth a shot."

"Most of that territory is under enemy control and there are marauders all over the place. I doubt they'd be able to even get there." Seeing the puzzled expressions on their faces, Caleb continued. "Marauders are groups of renegade soldiers and the like, who use the warzone to run wild. They're noted for being thieves and ruthless killers, occasionally they take hostages, if they appear to be valuable."

"Can you please try at least?" Anzu pleaded with him, her voice strained. Caleb nodded his eyes sympathetic.

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On closer inspection, the marines didn't really look like marines. Oh they were wearing US marine Corp uniforms, but Alice could see at least three days stubble on some of them and their weapons looked badly maintained. No Alice knew that these were no marines.

"Well what have we here?" said a greasy, redheaded young man, who appeared to be the groups leader. All three of them recognised him instantly. Uriah Dunn was a petty crook and a thug, who had recently gone to jail in their timeline. He had beaten up an old lady in a truly vicious mugging and his face had appeared all over the local papers. It appeared he hadn't in this timeline.

"Didn't you hear me?" he snarled. "Perhaps we'll have a bit of fun with you first, before we kill you. After all, it'd be a shame for you to die virgins, eh boys?" He waved to his men who sniggered at his comment.

As the men closed in on them, the girls looked at each other, then at the men and balled their fists. They were determined to go down fighting. After all, as Caleb had said during their training, if you're going to die, you might as well die fighting.