Chapter 10

Alchemy walked through the rebel base with a bowl of cold water. She sighed a little. Both Taranee and Angelo left 7 days ago. Caleb and Nerissa had been training with their new swords while G.E.N.I.E. received extra lessons from Cassidy, Mandy, Joel and Andrew. Martin was busy with spying on Hay-Lin's activities in Meridian and the rebels themselves were training more and more. All knew that the big fight, the ending of this war, was coming near. Alchemy had taken the task of watching over Will. Will was starting to get better. The children came by every day to listen to her stories. This gave them extra reason to train harder. Will herself started moaning to Alchemy, saying that she was well enough to move around again, but Alchemy had made her promise to stay in bed until she was completely cured.

She was now walking to Will's tent. Yesterday Will's fever was nearly gone so with a bit of luck, Will would be better by tomorrow. Alchemy pushed the canvas aside and walked into the tent. What she saw made her stop abruptly. Will was doing a handstand with one hand while handing some very small papers with her other hand to a person who was smaller than Alchemy's thumb.

'So you will deliver these letters to the other worlds?' Will asked the tiny man.

'It will be my honor, oh Oracle!' the tiny man squeaked.

'I thank you for your help, but you really shouldn't fight in this war.' Will said as she switched arms. 'You and your people have done enough already.'

'Ma'am, I'm afraid you cannot stop our decision. You and your Guardians have saved us once and now we want to return the favor. Besides, our people have already fought once against the Zamballans and we will fight them again.' the tiny man spoke.

'Then I won't stop you.' Will said with a kind smile. 'Please deliver the letters and then prepare for battle.'

Alchemy saw the little man bow.

'I will. May the Main Tree cover you.' he said as a very tiny fold opened.

'Same for you.' Will said as she watched the tiny man leave.

She then bent forwards, creating a bridge before standing straight up. She saw Alchemy looking with her mouth wide open and grinned before stretching out.

'Alchemy, you're catching flies.' she said.

Alchemy quickly closed her mouth.

'Will! What are you doing out of bed?' Alchemy then said.

She put the bowl with water down and then went quickly to Will and tried to push her into bed but Will seemed to be stronger.

'Oh come on Alchemy!' Will moaned as she struggled to stop Alchemy from pushing her back in bed. 'I'm all better again! I'm no longer sick!'

Alchemy eyed Will with suspicion.

'You don't believe me?' Will asked.

'Considering that you've been saying this ever since day 1…No.' Alchemy said as she crossed her arms.

Will pouted.

'You know what?' she said. 'I don't have time to argue with you if I'm cured or not. So let's make a deal. You'll watch over me for the rest of the day. If I show any signs of illness you are allowed to pull me back into bed, if not you agree with me that I'm all better. Okay?'

Alchemy stared at Will. Will looked better than the days before. She looked confident, calm and fully energized. She sighed in defeat.

'Okay.' she said. 'But one sign of illness and you'll stay in bed till I say that you can come out, understood?'

Will smiled at Alchemy.

'I knew you would say that.' she said. 'Trust me you won't regret it.'

'I already do.' Alchemy said as she walked back to take her bowl with water.

'Well, I'm going to take a bath. Is it okay if I take it alone?' Will said as she eyed Alchemy.

'Sure.' Alchemy said. 'I can see that you're well enough to take a bath alone. Just warn me when you're ready. I'm going to watch the Guardians and the Warriors. They should be training now.'

A creepy sort of smile crept over Will's face but Alchemy hadn't noticed it because she was already heading out the tent.

'Sure, I'll warn you.' Will said.

Alchemy had a very bad feeling about this but sighed. There wasn't exactly a lot she could do. She didn't have any powers and she didn't know Will good enough to bribe her to stay in bed. She placed the bowl of water in the kitchen tent and walked to the training grounds. Natasha and Edeline were sparring against each other. Stones and lightning flew over the ground as the two clashed. Mandy and Joel were encouraging the two and yelling hints and tips. Ehren was fighting with an ice sword against Cassidy, who was holding a mace of ice. Georgi and Ilana were practicing combination techniques and were now trying to increase the range of Ilana's flamethrower by a gust of wind from Georgi, without dousing the fire. Caleb and Nerissa were again fighting each other. Both either clashed with their swords or used magic. Caleb could keep on shooting but Nerissa was still using her life force, even though she could use her magic with less strain on her life force. When Nerissa and Caleb took a small break, Caleb noticed Alchemy.

'Hey Alchemy!' he said. 'Aren't you supposed to be watching over Will?'

'I think she's completely cured of her illness.' Alchemy said with an awkward smile.

'She is?'

Alchemy, Caleb and Nerissa looked up to see the remaining Warriors and G.E.N.I.E. walking up to them.

'Is Will fully healed?' Georgi asked.

'She says she is but…' Alchemy started but was interrupted by the cheering of G.E.N.I.E.

'Yay! Will is fully healed!' Natasha said happily. 'I was worried!'

'Now she can help me train!' Georgi said as happy as Natasha.

'Oh, I think I can help you as well.' an ominous voice said.

Shivers ran down our heroes spines when they heard that voice. They all turned around to see someone standing in a black cloak. The person lowered the hood and immediately dodged several magic attacks. Caleb and Nerissa had pulled their swords and G.E.N.I.E. had took the air. Mandy flew next to them, Cassidy coated herself with ice, Joel was standing on his energy board and Andrew grew three times his height. Alchemy grabbed for the knives she had hidden in her sleeves. All of them eyed the cloaked person with hatred. For the cloaked person was none other than Hay-Lin!

'My, my, my. It seems that you weren't slacking off.' she said with a smirk on her face.

Caleb ran at Hay-Lin and thrust his sword at her. Hay-Lin laughed coldly at his attempt and jumped out of the way. Caleb immediately shot magic from Blue Destiny but Hay-Lin waved with the Heart of Zamballa and the attack was nullified.

Other rebels now noticed that Hay-Lin was in the base as well. They all grabbed their weapons and tried to get closer to the training grounds, only to find an invisible bubble blocking them.

'You will die for the things you've done!' Mandy yelled angrily at Hay-Lin.

Hay-Lin made a mock bow before grinning at Mandy.

'You like my work?' she said. 'I must say that Matt was a failure but then again, who am I to judge? He is one heck of a kisser, if his mouth doesn't smell like weed.' she said.

Mandy roared in anger and shot energized feathers at Hay-Lin. Hay-Lin inhaled and then blew the feathers harmlessly away.

'Andrew! One, two!' Cassidy said as she curled up in an ice ball.

Andrew grabbed Cassidy and threw her with full power at Hay-Lin. Cassidy stretched in mid-air and started to twirl around like a drill with her ice swords pointed forwards. Hay-Lin jumped high in the air but when Cassidy shot past her from beneath she "exploded". The ice that coated her shot right up at Hay-Lin, who didn't see it coming. The ice hit her hard. She bled at her arms and legs but she was smiling nonetheless.

'Cute.' she commented as she started to heal right in front of their eyes. 'But I've seen better.'

Joel then rushed at her, shooting energy balls at Hay-Lin. Hay-Lin smiled before disappearing in a small tornado. Everyone looked around in a vain attempt to find her. Hay-Lin's cold laughter echoed over the training grounds.

'Something wrong?' she said. 'Can't catch what you can't see?'

'Where is she?' Natasha said in slight panic.

'She was the Guardian of Air.' Caleb said. 'She can turn invisible at will.'

Georgi would never admit it but after hearing this and having seen how easily Hay-Lin created the little tornado she felt a pang of jealousy and maybe, MAYBE admiration.

Suddenly Hay-Lin appeared. She was standing next to Joel and kissed him on his mouth. Joel was shocked and tried to push Hay-Lin off him. Once their lips were parted Hay-Lin licked her lips with dark pleasure.

'Mmm.' she said. 'You still taste the same. It's just a shame I can't enthrall you anymore.'

'You bitch!'

Hay-Lin jumped away from Joel, just in time to dodge a massive ice ball. Joel, on the other hand, wasn't that lucky and got hit by it. Cassidy hurried to Joel, eyeing him with concern.

'Oh Joel! I'm so sorry!' she said.

Joel was nursing his head and moaned in pain.

'You've got quite the temper Cassidy.' Hay-Lin said. 'And not a bad taste for men. He is really good in bed, I'll give you that.'

Cassidy turned to Hay-Lin, her eyes blazing with hatred. She prepared for another attack but was stopped by Joel.

'Don't.' he said, still dazed. 'She tries to make you angry.'

Cassidy stopped her attack and nursed Joel.

'You know, Irma is also pretty good with the whole ice making.' Hay-Lin then said.

She looked at Andrew and saw that his anger was increasing. He grew a couple of extra feet and started to advance on Hay-Lin. Hay-Lin didn't move and kept talking.

'You know, I've been thinking of using her as a sort price. You know? The warrior that kills Angelo gets her as his bride. What do you think Andrew?' she said as she looked up at Andrew.

Andrew lost it as he roared in anger. He tried to step on Hay-Lin but Hay-Lin turned invisible again. Andrew punched a couple of times on the ceiling, making rocks fall to the ground in the hope of hitting Hay-Lin with one of them.

'I must say you guys take a death pretty well.' Hay-Lin said as she appeared behind Nerissa. 'I mean, okay. I knew you wouldn't care about Julian's death, Nerissa, but the others?'

Nerissa turned around and slashed her sword at Hay-Lin in rage. Hay-Lin caught the sword between her hands. Nerissa glared at Hay-Lin.

'I loved him.' she said softly. 'And you will pay for killing him!'

She then channeled her magic through the G-sword, electrocuting Hay-Lin. Hay-Lin quickly released the sword and shook her hands.

'So you've got some new tricks? That doesn't matter. What happened to Will, will happen to you.'

The others stopped their attacks and all looked at Hay-Lin.

'What did you do to Will?' Caleb said enraged.

Hay-Lin checked her nails.

'You know, her illness helped me more than I could ever wish for. Just like your gullibility.'

'What do you mean?' Natasha yelled threateningly as she crackled a bit with electricity.

Hay-Lin put a hand under her chin while her eyes looked maliciously at her enemies.

'Hmm… How to put this?' she said to herself. 'Ah! I've got it!'

She turned to all of them with a big smile on her face.

'When someone is taking a bath, unguarded, you don't hear them scream when you attack them from behind.'

'WITCH!' Caleb yelled as he stormed at Hay-Lin.

G.E.N.I.E. fired their attacks at Hay-Lin, all screaming in fury as tears flowed from their eyes. Caleb charged at Hay-Lin. The others quickly followed Caleb, all roaring in rage. Hay-Lin dodged the first couple of attacks of G.E.N.I.E. until Caleb and the others were near enough. She then started to twirl in her place, creating one heck of a tornado. Everyone who stood on the ground was sucked in it, even Andrew. G.E.N.I.E. and Mandy got sucked in it as well. The rebels, who were standing around the bubble that kept them away from the battle field, could feel the power of the tornado. The tornado slowly stopped and the Warriors, the Guardians, Caleb and Alchemy lay on the ground. Defeated.

'Well, that was no fun.' Hay-Lin said as she walked over to Caleb. 'Maybe I should have waited until Taranee and Angelo returned from Fadden Hills. Maybe then I would have had some fun.'

Caleb looked up.

'How do you know that Taranee and Angelo are in Fadden Hills?' he questioned.

Hay-Lin smirked at him. A happy light seemed to dance in her eyes.

'You should know that you can't hide these things from me.' she said. 'Rebel boy.'

Caleb's eyes widened as the others were slowly getting to their feet. Caleb got up and looked Hay-Lin in the eyes.

'You can't be!' he said.

[A/N] Okay, admit it. You people hate me. I cut off in Fadden Hills and then go to Meridian. That's not fair. But hey! Life's not fair. Now I bet you're wondering how it's possible how Hay-Lin was capable of getting into the rebel base, kill Will and be unseen by the rest of the rebels. Well…invisibility anyone? Also what did Caleb mean? Why didn't Hay-Lin kill them instantly? Is she planning on torturing them? Or is it something more complicated? I'm afraid you'll have to see that for yourself in the coming chapters!

Oh! Yeah, I've got a poll running about my season 2 REWRITTEN stories. There are currently 4 people who have voted on it. It's now 50% who wants Shagon to die and Zafyra to live and 50% who wants them both to live. Now I can't choose! So people, be nice and vote. The poll is on my profile.

And of course don't forget to review!

Ps. The little guy Will spoke to comes from the planet Minus. It is one of the Known Worlds and the people are rather …small. I've got the idea from the comics issue 69. And the whole "May the Main Tree cover you" is their version of "May the Lord watch over you." Considering that they have 1 single giant tree on their planet.