A/N: Thanks to those who are still following along. A much quicker update (new record!). Please read, review and enjoy.

Chapter 14

Counter Strike

Fennella Feverfew and Griselda Blackwood were never supposed to be friends. On day one of their Freshman year, when their two names were announced, they both physically recoiled from the others existence, not because they inherently wanted to but because they had always been taught from a young age about families to avoid and the Blackwood's and Feverfews were no exception. The Blackwood's, like the tree they were named after, were steady and reliable. They rose to the top of their fields and hard work flowed through their veins while the Feverfew's were more cool, calm and collected; their family name coming from the daisy family of flowers, who were down to earth, not too aspirational but were gifted with unique abilities.

The last name of a witch did not only tell you their family's stature in society but also who should be avoided. It was considered bad luck to have a poisonous last name, one that, rumour had it, would only bring ruin and destruction to the family it was bestowed to. The Oleander, Hemlock, Foxglove, Jasmine and Yew families were all treated poorly because of their plant equivalents. The Jasmine berries that were fatal when swallowed within twenty minutes, prompting many to not let a member of the Jasmine family within their home for more than twenty minutes at a time. Or the Hemlock family who were never invited to parties or official gatherings because a mere handshake was considered too dangerous.

For the girls it was all myth and madness until they started on day one and instantly saw the school cliques gather. The gifted joined the gifted, the free spirited did the same, until they were the last two left. Against all expectation the two girls grew up together as best friends, they had each other's backs, weren't afraid to fight the good fight and both complimented each other in their skill and ability.

Both knew that the time would eventually come when they would graduate from Cackle's Academy and go their separate ways, enter the real world outside of the schools protective layer. Both had reasoned that they could face this future together, possibly attend college and study their various disciplines and be there to criticise each others first dates, cry over the heartache of a bad break up with ice cream and trashy television, and reminisce about the good old days at Cackle's. So when the time came for the two to face Broomhead they knew exactly how to do things, together.

With Miss Drill's battle strategy in mind they materialised into the Great Hall, catching the other girls off guard. Maud gasped as she turned and saw the two, placing a hand to her chest to steady her beating heart. "What the? How did you get in here?"

"They teleported," Drusilla smiled, stepping forwards, "but how, no one has their magic?"

"We don't have any time to explain," Fennella explained, forcing something into Maud's and Drusilla's palms. "Take these and pass them to as many witches as you can, the older the better."

"But, why-" Maud stopped, answering her own question as the tingling in her hands became familiar and she smiled.

"Just go!" Griselda yelled, forcing the two into action.

"Listen everyone, we have a plan!" Fennella announced proudly, "Mistress Broomhead is about to arrive. We found Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom. They are both safe for now but Broomhead knows what we've done. She's going to find us and when she does-"

"When she does what?" Hecketty's voice echoed in the room before she appeared on the stage, looking down to the two seniors of the school. Maud stood to the side, having done her duty. She looked to the others who were trying to stop themselves from all smiling like fools but their grins were difficult to maintain. Sybil Hallow didn't have an issue keeping a straight face however, the very essence of Broomhead's voice shook her to the core. "What are you planning to do?" She asked, making Fennella smile.

"You'll see. Ready everyone! Go!"

Thirty beams of magic in different hues flew in Broomhead's direction, one from each student as their other hands held the tiniest fragment of Malachite. The heat produced by the stone threatened to burn a hole in their hand but they held on tight regardless, knowing that its magic would only last temporarily and that they needed to use as much of its power as possible.

The small grain glowed green in Maud's left hand as she focused her magic out of her right, the group forming a strong barrier in front of the witch. At first it seemed to work, making girls high five one another as they looked at Broomhead like a bird standing in a cage. However, taming the witch was going to require more energy. Hecketty smirked and stepped forwards, placing her hand against the wall and shattering the barrier like glass. The fragments spread outwards, sending students to the ground, some sustaining cuts as the dagger like shards sliced through skin like a hot knife through butter.

Maud fell to the ground, keeping a firm hold on her Malachite shard, she tried to send another blast towards Broomhead who swatted it back towards the girl with a flick of her wrist. Others were too exhausted to continue. Sybil shook on her hands and knees, watching a drop of blood fall from her cheek to the polished wooden floors. She lifted her head to see Broomhead slowly stalk towards Fennella and Griselda.

"Gris, Gris! Wake up!" Fennella begged, shaking her unconscious friends body on the ground. "Come on, get up!"

"She's better staying down, you both are," Broomhead spoke, her shadow engulfing the two. Fennella defiantly looked the older witch in the eye before she stood back to her feet, struggling to use her left leg which had suffered a bad cut.

"I'll never stay down," she spat, defiance strengthening her resolve as the other young witches watched on. "You will never have our school. I'd rather die than see you as Headmistress."

Griselda's eyes fluttered open but before she could scream Broomhead sent a bright white ball of pure magic into Fenella's chest. It took hold instantly making the young witch freeze on her feet, fingers clenched into fists and eyes slowly fading.

"Fennella! Fennella!" Griselda screamed, crawling to catch her best friend as her body plummeted to the floor. Griselda looked into her eyes, seeing nothing but an empty shell lying limp in her lap. The small piece of Malachite she had in her hand turned to dust at the same time as the others did, their hands filling with green ash as they unclenched their fingers and watched it whisp away into the air.

"Do you all see now?!" Broomhead questioned loudly, an order that made girls duck for cover. "Even with magic you are nothing. The day you decide to stop fighting and see the truth is the day you get your lives back!"

"We'll never give up fighting," Griselda whispered, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably, making Broomhead kneel to look her in the eye. She smirked, the corner of her lip rising with a mixture of anger, disgust and amusement.

"We will see about that."

The moment Fenella's body hit the floor, Constance screamed, curling up in a ball on the ground of her cell in an agony and pain she had never felt before. Every inch of her body burned with excruciating pain as her mind struggled to comprehend the incomprehendable.

Amelia felt it too, her body reacting in a different way, feeling numb from head to toe as she sat lifeless against the wall, tears rolling silently down her face. She didn't move, didn't feel, didn't think, it was as if all was lost. Once the stabbing pain in her chest calmed slightly and Constance found the strength to push herself up on her trembling hands she looked at Amelia.

"Amelia? Did you feel that?" Amelia's head simply nodded before she took laboured breaths into her chest, trying to calm herself down before she had a heart attack and died, she wouldn't give Agatha or Hecketty the satisfaction.

"I've never felt anything like that before," Constance sighed, a hand still placed over her heart where a new scar had formed beneath the surface. This one had passed her barriers, passed the turrets, archers and knights that guarded her heart from any one and any thing. With one swift moment, Hardbroom's defences had fallen and her heart broke. "Fennella…she's – " salty tears welled at the edges of her vision.

"Dead," Amelia murmured, in a voice so soft it could have been mistaken for the wind.

Constance screamed a second time, something more primal, instinctual, as she forced herself to her feet and started attacking the barrier with all her might. She punched, kicked, screamed and cried, each blow proving worthless against the glass barrier.

"Constance," Amelia sighed, standing back to her feet, "Constance it's no use, stop."

"I can't!" Hardbroom berated, her hands now bloodied from her rage fuelled efforts but she continued to fight. "I can't let her do this! I can't!"

"You don't really have a choice." Hecketty materialised with Agatha by her side. The bumbling witch held their charge in her arms with a twisted smile in her features. Her thick glasses making the shire lack of care for the student's loss of life even more bemusing. Hecketty wiped her hand to the right allowing the barrier to fall and Constance to nearly lose her footing and fall forwards. She caught herself in time.

"Was that such a good idea?" Agatha questioned.

"They don't have any magic, it won't matter," Broomhead lied. Although the confrontation in the Great Hall had been easy it still had taken its toll on the older witch. She couldn't sustain keeping their shield up if she was to face another attack. "Put her down," she instructed and Agatha did, gently laying her on the floor before the two witches.

They looked down to her lifeless body. A young witch with her entire life ahead of her, eyes closed, skin pale. The sadness that had invaded Constance's heart had now been replaced with rage. She looked back to Broomhead with determination and pure raw hatred in their eyes.

"I wanted to avoid all this, Constance."

"Then hurry up and get it over with!" Hardbroom yelled. "I disappointed you, I couldn't use magic the same way that you do, to manipulate others to do your bidding, to manipulate the Witches Code! You've wanted me dead since I betrayed you so why won't you just hurry up and get it over with?! Kill me! Stop this madness and get it over with! Take my life and leave this place, these students, these teachers, alone!"

"I can't, Constance," she replied, "my work isn't finished yet." Without another word she left the room with Agatha as Amelia crawled to Fenella's side and lifted the girls head onto her knees. Holding her cold face with her hands, Amelia sobbed with grief. Fenella wasn't her child, wasn't a member of her family, wasn't her flesh and blood, but the loss of her life still hurt her as badly as if it had been. The bonds that teachers form with their students go beyond grading papers, beyond study halls and certificate courses, it is an intangible thing, an emotional connection that can never truly be understood from those outside of the profession itself. This was Amelia's worst case scenario, the worst hypothetical situation in all her emergency procedure manuals, the part that she never wanted to face. But here it was, here she was, lying dead on the floor of her Academy and she had been helpless to stop it.

Constance joined Amelia on the floor and placed an arm around the Headmistresses shoulders. "I will make her pay, Amelia, on my life I swear it."

Mildred's eyes opened, she struggled to sit up as Constance stepped around Fennella and knelt in front of the pupil. "Mildred, are you alright?"

"Yeah I think so, just a little sore," she explained before her eyes flickered past Miss Hardbroom to Fennella. "But, Fennella, is she…?" Constance nodded before taking Mildred into her arms, giving the girl a moment to grieve. Her tears escaped and flowed down her cheeks, and although she knew under any other circumstance that her brain would be trying to make sense of why Hardbroom was holding her she knew that her mind wasn't thinking logically.

Ethel stirred to Mildred's left and as she forced herself to sit up, Hardbroom questioned her as well. Ethel nodded that she was fine before smiling with tears in her eyes, "I'm so happy to see you, Miss Hardbroom."

"I'm glad to see you too," she spoke softly, placing a hand on both of their shoulders, "both of you."

Maud stroked Griselda's hair as she stared at the opposite wall, eyes unfocused and mind numb. While other students used their sashes as makeshift bandages and tried to help keep morale high, Maud whispered sweet nothings into Griselda's ear. "She'll be okay," Maud whispered before Griselda sat up and looked Maud in the eye. "She's in a safer place now."

"Yes, she is," Griselda replied, getting to her feet before she beamed a smile taking Maud off guard.

Fennella sat up. Her lungs breathed in an almighty breath as she did so, eyed wide and smiling wider than she ever had in her life. She fell backwards making Miss Cackle catch the girl and stare opened eyed. "Oh, thank God it worked." She looked down to her chest to see nothing burned or broken and checked her leg to see that it still needed some care.

By the time she turned around and saw Amelia and Constance's eyes wide in complete disbelief she couldn't help but smile at their bemused expressions. "Sorry for scaring you," she smiled as Amelia wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her tighter than Fennella had been held her entire life. "It's okay, Miss Cackle."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Constance asked, seeing the girl wince as she lifted herself up. "Mildred, can you rest Fennella's foot on your knee, we need to elevate it slightly," she explained, asking for the girl to remove her sash from around her waist so it could be used as a bandage.

"But how is this possible?" Amelia questioned. "We felt your magical essence leave this Academy?"

"Miss Hardbroom, Enid asked me to give you this." She opened her hand and inside was half of Enid's Malachite stone, glowing bright green. Constance smiled as she looked to Amelia who reflected the same back to her.

Hardbroom took the stone from Fennella and clutched it tightly inside her bruised and bloodied hand. She felt the tingling in her spell casting fingers return, her mind become clearer and focused on a new objective. It was time to end this, once and for all.

A/N: Thanks for reading, more coming soon!