I don't own W.I.T.C.H.

Chapter beta-ed by XVDragon.

21. Dreams come true

Will's world stopped for an instant. The time seemed to freeze as she slowly looked back in her visitor's eyes. With his skeletal face, his white hair and his freezing aura that being was looking at her with empty eyes.

It was like falling into a nightmare. Like dreaming about something terrible and being conscious of the dream, but being incapable of waking up.

But it didn't last long. Will abruptly shook her head and reality crashed on her. She held back a cry of fear and jumped back until she found herself trapped against the wall. She opened her mouth to speak, but she could only babble a few words. She couldn't look away from that monster.

"W…. What the… hell?" her words jammed in her paralyzed throat.

The cold that the creature radiated was incredible. It crept in her bones, it wrapped her in a paralyzing grip; her legs left her and Will collapsed shakily against the wall.

"But… who are you…?" she whispered faintly.

The creature stepped forward and approached her. He didn't answer her, he only stared at Will. He looked like he wished to pierce Will with his gaze, as if he wanted to reach the deepest and the most hidden place in the girl's soul.

At every step of the monster Will felt like she was being crushed by his presence. Her breath began to become strained and a thin veil of cold sweat covered her and made her shiver. Will blinked a couple of times because her sight was becoming blurred and she didn't want to lose sight of the thing in front of her.

But she was losing her energies. Every glimpse of power, every thought of hers, it was as if she was being robbed of them. Will leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, focusing the desperate sound of her heartbeat. She didn't want to look again at that monster… she couldn't. She was too scared and she didn't know why.

She felt the cold growing stronger. Dread overcame her and she began to shake not only for the cold, but with fear too. She felt that thing closer and closer, she was positive that if he had touched her it would have been the end for her life, that creature would have instantly destroyed her. She held back a sob. She didn't want to die crying like a coward.

She waited for the monster to grab her, but nothing happened. Instead she heard a loud and deafening noise. Will opened her eyes and saw that her bed had been literally thrown against the monster, which was now hidden by a cloud of dust.

"Will!" Orube screamed, "Get away from there!"

Will stood up. She felt her legs like jelly. She approached Orube and the two girls ran together toward the door, but the door suddenly closed with a slam, trapping them inside the room. Orube and Will turned back and saw that the monster was still standing and was apparently unharmed by Orube's attack.

"It looks like he doesn't want us to leave." Orube commented. She put herself before Will in a protective manner, ready to fight. "I came to tell you that dinner was ready, but apparently we have an unexpected guest." The creature grinned at her words.

"What… what is it?" Will asked. Orube shook her head, and Will noticed that Orube was as scared as her.

"I don't know," she whispered back to Will, "I've never seen something like this."

The young warrior bravely lunged at the monster and tried to hit him with her punch. The creature didn't try to dodge; he remained still and stopped Orube's punch by trapping it into his skeletal hand.

"What?" Orube exclaimed. Her opponent hissed and tightened his grip. The bones of Orube's hand shattered with a sinister crunch. Orube's cries tore the air and she fell on her knees, but she was thrown away against a wall by a violent force before she could touch the floor. Orube hit the stone, fell and remained still.

"ORUBE!" Will cried anxiously. She felt a strong anger rising inside her and taking place of the fear. She turned furiously toward the monster and screamed, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

Her bracelets, which until that moment had continued to glow, became even more luminous as Will summoned her power. The girl threw herself against him and tried to hit him, but she was rejected by an invisible force. Will rolled on the ground at her opponent's feet. She stood up immediately and attacked again. But this time she focused all her power in a single place, her kick, to try to hit him.

It worked. Will hit him and her power crashed against the monster with a deafening roar. Will was almost hurled by the released energy, but she managed to maintain her balance.

She tried to see how much damage she had caused. She had never done such a powerful blow, so much energy in a single point strongly slowed her, but as her opponent had never tried to dodge their attacks she had decided to hit. But the thing in front of her was unharmed again. She was horrified. There was no sign of her attack on that skeletal face, no wound, nothing. Will swallowed hard. Her attack had failed.

"What a troublesome child."

Her legs gave up and Will fell again on the floor. That thing had spoken to her! His voice was even worse than the cold that he radiated. Will let out an inarticulate sound, she was paralyzed by that infernal presence.

The monster approached Will and bent over her. Will decided to fight until the end and she laboriously stood up in an act of despair. She summoned all the power left in her and began to hit the monster with her reddish charges. He let her hit him, but after a while he waved his hand and her power abruptly vanished. Another movement from him and Will found herself trapped against the wall by a huge force.

He approached her again. He was so close that the cold was almost unbearable. The creature reached out and leaned his hand on Will's cheek, gently. The girl wondered for an instant why he hadn't kill her, but then every thought was cancelled by the feeling of his hand on her face. So cold and yet so… burning. So… crackling with power ready to explode… just as she usually felt when she summoned her energy. Will was overwhelmed by the intensity of that feeling, her eyes rolled inside her head and she passed out.

The creature was about to grab Will, but her skeletal hands never touched the unconscious girl.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Himerish suddenly yelled. The two warriors had arrived in time.

The monster stopped, but not for personal choice. To stop him was mostly an energy blow shot by Endarno that hit the monster fully in his back.

Endarno took advantage of that and bravely took Will to bring her away from the danger. He reached Orube and summoned an energy barrier to defend them. After having checked if Will was okay the older warrior began to heal Orube, who had two broken ribs that threatened to pierce her lungs.

Himerish unsheathed his sword and lunged at the monster with all his strength. The creature stopped the blade with his arm without showing any sign of fear. The blade clashed against his apparently invulnerable skin.

Himerish gritted his teeth. He knew he didn't have a chance to win against him, but he wanted to give Endarno the time to take the girls away. He forced himself to look into his opponent's hollow eyes.

"You actions are unforgivable, Thanathos!" he exclaimed. The creature called Thanathos grabbed the warrior's blade and trapped it.

"A child should stay with her father." He hissed as he changed his free arm into a long blade of bone.

"She's not your da...AAARGH!" Himerish cried when the bone blade stabbed his flesh. The blood started to flow at their feet and Himerish's sight began to be fuzzy and blurred.

"You have no hope against me, and you know this. Why do you fight?" Thanathos asked Himerish.

"You shouldn't be here…" Himerish bravely continued, "You'll never have her. She doesn't belong to you."

Thanathos hissed and a dark cocoon of energy wrapped Himerish. The power hit him violently and crushed his bones and organs. Himerish let out an agonizing cry as he felt her head bursting with pain.

"You're nothing but dust," Thanathos snarled, "but watching your death amuses me. You'll suffer and you'll see me taking away the girl. Then you'll die!"

Himerish coughed blood. He had to protect Will, he kept on repeating to himself, he had to, no matter what… another strong blow interrupted his thoughts and filled every single moment of his existence with pain.

"HIMERISH!" Endarno yelled. He was about to go and help him, but Himerish stopped him.

"DON'T!" he managed to say as his blood slowly ran down his lips and torso, "D-don't… you must… take them away!"

Endarno then tried to teleport to Kandrakar together with the two unconscious girls. Nothing happened. Endarno tried again, but it was as if his teleporting powers were blocked.

"You won't escape." Thanathos said. "Too long I waited, and now I want what is mine." He waved his hand with violence and Endarno's barrier shattered. Endarno unsheathed his sword and prepared to fight. But Thanathos raised his hand and the same dark energy which had wrapped Himerish took him as well. Thanathos clenched his fist and his power crushed Endarno, who fell on the ground with a strangled cry.

Will regained consciousness. She felt weak and dizzy; she didn't remember immediately the reason why she had fainted.

And then she remembered. She looked around her feverishly and a horrible scene came to her eyes.

There was Orube next to her, pale and unconscious, but she seemed to be okay. But a few meters far from them Endarno lay in a pool of blood, unmoving. The room had been destroyed; the air was full with dust and blood. Himerish lay in the middle of the room, wounded. The monster appeared in her room towered over him. One of his limbs was stretched in a long, bloody blade.

Will swallowed. It had to be a nightmare, it could not be real. All that red, that blood, it invaded her senses and clouded her mind. She covered her mouth with her hands, shivering, and whishing with all herself to wake up.

"Will."

Will jerked. That monster knew her name. She slowly turned toward him and looked back at his face. The situation was just too much unreal to be true, it was just the umpteenth nightmare and she was finally going crazy. She would have woken up screaming in her bed, but this time she wouldn't have gone back to sleep. She would have stayed awake, she would have used her power, she didn't care. But she didn't want to make another dream like this one, never more.

Will asked Thanathos, "Is this a nightmare?" Even if the answer was obvious.

The monster smiled: "It depends on the points of views, child." He told her.

The two stared at each other in silence for a while, then Will spoke again, "Are they… dead?" she asked. Both Himerish and Endarno were still on the ground.

"No." Thanathos said to her, "Not yet. I promised them a slow death. And I always keep my promises." Thanathos started to walk toward her but the girl, scared, screamed: "DON'T!"

And he miraculously he stopped. Will was a bit taken aback by the fact that he had listened to her, but curiosity took place of surprise. Speaking with her own nightmare, it was an uncommon thing.

"What are you?" Will asked him. Thanathos opened his arms as to emphasize the obvious,

"You know me."

She knew him? How? Will had never seen such a monster. But yet… she had the feeling of knowing him. Like some sort of deja-vu. Maybe she had already dreamt about that being previously.

"Why did you stop?" Will asked. The monster was still unmoving. She saw him grinning.

"I can come closer, if you want." He told her and began to advance again. Will shook his head immediately and Thanathos chuckled and stopped again. "I can't come closer" he began to explain her, "If you don't want."

"Why?" Will asked. What a weird dream. Why she should have wanted that thing closer to her?

Himerish moved weakly behind the monster and Will's heart fastened: Himerish was still alive! Thanathos noticed that too, but he choose to ignore him. He stared at Will and answered,

"It's up to you to choose me."

"I don't want to choose you." Will immediately said. She didn't want to have anything to do with that thing. She wanted him out of her sight, of her life, of her dreams. She wanted to sleep peacefully and to live with the people she loved. "Go away." She told him. But the monster did not move.

"We are alike." He told her abruptly. "Maybe you should reconsider your answer."

"I'm not like you!" Will yelled angrily, "I'm not a monster!"

"But look at yourself, little one" Thanathos whispered wickedly, "You are here, in the middle of an half-destroyed room, and you're speaking with your nightmare as nothing had happened. Not far away from you your friends are dying and you have no eyes but for me, child."

"NO!" Will protested while hot tears streamed down her face. It was not true, the thought that the two warriors were in danger was almost unbearable…

"I know your pain." Thanathos continued, "I can feel it. I can end all your pains and suffering. Let me come, Will, and I will take away from you this endless agony."

"Don't… don't listen to him, Will…" Himerish suddenly said. He was trying to approach her, but he had lost too much blood. He was so pale.

"Himerish…" Will whispered.

"Don't let him taking you…" he continued. He paused, too exhausted to speak again.

"If it is your wish, I'll leave." Thanathos suddenly said to Will. "Close your eyes as I keep the promise made to these men."

"What?" A panicked Will asked.

"I'll kill them." He replied cruelly, "And it'll be a slow death."

Thanathos grabbed Himerish's neck. He kept him nailed on the ground as he pushed his hand against his head.

"I'll crush your skull."

Will was about to vomit. He was killing him in front of her. If he kept on pushing like that, he would have killed him effortlessly. Will began to be utterly terrified as she slowly took conscience of the fact that she wasn't dreaming, that it was all real. It was really happening and she had to do something.

"Stop! Please!" Will exclaimed desperately. Thanathos turned his head 180 degrees toward her without turning his body: "What do you want?"

"Let them live." Will begged him. Thanathos laughed:

"I don't take orders from you, child." He told her. But Will was still speaking:

"Spare them… and I'll come with you." She said in a whisper.

This stopped Thanathos. He let Himerish go. "I'm listening." He hissed. Will swallowed hard:

"You said… you said that you always keep your promises. Promise me that they will live and that you'll spare them and I will come with you. It's a promise."

Thanathos stared at her for a long time. And then, after what seemed an eternity, he waved his hands. The worst wounds vanished from the warriors' bodies. Himerish and Endarno woke up with a startle but they remained still on the ground, incapable of moving.

Himerish had heard the conversation between Will and Thanathos. Will didn't know what she was doing.

"Will don't go…" he begged her. He saw Will shaking his head. She was crying and she was scared, but she had a determined look on her face. She took a few steps toward them and tried to smile bravely:

"You saved my life." Will said to Endarno and Himerish, "You took me back from the darkness I had fallen. Now it's time to repay you for everything. Thank you, I'll never forget."

Will turned toward Thanathos. He reached out and waited. Will thought about the girls, Matt, her family. A last thought for each one of them.

"Goodbye." She whispered. She took Thanathos' waiting hand. A strong cold suddenly invaded her and took her soul, making her faint. Thanathos didn't let her falling and held her.

"You won't win." Endarno snarled as he tried to stand up.

"This battle is over." Thanathos said. "Forget about her. She made her choice."

"We'll never give up." Himerish told him. Thanathos smirked:

"Then you will die." He vanished and the room emptied of his presence. Immediately after his disappearance a bright portal appeared in the middle of the room.

"It's Kandrakar. They tried to reach us." He finally stood up and helped Himerish and Orube, who was starting to move weakly.

"Let's go. Kandrakar must know what has just happened." Himerish said darkly as they stepped into the passage.

I really wanted to write more for this chapter, it looks so short, but this one was meant exactly to describe this particular fact. Nothing more, nothing less.

In the next chapter, on the contrary, I'll start to explain everything ('finally!', you may say.).

Okay, next chapter: Puppetmaster.

Hope you're enjoying this so far!