Betrayal of the Heart
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing.)
"I will try to summon the Heart of Kandrakar." Oracle said looking devastated at what had befallen the red haired keeper. Kadma and Cassidy were trying to comfort Halinor while the Oracle held out his hand.
The Guardians watched in anticipation as he attempted to summon the Heart to his hand.
There was a brief green glow but when it faded the Heart was nowhere to be seen. The Oracle frowned at that.
"Strange." The Oracle said before he concentrated and tried again. This time the green glow was brighter but when it faded the Heart was still not there. Now the Oracle was outright glaring at his hand as if betrayed him and he focused one last time.
There was a bright green flash that nearly blinded those looking at it but still there was no Heart when it faded.
"This should be impossible…unless…" The Oracle showed surprise now, the rare emotion from the man making Halinor look up at him from the floor, the tears of lava still dripping down her cheeks to the floor where they solidified upon hitting the cool marble.
"Easy Hallie." Kadma was careful not to actually touch the lava as she kneeled down beside her friend to try and comfort her, Kadmas' old bones creaking and groaning the entire time but she didn't show it.
"The Heart should have returned to me. There are only two reasons that I can think of for the Heart to reject the summoning." The Oracle said frowning now as he hid his surprise and then looked sternly at the remaining four Guardians.
"How sure are you of young Will's demise?" The Oracle asked making Cornelia look disturbed and dismayed at the question. Inwardly she was panicking a bit. Were they found out? Could Taranee's mental adjustments stand up to the Oracle himself checking out their minds?
"I moved all the rocks and Tara tried telepathy while Hay-lin flew around the area in case she managed to teletransport away. She…She's gone." Cornelia said her voice wavering again as if she were trying to hold back her emotions and remain strong for the others.
"Then I'm afraid that we may have a very serious problem." The Oracle said just before the Guardians were forcefully de-transformed and they all collapsed to the floor rather hard.
"Hay-lin!" Yan-lin hurried to her granddaughters side while Cassidy left Halinor to Kadma as she helped Taranee up, Alfor and Tibor going to aid Cornelia and Irma respectfully.
"My powers…they're…" Irma seemed shocked and even in pain as Alfor helped her up.
"Luba! Hurry and check on the Aurameres! I'm afraid that what I feared is what happened." The Oracle said to the cat woman who had merely watched them revert to normal with a bit of sadistic glee hidden in her eyes. Luba nodded to him and then raced off towards the Auramere chamber immediately.
"What…happened?" Taranee asked as she leaned on Cassidy.
"I have sent Luba to check and see if my suspicions are confirmed." The Oracle said although his voice was a bit more strained than normal as he began to openly pace in front of them. Something was greatly troubling him…and the thought that something was troubling him to the point of pacing not only sent a chill down everyone's spines but also brought Halinor up out of her grief for a brief moment.
"Oracle?" Halinor's voice was wavering and unstead as she stood up, leaning slightly on Kadma for support since it seemed like all of her own energy was drained.
"Sir! The Aurameres!" Luba came rushing back in sounding panicked and with her fur singed.
"Luba!" Alfor and Tibor immediately dropped the Guardians they were supporting and ran to their friends side as she stumbled and hit the ground.
"Easy there Garfield." Tibor said picking her up and holding her up.
"Screw you Fido." Luba hissed when Alfor accidentally touched one of the more burnt patches of her fur. Elyon had jumped up from where she had still been on the floor and raced over.
"Here. I-I know how to heal her!" Elyon swallowed thickly as her hands glowed with a soft but bright white light.
"I'll be fine princess." Luba tried to push the girl away but Alfor stopped her as Elyon choked back tears.
"I'm not much use right now to anyone…I…the only thing I can do to be of use is heal. So please…let me help." Elyon said, her voice soft and sad as she looked a Luba desperately. Luba looked her right in the eyes and immediately relented.
Elyons eyes were two pools of sorrow and a desire to be useful. She had lost one of her closest friends today, hadn't even had a chance to try and help her. She didn't want to be useless enough that she couldn't help someone when she was right there.
"Thank you." Luba relented in understanding, knowing all too well what the young princess was going through.
"Luba. What happened? You look almost as bad as when you got on Halinors bad side and started a fight." Alfor asked worried and making Luba growl at the reminder while the Formers glanced at Halinor who gave a teary guilty smile.
"The aurameres. One second they seemed to be normal, the next they had merged together and blasted the entire room." Luba said as Elyon healed the burnt fur and skin while the four teenaged former Guardians were finally able to stand on their own power.
"That's what happened to the girls. Their connections to their Aurameres were forcibly cut…but what does this mean?" Yan-lin asked looking worried, after all she had never heard of something like this happening before.
"What it means is that things are worse than I feared." The Oracle said causing everyone to look at him and be a bit scared. None of them, not even the Council Members, had ever seen the Oracle this worried or grim before.
The Former Guardians hadn't even seen him look this grim when Nerissa betrayed them and killed Cassidy. They soon learned why.
"The Heart of Kandrakar has done the unthinkable. It has chosen a new Keeper on it's own and merged with them."