Betrayal of the Heart
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing.)
The remaining three former guardians saw how their blond haired fire wielder fled from the room and glanced at each other as the younger ones transformed and, rather unnecessarily, called out their powers like some sort of roll call. It wasn't needed for them to do that and the formers hoped that the girls didn't do it every time. They'd be caught in an instant on a stealth mission.
Right now that wasn't important however. The three of them had noticed the way Halinor had fled from the room, and glancing at each other they didn't even need telepathy to know that they were all on the same page. The three formers quickly chased after their blond and only dimly noticed that Elyon was following them.
"Sometimes I forget that Hallie was the more athletic one." Kadma muttered as she chased after the blond, the others having to nearly run to catch up while Kadma was moving at a brisk walk. She had longer legs than them…and she didn't want Cassidy or the young queen to get lost in the fortress. Again in Cassidy's case.
"Not to mention that she probably gets plenty of time to walk or run around here when it's boring." Cassidy said and the others hummed in agreement.
"Plus she knows all the shortcuts and everything." Yan-lin said wincing and glad that she was still very much active in the restaurant which let her keep up with the other three.
The only way they were able to keep up with Halinor at all is because they saw brief glimpses of her hair or robe when she would make a turn, and sometimes a look of her near running down the hallways when she'd go straight for a little while.
Finally she ducked into one room and the others were able to catch up.
"Ha-" Kadma yanked Cassidy back out of the doorway when Halinor screamed. It was a terrible soul wrenching scream that sent shivers down their spines and chilled them to the bone. It wasn't just a scream however. It was accompanied by a large burst of green fire that scorched and burned the room she was in, and had almost hit Cassidy if Kadma hadn't had grabbed her.
"Thanks Kaddie." Cassidy said letting out a breath of relief and making Kadma smirk slightly at her.
"I'm still saving your ass even after forty years. Some things never change huh Cass?" Kadma said and Yan-lin snorted slightly, but there was another blast of fire and scream from Halinor that brought them back to what they were really here for. Not that they forgot.
"She's going to end up using all of her life force if she keeps going like this." Yan-lin said worried, she knew how much life force it took to even do simple things like turn invisible much less use full force fire power.
"That might be what she wants." Kadma said grimly and the others winced as well.
"Elyon can you shield me enough to try and get through to Hallie?" Cassidy asked making the young queen nod looking concerned. Cassidy saw more than felt the shimmering glow of magic form around her as she stepped back into the doorway, only to yelp and duck back after she tried to take a single step into the room.
"No good. She's got lava and fire going and she's definitely not controlling it." Cassidy reported while she noticed that the shimmering shield of a sort had a large crack in it where the fire had struck at her.
"She's crying lava from what I saw but it's not drying as fast as it should, the fire's probably keeping it hot enough to not solidify. And it only passively grazed me until I tried to enter the room. That's when it lashed out." Cassidy reported to the others who winced at this.
"That means that Halinor's definitely not in control. She'd never attack the baby of the group, especially not with lava." Yan-lin said grimacing as well and making Kadma nod in agreement, the both of them remembering how devastated Halinor was at Cassidy's death. She had been the telepath after all…and…she had never told them explicitly what happened that night but she had sensed Cassidy's death. She had only ever said that Cassidy called out for her and she had listened but hadn't been fast enough to save the red head.
There was no way in the known universe she'd lash out at Cassidy and risk losing her again, especially not by her own hand.
"If anything it looks like her powers are reacting to her and trying to protect or sooth her." Elyon said glancing around the doorframe, ducking back next to Cassidy when a flame came near her.
"WILL!" The howl of pure grief and anguish, along with the mental scream to match, nearly drove the formers to their knees. Elyon was driven to her knees but stood back up almost immediately.
"But something is definitely fishy about this. There's no way she should be able to use this much of her powers without exhausting herself, not without a heart." Kadma said although her eyes were filled with pain. One of her oldest and closest friends was in such pain and sorrow and there wasn't anything Kadma could do to help. God she felt so useless.
"You're telling me. I couldn't even turn invisible for ten minutes without nearly exhausting myself. She's using fire, lava, and telepathy however and still going strong." Yan-lin said and her eyes shown with the same pain as Kadma's.
"She probably is too far into her grief to even feel the drain. If she doesn't pass out soon though then her life force might be-" Cassidy cut herself off, not wanting to think about it.
"Queen Elyon? Can you please protect me with your powers? I might be able to make it further in and get her attention." Kadma requested and Elyon nodded, covering the older woman with her magic.
"Good luck Kat." Cassidy winced as there was another burst of fire and then Kadma entered the room. The other three peeked into it behind a shield Elyon put up and watched as Kadma made it two steps into the room before the fire lashed out at her.
"Halinor!" Kadma called to her friend, ignoring the fire as best as she could.
"Halinor it's me Kadma!" Kadma shouted but Halinor didn't seem to hear her, tears of lava falling down her face and forming a pool of magma underneath the kneeling blond woman. Not that the lava affected her at all. It was her element and she had many more years of training than Taranee did or indeed most guardians. Even without being hooked up to a heart or auramere she still had her built up resistance to her own element, something most guardians never got.
"Gotta admit that looks badass." Elyon muttered making Cassidy snort.
"Halinor!" Kadma tried to get closer but the fire lashed out at her again, stronger than before.
Halinor let out another howl of anguish and pain before the fire and lava seemed to swirl around her, something that made the other four back up a bit with their hearts leaping into their throats.
"WILL!" The mental and physical scream of the girls name, of Halinor's bonded, made all of them recoil in pain but stare with wide eyes as the fire and lava completely covered Halinor in a small hurricane of the element.
When it died down and the fire was gone as the lava began to cool…Halinor was nowhere to be found.
"No…" Kadma sunk to her knees in defeat, staring at where her old friend had been just a few seconds ago.
"Hallie." Cassidy had her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes. Yan-lin looked devastated as she closed her eyes and bowed her head. Elyon kept quiet and looked upset as well but gave the three older women some time.
They had lost yet another dear friend.