Night of the Broken Glass

C9: Lightning Glass

[A/N: Oh boy.  Ooooooooh boy.]

[Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the original stuff.  I own whatever and whoever I create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

The seasons were changing from spring to summer and the students of Hogwarts were all severely tempted.  It always seemed that the school gave exams in the best weather.

"Have you been sleeping at all this week, Kendra?" Rima questioned as they left Seal's classroom.  They had been made to turn a piece of parchment into a blank journal.  Points added if the journal had some sort of design, but very few points were given if the journal fell apart.  Some people had set the parchment on fire by accident.

"Very little." Kendra replied wearily, "I think I have exam nerves."

"Bah." Virgil waved his hand, "I think you've been having dreams and not telling us."

"No, I'm more worried about my marks." Kendra retorted, "And I haven't had any really odd dreams that would keep me awake."

"Well, Dante's exam is our last, and he's right after Snape." Rima muttered as they headed for the dungeons, "So two more tests, and then you can nap.  How's that sound?"

"Methinks I need my wits about me for these ones." Kendra smirked, "But that sounds quite good."  As they started in the room for the Potions exam, Kendra paused.  The forbidden door at the very end of the hall…was ajar.

"Oy, Kendra, come on." Virgil tugged at her elbow.  Kendra blinked and looked at him, and then looked back.  The door was closed.  She shook her head and walked into the room, thinking that she really needed a good, long nap.

"Let me think…" Virgil muttered, casting his mind around, "Red Caps, kappas, and…  What was the other one?"

"Hyolens." Rima replied, "Nasty swarming bugs that enjoy reeking havoc, remember?"

"I remember absolutely everything for the exam, and then it goes straight out of my head." Virgil sighed, "That's so weird."

Rima smirked a bit and looked towards the lake.  As was custom at Hogwarts, students had nothing else to do for an entire week until the exams were graded.  The trio had changed into more comfortable clothing and was now sitting around a tree by the lake.  Kendra was fast asleep, her head on Virgil's shoulder.

"What is it with her and putting her head on your shoulder?" Rima questioned, "Whenever I see you two, she's always got her head on your shoulder."

"Maybe I'm just comfortable." Virgil snickered a bit.

Her footsteps seemed to echo loudly in the empty hallway.  The door at the very end was open just a little, but it wasn't supposed to be.

She walked to the door and pushed it open.  A throbbing red sky and a woman with white hair greeted her.

The woman nodded her head slightly and turned towards the rest of the room.  It was the courtyard, and the woman had the weapon on her back.

The white-haired woman turned to look at her with lightning-blue eyes…

Kendra woke up abruptly, sitting bolt upright.  Rima and Virgil jumped at her sudden awakening, and were even more shocked when Kendra got up and starting running back towards the castle.

"Kendra, wait a minute!" the two called after her as they lay chase, "What's wrong?"  Kendra continued to run as fast as she could towards Gryffindor Tower.  She was running down the corridor that the Fat Lady resided in when Virgil and Rima burst out from behind a tapestry in front of her.  Kendra tried to get around them, but Rima jumped in front of her.

With surprising strength for such a little person, Rima put her hands on Kendra's shoulders and stopped her from running any farther.

"You aren't moving one more step until you tell us what's wrong." Rima growled angrily, "Now tell us!"

"Someone's in the room!" Kendra strained against Rima's hold, but couldn't budge an inch, "Someone opened the door and is in there!  I saw it!"

"You saw it where?" Virgil asked.

"In my dream!" Kendra replied, "I have to get my Invisibility Cloak and get down there!"  Rima suddenly let go of her shoulders and let her run.  She did, and promptly tripped over Rima's outstretched foot.

"Listen, Kendra." Rima crouched down and looked at Kendra seriously, "I believe you, and I'm going to let you go.  However, there's not a chance on a cold day in Hades that I'd let you go without us.  Get your Invisibility Cloak quickly, and we'll go see if anything's amiss down there."

As Kendra rushed off, Virgil asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"I believe some dreams more than I believe the spoken word of other people." Rima replied simply, "She has odd dreams, but they seem to be premonitions.  And up to now, they've been pretty accurate.  I believe her, and I want to see if anything has happened.

"If something has…I think we've got more than just a problem on our hands."

The trio moved quietly down the hall towards the forbidden door.  It was open.  They did the only thing they could think of: they went inside.

A mirror, ten feet tall and resting on golden feet, was the only thing inside the circular room.  It reflected the three as they pulled the cloak off, and it reflected their confused faces.

"What is this?" Virgil questioned in a soft voice, "I thought Dumbledore would have had some sort of trap laid for anyone who tried to get in here."

"I don't know." Rima replied in a whisper, "I don't have any idea of what would be in here."

Kendra walked slowly forwards, the cloak slipping from between her fingers to the ground.  She went to the mirror and looked at the frame.  At the very top, the words "Egat en Shadeaux" were carved.  On the right side of the frame, something had been scratched in with a knife.  It read "HP2".

"H-P squared?" Virgil questioned as he saw the thing, "What's that mean?"

"Two h's and two p's." Kendra murmured, "Harry Potter and Hermione Potter."  There was a very uneasy silence.

"Well, there isn't anything really wrong except the door's open." Virgil broke the quiet, "We should leave and—"

He couldn't finish his sentence because a clawed hand had burst out of the mirror and pulled the Riddle boy into it.  Two more hands grabbed Kendra and Rima and pulled them through the mirror.  The Invisibility Cloak lay forgotten on the ground near the door.

"Ouch." Virgil and Kendra said in unison, "What just happened?"

"Get up!" Rima snapped, "Now!  Both of you!"  Kendra and Virgil slowly got to their feet and saw Rima already up and looking tense.

"Rima, do you know where we are?" Kendra asked as they stood, "What's the matter?"

"Be quiet!" the blue-haired girl hissed in reply, "There's at least twenty of them already."

"Of what?" Virgil questioned.

"Imps." Rima murmured, "Fire imps, the little buggers."  Kendra and Virgil exchanged looks; they saw no such thing.

"Listen, I know that you don't see anything." the blue-haired girl whispered, "But I can hear them.  They're outside this room, clinging on the wall.  They want to destroy anything that comes in here or is near that mirror without permission.  See that door?"  Kendra and Virgil nodded in reply.  "Run to that door as fast as you can.  I'm going to draw them to me."

Before they could do anything, Rima had darted forwards and lifted her hand.  As they watched, Rima's hand swiftly changed into a brick, and then into her hand grasping the brick.  She hurled it to the ground as hard as she could, and a loud banging sound echoed in the chamber.

All at once, creatures with crimson skin, claws, and very pronounced fangs swarmed in from the windows.  They rushed at the source of the sound and straight at Rima.  Rima pointed at the door with a wide, silver eye shining with fear.

Immediately, Kendra lifted her foot to go towards Rima, but Virgil grabbed her round the waist and started dragging her towards the door.  One of the creatures noticed them and broke away, jumping and landing in front of them.  It leered at them and stood up from its natural crouch, slowly opening its mouth.

A black flash collided with the imp and both of them went flying to the wall.  Rima stood holding a long, black, twin-pronged lance in her hands, pinning the imp between the prongs.

"Didn't you hear me?" she shouted with fear in her eye, "I said run!  Get out of here now!"

Virgil nodded quickly and dragged Kendra faster to the door.  He pulled the door open, got both of them through, and slammed it shut before the imps could get out.

"Why did you do that?" Kendra whispered weakly, her hands over her face, "Why did you leave her behind like that?"

"Kendra, she told me to." Virgil said, not able to look at Kendra, "She…she…"

"She's going to die, isn't she?" Kendra asked with a harsh break in her voice.

"Rima's a shapeshifter.  I don't know of many ways for a shapeshifter to die." Virgil finished, "But I don't know why she made us run out here."

"To get out of the danger." Kendra said with another break in her voice, "To keep us safe."

"Then how do we leave?"

The corridor was silent for a long, long while.

Night had fallen in the world the three had come from, and not many had noticed the missing trio.  Of course, one half-breed had been sniffing around in questioning wonder.

But there was very little to look for.

Virgil and Kendra had found their way out of the castle and into its courtyard.  There was little else they could do except see where they were.

The sky was pulsing red, casting blood-red light over the ground.  A large and ornate fountain sat in the very center of the courtyard, covered in ivy and flowing with pure, clear water that didn't reflect the red.  Virgil stared at the sky as Kendra walked to the fountain and watched the water flow.

"I have absolutely no clue where we are." Virgil concluded with a sigh, "What do you think, Kendra?"

Kendra stared at the water, but murmured, "Egat en Shadeaux.  That has to mean something."

Virgil didn't answer.  Kendra looked up from the water, and found that Virgil had vanished.

"Virgil!" Kendra said in shock, taking a few steps forwards, "Virgil, don't play games right now!  Don't scare me like this!  Please."

A hand fell on her shoulder and she let out a relieved sigh as she turned around.  However, when she saw whose hand was on her shoulder, she nearly fainted.

"Why, hello, Kendra." Anton, the Dark Lord Anton, said with a wicked smile.

"Trial ends…right around…here." Seal sniffed the air a bit more and stood in front of the open door.  She blinked and then her jaw dropped.

"Oh bloody…" she muttered before she turned and bolted back up the hallway.

"Now, Kendra, there's no reason to be frightened of me." Anton said genially as he and Kendra walked down a corridor, "You seem to be preoccupied with other thoughts.  What bothers you?"

"What did you do with Virgil?" Kendra questioned, "Where is he?"  As she spoke, she tried to move her arm even an inch, but was frozen except to walk beside the Dark Lord.

"He is simply with your dear friend, Rima." Anton replied, "They are facing a multitude of water and fire demons."

"Rima said they were just fire imps!" Kendra turned her head to look at the Dark Lord, "What did you do?"

"I added a little fun to their lives." Anton smirked, "But honestly, Kendra, why do you fear me?"

"Are you going to kill me?" Kendra questioned, "Where are you taking me?"

"To show you the fruits of your parents' labor." Anton replied, "They used the world of the Shadeaux, this world, to accumulate the powers of the five elementals.  I'm going to show you the one that I know is only a little while away from here.  The Lightning Stone."

He snapped his fingers as they came to a door, and it creaked open.  Inside was a semi-circular room with a window facing the courtyard as the far wall.  A pedestal sat in the very center of the room with an orb on it.  The stone was blue as lightning with actual lightning crackling inside it.

Kendra. a voice whispered inside her head.  Kendra nearly jumped as she felt feeling and strength starting to return to her entire body, but kept still.  Anton stared with a hungry gaze.

"That stone holds the power to summon the lightning elemental." he said in a low growl, "But it will not allow itself to be touched by me.  It has a will, and I hate creatures with a will against me."

"Then why are you showing me this?" Kendra asked as she let her fingers flex very slowly, "What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Nothing, for the moment." Anton answered, "However, if you join forces with me, we will simply destroy these elementals.  If you do not join me, then you die along with the rest of those who resist me."

"What makes you think that I'll ever work with you?" Kendra didn't dare look at him with contempt in her eyes, "Why do you think that?"

"Because you'll do it, or you'll die." he replied with a sharp glare, "What do you say?"

"I say that you're mental!" Kendra took this one chance in a billion and ran towards the stone, hoping against the darkness that the stone…

Take it!

"DAMETIO!"

The next thing Kendra felt was fear.  And pain.  The area behind her, around her, turned into an explosion and threw her towards the window.  Her hand hit the stone and knocked it from the pedestal.  The explosion blew the window out into the courtyard and threw Kendra straight into the fountain.

Burns, bruises, cuts, everything seemed to not matter as Kendra sat up from the water.  The Lightning Stone was just before the fountain, and Kendra scrambled to grab it.

"You pathetic child." Anton said as he jumped deftly from the balcony room and raised his wand, "You dare refuse my one and only offer?"

"I won't let you hurt anyone else!" Kendra strained against the pressure the magic placed on her and reached towards the Lightning Stone.  Her fingertips touched it and she strained even more.  Blood flowed from the corner of her mouth as the pressure increased even more, but her fingers twitched again.  The stone rolled at her just enough.

TAKE IT!!

As soon as her fingers closed around the hard stone, Kendra felt as though something was wrong.  A second, sneering, dark-hearted presence pushed her mind back further into the recesses of her subconscious.

"Finally…"

Anton stared as the young Potter girl stood up, his spell repelled with ease.  She looked at him, all the injuries on her fading quickly, and her eyes the blue color of lightning.

"I've waited so very, very long for a body of my own to possess." Kendra said in a voice that was not hers, "It's wonderful to feel this again!"

"You!" Anton growled, "Who in the bloody hell are you?!"  Kendra—not Kendra—laughed in a darkest tone possible.

"I?" the new creature laughed, "I am the dark knight of lightning!  I am Plasma!"

"You are dead!" Anton shouted, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

But before his crimson eyes, Kendra's body vanished into lightning and shot from the spot she was standing.  The spell of death hit the wall and cracked it, but Kendra hadn't been touched.  Instead, she reappeared a few meters to the side, looking very different.  She was at least two feet taller with white hair and lightning-blue eyes.  A huge blade was held on her back by some odd force and her clothing had changed to robes resembling lightning; white with blue edges.

"Fool." Plasma said in a soft voice, "There isn't a cold day in Pyro's home that you'll hit me with any of those spells."  She raised a hand and the sword flew obediently into her palm.

"Now die."

All at once she had slashed at him and a tiny cut had appeared on his cheek.  Blue blood slid from the wound and he leapt away, drawing a katana from his waist.

"I'll kill you!" he roared angrily, swinging his sword at Plasma.  Her arm received a deep gash, but it mended as she leapt a distance away.  The blade on the sword snapped from the long hilt and turned into a scythe.  Plasma grasped the hilt and swung hard and fast.

Anton dodged the attack, but only just.  His robes split at his chest, but not to show his skin.  He smirked as he closed his eyes.

"You've taken the girl's body, haven't you?" he questioned, "You've possessed her completely."

"And why do you care?" Plasma asked in reply, "You only want the same thing I want of her."

"I want her strength, dear elemental, not her body." Anton opened his eyes, including the third in his forehead, "However, I am not searching for a battle with you.  I want to finish my discussion with Kendra.  Farewell…for now."

With that, he vanished.

You've beaten Anton.  Get out of my head!

"How about, no, human?" Plasma strode through the halls, clearly knowing where to go, "I'm not taking orders from a pathetic creature such as you."

Who are you?  How do you know this place so well?

"Name's Plasma." Plasma replied, "The dark knight of lightning, and the person who is complete control of your body.  Now shut up so I can find that bloody mirror."

You know about the mirror?

"Know about it?" Plasma kept checking the rooms, "I helped create it, this castle, and Shadeaux itself."

What?

"This world, everything in it, was created by the five elementals." Plasma began to explain, "We wanted to have a place of solitude where the more powerful magic creatures could live without fear of disgusting low-breeds and Muggles who would hunt and fear them.  However, we decided that the entrances would be very few, and we would decide on who knew of Shadeaux.

"It seems, however, that we had few decent choices.  Certain vampires and their clans, some were-demons, and shapeshifters were allowed, but very few were deemed worthy.  My fellow elementals grew very angry with me because I was often the final word in which creatures were allowed into Shadeaux.  Pyro, especially.  He wanted all creatures other than wizards—even the lowliest of the non-humans—to be allowed into Shadeaux as a safe haven.

"Pathetically disgusting creatures that they were, I had to disagree.  And so we argued for a long time.  My rage was—and still is—too overpowering for just an argument.  I decided that if they wanted more creatures to enter Shadeaux, then I would destroy the unworthy ones.  However, they decreed that if I was going to do such an atrocity, then I would have to be relinquished of my powers.

"And so they all sacrificed their bodies so I, bound eternally to my brethren and everything that befalls them, would also lose mine.  But now that you so foolishly listened to what I told you, I have a new, young body gifted with my immortality, and my plans will now be set forwards again."

No!  You can't do that with my body!  I won't let you hurt people like that!  Please don't!  Please!

"Oh shut up." Plasma snarled, "I've waited five millennia for my revenge on my brethren, and I won't let a mere human stop me."

NO!  I'M NOT GOING TO BEG ANYMORE!  THIS IS MY BODY, AND YOU WILL NOT HARM ANY PERSON USING IT!

Plasma stopped walking and clutched at her temples.  Everything was pounding in her skull; Kendra was fighting her with every fiber of her mind and soul.  She stumbled sideways and electricity crackled around her hands and head.

"You arrogant human!" Plasma growled, "What do you think you're doing?!"

I'm taking my body back, and you aren't going to stop me!

Plasma let out a scream of rage and pain, but her head snapped back, and when it slumped forwards again, one eye was lightning-blue and the other was emerald green.

"You can hear me, right?" Kendra's voice asked from her own mouth.

"You filthy human." Plasma's voice emerged again, "How dare you—AGH!"

"Listen up, Plasma!" Kendra forced her mind forwards more in the body, "I'm going to let you stay in my body because I don't know how to get rid of you, and I need your strength.  My friends are in the room with the mirror, and we're all going to go back home together, whether you like it or not.  Now come on."

An electric charge ran through the air beneath her feet and lifted her from the ground.  Fast as lightning she flew down the hallway, and she hoped that everything was still all right.

"And you're absolutely sure that they went through that mirror?" Dante questioned as he followed Seal down the hallway, "If they did, then…"

"Then we might be in a whole lot of trouble." Seal finished.  They rushed into the room, wands raised, and stopped almost instantly.

"I was wondering if anyone was going to notice us missing." Kendra was sitting against the mirror, her blue and green eyes half-closed, "You kind of missed all the action back in Shadeaux, but it wasn't that great.  If you don't mind, professors, I'm going to sleep now."

With that, her head slumped forwards on her chest, and Kendra was fast asleep.

The windows of the hospital wing were open and a bird was sitting on the ledge, piping its sweet little song.

"Hello, little bird." Kendra said as she sat up in the bed by the window with the bird, "Have you come to wake the school?"  The little bird let out a tweet and Kendra lifted her finger towards it.  With a bit of hesitation, the bird fluttered to rest on her finger with another tweet.

"I see you have." Kendra smiled a bit, her different colored eyes glinting from the sunlight, "And I thank you for the beautiful song you sing me now.  How wonderful that you can do so."  The bird turned its head and tweeted again.

Two low groans came from the two beds beside Kendra.  Virgil and Rima had awoken and were sitting up, looking at her in question.

"Kendra, what happened?" Virgil groaned, "The last thing I remember is seeing…"

"Anton's gone for the while." Kendra said in a calm voice, smiling vaguely, "He won't be back.  Don't worry about him, and rest for a while, OK?"

Virgil and Rima looked at each other in wonderment, but lay back down and watched their friend listen to the little bird.  Outside, the sky was turning dark with thunderclouds.

"A beautiful song before a thunderstorm."

—to be continued—