Yayness! Updating after a 2-week hiatus. Drop some reviews while you're here! I need feedback if I'm gonna continue this…
Disclaimer: Again, WITCH and its characters are not owned by me but by the big company that we all know...
Chapter 2: Disturbances
An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.
The Codex Astartes –
Taranee was on her bedroom, sitting beside the window. As she stared out at the cold night outside, she started to think about today's events. There was another training session today. Even though it was business as usual at the practice, Taranee could sense the gang's animosity towards her, due in no small part to that recent incident regarding her reaction towards Sylla's interrogation. She allowed herself to look back on that day at Redfield Academy…
Taranee (the real one) and the Hay Lin astral drop were sprinting through Redfield Academy trying to find Cornelia's astral drop, which had recently caused them a truckload's worth of trouble and was now missing. They were in the park now, after what Taranee was sure was an hour of searching.
"Didn't she give you any idea as to where she was going?" asked Taranee to the astral drop.
"Absolutely none", answered the astral drop, "she just took off with Rick and left me to give you the note."
Taranee sighed. Recently, the astral drops had been developing rebellious streaks of their own, making it harder and harder for the guardians to re-integrate with them. Will's had been, by far, the hardest to cope with. It had run away from home, taking with her all of Will's pictures of Matt. She was obviously infatuated with the man, and it had taken all of the group's persuasiveness to force her to re-integrate with Will. Will had been, of course, scolded by her mother for worrying her and running away from home.
Taranee forced her mind back to the matter at hand. She sighed again.
"Well, she couldn't have gotten far. We should probably che - aaaah!"
From out of the trees a figure had grabbed Taranee and now held her in a chokehold. She could see Hay Lin's astral drop look back and pause, obviously astonished at what she was seeing. Taranee grabbed her assailant's arm and pulled, but it was no use. She couldn't pull free. She looked up at the towering figure to see who he was and, like the astral drop, was astonished at what she saw…
"Mr. Sylla!" exclaimed Taranee, "wha –" she choked and gasped for breath, "what are you doing!"
"Trying to get some answers! Now, little girl, you will tell me everything I need to know."
His voice was sinister and cunning, very unlike the Raphael Sylla that Taranee had come to know in the last month. He had been a very comforting teacher that helped everyone. Now he was only threatening, even deadly. He – he isn't a teacher, thought Taranee, he's someone else, someone trained for this.
"Who –", Taranee choked again, Sylla's hold on her tightening, "who are you really!"
"Special Agent Raphael Sylla at your service! I specialize in paranormal cases. I told you when I met you that I love a good mystery, and now you're going to help me solve one. Now I'm going to ask you a question this time. What kind of powers do you have!"
Taranee looked at the Hay Lin astral drop, which was obviously stupedfied. She considered communicating with it telepathically for a moment, to tell it to help her, but she remembered that the astral drops didn't have any powers.
"I – I don't know what you're talking about!", she screamed defiantly, "What powers are you talking about!"
"Lies make me grumpy." And with that Sylla increased the strength of his chokehold.
Taranee choked and gasped, her body instinctively trying to wriggle out of Sylla's grasp. She could feel the oxygen flow being cut off, her view darkening…
But then she felt the power of fire flow in her arms, which was still holding on to Sylla's. The next thing she knew, Sylla had let go of her and he was screaming. Taranee had welcomed back the fresh air and gulped in a lot. And she turned to face Sylla kneeling on the ground, trying to stand up. He spoke…
"Hehe. I couldn't have asked for a better confession. And what do you have to say for your friends?"
"They…they know I have special powers. They look up to me!"
"Ha! Nice try Taranee, but as far as I know, your other friends have powers too! My thanks, dear Taranee. And now, my word of advice to you. Be careful of what you do, 'cause I'm going to be right on your heels!"
And with that, Sylla had ran back and retreated to the Redfield Academy main building, while Taranee and Hay Lin's astral drop continued their search…
Yes, she still looked back fondly at that day. She couldn't feel anything but contempt for Raphael Sylla. After all, he had deceived them all. He deserved it, Taranee thought. And after all, the Oracle DID erase Sylla's memories, didn't he?
Ah, yes. The Oracle. Also recently, Taranee had expressed her disdain for the recent "gift" that the Oracle had bestowed upon her. A gift indeed, but it was without her consent. Taranee thought that a person shouldn't be "meddled with" without their permission. The case being: Taranee's eyesight being fixed. She was so offended by this that she temporarily resigned her duty as Guardian of Fire to Orube, a replacement for her until she went back to her former duties.
She was not offended by this. In fact, she welcomed the opportunity to rest and get away from the duties of a Guardian. To get away from the duties of being a pawn to the Oracle.
One would think that a Guardian would try and drive away such thoughts from here mind. But Taranee didn't. In fact, she relished them. It was amusing to poke at the conscience of everyone, especially her so-called friends.
They think of nothing but fear and aggressiveness towards me, probably because of my brash behavior. But it's more than that. Oh yes, thought Taranee sinisterly, it's much more than that.
And with these thoughts in mind, Taranee clambered onto her bed, and set her mind to sleep.
Taranee was running through the woods of Redfield Academy with the Hay Lin astral drop, looking for Cornelia's astral drop. Sprinting through the woods, they stopped at the park to catch their breath.
She and the astral drop had a short conversation about Cornelia's astral drop when suddenly, a hand from behind Taranee had grabbed her in a strong chokehold…
Taranee knew how this played out. So she was going to do more than re-enact the scene. She was going to do something more drastic…
Sylla started to speak, yet it was all a blur to her, voices faint and distant. She concentrated all her power to her arms, her only way of channeling the power of fire right now…
And she touched Sylla's arm…
In an instant, Raphael Sylla's whole body was engulfed in scorching hot flames, allowing Taranee to break free.
She broke free and turned around to face Sylla, determined to look at her attacker with grim determination and superiority.
But what she saw made her scream…
Sylla was screaming too. But not of fright, but because his whole body was burning in temperatures too hot to consider. Worse, he wouldn't stop. He just kept screaming while writhing in agony.
Pretty soon, Sylla fell to the ground, dead, yet still burning. Taranee had expected herself to act triumphantly, yet just now she was shocked at the sight she had seen. And to make it worse, she was the one that caused it. She could feel herself slipping away into darkness…
...and she woke up. She felt herself drenched in sweat, as if she herself had been subjected to engulfing flames too.
"A dream." she said to herself, "That's all it was…a dream."
She went back to bed, now determined to relay this disturbing dream to the gang tomorrow at school, even though she knew they wouldn't entirely trust her after this…
Hehe…some minor yet disturbing scenes here. By the way, the scene where Taranee torched Sylla's arm is from issue 29 of the comic. Yep, she really did that. And in case you didn't catch on, the one in different text format are flashbacks and/or dreams, as appropriate. I'll be using that kinda style from now on. R&R please!
