Wow! I have had so much work this past week, I'm so glad I can finally relax for a while and type. More loose ends are tied up in this chapter as we have definitely past the climax. The next few might be shorter than I normally write because the main plot is pretty much over. (Although I'm not really sure that I know how to write short chapters anymore.) Hehe! Everything is now said and done so just read the chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 24: Setting Things Right
Hay Lin's POV
Hay Lin sighed and gently rubbed her ankle. It didn't hurt anymore and it definitely wasn't broken. I guess gaining our full powers with the Heart of Candracar back was enough to make us all feel better, inside and out, she thought. Hay Lin grinned happily and giggled as Irma kept singing and started dancing around in circles. Hay Lin covered her ears.
"Ugh! Irma! If you were going to sing, you should have warned me so that I could go and buy some earplugs." Hay Lin said sarcastically. Irma stuck her tongue out and Hay Lin giggled again. She turned and looked behind her and her smile quickly tilted downward. Irma walked up to Hay Lin with a frown on her face too and they both joined the glum group gathered around Elyon.
"I'm so sorry, Elyon." Taranee said softly. Hay Lin saw tears spring uncontrollably from Elyon's eyes after she glanced down at the pieces of her precious crown in her hands. She wiped them away with a hollow laugh.
"Look at me. Sad over a crown."
"It's okay. It was special." Hay Lin said comfortingly.
"It is special." Cornelia reminded her. "We all now know what it feels like to have something taken from you."
"It's like when I didn't have the Heart of Candracar." Will said to Elyon. "I didn't feel whole. I felt weak and hallow inside, like there was a part of me missing." Elyon nodded with the same thoughts going through her own head.
"Yeah. I still have powers, but from that first moment that you placed the crown on my head…I was fully connected with my powers and was flowing with energy and happiness. I felt like I was filled with light! I am the Light of Meridian." Elyon whispered. Cornelia nodded glumly but firmly.
"There must be something we can do." She said while looking straight into Elyon's eyes. Elyon stared at her and then looked down quickly. Hay Lin felt sorrow fill her heart. Elyon felt broken, just like Will had been, just like the Guardians' friendship had been. They could do something. Maybe…just maybe…
Hay Lin smiled as Will seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. Will held her palms together and the Heart of Candracar lied gently in her hands. She grabbed Elyon's hand and she looked up.
"Well, what do you say that we combine our powers to fix it?" Will asked with a smile. "The Heart of Candracar has already conquered the Seal of Phobos, and the spell on the Crown of Light last time. I'm sure that we can seal the pieces together with our magic." Elyon blinked, and then she just grinned.
"Are you sure?" Elyon asked. Each of the girls wrapped their hands around a piece of the crown and placed them together in the shape of it in the air.
"Hey! Sure we are!" Irma answered loudly. "To make anything happen with us, all you need is a little friendship, a little faith, and a little magic!"
Hay Lin felt a very hot buzz surge through the crown and her hand. She started to release her energy and use all of her powers and will power to make the crown whole again. Hay Lin concentrated. Please let this work, Hay Lin pleaded silently. Let the crown not be broken. Elyon will make Meridian all better again. We will return to being friends again back in Heatherfield. We have made it out of the Dream Catcher alive and defeated the Evil Guardians and all of the trouble they have caused. Let this work…it has to work…
Hay Lin peaked through her eyelids and almost jumped with joy. Something was happening! The linings of the crown started streaming as a bead of light swam past the edges. The entire thing filled with a blinding, white light and Hay Lin used her arm to shield her eyes from the brightness. Hay Lin got a surprise shock when the crown sent an energy wave that made them all drop the crown and jump back.
"Yikes!" Irma cried while rubbing her sore hand. The crown started shaking and shimmering in the air. It glittered and sparkled with its beauty and inner light. Elyon walked forward and it slowly fell back into her hands. She stared at it numbly and then looked back at her friends.
"Guys-"
"Just put it on already." Cornelia said with an understanding nod. "Go and fill your kingdom with your light, again." Elyon smiled and nodded and Hay Lin ran forward. She could see the darkness past the windows, the fear and stillness of the people below. Well, she thought determinedly. That's all going to change right now!
Elyon placed the crown on her head and she automatically filled with light. The darkness and gloom started to disappear, just like it had last time. Elyon moved through the windows that Hay Lin had been looking through, effortlessly and floated toward the ground with the curious and now cheering Metamoorians. Only this time, she wasn't going to be alone.
"Hey what's- Hay Lin!" Will cried out when Hay Lin rose them all into the air and sent them soaring through the window like puppeteers. She giggled and flew after them.
Hay Lin touched the ground, but only to be swept up in the crowd of the people of Meridian. They were running and yelling and cheering with laughter as they hurried to gather around their queen. Ugh, Hay Lin thought as she flew quickly over to Elyon before she got stepped on. So this is the thanks I get?
"Queen Elyon!" one woman cried. "What happened? It wasn't, him was it?"
"There were explosions from the castle. Are you alright?"
"The Guardians? When did they get here? And why are they, after they suddenly disappeared on us." One old man said gruffly.
"Quiet!" Elyon demanded. At once, the muttering ceased. Hay Lin took a deep breath and prepared for what Elyon was about to say. Hay Lin looked around at all of the buildings that had been burned and all of the terror that had filled this city. She felt very small and clouded with guilt when she realized something. All this stuff had somehow been their fault. It was their friendship faults that led to this. Hay Lin felt a little scared about how Elyon would say everything. The people of Meridian had always cheered and been grateful when the Guardians came to save the day. Would they still feel the same respect when they found out that all of this was partly their fault?
"People of Meridian." Elyon had started. Hay Lin snapped back to reality. "Everything's fine now. Yes, Phobos did come back, but we have defeated him again. I assure you that he won't escape again." Elyon glanced back at the Guardians nervously. "Right?" she whispered with uncertainty.
"I really don't think that the Oracle would let that slime ball go free again." Irma whispered back, with her comment making Elyon smile.
"Besides, the Evil Guardians are gone, and he wasn't able to escape without them." Cornelia added. Elyon nodded and turned back to the crowd.
"Friends, you need not to know the whole story right now. It would take some time. Unfortunately, my friends don't have much of it at the moment." Elyon looked back and smiled.
"The Guardians of the Veil have just gone through a dangerous trial that their evil, alternate selves and Phobos had given them. Through all of the death and destruction, the Heart of Candracar being taken away from them, they faced it all and helped me revive the Crown of Light."
"What!"
"Alternate selves?"
"What happened to the Crown of Light?"
"The Heart of Candracar was taken from them!"
"Hey! I got it back." Will said defensively. There was a lot of muttering and Hay Lin started to feel queasy. That is, until Elyon spoke again.
"These girls literally faced a nightmare that had already killed an early keeper of the Heart of Candracar." Elyon said out loud. There was a hushed silence that allowed Elyon to keep talking.
"Their alternate selves had basically all of their powers. I know everything because I saw Phobos capture them after imprisoning me. Taranee's fears came true as their friendship and powers started to falter. Irma got stuck in her Guardian form. Hay Lin had her home burned down. Cornelia found Caleb ripped to pieces. And Will's mother died. Evil Will did horrible things to her, and to the rest of them. They got put in jail and broke out of it just to have their whole city find out that they were magical. Then, the Heart of Candracar was stolen from Will."
"But how did you get out alive, being imprisoned by Phobos?" one soldier asked.
"We forgave each other and made our friendship stronger." Will suddenly said. She blushed when she noticed everybody looking at her.
"We escaped and released Elyon. We all started fighting, and that's where the crown got broken. It was chaos after that. Everyone ended up getting weak and near death, but then I had a standoff with Evil Will for the Heart of Candracar-"
"What happened?" someone shouted.
"Well, it's obvious that we beat them if that's what you mean." Irma said with a yawn. Elyon looked at them hopefully for a moment.
"Guys? Are you ever going to fight again like I have seen you? I don't want to ever see you like that again."
"Of course we won't Elyon." Hay Lin said sincerely as she grabbed each of her friends into a rib- racking hug to prove her point. They all laughed and Hay Lin started feeling really good right now. "We will never break apart again!" Elyon turned back to the crowd with a wide grin.
"Now you see! Out of the hardships they went through, they put their friendship and powers together and prevailed through the darkness into the light! They saved Meridian and my crown. These are the real heroes here!" Hay Lin was shocked. Elyon stepped back from them and started clapping with a grin spreading across her face. Hay Lin whipped her body around so fast, her ponytails whipped her in the face. She blinked when some of the people started clapping. She could see Vathek clapping his meaty hands together loudly. Elyon's adoptive parents were smiling gratefully and clapping also. Daltar and his wife and daughter were shouting and encouraging the applause.
It wasn't long before the applause turned into a deafening uproar! Hay Lin giggled shyly and then smiled for real. They deserved it. After everything…this was something they couldn't turn down. Irma was grinning and waving with her occasional movie star winks and kisses with both hands to her lips and then spreading them out to everyone. Elyon walked back up to them and wrapped them into a big hug.
"I've missed you!" she told them all, but she gave an extra meaningful look to Cornelia. She smiled and pulled away while the people in the crowd started dancing and singing, and laughing.
"Promise me that you'll keep everyone safe and stay friends. Come and see me sometime."
"Sure!" Hay Lin exclaimed.
"Of course we'll come to see you." Cornelia told her as she squeezed her shoulder.
"We promise." Will added. She looked to the side of her. "Irma?"
"Hold on Will." Irma answered. "I just have to give out my autographs this time."
"Uh, it looks like it's a little too late!" Taranee told her as she looked down at her hands that were disappearing and blending in with the tree beside her. Hay Lin looked at her own hands. Yep, she thought with a sigh. Here we go, back to Candracar again.
"No! Wait!" Irma yelped. "I need to give them out!"
"Bye!" Hay Lin exclaimed happily as she and the others started waving good bye. Irma started pouting again.
"You know, this is so not fair. I'm really not liking the way those folks up in Candracar like to steal us away from the crowd…"
Hay Lin felt a great swish of air that mesmerized her with a deep feeling of freedom. She closed her eyes and sighed before opening them into the beautiful light.
"Welcome Guardians." Came the Oracle's usual greeting. She looked at him and he smiled. "You have beaten all of the odds. You won your powers back." Hay Lin could hear a silent swish of a robe near her. She turned around and squealed with glee when she saw her grandmother standing before her.
"You did it girls!" she spoke quietly and happily. "Oh, come here Hay Lin." Hay Lin laughed and felt herself contended in their embrace. She finally pulled away from her grandma and wiped away a tear and laughed again. She went and hooked her elbows with Irma and Will who smiled and giggled. Hay Lin felt happy. They had done it! They had finally won!
"You have brought Phobos and Cedric along with you I am guessing?" Tibor asked.
"Um…" Taranee answered. She looked around but then saw them both cowering again on the floor.
"Yeah. It's bad luck for them though, isn't it?" she continued. A few members of the Congregation stood up again and moved to take them to their prisons again. Hay Lin watched them disappear into the light.
"They won't be able to escape again, will they?" Hay Lin asked.
"No they will not." The Oracle assured her. "We will be watching them more closely now so that it doesn't ever happen again." He walked over and picked up a chest and walked back to them.
"Hey!" Cornelia shouted. "That's the chest that the Dream Catcher came out of!" The Oracle nodded.
"Yes, this is a darkness that no Guardian, or human, should ever encounter again." He snapped his fingers and the chest disappeared into thin air. "On the other hand, it seemed like you had some help while in the Dream Catcher."
"Yeah." Will said. "Serenity, and the other Whispers. Are they really Guardians from the past?" The Oracle confirmed that with a nod and Will fell silent. The Oracle turned to each of them.
"So young Guardians, after escaping the Dream Catcher, I hope you now realize that anything that happened to you in there wasn't real."
"Of course we knew, we-" Irma cut herself off as realization actually dawned on each of them. They had done a lot since getting out of there, Hay Lin really hadn't been able to focus on the fact that all of the things they had experienced earlier weren't real. Everything had seemed so real…but that meant-
"So Caleb's alive?" Cornelia exclaimed.
"The restaurant!" Hay Lin chirped.
"Us being locked up in the pokey?" Irma asked.
"Everyone in Heatherfield still doesn't know about our secret identities!" Taranee said with relief.
"And…my mom?" Will asked softly. The Oracle looked at her.
"She isn't dead, Will…yet." Hay Lin stopped smiling and felt like she had just smashed into a brick wall.
"Wha- what?" Will exclaimed with her eyes wide open in horror. "What do you mean by yet?"
"Will, your mother is still hurt. I can send you back to your world before the Evil Guardians escaped and freed Phobos and captured Cornelia. I can send you to before when Elyon came for your help and got surrounded by you agents, but no further."
"Why?" Irma asked fearfully. "Why can't you spin time back to even before she saw us in our Guardian forms?"
"Because, everything before the shift in the balance of the Evil Guardians escaping was your doings and your choices. I can rewind time only until when the universes' natural balance was broken."
"But that means-" Taranee started.
"That we need to go." Will said firmly. "Now."
Hay Lin braced herself. They had won everything, but they didn't need to save the world or a whole city. They needed to save a life, so simple but yet important. If something happened to Susan, Will might have to go away and the Guardians would be split forever. What would be worse, would be that Will probably couldn't handle being the Keeper anymore after she died. She had lost her once and could barely regain herself then. But this time…it was for real.
Hay Lin hoped that they wouldn't be too late.
Alright. Another chapter, come and gone. Ooh! What's going to happen now? Don't get too excited because it might be another week until I can post the next chapter. Review, because nice people review(kidding) but I would like them. I'll get the next chapter up soon! I promise!