Heart of Fire
What if Cedric was never discovered as the beast trying to capture Elyon and he still works at the bookstore? He is still thought to be Rick Hauffman the bookstore owner for the past three years, since the fall of Phobos? This is where Phobos and Cedric plot for the evil prince's return. But Cedric's eye has now fallen on the Nubian Guardian. Will they discover each others secrets? Find out!
This is my first W.I.T.C.H. fanfic. My favorite character is Taranee and I always thought that Cedric's human form was too sexy so I thought why not put them together. This is an AU fic. There aren't many Taranee fanfics and even less Cedric fics. I thought I would try my hand at this. Please read and review. Tell me what you think? Story on!
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the W.I.T.C.H. characters so please don't sue me.
Chapter 1: Dumped
She walked slowly through the streets like a zombie. The rain poured down mercilessly from the heavens not that the fire guardian noticed. The events that happened an hour ago still fresh replayed over and over in her mind.
She walked down the hall after she left cheerleading practice with the girls, happily humming a tune. She was wearing her workout clothes. A bright orange sleeveless midriff top, and black with a wide orange stripe down the side of each leg bell bottom stretch pants. She was suppose to meet up with Nigel after she got out of practice. He was going to take her home, because he had something very important to tell her she was so excited. This year was going great! I'm a senior in high school, I have a rock star for a boyfriend, me and the guardians are the hottest cheerleading squad in the state, and I'm head Editor of the school newspaper. She waved broadly as she spotted Nigel by his black Camero. "He is such a bad boy!" She thought as she walked over to him putting her arms around his waist hugging him, but frowned when he didn't return any affection.
"What's wrong?" She asked looking worried.
"Nothing. Lets just get out of here." He said in an annoyed tone. She frowned at him then placed her hands on her hips.
"Tell me what's the matter? Did you have a bad practice with the band or something?"
"No. Jus"
"Tell me what's your deal?" He looked at her sadly then asked her,
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes silly. Just tell me."
"Alright. I want to take a break for awhile."
"I'm not sure I follow?"
"I want us" he said pointing between the two, "to take a break. Just for a little while." He studied her for a moment. Her face held shock, hurt, and anger all rolled into one distorted face. She dropped her book bag off of her shoulder as she stared at the ground. "Taranee. Are you alright?" She blinked a couple of times before nodding her head and turning to walk away.
"I have to go."
"Taranee. Taranee wait. Let me take you home."
"No. That's quite alright. I'll see my self home." She called over her shoulder.
"Taranee it's about to rain let me take you home. You know how afraid of Thunderstorms you are." She continued to walk away tossing the book bag back over her shoulder. "Taranee I just want to break for a little while. We can still be friends." He called after her retreating form.
Now she continue to walking down the streets to get to her best friend Will's house. She needed to talk to someone, she needed her best friend. She felt like her soul was dying her heart ached so bad. Her cell phone was dead so she couldn't call anyone. She circled the block eight times before deciding to go in the building. She paged Will's apartment and nobody answered. She's probably somewhere with Matt. She walked away from the building and thought the next best place was to visit Hay Lin. She rounded the corner and crossed the street without checking both ways, and she heard a transport truck honk at her but she was frozen in place by fear.
Cedric was walking back to the bookstore for he'd left his spell book on the check counter. He was distracted by a late customer trying to buy a book for class. He couldn't help but shake his head. People in this dimension are just so looney. Now he was walking back and noticed someone crossing the road. Do they not see the truck coming? He thought. The person looked up to be frozen in place by fear. Bloody Hell! He darts out in the middle of the street lunged at her throwing her and himself out of the way of the truck. He was about to blast the crazy person out but stopped when he noticed the girl under him.
"Taranee?" He said curiously. "Are you alright?" She looked up at him and nodded her head. He pulled her to her feet. He noticed how much she'd matured over the years. She no longer wore those huge glasses, she was about 5' 5, and slender but filled out in all the right places.
"Thank you Mr. Hauffman."
"Please call me Rick."
"Rick."
"Are you aware that you are suppose to look both way before crossing the road?" She looked at him with sad eyes before bursting into tears. She leaned into his strong chest sobbing heavily. He put his arms around her small frame. "There, there I didn't mean to make you cry. I was just trying to make a point. Really"
"No," she began as she looked up at him, "I've just had the worse day off my life and, and I just don't know what to do?" He pulled her back into his arms. Why do I care about this girl? Earth has made me soft. "Why don't you accompany to the bookstore. It's only two blocks away. You can warm yourself and have a spot of tea before you catch your death." He lead her to the bookstore.
Will ran straight to the phone to call Taranee, after an afternoon with Matt. They met up after cheerleading practice and went to the park. They were having a lovely time before it started raining, and then they went to the ice cream shop for milkshakes. They were talking about different things until Matt let it slip that Nigel was going to break up with Taranee.
"Nigel is going to do what!"
"Keep your voice down Will. Everyone is looking at us."
"I don't care. When were you going to tell me this? After he broke her heart."
"Well I didn't mean to tell you at all. I knew you would freak. Plus I tried to talk Nigel out of it, but he said he had to prove something to her family or something."
"Wait, what are you talking about? Prove something to who?" Matt sighed as he looked down at the table. "You know who don't you? Tell me."
"Nigel said that Taranee's mother doesn't like him. She asked him to break up with Taranee."
"Mrs. Cook wouldn't do anything like that. I don't believe it."
"It's true Will. If he can stay out of trouble and prove that he is worthy of Taranee then Mrs. Cook will let them date."
"You mean keep dating?" Matt looked flustered. "So her mom hasn't known all along has she. Taranee told me she told her mom two weeks ago. I wonder has he told her yet."
"He was picking her up from cheerleading practice to tell her."
"Poor Taranee. I need to check on her. You mind taking me home now Matt?"
"Sure. Lets Go."
Will called Taranee's cell phone but got only the answering machine. She called Hay Lin to see if she heard from Taranee, but she wasn't home and her cell phone was turned off. She called all the guardians but no one had seen her or heard from her.
"Where are you Taranee?"
Taranee sat on a couch in the bookstore next to the heater. She held a warm cup of tea in her hands and she was covered in blankets. She took another sip from the tea cup and stared at the ground. Cedric walked back in the room but stood in the doorway watching the sad looking girl. She is quite beautiful. I've sort of always fancied her. I wonder what could have distracted her so much so that she would walk blindly into the street? One must know what haunts this Nubian beauty.
"A penny for your thoughts my dear." Taranee was startled by his sudden reappearance.
"Oh. You startled me Mr. Hauffman."
"Please call me Rick."
"Sorry. Rick. It's nothing." She lied looking down at the tea in her hand.
"Nothing, never caused anyone to almost become one with the pavement by way of Mack Truck." She gave him a halfhearted smile at his attempt to raise her spirits.
"My boyfriend broke up with me. He said we needed to take a break for a while, but we can still be friends."
"I am sorry for your lost, but you must know that you can get any man you want."
"Thank you Rick. But I love him. I loved him. I disobeyed my mother to be with him."
"Then maybe he was not worth the sacrifice. How old are you Taranee?"
"I'm 18. Why?"
"Because you have a whole lot of life to live. There will be boyfriends and there will be break ups. It's a vicious circle. But when you find the right man for you the circle ends." Taranee gave him another halfhearted smile. She thought back to the times when she had the hugest crush on him. She was 14 about to turn 15 when he had just opened the bookstore. He was tall, handsome, and had this cute blonde ponytail. Way out of her league she thought then. She peered into his dark violet eyes.
"How old are you?" He raised an eyebrow at the question then gave her a dashing smile.
"I am 24."
"That's all?" She asked her mind drifting briefly from her situation. "I would have thought you were 27. You act so mature, so intelligent." She said then started feeling down again. "Not like Nigel. You and Nigel are a day and night difference." Thunder clapped loudly at the roof. Making Taranee scream softly.
"Are you alright?" Cedric asked walking over to her sitting down beside her. She wrapped her arms around him clinging on for dear sweet life.
"Yes I'm fine. It's just that I'm terrified of Thunderstorms." He pulled her closer to him.
"It's alright. I'm here with you."
So did you like it? I hope you did! Isn't Cedric just too cute? Well anyway I like Nigel so I thought I wouldn't bash him too bad. So what did you think of my first chapter? Tell me in a review!
gracefulraven,
out!