Sorry its been so long, my daughter decided to grow in her first teeth. This has not been fun for anyone involved.

Ah well, evough of my problems. On with the fic! Oh, and I don't own anything from WITCH at all.

Chap: You need to do what?

He cocked his head in curiosity. "That does beg the question. What exactly is it that you want to help me with?"

"Um, well, it's a little complicated," she said nervously. He watched her in some awe. He'd had no idea a girl could turn that color of red and not be choking on something. He saw her glance down at the rest of him and look away quickly.

Wondering if he was wearing something stupid, he glanced down at himself. That's when he noticed something. In truth, he'd felt the draft for some time, but hadn't paid much attention to it. But now—he gasped. A tiny sound came from his throat and every inch of his skin began to turn red with his blush.

The girl looked back up at him, alarmed. "What is it?"

"I'm"—he tried to jump back and cover himself, but only succeeded in falling in a heap on the ground. He still had very little strength left. With some effort he managed to twist his hips so that his bare front was turned away from the girl.

"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"Fine, fine, but---I don't have any clothes on! Why didn't you say anything?" He asked incredulously.

She flushed, not wanting to admit that she had liked the view. "Um, Cedric, right about now, your clothes are the least of your worries."

He looked at her oddly. "What are you talking about?"

"Um"—she sighed, setting her shoulders in determination. "Cedric, do you remember the Athix charm?"

"The Athix charm?" He thought a moment. "Yes, the prince mentioned using it to"—he froze. "Oh." He noticed the girl looking nervous about something. "I do remember that it was what he used to turn me into the monster. Are you alright, my lady?"

"Me? What makes you ask that?"

He frowned in concern. "You're shivering. Are you cold?"

"No, no, its nothing like that. Just---nervous."

"For what?"

"For what I'm about to ask you." She took a deep breath and soldiered on. "Do you remember how he used the charm on you?"

The boy paused in thought, trying to remember. "I do recall going into the prince's spell room. He said that we would need privacy to work the magic. He had me touch it and then he"---Cedric's voice simply died.

Hay Lin saw him go even paler if that was possible, and then he began to shake. "Cedric?"

"H-he…..he"---the boy swallowed hard, tremors racking his thin frame. He began to unconsciously draw in on himself, trying to curl up into a ball. He began to hyperventilate, panicking at his memories, "He….Phobos, he—he pushed me down"—

Hay Lin couldn't help the sadness in her voice as she tried to call him out of the memory. "Cedric?"

--"pushed me down and locked me in those chains." He shuddered, "They were so cold, it hurt my wrists. I tried to ask what he was doing and then he gagged me"---he twisted off to the side and threw up the little food that had been in his stomach.

Hay Lin shrugged out of her sweater, leaving her in just her thin tank top. She shifted over to his side, gently coaxing him back into her arms. The girl wrapped the wool garment around his shoulders and let him tell the awful story.

"He h-held me down and forced my legs ap-art—it hurt! It hurt so badly I wanted to scream, but I couldn't scream; I tried to, but I couldn't even hear myself! I tried to fight him off, but I couldn't reach him! I tried, I tried……"

She shushed him, crooning under her breath as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Its okay now. He can't hurt you ever again. He can't hurt anyone anymore. He's the one that's locked away now."

A while later, Cedric raised red-rimmed eyes to look at her. "I—I'm sorry for this."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry for loosing control like that in front of you," he said. He dragged a hand over his face to clear it. "I shouldn't have done that. My apologies."

"I don't mind. Just proves that you're human, right?"

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. Opening them again, he gave her a tiny smile. "Thank you for understanding."

"You're welcome," she said softly. Suddenly, she frowned. "I hate to do this, but I need to tell you something."

He pulled back from her arms a bit to give her space. "What is it?"

"Do you know where you are?"

He thought a moment. "The Infinite City, correct?"

"Yeah. Do you know who has you here?"

"The Mage," he replied, wondering where this was going. "She was holding us prisoner for the crimes against Meridian."

"Well, she's the one who found out about the charm and got it out of you. And she called us, the Guardians, I mean, because there was something she couldn't do to fix you and needed us for." She stopped, wondering how in the world she should say this. After everything the guy had gone through, this might be difficult for him.

"Go on," he encouraged.

"Well, when Phobos—when he put the charm in you and"—she stopped, unwilling to say it.

"When he raped me?" The boy said, his voice deadpan.

She looked down, "Yeah. When he did that, he was putting that piece of himself in you to control your mind. Something called essence."

Cedric shuddered in disgust.

"Well, he did it so that you couldn't live without his essence in you. That if you ever broke the charm over you, you'd die in a few days. The Mage got the charm out and most of the essence, so you don't have very long to live."

He blinked, processing this bit of information. "So that's it, then?"

She looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"That's what you wanted to tell me?"

"Well, yeah. Some of it."

"Well then, I thank you."

She looked at him, perplexed. "For what?'

"For getting the charm out of me. And for telling me all of this. I do admit that I'll be sad to die, but that's a small price to pay to be free from Phobos' control."

She waved her hands in panic, trying to get him to understand. "No, no! You don't get it, yet! I don't want you to die, so I'm going to help you."

"How?"

"If you can replace his missing essence with someone else's for a while, just some kind of temporary dose until you're strong enough to make you own again, you'll live!"

"Oh." He couldn't help his surprise as understanding came to him. "That's what you want to help me with? You want to give me some of your essence? So that I'll live?"

"Yes!"

He smiled in genuine gratitude. "Thank you, my lady."

"Oh, well," she smiled, waving off his thanks and blushing.

"So, how is that done?"

She had been afraid of this question. "Well, I asked about this, and there aren't many ways to give somebody essence. You either have to one:" she held up one finger, "drink enough of their blood to kill them."

"No," he said, horrified.

She raised another finger, "Two: you would have to eat their heart."

"Powers above, no," he said in revulsion.

She raised her ring finger. "Or three: you have to do the nasty with them."

He stopped and stared at her. "Pardon me?"

She was beet red in embarrassment, rewording her sentence. "You would have to have sex with them."

He simply stared at her. "Sex?"

"Yep."

"With another person?"

"That's generally how it's done."

"You mean that you want to help me by…by…."

She nodded.

In a tiny, bewildered voice he asked, "Why?"

"Because I want you to live."

He looked at her with something like awe. "You keep saying that. But why? Why do you want me to live so badly after all that I've done?"

She sighed, looking away from him. "A terrible thing was done to you, and all the power in the world can't undo it. It made you do horrible things, and only time can erase what has been done. But to let you die like this would be letting Phobos have one last little victory, and I won't let him have that.

"I won't let an innocent person die if I can prevent it. And you were an innocent in all of this. He took over your mind, controlled everything you did. You are not to blame for his actions."

Cedric reached out and touched her cheek, wiping away the tears that she hadn't noticed falling. "You care so much. Are you always like this?"

She blinked at his touch, a pink blush coming over her face. "As far as I know."

He smiled, his other hand reaching out to hers and bringing it to his lips in a light kiss. "Thank you. For caring."

She smiled, leaning into his warm palm and nuzzling it. "Will you let me help you?"

He looked right into her eyes, gauging her sincerity. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She nodded. "Then yes, my lady, I would be honored to accept your help."

"Good," she said.

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