Hey everybody! Thanks to scottgrub, TheWaterElement, & Yuki3x3 for reviewing! This chapter is going to give you some more insight into Irma's problem since Hay Lin's has pretty much gone off with a good start. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own WITCH…even though I do hope to be the proud owner of a copy of the GBA game soon! Lol

Chapter 5

Water's Rage AKA Candracar, We Have A Problem

Cornelia was the first one to step up. Walking over to her friend's shaking head; she knelt down and put a cautious arm around Hay Lin's shoulders, staring down at the water guardian's battered body. A wave of pity stabbed right at her heart, and she tore her eyes away, turning instead to Hay Lin. The only thing she gave off was wave upon wave of shock. Cornelia felt for her. She knew the last thing her friend would want to believe was that she had knowingly done this to her fellow guardian…and more importantly, her best friend. Cornelia sighed. She didn't want to be the one to break it to her, but someone had to. So she took a deep breath and let her lips part.

"Hay Lin…what…what happened?"

Hay Lin bit her lip so hard she felt warm blood tickling her skin, hiding her tears from the world. She damned sadness inside of her mind, damned it for giving her away…damned herself for causing so much pain. She just looked at Cornelia, her face contorted in the emotional train wreck of pain and regret and confusion and whispered, "I don't know Cornelia…I don't know…I didn't mean it…I swear I didn't…please…believe me Cornelia." And then she closed her eyes and hugged Irma's body closer to her, as if hoping that her friend would awaken and douse her with a torrent of the bright blue stuff and wash away her mistake and sin.

Will held up the Heart silently, and the girls were just that once again: just girls. Hay Lin just felt her power leave her, and when she was sure it was all long gone, with Cornelia's help, lifted Irma's motionless form off the ground and started off toward the Lair house.

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Oooooh, why do I feel like Corny really did fling me across town? Those were the first words flooding the mind of Irma Lair as her senses came rushing back to her. She sat up and found herself in her bedroom, bunches of bandages binding her wrists and shoulders. And then she saw the little white piece of paper tucked onto her nightstand.

Irma,

We would have stayed till you woke up, but Cornelia had babysitting duty and it's family night at Will's. I'll call you a little later, okay? Hope you feel better girl!

Luv ya,

Taranee

Irma smiled at this, and then she let it die. Why hadn't Hay Lin even been mentioned? And then it flooded back to her like the water she loved so dearly: Cornelia's face…the gust of wind…Hay Lin's expression of boundless joy in the power she had just exhibited…and the searing pain of her best friend's wrath.

Placing the note back on her bedside table, Irma got up, ignoring the still pounding pain of the purple blotches beneath her wrappings, and walked out the door, her mind set on nothing but getting those answers her poor mind was begging her for.

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Dipping her hands into the water, Irma let the feeling sooth her, let happiness enter her entire being, brushing every thought right to the back of her mind, forcing meditation to thrum throughout her soul. Letting her eyelids slide shut, she put every last brain cell and train of thought she possessed into the task at hand.

Oracle of Candracar…she thought, telling what remained of her powers to go into what she told herself what her current matter of life or death. Oracle of Candracar, please, please hear me. Hear my call for help. Hear my desperation. She let out a long deep breath before she let her plea roll on. I don't know what's going on with me…or my powers…or my friends. Are we being tested? Are you trying to figure out how much we can stand, if we're strong enough to continue being the guardians of the veil? Because if that's the case…I don't know if I can. I don't know why you decided to give me the test of emotion if that's what you even did. Maybe I'm not cut out for this if that's what it takes to be a protector of this and every other universe. Just…let me know…okay? If I wasn't meant to save the world with my friends, then let them be rid of the unnecessary baggage…that would be me.

And before she could even say thanks for listening, Irma felt the most unfamiliar sensation. It was her powers, that much she knew. But this was different. They weren't infusing her with strength or giving her the euphoria of rejuvenation. They were…trying to tell her something. Something tainted, something angry, something…violent, something hostile, something so heart wrenching Irma couldn't even begin to put the sadness of her element into words right then. She tried to make sense of it all, but everything was just one big hurricane, and she was smack in the middle of its eye.

She yanked her hands back, trying to dry them off and get the heck out of there, but she opened her eyes up only to find that they were still floating away in the rippling blue. She pulled harder and harder, but her hands might as well have been blocks of cement. The water bubbled, losing its glisten, warping into darker and darker hues of a once brilliant blue. It was calling her, clinging to her, begging her…begging her to come and become a part of it, to be the water…now and forever. It spoke to her in the language only she could comprehend, screaming in agony that it needed her, it couldn't go on without her, her strength would help it in its ultimate quest…

Her head went under without so much as any warning. It was pulling her in, and she was succumbing to its hypnosis as it offered continually to purge her of her dark thoughts for now and ever if she just allowed herself to become its ultimate weapon.

It dragged her in until she fully submerged, not so much as a hair reaching out to the surface, and she could feel its happiness as it took a hold of her, wrapped itself around her like a caring mother's arms, and she let her eyes start to slide shut, her futile attempts at struggle as distant a memory as the day she become a guardian.

(meanwhile, up in Candracar)

The Oracle was staring at Irma's predicament through a screen as blue as the water she controlled, shaking his head futilely. I wish I could answer you guardian. You have proven yourself sincere in your testament. And yet all I can do is watch you…I am sorry…fight it, princess of the water. Fight it until the day that you die. I just hope that day will not be today…

(back with our poor water girl)

Irma was slipping into a happy numbness when she felt the water start to pour into her involuntarily parted lips. And then she realized her dear, dear element had her turned upside down, her arms crossed at the wrists in the pose of a person in their coffin at a funeral. Flailing wildly, she struggled to close her lips, struggled to get her hands apart, struggled to do anything.

Oh God help me, she thought. Faces started flashing throughout her mind…there was Will…Cornelia…Elyon…Taranee…Hay Lin…

And when that smiling face appeared in her thoughts, the water gave a mighty, resounding roar, releasing its sickening hold and practically pushing Irma back up to fresh air. Heaving, she pulled herself back onto dry land, letting herself fall back and just stare up at the color layered sky. The water gave her one last burble of serious contempt as it settled once again. Rubbing her ocean blue eyes and wringing out her sweater, she ran the whole way home, never looking back at now pure mass of liquid, shivering all the way.

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RING!

"Hello?"

"Hey Irma! It's Taranee."

"Hey Tara. What's up?" Irma said through chattering teeth. Even with the warmest shower and biggest mug of hot cocoa she'd ever had, she might as well have been an ice cube, cuz she sure felt like one.

"Are you okay? You sound like you just came back from the North Pole."

"Yup, and Santa says you've sure been good this year," Irma joked.

"Very funny. But seriously, are you okay? I mean from earlier?"

"Yeah, I'm good. My bruises are already clearing up. Um…how's Hay Lin?" she managed to choke out.

"Not that great," Taranee said. "We're all actually at the Silver Dragon right now, trying to figure out what happened and snap her out of crying."

"Oh my gosh. Can you put her on?"

"I'll try." Irma waited, vaguely hearing Taranee tell Hay Lin she was on the phone. When no one answered her, she sighed and spoke back into the receiver.

"She's not up to it right now."

"Should I come over there?"

"No. You need your rest, and if she can't face you over the phone, imagine if you show up in person."

"Point taken. Thanks for checking up on me Tara."

"Anytime. Wanna meet at The Golden for lunch tomorrow?"

"I'll be there. Tell Hay Lin I luv her & I know she didn't mean what she did."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye."

Irma hung up the phone, and as she did just happened to glance over at the hand that was holding it. Her other flying to her mouth in horror, she found that she was looking at the symbol of her element, tattooed on the back of her main water-wielding hand. But instead of blue, the symbol was a midnight black. And before she could grab the phone again, it melted away, seeping under her skin, and Irma could have sworn she heard a bubble of contempt.

Okay theres a nice long chapter for ya'll. Hope you liked. If you did, tell me in a review! Lol but seriously R&R as always I wont update till I have at least eleven reviews.