Chapter 4

Disclaimer: don't own, never will, don't sue me.

Italicsflashback

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Aldarn sat on his bed, wrapping the gash on his leg. On the way back from the castle, Caleb had left him to go find a portal to tell the girls about Will. That had left Aldarn to return to the city alone. And on his way, he had a nasty run in with a Lurden. He managed to defeat it, but in doing so the Lurden sliced his thigh.

The creature's sword was dull and didn't manage to cause much damage. But it did cause enough damage to draw blood and make him limp home.

Aldarn sighed as he finished wrapping the cut. He hoped Caleb didn't run into any trouble on the way and managed to alert the guardians successfully. His musings were cut short when there was a knock on the door.

He sluggishly got up and limped to the door. He cracked it open so he could see who it was and with relief he saw it was the guardians. Aldarn opened the door wider and stepped aside to let them in.

"Hello girls. What brings you here?" Aldarn knew that was a dumb question to ask, he already knew what the answer was, but he felt he had to ask it anyway.

"We hear you know where Will is." Cornelia answered, saying exactly what Aldarn thought she would say.

"Yeah, I do. Where's-" He was cut off as Hay Lin gasped. He sent a questioning glance her way, along with the other three guardians.

"Aldarn, you're bleeding! What happened?" The other girls followed her gaze and were shocked to find Hay Lin was right. Aldarn sighed then sat down on his bed again.

"I got attacked by a Lurden on the way back from the castle. Is that why Caleb isn't here? He was attacked too?"

"No he wasn't attacked." Taranee sat down next to him. "He said he was too tired to come and help us rescue Will."

"We came here because we need you to help us find Will." Cornelia said, taking the lead. She felt they were wasting too much time talking when they could be halfway to the castle by now. "Irma, Taranee, I need you two to fly Aldarn since he obviously can't walk. Hay Lin, I need you to find a safe way into the castle. Come on girls, let's move!"

The four guardians stood up. Irma and Taranee obeyed Cornelia by grabbing Aldarn's arms and flying him out the door. Hay Lin nodded to Cornelia and left. The Earth guardian stood in the house for a moment, staring off into space. For she knew the reunion with Will was not going to be a happy one.

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Will realized she was crying when Cedric dropped her into a cell. She sniffed then tried to stop, but the tears kept coming. Cedric just stared down at her and laughed.

"Here's your new home guardian." He laughed. "Couldn't have your friends come back and rescue you now, could we?" The snake then slithered down the corridor and away from Will.

Will looked around the prison and found that Cedric was right, this wasn't the cell she was in earlier. Will sobbed as she brought her knees to her chest. Her head still hurt from earlier and her body ached from sleeping on the stone floor.

And she missed Alec. She wondered where he was and if he was safe. Then memories of her dream flooded her mind and she sobbed even harder.

After a few minutes of crying, her sobs ceased and the tears stopped. The red head sniffed then rested her forehead on her knees. She felt drained- emotionally and physically.

Her eyelids lazily drifted downwards and she imagined she heard the soft thumping of a baby's heart. As the seconds passed it kept getting louder and louder, as if it was coming closer towards her. A small smile graced her lips at the soothing lullaby. The heartbeat was a mere five feet away.

Then, suddenly, it stopped. And then it grunted. Will's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she looked up. She thought the sound had been a figment of her imagination, but in fact, it had been a Lurden! She couldn't help herself- she screamed.

As the terrified girl shrank back from the bars, the guard just grunted and plopped to the ground. Will sat with bated breath waiting for him to do something. After a few minutes she realized he wasn't going to do anything to her. She gave a sigh of relief and relaxed her shoulders a bit.

The tiredness once again took over Will and she tried to get as comfortable as she could before falling asleep. But she soon realized that what she was trying to accomplish was impossible in this cold cell.

Will sighed yet again and curled up in the fetal position and let her mind wonder. She wondered if Caleb and Aldarn were okay. She wondered if they had told the girls about her yet.

Instead of thinking of the girls and Aldarn, her mind drifted to Caleb. Did he actually ever like her? Or was that just a one night stand? Did he tell the others? Was he still with Cornelia or did he break up with her? How would he react to Alec?

These thoughts kept running around in her head in a jumble, successfully making her headache even worse. Will squeezed her eyes shut and forced the questions out of her mind. The questions could be answered later when she was out of this place. One last thought echoed in her mind before sleep took over: would she ever get out of this place?

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Caleb sat in the basement of the Silver Dragon- thankful to finally be alone! He had a lot of things to think over. For example: Will was back.

What was she doing here? Where had she been? Why did she leave? Was it because of him? Was she so repulsed by him after that night that she couldn't bear to look at him anymore and left? He hoped that wasn't the reason.

Caleb sighed and thought back to the first time he met her. A grim smile slipped out at the memory of the oubliette. She was so annoying back then! But now, reflecting back on that time period, he found he liked her even then.

He had realized his growing attraction for her about a year after. But, by that time, it was too late to do anything about it. She was involved with that Matt kid (at the thought of him Caleb sneered), and he was with Cornelia. Plus he was pretty sure she didn't feel the same way.

But then everything changed about a year after he found out his feelings. Cornelia had been going behind his back with Matt. His sneer turned into a frown as he remembered how Will had found out.

Walking in on them doing… stuff… must've been horrible. He wasn't really too shocked when he found out. He had actually suspected Cornelia of cheating all along. Caleb was surprised to find out it was with Matt, though.

How could someone have to gall to cheat not only on her boyfriend but with her best friends boyfriend? That was just cruel. His frown deepened when he remembered all the events of that day.

flashback

That day Caleb had decided to go for a walk. The day before he had a nasty run in with a Lurden and was nursing a wound on his shoulder all morning. Caleb had been sick of being cooped up inside all day and decided he needed fresh air.

So he headed to the park and about halfway there, it started the rain. Unlike some people, Caleb loved the rain. It always gave him a sense of renewal- that the world was being cleansed of all the evil and that everything was going to be all right when the rain went away.

Instead of turning back like a normal person would, he kept on walking. Caleb smiled when he reached the park. He always liked this park; it never failed to remind him of home.

He soon found the path and started walking down it. Not soon after, he began hearing sniffles and sobs. Someone was crying! He couldn't see who it was yet, but he had a strong feeling it was a girl. So onwards he went, hoping he could find the person and try to comfort them.

He rounded a bend in the path and saw the blurry frame of a young girl. And on the girls head was a familiar mop of crimson red hair. Caleb's green eyes widened as he walked closer to Will.

Will was crying! Will never cried- at least not in front of him and the girls. Something really bad must've happened.

"Will?" Caleb put his hand on her shoulder as he reached her. "Are you okay?" To his surprise Will turned around and grabbed him, sobbing into his shirt. He stumbled back a little, than regained his balance.

He took a deep breath then wrapped his arms around her quivering body. The rain came down harder as he told her "It's okay, everything will be fine," over and over again.

After a while, her tears subsided and she let go of Caleb, blushing profusely. "I'm s-sorry." Will mumbled, her voice raw from sobbing so hard.

"It's fine, there's no reason to be sorry." Caleb gave her a small smile. "Now, would you mind telling me what happened?" Will nodded and told him how she had went to Matt's house to find Cornelia there already.

Caleb's mind went numb. Cornelia cheating? To be honest, he kind of expected it from her. But with Matt? Wills boyfriend Matt? That was cheap, even from her.

Caleb was shaken from his rambling thoughts when he found Will staring at him expectantly. "What?" He said, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

"I asked if you wanted to come back to my apartment. You know, to get out of the rain." Caleb was shocked to find that it was still raining, he was so deep in thought he forgot all about it.

"Yeah, okay."

They made their way to Wills apartment complex in silence. No words had to be spoken to convey the feelings the felt.

Soon they reached the building and walked inside. He was suddenly aware of how cold he was when he went inside the building. Caleb looked over at Will to see that she was shivering too.

Once they were inside the apartment Will left to go find some towels for Caleb and dry clothes for herself. Caleb stood just inside the door, still lost in thought.

He came out of his stupor at once when he felt a towel collide with his face. He looked up to find Will smirking at him, amusement in her eyes. Caleb rolled his eyes and picked up the towel from the floor. As he dried himself as best as he could, Will went to the kitchen to make some tea.

Even though he was relatively dry, his clothes were still soaked and he was still freezing. He wrapped the towel around his body then walked into the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen table and watched as Will prepared the tea.

Once the tea was ready, Will brought a mug to Caleb and handed it to him. Taking one for herself, Will sighed and sat down across from him. He took a gulp of tea and grimaced as it burned his throat.

"So what are we going to do now?" Will sighed as she stirred her tea with a spoon. When Caleb didn't answer she looked up to find him staring intently at her. "Caleb? What's wrong?"

But Caleb, instead of answering her, got up and walked over to her. He stared into her confused eyes. He was going to do it now, Caleb decided. He was going to tell her how he felt. So he kissed her.

At first Will was too shocked to respond. But slowly she started kissing back. It started out innocent and gentle. But then it got more passionate and rough and soon they were heading toward her bedroom…

end flashback

In the present time, Caleb groaned. He never meant for them to go that far. Afterwards, they agreed to pretend it didn't happen and just go on with their lives. The next day, she broke up with Matt.

Her reaction after gave him the feeling she didn't like him. So he decided to give Cornelia another chance. Everything had been going fine for awhile. Everything almost seemed normal, except Matt was no longer around and Will avoided his glance. And then she disappeared.

A little a month after the incident, she just upped and left. We were completely baffled as to why she had gone and where she had gone. We asked her mother, Mrs. Vandom, but she refused to speak about it.

Hay Lin had found the Heart on the doorstep of the Silver Dragon so at least we knew that was safe. We tried searching for her, but it became hard to do so as the war with Phobos raged on.

Caleb sighed again. Maybe now they will finally get some answers.

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AN: wow this was a long chapter. This was actually pretty much a filler chapter… just so you know… the action will come soon! Hah it's2 o'clock in the morning…. I love being up so late… actually this is early for me. I become nocturnal over the summer… haha just a random fact about me… thanks for all your wonderful reviews on this story! They make me all warm and fuzzy inside:D

Oh and I know I make Cornelia seem like a cold hearted b but it's crucial to the story line and she won't always be that way...

Maggie: hmm… that's a good idea. I might do that, but I don't know… thanks for the review!