Hey! It's been a long time since I've last uploaded a chapter. Like, 10 years long ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I've recently comeback to W.I.T.C.H, and always regretted that I never finished this fanfic. It was my first one, and its only right that I finish it. The writing should be improved greatly, I was in middle school when I started this and I should be in college now but either way! Grammar and story build should be a lot of better. I'll be getting 2-3 chapters done a week until the story's done, then I might continue my other ones. Hopefully, someone out there enjoys the rest of this story!
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The Guardians were smart.
The former water guardian was forced to realize that as she observed their planning. She could read lips well enough to know they were talking about her, and how to ambush the her in the morning.
"Great, so much for being undercover." She groaned to herself as she pulled her legs up from the side of the building. At first, she was just waiting for her chance to sneak back into Caleb's dwelling for a nap, but the Guardians stayed past closing time. The last customer left an hour ago, but was still serving them hot food. Irma pulled her auburn hair into a ponytail as she weighed her options.
Sure, Caleb promised not to tell until she was 'ready' but she didn't trust that boy as far as she could throw him. Even if she avoided their trap, they could always trace her through him.
If they knew her true identity, it might move the plan along faster then she could deal with. She sighed, finally taking a break from her surveillance to look out beyond the city's horizon. The stars were arranged differently, and this planet only had one moon, but it felt like home.
If what Kleos said was truthful, then this truly was home. She was one of them.
She was the enemy.
The thought gave her a funny feeling. In the restaurant, the four finally said their goodbyes at the table before splitting up. Once out the door, the remaining two hurried home; but the blond took a vehicle she parked up front.
"You sure you don't want a ride, T?" She asked before closing the door.
"No thanks, statistically, I'd be safer walking home at night." The two shared a laugh at the blond as she rolled her eyes.
Watching from the dark, Irma got ready to follow them. They certainly are fearless to walk home without their Guardian forms. She thought, trailing them from the rooftops. It would be easy to take them out now. But she was more invested in the information she could learn from listening to them interact.
The purple haired girl, the one they called 'T' turned into one of the apartments at the end of the street. At the steps, she and the leader hesitated. They shared a comfortable silence, safe from the night under the lights of the building's porch. T opened the door, one last thought coming to her mind before they split up.
"Will, are you sure about that plan tomorrow? I mean, what do we really know about this girl other then she came from Meridian with Caleb?"
Will laid a hand on her shoulder. "We don't have a choice, Taranee. We can't have someone snooping around our home realm without us knowing about it. If she's dangerous, we'll find that out before its too late."
Taranee nodded, pushing her glasses up. "Agreed. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow morning?"
"You know it." The leader waved her off while heading down the steps. Irma raised an eyebrow. The leader, "Will", as they called her, lived up to her fearless reputation.
Even I'd think twice about walking alone at this time of night. She thought to herself as she quickly descended down to street level. It was her chance to catch Will off-guard, and in her human form. Its all too easy to end this mission early...
She timed her steps with the girl ahead of her by a few paces. Once the leader was dispatched, the rest would fall too. Meridian would be weaken, and Kleos could finish his conquering push across Metamoor. There was only more bloodshed after this, but that wasn't what she wanted.
For five years, she was reminded everyday that what she wanted wasn't important, only the King's orders mattered. For five years, she had to hide doubt that Firekan was where she really belonged. For five years, she was left to wonder if everything she was ever told was true.
They took care of her, that couldn't be denied. Nursed her back to health, taught her the ways of being a Firekan assassin, and ultimately kept her close within the royal walls. She was born there, Violet would tell her, and that after the last battle with the Guardians, the leader had erased her mind in attempts to destroy her.
Clearly it was all lies, but to what point? Did Will actually turn on her and try to kill her? Or did Caleb tell the truth, and her killer was truly Frost?
Will stopped at the corner, her body language indicating that she was alerted to Irma's presence.
"Crap." The brunette muttered under her breath, falling into the shadows and out of sight. It was now or never, but something kept her from fully unsheathing her knife. She laid back against the alley wall, thinking about her experience so far. All of it didn't make sense.
Everything she had been shown, her powers over water, the memories, and the altemere that looked like her, and the scar. She was the Water Guardian. So why would Will have tried to kill her own ally?
The truth would be destroyed along with the Guardian if she made her move now. In the moment, she cared more about her past then winning the damned war that Kleos had started. Pushing her mission to the back of her mind, she prepared to head back to habitat that Caleb called home.
"Hey! Are you following me?" A figure popped around the wall, scaring the life out of the young assassin.
"W-what?" Face to face with Will, Irma was caught completely off-guard. She didn't even have time to throw her hood on. The red-head's eyes widened in shock as the pieces fell together.
"You're the girl Caleb was with!" She pointed a finger at her. Irma remained silent, her mind stuck between decision of fight or flight. There was something about the jewel around her neck that kept her mesmerized, the pink glow giving her a deep sense of familiarity.
"You look like, like..." Now Will's brain was malfunctioning. "Wait!"
Not a chance in hell, Irma thought as she quickly got to her feet and sprinted deeper into the alley. The Guardian called after her, voice fading as the assassin reached a dead end. The wall was easy enough to scale, but she heard Wills voice call after her as she heaved herself onto the roof.
Taranee had finally arrived at the entrance of the alley, having heard Will's first call for help after she suspected a stalker. She saw her leader run after a figure – naturally, she followed, meeting her leader at the dead end. "She climbed up this wall, I don't know how." Will said frantically.
"Who?" Taranee questioned, looking up at the two story buildings that surrounded them.
"Irma..." Will's voice hardened. "She couldn't have gotten far, we can catch her if we fly. Call the others, Taranee. For now, we can still track her. Guardians, Unite!"
Are you kidding me? How did she summon the other one so quickly? And how would she be able to evade now that they had wings? Irma caught her breath briefly as she watched the two disappear in a blinding flash of light. The light faded, they were in warrior form, and Irma began running once again.
This town only had so many tall buildings, her path was limited. Cursing her luck, she only hoped she could escape their sight long enough to safely descend. The flame guardian cast a giant fireball above her, eliminating the shadows she tried to hide herself against.
"There!" She pointed at Irma, who moved swiftly from rooftop to rooftop.
This is bad. The thought kept her adrenaline pumping, but it wasn't enough.
Will landed in front of her, wings fluttering and hands glowing with power. "Got you." She reached for Irma's shirt, causing the brunette to panic and lose her footing.
No, Irma managed to release Will's grip with by twisting her wrist, but her momentum sent her over the ledge.
This is really, really bad.
She bounced less then gracefully off of the stairwell, slowing her freefall to the short building next door. Despite that, she landed hard, her entire body going numb as she felt her ribs buckle. The pain overwhelmed her quickly, making it hard for her to regain the air that was knocked out of her.
As her consciousness rapidly faded out, she heard the Guardians speaking above her.
"What did you do?" One of them yelled in a panic.
They landed swiftly, racing over to the unconscious girl. "It was an accident!" Will's voice insisted, her voice shaking. "I didn't mean to, I startled her." She leaned down next to Taranee, inspecting the girl. "Is she going to be okay?"
The Fire Guardian shook her head. "She's out cold. Still breathing, but that fall was hard. We need Cornelia to heal her before we can make our next move."
"Right." The redhead stood, the heart beginning to glow on her chest. "They're nearby. I'll be right back."
"Hurry." Taranee ushered as she watched Will fly off. Alone now, her attention turned to the girl who had managed to outrun them. She took in her features, brunette hair, almond shaped bright blue eyes, caramel tone skin. With the exception of looking a little bit older, this girl looked exactly like Irma.
The fire-keeper refused to believe it. It was against logic. This person had to be an intruder, or the altemere running rogue.
Lifting her black shirt, she surveyed the bruising around her torso by touching softly. "Definitely broken ribs..." She acknowledged, her fingers stopping at a peculiar scar that ran through the girl's stomach. "It can't be." The memory of seeing her old friend impaled to the rocky wall resurfaced. So much blood, Taranee remembered, it was hard not to be sick by the image. How could she have possibly survived?
The sound of three others landing behind her brought her out of shock. Taranee turned to the others, unable to hide the panic in her voice. "Cornelia, can you heal this? She has several broken ribs and maybe organ damage. She fell from up there." She pointed to the top of the nearby building, easily several stories up.
"You brought me out here to heal the altemere? Just tell Will to make a new one." The blond argued, not understanding the situation. The glares she earned confused her even more. "What? It would be quicker."
Hay Lin on the other hand, dropped to her knees and crawled over to the still body. "This isn't the altemere." She realized immediately, voice trembling. Taranee was surprised at her ability to realize the situation by just looking at the face of the crumpled former guardian. "Cornelia, heal her please!"
"Okay, sheesh." The tall blond shrugged, kneeling next to her companion. The injured girl breathed heavily, suffering while unawake. Cornelia took a moment to feel the point of damage, then she called for her powers. She felt a weak pull of energy from the earth. It was enough to heal, but it would have been better to be on the ground floor. Either way, she would be able to recover the worst of it. Realising the mood was tense and quiet, Cornelia cleared her throat.
"If this isn't the altemere..." She started, the reality of it sinking in as the damage disappeared from the old Guardian's body. This was no stranger.
"It's really her." Taranee finished. "Under her clothes, she had the scar." Nervously pushing up her glasses, one of the many questions finally came forward. "Why did she run?"
The sun broke the night, turning the sky a light purple as the four stood over the motionless fifth. Will spoke first. "She was following me home. When I sensed her, I called Taranee to me, then I confronted her. I recognized her when I approached, but she ran from me."
Hay Lin ran her hands through Irma's hair, carefully examining her features. "And how did she fall off the roof?" The young Asian questioned, all whimsy gone from her voice.
"She was really good at climbing up buildings. Like Spider-man good. I thought the only way to catch her was to stop her before she hopped over to the next building. We crashed into each other, but she fell a lot farther then I did... I tried holding on to her but she nearly broke my wrist trying to escape."
"You're telling us that she got up here without using wings?" Cornelia jested, emphasizing the strangeness of the story. Turning back to 'Irma', she noticed the clothes she wore looked similar to what the altemere would call fashionable. "Not trying to bum anyone out here, but this whole thing seems..."
"Crazy." Taranee lent words to her defense. "But Will's telling the truth. I came to her right away after she called for help, and even then, Irma was way ahead of us. She made it look easy. We chased almost half a mile... we barely caught up to her with wings."
"Girls? Look at this." Cornelia lifted Irma's shirt gingerly to show the belt she wore, adorned with weapons and what seemed to be a thin rope. "What kind of gear is that?" In particular, she pointed to the knife on her hip. Will stepped forward and unsheathed it, inspecting the writing on the pristine metal.
"It's got the symbol of Firekan on it." The girls looked to each other with deeper confusion and worry. "Let's take it off and get it to Meridian. Elyon will know what to make of this. For now, we should keep her in a cell there."
"A cell?" Hay Lin protested. "How about we just ask her when she's healed up what all of this is about? You can't be serious, we just got her back!"
"She tried escaping up on sight." Will responded with authority. "It's the only way until we find out why she wasn't honest with us from the start." The heart glowed bright pink, complimenting the natural light of dawn as she ripped a portal through the sky.
Hay Lin swallowed her words with an understanding nod. With Cornelia's help, they both lifted Irma gently, letting her sleep. She had a bad feeling about all of this, but seeing Irma again restored hope that she thought died a long time ago. With one last look at the sunrise, the Guardians disappeared into the rift.
.x.
I plan to update more in a few days. Please review if you like it, I plan to finish this story either way :)! Cheers!