Who We Became Without You
Chapter 3: Old Friends and Broken Rules
They were confined to their room. Hell. They weren't allowed to leave until morning. Curses! That was as good as torture for a wanderer like Darcy. She wasn't the type of person who could stay cooped up for hours on end, especially in a situation like this.
No. . . She needed out.
To drift through the hallways and lurk in the shadows, to calm the racing thoughts that invaded her mind. It was what she'd always done, ever since she was small. She would just disappear for hours at a time, wandering the streets, or when she was older, lurking in dark allies. When she finally did return her parents would be worried sick and on the verge of calling the police. Then they got used to her sporadic disappearances and would just send Icy or Stormy - or the both of them - out to find her. And then the three of them would wander around together until their parents were sufficiently worried before heading home.
Yep. . .that was the life. Before things got complicated. Before they developed powers that caught the attention of old enemies. Before their parents were brutally murdered and they were brought back here, where everything went to hell. Before those old enemies returned, intent on finishing the job.
If Darcy ever came face to face with them, they'd be sorry they ever messed her family up so bad. Yeah. . . She'd teach them a lesson. Eventually. But that was easier said than done when she had no idea who they were or what their motives were.
She continued to sit on her bed, with her sisters, staring at her phone. They feared the worst. That the hospital would call to tell them Icy was gone. That they couldn't save her. They were certain it would happen. Certain that what they had pieced back together would all fall apart again. That once again they would be four minus one. And four minus one equals three. They hated that number. Because when they were three, bad things happened.
She was pulled out of thoughts by a sniffle, and looked up to see Lily wipe a tear from her cheek. She stared back at Darcy with wide, terrified eyes.
"Hey. Come here." Darcy held out her arms for her littlest sister.
Lily crawled across the bed and she wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "It's okay. It'll be okay." But she couldn't promise. Not when she didn't know herself.
"No it won't!" Lily cried. "We just got each other back, and now we're going to lose Icy!"
"Don't say that!" Stormy crawled over to. "Don't you dare say that! She'll be okay. She has to be okay!" Tears started to well in her eyes.
Darcy wrapped an arm around Stormy too. "We'll find who did this. They'll pay the price!"
"You're right. They have no idea who they're dealing with!" Stormy's eyes glinted with determination.
"Neither do we." Lily's voice was small.
Darcy grinned slyly. "They can't hide from me forever."
o0o
It was dark. But for Darcy, it wasn't quite as dark as it was for anybody else. She could make out all of the furniture and nick-nacks that filled the gloomy, witchy dorm room just fine. It came with being the all-powerful witch of darkness. Like Icy was immune to the cold and Stormy would forever remain unharmed by the bolts of lightning that seemed to gravitate towards her during a storm, Darcy could see in the dark.
It was not, however, ideal when she was supposed to be sleeping. Darcy was the definition of a 'night owl'. She loved the night, and the dark and the silence. She could pull all-nighters and remain unaffected the next day. Sometimes she did it unintentionally too, but her night vision was all the more reason to stay up. Hell, she could see better at night than during the day, that was why she had glasses, which she only wore during the day.
Darcy sighed, sat up and proceeded to look around the room. Stormy and Lily were, it seemed, finally asleep. Darcy was glad for that. It was quite late by the time they'd managed to calm each other down and get ready for bed, and even later by the time her sisters had stopped tossing and turning. She really didn't want to have to deal with Stormy in the morning, who could be a real monster when she was tired.
She took a careful glance around the room before standing, heading for the door, and stepping straight through it into the corridor beyond. It was time to break Griffin's newly erected, if not temporary rule. A rule that was just begging to be broken.
Don't go out alone. Don't leave each other alone.
Ha. That was made to be broken. But even though she was currently breaking it, didn't mean she was stupid. She new that if whoever was responsible for this mess wanted to get at the rest of the sisters, they'd wait to get them alone. She also new Stormy and Lily were safe together (hopefully) and that she, herself, could detect an unwanted presence the moment they were on the same floor. So she wasn't afraid. If anybody tried anything, they'd be fighting her in her own element. An element that she could manipulate and bend to her will. They wouldn't stand a chance.
Would they?
No.
Maybe. . .
No.
They did get Icy. . .
NO.
Icy was unsuspecting.
She was not.
She was in her element.
They'd be foolish to try anything now.
They would pay if they did.
Yes. . . She melted into the shadows and reappeared a little farther down the hallway. She sunk through the floor and reappeared in the corridor below, floating silently down it. There was something about roaming the castle at night. It was different at night. Still gloomy. But different. It was darker, more unpredictable. People, mostly seniors trying to scare the freshmen, used to say that the castle became like a tesseract at night. It would fold in on itself in time, the past, present and future would collide, and the hallways and rooms would become hopelessly tangled. They said that if you left your room at night, you would become lost in both space and time. Forever.
Darcy almost laughed out loud. That was ridiculous!
It couldn't possibly be true. She would know. She herself had debunked that theory dozens of times. She wandered the halls at night all the time and was still where she was supposed to be. If you didn't count the fact that she was technically supposed to be in her room at this very moment of course.
She stopped when she spotted a figure standing in the hallway ahead, with it's back to her. Stopping in her tracks, she melted into the shadows just as the person turned in her direction.
"Who's there?"
Darcy immediately relaxed. She new that voice. It was the voice of a friend.
"Don't bother hiding. I know you're there."
Darcy reappeared right behind the cat-witch and tapped her shoulder. "Oh relax. Don't tell me you're afraid of friends now!"
She whirled around in surprise. "Darcy! What the hell? I thought you were an intruder!"
"Raven. Long time no see."
Raven stared back, green eyes bright against ebony fur, pointed ears pricked. "What are you even doing out here? I thought Griffin confined you all to your room until morning."
"A rule that was made to be broken." Darcy pointed out.
The cat-witch curled her long, black tail around herself and fingered the tip. "Right, and when Griffin finds out, I had nothing to do with it."
"She won't, but if she does, your name will not be mentioned."
"Good." Said Raven. "You're lucky you ran into me and not somebody else. You do know that we are all on high alert right? We're out at double our usual numbers. Any other guard would have ratted you out to Griffin."
Darcy smirked. "You must be forgetting who I am. I wouldn't have revealed myself to anyone else."
"You haven't changed a bit."
Darcy raised an eyebrow.
"Except of course, you are no longer evil." Raven added quickly.
"That's better. Have you met Lily?" Darcy questioned.
Raven shook her head. "I usually work the night shift."
"Oh, that's right."
Raven shrugged. "It's not like they give me a choice. I blend right into the darkness. The perfect night guard."
"Good point." The two continued down the hall, slinking from room to room, chatting in hushed voices amongst themselves.
"You know." Said Raven. "You seem a lot happier now. More relaxed."
Darcy nodded in agreement. "Lily's return changed everything. Just like her disappearance did."
Raven sighed. "I can't imagine how it must have felt to lose your youngest sister so soon after losing your parents."
"Horrible. It broke us. Icy blamed herself. She went to such a dark place, we thought we'd lose her to."
Raven nodded. "I remember. You used to come out at night. That's how we met."
Darcy closed her eyes against the dark memories. "The day we found. . . Icy in our room, her. . . Wrists slit and barely alive." She bit her lip, fighting tears.
"You cried on my shoulder for hours. You were so afraid of losing another sister."
Darcy turned to her, betraying tears forming in her amber eyes, her efforts to push them back in vain.
Raven wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. "Icy is strong. She'll pull through."
"I wish I could believe that." Darcy rubbed at her tears. "But she was so still. So cold and pale." She clenched her teeth as more tears fell. "Raven, if Icy doesn't make it. . . She's the closest thing Lily has to a mother."
"I know." Raven sighed. "This must be so hard for her."
"Raven. . . Three is a terrible number."
The cat-witch blinked. "Uh, what?"
"If Icy dies. . . We'll be three again. Raven, promise me that if Stormy and I went back to our old ways, that you will protect Lily. Take her far away if have to, just make sure she's safe." Darcy pleaded.
Raven sighed. "I. . . Darcy I can't just take her away from you. . ."
"Please Raven. If anything happened to her, Icy would never forgive us. It's what she would want." Darcy stressed.
There was a long pause. Silence crept in around them, eerie and heavy. "Ok, fine. If you're sure."
Relief flooded Darcy's features. "Thank you, Raven."
Raven smiled, flashing sharp white teeth. "I'll always have your back, Darcy, you know that."
"Even when we tried to take over Magix?" She raised her eyebrow jokingly.
"I may not have agreed with those actions, but, eh, you were still my friend, angry and hurting, but my friend."
Darcy grinned. "I've never had a friend quite like you before."
Raven shrugged in response. "We cat-witches stay loyal to our friends."
"You want in on a secret?"
The cat-witch blinked. "Sure. Fire away."
"We weren't ourselves then. The Ancestral witches were possessing us. Using our bodies. Controlling our every move like puppeteers controlling their puppets. They made us attack that fairy and start that war. We never cared about the dragon flame and we only helped Darkar because he broke us out of light haven, we always planned to run as soon as possible, but we got ourselves in too deep."
Raven stared at her friend. "You. . . The ancestral witches used you? Why? Why you?"
Darcy nodded. "I-I think because we have similar powers to theirs. But they left us as soon as we failed and got sent to light haven."
Raven shivered, her ears flattening. "That must have been traumatic. Having someone else controlling you."
"It was agonizing. If I tried to fight against it, Lysslis - she was the one controlling me - would tear my mind apart. Dredge up my worst memories, contaminate the good ones. She turned my mind against me. Corrupted me in the slowest, most painful way she could." Darcy clenched her hands into fists.
"Good Lord." Raven's green eyes were wide and her jaw dropped.
"Her methods were far worse than Belladonna's and Tharma's. Far worse." Darcy sighed. "She haunts my dreams, terrorizes me as punishment for failing."
"That bitch! How can she blame you for failing, when she was the one controlling you!" Raven hissed through clenched teeth.
Darcy turned to her and her golden eyes flashed. "You really think they would blame themselves? Of course not! In their eyes it's never their fault. When they failed to get the flame the first time and destroyed Domino, they laid the blame on Princess Daphne for sending Bloom away and Griffin for jumping ship! The second time around, they blamed us, for being too weak to beat the fairies. They would never admit that it was their own incompetence that caused their failures!"
"Even though it clearly was! What did they expect when they chose adolescent witches as their puppets!" Raven added. "They should have known what would happen!"
"I know. But I suppose it's probably difficult to find three witch sisters who all happen to have powers like theirs." Darcy pointed out.
"True. . . Although they could have just waited a few more years until you all graduated and stuff." Raven said, as if that would have made all the difference.
"Yeah, well, maybe they were just so excited to find us after years and years of searching for suitable puppets that they just couldn't wait any longer." Darcy shrugged sarcastically.
At that, Raven burst out laughing.
"What? It's not that far-fetched." Said Darcy.
Raven wiped a tear from her eye. "I know, it's just that I pictured the Ancestresses all giddy with excitement and it was funny."
"Oh. . ." And then Darcy was laughing too. "The image of the incarnations of evil, giddy with childish excitement. . . Like little kids who had just been given ice-cream."
Raven stared at her. "The Ancestor witches eating ice-cream. . . I bet Belladonna - she's the one with ice powers right? - I bet she made ice- cream - I bet she loved the stuff! Maybe even more than Icy!"
"Not possible. Icy is the ice-cream Queen. She would eat it at every meal if she could!" Darcy argued.
"So what? She has powers over ice-cream now?" Raven snickered.
"what?"
"If she is now the ice-cream Queen, that would mean she is now the witch of ice-cream, rather than just plain ice." Said Raven. "Right?"
"Oh she would love that!" Darcy exclaimed.
And then they had managed to turn a dark subject into a rather funny one. Raven became distracted from her job, and Darcy had completely forgotten about the current pressing situation involving her elder sister.
They continued making jokes about the Ancestresses as they walked down the corridor. Darcy was feeling much better now. Trust Raven to make jokes out of the Ancient witches. Her cat-witch friend always seemed to know how to lighten the mood.
Darcy stopped as they came to the end of the hall. "I should probably be getting back, before we get caught. I don't want my sisters waking up and panicking when they see I'm not there."
Raven nodded in agreement. "I'll be in it if I get caught fooling around on the job, especially right now."
So they said their goodbyes and see you laters, before heading their separate ways.
Darcy teleported back to her room and, after assuring Lily and Stormy were still asleep, climbed into her own bed, finally feeling somewhat tired. Before she knew it, she had drifted off.
A while later, she felt her bed dip beneath her. She rolled over, her eyes fluttering open, expecting the intruder, about to take their next victim. She relaxed when her eyes landed on Lily, her black curls as untamed as Stormy's and her amber eyes reflecting more worry and fear than a child should ever be privy to.
"What's up, honey?" The sisters only ever used that term when referring to Lily.
"I had a nightmare." The littlest sister whimpered. "We were too late to save Icy." Tears formed in her eyes.
Darcy sighed. "Hey, come here."
She opened her arms for Lily, who climbed onto the bed and snuggled against her. "It'll be okay." But again, she couldn't promise, no matter how much she wanted to.
It didn't take long for Lily to fall asleep again, having wanted nothing more than her big sister's comfort. Darcy laid there for a while, running her fingers through Lily's perfect ringlets, before falling asleep again herself.
Disclaimer: The cat-witch idea is not mine, it came from another story I read.
I hope you enjoyed, and please review! Suggestions and Ideas are welcome!