Downtown Heatherfield
about ten blocks from the Silver Dragon
6:35 PM

As far back as she could remember, Hay Lin had always had exceptional hearing. This could have been the result of her powers over air manifesting themselves within her, or maybe she just had good genetics; after all, he grandmother had been the previous Guardian of Air. After receiving their powers officially, as in when they had transformed for the first time, this ability far surpassed itself. Hay Lin found that she could, in fact, hear the very air as it moved around; she could hear the softest whispers or the lightest footsteps. And it was because of this ability, that Hay Lin very narrowly avoided an injury that could very well have resulted in her death.

There wasn't much warning; just a low growl and a sudden rush of air as A'k'sl made his move. Hay Lin instinctively sidestepped; so fast that she could have sworn that her element was beside her, safeguarding its mistress. As fast as she was, however, she couldn't completely avoid the Cranal's attack; she gasped as sickle sharp claws tore through her left shoulder. A second later and both Cornelia and herself were sprawled on the ground; the reason for this being, of course, that Hay Lin had stepped to her right to avoid what was obviously an attack to her heart, which in turn led to her leaping smack into her blonde friend.

Cornelia was the first to regain her feet, being uninjured; she immediately raised her hands to straighten her hair. As she did so, she spoke out of the corner of her mouth, clearly annoyed.

"What is you damage, Hay Lin? Honestly, do you even pay atten – Hay Lin?"

The blonde turned to see her friend kneeling on the sidewalk, one hand on the ground and one hand pressed to her shoulder. Noticing the blood that was spilling from her shoulder, Cornelia practically leaped to her friend's side. Apart from the blood, Hay Lin appeared to be going into shock; her eyes were wide and she was staring straight ahead. The look on her face was one that was equal parts pain and disbelief. Cornelia called her name but got no response; instead she grabbed Hay Lin by her upper arm, on the uninjured side, and tried to haul her to her feet, which only partially worked. While Cornelia was finally able to move her friend, she was pretty much supporting Hay Lin, the Air Guardian still making no move to help herself. Cornelia gently set her down; she was getting nowhere fast, and time was rapidly running out.

'Well,' thought Cornelia 'I know that it's a cliché, but let's see if this works…'

Cornelia drew back her hand and slapped her friend across the face; to her very great surprise, Hay Lin began to show signs of life again. The Asian girl brought her hand up and began to massage her forehead; suddenly her eyes went wide and she scrambled to her feet, grabbing Cornelia by the shoulders.

"Ow! Hay Lin, what gives?"

"Cornelia, we have to go! We have to go now!"

"What? Listen, you're losing a lot of blood; maybe we should –"

"There's no time; we need to get out of here!"

The look in her friend's eyes was beginning to scare Cornelia; she had never known her friend to be afraid of anything, but the fear in Hay Lin's eyes was a plain as day. But she could obsess about that later; right now she had to focus on her friend's injured shoulder. Hay Lin suddenly took Cornelia's hand and began to run down the street, the blonde struggling to keep up behind her. Cornelia suddenly stopped in her tracks, her grip on Hay Lin forcing the smaller Asian girl to come to a halt as well or risk falling on her face.

Cornelia jerked her hand out of Hay Lin's grip and placed it on her hip; with her other hand, she pointed accusingly at Hay Lin.

"Hay Lin, what is going on? None of this makes any sense; I mean, one minute we're headed to the Silver Dragon and suddenly you have this…this shoulder injury…which you should probably get checked out at a hospital."

Hay Lin shook her head.

"No. No hospitals."

"What do you mean "no hospitals"? Do you think that kind of injury is something you can just ignore? I'm no doctor, but I'm fairly certain that there's a major artery in that area."

Hay Lin gave her friend a sad look.

"But if we go to a hospital, they'll ask me how this…" she indicated her shoulder "…happened. I don't know about you, but I really can't think of a lie that can explain this."

Cornelia looked at her feet; her friend was dying in front of her, and she was totally drawing a blank on ideas. Unless...

"What about Eylon?"

Eylon Brown, the "new" ruler of Metaworld, was Cornelia's best friend.

"Um, Earth to Cornelia? How are we supposed to get there? Only Will can open folds, remember?"

Both girls began to rack their brains for a solution. Cornelia came up with idea after idea, but none of them seemed to be long term.

"Cornelia, I have an idea, but, you're not going to like it."

"Tell me what it is and I'll decide if I like it or not."

"Well, since Taranee is the Guardian of Fire, I was thinking that I could ask her too…"

And then it hit Cornelia; she knew exactly had Hay Lin was insinuating, and she did not like it.

"Hay Lin, you had better not be talking about what I think you're talking about."

"Listen, it's just a way to stop the bleeding. We can go see Eylon later or something."

Cornelia closed her eyes and began to search her brain for something…anything. But she knew that he friend was right; currently Will was the only one capable of opening folds to other worlds and she was probably still getting the double barrels from her mother. Seeing no other option, Cornelia rolled her eyes and gave in.

"Ok fine, but you're calling her and telling her your crazy plan."

Hay Lin only nodded her head in answer. She closed her eyes and allowed her find to wander and find Taranee. Fortunately for her, the Fire Guardian was accepting calls.

'Taranee? Taranee, can you hear me?'

'I can now. What's up? I was having a good dream…'

'Well….we kinda ran into trouble, and we need a place to crash.'

'What kind of trouble?'

'What are you two talking about?' asked the mental voice of the team's resident beauty queen. Hay Lin glanced over at the blonde and made a slashing motion over her throat, obviously telling the Earth Guardian to butt out.

"No, Hay Lin." Cornelia said out loud "If I let you keep talking then you'll be…" she made the slashing motion over her own throat for emphasis. Hay Lin sighed but gave in; Cornelia immediately jumped right to the point.

'Listen Taranee, Hay Lin's hurt and, currently, you're our only option. She's bleeding and we need you to stop it.'

Taranee was silent for a full minute before 'You mean you want me to –'

'YES! The sooner the better; is it clear at your house?"

'Well, Peter just went to get pizza…'

'Good; we'll be there in, like, a minute. Call Peter and tell him to stock up.'

Disregarding anything that Taranee might have said, Cornelia broke her mental link. She turned to her Asian friend, who had moved and was leaning against the side of a building. Cornelia could see that her breathing had become labored and that she had turned even paler then normal; Cornelia ran to her side and grabbed one of her arms, throwing it over her own shoulder so that she could support her friend.

"Hay Lin, do you feel up to teletransporting?"

Hay Lin slowly shook her head; Cornelia nodded.

"Never mind, I'll do it for both of us. You just hang on to me, alright?"

Cornelia brought her hands up to chest height, one above the other, with her pointer fingers extended. As she brought them closer together, she could feel the magic welling up within her. As it gathered strength, Cornelia began to feel as if she was trying to contain a vast ocean; she pictured Taranee's house as clearly as she could, and released her magic, disappearing in a flash of light, Hay Lin's arms wrapped around her neck.

-----

Some cave on Metaworld
6:40 PM

A'k'sl stood before Nerissa, Tridart and Ember flanking behind him; both Knights had their weapons drawn and leveled at his back. While A'k'sl had predicted that Nerissa was probably growing impatient with him, he had not expected to be portal-yanked during his personal Guardian-Stalking time. Which meant, with respect to what he was, he was about ready to spit on his agreement with Nerissa and launch into full angry Cranal mode.

Nerissa saw the dangerous glint in his eye, and was quick to interject, which took the form of a simple question.

"Axel my friend; how is your mission going?"

A'k'sl held up three fingers.

"Ok, first off, I am not your friend, Guardian; second, mission implies that – "

"Oh spare me the semantics, dear. Have you completed – "

"Listen, I don't know if ordering people around is what gets you off, lady, but it needs to end…right now!"

There was deadly silence in the cave.

"Good; now here's your stupid map."

A'k'sl tossed the map haphazardly at the ex-Guardian, who caught it, an act with surprised A'k'sl; he personally wouldn't have bet on her ability to move much faster than a glacier. She unfolded it and glanced over it; moving her head up and then back down. She carefully refolded it and handed it back to the Cranal; a smile on her face.

"It seems to be…incomplete."

"Yeah, well, I never said I was finished. It's only been one day, Guardian."

"Exactly; it's been one day, which should have been plenty of time."

Nerissa turned her back and began to walk away; she raised her staff, causing a fold to appear behind A'k'sl. The Cranal spared it one glance before calling after the ex-Guardian.

"Don't forget our deal, Nerissa; I do this, and you take me to Kandrakar."

The witch didn't even turn around as she answered.

"Yes of course, dear fellow…but forgive an old woman's questions; it's been nearly seven hundred years since the War, and another four since the Hunt; why are you still insisting on revenging yourself upon the elders of Kandrakar?"

"Because they're a bunch of fucking bigwigs with overinflated senses of self-worth."

Nerissa smiled.

"That they are, my friend. But, forgive me once again, what hope can a single being have against the might of the Infinite Fortress?"

Now that the question had been voiced, A'k'sl found that he had no real answer. The only thing that his mind could come up with was the initial plan of reaching Kandrakar...but then he was drawing a blank. Exactly what was he hoping to achieve once he had reached his destination? Across from him, Nerissa raised an eyebrow.

"Well? What will you do once we reach Kandrakar, my friend?"

"I told you before, lady; we…are…not…friends." A'k'sl growled.

"Alright…not friends; but we still have a deal –"

"Here's an idea, Nerissa; why don't you take that deal…and shove it up your ass."

Nerissa found she had no words to reply with; all she could do was fix A'k'sl with a deadly glare. The Cranal was not about to stop, however.

"You're right; what can one being do against the might of Kandrakar? As much as it pains me to admit it, the elders are too powerful."

"But Axel…" started Nerissa "…you wouldn't have been alone; myself and the Knights of –"

"I know all about your 'Knights of Destruction', Nerissa, and allow me a second to laugh at them." Here the Cranal did indeed laugh, sending echoing barks across the cave. As he regained order over himself, he pointed to each of the Knights in turn.

"I mean, they're having such a tough time dealing with Kandrakar's Guardians, do you think they can hope to offer any challenge to the real thing?"

A'k'sl began to calmly stride towards the fold, which was still open in the middle of the cavern. He turned again to the room at large.

"Listen; we are talking about five…" he held up five fingers for emphasis "…teenage girls. You've been free from Thanos for what? A month? Longer? And exactly what have you been doing? I've been following them for one day and already they're about to break. You do whatever you want, but I'm going back to Earth and finishing what I started."

He turned and walked through the fold, leaving the cavern silent as Nerissa stood contemplating what he had said.

-----

Vandom household
6:35 PM

Will and her mother were seated in armchairs, facing one another. Will was sitting with her legs hanging over one arm and her back leaning against the other one, her eyes darting around the room, focusing on anything except her mother. Susan Vandom, by comparison, was sitting in the traditional sense, with her back against…well…the back of the chair, and her legs crossed in front of her. Her eyes were locked solely on her daughter, which was why Will has avoiding looking at her in the first place, and the expression on her face clearly said that she was less than happy.

Will let out a sigh, knowing that she would have to start talking before even thinking of retreating to her room; she took a deep breath and spoke.

"Mom, I know that what I did yesterday was unforgivable –"

"The words 'stupid' and 'idiotic' come to mind."

Will closed her eyes, praying to the Heart of Kandrakar itself to grant her patience. She began again…

"What I did was stupid and unforgivable and I promise never to do it again –"

"Like you haven't said that before, Will."

"Mom!" Will shouted before she could stop herself. Susan raised an eyebrow. Will quickly checked herself. "I'm trying to apologize here."

"I really don't know what I was thinking; it's just, I've been under a whole lot of stress lately, and I didn't know how to deal with it."

Susan gave Will a motion with her hand that clearly said "keep it coming".

"I realize that what I did hurt you, and I'm really sorry, mom."

Susan smiled and touched her heart. "Oh, Will; that is the –" the smile disappeared "- biggest load of crap I have ever heard."

"What? But I apologized and everything!"

"I've heard you saw those same things so many times before, Will. 'What I did was stupid' and 'I don't know why I did it'. How can you expect me to believe them now."

Will hung her head. "I guess…I didn't expect you to believe them."

"Can you guess what the worst thing you did was?" Pause for effect. "You didn't talk to me about your problems."

Will raised her gaze to meet her mother's. 'Of course I didn't; you couldn't help me with most of my problems even if you did know about them'.

"Will," Susan pleased "I want to help you, but I can't unless you tell me what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? You make it sound like I have a problem."

And, just like that, any progress the two might have been making was over, and they reverted back into their normal roles…i.e. yelling at each other.

"You went to school drunk, Will. What the hell am I supposed to think?"

"Oh, maybe you can think that I'm growing up and I don't need you around to solve my problems!"

"If anything, your behavior yesterday proved that you aren't growing up, and that you do need me!"

"Fine, but that doesn't mean that I want you around, have you thought of that?"

'And there it is' thought Susan. Aloud, she said "That's what this is about, isn't it?"

Will folded her arms. "What's what about?"

"This is because I've been working so much, isn't it?"

"No, this is not about you working all the time. I wished you worked all the time so that I wouldn't have to deal with you!"

Susan gasped; Will had finally found just the right words to hurt her. Well, fine, if she wanted to play it like that, then maybe a little tough love was in order;

"Fine. But the next time you get yourself into trouble, don't expect me to be there for you."

With that parting shot, Susan turned, walked to the stairs, and began to ascend. Will felt herself shaking, and let loose with a parting shot before she could stop herself.

"I won't, because you wouldn't be able to handle it!"

A/N So here is chapter 7, and it is only 1:11 in the morning. I'm getting better. I hope y'all (all 4 of you anyway) enjoy this. You guys make them fun to write.

Chapter 6 review responses

lost prince – hells yeah I update fast. I really have nothing to do between classes and rugby practice, because my homework load is so light. And I always like to play it safe when addressing people on fan fiction because I've had members of both sexes get offended and angry because I referred to them as the wrong gender. Most people don't make it a big issue, but there are always a few, so I try to keep on the safe side.
Glad you enjoyed it; don't worry, there will be more opportunities to play with Irma later; I'll try to get something that feels believable to everyone. It's terrible to say, but I'm glad I can make you feel sad; it means I'm doing something right. And the reason you feel the whole situation with Irma with "come crashing down" is because you know I like drama and its ilk.

NIkly – and it's great to come back from fucking geography and (hopefully) read your reviews, sir. And thanks again or praising my OC. And bleach is just full of stuff like this, so you can totally disregard it unless it happens to be what you're watching/reading. And thank you so much for saying that you think Taranee is in character. It really makes me feel like a success as a writer.
and thank you so much for supporting me. I like to entertain people, what can I say?

XV-Dragon – I understand now. Anything you feel like commenting on, feel free. I love to read your guy's opinions. As for the rest, all I can say is that You have to be patient. Sorry.

babywhale512 – glad to hear you agreeing with me about kinda separating Taranee and Peter. I thought it was kind of a risky move. I actually based it off how I would have felt if my twin brother (not truely the same I know) was hiding something from me.
As I mentioned above, I intend to play around with Irma for a bit longer. I mean, no one likes a story when there's no conflict and everyone is all happy. One of the things that I hate about America is that we associate animated/comics with children and we kind of cater to them. i.e. little or no violence/ easy to understand plots. Now, the WITCH comics have pretty intricate plots, but they still are geared towards the younger teens. I'm twenty and I absolutely love the comics, but I just wish they were a little more violent. Granted, it's a different style, but some occasional genuine danger/blood probably would have help to increase the fan base
I mean, look at your story, "what price loyalty" it was perfectly bloody and torrid and people loved the thing.
I apologize about the mistakes. One of these days I'll get around to getting a beta or two. Is there a way you can, like, apply to get one on the site, or do you just ask your reviewers if they want to do it?

And to all you people who are reading the story and not leaving reviews, even if it's just "great story, update soon" or "can't wait for next chappie" please leave the review. At the very least, it lets me know that people appreciate the hard work that goes into this thing.

Don't expect a personalized response, though. I can't listen every single person who said "great story, update soon" and leave them their own message. I will address the "great chapter" group as a whole, but that's about it.