Cook household
7:00 PM
Peter walked up to the front door of his house, a paper bag containing four frozen pizzas clutched in one hand and a twelve pack of root beer in the other; when Taranee had called and told him that Hay Lin and Cornelia were coming over, he had immediately headed straight for one aisle in the supermarket. Maybe it was due to constant teenage patronage, but the Heatherfield GroceryDome had conveniently moved the frozen pizzas and the six and twelve packs of soda into the same aisle. The move was suggested after the constant complaints that the freezer aisle and the beverage aisle were being crowded by teenagers on their way to this study session or that get-together at so-and-so's house. You know, whatever it is teenagers are doing these days.
'If they're going to crowd our aisles anyway' management said 'then let them crowd each other in a single aisle.' And thus the soda/pizza aisle, or sopile, was born. Coincidently, the managers had also moved the store's supply of beer, red plastic cups and ping-pong balls to a single aisle for a similar reason…but that is another story entirely.
Because his hands were full, the elder Cook sibling used the end of the root beer pack. He heard footsteps approaching the door and in was opened by none other than Cornelia; the blonde instantly looked at her feet, a blush spreading across her face. Peter leaned down and smiled at her.
"Hey there; mind if I come in?"
Cornelia nodded, her breath caught in her throat; she stepped out of the way and held the door open as Peter stepped inside. The surfer kicked off his shoes and made a beeline for the kitchen. From on one of the couches, Taranee called out to him.
"Hey big brother, what did you get?"
"Two pepperoni, one cheese and one supreme!" Peter yelled back, disappearing around the corner into the kitchen. Taranee heard the fridge open and close; Cornelia plopped down beside her and Taranee gave her an elbow in the ribs.
"Hungry?"
"Starving."
"Peter, start one of those pizzas, would you?" she shouted over her shoulder.
"Oven has to heat up first." Peter shouted back. Cornelia sighed and settled back into the soft twill of the couch when her cell phone rang; grumpily, she pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the caller ID. Seeing who it was, she threw it to Taranee who, despite having a confused look on her face, caught it. Cornelia folded her arms across her chest and sank back into the couch.
"You talk to her, Taranee; I don't know if I can deal with Will right now."
Sighing, Taranee flipped the phone open and raised it to her ear.
"Hey, have you girls been cooking bacon in here?" shouted Peter from the kitchen.
-----
"Hey, Will."
"Hey…Taranee," add libed Will, expecting Cornelia to answer. "Why didn't Cornelia answer?"
"She's…" Will could hear shouting in the background "… in the kitchen, putting a pizza in the oven."
"Is it just you two?"
"At first it was just Peter and I, but Hay Lin and Cornelia came over. I think Peter's in the kitchen with Cornelia and Hay Lin fell asleep on one of our couches like ten minutes ago."
"So Peter's in the kitchen with Cornelia, huh? Are you sure they're not 'cooking' anything besides pizza in there?"
Taranee forced a chuckle.
"Listen Will, you're my best friend, and I want to come clean with you."
Will frowned at the phone
"About what?"
"Well…Cornelia isn't in the kitchen; I made that up because she doesn't want to talk to you."
"Doesn't want to talk to me? Why not?"
"Jesus, Will; you came to school drunk! Don't you think that might have something to do with it?"
Will almost dropped the phone in shock; first her mother and now her best friend. How many times would this drunk thing come back to haunt her? She pressed the phone back to her ear, determined to have it out with her friend, but Taranee was already speaking.
" – did was stupid, but I'm just glad you're alright."
Will felt a surge of gratitude towards her fellow Guardian.
"However, I can't speak for the others; I mean, I'm sure they're happy that you're okay and everything."
Cornelia met the Fire Guardian's gaze and shook her head which caused Taranee gave the blonde a questioning look; Cornelia rolled her eyes and made a 'drinky drinky' motion with her hand. Putting her hand over the phone, Taranee reprimanded Cornelia in a harsh whisper.
"Listen, Cornelia, Will's going through –"
"Who cares what she's going through, Tara? What happened to Irma was ten times worse...and don't you dare say it wasn't her fault…" the blonde hissed as Taranee opened her mouth "…because this time it was."
With that, she grabbed her phone away from Taranee and, raising it to her ear, walked down the hall and into Taranee's room. She spoke as soon as the door was closed.
"Will, do you have any idea what we were supposed to do last night?"
Across town, Will recoiled at her friend's harsh tone; she strained to remember, but her mind was like a giant blackboard that she had erased with alcohol. However, it seemed that Cornelia had only paused for effect, not waiting for Will to answer.
"We were going to meet at Golden and then walk over to Taranee's house. Even though you pretty much spit on that plan, Hay Lin, Irma and I met there anyway; Irma wanted to wait to see Taranee so that you could come with us and Hay Lin said she felt the same way. I was pissed about what you did, but friends forgive and forget, right?"
Will nodded, despite the fact that Cornelia was sitting in Taranee's room unable to see her. Cornelia's next words wiped the smile right off her face.
"Do you know what your selfish little stunt cost all of us?"
Cornelia again did not wait for Will to answer, choosing to answer her own question.
"On her way home last night, Irma was…she was…she was almost raped, Will!"
With a clunk, Will dropped the phone in shock. 'Oh my god! And it's…my fault?'
Will shook herself and reached down to pick up her phone. She raised it to her ear, finding that she only had three words to ask Cornelia.
"Is she ok?"
"Oh yeah, she's doing great."
"Well that's good."
"I was being sarcastic, Will. Of course she's not fucking ok; she was almost raped! I can only imagine what she's going through."
"Cornelia, I – "
"No; no words, Will! There's nothing you can say that will make me forgive you; you should call Irma and beg for her forgiveness, not that you deserve it."
Will chocked back a sob; the truth was that she did remember making plans to meet her Guardians at Golden and visit Taranee, but the fight with her mother on Thursday night had effectively taken up precedence in her mind. The last thing that Will was able to remember clearly was that her mother had had an early meeting on Friday morning, which caused her to leave the house before Will was even out of bed. When Will had gone down to the kitchen to apologize to her mother, the only thing she found was an empty room and a note on the fridge, which wished Will a good day at school and said that her mother would be home late.
Will remembered feeling guilty as she read the note; there had been no mention of fight the previous evening; no sentence at the bottom that said 'we'll talk later'. The note had ended up causing Will to feel like crap, instead of cheering her up; she had expected her mother to be giving her the cold shoulder, even in a note. And so Will had sat at the table slowly stirring around the remaining cereal in her bowl.
The time to leave for school had finally come, and Will had ran out of her house with her backpack and a thermos full of tequila from her mother's liquor cabinet. Being a first time drinker, Will had made the mistake that all first time drinkers make: drinking too much; by the time the first bell had rung, Will was already tipsy. And now she would finally have to face the four people she had let down the most.
Will brought herself back to the present in time to hear Taranee's voice coming through the phone; Will brought it up to her ear.
" – be too hard on yourself. It's true, you did something really dumb and made all of us worry, but what happened to Irma was not your fault. I don't care what Cornelia says; for all we know, that man was stalking Irma and would have caught up with her later that night, even if you guys had shown at my house."
Will let out another sob; it was easy for Taranee to say, because what had happened to her had not been self inflicted. Deep down, she knew that Cornelia was right; she had done something so stupid and selfish that she had allowed one of her Guardians to experience one of the most horrifying things anyone could imagine. Will knew that she would be lucky if Irma ever forgave her; and it sounded like it would be a while until Cornelia stopped blaming her.
"Listen to me, Will; what if everything had worked out on Friday, and then you guys had decided to walk home after hanging at my house? Irma lives the furthest away from my house; she would have ended up walking home alone anyway. Does that make sense?"
Will sniffled into the receiver. "Yes; thank you, Taranee."
"Will, if you end up asking Irma, or even Cornelia, to forgive you, just remember that you deserve your own forgiveness as much as you might theirs. Listen, I need to go, Peter just pulled one of the pizzas out of the oven. Keep your chin up, kiddo. I love you."
Will heard the click as her best friend hung up. She flipped her phone closed and then let it, and her tears, fall. She threw herself onto her bed and let out a scream which was muffled by the soft down of her comforter.
'If it's not my fault, then how come I feel this way?'
-----
Cave on Metaworld
7:10 PM
Even though she was not the most intellectual of the four Knights, Ember still had her own streak of inquisitiveness. Mainly what was troubling her was the way that Nerissa had acted around the Cranal A'k'sl; she had seemed almost nervous, as if she was afraid of losing him. Nerissa was arrogant and had never exhibited nervousness, at least not to that degree; Ember knew that Nerissa was hell-bent on revenge and that she felt so wronged that she normally did not see or care about anything around her.
And because Ember represented the pain that Nerissa felt as her friends had turned against her and locked her away, it was equally baffling to her why Nerissa had kept referring to the Cranal as "my friend". Certainly Nerissa did not want, or need, a friend; not after what had happened to her. These were the questions that Ember wanted answers to.
When she confronted Nerissa with her concerns, the former Guardian just laughed; Ember listened as Nerissa then outlined her plan to her.
"My dear, whatever pain I might have felt as my…friends locked me away is nothing…nothing compared to what A'k'sl feels; he has not seen another of his species for many hundreds of years now. His race was exterminated because the council of Kandrakar did not agree with one aspect of their culture; they ignored any good that the Cranal represented and focused on only one bad characteristic."
"Mistress…" Ember interjected. "What was that one bad characteristic?"
Nerissa sighed. "Even I do not know that. When the Elders told us of the War, they only mentioned that it begun because the Cranal had rebelled against the very will of the Oracle. Just as you have, I also asked what the Cranal had done to cause the Oracle to pass such a harsh judgment on them that they rebelled. The only thing I was able to learn was that, whatever the Cranal had done, the Oracle had decided to take their magic away."
Nerissa smiled at Ember.
"Because A'k'sl may very well be the last of his kind, that means he was been a loner for several centuries now. I was merely trying to trick him into serving me by offering friendship; obviously he is happy being alone, as my offer did not even sway him."
"Forgive me, mistress, but why would you want to be his friend, especially after your old friends –"
"I have no intention of being his friend, Ember. Surely you could feel his pain; that one carries around the annihilation of his entire race on his shoulders. There is so much hate and pain inside him that I believe he could exact vast amounts of destruction to Kandrakar on his own."
"But then why did you discourage him?"
"It was not discouragement so much as motivation; he dearly wishes to bring about the death of the Oracle, but did you not notice how he attempted to draw out an assignment that should have only taken a few hours? That is why I had you and Tridart bring him back, because I had hoped to goad him into wanting to travel to Kandrakar right then and there; I even offered him our companionship, but even then he was hesitant. And now he was resolved to return to Earth and play with the Guardians instead of attacking Kandrakar for us."
"For us, Mistress."
"Yes, Ember; it was my plan to send him in as our…first wave of attack. Once significant time had passed, I planned to move the rest of us to the Infinite Fortress to…finish the job. I had planned to use him just as one would a weapon."
-----
Vandom household
10:00 PM
Will slowly closed the bathroom door and walked over to mirror; the skin around the teenager's eyes was red and puffy and still wet from her recent tears. Despite what Taranee said, Will felt as if the guilt of what had happened to Irma was weighing her down. She opened a drawer and pulled out a small make-up case. She opened it and pulled out a container of powder foundation.
She opened this and, with slightly shaking hands, pulled out what was inside: a razor blade. She had thought about doing this several times before, but had never actually…
Will rolled up the sleeve of her pajamas and held her upturned wrist above the sink. She brought the razor to rest an inch below her palm, the voices of Taranee, Cornelia and her mother all echoing in her mind…
'What happened to Irma was not your fault.'
'Do you know what your selfish little stunt cost all of us?'
'But the next time you get yourself into trouble, don't expect me to be there for you.'
Will shook her head and brought the razor slicing down, opening an inch long cut in her wrist. Immediately, bright red blood began to well up; Will clenched her fist to keep the blood coming and watched as it slowly began to run down both sides of her wrist and dropped into the sink, where each globule that fell stained the white porcelain red. Will closed her eyes, hung her head and began to cry quietly.
'I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, Taranee; I know that you were just trying to help me. I'm grateful for everything you said, but I deserve to feel every bit of pain that I put my Water Guardian through.'
Will watched as her blood emptied out of her arm and fell in small drops into the sink.
'Cornelia, I'm sorry for everything that I've put you and the other girls through; despite what you say, I will make sure a suffer for it.'
Will could still faintly feel the pain as she had opened her wrist with the blade, and just the feeling was enough to remind her that she was real.
'It's true I've said those words so many times before mother, but this is something new; may now you'll be able to understand how much I regret.'
A/N and there we go. We have reached the namesake of my story. I hope you enjoy this; please be gentle with your negative feedback, if there is any to be had
Chapter 8 review responses -
MaJorReader619 – yeah, the SATs are boring as well. Were you wearing his hat as kind of a good luck charm? Thanks for liking the chapter; don't worry, I'll get to a'k'sl (axel) in the next chapter. And I hope what I did to will is "good" enough for you.
DayDreamer9 – Well thank you. It makes my day when someone tells me I done good.
XV-Dragon – Yep, hay lin's procedure worked out alright. There's always plenty of time for Nerissa to wage war on A'k'sl, you just need to be patient. There will be more Oracle and Kandrakar later…of course.
lost prince – so so happy to hear what you had to say about my first "scene" of chapter 8. It means a lot that I could make you "watch" the thing, instead of read it. And thank you for the "extra star" sir. And if you still don't have a general idea of why Nerissa brought axel back after reading this chapter, go ahead and mention that, and I'll try to hit on that subject harder.
NIkly – I totally feel you;
whenever I'm writing anything on my computer, anyone in the room
feels like they are honor bound to read it. And then they read it
outloud, as if I can't remember what I typed. No, Taranee hasn't
recovered from her wound. I've just done a bad job of bringing
attention to it. I'll include something next chapter about how
having to cauterize Hay Lin put a strain on her ribs because Hay Lin
was jerking around and stuff. Thanks for making a call on that
goof.
so is Italian your first language or something? If so, then
awesome; most Americans can't even speak two languages.
babywhale512 – Hay Lin's cauterization…glad you thought it was fun to read…it was fun to write. And yes, I'll play it up. I'll figure out something fun to do with it. And yes, I'll do something with Nerissa's annoyance in the chapters to come. And about you review of chapter 7…I kinda borrowed a few of the traits you used to describe Nerissa. When you read this chapter you'll see them. I hope that's ok. And I hope that part with Nerissa is straight forward and doesn't raise too many questions for everyone.
And I do indeed plan a showdown with axel and the guardians, but after they've recovered a little…of course, Will is just starting to lose it again, so maybe she hangs back and watches her guardians take on Axel.
