Disclaimer: I do not own W.I.T.C.H. This is a work of fan fiction.

Season Three Episode Five "Damascus Road, Part One" Chapter Three

Meridian, six months ago. Following Phobos' orders, Miranda was playing the role of a friend for Princess Elyon. The girl unnerved her in some way she had trouble putting a finger on. It was almost as if Elyon really was exactly the kind of person Miranda was so certain didn't exist.

It had to be an act, just like everyone who acted good or innocent was just acting to fool those around them. Yet she had to admit this Elyon was the best actress she had ever met. Even Miranda herself was almost convinced by her. She even told Elyon a part of the truth about what had happened to her family, and she hadn't talked about that in almost ten years!

"Stay focused." Miranda told herself. "It's all an act. Soon Phobos will have what he wants and Elyon will be no more, no matter how convincing she is." But somewhere, deep down inside, she wondered…

Tom Lair sat in the shelter office as the staff counted out the donated money. He was certain he had seen the girl who had called herself Melinda in the serving line out front. Of course, he now knew her name was really Miranda, and she was from Meridian. "Should I call Irma?" he wondered. "No. Not yet. I'd better make sure that's who I saw first. No sense bringing the girls out on a wild goose chase."

Half an hour after Will had sent Blunk to find Vathic, all the Guardians, plus Matt and Caleb were gathered in the Vandom's living room. "Why would she just let Blunk go?" Cornelia wondered.

Caleb said, "Good question. Coming to earth, even if she had no plans for revenge, makes good tactical sense. It got the prison guards off her trail. But letting Blunk go ruins that, since he was certain to come let you girls know. Miranda's usually more careful than that."

"This could be a convoluted way of luring us into a trap." Taranee said.

"No, I don't think so." Elyon replied. "There's some aspect, some angle to this we're not seeing."

"I have an idea!" Hay Lin said excitedly. "Queen Neera is supposed to be some giant spider-being, right? And Miranda turns into a spider. Maybe they're in cahoots!"

"No. That doesn't work. For one thing, Neera's had no chance to contact Miranda. And besides, Miranda isn't really a spider. That might be her preferred combat form, but she can turn into any animal she wants, and shapeshifters are actually human in form when they're not purposely being animals." Caleb answered.

"Maybe she was telling Blunk the truth. Maybe she just wants to be left alone. It would explain why she didn't hurt Blunk. Maybe she hopes that if she didn't hurt him, we'd have less reason to make coming after her a priority." Will said.

Matt said, "That makes more sense than any other theory so far. But I wonder why she didn't free Cedric. You'd think the lovebirds would've stayed close."

"No." Caleb said. "Vathic told me a couple weeks ago they had some kind of falling out in their cells. He wasn't sure what caused it."

Dean looked up from the table he was sitting at. "You mind if I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"How are you planning to track her down in a city this size?"

Will answered, "I'm not sure. Blunk could track her by scent, but we'd have to take him out in public to do that. I guess we're just hoping something turns up."

Miranda had an odd feeling in her mind. Somewhere inside her a suspicion was forming, one she couldn't quite place. Something new and unsettling was pending within her. Doing her best to ignore it, she continued to work with Martin, now cleaning the kitchen following the meal.

While she worked on a large pot, the office doors opened and the shelter's staff, along with the policeman she had seen earlier, came out. "Excuse me everyone! I have an announcement!" the director shouted. "This week's funds drive has been a bigger success than we ever dreamed! We've collected over thirty-five thousand dollars in donations!" The volunteer staff cheered loudly.

"They probably hoard most of it for themselves." Miranda thought.

Then Martin came over and said he would finish the scrubbing if she could go downstairs and help Alchemy with preparing the shelter's rooms for the night's guests. "It's down the stairs and to the left at the first junction. You can't miss it." he said.

Downstairs, following Martin's directions, Miranda turned the last corner and found the quarters those who lived at the shelter called home. She saw humans of all ages and types huddled together. A young mother fed a baby. Three elderly men worked together to repair a damaged cot. A middle aged man led a small group in a study of some kind. Everywhere Miranda looked as she walked through the room, she saw people with nothing to gain helping each other freely. She stopped in place and began to shudder as the pending realization struck her full force…

Varthan. Aljax and Garix worked together to find the best way of revealing the truth about Irma Lair to Martin Tubbs. "We need some opportunity to attack bystanders, people the Guardians don't know, and are therefore open targets, while they are both there as well." Garix said. "Then the Guardians will have no choice but to defend the innocents, and our target will see."

Aljax agreed. "Yes my prince. But this is risky. Such a plan requires Martin to be in the midst of an attack, and should you or any of your soldiers harm him in the course of the attack before he sees…"

"Then the repercussions would be immediate and probably fatal to us all. I know. It is a risk we must take. My mother the Queen has decreed that the results of this project are vital to Varthan's continued existence as a major power in the infinite worlds. I will not let her down."

"Nor will I, my prince. Are you certain you will sense when Martin becomes a valid target?"

"Yes. The moment he know the truth, I will feel that he knows the truth. And then he will be ours, at least until the Guardians rescue him or, better yet, get him killed trying to rescue him."

Two hours after he had left, Blunk returned via a fold and handed Will a pair of stasis-cuffs. "Perfect," she said, "now we've just got to get them on her."

"Gotta find her first." Cornelia reminded her.

"Want Blunk track Miranda? Only a few hours old trail. Blunk could follow easily, as long as she not get into earth vehicle, or cross water."

"Thanks, but you'd have to go out in big public crowds. Even wearing a disguise, you'd be too exposed." Hay Lin told him.

As everyone sat, trying to think of a plan to go forward, Irma's cell phone rang.

The technical term is 'epiphany.' The sudden, full-on realization and acceptance of a truth formerly unknown or rejected. Standing in the middle of the Lighthouse Shelter's common room, Miranda was experiencing one for the first time in her life. "Everything I've believed my entire life is wrong." she thought. "There really are good people, innocent people, in the world. This place is full of them. They've got nothing, but they give. The volunteers stand to gain nothing, but they come anyway."

Still shaking, she thought back over her life. Phobos and Cedric had lied to her. Lied, or else were such fools they actually believed what they taught. Probably the latter. Not that she could talk, she had been as big a fool as they were. She had believed them.

Unbidden, memories of her youngest days, before the death of her family, rushed into mind. Happiness and security with a loving mother, father, and brothers. Then the Hillborne came. They took it all from her. She wished they had taken her too.

And now, hard on the heels of the first epiphany, a second one: If good and innocent people did exist, then surely at least some, maybe even most, of the people she had hurt had not deserved it. Just as her family hadn't deserved what the Hillborne had did to them.

Miranda shook harder. Barely kept on her feet. A thin, quiet cry escaped her. "I've become what I hated the most." she thought. "I've hurt innocent people, people who never would have harmed me, never would have turned against me. I've done to who knows how many people the same thing the Hillborne did to me." She spoke, barely a whisper, "What have I done? God help me, what have I done?"