Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. But you should know that by now.
AN: The inspiration for this chapter came from XV Dragon in a PM. Thanks for the help. Reviewing the past few chapters, I've realised that I'm heading in the wrong direction pairings wise and hopefully this chapter will set me back on track for WxC instead of CxC.
Will sat on the ledge outside the temple and looked up at the stars as she contemplated her next move. Nerissa clearly knew the stone was here, although how she'd found out was a mystery. To make things worse, she found herself thinking more and more about their travelling companion, Lord Caleb. He kept entering her thoughts at random times. Like wondering about weather he liked watching the stars as well.
"Arrgh!" she yelled to the sky. Falling for Lord Caleb was a bad idea, any fool could tell her that. He was engaged to her fellow swordmistress Lady Cornelia Hale for one thing. And Will had no intention of being anyone's mistress. That always ended badly and besides, Will had far too much self-respect to be second best.
"Hey, you ok?" Taranee asked as she stepped out of the darkness. Will shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess so." She answered, before continuing, "I'm sorry T, you were right. My desire for revenge almost cost me my free will. If Hay Lin hadn't intervened when she did, I'd just be some mindless thrall by now."
"Hey don't worry about it. Everybody makes mistakes, even the best of us." Taranee said as she put an arm around her friend's shoulders.
Will let out a small laugh. "The way Cornelia had a go at me earlier, you would think she didn't."
Taranee laughed too. "Yeah well that's the nobility for you. They like to pretend that they don't make mistakes. It's meant to make them seem more than human."
"Yeah?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well if you ask me, that's just plain stupid."
"Indeed. What are you planning to do about the Stone though?" Taranee asked her, switching track mid sentence. Will shook her head.
"Wish I knew T, Wish I knew."
Taranee smiled at her. "What about Lord Caleb?" she asked.
"What about Lord Caleb?" Will shot back, raising an eyebrow.
"Will" Taranee began "I've known you long enough to know when you're falling for someone. Seriously Will, do you think that little of my intelligence?"
Will blushed and smiled at her friend. "Falling for Caleb is a bad idea. And I'm something of a sucker for doomed romances." Will paused for a moment. "I mean come on! He's engaged to Lady Hale-"
"Who hates his guts." Taranee cut in.
"and I'm nobodies mistress." Will finished, as though Taranee hadn't spoken.
Taranee sighed and shook her head. Most people generally got past the awkward teenage crush stage in their life as time went by, but Will, it seemed, never managed to get the hang of it. In fact, when it came to love, Will was hopeless. It had taken her over a year for her and Matt, her first boyfriend to get together and Taranee could tell that Will's feelings for Caleb were a lot stronger. Taranee opened her mouth to try and pursuade Will to at least talk to Caleb when she spotted a figure approaching from the shadows. Grabbing her sword, she cried out
"Who goes there?"
A voice chuckled from the shadows. "Have I been dead so long that you no longer recognise me, Taranee?"
"Susan?" Taranee asked incredulously.
"The one and only." The woman said as she stepped out of the shadows. Taranee stared at her in disbelief. Something was very wrong here.
"How is this possible?" Taranee asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion at the person in front of her.
"Taranee Cook I am here to help you all succeed." Susan snapped at her. "Now take me to the stone, it's vitally important." Taranee pulled herself into an attack position.
"Not until I get some answers." She snarled. "For all I know, you could be a trick of Nerissa's"
"T it's my sensei." Will cut in. "She can explain on the way."
"I dunno Will. It smells like a…" BAMN! Susan Vandom's sword smashed into the side of Taranee's head and knocked her out. Will stared at Susan.
"I am sorry Will, but I don't have a lot of time here and this is vital." Susan explained. Will frowned and nodded at her.
"Come with me sensei." She said and turned into the temple.
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Inside the temple, the others were busy preparing themselves for the next stage. Hay Lin and Irma were sparring with each other with wooden swords, each one using their respective techniques to the full, Hay Lin striking at random, with unpredictable and almost invisible attacks and Irma using Hay Lin's attacks against her. It was a testament to their respective skills that neither side found themselves able to gain an advantage. Cornelia was on the other side of the chamber facing away from them, shooting at a target. Although she wasn't hitting the bullseye, her accuracy was impressive. Her shots were consistently hitting the inner rings. Caleb was outside.
As Will entered the room, all eyes turned towards her.
"Who is that?" Cornelia asked in a hostile voice, a sense of unease forming at the back of her mind as she watched the two figures enter the chamber.
"Swordmistress Susan Vandom, sensei of Swordmistress Will Watsuki." The second figure answered as they stepped into the light. Will and Susan were standing at the entrance of the room.
"Errm Will, isn't your sensei supposed to be dead?" Irma asked in a hesitant voice.
"The stone has recalled her spirit with one purpose. To bring the stone into the spirit world, to protect it, while we deal with Nerissa and her thralls." Will replied. Cornelia scowled at her in disbelief.
"I'm not so sure about this." She said doubtfully.
Susan stepped forward. "Swordmistress Hale. You have studied magic, even though you lack the ability to perform it. Surely you know about how sometimes the spirit world chooses to intervene in times of dire need."
Cornelia's scowl was replaced by a look of surprise. Then she snatched up her crossbow and fired a bolt at Susan.
"But you're not Susan Vandom though are you?" she yelled as Susan flew backwards. "You're merely a fetch of her, a creature of dark magic moulded by Nerissa to obtain the Stone of Zamballa. You may have Susan's memories and Susan's skills, but you're not her."
Susan Vandom stood up and in the cross of her sword sat Cornelia's crossbow bolt. The others stared at her in disbelief.
"You blocked the bolt with your sword?" Cornelia asked in a surprised voice. Susan nodded. Throwing her crossbow aside, Cornelia picked up her sword and assumed a guarding stance.
Irma and Hay Lin looked from Will to Cornelia and back again, uncertain as to who was in the right. It was Will that was the deciding factor. She charged at Cornelia with cobra speed, her sword raised to attack. But as she brought the sword down Irma parried it.
"Will, wait." Irma said staring into Will's eyes. "What if she's right? What if this is one of Nerissa's tricks?"
"She's my sensei Irma." Will snarled back "You think I don't know my own sensei?"
"Will, please think about it for a minute, I'm begging you." Irma replied, but with a flick of her wrist, Will sent Irma flying. Enraged, Hay Lin charged at Will with a scream of rage and at the last moment, her arms shot out, holding her batons.
Cornelia launched her attack on Susan less than thirty seconds later, hoping that Susan would be distracted by Hay Lin's attack on Will and knowing that the moment Will finished fighting Hay Lin, she, Cornelia would stand no chance against both Will and Susan. Her sword swung in a downwards strike with a speed that seemed impossible for the huge Zanbato. Cornelia's sword smashed down onto the ground with tremendous force, but Susan Vandom dodged it with ease, jumping sideways and forwards.
Susan's jump put her just past Cornelia and with a swing of her sword, smashed the handle of her blade into Cornelia's back, followed by a swing which send Cornelia flying to crash over three metres away.
Cornelia stood up, her head ringing. Susan looked at her with interest.
"Interesting" Susan began, a look of amusement forming on her face "You are the only person I have ever met who has taken a hit like that and gotten back up immediately."
"You've clearly never fought an Earth discipline sword fighter before then." Cornelia growled back. What Cornelia failed to mention was that even among Earth discipline swordmasters, few could take a hit like the one she just took and get back up.
"Very well then." Susan said with an evil looking smile on her face. "Let's finish this."
Will, meanwhile fought Irma and Hay Lin with tremendous speed, her sword swinging between the two of them with tremendous speed, parrying and striking out with minimum effort. Irma parried one of Will's strikes with her toothed sword, only for Will to push her sword forward and to smash its tip on her head, knocking her out cold. Hay Lin fared only a little better. Sucessfully dodging Will's strikes, she launched an attack of her own, leaping forward with her batons stretched forward, matching her arms. Will stepped sideways, dodging Hay Lin's attack and swung her sword forward, smashing it into Hay Lin's face with tremendous force, knocking her out.
Caleb charged into the chamber, drawn by all the noise. Staff in hand, he threw himself at Cornelia at the same time Will and Susan did. Will's sword flew into Cornelia's back as she flew past her. Susan's blade flew into Cornelia's chest and Caleb's staff flew up under Cornelia's chin. As all three weapons hit her, Cornelia went down. Caleb turned towards Will.
"Will, what's going on here?" He asked, clearly puzzled.
"It's a long story Caleb, I'll explain later. Suffice to say that they were…" Will paused, uncertain of how to continue. Then she shook her head, like a dog clearing it's ears. She turned to face Susan and said "Sensei, this is wrong." Susan turned her head to face Will.
"No it isn't." she said and with a sudden swing of her sword swept under Will's chin and sent her flying. Caleb threw himself at her with a roar, his staff spinning, to clash with her sword. A brief fight ensued, Caleb's staff swinging to counter every blow swung by Susan, but he was simply not good enough and after parrying a low sweeping blow, he was hit by Susan sliding her sword up his staff and smashed her sword into his chin.
Susan stepped up to the altar and stretched her hand towards the stone, when a clay ball with a burning wick thudded at her feet, causing her to look down.
Boom! The ball exploded and killed her instantly. Caleb turned his head to face the thrower of the grenade, his head still groggy from the blow that he received from Susan. Standing in one of the doorways into the chamber was swordmistress Taranee Cook with an angry snarl on her face.
"You were never Susan Vandom, creature" she said to the rapidly dissolving form that was Susan Vandom. Or more accurately, the thing that had mimicked Susan Vandom.
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Two hours later
"So, does anyone have any idea what that thing was?" Will asked as she looked around the rest of the group, comprised of the rest of W.I.T.C.H and Caleb.
"It was a Fetch." Cornelia replied, before continuing "A creature summoned up by dark magic, that can assume the memories and skills of a person who has died. They exert a low level form of mind control over people who were very close to the person they mimic." She paused, looking at Will. "It used your connection to Swordmistress Susan Vandom to exert control over you. What surprises me is that you broke free of it. I've never heard of it happening before."
"So what you fought was…" Will began.
"Essentially how Susan Vandom would have fought me. But a fetch is a slave to whoever summoned it up. It has no feelings, merely the illusion of them and it will do whatever's necessary to complete their mission." Cornelia finished. Cornelia gave Will a hard stare. "Swordmistress Will Watsuki, I believe that you are a liability to this team, your personal involvement with Nerissa has been used against you twice by Nerissa, the first time it was unsuccessful, the second time it almost succeeded. I don't want there to be a third time. I believe that for all our sakes, you should be replaced by another Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryo master."
"Hey, that's not fair!" Taranee protested.
"Yeah, what if it had been you that had been controlled like that!" Irma added indignantly.
"If I had been controlled, the rest of you would be able to stop me." Cornelia replied calmly "Will is the most powerful member of our group and she can defeat us all. Which is why I propose that she is replaced by another swordmaster when we get back to Meridian. Nerissa already has the Sword of Candracar and a light of Meridian, my best friend Queen Elyon. All she needs is to get her hands on the Stone of Zamballa and she has what she needs to rule the world."
Will sighed. She knew that Cornelia was right and that annoyed her.
"Very well then. When we get back to Meridian, I will give up my role in favour of a better candidate" Will said and she turned away, determined not to be seen crying as she felt herself break down.
AN: I know Cornelia sounds a little heartless in this chapter, but she is actually being pragmatic. What she doesn't know (none of them do yet, including Will) is that Will is vital to the success of their quest.