I LIIIIIIIVE! Okay, now that I got that out of the way . . . what's it been? Two years since I last posted something on this site? Well, for the few that remember me, I do have a good excuse! For the last two years I've been writing a book! Yes, you read that right. A fantasy novel! I'm working on getting it published right now. So, yeah, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet.
About this story: honestly, I never meant to write any WITCH fanfictions. Then one day I was bored – or sick, can't remember – and decided to watch the first episode of WITCH. Well, I didn't like it. I mean I liked it, obviously, but it could've been better. Before I knew it, I was rewriting the whole episode in my head. Then I got down to the computer and it literally all poured out. I couldn't stop. Avalanches got nothing on this story. I swear I've written forty pages in the last month! Anyways, long story short I decided I'd post it.
Summary: This is the episodes 'It Begins' and 'It Resumes' from W.I.T.C.H. rewritten for my own personal amusement – or therapy, haven't figured that out yet. Basically, what if the Guardians hadn't believed Mrs. Lin's story? What if Will Vandom had an actual personality (a/n: I was very disappointed in Will's character. She has so much potential)?
Warnings: This story has lots of outtakes from the show. I changed and played with them because I hate writing word-for-word as much as I'm sure you hate reading it, but there are parts I didn't change too much (mostly 'cause they're funny). This story is also OoC, but the only really obvious one is Will. For the others I simply made them more realistic or emphasized some of their traits. I also warped the timeline, so be warned. Though, if it isn't about Will, it's not too drastic.
Other than that . . . enjoy! This isn't my best work, but like I said: it's for fun or therapy. I'm not trying to sell it.
Disclaimer: (this is so surreal, I haven't done these in years) If I owned W.I.T.C.H. (which I don't) it would be airing on ABCKids and I'd be enjoying Season 3. As it is, all I have are home videos.
2011 update: no idea if replacing chapters activates any alerts on a story, so I decided to play it safe and put this in. Welcome to the new and improved Protector! Was bored with college and too tired to write anything original-ish so I decided to reread some of my old stories and when I got to this one, I thought, "Huh, this could be better!" So ta-da! The new and improvedness! Please enjoy!
Protector: Chapter 1
A new day, a new bed, a new room, a new school . . . Will sighed as she ticked off the items. Sheffield Institute looked just like all the others. Well, minus the lack of policemen patrolling the entrance, which was a definite plus.
Rain poured from the sky, streaking the window and blurring her view. It didn't matter; new could look so old sometimes.
"Well, here we are," her mom piped up cheerfully as the car coasted to a stop. The car was the only really old thing they had. "Don't worry, you'll do fine! Have your umbrella?"
Will grimaced and held up the blue item.
"You really ought to have worn your raincoat, too."
Will snorted. "Mom, I've had that raincoat since third grade. It doesn't exactly fit anymore."
Her mother, Susan Vandom, worried her bottom lip. "Still . . . oh well then, go on. Make lots of new friends today! I put a dozen extra cookies in your lunch! That should help break the ice with the other girls."
"Thanks Mom," Will muttered before jumping into the lashing rain. She fumbled desperately with her umbrella until it popped open, and then kicked the door shut, waving as her mom drove off. When the taillights of the car vanished around the corner, Will finished her thought with a sigh, "I'm sure that'll make me popular with the local bullies."
She pivoted to regard the Sheffield Institute archway. At least that was unusual. The school was probably built by the mayor. A yellow school bus nearby gunned its engine and sped down the street, spraying Will with greasy water.
She absently shook her foot. Yep, definitely like all the others.
"Hey, check out the new girl!"
Will scowled, if she had a dime for every time she heard that, she'd be richer than the Queen of England. She kept walking.
"Hey Wilma!"
And a nickel for that one. She glanced over at the foursome lounging across their table, their science experiment an impressive plastic rocket. Will doubted it could fly. "It's Will."
"Okay," the chatty one with spiky orange hair and a pimply face agreed, "Wilma!"
Will rolled her eyes. "Real mature," she muttered.
"Hey! Will! Over here!"
Will looked up, spying a beaming Chinese girl waving at her. She struggled for a moment, trying to place the girl. Right, first period history class, sat in the back with an amber-haired girl. She vaguely recalled the two of them giggling all throughout the lecture on Genghis Khan. And there, unsurprisingly, was the amber-haired girl standing at an adjacent booth.
Will picked up the speed. As she was new, she couldn't exactly participate in the science fair, something she was actually thankful for. She liked science well enough – and it was probably the only subject she had a knack for – but school projects tended to drive her up the wall. They felt like a waste of time. So she was left to her own devices.
The Chinese girl put down her hand. "Don't worry about Uriah. He's like that to everybody. Just ignore him."
Amber-haired girl snorted. "Yeah, evolution did. One day we're expecting him to slither back into the water."
Will cracked a small smile. Slither was a good word. She might like this amber-haired girl. "So you know my name. That's hardly fair."
The Chinese girl blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm Hay Lin! Pleased to meet you!" She held out a hand.
Will took it. "Likewise."
"I'm Irma," amber-haired girl said and then jerked her thumb at the other two girls taking up residence at her adjacent booth. Will glanced over obligingly and then stared. A pretty blonde was smashing down a rather beautiful pink flower with her fists, muttering under her breath all the while. The other girl, an African with a snazzy hairstyle and big glasses, offered a shy smile, utterly oblivious to her friend's slightly . . . questionable behavior. "That's Taranee Cook, grade-A genius, and the one with anthophobia is Cornelia Hale."
The blonde, apparently Cornelia, looked up. "Antha-what?"
"Anthophobia, or Anthrophobia," Taranee explained, "fear of flowers."
"Flowers!" Cornelia sputtered. "I do not fear flowers! This one just won't die!"
Irma folded her arms with a satisfied smirk. "I rest my case."
"Irma!"
"So Will," Hay Lin asked drawing Will's attention, "how do you like Sheffield so far?"
"It's . . . interesting."
"Small, antique, and interesting." Taranee piped up, the shy smile returning. "I was the new girl last year."
"Say," Hay Lin began, a sparkle in her eyes, "we're going to my parents' restaurant after school, you want to come?"
Will stared. The invite flew completely over her head. She had, after all, only met the girl two minutes ago. "W-what?"
Hay Lin gave a one-shoulder shrug, still smiling blithely. "Well, see my parents' own a restaurant downtown. It's not that far away. Just a twenty minute walk and Grandma usually makes us tea and she just baked some fresh cookies last night. Do you want to come?"
"Did she just invite new girl?"
Will's stunned gaze jerked away from Hay Lin's cheerful face to the adjacent booth in time to see Cornelia, who had finally stopped pounding her pink flower into the dust, plant a fist on her hip in pure incredulousness.
"Cornelia!" Taranee hissed, looking horrified.
A scowl worked its way onto Will's face. She wasn't going to pretend that the blatant rejection didn't hurt, but still, she was inclined to agree with the blonde. She was the new girl, and experience dictated that new girls' didn't get invited to outings at the drop of a hat. She turned back to Hay Lin, struggling to smooth away the scowl. "Thanks, but I don't think –"
"Oh come on!" Hay Lin pleaded, seizing Will's hand. "It'll be fun! Think of it as a way to get to know Sheffield better!"
"I-I don't –"
"Please!"
Will wilted under Hay Lin's big puppy dog eyes. "Well I guess . . . ."
"Great! We'll have so much fun! I've got a cell if you want to call your mom! Oh, you aren't allergic to anything, are you? Taranee's got this thing against shellfish."
Will batted aside the girl's happy babble. "I'm fine, really. And thanks. I've got my own phone."
Hay Lin nodded and continued her happy ramble. Will tuned her out. It couldn't hurt, could it? Besides, what else was she supposed to say when the girl wouldn't take no for an answer? She glanced over at Irma who smiled reassuringly.
The Silver Dragon was . . . out of place. It stood on a street corner downtown with skyscrapers all around it. Will idly wondered how the Lins managed to pay the mortgage. Or buy it in the first place, corner lots downtown cost a pretty penny.
Hay Lin took them through the back way. She introduced Will to a stooped, frail-looking old woman with big ears, calling her grandma. The other girls said their greetings and immediately scurried into a private room, arranging themselves upon the red plush bench. Apparently, this was a common occurrence.
Taranee dragged two chairs to the table, offering one to Will. "So you're the new girl, eh?" Hay Lin's grandma inquired.
Will grimaced. "Word travels fast."
Yan Lin chuckled. "Heatherfield isn't very large. How do you like your tea, dear?"
"I'm not much of a tea drinker."
"Well, we can't have that! I'll fix you a special blend, one of my favorites. Irma, I believe there are some cookies in the pantry. Fetch them please."
Will's eyes wandered over the muted orange walls. If it weren't for the dragons, the restaurant could pass as a cozy furnace. Potted plants added splashes of green to the décor and intricate Chinese designs decorated the walls and woodwork. It was quite nice and comfortable.
And yet she couldn't relax. It had been years since she'd last known anyone she could consider more than a passing acquaintance. After the first few moves, there hadn't been a point. Breaking through the barriers of established cliques was exhausting, thankless work that was often destroyed months later whenever she moved again. Never mind that she was a dismal failure at making friends to begin with.
So she had given up, slipping into the expected role of "the new girl." And now she hadn't a clue as to what she was supposed to do. If it wasn't for Hay Lin's extraordinarily authentic puppy dog eyes, she wouldn't have said yes.
Will shot a cursory glance at the girls, not at all surprised to find she was the subject of subtle and not-so-subtle scrutiny. The girls themselves . . . well, Will wasn't entirely sure what to think of them. There was Irma, sarcasm and wit just pouring out of her mouth with all the restraint of a gushing waterfall. Hay Lin, in contrast, was a perfect ray of sunshine, bouncing from one subject to another with barely a pause in-between. Taranee was shy and sweet and apparently smart to boot, though where that funky hairstyle fit in was a complete mystery to Will. She liked it though; she'd have to remember to mention that. Then there was prissy Cornelia with her designer clothes and snobby, rich girl attitude, possessing all the subtly of a jackhammer.
They were all so different from each other. It didn't make sense. And maybe that's what kept her in her seat, waiting to see how this would play out.
Or maybe it was the politeness drilled into her by her mother. One could never tell.
Irma clunked a platter of fortune cookies in front of Will and slid back into the booth. She picked one up and waved it at the door. "Mrs. Lin bakes these herself. I suspect her secret ingredient is chocolate." She nibbled on the corner of hers. "Although I haven't figured out if it's milk or dark."
"Chocolate, eh?" Will selected one. "Everything's good with chocolate."
"A girl after my own heart!" Irma grinned.
"So Will," Taranee asked, absently snagging a cookie, "where did you go to school before Sheffield?"
"Jackson. It's in Seattle, Washington. Before that we were in Michigan. My mom's job moves us around a lot." Will shrugged and broke her cookie. A little slip of paper fell out; the words 'You will make a new best friend'stared up at her.
"What's your mom do?"
She shifted the paper out of view with her sleeve, hoping no one would notice or ask. The words cut a little too close to home for comfort. "She does consultant work for Simultech."
"Fascinating," Cornelia intoned, "but not caring. Has anyone noticed anything strange happening lately?"
Irma snorted. "Like the conversation deviating from Cornelia Hale, the center of the universe? Nope, can't say that I have."
"Oh very funny, Irma."
Yan Lin bustled through the door and cleared her throat. "Is everyone enjoying their food?"
A chorus of "Yes ma'am" and "Of course" echoed about the room. Yan Lin smiled benignly and set her tray down, dividing the cups among the girls. "Good, good. Special blend for Irma. Mint for my Hay Lin. Green for Taranee. Peach for Cornelia with a dash of sugar. And here you are Will, a special blend with a spoonful of honey."
Will accepted the cup uneasily. Her mother was a coffee-addict and despite how good the stuff smelled, it tasted awful. There was no reason to expect anything different out of tea. "Thanks, Mrs. Lin."
"You are quite welcome. Now girls, I have a story to tell you."
Hay Lin turned bright pink. "Grandma, they don't want to hear a story."
"Oh, but I think they'll want to hear this one." Yan Lin placed a worn box on the table. It was a beautiful deep red enforced with brass and appeared to be quite old.
Hay Lin's eyebrows shot up. "What's in the box?"
Yan Lin merely hmmed and stepped aside, tapping the air with a boney finger. A circle of purple light sizzled to life, expanding to the floor and ceiling all the while spitting and crackling like lightning. Will jerked back, barely retaining her seat. She vaguely registered the other girls gasp. Taranee even jarred the table, upsetting the untouched tea cups.
The purple swirled into other colors, creating a moving picture of lights depicting what appeared to be a solar system, except it wasn't theirs, for it only had four planets. And Yan Lin stood next to this moving picture of lights as if it were an everyday theatre performance.
"The universe was once a single kingdom ruled by good, but evil began to take root. A veil was created to isolate the evil kingdom of Meridian from all other worlds. Without the protection of this veil, every world, including Earth, is in terrible danger."
As Yan Lin spoke, the sun – at least, Will supposed it was a sun – was blackened out and tangled creepers with thorns sprouted from it, reaching for the other circling planets. It was too weird; in fact Will's brain seemed to have momentarily stopped working. Yan Lin's story wasn't even registering.
"Meridian has been overtaken by a powerful entity named Phobos, but he is not the legitimate ruler. They believe the true heir to the throne is somewhere here on Earth."
Honestly, it was starting to sound like fairytale story. Then the tangled mass was interrupted by a blazingly blue circle. Will flinched and covered her eyes. She heard Irma whimper, "H-Hay Lin? W-what –?"
"But portals have begun to open in the veil, doorways through which evil can cross between worlds. There are people called Guardians whose job it is to close these holes, using their powers." Yan Lin snapped her fingers and the weird lightshow faded away, as if it had never been there.
Will tightened her fingers around the edge of the table, feeling the smooth wood beneath her palms, grounding her. Her sense of reality was still righting itself. Poor Taranee was latched onto both table and chair as if afraid a giant gaping maw might open underneath her and swallow her whole. Granted, at the moment Will wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it did. Irma and Cornelia both wore identical expressions of cornered animals; Irma was even hunched over, her hands entwined in her hair. Hay Lin simply looked gobsmacked.
"I became a Guardian when I was your age," Yan Lin continued, "but now the duty is passing to your generation." She paused, as if waiting for a reaction. Cornelia started working her jaw, but nothing came out, so Yan Lin approached the beautiful red box and opened it.
Will shoved herself against the back of the chair, as far away from the sparkling pink glow that emitted from the box as she could without actually getting up and running for the door. She might have tried, but her legs weren't exactly cooperating.
Taranee squeaked in alarm, shrinking back, as Yan Lin lifted a dazzling – literally, it was just a shade or two below blinding – pink orb into the air. It appeared to be a necklace. "This is the Heart of Candracar, which contains the elementary forces of nature. I knew the moment the five of you entered the restaurant I had found the new Guardians. In the last few days, you have all had unusual experiences, am I right?"
"Besides this one?" Irma's voice had a hysterical edge to it as she finally lifted her head. "I-I don't know what-what's going on but –"
"This is nuts!" Cornelia jumped to her feet, eliciting another squeak from Taranee. "Thank you for the snacks, but I'm leaving." She snatched up her bag.
Yan Lin frowned. "Cornelia –"
Cornelia flipped her long hair over her shoulder and glared at the old woman. "Thank you, but I'm not interested." She stalked toward the door, pausing only when Taranee latched onto her skirt, and then proceeded to drag her new tagalong with her.
Hay Lin raised a quavering voice, "Grandma?"
Irma stood, using the table as leverage. Her legs looked about as shaky as Will's felt. There was also a green tinge to her cheeks. "I-I have to . . . ." She lurched to the door. Hay Lin was at her side in an instant, hurrying her out of the room.
Will watched all this in a daze. Her head felt like it was spinning and gravity seemed strangely absent – like she was floating. And the only solid thing, the only thing that felt real, was the table beneath her sweaty palms.
Then Yan Lin turned to her and the world crashed around her ears in a metaphorically deafening boom. "Will, please –"
Will didn't wait to hear what the old woman had to say. She ran.
Well, that's that! Review please! After two years, I miss those. Encouragements and advice . . . wistful sigh