W.I.T.C.H. fan: Hey guys! Yes I am alive and well! Okay I know some-okay ALL of you probably want to come at me with pitchforks and torches for not updating in so long. The only excuse I have is that I got into another show and with this year being my senior year and finals and graduation and everything it's been crazy. Plus my laptop broke and I couldn't get on it for my documents But now that summer is here and I have a new laptop, I plan to buckle down and get going on this story for you guys. I promise updates will happen more often now!

Chapter 4

Leading the way to the hideout she had picked earlier, Nerissa clenched her teeth, trying to control her temper as she listened to the "conversation" Ozai and Phobos were having behind her.

"In all honesty, I'm a little surprised why Nerissa would agree to join you. After all you were defeated by mere girls," The former fire lord said, his tone arrogant.

Phobos narrowed his eyes in a glare. "Yes, but they had an army behind them. You and your entire forces were outmatched by only five children and old men."

As they continued to argue over which one of them had had the less humiliating defeat, Nerissa's short temper snapped.

"Enough!" She shouted whirling around to face them. "If we are to succeed we must have some sort of harmony. The two of you carrying on like children will not get us anywhere."

The prince scoffed. "I don't see why I should put up with…" He trailed off when he saw the death glare Nerissa was throwing in his direction. After a moment he gave a defeated groan. "Very well, Sorceress," he muttered scathingly.

"Good," Nerissa said, still looking irritated. "Now on to our first order of business."

"Ah yes," Ozai said with a wicked smile. "You promised to return my power to me."

The former guardian turned around to look at him. "That will have to wait, old friend."

Ozai's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Nerissa you gave me your word that you would-"

"And I will!" Nerissa interrupted. "But it will not be today. We must move with caution from now on."

Phobos rolled his eyes. "Why can't we just go to another world and take their heart?"

"With that forces, Phobos?" The ex-guardian said, "You have always reached too high with no plan and it has always been your downfall. We must think this through. Now, I have no doubt the guardians and the Avatar are looking for us as we speak. We have to find a way to throw them off."

"And I know just how to do it," The former fire lord said. "There's been a rebellion going on in the Fire Nation. We can the leaders for support in evading those troublesome children."

Nerissa smiled. "Excellent. Seeing as the rebellion is clearly loyal to you, you can do as you please with them, while Phobos and I find a way to regain our strength."

Phobos cleared his throat, drawing Ozai and Nerissa's attention. "Perhaps this will help," he said pulling a round dark blue jewel out of his sleeve.

"My seal!" Nerissa cried, "How did you ge-?"

"Endarno. He stole it from my sister and used its magic to free me. Now we can absorb its magic for ourselves." He said handing the sorceress her seal. "Now, shall we?"

"So who exactly are you?" Sokka asked eyeing the group of women in front of him skeptically.

"Friends who can help you put Ozai back in his cage," Halinor replied.

"Well how can you help us?" Katara asked.

"In your terms we have what you could call "mutated" bending abilities," Will said with a small smile.

"Yeah you know controlling plants, shooting lightning, creating tornadoes and all that jazz," Irma added.

The last one made Aang pause. "Wait did you just say tornadoes? Can one of you air bend?"

"Uh I guess that would be me?" Hay Lin said holding up her hand.

"No way," The avatar breathed. "Can you show me?"

Hay Lin smiled and spun around in a tight circle creating a small human sized tornado.

After a beat of silence a huge grin spread across Aang's face. "This is incredible. I'm not the last airbender after all!"

Toph cleared her throat. "That's great and all, but I still don't see why you're willing to help us."

"It's because of Phobos and Nerissa," Taranee said. "They're the ones who freed Ozai."

"You know them?" Suki asked.

"Yes and you should know that Nerissa has powers like us and extremely powerful," Cornelia said.

"And Phobos is a power crazy tyrant," Hay Lin added.

Will stepped forward. "Fire Lord Zuko is there any reason why Nerissa and Phobos would want to free your father?"

"None that I can think of. Aang took his bending away years ago, so I don't see how he'd be useful to them. I don't even know how they know each other," the fire lord replied.

Toph's forehead creased as she felt Yan Lin's heart beat pick up slightly at Zuko's last statement and the earth bender made a mental note to ask her about that later when they were alone. Something told her that now was not the time.

"So you're sure you can help us with this?" Aang asked.

Halinor nodded. "We've dealt with Phobos and Nerissa before, we can do it again."

The Avatar looked back at his friends. "Well guys what do you think?"

"Like I said before any friend of Uncle's is a friend of mine. If he trusts Yan Lin then so do I," Zuko replied.

Toph shrugged. "Meh, I still say we could take Ozai and the other two crazy people on by ourselves, but if they want to help I'm all for it."

Sokka, Suki, and Katara frowned. They still weren't completely sold on the idea of letting these strangers help them, but seeing as they were against the Avatar, Fire Lord, and Human Lie Detector, they figured there wasn't anything they could do except go along with it.

"Fine, we're in too," Sokka said with shrug.

"Thanks guys," Aang said with a grin.

Will, Taranee, Irma, Cornelia, Hay Lin, and Elyon all felt a sense of relief that the avatar and his friends were willing to let them help. They didn't want to think about what could happen if Phobos, Nerissa, and Ozai actually won this fight.

"Thank you Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko," Yan Lin said with smile.

"We promise to help with any way you see fit and the girls will do all they can as well," Kadma added.

Zuko nodded. "I should be thanking you. It sounds like I need all the help I can get."

"Oh trust me you do," Irma said with a smirk. This of course earned her a slap on the head from both Will, and Cornelia, while the other guardians, old and new, groaned.

"Sorry about that. You'll have to excuse her," Elyon said, speaking up the for the first time, an embarrassed blush slightly appearing on her cheeks. Aang looked at her and was stunned by the feeling he got. It was like when he had seen Katara for the first time after being freed from the iceberg, but this feeling was stronger. He couldn't explain it, but something told him Elyon was special. Aang snapped back to attention when Zuko started speaking again.

"I take it that since you're not from around here you don't have a place to stay," The Fire lord said. When the women in front of him nodded, Zuko turned to the guard by the door. "Please tell someone to have rooms ready for my guests as soon as possible."

"Yes your highness," the guard said with a bow, before leaving the room.

"Fire Lord Zuko you really don't have to-" Will's protest was cut short when Zuko raised his hand.

"You're going to be helping me take down my father again and possibly stop another war. Trust me, letting you stay here is the least I can do," the young man said.

Toph chose that moment to let out a loud yawn. "Well now that that's all settled I think it's time we all hit the sack and get some shut eye before the real choas ensues," she said promptly exiting the room.

"I don't know about anyone else but I like Toph's plan," Sokka said as he also left the room with Suki and Katara.

Zuko rolled his eyes at his friends before once again addressing the guardians. "If you'll follow me I'll show you to your rooms."

Aang stepped forward. "I'll come with you."

Elyon's eyes widened when Aang looked at her again. She swallowed as her blue eyes locked with the stormy grey eyes that had been in her dreams for weeks. The queen had a feeling it would be a while before she was used to seeing the Avatar in person rather than a dream.

'Ugh, when Irma, Will, and Hay Lin find out I'll never hear the end of it. This is fantastic!' She thought sarcastically.

"You all go ahead. Cassidy, Halinor, Kadma, and I have things to discuss," Yan Lin said.

Hay Lin's forehead creased in concern. "Are you sure grandma? If you want us to stay we can-"

"Don't worry Hay Lin. We won't be long. Go rest now," the former air guardian replied.

"Okay if you say so," Hay Lin said, as she and the other guardians walked out of the throne room.

As the girls followed Zuko and Aang to their rooms, Irma noticed Elyon lagging behind the rest of them with a freaked out expression on their face.

"Hey what's up with you? You look like you've just seen a ghost," She said telepathically.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now Irma. I'll tell you later I promise," Elyon replied.

When Irma looked at her about to protest, Elyon quickly beat her to it. "Irma please, just don't push this."

The water guardian reluctantly dropped the subject, knowing there was nothing she could say that would get Elyon to spill the beans tonight. Turning to look at the rest of her friends she smiled as she saw Aang talking excitedly with Hay Lin about air bending. Although Irma wasn't up to speed with everything about this world, she knew that Hay Lin having power over air was a big deal for Aang.

As they continued their way through the palace, Taranee looked around her in amazement at the sheer size and beauty of the fire nation palace. 'Major brownie points to the guy who designed this place. It's incredible!' She thought. Gradually her attention drifted to the Fire Lord who was walking right beside her. He was definitely not what Taranee had expected him to be. She had expected someone older and intimidating, but Zuko was young, only a few years older than her, and while he possessed an air of authority, he seemed humble. 'And,' Taranee thought as she continued to look at him out of the corner of her eye, 'He's very handsome.'

Suddenly Zuko turned his head and meet her gaze, making Taranee blush furiously in embarrassment. "I'm sorry Fire Lord Zuko. I didn't mean to stare," she said quickly bowing her head.

Zuko gave her a small smile. "It's okay a lot of people stare at it."

Now Taranee was confused. "What?"

"My scar. I understand why you would look at it."

At those words, Taranee's heart dropped into her stomach. "No! No, no, no, that's not it! I was just...well...I uh...Never mind," the dark skinned girl muttered realizing there was no way she could crawl out of the hole she had dug herself into. Her cheeks flamed as she felt her friends' stares on her back and quickly retreated away from Zuko to walk by Cornelia and Will

"Please just kill me now," Taranee said quietly so only they could hear.

The blonde and the redhead said nothing, instead Cornelia gave Taranee a sympathetic smile and Will put a hand on her shoulder.

After a few more moments, though they felt like an eternity to Taranee, they arrived in a hallway with several different doors.

"Go ahead and pick whatever room you would like," Zuko said. "I'll have some servants bring you all breakfast tomorrow morning and if you need anything just let me know."

"Thank you Fire Lord," Hay Lin said with a grin.

"Please just call me Zuko. Fire Lord Zuko makes me sound way to stiff," the young man said.

"Goodnight ladies. I guess we'll see you all in the morning," Aang said as he and Zuko headed to their own rooms.

As soon as they were gone, Irma and Cornelia made a beeline to find the best room, with the rest of the guardians hot on their trail, except for Elyon who hung back, thinking about Aang and her dreams. After a few seconds she shook her head forcefully.

'I'm probably just overthinking everything. He clearly didn't know who I was so maybe I was just having a vision about us helping each other stop Phobos, Nerissa, and Ozai. Yeah that has to be it,' the queen thought as she walked into an empty room and lying on the bed, completely exhausted.

Just before Elyon drifted off to sleep, Aang's words from her dream floated through her mind.

"I need you. I'm waiting for you."

Back at their hideout, Ozai and Nerissa stood a good distance from where Phobos was resting.

"I have to question your reasons for allowing that fool to be a part of this," the former fire lord said.

Nerissa smirked. "A fool he may be, but he is as desperate for power and he can be very resourceful."

Ozai narrowed his eyes. "What is your plan sorceress. Obviously the new guardians and the Avatar will be searching for us soon enough, so what do you propose we do?"

"Take the hearts of other worlds and stay hidden until we are stronger than all those fools. The guardians may think they can track us, but there are several worlds where we can easily avoid them. They cannot watch for us in all of them," Nerissa explained.

"Very well," Ozai nodded. "But you will do well to remember what you have promised to give me. I expect that you will return my power to me soon."

The former keeper glared at him. "And you will do well to remember that it was I who gave you that power in the first place. Without me you never would have become Fire Lord. Or do you not remember what I did for you at Ba Sing Se all those years ago?"

When Ozai said nothing, Nerissa continued. "Patience old friend. Your throne will be returned to you and you will have your revenge on the Avatar, your son, and their little friends. We just need time."

With that the old guardian walked away from the fallen monarch. Ozai watched her leave with hard eyes. "For your sake sorceress you'd better hope this plan doesn't fail."

END OF CHAPTER

W.I.T.C.H. fan: Just so you guys know, I worked on this for 6 hours so I could get it up for you tonight. I'm trying to make it up to you guys. Anyway I hope this chapter was good, I'm a little rusty, but the creative writing juices are starting to flow again so bear with me. Also I really, really hope that you guys paid attention to the bit with Ozai and Nerissa because that will be important later in the chapter. Can any of you guess what Nerissa did for Ozai? Anyway R AND R you guys! Thanks!