Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. and its trademarks in this story are the property of Disney while original characters, settings and giant spooky Shards are my own invention. Coming soon to a store near you: koolkame's Spooky Shards! Bring out your inner badassness! Amaze/terrify your friends! Warning: Do not mix with prescribed medication, pacemakers, or Astral Drops. May cause Amnesia, Obscenely Long Fanfictions and dry mouth.

Author's Note: This chapter was reloaded to fix some mash-ups caused by the file transfer. Nothing lost or added, no worries.

Chi Yagami has suggested that I do a recap for the story so far since I kinda take a while to update... alright, so I take forever to update. But it's a good idea and from now on the summary will be replaced by a Last Chapter section. Chi is also the winner of the Create-A-Rebel contest and her really cool character will premiere this chapter; congratulations, Chi!

First things first, let's recap the story so far.

After a disastrous mission Will is left unconscious and is taken back to the Silver Dragon. Exhausted, the other Guardians stay the night at the restaurant only to be pulled from their dreams into a black expanse Irma dubs the "Closet." From there they enter a grey wasteland with a pink sky, which is actually a pocket dimension inside the Heart of Candracar. They find the disturbing sight of Will trying to strangle herself before a tower of grey sand surrounds her.

Using the bond between them the Guardians break through the tower to retrieve Will, only to attacked by a shadowy woman-like creature that seemed intent on regaining Will for unknown reasons. The other Guardians fought to protect an untransformed (and unusually heavy) Will, and exhausted themselves while Cornelia tried to get the Keeper to a distant portal. Despite their efforts the Infection made it to Cornelia and Will; in a critical moment, Cornelia made the decision not to put himself between Will and the creature.

The other Guardians wrested Will from the Infection's grasp and devised a clever plan to get Will to the portal. They made it seconds before the Infection and the dark being was destroyed by the Heart. But its mission was already complete...

The girls returned to the living to find that Caleb had been choked viciously by Will after her conciousness was taken out of her Heart. Another shocking discovery was that Irma's injury-five slashes on her arm caused by the Infection-carried over into the real world.

After Will falls unconscious again the girls tell Yan Lin what happened and the elder Guardian explained that the girls were summoned to fight the Infection. Afterwards they all return to bed until morning, where some amusing events take their minds off the trauma of last night. Caleb promises an unhearing Will that he'll make it up to her and comments on how alike they are; afterwards a surprisingly vehement Taranee reminds him that the girls' have normal lives to deal with. The girls make an Astral Drop of Will that seems to perform better than the past ones, albeit with a few quirks.

Susan Vandom arrives to pick up the Astral Drop while Hay Lin has unexplainable bad feelings at their meeting, bad enough to cause her to vomit up her breakfast. The girls depart, Irma and Taranee discussing why they were chosen as Guardians on their way home. Alone at her house Irma muses on her first meeting with Will and her secret promise to protect her new friend; while apologizing to Will, she is shocked when the hypothetical situation ends with the two friends kissing.

Affected by her rage inside the Heart, Taranee asks her brother if she has a temper only to be assured that anger is normal and that she is in control of herself, though she still has doubts. Irma begins an introspective journey to figure out her attraction to Will only to break down in tears at the thought of her friends leaving her at this revelation.

The next morning Irma is awakened by Hay Lin and brought to the restaurant; her talking to Will causes her to regain conciousness but the Keeper can only remember the others' names and little else. The girls try to transform to help Will's memory, but the Heart does not work for some reason. Will's Astral Drop arrives and tries to break through Will's amnesia with her own memories, only to upset her when inquiring about her father. Meanwhile, Cedric reports on the events in Inimini's laboratory to Phobos, who decides to send for an assassin named Belantha.

When Will is dressed and fed a discussion about the Shard begins that leads into Caleb's plan to hide Will in the Infinite City. After Will and Hay Lin leave Caleb gets into a verbal battle with Irma and Cornelia about his lack of respect for them that ends with the rebel unexpectedly stating his affection for the girls.

Afterwards the girls dress Will incognito and gather supplies for her stay. Down in the basement Blunk runs into "Will" and is brutally chastised and kicked by the unusual Astral Drop. Irma has her wounds dressed by Yan Lin and inquires fruitlessly about the woman's past; later she runs in Martin Tubbs and-still working out her new feelings for Will-is thrown by his appearance and concern.

In the swamps of Torus GlaisCedric makes contact with Belantha, the assassin who is under an unwilling blood-oath to Phobos and outlines her mission: observe Will and kill her if she shows signs of becoming dangerous to the Prince. Back on Earth Martin notices that Irma is distracted and accidentally hurts her when he touches her cuts; Irma shrugs this off and quickly leaves for Will's apartment.

Belantha pays Jeek to find a portal for her (which also happens to be the portal that W.I.T.C.H. plans on using) and enters it. Will and the others are walking to her apartment as she remembers various things, including her love of swimming and frogs as well as secretly upsetting thoughts about Elyon. Before they arrive Blunk invades Will's room to discover the cause of "Will's" harsh treatment of him and is nearly caught by Susan Vandom.

Upon her arrival Will is shoved out of her own apartment and waits in the hallway with Irma until the others leave. Susan talks with her daughter's friends and notices that something is off about their behavior, particularly Cornelia. Alone again, "Will" plans to "start" with Susan first on the basis that parents are rarely satisfied with their children.

If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. - Lewis Carroll

Chapter Seven: Through Forests of Night and Light

Progress is... slow, but within acceptable standards. The internal matrices of the crystal are forming as expected, seemingly well-suited to their function. So much new ground is being broken I haven't even thought up a name for them yet. They are almost like prisms in that they break down wave/particles like the aforementioned objects divert light, only they instead tear down reality itself so it can be studied, analyzed... understood.

I have had amazingsuccess with invertebrates and flora, but the thought of expanding to vertebrates and-dare I even think it-voluntary sentient beings is both revolting and...

More tests must be run before I do anything further. My contemporary in the Infinite City has urged caution in this uncharted country I have set foot in. In my heart I know she is right, but I am reminded of an Earthern tale that was told by First Queen Leryn; it was of a garden with a tree whose fruit contained the knowledge of the gods. Supposedly the first humans ate of it and gained self-awareness, but were cast out of a paradise because they traded innocence for the capacity for evil.

Now, I may sound dramatic, but I feel my hunger for knowledge of the soul's nature is a similar appetite. Even in our peaceful and beautiful kingdom ruled by the fair Queen Weira and surrounded by my numerous works, the Chrysalis Project is-what was the Earthern saying Guardian Lin used? Ah, yes-the apple of my eye.

Curious sayings they have on Earth. If I recall, wasn't the fruit in the garden story an apple? For such a scientific-minded world, they are surprisingly superstitious and contradictory; the pursuit of knowledge, the cornerstone of civilization, is inherently evil? Curious, indeed.

Entry 042, Inimini's Journals, "Chrysalis Project"

It's so... so... so damn bright.

Belantha thought this as she shielded her eyes from the Earth's sun which, whatever gods existed in this universe, had placed the thing too close to the planet. Or at least it felt like that was the case; Belantha had heard stories about Meridian during the reign of Queen Weira and how everything was glimmering and shining and honey fell from the sky, blah blah, yada yada yada, here's a coin for you, old-timer.

But standing in the woods outside of Heatherfield and seeing how different they were from the sickened and dying lands of her homeworld, Belantha wondered if maybe all the old-timers (i.e., anyone older than her) were actually right about the days before Phobos' reign.

The trees, the bushes, the grass... everything was so green. Green and bright. She had never seen anything like it before... maybe. Barely remembered twinges of memory fired in her brain and formed images not entirely dissimilar from this Earthern forest. And someone was there, lifting her many times her height with strong hands and they were laughing...

Belantha's throat began to tighten and for an instant she felt deceived, like some toxic agent had been inhaled from the atmosphere and was attacking her internally. Then her eyes began to water and she snarled out a laugh. Aren't we the sentimental type? she thought, clenching her fist so tightly it bit into her palm. She shook herself once to clear her head and focused on her assignment. According to the map Cedric provided the Keeper's residence was several miles away, but after the trek with Jeek, well, that would be no trouble at all.

Since the Guardians were partially responsible for mending the tears in the Veil that created the portals like some sort of temporal seamstresses, Belantha knew she had to get moving lest they encounter her. She wasn't familiar enough with Earthto pass as one of them yet and if Caleb was with them he might even recognize her from the time Phobos ordered her to kill him. It was likely he'd (incredibly) hold that against her.

Although Caleb was her only real failure, Belantha couldn't bring herself to hate him for it since he had given her one hell of a fight which, in Belantha's mind, was almost as good as laying with the handsome rebel. Plus, they both wanted Phobos dead; enemy of my enemy and all that. And that butt of his didn't hurt, either. At all.

Somehow in her hormonal cloud of lust Belantha pulled out her compass and found north, then checked the map and quickly plotted out her course. As intently as she studied the map, the assassin still picked up the faint sounds of human voices coming from her left.

Quickly stowing her navigational tools she silently sped off in the opposite direction as fast and silently as she could in her alien clothes, noting that the "sneakers" were aptly named. She couldn't be discovered this soon by anyone. Hells, for all she knew it could be the Guardians themselves.

By the time the girls and Caleb had arrived at the portal the smell of Jeek that had acquired during their hike had largely dissipated, only a hint of it remaining and be only strong enough to make Hay Lin sneeze slightly without realizing what made her do so; plus, she nearly knocked over Taranee with the resulting gust of wind and apologies for that was distracting enough. Had Blunk accompanied them as he usually did, the Passling would have alerted his human friends to his rival's scent and and the less smell of a young woman hidden underneath.

Thankfully for Belantha, "Will"'s dismissal of the creature earlier had all but guaranteed that Blunk would be steering clear of his human social circle for a good stretch of time, so the heroes were ignorant of any incursions into Earth's dimension. Caleb noted the smell withthe experience of any who dealt with Passlings on a regular basis, but couldn't distinguish Blunk's scent from any other of his people.

Taranee had mentioned Blunk was acting weird(er) at Will's apartment, running off when she and "Will" caught him in Will's bedroom. Caleb figured that meant the smuggler had taken something to sell it in Meridian and used this portal to go to their home world. It was a logical conclusion that also happened to be completely wrong.

"That's a portal," Will stated as she pointed toward the rift in reality. "To Meridian."

Caleb nodded, happy that the Keeper remembered such an important detail. "Let me go through first. We never know where this things open up into." He leaned forward and placed his face in the wormhole; the energy was nearly up to his ears when his head stopped violently. The rebel pulled away from the portal quickly and rubbed his forehead. "Ha... it's in a tree's roots. Watch your head."

"You see, girls?" Irma said. "Boys do have their uses!" The Guardians chuckled at that while Caleb began to take the supplies and Will's things through the portal.

Hay Lin gave Will a small hug. "You listen to Caleb, okay? He'll take good care of you."

"Okay," Will said as she rolled her eyes; she was an amnesiac, not a preschooler, but she understood where Hay Lin was coming from. Until her memory had mostly returned, she was at a terrible disadvantage and would need to rely on her friends and allies to stay safe.

"He'd better take care of you," Irma said with a glance at the portal. "You let us know if he doesn't."

"Don't be like that, Irma!" Hay Lin scolded. "If Caleb says he'll do it, he'll do it!"

Irma held up her hands. "Hey, I'm just saying: the guy is insanely busy with his whole 'save-the-kingdom' routine. You stay on him, Will, if he's not sticking to his word."

"I-" Will was cut off by Caleb's return throught the portal.

"All clear on the other side," Caleb mentioned. "I recognize the forest and there's an entrance to the City not too far from it. We'll stow the supplies and I'll send someone for them when we arrive." He took Will's bag from a grateful Taranee and slung it easily over his shoulder before smirking at Will. "What have you got in this thing, shoes?"

"Oh, very clever," Irma drawled, then imitated Caleb's gruff voice, "'They're chicks, so they must have some stereotypical shoe fetish.' If that's all you learned on Earth..."

"'Fetish'? What's that? Never mind, it's getting late on Meridian and we need to be moving. Will? When you're ready." He gave the other girls a salute and that cocky smile of his as he ducked through the portal, leaving the Guardians alone. Irma mockingly saluted the portal back, still not forgiving Caleb for being a dick earlier. If all men were like this, hell, maybe she should play for the home team. Darn infuriating, men.

"I promise," Will said to the girls, "to try and get my memory back as soon as possible."

"Don't try to rush yourself," Taranee said. "That might not be a good idea. Look, I did some research last night on amnesia-don't give me that look, Lair-anyway, memory is often triggered by stimulation, so I think you just need to experience lots of things to jog your recollection. Ask Caleb to tell you about what you've done in Meridian, have him show you familiar places, that sort of thing. Got it?"

Will nodded. "Okay, I'll do that." Taranee hugged her. "Wow, you guys are affectionate." The other girls chuckled at that.

"Me next!" Irma said cheerfully even as he throat went dry as sandpaper; she wasn't sure she was ready for such close contact with Will yet, but what else could she do? Will was going away for who knew how long and when friends went away for who knew how long you gave them a hug.

Resolving to not be awkward about it, Irma swooped in and scooped Will up off the ground and held her tightly to her; Will's scent still inexplicably carried the vague scent of chlorine and the more dominant scent of vanilla frosting that made her sweet-tooth-lined mouth water. "We'll come see you at the start of the weekend, I promise." She sat a bewildered Will down and smiled at her. "Give'em hell, Guardian!"

"I'll... I'll try. To, uh, give'em... heck." Will turned to Cornelia expectantly.

For a second Cornelia seemed uncertain of why Will was looking at her before she realized the other girl was waiting for her hug. The Earth Guardian froze, then quickly walked over to Will and patted her on her shoulder and smiled so wanely it actually unnerved the other girls; usually when Cornelia smiled, she looked like an advertisement for the Best Damn Toothpaste Ever. "Ummmm... stay safe!" Cornelia said with that creepy grin/grimace.

Will smiled back shakily and nodded. Suddenly eager to be away from Cornelia, she turned and approached the portal meekly, ducking her head to avoid the roots Caleb had helpfully pointed out, and brushed her fingers lightly against the pathway to Meridian.

In a another montage of memory flashes Will saw the numerous times she had utilized the portals to travel to Meridian, though she couldn't remember exactly why she made so many trips. Her first experience stuck out the most even though she hadn't actually travelled through the portal that appeared after their first (disastrous) practice. Caleb had leapt through the portal only to be snatched away by Cedric, the Guardians too unskilled to prevent his capture. Despite the dis-heartening image it felt good to remember more, Will thought, but she hoped the rest of her of her Guardian career was more... successful.

She turned and looked back at the others, her features barely visible against the glow of the portal. "Bye." And she pressed against the portal, everything going to blinding white in her eyes. The Heart of flashed as it intersected the plane of the portal and automatically cut off the loop of energy that maintained the pathway, causing it to collapse and fade from view.

The other four girls were left standing in an empty glade. They weren't sure why, but it was like something had changed. Maybe it was the absence of the portal's light that made everything seem... dimmer.

The light was gone, that was it. That felt right.

Sort of right.

One thing Will was glad she didn't remember: whether she was claustrophobic or not.

Going through the portal was easy enough, basically like going through a regular doorway with a barrier of static electricity inside the frame. Emerging on the other side, however, placed her in a veritable cage of tree roots that blocked her view. She froze as she hit the ground and crouched, the portal vanishing and leaving her alone in growing darkness.

"Caleb?" she called out hesitantly, the words seemingly smaller under the weight of the roots. "Caleb..."

"Up here!" Caleb's voice said from somewhere. His head appeared at the edge of the root cage and he smiled at her. "It's alright, there's no one around for miles." He extended a hand to help her up the slope that Will gripped tightly, the smooth skin of his fingers contrasting with the rough leather of his glove. When she was out of the tree she looked around at the forest in amazement; she was on another planet. The only thing stranger than that fact was how much it looked like Earth... at first.

It was the little things that were different-the shape of the leaves, the tint of the sky and most of all the smell of the air. The scent was... to Will it was like the atmosphere of Earth was empty compared to Meridian's own aroma of crushed flowers and peppermint. It was a sweet smell...

Urgrrrrr...

Will's eyes darted around the clearing for the source of the growl when Caleb laughed. "Hungry?" Will looked at him blankly. "Your stomach..."

"Oh! I, uh..."

"You didn't eat much at the Dragon." Caleb pointed out as he donned a familiar-looking coat; he had changed his entire outfit while Will had been saying her good-byes. Mrs. Lin had insisted that Will refrain from a large meal after she woke up on the grounds that the Keeper needed to take all things slowly, lest Will impair herself and/or puke on the Dragon's floors. "Here." Caleb reached into one of their bags and pulled out some granola bars. "These should tide you over. Earth has some interesting food, but you sure like to put it in weird wrappings."

"Thanks." Will took the bars and and shoved all but one of them in her jacket's pockets. She tried not to tear into the bar as she ate it, mindful of Caleb watching her out of the corner of his eye. If Irma was worried about Caleb paying attention to her it seemed the Water Guardian's fears were groundless; Will unconsciously ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it out as she chewed.

Caleb slung her bag over his shoulder and shoved the supplies back under the roots of the tree with his boot; Will flushed a little when she realized that he was inches away from her undies. "Let's head for the entrance; it's a few hundred yards and there's an outpost there that can get us to the main camp quickly. We'll rest there tonight, then head for the camp in the morning." He looked at Will expectantly.

Will realized that he was waiting for her agreement; it made sense, she guessed, since she was supposed to be a leader. "Sure. Let's go." Caleb smiled at that, likely thinking that it was a sign that Will was getting back to normal; Will swallowed as she realized it couldn't be further from the truth, she was just acting tough. Then again, maybe she had been acting tough all along and no one had realized it; Will didn't remember that, either.

They started walking through the forest to the entrance, Caleb telling Will about some of the rebels that she had met and worked closely with. There was Caleb's friend Aldarn who Will immediately remembered was green and bald (Caleb laughed at this), Vathek the former spy who had helped Caleb and Will escape Phobos' dungeons (the word "key" was all that came to Will's mind for Vathek) and Caleb's father Julian, who Will and the Guardians had recently freed from an underwater mine (Will had a strange yet satisfying image of Cedric frozen in a ball of ice.)

"But I think the Mage is the one you need to see most," Caleb continued. "She knew Mage Inimini-the man who created the Shard," he explained at Will's blank look, "back before Phobos took power. They worked together doing all kinds of alchemy and stuff; if anyone would know what happened to you, it would be her."

"Mage..." Will got a memory-flash of a woman with pale skin and a scar around one eye with an ornate band around her head. "Yeah... she's a... a little..."

"Creepy?" Caleb said with a smile. "Yeah... when I was little I was terrified of her. Never understood why Father was always bringing me to see her, but she's a great ally of the resistance. She doesn't say much about herself, she might be one of the race that created the Infinite City, but... no one really knows."

"Do... do you think she can help me?" Will asked hesitantly.

Caleb shrugged. "She's our best bet. The only other person with a large knowledge of magic would be the good Prince." He threw a lopsided grin at Will. "Which is probably the only part of him that's 'large', if you get my meaning." Will didn't get his meaning and when Caleb realized this he chuckled weakly and looked away before flushing in embarrassment; the old Will would have gotten it and laughed, he reflected dismally.

They were within a hundred feet of the hidden entrance when Caleb recognized a familiar sound: the creak of a bow string being drawn to fire. He tensed before he realized who was supposed to be stationed at this entrance and warbled out the mating call of a Meridian song bird. A few long seconds later someone warbled back and he relaxed.

Will was looking at him like he had lost his mind when a cloaked figure dropped onto a branch overhead and said in a high-pitched voice, "Brought back a spoil from Earth, Boss? She's got some pretty hair, but I thought you perferred blondes?" Will started and drew instinctively closer to Caleb as she stared at the newcomer; the only thing visible of the girl was her sandal-clad feet.

"Afternoon, Nikkita," Caleb said. "And she's not a spoil, she's a Guardian. Will, this is Nikkita, one of the rebellion's best archers and the reason that Phobos rarely leaves the castle. Nikkita, Will is the Keeper of the Heart of Candracar."

The hooded figure gave an "Eep!" of dismay. "Oh, I'm sorry, milady! I meant no disrespect!" A long brown arm shot out from the cloak and pulled back the hood to show the face of a girl about Caleb's age; embarrassed hazel eyes nearly the same shade as Nikkita's tanned skin were widened at Will in apology and with a little fear. The archer dropped to the forest floor and bowed her head to Will, her cloak opening to reveal a surprisingly slim wardrobe of a short green skirt and matching top that seemed eerily familiar to Will with its one shoulder strap. "It's just that... I've never seen you before and you're supposed to be taller... uh, not that I'm ordering you to be taller or anything 'cause no one orders a Guardian around..."

"Our best archer..." Caleb interjected with a smirk. "...and our worst public speaker."

"Hey!" Nikkita threw back her hood and exposed a messy black ponytail that resembled the mane of a stallion as it blew in the breeze. "Don't be mean! Just because you're in charge doesn't mean you can be all snide and... and..."

Nikkita reached into her cloak and withdrew a well-crafted snake-shaped shortbow with pulleys at the ends, which Will figured were used to propel the arrows faster and harder. As soon as the bow was out Nikkita quickly drew a small arrow from a small quiver attached to her right leg. In less than a second she had notched the arrow and pointed it at Caleb's... belt buckle. More or less. "Hey, Will, guess how I got so good with this bow? Taking shots at desert snakes."

Will laughed in amused horror while Caleb rolled his eyes and wondered why so many girls wanted to rattle his gorkar lately. Or shoot it. "Very funny, Nikki. Could you please run ahead and have Marcus send someone to an old tree a mile in that direction? We've got some supplies from Earth stowed there."

"Oh, alright," Nikkita said as she stowed the bow back in her cloak; Caleb slumped a little in relief. "Do we have a mission? Are the other Guardians here? 'Cause I'm sooooo bored. How about you, Will? You bored?"

"There's no mission," Caleb stated firmly. "The Inimini thing... it was a trap and..." He looked at Will who was staring at her feet. "Things got crazy and... we need some time to rest. Will's going to be staying with the rebellion a while to learn more about Meridian, that's all."

Will blinked in confusion, then remembered the cover story the others had given her as they entered the forest: It would be better if people didn't know you lost your memory, Taranee had said. With the way things have been going, knowing that the Guardian leader is... disabled would hurt the morale of the rebels. Just pretend that it's a fact-finding mission-slash-vacation, okay?

Will trusted that her friends knew best, but the fact she was hiding that something was wrong with her made her feel... immaterial, like she didn't matter as much as the image she was supposed to present. When someone was hurt, they expected to be treated with some deference to their condition, but Will had to act like everything was normal and fine. Again, just like when...

When... what?

Nikkita nodded to Caleb. "Okay, I'm off. Ugh, Marcus will probably make me carry something, too. Making a delicate little thing like me do hard labor? He's such a monster!" Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Oh, fine, I'm gone. You two behave!" The archer chortled as she ran away from them and disappeared into the forest.

Caleb scratched his head sheepishly. "She's a little wild, but she's good in a pinch. C'mon, we're nearly there." They started moving in the direction Nikkita was heading and ten minutes later they found themselves next to a small hill with a ragged break in it. Nikkita was sittingontop of the hill with her back pressed to a small sapling; Will realized her ragged green-and-brown cloak made her look like a patch of the moss that every tree in the forest seemed to possess, effectively camouflaging her from view.

Nikkita waved to them, her small brown arm seemingly appearing from nowhere once it left her camouflage. Will started to wave back when a large man wearing a similar green cloak emerged from the break in the hill. His face was cragged with scars and he was incredibly muscular, able to carry the large war hammer laying across his shoulders easily. Despite the two feet of difference in their heights and maybe decades of life as well, the man bowed his head respectfully to Caleb who returned the gesture. "Sir, good to see you. Nikkita told us the Inimini mission didn't do as planned. Everyone make it out okay?"

"We're all fine," Caleb said, not even looking back at Will. "Did Nikki tell you about the supplies?"

"We're just heading out, Philipe, Juno and me. And Nikkita," Marcus added, shooting a hard glance at the archer; a small pink tongue appeared out of the green. "Make yourselves at home, we'll be back shortly." A young man with a scraggly brown beard armed with a sword and a woman of the same age hefting a short spear appeared behind Marcus. All three of the rebels bowed deeply to what Will initially thought was Caleb, then with a start she realized they were bowing to her. "By your leave, Guardian."

By my leave? What does that mean? "Uhhhh... of course?" The rebels took off at a brisk run through the forest, Nikkita leaping from branch to branch overhead and declaring, "I'm not carrying more than half my weight..." When they were out of sight Caleb gestured to Will to follow him and they entered the cave.

After a short trek through a small tunnel they emerged into a chamber thirty-foot wide and almost as tall. A small campfire was burning off to the side of a large hole in the floor that had a pole running through it from the ceiling. Light filtered in from the hill above through skylights that were shaped like old-fashioned wagon wheels. Sleeping pallets lay around the room at various points, the owners unknown except for one that had squiggly writing on the wall with an arrow pointed downwards at the pallet. When Will pointed out the writing to Caleb, the rebel leader rolled his eyes as he translated. "It says, 'Nikkita's! Don't Touch!' Honestly, she's worse than a child sometimes..."

Caleb dropped Will's bag and his pack, then pulled two sleeping bags out of them and placed them an empty stretch of ground next to Nikkita's reserved spot. "I'm going to rest my eyes," Caleb said. "Just for a bit."

Will noticed that he looked a little tired and thought it was from his carrying all that weight around Heatherfield; she couldn't have known that he'd also spent most of the previous night laying awake as she slept fitfully in his bed, monitoring her condition in between catnaps. "Okay. Maybe I'll rest mine, too." Will was actually weary herself despite all the time she had been unconscious; she supposed that was the difference between a long sleep and a good sleep.

"You were tossing and turning a lot last night," Caleb informed her as they lay down on their sleeping bag. "We won't be leaving til morning when the guard changes at this outpost. Guess that means we'll have to put up with Nikkita all the way to headquarters." Will chuckled at his exaggerated groan. "G'Night."

"Good night," Will replied to the rebel, who was already half asleep by the time she said it. The Keeper propped her head up on her balled-up jacket and studied Caleb's face more intently than she'd ever bothered with a school assignment. Things were not good, she knew, and she was taking that very seriously. Really.

But with Caleb watching over her and treating her so sweetly, things couldn't be that not good, right?

After the girls had seen Will off they traversed the woods back to Heatherfield proper and went their separate ways; Irma and Hay Lin back to their homes, Taranee to the bookstore and Cornelia to her figure skating practice.

Their minds blanked out the rest of their lives (specifically the Guardian part) as they went about their routines. Occasionally, they would experience a twinge of remembrance, like Cornelia falling on the rink and briefly remembering their escape from the Heart on the ice slide, or Hay Lin's still weakened stomach rumbling at dinner as her mother commenting that she wasn't eating very much. But for the most part, life went on.

It always does. And it always comes back around to you, like Cornelia's graceful spins and the spirals Irma doodled as she listened to Karmilla's newest single, like Hay Lin twirling her chopstick in her rice or Taranee wrapping her braid around her index finger as she read Popular Science. Each of the Guardians were caught in a circle they were barely aware of, the beginning and end equally lost to sight.

For Susan Vandom it felt like daily life had come around again to her daughter. As they ate their microwaved dinners in their kitchen Susan was studying"Will" as intently as Will was studying Caleb in another dimension; whereas Will was impressed with Caleb her mother was more concerned with her Astral Drop. Actually, she was very impressed with "Will" as well, and that was part of the problem.

When Will usually ate in front of her mother, she tended to forget to wipe her mouth or ate too fast or ignored her vegetables until the last possible moment; Susan felt like a referee trying to keep Will from going out of bounds or commiting a penalty for table manners. That was how it was on most nights.

But not tonight. The first thing "Will" did was finish off her string peas and then carefully ran her napkin over her mouth. Then she started on her corn, carefully scooping it up into her spoon and bringing it to her mouth; then the napkin. She used her fork on her chicken breast(?!) to pick the meat off as carefully as she could before eating it. Again, the napkin.

Susan waited until they were both finished chewing before asking, "So, how's school going this week?"

"Will" shrugged and lied perfectly. "Okay. I think I can do better next week. Pass the salt, please."

Susan blinked. "Oh, sure, baby." She passed the salt shaker, feeling extremely strange in doing such a simple task; how many times had she reprimanded Will for reaching across the table for condiments? Usually, Will was all over the table and shoving food into her mouth like a starved animal, yet almost over-night she had acquired the etiquette of royalty.

She sure hadn't learned it from Susan, who had restricted her instructions to "use your fork" or "use your napkin"; maybe all that time at the Silver Dragon had been a learning experience for Will, though Susan somehow doubted that Yan Lin cared too much for table manners. Susan debated complimenting Will on her restraint, then decided it was better to not mention it, though she wasn't sure why she wouldn't want to draw attention to it. Different topic, then. What to say, what to say, what to... "Oh! One of my co-workers is getting married next week and I'm invited. Do you want to come along? It's going to have this beautiful reception and of course there's the wedding cake..."

"No thanks," "Will" said. "I don't know if I could keep a straight face during it, it's so corny."

Susan dropped her fork in surprise. "W-what do you mean? I thought you liked weddings?"

"I did," "Will" said, "When I was a kid. I betcha they'll be divorced in a few years, anyway. It's all so stupid."

Susan stared in shock at her daughter. "Will... where's this coming from?" Dumb question, Susan knew. "I know your father and mine's marriage didn't work out, but that doesn't mean the whole institution is hopeless. Look at your friends' parents; they all seem to have good marriages."

"Yeah, but I think it's because one of them is the boss," "Will" said. "Like Irma's mother is the housewife and so is Cornelia's. Taranee's mom wears the pants in her family, no doubt, so it looks like marriage works if someone has to be a follower. No way I could do that, not for anybody."

Susan had never felt so torn about her daughter in her life. On one hand she applauded Will's independence. On the other hand... "Will, a marriage works because of compromises; mine failed because your father began to make decisions without me, important decisions that ended up causing us serious problems. I think you can learn from that, but I'm sure you'll meet a good man one day. Aren't you always talking about that Jimmy boy... Matt, I mean?"

"Will" shrugged. "Yeah, but what if he turns out to be like that? Trying to control me and everything? Maybe it's better to just focus on other stuff than boys, they're hardly worth it."

Okay, now that was worrisome. Not the restraining from dating part so much, but..."Honey, you can't judge someone by their gender. You may not remember your grandfather much, but he was a good man and always thinking of others. You're always telling me that Caleb is real nice..."

"Will" made a swirling motion with her finger beside her ear. "Yeah, but he's got so many issues. He's not dangerous or anything," she reassured Susan, "but he doesn't know how to act around girls. People are just so unreliable; I guess that's just the way it is. Except you, Mom. You're the only person I trust completely."

Susan continued staring at Will, not knowing what to say or think. "Um, of course you can trust me, sweetie. But that doesn't mean I'm the only one you can trust. You're still new here and your friends haven't been with you very long, so that's understandable. I think they're good people, however; before long I know you'll be able to trust them completely."

"I guess," "Will" said as she finished her plate. "But after Fadden Hills, I'm not getting my hopes up. Every thing's got to end sometime, right? Can I be excused? Degrassi is on right now."

"Um, sure, honey." Susan watched "Will" as she left the kitchen, wondering if she should relieved or worried about her daughter's pessimistic views. It was one thing to be cautious, but even someone Susan's age could afford to dream a little. It sounded like her daughter was convinced that nothing good ever lasted in life.

What really worried Susan was that she had no real argument against that. At least she trusted her mother and that made Susan feel a little good about this new attitude. Special.

Oh, well, maybe Will would grow out of her pessimism, being a teenage and all. All in all, this new Will didn't seem so bad, maybe a little better than the old one...

Susan's breath caught in her throat and she coughed, a sharp pain in her chest that caused her to panic for second before it was passed. Must have been something I swallowed wrong, Susan though, not realizing she hadn't eaten anything in the past few minutes.

On the other side of the kitchen wall, "Will" had her forehead against the wall and permitted herself a small smile. That had been even easier than she had hoped it would be.

"Don't worry, 'Mom'," she whispered to Susan, who could not hear her through the wall. "I"m here to stay, once I have enough 'permissions.'" "Will" turned and headed for the living room, wondering if the show she was about to watch would prove inspirational for winning over the others before she dismissed the thought. How can they not want me over her, I'm an improvement in every way. You did good work, Mage Inimini. Really good work... good...

"Will" couldn't help but chuckle at the last thought; it was just too funny.

Author's Note/Advertisement: This chapter was brought to you in part by the Best Damn Toothpaste Ever! Recommended by ten out of ten dentists for cavities, tooth decay, gingivitis, mild cases of stupidity and lots of other stuff because, well, it's the Best Damn Toothpaste Ever, dammit!

It's been a good while since I updated and part of that was the dinner conversation with "Will" and Susan. Maybe it will make more sense as the story goes on. Big love to strayphoenix for beta-ing the chapter for me and giving me the confidence to post again; everybody thank stray and give her a hug when you see her. DGW is so different from the other stories I write for reasons I can't specify; it's certainly darker and I have to get in to a certain mind set to write for it.

Gorkar is Meridian for... belt buckle. More or less.

The Inimini Entries are inspired by the Ansem Reports in the Kingdom Hearts games; if you've played the games you probably noticed a few similarities. As much time (and Heartless) as I've killed on them they were bound to influence me eventually. The entry number 42 is a reference to the Answer to Everything in the Douglas Adams books (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc.) because Inimini is looking for just that. Inimini's name (pronounced ee-nim-mee-ni) is a symmetrical merging of the word "mini."

"Will" wants to watch Degrassi because it is one of the most depressing shows this author has ever seen, albeit one of the best after-school specials you could hope for. Even Kevin Smith likes it, so I'm hardly bashing it; I'd rather watch something cheerier, like Law & Order: SVU.

Marcus is inspired by Marcus Fenix from the Gears of War video games, of which I'm a devotee. He does have a back-story of his own, of course, which we'll see next chapter.

Nikkita is Chi Yagami's OC contribution and two more lovely ladies from strayphoenix will be appearing in the next chapter. Far from being one-trick ponies, these characters will be integrated into the storyline. There's still time in the next few chapters to put in your custom-made rebel so don't be shy, PM me with your freedom fighter descriptions! Oh, and Chi? You might want to come pick up Nikkita soon, she and Belantha are...

Nikkita: Take that, assassin!

Belantha: You couldn't hit the broad side of a mother mudslug!

Ladies, ladies! No arrows or throwing knives in the house! Oh, man, I gotta get them out of here before...

Valin: Hey! Mama stray said I could come over to play! Where's the ice cream?!

OC's... and I thought real women were trouble enough...