Ignite

She was remarkable. In any form given, Guardian or not. Human she was still the brave strong girl with a fire in her soul that could outmatch a thousand torches if it wished too. It made him wonder why she did not hone the Element of Fire. Everyone said that her hair matched that fire…being that it was a vivid red colour. Even with a cut marked as boyish, she was no less feminine then she was created.

Changed into a Guardian she seemed taller, more powerful, her body filling out in the respectable places. He suspected that she was normally and hid it very well beneath her tomboy visage. It was not unattractive….to him anyway.

He desired that fire in her almost-auburn colored eyes. He denied it in the past, shielding that desire behind a false hope of something to replace it. A desire for ice.

Cornelia Hale, the Ice Queen.

They seemed like the perfect couple, always smiling, complimentary-- but her attitude was at times less then desirable especially when it came around to the subject of other boys. He knew from day one that she would not be a woman tied down. She would always be infatuated with him but that would fade away as the years passed, when better things would come along. He would be forever the crush, the handsome teenage boy to her teenagedom. And it would remain in her teenagedom to curl away into smoke.

But that fire...that would warm his thoughts instead of freeze them...

She was that fire.

Will Vandom.

o0o0o

"Will! Look out!"

A car horn beeped loudly to her left, the squealing of tires.

The girl on her bicycle steered right sharply to avoid the metal bumper threatening to crash into her side, almost losing balance from the momentum and quickly pumped out of sight, her neck flushing as the driver behind the pan of black waved a fist out of his half opened window.

She bounced her way onto the sidewalk, away from the busy traffic, and allowed herself a small relieved breath to release. Blowing a strand of cherry red out of her eyes through her lips, Will got a sideways glance of one of her best friend's sprinting in her direction.

Taranee panted, nearly dropping the heap of textbooks in her unsteady slippery grasp, "W-Will, are you okay? You could have been road kill!"

"I wasn't, was I?" the redhead inserted seemingly unruffled by the not quite collision. Russet widened at her carelessness then narrowed cautiously, "Were you even paying attention to where you were going?"

Will snapped heatedly, shifting her backpack strap, balling up a pale fist in her grip, "What are you? My Mom?"

The other girl pursed her mouth quietly in contempt. Will sighed, a little less irritably, "I'm sorry alright? Ok…I wasn't paying attention. So sue me, I've got a lot on my mind right now."

Taranee bit her lower lip, "Matt?"

She shook her head, not in protest but in furious agreement. Her face scrunching up to show the first real signs of anger.

"You're not talking to him, are you? I mean, maybe it didn't mean anything."

Will openly leered at her, very cruelly, "You watch the boy you thought understood and loved you touch another girl… and then tell me it doesn't mean anything." She put her foot on the petal, mumbling, "I'll see you at practice."

The teenage girl ignored Taranee's distant cries as she took off hurriedly, heavy hot wind blowing in her sensitive eyes.

Weaving past strangers and other kids who were just released for the school day, she made it in record time to the Silver Dragon. Waiting just outside were the rest of the girls minus the granddaughter to the owner of the restaurant. Irma and Cornelia looked like they had been fighting about some nonsense (it usually was), judging by the blonde's absolutely infuriated glaring and the brunette's satisfied smirking.

Cornelia jumped back a step and let out a high pitched scream as Will came at them at neck-breaking speed, putting on her brakes at the last moment so that the rear of her bike rose off the ground for a solid three seconds before gravity send it crashing down.

Irma knew immediately from the darkened stare in the redhead's eyes not to toy with her in any way that day. Something was clearly getting to her, and pretty much everyone at Sheffield Institute knew it was due to Will's complete meltdown last week. From Will's story, coming back from the girl's bathroom she had caught her boyfriend-- someone who on a certain level, probably had more trust then any of her friends-- shamelessly locked in serious lip-lock action with another girl (the school slut Marie no doubt) and groping her breasts.

Irma almost didn't believe it at first. Matt never seemed….like that kind of guy. Then again, he was a guy.

The brunette herself had caught the last of the fighting, thrusting through the crowd of stunned high school onlookers as Will finished what she wanted to say to her boyfriend with some pretty colorful language and threw a magnificent right hook into his tender face.

Two weeks suspension and a threat to be expelled was well worth it apparently.

She was staring at the same dark look Will had given everyone as Irma and Hay Lin bodily dragged her away from the crowd and into a lone corridor only later to comfort her when she erupted into a sobbing fit inside Professor Collins empty classroom.

"Are you crazy?" Cornelia shrieked, half blurred out by the sound of a Mac truck pulling around the corner.

"Corny, leave her alone."

The blonde glowered at the mention of that accursed nickname and the entrance doors of the Silver Dragon threw themselves open as Hay Lin and Caleb stepped into the sunshine. The Asian girl waved merrily at the small group, "Hi guys! Hi Will!"

She murmured something along the lines of Hey, parking the stand on her bicycle roughly and tightening her hold on her shoulder bag.

Hay Lin's smile was soon wiped clean off her face and Irma elbowed her, mouthing no. Meaning don't ask questions, don't upset her unless you wanted a body part handed back to you. Caleb didn't seem to have gotten the memo; he asked the rest of them vaguely curious, "What's wrong with her? Is it that PMS thing I still don't get?"

The brunette slapped her palm over her forehead wincing.

"Actually, Matt cheated on her and now she's bitch of the universe," Cornelia blurted, surprisingly more nonchalant then she typically would.

"CORNELIA!"

Irma gaped at her lack of tact and the blonde shrugged at the other shocked Guardian, tossing her long shiny hair over her shoulder, "What? It's true."

Caleb frowned, his tone dropping to a growl, "He did what?" No one else noticed how his green eyes contracted with genuine hatred. Familiar. He was usually able to keep an emotionless expression when angry.

"Cornelia is right. He did cheat on me," Will huffed, her auburn eyes sparking with uncontrollable emotions, "And I say fuck him. I hope he contracts a virus from that whore!" Her voice cracked with fury, the Heart of Candracar pulsed with a flash of pink then became dormant underneath her jacket.

Hay Lin clapped a hand over her mouth. Taranee appeared behind Will, sweat beading her tanned face, chest heaving, "Geez…you're fast." She doubled over, dropping her books and without a word, Will bent down to pick them up for her.

"C'mon, we have practice."

Leading the way, she disappeared into the nearest alleyway. Slightly unnerved, they did the same. As the Guardians waited for their redheaded leader to transform them, Caleb emerged standing by the mouth of the alley, watching them with unnatural patience.

"Um, this practice….is for people who are not Caleb."

He made a face at Irma, crossing his arms and leaning smugly on the brick wall, "I've got nothing better to do."

Hay Lin burrowed her thin black eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be watching the new cook?"

"Relax, it's not like he's gonna burn down the place."

A smoke alarm went off in the distance.

Caleb grimaced, "Damn!" and ran out of sight to stop the kitchen fire.

Will shot an aggravated glare at his retreating backside…..a nicer looking backside she inserted silently. Just as she pulled out the Heart, Irma's cerulean eyes grew ridiculously round. "Uh Will…did you forget to close something today…?"

A putrid smell flooded her senses accompanied by an ear-splitting roar. The hairs of the back of her neck bristled, auburn cut to the side, and she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Guardians Unite!" As they floated down from their transformation, clad in the pink and green outfits, the hideous creature giving off the odor slid out from the blue sizzling portal deep within the bowels of the alleyway.

Wasting no time, Will held out the tiny glowing ball with a concentrated expression before a huge jet of pink slammed into the creature. It lunged forward to attack but the energy coming from the Heart would not allow it to come more then two feet from her. A loud battle cry brought forth from the leader of the Guardians increased the power it deflected and with a great BANG, the monster was hurled comatose back into the portal. She held up the Heart as the white lightning coming off the swirling hole enveloped it entirely, vanishing into the shadows.

"Whoa," croaked the Asian girl behind her, her wings fluttering anxiously.

The Heart of Candracar fell onto the concrete with a hushed complaint as the owner fled into the open air world.

o0o0o

Of course, Anger made her more powerful. Her emotions made her lash out.

That, along with other pointless thoughts, swam through her mind as the teenage girl dodged fuzzy figures, a mixture of strangers and traffic, before seeking the cool dark of another alley. Breathless, legs aching, Will flung herself on a brown-brick wall nearly face first, pressing the top half of her body into it. Snarling, frustrated, ignoring the prickling of tears, she beat the side of her fist into the unyielding object in front of her.

Damn weakness…….damn it all…..

"Will?"

She heaved herself back onto her feet to stare directly into jaded green eyes.

Caleb took a step back, he had been too close, and she demanded of him, "How the hell did you found me?"

He gave her a shrewd look, holding out the chain connected to the pulsing pink orb desperately struggling to touch her, "This thing is like a beacon." Too tired to be mad at him for following her, Will took it glumly from him.

"I think sometimes he was too good to be true."

Caleb quirked an eyebrow questionably, then inwardly softened at the visible pain in her expression, "Maybe I was rushing into things….I wanted him to love me so badly…I couldn't tell something was wrong….."

She seized up suddenly as if finally realizing he was there, "Uh…I shouldn't be talking about this with you……"

"If you need someone to talk to, I'm right here," Caleb offered, partially horrified when something sparkling outlined her eyes. Tears? No. Not her. She sniffed, "It felt like a fairytale, you know? He was my Prince Charming…my loser, cheating Prince Charming…."

The smile that fell over her face felt sinisterly eerie. "I felt like dying when I saw them."

He whispered her name sympathetically, barely heard over the roar of traffic, and Will slumped her head forward. If she was crying, she was doing a great job of hiding it. How could that piece of garbage treat her like this? Matt had ripped out her heart and found a few creative ways to stomp it out. If he ever saw him again….well, Matt had played with fire, now he was going to get burned.

Caleb couldn't help but be drawn to this girl, her resentment; her agony affecting him as well. It only caused his detest for the one who did this to her to grow stronger. His relationship with her had developed over time until he was sure of his feelings but she had made no signs of feeling anything back other then friendship. He had managed to keep his disappointment at bay exceptionally well but seeing her everyday, her on occasion brusque nature, playful sarcasm constantly thrown at him but ushered with a friendly wink, his feelings were developed slowly into intolerable, difficult to ignore.

She straightened her spine, lifting shockingly dry eyes to distract him from his thought-trance, and held up the Heart silently to change herself back into her human form. The image of a pink wash over her lovely features warmed his stomach, going on the notion that he wanted to continue feeling warm; Caleb gently pushed the necklace back into her cupping palm.

Doing so, his lips came down to capture hers mercilessly.

Auburn eyes wide open, she stared unresponsively at him as his fingers plucked the orb from her now limp hand and smirked hazily into the kiss, slinging the chain around her neck when they moved away. He expected the worst to happen, half of his mental state cursed at his idiocy, the other half too lost in bliss to be thinking clearly. Green gazed back at her insistently, brightening happily when she leaned back to crush her mouth against his hungrily. Her hands didn't know where to go before settling wrapped and linked around his broad shoulders. The sweltering kisses between them grew deeper and more persuasive as the teenage boy backed the Guardian into the bricks unthinkingly.

Will gasped, compelling him to pull back halfhearted with alarm, she complained with a soft groan, "My wings…"

Without acknowledging it, Caleb switched positions so that his back touched the wall and she thankfully pressed herself back into his embrace, he reached up quietly to touch one. She gasped in the back of her throat, feeling a shaky pleasured breath pass between her lips into his mouth as Caleb stroked the silky ends carefully.

'Oh, that feels good….no, no, this has to stop……'

She protested muffled, "Caleb…" He pulled away after a moment, neither of them completely letting go, Will stated vacantly, "I should be mad at you for trying to take advantage of me like this."

"That jackass doesn't deserve you."

"And you do?"

A smirk creased the corner of her bruised mouth, good-humored at best. After a few moments of heart-pounding silence, she ordered faintly, tilting her face up and parting her tempting lips, "Kiss me again."

He complied, actually taking an order from someone else, and tightened his muscular arms around her waist possessively. Instead of kissing her mouth he feasted on the flesh of her small blushing neck, at the sound of his name, he looked up. The passion he wanted to see smoldered in her eyes, the only way he could have described her was that her kisses acted as fire, and only that her heart consumed his ruthlessly. She weakened him.

"You don't love Cornelia?"

Will waited patiently, clasping the glowing rose-colored orb in her fist, having a feeling that her chances were slim. He confirmed, believing it with every molecule of his being, "I don't love Cornelia."

"Then what do you want with me?"

"You're Will."

"Yeah."

"I want you."

Thoroughly satisfied with that answer, she changed back with a stupor of pink, unaware of it as Caleb delved into her flames.

...yeah, that's the end. Well, it doesn't feel finished so this may be converted into a chapter story. I think. For now a one-shot. I haven't seen all the episodes yet so forgive me if something was off. Senseless Caleb/Will and a bit of Matt bashing(no offense Matt lovers). For some reason I don't like him...I'm suspicious of the 'I'm-a-nice-guy-with-no-bad-qualities' types. Hmm. Well, I hope you liked. All disclaimers go with the creators of W.I.T.C.H. Reviews are a nice way to let me know what you think. -hint-hint-