Hi.

I'm truly sorry for being so late with this. It's being complicated, so I've been only writing some one-shots now and then. But I'm very fond of this story, and even though it takes time, I do plan to finish it.

For those of you who still follow this story, ENJOY.

Oh, and I obviously don't own WITCH

…

Caleb crossed the portal holding Cornelia in his arms. He couldn't describe how he was feeling in that moment.

When Cornelia was in her normal-human form, he always felt as if she was fragile, breakable, but then she transformed, and suddenly Cornelia was a Guardian of the Veil, was able to protect herself, to fight against to what he fought too… to fight next to him. But then, by looking at her, unconscious in his arms, Caleb could see both universes collapsing, because there she was, Cornelia, a Guardian of the Veil, broken.

Caleb knew that she would be alright, or at least he was making himself believe that. If something he was sure about, it was that if Cornelia was gone, he might as well go to a thousand different worlds, even to Kandrakar itself, but never would he be truly alive again.

When Caleb became aware of the way in which he was thinking, he released a heavy, quiet laughter. There was no need to think about all that. Cornelia would be wide awake soon. She would be smiling again, and they would be able to finish their previous conversation.

I would tell her how much I love her.

Caleb noticed that Cornelia was getting heavier and heavier as time passed, as if she was made of pure iron, and she was cold as if she was made of ice. He tried to figure out whether he was imagining that or not. Caleb tried to imagine that she was warm. It was easy.

Still, he was almost sure that it was not a trick of his mind. Nothing happening then was, no matter how hard he wished it, and with every passing second, the more Caleb was convinced that something was not right. Not right at all.

.

Kandrakar.

Evil?

I think I know about it even more than the ones who are evil do, and that is precisely because I am not. If the mean beings all over the universe, knew how dangerous evil really is, they would keep as far of it as they could.

But they are blind, and reckless. They feel like they can control the most uncontrollable thing that has ever existed. That arrogant behavior eventually leads to terrible consequences, for them, and for others.

Evil is like fire. It consumes everything, and the more it consumes, the bigger it is.

Evil is what surrounded everything, that day in which I turned my eyes to Meridian, and I saw the Guardians of this fortress and the rebel leader, looking for help.

Evil is what I could feel in this castle when Cornelia's aura mere turned black.

"Oracle, sir, what should we do?"

"I am afraid there is no much that we can do"

.

Guided by Caleb, the Guardians quickly arrived to the Infinite City, and hurried to the spot where the rebels hid. They could see smoke from the distance, and campfires shining in the dark, protecting the ones around them from the coldness that the night had brought to Meridian. An unusual coldness, everyone could tell. The young ones called it a nuisance. The old ones called it a bad omen.

Caleb ran without noticing it. The path was something he had memorized. "Cornelia". He kept repeating her name in his mind. Dying? He was ready to face death. Loosing friends, brothers? He had, it had hurt, but they all had died being heroes, and he was proud of them. Loosing her? That was his biggest fear. That going on right then, right between his arms, that was the worst thing that could ever happen to him.

Vathek was just getting out of his tent, ready for dinner, when almost randomly he raised his eyes towards the distance. He was the only one who notice the worried little group rushing towards the rebel camping site. Just by giving them a quick distanced glance, he could tell that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

He ran towards the group, to meet them halfway. Their heavy footsteps echoed in the Infinite City, forever looking for a wall to hit.

"Caleb! What´s all this?" Vathek asked, while some other rebels started join them too.

"Cornelia!" was his brief response. Not that it was more informative than the conclusions Vathek could reach by himself just by watching the scene, but it was all that Caleb was capable of saying at the moment. It was all that Caleb had been able to think since Cornelia´s eyes shot closed.

"She most be taken to Cly!" and old man said, referring to the healer that had joined the rebel cause almost five years ago, the one who had fixed Caleb's own wounds more than once.

Cornelia was suddenly ripped off from Caleb´s arms, and even though he knew in the corners of his mind that they were taking her to Cly, he still stood there, just shouting her name at the top of his lungs, his desperate screams getting lost in the sea of noise that came from the agitated crowd surrounding him.

He felt a hand resting over his shoulder. Taranee smiled sadly at him, all the Guardians standing beside her, giving him sympathetic looks. Perhaps those four girls are the only ones who understood, Caleb thought. Of course everyone else was worried about Cornelia. He was a symbol of hope, just as he was. But only he and the Guardians knew the person behind the heroine.

Only they knew that she was not only a Guardian of the Veil, she was a girl, her favorite color was green, she had a little sister, a cat, she was brilliant at ice skating, had her temper, loved history class, and so much more. They weren´t worried for the girls with wings and powers, but for the one who shone even with nothing that extraordinary.

With that, Caleb calmed down.

At least they know.

All five of them spent hours sitting around a big campfire, that still wasn´t enough to keep them warm. Every once in a while, Vathek would come join them, bring them a hot drink or a piece of bread, and then leave, never saying a word. Sometimes he just stood there, and smiled a sincere smile before turning around. Aldarn came as well, to ask some questions hurriedly.

The chopped wood cracked while it burned, and the fire became smaller and smaller as time passed by, transforming their faces with shadows and filling their hearts with coldness.

.

Cly heard the noise from out side, and even before they shot the door of her tent open, she knew that something was wrong. She was used to that tone the voices had when they were bringing her someone. There was no need to even understand their words, just by that very different kind of loud whisper and quiet shout, the one that meant confusion, anger, sadness, and sometimes even lost, Cly could tell that they were coming.

But she had not expected that.

Aldarn was holding one of the Guardians in his arms, while the crowd around him just stood there, never silent, looking at Cly and waiting for her to do something.

Quickly, Cly made room for the girl in the table of the center. Aldarn lay her down as soon as he was able.

"All right. Everyone. Out. Now." Cly ordered in a powerful voice that was heard above the sounds of the crowd. "Aldarn, stay" she added, when he was about to exit the tent as well.

"Tell me what you know" Cly indicated, while she moved around Cornelia.

"Not very much" Aldarn answered, not daring to move from the corner in which he stood. "Caleb and the other Guardians came out of the blue, you know we weren´t expecting him until tomorrow night. She was already unconscious when they got hear. Vathek saw them first, but I asked him and he doesn´t know much, either. The Guardians said something about…"

"…a spell" Cly finished for him. "Of course it is. Her vitals are all like they should be. Her temperature's down, but that's all. There's no other reason for her to be out." she said more to herself. "Hand me that book over the table, Aldarn".

He did. Cly open the book and started looking among the pages.

"Aldarn, I need you to go and find out exactly what happened. Hurry up" The rebel didn´t wait a second.

So she is the one that Caleb is fond of.

This girl was very important, Cly knew. Not only she was a Guardian, but she was close, very close to their leader. Heaven knows what would become of Caleb if something happened to that girl. Cly tried to remember her name, but she couldn't.

The book made a big muffled noise when the healer closed it, frustrated. Until Aldarn came back with information, the book could not give answer because she wouldn't know the proper questions.

She focused her concentration in the girl. Her skin was pale and very, very, cold, but with a kind of coldness that was not perceived with her senses. It was something that made her spirit freeze. Cly felt the girl's pulse again. Still fine. Her breathing, perfect.

With steady hands, Cly opened the Guardian's unconscious eyes. The eyes were normal, not moving, the pupils dilated. Funny, though. Cly could have sworn that this girl had blue eyes, not black ones. But well, she could not even remember her name and had only seen her a time or two…

Was it her idea, or this girl was getting even colder? After years of healing and fixing war wounds, Cly would think that she knew how to control her imagination, but it was not possible for someone to be this cold this quickly, without their other vitals change at least one little bit.

The healer opened her book again, reading each page. Below the word "Symptoms", almost always she could read "Coldness". Yhea, but this cold? That wasn't helping at all.

The next time she touched Cornelia, she took her hand off immediately, aching from such coldness.

Just then, the curtains fluttered open and Aldarn came in panting.

"Good to see you´re back, take a seat" Cly said, pointing to a chair in the corner of the tent.

After one minute, Aldarn was able to speak again.

"I spoke with the leader of the Guardians, Cly. She told me that a monster showed up in their world sooner this night. She told me that she was sure that the man that was controlling the monster was looking specifically for Cornelia."

"Cornelia…" Cly whispered, "But, why is she so sure?" she added out loud.

"Will told me the man said so. Or something like that. Then he attacked Cornelia"

"And what happened to the man?" Cly asked.

"They don't know it. Will said that they were so hurried to get here that they didn't notice what was of the man, but she is almost sure that he banished, or at least she thinks that if he was still there or wanted to stop them they'd have known it"

"Makes sense… now, how exactly did he attacked her?" the healer asked, not looking Aldarn in the eyes.

"With a butterfly" was the answer.

Cly did looked him in the eyes then, just for a second, before turning around to look at Cornelia once more. The heavy book felt to the floor with the movement.

"...a black butterfly" Cly whispered, just loud enough for Aldarn to hear.

"How do you know?" Aldarn asked carefully. Maybe Cly just looked him in the eyes for a second, but there was something in her gaze that had scare the spirits out of him.

Cly didn´t answer the rebel's question. Instead she stood behind Cornelia's head, opening her hands close to Cornelia's temples, but not touching her.

"How do you know?" Aldarn asked once more, picking up Cly's book and handing it to her.

She didn't take it.

"The book's no use, it is not there" Cly said, closing her eyes.

"What is not there, Cly? How do you know about the black butterfly? Cly?"

The healer opened her eyes once more.

"Aldarn, this is ancient magic. Very ancient, very black magic. I think I know what to do about it, but I need to concentrate. Just, please, be quiet." Aldarn nodded.

Cly started to speak very quietly, closing her eyes again, never moving her hands from the side of Cornelia's head. Aldarn could not understand what she was saying, but after some moments he realized that it was not because of the low volume, but because it was a totally different language.

After some time that seemed like an instant, the fingertips of Cly's hands started to glow a purple light, and two silent, black tears escaped from her eyes. Still, she didn't notice, and never stopped her foreign prayer.

The more seconds passed, the brighter the light became. Soon it was too bright for Aldarn to keep looking. He felt the strange heat reach his skin, and when the feeling stopped, he open his eyes again, to find Cly sitting exhausted on the floor, and Cornelia slowly opening her big blue eyes.

"What the hell is that?!" Caleb said suddenly standing up from the seat in which he had spent without movement for the last hours.

The Guardians stood up as well, looking in disbelief. A powerful and strange purple light was coming from one of the tents, rising up on till it hit the very roof of the Infinite City, too bright to even transform the dark of the night into what could have been some sort of cloudy day light.

Even though, they didn't know in which tent that Cly girl was, they had no doubt that that light could only come from the place in which Cornelia was.

The light started to turn off quickly, but before it was completely out again, they had already begun running towards the source, passing the confused rebels that had came out of their tents, staring in awe at the same direction that the girls and Caleb where rushing to.

By the time the group reached the healers tent, Aldarn was just coming out, holding the arm of a woman, surely Cly. She looked really tired, and surely if it was not for Aldarn's arm, she would have dropped to the floor.

Caleb gave her a worried, almost crazy look, and Cly just smile in return. That was enough for all of them to relief. The Guardians smiled, and Caleb felt as if he was soaring.

"You may come in now, Caleb. She is awake, and asking about you" Cly said with weak voice.

Caleb had already put a hand in the delicate fabric of the tent, when he stopped as if he had remembered something. He suddenly gave Cly a hug.

"Thank you", was all he said before getting into the tent.

"Come here, Elyon. Can you believe how easy has it been?"

"Oh, brother, I never expected it to be difficult. But I must say that the detail of letting her wake up is just magnificent"

"It's all right. Let them have their precious little hope while they can"

"Cornelia!" Caleb ran towards the Earth Guardian, who was now sitting in the same table in which Aldarn had put her before.

Caleb stopped before her, not certain whether it was sure to touch her, but she opened her arms and hugged him tight.

"Caleb! I'm so glad you're OK" she said.

"Me? Cornelia, you were the one that was unconscious for almost six hours!" Caleb stated, almost amused.

"Yeah, right… I know" Cornelia said, as if she was remembering "But, you know, while I was out, I think I was dreaming or something, because when I woke up I couldn't shake the feeling that you were in danger"

"Well, I'm not." Caleb looked at her, slightly confused. "How are you?"

"Fine"

This time he hugged her, letting go all the worry and fear that had been consuming him from inside. It seemed almost silly now.

"Whenever you say, Elyon"

"Wait…"

Caleb sat beside her in the table. Opening her hand, she played absent-minded with the ground, making a few strands of grass appear here and there. The rebel leader couldn't keep his eyes out of her.

Almost by accident, by instinct, by reflex, he's hand slowly approached the one that she wasn´t using to use her powers. Their fingers intertwined without them noticing, and it was only when their grip was tight that she raised her look from the ground and blue eyes met green ones.

Neither of them closed their eyes, it was as if they were trapped by a very different kind of magic than the one they were used to. They kept looking into each others eyes , even when their heads started to lean closer and closer, and their lips where only one instant away.

"NOW!"

Caleb froze in horror when her magical blue eyes suddenly turned black.

Cornelia extended her open palms before her, and giving and empty glance at the rebel leader, she attacked him with the same rocks from the ground that had looked so innocent moments ago when she was playing with them.

The Guardians outside heard the commotion and rushed into the tent, not quite understanding what was going on.

"Caleb!"

"Cornelia!"

"What's all this?"

"Are you guys all right?"

Caleb could not find the sense in the Guardians' words. He was still shocked by the view of those night black eyes. He rose to his feet slowly, holding his chest were the rock had hit.

The Guardians' stood behind Caleb, assuming defense positions, even when they didn't know what had just happened or what was happening right then, the evil in the room was touchable, they couldn't help but notice it and get ready for whatever it was.

Cornelia lowered her arms, never taking the absent gaze from Caleb as he stood again. Caleb didn't fail to notice. But it wasn't just those black eyes, it was her whole expression that seemed wrong, that didn't belong to her, even if those do were her features. She was not there.

But then, where was she?

"CORNELIA!" came the desperate scream from the boy.

The blue returned to the eyes, and Cornelia dropped to the floor.

"God, is she stubborn"

"I know, brother, but don't worry. She won't last very long"

"I'm sure of that."

Caleb was the first to reach Cornelia. The Guardians surrounded the two. Cornelia was barely awake, but as soon as Caleb hands touched her, her eyes widened and she used her wings to get out of his grasp.

"Caleb, don't! Get away from me!" she screamed, nearly crying.

"Cornelia, what are you saying?" He asked, her words hurting him, taking a step close.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Cornelia, calm down. Don't be afraid. I will never hurt you!"

"But I will hurt you…"

"Again, Phobos!"

Cornelia's hands flew to both sides of her head and her wings dropped her to the ground. Her eyes were black again, and her look instantly went to Caleb. By looking at him, she closed them and opened them blue again.

"You silly girl, obey me!"

But, Caleb…

"Soon he will be nothing!"

NO!

"Stop fighting! You belong to me now. And you will do what I demand!"

The girls and Caleb stared in awe at the Earth Guardian. She kept screaming, holding her head, and blinking as if it was against her will, and every time she opened them again, they changed color.

After a few times, her eyes didn't open again. She lowered her hands from her temples, and rose slowly to her feet, facing the confused and worried faces from her friends.

"YOU WILL KILL HIM!"

The Guardians reacted very quickly to Cornelia's attack, and managed to block it without hurting her.

"Take him away from here!" Will ordered, and Irma and Taranee's arms surrounded him, lifting him in the air and quickly flying away from the tent and from the Infinite City.

But as he was being carried away, Caleb could not erase the image of Cornelia opening her eyes one last time, to reveal the black eyes, darkest than ever, looking only at him with hatred before attacking him. And despite everything happened so fast, he could not help but think that the only thing that did belonged to Cornelia in that expression with dark eyes, was the silent, lonely tear that was rolling down her face.

If there's someone out there who still reads this, I would appreciate if you reviewed. It has being a long time since I last wrote in English, so I would like if you could mark my mistakes

I'll try my best to update soon.