Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Secret Circle. Wish I sort of did though.

Author's Note: I have not written anything in ages. Also, I have not read the books, so my knowledge is based solely off of the five episodes I have seen thus far, so please do not kill me if things are not accurate.

Chapter 1

Faye Chamberlain had always been in charge. Okay, sure, in reality Diana may be the one who is ostensibly head witch of the Coven, but it was Faye who really held her own and pulled the strings inadvertently. If she didn't want something done, she would just walk away and it wouldn't be done, no matter how much Diana complained and stomped her feet. She did have Adam backing her up, but he was really not a threat to Faye, especially since his bark was more often worse than his bite.

But when Cassie Blake moved to Chance Harbor, everything had gone to hell.

With the last witch from the Blake family completing their coven, Diana had jumped at the opportunity to sway her to her side, and of course, being the goodie-two-shoes that she is, Cassie had been swept up under her wing.

No longer did Faye control the place as well as she had before. Cassie sided with Diana on most everything, and Adam wanted what both girls wanted. Faye had Nick and Melissa, but even that wasn't enough after the turn of events that transpired after Cassie had arrived at the harbor. With everyone's powers going out of whack, and apparently the new blonde was the only one who could stop them, Faye reluctantly had to agree to bind the circle, and boy what a mistake that was.

Faye hated not being able to do magic on her own, having to rely on others, and not being stronger than the rest. It irked her beyond reason and made her increasingly more irritable around the others, but what bothered her most was that she absolutely hated being vulnerable. With multiple assaults seemingly coming one after another, she felt as though she was just a normal girl once again when she was unable to fend off her attackers. And after Nick had drowned leaving Melissa emotionally torn, Faye had nobody to turn to. Her best friend was not the same as she was before, and the threats were relentless.

"This is bullshit!"

Faye's voice reverberated through the entire abandoned home, her anger nearly palpable.

"There has to be another way to get stronger other than relying on each other. If another whacko comes strolling into town, I don't want to have to walk around with somebody else chained to my side just so I can perform magic!"

She was storming around the main area, casting glances at the others before continuing on her angry rant. With another man in town, specifically Jake, she once again did not feel safe, as he was mysterious and quite possibly dangerous. Putting aside the fact that she had once been in a relationship with him, she honestly did not want to deal with him, and the trouble that seemed to follow in his wake, again.

"Faye, calm down! We'll figure this out with time. We just need to get used to things and practice more, then we can become stronger and fight whatever evil comes our way," pleaded Diana as she was trying to bring down the fuming witch.

The taller girl shot her a dangerous glance and walked over towards the herbs. She rested her hands on the table, her head slumping down as her fingernails dug into her skin as she clenched her fists. Faye was about to yell back a seething retort, but she felt a hand on her shoulder and she spun around hastily. Her eyes met with a pair of clear blue ones, and she felt the bubbling anger slowly subsiding; those eyes seemed to have that effect on her lately.

"Faye, just listen to Diana, she knows what's best for us all," Faye rolled her eyes but Cassie continued on, "even if she was the one who suggested binding the circle, we are less dangerous to other people now. As long as we stick together on this, then we'll be fine."

Everyone held their breath as they waited for the other girl's reaction, and after a few seconds of silence, Faye clenched her teeth and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Whatever."

She broke her gaze with the shorter blonde girl and walked over to the nearby couch that Melissa was sitting on, plopping herself down lazily while resting her head on her best friend's lap. Melissa gave her a weak smile before listening in on what the others were discussing before Faye had interrupted them earlier.

"I think something big is going to happen soon you guys. I mean, with that demon thing being released earlier, that girl trying to murder Cassie, and with Jake being in town, something evil is definitely coming this way, and I think we need to start preparing ourselves," explained Adam as he looked at everyone around the room.

Diana nodded in agreement and spoke up, "We need to practice with each other. Our skills aren't nearly as developed as they should be, and I think if something happened now, we'd basically be screwed and unprepared."

"No shit Sherlock. I wonder whose fault is that, for binding the circle and making us weaker?"

"Watch it Faye," Adam said, his features scrunching up, as he was growing increasingly annoyed, "and besides, we already went over this. We aren't weaker, we just need to practice with each other before we can start pulling off stronger spells."

Faye rolled her eyes again and closed her eyes. The sun was already setting and everything was aggravating her. If they all wanted to practice so much, why were they just sitting her and talking about it? She wanted some action; she wanted to see them performing magic instead of just discussing about what could be done. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Melissa but her best friend seemed to be spacing out, as she was merely staring up at the ceiling distractedly.

"Well, if we're done here, then I think I'm going to go home, since obviously nothing exciting is happening," said Faye as she leaned up from Melissa's lap and stared at the group.

It was then that she made eye contact with Cassie and her crystal blue eyes. She was beginning to feel light headed, most likely due to sitting up too quickly, but she shook her head quickly as the blonde began to speak.

"Since you're not contributing anything useful, then we don't mind if you just go home."

Faye jumped up off the couch and approached Cassie, never breaking eye contact. She kept getting closer, her heart beating faster, as she finally stopped about a foot away from her. It was as if Faye was going to say something to challenge her, something to shout back in response to her unusually rebellious words, but instead she just exhaled loudly and glared at her before storming off back for home.

"I was stronger on my own before you guys, and I'll be fine on my own without you!" She shouted as she slammed the door on her way out.

The others just let her go on her way, since generally Faye's angry outbursts happened quite often, and they didn't want to incur her wrath any further. In due time, the witch would return and help them when they needed it, but it was just a risky thing to be having her storming around on her power trips too often. Melissa looked at everyone and cast her glance downwards.

"Look, I'll go talk to her. We'll see you all tomorrow," she said quietly. Everyone nodded and began packing up their things, ready to head back to their respective houses.

Melissa gathered her things into her purse and made her way towards Faye's home. She was used to her friend's behavior by now, and knew that even though Faye appeared mad, she was also just looking for someone to reach out to her and understand where she was coming from. Even if it's possibly just a selfish perspective, Faye often needed a lot of reinforcement or someone to just talk to, and that's where Melissa came in.

Knocking on the door to her friend's residence, after waiting a few moments Dawn, Faye's mother, opened the door with a wary look that eventually turned into a bright smile.

"Oh Melissa! Good to see you again, come on in! Faye is upstairs, she just got home a few minutes ago."

"Thanks Mrs. Chamberlain," responded Melissa as she took off her shoes and went upstairs. Dawn looked around outside briefly before closing the door behind her.

Melissa knocked on the door to Faye's room and spoke softly, "Hey, I know you're in there. Lemme in."

"No, go away."

Melissa sighed audibly before opening the door anyways. She was met with the trademark upward glare that Faye gave to everyone before the face cracked into a small grin, "Come here to bug me about getting along with everyone, or are you here to just listen to me rant until your tiny ears fall off?"

The shorter girl shrugged, "Maybe a little bit of both."

Faye smiled wider and sighed as she sat herself down on her bed. Her face quickly changed to that of one of frustration as she threw her hands up before taking a deep breath in.

"I don't get it! I was so strong before we bound the circle, and now I can't even make a tiny candle light itself on my own. This is just… this is just so stupid! I blame Cassie for all of this."

Melissa walked over to her friend's bed and sat down next to her, preparing herself for a long night of talking and calming her friend, "You know, it's not all her fault. We keep telling you all the time that we just need to be with another person to make stronger spells. It's not her fault for all of this happening, you know."

The taller witch rolled her eyes and pouted. She was silent before whispering, "…yeah, I know. I'm just angry since Diana got her way, and now we're all screwed because of it."

Shrugging her shoulders, Melissa looked up at the ceiling and continued on in an encouraging tone, "You know, we can practice together and then once we get stronger before all of them, maybe you can rub it in their faces or something."

Faye laughed at her friend's rare optimism and nodded, "Boy would I just love to shove it in Diana's face when I get better than her. Or wait…" her smile faded into a sinister grin, "I would rather shove it in that Cassie girl's face. She's always proving that she's better than me, and acting all innocent as if she doesn't know what she's doing, but I just know that she really is laughing at me behind my back. There's no way she could have stopped that storm when I couldn't; we were saying the same exact spell!"

Nodding knowingly, Faye looked to her best friend, "Tomorrow, we're going to start practicing together separately from the others. Once we get better than them, we'll surprise them if we ever get attacked again and save their asses when it counts. Maybe then I'll get the respect I deserve."

Melissa nodded in agreement, with a hesitant smile on her face, "Sure Faye, whatever you say."