//------------------------------// // Wednesday Dec 21 f // Story: A Past Returned // by TacoTues4Eva //------------------------------// “Hey Susie, what’s shaking?” Came Yan Lin’s voice from the speaker of Susan’s phone that was sitting on the coffee table as Sunset sat with her on the call. “We have some bad news.” Susan sighed, “Sunset knows who Shagon is, or who he is posing as. She’s here with me on speaker.” “Really, that’s wonderful dear! That would be really helpful.” Yan Lin said as her voice wavered a little. “It’s Matt Olsen.” Sunset said earning silence on the other end of the line worrying both of them as they watched the phone with bated breath. Susan took Sunset’s hand and squeezed it comfortingly as Yan Lin finally came back on. “Why does all of this always have to involve the kids? It isn’t fair to them and it wasn’t fair to us.” Yan Lin sighed. “Us?” Susan asked curiously. “You mean because we’re powerless to help them?” “No, I meant my generation as guardians. I should never have followed traditions or orders and tell the girls the bare minimum needed to get the job done.” Yan Lin admitted, “If I just took a more active role maybe history wouldn’t repeat itself with one of the guardians vanishing.” “I don’t blame you for what happened, Yannie.” Susan said. “You should dear, but I had an interesting talk with Nerissa today.” Yan Lin said. “I have a question about her. Does she carry this staff like walking stick and look like an older homeless woman?” Sunset asked earning a snort from Yan Lin. “I’ve never heard of her being described in that way dear, but yes I suppose she could.” Yan Lin said making Sunset fidget a little. “I keep hearing how bad a person she is but I met her before Susan came to me. I treated her to a meal since she looked like she could use it. She didn’t really seem that bad to me.” Sunset said. “You can’t believe everything you see or hear sometimes dear, that is the sad truth of being involved in what we are.” Yan Lin sighed, “But I did have a visit from an old friend today, a few of them in fact asking for my help. I’m not sure of my answer yet, but I do need to warn you not to trust anyone but ourselves at the moment. Don’t trust Nerissa, don’t trust Kandrakar and don’t trust any other magical being that pops up out of nowhere.” “What’s going on?” Susan asked with worry. “I don’t know Susan, but if I have to go. Will you keep an eye on Hay Lin? Her parents don’t know about any of this and she might need someone who does know to turn to.” Yan Lin added. “You know I will.” Susan agreed. “Sunset, I won’t force you to meet the girls until you are ready and I won’t force them on you as friends, but do you think you can meet them and just see how things go after Christmas if not before? I wanted to wait until after the new year but things might be coming to a head soon and I would feel better knowing you girls had each others’ backs.” Yan Lin said. “I guess so, maybe Friday I might call you to set up a time.” Sunset said growing a little worried by the pitch of Yan Lin’s voice. The old woman seemed really worked up over something. “Thank you dear, take care. I need to go.” Yan Lin said before cutting off the call making Susan and Sunset share a worried look. “Do you think she’s okay?” Sunset asked feeling worried for the older woman. “I’m sure she is dear. Yan Lin is tough and knows what she is doing.” Susan said though there was a little sliver of doubt. “It’s getting late, maybe we should get ready for bed so we can get up early to have breakfast and get our shopping done. After all you have some deliveries later in the day don’t you honey?” “Yeah, I guess I should be turning in.” Sunset sighed as she tried to fight off a yawn. “Good night sweetie, love you.” Susan said hugging Sunset and kissing the top of her head. “Night Susan, love you too.” Sunset yawned hugging Susan back before they headed to their rooms to prepare for the night. They had a long day tomorrow and instead of bothering putting all her stuff away she decided to put it into her walk in closet that had plenty of space. On the far wall was a huge floor to ceiling mirror with drawers lining the walls on either side that doubled as a bench and rails on both sides for hanging clothes. For a closet it was very well lit as Sunset put her bags on the bench on the left as the few things she brought with her was already hanging on the right. Noticing one of the drawers sticking out a little she tried to push it shut only to find it jammed. Shimmying it a little she got it loose to open it and found a few framed photos on top that showed Will with the girls she met at the mall smiling in costumes making Sunset wonder if it was Halloween when it was taken. Another of them had a grumpy looking Will with Susan while a third showed a very happy Will with Susan and some man Sunset didn’t know. Below them was a couple scrap books decorated with stickers of frogs as well as two diaries. Susan did tell her that most of Will’s stuff was moved out of the room and put into storage right after they met so Sunset would have plenty of room to put her things. Joke was on Susan as Sunset didn’t have enough to even really fully fill a corner. Still, Susan had told Sunset that since she had been Will in her previous life that all of it belonged to her and when she was ready she could look through it. Pulling the stuff out of the drawer, she ended up with a pretty large armful that she managed to make a single trip to her desk where she put it all down before moving the wireless keyboard out of the way so she could look through everything. Despite the, putting it mildly, rocky introduction to all the girls at the mall the photos made her feel nostalgic despite not really remembering them. She could feel vague emotions toward each one as if she should recognize something within each one but just couldn’t. Moving the photos aside Sunset flipped through the scrap books a little finding news paper clippings and different pictures as well as doodles from whom she presumed was Will. She noticed an ongoing theme of frogs which she did love, though not to the point of being obsessed with the things. Looking over to Ray and giving the little guy a smile she decided that he was much better anyways. Still, Will was younger and probably much more innocent than Sunset so perhaps it was more normal. Again she pushed them to the side and picked up both journals and found one was full which Sunset figured was the older one. Setting the half full journal aside Sunset skimmed through it pretty fast as she was a pretty good speed reader. She couldn’t help feeling the pain Will had endured and the anger she felt at the girl’s father. He had divorced Susan and left both with nearly nothing while running off leaving the two to struggle in a city he made them move to. A city that didn’t exactly welcome Susan or Will. Sunset had to whistle at the self restraint Will had shown in not knocking some of those little brats heads off. Then again, Will was hurting and something told Sunset the girl hadn’t really been the violent type. It did surprise Sunset that Will had some kind of gift even if it was discounted as her imagination at the time. She had heard the thoughts of her so called friends constantly mocking her and calling Will trash, worthless and bastard child. They had called Susan so much worse. Then there was the move to Heatherfield which Will was against even if it freed her from the constant torment that was Fadden Hills. She didn’t expect to make new friends when Susan dropped her off at school with a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies to help break the ice when trying to make new friends. Something Will didn’t want to do after Fadden Hills, something Sunset understood all too well. It was a surprise when Hay Lin had actually made quick friends with her and invited her to the Silver Dragon for an afternoon snack after school which Will reluctantly agreed to. The redhead had been pleasantly surprised to make quick friends with three of the four girls, the fourth being the same blonde who blasted Sunset at the mall. Reading about Will’s first impression of the girls made Sunset almost feel as if she was there. Hay Lin was bubbly and friendly, Irma was cute and snarky, Taranee was logical and very smart and then there was Cornelia who was standoffish and didn’t want to have Will there. It was what happened next that threw Will confidence of having new friends off as Yan Lin brought out the Heart of Kandrakar. Will didn’t know what to think of her new friends then as she couldn’t help but wonder if the Heart was the only reason they were friends. Over the following weeks Will had grown close to the girls as they proved they were her friends because they liked her yet the girl couldn’t help having doubts at times. It was Cornelia that shocked Sunset the most and made her feel sorry for the blonde. Will had spent time around Cornelia’s home life and it seemed while her father loved both his daughters very much, the blonde’s mother only seemed to care for the youngest. It made Cornelia lash out at Lillian more than a few times before swearing Will to secrecy by admitting she hated herself when she let things get to her enough to do so. Will had also observed how Cornelia’s mother could be very hateful and would push Cornelia to act in certain ways only to act disappointed no matter the outcome. Will had admitted to her diary that no matter how much trouble she and her own mother were having, Cornelia’s home life was much worse and was surprised the blonde could handle it. Speaking of mothers, Sunset couldn’t help notice the drastic change in the woman which could be attributed to several things but as she already knew the truth behind it there wasn’t any need to figure out the cause. She loved Will dearly and while she could be stern like any mother, the redhead was the woman’s life. Susan would give anything to see Will happy and Sunset could see that in the woman who was doing the same for her. She only started acting weird when she began dating one of Will’s teachers, which for someone who loved their daughter as much as Susan did, didn’t make sense. Why would Susan make Will’s life harder at school right after moving from a situation that would be close to the same? Then there was the fact that even if she did risk it and date one of Will’s teachers then said teacher would in most likelihood become harder on the redhead in order of throwing off suspicion of showing favoritism. None of it pointed to what the woman seemed like earlier in the journals or what Sunset knew of the woman. Sunset had pretty much seen Will’s side of things when it came to the older woman and could see where the redhead was coming from. Yet, it was coming from an inexperienced girl who didn’t understand what was going on and had her life ripped apart in so many ways. She was lost and didn’t know where to turn. None of it was Susan’s fault as they played the woman like a puppet messing with her mind. The information she had gathered about Elyon Brown, the supposed princess of Meridian, had Sunset understanding both sides of the conflict between Will’s friends and the redhead herself. She didn’t fault Will for her feelings of betrayal because if Sunset wasn’t reading it from a journal and looking at it objectively then she would likely be feeling the same way. They had argued over what to do about Elyon and when it seemed Phobos had won by turning the girl against her friends, the blonde had blamed Will who was the easiest target. It was understandable in a way and Sunset couldn’t completely fault the blonde, she also couldn’t deny much of what the blonde spat out was very uncalled for. The journals didn’t seem to have the last confrontation which was expected as that was the last night of Will’s life as the redhead. Closing the journal, Sunset noticed the time and realized she had stayed up much later than she meant to. She figured it was time to get some sleep but needed something to drink first so quietly sneaked out of her room though she doubted she needed to be that discreet with the size of the place. Still she silently made it out of her room and stopped as she felt something was wrong making her look around before noticing a noise coming from Susan’s room. As she got closer to the door she could hear the woman sobbing though it sounded as if she was trying to be quiet. Sunset saw the woman freeze and try to act asleep as the teen made it over to the side of the bed and sat on the edge and rub the woman’s back. “Are you okay?” Sunset asked, noticing the woman wipe at her eyes. “I’m okay.” Susan sniffled. “What happened to telling each other the truth?” Sunset gently chided getting a heavy sigh from the woman who sat up and turned to face the girl. “I’m sorry, your right. I just don’t want to burden you with my fears. I’m supposed to be the adult taking care of you, not the other way around.” Susan said. “Adults are just as capable as kids at having feelings and fears, just because you are older and more experienced doesn’t mean your emotions don’t have the same value.” Sunset said. “How did I get so lucky to end up with a daughter like you?” Susan said as she reached out to caress the side of Sunset’s face tucking some hair behind the girl’s ear. “I’m the lucky one, Susan. But please, tell me what’s wrong.” Sunset pleaded, “I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong.” “I’m afraid that when you learn just how bad of a mother I was to Will that you won’t want anything to do with me.” Susan sighed in defeat, laying her cards on the table. Instead of brushing her fears off Sunset scooted closer and pulled Susan into a comforting embrace. “I just got done looking through Will’s journals I found in my room and I could see how much she loved you.” Sunset said making the woman sob harder. “She didn’t understand what was going on though when whoever was messing with your mind started. She was too close to see it or just didn’t know as she really didn’t have a formal education in magic and what to look for in situations like that. It is clear as day to me that you were mind controlled and I will never blame you for that. And I know Will wouldn’t either if she knew.” “You don’t hate me for causing the problems with her?” Susan asked half afraid of the answer. “Susan, you are my mother and I love you. I’m not abandoning you for being a victim, but I swear if I ever find the person who did this to you I will make them suffer.” Sunset swore kissing the top of her mother’s head who was settling down. “Thank you honey.” Susan said looking up with a watery smile that was illuminated by the shaft of light shining in from the open door. “I’m not going anywhere, we are a family and we will make it through whatever is going on. Together. I promise.” Sunset said truly meaning it.