A Past Returned

by TacoTues4Eva

Saturday Dec 24 f

Tom groaned as he turned off the video the limousine driver had dropped off to him just a few short minutes ago. It did have sound, though it was barely audible, only catching the exchange between the mother and daughter. What it did catch was plenty of video of the altercation and the two large creatures that put a stop to it. Creatures that protected Cornelia while at the same time making this video pretty much inadmissible as evidence. Not that he would actually use it as it would put his daughter and her friends in danger. Something he wouldn’t do, though he was upset about Irma obviously not telling him that she was involved in magic and whatever crap his aunt had been involved in back before she died.

Closing his eyes and rubbing his temples in frustration, he tried to figure out just what to do. He would have to confront his daughter about all of this, anything else was out of the question. He would also have to grill her about Will again as he was starting to have suspicions of the real fate of the poor girl. He just wasn’t sure if he was ready for any of the answers.

What was he supposed to do about the young Hale girls, especially Cornelia? He couldn’t just not call children services, yet at the same time he had no evidence he could use. The driver said he dropped off the video anonymously and wouldn’t testify one way or the other. He didn’t seem to care for the woman, but seeing those creatures had really scared him. Apparently it was Elizabeth getting back in the car and demanding that he drive that broke the man from his state of shock. So Tom didn’t have any eye witnesses except the girls, which could help the case if it came to it, if they would testify. He had a bad feeling that it wouldn’t be so easy to get cooperation from the girls which he hoped he was wrong about.

Picking up his phone he called his daughter hoping she would answer, and for once she actually did as her voice asked. “Hello?”

“Irma, I need to ask you a simple question and I want the truth. I don’t want any stalling or and trying to get out of telling me.” Tom said sternly, using the tone of voice he had to use with his daughter to make sure she knew he was serious.

“What is it, dad? What’s wrong?” Irma asked, worry evident even over the phone.

“Where is your friend, Cornelia?” Tom asked.

“Cornelia? Why?” Irma asked, hesitating a little.

“We will discuss that when I get home, and I expect you to be there. Now, where is she?” Tom asked a little more sternly.

“Sh-she’s at Ms. Vandom’s. She’s going to be staying the night there.” Irma said, her tone of voice sounding worried and very sad.

“Sweetie, it will be ok. Just go home for now and wait for me. Do not tell anyone about this right now.” Tom said, letting a bit more emotion enter his voice to reassure his daughter. “I just need to talk to Cornelia, it’s very important.”

“Ok, I’ll see you at home then I guess.” Irma sighed, “Dad, thank you for loving me.”

“I will always love you honey, no matter what. I’ll see you at home soon.” Tom said, hanging up after realizing his daughter had already done so. Grabbing his keys and jacket he walked out of his office. “I’m heading out for a bit Morgan, you’re in charge.”

“Stay safe, Sir.” The woman said, saluting the man as he walked out. The drive to Susan’s home didn’t take long though Tom couldn’t get his mind off of two different girls, a redhead and a blonde. He had a feeling he was finally going to get answers to what really happened to the redhead and he was going to decide what to do after talking to Cornelia.

---

“Hey sweetie, how was your morning?” Susan asked as Sunset and Cornelia walked into the apartment, the woman giving the fiery haired girl a hug in greeting before realizing something was wrong. “What’s wrong, you girls look pretty down.”

“Cornelia needs a place to stay and Twilight said to give her her room.” Sunset said, hesitating a moment as she was unsure how much to say. She didn’t want to lie to her mother, but she also didn’t want to say something Cornelia was too uncomfortable sharing right now.

“Of course she can stay here, did something happen?” Susan asked, her gaze going back and forth between the two teens.

“My mom must have got a stupid tracking program on my phone again, she found me hanging out with Twilight and Sunset.” Cornelia sighed, rubbing her eyes. “She didn’t take it too well.”

“Did she yell at you?” Susan asked, a bad feeling that it was much more than that. Something told her it would take much more than a simple talk with the woman to solve things and help the distraught looking girl.

“I wish that was all it was.” Cornelia said shaking her head, “She tackled me to the ground and was beating the crap out of me. She told me I was a worthless mistake from a drunken one night stand with a crayon.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Susan sighed, hugging the girl who struggled a couple moments before burying herself in the embrace and started crying. “I wish you wouldn’t use that word like that, but that woman had no right to touch you like that.”

“Mom, I think it would be best if Cornelia stayed here permanently. That woman is a huge racist and she isn’t going to change.” Sunset suggested.

“I’d be happy to let her, but it isn’t that simple.” Susan sighed, leading the blonde to the couch and held her in an attempt to comfort her while Sunset sat next to them and rubbed her back. “We need to call children services.”

“No! No child service, I’ll run away first.” Cornelia sniffed, pulling away from Susan with a determined expression that was ruined by the tear tracks on her cheeks and red puffy eyes.

“Sweetie, that woman needs to pay for what she did to you.” Susan urged.

“My mom might hate me, but she has been a good mom to Lillian. I know why she hates me so much now, and it hurts more than you can imagine, but the rest of my family is happy together. I refuse to be the one who destroys that for my little sister!” Cornelia cried, shaking her head. “I won’t take my little sister’s family away from her!”

“Sweetie, you are her family too. Do you think she would want that woman hurting you like this?” Susan asked.

“Cornelia, I think Lillian is mature enough and smart enough to know what is going on after what happened earlier.” Sunset sighed, “Are you sure your mom isn’t hurting your sister too?”

“I’m sure. Mom has told me several times that Lillian is their only real child. I always thought it was just because she was mad at me.” Cornelia sniffled, “Even though she hates me, she’s a very good mom to her and my dad loves both of us though. Or I guess Mr. Hale, now. He always tried to treat us equally and has even stood up for me, but he always caves into her in the end.”

“Cornelia, this is straight out abuse and if your sister knows about it, it could affect her too.” Susan said.

“I don’t know what to do, but I can’t call child services. I’ll get a job and an apartment so you don’t have to worry about me, but I just can’t go home.” Cornelia sighed.

“You will do no such thing, young lady. You need a home and a responsible guardian so you can concentrate on school. If it comes down to it, I will fight for you Cornelia. It just won’t be easy depending on what your mother does.” Susan explained.

“You would do that? Fight for me?” Cornelia asked, a look of shock spreading.

“Of course I would, dear.” Susan said hugging the blonde again, Sunset joining the hug from the opposite side.

“And I’ll be here for you too.” Sunset said supportively.

“Thank you guys.” Cornelia cried.

All three jumped a little when the phone rang, the sound startling them. Susan got up to answer it as Sunset and Cornelia watched from the back of the couch. They could hear her conversation on the phone turn a little strained while giving the girls a worried look. “Hello? Yes, she’s here, why? Fine, send him up.”

---

Four people knelt in front of a fifth in a dark cave not far from Heatherfield, their identities concealed by the darkness and shadows. The one being bowed to glared at the four, wringing his hands in nervousness. “We don’t have much time left so we must make our move within the next few days. You all know what to do.”

“Yes, master!” The four voices echoed through the cave. From the sound of their voices, one was a woman and the three remaining figures were men.

Author's Note:

I wanted to thank Sunny Scriber for once again doing such a great job proof reading because no matter how much I try to find all the mistakes I still manage to miss a bunch of them. I also want to thank him for all the advice on improving my writing and scenes in the story to make it better as well as writing the descriptions for the girls new transformation. I also want to thank HarmonicPriest for all the help and story ideas he has given as well as the awesome omakes that can be found in the comment sections of Tuesday Dec 20 d, Wednesday Dec 21 d, Thursday Dec 22 b and Friday Dec 23 c, they are awesome! Thank you both very much!

I also wanted to thank HarmonicPriest for the suggestions on materials to use in making Susan's bracelet from the metals to the gems and the newest addition of alternate covers.

Comments

[HarmonicPriest]

... huh I was truly close with that car camera guess... a shame it is not valid evidence without first confirming publicly magic existence. And now Irma's dad knows ... well that is another new pickle considering he didn't learn from his daughter but from a stranger and it may cause trust issues ... in addition to parental worry. Well, at least now they will have police in their pockets... kinda... if everything goes well.

Susan needs a bigger house ... like yesterday, if she continues collecting damaged children like pokemons .

And now we have a league of villains... and those particular chuckleheads don't have their own bar as base ... what a letdown . Head honcho is nervous which is good, stress and desperation invite mistakes. I just wonder now what is so ... time constrained for him to activate the stratagem ... probably one of those cosmic events or something that happens once in a millennium and serves only one specialized ritualistic purpose.
And four servants ... well woman is Ember (97% sure), and now question who is the rest ... not enough data for guessing so time to wait for the next chapter. Four servants composition also gives clue to ... or rather a confirmation of the villain mindset: sexist, simple as that.

Strange that they use a cave as a forward operating base, considering suspected resources that main villan has. That would suggest that whatever they want to do they want to create some ... pretense ... like further enforcing the illusion that Nerissa is a villain (not knowing that this lie already exploded like 4 July) ... or to create new "unknown threat" that will draw kandrakar attention elsewhere ...Ughh my brain hurts from trying to "pattern recognition" their leader...

[BlackOpsElf]

I was already an adult when W.I.T.C.H. started up (and I am so unfamiliar with it that it took WAY longer than I want to admit for me to realize that these characters weren’t just OCs), but this story makes it clear that I would have loved it as a kid.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11508431
Yep, very close. It won't help anything as far and the law is concerned but it will definitely cement what Susan wants to do. He will be upset about that for sure, though at least he has some knowledge which will make explaining a lot easier for Irma. Not that he will be happy about it considering what happened to his aunt. It will cause the worry for sure, though they will have a little help hiding their activities.

Eyup and it will be happening as Susan wouldn't like taking the room she gave to Twilight away and knows that they are going to need an actual house and not an apartment where they will have a little more privacy.

I kind of played with the events from the cartoon and books if I remember right. The cave is on Shell Beach and I believe it had a portal to Meridian there. I'm kind of going with the leftover magic from a portal and some natural deposits making it a little hard for Kandrakar to see there without really trying, so they can see but only if they have a reason to which isn't very likely. The servants though, not sure how much I can say without spoiling it though I do agree the villain is a sexist prick beyond belief.

Actually, the pretense thing never actually crossed my mind, just a convenience to "gather" the four as the villain is putting his all into this desperate final plan as despite how good poor CHYKN's plan to help train the guardians as well as Shagon showing up to protect Sunset, the villain either suspects or knows Nerissa can't be blamed any more and because of a certain incident he feels if he doesn't get what he wants now then he might not ever be able to.

[TacoTues4Eva]

11509077
Sorry, I should have made it more clear it was a crossover of sorts when I brought in the characters from Witch. The cartoon was great, though I admit the books/comics were a bit better as some was ct and changed for the cartoon sadly.