107AN: I am taking a brake from my work on 'The Shunned One' so my beta Sniper Fodder can catch up with back log of chapters for that story. Once he does I'll be going back and fourth between these two story so both will be updated regularly.
I would like to give my thanks to my beta for this story KnightofFaerun for his work on editing this story. With out it the fic might not be as good as it is now.
I would also like to give alik some credit fo this fic as well because it was his/her story 'The Other Princess of Meridian' that helped inspire me to write this.
Now for the disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. If I did I would have you guys watching the third season right now. Now on with the story!
Chapter 1: The Start of a Civil War
A woman woke up in the middle of the night hearing a voice in her head she knew well saying 'Danger!' The woman opened her eyes to see three Lurdens standing over her with large axes raised to strike.
With out hesitating the woman yelled out "Air!" a blast of the element sent the creatures flying back against a wall before they could strike. The woman then sprang from her bed and yelled out 'Water!" a blast of the cold liquid drenched the creatures. The woman wrapped it up with one last blast of the air element to freeze the Lurdens, turning them into ice sculptures.
"How did these things get inside the castle?" The woman asked, panting a bit from the sudden need to use her magic. This woman was Princess Susan, formally second in line for the Meridian throne up until her niece was born a few weeks ago.
While Susan was not the heir to the throne, her powers were derived from Meridian itself. Her sister, Queen Weira, was the Heart of Meridian but that didn't mean she was only member of the royal family with access to those incredible abilities.
Like all worlds, there resides a great deal of magic within the planet itself. The Heart of a world, while being very powerful in its own right, also acts like a valve that controls the amount of magic that flows throughout the planet.
With this other major source of magic, the Heart of a world can let other beings have magic without the Heart draining its own power to do so. This allows the Heart of that world to protect its world to its fullest ability. But the majority of the Meridian royal family believed that due to a few past events that only they should be the ones with magic.
Things like massive spell duels or those who sought to overthrow the royal family made the past Queens shut off the flow of magic to common people. They believed that the commoners did not know how to deal with the responsibility of wielding magic but Susan was not a believer of this.
That was what made Susan believe the voice of Meridian spoke to her so clearly, the same voice that warned her of the Lurdens that were about to kill her. Weira may be the Heart of Meridian but Susan was called the Spirit of Meridian because of this connection.
But none of that mattered right now to Susan, as she grew worried about her sister and her family. If the Lurdens were trying to kill her then what about them and her daughter! 'Wilhelmina! I need to check and make sure she is alright!' Susan thought to herself in a panic and teleported to her daughter's nursery.
She arrived just in time to see several Lurdens advancing towards her Daughter's crib and Susan was going to make sure that was as close as they were going to get…EVER! "Air and Water!" Susan roared in a furry that only a mother protecting her child could have. The two elements combined to create an attack that literally froze the Lurdens in their tracks.
The commotion had awoken the slumbering six-month-old baby from her peaceful slumber and she was now crying up a storm. Susan rushed over to her daughter and used her magic to entice the baby to go back go back to sleep.
Normally she would just sooth her daughter the old fashioned way but Susan needed to check on Weira and her family. Using her magic to instantly change from her nightgown to a sky blue sorceress robe that also gave her full freedom of movement, Susan then made her way down the castle hallways.
Susan was heading for her sisters room when she heard something coming from up ahead. It sounded like a battle of magic and if Susan guessed right it would be near her niece Elyon's nursery.
Susan knew she had to check this out so to ensure Elyon's safety and quickly headed to where the battle sounds were coming from. Once Susan got there the one thing she did not expect to see was happening. Her own nephew, Phobos, was attacking Weira.
Weira believed her son did not need magic because he was a boy and thus would never rule so she stripped him of his magic at birth. The only way Phobos could use magic with out draining his own life force was if he was gaining power from another source; but from what?
Susan did not have time to contemplate this as Phobos unleashed a powerful blast of white energy towards his mother but Weira deflected it with ease. "Phobos, why have you done this!" Weira demanded making Susan hide around the corner to hear this argument out.
Phobos glared at his mother in anger and growled out, "Because you and the rest your kind take every thing that should have been rightfully mine!" This made Susan feel that this was going to get uglier than it already was.
"And what does that mean exactly?" The Queen of Meridian demanded as she glared at her son with a level of anger that Susan did not believe a mother could ever give her own child. Phobos countered with equal furry as he once again growled out his response. "You think only women have a right to anything! You took my power before I even had chance to prove you right or wrong. Then you give birth to that thing in the room behind you that took my right to rule! Well it ends here!"
This outraged Weira even more and she roared out, "So you gather an army of those disgusting creatures and have them try to murder your own family!?"
This brought a disturbingly pleased smirk to Phobos' face. "Correct well, almost correct any way. Isn't that right, Cedric?" the prince asked a large snake-like being came out of the nursery behind Weira. Before the Queen could do any thing to defend her self, the snake creature swung its tail at her, sending her flying into the wall. She landed just behind Phobos who was looking down at his mother with a look of triumph.
"Oh how I longed for this day" the Prince said with a sadistic grin on his face as strange vines started wrapping around Weira and brought her up to eye level with her son. She could not move or break free of the vines and noticed they were also wrapping around her son but not in a way to restrain him though.
"What are you? Aaaahhhh!" Weira screamed in pain, as the vines seemed to be sucking her energy out of her and was flowing into Phobos. Phobos let out an evil laugh as he yelled out, "The power of Meridian is mine at last!"
Weira did not know what was going on but Susan did. 'He drains life force from others. That's how he can use magic without draining his own!' Susan thought to her self and in fear for her sister's life came out from behind the corner and prepared to attack her nephew.
"Phobos, you will pay! Fire!" Susan yelled and a barrage of fireballs launched towards Phobos. Hearing his aunt's yell he turned to see the fireballs coming at him. His instinct taking over he had the vines release him and dived out of the way of the incoming attack.
Weira would not be so fortunate because now that Phobos was out of the way for there was nothing to shield her from the attack that was meant to save her was now going to be her end as she was incinerated by the fire.
"No!" Susan screamed in horror while Phobos let out another sadistic laugh. "Ah I could not think of a better end to that wretched thing I called a mother. Though I am a bit surprised you're still alive, Aunt Susan. I guess I should not be. After all this world always seems to help you in tight spots, doesn't it?" the prince said with an evil grin on his face.
Susan was still in too much of a shock from what she had accidentally done while Phobos continued to gloat. "Now all that is left to do is to get rid of you and the two annoying brats. Then there will be no one left to challenge my right to the throne and all its power!"
This snapped Susan from her shock and was once again preparing to attack Phobos when the voice of Meridian spoke to her once again 'This line is unworthy of being the Heart, now is the time for a new line to take the throne!'
With that, a bright light came from the nursery from behind Cedric and Phobos and they along with Susan looked to see what was going on. An orb of white light was hovering over Elyon who was crying from all the noise and bright light. The three spectators saw energy flowing out of Elyon and both Phobos and Susan knew what it was.
"Yes that's right. Come to me, power of Meridian!" Phobos said thinking Meridian itself also supported his beliefs but he was about to be proven wrong. The orb of light finally stopped drawing energy from the small baby and shot out of the room. Instead of heading to Phobos as he expected, the light went right past him and flew right into Susan.
The sister of the deceased Queen was engulfed in white light and felt a large amount of power surging through her. "No! Phobos roared in outrage as he watched the power that he believed was rightfully his was once again being taken from him.
He knew the chances of winning now were practically zero now that his Aunt Susan was infused with that much power, she had already bin been a powerful force to be reckoned with before. Now by gaining the power of the ruler of Meridian it made her even stronger then than his mother had bin been.
Phobos knew he had to cut his losses and retreat so he turned to Cedric and say said, "We are leaving before my aunt is finished gaining my mother's and sister's powers. This got a firm nod from the reptile and Phobos teleported away.
When the light died down, Susan looked around for Phobos but as expected he was gone. He always was one to know when he was outmatched. He is also the type who tries to turn someone else's victory into his own. 'I wonder how he's going to try to turn this around?' Susan thought to herself with great concern.
But right now she had something else to worry about other the Phobos. There was still a crying baby Elyon to comfort and now that both the poor girl's parents were gone it was now up to Susan to do the comforting.
Susan went into her niece's room and rocked the tiny baby back and fourth whispering, "Its alright Elyon, Aunty Susan is here. I'll try my best to raise you and Wilhelmina as best I can. I promise"
But Susan was not going to be able to keep that promise knowing how far Phobos would sink to win against her, the most powerful Queen to ever rule Meridian. Now that Susan power had doubled if not tripled in strength he could not win against her on his own. But that did not mean she was unbeatable in his eyes, not when she had given him the perfect means to fight her.
Due to his aunt's well known affinity for the five elements and that he (to the public) had no magic it made it easy to blame the uprising against his mother on Susan. With the fact that there were burnt vines and the burnt body of their fallen Queen it made a very convincing story.
Though Phobos had not counted on one thing, on how much the people loved Susan. They all of course cared for Weira to, but the former Queen kept her distance from them as most royals did, but Susan often walked the city streets and conversed with the people often hearing their opinions, complaints, and concerns directly. They preferred this to having to go through the 'proper channels' to have Weira hear them.
This also provided Susan some means of defense when she said her side of the story and it also let them know Susan very well. While it did not stop Phobos getting the one thing he wanted which was a rebellion against his Aunt there were still many who sided with Susan. These people would accept her as the new Queen of Meridian without question and would side with her against Phobos' rebel forces.
This was when things got bad, unfortunately. Phobos told the members of the rebellion that Susan was planning to use both his sister and cousin to clench her claim to the throne. This led to a problem for the two Princesses and the new Queen.
Two couples that looked after Elyon and Wilhelmina when Susan was busy both decided eliminate this problem. Though nether couple knew of the others plans both wanted remove the two babies as factors in this civil war but for two very different reasons.
One of the couples the Brown family, took Elyon because they did not know whom to believe. So until they could tell if it was Prince Phobos or Queen Susan was lying they took Elyon so to keep her from getting caught up in the war.
The other, the Vandom family, had less than pleasant reasons. They believed Phobos' lies and sought to rob the 'false' Queen of her only daughter to ensure the other princess' right to the throne.
The one thing that led the two couples to do this was the creation of the Veil. If Candracar was cutting them off from the other worlds this made all the different groups thinking of reasons for it.
Each group's reason for it was different, each reflecting their view of war. Susan and the ones who followed her believed that the Oracle and his council saw Phobos as too large a threat and it was too risky to leaving him uncontained.
The rebels thought the opposite thinking that Candracar was trying to keep Susan's 'corruption' from spreading to other worlds.
The Browns feared that the war between them might have been getting out of hand in the eyes of The Council of Candracar at were trying to keep it from dragging others worlds into it.
The Vandom's thought the same as the rebels but also saw it as a way to keep Susan from reclaiming her daughter.
Taking advantage of this, the two different couples took their chosen child and tried to find a portal to Earth were they could hide until the war was over. The Browns had managed to get their hand on the Seal of Phobos. One of Susan's spies in the rebellion managed to steal it and bring it to Susan. It took a while but they managed to steal it from the royal treasury and used it to escape to Earth but lost the seal during the escape.
The Vandom couple only escaped because of a random portal appearing while they kidnapped Susan's daughter and were making a run for it. But as they passed through the portal they heard a mysterious voice speak inside their minds.
"Care for the child you have taken as your own and great fortune you shall behold, but mistreat the child and Meridian's and mother's wrath shall be your only reward" the strange voice warned and then as they exited the portal it closed behind them.
The woman looked over to her husband and asked in fear "W-What was that Tony?" The one called Tony looked at his wife with bit of fear in his eyes in them as well but shook it off.
It does not matter Serena, lets just figure out were we can hide this brat until his highness Prince Phobos can defeat that traitor." Tony said and they set off to figure out this world called Earth.
Back in Meridian, Susan was in a state of anger and grief. She has lost her daughter and niece and had ordered them to be found no matter what the cost. But it was no use and she had locked herself away in her room refusing to see anyone.
Those who believed in Susan were outraged that anyone would dare take the two princesses from her highness and were on a witch-hunt for rebel members thinking they had kidnapped the two small girls.
If it were not for every villager and soldier not on their side hunting for them, the rebels would have been celebrating even harder then they were, now that Susan could no longer 'corrupt' ether princess. Well all but a handful of rebels were pleased by this turn of events any way.
Cedric slithered up next to his lord and asked, Will this affect your plans my Lord?" the snake creature asked as he watched Phobos expression to see how the question affected him.
Phobos face showed signs of annoyance as he answered "To a degree, yes, I had hoped to use them as shields to combat my aunt directly but I guess it can't be helped." The real tyrant of Meridian said as he watched his so called army act like fools. They were having a small party to celebrate the so-called heroes who 'liberated' his cousin and sister from his aunt.
After a moment Cedric spoke again. "Well in theory anything that boosts the spirits of these fools could be helpful later." The snake suggested and that did bring a smirk to the Prince face.
"Yes this is true but now the anger of their Queen being emotionally harmed has riled up her own forces. Soon my aunt will regain her fighting spirit and will be able to channel their anger into a more productive method of use. Then we will be in trouble Phobos said but still had his smirk on his face.
After a few more moments the evil prince's gave his servant an order "Go gather the other rebel leaders. We might as well make plans to press our advantage while my aunts forces are less organized."
With that, the snake slithered off while Phobos thought to himself. "The veil will weaken and portals will become more common in a few years. For now it's a mere matter of waiting for that to happen. Then I can use my 'dear' relatives to crush my aunt once and for all."
Well there you go let me know what you think.