[Drabble]: Facing Reality
Title: Facing Reality
Summary: While imprisoned on Mount Thanos, Nerissa makes plans for the future.
Pairing(s): No main pairings. Mentions of one-sided Nerissa/Cassidy.
Fandom: W.I.T.C.H.
Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H. is the property of Disney, and I make no profit from this fanwork.
Notes: Based on the TV series. And yes, I'm interpreting Nerissa's feelings for Cassidy as romantic. "You've no idea what she meant to me!", indeed. Yan Lin and Halinor obviously knew they were friends, so...
Facing Reality
-o-
The ice stings.
Oh, her cell is warm enough- the Oracle doesn't want her to freeze to death before she can properly reflect on her actions, after all-, but it's really too comfortable for such an unforgiving prison. Whenever she wants to feel the cruel teeth of the world, Nerissa goes right to the edge, slipping her hand out the bars and allowing the cold to bite at her.
As much as her own heart eats at her, she still needs this. The Oracle has done her no kindness, leaving her here to contemplate all that has happened, all that she has done. This is no mercy. Every day, more days than she bothers counting anymore, she remembers…
Cassidy.
She'd loved her, and she'd felt betrayed, yes. Cassidy had never returned those feelings, and had done all in her power to ignore them and pretend that nothing but friendship existed between them. Then she had taken the Heart of Kandrakar from her…
Ridiculous. The assignments of a Guardian cannot change. Even with her connection to her Auramere broken, Nerissa will always be the Guardian of Quintessence.
Nerissa has been betrayed doubly, and then betrayed Cassidy in turn; only a fool would expect this imprisonment to foster anything besides further guilt and bitterness. She had once thought the Oracle wise. Now she thinks that there is no such thing as a wise man.
She would go mad if she simply sat here and contemplated these betrayals, so instead her thoughts turn outwards. In her time as a Guardian, Nerissa has learned much about the universe. Infinite dimensions exist, and all of them are plagued by similar problems to earth. Poverty, plague, war… There is so much war in the universe, and as long as the universe is divided, lasting peace will never become a reality.
The Oracle had disapproved of such thoughts, and so took the Heart of Kandrakar from her.
But in the end, that one heart wouldn't have been enough for such a task, would it? All worlds have hearts, and few are like Earth and Zamballa, with no monarchs to hold the heart and protect the people. She will require more than one heart in order to do battle with those monarchs and be assured victory.
Eventually, she will have all of the hearts, and all of the worlds will be under her control. There will be nothing to war with, and there will be peace. If Nerissa has learned anything during her time as a Guardian, it is that war is the only path to peace.
The Oracle and her former teammates are soft idealists, and cannot face these harsh realities. No matter. Nerissa can, and she is developing the power to act on this knowledge.
When her hand goes numb from the cold, she removes it from the frozen air, and returns to her studies, teaching herself to best utilize her magic without an Auramere to draw on. It is slow-going, but she has patience, and she will succeed.
One day, there will be peace.