Rory and Starchild stood side by side on the flattened mountain top. The only movement in that moment was the duo's hair that was gently tousled by the wind.
The quietness was broken, though, by Starchild. As a proud smile graced his face, he told his brunette friend, "you found your powers."
Rory returned his smile and turned to face him with eyes full of glee. "At first I was just angry. I could feel this power or energy wanting to surface, but anger wasn't enough to bring it out."
Rory then turned her attention to the south of the mountain, where she knew the others were.
"But then I thought of all those that matter to me, and how I knew the Crimson Witch wanted to hurt them. All I could think of is how much I wanted to protect them."
The pair had much more that they wanted to discuss, but a rumbling from the rock pile halted any further words.
Their eyes comically widened as they watched the Crimson Witch emerge from the rubble. It seems as though the witch was going to put up much more of a fight.
Starchild shifts himself so that his body shields Rory as the witch maniacally grins at the duo.
"You want the Wielder and the Rock, Starchild?" the witch taunts the lead singer.
Her goading worked, and Starchild jumps into action to land a punch on the witch out of anger. Rory had no time to react and stop Starchild. She was forced to watch him come to an abrupt stop as the Crimson Witch grabbed his extended fist, keeping him from landing a hit.
Her face contorted into a malicious grin and further taunted him.
"Why settle for a little girl and the rock when you can have the whole mountain?"
With her sheer strength, the witch slings Starchild around by his arm, catapulting him off of the face of the mountain they had all been standing on.
The witch was not done with the guitarist, so she quickly followed after him as he flies backwards. Starchild attempted to counter her blows, but Rory could see the witch pummeling her friend again and again.
Rory could feel the now familiar tingle of her powers surfacing again as her eyes blazed in fury at the sight of Starchild being mauled by the Crimson Witch.
In one swift blow, the Crimson Witch sends Starchild careening into the bottom of a deep chasm. From her vantage point on top of the mountain, all Rory could see of the guitarist is a plume of smoke and dust rising from the pit.
The Crimson Witch then turns her eyes full of fury to latch onto the figure of Rory. The witch noticed the ethereal glow starting to surround Rory once again. A growl erupted from her throat when she concluded that she would not be able to control Rory if she used her powers.
With a plan in mind, the Crimson Witch quickly flies back to where Rory was standing, clutching the Rock of Kissteria so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.
Just as the Crimson Witch thought, she couldn't use her magic to get a grasp on Rory's figure. She knew, though, that she could tamper with her emotions enough so that her control on her newfound powers would slip, long enough to gain back control of the brunette.
"Weak girl, do you think that you could withstand me!?" the witch confronts Rory.
With fire in her eyes, Rory resolves herself to not give in to the witch. "I will not let you destroy the world, Crimson Witch. You could never defeat my mother, and you will not defeat me."
The Witch's malicious grimace turns upward into a frightening grin. She has found her way into Rory's head.
"What an interesting choice of words, Wielder. 'You could never defeat my mother.'"
Rory warily watches the witch and she starts to circle around, taunting her.
"Interesting choice, since she has been defeated." She whirls around right into Rory's face. "By me!"
The witch watches in satisfaction as she notices the aura around Rory start to flicker.
"You're lying!" Rory shouts back at the witch. She knew her mother could not be defeated. There was no way. Her mother's promise rang in her head. "She has not been defeated. I know she hasn't, she's coming back to get me soon, just like she said!"
The witch stood before Rory, with faux calmness as she watched for her chance. "How can she come back if she is dead!"
The wind was knocked straight from Rory's chest. She couldn't have heard the Crimson Witch right. Her mother couldn't be dead.
She looked deep into the witch's eyes to find any trace of deception, but there was none. All Rory saw was the glee that came from the Witch's words.
Numbness. Rory felt nothing in that moment. Her powers ceased as she succumbed to the grief overpowering her being as tears spring into her eyes and cascaded down her face.
The Crimson Witch saw her chance. Rory's sudden vulnerability left her open as her powers faded.
Rory's eyes stared into nothing as she couldn't grasp her reality in that moment. When she had first learned of her Kissterian roots and her mother, she vowed to find her mom. She yearned to feel her mother's embrace that she had missed out on for a majority of her life.
But that can no longer be a possibility. She was gone.
As quick as light, the Crimson Witch latched her magic back onto Rory, completely controlling her once again.
Rory yelled out as she felt her body seize in the witch's control. She had royally screwed up. She was alone and now in complete control of the witch. She had failed her friends.
"Arise, Destroyer!"
Rory's moment of anguish was diminished as hope blossomed back in her being. A voice reached her and the witch's ears from somewhere behind them.
"Yo, witchy-poo. I'm not done."
Rory turned her head to the source of the sound to see a battered but alive Starchild. She let out a shaky exhale as she allowed herself to feel relief that her friend was ok.
The witch, on the other hand, was not as pleased as the brunette. "Such arrogance. You can't defeat me alone."
A determined grin spread across the face of the guitarist. "Watch me."
Starchild's grin quickly faded, though, as he finally took in the appearance of Rory. She did not have a scratch on her, but tears streaked her face.
His body tensed as he was filled with more anger than he had ever felt. He did not know what had happened in his brief absence, and quite frankly he did not care.
Rory was the most gentle and bright soul that he had ever met, and seeing the sorrow across her face enraged him. The look of heartbreak did not belong on her.
He was going to crush the Crimson Witch. Once and for all.
"Whatever you do, just hold still, Doll."
Rory mentally scolded herself as she looked at the determination on Starchild's face. Her mother knew Rory was destined for much more than being a tool for the witch. Who was Rory to let her mother's sacrifice be in vain? Yes, she was devastated by the knowledge of her mother's end, but she wasn't going to let it stop her from being what she was meant to be.
A triangle of stars appear in front of Starchild. Rory could feel the magnificent powers exuding from the center of the symbol from where she stood.
Rory stilled herself with all her might as the Rock of Kissteria, still in her grasp, inched closer and closer to the pedestal. Right before the rock reaches the divet in the pedestal, a purple wave of power reaches her and the witch.
It seems as though between Starchild's blast, and Rory's raw might, the witch couldn't get the rock onto the pedestal. She had one last trick up her sleeve though.
The witch swirls her magic around her in a blanket of power as she continues to push Rory's hands closer and closer to the pedestal. Starchild's advances are momentarily shielded, and Rory's senses are blinded.
Unfortunately, that was enough time for the Crimson Witch's final push. Before the two could register it, the witch overcomes them both and succeeds in getting the Rock of Kissteria onto the pedestal, where it could no longer be removed.
A powerful blast, not belonging to the three beings but from the rock itself, sends Starchild flying backwards. The Wielder didn't realize it at first, but the blast didn't even tousle a hair on her head. The Crimson Witch, though, did notice and took advantage of that fact by using Rory as a human shield.
As soon as the blast stopped, and Rory's usefulness ran out, the Crimson Witch slung the brunette harshly aside.
Rory came to an abrupt stop as her body collided with a rock, dazing her and sending pain up her arm.
She could not stay down long, though, no matter the pain. Starchild was quickly falling down to the base of the mountain just as it erupted with lava.
Pushing herself up, Rory barely registered the three remaining members of KISS quickly flying their way.
"You're too late!" the witch cackles out to the band.
They do not focus on her words due to their attention that has been drawn by the brunette. She was looking worse for wear, and scrambling towards something falling down the side of the mountain and towards the lava.
Catman flies down towards her once he realizes her intentions, determined to stop Rory.
Rory didn't give herself time to think, her friend was falling to his death and she had to save him. As she ran, she tried with all her might to call on her Kissterian powers. If only she could, she could use them to save Starchild.
Right before she reached the edge, getting ready to jump off and not knowing if her powers were going to work or not, something crashed into Rory. Strong arms wrap around her, spinning her around as they barreled into the ground. The movement caused the figure to slide underneath the brunette, taking the brunt of their fall to the ground.
The Demon was a blur as he passed through Rory's field of vision, hurtling towards Starchild and grabbing him right before he fell into the river of lava.
Relief flooded through Rory when she saw that Starchild was safe with the Demon as they were flying back her direction.
A blast of light blue went off to her left as the Spaceman tried to intercept the witch as she flew towards a portal she had opened.
"I will now go watch the destruction of your beloved earth. Farewell fools!"
With those final words, the Crimson Witch was gone.
"Hmph!"
Rory's face was suddenly squished into a hard chest, the same one she just took notice of as the one that broke her fall. The fall that was caused by the figure in the first place.
The arms held her in a tight, firm grip as a voice blurted out, "what were you thinking, kitten."
"Can't. Breathe."
Rory sucked in a deep breathe of air as she was released. Death by suffocation had never been a worry of hers until recently.
Two hands grasped the side of her face as her breaths evened out. Her head was guided up until her eyes met with the brilliant green ones of Catman. She saw tears of relief threatening to spill, and her heart beat louder in her chest.
Catman had been distressed ever since Rory was taken by the Crimson Witch back in KISSWorld. Every thought of his was consumed by the brunette he was helping up off of the ground.
He may have failed in keeping her safe from the Crimson Witch, but he would rather give up his drums than let her be ripped away from him again.
When she collided with his chest, wrapping her arms securely around him as though her life depended on it, he knew she felt the same.
Rory and Catman finally unglued themselves from each other when the Scooby-gang reached them, as well as the rest of KISS.
Rory instantly jumped into Fred's arms, knocking the breath out of him, but he didn't care. His unofficial little sister was ok and that was all that mattered to him. Velma and Daphne quickly joined their little reunion creating a huddle, which was completed by Shaggy and Scooby squishing then all together.
The human sandwich separated a moment later at the sound of the Demon's voice.
"Nice job stopping the witch." The Demon looked down on Starchild, who he was still supporting with one arm, like a parent scolding a child. The Demon was not too happy with Starchild going on his impromptu solo mission and leaving him to babysit.
Starchild looked to the ground in shame, knowing that he was at fault for the witch succeeding. What sounded like thunder in the distance came from the shaking volcano behind them.
"I couldn't beat her on my own," Starchild admitted to the others.
Rory freed herself from the gaggle of her friends and walked towards KISS, stopping at Catman's side. He reached an arm around her waist being her into his side and he placed a short kiss on the crown of her head.
"I failed too," she looked towards them in guilt. "If anything, I am the one to blame. It was my birthright to keep the Rock of Kissteria safe."
The Scooby gangs hearts broke when they saw new tears gathering in their friend's eyes. They couldn't bear knowing that she was beating herself up, knowing that she did all she could to stop the witch.
Swallowing her pride, Velma decided to try to salvage the situation and give Rory hope that not everything was over.
"You know, the Elder said the only way to stop whatever is happening is with teamwork. Right?"
"Right."
Everyone's heads snapped towards the Demon's direction. It came as a complete shock that out of everyone, the drummer was the one to agree with the girl genius.
No one was more surprised as Velma, though. "Really?" she asked with with big, round eyes full of surprise.
"Yea," the Demon muttered out reluctantly. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need to work together."
As everyone pondered over what their next move was going to be, Rory's mind was off on another tangent. Something was bothering her, and she couldn't wrap her head around it. She must get to the bottom of the mystery circling around her mind, if it was that last thing that she did.
"Guys, guys, I have something really, really, really important to ask."
Catching the attention of her friends, she blurted, "What's an Elder?"
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Hey my dudes! <3 sorry it took so long for this update. But I made it a looong chapter so that makes up for it, right?.....
Anyway, I will not give up this story, we are getting closer and closer to the end. So buckle those seatbelts!!!
And don't forget to leave a like, or multiple...I don't mind :)