As Lynne, Tricia and Tommy arrived they smiled. It was home, they had finally made it. “Wow never thought I would be happy to see this place,” she said. “Thank you sis.”
Gloria slowly turned towards her sister a smile on her face. “Your welcome Lynne,” she said softly. “But...I’m...sorry.” Lynne paused as she looked at Gloria, something was wrong. Gloria’s eyes showed sadness, pain, heartbreak despite the smile plastered on her face. “Gloria what’s going on?”
“What’s going on child is that she belongs to me now.”
Lynne spun around fearfully, she recongnized the voice immediately and it filled her with dread. “No,” she whispered.
Morgan LeFay smiled evilly as she slowly approached the girls. “Yes Lynne,” she smirked. “Me. And your lovely sister Gloria as well.” Lynne gazed in abstract horror as Morgan gently placed her hand upon Gloria’s shoulder.
“No that’s impossible,” Tommy bellowed. “Gloria would never side with you.” Lynn gazed between her sister and her boyfriend unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Glancing back at her friends she could see the two of them were actively engaging their magic, preparing for a fight they had no chance of winning.
“I can see by the look on your face your confused Lynne,” Morgan smirked. “So I’ll explain it you, and I’ll use small words so you can understand.” Lynne growled as the evil sorceress devilishly scanned over her next victims.
“Mistress,” Gloria groaned through gritted teeth. “You...said you would not...hurt....them.” Morgan sighed as she gazed at her puppet. “I lied Gloria,” she sighed. “Not that theirs anything you can do about. Remember not only do I have control of your body, I also have your friends and family as my prisoners.”
“How did this happen,” Lynne screamed, her eyes beginning to glow white with rage.
“Patience child,” Morgan soothed. “I am getting there. You see, as it turns out that little curse I placed upon Gloria so many years ago bore fruit after all.”
“How,” Tricia yelled.
Morgan now slowly paced back and forth as she looked the young teens over. Finally, she was going to win. She had killed Merlin, taken this timeline for herself and in a moment she would eliminate the last threats to her dominion in this time. Giggling girlishly she now realized why so many villains monologued when their plans seemed so certain, nothing was more enjoyable than the looks of abject despair on a foes face.
“You see,” she started. “When I originally cast the spell on Gloria it was to kill her. It failed regrettably, but it did have another benefit, one I did not anticipate. It caused Merlin’s daughter to search for a way to cure her.”
Lynne paused, how could her aunt have caused all of this misery. “That’s not possible,” she screamed. “Aunt Kellie would never hurt Gloria or help you.”
“Your right,” Morgan conceded. “But the spell she cast to cure your sister gave me access to her mind. Over the years I was able to slowly but surely gain control of Gloria. Thanks to your meddling in the past and my curses I was able to gain control of your very powerful sister.”
“I’m....won’t.....let you.....hurt....any...one.....else,” Gloria strained, tears running down her cheeks. Morgan smiled as she gently tapped her cheek. “You can keep telling yourself that Gloria but we both know you can’t.”
“That’s the only draw back,” Morgan sighed turning to Lynne once more. “I may control her body but she still has control of her mind. Do you have any idea how sickening it is to hear her constantly cry about the things I make her do. I wish she would do like any good puppet and just shut up and do the job.”
“What happens now,” Lynne sneered, looking for an opportunity to escape. Morgan smiled wickedly at the teens, her moment had finally arrived. “The days of you being my apprentice are over Lynne, now you die.”
Lynne watched as Gloria’s eyes went wide with horror as her arm now raised itself to destroy her little sister. Lynne and the others knew that even with their combined strength they wouldn’t be able to stop Gloria’s blast. Clutching each other tightly and closing their eyes they awaited oblivion.
A loud crash like thunder echoed through the neighborhood, knocking everyone to the ground. As Lynne opened her eyes she could see Gloria had been thrown through the wall of a house, while Morgan found herself now tangled in power lines. The teens jaws dropped as they turned to see who had saved them.
“Katie, Aunt Kellie!!?!”
Katie and Kellie were bruised and battered but looked enraged and ready to battle Morgan and Gloria. As Morgan slowly untangled herself she hissed at the mother and daughter. “You,” she spat. “Your supposed to be dead!”
“Wrong as usual Morgan,” Katie sneered as she released a blast of pure energy, sending Morgan sprawling into the building that Gloria lay. Katie and Kellie turned to their niece quickly, grabbing the teens hands. “We need to run NOW!”
The teens obeyed as they followed the two wizards to safety. After running for what seemed like forever the group huddled down inside what appeared to be the remnants of the Magic Shop. Stunned, saddened and utterly bewildered Lynne looked at her sister and aunt, she needed questions answered immediately.
“How did this happen,” she cried. “How did Morgan take control of Gloria!?”
Kellie sighed as she sadly looked at her niece. “We didn’t know until she said something,” she whispered. “When reality kept altering here because of what happened in the past, we started looking for reasons. What I didn’t know, what no one knew is that the spell I cast to try and cure Gloria’s epilepsy led to Morgan gaining control over her body.”
Lynne was still in shock as she took this in, Gloria was probably one of the strongest wizards she knew and as pure a person as anyone would know. To think Morgan could somehow control her seemed unfathomable. “I don’t believe you,” she whimpered, tears freely falling from her eyes.
“It’s true,” Katie whispered. “The last time reality altered, Gloria....changed. She attacked everyone. She captured mom and dad and killed my wife. We...we tried to mount an offensive with Merlin, began looking for counter curses but Morgan ambushed us, killing Merlin, The Harris family, and Sasha.”
“My family is dead,” Tommy whispered, looking struck. Katie nodded her head sadly as she watched a single tear roll down the teens face. “Yes Tommy,” she mumbled. “Gloria and Morgan killed your dad and his entire family.”
“What about everyone else,” Tricia said quickly, fearing the worst. “Where are they?”
“Morgan and Gloria captured the others,” Kellie stated. “THey slowly but surely picked them off one by one. The caught Mika and Kumiko trying to free some prisoners they had in one of Morgan’s dungeons. Tricia, your folks are imprisoned with Felicia, Jackie, and Ann in Morgan’s fortress.”
“We have to rescue them,” Trica exclaimed leaping to her feet. “We can’t just leave them their to rot.”
“We tried,”Katie said sorrowfully. “Me and mom went with Mary Elise, Naomi, Diane and Kellies friends from the alternate timeline. I know the other Katie, Naomi and Mary Elise didn’t make it, I can’t be sure of the others.”
Lynne sat stunned as she took all this information in. She blamed herself now. If she hadn’t gone back in time in the first place everyone she knew would be okay. Now Morgan had won and her sister Gloria was an unwilling pawn doing her dirty work. “This is my fault,” she whispered. “It’s my fault their dead.”
“No Lynne it’s mine,” Kellie said sadly. “I was too reckless in trying to cure Gloria, I hadn’t even considered that Morgan could use one of her curses to take control of Gloria. The changes you made were for the best. Everyone was alive and thriving and Morgan was nothing more than a bogeyman to scare children. If I didn’t try to mettle none of this would of happened.”
“That’s why were sending you back,” Katie said sternly. “If you can tell my mother not to try and help Gloria and warn Merlin then maybe, just maybe we can stop this from ever happening.”
As Lynne nodded an explosion rocked the remnants of the Magic Shop, turning the group gawked as Morgan and Gloria stood before them. “Mom get them out of here,” Katie screamed. Kellie nodded as she hustled the teens towards the back of the shop. As Lynne ran she could feel the destructive energy of magic exploding around the store. Katie was engaging the two sorceress’s in a fierce battle and was holding her own for now.
Kellie quickly began to chant a the spell the would send the teens back to the timeline they came from. Slowly a portal opened in front of the group to which Kellie beckoned them to enter. “Lynne listen,” Kellie yelled. “You are only gong to have until your birth to fix this. Once you are born, you will return here shortly there after. Make sure I don’t cast any spell on Gloria and watch her closely. Morgan will try to take control of your sister. If you can keep Gloria save, this future will never come to pass.” The sound of a woman’s screams echoed through the store drawing Kellie and Lynne’s attention. “Katie NOOOOO!!!!”
Katie appeared to be trapped by Gloria’s power. As the two watched in horror they could see Gloria try to stop her arm from pointing towards her sister. “No, no, Please no,” she whimperedas her body acted against her will. Kellie watched, heartbroken as Gloria activated the Ring of Age on her sister.
Katie seemed to age decades in only seconds. The woman’s blond hair quickly went from blond, to grey to white. Wrinkles encrusted her face as her limbs grew thin and frail. Still she grew older, her eyes becoming almost milky as she appeared nearly skeletal. Turning her ancient head Katie looked sadly at her mother who was in tears. “Mommy,”She croaked.
Those were the last words Katie whispered. Kellie and Lynne watched as the woman began to crumble to dust before their eyes. As the last of the dust settled and Katie’s now empty clothing drifted to the floor, Kellie let out an almost guttural cry of pain.
“Such a tragedy,” Morgan mocked. “It truely is the saddest thing in the world when a parent outlives their child. Gloria if you will, end your aunts suffering.”
Gloria looked mournfully first at her sisters ashes before her body lurched towards Kellie. “Lynne go NOW,” Kellie screamed. As Lynne jumped into the portal she watched as her aunt unleashed a magical attack so furious it seperated Gloria’s head from her body. As the portal began to close she watched as the life drained away from her sisters eyes as her aunt now engaged Morgan LeFay in a battle that would surely destroy the world. The only thing the young teen knew was that it was up to her now to save her family and the future.