Lady Winter: Beginnings

Re-posting my old CVW posts in the Fan-fic area. Might work on more later.

MR (Methos Rating): FR18

Lady Winter: Beginnings

She awoke with a start. Cold sweat poured down her face. She looked around, seeing a room she didn't recognise. She also didn't know who she was. Looking around, she hoped to find some sort of clue to who she was and where. Her room was of a fairly decent size, with two glass doors in front of her and to her left leading out to a balcony. She could hear voices through the door, but not clearly enough to make out what they were saying.

She then decided to go check the balcony, hoping that something outside could jog her memory. She wasn't ready to meet the people just yet. On the balcony, she took in her surroundings. The balcony was on the second floor of the building, and went all around the house. Her room was on the corner. To her left she saw a large field, covered in snow, and to her right was a hillside leading up to some woods. In front of her sprawled an assortment of quaint german houses, both big and small, all below her, since her house was on the top of a hill. The sunlight reflected off of her black silk pyjamas. As she looked toward it, she saw two large mountains rising from the ground, silhouetted against the light. 

She took in everything she just learned. Her name was Corissa, someone had tried to kill her, and she was somehow still alive. She shivered in the cold evening air, and decided to go back inside.

Corissa stood in the doorway and looked around her room. Her bed was infront of her, and to the left was the bathroom door. To her left was a large wardrobe and on her right was a small couch and coffee table. On the table she found a brochure with a picture of a house. She recognized the view immediately, knowing this would tell her where she was. The Gästehaus Moderegglehen, she guessed. Everything was written in german, but on the back, she found a map stating she was in Schönau am Königssee, near the town of Berchtesgaden, Germany.

How did I get here she thought. To find out more, she decided that she needed to ask someone. She quickly got dressed in a black t shirt and sweat pants she found in the wardrobe, when she noticed a necklace on her bedside table. It was a small silver chain, but what had caught her eye was what was attached to it. The pendant was about the size of a silver dollar and it was a bright platinum colour, with a deep purple gem set into it. In the middle was a phoenix, rising from the ashes toward the gem.

It seems that I must now rise from the ashes, too thought Corissa. With that, she put on the chain, and went downstairs to see what more she could learn.

Corissa made her way down the marble stairway to the foyer. She could clearly hear the voices in the dining room now. There were two females, and a man, that she could hear at least. As Corissa walked into the room, everyone went silent.

"Umm...Guten tag." she said meekly. Immedately, the man, who appeared to be somewhere in his late forties began speaking to her in German. Corissa interrupted him quickly "Nein spreken se Deutsch. English?"

The man stopped. "Oh, sorry," he said through his thick Bavarian accent, "I was saying, it is good to see you awake finally. My name is Robert Schwab, over there is my wife, Nina, and my daughter Natalie." Both women had long blond hair, and were quite tall and lean, but Natalie had brown eyes like her father. She looked to be in her very early twenties, like Corissa. "It is very lucky I found you, or you could be dead." he continued.

"What is your name?" Natalie asked.

"Corissa...ummm..." she tried to think of her last name, but nothing came to mind. Looking around hoping that something could jog her memory, and saw the thick blanket of snow outside. "Winter," she finished "Corissa Winter."

"Well Ms. Winter," said Robert, "Is there anyone you know that you could call to come get you?"

"No. I can't remember anything. All I know is my name, and I'm not sure it's even right." explained Corissa. "I have no idea how I got here, why I'm here or how I'm supposed to go back to where I came from." She struggled to hold back the tears.

Natalie looked at her mother and said something in german Corissa didn't understand. Corissa, however, didn't need to understand the words to know that the were having a bit of an argument. Finally, Natalie looked over to Corissa and said, "You can stay here as long as you need to."

"Danke Shune." replied Corissa as she wiped away her tears. She then looked at Robert and asked, "If it's alright, I'd like to go for a walk to clear my head. This is alot to take in all at once."

"That is no problem." said Robert. "Natalie should go with you, so incase you get lost." The improper english made Corissa shudder, but she smiled at Natalie, who smiled back. It felt good to know she had somewhere to belong right now.

She was about to head back up to her room, when Natalie stopped her at the bottom of the stairs. "You can borrow some of my shoes. Besides, you are already wearing my clothes." she laughed.

"Oh, thanks for these then." Corissa never really had thought about where the clothes came from, but it made sense now that she thought about it.

Just as the girls were headed out the door, Robert called to them, "Remember girls, be careful out there. The krumpus are out tonight!"

The two girls walked in silence down the narrow, moonlight road into town, with only the sound of snow crunching under their feet. As they came onto town, Corissa was the first to break the silence.

"What did your father mean by the krumpus are out?"

Natalie explained to her, "Every year at Christmas time, St. Nicholas comes to give all the good girls and boys presents, but if they were bad, the krumpus come to beat them and take them away. But really, they're just men in costumes who drink too much and beat up girls, mostly. We should be fine though, you can hear them coming because they carry large bells."

Corissa was horrified. "How can people just let this happen? T-that's terrible! What about the ones who were good? They're supposed to leave them, right?"

"They think nobody is good all year. Besides, it's tradition." said Natalie. "So, what do you remember about yourself, Corissa." Corissa took a deep breath and told her everything. The mountains. The mystery man. The explosion that changed her world. Natalie gasped. "You were there for the explosion at the Kehlsteinhaus? It was almost destroyed! How could you have survived?"

"I haven't a clue. And the Kal-what house?"

"Kehlsteinhaus." she pointed at a light on the top of a mountain. "It was a gift for Hitler, but apparently he didn't like going up there because he was frightened of heights."

"I can understand why now." The two girls laughed. It felt good to have a friend, and Corissa felt she could trust her. They stood at a bridge now, just at the edge of the lake, Königsee in silence watching the moon reflect off the frozen surface of the lake. Suddenly the peace was interrupted by the sound of yelling and bells.

"Scheiße, der krumples." whispered Natalie. "Follow me." She quickly led Corissa to the other side of the bridge, and they took cover underneath, being careful not to fall through the thin sheet of ice. Then Corissa noticed that her necklace was gone. Panic set in. This was the only connection she had to her previous life. "What's wrong?"

"My necklace is gone. I have to go find it." Corissa whispered back.

"Go fast then. They're getting closer."

Corissa crawled out from their hiding spot, and ran up to the deck of the bridge. She immediately spotted the purple gem reflecting the moonlight and ran over to get it. Just as she picked it up, she saw it. The krumpel stood there, with his stick in hand. His mask was a disfigured face with red skin, horns, and a menacing sneer stared back at her. She screamed and scrambled back to the hiding spot.

"They didn't see you did they?" ask Natalie, who looked very worried.

Corissa opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. "Hinunter dort! Unter der Brücke!"

"Run!" Yelled Natalie.

The girls scrambled out from their hiding spot and took off down the frozen surface of the lake. Every footstep made a hollow clunk and they echoed across the frozen plain. Corissa looked back to see how close they were. The one she saw earlier was close behind and gaining ground. Another lighter one, who looked slightly different, but equally frightning, was close behind him. Beyond that, she saw a gigantic mob of all assortments. The larger ones looked to be moving stacks of hay, with grotesque wooden faces. More lighter versions crouched around them. Leading them was a man in a red cloak and white beard.

Corissa turned back to run, with Natalie not far in front of her. Her ankle suddenly gave way, as she stepped in a crack in the ice. Corissa was sent sprawling. The two krumpusse closed the gap, laughing menacingly. Corissa could smell that the two had been heavily drinking. She knew it was going to be more than just a small punishment for being bad that year.

The krumpusse raised their sticks over their head, and began to beat her. She screamed in pain. The sticks came down again, harder and faster than before. One of the krumpus grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it in her face, muffling her cries. She heard the larger group getting closer, and her fear rose. She held out a hand, as if to signal stop to the one still beating her, but he continued, laughing his drunken laugh. An anger raged up deep inside of her. The pain was inbearable. With her hand still outstretched to the krumpel, through tears she yelled, "Get away from me!" The attacker was fling by an invisible force, high into the air, landing hard with a hollow thud against the thick ice. Corissa took her hand and pointed it at the second krumpus, and he too was propeled backwards into the large group of krumpusse, knocking over most of the larger hay-men, and "St. Nicholas."

Confusion struck the group. They quickly changed their direction and headed back to shore. She heard cries of "Sie ist eine Hexe!" and various cuss words. Natalie ran back to Corissa's side, who was still lying on the ice, amazed at what she had done, and sore.

"Mein Gott! That was so cool! How did you do that?" asked Natalie in disbelief.

"I don't know..." said Corissa, not believing what she had seen either. She groaned in pain, and slowly removed her coat. Even in the pale moonlight, she could see that her shoulders were badly bruised. The sight made her shudder and clutched them carfully. Her cold hands made the pain disapear. She didn't want to take them off.

"Here, let me see them, I know some first aid." said Natalie. Corissa slowly removed her hands from her contusions, only to find them gone! No pain. No swelling. Not a sign of any injury. The girls stood and stared at each other in awe. Corissa pulled her coat back on quickly, but took off her necklace and placed it on the ground. Once again she pointed her hand towards it, and focused her thoughts on getting it back in her hand. Slowly the chain picked up, then the medallion. The necklace soon was hovering a foot off the ground and rising. She grabbed it, put it back on, and looked at Natalie.

"We can't tell anybody about this." Natalie just nodded her head, still in wonder of everything she had just seen. "Oh god. This is too much. I need a drink to think this over."

"I know just the place" replied Natalie. She took off back towards the town at a steady run. Her long legs carried her gracefully over the frozen water with great speed.

"Wait for me!" called Corissa, who took off after her. After running through the lake side shops and homes, Natalie slowed down to a walk, and Corissa caught up.

"That's where we're going." Natalie pointed to a building in front of them. Golden arches glowed in night.

"We're going to McDonald's?" asked Corissa, confused. "I may have lost most of my memory, but I still know that it's just going to make us fat and you can't get alcohol there."

"Actually, you can get beer at McDonald's here. But we're not going there. We're going to the club under it. The Kaiserbar."

As the girls walked closer to the McDonald's, Corissa could hear the loud music from the basement. As they walked down the stairs, they were greeted at the door by a large bouncer. "Identifikation, bitte." he growled. Natalie reached into her purse and pulled out her driver's license. Corissa panicked. She had nothing. No papers. No money to bribe him. Nothing.

Please let me in, please let me in, please let me in... Wait. I can just take him out like I did those krumpusse. Corissa raised her hand agian like she did before, but before shoe could raise the man an inch off the ground, he looked at her in a trance like state.

"I will let you in." he said in a monotonous tone. With that, he opened the door, letting the two girls in.

This was Corissa's first time in a club, that she knew of at least, and she took it all in. The club was incredibly smoky, and the music was too loud to talk over. To her left was a bar, running half the length of the long room, it was lined with people waiting for their drinks, finishing off ones they had, smoking, or in some cases all three. On her right were some high tables against the wall, with some high stools filled with another assortment of people, like the ones at the bar, laughing and having a good time. At the end of the bar, was the dancefloor, surrounded by small booths, with small groups of people in them, either drinking, recovering, or trying to build up the courage to dance. There was also one open one, which both girls spotted. Natalie grabbed Corissa by the wrist, and dragged her dragged her to the open booth.

"So how did you do that?" yelled Natalie over the music.

"I have no idea. I just wanted him to go away, and it just happened. I think, I must have been able to do that before too, because it was a very familiar feeling." Corissa yelled back. "I think I can control people's actions with my thoughts too."

"Now you are just talking crazy."

"I'll prove it." Corissa stared at the female bartender. Bring us free drinks. Natalie watched as the woman picked up two bottles of the local Weizebiere and brought them to the girls at the table.

"Free drinks all night for you two girls." She said.

Corissa looked over at Natalie and grinned. "Now do you believe me? How do you think I got in here without ID, and then free drinks from a female bartender?"

"I still don't believe you. Some boy might be covering our bill, and the bouncer thought you were cute. Make the DJ play Love Shack right now, and make him sing along too."

Corissa stared intently at the DJ, focusing on what she wanted again. Suddenly, the music stopped mid-song. The B-52's started to play, then the DJ grabbed the microphone. "If you see a painted sing at the side of the road that says 15 miles to the LOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEE SHAAAAAAAAACK!"

The girls couldn't contain their laughter. The DJ sounded rediculous singing out of tune, and his accent was no help either. Now do you believe me? Natalie heard Corissa's voice in her head. She stared back at Corissa, confused. See, I can communicate through thought, too. Oh, and it seems you have some secrets you don't want anyone to know about. That would explain why you were more afraid of the krumpusse than I was. You hide it well. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about my secrets now too.

Natalie nodded her head. I think this is fair. You know, I think you could make some good money using these powers. she thought.

How so?

Well, no one will notice you taking their wallets if you aren't around them to do it. You could use the power to lift the wallets, or make someone else do it.

Not a bad idea. But I think we can go bigger...

____________________________________________

Corissa reviewed her plan with Natalie. They had gone through it many times over the last two weeks. The armored vehicle delivered money to the 5 banks in town every Tuesday, starting at the Sparkasse at the north end, then the Swiss Bank, after which the guards, who were both armed with Magnums, broke for lunch at the same small cafe, before heading to the bank at the lake resort. After that, it didn't matter, because by that time, the girls would be long gone with the money before the guards would even know what had happened. They would strike while the guards were in the cafe. Natalie would distract them, due to her body but also the fact that Corissa was still learning German, and she was required outside.

The Tuesday they planned to make their heist also happened to be Christmas Eve. The snow was falling on the ground, making a light blanket over the old dirty snowbanks, making everything look very pure. The two girls walked into Berchtestgaden, where they would initiate their plan. Like clockwork, the guards arrived at the first bank at 11:15, made the drop, moved onto the next bank and were done by 11:30, after which they parked in front of the cafe, and took their usual seat for lunch by the window. Corissa winked at Natalie before she walked into the cafe.

Natalie instantly caught the eye of everyman in the small coffee shop. She was wearing a small black dress, ridiculous for the weather outside, but it showed off her long toned legs, as well as her breasts. She also wore tall, black, fur-lined boots and a fur coat, which she wore open, as to better display her assets. She looked around the room, and spotted the guards, who, along with everyone else in the cafe, had their eyes on her from the moment she walked in, walked over, and pulled up a chair at their table.

While everyone inside was distracted by what was going on inside, Corissa made her move outside. Using her telekinesis, she unlocked the back of the truck, and climbed in.

OK Natalie, I'm in. You can go now. Meet back at the house. I'll be there with our Christmas present soon. Natalie left the cafe, much to all the man's dismay, and the ladies delight and headed back to the house.

Corissa sat in the back of the truck and waited patiently. When it roared to life, Corissa put the idea into the driver's head to take an alternate route today, and had the passenger agree. She then put in the idea to stop in front of her house. As she sat there, she could hear the guards talking in German, but couldn't understand anything. When she felt the truck stop, she peeked out the window. She was there. Like she had practised with Natalie's father, she found the part of the guards' brains which controlled sleep patterns, and knocked out the guards. The doors opened and Natalie stood there, now changed into a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt.

"Mein Gott. That dress was so cold! I can't believe I had to walk there and back in it! This had better be worth it." she complained.

"Oh it was." said Corissa as she tossed a large bag of money at her friend. Natalie stood shocked. She had never seen this much money in one place before, let alone held it. "Come on, there's still six more bags in here. The girls unpacked the truck, taking every last cent. They then proceeded to fill the cargo with boxes of lead Natalie's father had been keeping around the house from his luge days. They then closed up the truck, woke up the guards, and made them forget that anything different had happened today, besides the slight change in route.

"That worked perfect!" grinned Corissa. They ran inside to count their loot. From the simple heist, they had gained half a million Euros. "This is turning out to be a very merry Christmas indeed." said Corissa, while organizing some of the larger bills.

Natalie laughed. "The krumpusse are going to kill us next year for this!"

___________________________________________________

Corissa and Natalie continued to steal and had become quite rich in a short period of time. Soon, the two girls bought a large house in Munich where the could go for larger and more challenging jobs. They quickly gained notoriety throughout all of Bavaria, becoming almost a myth, because how could two young girls be master criminals?

One day, as Corissa returned from a very profitable job, she noticed she was being followed by a tall man in a deep emerald green cloak. Corissa attempted to read his mind but found herself powerless to him, as if he had up some sort of psy-shield. He followed her for another two blocks before she stopped in front of her house to confront the stalker.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she snapped at the man in german as he approached.

"Gutten tag, mein freund." he replied in a voice that sent shivers up and down Corissa's spine. "I have been watching you and your friend for quite some time now. You have gained quite the reputation in the area, and it has caught the attention of my employer. He would like to meet with you, mein freund."

Corissa looked the man right into his pale blue eyes and told him, "I'm not your friend. I also work for no one. Tell your boss to shove it."

"He thought you would say that." he chuckled "Which is why have decided to motivate you a bit more." He pulled a phone from his pocket, and dialed a number. "Ja. Stellen sie das Mädchen telefonisch." he told the other end, and handed the phone to Corissa.

"Corissa?" came Natalie's worried voice from the other end. "Please, do what they sa..." Natalie interrupted herself with a scream of pain, and the line went dead.

"You see? I think if you want Natalie to live, you should come with me, mein freund." smiled the man, sadistically.

Corissa stood there in shock. Natalie, her only friend in the world, had been taken. Her jaw tightened with anger, and glared at the man as she told him "Lead the way, creep."

"I knew you would cooperate. Come, my employer, the great crime lord Michael Von Hammerstein, does not like to be kept waiting." Suddenly an unmarked black Mercedes pulled up next to them. They then got into the car and drove off into the night to see Von Hammerstein.