Edit: Rewritten in January 2019; updated to match current chapter length, elaborated more on various parts of the story. No new content was added besides that.
Disclaimer: Winx Club is owned by Ignio Straffi and his company Rainbow S.r.l., including the games, comics and movies alongside the cartoon. This fanfiction only considers events from seasons 1 to 4 as canon, along the events of the first two movies, though for the purposes of the story, Bloomix and the other transformations exist. Nabu is alive having woken up from a coma post season 4, and Daphne is dead, the Sirenix Curse not existing in this story.
Enjoy the story.
King Sky Eraklyon stood in front of a set of double doors, his fist raised as he pounded on the wood and metal that was intricately carved and embossed into the serpentine, curving form of a sleek dragon of bronze and brass. "Raven, open the door!" he shouted, trying to get through to the girl on the other end of the heavy doors. His voice, though loud, was also laden heavily with melancholy. "Raven, please! Your mother hasn't seen you in an entire week, and Bloom's really getting worried about you. Please, just open the door and show up for dinner, Raven, just once."
There was a beat of silence, and the door was pushed open just a sliver, enough for the voice of a fourteen-year-old girl to get to him, a slightly low and harsh voice and snarled words a daughter should never speak to her parents. "The queen is not my mother. You are not my father. My parents are dead, Your Majesty," the address was full of venom and positively overflowing with it, "so please stop pestering me about this." The girl moved to close the door again, pulling it halfway shut before Sky's senses kicked into gear, and the former Specialist lashed out to grab the door.
"Oh no you don't!" the blond burst out, using his strength to overpower the slender girl and force open one of the double doors entirely. He stared down at the teenage girl that stood right behind the doors that opened outward, his blue eyes narrowed in irritation and anger at the rebellious and unruly teen. He didn't know how she could possibly deny the relationship — her blue eyes were the exact same as his and Bloom's and her strawberry blonde hair was the exact shade one would get by combining their hair colours. Even now, he could see the facial features of his wife in the girl.
An ugly scowl twisted the girl's face and she lowered her head slightly, letting her chin-length hair fall over the right side of her face and cast half of her face into dark shadows. "What do you want?" she hissed angrily, her left eye smouldering blue with anger, like the flame she had inherited from Bloom. Her fingers were tightly clenched around the door's edge, gripping it so tightly that the pale girl's knuckles were almost a pure white like snow. "Cat's got your tongue, Your Majesty?" she sneered coldly, snapping the king out of his stupor.
"Just half an hour, Raven," the blond man insisted. "You don't even have to pretend to like it or act civil. Just come to dinner with us and let Bloom see for herself that her daughter is fine, and we can all be done with this ridiculous game— Hey! What are you—?" While he was talking, trying to reason with the girl, his grip on the door had loosened and she had all but pounced upon the chance, wrenching the door away from him entirely and moving to slam the door shut with both hands. Unfortunately for him, she succeeded, much to his consternation. "Raven!"
With a heavy groan of frustration, King Sky Eraklyon just laid his head on the door, pressing his forehead against the cool metal as if it would solve all his problems. He picked up the light clicking of heels on the polished marble floor of the Domino palace private wing, and he raised his head to look over at where his redheaded wife was standing. "Bloom," he breathed with a sigh, his shoulders slumping. The man raked a hand through his hair, messing up the perfectly-groomed short hair. "I'm sorry, Bloom, I couldn't get her to come for dinner."
The former Guardian of the Dragon's Flame shook her head with a small, weak smile, brushing her long, wild red hair back over her shoulder. "Don't be," she said softly. Blue eyes fluttered shut as Bloom exhaled heavily. "She's... she's a stubborn one. Just like me," she said with a weak smile that tugged painfully at Sky's heartstrings. Bloom exhaled slowly, leaning on the wall next to the doors where Sky was resting his weight. "It just feels like yesterday when we made that choice that destroyed any chance of reconciliation with her," she confessed softly. "And just yesterday when we got her back."
The blond king fell silent, Sky thinking back to the times around thirteen years back, when the girl inside the room was still a young toddler. He could still remember the few months after Bloom had just given birth when the two newly-crowned royals were struggling to take care of their now jointly-connected kingdoms as well as a newborn child. They had had too much trouble taking care of the infant girl, even when there were nannies around to help take care of the child. The two couldn't balance their work and family life at all, but they wanted to.
High King Oritel and High Queen Miriam of Domino, Raven's maternal grandparents, had offered to take care of the child, and for a few months, they had, taking their retirement to coddle their only grandchild. It hadn't lasted long, though, because the Trix, having broken out of another maximum security prison, had arrived to take their revenge on Bloom for putting them there, and they had razed part of the Domino palace — the family wing where the High Monarchs had been residing — down to the ground. It was only by chance that Raven had been outside the wing, and escaped a fiery grave, though unfortunately, Oritel and Miriam had not been so lucky.
Terrified of the event repeating, and this time actually claiming the life of the new bearer of the Dragon's Flame, Bloom and Sky had decided, after the mourning period, to send Raven away. They had screened several couples, finally settling on Cassie and Ralph Quinn, the former a fire fairy with blond hair, and the latter an Earth-born warlock with bright red hair, with reasonably similar features to the royal couple, though not in the same combination. Having reached an agreement with the Eraklyon-dwelling couple, the royal duo had sent the girl to them, asking them to raise her as a normal child until they could safely come for her years later.
The day it happened, it was total chaos.
"Mum, Dad?" Raven peeked out from behind the wall that separated the living room from the dining room, the ten-year-old girl's long strawberry blonde hair falling over half of her face from under the pulled-up hood of her black jacket. "You called me? Is there something that you want to talk to me about?" When the blue eyes that she had inherited from Sky, she stared before immediately pulling back out of sight, only coming out again upon Cassie Quinn's gentle coaxing. "Hello, Your Majesties," she mumbled reluctantly upon further prompting.
Bloom smiled gently down at the girl, bending down a little so she could look her daughter in the eye. "Hello, Raven," she said gently, opening her arms to the girl. "Come here and let me see you?" she requested, her blue eyes glistening with unshed tears at the joy of finally seeing her daughter after nearly ten full years of not seeing the girl. "I've missed you," she said softly, though it was loud enough for the girl to see, and it earned her a strange look as Raven reluctantly walked over to her after being ushered towards the royal couple by the two that had raised her.
"Again...?"
"Rae, hun," Cassie said, the blonde Fairy of Fire moving closer to her ward, speaking with a heavy accent that was native to the border towns of Eraklyon's capital city. She moved gracefully, the slender woman kneeling down beside the strawberry blonde. "There's something your father and I... no, Ralph and I have to tell you. We're not your parents, sweetie." Seeing the look of confusion cross the girl's face, she added immediately. "Well, not your parents by blood. You see, Ralph and I took you in when you were a baby and we've raised you until now. Biologically, you're the child of Their Majesties, and... it's time you went home."
Raven frowned, her brow furrowing deep together in a look of concentration that looked almost out of place in a child that young. "But..." she started slowly, tilting her head to a side, "... I don't want that. I'm happy here, with you and dad, and my school and everything else. Mum, you can't... you can't make me go with them!" she shouted, her volume raising sharply as she pointed at the royal couple. "They... they didn't even raise me for most of my life, and now they're just waltzing in and demanding me to go back?! No! You can't do that!"
"Raven," Sky said, stepping forward. He knelt down to look up at the almost hysterical girl, reaching out to her, only for the girl to flinch away, shifting behind Cassie's form with an expression of anger and fear. "You have to understand, Raven. We wanted to raise you, I swear on the Great Dragon. We wanted to, but we couldn't. We had to run both kingdoms at the same time, and it was so overwhelming that we could barely spend time with you. And you were in so much danger in the palace. Your maternal grandparents — they died when they were attacked in the palace. This was the only way we could keep you safe from harm."
The girl's blue eyes flared a brighter shade in anger, fire almost visibly burning in her eyes. "So that's your excuse?" she hissed. "I'm not going with you!" She stomped her foot, the heavy combat boots she was wearing making a loud 'thud' on the hardwood floor. "You might have had your reasons, but that's not an excuse to want me back now! I'm staying here! I don't want to leave mum and dad!"
Ralph stepped forward, the man shooting a stern look at the girl that made her instantly fall silent. The warlock put a hand on Raven's head, gently ruffling her waist-length hair. "Rae, c'mon," he said gently. "You can always come back to visit us. Now I don't want to let you go either; if this was any other situation, you could bet that your mum and I would be fighting the court battle with all we got, but... this isn't that scenario, kiddo. You've gotta let this go — make the best of it, y'know?" Crouching down to meet her at eye level, the redhead gave her a weak smile.
"I don't want to, dad!" Raven wiped furiously at her eyes with a shuddering inhale. "I don't want to go..."
"Oh, hun," Cassie said softly, kneeling down and pulling her into a hug. "I promise, it'll be fine. Just be a good girl like what we've taught you, okay, sweetie? You'll make us proud." Giving the strawberry blonde a tight squeeze and kiss to the crown of her head, the blonde slowly got up. "We love you, hun," Cassie said gently. With a light push, she guided Raven towards the royal couple. She sighed, closing her eyes as Ralph got to his feet, pulling her into a hug.
Slowly and reluctantly, Raven walked towards the royal couple and they began to leave, though not before Sky thanked the Quinns for their help. They had scarcely taken ten more steps away before the crackling of flames reached their ears, and Raven spun back before she tried to run from the king and queen. "Mum, dad!" she shrieked, and for good reason too, for the house had suddenly gone up in flames. She attempted to lunge forward to run back into the flames, but Sky reached out, grabbing her and pulling her back.
Bloom transformed into her Enchantix form, and the former fairy of the Dragon's Flame flew off to try and control the flames from spreading even as Sky pulled Raven away. the sounds of a fight could be heard as the queen traded blows with a trio of familiar witches.
Bloom exhaled slowly as came out of the memory, and she looked at her husband, her lips pressed tightly together into a grim line. That day four years ago had ended in disaster. Ralph perished in the fire, and Cassie had managed to survive long enough to fight with her against the Trix, only to die in the ensuing fight, speared right through the throat by one of Icy's icicle attacks. She swallowed down an uncomfortable lump in her throat before she ran a hand through her red hair. Even though she didn't let it get to her in front of the girl, the accusations that she plainly didn't care for Raven hurt.
Perhaps the girl was right. She was an unfit mother. It was maybe for the best that she couldn't have another child.
"Sky..." she called, trailing off a little as the blond man looked over at her. Bloom pressed her lips together. "We... we need to get to Alfea. I've contacted Miss Faragonda and I've found out something very alarming, and it has to do with our children." She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. "This is... this is big, Sky. This is very important. We need to head to Alfea as soon as we can. I need to tell all the girls."
The blond king stared at her for a while before Sky seemed to process the words properly. "Right, I've got it," he said, reluctantly moving away from Raven's door. "Bloom, can you try to coax her out? I'll go and get the ship ready for travel to Alfea. Do you need me to call the others?"
Bloom shook her head. "I'll do it. Thanks, Sky." As she watched her husband hurry down the hallway to settle the rest of their duties for the day, she brought out her phone and rang up a conference call with the other five members of the Winx Club. One by one, each of the girls appeared on the screens: perfectly primed Stella, sharply dressed Tecna, slightly harried Musa, casually dressed Aisha, and finally dirt-covered Flora. "Girls, no time to explain, I need you to get your kids and come to Alfea — just your oldest, Aisha. Hurry, girls. We meet at Miss Faragonda's office." With affirmative responses, she ended the call and turned to the doors.
The redhead inhaled deeply. She had to get started.
Hours later, Bloom tapped her foot anxiously as the Lisandre family — Flora, Helia and their daughter Lilliana — entered Faragonda's office room, which had been magically expanded to hold the nineteen total people. The room was lined with chairs in a circle that included the aged headmistress' desk so the wizened fairy wouldn't have to stand for too long. As soon as they took their seats, the redhead looked around, making the headcounts and finally breathing a sigh of relief when she counted everyone present.
Faragonda stood as the door shut behind them, the aged fairy looking very much like she had when the girls had graduated over two decades ago. She clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention and began to speak. "Winx, Specialists, it is a pleasure to have you all here again. As you all know, Bloom and I have been in contact, and recently, we've come across a... crisis, so to speak."
"Right," Stella muttered, the blonde queen flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder. "So, what's the sitch? Are the Trix witches back again with some new powers and the Magix dimension needs us to kick their a— ahem, their behinds all the way back to the Omega Dimension?" She immediately corrected herself before she cursed, still as flippant as ever, though she did seem a little annoyed as she had been pulled away from something that was seemingly important, or so she had told Bloom when she arrived with Brandon and her daughter Maho.
"Don't jinx us, Stella," Tecna said with a heavy sigh. "Please. I'm busy enough as it is."
Bloom shook her head. Raising her voice a little, she spoke, "Kids, could all of you head outside for a while? We need some private time to discuss some more mature topics that I don't think you girls should be hearing about just yet. It won't be for too long, but you're welcome to walk around Alfea, as long as you don't get yourselves into trouble, alright?" Her question was met with several agreements from the Winx as well as the girls as the teens began walking out.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind Naida, Aisha's oldest daughter, Bloom stood up, allowing Faragonda to take her seat. The redhead queen sighed softly to herself as she steeled her nerves, inhaling deeply. "Girls, boys," she added after a momentary pause to acknowledge the others' respective spouses, "I've got a story to tell you, and it's about something you may or may not have heard about before. It's known as the Dragon Powers." Closing her eyes as Faragonda dimmed the lights in the office for her presentation, Bloom said, "Let's begin."
Summoning a sliver of flame to her bare hands, the redhead spoke, "Once, long ago, the Great Dragon created Magix. It eventually came to rest on Domino and left behind the eternally burning flame that came to be known as the Dragon's Flame, which has since been passed down from generation to generation of the Dominese royal family — the flame that I once bore. This story is the one known to everyone in the Magix Dimension, known as our story of creation. However, so much was left out of this old tale that few people ever learn about. Recently, I came to know about the full story."
The flame in her hand expanded into the form of a dragon to illustrate her story, before part of it broke off into another dragon. "We all thought that there was one Dragon. There were six. The second dragon known not to the world was called the Holy Dragon. It brought light to the dimensions, reflecting light off its scales and glowing exactly as the sun would. It was bright and golden and it created the stars and the suns. It finally came to rest, just as the Great Dragon did, laying to eternal sleep on Solaria. The Dragon's Light it bore passed not to a Solarian, but it joined with the Dragon's Flame.
"Then, the third dragon. The Mother Dragon, as it was called, was a beautiful, druid-like creature, an earthy dragon that brought life and love to the worlds it came to. Plants grew, crops flourished, life thrived under its care." A third dragon broke off from the largest one, circling the first two. "It was just like Mother Nature, you could say, covered in beautiful flowers, vines and gleaming green scales. It landed on Linphea for its eternal rest, and even in death, it gave more life to the planet, which only further flourished and thrived. The Dragon's Nature it bore left it and returned to the Flame.
"The fourth dragon was a bold red and white, elegant and also dangerous. Known only as the Muse Dragon, it had power over sound, able to destroy planets with its mighty roar. It was a fearsome warrior, defending its brethren where the others could not, and was even similar to a gladiator in ways, an entertainer that was the deadliest of opponents to face. At the same time, it lived up to its name; an inspiring muse for writers and artists, who could see stories and ideas in its scales as it passed them." Another dragon form split off, moving in a sharp, threatening manner. "Lying to rest on Melody, the Dragon's Roar passed back to the flame."
A fifth dragon emerged, circling the others as its scales reformed by the flames to look like plated armour. "The fifth dragon was known as the Platinum Dragon, scaled entirely with platinum scales that made it akin to an android. It moved robotically, and like its sister dragon in the Muse Dragon, it was a fighter, protecting the others quite fiercely. It was calculating, sharp, and had powerful lasers in its breath. It could conduct electronics to its fancy, enable them to do things they could never do on their own, and once it laid to rest on Zenith, the Dragon's Data it wielded was given back to the flame.
"And finally, the Serpent Dragon was the last of the six to live and to die. The tale that told of it was never quite clear on whether it was a dragon or a serpent as its name suggested, but it thrived in the oceans and that was where it lived, giving life and protecting the seas. Its powers reigned over all sea life and waters in general." The last dragon broke free from the main one, and all six dragons began encircling each other. "It resided in the oceans of Andros, where it finally passed deep in the depths of the seas, and with it, the Dragon's Ocean was passed back to the flame."
Bloom clapped her hands together and snuffed all the flames out. "The Dragon's Flame has been passed down for years without incident, and so, people began to forget about the other five Dragons. And then one day, one bearer of the Flame split it into six, and gave five parts to her friends, leaving one part to herself."
"Wait, Bloom, you don't mean to say—" Aisha started, but Bloom cut her off.
"Girls. I gave you part of the Dragon's Flame. And when you had your children, you passed that bit of flame down to them, as did I to Raven. The Dragon Powers are returning because of this — they sense that the Flame has been broken up. They're going to manifest themselves in the girls when their magic does. The Dragon's Flame will lead them to activate." Bloom inhaled deeply. "Our girls are going to be harbouring some of the most powerful sources of magic in the entire Magix Dimension."
The room burst into chaos as everyone started firing rapid questions toward Bloom and Faragonda, some of them not even complete in their franticness.
In the ensuing chaos, no one noticed the six girls that were standing right outside the slightly open door.
Alright, so there we are with the first rewritten chapter/prologue. I've done some more elaboration, so I sincerely hope you guys like it. As always, read, review and provide constructive criticism, and I'll see you lot next time!