Preface:
In terms of timeline, this story takes place after the first movie. AU after that, and some maybe some slight OOC, as I'm not really used to writing the characters instead of just watching them. Using names from the RAI English dub.
Sky had stayed at the back of the cruiser, keeping his eyes transfixed on his home planet of Eraklyon as it seemed smaller and smaller. He sighed softly as Bloom placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Bloom asked, concerned for Sky's well-being. Sky turned to look her in her eyes, seeing compassion lying within the sparkling blue.
"Yeah... it's just I wanted to meet up with a couple of people before leaving again," Sky responded dejectedly.
"Hey, at least we're with you!" Brandon managed to include himself in the conversation.
"Don't worry Sky," Bloom said cheerily. "We'll only be there for two days, and then we'll be coming back to Eraklyon."
"You're right," Sky smiled at Bloom.
"So, run this by me," Brandon said, having not been briefed on the mission beforehand. "Where exactly are we going?"
"My mother and I were invited to come over to a realm called Litus, just to check some stuff and make sure it's being well kept."
"Why is it that you have to do this?" Brandon asked.
"Litus is a part of Eraklyon's empire," Sky explained. "It was given to us several years ago, when I was about seven. I'm not sure about who had control of it before my family did though."
"I see," Brandon looked out the window. "Well, I guess there's not much we can do now but wait the trip out." Sky looked out the back of the vessel once again, but was unable to see any trace of Eraklyon in the distance.
"Let's go back to the passenger cabin," Bloom suggested. Sky took one last look back into space, and followed Brandon and Bloom as they left the room.
Hours after the discussion on the nature of the journey, the Eraklyon ship touched down on the surface of Litus, which was a realm composed of multiple archipelagos. The island the vessel landed on was the largest in the northern hemisphere, outside of the royal palace. The palace was a rather large piece of architecture, very square in shape, built for defensive efficiency rather than royal extravagance. It was nothing spectacular compared to the royal dwellings found on Eraklyon, Solaria or the recently restored Domino. The palace courtyard was filled mostly with exotic trees and plants, with a fountain being the centrepiece.
Sky, Samara, Bloom and Brandon were all greeted upon exiting their ship with a great fanfare of trumpets, and a fine carpet to tread upon, guards lined up along the sides, holding their spears in salute. Waiting near the ship was a small wiry man with a smile on his face. The man seemed to be shaking in anticipation.
"Welcome to Litus your majesties!" The man kneeled down to the visitors in reverence. "I hope you'll find everything here to your liking."
"I am sure everything will be perfect," Samara said warmly to the man, as he stood up.
"It pleases me that you were able to make it so soon," the man grinned. "But, please excuse my rudeness! I have not properly introduced myself yet. I am Kejes Thun, the steward of the Litus palace.
"I am Queen Samara of Eraklyon," Samara began. "And this is my son, King Sky of Eraklyon," she gestured towards Sky who just casually raised his hand up by the elbow. This earned him a light nudge in his ribs from Brandon, making Sky drop his hand back down to his side.
"It is good to finally meet Eraklyon's monarchs," Kejes replied while clasping his hands together. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the blue sun was beginning to set, the horizon turning into a rich purple. "It is getting quite late your majesties. We've prepared a banquet in your honour, as well as rooms for the four of you. Please, follow me."
The four visitors followed the slim man through the large stone entrance of the palace, into the throne room. It seemed that all the royal lavishness had been kept hidden from the bland exterior of the palace and saved for the interior. The room was large and spacious; pillars on the sides of the hall supported the roof, with different fabrics draped all over the walls. The throne itself was somewhat far back from the entrance, up a few stairs. What marvelled the visitors the most however, was the floor of the room, which was a made of a smooth translucent stone, under which a river flowing from a source underneath the throne towards the grand entrance could be seen. A door to the right of the throne led to the dining hall, which had a prepared table waiting for the travellers.
The group sat down at the table to begin their meal, and Samara had managed to engage Kejes in a conversation concerning the nature of their visit. Sky, Bloom and Brandon had spoken amongst each other.
"It's pretty nice here," Bloom commented. "I don't think two days here would be bad at all."
"I'd say so," Brandon agreed. "How about you Sky?"
"I like it here," Sky began after swallowing a piece of bread. "It's better than I thought it would be. But, I do look forward to getting back home soon." The rest of the banquet went through as planned, though it was a stiff, formal event. After the meal had finished, there was some live entertainment, courtesy of a group of travelling minstrels. The performers even invited Bloom and Sky on to the stage to help them with their show by showing them the steps to a traditional Litusian dance, while Brandon and Samara applauded from the audience. When the minstrels had finished with their show, they bowed and left the castle. By the time they had left, the sun had gone down, and two moons were visible from the dining hall windows.
Kejes had retired for the night, after having shown the guests the locations of their rooms, in a hallway on the second floor. Before going to sleep for the night, the four visitors had gathered together in a small recreational room near the bedrooms, which was filled with various games, books and comfortable furniture.
"So, what are the plans for tomorrow?" Sky asked his mother.
"We are going to go over some of the legislation of this realm, and make any changes where necessary. After that we were planning on visiting the capital city and meeting with the mayor," Samara explained.
"Sounds like it's gonna be a busy day," Brandon suggested. "It would probably be best for us to get some rest."
"Yeah, and it's been a long day too," Bloom said, before yawning softly. "I think I'll go to bed now. Good night everyone!" Bloom kissed Sky on the cheek before she went into her room.
"I think she has the right idea," Sky yawned. "I'm gonna turn in for the night. See you tomorrow."
"Have a good rest," Brandon said, patting Sky on the shoulder. "I'll stay up for a little bit to make sure everything's completely safe. That is my job after all." Sky caught a hint of sarcasm in his friend's last sentence and smirked.
"I expect you to follow through as such, Sir Brandon," Sky joked, his voice sounding overly serious and his chest puffed out. "I didn't knight you just so you could have a fancy title you know." Sky was having difficulty keeping a straight face. Brandon performed a mock salute, and walked off to the entry of the wing to do one final inspection. Sky looked around the recreational room, and noticed that his mother had quietly left to her own room as well.
With a sigh, Sky walked over to the door to his room, which was the master bedroom. When he opened it he decided to peer around the room for a while. It was roomy, with a high ceiling, a large bed, a walk-in closet, a dresser with several drawers and another door, which led to a bathroom. After he changed out of his formal uniform into some looser clothes, he went to brush his teeth in the bathroom.
In the still of the night, Sky had thought he heard a faint beeping noise coming from the bedroom. When he tried to concentrate on it, the noise had stopped. He simply shrugged, dismissed the noise and continued to brush his teeth. After he had finished, he returned to the bedroom, turned off the lights and lay down on the bed. The sheets felt very soft and smooth, even through the clothes he had worn. The mattress was firm, but not stiff, making it easy for Sky to relax on the bed.
When Sky shut his eyes, he could once again hear the sound of faint beeping. His tired state had dulled his senses, but he managed to open his eyes, vainly searching for the source of the annoyance. The beeping stopped, and he heard a hushed click. His eyes widened as he looked straight above himself as he saw a small bit of moonlight reflect off of a small metallic object moving towards him at an alarming rate. He had managed to slide over the side of the bed, managing to avoid what was approaching him a split second before it could reach him.
"Brandon!" Sky yelled out, breathing heavily. In seconds Bloom, Samara and Brandon had all entered Sky's room, the former two in their sleepwear. Bloom turned the lights on.
"What's wrong Sky?" Bloom asked, trembling slightly in fear.
"Something shot down at me from the ceiling!" Sky responded. "I barely avoided it." He brought the others to his bed, where they could see a small dart sticking out of the mattress. Brandon gritted his teeth and unsheathed his Phantoblade, before he jumped up, and cut out the chunk of ceiling where the dart could have possibly come from. He and Sky had managed to catch the piece of rock before it smashed into the bed below it. The two flipped the heavy ceiling stone upside down and slowly rested it on the floor.
"Look there, next to the light fixture," Brandon said, pointing his hand to a small hole in the rock. He carved out the piece of rock and underneath it there was a small metallic device that was beeping periodically. "This is what shot the dart at you. It's an assassin's trap." Brandon's clenched his fist tightly.
"A-are you alright son?" Samara stuttered, shocked that someone would try to kill her son in such a fashion.
"I'm fine. I was saved by my Red Fountain training," Sky explained, while hugging Samara. He was trying his best not to let his voice quaver, but he too was alarmed that he had been the target of a killer.
"I don't get it," Bloom muttered, wiping away a few tears in her eyes. "Who would want to do something like this?"
"There's not a lot to work with here," Brandon said, narrowing his eyes. "Either this trap was set up for the previous king, or it was someone who knew Sky was coming here." Brandon studied the metallic box after pulling it out of its nest in the rock. After prying the box open, he noticed a computer chip inside of the box with a code on it. "B, x, nine-eight-four-k-two... We should try calling Tecna or Timmy about this, to find out just how old this thing is." The other three in the room nodded. "Remember, we can't trust anyone in this realm now, as long as we don't know who's responsible for this."
"We can probably call Tecna right away," Bloom declared. "My phone says it's still afternoon in Magix."
"Call her," Brandon said. Bloom nodded and pressed a few buttons on her phone, before holding it up to her ear.
"Hi Tecna," Bloom began, "We're on Litus now. Me, Sky, Brandon and Queen Samara."
"Bloom... you sound worried, is something wrong?" Tecna asked.
"We have a problem, Brandon can tell you more about it," Bloom replied, as she handed her phone over to the brown-haired specialist. After he took the phone, Bloom began pacing back and forth.
"Hey Tecna," Brandon said flatly. "I was wondering if you could check up a computer chip code for us."
"Of course I can," Tecna responded. "But what's happening there?"
"I can't say. I can't risk someone listening in on this conversation."
"I understand. So, what is this code you need me to look up?"
"B, x, nine-eight-four-k-two."
"Alright, just give me a second... It's a control chip used mostly in the field of robotics. Used to enable an action provided the requirements are met... the version of the chip you have is the most recent, having been created a little less than two months ago."
"Thanks a lot Tecna."
"No problem." With that, Tecna ended the call on her end.
"Well," Brandon sighed, "this is the most recent version of the chip on the market. It's probably not from a previous assassination attempt. Whoever set this up, knew who they were after, and how to get to them."
"What should we do now?" Bloom whispered.
"We should lay low and get off of this planet as soon as possible," Brandon suggested. He looked over to see Sky glaring down at the dart that was sticking out of his bed. Sky reached down to the dart and violently pulled it out of the sheets.
"It's poisoned," Sky said softly. He moved his finger closer to the tip of the dart as if to touch it, but he pulled his finger back before he reached it.
"Do you think we can get a transport before the two days are over?" Brandon asked, facing Samara.
"We're not leaving," Sky interrupted before Samara could speak.
"What are you talking about man? Someone just tried to kill you! We have to get out of here!" Brandon exclaimed.
"I'm not going to send them the message that the king of Eraklyon is a coward," Sky said calmly.
"Staying here further isn't brave, it's stupid!" Brandon yelled, his face turning slightly pink.
"Think about what you're saying Sky," Bloom said softly, trying to ease the tension in the room. "This could be really dangerous."
"I've made up my mind. I'm not leaving until I find out who tried to kill me," Sky declared. "Now, we should try to figure out who's responsible for this."
"Could it possibly be Kejes?" Samara asked warily. "He did give Sky this specific room after all."
"It's a possibility," Brandon remarked. "But, I'm doubtful it was him, or any of the castle staff. It would have been easier to kill us during the banquet. He probably gave Sky the master bedroom because he's king. It's not a possibility we should rule out however."
"What about the travelling musicians?" Sky suggested.
"Yet another option," Brandon said while stroking his chin. "What confuses me is that whoever set this up likely knew that we were coming, yet they didn't try to do anything to Queen Samara. At least not yet."
"Could it possibly be a blood feud?" Samara proposed.
"It could be. Sky is the current king of Eraklyon, but he has no heir, making him a better target for a vendetta based attack." Brandon emphasized. "If someone could kill Sky... it would signal the end of House Eraklyon." Bloom shuddered at the thought.
"I don't think it's anyone we've met up to this point," said Bloom, staring down to the floor.
"What makes you say that?" Sky asked.
"I haven't sensed anything but kindness from anyone we've met so far," she responded. "It's not something most people can fake properly."
"We should stay wary just in case," Sky said in a tired voice. "Though it's really late now, and I don't know how we're gonna be able to handle all the work we have to do tomorrow."
"You should try to rest as much as you can," Brandon commented. "I'll stay up to make sure nothing else happens tonight."
"I'll help you by taking shifts," Bloom added. Brandon smiled at her and then at Sky. "We'll do the best we can tomorrow to find out as much as possible."
"Author's" Notes:
So, I was internally debating whether or not to get around to putting this (my first fanfic) up on the internet. In the end I said, why not?
Congratulations if you made it this far and actually read everything (it's pretty long for a first chapter). Anyway, most people who know me as a fan of Winx (that's pretty much no-one however) know that I don't really care for Sky as a character all that much in the series, but I chose him for this fic because... Well, he's royalty, and he doesn't use magic. I mostly wanted to try and at least attempt writing something that could conceivably fit into the canon of the series, and given how my writing tends to drift to stories of Conspiracy/Political fiction, he was really the only choice for a character that doesn't fight with magic.
Also: The site has Samera listed instead of Samara. Is that kind of like how Aisha is listed instead of Layla, in accordance with the original Italian names? I ask because I can't actually remember which name RAI uses. If someone could tell me I would really appreciate it!
Thank you for scrolling down this far, please leave your thoughts, comments and critiques in the reviews to help me improve! :)