A/N: I would like to thank Kyree Winx for Beta reading my story.
Chapter 1
Exiting the cave the young man could see the once imposing castle of Lord Darkar. Walking to the edge of the rocky ledge he looked down. The lake below looked cold and he could hear the drips of water echoing against rocks. His blue eyes scanned the cavern around him as what little light there was bounced off the stalactites above and the shimmering of the shallow lake below him. Leaning over the edge a bit to get a better look, he kicked a loose stone over, watching it tumble down the cliff face, the sounds of the falling rock echoing off the cavern walls.
To his left he spied a narrow passage way that lead down. Moving forward he squeezed his body through, in which his narrow frame could barely fit; and slithered his way through the passage way until it started to become wider, fumbling in the dark as he made his way down the steep slope, almost slipping a time or two. Finally he found the exit to the narrow passage and gazed out into the cavern to get a bearing on where he was. He didn't miss that he was now on the path that was about twenty feet below where he was originally.
Surveying his surroundings for a third time, he noticed a long winding path that twisted and turned to a decrepit bridge that lead to the primary entry way of the long abandoned underground fortress. Turning on his heels, he began to make his way down the path toward his prize. The wood began to creak as he took his first step out onto the bridge. With each step he took the sounds of the wood continuing to groan increased as he continued to move across the expanse.
Reaching the other side he looked up at the large wooden doors. Using all his strength that he could bring forth he pushed on one of the doors causing it to screech as it slowly moved on its hinges. Walking through the now open door he entered into the darkened hallway. Every footstep he took echoed off the walls while spiders paused in their web weaving to stare at his presence. As he slowly walked down the corridors torches began glow with every step he took, the light allowing him to see the large suits of armor lining the two sides of every hall.
Turning the corner at the end of the passage way that he was in the young man could see a set of large wooden doors at the end of the corridor. He cautiously walked down the hall looking at each suit. Reaching the end of the hall he placed a hand on the door before slowly pushing it open. The rusted doors whined on there hinges as the throne room came into view. He could see candle stands having fallen on the floor, a burned rug and a large piece of the ceiling having collapsed on top of the single platform.
Looking around the throne room as he entered the young man could see that the large candle stands had been knocked over from the rubble, the flames having died out long before he entered the room. Suddenly the ground beneath him slipped, making him take a step back before it fell away completely. Landing in a heap on the hard stone below the young man pushed himself up to his unsteady feet, he looked left and right for a way out but there was nothing, only the way that he had fallen but it was too far to climb.
Then something caught his eye, he turned and saw a single flame in the distance, hovering in mid air, dancing with the wind, though instead of resonating light, it resonated with darkness, its embers burning black rather then orange. Cautiously the young man crept toward the flame, reaching the small room that it was floating in he could see that it was a flame as dark as night but was lighting the room like any normal flame. Slowly he extended his hand toward the dancing flame but he could feel no heat coming off of it.
"Shadowhaunt," a mysterious voice whispered.
"Who's there?" the young man called out as he looked around the room.
"Master," a different voice whispered causing him to quickly turn vision back to the direction that he had just come from.
"Where are you?" the young man yelled out.
"Shadow flame," a third voice echoed out before the flame flickered causing him to quickly turn back toward it his hand still near the flame.
He tried to pull his hand away but as he did the size of the flame increased until it had engulfed his hand inside. He was surprised when he felt no pain as the flame continued to grow up his arm. As it reached his shoulder he raised his hand before his face to watch as it seemed like the flame was absorbed into his body. Lowering his hand he noticed that he was back in the throne room. He watched in amazement as the room that he was in slowly began to repair itself.
"What's happening?" The young man asked as he watched the two candle stands righted themselves.
He extended his hand before him and opened it to reveal a small black flame inside. A smile appeared on his face as he could feel a rush of power flow through his body. Closing his hand tightly he began to chuckle before erupting into a full blown cackle. The sounds of which echoed all the way to Downland.
"Okay Artu catch," Roxy called out as she through his favorite blue ball. It had saddened the young animal fairy that she could not bring him with her to Alfea; Ms. Faragonda had to explain that he was just too large to be allowed to stay in the dorms.
Artu chased the ball as it flew through the air only to find himself halted by the fence. He looked up and barked at the two figures who smiled and threw the ball back into the yard. "Flora! Musa!" Roxy called, waving madly and running to the front gate as they entered.
"Hey Roxy," they replied.
After closing the gate Roxy walked over to where Artu had stopped and bent down to pick up the ball that he had just dropped at her foot.
"Are you ready to go?" Musa asked as she watched Roxy stand back up.
"Almost," Roxy replied as she threw the ball again.
"You're going to miss playing with him like this." Flora said as she watched the large Croatian hound chase after the ball.
"Yeah," Roxy replied with a slightly dejected voice.
"But you're going to have so many other adventures at Alfea," Musa said optimistically.
As Artu returned with the ball in his mouth he could see that the animal fairy seemed sad. She knelt to his level and brushed her hands through his fur, scratching behind his ears as his tail wagged.
"How about one last visit to the Music bar before we go?" Flora offered.
"And you can bring Artu," Musa added.
"Yeah," Roxy smiled as she stood up, "let me go get my stuff first."
Flora and Musa watched as Roxy ran into the house with Artu following closely behind.
"Do you think that she will be alright at Alfea?" Flora asked as the door shut behind Roxy.
"She should be fine," Musa replied, "Her confidence has grown since we first met her and if anything happens we will only be a phone call away."
"I'm just worried about her," Flora said as she turned to look at Musa. "This is going to be something so different then what she is used to."
"She'll be fine, try not to worry," Musa reassured. "Besides, we've beat all the baddies, what could possibly go wrong?"
After Roxy had exited the house the friends made their way down to the beach. Roxy stopped as soon as she could see her fathers business in the distance. A small giggle escaped from her lips causing Flora and Musa to turn and look at the young animal fairy.
"What's so funny?" Musa asked.
"Just thinking about the first time that you girls came into the Frutti Music Bar," Roxy replied. "From the first time I recognized you guys, you were not the most appealing in terms of reality…" Roxy paused, "…and of kindness on Stella's end."
Musa laughed. "She can be mean sometimes, but she means well. She had stung each one of us at least once in some sort of way. You could think of it as an official membership to the Winx."
Roxy chuckled from what Musa had just said.
Flora smirked at Roxy's response. "At the time, we were still trying to find a way to interact with the Earthlings in Gardenia. When you aren't exposed to something like magic, you think others are insane from believing in it…" The Nature fairy reminisced as well, thinking about the time the Winx followed and rescued Roxy and earned their Believix. "All the troubles that we had finding you and in an instant making you believe in us and magic changed everything for yourself and us."
Roxy nodded. Indeed, things for herself had changed. First she found out that she possessed magic then gained six new friends and finally a mother that she lost through her long journey fighting the Wizards of the Black Circle. This made Roxy excited for the new adventures that she would have at Alfea College for Fairies. The three girls made their way to the Frutti Music Bar. "Now it's time for work," Roxy sighed.
"Work!?" Klaus overheard his daughter and noticed her sigh from the beach entrance of the establishment. He walked passed the counter and towards Roxy. "There will be no work for you today."
"No work?" The Animal fairy questioned her father's mysterious action. "But dad, I always work…"
"Not tonight, sweetheart," A woman said from the background. Morgana appeared from the crowd of customers carrying empty glasses of smoothies. "I got my magic to do the trick." Roxy's mother pointed out the magical activities going on behind the counter and several patrons mystified by how the oranges and strawberries would place themselves to be juiced and blended. "I'm also taking orders on the floor."
"I don't usually do this, but your mother thought it would be good for you to have a night off…" Klaus blushed red in embarrassment, the slight brute fell for Morgana's charm.
Morgana kissed her husband on the check, making his pink blush turn red. "Come on, let Roxy hang out with her friends," she then moved to pet the short haired dog with her free hand. "Come Artu, I'm going to need you for something."
As the two disappeared managing the bar, Musa and Flora looked around for their boyfriends. Bloom and Sky were together, chatting about something that made Bloom laugh after Sky demonstrated something. Tecna and Timmy were together, but instead of talking they were playing with their hand held devices connecting to each other. The two techies would talk once in a while, but they focused on the game more. That left Aisha sitting at a cabana table chair facing the beach with an ocean view. Stella was with Brandon, of course, but the blonde was constantly eyeing a specific dark-haired girl with cat-eye shaped glasses and her clique. Not wanting to disturb the other girls and guys, Roxy walked over to Aisha, she could see her looking at a holographic image of Nabu. Roxy could also hear faint sobbing and watched as Aisha pushed something from her face. The Animal fairy took a couple of steps back, giving her friend some time to wipe her tears before she called out her name. "Aisha!" Roxy yelled.
Aisha turned down her phone, blocking the holographic image and quickly wiping her tears, "Hey!" Aisha said turning her attention to Roxy as the young girl took a seat next to the Morphix fairy. "How's everything going? Are you excited about your start at Alfea?"
Roxy wanted to put on a smile for Aisha to complement her enthusiasm, but she couldn't sit there and smile while her friend was here crying seconds ago. Roxy could even see the white of Aisha's eyes tinted with a faint red. "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine," Aisha replied as she looked at her friend's worried face, "Besides girl you shouldn't be worrying about me. You should be having fun tonight."
Aisha sat there watching a smile appear on Roxy's face. "There that's better," she said as she looked at the young Animal fairy. She knew that Roxy had to force the smile to show. "Now go and have some fun, I'll join you in a few minutes."
"Okay," Roxy responded before standing up and disappearing into the crowed of people.
"She cares for people just like Flora does." Aisha whispered as she turned her phone back up to look at Nabu's face. "I know that you would be proud of her Nabu."
The music was flowing thought the Frutti Music Bar and Roxy was having fun until she had lost sight of the others. Walking back to the seat that she had left Aisha she found it empty. She quickly rushed to the counter and asked her father where the others had gone.
"I think they went outside." Klaus replied over the music.
"Thanks dad," Roxy called out before heading outside.
Roxy saw a glimpse of Bloom and Stella's legs before she reached the beaded curtains that headed outside to the beach. As she pushed them aside, she saw the Winx, Specialists, Morgana and Artu waiting for her. Blasts of Confetti and silly string were thrown at the Animal Fairy and she stood in shock at the surprise celebration.
"Congratulations!" The group yelled in unison.
Roxy's eyes widened, lost for words. "You guys!" She finally spoke, "you went through all this trouble to throw me a party?"
"Trouble!?" Stella said. She grabbed Roxy's arm and pulled her into the crowd. "Oh please, this is nothing compared to the huge celebration's I get for moving up a year." The Sun fairy ruffled Roxy's hair, "anything for a friend."
"And a daughter," Morgana chimed in. She led Artu towards Roxy. "I have a gift for you." Artu carried a small box in his mouth. He strolled by his owner, sat up and wagged his tail for Roxy to take the box. The Animal fairy reached for the box and opened it to look at the contents within it. "What is this?"
"That is the Earth fairy pendant passed down for generations." The box revealed a silver necklace with a muted pale green gem. "My grandmother gave it to my mother, my mother gave it to me and now I give it to you, Roxy. That way, we will always be together, even if you're millions of miles away in a different dimension."
"We will always keep close." Klaus said from behind Roxy. He gave her a warm hug before Morgana and Artu joined in on the embrace. "You will do great at Alfea."
Roxy took a second glance at her peers and family before she placed the necklace on. Something about this moment made her lose the rest of her fears about Alfea, both small and large. Roxy was not ready to start her new journey at Alfea.
Please Review
A/N 2: I wanted to thank NadeshikoLove1224 and Midnight Lost for the help with they gave me for this chapter.