Chapter 1 goodbye always hurts

"And he ….he…he wants to take over the kingdom. Forever", Leyla said, her voice breaking. "There, there", Flora patted her head sympathy.

"Why that little….. how could he….", Stella fumed and kicked hard at the wardrobe. "OUUUUCH", she screamed in pain, hobbling on one foot, holding her injured leg. She in turn, bumped Musa and they both crashed to the floor.

"Hey watch it!", Techna called, edgily. It was a fact that all of them were edgy.

"What's going on here, guys?", a voice called form the doorway. They all turned to see Bloom entering the room. She saw Leyla's face and was confused.

"Are you okay?", she hugged her friend in concern. She was frightened because Leyla was so tough and she never cried.

Stella was still angry and she looked at Bloom and replied, "Lord Darkar has done it again. He's gone to Tides and has terrorized the people. The skies in Tides are dark as hell, the Mermaids in the oceans are all turned evil and…..and….. the water is just…..", Stella was too angry to go on.

"It's become disgusting. It's a mix of mud and some sort of stinky goo", Musa wrinkled her nose. "Technically, it's a mixture of …..", Techna began.

"Oh, give me a break, Techna!", Flora shouted in annoyance.

"Please just help me, please. I can't stand your fighting, now! Please", Leyla cried. Everyone felt a surge of regret.

"That's it. Let's buckle up, gang! We're going to Tides", Bloom decided. "Are you sure? You could get hurt", Leyla murmured.

"We will help you no matter what, Ley", ensured Stella.

"Welcome back, girls", a evil voice sneered. It was followed by vicious laughter. The winx knew this all too well.

The trix.

The trix were the three witches, Icy, Darcy and Stormy. They were intent on making life very hard for the winx. They were now Lord Darkar's minions. They usually sided with anyone and everyone who were against the winx. They didn't really care who or why.

Seeing them made the girls' blood boil. How could they help that monster Darkar? Looking around, the girls had seen the horrible condition Tides was in.

There were no merry mermaids, no beautiful blue skies, green islands and lovely pure water; now the lands were scorched and burnt, the greenery was dying, islands had sunk, the sky was dull grey and the worst was the water. The water had become poisonous sludge. It was even bubbling, its dark brown surface making sickening plops.

Before the winx could react to all this, the trix pounced on them. They all were firing so quickly and powerfully that the girls had no chance of knowing who was firing at whom. It was blindingly fast and painful.

"NO!", Flora could no longer stay in the air and she began to fall headlong into the sludge. "Flora! Hang in there!", Leyla screamed, managing to fly away from the war zone to save her falling friend. But Flora was far to heavy and she managed to catch her just as Flora's legs were in the muck. Then it started to pull her in, literally sucking her in. "No, I'll never give up! No I can't let you go, Flora", Leyla struggled with the tug of war; pulled her, pulled her, tugged at her with all her might. But she failed; the muck managed to pull Flora in deeper. "Let me go. Save yourself, Ley. Your kingdom needs you", Flora croaked, letting go of Leyla. But Leyla could and would never leave a friend to die. She would die too, if she had to. She smiled at Flora for the last time, and let the water submerge her.

"NO! Musa flew towards the water's surface to save the girls. "Are you out of your mind?", Stella squealed pushing Musa hard, to stop her from going to close. She ended up pushing Musa INTO the water!

Musa fell on her back and Stella grabbed her from the front and easily pulled her out. Then they looked up to see Bloom and Techna fighting against the trix alone and they flew up to help them when suddenly Musa fell back down. Stella caught her and then she realized…. Musa's wings were covered in sludge. She couldn't fly!

"Stella, watch out!", She heard Musa call out to her but it was too late….. a blinding light hit her.

She didn't fall or anything. She was barely hurt; but….. she blinked…blinked…..blinked. a feeling of horror enveloped her; she was blind!

Musa grabbed Stella and hung on tight. Stella was carrying her but she didn'yt know where to fly. They still had to fight. "Stella, let me guide you, okay?", Musa had a great solution as always. But before they knew it, they heard Techna tell Bloom, "The portal is too weak. I can't stablise it much longer. We have to go now, Bloom. We'll go and get help". Bloom looked into Techna's eyes. "You have to go now, Techna, alone. I can't leave now. They girls are hurt. Go now. Go! I order you to leave now!", Bloom had to turn away to resist the trix again.

"Goodbye, Bloom. I'll get help", Techna wiping her tears. she knew very well what would happen. Bloom was sacrificing herself to save the others. Sobbing silently, Techna stepped into the portal feeling like a traitor.

Bloom looked around and realized she was the one left. The last one standing.

She looked around; total chaos; Leyla and Flora drowned; Stella and Musa both lay crumpled on the rocks, both unmoving. Techna would probably die with the guilt of abandoning her friends; and then there was her.

'Why me? why couldn't I just die? Why them? I should have died not them! No I have to die. I don't deserve to live' she thought, hating herself. Grief enveloped her.

Before her, stood the mighty victors, the trix. As they aimed their spells at her, she refused to fight. She was giving up. She was done with everything.

She just squeezed her eyes shut, letting the spells overpower her. Slowly but steadily her life began ebbing away as she became enclosed by the darkness.