Disclaimer: I don't own Winx, yada, yada… Also, sorry I haven't been updating the other stories. Check my profile for updates on those if you're interested.
The Haunted Hall…
It was a terrifying dark and stormy night on Magix, bright bursts of lightening crashed all around the floating Red Fountain campus and the wild winds gently rocked it from side to side like a ship on the sea. Some of the students couldn't sleep with all the noise, so they were up playing card games with friends or watching the light display out their windows. However, some students were getting sick of their board games and storm gazing as the night wore on and the weather became even more wicked.
One group of boys in particular were getting extremely restless having just gone through their third game of Monolopy, they were getting sick of the little plastic houses and hotels, tired of Riven complaining every time someone bought Boardwalk and the trains stations before he had a chance to. That's when one of them got an idea.
"Hey, you guys ever heard of the ghosts in The Warriors Hall?" Brandon said counting his fake paper money from another victory.
Timmy shoved his glasses up his nose. "I don't believe in ghosts."
"Neither do I." Helia said as he started braiding a chunk of his silky, dark hair. "They're just stories, my mom used to tell me there was a banshee in the kitchen when I was little because I kept stealing cookies from the cupboard."
"I agree with Helia, they're nothing more than a cruel trick that adults use to scare kids." Riven replied tossing a plastic hotel into the back of Prince Sky's sweat shirt.
"You guys are no fun." Sky smirked shaking his shirt and standing up, "but have you ever heard about the ghosts in Warriors Hall?"
"Who hasn't?" Timmy said with a shrug. "I was one of the unlucky freshmen suckered into staying there one night during first year. I was scared out of my pants by seniors wearing sheets and masks. Seriously, they stole my pants."
"Are you sure it was the senior class?"
"Yes, they drew male genitals on my face with a permanent marker because I slept past their attempt to scare everyone." Riven grumbled remembering the embarrassing experience.
"Sure with wasn't a ghost with a sense of humor?" Helia asked starting on his fourth braid.
"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts?" Riven snapped and shot him an evil glare.
"I don't, but apparently YOU did."
Brandon stood up grabbing a flashlight and pointed to the door. "Alright non-believers, let's just see how right you are."
"Is that a bet, Squire-boy?" Riven growled, his back stiffened.
"It is if you want it to be."
"I don't like gambling!" Timmy moaned rubbing his temples like he had a headache.
Riven snorted at Timmy and got up grabbing his flashlight from the desk. "What's the wager?"
Sky and Brandon grinned. "If any of you guys get scared or sees a ghost then you do our chores for 2 weeks, and if there's nothing and it really is just a hallways full of old relics then we do your guys chores for 2 weeks."
"You have a deal!"
"Riven!" Helia and Timmy shouted in protest.
"I don't have time to do their chores, not with my private art classes in the city!" Helia pointed out.
"Oh calm down, there are no such things as ghosts! This is an easy win!" Riven said with an air of over confidence.
"It's on then?" Sky held his hand.
Riven spit into his palm and sealed the deal shaking hands with Sky, "you bet Prince Charming."
Helia and Timmy were reluctant to follow; they hated getting caught in the middle of such silly, meaningless games. But if they didn't do it they would be hassled by the others for being bookworms and shut ins. Each boy had their own torch, Sky and Brandon led the way with Riven close on their heels, Helia and Timmy stayed towards the back and hugged the walls as crashes of thunder from outside echoed through the halls.
"There's just one thing I don't get, why would a new building be haunted? I can MAYBE imagine the other campus having some ghosts, but this one is too new." Riven said in the darkness as they turned down an empty corridor.
"Actually, they used some of the stones from the old campus for the new Warriors Hall." Timmy corrected him. " I read up on how they built this place a few weeks ago."
"And besides, they say that ghosts can haunt objects too. All of the statues and armor in the hall is all salvaged from the old building." Helia added.
"Yeah! Some of it was peeled right of the dead bodies of the warriors!" Brandon giggled excitedly, his torchlight bounced off the walls.
Riven turned to Helia and Timmy, "so much for non-believers !" He said accusingly.
Suddenly Sky and Brandon stopped in their tracks, the other three boys bumped into them with a domino effect.
"Why did you stop?" Timmy asked retrieving his spectacles from the floor.
Sky pointed his flashlight upwards to a sign above a set of giant metal doors that lay before them. The sign read 'Warriors Hall' on old fashioned writing. In the silence of the hallway all you could hear was their breathing, a draft gave them all goose bumps.
Riven rolled his eyes and shoved past them, "well? Are we going in or not?" He tapped his foot impatiently and laid a hand on the gigantic door.
It took all five of them to open the it, that's how heavy the beasts were. Once inside where the air was slightly stale and there were no lights Brandon searched for a switch on the wall. He flicked it but nothing happened.
"Hmmm, I guess the power was knocked out."
"How convenient!" They heard Timmy groan from somewhere in the room.
A light shone violently into their eyes followed by Riven's irritated voice. "Let's just get this over and done with, I'm starting to get tried."
"Alright, lights off everyone and throw them into the middle of the room."
The boys shut their torches off and heard them clatter on the wood floor somewhere.
"Here ghosty, ghosties!" Sky called out jokingly, he backed right into Helia and they both jumped.
"Ooooh yeah Sky, I'm real scared! I think my Grandma's spirit is knitting in the corner!" Riven cackled, this was completely ridiculous to him but two weeks with no chores? THAT was just pure bliss.
It was completely dark in the room, they couldn't see each other or anything around them. The boys found themselves bumping into suits of old armor and weapons displays, sometimes one another. Timmy was startled when he knocked over an old fashioned sword and it fell out of its case. He pawed the cold floor carefully for it and put it back blindly.
Suddenly he felt cold all over and started to shiver. "Y-you guys feel that? Did someone bump into the thermostat?"
"No, I don't even know if there's one in here." Helia spoke from somewhere in the darkness.
"Aw geeze Timmy! Don't let their stupid stories get to you, there's no such thing as ghosts!" Riven said angrily. A hand came out of the shadows and grabbed his bare arm, it made his scream in terror. "Ah! Fuck!"
"Ha! Are you so sure?" Sky said letting his friend go. "Don't tell me you never heard the one about the armless soldier."
"Whatever it is I'm sure it's just bullshit." Riven said rubbing his arms, Timmy was right about it getting colder.
Brandon's voice echoed across the hall eerily and he started to tell a story. "They say that he was just a young man, no older than us five. He was on his first assignment guarding the Warriors Hall on the old campus."
"Yes, his name was Leeeeeeroy Jenkins! Wooooo! WOOOOOOOO!" Sky chanted holding back laughter.
"So as I was saying, Leroy Jenkins was all alone on his first shift, the night one. In fact it was a night much like this one, dark and stormy and cold!"
"Leroy clutched his spear like a baby, he was scared of thunderstorms but he was in the army, man! No way was he going to let something like that frighten him on his first night!"
"But suddenly, oh no! He heard a noise from inside the hall…he had to go inside to see what it was. What if there was a thief trying to steal the relics? So Leroy pulled the visor of his helmet down and went inside the dark room. Back in those days there was no electrical power in the hall, the only light came from lightening flashes through a window."
"He was shaking so much in his own suit of armor you could hear his knees quivering inside it!"
A dull shaking noise started in the room, followed by another crash of lightning outside.
"As I was saying, he was scared but wanted to prove himself! So Leroy went in search of the noise. As he took more steps into the room the old suits of armor became terrifying to him, but he kept pushing forward."
"The noise came again! A smash! He turned in the direction of the sound but saw nothing."
"He didn't feel alone though, and he was right. A moment later someone, or something, was breathing down his neck!"
"Shaking like a leaf now, Leroy spun around swinging his spear wildly at the thief! He was screaming and trying to fight it of when he realized nothing was there. Then something small scuttled across the floor. "
"To the relief of our pal Leroy, it was just a squirrel. He started to calm down and headed for the door to get back to his post."
"But suddenly, he felt an awful pain in his arms! And with a great force they were ripped from their sockets!"
"Blood was gushing everywhere and Leroy was screaming in terror, but no one came to help him!"
"Leroy died on the floor that night, they say that his face was frozen in the most ugly horrified expression like the last thing he'd seen was the most terrifying thing in the universe."
"Too bad for poor Leroy that squirrel was not the only creature in the castle that night, somehow a centaur had broken in. A bloodthirsty one that ripped his arms off and ate them as a snack, the other soldiers found the beast and killed it but they never were able to recover the severed limbs."
"So Leroy Jenkins was buried without them and many generations of Red Fountain students say that they can still hear his screams coming from the Warriors Hall on nights like this. They don't know why he screams though, maybe he's fighting that centaur, or maybe he's looking for his missing arms!"
"I heard he almost took a freshmen's one year!"
Riven snorted at the two Eraklyon boys and their little story. "Oh please! That's so full of crap I can smell it from here!"
"Where exactly are you, Riven?" Timmy asked.
"Dunno, leaning on some lame-ass suit of armor I think. Whatever, this is getting old you guys. I need to get to sleep so I can get up and run around the track early before all the skinny little freshers take over it."
Sky felt along the floor for a flashlight and turned it on. "Nice to have some light on in here."
"Aw, was poor little Sky getting scare of his own made-up story?"
Sky pointed the light in the direction of the mocking comment, which happened to be Riven's direction. "Of course not, and we weren't making it up." He stated as the other boys came into the center of the room and grabbed their own lights from the floor.
"Oh give it up already! There's no such things as ghosts and this Leroy Jenkins is just fake!"
"Uh, Riven?" Helia piped up suddenly.
"What?" He snarled at the long haired specialist and yawned.
Helia stepped forward, the beam of light from his torch illuminating a plaque under the suit of armor Riven was resting against. Riven's deep blue eyes darted towards the gold sign for a second and he jumped back, it said 'In Memory Of Leroy Jenkins'.
"What the?" It suddenly occurred to Riven that the story could be true, the victims name was inscribed right in front of him plain as day.
"You believe us now?" Brandon asked, a smile danced onto his handsome face.
Riven started to shake his head, "whatever. He was probably just some guy killed in war, none of this crap about his arms being ripped off and his spirit searching for new ones."
Drip, drip…
"…what was that?" Timmy said with a whisper.
"Probably just a leak in the ceiling." Brandon flashed his light around looking for water but found none. "Maybe we SHOULD get out of here."
Drip, drip, drip.
The noise became faster and louder.
"Alright, let's go open that beast of a door. I'm starting to get cold." Helia's teeth chattered.
As all five boys headed for the double doors a grey, smoky mist started to appear and snake around their legs. They huddled together in fear, the most frightened off them all was Riven even though he wouldn't admit it. But his grip around Timmy's head was enough to tell that.
"Ow! Riven! Stop that! You're crushing my head!"
"Well, uh, get out of my arms then geek!"
Drip, drip, drip, drip…
"Maaaa….." Came a low voice from the back of the room.
"W-who did that?!" Riven stammered, this light from his flashlight shaking madly.
"Oh, looks like our resident tough guy was holding back about being scared!" With that comment Riven punched Sky in the arm.
"No! Who did that? SERIOUSLY!!!"
"Maaaaaa….maaaaa! Mine!!!!" The voice became more audible and it started to get closer to them.
"Let's just open the doors and get out of here!" Helia panicked and started to fight with the handle, but he was too weak to open in by himself. The others joined him but they couldn't even get it opened a crack.
"Mine! Miiiine!!!" The voice was all around them now, they started banging on the heavy metal doors and screaming for help but no one came.
"Miiine! Your arms are MINE!" The voice screamed, an icy hand reached out from the darkness and touched Riven on the shoulder.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he lost it. With the adrenaline pumping through his body like a bullet train he dropped his flashlight, yanked the door opened with one big jerk and all five boys clambered into the hallway and started running through the empty corridor.
They kept looking behind them to see if they were being followed, but they should have looked ahead because they crashed head on into something and fell to the ground.
"Ahhh! It's the armless soldier!!!!" Timmy screamed at the top of his lungs.
Suddenly the figure they ran into sat up with a grunt and started to speak. "What the DEVIL are you yelling about? It's past mid-night! People are trying to sleep!"
"C-Codatorta sir! Oh geeze! We're sorry!" Brandon apologized for their collision and he helped the giant man up off the floor. It was strange seeing their professor in night clothes with his brown hair unbrushed.
"I still don't know why you're all screaming bloody murder this late at night, boys!"
"There's a ghost in Warriors Hall!" Riven said with fear in his voice, he was sitting on the ground hugging his knees to his chest.
Codatorta sighed and and rubbed his eyes. "Please don't tell me that's why you're causing such a racket."
"Oh yes sir! It's true! The ghost of Leroy Jenkins touched me! Right here! SEE???!!!" Riven's eyes were wild as he pointed to the spot on his shoulder where he felt the deathly cold hand brush against him. There was cold sweat running down his face and he was pale as…well, a ghost!
Codatorta eyed them all and made the troupe stand up, he took them all back to the Warriors halls to investigate the so called ghost, and this time Riven was in the back of the line.
The big, burly man tried the switch but it didn't work. He opened a panel in the wall and turned on the alternate power source for the room. The hall lit up in all its grandeur. Shining suits of armor against backdrops of old tapestries depicting battles fought centuries ago, and right in the middle of the floor stood two freshmen. One of them wearing a long black cloak and the other one carrying a bucket of ice.
Riven instantly recognized them, he'd given them both swirlies in the bathroom the other day for knocking into him during mess hall and making him drop his full tray all over the floor. It had been his favorite meal of the week, sheppard's pie, and these two little brats made him drop it. His fear melted into rage very quickly, he cracked his fists and charged at the boys before Codatorta could stop him.
The night ended in screaming once again, but also with some bloody noses and punishments handed out to those involved. First of all to the two freshmen for hatching the plan to scare another student, then to Sky, Brandon, Helia and Timmy for acting as part of it, then lastly to Riven for handing out knuckle sandwiches.
They all spent the next month in detention and cleaning the Warriors Hall under with the empty armor of Leroy Jenkins watching over them.
The End.
