This one is the fourth in the series out of five. The last one will be much longer than they all have been so far, I promise.
He and the others had disappeared.
The other Winx Club members thought that the Wizards of the Black Circle were gone.
They thought they were actually gone!
Tecna smirked to herself as she saw the others having fun in the Fruitti Tutti Music Bar thinking that the Wizards of the Black Circle had been so easily defeated.
Did they really think it would have been so easy to defeat them?
Oh how wrong they were and she was the only one present who knew it.
How could they not expect them to return at some point? The Wizards may have lost a battle but they most certainly did not lose the war.
And when they returned to try and capture Roxy again, they would try a different approach, she was sure of it.
When she disappeared on long trips to the library or other places around Gardenia (or at least, that's what they thought), she was actually spending time with Duman.
He might not be up to his full magical strength yet, but he was still good company.
Granted most people defined good company as someone you could at least mildly trust- Tecna knew she could never really trust Duman with his being a Fairy Hunter- but he was still good company for her.
Though the conversation was minimal compared to the... physical benefits (which was certainly more than she was getting with Timmy), he was actually somewhat more intelligent than people would usually give him credit for.
He challenged her. He challenged everything she believed about herself and the world in general. Her friends had done that for her in the beginning, but in the end, it wavered off as they focused more and more on becoming magically powerful and becoming "real" fairies instead of enjoying their youth. (Damn villains.)
She enjoyed that, being challenged. It kept her mind sharp. Plus she had to be prepared in case Duman turned on her at any time which was also very likely.
This game was so much more fun to her than real life was...
"So what are you going to do when it's time to end the game?" He asked as he came up for air.
"I don't know. I don't think I could really bring myself to socialize with them for much longer after this experience with you. You've made me see all the potential out there and it's so boring being on the good side all the time." Even though she too was breathless, she managed to say all of that in one go.
"Good fairy gone bad? Now there's something I'd like to see. Oh wait, I've already seen it and I'm the cause!" He gloated.
"Stop talking, Duman. Just.. stop... talking..." She reached in for his vest and pulled him closer as he smirked.
"Anything the matter, Tecna? You seem distracted lately..." Timmy asked in concern as the pair occupied a table at the Tuitti Fruitti Music Bar.
"No, nothing at all, Timmy. I'm fine." Tecna stirred her drink distractedly as she lost herself in her thoughts about Duman.
"We've all seemed a bit distracted since that last big fight with the Wizards of the Black Circle, haven't we?" Nabu said as he walked past, giving a look to Tecna that Timmy missed.
She narrowed her eyes back at him- something that Timmy also missed.
"I don't know. I'm enjoying the relative peace we have now, but I just can't help but think that it's not over yet. They wouldn't be defeated this easily especially after they decimated almost all the magic of this planet..." Tecna mused.
"You know, you're right Tecna. But let's just enjoy the calm before the storm comes back, shall we?" He smiled at her as he took her hands in his.
She smiled back at him weakly. "Yes, let's."
In some way, deep down, she still cared for Timmy and knew that what she was doing was wrong, completely illogical and went against all that the Winx Club stood for, but she still didn't mind playing the game.
No one (except Nabu and he was a complete accident) had figured out that she was fraternizing with the enemy and that was part of the thrill.
Not being caught. And she intended to find a way to keep it that way, Nabu aside.
She couldn't stand the thought of Timmy finding out that she had committed what amounted to the ultimate betrayal: cheating on him and with a very dangerous enemy of theirs at that. He would never be able to understand that. Her motivation for wanting to go with Duman. Her fellow Winx Club fairies would never be able to understand that either.
After everything they had all been through together. The war that the Trix had waged in their first year at Alfea, dealing with Lord Darkar in their second year, not to mention that debacle of a third year, all thanks to Valtor... She still shuddered at the thought of her Enchantix sacrifice and the time she spent trapped and isolated in the Omega Dimension.
And the things she heard and saw after they risked their lives to come and save her... How they all had tried to get revenge on Valtor all on their own without the Professors' assistance, the tears she heard Timmy had shed for her...
After all of that and then she had to go and do this.
She couldn't help but feel guilty at the thought. She wasn't all bad, was she?
And she wasn't the only member of the Winx Club that had caught a villain's eye. She was pretty sure that in some twisted way Valtor had had a thing for Bloom and even Anagan of the same Wizards of the Black Circle had expressed some attraction to Flora. She was the only one Flora had told, apparently.
But unlike her, Flora had never acted on that attraction.
Flora... she was a better person than she was for sure.
But whoever said that being the better person was ever fun?
What was supposed to be the prime years of her life at Alfea was always interrupted by the bad guys (and girls, could never forget the Trix and Mandragora, could we?). Was it so wrong she wanted to have fun for a change?
This kind of fun was wrong, but still...
Plus she'd been feeling really... off lately. Not ill, per se, but just... off. Like something wasn't right with her body.
Perhaps it was just the thrill of being with Duman. Perhaps it was the stress of being caught by Nabu. Perhaps it was the guilt of cheating on Timmy. Maybe it just was all of that taking a physical toll on her. The mental effects taking a physical effect on her body.
She didn't like to think of the alternative.