"Nice party, man. I'm really enjoying myself." Lucian said as he sat at a table with Nathan, Duncan and Malcolm.

"Thanks. I'll be sure to pass your kind words to the staff. They did the majority of the work, after all..." Malcolm smiled.

Just then, a loud burst of laughter came from a table some distance away, where Astoria, Elodie, Evanne, Sophia and a few other girls were sitting.

"What's so funny over there?" Duncan raised an eyebrow as he looked over.

"Don't interrupt the ladies when they're having their 'girl talk'. They really don't appreciate that..." Nathan noticed that Elodie in particular, didn't seem to appreciate the 'girl talk', judging by the rather sour expression on her face...

"How do you know that?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"I would rather not say..." Nathan said in a rush.

Lucian smiled a mischievous grin. "There's an interesting story behind that, really. Back home on Melody, we were working on a TV show- Harmony Vale..."

"Oh, I remember that! Was quite the hit for the three seasons you were on it and still is! I enjoyed your work on it, by the way..." Malcolm said.

"Well thanks. Anyway, we were on set and Nathan here decided to..."

"Don't you dare finish that story!" Nathan growled at his brother.

"...and he decides to..." Lucian ignored him.

While Lucian was telling the story, Malcolm looked around the room.

Stella and Brandon were talking to Riven and Aisha at their table and they seemed quite entertained at something, judging by their laughter.

Flora and Karel were coming back in from the gardens looking slightly dishevelled and suspiciously happy, which Stella seemed to spot and immediately waved them over to their table in a rather loud, animated fashion.

He also noticed that his sister and Kendra were going out into the gardens laughing as Alanis followed, close behind.

"...and then Sheila blasted him clear across the set and he landed in a box of costumes! That's not the best part. When he finally scrambled out, he was draped in a girl's sparkly ball gown!" Lucian snorted, causing Duncan and Malcolm to snort and laugh at the same time while Nathan scowled.

"How is Sheila, by the way?" Malcolm asked, once he caught his breath.

"Oh, she's fine. She's looking to take a bit of a break from acting herself and finally joining me at The Golden Auditorium this year..." Lucian smiled.

"Lucian has a thing for her..." Nathan stage-whispered.

Lucian reddened. "I do not!"

"Oh yes you do! Ever since the last season we did on HV before you went to The Auditorium and I went to RF. I'm your identical twin brother. You can hide nothing from me." Nathan grinned.

"Sometimes, I really hate you..." Lucian muttered.

"No you don't. You know you love me, bro..."

"Is this what it is like to have a brother?" Malcolm wondered.

"Don't ask me. I've only got Evanne and she's definitely a sister, remember?" Duncan shrugged.

Malcolm looked around and saw Alanis running back inside, alone. She had hitched up the skirt of her mint green dress so she could move faster.

She reached the table with Sophia and started talking to her older sister.

Judging by Alanis' body language and Sophia's apparent reaction to what she was being told as well as the other girls, Alanis was not being the bearer of good news.

"Gentlemen, I think we should go check on the ladies..." Malcolm inclined his head towards them.

"We probably should indeed..." Duncan was the first to follow Malcolm over.

"And... and..." Alanis was struggling to get the words out.

"Something the matter over here? Where's Tatiana and Kendra? I saw you go out into the gardens with them..." Malcolm said.

"They got carried off by a dragon!" Alanis wailed.

"They were what?!" Malcolm exclaimed.

"We were out in the gardens, just enjoying the flowers, plants and everything, you know? Tatiana was showing us around it. Those two were happy and laughing and I was just there to keep an eye on them. We had reached the far end of the gardens. Tatiana was just reaching for a flower to show us and... I tired firing energy blasts at it to get it to go away... But it just grabbed them and took off!" Alanis started to hyperventilate.

"Show us where it happened, Lan." Sophia said. "Breathe. We need to get Kendra back..."

"Okay..." Alanis led the way, her thick, magenta braid bouncing behind her.

"H... Here..."

Alanis didn't really have to say that since the area they were standing in was surrounded by crushed plants and bushes.

"Such beauty... Ruined..." Elodie said to herself quietly as she took it all in.

"I'm not magical so maybe my question will sound a bit stupid, but... Why did no one notice a dragon flying around this place, especially when it grabbed and flew off with two little girls- one of whom happened to be your sister and the other a daughter of a Winx Club member?!" Jessica asked Malcolm.

"That... is a good question, Jess..." Malcolm said, slightly distracted as he found strands of blonde hair on the ground.

"What do we do now?" Sophia asked.

"We'll go after the dragon and our sisters, of course. We have to hurry and get there before Tatiana and Kendra come to more harm!" Malcolm declared, letting the strands of hair he found fall through his fingers.

"We'll go find your parents and tell them!" Jessica and the other girls they'd been sitting with ran back inside.

"Thanks, Jess!" Malcolm called out as the brunette quickly disappeared.

The twins shrugged off their jackets and made them disappear, while Malcolm did the same with his jacket, taking the circlet off and wrapping it in the jacket before he did.

Astoria, Evanne, Elodie and Sophia quickly transformed.

Astoria's yellow top stopped just beneath her bust and hand dark gold straps and frills underneath it. Her miniskirt was dark gold with yellow shorts beneath and her dark gold stiletto boots went up above her knees. Gold gauntlets were around her wrists, a gold choker around her neck and three gold bracelets were on both her upper arms. Her hair now donned a gold headband and her hair was in a low ponytail pulled back by a gold band. The top half of her wings were triangular, the bottom half was rectangular and they had thick, gold outlining.

Evanne wore a blue mini-dress with one flowing-sleeve, with a string of pearls as the strap on her uncovered right shoulder. Pearls were around her waist, a pearl choker was around her neck and a pearl bracelet appeared on her right hand. Her hair went up into a braided afro with pearls at the end of each braid just before the afro began. Her dark blue boots with white platform heels stopped just below the knees and her wings were translucent, light blue and shaped like fins.

Elodie's hair became wavy and magenta pearl clips appeared on each side of her hair. The sleeves of her short-sleeved blouse were magenta with black trim and the chest line of the light pink top was black as well as three stripes on the front of her blouse which showed off her stomach. Her magenta mini-skirt had two layers of light pink frills around the hem and a thin, black sash was tied into a bow on the left side of her waist. Pink elbow-length gloves with black bands around the elbow formed, a black choker with a single pearl in the centre was around her neck and black, mid-calf, high-heeled boots were around her feet. Her wings were a translucent green and looked like simple leaves.

Sophia wore a red top that stopped a few inches below her bust with a grey stripe on top, connected to a strip of grey fabric that went up and around her neck. A thicker strip of red fabric went from her top to a silver belt with a circular buckle that went through black mini-shorts. Both her knee-high boots were flat-heeled, though the left boot was black and the right boot was red. Black wrist-length gloves formed around her hands and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail by a red and black band. Black-framed goggles appeared around her head and black and light blue butterfly wings sprouted from her back.

"Now what's your plan?" Alanis asked, not yet able to transform.

"Alanis, which direction did the dragon go in?" Malcolm asked back.

"That way..." Alanis pointed west.

"That direction is the way that the volcanic region is. Dragon's Hearth..." Malcolm whispered.

"Oh great! Now there's the double risk of them either being eaten or dropped into boiling lava!" Sophia exclaimed.

"We need an airship if we want to get there quick enough since you girls won't be able to fly that far, I can barely levitate and those other three can't fly at all..." Malcolm thumbed Duncan and the twins.

"If you can get that airship, I'll be able to fly it." Duncan suggested.

"Good. Astoria, you've only been there once. Do you know the Hangar well enough to teleport us there?" Malcolm turned to the Solarian Princess.

"Consider it done." Astoria activated the Sceptre.

"Alanis, go on back inside. We'll come back with them. Promise." Sophia hugged her sister and then watched as she ran off.

"Let's get going then!" Astoria swiped the Sceptre and they all disappeared.


Kendra came to and looked around.

And screamed when she realized where she was.

In the grasp of a dragon, several feet in the air.

Even if she did manage to get free of the dragon's grasps, she would still plummet to her death...

She looked across at the dragon's other front paw and saw her friend still unconscious.

"Don't worry, Tati. We'll get out of this... Somehow..." She said softly. "Our families will come after us..."


"I freaking love this ship!" Duncan exclaimed as he sat at the controls.

"Yeah. Just remember why you're flying it, brother dear..." Evanne reminded him from her seat somewhere in the back of the ship.

"Uh-huh... Duncan, what's that?" Sophia pointed to something on the radar.

"What's what?" Malcolm got up from his seat to take a look.

"I don't know... Hold on, it looks like it may be a dragon!" Duncan exclaimed.

"But is it our dragon?" Nathan asked, crowding around the radar as well.

"I don't know about that dragon, but I certainly know about this one!" Elodie pointed out the window.

"Oh my Dragon! It's a dragon! Dragon incoming!" Astoria freaked out.

"Activate the protective shield, quick!" Nathan's eyes widened.

Duncan pressed a blue button and the shield engulfed the ship.

"WOAH!"

Everyone was thrown off their feet or out of their seats when the dragon made impact with the ship's shield.

The ship spun around and around in the air throwing them from the floor to the ceiling and from side to side.

"My wings are fine..." Elodie groaned, rubbing them and flapping them slightly to test them.

"Your driving... flying... SUCKS!" Nathan complained from his spot on the floor, groaning.

"We got hit by a damned dragon! What the hell do you expect?!" Duncan shouted.

"Quit your squabbling and get this damned ship back on track! We've got two little girls out there to save!" Sophia screamed.

"Right. Sorry..." Duncan crawled back over to the controls and fought to bring it back to a level height.

"It's so dark out there... How are we going to see to find them?" Malcolm started to fret.

"Hello? I'm right here. I draw my powers from a light source, remember?" Astoria pointed out.

"Yeah. The sun, not the moon..." Evanne sounded confused.

"Thank goodness for that..." Elodie muttered darkly.

"Perhaps so, but I can still cast some sun spells at night and though I can't do very many, Grandmother Luna has taught me a few Lunar spells. I am so glad that she did..." Astoria explained.

"Good. We're almost to the border of Dragon's Heath. The ship will have to be parked somewhere on the flatlands that surround it. We can track the girls from there." Malcolm said as he took in the night landscape below.

"I hear you. This look like a good spot up ahead to land?" Duncan asked.

Malcolm walked over and looked around a bit.

"Sure. Go ahead. Activate the protective shield as we land and leave it on. We want a nice, whole ship to fly back in, after all..." He instructed.

"What about weapons? We can't go down into this Dragon's Hearth place unarmed..." Nathan pointed out.

"FOUND SOME!" Evanne rummaged in a large, metal box near the back of the ship and pulled out a few.

"Here, dude. You should use an energy gun." Nathan took one from her and handed it to Lucian while taking one for himself.

"How do I use this thing?" Lucian turned it over in his hands.

"Here. Let me show you..." Nathan took it back.

"Evanne, any scimitars in there?" Duncan called back.

Evanne hovered above the box and rummaged further.

"Yep!" She called.

"Save it for me!" Duncan instructed.

"Malcolm, you're going to need a weapon too..." Evanne pointed out.

"I know... Let's see... Ah! Butterfly swords..." Malcolm drew a pair out and found a utility belt to tuck them into.

"Since when do you know how to use those things?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"One does not simply be related to Nebula, the Major Fairy of War and Peace without her trying to teach you something about weaponry and war..."

"Ah... Something I did not consider..."

"Coming in for a landing, ladies and gentlemen!" Duncan warned.

Everyone went to take their seats for landing.

It was a rather turbulent landing, but everyone survived it.

Though some were a little worse for wear...

"Next time, I'll fly the ship..." Nathan said, looking distinctly green as they disembarked.

"You most certainly will not. Now, what's the plan, Malcolm?" Duncan turned to him.

"Elodie," Malcolm turned to the blue and black-haired fairy. "can you sniff them out or sense a disturbance in nature around here that might lead us towards the girls?"

Elodie sniffed the air. "I can't possibly smell them over the scent of all this sulphur. I can barely smell myself! As for sensing a nature disturbance... I'm not nearly as good at it as my mother is... I'll ask the... few plants here..."

Elodie knelt down and touched the ground.

She glowed a light green and her wings flapped slightly as she concentrated.

Everyone was completely silent as she worked.

"There is very little plant life that can grow in this area so their voice was weak, but... I got an answer. They tell me that a dragon flew over this very spot with two young fairies in that direction." Elodie pointed to her right.

"Let's get moving then!" Astoria activated her Sceptre and lit the way.


"Kendra, I'm scared... I wish my mom were here..." Tatiana whimpered as she and Kendra ran into a small cave that could barely hold them, barely evading a gust of flame from the dragon's mouth.

"Me too. I want my mom too... I don't want to be dragon food!" Kendra cried as the two girls held one another close.

The dragon's eye appeared at the mouth of the cave, looking directly in at them

The girls screamed and backed away further into the cave.

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die..." Tatiana chanted.

The girls screamed again when fire suddenly filled the cave, setting it on fire and trapping them further inside.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Kendra began to cry.

Just as suddenly as the flames filled the cave, so too did water, putting the flames out nearly instantly.

"Huh?" The other two girls' faces went from terrified to confused.

Three figures appeared outside the cave. Two winged females and a non-winged male, though they couldn't see their heads.

"Malcolm! You came to save us!" Tatiana cheered.

"And I brought along a few friends to help..." Evanne and Elodie's heads appeared alongside his.

"Come on! The dragon's being distracted!" Evanne beckoned and the two girls scrambled out.

In the sky above them, Astoria channelled silver energy through her staff that bound the dragon while Sophia did the same with her digital energy.

Nathan, Lucian and Duncan were fighting off wild, mountain lion-esque creatures around them.

"We've got the girls! Let's get out of here!" Evanne exclaimed.

She and Elodie converged to form a barrier that deflected every attack by the creatures.

Astoria and Sophia saw this and released their hold on the dragon, causing it to plummet into the ravine below.

Sophia flew as fast as she could towards them and grabbed Kendra, flying off with her and Astoria did the same for Tatiana.

"Morphix Discs!"

Evanne's spell made four discs of the versatile pink liquid appear and each male stood on one as they lifted off.

Just as Malcolm was to the other side of the ravine, the dragon flew back up suddenly, knocking him off his disc and sending him falling several feet below onto a small cliff.

Tatiana screamed. "Malcolm, no! My brother! Somebody save him now!"


Malcolm was disoriented from the fall. Groaning, he got to his feet slowly and looked around.

And started to panic when he realized where he was.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope..." He drew the butterfly swords and deflected a gust of flame narrowly.

"Some birthday party evening this turned out to be!" He exclaimed.

The dragon blasted one of his swords out of his hand.

He swore.

"Hang on, Malcolm!" Elodie flew down and grabbed him around the arms.

The dragon flew at them, nearly making Elodie lose her grip.

She was strong enough to carry him, but carrying him while trying to dodge or deflect the best attack attempts of a dragon was another matter entirely.

"Morphix Rope!"

Evanne formed a lasso around Elodie's waist and tried pulling her up, but wasn't strong enough so Sophia pulled her, Astoria pulled Sophia and Duncan pulled Astoria.

The dragon flew low over them, nearly making them all lose their grip.

Nathan and Lucian fired off blasts at it while Tatiana and Kendra ducked behind them.

The dragon sent a gust of flame at the Morphix rope, causing it to dissolve.

"Crap!" Evanne's eyes widened.

Elodie plummeted, suddenly losing the support she had.

The dragon was about to send more fire at them when a blur of wings and Windriders descended into the ravine.

"Stay away from our children!" Flora and Roxy cried out, firing off a giant convergence energy blast at the dragon.

It became even more infuriated and breathed a bigger gust of fire.

Sky flew in front of the gust on his motorcycle and deflected the majority of the fire.

"Roxy, Flora! GO!" He shouted.

Roxy grabbed Malcolm and Flora grabbed Elodie and quickly flew out of the ravine.

Elodie passed out and her fairy form faded away as her mother carried her.

"Malcolm, can you run?" His mother asked once they reached level land.

"Yeah, I think so..." Malcolm shook his head to clear it.

"Good. Run as fast as you can. I'll get your sister." Roxy grabbed the now catatonic Tatiana and flew off.

Malcolm focused for a brief moment, glowing silver. "Speed of a cheetah..."

The glow subsided and he glanced back at the ravine.

Bloom, Stella, Musa and Aisha were there with Sky, Brandon, Helia, Riven and Karel, holding off the dragon.

His mother, Flora and Tecna were already off with their respective daughters and the others were flying, running or riding off in the distance.

He took off behind them, catching up quickly thanks to his super speed.


"I know you all are tired, but I need to know exactly what happened from your point of view. Perhaps then I can figure out how it happened in the first place..."

Later that night, after most of the guests had gone home or slept in their temporary rooms in the palace, Nebula sat at the head of a table in what looked like a board room, talking to most of the older Winx children and their parents.

"Your Majesty, for us it started when Alanis came and told me about it. Astoria, Elodie and Evanne were at the table with me and I guess the guys saw us freaking out, so they came to see what was the matter..." Sophia started, sitting next to Tecna.

"That's right. Malcolm noticed and pointed it out to us, so we decided to find out what was going on." Lucian said, sitting with his brother and their parents, Musa and Helia.

Elodie took a sip of the herbal tea that her mother had brewed her before answering from her seat between Flora and Karel, who was rubbing his daughter's shoulder reassuringly.

"So Alanis took us out to the garden and told us the full story, showed us exactly where they were grabbed. You could tell. Broken shrubbery, scorch marks... strands of ginger and blonde hair..." Elodie shuddered at the thought.

"We came up with an initial plan. While we sent those who didn't have magic or couldn't use it much to go find our parents and so on, we decided to go after them. It's not like we could just leave Kendra and Tatiana out there. Not when the risk increased to them with every passing moment..." Duncan said, while Evanne nodded in agreement, Riven next to her and Aisha next to Duncan.

"And a good thing too. We barely saved them from being roasted alive..." Evanne added.

"Malcolm came up with the idea to..." Astoria yawned. "...to get an airship from the Royal Hangar and fly it out to Dragon's Hearth. I teleported us there with my Sceptre and we took one over. When we were on board, he told us everything he knew about the region and Evanne managed to find some weapons for the guys to use. We got there in good time with... relatively few obstacles..." Astoria shuddered at the memory of the dragon colliding with the ship. Stella and Brandon put a hand on either of their daughter's shoulders.

"Elodie did a tracker spell, asking the few plants she had to work with about Tatiana and Kendra. It worked and we found them. We divided up to get the girls and hold off the dragon as well as some mountain lion-ish things we encountered. Just as we were almost home free, everything went completely south..." Malcolm shuddered at how close he and Elodie had come to being dragon food.

"At which point, our parents show up and helped us finish the job..." Elodie finished her tea.

"Well for having such a short time to act, you actually came up with a decent strategy and I'm proud of you, Malcolm. You and everyone else who helped." Nebula turned to her great-nephew.

"Thank you, but I still messed up near the end. I should have kept an eye out for the dragon or restrained it somehow until we were all safely in the ship or something..." Malcolm hung his head.

"Stop beating yourself up! You did well. Without formal warrior training, you led a relatively successful rescue mission! Tatiana and Kendra are here and alive because of that!" Sky said from his seat next to Bloom.

Roxy looked across the table at the Eraklyonese king, silent for a few moments before speaking.

"Sky is right, Malcolm. We might have come after you but judging by what you've all told us about what happened before we got there, Tatiana and Kendra would be dead if you hadn't gone ahead!" Roxy exclaimed.

"Roxy is correct. Thank you. Thank all of you. I would rather not have had last evening marred by the deaths of our girls..." Tecna said, with Sophia half asleep on her shoulder.

Nebula nodded. "Indeed. Now, I know we all need our rest and you younger people have to go back to school... tomorrow, so you'd probably need today to sleep all you can. Go ahead and go on back to your rooms. I know all I need to know from you for now." Nebula motioned for them all to leave.


"Tatiana is all settled in and asleep..." Morgana and Klaus appeared in the doorway of the living room, where Malcolm was draped lazily across an armchair and Roxy was reading a book.

"Thanks, mom, dad..." Roxy hugged them. Even though she was an adult with one (young) adult child herself, she still appreciated her parents' hugs.

"No problem, Roxy. She'll bounce back. Tatiana has spunk. This incident might have spooked her, but she'll be back to normal soon..." Morgana smiled.

"You were brave out there, Malcolm. Don't think about what you did wrong, but what you did right. Remember that you saved your sister's and her friend's lives just by being there with the others..." Klaus said.

"You're right, Grandpa..." Malcolm got his own hug.

"We will see you soon. Tatiana's the only one of us who's gotten to sleep so far even with what she just went through..." Morgana opened a portal back to Gardenia and she and her husband waved to Roxy and Malcolm as they disappeared.

"I think it's time for us to follow their lead..." Roxy yawned.

"I agree with you there, Mother..." Malcolm stretched and followed his mother out the room.

"Well, Malcolm, I know that it was an... eventful evening for you..." Roxy said as she walked with him up the stairs.

"...it was even more eventful for Tatiana and Kendra..." Malcolm yawned.

"Indeed..."

They reached the top of the stairs.

"Wait, Malcolm." Roxy put an hand on her son's shoulder as he turned to go into his room.

"This... is for you." Roxy snapped her fingers and a large, purple envelope appeared in her hand.

Malcolm took it and looked at it.

"Thanks... I guess..." He said, putting it under his arm.

"He asked me to give that to you... Try not to think of us too badly once you're through with it..." Roxy smiled at Malcolm weakly as she turned to head to her own room, without another word to him.

"Why would I..." He thought as he went into his room.

He was tired, but something told him to stay up to examine the contents of the envelope he held.

Pulling his sheets up around himself, he propped up his pillows and reached for the bedside lamp, turning it on.

He inspected the envelope closer.

The back of it was sealed with red wax and imprinted with an impression that he guessed was made by a signet ring.

"This impression... It's the crest of the royal family of Eraklyon. But... why would..."

As he moved his fingers across the seal lightly, it glowed slightly and opened.

"Charmed specifically that it would only open for me..." He raised an eyebrow as he lifted out the single sheet of cream-coloured paper.

The texture was slightly ribbed, almost like the fancy sort of paper that people would print invitations to high-society galas on and was even slightly warm as if it had just emerged from a printer, though the text on it was written by hand in dark blue ink.

The writing was refined; well practiced, as though the person who wrote it had been trained in calligraphy as he himself was- at the insistence of his grandmother.

His own natural handwriting didn't look nearly this neat though...

He settled in to read.

" Dear Malcolm,

You've only recently turned eighteen, which I understand is the age of adulthood in your world, though justifiably, you had every single right to know what I am about to reveal to you in this letter long before now.

Your mother was prepared to tell you all this, but me... I was afraid. Afraid of the consequences of my actions- even though they resulted in two wonderful, wonderful people being brought into existence. Try not to blame your mother too much. We share equal blame for this, though I refused to believe that for years and did not want to accept my half.

You have already met me. Several times in fact. Just not in the role I should have. I did the 'fathering thing' from behind the scenes. Every year on your birthday, I would send you and your sister gifts. Roxy sent me a picture of you when you turned four. I had sent you a stuffed blue dinosaur with your initials on the bottom that was about three feet tall and nearly dwarfed you at the time, and a book about dragons, the closest magical equivalent. She told me that blue was your favourite colour and that you had an obsession with dinosaurs at the time. You seemed to love it, judging by that picture of you hugging it so tightly that you threatened to squeeze the stuffing out of it...

However, mere material gifts are not important. You are my son and I should have been a better man and a better father to you and Tatiana. I should have ignored the guaranteed gossip and detractors that I feared and done the right thing.

Which is why I want to do this. I want to officially acknowledge you and your sister as heirs to the throne of Eraklyon. If you and Tatiana want it, then your mother and I can work out the finer details of who inherits which throne.

I know that this may seem sudden and that several negative emotions must be going through your mind towards your mother and I- especially me- as you read this.

I know that there is much more to be said than what can fit in a mere letter. I won't try to fit it all here. I know that I can't do that. I want to meet you in person. As your father. Not just as the King of Eraklyon, but as a man who is trying to make things right for his children.

Please, give me a chance to do this. Even though you or your sister may not want to become the next King- or Queen- of Eraklyon, at least let me talk to you in the role you never knew me as. Your father. You do not have to rush. Take the time to think things over and contact me in your own time at my personal communication channels. It doesn't matter which. Roxy will know how to, of course. Ask her to help you.

I ask you again, please let me talk to you as the father that I should have been. I do not expect you to forgive me, but you at least deserve to know everything.

Happy Belated Birthday (though that might not be much so after reading this),

Your Father,

Sky. "

Malcolm's eyes widened and his hands shook as he finished reading the letter.

Slowly resting the letter down on the bedside table, he rose out of bed, carefully detangling himself from the sheets.

Heading straight for his walk-in closet, he felt around for the light switch.

As light flooded the closet, he opened a hidden door at the very back by holding his hand up to a scanner seemingly randomly placed at that part of the wall. The wall opened up to reveal the small, secret room where he stored his most prized possessions.

In that farthest corner sat a rather large, stuffed blue dinosaur.

"All this time... my favourite childhood toy came from him... And I never knew..." He lifted it up and ran his hands on the bottom, feeling the embroidery of his initials: M.A.Z.K. Malcolm Alan Zachary Klaus.

"Oh my god..." He sunk to the floor, holding the dinosaur close.

"George... you came to me from Sky... my father is Sky... why did I not see... Sky is... Oh my god... He's married to Bloom and he still was when I would have been born. Tatiana too... Hooooooooooooooly crap, my mother, a Crown Princess, had an affair with a married king and that produced me and my sister... Oh my god..." His eyes widened and he felt himself beginning to panic at the mere thought.

He shook even more violently as the meaning sunk in.

"Okay, Malcolm. Breathe. Calm down. You can do this..." He stood up and put George away, locking the secret room and leaving the closet.

He got into bed and read the letter again several times, muttering to himself as he did.

After a while, he finally put the letter away and laid back down, though the sleepiness he had felt earlier was now long gone.

"Well..." Malcolm thought as he stared up at the ceiling. "It doesn't look like I'll be getting any sleep tonight... This morning rather..."

"I can't stay in this bed. I might as well get up and go make myself some hot chocolate..." He swung out of bed and walked slowly down the stairs.

"Sky is my father... Mine and Tatiana's father..." He stirred his large mug of hot chocolate that practically overflowed with marshmallows without really paying attention to it.

"I still can't believe this. What do I do now?!" He wondered. "I can't look at mom and Sky... my father... the same way again... I just can't..."