So here it is! The conclusion to The Journey to the Tree of Renewal. First off I would like to thank all of my readers for taking the time to read my story and my reviewers for letting me know what you think. I'm excited because this is the first multichapter story that I have completed, I won't say this is my best work but still I hope someone enjoys it. Please review and let me know what you think of the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Winx Club if, I did then Nabu never would have been killed off in the first place...

~aquariawinx~

Part VII

Musa threw shot after shot at Darcy, but Darcy only reflected each of the blows sending them back on Musa. Reacting as quickly as possible Musa threw up a shield that was easily destroyed by Darcy's final attack.

How had these witches gotten so strong? Musa wondered to herself. Looking out of the corner of her eye she could see Flora was having trouble with Stormy as well. Every attack Flora sent her way Stormy sent right back on her. Thinking quickly Musa called Flora over.

"We can't beat them on our own." Musa said to Flora. "We need to converge our powers."

The two fairies summoned up their strongest attacks and watched as the two attacks melded into one. "Harmonic wind!" The two fairies shouted together sending the attack on the two unsuspecting witches knocking them out of the air, but the two witches quickly recovered from the attack and came back with a vengeance.

Bloom and Icy were engaged in an intense battle, Bloom countering all of Icy's ice attacks with her fire attacks.

"Dragon fury!" Bloom shouted sending a blast of fire Icy's direction.

Icy skillfully ducked and dodged the attack. Then throwing her hands up in the air she conjured up as much dark energy as she could gather and hurled the attack in Bloom's direction.

Bloom took the attack head on knocking her out of the air and she began to make her descent to the ground below.

Flora who had been in battle with Stormy only a few meters away flew after Bloom hoping to catch her before she would plummet to the ground but it was inevitable. There was no way any of them could catch her in time.

"Bloom!" Flora shouted the red headed fairies name moments before she would make impact with the ground.

Bloom knew that would be it for her. The impact could probably even kill her considering the height of the fall. Closing her eyes she began to brace herself preparing to hear the sound of her bodying hitting the ground below, but the sound never came. She felt herself land in a pair of arms. "I've got you." A familiar male voice said to her. Slowly opening her eyes she saw Sky's clear blue eyes looking back at her.

"You're awake," was all Bloom managed to say before completely blacking out.

Looking around at his team, Riven hated to admit it, but they were losing. Bloom was completely gone and Tecna had fainted right at the beginning of the battle from exhaustion and being drained of her power. Stella wasn't of much help with a broken wrist and the abrasions on her arm. Sky was taking care of Bloom and Timmy was with Tecna. That only left Flora, Musa, and himself, and of course the pixies, but it wasn't much the pixies could do, but hit the witches with little bursts of magic.

"Enough of this!" Icy shouted in irritation. Flying over to Stormy who was once again in battle with Flora, "Ice coffin!" Icy shouted encasing the nature fairy in a tomb of ice that came up to her waist. "Give us the sap!" Icy demanded of the fairy of nature.

"We don't have it." The nature fairy responded.

"I'm not going to ask you again." The ice witch said focusing her eyes in on Flora's vibrant green ones. "Where is the sap?"

Even though Icy hadn't laid a hand on her Flora could feel a set of hands tightening around her neck restricting the air flow. In a state of panic Flora began clawing at her neck trying to get the invisible hand to relinquish its hold on her.

"You heard what she said, we don't have the sap." Musa said throwing an attack at Icy's unguarded back causing Icy to lose concentration.

"So where is it?"

"You won't get it in time." Musa said taunting the witch. "Layla is nearly to the temple. By time you get there she would have brought Nabu back and that means no sap for you."

"We'll see about that now won't we?" Was all that Icy said before soaring away followed by both Darcy and Stormy.

Musa hoped Layla and Roxy had already gotten to the temple. They had held off the Trix for as long as they could but if she didn't do what she had done; Icy probably would have killed Flora.

Slowly making her descent to the ground below, Musa landed softly on her heels. Turning to Riven she asked, "How do you think we should get Flora out of the ice?"

With the help of one of Timmy's gadgets they were able to shatter the ice into many piece releasing Flora from its hold. She fell to the floor gasping for air. Even though the hands that had been choking her were invisible they could still all see the imprint of fingers on Flora's neck. Looking around at her friends Musa could see they were all in bad shape. Bloom was still unconscious as was Tecna, and Stella hadn't even been able to stop the bleeding from her arm wound.

"We still have to get to Layla, Roxy, and Helia." Said Riven.

"But… the others c-can't… go on." Flora's breathing had yet to return back to normal. She held her hand to her chest as if it would steady her frantically beating heart.

Looking Flora over Musa wasn't sure it would even be safe for her to move on either. But they needed as many to go with them as possible. "He's right Flora, Layla and the others will need our help. The Trix are way to powerful."

"But our friends are injured we can't just leave them that way!" Flora just couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did they really think they should just leave the rest of their friends behind? She understood that Layla need their help, but that did that mean it was okay to just leave their injured friends behind.

"Codatorta that the mission is the most important thing," Riven understood where Flora was coming from. He didn't want to leave his friends behind either, but what other choice did they have? "We need to make sure that Layla gets the sap to the temple and brings Nabu back."

Even though the decision was hard Riven, Musa, Flora, Timmy, and all the pixies continued on to the temple leaving Sky and Brandon behind to care for the injured.

Almost there. Layla thought in relief.

She could see the temple just ahead. The tall white granite columns were coming into view. Just a few more yards and they'd be there. Then she began to think about the friends they had left behind.

Were they okay? God she hoped so. She hated not knowing if they were okay. Horrible scenarios kept playing out in her mind. She tried her best not to think negative, but they hadn't heard anything from them.

"We're here." Roxy said before landing on her feet.

Landing a few feet from her Layla looked up at the tall temple before them. The temple of Ardwinna, Layla read the gold plate that was placed just above the entrance to the temple. On the façade of the temple there were many pictures of the goddess Ardwinna with many different animals after all she was the goddess of wildlife.

"His body is being held in the room at the very top of the temple." Said Roxy.

"Well I guess we should get going." Layla said leading the way into the temple.

Roxy began following after Layla but Helia didn't move.

"Are you coming?" Roxy asked the blue haired specialist.

Turning and looking back at the horizon Helia said in voice only low enough for Roxy to hear, "Someone is coming." Helia did not inherit the magical capabilities that both his father and uncle possessed but he could however feel magical vibrations and he could sense dark magic coming their way.

"And by someone you mean the Trix?" Roxy asked hoping she was wrong.

Helia only nodded his head.

"What about the others?"

"I can't sense their magic."

Roxy could feel her pulse elevate. "That doesn't mean that they're dead does it?"

"We won't assume the worst. It could mean that they're weak." Helia continued looking back at the horizon. "We must hurry and get the sap to Nabu." Helia said heading toward the temple but before he could make it up the first step there was a loud explosion.

Helia quickly threw up his shield to protect him and Roxy from the explosion. Layla who had already made up the steps stood there frozen in fear holding the jar even closer to her body.

"We've had enough of this." Layla heard a familiar voice say. Looking up into the night sky she saw the three witches, their faces set in a scowl. "We tried to do this the easy way, but that's fine." Said Icy. "We prefer smashing things anyway."

Taking that as their cue both Darcy and Stormy began throwing blast of dark energy into the temple and at Layla and the others.

"Get to Nabu!" Roxy called to Layla while throwing up a shield around her and Helia. "We'll hold them off for as long as we can!"

Layla quickly ran inside the temple and made a break for the stairs. She could feel the building around her shaking and she hoped the building wouldn't fall. Grabbing hold to the railing with her free hand she braced herself as another one of Darcy and Stormy's blasts hit the building. She quickly regained her composure and then continued up the long winding steps.

"Give me the jar." Layla heard a voice say from behind her. She didn't have turn around to know that it was Icy.

"Never," Was all that Layla managed to say before having to dodge one of Icy's blasts.

Layla could hear a deep growl escape Icy's throat. "You'll regret that decision fairy." And by the look in her eye Layla could see that Icy meant it.

Roxy wasn't nearly as experienced as the winx girls, and yet here she was facing two of the witches without any of their help. Luckily she had Helia with her. With him being non-magical there wasn't much he could do but block their attacks with his sword or shield.

"We have to get them to stop hitting the temple." Helia said to Roxy. By the looks of the exterior of the building it didn't look like it could take much more. The columns were already tilted at odd angles and another blow could send the place crashing down.

"Well how do you suppose we do that?"

"With our help." Said a deep male voice.

Riven and the others had come to their aid. Although Roxy normally couldn't stand Riven and his constantly changing mood she had never been happier to see him.

"We need to take these two down and go help Layla." Roxy explained to the others. "Layla is in the temple alone with Icy."

"Sonic blast!" Musa said giving Darcy and Stormy a powerful blast. The blast knocked the witches backward and using his laser string glove Helia wrangled up the two witches.

Roxy sighed in relief and collapsed down onto her knees. And she thought the Wizards of the Black Circle had been hard to defeat, but those witches had a lot of dark energy in them. "I'm too weak to keep going." Roxy said to the rest.

"I'm going to help Layla." Said Musa. "Flora and Helia will stay with you. Riven and I will go into the temple."

Musa had to help her friend. Layla had been through so much since Nabu's death. She wouldn't do anything at all but lay in bed and eat when it was absolutely necessary. There were times when Musa would come in her room checking to make sure she was okay. She didn't want to worry the others but there were times Musa worried that Layla might cause actual harm to herself. Musa wouldn't stand to see Layla like that ever again. She would make sure they brought Nabu back even if it meant destroying the ice witch.

Layla wove back and forth dodging every shot Icy threw at her. She was now outside of the room where Nabu's body was being kept, but she had to find some sort of way to stall Icy. She hesitated for a moment outside the door and peeped inside. She could see Nabu's body laying on the bed they had prepared for him. The room was filled with many flower arrangements and scented candles. She feared bringing Icy in the room. She didn't want anything to happen to Nabu's unconscious body.

"Enough is enough." Layla heard Icy's voice say. "I've had it. Give me the sap!" To emphasize her point she sent a long fine tipped ice sickle Layla's way.

Layla could feel the very tip of the ice sickle tear against her arm. Looking down at her arm she saw that it had only grazed her but still there was a stream of blood spilling from her arm. Lifting her good arm she shouted, "Morphix rope!" She watched as the lavender colored roped streamed from the palm of her hand and wrapped itself around Icy.

She knew it would only keep Icy trapped for a short amount of time so she had to move quickly. Running into the room she hurried to Nabu's side. She struggled for a moment with the cap on the jar but after taking a quick breath to calm her nerves she twisted the cap off. Lifting the jar above his head she tilted the jar at an angle watching as the thick amber colored sap slowly made its way to the mouth of the jar.

"Come on." Layla whispered to herself trying to hurry the process along. But then the jar was unexpectedly blown from her hand from her hand. The jar disintegrated from the explosion along with the sap.

Looking back she saw Icy standing in the doorway.

"You've destroyed it, now not even you can use it." Layla said dropping her gaze.

"Had you handed it over it wouldn't have come to this." Said Icy. "Now try and bring him back." Icy said jeering at the fairy. "Not even your love can bring him back now." Icy said before shimmering away

The echoes from her dream came back to her.

Not even love…

Layla didn't try to fight the tears. After everything they had been through they still lost. Now Nabu would never come back.

"Layla," Musa saw her face was streaked with tears.

Layla turned to see Musa and Riven standing in the doorway. The pixies weren't far behind. "All of our efforts were in vain." Layla's voice shook as she spoke.

Musa had been trying to avoid this she hated seeing Layla like this. "Well we can go back to Natura and go back to the tree." Musa said softly. "There's still hope."

"Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be."

"That is not true." Amore the pixie of love said flying to Layla's side.

But Layla ignored the pixie. Laying her head on Nabu's chest she began to weep. "I'm sorry." She said between sobs to Nabu's unconscious body. "I failed you."

Overcome with grief for her friend Musa buried her head in Riven's chest and began to sob. She hadn't wanted any of this to happen. All the pixies began to cry as well and even Riven shed a tear or two.

But then Layla felt a surge of magic coming from Nabu's body. Lifting her head she saw his body had begun to glow. The room filled with a bright light and then there was a sudden discharge of positive energy. Then the most unbelievable thing happened. Nabu's eyes opened.

"Layla." The wizard called to the ebony skinned fairy.

"Nabu?" She said in disbelief, "Your alive."

A grin spread across his face. "All thanks to you."

"But how?" Layla asked turning to Amore.

The pixie of love could only smile. "True love can break any spell."

"Faragonda said that it could only be broken by the most ancient and powerful of magic." Layla said recalling the conversation they had in Faragonda's office.

"Love is the most ancient and most powerful of all magic."

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