Sorry for taking so long. But I have to hide my story from my parents. I don't want them to know that I write a story about Winx. Well, I am 17... But I just can't help it. I like these Italian fairies and will do what I want. ENJOY!

Soundiria.

It really existed. At first Musa was too shocked to believe in what she saw. What the other day was her worst nightmare turned into a fantastic dream which explained everything that happened latterly. It was so great to see with her own eyes Matlin's story was not a load of squit. She really cared about her only daughter and wanted to bring her home.

Even if the planet was a giant grey sphere looking like a dried-up apple, the fact that one could notice a symbol of music on its ground, probably made of mountain ranges, from very afar made it amazing anyhow. It was the biggest planet she had ever encountered. Apart from this colossus there were only dwarf stars that could be moons, dead comets or who knows what else. But they were like dead, deep frozen, levitating around the planet oodles of space junk. And no star shined in the sky which was also denuded of its blackness. Everything seemed to be deprived of life.

Eleven young people in a spaceship similar to an ant in comparison with the great planet were staring at these things with dried throats and bulging eyes. A moment ago they thought their life was over and they will never see their families again. So little did they know about a wonderful view which was waiting in the alleged black hole.

- Oh boy… - Aisha's brief sigh was enough to define admiration and amazement of each of them. - Do you see what I see? – she barely spluttered.

- I guess it wasn't actually a black hole. – Helia noticed.

- So what it was? A portal? – Bloom wondered.

- Belike. But what the hell is this place? – Brandon glanced through the grey space.

- Maybe it's another dimension! – Stella gave Tecna a meaningful look. The fairy of technology rolled her eyes.

- May it be… - she replied vaguely.

There was a silence for a while.

- So, we are gonna get there, right? – Riven spoke to Musa who wasn't in fact listening to her friends' conversation.

Mhm. I think this is what we were going here for.

- Yeah. It's high time. – She turned to the others. Her eyes were shining with hope. Seeing that, Winx and boys also felt better.

- Hey, look here, guys. – Sky called them, pointing on the navigation map.

They were amazed that the red triangle was the only thing on the grid. No bodies were detected and no descriptions were showing up. Where there should be a dimension's name and coordinates there was just nothing.

- Weird… - Brandon rubbed his chin. – Conked out?

- I wouldn't be surprised considering all these upheavals. – Timmy said, looking at the machineries.

- Is this mean that we are stuck? – Flora asked.

- Don't worry, I think it just doesn't recognize the place we are in. Everything should go well while landing on the planet. – Helia allayed his girlfriend.

He was right. Boys took their seats and directed the vehicle right towards the planet without any problems. As they were approaching Soundiria, the planet was getting bigger and bigger. Its grayness weighed them down and what's more, a cavernous swirl of clouds, which wasn't so visible earlier, was covering the surface.

- There will be some problems with landing, I am afraid… - Sky warned them. - These clouds are very dense.

- Turn on the lights. – Aisha said. - If something is on our way, we will see it.

So he switched the lights on. But no sooner did two long sheaves of light appear than they immediately vanished as if the clouds soaked them up.

- Or not. – Aisha looked disappointed that her plan didn't work.

- So what now? – Stella was worried, gazing at Musa.

And what do you think? I am not giving up so quickly.

- Going ahead. – Musa replied briefly.

- Musa, what if we crash? – Flora peeped. – We don't know what is behind the clouds!

- We can't give up now when we are so close! – Musa exploded.

Nobody answered. They also didn't want to give up. But what could they do?

Musa leaned against the window.

They were right: behind it there could be sharp rocks, boughs and loads of other things that threatened every vehicle not mentioning possible tornadoes, storms or evil creatures. Even Matlin couldn't predict what was happening on Soundiria. And what if magic didn't work there after the war? Could it be just a dead planet with no oxygen?

I won't know if I don't go there.

She raised her head.

- Look. I am gonna do everything to find the way. I can't use it properly yet but… I am said to be the ruler of this planet, ain't I? – She hadn't got used to her new title.

- Yeah, and the only one to use it. – Tecna nodded.

Seeing expressions of her friends' faces, Musa smiled tightly. She turned to the window. Clouds, clouds everywhere. She started gazing at them, trying to catch the smallest thing that could not be a piece of grey amorphous mass. Whatever it would be, she had to find something. And Chiavix was the only thing that could help her.

She touched the pendant. To her astonishment, the beating was not calm. It was pounding fast and unevenly as predicted danger. She got a scare.

It doesn't sound good. But I have to go there whether I am scared or not.

Not paying attention to the pulsing of a funky heart anymore, Musa clasped it in her hands.

Give us some light, please.

It shined. It was the first time Chiavix was obedient to her but she wasn't glad. She gritted her teeth; the pendant was now glowing and it didn't have any influence on the clouds. They didn't disappear, turn dissipated, show them any way. Nothing what Musa asked for.

You goddamn geegaw! Is that all you can do?! Stop playing with me! I try to communicate with you every which way but YOU JUST SHIT ON ME! You show me that you are scared but tell me why! Why? WHY?! You don't want me to go there? Great! Now I can go back home with a clear conscience!

- Musa, it reacted! – Stella exclaimed and cringed as Musa glared at her.

- You don't say? – The black haired girl replied rudely.

- Tell it to show us the way! – Bloom said.

- I told it to give us some light. – Musa claimed. – To dissipate the clouds.

- Maybe it didn't understand? Try make yourself more clear. – Flora advised her.

The fairy of music had to admit she was right. In fact, Chiavix did what she asked for. Some light. She didn't say what exactly the light was for.

Sorry. My bad. Please, make the clouds come apart.

And she felt a cold wave overtaking her body. Hearing her friends holding their breaths, she opened her eyes to notice the white fog was slowly disappearing, showing something grey-black behind itself.

- WATCH OUT! – Riven yelled as he quickly recognized that SOMETHING was a scraggy stone spire. A second later they would have crashed into it if Timmy, steering the spaceship, hadn't turned left immediately.

The fairies, surprised with a sudden bend, lost their balance and fell onto each other.

- Auch! – Stella clamored when Aisha fell on her, pressing the blonde girl to the floor.

- Hold on, ladies! – They heard Brandon's voice.

There were a lot of new stone spires around them. A single turn didn't save them from meeting another one, and another near it. Wherever Timmy rounded a bend, next dangerous rocks emerged from the fog. It seemed like they found themselves in a place bespangled with mountains.

Suddenly, the spaceship's tail hit into a bunchy rock. It swayed and crashed edgeways against a rocky wall. Boys started shouting over themselves and after a second they were flying ahead again yet still threateningly wobbling.

- The rear motor is damaged! We won't fly like that very long so…

Neither Musa nor other girls heard everything. The spaceship struck again. Forward rolling among the mountains, the vehicle made them feel like they got into the ,,black hole'' again. Fairies cried aloud, ramming with boys against the walls, the ceiling and the floor.

Musa felt Riven's body nearby. She clung to his chest and he hugged her in reply. She knew that it was the end. They will crash into something and die instantly. Die on a mountainous, grey, lifeless fucking planet they were looking for stubbornly. They were about to pay with life for their ambitious plans.

Her friends will die and it was her fault. Musa felt guilty when that thought appeared in her mind. They needn't have gone here with her. A stupid pendant changed HER life, not theirs. She could her friends crying. If she was able to speak at that moment, she would yell ,,Sorry''. But she wasn't.

The spaceship went slam bang into the ground. Everything went black.

- Musa?

She blinked, hearing her name. Her boyfriend's fuzzy face with troubled purple eyes was the only thing she could recognize in a mess of dark colors and shapes.

He helped her to get up. Surprised, she noticed that the floor was upstairs and they all stood on the ceiling. The ship was upside down. The lights went out so there was gloom.

- Is everything okay? – Musa asked to make sure her sight is still good. Deep down she was glad to see everyone alive, without visible physical damage (not counting girls' tousled hair).

- Yeah. O, god, that was dangerous. – Bloom moaned, massaging her back.

- It is a miracle that we are all not dead. – Sky said, glancing over smashed windows.

Musa came up to one of the windows, sidestepping pieces of broken seats on her way.

It looked like they cannoned into congeries of rocks. She could see only their black surface beyond a mosaic of broken windowpanes. And her reflection that looked like a bad done jigsaw puzzle.

- Well, my dad kept on saying: If you land on a new place, do it classy. – Stella quoted her father. – I think that our landing will be remembered for years! – she said optimistically.

- Sweetie, that place doesn't look heavily populated. – Flora reminded Soundiria's semblance they had seen.

- I am not surprised. – Stella got up and conjured a little hand mirror to check how badly her hairstyle was damaged. – Sorry, Muse, your planet must have been really beautiful since it was full of immigrants but now it doesn't look invitingly at all!

- I remind you there was a war! – Musa snapped. She was tired of the blonde fairy's wise afterthoughts.

- I am afraid the ship will not fly again. – Helia maintained, running his hand over the machineries. – The engines are out. And this way we won't open the door.

Musa headed towards the entry. Her glowing pendant lighted creased door. She notified that they were not completely closed. A gap between it and the wall showed some stones under and a piece of grey sky. However, the gap was too narrow to squeeze through it to the other side.

- Hey! – she called them pointing on the hole. – I found the way out.

They came up to her inquisitively, turning their looks on the creased door.

- If you push it, I will be able to go outside.

- You won't go alone! – Riven expostulated.

- Riven, I am gonna be okay! – Musa ensured him. – Just push the door and I will carefully come out to see where exactly we are.

- You don't know whether we are stuck on the mountain! – Riven didn't give up.

- I am a fairy and I can fly! – Musa stamped her foot with anger. - Push that fucking door and I will know where we are!

- Come on, Riven. – Aisha spoke up. – We will go after her.

- No, guys, firstly I have to check this place myself. – Musa said. She didn't want to put them in danger again. It was her planet and she wanted do make sure that it is not a dangerous area.

- Oh, Musa… - The black haired girl didn't let Bloom finish. Musa tiptoed to have a closer look at what she could see through the gap.

- We are upside down. So when you push the door I will squeeze through it and sit on the underbelly. I will look around and tell you what I see, deal?

Her friends exchanged looks and muttered some kind of ,,Deal''.

- Be careful. – Flora whispered.

- Riven, give me a bunk up. – Musa turned to her boy. He got down and she sat on his arm. Now she could easily reach the gap. The others braced their hands onto the door.

- On three. – Sky ordered. – One, two… Three!

They try to push it with all their might. But the gap got bigger with only few millimeters.

- Try again! – Musa called.

So they did. Grunting and gasping, they kept on pushing it for several long minutes. The door were probably blocked. It was creaking loudly every time they retried to move it. Musa was observing them with fading hope in her eyes. The gap was still too tight.

Hmm, interesting whether Chiavix could give me some strength?

She put one hand on the pendant and the other on the door.

Help us with opening the door.

The cold wave went through her arms. She felt immediately stronger and when she pushed the door at the same time as her friends who were red faced already, the door squeaked horribly. But to her joy it moved. She caught the edge of it and, with Riven's help, hitched up. The sharp pieces of metal scratched her arms but she didn't care. She was half outside.

- Stop! That's enough! – she shouted. The gap was wide enough then so they didn't need to get tired any longer. Musa succeeded in dragging her legs through the gap and she sat down on the underbelly as she arranged.

The spaceship cut into a crack in the middle of a grey dessert. The ground was fissured and dried out. There was no single tree or bush around. Far far away Musa could recognize outline of mountains; their color intermingled with the sky. Everything was grey and sad. Musa would do everything to see this place twenty years ago.

- How it is, Muse?

- It's a dessert, I think… - she replied. She moved over for Riven and got up. The magenta hair boy looked around as his head emerged from the gap.

- It's a bit… solitary. – he said, sitting where Musa had sat before.

- Really, Mr Smart-ass? – The black haired girl blew a raspberry.

- Oh, stop. – Riven snarled. He slipped off the fuselage onto the ground. Musa went after him.

- Is everything okay? – Bloom's voice sounded from the ship.

- Yes. – Musa answered short.

She went ahead slowly, keeping a sharp lookout. Tiny stones were scrunching under her feet. It was stuffy, no wind was blowing. One could hear a pin drop if not considering her friends' voices.

Despite knowing she was an infant when the war broke up Musa tried to remember anything. A slightest flash of memory. It was her homeland so she had to know subconsciously where exactly she was then. There were no ruins of buildings around so she inferred that people lived somewhere else.

Mum? Do you hear me? Please, I would love you to be with me right now. I am here. Now show me where to go.

But the pendant didn't glow like it did before. It didn't create a beam of white light which turned into her mother. Matlin didn't speak up. Yeah, sure, gotta go on my own, huh?!

Matlin said that she will be with her whenever she needs. Was it a temporary promise? Musa got angry. She looked down on her feet. There was a long crack under her sole. But it was different. The ones she saw earlier weren't so even and didn't look like a scuffmark. As if a big animal with large claws scraped the surface while fighting…

She fancied a view of various animals and people combating with each other. Mutants, black eagles screaming the place down, growling shaggy creatures, fairies flapping their wings and using their magic against the furious army of her father, the person she trusted for so long. Musa almost felt fear of these poor inhabitants, tears watering their eyes and blood spurting when an enemy turned out to be defter…

- Muse?

Tecna took her out of thought. Musa threw an awful image away.

- Something happened? – Her pink haired friend asked.

- I was just wondering… - Musa responded, hiding the scuffmark with a foot.

- Me too. – Tecna nodded. – I tried to use my navigation cell to create a map that would show us the area but it doesn't recognize the planet.

- I don't understand. – Musa sighed. – Was the war so dire that there is no single sign of…

- MUSA!

Aisha's voice pealed in the silence. The brown haired fairy was standing several hundred meters further. Musa ran up to her; Aisha was pointing downhill with a negative shock on her face. And Musa saw why.

They looked on the most horrible view girls had ever seen. Tears misted Musa's eyes seeing a huge city down the hill they were standing on. Or it should be called the last of the city. Structures of enormous, high buildings along with the smaller and wide ones with a grey strip rambling among them, areas with burnt tree trunks, cracked roads, half broken bridges, a dried up sea way off in the distance. With a grey sky above it all was a perfect postwar scenery. Grey. Burnt. Destroyed. Abandoned. Just like the cottage on the coast near the hotel...

The fairy of music felt Riven's hand on her shoulder. Her lips started to shiver. She even didn't feel like sheding a tear off her cheek. She could hardly breath. She knew it wouldn't look like a paradise after a war, besides Matlin warned them that she didn't know what was happening on this planet. But Musa didn't expect her homeland would look that dismally.

Dad... HOW COULD YOU DONE THIS?

They decided to sleep one night (though they didn't distinguish day and night on Soundiria) in an only one well-preserved enough house in the outskirts. Admittedly its walls were bedraggled and it wasn't the comfiest cottage but their spaceship wasn't better. They put several sleeping bags, blankets and packs with food in one of bigger rooms. Feeling worn out after a long and dangerous journey and pity for what they found, they started to tuck themselves to sleep.

Aisha saw Riven leaning against the column. He was looking at his girlfriend, sitting alone on the cliff with her head hidden in legs.

- Go. She needs you now... - The fairy of waves spoke up to the magenta haired specialist. Not saying a word he did what she told him. Aisha observed him walking towards Musa, jealously.

- Nabu...

- I want to go home.- Musa whispered.

- Musa, you are at home. - Riven reminded her.

- It WAS but I don't remember it as my home. And it will never be again. Now I really don't know what to do. SHE wanted me to go here... And what? How can I do something about this place? I am not so powerful as she may think. I can't use it... - Musa grabbed her pendant to see if the symbols and the violin key will answer her questions.

- All princesses are claimed to be powerful.

- Don't call me a princess. Even if I am, so what? My planet is dead.

- Maybe there is something we can do?

- I would love to know what it is. - Musa hung her head. Riven was never good at that kind of talks when it comes to say things like ,,Everything is gonna be okay'', ,,We will bring your planet to life'' etc. He didn't want to build her hopes up not being sure if they really do that. He also didn't have some wise sentences up his sleeve that could console her. Riven was not the romantic guy but he was glad that Musa didn't care about that. At least she seemed to.

- We'll see. - he said briefly. She looked at him.

He gave her a little smile that she liked so much. Musa scooted herself to him, touching his warm neck with her forehead.

- Yeah. We'll see. - she repeated. Riven clasped her waist with one hand, looking at the view that didn't conduce a sweet atmosphere for any couple.

Little did they know that they were observed. And not by their friends...