Chapter Eight

The shuttle touched down on the runway and the gathered crowd grew silent. From a high balcony above, Saladin watched with avid interest.

King Shoannem, a former acquaintance of his, had called three days ago to inform him of recent events and request help. The headmaster was as dismayed as any to learn of poor Kazen's untimely demise. He was surprised, however, to hear the king wanted Xander to accompany his older students as a guide.

Xander was full of potential in this line of work. He was agile, intelligent, and most importantly, held pure intent. It was a shame he didn't do so well in some of his classes. Hopefully, some real life experience would teach him the advantages of going 'by the book.'

The wild screams below brought Saladin back to the scene on the ground. After the ship's door slid open, the famous Winx sashayed down the shuttle runway, drawing out shouts of admiration from all the Alfea fairies and many whistles from his own boys. The two schools had been in the middle of their annual back to school celebration (Cloud Tower had politely declined their invitation, saying they had different traditions in place) when the twelve of them sent word of imminent arrival. How did they catch their criminal so quickly?

The headmaster's own students were exiting now. No one else was with them with the exception of, as expected, Xander Rexim. He and the other boys made a strange exit. Riven and Brandon were walking stiffly on each side of him, faces serious and weapons drawn. Xander looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"What is the meaning of this?" Saladin wondered to himself. "They're acting as though he's their fugitive."

The old man mulled it over before calling, "Codatorta!" He heard the Deputy Headmaster's footsteps thundering down the hall.

"Yes, headmaster?" Codatorta replied from the doorway.

"Call my boys in for a full report: now. Xander too."

"Would you like the fairies to come as well?"

He considered it only a second. "No. I imagine Ms. Faragonda wishes to speak to them herself. Just our own students, please."

The man's reply was gruff. "Very well, then." Codatorta exited purposefully.

When Saladin heard a faraway door click shut, he straightened formally and stepped inside his office.

The Headmaster was greeted by the sharp scent of furniture polish. His workplace was always scrubbed thoroughly over the summer and it usually took a month or two to get the obnoxious smell out.

Saladin had been a lot fonder of his old office, the one he had before crazy witches destroyed the entire school campus. He-

"Prince Sky, Squire Brandon, Riven, Helia, Timothy, and Xander, as you requested." The boys stepped through the doorway and Codatorta bowed, then left.

Saladin noticed that Riven and Brandon still had the young one trapped between them.

"Is that really necessary?"

"You'll see why in a minute, professor," Sky replied, eyeing Xander carefully.

"I'll be the judge of that. For now, let him go. I won't allow anyone to manhandle my students!" The two stepped away and sheathed their weapons, but with reluctance.

Now that Saladin could get a good view of his skinny pupil, the headmaster realized Xander looked terrible. It was clear the boy needed sleep, his was the only uniform that was unwashed, and his skin was smeared with dirt in several places.

"What happened to him?" the head professor inquired.

"He did," Riven answered unhelpfully.

The headmaster waited for an elaboration. When he realized he wouldn't be getting any, Saladin continued. "Well, I guess a full report is in order. You can explain to me why you returned so soon. And empty handed, while we're at it."

This time, Helia spoke up. "Yes, Uncle-"

"Actually, Helia," Sky interrupted, "can I start us off?"

Helia nodded, handing the Eraklyon prince his floor.

"As you already know, the King of Borreania asked us and the Winx girls to catch his son's murderer. Prince Kazen had been assassinated a day before our arrival by a brutal and heartless thief known only as the Shadow Dragon. This one is an evil character, whom anyone should not hesitate to kill." Sky fired another glare at Xander, who trembled slightly

Saladin furrowed his brow in confusion. "You've made your point, Sky. Do get on with it."

Prince Sky returned his gaze to the old headmaster and nodded, "Of course, professor. Now, King Shoannem understood we didn't know his country very well, so he added Xander to accompany us because he's a Borreanian native. First we, with the guards' help, combed the capital city, finding nothing." His student paused, seemingly for effect. "Next, we decided to search isolated spots in Borreania. The first location brought to our attention was the Triplet Mountains. The whole way there, Rexim protested against our decision."

Now Saladin was vexed. There was something his students weren't saying, some crucial detail. "And why was that?" he asked.

Brandon took over from there. "We reached the summit of the first mountain to find an oddly painted swirl over a patch of ground. The same thing was found on a bracelet Xander wore." Brandon tugged on the poor boy's arm and rolled up the sleeve to expose a golden bracelet. True to his word, there was a four armed scarlet eddy brushed on with paint at the center. "See?"

"What has gotten into you boys?" Saladin demanded. "Let Rexim go!"

Brandon obeyed his headmaster's order before continuing. "Stella wanted to see if the two were connected, so she placed the jewelry on top of the paint, trying to line them up. After moving it enough times, that piece of ground faded away to reveal an underground tunnel. Turns out, a Substance Projector was the cause."

"A Substance Projector is a complex invention that imitates the surrounding area except specifically marked. A certain opposing material must also be specifically marked to perform as a key of sorts, sir." Timmy explained when he saw Saladin's expression.

The elderly man nodded. "Thank you for the concise explanation, but my puzzlement was as to why there was a small underground tunnel there."

Riven picked up the story from that point. "Out of curiosity, we all went down to follow it. The path was extremely twisted and it took us about an hour and a half to reach a large underground cavern. There we found a moat, a fake sun, and walls with a person sitting on it."

"The Shadow Dragon herself," Helia interrupted, in a manner quite unlike him.

"Herself," Riven echoed. "We confronted her, and she had some interesting things to say. Apparently, she and Xander met the day she assassinated Kazen."

Where were his boys going with this? "I've heard this story already. They fought briefly, she won, and she disappeared from sight."

Timmy shook his head. "The criminal told us all quite another story. You see-"

Riven wouldn't wait. "The second she recognized Xander in the cavern, the thief girl was outraged. Turns out, Xander gave her a key to the cave so she could hide and promised not to tell anyone!"

"Xander Rexim is allied with the Shadow Dragon!" Sky finished for them, sapphire eyes burning with fury.

Shocked, Saladin looked over to see Xander hanging his head, refusing to meet his professor's gaze. "Xander Rexim, look me in the eye, please."

"Yes, professor," Xander sounded beaten. When he obeyed the man's order, Saladin noticed the young boy looked beaten as well. His once bright green eyes were now depressingly dull, and he had a streak of brown dirt smeared across one cheek.

"Your fellow specialists accuse you of both treason to your home country and complete disregard to the specialist code of honor. What is your response? Are you truly allied with the evil Shadow Dragon, now or anywhere in the past?"

"No, we don't work together, and never have before."

"Did you commit treason by allowing a wanted royal assassin not only to escape, but help her reach a secret cavern to hide in?" Saladin paused, then realized something. "When your sovereign king asked you for the events of that day's chase, you lied to him."

Xander nodded, sinking his headmaster's hopes. The atmosphere seemed to thicken, weighing them all down. "Then Xander, I think it's high time you gave us an honest report on what's been happening on Borreania, starting from three days ago. Leave nothing out."

"It started off with me following orders," he cautiously began.

"Shocking," Riven interrupted, eyeing Xander angrily.

"Quiet, all five of you!" Saladin snapped. "Mr. Rexim, continue."

"I was following the Shadow Dragon through the forest. Her cloak hood fell off early on, so I knew exactly what she looked like. I'd also guessed her identity as the Shadow Dragon from the throne room, when she delayed the first wave of pursuers before jumping out a window. Watching her, I accidentally snapped a twig off the tree I was in. She heard, and nearly got my head with one of her spikes. There was no use for stealth now, so I got down and did what any trained specialist would do: confronted the girl for who she was. Next thing I knew, a whole bunch of her metal sticks pinned me to a tree trunk."

"Using an old trick I learned as a boy, I managed to get all the silver thorns out so I could go after her again. I caught up, and we fought for a while. My staff, her blade. The girl won in the end, threw me on my back, and I thought she was ready to kill a second person that day. Now…I don't even think she killed one."

Saladin knew what he'd said about chiming in, but he couldn't resist asking, "Odd theory. What makes you say so?"

Xander willingly made eye contact this time around. His voice was firmer now. "When the fairy aimed for my throat, I could feel her entire body shaking. As she replied to the pleas and offers that I don't deny making, her voice kept shaking. I could've escaped without much trouble: she wouldn't have stopped me. I think... she was scared to follow out on what she found necessary to threaten."

"Yeah, I helped her out. But unlike what my brother specialists likely believe, I didn't do it out of cowardice. It was a choice. Right then and there, I made a judgment call. And I'm not sure how, but she didn't murder Prince Kazen. She wasn't the right type, the kind of person that could pull it off. Because of that, I gave her a certain medallion, one of my two keys to inside the mountain. I honestly believed she'd be safe from my king's rage."

"Sadly, it wasn't to be. The day after King Shoannem ordered me to help the Winx girls track her down, they coincidentally chose to visit the same place I'd sent her for refuge. Also like your shining stars said, I argued the whole way. They treated me like a total idiot on that journey, so of course it did no good."

Xander paused to sigh. "Fate was not in my corner this morning, when we arrived at the tunnel entrance. As mentioned before, Stella unintentionally activated the projector. They ordered me to take them down there; I had no way to refuse. After that, well… It's like they said." Saladin's juvenile student finished, his moment of bravery spent.

The tense air hung unmoved inside the large office. Twelve eyes were glued to their professor, who was currently deep in thought.

His mind was dual sided, to be honest. On one hand, this teenager was no evil mastermind. However, the fact still stood that he willingly helped a fugitive of growing fame flee without a solid reason. The argument in Saladin's head flew back and forth until he could stew on it no longer.

"Very well," the headmaster declared. "After much consideration, no criminal charges will be ensued upon Xander Rexim for the entire misadventure."

"But professor," Brandon cut in for Saladin could finish.

"Sadly, I cannot ignore your treacherous disobedience to both this school's code and your entire home planet, even if you were tricked."

The old man sighed. "So, as a consequence, Xander Rexim is hereby expelled from the Red Fountain School for Heroics and Bravery. Please exit the room to return all campus property, so you may leave the premises as soon as possible."

If the boy had looked despaired earlier, it was nothing compared to now. All Saladin could do was hope he understood why the old man was doing this. Xander could have been so much, but the boy had never attained the mindset he'd need to be a hero. If he hadn't learned how to to follow orders in his first year, then it was likely he never would.

Good bye, Xander Rexim. I truly do wish I were sorry.

Xander's beaten body was now suffering from another sort of pain: emotional. His eyes burned until he could hardly see the door, his feet shook under his weight as the ex-specialist trudged toward the exit, and he choked on every gasp of air.

Saladin… he'd seen the sinking look in his fair headmaster's eyes: crushing disappointment. It made the boy wish he was angry, like everyone else was when they found out.

After Xander woke up in the village entrance (he'd been the last to do so,) he discovered three things instantly: the Shadow Dragon was gone (good), so were Nuebon and the other villagers (good), and all the Winx and other specialists were furious (very, very bad). They all stopped their conversation when he came to, and no one spoke after that. Still, he'd been able to tell they were angry, and they all felt the need to guard him or something. Xander's day after that was complete misery.

As he closed the door to his ex-professor's office, another thought stabbed him like an enemy blade: Nuebon. The man had shown Xander nothing but kindness, and now he could never return home. In one day, Xander ruined all those villagers' lives.

And... well yeah, there was him. The teen had put everything he had into two things: the secret village and training to become a top notch hero. Now both bridges were burnt beyond repair. It was more than likely Xander would never see Nuebon again, not even to apologize. What he must be thinking now…

With no home, family, or future, Xander had only one thing left to him:

I need to find the Shadow Dragon again and convince her to help me. If we can prove she didn't kill someone, I can clear my name. But we'd have to work together...

A/Ns: SME speaks: Now here is a chapter by my partner. Poor Xandy, I feel so sorry for him. (Phone rings. SME looks at it.) Oh look, a text from Xander.

PTV: (Confused) How?

SME: (Reads text) Oh hush, so what if I let it happen to you? Go back to pitying yourself and getting wasted. (Looks back over.)

Anyway, thank you guys so much for faving and reviewing this story. I never imagined we'd get this many views. You guys are, As Gamzee would say, motherf-king miracles of life.

PTV: My moi rail's right. Also, let us say a warm congratulations to Cstrainer12. They just got their fanfiction account last Friday! I remember when I got mine... has it really been almost two months?

SME: And I still don't have one. Won't for another four months.

PTV: Anyway, we wanted to thank them for their recent support, as well as everyone else for theirs.

Also, last Tuesday was a very important day for this fandom! January 28th, 2004 was the official release date of Winx Club! I wanted to publish a one-shot on then dedicated to the tenthennial, but sadly didn't finish in time. It should show up sometime soon.

Speaking of last Tuesday, I happen to know that the wonderful authors rogue-scholar07, Akela Victoire, the Ultimate Bohab, Art Writer III, and Robert Teague all updated/did a new story to celebrate such a day. I've read them, and every single one is great!

Until Next Friday, I remain without a signoff. See ya!