Chapter 8 – The Break-in.

It was later that night when Caramel knocked on the door of Martino's bedroom. The three of them (Caramel, Martino, and Cherie), had cleaned up the mess in Caramel's room, and afterwards everyone had returned to their own room. Cherie was staying over at Martino's room. Martino slowly, out of sleepiness, opened the door of his bedroom. ''Caramel!'' he sounded surprised as he saw his sister standing in front of him. ''What are you doing here? It's half past one and Cherie's sleeping already''. ''I'm worried sick about Sapph! What if something happens to her? She's still not back'' Caramel answered. Martino slowly closed the door behind him so Cherie wouldn't wake up because of the noise. ''She's probably fine'' Martino sighed, but went with Caramel to her room just to be sure. He walked up to her bedroom window, and gazed out of it. He then turned back to Caramel. ''Caramel, what are you talking about? She's walking across the street''. He pointed at a figure not far away. Caramel ran up to her window aswell now. ''Sapph!'' she yelled, after which she ran downstairs, afraid Sapphire would've left already once she was outside. Once outside, she immediately hugged her best friend tightly. ''Sapph! I was so worried about you!'' Sapphire wasn't sure what to say. ''Calm down! I'm fine'' she answered rather awkwardly, hoping Caramel would calm down a bit. Caramel let go of her. ''I just had to settle down for a bit after that fight, I'm fine now'' Sapphire shrugged, as if everything that had happened earlier had meant nothing. ''Are you sure?'' Caramel asked. Sapphire nodded. ''Yes, let's go inside''. The two of them went back to the Molly Moo. Martino was waiting outside. ''Told you you didn't have to worry'' he sighed. ''Also, since when do we have roses in our garden?'' He pointed at the flowers Rex had left behind earlier. The ladder was also left behind under Caramel's window. ''We never had those''. Caramel retrieved the flowers from the ground. ''How did these get here?'' She turned to Sapphire. ''Are those yours?'' Sapphire shook her head. ''What would I have to do with those? I don't even like flowers''. A grin started to form on Martino's face. ''Maybe they're from a secret admirer''. It was meant as a joke, but it did made Caramel think about it. Could these be from Rex? ''Maybe… Rex left them here for me?'' she suggested, even though it wouldn't be like him at all to do something like that. ''Well, he did return from something earlier when I saw him… they could've been his'' Sapphire said while thinking about it. ''How romantic!'' Caramel held the roses close to her while fantasizing about the idea. Sapphire and Martino just looked at eachother. ''What's romantic about that? He just threw them on the ground and left'' Martino whispered, upon which Sapphire agreed. ''Did you say something?'' Caramel turned around. She hadn't heard a thing. Both Martino and Sapphire shook their heads. ''I'll just go put these in a vase'' Caramel said, still happy about the flowers. ''…And then I can finally return to bed'' Martino sighed.

-
The next morning started with a beeping noise. ''Caramel, turn off that annoying alarm clock of yours!'' Sapphire yelled sleepily through the noise of the alarm clock. ''I'm going already''. Caramel stood up from her bed to turn it off. Sapphire also slowly got up from her bed, wanting to know what time it was. ''What! It's only been half past 8!'' ''Yeah, we agreed to meet up with Rex and Floxy at half past 9, remember? To think of a rescue plan''. ''You're right…'' Sapphire sighed. Once both of them had dressed themselves they went downstairs. Martino and Cherie were already sitting in front of the table for breakfast. Sapphire and Caramel sat down aswell. Breakfast time. Caramel just stared down at her plate, not feeling hungry at all. ''I'm not hungry…'' After what happened last night, she felt so in love she didn't feel like eating at all. ''No problem at all! I'll take care of that all right!'' Sapphire grabbed hold of Caramel's plate and shove the food on her own plate so she had twice the amount of food. Cherie stared at her in disbelief. ''That's a bit much, isn't it? Are you sure you should be eating that much?'' she asked, trying to sound as nice as possible, yet it still sounded as an insult. Caramel and Martino looked at eachother. They were expecting an angry reaction from Sapphire every moment. To their surprise, she didn't get angry at all. ''No, I won't! 'Cause I'm special!'' She started to grin, and added: ''And you're not!'' Upon which she started to eat the food on her plate. Cherie just stared at her, not saying anything, looking indignant. Once Sapphire had finished her plate, she stood up from the table. ''Let's go'' she told Caramel, who nodded. The two made their way to Rex and Floxy's house.

''So… the plan will end up being as followed: Tonight we will break into Vikus' castle and free Lucas from his dungeons, right?'' Floxy said as he went over the plan again. Caramel nodded. ''It's the only choice we have. Do we all agree?'' Both Sapphire and Floxy gave a nod. Rex kept silent. ''Rex…?'' Caramel tried asking him when he didn't answer. Rex seemed to be deep in thoughts, then suddenly snapped out of it. ''I couldn't care less about that stupid plan, whatever!'' he snapped, then stood up and went upstairs. With a loud 'bang' he threw the door shut. Caramel just stared back with her mouth wide open. What was his problem? Floxy turned to her. ''Don't mind him, he's been in a bad mood ever since yesterday''. Caramel sighed. ''I'll go talk to him'' she said. She still had to thank him for the flowers he had left anyway, and he might act kinder to her once they were alone. She stood up from the spot she had been sitting in and went after Rex. She gave a knock on his bedroom door. ''Rex?'' The door slightly opened a few moments later, and Rex stuck his head outside the door to see who was standing in front of it. ''What do you want?'' he growled at her. Caramel was startled by his reply. This wasn't how he'd normally act towards her. ''I… I just wanted to see how you we're doing…'' she stuttered. ''Well, I'm not okay. You can leave now'' he answered in an obtuse tone. He was already planning to close the door again. ''Wait!'' Rex waited for a bit and looked at Caramel, waiting to hear the reason she stopped him. ''Those flowers… they were yours, right?'' Rex nodded upon hearing that. ''Yes…'' he began, then added: ''Did I leave them there? Just throw them out''. He laid his hand on the door's handle. Caramel grabbed hold of his arm. ''Why? I really liked them…'' she began. ''Why?! Do you really still need to ask that?'' Rex shook her hands off his arm. She could tell he was really angry. ''You should be glad I still want to see you after all!'' he snapped, then threw the door shut behind him. Caramel was left behind, completely shocked about what had just happened. She wasn't sure about what was happening, and wasn't even sure about what she did wrong. She couldn't think of anything she did at least. ''If I did anything wrong… I'm really sorry about it!'' she tried. It kept silent behind Rex's door. She sighed. Why did she have to deal with all this as well? They already had enough problems to deal with…

When it had finally turned dark, Sapphire, Caramel, Floxy and Rex stood on watch behind the bushes close by Vikus' castle. Not much later Morfo, Martino and Cherie all turned up too. They had made the decision to go with a small group, as it would be easier to search the castle without getting caught then. They already had taken the time to watch the castle closely. In front of the castle were two guards. ''Those guards look strong… how are we going to get past them?'' Cherie asked, not sure if the plan they had would be such a good idea to work with. It stayed silent for a moment, then Rex let out an irritated sigh. ''Apparently I'm the only one who thought about all this…'' He looked at the others, then retrieved a handful of pens out of his jeans' pockets. ''To keep it fair and square, we'll draw straws. Or in this situation: pens. The unlucky person that draws out the shortest one will have to find a way to distract the guards so the rest of us can get in''. He held the pens out in front of him. ''What are you waiting for, take one'' he growled when nobody made a move. Slowly everyone drew one of the pens out of his hand. Rex got left with the last one. Everyone lifted their pen in the air. ''I'm safe!'' Cherie gladly proclaimed once she saw she got one of the longest ones. Beside her, Caramel and Morfo also let out a deep sigh of relief. Sapphire's face grew gloomy. ''Damnit! I have the shortest one!'' she cursed. ''Doesn't anyone want to trade with me? Please?'' She immediately gazed at Floxy, who noticed and quickly started whistling to pretend he didn't see or hear anything. ''Sorry, once drawn, always drawn'' Martino said, feeling glad that Sapphire had to do the dirty work. Rex already pushed Sapphire in front. ''Stop dawdling and just go already!'' he sounded irritated. ''Okay, Okay! I'm going!'' she said unwillingly. She had no idea about what she should do, and before she knew it she was already standing in front of the guards. They looked even scarier now she was standing in front of them. Both of them held a long spear as weapon. ''Er… hi! The weather's nice today, don't you guys think so too?'' she stammered, yet none of them answered or moved. What to do now? Try again? She knew Rex wouldn't let her off the hook so easily if she hadn't tried more. She tried saying the first thing that came to mind. ''Say… do you like fish sticks as much as I do?'' she tried, with a forced big smile on her face. From behind the bushes, Floxy and Morfo looked at each other while both trying to hold in their laugh. This was ridiculous. Rex facepalmed. The rest of them waited in awe. The guards still didn't make a move, it almost seemed like they were made of stone. Sapphire wasn't nervous at all anymore now. The guards wouldn't do anything anyway. Fully confident she tried walking past the guards. ''I guess I can just walk in—'' she started her sentence, yet one of the guards suddenly moved and blocked her way with his weapon, showing he wasn't going to let her through so easily. ''Okay, fine… I get it!'' Sapphire slowly took a step backwards. This wasn't working. She had to do something, but what could she do? She wasn't able to use her powers. Suddenly she knew. She snatched the hats the guards were wearing from their heads, then ran off with them. ''Try to catch me if you can!'' she yelled while running. It worked. The guards both dropped their weapons to run after her and retrieve their belongings. ''I can't believe that worked…'' Martino said, still not believing what he just saw. ''Who cares? Let's just get inside before they return''. Rex already made his way to the castle. Caramel gave him a concerned look, then followed him with the others.

''It almost looks like a haunted castle here…'' Caramel said while looking around her. She felt scared. For a moment, she gazed up at Rex, hoping he would protect her, but he just ignored it. The hallway was lit with torches. Before them appeared several, endlessly looking, hallways, followed by many doors. ''Let's split up, it'll be faster that way'' Martino suggested. They agreed on the following: Rex would go with Caramel, Cherie with Martino, and Floxy was paired up with Morfo. All of them went another way. Cherie and Martino opened one of the doors in their hallway and found themselves in the kitchen. ''Do we really have to search all of those cabinets?'' Cherie asked. ''There must be thousands of them!'' Martino rolled his eyes. Did she really expect Vikus to lock Lucas up in one of the kitchen cabinets? In the meantime, Floxy and Morfo were walking in another dark hallway, looking for a room to inspect. ''I have a feeling this is going to be a dead-end'' Floxy said. He was walking behind Morfo. ''I know what I'm doing!'' Morfo replied, but then noticed his surroundings. They had ended up at the beginning again. ''Yeah, sure…'' Floxy murmured, softly enough so Morfo couldn't hear him. Suddenly Sapphire appeared in front of them. ''Hey! I finally got rid of the guards! I threw their hats in the lake, which got them busy for a bit''. She smiled, yet looked exhausted from running back all the way. ''Sapph!'' Morfo yelled, glad to see her. ''I'm glad you're here! We were searching the hallways, but this idiot—'' He paused to point at Floxy. ''…made us go the wrong way so we ended up back at the beginning'' he continued. ''What?!'' Floxy said upon hearing that. ''What do you mean 'this idiot'—'' he began, but Morfo had already grabbed hold of Sapphire's arm and was dragging her into another hallway with him, which gave Floxy no choice but to follow after them.

In the meantime Rex and Caramel had made their way upstairs, to the bedroom of Vikus. Slowly they opened the creaking bedroom door. Vikus was, as expected, sleeping in a king-size bed. ''That could've been me, if people hadn't been stupid enough to vote for him'' Rex said in a salty tone. He was still upset about losing the elections. Caramel gave him a soft push. ''Ssh! Do you want him to hear us?'' she whispered. The two of them quietly got into the room. Caramel inspected the room. There wasn't really a place for Vikus to lock Lucas away here. They were wasting time, and were better off looking elsewhere, at a safer place. ''Let's leave'' she suggested, but Rex clearly decided otherwise. He was looking through the cabinets and drawers in Vikus' room. ''What are you doing?!'' Caramel hissed. ''Why not steal anything since we're here anyway?'' Rex replied casually. Vikus would probably keep his valuable belongings close near him. Maybe he would find something that could be worth a lot of money. He shoved his hand in one of the drawers from Vikus' nightstands, then appeared to have found something. ''Ha! Gotcha!'' he grinned, then retrieved a necklace with a dark-blue stone attached to it from the drawer. It was a necklace both he and Caramel had seen before. ''Isn't that…?'' ''Yes'' Caramel confirmed. ''It's Sapphire's necklace! But how did it get here?'' Rex shove the necklace in his pockets. ''Who cares? It's mine now. Let's go now''. Caramel nodded. As quiet as possible they made their way back to the door. Caramel couldn't clearly see where she was walking, which made her trip and fall. Luckily Rex could catch her in time. For a moment he forgot he was angry at her, and was enchanted by the moment. Once he realised what he was doing, he quickly let go of her. ''Watch where you're going'' he snapped at her. Caramel slowly nodded again, not sure what to say, then followed him out of Vikus' bedroom.

A surprise was awaiting them when they were back in the hallway again. ''Lucas! You've escaped!'' Caramel said, having trouble believing what she saw. In front of them stood Lucas. He was leaning against the wall with a bored expression on his face. He wasn't saying anything. Caramel grabbed hold of his arm. ''Let's get the others and leave this place!'' she said, but Lucas wasn't moving. ''I'm not going anywhere'' he calmly spoke. A grin formed on his face, then he added: ''And you aren't going anywhere either''. After having said that, he took some sort of remote from his pockets, then pressed one of the buttons. Not long after that, two guards showed up behind him. ''Get them!'' Lucas yelled while pointing at Caramel and Rex. Both Caramel and Rex were stunned for a moment, surprised by what just happened, but when they saw the guards approaching them, they both turned around to run away as fast as they were able to. They had to get away from these guards!

Sapphire, Floxy, and Morfo had been walking in another hallway for a long time. It looked as if there was no end to it. ''I think we got lost, once again'' Floxy murmured as he followed Sapphire and Morfo. ''I'm sure this will lead somewhere!'' Morfo exclaimed. He wasn't so sure of it, yet wanted it to appear as if he knew what he was doing. Not much later they stood in front of a door. It was the only door in this hallway. ''Ha, told ya!'' Morfo, feeling glad he had been right, pushed the door open. It easily gave in. The three of them stepped inside the room. The room appeared to be a children's bedroom. It was full of toys, but all of them looked like they hadn't been touched for a long time. ''Spooky…! It's Vikus' his old bedroom'' Morfo immediately said, upon which Floxy raised his eyebrow. He pointed at a dollhouse. ''I don't think Vikus plays with dolls'' he remarked, but Morfo seemed to have an answer to everything he said. ''That makes it even creepier!'' Morfo said, trying to sound mysterious. Floxy let out a deep sigh. He was usually, to be completely honest, pretty childish, but ever since they had gotten into the castle it seemed as if he was the only one who was thinking clearly. Sapphire had also taken this chance to look throughout the room. She had retrieved something what looked like an old, small book out of one of the nightstands. She was just planning to read it, when Morfo appeared out of nowhere and slammed the book shut in her hands. ''We're not here to read!'' he said in a pedantic way. Sapphire, who felt irritated by him, just shrugged and put the book away in one of the pockets of the jacket she was wearing. ''I don't think we'll find anything here…'' she then said. Floxy agreed. Morfo was touching everything, and had set his sight on a toy construction kit. He threw the contents of it on the ground and inspected them. ''I'm sure there is a secret room hidden somewhere here!'' he said, still focussing on the toys. Sapphire and Floxy looked at eachother. ''Let's just leave him here, then he can play with the toys as much as he wants'' Floxy suggested. Sapphire nodded, and the two of them made their way back to the door. For a moment, Morfo didn't seem to notice, but when he turned around to see Floxy and Sapphire were leaving, he quickly ran after them while yelling: ''Hey, wait for me!''

When they got back into the hallway they heard the sound of loud footsteps coming their way. ''What is…'' Sapphire began, yet didn't have to finish her sentence. She already saw the cause of it. Rex and Caramel loudly came running their way. ''We have to get away from here!'' Caramel yelled. She was exhausted from running. ''What? Why?'' Floxy asked. The two guards appeared from behind them. ''Never mind'' he quickly added. ''The other way!'' Rex yelled, but it was already too late. Guards started appearing from everywhere behind them. Not much later Lucas also appeared. He had a big grin on his face. They were caught like rats in a trap.

A/N: Finally another chapter! Took me three months, but I feel happier now and I got rid of my personal problems. Now that I'm doing way better I finally have more time to write!(: Please also check out the new story I'm writing if you haven't yet! It's named Stellar Solar Lunaris, and is a winx club story. Thanks!