Sorry for the wait! I've been working on my other fic 'Through Azure Eyes' and I kinda put this one on hold for awhile.

Chapter 9!


Back to Reality

Pixie Village was in literal shambles when the group arrived. The damage, however, could not be properly assessed since it was mostly covered by a blanket of darkness that was brought along by the night. The entire settlement was locked away in ice and it looked as if the pixies could only last a couple more minutes in deep freeze before it was too late.

"Sun Power," Stella said waving her septor and shining light down from it, the rays were not as powerful as they could have been since it was late in the night, but it was enough to melt enough of the village to get the pixies free.

"Quick the pixies," Stella said to Bloom since they both had the ability to warm others with their powers. As Stella and Bloom tended to the pixies, the girls looked around to see if there were any clues to see what types of attacks were used by the trix. The boys decided to check around the neighboring forest to see if there were any signs as to where the Trix were hiding out.

When some of the Pixies finally came to, they explained to Bloom and Stella what exactly happened. They told them as much as they remembered about the witches and their attacks and about what they knew about why they had taken the codex. When Bloom and Stella did a count of who was there, they realized that some of the Pixies were captured. "But why would they kidnap some of the other pixies, they already got their Codex?" Bloom questioned.

"We think it was so that they could find out where the other two are hidden," Said the Pixie queen weakly stepping forward to address the two fairies. "They know that they are at Cloud Tower and Alfea, but where they don't know and from what I can guess, they will need to know exactly where they are hidden or else they will be stopped rather quickly. They only have a certain window of time to get the Codex,"

"We need to get the pixies back before those witches hurt them," Stella said with conviction in her voice.

"We will, but for now we need to focus on finding out what happened and getting the pixies back to Alfea, they aren't safe her anymore, especially since the kidnapping," Bloom said to Stella who looked pretty worried about it.

"Yeah, let's try to wrap things up here," Stella agreed.

"This new power that they have is crazy," Musa said pointing out the fray makes and ice crystals that formed in the surrounding area around Pixie village. The forest in the surrounding area of the village remained tranquil, while Pixie Village looked as if it were just hit by a huge ice storm. Not only did that but, the degree of damage gave the girls some insight into how powerful the witches were truly getting. They had definitely been juiced up on something besides their normal dark powers.

"I don't even know where to begin searching," Techna stated dejectedly as she walked around with her scanner out trying to find something, anything that could give them a clue as to what was going on.

"The voice of nature is very weak," Flora said bending down and touching a ravaged bush. It broke her heart to see the forest like this and what was worse was that she couldn't get a clear indication of what caused it. "I can't make out a clear message,"

"We're going to get nowhere," Layla stated with a frustrated sigh. "It's too dark to get any type of clue,"

"But we need to figure out how they got their new power, or what their new attacks are," Techna insisted.

"Guys, I think Layla is right we're all tired and we aren't going to get much done here," Musa added.

"Okay girls, we can go, I'll call the guys back," Stella said walking back over to group with Bloom. "Let's all head back to Alfea and tell Ms. F about what happened. And we should bring the pixies back with us,"

The girls nodded in agreement and made their way back to Alfea with the boys and the pixies.

When the girls arrived back at Alfea they transformed back to their party dresses and went immediately to the infirmary with the pixies. Once Ofelia confirmed that they would all be fine, the girls headed back outside to say goodbye to their heroes.

"Thanks for coming to the party tonight guys," Musa said with an exhausted sigh as the boys stood in front of the ship, it was hardly the night she wanted it to be. Ideally, it would have ended with her kissing Riven again, but that seemed very out of reach, especially now.

"It was fun," Sky said as they all got onto the ship. "The ending sucked, but it was fun," he joked as the rest of the boys got onto the ship. Before the guys took off, Riven looked over to Musa one last time when their eyes locked. When looking into those azure orbs, he felt like he couldn't hide anything from her, so he averted her gaze and walked back onto the ship. He really needed to distance himself from her for now.


"It seems that we are facing an evil that we could not have predicted," Ms. Faragonda said once the girls returned back to Alfea. They had all assembled in her office and told her everything that happened with the pixies at Pixie Village. "The best approach now will be an offensive one,"

"But, we don't know anything about where they are," Bloom pointed out. "All we know is that they have the codex from Pixie Village and Red Fountain."

"Yes, and I have consulted many of the magical elders and mythical records when the first Codex was taken," Ms. Faragonda began. "I believe that the place that they are hiding out is shadow haunt and that they are going to try to take control of all of the Codex and use it against us,"

"Shadow haunt," Flora questioned with a yawn, "I thought that was a fabled place that was only in storybooks,"

"No, it is a very real place," Ms. Faragonda warned. "But the area is so desolate and rumored to be haunted that nobody ventures there,"

"Not to mention that most fairies' powers become virtually useless down there," Griselda added as she walked into the office along with Professor Avalon.

"I think we should let the girls rest for now and fill them in on everything tomorrow," he suggested.

"I agree," Ms. Faragonda answered. "Girls, we will discuss this with you tomorrow, but for now you should get back to your dorms and get some rest. It has been a long night,"

The next morning the girls were excused from their classes and were asked to meet in Ms. Faragonda's office. The 6 of them knew what this was about, but it was suffice to say that they were all pretty nervous to know what was going on. "Hello girls, please sit," Ms. Faragonda said welcoming them into the room and ushering them into their seats. She then took her place back at her desk where Griselda and Avalon stood on either of her.

"We have been discussing the best course of action for the situation," Griselda stated in her normal serious tone, except this time, there was a hint of worry mixed in. "There is very good reason to believe that going to shadow haunt will help shed light on the situation,"

"We have discussed the situation with Saladin as well and we will be sending you girls to Shadow haunt along with boys so that you will have extra protection if your powers if fail you," Ms. Faragonda began. "Know that this is a very dangerous mission and that you do not have to go if you so choose,"

"Shadow haunt is more dangerous than any place you have ever been," Said Avalon stepping forward and offering advice to the girls. "I know that you girls will be there with your…male companions (1), but keep in mind that your first concern is your own safety,"

"Your main mission is to rescue the kidnapped pixies, but when you are there please try to figure out what exactly is going on," Ms. Faragonda insisted.

"If you girls accept to go, you leave later today," Griselda said. "The students at Red Fountain have already accepted the mission, so now it is up to you girls," Griselda said in a way that seemed like she was trying to give them a guilt trip.

"However Flora, since your recent spill, we would like you to stay behind, here at Alfea to manage the mission from here." Ms. Faragonda said and noticed the crestfallen face on the floral fairy. Flora wanted to be of some assistance in fighting the witches and she couldn't say she wasn't upset about not being able to go. "But, you will not be here alone. Helia, a new student at Red Fountain, has not had the proper training to go on the mission just yet so he will be here along with you,"

This seemed to perk Flora up a bit and she couldn't help but wonder if Ms. Faragonda maybe set this up so she wasn't too upset about not being able to go. Either way, she got to spend some time with Helia and that did serve to cheer her up and make up for the fact that she couldn't go with her friends.

"We'll all go on the mission," Bloom said to Ms. Faragonda and the rest of the girls nodded in agreement.

"Wonderful, I knew you girls would step up to the challenge," Ms. Faragonda said with pride in her voice. "The Red Fountain boys will be arriving in a few hours so get some rest and be ready,"


"Hey girls," Brandon said as he walked out of the space craft and towards Stella. "Ready to go?" Musa looked and saw the five boys get out of the ship, each of them walking over to their respective girl, leaving Musa and Layla standing alone and Riven standing with a scowl on his face.

"Well, we need to get there with as much daylight as possible, so we should get a move on it," Sky said. The guys said goodbye to Helia and the girls did the same for Flora and they all boarded the craft for what would be an almost silent ride to shadowhaunt. Finally, after arriving, to the closest place the ship could land, the guys quickly reran strategy and formulated a plan.

"Techna and I have decided to stay behind and look after the ship," Timmy said a bit nervously in front of everyone, hoping they didn't read too much into their decision to stay behind. Unfortunately for the nervous hero, Stella was quick to give Stella an incredulous look to both of them, causing them both to blush. But Timmy continued on since his purpose for staying behind did have a lot of logic in it, "Since we have never been through this area before, our HPA's will map out our coordinates and it will allow you guys to come back to the ship if you need help, plus our communicators work as well. If anything should happen, someone should be here to make sure that the escape route is safe," Timmy finished as he nervously fiddled with his glasses.

Techna remained silent throughout the entire explanation; she didn't want to further the suspicion about why they were staying behind, so she let Timmy take this one. "That makes sense," Brandon said trying to stifle the desire to laugh at how uncomfortable the two of them looked.

"Okay, since we have that figured out, we need to make search teams," Stella said with a litte too much excitement as she threw a look over to Musa.

"Well, since Flora and Helia have stayed behind and Techna and Timmy are going to man the ship," Sky began. "That leaves 7 of us,"

"I say we all pair up, fairy and hero, since that only makes sense," Stella said with a smile forming on her face, it was pretty obvious to the girls as to what she was doing and Musa was really hoping she would be less obvious about her intentions. "I call Brandon,"

"Sky and Layla," Bloom called out leaving Musa and Riven feeling very uncomfortable. Musa looked over to her friends and gave a look calling out for help. She couldn't very well 'call' Riven given the circumstances and it was clear from his facial expression that he wasn't exactly thrilled about the choice either.

Great. Riven thought to himself. It was bad enough that he was so far gone in love with Musa, but now he would be alone, one–on–one, with her and it this was proving to be more than he could handle. But, there wasn't much he could do about the situation. He knew very well that Brandon and Sky wouldn't willingly switch partners with him, not that he wanted to be paired with Bloom and especially not Stella.

Musa was not a big fan of the idea either. She was still not sure if Riven harbored true feelings for her and she wasn't sure what would be worse, if he did or if he didn't. If he did then something was holding him back and that something, which Musa was pretty sure she had figured out, would probably continue to hold him back. And if her didn't, well she would probably be crushed by the harsh reality. But, she didn't want to be stuck in this constant state of not knowing where she stood, so maybe it was best to resolve everything and move forward or move on.

"Alright, so then you can all check different directions and we will give you a continuous stream or coordinates as you need it," Techna said breaking the tension that was so obviously in the air.

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Brandon said as he and Stella turned to go in their assigned direction and Bloom Sky and Layla did the same. Leaving Musa and Riven to turn around and follow their coordinates, except unlike their counterparts, they kept a safe distance between them and said not a word to each other.

"Was that really the best idea, I mean we're on a mission we cant have them bickering the whole time," Brandon said to Stella once they were out of earshot, even for Musa's sonar hearing.

"Emergency situations seem to bring out people's true colors," Stella pointed out very eloquently. "And I think we already know what they are, those two just need to see them in each other,"

Brandon laughed outwardly and continued on with Stella into a cave in Shadow haunt. This was shaping up to be a very interesting mission.


1. My teacher used 'male companions' instead of the word 'boyfriends' throughout my entire freshman health class. It was kinda awkward and it seemed like something that Avalon might say.

Okay there is it is – I know its short and not much happened in it, but it is setting up for the next chapter where I am hoping to have… well you'll see. And again, I realize that this is severly out of order from the acutal events on the show...deal.

xoxo
princessm