Disclaimer: I do not own Winx Club.

AN: I find that the last few chapters are less of a story and more of an 'episode', so to speak. Which means that there are problems that are mostly resolved in the same chapter. Or the next.

AlexisPeaney: Oh my god, I'm so glad that you think that...I'm not really experienced in writing scenes like that, since most of my stories involve happy endings. And I know...Imogen is so lovely. She quickly became my favourite character :) But I love killing off or torturing my favourite characters, sadly.

HUGE thanks to WinxClub63 and AlexisPeaney for your reviews! :) Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 10:
The funeral was incredibly grand. Adin had made a rare public appearance after hiding in his room for god knows how long. Helia had to arrange everything, finally accepting help from Niobe and Teredor. He had planned the majority of everything while seeking the two rulers' advice on how a king or queen's funeral should be like.

The Specialists and the Winx had arrived early to help Helia set things up and generally keep him together. Helia looked well as he smiled and greeted guests and thanked them for visiting while his father barely acknowledged them. However, Layla could see the grief in his eyes even as his posture said otherwise. For a moment, Layla was angry at Adin for putting Helia in this position, but it was clear that Adin was also deep in grief.

She noticed Helia shooting discreet looks at Adin, as if worried about something, every so often. She felt her curiosity spike. Why on earth would he be worried about Adin?

That night, Layla was called into her parents' temporary bedroom in Dorchadas, both looking unnaturally grave. "Mom? Dad? What's wrong?"

Niobe took a deep breath before taking hold of her hand. "Layla. You are aware of court politics, aren't you?" It was a rhetoric question, but Layla nodded anyway. "As you will soon supposed to be aware, there is a man competing for Dorchadas' throne. And with Adin leaving most responsibilities to Helia, Helia doesn't have time to worry about the man."

Layla frowned, mind reeling at the thought of another man taking Dorchadas' throne, but she focused on the current problem. "Shouldn't it be easy to solve? Helia and I are married. He automatically gets the throne."

"Unfortunately, the other man is older than him." Niobe shook her head. "Which means he is still…in the race, so to speak. Once Adin is…passed, though, there is going to be trouble with the heir and Helia will be in a very complicated situation. However," here, she hesitated. "If Helia has an heir, then his bloodline will be secure."

Layla swallowed, the weight of what was being asked of her crashing down. "You want me to…what?"

"Not soon." Niobe hurried to reassure her. "Not now. Later on. After you finish your schooling."

"But," Layla breathed in, trying to keep her composure, "Isn't that for me and Helia to decide?"

"No." Niobe shook her head. "It's either this or Helia gets kicked out of Dorchadas, if he's lucky. If the other man get the approval of the government, then it's possible Helia could, in the worse case scenario, be accused of treason."

Layla shook her head. "But Helia's been named the official heir. And we still have Andros, don't we?"

Teredor raised an eyebrow, finally contributing. "Have you not seen what happens when a step-parent or half-sibling gets involved? Your friend, Stella of Solaria, faces the problem, does she not? Do you want Dorchadas to go through the same thing?"

Layla's eyes widened in alarm. She had heard plenty from Stella about Cassandra. "I'll…I'll think about it." She turned to leave, before she stopped as a thought came to her. "Do I need to tell Helia about this?"

Niobe sent her a look. "Even though he is grieving, Helia is not an idiot. He is aware of what needs to be done."

Helia and Layla talked that night. It was decided that Layla would head off to college before they even attempted anything, what with Helia being busy with Dorchadas and Layla wanting to at least get a degree. The problem not was just telling their friends. They wouldn't be happy to learn about this on the news.

But disaster struck once more as soon as they thought everything would start to settle.

Once more, the Specialists and the Winx were together. The specialists were discussing Linphea College, their college of choice, while Helia would be taking a gap year in order to manage Dorchadas. Layla smiled at the discussion, even as she noticed Helia frowning.

He had been very quiet and solemn for the last week, but he had not shared anything. Knowing that Helia would share with her in due time, Layla kept quiet and just continued to watch him closely. To her relief, there was so far no sign that Helia's magic would manifest at any time.

And then Helia's phone rang, and like the last time with his mother, he headed out of the White Horse to talk. Everyone went quiet as they watched him, his shoulders slumping even as he nodded before returning to the White Horse.

"What's wrong, Helia?" Flora asked, gently.

Helia took a sip of his drink and looked up. "My father's dead."

Died of a broken heart, from what Layla heard when she talked with her parents. The man had fallen asleep, and had not awakened. When a servant tried to wake him up, the servant had found no pulse. Helia didn't seem too surprised though, and he had confided in her that he had knew this day would come.

Adin and Imogen loved each other. It would make sense for one to follow the other, even in death.

In a way, it was romantic. Layla secretly wanted someone like that, someone who would follow no matter what. Nabu was always there for her, but they were drifting further and further apart, and she was worried that they would stop once Nabu was in college.

Helia had called her ridiculous when Layla told him that, and advised her to talk to Nabu. Their relationship had withstood a marriage (though they couldn't be seen as dating, it would be illegal and disgraceful), so what was distance going to do? They could regularly see each other, or talk to each other.

Layla hummed as she laughed alongside with her friends. They were just what she needed - they made her laugh and forget all of her troubles. Right now, Stella was recounting a tale where she had all but tackled another fairy to get the last limited edition bag in the shop. Her phone vibrated, and she frowned down at it. "Hang on girls, I gotta take this."

Stella pouted. "But I was getting to the good bit."

Layla laughed at that, but she stood up anyways and walked to a more secluded area of the restaurant. "Hello?"

"Layla?" Helia's voice came through the speaker.

"Helia!" Layla said, surprised. Despite her determined to keep an eye on him, Helia had proved surprisingly hard to keep ahold of. He was like smoke, appearing here and there, doing what needed to be done before disappearing off in another direction. From what Layla heard, Helia was preparing Dorchadas for an alliance with Eraklyon.

It was a smart move. Sky and Helia were already friends, which would ease up the treaty that they would sign. Politically, it was a very smart move. Eraklyon was not only respected, it was established, powerful and a good realm to call upon should Dorchadas need help defending. Dorchadas was by no means weak, but they had barely survived winter, and now their queen and king were dead. With Helia's half-brother starting to stir up trouble, getting Eraklyon's current king, Sky, to publicly ally himself with Helia would have some ministers who were originally thinking of supporting the half-brother to reconsider.

"Hey Layla." Helia greeted. "Listen, can we talk? Somewhere presumably not on the phone?"

"Uh," Layla looked around her. "I'm currently at Magix. There's a small cafe that's quite private. I'll text you the address."

"Alright." Helia sounded like he was nodding. "I'll be there."

"Okay then." Layla exhaled and hung up, wondering what on earth Helia wanted that he had to meet her face-to-face.

"Hey, Helia." Layla greeted, surprised to find Helia already seated in a booth. He smiled at her, though the smile was tired and weary. "What's wrong?" She slid into the seat opposite him, quickly ordering a coffee before leaning back.

Helia sighed. "Look, you're aware of my half-brother?"

"About as aware as anyone else." Layla frowned. It was true - she didn't know much about Helia's half-brother, but the gossip magazines were eating the family feud up like it was candy. And the problem with this was that the timing was too coincidental - the half-brother showed up once Imogen, who was the one descended from the royal bloodline, was dead, but before Adin, who was his father, died. The whole half-brother would have caused an even greater scandal had Adin not died a month or so after Imogen, allowing many magazines to reaffirm the two's love.

In fact, now that Layla thought about it, wasn't Adin's death a tiny bit too coincidental? He died less than a week after the half-brother decided to show up.

Helia evidently read something into her silence. "What's wrong?"

"Doesn't…doesn't your father's death seem a bit too perfect?" Layla asked, frowning. "I mean, he died almost right after your half-brother was introduced."

"Yeah." Helia sighed, nodding. "I noticed that, but there's no proof. I don't exactly have the time to overlook the report on my father's death, and by now, it'd be too late."

Layla scowled, annoyed. All this royal thing was starting to get on her nerves. "So, what'd you want to talk about?"

"My half-brother has challenged me to a duel."

That took a few minutes to process. "Sorry? A what?"

"A duel. To the death." Helia said. He seemed remarkably calm despite the whole 'death' thing. He drank some of his drink, looking up at Layla.

"What?" Layla repeated. "A duel? No one's duelled for the throne like this since the Dark Ages."

Helia laughed. "That's one way of looking at it. But the point remains that he has every right to challenge me, even more so due to his parentage."

"Gods." Layla murmured. From what she had heard from Nabu, Helia was a fairly solid fighter. He had been Codatorta's best student before he dropped out, and he clearly knew how to defend himself, but if he won…he'd have to kill his half-brother. "But then you'd have to kill him."

"Presuming I win." Helia sighed.

"We all know you're going to win." Layla scowled.

"Not exactly." Helia shook his head. "He's trained under half a dozen swordsmen. He could easily beat me if he wished to."

Layla frowned. "You're going to defeat him." There was no other way around it. Helia had to win, or else Dorchadas was his half-brother's. And naturally, by law, all of Helia's possessions goes to the winner. Layla included.

And Layla sure as hell wasn't going to have anything to do with the scumbag.

Helia leaned forward. "Look, I'm currently at crossroads here, and I need to ensure that Andros will back me up no matter what I do."

"Done." Layla replied instantly. She trusted Helia - not as much as Nabu, but she trusted that he knew what was best for his own realm, and she should trust in him. "Then what?"

Helia looked down. "I go to fight, and pray I win."

"Are you…are you going to kill him?" Layla asked cautiously. Sure, she and the others had faced off more dangerous foes that could've easily killed them, but this half-brother thing was relatively harmless. After all, not only was Helia married, but if they went through their plan of having a child after Layla finished college, there was nothing that the half-brother could use to gain the throne.

"Yes."

The answer startled her, snapping Layla out of her thoughts. "What?"

"If I win, I'm going to kill him."

"What?" Layla repeated. This wasn't the Helia she knew. "You're a pacifist!"

"And now I'm a king." Helia replied evenly. "The needs of many outweigh the needs of a few."

"But wouldn't killing him prove a bad example?" Layla asked, incredulous. She'd like to think that she had more knowledge and experience of court politics, but wasn't killing the half-brother a bit much? "Why don't you send him to prison or something?"

"Because he explicitly stated this was a duel to the death. If I don't kill him, he can come and continue fighting me no matter what until either he or I am dead."

"But killing him won't solve anything!" Layla protested. "There has to be some other way to do this."

"There isn't." Helia looked down. "Layla, the duel is over once someone is dead. If I just leave him in prison, he is well within his rights as the challenger to escape and continue going after me."

"Then send him away, to the Omega Dimension or something." Layla said. "Killing isn't the way to go."

Helia laughed bitterly. "You think I don't want to? The Omega Dimension is only reserved for the worst of criminals. All my half-brother has done is annoy the hell out of us."

"You can't kill him." Layla repeated.

"I need to." Helia's eyes flashed up. Layla narrowed her eyes at him, before standing up and walking past him. "Layla, I need Andros' support."

Layla stopped. Although she wanted to renounce her support, there was nothing she could do. She nodded. Once. Twice. "You'll always have it. But that doesn't mean you'll have mine."

"You're serious?" Flora gasped, eyes wide in horror. The Winx and the Specialists, with the exception of Helia, were out having dinner. With all of them in Magix, they were determined to spend as much time together as possible.

"Yeah." Layla looked down. "It didn't seem like he was kidding."

"But killing though?" Bloom asked, equally aghast. "Isn't that pushing it a bit too far?"

"Not really." Sky said quietly. He met the gazes of everyone at the table. "Look, there are two ways that Helia can be interpreted in if he wins the match. If he kills his brother, he can be seen as a brutal leader."

"Then he doesn't kill the guy."

"No." Sky said firmly. "The duel is over only when someone is dead. If Helia breaks that, he's only showing Dorchadas that he's not a noble leader. But back to topic. If he kills his brother, he could also be seen as a strong leader who lets his head rule his heart."

"But that isn't good." Bloom protested.

Sky shook his head. "Politically though, that is a very good thing. It ensures that he does what is right rather than doing what he wants due to anger. But if he spares his half-brother, there is also two ways to perceive it. One, he's a kind and merciful leader." He held up a hand as mouths opened to either agree or argue with him. "Two, he's a king with no spine that won't even kill the threat."

"What're you talking about? What threat?" Bloom demanded.

Sky sighed. "As long as the half-brother is alive, he's going to a constant thorn in Helia's side. Killing him ensures that he'll never bother Helia again."

"But that's so cruel." Layla protested. "There has to be a better way about this."

"Guys, you have to look at this from Helia's perspective." Sky said. "Right now, especially now, he can't afford to look weak in front of his people or in front of the other realms. His parents are dead. His people barely survived the winter. Dorchadas is heavily dependent on Andros, and also heavily in debt, though they're quickly repaying it back. He spares his half-brother, he's sparing a constant threat to Dorchadas. I've heard some of my ministers talking, and many of them agree that Helia's doing a great job so far of running Dorchadas. He's a level-headed leader that'll do what's best for his realm."

"If he spares his half-brother, he'll be showing that he cares." Layla snapped.

"No." Sky seemed annoyed now. "Layla, you're not listening. Helia's reputation is of a level-headed leader. He's a kind leader, but he's level-headed. He'll do what's best for his realm before what's best for his reputation."

"That's not right though." Layla muttered.

"No." Sky nodded, agreeing. "But he's a king now, with no one else that he can lean on politically. The alliance with Eraklyon is still undergoing. That's why he talked to you, Layla. He needs you and your support for this. He's a king that just lost both his parents, and whose realm is in severe debt, but is slowly making their way back to self-sufficiency. All it'll take is one scandal, one thing gone wrong and he'll lose everything."

Layla sighed, crossing her arms, now faced with the situation in its entirety. "So without me, he's not gonna be able to do much."

"Without Andros and Eraklyon's support, Dorchadas will have their props wiped up from under them. Without your support, he's completely alone in the world."

A week later, the group gathered together once more. Helia was absent again. But the duel had been done and over with, and the news had spread far and wide. Helia had killed his half-brother, stabbing him quickly in the head. Layla fidgeted in her seat - she was uncomfortable with being married to someone who would kill like this. Sure, Helia didn't kill for fun or sport, but killing was still killing.

Sky, in the meantime, had seemed quite relieved. This annoyed Layla to no end, how Sky could understand Helia's motives and hesitations more quickly than she could. But, then again, she considered, Sky was now king. He would have to understand how politics worked, and how much public eye played into the roles.

The group had skipped the niceties and jumped right into the topic, with Sky stating that killing his brother quickly was a good thing - not only did it show Helia as a strong leader, it also showed that he was merciful; instead of prolonging the death, Helia had finished him off quickly. There were no fanfares about this, just the people of Dorchadas going through their daily motions as if nothing had happened.

"So this is a good thing?" Layla asked, eyes narrowed.

Sky nodded. "Yes. I've heard some of the talk going around the realms, and they agree that Helia's choice was right. They're more likely to support him now that they know that he's not going to prolong anything like that."

"And nothing else will happen?" Layla asked. It was quite relieving to note that this just…ended. Just like that. After all, she had no actual desire to have children the second she left college. Still, the matter had gave her a number of sleepless nights, and to think it would end so quickly…it felt like it ended too quickly, making her hesitant to accept the peace.

"There shouldn't be any trouble." Sky reassured her. "I mean, Helia will have to explain his actions to some of the more peaceful-loving kings, but you know how Helia is. He'll win them over easily."

"Well, hopefully that's the end of that." Stella leaned back, huffing. "All this talk is making my head spin."

Bloom laughed at her friend. "Oh, Stella."

Due to the half-brother's death, Adin's death was never investigated into.

A few weeks later, the Winx managed to find time to talk with the Specialists again. An unexpected hurricane near Alfea had the school cancelling the rest of the classes while the teachers attempted to fix the school. While the dorms remained untouched, Headmistress Faragonda had encouraged the students to spend most of their time outside until the teachers could be certain that the dorms were fine.

The Winx found themselves in the White Horse again, only to see that the Specialists were looking quite grim, talking to Helia. The King of Dorchadas was looking despondent, shaking his head and replying to a question every so often. Most of the Specialists were looking quite indignant for their friend, repeatedly asking questions and waving their arms around to emphasise their point.

Sending alarmed looks at one another, the Winx headed in. Layla felt a tiny bit guilty - she had promised Imogen that she'd look after Helia, but she had rarely had time to speak to him over the phone. Each time, it sounded like Dorchadas was improving.

"Guys, what's up?" Bloom asked, sliding into the seat next to Sky.

Helia sighed. "I'm being asked to attend a closed tribunal with the Magix council."

"The what?" Bloom asked, sounding puzzled.

Sky took over. "The Magix council is made of most, if not all, of the rulers of the Magic Dimension. Every realm sends a representative every time a meeting is called. Helia's been called to a tribunal to argue for his case."

"What case?" Layla demanded. She understood the way the council worked, and a closed tribunal was never a good thing. "And who called it?"

"Essentially?" Helia asked tiredly. "The council is doubting my ability to take over Dorchadas, especially now, when Dorchadas is recovering from the winter, with my parents gone."

"There's more." Layla narrowed her eyes.

Helia met her gaze wearily. "And without a," he used air marks, "'stable queen' to support me."

"What?" Layla demanded. "I'm in school. They can't expect me to drop out and just help you. Besides, you're doing fine on your own."

"Wait, who called the tribunal?" Tecna interrupted. Layla instantly snapped to attention.

Helia sighed again. "Solaria."