"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?" Zinah chanted as the two young women found themselves surrounded by guns.
"How the bloody hell should I know? I'm just as bloody freaked out by this as you are!" Helen shrieked.
"Magic will not help you escape here with your lives!" As the leader fired his gun, two shields erupted around the women- one a dark blue and the other silver.
"Thank goodness for magic shields!" Zinah exclaimed.
"Don't relax just yet, Zee!" Helen exclaimed.
"Remember some of those spells we saw Diaspro do? Maybe we can try something with those!" Zinah exclaimed.
"How can you do fairy magic when you're apparently a witch?" Helen raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno! Just do something that will help us get out of here alive!" Zinah screamed as her shield broke.
Bullets raced towards her and she held up her hands as if to protect herself.
The bullets suddenly slowed in mid-air, turned around and headed straight for the man who'd fired them and who barely managed to dodge them.
Helen fired an energy beam at another gunman, which blasted him into a nearby wall.
"I did that? This is all still so-" Helen reacted quickly as someone else shot at her, putting up a quick half-shield.
"Let's get out of here!" Helen grabbed Zinah, blasted a hole in the roof and flew out with her.
"No! NO! We cannot let them escape! Go after them, now!" The leader commanded.
People around the streets of London stared in shock as a procession of law enforcement vehicles, all with sirens blaring loudly raced through the streets, drawing everyone who was there at the time's attention.
They were even more amazed at the blonde fairy flying high above them near the front, apparently focused on nothing else except where she was going.
At first they thought that the police were chasing her, but as later reports would say, they most certainly were not.
Diaspro focused on nothing except getting to where Helen and Zinah were being held.
"I hope I'm not too late!" She thought.
As she flew, she sensed magical presences in their general area.
"Could it be that other magical people knew and went to rescue-? No, it couldn't be. The only people who know about this are Helen and Zinah's respective parents and immediate family who were told to keep it quiet, the police and myself so could it be that..." Diaspro stopped short.
"No. No way in Shadowhaunt..." She thought, shaking her head and continuing to fly.
As she got closer, the magical presence intensified and Diaspro put a hand to her head.
"I feel it clearer now and..." Diaspro stopped short as she saw two young women flying towards her, one with fairy wings and one without.
"This... This is way too good to be true!" She exclaimed as she recognized the woman with wings as Helen and the woman without wings as Zinah.
Zinah's hair was... actually straight, held back by a dark grey headband with three diamond shapes on each side, she donned a dark grey corset top with a black line down the front that went from her black choker to her black pleated miniskirt, dark grey stockings, black stiletto ankle boots and black gloves that went to just past her elbows.
Helen's usually spiky hair had actually been straightened too and was a bit longer than usual with a black band around her head, she wore a black and white checked short-sleeved shirt, black pants, white mid-calf length flat-heeled boots and had translucent light blue rectangular wings with dark blue outlining that were propelling her forward as fast as she could go.
"Oh my goodness! Diaspro! We're so glad to see you! Those blokes are chasing us and-" Zinah screamed as a bullet narrowly missed her.
"Glad to see you too! And you've both got magic of your own now, I see! Don't worry about those creeps. The police are on their way, but in the meantime..." Diaspro surrounded the three of them with a bright red shield.
On the ground, the kidnappers were glaring up at the sky.
"Abdul, what do we do now? We didn't factor in the target and her friend getting magic powers and another more powerful fairy coming to their aid!" Tariq exclaimed, addressing the ringleader.
"What goes up must come down, Tariq!" Abdul snarled.
"Not if we can help it!"
"POLICE!"
Police cars and other vehicles sped onto the scene with D.S. Bramble and D.S. Hollingsworth in the lead, dressed in full protective gear.
Abdul growled.
"Put the weapons down, NOW!"
"You're all surrounded! Nowhere for you to run!"
"Oh?" Abdul raised an eyebrow. "I guess we'll have to make somewhere to run, won't we?"
At those words, a fierce gun battle ensued.
Police and criminals alike ducked behind crates, old cars and other objects in the courtyard they had found themselves in.
Popping up and ducking down behind objects, it soon looked like a scene from an action movie.
However, what seemed like hours, but what was in reality less than half an hour later, the gunfight came to an end with most of the criminals taken care of except for one.
Abdul.
Even though he had been wounded, he seemed to ignore the pain as he fought on, refusing to give in.
He ran and ducked behind objects as he scattered around the courtyard, trying to escape.
He was like a trapped animal. Vicious and quite determined to escape the situation, doing whatever he had to do.
"My plans have gone horribly wrong... All because of this stupid magic thing!" He thought angrily.
He was about to turn a corner and escape when he was blasted back by three energy beams- one red, one blue and one silver.
"You're not going anywhere, you creep!" Abdul looked up to see the blonde fairy standing protectively in front of Zinah and her friend.
He was going to hate magic for the rest of his life...
Before he could even try to attack them again or even run however, the police had caught up to them and grabbed hold of him roughly.
He managed to break free for a moment however and pulled out a handgun from his coat that no one had actually seen him with before.
Diaspro's eyes widened as he pointed the gun at her, Zinah and Helen.
"Look out!" She screamed as she shoved Zinah and Helen out of the way when he fired shots at them and the police fired shots at him.
"To come this far and almost get killed!" Helen quivered in fright.
"I know, right?" Zinah held onto Helen, wide-eyed as Abdul slumped over on the ground.
Diaspro, who was sitting a little way away from them glowed brightly for a moment and flapped her wings slightly as she floated off the ground and her hair whipped around her.
"What... what just happened to you?" Zinah asked as the police finally started sealing off the area.
"I'm not sure. My magic feels stronger now though and... Why does my arm feel like it's twisted or something?" Diaspro blinked as she de-transformed and touched her left shoulder lightly.
"Oh my goodness. Did you get shot?" Zinah gasped.
"No, no. At least I don't think so. It can't be that bad. It doesn't hurt that much..." Diaspro looked doubtful. "I think my shoulder might have been dislocated from the fall I had when I shoved you two out of the way of becoming pieces of Swiss cheese. Sometimes magic can dull or even nullify pain completely..."
"You should go to the bloody hospital now!" Helen exclaimed as police officers came over to check on them.
"Ladies, I know what you went through just now was quite harrowing but I need you two to come with me... This way..." P.C. Hollingsworth reached out to Helen and Zinah, helping them up.
"As for you, Miss Windsor, you need to get that shoulder of yours checked out..." P.C. Bramble waved over a few paramedics that immediately hurried over.
"I feel fi-" Diaspro screamed out as the first wave of pain from her shoulder hit her.
"Oh hell, that hurts!" She hissed.
"Not for too long if we can help it..." One paramedic said as he and his partner got to work.
"We heard what happened on the telly!" The James family was waiting outside her flat when Diaspro arrived two days later.
"You're a real heroine!" Luke exclaimed.
"I already knew you were! You saved me from an Apprentice after all!" Katie beamed, going in for a hug, but mindful of Diaspro's shoulder.
"Thanks. I'm just glad that ordeal is over and my friends are safe from that madman..." Diaspro declared as she opened the flat and waved to the James', who were apparently just happy to see her back, in one piece and alive.
She flopped into a chair and breathed deeply. "It's so good to be back. I hated that hospital with a vengeance. Hopefully I have some healing potions or something around here to help speed up the process..."
The doorbell rang.
"Who's that now?" She wondered as she eased up and headed for the door.
"Don't ever do that to me again, please?" Anthony stood there in the doorway, holding a bouquet of roses.
"I'll try not to, Anthony..." Diaspro smiled as she let him in.
"Roses for me? How thoughtful of you..." She took them from him and placed them in a crystal vase, setting it on the kitchen table.
"Two days ago, I see on television footage of you flying through London with all these police cars chasing behind you and then later on, I heard that you'd helped to rescue Helen and Zinah from their abductors- I didn't even know that they had been abducted in the first place! And I heard about gunshots being fired there, and then I couldn't track you down and then... I thought you'd been killed!" He rattled off without pausing for breath.
"You're such a sweetheart, you know that?" Diaspro leaned in for a kiss.
"They're my best friends. The very first friends I made since coming to Earth. Probably the first real friends I had at all. Surely you must understand that I had to do what I did..." Diaspro looked him in the eye.
"I understand. If I were in your position, I'd probably feel the same way and would have done the same. But please, try not to risk your life so much. I really do care about you, you know..." He smiled weakly.
"I know." Diaspro smiled back. "I know you do..."
"I've been waiting to meet you properly ever since you helped saved our daughter and her friend. I can never than you enough for what you have done!" Mr. Omrani said as he welcomed Diaspro to his home.
Dr. (Mrs.) Omrani was there as well as Zinah's four older brothers. Jamal, the oldest, then Nazim and then Amir and Khalid, who were twins.
"I must admit, I was rather wary of magic when it first started showing up, but if it helped to save my baby sister's life, then I have nothing against it no longer!" Jamal exclaimed.
"Speaking of your sister, where is she?" Diaspro looked around.
"She's right here." Diaspro looked around to see Zinah coming down the stairs, looking rather tired.
"Zinah! Are you okay? You look awful!" Diaspro exclaimed.
"I know. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since before I was abducted. I'm having nightmares..." Zinah shuddered as she sat in the nearest sofa.
"I'm sorry to hear..." Diaspro said sincerely as she walked to sit next to her.
"You don't have to be. You weren't the one who abducted me. In fact, you helped save me. I never did thank you properly for that..." Zinah smiled weakly.
The doorbell rang and Jamal went to answer it.
Helen and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Howell entered the room.
"Diaspro! I'm so glad to see you out of that hospital place so quickly!" Helen exclaimed.
"I'm glad too. Good thing it was just a dislocated shoulder..." Diaspro touched it lightly as Helen sat at Zinah's other side in the sofa.
"So you're Helen's fairy friend. She's told us all about you, you know..." Mrs. Howell smiled at Diaspro.
"Good things, I hope..." Diaspro chuckled slightly.
"Nothing but." Mr. Howell smiled.
"Thank you for saving my life. I can't imagine that Zinah or I would be here today without your help..." Helen held Diaspro's hand as she smiled at her best friend.
Mr. Omrani let them talk for a bit before he interrupted gently.
"I know you're glad to see each other again after your ordeal, but I did invite you all here for a reason..." He glanced out the window at the police guard they had, shielding them from reporters and inquisitive neighbours.
"I need to tell you why Abdul and his henchmen were after Zinah and by extension, me... You deserve to know..." He sighed as he sunk into a chair and his wife rubbed his shoulders gently, wordlessly reassuring him.
"Abdul and I grew up in Tripoli. We were neighbours and the best of friends for as long as I could remember. We did everything that young boys growing up in Tripoli could do. But as you may or may not know, there was also a lot of unrest against the government at that time. We were both young men in our mid-twenties at the time. We were eager to do our part to make Libya a better place for everyone..." Mr. Omrani paused.
"I had only recently gotten married to Jumana and we were very happy together. We still are. But Abdul thought that she was a distraction and tried to say that country should come before family... I disagreed with him. Fought him every day. Until the final straw came when one of his men almost "accidentally" killed Jumana when we were out! I fought back... and I ended up killing him..." Mr. Omrani put his head in his hands as everyone else except his wife gasped in shock.
"We always used to ask you why you left Libya and you never told us... Now we know why..." Jamal said quietly.
"Indeed. It was a terrible time. We probably never would have told you if this... if Abdul hadn't re-emerged from the pit he crawled out of..." Dr. (Mrs.) Omrani said sadly.
"After that happened we knew we had to leave. And then we found out that Jumana was pregnant with Jamal so that made it even more urgent for us to escape... We somehow managed to flee to Rome and stayed there for a few weeks before we moved onto London and both of us were granted asylum in the United Kingdom... We started over. I had always loved cooking so I decided to open Lazeez, while Jumana helped around the restaurant up until Jamal was born and for a little while afterwards. Jumana decided to try and get into the medical field here, since she was a doctor back in Libya, which she did after a while though. We lead a peaceful life ever since, expanding and raising our family here in London... at least until a few days ago..." Mr. Omrani sighed.
"Wow, dad. We could have never had any clue..." Zinah said in awe.
"But you did do your best and you and mum are wonderful parents. How can I blame you and mum for what happened to me? I blame those creeps. They're the ones that deserve the blame..." Zinah got up to hug her father, as did her brothers.
"We don't blame you either, Kasim. You did your best to protect your family. I would have done the same." Mr. Howell said and his wife nodded in agreement.
"Same here, Mr. Omrani. You're a very strong, brave man. Zinah and her brothers are very lucky to have you as a father..." Diaspro smiled.
"I hope he realises that, Diaspro. He is truly a wonderful man, regardless of what he thinks." Dr. Omrani smiled at her husband.
"You're all lucky you have each other. I hope you know that. I can only hope that I'll have my own family as wonderful as yours someday..." Diaspro said sincerely.
"You're a strong, brave woman. Any man would be lucky to have you. I don't doubt that someday you'll have your own family, Diaspro..." Dr. Omrani smiled back at her.
If Diaspro had ever thought that coming to Earth was a bad idea, all such thoughts would have left her mind as she enjoyed the happiness around her at the moment.
Pictures of Helen and Zinah's transformations are on my deviantArt page. Links will be up on my profile shortly.