Chapter 9

The Truth

Amethyst just stood there for a moment, stunned. What would you do if you were in her position? She merely reacted with pure shock. After twelve years of secrets, her parents were going to tell her 'the truth'.

She gulped. "R-really?"

All her parents could do was simply nod their heads and led the way into the living room. They sat together on the sofa and Timmy on a chair nearby. This was going to be a long conversation so her got refreshments in case they grew thirsty or hungry.

At first, they merely sat, staring at eachother in complete silence, not uttering a single sound. Who should speak first? Who shouldn't? That was what they all wanted to know, and being naturally shy, all were to nervous to be the first to speak.

After almost five minutes, Tecna knew that if she didn't say anything, no one would. After momentarily clearing her throat, she said, "So Amethyst, what would you like to know first?"

She shrugged. "Whatever you have to tell me."

Good, she's not hesitating, Tecna thought. That'll make it much easier to admit this all to her.

"Well, you remember those stories I told you about my old days in the Winx Club?"

She nodded.

"Well, you know how I told you how we fought witches, and monsters all the time?"

Amethyst again nodded.

"Well…" She paused, preparing herself to say this. "Those monsters you fought that day, recall them?"

"Yes," she said, waiting for her to get on with it.

Her mother gulped. "I've fought them before with the Winx Club from these horrible witches named Icy, Darcy, and Stormy. I've known them since I was your age."

That however, the young fairy of technology had not expected to hear. "So, you're trying to say the witches sent them?" She finished, hoping she was wrong.

Her mother nodded grimly. "Exactly. And, they're very much after me."

"Why did you fight them?"

Tecna thought for a moment. "Well, they used to do a lot of horrible stuff. They've attacked us-us, meaning me and the other girls-taken Bloom's-Bloom, you know, Queen Bloom of Eraklyon-and they've worked with horrible guys that also shared their goal to take over the universe."

"They sound horrible."

Her mother answered, "Oh they very much are. When I was a senior at Alfea, they were sentenced to the Omega Dimension."

"Then…why are they terrorizing Magix?"

"Icy broke them out," she replied. "And…in the process, they released a criminal named Baltor. He'd been the wizard the Ancestresses used to destroy Sparx."

Amethyst gasped. She'd remembered her history lesson on Sparx and how sad it was when the kingdom was a frozen wasteland for so long. The fact that its heir had restored it was wonderful, but she could recall her mother skipping over that part. Wait a minute. Isn't Queen Bloom Sparx's original heir before Princess Ember? But, that means that… "Bloom was the heir to Sparx?" She finished the thought aloud.

All her mother could do was say, "Yes, she was. But, now, the heir is her daughter Ember."

But…that meant that…She shook her head. It couldn't be true.

Her mother nodded, answering her unspoken question. "Connor, Ember, and the others are all other children of the Winx Club."

Well, that explained it! It all made sense now. That was the reason why the others' realms sounded familiar. But, there was something else she needed to know. "Why do they seem so familiar to me whenever I'm around them? It's almost as if I know them…or did."

"You did," Tecna corrected. "When you were really little, back when we still lived on Zenith, you used to play with them all the time, especially the girls. Symphony was your best friend, which I thought was funny because her mother Musa and I used to be as close until I got closer to Flora-Daffodil's mother-and Layla-Brandi and Ophir's mother."

"Then how come I don't remember any of that?"

Her mother frowned. "I'm getting to that."

Her stern told Amethyst to avoid questions like that and stick to what was important to know. "So, Mom, where did the witches get the power to release those things?"

She shrugged. "I've wondered the same thing myself for a long time. I thought we defeated them after Baltor went down. But…then again, I thought the same thing after freshman year. And the very next school year, look who's back!" She laughed bitterly for a moment, then stopped again.

"Anyway," she continued, "those witches have grown very powerful. The last time we battled with them was twelve years ago."

Amethyst gasped. "But, that was the same year you started keeping secrets from me." Then it clicked. "So, does that mean that something involving this whole battle started this?"

She nodded. "Yes. At first, we were the same group of friends we'd always been. We thought the witches were defeated, but low and behold: They'd returned, and this time they brought more power than any of us could handle-not even Bloom. They attacked all our planets and we went on countless battles."

Amethyst thought about that. Well, that explained why she could recall her mother hadn't been around much at that age. "Then what did you do?"

She frowned. This was hard to keep going because to do so, she had to bring back all those memories that she wanted to put behind her, forever. "Well, we just fought them, no matter where we had to go. Finally, after three months, they contacted us through this bracelet." She said, holding it up. "One day, it'd just appeared in my office and sat there for several weeks, but one night when we gathered there, it glowed a bright green color and Icy told us that she wanted us to have one final battle in Magix three days from then."

"So, what did you do?"

"The only thing we could: we prepared for battle. The girls and I trained as much as possible, for we knew that all the winx we could get a hold of would be needed, and maybe more."

"Were you scared?"

"Of course. Who wouldn't be? At that point, we all had children and knew that though our kids would be safe with all of their fathers, we still worried. You know, just simple motherly feelings. But, we kept going because we knew that we had to do it. Literally we had to since we were mostly in charge of things like this after we helped Bloom save Sparx from its eternal winter."

She sighed. "And then came the hardest part, saying goodbye to all of you as we headed off for Magix. We knew that it would be hard, and it would be an adventure, but we also knew we could pull it off as long as we were together…or so I thought."

Her daughter didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

As Tecna spoke, her voice grew more and more angry with each word. "My so-called friends betrayed me! And they did so in the most unforgivable way."

Amethyst was tempted to ask, How did they betray you? Why?, but she knew it was painful enough for her mother to say this. She'd get to that in a minute.

"So, what happened that day?"

"Well," Tecna answered, looking at her husband. "If I remember correctly, you and your father had come to Magix so he could make sure I was okay, even though I insisted I would be."

"Hey," he said, faking being hurt. "It doesn't hurt to be worried for one's spouse."

She smiled. "I didn't say it was, Timmy. But that day, you were way past worried. If I want to be specific, I'd say you were nearly paranoid for me."

This made her daughter laugh. Hearing about things like this made her parents seem much more normal than she'd been made to believe from all the years of secrets and sheltering. It felt good.

"So, what happened when you confronted the witches?" the teenage girl asked, bringing her parents back to reality.

"Yes," her mother said. "Well, it all started that we'd transformed and began to fly through the city…"

(Flashback)

The Winx girls flew through the city of Magix, looking around at what havoc had been wreaked on the beautiful magical city. The sky was pitch black and there were monsters around and about the realm, but luckily, they'd been able to evacuate just in time to make sure everyone was safe.

"I never thought we'd end up facing the witches again," Stella was saying as she looked up into the sky filled with ominous darkness.

"I'll say," Musa agreed. "You'd think they'd have given up on stalking us after so long, but no."

"It must be a hobby for them or something," Tecna contributed, deathly afraid of what they were to soon confront. It wasn't that she was frightened of the witches. Them? Never. She was scared of the looks of the realm, afraid that she would end up somewhere like the Omega Dimension again. She'd had enough of that place the first time and would not let herself be forced to endure it again. Plus, she knew her husband wouldn't be able to take it anymore after he'd already almost witnessed her death.

Flora shook her head. "It's just so sad. Why do bad things always have to happen?"

"I know Flo," Musa comforted, flying next to her. "But for now, let's just focus on taking down Icy, Darcy, and Stormy. Then we can fix Magix."

Flora agreed, as did they all, and they went back to flying in silence. The sparkling metropolis seemed so…monotonous. Without people, it was nothing more than a ghost town.

Finally, they seemed to approach their destination…That is, what seemed most likely to be it. It was a large, scary building that reminded Bloom of the haunted houses you'd hear about in Halloween movies back on Earth. Except, it was too big to be a house, yet not large in size enough to be a castle. It was most like a mansion, they all supposed.

Bloom prepared to try to burst the front door, but was suddenly cut off by a louder voice.

"Wait!" Tecna warned. "You don't want to do that." She pulled out her PDA and showed a small diagram. "According to my calculations, this entire building is surrounded by a shield of pure dark energy."

They sighed. Of course, the rest of the girls thought. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Things didn't seem to be looking up for them either. Following the muffled noises they could hear from behind, they spotted more of the gargoyles, coming toward them, eager to attack.

Layla sighed. "Of course, just what we need."

"Don't worry," Tecna assured them. "Just use your fairy dust to get inside while I take care of them," she finished pointing at the monsters. "Then you can come and get me once you've gotten inside.

They nodded, agreeing. They quickly flew off and Tecna got into position, quickly attacking off the monsters.

She'd easily defeated them after only a few minutes, but then she realized that the girls hadn't come for her yet. That was strange. Surely it couldn't have taken them that long to get inside. Logically, they should've had plenty of time to at least send of the girls to tell her they were in.

She flew into the air and toward the mansion. At first, it seemed normal, but then she realized something was very wrong…the house was gone. What had happened? "This doesn't make sense!" She shouted. "It was just here."

But, then she recalled the illusion spell Baltor had once put on Cloud Tower. Scanning with her PDA, she was certain that that had to have been what was going on. To her shock, however, her results proved that there was nothing there, as if the building she was sure was there only a few minutes ago had never existed.

"This is illogical," she kept telling herself. "None of it makes any sense."

Suddenly, of out nowhere came a burning sensation. Internally, she thought she heard Darcy say, "You'd better get to your daughter, or who knows what will happen to her."

She was completely caught off guard by that. What had the witches done to her daughter? She gulped. And…what did they plan to do with her?

Not waiting to find out, she quickly followed the trace of her daughter that the sensation had given her. She flew as fast as she could, no matter what happened, nothing would get in her way(well, except for a few trees that hit her in the face, but it wasn't noticeable).

Finally, just as she had thought, she found her daughter over the enchanted woods near Alfea. There was Amethyst, trapped in a sphere of power, to her relief. Only, something confused her. Why was the sphere red and not purple? For, it had to have been created by Darcy…right? And if it had, it would've been dark purple. But, instead, it was a bright orangish red color. Why? She found out only a few seconds later.

She put it behind her as she approached her daughter. "Amethyst?"

The little girl looked up at her with big, worried eyes. "Mom? Where am I? How did I get here?"

"I don't know," she answered, "but don't worry, I'm going to get you out." But before she could attempt, she heard a snicker.

She quickly flipped around, but was joyed to see who was there. "Guys, good it's you. Sure, I wish you could've given me a heads up that the house disappeared, but that's okay. So"-she gestured to Amethyst- "why don't we help my daughter and then we can go confront the witches?"

What surprised her was that Bloom just giggled wickedly. "Oh, Tecna, there's just something about you that always annoyed me. Hear me girls?" She asked the others. They all nodded.

The Alfea headmistress was confused. "What are you talking about?"

She found out when suddenly Musa blasted the sphere her daughter was in. The child was not harmed, but she was indeed greatly frightened.

Tecna was more confused than ever. Why were they acting like this? "What's gotten into all of you?" She demanded, getting directly in Bloom's face.

Bloom grinned. "Well, let's just say we think for being a pain you deserve a little lesson to be taught."

She raised her eyebrow. "Like how?"

The fairy of the Dragon Fire seemed pleased that she'd said that. "Like this," she answered, flying and snapped her fingers, making Amethyst's shield disappear.

Her mother instantly went to her aid and created a sphere of her own digital energy around her to protect her daughter. She was furious. "Bloom, what is the meaning of this?"

"It means we've had it with you," Stella told her.

That'd crossed the line. She was about to attack when Bloom said, "I don't think you want to do that. Want something to happen to your daughter?"She shook her head. If anything was to happen to her daughter, she wouldn't be able to take it. "Alright."

But, suddenly, Amethyst's protection shield rose higher into the air and the Winx girls ascended with her.

Tecna gasped. "No!"

Just when all the Winx Club were ready to fire an attack of convergence, Tecna had used her powers to switch places with her daughter, forcing her to take the hit instead. She felt great pain, but shook it off and went to her daughter's aid. She took the little girl into her arms and angrily went to the others.

"What?" Bloom demanded.

Tecna glared at them with pure hatred. "To think I could trust you is sad, so sad. I thought I knew you girls, but I see I didn't." She paused and said, "Consider myself officially quitting the Winx Club." And before they could answer, she was gone, and had transported herself and Amethyst back into her office in Alfea.

Her husband was greatly relieved to see her. He gasped. "Tecna, are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine." She made a bed appear and placed the now sleeping child inside of it.

"What happened?" Timmy pressed.

"I quit the Winx Club."

"Why?"

She sighed. "The girls almost killed our daughter," she replied bitterly, nearly shouting as tears came from her eyes.

Her husband gasped. "Really? I would've never thought they'd do something like that."

"Neither did I," Tecna agreed. "It looks like I was wrong about them. If they're evil, who knows just how bad the other guys are."

Timmy nodded in agreement. How he'd ever befriended those guys was beyond him. He knew that he'd made a terrible mistake. "So, what now?"

She shrugged and changed back to her normal form. "I don't know what's ahead Timmy, but what I do is that there's going to need to be some changes."

(End Flashback)

At this point, the whole room was in silence as tears erupted from Tecna's eyes. She got a tissue and tried her best to calm down, but recalling almost watching her own child's death was the most horrible thing she could think about.

"Mom," Amethyst finally asked, "is that why I don't remember any of this?"

Tecna nodded, regaining composure. "Yes. For two weeks after, you couldn't sleep, always talking about terrible nightmares. I couldn't handle it. One day, I remembering biting my nails so hard I almost took off my whole hand. So, I decided that I should wipe this from your memory so you wouldn't have to live in fear all your life."

Now it all made sense. That was why her parents had sheltered her so much. It'd been because they couldn't take the idea of her getting hurt again. "Wow. It must've been so hard for you and dad to have to go through all that."

"You have no idea," her father answered, looking at his wife.

"But, there's still one thing I don't get: Mom, why are the witches after you?"

The Jewelix fairy looked to her husband. He gave her no support, so she gulped. "Well, I can't be exactly sure, but my best guess is this: When I and the others were all together in Magix as teachers at Red Fountain and Alfea, we had a run-in with a dark fairy named Serefina. After her end, we'd gotten the spell book she used, the Kantoria. It was very powerful. We considered destroying it, but it was to risky, so one of us had to keep it for it we sold it, there was the possibility of it ending up in the wrong hands. Since I was staying at Alfea, I agreed to guard the book."

"Oh, so they want the book. But…why would they want you…gone just to get a book? Can't they just take it?"

She shook her head. "They know me well enough that I'll guard that book with my life."

"And why is that?"

"Well, the first reason is that once they get it, they'll most likely have enough power to take over the entire Magical Dimension."

"The second?"

Tecna finished answering looking at her husband momentarily and then again at her daughter. "Because Amethyst. The minute they get their hands on that book is when they go after you."

Hopefully this answers most of the questions we've had, but of course there's still a little mystery left. So...

Why are the witches after Amethyst? What are the Winx Club up to? What are the witches planning for their final strike?