Disclaimer: I do not own Winx Club. Just Jeanne, Leonard, Meditrina, and Eldus.
' Thinking to oneself '
" Talking "
Chapter 9
Defeat at first Battle
"Meditrina? What are you doing here I thought you were with my parents." Meditrina gave Daphne a solemn expression as she bowed "I bring some news Princess Daphne..." the healer said as she raised her head to face her princess. "Your father has awakened and he refuses to stay still. I am worried that he will reopen his wounds. I was hoping that you could go talk to him and maybe convince him to listen to me." Daphne giggled at the thought of her father even thinking of listening to anyone besides her mother. "What about my mother couldn't she convince him to stay still?" "She is sleeping right now and I would prefer not to wake her." Daphne nodded "Ok let's go see if we can tell my father to stay still." Meditrina bowed again and said her thanks. They started to leave the room when they were interrupted by Sky.
"Excuse me, Meditrina?" "Yes, Prince Sky?" the healer said as she turned to face the prince. "Can I be freed from my strict bed rest now? It is the end of the day now" "Ok prince I will check your condition before I make my decision." The healer said as she went over to Sky's bed and started to check his vitals. After a moment Meditrina looked Sky in the eyes and smiled "Looks like you have recovered enough to not require bed rest, but you might still feel a bit sluggish so don't push yourself too much until you no longer feel any fatigue." Sky nodded in agreement as he slowly got up and stretched. Bloom went over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you're ok Sky." Sky gave her a kiss back "Me too." He turned to look at Daphne and Meditrina "Do you think that I could go with you to visit the King?" "Yes, we would also like to visit his majesty." Flora said. Daphne looked at the healer and waited for her answer. "Yes, it should be fine for the King to have a short visit from family and friends." the healer said with a smile.
Everyone then started to head out of the room following Daphne and Meditrina, except for Sky and Thoren. Sky took a moment to change his clothes and dress properly in his royal garments before turning to Thoren. "Do you have my package that I asked you to get for me?" Thoren nodded as he pulled out a small package from his coat pocket and handed it over to Sky. "Here you go. Why did you want it so badly?" Sky smiled mischievously as he placed the package in the inner pocket of his jacket "you will see soon enough" Thoren smiled and shaked his head as he followed Sky out of the room and rushed to catch up to the Winx.
They all reached the King and Queen's chambers. Daphne stepped forward and knocked on the door. Shortly after she heard her father give his permission to enter. She open the door and saw her father still in bed. "Hello father. I am so glad that you are awake and feeling better." Daphne stepped aside and motioned to the Winx, Sky and Thoren who followed after her. "There are some guests that wanted to see you and wish you good health." Everyone came in and stood side by side as they bowed before the King and now awake Queen. "Welcome, everyone." Queen Marion said as she sat up in bed. "Yes, welcome all. And I am glad that you all came all this way to wish us the best in our recovery." The King said as he started to get up from bed.
Meditrina immediately stepped forward and attempted to stop him from standing. "Your majesty, Please stay in bed... you could reopen you wounds and have a bigger risk of infections..." "I can't stay in bed while I have to properly greet my guests who have come to visit us! I can't be rude." the healer was a loss for words "But your majesty..." The king smiled at the healer knowing that he had got his way "You worry too much Meditrina... if I feel up to standing then I'm pretty sure I am well enough to stand." King Oritel laughed good-naturedly while being a little wobbly on his feet. But his laughter was soon cut off when he heard his Queen clear her throat. He slowly turned to face her and saw that she was giving him her 'serious' face. "Oritel stop acting out and get back into bed until you are told otherwise." "But Marion, my beautiful wife, I don't want to lay in bed all day when there is a great evil on the loose and a kingdom to rule." Queen Marion crossed her arms and started to glare at her King. "Oritel..." the King gulped but reluctantly got back to bed and started to pout because he didn't get to do what he wanted.
Everyone started laughing softly at the scene that had taken place and the healer was just happy that the King was finally settling down and staying in bed. Bloom and Daphne walked up to their parents and gave them each a hug. They were so relieved that they would make a full recovery. Bloom looked up after giving her father a hug "I was so worried about you, Dad." "It's ok Bloom I'm fine... though honestly I was a bit more worried about Sky..." Sky stepped forward and bowed to the king and Queen before saying "I do apologize for my failure in the battle against the Trix. I won't be taken off guard so easily the next time." "Don't worry too much, my dear. No one expected them to interrupt our nice lunch" Queen Marion said to Sky with a warm smile.
"That reminds me Sky..." Bloom started to ask as she walked up to Sky. "...Why were you here visiting my parents anyway? You didn't tell me you were going to be in Domino, I would have come with you." Sky scratch the back of his head as he slightly blushed. "Well, Bloom I sort of didn't want you to be here while I was visiting your parents..." Bloom looked slightly hurt and confused. "Why not?" "Well, I wanted to talk to them about us... and our relationship..." Bloom was still confused. "What about our relationship?"
Sky took a step back away from Bloom, but held onto her left hand. "Bloom, We have gone through many battles together, whether it was a battle to keep the magical dimension safe or a challenge of the heart, but they each have made our love stronger. You may be one of the strongest fairy in the known universe, but I love you for you. I don't care that you grew up on earth, that you are a Princess of Domino, that you are the guardian fairy of the Great Dragon Flame, or have a hyper blue rabbit as a pet, I love the person you are, the pure heart that you have. Just as I know how you don't just love me for being the crown prince of Eraklyon, but for who I am, the person under all this royal facade and garments. I know that there is a big battle coming and all, but when I was dying the only thing that I could think of was: 'I'm never going to see my beautiful Bloom again' and 'I never asked her my question...I wonder what she would have said...'" Bloom was still confused as to why Sky was saying all this now "Sky, I love you too, but I don't understand what you are trying to say..."
"What I am trying to say, Bloom... is that the reason I came to see your parents is because I want our relationship to change..." Sky blushed some more and scratched the back of his head before kneeling down on one knee and pulling out the small box that Thoren had given him earlier. "I wanted their permission and blessing for your hand in marriage... What do you say Bloom? Will you do me biggest honor of marrying me and making me the happiest man in existence?"
Eldus was very pleased in how he managed to fix the building to his liking. He had cleared out all the desks and tools that were littering the ground on both first and second floors. "Now for the finishing touch..." Eldus concentrated and then there was a slight explosion. Once all the dust had settled a perfect large hole was cut through the ceiling on the first floor and through the roof on the second floor. "Perfect, now I should go check on my little witches."
The sorcerer opened a portal to Darkar's castle and stepped through. As soon as he was through he looked around and saw that the Trix were still in the same spot the he had left them. The only difference now was that above each of them hovered a stone that held the element that they each controlled. Eldus walked over to the witches who were deep in concentration in their practice. "Well hello my talented witches. How is the practice going?" The Trix looked at Eldus with an evil grin. "We finished Practicing Eldus." Icy said "We have already memorized and perfected the timing of the spell" added Darcy "And we have already created the stones that are needed to pierce your artifact." Finished Stormy while motioning to the stones above them.
The great sorcerer was taken aback at what he just heard 'There's no way they managed to prepare so quickly...' "Oo that's so great my intelligent Trix. May I see a demonstration?" The Trix nodded and proceeded to show him their perfect timing without need of the parchments that he gave them earlier, they even went through the timing of piercing their stones into a soft pillow at the same time. Eldus was very impressed 'Imagine if there were more evil covens in the universe, the scales would have completely tipped to evil by now.' "Impressive ladies... I didn't think that it would take you that short a time to get it perfect." "Well, we have done our part, have you done yours?" Icy asked
"Why yes I have. I found a nice abandoned Garbage Plant on the outskirts of Gardenia that is perfect for our little plan. And I have fixed it up so it is ready for use. Would you like to have a look?" Eldus opened the portal to Gardenia and stepped aside for the Trix "Witches first..." he said as he motioned to the portal. The Trix stepped through and soon they were in the abandoned plant. The Trix looked around and saw a damp, molding old building, with cleared floors, and a huge hole in the ceiling that allowed a nice view of the night sky. "Nice place you found here Eldus. Looks like you weren't floating around doing nothing after all." remarked Stormy. "Your praise, flatters me Stormy thank you." Eldus said with a genuine looking smile.
"So when can we start with releasing your second seal, Eldus?" Icy asked impatiently "Well, my dear Icy we will need to wait for Dawn, in order to proceed." "Why can't we do it now?" asked Darcy "Because the seals were used using the foundation of the Ying-Yang magic. You were luckily able to release the first seal because of the eclipse. It is a natural event that happens to show the powers of Ying, the only tricky part of it was that it only happens every 50 years. The Yang power is a bit different, unlike the Ying power, Yang's natural event happens every morning at dawn." "Why dawn?" Stormy asked "Because dawn is both night and day. It is the moment before the great sun raises to bring light to the world. Just like the symbol demonstrates, it overpowers the darkness with its light while still accepting its existence within itself."
"Alright then, so all we need to do now is to relax and rest until dawn." Icy commented "It's not much longer before you are free, Eldus, and when we get our much deserved reward." Darcy noted "Yes, you girls just focus on the spell and the seal, and I will take care of any unwanted interruptions that might appear." he said with an evil smirk
Bloom looked down and couldn't believe her eyes. Before her the love of her life was kneeling on one and he was holding a small black box with the most beautiful engagement ring that she has ever seen, including Stella's, 'No offense Stella'. No this ring was way better... because it was just for her. It had a large blue heart shaped diamond in the middle, it had one marquise shaped clear diamond on each side of the blue diamond, and on a simple white gold band. It was beautiful. Bloom was so shocked that she couldn't manage to say anything, just stare in amazement and excitement at Sky and the ring in front of her.
After a moment of waiting for a response Sky was starting to get nervous. "Umm... Bloom, my love... can I have an answer please?" That woke Bloom up. She started nodding her head while smiling brightly. "YES! Sky, Yes!" She exclaimed as jumped on top of him to give him a hug and a kiss. Everyone in the room started to cheer and congratulate Bloom and Sky. Sky got up off the ground with Bloom and smiled hugely, he gently picked up the ring from the box and gently slipped it on Bloom's left ring finger. Bloom took a moment to take a close look at her engagement ring and decided to give Sky another loving kiss.
"OO Bloom we are so HAPPY for you!" Stella said as she bounced over to her best friend and gave her a big hug. "Yes, this is a moment of to celebrate do you agree?" Tecna commented. "Yea, let's go have a little party while we grab dinner." Musa said. Daphne stepped forward "Follow me girls we have great Dinner set up in the dining room." The Winx said their goodbyes to the King and Queen, and excitedly followed Daphne out of the room. Bloom and Sky were the last ones to leave the room, they walked over to her parent's bed and Bloom gave them a huge hug to each of them. "Congratulations, darling. I am so happy for you." Queen Marion said to her daughter. "Yes, Bloom I know that you will be very happy alongside Sky... and I know that Prince Sky will take very good care of you, right?!" King Ortiel said as he eyed Sky "Of course your majesties, I promise you that I will take very good care of Bloom. I will love her more and more each and every day, and protect her with my life." Bloom's parents nodded their approval and the couple left the room to follow their friends. "Oo Oritel our little girl is growing up so fast, I'm so proud of her." Queen Marion said with tears in her eyes. "I'm proud of her too my love... I just hope that Eldus does not do anything that will jeopardize their happiness."
When Bloom and Sky entered the dining room they saw that the Winx were already starting to eat their dinner with their boyfriends. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Sky asked as soon as he saw his friends. "We got a call from the girls saying that you finally proposed and we came immediately, with the help of Stella's magic of course. You know we couldn't miss a party!" Brandon said. "Thanks for coming guys and celebrating this special moment with me and Bloom." Sky said as they went to go sit at the head of the table and started eating their food and enjoying the amazing company.
Once they finished eating the main course they waited for the dessert to be served. As soon as the maids opened the doors to bring in the large cake, the Winx magically decorated the room to appear ready for a huge congratulatory party. "Wow guys this all looks great!" Bloom said with a big smile.
"Well, now that I had some yummy food it's time to party all night long!" Stella exclaimed as she stood up towards the large cake. Everyone giggled at their blonde friend as they too got up and walked to the cake. Sky took Bloom's hand and went over to the Winx and the Specialists, together they cut and passed around the cake. Once they finished eating the cake and taking lots of pictures Aisha turned to the Fairy of Music "Hey, Musa lets crank up the music!" "Alright!" Musa magically made her DJ equipment appear and started playing her mix.
Everyone started to dance with their loved ones and have a good time. "Oo Sky this has just been a perfect night. I wish it wouldn't end." Sky looked at his fiancé with a loving smile "Me too Bloom, me too."
As soon as it became a couple hours to dawn, Eldus got up and walked over to the Trix who were talking amongst themselves in the other side of the room. "Are you three ready to get started?" "It's about time." Stormy said as she jumped up and stretched her arms above her head. "Good, I love your enthusiasm. For the next hour you witches will start to meditate on your powers and start filling up your stones with dark raw power." Icy bent down and picked up the cloth that was holding Eldus' relic "Alright, let's get started sisters." Stormy and Darcy nodded and all three flew over to the middle of the room under the hole in the ceiling. Icy unwrapped the relic without directly touching she centered it in the middle. Once it was centered the Trix each took three steps back while levitating their stones in front of them, and started to focus their powers and meditate.
After a while of focusing their powers into their stones they started to glow stronger and stronger. Eldus watched with an evil grin from a short distance and was getting more and more excited as he felt the Trix's power grow. 'I only have to wait a little while more, before I will finally be free to curse those who were responsible for my suffering and become king of this pathetic universe.'
Most of the Winx and Specialists had fallen asleep on the elegant and soft couches in the room or were just resting with their loved one. Bloom was leaning on Sky's shoulder while they were sitting on the couch. "I love you Sky." Bloom said sleepily "I love you too Bloom." Bloom smiled. "We are going to live happily ever after together, right?" She asked her fiancé as she looked at her ring again "Yes, forever together my beautiful Bloom." Sky responded as he entwined his hand with her left hand and kissed her on her head.
Suddenly Bloom felt a sudden chill go down her spine and she started to feel cold. She wrapped her arms around herself in attempts to warm herself up. "Bloom what's wrong?" Sky asked as he turned her around to face him when he felt her shaking. "I don't know... I have a feeling that something really bad is going to happen soon. This is such a cold and empty feeling... Sky, I am sensing a lot of evil power being focused... I think the Trix are getting ready to free Eldus' body from the second seal..." the commotion alerted everyone else and they were shocked to hear what Bloom just said "How do you know Bloom?" Riven asked. "I don't know... it's just this feeling I have..." She abruptly looked at Sky with a serious expression "We need to get to Earth immediately... They're in Gardenia!"
With that everyone, including Bloom and Sky, stood up knowing that their rest was now over. Bloom turned to face her friends "Winx Transform!" the girls nodded and gathered together before exclaiming "Winx Bloomix!"
As soon as they all transformed Bloom flew over to Daphne. "I'm sorry Bloom I can't go with you. I need to stay here and watch over things while Mom and Dad are recovering..." "It's ok Daphne I understand." Bloom said with a supportive smile to her sister. "Please, Bloom be careful. Eldus is very dangerous...he cannot get his body. If he does, he will be able to curse anyone he wishes." "Don't worry I will be careful."
With that Bloom turned to the Winx "Ready girls?" "Ready!" they exclaimed together. Bloom then opened up a portal to Gardenia and stepped through followed by the Winx then the Specialists. As soon as Sky was about to step through he was stopped "Sky, wait!" "What's wrong Daphne?" "You need to be especially careful Sky. Eldus will find out that Bloom is a descendent of Queen Jeanne and he will target her." "I will protect her, I promise." "I'm more worried about you Sky... he will try to curse you in order to really hurt Bloom..." it took him just a second to understand what Daphne was trying to say. Sky nodded and stepped through the portal.
"Now girls start the spell, Dawn is soon approaching." Eldus told the Trix when he started to see some color in the sky. The Trix nodded and started to summon their Whisperian Crystals to give them an extra boost. As soon as they did Eldus sensed something and looked out the window to see the Winx flying closer to the building followed by the Specialists. "You girls continue I will take care of some unwanted guests."
The Trix nodded and Icy started to slowly say the spell. Eldus walked outside and closed the door behind him "Well, well, well... look who has come to ruin my party." Eldus was shocked to see Bloom 'No, it can't be. She died a long time ago!' "We have come to stop you Eldus! We won't let you gain your body back." Bloom told the evil sorcerer. Eldus grinned 'She must be a direct descendent of Jeanne... how interesting their resemblance is uncanny' "I think you are too late to stop me, descendent of Jeanne." Bloom was slightly shocked to realize that Eldus knew who she was already. All of a sudden there was a burst of power that threw the building's front door wide open and a column of dark power shot straight up and out of the building.
The Winx saw the Trix inside the building focusing on a spell with the Whisperian Crystals above them and their power stones floating in front of them. "No!" Bloom exclaimed to see how close they were in breaking the second seal "We need to stop them... Winx!" The Winx flew next to Bloom and got ready to do a convergence. "WINX CONVERGENCE!" They exclaimed together "I don't think so!" Eldus sent a barrier up and easily blocked the attack. Sky took Eldus' distraction to make a direct attack. "Sky, be careful!" Bloom exclaimed. Eldus turned in time to see the Crown Prince charging at him and swing his sword. Since Eldus was busy with the barrier he couldn't block Sky's attack. That's when everyone saw Sky pass right through Eldus with ease.
"What just happened?" Sky asked as he turned around to face Eldus again. "It won't work if you physically attack a ghost, boy." Eldus looked to the Winx again and saw Bloom's worried expression. "Hmm... interesting... you are her true love aren't you?... How perfect!" Eldus said with an evil glare at Sky. "Get away from him!" Bloom said as she sent multiple attacks towards Eldus. She managed to make a direct hit and sent Eldus flying back into the building a couple feet away from the Trix.
"Not bad Guardian Princess of Domino, if you faced me earlier you would have been able to seal me away again..." Eldus looked up the brightening sky and grinned when he heard Stormy start to recite the last line of the spell. "but you were too late to prevent me from releasing my body... now without your sacred partner you cannot even think to defeat me." Bloom realized what he just said "Winx attack him now!" Each Winx sent a powerful attack aimed at Eldus, but before it made contact they heard the Trix exclaim "SEAL RELEASE!" and heard stones hit hard rock.
There was a sudden explosion at the same time that the Winx's attack directly hit Eldus. The Winx were all on the defensive waiting for anything to come out of the dust. Once the dust settled the Winx were able to see a tall dark figure standing in the middle of the destroyed room. Suddenly it raised his hand and threw a huge blast at the Winx and the Specialists. "Dancing Flames!" Bloom said as she put up a huge barrier around the Specialist. "Protection of Waves!" Aisha exclaimed as she put up a barrier to protect the Winx.
Unfortunately, the blasts were too strong to hold the barriers up for very long, both blasts sent everyone back a few feet. And it knocked out Bloom and Aisha, but everyone else were relatively unharmed just a little shell shocked and very dazed.
"Did you honestly think that you could stop me? An army couldn't stop me! What makes you think that a bunch of fairies and their lovers have a chance to do me damage?" Eldus asked as he slowly walked closer and closer to Bloom and Sky. "Now be prepared to watch your beloved suffer great pain... then you will know the pain I suffered through...long ago…" Eldus started to conjure up a dark and sinister orb in his left hand as he stopped before Sky. "You will never win Eldus" Sky said as he tried to stand up. "As long as I break Jeanne that's all that matters." Eldus said with a serious face 'Jeanne? But she's gone...Does he mean Bloom?' Sky wondered. "I wonder why this feels like De Ja Vu?" Eldus said with a knowing grin "Oo that's right I did the same thing 3,000 years ago." he said with an evil laugh. "Enjoy your painful death, powerless Prince!" Eldus then started to throw the dark orb at Sky.
Bloom woke up hearing Eldus talking to Sky. "What? Sky!?" She abruptly got up and looked around to see Eldus raise his left hand and tell her love "Enjoy your painful death, powerless Prince" then started to throw the dark orb at Sky. "NO!" Bloom screamed as she flew as fast as she could the few feet to Sky. 'No, not Sky. I can't lose him again... I just can't. I rather take his place just to save him...'
Just before the Black orb hit Sky, Bloom pushed him out of the way and took the direct hit instead. The orb's force sent Bloom flying back a couple feet, once on the floor the Orb started to be absorbed into Bloom's body until it disappeared and covered Bloom in a dark light. "Bloom! No!" Sky exclaimed as he ran over to his fiancé.
A flash of sadness shown in Eldus' eyes, but since it was so fast it was missed by everyone. Eldus then started to laughed at the unexpected turn of events. "Well, I was really hoping that the Prince would feel the pain you all deserve, but this works just as well. Say good bye to your true love while you can." Eldus laughed as he walked towards the Trix who finally woke up. "Let's go girls. you need to rest before you get your reward." The Trix smiled and followed Eldus through a dark portal.
"Bloom? Bloom!... Please, say something..." Sky said as he held Bloom in his arms. Bloom opened her eyes slightly and gave a small smile when she saw Sky and reached up to cup his face. "Sky you're not hurt are you?" Sky shook his head no, and gave her a small smile while reaching up to his cheek and putting his hand over her's. "No, thanks to you." "You're not hurt... thank goodness..." Bloom started to close her eyes again "Sky... I'm sorry... I love you..." her hand fell from Sky's cheek as she heard Sky yell: "No, Bloom please stay awake... Bloom?!"