There are a few things I'd like to address before this chapter gets underway.

Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed, alerted and favourite this fic, your support really does mean the world to me.

I am now the beta-reader for a story called 'Missing in Action' written by Neverforget101 and have been working collaboratively with the construction of the plot etc. the fic proves to be very promising and full of drama. If you could take the time to give the fic a read and review that would be greatly appreciated.

I do NOT own the song In The End by Linkin Park.

This chapter is both the darkest and the longest for this fic :) Enjoy.

Chapter 11

The Abyss

Layla smashed her hands hard against the bars of the cage, making them rattle and her hands sting with pain. she and the other guys were now trapped in. "Let us out of here!" she yelled to no one in particular when Nabu placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Layla," he began, making the aggressive fairy turn to look into his deep purple eyes. "Calm down!"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Nabu!" She reroted, making hin retract his hand. "Calm is not what we should be right now, we should be trying to find a way out of this stupid cage so we can find the others and see if they are alright!"Her hands readied themselves to hit the metal but Nabu took them in his hands, holding them tight. "Stop this Layla, you are just wasting your energy; Timmy already analysed then and you know thye are unbreakable."

"I don't care, Nabu!" Layla yelled again. "I need to find the others... I need to see if Musa is okay, I need to make sure I am there to keep them safe." Stella stood to her feet, Brandon following suit.

"Layla we'll find them."

"And they are going to be fine," Added Sky. "They have us..."

"But not for long," the wonderfully irritating Icy chuckled, raising her hands into the air and muttering words under her breath. Suddenly a dark hole appeared at the far end of the cage right under Brandons feet, quickly he reacted, pushing Stella into Timmy with his hands before falling straight through. "Snookums!" Stella screamed.

Sky reached out, trying to take his hand but ended up falling in himself. "Grab onto something!" Timmy yelled making everyone do so. Stella and Timmy held onto the bars near each other before Layla and Nabu did the same, wind slowly building so strong that their legs all floated in the air, pointing to an unwanted destination. "Just keep holding on! Don't let go!" Nabu hollered though Timmy felt something stinging at his hands, he had no choice but to let go flying directly behind him and into the dark abyss. "Timmy!" Stella shrieked.

"Don't let go Layla!" Nabu yelled when he felt a cold stinging at his hands, he fought against the sensation before it became too much and his hands let go. Layla quickly reacted, using her free right hand to grab a hold of Nabu's flailing one. "Nabu!" She yelled above the howling wing. "Don't worry, I won't let go."

"Layla, if you don't let go now we will both fall." She shook her head, tears filling her eyes.

"No I'm not letting you go!"

"Layla its okay," Nabu replied offering a kind smile as one of her fingers slipped from around the bar she held. "You have to let go!"

"No!"

"Yes! Layla I'll find you I promise okay...I will find you!" The sound of Stella's screaming suddenly disappeared as she too flew into the hole. Layla looked to Icy who just shrugged her shoulders, it was clear that going through that portal was the only way; maybe Musa would be on the other side.

Nabu watched as Layla's gaze returned to his and her hands slowly unwound around the bar drawing them straight into the abyss together hands still connected.

Helia walked around the room's circumference for the thirtieth time since they had been sent there. He held his hand against the bricks surrounding them, trying to find something, any way that they could get out. A secret passage, a hidden door, a lose brick so he could dig them out and into the open light. But the light had long disappeared from the cell they were in now and as he sat down they realised there definitely was no way out. All they had to do was sit and wait.

Bloom pulled on her chains using her bare hands but the bands refused to give way, they had tried to cast an illunmination spell to make the room fill with light but nothing worked, the chains were slowly draining their winx and the rough landing from the ship earlier hadn't helped much in their plight. Stormy was right.

It was quiet in the room as Flora folded her legs to her chest and sat her head on her knees. She didn't know what to do and all this waiting was slowly killing her inside. Flora needed the great outdoors, she needed the sun and trees, not to be cooped up inside a room made of bricks that held no hope of escape.

"We'll get out of this Flora, I promise," Helia hoped, convincing himself more than anyone else in the room. He placed a hand on Flora's back hoping to offer some kind of hope and strength though Flora didn't respond to his touch. Things were looking grim.

Bloom sat quietly hoping that Sky and the others were okay and that they were not the only ones who survived the crash the very thought of them being the only three alive gave her shivers. Then she heard it, a faint sound that made Bloom wonder if her mind had imagined it. "Guys did you just hear a-"

"Scream?" Helia finished, looking to the sky, a glimmer of hope returning in his eye. Flora stood to her feet as Bloom did the same, the two drawing together in the centre with Helia, all of them looking above.

"Stella?" She questioned as the scream grew louder and then they saw her, her long blonde hair the only contrast against the darkness.

"STELLA!" Bloom shrieked before running to catch her friend in her arms, making the two overbalance and fall in a muddled heap. "Stella!" Bloom yelled, patting her friends face softly with her hand. "Stella wake up!" Stella obeyed and opened her eyes to see Bloom, Flora and Helia all circling around her. Her eyes filled with tears as her teeth chattered together and her arms flung around Blooms shoulders, squeezing so tightly she nearly suffocated her friend.

Bloom looked to the others wondering what had happened before Stella leaned backwards and looked to Flora and Helia. "You're alive!" She smiled. "Oh thank God!"

"Stella what happened? Have you seen anyone else?" Helia asked making her nod her head.

"Sky, Nabu, Layla, Timmy and Brandon are all okay or at least they were when I last saw them...until."

"Until what?" Bloom nearly shouted, hoping that her love was alright.

"Icy used this kind of spell thing and made a portal appear underneath us. It started pulling everyone in. I lost my grip and followed Brandon, Sky and Timmy but Nabu and Layla were still together. It...was...horrible." Bloom took her friend into her arms, holding the shuddering fairy.

Stella leant back trying to get onto her feet but grabbing her side instead. Her eyes closed in a grimace making Bloom place a hand on her shoulder. "Stella?"

"Here let me look," Flora insisted, kneeling next to her friend and putting slow pressure on the side.

"I think you might have hit your ribs in the crash. They're probably just bruised but you need to be careful."

"Thanks Flora. Have you seen anyone else?" The group shook their heads. Riven, Musa and Tecna were still missing. "I don't know how I ended up here but it is good to see you guys are all okay," Stella smiled before chains materialized from the ground around her ankles "or not" she shrieked. "How do we get out of here?"

"These chains are stronger than you think Stella, we can't break them," Bloom explained

"We have tried to use our magic but while the chains are attached we can't cast any spells," Flora added.

"Let me see about that," Stella grimaced to a standing position. "Transportus backhomus," she chanted, but nothing. They were right. Any magic would not work. "Those Witches!" Stella yelled.

"They are so going to get the full power of the dragon when I get out of here," Bloom yelled, tugging on her chains again.

"I wonder how the others are." Flora wondered; her eyes were staring at the ground vacantly. Helia placed an arm around her shoulders and Flora leaned into the embrace enjoying the warmth of his chest.

"What was that?" Asked Bloom making Stella turn her attention to the room again and Flora lean away from Helia. "I didn't hear anything."

"AH!" Helia yelled, letting go of Flora and being pulled chains first toward a newly formed abyss portal on the other side of the room. "HELIA!" Flora charged, the others following closely behind. His back scraping against every rocky edge that the floor had as he went. Then he stopped, holding for dear life onto the edge. "Ah Flora!" He screamed in pain making the nature fairy sprint and dive to take hold of his hands. Though, just as her fingers touched his, they slipped away, his body falling into the deep chasm below and out of sight. "Helia!" She screamed, attempting to dive in after him but Stella and Bloom took her into their arms, holding her as she whimpered and wailed, tears flowing down her face and dripping onto the floor that now closed itself.

Flora wormed her way out of their grasp and felt the floor with her hands punching it repeadidly. "NO!"

Musa sat silently inside their own area though her eyes began to close. She placed a hand to her head and began massaging her temples in an attempt to remove the thump her brain emitted every few seconds. "Musa are you okay?" Tecna asked from where she sat, chains attached, at the other side of the room.

"Yeah," Musa replied trying to smile reassuringly. "Just a headache that's all."

"Are you sure?" Riven asked, moving toward his girlfriend, his chains shuffling along the cobblestones as he went, the other end attached to one particular stone along the edge of the room. "Yeah I'm sure," Musa answered.

But Musa knew the truth; she had seen it all before with her mother and now the memories that she had tried to forget kept on resurfacing. Her mother started complaining of a headache then she got a fever and cold sweat, her vision disappeared and her breathing became ragged. Then she stopped breathing all together.

Musa didn't want to alert her friends or make them panic more than they already did, she didn't want them to lose hope entirely but knew that when the time came, which she was sure would considering their current circumstances, they would have to learn the truth.

Riven may have been a hot-headed and strong but he certainly wasn't blind. He looked to Musa and saw the look of doubt in her eyes, there was something wrong and she wasn't telling them, she was hiding something from him. "Musa, you aren't telling us something."

"What?" She asked, looking to Riven as he stood before her. "Riven-"

"Don't play dumb I-" he stopped, suddenly hearing the sound of chains scrapping against the rocks. "What the hell!"

Tecna's head shot up as she looked to an opening in the floor right where Rivens chains were now disappearing into. Then Riven fell, feet first and began sliding to his destination. "Riven!" Musa screamed; breaking into a sprint to reach him as Tecna did the same, Musa dived and managed to ghold his hands in hers, one foot on the edge of the portal she pushed upwards, trying in vain to pull Riven out of the hole though her arms weren't strong enough. "Riven!" She called looking down to the raven haired specialist and the bottomless pit he was about to fall into.

"Musa," he sighed, looking into her eyes with a smile. "Musa let me go or you'll fall in too."

"No," she shook her head, tears streaming down her pale white cheeks as her arms pulled harder. "I need you; please Riven! I can't do this without you!"

"It's going to be okay," Riven grimaced, the pressure on his body ripping it slowly in two. "Tecna, make her let go." Tecna didn't want to but realised it was the only solution. Nodding her head at his request she placed herhands over Musa's trembling ones and slowly loosened her grip.

"NO!" Her final fingers slipped as Riven fell into the abyss, disappearing in the dark shadows below. "RIVEN!" Tecna held Musa as she cried and the floor closed once more. Tecna tried to comfort the aching Fairy who screamed in misery before making her way to her feet and pacing around the confined space. "It's all my fault!" Musa cried.

Tecna stood before her, watching her friend move from one side of the room to the other. "Musa it's not your fault!"

"Yes it is Tec! If I didn't insist on coming here then Riven would still be here! Hell we don't even know if the others are alive or not! We'd be back at home, you'd all be safe-"

"And you'd be dead!" Tecna screamed making Musa stop her rambling and face the reality of her situation. "This isn't your fault it's the witches and Leon's. This is our last shot to save your life that's why we came."

"Well maybe I should just die!" Musa retorted hitting Tecna like a knife in the chest.

"Musa you don't mean that."

"No one should have to die for me," Musa sighed, heaving a deep breath and releasing it. "No one. I shouldn't have brought any of you into this mess."

"You didn't!" Tecna yelled, forcing the music fairy to look into her teal eyes."Leon and the Witches did, they are the ones who brought us into this. When I locked myself in the Omega Dimension no one had to come and save me! But you all came, you all risked your lives to save me. Musa the reason that we do what we do is because we all love you, you're our friend and you have helped us out more times then we care to count," she paused. "You were there with Bloom when Sky had been affected by that spell, you were there to save Galatea from the library when the witches burnt it to a crisp, you helped save my life when Darkar was ready to attack and kill us, and you and Flora protected us from danger. You helped defeat the Army of Decay, cheer and encourage us during times of crisis and you seriously don't know why we are willing to put our lives down to save yours?"

Musa looked to the floor, slowing her breathing and shaking her head slowly. "You're right, I have done alot of things but I never asked for anything in return."

"I know," Tecna smiled before moving in for another hug. "But you aren't getting rid of us that easily."

Leon sat watching his portal screens, each one showing the various cells. "This is too easy," he smiled as Icy, Darcy and Stormy reported for duty. "Well done ladies, time for phase two."

Bloom and Stella looked to Flora who had been sitting silently for the past few hours until "I hate this." She finally spoke, making Bloom and Stella worry. Never, in all their years at Alfea, had they heard her utter the word 'hate' and its use now, in such a malicious tone, sent shivers up their spines. "Why does all the bad stuff happen to us and our friends," she cried. "I mean why can't the witches be hunted for a change. Why can't everything be like my home Linphea, quiet and peaceful where no one is attacked!" Bloom and Stella didn't reply.

"I don't know Flora," Bloom finally said softly. "But we are running out of time girls and those damn witches are making us waste more and more of it by keeping us locked up like animals." They all shared Blooms frustration but what could they really do? They were locked in shackles that slowly drained their magic and prevented them from using any of it; the room had no exit, no door, making the only way in or our using magic to teleport to the outside world. "We all hate this Flora," Stella sighed.

Tecna noticed the suns light disappearing from the window at the top of their room making the darkness return once again. 'The third day' she mentally noted. 'We are running out of time.' Musa was lying down on the other side of the cell. The ground was cold but curling up seemed to help her control her emotions. Her headache was much worse than before. It felt like her head was pounding like the beat of a drum, something she usually welcomed while listening to music but not at this moment in time. As she watched the sunlight disappear from the stone wall she remembered the lyrics of a song that an earth band, Linkin Park, once wrote.

'I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on, but didn't even know
Wasted it all just to watch you go'

The words had never seemed so clear. They were ringing in her beating head. The sounds of Tecna talking to herself began to disappear. It was as if the only thing she could hear was the sound of her heart beating and the song playing in her head. Suddenly she began to shiver. She was getting the fever, stage two of the virus. Her forehead covered with cold sweat but her body was hot.

Tecna looked over to Musa and noticed that her condition was deteriorating. She didn't know if it was because she had lost Riven and believed that it was all her fault or that her own self confidence and fighting spirit was dying and causing her to break. Either way she was beginning to lose the fight against the virus inside her own body.

Worried, Tecna crawled on her hands and knees to her friend. "Musa," she began softly but she didn't answer. "Musa what's wrong?" No answer again. Tecna placed a hand on Musa's shoulder and turned her onto her back, looking to her friend's weak eyes. Her face was paler than she had ever seen it, forehead beaded with sweat while her body shivered with cold.

"Musa!" Tecna shrieked, eyes filling with tears as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Tecna," she sighed weakly as her friend lifted her into her arms. "There are five stages to the virus." she sighed, "the first is a bad headache." Tecna remembered that Musa was complaining of a headache just before. "This is the second stage," she looked into Tecna's worried eyes. "A fever and cold sweat, the third is a loss of vision, fourth difficulty breathing and the fifth," she stopped knowing that Tecna would be able to figure that part out for herself.

"Musa what do I do?" she asked. "Please tell me, I'll do anything."

"Just stay with me," she sighed, her eyes watering with the thoughts of dying, she was afraid of being alone now more than ever. Being sick to death and not having any friends to help her was the worse thought in the world. Tecna nodded and offered a smile, holding Musa closer and giving her body all the warmth she could offer. "It's okay," she said, her technical tone quivering as she spoke. "I won't leave."

"That will be hard," Said a familiar voice from above them. Tecna looked up to see Darcy there "considering you won't be with her for a moment longer."

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE?" Tecna screamed though Darcy just laughed.

"What would be the fun in that?" She asked when Tecna saw the ground open once more only this time taking the end of her chain with it. Then she turned and saw that Musa's was doing the same thing on the opposite side of the room. The two girls were being pulled away from each other.

Tecna let Musa go and held wrists in her hands while Musa did her best to do the same. Their legs pulled in opposing directions but their grip remained firm. "Musa, I'm sorry," Tecna sobbed as tears escaped Musa's own eyes. "It's okay Tec." Musa sighed. "I'm sorry I brought any of you into this."

"We will be together again; I promise that the group will all be okay." With an understanding nod the girls gave each other one final smile before the pressure on their bodies and their grip was too much. Together, at the same time, they let go, sliding away from each other and disappearing into the abysses in the floor.

Stella, Bloom and Flora all sat in the centre of their room when suddenly Flora was sent flying backwards the same way Helia had been just a day before. Stella and Bloom immediately grabbed onto her hands the group of three falling straight for another abyss only this time they didn't stop.

Flora fell straight in with Stella and Bloom above her, holding their friend desperately even though the only thing keeping them from falling in too was their own chains, holding their weight. "Hang on Flora! We'll get you out of this."

"We're not going to lose another friend," Stella added but Flora's eyes lacked the optimism she held.

"I'm sorry girls," Flora replied, loosening her grip on their hands.

"No Flora! We'll get you out!" But it was too late, Flora had let go and fell the rest of the way into the chasm in silence. "FLORA!"

Stella and Bloom looked to each other as tears fell from their eyes and into the shadows below before they started pulling themselves up their chains, climbing back to the top. "Ha-ha you're not getting away that easily!" Stormy taunted from above before clicking her fingers and breaking Stella's chain sending her falling into the chasm with a scream. "STELLA!" Bloom screamed trying in vian to reach her friends hand.

"Your turn Bloom."

Blooms chains broke sending her body plummeting into the darkness below until she saw nothing at all. The opening closed, as if satisfied with its meal, returning the castle to its previously silent beginning as if nothing truly terrifying had occurred at all.

Question: Which of the following Winx Club Fairies would you like to see with Musa in the next chapter?

1) Flora

2) Stella

3) Bloom

4) Layla

Like last time I'll use the most voted fairy inside the next chapter :)