"Copy that, Riven. Layla and I are on the girls' floor right now and about to check out their dorm. If we see anything suspicious, we'll page you guys back. Over and out." Nabu said through his walkie-talkie, and then tucked it into his pocket.
"Let take a guess. He and Musa didn't find anything like the others, right?" Layla said.
Nabu nodded with a weak smile on his face, and she rolled her eyes as she sighed tiredly.
Things were going just fine; they were going just swimmingly. The pairs have been searching nearly the whole frigging place for almost an hour, practically going back and forth, and calling one another to let them know their search has turned up nothing.
Layla remembered how before she flew away from the forest, Libitina said she was going to have big fun with the games she planed to play with them. If one of those games she mentioned was hide-and-seek, then Layla can honestly say Libitina was the best player she has ever seen.
"Don't worry, Layla," Nabu draped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him, and smiled down at her uncertain face. "We'll find her, I know we will."
I can only hope so, too, she thought, worrying about her friend.
The second she unlocked the door with her room key and pushed it open, she and Nabu were shocked and gasped in unison by what awaited them inside.
The whole place was trashed. The furniture were turned and slashed, the bookshelves and different shelves all were snapped in two and set on the floor, broken pieces of glass from the punched-in windows showering the floor, the table smashed(along with the TV) against the wall. The doors to the bedrooms were opened a small bit to show a glimpse of how trashed up and messed-up they were now, each room looking more disastrous than the last.
"Oh," Nabu stared around with wide eyes.
"My," Layla's mouth literally dropped to the ground.
"God." They said in unison.
"Well, it's safe to say she's been here," Nabu said, walking inside the trashed-up dorm. He turned back to Layla, who was still standing by the doorway and still looking shocked by what she was seeing, and gently yet firmly tugged her arm and pulled her inside. "We better start looking. I'll check Stella's room, you check Flora and Bloom's, then we both check your room you share with Musa and Tecna."
With each step she was taking forward to Flora's room, Layla couldn't shake the strange, weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like this was all a trap they were walking blindingly into.
Flora's and Bloom's room was just as about as torn-up and trashed as the living room. Clothes, books, and CDs shredded or smashed, lying scattered all over the floor; beds were turned over with slashed blankets and pillows; bookshelves pushed to the ground, and there were a few cracks on the wall. Layla could see Flora's plants were dried up and dead and the window were punched-in with scattered pieces lying on the floor.
"Dear God." Layla muttered to herself as she looked around the ruined room.
The door flew shut and the lock set itself to be locked. Layla sucked in her breath when she knew she wasn't alone in the room, and could feel a presence standing behind her she knew wasn't Nabu.
Flora was leaning against the door, obviously waiting for her, with her arms folded against her chest and smiling at Layla's stunned face. "Well, hello there Layla."
Each step Flora was taking forward, Layla was moving back to back away from her.
"What's wrong?" Flora said. "Aren't you even gonna say hi and give your BFF a big, ole hug?"
If she was her BFF, then Layla would most certainly ran over to her with open arms and give her a big hug. That is, if she was really that foolish enough to do so. The girl standing in front of her seemed like Flora with warmth in her emerald-green eyes and a kind smile on her face, softening the harsh angles of her features from earlier, looking like the kind-hearted, sweet fairy. Layla would have almost fell for it, too, if she hasn't looked harder into her face and knew right off the bat it was all for show-not to mention the fact she could feel dark magic coming from her.
"Cut the act, Rosalina," Layla snapped. "Or should I call you Libitina?"
Flora let out a fake gasp, adding more to the act by placing her hand over her chest. But when she saw Layla was un-amused, she let out a breath of cold laughter and as she closed her eyes, then opened her eyes. The emerald green shade was lost in a sea of crimson red, and a cold smile spread across her face.
"You're even smarter than you look and less stupid than I thought you would be," the dark angel smiled at her. "Too bad, though, that's not gonna be enough to help you, sweetie."
She snapped her both her fingers, and a loud scream echoed through the dorm, bouncing off the walls.
Layla recognized that scream. It was Nabu.
"Nabu! Hang on, I'm coming!" But before Layla could reach the door, she felt herself being lifted off the ground and a burning sensation of pain throbbing in her back as she was slammed against the wall, the pain got more intense as she slowly sank to the ground.
Layla shook her head to get rid of the pain, and saw Libitina was walking toward her with her lips sticking out in a pout. But the pout turned into a smug smirk when the dark angel saw she had her full attention.
"Don't even bother, insect. Even if you somehow slipped away from my grasp, there's nothing you can do help your pathetic little boyfriend. He's with the rest of your little friends whom you'll be joining soon enough." She told Layla.
Layla aimed a tidal whirlwind at her, her strongest attack, but the wave froze mi-air when it reached Flora, who glared down at the spell with bright red eyes, and splashed onto the floor.
Libitina chuckled darkly, clearly amused by the disbelief and baffled expression on Layla's face. "The Midnight Raven is truly a wonderful, extraordinary power. It has control over emotions and mentality, but it also a very powerful brand of telekinesis. This gives me control of practically everything you can think of and more. Not only that, but also control over the elements. Water, air, and my two personal favorites, earth and fire." Her eyes, which were bigger than before, glow an unusual shade of very vivid red, which was glowing brighter and brighter the more Layla stared into them. Black flames shot up from the ground surrounding her in a circle, and Libitina stretched out her right hand to collect parts of the wild flames into a ball of fire she bounced up and down.
Layla could see she was really no match for the dark angel. Libitina was way too strong, more experienced with powers that her owns couldn't even compare with. That only thing she hasn't tried yet was talking it out. Flora was still inside there, somewhere probably deep inside, trying to fight and gain control of herself. All she needed was a little help.
"Flora, listen to me. I know you're in there. Listen to my voice and try to remember who you are," Layla said. "It's me, Layla. Remember? One of your best friends."
"You might as well save your breath, you little prick of mucus. Your friend is my weak, little puppet, and now it's time for me to have some fun before I am forced to go back to that void known to me as her mind," Libitina rolled her narrowed eyes, obviously not to keen of the idea she only had a limited time of control and would have to sooner or later go back where she was imprisoned inside Flora's mind. She then shook her head to clear her thoughts and waved to Layla like she was saying goodbye. "Nighty night, sweetheart. Have pleasant dreams."
Before Layla could ask what the heck she meant by that, a sharp pain swiftly smacked her hard across the face. The pain was so hard, so intense; her whole body was affected by the strong force. Especially her head that felt a dull thud and her vision was getting darker and darker. Before she blacked out, Layla heard the sound of the coldest, most frightening and wicked laugh she has ever heard before.
When Layla opened her eyes sometime later, feeling pain shooting through her head, she saw the room she was in was the mysterious library vault of priceless artifacts and ancient spell books, which were neither good or bad magic and fell in between the category, and where portraits of villains from the past and present hung on the walls. She also saw she, her friends-who thankfully looked in decent condition-along with Ms. Faragonda, Professor Saladin, and Nathalie were being hung by shackles and suspended high in the air.
"Layla, it's good to see you're okay." Musa, who was hanging right next to her, said.
"I'm glad you're alright." Said Nabu, who managed to smile despite the situation they were in.
"Guys, what happened?" Layla remembered her and Nabu searching the girls' dorm, which was torn-up and trashed, and them splitting up and searching different rooms. Her being face-to-face with the infamous, cold-hearted, dark angel, Libitina. The details on what happened between the two were very fuzzy to her head and really hard to remember. Mainly due to the fact her head was still recovering from the huge blow that knocked her out.
"Libitina is what happened." Nathalie sneered, and the sound of her name made hateful scowls darken their faces.
"Unfortunately, what poin-dexter feared came true," Riven nodded his head toward Timmy's direction. "The wicked witch of the west hunted us down, pair by pair, and knocked us out. When we woke up, we saw we were all gathered in this lovely, little doll of a room." Even in situations like this, Riven never disappoints to have a sarcastic remark set and ready to be said.
"When we approached the school, I told the other girls to wait for us outside and wake up the unconscious while we went inside to find Libitina. But unfortunately, as you can all see, she ended up finding us inside." Ms. Faragonda said.
"I'm not sure how it happened, but all I can recall is our shadows rising and grabbing us. Dragging down, and hearing her laugh before everything just went black." Saladin added.
"Now, what I see is our last sleeping beauty waking up from her hundred year nap," said a familiar voice, which was seemingly sweet as honey and pleasant, but incredibly cold and frightening underneath, causing the hairs on the back of their necks to stretch out high.
It was so hard to look at her and even harder to think furious, hateful thoughts about her because whether they liked it or not, the girl was Flora. Though the two were absolutely nothing alike and had such strong differences in their personalities like day and night, the fact still remains the witch's spirit was inside Flora and that spirit was the one in control. They could all tell by the cruel, nasty smirk on her face and the gleam of laughter in her eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" Bloom asked.
Libitina pouted her lips as she thought about it for a moment. "Because it's fun."
"Real reason!"
Libitina shook her head at Bloom, making a sound and giving the fairy a look that said she should be ashamed of herself for being so rude. Then, a bone-chilling and frightening smile spread across her face that was something so haunting, enough to have you shaking without even realizing it, and looked like the same vicious smile the devil wore proudly on his own face. Laughing amused, and speaking coldly, she answered, "I swear, insect, you remind me why I loathe taking prisoners. They always bore me quickly with their questions and words, and then I simply dispose of them."
"You mean by sucking the life out of them, like the witch you are!" Nathalie snapped, barely able to contain her anger towards the witch. The same one who was traitor in everyone's eyes, caused so much destruction and killed so many innocent people, and killed people she care about. Including her beloved sister.
Libitina frowned by the interruption, and glared at Nathalie, her red eyes focusing on her head. Nathalie was soon yelling in pain as her body was twitching uncontrollably like it had a mind of its' own mind. The pain lasted for the poor woman till Libitina, smiling in satisfaction, was done stealing emotional energy from her and looked away. Turning back to Bloom, she answered "I'll make this as plain and clear as I can. I do what I want, whenever I want, to who I want."
"And the reason why you're here is…" Tecna scowled at her while Libitina only smile.
"You think I have an objective, insect?"
"I know so. Logic tells me that is so."
"Logic, huh?" Libitina raised one eyebrow at her, and then laughed a chilled and sinister sound close to scattering glass. "Well, it's safe to say Titania certainly passed down her logical bull-crap to her family."
"What do you want, Rosalina!" Helia yelled, frustrated and through with her games.
"Simple. I want my freedom, my power, and of course, my throne and crown back," She looked at each one of them slowly, her dark smile growing bigger and more sinister. "And your little friend is the key to that dream. Since Alaric is too busy doing only God knows what and giving me headache from not delivering the message, looks I will have to do that on my own. I can to warn all of you that if you get in the destiny's way, I will not only kill you, I'll erase you from existence. I told the same thing to your descendants a long time ago if they chose to get in my way, I will not show them any mercy, and like the fools they are, they went against my authority and rebel. They ended up having to pay for the price with their lives and an eternity as life supplies for my power."
"They were fighting for something they believed in. To hope that they could stop you from causing any more pain and damage than you've already done," Musa snapped. "They were brave because despite the risks they knew they would be facing, they accepted it head-on, and we are proud to be related to them. I feel bad for Flo and her family, because you're a complete disgrace to them. I hope you enjoy all the fun and time you have left, because I know Flora's strong and she's gonna kick your ass back to the prison where you were kept. If it wasn't for the fact you're inside her, then I'd be more than happy to kick your ass myself."
The insult didn't make the smile disappear from her face. Instead it grew bigger till it was an ear-to-ear, wicked grin that promised nothing but trouble, which reminded Bloom of the Christmas character How the Grinch stole Christmas with huge, dark grin. "Usually I don't tolerate snappy, sassy and feisty behavior. Especially coming from an insect hanging helplessly," Libitina said, walking toward Musa and getting near her face. "Who I can suck the soul out from in an instant just by taking in a deep breath."
"You stay the hell away from her or I'll make that face of yours look not so pretty anymore!" Riven exclaimed. Whether or not she was controlling Flora's body, he'd still punch the living daylights out of her if she hurts his girlfriend. Riven may not always know the right thing to do or say, but he was fiercely protective of Musa and kick the ass of anyone who dared try to hurt her. Whether the person was bigger than him or older, a king, or even a preacher.
Libitina ignored the empty threat and kept her eyes on Musa, who wasn't planning on backing down anytime soon. "Don't exactly like your attitude, but you do have spunk and I like that. Melody was so much like you, you know. She was a bit sensitive and rough around the edges, but underneath was someone strong-willed and never backs down. Something the raven finds very appealing and delicious in a soul."
"Flora, listen to me," Musa said. "It's me, Musa, one of your friends. We're your friends."
"You can fight her, Flora," Bloom added. "You're just as strong as she is. You can beat her."
Libitina rolled her eyes as the smile remained un-wiped from her face, simply saying "Don't waste your time or breaths. I swear, just like my reincarnation, none of you buffoons get it at all."
"Get what?" Brandon asked.
"Get the fact dear little Flora is a weak, spineless little girl who is easily fragile but could be so much more if she makes better use of those powers. But she could be the best if she finally accepts she was born for a purpose and to fulfill that purpose," Libitina answered with a painfully sweet smile. "She's too stubborn, to full of pathetic and useless faith, to accept her true being as the angel of darkness. To stubborn to accept she was born to spread darkness and cause destruction. The only reason why she is here in the first place is because of the reincarnation spell I used on myself. The prophecy is going to happen one way or another….unless…"
They were suspicious by the way her face looked to be distant, far away in her thoughts, as her voice trailed off. There was obviously something she knew they didn't know, and they weren't sure whether this was going to be another trick.
"Unless what?" Bloom asked, taking the bait.
Twirling her hand before balling it up into a fist, Libitina opened it to reveal a sharp dagger resting on the palm of her hand, its' shiny blade gleaming in the light. She held the knife in both hands, admiring the craftsmanship as she lightly brushed her thumb against the sharp blade. "Unless something was to end her life, of course."
"What are you talking about?" Stella demanded. "Chelsea didn't say anything about that."
"Chelsea?" Nathalie asked, confused.
Libitina smirked at her. "That's right. You didn't know your over eight times great niece was able to make contact with your darling sister," Turning to Stella, she said "Chelsea was right about saying the prophecy of Flora's birth is sealed and absolute, but she left out one small little detail. Something that would put a damper on my plans, a thing you could easily do to prevent the return of the dark angel and save the whole magical and non-magical universes from utter destruction. But it's something she knew and I know you cowards would never do because you care so much about your friend."
She titled her head back a bit, exposing her neck, and placed the dagger close to it. So close, the dagger was only a mere moment from being use to slash her throat. "You all could stop all this from happening by simply killing, Flora. Destroy her, and there's nothing for you to worry."
They all stared at her for a moment, drinking in what she just said and were speechless. The only way to stop the destiny from happening was to kill Flora? They all wanted so desperately to find some way to stop, but not that way. She was their friend, and they would never dream of doing something so cruel and simply heartless like that. The thought of Flora being dead made Helia's heart stop for a few moments before dropping all the way down to the pit of his stomach. Julio and the others may have done that to Rosalina, but only because the girl lost herself in the dark power and it was only way to save the universe. Flora was a completely different story, who may be a bit insecure about her powers but would never turn her back on her friends to get a powerful energy source, then becoming twisted and evil.
"The only way to stop all this is to kill her?" Layla repeated.
"Pretty much right." Libitina nodded.
They looked at one another, having a private and silent conversation through their eye connection, and then Bloom turned back to Libitina and said "You're crazier than we thought if you actually think we would ever do anything like that to Flora.
"Flo's our home-gal, witch," Musa said. "We stand by each other."
"And we're going to figure out some way to stop this thing from happening on our own." Tecna added.
Libitina frowned at them all, but that frown soon became a sweetly dark smile, which soon became a chuckle of dark, cold laughter. "I knew you were cowards. Besides, even if you somehow changed your minds and decided the only solution would be killing her, Alaric and I will make sure you all are erased from existence before you lay a finger on her and ruin our plans."
"Why on earth do you need Alaric, Libitina?" Saladin asked. "At least explain that to us."
"Because, frankly, I can't seem to understand how you can put up with him," Ms. Faragonda. "Considering the fact he mostly plays around before getting the job done."
Libitina couldn't really argue on that motion, recalling how Alaric originally planned to capture the girl but ended up getting his ass beaten hard by her because he pushed her too hard with those annoying games he likes to play, and shrugged. "I will admit the idiot can be a big pain in the ass and annoying as hell, but Alaric proved himself to be very useless and worth something to me. If it wasn't for him, I would have never gotten the Midnight Raven in the first place. He knows how important this is for me, for both of us because we're both getting something from this. I get my power and glory back, and he gets back the girl he's madly and completely in love, who has him wrapped around her little finger. He'll tear you all limb from limb without even blinking if you dared touch the reincarnation of his love, and will stop at nothing to make sure the prophecy comes true."
"It won't matter then!" Nathalie exploded, not realizing how her anger was making Libitina's raven powers stronger. "Do not underestimate the girl, Libitina. Alaric made that very mistake, and we all saw how she taken care of him. She's far stronger than you realize, and is absolutely nothing like you."
"Nothing like me, huh?" Libitina repeated. They all nodded, and she laughed at that. "That's rich. That has to be the laugh of the year."
"It's not a joke!" Bloom yelled.
"You betrayed your friends, betrayed the good force of magic, went dark, and turned the magical universe into hell," Sky added. "All because of power."
"That may be true, little boy. That I will not deny. But I wasn't always like this. Didn't Nathalie tell any of you about Rosalina, the sweet nature fairy?" She put on a cute, sweet smile that was so incredibly fake, infuriating the friends because it was clear she was mocking Flora. "Didn't she tell you how I use to be exactly like Flora? So sweet, delicate and kind, and innocent. The kind of person who cares so deeply about her friends and family, and everything else in the world. The type of person far too kind and sweet to even harm a fly before she finally grew some backbone."
"Now was this so-called backbone developed after you became a cold-hearted bitch?" Brandon asked with a small smirk on his face.
Libitina glared at him with cold, narrowed eyes, glaring at him like he was an annoying pest who needed to be squashed quickly. Her eyes slowly glanced up at the ceiling, growing bigger and glowing an unusual, vivid red color.
Directly over their heads, an enormous piece of pitch-black yawned open, stretching forth and un-folding from itself until it became the largest black shadow they had ever seen that was more than big enough to cover the entire room.
"Dear God." Timmy gulped.
"OMG!" Stella exclaimed.
"Great sun, moon, and stars." Nathalie murmured in disbelief as she and the others stared at it.
An arctic gush of air blasted from its core, and the air blew fiercely into their faces while their bodies were being chilled by the frostbite.
Meanwhile, another curtain of black appeared underneath their feet and grew into a sea of darkness. The shadow was pooling around the ceiling as it was on the floor, dark tentacles were growing long like vines and dropped closer and closer to their heads.
While the dark tentacles were reaching their heads, the ones on the ground snaked around their feet and entangled around their bodies as it reached higher and higher. The shadow reminded them of a snake, the way it was crawling around them and the cold, nearly slimy touch as it brushed against their skin.
Stella screamed out loud as the ceiling shadow snaked around her neck and kissed the back of it.
"Stella, calm down." Brandon told her as he was trying to free himself from the shackles that were ten times stronger than iron. "This is not the time to panic."
"This is the perfect time to panic, damn it!" She yelled, and then screamed again as the other shadow was close to her mouth, closing in on her mouth. "The shackles are draining my powers. This thing is repulsive, cold, and slimy."
"Instead complaining like the spoiled, pampered princess you are, why don't you listen to your boyfriend and shut that mouth of yours," Riven snapped at Stella, who stuck her tongue out at him before she turned her head away from him. "This is not the time to start whining, so I highly suggest you shut that hole in your face before I shut it for you, blondie."
"Timmy, please tell me you have a plan?" Tecna asked.
"Actually…unfortunately no," he admitted with an apologetic, sheepish expression. "But I do know one solution we can do to help this problem. We have to think positive."
"Timmy's right," Sky agreed. "Heroes 101, in any situation, you have to do the following: think positive, remain calm, and most importantly…DO NOT PANIC!"
"They're right, Stella," Bloom said, ignoring the ice-cold, death glare Stella shot at her. "Panicking is not going to help anything. We just need to relax and-" She was interrupted as the shadows held a tight bound on her body, nearly covering her whole body up, and screaming before it covered her mouth.
Helia was struggling to break free from the shackles and squirming by the touch of the shadows' touch, like everyone else was. He looked at Libitina, who was watching them all and amused by their pain with a smirk on her face. Somewhere Flora was still in there, trying to gain back control. He had to reach that part of her. "Flora, try to remember my voice. It's me, Helia. Your boyfriend," He said. "I know in there, Flora. You can't let Libitina control you like a puppet. You have to fight her."
"It's pointless, sweetie," Libitina said to him. "Your little girlfriend is under my control now. But don't worry too much. Somewhere in my cold, black stone of a heart, she's perfectly kept."
Helia growled at her, completely beginning to understand why Nathalie hated her so much, but he wasn't going to just give up. He had to keep trying. "I love you, Flora. Your friends love you, we all love you. Can you honestly say you want to hurt us?"
Sounds tempting, she thought, opening her hand and igniting a flaming death-strike orb in her palm. She bounced the fiery ball up and down as she looked at her targets, including the pacifist looking a bit scared. She decided he would be her first target.
But as she whined her hand back, ready to throw, pain was shooting through her head and was practically hot as fire. The death ball vanished from sight, and she was down on her knees with both hands tightly gripping onto her head as she was grunting and groaning in pain. Because she was no longer concentrated on the shadows, they hissed as they slowly retreated back from where they came from, untangling their bound on the others who were trying to calm their beating hearts while sighing in relief. But the relief was put on hold when they saw an energy glow around Flora/Libitina, green energy from her Nature Winx was pooling around her head to the down her waist while black energy from the Midnight raven was pooling around her bottom half.
"No, not yet!" Libitina yelled to herself, opening her eyes, and they all watched the eye color switched back and forth between two colors, flickering back and forth to the cold red eyes belonging to Libitina and Flora's jaded ones, bright with warmth but wild with panic.
"You can beat her, Flora!" Helia said. "I know you can."
"Guys," The nature fairy croaked, gripping onto her head and trying to numb the pain while trying to fight Libitina. She aimed her magic at the shackles holding them, turning them into breakable bands of grass, which immediately broke because of their weight and they landed not so easy on the floor.
"You're just as strong as she is, Flora," Layla said.
"I'm trying to fight her….but the raven…Libitina…too strong." Flora panted, struggling not to lose it.
Helia ran over to hold her tight in his arms, but Flora didn't return the embrace and was practically lifeless in his arms.
Flora knew she couldn't hold Libitina back any longer or control the Midnight Raven. She hasn't realized she was crying till she felt a burning, stinging sensation in her eyes that was nearly blinding her vision with so much moisture and hot tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. She was shaking uncontrollably in Helia's arms, feeling the dark energy inside her flowing rapidly and nearly consuming her. She gripped onto Helia's shoulders tightly and said while she was practically sobbing. "I can't stop her…or it. They've gotten stronger, too strong for me to handle."
"Yes you can." He replied firmly.
"Please stop me, Helia, before I lose control and hurt someone," she begged. "Do what Julio did to Rosalina. Kill me!"
"Never," He scowled at the very unthinkable thought. He cupped Flora's face in his hands, trying to make her flicking red and green, wild eyes look at his. She was slipping away, that he could tell, and he needed to bring her back. "Flora, look at me. Look right at me and listen. I know you're scared, but we can help you. Let us help you control it."
A powerful, extremely strong jolt kicked it in her. It was so strong; they could all feel it and flinched. Flora's panicked, wild eyes glow silver before the silver color changed into red. Her eyes didn't look like eyes anymore, instead balls of glowing rubies. "I don't need any help." She said in a dark, venomous voice.
Helia's hands suddenly lost their grip on his girlfriend's shoulders, and he found himself being hurling toward the wall, crashing his left side hard against it.
"Helia!" Timmy and Helia's uncle helped him get back on his feet.
"Are you alright?" Saladin asked his nephew.
Before he could answer, a horrible, ear-scattering sound broke through the atmosphere. The sound was an extremely loud shriek, more loudly and painful to listen to than sharp nails scratching against a chalkboard. Everyone covered their ears to block out the dreadful sound.
Helia looked up and saw the noise was coming from Flora, who was standing tall with her arms spread out and her mouth open wide, where the noise was coming from.
The shriek wasn't only scattering their eardrums and nearly making their ears bleed, it also cause other things. The sound was so loud; it shook the earth like it was being hit by a powerful quake. The lamps and lights flickered on and off before they finally exploded; the windows break in through an explosion of glass, broken pieces splintering everywhere one by one, and they had to duck and quickly move away to avoid a painful glass shower while trying to keep their balance.
"Flora!" Helia yelled.
Air inside the room blew strongly and brutally like a tornado, whipping around them violently. Like a vortex. There was a surge like an explosion, slamming everyone onto their backs, into the walls behind them. Too many things were breaking or falling at once. Bookshelves crashing onto the floor, the portraits tearing apart and slamming against the walls, the glass containers holding the ancient artifacts scattered. The fire in the ceiling chandlers, which was wildly spinning, and in the fireplace grew scorning flames and were quickly spreading around the place.
The air vortex around the room tore up everything it touched in the room, causing more of a destroyed mess. Even tearing up the walls and pushing the doors open. Finally Flora gathered up all the brutal, arctic air and raised her hands over her head, pushing the gush of the wind toward the ceiling and blasting the entire roof off its' hinges.
Flora unfolded her raven wings and flew right up, out the building with the vortex following right behind her and breaking up into over a dozen, violent tornados doing their own share of destroying the school campus.
"We have to stop that girl before she trashes even more of the school." Nabu said.
"I don't understand," Timmy said. "I thought Libitina wasn't in control anymore."
"She isn't and I'm afraid neither is Flora," Nathalie explained. "The energy I feel now is not energy, soul- shifting between the two girls. It's the energy, the spirit of the Midnight Raven acting on her now. The Raven has complete control of her and now it's out of control."
"Oh my!" Tecna gasped at the same time Layla asked "So what are we going to do?"
"The only thing we can do. We have to take her down." Saladin answered.
The girls gulped and looked sheepish by what he said, but knew if they didn't do something, then things will quickly go from bad to horrible. The plan was for them to not completely hurt Flora, but to hit her hard enough to knock her down.
"I say it's Winx time, girls." Bloom said.
"Let's do it!" They cried in unison. Their powers were still weak from recovering from the power drain, but they were able to transform, but with some difficulties though.
Just as they predicted, things where getting from bad to worse.
Flora, back dressed as a witch in her red sleeveless top and black Gothic tutu skirt and darker brown hair with red highlights, was flowing high in the air. Her head titled back slightly, arms stretched out, and the Spirit of the Midnight Raven unleashed and looming over her. She wasn't conscious, but her powers were definitely, very much working and definitely, very much out of control.
Her fierce tornadoes were tearing up the whole campus, carrying some of the building debris as they spun wildly around and around. The elements-battering water, uncontrollable wind, scorning fire, and quaking earth-were united and adding more destruction. Battering water, which Layla was unable to control, battered the school by every corner and was practically drowning them; uncontrollable wind added more speed to the violent tornadoes and were so strong, things were being knocked down; scorning fire engulfed the school with brutal flames; and the earth was doing a perfect job knocking down everything in sight. As if that wasn't enough, her dark powers and telekinesis were definitely kicking into high gear.
Things, especially things weighting more than hundred pounds, were flowing like crazy before being hurled against something or someone, often a person used to be crashed against another. She opened her mouth, releasing black energy sticking onto the ground, right under their feet. The shadows hissed as they gathered up together, forming a wide sea of darkness and entangling people in their bind. Bolts, bursts, and blasts were being released by the raven's loud shriek, and every dark, powerful spell seemed to be taking effect.
The girls flew close to their friend, struggling to fight against the strong wind and dodging everything being hurled their way. But the closer they got to her, the more out of control her powers would get.
"So, what exactly are we going to do?" Stella asked.
"Well, it's pretty obvious talking to her would be out of the question since she's out conscious." Layla said.
"Maybe the fairy dust will help." Musa suggested.
"That's not gonna work," Tecna said. "The fairy dust works to heal and undo dark spells, and the Midnight Raven is not a dark spell."
"Then it looks like we'll have to make her listen to reason and do this the hard way," Musa said. "Sonic Boom!"
The spell froze mid-air before it reached Flora, then was sent crashing onto the ground. Musa was shocked by what happened with her spell while the others were busy hitting Flora with some attack spells on their own, only to watch them bounce right off her.
The raven and Flora began to move in unison, one of the same person. As Flora waved her left hand in front of her, the raven followed her movement with its' left wing while sending a powerful wind that blew the girls feet away from her, and five lightening-zapped balls appeared, looking to be charged with power. Then, with a vivid glow of Flora's eyes, the balls charged toward the Winx girls. The balls were as strong as they were powerful, weighting more than the combined weight of five bowling balls made from bricks and were harder than steel, electrifying the girls as it sent electric shocks through their bodies before knocking them right out the sky.
The girls landed on the ground and tried to ignore the pain as they got back on their feet, continuing to fire attack spells with some help from some of their classmates, the boys, and the teachers. Only to watch some spells deflecting right off her while most were caught up in the powerful wind tunnel.
"Alright, Flora. I'm sorry I have to do this, but you leave me no other choice. Dragon Fury!" Bloom thrust her hands forward and released a powerful blast shaped like the great dragon, watching it rush toward Flora.
A bolt of darkness sprouting from the raven's mouth sliced through the attack like a blade slicing through paper, then slammed itself against Bloom's chest, sending her flying into a boulder.
"Bloom!" Her friends called to her, only getting a slight sound crossed between a grunt and groan as a respond. They weren't entirely sure that meant she was in a lot of pain or was at least okay.
The raven power was really starting to spiral out of control, the elements growing fiercer, more violent, as darkness worked together with it to take down everything. Heavy rocks were being shot with fire before crashing toward the students, who were barely able to dodge it.
"We must take the girls to safety!" Ms. Griselda yelled out to the other teachers through the wild, disastrous storm. "There's nothing more we can do here."
The thought of actually leaving her school behind was something so wrong, it almost brought tears to Ms. Faragonda's eyes while it was sickening enough to make her want to vomit. But unfortunately, she saw she had no other choice. Students were barley able to handle themselves against this madness, some including a few teachers were badly injured while bruises were minor for the rest, and the school was now in ruins. Being charred with flames, parts being swirling around in the wind, and the building had very little left and were falling apart right before their eyes.
Griselda was right. There was nothing left they could do, and they needed to get the students to safety.
With a heavy heart, Ms. Faragonda turned her back away from the nearly destroyed school, pointed to the entrance/exit gate, and said loudly enough for everyone to hear her "This way, everyone. We have to leave now. There's nothing left we can do here."
"We can't just leave." Stella protested.
"We're going to have to, Stel," Brandon took her hand and followed the others to the exit, tightening the grip he had on her wrist and ignoring her protests.
The girls didn't want to leave Flora and the school like this, but they had to follow teachers' order and it would be wrong to define their headmistress. They helped injured students get back onto their feet, then led them to the exit.
Saladin was leading Helia toward the exit, but the young pacifist took one glance back at his beloved Flora. Unconscious, allowing dark power she was born with and never wanted in the first place take control of her.
He couldn't leave her like this.
Helia shook loose of his uncle grip on him and went off running back toward the school, running back to Flora while ignoring the cries of his friends and uncle calling him back. It was impossible to run with the wind blowing so harshly, nearly sent him flying back, and the earth shaking like crazy beneath his feet, making him fall down a few times but always got back up on his feet . Bolts of darkness, fireballs, gushes of water and air, and heavy boulders were sent hurling his way. It was mission impossible to dodge through all of them, but he kept his ground and kept on going, facing his obstacles head-on.
"Flora!" Helia yelled. "Flora!"
His shadow sneaked up behind him and grabbed him by the ankles, entangling around his body and sticking onto him like a second skin. He struggled to break free from it, but the more he struggled, the tighter the shadow would squeeze him. Through his squirming, he could feel the shadows lifting him up high off the ground, bringing him up to Flora.
Sure enough, he was face to face with her. Helia ignored the shriek, which was nearly making him go deaf by its' loud sound, and focused looking into Flora's eyes.
They say when you look into a person's eyes; you're able to see their soul inside. But when Helia looked inside those bright, crimson eyes, he wasn't able to find his Flora. All he could see was ice-cold darkness and nothing that showed anything that has to do with a soul inside those eyes, which was the exact essence of the Midnight Raven. It was intimidating and nearly impossible to look into those eyes, which were the soulless eyes of cruel death, but Helia refused to give up and had to look harder into them. He knew some part of Flora was still there, buried deep inside and he only needed to look harder for that part.
"Flora, listen to me. Try to listen to my voice," It was difficult to speak with his shadow clung onto him and slowly squeezing the life out of him. He took quick, deep breaths between his words, so he would be able to continue talking. "It's me, Helia."
Nothing showed in her eyes that recognized him, and the raven continued to wail its' extremely loud, blood-curling screech, causing more chaos to struck.
"I know you're in there, Flora. And I know you're more than strong enough to gain back control."
The fire finally consumed what was left of the school, burning it into a pile of charred ashes. When it was done with the school, the midnight flames leaped onto one of tree braches and it wasn't long before the fire spread around the forest. The students' screams increased more as more fire-blazed boulders were hurled at them, which they barely avoided getting hit by.
Helia knew the more words he was speaking, the more breathes he needed to take.
The shadow's grip on him was too tight for him to even move anymore, let alone breathe. He could feel he was starting to lose conscious from the dangerous lack of oxygen. But he had more things to say to her.
"You're not like her, Flora. You're not as weak on the inside like Rosalina. Unlike her, you have faith. You believe in yourself," He was starting to pant, his body feeling so cold and numb. His eye vision was getting blacker and blacker. "Don't make the same mistake she made. Pleas don't let history repeat itself."
Everyone watched in absolute horror as Helia took his last breathe, slowly closed his eyes, and his body went limp. Saladin screamed out loud bloody murder and was about to run over to him, until Brandon and Sky held him back by tightly holding onto his arms.
Something bright was gleaming inside Helia, shining vividly in a pure white color through the dark mane of the pitch-black shadow. The bright light was taking on a shape that was starting to look like a small orb, glowing in a clear white shade as bright as snow as it traveled higher and higher up, till it finally popped from his mouth and was standing in between a limp Helia and Flora.
The light of it was so bright; everyone had to cover their eyes to escape the blinding light. Through their squinted eyes, they were able to make out what the bright light was.
It was Helia's soul.
She sucked the soul from his body, and was planning to add it to the raven's power.
"Flora, don't!" Bloom yelled.
Flora and the raven glared down at Helia's soul with ravishing hunger blazing in their eyes. Flora opened her mouth, letting out a wail equally loud and eerie as the raven's sound and haunting, and the slowly was slowly moving toward her, close to being absorbed.
"NO!" Saladin screamed.
When the soul was only a second away from being absorbed into her mouth, Flora herself began to glow. She slowly bent down her head, and her entire body was beginning to glow a soft green shade, which was equally blindingly bright as Helia's soul, and warmth was flooding into her.
She was squirming, eyes closed, and when she lifted her head, she screamed loudly at the top of her lungs. Expect this scream didn't sound like the raven's scream, it sounded more like a girl screaming while she was finally able to gain back control.
"STOP!" Her scream echoed all throughout the place, loud and powerful enough to shake the earth. Helia's soul zoomed back into his body, and soon the young man was moving around a bit and fluttering his eyes open. He was released from the shadow's bound, and landed hard on his back as he was dropped on the floor.
At the sound of her scream, the chaos came to a halt. The flames were going down till they completely disappeared; the water sprouted high in the air, toward the sky; the ground finally stopped shaking, things hovering in the air came crashing down. The dark shadows, the fierce wind, battering water, all gathered up into one, huge tornado. Gathering up everything, including the Raven's spirit which was becoming part of the vortex, swirling around Flora, who was still screaming.
Finally the tornado singled into one bolt of darkness that shot up to the sky and exploded, and everything vanished.
She had won.
With her arms stretched out, Flora slowly descended to the ground, flowing down in front of Helia. Her eyes was were red and unfocused, boring into everyone, as she said in a soft voice still dark and loud enough for them all to hear, "The Dark Angel was born again to spread mayhem and fear, to claim the entire universe as her own and turn each realm into the Devil's hell, where pain and misery will the be the only thing anyone ever feels and happiness will cease to exist, and she shall take her rightful place as queen of all hell and evil."
She slowly closed her eyes again and opened them, quickly as they were crimson red they were back to emerald green. Helia slowly stood up and walked toward her, looking into her eyes that were filled with so much un-shed tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.
He caressed her left cheek before he brought her into his arms and enveloped her into a tender hug, letting her cry it all out on his shoulder while he pecked her head numerous times with soft kisses and stroked her hair.
Instantaneously, her friends stepped forward and joined the hug, turning into one hug of friends holding onto each other silently while comforting one who was lost in the deep depths of insane grief.
