Chapter Dialogue for Helia and Brandon's illusions belong to Iginio Straffi and Rainbow S.r.l


Chapter Eleven: False Realities

Just as predicted, Helia woke up on the side of the river with the rest of the Winx and the Trix. Stella had just tumbled to the ground with a shattered goblet of water just inches from her hands, Bloom was stuck to the rocks in a block of ice, and the witches were standing triumphantly around them. He remembered Flora telling him why they were going to Lynphea in the first place, to gather water created from the Black Willow's tears in order to reverse time and return Mrs. Faragonda to her human state.

"What a pity," Icy began wickedly, "that water could have saved your precious headmistress."

"We'll get more!" Bloom declared from her trap in freezing ice. But Darcy highly doubted they would.

"I don't think so," she said with a disapproving shake of her head, "remember Griffin's nature study class?"

"Yeah, how to ruin a perfectly natural environment," Stormy added, "you totally aced that one."

"Well now's your chance to show what a scholar you are." Icy encouraged her younger sister as the witch of darkness stepped forward, spreading her hands out and completely destroying the perfectly healthy water flowing in the backwards river. The damage done rose up the waterfall, contaminating the entire supply of the Willow's tears, and most likely harming the tree in the process. The Trix began laughing with success, watching everything turn muddy and poisonous for the tree, and the look on Flora's face became furious. Helia stood horrified to witness exactly what his beloved nature fairy had seen that tragic day, he had no ability to stop it, and he couldn't anyway. He had never seen his girlfriend so angry as she was at that very moment, Flora was usually the type of person who would let things go, accepting people as they were, and not giving into negativity or destruction. However, this was personal, the Trix were not only preventing them from achieving their mission to save Mrs. Faragonda, but they were also contaminating the very nature she grew up with and treasured dearly with all her heart. He could see that this was hurting her due to the connection she had with the nature of Lynphea, and Helia knew that she would be feeling her powers get weaker while Darcy poisoned the Black Willow.

"The Black Willow!" Flora cried out, flying towards Darcy and surprisingly attempting to punch her out of the way, to step her from doing any more damage to the tree or the nature around them. Though, Stormy shot her out of the way of her older sister, causing Flora to fall back onto the ground as the three witches cornered her.

"Flora!" Helia yelled in complete and utter terror, worried about what the Trix were going to do to her, the wizard told him that this memory was going to end tragic, and he was not there to experience it first hand, so he didn't know all the details. All he could do was watch from the sidelines.

"I love wiping out goody-goodies." Icy announced as they came closer to Flora when she hit the ground.

"So long, flower fairy!" Stormy added as the three witches raised their hands, about to blast her into the contaminated water. Suddenly, Flora's little sister Miele jumped right into the line of fire.

"No!" She cried out as the dark blast hit her, and she fell into the water, Flora turned in total fear and shock to see what had just happened.

"Miele!" Flora yelled as she took in the last few seconds, and her sister was not able to swim up to the surface. She ran to the edge of the river, trying to reach out her hand to try to see if she could see her sister attempt to reach the surface of the muddy water. Then the nature loving fairy turned back towards the Trix with great rage in her eyes, "Venus Gobbler!" Plants began to form from the water, opening up and capturing the witches within them. Flora was now so scared that her younger sister wouldn't make it, that she impulsively jumped into the water after her, calling her name once more.

"Flora, you can't!" Musa gasped after covering her mouth with disbelief. The image of the surface vanished, and Helia was now watching Flora try to swim towards her little sister in an attempt to rescue her from drowning. Miele was almost about to reach the weeds at the bottom of the river when Flora formed an air bubble around her.

"Miele, why didn't you go back home?" Flora asked when the bubble created enough air for her to breathe.

"I wanted to see what would happen." The little girl admitted, and Flora raised her hands with her sister in her grasp.

"I love you, my little Blossom." She replied sadly as Miele began drifting up to the surface of the river.

"Flora?" Miele quivered with fear, her older sister wasn't coming back with her? This had to be the most frightening experience of the young fairy's life.

"Bubble, bring her up!" The nature loving fairy commanded as it obeyed her, drifting towards fresh air, but before it could, Miele managed to cry out for her sister one last time.

"Flora, nooo!" The last cry was drawn out while the bubble blew further and further away from her. Once Miele disappeared up to the surface, Helia tried desperately to swim towards his beloved carnation, watching her fall into unconsciousness. As she shut her eyes for the last time, he waited just a few split seconds before he really began to panic. He remembered what the wizard warned him about, they must not do anything to alter the events occurring in front of them, or else they would fail the test and wouldn't be able to get the wish to cure the magic virus. Though Helia could not help it, he swam as close to her as he possibly could, holding his breath and embracing her in his arms. She was slowly losing air, and losing life, and he cupped her chin in his hands.

"Flora, Flora please, please speak to me, I love you..., I don't want to see you die like this." He begged desperately, hoping this was not the tragic end the wizard was talking about, though something in his heart told him it was. He looked for a pulse on her wrist, and soon discovered that she had none, she had actually died at that very second, "Flora!"


Brandon's vision came back to him as he was making sense of what was going on around him. He remembered this moment all too well. Stella had been turned into a green, monster like creature, and they were on a mission to find the Mirror of Truth in order to get her appearance back. They had to hurry though, because the White Giant griffins would return any minute from being relocated. Sky was piloting the Owl, and he had warned them that it was going to be bumpy, and to hold on. He was swerving to avoid the rocky cliffs, causing Stella to fall backwards onto the wall, as she was unable to hold on very tightly due to her larger form. Just before she was able to get up from the first bit of impact, she was tossed even more when the ship hit a rock, and ended up flying out of the hatch in the back where the other girls had come from.

"No, no, uh, Stella!" He began to panic, watching his beloved Sunshine fall to her doom. He tried to jump out after her, but felt a strong pull on his cape.

"We have to rescue her," Sky insisted, "Come on, let's go back." Brandon's best friend was the one who was bold enough to pull him up before he did something reckless. Suddenly, Timmy spotted something on the ship's monitor.

"Hey, look, over there!" He turned around to face what was on the screen as the rest of the group joined to see what he was seeing. They all gasped with uncertainty when they spotted Stella hanging on for dear life from a rocky cliff. She was still able to be rescued, and Brandon was overwhelmed with relief to know this.

"All right, she's safe!" His heart beat faster and faster as time went by, this scared him out of his mind to watch his princess struggle not to fall to her death, "Sky, let's get closer, I'll try to pull her in."

"It's way too risky, we need another plan." Sky advised his squire.

"Hurry up, the griffins are coming back." Flora warned them fearfully.

"Let me try, before it's too late." Brandon insisted worriedly, as he went back to the hatch of the Owl. He crouched down as the ship went lower, close enough for Brandon to attempt to reach out for Stella.

"Hang on Stella, I'm coming!" He called out to her as the ship got within range, "Give me your hand!" Looking up, she lost her focus for a split second as she looked into his reassuring eyes, and she continued to slip, clinging on to the rock with everything she had.

"Stella, you can do it." He encourages her frantically, trying to reach his hand out towards her, he was almost out of the hatch himself, with his leg nearly dangling off the edge.

"Brandon!" Stella cried out fearfully, she was so afraid at this moment that all she wanted to do was grasp on to the rocks and not take the chance to fall.

"Let go, I'll catch you!" He promised, and all he wanted to do was keep that promise, no matter how she looked like, no matter if she was a green, overweight monster that she believed no one would ever want to look at, he loved her just the same. Brandon wanted to embrace her, to slide his fingers through her hair and tell her that she was beautiful, his ever shining ray of light, his sun that would never set, and the only love of his life.

"I can't do it!" She protested as Brandon reached out his arm for her, she was too frightened, not even the most vulnerable diamond in the Magical Dimension was worth trying to let go from a height like this.

"Come on Stella, we're running out of time." He encouraged her even more hastily than before, the ship got just slightly closer, and in a moment of impulse, she let go. He tried desperately to grab her hand, her scaly, webbed hand, but it slipped from his grasp.., and so did she. He heard her screaming distance itself from his hearing range, and then she was nowhere in sight. It had to be a long fall, and there was no way she could survive, not in the state she was in, not without her magic.

"Stella!" He shouted painfully, "No!" He was already on his knees in the back of the ship, and he buried his face in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably.