Chapter Twenty-One: Shadowfire, Dragonfire, and Those That Have Neither
Regina was tired. She'd been running for over a day without being able to sleep or rest. The shadow creatures seemed to always know her location. Her feet were bleeding. This would be normal for most, but Regina wasn't used to staying injured long, especially not long enough to draw blood. Her eyes were completely red. Regina turned to kick the shadow creature once more. It reformed quicker than it dissipated. It swiped at her. She held her arms to protect herself. The gashes started bleeding. Regina looked at her wounds in fascination. If it weren't for the bracelet, she could heal. She had an idea! Regina's eyes widen and she searched for stone. It wan't long until she found one large enough. She grabbed it and took a deep breath; then, she smashed her hand! She screamed as most of the bones in her hand broke. When she saw the shadow monster approach she smashed it again. Her hand was mangled. It took everything she had not to pass out. She controlled her breathing and quickly pulled the bracelet off her wrist. It zapped her, but slipped off because the bones in her hand no longer prevented its departure. Once it was off Regina's cuts were slowly healing. Her hand became numb, but it began to align and mend. She was still far from transforming, but without the antimagic device she was also far from dying.
Timmy tracked the bracelet to the castle in Shadow Haunt. He took the wheel; he didn't know what dangers they'd face at Shadow Haunt so wanted to make sure they made it to the castle safely. It was silent. After Ismene told everyone what they should do, nobody said anything. Even in times of battle he and his friends would talk. He didn't know if they were scared for Regina or didn't like each other. He wasn't sure he could have been a part of this team if he was still a Specialist. They weren't like their predecessors, but he supposed in some ways they were. To his surprise, Elliott and Semiramis stowed away on the ship. Bloom would have done something like that in their day. Darcy told Sky's offspring and Euphoria to stay behind. Shadow Haunt was dangerous. Semiramis and Euphoria weren't Enchantix fairies like Topaz so Darcy assumed that they wouldn't be powerful enough to go. There was no time to test them and prove her wrong. Elliott was told to stay behind because shadowfire was dragonfire's opposite. There was a fifty percent chance he'd be helpful, but also a fifty percent chance he'd be a liability. Darcy didn't like the odds and advised him not to go. Apparently, Euphoria was the only one who heeded her advice.
"What are you doing here?" Ismene asked.
"We have to help." Elliott said determined. "I don't care what happens to me. I just need to make sure Regina's safe. I made a promise to King Riven and Queen Aisha that I'd watch Regina."
"Do as you wish." Ismene glared at Semiramis. "But you stay on the ship, weakling."
"You can't tell me what to do. I'm concerned about Regina too."
"Be concerned on the ship," Ismene said crossing her legs.
Once they landed, she joined everyone around Timmy. He wrote the coordinates on paper and passed walkie-talkies to the group that was going inside. "Since Semiramis and Elliott are here, I'll go with you. She may need the device taken off immediately so she can heal anyway. If anyone feels drained, let the group know."
Topaz and Ismene transformed. The group left the ship. Shadow Haunt began its effects on them. Because Topaz was a fairy, she slowly felt her magic being drained. It wasn't enough to cause alarm, but she wasn't blind to it. Timmy, the twins, and Orion felt eerie. The atmosphere was neither draining nor giving them power; but, feeling such darkness put them on edge. Ismene was the only one who felt a power boost. They entered the castle. Several monsters came at them, but they were able to fight them off and stay on track.
"Alright, she should be right around this-" Timmy stopped talking. He didn't fail. He'd definitely found the device, but Regina was no longer attached to it. He knew immediately knew what happened when he bent down and found the bloody rock.
Topaz gasped. "Oh no."
"Fuck!"
"All this for nothing?!"
Ismene stared at the bracelet and the rock. She visualized Regina breaking her hand to escape. "She acted like any animal caught in a trap. Stupid... She's alive. If this bracelet's off, she's still going. Topaz, we don't know how much longer you'll be able to stand Shadow Haunt so you and John look on the ground outside. Stay near the ship. Angel-boy and I will search in the air. Mr. Tim and Jeremy, I think you two should stay inside. Mr. Tim made the map so can read it better than us. Jeremy, cover him." Topaz and Jeremy looked at each other. They'd rather be grouped together, but realized it didn't matter.
Elliott paced the floor. The group had been gone for twenty minutes and still had yet to radio to say they found her. "What's taking them so long?"
Semiramis growled. "We should be out there."
"I'm tempted, but I don't want anything to happen to you, little sis."
"..."
"Too weird?"
"I'm not ready for that. I was raised as an only child for eighteen years and overnight I get three brothers."
"It's okay, I understand. I..." Elliott's eyes grew dark with hatred. The cloaked assassin was looking at him through the window. He stood there for a while before walking away. "You won't get away from me this time..." Elliott ran off the ship and ran in the direction he saw the cloaked gunman go. "Stay on the ship, Semiramis!"
"Stay on the ship, Semiramis," she mimicked. Semiramis rolled her eyes. "I am not the weak one. I break up fights between Regina and Ismene! I can handle Shadow Haunt. Besides, if I do this, I might get Enchantix." Semiramis left the ship unaware that the danger she felt wasn't just the atmosphere, but the person behind her.
Ismene popped up. "Regina is unconscious! I sense her."
The others copied. Orion followed Ismene and dove under the castle. Regina tried following her mother's example and jumped off the ledge. She wanted to follow the current and get to Alfea. So far it didn't work. Regina was on the verge of drowning. Orion tucked his wings and dove to get her. He carried her in his arms and traveled back to the ship. "She's breathing, but she had to have taken in a lot of water."
"She's the princess of Andros. It's just water; she'll live. I'd kill us both before I gave her mouth-to-mouth" Orion was about to protest, but Regina coughed up the water that didn't belong. She was still not conscious. Ismene and Orion made it on land and started walking towards the ship. They could hear metal being scraped and started running. Shadow monsters were attacking the ship! Ismene blasted all of them and looked at the damage. "Great. This is just fucking great!" She stomped into the ship to chew out Semiramis and Elliott, but they weren't there. She screamed into the walkie-talkie. "We have Regina, but the craft is toast! And Blondie and Prince Clueless are gone."
"Gone? What do you mean gone," Jeremy asked.
"She means they must have gotten off the craft," Orion explained. "I'm trying to fix the ship now, but I may need assistance."
"Just let me know," said Timmy.
Hold on, I sense Blondie in the castle, I'll-" Ismene didn't finish. A large amount of shadow monsters appeared. "I have a slight problem. Topaz, come back and help me."
"Alright," Topaz agreed.
"John, join Jeremy." Ismene waited. "John?"
"I'm already there," he said after a while. He was inside, he was in the exact location they'd want him to be too. He just wasn't on their side. John could feel Semiramis get weaker by the moment. She was slowly reverting to her civilian form. John heard someone coming. He quickly shocked Semiramis and then the space above him. She was instantly magnetized to the ceiling. "Regina's been rescued, but I can still knock off a fairy." John walked away and pretended to search in another location.
Meanwhile...
Topaz started to fly towards the carrier. She was confused. She thought John was searching the grounds with her. How did they both miss Semiramis and Elliott? She didn't even know he entered the castle when he did. She was glad to go to the craft; she was still in Enchantix, but she was soon going to have to go to her base form. On her way, Elliott was fending off a couple of shadow monsters. They were reforming faster than he could blast them. The atmosphere was affecting him too. When he created another fireball, Topaz sent a gust of wind his way to add oxygen to the flames. It grew in size and light and destroyed the shadow creatures. Elliott looked behind him to see Topaz's smiling face.
"I'm glad to see you."
"I'm happy to see you too." Topaz helped him to his feet. "Come on, let's get back to the ship."
Topaz shimmered into her base fairy form. "Are you okay?" Topaz nodded. Even though she was considerably weaker, Topaz still helped him walk. "I need to apologize to you."
"...don't worry about it. You haven't done anything to me." She got her walkie-talkie. "Ismene, Elliott and I are on our way back."
"Gotcha, now we just have to get Blondie." Ismene looked at Orion. "As soon as they show up, I'm going to leave you to help them find Semiramis. She's been unconscious for too long for her to be fine." Ismene did just that when she saw Topaz and Elliott hobble to the ship.
"Ismene is on her way to Semiramis. You all can pull back," Orion announced. He wondered why it took them so long to find Semiramis. He figured their training as Specialists would help them track Semiramis easily. He heard Leon was the tracker, but that was no excuse for the rest of them to be so poor at it. Orion had experience in tracking, but mechanics was his specialty. They didn't learn just one skill at the special paladin academy he attended before Red Fountain. Orion mended the last wire and sighed in relief when the craft made a noise. It wasn't entirely fixed, but it would function for now. They needed to find Semiramis fast.
Castle...
Once he heard that Ismene was coming John went to the location he left Semiramis. He didn't think Ismene would find it odd that the heavy metal fairy was on the ceiling, but Jeremy would probably recognize John's magic.
"Have you seen her yet?" Jeremy asked with a voice full of concerned.
John paused for a moment before swallowing. If his brother looked upward, his cover was blown. "No. You should head back to the ship. Ismene will find her. I'll back up Ismene."
"You're right. I'm ready to get out of here. This place makes me jumpy... Maybe you should go, you look tense."
John shook his head. "I'm fine. You should check on your friend anyway. Shadow Haunt could make her go into dark fairy form again. You're the only one who can help her out of it."
"Shit! You're right." Jeremy ran to go to Topaz. He felt like Topaz had a hold on her dark powers, but if he was wrong Topaz could potentially destroy the craft and her friends on a power trip.
As soon as his brother left, John sent another jolt of electricity that sent Semiramis falling down. John was about to let her fall, but Ismene came from nowhere and caught her.
"Why didn't you radio in, Jeremy?"
Jeremy? Ismene must have thought he was his brother. "There were shadow monster up there. I tried to-"
"Don't care. Move it, Tweedledumb!"
John ran after Ismene and couldn't help the smile on his face. At first he was doing this for his family, but he was starting to like this double life. Nabu was no longer after Pandora. He said it was better to deal with people who wanted to be there. John didn't think he fit the bill until he escaped Elliott's attack. He'd survived a full attack of the dragonfire. He was unscathed in shadowfire. If he stayed a Specialist, that's all he would be; but, if he were something else he could be anything. John was sick of being in the background. His leader had the dragonflame, it didn't matter how much they trained or fought, Elliott was a team on his own. As a villain, John no longer had the dragonflame as a safety net. Now he could be challenged.
Timmy took off the moment Ismene and John got into the ship. "Good job Orion. I probably won't start up once we get to Magix, but it will get us there."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Suck up," Ismene said rolling her eyes. She noticed Elliott looking at her. "What?"
"You did good, Minnie."
"Not good enough." Ismene placed Semiramis next to Regina. She knew Regina was fine, but there was no magical energy inside Semiramis.
Regina opened her eyes. Elliott knelt on the ground and wanted to scoop her up, but he let her be. "Regina, I'm so happy you're safe. Sorry... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm soooo sorry."
Regina closed her eyes and breathed in relief. "I'm too relieved to deny I'm happy to see you too. All of you." She sat up. Elliott helped her up and sat her in the chair next to him. That's when she noticed Semiramis. "Semiramis... What happened?! Topaz, sprinkle fairy dust on her!"
Topaz bit her lip and played with her braid. "I-I..."
John put his hand on Topaz's shoulder. "She can't, she needs time to rest." Topaz looked at him gratefully. John smiled at her; she was so sweet. He was particularly interested in going against her. She gathered so much power so fast. Plus she was being trained by his brother. She wouldn't be easy like Diaspro's daughter to take down. "Shadowfire has taken Semiramis's powers away."
"For how long," asked Regina.
"Most likely, for good."
(A/N) And no Enchantix was given that day.
Next Chapter: Ogron and Gantlos kidnap Euphoria for ransom money.