Chapter Twenty-Five – The Great Witch Invasion

Riven felt uneasy.

Actually, uneasy was probably a massive understatement for how he felt, but he didn't think they had invented a word yet to describe it. Over the last year he had been exposed to high levels of paranoia and anxiety thanks to what he now knew to be a byproduct of Darcy messing around with his head, but it had nothing on how he was currently feeling. He had spent the last hour or so talking with Javelin who convinced him to let Saladin to have a look into his mind. Riven thought he had experienced his fair share of odd circumstances, but feeling someone shift through your memories definitely ranking high on the strange-o-meter. Saladin had shown him how to block him out of private memories so at least Riven didn't feel too violated, but the headmaster had confirmed that he had indeed been spelled by Darcy which would explain for his sudden change in behaviour.

Riven couldn't remember any other time when he had felt more used. He had always been hesitant in trust people – especially females – since his mother deserted him as a child and he knew that by keeping his defenses constantly up he hurt himself from time to time. He thought that with Darcy he had managed to over come that. Boy did that end up to be wrong.

After he had left Saladin and Javelin, Riven had avoided Brandon and Timmy to the best of his ability. He knew that they wanted to find out what the teachers had found and frankly Riven didn't want to go through explaining it to them. Instead, he had ducked away to a secluded part of the school and smoked all that was left of his smokes to try and calm his nerves, but even when he had emptied the pack he still felt agitated.

That would explain why he was currently pacing, but what he could answer why he had chosen to pace below what he knew to be the window to the dorm of the Winx Club. The thought of wanting the speak with Musa had crossed his mind since her proximity had been rather relaxing the other night before the Army of Decay attacked them, but what was he going to say? He couldn't think of anything important to say to her. Hell, he still wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to be on speaking terms with him. The entire idea of wanting to see her was ludicrous . . .

. . . and yet he still continues to pace.

"You can stop pouting now, Riven!" Stella's annoyingly cheery voice suddenly shattered his thoughts as she called down to him from the balcony. But what was even more irritating was that it sounded extremely smug for some reason. "She's coming down!"

Riven suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed and tried to pass it off by playing it dumb. "Uh, who?"

Stella's smug smile, however, seemed to state that she wasn't buying it.

"Oh gods," Riven sighed to himself as he ran a nervous hand through his hair. What the hell was he doing? He had absolutely nothing to say to Musa so why the hell did he want to see her so badly. She didn't want to talk to him. He had ignored her pleas for help and thrown her to the witches' mercy that day in Magix. He had helped in trying to destroy her friend. He had no right to talk to her even if she did want to speak with him.

Riven was just contemplating bolting for it when Musa suddenly appeared out of one of the doorways. She was dressed in her regular baggy jeans, scuffed joggers and off the shoulder red top with her hair pulled up in her trade mark pig tails, and Riven couldn't remember ever seeing anyone look more breathtaking. Even Darcy when she was all done up with her tight fitting clothes and skillfully put on make-up had nothing on the fairy.

"Oh, hey, Riven," Musa greeted causally.

There were thousands upon thousands of ways the Riven could have responded to that. He didn't even have to respond to it at all if he wanted to. No question was put to him so he could have decided the topic of conversation. He could have complemented her on her fighting skills since he had been watching her during the attacks and not just because she wore that fantastic skirt of hers. He could have thanked her for trying to comfort him the other night when Timmy had first told him of the possibility of Darcy spelling him. He could have mentioned something as general as the weather if he wanted to. Or he could have said the one thing he really wanted to say to her, which was 'I'm sorry'.

Instead, Riven ignored all those options and said the one thing he had been trying to deny – both to himself and everyone else – all year and something he was willing to go through pain of torture than admit to anyone, let alone her.

"Oh, um, listen, they don't really teach this in Heroics school but, I-gotta-say-I-really-like-you-so-bye!"

Riven didn't want around for her to even digest what he had just said let alone respond to it. He had done some stupid stuff over the years but he could never remember feeling so embarrassed before. His cheeks burning and his stomach feeling uneasy, Riven bolted through Alfea till he got to the opposite side and leaned gasping for air up against one of the stone walls. All his endurance and speed had gone out of his running recently. Ah, spot the smoker.

"Idiot!" Riven cursed himself, slamming his head against the stone wall behind him with such force that he saw sparks on the edge of his vision. What was he thinking telling her that? How did he think she's respond? She'd just forget everything he had done to her over the last year and run willingly into his arms? Yeah right. He wasn't like Brandon and Sky who could walk away from a mess and remain all squeaky clean. Riven knew people didn't view him like that. People always expected him to ruin everything so they were never really willing to forgive him since it would only be a matter of time before he stuffed up again. He was just one massive screw up who didn't deserve forgiveness.

Riven hit his head again and this time he made himself feel dizzy. Stumbling to keep his balance, Riven right leg suddenly cramped from the injury he had received mid way through the year and blinded him mind with agonizing pain. Leaning against the wall again to support himself, Riven rub his aching leg as he hissed through his teeth. Slowly the pain faded, but a fraction of it still remained in his leg.

Even if they did defeat the Army of Decay and survive into the next year, Riven knew that neither himself nor his body would forgive him anytime soon.

The Magix that Sky knew was busy, overpopulated and rather nosey. Every time he went there the streets had been packed with people going from one place to the next with seemingly important pace. It was impossible to walk so much as ten meters without bumping into or having to change your rout to avoid someone. Even Eraklyon's capital city was no where near as busy as Magix and it was like that twenty-four hours a day.

But the Magix that Sky was walking through now was nothing like it normally was. In fact, it was the exact opposite. The streets were empty, the shops were deserted and it was eerily quiet. And it was giving Sky the major creeps.

"Hello?!" Sky shouted and he felt his skin crawl as his voice bounced off the surrounding buildings to echo through the silent streets. "Is anybody here?!" and again it echoed. "If you're hiding, I'm one of the good guys!"

'What happened here?' Sky thought to himself as he looked around to see if he could spot someone. Then something caught his eye.

"What the . . ?" he said aloud, straining his eyes to see better, but when he did, his blood went cold. It looked like it was a person, except it was encased in a cocoon of rot. "Oh no, what have those witches done to these people? Anybody?! Anybody?!"

He wasn't really expecting a reply, so he was a tad alarmed when he did actually hear something. And whatever it was, it didn't sound friendly. "What was that?! Who's there?! Hello?"

But still no one answered him. Sky shifted uncomfortably as he tried to find the source of the nose. "I can't believe that – " he started, but he stopped mid sentence when he turned and saw a rot monster approaching him from behind. Jumping back quickly, Sky extended his sword and ducked under the monsters massive pinchers as they made a swipe at him.

Crouching into an attack stance, Sky moved in to meet the monster head on but the rot monster was ready for him and with one strike managed to disarm the prince. His sword fell to the ground and retracted itself.

'Uh oh,' Sky thought to himself for a second and them quickly made a jump for his phantom blade and grabbed it by the hilt. Rolling over onto his butt, Sky extended his blade again and extended it. The monster moved in and tried to smash him with its fist, but Sky was able to flip backwards out of the way. The monster left a massive hole in the ground exactly where Sky had been sitting a few seconds earlier. Sky swallowed hard but then quickly cleared his mind of all fear.

"Alright, come on! I'm not afraid of a little slug!" he challenged, gripping his sword tightly. The monsters red eyes flashed as hundreds of little decay bugs rushed into its feet, allowing it to swell to a massive height. "Uh oh. Boy, I had to say little."

As the monster loomed over him, it shape shifted on of its pincer arms to become a blade to match Sky's, and the prince couldn't help but cry out in alarm. That just wasn't natural, but then again nothing about this ordeal was. The monster raised its weapon arm and brought it down on Sky sword with a crushing force and he felt his knees start to buckle under such pressure. But he struggled to stand his ground.

It was either that or die.

"This is getting ridiculous," Brandon grumbled as he and Timmy walked aimlessly through the quad. All around them people were trying to take their minds off things by finding some way to distract themselves. Dave and Kane were sharpening their weapons, Bourne was trying to pick up a little red head and even Saladin and Codatorta were passing the time by playing a board game. "Where the hell is Sky? He should have been back yesterday!"

"Maybe they're stuck in traffic?" Timmy shrugged, but even he didn't believe that. Brandon didn't even bother to reply to that and simply glared at his friend in an un-amused expression. "Maybe we should go check with the scouts to see if they've seen any sign of them?"

Alfea and Cloud Tower had recruited their fastest students to act as scouts for the Army of Decay. Every hour, a few of them would fly out and see what they could and then dash back as fast as possible. Naturally, Dominique had been selected and she had kept the boys updated with everything she had found. Which, to date, was nothing.

"Sure, why not?" Brandon shrugged. "It's not like we can do anything else."

The fastest way to find Dominique was to find Lex, since the witch had a twisted connection to the little specialist. As a girl, she could never get enough of someone worshipping her and as a witch she could never get enough of tormenting people. Lex proved her with both and no matter how horrible she was to him, he'd always return for more.

Brandon and Timmy found Lex sitting against the wall with Riven, Toby and the boy Sally. Toby and Sally were talking quietly as they wait for another episode of Lex hits on Dominique to start and Riven and Lex were enjoying a smoke. Brandon instantly frowned and crossed his arms in front of him. "Riven, is that a cigarette you're smoking?"

"No. It's a chicken," Riven answered with a completely straight face (1).

Brandon continued to look at his friend disapprovingly. "You really shouldn't smoke."

Riven rolled his eyes and breathed smoke out of his nostrils. "I know, man. I know. But you can't expect me to quit now with all this going on now can you? Things are hard enough without adding withdrawal symptoms into the mix. I mean, you saw how I was at Cloud Tower. I was crawling out of my skull."

"Yeah, I guess," Brandon gave in as Riven took one last drag and crushed the butt into the ground. "Is Dom out on another scouting mission?"

"Nah, didn't ya hear? Faragonda cancelled all the scouting missions since she got the feeling it was getting too dangerous," Lex explained, also finishing his smoke.

"What? What is she thinking? The point of having scouts is so they can tell us when danger is coming! We . . . I . . . They . . . Argh!!" Brandon finally snapped, strangling thin air.

"Brandon, relax," Timmy ordered while the others simply stared at the squire like he had grown another head. Brandon continued to rage for a second longer before quickly composing himself.

"I'm done," he told them all evenly. "I'm just worried about Sky is all."

"Yeah, we can see that," Toby assured him. "But I know what you mean. I feel the same about Monty."

"But Monty's a dragon. If a rot monster goes up against him, my money's on Monty," Brandon said.

"Hey, Sky will be fine," Sally told them all. "I just know he is."

"You're such a girl," Lex smirked at Sally's statement and that smirk turned into a wide grinned when he finally spotted the object of obsession and he quickly got to his feet. "Now if you all excuse me, I'm going courting."

"You guys coming?" Sally grinned as he and Toby both stood to follow after Lex who was marching towards Dominique.

"Nah. You boys go ahead," Riven waved them off. "Dom's got some pretty stubborn views on smoking and I really don't feel like getting in her firing line at the moment."

"Well, it doesn't seem like Lex will do too good then, huh?" Timmy said as Toby and Sally walked off. When the three of them were alone, Timmy turned to address Riven. "So what did Saladin say?"

"Bout what?" Riven asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground.

"You know what," Brandon reminded him. "Did he actually find something in that thick scull of yours or was it hollow like I predicted?"

"No it's not hollow," Riven growled, still refusing to look up. "And Timmy, you were right. Darcy did spell me."

"Oh," Timmy said quietly. What else was there to say? "I'm sorry, man."

"Whatever," Riven dismissed, getting to his feet and walking away with no real destination in mind. Timmy and Brandon exchanged a look and followed after their friend. They had known that he wouldn't want to talk about it, but they weren't about to leave him alone with his dark thoughts.

"Least we know it wasn't all your fault," Brandon pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah," Riven grumbled indifferently. "So still no word on Sky?"

"Afraid not," Timmy answered, not missing the change in conversation, but he went along with it for Riven's sake. Plus he was feeling anxious about their missing friends. "I just wish I knew one way or another if Sky and Bloom were okay, you know. I keep thinking they're fine and then no, what if – "

"Dude, you've gottta relax," Riven cut in which was a bit ironic since he was even more tense. "I'm sure they're just planning a dramatic entrance."

"Yeah but what if they're not?" Brandon questioned. Denial might work for Riven, but it didn't stop Brandon from worrying.

"What if?"

"I dunno. Maybe we should go out scouting for them or something?" Brandon suggested.

"We can't," Timmy reminded him. "No one's allowed outside the gates."

"I know, but still . . ." Brandon trailed off. None of the boys had been paying much attention to where they were going, but they somehow found themselves heading directly towards the steps where the Winx Club, the witch Mirta, Knut, Bloom's pet rabbit Kiko and the duckling that followed Icy around all sat.

"What's the haps, chaps?" Musa asked them.

Riven instantly tensed at her voice as he recalled the last time they had spoken. That embarrassment was coupled with a stab of guilt as he noticed Mirta quickly averted her eyes and pale slightly at his presence. Forcing his emotions under control, Riven answered gruffly, "Why don't you tell us?"

"No one knows anything. This waiting is slowly driving me crazy," Timmy admitted.

Flora looked upwards. "The sky is so threatening."

"Tecna said that there's an eighty percent chance of – " Stella started but was cut off by a large crash of lightning. Everyone flinched, but Stella was the only one who screamed. "Ahh! A lightning striking every five minutes!"

Timmy couldn't contain a laugh as Tecna looked bashfully proud, but that quickly turned to alarm as the deep voice of the senior Frankie filled the quad. "Word from the dark forest! The nymphs have come with news!"

"Finally. Some info," Riven said as the Winx Club and the others sitting down quickly scrambled to their feet. The group joined the crowd of students that had quickly gathered at the front steps of the school so they could listen in on what the news was. Ms. Faragonda stood at the top of the stairs ready to receive the two nymphs that flew over to her.

"Welcome to Alfea," the headmistress greeted. "What news do you bring us?"

"It isn't good," one of the nymphs informed her hesitantly and a nervous wave washed through the crowd of students listening in.

"The army is taking the invisible road," the second nymph told her.

"They'll be here soon."

"And I'm afraid that's not all Ms. Faragonda."

"Icy, Darcy and Stormy are leading the charge," the first nymph announced.

"Oh no," Stella gasped. If Icy, Darcy and Stormy were leading the attack, that could only mean that they were going to attack Alfea with everything they had. The final battle was coming.

"We thought you should know," the second nymph said quietly. Ms. Faragonda's expression had gone grave, but she kept her cool and pointed inside.

"Go rest up inside," she ordered the nymphs who gladly took up her offer. It was a long flight from their home to Alfea. Ms. Faragonda composed herself and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "This is it! Everybody to your positions! The final battle is coming to Alfea and Alfea will be ready!"

"Come on!" Timmy shouted as everyone started moving at once. Riven followed him to where the rest of the Red Fountain sophomores were gathering, but Brandon lingered behind for a second.

"Be careful," he begged to Stella once he caught her arm. The princess turned her honey eyes to lock on his brown ones, and they possessed just as much concern.

"You too, snookums, (2)" she said before standing on tippy-toes to brush her lips across his. The kiss was over far too quickly and the pair moved off to join their respected parties to get ready for the attack.

The final battle was coming, and they still had no idea how they were going to defeat their enemy.

Sky had managed to get out from under the arm of the giant rot monster, but he still hadn't figured out a way to beat it yet. Gripping his sword, Sky charged in and sliced off the monster right arm. The limb dissolved and was absorbed by the ground beneath it.

"How do you like me now?" Sky smirked, but it quickly faded as the monster re-grew his arm back which was both gross and annoying. "Great," Sky sighed, before changing his plan of attack. "Can't we just talk about this?"

The monster ignored his attempts of verbal debate and kept moving towards him. Sky slowly started to edge backwards stopped when he suddenly realized that one of the headless rot monsters was coming at him from behind.

"No," Sky gasped, realizing he was cornered. The headless monster was believe it or not even bigger than the tentacle mouthed one, and they had Sky surrounded. Sky glared at the two of them defiantly, but that turned to alarm when he noticed a third monster starts to materialize on the building behind him. "Look, I didn't mean to crash your party, I'm sure you guys just wanna rot out, maybe watch each other decompose or what have you, so I'll just be on my way."

The ground shock that the monster one the building jumped down, and the three of them started to move in on him. Sky forced himself to think bravely. Talking time was over! "Fine! If that's the way you guys want it to be! C'mon Bring it!"

But no matter how good a positive thinker you are, three massive monsters composed of rot closing in around you can dampen your hopes pretty fast. Sky tried to face it like a man, but he whole things was ridiculously depressing. He was going to leave this world via rot monster.

'I can just see my grave stone now,' Sky thought to himself as he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. 'Crowned Prince Sky of the Royal House of Eraklyon; He was born, He live, He was composted.'

But just as he was getting ready to be turned into mulch, the air suddenly became warm and he could sense some kind of light coming from above him. Opening his eyes, Sky gasped at the magic that beamed down at him. But where did it come from?

"Hey there, tentacle mouth! Back away from the prince!" a shockingly familiar voice ordered.

'No way!' Sky thought to himself as he looked up to see Bloom in her winx form hovering in the sky surrounded by a glowing red energy that had taken on the from of a transparent dragon. An insane amount of joy and hope swelled inside Sky's chest as he stared up at her.

"Bloom! Am I glad to see you?!" Sky shouted up to her, a massive smile on his face. She did it! She really did it! She found the Dragon Fire! They had a real chance to defeat the Trix now!

"Back at you Sky, now hang on! I'm gonna get you out of there!" Bloom told him, raising her hands above her head and then lowering them again. The dragons surrounding her shifted slightly, and Bloom gathered two fire balls in her hands. With breathless ease, Bloom hit one of the tentacle monsters who was instantly incinerated. Seconds later, the headless one followed. "Nobody messes with my boyfriend!!"

"Boyfriend?" Sky repeated, a goofy smile spreading across his face. He liked the sound of that. However his joy was quickly cut shot by Bloom throwing fire balls at the last monster which was dangerously close to him. Covering his head with his arms, Sky crouched down and waited for it to be over.

That air smelled surprisingly like burnt toast when Sky uncovered his head, but the monsters and the dragon were gone. But most importantly, Bloom was still here. Slowly, she fluttered down to the ground and made her way over to him.

"Sorry I'm late," she apologized as she helped him to his feet. "You okay?"

"Yeah, but if you hadn't come along, I'd be worm food."

"C'mon, that's not true."

"So, er, what was that about nobody messes with my boyfriend?" Sky asked slyly. "Did I hear you right?"

"I just needed something to shout," Bloom blushed slightly. "Like trash talking in the heat of battle kinda thing."

"Oh yeah, I figured that's what it was," Sky said quickly.

"No big deal, just got carried away in the moment."

"Right," Sky nodded, letting go of her hand. While he knew that neither of them believed a word they had said, he couldn't help but feel kind of awkward. He had never really had any experience with 'closing the deal' with girls, as it were. Hell, his only relationship had been arranger for him. But neither he nor Bloom had the nerve to take it further. "So your powers are back."

"They never left me. I just hope it didn't realize that too late."

"Better late than never," Sky reminded her as they walked off into the city.

"I guess," Bloom shrugged, looking around the trashed city. "Where is everyone?"

"Er, well, they're . . ." Sky trailed off. He could find the words, so he simply pointed to one of the cocoons that covered the city. Bloom took one look at them and covered her mouth in horror.

"Those aren't . . ?"

"Yup."

"Are they okay?"

Sky shrugged this time. "Who knows."

"My god," Bloom whispered. "So what happened here?"

"I'm not sure but I think the rot monsters did it with their tentacles," Sky told her gravely. "It seems the witches made them more powerful than last time."

"Can these people be revived?" Bloom asked him as she took a closer look at one of the cocoons.

"I don't know, Bloom," Sky admitted.

"Stella! The girls!" Bloom suddenly exclaimed in panic. Bloom turned back around and walked over to Sky, her face murderous. "If those witches – "

"Let's not jump to any conclusions," Sky cut her off. There was no point getting all upset about something that they didn't even know had happened. If anything, their friends would be more worried about them since they were yet to return form Cloud Tower. "Let's just get back to Alfea."

With new found determination, Bloom powered up. "Leave that to me," she said and the dragon suddenly reappeared around her. "Grab on!"

Sky obeyed without question though his stomach did do a summersault when Bloom suddenly took off into the air. "Whoa!" Sky gasped as he stared down at the fast disappearing ground.

"You alright?" Bloom asked him as she flew.

"Yeah, this is just my first time traveling by winx."

"Relax, you'll love it," Bloom grinned.

"Didn't I say something like that about levi biking?"

"That's right," Bloom smirked down at him. Holding onto her for dear life, Sky closed his eyes as wished for them to get to Alfea as fast as possible. Unbeknown to them, the Army of Decay and the Trix was fast closing in on the school, ready for the final attack.

(1) That's from the very first scene and episode the Red Dwarf

(2) That would be the first time she called him that

Okay, one more chapter to go! Thank goodness!

TBC one last time