Authors Notes: Alright, sneaking in one last update in before I pack up the computer; seeing as there was a slight delay in my moving. So the final battle is under way, and Mirta has accomplished her task in shutting down the schools defensive wards, letting the witches in.
Random Guest Reviewer - Actually, according to Winx-Wiki, Faragonda is a light witch though she did later become a fairy hybrid.
Nentone - The flashback scene was a last minute addition. Best time frame I can give it, is that Flora and Stella went to Solaria right before they returned from Earth. Hope you enjoyed it.
Sanrii - Even though I already answered it in a PM, initially it was not my intention to make a Warcraft 3 reference, but it did fit pretty well.
Serenityskywalker - This chapter will reveal who is the ultimate victor.
As another side note, I encourage everyone to go check out, read and review the story Daughter of Darkar, written by Whitetiger52. A very good read, and I hope everyone encourages them to work hard on it!
And now it is time for the final battle! Enjoy!
Crimson Flame
Chapter 29
Faragonda and the two specialists stared out in horror as the cloud of wasp and other various insects swarmed down upon the small group of forces that stood below them. Among the panic stricken group, the elder witch spotted Mirta casually walking through the bugs, towards her friend Lucy who was controlling the swarms. The same friend she had told Faragonda had been killed. Mirta quickly fired off a spell towards one of the fairies who was trying to make a run for shelter, taking a moment to look up at the window Faragonda and the others shared. A smug grin on the illusion fairies face.
"Mirta betrayed us!" Sky seethed, as he just saw the same thing Faragonda did.
"Then it was not by some coincidence that she arrived to tell us when the attack was coming." Faragonda said, strangely calm about the entire situation. "Bloom wanted us to know."
"Who the hell does something like that?" Brandon asked as he glanced to the elder witch.
"Someone who knows they have every advantage over their enemy." Flora put in solemnly. This of course caused everyone in the room to look at her. Slowly Faragonda nodded her head in agreement.
"Bloom is toying with us?" Sky asked.
"It would appear so."
"So what do we do now?" Brandon asked, looking to the headmistress.
"We stick to the plan. Let Bloom and Musa come to us." Faragonda stated, with a renewed resolve. "Once we get Bloom and Musa out of the way we will focus on the Trix."
Stella and Flora exchanged a curious glance before they looked to the elder witch. The two vampires were unaware of any plan to lure Bloom and Musa into the office. All other previous outlines of defenses was focused on bolstering the outer defenses. This caused Flora to worry some.
"What do you mean 'stick to the plan'?" Flora asked, looking to the elder witch.
"While you two were out, we devised a way to lure Bloom and Musa into this office were we intend to subdue her." Faragonda explained vaguely without turning to face the nature fairy.
'Bloom, be careful. Faragonda is planning something.' Flora sent out telepathically.
However, she received no reply to her warning. This caused the ancient vampire to worry a bit more as she began to look around the room. Something was blocking her from communicating with Bloom.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Enough to cause the massive wooden doors to come crashing down exposing Bloom and Musa standing there. Grinning darkly as they casually entered the room, staring at the small group that occupied the room.
"Knock knock." Musa chimed.
"Mrs. Faragonda, descendant of the great King Armex; is cowering in a room while letting everyone die outside." Bloom taunted. "Tsk tsk, your ancestors must be so disappointed in you right now."
"This is between us Bloom, call off the witches." Faragonda demanded in a last ditch attempt to save those still fighting.
"Now where is the fun in that?" Bloom chucked, her crimson irises burning brightly in the dim room. "After all, I did promise them revenge against all those of Alfea and Red Fountain."
Brandon watched as the headmistress and Bloom exchanged words. His hand fumbling in his pocket, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible as he managed to open the small pocket knife within the pocket. Involuntarily wincing as he felt the sharp blade puncture his flesh, letting some of the blood flow out, coating the small crystal that lay within the same pocket.
Unknown to him though, Stella had picked up the scent of fresh blood immediately as she stood the closest to him. The sun fairy cast a concerned look to Flora who also seemed to pick up on the scent as well, but motion for her to wait. Taking heed, Stella merely moving closer to the brown haired young man.
Flora on the other hand was becoming more and more infuriated that she could not warn Bloom of that something was off. The moment she smelt the blood filled her senses, she had a feeling of what it was. Extending her palms to the floor she silently began to summon her plants, ready to strike in a moments notice.
"You can not win Bloom." Faragonda boldly stated, leveling her gaze at the two vampires.
"I believe I already have." The fire fairy grinned darkly as she began to stalk closer to the older witch.
"Now!" The head mistress called back to Brandon.
The young main quickly withdrew the red crystal from his pocket and placed it firmly into his bleeding palm, aiming it directly at Bloom and Musa. Without further effort on his part, a bright red beam shot out of the crystal, striking the two vampires. Causing the two to writhe in pain as a red translucent shell formed around the two.
For Bloom and Musa it felt like their blood had been set on fire and could not be put out. Anytime Bloom tried to block out the pain or try to fight back it just got worse, causing her to scream out in agony. Musa was in the same boat, arching her back as she laid upon the ground, her nails digging into the floor beneath her.
"You see Bloom, you never had the advantage." Faragonda taunted. "Brandon, finish it."
"Brandon." Stella spoke softly.
"It's ok Stel, we're going to finish this now." Brandon said, not bothering to look back at the sun fairy. If he had, he may of noticed her appearance change as her illusion spell dropped.
Bringing her arm back, she thrust it forward. Brandon let out a small gasp as suddenly he felt a wave of coldness wash over his body. Looking down he saw a slender hand sticking out of his lower chest, just narrowly missing his hurt. Craning his head back just enough, he saw Stella's crimson eyes gazing at him. A dark smile on her face.
"Stella why?" Brandon asked weakly.
Stella only giggled a little. "Shhh, you need to save your energy. Your going to die soon."
"Stella?" Sky cautiously approached the blonde haired vampire, gazing down at his bleeding friend.
Stella merely grinned at the young prince and bit down on Brandon's neck, drawing blood for her to seductively lick up before clamping down once more to began to drain the young specialist of his blood. Sky moved forward to stop her but was quickly subdued by the vines that Flora and summoned just moments earlier.
As the red shell dissipated, Faragonda turned to see Stella and Flora taking on their true forms. Fear washed over the elder woman as she spied a silver glint from the necklace Flora was wearing, the symbol of the Sanguine Coven. Everything seemed to come crashing down as she was hit with the realization.
Ignoring the elder witch, Flora circled around Sky, tracing her index finger along his chest. As she did so, scratched formed where she touched. Sky hissed in pain as she drew blood from the scratched.
"Flora, you don't need to do this." Sky said, as he struggled against the vines, though proved extremely difficult with only one arm.
"Your right, I don't." She smiled darkly. "Though I think someone still wants to play with you."
"How long Flora?" Faragonda demanded, not giving into the fear that rushed through her.
"How long since what?" The nature fairy mocked. "I am afraid you will have to be more specific that that."
"How long since you have been working for Bloom?"
At this Flora laughed as she walked over and helped the fire and music fairies to their feet before turning her attention back to the elder witch.
"I am afraid you are sorely mistaken Faragonda. You see, I've been keeping a very big secret." The nature fairy grinned. "You see, I am the one who turned Bloom."
Both Faragonda and Sky gasped in shock at this revelation. Their immediate thought was that she had to be lying, but the way the nature fairy was presenting herself made it all the more true.
"So what do you intend to do now?" Faragonda asked, knowing she was not going to like the answer.
By now Stella had finished her snack and carelessly threw Brandons limp body aside, reaching down she picked up the blood crystal. Casually examining before she crushed it effortlessly in her fist. Not wanting to give them another chance to use it.
"It's very simply you see." Flora explained. "I am going to kill you. Slowly, and painfully for everything your ancestors did to my kind."
Fire and hatred burned within the normally calm nature fairies eyes as she gazed upon the elder witch, the likes Faragonda has never seen before. Without another word Flora extended her palms towards the elder witch, prompting dozen more vines to erupt from the floorboards. Suspending the head mistress in the air.
"Now, this will be no fun without an audience." The ancient vampire continued to mock.
Smirking some, Bloom fired off a fireball at the large desk sending it exploding out the window. Surely getting the attention of the combatants down below as glass and the burnt debris from the desk came crashing down. With the window and other obstacles out of the way Flora manipulated the vines to suspend the head mistress at the window so all below could see. Many of the forces of light screamed out in terror at the sight.
"You should feel honored Faragonda." The nature fairy commented as she looked below at the crowds of people whom have stopped fight to watch what was about to happen. "Your death will make the rise of the Sanguine Coven.""The Sanguine Coven was destroyed long ago.": The elder witch spat defiantly.
"Actually, Armex and Atilla failed to wipe out all of the council members." Flora smiled, playing with her necklace. "You see, there are still two of us left."
Flora grinned darkly as she saw the realization wash over Faragonda's face at what the nature fairy was implying.
"Yes, I am an ancient." The nature fairy smiled darkly. "First ever vampire, but I will not bore you with a history lesson, despite there being numerous errors in your history books."
Before Faragonda could say anything else a vine wrapped around the old witches neck and constricted just tight enough to keep her from being able to speak but still allowed her to breath.
"Now for the real fun." Flora grinned, she had been looking forward to this for so long.
"Flora don't do it, I am sure we can work something out." Sky pleaded.
"Oh, your still here." The nature fairy said dismissively. "Bloom, why don't you go play with him."
At this the fire fairy grinned as she turned her attention to the blonde prince that was still suspended in the air by the vines. Slowly she stalked over towards him, watching as fear washed over his face.
"N-now Bloom, I know I was wrong in the way I acted." He began to mumble. Knowing that with Brandon dead, and the blood crystal destroyed there was no hope for them.
"Oh, now you want to apologize." The fire fairy mocked. "Don't worry, I am not going to kill you, yet."
Bloom smiled as she did the same thing Flora had done earlier except that the fire fairy stopped at the shoulder of the princes remaining arm. Looking up at him she grinned as she pushed her fingers through his flesh, slowly severing his left arm from his body, leaving the poor specialist literally disarmed, quickly using her flame to cauterize the wound so he wouldn't bleed out . As she did so, Sky screamed out in agony as waves of pain struck his body until his nerves couldn't handle it anymore and shut down completely.
"I have to admit Sky, you do scream better then Layla and Timmy did." Musa piped in as she watched Bloom continue to work.
"J-just kill me already." Sky pleaded.
"Now, where is the fun in that." The fire fairy taunted. "I want you to be alive and well so you can watch us destroy you precious kingdom of Eraklyon."
Bloom didn't wait for him to respond as she quickly set to work on his legs. Following the same procedure she did with his arm, eventually leaving the young man without any limbs and only the vines holding him up.
"Now one last thing." The fire fairy grinned as she forced his mouth open and grabbed hold of his tongue, giving it a hard yank, causing an eruption of blood to come spilling out.
"Nice touch." Flora smiled as she turned her attention back to the head mistress. "Now its your turn." She said darkly.
Nearly An Hour Later
It had been nearly an hour before the old head mistresses screams finally went silent and the ancient vampire sent the mutilated body crashing to the remaining forces of Light below. Flora stood tall at the window looking down at all who had witnessed the entire event.
Slowly, one by one each of the witches bowed before Flora. Those who were with the forces of Light could scarcely believe that their very own nature fairy was capable of doing such things and above all, that she was really a vampire the entire time. The very thing Faragonda was bolstering them to fight against. Eventually, even they felt compelled to boy before the ancient vampire, if only for a chance to be allowed to live.
"Enjoy the show?" Flora asked with a grin as the Trix landed next to her.
"Very enjoyable." Icy stated with a grin, exposing her fangs as she moved over to where Bloom stood, still admiring her handy work on Sky, whom was just barely alive.
"So what now?" Darcy asked, looking to Flora.
"Now." Flora paused, a dark grin growing on her face. "The Age of the Vampire begins."
Additional Authors Notes: Alright, there is Chapter 29. I still have one more chapter to do, which will be an epilogue of the aftermath. Yes, there will be another addition to the Director's Cut series, I have not forgotten about that. The new, and final addition to the Director's Cut will reveal all the gruesome detail of Faragonda's death and maybe a bit more on Brandon's as well as Sky's mutilation.
I do hope everyone enjoyed this update and as always, leave your thoughts and comments!
