Disclaimer: I do not own Winx Club. Just Glaedr, Eldus and Cari.
A/N:Hello everyone,
Anyway, please enjoy this chapter and any feedback or critics would be much appreciated. Thanks!
And special thanks to Anna, Mia, Bianca298, Peacelovefairy, and all my loyal readers. THANK YOU SOO VERY MUCH! You are all AWESOME! XD
' Thinking to oneself '
" Talking "
Chapter 37
Distraught Mother
"What are the Trix doing here?" Daphne exclaimed as she flew down the castle halls beside Tenca, both in their fairy forms, with Thoren running close behind. "I don't know, my surveillance robots have been watching them since they have arrived. It is illogical for them to have returned to this planet and they have not stated the reason for their unwanted appearance. Right now the King and Queen have engaged them and are keeping them at bay." The fairy of technology said as she studied the live video images on her handheld. "We better hurry, my parents still haven't fully recovered from their injuries." Tecna nodded and pushed faster.
When they arrived to the front gates they saw the royal guards all unconscious around the court yard along with destroyed shrubbery. "Mom! Dad!" Daphne exclaimed as she flew as fast as she could to defend them from an attack. "Hey Daphne come to join the party?" Oritel asked with a bright smile. "Yea you guys are having some party without me, but it seems that some unwanted guests appeared. DANCE OF LEAVES!" "BIO-RHYTHMIC BLAST!" Tecna exclaimed as she shot her own spell after Daphne's.
"Hey watch it fairy!" Icy exclaimed as she just barely missed Daphne's attack, but she was disappointed when she saw that Stormy was hit by Tecna's blast. Darcy charged up her attack and turned it to Tecna "Why you—. DARK RAY!" "DIGITAL ROOM!"
The fairy of technology did well to defend against Darcy's attack but when Stormy added her 'Dark Lightning', Tecna's shield was destroyed and she was knocked out. "Tecna!" Daphne exclaimed before facing Icy once more 'I can't hold off these three on my own… what should I do?'
Suddenly she saw that Throen arrived and was tending to Tenca. "Thoren get back!" "I can't love… there is someone here who is very determined to give a message to your parents." He said as he glanced behind him. That was where Daphne saw the Cari's light brown haired friend. "I know you… wait where's Cari?" Daphne exclaimed as she blocked another attack from Icy, while her parents kept Stormy and Darcy at bay.
"That is what I need to tell you…" the young girl started as tears started to fall from her face as she looked back and forth between the royal family members. "I'm sorry… I couldn't do anything to stop him… I tried my best… but…h-he took her… he took Cari!" "Wait who did?" the king asked as he blocked an attack from Stormy. "I don't know… He was a tall and scary man dressed in all black… he just appeared out of the shadows and… took her…" the royal family was so shocked they didn't know what to do for a split second, but they all thought the same thing 'Eldus!'. Hearing the Trix's laughter reminded them that they were in the middle of battle.
They forced themselves to concentrate on the evil witches but when they did they saw devious grins on their faces. "Well, that is our cue to split." Darcy said coldly. The Trix laughed as they opened up a portal. "Watch out your highnesses, the next time we face each other you won't be left with your lives. Now that we have our trump card, the end will come soon." Icy said with a smirk. "You best say your final goodbyes now." Stormy said with a laugh as she and her sisters turned and went through the portal and disappeared.
Everyone was so shocked they were frozen in place; it seemed that everything around them was eerily quiet; the only sound they could hear was the cries of a young girl. After a short moment the King and Queen regained their composure, they looked at each other and nodded. They took a moment to take in the scene around them. A guard had awoken and was starting to stand on his own. "Are you alright? Can you walk on your own?" Oritel asked the knight. He stood up straight once he heard his king's voice. "Yes, your majesty!" "Ok, can you go and call Meditrina and her entire healing ward to come and assist your companions? We will wait here for her arrival." "Yes, Sir." "O and do make sure you are checked by a healer yourself." Marion said as he started to turn towards the castle "Yes, your majesty."
Once he ran off into the castle they turned to see their eldest daughter checking on Tecna and walked over to them. "Daphne how is Tecna?" "She's ok mom, just a little shell shocked and she's already waking up." "Ugh, what happened?" Everyone paused not sure how to say it. Tecna grew concerned with the awkward silence and looked around to find the source of the crying. "Umm… why is Cari's friend crying? What happened?"
Daphne took a deep breath "Tecna I need you to send a mass emergency message to the Winx including Bloom… Eldus has kidnapped Cari…"
"Ok good job today Bloom you are holding up well while I attack you with 75% of my power. Soon I will be able to raise it again." Bloom just nodded her gratitude since she was too tired and short of breath to properly respond. "Hmm… you shall now take an hour break. In the meantime I shall evaluate your fiancé's progress." Bloom nodded again as she slowly walked over to her water bottle and laid down next to it.
Glaedr turned and walked over to Sky who was getting better at handling the sword that he gave the prince. 'He is gradually improving more and more… I did not expect him to improve this much… surprising… speaking of surprises I haven't checked up on Cari in a while… I should reach out and look…' As Glaedr reached out his senses to locate the young girl he stopped dead in his tracks just a few feet away from where Sky was training. 'No this can't be right… where is she? She can't just disappear from my sight'
Since he could not locate her he decided to look at the Domino royal family. That was where he saw them walking into the castle and trying to soothe a crying girl around Cari's age. "Now, now dear. No need to cry anymore it wasn't your fault." The queen said with a gentle smile. "I know… but I could've convinced… him that I was Cari… that way she… wouldn't have been taken. O-or I could've done a better job… at convincing Cari… to stay. Princess Bloom is going… to be d-devastated to hear… that her child… was kidnapped!"
'Well, that's not good news… should I tell her? But she's not done with her training… she might leave if I tell her… and she won't have a chance at winning if she doesn't complete it… but she will resent me if I keep it from her… just like Jeanne did…' "Glaedr what's wrong?" Sky asked when he saw the deep in thought dragon just a few feet away. 'Sigh' "Come prince, there is something I must tell the both of you."
The two walked back to the resting Bloom. She opened her eyes and sat up when she sensed them near. "Hey guys what's up?" "There is important news from the outside world that I must discuss with you, Bloom. But for me to tell you, you MUST promise to remain calm and collected, and you cannot make illogical or rash decisions. Agreed?" Bloom had a bad feeling but agreed to the terms. 'I shall tell her quickly and distract her… that always worked on Jeanne…' "It seems that Domino was attacked and during the commotion Eldus took young Cari. I regret to inform you that your child has been kidnapped… Now that I have told you, in 50 minutes we shall begin your training once again, but in the meantime you should watch Sky practice he has become quite skilled with my sword."
Glaedr started to turn to give them space when Bloom's power spiked and he was forced to face her once again "How can I TRAIN at a time like this? I need to get her BACK, immediately! Even if that means I have to face Eldus NOW! How do you know anyway?!" 'Sigh… here we go…' "You must train at a time like this. How do you expect to defeat Eldus and safely return Cari if you were struck down the moment you step through his front door? You don't even know where they are now, so instead of searching blindly focus on your training to even have a chance to get your child back. And I know for certain she was taken because I have the ability to 'check in' on the worlds as I choose. I saw a young light brown haired girl telling your family that she saw Cari get taken. Now I suggest you calm down before you pass out from exhaustion, we did just finish an intense training that left you practically drained."
Bloom glared at Glaedr's cool expressionless face and started to get more frustrated with the fact that he was right and that there was nothing she could do. But she couldn't calm down she wanted to explode, she slowly felt herself losing control. The only thing that made her pause and regain focus was Sky stepping into her sight of vision. "Bloom, Love, you need to calm down. Glaedr is right if we train then we have a better chance at getting Cari back safely than not at all. Think my love we only have a little more than three months of training to go, it will go by quickly just like the first seven months did." Bloom shook her head with tears in her eyes "She can't wait three months Sky, who knows what Eldus will do to her in that time." Sky gently whipped away a tear that fell from Bloom's right eye. "Don't you remember my love, three months in here is equivalent to about one and half hours out there. Nothing bad will happen in such a short amount of time. We just need to focus on getting stronger so we can get our daughter back and be a happy family, right?" Bloom paused but calmed down enough to sit back down and nod. "Your right, Sky. We will get stronger and be happy in the end." Bloom turned to Glaedr "Let's being, now."
But the dragon just shook his head. "Your rest period is still for another 50 minutes. You must first replenish your energy, and rest well Bloom because I am increasing my power level this time around." Bloom understood and was grateful that he was pushing her so she just nodded. "As for you Prince, I need to show you a special ability that your sword possesses. But be warned if the sword does not recognize you as its new master then it will not protect you from the extremely painful recoil. Are you up for the challenge?" "Of course." "Good let's begin."
"You have completed your training guardian… and a week early at that." Glaedr said to Bloom who was in her fairy form. "Thank you for pushing me so much these last few months, I appreciate it." Bloom said with a slight bow after she released her fairy form and returned to her normal workout clothing. "hmm… just remember your lessons and you will protect your family." Bloom just nodded.
"I do have a question to ask you…" She paused "well, what is it?" he asked a bit impatiently "You knew how I would react when I heard that Cari was kidnaped. You must have figured that there was a chance that I would run out of here and blindly look for her, even with the knowledge that I would fall in battle." "Your point?" "Why did you tell me at all? Why didn't you keep it a secret until now? That would have been the logical thing to do." 'at least she is thinking tings through now…'
"Because I did not want to make the same mistake twice." "What do you mean?" "I kept important information from Jeanne. I thought that keeping it a secret would be best for her, that way she would be able to fight detached and to her fullest, it was the logical course. I intended to tell her the truth eventually, after she secured peace to the magical dimension once more." He said with a shrug "But I did not predict that she would find out the way she did, and at the most important fight." His eyes showed sadness and a hint of regret "How important was this secret that it would affect her in a fight?"
"It was about her cherished childhood friend. From what she knew: he went missing and was never found soon after she got engaged. Since his chosen career was to seek knowledge, especially ancient and forbidden knowledge like the secret of the dark arts, he would go to often cursed and dangerous ruins alone. But he was always time oriented, he would always return every month to restock his supplies. One day when he was expected back, he didn't return…that was when everyone thought he had died on one of his expeditions… that the curses he surrounded himself with, finally caught up with him. They assumed that he never returned to Domino. But I was the only one who knew the truth."
"Why only you?" "Back then I had a special barrier around the planet where it would alert me every time someone left or entered Domino. Every time someone would enter the planet I would monitor their activities for a few days to make sure they were not infected with darkness. On the day of his return I saw him return safely to Domino and went straight to Domino Castle clutching a letter in his hands and with a bright smile. Since I saw a few words I noticed that it was Jeanne's handwriting. Later I found out that she wrote to him saying that she wanted to see and talk to him about feelings that she kept hidden for so long, and it seems that he misunderstood it as: his unrequited love for her was being returned. But when he arrived to the castle he conveniently arrived at the moment where Jeanne's lover, Leonard, proposed to her in the main garden in front of the royal court. His face dropped when he saw her accept and kiss him, and it looked like something broke within him. He ran from castle and towards the now dark forest. When he reached the deepest part of forest the darkness that wanted the destruction of Domino heard his cries and seduced him. He changed and became…"
Before he could finish they were interrupted by a huge explosion coming from the far end of the cavern. They turned to see Sky on the ground a couple of feet away from a crater in the ground. Bloom immediately got up and ran to him. "Sky! Are you ok? What happened?" she reached him in a matter of seconds and saw that he was already sitting up. He looked up and smile at his fiancé while rubbing his head. "yea sorry I thought I was ready for the sword's next power level… but I was wrong…sorry I worried you Bloom." Sky said as he stood up.
"But you withstood it fairly well young prince. You should be able to reach that level soon enough. Normally you would've been severely burned and hospitalized for at least 6 months." They both stared at him "How would you know for certain?" Bloom asked cautiously "Because King Leonard 'bit more than he could chew' once… I believe the modern saying is… after that Jeanne was very adamant on me closely watching his training… it was annoying…" Bloom turned to Sky
"Now YOU aren't allowed to train like that without supervision." "But Bloom I can handle it on my own." "Nope I will at least train with you every time you try to exceed your limit even by a little bit, understood?" "We will discuss this later… anyway are you done with your training?" Bloom gave him a look that said 'I won't forget about this…' "Yes I completed my training. I am ready to face my next destiny." She stated with certainty.
"But I recommend that you not leave for another week." "What why? What difference would that make?" Bloom remarked "It could make all the difference. You will intensely train and polish your skills for a five days, especially our team work. The sixth day you will rest and fully restore your energy and the seventh day you will head out. Perfecting a skill will make the difference between losing or winning, between life or death." Glaedr gave her a stare that told her that he was extremely serious. And she knew he was right. "Very well Glaedr. We will face Eldus in one week…" She turned to face her fiancé. "And get our baby girl back."
"Eldus how long is this brat going to sleep?" Icy asked as the four watched the small girl sound asleep on a spare bed they had in Darkar's castle. "Well ladies, a child needs her sleep. Besides I want her at her most powerful tomorrow, because that is when we will use her to bring about my new reign!"