Mercan Melike : thanks ^^
Heato-kun : "Rentrer à la maison" haha jpp mais c'est tellement ça XD
Valtor felt a slight pull through their bond. It seemed shy, almost hesitant. He was watching over the teachers and the arriving Fairies, hidden in the darkness of the woods, before something poisoned Bloom. His eyes widened as the dark magic took over the other half of the Dragon Flame. It was weird, as if the balance in the world had been lost at this precise moment.
Lifting his eyes up, he saw the Fairies quickly transforming and following Faragonda's orders. He decided to go right then, when the two professors remaining were still too busy with their students to notice his sudden disappearance.
Later, he'd realize that it was futile, as they would've agreed for him to go help Bloom. But back then, instinct took over. He still saw them as his enemies, especially the Headmistress. Acting on his own, behind their back, was still too natural for him. It felt safer.
He knew what had happened, or had an inkling. No doubt the Shadow Phoenix had took advantage of Bloom's weakened state to use her. Darkar was after the Codex, that much he knew. But Valtor believed it was in the Pixie's Village, and Bloom didn't knew where it was. Unless Darkar planned to use her to get there, which would never happen, there was no reason to turn her into his pawn.
He appeared above Alfea, watching the Winx and their pretty boyfriends celebrate their victory. His eyes scanned the area, but Bloom was nowhere to be seen.
Shaking his head, Valtor tried to pull on the bond to find the one Fairy he was looking for. Without surprise, it didn't tell him exactly where she was. Their link was so bad she seemed to be on another planet. He could, however, feel the dark magic in the air. Without much of a choice, he decided to follow it.
At first, he felt lost inside the dark corridors. For the first time, he had to use the bond between them. Usually, he waited for her signal. Trying to reach her felt foreign to him.
He tried to pull on their link, as if it was a rope, to find the direction to follow. Fortunately, Alfea wasn't a maze like Cloud Tower. He kept going straight, the only way possible. The dark magic felt thicker as he grew closer to her. He had no idea what she was doing, but he didn't like it. She wasn't going to Faragonda's office to retrieve one of her many items. She wasn't going back to her room, or making her way to Darkar's lair. He hated having people being a step ahead of himself.
The sound of an explosion caught his attention. Quickly, he made his way into a darker corridor, that seemed to lead to nothing. There was, however, a hole in the right wall, from where light seemed to be escaping. Without any hesitation, he entered.
What he saw left him breathless : books, thousands of them, all around him. What he thought had been a normal tower was actually a hidden library, with books he thought were lost forever. Why the Headmistress of Alfea had kept such dark items, he had no idea, but this was one more reason to stay.
There was detonation above him, caused by Bloom. He frowned, seeing the evil smirk on the red head's face as she laughed off an older Pixie. The latter seemed desperate to make her stop, but still held her ground. A strange little, green animal joined the old Pixie. He started flying upwards, following Bloom as she searched around the room for something.
"Tell me where's the Codex my Master wants, and I'll leave you alone," promised the red head, a cruel glint in her eyes.
"Who do you think you are ?" Replicated the Pixie.
Bloom frowned, before carelessly firing at the little being. The ball of fire missed its target, and crashed onto the books. Valtor's mood dropped at the sight. Those were precious books, limited editions and some were even forbidden now. Even Darkar should know better than to make his puppet attack everything on sight.
The Pixie retaliated by making Bloom a lot more smaller in a snap of her fingers. Valtor flew closer, but before he could act, the red head stroke again. This time, she created a circle of fire around her adversary. The green animal panicked, going from the Pixie to the books.
"No, don't do it !" Screamed the Pixie at her companion, slowly suffocation because of the smoke.
"Yeah, do it," laughed the Fairy. "Unless you want to watch her burn."
The little animal flew towards a book, the Fairy closing in on him rapidly. The green thing managed to make the book fall, but seemed to have a change of mind. He suddenly went after the book, and as it passed Valtor, he suddenly saw what they were all fighting for.
The Codex was right there, in the book. Valtor immediately let himself fall, and caught the book before the little Fairy or the animal could. He then put some distance between Bloom and himself. She simply smiled at the sight of him.
"Well hello there," she greeted, her voice a lot more harsh than usual.
"Stop this Bloom."
"But I can't," she said, her eyes narrowing but her smile staying on her lips. "You know it as much as I do."
She was fighting against the mind control, he would give her that. Maybe Darkar wouldn't be aware of his presence.
"I don't want to fight you," he said. The tables were reversed, this time. Where he was the one to smile most of the time, this time it was her turn. He suddenly understood how unnerving it must be for his enemies, and inwardly complimented himself for that.
"Oh but you'll have to !" She said before creating a wall of fire, and pushing it onto him.
He let it go through him, ready to mock her for not remembering they shared the same power, but suddenly realized he didn't have anything in his hand. The fire had burned the book, and the Codex was falling once again.
"They're in here !" Explained a man outside the room, which Valtor had no time to look out for.
He was too late, as she was already flying after it, and caught it way before he could. He prepared himself to attack, but someone screaming his name prevented him.
"You can't hurt her !" Screamed the Heir of Solaria, who had somehow found him. Behind her, a yellow ogre seemed to hesitate.
In horror, he watched as Bloom regained her full height because the spell of the Pixie had worn off. Of course, she still held the Codex.
"Bloom, what are you doing ?" Asked the Fairy of Nature.
He almost shook his head in disbelief. Couldn't they realize something was wrong, and maybe, just maybe, they should try to attack and ask questions later ? But no, they were pure Fairies, still studying, who believed fully in the power of friendship and whatnot. They wouldn't give up on their friends.
They would prevent him from attacking though.
"She's under Lord Darkar's control !" Said one of the Pixie. "Look at her eyes !"
Valtor suddenly realized that, indeed, her eyes were now golden, and snake-like. If Lord Darkar had a mark, that would be it. At least Valtor could hide his own, but the Shadow Phoenix was unable to do it. He was too obvious, which is why he'd been hiding for so long.
"Hello there, friends, how are you all doing ?"
"Bloom, leave the Codex alone," asked Flora. "Why do you even have it ? It was supposed to stay hidden."
"How did you even know there was a room here ?" Asked Tecna, still taking in her surroundings.
"My Master only had one more place to look into," explained the red head with a little smirk.
"Your Master ?" Repeated Stella, disgusted.
Bloom didn't seem to really care about the conversation. Instead, she let the palm of her hand face the sky, and Valtor understood a bit too late that she was going to give their location to Lord Darkar's pet. He watched with widened eyes the glass of the ceiling shattering, as the ball of fire exploded outside. Darkar knew where to look now.
"Get the Codex !" He ordered.
The Winx must've understood that they wouldn't get their friend back with simple words, because they immediately jumped into action. They were useless, but they tried. It was maybe a bit too obvious that they didn't want to hurt their friend, making Bloom's job a lot more easier. He gritted his teeth at the sight : it was kind of themselves to attack her as nicely as they could, but they seemed to have forgotten what would happen if the Codex fell into the wrong hands.
He watched the flower Fairy attack, trapping Bloom for a second before the latter burned the vines. Musa tried to attack with a sound attack, which did reach the red head, but once again it didn't hurt her in the slightest. It only seemed to annoy her.
He decided to act, and using the fact she forgot about him, he sent her flying against the bookshelves. She had no time to dodge, and he thought he successfully knocked her out as she started falling to the ground. Her wings started moving again, before she lifted her head to look at him.
"Now I'm angry."
The Heir of Solaria decided it was the right time to attack, and he watched as light appeared around Bloom. He frowned as Bloom created smoke, unsure of what she had planned. He didn't expect her to use her friend's spell to create an explosion. It sent everyone flying against the walls. Small black dots played around in front of him, before he could make out Bloom again.
Too late, however, as she was handing the Codex to the dark bat Darkar seemed to particularly like. He stood up as fast as he could, but the animal had disappeared. He started flying upwards, but the red head interrupted him by firing at him.
"Didn't think it'd be that easy, right ?" She asked, smirking.
He didn't answer, barely gritting his teeth in annoyance, before firing back. He was more powerful than she was usually, but the power Darkar was granting her made her difficult to take down. She was less vulnerable to the darker arts.
"Is that all you've got ?" She laughed.
"Bloom !" Screamed a little voice.
Valtor watched in annoyance as the Pixies of the Fairies all appeared. One stood out of the group and flew without any hesitation towards the red head. He prepared himself to protect her, but Bloom made no move to attack her.
"Well, well, Lockette, are you here to admire my work ?"
Bloom didn't seem to attack anyone who made no move against her. She did that for him, for her friends, and now the Pixies. Valtor started to understand how much she was fighting, trying to fool Lord Darkar into believing everyone around her was useless.
"There's only one thing I can do for you," said the little Pixie before she kissed the cheek of the Fairy.
Valtor felt his eyes widen at how naïve this was. Then he stilled when Bloom's eyes reverted back to blue, as her usual voice came. He almost shook his head at how candid this all was, before the red head blinked and her eyes went back to gold. The Pixie was intelligent enough to run out of the way.
He didn't wait and hit her with a powerful wave of heat, forcing her to create a shield. He then brought it back around her, locking her up in the embrace of that warmth. It would only get hotter and hotter. Even she would eventually be affected.
"You're starting to get on my nerves," she admitted, her shield lowered as she fired.
He didn't move, merely stopped the balls of fire before they reached him, and fired them back at her. She made them disappear with a click of her tongue, before realizing what he'd done. With the back of her hand, she got rid of some of the sweat that had started forming.
"You think that's going to stop me ?"
The Winx joined his side. It was a weird sight, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. One by one, they tried to take down their friend. They weren't going easy on her, especially the one that got her Enchantix. Bloom was relentless, however, escaping everything they threw at her.
"You're really pitiful !" She laughed.
The last string of patience he had for the girl disappeared.
He flew closer to her, stopping the attacks of her friends.
"I'm sorry."
She laughed, preparing to attack with one powerful spell, but he was quicker. It was a spell he knew by heart now. He didn't even need to think about it to activate it, but he liked to put on a show.
Just as she fired, he cast his spell. It was the only one he knew could erase Lord Darkar's presence in her mind, even if it wouldn't last.
The girl suddenly found herself stilling.
"Bloom ?" Asked the blonde, hope in her voice.
Her eyes were still golden, but the snake-like appearance had disappeared. She only looked at Valtor, disbelief in her eyes, before fainting. He caught her quickly, as he knew it would probably happen, and turned back to her friends.
"Is everything alright outside ?"
The girls nodded.
"Yeah we've got the school back. The students are getting in again, I think," explained the ogre. Of course, he would know. He could probably hear everything going on outside.
None of them seemed at ease with him holding their friends, but he couldn't afford them to take her. He couldn't let them know. One look at the Princess of Andros, and he knew she was already suspecting him. Valtor had no idea how close to the truth she was, but he wouldn't test the extent of his recent luck.
"Let's bring her back to her room, shall we ?" He said, looking intently at the Solaria Heir for guidance.
Stella nodded and led the way.
As they flew through the corridors, they saw the students outside slowly filling the school. The professors were already working on getting the windows back together, and everyone seemed pretty relieved. Finally, the problems were solved.
"Are you OK Digit ?" Asked Tecna.
"Yep," said the Pixie. "That clone really thought he could capture all of us."
"I'm just glad nothing happened to you."
Valtor rolled his eyes.
Fairies, he thought.
Eventually, they entered the familiar dormitory of the Winx Club. Slowly, he let the red head down on her bed. He watched every part of her, but couldn't find, for the life of him, what he was looking for. He supposed it wouldn't be a problem for now, but couldn't let Bloom in that situation. She wouldn't trust him again, if he didn't warn her about something like that.
"We should stand watch," finally said Layla. "Make sure she's not going to turn again."
"I don't know why she would," countered Musa, to his satisfaction. "Darkar doesn't have any reason to do that anymore."
Yes, leave her alone, he prayed. Make my job easier.
"Let's not take any risk."
They all nodded at Stella. All except Valtor, of course, but he followed them out of the room. Then stood awkwardly outside, before he started to walk outside.
"Where are you going ?" Asked the Princess of Andros.
He almost smirked.
"Going to seek the debt I'm owed."
The girls nodded, crossing their arms or looking everything but him. He simply turned around and made his way outside. The students in the corridors looked at him with curiosity, but none suspected him of being the criminal they feared. It was satisfying, to have all this attention back on him. It almost reminded him of his time as General, leading the Army of Darkness.
As soon as he was outside, the Headmistress went to him. He walked assuredly towards her, although he stayed on guard. For all he knew, she might have called the Council to trick him. Even though that'd be more Griffin's genre.
"We need to talk."
He nodded, letting his signature smirk grace his lips, before following the old Fairy.
