Chapter Fourteen: Gilded Cage
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from the Winx Club properties by writing this story. This story is written for pleasure's sake. All rights reserved.
Notes: Oh my God, I apologize for the grammatical mess of last chapter. I always catch errors after I post the chapter. I'm pretty sure there are some more in this chapter. This is a Diaspro-centric chapter.
The majority of this chapter a flashback to episode 8 of season 3 ("Diaspro's Deception"/"A Disloyal Adversary"). Also, this chapter is a little more mature/darker/explicit than usual. After this chapter, I think the rating might have to be raised to M.
Kudos to Marielle Chang and one anonymous reviewer for leaving reviews. Thanks!
Diaspro remembered reading the reports about the Winx Club retrieving the Breath of the Ocean during the Battle of Paradise Bay. It had been the day that she had been demoted and called a disgrace in front of some the most important dignitaries in the realms. It had not been a good day for her at all.
She had made it a point to not commit her own troops to the Alliance Task Force on Earth just to spite Sky and his father. Sky had led the task force and he had been victorious in the Battle of Paradise Bay. She wondered what King Erendor had been thinking letting his only surviving son lead an offensive. Had the king been trying to test Sky's competence as a military leader? Well, Sky proved himself with flying colours, backing Tritannus into a strategic corner.
Diaspro and Politea walked up the uneven steps to a decrepit temple now nearly swallowed by flowers, vines and trees. Flora's magic was everywhere. The island flourished, a thousand different plants blooming under the sun.
"What are you going to do when you open a Sirenix Gate back to Magix?" Diaspro asked. She needed to know if Politea would be the next threat to Eraklyon and the other realms. Politea did not seem like the person to forgive, especially after what Diaspro had seen on Andros.
"I will take down Dafne."
"That's it?" Diaspro shook her head. She picked up her skirt, afraid it would get snatched on a root. "Why are you so intent on Dafne? You are both nymphs. I have never met someone so intent on one person as much as you."
Well, that was a lie, Diaspro told herself.
"What do you actually know about the Nymphs of Ethemera and the Great War, Diaspro?" Politea asked, analyzing Diaspro's response and changing the direction of the conversation.
"Does it even matter anymore?" Diaspro countered, knowing that Politea was deflecting. Politea did not have a fully thought out plan yet. "The war is over and the witches won. Domino was doomed from the start, with or without Eraklyon's military might. Their standing army is a band of disorganized untrained knights whose allegiances depend on who is paying them. There is no unity, no integrity, no loyalty. When a warrior couldn't decide between following his king and his liege lord, the war was already lost. That was the cause of their downfall."
Politea nodded. She was surprised at Diaspro's assessment. She had not expected such strong words from a princess like her. She gave off the impression of being a refined royal prat, but her actions on Andros and her brief look into her heart when she had received harmonix told Politea that Diaspro was more than she appeared.
They came upon a level landing and Diaspro stopped, looking at the ruined temple carved into the side of a mountain. It was overrun with purple and pink orchards. Small waterfalls poured from every ledge and window coming down the side of the mountain. They stood on what was once a submerged courtyard with intricate tiled mosaics on the floor.
"How is it that the Queen of Eraklyon taught you the magic of the nymphs?" Politea asked. "Valtor killed all the nymphs at Ethemera. Dafne and I were the only ones to survive until the curse of Sirenix."
Diaspro kept silent, a flicker of emotion passing through her eyes.
Again, Politea saw a hardness in the girl's eyes. She shook her head, knowing this was not the place or time to think such things. "Fine, keep your secrets. Wait here. I'll go and get and the Breath of the Ocean."
Politea kicked off the ground and flew up the side of the mountain. Diaspro watched her disappear from sight.
According to the old books in the Ice Crown Mountains, Politea's name and her dragons had been in annals of history for more than a thousand years. The Guardian Fairy of the legendary Infinite Ocean, a beautiful warrior and a dutiful fairy, the eternal protector of the World Pillars. She was stalwart like a stone wall, a crusader that would brush away anyone who got in her way.
Awfully familiar, Diaspro thought. Icy. Bloom. They were the two sides of the same coin, continuing to fight at no matter the cost. Their vendetta to destroy each other was going to be the end of the world.
Diaspro grabbed a fruit from a low-hanging tree, some sort of Linphean golden apple. She washed it in one of the many picture-perfect waterfalls gushing down the mountain and hid in the shade of a supporting column.
The ruined temple was dark and dank, like any other abandoned thing. The floor was uneven and even unstable (after all, this had been mostly underwater world as evidenced by the skeletal coral and barnacles everywhere).
Diaspro was one-step closer to getting back to Eraklyon. It was imperative that she return as soon as possible. The King of Eraklyon had been close to death when she had last seen him on the Thunder Spirit. She needed to know if King Erendor had survived, or if Sky had…?
The thought was too horrible to continue.
Diaspro grasped at the black crystal and silver chain around her wrist. She still had it on her from Politea's attack. She prayed for his safety, remembering his attempt to rescue her from the Sirenix Gate. Sky's pendant, a piece of cut hematite on a thick silver chain, it was supposed to have kept him safe and warn him from dark magic just like her torque. His pendant had failed him when he had drunk the love potion.
Then again, Sky had never expected such treachery from her. No one did.
The Eraklyon Millennial Celebration was truly an opulent affair boosting the wealth and power of the Erendor lineage. It had been a two-year-long project where even the Crown Prince himself would perform with the dragoons in a complex show of dragon aerobatics and fire displays.
Unfortunately, Diaspro could not enjoy the last few weeks of hard work that the Queen, an army of ladies-in-waiting and herself had put towards the celebration. It was the sort of party that told potential queens what kind of wealth to expect if they married the Crown Prince of Eraklyon.
Only people who truly knew her would know that she was troubled, which was only in the single digit numbers. She avoided the Queen and Sky like the plague. She had lied and told them that she needed to make last minute arrangements for the twenty-feet high cake, which was true but nothing that a little magic could not fix. Sky himself was too busy putting the final touches on his aerial show.
The party was in full swing now. Fireworks shot up into the air, gaining a chorus of "ah"s and "oh"s from the guests. Diaspro knew that fireworks meant that the airspace above the royal capital had been locked down and only the royal air force and the dragoons had total control of the skies. Then the orchestra played a modern arrangement mainly composed of flutes, chimes, harpsichords and a piano.
"And finally, the Royal Majesties of Eraklyon, King Erendor, Queen Samara and Prince Sky!"
"Hooray for Eraklyon! Long live the king and queen! Here's to Prince Sky, to a happy and bright future," Diaspro said in mock joy. She regarded the red bottle in her hand, feeling the liquid's potency through the glass. She was not feeling up to tonight's party.
The magic torque around her neck vibrated, warning her of the potion's dark power, like it knew what she was going to do. It nearly burned but she ignored it. Her resolve was stronger than her fear of pain.
Diaspro found Bloom and her friends in the crowd of girls vying for Sky's attention. She almost felt sorry for Bloom. Almost. She was not sure if Bloom's feelings for Sky were genuine or not, but if they were, this night would end in tears for the redhead.
The blonde princess shivered, her senses telling her that something was behind her. Ninja stealth had nothing on her fairy senses. She hid the bottle in a her dress.
"What do you think you're doing here, Jinpee?" Diaspro said. She did not even need to look behind her to know the boy was right behind her.
The young science ninja stepped out from the shadows, looking uncomfortable in his imperial academy uniform. He was out of place in the grand high society party.
He wore a guilty face and looked up at Diaspro. The boy was fourteen now and his dark hair was unruly as ever. Still, he had cleaned up pretty well. There was a lightness in his eyes that had not been there last year in the dark caverns beneath Yoshinoya's fortress.
"Don't you look handsome in your mess kit?" Diaspro cooed. She reached for his cravat, untying and redoing the knot. "Isn't it past your bedtime though?"
"I'm not a child," he said petulantly.
"Of course not."
Jinpee submitted to the mother henning and sulked in silence.
"I didn't pull you out of the Patchaman so that you suffer being ridiculed by children of your own age, Jinpee," she reminded.
"Well, what if I liked being a ninja? I didn't get a choice when you took me away."
"I'm certainly not stopping you from going back to them. Did you prefer being a number instead of a person? Did you like staying up till four in the morning trying to ambush princesses? Hmm, P-4?" she said, using his old name. "Did you think Junko and Ben liked you being in the Patchaman?"
He flinched, looking pained. Jinpee cast his eyes down. "It's not easy, princess. I'm not an Eraklyonite."
She wanted to hold the boy but instead, she pulled up one of his hands and squeezed it comfortingly. Eraklyon was not like Yamatai. People had greater freedoms but they also had greater prejudices.
After the kidnapping debacle with the Patchaman, to make amends, Diaspro had forced them to hand over Jinpee. She had told herself that she had to do it keep appearances, being a fairy and a princess and all. A spec ops military force was no place for a child. Another part of her told that she did it to hurt them. She had seen how the three adults of the team fought over what they had done. Junko and Ben had been remorsefully glad to give the boy over to Eraklyon, knowing that Jinpee would have a better life with her as a sponsor. Jinpee's life was not any easier, but it was safer—and that was the best that anyone could have hoped for him.
"It's like…" Jinpee stumbled, looking for the right words. "Everyone at school looks at me and they see me for my race, they see me for Yoshinoya."
"Racism won't go away in our lifetime. You just have to be strong. If you're being bullied, you either tell a teacher or you beat them up yourself. Assert your dominance over your fellow classmates by showing how strong you really are."
"I don't think a princess should be saying that to a kid."
"A kid shouldn't know how to do lethal takedowns with a pen either."
Jinpee snickered.
"So, what are you doing here?" Diaspro asked. She pulled out her pink handkerchief and folded it into one of Jinpee's breast pockets, making him blush.
"There's something I've been wondering for a while now. When I was with the Patchaman, the Emperor Yoshinoya told us to kidnap you because you being forced into an arranged marriage with Prince Sky. Was it…was it true?"
Diaspro's hands froze over Jinpee's shoulders. "Why do you ask?"
"I was told a lot of thing things when I was in Yamatai. I just guess…I understand more now. I was being lied to by everyone. Not everything I did was right, but I believed in what I was doing because Junko, Ben and Bo did it too. When you brought me over to Eraklyon, the first thing I did was look up Sky to see what kind of person he was."
"You didn't find much on the public channels, I assume." Diaspro had come to accept Jinpee's snooping on government-grade networks. The boy was an adept at it and it would probably be an asset in his new career as a specialist. "It is illegal to name minors and publicize the lives of children in this country. That's how a many noble and royal children end up in arranged marriages as soon as they make their public debuts. What did you find out?"
"Well, he isn't totally bad. He did have a girl on the side in Magix, which I guess isn't good, but he did some good things in the fight against the Trix. No one's perfect. Ben wasn't but Junko loved him anyways. She always wants to be with him for good or for worst. I just wanted to know, did you love Sky like that too?"
"You're awfully perceptive on the romantic lives of adults," Diaspro diverted.
The boy shrugged. "No one pays attention to kids. They think we're dumb until we hit sixteen."
"Well, I would never consider you dumb. You're probably smarter than most people at this party."
"I wanted to see what all the hubbub was. It's like the whole country has gone crazy for this one day."
The blonde bent down and plucked a fair-sized rosebud from the bushes, using magic to make it flourish. With a final touch, she put the magenta rose into one of his free buttonholes as a boutonnière.
"A thousand years of one family sitting on a throne is pretty rare," she said, inspecting her work.
"And pretty cool. I heard that there's going to be a dragon show later. I might sneak in to see it, if I'm not caught."
"The dragons are amazing. Prince Sky will be putting on spectacular show tonight. They don't call him the Prince of Dragons for nothing." Diaspro smiled. What boy in Eraklyon did not find dragons cool? She opened her wristlet and pulled out her party invitation and a pen. "If you want a front row seat, here. You can be my plus-one to this party. Keep it on you so that the guards don't throw you out, Jinpee."
Diaspro quickly scribbled an officious note in the beribboned invitation.
The boy sputtered. He took stiff paper card in his hand and looked at her wondrously. There was a childlike innocence in him still, Diaspro thought.
"Now run along. A boy like you should by trying to make off with cake and tarts. I hear the cake is over twenty feet tall with a caramel fountain inside it." She pointed him in the direction of the food tents. "And don't drink too much."
"Yeah, yeah, school night and all that. Your juice box wine has nothing on Yamatite sake." Jinpee gave a toothy grin and made himself scarce, fading into a shadow.
Diaspro smiled before letting her expression become aloof and cold again. She could already smell the caramel and chocolate wafting in on the breeze. She had no more time for idyllic distractions. As much as she liked the boy, she had no more aspirations about being a mother. She needed to put her plan in motion.
She fixed her dress before returning to the main courtyard. The orchestra was playing another lively tune where couples were already whirling across the dance floor. Sky had already opened the floor. She circled around as Sky changed from partner to partner. As hosting prince, he was expected to dance with as many girls as possible. He was smiling like an idiot and she found she liked that expression on him. Bloom looked equally bedazzled by everything, but she was a commoner, so that was not a surprise. Too bad she was going to crush their happiness under foot.
She looked at the time from her phone and knew that Sky would have to leave to prepare for the dragon show soon. He finished his last dance with Bloom and made his way to his parents' pavilion to excuse himself.
She went to head him off, but he spotted her and moved towards her naturally, gliding through the crowd and calling her name out.
She wished he had not.
"Diaspro, where were you? I was looking for you for the valse." There was a sheen on his brow. He sounded winded but nonetheless overjoyed.
"I was busy making sure this party went off without a hitch. Someone tried to get a lick at the cake."
Sky shoulders fell, the festive mood broken by the talk of business. She could see it in his face how he wished for her to lighten up. "You should enjoy yourself tonight. You've worked hard enough to make this night a success."
"I wish I could."
"But that's what not what you want," Sky said perceptively.
Diaspro stopped. She saw his piercing ice blue eyes see through her.
She wanted a lot of things. She wished for the lightness that used to be between them before this whole opera had started. She wished for the simpler days when her whole life had been laid out right in front of her down to the wedding date and baby names.
Or maybe she simply wished for a different boy to be standing right in front of her, instead of Sky? Sky was a good prince, better than most in the kingdom, but he was not the boy she had set her heart on years ago.
It had taken years for the both of them recover from Eren's death, and now, with the pressure remarry into the family, she was unresolved about her feelings for Sky and hurt by his betrayal.
Diaspro banished those useless thoughts. The past was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. She had stupidly put all her hopes and dreams into one dumb boy and he had been ruthlessly murdered in front of her eyes. The truth of life was that it was not fair. She should count her lucky stars for having a second chance at remarrying into the royal family. She needed to remember that.
"Hey, it's fine. Forget what I said," Sky said softly, like an apology for bringing up the past. He motioned for her to follow him to his parents' pavilion. "Everyone is expecting me to announce an engagement," he continued, straightening his coattails.
"Are you?" Diaspro whipped her head to him and then Bloom, surprised. Bloom stood some distance away, dancing with Flora and her other friends.
"No! Are you kidding me? I mean—I love Bloom but I've only been seeing her seriously for a year. You know how people are and how these things work. Suddenly because it's the thousandth year of our family's reign, I have find my one true love here in the garden and pull a proposal out of my ass. I'm not a walking romance novel. Next thing you know, I'll be pulling a magical sword out of a stone and saving an entire kingdom."
She laughed and smiled honestly, the kind that made her cheeks hurt. The light humour, the complex man who wore the title of Crown Prince of Eraklyon, the simple boy from the monastery, she missed it.
"Where's Sir Brandon?" she said, becoming serious again. She looked for Sky's shadow, expecting to see him hiding among the landed gentry or behind a hedge.
"He's off-duty tonight, enjoying the party, flirting with the Princess of Solaria."
The imperial guards saluted at Sky and he motioned for them to relax. Once they were away from the crowd, Sky let out a sigh of relief. He gave her a roguish sideway glance. "You wouldn't happen to have snuck a drink here," he asked jokingly. "Like an alcoholic one."
"It would be unsightly for the Crown Prince to enjoy himself at his own party," she reminded him.
"You know how it is. One picture of me drinking anything red and people will brand me a raging alcoholic." Sky sighed, using his eyes to point at the main party area.
The blonde princess plucked two crystal flutes with sparkling juice from a hurrying servant. She looked around discreetly. Sky played along. They were away from the main garden, beyond the wall of imperial guards keeping the guests within the party area.
She quirked an eyebrow wickedly.
"No way…" He shook his head, smiling.
Diaspro poured out the contents of one of the flutes into the bushes and she pulled out the red bottle. She poured its contents into the empty glass, handing it to Sky. "Liquid courage for you, my prince. Juice for me."
"You're the best," he declared. He raised his drink to her.
"Cheers!" They knocked their glasses together. "To Eraklyon!"
Sky downed the flute in two seconds flat, thankful for something to dull his senses. Diaspro took a measured sip of her sweet juice. She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down as he chugged.
Sky paused, licking his lips of the sweet dessert wine. He contemplated the taste thoughtfully. Diaspro knew what kind of wines and spirits he liked. After all, they had spent many a times breaking into the castle cellar and stealing bottles here and there.
She watched him gulp slowly, as if he were swallowing a fireball. She could see the spell take affect in stages. First, she saw the energies in his aura become darker. It spread from his centre to the ends of his finger like wildfire. His bright ice blue eyes became dark sapphires dilating and glowing.
He grabbed at the hematite pendant under his shirt. The pendant was probably burning hot and warning him of the potion he had just drank. Too late. It went to show how powerful Valtor's magic was. Sky's features scrunched in pain. He looked at her for only the briefest moment in terror.
"Diaspro, why?" he rasped out. From afar, it looked like had drank a whiskey that had burnt his throat. He coughed to clear his throat. No one would know what had really happened.
"If…if it's because of Bloom," he stammered, struggling to string words together. She saw in his eyes the moment he started losing control of his body. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you…"
"It's not poison, Sky. You're not going to die."
"Then why?"
"I've made my choice."
In his eyes, she saw the last vestiges of his will disappear. He looked at her, not angry, but sad.
From the corner of her eye, Diaspro saw Bloom eyeing their exchange jealously. The red-haired princess looked like a painted bisque doll; pretty, but nothing extraordinary. Diaspro was not sorry that about what she was going to do next. She was going to teach Bloom a lesson about being a princess.
The blonde exhaled, feeling her torque become red hot against her skin. It sensed the darkness that overcame Sky. She bathed in this new dark aura. She had been foolish to think that she ever had a chance of being anything but a pawn.
"Sky, my darling," she said sweetly, drawing him close. "When are you going to tell everyone about us? You love me, right?"
"Of course I love you," he said, surprised by the question. "I can't imagine any other person beside me for the rest of my life than you."
Diaspro winced. The words did not sound right coming from his mouth but the spell was working and it was convincing. The seed had been planted and she only needed to follow through: destroy Bloom.
"I was waiting for the right moment to tell everyone, but there's no better time like the present, especially on a special night like this one. Wait here, and I will go and inform everyone, my love. You deserve the very best tonight, not just my love, but everyone else's."
Diaspro wondered into the cavernous temple while Politea was off retrieving the Breath of the Ocean. She lit a ball of light in her hand and tossed it into the air, filling the entire room with a show of crystalline light. Her heels made a staccato against the floor and her silky skirt floated behind her. At the end of the room was stone throne surrounded by a circular agora of tiered seats.
The deeper she went, the sparser the vegetation. Roots and leaves had begun to wilt and shrivel, even turn black with decay, as she continued. There was an all-encompassing black atmosphere to the temple, like the air was stale despite the sunshine and plants outside. Whole columns had been knocked over, the floor had been scarred from magic and rusted suits of armour were strewn all over with skulls peeking out of helmets. She crossed the floor, stepping over the remnants of a battlefield.
The mural above the throne was destroyed. Red tiles were piled around the throne. Diaspro brought the light closer and illuminated the drawing. She did not think that she would find secrets hidden inside the wall if she pressed a sequence of tiles, not like in the throne room in Eraklyon.
The mosaic was charred black but the marks were not the result of a battle. They were as deliberate as an artist's brushstroke.
A large circle, like a dark halo around the throne. From the top of the throne's back were two wing-like arms that reached to the ceiling, dissecting the circle. A circle with a V in the middle that looked like a two-toed dragon's claw.
The Mark of Valtor.
Diaspro's white porcelain mask appeared in her hands. Intricate rococo designs were painted on it. This was farce that she had used to save Bloom from Politea. She stared at its empty black eyeholes. Of all the things she had done, putting her neck out for Bloom surprised her most of all. Diaspro had put herself on the path to good, tried to put her past behind her, but inevitably, she was drawn back in to the darkness that had raised her. The mask, the scarf, all of it was part of a legacy that had been from her mother, the dead Queen Diasprion of Ishra.
"I want you to stay the night, Diaspro. Those witches might come back. I don't know how they got onto the grounds but I will find out."
Sky carried his coat on his left arm, neatly folded. His sword was at his hip and his bow safely stowed in its compact form on his belt. He wore a rare serious expression, his brows furrowed and his lips a thin flat line.
It was late in the night, only a few hours until dawn. Bloom and her friends were now branded as witches in league with Valtor and they had escaped the party on a Red Fountain ship. As far as she was concerned, this evening had been a success. Bloom was utterly emotionally destroyed, her reputation as a princess was in tatters and her friends the Winx Club were now enemies of the state.
Diaspro smiled. She wore Sky's cloak, which he had offered to her as protection from any harmful spells the Winx Club might have thrown. The cloak was enchanted against the elements and kept her warm as the night continued.
As the saying went, the show must go on. The festivities had continued and Sky had even performed his aerial show. Diaspro had sat in Sky's private pavilion, guarded on all sides. King Erendor and Queen Samara had been surprised at the sudden development, maybe even a little relieved. They had been easy to lie to, although Diaspro knew that the Queen had some questions.
Sky and Diaspro stood in the parlour of her old suite, the one that she had lived in when she was being fostered by the King and Queen. Not much had changed. Some of her old things were still there, her fencing sabre, her schoolbooks, her dancing shoes, her clothes, all the things she could not bear to take with her.
"Keep the blinds drawn and the windows locked. I will have guards stationed at your door tonight," Sky said, inspecting the place. "Don't go looking for trouble tonight."
"I wouldn't think of it," she smiled tiredly, feigning a yawn. "I'm too worn out from all the planning. I just want to get out of this corset and sleep."
"I'm so glad I don't have to wear a corset," he said drily. A hint of Sky's humour. Diaspro wondered how powerful was Valtor's love potion. "Anyways, tomorrow is just the clean up and the staff can take care of it. Good night, my love."
Sky came forward, bringing a gloved hand to her neck, like a lover might. He brushed her hair out of the way tenderly. He frowned, hesitating. She sensed it.
She eyed the hand warily and looked into his eyes. He was deep in the thralls of the love potion, but she saw uncertainty, questions, hesitation. Was he fighting the spell, even now as he stood before her?
"A goodnight kiss would be too forward of me, wouldn't it?" he asked quietly.
She recoiled and pushed him away, putting him at arm's length. The cloak fell off her shoulders with a heavy thump. He stumbled a few steps back in surprise.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. He took a step back and exhaled. "I don't know what came over me."
Diaspro backed away from him, shaking her head. This was not Sky, she told herself. "Was that something you and Bloom did?"
Sky opened his mouth to speak before closing it, caught and shamefaced. "Yes."
Diaspro grimaced. "I don't want to hear it."
Sky bent down to pick up his cloak from the floor, brushing the dust off. "You are my true love, Diaspro—not, Bloom. That witch was a mistake and I know it now."
The love potion was speaking for him again. She knew Sky's mannerisms. He would never say such brazen things to her, not in a million years.
"Sky, go to sleep. This evening's events have made you…"
"Right, the adrenaline, the testosterone." He ran a hand through his long hair. "I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow morning when I have a clearer head."
She saw the hesitation in his eyes again. He moved to leave but stopped his hand on the doorknob and took a halting breath. He stared at the floor, unable to look her in the eye.
"I love you, Diaspro, really…truly, sincerely. I don't know if it's as a sister or cousin…or something else. I just don't want to be my brother's replacement, that's all." His voice was firm, not the same lovesick puppy tone as before. There was a steel and sharpness. Those were fighting words.
"Good night, my love," he said, his eyes glazed, the potion retaking control of his words. Sky opened the door and bowed before closing the door behind him.
She locked the door behind him and whispered as many spells and charms as she could on it.
Diaspro turned and walked across the parlour into her bedroom. All the curtains were already drawn. With a flick of a finger, the fireplace lit up and bathed the room in a dim yellow light. She entered her boudoir and scrunched her noise at the somewhat musty smell of her belongings. It had been nearly two years since she had left the castle and moved into her own home. She had thought that someone would have thrown out whatever she had abandoned. Evidently not.
She hated it all. She was trapped in her past. The walls still had their rococo patterns and gold leafing. There was not a speck of dust. All the furniture looked newly polished, probably because an army of maids had gone through and cleaned it in preparation for her stay. Even her decorative fencing blade on the fire place mantle looked like it had been sharpened.
She was back in her gilded cage. At least now, she had the key.
She did not go far into her closet. She knew what lied at the end: her past, her naïveté, her weaknesses. None of it fit her anyways. When she would get the opportunity, she would order someone to burn it all in a pyre. Or give it to charity.
She peeled off her crimson dress and threw her wristlet on a settee. She was down to lacy underthings and corset. Someone had already laid out her nightgown on the bed. As if she was a child.
She scowled.
A wooden hairbrush was laid out on her empty dress. She took a seat and began pulling out hairpins. The process was long and arduous, and it would have been better if she had a maid to help her, but she had had enough of people and did not want to waste another second pretending to be nice.
Seventy-six hairpins later, she was brushing her long blond locks out, undoing the coiffure. Her metal torque started to burn, the first indication of dark magic at work. She turned, preparing herself for an attack.
The blaze in the fireplace exploded, spitting black and blue flames. A black suffocating aura radiated from it. She rose up, touched the fire and found that it was cool as a breeze.
A portal that bypassed even the most powerful security spells in the heart of the Eraklyonite capital. The blonde expected no less from the greatest sorcerer in the known universe.
"Come, Diaspro," a voice said. His voice. A dark beastly echo.
It gave her shivers, it made her fairy wings quiver, but even more, it made her smile.
She walked through the fire, enveloped by its blue light. There was a shift in the energies around her and she suddenly found herself travelling through space and time. She emerged on the other side and found herself inside an underwater temple. Enchanted stone arches acted like barriers, keeping the water out of the chamber but giving a rare view of the ocean floor. There was a table carved out of stone in the middle of the chamber surrounded by benches. Books, scrolls and many magical treasures were scattered about the room. Diaspro recognized every single one of them.
The Enchanted Codes of Espero, the four pieces of the Codex, Queen Ligea's Coral Sceptre, the Tome of Nature, the Chimes of Ohm, and many, many more.
She picked up the original manuscript of Hohenheim's Outline of Alchemy and paged through it surreptitiously. This book had gone missing several weeks ago from the Great Library of Callisto, according to her sources.
Azoth, chrysopeia, shaab, yliaster, none of these were ever found in normal books.
Diaspro put the book down when she heard the sound of footsteps and voices. Icy, Darcy and Stormy sauntered into the chamber. They stopped, surprised by her presence—or appearance, probably both.
Diaspro ignored the shiver down her spine and cocked her hip to the side.
"If it isn't the royal princess herself gracing us with her half-naked presence," Icy spat out, eying her black slip and stockings.
Diaspro did the same to the sisters, eyeing their leather catsuits. She was not going to start being modest now after having walked through a portal in her lacy undergarments. She sure as hell was not going to meet Valtor and the Trix in that awful nightgown on her bed either.
The ice witch sat at the table, conjuring a dagger of ice in her hand. It became noticeably colder in the chamber.
Four beautiful women, no longer piddling girls vying for power. All of them were unnaturally beautiful because of their magical talents, good breeding and years of gruelling training and preparation.
"Did we interrupt an intimate moment between you and your lovesick prince?" Icy cooed venomously.
"Jealous?" Diaspro taunted, flaunting her figure.
"At least, we don't need a man to justify our power, princess," Darcy interrupted, daintily removing her gloves to reveal manicured hands. The brunette witch came to stand around the table. "You're nothing without the backing of a prince or a king."
"You're a pathetic excuse for a fairy," Icy said. "You couldn't even get into Alfea when Bloom of all people could—and she lied to get into that school."
Diaspro narrowed her eyes at the accusations. "And you would still be in the Fortress of Light walking its endless idyllic fields if I and two hundred other senators hadn't lobbied for your eternal imprisonment in Omega."
"You put us in there?!" Stormy screamed, slamming her fists on the table. "No one knew where the Lord Father had been for years and you just magically happen to know where he is? You're full of crap."
"I am full of royal blood. I am a princess by birthright and I have resources that you three don't."
Stormy's hair radiated electricity. Darcy processed the information in her usual cool manner and tilted her head to Diaspro. The room become noticeably chillier as the princess continued.
"Three years ago," Diaspro started and pointed to Icy. "You had the Ring of Solaria. You had the Codex. You had the Dragon Flame! And you let it all slip through your fingers like sand. You were supposed to amass enough magic to free the Lord Father. Instead, you went power mad and decided to take over the dimension yourself."
Diaspro started to make her way around the table to the ice witch, staring her down. "I am not the one who deviated from the plan. I am not the one who decided to forsake our Lord Father in Omega. I am not the one who abandoned their purpose, Icy. I am the one who put the plan back on its tracks by getting you into the Omega dimension. If it weren't for me, you would be rotting in a jail cell in Magix or executed in a secret trial—because you know, it's bad press when society executes children—and Valtor would still be in Omega."
Icy got up and stood toe-to-toe with the fairy. They were so close that DIaspro could feel Icy's cold breath on her face. "Let me tell you a fairytale. I was so glad when I had found out that those stupid Eraklyonite troops came and raided the compound, miraculously finding their lost princess after seven years of searching. You know why? So I didn't have to deal with a wiccan wannabe amongst my sisters. Your kind makes me sick. And you know what I did to people like that at Cloud Tower? I beat the shit the out of them."
Icy launched the first attack, blasting her with a flurry of snow and ice. Diaspro crashed into the enchanted walls and fell into a bed of snow. She got back on her feet. Heels did not make good combat footwear. Diaspro shook off the chill and steeled herself. A little cold was not going to stop her.
"Diamond daggers!" She conjured a dozen knifes and fired them at Icy.
Darcy and Stormy flew out of the way to the edges of the room, not joining the fight—yet.
"Ice shards!" Icy shouted. Glowing shards formed from the humid air and launched themselves at Diaspro's knives. Diamond met ice, shattering into pieces on the floor.
Icy sauntered over to the princess, smirking. Her footsteps froze the cavern floor.
"You were pathetic then. You're still pathetic now, Fairy. You may have royal blood and you may have been the Lord Father's favourite toy, but you are not one of us. You are a tool for the witches, and when you've outlived your usefulness to us, I will end you."
Diaspro gritted her teethed. The hate was coming back to her. The bullying, the catfights, the abuse, years of living with the Malvagi witches and trying to become one of them so that she could survive in the dog-eat-dog world of Whisperia. Most of all, she remembered how much she hated Icy.
Diaspro met each and every one of Icy's attack with one of her own.
Darcy came to stand beside Stormy on the edge of the battlefield.
"We should stop them," Stormy said. She flicked her hand and most of the treasures in the room disappeared to another cavern in the labyrinthine temple.
"Let them kill each other. You and I have been waiting for this fight for years." Darcy watched the blondes with mild interest.
"They're not much use to us dead, Darcy."
"That might take a while." The dark witch leant against the cool stone column.
Icy and Diaspro.
Or rather, Icy and Mercy.
The privileged little fairy princess versus the witch wunderkind of the Malvagi. Blonde versus blonde. Stone versus ice. Fairy versus witch. Woman versus woman.
This was not the usual witch versus fairy fight. Both of them aimed to kill, or at least maim, and they would do it any way possible.
Icy charged at Diaspro, using magic to augment her strength and speed. She slammed into Diaspro, crashing her into a column that left an imprint of the fairy's back.
The gem fairy summoned a diamond wall in front of herself before Icy could wail on her. Icy slammed a fist into the diamond barrier, fissuring it. She hissed at the pain in her knuckles. They were evenly matched in magic as they were in physical combat. Diaspro shattered the barrier and sent the witch flying across the room.
Stormy winced when Icy crashed onto the floor. Wasting no time, the ice witch rolled to her stomach and was on her feet in a second, wiping the blood from a cut on her cheek. She ripped off her tattered cape. Steam rolled off her, made from the heat of her skin and coldness of her magic.
"Glass blade!" Diaspro shouted. She conjured a rapier of stained glass. Its weight and length were perfectly matched for her.
"Winter's edge!" A sword of ice appeared in Icy's hand and she deflected the thrust.
Both women charged at each other, letting out banshee cries.
Without warning, a black leathery shadow crossed the chamber. Darcy and Stormy felt the cold burning darkness envelope the room before they finally understood what had happened. There was a whistle of air. Valtor appeared in-between two women and the caught their blades, one in each of his gloved hands, stopping both of them in their tracks.
There was a long moment of silence.
Diaspro's eyes widened in terror while Icy struggled to get her blade out of Valtor's grip.
The sorcerer made a guttural sound of displeasure and snapped the glass and ice blades in his hands, leaving only the hilts in the ladies' hands. Darcy and Stormy shivered, flattening themselves against the wall.
This man was the reason why they were even here.
Politea had more questions than she had answers. She knew however that Diaspro was more than she appeared, said or acted. To say the least, Diaspro was nothing like Dafne. The gem fairy was enigmatic. She bounced between princess, fairy and girl often, making her wonder what Diaspro's true personality was. Had she been lying about the dark apparition that had attacked her?
The Black Circle. That name had been lost to history for centuries.
And suddenly, she had the Black Circle right above Diaspro, about to destroy her. Had that been the gem fairy's doing?
No. Diaspro's terror had been too real for Politea to dismiss as a lie.
The nymph landed on the lip of a cliff. Flowers and vines flowed over the edge like a curtain. A small walkway led up to a shrine buried in the mountain peak, the very centre of the island's power. The Breath of the Ocean was just up ahead. Politea was alone but she felt hundreds of eyes watching her. The green mantid guardians were hidden in the lush foliage, under enormous blooming orchids and in the shadow of leaves.
She followed the path into the mountain. A mantid scampered down the cliffside above the entrance flicking its wings in warning to Politea. The nymph ignored it and continued. The guardians knew who she was.
The shrine was a simple altar carved into the mountain. Politea touched the wall, tracing the names with her fingers. The Great War, as Diaspro had called it, was still fresh, like it had happened only yesterday. Hundreds of names and prayers were etched into stone, reminding her of how empty the Infinite Ocean was.
"Use my power and I will bring back the Serenians."
Politea stopped. She knew where the voice had come from and summoned her Sirenix Box. The clam-shaped case itself opened and revealed the smoky black crystal within.
"I am the last person who would fall for such a temptation," she warned. Her wings flared, turning a dark crimson.
The crystal rattled inside the box, illuminated by an inner light. She saw a small galaxy swirl inside the gem. She sensed that it was alive but powerless. She had figured that something like this would happen now that she was away from Diaspro. It was a simple tactic of divide and conquer.
"Give me your name, spirit," she said.
"I have no name."
"And I am no Lamb," she said wryly.
"No…you are the Lion," the spirit said thoughtfully, a myriad of voices cackling. "Behold, the Lion of God who takes away the sins of this world."
"I am not Ariel or any angel of the Devil that will bring about the war in Heaven. What I am is unimpressed." Politea cut to the quick, crossing her arms. She knew enough about Earth to get by. She had studied the texts had been available centuries ago during her long bouts of boredom.
"I can think of five individuals who can open the portal to the Black Circle. Yllidith, the Lord of the Wild Hunt, or one of his four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Ogron the Red, Anagan the Black, Gantlos the White or Duman the Pale."
The voice was quiet, as if contemplating. She stared at her Sirenix Box, watching the miniature galaxy in the gem whirl.
"You know so much about the Earth but you never stopped the Black Circle from capturing the Earth fairies. You are not as good as you think—"
"That sort of logical fallacy won't work on me. The hubris of the fairy queen led to the downfall of the Earth fairies. There was nothing the Nymphs of Magix could have done for them, especially me."
"You're an intelligent butterfly."
"Don't play me for a fool. I have been alive longer than you could possibly imagine and I know all the mind games. You know who I am and what my powers are. If you have nothing of worth to say, this conversation is over."
"Of course, Politea, Protector of the World Pillars, Guardian of the Infinite Ocean," it whispered wickedly.
Politea closed her Sirenix Box and sent it away.
"But I should warn you: that other one is treacherous. She may be a fairy but she has a witch's heart, a daughter of the vilest evil."
"I am aware of it," Politea exhaled. But she would not be a nymph if she did not give Diaspro a chance to prove her wrong, she told herself.
Politea turned and walked up to the shrine. She retrieved the Breath of the Ocean from its place in the wall and made her way back to the temple at the foot of the mountain.
"Slut," Icy muttered as she took her place beside Diaspro.
"I've seen witches wear less than me," Diaspro said flippantly.
Icy rolled her eyes, standing closer to her sisters than Diaspro. Icy was still largely angry about Diaspro's appearance, but the fairy brushed it off. They were after all Whisperians by nature and used any weapon at their disposal to accomplish their goals, including using their body to distract and titillate.
The sorcerer regarded the four of them critically. Diaspro felt Valtor's gaze fall upon her for a second and then to Icy. Icy and Diaspro's wounds were slowly healing thanks to their magic.
"Ladies, I find two of you intent on murdering each other and the other two watching it like a gladiatorial match. Explain yourselves."
Icy made a sound of frustration.
"Explain to me why we need her!" The ice witch pointed to Diaspro indignantly. "We didn't sign up to work with fairies. We are Whisperian, servants of the Ancestral Witches. First, Chimera and Cassandra; now, Diaspro. We are not a club, we are a coven! We are witches!"
Icy huffed. "You thought that Diaspro could destroy Bloom. Well, guess what? She couldn't. That fairy barely lifted a finger and let her prince do all the work—and he failed miserably!"
"Well, you failed miserably to take over Magix when you had the Army of Decay and the Dragon Flame," Diaspro countered. "No one said that all battles were won on the battlefield."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Have you ever been in love, Icy?"
"Fuck off, fairy."
Diaspro rolled her eyes.
"Enough," Valtor growled.
The four of them became silent.
The man folded his hands behind his back and watched an image on the wall appear. He let them worry in silence. He had greater expectations of them. It was clear that he needed to be firmer. He turned to the Trix.
"It took you seventeen years to find me and in the time that I've been gone, the three of you foolishly tried to surpass me."
The Trix sputtered to justify their actions. Valtor motioned for them to be silent again, regarding them like disobedient children.
"Despite the fact I was frozen in ice, I was not blind to the battles for power taking place in the universe. You three had a full sixteen years of preparation under your belt and still, a fairy like Diaspro did better than you. Power is not everything. You need guile and cunning to succeed. Let Diaspro be your motivation, not your stupid rivalry with the Winx Club."
The three witches flinched, looking rebellious. The air around them boiled with rage and humiliation. Diaspro schooled her face into disinterest, knowing that she was the target of their thoughts. She knew better than to feel fear. The life of a witch was a cut-throat one, always aiming to topple the natural order and undermine the alpha witch. Valtor was only using her as an example to remind the Trix of their real purpose.
She was overwhelmed with pride and happiness. Years of hard work finally acknowledge by the one man who knew who and what she truly was. Not even Sky and Eren had incited such feelings in her.
Valtor finished chastising the Trix and sent them away on another task in Andros. The three witches disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, Icy glaring daggers at the fairy.
"My Lord." Diaspro lowered her head respectfully. As a royal princess of Eraklyon, she would have never lowered herself to a mere lord. But in this setting, she was a fille de Valtor, a loyal daughter and an agent of the black Dragon Flame.
"The social niceties aren't necessary, ma fée."
"Of course, Papa."
Everything that had happened to her, the heartache, the pain, the lost, Eraklyon, Eren, Sky…none of it mattered anymore. She had her father and it was all she needed.
Politea touched down at the foot of the temple and looked around. Diaspro was nowhere to be found. Her first thought was that Diaspro had met the mantid guardians of the Breath of the Ocean but there was no evidence of a fight anywhere.
The red nymph used her senses and found Diaspro's trail inside the ruins. Politea hesitated to step inside the tomb, preferring to stand at the edge of the light. She shivered, memories of the war coming back to her when she saw the skeletons and armours on the floor. She could hear the war cries and clash of metal in her ears.
She squinted her eyes and saw the gem fairy sitting on a hard-carved stone throne, in the dark. The only source of light was Diaspro's glowing wings that illuminated the wall behind her. The chair's back had been destroyed, truncated by a blast of energy from a long ago battle.
Politea's blood turned into ice when she saw the black marks on the wall. The Mark of Valtor. The herald of the father of witches.
The girl was haloed by the sorcerer's mark. Diaspro stared at the silver chain and black stone in her hand, the trinket vibrating excitedly. The Wanderer's warning came back to Politea. Diaspro looked unnaturally at ease in the darkness.
"Diaspro, you shouldn't be sitting there. Valtor's evil is here," Politea said.
It took a moment for Diaspro to realize that the nymph had spoken. She wore an expression of sorrow and touched the torque at her neck.
"Valtor's dead. I doubt he'll come back now."
Diaspro stood up and got down from the throne. Politea stiffened, feeling the magic come alive inside the temple. Dark magic. Black magic. Accursed magic. It roiled, intangible yet unmistakably there, presence undeniable. Shadowy shapes danced around Diaspro as she made her way across the temple. Maybe it was a trick of the light from Diaspro's pane-like wings. When Diaspro crossed the threshold into the sunlight, the dark magic vanished. Diaspro put on her prettiest princess smile.
Politea could tell it was false.
"So, what next?" Diaspro asked.
References:
- The Battle of Paradise Bay is episode 24 "Saving Paradis Bay." It's also the same episode where Diaspro gets publicly disgraced by King Erendor.
- The Wanderer misquotes the Bible. He says, "Behold, the Lion of God who takes away the sins of this world." The real quote is: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29 ESV)
- Ariel means "Lion of God." It's also a fun pun on a Disney princess.
- Yllidith is the first Fairy Hunter of the Black Circle, according to the comics.
- "Fille de Valtor" means "daughter of Valtor" in French.
- "Ma fée" means "my fairy" in French. It is being used as a term of endearment like "my dear."
Notes: Diaspro has been a double-agent her whole life. Dun dun dun! Is she still bad? Or is she good now?
As usual, reviews are welcomed.
Next chapter, The Rise of Nereus. Tensions become unbearable in the Winx Club as they realize they are going to follow Bloom into another crazy adventure. Aisha has her own problems to deal with, not just with Roy, but with herself as well.
