Okay, so sorry it's taken me so long to update. I'm trying to get this story working in a way I like and there is one bit that's stuffing me up and unfortunately that one hurdle is causing me to get very unenthusiastic about this whole project. But I've been trying to get my ass is gear so I'm slowly chipping at that road block.
Anyways, nemoxgirl, I guess this is a reply to your request for another chapter. Hope it doesn't disappoint.
Chapter Four – 'Queen of Perfection'
Riven stared moodily down into the quad of Alfea from his place perched upon the ledge of the Winx Club's balcony. His violet eyes watched without really seeing anything, so it look him a few minutes before it registered to him that he was in fact watching Timmy and Tecna. After spending hours trying and failing to get the link with Bloom and the others back on line, Timmy had suggested that Tecna go outside to get some fresh air and try to clear her head, but by the looks of it, it wasn't working very well. Tecna still seemed to be worrying her self sick and Timmy was trying his hardest to comfort her.
"Don't worry Tec. They'll be fine," Timmy told her. "You know how powerful Bloom and Stella are and what a great team they make together. They'll watch out for each other for sure. And that girl Layla seems pretty capable of taking care of herself. I mean, she's already been to Shadow Haunt once already and that was without any back up of any kind."
"But the caves at Shadow Haunt drain people of their powers at an alarming rate," Tecna said. "When Ms. Faragonda tested us in the Great Hall, I couldn't even transform. And that was just a simulation."
"Which is why Brandon and Sky went with them and I can't think of a better support team then those two. Sky won't let anything happen to Bloom and Brandon would be willing to go through torturer if it meant protecting Stella."
"I guess but I'd feel much better if the other girls and I were allowed to go," Tecna complained stubbornly, but Timmy knew exactly how she felt. "This is just like the time last year when Bloom and Stella went to Cloud Tower while we were forced to wait here with no word what-so-ever about how they were going. Why do they always have to go off on their own and leave us behind to worry?"
'She's got a point there,' Riven, who had overheard the entire conversation, thought to himself. Every time there was a dangerous mission of some sorts it seemed that Bloom, Stella, Sky and Brandon were always selected to go while Tecna, Timmy, Flora, Musa and Riven were all left behind to wait. What was so great about those four anyways? Sure, Riven would admit that Bloom's power was impressive and that Sky sometimes knew what he was doing, but Riven was at least as good if not better than Brandon. The only difference between the two of them was then length of their criminal records. And Stella? Riven wasn't even going to start on how incompetent she was.
Riven was still lost in thought when he noticed some movement out of the corner of his left eye and a second later Flora stepped out onto the balcony. The flower fairy didn't notice that Riven was sitting a few feet away from her, so he was free to observe her for a moment without any objections.
Flora was one of those girls that Riven really didn't understand, but unlike most girls that Riven didn't identify with he didn't dislike her because of it. She was sweet, pleasant, caring and always sincere which was something Riven could never wrap his head around so therefore something he didn't trust. He grew up believing that everyone had something to hide and that they were only looking out for themselves. As a result, he was always weary of charity and sincerity. But he still liked Flora, even though he couldn't get how she would be so positive all the time. She was a pretty little thing as well with her long, brown hair and sparkling green eyes. She always had a fine pair of legs which Riven always liked in a woman. They weren't as nice as Musa's, but they were on display more often. When he thought about it Riven was actually surprised that no one at Red Fountain had ever tried to make a move on her but at the same time he really couldn't think of anyone that Flora would get along with in that sense.
Abandoning the thought in order to avoid another headache cropping up, Riven followed Flora's eye line to see what she was looking at and saw that she was watching Timmy and Tecna in the same way he had been doing before.
"It's not like you to worry Tecna," Timmy was saying. "You're usually so calm and logical."
"It's been hours since we lost contact," Tecna reminded him. "It's only logical to worry."
"Everything will be okay," Timmy assured her in a confident tone of voice that stated that he truly believed what he was saying. "I just know it is."
Tecna made a small whimpering sound and Timmy stepped over to wrap his arms around her in a comforting manner. Tecna warmed to his contact immediately.
A sharp stab of annoyance went through Riven was he watched the exchange. How was it that a shy, computer geek like Timmy was making more progress with Tecna than Riven was with Musa? Oh yeah, Timmy never pissed Tecna off to the point where she was no longer talking to him, Riven answered his own question. But since he couldn't rant about that without exposing how he really felt about Musa, Riven decided to get something else that had been vexing him off his chest instead.
"Saladin should have sent me instead of Brandon," Riven said, making Flora jump and spin around to look at him. "We'd already be back by now."
"I thought I was alone out here," Flora confessed to him.
"Well sorry," Riven growled, swinging his legs over the side of the railing. If she wanted to be alone, fine, he'd leave. But then Flora said something that made him freeze.
"I guess I just thought you'd be with Musa."
Riven's head jerked up at the fairy's name as a thousand horrible possibilities flashed through his mind about various disasters that that pixie could have found herself in. "Musa? Why?"
"Because she's really upset. I'm sure she could use somebody to talk to," Flora told him and Riven knew exactly why she had dropped that little bit of information like that. She wanted him to go find Musa and comfort her in the same way Sky or Brandon might do if their women were troubled.
'Well, I can't do that,' Riven thought stubbornly to himself and purposely turned his head away from Flora to avoid her sincere green eyes. However, he happened to turn his head so he was looking directly at Timmy and Tecna who were still 'comforting' each other in the quad. Riven's frustration at his own incompetence in regard to Musa quickly returned. 'Dammit.'
Flora waited patiently for Riven to respond, but when he failed to react she decided to step in. "I guess I'll go find her and see how she's doing."
Riven quickly jumped to his feet and then headed inside. There was no way he was going to allow a woman do a task that he was too cowardice to do in his stead. "I'll go, but what am I supposed to tell her? Everything's fine. It's probably not you know."
Riven moved through the Winx Club's dorm room towards the door but he stopped when Flora's soft voice said from behind him, "Would it hurt to be positive for once?"
"What?" Riven asked, looking back at the flower fairy. Her words had been spoken without any malice, and for the first time Riven saw how truly upset the poor girl was.
"I know that everything probably isn't fine, but it doesn't help to think that way," Flora told him as she also moved into the dorm room. Her eyes were down cast and she looked very meek.
"I'm just being practical," Riven tried to justify. "That's how they teach up to be at Red Fountain."
"No, you're just being negative, and that's something they don't teach you at Red Fountain. 'Don't talk about defeat or you'll be defeated'," Flora quoted something Brandon had said at the end of last year. "Isn't that right?"
"Yeah, they want you to think positive, but not be stupid. They're going into the Under Realm, Flora. To Shadow Haunt. That's not going to be a walk in the park for them."
"I know, but . . ." Flora started, but she couldn't seem to find any words beyond that point.
"Most seasoned heroes and fairies can't survive in such a negative environment and yet they expect a foolish squire, and Earth girl, a spoiled prince, a girl who refuses to accept that there are two genders in this universe and a ditzy blonde haired princess who has spent most of her life in a shopping mall to survive such terrain?"
"Riven . . ."
"This whole mission was doomed from start."
Somewhere throughout all his ranting, Riven had moved closer to Flora and now her body was standing mere inches from his own. He could sense the heat of her body radiating from her and he could feel her exhaled breath brush across his skin. If he wanted to, he could probably reach across and kiss her with ease given their proximity, but there wasn't a chance of that happening, especially when Flora raised her face and Riven saw the tears that welled in her eyes.
"Maybe the mission is doomed," Flora said in as even a voice as she could manage. "But you cannot ask us to abandon our hope because at the moment hope is all we have."
Riven had no idea how to respond to something like that, but Flora's words and her unshed tears hit him harder than any physical blow could have. From his experience, Riven had always considered the worst in everything and then instantly assumed that it would happen at the most inconvenient time. After all, bad news never had good timing. But right now Flora – and indeed all of his friends – was asking him to let go of the past and change his dark, pessimistic ways of thinking. But Riven knew that wasn't going to be easy.
"Fine," Riven said with a sigh with feigned frustration. "I'll try, I guess."
A soft smile graced Flora's lips and she locked her green eyes directly onto his violet ones. Riven flinched in alarm as he felt Flora slide on of her hands into his and he stared at her with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Well, I guess that's a start," Flora smiled. "Now come on. Let's go find Musa."
And with that Flora headed for the door in search of Musa, dragging a baffled Riven behind her with her hand still fixed in his.
The cold air rushed past Brandon as he fell further and further down through the cavern. He narrowly missed hitting several rock ledges as he sped past them and he still couldn't see the bottom yet. Suddenly a ledge sticking out further than any of the other ones were started approaching him fast and Brandon instinctively reached out and grabbed it as he fell past.
"Shit!" Brandon cursed loudly as his fingers jarred themselves when they suddenly held up all his weight, but at least he had stopped falling. Struggling to pull his body up over the side of the ledge, Brandon felt the strength in his arms start to drain with each second that he failed to get onto solid ground. His feet scrapped feebly against the rocks in an effort to climb upwards, but it was no use. Brandon just didn't have the strength to save his own life.
"Brandon!" a voice cried, and it was shockingly close and familiar. Brandon craned his neck upwards and through the dark saw something falling down the cavern in the same way he had done seconds before. And there was no mistaking that blonde hair.
"Stella!" Brandon screamed in alarm. In a few seconds she was going to fall past him and down into the unknown where there was a possibility that she might not survive. "No!"
Pushing off the rock wall with his legs, Brandon abandoned the thought of dragging himself to safety and threw himself back into thin air just as he beloved princess fell past him. Reaching out as they fell, the two teenagers tried to grab hold of one another's hands.
"Brandon!" Stella wailed again, trying to make her arm extend even more then it already was.
"C'mon! C'mon!" Brandon hissed through gritted teeth. Finally, he felt Stella's smooth skin under his aching fingers and he quickly grabbed hold of her a firmly as he could. Dragging her through the air as they fell, Brandon pulled Stella into his arms just as the bottom of the cavern came into view. Below them was a large, underground river that was fed by vastly tall waterfall that the couple was currently falling parallel too. Covering Stella's mouth to avoid her swallowing any of the water that they were inevitably going to fall into, Brandon braced himself for impact.
Thanks to the waterfall, the water surface was rather broken up when they hit it, so the impact was not as bad as Brandon had anticipated, but the temperature of the water was so cold that it shocked Brandon to the core. With his body and mind reeling, Brandon resurfaced and realized that in his shock he had somehow let go of Stella. Looking around in a panic, Brandon felt a wave of horror colder and terrible than the river wash over him when he couldn't see his beloved anywhere.
"Stella! Hold on!" Brandon shouted as loudly as he could, given the fact that he had very little air in his lungs from the coldness of the water and his panic. Even if meant he was going to drown there was no way Brandon was going to leave this river until he found Stella. He just hoped that it wouldn't be too late.
And then, coughing and spluttering, Stella suddenly resurfaced and Brandon could breathe a little easier. Brandon once again pulled her into his arms as the pair of them continued to be washed down stream. Brandon had covered water situations in heroics class, so he knew that when caught in a position like this, the best thing to do was not to swim against the current, but rather move across it until you reach the shore. Except in all the rivers in all the underground cave networks, Brandon had to fall into the one which was flanked by two completely vertical cliff faces. Left with no other option, Brandon tried desperately to swim against the current which was quickly tiring him out.
It was about then that Stella started to scream. "Big rock! Big rock!"
As luck would have it, the current naturally carried them around the rock so avoided getting hurt, and as they were washed by it, Brandon made a lunge to grab hold of the rock with his only free hand. Just then, a massive wave hit the rock and flooded everything around it, but when the water level died back down a few seconds later, Brandon's left hand was holding onto the rock.
"Yes!" Brandon cheered, but his jubilation vanished when he heard Stella scream and realized that that wave had been strong enough to rip her from his arms. "No!"
"Grab my hand!" Stella shouted as she started to be washed downstream, but Brandon reacted quickly enough and was able to grab hold of her outstretched hand.
"Gotcha!" Brandon said, pulling her back closer to him. "Hang onto me!"
Stella complied by wrapping her arms around his waist as her continued to hold onto the rock. Once she was certain that she had a firm grip on her boyfriend, the Princess of Solaria spat out all the water that had gathered in her mouth. Unfortunately there was a whole lot more that had found its way into her stomach that she couldn't get out. "I've swallowed like half this river already."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Brandon couldn't help a tiny grin tug at the side of his mouth. "Just think of it as spring water only without the bottle."
Just then, the bottleless spring water swelled again as another big wave crashed into the rock with such force that it was able to once again rip Stella out of Brandon's arms. But the squire acted quickly and grabbed hold of her again before she drifted away from him.
"Hang on Brandon!" Stella shouted over the rushing waves, but Brandon was quickly loosing his grip on the rock. His fingers were still aching from when he jarred them trying to grab hold of a ledge while he was falling and the cold water was not helping him in the slightest. Gritting his teeth, Brandon tried to strengthen the hold he had, but it was hopeless. The only way he could shift his grip was if he used his right hand which was currently the only thing that was keeping Stella with him, and there was no way he was going to let go of her. "Don't let go!"
"Can you fly Stella?" Brandon asked her. At the very least he was going to get her to safety.
"My powers are," Stella started, but she was cut off by a small wave splashing her in the face, "gone."
Brandon notice with a sinking stomach that they were quickly running out of options. "If only there was a shore line."
"I've got a sure line for you; we're sure gonna drown if we don't get out of here," Stella told him and a second later another massive waves washed into them and it took Stella with it.
"No!" Brandon cried out in horror from his place still clinging to the rock. "Stella!"
Sky stared down into the blackness that two of his friends had vanished into in a state of shock. Brandon was his best friend . . . No, he was more than that. Sky loved Brandon like a brother and he didn't care that Brandon was technically his servant. Sky never considered him like that which is why the two of them were able to be completely honest and understand with each other even though they both came fro two different worlds. There was no one in the whole universe that Sky trusted more and Sky would have been more than willing to risk his life for Brandon.
And yet he had been forced to watch helplessly as his best friend fell and he had been even more useless in the protection of Stella. He had failed Brandon at the one thing that the squire would have wanted him to do had anything happened to him.
"Stella," Bloom continued to sob from her place kneeling on the rock ledge. Sky knew that even if he was in the right frame of mind that there was now way he could comfort her in the same way that no one could comfort him from the loss of Brandon, so the two of them just stood where they were, staring down into the blackness, lost in their own anguish.
And then, echoing out of the darkness below came the sound of someone screaming and there was no mistaking whose voice it was.
"Stella," Bloom gasped, scrambling to her feet. "She's alive."
"We've got to get down there," Sky said. If Stella was still alive, then there was a chance that Brandon may have survived as well. However, all plans for a rescue operation were put on hold for a second when Layla's cries for help started echoing up from the tunnel below.
"Help! This stuff burns!" the aquatic princess shouted from her place stuck to the wall by the shadow monster saliva.
"Oh my god. Layla," Sky gasped, turning around and bolting through the tunnels to try and find the one she was in. He could hear someone else running a little ways behind him, so he knew Bloom was following him. "I'm coming Layla!"
"It reeks too!" Layla added as Sky managed to find her.
Wasting no time, Sky grabbed hold of the saliva like gunk and tried to pull it off her but despite his best effort, the gunk continued to hold. "It's tough like rubber! Come on!"
"Hurry Sky! It stings!" Layla wailed.
Sky gave the drool one hard yank and it finally came loose allowing the trapped and exhausted fairy to fall into Sky's awaiting arms. The shadow monsters slim in combination with the draining power of the caves had left Layla temporally weakened to the point where she needed Sky's assistance to stand. Sky looked down at the fairy in his arms, unaware that behind him, Bloom was watching the pair of them with slightly narrowed eyes. "You okay?" Sky asked.
"I think so," Layla replied weakly.
"That stuff looked gross," Bloom said, purposely walking over to Layla and taking her hand to subtly break up the unapproved embrace "You okay?"
"Forget me. What happened to Brandon?" Layla asked, and from the bottom of the cavern came another one of Stella's screams. "Huh?"
"That was Stella!" Bloom confirmed, running to the cliff edge and peering over the side. "They must be down there still."
Sky and Layla joined her and also looked down into the blackness below. "Where?" Sky asked.
"Maybe they caught a ledge?" Layla suggested.
"Stella!" Bloom shouted. Her voice echoed several times around the cavern, but there was no reply from the Princess of the Sun and the Moon or her boyfriend.
Sky slipped his hand into Bloom's, wanting the comforting form of contact now more than ever. They had no idea whether or not Stella and Brandon were alive, but they had to find them, one way or the other. "Can you fly us down?"
"No," Bloom answered in a distraught voice. "This place has drained all my powers."
The prince then turned to address the aquatic fairy. "What about you Layla. Can you fly?"
In order to try and answer his question, Layla arched her back and tried to flutter her wing, but she just ended up crashing back to the ground with a loud thud that made both Bloom and Sky flinch. Sky moved over to see if she was alright, but Layla seemed more interested in ripping the slim off of her wings than accepting his help. "Not with this gunk on my wings."
While Bloom helped Layla to her feet, Sky moved over to look over the side of the ledge to see if he could figure out a safe way to get down to the bottom so they could look for Brandon and Stella. "Looks like we're gonna have to climb down, okay?"
"No, forget that," Layla instantly dismissed conjures up a ball of pinkish purple magic in her hands. "I've still got some power left."
Sky wasn't sure what she was up too, but he couldn't help but be impressed as she guided and twisted her aquatic powers to form the shapes she wanted. And when the light of the magic started to clear, a large, pink crane was suddenly on the ledge with them.
"Nothing rearranging a few water molecules can't solve," Layla told them proudly.
"Cool," Bloom said in awe. "So you can make anything you want just out of the water molecules in the air?"
"And actual water," Layla told her. "The only limitation is my own imagination. Now come on."
"Alright. I'll go first," Sky said, climbing onto the rope. Bloom followed him and Layla took up the rear. "Hang on tight. It's a long way down."
The drop was impossibly far, but Layla had made the crane so that the rope was taken out of the pink magical machinery itself to lengthen the cord as needed. With each passing meter, the dread grew inside of Sky to the point where it felt as though his guts had been turned to lead. The militaristic way of thinking that had been drilled into his mind told him to keep a clear head, but his heart still pounded in apprehension as they climbed closer to the ground.
'Please let them be okay,' Sky prayed.
When they finally reached the bottom, Sky wasn't surprised to discover that the ground was made up entirely of rock. The light was incredibly dim and there was a cold chill in the air. The carcass of the monster Brandon had slain lay still on the cold, rock floor with its insides spilling out. It wasn't a pretty sight. Sky shivered slightly. "Just when you thought it couldn't get any colder or darker."
"They down there?" Layla asked.
"Don't see 'em," Sky answered regretfully. He peered through the darkness, but he could find no trace of Brandon or Stella. "Guys!"
"Hey!" Layla also tried.
"Stell! Brandon!" Bloom shouted but she got so reply. "We just heard them."
"Listen," Sky silenced the two girls, straining his ears to try and catch the sound he had just heard. "Is that running water?"
"It's a river!" Bloom identified, looking over the edge of crevasse.
Layla looked surprised. Normally she could sense water from ages away, but she had somehow over looked this one. "A river?"
"Down here. Look!" Bloom told them, and Sky and Layla ran over to where she stood. A sure enough, below them was a wide, fast moving, underground river.
"I bet they fell in and were carried off," Layla assumed.
"So they could be alright?" Bloom asked hopefully.
"We don't know that," Sky corrected her. He wanted more than anything for his two friends to be alright, but he had been trained to never make assumptions. "We don't know what happened to them."
"Stella!" Brandon screamed as the blonde princess was carried away from him by the fast moving current. Ignoring his own safety, Brandon let go of the rock he had been holding onto and dived underwater in order to try and reach her before she got any further from him. The cold water caused his chest to constrict, but he ignored it and continued to swim towards his beloved.
'I will not lose you, Stella.'
Resurfacing, Brandon wasted no time in swimming over to the princess. "Stella! Gotcha!" Brandon said, grabbing hold of her again. Stella clung onto him tightly as Brandon looked around to see if he could find another ledge to grab onto, but what he saw was not something that he would have wanted to see. A large whirlpool lay in wait just downstream and it swallowed up the water and anything else that was brought to it with a terrible hunger. Brandon and Stella had to avoid it at all costs. "Hang on!"
Pulling out his PHA, Brandon pressed the button that activated the grappling hook function. Hitting another switch, the grappling hook was fired into the air with a long cable attached to it. Latching onto a rock, the PHA successfully managed to stop Brandon and Stella drifting any closer to the whirlpool.
"Now you pull that out?" Stella questioned, staring at the tool that probably could have saved them a lot sooner.
"I was saving it for an emergency," Brandon explained.
"Well good. I think this qualifies as one," Stella agreed. "By the way."
"Yeah?"
"Don't you ever let go of my hand again."
"You got it," Brandon promised her and he couldn't help a small grin tug at the sides of his mouth. But that smile quickly faded when the rock that the PHA was attached too started to crumble. "Great."
Just when Brandon realized that 'great' might no be the best of last words, the rock gave way and the couple was once again dragged under the surface of the water. The un-fightable force of the whirlpool sucked them into its vortex and Brandon lost all sense of direction as the current sent him spinning round and round. His lungs were burning for air and his consciousness was beginning to slip, but throughout it all Brandon kept his promise and never once let go of Stella's hand.
"If only there was a shore that we could walk along," Sky sighed, staring down into the river that had taken his friends. "Those rapids look intense. What do you think we should do?"
"Well, I'm not going to stand around and talk," Bloom told him and Layla as she started to move along the ledge edge.
"No Bloom, wait," Sky said, grabbing her before she could get too far. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to climb to that ledge down there and then dive in."
Sky's blue eyes widened in horror at the mere thought of her doing that. That river had already claimed Stella and Brandon. He wasn't going to let it take Bloom as well.
Layla raised another important point. "That river leads away from the pixies," she pointed out. "What about them?"
"She's right. We can't forget our mission. Back at Red Fountain we have a saying; the quest in more important than the heroes," Sky quoted Codatorta. The prince never exactly liked that saying, but he did understand the message behind it. Heroics and questing was a dangerous business, and sometime not everyone made it out alive. It was something that no hero wanted to go through, but it was something they had to be prepared for. That was just how life was.
Bloom however, didn't like the say or understand its message. "I'm sorry? What? What kind of logic is that? What about our friends?"
"They can take care of themselves but the pixies need us," Layla said, understanding what Sky was trying to say to them. Plus, she was extremely worried about her pixie friends that were still being held captive. "They may not last much longer."
"She's got a good point Bloom," Sky said gently. "Let's go rescue the pixies first. Then we can go looking for Brandon and Stella."
"So you're just going to abandon Brandon like that?" Bloom accused. "I thought you were supposed to be his best friend?"
"Bloom," Sky warned, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.
"Well at least I now know how expendable you think of your servants as."
"Dammit Bloom! That's not fair!" Sky snapped. "You know I would do anything to find Brandon and make sure he's okay! Hell, he's been my best friend ever since I was seven, not just the last year, Bloom! But our objective here is to rescue the pixies! That's why we came to this place despite the fact that Ms. Faragonda warned us that it would be too dangerous for us! Our mission is to find them and although you might not always like it, I plan to follow the orders my superiors gave me!"
The two fairies looked stunned by Sky's sudden outburst. Bloom had gone very pale and her blue eyes were very wide as Sky's words hit her and the realization that this was exactly what Ms. Faragonda had tried to keep them from. The whole experience had left her rather shell shocked. "I . . . I . . ."
Sky's anger quickly faded and he hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry Bloom. I didn't mean to snap at you. You just gotta understand, Brandon . . . He's my best friend and I'm worried about him in the same way you're worried about Stella, though that's no excuse for me taking it out on you. I'm so sorry Bloom."
"Perhaps, but I was being childish," Bloom admitted in a small voice. "Ms. Faragonda warned us that this was going to be dangerous. But we can't lose sight of our mission. The pixies may not last much longer."
"That's right. Come on," Layla said, turning and heading off down one of the tunnels. "We gotta see if we can find the right tunnel."
Sky gave one last glance at the river and then looked at Bloom. "They'll be alright."
"I know," Bloom said, forcing a brave smile before heading off after Layla. "Hey, Layla! Wait up!"
Sky paused for a second and then followed. "They've got to be."
Brandon's eyes felt heavy as he slowly started to regain conciseness. He had no idea where he and Stella had ended up since the last thing he could recall was being sucked under water by the whirlpool, but he could feel sand underneath him as he lay on his stomach and water lap gently up against his lower legs, so he assumed they had made it to land somehow. Stella's warm hand was still cupped in his and he could hear strange voices talking. And no matter how badly he wanted to look around, he just couldn't get his eyes to open.
But that all changed when he heard the sound of Stella screaming.
"Ew! Brandon!"
Forcing his eyes to open, the squire quickly sat up to see the strangest pair he had ever come across. One was as thin as a rack, extremely pale and shorter than Brandon would be standing at full height. The little man had blue eyes that were exceptionally large and cherry red hair that was cut short at the front but turned into a pony tail that reached almost all the way down his back. He wore a loin cloth around his waist that reached to just above his knees and sandals that warped all the way up his calves. The other man wore similar clothes and pale skin but his body was worlds apart from his companion. This man towered over the other and had enough muscle to put most body builders to shame. He also carried a massive club in one hand that Brandon didn't like one bit.
"What's going on here?" he demanded to the beings that he assumed where the trogs that lived in the Under Realm. But instead of answering, the big trog with the club hit him over the head with his weapon and everything went black again.
Brandon could tell that he was moving even before he opened his eyes. He could feel the bobbing of the person that carried him as they walked and he could hear the sound of footsteps as well as a kind of scraping sound as something was dragged behind them. He could also tell without opening his eyes that his arms had been bound.
When he was finally aware enough to open his eyes, Brandon was surprised to find that not only were his arms bound but he was also tied to the back of the smaller trog who was carrying him as they walked. Behind the small trog was a stretcher which Stella was lying on, also tied up. The big trog walk in front, his club resting on his shoulder.
"What the . . ?" Brandon stammered at the bizarre situation he had found himself in.
"You are not in the right place," the small trog answered in a dreamy little voice. "I don't know where you go, but you don't go on the beach."
"What are you talking about?" Brandon demanded, unable to make sense of what the little trog was saying. "Put me down!"
"Please use you cave voices," the small trog said in the same dreamy voice, completely ignoring Brandon's order. "You'll wake the spirits."
"Hey, driver," Stella croaked weakly.
"Um, yes?"
"I think I'm about to hurl."
Brandon looked down in alarm at the princess who as lying on the stretcher below. The blonde girl had gone deathly pale and her honey eyes were dazed. She did not look well at all. "Hang in there Stella. I'm gonna get us – whoa!"
Brandon was cut off in mid sentence when the small trog unexpectedly fell flat on his face, taking with him the two teenagers he was carrying.
"Sorry about that," the little trog apologized, getting to his feet slowly. "I was startled by the Hemian Crystals. They're glowing unusually strong today. That's a sure sign that the cave spirits are sleeping."
"I don't care who's sleeping; Get me down from here!" Brandon shouted.
"All in good time. We cannot release you until you are granted your freedom by the Queen of Down Land. You are in her realm now, so you must obey her rules."
"But Stella's sick," Brandon objected, glancing down again at the princess who had fallen back asleep.
"We will be able to treat her in Down Land so please be patient and we will get there soon."
"What's the rush?" the big trog grunted. "The yellow haired one's more pleasant when she isn't talking."
"Hey! That's my girlfriend you're talking about, you big goon!" Brandon spat. The big trog looked over his shoulder sharply at Brandon, but other than that he didn't respond.
"He is not a goon. His name is Abrupto and he is a sentry of Down Land. My name is Sponsus and I am also a sentry. Our job is to patrol the borders of Down Land to help keep out any shadow monsters and any other dangers the cave spirits send out."
"So who are these cave spirits you keep talking so much about?" Brandon asked.
"They're the keepers of Down Land," Sponsus answered as he started walking again. "And if they get woken up they get angry and shake the tunnels and send out monsters. So we are to be quiet in the caverns."
"Argh, put a rock in it," Abrupto ordered gruffly. "The monsters don't come from any cave spirits. You know that. The queen just made that up."
"You'll have to forgive Abrupto. He's been in a bad place ever since Queen Amentia decided he and his fiancée weren't a perfect couple," Sponsus explained. "She made his girl marry someone else. Someone she thought was a better fit."
"That's enough!" Abrupto snapped, turning around to get right in Sponsus's face. "You may be in love with the Queen but unless you want that head of yours smashed like a jourgal melon you'll never mention her around me again."
Brandon couldn't stop a sly smirk spreading across his face at this revelation. "So, you're in love with the Queen, ay?"
Too embarrassed to respond, Sponsus's knees gave way so he once again fell flat on his face and Brandon and Stella had no choice but to fall with him.
"Ouch," Sponsus grunted, getting back up again. "Queen Amentia is a vision of beauty. Like the Hemian Crystals, she glows from within. She's a bit of a perfectionist, but that's only because she's so perfect herself. The opening up ahead has the prefect view of her palace. Look."
Craning his neck look over his shoulder, Brandon got his first look at Down Land.
"Whoa!" he gasped.
It was like nothing he had ever seen. The tunnel had led them to a massive cavern, in which an entire civilization lived. The city was made up of countless white stone buildings, which wound and circled in on itself like a maze. The entire cavern was lit by the Hemian Crystals, casting everything in an alien green light. Brandon could hear the murmur of the trogs voices from the city below and well as various other noises of domestic life. And rising up towards the roof of the cavern was a massive palace made up of sharp pinnacles of white stone.
It was all eerily beautiful, like landing on the moon or something.
"I'll tend to the girl and then we'll get you to the Queen to find out where you go," Sponsus told them as he and Abrupto made their way down the path into the city.
Abrupto left them as soon as they arrived at the palace, and both Brandon and Stella were released from their bounds. The still sleeping Stella was taken to a small room which to Brandon looked like a trog medical bay. The princess was placed on a bed with an anxious Brandon by her side.
"Your name was Brandon, was it not?" Sponsus asked as soon as the three of them were alone again.
"What? Oh yeah, that's right," Brandon answered, his attention still fixed on his sleeping girlfriend. "And this is Stella, my girlfriend."
"Such strange coloured hair she has," Sponsus noted. "No one in Down Land has hair as light as that. I for one have never seen such a shade before. Is it a common colour in the Upper Worlds?"
"Um, yeah. It is."
"I have not had much experience with Up Worlders before since we do not approve of visitors here in Down Land. In fact, no one really even enters the Under Realm, which is why I found it so very odd that I found two Up Worlders lying on our beach. And so very young ones at that. If you don't mind me asking, why is it that you have come to the Under Realm?"
"We came on a mission to rescue some beings that are being held captive in Shadow Haunt," Brandon answered. "I can't tell you any more than that."
"Shadow Haunt? Why, that is the central lair of the cave spirits."
"Really? Then your cave spirits must actually be the Shadow Phoenix, Lord Darkar (1)."
"Shh!" Sponsus shushed. "We do not speak the name of the Spirit Lord lest we wish to anger him."
"Sorry," Brandon apologized just as Stella started to stir. Abandoning the conversation, Brandon gave his full attention to his beloved. "Stella? Hey, blink if you can hear me," Brandon said and those honey eyes that he loved so much blinked at him once or twice. "No offence but you don't look so good. How are you feeling?"
"Brandon," Stella said weakly. "I had the strangest dream that we were captured by the ugliest people ever."
"That wasn't a dream," Brandon cleared up quickly as Sponsus cleared his throat.
Stella, realizing her blunder, forced a smile. "Hello there."
Sponsus was kind enough to over look the insult and moved closer to the bed. "Please fetch the water vase while I look at the girl," Sponsus said to Brandon. The squire got to his feet and Sponsus took the now vacant seat that was alongside Stella's bed. "Lie back dear."
Brandon grabbed the vase quickly so he could rush back to Stella's side, but that idea went out the window when he discovered just how heavy the vase actually was. 'Shit! How am I supposed to be expected to move this thing?'
"Let me give you an energy boost. This will help a little," Sponsus said to Stella, gathering a ball of energy into his hands. Once he had a firm hold on it, he started transmitting the power over to Stella to try and give her enough strength so she could be presented to the Queen. "You need some sunlight."
"You guys don't have a tanning salon down here?" Stella asked in the name of all things fashionable.
"To be perfectly honest with you, we prefer our skin to be rather pasty and pale," Sponsus confessed to her and Brandon finally made it to the bed with the vase.
"There you go," Brandon sighed with relief as soon as he put down the vase.
"Excellent," Sponsus smiled dreamily, dipping a sponge into the vase and absorbing the cool water inside. "Now put it back exactly where it was."
'You've got to be kidding me!' Brandon mentally screamed, but he did what he was told. After all, like Sponsus said, he was in Down Land now so he had to obey their rules.
"We're opposites, you and I," Sponsus said as he damped Stella's forehead. "I was just above ground picking flowers for the Queen and I could feel my power rapidly draining. If you stay down here much longer you'll – no! That doesn't go there!"
Brandon looked up to discover that it was him that Sponsus was talking too. The little trog was making his way over to the vase which Brandon was pretty sure was back in its original spot. "Dude, this was right where it was."
"No, this is right where it was," Sponsus told him, moving the base one inch to the right. "The Queen likes it here."
"You're queen sounds high strung," Brandon said as polity as he could. As if anyone would make a big deal if a vase was one inch too far in the wrong direction. No one was that pedantic.
"Oh, she's wonderful," Sponsus assured them. "Why don't you come see for yourself? Can you stand, Miss Stella?"
"I . . . I think so," Stella answered, slowly sitting up. Brandon instantly went to her side in order to assist her.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked her.
"I'm just feeling a bit weak is all," Stella told him as he helped her to her feet. "I think I need a little bit of sun."
Sponsus lead them to the front door of the palace where Queen Amentia always greeted anyone who wished to speak with her. Along the way Sponsus collected a bouquet of flowers that he had picked for the Queen that very morning. He claimed that every flower had been chosen for its perfection and Brandon could clearly see that the trog truly wished that this small act would grant him the Queen's favour.
"She'll be down soon. She has to wash her face fifteen times before stepping outside," Sponsus explained as they waited.
"Psycho' Brandon thought to himself as he kept his arms tightly wrapped around Stella. The sun fairy still did not have the strength to stand on her own, so Brandon wanted to get through his meeting as fast as possible so he could get Stella outside in order for her to absorb some strength from the sun rays.
A loud gong sounded through the palace as the front door opened and a group of identical women danced out. All of them had purple hair and were dressed in silks of the same colour. Brandon thought they resembled belly dancers and they looked quiet pretty for a group of trogs.
"Here she comes," Sponsus said excitedly as the seven purple haired girls danced around of a bit. Stella sagged slightly in Brandon's arms and the squire felt his worry for her grow.
The seven purple girls all end up in a line and the center most girl raised her hands to address Sponsus, Brandon and Stella. "Fall to your right knee."
Sponsus instantly obeyed and waved to the others to tell them to do the same. "Do it."
Stella did so without argument which was a clear indication of how weak she was feeling. Her skin was still frightfully pale and her breathing was laboured. Brandon gave her a concerned glance, but she paid no attention to it.
"Presenting the one and only, immaculately beautiful and fabulously perfect; Queen Amentia!" the main purple girl announced as the Queen of Down Land exited her palace.
Queen Amentia was a lot younger than Brandon expected her to be. Although Brandon was the first to admit that he was no expert in guessing trogs ages, he figured Queen Amentia to be somewhere in her early twenties since she had the body and manner of a mature women, but a small streak of youthful foolishness still existed inside of her. Her hair was long and was a dark indigo colour. She was skinny and pale like most trogs and her large eyes were the colour amber. Brandon found her clothes to be rather odd looking but he guess Sponsus was right; she was kind of beautiful, in a tall, skinny, pale alien kind of way.
"Queen Amentia, I bring you flowers from above," Sponsus announced, holding the bouquet out in front of him. Queen Amentia's regal and mature façade failed as she ran over to retrieve her gift.
"Flowers rule!" she giggled a surprisingly child like laugh, making Sponsus's blue eyes glaze over with delight.
"Flowers rule indeed my Queen, and so do you," he told her, his voice heavy with affection.
"It's true. I do," Queen Amentia agreed before smelling the flowers. "Thank you Sponsus. You may live another day."
Sponsus's face was an example of pure happiness and love, but it quickly faded when Queen Amentia's delight quickly turned to outrage.
"Wait!" she screeched, letting out a feral growl. Snatching a flower out of the bouquet, she held up for all to see. "Look at this petal! It's wilted!"
"But when I picked them they were perfect. They wither in the darkness," Sponsus tried to explain.
"Grr! They are of no use to me!" Amentia hollered, throwing them over his shoulder. The bouquet hit one of the purple girls square in the face, making the other girls giggle. Amentia regained her composer and noticed Brandon and Stella. "So who are these Up Worlders?"
"The girls name is Stella," Sponsus introduced.
"Your hair. What a horrid colour."
Stella's eyes narrowed. "This diva better be glad that I don't have my powers or I'd – "
"Stella," Brandon warned, covering her mouth with his hand. Stella continued to mutter threats, but the hand muffled whatever she was saying. Brandon forced a nervous grin.
Sponsus continued on with the introductions. "This is Brandon. Her boyfriend."
Amentia studied Brandon's face intently with those large, amber eyes of hers, before a pleased smile curled across her lips. "Tell me Brandon," she said, moving closer to the couple. "Where did you get such a glorious face?"
"I take after my dad," Brandon asked, guessing that's what she meant.
"You know, it's perfectly symmetrical," Amentia pointed out to him.
Brandon felt an odd little wave of pleasure that someone noticed that about him. "You're right. A lot of people don't appreciate that about me."
"Hey!" Stella hissed sharply, stepping on his foot.
"What?" Brandon asked dumbly, before looking back at the Queen. She was staring at his in a disturbingly longing expression, like a child eyeing out their favorite candy off the shelf.
Sponsus noticed this look as well and a dreaded expression crossed his face. "My Lady, please don't be thinking what I think you're thinking."
"Brandon," Amentia said in a formal tone that told everyone that she was making a royal statement. "You shall become my husband."
The shock hit Brandon and everyone else like a ton of bricks. Sponsus collapsed right on the stop and the purple girls stared at the Up Worlder and their Queen in surprise. As for Brandon and Stella, the only thing they could seem to do was stare at each other and utter the same thing in unison.
"Er, huh?"
Flora lead Riven to a secluded part of the Alfea campus along the boundary wall of the school. With any other girl, Riven probably would have made some snide, perverted comment, but he couldn't do that with Flora. She was just too nice a girl for him to do that to.
"There she is," Flora said, coming to a stop so suddenly that Riven nearly ran into her from behind.
"Huh?" Riven grunted, surveying his surroundings and quickly saw who Flora was talking about. Standing a few meters further down the path with her back to them and her arms hugged around herself was none other than Musa. Even without seeing her face, Riven, who had studied the pixie more than he cared to admit, could tell that she was troubled, though she was doing her best to hide it.
Flora looked back over her shoulder had the burgundy specialist standing behind her. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go talk to her."
Riven glanced somewhat nervously between the two fairies. "What the hell am I supposed to say exactly?"
"What do you think Musa wants you to say?" Flora answered his question with one of her own. Riven continued to watch Musa with the same apprehension that one might have if they were asked to approach a lion, so Flora decided to give him one more little push in order to get him going. "Fine, I'll go if you're not up to it."
"I'm going, woman," Riven said sharply, moving towards the musical fairy. "Geez. What's the mad rush anyways? It's not like she's going anywhere."
Flora smiled softly to herself and moved back a little down the path so Riven and Musa could have a little privacy, but she stayed just close enough so she was able to hear what they were saying.
Riven had no idea what he was going to say to Musa or if she would even want to talk to him. She no longer seemed to be angry at him, but she still hadn't uttered a word to him since the start of year mixer. Fortunately, Riven was spared the awkwardness of starting the conversation when Musa spoke first.
"I'm not worried," she answered his unasked question.
"Okay," Riven replied, not believing a word of it. He waited quietly for Musa's act to crumble and it wasn't long before she started to show obvious cracks in her façade.
"Should I be?" she asked uncertainly, turning around so he could see the concerned look she had in those navy blue eyes of hers that Riven secretly adored.
"Well yeah. Those guys probably screwed up everything," Riven said without thinking and for the second time that day his careless words caused a fairy's eyes to swell with tears. But unlike Flora, Musa couldn't stop her tears from falling, although she could stop Riven from seeing her cry. As her tears spilled over, Musa moved forward quickly so her face was buried into Riven's chest. Riven's body went ridged as bolts of pleasure and panic shot through him. Musa's proximity was completely intoxicating and Riven's hands started to move before he was even aware of it. His sensitive fingertips brushed across Musa's bare arms, sending new waves of delight surging down Riven's spine and a second after he froze.
'I have no right to do this,' Riven thought to himself. He had no right to hold her like this after the way he had so callously toyed with her emotions last year. He had given up pursuing her in order to be with Darcy who had lead him down a path of sinful pleasure and wicked delight which now left him feeling tainted.
"Don't you dare tell any one I cried," Musa told him sharply between sobs as Riven forced his arms to drop by his side.
"I won't," Riven promised her. He could feel her tears seeping into his shirt but he made no move to comfort her. Instead he stood perfectly still, ignoring the fact that she was even crying at all which was probably what Musa would have wanted considering how proud she could be and waited until she had cried herself out.
"Do you really think I should be worried?" Musa asked, sniffing away the last of her tears. She was still pressed up against his chest and neither teenager looked as though they were going to change that.
Riven paused before answering, trying to figure out for himself what he believed. His natural instincts said that mission was a doomed to be a failure, but Flora's voice still echoes around his mind telling him to think differently.
Maybe the mission is doomed, but you cannot ask us to abandon our hope because at the moment hope is all we have . . .
"I dunno," Riven confessed. "But I reckon those guys are more than capable of taking care of themselves, even with that fool Brandon with them."
Musa gave a small hiccup of a laugh and then shifted her head so that her cheek was resting against Riven's chest. "I can hear your heart beating," she told him and Riven felt a small grin tug at the side of his mouth at how childlike and innocent she sounded.
"So I do have one after all. What a surprise."
"You idiot," Musa grinned, giving him a small shove. The smile that was tugging at Riven's lips grew bigger and it took all of Riven's will power to try and straighten it out.
"Whatever, pixie."
"Fairy."
"Whatever."
Brandon, you shall become my husband . . .
Those six words kept repeating over and over again around Brandon's mind, crashing into each other and tumbling in an endless lope. All other thoughts ceased to exist as those six words continued to play and everything the word 'husband' exploded throughout his brain it sent a chilling shiver down his spine.
Brandon, you shall become my husband . . .
She couldn't be serious, right? Brandon was aware that Amentia was the Queen of Down Land so her word was law down here, but there was no way he was going to be forced down the aisle to marry some girl that he had only met two minutes ago. He refused to do it.
Amentia, however, wasn't giving him a choice in the matter.
"Guards!" Amentia called and two thin, pale men with four arms came running out of the palace at their Queens command. "Bring my new fiancé into the palace. From there we shall begin the official pre-wedding perfection ritual. And someone remove Sponsus from my steps. He's ruining the front view of the palace."
"What? Wait a minute!" Brandon protested as the two guards tried to seize him. "I didn't agree to any of this!"
"Brandon!" Stella cried as the two guards pushed her out of the way. Without Brandon's support, the princess's legs folded beneath her and she collapsed to the ground.
"Stella!" Brandon shouted out in alarm as the two guards dragged him towards the front door. The energy boost that Sponsus had given her was starting to ware off and she was once again sickly pale and trembling. Brandon knew that if Stella didn't get her energy back soon she wasn't going to survive, but the only way she could do that was if she got into the sunlight. And given the fact that they were in a cave there was very little chance of that happening in Down Land.
"Don't worry about that yellow haired freak with the tiny eyes," Amentia told Brandon. "Once you're married to me we'll be the most perfectly matched couple this world has ever seen."
"Don't be too sure about that since I don't plan on getting married anytime soon," Brandon growled through clenched teeth. There was no way he was going to let this cave queen order him around. He was not one of her subjects and he had control over his own life.
Amentia found his objection to be funny and gave a small giggle. "How cute. He talks as if he has a choice. I am fast approaching my twenty-third birthday and I absolutely must by married when my age is an even number and I refuse to wait until I am twenty-four since it is one year before my cut off date of twenty-five. Therefore we must be as married as soon as possible. It's for the best though, since long engagements are so untidy. So much can go wrong if you give it enough time so we shall be wed as soon as all arrangements are finalized."
"Are you listening to me? I don't want to marry you."
"Like I said; you don't have a choice," Amentia said, walking over to where Stella sat on the stone floor unable to stand thanks to her weak legs. "You're still hanging around? You're cluttering up be door step now get out of here. Shoo!"
"I'm not leaving without him," Stella told her in a voice on the verge of tears.
Although Brandon's heart swelled with the thought of Stella refusing to give him up to this skinny queen, he also knew that she couldn't stay here. Not if she wanted to live. "Stella! No! You can't stay down here much longer! You have to get back to the sunlight!"
"See? He wants you to go bye-bye, now go bye-bye," Amentia told her regally heading inside. The guards holding Brandon dragged him inside as well. "Your boyfriend is with royalty now."
"I am a princess you know," Stella voice carried through the door just as it snapped shut. The door closed with an echoing bang and it Brandon is had the metallic sound of a dungeon door.
"Stella," Brandon whimpered as the guards lead him into a large room in the center of the palace. Against one wall was a massive pyramid like set of stairs that led up to a pair of thrones and directly opposite that was a row of busts of what appeared to be trog couples. The occasional bust was of likeness of a creature that wasn't a trog, such as one that looked kind of like a horse, but other than that they were all the large eyed trogs. And right at the very end was a likeness of Amentia next to a headless bust.
"You should take a moment to consider just how lucky you are," Amentia said as soon as the guards had been dismissed. "I have had countless suitors over the years and none of them had reached my standers in the way you have. You're a very fortunate man, Brandon. Not only do you get the divine pleasure of introducing yourself as my husband, but you will also become the King of Down Land."
"Um, if you don't mind me saying so, but aren't you a bit young to be a queen?"
"How sweet of you to say," Amentia blushed coyly. "Actually I made my parents step down as King and Queen so I could assume that title since Queen Amentia has such a better ring to it than Princess Amentia don't you think?"
"Er, I guess so."
"But enough chit chat. We must start preparations for our wedding. You of course will have to go through a cleansing since you must have caught something horrid from that contact with the yellow haired girl. She did not look immaculately clean."
"Hey! That's my girlfriend you're talking about!" Brandon snapped.
"Not any more she's not," Amentia told him in a sing song voice.
Brandon resisted the urge to scream . . . though just barely. "Look, why would you want to marry me? I mean you don't know anything about me."
Amentia took no notice of what he was saying and turned her attention to the empty bust that was alongside hers. "You're head would look so perfect on this bust."
Brandon wasn't sure what she meant by that. "You're gonna chop my head off?"
"A likeness, silly boy," Amentia explained. "This is the row of royal couples and I've been waiting for the perfect face to go next to mine."
"I never thought I'd wish I was ugly," Brandon thought out loud.
"Come to me. Once we have kissed you and I shall be officially engaged," Amentia told him, leaning forward with her lips puckered.
"Ah! Stay away from me!" Brandon panicked, jumping out of the way. As soon as he was free he scrambled to his feet and bolted up the massive stair case to the thrones in order to get away from the psychotic Queen. "I'm in love with somebody else, you got that?"
"Look at you, next to the throne. Oh, you'll make and excellent king," Amentia gushed before she started to climb the stairs herself. "Only when you ascend the stairs you need to skip every other step just like I'm doing now."
Brandon had found himself in some pretty hair raising situations from time to time, but he can honestly admit that he had never been more terrified as he was when Amentia placed her foot on the top step of the stairs. Disregarding is own safety, Brandon jumped right back down to the bottom and was alarmed to discover that Amentia was somehow down there waiting for him.
"Ah!" Brandon screamed in fright. He had no idea how Amentia did that but it scared the living daylights out of him. He knew there was a witch at Cloud Tower that could move at impossibly fast speed, and Brandon had the feeling that Amentia might be a good challenge in a footrace. But that didn't change the fact that there was no way Brandon was going to marry the Queen. "Look, I'd rather be eaten by a zung zung worm than marry you."
"Goodness, you're so dramatic and passionate. Those are qualities number two and five on my check list. Now be a man and pucker up," she told him, leaning in again.
Brandon wasted no time jumping clear of her advances and as soon as he was free he made a run for it down the row of busts. But his efforts once again proved to be futile when Amentia once again appeared out of nowhere, leaning against her bust. Skidding to a halt, Brandon ducked behind the empty bust to try and avoid her. "Stay away from me!"
Amentia's eyes narrowed as she got tired of this little game. "Why do you resist me?"
"I'm in love with Stella!" Brandon told her again and this time it actually sank in what he was saying. He was in love with Stella. He had been telling Amentia that repeatedly without even realizing how he really felt. Brandon had never been in love before but he was certain that's what he was feeling towards Stella. He was one hundred percent, hopelessly, crazily in love with Stella and he liked how that felt. Now all he had to do was avoid marrying Amentia so he could tell Stella that.
"Guards!" Amentia called, throwing her hands up in the air. The guards this time as big as Abrupto came running to her command. "Fetch that yellow hair Up Worlder."
An insane amount of relief washed over Brandon as it started to look like she had given up. "Good. I knew you'd understand."
But Queen Amentia of Down Land was not a person who gave up on her quarry so easily. "Put her to work in the mines at least until she expires for good."
"No!" Brandon cried out in panic. If Stella stayed down here too long she would surely die. He couldn't let that happen, not when he just realized how he felt about her. "You can't do that!"
"I can and I will unless you give in," Amentia said in a tone that indicated that she wasn't kidding around anymore.
Brandon could not remember ever being in a worse situation. He had to choose between refusing Amentia's advances and risking Stella's life, or giving in and face the rest of his life locked in marriage to a girl he didn't love in a place he didn't really like. But even though he hated to admit it, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
Hanging his head in defeat, Brandon said those dreaded words in a small voice.
"Fine, I'll marry you."
Sky, Bloom and Layla walked in silence through the tunnel, listening for anything that would alert them to another attack by the shadow monsters. Layla was in the lead, using her connection with the pixies to try and pinpoint their location. Sky had volunteered to take up the rear in case of a sneak attack from behind, but also because that meant he could keep an eye on Bloom.
The last Princess of Sparx had become extremely withdrawn ever since they had decided that rescuing the pixies took greater priority over finding Stella and Brandon. Sky was equally as upset by the decision, but it was the only one they could make. If they didn't find the pixies soon there would be no mission objective left to save. But that didn't make the decision any easier to make and it was definitely didn't make the way Sky had taken his frustration out on Bloom right.
"Hey, Bloom? I'm real sorry about before," Sky said softly as they walked. Layla was far enough ahead so he was pretty sure that she couldn't hear what he was saying, and if he was wrong she gave no hint to indicate so. "I was frustrated about losing Brandon, but that's no excuse for the way I acted. It's wasn't fair to take it out on you, and I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too," Bloom apologized. "I felt the same way about Stella and so I blamed everything on you even though I was one of the people who insisted we come here in the first place. Do you think you can forgive me for how horrible I've been?"
"Of course I do since there's nothing too forgive," Sky told her. "You can't apologize because you're worried about your friends."
"I know, but those things I said about how you act towards Brandon was so uncool of me. I know that you've never treated anyone like that, let alone your best friend. I don't even know why I said something like that. I've just kind of been in a bit of a mood since we got here."
"Why is that?" Sky asked her, and even in the dim light he could see her blush slightly.
"I dunno. I guess that I . . . I . . . I kinda thought that you were flirting with Layla."
Sky's blue eyes widen with shock. "What? No. I was just trying to be nice to her. Tides and Eraklyon have always had good relations over the years so I guess we were just continuing on from there. I would never . . . You know I'm not that kind of guy."
"I know, but last year you flirted with me while you were still technically dating Diaspro."
Sky physically flinched at the name of his ex fiancé. "That was different. Diaspro and I never dated. It was our parents who decided that we should be married and I had no say in it. And as far as flirting with you goes, I couldn't help that either. I couldn't help but get to know you, flirt with you, kiss you," Sky said, slipping his hand into hers. "I'm crazy about you Bloom."
Bloom blushed again, but this time it was accompanied by a pleased little smile. "I'm kinda hooked on you too," Bloom confessed, giving his hand a quick squeeze and Sky couldn't stop a grin from spreading across his face. "And, do you think it would be terrible of me to ask you not to see Diaspro again."
"No, and I promise I won't unless I absolutely have too."
"Thanks."
"Hey you guys! Come look at this!" Layla called from ahead of them.
"What is it?" Bloom asked, letting go of Sky's hand and jogging forward until she caught up with the Princess of Tides. And when she did she came skidding to a halt in awe. "Whoa."
The walls of the caves, which had been nothing but plain rock for a painfully long amount of time, was suddenly covered with large, pointed crystals that gave off a strange, green glow. Sky had been through many tours throughout the extensive gem mines of Quartz when he had been forced to visit Diaspro in her realm, but even those priceless gems of Quartz had nothing compared to the beauty of these crystals.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Layla said, drinking in the sight for a second before continuing on her way. "I saw a few of these crystals last time I was here, but this is the first time I've seen so many in one place. They're beautiful."
"I'll say," Bloom agreed. "I wonder where they came from."
"My guess would be from the water," Layla answered, pointing to the small trickle of water that was running down from the ceiling.
"Kind of like limestone? Yeah, maybe, though I've never seen limestone ever look even remotely as stunning as these crystals," Sky commented as they left the green lit area of the cave where the crystals were and reentered the darkness that they had been surrounded by before. The water continued to drip from the cave roof and fell around them, filling the silence with a rhythmical beat.
"Listen to the water making music," Layla said in a distant tone of voice, as if she was listening deeper than the others.
"Beautiful," Bloom agreed with a small nod. "Musa would love this. It would go great with her new song."
Sky grinned at the thought. "She could sample it and drop a beat with it."
Bloom smiled softly at him, and Sky could tell that her thoughts were with the friends she had left behind at Alfea, but those pleasant thoughts were shattered when several shadow monsters came tearing down the tunnel behind them.
"So much for the peaceful moment," Layla muttered.
"Run!" Bloom shouted, taking off at a sprint down the tunnel. Sky purposely waited until the girls had taken off before he started running after them. Saladin and Faragonda had entrusted him with the task of protecting them and he was not going to forget that in a moment of panic. He was a Red Fountain Specialist after all.
"Bloom! Try to transform!" Layla urged Bloom as they ran.
Bloom focused her power and her clothes changed in a flash, but they just as quickly changed back. "I still can't do it!"
"If we don't do something these things are going to transform us into lunch!"
Sky had to agree with Layla on that one. There were far too many monsters and they were in far too confined a space to fight in. He needed to think of something to get them out of this mess and quick because, as he glanced back over his shoulder, he saw that they were running out of time. "They're gaining on us!"
One of the monsters which had razor sharp spikes covering most of its body sent a shower of its spikes flying through the air towards the group. The teenagers were able to avoid the darts but in her efforts to dodge them Bloom lost her footing and fell to the ground.
"Bloom!" Sky cried in alarm, skidding out to a halt and pulling out his phantom blade. The fire haired fairy quickly scrambled to her feet and followed Layla to her feet and followed Layla down the tunnel into a large circular cavern. Without a word the three teenagers turned to face their pursuers. Bloom and Layla's powers may not have returned, but they couldn't keep running blindly and at least in this cavern there was room for them to fight.
'Alright, bring it on,' Sky thought, shifting his grip on the hilt of his sword. But before he could react, the long tail of a shadow monster knocked him off his feet and sent him flying head first into a rock.
That's when everything went black (2).
Sky had no idea how long he had been out cold, but even before he could muster enough strength to open his eyes, Sky could feel his consciousness returning to him. He could hear someone talking but for the life of him he couldn't work out what they were saying or who the voice belonged to. But he was certain that he had heard it before.
He could feel a warm glow wash over his body and when he was finally able to open his eyes, he was surprised to discover a strong light filling the room as if a part of the sun had suddenly appeared in the cavern. The source of the light was hovering at the top of the cavern and in the centre of the light was a person.
'Stella?' Sky thought groggily as he sat up slowly.
The princess of the Sun and the Moon had found a way to regenerate her power and she was now in her full winx form complete with her Scepter of Solaria. And her face was set with a look of stern determination that Sky had never seen Stella wear before.
"The seeds!" Bloom suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the magic seeds that Ms. Faragonda had gifted to the girls before they had left. Layla must have tried to use them while Sky was knocked out.
"They're growing!" Layla cheered in delight. Activated by Stella's magic, the seeds open and tiny sprouts burst out. The little sprouts quickly grew into silver trees with circular bulbs on the end of their slightly curled branches and those bulbs gave off and intense white light. The sudden wave of light reduced the shadow monsters to vapor and in a matter of seconds that threat had passed. The light of the trees faded and they withered away. Stella slowly lowered herself to the ground and her friends quickly crowded around her.
"Good job Stella," Sky congratulated. It probably wasn't the best greeting he could have given her all things considered, but he was still feeling groggy from hitting his head so it was all he could come up with.
"Stella!" Bloom squealed in immeasurable delight, running forward to embrace the friend she had thought she had lost. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
"You can't get rid of me that easily," Stella assured her, hugging her tightly back.
Though he couldn't help but wonder where Brandon was, Sky silently let the girls have their reunion. A small smile spread across his face as he watched them, but it quickly faded as the caves began to tremble. "It's some kind of quake!"
"Uh oh," Layla gasped, struggling to keep her balance.
"Bloom!" Stella exclaimed as a large rock feel from the ceiling and crashed into the ground not far from where the Keeper of the Dragon Fire stood.
"Come on!" Sky ordered, taking off at a sprint down one of the tunnels. They had to find a place that was stable to be in. However, all the efforts lead them to a three way junction with no clue of which one to take.
"Which path?" Stella asked in a slightly panicked voice.
"This one!" Layla decided confidently, taking the tunnel to the furthest left. The four of them sprinted madly down the tunnel while the rock around them continued to shutter. "I can see a light ahead!"
Pushing forward with all their strength, the four teenagers burst out of the tunnel and into the open air. The refreshing scent of fresh air hit them instantly and Sky's mind cleared of any thought as he drank it all in. He salvaged everything about it, imprinting every last detail of how that air tasted onto his memory. He didn't think he had ever breathed air that tasted so good.
Once he had inhaled his fill, Sky glanced at each of the three girls. Bloom had collapsed to her knees, gasping for air after pushing herself so hard. Layla, though standing, was in a similar state and Stella had transformed back out of her winx form. But none of them looked to be injured which made Sky let out a deep sigh of relief. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," Bloom panted. "Just a bit puffed is all."
Sky observed the suns that were sinking over the Arid Mountain Range (3). A whole day of walking and they were still no closer to finding their goal. But they couldn't continue like this. They needed some time to rest. "Maybe we should stop here for tonight."
"What about the pixies?" Layla demanded instantly.
"We can't do anything to help them if we're too exhausted to stand," Sky reminded her. "We've been walking all day and haven't had a chance to rest. If we stop for the night then maybe your powers will return and then we'll be able to look for Shadow Haunt."
Layla didn't look pleased, but she nodded. "Alright, but we leave first thing in the morning."
"Sure," Sky agreed, before turning his attention to Stella. There was something he needed to know. "Stella, where's Brandon?"
A sad expression crossed Stella's face, but it was coupled with honey eyes that burned with a terrible rage. The Princess of Solaria filled her friend on everything that had happened since they became separated from being washed down the stream to meeting the Queen of Down Land.
"And now that dratted Amentia is going to force Brandon to marry her whether he wants to or not," Stella finished in a trembling voice, but whether it was from rage or sadness Sky couldn't tell.
"Don't worry Stella. We'll stop that from happening," Sky told her firmly, watching the last sun sink behind the horizon. "I promise you that."
Since enrolling at Red Fountain, Brandon had been in some pretty terrifying situations over the years. He had been attacked by a group of frost giants, he had taken on a full grown hunter troll, he had gone head to head with a Minotaur, he had wrangled mustang dragons, he had clashed with the Trix Sisters, battle the Army of Decay, snuck into Cloud Tower, traveled to Sparx and shared a room with Riven.
But all those things paled compared to how horrified Brandon felt as he watched Queen Amentia move in to seal their engagement with a kiss.
"Come to my arms," she insisted, but Brandon kept backing away until he had walked right up to the busts of the royal couples. A wicked looked flashed in Amentia's eyes, and she resembled a cat which had just cornered a mouse. "Kiss me."
As Amentia leaned in, Brandon made a break for it and jumped clear from her advances. But Amentia would not give up so easily. Following after her fiancé, Amentia backed Brandon up into a corner and no matter how desperately he search, Brandon couldn't find a way out.
"Now I've got you my love," Amentia smiled proudly, leaning in a pressing her lips against Brandon's.
When Brandon and Sky were both young boys, Brandon's father had taken the boys on a fishing trip in order for the boys to try their hand at the sport. Sky had naturally excelled at it – as always – but Brandon really didn't have that patience for it. On the odd occasion that he had caught a fish, they were usually too small so Brandon had to throw them back and out of tradition he was forced to kiss them before he let them go.
As a boy, Brandon had never liked kissing fish and he couldn't help but notice some similarities between kissing a fish and kissing Amentia. The contact was cold, wet and kinda slimy thanks to her lip gloss. In fact the only thing that was different was that Amentia smelled better than a fish, but he didn't like it one bit. It was nothing like when he kissed Stella. It just felt so wrong.
And unfortunately, it was only the beginning.
"Guards! Begin the official pre-wedding perfection ritual!"
(1) It's never really explained just who the Cave Spirits that Sponsus goes on about are, so I'm making it Darkar since I guess he'd be kinda like a god to the trogs
(2) I find with this long chapters that I write myself to a point where I don't want to write anymore, so it's quite helpful when I'm able to knock the person who's perspective I'm writing from out cold
(3) In the next episode, Tecna tells Livy that the group left sometime yesterday, so obviously at some point the suns got to go down at they've got to rest, so I'm pointing it there
Wow. That's a pretty long chapter. TBC.