Today is a glorious day people!

"But why, tears-in-rain?" I hear you ask. "Why is today anymore glorious than the others?"

Because victory is mine! As of 8:52 pm Australian EST last night, I finished what is essentially the bulk of this story. All that remains now is a little bit of editing (which not too good at but that's not going to spoil my mood right now) and a few last minute tweeking and I'm done. It's taken me over a year to get to this stage, but the beast has been conquered! Victory is mine, people! Victory is mine! Bring me the finest bagels in all the land! Victory is mine!

And how does this affect you? Simple really, it means you will be getting your updates sooner and you won't have to wait for weeks on end for me to get my ass into gear and give you what you want. So everybody wins!

It's a glorious, glorious day!

Chapter Seven 'The Dark Tower'

It was dark by the time Timmy pulled into Aflea, but the rest of the Winx Club were still outside waiting for them to arrive back home. The three other girls all bolted out of Alfea as Timmy brought the ship in for a landing and as soon as he opened the doors Bloom, Stella and Layla all shot out.

"Bloom!" Musa shouted as she ran. Her pig tails bounced with each step and her navy eyes were sparking with happiness and relief. "What up, girl!?"

"We did it!" Bloom answered, not breaking her stride in the slightest.

"Hey guys!" Stella greeted as well, matching Bloom pace exactly. There were times in the Under Realm that they weren't sure that they'd see their friends again, so everyone was greatly relieved that everyone was home safe.

"You guys rock!" Musa cheered.

"You guys made it! We were so worried!" Tecna confessed to them, coming to a stop near her friends while Flora embraced Bloom. Musa and Stella also hugged, while Layla was receiving her welcoming from the baby pixie Piff.

"Anyone get the feeling that Layla cares more about the pixies than actual people?" Brandon asked as delicately as he could. The entire time they had been in the Under Realm, she had been hell bent on finding them and she didn't care what she need to sacrifice to get that to happen.

"You've gotta remember that we've only just met Layla, and she's known the pixies since she was a little girl," Sky pointed out. "It's only natural that you bond with the people you've known for longer."

"Not always," Birdy squawked from where he sat perched on the back of one of the ships chairs.

"Oh hey! These are the pixies you guys," Bloom introduced to the girls as the pixies all fluttered their way out of the ship. As if to prove Sky wrong and Birdy right, Musa and Flora's eyes all became glazed in that same trance like state that Stella and Bloom went into when they first saw the pixies. Tecna probably would have too, except she was far to focused on the hand held computer in her hand that she was view the pixies through.

"How fascinating. Is that actual pixidum . . ." Tecna trailed off as she looked up from her screen to see Digit in the flesh. Her turquoise eye suddenly glazed over. "Oh my, how adorable."

"Tecna, this is Digit," Layla introduced as the digital pixie moved forward to give the digital fairy a tiny little hug.

"My name is Tune. I am the Pixies of Manners," Tune introduced herself politely to Musa. "I love your hair style. It's so . . . um . . . unique."

"Thanks. It's like my signature," Musa gushed, unfazed by the small paused.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Riven groaned, watching the pair of them. Of all the damn pixies in the world, Musa had to be bonded with that particular one.

"You really don't like pixies, huh?" Sky noted.

"Of course not. They're small and annoying," (1) Riven told him, physically flinching as Chatta open her mouth.

"So you're name's Flora! Do you have a boyfriend?" Chatta asked loudly, and then, not waiting for Flora to reply, she began shooting off a whole bunch of other questions. "I bet you do! What's his name? Is he a big time cutie?"

"I'm sorta flying solo," Flora told her when the little pixie had to stop for air.

"Don't worry! We're going to find you one before the semester is up!" Chatta promised her before moving onto a different topic of conversation. "Wonna hear about our adventure? I was so brave! I fought this gigantic snake!"

"Come on, let's go inside you guys and I'll give you a tour of the school, kay?" Bloom suggested, oblivious to the fact that her pet rabbit Kiko was jumping at her feet trying to get her attention to show her a piece of paper that was in his paws. His best efforts seemed to be in vain since all of Bloom's attention was focused on Lockette.

"We want to see your room," Lockette told the red haired fairy.

"Okay, but it's probably a mess, at least it was when I left what with Flora's vines and my laundry," Bloom warned her, walking off towards her room without even saying goodbye to Sky. The prince felt a little bummed about that, but it was nothing compared to how bad Kiko felt.

"Look, Kiko," Sky grinned, cupping the rabbit under his chin with a finger. "If you want a girls attention, you've got to play it real cool."

Kiko, however, wasn't interested in any advice so he shoved Sky off.

"Alright, take it easy. Just trying to give you a little man to man advice but fine, do things your way."

"Dude, you're talking to a rodent," Riven pointed out, heading back into the ship. "Let's go."

"Actually, a rabbit is not classified as a rodent," Timmy explained. "You see, rodents have four incisors teeth – two on the top and two on the bottom – while a rabbit had six, the extra two located directly behind the two front ones which means that – "

"Oh, shut up."

"I'm confused, was that mission a success or not?" Sky asked Brandon as he watched Kiko pout. The squire gave one look at his princess, who beamed back at him and at once he knew the answer.

"Successful," Brandon answered with a grin. "Definitely."

"How did you think you know, like when you're in a relationship with someone, that it's time to take things further," Brandon asked as he slouched at his desk in his dorm, watching the rain pound on the window.

"What do ya mean?" Sky asked sleepily. The prince was on his bed lying on his back with his hands folded behind his head, trying to fight the urge not to fall asleep before dinner.

"How do you think you know when your ready to take a relationship further with a person?"

"You mean Stella? You've already asked her to be exclusive with you so how much further can you take your . . ." Sky started, but his blue eyes snapped open when he realized exactly what his best friend was hinting at. His mind fully awake now, Sky rolled over on his stomach so he could look at Brandon the right way up. "I dunno. I guess it's just one of those things you gotta know for yourself."

"Yeah, but how do you know when you know?" Brandon asked, confusing himself for a second. "I mean, is it a definite thing that you just know for sure, or is it a slight feeling? Or is it nothing at all so you spend your whole time wondering if you know and looking for signs that are never going to be there?"

"You've been thinking about this a lot," Sky noted. He could always tell whenever Brandon over analysed things. "Can I ask what brought it on?"

"Well, a whole lot of things, I guess. I mean, Stella and I have gotten pretty serious lately. We're exclusive now, she's wearing the ring I brought her, she's got my Red Fountain heroes jacket and I've told her that I love her."

"That is pretty serious," Sky agreed.

"And also, I . . ."

"What?"

"When I was in Down Land, Amentia brought to my attention the fact that she planned to finalize our marriage in all it aspects and I remember feeling regret that I was going to be denied having my first time with someone I really liked," Brandon confessed. Only with Sky could he be completely honest like that. Timmy was off somewhere so it was just the two of them in their dorm, so Brandon was free to open up to his deepest and most embarrassing feelings.

"That's fair enough," Sky nodded. "Do you think Stella feels the same way?"

"Yeah, I think so. She's kinda been dropping hints, like you saw how she was all over me on the way back from the Under Realm but I don't know if that means she wants to do it. I mean, we've fooled around a few times and – "

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that. I've seen the two of you," Sky reminded his friend, remembering the time right after school started not long ago when he walked in on one very intense make out session between the princess and the squire.

"Dude, that was your fault for not knocking."

"This is my room too you know."

"Anyway, what do you think I should do?"

"I dunno, give people some kind of warning before they walk in on that kind of session. Isn't it traditionally a tie on the door knob?"

"Sky! I was referring to the other thing!"

"I know, I know. I'm just toying with you," Sky laughed before becoming serious again. "I dunno. Talk to Stella about it."

"Well that was a big help," Brandon huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "Although, I should have known better than to ask you for advice. I mean, you're still to shy to ask Bloom to go exclusive with you."

Sky couldn't keep a faint flush of embarrassment enter his cheeks. "I'm getting to it."

"Well you better hurry up before she finds some other pretty boy to hang with. Didn't you tell me she was perving on that paladin right in front of you? What if he came flying in and snatched Bloom away from you? Huh? I bet you'd be kicking yourself for not asking Bloom to be exclusive with you sooner."

"Bloom would never run of with that bird brain," Sky told his friends, but his face gradually became more troubled as he recalled the way Bloom had all but drooled at that paladin. "Why? What have you heard?"

Brandon suddenly burst out laughing. "I'm just messing with you man. Bloom's nuts over you, bro. I think you should definitely have a talk with her and make this flirtatious little game of yours official."

"I'll think about it," Sky promised, though still completely terrified of the possibility that Bloom might reject him. "But you need to talk to Stella as well."

"I'll think about it," Brandon repeated with a mocking grin before getting to his feet. "Now let's go see what's for dinner. I am positively starving."

"Alright, settle," Javelin ordered his class quietly and his class instantly went silent; a feat that would require a lot of yelling by any other teacher. "Now I've marked all your papers, and while I am very pleased with the amount of effort that you boys put into your arguments, I was surprised at the fact that virtually all of you choose to debate who would win in the ultimate battle; pirates or ninjas."

"Pirates!" half the class instantly yelled.

"Ninjas!" the other half shouted.

"Oh gods," Javelin groaned as his class launched themselves into a massive shouting match over the ultimate battle. The teenagers were just about to break out into an out and out riot over the issue when the sound of someone laughing reached all of their ears. Looking towards the door of the classroom, everyone froze when they saw that standing there was none other than Saladin himself.

"I don't think I've ever seen one of your classes act like that before, Javelin," the headmaster chuckled.

"It's not my fault sir. For some reason they all decided to act like six year olds today," Javelin informed the older man with a completely straight face.

Saladin chuckled again before returning is attention back to the reason he was there in the first place. "I was wondering if I might be able to borrow Brandon and Sky for the rest of the day."

"Take them," Javelin replied instantly. "The less kids I have to deal with today the better."

Both Brandon and Sky quickly gathered up their notes while their classmates watched them enviously. Once they had all their belongings, the two Eraklyains bolted for the door while Javelin tried to once again teach his lesson.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Sky asked as he followed Saladin down the corridor.

"No, not at all," Saladin answered. "At least, nothing outside of the general chaos that happens around this place. My grandson Helia will be arriving shortly from Magix's space port and in half an hour I'm supposed to have a phone conference with the school directors about the unveiling of the new campus so I was wondering if it would be possible for the two of you to give him a tour of the school, or at least what's left of it."

"Of course sir," Sky said on behalf of Brandon and himself. "Like we said before, we'd be more than happy to show your grandson around and try to make him feel welcome here."

"Thank you. I know I can always count on the two of you no matter what the task may be," Saladin praised them. "You're both fine examples of what we aim to teach here at Red Fountain."

"We're honoured you think so, sir," Brandon said, almost overflowing with pride as the three of them made it to the front doors of the main building and entered the front courtyard. And standing there waiting them was Saladin's grandson, Helia.

Given the small height of the Headmaster, Helia was a lot taller than both the boys were expecting. Dressed all in loose clothing made out of natural fabrics, the new arrival was thin but the boys could tell that his body was made up with lean muscle which made it hard for them to determine how he might handle in a combat situation. Helia's skin was pale and contrasted by the boys black hair which reached most of the way down his back and was held back in a pony tail. Although both Brandon and Sky new that Helia was their age, his blue eyes held a maturity that made him appear older and no emotion was displayed on his face or in his stance as he turned to regard the trio that had just exited the building.

"Helia," Saladin greeted warmly, striding forward to clasp his grandson's hand fondly. "I'm glad you made it here alright. It's a long flight from Ossacip to Red Fountain."

"With space ships these days, trips can no longer be considered long when compared to how we used to travel," Helia said wisely with a small smile curling up the corners of his mouth.

"Very true," Saladin agreed, before regarding his grandson properly. "My goodness, how you've grown. I don't remember you ever being this much taller than me. And you resemble your mother greatly."

"So people tell me. She sends her best and says that she misses you."

"How sweet of her."

"She also says that she's been looking to some excellent nursing homes since people of your age should not be left to live on their own."

"Oh, she is a wicked child, isn't she? I was hoping that she was going to grow out of that roguish behaviour when she stopped being a teenager, but she's just as cheeky now as she was when she was seventeen."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that."

"Yes, no doubt," Saladin grinned before turning to introduce the two students standing behind him, watching the exchange. "This is Prince Sky and Brandon from Eraklyon. They're both juniors here at Red Fountain and two of the finest students I have had the privilege of teaching over the years. They have offered to show you around Red Fountain and their dorm is right next door to the room I've arranged for you so if you have any questions please do hesitate to ask them."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Helia greeted tranquilly with formal nod of the head.

"Right back at ya, man," Brandon said, purposely trying to break the formal mood of the greeting. "Don't worry, me and Sky gotcha back here, man. If you need anything, just ask us, kay?"

"Okay," Helia nodded, but his tone didn't sound too certain.

Helia had grown up living a very comfortable life with a very important family. While his life was nothing like the ones those born into royalty had, Helia's father was an important politician acting as a Foreign Minister and his mother, Saladin's daughter, was a powerful person in the medical community, so Helia had lived a much grander life then most people ever do. Helia had always been sent to the right schools and taught how to behave in a way that was socially accepting, so such colloquialism like what Brandon was using was not something he was quite used too. Even at Ossacip School of Art, which taught all forms of drama, visual arts, photography, music, dance and writing, the students all maintained a dignified sense of formalism while still feeling free to express themselves creatively.

Red Fountain, he had been warned, was nothing like Ossacip School of Art.

"I tell ya, I can't get a read on this Helia guy," Brandon sighed as he collapsed down into one of the seats at the table where Timmy and Riven were having lunch. Some of the squire's salad fell off his plate as he dropped his lunch tray on the table, but the exhausted looking teen paid no attention to it.

"How do you mean?" Timmy asked, brushing a piece of lettuce back towards Brandon's plate. "Is he rude?"

"No, nothing like that," Brandon said, picking up his sandwich and staring at it with no real urge to eat it. "He's kinda like Javelin in the sense that his so damn tranquil you have no idea what he's thinking. The entire time me and Sky were showing around what's left of the campus he barely said anything. He'd just observe things and maybe comment on some obscure part of it, but other than that he was completely silent. It's just weird."

"So he's a quiet person. There's nothing wrong with that," Timmy pointed out. "Some people just prefer not to talk just for the sake of talking."

"Well, I'm not one of those people," Brandon said stubbornly.

"We've noticed," Riven mumbled around his lunch.

"And I hate it when people don't say what's on their minds," Brandon told them. "It's like a frozen lake – "

"What?" both Timmy and Riven said in unison. Brandon could be really obscure at times.

" – cause you know that there's stuff happening under the water, but you can't see it because of the ice. I know that Helia's got stuff in his head, but I can't read him to try and figure out what that might be."

"Brandon, you just met him a few hours ago," Timmy highlighted. "He's not going to start spilling his soul out to you right away. Give it time. Get to know each other first, then you might be able to get a better reading on him. Where is he now?"

"Him and Sky are still getting their lunches," Brandon said, twisting in his seat to scan the mess hall. "In fact, here they come now. Yo Sky! Over here!"

"Huh, Helia's taller than I thought he would be," Timmy noted as the prince and the grandson of the headmaster made their way over to their table.

Brandon quickly spun around to point a warning finger at Riven. "Now be nice."

"Why do you always say that whenever we meet someone new?" Riven asked.

"Do I really need to answer that?"

"Hey guys," Sky greeted as he and Helia took a seat at the table. "This is Saladin's grandson. Helia. Helia, this is Timmy, Riven and of course you already know Brandon."

"Nice to meet you," Timmy grinned, but Helia was looking at Riven with a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

"Riven? You're name is Riven?" Helia asked. Timmy, Sky and Brandon all felt their guts twist in dread as an un-amused sneer spread across Riven's face.

"Yeah," the burgundy haired teen answered simply, his voice lacking a friendly tone that one might use when addressing someone new.

"As in the verb rive; strike or rend asunder; wrench; split; be split?" (2)

"What did you do? Swallow a dictionary?" Riven snarled. Brandon quickly reached across the table and hit his friend over the head. "Hey! What'd you do that for?"

"I told you; be nice," Brandon said.

"That was nice. I could have said much nastier if I really wanted to put the effort in."

"Haven't you ever been told 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all'?"

"Yeah. Do I listen? Not really," Riven shrugged and the look Brandon gave him was murderous.

"So, Helia, what do you think of Red Fountain so far?" Timmy asked in an attempt to change the conversation to something that wasn't so potentially dangerous.

"It's quite impressive," Helia answered honestly, somewhat relieve for a distraction from the two quarrelling teens. "The history behind the grounds is fascinating and that's something I didn't appreciate last time I was here."

"Yeah but how long ago was that?" Brandon questioned before shoving as much of his sandwich as he could manage into his mouth.

"Um, I would have been about nine so that's something like seven years ago."

"And have you ever considered enrolling yourself at Red Fountain?" Sky asked. "I'm sure Saladin would be able to find a place for you here."

"I know that my grandfather would love it if I transferred here to attend his school, but unfortunately heroics and bravery have never really appealed to me."

Sky found that to be somewhat surprising given that Helia was a direct descendant of Saladin, one of the universes greatest heroes. "Really?"

"Yeah, I just can't see the reason behind battles and fighting so I don't have any desire to transfer to a school whose main objective is teaching its students how to kill one another."

"That's not true," Sky objected as diplomatically as he could. "Red Fountain's objective is not to turn its students into murders, but to educate her students so that they may help people and stop injustice from happening all over the universe."

"Perhaps, but combat and tactics are two major subjects taught here which encourages violence and aggression between individuals. I not meaning to offend you guys or your school but I don't think that fighting is the correct path for the future."

"So you're opposed to fighting," Timmy noted.

Helia shrugged. "It just doesn't fit with my fathers ideals of pacifism which I happen to agree with."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that the grandson of the Headmaster of Red Fountain is a pacifist?" Riven laughed callously. "Now that's what I call ironic."

"Riven, what did I tell you?" Brandon scolded.

"What? It's funny."

"Riven!"

"Alright, alright. I'm goin'," Riven told them, picking up what was left of his lunch and getting to his feet. "Pacifism. What a joke."

"Is he always that welcoming?" Helia asked pleasantly as Riven walked off, still chuckling to himself.

"Yeah, pretty much," Brandon sighed tragically. Though on the inside, he knew that all three of them felt as though Riven has said what they had all been thinking. Red Fountain just wasn't a place for pacifism, and there was no way someone with Helia's ideals were going to last in a place like this.

"Do you think Saladin's going to be able to convince Helia to transfer here?" Brandon asked Sky that night while the two of them were in their dorm. Timmy had gone to the hanger to install a few new upgrades he had created for the squad ship and Riven had vanished somewhere to do as he pleased, leaving Sky and Brandon alone. The squire had filled his evening by starting his homework before getting distracted by the storm that was happening outside. Now he was ignoring his homework so he could stare into the mirror and try to make his hair fall a little differently just in case it looked better than the way he normally wore it.

"I don't think so," Sky answered, glancing between his phone and the clock that was sitting on the dresser beside his bed. So far that had been all he had done all night. "I mean the guy's a pacifist, and although I don't agree with the way he put it, Red Fountain does major in combat and tactics. Helia's a nice enough guy, but I just don't think he'd fit in here."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Brandon agreed. "He's kinda hard to read, too. Like he's not unfriendly or anything, but he is kinda aloof, don't cha think?"

"Yeah, whatever," Sky dismissed, snatching up his phone and scrolling through his phonebook till he got to Bloom's number. He had already called her five times already tonight, but he was yet to talk with the last Princess of Sparx.

And as Bloom's voicemail message started to play, Sky got the feeling that he wasn't going to speak to her tonight. "Hey, it's Bloom and Kiko. Here's the beep."

"Something's not right," Sky said, hanging up his phone without leaving a message. He had already left two and he didn't want to look obsessive. Brandon continued to fiddle with his hair the mirror. "Bloom hasn't answered her phone all night and we had a phone date scheduled three hours ago."

"Don't worry dude," Brandon told his best friend. "She's probably just out with another guy."

"This isn't jealousy here. I don't get jealous. I'm just worried something bad could have happened," Sky snapped as lightning flashed outside. "I mean, I know that Bloom's more than capable of taking care of herself, but there's a lot of stuff she doesn't understand. She did spend most of her life on Earth, after all, and Magix is totally different than Earth."

"Would you relax? I'm sure she's fine," Brandon assured Sky before a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Besides, if something bad did happen I'm sure that paladin could fly in and save her again."

Sky snapped at that point. Grabbing his levi bike keys he headed for the door. "That's it. I'm going over there."

"What? Sky, don't be ridiculous. I was just messing with you. Maybe Bloom just forgot about you phone date. These things happen after all. You don't want to go all the way over there and make a fool of yourself. Besides, it's raining outside."

"I know but I just want to make sure she's okay," Sky said, opening the door at the same time Timmy was going to open it. The teenaged genius jumped as the prince almost ran into him, causing his glasses to slip down the bridge of his nose. "Oh, sorry Timmy."

"It's okay," Timmy assured him as he fixed his glasses. "What's happening?"

"Sky reckons that he's going to drive all the way to Alfea to check on Bloom since she failed to answer her phone five times in a row," Brandon explained evenly.

"It was six," Sky muttered as if that made a shred of difference.

Timmy stared at Sky in disbelief. "But it's raining outside."

"I know that! But I'm worried about Bloom!" Sky snapped. He wasn't an idiot and yet his friends were treating him like one. Why couldn't they see that he was just worried about the girl he had feelings for?

"Sky, think about it. How are you going to explain to Bloom that you got all worked up just because she didn't answer her phone?" Timmy put to the prince. "You don't want to freak the girl out or suffocate her, and driving out in the middle of a storm might look a bit controlling."

"Controlling? I'm not controlling."

"I know, but it might look that way to Bloom."

Sky suddenly felt torn between his insane desire to check up on Bloom and the fear for him not too appears controlling. Finally, the blonde tossed his keys onto his desk and collapsed onto his bed, a sour look on his face throughout the entire process. "Dammit Timmy! Why do you always have to be so damn logical all the time?"

"It's a gift and a curse," Timmy sighed tragically, sitting down in front of his computer. "Now what brought this on? Normally you're really relax and laid back when it comes to Bloom – "

"No he isn't," Brandon interrupted. "He turns into a massive worry wart if she so much as breaks a nail."

" – and it's not like you to be so possessive."

"I dunno," Sky shrugged. "I guess ever since Layla and the pixies showed up, I felt like I've kinda taken a back seat. Every time I talk to Bloom she's distracted by Lockette, and like when we dropped them off after returning from the Under Realm, she didn't even say goodbye to me. It's like all her attention is focused on the pixies and she no longer has time for me."

"Hey, you're like Kiko," Brandon noticed with a wide grin.

"I am not like Kiko!"

"Want a carrot?"

"Oh shut up!"

"What are you juveniles squabbling about now?" a deep voice asked from the door and then three boys looked up to see Riven leaning in their doorframe and he was completely soaked. His clothes were drenched and his hair sagged slightly from its usual height due to the rain that had collected in there.

"What have you been up to?" Brandon demanded to know.

"Nothin'. It's just raining outside."

Sky snapped at that point. "I know! Okay? I know it's fricking raining outside! I've got a window here so I can see for myself! I don't need a weather update every three seconds!"

"Well that was unexpected," Riven said dryly as everyone stared at Sky in shock. "Anyways, like I was saying, it's raining outside and I really don't feel like sleeping out in a tent in that weather. Can I crash on your floor?"

"Yeah, sure. Go for it," Brandon told him. "Just dry yourself off first."

Instead of going and finding a towel like any civilized person might do, Riven complied with Brandon's request by shaking his body like dog, which in turn sent water flying everywhere to cause Timmy to freak out.

"Stop it! This is a new computer!" Timmy shouted, trying to shield his precious computer from the droplets of water. "The last one got destroyed when all the ice melted after the witches attack and I will not lose this one in the same way!"

"Calm down Timmy," Brandon grinned as Riven sat down on the ground not far from him. The squire could resist reaching over and messing up his friend's damp hair in the same way one might do with a dog. "I dunno why I was so upset about leaving Lady behind on Eraklyon when we got you, Riv. You can be our new pet."

Riven jerked his head out of Brandon's reach. "Touch me like that again and I'll piss in your shoes."

"Lady wouldn't do that. She was house trained."

"Oh piss off."

"Guys, what do I do with Bloom?" Sky asked, sitting upright. He needed to get the conversation back to focusing on his dilemma if he was going to find any peace of mind. Unfortunately, Riven had missed that part of the conversation so he had no idea what they were talking about, so instead he just made his own assumptions to what the prince was talking about.

"Weren't you listening in Sex Ed?" the burgundy haired specialist asked.

"No! I mean about the phone."

"You guys are having phone sex?"

"No! She won't answer her phone!"

"Well that explains why you're so agitated."

"Argh!" Sky screamed through clenched teeth, collapsing onto his back and covering his face with his pillow to muffle the sound of his frustrated screams. Riven and Timmy both stared at the prince in shock for the second time that night. Brandon, on the other hand, was doubled over, howling with laughter.

The next morning, Brandon opened his eyes slowly and one glance at his clock told him that he had woken up long before his alarm was due to go off. And even though the squire was wide awake with no chance of him falling back asleep again, Brandon felt no desire to get up since he was far too comfortable and his bed was far too warm for him to want to venture out of it.

Wrapping his blankets tightly around him, Brandon snuggled deeper down into his bed and viewed his room from his comfortable position. Sunlight spilled through the window, basking the room in a soft yellow light that made Brandon think of Stella. Everyone else was asleep, giving Brandon the chance to observe them all without objection.

One look at Sky and Brandon could tell that his best friend had not had a peaceful nights sleep. His blonde hair stuck out in all directions as a result of him tossing restlessly in his sleep. Even as he slept, Sky looked distressed and he still had his phone tightly clenched in his hand just in case Bloom called.

Timmy, on the other hand, looked as though he had slept as contently as a log, if logs could be called content.

Riven was one of those amazing people who could sleep absolutely anywhere and in any position, which meant that he never had to worry about finding a place to sleep if he got kicked out of his room for whatever reason. Which is why, instead of sleeping in a tent during the middle of a storm, Riven had been more than happy to crash on his friends dorm room floor. He didn't need a pillow or a blanket or anything like that. He was satisfied with just curling up on the floor like Lady used to do and drift off to sleep.

Brandon was still grinning at the similarities between the teenager and the dog that had been left behind on Eraklyon when Riven suddenly shot upright, causing Brandon to almost jump out of his skin. But Riven didn't even notice that the squire was awake since all his attention was focused on the muscles of his upper right leg which were cramping up to cause agonizing pain.

During class last year, Riven's leg had been impaled by a large shard of glass. Due to a side affect of Darcy messing with his head, Riven had been unable to feel that pain of it an as a result he had kept pushing it and never let it heal properly. But now that Darcy's spell had been lifted, Riven was able to feel his mistake in full force. Hissing through his teeth at the pain, Riven frantically massaged his cramping muscles in a desperate bid to get them to relax, and Brandon knew that there was nothing he could do to lessen his friend's agony. That wound and any other issues Riven had as a result with dealing with the Trix would eventually fade, but that was going to take time.

As the cramp faded, Riven collapsed back onto his back and stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily. As soon as he was able, Riven struggling to his feet and limped out of the room so he could let his friends sleep, and Brandon watched him go knowing that even though Riven was talking and hanging out with them again, they still had a long way to go before things were back to how they used to be.

You don't want to freak the girl out or suffocate her . . .

Timmy's voice kept repeating over and over again around Sky's head. Despite the fact that Timmy wasn't exactly a Casanova or an expert on the female species, the boy did have a good point. Sky didn't want to freak Bloom out and he didn't want to be the suffocating or controlling boyfriend like he had seen other boys do. But twenty-four hours after their planned phone date, he was yet to hear anything from Bloom.

"I'll try her one more time," Sky said to himself ask he hit the redial button on his phone. "Surely she'll answer this time."

Sky's foot tapped impatiently as he listened to the sound of the dial tone and a few seconds later, he heard the voice of the girl he was totally smitten with. "Hey."

"Hi Bloom, it's – "

" – it's Bloom and Kiko. Here's the beep."

"Dammit!" Sky snapped, throwing his phone onto his bed with a little more force than was necessary. After pacing for a few seconds, the prince decided on a course of action and grabbed his bike keys. He was going to make sure that Bloom was alright, once and for all. And he wasn't going alone. "Brandon! Get up!"

"Huh?" Brandon asked dumbly, waking up from the light doze he was having. "What?"

"We're going for a drive," Sky informed his best friend, throwing the squires helmet at him.

"Do I have to go? Can't you go by yourself or take Timmy or Riven?"

"No! Get up!"

"But I'm totally exhausted."

"Brandon! Move!"

In a daze, Brandon did as he was told. Once they were out on the road, the cold night air had managed to wake the squire up to a point where he was able to think clearly, and he still had no idea why Sky demanded he go for a drive with him. And he couldn't help but notice that they were making a bee line towards Alfea. "Sky, what are we doing?"

"I just wonna check on Bloom," Sky put simply, not taking his eyes off the road.

Brandon knew he shouldn't be surprised, but he still couldn't believe that his best friend was going so nuts about this whole Bloom not answering her phone thing. "So swing by tomorrow afternoon."

"Well I don't want her to know I'm checking up on her."

"So we're spying," Brandon noted.

"No! I . . . I just don't want to look obsessive."

"Right, right," Brandon muttered as the two of them entered the grounds of Alfea. Everything was dark, so the headlights of their levi bikes cut through the blackness sharply. Two magibeves flinched as the lights fell across them, and Brandon could almost swear that the male of the two was glaring at them with his beady little eyes. "Hey! Check it out, dude! I think we interrupted a tender moment."

But Sky wasn't entertained by the irritated rodents. Stopping his bike and removing his helmet, Sky wasted no time getting off his bike so he could observe his surroundings better. "Ah, one of these trees ought to do."

"For what?" Brandon asked, and he got his answer to his question in the form of Sky flipping up into the tree so he could spy through the windows. "You've got to be kidding me."

But, like any good squire would, Brandon climbed up the tree behind his prince.

"You hear that, dude?" Sky asked as soon as Brandon had joined him the thick branch of the tree. "It sounds like they're having a party."

"So what if they are?" Brandon sighed as Sky pulled out a high tech monocle that Timmy had invented during freshmen year when they were doing their surveillance unit. "Bro, I'm tired. Let's go back to Red Fountain and you cam see Bloom later. How does that sound?"

But Sky paid no attention to what his best friend was saying. Using the x-ray monocle, he was able to zoom in on one of the windows and make out two silhouettes, and one of them seemed very familiar. The other was a stranger to Sky, but there was no denying that the figure was a male. "I think that's Bloom."

"Er, what were you saying about you not being the jealous type?"

"Wait a minute! What's going on here? Who is that guy?" Sky demanded as he watched Bloom and this mystery guy play some strange chasing game. Leaning forward to get a better look, Sky put too much weight on one of the slimmer branches, causing it to break off and hurl towards the ground. Sky quickly returned his attention back to Bloom, but Brandon watched as the branch fell down to hit the male magibeve that they had annoyed earlier on the head.

"Careful, you don't wonna get the magibeves mad," Brandon warned, but again Sky ignored his friend.

"Just give me a sec," Sky said, focusing on Bloom again. He really wasn't liking what he was seeing. Brandon rolled his eyes at his friend, but then they widened as the tree the two of them were perched in started to shake.

"Huh?" Brandon gasped, looking down and too his horror he saw the magibeves chewing through the trunk of the tree with rapid determination. "Huh? Uh-oh."

Ever since the boys had become friends, the two of them had dragged each other into various awkward and uncomfortable situations that the two of them swore that they would never forgive the other for. And for Brandon, one of those was definitely going to be being dragged out to Alfea when he'd rather be asleep and climbing a tree to spy on someone only to have that tree sawn in half by two rodents till the tree fell, taking the boys with it.

"Dude, can we please go now?" Brandon begged as he lay in the branches, blood tricking out of several small but none the less painful scratches.

"Yeah. We can go," Sky answered in a small voice.

"Thank you."

(1) I have nothing personal against the pixies, but it is annoy to suddenly have to write in six new main characters into every chapter. I have a suspicion that the show creators discovered the exact same thing, which is why the pixies all have such a small part in the third season and in the movie

(2) That's copied straight from my dictionary, the Little Oxford Dictionary. It's so small and cute

I made the decision a long time ago that I didn't what Helia's inclusion into their group of friends as seamless and rushed as it was with Layla and the Winx Club. For me, that just went too fast. I mean, one minute they're just meeting the girl and the next Stella's planning to make her one of her bridesmaids, when they really don't know anything about the girl. And Riven's cramping leg is a physical representation of the fact that he's still healing form his time with the Trix. How deep am I?

Victory is mine!