Chapter 6
The sight of all the plants brought a smile to Flora's face as she and Helia appeared on Linphea. She looked all around at the trees that grew so high that she could not see the tops of them. Looking to her right she could see a smile on Helia's face as he stared into her eyes.
"So where do we go?" Helia asked.
"We need to go and see the Sage," Flora responded, "She will know where the Life Lily is."
Helia nodded his head and both walked toward a large tree in the distance.
"What is the sage like Flora?" Helia asked as he followed behind the nature fairy.
"She is the wisest person on the planet," Flora replied, "If anyone knows where we can find the lily she will."
Traveling a distance farther Helia could see what looked like a city up in the top of the tree that they were heading toward. "Is that where we are going?"
"Yes," Flora responded, "That is the City of Trees."
"Flora!" A voice yelled from the distance.
Flora turned to see a young girl running toward her and Helia.
"Miele!" Flora called out as the girl neared both her and Helia.
"Why didn't you let me know you were coming?" Miele cried as she wrapped her arms around Flora's legs.
"It's nice to see you too Miele." Flora replied as she wrapped her arms around her little sister.
"Flora we need to get going." Helia said as he looked at the two sisters.
"Where are you going?" Miele asked as she turned to look at Helia.
"We need to get to the Sage to help a friend." Helia replied.
"What's wrong?" Miele looked to see sadness in her sister's eyes.
"She is very sick and the Sage may be the only one that can help us." Flora replied.
"Then we better hurry." Miele said as she started to head toward the large tree in the distance.
It took them about a half hour to reach the bottom of the tree that they were all heading toward. Helia looked up toward the top of the tree but could no longer see the city above.
"How are we going to get up there?" Helia asked.
A giggle caused Helia to turn his vision to where Miele was standing. He noticed a large leaf sitting on the ground next to the young fairy. "We will take this." She replied as she climbed onto the leaf.
"Hurry up Helia." Flora said as she joined Miele.
Helia climbed onto the leaf just before a gust of wind lifted them into the air. Both girls giggled as they noticed Helia's grip tighten onto the sides of the leaf as it climbed closer to the city above. Miele and Flora climbed off of the leaf as it settled only to turn around to see Helia still tightly gripping the leaf.
"You can let go," Miele said with a laugh as she looked at the specialist.
"O… Okay," Helia replied as he loosened his grip.
Flora carefully helped Helia off onto the branches of the City of Trees. After a few moments with Flora and Miele's help they made their way to where the Sage was waiting. After entering the room Helia looked up to see a massive waterfall with a person sitting at the bottom of it.
"Welcome fairy of Alfea." The Sage said without opening her eyes, "What brings you here today?"
"We need the Life Lily," Flora said with sadness in her voice, "We have a very sick friend and need it to heal her."
"Are you sure you are ready for the trial that awaits you when you arrive at your destination?" The sage asked as she turned her head toward the three people before her.
"Yes we are," Flora replied.
"Wait a moment what is the trial that awaits us?" Helia asked as he looked up at the Sage.
"An unknown creature guards the Life Lily." The Sage replied.
"So we have to defeat this creature," Helia said as he looked over at Flora.
"All that have gone to defeat this creature have failed," The Sage responded, "You must claim the Life Lily."
"Where can we find the lily?" Flora asked.
"It is in the Cave of Life," The Sage replied as she turned her face toward the nature fairy.
"Do you know where the cave is?" Helia asked as he looked toward Flora.
"Yes I do," Flora answered as she turned to look at Miele, "But you are going to be staying here."
"Flora I want to help." Miele said as she looked at her sister.
Flora dropped down to eye level with her sister, "I know you want to help but this is going to be too dangerous."
"But Fl," Miele began.
"No Miele," Flora interrupted as she warped her arms around her sister, "I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Okay," Miele replied as she wrapped her arms around Flora, "I'll wait here for you."
Flora let go of Miele and turned to look at Helia, "We better get going."
"What do you mean?" Helia asked as he looked at Flora.
"The Cave of Life is on the other side of Linphea." Flora responded.
"Great," Helia said as he turned to head toward the exit, "It's going to take us a while to get there."
"Wait!" The Sage exclaimed.
Both of them stopped and turned to see the Sage slowly stand. As she moved they both noticed a small cave behind where she had been sitting.
"This, fairy of Alfea, is a portal to where the Cave of Life is," She explained looking the nature fairy in the eye.
Flora and Helia climbed to where the Sage was standing to see a tunnel situated just behind the waterfall. They looked at each other before they slowly walked through the waterfall into the darkness of the passage. Suddenly a loud sound echoed down the passage making Flora and Helia turn to see the entrance now closed.
"Guess there's no turning back." Helia said before heading farther into the tunnel.
After walking for an unknown distance a little started to form before both people in the passageway. Both Flora and Helia had to cover their eyes from the sun's light as they exited the cave that they were in.
After their eyes had adjusted they could see a cliff on the other side of the valley that they had just entered. Looking down they could see a lush forest and hear birds chirping in the distance.
"Alright let's get going," Flora began, leading Helia through the undergrowth and scrub. The birds sung above them in the high tree tops and Helia couldn't help the smile that spread over his face. If only he had his sketch book he could find one place to sit and capture all of this beauty with his pencil or paint brushes. But there was no time to stop, not when Roxy was slowly deteriorating the longer they were out here.
The two of them continued along the forest floor when Helia suddenly stopped, feeling something strange underfoot. Flora continued and didn't notice a thing when she suddenly heard a yell, a yell that sounded like Helia.
Quickly she turned only to see the place where Helia had been following her was gone, the ground had collapsed, leaving nothing but a dark chasm, surrounded by jagged rocks. Quickly she ran to the edge and peered inside. "Helia!" She yelled, her voice echoing off the cave's sides. "Helia! Answer me!"
Helia opened his eyes and slowly managed to get back onto his feet, wiping stray dirt and debris from his uniform and hair. "Helia!"
"I'm ok Flora!" He replied.
"Hang on; I'm coming down to get you."
Helia coughed as a new mouthful of dirt entered his lungs when he saw a single beam of light in the distance, at the end of the long pathway. "Flora, I think you should come down and see this!"
Flora descended carefully, using her wings to lower her to the ground. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," he nodded before pointing in the distance. "But is that what I think it is?"
Flora looked in the direction that Helia was pointing to see a single lily sitting in a pool of water, "I think it is."
The two carefully made their way toward the pool, as they neared a growling could be heard coming from the darkness.
"What was that?" Flora asked as she looked into the darkness.
"I don't know but let's just get the lily and get out of here." Helia replied as he moved into the water.
Carefully he reached forwards when a sharp rock fell from above, narrowly missing his fingers.
Helia retracted his hand just in time before looking up at two bright green eyes.
"Helia move!"
Flora watched Helia dive back towards the shore, pushing his wet legs through the water as a shower of rocks fell from the roof, each one just missing him but keeping the lily safe. Flora reached forwards to take a hold of his hand and pulled him to her level when they heard a second growl echo around the cavern. "Do you see anything?" Helia asked, looking to the dark cave walls.
"No," Flora sighed when she felt something against her leg and screamed.
"What's wrong?" Helia asked as he turned toward Flora.
Flora only noticed a blur as something dove at Helia knocking him back into the water. She could see the water beginning to turn red in the area that Helia had just fallen in. A few seconds later he surfaced and climbed out of the water before more sharp rocks fell into the pool. Helia looked up into Flora's jade eyes to reveal a gash over his right eye as stood up.
"Something is in here with us," Helia stated as he wiped some blood from his brow.
"I know," Flora replied, "But where is it?"
Before either could say anything else Flora could feel something brushing against her leg again causing her to scream. Helia turned to see the shadow of something running off into the darkness.
"We need to see this thing," Helia complained as he looked into the darkness.
"I have an idea that might help out." Flora said as her right hand began to glow.
The light off of Flora's hand illuminated the cavern that they were in. Quickly Helia caught sight of something trying to hide in the shadows before it charged at Flora. Helia pushed Flora out of the lunging cat like creatures path but felt its claws rake against his back. Standing up quickly Helia noticed that the illumination of the cave had faded.
"Flora I need some light." Helia said as he peered into the darkness.
After a few moments of silence Helia turned to see that Flora was missing. He could see a faint trail of blood along the ground. Continuing to look into the darkness Helia was searching for any sign of the creature or for Flora. He slowly started to walk in the direction that the trail of blood had gone.
After walking a short distance Helia arrived at a pile of sharp rocks and boulders lying on the ground. After examining them for a few seconds the feeling of something wet landing on his left shoulder.
Helia held his breath slightly as he lifted his gaze, tilting his head back when he saw Flora, clawing her hands at her hair to try and release the creature's jaws. "Flora!" He yelled, as a single drop of blood that slid from her leg landed on his face. He wiped it away before pulling himself together.
"Don't worry I'll get you down," he said reassuringly before launching the ropes from his glove to a section of rock just past Flora's head wrapping around a rock near the creature.
Suddenly Flora fell to the Earth as the ropes snapped. Helia dropped to his knees by her side. Helia looked to a large cut on her thigh, slowly leaking blood down the rest of her leg. She winced as he inspected it with his hands. Then the growl sounded once more.
"What has brought you two intruders to my den?" The creature snarled with part of the ropes from Helia's glove in its mouth.
"We're not here to intrude," Flora replied with pain in her voice, "We just need the Life Lily to help a friend."
"Why should I care if your friend needs help?" The creature asked as it dropped the ropes out of its mouth.
"Please if you allow us to get the lily then we will leave you in peace." Helia answered.
"I am the guardian of the lily and you have not proven that you can be trusted with it," The creature said as it bared its fangs at the two people below.
"Is there anything we can do to prove our worthiness?" Flora asked as she looked up at the creature.
The pure black cat stared directly into Flora's eyes with its own glowing green ones before dropping to the ground below. It stalked over to where Flora and Helia were still on the ground watching the creature.
"Is this friend someone that you are willing to die for fairy?" The creature asked as it walked around Flora and Helia.
"If it means helping Roxy then yes," Flora answered.
"And you Specialist?" The creature asked as it turned its gaze toward Helia.
"My answer is the same." Helia responded.
The creature stopped in front of the two people and growled baring its fangs, "Then you can go Specialist with the Life Lily to save this friend of yours but the fairy must stay as a sacrifice."
Helia turned to face Flora with worry in his eyes. "Helia you have to go," he sighed but he shook his head and took her hands in his own. "No, I can't just leave you here."
"Roxy needs us!" Flora exclaimed. "She needs that Lily and if this is the only way for us to get it to her than we should do it."
"I can't leave you behind," Helia sighed, tears filling his eyes at the thought of leaving her.
He swallowed his emotion and turned to the creature. "Can I stay in her place?"
"No," The creature growled, "I have made my decision and you must live with it."
"Please Helia go," Flora said with tears in her eyes.
Reluctantly Helia released Flora's hands before slowly standing up.
"It's the right thing to do," Flora said as she turned to look at the creature.
"I know but I don't like it." Helia responded with tears still flowing from his eyes.
"I love you Helia," Flora said with sadness in her voice, "Now go before this thing changes its mind."
Flora felt a few tears fall on her right hand before turning to see Helia slowly leaving the cavern. She turned back to see the creature slowly stalking forward toward her while it licked its lips. She closed her eyes to wait for when the creature attacked her. Sitting there she could feel the creature breathing on her neck.
'Please Helia hurry and get the lily to Roxy.' Flora thought.
Flora sat there with her eyes shut but did not feel any pain. She slowly opened her left eye when she felt a something wet brush against her injured leg. To her surprise the creature was licking around the wound on her thigh.
"What's going on?" Flora asked as she looked at the creature.
"Your heart is pure fairy," The creature snarled, "All that have said they would die for a friend later begged my mercy. They trembled in fear, asking me not to kill them, but moments before had vowed that they were willing to lay down their lives to save their friends. But you did not."
Flora watched as the wound on her thigh scabbed over from the creatures licks. With the creatures help she was able to slowly stand to her feet.
"Now go and help your friend." The creature growled.
"Thank you," Flora replied before turning to catch up to Helia.
Helia stopped as he neared the pool of water with the lily in it. Turning back to the direction that he had just come from tears began to fill his eyes again.
'I can't do this,' Helia thought, 'I need to go back and save Flora.'
Taking a step back in the direction of the creature something moving in the shadows caused him to stop. He strained his eyes to try and figure out what was moving, 'could the creature have already killed Flora and come for me' he thought.
As whatever was moving in the shadows stepped into the light he felt the strength in his legs give out. Tears freely flowing from his eyes as he landed on the ground looking at the one person he thought that he would never see again. Flora ran over to Helia and dropped to her knees before wrapping her arms around him.
"Ho…How?" Helia asked, shock and desperation entering his words. How was Flora still alive?
"It's not important," Flora replied, kneeling before him. "We need to get the lily back to Rox-" her last word caught in her throat as Helia wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a warm and tight embrace.
Tears of happiness fell from his eyes and into her hair as she held him back. "It's ok, we're going to be ok." Helia leant back as Flora stood and offered him her hand; he took it and stood to his shaky feet as the two walked to the pond that contained the item they had fought so hard for.
Miele sat on the ground of the cave while the Sage stood beside her. It had been about half an hour and still there was no sign of either Flora or Helia. The Sage placed a hand on her shoulder causing Miele to look up at her, "Be strong little fairy." Miele gave a weak smile as she continued to wait. The portal activated once more and Miele stood to her feet in anticipation. The Sage too turned her vision toward the portal, wondering if it would be the creature delivering the bodies of those he had killed or if they would walk out alive.
Helia was the first to walk through with the Life Lily in his hands and Miele ran forwards, hugging his leg as tightly as her little arms could. "Where's Flora?" She asked but before Helia could explain she stepped through the portal herself, still carrying a slight limp as she knelt to the ground and Miele slammed into her chest. Flora's arms encircled her sister's body as Miele whimpered quietly into her shoulder.
"Shh…its ok, we're both ok."
"And you are both the only ones to be granted the use of the Life Lily. Well done fairy of Alfea, you may now leave and help your friend." Flora nodded before taking Helia's hand into one hand and Miele's into the other. "Winx Zoomix!"
The briefly landed back at Miele's home to return her and once that was done they disappeared, hoping that they weren't too late.
Flora and Helia appeared outside the main entrance of the school. They quickly made their way to the room that Tecna and Timmy were getting prepared, after exiting the room they both noticed Layla running down the hall toward them.
"Is everything okay Layla?" Helia asked.
"No, I can't find Roxy." Layla responded as she tried to catch her breath.
"What happened?" Flora asked as she looked at her friend.
Layla explained everything that had happened since the girls had left, Mirta's broken arm, Alice being seriously hurt and Brandon gaining broken ribs after everything that had happened on Solaria.
"Why isn't Stella helping look for Roxy?" Flora asked as she ran down one of the hallways.
"She still has not fully forgiven Roxy for what happened to Brandon," Layla replied as they turned down a different hallway, "And Stella yelling at Roxy did not help."
A quick glance through one of the windows caused Helia to stop. "Girls she's outside," He called out before rushing off toward the entrance of the school with the two fairies right behind him.
"Hurry, we can't lose her again," Layla commanded as they reached the bottom of the stairs and exited into the quad. The group quickly looked around before heading toward the large light blue gates of the school. As they neared the gate a group of fairies walked in front of everyone causing them to stop, Layla ordered them to quickly step aside before taking a few steps toward the gate.
"Roxy!" A voice yelled from outside the gate.
Layla took off sprinting as fast as her feet could take her when she heard the squealing of tires. 'Not the bus to Magix' Layla thought as she turned the corner. The sight that came into her vision broke the young fairies heart.
Not far from the front of the bus Roxy standing off to the side of the road with tears flowing from her eyes. Layla could see Galatea lying on the ground with a pool of blood under her body. After moving over to the young music fairy Layla could see blood flowing from a deep gash at the top of her head, her right arm was bent in an unusual position. Her left leg was bent under her body and blood was slowly flowing from her mouth.
Flora heard a sickening smash as the crowds of people began to scream. Helia took her hand and pulled her along until they too rounded the corner and saw Layla kneeling next to their blood covered friend, patting the side of her face. "Galatea, Galatea please keep your eyes open for me. Someone help me!"
Professor Dufour suddenly appeared, kneeling on the other side of the music fairy and checking her pulse. It was low. "Helia, call an ambulance!" She ordered and he did just that while Flora was in a state of shock, she couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She watched as Roxy tried to defy what had happened, asked why she had done it and finally Flora realized what had happened. Galatea had saved her life by sacrificing her own.
Roxy slowly walked over to where Layla was kneeling down looking into the blood covered eyes of Galatea. Tears flowing down her face caused Roxy's vision to blur as she saw two tears slowly move down the young fairies cheeks leaving red streaks as they moved. "Why?" Roxy was finally able to ask. Galatea just stared up at the animal fairy with a weak smile on her face.
Just as Galatea's eyes closed Roxy felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her away from her friend and into the circle of people around them. "What happened?" Faragonda asked a tear stricken Layla who shook her head to try and gain some clarity. "I…she was hit…by the bus."
Roxy looked back to the front of the bus, now covered with a smudge of blood and with its window broken. She couldn't believe that Galatea would have done such a thing for her, stopped her, pushed her out of the way of that bus and saved her life. She wiped another tear from her eye as paramedics arrived and started their duties, one of them checking her blood pressure and applying gauze packs while the other placed an oxygen mask over her face. "Her pressures dropping, she has internal injuries," one paramedic explained, helping the others lift her onto a spinal board and apply a collar to keep her head still.
Faragonda watched from a distance with her hands on Layla's shoulder, trying to console the morphix fairy who had done everything she could to keep her conscious. "Everyone! Time to leave!" she ordered. "Give the medics some room." As the crowd shifted Roxy used the time to split away from the others and walk into the forest. Flora saw her move but didn't react. If the same thing had happened to her she would probably want to be alone for a while too.
After entering back into the quad of the school Ms. Faragonda turned to look at all the saddened faces of Galatea's friends. "We can only hope for the best," Faragonda said with a sincere voice, "Layla, Flora and Helia would you please come with me?" The three nodded their heads and followed the headmistress up to one of the benches nearby.
"Can any of you tell me what happened?" Faragonda asked as she looked at the people near her.
"We had just arrived back from Linphea with the Life Lily," Flora began, "After Helia and I had given it to Tecna and Timmy I saw Layla and she told us what had happened before we had arrived. She then asked us to help look for Roxy and we all started the search, Helia had seen her outside. We rushed out and did not find her, Layla rushed out when Galatea yelled out Roxy's name." A few tears started to flow from Flora's eyes before Helia wrapped an arm around her comforting her, "She must have pushed Roxy out of the way of the bus but could not have gotten away herself."
"Then if that is the case we must lock Roxy up before anyone else is hurt," Faragonda replied after hearing what Flora had just said.
"We can't do that!" Layla exclaimed with a shocked voice.
"I'm afraid it's our only option. We can't have her putting herself and others in danger especially after Galatea, Alice, Mirta and Brandon. I'm sorry girls but my hands are tied. It's the only thing do aside from sedating her until the others bring their items back to make the cure." Faragonda's tone was serious and the girls understood why it seemed to be the best thing to do. "I don't like this anymore then you do girls," the headmistress looked around to see where the fairy in question was, "did any of you see where Roxy disappeared to?"
"I saw her walking into the forest," Flora said as she thought, "in the direction of Magix."
"No!" Faragonda said as she stood up, "If she gets to Magix she could use the transporter station and go anywhere, you need to go and find her now." But little did Ms. Faragonda know that Roxy wasn't heading for the transporter station at all.
Sitting on top of one of the tallest buildings in the city Roxy looked in the distance to see the silhouette of the school for fairies. Tears filling her eyes as she looked at her school thinking about how she had hurt her friends. Slowly standing up she moved to the edge of the building and looked down at the ground.
'I can't forgive myself for what happened,' Roxy thought, 'this is the only thing I can do for them.'
Roxy took a deep breath and closed her eyes before…
Author's Note- AN: So what do you think will happen next? And what do you think will be Musa's reaction when she finds out about what happened to Galatea? Please tell me through your review! I'd really appreciate it.