Demons and Fairies

Chapter 8

The Army of Darkness

It's now been a day or so after the arena blew up, Team Urameshi was in their room, the Winx club and the other girls were at the beach on the island, all their stuff was packed and all that was left to go was to head out and go to their respective homes. "That's all the quiet staring I can handle, let's get out of here, okay," Yusuke commented but nobody moved, "after all this time it's going to feel weird not fearing for my life," he commented again as way of joking.

"Don't sweat it Urameshi, I could beat you up at school every day if that makes you feel better," Kuwabara suggested as he scratched his cheek, he was obviously joking but the only one who chuckled at the joke was Kurama.

"Yusuke's right, normal life for us all will seem pale for a while," the fox stated with a smile, he was obviously missing out on the fact that he and Hiei were both in relationships with fairies that can't seem to stay out of trouble, not for a single week.

It was at that time when Pu came to the window to be let in on the discussion, "hey," Yusuke opened the window to let the creature in, "there you are, alright Pu, I didn't think you'd ever come back after Genkai started talking through you. You're kind of like a telephone to the other side aren't you, well what are you waiting for operator, patch me into grandma, come on, which side is your receiver, what you'll do it for her but not for me," Yusuke asked as he messed with the creature.

"Stop it, Yusuke, it's not possible anymore, the spirit world Genkai spoke from was the land between the living and the dead, for a short time she'd stay in spirit world before parting that junction and head for their real journey begins. In truth, spirit world is a complex system of many different worlds, and with the lands of the dead there is no communication, Genkai's was a priority case, her placement should have been quick, so it's time we said our real goodbyes to her," Kurama suggested.

"It's so dumb, but fine, you heard fox boy, there's nothing we can do for the old hag if she's already limp, just gotta keep on trucking, yes sir, I'm going outside and make myself a nice, big, shiny, first place medal and sit in the sun with this stupendous first day dammit." Yusuke said all that as he was leaving the room, the other three were left in silence and couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guy that expressed his grief through anger and outbursts.

Hiei stopped leaning against the wall in the room and looked at where the detective left, "hn, he's so neck deep in repression even I feel sorry for him," he commented before Pu flew after his other half, Hiei decided to go meet his other half as well before heading somewhere else.

Everyone else was inside and getting ready for their departure from the island while Hiei and the girls were outside, Hiei was going to go back home with Bloom to meet the in-laws again, his first meeting with his mother-in-law wasn't his best impression. While the others were going to take the boat back to the mainland, Hiei and Bloom were going to teleport to Gardenia while the other members of the Winx club were going to go back to school, maybe Flora will visit Kurama, but the others were going back to Magix.

The others finally got outside, and everyone looked out at the ocean before they headed home, "you know, I'm actually going to miss this stupid place, feels like we've been here for years," Yusuke commented in a depressed tone.

"Losing someone can do that," Botan began before Kuwabara put his hand over her mouth and began to whisper to her about something the others didn't feel like wasting magic to try and hear.

"Well, like you all, we have places we need to be, but we don't want to go on a boat ride, so see ya, it was gross, fun at times, but mostly gross," Stella commented as she made the square portal back to the realm of Magix with a wave of her hand.

"I think what Stella is trying to say is that we'll be staying away from demon tournaments from now on, but come by Magix some time, we still have plenty of events you are not going to want to miss," Musa suggested as she shook everyone's hand.

"Remember though, you can't actually come into the school if you're human with no spiritual or magical ability, sorry Keiko, but that means you're out," Tecna reminded, she didn't want the girl to be left out, but the rules are the rules.

"That's okay Tecna, I've had my own fill of demons and fighting myself, just watching the guys fight was enough for me to die from a panic attack," Keiko reasoned with a wave of her hand as if it was no big deal, she actually did want to go, but she knew she couldn't do anything about it.

"Oh, looky here, our ships arrived, isn't that happy," Kuwabara noted before everyone else looked to wear a horn blared out before they all noted to what they were going back to, Yusuke and skipping detention, Kuwabara and games, Kurama and his mother.

Hiei didn't need to say anything, what he wanted to get back to was always at his side, but that didn't mean he couldn't make a small joke, "various crimes," which earned him a slap on the back of the head from his wife, it was well worth it to see all the deadpans.

"Well excuse me if I'm a little insulted," a gravely voice echoed throughout the group and made everyone stop and turn to see the owner of the voice, "you just going to leave the old fossil behind," Genkai surprisingly said not too far off from the group. Everyone, not Hiei, was ecstatic that she was alive and ran to her immediately, even the Winx club who hadn't known her long ran to celebrate her return from the dead, "must have rubbed off on me dimwit, I died like you, half-assed."

"Well, before the tears start to fall and I have to spend an hour comforting her, I suggest that me and Bloom leave, we have places to go," Hiei stated before turning to go in another direction then everyone else before he was called back by Botan.

"Hiei, Koenma wanted me to give you this, it's your own compact mirror, keep it on you at all times so that we can contact you incase you're needed, he's granted you permission to travel between Magix, the town you're already confined to, and Gardenia, that's it," Botan informed.

Hiei said nothing as he took the device and stuffed it in his pocket before Bloom walked to his side, she opened a portal for them before walking through it and finding themselves in a park at noon, the perfect time to visit the in-laws, oh what a happy day. They both walked with their arms locked and headed out of the park and headed straight for Bloom's parents house, it didn't look like much other than a nice apartment in a nice part of the town, Hiei never noticed before since he was too focused on finding her. When they reached the door, Bloom knocked, and they waited until someone came to open the door, it finally opened and revealed Vanessa looking ecstatic that her daughter and her husband have returned home, "Bloom, I've missed you sweetie," the mother said with a hug.

"I've missed you too mom, I know you've already met, but this is my husband, Hiei, formerly known as Imiko," Bloom introduced and Hiei held out his hand for a handshake before Vanessa scooped him up into a hug that was actually a little bone crushing, even for him.

"In this family, we don't greet each other with a handshake, only a hug will be enough for my new son-in-law," she informed, Hiei looked to Bloom for help on what to do, he does not hug, but his wife just looked at him as if expecting him to hug her back. Thankfully though, Vanessa got the message that Hiei wasn't one for hugs and decided to pull herself off him, "it's alright if you're not into hugs, at least for the moment, but we'll get you there eventually," she smiled as she said this and Hiei gave her a deadpan.

Vanessa led them inside the house and rushed them into the living room where a man was busy reading a newspaper, so he didn't notice them until Bloom said something, "wow dad, I know it's your job to be protective, but at least say hello to my husband."

"Bloom," Mike exclaimed before shooting up and making to hug his daughter that has returned home for a visit, "I've missed you," he then saw Hiei and regarded him, "hello, I'm Mike Peters, Blooms father, and your father-in-law, nice to finally meet the one who stole her heart."

If Hiei was any other person, and didn't want to make a good impression, he'd make a joke about how he was a good thief, a damn good thief, but he just held out his hand for Mike to shake and said, "likewise, it's good to meet the one who raised her so well, she's a good person," stoically.

"I hope that flattery isn't hope that you'll be able to share a room if you're staying here for the night before heading back to Alfea, you may be married but she's still my little girl, how long are you two staying anyways," Mike asked after making a comment.

"Two nights, Hiei needs some time to recover from a tournament he was forced to participate in, him and his team won the whole thing, but he was the only one to go undefeated," Bloom replied with a small grin at that little fact, her own little champion of the whole tournament.

"Wow, undefeated while the rest of your team lost a fight, that's impressive, but I hope that you kept out of the fighting, Bloom, I don't want to have to have the safety talk with the husband at this stage," Mike commented with a slight glare to the fire demon.

"You don't have to worry about that, Hiei even had a little talk with me about even becoming just a place holder in the final round, but oh well, how's everything else been going at the shop, mom," Bloom asked as they all took seats in the living room. That is where Hiei tuned out the chatter and chose to meditate instead, Bloom was able to pass it off as him recovering his energy from all the fights, she told of how he was actually a demon, if it were anyone else he wouldn't have allowed it, but this counts as family.

They accepted him regardless before they began to talk some more until night time, "now, we're going off to bed, Hiei can sleep down here while Bloom has her room, that is not going to change," Mike stated adamantly before him and Vanessa went to their room.

Bloom smiled to her parents as they moved up to their room before focusing back on Hiei, "have you given any thought to what you're going to do when we get back to Magix, you still need work or at least something to do while I'm in college," she asked as she snuggled next to him on the couch.

"True, I will need something to do while you're stuck in classes all day, but I have that covered, I talked with the law enforcement in Magix about becoming a bounty hunter, there are some criminals that need to be caught and I'm just the demon to do it," he replied with an evil smirk.

"That's a relief, I wouldn't want you to get board and go looking for trouble, remember when you got board on the forty eighth floor, it was when we were part of the scouting team for the floor bosses," Bloom asked with a giggle of amusement.

"You just had to bring that up, as I said when it happened, I didn't know the layout of the land, so how was I supposed to know I'd end up in a brothel, I didn't even know they had brothels in that virtual world," Hiei said with a shrug.

"Either way, it was very cute how you came out of there all flustered and yelling out, 'get away from me you worthless self-loathing harlots', I've never really seen you act that way and it was funny to see for the first time," she admitted while trying to imitate him, not even close to himself.

"Funny to you, but don't worry, I won't be going out to find trouble for myself, but we will still need a place to stay over your summer break and when you graduate," he said as he stood up and reached into his pocket to bring something out. It was a letter addressed to him, the same letter that Botan gave him when he first woke up, he showed it to Bloom whose eyes widened when she saw who it was from, and what was in the letter. "If you're having any trouble fully remembering or understanding how I got this letter, let me explain, for a few of the friends we made, I told them that if they ever die in the game, tell who leads them to the afterlife to mention the name Hiei, they did. That's also how I got our rings back, our friend that made them in SAO said they were replicas of ones he had in his shop, during that one attack on us by player killers, he died and told Botan about me, said to get the gold box that had our rings in them. That one friend who died while on that mission with the liberation army to attack gleam eyes, he mentioned me to Botan and that gave her reason enough to give her the money to give to me, but the last one was actually a challenge. Our blonde friend mentioned me to Botan and was able to persuade the ferry-girl to right me a letter on where she put a blank deed to a house like what we had back in the game, deep down I think they all knew that someone would beat the game and get us out."

Bloom read the letter again and again, and just as luck would have it, the house and deed to that house was in Gardenia, or to be more specific, it was right on the edge of town in the rural district, "even in death, our friends are still helping us," she commented with a small tear in her eye.

"Don't expect surprises like this all the time, I still have a reputation to maintain," Hiei joked with a smirk on his face as he stood behind her and watched as she craned her neck to look at him, they both knew what the other was thinking.

The next night

The next night is when they arrived back to the in-law's house, they had just been to see their house and it looked just like it did back in SAO, all they needed to do was restore it a little bit and it would be perfect for them, so they came back while that was done. They were just about to enter when Hiei sensed something off as Bloom was about to enter, Hiei grabbed her wrist and put his finger to his lips, that was when she knew that something was up, Hiei phased out and went in through the back. Bloom knew where he was going, this had always been their plan of attack in a home invasion, or any break in, he would sneak in through the back while she strutted in through the front in order to gauge the enemy strength before they both attacked.

When she got inside though, fear set in as she found the Trix standing in front of a dark plant that held her father upside down while a yellow ogre had a hold of her mother, it was a hostage situation and that changed things a bit. "Good evening Bloom, we've come to pay your parents a visit, I can call them that, right, now, we're going to take what rightfully belongs to us, go on ogre, she's all yours," Icy commanded before the ogre let out a roar and made to throw Bloom out.

Bloom had another other idea though, she had been practicing on transforming in an instant, and she did, blue cheerleader outfit, just what Hiei describes it as, and wings, before giving her fire physical form and making a trip rope for the ogre to trip over and fall out of the house. Bloom then launched herself for the ogre and rammed him into the ground by coating her form in a ball of fire, she walked out of the small hole she made as if she did nothing and glared at the Trix that were coming out of a dark bubble they formed for entrances, it seemed anyways. "You are going to be so sorry you attacked my parents," Bloom stated as she received a mental link up with Hiei, 'I hope that you get my parents out of there, I can't take all three Trix on by myself for long,' she told him honestly as she took to the skies to face the Trix.

'We have a slight problem, they accounted for someone to be here while they were busy with you, your parents are over a black hole and suspended with magic, if I try and free them, I could trip up and make them fall,' Hiei replied to her as he assessed the situation.

"No," Bloom said out loud before making her way back inside and saw that it was true, Hiei couldn't do anything because of the magic that the Trix were controlling, one wrong move and they would be sent to oblivion with no way to help them.

"We've learned a lot since our last bout, so it's magically spelled to only be undone if you hand over your power to us, and we have this little seal talisman we got from a quick trip to Japan for your hubby in case he got any ideas," Stormy said as she held up said talisman. She tossed the talisman to the demon for him to put on himself, Hiei inspected it and found that it actually was a sealing talisman, made to use one's own energy and turn it against them while causing as much pain as possible, whoever made it knew what they were doing.

With Bloom's family held hostage, he had no choice but to obey, he put the talisman on his right arm and felt the small amount of pain that it caused, it was small because he had felt even greater pain before, so it was small compared to that. "Now, for the dragon's flame," Icy said icily, there was nothing Bloom could do as she bowed her head and let Icy, Darcy, and Stormy steal her dragon's flame through a combined triad spell that linked all three of them together with the dragon's flame.

After the ritual was over, they disappeared in a haze of purple smoke, Mike and Vanessa was out of danger as the black whole closed and they were guided down to safety, Hiei couldn't do anything at the moment other than watch with his power sealed and family was in danger. Now that the danger has passed, he was able to tear off the seal and go over to Bloom who was weak from the spell used, and as he got to her, there was a light that filled the room and out of it came Stella, "Bloom, what's wrong," she asked.

"The Trix, they followed us and attacked by holding my parents hostage, they took my magic," Bloom informed as she clutched onto Hiei a little tighter, he wanted to comfort her, but couldn't find the words to say, she has just lost the one connection to her people.

"Why don't you two come back with me to Alfea, I'm sure we'll find some way to get back at the Trix and thwart their evil plans, plus, with your dragon's flame gone, Hiei's the only one with a dragon's flame to protect everyone," Stella suggested, smartly for once.

"That'll be for the best," Bloom said before turning to her parents and hugging them bye before Stella teleported them to Alfea, so they could all fight back, with the Trix having the dragon's flame, only bad things can happen.

Alfea

They got to Alfea and found nothing out of the ordinary, so whatever the Trix had planned hasn't happened yet, so they walked through the front entrance to the campus like nothing had happened, or made it seem that way that is, thankfully they were all good at acting. The three of them solemnly walked to Faragonda's office to let her know about what happened, and that they could all be attacked at any moment, so they needed to be ready for that eventuality, and to warn the other schools as well.

"I think that the best thing to do is make sure that all the students are given a crash course on offensive combat magics, we need them to be ready in case there's a war on our hands," Hiei suggested from his spot next to his wife, he had his right arm around her comfortingly.

"Why would a war be on our hands, they might have the power of the dragon's flame, but they have no way to control it, they don't have the experience," Griselda asked from beside of Faragonda, she made some tea to help calm down Bloom's nerves over the attack.

"Simple, even though they do not have the experience, they are still the descendants to the ancestral witches that first attacked Domino, meaning that they could use that as key to talk with any former allies they had, gain support and before long, gain an army to fight for them. They could also make up for their lack of experience by using the dragon's flame in a way so unpredictable that we will be all but useless to defend against if we don't act now, or we could just sit here and think up what they couldn't do until they show us what they can," Hiei theorized.

"Now that reasoning I can't deny, I'll make the needed arrangements, Griselda, I want you to gather all the teachers and hold off on regular classes till the threat passes and turn all classes into battle training, I want you and the teachers to be captains in our make-do army. For Hiei, I want you to gather all of the Winx Club and have training with them, they will make up the lieutenants to the teachers, and since you have the only dragon's flame, you'll get to be a general," Faragonda ordered before they all left for their assigned duties.

Hiei and Bloom went to the Winx Club's room to relay the information to them, "so that's it, we're all just conscripted into the army of Alfea, great, I just hope we don't have to wear a uniform," Stella commented as soon as she heard that they're going to be in the make shift army.

"This is not a time to be worried about fashion Stella, this is serious," Hiei snapped and the girl deflated and flinched from his tone, "you are each going to be fighting, Bloom will be in charge of communications, taking note of everyone's locations and if you're straying too far from the battlefield. The rest of you are going to be lieutenants, but make no mistake, you are going to be soldiers, you can wear what you want to, but this is going to be ruff, and nothing is going to help you other than your own survival instincts, let's get to work on developing them," and he meant it, harshly. Before they could get far though, the sky darkened almost in an instant and began raining, that rain formed into creatures of dark power, "scratch that, you're all going to receive a crash course in battle and bloodshed, move out, NOW," he ordered almost in a yell and forced the girls into action. Hiei caught Bloom before she could though, "here's my sword, you do not go anywhere without it and you stick to fighting as defense, until we get communications running you will be fighting, do not die," he ordered as he gave her his sword, which was a pretty big deal for her.

"Don't die on me either, if you do, I'll resurrect you to kill you again for leaving me," Bloom threatened as she held his sword expertly, she kept some skills with a blade she acquired from the game, he nodded and headed out with everyone else to see the creatures forming together.

Hiei started to give orders to everyone, "do not do low level narrow beams, use large wave beams, these creatures can reform if they are just disassembled," to emphasize his point, he waved his hand and sent a wave of his energy to disintegrate the monsters before them. It worked in driving the point across, it was a single moment for everyone else to process what he was saying, but they all learned it quickly enough, everyone was sending large bursts of magic out and destroying the creatures in a single blast, but they kept coming. A quick check on Bloom found she was holding her own against the creatures quite well, she easily spun out of the way of an oncoming claw before bisecting the dark creature with a single strike, a random fairy then came in and disintegrated it with a blast after that. Hiei got back to work blasting wide beams through the endless cycle of monsters that came, it was starting to get tedious, "everyone get behind me," all of the fairies got behind him as he sent a massive wave of energy and destroyed all of the monsters in sight in a single moment. That didn't stop the monsters that kept coming though, as the monsters got closer to the battle, they suddenly stopped and fell back, most likely going to wherever they came from, "Set up a perimeter, I want the weak spots at Alfea watched at all times, Palladium, make it happen," he ordered.

After the attack, they were all in Faragonda's office again, "the witches are planning an attack against us, they're doing what their ancestors did, back then they had seriously jeopardized the dimension's balance of power, and now, another generation of witches has taken up the fight. This time though, they possess a weapon their ancestors did not, your power," she said pointing to Bloom, "and that makes them utterly invincible, Bloom, at this point in time the only thing for you to do is to go back to Domino and search in the remnants of the royal palace to help you regain your power."

"In that case, I'll go, but Hiei, you need to stay here while me and the girls go to Domino, we can't leave the school undefended, be safe, I love you," Bloom told him with a hug, the safety of the school was top priority, but they were used to these situations, they had been frequent in the game.

"Very well, I'll go get Palladium, he'll help you get there through that simulation room, I've read up on it and I know it has the capabilities, you better take care while I'm not there, and don't let go of your sword, I love you too," Hiei told her as he hugged her back, they shared a quick kiss before separating.

Hiei left to go secure their defenses, Palladium needed to help them, so he'll take over and make sure everything was safe and ready for the next attack, he found the elf directing the students on where the best spot would be to defend, it didn't take long for him to notice his presence behind him. Palladium looked back before he heard a slight crash and looked to see that two fairies weren't watching where they were going so they ran into each other and crashed to the ground, "sorry girls, what can I do for you general Hiei," he asked, the general thing is going to take some getting used to.

"Faragonda needs for you to meet the girls in that simulation room to take them to Domino, I'll take over for the perimeter detail," Hiei ordered, Palladium nodded before running off to said room, Hiei turned his attention on where the defenses were set up, they were already strong. The only thing that really needed to be done was make sure areal defenses were set up, so he started to instruct them on that, they had been working for a few hours by the time the boys from Red Fountain came to seek shelter since their school was destroyed. This was actually better, now they had more troops and more manpower then what they previously had, but that didn't matter in a war of attrition, which is one of the reasons he was standing beside of Faragonda when they went to receive the boys that had been badly beaten.

"Come on in young men, we'll help you get settled," Faragonda announced as the small army was ushered in, Hiei saw the numbers, but also saw their skills, each one was skilled with a different type of weapon, and each weapon was not easily broken, but their moral was low from their loss.

"Thank you Faragonda, the situation is critical, Red Fountain has been destroyed," Saladin stated solemnly as he eyed Hiei for a moment, he had heard rumors of a young man being the husband to the dragon's flame holder, but he didn't think he would be this young, didn't even reach five feet.

"The magic dimension's fortress lays in ruins, their magical arsenal is astronomical, we had to withdraw," Codatorta hung his head low in shame at that, but then perked up some, "at least, here everyone is safe and sound," well, at least for the moment.

"Not yet, until this threat has been neutralized, there will be no safe place left, this war is only just beginning, my name is Hiei, while here, I'm in charge of the fairy army, I have several years of experience leading troops in combat, fighting in combat, and killing creatures of all types. So, do I trust that I'll have your boy's cooperation while I'm in charge, or do I need to make a demonstration out of some of them," Hiei asked as his eyes narrowed at them, he needed soldiers, and soldiers is what they had.

"Since you are in charge of the army here, I'll give you permission to lead them, but if you prove to be an incompetent leader, I'll take over, is that alright with you," Codatorta asked with a raised eyebrow, Hiei nodded before walking off to have some words with his new troops that have gathered.

They were all gathered in the atrium and waiting for their orders, or to rest a little before going into combat, Hiei decided it was time to get this over with, "what are you all standing around for," Hiei called out from in front of the large group, the boy's looked up to him as if he was crazy. "What, you think you can take it easy for a moment, this is war, and in war you don't have a minute of relaxation, the trix could come with their dark army at any moment, I want everyone getting everything ready for their attack, talk to the teachers, help in any way you can, NOW." Everyone scrambled to get to work, the glare they were getting from this small guy was way worse then anything that Codatorta had ever given them, they'll never admit it of course, but a few were scared to the point of quaking in their boots and almost peeing themselves.

They all got to work with everyone else, first on fortifying the land-based defenses, then working on the areal, and soon they were working on any magical teleporting protection that the sister might use, of course, all this mean nothing if they didn't have good and rested soldiers. So, Faragonda herself devised shifts for everyone, some would rest while everyone else got to work, when their work was done, they would rest while everyone else worked, and by the time that Bloom had returned, Alfea was a fortress ready to stand against the Trix. "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a college turned into a fortress before, nice job," Stella commented as she and Brandon, that was his name right, got off of the ship that some specialists took to retrieve the girls from Domino, and Sky was trying to flirt with Bloom, trying being the key word.

"I suggest you step away from her now before I assign you to latrine duty, get," Hiei commanded of the prince with a glare, the boy scampered away faster then most could follow, he's been trying to steel Bloom from the demon for a while now, but said demon was having none of it, neither was Bloom.

"I don't know why that guy won't take no for an answer, you know that he thinks I went away because he's marrying Diaspro and he thinks I'm upset about it, I honestly feel sorry for the poor girl," Bloom stated as she hooked arms with her husband, so they could walk together.

"As do I, but you shouldn't mind him, and from their Red Fountain, we've gained some useful information, Knut, the ogre that was working for the Trix, is on our side now and has given us some useful information, the Trix are working out of Cloud Tower," Hiei informed as they walked.

"Then that means that they have Griffin locked up there as well, we need to go get her and the other witches out of their binds, sneak in and make our way to their dungeons, with the fairies, heroes, and witches standing their ground, we can take on the Trix," she suggested.

"Yes, and after we take down the Trix, we should be able to restore your Dragon's flame, the only question left after that what to do with the Trix, sending them to prison of any type is disastrous, but they don't have the death penalty here either," he questioned as they neared Faragonda's office.

"I don't know what they'll do, but I do know that this won't be the end of anything, at least, not for a while, but as long as I have you by my side, I know that I can do anything," Bloom said as she hugged his side tight as they got to Faragonda's door.

Hiei gave a smile and a kiss on the top of her head, "you probably can, but we still need to get past this first, so let's get this strategy meeting over with," he turned his face back to his standard stoic face and she removed herself from him before they walked through the door.

When they got in, they were greeted with the sight of Knut, Faragonda, Codatorta, Stella, Brandon, Sky, Saladin, Sky, and Wizgiz standing around and waiting for them to arrive so they could start the meeting, Faragonda spoke first, "as we all know, the Trix have taken over Cloud Tower."

"We have decided to send in a small group with two objectives, the first is to free the prisoners being held there and get them to Alfea safely, the second is to see if you can get the Dragon Flame back from the witches," Saladin stated after the older fairy spoke.

"That means that Bloom, Stella, Knut, Brandon, and Hiei will be going to Cloud Tower, Bloom so she can try and reconnect with the Dragon Flame, Knut to lead the way through the tunnels, Stella and Brandon for support, and Hiei for a heavy hitter," Faragonda continued as well.

"Now wait just a minute, only a total lunatic would consider going anywhere near Cloud Tower right now, and it's too dangerous for Bloom to go anywhere near those witches," Sky put his two cents in to the conversation, "and shouldn't you be against this," he said to Hiei.

"The only problem I have is that there are too many people going, Stella and Brandon would slow us down, it should just be essential personnel, me, Bloom, and Knut since he's the only one that knows those tunnels," Hiei voiced his opinion, he knew Bloom could handle herself without magic.

"Besides, us sneaking in is the very last thing the witches expect from us, and I need to get right into the castle, we have no other choice," Bloom voiced, she found it annoying that Sky thought of her as a damsel in distress but found it sweet that her husband knew her better.

"Oh, come on, you've lost all of your magic powers, you're putting your life at risk," Sky exclaimed in fury at not being listened to, if only this was a Bloom he could control, one that would be week enough to cower before him and only show her power when ordered.

"First off, that isn't your call to make, second, you have no control over me or when and if I risk my life, third and the most important, you are now, nor will you ever be the one I love, so your opinion on this is irrelevant," Bloom argued back calmly, almost stoically.

"Enough of this, I know what you think Sky, but this decision is not yours, Hiei, I know you want to get this done fast, but just the three of you will not be enough to get by their defenses and free the prisoners, so Stella and Brandon will be going with you," Faragonda ordered sternly.

"Hn," both Hiei and Bloom grunted while turning away from the group a little bit, the others just sweat dropped at how similar they're becoming, they heard of husbands and wives resembling one another but this was getting too weird for them.

"It's time for you to go, say your goodbyes to the other Winx, and make us proud young ones," Saladin said to them, it was time for them to go, and by the looks of the sky and the outside, it was drawing near the final battle, so they needed to hurry, before it's too late.