3. Alfea's Archive
"I have a bad feeling" whispered Stormy right after crossing the gate to Earth. Darcy shivered anxiously. Icy looked at her and frowned. Something was wrong.
"Lead the way, Darcy" she said coldly, as the general to the soldier, pointing the way to the surface. Dark-haired swam to the top without a word and Icy and Stormy followed her. Witches emerged from the ocean and instantly encountered what they were looking for.
"Sisters. Today is our lucky day." Said the leader with a cunning smile.
"What were you saying about that lucky day?" muttered Stormy, falling on the ground next to Darcy, which was leaning against the tree.
"Nothing. Forget it." Sighed the leader, sitting down on the nearest rock.
"I don't like escaping from fairies. It's humiliating." Witch of illusion crossed her arms.
"Is optimist gone?" Stormy asked mischievously, stabbing her sister's cheek.
"Leave me alone!" growled Darcy, pushing turquoise-eyed to the lake, which was a part of their hideout.
"Hey! That water is icy cold! That was unfair!" yelled wind queen and clambered on the shore, shivering.
"Maybe not fair, but funny" witch of illusion smiled to herself and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the tree.
"We'll see if you found that funny" whispered Stormy furiously. She lifted her hand in the direction of the lake, raised little of water and then tossed it on Darcy. Golden-eyed screamed in shock.
"Stormy. I am going to kill you." She said, standing up and clenching her fists, in which began to form spheres of dark energy.
"What exactly is our goal? Is it still the Dragon Flame? Or just desire to send the redhead fairy and her friends to the afterlife?" asked Icy suddenly, still sitting on the rock with gloomy face and stared at the ground. She seemed to not realise that her sisters are about to kill each other, which was not that unusual. Darcy and Stormy looked at witch of ice with genuine surprise, stopping their small fight.
"Actually…" begun turquoise-eyed, but she didn't say anything else. She sat down on the rock next to white-haired with sadness, because she didn't know the answer on the question. There was a moment of sad silence.
"Okay! Get a grip! Both of you!" shouted Darcy imperiously. Icy looked at her sister as if she was crazy. "Think positive! We will win someday, won't we?"
Icy and Stormy looked at each other and said at the same time
"No, we won't"
"With that approach you can go back to LighRock monastery" sighed golden-eyed and resigned sat by the shore of the lake. She looked around lazily. She picked up the first stone she saw and threw it into the water…
Night is the most beautiful time of day. Favourite time of witches. Not only the best for rituals, doing potions or casting ancient spells in the light of the moon. Magic of night, stars, moonlight was causing that even the thickest ice could melt and release the heart, human feelings, memories…in the quiet night it is easier to talk…
Darcy was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't even notice when the darkness fell. She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Icy, sitting next to her sister.
"I summarize last days" replied golden-eyed.
"And how is it going?"
"Well…we were defeated by the Winx, again. We were send to prison, again. We escaped from prison, again. We made alliance with some man~"
"He's a triton" interjected Icy.
"~which will probably use us, again. And you fell in love with him, again." Finished witch of illusion "We should work on our own, just like we used to…" she added, but it was so quiet that her sister haven't heard it.
"The fact I was in love with Valtor doeasn't mean that I'm in love with Tritannus" replied white-haired with offended look on her face and crossed arms.
"Yeah, right. And I'm an angel with aureole hovering over my head" snorted Darcy.
"Come on, I'm just…pretending…"
"You don't sound convincing to me" murmured witch of illusion "Even if I wish it to be truth"
"He won't use us" said blue-eyed, staring ahead. "We will use him" she added with a twinkle in her eye and sly grin "He's ambitious and naïve. He'll do everything I tell him"
"Compaired to Darkar and Valtor he seems to be more submissive, but…he is not evil. I mean, he is only mutated rebel and rejected son of king Neptune, which is obssesed with toxins"
"All the better, easier to manipulate him" replied witch of ice.
"That sounds covincing, but I don't believe you" golden-eyed smiled artificaly. Icy rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was ling or telling the truth. She always though that as witch of ice she should be cold, without feelings…and then Tritannus suddenly appears and makes her feel so confused…
"Do you remember when Stormy's father told us about Erin?" asked Darcy, breaking the silence "He said that when he was at Andros he gave it to someone who needed it more than him"
"You think…Tritannus has it?"
"He or his twin brother, Nereus. No other possibily." Darcy shrugged her shoulders "Lorcan was on the ceremony in underwater castle of king Neptune and if I remember correcly, Erin can be held only by male member of the royal family"
"Do you realize how powerfull sorce of power we are close to? We can't waste the chance like that"
"Worse if Nereus has this artifact…" There was a silence for a moment.
"We'll find better hideout when we get stronger" said blue-eyed, changing the subject.
"No need to…it's a great spot to watch the stars" said Darcy in a low voice and layed down on the grass, looking up at the night sky.
"Stars and Cloud Tower, huh?" said the leader. Golden-eyed closed her eyes.
"I wish to be as powerfull as we were when we got the Dragon Flame…" said Darcy in a dreamy voice. She shivered anxiously again. Icy pretended that she didn't notice it, but she was about to get know what is going on with her sister.
"It will happen soon again" whispered white-haired with mysterious smile…
"NO! I don't need a FISH! I need TOXINS!" roared Tritannus, rebuking beasts, which not so long ago was guardians of the prison of Andros. Red-eyed was furious. After the first fight against the Winx he wanted to destroy them once and for all. And to do that he needed power, toxic power. The fact that absorbing toxins was extremely painful, didn't count to him. He was afraid that Icy will leave if he will be to weak. Although, in his heart he hoped that blue-eyed witch really feels something to him…maybe, MAYBE even loves him…
Triton looked at his golden trident, containing one thing that he should give to a special person. That was the advice from the one who gave him this ornament…
Darcy was throwing in a sleep for half of night, not giving her sister to sleep, so Icy, to don't waste time, send spies to have a look at fairies and then she focused on her plan. After conversation with witch of darkness she had to modify it. Erin is source of magic, powerful enough for long time of using it, so the Trix wouldn't have to rely on Tritannus and his toxic force. By the night thinking she realized what she really want to: victory. Just victory. She wanted to feel like she felt in Cloud Tower. Already at the first year she could see the fear in the eyes of the other students and sometimes even the teachers. Power. Icy wanted to have it back. She wanted to feel the power of the Dragon Flame pulsating in her veins again…
Implementation of this plan will last long and it won't be easy, thought blue-eyed, but when it'll fulfill, I guarantee, Bloom will regret every single humiliation of me and my sisters. And Darcy will stop acting like a fairy, I hope…anyway, I know one thing for sure: no one can ever push us around without punishment for that!
"Icy" the woman heard man's voice calling her name. She recognized the owner.
"Tritannus" she said with gentle smile, sitting by the shore.
"We hadn't a chance to talk, yesterday" said triton. His reflection was visible at the lake's surface. He was still mutated after visiting Earth. "I didn't even thank you for getting the toxins for me"
"Don't bother" replied Icy, staring at Tritannus' spectre "The most important thing is that you finally met our beloved fairies"
"The Winx" said red-eyed with disgust. One fight against the fairies and he hates them already, excellent, Icy smiled to herself in thoughts. Her plan was working better than she expected."I promise you, Icy, we will beat those fairies!"
"I guess you have forgotten that compared to their new transformation, our powers are too weak" interjected Darcy, rubbing her eyes. "It is called Believix or something like that" she added, yawning and sitting next to the leader.
"Believix is inferior underwater, fairies can barely move their wings" said triton, not hiding contentment because of that fact.
"This is giving us an advantage only in underwater fights" noticed golden-eyed.
"What is going on?" asked sleepy voice, belonging to Stormy.
"Aisha is your cousin, right?" asked Icy, ignoring her sister. Tritannus nodded. "It is also an advantage…" witch of ice fell in thoughs.
"All right, but what with us? We need more energy. We are keep losing because we are too weak" said Darcy. Triton frowned. It wasn't hard to guess that he and Icy's sisters don't like each other, not to say hate.
"I will make you strong, then" he said, looking at Icy. She was deep in her thoughts, but she seemed to know what was going on. Black bird – half eagle, half raven - landed on her shoulder. His eyes glowed with red, he released a strange sound and then he fly away. White-haired's eyes went wide and sly smile appeared on her face.
"perfectly" said the women and looked at mutated merman. "My little spy told me that the Winx are back at Alfea" explained blue-eyed.
"probably, they want to know how to fight with us" snorted Darcy.
"Our hideout is located pretty close to each of the schools, we could try to pay them back" proposed turquoise-eyed.
"You won't just try. This time I will make you strong enough to win with the fairies!" said Tritannus, getting attention of the witches. He raised his trident and in the next second the Trix was surrounded by toxic fumes, which penetrated into their bodies. The witches became stonger in few moments. Each of them had insane smile on face.
"Let's go, sisters" ordered Icy and the Trix moved into the forest.
"Visiting Alfea's archive will be perfect occasion to pay back! We will beat those fairies!" cheered turquoise-eyed.
"Don't get too excited, Stormy. Today, we won't fight to win" replied the leader.
"W-what? Why?" asked Stormy, disappointed tone.
"I am sure that somewhere in the Alfea's archive is the thing I'm looking for a long time" said blue-eyed.
"And we're going only for that thing?" groaned wind queen, tripping over her own feet.
"Yes" white-haired shrugged her shoulders "Darcy, you will find a book for me"
"During the fight?" asked golden-eyed, looking back where her younger sister was picking up from the ground.
"Stormy will create some chaos to divert attention from you"
"I always wondered when you are finding time to invent these plans" said turquoise-eyed, running up to her sisters.
"At night. Darcy is not letting me sleep" murmured Icy, throwing a critical glance at witch of illusion.
"I am not letting you sleep?!" asked appalled dark-haired.
"And maybe it's Stormy who is throwing in a sleep as if she has forty degrees fever?!" replied blue-eyed, mocking Darcy.
"I'm not throwing in a sleep" said golden-eyed, offended tone. Icy rolled her eyes and said.
"Enough talking. Alfea is in front of us. Let's do it, sisters"
Winx entered magical archive.
"It's so many books here. We'll never find the one, which describes Sirenix" groaned Stella, looking with fear at tousands of books on the shelves.
"Let's start looking uder "S" for "Sirenix"" proposed Aisha and after that she and Musa got on the platform, which raised them up.
"Special book should be in a special place" noticed Bloom, using second platform.
"Scan launched" said tecna, turning on one of her gadgets. "Ready" she added after a while "Analysis should reveal the location of the Sirenix book"
"Let's hope so" said Flora.
Suddenly few lightnings struck, appeared dark smoke and someone whom fairies didn't want to see right now.
"The Trix" snapped Bloom, clenching her fists.
"Hello, Winx" said Icy with a cunning smile, equalizing with Bloom. Witch attacked and the redhead almost fell from the platform.
"Did you miss us?" laughed Darcy flyin around Flora, Stella and Tecna. Sky launched his sword and protected from ice spikes which Icy decided to send in his direction. Stormy formed large energy ball and pushed away three fairies with it. Two specialists more and fairy with pale pink hair entered archive. Darcy lurked behind them.
"Well, well. We'll have more fun." Sneered wind queen and a moment later her sister stunned one of the newcomers. Flora and Crystal helped Helia to get out of archive.
"Winx, transform!" shouted Bloom "Magic Winx, Believix!"
Icy looked at witch of darkness. Darcy signaled that she's located the book. Trix's leader smiled to herself. In the meantime fairies ended transformation.
"Fire Arrow!" shouted Bloom.
"Morphix Wave!" Aisha joined the attack on Icy.
"Still the same spells?" laughed witch, defending herself and then counterattacking. Fairies managed to avoid spell at the last moment.
"It seems that the Trix has some new tricks" exclaimed Sky.
"They are stronger" Bloom frowned. In the meantime Tecna throw a spell in Darcy's direction, but the witch eluded it deftly.
"Solar Storm!" Stella directed to the same enemy. Darcy hit the shelf, but nothing special has happened to her. She endowed fairy of sun with triumphant grin.
"That's not right!" protested Stella, but in the next moment she, Brandon and Tecna were hit by Stormy's spell. That was the time Icy was waiting for.
"Stormy, now!" ordered Trix's leader. The youngest sister started creating chaos. First she threw a pile of books in Tecna and Brandon and then she created a dragon from the same pile. Monster attacked Musa and when she was beaten to the ground, dragon took care of next fairy.
Aisha was flying all over the archive, avoiding dragon's strikes. With a corner of her eye she saw Icy attacking Bloom again and Darcy hypnotizing fairy of sun. To free Stella she had to hit the witch somehow. She flew down as fast as she could, knowing that dragon will do the same. When she was very close to Darcy, she immediately changed direction of her fly and escaped. The monster had no chance to slow down and fell into the witch of illusion, knocking her off her feet.
"Are you alive?" asked worried Stormy, flying down to her sister.
"I do, but your dragon~" golden-eyed pointed at Aisha which just destroyed wind queen's creature.
"We are losing" saddened turquoise-eyed, helping her sister get up.
"We didn't come to win today" reminded Darcy.
"Techno-shock!" Tecna send a spell in the direction of the witches.
"Wind Shield!" shouted Stormy, defending them both from attack.
"pretty good" praised her Darcy to cheer her up. The younger sister smiled gratefully. She didn't think that it's a bad thing for dark-haired witch to be optimist.
"Morphix!" shouted Aisha, in another part of the archive, surrounding witch of ice by a Morphix bubble. It was easy for Icy to break it with ice skewers which was next shot out in every direction. Few of them hit redhead. Bloom fell on one of undamaged platforms.
"I can't wait forward to the day I will destroy you, Bloom" said Icy, landing in front of fairy
"I can promise you that someday I'll reap the power out of you and the Dragon Flame will be mine once again" she added with a sly smile, creating an energy ball from ice and toxins. She noticed Sky climbing up to protect his girlfriend. "But it is not today" she turned around and hit the specialist with a spell.
"Sky, no!" cried Bloom watching with fear as Sky is hitting the ground. Fairy stood face to face with a witch.
"I hate you, Icy!" growled redhead with tears in the eyes, barely stopping herself from slapping white-haired in the face.
"Mutually, Bloom" replied Icy with vicious smile and then she joined her sisters, floating at the top of archive.
"What is going on in here?!" shouted indignant voice of Alfea's principal whom just entered in the room.
"Griselda and Faragonda" winced Stormy.
"You've got the book?" asked Icy. Darcy nodded "Then we're out of here, sisters…"
I'm sorry if my english is bad. I'm using my brain and online translator to translate it from polish to english, but I'm not sure if everything is written correctly.
Oh, and I'm not really good at describing fight scenes, sorry :c