Ah well, didn't quite make it to 100 reviews... :)

Thanks to: Meg, Spongey and Kira (I'm glad you guys are still enjoying this story), and Bristol Rovers for qualifying for the League Two promotion playoffs - first leg is this Saturday with the return leg next Thursday the 17th of May, which also happens to be a certain fanfic writer's 31st birthday... ahem. It's also Polli's birthday, so any donations of the chocolate variety will be gratefully received!

Random Quote: All power corrupts... absolute power is even more fun. (Simon Travaglia, whoever he is)

Tegryn's fears were well-founded.

Back at Alfea, the castle rang out to the strains of Polli bawling her eyes out, making everyone on campus wonder just what on Magix was going on. The poor little thing was screaming at the top of her tiny little lungs whilst not know exactly why - all she knew was that something inimaginably bad had just happened, and so she continued her crying and screaming whilst the other pixies tried everything they could to calm her down.

"Now come on Polli, this is most unladylike." Tune nagged.

"But Tune, she's only a baby!" Chatta replied.

"That's beside the point. One is never to young to learn some decorum! When I was her age, I'd already learnt to drink tea from a cup and saucer."

"Well maybe a cheer will cheer her up!" Chatta said as she struck a pose, complete with a pair of imaginary pom-poms. "Here's a cheer that'll make you jolly, Don't be sad 'cos we love you Polli! Yaaaaay POLLI!"

Polli stopped and looked at her for a moment, then promptly carried on crying. By this time Piff, who had been fast asleep in the corner of the room, had been woken up by all this racket and was now joining in - it was as though the two babies were competing to see who could scream Alfea down to its foundations the quickest. Tune clapped her hands over her ears and screwed her eyes shut.

"I can't stand it, I can't stand it! Will the two of you PLEASE shut up?!"

At first, it seemed as though Tune's polite outburst had been totally ignored, but gradually Polli began to calm down, her loud wailing quickly being replaced by sniffles and sobs.

"Finally," Tune said breathing a sigh of relief. "At last, a bit of calm."

But calm was the last thing on Polli's mind. Although the mind-blasting pain she had been sensing was dying down, she was still deeply upset. There was only one thing on her mind now - she knew that she had to find her bonded companion. She had to find Tegryn, and so she quickly took off and zipped out of the door.

"Wait! Polli! Come back here!" Chatta shouted as they chased her through the vast corridors and into the quad, nearly knocking Miss Faragonda off her feet as she tried to enter the building. Lockette stopped as the principal watched the pixies speed towards the front gate.

"Oooh, I'm sorry about that Miss Faragonda." the pixie squeaked in her timid little voice.

"Just what is going on here Lockette? And just what was making all that noise?"

"It was Polli. She's upset about something but we don't know what and now she's flown off."

"I've got a feeling what this is about. We'll have to catch her then before she does anything silly," Faragonda said as she scoped the courtyard before spying a pair of girls walking their way. "Priscilla! Could you come here please? I have a favour to ask of you."

"Yes Miss Faragonda?" Priscilla asked as she jogged over to her, her long brown hair flowing in the gentle summer breeze. "What is it?"

"Catch that pixie!" Faragonda commanded, jabbing a finger in the direction of the fading trail of sparkles headed towards the main gate.

Priscilla nodded and took off in pursuit of the runaway pixie as fast as her wings could carry her, which was pretty darned fast considering she was the fastest flyer in the school. As hard as she could try to get away, Polli was no match for Priscilla's speed and she quickly caught up with her, gently scooping her up and holding her softly but firmly as she took the baby back to Faragonda.

"Now then Polli, would you like to tell me what's the matter?" Faragonda said in the most soothing manner possible. Polli said nothing - she was too busy trying to break free, but Priscilla kept the baby pixie clutched to her chest.

"It's Tegryn, isn't it? He's badly hurt and you want to get to him. Isn't that right?"

Polli stopped and stared at Faragonda, as did the others, before she burst out crying again.

"Miss Faragonda, how did you know that?" Priscilla asked as she hugged Polli and patted her gently on the back.

"Principal Griffin just told me, and she knows because Discorda told her. She sensed the same thing."

"Wow. Do you think that's true?"

"I have no reason to doubt either of them. Did you pixies know anything about them going to Shadowhaunt?"

"Shadowhaunt?!" Priscilla gasped. "Why would they go there?"

"Exactly. Why?!" the principal replied, looking sternly at the pixies who all gave a nervous little shudder.

"Erm... they all went because Lord Darkar kidnapped Will and they want to rescue her before he steals her power... or something like that." Chatta eventually answered.

"I tried to warn them that they had a statistically low chance of succeeding, but they wouldn't listen." Digit added.

"And they wouldn't even let us join them. I was so looking forward to a good adventure!" Zing said rather sulkily.

"Well it's a good job you didn't go. That place is dangerous enough at the best of times, as all of you should know full well."

"So what can we do now?" Tune asked.

"You won't be doing anything, and neither will any of the remaining girls in Alfea. Professor Saladin is sending a ship here so that myself and Miss Griffin can go there, as for some reason we are unable to teleport ourselves over to Shadowhaunt in the usual manner. He and Codatorta will also be bringing a platoon of his best students to join us on this mission. I just pray we reach them in time before anything else happens."

Meanwhile in Shadowhaunt, the reunited group was making their way onwards through the dark forboding hallways, leaving the scene of their previous battle far behind them, and good riddance to it too. The fairies had returned to their normal forms to try and conserve what little winx they had left on their seemingly never-ending walk towards their showdown with the Dark Lord of Shadowhaunt himself. Tegryn floated along a few inches off the ground arm-in-arm with Musa, with Charlotte, Anyuna, Mimi and Nini in close attendance. Having his dearest friends near to him was exactly what he needed right now - Musa's pure and undying love, Anyuna's bravery and loyalty, Charlotte's affection, and the twins' infectious sunny demeanor all combined to sooth him no end.

But despite this closeness and friendship something was bugging him, and surprisingly enough it wasn't his leg. Somehow, and don't ask him how, he could sense a growing negativity from somewhere within the group. He could feel an almost overwhelming tide of... well, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He'd never been able to feel something like this before. He had first felt this odd sensation when Anyuna was helping him to overcome his pain - when she had first begun to share his pain and as the agony and despair threatened to defeat her, he had felt a connection within her. It was only a very small one, barely a spark, but it was there, and since then he had become more aware of whatever negative feelings were around him. Maybe it was this place, this wretched hellhole that was causing this to happen. Whatever the reason, it didn't really bother him that much because it seemed to have one rather fortunate side-effect - it actually made him stronger, as though the dark magic within him was somehow feeding off it.

And right now they were nearby, and in abundance too. He looked around. Bloom and Sky headed the group along with Stella and Brandon, the boys' swords drawn at the ready for anything that could suddenly leap out at them. Likewise, Riven was more than prepared for battle as he kept a close guard on Charlotte - he still felt a duty to protect her, even though her deceptively strong powers would probably be enough to protect him and everyone else too. Just to their right, Cornelia, Hay Lin and Taranee walked close together, clinging onto each other for support as they worried themselves sick about their dear friend and leader.

And that was when he realised - where was Irma?

Frantically, he looked around, darting his head from left to right. He knew she was around somewhere. She was behind them in fact, some way behind, bringing up the rear on her own. Tegryn looked on sadly at her as she shuffled along glumly, her head bowed almost in shame.

"Irma?" he said softly.

She didn't respond - it was as though she was lost in a thousand thoughts, all yammering away inside her head.

"Irma? Are you okay?" he spoke again as he went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She gave a start as her whatever train of thought she was in was broken. The moment Tegryn spoke to her, he could sense her unease, as could everyone else.

"Oh... Teggy. Yeah, I'm okay." she mumbled without looking at him.

"You're not though, are you?" he replied. "Come on - whats bugging you?"

Irma sighed despondantly, looking up at him briefly before drooping her head once more and shutting her eyes.

"Tegryn... this is all my fault," she said, letting a tear fall to the ground with a tiny splat.

"What is?"

"Your leg. It got broken because of me. I'm to blame."

"Nonsense, it wasn't..."

"Icy hit you because you were saving me. You shouldn't have had to do that for me, I should've dodged it myself, and now..."

"...and now my leg's broken, sure. But I'd rather have both my legs shattered than have a friend frozen to death, especially one as dear to me as you."

Irma stared up at him almost in disbelief when he said this, before quickly averting her gaze and looking once again at the floor.

"Are you serious?"

Tegryn nodded as he cupped his hand under her chin and gently tilted her head upwards so that she was once again looking straight at him.

"Look, none as this is your fault, okay? You weren't the one who got my leg trapped in ice. You're not to blame, okay?"

"But I..."

"You want someone to blame? Blame Darkar. It's HIS fault we got dragged down here in the first place, not yours. If it wasn't for him, none of this would've happened, now would it?"

"I don't know..."

"Would it?" Tegryn said rather sternly, causing Irma's eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"No... it wouldn't." she said eventually as she realised just what he meant. She had worried herself sick that Tegryn would hate her for what happened to him, so the fact that he didn't blame her in the slightest caused a small smile of relief to break out across her features. Tegryn couldn't help but feel happy at this sight - a grin definately suited her pretty young face much better than a grimace. "Tall dark and ugly's gonna get what's coming to him, right Big Irma?"

"That's right," Tegryn chuckled. "We're gonna give him the twatting (1) he deserves, all of us together. Come on!"

With that he put his arm around her, a gesture she was only too happy to return, and together they rejoined the group as they continued on their way.

"Heh! I guess things aren't going the way you want," Will said with some degree of effort.

Up until then, she had been forced to watch every single event as they were played out in front of her and it frustrated her no end to be so powerless and unable to help in any way. She wouldn't be afraid to admit that she felt more than a tinge of sadness when Tegryn was subjected to that gruesome injury, and Darkar had taken particular delight in replaying that moment over and over again like some immature little child who constantly rewinds a video tape just so he can annoy his family by watching his favourite part many times over. Perhaps Darkar had hoped that this painful image would somehow weaken her resistance to his magic, but she had stood firm and seeing that little pep talk had lifted her spirits.

"SILENCE, WHELP!" Darkar roared as he thrust out a hand in her direction. The glowing green field that had enveloped Will suddenly grew brighter, causing her to grimace as she was forced to double her efforts to keep it at bay. She knew she had to stop herself falling under his control, but as great as the Heart of Kandrakar was, she didn't know just how long she could hold out. If only her friends would hurry up and spring her from this prison.

Darkar paced up and down, growling heavily with frustration. The manner in which this ragtag bunch of fairies and earthlings had managed to defeat his four minions irked him big time...

FOUR minions.

Darkar grinned wickedly. He had been so preoccupied about the fate of the Trix that he had forgotten about his newest recruit.

"It's time I reintroduced your friends to an old pal Miss Vandom... and I think a slight boost in power is in order too..."

1. Twat (verb): to hit or strike hard - He was annoying me, so I twatted him.