Chapter Eleven: Loving the Evil
It looked like a tornado had torn through the hallway.
The six girls walked with all the ease in the world, slowly taking their time to destroy any object and structure that they encountered. They dragged their new sharp black nails across the walls, making the plaster and stone crash and fall with the power, shooting streams of energy out of their hands.
Musa used her waves of vibrations to smash every window, as Stella walked the lights above her head exploded, Layla crushing and flooding the floor with the water from the fountains, Flora's vines spreading and intertwining the area, Techna's electricity zapping the water and Bloom finishing the damage by setting fire to everything that wasn't wet, and they loved every second of it.
Even as fairies of good magic they had never felt so empowered, like with a flick of their hands they could destroy buildings and obliterate empires. Any person they encounter they threw and sent flying yards away, sometimes through walls. Alarms went off and soldiers were told to report to the area of danger.
"As much fun as destroying Alfea has been, maybe we should go get the book. Valtor won't like to be kept waiting" Stella said as she used her new blinding light power to crack the statue of Miss Faragonda into chunks and explode.
Bloom sighed, annoyed to be interrupted and turned with bored eyes in the direction of the library "Fine, let's get this over with"
The girls all walked, in Musa's case skipped to the library. Once in front of the large wooden door, Musa waved her hands at it in one motion and the whole thing went flying into the room, crashing the shelves of books as it went, causing a domino effect.
"Nice" Musa sang as she watched the effect of her power.
The girls walked into the restricted section and stood before the glass case, the Black book seemed to glow in the presence of such powerful evil beings.
Just as Bloom went to pick the thing up, the sound of running footsteps stopped her.
The girls turned to see soldiers and -wait for it- the Specialists enter the room, swords and weapons drawn. The guys seemed to freeze in shock, seeing the ones they love destroy something that they used to love so much.
The girls, while still evil, were glad to see their guys. Their whole beings may have changed but their feelings had not.
Stella smiled and turned to Brandon "Oh baby don't look so shocked, you knew we were evil and that we had betrayed you in the past, what makes you think we wouldn't do it again? So really, this shouldn't be such a shock"
Brandon continued to stare at Stella, as did the other guys to their girls. They had not been expecting this to happen, they had thought everything would be alright but they had never expected this to happen. It was a shock to everyone, except Sky. He had seen Bloom in her evil state and right now it was like meeting an old enemy, an enemy that you pitied and loved for the person they used to be.
"What?" Stella asked when she got no answer, baffled by the stares she was getting.
Brandon blinked and shook his head "Stella...you're evil"
"You didn't know?" Stella asked, finding the whole thing funny "I've been evil for months now, frankly I'm insulted that you didn't notice, you really should pay more attention to me"
Brandon shook his head again "No...No you weren't like this before, you were good before" lowering his sword the slightest bit.
Stella only smiled. Musa who had watched the whole exchange while leaning against the broken wall groaned "Boring!" she stamped her foot and the whole room seemed to shake and collapse in on itself, the guys leapt for cover while the girls just stood where they were, all of the rubble missing them.
"Can we please get on with this!? I want to go back to smashing stuff at least that was fun!" Layla said while kicking a rock away from her, sending it flying in the direction of the guys, they avoided it but the other soldiers weren't so quick.
"Ok ok! I'll get it!" Techna said as she smashed the glass case with her fist and lifted the book out which seemed to glow brighter.
"Where are you taking that?!" Timmy asked as he side stepped another falling stone.
Techna barely glanced at her ex boyfriend as she dusted off the book "To Valtor, he needs it for some reason"
"Don't you even know what he wants with it?!" Timmy asked, appalled that they would obey the enemy with no thought of what he wants with such a powerful book.
Techna shrugged "Nope" She looked at Timmy annoyed "Didn't I just say that?! Maybe you should listen to me once in a while?!" She pointed at Timmy as she said this and a lightning bolt shot the wall behind him "God" She whispered to herself as she stepped away from the broken case.
"No! You can't take that thing to him! Who knows what will happen?" Helia piped up, seeing the situation crumbling.
Flora looked at him, as if just noticing him "Well I can only imagine something monstrous and evil...do you not know who Valtor is?"
Helia looked at Flora like she had lost her mind "It's Valtor, Flora! You are the most caring person I've ever met and you're helping him?!"
Musa groaned again "Oh my god! All you guys go on about is "Valtor is evil!" and "How can you be evil?" And "What happened to you guys the last two years?" Those seem like the only thing you guys know how to say! You haven't once asked how we are! If we're ok! You guys suck!"
Flora nodded "yeah! Why don't you just..." She clicked her fingers "Zip it!" Vines of black and dark green sprouted from the floor and wrapped around the Specialists, cutting of their air supply "Much better!" Stella said with her arms crossed, smiling.
"Come on let's go!" Bloom turned toward the door and suddenly stopped. Outside in the broken library was the largest gathering of soldiers and fairies Bloom had ever seen "Oh for the love of god! What now?!"
Miss Faragonda who was up the front of the formation stepped forward, looking sorrowful and wary "Bloom...girls, I don't know what's happened to you but you need to stop this now" her voice was sad but strong and firm. She spoke like speaking to a wild animal.
The girls gathered at the threshold, looking out at the hundreds of people, uninterested.
Bloom looked at Miss Faragonda for a blank moment then burst out laughing. Her laugh carried over the heads of the people and sent shivers down each of their spines. Bloom clutched her stomach in laughter and soon the rest of the Winx Club joined in. It took them a long time to control themselves and stop laughing.
"Oh Miss F" She chuckled again "You want us to stop? As if we had a choice? Oh you really need to cease with this good love can save all crap. It's getting old" Bloom said with her cold eyes fixed on the older woman.
"Whatever you've done girls" Miss Faragonda continued "It can be fixed. We can help you be free of Valtor"
"Free?"Bloom whispered, suddenly sounding serious, stepped forward and closed the distance in between the two groups "No Miss F...we'll never be free" she had reached in front of the large army and Stood a metre away from the woman who she had once admired and fought to protect "Because this time...this evil...you can't break it"
Bloom turned and stalked back into the library, the other girls following her; they stopped in the middle of the room. The army warily fidgeted behind them, not wanting to fight the girls but still not wanting to let them get away.
Bloom paused before the large hole in the wall that overlooked the now night sky, she looked over at Sky who had remained silent "No...Your love won't save me this time"
And then before anyone could blink, each girl had sprouted huge wings of black feathers and leapt off the edge of the building, souring away into the dark night.
The vines which held the guys disappeared and they fell to the floor, choking and gasping for breath, a minute longer and the guys would have suffocated.
Miss Faragonda walked forward, staring into the night "Sky, Brandon, Riven, Timmy, Helia, Nabu...I'm issuing an order that the next time you see the girls, I want you to seizing them and bring them back here and this time..." She turned and started to walk out of the library "...if they try to escape, you have my permission to force them to stay"
The running footsteps of Lucus entered the library as he passed the exiting Miss Faragonda "What the hell happened here? What did I miss?"
He was met with silence.
...
The girls flew through the night sky, Techna clutching the book to her chest as she went. They had been flying for an hour now and no one had said a word, they didn't feel they needed to speak about what happened. Although the question did linger in their minds about what Valtor wanted with the book, it felt like each of them were hold a huge weight and they had to turn it over to him but if they did that, he would just crush the world. Like they were the only ones who could hold this weight and not destroy anything but this was only a lingering thought and they didn't dwell on it too much.
"Let's set down over there" Bloom pointed to a clearing surrounded by trees. The girls moved their new wings and angled toward the patch of earth, the landing was a bit rough due to the first flight with wings after such a long time.
Once on the ground they had barely taking a step when a black puff of smoke appeared and Valtor stood before them, smiling evilly.
"The book?"
Techna gestured to the large clump in her arms "Took us about five minutes, I think that's a new record for us"
Valtor just smiled and clicked his fingers. The group looked around and found they were in a rundown mansion, with floorboards creaking and broken windows with shattered glass everywhere.
"Holly crap, are we staying here?" Stella whispered to Flora who was looking around warily but still trying to make the situation happier than it seemed "It's not so bad, it just needs and little...female touch"
Stella had to laugh at this and went and sat down on a nearby chair that was looking like it was on its last leg and wouldn't hold her weight "Ha! Female touch my fine ass"
Valtor cleared his throat and glared at the two girls, who immediately looked solemn, and walked toward the large round basin of stone "I assure you...ladies...that if you give me a day, we'll be moving into a much larger and grander setting" he gestured for Techna to put the book down.
Bloom, while watching her do this, stepped forward arms crossed "So what exactly are you planning on doing with that book?"
Valtor opened the book in question and started flipping through the pages "I'm going to do what any evil person you've encountered has done...first I'm going to take over Alfea"
"What?" Bloom said, startled and confused for a second.
Musa behind her snorted "You should have just asked us to do that while we were there, it would have been a piece of cake, instead of going through this whole book crap" waving her hand dismissively.
"How are you going to take over Alfea?" Layla asked where she had sat down next to Stella, really testing that chairs weight.
"Raise an army of darkness from this book" Again he said this very casually it shocked them.
"Is some of this starting to sound a little familiar to you guys?" Stella asked remembering past enemies plans for evil "It's not very original" Layla nodded quietly.
Valtor continued "And then I'm going to take over all the planets in the whole world with you girls leading the charge"
That shut the girls up. After a while of shocked silence where the only sound was the flipping of pages Stella mumbled "Ok that's a new one" Layla leaned over and whispered back "It makes taking over Alfea sound like the easiest thing ever"
Techna was deep in thought "So...you're going to take over every planet?"
Valtor nodded, finally finding the page he was looking for.
"With this big army of darkness? And...You want us to...your generals?" Techna didn't get an answer this time, Valtor looking like he was focused on the book and wouldn't be saying anything for a long time.
Bloom walked away with the others following, they all sat around on broken couches around a newly lit fire place, thanks to bloom "Wow...Valtor is evil"
Stella sat with her chin resting on her hand, looking bored "You just noticed?"
Bloom ignored this and got up and starting pacing in front of the fire, the girls watching her warily "What's wrong Bloom?" Flora asked.
Bloom shook her head while pacing "This wasn't part of the deal"
"The deal?" Asked Stella
Bloom shook her head again and then marched off in Valtor's direction.
"Bloom? I don't think he wants to be bothered! Bloom! Damn it!" Stella said annoyed, flopping back on the couch, trying to block out the world.
Bloom reached Valtor and with a violent jerk, flung the book closed that he was reading "This wasn't part of the deal" she stated simply.
Valtor looked up slowly with an annoyed face "I was reading that"
Bloom put her hands on her hips and looked at him defiantly, the new power had given her courage to speak out against him "Well you're gonna stop reading and listen to what I have to say" Valtor leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and fixing her with a very uninterested look.
"When you made us what we are, you promised us that we would be stronger than ever without 'all those evil powers', what do you call this?" Bloom flung out her hand and shot red hot energy at the nearest statue, it bust in pieces.
"Circumstances changed over the last two years Bloom, I had to make the change and give you powers, are you saying you don't like them?" Valtor said while brushing off particles of the broken stature off his coat.
Bloom lost it "Change in circumstances? I died, you killed us that day! You don't think that was a serious enough thing to do, my death was the agreement of the whole deal, and you just change the rules?"
Valtor didn't answer, he looked so calm and amused in his chair that it enraged Bloom further but she decided not to yell again, she didn't want to alarm the others.
Bloom held up both hands as a sign of defence "All I'm saying is that you changed your mind about the powers, who knows what else you've changed your mind about"
"Oh" Valtor mused, finally understanding "You mean about the part where you get to kill me?"
Bloom nodded once tightly.
"Don't worry, that's still on"
"Are you sure?"
"yes"
"Fine, and what about the whole hella-predictable taking over the world plot? How does that relate to the deal?"
"I'm still getting you to kill people, just a lot more than I first intended"
Bloom turned away and started to walk back to the girls when she stopped "How did you come back from the dead?"
Valtor sighed in annoyance "Why all of these questions Bloom? Why now?"
Bloom turned and faced him again "I guess these new powers gave me the guts to finally ask why"
Valtor looked at her for a long time and then stood up, he loomed over her like a giant and when he spoke he sounded dangerous "Don't forget that these new powers came from me Bloom and I can easily take them away. After all, I am your boss, aren't I?"
Bloom wasn't going to admit she was scared but she did feel the urge to take a step back.
Valtor leaned down so that his face was levelled with hers "I made you Bloom"
These words did frighten Bloom. She wasn't afraid of Valtor but she was afraid of not existing anymore. What person isn't? The drive to live is strong in anybody.
Bloom took a step back then turned and walked away.
Once she got back to the fire place, where all the girls looked at her cautiously, she stood and watched the fire flicking and crack.
"Bloom? Is everything alright?" Flora asked.
It took Bloom a long time to answer and truth be told she didn't want to. She wanted the girls to be safe and happy, she was evil but her friends were the most important thing to her, they were the only people left who she would care if they got hurt.
"No...It's not"
...
Morning arrived and the girls were getting ready to take over Alfea.
Any other day that would have sounded strange to them but not today, they had be discussing it all night and they were all very calm about what they had to do. Stella was able to conjure some new clothes, high heels weren't really appropriate for what they were going to do today.
Each girl wore identical clothes. Black tight fitting pants, easy to run and move in, Black boots that had thick heels, in case they needed to kick anything, a white halter top and a thin black leather jacket, also easy to move in, complete with black bracelets and gloves.
After a quick word with Valtor they were off.
Once they were in sight of Alfea, they noticed that it looked different from the school they left yesterday. It was fully reconstructed, and a huge purple barrier was circling it.
"Well that's annoying" Stella said as she floated in the air.
Techna flew forward with a smug look "I got it" she held her hands out in front of her and shot waves of green buzzing electricity out at the barrier, it encircled it and soon the purple turned a dark and light green, and at once puffed into dust.
"Damn it must be nice to control all electricity and technology everywhere Techna" Stella said, admiring her friends work.
Techna smiled sheepishly "yeah it is"
"Alright you guys know the plan, let's do it"
...
Musa sat with her boots up on the desk, swinging from side to side. She had come to find Miss Faragonda in her office but the room had been empty. She could hear screams and explosions outside the door where the rest of the girls were wreaking havoc, smashing walls and throwing people, the same stuff they had been doing the day before.
Musa picked up the PDA system microphone and pressed the button "Attention" she said, hearing her voice radiate throughout the school she smiled "This is your new leader speaking. Would all fleeing students and teachers please report to the grand hall where your attackers will reframe from trying to hurt you and you can regroup. As a member of your enemy I would like to take this opportunity to warn you that we, the Winx Club that is, will be taking over your school in the next hour and will be in charge of it for the rest of your lives. Ta ta"
She laughed as she put the microphone down and swung full circle on the chair, at that moment Layla entered the room and smiled at her "Nice speech"
"It was one of my finer moments, how's the attack going?"
Layla shrugged "We're kicking ass but I do miss handling our weapons" she sat down on the nearest chair while Musa went through the desk, tossing papers as she went.
"Maybe we can steal them back, remember they took them off us when we were arrested, the look on their faces" she laughed again just as the others entered the room.
"The grand hall?" Stella asked her eyebrow rose.
"It's better than just hunting down everyone all over the school, they'll just meet there and we can capture them in one big swipe" Musa explained reading a book from the desk.
"Good work, hey has anyone killed anyone?" Bloom asked looking around at her friends. They all shook their heads.
"I don't know, I mean we used to kill people that had done bad things, these guys are good and haven't done anything to us. I say we just capture them and let Valtor decide what to do" Stella said as she observed her black nails.
"Ok so we've managed to alert everyone that there under attack and they know it's us, they'll try and fight now and arrest us again. Where do you think the guys are?" Techna asked
Flora walked to look out the window "Probably protecting Miss Faragonda. I hope Valtor's spell works and the army gets here soon"
At that moment a loud crash and more screams was heard throughout the school, the army had arrived "Don't you just love it when that happens?" Musa said as she sprung up from her chair and went to the window with the other girls.
There in the distance was a black army of darkness, let by Valtor. They emerged from the trees like fog and they quickly approached the school.
"Such a strong sense of familiarity right now" Bloom said as she watched the army sweep the grounds of the school.
"Well this can't be the first time this has happened" Valtor's voice sounded behind them, making them all jump and turn.
How the hell does he do that?! Each girl thought as they observed him.
"I see everything is going well" Valtor said, sitting down in Miss Faragonda's chair as the girls gathered around the desk.
"So what now?" Stella asked
"The army is gathering outside the grand hall and when we're ready well open those doors and capture the remaining prisoners, you girls will lead the charge, I'll meet you down there" This was a dismissal and the girls obeyed, they walked out the door and cheerily made their way to the hall.
Musa paused outside the prison and jail cell area on the way as did the others.
"What is it Musa?" Flora asked walking over to her side and looking into the door. There old cell was visible through the broken glass, Musa walked over to the door beside that one and opened it to an office that overlooked the cell. The others followed behind her and watched as she searched the room without word. Musa came across a large box and opened it to find their weapons.
The girls exclaimed in happiness at the sight of their old weapons. They had missed using them after those two years of always having them near, they each grabbed their tool of defence.
Stella with her Spear, Musa with her two Samurai swords, Layla with her many knives, Techna with her two guns with unlimited ammo, Flora with her long chain with the huge spiked ball on the end and Bloom with her grand sword.
"Ok now we're ready" Musa said as she walked out the door.
The monsters that were gathered outside the Grand hall door were currently trying to break it open as the girls arrived. They seemed to acknowledge the girls as their leaders and bowed as they arrived, at the front row stood Valtor who patiently waited for them to reach him.
"They're putting up a very good fight at keeping the door closed" He looked meaningfully at Musa who got the hint and sent a huge wave of vibration at the door, of course it exploded and the fairies and soldiers who stood inside all moved away at the sight of the army.
At the front of their army stood Miss Faragonda and the specialists, this distressed the girls, they didn't want to fight with the guys, they wanted them to stay out if this but they knew that would never happen so they just stood there stone faced.
Silence descended on everyone as the two forces eyed each other. Valtor stepped forward and addressed the opposing group "Considering your all waiting on the edge of your seats to attack me and my army I'll be brief. You've seen what my forces can do, what they've done to your school should be evidence enough that there power exceeds your own, and now you have no choice but to fight or surrender. As I'm sure Miss Faragonda does not control her whole army I know that each of you has free will to surrender yourselves, and I advise this strongly because I will have no regret in telling each of my warriors to slaughter you all"
With that he stepped back in line with the girls at the front. Miss Faragonda looked determined and strong across the stone rubble battlefield. She didn't say anything but turned and addressed her students.
The girls didn't get the chance to listen because Valtor turned to them "I meant what I said, you have my permission to kill or imprison any of those that fight against you"
Bloom looked slowly over at him and asked what the others girls didn't have the courage too "What about the specialists?"
Valtor thought for a long moment as each girl held their breath waiting for the answer "Kill them"
The gasps of sorrow were barely audible but they were there. By now Miss Faragonda had finished her speech and turned to the girls and Valtor.
Knowing what they had to do the Winx Club stepped forward three steps and positioned their weapons, ready to strike. The specialists did the same; they eyed each other for the longest time before in an almost soundless moment the girls and the guys charged each other, with their armies of death trailing behind them, set to kill.