Chapter Thirteen: Which Side?

The girls all sat in the dark lounge room of their old house.

The place had been broken into and searched, possible by people who wanted revenge on the girls for what they had done. When the girls had flown in and landed they had walked inside and just sat down, they didn't really care about all the clothes and possessions that they had owned and it was meaningless and trivial in their current situation.

Flora had had enough power to heal most of Bloom's wounds, being the fairy of nature had its upside. They all now sat in silence, wondering what to do next. The girls were also pretty curious as to why they had to leave and why Bloom had been silent the whole trip back, not knowing left them kind of tense but they wouldn't push it.

"So what now?" Stella asked as she lounged back into the couch, playing with the set of rings on her fingers.

Nobody said anything; honestly none of them knew what to do. For the last two years Valtor had always been there to tell them what they had to do next, now that they had left him, they were lost.

And the girls didn't like it when they felt lost.

"Bloom please" Stella said sitting forward on the couch and fixing her friend with a pleading stare "Tell us something, anything! Why did we leave?"

Bloom was sitting in the armchair, staring into space "Icy has been working for Valtor, he ordered her to kill my parents, kidnap me, get you guys arrested so that our spirits would be broken and he could make us evil"

Everyone turned to Bloom in astonished shock.

"Oh and Mr Spitter, was also working for Valtor"

"Oh thank god!" Flora closed her eyes in relief "He's a bad guy, I can stop feeling guilty for plunging a spiked ball into his chest" she sighed in relief.

Stella stood up and turned to her group of friends "So Valtor is evil?"

Musa stood and threw her hands in the air "Oh my god! Yes! How many times do we have to go over this?! He's an evil bastard!"

"Just making sure" Stella said, defending herself "So that's why we left" she mused over this for a moment. For a moment Bloom looked up and looked like she was going to say something but thought against it.

Musa crossed her arms "so umm, whose side are we on now? We can't really be on Valtor's side anymore but we're still evil so we can't really help the good guys. And to tell you the truth I like being evil but...I think it's only until we're good again that we'll realize all the bad stuff we've done. Right now I have no regrets and I don't want them ever"

Techna stood up and crossed the room to look out into the night at the window "But we'll need to take responsibility for our actions one day"

This made the room go silent again. After a long moment Bloom stood up, with a little difficulty because of her hip wound, and faced her friends "What if...we're not on either side. The good or the bad, what if we're just on...our side?"

The girls thought about this for a moment.

We wouldn't have to follow orders from Valtor anymore thought Musa

The chances of us killing anyone would drop; maybe we wouldn't have to hurt anyone ever again thought Flora

The guys wouldn't hate us so much thought Stella

It would put us in less danger; we could make our own decisions thought Techna

But what would we do? What would be our objective? thought Layla

It would give us time and the opportunity to take revenge on Valtor and Icy thought Bloom

"I like it" Stella said smiling and clapping her hands once

"I agree, screw Valtor!" Musa yelled as she walked back to the couch and sat down. The girls laughed at this and settled back down on the couch, happy to have figured something out.

"So what does our side do exactly?" layla asked looking toward Bloom, who stood up and walked around the back of the couch as she spoke.

"Well, I'm think we should-"

Bloom was cut off when a razor sharp knife was thrown at her head; she just barely had time to duck out of the way and spring back up when something, maybe a person, rammed her in the back, sending both her and her attacker over the couch and into the coffee table, smashing it and sending glass everywhere.

The other girls leapt into action, springing from the couch. Other people, all dressed in black came running into the room and attacked the girls. Layla was able to evade her attacker and run out into the hall and to the kitchen where she had left her knives; she grabbed them and started to expertly throw them at the person who just entered the room.

The house was very dark and it was almost impossible to make out the identity of the people, especially because they were wearing black masks.

Unexpectedly the person was able to evade the knives and managed to throw a whole saucepan and Layla before she could block it.

"Son of a-" another pot hit her in the shoulder "Ow!" at this point the attacker tackled her and they both hit the kitchen floor in between the counter and the table.

...

Stella and Flora were able to lure their attackers out into the hall, they stood back to back while throwing punches and kicking out. At one point Flora was able to duck an oncoming kick but flinched when she heard Stella yell out in pain as the kick got her in the back of the head.

"You're supposed to cover me!" Stella said as she rubbed the back of her head while trying to evade a punch from her guy.

Flora jumped forward and shoved her person back into the wall and grabbed a nearby lamp and swinged it around to whack into the back of Stella's attacker.

"Covering!" Flora yelled as she charged her opponent again with the long bar of the lamp in hand.

...

Techna had dashed into the conservatory with her attacker on her heels, she jumped and grabbed a beam on the roof, pulling herself up and kicking backward.

The person recovered quickly, shooting out their hand and grabbing Techna by the leg and pulling hard, causing her to lose her grip and tumble into the table and plants below her.

...

Musa was on the stairs, she took little notice of the ruckus going on in the foyer with Flora and Stella and she was too focused on her guy. He was able to grab her by the arms and swing her little form into the wall, smashing photos and panelling. Musa was momentarily dazed and couldn't recover in time to see the punch heading for her stomach; she doubled over and gasped for breath.

He grabbed her again and swung her limp form into the stairs, this time she was able to land with her back on the stairs and kick her attacker making him fly back when she had just been.

"Karma's a bitch" she smiled evilly, blood starting to drip out her lip when she had been punched.

Her guy lunged forward and grabbed her wrists, pulling her forward and was able to knee her in the chest, it hurt a lot.

She groaned in pain as she fell back into the stairs, she hadn't had this much trouble beating someone in ages.

...

Bloom and her guy were still recovering from the fall into a glass table, Bloom was able to roll over her guy and punch him, to which he punched back. She didn't know why none of them just used their powers, probably because it wouldn't seem fair and the girls had a sense of honour. They would settle this with their fists.

...

Musa had just managed to knee her guy in the leg which made him stumble and fall down on the stairs next to her; she took this opportunity to roll on top of him and grab him by the head and smash him into the corner of a stair.

He then surprised her by grabbing her around the waist, rolling them so he was on top and kissed her.

The hell?! Musa thought as she tried to wiggle away and the paused, this sounded familiar.

Wait a minute...Riven?!

She was able to wrench away from the guy a few inches and pull of the black mask to reveal her ex boyfriend. She stared in shock at him for a long time and then in a moment of spontaneity, she reached up and gasped his hair in her hands and brought their faces together for another kiss, this time Musa didn't try and punch him while doing so.

The sound of glass hitting the wall above them startled them and they looked over to see Stella, Flora, Brandon and Helia all in the foyer looking at them, Stella with great disapproval.

"Come on you two! Every time you guys fight you end up kissing! You're enemies, would you act like it!" Stella yelled, hands on her hips, Stella suddenly grabbed a small plant and smashed it into Brandon's shoulder, then tackled him to the floor. Flora following her example quickly attacked Helia as well.

...

Bloom was kicked back into the couch getting the breathe knocked out of her, she glanced to the side and saw into the foyer the unmasked forms of Brandon and Helia. Seeing her guy coming toward her she grabbed his black mask and pulled it off and was shocked nonetheless to find Sky staring back at her.

"We've been here since you came to the house, we heard everything"

She nodded "Good that'll save us some time" with that she kicked him in the chest sending him back into the shattered glass.

...

Musa piped up from where she was lying under Riven "I know I may just be asking the obvious but...why are you attacking us?"

"You started it" Riven said, looking stubborn as always. Musa looked up at him, slightly insulted "When?"

"When you became evil" Riven replied looking down on her

"Oh" Musa looked away, probably should have known that one. Musa used this opportunity to knee him in the gut.

...

"So Icy's working with Valtor, shocker there" Sky said as he sat up from the glass floor, staring over at bloom with blood coming out of a new cut in his forehead. He struggled to his feet "Should have seen that one coming"

Bloom gripped the couch and helped herself to her feet as well, the pain in her body was awful but she knew that nobody would stop fighting until they came to an agreement "tell me about it" she breathed heavily as she stared at him "I want to kill her; she's had it coming for a long time"

Sky raised an eyebrow "And Valtor?"

Bloom flinched slightly "He's going to die too"

Sky showed a glimmer of hope his eyes "Then we need to find a way to make you good again and then-"

"No" Bloom said firmly "I'm not going to go good again just yet, we're still enemies you and I. Remember what I said, I'm on my side now, not your side or Valtor's. Whatever I do, I do for me" with that she charged him, knocking him back into the fireplace.

"Enemies" he grunted as he looked at her in pain from the wall and bumps behind him. Bloom nodded firmly, walking forward for another strike.

Bloom was taken by surprise when Sky grabbed her on the hips and picked her up and threw both of them over the couch and into a table by the window.

Bloom yelled in pain as she connected with the floor, Sky on top of her. He grabbed the razor sharp knife he had thrown at her before where it has embedded it the wall but before he could use it Bloom had taken hold of his wrist with both hands.

They fought for the control over the knife, both breathing heavily. Sky was able to pull his knee back enough to knee her in the hip, reopening the old wound Valtor had made, Bloom yelled in pain, her hands slipping off the knife. Sky prepared to stab her but came to a screeching halt. He couldn't stab her, he loved her.

In a moment of complete frustration he slammed the knife down into the hard wood floor right beside her ear, causing her to scream in surprise, knowing she had come so close to death.

"I can't kill you!" he yelled at her, trying to make her understand.

"You only get one shot at this Sky, you either kill me now or I'll kill you later! Stab me!" Bloom yelled back, anyone who heard this who probably think both of them were insane, luckily the rest of them were still busy fighting.

Sky grabbed her behind the neck and her hair in both hands, pulling her up closer to his face "I can't! I won't kill you!"

Bloom paused for a moment, lost in his eyes when an idea came to mind "Then help me" she whispered, after a moment Bloom whistled loudly enough to make everyone in the house pause mid fight and listen "Ok everyone! I think we're done here, it's time for a temporary true!"

"Temporary truce?" Sky said as he rolled off of Bloom who was in great pain at her injuries, she nodded after a moment. The two sat behind the couch on the floor.

Flora smiled at what Bloom had yelled out and shook her head. She looked over and saw Layla and Nabu emerge from the kitchen, slowly walking in and observing the scene in front of them. The eight people looked at each other for a tense moment then, like in the battle three days ago, came to a silent understanding. The Winx Club and the Specialists stopped fighting, all of them making their way to the Dining room and gathered around.

Bloom stood at the head of the table while Sky stood at the other. Flora, Techna, Stella all sat at the table while their ex's sat opposite them. Layla and Nabu stood at the threshold of the room, a metre a part and Musa sat on the floor next to the standing Riven beside her.

Each person looked awful, cuts and bruises everywhere, pieces of glass and wood in wounds.

Everything was quiet for a time; they were waiting for someone to make the first move. Stella looked around for a moment and sighed "Oh god, look at this place, and I just had it the way I liked it and now, it looks like a crime scene"

Flora smiled "If we ever get the chance we'll fix it"

Bloom cleared her throat and stepped forward, assuming the role of speaker for the Winx Club "Now about this truce we both want to same things, Valtor and his minions dead. And if we go ahead with this plan, we'll need some conditions, first you can't ask us to be something we're not, and something we're not is 'good', got it?"

The guys thought for a minute, weigh possibilities, after a moment they nodded. "Fine but we also have a condition, the bracelets come off" each girl looked down at the black chains around their wrists "Valtor can track you and we don't need that"

Bloom didn't need to think about this much "Done. Second condition for us is...after this is done you can't stop us from going our own way"

This was something the guys didn't want. They couldn't stand the thought of losing the girls again; they might never come back this time. Not to mention that the girls were wanted by every person in Magix. They might continue to do more evil things but they didn't really have much of a choice, after a moment Sky reluctantly nodded "Ok, our second one is...you can't kill anyone"

Bloom looked baffled "Didn't you just agree to not ask us to be good?"

"You didn't kill anyone in the battle, what's wrong with continuing that for a while?"

Bloom sighed "Fine! Now our last condition: We, the Winx Club, get to be the ones to kill Valtor. You guys can do whatever you want with icy but Valtor is the one that ruined our lives, we get to end him"

The girls nodded along with this, they had been happy to let Bloom and Sky talk about the conditions; they both knew what had to be done.

Sky fixed Bloom with a serious stare "We swear. And for our last condition...when and if you do leave again...this time you have to say goodbye"

This got all the girls undivided attention. The guys seemed to fully agree with Sky on this one and it pained the girls that they felt so strongly about it, and the fact that they maybe wouldn't get the chance to ever say goodbye.

"We'll do our best to abide by your conditions" Bloom said as serious as Sky had been.

Techna piped after a long pause "Umm I think that our first step to defeating Valtor is to get his source of greatest power" she looked around at the curious stares "We might have to steal back the book"

...

And so this was how the evil Winx club and the brave Specialists found themselves outside Alfea, it was three o'clock at night, they knew the next day that Valtor would be making his first move to take over the first planet so the group had to move quickly.

"So you really think there might be a releasing spell for the bracelets in the book, Techna?" Asked Stella as she watched the soldiers march around the broken and decaying building that was once Alfea.

"Almost one hundred percent sure. It's just getting the book that I'm worried about; I really don't like our plan of getting it"

Musa walked up behind them "What's wrong with our plan? We just have to walk, talk and act like we're evil, can't be too hard for us, and then we just walk in like we belong, find the book and take off the bracelets and then from there...we just wing it"

Techna rolled her eyes "oh yes, what was I thinking? It's a solid plan, nothing can go wrong!"She said this with heavy sarcasm.

Musa smiled "good I'm glad you agree, let's go!" she jumped up and started walking toward the school. Techna sprung up from where she had been crouching and turned to her friends "it's not going to work!"

...

"It's actually working!" Techna whispered disbelief showing in her whole frame.

It's a miracle that we even made it past the front door! But here we are, walking toward the library like old times, this doesn't make any sense!

"I just hope Valtor hasn't checked our trackers in the last few hours and discovered that we're back. Hey maybe this could work! Maybe he never knew we left!" Stella said as she strolled casually down the hall with the other eleven people in tow.

"Oh don't worry Stella" Bloom said next to her "He knew we left"

They had reached the library where the doors were still blown off from the first time they broke in. They strolled in and behold the book of 'Dark incantations' sat in the podium in the centre of the room.

"Huh that was easy" Stella said as they all gathered around the book while Techna began to quickly flip through it. After what seemed like forever she said "Found it, 'To release a charm or trinket'"

"Yes, now let's get these things off" Layla said tugging slightly at the unbreakable chain.

Techna spent a moment reading "Good news, it looks like another simple taking spell, we just each have to smear our own bloom on the chains and say 'I have tired of my bonds to this trinket, release'"

There was a small silence "that's it!?" Stella yelled "that's all it would have taken to get this damn thing off!?"

"Come on, no time to waste, let's go!" Layla said as she pulled out one of her knives and pricked her finger.

The girls each took turns at drawing blood and then they each stood in front of the book and said the spell.

"I have tired of my bonds to this trinket, release!" they all said at the same time. In a momentary flash the bracelets all turned a bright white then slowly turned to ash around each girl's wrist.

"Wow that was way too simple!" a voice sounded from the door

The girls all spun around to see Icy, Stormy and Darcy standing in the library doorway.

White hot fury burned in each girl as they stared at their enemy, they felt the adrenaline start to pump through their bodies and they all flexed their hands ready to grab their weapons at a moment's notice.

Icy stepped forward and addressed Bloom "So I told you evil was coming, bet you didn't know that you were the evil, huh?"

Bloom smiled and stepped forward also "Oh Icy" she laughed for a second, staring at the ground, when she looked up the rage and hate In her eyes was even enough to make a chill go down Icy's spine "you really think you're that evil don't you?"

She laughed again her smile getting wider, Icy didn't say anything but nodded.

"Well, let me show you what real evil is" Bloom said slowly, the girls stepping up beside her, ready to take out their enemy without a moment's pause.

"Evil Winx Charmix!"