Verboten
Chapter 5
Wednesday, June 3, 2009; Posted: Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Fore Note: Look at the rate I'm writing this story...
There was the quiet hum that lights made when electricity was flowing through them. The lights themselves looked old and about to burn out, some of them flickering and emitting a yellowish light. The air was damp from the salt water and a little musty from God knows what was roosting in the eaves. The warehouse was enormous but what little could be seen from that was obscure by the pile of steel-boxes stacked neatly.
Everyone, save for Sky, stared at the boxes dumbfounded. Sky stood before them all with a serious face. Bloom stood behind most of everybody, unsure of what was going on. She gave Sky a meaningful look, hoping that he would tell her or everybody something.
Who was he? Where was the Sky that she was used to? What was that speech about transporting criminals or playing animal control for terrorized cities? What was this 'real deal' thing about? Was something going to happen?
Bloom looked into her fiancé's face for clues. She found none that would distress her. Instead she saw a different man who had his shoulders squared, his back straightened and a face harden by some unfathomable horror. His hair was pushed out of his face and his lips were in tight flat line. His eyes never wavered. She saw no optimism or any of those cheery smiles that she loved.
"This is what's going to happen…" There was no room for questions in his voice because it sounded that what he was offering was the only and absolute way to do it.
Was he usurping the leadership role that he had been meant to always be?
"I have bought this warehouse for the sole purpose of making this the base of operations on Earth. This will save us time from requesting any materials from the provisions department and we will have a stronger connection to Magix in case something goes wrong."
Bloom had to admit that was a very smart idea. There was no way that she could have done something because she had no idea how to exercise her imperial power. She supposed that as soon as she married him, she would have to be Queen. Would she be fit to be Queen?
"I will also house some of my 'royal spies' here," Sky's voice started to lighten up a little and he gave a defiant look to Riven. The redhead just rolled his eyes. "They will be here 24/7 and be there to provide backup. In the boxes behind me is everything that we will need right now to set up a communication link to Magix and the basic furniture for cots, tables and chairs. Today, we will start unpacking everything and building it. I want this warehouse to be as safe as a fortress!" he ordered, "That means we will have to set up trap spells and surveillance systems and everything in between. We will get more stuff as we clear the boxes." Sky tapped his knuckles on the steel boxes making an empty echoing sound.
There was an awkward tenseness in the room. Where did they start?
"So wait," Layla was the first one to speak, "We're going to build all of this by ourselves?" she pointed to the boxes, "We're only six fairies and one wizard who can perform magic, let alone high-class spells!"
"Uh, well, no, Layla," Sky dropped his head low and blew out a breath. A smile pulled at his cheeks, "I have body guards everywhere and I'm sure all of them are bored watching me," Sky snapped his fingers and suddenly, a two dozen people fell from the ceiling to land neatly on the floor or on the boxes. "I'm sure they can help us build some of it. Let's get to work."
Had Sky usurped the title of leader from Bloom?
-
Roxy fell short from a heart attack from shock as people started falling from the ceiling to land neatly on their toes like ninjas but not quite. All of them were dressed in normal clothes and she noticed a trend in them: they were all within Sky's age range. She looked up to the rafters to see if there were more people.
"Your Imperial Majesty, everything you have requested for now is here," one of the 'ninja-like' people spoke up and went to stand before Sky. This one was a woman barely old enough to be a college-student, maybe not even a high school student. At minimum, Roxy pinned the girl as fifteen. She had long deep black-brown hair with long fringes that reached her eyes and she wore a simple outfit of worn sneakers, denim short shorts and a green shirt.
Wait, hadn't she seen her before? At the bar maybe? Yes, that was it! She was one of those weird overzealous girls who tried to flirt with Sky while he was working!
The…girl, because she was not quite a woman, moved closer to prince to have a more private conversation with her king. While that happen, Brandon and several of his fellow bodyguards and spies took an initiative to start opening the boxes. Soon everyone followed suit.
Primarily, everyone started from the top of the pile and moved the boxes to ground by the means of magic or by enhanced strength, as Roxy found out that some of the spies and Brandon had. At first, Roxy did not know how to contribute to the work as did neither the other Winx until someone asked them or Sky ordered them. Roxy then found herself opening boxes and separating them into piles to send to different corners of the room where they were either putting together furniture, computer parts or whatever else they needed.
The fun part actually just moving the boxes to the different corners of the rooms because she got to talk to all the different people. She did not start much of a conversation with them nor did they with her but there was always a thank you or compliment when she delivered them some part that was missing for their project. At the same, she was interacting with people who were not of her planet—aliens—but were supposed to be her people. They all looked so normal and wore such normal clothes that it felt…normal somehow.
Starting from the front of the warehouse where they came in, on the far left corner of the warehouse was where all the furniture for people to sleep in as well as a kitchen area. People were building kitchen counters and making plans to extend the plumbing from the already present bathrooms to make showers as well as the electrical. It had a rather homey feel to it when someone decided to spell the all the concrete walls into a neutral stucco beige wall. The sounds of hammers banging and people arguing over the plans came from that corner. On the far right, some people were arranging lockers and large boxes that had danger warning signs on them into some formation known by only Brandon who was leading them ("Weapon storage," Sky pointed out.). Right beside that, more people were setting up mats on the walls and floors to make something that looked like a sparring ring. Along with that, there were familiar pieces of gymnastic equipment such as a beam and spring board and some stranger pieces like ridiculously high uneven bar sets. Around the middle of the room, Timmy and some other people were setting up a circular platform that would house a central supercomputer station. All around the room, various magic users were drawing spells on the walls or floors or casting them with their voices. All of this was spearheaded by Sky and that girl in the short shorts who directed people bring things to certain places.
Roxy returned to pile of boxes in middle of the room and picked up a crowbar to pry open the lid of another crate. Layla helped her lift the heavy cover off and cleared the packaging of the box to see what was inside.
"Let's see…" the water fairy murmured lowly.
To put it bluntly, Roxy was still on awkward terms with the fairy. She was friends with her but she was not quite a personal friend like Bloom.
Inside were regular small cardboard boxes with white labels that said 'ration pack.'
"What's a ration pack?" Roxy said aloud.
"It's food," Layla answered. She pulled out one of the boxes and pointed at a list of words that said what kind of food was inside.
"Food?"
"Yeah, the kind where you just add water."
"You mean the kind that astronauts eat?"
"Astro…nauts?"
"Oh…" Roxy realized that an astronaut was probably a foreign concept to her, "They're people who go into space for exploration and sometimes travel to the moon."
"Primitive space travel?"
"Yeah, something like that, I guess..." Roxy felt a little sullen at the word 'primitive.' Despite finding out that she magic, Earth was still her home and anything that degraded Earth to primitive felt wrong. Earth was pretty advanced as far as Roxy knew.
"I'm sorry! Was that mean?!" Layla blurted out all of a sudden. "I didn't mean that—"
"No, no, you're right. I suppose it is primitive," Roxy waved her off. "It's okay."
"I'm sorry…I'm really bad with new people. I'm not really good with making new friends and I always screw up somehow."
"No, I swear it's okay."
It was another awkward moment.
"Layla!" someone called.
The water fairy's face stilled and then became flush.
Nabu yelled across the warehouse for her attention, "Have you seen a crate with parts for the bunks?" Nabu had been working on the bunk beds.
Layla answered his query all the while blushing and trying not to stare at him too long. Roxy watched exchange with mild interest and grinned devilishly at Layla when Nabu left.
"Wh-what?!" the water princess stuttered at Roxy's look.
"Nothing…"
The hours passed by much faster now as the girls quietly talked about things that girls were wont to do. It started innocently at first with how Roxy was adjusting to all this change and then subtly went to boys.
"So, tell me about Nabu?" Roxy asked, "Do you like him?"
"What? Of course, I do!" Layla defended herself. Quietly, she said, "I have to anyways because it's part of our arranged marriage."
Oh…it's arranged…
"You have an arranged marriage?!" Roxy looked up from the work she was doing.
She had an arranged marriage?! Wasn't that a little archaic?
"Yeah, it's one of the family's older traditions that we use if we feel a civil war between the tribes is about to break out…" she said, a little distant. The black girl's eyes were downcast concentrating on removing the packaging of the steel box.
"But isn't that a little…wrong?"
"Yeah, it is but I don't mind anymore. I used to care but I keep forgetting that it's not only me who is affected by my decisions. The people in general are. It's hard being a princess sometimes, especially from the northern kingdoms of Tides."
"But do you love Nabu?"
Layla whipped her head up. "Love?" Roxy could see doubt and embarrassment in the princess's brows.
"Well, okay, like him?"
"Oh, of course. I have to like him a little. He's honest and hardworking and that's what I like about princes from the southern tribes. In the north, everything is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. There's so much formality sometimes the nobles barely get to see the light of day." Layla and Roxy discovered wool blankets and linen sheets in the box they were working on and sent it to where the bunks and kitchen were being built.
"What's the difference between the north and the south?"
"In the north," Layla started, "It's more formal kingdoms like with the big puffy dresses and big gaps between the people and government. It's very old fashion like at that medieval dinner we ate at last week except everyone is black like me. Remember when you showed me Africa in one of your textbooks in the bar?"
"Yeah."
"That's what Nabu's kingdom is like. They're smaller and we call them tribes. It's a little more simpler when it comes to the division of people and paperwork gets confusing but it works a lot better than it does in the north. Everyone is connected like one big family and families are usually bigger than one or two children. They're usually maybe ten." There was a slight yearning in Layla's voice as she said the last part.
"But, you like him, right?"
"Oh, of course. I just wish sometimes…" Layla looked at where Nabu was working. She blew out a breath, "Sorry, I'm just babbling now."
"Sometimes what?"
"Well, the north and south are completely two different cultures. Some things that they have in the north, they don't have in the south and…well, romance for people down there is different."
"What do you mean?" Roxy asked, craving for knowledge.
"They don't really do the 'kissing' thing," Layla said with a forced voice. She felt exposed and totally embarrassed at what she had admitted.
Latter Note: Um...is that a plot device I see?
Anyways, some bonding time with Layla/Aisha.
As a warning to everyone, it is very likely that once this story has run its course, it is most likely that it will not return to original timeline of season four. Meaning, and this is an example, if Sky breaks up with Bloom for Diaspro in this story but does not in the series, you have a discontinuity right there thus making it an alternate timeline.
Something like that.