Verboten
Chapter 6

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Disclaimer: Um, this chapter is...um...I don't know. I just write; I don't profit from this except for the joy that my readers get from this.

Fore Note:
- Yes, I KNOW THAT NABU HAS KISSED LAYLA/AISHA in episode 12 or 13 of season 4. Thing is, people, that this is all happening around episode six or seven. It hasn't happened yet. ;-)
- It is quite POSSIBLE that Nabu might have kissed Layla/Aisha at the end of season 3, as I am told by Phoebe Rerun but I'm going to pretend that Nabu did that under certain pretenses in this story. We have yet to see Nabu's side of the story. Remember, this is an AU/AT (Alternate Universe/Alternate Timeline). Anything can happen! ;-P

Lunchtime came in the form of three dozen pizzas and gallons of juice. Everyone had dropped everything they were doing as soon as Timmy and Tecna came in the boys' red sports car bearing food. Someone had slid open the rusty metal doors open to let the vehicle in and then quickly closed the doors. The vehicle came to halt in the middle of the warehouse and the couple started unloading the food while others improvised tables and chairs using the upturned metal crates.

Roxy grabbed a few slices of meat-lovers' pizza and a bottle of water and took her seat beside Layla who was still flush from what she had just admitted. The water princess nibbled a little bit of her pizza but found that could she not eat despite her roaring hunger.

Everyone was talking and taking note of the work that had already been accomplished. Bloom chatted idly with Sky's subjects, trying to get to know them while Stella flirted blatantly with others in an attempt to get a reaction from Brandon. Tecna was having a working lunch examining the computer that was being built between bites of pizza and having Sky explain to her how computers in Eraklyon worked. Flora ate with Helia in the corner farthest away from everyone and Musa tried to make conversation with Riven. Nabu was also having a working lunch and was off drawing spells on the floor still with several other spell casters using chalk and paint.

Artu laid at Roxy feet begging for pieces of meat and she indulged him a bit.

"What do you mean that he doesn't do the 'kissing' thing?" Roxy asked innocuously while giving her dog a stomach rub. "Does that mean he doesn't kiss you?"

What was the 'kissing' thing? Did that mean that Nabu did not kiss? Was Nabu's entire culture like that? Roxy found that thought as inconceivable as breathing was.

"Yes…" Layla let out, slightly mortified, while watching Nabu work on the floor.

"No way, you can't be seriously?!" Roxy asked in disbelief. "How's that possible? How can he not kiss?" she almost screamed aloud. Roxy realized that the last question sounded extremely awkward and a smile and snort escaped her.

Layla snorted and giggled as well and both girls fell into a laughing fit. No one noticed the noise they were making because the buzz of other people's conversations blocked them out.

"No, but seriously," Roxy continued. She leaned in to Layla, "Really? He doesn't kiss?"

Layla sobered up at the seriousness of the question. It sounded silly that entire culture did not kiss to Roxy but it was a reality for Layla. "Yes, he doesn't. I know it's pretty silly but…" Layla paused, "I don't mind because it's the way he grew up and I don't want to offend him or ask too much but I sometimes wish that he would…y'know." The water princess brushed her hand through her hair out of nervous habit.

"But why don't they kiss, his culture I mean? Is it something religious?"

Layla thought about this for a few long moments, trying to find the right words and concepts. "No, it's just he never grew up with it. He can do the peck on the cheek or hand but not on the lips. It's awkward for him."

"Is it just kissing, though? What about holding hands?"

"He can do that, no problem. It's just I wish…he would kiss me…y'know, that's all. Kissing is such a regular thing in the magical universe; everyone does it and we see it everywhere on TV and in movies but of all the men I have to marry, it's him. The one man who comes from a culture that just doesn't kiss. I mean, isn't kissing physical proof of the strength of one's relationship? It's not too much to ask, is it?" Layla looked up to Roxy seriously and ran her hand through her hair again. She looked at her lap, dejectedly. "What do you think?"

"Uh, well, I don't know. If he finds it awkward, there's not much you can do, I guess…" Roxy threw out. It was not her best piece of advice. She was not exactly actively pursuing boys on a daily basis and therefore did not know much nor was she totally celibate.

Layla seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the answer but replied with a "Thanks," and left the subject at that. She tried to concentrate on her lunch. Roxy did not blame her nor did she want to pursue the subject any further seeing as the water princess herself had hard time dealing with it. Who wouldn't?

Roxy looked around the warehouse and took special note of the men in it. Who would she marry? A regular Earthling or someone from the magical dimension? She could not imagine herself settling down and having a family like any regular person. It seemed like such a faraway dream compared to world that currently lived in with the threat of evil dark wizards who want to kill her or fairy princesses and their army-slick beaux wanting to help keep her alive. And what of the man himself? Would he be able to accept her?

Roxy looked around, her eyes falling especially on the heroes. What kind of man could possibly accept the reality she lived in? Could they accept the danger that she was in constantly? Apparently, Sky, Brandon, Riven, Timmy, Helia and Nabu lived with it for the last few years and plowed on through it all despite the risks for their beloved girlfriends. Maybe there was hope?

Sky came into sight as she pondered the danger that he had lived through just for Bloom. Roxy had learned of the entire three year vendetta with the Trix witches and their plans for world domination. A blank came to her mind as she tried to imagine Sky begging for Bloom to find her true self before she destroyed the whole world with the power of Realix while under the influence of this Lord Darkar's spell. She just could not. It just seemed so unrealistic. Too much like a trashy romance novel that she was prone to reading occasionally.

And what about Brandon? Roxy was sure that he had had more than his fair share of danger. Maybe even a dangerous overdose of it. Not only did he have to be on high alert for anyone who may threaten the blond king's life as well as any threats because of his attachment to Bloom, but there had also been Stella's life to worry about even though it was not part of his paycheck.

Was there a Mr. Right for her?

-

Helia had been working on setting up with living quarters of the warehouse all morning and had starting working on putting together the central computer system just before lunch had started. For the most part of the morning, he had been put to work building bunks, tables and chairs and also gave a hand with planning the plumbing and electricity that was to be made. Construction work was what he excelled at and having a keen spatial sense helped too. The computer was not hard to work with either. Even though he had rarely used those machines during his childhood and had only started truly working with it towards the beginning of his college years, Helia had a good grasp of the technology. It is just he often preferred meeting people face-to-face rather than on a window on screen.

Then again, the computers that Helia had used at Red Fountain and art school were not like the ones he had at home. Literally, they worked differently. The computers in Magix were like Earth computers and laptops, except smaller and faster. The computer that he had been exposed to during the end of his high school years were of the magical sort relying heavily on hologram images and spatial interfaces like the one that Tecna projected out of her hands or the translucent 360° green one she had generated when that fiend attacked Red Fountain in the year he returned.

"Helia, you haven't painted in a while," Flora noted simply.

Now, he sat on an upturned crate with Flora away from the social center that had been inadvertently created. Their half-finished slices of pizza laid on an empty corner of the metal box they sat on. The flower fairy had one of her arms hooked around the artist's and was content drawing circles in the palm of his hand with her fingers as if she were reading his future.

"I know. I just don't have the time anymore," Helia leaned his head to the side on hers.

There was still a lot of progress to be made with the warehouse, he noted while look around. They had accomplished a lot, that was sure but that was only thanks to the help of Sky's restless spies who probably had more magical experience than the Winx Club. A lot of what had been accomplished had used magic, small or big and even though the girls had a lot of magical potential, they did not have the knowledge or proper training that some of the Sky's Eraklyon spellcasters did.

Helia took in neutral beige colour of the wall; it was ugly and plain. He decided in the back of his mind that would remedy that somehow during his free time.

"Are you tired?" she asked, dropping his hand entirely. True concern laced her face. She couldn't blame him. Lately, there had been tensions between the girls and the guys that had all started with bar fight with the hunters. Was it such a bad thing that the boys came to watch over them?

After getting over the initial shock and feelings of betrayal and she thought that the boys thought that the girls could not handle themselves, Flora finally understood why they had came (accompanied by a couple of explanations from Helia though). She could not blame them and she actually appreciated the thought and the efforts that the boys made to keep Roxy out of the hands of the Black Circle. Flora could accelerate the growth rate of plants, give life back to forests and commune with the voice of Nature herself but there was no way she could swing a sword or throw a punch to defend herself.

That was her weakness.

That was all the girls' weakness.

They were graduated Alfea fairies with a new mission to protect that last fairy of Earth and their greatest weakness was their lack of physical prowess. They had knowledge of powerful magic and could understand complicated magiphilosophical concepts with their eyes closed but there was no way that they could outrun a flying witch on foot or defend themselves from a regular street mugging without the help of magic. Look at what happened when the Black Circle casted a dark spell on the pets at the shop that caused them to turn into monsters. It was mainly the boys who were risking their hide to wrestle the pets down so they could feed them the enchanted food.

How had Roxy survived?

Anyways, this whole tension had been started by Stella after she saw Mitzi in Brandon's arms and when the Andy and his boys came over to the girls' loft and ended up helping them paint the place. The tension had been escalating ever since. Bloom and Sky had somewhat resolved their issues but there was certain uneasiness that neither of them wanted to acknowledge when Andy was around at the bar. Stella and Brandon had only been getting worst and worst but Flora preferred to stay out of that and let that run its course.

Flora turned slightly to face Helia even though he was leaning on her. She supposed that he was somewhat tired from all the random street fights with the Black Circle and possibly any fights that might have happened at night when he worked at the bar. She looked at him inquiringly, worried.

"No, I'm more nostalgic than anything else." He stared at something particular in the warehouse but Flora could not tell what it was exactly.

"Do you miss home?" Flora sure did. Home for her for the last three years had been the Alfea castle. Now that she was graduated, she really needed to start finding something a little more personal and permanent. She had started apartment hunting just before the beginning of the school year but all of that had come to halt with their new mission.

"Yeah, I do very much. Not Magix; I mean my real home with my mother and father," with some afterthought, he said, "I don't live with them anymore, anyways." He sounded like he missed them very much. "I bought my own apartment a long time ago and I just moved out of their house this summer. When I get back to it after all of this…I need to do some serious cleaning…" He babbled on more to himself.

Flora straightened up and turned to him, depriving him of the head he was leaning on for a pillow. "Wait, you have an apartment already?!" When had all of this happened?

Helia straightened up, "Yeah, I bought it just before coming back to Red Fountain. Something wrong?"

Flora became flush immediately. There was a thunderous collective laugh from the social center where everyone was eating. Was there a proper way of asking your boyfriend what kind of apartment he lived in without hinting that you were possibly interested in becoming his roommate? Maybe it was just not appropriate at all since they had only been dating for two years. It probably was and Flora preferred that he did not know but Helia figured it out, anyways.

"Interesting in becoming my roomie, are we, Flora?" he said plainly, "I don't recommend it despite all we've gone through." He wrapped an arm around her waist and gave a small smile to reaffirm his feelings for her.

"How come?"

He explained, "It's not in Magix, first of all. If you were planning on going university there, it wouldn't help because it's too far."

It's not in Magix? Did that mean he was not going to pursue further education to the university level in Magix? Where would that leave their relationship?

She preferred not to wonder about that and went on to another subject. "Well, what are you going to do once all of this is over?" Flora wondered. She knew nothing about his plans for the future. At times, she thought she knew him when she did not.

"I…I don't know, actually," Helia gave a brash smile and scratched his head, "I think that I'm just going to go back home and try to reconnect with my family. I haven't seen them in a while and I left some loose ends at home that I need to take care of."

"Well, what about Saladin?"

"It's nice to see my grandfather again, Flora. Don't doubt me on that but I never really grew up with him. It's kinda awkward sometimes because I don't really think of him as my 'grandfather.' I knew my grandmother more than him."

"Your grandmother as in…?"

"As in Saladin's wife."

Flora was slightly taken aback when Helia referred to his grandfather by his name. She guessed that that little quirk was one those things she did not know about Helia. She was sure that she would come to know him fully with time. After all, they had their whole life ahead of them now that school was finished.

-

It was mid afternoon now and Roxy was just about tired of being stuck inside the warehouse. All the steel crates had been opened and cleared out now and construction on new walls, plumbing and electricity had started for the residential area (using magic, of course). The kitchen was almost done.

Roxy turned attention away from the crockery she was arranging in one of the new kitchen cabinets and tilted her head in confusion as the same girl with the short shorts and long black hair had her hands raised about her to send wispy trails of greenish blue magic and surrounded the sparring ring to make translucent bluish-black sphere around it. Roxy observed her, curious as to how her magic worked.

She had seen Layla use her morphix objects before but those actions had never really made Roxy notice the level of magic. This one had decidedly made her notice the drop in temperature and a sudden gloominess in the room. It made Roxy shiver violently as if some dark wintery wind had come early swept through her body almost making her drop a ceramic plate. It felt dark and powerful, like the magic of wizards of the Black Circle…but not as malevolent.

The shape turned into the solid yellow wall and made a dome around the ring with thick walls and a reinforced bright red door that said 'DANGER.' What exactly was that girl doing? Or making?

Once all the misty magic dissipated, the strange short shorts girl made a pirouette and giggled, happy that she had accomplished her task—whatever it was. No one seemed to notice her except for all the Winx girls and some of the guys. Brandon and Sky were fairly ignorant of the dark force that had just passed through them. Whether it was by choice, no one knew. They were all staring at the girl, noticing the dark magic leave the room.

"What was that?!" Bloom stood up suddenly.

"What was what?" Sky asked, not bothering to look away from his work. He sat on the floor looking at a diagram on his knee.

They were both working on wiring the modems for the supercomputer—basically, putting the red wires in the red sockets and blue in the blue.

She looked back down at her fiancé. "Didn't you sense that black magic?" Something deep inside made her preternaturally angry, as if to defend herself and loved ones from the temptation of darkness which was the very purpose of Alfea fairies. That magic, it felt dark and powerful just like the witches of the Black Circle or the Trix. The fire fairy gave the long dark-haired girl a strange and menacing look.

"There's lots of magic circulating in this building, Bloom," Sky said, finally turning from his work. "What's wrong? Bloom? Bloom…? Oh, dear…"

Bloom did not hear his question as she was already half striding angrily towards the dark-haired girl, the apparent source of the dark magic. "What are you?" Bloom hissed.

The girl visibly jumped from her spot to turn to the fire fairy, confused. "I'm sorry?"

"WHAT ARE YOU?!" Bloom menaced. She pointed at her accusingly. Everyone had their attention the two women now. A contrast of colourful red-orange hair and plain metallic black; an adult-looking fire princess and a way-too young girl.

Sky came at a run to grab Bloom by her shoulders. "Bloom, calm down! Everything's fine!" he reassured but his face said What is going on?!

"Merciful Dragon," the girl swore, "What's your problem?!" The girl took several steps back from the fuming princess.

"My problem is you! You're a witch, aren't you?!"

Latter Note: Hmmm...a witch among the Sky's spies? And Helia, is his future moving further away from Flora's? How will Layla connect with Nabu if she can't kiss him? How will Roxy react to all this?