Verboten
Chapter 10

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Disclaimer: I do not own.

Roxy plopped herself down on her bed as soon as she was sure that the vacuum was safe and normal. It had not been that bad but the difficult part had been getting it off the ceiling. Now, she just did not want to even think about it. The new fairy had already showered and was ready for bed although it was fairly early. She idly laid in bed, a restless energy inside of her. It felt like one of those moments where she wanted to be with the girls in their pet store or with the guys in the bar just for the company. She felt terribly lonely.

Artu was a great companion but there were days where she had someone to talk to at home like a brother or sister. She wished that she had one of those. Roxy had changed a lot in the past few weeks. She had gotten more human friends rather than animal ones but at the same time, she felt like she got farther and farther away from regular people like the customers at the bar. Was this right? She wished that someone could tell her how it was supposed to work. She bet Harry Potter never had to go through all of this. He was a fictional character after all.

She wished she had someone to confine all her secrets to. Like maybe a mom. She deeply wished she had a constant one. Her dad had never really told her about her real mom and coincidentally, he did not have any pictures of her. When she was young, Roxy never questioned why he did not have any but as she got older, those questions plagued her badly especially when it came to family tree projects at school.

It was after she had finished Mark Haddon's The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time in the beginning of high school that she really started worry about her mother. Her real mother. At the time, her father had been going out with someone but it had never worked out in the end. In The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time, the autistic protagonist Christopher Boone had been told by his father that his mother had died at young age to find out later that his father had lied and his mother was alive. She wondered, had her father done something like that to her except she did not catch on? Was her mother out there somewhere?

A golden brown kitten jumped onto her bed and she could see Artu go to rest on his favorite pillow in the corner. The kitten sniffed her curiously. Roxy smiled at the stray. "I wonder, who do you belong to, little kitten?" Roxy said aloud.

The phone rung again and Roxy dashed across her room for it on the bookshelf.

"Hello?"

"Just checking up, dear." It was her dad. "Is everything okay in the house? Did you lock the door and close all the windows?"

"Yes, yes, yes! I did all of that, Dad! I know what to do."

"Okay, just making sure…" There was a tired sigh heard between the booming music on the other end, "Good night, kiddo. I'll be coming home late, okay? Around one."

"G'night," Roxy said in a rather worried tone, "Dad, are you okay?"

It was times like this that Roxy had to remember that her father was rather old.

"I'm fine, Roxy. The bar's great and your friends Brandon, Nabu and Riven are doing me a favour kicking out all the drunken hooligans. Saves my back." On the other end, there was a loud crash and Roxy cringed. It sounded awfully close.

"I'm sorry! I find it out to believe that you're at least sixteen years old! Show me your ID or get out of the bar before I call the cops!" Roxy could hear Brandon threaten. (1)

"Sorry, dear. I have to go. I love you. G'night."

"I love you, too. Night, dad."

With that, he hung up. Roxy hung the phone on the receiver and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

-

"I was really scared, you know. Thank God, the Winx were there with us," Roxy said to the purring kitten. She was recounting what had happened in the battle after the Winx Club had gotten their believix. Inwardly, she still felt it was unfair. She was on the floor looking at her old photo album with fluffy pillow tucked under her. She was going through her old childhood photos.

At the moment, she was going through some where she and Klaus were at a horse ranch. There was one in particular that caught her eye. A five year old version of herself was riding a shaggy haired pony and her father watching her. Her father was much leaner and fitter in that picture.

She missed those days back when he was able to lift her above him. She sighed wistfully.

"I remember this one," she looked at one picture and went on to the next, "But I barely remember this one. Why can't I remember them?" she said in a hushed tone. "I wish I could least dream about this tonight. It would be nice." She yawned.

'Why do these memories hide from me? I know that I've changed but why am I so afraid?' She turned to another page, 'Am I afraid of what I'll become? What will I lose if I change?' An image of her father came to mind. 'No, I will not lose him. And that voice in my dreams… I've heard it before. I know I have but it feels like this is the first time I heard it.' Roxy closed the book and rested her head on it. She closed her eyes even though she did not want to sleep yet. Sleep came quickly. (2)

-

It was nighttime on the docks. Everything was still but the sound of the tide crash hurling itself against the cement pier could still be heard. There were dozens of warehouses on the pier but one in particular was still fully functional. In Sky's private warehouse, most of the lights had been turned off and even the emergency ones were dimmed slightly. On the left side of the warehouse was a yellow domed shape. That was the newly created magical reality chamber that everyone was eager to test out. It was accompanied by a closed in area—weapons depot—and mat area with a trampoline and an array of other exercise equipment. On the right side of the warehouse was the residential area with a fully functional kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area. Its main highlight was the titanium kitchen and long dinner table. The bunk beds, after they had been built, were walled off for privacy.

There were half a dozen people still awake mostly working on the supercomputer. Asta was one of them but she was not working on the computer. She was supposed to be sleeping but a curious thought had kept her up. She paced around the kitchen in her pajamas.

"Pure breeds of any race were often prone to having uncommon abilities simply because of clean genetics," Asta wondered aloud. Pure breeds were often also better than interbreeds because of this such as a fairy being better than half fairy, half elf. "Roxy is the last true Earth-born fairy of Earth. All the magic was stolen by the Black Circle more than a thousand years ago."

Fairies and magical creatures alike disappeared during the Arthurian ages, meaning about the turn of the first millenium. Barring the fact that Roxy might have traces of non-magical human DNA in her making her a half-breed tainted repeatedly by humans, she still could quite possibly have pure fairy heritage in her. "Meaning that Roxy is a half pure breed fairy."

Asta stopped pacing and held her breath. She was on to something important.

-

Black. It was dark and all she saw was black. Roxy found herself standing inside some type of darkness. It was chilly and she crossed her arms. She found that she could she hands as if it was bright as day in sharp contrast to the darkness. She looked down to herself in a strange outfit that she would have never matched in a million years. No wonder she had goose bumps on her legs.

She found herself to be wearing bright green ruffled short shorts with an even greener sash about her hips. There was sheer square fabric hanging from the belt buckle. She saw a turquoise one shoulder t-shirt with the sleeve reaching to her left elbow. A couple of purple pink straps reached over her other bare shoulder, seeming to keep her top up and straight. Then there was this strange green arm warmer on her right arm that felt awkward but comforting somehow. What freaked her out the most was the pair of green heels she was wearing. (3)

She would have never definitely matched such an outfit, let alone buy any of these pieces—except for maybe the arm warmer and belt.

Then she was falling as if the supposed ground under her feet had been taken away. She felt wind rush passed her, ruffling her hair and getting into her face. She wanted to scream! She wanted to curl her body into a ball but instead, she found herself unfolding flat as an ironing board diving straight for whatever the hell she was diving at. There was a bright flash that destroyed the darkness. It was so bright that Roxy had to close her eyes use her arms to shield away the glare. She still kept falling but when the white light had subsided, she found herself diving straight for hilly field with rows of plants. She was still high in the sky and the ground below her was looked like a farming plot that reached on for miles from her angle.

The fear in her was gone. For some reason, she expected her heart to be racing but she found the pull of gravity relaxing. She felt a smile at her cheeks as the wide rushed passed her and ground became closer and closer. She felt weightless and carefree as if nothing was bothering her. Reckless would be the word.

She twirled herself around in the air in all directions to get a view of the place. Her eyes widened as she saw what was behind her with her peripheral. She had fairy wings! Heart-shaped purple and green fairy wings that glittered like jewels. She flapped them experimentally and found that she had control over them.

She stopped her descent and swirled around in the air gleefully. She screamed "Whoo-hoo!" as she did steep dives and climbs.

Finally, she dived headfirst towards the ground. She did not know why nor did she care very much. Out of nowhere, a black spot rushed passed her narrowly missing her and pushing her out of the way at the same time. Confused, she looked for the thing that had passed her and found it to flying just below her and faster too.

She smiled and felt herself loosen the muscle attached to her wings so that they fell back to lay against her body like a ladybug's and then she was falling faster to catch up with the mysterious black object. She found it to be another person. That person turned around to see her. She felt as if that person was smiling at her.

It was guy and he wore dark pants and no shirt and that's all she saw of his front before he turned back around to continue his dive. There were black curved shapes on his back and the shapes started to unfold in dark arcs that meant they were wings. Surprising Roxy, he pulled up sharply and was suddenly flying over the field.

Quickly and clumsily, Roxy followed suit and pulled up hard and tried to follow the other man for some unknown reason. She looked below at the field. It was rows and rows of grape orchards. Ahead, the man was still flying. She could see the end of the grape orchard and the beginning of a forest. They slowed down just before the tree line where there was a large up boulder that looked out of place. The man landed on the precarious top and folded his wings. He sat down on the rock with his feet dangling. Roxy finally saw his face as she came to halt and floated. He had short black hair and an unreadable expression.

He pointed to something behind her and she turned to see what it was. A warm breeze hit her as turned and came faced with a sun setting over an ocean horizon. The water and sky were a deep dark blue reflecting each other. She found herself to be standing on a small red circle that was fairly high off the ground. A metal roof. Below she could make familiar landmarks like the bridge to Gardenia, the beach, the bar and even the wharf. The view was simply amazing. She had never imagined her home from such a view.

She looked down to see her clothes. She now wore a pair of cut jean shorts that went to her knees and basketball jersey with worn shoess. Someone poked her on the shoulder and she turned rapidly to suddenly find herself in someone's embrace. It was comforting. She could not see the person but it was comforting. She was then pushed away roughly and feared that she would fall off the small roof. She tried to grab whoever had pushed her.

That person held onto her by just her hand pulled her back to step into a dizzying waltz in a large gold and red candle-lit room. There were a dozen other people around her dancing the same waltz in a synchronized fashion. She could not see who she was dancing with nor could she recognize him but she could see the other dancers around her. She saw a quite a few members of the Winx and some of the guys interspersed with strangers that she felt that she would know. She saw Sky and craned her head to see if he was dancing with Bloom. It was a red-haired woman but not quite the same shade as Bloom's. Music was played by an orchestra and the room was lined with table laden with food.

Roxy felt herself be dragged away by her wrist and out of the circle of dancers towards a set of glass doors that led to a garden. She looked behind at the receding ballroom and got a steep view of a gold and red castle. They were on a white marble veranda of sorts and Roxy heels made a sharp tap-tap-tap. It was night time and the sky was clear of clouds, letting the moon shine through. It was luminescent guiding light.

Bewildered, she looked forward to see who was pulling her away. The person brought her to sit on a stone bench. Roxy played with her sheer gloves and white pearls adorning her light blue gown. She felt nervous and looked to the formally dressed person beside her.

"Roxy, are you willing to accept change?" her company had a deep but strange voice like a myriad of voices behind one.

She opened her mouth to respond but was not sure of her answer.

"Are you, Roxy?"

She whispered, "What do you mean?"

"You are going to change, Roxy. Change a lot."

"How?"

"You will change whether you like it or not. Can you accept it?"

"I...I don't know."

"Destiny has many plans for you."

"What if I don't want to change?"

Her company was silent, "Many will die. You will change, Roxy. It's a matter of accepting the change and what you will do in the end. If you choose right, you might be able to come back to your life on Earth but right now, the universe needs you."

Latter Note: There's a lot to comment here. I don't know where to start but obviously, the plot thickens.

Roxy experimenting with magic; Asta getting curious; Roxy wondering about her mom; Roxy worrying about her dad; Brandon kick customers asses; the universe apparently needing Roxy's help... That's a lot of Roxy.

1) There is no legal drinking age in Italy. However, there is a legal purchasing age meaning that you must be sixteen years old to purchase alcohol at a store or in a bar. I would assume universally that establishments reserve the right to ask for ID.

2) For those who have seen the Italian episodes, this is my version of the end of episode eight (Winx Believix). I made it so that it fits with my interpretation of the story. Plus, it's a lot more interesting.

3) I'm referring to certain outfit in the show. You know which one it is. ;)