Verboten
Chapter 17

Monday, September 07, 2009

Disclaimer: I do not own.

Fore Note: I have to say that a lot of consideration went into this chapter.

God, I'm pushing it with the ratings.

WARNING: blood?

Helia almost dropped his tray of smoothies when he heard a faint scream emanate from down the hallway to the storage room and Roxy's room. He set down the tray on a counter and went to go find out about the scream. It had not been a girlish high-pitched scream but the scream of woman in deep agonizing pain. He briefly wondered if Asta had surreptitiously forgotten to inform him of any sudden changes to the plan.

He was about to knock on Roxy's door when the door itself opened suddenly to an angry and glowing Roxy. The air was permeated with a deep negative emanating emotion that it almost made Helia choke and start coughing. The feeling was so strong and black and bottomless like he was drowning. Helia recognized killing intent in the air immediately and hoped to the heavens that he was not the target.

"Roxy, did something happen?" Helia asked with genuine concern.

Roxy raised a hand and Helia found himself flying into the wall behind him and falling limply to the ground. He groaned as Roxy walked away with that negative storm of emotion trailing her.

"Good gods, she's improved quite a bit," he said to himself. He supposed that now was a good time to inform Asta of this new development and pulled out his cell phone.

-

Roxy awoke to find herself in the middle of the wasteland. The air was arid and grassless flatland surrounded her for miles. She curled into a ball with her head in her knees hopifng that everything was a bad dream. She felt something rub itself against her thighs and found the kitten Lioness had given purring against her ankles.

"You?" Roxy said wearily and picked up the kitten. "What is going on, kitty cat?" she asked even though the kitten would not answer. She petted him but more to comfort herself than the cat. The kitten mewled in pleasure all the same. "Where am I now? Is that lady going to come back again?"

She looked around at the miles of desert. There were mountains in the distance and sky was devoid of clouds. The heat was bearable but just so.

"You ungrateful good for nothing child!" a voice screamed shrilly. The sky began to darken with black clouds and bolts of purple lightning all of a sudden. "How do you expect to save us if you do not do anything?! Anger and fury must guide you if you ever hope to achieve anything! ANGER!" it echoed.

The same fairy specter appeared just before Roxy floating lazily in the air. Its grey claw-like hands were motionless but the white dress it wore fluttered in a nonexistence wind. Its oily black hair floated around a pair of sharp glowing red eyes often obscuring its facial features. Its barbed yellow wings were riddled with holes as if it were decaying from a parasite.

Roxy backed away from the being in fright while clutching the kitten to her chest. "W-who are you…?" she asked terrified.

"I am Nebula, worthless child. You are entrusted with the task of saving us but you are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary. What has our people become?!"

"That is enough, Nebula. She is, as you said, only a child."

Roxy almost collapsed in relief and fright at the same time as another voice entered the conversation. It was the same voice who asked her if she was willing to accept her changes. It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps this haunting specter and the companion were not one but two completely different entities. Then who was Lioness?

"Idiocy. She is old enough to be married and have children already!"

"The Earth has changed significantly in the last thousand years, Nebula. Customs have changed."

Frustrated and just as terrifying, the specter screamed to the sky. "Show yourself, you coward! I will not converse with a faceless voice."

"As you wish."

In the distance, a dust storm picked up and came charging at Roxy and the specter, Nebula. It was so thick that it obscured the view of the mountains in the distance. The storm surrounded them until it coalesced into a single sandy cloud to Roxy's right. A woman stepped out of the storm and it died immediately at her feet. The woman wore a red off-the-shoulders dress with long sleeves and a silver circlet with a web of silver chains and sapphires over a solid white veil that obscured her eyes completely. She had long hair red as blood and alabaster skin.

Roxy got the air of a catholic nun or a saint by the way the woman dressed and held herself regally. The only thing that betrayed any sign of age was the woman's lips that held a faint youthfulness. At the moment, the woman's mouth was formed in a tight line that said that she was not pleased at all.

"Who are you?!" Nebula screeched.

"How can you not recognize me, Nebula?" she said ominously.

"NO! NO! NO!" the specter screamed and back away from the red-haired woman in horror.

"You displease me, Nebula," the veiled woman said calmly. "Has your desire for revenge outweighed your common sense?"

The specter screamed shrilly as if it were in pain from just seeing the woman's presence, completely ignoring what the woman had said. The woman remained completely silent and still as the specter went on in a triad repeating the same thing over and over again. "I will have my revenge! Nebula cannot be stopped!"

"That is enough, Nebula. You've said your share."

The specter did not stop screaming and instead launched itself at the red-haired woman, classically going for her neck. Roxy watched in horror as the saintly woman raised a defiant hand to the specter's face. In the same moment, a white light burst from the woman's hand and it blasted the specter back with incredible power. Roxy felt the power wave blow in wind her face and she held her kitten tightly.

The specter hit the ground and bounced several times before it came sliding to a stop some distance. It had the body of a frail grey woman and it tried to get up on bony arms.

"Wake up, Nebula. Listen to yourself. How do you expect an untrained fairy to release you from your prison?" the woman said with startling seriousness. "She's better off killing herself than attempting that. Leave her mind at once and come back when she is ready."

"How dare you?! You dare to hit Nebula?! Nebula will have her revenge whether she is ready or not! I will have your body, child," the fairy specter said to Roxy with terrifying conviction. "AND I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!" The specter began to laugh manically with a single-mindedness that made Roxy want to run away. The specter's laugh echoed through the desert and its frail body melted into shadows on the ground.

Roxy looked at the veiled woman and there was a grim seriousness about her.

And then there was the consuming darkness again.

-

REVENGE, REVENGE, REVENGE!

That was all that matter to Nebula as she flew within the pink-haired child's body over a strange stone city. The White Circle guided her over the bizarre sight until she caught whiff of salt water and the accompanying unsavoury odours. The annoying veiled hag had not prevailed after all. She had control of the child's body and as long as she had a body and the White Circle, she could carry out her revenge. Nebula relished in glory at the simplicity of her foolproof plan.

She would kill the Wizards of the Black Circle and avenge her race.

The White Circle glowed purple in her hands as she poured herself from out the ring into the child's body. She flew over peculiarly large buildings made of metal and stone. Something inside her called to her to the ocean and to a specific warehouse where she knew she would find the wizards. Something told her for sure that she would find them. Whether it was a trap or not, she did not care.

She flew into a certain metal building with wide doors to find the wizards casually lounging about. She recognized them immediately despite their strange clothes.

Nebula flew at him first and smote him with the White Circle and sent him flying from the sheer magical force that the ring emitted. She landed and took a strong stance.

"This ends here, Fairy Hunters," she yelled defiantly in her bloodlust.

A seething burning hated engulfed Nebula as Ogron stepped forward and spoke. "You were right, Gantlos. The White Circle did come to us," he said in a clinical tone. "Anagan," the red-haired wizard turned to his comrade. "Do the honours and show this girl a warm welcome."

"With pleasure." The black wizard charged at Nebula but she raised the White Circle up and focused a blast from it that hit the man squarely in the chest. He flew across the warehouse floor.

"You bastard!" Nebula screamed. "You slaughtered my children and burned our homes! In the name of the Lord, you will pay!" The scent of coppery blood permeated her memories as she called them to forefront to power her magic.

The endless fields of bloodied and dismembered bodies clouded her mind's eye. The scent of burning flesh mixed with that of burning thatched huts and crops. The sky was black with soot and smoke and there was an endless every present wail of pain. Men, women and children were scattered all over. Some of them with dead with lifeless eyes and some of them were in agonizing pain halfway to blissful death and their bodies twisted or torn in indescribable angles. Children called for their dead mothers and fathers to take the pain away.

Nebula screamed in anguish and she radiated a purple nimbus of magic.

"Be careful. This fairy's powers are stronger than we expected. Something is different with her," Ogron noted.

Nebula roared again in frustration.

"Whatever," Duman shrugged and glowed white until his body turned into a grey minotaur with a red main.

"Don't you even dare, Ogron!" An orange-hair fairy flew in with several others behind her. They landed just behind Nebula with battle-ready faces.

"What is this?!" Nebula looked around confused. "Who are you?!" There were more fairies who had escaped the greediness of the Fairy Hunters? How had they survived? Where had they hid during all this time? Great merciful God, father of the Lord Jesus Christ, let it be true! She was not alone.

Ogron smiled. "The Winx. How convenient! We can rid ourselves of the fairies once and for all! Gauntlos?"

"These girls deserve an applause." The blond man clapped his hands together and wave of force radiated from him sending Layla who was directly in front of the hunter into the wall.

The other fairies flew into the air to avoid the waves.

"Roxy, get out of here! We're here to defend you," a blond fairy warned.

Nebula's daze broke at the sudden thought that these fairies were here to protect her. She stared in terror and took action. She could not save her own village but the least she could do was save these lucky ones. "I think not! I've been waiting for this moment for too long." Nebula raised the ring and aimed a purple bolt at Ogron.

It hit him right in the chest and muttered darkly.

"What happened to Roxy? It's as if she's a totally different person," a tanned fairy whispered.

"Plasma wall!" a blue-clad black fairy screamed and created a purple sphere around her as Duman, in minotaur form, swiped at her, a girl with purple hair and a redhead. "This wall won't hold for long!"

Nebula watched in confused horror as the young fairies tried to defend her. Bolts of multicoloured light flew from everywhere. Gauntlos shot another thunderclap at the fairies in the air but one of them shot a blast at it to deflect the attack. It failed and sent the remaining three fairies slamming into the walls.

Nebula screamed a bloodcurdling battle cry and flew into the air. "Prepare to die, wizards! You will pay for everything you have done."

"I've captured thousands of fairies before. I'm not afraid of you," Ogron said casually and leapt out of the way as Nebula began shooting purple bolts at him.

Nebula screamed frustrated. "I will kill you! You will not get away from me this time!"

To another side of the warehouse, the black fairy collapsed under Duman's swipes at her shield. The shield crumbled away and the dark-skinned fairy collapsed in the arms of the redhead.

"Double eclipse!" The blond fairy put up another around the two as Duman attacked again with maniacal glee. Theses fairies had no chance of getting out of this alive, Nebula worried. They are not trained for combat.

"Winter rose!" the brown-skinned fairy yelled and earth shook as vines thicker than a man broke the ground. They formed a wall before her to protect her, the oriental girl and the one with purple hair.

All the girls were doing were taking the defensive. They had inflicted no damage since they had entered the battle and their attempts at protecting her were for nothing.

Nebula blasted Ogron with purple bolts with all her might but he casually deflected or evaded them. She poured her power into one single powerful blast the size of a fist and shot it at him. This time, he put up a shield that pushed away at the bolt. He struggled to hold the intense blast away from him and Nebula concentrated on pushing back. He deflected the bolt to the ground and shot another one at her.

"This is ridiculous. We're getting nowhere with this. The White Circle is making her too strong," Ogron yelled to his brother wizards. "Let's go."

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" Nebula screamed. They would not get away from her now! She shot random but deadly bolts at all the wizards in her rage.

"Don't worry. We'll see you soon," Ogron threatened and then all the wizards vanished into smoke.

"NOOO!" Nebula screamed and unleashed one final blast at them. She screamed again and landed on the warehouse floor.

They had gotten away. Nebula froze, incapable of thinking.

"This is all your fault, you stupid girls!" she screamed at the half-dozen weary fairies. "YOU STUPID, STUPID, STUPID GIRLS!"

They had ruined her revenge! They had fucking ruined her revenge! Did these idiots not realize what danger they were in?! Nebula had not needed help! She could have finished off the Black Circle in one swoop had the girls not distracted her. They would pay for it when the Black Circle came back.

"What's wrong with her?" some of the girls murmured as if expecting something.

"Roxy," the redhead fairy approached her slowly. She held her arms up to show that she meant her no harm. "I see that the White Circle has changed you. Your eyes are different."

"THESE ARE THE EYES OF REVENGE!" Nebula screamed in outrage. "You ruined everything!"

"Roxy, listen. You're releasing strong negative energies and that isn't good for you. Give me the Circle, please…"

"The White Circle belongs to me! Nebula! You ruined everything, you selfish child! You will pay for it!" Nebula poured seething electric energy into the ring and from her body, creating an explosive wave of force to radiate from her body. She poured her angry at the redhead and the fairy went flying. The blond fairy and the dark-skinned one caught the fallen redhead.

She raised the White Circle above her head and poured her energy from it. The ring glowed intense white and rays of energy shot from it to the ceiling, blasting a hole the size of several men.

-

"Asta, we have problem."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Something's wrong with Roxy."

"Can I have something a little more detailed?"

"She can fly."

There was silence on the phone.

"This isn't good."

"I know. She's headed north towards the docks."

"I see her now. She's flying over the pier. Stay where you are and don't alert the others. I will deal with it."

Silence again.

"Please be gentle."

"I won't hurt Flora if I can avoid it."

"No…I mean Roxy, too, please."

Asta closed her phone and pocketed it. She kept her eye on the flying Roxy and could see the Winx barely keeping up with her trail. With little effort, she leapt several stories into the air and unto the roof of an apartment building and began to parkour the cities roofs.

-

Bloom pulled herself together and thought frantically for some kind of plan. Something was terribly wrong with Roxy and she was pouring more energy out of her body than what was really considered safe for someone of her skill. She would kill herself if continued at this rate.

"Sonic screen!" Musa summoned a red and blue spiral shield on her arm as Roxy shot a powerful blast of negative energy at her. The music fairy was pushed back several feet from the strength of the blast. The blast ricocheted off of Musa and back at Roxy and everyone held their breath, hoping that she would not get hurt.

The blast hit Roxy and burst into a spray of light on contact.

"Wha…what's going on?" Roxy eyes turned back to normal momentarily but the overpowering anger returned.

"Nothing is going on," a strange motherly cooed reassuringly using Roxy's face and voice. "Go back to sleep, child and let Nebula take over."

There seemed to be a brief conversation going on behind Roxy's eyes and it seemed that Roxy had acquiesced to this Nebula's wishes. She seemed to nod off to sleep and Nebula took over with her gleaming red eyes. A purple sphere of energy surrounded Roxy and Bloom felt anger, hatred and simple bloodlust pour from the pink-haired girl.

This could not be Roxy's energy, Bloom thought. She was not even capable of summoning this amount of energy. Bloom stared helplessly as Roxy was pouring out magical energy like a fire hydrant. If she did not do something fast, Roxy's body would give out before the ring was done pouring out magic.

"This energy is going to kill her if we don't stop her soon," Bloom said frantically.

"What if we put a shield around her to force the energy back unto her," Musa suggested. "She'll she stop when she realizes that it's not going anywhere." She deflected another bolt of light that hit the wall.

"Are you insane?" Asta yelled through all the static energy as she came as she dropped from the rafters.

The girls gave her a surprised look as if wondering what she was doing here, momentarily letting their guards down. Bloom somewhat breathed a sigh of relief as the witch stepped in.

"Oh great," Stella said sullenly with a mean face.

"What if she doesn't stop pouring magic?" Asta reasoned, "She'll just kill herself from overdose! Her body will have an allergic reaction and shut down. Where would we be at then?" Asta's eyes glowed white as she summoned an aurora borealis around her to shield herself from Roxy's random blasts of energy.

The pink-haired girl took much glee in throwing puck shots at the girls. Everyone raised a shield or two to deflect the wild blasts that were singeing the walls. Conversation was slow as everyone tried to deflect Roxy's bolts of light.

"Then what do you supposed that we do then?!" Bloom criticized angrily, coming off harsher than she had meant. "If you're so smart, do something!"

Asta gave her a hardened belligerent stare. "Fine! I can see that you stupid fairies don't want me here! I'll go! I can see that you have everything under control here what with Roxy going insane with enough power to destroy the city."

Bloom's heart faltered as Asta turned. "NOOO! Don't go!"

Roxy emitted a wave of energy sending the girls reeling.

"Where is this energy coming from?" Asta asked, sweat forming on her brow as she concentrated on her barrier.

"The ring in her hands," Flora said.

"Where in the world did she get such a powerful object?"

"We found it when we went to the country," said Bloom. "She was perfectly fine until I gave it to her just now."

"YOU DID WHAT?! Where was the logic in that, you idiot? Why the hell didn't you tell Sky about it? We could have examined it." Asta muttered darkly and assessed the situation with a quick glance.

Bloom was about to rebuttal when Asta interrupted. Who the hell gave her the right to yell at her?

"We have to take the ring away from her then."

"Gee, really?!" Stella said sarcastically.

"If you can do better than me, why don't you do it?" Asta commented acidly and Stella took to staring somewhere else. "If not, shut up. Bloom, we have to absorb her energy—"

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"Then how do you expect to get the ring out of hands? We can't walk through all that magic unharmed. We're not gods. You have the Dragonfire, that should be easy enough for you," the witch said brusquely. "I'm capable of dying, if it hasn't occurred to you yet."

All of a sudden, there was an immense weight on Bloom's shoulders as the other girls look at her as their savior.

"Listen to me. Bloom absorb her energy. Think of it as redirecting fire because that's all fire really is. Energy."

"Then I'll help her, too," Stella said. "I'm the fairy of the sun and the moon. Sunshine is energy, too." The blond fairy took a stance beside Bloom with a strong face.

"You do that. I'm going to try to get close enough to knock that thing out of her hands."

"And how are you going to do that?" Tecna asked.

"I'm going to tranq her," Asta said with a cold efficiency. A small grey handgun appeared in her hand and she cocked it. God, did the girl have kind of conscience?

"Excuse me?!" Tecna screamed. "That'll just kill her too!"

Bloom's eyes darted from her friend to the witch as she tried to understand what was going on and what would happen to Roxy.

"Yes, but Bloom and Stella are going to keep absorbing her energy even though she's down. You keep absorbing until there's nothing but Roxy's energy or the ring is out of her hands. There should be a difference between the two."

Bloom looked to Tecna for support.

"Just do it, Bloom," the purple fairy said. "There's no time for arguing."

Bloom made a stance and focused her mind. Layla and Musa had put up shields again to protect Stella and Bloom as they took in the energy. Bloom dove into the anger and hatred and bloodlust trying to make sense of it all. Bloom decided to just absorb the energy into a ball. She used her hands to guide the sphere into life. She pulled at the odds and ends of the energy about her and condensed it into the black sphere in her hands.

She saw bloodied fields and skies accented by plumes of black smoke. People were running; parents running with children in their arms across crops as they fled from the burning forest. Bodies already dotted the dirt roads and people avoided them like the plague. The dead bodies had strange black circles on their exposed necks and there was a ghostly wail.

A woman ran down the dirt path ahead with a sickly gait and she collapsed to her knees coughing. Bloom ran to the girl to help her but she screamed at her. The woman wore a tattered brown dress with no sleeves.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she screeched and began to back away in fear like Bloom was a disease. She also had the black circles on her neck and parts of her exposed arms. "I have the black circles! It's too late."

Bloom cried tears as she tried to comfort the girl. The name 'Cesarina' came to mine and her mouth as she tried to approach the girl. She only wanted to hold her. She would not hurt her. Bloom saw the girl get and run back to the burning forest. Before she could, she collapsed to her stomach. She never got up.

"Cesarina!" Bloom cried and then there was a strange echoing sound as if a bomb had gone off. The sound of a bell broke her out of reverie and she realized that she was back in the warehouse.

"Roxy?!" someone screamed and there was a heavy thud. Bloom fell to her knees as something heavy, black and spherical dropped from her hand. Beside her, Stella fainted.

Latter Note: Due to the length of the original note, I have moved it to my Rants thread in my forum.

By the way, thanks for reading up to this far. (April 11, 2010)