Verboten
Chapter 25
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own the Winx Club.
Fore Note: I would be scared shitless if I were Andy right now. Everything bursting into flames, a psychotic fifteen year old killer, a drug lord for a fiancé, a geek sniper, new clothes from nowhere, a fairy ex-girlfriend, Bloom addicted to LSD… Read at your own discretion? No, it's not bad, just ironic the way Andy is thinking about things. He sees everything in a very slanted but very realistic view compared to ours because we know that magic is real in his universe.
The next morning
Andy awoke with a start as one would when considering the situation. He was immediately blinded by the bright yellow sunlight spilling into the room from the balcony door and he turned to his other side to face his back to it. Why was he so uncomfortable? Oh right, he had slept in jeans. Wait, why had he slept in jeans?
Shit, shit, shit, shit!
Andy cracked his eyes opened to look across at the empty expanse of bed right beside him. The navy blue bed sheets were wrinkled but no one was there. There were a couple of strands of red hair though.
The musician sat bolt straight and shot himself out of bed. "Bloom?!" he shouted with his heart going a million miles per second (and he didn't he even have coffee yet).
Andy whipped his head around searching evidence of anything. Had they taken her while he was asleep?
"Shit, what time is it?" Andy said to himself. His eyes widened in alarm at the big red 9:34 illuminated on the bedside table's digital clock. "Shit!" Andy circled the bed and knocked on the bathroom door. "Bloom?!" He put his ear to the door, intent on listening for water running.
Nothing.
Shit!
This time, Andy's cell phone which was sitting on the bedside table beside the digital clock vibrated and rang.
-
Sky awoke with a heavy heart. He knew why but it was still heavy. He never necessarily wanted to be king, even at such a young age. He was only twenty-one years old after all. He knew his duties and did them with as little question as possible except for the occasional "Is this right?" but he performed them to his fullest.
Sky knew from his clock that he was full morning and that the sun was out. Sky got out of bed, wary of the top bunk above his head, and set out of the barracks for the kitchen. The warehouse was a little desolate and a little depressing with most of its occupants out staking a spot on the outskirts of Punta Ala to capture Bloom and Andy. He hoped that no one got hurt.
Stepping out into the kitchen area, Sky took note of how many people were up about the warehouse. He could see about ten people around, all of them concentrated on the circular computer platform.
Some of them were buried deep in the circuitry under platform that you only saw their legs and the flickering occasional light. There was a set of stairs that went up onto the platform and he see some of the people concentrated typing away like mad inside the ring of computer panels. Above their head was hulking piece of metal that glowed various colours like a machine-like stalagmite from the ceiling. The mechanic stalagmite would be Earth's first and hopefully only (for the moment) intergalactic wave receiver—basically, a giant cell phone tower that could reach galaxies away. Nothing on Earth, as far as they knew, was capable of receiving and translating signals into legible messages from distant galaxies and Sky did not think that shopping around intergalactic receivers would quite fit his apparent Greek foreign exchange student alibi. (Earthlings did not even know what their own Milky Way Galaxy looked like, so he was doubtful they were capable of sending messages. Earthlings had their theories about what their galaxy looked like based on what other galaxies looked like but they were only theories. He was very doubtful that they were going to start intercepting phone calls from Magix because of him.) (1)
So, he imported one.
Grabbing a plate from the stack on the counter, Sky helped himself to the leftovers of the breakfast buffet and took a seat at a vacant table. He was in a dark mood. All sorts of stresses were being laid on his shoulder by the hour and he knew that today would only bring more worries.
Like what would he do when Andy and Bloom were brought in? He could not obviously just let Andy go because it was too late. The poor musician had no idea what he had just thrown himself into and there was no way Sky could just make up some type of cover story to explain everything away. No matter how much or how little Andy knew, he was irrevocably a part of Sky's mission to preserve Roxy's life now.
Sky dropped his fork and it clattered on his plate.
Great, another life to worry about.
And what about Andy's parents? He would have to explain something to them too.
Sky brought a hand to his mouth and closed his eyes tightly as guilt wracked his heart with uncertainties. Not only did he have to worry about Roxy and her father who was still in the hospital but Andy and his family too. Then there were Bloom's adoptive parents to think about too. He did not think that Black Circle knew about Mike and Vanessa or Andy's parents' existence or that it mattered to them at all but the sole fact that they could be used as leverage of any kind on him or Bloom was terrifying.
Shit.
What was he going to do?
They needed to get rid of the Black Circle as fast as possible.
Sky never counted on there ever being an 'ex-boyfriend' at all and all he wanted to do was yell his frustrations out or kick something now that he had found out. Maybe beat the hell out of the musician for simply existing. Why the hell did she not tell him about Andy in the last four years? Was it such a difficult subject to talk about? He had openly shared his information on his relationship with Diaspro so why did she not do the same? He just thought he had been the only one in Bloom's life. Bloom's Earth life seemed millions of lightyears from her life with him. It just seemed like such a different life, as if it had never existed. It made wonder how did she truly feel about this big change? What did coming back to Earth make her feel?
"Sky, are you sick?"
Sky opened his eyes to see dark-haired tanned woman giving him a peculiar stare.
"A headache, Chandra," he answered.
"I'll give you ibuprofen later, Sky. Eat up, I want to talk to you for a bit about a serious matter."
Shit, that only meant something was very wrong if the very capable Chandra was not capable of making a decision without his input.
-
"Mom, I can't tell you what is going on! No, I'm telling you where I am. I just know something bad is going to happen and Bloom had to leave fast. Mom, I don't know about school! Yes, I know! I want to finish school, Mom! Goddamnit, I'll be home when I get home," Andy yelled into his phone frustrated. Why couldn't his mother understand the severity of the situation?!
His mother was about to retort when Andy pressed the end button and flipped his phone close.
Goddamnit, goddamnit, goddamnit, goddamnit!
Now, Bloom. Where was Bloom? Think positive. Considering the time, she might have gone out to get some food or something.
Heading for the door with his hand on the knob, he felt the knob turn without his help and his heart sped. Andy backed away and the door open to let in Bloom standing in completely different clothes than what she had been wearing last night.
"Where the hell were you?" Andy yelled. "And where the hell did you get the clothes?!"
He sure as hell did not bring any clothes with him just before running from Gardenia. He took in the fact that she was wearing a faded denim skirt with a striped top decorated with pink hearts. In one arm was the pink polka dot shirt and poufy skirt she had been wearing and in the other arm was presumably more clothes—male clothes.
Bloom stared at the clothes in on her and in arms as if it were the first time she had noticed them and her mouth made an O in awe.
"Um, I…" she tried to futilely explain. "I didn't steal them, Andy, I swear!" She gave him a heartbreaking face.
"Where did you get them then?" he asked harshly.
"I…I can't tell you…" she said in a small voice.
Andy made a nonplussed face. Coming to an awkward standstill, Bloom handed him the clothes and he changed in the bathroom with some doubts. The clothes fitted him perfectly and that terrified him. How did Bloom know his sizes? Andy stared at himself in the mirror, now wearing a faded pair of jeans and Pink Floyd t-shirt and made sure that he had everything. His cell phone, his ids, his passport and whatnot.
In the mirror, the Andy saw an unsure man. A man who had no idea where he was going in life. Just one adventure after another hoping for the best. What was he doing here in hotel in another town with his ex-girlfriend no less? Who was this ex-girlfriend of his? This ex-girlfriend of his was completely different from the one he had had four years ago.
The musician splashed water in his face and stepped back into the main room where Bloom had apparently plucked a bag from nowhere and was stuffing it with her dirty clothes. She made a grab for Andy's as well but gave him a scared face at his expression of confusion at the appearance of a bag. Where was she getting all of this stuff? Did she secretly have a credit card stashed about her person?
Andy shook his head. Having the bag would make things easier and make their appearance a little more normal in the lobby as well as any tolls they crossed. After paying for the room, Andy passed by the hotel restaurant and took breakfast to go.
-
On the road again, they had not talked for at least a good twenty minutes. They briefly drove beside the ocean until they came to plain never-ending stretches of road with forests on his left and pastureland to his right. Cows and horses dotted the scenery to break the monotony.
"Bloom," he started. "I know you didn't tell me the truth last night."
"I know."
"I think I deserve to know the truth, or a little more of it," he said as he drove.
She was silent for a moment, only staring out the window as if she did not hear him.
"At least tell me why Asta called you 'princess.'" Andy vaguely remembered Bloom's impression of the little 'witch.' She had screamed and cried her frustrations about the bitch woman who apparently only made her relationship with Sky worst. Andy did not know how but he trusted Bloom's judgement on it. She had figured out for him who the strange woman on the phone was and Andy had a renewed respect for the beautiful woman as well as a founded deep-seated hate from the fact that she had suggested to kill his ex-girlfriend, or just wanted to kill anyone in general.
"Do you believe in magic, Andy?"
Andy turned his eyes to her for a moment before returning them to the road. She did not look like she was up to something but who knew what she had learned at Alfea? He would play with her for a bit to see where the conversation would go.
"What—like Harry Potter?"
Bloom gave him an incredulous stare, almost offended and shook her head. "Haven't you ever hoped that dragons and witches were real? Or that mermaids and mythical creatures were once living things on Earth?"
"Like in Harry Potter, right?" he asked confused. Was a Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback supposed to suddenly come out of the sky belching fire at him while looking for dinner with a brigade of witches on broomsticks flying after him?
"No, I mean for real, Andy!" Bloom turned in her seat with one hand on the dashboard and other on her arm rest and she looked at him, her face fraught.
Andy was silent. What she trying to say?
Wait, what could have possibly made her say this at all? Where the hell did the magic from?
Was she on drugs or something…?
The musician's eyes widened in deep thought as he reflected on the last several weeks revolving around the bar. Something in him clicked. Catatonic-like state of mind; suffering emotional trauma almost; eternally tearing eyes; rubbing her hands or wrist; the unwillingness to do anything; strange eating habits…
Andy drove to the side of the road near a hilly field scattered with rock rubble from the roads that had been carved out straight through hills. He stopped the car immediately, making Bloom brace herself in her seat as they stopped.
"Andy—?"
"Get out," he said harshly, pulling the key out of the ignition.
"But why?"
"I said 'get out!'" he almost yelled while stepping out of the car.
-
Andy had it all figured out now. The first night she had come to his house, she seemed to obviously have been suffering from shock, maybe even drug withdrawal depending on the time. Her eyes still had a sunken quality to them and the way she moved and talked just screamed the fact that drugs were involved. How had he not seen this before?! All sorts of facts came colliding into his mind, all ending with Sky.
"Andy, what's going on?" Bloom stared back at the car and then to Andy who was walking away from it and into the forest-bordered grassland.
Andy roared out a scream of frustration to the Sky. Andy turned suddenly and faced Bloom and she flinched as if she was going to be hit.
"You're addicted to drugs, aren't you?! Sky's your supplier, isn't he?!"
Sky was an extraordinarily young drug lord and Bloom was one of his devoted customers and now, unfortunately, his future wife. A very vulnerable and easily controlled wife if he kept her high enough. Now, his future wife had gone and done something stupid and he seriously did not like what had happened. Ergo, he wanted her dead.
-
Screw the fairies freaks on TV, or the way the microphone had flown out of his hand into Stella's at the bar. This was way more important. Bloom stared at Andy with wide eyes and surprise written all over her face. "What are you talking about?" she said in a small soft and scared voice like a child. "Andy, I'm not on drugs."
"Don't you dare start lying to me, Bloom! I'm not stupid!" Andy pointed a finger at her. "I know when something is wrong and what I'm seeing is that you're addicted to something. I don't know what but it's pretty bad! Tell me the truth Bloom or else I'll hand you over to Sky instead!" No, he wouldn't really do that but he had to get her to talk before they went any further on this crazy journey.
"What?!" she said distraught and totally surprised. "No, you wouldn't!"
"What's stopping me? Give me the truth and skip the magic shit. I'm not here to waste time."
"But Andy, I was telling the truth! Magic is real!" she waved her arms around her for emphasis but he was not buying it.
"EXCUSE ME?! What the fuck are you on, Bloom? LSD?! Ecstasy?! God, will you listen to yourself?"
"Andy, magic is real! I swear it! Just listen to me. You know that it's real! Look at the fairies on TV—the good that they're doing for Gardenia!"
"Yeah, and look at what happened when the robbers tried to rob the bar! How are you going to explain that? Half of those people winded up in the hospital because of your fiancé and his friends."
"You saw those fairies for yourself the first time I came to the bar, Andy! You saw them fighting in the parking lot with a bunch of wizards. They threw cars, for God's sake!"
"I was inside the bar, Bloom. I didn't see anything. And how did you know that those freaks were wizards?! Where is all this shit coming from?"
"ANDY, JUST LET EXPLAIN!" Bloom screamed at the top of her lungs. He felt an unnaturally strong wind push him to the ground and suddenly the grass at her feet burst into flames.
-
Bloom felt down to her knees and lowered her head and began to cry. Why was it so fucking hard to explain the truth? It was not hard. Magic is real. What was so hard about that? Poisoning the last fairy of Earth with a seemingly innocent object, getting verbally lashed out by both her fiancé and his father, threatened to be killed by said father, seeking refuge at her ex-boyfriend's, reduced to running away from her hometown because her fiancé wanted her dead, a psychopathic witch who was after them and now, accused of being addicted to drugs when her ex was being difficult and unbelieving. What was so hard to believe in magic?
She knew she was clean. She had never taken anything outside of prescribed drugs in her life and now, her ex was accusing her of being addicted. She had thought that she had knew him better than that, that maybe he still had faith in her character but apparently, she was wrong. He had repeatedly asked where the Bloom from before was. She just could not understand. How could she had changed so much that even he could not recognise her as the same person from years ago? She had not changed much, had she?
Had she?
No, she hadn't, she thought to herself. It was Sky who was changing! she screamed in her mind behind the darkness of her eyelids. She was only along for the sick twisted ride. What the hell had happened to him?
"B-bloom?!" Andy's distant voice broke her thoughts.
Bloom opened her eyes, hiccupping and tearing. She wiped her eyes against her arm and was met with the sight of Andy on the ground flushed against a stone through the flickering wall of fire before.
The fire was spreading, eating everything.
Andy backed until his back met a jagged stone and he stared with wide eyes at the fire engulfing Bloom. Frozen with fear, unwilling to do anything, Andy sat there staring. Where had the fire come?
Suddenly conscious of her surroundings, Bloom got up and stared dumbfounded at the fire around her and then at her hands as if she had caused them. There was no way that the fire had come from her, Andy thought.
She said something indecipherable, held her hands out before and suddenly, the fire was being absorbed into her hands like it was natural for her. The intensity of the heat receded and finally, the fire was gone as if it had never been there save for the charred ground surrounding her. The piece of grass she was standing was still green and undamaged.
Bloom took unsure steps to Andy trying to say something. "Andy, just let me explain—"
"Stay away from me!" he screamed automatically. Something more than unnatural was at work and he wanted none of it.
Bloom stopped a few meters away from him. "Please, let me try to explain. I promise to tell you everything but you have to give me a chance, Andy."
"You lied straight to my face last night! You haven't told me anything resembling logic since we left Gardenia."
"Please, just let me explain, Andy!"
"Just get the fuck away from me!"
"No—Andy, please!"
"Just get away from me! I don't know who the fuck you are but get the hell away from me!"
Bloom's heart jumped into her throat and she looked down at her hands, crying. "Andy, I didn't mean for this to happen. The fire—I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't mean it. I didn't want you to get involved but I didn't know who to go to. I mean, my parents, they can't do anything. They wouldn't know what to do! I-I—Andy, I don't want to die, okay?!"
She looked to Andy for a response, but he kept silent.
"I…please, just listen to me, okay?" Bloom looked around her at the rubble scattered about her, at the flowers, the grass, the weeds, the rocks. Where did she start? "Magic is real, Andy. I swear it. Earth use to have magic, I have magic. I mean, that's how I found my parents and all… When I found Stella, she was in a fight with a troll who was trying to steal the Ring of Solaria, a very powerful object that could destroy the fabric of space and time and then she found out that I had magic and-and…I left for Alfea. I mean, I'm a fairy—Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna and Layla are fairies, Andy. (2)"
Andy stared at her steadily, betraying very little emotion.
"Andy, we're those fairies from TV, or the ones fighting outside the bar, flying through the city, trying to stop the thieves, I mean…" Bloom looked around her helplessly for something or someone to back her up.
"Right…" Andy said with heavy disbelief. "Where is this proof that what you're saying is real then?"
"Andy, it's on TV. I'm on TV. What else do you want me to say?!" Bloom said in a hoarse voice.
"As much as I want to believe you, there is no way in hell that you are those 'fairies' from the news. It's impossible."
"But I am!" Why was he being so difficult? What was so hard to understand? Why could Andy not be a little more open in his views? Why were humans so difficult in general? Bloom raised a trembling hand and considered using magic to open his mind.
NO! She would not do that him! Least of all, him! Andy could believe without the aide of magic if only he opened a little. She had to believe that forcing people to believe did not mean tampering with their minds.
Andy stared at her raised hand levelly. "Then where are those wings of yours then?" he said acidly.
Bloom cringed and froze again. Was it really that simple?
-
Bloom straightened and Andy followed her movements, he himself standing up afraid that Bloom was about to leave. She turned around and went several meters away from him before turning again.
"I promise you, Andy, that magic is real." Bloom closed her eyes tightly and quietly said to herself, "Transform."
Andy was blinded with white light as Bloom's body impossibly floated up into the air and was encased in a ball of blue, white, yellow, orange and pink flames. A red and orange Chinese dragon flew out of the ball into the sky performing a breathtaking aerial acrobat arcing up and down. It roared, the sound reverberating through Andy's bones. It dove back down onto the ball and circled it several times, each time getting closer and coiling itself tightly against the sphere.
And then the sphere exploded into a deluge of lights. Heat rushed up Andy's face as he closed his eyes before being blinded again. When the heat receded, Andy opened his eyes and saw the customary white lights that one got after taking a photo with flash. Blinking several times, Andy saw Bloom again, this time completely changed and all he could do was stare.
She was a fairy but she sure as hell as was not redhead fairy from TV.
Bloom stood wearing a pale blue miniskirt with a slit up one side and a matching top that was skin-tight and looked like a bikini top with a collar and yellow brooch on her chest. She wore simple blue heels and white-blue arm warmers. On her head was a golden tiara that caught the sunlight. Her most interesting feature were her shimmering pale blue wings with dark blue tips. They almost seemed like adolescent wings compared to the fairies on TV.
Bloom stood looking at her form, confused and not quite sure. She had a panicked look on her and she stared at Andy helplessly.
"Something's wrong," she said deeply and started to hyperventilate. "No, something's wrong! Andy, do you believe now? Do you believe that I'm a fairy?! Oh God, oh God, no, something is wrong! This isn't my believix!"
Andy suddenly found his arms full with Bloom shaking him by his shirt. He was unsure of what to say as she yelled at him.
"Oh God, something is wrong!" Bloom fell to her knees.
-
Andy kneeled down to her level, unsure of what to do now that he had been proved that fairies were real, or at least that his ex was a fairy.
"Um…" Andy swallowed hard, "It's okay, Bloom…" The musician wove his arms around, being carefully of the paper thin wings that had suddenly seemed to have appeared on her back. "So, um, you proved that magic was real…I guess…" Whatever had happened, he definitely believed that something was at work.
"Oh God, that's true!" Bloom looked up to him and smiled. "You would have to believe now!"
"I still have no idea what is going on but…"
"Roxy's the last fairy of Earth and she's being hunted down by these dark wizards. Me and my friends are fairies and our boyfriends are specialists and we all trained at this magical city on another world. We were sent to Earth to protect her and-and…" Bloom's words were almost incomprehensible as it was all jumbled into one long never-ending sentence.
"Okay, I have no idea what you just said or what is going on…"
Bloom looked up to Andy. "It means that I don't hide it from you anymore." Yes, she definitely felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of her.
-
Timmy shouldered his rifle case up the rocky hillside, carefully checking his footing for loose stones. His goggles fed him information about the terrain. He followed the map carefully, taking note everybody's location in comparison to his. His jumpsuit imitated the colour of his surroundings with a green and grey camouflage scheme. The birds were nowhere to be found but he could hear their songs.
They had a plan, a hastily made one but a very simple and effective one. Making his way through trees he kept his eye on couple in the middle of the clearing below. He walked near the treeline that bordered the sheer face of one hill but kept to the shadows. It was not as if Bloom or Andy was going to spot him that distance by it never hurt to keep in practise and take precautions.
He came to spot on the hill that appealed to his sense of practicality. The floor was a little rough but flat and workable. He lowered his case to the ground carefully and entered the password to unlock it. Inside was his disassembled rifle. He looked back to Bloom and Andy in their clearing. They were smaller than his thumbnail to him from his vantage point.
Pulling out his rifle and a barrel, he attached them and undid the tripod legs. He got down and laid on the ground, testing his scope. Finally, he reached into the case again and carefully pulled out a small bullet-like needle; a yellow rubber-like ballistic syringe about three inches long. He loaded it and took aim with a heavy heart. He hoped that his measurements were correct and he would no overdose her.
-
Andy stood awkwardly in the middle of the field. She had just explained to him that fairies had different forms or transformations, something out of Sailor Moon. "So…can you actually fly?" he asked awkwardly.
Bloom gave him a surprised face and she nodded, flying into the air. Only after gaining a few feet, Bloom lost her balance and awkwardly landed on one leg as she looked at the back of her other one. She fell onto her side. Andy came running to her as she fell and tried to catch her. On her leg was a yellow tube of sorts sticking out limply from under the helm of her skirt.
"What the hell? Are you hurt, Bloom?"
She shook her head and slowly pulled out the needle.
A dart?
Andy's eyes fell on Bloom and she screamed. "Poison?! No, this can't be true!"
Andy looked around at the surrounding hills and saw nothing.
Shit, shit, shit, shit!
Not wanting to waste time, Andy made a move to carry her bridal style when she flew back into air apparently trying to look for the shooter. All he could do was stare around. What was he supposed to do?
Then there was a sudden noise that made him jump and nets flew across the field from all directions at Bloom with enough force to send her crashing to the ground.
"Bloom!" Andy ran to her body but then motorcyclists from off the road and blocked his way. More motorcyclists, several trucks and a fancy race car drove off the road and surrounded him, making screeching sounds.
How deep was Sky's anger?!
Andy found a dozen handguns pointed at him as people stepped off the trucks. They all wore helmets or dark sunglasses as they preceded but apparently Bloom would have none of that.
"Supernova!" he heard Bloom scream and there was a burst of white fire that pushed everyone including Andy with a tremendous force that the earth shook. The musician smelled that something was burning and his body was suffering from overheat. He was sweating profusely and seeing double.
From what he could see, some people had erected translucent, dare he say magical, barriers and were unharmed.
"Get her!" a female voiced screamed. He looked at a woman step out from the race car wearing a skin-tight suit like everyone else, hers being black as midnight and screamed orders.
Bloom was in the air again trying to fly away futilely but she was heavily weighted down by yellow ropes thin as spider silk. A man with long hair in a ponytail was pulling her down, the ropes coming from his hands it seemed, and another weighted net was shot at her to bring her down.
She screamed at the top of her longs. Her arms were bunched to her sides and she was rapidly loosing height as her wings were trapped by the net.
"Dragon fire burst!" There was another wave of red hot energy that emanated from her but not as strong as the first one.
Andy covered his face to protect himself from the heat. Opening his eyes, he saw Asta come running at him with killer intent. She threw a hard punch and barely caught her by running under her raised arm, catching it and sending her flying over his shoulders. He still remembered some aikido techniques and he was grateful.
Unfortunately, Asta caught herself and landed. She found herself with her right arm twisted under Andy's grip and was back to back with him. As soon as he let go, she turned herself around him and sent a punch straight to his stomach. She then knocked out his legs and he fell to the ground face first.
Trying to get out of the way, Andy rolled but only found himself in a bad position as the air was knocked out of him when he felt full weight of Asta on him. She was sitting on him.
Andy tried to weakly throw some punches at her but they never found their mark as she grabbed one wrist and unsheathed a handgun from her thigh, pointing it at him. He froze immediately despite having one free hand. "Shit, why the fuck are you doing this?!"
Upon closer inspection of this 'Asta' girl that got Bloom so riled up, Andy's heart jumped into his throat as tried to understand what he was seeing. He saw a very beautiful girl, probably not a day older than sixteen even. If it had not been for the situation and circumstances, he might have even said that he was in love. She was hunched over him and her long brownish black hair was tied in a ponytail spilling over her shoulders and unto him, obscuring his view. Her eyes were big, soft and round but the way she held her mouth and eyebrows spoke of something that was hardened, much older and much wiser. Something he only saw in kids who had to grow up too fast.
What had that evil blond bastard subjected this teenager to?
This was not what he had expected at all. She did not look ready to kill him with the gun but rather used it as leverage to keep control of the positions. Then he was extremely aware of what she was wearing. Aside from the very interesting skin-tight armoured bodysuit, there was a sort of black metal gauntlet on her gun hand with a sort of canon or scope on it.
"You wouldn't kill me, would you?" he asked all of a sudden.
"I could shoot you but only as long as it did not kill you," Asta said in an efficient tone.
"But why? Why do you do this?"
"Andy, don't ask questions," she reprimanded. "I'm going to get off of you. You have two choices, either I shoot you in the legs as you run or try to resist me again or I handcuff you and put you in the back of a truck. You saw what happened to Klaus? I'll make that seem like a day in the spa."
-
On the other side of the other side of the field, Helia was tempted to use the taser function on his gloves on Bloom but thought better as she had presumably taken a sedative from Timmy's tranquilizer. The fire fairy began to slowly descend and then freefall from the sky asleep. Several people caught her from below.
Helia stepped up the bunch as others uncovered her from the net. He cut the threads from his gloves and knotted them around her. Her Winx form shimmered out of existence and they put her on a gurney which they loaded into one of the armoured trucks. He saw Andy go into the other, prodded by Asta's gun. Helia stepped into that one.
"Give me your car keys, Andy," Asta demanded.
He did not respond in defiance.
"Fine, we can leave your car here for the authorities to pick up then."
He grudgingly told her to fish in his back pocket. Asta did so and handed the keys to someone else.
Everyone picked up their things, trying to destroy evidence of a battle. Someone was busy encouraging plants to grow in all the ash white burnt turfs of grass and another was checking the surrounding forest for any wildfires. That was the cleanup crew's job. Closing the doors to back of the truck, he locked it and made a motion for the driver to get moving.
The inside of the car was basically two benches and crowded with all sorts of compartments. Helia pulled open a small black door that revealed a small fridge and handed water bottles to Asta, who was grateful, and Andy, who gave him a stare of disdain.
Helia shrugged it off and took a seat.
It was going to be a long ride back.
Latter Note: FINALLY! I got this over with! I've wanted to get to the captured scene for so many days now.
1) This is true. We Earthlings have no actual idea of what the Milk Way looks like because we have not been able to send a satellite far enough from the Earth to take a picture of the whole galaxy—plus, it would take hundreds of years to send something that far. The only reason why we assume that the galaxy is a white swirl of sorts is based on speculation from the pictures taken of other galaxies.
2) I really have no idea what the Ring of Solaria is really for since it went into that great big black hole of use-one-time plot devices with the charmix, the Codex and realm of Realix. I took some creative liberties. What was the sceptre actually capable of aside from a couple power magic boosts and making portals, I have no idea. Taking from the portal ability, I made it have the power to break the fabric of space and time since I consider portals to be breaks or short cuts through reality or the first three dimensions.
3) I know that I never made a real note for this but I felt like I should talk about it. "Shit, that only meant something was very wrong if the very capable Chandra was not capable of making a decision without his input." In real life, this kind of situation would usually be cause for alarm depending on what is involve. Since Chandra is involved with Roxy's recovery, presumably, it must mean that something is up.
4) I also never wrote a note for this either but I want to note that girls' magic can be affected by their emotional state, as seen in the Winx Club comics. It was called 'Magic Tournament.' In this comic, there is magical tournament held by the council of Magix for some reason or another (political corruption, believe it or not) and it was the Trix (with semi-reformed minds) against the Winx Club. Point is: all the girls had an earlier spat with their boys because of school stress. Once the girls plus Trix are inside the arena, they are faced challenges that appear as objects, people or concepts. The witches are drowned by plants—bye-bye! The girls get to the root of the plant and find out why it's acting the way it is. One of the roots is impeded by an enormous boulder where there is clean water. One root is drinking from dirty water. The girls decide to move the boulder with magic but Stella says that her magic is not working well because she is stressed about the fight she had with Brandon. All the girls are the same. Voila, the boys sneak into the arena through an emergency exit, they apologize, the boys leave and the girls can perform magic. They win the challenge. Since Bloom thinks that Sky wants her dead, her magic is working only half as well for her since she transformed into her season one winx mode, and not believix. I kinda of miss that form.
On another note, I just rewatched episode four of Banjogate's dub and I have to say that I am totally pissed at Bloom's reaction towards Sky and the guys after the fight with the Black Circle. Sky comes to your aide when you really need it because your magic does nothing against the Black Circle. Sky comes in defending you (he threw smoke bombs, which is something you expect Riven to do) and the least you could say is thank you! But no! After hugging him, you realise that your own fiancé intervened in your own mission and reprimand him like he's the child. Here's the conversation:
Bloom: Stop! I get it! Now I understand…
Sky: Okay, Bloom, listen. I know you are not happy with this but it's time to forget about pride. (WOOT! GO SKY GO!) To beat the wizards, you need all the help that you can get.
Bloom: No, you listen to me! Who told you that we need your help? We were winning! (Really, that is debatable.)
Riven: Yeah, right. *points to destroyed packing lot as if a hurricane went through it* (Of course, our favourite maverick has to add his two cents!)
Bloom: Sky, we appreciate your help, but if you don't trust us, now is the time to say it. (I changed this line a little to make it make sense)
Riven: This is too much. Who were those guys in the bar? *refers to Andy and his crew*
Musa: Riven! (Oh, buck up! You're the one who had to go and show off your guitar skills to Andy and crew on stage.)
Bloom: What is he talking about?
Sky: You can't deny that you were very close with that guy, Andy. (I feel really sorry for Sky here. I mean, what does he know about Bloom's past life? Next to nothing and I'm sort of on his side here.)
Bloom: You! You were spying on us? (Gee, really?)
Sky: Yes, Bloom.
Bloom: I'm disappointed, Sky, very disappointed. I thought that you knew me, but, what's worst, I was convinced that I know you! (Which just shows us how two-dimensional their relationship is.)
*everyone walks away*
Now, Bloom's last words could be interpreted as anything. At first, I thought that this meant when Sky intervened but after a while of reflection, it could also mean Andy. The boys were sent to Earth by Faragonda, so they were doing their job. However, letting Andy get friendly with you to the point where he flirts with you in later episodes crosses the line.
I also think that this scene where Helia really shined in my eyes because Duman threatened to rip Flora's wings to shreds with his claw-like hands and Helia comes in, in civvies, and uses his laserstring gloves to capture Duman's hand and pulls him to the ground to engage in hand-to-hand combat.