Verboten
Chapter 35
Wednesday, March 3, 2010; reposted Saturday, April 24, 2010
Disclaimer: I do not own the Winx Club or Stargate. (I know, what is this girl thinking?)
Fore Note: It's long, this chapter. You might have to read this in two sittings.
Everyone stood in the Red Fountain headmaster's office, a simulation of it at least in the magical reality chamber. The Winx Club had never visited it before since there had never been a need for it and they were completely awed at how different it was from Faragonda and Griffin's. There were no forbidden spellbooks, no bubbling cauldrons, no warming feeling of being welcomed or being able to tell your darkest secrets confidentially to the headmaster either.
Saladin's office was big and modern, contrasting with the headmaster's wizardly appearance. His office screamed industrial plainness, monotone, straight-edged, clean cut and meant for work, not learning. The chamber had cathedral ceilings that went on forever into the shadows. Stone dragons stood vigilantly in the rafters, ready to judge them truthful or not with their razor sharp claws and jaded eyes. The room was long, almost the size of a large class room with the headmaster's desk at the far end. Everything was painted varying shades of blue, green and silver and dragon motifs were abundant. It was a war room.
Before the Winx Club and specialists was a long glass meeting table and two dozen expensive ergonomic swivel chairs, fitted to give military briefings and have staff meetings. Parallel to the table was a wall made of glass, looking outside to Magix, the lake and Alfea. The floating building was evidently rotating as the Magix was slowly making its way to the other end of the room.
"Physical space is synchronized," someone blared out on an intercom. "May I patch in the speakers, sir?"
"Yes," Sky said.
"Why I do believe that you've gotten taller," a voice said from behind.
Everyone turned.
"Ms. F!" Stella squealed and reached to hug the elderly woman.
All of the girls huddled around the fairy headmistress. Bloom herself could cry. Faragonda had been like her second mom in Magix, helping her to find out who and what she was. Bloom wiped her tears with the back of her hand and hugged the woman.
Confused, Bloom backed away staring at her hands. She could feel the cotton of Faragonda's blazer and the pressure of Faragonda's arms around her. "Wait, you're not actually here, are you?"
"No, those are only simulated sensations from the chamber," Faragonda said.
Behind Faragonda, Griffin flickered into being. Her face was stern as ever. "Good to see you ladies again."
Saladin came next and he strode past all of them with his staff tapping the linoleum floor. He went straight to business. "Boys, you know the drill. Ladies, please take a seat and face the front of the room where my desk is." Saladin glanced at everyone individually. "Where is my grandson?"
"He's in the MIR recuperating, sir," Sky said. "He'll be fine in a couple of days."
Everyone was inside the magical reality chamber on Earth, which was fitted to simulate a real-time meeting. In Magix, Saladin, Faragonda and Griffin were feeling and seeing simulations of the Winx Club and specialists and vice versa for those on Earth.
Bloom got goosebumps as the curtains automatically slid out from the sides and covered the windows and the lights dimmed. A rectangular holographic projection appeared at the front with the Red Fountain interlaced triquetra in the background.
"I assume that your computer just went online recently," Saladin said to Sky.
"Only an hour ago about."
"I sent that message two and half a weeks ago—it's better late than never then. I'll get to my point. We know that the Trix are still out there. Guard patrol around the lake at the time of Valtor's defeat was serious bad planning on my part. After they flew out of the fissure, a squad was deployed to shoot them down dead. We only chased them for a few minutes before they created a portal and escaped. We failed to trace the other end of the portal and well, they're still at large.
"Three weeks ago, there was a possible sighting of Stormy in the realm of Neicheusia." On the holographic screen, Stormy's outdated profile picture and information appeared.
"Stormy? You have to be kidding me!" Stella said. There were similar groans from everyone else.
"Neicheusia, that's a daemon realm, isn't it?" Riven said, "Aren't they the secretive kind of people? They don't allow foreigners on their planet without special permission."
"I can understand what you're getting at. Neicheusians aren't exactly known for understanding. They're a very primitive back-to-nature sort of people when it comes to their beliefs but they are first class in magic."
"Sneaky religious lunatics, right?"
"Daemons are politically neutral unless the Great Dragon or their four high priests will it, Riven," Saladin corrected. He turned to everyone else. "Have any of you ever dealt with daemons?"
"Yeah," Sky said. "Social niceties."
Timmy nodded as well. "My mother does business with them."
"Wait, demons?" Bloom asked. "We're talking about evil beings like the Devil, right?"
"No, Bloom," Faragonda said, "Daemons—with an A but pronounced the same way. It means 'divine power' in the old languages just as fatum, the root word for fairy, means 'fate.' The daemons are servants of the Great Dragon as a fairy is a servant of her affinity."
Bloom nodded as she took in the new tidbits of information. Then she realized something. "And what about me? I have the Dragonfire."
"You're a fairy, dear. You have fairy wings and you can think for yourself."
"Oh."
"I can tell that you're not understanding."
Bloom shook her head. "They can't think for themselves?"
"Daemons have a hard time grasping the concept of individuality. They have it but they have different ways of seeing things. They have a sort of hive mind and usually consult the mind at large when it comes to important decisions."
"So like a beehive? Why haven't I heard of them?"
"It's better off if you don't actually hear from them because it means that universe is not about to collapse," Griffin said in her rasping voice. "As servants of the Dragon, their role is equally important as yours, Bloom which is to be physical vessel of the Flame."
"But what about the Trix stealing my powers or invading Magix?"
"As I said, as long as the universe is not about to collapse. There is no point in looking back in history and criticizing them. The final outcome is the final outcome."
Bloom found this extremely hard to accept. It was not some dormant race that had hidden themselves from the world but a race that had always been there but away from public eyes. It felt outrageously anticlimactic, like when she had seen her first mermaid on Tides.
A typical image of some red-skinned creature with a cloven hooves and horns came to mind. "What do daemons look like?"
"They look like you and me," Faragonda said. "Let's let Saladin continue before this becomes a class. Last time I checked, you graduated."
Bloom rearranged the image in her mind to look like a typical person. She could not help but embellish the image with something a little evil like Darko's evil knaving smile or Diaspro's charming personality. Oh wait…Diaspro has the excuse of being messed up in the head since she was a child after being kidnapped by Yoshinoya. Bloom sneaked a glance at Sky at the thought.
The elderly headmaster continued. "Thank you. Daemons have their own way of seeing things. Overall, they're law-abiding and they usually work with us. Stormy's sighting was reported by a daemoness called Nina."
"Just Nina?" Brandon said.
"Nina 'of Neicheusia,' satisfied?"
"No last name?"
"None. It was basically an anonymous tipoff but she brought proof with her so that's all that matters. She even came in through the administration so we have an idea of what she looks like on camera and a way to contact her. She gave us a very peculiar piece of video from what looks like a security camera."
Individual holographic screens came to life in front of everyone. Bloom recoiled back in her seat surprised. A loading symbol came on and it vanished into an ornate parlour with gilded couches, carved tables and plush rugs. Whosever house this was was evidently well off. The camera was angled from high up, as if it were hidden on top of a shelf. One wall was lined with glass double doors so it might have been a castle or big piece of property. The most peculiar part of the room was the centre attraction: a large clicking wooden loom. A woman sat at it weaving bright colours and humming a tune.
The woman's back was to the camera but she had long dark hair and wore a grey gown.
"Who is this woman?" Brandon asked.
"Just listen."
The sound of doors opening and closing was heard and a figure walked in, standing beside the loom. It was another woman. She wore dark skinny jeans tucked into a pair of knee-high boots and dark pink tube top under a maroon red leather jacket. She had wavy hair that reached the middle of her back. It parted near her left with a curled lock of lilac. Her hair bounced as if a cloud was following her.
Everyone waited expectantly to hear Stormy's voice.
Instead, the woman at the loom spoke first. "I know who you are. Don't tell me. Weather witch who wants to apprentice herself to an older wiser witch so that she can learn and improve her powers, Stormy? Is that your story?"
Almost imperceptibly, Stormy's shoulders straightened in surprise.
The weaver continued, "I have no use for an heir. You've come far from Magix and straight into forbidden territory. I am not intimidated by the fact that you decided to sneak onto Neicheusia to break into my home hoping to impress me with your magical prowess. I knew that you were coming and I let you in.
"Is your grandmother in your head whispering for you to kill me while you have the chance, Stormy? She wants to be the top weather witch again?"
At this, everyone's eyes narrowed at the strange figure of speech.
Stormy was silent but her face was defiant.
"Do you even remember why you're doing this again? Is it so that you can rule the realms? Was that ever your dream? Oh how it is to be young again, Cosima. Was is the Dragonfire? The idea of absolute power, the ability to create and uncreate everything in the universe."
Stormy took a step back at the mention of the new name. Questions were buzzing through everyone's mind.
The loom stopped clicking and the weaver stood up. She turned to Stormy. "You underestimate me, Cosima. I can tell when two consciousnesses are fighting for one body. I can see you shadowing your granddaughter. Leave now while you still have a body. You may be powerful but Stormy's body will not be able to handle your magic, or mine."
Stormy's hands curled at her side. "One day," Stormy spoke. Bloom's blood turned to ice as weather witch's deep voice flooded Saladin's office. There was no questioning the voice. "One day, Verena, I will kill you with my own two hands in my own proper body and I will enjoy it."
Stormy turned and left the screen. A door opened and shut violently. The video ended with a blank black screen.
It was a good minute before anyone spoke. Saladin waited patiently.
"So they're back?" Bloom squeaked.
"From the sounds of it, yes," Faragonda said.
"But nothing has happened that says it was them Stormy went to a witch that she thought was better than her to learn and obviously, get more power. That was the only proof that they even still exist," Griffin continued.
"How do you know that that's not a fake? It could be all a hoax," Stella said. Somewhere deep inside, she was hoping that.
"Are you joking, Stella?" Griffin said gruffly. "How many weather witches with purple hair want to be named Stormy after the last five years?"
Stella became silent, glancing away from Griffin.
"So what do we do?" Tecna asked.
Faragonda rested her chin on her hands, deep in thought. "Return to Alfea. Cover all of bases. The Codex, Shadowhaunt, Downland, Omega, the Agador Box. They're obviously going to want to come back after you girls. If not, at least Bloom and her family. The royal family has been alerted of this video but they're keeping it quiet."
"Who's Cosima?" Layla asked, replaying the video in front of her. She could not believe what she was hearing. "This doesn't make sense. Verena calls her Stormy and switches to Cosima."
"Verena, the woman, is most likely referring to Cosima—Stormy's grandmother."
Flora gasped. "Wait, you don't mean…Cosima, one of the witches that…?"
"That's the only way," Faragonda said.
"I don't understand!" Bloom said. "I destroyed them with Obsidian and Mandragora! How's it possible?!"
"No matter the how of it, something must be done," Saladin said. "We can't waste time on those questions when have the future to worry about. I'm sorry, girls, you are going to have to return to Alfea as soon as possible." There was no room for arguing in the Red Fountain headmaster's urgent voice.
-
Suppertime was a quiet and private affair with the Winx Club and specialists. It was full of unspoken and unrequited emotions. It was all going down the proverbial drain. The relationships were tensioning to the breaking point. Of everyone's problems, it was just a conflict of interest. The boys wanted their mission objectives completed first and the girls wanted various things from Musa and her music with Jason Queen to Stella and her Mitzi problem to Bloom and Sky's differing goals. A gap was forming between everyone and everyone knew it.
Tonight was the last night, the last chance to do something about it and it was Musa who made the first move. It was really an innocent thing and there was no way that Riven could get mad at her for it in anyway possible.
Musa had caught him walking away from the central social mess into the warehouse's sleeping areas and she had decided to follow him to spend a couple of last private moments together before they separated. Riven turned to the right and into a barrack.
She found him kneeling in front of a black army-issued barrack box, fumbling with the combination lock.
"Hey," he said to her without looking. In a moment, the lock clicked open and he opened the box.
Curious, Musa peeked over him. There was barely anything in there except for some wrinkled clothing and other essentials. Riven pulled out roll of bandage, a bottle of ointment and a basic first aid kit and placed it all on top of the barrack box after closing it. He stood up and looked down at her. At full height, he towered over her and maybe that was why she liked him. She did not want textbook chivalry and honour, she wanted something big to suffocate and envelop her (and maybe just a tad bad).
"What are you doing?" she asked, suddenly forgetting what she had followed him for.
"Changing my bandages," he said aloofly. A thick bandage was still around his neck and one of his hands was completely covered. He had burns from the encounter with Bloom near Follonica.
"Shouldn't you get Artos or Chandra or at least another person to do that?"
"They have better things to do than waste their time dealing with me."
"They're professional! They're trained to do it."
"This is basic first aid, Musa. I know how to do it, too."
"You have second degree burns!"
Riven reached for the helm of his shirt and pulled it over his head. "Then do it for me, why don't you?"
"Fine!"
Musa eyes were trained on Riven's back as he turned to throw his shirt on a bed. His muscles bulged underneath his taunt skin but it was the skin that scared her the most. She had never seen this before. His back was like haphazardly stitched and worn leather. She was not expecting it to be flawless like a god but not as damaged as she was seeing it either. There were old stitched scars that there was no way Riven could have gotten them unless he had been voluntarily laying down on the ground. They were not whip marks from punishment or wounds from a battle. The cuts were too clean and precise and recent. They had to have been recent.
Riven sat on the barrack box, unwrapping the bandage around his neck, revealing red-hued skin. He threw the used one in the garbage, opened the bottle of ointment and handed it to her.
"Put this on the back of my neck." Riven turned so that his back was to her.
She grabbed the bottle with a nervous hand and poured the ointment into her hand. She poured a little too much, not expecting it to run like water. She sloshed some on him and began to rub it in gently. Normally, there would have been a flirty gibe with this situation but she found that that was not quite appropriate.
"Riven, what happened to you
"Cosmetic surgery," he said indifferently, as if there was no emotional weight to it.
No, he had to be lying. As if Riven was one for aesthetics and beauty.
"Don't lie. I can tell."
"I'm not. I saw a doctor and he said that my wounds could have healed a certain way so that the scarring was minimal and I let him have a go at it. It's not bad."
Musa's hand froze. "That's stupid."
"It's a lot better than before."
"From what?"
"My stupid life. I did a lot of things."
"Like what?" she pried.
"Forget it. I don't want to think about it. That's enough. We can put the bandages."
Musa watched the red skin disappear under the dressing, which she was happy for but not the pink scars that were steadily healing. It was very rare that she saw any part of him physically. He was usually in his uniform or in full plain clothes. It was rare that he took off his shirt for anything but this was more than she wanted to see. She was tempted to touch them but thought better of it.
Instead, she slipped her arms around him from behind. "You need to learn to talk. I don't know what happened but you can't keep it in forever. No one can, Riven."
She fixed the bandage secure around his neck and they moved on to his hand. While he busied himself with that (evidently, he did not need help for it), Musa spied his cell phone among the first aid kit. With his back to her, she pocketed the phone after remembering her original intentions and helped him with the rest of replacing his bandages. Finally, they proceeded to supper.
Everyone was at supper save for Flora and Helia, who were eating in the MIR. Flora was concerned as Helia could not finish his meal (On Helia's side, his meal had oversized portions due to the importance of the affair: them parting).
"I shouldn't eat more than I'm actually burning, Flora. I've been bedridden for like two days, I think. Apparently, I had died for who knows what reason and was ready to leave for the next world." Helia pushed away the tray of food from himself, making a sick face at it.
"Bloom said that. She healed you with the Dragonfire but the Great Dragon said you were ready to leave and she was wasting her time." Flora paused. "Would you have really…left?"
"What…? If I had the choice, no! I like living, Flora. Very much."
"I'm glad to hear that," she said softly. She picked at her food, occasionally eating it. Helia leaned back on the pile of pillows behind him and closed his eyes.
"Helia?"
"Yeah," he said without opening his eyes.
Flora wanted to phrase her question delicately, so as to not make it sound rude, jealous or any other emotion. Just casual. There was no way though, it was such a taboo subject on its own, Flora thought. "Asta…she said she dated you."
Asta was a witch. Helia was a specialist graduated from Red Fountain. Helia dated Asta. He dated a witch. That was a definitely disconcerting thought. Not that she had a problem with it but after three years of Alfea and fighting with the Trix, it was not easy to accept. Helia was not a biased person and he had no qualms with the witches of Cloud Tower, as far as she knew but… Asta claimed that she was his ex-girlfriend. It was just an awkward situation with Asta being like Darcy. Flora did not know much about the witch's powers but they were similar to Darcy's with the telepathy.
"She's my ex-girlfriend from home."
Flora watched his face. It was serene and unbothered by the mention of Asta.
"Is something wrong? Is she being mean to you?" Helia's eyes opened, staring at the ceiling. The way his new bangs fell about his ice-blue eyes gave him a mysterious look. He turned to her, his eyes narrowed.
"N-no, it's just...do you really mean what you said? That I shouldn't wait?" She understood his reasoning for splitting and letting her go but surely they could wait for each other. It could not be that long, right?
"Yes, but I made choices that I must live with." He paused, looking for something else to say. "I love art as much as I love fighting—no, that isn't the right word. 'Fighting' sounds too violent but it sums up what I'm good at most. I have a story to say. I want to feel like I accomplished something useful at the end of the day and so I made the choice to pursue the forces at home but by doing that, I closed certain doors on myself. I made painful decisions that I was not even aware of yet until now.
"In my first year of Red Fountain, I hated it. I hated the mentality of the lessons. There was always somebody itching for violence. I kept thinking did any of these guys exercise their brain for once and not just their body? And so, I left just like that. I think that you already know that I was the best in that year, since everyone kept spreading that around when I came for the building unveiling. Everyone thought it was weird and that something was wrong, like I was suicidal—and I might have been at one point. Saladin asked me personally and I told him what I thought, granted, I was still exiting puberty. In the back of my mind, I had been thinking of going to art school for a while and he let me—not that he could stop me.
"In art school, I thought about how dreary and useless classes were unless I could actually use them in real life. The school of thinking was there but day in, day out, I wanted something different but the same. I wanted to apply the lessons I learnt to real life, teach it to regular people, not just artists. It was all very nice to learn but I kept thinking about how much I hated it. The school schedule gave us a lot of time to focus on our projects but I always found that when I was busy working on a project, my mind had a lot of free time to think. A lot of things happened during that year, not all of them pleasant experiences." The artist paused for a long time, thinking what to say next.
"And then Saladin came in to check up on me for my mom, he saw how angry I was—I was really angry as a result, believe it or not—and so he told me that I needed a break from the buzz of art school. He told me to visit Red Fountain just for nostalgia's sake. With the new building, a lot of the courses were being rewritten and he said he wanted 'an outsider's' perspective of the education. To see if it was diverse enough for a military college. He wanted to make sure that students graduated with not only good bodies but good minds. I didn't make the lessons, mind you. We were just talking but I suspect that that was his goal."
Helia stopped, distracted by the weight of the memories.
"A lot of things convinced me to go back to Red Fountain. There was you but there was also some of the new teachers. I think you know what happened from there.
"What I'm trying to say is that I have certain obligations on me. I could ignore them but I would just feel guilty about it. I can't avoid some of the pain that comes with it. I could not leave you hanging on to me for who knows how long. That would be painful for me and you."
"You don't really think that all of this would last that long, do you?" Flora hoped.
"I do."
The words hung heavy in Flora's mind, as if the last nails had been hammered on a coffin.
"What did Asta have to do with anything?" he asked.
"I was just wondering what she meant to you. You never mentioned her before. I thought that maybe it was awkward for both of you…"
"She's my friend, nothing else other than a couple of social commitments between our families."
"What do you mean?"
"Her mom is really good friends with my mom. They met often when they were with child. I practically consider her the sister I never wanted because if something happens to her while I'm there, her mother is gonna go: 'Why didn't you do anything?! I expected you to be responsible for her, et cetera, et cetera.'"
"Really?" Flora asked.
"Really but I don't think that you should really concern yourself about that. Promise that you won't feel obligated to me when you return to Alfea."
"Helia, I can't just let you go just like that." Flora wanted to cry again but the tears did not come.
"You have to for your own sake."
"I can't convince you, can I?"
"No," he said.
"Then I guess that is all we have to say to each other. I'll leave now." Flora piled their plates on the tray she had used to bring him food. She gave him one final look, hoping for him to take back what he said. "Good night, Helia."
"Good night, Flora," he said to her receding figure.
-
Silent, which was rare, Stella took in her last vision of everyone together (she would go and personally see to Helia and Flora later in the MIR). For now, everyone who could show up for dinner was there. It was so strange. It was the first time that they had all eaten together like a family but not at a restaurant or a combination of a group date. Everyone had a role in the preparation of the meal from arranging the dishes to cooking meal and the sun princess felt cheated from the totally domestic experience. It would be the last time that they would see each other for most likely a long while.
Everyone was off-kilter, out of tune, out of alignment with everyone else. What had happened to everyone? What would happen?
More importantly, her mind urged, what had happened to her and Brandon? Brandon had taken to distancing himself from her, or plain just not talking to her.
Brandon finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher. Everyone was clearing for the night and the nightshift staff would be coming in. The Winx Club was sleeping in the warehouse in those uncomfy army beds for the night until tomorrow, they would leave. Stella suddenly found herself counting down the hours until then, feeling like she was supposed to accomplish something before that.
The squire used a towel to wipe his hands and started heading for outside. Stella followed after him.
The quay smelt god-awful. Why did Sky have to make a base on a stinking pier? Outside, it was already full dark and the moon was in its first quarter and stars were unnervingly nonexistent. The city lights competed with stars and the city was winning.
Brandon walked the length of the quay to the beach. Here went something, Stella thought.
"Brandon!" Stella jogged the length between them.
Brandon turned, surprised. "Stella? Shouldn't you be going to sleep right now?"
Stella stuttered for something to say. "I just want to say good night to you, yeah, that's all."
"Well, good night, then." He seemed expectant of her to turn back and head in.
"What, that's it?! No kiss, no hug?"
"You want me to kiss you?" he said incredulously.
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
Harassed, Brandon sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist. Stella's heart did several back flips as he pulled her in and planted his lips on hers. Before she could reciprocate, Brandon pulled back and looked at her expectantly.
What the hell was that?!
"That was a frickin' peck!" Stella screeched.
"What do you want from me?"
"Brandon, what's wrong?"
"Really, Stella? You're not serious?"
"I…this is about Mitzi, isn't it?!" she accused.
She pushed herself away from him and pointed an angry finger. Yeah, it had to be about Mitzi. That was the only explanation, she rationalized. Ever since Mitzi laid eyes on Brandon, she's been stalking him and trying to set up traps to ruin their relationship. She took advantage of the fact that she had a job at Love&Pet while he had one at the Frutti Music Bar, two very separate places.
"Is that your excuse for everything?!" Brandon shouted. "Can you say something else other than Mitzi? Mitzi this, Mitzi that! Why don't you go and fall in love her since all you think of is her!"
"Excuse me?!" Stella said in high-pitched voice. Brandon's booming deep voice had shaken her bones. It was very rare that Brandon yelled. His voice was always at the same level unless he was in throes of battle, roaring battle cries.
"Every time I try to explain, something stupid happens and you just won't listen to me. I can't understand you, Stella. One moment, you don't give a care for women looking at me and the next, you do. Did you have some type of awakening or epiphany and realized that a lot of women actually look at me? That they actually find me attractive?"
"Well, I…"
"I've gotten a lot of kisses from women before when I was on missions at Red Fountain because I saved them but I never cared because they were not you and they didn't have the same meaning as when you kiss me. Now, you suddenly decide to care and of all times, in the middle of a mission! Merciful Dragon, why now, Stella?!
"I know that I'm not always there and I had hoped that you understood the importance of what I was doing sometimes. I didn't mind that you were looking at other boys because I was not always there. I always thought that you were going to break up with me because I was never there and that would have been fine. When you actually didn't, I thought that I found such an amazing person that there was no way it could last. I felt like I was digging my own grave, waiting for something that would make you leave. That didn't happen either and I thought that I must have the gods smiling down on me for giving me you. I took a leap of faith and gave myself to you but I always knew in the back of mind it would only last so long. You've been patient with me for four years.
"Was a little faith in me too hard to ask? Yes, there are other beautiful women out there and I look at them but I can't help it. They exist and I can't just ignore them. They're people too. The way you treated Mitzi when you saw her in my arms was understandable but then you started crying because I said you didn't understand what was going on and you started jumping to conclusions. Great gods, I had no idea who the hell Mitzi was until later! Can you blame me for that?!
"Honestly, if you decided to end it here, I would not mind that much. It would hurt but I knew I had it coming for a very long time."
Stella shuffled from heel to heel, looking at the ground. Very few men gave her good talking to, not even her father but this coming from Brandon? She never thought that would ever happen. Angry, she looked to the ground with small tears falling from her eyes.
She hated being wrong. The Princess of Solaria was never wrong, from fashion advice to matchmaking and here was her own squire boyfriend piling the evidence against her that she was wrong.
"Stella, say something."
Stella's hands were curled into delicate trembling fists. "What do you want me to say?!" she screamed.
"I don't know. An explanation for why you've been so mean to the people around me?"
Stella bit her tongue, scared. Everything he had said was true, especially the part when she had noticed that a lot of people really liked looking at him like a hot piece of work. Granted, he was extremely handsome but it was beyond ridiculous the way the girls talked about him. And now, she was about to leave for Alfea while he stayed on Earth and who knows what would happen as soon as she left.
"I-I just didn't like them hanging off of you and… I hated everyone looking at you! I didn't like the way they talked about you. They kept talking about—y'know an-and…"
Brandon enveloped her into a tight hug. He buried his nose in her hair. He instantly understood what was wrong. "You got rattled by a couple of girls who were dreaming of doing it with me?"
Stella wailed into his chest.
"Stella, is that all? You realize that I will never look at them the same way I look at you. I love you, you know that, right?"
"Yeah…but—"
Brandon turned her tear-stained face to him and kissed her.
"But nothing. Are you going to stay with me still?"
"Well, yeah, of course. I love you, Brandon. I don't want to ever leave you."
-
"So this is it," Bloom said unsatisfied. About what, she could not quite name it.
After dinner, Sky had jumped onto the central computer platform that was the main attraction of the warehouse and began working on all sorts of programs for who knows what reason. Bloom had joined him after a few minutes, watching the programs written in various non-Earth languages pop in and out of the hologram screens floating about him. Sky had not answered her statement, apparently too busy.
"What are you doing?" Bloom sat on a swivel seat beside him.
"Working," Sky said vaguely.
Well, she could have figured that out on her own. "On what? A defense strategy or backup plan or whatever specialists or kings do on computers?"
"I'm going to be vague with you so bare with me when I'm not pouring out state secrets to you, Bloom. I'm sorry—that was mean," he apologized quickly with his eyes still on the two dozen screens about him.
"Well, could you give me your complete attention for five minutes? I want to talk to you." Bloom curled the fabric of her skirt in her hands.
"In a minute, I promise. Just let me finish all of this."
Bloom jumped in her seat as she heard the printer beside where she had rested her elbow—that thing was a printer?!—start printing a dozen sheets of documents. She made a move to pick them up and look at them but Sky was already leaning over her, snatching the sheets out of her hands before she could turn them over to read the printed side.
Sky looked into her face. "Not for your eyes, Bloom. I'm sorry," he said much more sincerely.
Bloom felt like Sky had just shut a door in her face, the gap between them growing even bigger.
Sky produced a plain unassuming brown envelope, tucked the papers in and sealed it. The envelope seemed so flimsy and weak for whatever powerful documents he was putting inside it.
"Bloom, I have a favour to ask of you. I know that you will not be happy with me when I say you're not allowed to know why and especially in our condition."
"Well, I want to talk about us first."
"The mission before myself, Bloom," he said as if reciting a childhood-deep diktat. Throughout her years of knowing him, she had heard him recite similar lines. The first time was in their mission towards Shadowhaunt to rescue the pixies. After Stella had fallen off a cliff and Brandon had dived after her, Bloom was ready to go after them both until Sky plucked her out of the air and delivered the hard truth.
"No, I'm sick of that line. Whatever your favour is cannot be more important than our relationship, Sky. I'm the Princess of Sparks, the Keeper of the Flame and your fiancée. I'm important, too."
Sky turned to her, his stance rigid. "Wrong, Bloom," he said flatly. He held up the envelope threateningly to her. "Whatever's in this envelope is more important the fact that I'm the King of Eraklyon, more important than my own head. I would kill everyone who got in my way to deliver this envelop, if I had to. If I die in the course of this mission, this message is my only assurance that I did something right for once in my life. That is how important it is. Are you going to help me or not?"
Bloom's eyes widened at Sky's tone. It had effectively shut her up. He was talking serious business and it was terrifying her. "Why?"
"Bad question. I am the last person you want to ask that, Bloom, especially if you want to stay alive. Will you do this favour or not?"
"If I can, yeah."
"Can you follow instructions to the letter?"
"You know me, Sky."
"Let's pretend I don't."
"What?!" she yelled in shock but Sky's hand immediately flew to her mouth, silencing her.
"Keep it down. I trust you, Bloom. I love you but I need to know if you consider yourself virtuous. If I told you deliver something personally for me, without ever looking at what I wanted you to deliver, could you do it? Or would you be tempted to take a peak at the package you were delivering? Can you resist temptation?"
Bloom's looked from place to place in the warehouse, looking for someone to notice their exchange. It seemed that everyone had left, even Stella who followed Brandon out of the warehouse. She did not like where Sky was going with this. Temptation was a touchy subject for her. If she could avoid it, she would like the plague. She wanted to paint herself virtuous like paladins or the knights of the Fortress of Light or her parents Miriam and Oritel who had sacrificed potential eternity in Obsidian. She remembered WizGiz's test of honour when she had accidentally found the answers to his quiz and she had some thoughts that in retrospect, scared the hell out of her. She had been a fairy barely keeping up with everyone and those answers had made some dark things crawl out of their hiding spaces in her mind. There was also when she had joined Darkar. The dark personality that had invaded her body and locked her in the corner of her mind frightened her. Inside of her head, she watched in horror as she hurt her friends. She had cried praying that they would kill her before it was too late.
Sky took his hand away from her mouth. "I believe in you, Bloom, but I need to know if you can believe in yourself. That is the point of this: if you cannot trust yourself, then I can't trust you either with this task."
"Trust, Sky, trust?" she said incredulously.
"Forget about our relationship. We are two beings and I am asking you to do something very important for me. It's nothing difficult. All I want you to do is deliver this envelope when you get to Magix. I won't tell you who until you leave. Can you do it for me?"
"Just deliver that envelope?"
"Yes."
"Well, yeah." Bloom felt like Sky was obscenely exaggerating the importance of the stupid envelope.
"Without ever caring what's inside, Bloom?"
"Um, yeah."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Sky. Why are you making this so hard?!"
Sky simpered. "It's my job to make it difficult so that I clean out all the rotten apples."
"Sky, you can trust me. You know whose side I'm on."
"There are many kinds of trust, Bloom. There is love in which someone would tell every single secret to their beloved and demand to know everything in return. Then there is blind faith and unerring loyalty, the kind that you never ask questions." In trust, love was a two-way lane. In loyalty, it was not.
"And you want blind faith right now?"
"Exactly."
"I don't think that I'm the right person that you be asking then. Why not, Brandon or Chandra? They're sworn to protect you."
"Bloom, I want this off the books."
"Off the books?" Bloom's brows knitted together in confusion.
"This conversation never happened," he said conspiratorially.
"Oh…" Those spy action movies were starting to become startling real in Bloom's mind.
Bloom pursed her lips, feeling that a heavy weight had been placed on her yet again. The importance of the letter was starting to scare her but she knew she could handle it. She had saved Magix and Sparks and the universe several times, delivering a letter should be a piece of cake. The fire fairy straightened her shoulders at the idea. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"
"I want you deliver this letter personally. Make sure that you put it into the addressee's hands yourself. Don't let a secretary take it and say that she'll deliver to whomever later. Got it?"
"Yeah, but to who is it going to?"
"I'll tell you when you're about to leave tomorrow."
Bloom yawned. She felt very tired all of a sudden, weary from the stress of everything that had happened. It was weird because she had wanted to bring up the subject of their relationship and somehow try to fix it. Trust had been a big issue in her mind. She felt like he was doing all sorts of things behind her back because he had no faith in her.
"Now, you wanted to talk to me about us?" Sky said as he wiped the memory of the computer clean and shut it down. The warehouse grew noticeably darker after the huge machine went quiet.
"I just wanted to know…what were you thinking doing…"
"Doing what?"
"Well, everything! Buying or hacking the shop or whatever and suddenly deciding that you need us out of the way by shipping us back to Magix. Faragonda put this task on the Winx Club, not you guys. You were only supposed to watch us, make sure that we're safe and alive. It's just…"
"You're not in control anymore."
Bloom swallowed hard. "Yes!" she mumbled. Her lips quivered and tears began to form at her eyes. Sky had said everything she had been feeling for the last few weeks from the slap on the face to the journey in Roxy's mind—which still made very little sense.
"Bloom, come here." Sky opened his arms, motioning for her to sit on him.
She hesitated, wanting to believe that he was the same man she fell in love with in Magix. She sat on one of his legs. The blond king wrapped his arms around her. The fire fairy felt fragile and so breakable in his arms. His arms were like bands of steel compared to her slender twigs. Both of her wrists could easily be held in his one hand. His hands were rough from handling weapons but extremely warm. From this distance, Bloom could smell Sky's distinctive scent: something sulfuric like gunpowder mixed with iron, sweat and other chemicals from being surrounded by weapons and machinery. Sky leaned his head on her shoulder.
He breathed in her scent. "I like how you smell. Sweet and fruity, like I could eat you—far from my point. I'm going to be truthful, as much as I can. If you're going to get mad and I suppose it's only natural. The situation has evolved since we first came to Earth. The more you fought with the wizards, the more I realized that this was not going to be a simple matter of killing them and wrapping it up with a report. Since they are able to travel to Magix and back, they made it a galactic matter.
"What the wizards are after is well-planned and thought out. They had planned this centuries before we were born and the fact that they are still alive means that they have some form of immortality. Immortality is forbidden across the universe. Everyone must die. The fact that they have almost all the fairy magic on Earth is a cause for concern because fairies, by extension their affinities, are creations of the Great Dragon. The mere concept of affinities, their intelligence and their reincarnations—fairies that is, are made from the essence of the Dragon. You know the rest from there. No one should have that power."
"What does this have to do with us?"
Sky's breathing tickled her neck. "It's the reason why I did all those things."
Bloom wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face on his shoulder. "This is so messed up. Our past missions were never like this. We always used to work together so easily."
"Our priorities have changed, that's why. At RF, I took an oath to never kill. That oath is over. The life of one planet is at stake and they have no idea about it. This isn't like Valtor when he would threaten to take over. Everyone knew Valtor and his war crimes. The people of Earth don't. They don't have an Omega. "
"Does that mean you would kill?"
"If I need to, yes."
"Oh God, Sky." Tears stained Sky's shirt. Bloom trembled in his arms.
"We're really messed up, Bloom, I know."
"This wasn't what I wanted with us. I wanted to get to know you better since you were always busy with RF stuff but this…"
"I know. You should get ready for tomorrow. Life always starts at seven in the warehouse, so that means you're waking up at six."
-
The Winx Club woke up at the god-awful hour of six.
"This feels like school," Musa yawned.
"Up and at 'em, Winx!" Chandra knocked on the door of their barrack. "Your portal to Magix is at eight. Breakfast starts getting served in half an hour."
Musa looked to her others in her room. Tecna was already awake and changing into her clothes. Flora was rubbing her eyes and Stella was nowhere to be found. She supposed that she was at the other room with Bloom and Layla—the barracks only housed four to a room. Quickly, everyone made the final arrangements with their bags and pulled them to the main area of the warehouse.
"Helia, what are you doing up?!" Flora dropped her bags and gasped.
The colour had return to the artist's face. He wore regular clothes, finally out of the medical gown. He waved at the group with his fork, having already started eating breakfast.
"It's not that early. I heard that you guys were leaving so I wanted to say goodbye."
"That's so sweet!" Stella said.
"Of course, that doesn't mean I don't tire easily."
Everyone ate, although not quite in the mood to eat.
Layla looked about for her fiancée. "Where's Nabu?"
Last to join them was Roxy, tired with bands forming under her eyes. "So you're leaving for Magix?" she asked.
"Just us," Tecna pointed to all the girls.
"So what does this mean about me?"
"Sky's in charge," Bloom said. "We have to return to Magix because something has come up."
"What do you mean?"
"You know the Trix? Well, apparently they might be back and we just going to make sure."
"And what about my magic and the wizards? You can't just leave me alone like this. I mean, you know…"
"We know," Bloom said guiltily, "But I have this…feeling…that Sky took care of that."
Sky joined them around seven and asked them: the Winx Club, the specialists and Roxy to follow him to en empty space of floor. As he walked, the floor trembled and stairs started to shape themselves out of the concrete before him, leading to a floor below. All of the girls' eyes widened at the trick.
"There's a floor below?!" Roxy said. She was right. There was not supposed to be a floor below since the warehouse was built on a pier, which was over and near water.
"There's twenty-one to be exact but the first four is just a giant water tank," Sky said as he descended the stairs.
They found themselves walking down a bright sea blue corridor. The floor was illuminated with built-in lights. Layla knocked at the walls. "Glass, Sky?"
"Four feet thick. Look at the bottom."
The water princess angled her eyes so that she was almost looking at the floor. Below was a rainbow of colours assaulting her eyes. "Is that a coral reef?! Wait, is that a submarine, too?!" Layla screamed. Roxy and the rest of the Winx glued their faces to the glass, curious and amazed.
"What is this all for?" Roxy asked. It was not as if Sky had suddenly developed a scholastic interest for underwater ecology, was it? She was amazed at the dazzle of colours and hoped that she could get closer to look at it. She felt like she was visiting an aquarium.
"Some of us aren't land-based creatures, Roxy. Some of us need to return back to the water to remind ourselves of what we truly are. Oh, and no, there's no fish worth noting," Sky said.
"Yeah, then what's that moving between the kelp?" Layla said, since her eyes knew what to look for exactly in a marine environment.
Whatever had been moving down below had decided to move and it shot itself straight at the window where Layla was. She yelped and jumped back in shock. "What on Andros?!"
"Yeah, did you forget Nabu's a born merman?"
Roxy backed away from the glass, horrified at the black mass that had covered the glass. Her breathing started to become erratic and her heart pumped dangerously fast. She opened her mouth to scream until Helia covered her mouth with his hand and held her up by the shoulder before she fell on her butt. There was no way in hell that the thing that was seeing was real.
"Easy, Roxy. Don't scream. It's only Nabu."
No way. No freakin' fucking way was that the very human Nabu.
The black mass swam back and forth, trying to keep Layla in its sight. It had a long scaly body with distinctly human arms. Roxy closed her eyes, hoping it would go away. She opened them again and found that it was still there. She took in the sight slowly, starting at the tail. It had fanned tailed that trailed into a long body. Its body was black gray with white strips or white with black strips like a zebra. It had had fins at its waist that extended into long sharp spines and formed into a dark-skinned human torso. Black strips continued along its back, which was covered with a dorsal fin full more spines. Its arms were covered in short spikes as well and his hands were webbed with translucent gray skin. Finally getting to the face, there was a crown of short spines and a head of seaweed-like hair that was tied into a braid. It was Nabu's face save for a few black strips. She saw four pairs of gills, two at his neck and two bigger ones directly on his chest. He seemed to be dotted with purple bioluminescence.
Nabu swam with his arms at his sides beside the glass, circling back and forth. His face was emotionless but his body language spoke all.
"I thought he was a wizard?" Bloom looked to Sky.
"What, fish can't have magic, too?" Layla said.
"She's right."
They proceeded down the corridor, with Nabu trailing beside them in the water. It led to a column-like chamber that was surrounded by the aquarium. Roxy looked over the edge of the platform to see the elevator shaft. As a safety precaution, there was a spiral of stairs and a long ladder that led from the top down to the very bottom which she could not see. Before them was a huge industrial-sized elevator and they stepped in.
The door opened again to reveal the bottom of the aquarium. It was a huge floor despite the water tank and it was very empty. Nabu idled at the glass. Beside him was a heavily enforced box-like chamber that said "Danger" all over it, especially the door. It looked like a room that led into the tank. Surrounding that was an elaborate chemical lab and an even bigger control station that faced the black bullet-shaped submarine that stood like a bastion over the coral reef.
The Winx Club marveled at the size of the tank. It reached to the very first floor that they had come from. The size of the glass and its clarity was impossible. There was no way that any human on Earth could have built this.
"How come you didn't tell us that you had this under here?" Bloom asked.
"I didn't see why you needed to know," Sky said.
"How did you get all of this down here? And there's another seventeen floors?" Tecna scrutinized the glass.
"With magic."
"What's below us?"
"I'm not telling you that. Sorry. The portal to Magix is about to come. We should set up our end." Sky glanced at his watch.
At the far end of the chamber, away from the tank, was something that looked startlingly like a Stargate fused into the wall. It was a hulking piece of machinery with familiar yet alien letters were drawn along the rim. The object bordered between being mythical and real. Before the portal was a computer station used to input coordinates. Timmy began programming the portal with Tecna hovering beside him.
Layla turned back to the glass where Nabu was. She looked longingly at him.
The shock of seeing merman Nabu had finally worn off of Roxy. She looked to Layla for some type of explanation. "So, um, that's Nabu's um—"
"His true form," Layla said. "Remember when I said that his people didn't kiss?"
"Is it because he's a merman?"
"Yes," Layla paused, pensive of how to explain her feelings. "They have no reason to kiss. He knows all about it but it's just not a natural thing to him. It's not the first thing that comes to his mind. He's lived equally as long in water as he has on land but it's all about genetic predisposition. He grew up in water first so you know, it's more natural to him." Layla sighed and waved to Nabu across the glass. He waved back and pointed to the steel chamber beside him.
He made a bunch of weird gestures. Layla recognized it immediately and starting moving towards the chamber.
"What was that?" Roxy asked.
"It's a type of sign language between humans and merfolk. Merfolk don't need languages like we do since they have body language and they're extremely sensitive to vibrations. He says that we can talk in the 'changing room,' I think. Come with me, I think that I might need help opening the door."
They approached the heavy reinforced airlock door, which said 'Transition and Acclimation Chamber'—the changing room, and with great difficulty, turned the wheel to unlock it. There was a blast of hot humid air. Layla and Roxy went inside the chamber. It was long and there were small circular windows that looking into the water tank. There was scuba diving equipment lining the room and at the very far end, a shallow pool.
Beside the pool was a set of neatly folded clothes and a pair of sneakers. They looked into the pool. Layla bent down to ground so that she was lying with her face almost touching the surface of the water. The water rippled as Nabu swam from a tunnel into the pool and placed his face just under Layla's. His fins and tail compensated to keep him in place.
"Oh God, this is freaky!" Roxy expected Nabu to break the surface of the water but he did not. Some of his longer zebra-striped spines poked out but that was it. Instead, he started blowing large bubbles like a betta fish did for its nest into the water princess's face. The dark woman backed away as the bubbles started to pop and splash water in her face.
"Is he going to come out?" Roxy asked.
"Yeah, I think so."
Nabu swam back deeper into pool and circled his own tail and then came to a stop. The purple bioluminescent designs that covered his body glowed brilliantly as he blew an impossibly large bubble. He entered the bubble and curled himself like he was looking for a comfortable position to sleep. Comfortable, the bubble shone like silver. Roxy looked away from the water, afraid of being blinded. The bubble burst, making the water spill onto the floor and light receded. Nabu's head broke the surface of the water as he took a deep hungry breathe of oxygen.
"Good morning," he said in that same familiar and friendly voice. He swam to the edge.
"Holy fucking crap!" Roxy eyes widened at Nabu's new pair of legs and lack of fins and spines in the water. He was nude too but that was far from the point. He had legs! "Okay, y'know what, I'm going to leave now. That was too much for this early in the morning."
Roxy turned and left, mumbling about needing sleep.
"Why didn't you tell me that you had entire tank to yourself down here?" Layla asked.
"Well, it's actually cramp with the submarine and a couple other neighbours."
"There are others?"
"Yeah but it doesn't matter."
"Did you eat already? You weren't at breakfast."
"I tried something called tilapia. Not bad. Didn't last in the water for long so I had to eat it fast instead of getting to chase it for a bit," he conversationally. "You're leaving now?"
"Just about."
Nabu pulled himself out of the water and took the towel that Layla handed to him. Now, it was the time to care that he was naked. Layla had long grown up with her own kind and merfolk. She knew both cultures well but one of the biggest differences was clothing. Merfolk had no need for it underwater and therefore, the occasional mermaid or merman that had found some reason to become human found the need to cover up very amusing.
Nabu understood the need for it though in Layla's world, her society. It was a display of stature, to show off one's colours, if you will like when it was mating season and fish were strutting their colours and fins to attract a mate. He knew that they also attached much more basic meanings to it like for warmth or protection but he still found it funny the way people fussed over it. Either way, nudity had very little meaning to him. It was not offensive at all; it barely registered as something worth his attention most of the time.
It was always a great way to bug Layla, too. Under that tough nitty-gritty tomboy exterior was a well-bred lady who had all the rules of propriety and the history of her planet memorized to the letter. She liked to say that she was strong, able to withstand the most perverse taboos and issues. As much as it was genetic predisposition for him to not care about his nudity, it was the reverse for Layla. She always cared. It was a weird habit of her people.
Layla turned, crossed her arms and looked to the side, averting her gaze as he picked up his pants.
"Why do you always do that?" Nabu asked.
"Do what?"
"You know what."
Layla pouted. "Because it's wrong."
"Not for me, it isn't."
"Well!—you don't count!"
Nabu smiled. "That's so mean. I can't help it if I don't understand your traditions. I can't attach the same meaning to it as you do because it's natural to me." The wizard stood in front of Layla and used a finger to tilt face so that she was looking at him. She dodged it and looked down.
Bad move! Very bad move! The image was not quite seared into her mind but it was there. She was treading very dangerous territory in her mind. During the summer on Andros, there were many times where he had to switch between his merman and human form. Where he came from, there was no formality about doing it, a proper time or place to change shape. Merfolk just changed where is suited them best. In essence, she had seen him change many times and there was no avoiding the really nice view of her fiancé.
Nabu's smile widened even more and he tilted her head towards him. She had no other way of looking other than into his face. "I'm curious about something," he said gently.
Layla closed her eyes. He was pushing her sanity to the limits again. Sometimes, she felt that she knew that he was toying with her and at other times, he was being purely academic when he did these things. "And what's that?" she breathed. Everywhere she looked was a bad place so it was best that she kept her eyes closed
"Another human tradition." Why was it that when he was with her, it was always about 'human traditions?' There were plenty of other people to ask around.
"Which one is it?"
Normally, she would have asked him to get dress or harped him on decency by wrapping his towel around his waist but every time she did, he laughed at her for caring at something so 'insignificant.' Insignificant, her ass!
"You're always looking at me. At my face, to be precise. I kept thinking, is there something wrong with it? But no, all the other humans look upon me agreeably so it wasn't that."
There were other girls that looked upon him agreeably?! Grrrr.
"And then I remembered that there was this tradition everyone was so fond of. There was this one woman at the bar who wanted me to kiss her since it was one of her dares to do for her bachelorette party."
What?!
"Of course, I didn't since I thought she was a freak and she smelled like she had drunk too much already. I also remembered that humans place a lot of significance on their first kiss and I was thinking, I've never really kissed anyone romantically."
Layla's eyes opened out of shock. "What?!" she yelled. Her voice echoed in the small chamber.
"Yeah, you heard me. I've never kissed anyone in the sexual sense. Stupid, isn't it? I've never really wanted to try until now."
Layla became flush, her breathing hitched, her heart skipped a beat and she took a step back.
"I know that this is really out of the blue but do you want to kiss me?" he asked.
"I, um," Layla stuttered. Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod! She stood still, as if she had been hit by lightning. His words slammed into her heart and shot her heart into her throat. There was no way that he was asking this?! He wasn't serious?!
"I'll take that as a yes," he teased.
Layla licked her lips, tasting the flavored lip balm she had put on earlier. "W-why?" she asked. "Why do you want to know what kissing is like all of a sudden?" There was something wrong about this situation. It just did not fit that Nabu suddenly wanted to know what kissing was like. Normal guys just did not do that.
But Nabu was not a normal guy either. He was not even human by birth so why was she comparing him to the other human guys she had dated? Sure, the pressure of marriage was there but dating Nabu had given her a whole new slew of problems that involved boys. Everything she had known about boys before had gone out the window the moment she realized what he really was. To be honest, it had been so exhilarating and intense getting to know him. She had jumped headfirst into their relationship hoping that she was doing the best thing for her kingdom. His world was so completely different from hers, much more simple and relaxed. There was no convoluted backstabbing politics. It was straightforward and to the point. He saw half of the things that she thought were normal as frivolous and exaggerated, prompting a lot of change half of the time just to appease the future king.
"Yes." No, wait, she meant 'No.' But did she really?
Feeling the world tremble beneath her toes, Nabu leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. He lingered, savouring the curve of her lips.
-
Roxy pinched herself to make sure was not dreaming. The solid wall inside the gate had disappeared into a whirling frothing mass of light and energy. The thing was radiating energy that put her on nerve. It felt unnatural to her and she hoped that it would go away soon. There was a total wrongness of it existing. The turbulent rainbow of lights in the portal settled into a hazy pink image with what looked like a pair of wings.
"What is that?" she asked Bloom.
"The front gates to Alfea."
"The school is pink?"
"That's what I thought too but it grows on you when you finally have to start calling it home." Bloom took a deep breathe.
The scent of flowers was on the air. Flora could tell every individual type of flower from. She could smell the magic in the air, too. She glowed with vigour as she stepped towards portal. It was as if she had been withering on Earth from the lack of magic without knowing it. She looked back to Helia, sorrowfully.
"I have no regrets," he said. He was deadest on his choice, his words breaking her heart. It was just surreal the way he had brought the subject of their separation but she understood in a way. She still did not like it.
All of the other girls said their good-byes. It was a teary goodbye but some of the girls were already ready to move forward to Alfea.
Sky enveloped Bloom into a big hug and whispered some last words to her in her ear.
Riven walked Musa to the portal.
The music fairy turned to the redhead. "Well, this is it, I guess," she said. She ran a hand through her long hair, nervous.
"Yeah," Riven said.
Musa slipped something out of her back pocket. "I should probably give this back to you then before you get mad." She laid her palm out with the phone that she had stolen last night.
One red arrogant brow lifted in curiosity. "Musa, what were you doing with my phone?"
The music fairy gave a cheeky smile.
"Musa," he warned.
"No magic, I promise. I just put some things in there that I thought that you might like. I know it's been really…weird with everything that's happen. I know that you have a job to do here on Earth and I'm not going to be here to watch your ass, so yeah. Don't forget me, 'kay?"
Riven handled his phone and checked the display. He judged it normal and unharmed. "Since when were you such a chick? First, you let your hair down and wear skirts and now you steal people's phones?"
"Oh shut up, Riven. You've been a horrible person lately but I still like you. Why am I still with you?" Musa stood on the toes of her pink polka dotted heels and kissed him.
"Because guys with mysterious pasts and huge egos are in this season."
Musa sighed.
"You're the one who wanted to start caring about fashion all of sudden."
"I know. Well, see ya." Musa disentangled herself from Riven and walked up to the pristine image of Alfea in the wall.
"Honestly, I do like the hair," Riven yelled at her back. "A lot."
Musa stiffened and reddened. Some of the other girls giggled.
With one last look at their men and Roxy, the Winx Club went into the portal and stepped out into the Magix. The swirling whiteness behind them disappeared as the Alfea gates opened to welcome them.
Latter Note: The original notes have been moved to my forum.
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