Hi all my loyal reviewers and readers (trying to soften you up) first of I am very very VERY sorry for my lack of updates in these past few months, but so much has happened in my life I haven't had a chance to update at all! Lets see, I got my first ever job, started college, got a lot of college work, went to see a couple of west end shows, worked a lot to get more money for Christmas and then I ended up getting a phone call from my job telling me that they don't need me anymore (thanks credit crunch -_-) Anyway hopefully I'll try to update more now, I have been on a bit of a writing spur at the moment after the worlds longest writers block.
Anyway on with the show!
Thank you to Lily887787, ..tales, fairydreamer29, solariansun, WinxClubFan9322, Queen Flora and especially to fortune princess for giving me the push that I needed to get this done!
Chapter 23 From the Past
The group all looked down at the couple, they hadn't moved in a while and they didn't know who much longer they could last, Tecna quickly ran over to the bodies and began to examine them.
"They need medical attention" She said, "That fall took a lot out of them and that crash didn't do much help either".
"Then we should get them off the moon, right?" Riven asked.
Tecna shook her head, "No, we can't move them, it might hurt them even more, we need to get help up here".
"How is that even possible?" Musa protested, "Every person in the palace is under that dark spell".
"And we can't lift it until Stella wakes up and uses her powers" Nova finished.
"It would take far too long to find help outside of the palace too, not to mention risky with the guards about down there" Sky said.
"We'll just have to tend to them ourselves" Flora said crouching down beside Tecna, she lifted up Brandon's hand and checked his pulse, "his pulse is ok" she said and then moved over to Stella, "And so is Stella's, I think they have just been knocked unconscious, I mean they only seem to have a few cuts and bruises, nothing major".
"But you don't know that!" Tecna said, "They've been knocked out; you don't get knocked out by a few cuts and bruises, they're either lacking oxygen from that fall or their internal organs have been shaken about and that's definitely not good".
A few seconds after Tecna had said that, there came a groaning noise from behind them, Brandon began stirring and then opened his eyes.
"Brandon you're ok" Flora gasped, Brandon looked round and saw everyone, it took him a few minutes to realize where he was and what was going on, then he realized that he had awakened Stella's powers and she must have brought them back, he had survived the fall!
But something wasn't right, he couldn't see Stella, she had obviously saved them so where was she? Maybe she had gone back down to restore order to Solaria, but she wouldn't do that, Stella could be self centred sometimes but not enough to leave someone she cared about.
Brandon then finally decided to get to the bottom of this, "Where's Stella?" He asked, the group fell silent and looked to Brandon's right, he followed their eyes and looked down too and saw Stella's body lying peacefully next to him, her face was slowly turning pale.
"STELLA" Brandon cried out and quickly moved to her side, every part of his body ached and hurt him but still he lifted Stella into his arms and cradled her body.
"She's been like this for a while; we don't know why she won't wake up" Bloom told him.
Brandon could feel his eyes welling up, gently he started to shake her, "Stella, Stella please wake up" he begged.
Nothing happened, Brandon was beginning to panic, he started to shake Stella's body more fiercely trying to wake her up. Tecna quickly grabbed hold of his shoulders.
"Brandon don't, it might hurt her more" She told him.
Brandon was trying to stop himself from crying, "Stella please wake up" He begged, "Stella…Nicole wake up!" He was so confused he didn't know what name to call her by; he was so upset that he didn't realize that her body was beginning to move, until a small quiet voice brought him back.
"Nicole…Who's Nicole?" The voice whispered
Brandon looked down at her body and saw Stella slowly open her eyes, she looked up at Brandon, her hazel eyes looked tired.
"Who's Nicole? Is it someone I should be worried about?" She asked.
Brandon couldn't contain his happiness, he pulled Stella into a hug straight away, "Oh my God" He cried as he hugged her, every part of worry he had for her just seemed to melt away as he tried to take in every moment part of this moment and he refused to let go until he felt Stella's arms wrap around him.
Once Brandon pulled away Stella looked around confused, "Wait…where did you all come from? I must have been dreaming or something, I dreamt that I got a text from you Brandon telling me to meet you here… and I saw Chimera and she pushed me off the moon, I was falling for ages and then everything went black so… I must have been sleeping, right?"
The group all nervously looked at each other, Brandon didn't want to tell her what happened, if it was best then he didn't want her to remember everything that she was put through, he was about to say 'yes you were sleeping' when something caught his eye, a small glittering shadow appeared behind Stella, it was the spirit that had helped him before, although now her appearance was different, the Enchantix outfit had disappeared from her and she was now wearing a medium length white dress, she still looked like Stella though and her body was made up of nothing but glittering dots, she looked like a ghostly spirit more than anything.
"It's ok Brandon" She said, "She must know, otherwise she'll be confused as to why Solaria has changed so much".
"But" Brandon started, "How will I tell her?" He asked.
The spirit slowly glided down to Brandon, and she held out her hand, "put your hand next to mine, I will be transported into your body as the memories as before, after that take hold of Stella's hand and I will move into her body, thus taking back my role of her Enchantix where I will go to sleep forever as a spirit inside her, do you understand?"
Brandon nodded and placed his palm onto the spirit's palm, the spirit then became a bright white and was slowly transported through his hand and into his body, Brandon's body then began to glow a yellowy white colour, he looked at Stella and smiled.
"Stella, hold out your hand, everything will become clear in a few seconds" He told her.
Stella nodded and held her palm out; her delicate arm had been covered in a long sparkling yellow glove. Brandon connected his palm with hers and power began to run through them both.
They both closed their eyes and soon enough Stella was seeing everything, the day she woke up in hospital thinking she was called Nicole, re-learning everything, moving in with Jenny, meeting Brandon for the first time without knowing their history, dating Brandon, having flashbacks of Chimera, thinking that Brandon had been lying to her about her life, running away and crying by the lake, meeting all of her friends again, her desire to kill Chimera, meeting Nova again, storming through the Solarian palace, killing Cassandra and finally killing Chimera, after all this everything came back to her.
Stella opened her eyes that had some tears in them; she then looked down at the clothes she was wearing, her Enchantix. She then smiled, "I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner…so this is my Enchantix?" She asked, Brandon nodded.
"Yes, you got it by saving Solaria from Chimera and Cassandra, you did it by yourself" He said to her.
Stella smiled, "I can't believe it, I can't believe all that happened to me" she whispered, she looked down at her hands that were sparkling in the gloves, "And what about Solaria?" She asked, "Is it ok?"
Brandon shook his head, "No, after your accident Chimera and Cassandra bewitches Solaria, making everyone believe that there was no Princess Stella, that's where you can help us with your new power, Solaria's spell will be lifted once you use your power".
Stella looked down once more and then looked up at all her friends; "Wow…this all seems to be happening at once" She slowly stood up.
"But, it is my duty to protect my realm, and plus I can show off all my new powers while in this beautiful outfit, it's so cute!" Stella then said spinning around to show off to the others.
"You do look amazing Stella" Bloom said admiring her Enchantix.
"I know" Stella said happily, with that she started to beat her wings and she took off from the platform, and she hovered by the staircase.
"Well? Are you coming?" She asked.
The group all nodded and ran over to the staircase and they followed Stella down the staircase towards the door leading to the palace.
As the ran down Brandon couldn't help but admire Stella, she looked absolutely beautiful in her new form, not that she wasn't always beautiful, its just in this form she seemed to glow. She looked more powerful and happier in this form.
Sky could see his friend looking at his girlfriend lovingly and decided to intervene, "I haven't seen you this happy in a while" He said to him.
"Well, It's been a very good day" Brandon replied, "It's not everyday that your girlfriend recovers her memory.
Sky laughed and they continued to run down towards the door
Soon they reached the door leading to the palace, Stella landed next to it and as soon as everyone was ready she opened the door.
There she saw many people rushing about, they all looked like the palace guards, one noticed the group and stopped.
"Look, these must be the people who brutally attacked our Queen" He said, the other guards hurried over with their swords all pointed at the group.
"Brutally attacked?" Layla said, "What do you mean?"
"You all attacked our Queen Cassandra, she was injured badly, if it wasn't for our expert healers then she would have died, we found many stab wounds in her and even a sword was still sticking out of her, it is disgusting, as we speak she is lying in her room shocked about the events and she refuses to leave until we catch who hurt her, the description she gave us matches the lot of you perfectly" The guards told them.
"She's still alive?" Gasped Musa, "But….we killed her".
"Dark magic did this" Tecna said, "there is no other explanation, she was filled with dark magic and it is possible that it kept her alive until someone found her, dark magic can also heal their owner ridiculously fast, that's why she's not in hospital right now".
"Excuse me" Stella said to the guards, "But shouldn't you have taken your Queen to hospital if she was that injured, I mean she shouldn't be resting in bed if she's that hurt, right?"
"Our Queen is a wonderful person, she has the power to cure herself, it was a gift to her from the Gods because she was such a wonderful woman" one Guard said.
"Right, and I'm guessing she told you that herself" Stella hissed.
"Enough of this" Cried on guard, "They hurt our Queen, Take them down!"
With that the guards all charged for the group, it didn't take long for the other girls to transform and they flew up in the air with Stella and begum attacking from the air with the boys on the ground taking them with their swords.
At first it took a while for Stella to get used to her new power, it was very overwhelming, unlike her Winx, if she wasn't careful and didn't concentrate then she could over do her spell and hurt herself in the process, not to mention damage her palace.
The fight carried on for a while until the guards realized their biggest threat was the girls in the air; soon they brought weapons that would shoot spears into the air at the girls.
"Watch out" Bloom warned, "Those spears could pierce through our wings if we aren't careful".
The first few spears were shot up, the girls dodged them just in time, they still managed to aim spells at the guards, however the guards weren't through with them, one more spears was shot into the air and was aimed at Nova, she didn't notice this because she was shooting beams of light at the guards close to her.
Musa saw the spear speeding towards her, "NOVA" She screamed.
Nova spun round and saw the spear coming closer to her; it was too late for her to move so she braced herself for the impact.
Stella heard her scream and quickly flew in front of Nova, her wings were a lot faster than her old ones so she got there in no time, she threw her arms out to protect the young girl and the spear shot through her right wing.
Stella cried out in pain and slowly crash landed to the ground, the girls all watched her but knew they couldn't do anything; Stella would want them to fight the guards.
Brandon saw her fall too, "Stella!" He cried out, he was about to run over to her when a guard ran over and began to strike Brandon with his sword.
"You're not going anywhere" He growled as Brandon began to defend himself, he didn't know what to do, Stella was defenceless and she needed him but still he had the stupid guard to deal with.
Suddenly a long thin yellow wire wrapped round the guard and pulled him to the floor, there standing behind the fallen guard was Helia.
"Quick Brandon, go to Stella, she needs you" He told him.
Brandon smiled, "Thanks Helia" He said before running off to Stella, she was still lying of the ground trying to push herself up.
"Are you ok?" Brandon asked as he ran over, Stella shook her head.
"I don't know what's wrong with me" She whimpered, "I feel like I've lost all my energy and my wing" She looked at her huge butterfly wing that had a huge hole in it, "I won't be able to fly not to mention it hurts, it's like its really a part of my body".
Brandon held her close, "It's ok Stell, you did well, you're just weak because of what had happened before and I just don't know where these guards keep on coming from, we need to lift that spell and fast".
Suddenly an idea came to Stella, "I know a place where the spell can be lifted from the entire realm, there is a crystal on the very top of the palace, if I can get up there and lift the spell then it will shine all over the realm and lift it" She said weakly, "But I don't know if I can do it".
Brandon looked into Stella's hazel eyes, "listen to me" He started, "You can do anything, look at you, you have your Enchantix, it's your strongest form, don't let a little setback bring you down, I believe in you, everyone does. Go, I know you can do it".
Stella's eyes began to water and she nodded, "ok" She said and she slowly stood up, with that she broke into a run, she ran down a corridor that led to a door outside the palace, she could hear some guards following her and she knew they had weapons on them.
"Quick!" Cried one guard, "Bring down that girl".
Many more spears shot past Stella and she did her best to dodge them, soon she reached the door and she sprinted out to the grounds.
She looked up at the massive palace and studied where she had to go, "The crystal should be up at the top" she tried to beat her wings to fly but her injured on remained still and just sent shooting pains up her right arm, she clutched it and winced in pain.
"I can't do it" She sobbed, "Solaria is doomed".
But then something happened, Brandon's words echoed through her head. 'I believe in you, everyone believes in you'.
Stella could feel something inside of her growing, determination, it began to grow until every inch of her body was filled with it, suddenly a bright light shone and Stella was covered with a glowing light.
"I can do it" She said standing up, she beats her wings again and finally took to the sky.
She shot through the air gracefully, her new wings seemed to be perfect and they cut though the air so smoothly it felt like she was gliding on air.
She could hear shouting from below, she looked down and saw the guards all gathering below her, and there was someone there too that Stella recognized, it was Cassandra and she was in a wheelchair looking up at Stella in fury.
"That's the girl" She cried pointing at Stella, "She was the one who tried to kill me, get her! Bring her down I want her killed and her body burnt at the stake".
The guards all took aim and shot again at Stella, they all missed her and Stella began to fly higher once again.
As she got higher she could feel the oxygen getting tighter around her, however she still carried on, the determination still growing stronger.
The guards fired more spears and one cut through her left wing, Stella cried out in pain and lost control of her wings once again, the she heard something from the ground.
"STELLA" Cried a voice; she looked down and saw Brandon and the others watching her.
"Stella you can do it!" He cried, "Don't let two pierced wings stop you!"
Stella listened to his words and closed her eyes, she concentrate on her wings to try and gain control; once again her wings began beating in perfect sync. It hurt terribly but she continued.
Still spear after spear shot into her wings, making the holes bigger and bigger, some spear caught her legs and arms and cut through them making her bleed, the winds was cutting into them like knifes and every time she was stricken by a spear she cried out in pain.
On the ground the group was still trying to fight off the guards and try and stop them from shooting at Stella, unfortunately soon enough they were all captured by the guards, strong sturdy ones gripped their arms to prevent them from getting away, Brandon looked up and saw Stella flying high and higher.
"Come on Stell" He called, "You can do it".
The others heard Brandon and joined in too, "Stella, Solaria needs you, come on" Layla cried out.
"Yeah, You can do it" Timmy called.
Stella heard the encouragement from her friends and carried on flying, she had to, "I can do this, I can do this" She told herself over and over again, she could see the top of the palace coming closer and closer until she was there.
On the roof there was a big silver crystal attacked to the top, it however didn't look like she remembered, there were bizarre purple, red and black beams pouring out of it and into the sky and showered over the entire realm.
"So this is what's making the realm go crazy" She said to herself, slowly she reached out her hands and touched the crystal, it began to glow from feeling Stella's warmth and goodness until the beams stopped and it began to shine in the sunlight.
Stella thought her job was done until she heard a small voice inside of her.
"Stella, your job is not done" The voice said, "Just healing the crystal won't do anything, it is only transporting the dark magic, you need to do something more".
"What?" Stella said in surprise, "Who are you?"
"I am you" The voice said, "Now hold and hand to your chest and concentrate you power on it" Stella did so and sent all her power into her chest.
She soon began to feel like she was brimming with power until a small bottle appeared in her hand.
"What is this?" She asked confused.
"This is your fairy dust, it is used to break spells like Cassandra's and Chimera's" The voice said, "Now hold it up, hold it up and let it all pour out, all over the realm".
Stella hesitated, "I don't know".
"Stella you can do it" The voice said, "Now do it, DO IT".
Stella held the bottle up with her two hands, "I CAN DO IT" She cried.
The bottle let out a magnificent light and it spilled all over the palace, it ran down the walls and towards the guards, they all were cleansed by the power and were now looking around at each other confused.
The light ran over towards every edge of Solaria, the streets were cleansed and every newspaper and memory of Cassandra being Queen was wiped, and no one even knew Chimera.
The forests that were being planned to be turned into Chimera and Cassandra's statue garden were being wiped from that too, the animals started to come back there.
"Look at that" Nova said in amazement as she looked up at Stella, "It is truly amazing".
The others all agreed, especially Brandon, "Yeah" He said, "She does look amazing".
Soon the power began to run dry from the bottle, it slowly began to weaken and then it stopped, Stella held the bottle back, "What happened to the power?"
"Nothing" The voice said, "You're done, Solaria has been cleansed, you can take you rightful place as Princess of Solaria once more".
Stella could feel herself welling up, "Thank you" She said to the voice, "But where are you coming from?"
There was a small sparkling shadow by the crystal and soon there stood the Enchantix spirit that had helped Brandon.
Stella was shocked in amazement at the beautiful woman in front of her, "Who…who are you?"
"Stella" The spirit said, "You have successfully returned Solaria to normal, now go, go back to your friends and Brandon, I know that they will be wanting to see you".
Stella nodded, "Ok" She said.
The spirit smiled and closed her eyes, and like before she slowly began to melt away into sparkles and then the sparkles flew back inside Stella.
Stella looked back down on the ground, she could only just make out the shapes of her friends down on the ground, she could also see that her friends were looking up at her.
"STELLA" Called a voice; she knew straight away who it was, it was Brandon's.
"Stella! Are you ok?" He called.
Stella had tears rolling down her face but still she couldn't help but smile, "YES" She screamed back, "I'm ok!"
"Come down here then" Came the reply, Stella smiled proudly she looked down, it was a pretty big drop and then she looked at her wings, they looked strong enough for what she was about to do.
She wanted to let herself fall, she wanted to feel the rush of it all only this time she would feel it with knowing that Solaria was safe.
She looked back down again and gave a nervous smile, but till she trusted her new wings, they could do anything she wanted, slowly they stopped beating and she fell.
The rush was incredible, it felt so daring and right, she fell faster and faster, everything seemed to right, Solaria was safe, she was ok, her friends were fine. So she let herself fall.
She looked down, she could see the ground approaching fast, she closed her eyes, and let her wings work their magic, with one beat Stella slowed down into a normal flying pace, she angled herself around so that she was now flying up right and then she landed gracefully on the floor.
She looked into the faces of her friends and they looked absolutely horrified, "Don't you ever do that again" Musa said.
Stella realized she was talking about the floor and she sheepishly put a hand behind her head, "Ah, sorry" She muttered, she then turned to the guards. They were looking around at each other confused.
"What just happened?" Asked one.
"I…don't know" Said another.
Stella cleared her throat which made all the guards look up at her, "Ah Princess Stella" They all said and bowed to her.
Stella smiled at that, it had been so long since she heard someone say that. "Listen to me" She said, "For the past few months Solaria has been put under a dark spell by that old crone" She said pointing to Cassandra who was still in the wheelchair looking angry.
"You horrid little-." Cassandra growled as she pushed herself up from her wheelchair, she charged at Stella with her arms out, ready to grab hold of her neck.
"That's enough" Called one of the guards pulling her back and placing a firm grip on her arm, the other guards joined in stopping her from attacking.
Suddenly two more guards came running down from the palace, "We found the king!" They cried out, "He had been locked in the dungeon".
Following them out of the castle was King Radius, when he saw Cassandra he looked absolutely furious.
"You" He hissed, "You locked me in that dungeon for months, you-." He stopped when he saw Stella.
"St…Stella?" He gasped, he moved closer to her with tears in his eyes, "You're…alive" he reached out and put a hand on her warm cheek, "but…Cassandra said…you died".
Stella shook her head, "No I didn't die…I'm fine dad" she told him.
Radius immediately pulled his daughter into a hug, he had been worried for the past few months about her, Cassandra had told him that she was dead and never to be seen again. Once they had pulled away from each other Radius looked at Cassandra.
"Guards, take her away" he ordered, "Leave her in the Solarian dungeon until we can find a suitable strong punishment for her".
The guards became to drag her away, Cassandra however was hollering, "I did it once and I'll do it again, Solaria will be mine".
Once she was out of sight Radius turned once again to his daughter, "You don't know how worried I was about you, I thought I would never see you again, they told me that they wanted my family off the throne and they were going to take over Solaria themselves, I am so sorry I never realized what a witch she was in the first place" He said.
Stella smiled, "Dad, its ok!" She said, "Solaria is fine and you are king once again".
Radius nodded, "I am going to see if the palace is ok" he said as he walked back inside.
Stella watched her father walk inside and then she turned to her friends, she gave them a look that all of them instantly understood.
"Uhhh… We better go with your dad" Nova quickly said, "Just…to make sure everything is ok".
They all agreed and quickly ran inside the palace, leaving Stella alone with Brandon; she walked over to him with a smile on her face.
"So" Brandon said, "How are you feeling now".
"Better, much" Stella said, "Thank you so much Brandon, for everything you did".
Brandon smiled, "No worries, you're my girlfriend, of course I was going to save you" Brandon said.
Stella looked down at the ground and then into Brandon's brown eyes, "I love you" She said.
"I love you too" He replied, Stella moved in closer and Brandon wrapped his arms around her waist, they then moved into a kiss.
Brandon couldn't remember the last time he was this happy, having Stella in his arms once again felt so perfect, so right, in that moment he decided he was never going to lose her again, he just didn't want to go through this horrible experience again.
Once the kiss had ended, they both moved into a hug, then Stella felt something tickle her back, something hot, she looked up and saw the sun. The Solarian Sun was bursting out of the grey clouds and began to shine brightly above them in the sky.
"The sun" Stella whispered.
"It's coming out, like a new beginning" Brandon told her.
"It really is" Stella replied, "It is a new beginning, Solaria will once again be free and it has been cleansed from bad things. It will once again be a happy place and everyone will be cheerful, like that sun" She said.
Brandon could only nod and agree, "Yeah" He said.
Longest…chapter…ever! *Twitch* Then again I think it gives everyone the satisfaction of a good long chapter they've been wanting.
Review please; there is one more chapter to go. And then the end!