"You two do realize that you didn't have to come out all this way to join me, right?" Diaspro asked as she opened the door to their hotel room.
"Oh, we know. But what kind of friend would we be if we didn't tag along for the adventure, huh?" Zinah grinned as she tucked her passport into her laptop bag.
"Yes, but was one ten hour flight and another ninety minute flight for you two really worth it when I can just teleport between the two countries in an instant?" The gemstone fairy locked the door behind them.
"Always wanted to go to California. And now I found an excuse to do it!" Helen grinned.
Diaspro rolled her eyes. "Please remember that I'm not just in Gardenia for fun and games. I'm here to try and make contact with the new Earth fairies that are popping up all over the place. Since they're back again, I now walk in their territory when I walk on Earth. Plus these attacks on these newfound fairies concern me as well. I hear that those Wizards that attacked me had Apprentices as well that plan on doing the same thing their mentors did."
"We understand that, but we also mean to have fun and explore." Zinah nodded.
"You do that, but please be careful. We've become good friends and I do not want you caught in the crosshairs again like last time…" Diaspro shuddered at the memory.
"Me either. Trust us, we'll do our best to keep out of trouble. Now you get going..." Helen practically shoved the blonde fairy out the door.
"Yep. Some friends they are..." Diaspro rolled her eyes as she made her way outdoors.
"Good thing I don't need a GPS for this since the IOM isn't entered into the system yet. All I have to do is follow the magic trail..." She thought.
After about half an hour of walking, she stood outside the doors of the Institute of Magic, watching the various magical and non-magical beings go in and out.
"Yep. This is most definitely the place." She nodded in satisfaction as she walked towards the doors and swung them open.
As she stood in the lobby of the building, she took in the sights around her and was immediately impressed.
The inside looked like they had tried to merge the styles of Magix with some of the styles she had seen on Earth together- and it worked.
Not to mention it was like they had managed to cram an entire city into one building. It was a very large, tall building mind you, but still only one building.
Although she had seen environments like this before, she already took a special liking to this one.
"If this is what down here is like, I can only imagine what the school itself must be like. Forget Alfea with its pansies and the Winx Club as alumni. If I ever have fairy daughters, they'll be coming here!" Diaspro smiled to herself.
"Hello there. Can I help you with something?" A fairy dressed in an outfit that Diaspro found herself admiring as well called out to her as she sat at her desk near the entrance of the lobby.
"Yes, yes you can. I have an appointment with Queen Nebula. My name is Diaspro Winsdor..."
"Ah... Diaspro Winsdor. Here you are." The fairy smiled when she spotted her name in the PDA she held.
"Right this way. I am Taria by the way..." She smiled and Diaspro smiled back.
She led Diaspro over to a security desk which was currently being worked by two fairies who appeared to be in their mid-thirties .
"Morning Polly, Licia. This is Diaspro Winsdor. She has an appointment to see Queen Nebula in a few minutes. Could you just give her the usual scan and a visitor's pass?" Taria asked.
"Certainly can. Step over here, Miss Winsdor..." One of them beckoned to Diaspro and she complied.
The fairy looked at Diaspro for only a moment before announcing: "A visiting fairy pass, Believix level." She held up her hand and a visitor's pass appeared in her hand, which she pinned onto Diaspro's blouse.
"Thank you." Diaspro nodded as Taria led her away to an elevator , which went up only a few floors before they got off and began to walk down a long corridor filled with shut doors.
Soon enough, they came to one at the end of the corridor and when Taria opened it and they both went through, Diaspro found herself in the beautiful Queendom of Tir Nan Og.
She couldn't help but smile as she took in the Queendom's surroundings. Everything here felt so light, so free compared to her birth realm.
She knew looks could be deceiving, that's for certain- but she decided to shrug off such thoughts and enjoy the view as they walked up the long flight of stairs.
Once they came to the top, Taria motioned for her to wait outside as she went inside the door there.
After a few minutes, Taria re-emerged.
"Queen Nebula is ready to see you now. Please, follow me..." Taria beckoned her forward and Diaspro complied, shaking off any feelings of nervousness threatening to consume her.
Now was not the time for such feelings.
As soon as they entered, Diaspro saw that she had been taking to the throne room where Nebula sat in her fairy form, looking very much like a queen should.
Beautiful, graceful, full of poise- and with an edge to her that dared anyone to challenge her- something which people would never do lightly.
Just the type of queen Diaspro would have been if she had had the chance to become Queen of Isis...
She shook herself out of those thoughts.
"Your Majesty, I announce Diaspro Winsdor, Fairy of Gemstones." Taria said as she and Diaspro bowed.
"Thank you Secretaria. You may leave now." Nebula dismissed her.
"You may rise, Diaspro." Nebula commanded and Diaspro did so slowly.
"Now what made you want to journey here to see me?" She asked.
"Well to start things off with and to make things clear, I am not an Earth born fairy. I came here over a year ago from travelling the Magix realms after I was declared persona non grata on my own home planet of Isis..." Diaspro started.
"Oh?" Nebula raised an eyebrow. "And why would they go to such extreme measures? What did you do to warrant such a punishment."
"It all starts with a stupid love triangle..." Diaspro wove her tale from some background on how she came to be Sky's arranged fiancée to the fight with Bloom at the Day of the Royals, to her kidnapping, her alliance with Valtor, all the way to how she came to be standing in Nebula's throne room today, leaving out no details and not trying to sugarcoat anything.
"So you see, I did a lot of wrong in my past and I paid the price for it. I let what I thought was love blind me and it made me lose almost everything I had. I came to Earth to try and start fresh. I don't regret that part though, coming to Earth. I made some friends, a potential boyfriend..." (She smiled at the thought of Anthony- while they weren't official, they had been on a few dates together.) "...And I'm getting a British Earthling education that I greatly enjoy. As a foreign fairy, I thought it was wise to make my presence known to you, especially with what I did in the past and all to clear up any potential for misunderstanding." Diaspro finished.
"That was... quite the interesting tale you told me. In a way I can see some similarities between you and myself..." Nebula actually smiled slightly.
Diaspro looked startled. "Who, me? How?"
"We were both fairies that were blinded by our quest for revenge against those who did us wrong. Granted, both circumstances were rather different and we were brought out of our blindness in different ways..."
Diaspro nodded. "I see, Your Majesty."
"Why should I have any problem with your presence on this planet? You are doing us no harm and you are one of us! Plus you can be useful to us in our quest to find as many of potential fairies here on Earth and protect them from the Apprentices of the Black Circle..." Nebula mused.
"I will certainly do my best if you will allow me to help you, Your Majesty..." Diaspro said.
"I know that you will. You are currently a stateless fairy. I will help you acquire dual citizenship in both Britain and Tir Nan Og if you agree to help us and swear your loyalty to this Queendom."
Diaspro remained silent for a minute before answering. "...That is quite a lot to ask, but I see no problem with what you ask of me. I will." She transformed as Nebula rose from her throne.
The Queen of Tir Nan Og stood in front of her and flapped her wings slightly as magic swirled around the pair.
Diaspro closed her eyes as she felt the magic swirl around her and flapped her wings slightly as well.
The magic soon dissolved and she opened her eyes to see Nebula smile at her.
"I am surprised to see that you agreed to a Loyalty Spell so quickly, even though it was one of the less binding ones..."
"Less binding? I was not aware that there were less binding ones..." Diaspro said in surprise.
"You took this wordless oath with the expectation of death if you were to break it? This one merely will prevent you from entering Tir Nan Og ever again were you to break it..." Nebula raised an eyebrow.
"My own planet of birth rejected me. I have no planet to really call my own. How could I refuse? I know I have things- and people- I would rather not lose now should things go wrong, but it is a risk I am willing to take..." Diaspro answered.
"Perhaps you are not truly as bad as you and others think that you are. Keep in mind, why don't you?" Nebula smiled.
Diaspro nodded, smiling back. "I will, Your Majesty. I still like to think I can be pretty ruthless when I have to be though." Her smile turned into a smirk.
Nebula smirked back. "Of course. You may leave now, Diaspro. Please see Secretaria on your way out. She will give you a lot of useful information that will help with what I have asked of you."
"I will. Thank you, Your Majesty..." Diaspro bowed as she left the room.
"Well, how did it go with the Queen of all the Earth Fairies?" Zinah asked as soon as Diaspro entered the hotel room.
"Pretty well actually. She doesn't have a problem with my being here even though I told her absolutely everything that led to my exile in the first place..." Diaspro swung her bag into the sofa, narrowly missing Helen's head, ignoring her mild objections.
"So, what do you have to do then? These sorts of things don't normally come without some expectations or requirements..." Helen asked.
"I had to swear my loyalty to Tir Nan Og and I have to help wherever I can with this whole "Magic Returning to Earth" thing. Not a bad deal really. I have no other world I would want to swear allegiance to and a chance to finally get off my bum and do something with my magic other than entertain you two? Of course I would! Not that entertaining you two isn't fun..." Diaspro smiled a bit at Zinah's fake-offended look.
"Help with the new Earth Fairies popping up all over the place? How would you even do that?" Helen asked.
"I will try to find and help any that I come across with their powers and if necessary, I will fight to defend them should the Apprentices come knocking. Discovering that you're a fairy after magic suddenly reappears and finding out that these guys are after you and want to rip off the wings you just found out about...Yeah, that would be pretty scary to me too..."
"I can only imagine..." Zinah nodded in agreement. "I only wish I could have gotten magic too..."
"We're too old. The magic only wants the teenagers..." Helen joked.
"Oh nope. You're not too old at all. Women in their twenties have also been discovering their own magic too. You never know..." Diaspro shrugged. "Even if you never gained magic powers, your daughters or granddaughters might..."
"Not that that will be happening any time soon..." Helen said quickly.
They all burst out laughing.
"Well come on then. Let me tell you all about my day with the Queen..." Diaspro sat them down to tell the tale.
Next Chapter: Diaspro in action and we see a little more of her old self.
