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Chapter Twenty: Lead

Regina landed on a dusty floor. As soon as she stood up the ground started to shake. Regina tried to transform, but nothing was happening. She tried again and got electrocuted. She saw the surge come from a metalic bracelet on her arm. Regina recognized it as an antimagic restraining device. Law enforcement used it on magically dangerous criminals. She had no idea how Nabu got his hands on it, especially one in this form. When she grabbed it, the bracelet shocked her again. Without her healing powers, she was still in pain. Her bracelet buzzed; she looked down. There was no video, but Nabu's voice spoke in a recording.

"Hello daughter of Riven and my beloved Aisha. You are now in Shadow Haunt.. Darkness grows here. To a fairy, most fairies this place is instant death. You are a witch so it doesn't matter. It just means your friends won't barge in on the rare chance that they find you. They won't find you. You're not leaving this place. I'm sorry that it had to come to this. I'll be sure to comfort your mother when this is all over."


He was right there. From them moment it happened, Elliott replayed that final moment in his head. Despite her cold demeanor he really liked Regina. If he had more time, maybe he could have loved her. He couldn't believe he let something that turned out to be meaningless distract him from his surroundings. So what if the dragonfire unit was no longer in charge of the Winx. It didn't mean they couldn't hang out. In the end they were right for reassigning them. There were no excuses. He was standing right there. He'd failed her.

There was no question that there was a search for Princess Regina. Liliane and Caspian's schools had been put on high alert. There was enhanced security when getting into and out of Andros. Teredor and Niobe offered a high bounty; Solaria and Eraklyon offered their own bounties because Regina sacrificed herself to save their heirs. All Specialists had been ordered to look for her. Having royalty disappearing on their campus didn't make Red Fountain look good. So far, they'd found nothing.

The Winx were gloomy and silent. Euphoria rarely left her room. She watched the Red Fountain security tape over again trying to find anything that would lead them to finding her. Euphoria felt bad. She didn't sense anything wrong and didn't help. Regina helped when she needed rescuing; Euphoria wanted to return the favor. Topaz was by her side helping her. She only left Euphoria to train with Jeremy. Semiramis was the most distraught. Regina was her first and best friend. Without her, she withdrew to her room and only interacted with Toad. Ismene was the only one unaffected.

Ismene walked of campus and didn't stop until she got to Red Fountain. She knew the Dragonfire unit would be in the gym at this time. During her brief escapade with Orion and the times Jeremy visited Topaz, she knew it didn't change. They all appeared melancholy. They worked out without their usual small talk or grunts. Ismene rolled her eyes. She didn't understand why they were acting this way. They were soldiers and needed to get use to these thing happening. Ismene walked inside and grabbed Elliott by his wrist. Orion watched in slight interest as she led him into the locker room and shut the door.

"Chill out, they're cousins." John reminded the paladin in denial. Orion blushed. He didn't know how to respond to being caught gazing; so he continued his work out.

Meanwhile...

Ismene folded her arms. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing here?"

"If you want to kick yourself you could at least be productive. We were right to replace you guys. Look at you all. Pathetic."

"This isn't the time for you to be a bitch."

"You will listen, Elliott of Eraklyon! All my life my family and I watched as your father and mother made bad decisions. Not once did we say anything and look where's it's gotten Eraklyon. So you will listen to me. This is your fault. You let Leon come between you and Regina. You're only ready to spring into action when it effects you!"

"That's not true!"

"It is! Topaz hurts your brother or Nabu kidnaps the woman you love, here comes the flames! You're a hypocrite. You judged Topaz for almost killing Leon, but almost killed the gunman that shot Regina. You shouldn't be a leader if you're so blind to your surroundings. You shouldn't lead if you can't be fair!" Elliott was silent. Ismene's face softened, but her arms remanded crossed. "I think I know someone who can help, but I need your help to get us there. Since the Winx is made entirely of second generation daughters, I'd like the dragonfire unit to escort us on one last mission. I have a couple of conditions. You need to apologize to Topaz. The last one is that we leave immediately."

Elliott nodded.


Regina seemed to be fighting the same monster repetitively. It was made out of shadow; every time she took a swipe, the attack fazed through. If the shadow beast attacked her, she felt a tangible blow. The bracelet on her wrist kept her from using her powers. She was getting tired. She'd been running since she arrived at Shadow Haunt. She was getting lost in the castle. She didn't know if she could keep it up much longer.


Ismene jumped out of the Specialists' carrier and went to the other Winx's room. She went to Euphoria and Topaz's room first. They were watching the video as usual. Ismene blocked the screen.

"Get up, follow me." The two fairies looked at each other, but followed her to Semiramis's room. Ismene barged in. Semiramis was laying on the bed, crying with Toad in her arms. Ismene turned on the lights and pulled the covers away. "Get up right now."

"What are you doing?"

"No, what are you doing? What are you all doing? This is no time to sit and do nothing."

"You're only strong because you didn't like Regina." Semiramis said trying to get the tears from her eyes.

Ismene shrugged. "I despise Regina of Andros. She's hotheaded, but still emotionally cold. There's only one redeeming quality about her. Unlike you all, Regina's not going to die without a fight."

"..."

"Stop being useless. Crying isn't going to solve anything. For all we know, she's still alive. After this mission is over, we need to train. This is the last time one of us is taken out. And if she is dead, we train harder. If she's been killed with all her strength and skill there's no way any of us can make it against Nabu."

"What do you have in mind?" Euphoria asked.

Ismene smirked. "Regina and I have Gloomixes. They were given to us by Darcy. It's her magic. It's a long shot, but I'm willing to believe that Darcy can track Regina using her Gloomix. It's worth trying. Bring the laptop, but have someone else watch the recording. If you two couldn't find anything, fine. It's time for a" She looked at the Specialists. "-trained eye on this. Now let's go."

The fairies looked at each other and followed the green-haired witch to the Specialists' craft. It didn't take them long to arrive at Timmy and Darcy's house. It was late. Elliott felt a shiver run through his spine and didn't want to go inside. She rang the doorbell several times and waited for someone to answer. They were shocked when Darcy answered. It wasn't shocking that she answered, but nobody expected to see her pregnant.

Ismene shook her head. "Really Professor?"

"Really. Now what do you want. I'm not pleased to see a horde of fairies and specialists at my doorstep. I was a felon."

"It's about Regina." Elliott said.

Darcy closed her eyes. She really wasn't in the mood for all this company. Her baby girl had been laying her side for the past day. She just wanted to lay next to Timmy and have him massage her. This was important though. Regina was missing. She and Ismene were her favorite students. Reluctantly she let them in. It was hard to do because someone's aura was making her nauseous. "Fine. Since when do you care for Regina?"

"I don't." Ismene answered. Darcy was too busy trying to nudge her baby to her other side to listen to Ismene's answer. The baby seemed to move slightly, then return. If it happened again, she would call Timmy. She listen to him. "I need your help. Can you track Regina's Gloomix?"

"No. I don't sense Regina or her Gloomix. Focusing doesn't help either."

"Is she dead?"

"Maybe." Darcy said honestly. "Or maybe she's been put in a position where she can't use it."

"Hey" Jeremy said watching the video. "I think I found something!" The group rushed to the laptop screen to see the tape. "Watch. While Regina is disappearing, there's something materializing on her wrist."

"That's nothing." John said dismissively.

"I'm not so sure, look. On the last frame of Regina disappearing something is pixelating on her wrist. I can't get a clear picture of it."

Darcy watch it before grabbing the laptop. She went to the antimagic lab. She placed her hand on the pad and it opened without her having to hack her way inside. "Timmy"

"I'll be up in a minute. Is Ginger giving you trouble again?"

"She is, but that's not what I'm here for. I need you to enhance this picture. We might have been robbed."

"Alright." Darcy stood behind him and watched over his shoulder. Timmy explained what he was doing as he did it. Other than Orion, no one had any clue what he what any of it meant. Finally Timmy progressed to picture enough to be made out. "You're right, Darcy. We were robbed."

"I guess that explains why we can't contact Regina, magically. See if you can locate that bracelet." Darcy looked at the group. "I have good and bad news for you. The person working with Nabu is relatively close."

"What makes you say that?" Topaz asked leaning on Jeremy.

Darcy pointed to the bracelet. "Timmy and I created that bracelet for the sole purpose of containing shadowfire."

"Shadowfire? I thought it disappeared when Darkar was defeated." Elliott interrupted.

Darcy chuckled. She instantly knew who was making her ill. "You're Bloom's son aren't you? Did you inherit the dragonflame?"

"Yes."

"When you arrived, you felt uneasiness, right?" Elliott nodded. "It's because shadowfire and dragonfire are opposite forces."

Timmy spoke, but didn't turn away from the screen. "You see the shadowfire never actually disappeared. It remained in the Trix's Gloomixes. Because of the powers Icy and Stormy have, it could only manifest in Darcy."

"And possibly my children." Darcy said rubbing her belly. "I watch Xavier, but he appears not to have gained Shadowfire. This baby is a different story."

Ismene interrupted. "What does this have to do with someone close to us being a traitor."

"It only effects people who have been in prolonged contact with shadowfire. That's a short list: Icy, Stormy, Darcy; Darcy's children- Xavier and unborn Ginger, Darcy's proteges- Regina and Ismene, and Stormy's boys- Kevin and Cosmo."

"Regina and I have Gloomixes, so I understand us, but why Stormy's boys? Where are they anyway?" Ismene asked.

"They were taken from Stormy and probably adopted. I doubt they have Shadowfire, but it's possible. Stormy has a Gloomix after all."

"Okay, okay, what's the good news?" John asked getting agitated.

Darcy smirked. "The good news is that Timmy found Regina." Timmy pressed a button and the coordinates appeared.

"Alright. Let's go Winx."

(A/N) Ismene was always supposed to be the leader. She's smart, willing to do whatever's necessary to get what she wants, and not distracted by her personal life like the other girls.

Next Chapter: The rescue