Chapter Twenty-Four: The Right Thing To Do

There was no way talk of Jeremy's arrest didn't spread across Magix. The remaining members of the Dragonfire Unit were interrogated harshly. The only reason they all weren't suspended was Elliott's status and the attention Jeremy's arrest caused. Red Fountain didn't want to risk another scandal. The women in Jeremy's life didn't take the news well. Chimera and Topaz had their powers temporarily taken away after causing major damage from losing control. Karina was in tears a majority of the time. Pandora removed herself from people completely, but that was for a different reason. She knew Jeremy was innocent.

At first she wasn't going to stay anything. She almost convinced herself that telling the truth would hurt John; but after she went home she knew that was the wrong choice. She caught Chimera crying, brokenhearted about Jeremy. Chimera was so distraught that she couldn't even play it off. She reached for Pandora. "I don't understand how my boy could fall off the wrong track. I always warned you guys. Stay away from shifty wizards. How could Jeremy be so stupid?!"

Pandora's heart broke. She was usually the one being held. "Do you still love him?"

Chimera's tears stopped. She gave Pandora heated look. "There is nothing you three can do that will make me stop loving you. Though I wish there was. It wouldn't hurt if I didn't love you all."

"Do you love me that much?" Pandora asked, vaguely.

"Are you serious right now?! What did just say?! I may not have birthed you all, but I love you all unconditionally. Un-con-di-tion-al-ly."

"Mom, I'm about to break your heart," Pandora warned.

Chimera folded her arms and prepared herself for Pandora's story.


Pandora later went to Griffin and confessed everything. After she told her what happened, Griffin made a couple of calls to Saladin. Pandora already warned John she was going to tell the truth. To her surprise, John was for it. He never wanted Jeremy to get caught up in his mess. He told her he loved her and Jeremy too. As soon as the conversation was over, John was long gone. He'd begrudgingly went with Stormy. Despite the chaos and his cover gone, John was pleased. This was just another test making his life interesting. He just wished his family wasn't hurt. Pandora knew she wouldn't hear from him for a while, but at least they could release Jeremy.

"While I can't arrest you, I can and have expelled you from Cloud Tower. Witches use the dark arts to fight evil. You clearly don't understand this. You have three hours to collect your things." Griffin announced.

"Headmistress, no. Don't do this, I told the truth! I'm not evil!" Pandora's protests fell on deaf ears. She stormed out of Griffin's office and to her dorm. She cast a spell to pack her bags; she sat on her bed and did her best not to cry. She failed miserably. Once her three hours were up, she had a knock on her door. Surprisingly, it wasn't Griffin. "Please tell me you aren't crying over a little thing like expulsion."

Pandora looked up to see a very pregnant Darcy. "Are you here to yell at me for making a pact with Stormy?"

"That'd be very hypocritical of me wouldn't it?"

"My life is over."

"Oh please." Darcy rolled her eyes. "Don't be so pathetic. You know how many times I've been kicked out of this place? Now I work here."

"What am I going to do now? I can't go to Cloud Tower anymore."

"Cloud Tower, yes, but I know a school were you haven't been expelled."

The Next Day...

Pandora groaned at all the fairies and pink that surrounded her. She wore shades to appear as if she were blocking out the sun. In reality, she was hiding her puffy red eyes from crying. She wanted to attend her mother's school, but Beta Academy wasn't going to let her in so late in the year.

"Are you staying a witch?" Griselda asked

Pandora thought about it for a while before shaking her head. "No, I'm putting everything in my dark past in the past. I'd like to be a fairy."

After a couple of exercises, Pandora was able to unleash her fairy form. Griselda registered her as the fairy of virtue and assigned her a room. She was by herself, but she was happy about that. She heard fairies shunned those who were witches first. She probably deserved it with all the crap she gave Regina. It wasn't like she was much better. Her birth mother was a human who barely knew the Winx.

Pandora decorated her room a basic creme and tan color with a lavender bed set. She walked inside and looked at her classes for tomorrow. A vibration snapped her out of her thoughts.

How is it so far? -Jeremy

Pandora wanted to cry. She had the best big brothers. One tasted evil because of her, the other loved her despite how long it took her to confess. "There's nothing I should complain to him about. Even if it becomes hell, I won't complain."

Jeremy must have known it wasn't going spectacular because he sent another text. You should talk to Topaz. She's a good friend of mine and very nice. Go eat dinner with her tonight. 6:45, she already agreed. -Jeremy

Pandora groaned, but agreed. She wasn't sure who Topaz was, but she was sure she was one of the Winx. She wanted to avoid them, but her brother wasn't making it easy. She wondered what she should wear. She owned a lot of dark clothes, nothing very fairy-like. She wanted to change that. Even her fairy form was bright; her outfit was a short gold skirt, a sparkly white v-neck and pink wings. She wondered how Ismene and Regina adjusted; but, she also didn't want to see them at dinner. It was tough enough having to compete with them at Cloud Tower. Plus she doubted that they'd be thrilled to see her.

She decided to wear dark blue and white and go without makeup. People were already looking at her with judgement. She tried not to cry and got her food. That managed to cheer her up. The food looked and smelled amazing! It'd been a while since she'd eaten, but she wasn't going to hold back once she found Topaz. Lucky for her, she didn't have to search long. Topaz waved frantically for her. Once people started looking at her, she blushed and calmed herself.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Topaz played with her hair before sticking her hand out for Pandora to shake. "I'm Topaz."

"I figured," Pandora said, snobbishly. She took Topaz's hand though. She took a bite out of her food and smiled. "I like being a fairy already."

"Oh, you made the switch."

"Yeah, I'm now the fairy of virtue... sorry about the gluttony thing."

Topaz smiled. "No problem. I actually thought it was funny except Jeremy keeps bring up my karaoke. How embarrassing." She smiled wistfully, but once she thought of Karina, she grew sad.

"How did you break the spell?"

Topaz stopped eating and grew still. "I don't want to talk about that."

Pandora could feel a slight spike in dark energy surround Topaz. She was used to it because of her mother. She shrugged and continued eating her food. "So this is why you and my brother are so close... Your magic is dark even though you're a fairy, like my mother."

Topaz calmed herself and frowned. "I'm sorry. He's helping me control it. I got Enchantix before I even learned most of the basic stuff."

"Enchantix? Aren't you a freshman? How'd you get that?"

"Idon'twannatalkaboutthateither!" The table slammed into the ceiling because of a large gust of wind.

Pandora mourned the loss of her delicious dinner. After several apologizes, Pandora relaxed. She didn't want to screw things up with Topaz. "So... fairy of wind?"

"Yes...," Topaz sighed.

"What classes do you have?"

Topaz and Pandora got more food and walked in front of Euphoria. The silver-eyed princess tried not to laugh at what transpired minutes ago. She was there when Jeremy asked Topaz to eat with her. Euphoria wanted Topaz to have friends outside the Winx. She was eating with her other friends. She wasn't surprised not to see Karina. Now that Jeremy was out, she'd probably be gone for a while to reconnect with him. Euphoria envied her, she barely wanted to be there. The only reason she didn't leave was because she couldn't run off. The best she could do was the library or the bathroom. After a couple more minutes, Euphoria gathered her bag and decided to try.


After a full day of classes and hanging out Euphoria plopped in her bed and went to sleep before the sun rose. She began to dream. It was the same dream; she and Nabu were under the umbrella again. They said nothing as usual. They just looked in each other's eyes as the ran pours. Suddenly she felt a ripple. Euphoria looked around, later finding someone walking towards them from a distance. When the figure got closer, she found it was another Nabu.

Nabu looked at her dream-version of him under the umbrella. Euphoria looked at him suspiciously before the dream-version of him disappeared. The rain stopped, but they continued to look at each other before he laughed. "I'd ask why, but that's not why I'm here. I must say your dream-version of me is a lot nicer than my dream version of you."

"Nabu? Are you here to kill me in my sleep?"

"With Ismene a scream away, no. I'm actually hear to help you, Winx."

"Help? I don't understand."

"Stormy and John will attack Semiramis' ceremony. I wouldn't mind, but Aisha, Riven, Stella, Helia, and Sky will be there. Maybe all the original Winx will be there. I don't want my friends caught in the crossfire. My wrath, doesn't concern them."

"Technically it does. We're their children."

"They can have more the right way. I know you can't understand, but if you were around when I was, you'd see how wrong this all is."

Euphoria looked at him sympathetically. "Touche; but if you were around those twenty odd years, you'd see how right this is."

"We'll never agree."

"I know... Why'd you come to me?"

"I didn't have much of a choice."

"There's always a choice."

Nabu laughed again. He touched her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "I guess I could go to Princess Semiramis, warn her outright. I just didn't see what she could do without her powers and so far from her friends. Or maybe Topaz, she's reasonable. But she has the opposite problem. She has too much power and can't control it. Who knows what she could do with such sensitive information? I know you didn't expect me to go to Regina. We both detest each other and she's the type to hit first ask questions later. That leaves Ismene of Eraklyon, the witch of nightmares. There's a good chance that she could literally make me just a thought. How John survived going in her mind, I'll never know. It makes him so much more dangerous. Maybe even more than me... I couldn't go to your parents. They're experienced fairies/specialists."

"I guess I was overreaching again."

You can't deny I'm welcome here. I knew I was right to choose you. You can do this. Make sure you and your friends stay away from Eraklyon." Nabu handed her a red rose. "It's time to wake up now."

"What? Wait."

"Until next time."

Nabu walked away until he disappeared. Seconds later, Euphoria woke up. She remembered everything Nabu told her and shook her head. This wasn't the first time she dreamed about him. It was different from her usual dreams, but she had no reason not to believe it was real. She got up and stretched. She noticed she had something in her hand. She was still holding the red rose.

(A/N) It took forever for me to update, but I finally did. The next review will be the one hundredth for this story. Yay, but you know what else would be special 101, 102, 103, 104... Review!

Next Chapter: Stormy finds Icy.