Gorge Chick: This has nothing to do with the story, but if you're on Pottermore I'm PixieSkull30633. Which house are you?
Chapter Twenty-Eight: In the Face of Danger (Part One)
Bright and early the shuttle came to transport the group to Eraklyon. The girls walked to it, yawning. They regretted not going the night prior and spending the night with Semiramis. Karina was trying to talk to Euphoria, but the star fairy was barely listening. Euphoria wasn't feeling well. Karina looked at Topaz with a small smile, but it faded when it wasn't returned. Topaz turned and watched as a fairy ran towards her; the gown she held flapped behind her. Once she got there, she caught her breath. It was Pandora.
"What are you doing here?" Ismene demanded; it sounded more unfriendly than she usually was.
"Isn't it obvious?" Pandora said, "I'm going to the ceremony."
"You weren't invited."
Topaz rose her hand awkwardly. "Actually... She's my plus one..."
Ismene rolled her eyes and said nothing. Pandora lifted her head in victory. She loved any time Ismene could eat her words. The shuttle opened and the girls got in. Its size and extravagance wasn't out of the ordinary, but they were surprised to see the blonde princess sitting across from the door. Semiramis crossed her legs and laughed at the surprised looks on her friends faces. "Hey Winx!" They all went to hug her with the exception of Pandora and Karina. She just sat and looked at Topaz. The former fairy laughed, "If I knew I was missed, I would have come back earlier."
"Why are you here?" Regina asked. She was happy to see her, but it didn't make much sense.
Semiramis put an arm around the redhead witch. "Because my so called friends didn't come last night, so I'm seeing them in my spare time."
"If you wanted visitors you should have called, or at least answered when you were called."
"I didn't want to interrupt your conversation with Elliott...!" Semiramis wiggled her eyebrows. Regina pulled away from her and walked away. "Oh come on, Regina. I'm just picking!" Now that Regina was ignoring her she turned to Ismene. She looked at her arms. The witch of nightmares had gotten a more tattoos. They covered her left arm. She noticed that they were made up of Earth characters; she bounced trying to list them all. "I've been reading your Earth books. That man, Tony Stark, is he alive?"
"I'm not sure. I always assumed those books are about Earth before magic disappeared. He's probably long dead."
Semiramis nodded and frowned. "I probably should have asked Bloom."
"Ballsy."
"Not ballsy, I didn't do it." They all laughed.
When the craft landed, they were rushed by Eraklyonese staff. They took the girls to get them washed, dressed and ready. Semiramis and Topaz received extra care; Semiramis because it was her day and Topaz because her lifestyle made her harder to groom than the other girls. Now dressed and ready, the girls waited for their escorts. Topaz's yellow and gold dress hugged the curves Anagan tried very hard to hide. Her golden eyeshadow complimented her complexion and peridot eyes; her hair was half up while the rest curled down her back to show her face and shape. She wasn't matching Pandora who chose a lavender sheath style gown. Pandora looked willowy; her wild black hair was now in bangs and seemed to swallow her slender figure. They reunited with Jeremy and Karina; they were wearing grey. Karina shined naturally with her silver hair and light blue skin. The green and purple trim at the end of her gown also helped. Orion and Ismene showed later. It caused the fairies to look twice.
Ismene was wearing a long-sleeved trumpet gown that covered her tattoos. It was the color of summer's leaves. They were used to that color in her hair, but instead it was dark auburn. Orion seemed to beam by her side. "What?"
"You're not a natural green?"
"Obviously not, but don't get used to this. It will be green again."
"Why? You look... nice..." Topaz didn't think the words fit. Ismene grimaced.
A blare from trumpets ended the conversation. They turned their attention towards the castle messenger. "Presenting the royal courts! Their majesties King Riven, Queen Aisha, Princess Regina, Princess Liliane, and Prince Caspian of Andros." Aisha and Riven were dressed in matching shades of blue. Regina was wearing a richly black mermaid ballgown. She had a shawl covering the revealing dip in the back. Her hair was tied back by spiked shells on on a silver chain. Her sister Liliane was her opposite. She wore an orchard dress that was so light, it was almost white. Her head was covered in its usual pearls, but tonight they fastened a light blue veil that flowed behind her like a soft wave. Caspian wasn't original; his garments were the same as Riven's. They took their spot and waited with the rest of the royal families.
"Her majesty Queen Diaspro of Isis." Diaspro walked by herself with her head held high. She chose the perfect night to wear red. People whispered about her and speculated what this meant as far as her and Sky.
"Their majesties King Thorn, Queen Krystal, and Prince Vincent of Linphea." Topaz stiffened and watched the Linphean family walk across the courtyard. Technically those people sent assassins to kill her and her mother. She wasn't sure how she felt seeing them. A strong hand landed on her should; she looked up to see Jeremy. She smiled awkwardly and concentrated on him instead. "Their majesties King Justino, Queen Galatea and Prince Michael of Melody... Their majesties King Radius, Sir Helia, Princess Stella, and Princess Euphoria of Solaria." The four walked out in varying shades of red, orange, and yellow. Euphoria smiled once she saw her group. She couldn't wait for the formalities to be over so she could got to them. Maybe they could help calm her down. "Presenting the rulers of Eraklyon, the honorable King Sky, Queen Bloom, Prince Elliott, Prince Ethan and Princess Semiramis of Eraklyon."
Sky and Bloom walked out hand in hand. They didn't flinch at the pictures taken of them and their family. The guest went to them to pay them compliments and prod. A reporter commented that they vaguely resembled the Androsian royal family. Once that settled, the children gathered into their own group. Semiramis hugged the Winx again. "You all clean up nicely."
"You're not too bad yourself, Semiramis of Eraklyon." Jeremy replied, emphasizing her title.
She scrunched her nose. "It's actually longer than that, Crowned Princess Semiramis of Isis, First Princess of Eraklyon. Obnoxious right?"
"Hey, I have a long title too." Ethan said, obnoxiously.
"I guess I didn't choose the right person for greed." Pandora said jokingly. It got a few snickers, but Ismene wasn't amused. "I'm sorry about that spell."
"It's not a big deal, we did break it after all."
"What spell?" Liliane asked confused. "Forgive my intrusion, it just sounded like an interesting story."
Semiramis looked at Liliane and squealed. "Aww, your little sister is so cute!" Liliane blushed.
"She's okay," Regina muttered.
"I personally don't see it," Caspian joked. There were more laughs.
Music began to play. Jeremy took Karina's hand and looked at her lovingly. Topaz sighed and looked away. Elliott walked over to Regina and held his hand out to her. Silently, she took off the silver shawl and took his hand. Euphoria watched wistfully as Prince Michael of Melody approached her. "Would you like to dance, Princess Euphoria?" Euphoria looked at the built prince with the platinum blonde hair. He was handsome and was probably one of the best tenors in the galaxy, but they were both lying to themselves. She'd rather be dancing with a scheming wizard and he'd rather be with the pink haired prince of Linphea. Prince Vincent and Prince Michael were what Euphoria and Elliott could have been. She nodded anyway. It wouldn't look good for her to decline.
Elliott put one arm around Regina's waist and the other cupped her hand. "So you can dance."
"I already told you, I don't dance, but it doesn't mean I can't dance. You're extremely close," Regina commented, coolly.
Elliott pulled her a little closer to him and teased her. "Yeah, I am."
"I'm not dense."
"Then why bring it up?"
"My dad is here," Regina answered, "and he's watching."
Elliott laughed. "You're right. He's glaring a hole in my face. I'm conflicted." Regina waited for him to elaborate. "I don't want the King of Andros mad at me, but I don't want to let go of his daughter. She looks incredible tonight and feels good too."
"Third person, really?" Regina looked away from him. "I'm glad I'm over you."
Before Elliott could respond, Riven approached the red-heads. He still stared down Elliott and broke them apart. "Mind if I cut in?"
Elliott looked at Regina; she gave him a look that said 'I told you so.' "By all means," the Eraklyonese prince answered diplomatically.
Riven took Regina's hand and danced with her. He kept his eyes on Elliott and whispered, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm not doing anything," Regina whispered back just as harsh.
"I can read lips, Regina! He's a shit. Nobody will be feeling anything tonight, do you understand me?"
Regina wanted to roll her eyes. "I had it handled."
"I see how you're handling things." He handed her the shawl. "Tie it, spell it, do whatever. I better not see this off again."
"Alright, alright."
Regina put the shawl back on and frowned. Regina and Riven had matching scowls. Despite this, everyone one seemed to be enjoying the party. It was full of lighthearted conversation, food, drink and music. The castle sparkled in the moonlight. Euphoria looked up at the sky as a star shot across the beautiful midnight. She couldn't help, but think about what Nabu said. She was doing the very thing he told her not to do. Even worse, there were children there. At first she was going to talk herself into believing she was paranoid, but the ground began to shake.
Ominous clouds began to cover the nighttime sky; Euphoria felt a chill run down her spine. Those clouds were weakening her, taking her away from the stars. She tried to calm herself, but she wasn't the only one effected. Bloom and Elliott cried out in pain.
"Bloom!" Sky ran to her aide. When he noticed Elliott in the same position he drew his sword. "Everyone, stay on guard! Bloom, Elliott, are you okay?"
"The wall, someone's messing with the wall..." Lightning started to flash, followed by thunder. In the middle of the courtyard, Stormy and John appeared. "Impossible... There's no way they could have gotten through the wall, it's still intact!"
"When will you learn you'll never be rid of us!" Stormy laughed as she created several tornadoes. The guest screamed and ran for cover; secret servicemen guided them towards the castle. Pandora tried to run to her brother, but was swept into the twister. Topaz transformed and jumped into the eye of the tornado. She flew counter to its trajectory and it burst into weakened winds. She caught Pandora, but was shot in the back by John.
Topaz and Pandora crashed into a table. Topaz groaned in pain, but got up to stop the other tornadoes. John shot at her, but she dodged each blast. Pandora was in too much shock to do anything. Suddenly she was swept up by strong arms. She panicked before noticing they were Eraklyonese guards. They took her to the safety of the castle walls. Most of the royal guests were there with her; but she could tell by the arguing that Elliott and the second generation Winx weren't happy about it. The original Winx and Specialists wanted to fight off the villains too, but their knights weren't going to allow it.
Jeremy made Karina go to the castle without him and approached his brother. He used his powers to toss John into the air and smash him to the ground. He continued until his twin electrocuted him. "Jeremy!" Topaz called out for him when she heard him groan.
With Topaz's attention towards her son, Stormy hit Topaz with sharp winds. "You better keep your attention over here, girl." Topaz swallowed and sent a large gust of wind towards Stormy. The older witch laughed and knocked it away. "You call that wind?!" Lightning flashed around her. Stormy lifted her hands, winds spiraled rapidly around them. "This is wind!" The attack hit Topaz and she was blasted into one of Stormy's tornadoes.
"Topaz!" Euphoria called out from the castle.
"Princess, please stay away from the windows."
"I've had just about enough, Horace. You can't just expect us to sit and do nothing! How come you haven't saved that poor girl?" Stella demanded.
The knight tried to calm the livid monarch. "We are on it, but we're spread out. The wall is surrounded by thugs."
"How is that even possible?" The wall wasn't supposed to let those unwanted inside. Horace grew pale and didn't answer. "Well?"
"I can only speculate," Horace said trying to end the conversation. He wished his fellow guards would help him out.
"And?" Riven didn't have the patience for the run around. He already tried twice to join the fight, but was teleported back into the castle by Androsian magic. He wasn't helpless and refused to allow them to keep information from them. A young knight stepped forward and faced the royal families. His dark eyes were hardened with seriousness. "Who the hell are you?"
"Graham of Melody, Knight of Four." Regina rolled her eyes. Nobody asked him for titles. She looked around for their knight Mareas. He'd tell them what was going on without any hassle, but he wasn't there. There must have been a lot of enemies at the wall. "We think they reversed the effects of the Wall of Fire. Not only are outsiders free to come in, we cannot leave."
"So we're trapped inside the City of Fire while a stream of endless villains attack us?" Euphoria asked.
Graham and Horace nodded. "Yes, and the walls are also growing closer to us. We'll burn if we can't stop it."
Euphoria closed her eyes. It'd be too childish for her to say 'I told you so.' It also wouldn't be productive. Instead she transformed and flew out the window before Horace could catch her. She flew as fast as she could with plans to ram Topaz out of the tornado. It didn't work that way. Stormy saw her coming and knocked her out of the sky. Stormy sent hard rain after the star fairy. Euphoria was hit again causing Stella to scream. Helia held Stella back as Horace left to save her. Stormy cackled until she felt a shiver run through her. It came from her tornado.
The tornado turned from dark mauve to a bluish grey. It spun in the opposite direction, grew larger, and gathered intensity. Emerging from the eye was Topaz. Her hair whipped wildly from the winds and dark energy surrounding her. Her usual green eyes were as grey as her dress and aura; they narrowed. She sent her tornado after Stormy. It plowed through the twisters, straight for the old Trix. It destroyed the ground beneath it. Euphoria, John, and Jeremy had to dodge debris flying around. Stormy split the tornado with lightening, but as soon as it blew away she was tackled by a streak of grey. They created a crater on impact. Topaz got on top of her and started slicing Stormy with her cutting winds. Stormy shocked her off of her and was blown back when Topaz instinctively attacked instead of protect herself from the impending crash. Jeremy manipulated gravity so that she came to an easy landing. Topaz didn't even register his help and rocketed herself to Stormy. John shocked both fairies while they were distracted by Stormy. Euphoria and Topaz passed out. Topaz reverted back to her human form. Jeremy growled aimed for his brother, but was knocked off balance.
Jeremy looked up and found himself surrounded. There were figures approaching the girls too. He glared at John. "Damn you."
"Say goodbye to your friends."
"You think the rest aren't coming? Even the original Winx are here. You can't win this."
A loud scream echoed from the castle. John smirked. "Wanna bet?"
(A/N) I do not own Iron Man. Not important to the story, but I picture Pandora's mom as the girl from the Love and Pet's episode whose mom bitched at her for mentioning magic.
Next Chapter: Part Two
