Chapter Twenty-Nine: In The Face of Danger (Part Two)
Lucy sent a barrage of insects towards the royal families. Aisha, Stella and Bloom created a large barrier, Diaspro smashed the creatures with a barrage of emeralds. Suddenly their footing got unstable. They looked up to see Gantlos shaking the earth. Regina holds his foot up so he doesn't stomp again. Before he could send a sound wave via clap, she pinned his arms to his side.
A woman with long salt and pepper hair stepped out of the shadows. "This is going to be too easy," she jeered. She was a telepath. She put her hands to her head and sent a mental attack. It sounded shrill. Regina, ignored it thanks to the practice she had with Ismene, but everyone else including their opponents were covering their ears in pain.
Stella looked up and shrieked. "Mitzi?!"
"I don't know who to destroy first, you, Bloom, or that freckled witch. If Brandon wasn't going to be with you, how dare he not be with me?!" Stlla sent a solar flare to Mitzi. Mitzi stopped her attack to defend herself. Helia bound her arms and pulled her to her feet. "Hey, let me go! Let me, go!" They had two out of their four attackers bound.
"I recommend you let Gantlos go." Ogron captured Liliane while the others were distracted by Lucy, Mitzi, and Gantlos. He had one hand around her neck and the other pinned her arms. It mirrored Regina's grip on Gantlos. Riven's eyes widened with rage. He charged at the ancient wizard, but stopped once Ogron put a ball of energy to Liliane's head. Her eyes widened in fear. Stella held Aisha back from charging Ogron while Ethan subdued Caspian. The usually fun-loving prince let out a stream of curses and threats for Liliane's release. "Now that I have your attention, I want to make a trade."
"Alright, fine. Gantlos and Mitzi for Liliane, but no tricks" Aisha threatened.
Ogron laughed. "No, that's not the trade. I don't even care about the annoying one."
"Hey!" Mitzi was beyond offended.
"Thanks to your daughters, yours actually, blondie, I can't use my legs." Ogron tightened his grip on Liliane's neck. Her whimper made Ogron grin. "I need to heal my spine. Liliane for Regina."
Aisha's roared in rage. She felt the hatred she once held for him return. Krystal held out her hands in peace. "I have healing powers. I'm sure I can heal you and you can let the girls go."
Ogron spun Liliane and used her to strike Krystal. The Linphean queen held her face in shock and anger. "The day I ask a fairy for help," he looked at Bloom with a haughty grin. "and mean it, is the day I break my own neck. Tick tock, Aisha. Lily or Reggie?"
Riven shook his head. "Neither, take me instead."
"And why would-"
Riven scoffed. "You think Regina got healing powers from Aisha? She got them from me," he lied. Technically Regina's healing powers came from water's properties. "Mine are better. Not as fast, but definitely without limit."
"Riven no!" Aisha yelled. She knew what he was doing. The wizards weren't going to take away anyone she loved again!
He didn't even look at her. "Drain mine, leave my girls alone."
Ismene rolled her eyes. "This has gone long enough. He can't heal himself. He just can't do what needs to be done." Ismene walked up Regina. "Sleep."
Riven charged at Ismene, but was stopped by Brandon. "Get out of my way!"
Aisha, Elliott, and Stella also made a pass for Ismene, but Gantlos and Lucy prevent them from getting to her. Ismene dragged Regina to Ogron and tossed her at his feet. Ogron floated down to her eye level. "Why would you do that?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm not a fairy. I'm a witch." Ogron smirked. Ismene did too. Regina started to wake up. When Ogron looked down, Ismene put her fingers on Ogron's forehead. "Sleep."
Ogron's eyes rolled back and he fell out. Ismene caught Liliane before she fell. Regina rubbed her eyes. "Fucking Ismene... At least warn somebody before you pull a stunt like that?!" Liliane gave the freckled witch a hug. Riven and Brandon stopped fighting each other and turned their efforts to Gantlos and Lucy. Faster than expected, Ogron woke from his stupor. He growled and summoned a sword. He aimed for Ismene, but Liliane was still embracing the witch and took the blow. Ismene was only cut two inches deep by the tip, but Liliane had been run through. Regina screamed in horror.
Aisha and Riven stopped in their tracks. Brandon blocked a blow meant for Riven. They couldn't believe their eyes. Liliane's beautiful dress was turning red with blood. He ran to her. "No, no, no, no..." Riven held her and cupped her face. "Come on, open your eyes. No, no..." He held her wound and looked around. "Regina! Regina, do something!"
Aisha went from her daughter to Ogron. Stella had let her go. "Morphix Wave!" The pink fluid hit Ogron in the face. Usually he would absorb the fairy magic, but it had overtaken him too quickly. He was choking on the Morphix and it kept filling his lungs. Ogron panicked and flailed as if he was drowning. It was violent at first, but his struggle grew weaker. Eventually he stopped moving.
Bloom looked at the lifeless Ogron to her friend in horror. "Aisha, you-"
"Spare me the lecture, Bloom. When it's your husband and child then judge me."
Regina was shaking, but she was pumping the blood for Liliane. She was slightly grateful that she done this before with Leon. She was only keeping her from bleeding out; her powers weren't healing her. Krystal knelt beside her and started to heal the wound. Since it wasn't done by magic and a physical weapon, there were limits to what she could do. Liliane needed a doctor. "There's only so much I can do. She needs a doctor."
"Please Krystal, just try. I can't lose her." Aisha said crying.
"We have to get Princess Liliane out of this city," Diaspro commented. She held Semiramis in her arms, protectively.
"Easier said than done. How are we going to do that? We can't even teleport out of the walls," Stella complained. Helia walked to her with Mitzi still bound. Brandon, Sky, Orion, and Galetea were battling Gantlos. Lucy had fled. Gantlos was increasingly difficult after seeing Ogron fall.
Elliott thought about the battle the knights were fighting at the wall as well as the one in the castle and in the courtyard. He had to do something. "Mom, we have to destroy the wall."
They knew it would tap out their powers, but there was no other choice. "You're right."
"Nobody's going anywhere." Gantlos slammed both fists into the ground. The ground crackled beneath them. Fractures ripped along the castle. The building began to quake. "For Ogron."
The guests stumbled to each other. Bloom, Stella, Ismene, Regina, Aisha, Pandora grabbed each other's hands. "Winx convergence!" Ismene and Bloom said together. A dome barrier shielded them from falling debris. The rest of the castle continued to crumble. The dome stayed strong, but was buried in the rubble.
Topaz tried to get up and transform. She couldn't. Her body hurt; her head hurt. She had no energy, physically or magically. She saw bandits surround her. They laughed evilly. She closed her eyes; maybe she could pretend she was elsewhere and it wouldn't hurt so bad. She felt a flash of dark aura. After a few screams, she opened her eyes. The bandits were littered around her feet. Heavy boots walked to her; she was scooped into strong arms. It was Anagan.
"Daddy..."
"Come on, I'm getting you out of here." Anagan ran back to the wall of fire, but was shocked when it burned him. "Ahhh!"
"Daddy!" Anagan passed out from the pain of the wall. Topaz was confused. It wasn't right. That reaction was supposed to be for outsiders. Those in the City of Fire got to come and go as they wanted. It was as if the wall's magic was reversed. Topaz knew she was correct when more bandits slipped into the city. Most started looting, but others headed towards the castle. "My friends..." She tried to summon her winx. She was tapped out at them moment. She dragged Anagan to a carriage that had already been looted and got inside. "Come on, come on." She couldn't transform, but she had enough power for a spell. "Image of the Wind..." The carriage and family became invisible while they healed.
Meanwhile...
"Horace!"
"Princess Euphoria, I promise to get you to safety, your knight swears it!"
Euphoria gathered her strength as she watched Horace fight a horde of bandits. Jeremy was also in his own battle. She didn't see Topaz. She braced herself when she felt a large quake. She wanted to scream when she noticed the castle "Mom! Dad! Grandpa!" She headed towards the castle only to be blocked by Stormy. Jeremy ran passed them and lifted large pieces of rubble with this gravitational powers. He then added so much pressure to it that it crumbled. To his surprise, vines began to lift and loosen the rubble. He looked up to see Flora flying above him. She smiled sweetly. Euphoria fell backward after Stormy's attack. She fell at Horace's feet. He helped her up and supported her. Since he was holding her, he could only block instead of attack. Stormy flew over them. John approached them as well. Horace knew it didn't look good for them. Stormy and John shot a burst of lightning to them. Euphoria pushed Horace out of the way and tried to block it with her star shield. It broke and they hit her.
"Princess!"
Suddenly, Euphoria exploded in light. Warmth and dust surrounded her. She pulled translucent, white gloves to her elbow and leaned forward as tiny stars surrounded her chest and became a sparkly and backless blue haltertop. She gracefully backflipped into a matching blue rah-rah skirt with yellow trim. Her large yellow-orange wings appeared in flash. The resembled her mother's with their red, white and blue star patterns. Her hair shortened into a textured bob. She coasted into a sassy pose. She'd earned Enchantix.
Euphoria stood in front of Horace and held her hands out to her opponents. She gathered all her power into her new attack. "Bijou Neutron!" A small ball of blue and red light shot towards Stormy and John. They looked at it and laughed until it got closer. The star was pulling them closer. Stormy managed to flee its gravitational pull, but John didn't. His body flattened and curved around it. Before John could be crushed into to its surface it turned into a black hole. Euphoria's eyes widened as John and her bijou star were gone.
Stormy growled in anger. "Where is he?! What'd you do to my son?! Kevin?! KEVIN!" The sky exploded bolts of lightning. Euphoria covered Horace with a shield she knew was bound to fail. She heard Flora use Enchanted Nest, but she was too afraid to open her eyes to see it. She would have to thank Flora later. Euphoria felt sick. What had she done? Where was John? Did the blackhole take him somewhere or was he...? Stormy kept attacking. Her lightning was breaking the rumble faster than Flora and Jeremy were. Ten minutes into her rage, the dome emerged.
Bloom left the shield and attacked Stormy. The weather witch grunted and sent a tornado after Bloom. While she was distracted, Pandora fluttered closer to Stormy. 'Such wrath...' She wondered what happened while she was in the castle. "Combined Temperantia and Patientia!"
A warm peach light flowed from Pandora to Stormy. She stopped attacking and let the good feelings go through her, but then she remembered John. Her rage was beginning to surface again. By that time, the Specialists had her bound. Bloom and Elliott went to destroy the wall. Semiramis called her dragon and went to assist them. Bloom grabbed the wall with Elliott. They absorbed the fire from opposite points. Semiramis and Euphoria kept the raiders from attacking Elliott while Brandon and Ismene covered Bloom. Once the wall was down, the keepers of the dragonflame passed out.
After a night of fighting, all the Specialists and Winx were accounted for. The villains were transported to prison and the royal families went to their respective homes.
Flora healed Anagan with fairy dust. Once his eyes opened, he pulled the nature fairy into a passionate kiss. He looked her in her eyes and said, "Let's go home." Flora agreed; they both knew she was just caught up in the moment, but were too happy to be a family again to care.
Liliane was taken to the hospital. She almost didn't make it. Krystal and Regina's healing didn't prevent her from getting dark magic poisoning. After a few weeks in the hospital, she was doing fine. All her classmates came to visit her and much to Riven's chagrin, Ethan and Xavier.
Semiramis and Ismene buried themselves in comic books.
Topaz almost stopped sleeping. She continued to study voraciously, but started dating Graham of Melody. The Melodian knight was attracted to her strength and voice. She was fond of him too. Having a handsome and chivalrous virtuoso wasn't a bad way to occupy her time. She also hung out with Pandora and Jeremy a lot since their loss. There was no trace of John. They didn't know if he was dead or not. John's cloak could transport him places, but they also knew what blackholes did. Euphoria did as well. She felt immensely guilty and started going to therapy. She knew in the end John was evil, but that didn't change that he'd been her friend and ally before. She also knew her friends were hurting for their brother. To her surprise, Regina was there to listen when Topaz was gone.
Despite their efforts to move on, their battle wasn't over yet.
There was still Nabu's trial.
(A/N) Things omitted: Timmy kicking ass and digging the royals out with his Gundam-like/nightmare frame-ish robot suit, Ismene getting attacked by a telepath. I really neglected Musa and Tecna in this story. If I redid this, I would replace Pandora with Symphony (Musa's daughter).
Next Chapter: Nabu's Trial
