Disclaimer: I don't own Winx Club.

I feel like I should clarify my position on season two. I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with season two. On the whole I think it's a very bad season, and, until season five really lowered the bar, it was by far my least favorite season. Things that made no sense, things that were poorly executed, and things that were just plain lame to begin with all conspired to make a really bad season. And yet... Season two introduced two of my favorite characters to the show, Helia and Digit (yet another reason to hate season six), had a number of very clever concepts behind it, and contains my all time favorite episode in the entire show (Try and guess it. I dare you.). So as much as I may hate season two as a whole (Downland. Why was that side trip necessary?), it has enough redeeming features that I still kind of like it. Season five's redeeming features were good music, a good second transformation (Harmonix was way too frilly and generic), and nothing else. Season six's one and only redeeming feature seems to be Daphne's powers, which are kind of interesting. At this point, there's really only one thing they could do to get me interested in this season again, and that would be to kill one of the Winx. Permanently.

Now, with that cheerful topic out of the way, I'd like to once again thank everyone who's come out and reviewed the story so far. I'd like to take a few moments to address a couple of small points. The transformation music is no longer loud for two reasons. Reason one, the Classix are getting better at controlling their powers. If you remember, Nyssa has no transformation music at all, her wings just appear. The Classix are learning, but this is the easiest trick to learn. Reason two, I'm tired of typing it. Yep. As for world building, anyone who's come this far knows I really like doing exactly that. At this point I'd say about half of this book has been nothing but world (universe) building. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I hope you guys are all enjoying it too.

Alright folks, this is going to be a big one. I've been working towards the events of this chapter for over a month. There will be battles! Secrets will come out! Sasha and Nyssa will stop being quite so confusing! I haven't been this eager to write a chapter since book one, so let's not waste any more time. Here we go!

The Classix flew across the plain, away from the storm that was Vellantai and Talu.

"That went better than it could have." Dhalia said.

"You were struck by lightning." Reyva said.

"Yes, I was. Your point being?"

"You have a strange definition of better."

"Hey, at least Sasha wasn't involved."

"Dhalia." Amelia said.

"Yes Amelia?"

"You really shouldn't say things like that." She pointed towards the horizon. A small dragon hung in the air. Sasha.

"Great." Artis muttered. "Just when I thought we were done for today."

"It could still be worse." Dhalia said. "The Dark Ember Blades could be here too." A jet of flame shot past her face, singing her hair. A group of five men stood beneath Sasha. The Dark Ember Blades.

"Dhalia, you really need to stop talking." Amelia said.

"Let's land." Dhalia said. "We have a better chance against them than we do against Sasha, especially now that they're weaker."

The Classix drifted to the ground. The Ember Blades were waiting for them.

"You have something that does not belong to you." Ekroin said in a carefully controlled voice.

"You mean the Ember Stones?" Artis asked. "I don't think they really belong to you either."

"You will return the stones," Ekroin's voice trembled with rage, "and you will return them now."

"I don't think so." Amelia said.

"Then we'll just have to take them from you!" He let his rage take control as he charged at Amelia, sword blazing.

"No, you won't." Amelia said, side stepping his vicious slash and drawing her own swords.

Ekroin bellowed as he swung wildly, trying to kill Amelia. She dodged every clumsy strike, delivering a few quick jabs of her own, only making even more furious.

"Die, fairy!" He roared, firing a blast of fire from his off hand. Amelia leapt over it and kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He rolled away from her, springing to his feet.

"Ekroin!" Sasha's noxiously beautiful voice worked its way through the air. "You are making a fool of yourself! Do as I have taught you!"

"But-"

"Now!"

"As you wish my Lady." Ekroin rejoined his men. "Ember Blades, Converge!"

"What are they doing?" Artis asked, her voice troubled.

"No idea." Perdi said.

The Ember Blades put their swords together and began to chant. "Let the souls of the lost, the broken and lame/Fight for us with Dragon Flame!/And conquer those whom we despise/Bring to them their true demise!"

"No! Not even they would use magic like that!" Amelia exclaimed. "Only a lunatic would use Necromancy!"

Even as Amelia cried out, skeletal forms of fire began to appear. More and more of the flaming horrors appeared. Dozens. Hundreds. Soon an army of burning undead soldiers surrounded the Classix.

"Now you will die, fairies." Ekroin said, a vein bulging from his neck. "We will take the Ember Stones from your hot ashes."

The Classix stood in a circle, facing the burning army assembled against them.

"Perdi, Artis, cover the sides. Reyva, the rear. Amelia and I will take out Ekroin." Dhalia whispered to her friends. "Try to keep your magic use to a minimum. Hopefully our weapons will work against these things.

"Let's do this."

The battle instantly became a blur. The fairies fought with the strength of desperation, taking down the walking torches with lethal speed. Reyva's hammer smashed one of the skeletons so hard it flew through another three, dispersing all of them into wisps of flame. Perdi's arrows struck with deadly accuracy, breaking them apart. Artis's daggers were like scythes of destruction, scattering the embrous bodies of the ghouls. Dhalia looked like a giant buzzsaw, her double bladed staff slicing through enemies on every side. Amelia fought beside her, twin swords flashing as they made their way towards Ekroin.

The Ember Blades were not idle though. They had scattered throughout the army, attempting to get close to the girls.

The battle blazed in the afternoon sun.

Artis was tiring. She was sore, burnt, and outnumbered. She sliced another undead enemy apart, trying to find one of her friends. An arrow whizzed past her, taking out a skeleton that had been about to gut her. Perdi. Artis fought her way towards the source of the arrow.

There was Perdi, firing with the strangest expression on her face. She was clearly stone-cold terrified by the battle, but somehow she'd separated herself from the fear, allowing her to fight with machine-like efficiency. But even Perdi was not good enough to stop what was to come.

The Ember Blades struck. Amelia and Reyva were attacked by Sedrin and Ferrick, their burning swords making even defense a risky prospect. A tornado of flame began to rise around them as they fought.

Reyva faced off with Tellis. They went at it hammer and tongs, the din of their fight rising above the noise of the fray.

Artis dodged Rengal's fire blasts with a grace she'd never had before her time in Univix, but as she flipped over another ball of fire, her eyes caught upon Ekroin, who'd come up behind Perdi. As if in a dream, Artis saw him raise his sword, preparing for a death stroke.

"Perdi!" She yelled.

Perdi turned towards Artis. That turn saved her life. Rather than being the instantly fatal slash to the spine that Ekroin had intended, the blow instead caught her shoulder. It was deep, but she was alive.

Ekroin drew back for another strike.

"No. Not again." Artis's eyes burned with anger. "This time you're the one who's going to lose." She glanced at her friends. The flaming skeletons were still everywhere, aiding the Ember Blades in their attack on the Classix. The battle was turning into a disaster. "I'm sorry girls." Artis whispered. "Time Flash!"

The world seemed to pause for a moment, as though reality had stopped to catch its breath. Then, everything changed. The fire skeletons vanished, scattered to the wind. Sedrin, Ferrick, Tellis, and Rengal were all on the ground unconscious. Ekroin lay in a pool of his own blood. Artis lay beside him. Neither was breathing.

The Classix blinked for a second, utterly stunned. Then-

"Artis!" The girls yelled racing over to their fallen companion. Even Perdi, whose shoulder was bleeding heavily, ran over to Artis.

"I can't feel a pulse!" Reyva said.

"No..." Perdi moaned.

"This can't be happening!" Dhalia cried.

Amelia rose to her feet, murder in her eyes. She turned her head skywards. "You." Her voice was as cold and as hard as a glacier. "You're responsible for this."

Sasha descended, settling down upon the baked and scarred ground with a daintiness completely at odds with the scene before her.

"Yes, I am."

"You will pay for what you have caused here today." Amelia said. "Allanya said you would help us. You're even worse than your mother. No one uses Necromancy, let alone teaches it. No one."

"Tomorrow, you and all your friends will die. I will kill you myself. Enjoy your little victory while it lasts." Sasha took to the air.

"Magi Scan." Amelia whispered, scowling at Sasha's receding form. "Enjoy your last day in this world Sasha. Now I know how to beat you." Amelia turned back to her friends.

"What do we do?" Perdi asked, holding Artis's head in her lap.

"Artis..." Reyva mourned.

"We have to keep moving." Dhalia said. "She would have wanted us to."

"Wait!" Amelia said. "There's something I want to try first."

"What?" Perdi's eyes were full of desperation, begging Amelia to make it not so.

"If the Dragon Flame can be used to command spirits..." Amelia pulled out the Ember Stones. "Then maybe there's a chance."

A/N: Um, not sure what to say here. I'll just let this one go. See everyone next chapter.