Truth or Dare – Revenge was done!


The night had been short. All wounded had been healed, the building was repaired together with some Pixis as in years before. Blade mostly just laid in her bed awake the rest of the night. "Today is the day…" She whispered to herself.

"Indeed, time to end this and lay Jewels to rest, for good this time," Nebula answered as she sat up. "Lady Philopa is done for. So are her co-conspirators." She couldn't sleep either.

"You keep forgetting we need to prove this before the Council…." Snow was awake as well.

Sienna was shocked and jumped to her feet, "You don't think they still think we are lying, do you?!"

"It's not that they don't believe us… we need to proof it. They can't simply go, oh, this story sounds better so that's the truth," Amber moaned annoyed.

"Uurhg, law sucks," Rise threw her face into her pillow and screamed muffled. And promptly a guard knocked at the door.

"We're fine!" Dahlia called out. "You're right they got bat ears, Blade." They all had been awake silently. Nervous and happy about this hearing.

Nebula chuckled when she noticed this, "You know we should all chip in for some wine for our guards, we were so much trouble…"

Blade stared at her hands, 'What have I been doing all this time…I gained so much power and I am still weaker than before…' Blade stood up and opened the window to the balcony.

"Blade?" Snow asked confused.

"Be right back…" Blade answered and stepped out into the fresh air. 'Jewels…what am I doing here?'

One of the guards approached her, "Ms Ashfallow? Everything alright? Should I wake…?"

"No thanks…" Blade shook her head and walked to the balcony railing and jumped on it.

"Hey!" Thallan was utterly puzzled and caught her arm, 'Zhoron! Is she-'

"I just want to get some fresh air at the roof…" Blade explained as she scratched her head, "Is that a problem?"

"Eh?" Thallan relaxed and still was confused, "In your condition, you should simply stay in bed."

"Can't sleep…" Blade sighed.

Julius offered a hand from above, "Good morning, princess."

"I'm not a princess, Julius!" Blade hissed back at the specialist.

"Ahaha, spitfire as ever," Julius pulled her up much to the dislike of Thallan. There was also Seth and Lion with him. And a bunch of elven guards further away on key points for lookout.

"What is this? Class reunion?" Blade asked confused. She just wanted to come and ponder, but unexpectantly she was faced with a bunch of her friends.

"I couldn't sleep either," Seth shrugged. He was playing with something in his pocket. He sat down again staring into the night sky, which slowly turned from a night blue to a red as the sun began to rise.

"Guys, you are so loud… I thought we are under attack again…" Mercury pulled himself up quickly. Behind him, the horde of Specialists followed. And not a few seconds after that all the fairies had transformed and were on the roof as well.

"Seems like no one can sleep," Kai laughed so hard.

Memphis gazed into the forest, "What do you expect… we all know what awaits today."

"Courtly ass-kicking, ha!" Nebula rejoiced and gave Memphis a punch to the shoulder. "They'll wish they never were born… What are you searching for? Your eyesight is worse than that of the elves."

"You can count me in," Keith chuckled, "To think they tried again…" He shook his head.

"With birds no less… good thing Birdy didn't see…" Amber sighed, "She would have…"

"She's not with us anymore… no point in speculating," Memphis quickly added and gave her a grim stare.

"Right…" Blade knew he wanted to make sure that the guards didn't get the wrong idea. "How about a toast? To old friends…" Blade saw as the outer edge of the sun rose above the tree line. The golden glimmer was beautiful to watch; it reminded her of Jewels Enchantix transformation.

"Great idea! Here's to old friends! WE'LL TAKE THEM DOWN, JUST YOU WAIT!" Nebula roared from the rooftop towards the sun. She had so much pent-up energy and stress.

"Yeah! We'll get you Lady Philopa!" Snow shouted restrainedly.

"Justice be done!" Max tuned in as he laughed, "If we are loud enough the Lady might even hear us in Magix City."

Blade liked that idea, breathed in deeply and shouted with all her heart, "For QUEEN JEWELS!"

"FOR QUEEN JEWELS!" They all roared a second time together like an army of a thousand men. And they continued to scream their souls out. They earned some wondering glances from the guards.

Faragonda peaked through the curtains of her office, "They sure seem ready…" She turned around to the Professors and Light faction Councillors.

"Ready or not, the proof will be their downfall. Lady Philopa surely will say it was the Witches again. And since Lord Shadaka killed himself off there is no way to prove it was them," Councillor Cahagan sighed deeply.

"And you have no more proof than the mind-altering?" Councillor Aithlin didn't like it at all.

"No more?" Professor Palladium crossed his arms, "That's plenty."

"And needs time to be proven, not to mention Psi is hard to track, especially after such a long time," Councillor Neptune added.

"It also means that there might be more traitors amongst the Magic Council," Aithlin growled as he balled his fist. "That was the reason why you withheld so much information, didn't you Headmistress?"

"I'll do anything to protect my students, even offer up my head if I have to," Faragonda smirked and glanced back at the old Elf.

"No one wants to remove you as Headmistress, Fargonda. You still could have handled this differently. What a mess…but if it's basically just Lady Nebula and Ms Ashfallow and that Rabia, then this hearing will have to be postponed till we find proof of the mind-altering. These kids are simply too small in numbers or not high ranking enough to support the statement of the Coup alone against so many reports at this time. Lady Philopa made sure to drag their credibility into the mud and they fell for every single one of her traps." Councillor Cahagan leaned his head back against the chair he was sitting in. This was frustrating beyond belief. "If only Griffin had prepared them better… stupid vengeance hunt of hers… short-sighted." He hammered with his hand on the table in frustration.

It was morning eight o'clock sharp. The room was packed full on both sides. The Desertian nobility had split into many factions and it showed through the seating arrangements. Councillor Sybilla had greeted everyone and it was the Witches' turn or rather Steela's turn to state her prior accusations.

"Please, lay out your accusations, Ms," Sybilla gave her the word.

Steela kept staring nervously at Blade and Nebula, "I…I hereby accuse the nobility of Desertia of a Coup de 'tat. They were the ones to kill the royal family and destroy the palace with the use of the red crystals…" She wasn't as sure as she had been yesterday. And a grim watching Griffin sat behind her. One could feel her anger on their skin just looking at her student pissed for jumping the gun.

"Oh, what a wonderful Fairy tale, yet you were back even before the attack began as the Selkie of Magix report states. This is nothing but hot air coming from you," Lady Philopa was on edge and therefore very aggressive. "Or are you saying you came back?" She grinned.

Steela sighed, "…" She could say nothing. Her part in this hearing was just a formality by now. "I heard…"

"She heard… great… your Witch gossip is worse than that of any ballroom," Yenma, Minister of Foreign affairs, butted in.

"Let her finish!" Hasir shut the man up. "Heard from where?" He was very much interested in that source.

"Please, speak," Lady Shawaka asked kindly. She was still hit hard by the news she had gotten in the middle of the night. Now not only her father had died but her brother too. And the creeping feeling that the accusation was true could not be shaken off. 'Oh father, what did you do…?'

"I heard it from Rabia a clothing store owner in Oasis the Capital of Desertia," Steela replied loudly.

"That's me," Rabia waddled to a podium, which automatically shrunk to fit her smaller size. "I was there then the palace was up in flames and all of you, oh, so noble farts scratched each other's eyes out. The two Fairies were so kind to offer their protection and got me out safely." Rabia stared at Nebula and Blade.

The two of them rose from their seats and with their head held high they stepped up to the podiums.

"Preposterous, they are with the witches. Always were. We have hundreds if not thousands of reports that state the opposite. Are you saying they are all lying?" Lady Philopa crossed her arms.

"Rabia is telling the truth." Nebula spoke up, "We accuse the following nobles of Desertia we faced in battle and killed or saw being killed of being conspirators against the Desertian crown. Of the deceased, Lord Shabaka, late Court mage; Lord Neferu, General of land forces; Lady Eshe, Interior affairs; Lady Talibah, Minister of Economics; Lord Isma, Foreign affairs; Lord Shadaka, Paladin of the Desertian army, as well as the soldier forces under their commands stationed in or at the palace at the time." Nebula breathed out. The room was quiet. No one spoke a word, those were people of high status and power they had listed. "Of the living, Lady Philopa who is clearly trying to cover this up. We petition the Council to search her private estates as well of the deceased. We are sure that other family members and officials had to help, there is no way these people did all of that destruction on their own. As proof, we bring our eyewitness reports we fought and lost so many in that palace."

"Your eyewitness reports? No other proof, please, that's ridiculous. Interviewers of the Magic Council conducted the investigations. Your version is already proven wrong," Lady Philopa grinned as she relaxed a bit.

"Not true. I was interviewed by one of them. And he tried to alter my memories," Rabia smirked back, "I might be old, but I can see through any mind trick, my dear Lady. I wasn't born yesterday. I'm a truth seer in the literal sense."

"Oh, wow, you pulled a fast one there, Headmistress Griffin. Your abilities have to be proven first, Ms," Lady Philopa hissed back. "Council please, this is-"

"I already conducted a test, she passed. Ms Rabia is on a level where she could spot, resist and counter such a mind intrusion of an interviewer of the Magic Council," Councillor Eaden cut her off.

"I was witness," Councillor Nerrocean added as did Councillor Votzaak.

"What? When was that test conducted?" Lord Yenma was shocked to hear. "I request a redo in the presence of all here."

"Are you implying I am lying?" Councillor Votzaak glared at the Lord furiously. "We conducted the test straight after this night's attack on Alfea. Just in case someone tried to kill the old Madam before her time."

"What attack?" Yenma was confused, "But Councillor that means the Council itself has to be corrupt if an interviewer stooped to such levels. Then this trial is forfeit." The whole room burst out into whispering and chattering.

"Zip it!" Councillor Eaden hammered his hand down glaring at everyone. "It is not. While we are the judges here the interviewers are dispatched by the main branch. Unless you want to accuse someone of us to be a traitor this trial continues."

"You better have proof to show, if you do want to state an accusation," Councillor Gadiel grinned and threw their own favourite words back at them. That shut the Lord up really quickly. "Thought so…"

Lady Philopa balled her fists, "That still doesn't prove that such an alteration took place. For all, we know their minds could be altered. Or is the old Madam completely immune?"

"She's not," Councillor Eaden smirked a bit victoriously. "But there are none as good as me, after all…" He definitely was boasting.

Rabia glared back at him and then to Philopa, "You're not going to get rid of me, Lady Philopa. I am here to see justice for my Queen."

"If you tell the truth, then why are your reports aligning up with those we got from all the others? What reasons could any of those honoured nobles you mentioned possibly have to kill our royal family? I mean, I wasn't there I couldn't possibly tell you…"

Blade could feel her thirst for blood and revenge boil inside her. And she just had found a way in, "Funny isn't that though, there was an emergency meeting just before the explosion. You are a member of the court, yes? Yet you weren't there," Blade cut Lady Philopa off. Now it was time for some payback. "Even funnier is that Lord Shabaka was escorting the messenger to Zenith down the stairs to the Ocean gate. I saw him alive and well. I also met the Selkie alive and well. So was the Lou. Granted I never looked inside the anti-teleporter shield room, but besides being strained by the Witches, who tried to break through. The shield was fine to my knowledge. And yet, I found the messenger killed, stabbed, on the bottom of the stairs the same day only hours later. Lord Shabaka was at the fateful court meeting though. How does that fit? I tell you, he was the one to give the sign that blew the palace up high the first time around. And the Lou and shield, both were corrupted once our group arrived in the cave. Only your husband's forces had arrived sooner." Blade hungered for some payback. She made no facade she simply wanted to rub it in. She wanted her to hurt just like she was, just one.

Philopa was pale trying to search for words, "That…"

"Oh, and about your husband. Neferu… I remember it clearly that he got stabbed in the back by my poor servant girl. I hate that title though I always called her by her name, Ife." Blade chuckled as tears filled her eyes, "Neferu nearly had us both, you know. I was sure I would die at his hands. Yet he got stabbed by nothing more but a child, too frail for war, innocent to that point, a truly kind soul. Regrettably for you though, Neferu burned her to ash with his last breath, not us. …There was nothing I could do. I only could watch. Funny story isn't it?" Her voice started to tremble more and more. "The General who wanted a stronger army with no weak commoners, killed by a child with no powers whatsoever. Where I failed, she succeeded. Irony of life…" Blade clawed into her podium and Nebula ground her teeth unable to speak or stop Blade.

"Ms Ashfallow, you are out of line," Councillor Cahagan reprimanded her and tried to stop her. 'Is she out of her mind?'

"Your Lord Neferu must have been greatly mistaken when he blamed the other commoner soldiers for your son's death… the loss of a child is a painful thing, isn't it?" Blade rubbed more salt into her wound. She could basically feel Philopa's bloodthirst. "All good things come in threes. Is that why your family failed three attempts to kill Lady Nebula and me so far? Or would you like to fill Four in a Row?" Blade stared at her piercingly.

Steela giggled. 'Burn. Talk about justice.'

"Ms Ashfallow, that's ENOUGH!" Councillor Cahagan repeated and shut her up.

The Councillors stared at the young Fairy in utter disbelief. The so far sweet and clumsy Blade had shown her fangs. 'Ooohhh, so she can use words as a weapon,' Nerrocean was intrigued. 'I misjudged her… greatly…such a dark side, she might be able to master dark magic after all…'

'Nerrocean!' Iawenna scolded him, 'That's not funny! Just look at her she's in so much pain…If she were to follow that path it only would lead to black magic!'

Nebula breathed out shortly and got her grasp back, "You see, there are plenty of reasons, these nobles would have wanted to end the royal bloodline. Not to mention that Jewels wasn't of the royal lineage. She wouldn't have been able to use your artefacts no matter how strong she would have gotten. And you take so much pride in them. We can give you more reasons we heard while we fighting for our lives. All that pride and power and yet we survived, we won." Nebula tried really hard not to follow up with insults, 'Sucks, to be you…'

"Oh the irony, Neferu died to get control of artefacts that would have been as useless to him as they would have been to Ife!" Blade crowed. "At least SHE would've carried them with more DIGNITY."

"Impossible, my husband would never lose to a SERVANT! You ROTTEN offspring of worthless BLOOD!" Lady Philopa finally snapped. She left her podium, charging forward. The guards rushed in to keep them apart, since Blade was more than willing to meet her in the middle.

'Woah, chill Blade! Don't throw a punch!' Amber called out in the psi-link.

'Nebula! Stop her!' Mercury shouted. He knew the story. Yet seeing Blade all up in arms, bloodthirsty, gave him a new insight into how deep her pain and frustration were running. Even with Shanna and her therapy those images would follow her as long as she wasn't willing to lay them to rest. And even then… they might come back to haunt her someday. 'Oh, Blade…'

'We need to do it now!? If they get arrested for starting a fight, we can't pull it off!' Rise panicked slightly.

"You have nothing but three people to prove your little Fairy tale. Say what you want. It's not enough proof!" Lady Philopa pressed against the spears of the guards.

'That's the cue, guys! Quickly before a call for recess!' Sienna jumped from her seat next to Professor Avalon and shouted so loud, "I VOTE YES!" She shouted to pull Blade out of her raging frenzy.

Blade looked a bit disoriented towards Sienna and all the girls who jumped to their feet shouting the same thing. She could see the surprise on everyone's faces as the boys of Team E, Team A and Memphis voted as well. She breathed out, "My apologies… I got carried away." She bowed to the Council and straightened out her dress and turned to go back to her podium. As more yeses got shouted throughout the room.

'What are they voting for?' Councillor Shiri was baffled. 'Do we need to stop this? What is going on? Why is she so calm now?'

Nebula looked towards Blade, "I vote yes as well, it's beyond time."

Blade nodded, "Yes, time to end this shitshow… indeed." Blade glanced over her shoulders. She still could feel her heart pounding.

"Well, then, you want more proof?" Nebula grinned brightly they had all unanimously voted for yes. "Should we ask some princesses, then? Surely, they aren't low lives like us and carry more weight in this hearing."

"Don't tell me…" Faragonda sat there in utter disbelief.

"Pah, nonsense they died as the palace crumbled to dust! Queen Jewels is dead!" Lady Philopa answered without thinking.

'No way…' Councillor Shiri already could guess what was coming so could the other Councillors.

"Yes, Jewels gave her life to protect us all. You succeeded in the Coup, congratulations. But did you really think you would get away with that? That you would walk and take up her mantle. Over my dead body!" Blade ground her teeth.

"We need a recess off… eh… few hours to get Crown Princess Birdy, Tasu and Princess Tessa…" Nebula wasn't sure how to break the news to the Council and all in the hall.

"Few hours?" Councillor Aithlin raised an eyebrow. "Where are they?"

Blade and Nebula looked at each other, "Well… Phere-Moan of course…"

"WHAAAAATTT!?"

"ARE YOU INSANE!"

"GET THE TROOPS!"

"READY A PORTAL!"

Never in their lives, and these last days had been notoriously dangerous, had any of the students seen people rush so fast out of the hall. And death glares so deep it could peel their skin off. The students got dragged outside as basically anyone with magic to aid rushed out to help with the teleportation circle. No one listened to any of them.

"Now you listen! You think of their last position on that death trap of a planet and don't wander off!" Councillor Aithlin shouted at them so loud. He was tense, furious and scared for the worst.

"But…" Blade wanted to tell him that the zombies were all gone.

He glared at them and pulled them to a minor circle in the teleporter constellation, "No buts focus, damn it! Eight weeks on a fucking black magic zombie planet are you out of YOUR DAMN MINDS!"

Palladium, Avalon, Zyron, Wizgiz Fargonda, Griselda, Codatorta and Griffin had rushed out as well. And left the other students in the care of the rest. They had no time to reprimand them or hold speeches. They were sweating and pale like corpses.

"Now concentrate!" Faragonda was rushing towards Blade and Nebula. "We need you to get the location right. If Shanna knew, I'll kill her…"

"But- fine…" Blade and Nebula had no chance to get any attention from them besides getting them to Phere-Moan.

Nebula whispered to her, "How far off should we teleport?"

"How should I know? They are way too many to fit into the temple…" Blade watched as everyone got into position. "Uh, I know the hills behind the temple. Enough free space."

"Right, good choice," Nebula nodded.

"CONCENTRATE!" Professor Avalon admonished them harshly as he started to infuse magic into the magic teleportation circle. 'How could we have missed that!? By the Great Dragon, hopefully, we aren't too late!'

Tasu was chilling on a giant sea rose petal. The weather was as shitty as always with the dark clouded sky. But lying on the roses in the middle of their small pond was one of the best places to be. It had taken them a whole week to create it with the Lous and water spells plus the rain. She was currently doing homework. Memphis had brought them the school book copies after all. And there was no way she would fall behind just because they had to chill and wait for their taxi.

"Tasu, there you are. Wanna try my new cookies? I even added some of the chocolate Memphis smuggled with him as well," Tessa offered.

"Ahh, I don't get this shit at all…. If I use soar, I get a highspeed butterfly that smashes against the next wall," She snatched a cookie from the old silver tablet.

"Hmm… oh, that one, Birdy inserted flutter. I think…" Tessa giggled.

"What?! How did she know… but… uh, wait that makes sense if one… and then… yes! … How did she know?" Tasu stared at the textbook.

"I think she knew a similar spell with the same problem or something?" Tessa pulled her up. "Wanna join at another snail plant house contest? I will squash you this time." They had discovered that the plant seeds on the back of a Lou grew with them and so they had created quite a variety of plant structures on the small ones and watched them grow. That way they had several plant houses, as they called it which made the Lou rides so much more relaxing.

"Nah, I still have to translate more texts… It's going so slow…" Tasu picked up her books. "Man, what wouldn't I do for some sunshine… all those clouds and rain are getting on my nerves."

"Gotta do better than that!" They heard Riven, the bounty hunter, shout at the edge of the pond.

"Feather barrage!" Birdy tried to land a hit. "Oh, will you sit still?!"

"Ha, then what would be the point of this exercise? You asked me to help you train, remember!" Riven laughed. This was child's play for him.

Mister G, the ghost, was watching them closely, "You are still not correctly predicting where he moves next, Birdy. Have a little foresight. He is not a mindless zombie."

They all heard a loud gurgle sound spreading across the Lou masses.

"Guys! We got company! Teleportation circle is forming!" Tasu shouted from up in the sky. She had dashed up to see what the alarm was about.

Birdy stopped, "VOICE OF NATURE! DEFENSIVE FORMATION MY LOUS!" The Lous in the surrounding area all set into motion and hurried over the moats and formed a defensive wall.

"Time to ready the trebuchet, I guess… move, move!" Riven dashed towards the temple with them. He had helped to fortify the temple these last days. They were more than prepared to hold off half an army.

The Lous had grown in mass and numbers. Some had left or were still feeding further off accompanied by wisps with a bunch of seeds the girls had packed on their back to fertilise the land again. Still, even though them spreading around everywhere, there was still a giant army at the ready near the temple. They had grown fields and built a water reservoir and the earth had been fully restored by the wisps so nature was taking back the planet slowly.

"Quick, the circle is nearly finished!" Mister G called out to them. One of the security measures, they had agreed upon with Memphis was, that he would give them a heads up and pick them up with an Owl. Riven had given him a transponder able of piercing through those thick magic clouds. So, they would know, who was friend or foe. Ever since Riven had found them it was clear that their secret wasn't as safe as they had hoped it would be.

"Still waters!" Tasu summoned a massive bubble of water. "Ready for charging! Parting waters!"

"Here we go, Static energy!" Tessa punched into the water bubble and loaded it with her lightning.

Riven had locked on to the circle, "By the Great Dragon, that's a huge teleporting circle… Lock and loaded, Birdy?"

"Piercing feather!" Birdy held a giant feather at the ready, "Let's show them what happens if they mess with us!"

"Here we go!" Riven kicked away the lever and the bubble was shot into the air. "Wait… wait… now!"

Birdy hurled the feather after the bubble, "Yeah!"

Blade and Nebula watched as their surroundings turned from Alfea to their long-missed battleground Phere-Moan. 'Sweet, sweet mud home…' It had worked they were right in the hills.

"VEIL, SOLID FOG!" Nebula didn't' wait a second. She simply cast a shield to protect them both.

Professor Avalon looked confused at his students just as he noticed the magic blast, too late, like everyone else. A massive shower of electrified raindrops hit them.

"Ha, they ain't screwing around!" Nebula laughed her ass off.

"I know right…" Blade couldn't help but giggle. "This is so like them..." Blade couldn't help but feel happy. They were back and it was time to get their friends. She had missed them all so much.

In awe and confusion, everyone shook off the short stun and broke through. Yet even from here, everyone could see the massive Lou army forming a defensive circle behind a moat. "What in Magix ...?" Cahagan had no words.

"HEY G! IT'S US! Blade shouted at the top of her lungs. She hadn't spotted the ghost but he always had been their scout. Yet her shout-out came too late and another water body was already on the way and she watched a feather shatter it.

"G?" Faragonda had rushed towards the Fairies. The lack of Zombies and unknown area had spooked her.

"Pah, child's play!" Votzaak raised his staff, "Fireball!" He obliterated the spell into nothing but a cloud and the lightning zapped through the sky.

"They still got you once," Councillor Nerrocean smirked. The barrage had stopped after two attacks. "Are they out of magic?"

"Where…where are the Zombies?" Councillor Aithlin glared at Blade and Nebula, "What is going on?" He like any other magic user could sense that the planet was still corrupted, but there were no zombie presences anywhere. Instead, a faint glimmer of nature and hundreds of Lous were up ahead.

"Incoming! One person, male," Some scouts shouted. They were ready to fire.

"Male?" Griffin was so mystified.

"Hey there, Ladies! Are we good?" Riven had used his magic to run across the battlefield and greet the new guests in person. He rested his purple sword on his shoulders.

Blade stepped forward and started to recite, "Shine a light, to all who are lost and found." Memphis had told them about Riven, so this was not a real surprise for her.

"Guide home all those who in darkness drowned," Nebula continued.

Together they spoke, "Night and day, shine bright, forever leading the way. Remind us that there is always hope,"

"…to never give up," Nebula continued.

Blade smiled so brightly. "…to keep moving on." She had waited for this moment.

"We'll pass on this torch of hope…" They stopped and waited for Riven.

"…until we ourselves are gone." Riven finished the phrase. It was another security measure to ensure they weren't brainwashed or something.

"Sorry, I am not allowed to transform into my Zombix though, healer's orders. No magic for a week, well six days…" Blade explained as she scratched her head.

"So, trouble was on your end, huh? Fine, I'll let it count," Riven raised his gun to the sky and fired a green flare. "Took you long enough, are the traitors in chains? Good to see you Headmistress Faragonda." He greeted her with a bow.

"We kinda need their statement first…" Nebula explained shortly.

"Ha, all that time and you still don't have enough proof? I shouldn't have wasted my time here then," He laughed.

"Riven…" Faragonda was still perplexed to see him here. "But how, when? Where are the Zombies? Even you wouldn't be able…"

"Zombies? Na, that's all on the Fairy students' payroll or well their two armies. Haven't they told you? Oh wait, let me guess no one let them finish speaking." He stared at the teleporting circle. "To be fair I was surprised the first time around as well, I came to visit with Techna and Timmy. You asked them to analyse her bracelet data, remember?" Riven turned around, "Come, lunch is about to be ready. Tessa's cooking has improved greatly, once Memphis brought some sugar and salt, ha. Should taste that pie Phere-Moan style, really delicious. Not sure we have enough for a whole army though…" He was laughing his ass off. Never in his life, he had seen an army rush in guns blazing to find nothing to fight.

Blade and Nebula rushed up ahead. They wouldn't wait another second. "TASU! BIRDY! TESSA!" They shouted in pure joy as they saw them rushing down out of the temple.

"You made it!" Birdy hugged them both tightly. She was in her Charmix form.

Tessa giggled, "Of course our Cavalry made it! They had the easy part after all." She joked around.

"You look worse than I expected. Are you still ill?" Tasu asked Blade worried.

"Well…" Blade wasn't sure how to explain. "And since when do you have Charmix?!" She stared at Birdy.

Nebula cuddled them intensely, "Dude, she totally had a run-in with another Horror Mud!"

"What?!" Birdy's jaw dropped. "Blade, stop touching stuff that wants to kill you. Have you learned nothing?" Birdy shook her head. "And of course, I got my Charmix, what are massive Zombie battles for if not that?" She grinned while Tessa and Tasu looked a bit annoyed.

"Show off…" They growled.

"Not that I want to cut this reunion short… but…HOW THE HECK DID FIVE STUDENTS BREAK THE PHERE-MOAN CURSE!" Councillor Eaden lost it. "And will you all shut the Psi-chatter!" He admonished the troops. It was the question everyone had asked themselves.

"Well, first we nearly died," Tessa started off.

Tasu explained further, "Then, there was the black magic sword Blade touched it. Hey, did you finally make that sword hilt work? You took it with you correct?"

"Ah the sword, she got the Zombix form from that, by the way…" Nebula added hesitantly. It earned her some death glares from Virion. "And nope, the sword doesn't work yet. We got side-tracked, still turns into a warped stick. It's safe and sound in Alfea in her night drawer since eh two weeks or something?"

"Guys, this is a sit-rep! To make it short, the sword had a spark of a dragon flame in it. I touched it, it got purified. And then the Zombies were killable after that, their regeneration was gone. We used the flame as a shield, got the first wave slaughtered. Wisps got created through the rune circle… we built some defences…" Blade hurried it up a bit.

"Oh, don't forget the Lous, they grew… massive battle for a few weeks. We won, well they did… We mostly had to only watch the wisps go rampage, besides the time Blade got infected by a mouldy splinter of all things." Tasu still glared pissed at Blade.

"Hey, at least I found the Ocean gate map! It was well worth the risk," Blade defended herself.

Tessa shook her head, "We should have just waited it out… the battle was kind of decided a few days after you guys left, you know."

"And then we might have searched years for the damn map. Great plan!" Blade held against it.

"Still better than you dying. You didn't even know if it had the information we needed," Tessa growled back.

"I saw the Phere-Moan seal and it was clearly a map," Blade crossed her arms. "Besides we were losing against the zombies at the time. There was no telling if we would win either."

Tasu sighed, "Not this discussion again…Excuse my team members," she made a curtsy towards the gathering Council members and Professors. "We wrote a report all formatted and ready for submission, careful with the paper though. It's not the best quality and kinda ancient." Tasu summoned and handed in a bunch of papers to one of the Councillor Eaden. "Besides some close calls here and there, rest was waiting for those two to pick us up. My apologies for shooting at you. We thought you were traitors." She frowned and then turned to Blade and Nebula, "I thought you would come with an Owl! … And you Princess, next time hurry with the updates, gesh, you looked total shit then you left, Blade. The crests work only one way remember! What took you so long?"

"I'm not a princess!" Blade protested. Tasu still knew how to push her buttons.

"You know, the norm, waiting for Blade to heal her wounds, AGAIN," Nebula started her explanation while everyone else was just utterly confused about how they all were alright and chipper.

"Hey! Without me, you all would be drooling Zombies!" Blade pouted.

"Yeah, yeah," Nebula giggled, "Oh, also MAJOR portal delay. Plus, informing everyone that certainly wasn't a traitor … Cloud Tower dungeon … takes some time…" Nebula grinned. "More importantly, on that note, we have to leave to nail that Lady Philopa to the wall in court right now."

"Lady Philopa? Who's that?" Tessa asked mystified. "Wait, why were you in the Cloud Tower dungeon? I thought plan was to inform Steela and Alyssa." The girls were chatting like nothing was wrong, while everyone was just dazzled by all these info scraps and the horde of strange-looking giant Lous that spread out again revealing fields of grain, a lake several trees and a flower garden. It looked like a resort in the middle of the devastation. No one had seen such a site in their lifetime.

"Hey, where is the mother Lou? Don't tell me she died," Blade asked randomly.

"Nah, she's at the Ocean gate. She loves that lake. We even found some water plants to make it homey," Birdy smiled. "Hey, where are you going? You still owe me a rematch!" Birdy pointed at Riven who kind of tried to sneak away.

"Ah, shit…" He cursed. "Well, you are safe and sound now with all these gentlemen. And I gotta collect my reward for babysitting you three from the Kings as agreed upon. Besides you won't hit me in a million years." Riven laughed and turned to leave as he pressed on a button on his armour to call his Owl from Timmy's hangar in Zenith. He had tweaked around with the transponder while babysitting and had found a wavelength to get through the magic clouds this very morning. There was no way in hell he would stay for a boring hearing after all.

"Feather shot!" Birdy shot straight at his back, but the shot got blocked by an energy shield. "Hey, that's cheating! I thought you are a Master Specialist!"

"I'm trained as such, yes. I'm a bounty hunter, now, with much fewer combat rules. And shooting someone in the back is not very Princess-like," Riven chuckled as he glanced back at the young girls. 'Never ever saw them so relaxed and happy as right now. Suits them much better.'

"It's called a battle tactic!" Blade and Birdy protested at the same time. Then they looked at each other and the rest of the girls and simply fell over giggling.

The Council had read through the report as the girls were fooling around like the little kids they were. It had the information much more compressed than any of their chatter. So, they ignored them for the time being. The teleporting circle wouldn't last forever, since on the other side the guards who had stayed behind had to sustain the teleporter ring with magic. So, they all had an anchor. All left for Alfea in a hurry. Mister G promised to watch the temple in their absence. Triumphantly the whole army returned with no scratches to the surprise of all. The three Crown Princesses in toe were greeted by their parents who had been contacted by their diplomats. It was a hearty reunion. And the class reunion was the biggest huddle yet. And then it was off to business. Blade, Nebula, Tessa, Birdy and Tasu, all together, stated the events and what happened in Desertia's palace step by step. the three princesses kept it formal and short as had trained for weeks now. So, it took them only a good hour to get through it all. Nobody dared to interrupt them not even Lady Philopa, who felt a rope tightening around her neck with every sentence of the story.

"Well… and while Nebula and Blade returned through the Ocean gate. We stayed behind and helped the wisps and Lous decimate the zombies. That is all of importance." Tasu ended the lengthy explanation.

"Lady Philopa, what say you?" Councillor Shiri asked intrigued. "Any questions? Think they are lying? Enchanted by Witches?" She tipped her finger on the stand in front of her. 'She's done for. Why couldn't we have started with this?'

Lady Philopa wasn't sure what to answer, "… It's…I…" She didn't dare to be so rude, nor had she any come back. How could she disproof these statements? They had an answer for every question that was asked to dig deeper and confirm details from the Council. She gazed at the King and Queens from Storma, Streama and Songwind. Lady Avocet was nowhere to be found in the crowd. There would be no help from anyone. Everything had blown up in their faces in less than two hours. 'No, no, no… We're so close…that thrown is mine….'

Sybilla rose from her seat, "Thank you Princesses, the Council has unanimously voted to drop the following charges against the witches. Destruction of the MagicWeb Tower and Palace. The murder of King Rock and Queen Amethyst and their rightful heir Queen Jewels. The prison break of the masses was ruled as self-preservation. They are free of the charge of summoning the corrupted Jackals from the palace…"

'Philopa! Say something!' Yenma tried to get her focus. He was furious all their plans were blowing up in their faces. Simply because those Princesses had come back from the dead. 'ANYTHING!'

Sybilla continued on to state the verdict,"…Lady Philopa, you are hereby accused of conspiring against the Desertian Crown and under arrest till the magnitude of your actions is confirmed. Cooperating with the Council would result in…"

'Forget it, our own people don't believe her anymore. We're stupid to stick around. She's done for…Good luck, I'm ou-' Lady Akela answered him in their psi-link and was about to leave it. Without warning, she screamed out in pain as did Lord Yenma and Lady Philopa.

"What the?!" Tasu didn't understand what was going on.

"Socordia!" Councillor Eaden jumped from his chair and pointed at a man in the middle of the crowd as he flared up magic, "Assassin!" But he was too late to cancel all psi links in the area, 'Shit!'

The elven guards jumped into the crowd to take the guy in custody. In the blink of an eye, his neckless lit up Black magic rose like a jet of flames and the man burnt to ash under a painful haunting shout. And an explosion followed scattering the dust everywhere across the whole Light faction seating and panic broke out under the people, who thought it to be another attack on them. They ran for their lives and the rest of the guards had their hands full stopping the stampede and rescuing people from getting trampled.

Horrified the girls watched as the three Desertian nobles slumped to the ground drooling. Their bodies were twitching as if possessed. Their eyes turned white.

Blade stood there perplexed as guards and healers stormed in trying to save them. Even Councillor Eaden jumped over the stance and grabbed Philopa's head tight.

"Fuck… I thought your men vetted everyone!" Eaden glared at Councillor Aithlin. "Come on, you stupid…" He focused on Philopa.

"We did! Damn those red crystals…" Councillor closed his eyes and turned his head away. Just to open them again and help calm the masses.

But no matter what they tried, no convergence spell, nor Eaden was able to save any of the three Desertian Nobles. Their brains were fried to a crisp, all memories eradicated. And the assassin was nothing but dust. They had lost their only sure link to finding out, who made those crystals or at least sold them. And who else was part of the conspiracy? It was a disaster. Blade watched Lady Philopa's chest rise and sink. She was alive or at least her body was. Her brain was nothing more than potato mash though. 'Serves her right…' Was the first thought that came to Blade's mind. That delicious moment of victory and revenge tasted oh so sweet. But she also felt an emptiness that followed but a second after. She was shocked at herself, 'How could I think such a thing!? I wanted her to rot in jail, not this! …Or did I? What the heck is wrong with me? The others!' Blade shifted her focus towards the seating area to spot her classmates in the chaos that was still ranging there. Yet got pulled away by Iolas and the guards who hurried to get her and the others out of the hall, away from the masses.