“Helia, we need you ASAP!”
The Specialist panted, running from the corner jumping to another corner from the never-ending maze he was stuck on and could not find a way out.
He annoyedly tapped on the earpiece on his right ear as he leaned forwards with his hands on his knees. “I need to get her first--”
“Dammit-- Helia! We might certainly die if you won't come here!” Riven's cranky voice was followed by a couple of explosions one after the another and they seemed pretty powerful - it worried Helia.
“Hello?! Riven?”
All he heard were muffled noises, therefore he could not get a hold of his friends and ended the connection. He had to think quick: turn around to support the Specialists or continue running for his wife.
And so, he ran as the bloody war has begun.
~~~
3 hours earlier...
“So, this is what we're going to do,” Brandon declared as he adjusted his belt filled with different weapons and poisons onto his shoulder down to his waist. “Each one of us we'll be separated. We find the girls then evacuate as soon as possible.”
Riven scoffed, staring at the huge amount of soldiers around them and there were farther in several ships beyond the nacelle. “We won't need as many men. It's just the Trix, you know we can defeat them on our own.”
“Riven, we need as much help as possible. This place has been a lost place for decades-- no, thousands of centuries. We don't know if it just the Trix roaming around there.”
“I know what to do! My girl is stuck in there. It'll be easier if we lay low and bring in as few men as possible so we won't be noticed, and it will be easier to move.”
Helia groaned as he eyed his two friends. “Screaming at each other won't solve anything.”
“Yo, think about it Riven. Didn't you see what the Trix have done lately to some planets in the Magic Universe? It's not just the Trix, you know someone much stronger is helping them. We don't know their weaknesses and strengths yet, so the more the merrier.” Brandon reasoned on overall with a sarcastic smile, pushing Riven's shoulder out of his way to stroll over to see how the soldiers were catching on.
Everyone else stayed silent because they are stressed out to even argue right now. After almost two months, longer than expected as Timmy and the rest of the Specialists had a hard time composing the fragments of the portals and find the right location, they finally get to go to rescue the Winx Club girls.
Riven dragged his hands along down his face to have the restraint of his words and actions or he will just worsen the atmosphere, which was already tense and anxious enough.
“Alright, guys. It is almost time; we'll land in five minutes. Fasten your belts.” Timmy announced through the microphone so the other ships also could hear the notification.
“I'm coming for you, Bloom.” Sky closed his eyes as his seatbelt was as of now clasped. “Hold on a little longer.” Eraklyon's King prayed, his hot tear tracing down from his azure petite eyes, down to his cheek and slowly down to dropping on his knuckles.
Nabu stared in front of the window, with no emotion but gloom as he whispered with a feeble chance of optimism. “Aisha, I'm here.”
“Tecna, my love.” Timmy repeated on his mind while he controlled the main controls of the nacelle, considering landing it is a bunch of work.
“I will have no mercy onto them.” Riven was adjusting his weapons as he had almost all kinds hidden in his clothes. “Musa, I'm sorry but I have arrived.”
“Stella.” Brandon had her smile pictured in his head because that is all he wanted to see right now, to reassure everything was okay - though she wasn't there to tell him everything was going to be okay so the only thing he had to do was hope; Hope Stella and the rest of the Winx Club are doing well.
Helia was the quietest since he had to save his breath for the battling field. He reached for his back pocket and extracted a gleaming bracelet-- Flora's bracelet to be exact. It was his lucky charm for survival.
After a few minutes, as Timmy mentioned, the nacelle disembarked on the rocky ground. The Specialists wore their earpieces to stay in contact with each other as they were ready to depart into the mission.
They were on a long-gone planet which name has also been forgotten in history. It is believed that it used to be inhabited by gods and humans who worshipped them, before the war broke out between the Sun and the Moon, between the light and the dark, diving them which led to its desertification. This all happened millions of years ago.
Though Timmy has been able to locate the Winx on that planet for some reason, they had to go with instinct and check it out.
“Good luck everyone,” Sky told, wearing a dark mask to cover his nose and mouth with his blonde hair tied in a tiny low bun. “Be cautious since we do not know what's out there.”
The sky was gloomy red moreover the ground was too dry as well as filthy to grow and welcome any kind of plants. Helia could not help but immediately thought about what Flora had to go through because there isn't any natural life thriving here.
The only thing that stood out was a leftover tower that must have been part of an immense castle.
“We'll go in from the front,” Brandon told.
“I'll be coming with you.” Sky said in determination as he tilted his head to order his soldiers to start preparing to head in.
“Nabu and I will attempt to enter from the right wind of this horrifying-looking tower.” Riven declared.
Timmy clapped his hands in surprise as he discovered something and grabbed the attention of the others with the device in his hands. “Here, take a look. I sense many presences inside there and since I have data of each Winx already recorded I may be able to recognise the girls. I can see their locations.”
“Great then, how long should we wait for this one this time? A day? Five months?” Riven smiled sarcastically, rubbing his hands together. Yet, no one found it funny and neither did he.
Though it almost has been near two months since the Winx were taken away and Timmy tried his best to find them, but it took more than expected. Thus, the reason why Riven made such an ironic point.
“Don't worry, it'll just be a few minutes,” Timmy responded with the same energy and tone. “Oh! Here! See! I knew it.”
Sky hurried next to the technician to see it himself, as it already been said, he had no time to waste. “Three of the girls are spread out towards the top of the tower... two around the middle... wait, why's someone missing?”
Nabu's shoulders tensed up. “Uh? Who?”
“Let me guess, those three spots right there are the Trix. Seems like they take a third of the tower each to guard.” Helia pointed out and the others took this into account.
“Yeah, but there's another presence I cannot work out and it's weak so I can't quite locate it as it's unknown.” The bespectacled ginger-haired man acknowledged but it was overlooked considering they came for another reason.
“Unless that person is part of the Winx, don't bother.” Riven boldly insisted. “Anyways, who's missing in between the Winx girls?”
The Specialists waited for Timmy to work his magic and find all the information they needed in just a matter of seconds.
“Okay, those in the middle, it's Tecna...! And... Musa--”
“Musa?” Instantly, Riven unhesitantly turned on his heels, distancing himself from the Specialists and reuniting with his group of soldiers to overrun the tower. “Great, let's go.”
“Are you just going in straight away--”
“--You got it right.”
Brandon rolled his eyes then placed his firm hand on Timmy's shoulder as he peeked to check out the map of the tower. “Just forget about him and continue telling us.”
“Alright.” Timmy indicated at the last three points remaining who were not labelled yet. “That's Stella... This is Flora and that's... Aisha.”
“Wait what? So, Bloom is the one missing!” Sky dragged his hand from his forehead down to his face then positioned his hands onto his hips as he turned around back to the guys. “If she is missing, what does that mean? She's dead?”
“I'm sorry Sky, nine out of ten times when I cannot locate someone it usually means they are... you know... gone.”
“You've got to be kidding me! I came here to bring my wife back home, back to her kingdom! Her children! Ugh--” Sky kicked a rock away. “I don't care. You said, nine out of ten. What about that one, uh?”
“Calm down, Sky.” Helia and Brandon aimed to keep him still, as agitated as he was.
In this situation, they were disturbed about how to ease Sky because they could not bring themselves to be in his shoes of how his feelings and thoughts are rotating randomly in his head.
Nabu stepped in front of Eraklyon's king with a reassuring, yet slightly worried, smile. “Let's just enter the tower and once we find our girls, we'll come right after you to look for Bloom. You know she can't give up that easily to be gone like that, right?”
As much as Sky wanted to vent, he did not want to make a scene in front of his friends and the soldiers. He pushed Brandon and Helia off from him as he took a moment to keep his breathing under control and not cuss anyone out.
“We'll send a couple of more men to specifically look for Bloom. Anything can help at this point.” Brandon tried to suggest, to push Sky not to think about the worst-case scenario but to think about the possibility Bloom may be alive.
“I think it's time we should go in. Riven might even cause more trouble if we don't back him up when he might need us.” Andros's king implied, getting everyone to agree as they started positioning themselves and their groups into different positions around the tower to initiate entering and charge inside.
As Helia and his men went in from the back, the Specialist was a walking advert for tension; His eyes moved with the alertness that comes from heavy stress and his hands remained clenched, with the two swords laying on his back.
The Specialist turned around, ceasing the raid group of soldiers.
His chest lifted as he sighed deeply. “Alright, let me have a chance to tell you this: don't risk your lives for me. If you cannot seem to hold back the enemy just run away and I will cover you. I don't want anyone to die for me.”
The group of men stared at each other then back to Helia. They were confused if either to obey or refuse to let Helia risk his own life as their job was to protect him at all cost.
“That would be against our rules--”
“Don't worry. You all also got loved ones to go back home to.” Helia insisted, with a minuscule smile.
“Y-Yes, sir!”
“Good. Let's do this.”
Helia tilted his neck to crack it then took out a laser to make an opening so they could enter without being seen too quickly. Once he was done, two men from behind him kicked the wall down onto the cold hard floor.
That's when the malicious air hit: it was so unpleasant they even felt it under their skins.
Suddenly, a black cloud struck them, leading to pushing them back onto the dusty ground. Helia was able to fall on his knees by using a sword to stab the ground so he wouldn't have as much impact as he gripped onto it.
“Who the heck is this!?”
“Why don't you guess, Helia?”
A young woman with a light skin tone, long brown and slightly green-tinted hair that reaches down her knees with lighter blushed bangs that flow down to her thighs on either side made her appearance as her heels hit the ground repeatedly to get closer to the Specialist and his group.
“Darcy?”
“Aw, you remember me? That's cute.”
Helia groaned as he took a breath to get ready for the following fight. “Ugh, nah, don't worry. It's just that your name isn't a good memory but a nightmare.”
The witch's smirk faded away as her eye twitched in irritation.
“Oh really? Think about the five years your girlfriend put me through! That's the real nightmare.” Darcy evoked a dark magic ball in each of her hands which put Helia and the soldiers on guard.
“You deserved it.”
“I suffered a great deal because of you and your stupid optimism to save the Magic Universe.”
He scoffed. “What can I say... I like being the good guy.”
Helia took out his glove as a couple of strings stretched onto Darcy, trapping her arms together and rolling her over the floor, landing face flat and during so he guided his soldiers to run inside the tower as he would take care of the Trix young woman.
The Specialist stared at the groaning Darcy who was getting up from the ground which led him to sometimes regret his treatment to the Trix because he wasn't taught to hurt women in any too violent way, he was taught the hard way through battle.
“I'll properly end you today, Helia. With no damn mercy.”
...But then again, there was an exception when it came to the Trix.
-
Approximately, on the very last floor of the tower, Valiana sat comfortably on a wooden senile chair.
“This is insane! You'll get them killed!” Faragonda shouted from Valiana's magic ball, but she smirked as she winked at Alfea's principal.
“Wasn't that the main point of my plan?” She went ahead and laughed, not caring how loud she was since there was no one but her, considering no one knew the place as well as Valiana does.
“My girls...” Faragonda whimpered as she fell on her knees, sorrowful.
Though, this did not reach into Valiana's heart. “Oh c'mon.”
“You, poor thing, are truly deprived of love.”
At that moment, Valiana wanted to scream. She was tired of being accused of never loving for they did not know her well enough. However, she did not feel like wasting any more breath on the matter.
This still didn't change Valiana's perspective of the situation but made her think about everything: from the moment she was born until that very moment.
Was that what she wanted? Power? Definitely.
All the sweat and blood that has been thrown would have been all worthy once her plan is a complete success and regains her title as the Empress of the Underworld. After that, nothing or no one could have stopped Valiana. She'll be invincible.
She's doing the right thing.
Would her little sister say the same though?
That's when the spirit was staring at Valiana, although she couldn't see it, she felt an odd familiar present, yet she didn't think about it thoroughly as she was focused on the main focus of the moment.
The spirit turned around and walked into the wall, disappearing quietly.
°°°°°°°°°
END OF CHAPTER 33!
Hello! I wrote a long chapter I think but I hope you're satisfied with this. I also hope I get to update soon again because the next chapter is almost ready but that depends on my day-to-day life ;p
Well, it's the season finale of The Return. How'd ya feel? We're close to the ending (or are we?🙈).
You know the motto at this point, don't ya?
If you could VOTE and COMMENT to encourage me to keep going until the end. Thanks, luv.
Until then, see you next time fairies.