"Bloom, can we take a break?" Ruby whined. "We've been walking for three hours."
"We've only been walking for an hour Ruby." Bloom told her, rolling her eyes
"In that case, imagine how I'll be like in three hours. Do you really want that to happen?"
"Ruby, I'm sure we're not far, just hold on a bit longer."
"Well at least I'm not tripping every two steps." Ruby sighed, looking around at the iluminated walls of the cave. She stepped away when she saw a spider crawling through them.
"See? Forget about the clunky flashlights, my scepter's the only way to light up a room." Stella said, smirking proudly.
"You may be the light of my life, but a good flashlight saved me more than once." Brandon said, chuckling.
"Light of his life? Is that why he keeps flirting around with other girls?" Ruby whispered making Bloom laugh.
"Layla, you sure this is the right way?" Brandon asked.
"I don't get it, we should've reached the crystals by now." Layla said, looking around her confused.
"Crystals?" Brandon asked, but he was distracted by a grunt behind him.
"Sky. Wait, Sky. Help me" Bloom whimpered falling to her knees. She switched from Fairy form to her normal outfit and then fell to the ground, weak and almost unconscious.
"Bloom." Both Sky and Ruby said, running towards the fallen redhead.
Ruby knelt down next to her sister to check on her and once she did so, Stella whimpered and the cave was consumed by darkness as the blonde turned back into her normal outfit. Sky lit his flashlight again, giving them some dim lighting.
"Stella." Brandon shouted worriedly.
"Bloom, is everything alright?" Sky asked, kneeling down next to Ruby.
"Yes but, my-my powers are so weak." Bloom said, slowly sitting up.
Ruby and Sky helped her back onto her feet as Layla and Brandon approached them with Stella leaning on him.
"What just happened to us?" Stella asked, weakily.
"You transformed an hour ago, you've been in fairy mode too long." Layla explained. "I guess this doesn't just happened to the Fairies from Andros."
"The fuck is Andros?" Ruby wondered in a whsiper.
"And our powers?" Bloom asked.
"You'll be fine, just lay off the magic for a while."
"Uh, hello." Ruby called out. "I've also transformed an hour ago. Why the fuck do I feel as cool as a cucumber then? "
"Because you possess the strongest magic of all, I think." Layla answered. "You're more resistent than others, but I'm sure the weakness will catch up to you in a bit. Now let's keep moving we have to find the Pixies."
"More resistent, huh?" Ruby asked with a teasing smirk, playfully flexing.
"Ruby." Bloom said giggling along with Stella.
The group walked a little further into the cave and, after a while, they noticed some small and green crystals on the floor and walls which, as the group moved forward, got bigger and bigger.
"Whoa." Ruby said, looking at their beauty in awe.
"At last, the crystals." Layla said happily. "Yes, it's not far now, come on, let's go. It's at the end of one of these tunnels, let's go down this one first."
"Layla, wait for us. Where are you going?" Bloom asked as the girl ran down a path.
"I'm gonna go down that way, I'll catch up in a sec." Brandon said going into a tunnel on the right.
Bloom, Stella and Ruby ran after Layla towards the light at the end and found themselves in a circular area of the cave which walls were covered in crystals and holes leading to other tunnels and, looking down, they couldn't see the floor, if there evenwas any.
"Finally, we made it." Bloom sighed in relief, panting.
"We really need to work on our cardio." Ruby said, leaning her back against the wall and sliding down to the floor, panting.
"Down there, look." Layla said, pointing down to a tunnel where Brandon was walking out of. "We've got to get down to that level."
"Hey." Brandon shouted. "Hey, girls. All these tunnels are connected, no matter which one we take we end up out here."
"Yeah no shit." Ruby shouted.
"Brandon, we really shouldn't let ourselves be sepperated, you know?" Layla warned him.
Suddenly, a roar came from the tunnels behind Brandon alarming him and the girls. He drew out his sword as two Shadow Creature approached him growling and salivating.
Ruby took off towards him as Layla transformed with the little energy she had and followed her.
"Brandon, watch out." The black girl shouted blasting the creatures with pink energy. However, the monsters seemed unbothered and one of them spit some spider web at her, trapping her against the wall.
"Are these things tar or spiders?" Ruby asked, barely dodging a web herself.
She flew towards Layla but, as soon as she landed in front of her, a creature tackled her to the ground. Ruby used her arms to try to keep the Shadow Creature's hungry mouth away from her as Brandon fought the second monster. The Specialist delievered a specially strong blow which the creature dodged so, instead, the sword hit the ground making some cracks on the rock.
Soon the edge gave away making the creatures, Brandon and Ruby fall down to the pit. Fortunately, the redhead batted her wings and flew away, however, she soon realized her mistake once she looked down at Brandon falling hundreds of feet down.
"Brandon." Stella yelled. She stepped away from the edge only to run back and jump into the pit shouting the Specialist's name.
"Stella." Both Ruby and Bloom yelled. As the latter was stopped from following the blonde by Sky, Ruby flew after the two as fast as she could.
Stella grabbed Brandon's hand and the Specialist hugged her close to his body, in an attempt to protect her from the deadly hit they would soon get. Ruby was catching up to them, but as she reached out her hand to grab Stella's, tiredness and weakness consumed her.
Not now please.
"Stella." She shouted, tears filling her eyes as she shifted from Fairy form to her casual outfit like a light bulb going out.
The blonde reached out to her but, unfortunately, Ruby lost her wings as soon as she was about to held Stella's manicured hands which caused her to lose control of her fall. She went against a rock and fell to the ground while Stella and Brandon fell into a river and were dragged away.
"Stella." Ruby whimpered, trying to sit up, but no muscle on her body obeyed her desire to move.
The redhead layed on the ground, motionless, and waited for her sister, who was sure to come. Suddenly she heard a woman laugh and her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the evil cackle. Ruby turned her head to the side and saw a purple figure approach her. Her vision was blurry from hitting her head on the rock, but she sure didn't need it to know the woman kneeling next to her.
"What's up, Precious?" She asked, with faux confidence.
Darcy giggled, leaning down to press a kiss on her forehead.
"This sure is not how I excepected our reunion to be like, little one." The brunette replied with her honey-like voice Ruby missed so much.
"Yeah, I imagined it happening during a fight." The redhead said. "I think me lying on the floor, basically paralyzed is so much better."
Darcy laughed again grabbing Ruby's hand tightly. The Fairy brought the witch's hand up to her lips and pressed a sweet kiss on the back of it. The brunette smiled, a soft blush coating her cheeks as she leaned down and joined her forehead with Ruby's.
"We all missed you so much, Little One." Darcy whispered, smiling.
"Let me guess, you're going to kidnap me now?" Ruby whispered with a playful smirk.
"You have no idea how much I want to do that and make up for the time lost but, I'm afraid I can't."
"Why not?" Ruby jokingly whined making the witch laugh. Darcy closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss her.
"Ruby." A faint voice called, making Ruby frown. "Ruby." Repeated the voice, but louder. "RUBY."
"I'm up." Ruby said, opening her eyes and sitting up in a flash. She saw Sky, Layla and Bloom kneeling down next to her on the floor. No sign of any witches. "The fuck happened?"
"You were laying here passed out." Layla answered.
"So I was dreaming?" Ruby asked.
"I think so." Sky replied.
"Then why'd you wake me up?" The redhead whined. "I was having a great time."
The three laughed shaking their heads.
"Come on, Ruby we still have to save the Pixies." Bloom reminded her getting off the ground and offering the redhead a hand.
"Oh, yeah. The flying children are trapped." Ruby said, grabbing her sister's hand and standing up. "I forgot about those."
"Man, it was a great dream wasn't it?" Layla asked, playfully wiggling her eyebrows at her.
"You have no idea." Ruby sighed. "And you woke me up on the best part."
Layla giggled.
"So, what do we do now?" Sky asked.
"Well, I for one am going for a swim." Bloom said, walking towards the underground river.
"Hey, Bloom wait." Sky said, pulling her away from the water.
"Stella and Brandon could be in danger, we can't leave them." Bloom argued.
"I don't know Bloom." Layla said. "This river is probably connected to the one that carried me out in which case, they're safe."
"Are they though? This looks like a pretty bumpy ride." Ruby said, looking at the rocks in the the middle of the river. Sky shook his head, silently telling her that she wasn't helping. "Sorry."
"Layla's right, we're getting worked up, it could be nothing." Sky said, trying to calm the worried redhead. "I bet they're back in the valley already."
"All right then. Let's all make our way back to the surface and join them." Bloom said.
"What? I'm not walking another hour only to start from the beggining." Ruby argued.
"I don't want to leave Stella and Brandon either, but there's no time. The Pixies are in danger." Layla reminded them.
"Yeah that too. I keep forgetting." Ruby whispered.
"They can take care of themselves, they'll make it back, we'll complete the mission." Sky said, placing a comforting hand on Bloom's shoulder. "Come on, let's keep going."
"At least I had a nap." Ruby said, rolling her eyes with a groan.
"Did you like my new power over your dreams?" A voice asked, grabbin Ruby's attention. She looked around in confusion trying to find whoever had talked. What she did notice was that her sister and the others hadn't heard the voice like she did, which only meant one thing.
"Motherfucker." Ruby said, making the witch laugh
"I'm looking forward to see you again, Little One. But this time in real life of course."
"Great, she used to invade my thoughts and now she decides to both haunt and bless my dreams with her presence." Ruby whispered to herself making the witch cackle again.
"Later, Little One."