Chapter 11

After the exhausting fight, the Winx Club plus Mirta and Lucy raised victorious over the Void Lord, and were now back in Cloud Tower. Griffin was unconscious, and very injured, but was still alive. Bloom used her powers to heal her. Although she did not wake up, she now looked much better.

Despite how much they had to go through in order to get out of there, Mirta felt the urge to enter in Cloud Tower again. The half witch saw that her former school wasn't in ruins anymore; it had the same aspect as always. It was still dark and gloomy, and looked like a haunted mansion, instead of a ruined haunted mansion. However, that wasn't the only thing that caught her attention.

"Hey, come here!" called Mirta from the inside.

The witches finally reappeared. They found all of them, lying unconscious across the whole tower. They check them, but they looked fine, only exhausted. They also noticed that none the monsters weren't there anymore.

They took Griffin to her office (which, like the rest of the building, was now back to normal. Even her crystal ball was now unbroken), and laid her on a couch. Griffin slowly started to regain her consciousness.

"Ugh...my head..." groaned the headmistress.

"Don't move," ordered Tecna. "You still need to rest."

"Where am I?...what happened...?" asked the confused witch. Lucy walked to her.

"Don't worry, Miss Griffin," said Lucy in a reassuring tone. "Your nightmare is finally over."

Griffin sighed in relief.

"I saw that you defeated the Void Lord," said Griffin. "Great job. Faragonda will be proud of you, like always."

"Wait, did you know about the Void Lord?" asked Layla, shocked.

"Yes. I was somehow aware of what was going on. In fact, this is still my school."

"Wait a minute!" interjected Mirta. "The text messages I got...it was you?"

Griffin nodded in response.

"Yes. It was me who allowed you to enter here in the first place,"

Mirta was shocked to hear that.

"Then why you didn't let us escape? Or why you didn't tell us it was you who were sending those messages?" asked Mirta.

"First, because if I let you escape, you'll probably ask for some help, but it would be too late. And second, because the Void Lord knew everything you knew. If you knew it was me, the Void Lord would harden its control over me and I wouldn't be able to help you."

"Clarissa Silver...?" asked Lucy.

"I remember seeing those black knights somewhere," said Griffin. "And I thought that that book would help you. Although it didn't."

Lucy lowered her head in shame.

"Still, you didn't need the book at all."

"Wait a minute," said Flora. "Did you really think thatMirta and I alone had a chance against the Void Lord?"

"Of course not," replied Griffin. "But I was sure that your friends would drop by once they realize you were missing."

"I have a question," said Stella. "Why does this place looked even worse than usual?"

The other girls glared at Stella's tactless question, but Griffin play it down.

"I have no answer to that, although it may be a side effect of the Void Lord's control of it, since Cloud Tower is bound to that who controls it."

"That explains the presence of the monsters as well," said Musa.

"And why our cell phones didn't work," said Lucy.

Mirta checked her cell phone, and saw that it had network coverage again. The first thing she did was to call Faragonda.

…

Some hours later, the now reanimated witches were taken by Red Fountain ships to the Magix General Hospital. Upon checking some of the witches, Faragonda found that they were victim of a very powerful soul corruption spell, that had been abruptly interrupted. If the spell had been finished, the witches would probably have turned into mindless or chaotic creatures, but fortunately that didn't happen. It seemed that the spell was slowly reverting, but she didn't leave anything to chance. Griffin agreed with her decision.

Speaking of which, they both were supervising the move.

"You know, I'm starting to worry," said Griffin, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" asked Faragonda.

"I've lost the count of how many times Cloud Tower has been saved by fairies," said Griffin, spotting self indulgent smile. "That can't be good for our reputation."

Faragonda laughed in response. "Well, maybe some day Alfea will be saved by witches."

Both Faragonda and Griffin laughed.

"But not all of the credit goes for the fairies," said Faragonda. "From what I heard, Lucy did a great job as well."

"So did Mirta," sighed Griffin. "That girl is tougher than I imagined. Now I regret of letting her go. She wasn't such a bad witch."

Griffin didn't know that, if it wasn't for Mirta, the fate of Cloud Tower as well as the witches would be much, much worse. Faragonda then asked the obvious.

"Do you know who's behind this?"

Griffin shook her head in response.

"The last thing I remember is that I was opening a letter, and suddenly everything turned black. I still had periods of consciousness in which I could help the girls, but that's all."

"We should investigate this," said Faragonda. "Whoever did this is still there."

"Of course," said Griffin. "Besides, I'm sure that your girls will be...more than helpful."

"Let them rest a bit," replied Faragonda. "They earned a well deserved break."

A young specialist walked towards Griffin.

"The last ship is about to leave," said the specialist.

"Alright," said Griffin. The specialist stood there, looking at her. "Do you want a medal or something?"

"We can't leave without you," explained the specialist shyly.

"I'm not going. I'm just fine."

"Are you insane?" asked Fargonda in shock. "You've been possessed by one of the most dreadful beings in this world, and being beaten up almost to death. You have to go."

"Okay, okay!" said Griffin in defeat. "If that's going to save me from you lecturing me again..."

"You're only angry because you know that I'm right," said Faragonda with a smirk.

"Like always," said Griffin as he got onto the ship.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"I'm happy to see that you're safe and sound."

"I'm happy to see that I'm safe too."

Witch and fairy smiled at each other. The Red Fountain ship closed its doors, and left the school.

…

At this time of the year, Alfea was very silent, since most of the fairies already left for the summer vacations, with the exception of a selected few that stayed there to study for some subjects they didn't pass yet.

Sitting alone on a bench, Mirta was looking at the sunset. She always liked to see the sunset from Alfea's schoolyard. For some reason, it made her feel good. After all the things she went through, she just wanted to relax.

A lot of thoughts filled her head. Until Faragonda told her, she didn't realize that what she did was her very first mission as a full fairy. It was kinda ironic that she got to save a school that hated her. But it wasn't so ironic to think that she also saved her best friend in the process.

Speaking of which, in that moment Mirta saw Lucy crossing Alfea's gates. Mirta sprang to her feet and rushed to greet Lucy.

"Lucy!" shouted Mirta.

"Hey, Mirta."

"They let you out of the hospital this soon?"

"Of course. Come on, like a bunch of monsters, two near indestructible black nights and a cosmic horror would be enough to take me down. I thought you knew me better than that, Mirta!"

Both girls laughed in unison.

"Do you know how are Griffin and the other witches?" asked Mirta.

"They're fine too," said Lucy. "Cloud Tower will open its doors for the next semester like every year."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Both girls sat down on the bench, and looked at the sunset, silent, until Lucy broke the silence.

"They're going to start an investigation to uncover who's behind that." said Lucy. "And they want us to take part."

"I don't think that I've got enough energies left for another trip," said Mirta. "And I think that you should take a break as well."

"I don't mean now," clarified Lucy. "People from the three schools will be involved, and they want us. They'll probably choose your fairy friends as well."

"In that case, count me in." said Mirta.

They didn't speak for some time.

"I've realized that I didn't tell you this yet," said Lucy. "But...thank you."

Mirta smiled. "That's not necessary. We're friends after all, remember?"

Friends. That word still sound odd to Lucy. She used to mocked at Mirta and her 'Power of Friendship'. She was taught that witches didn't need friends. That they shouldn't trust anybody, since they could betray them. But Mirta went to hell and back to save her. It was hard to believe that Mirta could do such a thing. If it wasn't for Mirta, and their friendship, God knows what would have been of Cloud Tower and all the witches in it.

"Well, I gotta go," said Lucy, standing up. "After all this mess, there's a lot of work to do in Cloud Tower."

"I should pack my things, then." said Mirta. "Goodbye, Lucy."

"Goodbye, Mirta," said Lucy, spotting a small smile. "Take care."

"You too."

Mirta saw Lucy leaving Alfea before going to her bedroom one last time. They both were happy to have each other.

…

Flora entered in Mirta's room since the door was opened. Much to her relief, she saw Mirta still packing.

"Mirta," said Flora.

"Oh, hi, Flora!" said Mirta. "I thought that you already left."

"I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to you," smiled Flora.

"You know, Flora," Mirta began. "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if you didn't come with me to Cloud Tower. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"It's alright," said Flora.

Flora helped Mirta to finish packing, and left the main building. Mirta then stopped, and looked at Alfea one more time.

"I'm going to miss this place." said Mirta.

"I know how you feel," said Flora. "But think in all the things you take with you from this place, all your experiences, friends,adventures...even though you may not study here anymore, Alfea will always be part of you - part of us."

Mirta nodded. Flora was right. She then looked at the night sky. Somewhere out there, a looming evil threatened them from the shadows. The same evil that took over Cloud Tower. She'll probably have to face said evil sooner or later.

"Mirta?" asked Flora. "Everything's okay?"

Mirta snapped, turned at Flora, and smiled.

"Yes, Flora. Everything's fine." said Mirta.

However, Mirta wasn't scared, because she wasn't alone. And she will never be alone again.

The End.