Fairies of The Black Circle

11

"Hello princess." Duman's new voice caught him slightly by surprise as he called her by the nickname she knew he hated him using. 

Since he had nobly saved his brother from the subjection of Ogron's scrutiny, he now had the enticing task of relaying his hostage plan to the Winx.

Though admittedly, it was rather ingenious of him to have come up with it under such pressure.

However the problem now came as to how he would deliver this information. He had thought through several options yet none really seemed plausible. 

Showing up at their front door? Not likely. He probably wouldn't even be able to open his mouth before he was blasted into outer space by the hoard of angry fairies.

Flying past as a crow and dropping a written message into their window? Possibly, but that could very easily be blown away or not seen altogether.

So what was the next best idea? Impersonating the sun fairy's boyfriend to get close enough that he could convey Ogron's message? Probably not.

She already distrusted him enough. In hindsight, perhaps he wasn't as bright as he'd initially made himself out to be. But time was short and he was low on ideas, so this was the best shot he'd been given.

Plus it wasn't the first time he had tricked a fairy, but this time it felt different. He felt almost guilty for what he was about to do.

"Brandon! I-" She had spun around excitedly before cutting herself off, looking up at him curiously. He could tell straight away that she was analysing him. Was he really that obvious? 

"I need to talk to you, if you have a minute." He spoke again, his eyes drifting as he avoided her gaze. A flash of candy pink hair caught his eyes as it vanished behind the curtain leading to the back room.

The last fairy on Earth. She was right there. 

So close he could almost reach out and grab her.

"Yeah... of course." Stella replied slowly, snapping his attention back to her. "Is everything alright?" 

"Yeah, fine. I'll meet you outside?" Duman answered quickly, still not looking directly at her. Although, her reply did somewhat reassure him that she didn't yet know his true identity- a man she would surely want to murder first chance she got.

Still, Roxy was alone in the back room, unsuspecting of a sudden attack. Now would be the perfect chance to strike. 

He knew he could reach her faster than Stella. Time was slipping away though. He would have to act now if he wanted to catch her alone.

The corners of his lips tugged into the smallest of smiles as envisioned himself basking in glory as he delivered the last fairy on Earth to Ogron and his brothers. No longer the weakest link.

Then, as if intentionally dashing his hopes, the young girl reappeared from behind the curtain with a fresh dishcloth and began polishing the washed set of glasses that her father had just put in front of her. 

Shit. Too slow.

Narrowly catching on to the tail end of Stella's nod of agreement, he left the bar in a hurry, still frustrated by his hesitation costing him an early victory.

As he waited for her under the tall palm, he shivered despite the sun beating down on him. 

Really? The master of deception felt guilty for deceiving? 

Maybe if it had been any of the others it wouldn't have been as bad. But he felt strangely close to the sun fairy. Their paths always seemed to cross.