Chapter Text
The fight was going about as well as the wizards’ fights tended to. They were rapidly going from ‘deadly ancient threat’ to ‘minor inconvenience’, a transition that was ticking Ogron off and mildly amusing Duman. The shapeshifter in question, having seen that the fight was more or less doomed, had decided to mess with the Winx and their sidekick boyfriends.
‘Hey, Stella! Boo!’ Duman laughed raucously as Stella shrieked at the scorpion on her head, and Ogron scowled.
‘Duman! For the love of God, stop messing around and get your head in the game!’
Duman ignored him completely, jumping on Sky as a particularly slimy frog.
‘Gah! Gross!’ Gantlos facepalmed as the crown prince of Eraklyon hopped around, trying to shake Duman off. He threw Duman across the battlefield, but Duman just dropped back into his own form, rolling with the impact whilst still in hysterics.
‘Duman!’ Gantlos ran up to him, starting to get fed up with the childish tactics. ‘Duman, quit it.’
‘Oh, please.’ Duman rolled his eyes, hopping to his feet and smirking at the Winx. ‘Like we’re gonna win this. I’m just having some fun…’
‘Well, it’s compromising the mission. Stop.’
‘Maybe you should have a little fun too…’ Duman teased. He looked worrying close to attempting to flirt in the middle of a magical war zone, and Gantlos quickly turned away before he’d have to have that conversation. Or worse, before Ogron decided that it was a team issue that he should throw his two cents at.
‘Get your head in the game,’ he said sternly. ‘We all have your back here. Quit pranking and start having ours.’
Duman rolled his eyes, but stopped messing with the Winx. The fight continued, Duman utilising his abilities in a far more beneficial way, falling back on his most common forms of wolves and hawks, deadly predators with razor sharp claws and talons, snarling at the Winx and forcing them to back up.
‘Musa!’ Roxy cried in panic as Duman managed to get his claws dangerously close to the music fairy’s throat. ‘Get away from her! Wolf Talon!’
The attack hit Duman, and he rolled, whimpering. But a moment later, he was back on his paws, howling and lunging for the last Earth fairy.
‘That’s really all you got?’ he taunted as Roxy dived out of his way. ‘There’s only one master of animals here, Roxy. And it isn’t you.’
‘Yeah. I’m not the master of animals. I’m the Fairy of Animals!’
Duman leapt for her, and she closed her eyes, glowing with turquoise energy. Gantlos’s heart stopped for a moment as he saw the White Circle glowing on her finger. That weapon was deadly to them.
He turned to defend Duman, but was hit in the back by a ray of fire, knocking him to the ground. Everything went hazy for a moment, and he heard the muffled shout of a spell, before looking up in time to see Duman go flying.
‘Duman!’
‘I got him!’ Anagan zipped away from Flora, catching Duman just as he turned human again. ‘Gotcha.’
‘Ogron, we need to go!’ Gantlos called.
‘We can pull this back!’ Ogron snapped, absorbing attacks from Stella, Tecna and Aisha. ‘Duman just needs a second!’
‘Ogron!’
Ogron glanced between Gantlos, the Winx, and Duman, who was regaining consciousness in Anagan’s arms, and reluctantly acquiesced. ‘Oh, fine. Wizards, retreat!’
They vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing a second later in the very slightly condemned building they’d been hiding out in since Duman had said he couldn’t take another second of gagging on sewer air.
Duman groaned in Anagan’s arms, gingerly touching his head. ‘Ow…’ He gave Gantlos a dramatically aggrieved look. ‘This is what happens when I am helpful. Are you happy now?’
Gantlos frowned, taking Duman’s hand in his and looking him over for magical burns from the Circle. ‘Don’t even joke. Of course I’m not happy. You got hurt.’
‘Chill, I’m just kidding. Other than a headache, I don’t think the mini-Bloom did much more than summon a light show.’ As if to prove his point, Duman hopped down from Anagan’s arms, striding around the living room to demonstrate how fine he was. ‘See?’
‘I do,’ Ogron said, frowning. ‘I see that you are perfectly fine, and Gantlos’s overreaction cost us this fight.’
‘That’s not fair,’ Anagan interjected. ‘Roxy has the White Circle; Gantlos had every right to react the way he did. Besides, we were set to lose anyway.’
‘Well, I suppose now we’ll never find out,’ Ogron grumbled. Gantlos winced as he stalked out, muttering irritably to himself.
‘Duman, get on the couch,’ Anagan instructed.
Duman practically gawped at him. ‘Are you kidding? I’m fine!’
‘Yeah, I’m gonna check you over, just to be safe.’
Under Anagan’s firm gaze, Duman reluctantly sunk onto the couch, grumbling about Gantlos and Anagan being obsessive worriers.
The examination was quick and efficient, but that didn’t stop Duman from complaining. ‘I’m seriously fine! What do you think you’re gonna find?’
‘A headache, with how much you’re yelling…’ Anagan muttered. ‘Okay, you seem okay. There’s a few blisters where the skin got hit with the magic, but I can sort an ointment for that…’
‘Great, get on it, I’m hungry.’ Duman shot up from the couch, beelining out of the living room. ‘Didja get food?’
Gantlos and Anagan exchanged a look, before Anagan replied, ‘Yeah? We weren’t quite done here…’
Duman didn’t reply, and Gantlos frowned. ‘Okay, he’s not the most…polite person, and he listens to his stomach more than common sense or you, but that was weird.’
‘He’s probably just tired,’ Anagan offered. ‘I’m gonna go find Ogron. You should probably go after him.’
Gantlos nodded, but he stayed sitting on the couch for a while after Anagan left. He was probably being paranoid. He was frequently paranoid. Okay, no, that was Ogron. But sometimes. But…he’d been saved by his instincts more times than he cared to remember, and he’d learned that when they tried to tell him something, he had to take the call. And right now…they were telling him that Roxy was way too good to just summon a light show.