The lair of the Wizards of the Black Circle was long forgotten by the fairies of Earth. Even if they did remember it for a moment, it didn't hold their interest. The Wizards were dead (one) and gone (the others). The Black Circle held no more harm, and once again, the fairies reigned with no end in sight. Nobody needed to check out some smelly, defunct cavern, hidden in the depths of some underground cave in Kentucky.

The Earth fairies did not value the same things as the other fairies of the Magic Dimension did. The modern women trained with years at Alfea College, at Beta Academy, at Linphea and Golden Auditorium, and countless other places valued cautiousness. The ancient terrestrials were reckless and wild, spreading freshly grown wings in the warm Californian air for the first time in centuries. After the threat of the Wizards (and the perceived threat of the Winx) was eliminated, they reigned.

Queen Nebula, sister and friend to the former and ancient Queen Morgana, sat on a throne that may as well have been made with misconceptions. Younger than her sister, and trained for war and not for queenship, she acted a mimicry of royalty. In the early days of the fairies, only one rule was over the newly released women: live. The magic dimension was thrilled to have the Earth back. They could take care of details for a while.

Of course Earth was ill prepared for a new threat. Especially one that was, unlike them, well thought out.

Nobody ever considered that such a great day could be so totally and utterly ruined.

Princess Roxy Klaus of Tir Nan Og shuffled combat boot-clad feet and blushed as her predecessors gushed over her. She was aware of the honor that was being bestowed upon her... the honor of being the first true Earth fairy in history to go to Alfea College. The famous fairy school had been founded years after the fall of the Earth fairies, but once Nebula, Morgana, and the others had been brought up to date by the Winx Club, they had all realized what an amazing chance that Roxy had.

Behind her, the famous Winx Club stood calmly, for once not surrounded by admirers. Despite their differences in appearance, they had an overwhelming sense of unity, almost as though they had rehearsed every little action. When the crowd cleared from Roxy, they stepped forward together once; then they let their leader continue to bridge the gap towards the younger girl. "Are you ready to go, Roxy?" asked Bloom Peters, princess and heiress to the throne of Domino.

Roxy swallowed hard, then nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be," she said, with a glance to her mother and father. Morgana and Rick smiled their encouragement, and though it was meant to calm the girl and send her on her way, it seemed to have the opposite effect. Roxy ran to her parents and embraced them with some amount of desperation, and more love than many would think possible. "I'm gonna miss you guys!" she said. "It's not fair that I have to go now, when I just got Mom back!"

Morgana took her daughter by the shoulders and met her eyes. "We have centuries, Roxy. Fairies don't die that easily."

"I know," said Roxy, "but I just got you back!"

"You're already a year older than most girls starting at Alfea. The timing is only going to get worse."

"I know, but..."

Morgana smiled. "You're going to have a great time. I wish I could have gone."

Roxy bit her lip and sighed. "So I get to live pretty much forever, but I still have to go when I'm young?"

"Longevity doesn't make age matter any less, believe it or not." Morgana ran a long hand through her greying hair and smiled at her younger sister. "You'll learn. Now go, and we'll see you on the Day of the Rose, right?"

"My first one with my mom... well, my first one in general, but... yeah." The pink haired girl smiled, and took a couple of steps back. "See you guys!"

"Good luck!" Klaus said, and Morgana nodded her agreement, backing into her husband and letting him hold her.

Bloom smiled. "Alright. It's time to go. Winx, Believix!" she ordered.

The seven Winx transformed in colorful flashes of light. Through the twirls and the the flips of growing her wings, Roxy considered what she was about to do. It was time for her to join fairies her own age. There were none of those on Earth, barring the Winx, and they were going back to Alfea whether or not Roxy went with them. Yes, she'd have her family here, but she would always have her family now, no matter where she was, and being the only teen fairy would be a lonely existence. That's it, I can't fight it anymore, she decided. I'm going to Alfea.

The light cleared, and showed a more confident Roxy out of it. With a flutter of wings, the girls lifted off, waving and shouting good-byes as they went. As they reached the clouds, they sped up, showing off by getting in a single file line and swooping in and out. First, Aisha broke the clouds, then Tecna, then Musa. Flora exited with a quick air-curtsey, and Stella blew a kiss at her fans.

As fire exploded across the sky, Bloom burst through the clouds... then fell back to Earth, stunned. For a moment, the fairy was falling freely, but regained her footing (winging?) and attempted to fly upwards again, only to be met by a barrier. "What?" she cried, looking around.

Roxy couldn't see anything either. She flew up to Bloom, and was only slightly caught off guard when she was hit head first with what seemed to be an invisible barrier. "What's going on?" asked the fairy of animals, openly panicked yet again.

"It's like the barrier from the first day of Alfea, all over again," Bloom muttered. "But... I'm magical. You're magical. Girls! Come help us break this!"

The rest of the Winx Club switched directions, heading back to Earth, but found themselves knocked back towards the sky. "What's happening?" "Oh my gosh!" "This isn't logical!"

Bloom seemed to knock back to her leadership role the moment she heard her friends' confusion. "Okay, girls! Let's do this! Tecna... analyze this. Musa, see if you can get through with a sound wave. And... uh, Stella, see if you can illuminate what's going on."

Musa muddled around, unsure what to aim at, but Stella and Tecna came through. Almost at the same time, a deep red barrier that blocked off the Winx from Earth was illuminated, and Tecna nodded. "It's a barrier curse," she said.

"A curse?" Roxy said, her voice lilting in question.

"A malevolent spell, cast to do harm. It must be the witches," Bloom muttered.

Tecna shook her head. "The energy signature is... weird. I can't get a read on it! It's familiar, but not. I'm not sure what's going on!"

"Perhaps," purred an echoing voice that shook the sky and the girls with it, "that would be us."

"Huh?"

Bloom and Roxy whipped around as a rip in the air opened, and tendrils of deep red and purple void spilled out of it. From there, four men stepped into the sky, levitating casually. They looked vaguely like the Wizards of the Black Circle, though even Roxy could feel that their auras were different, and besides, though they looked similar, they did not look at all exactly alike.

They hovered casually, like teenage boys, which was incidentally what they looked like... very delinquent, probably magical high school seniors. One had a dark skin, a black mohawk and a web of red tattoos that covered his entire body. One was a redhead with cropped hair and a very un-cropped beard. Next to him, slightly forward from the others, was a boy with long silver hair in a neat ponytail, and eyes that flashed every color of the rainbow, though each color was tinted darkly. The last one, on closer inspection, had breasts and curves, though they were covered by armor. Their brown skin caught the last light of the day as it glinted, and their brown hair was shaggy and covered their eyes.

"Who are you and what have you done?" demanded Bloom.

The silver-haired boy laughed. His voice was high for a man's. "We, dear fairy, are the Apprentices of the Black Circle."

"Apprentices?" Aisha said harshly. "Well, the Wizards are gone, and you should be too!"

"Nonsense," said the boy. "If the Wizards are gone, that only means it's time for us to show up and show our stuff. After all, we've learned all that they could have taught us intentionally... not to mention, we've learned from the mistakes they've made. Their first mistake was not blocking the Earth off from other magical creatures. After all, if you'd never come, we could still be gaining power from the trapped fairies. Now, there's no way for us to fail. Non-Earth fairies can't get in... Earth fairies can't get out. It's perfect."

"Didn't you learn anything from the Wizards?" Bloom roared. "I'm... not... an Earth fairy!"

She shot a blast of powerful magic towards the Apprentices, who dodged almost effortlessly. "Big talk from a girl who's trapped," said the boy.

Silently, quivering, Bloom put down her hands, and balled them into fists. "So, the Wizards had apprentices."

"Righto," said the boy. "My name is Killian. The one with tattoos is Trudric, the redhead is Nyklus, and the last one is Gunner. We are the Apprentices of the Black Circle, and we will do what our masters could not. But," he said, glancing down at the fairies on the ground, staring in abject horror, "perhaps we won't do it right now. Goodbye, Earth fairies and non-terrestrial fairies alike. We'll be seeing you."

As Killian began to float back to the tendrils of void, Roxy found herself speaking. "And we will find a way to break the barrier and save Earth again!" promised the seventeen year old.

Killian laughed. "Fat chance, fairy. It would take a Very Special Girl to break that barrier... and you seem as usual as they come."

With a wave, the Apprentices jumped into their portal and vanished, leaving Bloom and Roxy on one side, and the other Winx on the other.

There was silence for a moment.

Then, Stella asked in a very small voice, "What do we do now, Bloom?"

"Go to Alfea," said the leader of the Winx Club. "Talk to Miss Faragonda. We need every resource we can! Call me when you've got any clue as to what to do."

"Will cell phones work?" Roxy asked.

"We have yet to believe they don't, and my scan showed no sign of magitechnical interference," Tecna said firmly.

Bloom nodded. "We'll take the chance. Roxy, let's go back to your mom and aunt. We have to warn them... and we have to figure out how to free Earth once again, before it's too late!"

AN: Welcome to the Fly or Fall rewrite! I'm sure many of you remember this story, and I'm sorry it's taken so long to get a new installment out. Granted this isn't a new installment, really, but let's have some real talk.

It sucked.

I know you guys didn't think so! FoF is my most popular work, one I poured my heart into, and it revolved around the characters YOU created! I love those characters and I loved the story, but the writing left a lot to be desired, and the plot was definitely almost nonexistent. It was problematic in many ways, and not at all inclusive or diverse beyond what was required. With this I hope to remedy that.

As this was, in original form, a submit an OC story, I'll be keeping the OCs previously submitted. If you would like to withdraw your submission, please let me know ASAP! Thanks for your understanding, and please enjoy the rewritten Fly or Fall, now with plot! 3

Sincerely,
A LoveLoveLovix who is now three years older and wiser