I don't own Winx Club. Note, this story verse takes place before seasons 7 and 8.

Chapter 1

Faragonda stared out her window at the falling rain. Eighteen years of peace with no aparent attacks from villains seeking to control of destroy the magic dimention. But it had also been eighteen years since the band of students known as the Winx had disappeared. No one had any idea what had happened, they had just disappeared one day, vanished into the night like they had never been there. Their families hadn't heard from them and the Specialists... Faragonda scowled, the less said about those boys the better. They hadn't seemed at all concerned about the disappearance of their girlfriends. But still, eighteen years and just nothing, no sign of any of the girls, they were just gone. Faragonda rubbed her face, rising to her feet, she needed a break. School was starting soon and somehow, everything was read to go for the start of the school year early. She could leave the school for a bit, just to get some fresh air somewhere sunny and warm. For some reason, Earth seemed like the place to go.

She arrived without any fanfare, appearing near a beach by the ocean. It was late afternoon by the looks of it but still quite warm. She walked along the beach for a while, listening to the waves as they crashed on the beach. She was startled when she heard a familiar voice shouting for someone to bring out a tablecloth. She ran towards, the voice but ducked behind a tree not to be seen. The man was tall with dark magenta hair that was shaved along the sides and in the back but spiked at the top. He didn't have to turn around for her to know that it was Riven. He was standing by a picnic table, looking towards a house waiting for someone. What was Riven doing on Earth? Faragonda hadn't seen him in nearly nineteen years.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Jeez, Mr. Impatient," another voice said, filled with fond exasperation.

Faragonda turned towards the new voice and saw another man coming out of the house. He was tall with pale skin, black hair and bright brown eyes. He had a tablecloth and several other items in his hands. Riven let out a huffing laugh before moving to help out the other man.

"Why do we even need a tablecloth, Riven?"

"Two reasons Takashi, one being Stella and the other being the kids. I must confess, Laurel takes after me when eating ice cream, it gets everywhere."

"So, the plastic tablecloth just makes everything more easier when it comes to cleanup?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I also think it looks pretty because we haven't painted the table yet."

"Those paint cans we have in the basement are going to keep gathering dust until someone gets off his lazy ass and paints the table."

"Hey, you love my ass!"

Faragonda watched the exchange with a small frown, in all her years of knowing Riven, she had never seen the boy, no man now, act like this around anyone with the exception of Musa.

"I know, I do. Why do you think I married you?"

"Oh, I don't know, for my stunning personality?"
"That too."

Faragonda startled at that revelation. Riven liked boys? But he dated Musa and Darcy? She glanced at the mens hands, and sure enough, there were a pair of matching wedding rings. The Faragonda nearly jumped out of her skin when the door banged open and a girl with the same magenta hair as Riven burst out shouting:

"DADS! Enji stole a cookie from the cookie tin!"

The girl looked to be around ten years old and while she had Riven's hair colour and eye shape, she had brown eyes and looked more like the black haired man, Takashi, Faragonda's brain supplied.

"No, I didn't you liar! Don't listen to her dads!"

The second voice belonged to a boy, possibly around twelve as he came bursting out of the door. He had black hair and brown eyes like Takashi but everything else belonged to Riven from the skin colour to facial structure. The two kids continued to shout over each other as Riven and Takashi sighed simultaneously. Takashi, looked at Riven and said:

"Your turn."

"This is payback for last week's movie debacle, isn't it?"
"I plead the fifth. Now deal with your kids."
"Before sunset on a Friday, they're your kids."
"Riven..."

There was a sigh before Riven put his hands on his hips and said:

"Alright kids, that's enough!" The boy and the girl both stopped yelling. "Okay, Laurel you go first. What happened?"
"Enji stole a cookie. I saw him take it from the cookie jar."

"Is that true, Enji?"
"No!"

Riven didn't seem convinced by the speed of his son's answer. He raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, I did. But I didn't steal it for me, it's for Rei!"

"Of course Rei's involved."

"She likes peanut butter cookies! I worked hard on them but someone ate them all." Enji shot a glare at his sister.

"You didn't say they were for Rei!"

"I put a note on the cookie jar!"

"Kids! Enough."

"Sorry dad."

"Okay, so we've established that Enji stole a cookie for Rei. Enji, are there any more cookies left?"
"No. Slimer over there ate them all."

Before Riven could scold his son for insulting his sister, a voice called out:

"Hey! Anybody here?"

"Calliope!" The two kids shouted at the same time.

"Come on through, kid!" Riven called out.

A young girl around eighteen came around the side of the house and Faragonda gaped. She had dark magenta hair that was styled in a pair of short ponytails and navy coloured eyes. Another girl, who looked identical to the first but with shoulder length hair waved cheerily at the kids.

"Aria!"

"Hey short stacks!" the girl named Aria said cheerily.

"Hey Callie," Takashi greeted.

"Hey Takashi, hey dad."

Faragonda's mouth fell open, were these two girls Riven's daughters?

"Hey, where's the rest of the Yamamoto clan?" Riven asked

"Dad's with Rei and Minako. Mom's getting the stuff out of the trunk," Aria responded.

"You hear that Enji... Rei's here."

"Be quiet Laurel."

"Enji and Rei sitting in a tree, K-I-S-SI-N-G!"

A grin crossed Calliope's face as she made her way to the singing redhead, picking her up and slinging her over one shoulder.

"Laurel, don't tease your brother. You know what happens to sisters who tease their brothers. They get dunked in the ocean!"

"No! Calliope! No! I don't wanna get wet!" The girl's protests were muffled by her laughter.

Calliope laughed brightly, as she strode towards the ocean. Enji laughed loudly as his sister struggled feebly, even though she was laughing. Enji then yelped as Aria scooped him up and sprinted towards the ocean as she shouted:

"Brothers who laugh at their sisters also have to take a swim!"

Faragonda turned away from the kids to see a man with black hair and grey eyes walking with two little girls who were about twelve. Both had black hair and grey eyes and were both smiling widely. The woman who was bringing up the rear nearly had Faragonda gaping again. Even though eighteen years had past, Musa still looked the same. Her black hair was pulled into it's usual ponytail and her navy eyes were bright and shining. She had aged slightly, laughter lines were etched gently on her face and she had gained a bit of weight. She was holding a basket in one hand and a guitar in another. She greeted both Takashi and Riven with warm hugs and a smile.

"I see the girls got at Enji and Laurel," Musa teased lightly.

"Yep. Good to see you and Itsuki again, Musa," Riven said.

"I'm glad we do this, you know that right?" The other black haired man that wasn't Takashi said.

"Me too, Itsuki, me too," Takashi said.

In the distance, Aria and Calliope tossed Laurel and Enji into the water. Musa giggled and rested her head on Itsuki's shoulder.

"Mom, can I go help Enji splash Aria?" One of the little girls asked.

"Go ahead Rei. You and Minako can go play but don't go too far out."

"Thanks mom," Rei called. "Hang on Enji, I'm coming!"

Musa shook her head as she watched her daughters run towards their older sisters, intent on getting them wet.

"I'm surprised you guys got here first. I would have guessed Bloom and Kali would have been the first to arrive."

"Yeah, normally they're the first people at these gatherings."

"Bloom texted me a few minutes ago, said she and Kali got caught in traffic. They may be a little late."

"Gotta love that LA traffic."

Musa started laughing at Riven's comment and rested her head on Itsuki's shoulder. Even though he and Takashi looked similar, they were still different. Itsuki wasn't as muscular as Takashi and wore glasses. Takashi was thinner but more muscular than Itsuki. Faragonda also noticed the matching wedding rings on Musa and Itsuki's fingers. Both were silve but had a single ruby in the middle.

"I should probably put the food away in the fridge for the time being until everyone else gets here," Musa said

"You do that, I'll help set up out here."

Musa grabbed the basket and headed towards the house. The three men turned back to the picnic table and finished getting the plates and cutlery onto the table. They talked about how their kids were doing and how work was going. They made references to previous meetups but Faragonda's mind was elsewhere. Musa had been on Earth this whole time? And she had kids? With Riven? But wasn't married to him? And was married to a different man and had two kids with said other man? And Riven seemed so okay with it, Faragonda remembered how possessive he had been over Musa before. Musa had mentioned Bloom and someone named Kali, was Bloom here too? Did that mean that the other girls were on Earth too? Did they also have kids? What was going on?

Faragonda was knocked clean out of her thoughts by a loud, cheery voice calling out:

"Hello! Anybody here?"

"We're back here, Stella!" Riven called back

Faragonda watched as Stella walked out from the side of the house. Like Musa, she didn't appear to have aged much. She was still blonde, golden-eyed, tanned and smiling. She was accompanied by a man with ash blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Two teenage girls with dark brown hair and Stella's golden eyes followed behind Stella and the other man. One of the girls, the one with the short brown hair and blue streaks was carrying a boy with Stella's blonde hair on her shoulders. The other brunette, the one with the long hair was walking with two other kids, two girls, one looking like the boy on the second teenager's shoulders and the other girl hair lighter blonde hair.

"Hey Stella, Dmitri."

"Hello Riven, Takashi and Itsuki. Lovely to see you all again

"From the water, Minako called out:

"Apollo, Artemis, Sasha! Come and play!"

"Helena, Ayla, come on. We need more people to beat these shrimps in a water war!" Aria called out.

"I say that's your cue to go play kids," Stella's male companion, Dmitri said.

"Thanks dad!" one of the little girls shouted as the five of them ran towards the water.

"Was that Stella I heard?" Musa asked coming out of the house.

"Musa! I missed you so much!" Stella shouted as she ran to hug her friend.

"You saw me last week."

"I know but I missed you."

"Missed you too Stella."

"Where's Bloom and Kali?"

"Stuck in traffic. Who knows when they'll get here."

"Well, they do live in LA, traffic is expected."

Stella wandered over to the picnic table and plopped down, her hands rubbing at her face gently. She looked tired, like it had been a few days since she had slept last. Musa also took the time to sit beside her friend, pulling at her ponytail loose.

"You guys want anything to drink?"

"I'll take a water if you're offering, Riven," another voice said slyly.

"Aisha!" Musa and Stella shouted, jumping up from their spots at the table and throwing their arms around her.

"No hugs for us?" A man who Faragonda recognized to be Roy asked.

He was standing beside two teenage girls, two little boys and a young girl. Aisha's and that of her family's arrival seemed to trigger the arrival of Flora, Tecna and their respective families. Soon the entire section of beach that made up Riven's backyard was filled with people. The kids were playing in the water, the adults were all talking at the table, there was food on a couple of tables on the porch and Riven was grilling some meat on the barbecue. Everyone was having a good time talking to each other but Stella would glance at the gate to the house, keeping an eye out for Bloom and her family.

Eventually, a familiar head of red hair appeared at the gate, with a group of people in tow. Bloom didn't appear to have changed much, looking like the other girls in terms of age. Greetings and hugs were exchanged and the kids ran off to play while the teenagers went to chat with each other. Bloom settled into a conversation with Aisha and Tecna, like she had always been there.

All Faragonda could really do was observe the girls and their family members. Did the girls know that they were missed by the magic dimension? Did they know that their families still looked for them? And why had they left? Was it because of the teenager girls who were talking and playing with the kids? And who were their significant others? Roy was familiar but the other men and women weren't. Faragonda was so lost in thought that she didn't see one of Bloom's daughters walking around the tree that she was hiding behind until it was too late.

"Well well well, what have we here? MOM!"

Faragonda yelped and jumped, stepping out from her hiding place. And into the direct line of sight of her missing students.

"Mrs. F?" Flora asked.

"What are you doing here?" Musa asked

"I should be asking you the same thing. What are you doing here? Who are these people and more importantly, why did you leave?"

The girls bit their lips, while the significant others looked tense and angry and the teens were defensive. Bloom eventually spoke up:

"Well, it's a bit of a long story."

"I have all the time in the world, my dear."

Okay, setting a few things straight, yes I'm back writing Winx Club. This has no connection to These Last Sixteen Years, which has been discontinued. This is a bit more complex than These Last Sixteen Years. I will be working on a prequel to this to give you some context with what's going on and introduce the new characters. I hope you all enjoyed. So please read and maybe leave a review. Later, Dana.