Stella had come out into the ballroom with Bloom. A part of her felt a little bit off, but she couldn't pin point it exactly. Bloom had noticed this, and stopped before they fully made their way to the other girls and the specialists. She gripped Stella's hand a bit firmly.
"Are you alright?" Stella looked at her, momentarily taken aback by her bestfriend's sudden stop. She cleared her head when she heard the question, and let out a "tsk."
"Of course i'm alright, why wouldn't I be?" A part of her panged at that, she felt...nervous. But for what? She was a princess, she's done this so many times before.. so why does she suddenly feel different?
Bloom's expression held worry and uncertainty. "You never acted..so..quiet and distant, you are a chatter mouth, and you seemed almost hesitant to even come out."
Stella wanted to feign hurt in a playful way at "chatter mouth" but then closed her mouth when she realized what Bloom was saying. Her best friend was right, she was acting strange. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, then looked at her best friend. "You're right.." she murmured quietly, not daring to look at her. She did feel a small squeeze of support.
"I'm just being silly, but I feel like something terrible is going to go down today, and it isn't just a regular castle attack that we can take care off.." She took deep breaths to hide the panic rising up. " I feel it's much more worse..than what we bargain for."
Bloom felt a sudden shudder slip down her spine, the amount of maturity and worry that took over Stella, felt so..odd. She knew Stella wasn't playing around, if she suddenly acted so serious. Bloom looked over to where the guys and girls were at. "You should.. tell-"
Bloom couldn't even finish her sentence when a loud bang shook the entire castle too it's core. Smoke filled the airs as well as the sounds of innocents screaming. Solaria was under attack once more. Stella and Bloom had fallen over from the shockwave, but both fairies stood back up, and ran to where the specialists were. They were helping the other half of the winx, who had fallen over, stand up.
Stella took a deep breath as panic seeped over her. Her parents. Stella scanned the area, her brown eyes shimmering with faint hope. Relief washed over her when she saw them stand up, and guards take them somewhere safe.
Her eyes shifted upwards, when she saw four hellish-looking flying type of monsters fly in, and she clenched her fists. She let out a cry, and transformed into her bloomix, not hesitating once, and flew into battle.
"STELLA" Bloom, Brandon and everybody else cried out in pure shock and fear. Bloom, Musa, Flora, Aisha and Tecna wasted no time to transform, and raced after their friend. Stella hovered in the air, as she put her arms out and fired bolts of blinding flares. One creature was struck, and it turned to her, red and orange eyes, sparking with fury, and saliva dropped from it's mouth as it snarled, it's dangerously sharp fangs poking out.
Stella didn't hold back in but felt uneasy looking into its gaze. She brought her arms up to herself, as if it would protect her. "I've had enough of my kingdom being attacked." She murmured, holding it's gaze continuously. Bloom and Musa attempted to fly up to her, while the other three held the other two back, but one blocked their view, and with one WHACK! of it's tail, it sent Bloom and Musa hurling back. Musa hit a pole (earning a cry from Riven) , and Bloom had a much softer landing. She shook it off and audibly gasped when she saw Musa strike the pole, and immediately flew to her.
Stella gasped when she saw Musa hit the pole hard, and anger coursed through her. "Oh no, you've done it now you hideous thing!" Stella fired at the beast who harmed her friend, which only angered it more. Stella felt uneasy, but she flew up to avoid a claw coming at her, and twirled behind it, hitting it once more.
Brandon was helping the remaining guests run, when he heard the blast of Stella's spells. He looked up, and saw his fiancé playing mouse with the creature. Utter panic seeped through him, but he had to remain calm. After all, he knew she could defend herself, and he didn't want to make her feel as if she needs a squire to save her. But still, this was the love of his life, and he wouldn't be able to live if he lost her. He heard Riven's anguished cry, and turned, seeing Musa had struck a pole and a sinking feeling settled in. If Stella continued playing mice, that would soon be her.
Stella used both of her hands to form a shield . It wasn't enoguh, and seering pain shot through her leg, she looked back and saw one claw managed to slice her. She flew up, the monster following her. She glanced at the other girls who were also having a difficult time, she looked down at Riven who was cradling an Injured Musa in his arms, and Bloom trying to stop the bleeding that was on Musa's head. She stopped mid air and curled into herself.
Bloom felt a shudder, as she looked up at Stella. Her eyes widened. "STELLA UNDERNEATH YOU." The monster was gaining up on her. Brandon immediately snapped his attention to Stella when he heard Bloom's cry, and horror filled him.
"NO"! A scream ripped from his throat. Suddenly a blinding light covered the entire castle, a howling screech came from the creatures, the girls fell to the floor covering their eyes, the boys fell back also covering their eyes.
Stella felt everything drain from her as she let half of her powers out. She had to make a decision, if it meant giving up her life to save her kingdom. And that's what she decided. The creatures retreated, howling and screeching loudly. They flew away completely. It took a few more seconds for the light to settle away, and once it did, the girl's unshielded their eyes, as well as the specialists.
Stella remained in the air, as she broke out into a cold sweat, her stomach twisting and turning, and her wings stopped fluttering. She began to fall rapidly. Flora stood up as she watched her friend fall. "STELLA!" She screamed., Brandon felt his world stop hearing that name yelled in anguish, he then looked up and saw her falling helplessly, and he pushed himself off the floor, his feet carrying him to catch her.
Stella continued to fall, she was very close to impacting the floor now, and she waited for the impact, but instead she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. Brandom slid to his knees as he caught her, clutching her protectively to his chest. The rest of the specialists, including Riven who was now holding an awake but injured Musa in his arms, and the rest of the winx ran to them.
It took seconds for Brandon to catch his breath, but once he did, his attention snapped towards his lover in his arms, and he shakingly brushed her hair away from her face. "Sunshine..?" He whispered, desperation in his voice. She looked so pale, so weak, she had bags underneath her eyes, her breathing was ragged. Tears threatened to fall, but Brandon quickly wiped them away, as he continued to hold Stella, and gently try to get a response from her.
A weak "mmm" slipped out from her and Brandon shook harder, whether it was relief, panic or even both, he didn't know. Tecna pushed her way through, and knelt down next tot them, she took out her scanner, and began scanning Stella's vitals. Her eyes widened when the result came. Her powers were very very close to being gone, and it worried her. Brandon's face twisted in pain when he saw Tecna's expression, and he lowered his head to look down at Stella, his brown bangs covering his eyes and the tear that slipped out.
Musa, despite still being disorientated, spoke up trying not to slur. "Put her back in sunlight...she should get her strength again..." She weakly slumped against Riven and Bloom again, who tightened their hold on her.
Bloom looked at Musa, then Stella. "She's right, we have to hurry and find a good spot where Sunlight will hit Stella directly." Brandon scooped Stella into his arms, nodding as he dashed out of the castle. Immediately, they all followed him. Fortunately, the sun was still out and shining, so the winx and specialists ran as fast they could, following the sunlights path. It led to them to a secluded area of the castle, and a bright sun ray shone directly in the middle.
"Perfect!" Aisha exclaimed as she guided Brandon to it. "Lay her down in the middle." Brandon did exactly what she said and placed Stella down in the middle. At first, it didn't seem to do much, which caused disappointment to sink in, but almost immediately, a soft hum could be heard, and small particles of light began to enter Stella. Sky pulled Brandon back, much to the squire's chagrin, as it began to appear as if the light would burst any second now, which it actually did.
It sent everybody stumbling back with force, but not enough to knock them off their feet. Stella opened her eyes as she floated upwards. She felt magic course through her again, her eyes wide. She landed as the light faded, and she saw all the happy expressions of her friends.
"Hi.." and that was the only thing she could say before she felt Brandon's lips collide against hers in a fierce passionate way, which she returned, wrapping her arms around his neck, as he wrapped his around her waist. "Sunshine, you are so selfless, brave, strong." he murmured against her , he would have said "don't ever do that again." but he know she wouldn't like that.
The couple pulled away eventually, as Stella hugged everyone, chorus's of "Thank dragon you are okay." Stella went to Musa as she looked at the injury on her head. "Flora, you can heal Musa can you?" she asked. The nature fairy immediately bounded to action, as she placed her palm on the music fairy's head. Swirls of pink and green with little flowers burst on Musa's head, and all the blood was gone.
Stella , Riven and everybody else were relieved. Musa stood on her own as she smiled gratefully. Stella and Musa embraced, Musa whispering "You're okay, Stel." Stella just smiled and hugged Musa more. Both girls pulled away.
"We need to go see the damage that's been done to the castle, and we need to unite all of the kingdoms to ensure this doesn't happen to any one else, and make sure those creatures stay away." Stella uttered, luckily she didn't have to transform since she was still in her bloomix form.
The group nodded and headed back, still in awe from Stella's selflessness that day,
BOOM, MY FIRST WINX CLUB fanfic. It's not that good but I tried. I wanted to see a different side of Stella.