CHAPTER 1: Bloom Feels Weird
Bloom woke up startled. It was already 7:30, and for some reason, she just felt like something inside of her was off. Reluctant to move until realizing the source of this strange feeling, Bloom slowly got out of bed to join Flora in the bathroom that the two girls shared.
"Up late again this morning!" Flora teased. "I hope you'll make it to class with only 30 minutes to get dressed. Did you get all those papers graded?"
"Uh... yeah..." Bloom replied, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
Flora turned to her dazed roommate. "Bloom? That was supposed to be funny. Are you OK?"
"Sorry Flora, I just... I feel weird, you know?" Bloom didn't expect Flora to know, but the wasn't exactly in complete control of her brain this early, let alone her tongue.
"You'll probably think I'm joking, or trying to give you sympathy, but I think I just might." Flora said thoughtfully, "Like something in your soul is different, troubled. Like you have this premonition that something off is going to happen today."
"Exactly!" agreed Bloom, who was glad that she wasn't as crazy as she was beginning to sound to herself. "But what do you think it is?"
"Only time will tell, Bloom, but you're very intuitive, so it could be anything." Bloom didn't know what to think of that, and so, it was in silence that the two girls finished getting ready, and headed down the halls of Alphea college to their class.
Throughout the day, nothing interesting or "off" presented itself to Bloom. Well, except for the fact that she was becoming increasingly tired with every second she spent not closing her eyes. This turned out to be a rather prominent handicap, so much so that during her free period, she snuck back to her dorm, flopped back on to the couch, and immediately fell fast asleep.
Bloom woke up to voices. "OH MAN" she thought "IF THE GIRLS ARE BACK, THAT MEANS THAT I SLEPT THROUGH THE ENTIRE SECOND HALF OF THE SCHOOL DAY!" She bolted up to see 5 girls her age standing in her living room. But they weren't the usual girls. Bloom had never seen these girls before in her life.
"Excuse me..." Bloom said, hesitantly, "Are you guys looking for Stella? If she's not here, she should be in the cafeteria..." But the girls didn't even look at her, much less answer. "Hey!" Bloom said, slightly raising her voice "If you need something- Only, this is my room and I don't know you!" still no answer. Bloom stood up, and walked right in front of a girl with short, blue hair. "Can I help you!?" No response.
Just as Bloom made to touch the blue haired girl's shoulder, another girl walked right through her! Startled, Bloom recoiled her arm before making contact the blue haired girl, who promptly took her turn at walking straight through Bloom. After careful experimentation, Bloom discovered that when she initiated the action, she was solid, though nobody felt her even if she touched them, but when another initiated the action, she might as well be air.
"What's going on here?!" Bloom said to her self, without fear of being over heard, but fear of everything else instead. What am I going to do?! Just as she started to panic, it hit her. "I know! I'll go talk to Ms. Faragonda! She'll know why nobody can see or hear me!" Reluctantly, Bloom left her room full of girls she didn't know. Several minutes later, upon reaching Ms. Faragonda's office, Bloom prepared herself to knock on the door. But before she got the chance, the door swung out, right through her body, and out walked Ms. Faragonda with... Helia?! What in the world was Helia doing at Alphea? Talking to Ms. Faragonda?! But there was something off about the situation. Ms. Faragonda's hair was thinner, and her back was more hunched. Was she having back problems? Helia, too, looked different, as he walked down the corridor with the headmistress (and Bloom, who nobody seemed to notice panicking right next to them) and several unfamiliar Red Fountain students, who looked normal, and remained silent. Unlike the others, Helia himself, whose voice seemed almost… deeper somehow, wasn't wearing anything Bloom had seen him in before; Something similar to what one of the drill teachers at Red Fountain could be seen in. It must have fit him oddly, because it made him look bigger in the chest and arms than usual.
"Thank you, Ms. Faragonda." He said warmly. "I'm sure all of the students will be ecstatic to hear the good news about the upcoming field trip."
"Mine as well!" Ms. Faragonda answered. "But I'm sure I don't have to tell you how the pupils truly look forward to all of the inter-school events!"
Helia laughed, genuinely. "Surely not!"
"Give Flora my best, then, will you?" Flora! Bloom was excited to hear that Flora was close by (She clearly wasn't in their room), as before this moment she was too blinded by the strange things going on to think about something less drastic, like trying to find her friends and having them explain. Flora had known about the strange feelings Bloom had been having that morning, and would be her best bet to figuring out what all was happening after Ms. Faragonda, who had already walked through her. Twice.
"Absolutely! She'll be happy to hear from you." he said as the two reached the lawn, where 3 Red Fountain fleet ships were parked, and a throng of boys quickly fell in to line as the small group approached. "Well, my good lady, until we meet again." He said, kissing Ms. Faragonda on the hand politely.
"Until then." She smiled. "Have a safe journey!"
"Of course! These are the finest pilots and navigators in the world!" He turned to meet attention of young men standing in front of the ships.
"That, I do not doubt." agreed Ms. Faragonda, standing alone as Helia crossed to the group, where he was met by Professor Cordatorta, a man that Bloom often saw accompanying Saladin, head master of Red Fountain. He too looked a bit strange; Worn, and tired.
"Ready the ships, we depart immediately!" he told the boys, who scattered promptly to their positions. Not wanting to cause trouble, Bloom (who's head, needless to say, was buzzing with at least 6 million questions) took a spot in the cargo hold of one of the ships, and sat alone for the duration of the near 20-minute flight to Red Fountain campus. But, despite her solitude, it didn't dawn on Bloom until after landing why Flora would be at Red Fountain at all. Not wanting to be lost from her only link to her friend, Bloom immediately began searching for Helia upon landing. She found him quickly, talking to the other students.
"Very good work, gentlemen." He told them. "You are all becoming exceptional specialists." What in the world? Why was Helia telling his classmates that? He wasn't pretentious enough to believe that he had more skill than these other heroes in training. This situation just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"Thank you, headmaster, you praise means a lot to us." said one of the boys, along to mumbled agreement from his teammates. HEAD MASTER?! What in the world!? Like Bloom, Helia was a student! A teenager! There was no way that- but then it clicked. Ms. Faragonda, Helia, and Cordatorta, they didn't look weird and different, they looked older. Helia wasn't a teenager. He had grown up and taken his grandfather's place as headmaster of Red Fountain. But then that meant...
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