Soft
A Season Five Fanfiction

Maybe Roxy had gone soft.

The seventeen year old girl sometimes looked back on the girl she was before she met the Winx Club. In some ways, that girl was exactly the same- an animal lover, a barista, reckless, wild, and loyal to those who earned her loyalty. Then there were all those differences that made her think, well, maybe not. The new Roxy, the fairy Roxy, was sweeter, more reliant on others to protect her, much less sarcastic, and much less unique. As much as she loved the Winx Club, Roxy had to admit that they had turned her into someone she did not necessarily want to turn into. Now, with her new roommates looking at her, she definitely felt the ache of what she used to be.

Roxy was definitely and totally guilty of stereotyping. She could see that the Winx Club had their differences- hell, before she memorized all their names, they were Firehead, Blondie, Flowerchild, Punk-n-Pink, Robot, and The Amazing Gymnast. At the same time, however, they were all fundamentally the same. All six of them were powerful and pretty, all of them were sweet and caring. They had a fundamental loyalty, a love of music, and a bond that let them work as one. At times, each of them could be proud and a tad demeaning. To anyone who paid attention, it was obvious that the girls were separate, not human. It wasn't the wings that proved it. It was simply their attitudes. They were all aloof and confident, much more than any human twenty-year-old.

Roxy assumed it was a fairy thing, maybe because the more she discovered about her own powers, the more she began to seem like one of the Winx. Her recklessness and sense of doubt changed into a sure-footed attitude that faltered only when she was confronted with something entirely impossible. Her "sharp edges" had rounded, and the tomboyish streak of hers had turned more feminine. It seemed natural for a fairy. Looking at her roommates, though, she realized it wasn't. It was only a Winx thing.

Araña of Whisperia was not soft and sweet, although she was distinctly feminine. Having grown up in a realm that predominantly consisted of witches, she was street smart and sarcastic. Roxy liked her immediately, though wasn't quite sure how much she trusted the beautiful fairy of spiders. Still, Roxy had an urge to befriend Araña, if only Araña could look past Roxy's dorkiness.

Then there was the beautiful fairy of herbal healing, Crystal of Linphea. Out of all the girls, she was the most like the Winx Club. Crystal was soft and sweet, yet had a streak of inner confidence that shone brightly through. She loved natural fashion and… um… well… she celebrated fertility. Which was apparently a Linphean thing. Roxy wouldn't have suspected, looking at Flora or Crystal.

Aurora was the malevolence fairy- a user of generic magic that had no alliance or source, but got stronger with the presence of negative energy. She was quiet and broody, and Roxy wondered why she didn't go to Cloud Tower, where she would have a ton of negativity to "feed" off of. When Roxy asked Aurora, the malevolence fairy answered "what use is it to learn dark magic based on dark magic? I can learn to fight dark magic here- I have a gift for it. Besides, Cloud Tower wouldn't take me because I'd make all their students effectively powerless."

Last but not least was dark-skinned Kyrridwen, fairy of cartomancy. Though her powers mainly dealt in divination, she could already place a senior-level spell on someone with the help of the Deck of Elysium, a relic only found on her planet. Dwen, as she asked to be called, was average as far as personality went- not too nice, not too funny, just a normal girl- but was considered by the entire freshman class to be the most talented student of the year.

As Roxy looked at Araña, Crystal, Aurora, and Dwen, all her newfound confidence disappeared. How could an Earth girl without much magical experience fit in with four kick-ass fairies? The Winx may have been more talented, but they were certainly not as intimidating.

She thought back to Bloom. Bloom had recounted her first day at Alfea to Roxy, and Roxy knew it had gone horribly. Lying to her roommates, nearly getting expelled, battling senior witches. Roxy breathed a quick sigh and decided that her first day of school couldn't be that bad, and even if it was, Bloom had gotten through it, so why shouldn't Roxy (an inner voice said "you don't have the Dragon's Flame," but Roxy ignored it)? She smiled. "Hi," she said. "My name is Roxy. I'm from Earth, and I'm the fairy of animals..."

Author's Note: Really this isn't much of a story. But I plan to write a lot of stories involving Roxy's time as a freshman, so I thought I'd take the time to add a bit of a background for her feelings towards her roommates.