Hi everyone! I'm Paw, if you haven't read any of my other stories.

This story was originally written in 2010, but I have improved majorly since the original post. Not wanting this idea of mine to go to waste and not have a low quality story represent who I am, I decided to come back and re-write it. It's been four years since I visited this idea, but it was lots of fun.

Just a few points to make before you start. This is majorly AU (alternate universe). Stella has a darker past with her first year at Alfea. She wasn't kicked out of the school because of a lab explosion, she chose to leave Alfea on her own. Stella's past is quite dark, so that's the reason why this story is suggested for 13+ readers! She also has an older brother, so she isn't the heir to Solaria's throne. It takes place before the first season of Winx Club would be taking place.

This is dedicated to all my great support I have and all the people that give me the strength and motivation. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy it! It was interesting being able to explore this idea further.

Enjoy

xxx

When I Found You

Stella sat in her palace room, completely oblivious to Solaria's third sun high in the sky and the sweet chirping of birds.

Instead, she was completely fixated on the scars running along her body.

I hate what they did to me, she thought.

There might not have been any major physical queues to show what happened to her. Magic had helped heal the bruises and cuts, but scars were still left behind as reminders. Scratches along her arms from the branches she crashed through lined her arms were completely visible.

I hate what they did to me.

Stella shifted uncomfortably in her bed, trying to turn away from her haunting thoughts. But it was impossible. Once she began to think about what had happened only a few months earlier, there was no stopping the flood.

After all, the only way she was able to push through what she felt was by cutting off all of my emotions. Stella became numb.

She knew being numb was never what should be done, but, at the time, that was the only way she could cope.

I hate what they did to me.

Stella curled into a tighter ball and closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back the wave of tears waiting to burst out of her body. She was afraid that if she were to let a few tears out, she would completely burst open.

Stella gasped out a few breaths from between her clenched jaw and tried to pry her thoughts away from the pain.

But it was already too late.

She was back on the roof of Alfea. Stella sat on top of Alfea's roof, her long hair blowing in the wind. Her legs hung off the edge of the tower and her fingers drew pictures in the sand along the ledge. It was pitch black, seeing it was past curfew and clouds were covering the moon.

She didn't feel anything. She wasn't thinking anything.

She was just blank.

It wasn't too odd of an emotion recently. Her friends had been acting weird lately, ever since Alistar, her older brother by two years, broke up with Violet. Fay, Bee and Violet had all been acting really off lately, towards her. Why her? She hadn't done anything. Stella didn't know what to make of it. What was she doing that was making them so weird? What had she said the other day to make them all recoil into Bee's room?

Stella thought back to her childhood. It hadn't been easy to grow up alone. Her brother was always away, being trained to be the perfect king. She was a princess, so she wasn't allowed to leave the castle much. This made making friend difficult.

Did this lack of social interaction interfere with her life now? She wasn't always too sure about what to say or how to act around people. Was she supposed to always talk to them? Was she supposed to pretend she didn't see them when she passed them in the halls? How was she supposed to act?

Was her poor experience with dealing with people before scaring her friends off now?

Stella didn't know what to do.

There was a crack behind her, breaking the sun fairy from her thoughts. Stella pulled her legs out of the potentially dangerous position and stood up, facing where the sound came from.

"Hello?" she called softly. There were giggles and Stella took a step forward, relief washing over her. "Oh. It's just you."

"It's just you," a voice mocked perfectly. Stella flinched away and took a step backwards. Her heal teetered on the edge of the school's roof and she instantly positioned her body to lead away from the voices and ledge.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked.

"What are you doing?" Once again, Stella flinched from the perfect imitation of her voice. It was almost like an echo.

"Ha!" a new voice taunted. The voice was high pitched and squeaky, reminding Stella of a child. Stella's eyes adjusted to the

"Bee, what's going on?" Stella begged her roommate to enlighten her.

"Awww, poor baby," a third voice taunted. Stella recognized as Violet.

The sun fairy's heart began to beat harder and faster than it had been moments before at the sneering from the three girls.

"Guys, what's going on? How did you know where I was?" Stella questioned. There was a sickening sweet laugh.

"You're so lost! As if you didn't pick up what we have been doing!" Bee giggled. Stella squirmed. Never had she been spoken to like this. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to these new tones.

"No, I haven't…"

"You got to be the stupidest princess ever," Fay sniggered.

"No," Violet cut in, "she is the stupidest person ever."

"You never noticed how we always wanted to know your goals and hopes and fears?"

"Did you not notice that whenever you spoke, one of us had to leave the room from your sheer stupidity?"

"No!" Stella meekly defended. "That's not true. You guys helped me get over my fears." Bee giggled again and Stella shivered.

"You poor thing, so confused," Violet muttered, fake pity overcoming her voice. "Come on, Stella. I know your little brain can keep up with this situation."

"Yeah, Stella, think. We know your fears, you left yourself vulnerable. What can you do about it?"

"You… You guys don't even know my fears," Stella defended. Bee laughed.

"You know that isn't true, princess. We know everything about you. You've made this so easy!" Stella began to panic. Never before had she ever felt fear from her title. There was so much venom in their voices and she truly began to build up horror. Bee took a step forward and began to circle around the blonde.

"You look better when you're not afraid," Violet muttered. "Why are you afraid, darling?"

"What… What are you doing?" Stella directed her question to Bee, who was still circling around her slowly. A sly smirk was printed right across her face. It was almost as if she was a cat stalking her prey.

"We're just playing," Fay answered. "Come play with us."

"What do you want?" There was a sharp pain to her jaw and Stella fell to the ground. "Ow!" she cried, her hand flying to her smarting cheek. "What the-" She was pushed to the ground as she stumbled to get up. Bee just laughed.

"You honestly think we were completely accepting of you? You're an outsider to us. You're an outsider to the whole world," Fay mocked.

"And you stole Nathan from me!" Bee hissed. With this, a kick was delivered to Stella's side, sending her world spinning. A few more blows were delivered, making her brain go fuzzy with pain. All she could taste was blood and all she could feel was the burning.

"You're too perfect and we're sick of it," Violet snapped. Suddenly, Stella couldn't breathe.

"Why…" she managed to choke out. Air rushed to her lungs and Violet pulled her into a standing position.

"Because you're a weak and easy target," she spit out. Stella cowered away. A cold gust of wind could be felt along the back of Stella's neck and her hand flew to where it hit.

Skin.

Bare skin.

Her long hair had been there. She had long hair that protected her from the wind!

"Looking for this?" Bee taunted. Stella spun around and came face to face with a chunk of her blonde hair.

"No!" she gasped. Bee laughed and Fay pushed her stumbling into Violet once again.

"I think you needed a haircut. We all thought this," Bee began and Stella could faintly hear the snips of the shears Bee held. "You're so lucky that we're nice enough to help you out."

"Stop!" Stella pleaded, squirming out of Violet's grip.

"Let's see if our little princess can fly," Bee giggled. With that, she shoved Stella backwards, making her go stumbling off the edge of the roof and plummeting to the ground below her.

Stella was jerked out of her memory by the gruff knocking on the door to her room. She peeled the sheets off of her and shivered from seeing the real world around her. Stella shuffled to the door and pulled it open, a weak smile on her face.

"Ah, princess!" Stella flinched at the name and Bee's voice floated through her mind. 'You know that isn't true, princess. We know everything about you. You've made this so easy!' "I have a letter for you. An invitation from Alfea!"

"Oh," Stella mumbled. She took the piece of paper from the servant and closed the door without another word. She tore open the envelope as she walked back to her bed.

Dear Princess Stella of Solaria,

This is your official invitation to return back to Alfea, School of Fairies to resume your first year of schooling.

You are invited to attend Alfea's tour date, set in two months from now, to help make your decision to join us once again or to get acquainted with the grounds.

Best wishes,

Assistant Headmistress and Head of Discipline,

Griselda

Once again, numbness filled Stella from the words that were written on the page. She set the letter down and curled back into a ball under the sheets, unable to think past the defensive wall her mind had set up.

I hate what they did to me.

Stella started down the gravel road, towards the school for fairies.

Numb.

The bus had let her and a few other students off quite a ways away from the castle, the sun fairy only catching a glimpse of the blue roof tops.

Still, she was numb.

Stella congratulated herself on a job well done. She was beginning to have a handle on her feelings, which was a wonderful thought.

Step by step, the castle became closer and closer.

Slowly, the numbness started to be replaces with a shaking sensation in her arms. Stella looked down at her pale arms and noted that they weren't shaking. Instead, she concluded, it was merely a feeling from the workout she had done the other day.

And it was only setting in now.

Yeah, that must be it.

More of the blue roofs could be seen and then she could see the pink castle walls.

A pounding heart and racing pulse joined her weakness in her arms. Her stomach was beginning to flip around and her muscles were beginning to tense up.

Yet, she kept walking.

Finally, she saw the east wing roof clearly. This was the roof above the dorm rooms.

A shiver went down Stella's spine and she grasped the sides of her arms, her arms tightly crossing her chest.

At last, she stood before the gate that welcomed hundreds of fairies to the school each year.

And that's when her world started spinning and complete and sheer panic filled her.

Pain pounded through her. It felt as if every inch of her body hurt.

Oh, how her skin felt like sandpaper was taken to it and scratched away.

And her muscles ached as if she had been running for the last few hours.

Her head pounded every time she shifted her eyes in her head or when she saw shifts of light through her eyelids.

She couldn't place it, but her arms and her legs felt like they had been stepped on.

But, most of all, it felt like someone had punched a hole through her heart.

How it ached!

She had heard of the term 'heartache' before, but she had never imagined it would outshine every other pain she felt coursing through her body at the moment. Never had she thought that it would be so powerful.

Her heart felt like it was slowly ripping apart inside of her body.

Maybe, it was being squeezed so tightly that it couldn't beat normally.

No. It felt like it had been completely removed from her body and there was a gaping hole where it was supposed to lay.

The heartache wasn't only contained to her heart.

Oh, no.

How she longed just for that.

But it was pushing through her whole body, tangling into every corner of her soul and every crease of her body. It was like fire in her veins.

She never wished so hard that she would die.

Stella stumbled forward, a younger fairy walking straight into the back of the broken princess.

"Watch it!" Stella flinched at the cold words and stumbled back a few steps.

No.

As each fairy walked past her, a feeling of fear settled deep into her bones, driving all logic and reasoning away from her.

Every fairy around her had the potential to be a Violet or Bee or Fay. Every person that walked past her could hurt her the same way they did.

Stella felt like she was going to get sick.

She quickly turned on her heal and sprinted in the opposite direction.

Stella wandered the gravel paths of Red Fountain, a school not quite in walking distance from Alfea, but not far away at the same time. She didn't want to go back to Alfea at that moment in time. She wasn't ready, no matter how hard she had prepared herself or how ready she thought she was. It just wasn't possible. The school still had too many memories.

Maybe next year.

She could feel the piercing stares of the men she walked past.

Why were they all staring at her?

Did they know who she was?

Did they know what happened to her?

Maybe she was just too paranoid.

Maybe she was just thinking into the whole situation too much. How could she even be sure that they were staring at her!? It's not like she had looked up from the path below her or through her growing hair.

She hated her hair.

Stella much liked her long hair better. Short hair just made her look chubby, even though that wasn't the truth. Her long hair could help hide her face in these awkward situations as well. With her short hair, she was left all open and alone. There was no place to hide.

Plus, she kept feeling the breeze at the back of her head. Which was still a very odd sensation for her. She had gone her whole life with the same length of hair. It had been down to her waist, most of the time it hung lower than that. She couldn't even remember a time where her hair wasn't that length. Stella wasn't too sure that there ever was a time that she didn't have long hair.

Maybe she was just born with extremely long hair?

No. She didn't like her thoughts to wander, especially over stupid things like that. It just wasn't right. She could walk into people without paying attention, or do something stupid.

She could be caught of guard.

So, Stella refocused her thoughts and began walking at a fast pace down the path, ignoring what she thought were stares from the students to the school. Her hands were buried deep in her pockets and her face was hung low, her shoulders slumping and her hair attempting to cover her face.

The path that she wandered down was nice. It was a soft and homey feeling and it made her feel all warm inside. It was a feeling she hadn't quite felt in a long time.

It was a small and winding path, filled with people bustling about their business. Some were giving tours to new students while the remaining in uniforms stood around and talked amongst themselves.

The path was lined with marble benches, each a few feet apart from each other. The benches were alternating from the left and right side. The two that were closest to Stella were both beautiful options to sit at; the one on the left hung under and apple tree with the one on the right was pushed into a green shrub. She walked to the bench under the tree and almost immediately regretted her choice.

It was just at the point of a bend in the path, making it viewable by many people. People glanced in her direction as they walked to their destination, making the sun fairy's face burn. Faint whispers from the men walking past her briefly touched her ears, making her long to know what they were saying.

As time passed, Stella grew more and more uncomfortable with the bench she chose. She huffed when one guy decided to sit down right beside her. Stella frowned and shifted uncomfortably.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry," Stella muttered, standing up and practically running away. She slowed her pace when she was out of his view and frowned. He was in her year. Or, rather, he was, since she would be a freshmen once again.

Stella walked towards the beautiful and enchanting castle, a feeling of sickness in her stomach. Why had she even bother to come here?

She hated the way people looked at her. Their stares were either ones of disgust or they looked upon her as if she were a broken puppy. She was not at fault for what happened last year, her older brother had told her. In fact, if it was anyone's fault, it would be his. He was the one to break up with Violet a few weeks prior to the incident. He had claimed she was only with him for the possible title and money.

Stella frowned though. If only she wasn't so trusting with the girls. Sometimes, she still thought of it all as her fault.

After all that happened, Stella couldn't trust anybody. Well, not really. Trusting was hard, but there were a few people that she had let in. Her family and servants were let in right away.

Stella walked along the path, her eyes downcast to her shoes. Her pixie cut hair hung around her face in an attempt to hide her expression.

She fell into a rhythm, finding calmness with the scratching gravel under her foot. The soft breeze in her hair made a tiny smile break free, letting the peacefulness of nature take over.

She slammed into something hard, throwing her off her balance and sending her to the ground. Her hands skidded painfully along the ground, drawing blood from the tiny scratches now in her palms.

"Ow," the blonde said lamely.

"Miss, you're not allowed to be on school grounds unless you're an enrolled student." The man paused to look at her. "Which, is not the case." Stella cringed at the tone of voice he used; he sounded like he was really not impressed.

Great, Stella thought, just great.

He held out his hand for her to take, pulling her to her feet once again.

"I'm Brandon of Eraklyon," the brown haired student told me, a charming smile on his face. "And you are?"

"Princess Stella of Solaria," I introduced.

"May I ask what you are doing here?" he asked, his eyebrow raised. I shifted uncomfortably.

"It was the next stop on the bus," she replied sheepishly. "I'll just be on my way now. Sorry."

"Do I know you from somewhere?" A feeling of pain and shame washed in her stomach and Stella forcibly pulled her hand out of his.

"Good bye," she said shortly, turning around. She took one step forward and the same warm grip was back on her arm.

"I'm sorry, you just seem to have one of those faces. I must've gotten it confused with someone else." He studied her face and a soft smile appeared on his. "A similar face, yet unique and filled with beauty." Stella let out a little breath of air and a smile lifted her lips.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, but it wasn't because of fear.

Her hands were sweating and cold, but she didn't want to run away.

Her cheeks were red, but not from embarrassment.

"Thank you," Stella whispered, looking towards her shoes. Brandon took a small step towards her. "I- I like your shoes." He laughed and Stella looked up at him.

Wow.

Was he ever gorgeous when he laughed. He was gorgeous in general.

It made her heart stop and made her stomach flip. She was filled with a feeling she hadn't quite felt for a while.

Trust.

What made it about Brandon that she felt like she could trust him?

It wasn't a high amount of trust, but it was more than she usually put in others. She wanted to hang around him and get to know him. She wanted to be able to trust him further.

"I know this really amazing coffee shop in Magix, not too far of a walk away from The Jam. Do you want to meet me there after the orientation?" Brandon asked, clearly thinking along the same thing as Stella. Another smile lifted up Stella's face and Brandon felt his heart stop.

She was even more angelic when she smiled.

"I'd love to, Brandon." Stella felt something inside of her shift and an overwhelming feeling of happiness filled her. "I'll meet you there after both of our orientations finish."

And there we have it!

I'm not sure how dark it was, but I apologise for having a darker opening than the close. I really wanted to dramatically portray the change of Stella over time. The original stage of confusion (flashback), of numbness (opening), of hurt and pain (Alfea), of discomfort (Red Fountain) and the changing stage (Brandon).

I do really (REALLY) want to explore more of the Brandon/Stella dynamic for this setting and situation. I'd love to see how they play out and I'd love to show more of Stella's progress. Maybe in a bit, I'll come back and add more chapters.

Just a note on Brandon/Stella: I think that bonds in the Magic Dimension are instant. Almost like love at first sight, if you will. You see the person and you instantly feel like they're the one thing that was missing from your life. Your bonded. As you progress as an individual and as a team, your bond will strengthen and your love will deepen. That is why Stella feels like she could instantly trust Brandon to a degree.

Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate some feedback and some comments :)

Lots of love,

Paw