"Are we there yet?" Stormy asked again, the storm witch's already thin patience was worn out.
"Stormy, for the last time, stop your witching!" Icy snapped at her youngest sister, the ice witch stopping mid-step to take in her surroundings.
"But we've been walking forever!" Stormy groaned, shuffling her feet.
"It would be easier if we had magic," Darcy remarked off-handedly, the witch of darkness and illusions brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face.
"How dare that pixie Flora throw us in the Black Willow river!" Stormy snarled, grabbing her now-pigtailed hair in annoyance.
"You're telling me. I forgot how much we all looked like pixies as kids." Darcy muttered darkly, pushing up her recently obtained huge, round glasses.
"Would you two shut up?" Icy yelled, turning to her sisters, hands balled into fists at her sides.
"Sorry, Icy…" they mumbled, Stormy's eyes cast downward, Darcy looking and sounding indifferent.
"Look, we can't go back to Baltor looking like this," Icy stated, emphasizing their now-child forms.
"Ugh, you're right. None of us would have a chance then." Darcy replied quietly.
Stormy just looked down and shook her head in anger. "What should we do, then? We can't change ourselves back without our magic!"
Darcy put her hand to her chin in deep thought. Noticing her younger sister's contemplation, Icy clawed Stormy as she started to have a cat fit again.
"Shut it, Stormy! Darcy's thinking!" she hissed into her ear. Stormy immediately shut her mouth, sorely rubbing the spot where Icy had scratched her; she felt noticeable claw-marks from Icy's nails and resentfully crossed her arms.
Darcy walked over to a nearby tree, leaning against it absently. "Remember when we talked about the Black Willow in class?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Of course not, D, you're the only one who ever paid attention in class!" Stormy laughed, then cringed, expecting another blow from Icy.
Instead, Icy walked up to Darcy and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Storm's right…for once. Tell us, O Great Darcy, what do you know that we don't?" she teased her sister.
Darcy sighed, closing her eyes. "What I know that you two, once again, don't, is that the magic from the Willow's tears are temporary." Stormy walked closer, one eyebrow raised.
"So we have to wait?" she asked impatiently.
"Exactly, sisters. We'll wait right here until the magic wears off and then we'll come up with an…explanation…on the way back." Icy smugly put forth, closing her eyes and putting her hands on the back of her head as if she'd thought of it all by herself.
"Here? But there aren't any beds!" Stormy objected.
"And the nearest town is miles from here," Darcy mentioned.
"So here it is." Icy growled, growing impatient again. Not to mention tired. "Though Stormy has a point…for the second time today. It's almost nightfall, and I refuse to sleep in the dirt." Icy said, examining her nails, which, thanks to Flora, were now short and unpolished.
"What about a tree?" Stormy asked, a bit rhetorically.
"Stormy…you've just lost your smart streak. And it was the longest one by far. We are not sleeping in a tree."
Darcy shook her head. "Am I the only one who has the solution to our problems?" She threw her hands up in the air and stalked off, a wave of darkness and negative energy following her.
"Where's she going?" Stormy inquired, squinting her eyes as Darcy's form gradually faded among the trees.
"Don't worry about it, she'll come back soon, and with an answer. She always does." Icy brushed off the question.
Awhile later, Darcy emerged from the forest, leaves in her now-short hair, cursing quietly to herself as she strode toward her sisters, dragging a makeshift tent behind her.
"Wicked, Darcy!" Stormy called, giving her the thumbs-up sign. Darcy shot her a dark look that would make even the bravest person flinch and dropped the tent, brushing the leaves from her hair.
"So we're sleeping in this thing?" Icy demanded, kicking the tent speculatively, glancing at her sister.
"Yeah. I managed to collect enough materials and focus all the magic I have in this form, which is tragically little, to construct it. Hope you like it." she mumbled moodily.
"How do we get inside?" Stormy was on her hands and knees, her face an inch above it as she peered at the tent, looking for an entrance.
"It's not put up yet, genius." Icy rolled her eyes.
"Since I don't have any left, why don't you two make yourselves useful and use what magic you have to set it up?" Darcy commented, dropping to the ground and crossing her legs, leaning against a tree again. The intensity of her stare and infallible logic left them no choice but to oblige, though they did so reluctantly.
"Storm, get on that side and give it a go. I'll do the same here." Icy ordered, planting her feet firmly apart and on the ground. Stormy copied her stance, and after a few minutes of cursing at their lack of powers, the tent was finally up.
"Well, at least that's done! I could use a nap," Stormy yawned as she leaned against the side of the shelter.
"Stormy, no!" The other two shouted, but it was too late. The tent gave, and the young witch found herself on the ground, the ruined tent beneath her.
"Ugh! Now what?" Icy threw her hands up, grumbling to herself about her sister's forgetfulness.
"Now, we put it up without magic," Darcy replied, eyes closed as she sighed.
"You mean the way non-magical humans do everything?" Stormy balked, incredulous.
"Nu-uh, don't even start your witching again. It's your fault in the first place!" Darcy hissed at her, walking over as she stood up and poking her hard in the chest. Stormy slapped her hand away.
"Well, you should have made it stronger!" she retaliated, baring her teeth and getting in Darcy's face. Darcy smiled mockingly at her, then threw out her hand, shoving Stormy away with a dark pulse. It wasn't very powerful because of the situation, but Stormy's smaller form took the hit head-on as she flew a few feet and landed against a rock.
"Ouch! I thought you didn't have any magic left!" Stormy complained, clutching her stomach and back in pain.
"I lied. I saved just enough for when you did something idiotic and tried to blame it on me. Like you always do." Darcy snickered triumphantly.
"Alright, cool it, you two," Icy chuckled, throwing a small icicle in their direction. Their eyes went wide in surprise as they dodged just in time, the icicle smashing against the rock. "And I saved that for when you two started fighting. Which you always do."
"Why didn't I think of that?" Stormy grumbled, slowly getting to her feet.
"That is because you rarely think." Darcy said simply, brushing dirt off her skirt.
"Don't start again. Who knows, I might have one left." Icy put her hands on her hips. "Now, let's get this over with." A few minutes later…
"Ow! That doesn't go there!"
"How do you know?"
"Because I made it, idiot!"
"D, S, you're both wrong. It goes here."
At the same time: "Ouch!"
"That is not where it goes!"
"Calm down, I found it!" Stormy grinned and shoved the last stick into the ground through the support hole which was surprisingly hard to find.
"That's where I-oh, never mind!" Darcy huffed. "It's getting dark," she observed, a noticeable, very un-Darcy-like apprehension in her voice.
"Let's just get in," Icy yawned, not noticing her sister's strangeness. "It's getting cold, too," her voice wavered slightly before she cleared her throat.
"And it looks like it's about to-" Stormy was cut off by a very close strike of lightning and a rumble of thunder. "Eek! Let's get inside, let's get inside!" she shrieked, practically tearing open the tent to get in.
"Ha! What's wrong, Stormy? Afraid of a little-" Icy shivered uncontrollably as the temperature dropped, signaling the approach of night and shattering her focus of humiliating her sister. "I-I'm going in." she muttered and climbed in.
"You two are such pix-oh…" Darcy blinked as the sun finally vanished from sight and the world slowly gave way to darkness. She blinked again, crossing her arms over her chest, then calmly turned and entered the tent without another word.
"I guess when we got turned back into kids we got our…fears…back." Stormy whispered. Icy scratched her.
"I told you never to mention that again!" she practically roared.
"Sorry, I just-"
"No, don't say anything else!"
"Sisters, chill. Woah. For a minute there, I sounded like you, Ice." Darcy chuckled. "Listen, we only have a few hours left until sunrise and the magic should wear off by then." The dark witch shrugged her shoulders and lay down on the left of Icy.
"Let's just go to sleep, then," Icy said, more calm now as she lay on her back. Stormy lay on her other side, facing away from the other two. For a moment, they relaxed.
Then the fear crept backing as another strike of lightning hit, followed by a roar of thunder. The Trix quietly sat up and glanced at each other.
"Icy…Darcy…" Stormy whimpered, very child- and un-Stormy-like.
"I don't think we'll be getting much sleep tonight, sisters," Icy murmured, shivering. Darcy closed her eyes for a moment then opened them.
"It's so dark…I can't tell the difference when I close my eyes." she noted.
"It's freezing in here," Icy rubbed her arms.
"The thunder's too loud, the lightning's too bright!" Stormy suddenly wailed, shocking Icy by leaning on her shoulder. Hesitantly, Icy began stroking Stormy's unbelievably frizzy hair. Who knew the storm witch was afraid of storms as a child? Icy thought.
To her left, she heard an almost silent sigh of despair. Did Darcy know she was comforting Stormy? Reaching out slowly, she grabbed her sister's hand with her free one, squeezing it in reassurance as she continued to stroke Stormy's hair.
She felt Darcy stiffen, and for a moment, Icy felt the fear again. But it wasn't fear of the cold. It was of how her sister would react. After all, supporting each other was a very, very un-witchy thing to do, and highly frowned upon since it was always considered every witch for herself. But they were sisters, as Stormy was clearly showing. They'd known each other forever, and surely this was an exception?
Darcy turned to look at her oldest sister, but she could only make out her vague outline. "Icy…" she said uncertainly. Who knew the witch of darkness used to be so scared to watch the night?
"Just like when we were kids, right?" Icy replied shakily. And who knew the witch of ice used to be so afraid of the cold? "Remember, when one of us got scared of the cold, the dark, or a storm, we'd all climb in bed together and tell each other not to worry? That we were sisters, that we were together and that nothing could ever separate us? Darce, that's still true. Don't worry."
"Yeah, don't worry, Darcy," Stormy piped up. "We're together and we'll protect each other." Icy saw Darcy stiffen again, and her worry grew. Had becoming witches separated them as sisters? She'd never thought of it before. Darcy looked down, in deep thought. After a tense minute, she nodded and slowly, hesitantly, leaned on Icy's other shoulder, restoring Icy's confidence as she briefly squeezed her hand in assurance. Stormy moved so that they were sitting in a triangle and grabbed her sisters free hands.
"Nothing will separate us, right?" she asked innocently. All their thoughts went to their plans, their shared hunger for power, the power of the dragon fire, to Baltor… But that was just it. None of them could see themselves with ultimate power without each other. It just wasn't possible.
"Right." they replied. They genuinely smiled for the first time in years. The next morning, they found the magic of the Black Willow had worn off, restoring their powers and conquered fears that they now controlled as witches.
Together they destroyed the tent with their returned powers, which, incidentally, seemed stronger before sharing a quick glance. They would never speak of this again, so long as something like this never happened again, that is. And as long as Stormy kept her mouth shut.