Episode I: The Fall of the Three
Chapter 1: Flora's Friend
It's a beautiful morning. The storm, which was raging near the school of Alfea a couple of days ago, is gone. The shining sun is reflected by puddles, gathered in the yard of the large building, remaining sole witnesses of what happened the last couple of nights. But they hide it as well. The footprints from the ground of the nearby forest were completely washed away by the seemingly never ending rain.
There's not a single soul on the corridors. Everyone is sitting in one of the classrooms, trying to pay attention to the lesson – but not for much longer. The bells soon ring and the corridors are immediately swarming with life. Some are talking about what they heard – or couldn't hear – during their class, while others are preparing for their upcoming tests, although it's not an easy task with so much noise around them.
Six girls come out of a classroom, a couple of minutes after the rest. Members of the Winx have been waiting for Bloom who had to ask for another explanation of the lesson's subject. Their professor responded in a positive manner, agreeing that understanding the secrets of transferring thoughts is difficult and rare to be achieved after hearing it once.
"I still don't quite get it," Bloom says, thinking the explanation over and over in her mind. "I've seen people hearing each others' thoughts in movies. But I've never heard about actually seeing what the other is seeing."
"It seems people in your world don't have enough fantasy for these kinds of things," Stella counters. "But I'm thinking about nothing but the afternoon."
"Yeah, we could guess," Musa says, followed by agreeing nods from the others. "You told us at least a hundred times how you'll enjoy the plaza."
"A hundred and twenty-nine times," Techna corrects her, making the group laugh.
Of course… Why wouldn't they be in such a good mood? They don't have many classes today, so they should finish by noon. And after that, they are going to spend the whole afternoon with their specialist friends from Red Fountain. Could they even want more than that?
They could. If only these morning classes ended a little sooner… It feels like an eternity before they end at last. When they do, all the fairies flood the corridors in a blink of the eye.
Stella is already full of energy. She immediately rushes to her room, leaving the others behind. By the time her friends catch up with her, she's already looking through her wardrobe.
"What should I wear?" she murmurs, throwing one piece of clothing after the other to the floor. "Not this… Not a chance… No way…"
"Is there a problem, Stella?" Bloom asks.
"Problem? There's nothing but problems. I don't even have a thing to wear."
Musa looks at the growing pile in front of the wardrobe.
"Well, not a thing, exactly. All you have are expensive and beautiful clothes you are throwing away so easily."
"Please, Bloom, I beg you, please help me. I have to wear something. And please, be quick about it. The guys will arrive at any second."
After browsing through Bloom's wardrobe, Stella is forced to pick some clothes from the pile on the floor. She is the last to finish getting ready. She catches up with the others in the yard, making their way to the front gates, chatting happily and making up plans for the afternoon. The only one not sharing their joy is Flora.
"Are you still concerned about Helia?" Bloom asks, when she notices her friend's unhappiness.
Flora merely nods at first, but starts to speak a few moments later.
"I've heard nothing from him in a long time. It seems he doesn't have any interest in me anymore."
Bloom doesn't have an answer for that. She'd like to argue, to comfort her friend, saying she couldn't have been forgotten. But how could she do it, if she didn't know anything about Helia either? Flora suddenly stops.
"Maybe it isn't such a good idea–"
"No way!" Bloom objects, pushing her further towards the front gate. "Don't think we're going to leave you here. I spoke with Sky yesterday and he said they'd bring a new guy along. You may even get along really well."
Meanwhile, a specialist arrives at the front gate of Alfea, travelling on a speeder (or whatever those vehicles are called). He stops and turns in the direction he came from, waiting for the others. His face cannot be seen under his helmet. He's wearing simple, dark clothes, with a black band on his right wrist (the thing worn by tennis players to avoid injuries to their wrists). The girls approach him while he's waiting.
"You sure got here really fast," Stella says, attracting his attention. "Now, who could be under the helmet? No doubt, it's Brandon."
"Don't even think about it," Musa says. "I'm sure it's Riven."
Bloom also joins in with her guess.
"I don't think so. It's obvious he can only be Sky."
The specialist keeps turning his head from one girl to another. He seems not to understand what they are talking about. Finally, he asks:
"Do you greet the first to arrive always like this?"
The specialist's voice isn't like that of Sky, Brandon, nor Riven. The girls stand beside him, confused. At last, Techna starts to speak.
"Sorry, I'm afraid we mixed you up with someone else."
Three more speeders appear on the path leading to Alfea. Three more specialists arrive, parking alongside their friend. The first one of them takes his helmet off, blonde hair glowing in the sun. It's Sky.
"Man, how could you leave us behind so easily?" he asks the stranger with a little annoyance in his voice.
"You don't dare to take full advantage of the width of the path. There's nothing I can do about it. And you didn't even tell me the girls would be waiting for us. I'd have pushed a little harder if I knew that."
The fairies listen to the conversation with great interest. A specialist who is defeating Sky and the others in a speeder competition?
"Where's Timmy?" Techna asks.
"He couldn't keep up," Brandon answers, looking back through his shoulder. "We could only get speeders and he doesn't really like them. He'll be here shortly."
"We're not leaving without him," Sky says, turning toward the stranger once again. "You can get off that speeder and make yourself comfortable."
"Oh my, am I still sitting on this thing? I was feeling so numb I completely forgot."
The stranger gets off his speeder. He's about as tall as the others. He takes his helmet off as well, revealing his short brown hair beneath. He doesn't look more than twenty years old. He looks at the girls with his brown eyes, then bows.
"How rude I am for not introducing myself," he says. "My name's Bart. Nice to meet you."
The girls greet him one by one. There's a flicker of anticipation in Flora's eyes but not as strong as in Layla's. There's no doubt which one of them has more interest in a speeder competition.
"We could get only five speeders, so one of them will have to carry three people," Brandon says. "You'll have to decide, which one, until we wait for Timmy."
Most of the fairies have already known who they wanted to travel with. Only Flora and Layla think about their choices before deciding they would travel with Bart. Eventually, Timmy arrives, too.
"Sorry, if you had to wait for too long," he says. "I have to get used to the speeder."
The others don't want to waste any more time. Who knows how many clothes Stella could buy while they waited for Timmy? They get on the speeders quickly, setting off to the nearby town. They are in such a hurry that none of them notices a little pixie, fighting with all her might to get to the director of Alfea.
The girls spend a beautiful, carefree afternoon in town. Stella immediately hurries toward the plaza, while the others take a walk and sit on the terrace of a cafeteria. The girls all want to know more about Bart, so they ask him question after question. They find out that he lives in a small house farther from the business of the town with his little sister and his parents. For a long time, it seemed that his powers lie deeply hidden or don't exist at all. When those powers appeared a couple of days ago, his parents had him enrolled in Red Fountain. He met Sky and the others in the school who invited him for a little leisure this afternoon.
"He proved to be reliable, so we thought you'd get along," says Sky, interrupting Bart's account. "But he ruined our expectations when he got to Alfea first."
Everyone smiles at this comment. "But I didn't even take any risks," Bart says, raising his hands defensively. "If you told me the girls would be waiting for us, I'd have ridden that speeder much faster." Hearing that, smiles give way to laughs, lasting for quite a while.
"And what do you like doing in your free time?" Layla asks.
"There are lots of things that interest me. You don't want to know how many textbooks I have at home about almost everything. But I really like helping out in the garden."
Flora's eyes sparkle immediately. She's the one asking the next couple of questions, while Layla is at a loss for words. Eventually, they leave the cafeteria for the plaza. But as they get there, Bart starts to feel uneasy.
"What's the problem?" Musa asks as he stops just a couple of meters from the entrance.
"I'm not the type who likes to spend his money on himself. Shopping in the store around the corner is no problem, but the plaza is just not my world."
"If you say so," Timmy says. "But wait for us, will you?"
"Of course."
Bart starts to walk towards a nearby park, while the others go into the plaza. As he gets out of hearing range, the other specialists turn to the fairies and ask: "Opinions?"
Layla only shrugs her shoulders. In the meantime, Flora's face shows indescribable joy.
"Amazing. It was a good idea to come after all," she says as they walk the corridors of the plaza and look for Stella.