A/N: I don't own Winx Club.

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A crashing sound came from the living room, followed by a lot of cursing. Bloom nervously peeked around the corner to see Baltor shaking Kiko whilst glaring at her.

"This had better be the last time this furball goes anywhere near my plants!" He exclaimed, scowling and shoving the rabbit at her before going to find a broom to sweep up the broken pieces of clay pot that were lying all over the floor. A broken-stemmed rose lounged miserably half a foot away.

Relieved that he hadn't lost his patience completely, she took the wriggling bunny with a small smirk, "Y'know, for a guy, you get way too protective over flowers." She turned to Kiko, who looked at her guiltily, "And you. You know better than to piss off Mr. All-Powerful Wizard." A moment of quiet, and then he was scrambling over her shoulder. He fell to the floor and lie there for a few seconds, dazed, before running back to Bloom's room.

"Take him out. He's done enough damage in my house." Baltor said as he pushed past her, towards the mess, long hair swinging in a ponytail behind him. She took a moment to admire the way it looked against his shirt before answering:

"'Kay. Are you gonna join us at the park?"

"Probably not. I have to go and buy seedlings. Without thinking, he picked the flower up off the ground and then swore. "Damn thorns…"

"Okay. I'll call you if I need you. Bye," she swooped down to give him a swift kiss on the cheek, then ran off to catch Kiko.

"Goodbye," he called, turning to admire the exposed skin of her lower back. Should he really let her out in a shirt that…flaunt-y?

[-M-]

"All right, you," said Bloom to the bunny as she pedaled, trying to talk and avoid cars all at once, "I'm gonna let you loose when we get there, and you had better not run off. You're not street-smart." She punctuated this statement with a fond pet to his head, to which he responded with a noise of pleasure. Bloom laughed, "See? A wild bunny wouldn't – oh!" She swerved dangerously, putting both hands back onto the handlebars and apologizing profusely to anyone nearby.

"Sheesh, we really should watch where we're going, right Kiko?" A non-committal grunt was the reply, causing her to sigh and go on, "All right, I should watch where I'm going. But, really, it's your fault that we got kicked out in the first place." A light snore was heard from the basket that sat between her handlebars, causing her to scowl at the snoozing animal. "Oh, sure, now you're all calm. But when we're inside…" The one-person conversation continued like this all the way to the park, where she rested the bike against a tree, gathered up the rabbit, kneeled, and promptly dropped him onto the hard ground.

Terrified eyes stared up at her in a 'why did you do that to me?' fashion, but ignored them and muttered something along the lines of 'Couldn't resist…' to herself. As Kiko started to explore his new surroundings, Bloom lie down on the grass and gazed lazily at the tree branches.

It was so peaceful here. This town was just…delightfully normal. Everyone kept their noses out of other's business, there wasn't any paranoia about people finding out about her and Baltor; they could just…be a couple. Until, of course, she left for Alfalfa, or whatever that school's name was. She wasn't particularly excited about going – with Baltor's help, the spells would be very simple; he'd told her that the first year's lessons would be somewhat of a cakewalk for her. (And that phrasing merited a full-on laugh in his face, so they never really got to discussing very much serious stuff afterwards.) Obviously, some of the girls attending would have gotten magic lessons before, and a good amount of experience, which she, practicing in constant secrecy, wouldn't have very much of.

She had a good few more minutes of quiet before a familiar, annoying noise warned her that her blue pet was charging at her. She sat up and caught the creature right when he leaped at her. Holding the panicking bunny, she glared into the wood out of which he had come running. Not seeing anything, she raised an eyebrow at the rabbit in her arms. He almost whirr-ed at her, pointing frantically at the trees and jumping frantically, then scrambling off of her lap and tugging her pants to get her to come look.

She frowned, "Don't tell me it's another squirrel. Because I am not gonna get pelted with acorns again." The response was an even louder insistence and more pulling on her jeans. "Alright, fine, let's go look."

"Damn it – Rising Sun Burst!"

Bloom stared at the fairy – clad in a very scanty, sparkly outfit, complete with overly-long, golden ponytails, wings, and glowing scepter – who was, quite flamboyantly, battling a small army of ghouls. Her whole being radiated with a brightness that was almost difficult to observe for a moment, and then an intense light filled the clearing, leaving a smoking, burnt spot in the grass when it disappeared. Bloom gaped. If that was what it took to finish these guys off, then she was definitely out-matched. Not to mention out-numbered.

Across from the blonde, hidden in shadow, was an enormous, threatening figure, accompanied by several more of the spindly, cat-shaped ghouls. A drawn-out grunt – which may have intended as a growl – made Bloom involuntarily twitch, and grip the tree in front of her more tightly. "Dangerous… Damn it, why did I leave my phone at home?" Bloom muttered, gritting her teeth when the red-skinned ghouls advanced towards the unknown girl.

"Solar Wind Blast!"

"Although, it seems like she's doing fine without help…" the red-head watched angry, hissing creatures fly in all directions upon contact with the blast that seemed to emit from the base of the scepter that the fairy was wielding.

A loud roar was the introduction to a massive yellow ogre, who's small, beady eyes fixed on his opponent. Bloom winced and tried to hide better.

"In case you didn't notice, Solaria's power is far superior to your own. So I suggest you back down." Gripping the now-shining staff close to her, the blonde glared at the repulsive thing, narrowing her eyes when he started charging. A gruff response was the stranger's only warning before she was knocked clear across the clearing.

"Bring me her scepter!" roared the monster, gesturing commandingly towards the fallen girl. Obediently, the pack attacked, holding the fairy down and allowing their boss to pick up the still-active rod, which grew to accommodate the ogre's soccer-ball-sized hands. "Now that we've got it, it's your turn to back down," the creature leered.

"Enough is enough," Bloom said, strutting out from behind her hiding place without thinking. "Hey! Get away from her!" Concentrating hard, she formed a pulsing ball of energy and threw it as hard as she could at the monster. It didn't really do much, besides leave an angry, red burn on his arm.

He laughed, stalking over and grabbing her by her wrists with one hand and lifting her off the ground. "Trying to play the hero? You're not very good at it. Mind your own business!" He swung her over to where he'd been before, ignoring her exclamation of pain.

Bloom grit her teeth and tried to kick the ogre, with no success. "Let me GO!" A fluttering, tickling sensation started right behind her breastbone and spread through her entire body. The next thing she knew, every living thing had been knocked a good distance away. Startled, she looked around in time to see three angry, snarling ghouls running at her, clawed forelegs extended to slice what they could. "Back off!" she screamed, extending one arm in a 'go-away' gesture, unknowingly triggering a blast of her own that caused the three to disintegrate right before her eyes.

"Not bad," said the pigtailed girl, picking her scepter up off the ground and smiling at Bloom. "But it makes a much bigger impact if you call out the names of the attacks when you use them."

"Never done that before," said Bloom, raising her eyebrows at her hands in surprise and looking up at the fairy from her place of the ground, where she'd landed after the magic use wore her out.

Her already-raised eyebrows went up even higher when the stranger collapsed right next to her, glowing gold and changing into something less revealing, but even more strange-looking. The girl felt her now-loose hair and smiled sheepishly at Bloom. "Uh, don't suppose you can get back up and kick butt again?"

"Uh – ah!" Bloom kicked hard, trying to shake off the ghoul that was biting into her leg. It seemed futile, since the creature was holding on not only with its fangs, but also with both front talons. There wasn't even another second of struggle, because just then, the thing was shoved off of her, as if by some invisible force. It flew all the way across the clearing, landing behind the ogre, who was, by now, fully recovered from the shock of being shown-up by an Earth girl.

"That was a warning shot," Baltor said, restlessly fisting his hands and coming up in front of Bloom. More ghouls leaped at them, but they were all destroyed before they could even get close, disintegrating in the air with a series of effortless gestures on the wizard's part.

The three remaining ones, one of which had a large part of Bloom's bloody pant leg in its jaws, clustered behind the ogre, recognizing an enemy that they couldn't defeat. The large monster scowled, clapping his hands together with a foreboding 'This isn't over!' and disappeared in a vortex of pink light.

Without comment, Baltor turned and lifted Bloom, chanting something that soon had them back in the apartment. He carefully set her down on the couch and offered their guest a chair before summoning a First-Aid kit and getting to work on the girls' numerous scrapes and burns.

"As I say this, I get the feeling that I'll be saying it again in the future." He sighed, "What happened?"

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A/N: I've been pressing a lot harder when playing the guitar, and now my calluses hurt. They're peeling.

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