Warning: Some of the content inside this chapter is quite dark (including mentions of death and illness) especially towards the end. Hence the T rating. You have been warned.

Chapter 3

A Summer Worth Forgetting

Flora continued to wipe Musa's brow. Her body was slowly recovering on the outside but the inside was a total wreak. Flora didn't know what Musa had been through and what caused her to be in this position now, but, what she did know, was that if she didn't wake up soon only more trouble would come. The last thing she wanted was to lose one of her friends, especially like this.

Out of all the Winx Club members Musa was probably the most confident when it came to fighting and would do anything for a friend in danger. But now that she was in danger it unnerved Flora and the others to the core. The other girls were all at the cafeteria. Flora decided to stay by her side until she woke up. She desperately wanted Helia to be there, to hold her as she cried, to comfort her in his arms but now it seemed that Magix was miles away. Her head and her heart were here now.

Just as she pat her forehead again Musa's eyes began to twitch. "Musa!" Flora exclaimed. "Musa can you hear me?" She asked, trying desperately to get her to wake up. "It's Flora, sweetie please open your eyes." Musa finally complied, opening her eyes to the concerned voice hovering above her. "Musa?"

"Flora," Musa said softly. Flora began to tear at the sight of her friend awake.

"Musa, how do you feel?" Musa tried to sit up slightly before she grimaced making Flora take a hold of her arm and help her up. "I feel terrible," she said simply, "where's my dad?"

The other girls were walking back from the cafeteria, when they saw Musa awake though instead of smiling all they did was watch in silence. Musa was sobbing uncontrollably into Flora's shoulders as she whispered sweet nothings into her ear to try and slow her breathing. Flora's hand rubbed small circles on her back as she held back the tears that threatened to fall from her own eyes.

Layla had only ever seen Musa cry twice; once when she had an argument with her father about leaving Alfea and the other when Tecna closed the Omega Dimension portal on her home realm. Now, seeing her this vulnerable once again made her heart skip a beat. If this is what those people could do to the strong-willed fairy Musa, what could they do to the rest of them?

After the doctor checked Musa over one more time he discovered that she was fine and would be able to go home but only if she took her medications daily and rested. Flora said that she would make sure Musa followed her Doctor's orders and the group all returned to Alfea. Musa was still weak and found it hard to walk too far without needing help from the other girls. They didn't mind helping and were just happy to have her home again.

Musa went straight into her room. She closed the door and looked around the walls that once held happiness. They seemed to have drifted still. It was as if she had no purpose anymore. Now she was the last remaining family member, her mother had died of an illness when she was only a kid, now her father was dead and she was the only one left, alone in the world.

While Musa got reacquainted with her room the other girls all sat in the lounge room. "What do we do?" Bloom asked. "We need to help cheer her up but how?"

"Maybe seeing Riven would help." Stella suggested. "Then all the boys could come over."

"No," Flora sighed, "she told me not to tell Riven anything when she found out about... you know who." She looked to Musa's door. "We need to give her some time to process what happened to her."

"But," Layla began, "shouldn't we ask her about what happened? Maybe talking about it would help." It was a strange situation for them. They had fought in war, against evil and dark wizards and witches, saved Alfea and the magical dimension on several occasions. But they had never dealt with the loss that only death could bring. And all of them felt powerless. Layla, Flora, Bloom, Stella and Tecna all had both of their parents, Musa now had none. What were they supposed to say to help the situation when none of them truly understood what it was like in Musa's shoes and who didn't really want to learn through first hand experience?

Another week of resting at Alfea, Musa still wasn't getting any better. Her room was so silent that a pin could be heard dropping. Sheet music littered the floor. The keyboard, flute, DJ mixing stations and speakers all gathering a new layer of dust that should never have been there. Like her father blamed music for the death of her mother Musa was blaming herself and music for the death of her family.

Eventually it got to the point where Flora decided that maybe Layla's suggestion of asking her about what happened would be better. And so she organised a spare with her teacher and entered Musa's room. Musa was crying into her pillow, she was exhausted; she hadn't slept for days. Her eyes dropped to the floor begging for sleep but every time she placed her head down to the pillow and closed her eyes she only thought of what happened as a nightmare. Flora's face was more concerned than she had ever been. She sat next to the music fairy and placed her hand on Musa's hair.

"Musa," she sighed sadly. "You can't keep going on like this... it isn't healthy for you to keep everything all bottled up inside you. It is eating away at you. Please tell me what happened." Musa sat up and looked to her friend.

"I don't know where to start," she sighed.

"How about at the beginning," Flora suggested, taking the hairs out of Musa's eyes.

"It was a great day," Musa began, "I was just coming home from the shops with groceries and a few CD's that I wanted to get all year. When I got home I saw my dad lying on the ground. I dropped the bags and ran over to him."

"DAD!" Musa called turning him to face her. "DAD WAKE UP!" she begged but he didn't respond. It was then that she heard a chuckle coming from above her making her head tilt to see the culprits. Smiling demonically from above Icy, Darcy and Stormy watched as tear after tear escaped her eyes and rolled down her face. "Well, well, well, look who finally showed up," Darcy laughed.

"What did you do to him?" Musa yelled. "TELL ME!"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Suddenly Musa was sent flying against the wall by one of Stormy's lightning strikes. Landing hard against her back she slid against the wall until she was sitting on the ground and looked to them once more.

"ENCHANTIX!" she yelled as she transformed into her Enchantix form only to be met with an onslaught of attacks by Icy and Darcy.

One of Icy's shards just missed Musa's head and ended up knocking a picture frame from the wall, making it fall and smash into pieces. Musa held her hands before her and released a sonic blast but the two blocked it easily. She tried a sound shield but that didn't work either and eventually the witches had her cornered.

Musa was weak and ended up beside her father urging him to rouse with no results. They attacked her again but Musa refused to give in. She willed her shaking feet to support her body's weight as Darcy used one of her famous illusion spells, conjuring a circle of her mother's image to surround the fallen family.

"No!" She yelled attacking them one at a time. "NO ONE USES MY MOTHERS BODY LIKE THAT!" Just then she felt something sharp sting her back making her fall to her knees and take in heavy breaths. Icy stood over her as Musa looked to her with only her right eye open.

"You think you are such a tough fairy don't you Musa," she smiled before releasing a handful of small black feathers which covered her body and disappeared making Musa's enchantix vanish.

"What did you do" she asked.

"You are powerless now. Those feathers render your Winx useless," Darcy said from behind her.

"Because we have some news for you Musa." Icy began. "Your father is as good as dead. And soon you will get the same fate." The witches all laughed.

"What are you talking about?" Musa asked with an exasperated sigh.

"You will find out soon enough. And then the strong willed, confident fairy will be nothing but a dead speck on the ground. You will be nothing Musa but a burden to your friends, your death will cause them so much pain. But right now," Darcy pointed her hand to her head with a smirk, "I think it is time to show you."

Images flooded Musa's head making her hands clench around her skull to try and relieve the pressure. She relived her mother death, the attacks that they used on her father moments before and then, the most horrifying of them all, Musa lying pure white in a hospital bed dying. She saw her friends crying, some falling to their knees in grief before the image changed to show her gravestone.

"NNNNNOOOO!" Musa yelled. "No you are lying to me!"

"This is the truth," Darcy laughed. "This is your future. Embrace it Musa, because you will be next." Musa looked to the witches as her body shivered on the carpet below her aching body, her vision fading like a dream. Then as they cackled one last time and left through the front door her vision went completely black.

Flora was stunned. She and the others had thought of the possible attacks the witches would have used but none of them compared to being shown the not-so-near future of her demise. "M-Musa," Flora began, finally saying something to break the silence. "What if that wasn't your real future?"

"Flora." she sighed. "That dream felt so real. I felt everything. For a moment I felt my heart stop beating in my chest. I died Flora. I died and if my neighbours hadn't heard the battle and saved us I would be dead right now."

"Musa," Flora hugged her friend as she cried again, "we promise that nothing will happen to you."

"You can't make that kind of promise." Suddenly Mrs. Faragonda entered the room with a knock making Musa wipe away a tear.

"Girls," she began simply. "I am afraid that I have some more bad news." Flora was in complete disbelief, what could possibly be any worse than what she just heard?

"What is it Mrs Faragonda?" Flora asked

"Musa, Ophelia the school nurse got your test results back and they aren't good." Musa tried to stand but her legs wouldn't let her. Flora swallowed hard before taking Musa's hand in hers and asking the question that sat on both of their lips.

"What did they say?" She asked. Mrs Faragonda began explaining.

"Musa there is something that has been placed in your blood. It was also in your fathers." She paused. "Musa your mother died of an illness that just showed up out of nowhere. Your father wasn't killed by the witches, all they did was attack him but they didn't kill him because they didn't have to..."

"What are you trying to say?" Musa asked.

"The illness that took your mother's life also took your fathers and that same illness is in your blood." Tears welled in Musa's eyes as she realised what that meant. "It took longer to affect your father, your mother got the disease very early but now it is in your blood."

"So I am going to die." Musa said in no more than a whisper before she took her hand away from Flora's. "I am going to die is that what you are saying?!"

"Musa I am not sure how this will affect you but..."

"Miss F you don't understand. The witches said that I would die. They showed me my future; they showed me how it was going to happen. Are you saying that they were right?" Flora stood and placed her hands on Musa's shoulders to calm her down but Musa shook them off. "Why do I bother living at all," she said and ran from the room and down through the quad.

The other Winx girls were walking when they saw Musa running off into the forest. "Musa? What's wrong?" Tecna asked but she was too late. Musa was already on her way.

"I wonder what's wrong." Bloom said worried when Flora followed.

"Did any of you see Musa pass this way?" Flora panted doubling over with her hands on her knees.

"She went to the forest why?" Stella asked.

"It is hard to explain but quickly we have to find her."

"Why? What happened?" Tecna asked again, very concerned.

"I think she is going to get herself killed."

AN: Will the girls find Musa in time? Please tell me what you think so I know to continue. Thanks for reading.