Hey, Butterflies! I'm back with Chapter 10. I can't believe this story has lasted ten chapters. To me, that's a milestone regardless of the final length. Anyways, here's the chapter.
Disclaimer: Winx Club belongs to Iginio Straffi and RAI.
The cold wind dries Anna Blossom's eyes as she steps off the bus. Her one suitcase in hand, she approaches the looming pink gates. Breathe, focus. Breathe, focus. The gates grow taller as she gets closer. Her stomach is knotting itself faster than she can control her nerves. She feels sick. Like a stranger walking into a place xe knows xe does not belong. Tears form in her eyes due to the cold, but the tears only sting her eyes more than the actual cold. The walk to the gates seems to grow longer with each step. Breathe, focus. Breathe, focus. But what is there to focus on? Her steps? The very steps that are agonizingly slow? The cold? The very cold that freezes all who feel it from the inside?
Anna Blossom finds herself face to face with the gates. Her stomach tightens. No. What was she thinking? Without a word, Anna Blossom races away from the gates and eventually finds herself at a headstone in the quiet forest surrounding Alfea. Anna Blossom kneels in front of it to read the name. Headmistress Faragonda, it reads, although she cannot make out what it says underneath it, but from what it looks like, it appears to be a set of dates.
"You must be the headmistress whose portrait I saw. I'm Anna Blossom," the teenager introduces herself to the headstone, as if somehow the spirit of Ms. Faragonda will hear her. "I wish I could have known you, Ms. Faragonda." After a minute of quiet and stillness by the headstone, Anna Blossom stands, collects her bag, and returns to the gates. She has to go in a some point. Better now than later.
Inside the gates, a very stern looking Headmistress Griselda meets Anna Blossom. When the headmistress sees Anna Blossom, however, she suddenly looks surprised.
"Anna Blossom, we weren't expecting you to return."
"I'm sorry, Headmistress. I thought King Thoren called you earlier to inform you." Griselda shakes her head. "He's a busy man; I'm sure he simply forgot. Is my being here problematic, Headmistress?"
"No, not at all, although you might want to talk to Celine and Pixel about room assignments." Anna Blossom lifts an eyebrow quizzically at the headmistress, who just wishes her luck and sends Anna Blossom on her way.
When Anna Blossom enters the dorm common space, she immediately understands the headmistress's words. Celine is busy moving her belongings into the room Anna Blossom had had all to herself. Celine, however, stops using magic to move things, causing them to drop to the floor, when she sees Anna Blossom. Anna Blossom, in response, smiles weakly and offers to help Celine move her belongings back to her room. Celine shakes her head and then starts using her magic to move her stuff back into her room with Pixel. As Celine walks away, Anna Blossom tries to apologize, but Celine simply brushes her off. Anna Blossom nods acceptingly and waits for Celine to finish.
After Celine finishes, Anna Blossom locks herself in her room. There no one can see her at her most vulnerable. She left an environment behind where she was not wanted, only to find herself in a similar environment. After all the convincing King Thoren did on her behalf to convince Queen Daphne to let her return, all Anna Blossom can feel is self-loathing and the fear that she is being ungrateful to her king. Knees folded into her chest, Anna Blossom tries to connect with her powers, but all she feels is the pull of two powers never meant to coexist. If she could just transform one time, then all would be well, or so she hoped. If she could just get control of her powers, then maybe she would not be such a freak or such a danger.
There is a knock at her door, so Anna Blossom asks who is there. Kadence replies, and she asks if Anna Blossom wants to go the library with her. Truthfully, Anna Blossom does not want to go anywhere, but she also knows that Kadence is trying in earnest to be her friend. Swallowing, Anna Blossom accepts Kadence's offer, and the two make their way to the library. There, Kadence checks out a few fiction books, but she also checks out a book on Guardian Fairies; when Anna Blossom asks about it, Kadence replies that she is simply curious as to why Guardian Fairies are given the title Princess when some are not actually royalty. This surprises Anna Blossom, and she asks Kadence to let her know what she finds out. While they are at the library, Anna Blossom also checks out a book on the Dragon Flame, thinking that since the Nymphs of Magix all have the Dragon Flame in them, then finding out what opposes the Dragon Flame will give her an idea as to what her other powers are and, hopefully, how she got them.
After dinner that evening, Anna Blossom asks the girls if they remember Celine's suggestion about getting their mothers to meet up again. They all say that they remember, but they also all seem wary of what Anna Blossom is saying. Anna Blossom continues, recalling that the others' mothers were all Winx Club members, and that she thinks she can figure out who her mother might be by process of elimination. They go around the group. Celine's mother is Stella, Rima's is Roxy, Kadence's is Musa, Antheia's is Flora, and Marina's is Aisha. When they get to Pixel, the room goes quiet.
"My mother's name was Tecna," she says cooly.
"I'm so sorry, Pixel," Anna Blossom replies. "I had no idea."
"It's fine, Anna Blossom. I hardly knew her; the cancer got her when I was still young."
"Pixel," Antheia starts.
"Don't, Antheia. This is why I didn't tell anyone." A moment of awkward silence passes before Anna Blossom concludes that her mother is either Bloom, Queen Daphne, or completely unrelated to the Winx Club. What she does not say is that since she has to be related to her queen in some way in order to be eligible for both the throne and the title Nymph of Domino, her mother is either Queen Bloom of Eraklyon or Queen Daphne of Domino. It is not a definite answer, as for all she knows, her mother could also be a distant relative of the Queen's, but it is a start.
That's the end of Chapter 10. Who do you think Anna Blossom's mother is? Let me know in the reviews. Thank you all so much for reading. Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. I love you all so much.