Chapter 10: Turnaround
"So..." Bloom slowly began, fiddling with her fingers. Her and Flora had visited Roxy at the Frutti Music Bar to hear how she was doing. Now, they were sitting outside in the cool ocean breeze, with a very tired looking Earth fairy. The girl looked like she was ready to tip over at a moments notice from exhaustion.
"Before you ask, I'm feeling terrible," she said, breaking the awkward pause.
"Right." Bloom paused again, unsure what to say. "Look, I don't know how you feel, but I'd just like to tell you that what happened wasn't your fault."
"It wasn't?" Roxy shot back. "Bloom, I was so sceptical of both you girls and the Black Circle that I thought nothing of keeping that stupid ring." She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I'm out where I can't swim with all this. Yet I still chose to keep the ring. Why? Because a voice in my head directed me to it, so of course it couldn't do something bad to me." She sighed. "I guess I'm more of a hypocrite than I thought. I made the exact same mistake you did. Except you didn't get possessed."
The redhead looked a mite uncomfortable.
"Roxy, the thing is that you cannot go around being sceptical of everything," Flora started. "Sooner or later you will have to choose what to trust. And that will sometimes result in mistakes."
"Yeah, well, usually mistakes don't involve houses being burnt down," the pink-haired girl replied. She paused. "At least, not that often." She shook her head. "Point is, I kept the ring and as a result, people were hurt. How is that not my fault?"
"Believe me, I know how you feel," Bloom said.
Roxy looked sceptical. "How?"
"Well, on my second year, I trusted my teacher, Avalon," the Dominian princess began. "Turns out, he wasn't the same as the teacher from last year, but instead an air elemental that had been given his form by Darkar, the newest incarnation of the Shadow Phoenix. He used my trust to enchant me so he could use me to open the gates of Relix and be reborn as the Great Dragon, so he could reduce the multiverse to its natural state of endless chaos." She paused. "I almost caused the end of the world by putting my trust in the wrong place. Burned down the school library. Hurt people. So yes, I've been there."
It took a couple of moment for Roxy to closer her moth. "Seriously? The heck? Your life sounds like some sort of wacky comic book."
"Believe me, it's not nearly as glamorous as they make it sound on TV," Bloom dryly replied. "Fact is, I wish these things didn't keep happening. It has taken its toll on me."
"These last couple of years have indeed been rather hectic," Flora agreed. "I too wish we could get a normal school year. But things being what they are, we will just have to deal with the problems as they arrive."
"I suppose," Roxy said. "By the way, you girls still have the ring, right?"
"Well, not here, no," the redhead said. "But we have secured in back in our apartment."
"Good. Keep it. Tell me if you find out anything, but otherwise, I want that accursed thing as far away from me as possible," the Earth fairy proclaimed. "I've barely slept from the nightmares. Dad was seriously concerned I caught some sort of virus or something. I mean, to be completely robbed of your own body. That's horrifying."
"On that note, can you tell us anything about the possessor?" Flora asked. "It might help us in the future."
Roxy thought back. "Male voice. And I sensed a lot of hate. But he wasn't very conversational. Or maybe I just didn't know how to communicate with him while I was sealed away inside my own head."
"Interesting. And from his interactions with the Black Circle, it was obvious he had a history with them." Flora paused. "I believe that we can safely hypothesize that he is associated with the White Circle. But that does raise more questions than it answers."
"Well, nothing new there," Bloom mumbled. "Anyway, thanks for the help, Roxy. We'll let you get some peace and quiet now."
"Sounds good," the pink-haired girl replied and yawned. "Think I'll try taking a nap. Maybe I'll be too tired to have nightmares."
...
Ogron stood outside the junkyard's fence, staring contemplatively at the horizon. In the distance, the buildings of the city of Florana could be seen jutting up towards the sky. Months ago, he had wondered if he was getting paranoid, that he was willing to go through all the effort to set up a second fall-back point outside Gardenia. The detour had cost him and Dumon a day of work in Gardenia itself after all. Now, he was happy that he had taken the precaution.
The gravel creaked heavily beside him.
"Hello, Gantlos," the redhead said. "How is Anagan?"
"His arm is still messed up, but he should make a full recovery," the Stetson-wearing man responded. "I take it Dumon has yet to return."
"Indeed."
The two of them stood in silence.
"So, what do we do about Nebula?" the blond inquired.
"As long as he is hijacking Roxy, we will have to sever the connection and destroy the ring." He paused. "And then we can only hope that truly was the last one. Even a single one of those rings could undo everything we have worked for over the last centuries. If one of those rings fell into the wrong hands..." He trailed off.
"We'd go straight back to the old days," Gantlos muttered. He paused, scouting the horizon. "I suspect that eagle is Dumon."
"I believe you are correct."
The bird dove down from the skies and landed not far from them, before assuming the form of the mohawked man. "Hey, boss. Everything going well here?"
"Indeed. Anagan is recovering, so we might have to do the next operation without him," Ogron responded. "Now, your report."
"Well, first of all, I think the girls themselves managed to get Nebula out of Roxy," Dumon started. "She doesn't have the ring anymore and behaves normally, even if she is tired."
"How peculiar. Anything else?"
"Yeah. King Erendor of Eraklyon came visiting," Dumon continued. "Couldn't get close enough to hear what they were talking about, but there was definitely some yelling going on at one point. He paid Bloom's father a big bag of precious stones."
"So Bloom's adopted parents are on the payroll," Gantlos stated.
"Not surprising. Neither is it surprising that some powerful figures are bankrolling this operation," Ogr0n commented, twirling his goatee. "All of that fits what we know of the realms beyond. No, it is the fact that they themselves broke the possession that doesn't fit the pattern."
"Actually, I had a quick word with the two fairies that showed up at the hotel incident," Dumon said. "Boss, I don't think they're working with them."
"I hadn't thought much of it before now, but now that he mentions that, the girl with the scars did refer to Nebula as 'Pinky', probably due to Roxy's hair," Gantlos stated. "It doesn't seem like they knew who he was."
"I see your points." Ogron paused, seemingly deep in thought. "Then what happened? How was Nebula allowed to possess Roxy?"
"Perhaps they don't have as many details as we initially suspected," Gantlos pondered. "We were thorough back in the day, after all."
"I see. Yes, that is a distinct possibility. Even if they know of the ring, they may very well lack the complete knowledge of it." The redhead began pacing. "If they are merely throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, it could explain how they got into contact with him by pure chance. That would also explain the lacking elements of cooperation. If they had truly been united, one would have expected the faeries to have shown up in full force initially, rather than towards the end of the fight. Yes, that does make sense." He paused his wandering. "And that does give us some breathing room. If they have yet to formalize an alliance or even find a proper way to communicate, it will mean they have to operate on a slower pace that we initially feared."
"And it explains why it took them so long to find the ring," Gantlos agreed.
"Indeed. Dumon, do you have an opinion?"
"I don't know, boss," Dumon said with a shrug. "Must admit, this whole situation is getting kinda weird. Gives me some bad vibes, you know."
"I can sympathise. But for now, let us return to Gardenia. We will have to wait for Anagan to recover, but out of all of us, he should have the easiest time catching up," Ogron stated and turned around. "I'll need to go check when the next train for Gardenia leaves."
"Don't think we can rely too much on that holding up, boss. With all that construction at Gardenia stations, they have predicted delays up and down the line for weeks to come," Dumon mentioned, as he and Gantlos followed their superior.
...
The store was filled with the hustle and bustle of shoppers going to and fro, talking, going through wares and arguing loudly about wallpaper. This meant that navigating around was an intricate dance of careful movements, which would not at all be improved by everyone having their own ideas about how to follow the shopping list.
It felt almost homely to Flora. Certainly, even on Limphea people knew how to make shopping complicated. It seemed to be a universal constant. Not that she was blaming anyone. After all, she herself was contributing to the many delays.
"This one is healthier," she argued about a package of bread. "It contains a lot of fibres, which we will need."
"Yeah, but it's also more expensive," Helia noted. "We should probably go for something cheaper. I mean, I know we just got a lot of money from Sky's father, but still..."
"Maybe we should buy something with a bit more flavour to it," Mirta suggested. "This bread is kinda, you know, dry."
Flora paused. "Deary, bread is supposed to be dry."
"Well, yeah, but, you know, taste wise," the redhead tried.
"Maybe. But, I mean, it is just bread," Helia tried. "It's really just there to hold whatever we put on it. Might as well go for the cheapest."
"But are we not just going to be in the exact same situation once we have to figure out what to put on the bread?" Flora inquired.
Mirta sighed. "Probably. How far are we through the list?"
"Barely halfway."
"And we've been here for an hour," Helia noted, checking his phone. "Good thing we didn't bring the others. Riven would have started frothing right about now."
"Maybe we just need to take a break and refocus," Flora suggested, putting the bread back. "Taking a step back can sometimes help one gain perspective."
"Perspective on buying bread. This is getting weird," Mirta noted.
"Well, we are weird people," Helia commented.
"Anyway, so how is it going with looking through the big tome of spells?" the Limphean brunette asked her companions.
"Much like the shopping list, barely halfway," Helia said.
"It is very dense. And many things are way above our level," Mirta continued. "A few things we have already learnt back over the last couple of years."
"And if we mess with the wrong spell... Well, at least we'll save the Black Circle a lot of trouble," Helia stated. "But it is worth all the hard work for the gems we dig out. Like the speed spell."
"Or the teleportation spell we found yesterday. Though I admit, I am a bit nervous about that one," the ex-witch admitted. "It's one of those things I could see going horribly wrong. Imagine if you only teleport part of yourself."
"I'd rather not," Helia squeamishly said, making a face. "That's just uncomfortable to think about."
"We should probably consider making time to find a way to safely train in its use," Flora remarked. "That way, we will not have any unwanted incidents when we finally do need to use it for something serious. After all, there are many ways in which such a spell could come in handy. I do look forward to seeing what else you two will dig out."
"So do we," Helia said as he looked around. "Anyway, we should probably get back to picking out bread. Looks like we aren't the only ones who want access."
"Oh?" Mirta asked then noticed a couple of annoyed customers behind the trio. "Oh, sorry. Sorry. Here, let me get that out of the way."
...
Stella, Bloom, Techna, Aisha and Musa had all gone for a walk, trying to enjoy their Sunday off and the nice weather. The former had mostly spent the trip talking about everything between heaven and earth, mostly just for the sheer pleasure of having the opportunity to talk about something not completely serious.
But Musa had been walking around in a contemplative mood, barely acknowledging what the others were saying most of the time. And when she finally did answer anything, it was with short replies before sinking into contemplation again.
Finally, as they had almost crossed the park, she stopped and stated: "You know what? I think we're playing right along with what they want."
The others stopped.
"Like, that sentence could tots use some context," Stella mentioned, scratching her neck. "What?"
"The Black Circle. The way we've been doing all this so far," the black-haired musician insisted. "The whole way we've been operating. It's all according to their script."
Techna blinked. "Cacophony, what did you eat for breakfast? I think you need to give it a break before your brain completely boils over."
"Okay, listen," Musa insisted. "Because I really think I'm on to something. What is the greatest power the Black Circle commands right at this very moment?"
"The ability to remove our magic?" Bloom suggested.
"Near indestructibility?" Stella brought up.
"The power to rip off everything that made Fancypants cool?" Techna offered.
"No. Obscurity," Musa insisted. "The fact that no one is aware what they are doing. You think the average citizen of Earth would appreciate these guys running everything behind the scenes?"
Bloom paused. "Well, I think it might depend on which country we're talking about, but if I know my fellow Americans right, they won't be happy."
"Exactly. So why are we also doing it?" Musa asked. "We should be out there blowing the whole thing wide open. We should let everyone know magic is real. Once that gets out, we might actually be able to get help for protecting Roxy. If nothing else then because she's a citizen."
"But do remember that it is also their dedication to remaining unknown that has kept us relatively safe from the Black Circle, as they have so far been unwilling to make moves too often," Aisha said. "If we remove that element from the equation, I'm afraid there's a serious risk that they will come after us relentlessly."
"Might actually make the realms pay notice for once," Stella huffed.
"But hasn't us keeping ourselves anonymous also protected us?" Bloom asked.
"Maybe back when you only occasionally popped back to Earth," Musa said. "But they already know who your parents are. And I doubt it is anything but a question of time before they figure out where we live. If they don't already know, that is."
"She has a point," Techna admitted, rubbing her chin. "We might actually benefit more from revealing this. I could start posting some videos on the internet, for example."
"Everybody would just call it a Photoshop job," the redhead said. "No, it'll need to be a bit more tangible than that."
"Tangible like what happened last Friday?" the black-haired musician inquired.
Bloom blinked. "The hotel thing? Is that what you're referring to?"
"Yeah. Wait, let me guess," Musa sighed. "You haven't checked the newspaper, have you?"
The redhead looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry. Checking up on Roxy and everything else kinda kept me busy. What do they say?"
"Well, Techna and Flora did get noticed," the Harmonian fairy said, as she pulled a copy of the newspaper out of her backpack. "Check it out."
"Angels of Tulip Street," Bloom read aloud. "Yesterday, another strange disaster rocked Gardenia to its core as..." She trailed off into mumbling as she continued reading. "Wait. Two winged and helmeted beings descended from the skies to assist those in danger, according to eyewitness accounts. Already, several people are attributing the complete lack of deaths to being a miracle of God." She looked at the others. "Okay, this could get out of hand."
"Yeah, mind explaining this one, Firetop? I mean, you already mentioned who God is. So what is up with angels?" Techna asked.
"Okay, quick lesson. Angels are the messengers and warriors of God. They look like people with white, feathery wings," Bloom explained. "They are said to help humans, sometimes saving them from danger and pointing them in the right direction when they have lost control of their life."
"So they're paladins?" Stella asked.
"No, they... Well, actually I can see a couple of similarities," the redhead said, as she paused. "Oh geez, we're going to have pilgrims flooding the city if they start to think that Gardenia has become some sort of battleground between the forces of good and evil. We really need to do something about this."
"How about we tell people the truth?" Musa repeated. "We stop running and hiding. Instead, we just tell them all what's what."
"Huh. Maybe then we'll be the next ones in the newspaper," Aisha said.
"Oh God no," Bloom erupted, face going pale. "I am going to snap if I have to deal with both the Black Circle, the ring, journalists and swarms of overly devoted pilgrims. If we do anything like this, we'll have to hide who we are or we risk we're the ones getting locked up by the government."
"So be open while in hiding. Well, there's a paradox for ya," Techna commented mirthfully.
"Look, maybe we should talk with the others before we jump the gun and start revealing the truth left and right," the redhead suggested. "I mean, I see your point, but they may have something of their own to add. Quite frankly," she admitted, rubbing her neck. "All this jumping straight into things is starting to really get out of hand."
"Huh. You, like, sounded almost like Flora there for a sec'," Stella noted. "I mean, not that it's a problem. I totally agree with you. It's just kinda funny."
"Hey, I'm fine with that too," Musa said and shrugged. "I just wanted to throw it out there."
Then Bloom's phone rang and she picked it up. "Bloom here. Please be good news." She paused. "Hey Jason, how are you doing? Why are you apologizing?" She stopped. "Okay, what do you mean when you say that Andy is freaking out?"
...
"You WHAT!?" Bloom asked flabbergasted. "You gave him coffee when he was like that? WHY!?"
"Because that always makes me calm down," Thomas carefully replied. "But I can see it kinda had the... Well, opposite effect."
They both glanced at Andy. The boy was practically vibrating as he was telling a long, rambling and incoherent story to a series of desperate looking receptionists.
"Trouble is, the big cheese is gonna drop by any second now," Jason stated. "Hopefully, you can calm him down before that."
"With him hyped up on caffeine? I'm not a magician." Bloom paused, then briefly considered if she actually actually was qualified to be called a magician.
"Just give it a shot, please," Thomas begged. "I have no idea how he's going to react if he blows this."
The redhead took a deep breath and stepped over to the rambling youth.
"What's going on?" a man asked, as he entered the lobby. He wore a blue suit and had hair the colour of hay, bangs of it framing his face. "Is everything alright?"
"Eh, kinda," Jason stated. "My man here, Andy, is here for an audition. Trouble is, poor guy's got nerves like a cat in a rocking chair factory. So, my buddy Thomas here, who's also part of the audition, tried to give him some coffee to steady himself." Jason shook his head, his tall purple hair billowing back and forth. "Real bad idea, that was. So now he's talking like a waterfall at everyone and everything. So we called in his ex to disarm him. Wouldn't want him to blow it just because he got a coffee shock."
"No, that would be a shame. But to be fair, he wouldn't be the first who had a minor freak-out before an audition." The man paused. "Or an exam. Or a job interview. In fact, there are many such situations. Anyway, so how's the calming him thing going?"
"His ex is one the case as we jabber. They're good friends, so it should work. She knows him pretty well," Thomas said. "Ah, see. Already looks like he's calming down again."
"Do you think a couple of words of encouragement will help?" the man asked. "I've worked here for a long time, so I can speak from experience."
"You know, that could work," Jason agreed. "Certainly better than throwing him in the fountain outside. Would be a shame if he had to audition while soggy."
"I am just so nervous and excited, but also scared and excited, because..." Andy rambled.
"Andy, shh, calm down," Bloom tried. "Remember to breathe. You remember the breathing exercises we learned, right?"
"Yes, yes, but it's just, you know, any moment now and I have to do something to impress him and..." Andy paused, as the two noted the suited man. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, I hear you're having a bit of trouble," the man said. "Listen, I've worked here for a long time, so let me tell you something. If you're here for an audition, that means we've already seen something special in you. This is mostly just a formality. Learning to set things up, see if we can work as a team, that sort of stuff. Only thing you have to prove is that you can work in a studio." He paused. "That and that you didn't autotune or something like that. We've had a couple of cheaters try to pull that."
"Re-really?" Andy asked. "That... That's good to hear. Thank you, Mr... Whomever you are."
"The name's Jason Queen," the suited man said with a smile. "I'm the one you'll be performing an audition for."
"HARGUBLAR!" Andy yelled and jumped back like he had gotten an electric shock, stumbling into a chair. Both fell over with a crash.
Queen winched. "Maybe I should have waited a few more minutes before saying that."
"Or worn a disguise in the studio," Bloom suggested, as she walked over to help her ex up. "But at least you seem to have calmed him down."
"Yeah, all the way down to the floor," the Suits Jason remarked.
...
Musa, Techna, Aisha and Stella found themselves in the Gardenia park, pondering what to do now that Bloom had left them behind and they had nothing to do.
"Should we go shopping?" Stella asked.
"Nah, Flora, Mirta and Helia are handling that," Musa replied.
"No, I meant as in shopping shopping," the blonde clarified. "You know, go see if there's some nice clothes, jewellery or something like that we could look at."
"That sounds like a profound waste of my time."
"I dunno. I'd like to get a better idea of Earth culture. Oh, maybe we should rent a movie," Techna suggested. "We could have a movie night, with snacks and stuff."
"But if we were to have such a night, shouldn't we get everyone to help pick out movies?" Aisha asked.
"Eh, point."
"Well, I am totally bored," Stella sighed and leaned back in the park grass. "But, like, strangely enough, I tots don't care. Feels nice to have the time to be thoroughly bored."
"Yeah, boring is definitely not the word I'd use to describe the last couple of months," Techna agreed. "But hey, we could also just sit here and be bored. You know, chill out, turn the brain off and just enjoy life."
"You know what? I actually like that idea," Musa said, as she leaned back. "Turning my brain off after all of that hullabaloo with Roxy, the Black Circle and the ring is just what I need."
They all sat and lay in silence for a while.
"Ah, this is the life," Techna sighed happily. "Just leaning back and enjoying the weather."
"Bloom said we should take the time to do so, as it should get colder soon," Aisha noted.
"Really? How cold?" Stella asked.
"She said we would soon experience a cruel blast of one degree below ideal surfing weather." The princess of Tides paused. "I am almost completely certain that she was making fun of things."
"Sounds like it," Musa mumbled, as she relaxed in the shade of a tree.
...
"I am not entirely convinced this is a good idea," Flora said, as the gang gathered in the girls' apartment, the orange sunlight of the setting sun illuminating the room. "As you yourselves have brought up, we could risk the Black Circle escalating. It is not in our interest to have this conflict run off tracks." She paused, before quietly adding: "More than it already has, that is."
"On the other hand, maybe the people of Earth will help us," Sky suggested. "This is their planet too and they should have a say in all this. The Black Circle has kinda just been operating behind everyone's back."
"Yeah, but no guarantee they won't side with them," Riven added. "Magic might be all kinds of scary to these people. Many have never seen it before. So we risk suddenly having the Black Circle being backed up by the police."
"And that's if we assume the government and the Black Circe aren't already working together," Brandon said. "Then again, neither can we presume that they are. We are operating with dangerously limited data on this mission."
"Okay, but let's forget about the Black Circle, Roxy and all that for a moment," Musa said. "Shouldn't the people of Earth be informed that magic exists? Don't they have the right to know that?"
"I suppose they do," Bloom mumbled. "But if we do it too obviously, we will be swarmed by journalists."
"And in that case, the Black Circle will definitely find out where we live," Flora stated.
"Alright, I see your point and raise you this," Musa said and nodded at Techna, who snapped her fingers. "I had her record something earlier."
The room's television flickered for a moment, before a woman with long brown hair and a burly, grim looking man with glasses appeared on the screen, both of them sitting in a studio.
"And now for the next story, where we take a look at the recent events that have plagued the city of Gardenia," the woman said. "With me tonight is Mr. Vernon Johnson, investigator in Gardenia. Mr. Johnson, the police are working with three related crime scenes and yet are completely clueless. What is going on?"
"We are actually reviewing a couple of older cases for similarities," the man said. "So we may actually have to up the number of linked incidents."
"But doesn't that just make it seem even more like the police have no idea what they're doing?" the woman asked.
The man shrugged. "The public has a very skewed view of how our work functions, which I hope to help dispel with this interview. These crime scenes, though I cannot give too many details, are different from the ones we usually deal with. Since we lack a precedent to work with, we have to start from square one. The thing is that while vandalism and damage from unruly youngsters is not an unknown, not even in Gardenia, there are several elements that are completely new. For example, consider the time frame. The Vermilion Lounge Parking Lot incident, for example, resulted in nine destroyed cars, twenty-five damaged ones, considerable damage to the asphalt and two big roots being excavated. Yet this happened in a manner of minutes. Similarly, the Soma Inc. Industrial Lot incident resulted in similar damages, also in a matter of minutes. And while the Hotel Railway incident lacks some of the elements the two others have in common, the elements that are in common are similar enough that we can reasonably suspect a connection. In all cases, we see large scale, seemingly randomized destruction over a very small time frame. The fire that consumed Hotel Railway started and spread through the building seemingly in a matter of seconds and there were several signs inside of non-fire related damage, including several broken walls and floors. And in all cases, people have reported seeing things that individually might be dismissed as hysteria, but together paint an odd picture. The most famous ones are the Angels of Tulip Street and the Dock Avenue Monster. But even at the Parking Lot incident we have reports of yelling and people running away from the area at the time the damage was done. Quite frankly, this case would be ridiculous if not for all the physical evidence left behind. This is why progress has been so slow for us. There is simply no precedent for this."
"And what of the people suggesting a more supernatural explanation?" the interviewer asked.
"I can see why. People are easy to point to gods, fairies and whatnot when things like these happen. It is comforting in the face of the unknown. But despite the oddities, I still feel certain we shall find a logical conclusion to this eventually. As I said, we are reviewing some old cases in light of these recent events, which should help establish more of a pattern."
"Anything specific you can share?"
"I'm afraid I cannot as of now, as the investigation is still ongoing."
The recording stopped.
"You see?" Musa asked. "How long before they start noting that things only seem to get weird when Bloom is in town? That should make them suspicious. Look, things are already moving ahead, whether we like it or not."
"Yeah. Best thing we can do is ride the wave," Techna agreed.
The people in the room exchanged glances.
"I will have to agree," Nabu finally stated. "At this point, too much has happened. Unless we want to leave everything behind and retreat to the other worlds, we will have no choice but to deal with it. In that case, our best bet is to deal with it on our terms." He paused. "I should probably have been more vigilant with my sign, but oh well."
Flora sighed. "Very well then, I cannot argue against that. But if we are to do this, we need a plan and we need one that makes sense. No running around and yelling at people about how we are fairies or we will be institutionalized before you can say Alfea."
"Agreed. But for now, let's get some rest," Brandon said, as he got up from the chair. "If this is going to happen, we will need to be refreshed."
"I don't think we've ever been fresh enough for whatever tends to come in our direction," Helia noted, as he also rose from his chair.