Floral Music Chapter 10: Enchanted, Open Eyes

Musa, Flora, Riven, and Helia raced up the hallway, all the while keeping track of Galatea's emotions as she announced it above. She was a wreck. That was no secret. Years of loneliness had taken its toll, and that was clear as they skidded to a stop in front of the door with a treble clef on it. Opening the door to the building, they saw a staircase leading upwards, and they ran up it. When they reached the top, they ran through the hallway until they reached another door with a treble clef on it, hearing Galatea's voice inside.

Helia peered out of the window to see Harper and Harmony reappear with the harp outside the building where Galatea's room was located. The former began to play, as Harmony urged for Musa and the gang to enter the room first. This was for the reason that Galatea's emotions were projected throughout the palace much like music was with the rest of the realm, and they could hear that the harp music was making Galatea calm down inside her room.

Above their heads, however, they heard Galatea's voice say in confusion, "They're here? No, it can't be." That was when Flora knew that they would have to go in first and calm Galatea down before she could see her old friends.

Musa took leadership and slowly opened the door to see Galatea kneeling on her bed. She called out, "Galatea?"

In a more soothing, whisper-like voice, Flora asked, "Are you alright?" They slowly stepped into the room, with Riven and Helia not leaving the entrance of the door.

In an ever so poetic tone, Helia, in an attempt to help Galatea, said reassuringly, "Your friends are here, Galatea. You can tell them what is wrong, and they'll listen. You can ask them for help, and they'll give it to you. You can wish to be alone, but they'll come back for you. There is no need to be afraid."

Galatea's voice was shaking with denial as she said, "I am not afraid."

Helia stopped himself from making another comment as Flora took a step forward. "We can't say that we understand," Flora began, "But we all want to help. Harmony and Harper are back! Surely, you're happy about that?"

Galatea wordlessly shook her head, tears threatening to fall before she said shakily, "They're not really back."

They then heard a crash outside, along with a, "Harmony! You made me drop the harp! What if there's a scratch on it?" To which there was a sarcastic reply of, "Oh, no, what are you going to do?" After that, a long moment of awkward silence ensued. Before long, however, another song came on, beginning with a piano solo.

As the others resumed comforting Galatea, Riven noticed the music and paused to listen. Liking the song despite it not being his style, he remarked, "Hey, this song isn't bad. Not something I would listen to on a regular basis, but it's good. I should get it on my music player."

Musa groaned in frustration before saying to her boyfriend, "Riven, we're trying to help Galatea! Making random comments about music won't help anything…" Musa trailed off, realizing that there was something was wrong with that last statement. She looked back outside beyond where Riven held the door open and through another window, and saw that Harmony and Harper were setting the harp upright. Noticing they did not have a keyboard like how the song did, it hit her like a brick, "Oh, wait! There's music playing!" She happily ran over to Galatea's bed, and said, "Music's back in the palace! Isn't that awesome?" Riven looked more confused than ever and turned to Helia, who simply shrugged.

"This isn't just any random song, Musa." Galatea said rather quietly to Musa. "This is a song Harper, Harmony, and I composed together when we were small."

Musa smiled, "That sounded like it was tons of fun. How about you teach it to me?" The pigtailed-fairy was now sitting beside Galatea.

"It was that song I was playing in my room when we first met at Alfea" Galatea replied, her tone sounded as if she were in a trance.

"Cool, maybe I can play it from memory, then!" Musa stood up beside the bed and used her hands to create sound waves to play the song Galatea was talking about.

All of a sudden, however, Galatea interrupted Musa by grabbing her arm and saying, "No, you can't do it without the harp."

Musa looked confused for a second, but brushed it off by saying, "Okay, well I can just conjure up a harp-"

Galatea tugged on Musa's arm and repeated, "No, it has to be the special harp, Harper's harp, my harp."

Musa's expression was a mixture of confusion, being indifferent, and annoyance, "Oh, well, how about you play it then? Since you know the music and stuff, I'm sure you know how it goes, right?"

Galatea shook her head and grabbed onto Musa's arm tighter and replied, "No." She started acting hysterical, "No, no, No! Not without the Harp, it can't be played without the harp!" She started to weep, and the boys felt uncomfortable standing at the doorway.

Musa sighed, and looked over at Flora, who gave her an encouraging smile from where she stood. Musa steeled herself and forced herself to act as gentle as she possibly could when she asked, "Why do you need the harp?" She looked back and shared another glance with Flora, who was staring outside where Harper and Harmony were trying to push the harp towards Galatea's building. The flower fairy daintily flew outside to help them, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"It's special" Galatea replied to Musa's question, her voice muffled with tears. "It has history in Melody, and Harper gave it to me before they left. I'll be lonely forever if the song is played without the harp!"

Riven and Helia stepped aside as Flora flew in with the harp and said, "Do you mean this harp?"

Musa grinned and gave Flora a thumbs-up, "Right on time, Flo." Flora gave a gentle smile in return and stepped aside to allow Galatea to walk to the harp. Musa pulled Galatea to her feet and led her to the harp, saying in encouragement, "Come on, here's the harp. You can play the song now."

Flora added in her soft voice, "It'll be just like how you used to play."

Galatea shook her head, knowing that what they were saying was too good to be true. She couldn't possibly just save herself from loneliness by playing a simple song on the harp, could she? However, a part of her longed to get to the harp, to play it, or at least call Harper over and have her play it for the first time in years. She knew that the song wasn't just any old song, because it was her, Harmony, and Harper's song of friendship. And the harp wasn't any old harp, because it was the harp of their friendship and of Melody. Contradictory to her previous action, Galatea took a step forward towards the harp.

Suddenly, the sound of something crashing on the wooden floor of the hallway startled Galatea and she quickly took three steps back. She frantically looked outside past Flora to see Harmony sheepishly laying on the ground wearing her civilian clothes, having just climbed up the stairs. "Whoops," she said, rubbing her head from where she fell on the floor. "I didn't mean to interrupt you there. Sorry, Gal!" Harper sighed and shook her head at her friend's clumsiness as Harmony continued, "But I really want to hear you play our song! It'll be just like we used to!" Harper reached over and pulled Harmony up, and the two tried to walk towards Galatea's room.

However, it backfired on them when Galatea took a step back away from her two former friends, and, consequently the harp as well. Still in denial she asked, stunned, "How are you here? Are you really here? No, you can't be..."

In response, Harmony ran up to Galatea and said, "Yeah we're really here!" Galatea took a few steps back, startled. Harper cringed from where she stood, knowing that Harmony would make things worse. Flora and the others seemed unsure as to what to do as Harmony continued, "Now that all of the politics is over we thought your birthday party would be the best time to surprise you." Galatea hastily took several steps back nervously, but went towards the left and circled around in an attempt to avoid being cornered by Harmony as she said, "We're really sorry that we left."

Now standing between Harmony and the harp, Galatea shook her head in her distress and said, "No, you're lying it won't be just like it used to be!" In her panic, Galatea had unconsciously unleashed sound waves that threatened to attack the others in the room. Musa quickly drew up a shield as Flora also conjured a shield to protect the others and the harp.

Instead of drawing up her own shield, Harmony, no longer in her Magic Winx form since she fell on the ground, turned to Musa and asked in a panic, "Wait, what do I do?" But she was too late. The attack hit her, and forced her back and she fell out of Galatea's open window, her room being more than just a few stories high.

Alarmed, Harper shouted Harmony's name before attempting to run to the window, accidentally degenerating her shield in the process. As a result, the attack forced her back and she crashed into the wall beside Riven. Time seemed to slow down in that moment and Harper frantically called out to Galatea as Harmony fell, "Galatea! Please, Gal, help her! Who knows what'll happen to Harmony at the rate she's going?"

Galatea froze upon hearing those words. It clicked, Harmony was in trouble, she was back and she needed her help. As her attack ceased, the others put down their shields, and Galatea looked up at Musa as if asking for approval. The pigtailed-fairy smiled and nodded, as if granting the approval.

Then in a swift motion, Galatea transformed into her Magic Winx and flew outside the window, the others watching her do so proudly.

Galatea struggled to summon her Winx. With the labyrinth, the cyclops, the strange broadcasting of her emotions, and that previous sound wave attack, it was a miracle Galatea still had any Winx left. Galatea mentally cursed, she wouldn't make it in time. She directed her Winx to generating something, anything that would cushion Harmony's fall. Her prayers were answered when she managed to create a drum large enough to cushion Harmony's fall. Galatea smiled, she was safe.

Harmony and Galatea landed on the drum, and the former opened her eyes and squealed in happiness upon seeing that she was still alive. Then, ignoring anything else, she gave Galatea a large hug while repeating, "Thank you!" She then realized that Galatea's eyes were closed. Confused, she shook Galatea a bit and asked, "Galatea? Are you alright?" Harmony then decided to use sound waves to check on Galatea, and discovered that Galatea had been completely drained of her Winx. "Oh, Galatea, wake up! Please, you have to wake up! Are you alright?"

She was frantically shaking Galatea now, but stopped when a light engulfed the latter. Harmony shielded her eyes as she faintly heard Musa call out from the window, "Yes! Way to go, Galatea!"

The light subsided to reveal Galatea in her Enchantix form, earned by saving Harmony from falling. Galatea now had a small gold crown adorning her hair, which was now braided and reached her ankles. Her top was a light baby blue, showing off her belly, with a transparent yellow scarf draped over her right shoulder. Her skirt was a soft yellow with a light baby blue scarf-belt, and she wore the signature light blue Enchantix sandals with long soft-yellow gloves. Her wings were large and a light baby blue with teal colored jewels on it.

Galatea opened her eyes.