They received a new bird with a note on its leg the very next day.
The battle lasted longer even though the soldiers seemed less keen to fight, but still more furious than ever. It ended the same way: just when they thought Alfea would fall, the soldiers began to have seizures and were gone in a flash of black. And yet again, even though they won, the fairies suffered the most.
"Try it again, Bloom," Flora encouraged her friend. They were kneeling by a fairy, whose wound was bleeding too much to be healed by Flora's plants only. They were trying to wake Bloom's healing powers, which she had abandoned after their second school year. It wasn't that the power wasn't useful. Bloom just had felt a part of herself, despite how tiny, dying every time she used it. If it was the power itself or something in her mind that prevented her from healing the girl, she didn't know for sure.
Bloom sighed, letting her hands fall down from the girl's leg. "Let's take you to Ofelia, okay?"
The girl nodded weakly as Flora put a leaf on her leg to stop the blood flow. It wasn't much use. The girl put her arms around the older fairies' shoulder when the nature fairy suggested so.
They rose from the ground and started making their way along the corridor. Blooms made subconscious remarks on how many wounded there were still left. It was going to be a long day.
Out of nowhere, they heard a door swinging open with a loud crash and someone storming out of a room. Griselda took long and quick steps to their direction while practically screeching to her phone.
".. Gone? Impossible! How could—?!"
"Griselda?" Bloom called out.
Griselda nearly jumped out of her shoes, struggling to keep the phone from falling.
"Is everything all right?" Flora asked.
"Yes! Everything's fine. Everything's just how they're supposed to be!" Griselda assured with an obviously faked, nervous grin. "Everything's... under control..." she muttered before storming past them, now keeping her voice low.
Flora and Bloom shared a quick glance and shrugged. They reached the nurse's office soon and Bloom escorted the girl to a free bed. Flora approached Ofelia with a tint of hope in her eyes. "Is he..?"
"He's still asleep. He'll be fine when he wakes up," Ofelia answered, stepping away so Flora could sit next to the bed Helia was lying on.
Bloom put a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Do you want me to stay?"
"No, no, I'll be fine," Flora said absently, lacing her fingers with Helia's. "You'll be needed more elsewhere."
Bloom let out a quiet sigh. "If you're sure." She then left, stealing one last glance of Flora. Poor girl, she was so worried. At least Helia was lucky... Well, more or less.
The specialists had come to their aid again. While others had their swords and shields, Helia only had a glove with strings, so when a soldier sneaked up on him, he had absolutely no way to defend himself. A sword swung and—
Bloom shook her head, trying to focus on her bouncing red locks instead. She didn't want to remember. It reminded her of the events from the first battle.
She soon noticed her feet had walked her to the staff room. Great, that if something wasn't helpful. Tecna and Stella were there too, seemingly too busy to even notice her.
"So, if the doorknob was here..." Stella pressed a rock, which looked awfully like a piece of Alfea's wall, against the place she had pointed on the wall. She used her magic to morph it into a glass doorknob that stuck to the wall. She turned it and pulled with all her might. The wall stayed the same.
Stella threw her hands in the air and groaned. She wrenched the doorknob off and was about to throw it before she noticed Bloom. "Oh, why hello."
"Stella, what on earth are you doing?" Bloom watched curiously as the doorknob turned back into the rock it had been.
"Tecna and I are trying get back into the room." Stella pointed over her shoulder at Tecna, who was studying the wall with a frown. "You know, to see if we could figure out what happened."
"I think we all know what happened," Bloom stated dryly, glad to notice her voice didn't crack like she had expected.
"I just don't understand!" Tecna grunted in frustration. "The room couldn't just disappear. It's not logical! No one was there to devastate it!"
"Except..." Stella rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "What about the black flash we saw?"
"I wouldn't get my hopes up," Tecna said. "It was probably just someone, who came here before us and had a seizure."
"Or maybe not." Flora's soft voice sounded from the door. She stepped inside, followed by Layla and Musa. "There was this smell," she began. "It was quite subtle in this room, so I didn't pay too much attention to it. But when the door opened," she pointed at the wall, "it was much stronger. But I didn't think it was relevant."
"What smell?" Tecna asked.
"Some kind of flower." Tecna raised an eyebrow and Flora hurried to continue, "But nothing you find from here. It was such a strong stench."
"And to boot, I at least didn't notice any flowers inside the room," Musa pointed out.
"So, you're saying our killer smells like flowers?" Bloom held back a snort.
"Maybe not of his or hers freewill," Flora noted. "My point is, that whoever was in this room the moment we arrived was most certainly inside the other too."
"That doesn't help us much." Tecna sighed.
Layla suddenly snapped her fingers. "But Tracix could!"
"Now, there's an idea!" Stella's face lit up to its usual glow. "We maybe won't know what happened in the room, but we'd have some idea while looking from here."
"Sounds like worth of a try," Tecna agreed. "All right, let's do this!"
They formed a small circle and changed their wings with a bright flash. They joined their hands, flapped their wings and focused their energy. A warm wave of magic brushed past them and across the whole room.
"9:40," Tecna announced as she looked at the clock on the wall. "At least Faragonda isn't coming for few minutes."
"Someone else is." Stella pointed at the opening door.
A male soldier peeked his head inside and entered the room after making sure it was empty. He took light and careful steps towards a yet empty wall. He swung his hand in front of it and the too familiar picture appeared on it. He nodded to himself and pulled something of his cloak. He pressed it against the wall and a doorknob appeared. The wall opened and he stepped inside.
Few minutes later the staff room's door opened again. Faragonda strolled to the wall, looking at the photo surprisingly calmly. No, Bloom was sure she saw a hint of amusement on her face. Despite everything, the now-former headmistress entered the hidden room.
Minutes went by. Nothing happened. Curse Tracix for not coming with sound, Bloom thought.
"Geez, what's taking so long?" Only if Stella's comment hadn't been so inappropriate, Bloom would have said the same. "Can't we just fast forward this?"
"They're probably fighting over there," Musa noted.
Layla frowned. "There weren't much signs of battle though."
"10:24," Tecna informed. "He's coming soon."
And indeed, the wall opened again. The man glanced over his shoulder, as if to make sure the woman inside wasn't moving anymore. He closed the door and was about to remove the doorknob when he turned around. He must have heard the girls, since he went closer to the door and disappeared only few seconds before it was fully open.
"And there comes us." Stella couldn't hold in a giggle when her past-self walked through her. "Can't we seriously fast forward this? I want to see what that guy did to the door."
But unfortunately, they had to wait. Wait and relive the day. They saw Hagen and the disbelieving look on his face. How it faded and turned into pain as he reached the door. They saw themselves and the bloodshot eyes. Then it was finally over.
And as they had expected, the soldier did come back. He wrenched off the doorknob and now they noticed what it was. A badge with a purple stone and 'M' carved on it.
"Hey, I remember that!" Layla blinked. "Faragonda showed that to us on that day. But what did she say again?"
"Gladly, someone here was listening," Musa said, pointing at herself. "The soldiers all wore that. Which means they're from some place named Galigine."
Flora snapped her fingers and grinned briefly. "Now I remember, that's where the flower's from! You know, that tall, violet flower that has a strong smell and—"
"Flo, what's the point?" Stella yawned exaggeratedly.
"The point here is, Stella," Tecna said quite sternly. "That now we know for sure what to do to end all of this."
"Couldn't have said it better." Bloom felt her whole being filling with new determination. She had missed that feeling. "We're going to Galigine."