Chapter 12 – Comfort

"Is she okay?" Nassima asked as she was sitting on a chair of her kitchen.

"I don't think." Helia sighed while he closed the door of Flora's room behind him after he made sure for at least the third time that she was still on her bed. He stayed with her more than an hour under the rain in the forest –it was the time she needed to relax- and, when she finally stopped crying, he took her back to the village. When Michelle heard the front door opening and saw Flora crying in the young man's arms, Helia told her that he would explain after she fell asleep. It was quick. He just had to lay her on the bed, and she was already in the world of sleep.

"She calmed down, but I don't think she really feels better." The specialist said before walking on the kitchen next to Michelle.

"What happened to her?" She asked him.

Helia sighed. "She remembers everything. She remembers about her real parents, about her real powers, and about her whole past."

"Her past?" Michelle raised an eyebrow. "She was not even three months years old when I found her."

Helia didn't reply directly. He knew how hurt Flora was by remembering everything she lived. He knew it very well, by the way she had to cry and yell in his arms. He didn't know how to reply to Michelle; the one who cared for Flora the way a mother always used to do.

"She… she wasn't really three months old." He finally said, looking down at the rose Michelle had put on a vase on the table. "It was the second time she was three months old."

Michelle and Nassima blinked. Helia didn't find the courage to continue. He knew his unlimited anger would come back if he told them the whole story.

The dream he made since Bloom and Sky were touched by the virus had become completely clear: and he remembered it fully. In this dream, he saw Flora happy, and in a matter of seconds, she was crying because of a single man. He saw his Flora crying because of this man.

Helia knew that if this man ever crossed his way once, he would regret to have made his Flora cry.

"I am not the one who has to tell the story to you." He finally spoke. "But Flora is. Once she'll feel better." With that said he went back to the door of her room and opened it softly to check on her. She wasn't asleep anymore, but was sat on her bed this time, and was looking thought her window.

He turned back to Michelle. "She is awake. Do you want to talk to her?" He whispered.

Michelle looked at her daughter in the eyes; it was like they were mind-melding. After a few seconds, she shook her head.

"No, Helia. You should be the one talking to her."

Helia blinked. "I'm not sure if she wants to-"

Nassima stood up. "That's true that we are her family but… right now, you're the one who knows everything about her "past" and the one whom she has total faith in. You are the one who will help her to feel better."

Helia, firstly shocked by the way Nassima talked to him, finally nodded and entered the room, slowly closing the door behind him.

She was ignoring him, still looking thought the window where rain was dripping, and he could clearly see that her eyes were full of tears. The sound of thunder was heard, and some flashed of light illuminated the dark room.

"Hey." He whispered, hoping that she would react. But she didn't. He sighed. She really wanted to avoid him. He then walked towards her bed and sat on the edge. The atmosphere around them was heavy.

"Flora." Helia tried again. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away fiercely.

"How can you still call me "Flora" while you know that I am not anymore?" She asked disparagingly, still not looking at him. "I am not the same anymore, and you know it Helia. I am the one who froze my family for the past hundred years, and the one who made suffer friends who were so important to me. Is it that to be a nice girl? I don't think so."

Helia didn't reply. He didn't know how to talk to her.

"I don't deserve anything that happened to me in this second life Helia. My father gave me a chance of start a completely new life, and until now, everything was perfect. But I don't deserve anything. What I deserve is to suffer like they did when Gaël atta-"

"Flora, listen-"

"Stop calling me Flora, Helia!" She screamed as she went on her knees. "You know that it will never be the same, that nobody will ever feel the same way about me when they will learn that I froze my family and my people a hundred years ago! And they will hate because it is because of me that the virus appeared in Magix! What I deserve is to-"

It was too much to hear. Helia took her shoulder in his hands strongly to make her quiet, and tried to keep eye contact with her. And when she tried to push him away, he nearly pinned her against the wall behind her.

"I already told you to stop saying such stupid things, Flora! Suffering is the last thing you deserve!" He screamed too. It was one of the first times he screamed at her, that was why she gave up and listened to him. "You froze everyone because you unconsciously wanted to protect them, because they were everything to you! Wanting to protect the people you love will never be a mistake! You had never done a mistake Flora, never!"

She was amazed by the way he was talking to her. But she was never going to lose to him.

"Please! You know very well that freezing your family is a mistake!" She screamed back at him.

"It is not! Even if it is not the best way to, you protected them for a hundred years!"

"And the virus which made Bloom and Sky in the edge of dying? Wasn't it a mistake?"

"How would you know that he was that powerful? You couldn't weight up the consequences it would have!"

"I could have Helia! He killed my mother because I wasn't paying attention! He killed my mother because I was too weak! I couldn't even save my mother and, before all, I provided the persons I loved from having a life for a hundred years!"

"You provided them to live for a hundred years, but thanks to that, they will live again, and you will be with them! They will live their lives again, they will be happy again, they are alive! And that was in order to let them live that you froze them! Because you wanted them to stay alive!"

Flora was lost in his words again. They took her anger away. She looked away and lowered her head. "Helia… how can you still feel the same way about me after what you learned? And can you still talk to me as if I still am Flora?" She whispered.

"Because you are Flora, and you'll always be my Flora." He relaxed and smiled softly. "Four years ago, I was sitting in the stadium of Red Fountain, when a girl was introduced to me. When our eyes met, I fell deeply and madly in love with her, and I never doubted it. I spent the four most wonderful years of my life with this girl, and this girl is still alive right now. This girl is you, Flora. My love." He caressed her cheek with his soft, hot hand. "I love you, Flora. I love you more than anything and anyone else in the world. And I'll always love you, as long as you stay the one I always known. And it is not because of a past you remember and because you think you have done a mistake that my feelings will change." He tenderly pressed his forehead against hers. "I love you Flora. You mean everything to me, you are my life. I can't live without you. I love you."

That was at this moment that she realized how unfair and awful she had been towards him. How awful she had been to talk to him like she did while he was so nice and so tender with her. How unfair she had been to think that she was not Flora anymore, while Helia still believed in her. She realized how much Helia was wonderful, caring, while she was someone who didn't believe in herself and who always thought that what she had done was a mistake.

Helia was the last thing she ever deserved. She never deserved someone as wonderful as him.

Tears started to run down her cheeks again. She felt so weak. When he saw the love of his life crying again, he took her head in his hand and placed it against his neck as her hands slowly squeezed his shirt.

"I-I'm so sorry H-Helia…"

"It's okay. You've been through a lot." She felt his hand stroking her hair.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I-I-" She repeated, crying on his neck. She was crying so hardly that it was almost hard for her to breathe.

"Please, stop apologizing. It breaks my heart seeing you that sad." He kissed the top of her head. "It's okay." He breathed to her.

"Y-you have seen it right… T-that I-I'm not even the same toward y-you…"

"Flora." He took her shoulders softly. He then took one of his hands and brushed bangs that have fallen before her eyes. "You are upset. You screamed at me because you are upset. I am bright enough to understand that. I'm not mad at you." He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek softly. "This is not because you are a princess and because your real name is Astronomia that everything changed. No matter what, I'll never stop calling you Flora." He sighed. "As long as you agree with it, of course."

Flora sighed. "Of course I do." She finally smiled and wiped her tears away. "I'm really sorry, Helia. I don't deserve you."

"Don't say that, Flora. You are the most wonderful woman I've ever known in my whole life." His hands went from her shoulders to her hands and squeezed them softly.

She sighed. "I can't imagine that your feelings about me didn't change. I can't imagine you talking to me as you were talking to Flora."

Helia was caressing her hands softly. "I already told you. Even if you are a princess, even if you might be the most powerful woman in the world, in my heart, the one I see in front of me is Flora. I don't care about the rest."

Flora avoided eyes contact with him. For that, she just leaned her head against his chest as he held her softly, with so much tender in his gestures.

"I'm so sorry Helia."

"Stop apologizing Flora. It's not necessary." He caressed her shoulder softly.

"But I've been so unfair toward you." She wrapped her arms around his chest. "I've never deserved you. You really deserve someone who would never be that mean and unfair with you and who wouldn't yell at you because she thinks she's right while you would try your best to make her feel better."

Helia leaned his head against hers softly. "Flora, I've already told you. You are a wonderful woman; what you always do is for the sake of everyone else. I never thought that I would meet someone as marvellous as you one day. I am the luckiest boy ever because you entered my life. The only things I've down on my life were letting my school and friends down only because I wanted to live alone; I only thought about myself." He sighed. "I am the one who never deserved you. I don't deserve a woman as wonderful as you Flora."

She finally smiled that smile Helia always died to see. Her hands went from his chest to her neck and wrapped them around it. She buried her head against his neck as she felt his hands rubbing her back. She kissed the croak of his neck softly.

"Do you still want to keep me as your girlfriend?"

"I would die to keep you with me forever, my love."

He took one of her hand which was around his neck and intertwined his fingers with hers. "I'll never let you down Flora. I'll never let you feel alone. I'll be with you in this situation. I'll be with you when you'll save your family. I'll always be with you. I promise."

Flora looked at their hands with a smile. She knew that these words weren't meaningless, but were the strongest promise he would ever do.

"Thank you Helia. You are the best comfort I could ever have asked for."


I know it's not very Flora-alike to be angry like that, but I think it would happen if she discovered a past she was unaware of.

So, I hope you liked this chapter! I enjoyed writing it, mainly because FloraxHelia is my favorite couple ever.

Reviews? :D