CHAPTER 13
"What do you mean the Trix are awake? Who are the Trix? What happens when they wake up? Why do you look worried?"
"Jeez Sky, which question would you like me to answer first?" Bloom asked rolling her eyes as she squatted down to peer into Tecna's rucksack.
"Uhm, all of them," Bloom shot him a look before pulling out two torches and throwing it to Brandon and Nabu who caught them effortlessly.
"We don't have time to stand here and answer each question in detail," Tecna remarked, typing furiously into her mobile. Timmy was practically shaking with excitement as a holographic map of the entire forest shot out of the gadget.
"Okay, give us a summary and then explain later," Helia suggested causing both girls to freeze and look at each other. Bloom quickly looked back inside the bag meaning it was up to Tecna to explain to them briefly about their history with the witches who were now coming for them, the six lost princes of the magic dimension.
"God, okay. Uhm, the Trix are witches, they go to an all witches' school in the Magix dimension and they are our biggest uhh, enemies? Yeah, anyway, we were sent here to Gardenia on a mission because these three witches well, they're looking for six princes – who were sent here years ago for protection, however, as of recently, they have been tracked down and are in danger and well here we are."
"I'm sorry, did you say witches?" Riven asked, his face paling slightly as he shared a horrified look with Sky. Both Tecna and Bloom ignored his question; Bloom digging further into the bag and Tecna observing the large map in front of her.
"We need to get going Bloom, they're on the move and I can't track the other girls," Tecna said, scowling at the device in her hand. Bloom jumped up and moved to her side, a look of disbelief displayed across her face.
"What do you mean you can't track them?" She demanded peering over the purple haired fairy's shoulder.
"I'm not sure, but we need to move now. If that troll was that powerful I don't even want to think about what kind of upgrade Icy guys have." Tecna's eyebrows furrowed in worry as she looked at her friend who nodded in return.
"Right, well you six need to go back to your tent now."
"What? Why?"
"Do not argue with me right now, Sky. Go."
"No. We're coming with you, if Flora and the other girls are in danger then we want to help find them," Helia said causing Bloom and Tecna to both raise an eyebrow.
Tecna shook her head; "No. It's too dangerous, you won't be able to protect yourselves yet,"
"What do you mean yet?" Brandon asked, lowering his eyebrows in confusion.
"What? Oh, I didn't mean to say that it just – "
"No. You're lying. You're not telling us something." Nabu growled.
"You're right. There's a lot we're not telling you, but now is not the time to get into it because our friends are possibly in danger and so are you so you're going to go back to your tent where I can assure your safety. No arguments." Bloom spoke with such finality in her voice that the boys' looked at her in complete shock and awe.
Tecna grinned; "Boys, meet Bloom, our group leader. Now listen to her and go back to the campsite. We've put a protective barrier so no other magical creature can enter,"
Brandon shook his head stubbornly; "No I can't go back, let us help you. I can't bear the thought of something happening to Stella…and the other girls of course." Brandon blushed causing the other five boys to smirk at him. But Bloom and Tecna were oblivious to this as they started discussing their game plan.
"Bloom please. Let us help," Sky pleaded walking towards the redhead and placing his hand on her shoulder.
Bloom sighed, "Look, if you really want to help you'll do as we say. The last thing we need right now is for the Trix getting to you when we're four women short." Her eyes softened as she saw the defeat in Sky's teal blue eyes and in a much gentler tone she said; "I promise we'll explain everything as soon as we've found the others. But for now, just let us do our jobs. This is too dangerous for you. We're talking about the most powerful witches in the whole magical dimension. Your athleticism is going to put a slight scratch on them, please?"
Sky slumped in disappointment but nodded nonetheless. He could see how desperate Bloom was and he didn't think he had it in him to upset her anymore than he probably has before. "Alright, we'll go back to the site," Bloom grinned, "But…you have to come back and give us a word to word, detailed, honest explanation about what the hell is going on, okay?"
Nodding eagerly, "Thank you," She mumbled cupping Sky's face before spinning around and walking to the backpack. "Use those flashlights to get you back to the campsite and- "
"Wait. Take my watch," Tecna said, handing Timmy the grey watch Mrs. Faragonda gifted her. Timmy took it with a horrified but excited look on his face, "What? Why?" He held it up with two fingers like it was going to jump on him and rip him to shreds.
Tecna rolled her eyes before grabbing his hand and strapping the warm leather around his wrist, "Now listen carefully because if you mess up my watch I will blast you into the Omega dimension,"
Bloom snickered which caused Timmy to gulp and stare at the watch with a slight fear that made Tecna drop her fierce demeanor to smile before realising and picking her guard up again. "I'm serious Timmy. Not a single scratch on it, got it?"
He nodded quickly, "But uh, why are you giving it to me in the first place?"
"It'll help us track you down in case of anything. But most importantly, as soon as you reach the safety of your tent I want you to tap on the left side of the watch three times and then click the blue icon that will appear on the watch screen. This will send Bloom an alert that you're okay. However, if you're not okay then you tap the screen twice and click the icon on the top right corner that has the initials DC which stands for Distress Code. This will send an alert to all of us, including our headmistress at Alfea and possibly the headmaster of Red Fountain and will automatically switch on your Live Location. Please do not press it unless you really are in danger."
The six specialists looked at the watch in complete astonishment. "What kind of watch is this?" Timmy asked rhetorically.
"It was created specifically for this mission and is equipped with the latest technology in the magical realm." Bloom explained, "We all have one,"
"Do you people realise this is single-handedly the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened to me in my entire eighteen years of existence?" Riven chocked out, eyeing his friends with utter disbelief.
"Aw honey. This is nothing. You're in for a real treat," Bloom winked before her and Tecna ducked into the thick forest trees.
…
"Stella, did you see that?"
The blonde fairy stretched, letting out a loud yawn before focusing her eyes on Flora who was squinting at something in the distance. "See what?"
"There, just keeping looking in that direction, between those two palm trees," Flora whispered, shifting in her position on the highest tree branch to make room for Stella who quickly flew to it. She squinted into the darkness for a good thirty seconds before a flash of purple lit up the small patch of forest further away from them. Stella, slightly alarmed, quickly jumped to her feet and flew higher into the sky but was pulled to a halt by Flora, who looked just as worried.
"The Trix must have a troll or something in the forest. Those were Tecna's beams," Flora whispered.
"Well we should go help them then."
"No." Flora said, grabbing Stella's arm, "If they needed help they would have shot the beams directly into the sky or sent us the distress code, I think they've got whatever that is covered. We have to stay here and watch out for the Trix; the sun will be up soon and I'm sure they're bound to strike any moment now."
Stella nodded; Flora was right, Bloom and Tecna were strong enough to handle a stupid troll, hell they've battled worse. But that's not what was worrying the princess of Solaria.
"They're so close to the campsite Flo, what if someone sees them? Or what if that troll escapes and heads towards our classmates?"
"It wouldn't be able to pass through the barrier Bloom put up. But you're right about the witness part, however I doubt anyone is going to be awake this early; apart from the specialists. And if they see Bloom and Tecna as fairies then that's good, it'll make it all the more easier to convince them about their true nature,"
"Okay shit clearly you've thought this through."
"I do a lot of thinking when I'm silent,"
"You're always silent,"
"Exactly." Flora smiled softly as they made their way back to the Oak tree branch. They sat in silence for a while before Stella spoke up.
"What do you normally think about?" Flora blinked.
"Lots of stuff, I guess. Everything." She shrugged.
They fell into yet another comfortable silence before Stella, again, broke it.
"You know Flo, I consider you my best friend just as everyone else does…but you and I, well…" Stella murmured, her voice trailing off. Flora turned to look at her with questioning eyes and Stella sighed, "We don't really talk as much as we do with the others."
Flora was stunned; she didn't know how this conversation turned so deep but a part of her was grateful that Stella had brought it up. She wasn't wrong. They may be best friends in theory but the two of them are not as close as they should be, and it was mildly upsetting.
"I guess it's because we're two completely different people; like I'm quiet and you're loud. We've barely got anything in common, have we?"
"Who said having opposite personalities should affect how close we are? Aren't opposites meant to attract?"
"Yeah but when two people have similar interests and act in similar ways they get along better. Take Musa and Layla for example; they're practically the same people." This made Stella laugh.
"Yeah, they're both hot headed, notorious boys." Flora burst out laughing.
"They do act awfully like the male population don't they," She grinned, "But maybe you're right. I guess I haven't really tried to get close to you."
Stella smiled; "Well, let's start now."
"Now?"
"Yeah! What better time to have a heart to heart conversation than at five O-clock in the morning when we're staking out a bunch of witches?"
"Fair point. Okay, what do you suppose we start with."
"Okay, I know, there's a question I've been dying to ask but I've been too cowardly to bring it up in fear of hurting your feelings…"
Flora inhaled sharply; she had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next but all in all she couldn't help feeling curious as to what the blonde was too scared to ask. "Go on..."
"Are you sure, I really don't want to upset you Flo," Stella whispered carefully, her eyes looking somewhat worried. Flora dismissed her words with a wave of her hand,
"Alright…what happened between you and Lucian?"
And just like that the breath was knocked out of Flora as she clutched the tree branch with all her might, knowing if she let go she would sure as hell fall over. Just hearing his name was enough to suck the life right out of her soul. Lucian Parker; that bastard.
"Flora? Are you okay?" Stella asked softly, placing her hand on the brunette's shoulder.
Flora nodded in response, wiping her eyes with the heel of her palms. She let out a chocked out laugh that sounded a lot more like a sob and before she could do anything about it she found herself full on weeping into Stella's shoulder.
"Oh Flora, I knew I shouldn't have brought it up," Stella cooed as she rubbed her friend's back soothingly. Flora shook her head in disagreement before pulling out of Stella's hold.
"No. Sorry, I'm sorry. It's just, God. Why am I crying?!"
Stella stared at her in sympathy, not knowing what exactly to do.
"Hey, if you don't want to talk about it, I'm not forcing you to. Take your time, sweetie,"
Flora sniffed; "Thanks Stell. But no, I've kept it bottled up for almost five months now. It's about time I opened up to someone and actually welcomed these feelings. Can you believe it though? Five months and I'm crying now." Flora chuckled, hiccupping,
Stella smiled softly at her, "I think it would probably be healthier if you talked to someone about it. It doesn't have to be me, per say."
"N, no. I'll talk to you." Flora sniffed, wiping her tears before taking a deep breath. "Well. Honestly, I don't know where to start. I was a stupid teenager who fell in love with an idiot player, not much to say about it. Except for the fact that I was entirely convinced he was being legit. And I mean why wouldn't I? I've practically known him my whole life, right? You'd think with us being childhood best friends and our parents being really close he wouldn't be such a, such a…rude blockheaded crouton!"
Stella snorted. "Rude blockheaded crouton?"
"I have no explanation for that except that I meant exactly that. He looked exactly like a crouton."
Stella burst out laughing which, naturally, caused Flora to join along and together they were clutching onto the wooden branch to prevent them falling off the tree amidst their sudden hysteria.
"Well anyway, he was the first person I let get close to my heart like that and he broke it. As simple as that."
"What a crouton." Stella sighed in mock exasperation which just caused them to return back into their crazy fit of laughter. But it was soon brought to a halt when their watches started flashing red; Musa's signal. They peered over the edge of the branch to where the Trix's tent was located to see them scrambling out. They gave each other a look of panic before quickly and discreetly flying onto the forest floor where Musa and Layla were already waiting for them.
"About damn time those lazy hags woke up," Layla grumbled, rubbing her eyes in attempt to wipe the sleep away herself.
"Says the person who literally just woke up from a forty-five-minute nap," Musa snapped, rolling her eyes at her friend.
"You can't prove that,"
"Your morning breath is as much evidence as I could possibly need." Layla grabbed the blue-haired female and exhaled a huge breath right onto her face which caused Musa to scrunch her nose up in disgust and her eyes to water. "What kind of disgusting ass- "
"Shhh, you idiots will blow our cover!" Stella hissed causing both females to shrug sheepishly.
"What do we do?" Flora asked, nodding her head in the witches' direction.
"We follow them,"
"And how do you suppose we do that without them spotting us?" Layla asked causing the musical fairy to roll her eyes.
"Obviously we don't let them."
"Obviously,"
"Well do you have a better idea# miss smarty pants?" Musa demanded causing Layla to shrug.
"Look, let's just follow them as discreetly as possible, and if our cover is blown then, well, we fight."
"Wow, what a game plan that is." Layla said sarcastically causing Stella to scowl.
"What's with Layla?" Flora asked Musa, who simply smirked in return.
"Moody Margaret here is having a mini war with her hormones,"
"Excuse me what the fuck, no I am not."
"You are. I can literally see the hearts in your eyes when you're daydreaming,"
"Lie!"
"Nope. Layla's in loooove," Musa giggled, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"I am so not in love. I am in like and it is very much temporary,"
"Same difference. Anyway, let's not get into this now. The Trix are on the move,"
"Right, I'll alert the other two," Flora said, tapping twice on her watch screen and then clicking on both the blue and purple button.
"Damn."
"What?" Stella asked turning to look at the music fairy.
"We don't have Tecna's thermal detection thing. What happens when we lose the Trix?"
"Shit. Okay, Flora'll just have to continuously ask the trees but other than that…don't lose them."
"Wow okay that'll be sups easy." Layla muttered as she pushed her way towards the lake.
"Wait, wait!"
"Now what?" Stella asked, getting quite frustrated.
"Let's split up. Two of us head towards their tent and insert a camera microchip so if they come back we'll know. The other two will follow the witches."
"That makes sense actually, alright. You and Layla follow the Trix, Flora and I will catch up once the chip is set."
"Where are we getting this chip thing from?" Layla asked looking back and forth between Musa and Stella and then smirking when their excited expressions faltered.
"Our watches probably have one, we'll use mine," Flora reminded, taking hers off.
"What? We can't pull apart your watch Flora. Taking out the chip will completely disconnect you from us."
"Why not? If we need to communicate then you can reach me through Stella's, once we're done Tecna can help me fix it back up. Besides, I doubt we'll have any signal once we're deep in the forest."
"Are you sure? We can use mine if you'd like." Layla asked, although she really hoped Flora would refuse.
"No. We'll use mine." Layla sighed in relief.
"Okay, the coast is clear I think. See you in a bit." Musa whispered before she quickly flew up into the air, Layla gave a mini salute before following suit.
"Which way did they go?" Layla asked, scanning the forest below them.
"I'm not sure, dammit Flora should have come with us." Layla nodded, it was not smart of them to split up this way.
"Yeah but, it's good Flora and Stella are paired up together. I hope they use this time to get closer."
"Yeah, knowing Stella she isn't going to pass up the opportunity just like that. Anyway, I think I see something down there,"
"Shouldn't we probably look up though, they can fly." Layla pointed out, spinning around in a circle.
"I don't think they'd risk being caught to be honest. Well, I don't know, I'm not sure what their plan is."
"Wait, Stella's calling." Layla said, bringing Musa to mute. "Hello?"
"Layla. Musa. I think we've figured out what the Trix are planning."
"What? What do you mean?"
"So we're at their tent, and there are three suitcases full to the brim with clothes that are so bleh, like I don't even know what they're thinking." Layla and Musa rolled their eyes at this.
"What's that got to do with anything, Stell?"
"Oh right. Okay switch to holographic mode."
"Ah shit. Okay give us one sec," Musa said as she and Layla flew towards a tree and ducked into one of its thick branches. Layla turned on the holographic setting and Stella and Flora were floating in front of them.
"Okay anyway. The clothes we found look like normal human clothes; I'm talking Forever 21 and H&M human. Like these witches must have a really big budget or something because- "
"What Stella is trying to say is…we think the witches are trying to blend in. Their normal suits are lying on their sleeping bags so they've changed.
"So, they're trying to pass off as normal civilians on the island? I have to give it to them; that's smart. It's almost six though, why are they awake so early?" Musa asked, swinging her legs over the branch. Flora and Stella shrugged.
"No idea. Anyway, if they're trying to blend in it probably means they're going to head straight for the Specialists'."
"Damn that's good. So, what? We head to the campsite?"
"Honestly, I think that's the best idea right now. Bloom's put up a boundary so the Trix won't be able to pass through. But the Specialists will. You've got to go over there and make sure they don't leave the campsite."
"Have you heard anything from Bloom and Tecna? They might be at the campsite still, they can stall them in the meantime."
"I sent them an alert before dissembling my watch so they won't be able to get through to me."
"That's alright, I'll ring them up." Musa said as she began fumbling with her watch. But just before she could press 'call', Flora and Stella's holograph started glitching.
"Girls? What's going on?" Layla asked, jumping to her feet.
"I-I- don't…." Flora stammered before their image disappeared and Layla's watch switched off.
"I think you lost signal. Let me try mine," Musa pressed the ring button under Tecna's image, but nothing happened. The two girls stared blankly at the gadget on Musa's wrist. "Oh Wonderful."
Layla sighed before flying up into the sky, with her arm stretched out she began pacing around in mid air in attempt to find at least one bar of signal.
"This is why I prefer home. There is not a signal spot in the dimension that doesn't have signal." Musa murmured to herself as she flew down to the forest floor and doing the same.
After five minutes of no luck, she flew up to Layla who looked like she was about to throw the watch out into the oblivion.
"We're too deep inside, we'll just have to head back to the site quickly. The boys normally go for a morning jog and I pray to every ancestor out there that they slept in an extra half an hour." Musa groaned. The two began making their way back in the direction of the rest of their classmates but were brought to a halt when they saw a light flicker amongst the trees on the ground below them.
Layla and Musa looked at each other before diving down and landing gracefully on the cold earth. Before Layla could make a beeline towards the source of light, Musa grabbed her and pulled her further away, pressing her finger to the brunette's lips.
"Shh," Musa hissed, "It's them,"
"Who is 'them'?" Layla whispered, staring as the gleam got further and further away. But the look on Musa's face gave it away and Layla paled.
"The Trix…and they're not alone."
"Please don't tell me its- "
"The Wizards of the Black Circle."
"Oh wonderful."
Heyy
It's been awhile, hasn't it?
Anyway I decided to add a little sentimental moment between Flora and Stella; I don't know why but I just felt like, besides in the show the two barely have any moments together,
And yes, I've decided to drag in the Wizards too. It's an odd combination but I just thought it would be interesting. I mean, the Trix and the Wizards have, according to the show, never met so I'm sure I'm not the only that's interested to see how that turns out. (Just know there is going to be hella conflict and jealousy )
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!