this is how it starts (ready set go)

i'm tired of losing hope

Stella's actions had been fortunately constant for the past few minutes, at least—in a way, a relief (she wasn't flying off the handle), and in another, more important way, a huge frustration (she was numbly shaking her head and not-quite-crying). Musa and Flora stared at one another over her head, desperate but equally lost.

Although no one had asked her, Aisha shrugged, elbowing her way into the situation. "Grey has the power of Mirrors, doesn't she? Isn't that what Sohalia said before she was…fixed? Maybe that could help with some kind of reflection thing, like a friendship…thing?…"

"All those questions weren't exactly inspiring," Musa said frustratedly. Tecna pointedly avoided her sweeping gaze, keeping herself as far removed from the others as possible.

"Stella, honey?" Flora tried (again). The response was wholly unsurprising: Stella's eyes remained fixed on some invisible point in front of her and the tears continued to not quite fall. Flora made a huffing, irritated sound and rested her arms on her knees. "Maybe we should try to find Bloom," she said, addressing the others.

Stella's head suddenly stopped shaking and her eyes narrowed, glittering golden lines. "No," she said darkly. "Absolutely not." Out of her sight, Flora shrugged, staunchly defeated.

Tecna tapped her index finger rhythmically against the floor where she knelt, her brow furrowed in thought. "What about the fairies out there?" she said slowly. "Cadenza has the power of Silence—that wouldn't help anything in the long run, of course, just keeping them quiet wouldn't do a bit of good."

Musa nodded, putting one of her hands on Stella's back and the other on her own knees. "Yeah, you know, Sabrina has the power of Control, I think, right?"

"Same problem," Aisha said, shaking her head. "No good in the long run, I mean. What about Laura?"

"Clarity," Flora said with a note of revelation. "Clarity would be perfect."

"Yes," Tecna hedged, "but to be used on who?"

Flora frowned.

---

Laura folded her arms loosely across her chest and craned her neck up to watch Cadenza and Grey. She made a small sighing noise and Sabrina's eyes slid over to look at her.

"Well?"

Laura shook her head but didn't shift her gaze. "How long have you known Effie?"

Sabrina smiled and closed her eyes. "Eleven years. I haven't seen her in almost three, though."

Almost out of sight, Cadenza continued speaking, her arms moving almost violently in midair as she circled her prey. Laura lowered her head and looked at the ground. "She sounds really cool."

"She is. She's one of the smartest girls I know."

"She means a lot to Cadenza."

Sabrina looked squarely at Laura then, her eyes just slightly narrowed at the bottoms. She waited for the other girl to meet her gaze before speaking again.

"What is this really about?"

Laura shrugged, trying to look away, but Sabrina's piercing gaze wouldn't let her avoid the subject for long. "I… You know, I really don't know. I've just heard about her from you two for so long, and it never even—no one ever mentioned meeting her, or even maybe meeting her, someday, it was like some awful thing had happened that I just wasn't allowed to know about." She waved vaguely up, towards Cadenza and Grey, and cleared her throat to goad herself on. "Something that had been this big, amazing part of your lives and then it just ended and I wasn't allowed to know why, and I felt like I was just a…a really bad, really insufficient replacement for something but I had no idea what." She glanced up, barely noticeable, and shrugged again. "Or who."

The lingering effects of Sabrina's control were wearing off, but Grey remained up in the air as Cadenza flew slowly around her, miming something over and over; Laura shook her head, long threads of dark brown hair waving in front of her face. "Never mind, I never really—I. I'm sorry. I've never had friends like you two, I'm not used to, I guess sharing without it really being me getting dumped."

Sabrina turned to look back up at Grey and Cadenza. "It's okay."

"Oh my god, Allie!"

Sabrina's and Laura's eyes locked on the new offender at once. Sabrina hissed (like a cat) as Laura growled (like a dog).

"Lenox."

"Wow, so you do remember me."

An altogether unremarkable young witch sauntered up to Sabrina, wagging her finger as she walked. Laura's eyes darted between them as her hands twitched nervously; she hadn't quite been prepared for another battle so soon.

"You've taken something very precious to us," Lenox reprimanded, her features twisting strangely and becoming somehow similar to Sabrina's. "And we want it back."

"We thought you might," Sabrina returned. "Where's your boy toy?"

Lenox's features relaxed again and she gave a lopsided grin; her face was one of those plain ones, unattractive on its own but with a malleable quality to it that could mimic the characteristics of other, more defined faces with little effort. She whistled, sharp and low, and a similar-looking wizard appeared beside her (out of thin air).

"What are you calling yourself nowadays?" he asked by way of introduction. "Was 'Elle' the last I heard? Or, no." He rapped his knuckles on his own head a couple of times. "That was your friend, wasn't it, the little thing from Videlicet."

Laura's gaze turned to Sabrina sharply, then immediately back to the wizard. He grinned, self-satisfied.

"Ah, I see I've struck a chord with some of our…lesser members," he teased.

"Axel," Sabrina said by way of introduction. "You'll never get your hands on her, you should just get out now." She snarled and Lenox mimicked her (by reflex). "She's back to normal anyway."

"Who, Grey?" Lenox asked, mock-curious. "Noooo, I don't think she is."

"If she was," Axel continued without missing a beat, "she'd be down here defending you, defending herself, against us."

"She might as well be," Laura cut in, ignoring Sabrina's startled flinch. "You'll never get her back."

Lenox tapped her forehead with a long, manicured fingernail. "Oh, that's right, I forgot. The power of friendship, right?"

Axel nodded. "You've got your little miracle worker up there with her right now, don't you, bringing her back. Is that it?"

"Bullshit," Sabrina muttered coldly. "Why do you even want her? Do you even know what she can do? What her power is, what magic she controls?"

"No," Axel said breezily.

"We don't really care," Lenox added. "She's important to you, that's enough for us."

"And we think you already figured that much out," Axel said, wrinkling his nose, "which is why we don't mind confirming it. You're not stupid."

"Well," Lenox confided, "not all the time."

Bloom chose precisely that moment to storm onto the scene, blazing in all her battle glory with Dragon fire flaring around her hands and in her eyes.

"Back off," she threatened, "if you know what's good for you."

Lenox and Axel exchanged a somewhat perplexed glance. "Well, well," the witch said with a grin. "Isn't this a treat of a surprise."

"Get out of here, Bloom," Sabrina muttered. The fire fairy stood her ground proudly, muscles tensed, and shook her head; Laura tensed further, apparently trying to refrain from shoving the other girl out of the way.

Over Axel's shoulder, Cadenza landed on the ground with Grey (Effie) lying unconscious in her arms. Bloom stiffened obviously (almost gasping) and Lenox looked back with a wry grin.

"I see," she said silkily. "Well. This is getting good."