A/N: This is the minimalistic style I've been trying to pull off for weeks but didn't manage to when it comes to writing a story. Let me know if it works or I should go back to the paragraphs upon paragraphs.
The Coven. It was the Coven that was standing between them this time, and the Company, and the war. Not just a simple feud between two schools. Though, maybe that hadn't been so simple either when the source of the conflict remained the same. Only, things were much more real now all of a sudden.
Griffin was on the other end of the battlefield, deep in enemy territory, and the worst of all was that she wanted to be there. Faragonda didn't want to admit it, but she belonged there with her passion about getting the magical dimension to see dark magic as equal to light magic. Of course she'd join that crusade even if it was just an invasion for the throne and nothing more. To Griffin it wasn't. It was the chance to have her kind restored as equal counterparts to the light magic users. Her kind that Faragonda did not belong to.
They'd gotten over their differences once before. But they'd still been children and it had been just a game, the only thing they needed to get over their own ideals and a few scornful gazes by people who didn't understand. And they'd done it when she'd known she belonged in Griffin's heart but now... Now was not like that. Now there were whole armies between them and they weren't free to choose for themselves when they were just soldiers which she might have just been grateful for.
She didn't know if Griffin could ignore who she was and the injustices that came with that to choose her again. It was not just her winx between them anymore – something Griffin had admitted she loved after she'd gotten over the whole idea of her best friend being a fairy. They had clashing responsibilities on their shoulders and loyalties in their hearts. And a wizard with Dark Dragon Fire that she didn't know how to fight when it was that action that could take Griffin away from her forever.
Faragonda trembled without the warmth of her witch to hug her there when she was being engulfed in his flames. A cold she was afraid would only spread when she didn't know how to end it without Griffin's heart in her hand.
The touch on her arm burned when it pulled her out of her thoughts about Faragonda and she jumped, back into the real world. Away from her friend.
"I don't believe I've gotten a reaction like that out of you before," Valtor said, a hand tangling in her hair to soothe her as he'd learned that was another thing the action could do besides pulling moans out of her and she had yet to decide which knowledge he liked better. His eyes were waiting on her currently for an answer that she couldn't get her way out of with a kiss even if she wanted to. And she couldn't lie to him either, the ice of his gaze half molten by the flames burning underneath already.
"I have a friend there," she admitted, looking away even though she knew letting him see into her soul could help her convince him how much that meant to her. She didn't know if she wanted to convince him. She didn't know if she could, if he could understand. And she didn't need her friendship frowned upon when she'd already been through that many times. It didn't change the facts and they were that Faragonda had a place in her heart whether she was a witch or shined in her Enchantix. "With the Company," she clarified. She didn't want any misunderstandings. Faragonda was still her friend no matter where she went. Even if her own brain was trying to hiss differently at her. Lysslis was just getting to her head too much. It couldn't be her own heart capable of such betrayal.
"Well, I am sure you can convince a witch to join us," Valtor said as he pulled her closer to him and she wished it could be as simple as the gesture was for him and the words that left his lips. Of course, he'd assume her friend was a witch. Didn't you too? her mind chided at her but she hushed it. It wasn't the time to reopen old wounds that had healed anyway. Even if they were bleeding again. Even if it felt like Faragonda was going to war against her personally when she knew very well why Griffin was there and yet, she stood in her way as if her cause was unworthy and had to be stopped.
"She's not a witch," Griffin said, the words painful once again like they weren't supposed to be after they'd been through it already. They'd done their war, they'd ended it. So why were they fighting against each other again? "She's a fairy," she admitted, quietly, as if it was a secret she had to be ashamed of and she couldn't stand it. She shouldn't have to be put in this position. It was all the Council's doing. They were the ones that were putting that divide between light and dark magic users and it had to be destroyed if she wanted to be free to care for Faragonda openly. Because she wasn't currently. "It's complicated," she said when she chanced a glance at Valtor only to find him judging her. After killing people together, he was judging her for her friendship. That was rich.
"Maybe this war will uncomplicate it," he said as he pressed her against his chest, the action less soothing and more alarming when it came from possessiveness instead of care for her. And his words... They were what forced her to suppress the shiver trying to shake her when it was supposed to be his warmth that made it go away naturally. For him it was simple. There was just a choice to be made. And being forced to fight against her friend would just make it easier. But there was nothing easy in it when she didn't want to choose between her friend and her beliefs. And she shouldn't be made to. She wouldn't be once she succeeded in her mission.
"Maybe," she just said with her face pressed against his chest instead of turned towards her dilemma. She didn't want to start an argument and pull him out of her reach, too, when she was already struggling with the reality of being unable to receive Faragonda's affection. In her ideal world, she could have them both. And admitting her ideal world had problems that weren't caused by the Council was too terrifying a thought to face right now, perhaps ever.
Griffin stepped away from Faragonda to let the dress fall away. She didn't want to. Didn't want to let go of the fairy in order to expose herself like that. It was scary. Even if it was Faragonda she was with. Perhaps because of that.
She wasn't quite as beautiful as she'd once been when they'd still been teenagers and had ended up kissing in the shade of a tree or in a fitting room in a store in Magix. There was heavy lipstick now instead of sparkly lip gloss and wrinkles in the color of her makeup. And the worst of all, there was doubt in her heart. What would she do if she didn't feel beautiful in Faragonda's gaze like she had in Valtor's?
The hand in her hair was gentle when it had her look up from the pile of fabric on the floor that much resembled her melted confidence but it still sent her heart racing. There was so much heat in Faragonda's gaze and it didn't feel like Valtor's at all. It was better, left her somehow fuller when she knew the fairy had seen all sides of her and liked them all – the witch and the angel, the cruel goddess and the protective monster. She was seeing them all and her look was still so loving and didn't make her choose between parts of herself. It let her be whole. It was a window to her ideal world of light and dark tangled in one.
"Griffin." Her name sounded different, too, when it was said with care and not possessiveness. "You are the most beautiful being I've ever seen," Faragonda said as she'd read the tension in her muscles and in her head. Yet, it didn't make her feel like she was getting a compliment she'd fished for. Faragonda was just being honest. And it was such a pleasant warmth. It was like Faragonda was her own sun shining just for her.
"Kiss me, Fara," she barely managed to rasp out through the emotions shaking her being and the fairy's lips were on hers to leave no place for any fear.