Sharing a dorm with five other teenage girls, as Layla had quickly found out, was a lesson in organised chaos. And one that came with a steep learning curve.

Growing up, there hadn't been many other children running around the royal court of Andros, and Layla herself had been an only child until she was almost ten. The age gap between herself and her younger brother, Aegir, combined with the fact that her other brother, Anapos, had been born less than a year later, meant that they'd always been more interested in each other than her. Especially as she'd gotten older and more and more of her time had been taken up by duties and events befitting the heir to the Androsian throne.

As such Layla had spent little time around other kids, and even less around those who were actually her own age, so the process of settling into the dorm had been a little rocky. To say the least.

It wasn't the fault of her new friends of course. They couldn't know that the constant buzz of conversation and activity tended to wear on Layla who was used to a castle so quiet that she could often hear the sounds of the nearby ocean. Nor could they know that there had been days where she'd drift through that castle and barely speak to a single person. The dorm, in comparison, where there was never a moment where there wasn't at least one other person in her space, could be a tad overwhelming at times.

Like one Saturday morning for instance, a few weeks into the school year. They were due to leave for Red Fountain any minute, where there was to be a ceremony to unveil the brand-new campus, and the dorm was a flurry of movement as her friends finished getting ready. Standing in the middle of the common room, Layla felt something akin to standing in the eye of a storm, with sound and activity coming at her from all sides.

To her left, from Musa and Tecna's room came the sound of guitar strings and quiet voices humming a tune. Bloom and Musa were inside, a guitar each tucked close to their bodies, so absorbed in the song Bloom was helping Musa to write that they didn't even look up when Layla came to stand at the doorway.

"You wanna take it from the bridge again?" Bloom asked, watching Musa scratch something out on the paper they were working from.

The other girl nodded, her trademark pigtails bobbing, and the two girls played a few chords before moving slowly into the bridge, with Musa singing:

"Baby, I don't wanna know,

That feeling when I'm all alone,

So please don't make me wait, 'cause I don't wanna break,

No, I don't wanna fall…"

She held the last note, before trailing off and letting Bloom pick up the rest.

"'Cause when you're next to me,

Can tell I'm not afraid to be,

That you don't make me wait, and never let me break,

You never let me fall."

Bloom's voice was sweet, but Layla knew her true strength lay in the lyrics she'd helped Musa write. And the song really flourished when Musa's stronger voice joined hers to sing the first few lines of the chorus together:

"Darling, hold my hand,

Hold my hand,

Oh, won't you hold my hand?

'Cause I don't wanna walk on my own anymore, don't you understand?"

Layla had heard them slaving over the song enough times over the last few weeks to know that the tempo picked up from there if they were to continue, but instead the girls let the song trail off, Bloom leaning over her guitar to point out another section of song to work on. They looked like they were more or less ready to leave whenever the others were, so Layla left them lost in their world of music and wandered over to the other side of the dorm room, where Flora's own music was competing with Bloom and Musa's guitars.

The Linphean fairy, swinging her hips and singing along to a song in her native tongue, looked like she'd gotten distracted halfway through getting ready for the ceremony. She wore billowy pants that were patterned in bright colours and a cropped t-shirt, but her feet were bare, and peeking into her room, Layla could see a pile of floppy hats on Flora's bed like she'd been in the middle of choosing which to wear.

Instead, she had her watering can in hand, and was wading through the countless pots littering the floor, occasionally breaking off from her song to say good morning to them or inquire about their wellbeing; the fact that some would answer her no longer surprised Layla but had shocked her something fierce the first time it had happened. She didn't know how Bloom lived with the overwhelming smell of earth and the constant chattering of the plants, but when she'd asked her once, the redhead had just shrugged with a soft smile and said that it was better than the alternative of Flora moving out. The kind sentiment had made Layla's heart ache.

Now she watched as Flora approached her desk, which had been cleared of it's stationary and instead was clustered with the smaller pots that were too fragile to leave on the floor, a setup that Layla knew forced Flora to complete her schoolwork on her bed or in the common area.

"Is it time to go?" Flora asked, looking up where she'd been tending to a budding succulent.

Layla checked the time on her phone. "Not yet. The buses aren't due to leave until ten."

"If I'd known we had so much time in the morning we could have gone for our run after all."

Layla smiled and shrugged. "Oh well, there's always tomorrow."

She had been both grateful and a little wary when Flora, upon hearing that Layla was planning on checking out the running trails in the forest around Alfea, had offered to show her her favourites. As nice as the offer was, she'd been worried she'd feel obligated to accompany Flora on her run every morning, a time that Layla usually liked to take for some quiet and self-reflection. But as Flora has assured her the first time they set out, she wouldn't take it personally if wanted to run alone in the future, and they'd settled into a nice routine ever since, running together some mornings, and choosing different trails on others. And Layla found that the girl was quiet when they ran together anyway, rather than keeping up her usual steady stream of chatter, they typically ran in companionable silence, only broken when Flora would point out a rare plant or especially beautiful flower.

"Yes," Flora agreed, setting aside her watering can and sitting on the edge of her bed to pull on a pair of sandals.

Layla left her to it and returned to the common area, thinking she'd put something on the television to watch while she waited. But when she picked up the remote and pressed the on button all she got was a screen filled with grey static. Frowning, Layla tried to flip to a new channel, but every single one was the same.

Finally a familiar head of pink hair poked out from behind the entertainment unit. "Oh," Tecna said, blinking at her owlishly from beneath a layer of dust. "Sorry, Layla. I'm trying to modify the television so we pick up more channels."

Tecna, Layla had quickly found out, was constantly fiddling with the various electronics around the dorm, looking to improve them or if she couldn't, fleece the parts for one of the other many projects she was working on. Musa had quickly advised her to stash her own devices away to stop them from falling into their friend's hands, and Layla, well versed in keeping her belongings hidden from her younger brothers, had done just that.

She knew that Tecna's constant fiddling annoyed some of her friends, Stella and Musa being the most vocal when their phones went missing or the tv was out of action once again, but Layla thought there was something intriguing in the way Tecna's mind worked, the connections she was able to put together. In any case, the girl's technological knowledge was far beyond Layla's own.

"What time is it?" Tecna asked with a frown, checking her bare wrist before realising she hadn't put on her watch yet. She patted at her empty pockets, searching for her phone, before Layla, taking pity on her, informed her that it was almost time to go.

"Dragon's sake," Tecna hissed under her breath, pulling herself out from behind the console and heading for the bathroom, no doubt to freshen up, though Layla wasn't sure how she was going to get the streaks of dust off her white turtleneck. She paused at the threshold, glancing back at Layla. "Can you make sure Stella's ready? She's always the reason we're late."

The door snicked shut before Layla to protest, leaving her to wonder if Tecna hadn't picked up on the lingering tension between herself and Stella like the others had, or if she simply didn't care. Probably the latter, Layla thought, as she reluctantly approached her and Stella's room.

Layla wasn't entirely sure what it was that Stella disliked about her, whether she was still annoyed about the disagreements they'd had while in the Under Realms, or if she didn't like that she was no longer the only princess in the group, or if it was simply that she preferred not to share a room. Whatever it was, Layla was sure that those feelings had only been exacerbated when Stella hadn't been picked to take Avalon's class.

It hadn't taken the professor much longer than a week to narrow down who would be admitted to his course, and it was the arrival of three letters to the dorm that informed Layla, Musa, and Bloom that they'd been selected. The other three had been disappointed, naturally, to hear that they'd been passed over.

Flora had come to terms with it the fastest, telling Layla during one of their morning runs that while she'd been upset at first, she believed Avalon when he said that not every power was suited to the course. And besides, she'd gone on to say, not having the class to attend would give her more time to focus on earning her Charmix. Tecna, who was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to her school work, hadn't seen the silver lining so quickly. After a moody week, during which she'd snapped at anyone and everyone, she too seemed to come to terms with it and acknowledge that there could be a good side to not being picked for the admittedly intense course. Stella on the other hand… well, when it came to Stella they'd all learnt not to bring up the new course or the professor running it in front of the blonde, as there was a tendency for a sour look to cross her face and a strong possibility that a snide comment would follow.

Clenching her hand into a fist, Layla approached the doorway and was almost tempted to knock on the door before she entered. Despite the weeks she'd spent in the room, it still very much felt like Stella's room upon which Layla was an interloper. Fighting off that urge, Layla stepped into the room, finding Stella with her hair and makeup done, but still wearing the rumpled pyjamas she'd worn to bed. The blonde didn't notice Layla's presence at first, continuing to talk into her phone as she held up outfit after outfit to her body before discarding them to the side.

"I don't know about the front row, darling," she was saying, something soft in her voice that Layla had rarely heard before. "But I'll definitely be there watching. I know you're nervous but you're going to be great."

All at once it clicked that Stella was talking to her boyfriend, and that this might be a moment not to be intruded on. Layla took a hasty step back out of the room, but not before Stella's eyes flicked up and caught sight of her in the mirror.

"Just a sec," she said into the phone, before pulling it away from her ear. "What?"

Layla bristled at the flat tone. "Just wanted to let you know the bus will be leaving soon."

"Thanks," Stella said shortly, before waving a hand, using magic to close the door in her face.

Layla scowled at it for a moment, contemplating whether it would be worth it to yank the door back open and demand to know what Stella's problem was, before a voice spoke up, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't take it personally."

Layla followed the voice to the tiny kitchenette that was set up in the narrow space between the two bedrooms. A counter with a sink, a mini fridge, a collection of other appliances they technically weren't supposed to have in their dorm, and yet another table that had been commandeered by Flora for her plants. And at the moment, Bloom, perched on the counter between the toaster and the kettle.

"How can I not?"

Bloom bit her lip, capping the marker that she'd been using to doodle on the leg of her overalls, and looking like she was choosing her words carefully.

"She's just… wary, I think. Especially after last year, it's hard for her to accept any more changes."

Layla held her hands up. "Hey, I'm not here to make any waves, pun unintended."

"I know, and deep down so does Stella, even if it doesn't seem like it."

"Maybe it would be easier if I just moved out?"

"No," Bloom said, jumping down from the counter, her red braid swinging. "We want you here. And I'm working on Stella, I promise. It'll be better soon, I promise. I know it's hard, but just give it a bit more time, please?"

Layla sighed, and nodded. As prickly as things were between herself and Stella, she didn't really want to move to a new dorm. The others were great, and even if living in a dorm had been harder than Layla had been expecting, there was a lot she was learning to love about it as well. She just hoped that rooming with Stella would grow to be one of those things as well.

The door to her room banged open and Stella came strutting out, dressed immaculately like she hadn't still been contemplating outfit options less than a minute ago. "Well, darlings?" she asked, glancing around the common room with sharp eyes. "Are we ready to go or not?"

Bloom rolled her eyes affectionately and laughed. Musa's own bark of laughter was more on the sardonic side as she emerged from her own room.

"I'll just ignore that you were the last one to get dressed then?" she asked, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"I'm not sure what you mean, sweetie, I've been ready for hours."

"I highly doubt that," Tecna said coolly, stepping out of the bathroom, clean of dust right down to her white top.

"How exciting," Flora said, as she joined them, and they made their way out of the dorm and down to the quad where the rest of the students were gathering. "I wonder what the new Red Fountain campus will look like. I read online that they've kept the designs a big secret."

"It'd better be pretty spectacular, everyone was expecting them to reveal it at the start of the school year," Tecna commented as they lined up for their bus.

"Construction was delayed," Bloom said, remembering a conversation she'd had with Sky. "Apparently the whole foundation has been reinforced with a special metal that they had to wait to be imported from Eraklyon."

"I'll bet there'll be some crazy special effects in the ceremony as well," Stella added. "There will be a lot of important people there today and Red Fountain's going to want to show off."

With all the hype surrounding the ceremony, they were therefore very surprised to see the original crumbling Red Fountain castle still intact and in place.

"Ummm?" Bloom frowned as they joined the stream of chattering people approaching the ruins curiously. Last she'd heard the old campus was structurally unsound after the ice damage, she just hoped that they'd done something to shore it up for the ceremony.

"They must be doing some kind of groundbreaking ceremony to reveal the new campus," Stella said thoughtfully. "But let's be real, it's the post party that's going to be the highlight."

"I heard they've got quite the up and coming Magixian DJ for the party," Avalon commented, appearing, out of nowhere it seemed, to walk alongside them.

Stella's expression hardened a bit at the sight of the professor she'd once been quite smitten over.

"Yeah," Musa said enthusiastically. "They booked DJ Mirage, he's brilliant. With him at the turntable it's guaranteed to be a great party."

Avalon smiled, and said, "Sounds splendid. You girls have a good day, and maybe I'll see you later."

"Where are you sitting for the ceremony, Professor?"

"The staff from Cloud Tower and Alfea have been gifted one of the VIP boxes, so I'll be in there." Avalon raised a hand in farewell and melted back into the crowd, leaving the girls to line up at the entrance.

"Lot's of guards around," Tecna noted, eyes sweeping over the armoured people patrolling the outer wall of the castle, many bearing weapons that glinted in the sunlight.

"Lot's of Royals here today," Stella countered.

They had their name marked off a long list by a Red Fountain student and joined the people ambling around inside the old entrance hall.

"Are those witches?" Layla asked in an undertone, inclining her head towards a group of Cloud Tower students standing nearby.

"Yeah," Musa muttered back. "I heard they were invited as a good will gesture 'cause we all fought together last year."

"That's cool, I guess," Bloom said, tugging on her braid and trying not to get defensive at the sight of them. "As long as they don't cause any trouble," she added.

"They won't," Flora said, before smiling and waving to a familiar redheaded witch. "Hey, Mirta!"

Mirta was standing hand in hand with another witch on the other side of the hall, her head jerking up at the sound of her name. She grinned and waved back to them, but didn't try to fight across the throng of people separating them. She was currently taking a few classes at Alfea as part of an exchange program so they were sure they would be able to catch up with her at some point. The witch at her side, who Bloom now recognised as Lucy from the beauty pageant last year, lifted her head a little in acknowledgement but didn't offer any other greeting.

Through all the hub-bub and chaos, it would have been hard enough for Bloom and the others to realise that the Cloud Tower students weren't the only witches in attendance, but the fact that the Trix were also disguised as three senior Alfea students made it virtually impossible. Icy's hair was now platinum instead of silver, and she wore hipster jeans and a puffy blue jacket, Stormy had spelled her hair into two golden bunches and added a pleated skirt, while Darcy was sporting green hair, and a matching maroon skirt and top ensemble that was distinctly not her style. The changes were tolerable however if it meant they were able to complete the mission Darkar had given them.

"By the Dragon, do you remember how much fun we had trashing this place last year," Darcy whispered to the other two as she looked around at the cracked stone walls.

"If only we could do it again when they reveal the new campus," Stormy said.

"Focus," Icy snapped. "We get in, get the item Lord Darkar wants, and we get out again. And that won't happen if we get caught. Now, what are our cover stories again?"

Darcy rolled her eyes. "My name's Fefe or something equally frilly."

"And I'm her step-sister Missy," Stormy simpered before sticking her tongue out.

Despite herself, Icy grinned and said, "That's right. Aren't we just so pretty and sweet?"

Having been informed that the ceremony wasn't due to start for another few minutes, the girls accompanied by the pixies ventured out into one of the old courtyards to sit in the sunshine while they waited. Stella flopped onto a bench to sunbake, while Tecna and Digit found a game to play on their devices, and the others people-watched.

"There are so many cute guys here," Chatta said excitedly to Flora as she hung from the fairy's shoulder. "You know, I think you might just meet someone today, remember we took that Teen Fairy quiz and it said you were ready for romance."

Jolly shook her head, the bells on her hat jingling madly, and made a noise of disbelief. "Those quizzes are pure nonsense, but I could tell your fortune and see what the cards have to say?" She produced a deck of tarot cards and shuffled them casually.

Flora smiled goodnaturedly and leaned forward. "Why not?"

They were interrupted however by Stella cracking an eye open and sitting up with a smile. "Well, well, well, look who it is."

They looked around to find the guys coming towards them. Stella leapt up from the bench to throw her arms around Brandon, while the others settled for waving at their friends.

"Welcome to Red Fountain," Sky said, looking at Layla and the pixies who had never seen the campus before. "Fortunam uirtute."

Layla cocked her head. "What's that?"

"The traditional heroes welcome," Tune said, jumping in before Sky could explain.

He smiled. "You recognise it?"

Tune sniffed. "Of course. It's a centuries old custom, I could recognise it in any language. That was Ancient Eraklyish, right?"

"Right."

"Sorry, for the delay with the ceremony," Timmy said, fiddling with his glasses. "I hope you guys haven't been waiting too long." He glanced at Tecna but something beeped on her handheld and she whipped it out to check the notification.

"Of course not," Stella said graciously. "I always appreciate an opportunity to work on my tan."

"But why?" Brandon asked, feigning confusion. "You're already perfect."

Stella preened, while Musa pretended to gag, making the others laugh.

"I'm just excited to see how they've done up the stadium," Bloom said.

"They really went all out," Sky promised her.

The PA system came to life and played a series of chimes, mystifying the girls.

"That means the ceremony's about to start," Brandon explained, offering his arm to Stella, and leading them towards the stadium. "We won't be able to watch with you, unfortunately, we have to get ready for our events, but we can meet up with you later."

"How's that new course?" Sky asked, falling into step with Bloom.

"Good," she said, smiling. "Kind of hard but I'm enjoying it. And Professor Avalon is a great teacher."

"That's good."

"Yeah. But we already have a major essay due next week; we have to write a complete history of the evolution of our power source."

"Sounds intense."

"It is, but I think it's really going to help understand and control my powers better."

"That makes sense." Sky hesitated before continuing, "If you have to work on the essay, are you going to have time to go magi-skating on Tuesday night?"

Bloom froze; between Avalon's new class, the rest of her schoolwork, and playing peace-keeper for Stella and Layla, she'd totally forgotten that she'd made plans to hang out with Sky the following week. And now she had a long essay that she'd barely started. She tried not to cringe as she bit her lip and said, "Yeah, I might have to reschedule that for after my essay's due. Is that okay?"

Sky looked a bit disappointed, but nodded. "Yeah, of course. Hey, maybe we can get together and study instead; I'm sure my grades would appreciate it."

"Sounds like a plan," Bloom smiled, knocking her elbow against his.

Up ahead, Stella looked over her shoulder at them. "Hey, quit flirting and keep up or we're going to miss the ceremony."

Bloom rolled her eyes as she and Sky both laughed, but she couldn't help but feel the blush heating her cheeks. She and Sky had fallen into a routine of hanging out a couple of nights each week, but neither of them had tried to put a label on whatever it was that they were doing, nor had they brought up the single kiss they'd shared at the end of last year. And if Bloom was being completely truthful with herself, she wasn't sure that she was ready for however that conversation would go; there was something comfortable about the ambiguity of the undefined, it was once they gave name to whatever they were that it had to go one way or the other.

"Oh," she said suddenly, slapping a hand against her forehead. "I just remembered I had to ask Professor Avalon a question about my paper. I should probably go do that before I forget."

Sky and the rest of her friends shot her strange looks.

"But the ceremony-" Flora began uncertainly.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in time. Just save me a seat." She turned on her heel and hurried away without another word. She really did have a question for Avalon, but she'd may have exaggerated it's urgency a little bit, in any case it definitely could have been solved by an email that afternoon, but she'd found she just needed to step away for a minute and let the sudden tightness in her chest loosen.

Musa watched Bloom walk away, wondering if her friend was really as okay as she tried to appear to be, before her attention was snagged by Riven walking nearby.

"Hey," she said, running a few steps to catch up with him. "So, are you competing today?"

Riven scoffed. "I'm winning today," he answered.

Musa arched an eyebrow, feeling her lips turn up into a wicked grin. "Is that right?"

Riven's grin matched her own, as he said, "Yeah, it is."

They looked at each other for a beat longer, and Musa found herself remembering the last time they were alone together, and how it had felt to be cocooned in his arms. She wondered if he was thinking about the same thing, as he blinked and looked away, and they both defaulted back to their usual mode of sarcasm.

"Wow, what a gentleman," she quipped, when they reached the stairs to the stadium and Riven stepped back to let her enter them first.

"I have my moments," he grumbled, but Musa swore she could hear a smile in his voice.

True to Tecna form, the Zenithian fairy whipped out her handheld and after just a few moments of calculations swore she had found the best vantage point from which to watch the ceremony. She led them down to one of the front rows, which was blessedly almost completely empty despite the other spectators flooding into the old stadium, stopping short when she saw someone sitting alone at the other end of the row.

"Hey, who's that?" she asked, tipping her head as she took in the unfamiliar guy.

He couldn't be any older than they were but didn't look like the typical Red Fountain student. He wasn't wearing their uniform, but instead wore a soft green shirt and white linen trousers, and had long dove grey hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail. He didn't seem to notice their scrutiny, and was instead absorbed by the sketchpad and paintbrush in his lap.

"Is he a transfer student or something?" Layla asked.

"That's Helia," Brandon explained.

"Saladin's nephew," Timmy added.

Helia tilted his head a little, and his hair shifted revealing a beautiful face with fine features.

"Oh," Flora said quietly, before blushing bright red when everyone looked at her inquiringly. "Is he going to be in one of the events later?" she asked to cover her slip.

"Nah, not him," Riven said. "He's actually an art student at a school in the city, but he's here for two weeks to do mandatory self-defense training. Saladin's trying to convince him to transfer here permanently."

The other's made noises of interest and went to sit down, but Flora was still watching Helia as his elegant hands swept across the sketchpad. Noticing, Stella nudged Brandon, who bit back a smile and offered to introduce the group to him.

"Hey, Helia," he said, leading them further along the row. "This is my girlfriend, Stella, and our friends Tecna, Layla, Mu-

"And this is Flora," Stella said a touch too loudly, nudging Flora to the front of the group. Flora's blush deepend and she fought back the urge to stomp on Stella's foot.

Helia set his sketchpad aside and stood, inclining his head with a slight smile. "It's nice to meet you all," he said, his voice soft and smooth.

Tecna's eyes fell on his paintings. "With all due respect, Helia, why are you painting with paper and brushes, rather than something more versatile like the Digi-Sketch?"

"Digi-Sketches can simulate any art style," Digit put in. "Stores your history, and has multi-layer functions, as well as thousands of colours, and textures. My cousin sells them, she can get you a deal if you're interested."

Helia's smile widened, looking somewhere between bemused and intrigued, but Flora, who had been looking down at Helia's painting which depicted a group of doves spreading their wings in flight, burst in before he could say anything.

"Oh, your brush strokes are so full of life and capture the dove's movements so beautifully. It's like their wings hug the clouds, and the sky and the doves have become one and-" Suddenly aware that everyone was staring at her, Flora broke off and coughed uncomfortably.

Helia gazed at her, something pleased in his expression. "That's exactly what I was going for, I love that you got that."

Flora was so red that her friends were a little scared that the colour would never fade from her cheeks. "Yes, well, our friend Bloom also really likes to draw… I've just learnt from some of the things she's… you would probably really like to meet her… a lot to talk about…"

"Right…" Helia said, and Brandon broke in to save them all from Flora's awkward fumbling.

"Well, we'll leave you to it Helia. Ceremony's about to start after all."

Helia lifted a hand in farewell and retook his seat, while the other chimed in how nice it was to meet him before heading back down the row. Flora gnawed on her lip while Chatta flew with her head in her hands.

"Flora," she wailed, and Flora winced, hoping Helia wouldn't be able to hear her. "When you're talking to a cute guy, don't bring up another girl."

Amore left Stella's side to settle on Flora's other shoulder, patting it comfortingly. "It wasn't that bad," she said soothingly. "Mentioning Bloom shows that you aren't self-absorbed. And you showed an interest in his hobby, that's good!"

"Before going redder than a tomato," Stella muttered, and Musa snickered.

"Stella," Amore admonished, as Flora flopped onto the bench.

"No, she's right. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nothing's wrong with you," Layla said automatically.

"You know what I mean. I was never like this with Liliana, or at least not this bad."

"It's normal," Brandon assured her. "I made a complete fool of myself in front of Stella the first time we met."

"He really did," Stella said, gazing at him lovingly.

"And look how we turned out."

The other guys, and particularly Riven, were looking increasingly uncomfortable by the display of emotion and were saved by an announcement letting them all know that the ceremony would be starting any minute and that people should be taking their seats.

"We'd better go," Riven said gruffly, and quickly retreated with the other guys following.

"I hope Bloom gets here soon," Stella said worriedly, looking around and patting Flora's back absently as the other fairy tried to get over her mortification.

"I'm bored," Stormy whined, glaring around at her surroundings. They'd stashed themselves out of the way by an abandoned staircase that was half crumbling and there wasn't much to amuse themselves with while they waited. "Are you sure we can't find some little heroes to mess with?" she asked hopefully.

Darcy looked tempted but Icy reamined immovable. "No. Lord Darkar said to wait until the ceremony starts then while everyone's distracted we start looking."

Darcy frowned and Stormy's expression grew dangerous. "Since when do we take orders from some guy?"

"Since his plan makes sense. It would be stupid to draw attention to ourselves this early and mess up our chances. But," she continued, her eyes glittering. "Once we've got our hands on it, there's no reason why we can't destroy their shiny new campus on our way out." Darcy's eyes widened as she spotted something over Icy's shoulder, who stiffened slightly but didn't turn, as she asked, "What is it?"

"I don't believe it-" Darcy began furiously, but broke off when someone approached their trio.

"You guys are from Alfea, right?"

Icy turned and nearly swore as she came face to face with Bloom. On either side of her, Stormy was openly baring her teeth, and Darcy was grimacing, leaving Icy to school her expression and say, "Yes," as sweetly as she was capable.

"You'd guys better hurry, the ceremony's starting soon."

"Oh yippee," Stormy bit out. "Better hurry so I can watch some little boys play pretend with their swords-" she broke off with a hiss as Darcy kicked her.

"Right," Icy jumped in quickly, trying to distract Bloom who was giving Stormy an odd look. "We're just heading there now." They didn't move, and Bloom continued to seem suspicious.

"Right," she said slowly, before nodding at the staircase. "Do you know if that leads to the stadium? I swear this place is even harder to navigate now that it's half falling down."

"Not sure, sorry," Darcy said breezily, before nudging the other two into movement. "Better be going."

All three of the witches could feel Bloom watching them as they made a hasty retreat, but there was nothing to be done for it; hopefully she would just think they were three rude fairies and nothing else.

"Are you stupid?" Icy hissed, shoving Stormy's shoulder once they were out of sight. "The whole point was to not get caught."

"And we didn't," Stormy pouted. "Relax. You're been so uptight ever since we got out of Light Haven, maybe you should try meditation again."

Icy let out a noise something akin to a snarl and lunged at Stormy, causing the other witch to shriek, while Darcy just watched and rolled her eyes, wondering how they were going to get out of this whole thing unscathed.

Bloom watched the three Alfea fairies disappear, unable to help the clawing feeling that something was off about them. She'd vaguely recognised them as being from the grade above her's at Alfea, but she'd never spoken to them before and had felt like there was something off about their behaviour. Bloom very well knew not all fairies lived up to their kind and friendly reputation but even she'd been surprised by the vitriol in the blonde's voice when she'd spoken of the heroes.

Bloom frowned and wandered back the way she'd come, not wanting to take a chance on the crumbling stairs if they didn't lead to the stadium. She'd half-heartedly looked for Professor Avalon like she'd told the others before remembering that he would be in a VIP box with the rest of the Alfea teachers. The same teachers who she sometimes caught staring at her with expressions of curiosity and wariness, like they, as much as her classmates, were waiting for her to display that infamous Dragon Fire power once again. So, instead of subjecting herself to that once again, Bloom had found herself wandering around the old Red Fountain campus, confronted at every turn by cracks and collapsing structures that only served as reminders for what had happened the year before.

"Miss?" a voice pulled Bloom from her thoughts and she turned to find a freckle-faced Red Fountain student. It felt strange to be called 'Miss' by someone who couldn't be more than two year younger than herself, but Bloom supposed all the students on usher duty had been instructed to address their guests as so. "The ceremony is about to begin."

"Right," Bloom said with a slight chuckle. "I guess I got a bit lost."

The student smiled. "I'll show you the way."

Bloom was worried that she'd somehow gotten herself on the total opposite side of the school to the stadium and would miss the start of the ceremony but the student moved quickly, leading her through side passages and across empty courtyards until they arrived just a few minutes later. Stella had messaged her with a rough description of where they were sitting so he had managed to get her to the entrance closest to then. She thanked him and jogged down the stairs, keeping an eye out for her friends, right as trumpets began to play and Red Fountain students emerged onto the stadium floor bearing flags and crests in the school's colours. Finally Bloom spotted her friends and slipped into the seat on the end beside Stella.

"Did I miss anything?" she whispered, looking around and feeling a pang of disappointment when she saw that Sky and the other guys had already left.

"Not much. Although we did find a cute guy and Flora has a crush."

Flora, on Stella's other side, shoved her elbow into the blonde's side but didn't look away from the stadium floor where Codatorta and Saladin were making their way to a raised platform in the center. Stella jerked her head towards the other end of the row and Bloom leaned forward to take a look, eyebrows rising a little in appreciation of the guy who was sitting there, straight-backed and facing forward.

"Nice," she said, and Stella grinned lewdly, wiggling her eyebrows. "Who is he? Red Fountain student?" There was something in his posture that reminded her of the way Sky and the guys, and indeed every Specialist she had ever met, carried themselves, but if she wasn't mistaken those were watercolour stains on his hands.

Stella confirmed her suspicions. "Helia. And not yet - art school student. But that could change, especially if the way he smiled at Flora was any indication."

"Oh," Bloom said, before saying it again with meaning, "Oh," as she leaned around Stella to look at Flora who was once again blushing and steadfastly avoiding her gaze. Fortunately for her, in that moment Codatorta and Salain reached the stage and the Red Fountain headmaster's magically magnified voice boomed out across the stadium. Smiling, Bloom sat back in her seat to listen.

"It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the Red Fountain school for Heroics and Bravery! Today is a day of happiness and so we will not lament over the ruins of our illustrious school but rather celebrate the new stage of history that our school is stepping into! I would like to thank the generous donors who made the construction of our new campus possible as well as the unshakable spirit of our students as they waited for this day to arrive. And now the time has come to restore the prestige of Red Fountain by renewing the very foundations of our institution!"

On his last word, Saladin swept his staff through the air and a gold light burst from all around him. The very stadium they sat in began to shake, and cries of surprise emerged from the crowd as they felt the whole structure rise into the air.

"Is it an earthquake?" Lcokette cried, diving into the front pocket of Bloom's overalls.

"Nope," Stella yelled over the shuddering of the stadium and crowd. "This is just the ground breaking."

Bloom figured she must have meant that literally because she began to hear thundering crashes that sounded like the very stone of the old campus was falling away and crashing back to earth even as they continued to levitate in the air, climbing higher and higher. The very stadium around them began transforming, the arena floor changing to a design of the Red Fountain coat of arms, the seats beneath them becoming cushioned, and the grandstands expanding backwards and sidewards with even more seats. Finally they stopped rising.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Saladin cried, throwing his hands wide as the trumpeters started up again. "Our new campus!"

The crowd broke into thunderous applause as massive screens situated between the four sections of seating began to project live images of the new campus. Bloom felt herself leaning forward to get a better view; the campus had been rendered in the same shades of orange as the last, but had traded the pale beige sandstone for shiny silver fixtures, and vaguely resembled a T-shape. The most shocking feature however was the fact that it was completely off the ground.

Rousing music played and the cameras circled, showing them every angle of the new school as Saladin narrated. "Implementing the most cutting edge of magically enhanced electromagnetism, the new Red Fountain campus is completely airborne, and powered by recycling hydroelectricity."

The screens changed, zooming in on waterfalls that spilled over the side of the campus into large catchment areas.

"The award winning architects who designed the new campus divided it into three key areas. The top section is our school proper where you'll find the classrooms, training rooms, administration building, and of course our new, state-of-the-art stadium!"

The screens showed the large flat area at the top of the campus, upon which orange and beige buildings had been built, centered around a circular building, which Bloom guessed was the stadium they now sat in. Where there weren't buildings, the area was covered in green grass and fully matured trees, giving the sense that they were on the ground even if they were hundreds of feet in the air.

"Below that are our fully upgraded armouries, flight hangars, and stables."

The cameras moved again showing how the campus narrowed into a trapezium shape, outfitted with hangar doors, before cutting to shots of the inside that showed the spacious stables with sleeping dragons inside, armouries with walls full of gleaming swords and weapons, and stunning shots of the school's fleet of ships.

"And finally, of course, our student and staff dormitory areas. The narrow, cylindrical design ensures that all dorms receive the best of natural light and there is minimal noise distraction on each level."

Once again the cameras showed an external shot of the campus, focussing on the bottom section which was by far the narrowest but also the longest. The view zoomed in, showing how each dormitory included a balcony before showcasing shots of the interior.

Down the row, Musa watched the screen and let out a low whistle. "Pretty fancy, huh?"

The others nodded their agreement, all in awe of the school's flashy new campus; upon seeing it, Bloom wasn't at all surprised that it had taken them all summer and the better part of the first term to complete construction.

"We hope this new campus will set the stage of creating new memories for years to come! And it is with that sentiment that I officially declare the new campus of Red Fountain to be open!"

The music surged and doors leading beneath the stadium opened, revealing large dragons in shades of blue, green, gold, and orange. The crowd roared at the sight of them and the students riding the large beasts waved back. They were followed by students riding leva bikes, and then archers who when they shot their arrows straight up into the air, exploded into fireworks.

Throughout all the noise and fanfare, Saladin's voice rose above it all. "To celebrate this auspicious day we have organised a number of events: the talents and skills of the Red Fountain students will be showcased in the stadium all day, please check your programs for specific times and events, campus tours will leave every quarter hour from the administrative centre, and food and drink will be circulating. Please enjoy and once again, thank you for joining us in the revelry!"

The crowd broke into more applause as Saladin and Codatorta waved to the crowd and made their way off the main arena floor. As they left the senior leva-bike squad came riding out and jumps emerged from the floor for them to showcase their tricks.

Bloom turned to the others. Musa and Layla were enthusiastically discussing the acoustics of the stadium, Flora was sneaking peeks at Helia, Stella was watching the leva-bike riders, and Tecna already had her program out and was consulting it.

"None of our guys are on for a while," she said, looking up. "Shall we go for a walk and look around?"

The others agreed readily enough and joined the streams of people who seemed to have had the same idea as them. Plenty of people were staying behind to watch the event however, and still more were lining up at the concession stands set up around the stadium to get food. It seemed like no matter where they went they were going to run into plenty of people.

"Well, that was…" Icy trailed off as she unbraced herself from the wall.

"Interesting," Darcy said, looking pale.

The plan had been to start looking the moment the ceremony started, but they hadn't expected the ground-breaking ceremony to be quite so dramatic. They were just fortunate to have been able to stash themselves in a hallway off the stadium and not be caught in the debris left on the ground.

"Should have known those little wannabes would use magic," Stormy hissed, rubbing her elbow where it had been bashed against the bricks. Even though they'd managed to ride up with the stadium, the ceremony clearly hadn't been designed to be enjoyed unless you were sitting in the grandstands.

Now they were feeling more than a little battered and had lost precious time that they could have spent searching the new campus. Adding insult to injury, they were still waiting for their distraction to arrive.

"Where is it?" Darcy hissed, ducking her head out of the hallway to glance at the sky. In the distance they could hear Saladin droning on about all the special features of the new campus, but eventually he was going to finish and the witches wanted to be at least a few levels down when he did and people started wandering around.

Fortunately, a throaty caw soon announced it's arrival, and they turned to see Darkar's pet shadow bat flying towards them. Stormy's lip curled at the sight of him; none of the witches were particularly fond of the shadow bat but they were also smart enough not to voice their distaste anywhere Lord Darkar might hear about it.

"You're late," Icy snarled, not sure if she was really expecting any sort of response or not. "Whatever," she snapped when Kerbog just looked at her with it's unnerving black eyes. "You better know what to do. But make sure to wait until people have spread out a bit, I want this place to be chaotic out there as long as possible."

Kerbog blinked once before flying off with a rustle of slippery wings. Darcy shuddered delicately, and Stormy snarled at it's retreating back.

"Fucking hate that thing," she groused, as they pushed off the wall and made a beeline for the nearest building.

"I wonder if Helia's going to be at the post-party," Stella wondered out loud, leaning obnoxiously against Flora's shoulder.

"Yes," she responded bravely. "I wonder. I really think you'd like to meet him, Bloom. His paintings were gorgeous."

Bloom grinned as Stella groaned dramatically. "Oh Bloom Schmoom, no offense, darling," she added to Bloom and pushed herself upright. "But you're the one he's going to want to talk to. Especially after you so valiantly protected him from Tecna's attempts to modernise him."

Bloom smiled softly as she leant back against a tree and listened to Flora's gentle protests. It was a beautiful day, and even sitting in the shade, the sun was warming her skin. Lockette was dozing on her thigh, Amore was braiding Chatta's two pigtails, and nearby Digit and Tecna had set up a portable screen-projection so they could play a computer game they both loved. They'd considered finding themselves a tour to go on, but the poor guides looked overwhelmed by the amount of people lining up, so they'd just found a spot to sit down while Musa and Layla had wandered off to find something to drink.

"Hello ladies," a charming and familiar voice said from above Bloom, and she cracked open an eye to find Brandon and Timmy walking over. "Hate to interrupt but we'd thought you'd like to know that Riven and Sky are fighting next."

"And then Brandon's on, and then me," Timmy added.

"Don't worry darling," Stella said, smiling up at her boyfriend. "We were keeping a very close eye on the time, we never would have missed your event."

"Of course not," he said faux seriously and offered her a hand up.

"Are you two fighting as well?" Bloom asked as she carefully shifted the still sleeping Lockette to her hand and stood herself.

"Brandon is," Timmy said. "But I'm just doing a bit of shooting-"

"The Sharp Shooter's Demonstration is hardly a bit of shooting, Timster," Brandon interjected. "Timmy is the only guy from our whole year picked for the event, the rest were all seniors."

Timmy shrugged and adjusted his glasses but Bloom could tell he was secretly pleased by the recognition.

"I can't wait to see it," Chatta chirped, and Timmy blushed a little.

"Thanks Chatta."

"I'll meet you guys over there," Tecna said, sounding distracted as she watched Digit finish her turn at the game. "Okay, 5034 points? I can beat that."

The others exchanged glances, but neither Tecna nor Digit seemed to notice.

"You sure, Tec?" Bloom asked. "I think they're on pretty soon."

"I'll be there." And then before anyone could argue, they heard the trill of the game starting up again and her fleeting attention was gone again.

But still Timmy hesitated. Even as Stella, Brandon, and Flora walked off, he paused, biting his lip and looking as though he was going to say something.

"Hey," Bloom said, nudging him gently. "You coming?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm coming."

"I heard you and Bloom working on your song this morning," Layla said to Musa as they paid for their sodas and headed back towards the other girls. "It's sounding really good."

"Thanks."

She had a funny, almost secretive smile playing around her mouth as she spoke, and Layla thought of the lyrics again, 'In my mind, I'm running round a cold and empty space, just put your arms around me, tell me everything's okay' and wondered, not for the first time, if Musa had been thinking of anyone in particular when she'd penned the lyrics.

"It still needs some work, but I'm really hoping for a chance to play it for an audience soon; I think it could be a hit."

"For sure-" Layla began before stumbling as someone coming the other way slammed their shoulder into hers. "I'm sorry," she said automatically, both she and Musa both pivoting to get a look at the person.

The fairy she'd hit looked at her over narrow glasses and spat, "Watch yourself," before turning and striding away.

"How rude," Tune sniffed and Layla nodded in agreement.

"What's her problem?" she wanted to know before getting distracted by the buzzing of her phone. "Oh, we should get going, Bloom just messaged saying the guys' events are about to start."

But Musa didn't seem to hear her as she was too busy frowning in the direction the fairy had gone. "I know this is going to sound crazy…" Musa began uncertainly. "But that sounded just like Darcy."

Layla cocked her head and looked at the fairy's retreating back. She hadn't noticed a similarity but she'd also only met the Trix once and most of that memory was overwhelmed by the adrenaline of the battle. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"Then let's go," Layla said decisively. "If it's not her then no harm done, but if it is her she could inflict some serious damage."

"You're right," Musa said.

Layla opened the group chat and shot off a quick message saying they were caught up with something and would explain later, then they tossed their drinks in the nearby trash and took off after the fairy they believed to be Darcy.

Tecna thought the game over tune was annoyingly chipper considering she had just lost to Digit by almost a thousand points.

"Ha!" Digit cackled while Tecna scowled and dismissed the game screen. "I win! You owe me a new code processor. Now, we should get over to the stadium before we miss the guys' events."

Tecna fiddled with her hand held. "I don't know," she stalled, backing up against a nearby tree and sliding to the ground.

Digit sighed and fluttered over. "Is this because of that dream you had the other night? You still haven't told me exactly what it's about, you know?"

"Because it's embarrassing!"

"Come on, how bad could it be? Just show it to me and we'll talk it through so that it stops weirding you out."

"Alright, but this stays between us."

"Of course."

"And promise you won't make fun of me."

"I promise," Digit said solemnly, and Tecna sighed, bringing up a program on her device.

Using their magic they both conjured headsets to cover their eyes and all of a sudden they were in a whole other world. It occasionally blurred around them as if the program had struggled to pick up Tecna's dream, and the whole thing had an almost ethereal green tint to it, but they were surrounded by a gorgeous city-scape as far as the eye could see. It had reminded Tecna a bit of Zenith with giant billboards and computer screens implanted in many of the building walls, but it was so much more than that. Even standing there watching she saw a guy race through a virtual game built into a skyscraper wall before jumping right out of it and landing on the pavement in front of her.

"I dreamt that Timmy and I were in this incredible cyber kingdom," she told Digit, as the dream version of herself took a step forward only to be surprised when Timmy came up from behind her and took her hand. "Everything felt magical and beautiful. It was like our true selves were revealed to each other, and I had all these feelings but for once I wasn't scared to say how I felt."

The dream shifted and all of a sudden the pair were standing on the roof of a building looking down on the bustling city below. Tecna remembered that rush of familiarity that had swept through her as she looked down, but even more overwhelming was the feeling that had burned in her when she'd looked at Timmy. Someone she had always considered a friend but now as he held her hand, felt like so much more.

In the dream-scape they watched as Tecna floated into the air, laughing in delight as she was able to do so without transforming. Stepping through the air, Tecna gave one last giggle and dove over the side of the building, spreading her arms wide as she flew dream-like. Timmy chuckled and jumped after her, the pair coming face-to-face as they raced back to the ground. But there had been no fear in Tecna as they fell, not when Timmy's face was so close to hers and she was wondering whether he might lean in closer.

"And then," she continued breathlessly, remembering the exhilaration as Timmy had done just that, his breath ghosting over her face. "Just as he was about to kiss me, I woke up."

The dreamscape dissolved around them, and Tecna sighed and reached up to pull the headset off, Digit doing the same.

"So, now do you understand why I couldn't tell anyone?"

"No," Digit said briskly. "You're acting illogically and jumping to conclusions."

Tecna bristled, but didn't answer, and Digit's face softened.

"Okay, what do you think it means? That you like Timmy? Sometimes a dream is just a dream, Tecna."

"And if it wasn't just a dream?" Tecna asked, her voice small. "The way I felt in that dream? I don't think I've ever felt that way about someone before."

"Then maybe you like Timmy. Even if it is strange and new, is that a bad thing? You guys are such good friends."

"Exactly," Tecna said fiercely. "We're friends. And now I've gone and ruined it all with these feelings."

Digit's exasperation had returned in full force and she looked ready to argue back, when Layla and Musa ran up to them, looking distinctly out of breath.

"Oh, where did she go?" Musa asked, sounding frustrated.

"Hey Tec, did you see a girl just run through here?" Layla asked.

Tecna winced and the headset she was still fiddling with promptly vanished. "Er, no," she said. "I'm sorry, I guess I was kind of… distracted," she finished lamely but neither Musa nor Layla seemed to be listening.

"We think Darcy might be here," Musa told her, scanning the area for the green-haired fairy they'd been chasing after.

"How? There's no way she's on the guest list, and I doubt she would have been able to get through all the security here."

"It sounded like her."

"Maybe she has a sister who goes to Cloud Tower," Tecna said logically. "Or there's just another witch who sounds like her."

"No, that's the thing, she looked like an Alfea student. One of the seniors, I just can't remember her name. But she's usually so sweet, and she was just mega rude to us, and her voice was all wrong."

"It's possible it was Darcy in disguise," Tecna said slowly. "But we shouldn't sound the alarm unless we're 100% sure. If we're wrong, sounding the alarm would ruin Red Fountain's day."

"I am sure," Musa said furiously. "And if she's here, it's to cause trouble and that's going to ruin the day just as much."

"Maybe, Tecna's right," Layla said reasonably. "Why don't we go find the others and let them know, and that way we'll all have our eyes open in case anything happens?"

Musa and Tecna both agreed that that would be a good idea and the trio dashed off to the stadium. They found that their friends had managed to snag the same seats from the ceremony, and Helia was sitting nearby, he and Bloom both bent over his sketchpad.

"Your brush strokes are beautiful," Bloom was saying. As they drew nearer they could see that he was drawing the fight happening down on the ground between two seniors they didn't know. "It looks like they're actually moving."

"Do you do a lot of portrait drawing?" Helia inquired.

"More landscapes. And I've been really into architectural sketching lately, actually. I swear I drew every building in my town over the summer."

Helia smiled, but before he could respond, Musa nudged Bloom to get her attention.

"Oh hey, you guys are lucky; I think they're running a bit behind with the events and none of our guys have been out yet so you haven't missed anything."

"Yeah, cool," Musa said, sounding distracted. "Hey, B, can we talk?"

"Sure," Bloom said, and looked at her friend expectantly. But Musa stayed quiet, her eyes sliding smoothly towards Helia and back again.

Helia, not missing a beat, stood and inclined his head. "I'll leave you to it," he said pleasantly. "I have to check in with my uncle anyway."

Bloom waved as he departed while Flora frowned, having watched the exchange. "That was rude."

"It doesn't matter." Musa slid into a spare seat and beckoned them closer. "We think the Trix might be here."

"I thought you only saw Darcy. In disguise. Maybe."

Musa ignored Tecna and hastened to explain exactly what she and Layla had seen. Bloom and Flora both looked concerned when she finished, but Stella waved an airy hand.

"I'm with Tecna," she said. "We can't make trouble where there is none. And if we're wrong about this and we disrupt the whole day, we'll never hear the end of it, especially after last year."

They all winced at the reminder of the exhibition day, and Bloom's worry wavered. "Stella has a point," she conceded, looking apologetic when Musa scowled. "We'll keep our eyes open and be ready in case they really are here, but we shouldn't cause a panic if there's a chance we're wrong."

"And what about the chance that I'm right and the Trix are up to no good right now," Musa said furiously.

"It is the Trix," Layla pointed out. "If they're here from what I know of them, they won't be able to stop themselves from making a spectacle."

"Layla has a point," Flora said.

Musa sighed, but looked slightly mollified as she sat back in her seat and put her hands up in surrender.

"I am very excited to announce that the next battle will be between two of our Junior class: Prince Sky Traherne of Eraklyon and Riven Ghatrif of Magix. These two cadets are always fighting it out for the top spot in their Extreme Fighting class and this promises to be a tight match."

The emcee's announcement caught all their attention, and Bloom was amused to see Musa perk up out of the corner of her eye, her friend's eyes trained on where Riven had emerged from one side of the arena. Not that she was much better, her knee was already bouncing with nerves for Sky.

Where the seniors from the last match had wasted time circling each other and trying out some feints, Sky and Riven didn't bother with any of that, running straight for each other, swords already in hand. Sky lashed out with his favoured long sword, but Riven didn't counter with his curved scimitar, instead flipping completely out of range. In one swift movement Riven freed a small metal ball from his belt and threw it at Sky's feet where it immediately exploded, unleashing a cloud of smoke. Bloom found herself gasping along with the rest of the crowd as the smoke overwhelmed Sky and he was forced to cover his face and cough while Riven circled his defenceless form, deciding where to attack.

"Can he do that?" Bloom asked, her hand over her mouth.

"Sure," Musa said, her eyes never leaving Riven. "This isn't the foil fencing competition, it's the Extreme Fighting event."

"As long as it's non-lethal, competitors can use whatever means necessary to win," Digit explained, coming over to settle on Bloom's knee beside Lockette. "For the safety of the competitors, the rule book is extremely specific about what is and isn't considered a lethal attack."

Bloom felt a little more reassured by that, but still winced as Sky gave another hacking cough and twisted out of the way of a strike from Riven. At least the smoke was dissipating a bit.

Once Sky regained his faculties, he and Riven were back to fighting blow for blow. Over and over the metal of their swords connected, the fortituceum from which they were made letting out loud ringing notes everytime they came together. Riven engaged Sky's long sword with a one handed swing of his scimitar, while slashing at him with a knife his other hand had produced from seemingly thin air. Sky threw up his free arm, taking a slash to it in order to avoid the fight-winning move that a stab to his side would be.

Ignoring his wound, Sky shoved his forearm hard against Riven's forcing the knife to clatter from his hand. It provided the perfect distraction for Sky to kick hard against Riven's knee and hook his boot around the now lax limb, sweeping Riven's feet out from under him and rendering him prone on his back. Riven tried to scramble back to his feet, but Sky was faster and before he had a chance, the blonde had his sword leveled under his chin: fight over.

"And it looks like Prince Sky has taken the victory! Let's have a round of applause for both our competitors. Nicely done, boys!"

Bloom whooped and clapped her hands together. "Good job, Sky!" Meanwhile, Musa hissed out a tight breath and kicked the chair in front of her, ignoring the angry look it got her from the couple in front. "Bit upset there, Musa?" she teased her friend, and just got a rude gesture in return that made her cackle.

"Is it Timmy's turn?" she heard Tecna ask from further down the row, sounding agitated, while Digit told her to just take a breath and relax. Bloom was about to lean forward and see what was the matter but she was distracted by the emcee announcing that Brandon was up next, fighting a senior student, something that Stella looked very nervous about.

Down on the arena floor, Sky offered Riven a hand up so they could clear the way for the next fight. "Hey, good fight, man."

But Riven just scowled and stabbed his sword into the hard packed dirt floor. "You always win," he scoffed, and used the blade to lever himself up, ignoring Sky's hand in the process. "Everything comes easy to you, doesn't it? But I guess it would for me too if I'd spent my childhood learning from the best. Prince perks, huh?"

They were standing in the middle of the arena now, ignoring both the crowd's cheers, and the emcee's voice hyping up the next fight and subtly encouraging them to get a move on and get off the field.

"That's not fair and you know it," Sky said, trying not to let his frustration get the better of him. "I put in the hard work and even with the best teachers in the universe I wouldn't be able to beat you if that wasn't true."

And it was true; there was a reason Sky and Riven went back and forth for the best in the grade, they both put in more hours of practice and exercise than anyone else, and it was why they were so evenly matched. Sky just happened to have edged out on top this time.

Riven's scowl softened a bit, and he rolled his eyes half-heartedly. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Good fight, man."

They nudged each other goodnaturedly as they made their way to one of the exits. From the doorway Brandon stepped out, ready for his fight. Riven clapped him on the shoulder and wished him luck, before disappearing through the door, but Sky paused when he saw the nerves on his friend's face.

"Hey," he said, glancing over his shoulder. The senior student Brandon was set to fight had arrived; he looked strong, gripping a long spear with a small, pale grey fortituceum blade attached to the end, but Sky knew both those things could work against him if Brandon played his cards right. "Don't worry, dude. You've got this."

"He's a senior," Brandon said, his voice too even to not be purposeful.

"And Codatorta wouldn't have matched you up if he didn't think you had a shot. He's big and he's gonna want to use that spear as a fulcrum point to push off of. So focus on your speed instead of your strength and take that spear out of contention."

Brandon set his jaw and nodded his head, eyes already focussing on his opponent. Sky touched his shoulder to bring his attention back to him.

"Brandon, you can do this. I've got nothing but faith in you."

He patted his friend on the shoulder and went to move past him and leave the arena, but paused when Brandon called his name.

"Sky… thanks, man."

Sky tossed him a quick salute and was almost through the arena door when he hesitated again. But this time it was because of the cries of alarm sounding from the crowds. And that, he would guess, had something to do with the winged monster that was currently flying towards the stadium.

The thing was huge. With a maw that could easily bite him in half, fists double the size of his head, wide-spread wings, and a tail tipped with a serpent's head, the creature was certifiably monstrous. And if the way it was roaring was any indication, it was mad.

"Riven!" Sky bellowed, sticking his head through the door. "Sound the alarm! We're under attack!" Hoping that Riven had heard his call, Sky ran out into the centre of the field alongside Brandon, both of them lifting their weapons.

Whoever had orchestrated this attack had been pretty smart about it, Sky quickly realised. Red Fountain students and teachers alike were completely scattered across the campus; some were conducting tours or answering questions about the new campus, some were manning concession booths, and more still were downstairs preparing for later events. Less than a term into their first year at Red Fountain, the freshmen were going to be useless in any sort of coordinated defence, and Sky knew that in an event of an attack like this, many of the senior class were dispatched to protect the most valuable sections of the school. That left just the sophomore and junior classes to take on the monster and most of them weren't even in the arena.

The monster let out a earth shuddering roar and lashed out with one of it's gigantic fists, caving in one of the arches that served as an exit, the movement and subsequent flying debris prompting the crowd into action. People began screaming and rushing too and fro, looking for a way out, royal guards stormed the VIP boxes looking to evacuate their charges, but lucky for Sky and Brandon, the girls had sprung into action and were ready to help. In a flash of light they transformed into their fairy forms and shot into the air, other Alfea students doing the same all over the arena. Bloom instructed the pixies to gather some of the other fairies and work together to evacuate the e crowd before flying for the arena floor herself.

There was no time to think or plan a unified attack so the girls just started blasting the monster. Bloom found herself hovering in the air alongside Stella, who had her sceptre in hand and was shooting balls of pure sunlight at the beast.

"It's not doing anything!" Stella yelled to her and Bloom was dismayed to see that she was right. The monster barely seemed bothered by their attacks and was more intent on roaring and deciding what to attack next.

"What the hell is it?" Bloom asked, as she and Stella dived down closer to where Sky and Brandon were slashing at it with their swords.

Overhearing her, Brandon called out, "It kind of looks like one of those shadow monsters, don't you think?"

"But how is it here? Those are supposed to be able to handle direct sunlight."

Bloom shrugged, feeling helpless. All she knew was that they needed to defeat this thing before it did any more damage to Red Fountain's shiny new campus.

"I think that's our distraction," Stormy said, hearing a scream rise up from the stadium.

"Shit," Icy muttered. She'd hoped they wouldn't need Kerbog's distraction but they'd already snuck into most of the buildings on this level of the campus and had found nothing but classrooms, training rooms, and boring offices. They were running out of time.

"Wait," Darcy murmured, catching sight of a group of students moving in the opposite direction of the stadium. Instead it looked like they were heading to the admin building. "Where are they going?"

"We have to assume that whatever Darkar wants is precious, right?" Icy said, her eyes narrowed as she thought. "And as dumb as these heroes are, they're not so idiotic they'd leave it lying around where anyone could find it. There's gotta be a place where they keep all this crap."

Moving as stealthily as possible the Trix followed the students into the admin building where they loaded into an elevator and pushed a button, the only one that wasn't marked with a number.

"Well, well, well," Darcy murmured.

They remained hidden until the doors had closed and they were sure the elevator was gone. Then they hurried into the deserted admin building and stepped into another waiting elevator. Looking at it, the button looked innocuous enough. Situated in the bottom right, it simply looked like the panel had been made with one too many buttons, and if they hadn't been looking for a secret chamber holding all sorts of valuable items, they might have never given it a second thought.

Smiling victoriously, Icy jabbed the button, her glee only dimming when a cool voice came over the elevators speaking asking them to scan their ID card to prove authorisation.

"Stormy," she sighed, and the witch in question cackled.

"With pleasure."

Cocking her head in concentration, Stormy lifted her hands and reached out with her senses to feel and manipulate the electrical currents running through the elevator system. It was subtler magic than she was used to and it took her a couple of minutes to find the right balance that had the voice saying, "Authorisation confirmed."

The doors slid smoothly shut, and Icy grinned at her reflection in the shiny silver doors, before frowning when she saw a fairy smiling back at her. With a snap of her fingers and flash of blue light, their disguises disappeared and their normal appearances returned. The disguises had gotten them in, but hadn't stopped Darcy from getting recognised when she'd run into two of those meddlesome fairies. And besides if they were going to steal one of Red Fountain's most valued artefacts, they were going to do it looking like themselves.

"This thing has to have a point of vulnerability, right?" Musa cried, trying to overwhelm the monster with a supersonic attack. But it, like all their other attacks, didn't seem to have an effect on the monster beyond mild annoyance.

"If only we knew what it was!"

Timmy and Riven appeared suddenly riding two dragons and holding the reins to two more, which they tossed to Sky and Brandon. They mounted the dragons and all four flew into the air, circling and slashing with swords and claws alike to try and distract the monster's attention away from destroying anymore of the campus or injuring any of the evacuating civilians.

Bloom could feel her heart beating in her throat as she watched the monster's teeth come within inches of snapping down on Sky's arm. The near miss didn't seem to phase Sky however and he thrust his sword through the monster's cheek, before withdrawing it and darting away. For the first time the monster let out a roar of pain but still didn't seem slowed by the injury. Alarms were blaring all over the campus and Bloom had a feeling that Red Fountain ships were being deployed but that didn't matter if they couldn't work out a way to beat this thing.

"Sky," she yelled and he zeroed in on her, zooming to where she hung in midair with the rest of her friends. "This is no good, we need to try a coordinated attack."

"You're right," he agreed, watching as the other fairies and Red Fountain students who had arrived tried attacking it to no avail. "If we throw enough at it all at the same time maybe it'll be enough to defeat it."

"Exactly. Can you get everyone pulled back and in position? Then if we can send one person in as a distraction and get the monster's attention focused on them, it won't be expecting it when we all blast it at once."

"On it," Sky said and flew away on his dragon.

He spoke into a telecommunicator sewn into his uniform sleeve and the Red Fountain students immediately began pulling back to the very edge of the arena, the fairies following suit. A half dozen single-person operated Red Fountain ships arrived and arranged themselves around the stadium.

There was no time to argue about it, so when Flora volunteered to be the distraction, her friends just nodded and got into position. There was a moment of almost quiet as they watched Flora, who looked impossibly tiny compared to the monster, fly up in front of it, green magic gathering at her palms as she prepared to draw it's attention to her.

Then a hoarse noise merged from the monster's throat and all the sound seemed to rush back as it spat a mouthful of grey bile at Flora, hitting her straight on. A shriek tore from Flora as she was hit, and cries of alarm sounded all around the stadium.

"No!" Bloom screamed, feeling as though she was moving in slow motion as the monster lunged forward, mouth opening wide as if it were going to swallow Flora whole.

"Get away from her!"

"Flora, get down!"

"I can't see!"

"Flora!"

Flora tried to fly backwards, blind from the grey goo covering her, while her friends raced forwards, but they could already see from the unnatural speed with which the monster was moving that they were never going to reach her in time. Then out of nowhere, the monster was being yanked back, yellow tethers hooking around it's throat, arms, legs, and tail to hold it immobile.

"What happened-?"

"Who did that-?"

"How-?

They followed the tethers to the top of the stadium where a slight, grey-haired figure was holding the other end. Still hovering in the air, Flora finally scraped the goo clear of her face and got a good look at her saviour.

"Helia?"

Everyone exchanged surprised glances. They knew he was Saladin's nephew of course, but there was a difference between knowing that and actually seeing him in action. Bloom noticed that he wasn't actually holding the tethers but rather that they were attached to a glove that he'd slipped over his slim artist's fingers. His eyes swept over Flora as if checking to make sure she was unharmed before saying casually, "I'd hurry up and work out a plan, because this isn't going to hold it for long."

As if prompted by his words, the monster jerked and bucked, trying to throw off the tethers, but Helia just gritted his teeth and braced himself, the glove holding for the moment.

Sky's eyes swept over the stadium as he took note of which Red Fountain students he had in his arsenal.

"Here's the new plan," he said to the others. "We use Helia's idea of tying the monster down; we've got most of the sophomore archery battalion here, they can handle that. In the meantime, Tecna, do you think you can calculate it's point of vulnerability?"

The fairy nodded, already whipping her hand held device out. "I just need to get a good scan of it."

"Go, hopefully Helia can hold him still enough for you."

Tecna nodded and flew off.

"Once Tecna's worked it out, we can't waste any time in hitting it. We won't be able to hold it down for very long. Brandon, take Bloom, and Stella and get the archers into position. Timmy, you go with Layla, Flora, and Musa, and make sure everyone knows when and where to hit it."

"You'd better hurry," Helia called, and they could hear the strain in his voice now, not to mention the groaning of the tethers as they started to snap.

"Let's move!"

They all dashed off, racing around the stadium to make sure everyone knew the new plan, while Sky radioed the Red Fountain crafts to make sure they knew where to fire. All over the heroes swapped their swords for blasters, while the archery battalion got into position, and the fairies prepared their magic. Tecna's hands whizzed over her device as she muttered to herself and made the final calculations.

"It's going!" Helia yelled. His last tether broke and he fell backwards as the monster finally jerked itself free.

"Brandon?!"

"Archers in position!"

"Fire!"

The archers deployed their ropes, targeting the monster's limbs and chest to immobilise it once again before it could do any damage. It gave a roar of pure rage and watching it, Bloom thought it looked so mad that it might just break free much quicker this time.

"Tecna!" Sky yelled. "You got that point of vulnerability?!"

"One more minute!"

"We don't have that long!"

Trying to bind them a little time, Flora's hands shot out and vines burst up all over the arena floor, the thick green ropes slithering around the monster's limbs and holding it fast. It bucked and thrashed but Flora just grunted and poured more power into the plants, willing them to hold on for as long as possible.

"Tec!"

"Got it! Everyone needs to fire at the right side of it's throat!"

"Now!"

A verifiable firestorm rained down on the monster, the spaceships fired with their guns, the heroes all had blasters in hand, and the fairies put all their effort into magical blasts. Despite the monster's strength it was no match for that kind of power and exploded in a rush of hot fire that cleared away to nothing. Cheers went up all around the stadium, which was fortunately relatively undamaged, if not a little scorched. The girls flew at one another to hug in mid air, Brandon and Riven high fived, and a grinning Sky flew over to offer Helia a hand up.

"You sure art school's the right place for you?" he asked, and Helia just grinned and shook his head, looking like he couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

In all the chaos of the explosion and the celebration, no one seemed to notice the small shadow bat that emerged from the smoke and flew off into the distance.

Despite how many floors down they were, the Trix felt the explosion rippled through the Red Fountain campus.

"Uh oh," Darcy muttered, casting her eyes heavenward.

"Come on," Icy hissed, beckoning them on. "If that means what I think it means, we have to hurry."

If her sense of direction was correct, the elevator had taken them down to the very center of the of the new campus. It wasn't a bad place to hide their valuables, Icy had to admit; there was no way to get to it from the dorms that made up the outer ring, in fact the only way down at all were the elevators that needed authorised access.

They heard the quiet murmur of voices and Icy held up a hand to stop them, before peeking into the room beyond. Where the hallways they'd come through had been all cold metal, clearly not intended for the students to use, this room was elaborately designed, with carved pillars, a mosaic floor made up of red, orange, and yellow concentric circles, as well as a beige dais upon which sat a spectacular set of golden scales. And around that dais, was row after row of senior Red Fountain students, headed up by both Codatorta and Saladin.

Icy pulled back around the corner and grimaced. There wasn't a question in her mind that she and her coven-sisters could defeat them, but if Kerbog's distraction really had been defeated and more reinforcements were on the way, she wasn't sure they could get through all of them and get the item for Darkar without getting caught.

As if drawn to her thoughts, a voice whispered into her ear, "Leave it."

She frowned, expression mirrored on Stormy and Darcy's faces, and she wondered if they'd heard Darkar's voice as well.

"We can defeat them," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "We'll get the item for you."

"No, come back. Now that we know where it is, you can come back for it any time."

Icy scowled, but relented with a jerk of her head. Darcy shook her head, and Stormy's lip curled but they didn't argue as they made their way back to the elevator, disguises reappearing and obscuring their features.

Icy followed at a more sedate pace, fingering the necklace at her throat and wondering if it was that which had allowed him to speak directly into her mind. The thought chilled her, and she clenched a fist around the pendant, ready to rip it away. She hesitated, sighed, and let her hand fall away, leaving the necklace hanging where it was. She would follow Lord Darkar's orders and she would return to Shadowhaunt but this time she wanted answers, starting with what exactly the item he wanted was and what he wanted it for.

With the stadium out of commission because of the fight, the post party was relocated to the dining hall. It wasn't quite as nice as what watching the sunset and dancing under the stars in the open air arena would have been, but the DJ was as good as promised, and the good company was all that really mattered.

"Do you think the Trix really were here and they brought the monster?" Tecna asked their friends.

"Of course," Musa scoffed. "How else do you think it got here? I don't know what that thing was but it did not just wander up."

"If it was them, I'm just curious why," Bloom put in. "Yeah, they kind of ruined Red Fountain's big day, but what did it achieve other than causing some trouble? They said even the stadium will only take a few weeks to get back to normal. It feels like something that would have entertained them last year, but now that they're working with that Lord Darkar…"

She trailed off but they all knew what she meant; if Darkar was involved, there had to be something more nefarious going on. The guys all exchanged loaded looks, something that wasn't lost on the girls.

"What?" Layla demanded.

"I overheard some teachers talking," Timmy said, adjusting his glasses. "They checked the logs and apparently one of the central elevators was tampered with and went down to the Veritas level without proper authorisation. They double checked the chamber and confirmed that it wasn't breached but they likely know what's down there now."

"Well, what is down there?"

Sky looked troubled. "The Veritas chamber; it holds Red Fountain's most precious artefacts. I don't know exactly what's in there, no student does, although there are plenty of rumours, but in the event of an emergency it's to be protected at all costs. I've heard there's lots of spells and enchantments guarding it, and more than half the senior class are tasked with patrolling the entire floor when things like this happen."

"So, Darkar wants something from the Veritas chamber," Musa said. "Well, what the hell is in there that a guy like that could want?"

Riven looked like he was about to answer when a shadow fell over them and someone stopped by their table. Everyone fell silent and tried to look as normal as possible as Avalon smiled pleasantly at them all.

"I just wanted to extend my congratulations to you all at how you handled yourselves during the attack. You're a credit to your schools."

"Thanks Professor," Flora said, the others echoing the sentiment.

"I'm just sorry I wasn't there to assist you. I was taking a tour and by the time I got back to the stadium all the excitement was over."

"I'm sure if you were there, the monster would have been destroyed in a second," Bloom put in, thinking of the way Avalon had destroyed the obelisk.

"That's very kind of you to say, Bloom. I actually wanted to ask you-"

"Oh! I love this song." Stella was already on her feet and dragging Brandon up after her. "We're dancing." Happy to go with the flow as ever, Brandon just laughed and allowed himself to be pulled out onto the dance floor.

"Of course," Avalon chuckled, watching them go. "I should save the school talk for class on Monday and leave you to enjoy the party." He bowed his head slightly and left them to it. Bloom watched him walk over to some other Alfea teachers and engage them in conversation, feeling a surge of anger at Stella rise up in her. Why did she have to interrupt them, Avalon had been about to ask her something, it could have been important, it really got on her nerves when Stella did things like-

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you went and talked to him."

Bloom's irritation vanished and she came back to herself at Sky's gentle voice. She blinked and was surprised to see that they were alone at the table. Flora she could see had wandered away to sit at an open window and gaze out at the stars, while Layla was up and dancing. She had managed to drag Tecna and Timmy with her, and held one of their hands each even though they were both red-faced and were avoiding looking at one another. Musa had done very well for herself and was being spun around the dance floor by a Red Fountain senior while Riven watched broodingly from the drinks table. Bloom found herself wondering how long she'd been spaced out.

"Bloom?"

"Hmmm?"

"If you were worried about your essay or something, I'm sure Professor Avalon wouldn't mind if you wanted to talk to him about it." Even as he made the suggestion, something akin to disappointment crossed his face, and Bloom found herself shaking her head.

"Nah, who wants to talk about school work on a Saturday night? Besides, I like this song as well. Dance with me?"

Sky grinned and took her proffered hand, pulling her to her feet. "I'd love to."

From her perch on the window sill Flora smiled as she watched her friends dance. Well, almost all her friends; she was currently taking bets with herself on just how long it would take Riven to leave the drinks table and steal Musa away from the Red Fountain student she was dancing with.

A paper plane looped through the air in front of her, it's unexpectedness surprising a laugh out of her even as she plucked it out of the air and unfolded it. Her laughter died away at it's contents however, and her breath caught in her throat at the charcoal sketch. It was of her, from the battle no doubt as she remembered spreading her hands like that as she'd summoned the vines. What she hadn't remembered or even realised was that her expression had been of fierce determination, a look that somehow even made the faint scars on her cheek look like they fit in. Her finger hovered over the three lines in dark charcoal but stopped just short of touching them, not wanting to ruin the portrait. There was no signature but Flora didn't really need one, and she looked up, searching him out. But if Helia was at the party, he wasn't showing himself.

"Flora!" Layla called, drawing her attention. "You coming?"

Flora glanced at them, smiling when she saw that Sky had his arms around Bloom as they swayed and that Riven had indeed made his move and was now looking very stoic while he danced with a smug looking Musa.

"I'm coming," she said. She folded the picture up and held it to her chest for a moment, before slipping it into her pocket. Then, heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time, she went to join her friends.

Hello hello hello,

Wow, it feels like it has been so much longer than two months since I last updated this fic. In that time I've started my honours year and let me tell you, it is fucking intense. I feel like my brain is working all the time and when I'm not working on my project I feel majorly guilty. Anyway, I needed a bit of a break away from it to get perspective so I carved out some time to write this chapter yay!

It's almost a filler chapter/episode now that I think about it, the Trix work out how to get the codex from Red Fountain but plot wise that's about it. So I thought I'd throw in some character and relationship moments to fill it up. And I ended up really enjoying it. I've had that beginning sequence for a long time and I've always wanted to see the other girls through her eyes.

You probably noticed some changes, maybe most notably that only Bloom, Layla, and Musa were chosen for Avalon's class which was for a reason and will definitely come up again later.

There's a bit of a surprise regarding the next chapter but I think I'll keep that to myself and let you all be surprised ;)

Now, before I finish up this is a word out to all my readers. I've been seeing some slightly worrying rumours about the site and commenting on how it looks like it isn't being maintained/the admin team are focussing on other projects and even theorising on the possibility that it won't be around for much longer. I bring this up not to cause panic or anything like that but just to remind you that if anything were to happen to this site and you can no longer access it you can find my fics also on ao3 at gins_potter or you can contact me at gins-potter on tumblr. I say this just in case anything does happen sooner than expected and you need to find an alternate way to access my fics.

Now to end off this author's note before I waffle on too much, I really hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave me a review if you did! I think it was in the last author's note that I mentioned the possibility of doing a series of missing moments or deleted scenes and I'm thinking I will but not until after vol.2 is complete. In the meantime if there are any in particular you'd like to see please let me know in a review because I'm starting to make a list of ones I'm planning on writing :D Thanks as always for tuning in and reading, you guys mean everything to me xx

EDIT: swooping back in because I forgot two very important things:

a). okay this one isn't so important but you may or may not recognise the song Musa and Bloom sing at the beginning as Hold my Hand by Jess Glynne. Bloom and Musa's version is inspired by an acoustic cover by Megan Davies and Emily Hackett (you can find it on youtube and spotify).

And b). I really don't know how I forgot to mention this but Helia's here! I hope you enjoyed his introduction and don't think I'm a shameless Helia stan because I described him as beautiful, I swear I'm not lmao