This fic is based on the Winx Club Comics #97 The Dark Dimension. You don't have to read it to understand the fic, but the general gist is that there is this wizard, Neruman, hell-bent on destroying Earth. In one scene he spells the Winx to have nightmares, and it details the nightmares of all of the girls...except for Flora. This fic is basically detailing her missing nightmare.
It's also loosely based on a line from Florelia12's fic Moonlight and Monsters (on AO3), which basically described Flora's fear of the dark after Valtor's attack. Go and read that fic if you haven't because it's absolutely fantastic.
Crossposted to AO3 under the same title.
The dark never appealed to Flora the same way light did. She grew up in Lynphea, which had 24 hours of sunlight, so before she attended Alfea she never even knew what the dark was. Ever since starting school, Flora has only associated the dark with negative things; her enemies use dark magic, Bloom had terrible nightmares at night, nature didn't thrive in darkness, and so on.
Flora's dislike became a legitimate fear after a battle with Valtor, when the wizard trapped her in a spell of darkness. Consumed by darkness, she instantly lost her senses. Unable to see, to hear, to even feel, Flora felt as if her body was betraying her. She threw out spells but had no knowledge on whether or not they even formed, much less where they attacked, or if they were effective. Her ignorance of self made Flora's soul weep, she was unaware if the tears even reached her eyes. Her physical faculties gone, Flora's mind began to deteriorate. She questioned her memories, her relationships with Helia and the Winx, whether or not she was ever even alive , if she were even a fairy, a human, or a worm. All she knew was the darkness, and that was all she would ever know, all she ever was.
Flora was shocked later on to find that the spell lasted all of a few minutes, according to Musa. She felt as if she were trapped for an eternity, so much so that Flora was genuinely shocked when the spell wore off to find that she even existed. After that battle, Flora swore that she would never find herself in such darkness again, even choosing to nap at various times throughout the day, so that she would never again be caught vulnerable in such darkness.
So why was Flora currently flying through an entire dimension based on darkness? She had no clue.
The day started out rough. The Winx were arguing, stressed about their latest mission of retrieving Morgana's necklace and finally defeating Neruman, and just as tensions were threatening to boil over, Tecna finally finished her Searchix device, which led them to The Fortress of Light. The Winx were able to capture Balazar and retrieve the necklace, but only after the troll opened the portal to The Dark Dimension. The only solution (according to everyone else) was to enter the dimension and defeat Neruman from the inside. With that, Bloom, Stella, Layla, and Tecna flew into the portal, with Musa following right behind them.
Flora stayed behind, frozen in place. Her anxiety about entering Neruman's lair was threatening to push her into a panic attack. She always knew that the battle with Neruman was coming soon, but she always assumed that it would be on Earth, never in his realm. There was no way Flora could enter that dimension, the darkness would consume her, enslaving her once again to an eternity of fear and dread. She would lose her family, the Winx, Roxy, Faragonda, Helia…
She would lose herself.
Flora's building panic attack occupied her so much that she failed to notice Musa returning to her side. She jumped violently as Musa gently grasped her hand, causing the fairy to drop it and take a few steps back.
"Hey Flo…" Musa started gently, "Don't worry, it'll be okay."
"Musa... it's going to be so dark in there." Flora instantly cursed herself as Musa looked at her with a look of pity. Flora didn't intend to sound so weak, but her fear of the dark did that to her. It broke her, reduced her to a childlike state whenever she even thought about it.
"Stella will light the way, and we'll all be there to protect each other, but all of us have to be there."
Flora nearly laughed at her stupidity. Of course, Musa wouldn't understand. Even though she faced a similar attack from Baltor when he cursed her into a bubble of silence, Musa was more inconvenienced than traumatized. She would never understand, no one would ever understand the suffering Flora experienced. Every time she closed her eyes, or the night fell, she was reminded of the feelings of total failure, despair, of weakness she felt when she was spelled. No one else could understand that, no matter how hard they try to sympathize.
Flora opened her mouth to argue but closed it once again once she realized that she was stuck. None of the Winx recognized her trauma, so she effectively had two choices: enter the dimension, defend the Winx Club, and potentially lose her mind, or stay behind, and face the consequences of not sprinting into danger and defending her friends, including the loss of her heroes benefits, facing the pity of the public, and losing her mind anyway.
Only one option had less severe consequences. Taking Musa's outstretched hand, Flora entered her worst nightmare.
The Dark Dimension had a lot more light than Flora expected, though it was still much darker than what she preferred, and the evil that resided there still made her skin crawl. Flora and Musa quickly caught up to the rest of the fairies, who were just deciding to land on a moon, shaped like a skull, where Neruman's lair most likely resided.
After landing on the planet, the Winx quickly found Neruman's lair with Tecna's Serachix. Bursting into his castle, the Winx immediately found him, sitting calmly on his throne.
Ever observant, Flora immediately felt her stomach drop when Neruman didn't seem the least bit surprised when the Winx burst in, just like Valtor didn't so much turn his back when the Winx infiltrated his office at Cloud Tower. Before she could so much as even shout a warning, Neruman raised his arms, a spell of darkness spreading out from his fingers.
"Only fools enter The Dark Dimension without knowing the risks!" He bellowed, as his spell surrounded the Winx.
"NO!" Flora couldn't help but scream. Fear seized her body as the darkness approached quickly, her worst nightmare realized. Helpless, Flora could only scream as she was knocked unconscious.
Flora woke up in a large forest. Groggy and with a crick in her neck, Flora slowly pushed herself up, despite the protests of her aching muscles. Taking a moment for her eyes to adjust, Flora soon realized that it was the middle of the night, immediately putting her on edge. Fully waking up, Flora soon got up and attempted to gather her bearings.
Where am I? She thought, looking around at her surroundings. It was warm for nighttime, the humidity making her uncomfortable. The forest was extremely thick, she was unable to see past a couple of feet past her location. The trees were almost impossibly tall, as if they were able to touch the sky. They were as thick as she was tall, and the leaves on said trees were green but unnaturally dark.
Not only did the forest have an unnatural feel to it, but Flora realized that it was unusually silent. No matter the time of day, when Flora ventured into any type of nature, not only would there be some animals scourging around, but the plants and trees would constantly call out to Flora in an attempt to grab her attention. She always found the attention from nature a bit annoying if she was trying to focus on Helia if they were on a walk, or her professor if class went outside for the day, but now, alone and afraid, Flora deeply yearned for their attention.
Walking up to a tree, Flora rested her palm on it and waited for its response. When none came, she pressed into it a bit more firmly, shooting a bit of magic into the tree. Still no response.
Pushing back the tears that were forming into her eyes, Flora instead closed them and began to pray. She prayed to the gods of nature that they would hear her pleas, they would help her, and accept her once again. She prayed that whatever action she did that made them betray her would be forgiven, that nature would again find value in Flora.
After her prayer, Flora mustered up all of her magic and pushed it into a tree, begging for some sort of response. And yet again, there was none. Nature had forsaken her. The closest Flora bond she ever had has left her, probably for a fairy more powerful, more grateful, better than who Flora could ever be.
Flora sunk down to her knees in despair, the tears now freely flowing from her eyes. She never knew such terrible grief as this, it felt as if the very essence of her soul was shattered. Once again, she lost herself. How this happened, she didn't know how.
"Look at you, small and weak. Stupid little fairy."
The tears instantly stopped as Flora's blood went cold at the sound of the voice. There was only one person who had that voice, and despite the impossible situation she found herself in, there was no way he could have been alive , much less here.
Flora slowly turned around to meet the person mocking her. The man responsible for her worst nightmares…
"Valtor..."
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