Chapter 54
Pictures of The Past
- We heard shouting and came to check. - said Aisha.
- And we did well. It's no fun to be a fawn, you know? - growled Stella, furious.
- How could you do something like this, Amaryl? You know what Valtor can do! - added Bloom.
- Why don't you ask her what he promised her in return for the favor? - suggested Darcy from behind them.
At that point, Yomi put together all her bravery and attempted an objection.
- You're unjust! He might have forced her! -
- Yeah, sure. - replied Mirta, - Take a good look at her neck, Yomi: do you see Valtor's mark somewhere? I know what it's like, I saw it on lots of witches when they attacked Alfea, it was very evident. -
- And above all, they weren't conscious of their actions. - added Bloom.
- Say he threatened you! - insisted Yomi.
Amaryl kept quiet. She wished her stare could kill, at least Darcy. Just her. Yomi was on the verge of crying and kept whining.
- Stop it! He didn't threaten me, he just asked. I knew it wasn't lethal. - exploded Amaryl.
Darcy laughed.
- And you trusted him? I thought you had a brain. -
- In love and war... - replied Amaryl.
- Nobody is at war with you. - intervened Aisha.
- In fact it's love. - said Mirta, arms crossed, - She can't get a grip since the ball. "Walter danced with Darcy", "Walter doesn't even look at me". Couldn't you find a better way to get attention? -
Mirta spoke with resentment and made her name with ease, like it wasn't that important, but Darcy couldn't avoid being startled and the tree fairies turned to look at her for an instant: not only Darcy hadn't fallen victim to the spell, but, sweet irony, Amaryl ended up being the very cause of her newborn relationship with Walter. Had she known that, she would've turned greener than miss Griffin, that was sure.
Stella took control of the situation.
- Go get dressed, we're going to the headmistress immediately. - she said peremptorily.
Resigned, Amaryl angrily closed the bathroom door.
- It seems like both miss Griffin and Lzzy were right. - commented Aisha, - It was someone in the school and from our class. -
- It isn't a big comfort, Valtor could do it again with somebody else. We better not let our guard down. - said Bloom.
Darcy nodded and said:
- I'll go tell the others. -
Thus, while Mirta considered changing apartment (there were three empty places in Rebecca's apartment, it shouldn't have been a problem) Darcy walked down the corridor up to what she now considered her apartment. Instead of informing the other girls right away, though, she went to her room. Icy was laying down on her bed, nose down in a book.
- Are you really serious with Lzzy? - asked Darcy, closing the door behind her.
Icy slowly looked up from the pages, dissimulating her surprise.
- Yes. - she cautiously answered.
- Ugh. Get hurt if you must, but go cry about it to Stormy please. -
- Are you accepting it? - asking Icy.
It wasn't a rhetorical question, because if that was Darcy's way to end hostilities it was rather controversial.
- I am acknowledging the fact that I see her too often to not accept it. - replied Darcy, impassible.
- I'll take that as a yes. -
- Take it as you want. By the way, Valtor's little assistant was Amaryl. -
- What?! -
- Come, I'll tell the others too. -
Icy jumped up from the bed and, not bothering to wear slippers, followed Darcy. Once they gathered the others, Darcy referred the recent events.
- He chose Amaryl? I almost feel insulted. - commented Stormy.
- And what's worse, it worked. - remarked Musa.
- I'm surprised he didn't give her some poison, having the chance. - said Tecna.
- He probably didn't expect her to succeed, or he wanted to do it later, or he simply thought that turning us into animals was more humiliating. - replied Icy.
- Or he wanted to distract us. - added Darcy, - If Stella didn't drink the potion she would've undone the spell in the blink of an eye, it was just a coincidence that it went differently. -
- True. - agreed Tecna, - Tell you what, Arejay's amnesia felt like a diversion too. He's trying to scare us and make us feel insecure while he prepares who knows what. -
- I think he'll take advantage of the Tournament. - said Stormy, - We all know that sabotaging it ain't hard and even though it is an obvious move, we have no idea how he'll use it to his advantage. -
- We have a few more weeks to get ready. - said Tecna.
That weekend, at the H.Q.
Icy, Darcy and Stormy didn't believe their eyes. Donnie told them of a surprise, but a box full of photos was something more than a simple surprise. It was something painful due to the consciousness or the impression of having lost anything represented in those pictures: the ingenuity, the serenity, the innocence of their first years of life. But it was also something sweet, because they remembered having had all those things.
- Mom and auntie Elle gave me doubles... my opinion is that they have a double of just any existing photo, especially mom. - said Donnie, taking out of a big green box packs of photographs, tidily divided by years.
- Haven't heard you mother's name in years, Dar. - said Stormy.
- Don't call me Dar. - grunted Darcy.
She was slightly annoyed by Lzzy's presence, she had been training with Icy until Donnie arrived, but she didn't feel like asking (or imposing) her to leave. In part, because she wanted to demonstrate she wasn't at war with her anymore, in part she imagined that that blast from the past was important for her as well, to get to know Icy better. Besides, why did she care after all? It was just photographs of the three of them as newborns, then their first months, then as two years olds...
Darcy and Icy often appeared together even in the very first months. Elle had been close friends with Icy's mother and after her death she took upon herself, along with her husband, to look after her child. Sadly for Icy, though, she never really succeeded.
Donnie's first entry, curled over a pillow bigger than he was in admiration of his three years old sister, jealously holding a teddy bear, was welcomed with a choir of exclamations.
- If you weren't in the picture with him it would be hard to tell it's him. -
- Ugh, please Icy, he was much chubbier. -
- Actually, you still have those puffy cheeks. -
And they laughed.
Then the photographs of the first day of school came, one with Stormy, whose hair was incredibly tidy, and another with Icy and Darcy smiling.
- I didn't wear glasses yet. - sighed Darcy.
- And Icy looked like a Pixie. - giggled Stormy, getting her revenge.
Lzzy laughed quietly. The witch of storms wasn't wrong. The opinion became a conviction when a close-up of Icy appeared, surprised by the photographer and with an evident void where one of the upper front teeth should have been.
- Oh my goodness this is too cute! - Lzzy squealed.
- It should disappear. - replied the witch of ice.
- Are you crazy? It's adorable! -
- That's the point. -
- Quit it, my mom has far more embarrassing pictures of me and Arejay scattered around the house. -
The Trix and Donnie continued growing up in the photos: Darcy wore glasses, Stormy started dancing, Icy was seen less because of the numerous courses she took to stay away from home, Donnie tried to find balance on rollers. Then Icy's bangs disappeared, Stormy stopped tying up her hair and Darcy started to dye her front locks. They were twelve years old. There were few pictures of their thirteenth year, just birthdays or big days, and even less for the following year.
There was one last photograph left in the box, which the boy passed to Icy. The witch felt a lump in her throat. It was a picture of her mother, she had asked Elle to give it to her years earlier because it was her favorite. She even forgot about it. The woman in the picture seemed a few years older than she was, she had the same ice-colored eyes and pale complexion. The hair, instead, had teal highlights the same way Icy's hair had silver ones, and it stood out against the sunset behind her.
- Sitara. - said Icy.
- What? - said Lzzy.
- Her name. You were going to ask. - Icy answered without stopping looking at the photograph.
She didn't know what she felt. She was ashamed she forgot that picture, and she wondered what her mother would have thought of the person she had become. Would she understand the reason of her mistakes or would she hate her?
Lzzy felt Icy's thoughts and intervened, fearing the direction they were taking. "She would be proud of how you got through hardships without losing yourself. Don't torment yourself with questions without answers, it couldn't be any different than what it has been" she said. Unconcerned of Donnie's presence, Icy took Lzzy's hand. She needed that contact and deep down she suspected that Stormy told him something.
- Thanks Donnie, it means a lot. - she said.
Donnie smiled at her.
- You know, when I'll tell them I showed you the pictures they'll ask me if... - said the boy, nervously scratching his neck.
- ...if we want to come back. - Stormy interrupted him, - I told you already, as long as Valtor is around that's the worst thing we could do. He would certainly target them. -
- Yeah, can you imagine dad's comeback? "I can surely look out for myself, young lady". - replied Donnie, making his voice low and grumpy.
Stormy smiled and shook her head.
- They've seen the Company of Light rise and fall, they should understand the reasoning behind our decision. - said Darcy, staring at the photographs laying on the table.
- They'd say the members of the Company are all alive. - objected Donnie.
He understood, but his parents and Darcy's weren't going to be easily convinced.
- And you would remind them that a member spent seventeen years as a statue and another as a spirit in a sword. - replied Stormy referring to Oritel and Marion.
Donnie tried one last card.
- Why don't you talk to them? Your proofs are much better than mine. -
- It would be the same as meeting them. After we defeat Valtor we'll do it, but right now there's already enough people risking their lives. -
Icy kept quiet for the whole conversation. That discussion involved her partially, she had nobody to go back to.
Donnie gave up, tired of standing a ground that wasn't his own. Just then his phone rang, announcing an incoming videocall from Andrea. He took it. Andrea was in her Enchantix form and she was flying.
- Are you still with your sister? - she asked without pleasantries.
- Yeah. -
- Is it ok if we stop by? -
- You and who? - asked Donnie.
Andrea turned the phone towards another fairy.
- Cass! - exclaimed Stormy.
Cassandra greeted them, although she could only see Donnie.
- You transformed again, that's great! -
- All thanks to Andrea. And check this out. - said Cassandra, turning to her Dark Witch form, - I can use both transformations! -
- A good teacher needs great students. - said Andrea, turning the camera again.
- You'll be better than the professor if you keep it up. - Donnie mocked her.
- When I left he gave me your metal bars so you could train. He says you're too distracted. - replied Andrea, equally sarcastic.
- Are you kidding me? -
- Who knows. We'll be there soon. - said the fairy, ending the call.
- What kind of relationship do you guys have? - asked Stormy out of curiosity.
- Definitely not what you're thinking about. - answered Donnie, embarrassed.
- Mhmh. And are you sorry about that? - the witch urged him.
- No, she's a great friend and that's enough for me. I really couldn't see her in any other way. - he said sincerely.