title from "kinda hate u, kinda love u" by alex sloane, which is also where the series title comes from
okay, so for context, it seems that i have accidentally sort of started rewriting winx club. to accommodate for my Horny. a good chunk of this fic is a modified version of "party crasher" (s02e08) with dialogue pulled from the cinélume english dub. i allude to an alternate season 1, so here's a little rundown of all the changes i've made:
- alfea/red fountain/cloud tower are now all colleges. every student is 18 when they enroll. since this is a rewrite of a season 2 episode, the winx are now second-years.
- the trix are 3 years older than the winx. they were all seniors when the winx were freshman
- the trix are slowly biding their time with their world domination. rather than going directly after the dragon flame and going crazy with it asap, they're taking back-alley methods of achieving that power and testing the water
- in canon season one, the trix take over cloud tower and incite the siege on magix. in my alternate season one, they tested the waters by powering an army to lay waste on the three schools but ultimately realized that since they couldn't entirely possess the dragon flame in the same way bloom--the heir to domino--can, they'd have to find another method
- darkar isn't rlly a thing here, but the trix have discovered the codex and are working toward A Goal (no spoilers)
- aisha has been with them from the start
- i also got rid of the pixies bc that was just too many characters for me to juggle
- i think that's everything?? i'll update this author's note if i remember anything else.
"You look like a fairy," Darcy teases, poking at Stormy's curly marigold pigtail.
Stormy scowls, the miffed expression looking out of place on her rounded face framed by golden pigtails.
"Wasn't that the point of these disguises?" Stormy snaps, looking ruffled in her classic schoolgirl outfit.
"Neither of us look as cutesy as you," Icy rolls her eyes. Of the three of them, Icy is the one who disguised herself best. With her sleek platinum blond hair and cropped puff jacket, Icy strikes that precarious balance between fairy and witch with flair.
"At least I don't look like a Cloud Tower professor," Stormy snipes at Darcy.
Darcy's hair is tinted blue and piled to the top of her, secured by a gaudy hairpiece. Her usual thin-framed glasses are replaced by tinted cat-eyes. She wears a plum-colored cropped two-piece with puff sleeves and a little clutch purse dangling on her arm.
"Watch it," Darcy says.
Icy snorts, "Stormy looks like a high schooler and Darcy looks like a professor. Am I the only one who even tried with this disguise?"
"This just means we're clearing three demographics," Darcy says. "We can cover different ground."
"Ugh, why are we stealing this stupid piece of crap again?" Stormy groans.
"If we ever want to have access to the Relix realm, we need to gather the codex," Icy snaps. "Now, remind me what you both will be going by?"
"Varsha," Stormy says, grimacing.
"Hyejin," Darcy says.
"Your government names? Seriously?" Icy says, unimpressed.
"No one knows Stormy is a nickname," Stormy argues.
"Hyejin is just my middle name," Darcy says. "And I know I'll respond to it. No one knows our birth names, Márcia, we dealt with that a long time ago. Remember?"
Icy scowls, but concedes, "Ugh, fine."
She stomps her foot, creating an icy sheen on the floor, then mutters an incantation under her breath. The rippling image of the newly rebuilt Red Fountain Academy fades into view on the sheet of ice.
Icy steps into the portal, sinking through to her knees. Looking up to meet her sisters' eyes, she says with a smirk, "Let's get this show on the road."
It's the grand re-opening of Red Fountain after it had been besieged by an army of nameless, faceless creatures. The waste that the army—dubbed the Army of Darkness—had laid on Magix was irreversible. The only way for the realm to recover was to accept that what's done is done, and move forward. Still, for all the damage the Army of Darkness has caused, no one has yet stepped forward to claim credit for the destruction. Odd, because such drastic and dramatic takeovers were usually spearheaded by their gloating leaders, but this destruction was anonymous—aimless, in fact, if the conclusions drawn by the Council of Magix are anything to go by. (They're not.) The Army of Darkness caused senseless destruction, but that was just that. It was deemed senseless and no further investigation occurred.
The Winx highly suspected it was the Trix, a small coven of three senior witches who had tortured them throughout their entire freshman year—all in a bid to lay claim to Bloom's newly discovered power to wield the Dragon Flame. Alas, no one believed them and the Trix were allowed to graduate onto greener pastures without a hitch.
All of this is to say that the Army of Darkness destroyed Red Fountain Academy's historic campus just last year, and today students from Alfea and Cloud Tower alike have been invited to its grand re-opening.
There's an unfamiliar man sitting at the edge of the arena at the new Red Fountain that catches Flora's eye.
The Specialists—the Winx girls' specialists, that is—are showing the girls around when she notices him. He's sitting by himself, ink brush in one hand and a sketchbook in his lap, drawing confident lines.
Aisha points him out first.
"Hey, I don't think I've seen him around before," Aisha says. "Is he a freshman?"
"Er, well, no," Brandon says. "He's actually in our grade. That's Saladin's nephew."
"He must be a very talented specialist, then," Flora says absently.
"Helia? No way," Brandon laughs, uncharacteristically dismissive. "The guy's a total pacifist. Never gets his hands dirty."
Timmy jumps in, "As a matter of fact, I heard he dropped out of Red Fountain to go to art school."
The man—Helia—glances up at them. Flora wants to facepalm at how rude they were being.
"I want to talk to him," Stella says. "He seems nice."
Brandon shrugs, "Might as well."
The group walks over to Helia.
"Hey, Helia, let me introduce you to some people," Brandon says. "They're the stars of Alfea."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Brandon," Bloom jokes.
"Yes, it will, actually," Stella interjects. She waves her hand. "Keep going, darling."
Brandon laughs, "Well, this is Bloom." Bloom waves. "Tecna." Tecna salutes. "Aisha." Aisha smiles. "Musa." Musa jerks her chin up in a 'sup' motion. "My girlfriend Stella, and—"
"Hi, I'm Stella!" Stella interrupts, smiling brilliantly. Flora pushes down the flare of annoyance she feels at her introduction being cut off. "Are you an artist? Can you show me your sketches?"
Helia stands up and bows formally. "Pleased to meet all of you." His eye catches Flora's.
"Why do you draw on paper?" Tecna asks. "Graphic palettes are so handy. You get up to fifty 'undo's in the memory, digital chroma control, plus all the layers you could possibly want."
"I, uh," Helia hesitates, examining his sketchbook.
"You also get alpha channels, texturizing, morph targeting, linear cohesion—" Tecna continues.
Meanwhile, Stella grabs Helia's sketchbook out of his hands. Flora wants to groan. Don't they know they're making a terrible impression?
"Wow, these are amazing," Stella says in awe, flipping through the pages. She looks up at Helia, batting her eyelashes. "Say, would you draw a royal portrait of me?"
Flora can't resist smacking a hand to her face, trading a glance with Bloom. That's one of the absolute worst things you could say to an artist after finding out they were an artist. Flora looks back at Helia again to notice that he's smiling slightly at her.
She peeks over at the sketchbook and comments, "Your lines are full of life. You can really sense the energy—and I really love the way your brush strokes match the fern leaf in the paper."
Helia takes back the sketchbook from Stella, looking at Flora in awe, "No one's ever noticed the fern in the paper before."
Flora smiles, giggling nervously.
"And this is Flora," Brandon says, a knowing look in his eye.
The girls are all seated next to each other at the front of the arena, the boys having left to go prepare for the main event.
Codatorta, flanked by Saladin, steps out into the center.
"Welcome, everyone," he booms. "Friends of Red Fountain! We have not gathered here today to lament over the ruins of our illustrious school. Although the historical splendor of Red Fountain has been ruined, the spirit and skills of our specialists remain unshaken!"
The crowd cheers.
"The time has come to restore the prestige of Red Fountain," says Saladin, gearing up to perform a spell. "By renewing the very foundations of our institution!"
The entire building begins to shake. Flora's stomach flip-flops nervously.
"Holy shit," Musa gasps.
"What's going on?" Stella cries.
"I don't understand what could've gone wrong," Bloom says, panicked.
"Please, everyone, stay calm!" Saladin yells. "Just enjoy the ride!"
Before their very eyes and all around them, Red Fountain Academy's historic castle collapses. And arising from the rubble—the new Red Fountain, a sleek, modern hover-building that is vaguely screwdriver-shaped and three times larger than the original campus.
"Oh, my gods!" Flora exclaims.
"It really is a whole new Red Fountain," Aisha marvels.
"And now the grand re-opening ceremony parade can begin!" Codatorta shouts, specialists riding on dragons bursting into the scene behind him and flying in perfect formation.
Across the arena, everyone begins to laugh. This truly is a joyous occasion—a rebirth.
"I can't find this shit anywhere!" Stormy stomps her feet on the ground.
The three of them have just reconverged after scouring the grounds for an hour. The whole instant-building-remodeling debacle has just put a dent in their plans.
"You really shouldn't be throwing a tantrum while dressed like that, Varsha," Darcy says wryly. "It's a bit too on the nose."
"Oh, shut up, Hyejin."
"It has to be here somewhere," Icy says, eyes flickering around the grounds. "But we need a distraction." There's an enlightened glint in her eye. "Do you both remember that shadow spell we found in the Books the other day?"
"Do I ever," Darcy purrs. "You know those are my favorite."
"That's what I like to hear," Icy chuckles. "We should do a convergence spell to summon one of those shadow monsters. Sounds like a plan?"
"Fuck yes," Stormy cheers.
"Of course," says Darcy.
The three of them stand in a circle, hands linked, and begin chanting in unison in an ancient tongue, "I summon the spirit of the Shadow, for the Shadow follows me. I invite the Shadow into the land of Light to do my bidding, until I release the Shadow back into the Night."
Pure magical energy flows through them, and a fissure cracks through the ground beside them. The Trix—the most powerful coven of witches to have graduated from Cloud Tower just yet—begin to laugh.
The Winx have just returned from a break in the festivities to the arena, where the specialists would be competing in duels and races for all the spectators.
Flora isn't all that interested in specialist duels if she's being very honest. While she sees the value in their skills, she much prefers the thrill of magical mastery against magical mastery. It's a bit of an elitist point of view, she admits, seeing as magical ability to that extent is not accessible to most people. But she can't help what draws her attention—versus what doesn't.
She does consider most of the Specialists to be her friends, though, so she cheers them on when she can.
Currently, Sky and Riven are going head-to-head. Bloom is loudly cheering on Sky. From the corner of her eye, Flora spots Musa gripping onto Aisha's arm, silently cheering on Riven.
Flora doesn't care for Riven all that much, so when Sky meets Riven blow-for-blow until his inevitable victory, she joins in on the cheering alongside the rest of the Winx. Musa claps half-heartedly, visibly disappointed.
"Look, Brandon's next!" Stella exclaims.
However, just as Brandon and his opponent step into the center of the arena, the sky becomes overcast.
Panicked, Flora looks up and spots a horrible gaping beast, with something akin to a lion's head and sprawling bat wings. The creature appears aggressive, and Flora instinctively knows that it is here on an agenda.
"Guys!" Bloom shouts.
"Magic Winx!" the six of them call in unison.
Rapidly, the Winx allow their transformations to overtake them. Flora feels her wings sprout on her back and suppresses a smirk. She's got this; they've all got this.
It's a frenzied battle. Specialists from all squadrons are attacking the beast from all sides. The Winx each send out blasts of energy, but the beast doesn't appear to have any weak spots.
"I'm not having any luck," Flora hears Aisha floating up beside Bloom and Stella.
"We gotta distract it until we can fully evacuate the crowd," Bloom says, determined.
A hovercraft shoots out from a launching port, rushing toward the creature and blasting it with pure energy. The beast is momentarily knocked to the side but recovers quickly.
"Let's try a double-sided assault!" Flora calls out to her friends. "Bloom, Stella, Aisha—you attack from above. Musa, Tecna—we'll attack from below."
They all nod and split off into the aforementioned positions.
Bloom, Stella, and Aisha all create a convergence spell together—an intense spurt of fire and light with a solid morphix base—and send it careening toward the hovering beast. The beast, uninjured, gets knocked down, just as Flora intended.
"Now!" she shouts, quickly growing giant vines with huge trunks to wrap around the creature. Musa blasts it with her sonic magic and Tecna wraps it with her electric net. The monster thrashes in its trap but doesn't break.
Flora's eyes widen, "We did it!"
"Fuck yeah!" Musa yells.
They spoke too soon.
The creature gathers its strength and bursts through Tecna's net, ripping through Flora's vines. It identifies Flora as the one having come up with the plan and screeches at her, sending out powerful blasts of energy that nearly knock her out of the sky. It covers her in its spit, a sticky gunk that inhibits her ability to see and makes it harder to fly. She hovers in the air, fumbling to see where she is.
"Flora!" Tecna cries, terrified. Her voice is soon followed by the other girls, all equally scared for their friend.
"Flora!" Aisha screams, rushing toward her.
"I can't see!" Flora shouts, getting embarrassingly choked up as if they aren't in the midst of battle. "I can't see! What's happening?"
The monster lunges toward her, claws outstretched, when—
Helia stands on an elevated platform, arm outstretched, battle strings unleashed and wrapped around the beast. With truly impressive arm strength—it has to be enhanced by magical ability—Helia tugs the monster back, grunting with exertion.
"Yes! Tie the monster to its tail and make it fight itself!" Flora hears Sky exclaim, ever the strategist.
"How could a drop-out pull something like that?" Brandon says in shock.
"I heard he was Codatorta's best student before he quit," Sky responds. And, wow, Flora almost died and the Specialists want to waste time gossiping? Men.
"Are you alright, Flora?" Helia asks, voice loud enough to be heard from across a distance yet somehow still achingly soft.
"Oh, uh, yes!" Flora says, flustered. She's managed to get the gunk out of her eyes with her tears, and Helia's face blurs into view.
Helia nods, then retracts his strings and walks away. Flora gapes after him.
"What the fuck?" Aisha screams.
"Why don't you set a few more monsters after us while you're at it?" Stella snarks.
"Is he being fucking for real?" Musa calls.
"Guys!" Bloom catches their attention. "Pay attention or you're all going to get killed!"
"Right!" they all say, then return to their battle positions.
Still, even as Flora summons more spells, adrenaline pumping through her veins, her mind wanders back to Helia. What an odd guy.
Darcy made sure to be in the line of fire when the shadow monster began attacking because she loves these kinds of things.
Honestly, Darcy is confident that Icy is going to find the codex. She's the most determined, and Darcy likes to go on side quests. Today's being: seeing how her pretty little fairy fares against the shadow monster.
Darcy isn't sure when she began to think of the nature fairy as hers exactly, only that somewhere in between sessions at the Paliades Gardens, Flora stopped being the fairy she secretly spent time smoking and getting off with. She became something that Darcy wanted to lay claim to, to wholly possess. She's become obsessive, she realizes, and it's much worse than it had ever been with Riven.
Darcy almost glows with pride when she hears her pretty fairy come up with the plan that nearly bests the shadow monster. Of course, the plan is nearly immediately foiled, but it's the closest anyone has gotten yet.
Then, the boy comes.
He's tall and broad, with flowing blue-black hair and not-quite-Melodian features. He saves Flora with his stupid strings, and—ooh—the awed look on Flora's face makes Darcy's blood boil.
Immediately after he's been assured that Flora is okay, he walks away, which—okay, Darcy can respect that. But. Ugh.
Darcy murmurs a quick incantation, retracting some of the energy she's used to power the shadow monster back into her person. She briefly glows with witchcraft, and she glances around to make sure no one's noticed.
Flora catches her eye.
That's her cue.
Darcy leaves.
Sky is giving them a rundown of the plan, a more elaborate version of Helia holding back the creature with his battle strings that incorporates some of Flora's plan from earlier. Tecna is tasked with calculating the creature's weak spot.
The Winx and Specialists all nod firmly, then quickly disperse to set the plan in motion.
Flora is fluttering high into the air, readying herself into her position, when something…changes…in the air. The beast looks less solid, somehow, almost slightly translucent. Flora can't put her finger on it.
There's a glow in the corner of her eye. Flora's head snaps downward, honing in on a woman who seems to be glowing with some kind of dark magical energy.
"What is she doing?" Flora murmurs, but she's interrupted by Tecna dealing out commands.
"Positions, now!"
Flora watches as specialists line up around the arena, aiming rope cannons.
"Ropes, now!" Tecna orders. She looks up, "Flora!"
Flora nods, then sends vines wrapping around the beast and holding it in place. The combination of the ropes and the vines hold the monster back, but Flora can't help but feel as though something seems odd about it now. Like it's been weakened. She jolts, having an epiphany. That woman—she probably—
"I found the weak spot!" Tecna shouts. "Under its neck!"
What? But that seems almost too easy… Too—easy—
Bloom forces a giant ball of flame under the beast's throat, Stella backing her up. Riven, Timmy, and Sky—all on the backs of dragons—rush toward the beast with their swords outstretched, breaching into its weak spot.
The creature dies in a huge explosion, one that sends everyone in the air careening backward from the force of it.
Regardless, everyone begins cheering.
"We did it!" Stella fist-pumps. She, Musa, and Aisha all pile onto Tecna. "Way to go, Tec!"
"Sky, you're amazing!" Bloom gushes. "Your plan was perfect!"
Sky scratches the back of his neck, the Specialists coming to his side and patting his back roughly, "I wouldn't have been able to come up with it without Flora." He looks at her meaningfully, and Flora understands that that means he's giving her credit for her part, as well as Helia's.
Still, Flora flits around, a tad confusedly. Did no one else see—?
Aisha hovers next to Flora, grabbing her hand in between the two of hers, "Hey, are you okay?"
"Aisha, didn't you see—?" Flora asks.
"See what?" says Aisha.
Flora shakes her head, "Nothing. Don't worry about it."
She and Aisha land on the ground, and Flora detransforms along with the rest of them.
Flora is nursing her wounds in a private infirmary in Red Fountain.
Honestly, her ego is more banged up than anything else, but Helia had sought her out in the post-battle craze and led her up to a sparsely used section of the school—one reserved for members of the Saladin family only. There, he disinfected her scrapes and bruises and fetched her an ice pack, before firmly telling her to rest for a moment before heading back to Alfea. His dark eyes were warm and searching before he left her to her own devices. And, from the way his touches and his gaze lingered on her, Flora could tell that he was just as fascinated by her as she was with him.
The attention is…nice, honestly. Flora is not so insecure as to believe she's unattractive in any way, but she's become so accustomed to the Winx and their arresting remarkability. Their light burns so bright that Flora sometimes feels she fades into an afterthought around them, their meek shadow. They never make her feel unloved or wanting for affection, but sharing a spotlight with them is often humbling—almost too humbling.
Helia is…handsome, that's for sure. Handsome and strong, with a quiet confidence that can only be achieved through real honed talent and skill. Flora stands by what she said earlier; Helia must be a talented specialist, even though he's a Red Fountain drop-out, especially given the way he'd handled that awful creature. And, Flora muses, he seems thoughtful in the way that artists are. An amalgam of skill in battle and mastery in the arts, Helia's every action feels measured and intentional. It's attractive. More than that, it's enticing.
Flora is pulled from her thoughts at the sound of rustling in the hall. She sits up, suddenly alert.
"Helia?" Flora calls. No response.
Nervous, Flora stands up and cracks open the infirmary door, peeking outside. There's no one.
"Helia?" Flora calls again, sure that he can't be too far.
She cautiously turns the corner down the short hall, and gasps when she locks eyes with Helia. His wrists and ankles are bound, gloves confiscated, and his joints look red and raw from struggling.
"Flora, watch out—!" Helia chokes out just before his eyes roll to the back of his head and he goes limp.
"Oh, gods," Flora whispers, rushing toward him to check his pulse. Still there, thankfully.
She mutters a quick spell to make the man lighter to carry, and scurries to drag him into the infirmary. She lays him out on an infirmary bed, then lets the spell fade. She searches for something to cut his bindings with, then smiles as she happens upon some scissors. she cuts his hands and ankles free, splaying his limbs out to relax on the side. Twisting her hands nervously, she paces around the room, wondering what she should do next.
She smacks her hand to her face, "Stupid, stupid, stupid. I have my phone." She pulls her phone out of her pocket, scrolling through her contacts, when she notices movement from the corner of her eye.
She turns around, then can't hold back her surprised "Holy shi—!" when she's cut off by a pale finger on her lips.
"Shh," the woman says, amused. "You'll wake up the specialist."
It's the woman from the battle, the one who had surreptitiously weakened the monster enough for the fairies and specialists to take it down with sudden ease. She'd disappeared quietly, evading credit, and Flora wondered at how no one else picked up on the fact that she was the one to have turned the tides of battle.
Looking her up and down, Flora gauges that the woman is maybe a professor from Cloud Tower, albeit a young one. Probably no more than ten years Flora's senior, at her nineteen years of age. She's dressed quirkily with a hint of gothic in the way that most Cloud Tower witches do. Probably closer to Mirta's style, actually—dark but a little bit cute.
"How did you get in here?" Flora asks, distrustful. She feels oddly at ease in the presence of this stranger, but that could be attributed to the fact that Flora knows she'd saved her, saved them all. Still, logically, Flora knows that she should be on guard.
"How did you?" the woman responds.
Flora's eyes flick over to a still-unconscious Helia.
The woman steps closer to Flora, "Who's the boy-toy?"
Flora takes a step back, "Shouldn't you know if you're here?"
"Well, I'm asking, aren't I?" the woman says, a dark look in her eye. Flora's breath hitches. The woman crowds her against the wall, and breathes, "Flora. "
The shock of recognition rings through Flora, her emerald eyes widening. That vaguely derisive tone infused with honeyed intensity—it sounds like sex. There's only one person who ever says her name in that tone.
"Darcy," gasps Flora, but the tail end of the word is swallowed up by Darcy's hand roughly palming over her mouth.
"You don't want to wake him up, do you?" Darcy says, head tilting toward Helia teasingly.
"What did you do to him?" Flora hisses, then curses herself for the spark of arousal she feels. Darcy's prowess with her insidious magic has always been such a turn-on for her regardless of the fact that they have always occupied opposite ends of the battlefield. So she has an indiscriminate competency kink, sue her.
Darcy's eyes are alight with amusement—she knows this part of Flora too well.
"Oh, it was a simple sleep spell," Darcy tells her. "He'll just be down for the count for a while. Don't worry, pretty girl, I haven't harmed a hair on his pretty little head."
"What do you even have against him?" Flora asks. "What are you here for?"
"So many questions," Darcy says. She considers her for a moment, "I'm here for you, baby."
"Were you the one who sent that monster to the celebration?" Flora demands. "Are your sisters here?"
"I'd rather not think about my sisters right now," Darcy says. Then, she pins Flora against the wall and kisses the living daylights out of her.
Flora gasps into the kiss, arms reflexively wrapping around Darcy's neck to tug her closer, fingers scratching down her scalp. Darcy deepens the kiss, pushing Flora further up against the wall, and Flora's legs instinctively hook around her waist. Darcy drops down her hands so that they're gripping Flora's strong thighs, and Flora squeezes her legs around Darcy's torso. They continue to kiss like that for a while, gasping into each other's mouths, drinking in each other until they've almost fused together.
Darcy lets go of her, making Flora's feet land on the floor with a sharp thud. Immediately after, she nudges Flora's thighs apart to place her knee between her legs. Flora whimpers, grinding down on it frantically. Darcy watches how quickly she's reduced Flora to desperation with satisfaction, then dives back in to kiss up and down her neck.
"Dar-cy," Flora moans.
Darcy takes her bottom lip in between her teeth, suckling, then lets it go. "Don't call me that. I'm here in disguise."
"W-what should I call you then?"
Darcy kisses her breathless. "Call me mommy." She smirks.
Flora flushes redder than she already is, smacking her shoulder, "I'm not calling you that."
"You don't want to call me mommy?" Darcy simpers, looking at her through her lashes. She sucks a mark onto Flora's jawline, then brushes past her ear, "How about Miss? Ma'am? Professor? Mistress?"
Flora nearly growls in embarrassment, "Darcy. "
"Oh, don't make that face, princess," Darcy coos. "My alias is Hyejin, if that's the name you want to scream." She presses a thumb to Flora's lips, opening them to draw saliva down her chin. She whispers, amused, like she's telling a secret, "I'd still like it if you called me mistress, though."
Flora's face darkens, and Darcy takes the opportunity to toss her onto the other infirmary bed—the one across the room from Helia's. Flora catches sight of Helia's peacefully sleeping face. She suddenly becomes viscerally aware of what she's doing, getting fucked by an enemy next to someone who's interested in her, and for whom she reciprocates that interest. Sickeningly, she feels herself become that much more aroused, her core pulsing as Darcy looms over her with that unfamiliar face.
"Stormy said I kind of look like a Cloud Tower professor in this disguise," Darcy muses, crawling in between her legs. Flora doesn't disagree. "I wonder if that's something you'd like. Do you like the idea of me being in a position of authority over you, Flora?"
Flora shakes her head, but Darcy continues, "Have you been a bad girl, Flora?"
"No, I haven't," Flora protests.
"Are you sure about that?" Darcy says. She leans down, until their noses are almost touching. "Because it looks to me like you're about to get fucked like the pretty little slut you are, right next to your new boy-toy. While all your little friends are running around helping everyone out, you're here."
Flora shudders, guilt wracking through her body. She knows she's not as selfless as she would like to be, but she hadn't even considered what a selfish decision it was to follow Helia up to the private infirmary by herself. She considers that, perhaps on a subconscious level, she was taking advantage of the fact that Helia was clearly interested in her. He'd specifically saved her from the monster, after all, and had left the moment he'd been assured that she was safe. She'd maybe been curious to see what kind of move he'd make in the aftermath. She'd abandoned her friends for a boy, and now she's offering herself up to the woman who caused all of their strife on a silver platter.
"My pretty girl," Darcy strokes Flora's hair. "Have you been bad?"
"I have," Flora chokes out. "I've been bad, m-mistress."
Darcy smiles, "Good. And what do bad girls get?"
"We get," Flora takes a shuddering breath. "We get punished."
"That's right," Darcy says. "And what do you think your punishment should be?"
"I don't—I don't know."
Darcy hums, "Well, I think you deserve a spanking. Do you agree?"
Wordlessly, Flora rolls over onto her knees, getting on all fours and flipping up her miniskirt to present her ass like a treat. Darcy sucks in a breath.
"You little slut," Darcy laughs, feeling herself get absolutely soaked at the sight. "My pretty fucking slut."
"Mistress," Flora whimpers.
Darcy licks her lips while she gently massages Flora's ass, "Oh, darling." Then she rains down a series of smacks until Flora's ass is red and bruised.
"Hn—uhn—nguh—hnn," Flora moans.
"You're enjoying this too much," Darcy notes, hand still going. Flora can only squeal, tears gathering in her eyes. Darcy stops. "I think that's enough then."
She gathers Flora up into her arms, kissing away her tears, "Do you think you were sufficiently punished?"
Flora nods frantically.
"I think so, too," Darcy says. "I think now you deserve a reward."
She plunges two fingers into Flora's soaking cunt, rubbing at her walls and her clit. She makes sure to hook her fingers inside of her just the way Flora likes, the way that always gets her to sing.
And sing, she does.
"D—Hye—mistress," Flora gasps out, quivering. "Yes, yes, please, fuck, please."
"You like that?" Darcy teases. "You like getting fucked in public? Where anyone can walk in and see you?" She jerks her head toward the still-sleeping Helia. "Do you like that your boy-toy could wake up at any moment and see you acting like this? Do you get off on that, pretty fairy?"
"Nn—n, fuck, nn," is all Flora can say. "Hyejin, mistress, fuck me!"
"I am fucking you, baby," Darcy says. She starts flicking her wrist faster, "Come for me, pretty girl."
Flora comes, quaking violently. Long after she's finished, she still shudders through little aftershocks. She looks at Darcy through her eyelashes, "Was I good?"
"The best," Darcy says, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I need to go now."
"But I didn't even get you off," Flora says.
"That's okay, Flora," Darcy says impatiently. "You'll pay me back next time."
Flora opens her mouth to protest again, but Darcy's already gone in a flash. A cold feeling settles over her, but she can't dwell on it for too long. Suddenly, she realizes the state of herself, and rushes to clean herself off. She washes the cum off of her legs with sink water and paper towels, combs her fingers through her hair, then pulls her soiled panties back on—grimacing at the feeling but dealing with it.
She's in the midst of covering her marks with bandages when Helia finally blinks himself awake, sitting up on the bed.
"Flora?" Helia asks, groggy. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Flora squeaks. She pauses, mind working faster than the speed of sound, "Some kind of witch broke in and attacked you. I found you and brought you back in here, but then she found me, too. She tried to fight me, but she got called away before it could get super far. I don't think she was working alone. I," and here Flora allows some very real emotion to color her half-truth. "I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up."
"Ah, a witch," Helia says. "Of course."
Flora frowns.
"Well, I'm alright now," Helia says. "Thanks to you."
Flora swallows, guilt lodging her throat.
"How are you holding up then?" Helia asks carefully. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help."
"Oh, no worries at all," Flora smiles sheepishly. "I'm a big girl, and a fairy student. I can take care of myself."
"Of course you can," Helia says softly. "You're amazing. I could tell from the very moment I laid eyes on you."
Flora blushes, unused to such direct flattery. Guilt then stirs in her stomach—because she knows she doesn't deserve such kind words.
"Thank you," Flora says. "You're quite amazing, too. What you did out there—that was incredible."
"I only did what needed to be done," Helia says.
There's a pregnant pause between them, then—
"Can I—?" Flora starts at the same Helia says, "I just want to—"
They laugh.
"You go ahead," Flora says shyly.
"No, no," Helia insists. "You first."
"Well," Flora says. "Would you mind if I kissed you?"
Helia's eyes widen, blushing creeping up his cheeks, and Flora's guilt is eating her up inside. Yes, she thinks Helia is handsome and interesting, but she's only really asking so that she can have an excuse for when she next sees the Winx. She knows they'll all ask her what she and Helia did or talked about after she followed him up here, and once they see the hickeys—which they inevitably will, as her roommates—their questions will only get more pressing.
"No," Helia says. "I wouldn't mind at all."
Flora nods, then throws herself onto his lap, straddling him. Helia starts, clearly not expecting her to be so bold, when she drags his chin up to make his lips meet hers. She kisses him bruisingly, aching at what her addiction to Darcy's touch has driven her to do. Helia meets her mouth with enthusiasm, hands settling on her waist and squeezing. After a long moment, she pulls away with a gasp, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"What was it you wanted to say to me earlier?" Flora finally asks.
Helia gapes up at her, eyes dilated, "I just wanted to say that I think you're very beautiful and I would like to know more about you." He swallows, "And that I would like to ask you out on a date."
Flora gulps, gazing into his dark eyes. She hesitates for a moment before landing on a decisive, "Yes."
"Yes?" Helia repeats.
"Yes," Flora affirms. "I'll go on a date with you, Helia."
Helia beams, and Flora kisses him so that she doesn't have to look at him anymore—stomach churning.
"What took you so long?" Stormy asks accusingly when Darcy steps out of the portal. Stormy and Icy are both back to normal, so Darcy allows her glamor to drop as well.
"Did you find the codex?" Darcy ignores her.
"Yes, we did," Icy responds. "No thanks to you. What were you up to?"
Darcy smirks, "I found something fun to do."
"Flora!" Stella gapes.
Helia insisted on accompanying Flora back to her friends, citing that she didn't know the way back down. Which, to be fair, she really didn't. The conversation was actually pleasant and interesting. They had a lot in common, and Flora was actually enthralled by all that he had to say in the moments where she was able to tamp down her guilt enough.
"Hey, Stella," Flora says, resigned. She knows what she looks like, disheveled and kiss-bitten. She made sure to make sure Helia looked similar levels of makeout-messy. She turns to the others, who are all looking at her with similar expressions of shock. "Hey, girls."
Even the guys, Flora notes in her periphery, look gobsmacked. Some of them are turned toward Helia, looking at him as though he were a stranger.
"What happened to you?" Aisha says.
"Helia, clearly," Musa snorts. Riven actually barks out a laugh at that, and Musa's ears flare bright red.
"We got caught up in a residual attack," Helia says evenly.
"Was it on each other?" Stella says. Musa smacks a hand over her mouth to cover her laugh. Even Tecna looks faintly amused.
"We believe it was a witch who sicced the monster on Red Fountain," Helia continues, unphased. "One who wasn't working alone."
"The Trix?" Bloom gasps, looking at Flora. "Was it Icy?"
Flora, before she even really thinks about it, shakes her head, "Not Icy. But I don't know. I didn't really get a good look at her before she decided to dip."
And, wow, didn't that just inspire a whole new wave of guilt in her? It was one thing to hide her intimate relations with Darcy, but to withhold pertinent information that cost thousands of normal people their safety? Flora has reached new lows.
"But it very well could've been," Flora rushes out. "I wouldn't be surprised." She pauses, considering, "The magical signature of that monster wasn't too dissimilar to the Trix's though." With renewed strength, she says, "Yeah, I didn't think about it before but I felt traces of the Trix's magic in that creature's energy."
That's what had felt so off about the battle… The monster had started off with the energy of three incredibly powerful witches powering it. And by the end of it, only two.
Tecna's eyes widen, "I forgot how much more in tune Lynpheans are to magical energy signatures than other beings."
Helia evidently didn't know about this either.
"You're incredible," Helia says, and Flora ducks her head down to hide the redness in her cheeks.
The other Winx and Specialists begin to smile and chuckle knowingly.
"Thanks, Helia," Flora mumbles. She steps away from his side to lean into Bloom's side and wrap herself around Bloom's arm. "I'll see you next week, yeah?"
"Yeah," Helia smiles lopsidedly. "See you next week." He turns to the rest of them, "It was lovely meeting you girls. And I'll see the rest of you around." He begins to walk away.
"Bye, Helia!" the Winx chorus, giggling.
"Alright, we better get going, too," Sky says. "See you around, okay?"
"Okay," Bloom beams.
Stella and Bloom both chastely kiss their boyfriends goodbye, while the rest of them wave each other off. After the Specialists have returned to campus, Flora feels a chill down her spine.
"Why do I feel like I'm being thrown to the wolves?" she says faintly.
"Girl," Aisha says.
"Tell. Us. EVERYTHING!" Stella screeches.