thisCultMakesMeHappy: Please dont read my fanfics until you're ill XD. I'm really happy you love the mundane moments cause sometimes I worry I include too many of them...
I have seen Fate. I did not care for it. I was intrigued by how they would make Musa and Riven work given that they turned him into a colossal douche, but I can't say I'm upset that they didn't make it that far.
WELL this chapter ended up MUCH longer than I anticipated. Please don't expect the next ones to be this long.
Chapter 10: Matters of the heart
"I don't want to go to supper" Stella grumbled as she plucked a strawberry off her waffle. She'd ordered way too much food, but the Waffle-y extraordinary plate sounded so good: a thick, fluffy waffle topped with a mountain of fruit and chocolate syrup. Exactly what her spirit needed.
"So don't go" Brandon shrugged. She sighed apathetically at him. Sure, he wasn't royalty, but he should know that blowing off the king wasn't something one did even if one was the king's child. She'd tried – usually when she thought she was in trouble for something. One time, her guards had had to drag her to the dinner, and it had turned out her parents had just wanted to have a family dinner. Looking back on it, Stella assumed it was some half-assed attempt to feel like a family while their marriage was crumbling.
"No, no. I have to. You know that."
"Yeah... Can't deny dinner with the king. It's the same for Sky."
"Exactly. And I need to get a new outfit. Nothing I own suits the occasion."
"Dinner with your dad?"
"Dinner with the king" Stella clarified. She'd gotten the call from her father's secretary last night that her father would be in the city for a meeting with the president of Magix, and he'd extended his trip duration to have supper with her. The first thing Stella had done was tear through her closet only to realize that none of her clothes said future queen dining with the king, her father, about important things. She hadn't packed for that since, in the two (not quite) complete years she had spent at Alfea, he hadn't once visited her.
"Right... Do you want me to come with you?"
Stella smiled. It seemed like Brandon was the only guy she'd ever dated that was willing to spend hours shopping with her – it even seemed like he enjoyed it. Every time she thought about him, she wondered how she'd gotten so lucky. Sometimes it felt like a broken record in her head, but it was true. He was too good to be true.
"I would love that, but no. I know you already had plans with Musa today and breakfast was kinda last minute." Very last minute. She had called him near one in the morning asking him to have brunch with her. Brandon had told her that he'd had plans with Musa, but he could push them back a bit, he would just have to let Musa know. That had led to Stella running into Musa and Tecna's room and waking the singer, who had mumbled a quick yeah yeah whatever and gone back to sleep. "Besides, solo shopping is therapeutic for me" she added to calm the worry in his eyes.
Brandon sighed as he reached his hand across the table to hold hers. His thumb stroked the top of her hand gently. She pulled her hand away, offering instead her left hand so she could eat the rest of her waffle. Brandon took the offered hand and continued his calming strokes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, yes." Stella swallowed a mouthful of strawberry and chocolate, aware of how inelegant she appeared. She couldn't help it; food was her comforter. Well, food, shopping and her angel of a boyfriend. And her friends. "I'll be fine. It's just that, like, he sprung dinner on me yesterday because he wants to talk to me about something serious and, like, what if he wants me to start training at his side more to prepare for ruling Solaria. And I know I need to; I've been working up to training for it since I was born but I'm just not ready."
If she was being honest with herself, she didn't think she would ever be ready. A ruler was supposed to be serious and wise; always doing what was best for their people. She just didn't think that was her. She wasn't serious – as many people had generously pointed that out to her – nor was she wise, at least not according to her grades. She supposed she would have the best interest of the people of Solaria, but maybe she wouldn't. She tended to be selfish, she knew that. What if the choices she made as queen were the ones that were good for her, not for them?
When she looked up, Brandon was watching her with those damned big brown eyes, worry wrinkling his forehead once again. "I'm only eighteen. I just want to enjoy myself" she argued, hoping it was enough to calm him. It wasn't exactly a lie either; she really did want more time to enjoy being young and immature before she started thinking about taking her throne.
"You've still got time, Stel" Brandon told her, giving her hand a tight squeeze. He used his free hand to take a sip of his tea as he looked out of the window at the family passing by. The young girl jumped in a puddle, splashing her father's legs. "Musa and I are only hanging out for the afternoon – she wants to get some homework done tonight – so I can join you guys for supper if you want some emotional support."
She smiled around another mouthful of waffle and swallowed. He was so sweet to offer to come with her, but she herself didn't want to sit through a dinner of politics and policy. There was no way she would force Brandon to. "No, I don't want to saddle you with listening to us talking about boring fucking political garbage." She took a sip of her coffee, deciding that she was over talking about this. The more they talked about it, the more nervous it made her. And she still had all day to dwell on what her father could possibly have to talk to her about. "What do you and Musa have planned?"
Brandon pulled his hand away and took a bite of his eggs that had probably gotten cold by then. She watched him eat, amazed that the two remaining eggs on his plate were gone within a mere three minutes. He wiped off the yolk that dribbled down his chin with a sheepish smile. Stella fought the urge to laugh; he was just so darn cute.
"We were gonna get coffee and browse some antique place that she came across. She was hoping to find some old records and maybe something for Bloom or Tecna's birthday."
Stella put down her cup of coffee as one of the waiters came by to refill it. She thanked him with a small smile. "She hasn't gotten their presents yet?"
"Stel, it's only late October. Their birthdays are in December. She's got time." Stella raised her eyebrow. She'd picked up Bloom's gift before leaving Solaria. She couldn't wait to give them to Bloom. It was a beautiful set of pastels embedded with threads of sunlight. She'd seen a set in a store at the beginning of the summer and had convinced the creator to make Bloom a set using the colours of the girls' Winx forms… pre-Aisha. For Tecna, Stella had ordered four-colour set of self-applying nail polish that dried within seconds. Tecna had seemed to enjoy painting her nails whenever they had slumber parties but would always complain that it took forever to dry; this polish should fix that. In the next few weeks, she would start searching for Timmy, Sky and Flora, whose birthdays were in the early months of the year. She had already been looking at an automated planter for Flora, but she had her doubts. Flora seemed to like digging in the dirt and might not make full use of the planter. For Musa, whose birthday was only at the end of May, she'd been thinking of something more personal – like a recording of the girls singing something. She just had to get the girls to agree, and to figure out the details. She also had to find out when Aisha's birthday was…
"Right well, if she needs ideas, an antique store might have a few things Bloom would like. Like, some old jewelry, original editions of some books – especially history ones. She might be able to find some cool clothes, but without Bloom there to try it on, it's a risk. Maybe some fun home accessories – throw pillows, posters, paintings, weird knickknacks; Bloom would love some funky mini statues or whatever. Bonus points if anything she finds is from Domino; Bloom's been trying to learn everything she can about the place and anything from Domino would bring her to tears."
"I'll try to remember all that…" Brandon replied through a bite of breakfast sausage. Stella offered to text it to him, but he declined, insisting Musa could find a gift on her own.
"When are your sisters' birthdays? And your parents'?" Stella asked suddenly. She'd had the thought that her father's birthday was coming up in April, that had led her to thinking about gifts for her mother and Brandon's family. It had dawned on her that she didn't know any of their birthdays. What kind of future daughter in law was she to not know their birthdays? That was her future family. She would need to get them gifts. She'd already come across a few things that she thought Vanessa, Kelly or Margie would like. And she'd found this boutique that made personalized jewelry, including this adorable necklace with hearts hanging from it. She had thought of having each of Brandon and his siblings' names inscribed in them – maybe even their signature or something – and getting it for his mom. She knew Bernadette loved her kids more than anything else, so what better than being able to have them everywhere she went?
Brandon raised his eyebrow curiously, but answered the questions nonetheless. She made note of them in her phone and, since Bernadette's birthday was coming up soon, brought up the necklace idea. Brandon agreed that she would love it, but Stella really didn't need to get her a gift. She shrugged in response; she was going to get it anyways.
The conversation veered off, somehow finding its way back to Brandon joining her to go shopping or to dinner with her father. Stella insisted she was fine – because she was. She genuinely did enjoy solo shopping, and she would never subject Brandon to whatever likely boring subject her father wanted to talk to her about. "Besides, why would you want to miss out Musa bitching about me" she commented offhandedly, knowing full well that Brandon would be hearing about the Jared incident from the singer. Brandon questioned why Musa would be bitching about her, so Stella explained how the date she had set up when she visited at Red Fountain turned into a whole ordeal.
"Stella... Why would you not just-"
"-Tell her about it, I know! I tried, but... whatever" she sighed. It was hopeless to keep explaining that she had wanted to tell Musa about it because, obviously. How the fuck was she supposed to make a match if half of the match didn't even know the match existed? "Just be prepared for the shit talking."
"Mmm, I don't think so. Musa knows better than to talk any sort of shit about you to me. I will always defend you."
Stella reached her hand across the table again to grab his. "You are the sweetest" she chuckled. Brandon smiled at her then pulled his hand away for the waitress to clear their plates away. Stella requested the bill, insisting that it was only fair that she treat him since she'd basically demanded he meet her for breakfast. Besides, she loved treating him; he made her feel like a queen all the time, so she thought it only fair that she spoil him too.
Flora looked up at Bloom as she took a bite of her toast. Bloom was fiddling with her food, pushing it back and forth on her plate without so much as taking a bit despite having claimed she was starving a few minutes earlier. Flora peered behind the redhead at the breakfast line where Musa, Aisha and Tecna were still getting their food. Monday to Friday, Alfea's kitchen staff would put a spread on the tables as the girls all came down around the same time. On weekends, though, it was buffet style since breakfast could span a few hours between when the first girls – the athletes usually – came down and the last girls.
She guessed that she still had a few minutes alone with Bloom given the close to ten girls in line ahead of the other three, including Helina who was notorious for having trouble making decisions. "Are you okay, sweetie?" she ventured.
Bloom looked up at her, surprised. Almost like she'd forgotten she wasn't alone. "Yeah..." It was an obvious lie. Flora didn't call her out on it, but she did raise her eyebrows skeptically and that was enough to break the fire fairy's facade. Bloom exhaled heavily, her shoulders drooping as she did. "No. I have to talk to Sky today and I keep... I keep thinking it'll go horribly, and we'll break up."
Break up? She hadn't even realized they were having issues. Bloom hadn't mentioned anything. For her to be worried they might break up, it had to be serious. "What's happening?"
After a moment of hesitation, Bloom began explaining that Sky was irrationally jealous of her relationship with Avalon – a relationship that was, she added, entirely professional. Flora said nothing. She thought Bloom might have a small crush on Avalon – she certainly spoke about him and how great he was a lot. It didn't matter though; Avalon was their teacher, and he would never reciprocate. Flora could see where Sky was coming from, but she thought his jealousy was unnecessary. Bloom's minor crush on the professor would fade.
"Anyways" Bloom said, after rambling on for a few minutes about how Sky was overreacting about nothing, nothing at all because she didn't even think of Avalon like that. "We agreed to talk in person today, but it seems like every time we try to talk, it ends in a fight."
Before Clementine's father had decided to prey on his secretary, he and Clementine's mother had tried couple's therapy. Flora remembered overhearing Meadow tell her mother how nice it had been to have someone else there to stop the discussions from exploding into arguments. "Maybe you need a mediator? Someone to remain impartial."
"I asked Tecna to come with me, so we'll definitely have a neutral party who isn't afraid to tell us when we're being irrational." Bloom finally took a bite of her eggs, choking on them a bit as she looked up at Flora. "You look surprised."
Flora schooled her face to the best of her ability. "No, it's just that... well, Tecna isn't exactly the most comfortable with matters of emotion. I'm surprised she agreed."
"I was too, but she'll be great to keep a logical perspective."
"That's true..." Flora conceded. Tecna was definitely great at being logical. When she had said a neutral party, she had had been thinking of someone like Brandon or, even better, someone completely detached from their little group. She didn't know who that would be, but it wasn't Tecna.
"But you're not wrong..." Bloom thought aloud. "She doesn't really get emotions. You should come too."
"I... what?"
"Yeah. I have full faith that you'll be able to remain impartial, but still understand where we're coming from emotionally. You'd be a great balance with Tecna's logic."
"Bloom, I..." Flora started, fully intending to tell Bloom she couldn't do that. But then Bloom gave her those pleading eyes and Flora couldn't say no. She nodded as the other girls finally joined them, talking about how long it had taken Helina to decide between a fried egg and an omelet. Tecna and Musa sat opposite her beside Bloom while Aisha took the seat beside her, the latter offering Flora her grapefruit.
"The yolk is runny again" Tecna grumbled, poking her fork at the fried egg on her plate. The yellow of the yolk oozed out of the egg, staining the white porcelain plate. Tecna put her fork down and sighed dejectedly at the plate.
"They're better like that" Musa commented, leaning over to dunk her toast in Tecna's plate. The technological fairy's mouth opened to protest, but she gave up when Musa gave her a wide, toothy grin and swapped her own omelet for Tecna's eggs. "There."
Tecna accepted the plate and dug into Musa's omelet to pick out the mushrooms. "I like my yolk cooked" she explained as she searched the omelet, turning it into an egg hash instead of a proper omelet. "At the risk of sounding bratty, I do not see why I cannot have them the way I like. An extra few minutes of cooking will not bankrupt this school. Especially at the price our parents pay for tuition."
"So, get in the kitchen and make your eggs" Musa shrugged as she picked the bacon off Tecna's former plate and put it on Tecna's current plate, exchanging it for her own sausages.
"I don't think Sfoglia would let us anywhere near eggs after last year's omelet incident."
"Hey! I've gotten much better at omelet flipping" Bloom objected.
"It's true, she has" Flora nodded. During the war, Bloom been assigned kitchen duty while she was powerless. At some point, Flora had gone down to see how she and Stella were faring, and Bloom had enthusiastically – or at least, as enthusiastically as she could given how exhausted and sad she'd seemed without her powers – shown her that she'd succeeded in flipping omelets.
"Yeah, I practiced until I mastered it. Now I can flip anything: omelets, pancakes, crepes… whatever else can be flipped."
Flora chuckled along with Musa and Tecna. The laugh fell from her face when she noticed Aisha quietly eating her fruit. It was hard enough to be the new person anywhere; it must be even harder to find your way in a group like theirs who had already been through so much together. Flora knew what it felt like to desperately want to fit in and her heart went out to the princess. She'd resolved when Aisha was assigned to their dorm that she wouldn't let her fall between the cracks and end up with people that would take advantage of her like Flora's old 'friends' had.
"How are we feeling about our grades and our chances of winning the trip?" Flora asked, not missing the grateful look Aisha shot her in the corner of her eye. Musa laughed again, proclaiming that she'd forgotten that they could talk about homework when Stella wasn't around. "I'm still expecting high nineties" the singer announced proudly.
"As I am."
"Okay, great. Me too. I'm aiming for a perfect hundred in Palladium's botany class." She'd decided even before the contest was announced that she was aiming for a perfect grade in botany as a personal challenge for the year. The contest had only served to further her desire for that perfect grade. "Bloom? Aisha?"
"You're all getting nineties? I'm going to look awful next to you."
"Don't worry" Bloom told Aisha. "I used to think I was a good student with my solid low- to mid-eighties until I met these three."
"Yeah, don't worry. Stella's never gotten anything higher than a seventy since we met. You'll be fine as long as she's around."
"Musa don't be so mean" Bloom scolded. Musa shrugged in response. "Stella tries; school is just not her strength."
"Yeah, homework and Stella just don't get along."
"In that she actively avoids it" Tecna added on to Flora's joke. Bloom tried to deny that Stella avoided homework, but she couldn't argue when Tecna brought up the night of the Miss Magix competition where they had essentially had to lock themselves in Stella's room with her to get her to study. It had ended up being a really fun night even if it had only consisted of studying and Stella complaining that she was tired.
"Aisha, your grades?" Flora brought the group's attention back to the present before they lost themselves in jokes and memories again, leaving Aisha behind. The water fairy swallowed the sip of her tea, considering her answer.
"Hard to say; Back home with my tutors it was steady high eighties but being in a proper classroom setting is different."
"More distracting?" Tecna guessed. Aisha shook her head, laughing softly as Musa once again reached over to pluck the mushrooms off Tecna's plate. The singer piled them onto her plate, knocking Bloom's hand away as the redhead tried to steal some of them from her.
"No, well yes, but I prefer it. Sometimes class with the tutors was so boring that I'd dose off during the lesson."
"Couldn't you ask for a break?" Bloom asked as she succeeded in stealing the mushrooms and stuck her tongue out at the singer. "You were the only student."
"I wish. No. It was my parents' orders that my classes be like normal classes – so continuous. If I demanded breaks, I'd be punished."
"Punished? Like, what, more homework?" Musa scoffed, her face growing more serious. "Or punished as in your tutor could ground or spank you?"
Aisha didn't answer the question, choosing instead to return to the subject of her current grades. Flora wondered what punished meant – she knew the king and queen of Andros were strict, but surely they wouldn't be okay with some tutor mistreating their child. "I'm pretty positive my grades will stay the same if they keep up like they have in the last month."
"Okay, well great" Bloom exclaimed, a forced smile on her lips. Flora thought she must also have the question of punishment on her mind but wasn't pushing. "And with Flora's help, I'm sure I can get my grades higher. Not like you three, but higher."
The rain that had been announced for that day didn't seem to be happening, so Musa suggested they walk to the antique shop while they drank their coffees instead of taking the bus. Brandon walked a few steps behind her, letting her lead the way to the antique shop she'd stumbled across a week earlier. It was across the river, in the Watersend, a few blocks from where they'd been attacked by the trix when Stella had been kidnapped early last year. She had been walking around aimlessly when she'd recognized the area across the bridge. Instead of turning left, which would have led her to the abandoned house they'd fought in, she turned right towards a mostly residential waterfront area.
"Did you have coffee with breakfast this morning?" Brandon asked as she led him over the bridge.
"Yes?" She answered as she double checked her phone's GPS, assuring herself that she wasn't heading in the wrong direction. The last thing she wanted was to end up at that damn dilapidated house with its stupid dead tree again.
"You drink a lot of caffeine."
Musa looked up at Brandon through her bangs, an unamused pout on her face. She knew she drank a lot of caffeine, so what? "And? Did you not have coffee with breakfast?"
"No. Tea" He replied matter-of-factly, a smug grin tugging at his lips.
"Okay, whatever. You need to focus less on my caffeine intake."
"I'm just saying, I think you might have more caffeine running through your veins than actual blood."
She led him around a corner and the shop came into view across the street. It was in an older house, painted a striking blue that made it stand out against the mostly white houses of the neighborhood. It had been closed when she'd walked past it the first time, but the unlit neon sign announcing treasures that included old jewelry, first edition books and old vinyls had enticed her enough for her to note down the address and name.
"It's why people apparently like me so much…" The wrong people she thought bitterly. She wanted to say like Jared but decided against it. It would do nothing to bitch to Brandon about his girlfriend. And she wouldn't want him taking her side against his own girlfriend cause then she'd have to be mad at him on Stella's behalf. Her bitching would be kept for Cecilia and Tecna's ears.
"Yeah, Stella told me about that…"
Had she spoken aloud? Musa looked over her shoulder at the specialist, but he didn't pay her much attention, opting instead to look out at the street.
"If I'd known, I would have talked her out of it or gotten her to tell you… or given you a head's up myself. But she had good intentions, you know. She just wants to see you happy. And even though I'm a hundred percent for you and Riven- "Musa cut him a glare and he held his hands up in surrender. "-but Stella-"
"Thinks I'm over him" she admitted as the light turned green and they began crossing the street.
The inside of the shop was a disaster in the best possible way. The walls were draped with old, but still vibrant curtains in various shades of blue, gold and green, and beads hung in the doorways. Vinyls in milk crates lined the floor next to an overfull wood basin of more vinyls, knickknacks were stacked nearly one on top of the other on full shelves, and books were stacked twenty-high on the floor through the aisles.
"Yeah, I gathered. Why would you te-" Brandon started as he followed Musa through the aisles towards the vinyls.
"It's not important" she interrupted, not wanting to get into why she lied – something she couldn't even explain to herself, really. She turned on herself towards the wooden basin, noticing with intrigue that there were old cassettes on the shelves next to the vinyls. She looked through them, running her fingers along the edges of the cassette cases. It had been years since she'd seen one of these. "What's important is that Stella needs to stop sticking her nose in people's business."
Brandon settled in on the floor, flipping through an old graphic novel that looked like it was from 1960 as he waited for Musa to finish digging through the records and tapes. No wonder Stella liked shopping with him; the boy had the patience of a saint for this shit.
Finding no interesting tapes, Musa returned her attention to the piles of vinyl. "How was breakfast?"
"Fine."
"Fine? Seriously? Again?" Musa demanded. Stella had spent the whole time she was getting ready – a surprisingly quick half hour – talking about how she didn't want to have dinner with her dad because she was worried it was bad news.
Brandon put the book back where he'd found it and joined her, digging through the vinyls in the milk crates. Every now and then, he would hold up a potentially interesting record for her to inspect. "I offered to join as emotional support and she essentially told me to fuck off."
"No, she didn't."
"No, she didn't" he admitted with a heavy sigh. "But it felt like it."
Musa stepped away from the wood crates and started to walk down one of the aisles. She hadn't been expecting them to have quite this many vinyls. She could spend the whole day standing there digging through them, but for Brandon's sanity, she stepped away and went to see what else she could find in the shop. Brandon stood up, following her, jokingly suggesting ridiculous knickknacks that he found, including a miniature toothbrush encased in resin and an old, large empty jug of witch's brew. "Is this about meeting her family again?" Musa asked as she looked through a milk crate of old newspaper and magazine advertisements.
"I become more and more certain that she doesn't want me to meet them every time they come up."
"Uh huh, and how many times has that been?"
There didn't appear to be any interesting ads, so Musa moved on to the next aisle. This one was full of glass cases lined with jewelry. She inspected them carefully, but they all seemed too gaudy for Bloom's taste and Tecna didn't really wear jewelry.
"… Three: when we went out for my birthday, last week when she came over and this morning."
Musa froze where she was and fixed Brandon with a pointed look.
"She's met my family" he argued. Musa rolled her eyes, pointing out that Stella meeting his family had been an accident. He'd been video chatting with them in the Alfea courtyard and Stella happened to tackle him – a very common occurrence. Brandon shrugged and changed the subject. Musa didn't fight him on it.
Tecna moved her legs a bit more to the left. Bloom was kicking her feet nervously and she kept bumping them into Tecna's. She would have asked Bloom to stop, but the redhead had been talking about how she could get her point across to Sky and Tecna wasn't able to get a word in. She'd tried.
Flora, on Bloom's other side, listened attentively. She also hadn't been able to get a word in since they'd sat down. Apparently, Bloom had asked Flora to come along as a neutral 'emotional' perspective, which Tecna was completely fine with. She wasn't sure why she'd agreed to go. She had no interest in listening to Bloom and Sky work out their relationship issues. Tecna hadn't voiced it, but she wasn't sure why Bloom had forgiven Sky in the first place. He'd lied about his identity and being engaged.
"So, what do you think?" Bloom asked as she pulled the chain announcing that they wanted to get off.
Truthfully, Tecna hadn't really been listening to her much. She didn't think it would help her remain impartial – the whole reason she'd been asked to come along – if Bloom explained her points beforehand. "Why did you not make a list before coming? That way you could make your points in a logical sequence. Sky clearly dislikes Avalon – not that I can blame him for that one – and you need to explain why you think Avalon is beneficial to you."
"Tecna, you can't let your dislike of Avalon cloud your judgment here" Flora told her as the bus came to a full stop in front of the old Red Fountain ruins. "Especially since your dislike of him is because of that stupid stone test, which is not a valid reason."
"It is a valid reason, but there is more than that; I just do not know how to explain it properly." There was something about Avalon that didn't sit right with Tecna, but she had no idea what that something was. She just didn't like the feeling he gave her. She had voiced it to the girls, but they'd all brushed her off, so she didn't speak about it anymore.
"Right…" Flora returned her attention to the fire fairy. "Bloom, you just need to speak from the heart. Tell Sky what he does that upsets you and why. But don't forget you need to listen to him too even if you don't like what he has to say."
Bloom smiled at her, taking both of their hands and holding them up to her chest. Tecna resisted the urge to pull her hand away. She didn't want to seem unsupportive, but Bloom's action had thrown her, and she had almost stumbled. "See, this is why I asked you both to come along: logic and emotional maturity. With your support I just know this will go well."
Once her hand was free, Tecna moved a bit ahead of the girls. She figured if she was a few steps in front of them, Bloom would have trouble grabbing her hand again. They walked through the main door of Red Fountain's new campus into a state-of-the-art lobby. One of the school's guards sat behind the desk, not paying nearly as much attention as he should. Students, most of them out of uniform, walked through the space. Two of them had to walk around her when she stopped abruptly and turned to face the two girls behind her who had continued to discuss Bloom's talking strategy. "So where are we meeting Sky?"
"He's in his dorm."
"Excellent" Tecna nodded. "Where is that exactly?"
Bloom looked around uncertainly. "I don't know, but I'm sure we can ask the security guy and he'll know."
Tecna led the way up to the desk. The security guard, a man with far too sharp features and neon green hair, removed his headphones but kept his feet from the desk. He turned his chin towards the three girls. Tecna began to ask where Prince Sky's dorm was at the same time as Bloom asked where dorm 431 was. The man cocked his eyebrow.
"Fourth floor of the dorm levels" he told them in a tone that, though she could be wrong, sounded like he was annoyed by their disturbance. Before any of them could ask exactly where the dorm levels were, he returned his headphones to his ears and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, that wasn't at all helpful" Flora grumbled as they turned away from the desk.
"I guess we ask a random?" Bloom shrugged. She approached the nearest two students and tapped the one with his back to them on the shoulder.
The student, a tall boy with long dark hair tucked into his sweater, turned to look at her. Tecna was sure she heard a squeak come from Flora, but when she looked at the nature fairy, nothing seemed off.
"Ye-" he cut his sentence short when he saw them, a wide smile growing on his face. Tecna could be wrong, but his attention seemed quite fixed on Flora who was presently counting floor tiles apparently. Weird. Helia waved his friend away, insisting they'd catch up later. "What a pleasant surprise" he commented.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. If her memory was to be trusted – and it usually was – Helia had been quite adamant about not agreeing with Red Fountain's teachings. Yet here he was.
She felt Bloom and Flora's eyes on her, but Helia answered her question and seemed unbothered by it, so she didn't see why they had looked so offended by it. He then returned the question – a perfectly reasonable one in Tecna's opinion. The girls didn't give him the same look.
"We're coming to see Sky" Bloom explained. "You wouldn't happen to know where dorm 431 is?"
"Well, Fl- for sure; I'm in their dorm."
"Oh? Are you their medic? Sky had mentioned last year that their original medic had dropped out first year and wasn't replaced, so they were short a squad mate."
"Yes, I am. Luckily, I like them more than my original squad" Helia replied to Bloom's question. He started towards the elevator, motioning for them to follow him. Tecna started to, but Bloom made some comment about how they didn't want to be a bother. Tecna didn't see how they were being a bother if he had offered. He wouldn't have offered if it would be a nuisance to him.
At Helia's insistence, Bloom quickly gave in and began to follow too, Flora a few steps behind her now looking, it appeared, very intently at the elevator.
"So why do you like the guys more?" Bloom questioned once they were in the elevator. Tecna had wondered too, but she wasn't particularly in the mood for chit chat, so she hadn't asked. Her mind was still occupied trying to figure out why she'd agreed to come in the first place.
"Friendlier, for starters; less into the bloodshed for sport; definitely much more interesting characters."
"I suppose having a solo dorm must help" Tecna commented. She genuinely enjoyed sharing a room with Musa despite how loud the singer could be at times, but she would be lying if she said she hadn't been jealous of Stella's solo dorm last year.
"I don't have the solo room."
"Oh? But last year Timmy told me he and Riven shared."
"Maybe last year" Helia shrugged. He explained that it was decided that Timmy would get the solo room. Bloom questioned why as they followed him out of the elevator and down a long hallway that contained photos of old graduating classes – a few of them Tecna recognised from the hall they'd watched the exhibition from last year before Bloom interrupted it.
"I'm not too sure, but I don't care either way. I don't need much space, and I quite like having Riven as a roommate."
"Really?" Bloom questioned. Tecna shared in the redhead's astonishment. From what Timmy had told her, Riven could be quite prickly. Even if he was in every other regard a perfect roommate, she didn't think she'd enjoy sharing a room with someone that spent a solid chunk of his time being a dick for fun.
"Yeah. He's quiet and keeps to himself for the most part. Plus, he enjoys reading so when we do talk, it's usually about books."
The shopping trip had been a bust. There were plenty of fun, interesting things in the store, but nothing that screamed Bloom or Tecna NEED me. There might have been an interesting record, but properly sifting through all of it would take her hours, and Musa wasn't going to subject Brandon to that. Instead, they'd decided to head back to Red Fountain and just hang out. They got off a few stops early and shared the rest of a joint as they walked through the woods.
They'd barely set foot on campus when alarm bells began to sound. Musa covered her ears, glaring at the speaker nearest her. The students out in the yard pulled gems out of various places – back pockets, backpacks, one guy from his boots – and slapped them on their chest. Blue and white spandex covered them, forming to their bodies regardless of what they were wearing. Blue fabric sprouted from the gems, growing until they joined behind the students' necks and then extending until they reached calf-length. Most of the students didn't wait until the full transformation was complete, but rather slapping the gem on and trusting it to work as they continued about.
"Fuuuuuuuck. I am not in a state to be fighting" Brandon groaned as he pulled his vibrant emerald gem from his front pocket.
"Is that how you put your uniform on? I always thought…"
"That it's like normal clothes?" He finished as he grabbed her wrist and began dragging her towards the school. "Yes and no. There are some that have a button and zippers so we can remove them and put them on like normal clothes if we want, but most of us don't. It's much more convenient to slap the gem on and go."
"So, you don't have uniforms in your closet? Where are we going?"
Brandon dragged her into the building, barely waiting for her to keep up. She had to remind him that her legs were much shorter than his for him to finally slow down. "We do. All students are given two sets of uniforms – like physical ones – to wear to class and one magi-tech one in the form of their gems for emergencies, but like I said, most of us just use the gem cause, well, easy."
"Oh… cool. So where are we going?"
She found herself being pushed into the elevator without an answer to her question. In the lobby, a guard with bright green hair was pulling out a sword from a desk while being joined by a few other guards. Students were grouping around them, waiting for what she assumed were orders.
"I'm too high for this shit" Brandon mumbled more to himself than to her.
"Cee always says that if you know you're high, you could be higher" Musa chuckled at the deadpan expression Brandon gave her. "But seriously, where the fuck are we going?"
"I have to get you up to command" he answered like she'd asked him whether the grass was green. Musa had no idea what the fuck that meant, only that he had chosen the highest floor on the elevator. He explained that all students had orders to bring any visiting civilians up to the command center if the school was under attack.
"Huh… I didn't know that."
"Well, no. You've never been here when the school got attacked" he pointed out. Musa nodded, acknowledging that he did have a very good point. She would have preferred to keep it that way too, but fate had decided otherwise.
The elevator stopped five floors short of theirs. The doors opened and Riven of all people stepped in. She tried to keep her eyes straight ahead, but she found them drifting off to him. His hair was darker, water droplets dripping onto the back of his neck and uniform; he must have been taking a shower. Her eyes roamed over the tight uniform, both loving and cursing it as she did every single time she saw him in it.
She'd gone to her spot - their spot? – last night hoping he'd be there. She sat on the edge of the cliff, her feet dangling off the side and conjured up a guitar. Three hours later, close to one in the morning, she accepted that he wouldn't be there that night, headed back to Alfea and crawled into bed disappointed. Thank the gods Stella had asked Brandon to get breakfast so Musa could sleep in more.
"Hey, how did your date go by the way?" Brandon asked. Musa glared at him, but he seemed completely undeterred. "It was yesterday, right?"
"What are you…" she hissed, pausing when Brandon moved behind Riven and mouthed for her to answer the question.
"It was good" she answered uncertainly. Brandon shot her a thumbs up behind Riven's back. It dawned on her that he was trying to make Riven jealous. And that he was just as bad as his fucking girlfriend, but at least he tried to set her up with someone she wanted so very very badly even if she hated how much she wanted him. "He was very… sweet," she continued. "Funny, too."
They had just gotten to the guys' dorm when the alarm bells rang. Helia turned around before Bloom could knock on the door, leading them back towards the hall they'd turned down. He insisted that they follow him, which Flora and Tecna did without hesitation. Left without support and clueless of what was happening, Bloom followed too.
Tecna wondered aloud what was happening, but neither she and Flora nor Helia had an answer. Helia could only tell them that those were alarm bells and that protocol dictated he was to bring civilians up to command center.
"Oh, I hope it's nothing serious" Flora mumbled. Bloom had almost forgotten she was there; she'd spoken so little since they'd gotten to the school.
"I hate to tell you this, but for Red Fountain to ring its alarm bells, it's usually serious."
Bloom's heart dropped. She looked at her friends, hoping to find something – reassurance, solidarity, she wasn't sure. Tecna remained stone-faced, not giving away any panic, whereas Flora had her worries written all over her face. "Maybe they're just jumpy after last year?" Bloom suggested, hoping that it was a minor emergency or, even better, a drill.
"No, my great-grandfather doesn't get jumpy. If alarm bells are ringing, the school is under attack."
Of course Saladin would be calm. He looked like it. Anytime she saw him last year during the war, she noticed that he didn't wear the stressed expressions of the other teachers. His calm demeanor was nice at the time. Now it meant that the alarms were bad, and she no longer cared for his calm. She hadn't seen him at the showcase, but she ventured a guess that he'd been calm then too. Only… "But what about at the showcase? No alarms went off when the beast attacked."
"It is very likely that there was no one to advise as anyone that could have been in the school was either in the stadium or easily reachable."
"Tecna's right" Helia told them. Bloom hated that it made sense because of course it did. Why was Tecna always right?! "The only people outside of the stadium would be security, in which case they're all on the same radio channel."
They stepped out of the elevator into a large room. It was clean – almost clinically so – and had several complicated looking sections of screens and buttons that confused her on sight. The walls at the far end of the room were floor to ceiling window. It took Bloom a moment to realize that the room was circular, likely looking out over the school in every direction.
She'd been so focused on the room that she was surprised by the ding of a second elevator next to theirs. A few students walked out alongside one of the teachers Bloom recognized but whose name she didn't know, though she was pretty sure he was one of the strategy teachers. Among the group were Timmy and Sky. The former waved to them but gave them no more acknowledgment than that as he took a seat at one of the fancy-looking controls. Sky, however, stopped right in front of her. He looked at her with a controlled face that gave her no indication of what he was thinking.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice clipped. Bloom nodded. She didn't know how else to respond. Then, just as fast as he'd appeared, Sky walked away, directing his attention to Codatorta and the unnamed teacher.
Riven didn't appear to care much that she'd gone on a date. Brandon had even tried to rope him into the conversation, asking him if he agreed that Musa deserved someone nice that really cared about her. Riven's sole response was a disappointing hmm? Oh yeah, sure. Brandon grimaced but Riven had already stopped paying attention.
Much to her surprise, Bloom, Flora and Tecna were standing right outside the elevator when they got there. Tecna's face was controlled, but Musa could see some underlying tension in the way she balled her hands into fists. Flora, however, looked like she was seconds away from having a full-blown panic attack. Musa stepped towards her and grabbed her hand. The nature fairy looked up in shock but tightened her hand around Musa's.
"What are you doing here?" Bloom asked as she stepped closer to them.
"Hanging out with Brandon. What are you doing here?"
Bloom looked over her shoulder at Sky, who seemed wrapped up in whatever discussion he and the other specialists were having with Codatorta. Riven stood beside Sky with his back turned towards them, his hands fiddling with his cape and giving her a perfect view of the way his uniform molded to his sculpted back and backside. Musa would be lying if she said she didn't take a moment to admire it before he dropped the cape.
"We came to speak to Sky."
Musa pulled her eyes away from Riven and her less than appropriate thoughts. Bloom's head kept swiveling around to look at the boys. She raised an eyebrow at Bloom. "All of you?"
"It's a long story" Bloom said with a dismissive wave.
"It is not" Tecna argued. "Flora and I are here to act as mediators in their lovers spat."
"Romantic."
Tecna snickered, but Bloom looked entirely unamused which made Musa laugh too. Behind them, the doors opened to reveal several other specialists and three more girls, all of whom Musa recognised as Cloud Tower witches. She was pretty sure one of them had even been part of the group that chased her when she'd stumbled into witch territory, but she couldn't be entirely sure. All witches looked the same to her.
"Ladies, you can head into the waiting room" Codatorta told them before any of them could wonder what they were supposed to do. Not that Musa had given that much thought. Her brain was far too preoccupied with wondering why Riven continued to run his hands through his hair and flex his stupid arm like that.
Bloom didn't seem to care for Codatorta's instructions. She stepped back, looking the intimidating man in the eye. "We can help fight the attacker." Musa wasn't inclined to agree. She would much rather let the soldiers-in-training do their soldier thing while they waited safely for them to neutralize whatever the threat was – which still wasn't clear.
"You can help by sitting over there and waiting for this to be over." Codatorta didn't look amused by Bloom's determination to help. The three witches, along with Musa and Flora started heading over to where he was pointing. Musa overheard one of the witches saying that it seemed poorly thought out to me to put civilians where they could hear everything that was going on. She hated to, but she had to agree: wasn't the purpose of having civilians somewhere safe to stop them from flipping out?
The space Codatorta had been pointing to turned out to be a large hole in the floor. Steps led down to a room that, from what she could see, contained not-at-all-charming dim lighting and some chairs. Not exactly what she would call cozy.
"This looks like a fucking panic room" one of the witches commented.
"Probably is." Musa stepped out of the way to let the witches go first because there was no fucking way she was going before them. They would probably find some fucked up way to trap her down there. One of the three, an almost translucent-skinned witch with startling midnight black hair was the first to head down. Her friends, a darker witch that looked like a perfect lovechild between Flora and Aisha topped with neon orange hair, went next followed by the blonde with horrifying red eyes. Musa motioned for Flora to go next because no way was she getting stuck in a panic room with three unknown witches. Flora, however, didn't move, pointing out to her that their friends were arguing with Codatorta.
"We can help. We fought perfectly well last year."
"Yeah!" Bloom agreed vehemently with Tecna's argument.
Musa leaned into Flora to whisper: "Remember last year when Tecna scolded us for jumping headfirst into danger? Now she's all gung-ho for it? What's up with that?" She could clearly remember Tecna complaining about their lack of care when Bloom (then Veranda) had gotten ambushed by the trix.
"Maybe she developed some bloodlust last year?" Flora shrugged.
"Gods, I fucking hope not." Tecna, she thought, would be a fucking menace if she ever became violent. The girl could quite literally electrocute people from a distance. It only took a few seconds too long and they became charcoal. It wasn't much for blood, but if violence was what she was after, that would do it. "I have to share a room with her. Last thing I want is to wake up with her standing above me with a sharp knife."
Flora's brows furrowed. "Where is she gonna get a knife?"
"I don't know, Flora, the kitchen?" Musa realised her voice had risen a bit too much and she lowered it. "Point is I would rather she not have one if she's decided she's all for bloody murder."
"I would rather she not be for murder at all." Musa gave her an exasperated look because of course she would also prefer that, but if if Tecna had become bloodthirsty, she would prefer not getting stabbed. Flora continued, ignoring Musa. "I'm sure you'd be safe anyways. Tecna likes you."
"For now. What happens if I accidentally break one of her consoles or something."
Flora merely shrugged before the two girls returned their attention to their friends. Musa knew she could be quite stubborn, but apparently Tecna was much worse than her. Codatorta was doing his very best to ignore her, but she wasn't giving up. He had literally turned his back to her and continued giving orders to the boys and Tecna was still arguing with him. "Bloom literally defeated Icy alone while Musa, Flora and I fought Darcy and Stormy. I am ce- "
"It's protocol!" Timmy– Timmy! – snapped. He placed his hands on Tecna's arms. "It's not that we think you can't fight but putting you in would be last resort. It's the same for anyone that isn't a student or staff member. Even if they were a champion cage fighter or the head of the Solarian army. Now, please, let us focus on this."
Tecna backed down but Musa could tell she wasn't happy about it. When she turned towards the not-a-panic-room, Musa could see that her eyes were blazing, and her jaw was set. Behind Tecna, the boys were finally being dispatched. Brandon was sent to the solo fighter ships while Sky and Riven were dispatched to lead ground fight teams. Timmy was to stay at command.
"Where would you like me, sir?" Helia asked. Codatorta looked him over with a disgusted look that made Musa ready to fight as if the look had been aimed at her.
"You can guard our civilians – and stop them from being a pain." Codatorta glanced over at Tecna, who was following Flora down the steps. Helia didn't argue with Codatorta, merely turning towards them as the others began to head to their stations. He headed right down behind Tecna without saying a word. Musa began to follow him down. She turned to make sure Bloom was behind her and heard the redhead whisper to Sky to be safe before following Musa down the steps. Musa didn't acknowledge that she'd heard Bloom say anything.
None of her favourite shops had anything that said official dinner with my father, the king. She'd searched every single rack in every single one until one of the shop employees in every store had cautiously approached her asking if they could help her with her search. All of them, bless their hearts, had tried to put together an outfit that matched Stella's request, but nothing was right. She needed something that said fashionable queen, but ready for business. If her father was going to tell her that they were amping up her royal training, she wanted to look like she was ready to rule even if she wasn't entirely convinced she was.
She walked the streets of Magix's main shopping district hoping to find something. She was debating heading back to Alfea and building an outfit out of her existing wardrobe when she happened upon the perfect dress in the window of a boutique on a tiny side street. It was an ankle-length pencil dress in a gorgeous deep emerald green with short batwing sleeves. A black and gold belt cinched in the waist and created a gorgeous ripple effect in the fabric of the wing.
The inside of the store was simple but elegant; all white and silver, its clothes acting as pops of colour. Stella walked over to the woman behind the counter who reminded her strangely of a younger, much better dressed Faragonda. The woman smiled at her, welcoming her into the store. Stella pointed towards the dress in the window, asking to try it on.
"Of course, miss" the woman said brightly. Stella watched giddily as the woman stepped out from behind the counter and into the window. She returned with the dress draped delicately over her arm. Stella clapped her hands quietly, thanking the gods that she was approximately the same size as the average mannequin. "I should let you know that it's one of a kind and there is another young lady that had her eye on it."
Stella looked around the relatively empty store. The only people in here other than her and two employees were three women who, respectfully, could not be classified as young ladies and a couple that must have been in their mid-thirties. "Who?"
"Oh, she stepped out a few minutes ago" the woman, whose nametag Stella realised said Marciana, dismissed. She led Stella to the back of the store into a changing room with high ceilings, ivory and gold walls and a small chandelier.
The dress fit like a glove. It hugged her body in all the right places all while looking incredibly elegant. A few accessories and a nice pair of heels, and she'd be set to go. Stella twirled once or twice… maybe six times in the dress, admiring herself from every angle. She walked around the dressing room and sat on the bench in the small room, making sure that she could do both comfortably. The last thing she wanted was to look like a dream and then feel like an overstuffed sausage when she sat down.
After having spent a few more minutes admiring herself, she slid the dress down her body and pulled her pink mini dress back on. She then set about inspecting the seams and fabric of the dress. She might be frivolous with her spending, but she was only frivolous with quality. If she was going to drop $2000 on a dress, it was going to be worth it.
Satisfied by the dress's stitching and quality, Stella exited the changing cabins and found the woman who'd helped her fixing up one of the racks. Marciana noticed her approaching and smiled warmly once again. Stella decided she liked the woman, even if her warmth was a sales tactic. "How was it?"
"It's perfect! I'll take it."
"Wonderful! Will you be looking around some more?"
Stella was tempted. She'd seen a lot of beautiful pieces on her walk to the changing rooms and while she was hunting down the saleswoman, but she decided against it. She was on a time limit and needed to get back to Alfea to get ready. As she followed Marciana to the cash, however, she spotted the most perfect black shoes. She tried them on and decided to buy them. Hopefully the staff at this store were paid commission Stella thought as she arrived at the cash register and spotted a glass case of jewelry next to it.
"I can put the dress aside while you look if you'd like."
Stella gave the jewelry a quick once over, but with nothing popping out, she decided against it. She was in the middle of pulling her credit card out of her purse when a young girl, no older than fourteen, with the palest skin and darkest hair she'd ever seen stormed up to the counter. She elbowed Stella out of the way. The Solarian princess was about to push her back and remind her that how to queue was something taught in kindergarten, but the saleswoman motioned for Stella to wait a minute and it threw her off for enough time for the rude girl to speak.
"Excuse me."
"I'll be right with you, miss. I just have to finish up with -"
"No, no. You'll be with me now. Why are you selling my dress to this…" the girl motioned wildly to Stella without so much as a glance at her. "nobody?!"
Stella was so shocked she had to do a double take at the girl. A nobody? And who exactly was this miserable child? Stella turned to face her, hands on her hips, scowl on her face and curses on her lips. Before she could speak, however, Marciana spoke up, sparing the girl from every insult Stella could think of in that moment.
"Miss, you were told very clearly that one-of-a-kind items are first come, first served; that we do not put them on hold. This young woman committed to the purchase whereas you demanded we put it aside for you while you got coffee"
Stella, along with the saleswoman and the girl – whom Stella had mentally dubbed emo-wannabe brat – looked at the cup in the girl's hand. From where she stood, Stella could see the way the girl's nostrils flared. "Do you know who I am?! My mother is Countess Cassandra of one of the great houses of Solaria."
Stella had found herself confused many times in her life: when she was four and her nanny explained that not everyone lived in a palace, when she was thirteen and Robbie chose to go to the school dance with Kimberley, when she was sixteen and her parents told her they were getting divorced. This experience could be added to her list: a Solarian countess's daughter having never seen a picture of her, the crown princess of Solaria.
The saleswoman seemed thoroughly unimpressed by the girl's status – or, rather, the girl's mother's status. "Miss, you could be the Princess of Solaria herself and it would make no difference. First come, first served."
The girl stared the older woman down to no avail. Her bratty little temper tantrum had no effect on her. It didn't even seem to irritate the woman, who remained impressively calm and merely watched the girl through unamused eyes. Realising that she wasn't going to get her way, the girl turned around with a heavy flip of her long, pin-straight hair and stormed out the door, huffing something about the dress being hideous anyways.
"What a sore loser; this dress is gorgeous" Stella commented as she stepped back up to the counter so that she could buy her dress – hopefully without any further distractions. She really did have to get back home so she could get ready.
"Thank you, princess" Marciana said with a smile. As she cashed Stella out, the woman explained that she was the owner and designer of the clothes in the store. Stella ended up staying an extra twenty-five minutes, talking to her about her small, family-operated business and their shared love of fashion. By the end of the talk, Stella had decided she would become a supporter of the business. She had her favourite designers who custom-made clothes for her, but, hey, shopping locally and supporting small businesses was fashionable.
It had turned out to be a nice day, so Aisha decided to sit on Alfea's quad with her book. She'd found a bench by the entrance that gave her a great view of the campus, which had in turn caused some issues with her plans to finish her book. It was a great book, but she'd found herself watching her fellow students instead.
Groups of girls sat around the campus talking, laughing, and studying. Not too far from her, two girls joked around while kicking a soccer ball around. Even some of the professors were sitting outside together enjoying the sun and joking around with each other. Aisha, on the other hand, sat alone on a bench with an ignored book open in her lap.
She was starting to wonder if staying at Alfea had been a mistake, or that the universe had shoved her into the wrong group. The other five seemed to mold together so well despite their differences, and she was an unwanted growth. She didn't know their jokes or their secrets; she wasn't one of them. When they hung out in the common room, talking about nothing at all and making jokes, Aisha tended to just watch them, and she wasn't sure they noticed she was even there. Or, if they did, they didn't seem to care. This morning when she'd asked what they were up to, she discovered that all of them had made plans. She didn't need them to hold her hand but discovering that everyone had made plans (Tecna and Flora were going to talk to Sky with Bloom made no sense to her) was disheartening.
"'Scuse me, would you mind if I sit here?"
Aisha nearly jumped at the voice. She'd been so in her mind that she'd forgotten other people existed. She looked up to find a short – couldn't have been more than an inch taller than Musa – girl with skin just a few shades lighter than her own and hair the colour of the raspberries that grew in the palace garden. She had a friendly face, with eyes of dark brown. Aisha realised she'd been staring dumbly at the girl, so she forced her head to move up and down and her body to scoot over to make space for her.
Not wanting to seem like a creep to the girl, Aisha forced herself to open her book and try to read, but she seemed to keep going over the same line. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her new bench-mate reach into the bag she'd dropped at her feet and pull out a plastic container. "Would you like a cookie?" the girl asked, holding out the open container. Aisha shook her head no.
"Okay" the girl shrugged, grabbing a cookie and holding it between her teeth as she closed the container and put it away. She took a bite of the cookie as Aisha returned to her hopeless attempts to read. "Would you like to talk about whatever's bothering you?"
"What?"
"Witch of empathy – which I realize is hilariously contradictory" the girl explained with a laugh. She finished her cookie and seemingly decided she wanted a second. Aisha watched, more confused than anything else, as the girl reached into her bag to grab another cookie. "I can tell you're not doing so great, so I'm happy to listen if you need to talk."
"No, it's okay." Aisha had never been one to complain – especially when she knew she'd been lucky in ways that other people could only dream of. And if she were to complain, it sure as hell wasn't going to be to a complete stranger.
"Okay. Just thought I'd offer since I've always found that talking to an outsider can offer some great perspective. And I'm a great listener – I think it's the empathy."
The girl turned her eyes towards her phone and began to scroll through some website. Aisha returned to her book and then she closed it almost instantly. She turned to the girl and, like word vomit, began explaining her status at the school and how she had been feeling like she didn't quite belong. She found herself rambling about the most minute and insignificant details and, like she'd said she would, the girl sat quietly and listened the whole time. "They all know each other so well. They have inside jokes and, Gods, shared trauma" Aisha finished with a heavy sigh. She knew the girl couldn't do anything to help, but even just getting the words out of her chest felt like a huge relief.
"The war, yeah… That would definitely bond a group." Her eyes darkened and her shoulders, previously relaxed, tensed a bit. It made Aisha feel like an idiot. She'd brought up the war like it was some abstract incident that only her friends had experienced. But of course they wouldn't be; a significant chunk of people on Alfea, Red Fountain and Cloud Tower's campuses had experienced it. Including, she was willing to bet, this girl."
"Sorry. I didn't…"
"Put together that I might have been there too? It's fine. We don't know each other; you have no reason to assume… anyways, your group…"
Aisha felt like such an idiot. She'd upset the girl, but she shouldn't apologize again. She'd done so – genuinely – once and had been brushed off. Any more apologies would make it seem like she was forcing the girl to assuage her. "Right… I don't know what to do. I don't know how to make jokes with them or…"
"Making friends is never easy. My dad was a soldier in the Rodorian army, and we moved across the dimension every year or two. I don't think I ever had a stable group of friends growing up."
A young girl with orange hair in pigtail braids and bright blue eyes came to mind. She wore athletic wear in shades of purple, like she always had. She had loved purple so much that she refused to wear anything else. Aisha had been nine when she'd met Anne. Her father had been a diplomat who'd been assigned to Andros a few weeks before the two girls had met. Anne was the first, and only, friend Aisha had ever had. She was the one who'd taught Aisha how to dance. "What did you do?"
"Found a coven."
"So, something that isn't an option for me."
"No, I suppose not" the girl laughed. Aisha found herself wishing for the first time in her life that she'd been born a witch. The idea that she could be bonded to a group of people for life sounded so appealing, especially right now when she was starting to feel lonelier than ever.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more constructive help, but hopefully just talking about it helped a bit" the girl said, starting to collect her things. Aisha wondered why, until she saw a third year whose name she didn't know standing a few feet away, very clearly waiting for the girl.
"It did."
"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go meet my girlfriend." She threw her bag over her shoulder and started to walk away. Aisha shifted on the bench and dropped her book beside her. She knew she wasn't going to read regardless of how much she tried to force herself. She was debating what could occupy her time other than studying when the girl walked back over. "I'm Nav, by the way."
"Aisha."
The couches in the dubbed 'panic room' were quite comfortable; they even had throw pillows in a multitude of very cheerful shades of grey. Flora pulled one of the pillows onto her lap and wrapped her arms around it. Her mind made up all sorts of scenarios about what was happening from this being a drill to it being more rot monsters that were never put down. She dug her fingers into the pillow.
"Why was Codatorta such a dick to you?" Musa asked. The dark-haired fairy took a seat next to Tecna on one of the couches to Flora's right. Bloom sat on Musa's other side because Helia took the seat next to Flora on the two-seater couch. Suddenly, she wasn't thinking about the attack on Red Fountain anymore. Her only thoughts were about the man sitting beside her and how she could feel his warmth where his thigh brushed against hers and smell his aftershave.
"Yeah, he was kinda mean" Bloom agreed. Flora didn't know what they were asking about. As soon as Tecna and Bloom had accepted that they'd have to sit this fight out, she had started down the stairs. She didn't think she would miss much, but apparently, she had missed something.
"He works with soldiers in training; he probably needs to be detached" Tecna was arguing, but Helia had moved his hand in a way that now his arm was now touching hers so Flora couldn't care less what Tecna was saying.
"I have the feeling he resents that I dropped out the first time around." Flora guessed that the he they were referring to was Codatorta and she had missed him saying something mean to Helia. As much as she hated the thought of anyone being mean to Helia, she wasn't particularly surprised about Codatorta. She remembered him coming into the infirmary last year and giving one of the fifth years shit for letting his guard down and getting hurt. Luckily, the boy hadn't been badly hurt or Flora might have lost it on the professor.
"That's not fair."
"No, but it is what it is" Helia shrugged, his arm brushing against hers even more. The group fell silent. Flora watched enviously as Musa leaned onto Tecna's shoulder. She would love to be able to do that to Helia, but he'd probably find it weird. That, and she'd never have the guts to actually do it.
Flora occupied her thoughts – trying to pull them away from Helia's presence – by listening to the witches talk. They were talking about the exchange that Faragonda and Griffin had arranged. Flora listened in annoyance as they talked about how the witches would probably excel at fairy school, but the fairies would be hopeless at Cloud Tower. Their conversation trailed off from that when they realised none of the fairies were reacting to gossip about some of their classmates – apparently someone named Christibelle had slept with Janeen's boyfriend and Janeen was now suspended because she'd nearly broken
"We'll be fine" a voice whispered to her. Flora jumped. She had been so focused on the witches' gossip and not turning into a pile of goo because a boy was touching her, that she hadn't noticed him lean into her. "Red Fountain prides itself on finding and training the best. Besides my great-grandfather put in all sorts of new security measures."
It dawned on her that he thought she was freaked out by what was happening – and she had been until he sat next to her. She nodded, feigning appreciation for his attempt at reassuring her. She didn't say more. Her brain wouldn't formulate the words, and if it did, her tongue wouldn't speak them. Helia didn't push her to say anything either, merely gave her a reassuring nod and sat back.
Minutes passed slowly. Waiting was agony, sitting next to Helia was too. And heaven. And hell. And a dream. And a nightmare. She couldn't decide whether she loved sitting next to him or hated it. On the one hand, it meant he was close to her and that she had a distraction from the current situation. On the other hand, it felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest, her brain was becoming a pile of lovestruck mush, and her vocal cords would never work again.
Flora paid very little attention to the room, too focused on not spontaneously combusting or doing something stupid like leaning over and kissing Helia or running her hands through his silky-looking hair. It was only when she heard a loud gasp and Musa wondering what had happened that she tuned back into the room. Bloom, who had apparently moved to sit on the bottom step, turned quickly and half-ran, half-climbed up the steps. Musa and Tecna exchanged a glance and followed after her, Flora and Helia on their heels.
"The Trix?!" Bloom exclaimed loudly. Flora felt her heart drop, while Musa and Tecna exchanged glances again. "Now you have to let us help."
Timmy turned towards Codatorta, a headset half over his ears. "Sir, Riven says he and Sky have their teams following the witches down to the catacombs."
"Catacombs? What the fuck could they possibly want down there?" Flora didn't know the guy who spoke. She thought she might recognize him from the war, but she couldn't place him. He had voluminous curly blue hair and matching eyes covered by furrowed blue brows.
Codatorta didn't answer his question, turning instead to Bloom and Tecna with a glare. "Girls, you wanted to fight?"
Tecna and Bloom nodded enthusiastically, as did, much to Flora's surprise, Musa. The musical fairy, it seemed, had decided she was all for kicking ass when she heard the trix were on campus. Flora assumed she wanted to rip Darcy's hair out. Flora did too – for Riven – so she agreed to fight, albeit much more reluctantly.
"Good" Codatorta nodded. "Head down there and help the boys out."
It was quickly arranged that Timmy would send Tecna a digital map of the new school. He programmed it with specific instructions to get to Sky and Riven's location. The redheaded boy handed the technological fairy a walkie, informing her that it was already on the same channel as the rest of the teams so she could send updates. The girls were dubbed team FoA, for fairies of Alfea, and sent on their way. Before they left, Timmy asked the question that was on all of their minds: "Sir, what's down there?"
Codatorta gave him a grim look. "A quarter of something those three can't get their hands on."
Timmy questioned whether they had the other quarters and Codatorta confirmed that, to his knowledge, the trix didn't. Red Fountain was the first piece of whatever they were after. The other three wondered what the witches were after as they took the elevator down to the ground level. Flora, on the other hand, was worried about how Riven was feeling coming face to face with the person that manipulated and controlled him for the better part of a year; a person that was supposed to be locked away.
Musa and Flora followed behind Bloom and Tecna, who led them through the halls of the new Red Fountain at ridiculous speed. When they reached the location Timmy had programmed into the map, Tecna radioed Sky and Riven to find out where they'd gone. As soon as Sky had responded, the coordinates and directions popped up on Tecna's map and the brief moment Musa had to catch her breath was gone.
They found the boys and their teams - a total of five soldiers-in-training – facing off against the three witches. The boys were on a balcony that overlooked what Musa assumed to be an interior courtyard with a large tree dead center. The witches floated above them, looking completely and irritatingly amused. As they neared the group, pausing to summon up their Winx, Musa noticed that a sixth boy was on the floor behind them. He had a mark that spanned his neck up to his right temple similar to the one Musa had on her waist where Stormy had struck her during the war.
As much as she hadn't wanted to join the fighting when she'd thought it was a random attacker, the knowledge of Darcy's presence ignited rage in her, and the sight of the witch fueled it even more. More than once since the revelation of Darcy's mind manipulation on Riven had Musa fantasized how to tear the witch apart.
They wasted no time in attacking. Flora pulled up the roots and branches of the giant tree and directed them towards Icy. The roots wrapped around Icy's ankles as the branches held her arms and torso. Bloom knocked a fireball at Stormy who narrowly managed to avoid it, propelling herself instead into a beam of electricity that had come from Tecna. Musa shot a blast of energy at Darcy, not trusting herself with too much sound in her less than sober state. The witch looked Musa's way just in time, holding out her hand and enveloping the shot in a ball of darkness and extinguishing it.
"How the fuck did they get into the school?" Bloom shouted behind her as, on her right, Flora muttered a curse – or Flora's equivalent of a curse – under her breath. Musa watched as frozen tree limbs fell to the ground and Icy cackled maniacally. Musa huffed, thinking to herself that Icy needed some serious help.
"I'm not sure, but I think the attack on the school was – "she heard Sky respond, huffing as he turned to knock a ball of darkness away from her and Bloom. "- a distraction for them to sneak it."
A memory formed in her mind and froze her as her friends continued to fight around her: the tops of trees, a city in the distance; Riven, looking as beautiful as ever; and a woman walking through a garden path. She'd seemed familiar, but Musa had brushed off the thought as mere paranoia. It wasn't, she thought. Darcy and co. were using the unveiling of Red Fountain's new campus to look around and find whatever they were after.
Whatever the quarter of something was, it had to be important. Which meant they couldn't get their grubby little rat claws anywhere near it. Musa blasted at Icy, who was closest to her, while Flora watched in horror as the vines she'd attacked Darcy with erupted into flames of darkness.
A vicious wind picked up, knocking the two guys closest to her back. She heard Tecna call her name, so she turned to face her just in time for a third of the boys to hit her and knock her back into the wall. She felt the slam against her body and then nothing.
A gasp escaped Flora's lips as Musa was slammed against the wall by a body twice her size and weight. Instinctively, she ran towards the musical fairy. She was beaten there by seconds by Riven, who pulled the other boy off her and tossed him aside like a chocolate bar wrapper.
Flora ran to his side and rested her hand on Musa's shoulder – the only part she could reach that wasn't a foot through Riven's protective positioning. She let her magic flow over Musa's body, reading her the way she was learning to do in her level two healing class. Her concentration was broken by a huge icicle being hurled at her. She raised her hands to summon a shield, but Tecna beat her to that.
"Is she okay?" the technological fairy questioned, turning her head halfway towards Flora as she tried to maintain her shield.
Flora returned her attention to the unconscious Musa, letting her magic run over her friend's body once more. She tried to remember what she'd been taught, but it was all blurry. The two classes they'd had on the subject just weren't enough. Musa's heart and brain seemed to be okay, though so Flora was hopeful Musa would be fine.
"Guys!" Tecna shouted, dropping her shield and starting down the hallway opposite the one they'd come from. Flora turned where she stood to find that Bloom was trying to stop several spheres of lightning and darkness from attacking Sky. She also discovered what Tecna was crying about: the trix were gone.
"Go find them; I'll stay with her" Riven instructed as the orbs disappeared, and Sky and Bloom's attention was back on the group. "And them" he added as an afterthought, vaguely motioning towards the four unconscious specialists.
"I can st-" Flora started to say, but Riven interrupted her, insisting he knew his medical basics and could keep an eye on all of them. Bloom and Sky had already taken off behind Tecna, so Flora paused just a moment to ask a question that had been on her mind since they'd left the command center. "Are you okay?"
Riven looked away from her towards Musa. She watched briefly as he adjusted the small fairy to sit up against the wall and rest on him. He didn't speak or even spare her a glance. She took that to mean that he wasn't, but she didn't have time to stop and talk to him about it, so she nodded and set off after her friends.
It didn't take long for her to find them. They had apparently lost the trix and stopped to get Timmy to tell them how to get to the catacombs. According to Sky, while the students knew about its existence, it being a still-existing piece of the old Red Fountain campus – none of them knew how to get there.
Timmy returned the instructions moments later, that Sky followed closely. He led them through the school down to the first garage level. Flora found herself looking over her shoulder repeatedly as she followed the group. She had a feeling something bad was going to happen.
"Sky, Timmy and Helia are coming to join you, and I'm sending back up forces down too" Codatorta's gruff voice scratched over the radio.
Sky confirmed reception of the message and informed him that they would wait for Timmy and Helia, who, according to Codatorta should be with them within minutes.
Helia and Timmy join them moments later. The two boys met them in the center of the first level underground garage. When Tecna commented on how fast their arrival had been – no more than two minutes since Codatorta radioed that they would be joining the group, Timmy jumped in excitedly.
"There are secret tunnels in the building!" Timmy exclaimed loudly. He balled his fists and shook them like a child receiving a lollipop. "And we got to take one! It was so cool!"
Tecna smiled shyly at his excitement. She wasn't comfortable showing that much enthusiasm, and she wasn't even sure she could. Certainly, no memory of her displaying that much emotion came to mind. At some time, it might have annoyed her. Much to her surprise, however, she found it incredibly endearing from him.
They started off again, following the instructions that Timmy had sent them earlier. It almost seemed like the revelation of the secret tunnels relieved some of the tension, like this was just a normal day.
"I can't believe they have secret tunnels and didn't tell us about them" Sky exclaimed at some point.
"Hard for them to remain secret if everyone knows about them" Tecna pointed out. Sky was nice enough, she thought, but he could be so dense sometimes. Were she in Bloom's place, she wouldn't have forgiven him so easily regardless of how nice he was, but Bloom had made her decision and Tecna wasn't going to sway her.
Timmy pointed to her, commenting that Tecna made a very good point. He turned his head towards Helia, asking: "How did you know about them?"
Helia started to lead them into the back corners of the second level parking garage. They'd passed more Red Fountain issue levi-bikes than Tecna could count and were now entering the part where the teachers kept their vehicles – or so Tecna assumed, she couldn't see the students having expensive cars. Helia explained as he walked that he'd spent a decent part of his summer at his great-grandfather's home. He had thought the process of designing a school was interesting and had even made suggestions that he thought would work well from his time as a student. "-Like showers in the dorm."
"Remind me to thank you for that one" Sky laughed, clapping Helia on the shoulder.
"This way" Helia said, motioning with his head towards the right.
In the very back of a barely traversed corner of the second garage, behind a set of nondescript pillars was a hidden door. The only hint of its existence was a minor seam in the brick wall that could easily be mistaken for an imperfection in the bricks. This door opened inwards to reveal a dimly lit passageway that would lead to the depths of the old Red Fountain structure. At the bottom of the passageway stood a set of dark red double doors that were guarded around the clock by four guards. If one was to make it beyond those doors they would find a second passageway, this one much cleaner and brighter than the last. At the end of that passageway, they would come to another set of double doors also guarded around the clock by six guards. Beyond those doors was an empty room, save for a large silver balance and several decorative objects in the center of the room's circular floor design.
"I had no idea this was here…" Sky commented as they arrived at the first door.
The witches had clearly been there and had left the door wide open behind them. Tecna followed behind Bloom through the door into a dingy hall. The brick of the tunnel was exposed, covered in moisture and dirt from, she would venture, the last three centuries. She was not a fan of this tunnel.
The sudden turn in atmosphere from dark, eerie garage to dark, miserable tunnel silenced her friends. They walked through the passageway quietly, only having the drip of an occasional water drop from the walls and the sound of their shoes as ambient noise. Tecna wondered what they'd find at the end of the tunnel, and what the witches were after. She couldn't for the life of her think of anything those three nut cases would be after that might be kept in a school of all places.
At the end of the tunnel, as it turned out, was a large set of double doors, pushed wide open, in the same dark red as the new corkscrew Red Fountain building. Three guards lay at the base of the doors knocked unconscious. The fourth – and the last for this set of doors according to Helia – lay in the next tunnel, blood pouring from his temple. Tecna took a deep breath, trying to soothe the tightness in her chest. There wasn't much blood – or rather there wasn't as much as there could be – and the sight of blood had never been a bother to her, but she suddenly felt nauseated and panicked.
Timmy grabbed her hand, dragging her along to where the group had already started to move down the second hall. Tecna shook the image of the guard's bloodied head out of her mind and focused more on what was ahead of her. This tunnel was significantly nicer than the last; cleaner at the minimum.
They rounded a corner after a few minutes and Tecna could see an open door at the end of the hall. She prepared herself for what was to come. They were mere meters away when Flora was knocked off her feet and fell onto the floor with a heavy thud. Tecna and Bloom ran to her side along with Helia. When they got there, Flora was in a disoriented state and holding her head.
"You guys go ahead. I'll make sure she's okay" Helia insisted, pressing the fact that they had to find the witches when Bloom tried to object.
They continued towards the door, Bloom peaking back to where Helia was helping Flora move to sit against the wall every few seconds. Sky rested his hand on Bloom's shoulder, insisting that Flora would be fine. Tecna found herself wondering how Musa was doing. She'd been so focused on their mission she'd almost forgotten that her best friend was currently unconscious a few floors above them. She reached for the walkie on her belt to ask Riven how Musa was doing, stopping short when they reached the door.
Three of the six guards were frozen solid in the doorway, two were laying on the floor in the vicinity of the door with their throats slit and blood dribbling down their chests and soaking through their uniforms. "Jesus…" Bloom muttered. "Which of the witches do you think is violent e- "
"Stormy" Tecna answered without thought. It seemed obvious that the crazed storm witch would be the most likely to take pleasure in physical violence.
"Yeah, I realized that as I was saying it."
Timmy questioned where the sixth guard was as Sky pulled out his sword and slowly made his way through the door. He motioned to them to follow. The group exchanged looks before Bloom followed him through, then Tecna. She nearly bumped into the redhead as Sky stopped ahead of them, commenting that he'd found the missing guard. Tecna peered around him and, sure enough, there was the sixth guard. He stood facing the wall, talking to it animatedly as if he were talking to a friend.
"I believe Darcy has him trapped in an illusion" she whispered. She'd wondered a few times the extent of the witch's abilities. Tecna knew Darcy could conjure illusions and trap people in them while she was present, but she wondered if Darcy could trap someone in an illusion and then leave them there. Apparently, she could. Tecna shuddered at the thought. If Darcy could trap people in illusions eternally, she would be essentially unbeatable.
They passed the guard, who completely ignored them. Beyond the entryway was a cavernous room. A red and ivory pattern swirled on the floor, starting as peaks in the center of the room. There stood the only thing in the room: a balance and some objects. A puzzle, Tecna realised immediately. As did the witches it seemed.
Tecna didn't have time to analyse what the best strategy was – especially as it didn't seem the witches had noticed their arrival – before Bloom sent a line of wildfire burning through the room. Icy caught it in time, freezing Bloom's fire and snarling at them. Tecna prepared to attack as a trio of dark balls came flying at her. She felt something hit her side, sending her flying to the ground. She sat up, shaking her head from the shock as Timmy sat up on his knees and adjusted his glasses, apologizing for knocking her over.
A heavy wind rose through the room until it was spinning like a hurricane. She and Bloom attempted to attack Stormy and cease the winds as Sky and Timmy ran at the witches, weapons ready. Darcy and Icy took the defensive, knocking back any attacks that came their way with almost laughable ease. Tecna wondered when they'd gotten so strong without the stolen Dragon Flame as the wind picked up enough to knock them around. She tried to use her wings and stabilize herself, but the winds were too strong. The last thing she remembered before everything faded to black was hitting the wall hard and seeing the floor open below the witches' feet.
Timmy sat up groggily as he rubbed his head. He felt like he'd taken a twenty-ton brick to the head and maybe to a few choice spots on his body. He adjusted his glasses and looked around the room. The floor center of the floor beside the balance had opened to reveal a dark staircase the led even lower into the ground. Across the room, Sky and Bloom lay a few feet apart, both still unconscious. Tecna was halfway between him and the couple, also unconscious. It occurred to him then that the several other Red Fountain students lay around the room, all knocked out – at least three bleeding – hadn't been there before. He hadn't fought the witches many times before, but it seemed to him that Stormy had gotten stronger. Darcy too, he thought bitterly, as he noticed the guard still talking to the wall.
The sound of heels coming up the stairs in the otherwise eerily silent room drew his attention to the staircase. They hadn't completely failed in stopping the witches, he thought with renewed hope. He had no idea where his laser gun was, but one of the classmates near him had one hooked to his waist, so Timmy took it. He whispered a quick apology that he knew the student wouldn't hear and turned back towards the stairs, raising the gun with a shaky hand.
He tried to steady his nerves as the footsteps got louder. The trix came up the stairs casually, Icy holding a strange, pulsating grey oblong rock and looking incredibly proud.
"Drop it" Timmy told them, his voice coming out much less shaky than he thought it would.
Icy rolled her eyes. "Oh, for fuck's sake. Are we gonna have to slit all of their fucking throats?" she moaned to her sisters.
"You wouldn't…"
Icy winked at him with a sly smile as Stormy cackled loudly, lightning striking the ceiling from her open palms. Around him, some of the students started to come to. He looked at them quickly, not wanting to take his eyes off the trix for too long. Most looked like they weren't in fighting shape. One of them – he realised now there were only four awake – was keeled over and vomiting.
"Who first? I do admit that Bloom is tempting, but so is she" Icy pondered aloud, pointing viciously to his right. Timmy followed her gaze and saw with horror that she was pointing at Tecna. Tecna, who had woken up and was struggling to get up. Tecna, who, from the looks of it, had injured her ankle or foot.
He could see the trix firing up to attack, ready for Icy to tell them to let loose. It struck him like a lightning bolt that they had absolutely no qualms about murdering every single person in this room, in this building, city, realm or dimension to get what they wanted. He weighed his choices: his classmates' lives – Tecna's life – or a piece of rock, of which the trix currently had zero out of four pieces.
Timmy lowered his gun and looked away. He hoped he wasn't making the wrong decision; he just knew that he would never be able to live with himself if he succeeded in stopping them this one time at the cost of the lives of his friends – or worse, sacrificing their lives and not stopping the witches.
Icy made some comment about his choice being a good one, but he didn't pay her much attention. She got what she wanted. Take the rock – a codex he'd heard Codatorta call it when he thought no one was listening – and go, he thought bitterly as he ran to Tecna's side to help her up.
"Do not touch me" she hissed, moving her arm away from him as she massaged her ankle.
"Tecna, let me help you sit up properly."
"I would rather accept help from a saber-toothed snow lion than a coward."
Timmy fell back. A coward? She thought he was a coward for valuing his classmates' lives? Timmy tried to explain his reasoning, but the words came out as a series of stutters. Tecna rolled her eyes and shuffled her back towards him.
In the distance, he heard Bloom's voice followed by Sky's wondering what had happened. He turned towards them and started walking over. Most of the other guys were still out cold and the ones that were conscious were not in good shape. The one guy was still throwing up, a second boy was massaging a dislocated shoulder, the third was trying to stop a still unconscious student from bleeding out and the last was laying on the ground mumbling about his head feeling like there was a car on it.
"Sisters," Icy's voice said from the door in a vicious drawl. Timmy was surprised they were still there, but then maybe not as much time as he'd thought had passed. "Wanna remind these morons who they're dealing with?"
"Who were you thinking?" Darcy chuckled.
"Oooh… I want to say Bloom but… go for prince charming." Icy motioned towards Sky with a flourish. The next few seconds happened faster than Timmy could react. Darcy smiled a wicked Cheshire cat smile and blasted at Sky. Simultaneously, Stormy struck him with a lightning bolt so bright it could blind. Sky, who was half standing at that point, never stood a chance. The spells hit his chest, sending the prince toppling backwards.
Bloom watched in horror as Sky collapsed. She ran to his side, shouting his name over and over again. He didn't wake up. She shook him. He didn't wake up. His face remained blank; eyes closed as if he were sleeping. She pulled him into her arms, begging him to wake up.
"Please… please… don't…Sky… an-answer me… please" she begged, leaning down to kiss his forehead. She brushed away the teardrops that had landed on his face.
This couldn't be it, she thought bitterly. They were supposed to talk. They were supposed to make things better. She was supposed to visit Eraklyon over the summer so he could show her his home. He was supposed to then come spend a week on Earth with her. They had plans! They had… so much left to do. He couldn't. He wasn't allowed to leave her. Not now. Not like this.
A pair of hands grabbed her trembling form and pulled at her. Bloom fought her way out of it and scrambled back to Sky. Helia was on his other side. When had Helia gotten there, she wondered briefly. She shook Sky again. Helia brushed her hands away patiently and set about giving him first aid.
A rougher set of hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from Sky. She tried to fight her way free again, but they didn't let go. A softer set of hands grabbed hold of her wrists and pulled her into their body. Musa – Bloom realised in the back of her mind – stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. Bloom tried to wriggle free, but Musa kept a firm grip on her with all four of her hands – the softer ones and the rougher ones.
"He'll be fine; he's too lucky to die" a man's voice told her.
"Riven!"
Flora tried to feel Sky's breath, his heartbeat, anything, but she came up short. She couldn't tell if it was that she hadn't trained enough; that she was too nervous; that she was distracted; or that there was just nothing there. She wasn't a particularly religious person, but she found herself praying to the goddess that Sky would pull through.
Her eyes kept flicking over to Bloom, heaving and shuddering in Musa's arms. She'd given up trying to fight her way out and back to Sky – something Musa was surely thankful for. Instead, Bloom buried her puffy, red face in Musa's neck and sobbed, heavy, soul-breaking sobs.
"Flora, focus; the best way to help Bloom is to help Sky" Helia whispered to her from over the blond prince's body. Flora nodded resolutely, returning her full attention to Sky. She let her magic course through him, hoping that they hadn't shown up too late.
"Medical is on its way down" Riven announced from his place beside Musa and Bloom. Flora breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully they wouldn't take too long and one of their healers could do something for Sky because she didn't seem to be doing much, even with Helia working on pumping his heart.
Until, by some miracle, it did work. She felt Sky's lungs expand before he took a loud, painful-sounding breath. Flora let out a shuddering breath of her own, falling back on her hands in exhaustion. Getting him breathing had taken almost everything she had, but it was worth it. Flora was pushed aside, landing on her side, by Bloom who had broken free of Musa. The redhead propped Sky onto her, using her arm to support his head. She grabbed at his hand with her free one and brought her face down to his.
Helia was at her side within seconds, helping her sit up. Flora let him, holding her hands over her heart as she watched Bloom whisper into Sky's hair and the prince shakily bring his hand up to brush her fire red hair back and caress her cheek. She was so taken by the sweet moment that it took her a minute to notice Helia's arm wrapped around her, holding her up.
Then Sky's arm dropped and Bloom's panic began again. Helia let her go and rushed to Sky's side, checking for a pulse. She scrambled forward and waited for news. Helia looked up at them, nodding. "He has a pulse, so that's good. Flora, is there anything else you can do?"
"I don't think so. My magic is pretty depleted" she answered, much to her own surprise, calmly.
"That's okay. Once medical gets him, he'll be fine. I think we got him stable enough." Helia's words were followed by the arrival of Red Fountain's medical teams, as well as student volunteers to get everyone up to the infirmary. Helia stepped aside to let the medics through and came around to offer her a hand up. "We make a good team."
Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. Helia thought they made a good team! Flora smiled shyly, mumbling some excuse about having to check on her friends and, loathe as she was to admit it when she knew her friends were her priority right then, hating that she actually did have to check on them instead of staying with him.
"Of course," he nodded before leaving her alone as he went to help the team that had come down. Flora looked around, finding her friends with some difficulty. Bloom held Sky's hand, barely keeping back tears as he was lifted onto a gurney and carted away. Musa hadn't moved from where she'd sat with Bloom. She had a blank look on her face as she sat almost deadly still. Flora started to move towards her out of fear that something was wrong but Riven got to the musical fairy. Musa's head turned towards him and nodded, so Flora let the two be. Tecna was on the opposite side of the room, analyzing her leg. Flora went to her instead and arrived at the same time as Timmy and the medics.
The spectacled boy propped himself at her side, offering his help to get Tecna onto the gurney. Tecna looked at him with such repulsion that Flora felt it even if it wasn't aimed at her. "I do not need your help" Tecna spat out, using her arms to move herself onto the gurney that was laid on the ground beside her and stubbornly refusing all help.
Tecna was taken away. Flora turned to Timmy to ask what had happened, but the boy decided to go report to Codatorta before she could. She watched Timmy walk away before going to collect Musa and bringing her up to the infirmary to wait with the other two.
The restaurant, Magani, was an upscale Solarian restaurant in the financial district. It looked exactly like the type of restaurant her father would like – dark wood, sleek furniture, expensive whiskey. The host, an older gentleman with a head of hair far too luxurious to be his own, led her to the back booth where her father waited alone. A quick look around told her that he wasn't as alone as he seemed. She could spot at least four guards at various tables failing to look inconspicuous.
"How are you doing?" Radius asked, standing to hug her. She gave him a big squeeze and then took her seat opposite him.
"Fine. You'll be happy to know that I'm applying myself more in school this semester."
"Oh?" Radius questioned. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and he nearly choked on the water he'd been sipping. Stella explained the trip to him and that her friends were determined to win it, so that meant they'd been studying more, which in turn meant they were nagging her to study more. She studied a bit more with them, but in reality, which she hadn't told them, she had actually been studying quite a lot more. Late at night, once they'd gone to bed, she'd sit in her room and read her textbooks or review her notes. School had never been her forte and she didn't want them to get their hopes up that studying meant she'd do well enough for them to win. At least if they lost thinking she hadn't put any effort in, they wouldn't be as disappointed, she reasoned.
"I suppose prizes are always a good incentive."
Their waiter, an obviously gay, but very charming man with silky blond hair and startling fuchsia eyes, came by to take their orders. Once he'd gone, Stella and her father fell into an unnaturally awkward silence. She looked around at the guards, who now were at least making an effort to be inconspicuous by 'looking' at the menu. A waitress walked over to one of them, asking if he was ready to order.
"How was your meeting with the president of Magix?" she asked. It was obvious that both of them were avoiding whatever it was he'd brought her here to discuss. Her father, usually the calmest and most collected man in the room, was nervous. He'd taken more sips of his water than he usually would, he fiddled with his napkin and cutlery, brushed his hand through his hair; all things he didn't normally do.
"Good. We discussed some trade agreements that I believe will work out very well for Solaria."
Stella nodded. She wasn't particularly interested in trade agreements at the moment. The polite thing to do would be to ask, but she wasn't in the mood for him to drag on about this agreement and all the tiny, uninteresting details that went into it. Besides, a restaurant was not exactly the place to discuss important – and likely confidential - political matters.
There was no getting out of it, she realised. The band aid needed to be ripped off otherwise this entire dinner would be so awkward it made her want to crawl out of her skin. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"
Radius exhaled. Stella waited impatiently as he adjusted his napkin and hair and fork. Finally, she'd had enough and trapped his hand in hers. "Dad! What is it?"
"I'vebeenseeingsomeone."
"What?"
He took a deep breath. "I've been seeing someone."
Stella sat back with a blank expression. The amount of self-control it took for her to compose herself and not let the shock and outrage she felt show was impressive – award-worthy even. The divorce had been finalized over the summer and now her father was… dating?! Already? How? When? Who?!
Stella asked. She had to know who this audacious woman who thought she could replace her mother was.
"Who isn't so important for the moment" he told her calmly, his nerves suddenly gone now that he'd dropped the bomb. "It's someone I've known for a few years and the relationship developed into something very recently. I hope it becomes more serious and if it does, you will absolutely meet her and her daughter. Until then, I'd like to not implicate them in your life if they're temporary."
Her…daughter? Stella might have a sister; that was the only good thing to come of this. She'd hated being an only child and how lonely it had been. Maybe she could deal with a sister. But a step-mother? Absolutely not. She'd seen what royal stepmothers were like in Bloom's Disney movies. She wasn't dealing with that.
"I'm not- "
"I know it's going to be hard" Radius interrupted. "But I'm very fond of her, so please, sweetheart, if it comes to it, give them a chance. I think you'll like them. Chimera is very into fashion too."
Stella softened. She wanted her father to be happy. It seemed like such a long time since he had been. So, as much as she hated it, she swallowed her words and nodded. She would give this woman and her daughter a chance. For her dad.
Bloom sat tucked into the corner of the couch in their dorm. Musa was leaning against the base of the couch at her feet, softly strumming her guitar for Flora who lay on the floor beside her. Tecna sat across from her with her leg propped up on the coffee table as instructed by Red Fountains medical staff. Aisha had taken a seat on one of the chairs on the other side of the coffee table.
Tecna had been discharged after an hour. The healers had fixed her leg easily, but she was still to stay off it as much as possible for a week. Sky, on the other hand, was staying in the infirmary for at least the next day, but likely longer. Flora and Helia had helped a lot, but he was far from being close to better. Bloom had wanted to stay, but the staff had kicked her out around 8pm.
"Have you decided on singing at the showcase?" Flora asked Musa, sitting up to face the singer.
"… no"
"Why wouldn't you perform? I've heard you sing around the dorm and you're phenomenal!" Aisha exclaimed, looking up from the book she'd been reading. Bloom looked down at her phone then put it away when she still didn't have any texts from the guys.
"I'm… nervous" Musa admitted.
"I believe that is normal" Tecna shrugged, barely looking at them from her handheld game.
"I think you should do it."
"Me too" Flora agreed quickly with Aisha's comment.
"Me three."
"Me four" Bloom said, resting her hand on Musa's shoulder. The dark-haired fairy looked up at her and smiled softly. She turned back to the rest of the group. "And if I bomb, you'll all still cheer so loudly that you destroy your vocal cords?"
The girls all nodded enthusiastically. Flora assured her that she wasn't going to bomb. Bloom agreed with Flora's assessment: Musa would do great at the show. She was a born performer.
"Okay, fine. I'll do it" Musa laughed. The girls started talking about what she should perform, but Bloom tuned out. She checked her phone again, but nothing. It had been close to an hour since Brandon had last texted her. The squire had rushed into the infirmary the minute his ship had landed. Bloom secretly wondered if he was more worried about Sky – his best friend - or his own ass with how he kept saying that Erendor was going to have him beheaded if this got back to him.
Bloom (8:52): Any updates?
Brandon (8:53): He's doing okay. The nurses say that Flora and Helia helped a lot.
Brandon (8:54): Thank Flora for me.
Bloom (8:55): Do you think I can speak to him?
Brandon (8:58): He's sleeping rn. I can wake him if you really want me to.
Bloom (8:58): No it's fine. Just keep me updated pls?
Brandon (8:59) Of course
Bloom sighed as she read Brandon's message. There hadn't been nearly as many updates as she'd like, but she supposed a text every hour saying Still asleep wouldn't be very useful. She turned her phone over in her hands a few minutes as she prayed to a god she didn't believe in and every other Magical Dimension god she'd heard of. Then she decided to rejoin the group.
As she started to set her phone down, an email popped up on her Earth account. From Mitzi?
From: itsmitzi
To: Bloom_p
Subject: YOU'RE INVITED BITCHEZZZZZ
"You okay, sweetie? You look confused."
"Hello dah-lings!" Stella announced as she walked in and sauntered over to sit on the armrest by Bloom.
Bloom looked over at the nature fairy. She was confused. "I was just invited to a Halloween party" she announced. In her many years of knowing Mitzi, she had only been invited to one of her parties twice. The first was because her parents had forced her to invite everyone in their grade. The second was while she was dating Andy, and she was only invited because Andy had told Mitzi he wasn't going to a party without her. She hadn't gone to either of them.
"A what?"
Bloom explained the concept of Halloween to Aisha and the girls: the costumes, scary movies, trick or treating. She had always been a big fan of Halloween. When she was little, she and her parents would go door-to-door and then sit on the living room floor with a big pile of candy and a movie. Her mom would steal her candy while she was at school, which she discovered one day when her last mini Snickers was gone. From then on, she started hiding her lot in her room. Around eleven, she realised that it wasn't working, so she started bringing the bag of candy to school with her. "A Halloween party," she finished, "is just a party, but people dress up."
"Oh, yes!" Stella exclaimed. "I need a party after the day I've had."
"What happened?" Musa asked, setting down her guitar and turning towards the blonde.
"My dad is seeing someone."
Bloom blinked back surprise. Mainly at the idea of King Radius dating, but maybe also a bit at how short Stella's announcement was. She loved the princess dearly, but Stella did have a tendency to go on and on when she had something to complain about.
"That's it?" Stella turned towards Aisha with daggers in her eyes. Bloom motioned for the water princess to stop and backtrack, but Stella had already started on about how it wasn't exactly nothing for her freshly divorced father to be dating and for him to just drop it on her.
"No…I'm not… I'm just saying it doesn't seem all that bad compared to Sky almost dying."
"To Sky what?" Stella shrieked. She stood up and threw her arms around Bloom, pulling the redhead into her chest with a gravitational pull so strong it rivaled Jupiter's (1). "WHY would you let me go on when my poor Bloomy is going through so much more? How is he doing?"
"Idonknow" Bloom mumbled into Stella's chest.
"Oh, sorry." Stella laughed lightly as she released Bloom, who made a show of taking a big breath. "We can go visit him first thing tomorrow morning if you want."
"First thing?"
Stella laughed loudly and amended her statement to as soon as we're both awake. Bloom moved her legs out of the way for Stella to step over Musa and take a seat beside her. The blonde put her arm around Bloom's shoulders and pulled Bloom's head onto her shoulder. Bloom gave in, adjusting herself to be resting on Stella and cuddled up to her. Stella's other arm wrapped around Bloom's front to meet the hand on Bloom's shoulder. "And we will be going to that party. Right girls?" Stella clarified.
Musa, Flora and Aisha agreed enthusiastically. The whole group turned their heads towards Tecna, who hadn't said a word since the party was brought up. She looked up at them from her game and sighed. "If I must."
"That's the spirit Tecna!" Stella exclaimed loudly before demanding that they start thinking of their costumes. A few suggestions were brought forth, but ultimately, they settled on their fairy forms as a 'costume' because, as Bloom had pointed out to the group, no one could top a real fairy. It was only when the group was trying to figure out the logistics of getting to Earth and back without getting in trouble that Bloom had a thought: "I should probably make sure I can bring friends…"
1. Jupiter is the planet with the strongest gravitational pull
So I guess we'll be going to a Halloween party for Christmas LOL
