Red Fountain
Helia was sat at Sky's desk chair as he watched him and Brandon prepare for their trip to Eraklyon. "So why are Flora and Brandon going with you when Bloom meets your parents anyway Sky?"
"Well I'm going because as Sky's squire it was requested I chaperone him and his girlfriend on the flight there." Brandon waggled his eyebrows at Helia.
Sky back handed his best friend since childhood and turned to Helia. "Brandon and Flora are coming for moral support and the hope that if they're there my parents will be nicer, Bloom's worried about meeting them."
"Originally Stella was gonna come but she and Tecna have a last minute class with Grizelda that they couldn't get out of so Bloom asked Flora." Brandon answered the rest of Helia's question then turned to Sky, "And I don't know why you ever thought me being there would make your mother play nice. She's the most critical person I've ever met and I've known her since we were kids. I feel bad for Flora, she's too nice, your mother's going to bite her head off and she's too polite to make a comeback like Stella would."
Sky looked as if he was about to argue with Brandon for the way he described his mother but then his chest deflated in defeat. "Well it can't go unsaid that Flora never suffered for her friendships, but don't worry Helia Brandon and I will watch out for her and make sure my mother isn't too harsh."
Helia was done with trying to deny his feelings or worry over Flora with the guys at this point and just nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Sky continued his thought "Besides if Stella was the one going and my mother couldn't control herself I'd be afraid of the outcome honestly, Stella and my mom can both be pretty scary."
"Well in that case have fun, or at least try not to completely destroy the realm while you're there." Sky chuckled at Helia's joke while Brandon looked affronted.
"I don't think they'd be very welcoming when I went home for the summer." Brandon laughed along with his two friends.
On the Ship
Sky and Brandon focused on the controls of the ship while they exited the realm of Magix. Bloom and Flora were sat on a bench a short ways away with Flora trying to calm Bloom's nerves.
"Flora what if they don't like me? What if they think I'm not good enough for Sky? What if…"
"Bloom! Calm down sweetie their going to love you, and even if things don't go perfectly Sky loves you. That's all that really matters right?"
Bloom took a deep breath. "You're right Flora I'm just over reacting. It's just really stressful, this is the longest relationship I've ever had and the fact that his parents are royalty doesn't make it any easier. Thanks for coming with us. You always have my back, you're a great friend."
"It's what friends do. We're the Winx Club, we'll always be there for each other and I know you'd do the same thing for me."
"Always." Bloom smiled, worries temporarily forgotten.
Flora and bloom got up and walked over to the guys. "How's it going guy?" Flora asked as she stood behind Brandon as Bloom did the same behind Sky.
"Pretty good girls, we'll be able to go into autopilot in a couple of more minutes."
"So how have things been going at Red Fountain?" Bloom asked conversationally.
"Pretty good, we've been working a lot more efficiently as a unit with Helia around." Sky told them glancing at Flora when he mentioned their newest member, seeing her perk up in attention.
"That and there's always the fact that he can control Riven and put him in his place." Brandon chuckled.
Sky rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It also helps that he can contain Brandon's outbursts specifically aimed to get on Riven's nerves."
"What can I say? It's a passion of mine. Autopilot is now engaged, all captains feel free to walk about the cabin." Brandon informed the group as he stood and stretched out.
Flora looked back and forth at her hands, which were folded in front of her, and at the two boys a few times debating whether or not to voice the question plaguing her mind. "So you guys got to know Helia pretty well them right?" she asked barely above a whisper.
Sky and Brandon shared a secretive look with each other before the prince answered her. "Yeah, I'd say so." Sky purposely wasn't revealing much with his answer wanting to know just where she was going with this.
"So, what were things like at his old school, do you know anything about old friends?"
Brandon smirked to himself but didn't let Flora see it as he answered her this time. "Yeah we did hear about a few of his friends. These three guys he went to art school with. Apparently when he went back to get the rest of his things and told them that he was coming back here they didn't believe him."
Sky continued the story from there. "Yeah, and when they finally realized he was serious the outcome wasn't pretty. They got into some argument and from what Helia told us they didn't think he would last a month. The ironic thing is he's one of the top students in our year."
Flora looked concerned that Helia's transfer had driven a wedge between him and his friends
"Don't worry though Flo." Brandon assured the fairy. "Once his friends calmed down and realized he really wasn't leaving they called him up and they worked it out. The whole fight only lasted a few days. Musa and Riven have argued longer."
"Oh well that's god. So, um, did he tell you about anyone else, like you know, um."
Sky decided to take pity on her. "You mean like a girlfriend, because if that just so happened to be what you meant the answer would be no."
Brandon stood so he was now facing Flora and gave her a knowing look that made her blush as red as Bloom's hair. "No worries Flo, he's single and ready to mingle whenever you are." Flora continued to blush while the other three broke out in a fit of laughter.
Another Day
Red Fountain
Red Fountain's concert was tonight and started in in two hours. Helia was helping Brandon and Sky with their war paint for their traditional fire dance in honor of the school. At first they insisted they could do it themselves because 'how hard could it be'? Well that idea was thrown aside very quickly because apparently, according to the two specialists in question, 'it's a lot harder when you have to do it to yourself because you're looking at it upside down'. Never mind the fact that their argument had nothing to do with the fact that your arms just aren't long enough to be able to paint their own backs. Instead of debating this Helia decided to have mercy on them.
That is how their dorm room got covered in red paint. Well, at least that's why the paint was in there in the first place. They had actually started the painting more than two hours ago but after Brandon instigated some kind of altercation with Riven that resulted in the container of body paint being sent flying into the air and all over everyone and everything they had to start over, after getting cleaned up. The room however would have to wait.
And that brings us to where we are now.
Helia was finishing the final touches on Sky. Brandon was already finished and had been given strict orders of what he could or could not do until the paint dried. Part of the restriction was that he was not allowed in the same room as Riven in order to avoid another incident.
Unfortunately this also meant that instead of harassing Riven about Musa his attention was now on Helia. Also unfortunate was that part of his restrictions did not involve keeping his mouth shut.
Luckily Helia had been able to ignore Brandon while he focused on finishing Sky's paint but now that he had just completed it he lost his distraction and couldn't help but hear Brandon's voice. "So obviously Flora's going to be here with the other girls to support Musa so you should take this opportunity to talk to her some more." Helia had to admit even though he had a sneaking suspicion the rest of what Brandon had said before was not so, his latest bit of advice was actually pretty good.
"You know what Brandon? I think I will." With his work done Helia warned Sky not to smear the paint before it was done drying and warned Brandon just to behave in general then left the room.
Red Fountain was filled to the brim with fairies, witches, and other guests, along with its own inhabitants. He had already seen Musa, Stella, and Layla and had wished them all good luck but so far had yet to find Flora and the girls hadn't had a clue where their remaining three members had gone off to.
Helia was now taking his second lap around the grounds when he finally spotted the brunette. "Flora" Helia called out to the girl and she stopped in her tracks looking around for the voice that had just called out to her. Spotting Helia making his way towards her she smiled. "Helia, hi."
"Hey Flora, I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a walk and get to know each other a little better."
Flora blushed slightly and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that."
"Come on I'll show you through the gardens." Helia suggested knowing she would enjoy it.
Flora looked slightly confused. "When did Red Fountain get a garden?"
"It's part of the new school design, apparently my grandfather insisted we get one after Ms. Faragonda showed him what you did with the one at Alfea." Helia said smiling at her as he recognized her hard work.
"It was nothing really." She said modestly.
Helia would have none of it. "From what I heard it was a whole lot more than nothing." At this point they had reached the garden and Flora looked around excitedly, Helia couldn't help but smile at the pure innocence that overtook her when she was around nature. They walked around for a bit in silence when Helia started a conversation.
"So Flora what was it like for you growing up on Linphea?"
"Oh it was amazing. It was my parents, my sister Miele, and I. I didn't really have many friends growing up until I started Alfea. I always had my family though. I used to always take Miele to ride the giant ladybugs. My mom would have me help her in the garden, which I loved, and when I got my powers I would practice out there. There really is no place quite like it. It's home." Helia couldn't have wiped off the smile plastered onto his face if he tried, which he wasn't.
"What about you? What was it like growing up on Knightly?" Helia's trance was broken when she asked him the same question that she had just answered but before answering told her his thoughts on what she had just said. "Linphea really seems like a great place, you care a lot about your family. I do think little Linphean kids are a little crazy though, after all who wouldn't want to be around someone like you?" Flora nodded her head in agreement to both his points and then blushed again at his compliment. He made her blush an awful lot. "Growing up on Knightly was pretty great. I live with my mom and dad and I had a few close friends that I grew up with. Even when I went to Red Fountain before transferring I was still really close with Liam, Lucas, and Ethan. Then when I came back here there was a bit of a rough patch but everything's worked out now." Flora nodded her head once again, having already heard about his friends a little bit from Sky and Brandon.
They spent the next hour just talking about anything. Their childhoods, school work on their home planets and now, and relaying stories of their own adventures and funny moments. Flora gave Helia more detailed explanation of everything that had happened last year with and leading up to the great witch invasion as Helia had only known the basic summary.
As she spoke of her battle with the Trix Helia couldn't help but worry just that much more but it was a relief to know she always had people there to watch her back, and now she would have him too.
At last their time alone had to come to an end and they made their way to the stage to see their friends perform. "Oh, hey Flora hold on a second. Here's my number, maybe we can talk again sometime." Flora nodded her head smiling as they exchanged phone numbers
When they arrived Codatorta was just announcing Brandon and Sky's fire dance, which was the first of their friends performances, and they made their way over to Tecna, Bloom, Timmy, and Riven who were all stood near the front of the stage and joined them without a word. Normally one of the four would have said something but they were too busy with their discussion of how Codatorta looked when he actually wore sleeves, let alone a suit.
Musa had just defeated Stormy and saved her father and the concert was back on. After all her friends had run onto the stage and hugged her of course. Everyone was cheering now louder than ever. Sky and Brandon had, by this time, joined Helia and Timmy in the crowd but they hadn't seen Riven since he started running around making sure everyone sang along with Musa.
Looking around Helia finally spotted him helping Musa's father up from the ground and pointed him out to the other guys as he laid a hand on the older man's shoulder as they both looked up at Musa celebrating with her friends.
Having located their missing teammate the guys returned their attention to the stage where all the girls were now dancing and singing with Musa. Helia couldn't help but think 'Those girls are something else. That girl is something else.'
Another Day
Red Fountain
Once again the guys were all in their dorm room but this was one of the few times none of them dared to crack a joke. The girls had just called to tell them that Faragonda was sending them to Cloud Tower in order to better understand dark magic so when the time came they could defeat Lord Darkar and the Trix.
"Has she lost her mind?" Riven questioned the Alfea head's sanity and the other guys didn't bother trying to chastise him. "She's sending six fairies alone to a school for witches. Does she have any idea how territorial they are? She's known Griffin for years. Those witches are going to take every chance they get to make them miserable."
Timmy trying to be positive decided it was worth the risk of Riven's ranting to point out the errors in what he said. "Well technically she isn't sending them alone; Mirta is going as their guide and headmistress Griffin ensured Faragonda of the girls' safety before she made it official to send them. Besides, ever since the witch invasion last year the fairies and witches are on better terms"
Flora had told Helia about Mirta. How the Trix had turned her into a pumpkin but she had been able to turn the girl back and she had then transferred to Alfea at the end of the year and had been given wings.
"Timmy are you hearing yourself right now?" Brandon questioned the glasses wearing specialist, just as worked up as Riven. "Just because the witches haven't pulled any stunts like the Trix did by messing with enchanted eggs or breaking into the school doesn't mean they're going to miss out on the opportunity to mess with a bunch of fairies in their own school!"
Sky wasn't exactly on Timmy's side either. "I have to agree with them Tim. Yeah Ms. Griffin may have told Faragonda that the girls would be safe but it's not like she can watch them the whole time, she's running a school. And you can't forget the fact that Mirta may not be the most popular person at Cloud Tower right now either, having left to go to Alfea and all."
Helia couldn't disagree with the fact that they all made some pretty good points but there wasn't exactly a whole lot they could do about it. "We just have to hope for the bet. It's not like we can go there with them as body guards, headmistress Griffin letting them go at all is a sign of good will and it would be an insult to her if Faragonda thought that her students needed protecting while under her care. Faragonda and Saladin would never go for it."
Brandon then added to their worry. "The pixies aren't even going with them, well except for Zing but she's always been a bit out there. Anyway the others are to scared to go and I have to say I don't blame them."
The guys sighed in defeat. Helia was right though, as it seemed he usually was. There was nothing they could do to help the Winx.
Sky spoke up, defeated. "I guess all we can do now is wait for them to get back." The next week was going to be very stressful.
Cloud Tower
Flora sighed as she dropped down onto her bed for the time being. It had been a long day here and she was already dreading the rest of the week. The witches had it out for them and their 'new professors' weren't making things any easier. They might even be worse than the students having cast a cat fight spell on her and her friends. What teacher spells a student like that? Even griffin had humiliated her in front of a room full of witches with her question about what you would do if you found a hungry kitten. She was a fairy she didn't use dark energy and the headmistress knew that Flora wouldn't know that the poor things misery could be used for skin rot spells.
If Flora was being truthful to herself she wanted to talk to Helia now more than ever. He always seemed to cheer her up and she really needed it after the day she had. Making up her mind Flora took out her phone and started scrolling through her contacts until she got to his name. Taking a deep breath for encouragement she hit the call button.
The phone rang a few times and Flora was about to give up when someone answered, "Hello?"
"Helia." Flora sighed in relief
"Flora, how are you doing?"
"Honestly? Not that great. Everyone's against us here, not that we really expected anything different but even the teachers are giving us a hard time. I don't know if I can do this for the rest of the week Helia. I don't know anything about skin rot spells or what I can do with the misery of a poor little kitten. The only time anyone got along was when Bloom made a deal that if they helped us understand dark magic we would take them on a shopping spree courtesy of Stella and even that didn't last long before everyone was yelling again. And that was all yesterday, today one of the teachers cast a cat fight spell on us and we have no idea how long it's going to last. Headmistress Griffin was furious." Flora was rambling at this point and needed to take a calming breath to collect herself.
Helia was silent for a moment to let Flora calm down then spoke again. "I know it must be hard Flora and I'm sorry that there's not more that I can do but you and your friends are strong, you can handle it you just have to believe in yourself and just remember that at the end of the week you'll be back at Alfea with Chatta."
Flora took another breath composing herself. "You're right Helia and at least one good thing came out of this, Mirta and Lucy got a chance to make up. It's been really hard on her with Lucy not speaking to her, I'm glad they can go back to normal."
Helia laughed on the other line. "There's the Flora I know." Flora blushed, not that Helia would know that.
Helia got serious again. "As for the cat fight spell you girls are best friends, you'll find a way to work through it until it wears off."
Flora was smiling widely now and it could be heard in her voice. "Thanks Helia I really needed to hear that."
"Any time Flora." And he meant that.
"I have to go meet up with the others to do a project, bye."
"Bye Flora."
With that she hung up and could help but smile to herself for another moment before getting up and making her way to the library to get back to work on that project.
Red Fountain
Flora had just texted Helia that they would be over in a few minutes as the guys made their way to the quad to wait for them.
Helia had talked to Flora again the night before when she told him about the Trix attacking Cloud Tower and getting the second piece of the codex when the girls couldn't work together because of the cat fight spell and had relayed the story to the other guys.
Brandon sighed as they arrived at the entrance. "This is not going to be fun with the girls under the influence of that spell on top of losing another piece of the codex." Nobody said anything but they were all in silent agreement.
It was at that moment that girls could be seen flying overhead and in another few seconds had landed and transformed back into their normal outfits.
"Hey girls, we heard what happened." Sky stated the obvious which was the wrong thing to say. Actually it was probably the worst thing he could have said at that moment.
"Oh yeah and I bet you guys think you could have done so much better!" Stella accused.
Sky was taken aback. "That's not what I meant, I was just saying"
"Oh we know what you were saying you guys think that they should have sent you along to be our little body guards!" Musa yelled.
"Yeah because why send the fairies when the heroes are obviously the better decision!" Layla bit out now.
"Calm down girls." Brandon tried; this also was not the best move that could have been made.
"Why should we?" Stella demanded.
"Yeah it's not like the witches totally kicked our butts and are now that much closer to getting all the pieces of the codex. Oh wait, that's exactly what happened!" Bloom screamed at them now too.
"You girls need to calm down." Riven said trying not to yell like they were.
"He's right, screaming at them isn't going to change what happened or fix anything." Flora tried to keep the peace between her friends while also trying to keep her own cool but it didn't quite work and her voice was strained trying to keep her volume down below a yell. 'Something the others don't seem capable of' the thought was in her mind before she could stop it.
"Oh give it a rest Flora. I don't need to hear your little hippie, flower power, go team attitude right now! I'm mad and I have every right to be."
"Just because you're mad Stella doesn't mean you have a right to take it out on Flora." Tecna tried defending her friend, even though she was arguing with another one.
"Flora can speak for herself Tecna!" Layla got in between the two.
"Then why are you talking for her now. That's completely hypocritical." Tecna fired back.
"Okay come on now a girl, that's enough." Timmy tried to defuse the situation even though he knew his chances weren't very good.
"Your best friends you shouldn't be acting like this to each other, spell or no spell." Helia tried to stop the rising tension to, only for it to turn on him now.
"Oh butt out Helia." Bloom scoffed.
"Yeah Helia, this doesn't concern you." Musa told him off.
"Knock it off guys!" Flora shouted.
"Oh please Flora, he doesn't have any right to get into this. Where was he last year when we were fighting to save Magix? Oh that's right; he was painting away at art school. He's just a hero wannabe." Stella yelled at Helia now.
Riven couldn't help but comment. "Now you sound like theTrix Blondie." This was about as bad of a comment as any one of them could have possibly made, with or without the spell affecting them.
"How dare you!" she shrieked at him.
"You would know that wouldn't you Riven? Considering you spent most of last year with them. For all we know you could still be working with the witches, or at least drooling over Darcy!" Tecna brought up old wounds making Riven scowl but finally decide it was best not to test them anymore than he already had.
"Why did we even come here?" Layla questioned.
"I don't know because clearly the only thing that came of it was finding out that the guys think they should have been sent to protect the codex instead of us. Let's get out of here." Bloom said and with that the girls transformed and flew off back to Alfea.
When the girls were out of sight Brandon voiced the question going through all of their minds. "What the heck just happened?"
The guys just shook their heads, that spell was a lot more powerful than they thought.
A few days later the spell had finally started to wear off bit by bit and the girls had called to apologize for what they said, and assure them that they didn't really believe what they had said about Riven and Helia, but had been unable to make it back to Red Fountain. Apparently even though the spell was slowly wearing away they were still unable to work together as a team the way they had before.
It also didn't help that a few days later Bloom had been spelled again but this time she was being controlled by Darkar to hand over Alfea's piece of the codex to him.
Helia didn't know what but something had to be done and soon or the girls would never be ready to take on Darkar and he had a feeling that battle was going to come a lot sooner than they would like.