Pixie Village
The group arrived at Pixie Village and brought the ship down in a smooth landing. The ramp opened and the teens walked out carrying the sick pixies in their arms. Helia looked around him at the village full of pixies while carrying Lockette and Amore and he looked down at them once more as Amore sneezed again.
Guilt ridden Livy flew up to the group and stopped in front of Flora and Layla. "Hi. What's the matter? Is it Allergies?"
Digit corrected the blonde pixie. "It's a flu-achoo"
Seeing Livy and another pixie that was riding on a piece of paper with her, Glim, look around curiously Layla told them why the others weren't there. "We dropped the others back at Alfea and then had to come here right away. Their immune system must have weakened from being away from the flower of life for so long."
At this Glim flew over the Layla and the other baby pixie while Livy looked up at Flora with wide sad eyes. "Are you really mad at me? I'm sorry about Icy."
Flora smiled at the pixie and held her hand out to her, Chatta held in her other arm. "It's okay Livy it's not your fault. We know you tried to save the codex."
"I don't mean to be rude" came from the ever polite pixie of manners "but we really need tea."
Digit leaned her head back against Brandon's arm "My throats sore."
Lockette and Amore then added in respectively "I'm cold" "I'm hot"
And of course the ever positive Chatta didn't let their flu get her spirits down even if she wasn't feeling well. "I'm achy. Let's get some flower of life tea before this flu totally wipes us out." and smiled up at her bonded fairy, receiving a smile in return.
Helia stepped forward towards the girls. "We should take some of that tea with us, it would be good to have in case you fly into another cloud of spores."
Helia looked down as Lockette spoke up again. "We can't take the tea with us; we have to drink it here." Well there went that idea.
Helia noticed out of his peripheral vision Livy wouldn't meet anyone's eyes as if she didn't want to admit something.
"Come on Livy, let's show them how it works." Lockette encouraged, all of the pixies ready to start feeling better again.
Still not meeting their eyes Livy relayed the bad news. "The flower of life is sick. Icy did something to it and Ninfea hasn't been able to fix it." The pixies all gasped at this as the guys' and girls' stares hardened at the mention of the ice witch.
Looking back to the pixies Layla's eyes softened. "Livy, what did Icy do?" she asked gently.
"When I was coming back to get the cure for Avalon Ivy followed me to the village. We tried to stop her but she was too strong and she froze the flower of life. That's when she tried to take the codex but I grabbed it and flew away. I don't remember how I got there but when I was flying I ended up in some place called Downland and met Queen Amentia." At this name Brandon visibly flinched causing Sky to chuckle. Helia nudged him, careful not to jostle Lockette and Amore around as he did so, and gave him a look that clearly said 'not now'. Sky composed himself but there was bound to be no end of teasing when they got back to Red Fountain.
"What happened in Downland Livy?" Flora asked the pixie of messages.
"Well I found Amentia and then Icy found me and she and Icy started arguing about eye shadow and Amentia said Icy's was bad and Icy insulted hers too and then Amentia took the codex from me to protect and started fighting Icy herself and she was doing good but Icy beat her and took the codex. She wasn't happy, Amentia I mean, and she ran off to start plotting her revenge because Icy broke her 'order keeper' but it just looked like a metal stick. Anyway then I got back to the village and had to tell everyone that h codex was gone and then found out that the flower was sick.
Flora and Layla nodded knowing firsthand what it was like to fight against Icy. "Well why don't you girls take us to the flower and we'll see what we can do." Flora suggested. Livy Flew out of Flora embrace and, with Glim, got back on her enchanted paper and led them to the Flower.
Now Sky and Brandon knew next to nothing about Flowers but even they could tell something was very wrong with it. Still holding Chatta Flora knelt down in front of the flower to get a feel for what wrong. She gently touched it and her hand glowed a light gold color. "Poor flower, I can sense its pain." Helia didn't like that she was feeling pain.
"Flora we've tried everything." Livy told her close to tears. "Nothing works it keeps getting worse."
Chatta let herself drop to the ground and took a few steps toward the flower to get a look for herself. Seeing that it was indeed in bad shape she turned back to Flora with as much worry as when she had had to tell the girls they had gotten sick because she wanted to play on the flowers. "If the flower of life doesn't get better, neither will we."
"I'll do the best I can Chatta but it may take a while." Flora stood up again and scooped up Chatta as she did so. She walked to Layla and the boys. "In that case I should probably head back to Alfea and get in some more training with the others and then I'll come back tonight if you aren't there already." Layla said this to Flora and the flower fairy nodded her head in agreement. There was no point in her being here when she could be preparing for the fight to come.
Brandon added on "We'll stay here with Flora."
Sky turned his attention to Layla. "Do you need a ride back to Alfea Layla?"
Ayla waved her hand at him dismissively. "Don't worry about it I can fly there." She assured him as she passed the sleeping Piff to him. "Just keep an eye on the pixies while Flora's working on the flower. And I'll see you guys later." With that Layla transformed and flew off to the school.
Seeing as the sun was shining brightly and the pixies already had fevers the boys took them to sit in the shade, Flora handing Sky Chatta as well, while she kneeled in front of the flower again and held her hands just above it and used her magic to try and get a sense of just what was wrong. This went on for about five minutes before Flora pulled her hands away staring at the flower in confusion.
"What's the diagnoses doc?" Brandon called out to her trying to slightly alleviate the tension that had surrounded them for the last couple of minutes. It didn't work and Flora looked over to them in concern. "I've never dealt with anything as complex as this before. If I mess up the village will… well." Flora didn't want to finish the thought let alone speak it out loud.
"Will what?" Brandon asked not getting her point. Helia and Sky both looked at him with identical stares, a moment later he got it. "Ahh… oh." He finished lamely. Helia looked back at Flora as she slumped her shoulders. Sky and Brandon looked to each other worried. Flora could be her own worst enemy and her self-doubt would no doubt make her question her ability and cause her to worry even more. It was a vicious cycle.
"You're the fairy of nature Flora, if anyone can fix the flower it's you." Helia told her, trying to encourage the girl.
"Helia's right Flora- achoo. In fact I'm going to- achoo- right you a new cheer to make you feel better." Chatta tried to encourage her as well but the reminder that the pixies were counting on her, not just the sick ones but all the pixies, made her even more nervous.
Chatta however was a pixie of her word and got right to work thinking up a cheer for Flora with a few of the other pixies from the village listening in on her thought process.
Flora continued working on the flower for several more hours without getting a step closer to fixing the damage Icy had caused. It was not because she wasn't capable like she thought, they all knew this, but she lacked the confidence in her own ability added on to the pressure that was placed on her, she was afraid to do something and it end up making something worse.
Ninfea wasn't exactly helping the cause either. She didn't do it on purpose but her constant flittering around Flora and her own nerves added to Flora's, after all it was her job to take care of the pixies and she wasn't able to do anything.
Eventually she magic messaged Alfea to speak with Faragonda.
Faragonda answered the message immediately, "Hello?"
"Ms. Faragonda"
"Ah Ninfea, how are things coming along with the flower." It was clear from the look on Faragonda's face she didn't think things were going well by the tense tone of voice Ninfea had used when she greeted her.
"I have done the best I can but my magic is not strong enough and Flora is reluctant to help." Helia didn't like the way she had worded that comment and it didn't seem that the others didn't either, as they saw Flora bow her head in shame. It wasn't that she was reluctant to help, she wanted more than anything to fix this but she was concerned that something would go wrong. After all it was hard to have faith in yourself when those around you didn't seem to.
Faragonda looked down at her desk as she began speaking then raised her eyes to the fairy who had just gone from her standing position to slumping down to her knees. "You should be able to take care of this Flora what's the matter."
It seemed that Chatta didn't like the way they were talking to Flora either and got up to march over to them before Helia caught her telling her that Flora wouldn't want her over exerting herself until she got the flower better. His confidence in her helped calm the pixie of chatter down and she sat on the ground with Jolly and Piff.
There was a knock at the door before Flora could reply and Faragonda held a hand up to her "Come in" then gave Flora her attention again. Flora looked up at her headmistress, her eyes drifting to see the rest of the Winx Club had just entered the room and lowered her head again. Flora was absolutely miserable and couldn't keep her next thought from running through her head. Not only were Helia, Sky, Brandon, the pixies, and Faragonda all witnessing her failure but now her best friends were too. What good am I? I haven't even been able to get my charmix yet. The weak link, just like the Trix always reminded her.
"Ms. Faragonda, my powers aren't that strong. I mean I haven't even gotten my charmix yet." Sky was about to but in and remind her that the rest of her year at Alfea hadn't gotten their charmix yet either but again Helia stopped him. Flora wasn't comparing herself to the school or even just her year. No, she was comparing herself to her best friends, the people whose opinions mattered the most to her because they meant the most to her but also whose achievements would make her feel the worst if she couldn't keep up. Not that she would ever wish they didn't have those achievements nor did she fault them for it.
"You're the fairy of nature. You can do this."
"But if I make a mistake Pixie village could disappear forever." Flora admitted her main concern.
Faragonda spoke up again, her voice more upbeat this time. "Then don't make a mistake Flora. Now I want you to go ahead and save that flower." Before any of them could even blink let alone get another word in Faragonda had ended the message. Flora sighed to herself then got back to working on the Flower.
"Well that wasn't exactly the best pep talk I've ever heard." Sky admitted. Keeping his voice down so that Flora wouldn't be able to hear.
"That's a bit of an understatement. They act as if she isn't trying. I mean it's a lot of pressure just dealing with the flower alone and then if you add in Darkar, the Trix, her charmix and everything else, honestly anyone else probably would have crushed under the pressure by now but she's still going at it." Brandon informed them and received agreement from the two specialists and the pixies sitting with them.
"The problem is though she doesn't realize it." Helia's comment was plain and simple but it said a lot.
Not long after the magic message Layla arrived back, giving Flora what she hoped was an encouraging smile before sitting with the boys.
Helia's attention, Along with those around him, were drawn to Amore, who he was holding because she was cold now, and Jolly who was giving her a tarot card reading.
They were at it for a couple of minutes before Jolly sighed. "I'm sorry Amore, I just don't see love in your future." Amore burst into tears.
"Jolly how could you say that to her?" Livy demanded as Jolly walked over to the pixie and handed her a handkerchief she had charmed out of a card. "Amore, the cards aren't always right." Amore looked slightly happier at this and her tears had stopped.
Seeing that everything was okay now Helia turned his attention back to Flora, not that it was ever really that far from her in the first place.
Ninfea was now trying to encourage her. "You can do it Flora." Helia placed Amore on the ground next to Jolly who was showing her some more magic tricks and went to go stand a few paces behind Flora. Flora tried another spell but it had no effect, and then glanced behind her to see Helia watching.
"That was no good either. I have to think and figure out the best way to do this." Helia seeing a chance to give her a little encouragement of his own stepped forward so he was now standing right behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Don't think Flora, listen to your heart. There's a lot of power there. I know there is." Flora stiffened when she realized he was right behind her but then relaxed against his touch. Neither of them noticed but Sky, Brandon, and Layla were smirking at the two of them.
Flora looked up at him and he smiled at her, showing just how much he believed in her.
Flora took one last deep breath. "Alright" she transformed in a burst of light and was then in her fairy form. Again she placed her hands on either side of the flower and focused her energy. Her hair started whipping around in the wind she had summoned as she worked her magic and she began to glow followed by the flower. A few silent moments later the flower burst to life and leaves came shooting out of it. Flora smiled brighter than he had ever seen.
"You did it Flora!" Helia announced as everyone else started cheering for her. Flora stood up and was engulfed in a hug by Layla. "Alright! Go Flora!" When the two separated Helia whispered in her ear. "I knew you could do it." Flora blushed with no way of hiding it.
Layla noticing her friends blush tried to save her, "Come on let's collect some of these leave and then I'll make you girls a nice pot of tea."
Now none of them knew this but back at Alfea Faragonda and Grizelda were watching everything and it did not escape their notice how proud Helia was of Flora, as Grizelda pointed out. This would be how the rest of the staff of Alfea and Red Fountain as well as Headmistress Griffin of Cloud Tower would hear of the sure to be couple. Let's face it these teachers are huge gossips.
Layla and Flora had just finished making the tea and were pouring it into tea cups for the pixies.
"mmm" was heard from all of them. Lockette finished hers first quickly followed by Chatta.
"I feel better than ever."
"Me too! Headache's gone"
Digit finished hers next then hit a button on the little pad on her sleeve. "One hundred percent better." She smiled. Similar remarks came from Amore and Tune while Piff just babbled happily.
Glim flew over wanting some tea too. "You can have some." Layla told her as she handed her the cup. The pixie of fireflies drank it and giggled when her stomach started glowing.
Flora turned around to offer the same to the boys. "Would you like to try some tea?"
Brandon waved his arms in front of him chuckling as he said "Honestly, I'm kind of scared of that tea." While Helia and Sky just laughed. Flora and Layla looked to each other and shrugged their shoulders, pouring themselves some.
Lockette drew their attention away from Brandon and towards the flower of life. "Ooh look"
Thy turned their heads just in time to see the flower glow again and then, to the sound of their astonished oohing and ahhing, out popped a baby pixie. Livy was the first to speak. "Looks like the flower of life is all better!"
Brandon of course voiced his thoughts again. "Well that explains the mystery of how pixies are…umm…" he couldn't finish his thought, mesmerized by the sight in front of him so Ninfea helped him out. "That's right; this is how pixies and pixie pets are born."
The pixies seeing the shocked look on their faces burst out into laughter, definitely over their colds.
Not long after the pixies had all drank their tea it was getting late. "I guess we should head back?" Sky asked the other two specialists."
"Let's go" Brandon replied as he walked off with the others.
"Come on Flora let's say bye to the boys." Layla called behind them and so they stopped and said goodbye to Layla but when Flora didn't follow continued on to the ship. Helia would be lying if he said he wasn't just slightly disappointed.
They had gotten into the ship and were lifting off when he had heard her call his name. "Helia!"
Helia, who had been piloting the ship, immediately lowered it and once it touched the ground was out of his seat and down the ramp, making his way over to Flora.
Now standing in front of her he waited for her to speak. "I wanted to tell you…um... sorry I don't know how I'm supposed to do this." She admitted shyly folding her hands.
Helia was patient with her. "Well Flora what is it that you're trying to do?" he asked her.
"I've never said this to anyone before so uh" her quiet voice was drowned out by Sky's voice booming voice over the ships speaker "Helia, please report to your ship. Helia internally screamed but kept his composure.
"They're in a hurry." He said to her as way of explaining the interruption.
Her confidence now entirely gone she said even quieter. "Oh well in that case then, we can talk some other time."
Helia smiled at her "Okay I'll talk to you later then." And turned and walked back to the ship. Why couldn't Sky just wait another minute?
Behind him as he entered the ship once again Helia could hear Chatta shouting but only made out "trust your heart".
Another breath later Flora was calling out to him again "Helia I really like you!"
Helia froze in shock for a moment before turning around with a cheesy smile gracing his face. "And I like you!" then blew her a kiss as the ramp rose, taking him in the ship with it.
The pixies started cheering having witnessed the conversation between the two while Layla nodded in approval. Chatta however was louder than the rest. "I knew he'd say it back, haha!" and pumped her fist in the air.
Before the ship left Helia and the other boys saw Flora finally gain her charmix and all three of them smiled, happy for the girl as she twirled around hugging Chatta. Then they were gone and on their way back to red Fountain.
Breaking from his daze Helia turned to Sky and Brandon. "Would it have killed you to give me another minute?"
Brandon looked aghast. "What you mean just let you talk to a girl without anyone hassling you about it? Never!"
Sky laughed and added. "Welcome to the squad Helia, don't worry you'll get used to it eventually."
Brandon then stage whispered to him "No you won't" and then at full volume. "Just wait until we get back and tell Riven and Timmy."
Helia rolled his eyes at his friends but then smirked.
"Yeah Brandon, and while you're at it we can relive all your stories about Amentia too." Sky started guffawing while Brandon looked shook.
"You know, you're pretty cruel for a pacifist." He remarked bitterly.
"It comes with being a part of this squad." Helia countered. They would have continued but Sky had just fallen out of his seat and onto the floor from all his laughing.
Back at Red Fountain
The three specialists had just made it back to the school and were walking to their dorm. When they got there they saw Timmy and Riven lounging around. "Hey guys how'd it go?" Timmy asked them Riven looking up from his magazine also wondering the same thing.
"Great Flora fixed the flower and the pixies are better now." Helia told them.
Brandon couldn't contain himself anymore as he was bouncing on his feet. Riven had just opened his mouth to ask him what was up when he blurted out. "Helia's got a girlfriend!" he seemed relieved to have said that and Helia and Sky both gave him odd looks.
Riven smirked. "So you finally told Flora you like her then?"
Helia told him the honest truth. "Actually she told me first."
"Well it doesn't matter who said it first, congratulations Helia. I think you two are going to be very happy together." Riven agreed.
"Thanks guys. Actually she got her charmix too."
Riven nodded his head to this. "A boyfriend and a charmix in one day? Girls on a roll."
The guys started laughing but were halted by the door bursting open. Helia thought to himself 'does everyone in this school try to break the doors when they open them?' thinking back to both Riven and Brandon.
It actually wasn't a student like they had thought so Riven had quickly deflated instead of yelling when he saw it was actually Codatorta. They all saluted. "Sir".
"At ease boys. You're needed in headmaster Saladin's office on the double."
With that Codatorta was rushing back down the hall to Saladin's office himself with the boys following him.
They had all finally just gotten back, what was going on now? When they arrived in the office to see the solemn look on Saladin's face they knew it was bad news.
It was then that they found out Bloom had been kidnapped and taken to Shadowhaunt, where their next mission would take place.
They were out of the room and running back to the dorm to grab their weapons seconds after Saladin had finished speaking before speeding back down to the ship and boarding it, making a stop at Alfea to pick up the girls and make up a game plan before heading off the Shadowhaunt.