As always, thank you to everyone who took the time to read the first chapter.

Warning: Very brief mention of SA in the first section.

Enjoy :)

Chapter 2: The girl Stella swears she knows from somewhere

Ofelia had pushed them out of the infirmary within minutes of the girl being brought in. She was in rough shape; they didn't need to be experts to see that. Once they were in the light, the extent of her bruises and scratches were much more visible and much more severe. There was so much dried blood on her clothes that it had made Tecna nauseated. It was nothing compared to some of the injuries she had seen during the battle, but the girl's injuries were nothing to laugh at either. Even the pixie that had tumbled out of her hood – a baby if its size was anything to go by – looked to be in rough shape and had a few scratches and bruises of its own.

"That pixie was so small, much smaller than the o- than I'd imagined" Bloom commented once they were back in their common room. She dropped herself onto the couch and kicked off her heels. Tecna took a seat beside her, informing the redhead that she believed the pixie to be a baby, and thanking whatever god existed that she didn't own heels. Bloom was rubbing her feet and mumbling about them hurting a lot.

"I wonder what happened to them." Flora shouted through the slightly open door of her room, coming out seconds later in a pair of pajamas. "Poor things were in really rough shape."

They speculated over what could have happened. Suggestions ranged from the entirely possible – she was a girl from the city who had been abducted and/or assaulted – to the ridiculous – she had escaped from a pirate ship and swam into the river that ran through Magix. Tecna wasn't even sure pirates existed anymore. She knew there was record of them centuries ago, but she couldn't think of any in more recent history.

"She looks so familiar" Stella mumbled over and over again, never adding anything to the conversation besides that she swore she knew the girl from somewhere. It was suggested that maybe the girl was from Solaria – that was denied – or that maybe she simply reminded Stella of someone she knew, but the princess was adamant she knew that specific girl from somewhere.

"I hope she wakes up soon."

"Speaking of waking up soon" Tecna segued. "It is past three; we should probably be getting to bed."

"Oh, who cares? It's not like we have class tomorrow. Besides, I know if I just focus, I'll remember who she is."

"We do have class tomorrow" Musa sighed. "And you've been trying to figure out who she is for hours now."

"We do?" Tecna rolled her eyes at the blonde. How could she have forgotten they had classes tomorrow – or rather, today? That was the whole reason they had arrived yesterday, to be present for the first day of classes. Though knowing Stella it was just as likely she'd shown up for the dance and not for the classes. "Whatever, it's just the first classes. It'll all be introductory bullshit anyways."

"That is exactly why we need to go. I am sure the teachers will have a lot of information on what we should expect from the year."

The seats of the lecture halls had never been comfortable, but they might as well have been the softest mattress ever in Bloom's opinion. Thinking about what might have happened to the girl had kept her tossing and turning for half the night. It was a far cry from dreams of Daphne – dreams she hadn't had since defeating the trix – but somehow they were much more disruptive of her sleep cycle than Daphne had been.

The second-year students were gathered in the lecture hall before they went to their first classes. Apparently, Faragonda had some important speech planned just for them. Bloom waited patiently for the rest of the class to arrive as she absentmindedly watched Musa sip an energy drink beside her. Flora and Tecna were beside the singer, both also utterly exhausted. Stella was on Bloom's other side, staring off into the distance. Bloom couldn't figure out if Stella was dead to the world because she was tired or because she was still trying to place who the girl was.

"Good morning, ladies" Miss Faragonda began. Bloom's head looked over the class as Faragonda did her usual introduction. There were only about twenty-five girls in the room. They had been forty last year; had they really lost fifteen people to war and drop-outs? She could swear most of the casualties been Red Fountain students.

Bloom caught Flora's eye. The nature fairy gave her a questioning glance but nodded her head towards the headmistress to indicate that Bloom should be paying attention. She forced her thoughts back to the headmistress' speech, where expectations and goals for second year girls were being outlined. Maybe Flora was right: Bloom should be paying attention. She wasn't even sure she'd met the goals for first years last year.

"... earn your Charmix. The Charmix is earned when a fairy gets in touch with their true self and learns to grow. It w-"

"What does that even mean?" Amaryl interjected, raising her hand as she spoke. Bloom was inclined to agree – as was everyone else in the class it appeared from the multiple nods and verbal affirmations.

"It means something different for every fairy. There is no one size fits all answer."

"So, what? We're just supposed to hope that we figure it out?"

"For some, it will require a great deal of self-reflection. For others, the moment for growth will find them. Every fairy experiences the earning of their Charmix differently, some never do. It is your goal for the year, but you will not fail if you do not earn it."

Confused murmurs filled the room as the girls vocalised their uncertainty. Beside her, Musa and Tecna were asking why it was a goal if it wasn't a requirement. It was Eleanor's voice that came out above the rest of them. "So, then, like, what's the point?"

"Your Charmix is a power booster to your base form. It will increase the strength of your attacks and give you boosts of power in areas where magic is subdued or when your magic is hard to connect to. Yes, Bloom?"

"What do you mean by areas where our magic is subdued?"

"Ther-"

"Oh! I've got it! It's..." Stella trailed off when she realised the whole class was staring at her with confused and annoyed looks. She sheepishly retook her seat, giving Faragonda an apologetic glance.

"There are areas of the magic dimension where leaders have cast spells that dim or entirely suffocate magic. The goal of most of these is preservation of the natural area, though in some cases it has been used to reduce the number of casualties and damage in cases of civil unrest. There are currently none of the latter, but there are a few examples of the former."

"I see..."

"Are there any other questions about your goals and expectations for this year? Emily?"

"Is the Charmix required in order to earn our Enchantix?"

"It is not. It will, however, be much easier to adapt to the large amount of power that will come with your Enchantix if you've had the booster step that is your Charmix. Anything else?" The headmistress surveyed the room for a few moments, waiting for any hands to shoot up. When none did, she continued. "Very well, a few final announcements. First, the reveal of the new Red Fountain campus will be next Sunday, October first. The entire school is invited. Admission tickets will be delivered to your dorms. I expect you girls to be on your best behavior."

Bloom gulped, feeling Faragonda's gaze zero in on her in the group of students. No starting fights with visiting princesses; Bloom got the message loud and clear.

"Red Fountain will also be having a benefit concert in February. Information will be available on the school portal, as well as on the board in the main hall. Students are encouraged to sign up. To do so, please see Professor Dufour."

"Oh, Musa, you should sign up for that" Flora whispered to the group. "You would blow the roof off the school."

"I do not think they want her doing that. They have not even unveiled the new campus yet."

"Metaphorically, Tecna. I just meant that she would be amazing."

"Oh, then yes, I fully agree."

"There is a contest for all second-year dorms. The suite with the highest average midterm grades will win a week-long all expenses paid trip to the resort realm. It will include three and a half days in the ski lodge followed by three and a half days of beach front camping. The winning dorm will be announced upon return from mid-year break, and the trip in early March."

"We could totally win that. Between Musa, Flora and Tecna's grades, we must be somewhere near the top. I just need to really buckle down and Stella, you'll need to... actually study."

"I study!"

"Just opening the book doesn't count, Stella" Musa grumbled, ignoring the daggers that Stella was shooting her.

"Lastly," Faragonda said, bringing the excited girls to a standstill silence. "We are announcing a new venture: an exchange program with Cloud Tower. We saw how well you fought side by side with the witches of Cloud Tower. Headmistress Griffin and I are hopeful that it will bring about a new era of peace between our schools. Th-"

"Peace? Miss Faragonda, you can't be serious. The witches live to torment us!"

"Peace is not a quick process. We understand that old habits die hard and some of you may hold resentment towards the witches for past pranks, but Miss Griffin and I believe that it is worth the effort. Now, as I was saying: this exchange is open to all second- and third-year students. The exchange will take place from January twenty-ninth to February second."

They were dismissed for their first classes. The girls filed out, many still excited about the possibility of an all-expenses paid vacation, others complaining about Faragonda being out of her mind if she thinks that an exchange with Cloud Tower would go well. Her friends, though, appeared to have a different subject on their minds.

"I know who she is" Stella informed them, trying – and failing – to keep her voice just above a whisper. She's Crown Princess Aisha of Andros. I've only met her a few times, and she was always much cleaner and dressed much more... plainly would be the nice way of phrasing it."

"What's the princess of Andros doing wandering through the woods in the middle of the night in Magix?" Bloom wondered.

"Maybe she was on some sort of diplomatic trip and something happened to her?"

"Should we be contacting the Androsian embassy?"

"I thought Andros had a crown prince?" Musa questioned as she tossed her energy drink can in the garbage and pulled a new one out of her backpack. Flora started to tell her she really shouldn't be drinking that much, but backed down when Musa glared at her.

"They haven't for like five years. He died, remember?"

"No I don't remember..."

"Honestly Musa, you're supposed to know this" Stella reprimanded. Bloom could swear she had heard Stella say something along the lines of never being able to remember the who's who of other realms unless they were closely allied with Solaria, but she didn't bring that up. The last thing she wanted was to give Musa a spark to sass Stella back.

"I'm fifth in line for a throne that I don't want. Stop sounding so much like my family."

"What happened to the prince?" Bloom asked, trying to stop the impending argument.

"No idea. His cause of death was never announced. All I know is he died and that her father had to fight like crazy for her to be recognised as the official heir."

"Does Andros not reco-"

"Shouldn't you girls be headed to class instead of standing around and gossiping?" Griselda's voice cut her off, scaring her half out of her wits. The girls gave her a swift yes Miss Griselda before scurrying off to their next classes.

Stella had never been on a train before. It was always planes or chauffeured cars. The train from Magix City to the township of Carac was cute, though, with a great view, so she had suffered through it. Besides, it would be worth it, she thought as she descended at the Carac station, if it meant that her plans for Brandon's birthday went off well.

"It feels great to stretch my legs" Brandon commented with a small laugh as he disembarked behind her. The ride in had been two hours long and, save for a single quick trip to the bathroom, neither had gotten up the whole time. He'd been telling her about the set up at Red Fountain – a question that all of the girls had had when they'd realised the new campus would only be accessible once it was unveiled. The boys had been set up in tents with porta potties and pop-up shower tents. The whole thing sounded awful to Stella, but Brandon seemed to not mind too much. Better than training for Eraklyon's army he'd claimed, which led Stella to believe she and Sky should be having a talk.

"Our first stop: lunch. I'm famished" Stella informed him, leading him to the cute little beachfront restaurant that she'd booked a reservation for in twenty minutes. She had wanted to arrive a day early to scope out Carac but had chosen not to. It wouldn't be as fun to re-explore the same small town a few days later if she already knew what to expect. Better to trust the internet and their reviews than to risk ruining her day with Brandon.

The restaurant was a simple one – by Stella's standards anyways. It was all wooden columns, white linens, with white and green accents. They were seated at a table just in front of the beach where they could watch the ongoing volleyball game or stare out at the dozens of people laying on the beach or splashing in the waters. "I'm so happy it's a nice day" Stella commented as she handed her menu back to the waitress. "This wouldn't be nearly as nice if it were raining."

"And we know how you feel about the rain" Brandon teased. It had rained once during his trip to Solaria. That had been the seventh time in her entire life that it had rained. Solaria just wasn't a rain-friendly realm; major downpours tended to shut down the entire realm. Solarians didn't fare well in the rain and that was that. Stella, fairy of the sun (and moon, though she tended to not lean towards those powers much), in particular didn't do well in the rain. She could survive, but she wouldn't be happy about it.

After lunch, they walked through the downtown core that followed the beach, stopping off at boutiques. Stella knew that shopping was her thing, but they'd done something similar in Solaria and had had a great time, so she thought maybe they could recreate it with a place neither had been. They wandered into every boutique or gallery in sight. Stella bought him – and herself, she wasn't going to pass up a shopping opportunity – everything he liked or that she thought would suit him. He argued with her about it, but she shushed him. He deserved it, she insisted. He was the sweetest person ever, between having patiently handled her crying to him about how much she missed him and the girls, listening to her complain about Solarian politics that she gave no shits about and constantly making her laugh and feel like a goddess. If he wanted to own the realm of Magix, she would find a way to get it for him.

"I think that's enough, Stell" he chuckled as she slung the twentieth… twenty-fifth? bag onto her arm. She had to admit he might have a point. They were running out of space and carrying them was becoming heavy. Not to mention that they had dinner reservations in half an hour – which was not nearly enough time to peruse any other boutiques and make it to dinner.

"It's an Eraklyan restaurant. It took me forever to find; there are so few of them in Magix" Stella told him as they walked up to the main entrance. The restaurant was exquisite, built of marble that was, according to the blurb on the website, an exact match for the marble of the palace columns. "I know you just got to Magix and probably don't miss the food from home all that much yet, but whatever."

"I love it. Thank you, Stella." Brandon offered her a smile before leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek. She beamed up at him. Gods, she really was the luckiest girl to have someone as amazing as Brandon fall for her.

Flora spent way more time than she should have in the infirmary, but she couldn't help it. If something traumatizing had happened to the princess, she would need someone to guide her through the first few hours of processing. Flora would have killed for that when it was her, and she was determined to be that for anyone else. Riven wouldn't accept her support, but maybe Princess Aisha would be happy to have her.

There wasn't much to do while waiting for someone to come out of… could it be called a coma? It must be, it had been almost forty hours now since she'd stumbled onto campus. Flora occupied herself by getting ahead on her studies. She and the girls had discussed it at breakfast this morning and had agreed that they would try for that vacation; it would be amazing to get away together. Musa and Tecna already had near perfect grades, but she could stand to bring hers up a bit more. Not to mention that being ahead in shared classes would mean more time to help Bloom – who was a decent student already – and Stella – who could, frankly, be summed up as being at Alfea for the experience and not the education – study.

Ofelia and several nurses came in through the day to take the girl's vitals. Flora took a peek at Aisha's chart once they were alone again. She knew she probably shouldn't be, but she was just so curious. Aisha was, luckily, stable. Scans revealed that she didn't have any internal damage and all she needed was to recuperate her strength. Hopefully that wouldn't take much longer.

"Piff?"

Flora's head shot up so fast she might have given herself whiplash. Princess Aisha was sitting up in bed, her hair a disheveled mess and eyes panic-stricken as her head whipped around the room.

"Is Piff the pixie? The baby?"

"Yes" Aisha replied, looking at Flora as if she were only noticing her presence now. Flora approached her calmly, motioning to the baby pixie sleeping in a sweater on the bedside table. Aisha let out a shaky breath of relief as she moved towards the pixie only to collapse in the bed. "Well then" Flora grumbled, adjusting the princess so her head was on the pillow instead of the edge of the bed before heading out to alert Ofelia of what had just happened.

"It was nice. We had a great time" Brandon told her. It wasn't much of an answer, especially considering that when Musa had asked Stella about Brandon's visit to Solaria, the blonde had gone on for what seemed like an eternity

"That's it?"

"Well, I'm assuming Stella's already told you a bunch of details. There's not really much else to tell." Brandon thanked the barista for his cup of coffee, handing Musa's over at the same time. They'd gone to see a movie Getting coffee afterwards and wandering around the city afterwards was more of an impromptu decision.

"She has, but I thought maybe there was stuff she missed. Or that you'd have a different account of things –" she paused to sip her coffee. "- guess not. Which way do you wa-"

"She put me up at a hotel" Brandon said abruptly as he turned right.

"Alright, guess we're going that way. Is that bad? I mean it is Stella, so it had to be a nice hotel."

"Yeah, but why? Palaces have plenty of spare rooms." Brandon shook his head with a groan. Musa didn't know what to say. She was sure Stella had her reason, but Musa couldn't fathom what it would be.

"Do you think she doesn't want me to meet her parents? Like, she's… I don't know… whatever. How was your summer?"

"I think Stella has a bit of a weird relationship with her parents. And, I mean, you should already know that royal families tend to be super critical of the people their kids date –"

"Unless it's an arranged marriage. Sky's parents love Diaspro. Though that might be cause they've never had to spend time with her."

"Exactly." Musa shuddered to think of the criticism that Bloom would face from the king and queen of Eraklyon. She was technically royalty but of a dead planet which might as well make her a non-royal. Even if she was royalty of a live realm, she had broken up an arranged marriage that was likely years in the making, so they would still not take kindly to her. Musa didn't know much about Stella's family's attitude towards marrying non-royals, but she didn't think they'd take kindly to their crown princess being with a squire. "So maybe she just doesn't want you subjected to their criticism unless she knows you're serious?"

"I thought we were serious! She met my parents."

"By accident" Musa pointed out. Brandon reluctantly admitted that she was right. Musa chugged the rest of her coffee before it could get too cold and tossed the cup in the trash. "I don't think you need to freak out over it just yet."

"You're probably right."

"How was your birthday? Stella was really excited about it. She spent all of Friday night talking about her plans." She had. For the entirety of dinner on Friday night, Stella had gone on and on about the day trip to Carac. Bloom and Flora had gushed about how cute it was that they were taking a romantic day while Musa tried not to wonder if that was the type of thing Riven would secretly do. She doubted it, but she wouldn't be opposed to it if he did. In fact, she'd probably love it. He wouldn't talk about it until she wanted to blow her eardrums though.

"It was nice."

"Brandon. Dude." Musa stopped short, throwing up her hands in frustration. "You gotta give me something here."

"She chose an Eraklyan restaurant, which was sweet of her. Only problem was that it was all fancy food; there was nothing there I'd ever eaten or that my family could even dream of affording."

"Oh..."

"But that doesn't matter. She put a lot of thought into it and the fact that she would be willing to put that much effort into planning something for my birthday is good enough for me."

"Cute" Musa laughed.

"I am, thank you." Musa rolled her eyes at the squire. He really was Cecilia in male form, right down to the stupid fucking self-obsessed remarks. "So, what about your summer? Cecilia told me you guys had a lot of fun. She specifically mentioned Magix's Wizardpalooza."

"But that might be because of Timmy" Brandon added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, she is strangely attached to him…"

"Jealous?"

"No." But yes? She had no reason to be jealous; she knew she'd always be Cecilia's favourite person. Still, it niggled at her to know Cecilia had gotten so attached to Timmy so fast. Not that the specialist wasn't a great person – he was – but all it had taken was a day for Cecilia to decide that she loved him.

"Right."

"It was fun."

"They didn't make you feel like a third wheel?"

"A little bit actually, but it's okay. I did that to her when we were in Zenith." Tecna and Cecilia just did not mesh as well as Timmy and Cecilia had. Of course, Tecna might still have resented her for flirting with Timmy. It had been weird to watch Cecilia try to get on Tecna's good side only for the technological fairy to ignore her attempts. Eventually, Cecilia had accepted that Tecna would just not like her and she was fine with that – so long as that didn't turn Timmy against her. Musa had tried not to ignore one in favour of the other, but with them not getting along it turned out to be difficult. Because it was the only week she'd be with Tecna – as opposed to an entire summer with Cecilia – Musa had, she felt, ended up making Cecilia the accidental third wheel.

"It's a shame Riven didn't go. You would've had someone to talk to "

"Yeah, well" Musa started, trying to brush it off and most likely failing. She hated that Riven had refused their invitation. She had wanted to see him so badly it hurt. When she'd left Alfea in March, she was sure that four months away from Riven would help her get over him. It had been the complete opposite. A month and a half in, she found herself refreshing his PV page obsessively in hopes that he had posted. There was a brief moment where she'd considered texting him while they were in Magix, but her nerves got the best of her, and she chickened out. After that, she'd convinced herself that she didn't need to see him. Then she had actually seen him, and she realised she was doomed.

"Still into him?" Brandon asked, confirming that she was indeed failing at hiding the blush that had spread across her cheeks.

"Doesn't matter" she shrugged sadly. "I assume he's not really into dating after the whole mind control-love spell ordeal."

Her eyelids felt heavy, but her brain was awake. She didn't know what was going on, only that she was in civilization somewhere. She could hear voices in the distance – women, she thought – and people moving around. She was somewhere that had a soft bed and a warm but itchy blanket.

When Aisha opened her eyes and adjusted to the brightness of the room, she found herself in what she assumed was a hospital room. It didn't have the same clinical feel as most public hospitals she'd been in, so she assumed it might be a smaller or private one. It wasn't anywhere at home, that much was for sure.

One quick glance outside told her that wherever she was, it was night. She stepped out of the bed, barely managing to steady herself before her knee buckled. In the shadows, she could make out trees – lots of them. She thought maybe she was looking out at some sort of garden. There were tables and benches for the occupants of whatever this place was to sit and eat or talk.

Did her parents know where she was? They must be worried sick. How long had she been gone? How long had she been asleep?

What happened to the pixies?

Piff.

Piff was here. That girl - the nice one with the soft and sweet voice - had told her so. She would have to thank her if they ever met again.

Just like the girl had said, Piff was fast asleep on a sweater – she didn't know whose, it wasn't hers – on her bedside table. Aisha crouched down so she was eye level with the pixie. It was hard to tell without moving her, but Piff looked to be relatively unharmed. There was a scratch on her forehead, but not much else.

Aisha sat back on the bed and looked around. The room was plain, though there was a beautiful flowerpot on the windowsill that added at least a pop of colour. She hated the room. It was beige – she would be happy to never see beige again – and lonely. She would leave the room if she could, but moving, she had realised, hurt. Her entire body ached, and every move made the pain so much worse.

"You're awake" a woman stated from the door. She looked older – maybe forty – and had kind blue eyes and a gentle demeanor that eased Aisha's discomfort just enough. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore. Where am I?"

"You are at the Alfea School for Fairies. You stumbled onto the campus four days ago."