So, I throw the cannon out the window in this chapter and I'm now trying to figure out how Bloom is going to learn essential information.
A/N: edited 13/08/2021
Stella's ImposterAs the first month at Alfea bled into the second, Onyx felt confident enough in Bloom's friendship with the 'Winx club' as they had taken to calling themselves, that she started spending more time away from Bloom and on her own. Onyx would spend time in the library or training her skills, meeting Riven at a half way point between Alfea and Red Fountain, and of course there was her time helping in the kitchens. She'd taken to not helping for dinner times, since that was when the student where given food duty because she didn't want to deal with teenagers who didn't know how to cook. Even when Bloom and the Winx club were assigned kitchen duty, she didn't venture into the kitchens because they didn't really know how to do anything more than make sandwiches.
Bloom was rapidly picking up on the magic that she was being taught now that she truly believed that she could do it and that she was a fairy – a mental block that she shattered upon taking up her fairy form. Onyx wasn't sure how she managed it, but Bloom was the centre around which the Winx girls gravitated – she was the reason they held together despite the clashing of personalities. She found common ground with each of them, and was the one who normally dissolved arguments that cropped up. Despite being considered part of the group, Onyx had an outside prospective and could see the tension between the girls – especially between Tecna (who was very rigid in temperament) and Stella (who was very loose and loud in temperament).
Because of the time that she was spending away from Bloom, she was confused when she returned to their rooms to discover all of the girls gathered in Stella's room going through her wardrobe when she knew that they should be in the kitchen.
"Shouldn't you lot be cooking?" Onyx stepped into the room which she rarely had cause to be within.
"It's a social emergency!" Stella announced dramatically. "Prince Sky asked me on a date, but I don't know what to wear!"
"You have a lot of clothes, just pick one." Onyx blinked, not understanding why her wardrobe choice required all five of the girls to make the decision.
"That's the problem. I have so many clothes, I don't know which one to choose!" Stella wailed dramatically.
Flora pulled out a black dress. "You think I could borrow this sometime. I don't wear much black and I…"
"Hello!" Stella interrupted. "Focus Flora we are here to help me!"
"Doesn't Sky lose points because of the short notice?" Tecna questioned, taking an orange dress out and examining it.
"Yes, but he gets bonus points for the formal invitation!" Stella sighed.
Onyx shook her head at that point and left to let the girls continue helping Stella' with her indecision problems. She had some reading to do. She had taken some history books and biographies from the library and hadn't had the opportunity to read them yet. She was trying to discover what the sauce of Bloom's magic was – who the girl's family was – because she was not an earth fairy by birth. From her dreams, Onyx new that there was something to do with the Great Dragon and a woman… but there weren't any names on which she could work, making her research a slow-going process.
Since Bloom got very worried when Onyx locked herself into her room during 'social hours' as she called the time after dinner and before curfew, Onyx settled into the corner of the 'living space' where she had moved an arm chair. She barely looked up from her book when the girls ran to tend to the food that was burning, and especially didn't look up when Stella left in heals and a blue dress.
When the girls returned, Musa collapsed on one of the chairs in a dramatically sulky position. "I don't know what's Riven's problem?! Why doesn't he ask me out like how Sky did Stella?"
"What?" Tecna asked confused.
"I'm just saying…" Musa sighed.
"Well, I've taken the potion and it should start working in the morning." Bloom announced, coming in and taking a seat. They had decided to try a potion they had found in young fairies' magazine, and providing or increasing good judgement.
"Musa wants to go out with Riven." Tecna informed Bloom.
"But he was so rude the last time we saw him," Bloom looked to Musa, confused.
"Well, I did read that some boys will act rude when they are crushing." Tecna said thoughtfully.
"So, you think I should call him?" Musa asked hopefully.
"Ask tomorrow, when her good judgement spell kicks in." Tecna laughed, causing Musa and Bloom to also laugh.
"You know, I think you should try being Riven's friend before thinking about dating." Onyx decided to comment. Being pestered by a love-struck girl was the last thing Riven needed as he adjusted to working in a team. "You never know, you may decide that his personality isn't worth his looks."
With these last words, Onyx closed her books and headed to her room. She had hung around the girls long enough to know that if they weren't talking homework, they gossiped and giggled. She couldn't put up with such conversations for long.
With all her homework and study done for the day, her exercise routine slotted for the morning before she helped the chief, she slotted the nights for her crafts: be that working with her clothes or working with her jewels. She couldn't dedicate the time that she had in the past to making things to sell, but that didn't mean she couldn't make clothes to wear herself and begin stock piling jewellery for the future. She was currently working on a complicated design which had her bending thin metal into an intricate chain, with excess chain which she would later form around a gem or stone. She was hoping that shaping it like that would allow her to finally crack the embedding magic into her jewlerry code.
Onyx returned to the dorm room the next morning after her normal exercise to the sounds of someone destroying things in Stella's room. Bloom and Flora were coming out of their room, also looking to investigate the sounds.
"You girls okay?" Onyx questioned.
"Yeah, but it sounds like Stella's date didn't go well." Flora glanced to the door when they heard Stella's roar of anger.
"Come on, let's get the scoop." Bloom knocked on Stella's door just as Tecna and Musa opened their dorm door and something else crashed in Stella's room.
"That sounded expensive." Musa pointed out.
"Stella!" Bloom knocked louder. "Everything alright?!"
Stella opened the door enough to peak her head out, she was still wearing the same blue dress she had left in the night before. From the looks of things, it seemed like she had gotten in at some point after Onyx left for her exercises and had started destroying things. Very unusual behaviour for Stella who was very attached to physical things.
"Hiya, what's up?" Stella questioned.
"We were going to ask that. What are you doing in there? What's with all the noise?" Tecna questioned.
"Ah, nothing. Just… just doing a little cleaning." Stella answered, glancing back over her shoulder before she told a lie. "A little re-organizing."
Onyx frowned, focusing her magic on Stella – trying to see if she had been cursed, only to discover something much worse. There was not even a hint of Stella's magic in this girl – instead, she felt like ice and anger. This was one of the witches who had been trying to get Stella's ring. They must have set her up, captured Stella and Icy took her place to find the ring that was not on Stella's person.
If Icy was here, then that meant Darcy and Stormy had Stella and would likely seriously harm the other girl if Icy didn't return. And they had no way of getting Stella's location out of Icy unless they followed her back to wherever their base was – they wouldn't risk taking her back to Cloud Tower since their actions were not something that Headmistress Griffen would have approved off.
With the take-action temperament of her dorm mates, she would have to explain what was happening to the headmistress in the hopes that Faragonda and Griffen would be able to locate and retrieve Stella before anything happened to her – but then most location spells typically required lots of power and personal knowledge of the individual or place they were trying to locate. Either way, if she didn't take action then Bloom would take action to find Stella when she worked out that her friend had been replaced.
"So, what time did you get in last night? We didn't hear you." Bloom asked.
"How did the date go? We expect every detail." Flora tagged on.
"I got in late and the date went fine, okay?" Icy answered curtly. Releasing that the witch was losing her patience, Onyx tagged her with a tracking spell. It wouldn't last long, one of the perils of using a discrete spell was that it had a short life expectancy when on something with magic. But her tracking spell would get around the issue of attempting to locate the witch later.
"Wait, you're not getting off that easy. C'mon tell, tell!" Bloom prompted.
"Uh, it was very romantic…" Icy tried thinking of what Stella would say in this situation.
"Did he walk you home? Did he kiss you good night?" Bloom asked for detail.
"Uh come on! Don't you people have your own lives!? How totally pathetic!" Icy lost character and slammed the door on them.
With Icy safely destroying Stella's room and the others getting ready to start for their day, Onyx quickly headed to her room to shower and dress. Instead of heading to breakfast and then Wizgiz's class with the others when she was done, she headed to the Headmistress' office.
"Headmistress, I need to speak with you and Headmistress Griffen?" Onyx greeted the retired fairy godmother by being straight to the point.
"May I ask why?" Headmistress Faragonda questioned while pulling a glass projector orb from her desk.
"Three of her student's have kidnapped one of your own." Onyx stated bluntly.
Faragona's face immediately went from the kind and patient headmistress she was, to a serious and fierce defender she had been forced to be at several points in her time – one of the reasons she had been allowed to take headship. She did something, and the orb activated. After a moment, Griffen's face appeared in the hologram above the orb.
"This is most unusual Faragonda, why have you contacted me?" Griffen demanded.
"Three of your students have crossed a boundary they can't come back from," Faragonda looked up and nodded at Onyx to explain.
"Headmistress Griffen, has Headmistress Faragona filled you in on the actions of Darcy, Stormy and Icy and their attempts to steal Stella's ring?" Onyx questioned.
"Yes, I've been appraised." Griffen agreed.
"Last night, they lured Stella away from the school by making her believe she had a date with a boy from Red Fountain, at the Black Lagoon. This morning, Icy turned up in Stella's place using a transformation hex of some kind to take her face and voice. At the minute, Bloom has Stella's ring, and so I believe Stella is alive and relatively unharmed – I don't know how long that will last when Icy realises that the ring isn't in Stella's room. It won't take Icy long to realise it's on someone else's person and have Darcy and Stormy get the name of that individual from Stella." Onyx gave as much detail as she could and a run down of her current concern.
"The Black Lagoon, I have never heard of it. Griffen?" Faragonda questioned her fellow headmistress.
"It is not a name I am familiar with." Griffen frowned. "I will be at Alfea shortly to detain Icy. We will then proceed to find Darcy and Stormy and retrieve your missing fairy. They will be punished most severely for what they have done, this is their last step before I expel them."
With that, the connection cut off.
"Bloom, and the others of your dorm are in class?" Faragonda questioned.
"Yes, but once class is over, they will go back to the dorms looking for Stella. Should I tell them the truth?" Onyx questioned. This was an issue between the two schools and the safety of their students, Faragonda had authority in this situation – she had knowledge that Onyx didn't have.
"Hmm… I would like you to remain here until Griffen turns up. You know where Bloom is at all times? Can you tell her emotional state as well?"
"Yes, ma'am." Onyx confirmed.
"And I assumed, you have some kind of monitoring system on your dorms?"
"Yes, ma'am. I will know when Icy leaves the rooms. She is currently in Tecna and Musa's room. I assume she is throwing things round like she was with Stella's things." Onyx twitched slightly as she explained this. Icy wouldn't be able to get into her room, which may make her assume that she was the one with the ring, but she couldn't put the same protections on the other girl's rooms because she didn't reside there. It had to be the resident who put up the wards and she didn't count as a resident in the other girl's rooms.
There was a sharp knock before the door opened and Headmistress Griffen entered the office.
"So, where is my disrespectful student?" Griffen questioned.
"She is…" Onyx started, before pausing and re-evaluating the information she had. "She is presently leaving the dorm rooms and heading in the direction of the exit."
"Can you lead us too her?" Faragonda questioned.
"Yes, but perhaps it would be best to follow her? She could lead us to Stella, Darcy and Stormy?" Onyx pointed out.
"What is the distance of your tracking spell?" Griffen questioned with an appraising eyebrow.
"Theoretically thirty miles," Onyx answered. "Never tested it beyond six."
"Which covers Magics," Faragonda hummed. "They wouldn't take Stella further than that, would they?"
"No, not if they wanted something from her and her friends." Griffen answered after a moment to think it through. "You know which of your little friends have what they are looking for?"
"Bloom, and they can't get to her without me knowing about it." Onyx answered, steel in her tone as she met Griffen's eyes.
"Alright, let's follow Icy to her destination." Griffen conceded. "Faragonda, would you like the honours."
"Of course," Faragonda got up and moved so she was stood between Onyx and Griffen. Once she was in place, she cast an invisibility spell over the three of them, linking it so they could still see each other but would be unnoticed to everyone else.
"This way," Onyx took the lead and led the two headmistresses from the school and in the direction of Magix. Icy hadn't taken the bus, instead choosing to walk the distance. She had likely dropped the body transformation and didn't want to be seen coming from Alfea. Why she didn't just teleport, Onyx didn't know since that was a skill that Icy and the other two witches had shown they had.
They had made it to Magic when the tracking spell started to flicker and fade. Onyx reached over and touched the two Headmistress' arms to draw them to the side so they could talk without becoming invisible obstacles.
"We have two problems," Onyx informed them.
"Your tracking spell has timed out?" Headmistress Griffen identified the first problem.
"Yes, I can take us to the last location it pinged from, but from there it will be a guessing game." Onyx confirmed. "But Bloom is heading to magic, her speed suggests that she's on the bus. If she is coming this way, then so are the others. Although, they might split up and a pair may be going to Red Fountain to see what happened on Stella's date."
"Right, so we're running out of time if we want to resolve this situation before anymore student's get involved." Faragonda said gravely.
"Lead us to the last point of the tracker." Griffen requested.
"Of course," Onyx nodded and led the way. They'd maintain a ten-minute distance from Icy, but now Onyx set a faster pace in the hopes of catching up with the Witch before the situation got any worse.
The point of loss for the tracking spell led to the south side of Magic, away from the home and shops and leading to the middle of nowhere.
"There is only one direction that this path leads to," Griffen smiled. "So, we just follow it until we encounter them."
"Onyx, please let us know if Bloom begins moving in this direction." Faragonda requested. "But remain behind us. This is not your fight."
"As you wish, headmistress." Onyx fell back as Griffen and Faragonda moved side by side in the direction they knew Icy would have travelled from here.
Eventually, they came to a wooden cafe which was stood on its own next to a tree which appeared to have its full autumn leaves.
"Illusions," Griffen sneered, swiping her hand through the air and dispelling the illusion to reveal a dead tree and a shamble of a building.
"Trap," Faragonda corrected.
"Well, if they are expecting fairies, let's give them fairies." Griffen smiled.
"You hate illusions," Faragonda chuckled, weaving an illusion to create the image of Onyx and her dorm mates.
Walking invisible behind the illusions, the three of them entered the building.
"You showed up a lot quicker than I was expecting," Icy stepped out of the shadows, disguised as Stella.
"Stella!" Faragonda made the illusion of Bloom speak.
"Welcome." Stella made the door shut. "Now, if you girls don't mind… I'm taking my ring back! And while I'm at it… I'm gonna teach you little pixies a lesson!"
As she blasted a steam of magical energy at the illusions, Fargonda allowed them to fade while also dropping the invisibility spell on herself and Griffen.
"What the…" Stella stepped back in surprise as Griffen sent a blast of magic through the room, stripping the hiding illusion from Stormy and Darcy who had Stella between them in an electrified rope hoop.
"I'd advise you to let my student go, immediately." Faragonda requested politely.
"How did you find us?" Darcy demanded.
"You got sloppy." Griffen informed them. "Now, you girls are in enough trouble without defying our orders. Release the fairy."
Icy decided not to listen, launching an attack at her headmistress.
While the two headmistresses dealt with subduing the witches, Onyx got behind them and to Stella in order to rescue the foolish teen who had been caught in a trap. Once Stella was out of the line of fire, it was much easier for the headmistresses to subdue the three witches.
"Stella, you okay?" Onyx questioned, breaking the binding spell.
"I'm fine. They wanted my ring, but I didn't have it." Stella admitted, staring wide eyed as Griffen managed to hit Darcy and Stormy with a blast a of green magic which knocked them out. Faragonda used the distraction to bind Icy.
"Well, that was exciting," Faragonda smiled, turning to Stella. "Are you okay?"
"Yes headmistress, I'm fine." Stella stuttered out. "Thank you, for coming to get me."
"I shall take them back to my school and bind them there. They shouldn't be bothering you again." Griffen said reassuring. "And Onyx, it was a pleasure to meet you."
