Author's Note: Thank you to female transformer toa and TrimusicaDrag00n90 for adding this story to their favorites. There will be another chapter of Autumn Halo coming that is eluded to in this chapter, right now I'm still finishing it up.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Winx Club or the Ronin Warriors.
Chapter 19) Broken ships, and New Relationships
Bloom sighed as she sat on the railing of the porch. The cool air was nice but the negative energy all round made her feel sick. She wondered why the house seemed to be protected from the energy. Looking up at the sickly green clouds it almost reminded her of how her home had been before they broke the ancestral witches curse. It was bad enough her home had to wait so long to be helped, she wouldn't just leave earth to the same fate. Earth was as much her home as Domino was. The creaking of the screen door made Bloom sigh heavily, her heart feeling heavy as it banged shut.
"Sky I don't want to talk to you, right now." Bloom stated, her voice tense with aggravation. There was no answer just two arms wrapping over her shoulders and held in front of her as a chin landed on her head. The smell of the coffee was the first hint that this wasn't Sky the second was the sleepy groan.
"'M not Sky, 'm the warrior o' Strata." Touma yawned and Bloom laughed a bit. It felt weird having him slur through tired words with his chin on her head.
"Sorry my mistake." Bloom laughed and Touma moved next to her. She shook her head as his eyes fought to keep from drooping shut. "You should drink your coffee before you fall over." Bloom said and Touma snorted. Bloom watched him drink down about half the cup before he set it on the railing and leaned on the railing careful not to knock over his cup.
"So… What did I miss?" Touma yawned. And while he might have been tired he had seen the four new guys.
"My ex and his friends arrived…." Bloom sighed dropping her chin into her hand.
Touma didn't need to be awake to realize how this explained everything. Well maybe not Shin's mood but he was sure it could be connected. It did explain why the girls were all grouped together or with one of them. He was sure all of them would do anything to keep them happy. After all they had become close allies and friends. Most importantly though the information didn't sit well with him that the man that hurt his friend so deeply was their guest now.
"Hey aren't you suppose to be working on something with Tecna?" Bloom asked and Touma sighed.
"It's too early… Plus I think you could use the company." Touma stated and Bloom rolled her eyes.
"It's almost noon."
"Yeah, I'm not a up before noon kinda guy." Touma yawned and Bloom shook her head. "Bloom you know if any of them do anything to make any of you uncomfortable, we'll throw them right out." Touma said more seriously as he grabbed his cup to finish his coffee. "I'm sure Kayura would laugh and Shu and Anubis would take pleasure in throwing them out. For Shu it would be a literal thing to. Lift them up throw them out." Touma snorted and Bloom chuckled a bit. It was a funny image to picture Shu lifting any of the specialist and throwing them out.
"Thanks Touma but I'm sure will be okay." Bloom smiled and she knew that it was true. "They may have hurt us, but that's not going to make us helpless. We have each other and better friends than them." Glancing over at Touma she caught the smirk on his lips. "What?"
"I knew you would be okay. You doubted it, before but you're starting to see what I know." Touma smiled and straightened up to stretch.
"Oh and what do you know?" Bloom challenged hopping off the railing and standing next to Touma. He was taller than her but a bit shorter than Sky was. Bloom remembered how Sky and her talked how it would be friendly, just like how she could talk to Touma. The difference was Touma was her friend, and not only her friend but a friend of her friends.
"I know that you're strong, brave, and if you want something you'll get it. That you never let the voice of other's hold you down…. Or you didn't as a child and with how strong you've been now, I believe that you kept all of your strength." Touma smiled and Bloom flushed. He placed a hand on her shoulder and touched his forehead to hers. "You're kind, but... maybe a little too stubborn." Touma teased smiling.
"Hey!" Bloom laughed smacking his arm.
"You're the perfect story heroine," Touma started, "and someday you'll find the one. I just don't want them to be like Romeo." Touma smiled and touched Bloom's arm in a friendly gesture. He could see the confusion in her eyes about the last part of his statement and maybe someday he'd explain but right now he wanted her to think on it.
Bloom couldn't keep Touma's gaze but she didn't push him away either. He just was tired and being silly, and he hadn't done anything that she was uncomfortable with. It was just Bloom felt almost timid or bashful by his comment. The heroes from stories almost always found love and had a happy ending. It was a popular trend, and it would never fall out of style. Bloom and Touma were too distracted by the other or their thoughts to notice that someone had come out onto the porch.
"Hey what are you doing!?"
Touma didn't know the voice and Bloom couldn't figure out who's name she should yell as Sky ripped Touma away from her, and Touma fell over the railing on the porch. It was nearly slow motion for Bloom and at the same time it was happening to fast for her to stop.
"TOUMA!" Bloom yelled as he hit the ground. She didn't bother rushing over to the stair, instead Bloom hopped the railing. "Sky why did you do that?!"
"I didn't mean for him to fall!" Sky shouted back at Bloom's accusing tone. He'd just been trying to keep Bloom away from another man. To keep her safe. They didn't know these people and they were just human's not even from the realms of magic. Yet his statement didn't seem to matter as a hand grabbed his shoulder and shoved him against the wall of the house and out of the way. The shorter man was glaring dangerously at Sky while others swarmed down to Touma. The dark blue hair and eyes told Sky it was the one the warriors called Shu, the man supposed to be protecting Stella.
"Is he okay?" Flora asked nervously from the doorway.
"'M fine…" Touma said groaning as Bloom and Seiji helped him up. There were a few cuts on his arm and the coffee cup laid shattered on the ground.
"You're lucky it was just the glass that hurt you." Seiji stated to his friend.
"Shu leave him alone it's just a misunderstand." Touma sighed as Touma let Seiji look at his forearm. He knew Seiji was checking to see how much glass was there and how deep it was.
"But Touma-"
"It's fine. We're all on edge and he already said he didn't mean for me to go over the railing. Why fixate on it." Touma argued and Shu relented backing away from Sky. "Well I guess the breaks over. So let's get some things straightened out." Touma noticed how Flora Seiji and Bloom had him wait for most of the people to go back inside before heading in with him. When he saw Shin setting the first aid kit on the table he grimaced. He hated having the tweezers dig things out. It always hurt.
"What happened?" Tecna asked.
"It was just an accident. No reason to worry." Touma cut in before anyone else could say anything.
Sky was surprised that Touma kept stressing it was an accident. He was also grateful for that, as he was feeling bad for the rough action. He'd figured the other was suppose to be a warrior and would have better balance, or was going to resist. He'd just wanted to protect Bloom from other men. It also was because he still cared for her even though he'd broken off their engagement. Sure he didn't love her as much as he used to but there was something missing since he called it off and he wanted to figure it out without any guys around Bloom.
With everyone gathering in the living room with the exception of Nasuti who remained in the doorway to the kitchen it was cramped. Roxy, and Kayura had taken seats on the stairs with Anubis. Touma sat on the couch with Bloom Seiji and Flora. Seiji was working to remove the couple pieces of glass from his arm. Shu and Ryo stood behind the couch with Stella between them. Aisha and Musa were next to Shin against the wall near the kitchen. Tecna was standing near the hallway with Rajura and Naaza. The Specialist had grouped together and stood closer to the door leading out of the manor.
"Right well I'm Ryo leader of the Ronin Warriors, that's Shin, Shu, Seiji, and Touma. Anubis, Rajura, and Naaza are the warlords of the Dynasty and Lady Kayura was the one keeping peace there." Ryo quickly introduced everyone now that there was less chaos distracting all of them.
"I'm Prince Sky, this is Brandon, Timmy and Helia." Sky introduced them, and shot a glare at Anubis when he snorted. It seemed no matter what the warlords and the specialist weren't going to get along. Then again the only people they had warmed up to quickly had been the winx girls. "And like we said earlier we're here to rescue the winx, it's been decided that they can't stay here."
"We're not going Sky. There are people here who need help." Bloom argued back.
"It's not that we don't want to help them, but our mission was to bring you back." Timmy offered. "We just need to check on the ship and we can go."
"You mean the ship that crashed? I doubt it will fly." Aisha said rolling her eyes.
"We can repair it, but the mission will still stand." Brandon said crossing his arms. He glanced over to Stella who instantly looked away.
"Yeah but we can't leave the ronin and the warlords!" Roxy argued. Timmy shifted his gaze down, while Helia remained passive and Brandon and Sky glared at the comment. It was all behavior that had the girls wondering.
"Sorry but the mission was to get you. We can't bring them back." Sky said. At that several voices broke out into protest, another fight bubbling below the surface of the words. Something had to be done or this wasn't going to work.
"Wait!" Tecna tried to get people's attention but it didn't work. "Hey guys!" Tecna tried again but only Rajura looked her way.
"Do you have an idea Lady Tecna?" He asked softly and Tecna nodded.
"Yeah, and I'm sure I can finish before they fix the ship." Tecna insisted and that was all Rajura needed. He turned back to the group and smirked. Tecna jumped and several of the girls shrieked as the lights exploded bright colors raining down. The specialist had drawn their weapons, flinched or in Timmy's case lost their balance. The ronin had also been surprised but had all turned to glare at Rajura. The illusion ended with the lights being just fine and the warlord smirking.
"Lady Tecna has a proposal." He calmly said and while it looked like some of the specialist were going to say something Tecna beat them to the punch.
"I'm nearly finished with a communication spell. It'll take no time to finish and prep. We can then ask to bring everyone back. It's a compromise and it'll be done before you can fix your ship." Tecna said sure that they could finish before the boys. The specialist looked between each other, Helia nodded as did Timmy, Brandon just shrugged his shoulders and Sky sighed.
"Fine if you get the okay before we're done then its fine." Sky said.
"Touma I just need you to finish the calculations."
"I-I can help you with that Tecna." Timmy offered hoping to talk to Tecna and explain why he couldn't really look at her. That he felt bad for hurting her but that it was done.
"No Touma knowledge is more useful here. Since he knows earth." Tecna said turning away from Timmy.
"Well Doctor can I go?" Touma smiled to his friend and Seiji just snorted. Touma waved to Bloom and even patted Sky's shoulder as he passed him. "Don't worry about it. Kayura dropped me from a worst height." Touma said just to make it clear again to everyone no grudges should be held over the accident.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(Scene Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tecna had been right it only took Touma and her an hour to figure out how to anchor the connections spells and how to make sure they would last until Tecna dismissed them. What took them the longest to figure out was how to deal with the volcano. But it was done and the only thing needed to do now was have Ryo, Shu, Shin, and Seiji get Tecna safely to each location. Since Shu's was the easiest they had taken care of that today. Tomorrow hopefully they'd get the other three done.
The best part was that they could take their time as it looked like the specialists ship was more damaged than anyone thought. The extra time though the girls thought was good as it would allow Tecna to make sure the spell worked. The only downside was that the manor from time to time was going to be over crowded and the girls had to see the specialist far more than they would have liked too. At least Nasuti and Shin and set it up so that the specialist would be sleeping in the dock house as there was no way to rearrange the rooms in the manor again.
As night rolled around and things settled down the winx girls decided to all cramp into one room with Nasuti and Kayura and just have a relaxing night of talking and no guys. Stella had broken out all her nail polishes and Nasuti had brought in the aromatherapy kit that Seiji had given her for her birthday last year, that included incense and oils. They had all decided on a mixture of Chamomile and Patchouli a nice and soft mixture.
"Ugh, this is soo what I needed after today." Stella sighed as she finished painting the second coat of polish on her finger nails.
"Yeah, it is nice to just be with everyone again." Aisha smiled as she wiggled her drying toes. "I really am sorry I couldn't get here sooner."
"Don't worry we understand you had to meet with your parents. What was it about anyways?" Tecna asked. She was laying down on the bed just relaxing and breathing deeply.
"It was nothing interesting. Just wanting me to be present as the talked alliances, and well there also was just some small trouble makers to take care of. Nothing like chasing the trix, or going up against well anyone we've faced." Aisha smiled and the girls nodded.
"You faced many foes and battles." Kayura said feeling a bit surprised. As the winx talked about their old foes. She was currently styling Musa's hair in a more traditional style at Musa's request.
"Yeah, well I think we've gotten through it because we've been together." Bloom said before blowing on her nails again. "Though I was wondering Nasuti do you have any idea why you didn't get pulled into the dynasty like everyone else."
"Honestly I only have theories. The biggest one is that it was thanks to the Jewel of Life… I still can't believe we lost it." Nasuti sighed as she brushed her brown hair out of her face.
"I don't know if it's that simple. I just can't see any of the trix sneaking in and stealing it without hurting someone or gloating in some way." Tecna piped up again.
"Yeah that is true. Those girls always want to crash the party and annoy everyone with their horrible fashion." Stella commented and Roxy laughed.
"But that still doesn't answer where it is, or what happened to it." Kayura said almost pouting. It was a relic of the ancient clan like her staff, powerful and needed to fight the dynasty.
"Well what if nothing happened to it. Shu said that not even Touma understood the thing fully, what if it did something?" Stella offered and Kayura blinked at her. Nasuti hummed before nodding.
"That is possible. I mean it did decide to save Ryo on it's own but did nothing to help Shu'ten…. Maybe its acting on its own again. If so then I doubt the enemy has it and I know will see it again. We just need a little faith." Nasuti pointed out. After all it never seemed to work on command and it was still a item of mystery. Nasuti looked about the room and notice Flora running her fingers over the leaves of the bonsai sitting by her. "Hey Flora are you okay you've been really quiet."
"Oh yes, I'm fine just… thinking." Flora said with a slight flush. She'd been so wrapped up thinking about Seiji about the bonsai he'd given her and admitted to earlier today. About the girls and how Aisha was right. She had to tell them. "Actually I was trying to figure out how to bring something up. I was nervous to tell you guys because I didn't know how you'd taken it." Flora brushed some of her hair back as everyone looked at her.
"Tell us what?" Bloom asked curious now.
"You can tell us anything." Roxy smiled trying to encourage Flora. Flora glanced to Aisha and felt a bit relieved as her friend nodded and smiled.
"Last night… When I was talking with Seiji he.. We kissed. I really like him and it feels like how it was when I." Flora stopped thinking about how to say this. "I know it's soon but I feel like I'm falling in love with him. He's been so nice, and talking with him over Helia and them arriving today as well. He's always concerned with how I'm doing, how we are all doing." Flora said. She wasn't too surprised by the shocked looks that surrounded her. Both Stella and Tecna looked the most uneasy at least for a moment.
"He… He has been nice. He even asked about the ring and if it was a family heirloom. He thought it was great that it was, and that I took such good care of it." Stella mused looking at the ring remembering that conversation. She'd been a little intimidated talking to him, but he was calm and seemed genuinely interested in her family's legacy, and impressed by what she knew. The silence fell again before Nasuti got up and walked over to Flora and hugged her.
"I'm happy for both of you. I know Seiji can be shy and distant but he really does have as big a heart as any of the others." Nasuti said.
"And here I was thinking that Shin would be the one to steal one of your hearts." Kayura chuckled. "He always is talking with you girls."
"You really like him?" Musa asked still feeling surprised. After all Helia and Seiji well there wasn't much they had in common.
"Yeah, I do." Flora smiled as Aisha gave her a supportive hug as well.
"I don't know how I feel about this… but I think that I understand." Tecna said finally and Bloom just smiled. Flora sighed feeling a huge weight lifting off her shoulders.
"So was that the reason you were keeping things from us?" Bloom asked wondering about what Flora had said this morning.
"No.. It's something I can't tell you it's for Seiji to tell." Flora said, and Kayura understood.
"Bloom. Flora is right if, I can guess at what he told her it has to do with the second time they fought Arago, and their other battles." Kayura said and Flora nodded.
"What happened that they're so secretive about. Even you've been secretive about something." Musa pointed out and Kayura looked down. She bit her lip as remorse and guilt budded anew in her chest. This was a guilt she would never forget or forgive herself for.
"Because some of the Ronin were tortured. I over saw some of it, at Arago's orders. Even used it to lure Touma and Ryo into a trap… We were all so young." Kayura admitted and the winx except Flora stared in shock.
"Hey, they've forgive you. You were being controlled by him." Nasuti said as Kayura finished Musa's hair and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest. Even if they didn't have details the girls were shocked that ronins had experienced torture.
"It's why they want you guys to stay close to them. Why we all want you to stay close. We don't want you to go through anything we have." Kayura explained with a shaky sigh.
"We will…" Bloom said as Stella stood. She watched her friend wrap her arms carefully around Kayura.
"I don't know what you've done. And honestly right now I don't care, especially after seeing you rile up Brandon. You're our friends just like the Ronin and the Warlords and I'm not going to lose a friend so quickly." Stella said and Kayura hugged her back.
"Thank you."
"Oh no problem doll, besides you still have to go clubbing with me before we can stop being friends." Stella joked and Kayura laughed. "And Flora, next time tell us sooner! He's cute so you had nothing to worry about." Stella smiled.
"Cute? I think he's handsome." Roxy pointed out. Cute just didn't seem like a word that would fit Seiji.
"No handsome that would be Shu." Stella stated and the girls laughed.
"So then are you two dating?" Bloom asked trying to get clarification.
"I don't think so. He wants to wait, and take this slow… And I agree. I like him but I don't want to rush anything." Flora blushed toying with the hem of her shirt.
"And yet you've kissed him." Musa teased.
"It was… Well yes, and it was after that we decided to take it slow." Flora said before sticking her tongue out at Musa, prompting another bout of laughter from everyone.
