- Edited -

Two years later

Rhythma pulled her hood over her head to conceal her face as she followed Knut into a rather nice-looking glasses shop. It had been two years since that night, and Rhythma honestly wished she was dead. The Trix were ruthless - and whenever they needed to let off steam, the young fairy always ended up with scars.

She was still shocked they had let her outside today. The witches were not exactly known for their mercy or kindness. In fact, this was the first time she wasn't with them in Magix, as they had said they had important business to attend to and couldn't drag a fairy along.

So naturally, they sent her away with Knut to watch her.

The big, smelly ogre seemed nice enough, and it beat having the witches with her, tormenting her every step.

Rhythma entered the store behind the ogre, giving a brief nod toward the storekeeper to remain polite.

"Hello!" The man - maybe in his late twenties - said, coming out from behind the counter. "How can I help you on this fine day?"

Rhythma glanced at Knut, who smiled at the storekeeper. "I'm looking for a pair of glasses." He explained.

"Of course," the man nodded. "Ogres such as yourself are not known for their good eyesight." He smiled. "That's why creatures like you are our best customers. Please, follow me!"

He led Knut and Rhythma over to a corner of the store and gestured around him, still smiling. This time, Rhythma had the decency to smile back.

"Take a look around and see if you can find anything you like." The man told Knut. "I'll be at the counter if you need anything." He walked by the duo and winked at Rhythma, who looked away.

Knut left her side to look through some glasses, and Rhythma stared after him, remaining in place. She closed her heterogeneous eyes and remembered what the witches had done to her. Broken her, muted her, and humiliated her. The young fairy who was once so full of life was now gone - just a shell of what she used to be. But, after being the punching bag for three powerful witches for two years, could anyone really blame her at this point?

Rhythma was jolted out of her dream-state when an elbow connected with her side. It took all of her strength to keep from doubling over in pain, but as she raised her eyes to follow wherever Knut was looking, her heart dropped.

The group of girls just outside . . . the bright yellow hair on one of them told Rhythma that her mistresses would be satisfied tonight.

She noticed that Knut turned to face the storekeeper. "Excuse me?"

Rhythma noticed that the keeper seemed tense suddenly. She blinked in surprise. Could he sense the negative energy coming off of them? Probably.

"Did I just see what I think I saw?" The ogre pointed to the window. Rhythma then saw that the beast was wearing some ridiculous-looking pink glasses. She fought to keep her face neutral, but it was hard considering how strange he looked.

The man followed his gaze. "What's that?" His voice was tight.

"This group of girls that just walked by." Knut elaborated.

"Oh. Those were students from Alfea." The man said. "Today is the beginning of their new school year." Rhythma's heart longed to be at Alfea. Anywhere was better than the life she had at the moment.

Knut grabbed Rhythma's hand suddenly and charged out of the store, the man shouting after them about the glasses that Knut still wore.

"We must warn our Highnesses." He told Rhythma, pulling out his phone. "They're in Magix too. Maybe this time they can deal with the problem." He held it up to his ear.

There was a small pause, before someone picked up. "Hello?" Rhythma winced at the cold voice of Icy.

"My Highness." Knut said, slowing to a walk. Rhythma sucked in a breath, almost feeling the dark energy of the witch over the phone.

Rhythma winced as the voice on the other end groaned. "Ugh, Knut! What is it this time, you stupid, smelly ogre?"

Rhythma waited as Knut explained the situation. She felt sweat form on her neck as the chilly voice grew more and more enraged with every word.

Suddenly, Icy yelled something incomprehensible to Knut, before her voice calmed down to an evil hiss. "Is the little wretch still with you?"

Ah, yes. Wretch. Their favorite name for their favorite fairy.

Knut flashed her a look that could have been sympathetic if she had seen it in time. "Yes, your Highness. She's still here."

"Put her on the phone."

Rhythma winced, taking the device from Knut and holding it to her ear. She grunted, letting Icy know it was her, and waited.

"Hello, little fairy." The icy chill of the witch's voice seemed to reach her even here. She shuddered, listening to Icy as she spoke. "I take you know where to meet then, hmm, little wretch?" A pause. "Good. You better not run off like last time, or things will get ugly."

Rhythma shuddered. Last time she had tried to escape, she was sure they would kill her. Alas, the witches were not that merciful.

Icy hung up, leaving Rhythma staring at the phone in sad silence. She handed it back to Knut, who took it and began to walk farther into the city. She followed, pulling the hood of her cloak even tighter over her head to conceal her face.

If only she hadn't gone to the kitchen . . .

She entered an alleyway, following Knut.

"Good. You're here." Icy hissed from nearby. Three shapes emerged from the shadows of the alley, evil smirks forcing Rhythma to look away as fear overtook her body. "Well, Knut?"

As Knut explained about the scepter girl, Rhythma let her mind wander a bit. She didn't expect to see something move from the corner of her eye and stiffened.

Darcy shot a glance at her as she tensed. It was a look full of confusion. Being still much smaller than her captors, Darcy had to crouch down before Rhythma, smiling, before she looked into the young fairy's eyes. Rhythma knew the witch was reading her mind, as she felt the familiar pinprick of her mind in Rhythma's.

"Sisters." Darcy abruptly stood, making Rhythma fall back. "We are being watched."

Icy and Stormy looked at Darcy for a moment, and then transferred their gazes to Rhythma, who looked away once again and sat up, shaking her head to clear her mind of Darcy's influence.

"Allow me." Darcy said, using a spell to make a clone of herself. She grinned at her sisters, then down at Rhythma. "Now all I have to do is disappear . . ."

She vanished.

Stormy chuckled.

"And she'll stay here." With a grin, she stepped back to stand beside Rhythma. The witch flashed her a playful smile, as though daring her to stand up.

Rhythma didn't, and Icy glanced at her with those icy-blue orbs of evil. "This will be interesting." She commented.

This made Rhythma wince again. Whoever was spying on them was going to regret it, just as Rhythma regretted going to the kitchen that night. She knew firsthand how merciless the witches were - especially with fairies.

Sure enough, Darcy blasted a young girl that looked to be a freshman fairy into the alleyway - right at the feet of the witches. Rhythma scooted back in alarm, pulling her cloak tighter around her shoulders and glancing nervously at Icy, who wore a wicked grin.

"So," Icy said, snapping her fingers as the fake Darcy disappeared. "Did you like our little joke?" Then she frowned. "Turn around!"

The real Darcy came up behind the fairy, chuckling cruelly. Rhythma closed her eyes, not wanting to watch, but Icy turned to face her.

"Open your eyes, kid!" The witch said. "I want you to see what will happen the next time you try to escape."

Knowing she had no other choice, Rhythma opened her eyes and met the fairy's gaze.

I'm sorry. She thought, and she meant it. No one deserved to be attacked by the Trix.

The fairy seemed to get a bit of courage once her eyes broke away from Rhythma's. She glared at Icy and held out her hand toward Rhythma. "I am a fairy."

A sparkle of magic fluttered from the fairy's hand, right toward Rhythma, who took several more steps back. The glitter didn't even come close to touching her. She flashed a strange look at the student. She had to admit, that was a little pathetic.

Icy chuckled evily, sending shivers up Rhythma's spine.

"You call that magic?" She held up her hand, a frosty ball of doom appearing. "I'll show you magic." The witch sent the icy ball toward the fairy, who was thrown back. "This is magic."

Next was Stormy, who sent a tornado toward the fairy. The strong winds scooped up the unfortunate girl and, in a desperate attempt to get away, the young fairy gripped the roof above them.

Rhythma hoped they would let her go now, but Icy grinned and sent up a Frostflurry that grasped the girl within its icy clutches. "Get down here!" The witch cried. "I'm not done yet!" She threw the fairy into a pile of boxes, where she lay limp.

Rhythma looked away. She just couldn't watch anymore. But a moment later, once she felt electricity shoot through her body, she turned her head reluctantly to face the assault again, noticing that Stormy had her hand raised, ready to strike her again if the fairy looked away.

"And now for the finishing touch." Icy grinned wickedly and sent a bunch of ice toward the fairy, completely encasing her inside. She chuckled.

Rhythma couldn't believe what she saw. Icy had trapped the young fairy within an ice block. Even now, Rhythma could see the life draining from her face. She closed her eyes as Icy laughed, brushing by Rhythma.

"What a pity you had to meet us," Icy walked over and scraped her nails down the ice, making a terrible grating noise. "Stupid little fairy."

"Hey!"

Rhythma looked up, shocked, and saw a bunch of other fairies standing at the alleyway entrance. She gulped and glanced at Darcy, who was now standing beside her.

"Leave her alone," the yellow-haired one - the one the Trix were hunting - ground out. "And take us on instead." Without another word, she formed a ball of sun energy in her hands and hurled it right at the witches. But Rhythma was horrified.

The energy ball was aimed straight for her.

With a yelp, Rhythma threw her hands in front of her face to shield herself.

The light ball never hit.

Rhythma opened her eyes and saw that Icy had stepped in front of her. The energy attack that had been aimed at her just moments before was gripped now in the witch's hands. Rhythma sighed in relief and let her head fall back.

"Knut." Icy said through gritted teeth. "They're all yours. Have fun." And with that, she crushed the energy ball between her palms. She turned back to Rhythma, her eyes closed and arms crossed, listening to Knut attack.

The ogre roared angrily at the fairies and charged at them, but in a split second they had all transformed. The techno fairy trapped Knut in a sphere-like object while a flower fairy sprouted vines from the ground to grab the poor guy's leg. Lastly, a musical fairy caused some speakers to appear on either side of Knut and blasted him over the heads of the witches and Rhythma.

Icy turned and followed the path of the ogre with her eyes. "What a blockhead." She muttered.

At that second, the sun fairy aimed another burst of light at Rhythma. Icy turned back to the fairies, but had no way to stop the blast because of its size. Still she held up her hands and formed an ice wall.

Rhythma braced herself for the impact, knowing that Icy would leave her to be hit if it meant saving her own skin.

And suddenly, Darcy and Stormy were on either side of her, reinforcing the ice barrier that Icy had made. The blast bounced harmlessly off the wall and vaporized into nothingness.

Darcy wrapped her arm around Rhythma's shoulders and yanked the fairy to her feet with a grunt. When she was standing, Rhythma went to pull away, but Darcy tightened her grip. "Don't move, little fairy." She snapped, turning to Icy, who - Rhythma noted - looked quite mad.

"Alright, you stupid little fairies, you asked for it!" She grabbed the cape that billowed in the wind behind her and spread it wide, shooting a dozen pointed icicles toward the fairies.

However, the techno fairy put up a shield and saved the fairies a couple of wounds.

Icy was beyond mad now. Snow fell from the darkened clouds that probably formed out of the witches' anger.

Suddenly, the sun fairy summoned her scepter just as Icy threw a bunch of snow at them. In a brilliant flash, the transformed fairies as well as the one encased in ice all promptly vanished.

"Huh? Where are they?" She looked around. "Curses!" Icy screeched. "They've disappeared!"

Darcy glared at her. "We can't worry about them now." She grunted. "First, we need to go get Knut, and then we have to get back to Cloudtower."

Icy looked like she wanted to protest, but after a moment she calmed down and allowed Darcy to transport them out of the chilly alleyway.

Rhythma closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep on the mattress she called her bed. She pulled the blanket close to her chin and steadied her breathing. It wasn't like she even slept anymore - with her sleeping problems as well as the witches' unpredictable beating schedule.

A moment later, the witches walked in.

"Why did they target her?" Darcy was whispering to her sisters. "She was barely noticeable."

Stormy snorted. "It's obvious they just wanted to target the weakest of us."

Icy's footsteps stopped, frighteningly close to Rhythma's bed. "No. There's more to it than that."

"What do you mean?" Stormy asked. "You think they attacked her on purpose?"

"No." Icy said. "They sensed her fairy magic."

Darcy gasped. "Impossible."

Icy chuckled. "Actually it's not. Think about it: fairies can sense when other fairies are nearby. They probably wanted to see if she really was a fairy or not."

A cold finger brushed her cheek lightly. Rhythma had to fight to remain relaxed and 'asleep'.

"Well no matter." The ice witch continued. "She is ours. Any fairy that tries to hurt her will have to go through me first."

Stormy grunted. "It almost sounds like you care about her."

"I don't," Icy's voice was hard. "I just don't want anyone to hurt the little wretch. That's our job."

"Well said, sis." Darcy chuckled.

Their footsteps receded as did their voices. Rhythma was sweating furiously now.

Could help be on the way? She thought hopefully. Will I finally be free of these cruel witches?

Rhythma's eyes drooped shut.

They didn't seem so cruel today . . . The other voice said softly as Rhythma fell into a deep sleep.