Chapter 2 – Prophecy

There was not a sound in the hospital's hallways. The Winx and Specialists were waiting for the doctor to go out of Bloom and Sky's bedroom. It has been three hours since they were waiting in silence in the hallways. They were all tired, but too worried to come back to their school and get some sleep. Stella had her head lying on Brandon's shoulder, Musa was sitting on Riven's lap while he was stroking her hair, Timmy had an arm around Tecna's shoulder, Flora was holding Helia's hand firmly while staring at the floor and Layla had her back pressed against a wall, like Roy.

They all jumped a little when they heard the noise of the opening of a door, breaking the silence of the hallway. They saw the doctor shutting it slowly behind him.

When he turned around, he saw the "how are they?" look on all their faces. He answered automatically.

"They will be safe. But they are suffering from a virus which spreads itself more and more in Magix."

"What happens to the victims?" Tecna asked.

"Do you remember the poison you saw in their mouths?" They nodded. "The virus from which they are suffering is special. The victims are poisoned from the inside. The virus creates poison in their bodies. The poison develops itself in the blood, until the body can't handle it anymore. For a lot of people, they can handle it until the poison touch their stomach. But Bloom and Sky are stronger, that's why they were not hungry for several days. The poison touched their lungs. That's why you saw it coming out of their mouths."

"That's horrible…" Musa mumbled, a hand in front of her mouth.

"You said there were others people who suffer from this virus." Timmy said "We didn't hear about it before. When had it been discovered?"

"Not long ago. Maybe three weeks ago, and more and more people are touched by it. But it was all new for us. Now we know how to deal with this problem. The victims will be saved. But for safety, the visitors aren't allowed, until they feel better."

"We understand." Flora said.

"Now, you should go back to your schools and get some rest: you all seem exhausted." The doctor said, giving them a wink and going away in the corridor.

Later on the night, Stella wasn't able to sleep. She turned and turned again in her bed, but she never found a comfortable position for long. Either in her head. She couldn't help thinking about her best friend, Bloom. Why the fate always had to be cruel towards them? Each year, they had a problem. Generally, they had to fight a new enemy who wanted to control the entire dimension, to be the most powerful wizard or to destroy everything he saw. And now, it was a dangerous virus spreading itself in Magix! She knew that Bloom and Sky would be saves. But she couldn't help wanting to stop this virus right now, to take revenge for Bloom.

At time like these, she only knew one person with whom she could speak. She slowly got out of her bed and went towards Flora's bedroom by tiptoeing. She knocked gently at the door, hoping that the brunette wasn't sleeping. When she opened the door, she felt relieved that Flora was sitting on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"You either can't sleep?" Flora asked while Stella was shutting slowly the door behind her.

"No. I'm so worried about Bloom and Sky. And worried about this virus, the doctor told us about. He said it was spreading itself rapidly in Magix. I'm really worried."

"I am too. But there is something else…"

Stella looked surprised. "What are you talking about?"

Flora sighed, putting herself on her knees and looking up at the ceiling, like if she was thinking. "The virus." Stella raised an eyebrow, and Flora added "I heard about it before. But I don't remember where or when."

"This virus exists also on Linfea?"

"I don't know, Stella." Flora let out another sigh, and looked at her friend. "But I don't think. I would have remembered it. Maybe the healer of my village talked about it someday."

Stella thought for a few minutes before saying loudly "Of course! We can ask her about it! She will tell us all she know about it and -"

"Shhhh Stella! Maybe the others are sleeping!"

"Sorry…" Stella apologized, rubbing the back of her head with an embarrassed smile. "But what do you think about it? Do you think we can ask her about it?"

Flora didn't reply, and, before all, seemed to feel uneasy: she was squeezing her sheet in her fists, she was looking down and was shaking a little.

"Flora? What-"

"It won't be possible."

"Why?" Stella looked concerned. Her friend wasn't so nervous usually!

"Because it won't be possible." Stella was about to reply, chocked by her friend behaviour but Flora cut her off "You know, the librarian told us there was medical books in Alfea's secret library. Tomorrow, we'll ask her if it would be possible to go in and do some researches."

Stella didn't want to argue. So she nodded, stood up and went out of Flora's bedroom, not without saying "See you tomorrow, Flora." It was strange for Flora to speak like that. Generally, when she said something, she automatically explained what she meant. But not this time. Maybe she was just tired? After a day like that one, it was understandable. So, Stella went to her bedroom and lay down again, trying to get some rest.

Flora lay down, putting one hand behind her head. She closed her eyes, trying to think about others things. But she couldn't. She thought it was going to be a long night. But when she looked at the alarm clock, she saw it was 7pm. So she didn't try to sleep.

Helia woke up in a cold sweat. He nearly jumped out of his bed because of his nightmare. Looking at his alarm clock, he saw it was 7pm. He didn't realize that he had fallen asleep. But he felt relieved that it was just a nightmare. But he felt like he started to forget it…

"Dude? You're okay?" Riven asked. His relief disappeared immediately.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Helia lied.

"Bad dream?"

"Possibly. I don't remember what I dreamt of…" In fact, it was true. Well, not totally true.

Then, he heard a light snore coming out from Riven. He sighed. With that unbearable noise, he knew he won't be able to sleep again. So he just lay down again.

He didn't remember his whole nightmare. But in fact, he only remembered three things:

"Andrea"

"Lightning and Fire"

"Astronomia"

Musa was searching in the letter V of a row of books. "V like in Virus." She thought. She rapidly found it, and started to flip over the pages. Tecna was still reading the ancient book about prophecies. Maybe was this virus too recent to be a coincidence? While she was turning the pages rapidly, she asked Musa "Do you find anything about it?"

Musa shook her head. "You?"

"Me either." She sighed. "Maybe I am reading it too fast."

"Or maybe you don't read the right book."

Tecna didn't reply. She knew she would argue with Musa if she did. So, she just shrugged. Plus, there were thousands of books in the whole secret library, and the right book could have been everywhere. Musa looked around her sighing, before sitting down next to Tecna, opening again her book and whispering "I can't help being worried."

"Me too." Tecna put her hands behind her head. "That's why we are doing these researches."

Musa stared at the nothing. When they got up this morning after a sleepless night, they all wanted to do something to help. So, Flora proposed to ask the librarian if they could do researches in the secret library. She accepted, but she wanted the Winx to be alone and to don't tell anybody about it. Layla, Flora and Stella were searching at the top of the library, whereas Musa and Tecna were below, sitting at the tables.

"They don't give any results." Musa said sadly.

"I'm sure there is something more than just a disease behind it." Tecna murmured, more to herself than to Musa. "This virus would not appear all of a sudden, overnight."

"Girls? Did you find something?" Layla called.

Tecna went back to her book, while Musa gave a negative response to her friend. Stella put her book back where she got it angrily.

"It's been three hours since we started our researches, and still nothing! It gets on my nerves!"

"Calm down, Stella." Layla said, sceptical. "We expected theses researches to be long."

"And who said reading books would be-"

Stella looked up at Flora, at the same time as Layla. She was showing them her back, and just gasped. She was shaking, and the book she was holding was about to collapse from her hands.

"Flora? You're okay?" Layla asked, putting a hand on her best friend's shoulder.

"Y-yeah." She stuttered. "Musa said she found something, and I fear that it would be a bad new."

"I didn't hear Musa." Stella said, raising an eyebrow.

"You were groaning. It's logical that you didn't hear." Layla replied, sighing.

"Girls! You heard me?" Musa called again.

"Yeah! We're coming!"

While the lift was slowly coming down, Layla glanced again at her friend. That was when she noticed how pale she was.

"Flora, you're not okay."

"I am." She replied firmly. "I didn't sleep last night and I'm worried."

"Flora." Layla sang.

"Please Layla. I promise that if I don't feel well, I'll tell you first."

Layla didn't have time to reply. The lift stopped and Musa came to her friend to show them the book she found. The book seemed old, with yellowed and some degraded pages. On the wooden cover, it was written "All the secrets to heal", making Flora shiver. Did her friend found this information?

"I read it rapidly, I was searching for a name for the virus, and it was not easy because some pages are degraded. But instead of the name of the virus, I found better information. At the end of the book, I saw a page, no, ten pages about the best healers of the entire magic dimension. Thankfully, these pages are readable."

"And what did you find?" Layla asked.

"It's a magic book, and the death of the healers writes themself." Musa opened the book at its end a read aloud. "One of the only wizards who aren't dead is named Astrid. Apparently, she is 293 years old and lives in a small village. She knows all the virus and diseases the world has to fight, and knows how to heal them all. She is said to have a lot of knowledge, like her whole village in fact. And she lives in your planet, Flora!"

Flora gasped. Musa really found this information. She squeezed her hands behind her back, as they began to shake. She looked down, fearing to hear again the obvious question Stella asked her last night. Thankfully, Musa started with another.

"Flora? Are you sure you're okay?"

"Y-yeah…" She lied. She knew her friends wouldn't believe her, but she had no other choices.

"You should be excited about going on your village! What's wrong with you since last night?" Stella added, raising her hands.

Flora looked up. The look on her friends' faces was a worried one. It was true that she wasn't the kind of persons who lie or hide something to her friends. So what should she do? Did she have to found another lie? But her worried friend made her feel guilty. She was too sensitive. She wasn't able to make them worry anymore. She let go out a sigh. After a few seconds in silence, she answered.

"We can't go in my village."

Her friends looked concerned. Stella was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "A-and why?"

Because of this, Flora was shaking from her whole body. Stella took her friend's shoulders in her hands. "You took us there twice without arguing. Something happened in Linfea?"

"N-no, nothing happened… And I never took you to my village."

Flora sighed. Her friends looked more and more concerned. She had no rights to hide the truth from her best friends. She trusted them more than anybody. She could tell them the truth.

"You are not the problem girls. That's just…" She sighed again. "In order to protect them, I-I can't go back there. That's something I promised to myself when I entered at Alfea five years ago. "

"Your village is threatened?" Layla asked, concerned. Flora nodded.

"It's not easy to explain..."

"But, if we are with you? Is this threat still so dangerous?" Musa added, her hands on her waist. Flora opened her eyes wide. She never thought about it. She was always thinking that saving her village was her own responsibility. A small glimmer of hope appeared in her. If she went back alone, she was sure that her village would be destroyed. But what if her friends went with her? Would they be able to protect the whole village? But would she be ready to put her friends in danger?

"Are you sure you are ready to be exposed in front of danger every day?"

"We are, right now, like every day." Stella gave her a wink.

"This is a different danger, Stella. You'll be exposed to death every day, and I don't want it."

"And? We are your friends, Flora." Layla raised her thumb. "In order to save Bloom, Sky, Magix and your village, we are ready to do anything."

"Anything." Musa and Stella added in synchronisation, as they pulled her friend into a hug.

Flora felt tears forming in her eyes. She didn't deserve friends like them. They were so fabulous. Thanks to them, all seemed better. They illuminated her world. Thanks to them, she will see again her family, the people she loved. And Magix would be saved at the same time.

"I really love you, girls." She couldn't help saying what she thought loudly.

A few minutes before Musa found the book, Tecna went out of the room. She needed silence to be concentrate. So, she read carefully the page again and again. This page seemed more ancient than the other, the content was still readable, but the page was a little degraded. She finally had precious information.

When the sun of Friday 10th March 2014 will shine, Astronomia will be released, and while the future city of Magix will see its people killed, everybody will have to run away from lightning and fire. Will she be able to save everybody? – 10th March 1914

Tecna understood this little by little. She didn't know who the "she" referred to. Then, the rest was logical. She just made hypotheses. First, she thought it was a prophecy written 100 years ago. Secondly, Astronomia was the name of the Virus, and it would be totally released a week later. Thirdly, an enormous danger was waiting for everybody if they weren't able to stop the spreading of the Virus.

AN : End of the second chapter! The plot is building itself a little more in this chapter, and I think you'll be really surprised at the end. Try to guess what would happen? Try to guess the threat on Flora's village? Try to guess the truth about the prophecy and Astronomia? I'd like to see your ideas. Send me all you think on rewiews! :)