Sorry for the long update, who knew college classes actually required time… - anyway that's enough of my excuses, just know I am working on this. And this is probably my longest chapter ever, so have fun!
Mission To Cloud Tower
Musa rested her head and looked to the ceiling of the squad ship as she lost herself in her thoughts. The seemingly endless trip in the ship was getting to her and she couldn't keep her mind from racing in a million different directions. Felling a few bumps from the speed of the ship, Musa excitedly waited to get back to Alfea, knowing that nothing too good awaited her when she got back. She had never been one to like long flights, she tended to get fidgety and if there was no place that she could stretch out her legs and that tended to make her very uncomfortable. So the squad ship was literally the worst mode of transportation for longer trips. She didn't mind riding in it when going to Magix or the occasional mission with the boys, but getting back from a dead planet that was realms away was killing her.
With an exasperated sign, Musa leaned back in her chair and turned her head to look out the window, not that she could see much. They were still in type of trans-dimensional hyper drive that Timmy had set up so that they could make it back to Alfea in a fraction of the time it took to really get to Sparx, so all Musa could really see was darkness with a few flashed of light sprinkled in. she nodded off for a few more moments only to be suddenly awakened by Stella. "I think it's tacky to come back empty handed from a trip," Stella said as Musa's eyes slowly opened with joy to see that they were slowing down and landing in the quad of her beloved school. "I mean I know we didn't get the dragon fire, but we should have at least picked up some –,"
"I really don't think anyone expects souvenirs from a dead planet Stella," Bloom interrupted as they all lined up and waited for the door to open, Musa being one of the first to get up. She watched as the hatch went down and with joy she began to step off the ship she was now terribly sick of.
"Welcome home girls," Faragonda said happily with open arms. Musa looked around as she stepped off the ship and noticed something a bit different. As a few guys in uniform walked past her Musa realized that there seemed to be a lot of Red Fountain boys at Alfea, not thinking of the fact that Red Fountain had probably fallen while she was on Sparx, Musa continued to chew over the thought. She had fallen asleep for most of the ride back and she had missed it when the boys reluctantly explained what happened to Red Fountain. "I'm glad you're all safe, it was a brave mission,"
"Thanks Miss Faragonda," Bloom said as they all lined up in front of Saladin and Faragonda, normally this would be to receive a punishment for something they had done, but this time they were being congratulated for a job well done, even though they didn't really accomplish anything.
"So, you were able to help the girls?" Saladin asked as he addressed the boys.
"Well, they were fine without us," Sky answered modestly and Musa tried her best to stop herself from bursting out in laughter, of coarse they were of help, they were the ones that got them off of the lifeless planet that they would have probably died on otherwise. Luckily a severe pain in her leg stopped the giggle before it could get out, Musa had changed back into her normal clothing on the ship and while aboard she had taken some time to look at the bite on her leg, she didn't want to worry, but the area around it was becoming a deep red color and she wanted to go get help, but she didn't want to make a big spectacle about it. Which was why she had yet to tell the girls.
"No, he's just being modest," Bloom defended. Musa looked over to them when something else caught her eye, she looked over to see Kiko running around as if something were chasing him, paying no more attention to it, Musa looked back at her friends. "The boys totally saved us back there."
"Yeah. They should totally get major extra credit," Stella added as she stole a look over to Brandon, who seemed to be on cloud nine since they had stepped on the ship.
"Check it out! Kiko made a new friend," Musa exclaimed once she looked back at Kiko and noticed that he had made a new friend, and the two were now playing leap frog, that look surprisingly like a duck they had seen before.
"How weird. That's Icy's duck," Stella added with the same level of confusion that Musa had in her voice. "How did he get here?"
"Uhhh…… I brought him with me," a low scratchy voice answered as an all too familiar ogre appeared behind the two playful animals. For the first time, the sight of the ogre didn't instill any type of panic in Musa, not that Knut had ever been a truly intimidating creature.
"Trouble," Stella said quietly to Musa agreed.
"It's alright girls," Faragonda interrupted in her unusually calm tone. "The ogre is on our side now."
"It's alright girls," their headmistress calmed them down. "The ogre is on our side now."
"He tried to stop the witches and we're letting him stay," Saladin explained.
"That's peachy kay with me as long as he improves his hygiene." Stella said biting her tongue to keep from saying anything that might be offensive to the ogre species, not that saying they were smelly wasn't offensive.
"I'm sorry if I'm a little stinker than usual," Knut apologized with a genuine smile of gratitude as he bent down and played around with kiko and the small purple duck. "I've had to do a lot of fighting."
"Oh, it's fine. We have bigger problems than OBO right now," Ms. Faragonda interrupted with a serious inflection back in her voice. It was true, they were staring down one of the biggest problems the universe had to face and it wasn't exactly fun to think about they were going to even begin solving this problem.
"Well we are back and ready to help," Flora offered and Musa agreed.
"I have and extra bottle of perfume. You want it?" Stella said walking over to Knut in some type of peace offering, clearly trying to make an effort to try to work together.
Stella, who was not at all fond of wild animals, was then taken under the arm of the smelly ogre and instantly lost the smile she was trying to maintain. "Thank you!" Knut thanked politely. Musa had always been told that ogres were evil and gross, eating the bones of civilized beings, but Knut was nothing like that. But, her aunt had been the one who had told her that, along with the idea that anyone who wasn't nobility had something fundamentally wrong with them, of coarse Musa had never bought into that notion.
"Take two," Stella offered with an uncomfortable smile as she struggled to get away from the uncommonly friendly ogre that was now embracing her.
"Hey, the guys look really down," Techna said turning their attention away from the ogre that was now embracing Stella and over to many of the sad Red Fountain boys.
Well, it figures," Bloom said. Musa looked over to the guys and still wasn't quite sure as to why they were here, she had pieced together the fact that Red Fountain had fallen, but was it really that easy to bring an entire school into the Alfea campus and make it work. "The witches destroyed the whole Red Fountain campus, right?"
"That's correct," Miss Faragonda confirmed gravely. "The boys are setting up quarters here at Alfea." Musa knew that this was a very serious situation and that they were only here for official reasons, but she couldn't suppress the giggles of pure joy that she felt when she heard the news. No matter how she was feeling about a certain guy, the fact that she had a bunch of strong guys from a school that taught them how to basically become even stronger…well it was hot. "Young ladies, the situation has become extremely dire. In my entire career I've never had to deal with anything like this. We have to prepare for the worst now, they will surely try to destroy Alfea next,"
"Once you get settled in we'll sit down and discuss the best course of action," Saladin told them all before they were dismissed.
Musa's first coarse of action was to sit down, her leg was killing her and now there was a strange tingling moving up and down around her ankle and she knew she needed to get some help, and she would. Just as soon as she knew that everything was calm for a second, since they were gone it was like everything had intensified by a 100 fold.
Musa managed to walk up to what was left of her room and sit down, alone, and look at the bite more closely. Pulling up the side of her jeans, Musa saw the bite mark and the dried blood on her leg, she cringed in pain as she ran her finger over the bite. "Crap," Musa said feeling the tingling sensation once again. She contemplated how she might be able to handle this without the entire world finding out, since the second the Winx Club found out about this they would immediately freak and insist that she sit out the rest of the battle, something that she refused to do.
As Musa looked over the wound, she heard the door slam behind her from her seat on the side of her bed. Musa turned to see Ali, inviting herself into the room, already half way through a story that she probably started the second she turned the door knob. Musa quickly pulled her jeans back down and listened to what she could catch from her story. "The boys are living here!" Ali squealed with excitement and then immediately walked over to the window and watched some of them walk around the quad, almost ignoring Musa's presence if she weren't addressing her in her long winded ramble. "And they'll be here until he job is done….almost makes me want the fighting to not stop."
"Yeah, it almost makes the fact that they may just get universal domination okay," Musa answered sarcastically.
"I'm only kidding," Ali stated and then turned away from the window with an almost longing look and made her way to the bed and plopped down right next to Musa. "So how was the trip?" She said as if Musa had gone to a resort to tan instead of a dead planet to save the universe, did this girl take anything seriously?
"Fine, we're back and the dragonfire wasn't there,"
"Utterly useless," Ali spoke in her abnormally quick voice. "So what's on your leg?"
Musa looked up at Ali in confusion, there was no way that she had seen what happened to her leg since Musa had immediately covered her wound when Ali walked in. of coarse, the girl was really perceptive and with perfect vision, it was hard to hide stuff from her. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh please, you're not nearly quick enough to hide something from me," Ali said as she reached over to Musa's leg to see what it was that she was hiding and Musa quickly pulled away in surprise, not excepting her to do that. "Seriously, what are you hiding," Ali said growing a little more impatient now that it was clear that Musa was hiding something.
"Nothing,"
"Weird place for a hicky, but if that's what your into," Ali said as she quickly pushed Musa back so that she couldn't stop her and grabbed her leg, anyone else wouldn't have been able to move so quickly, but this girl was swift and Musa could do nothing to stop her. "Holy shit…."
"It's nothing," Musa said, trying to pull her leg back, but Ali had a firm hold of her foot and her calf as she looked at Musa's ankle and saw the bite that she had received from the ice crab back on Sparx.
"Nothing?" Ali commented loudly, Musa looked and saw that the discoloration in her skin was getting worse and couldn't help but worry even more when she saw the expression on Ali's face. "Your whole fucking leg is turning purple! We need to go see Ophelia before your leg falls off and you have to get a peg leg,"
"Fine, but you can't tell anyone," Musa said as Ali physically dragged her off of her bed and pushed her out the door to see Ophelia. "I'm coming damn it, you don't have to keep pulling," Musa snapped as her room door shut behind her and she slowly wobbled behind Ali, feeling a sting in her leg as she walked.
"God knows you'll probably run off and hid somewhere if I let you go,"
"Aren't you the one that runs to place that she shouldn't be at in the first place?" Musa shot back as the two walked through the halls of Alfea, passing many of the boys from Red Fountain on their way, and straight to Ophelia's office.
"Yeah, but that served a purpose," Ali reminded. "And we can get to that later," Musa walked though the white doors into the medical wing of the school, which had grown rather large ever since Griselda implemented her mandatory 'defense against the dark arts' class. There were more people in there than she had ever seen before, probably because of the non stop fighting that was going on, but it was still rather shocking to see so many people. "I'm kinda proud, you didn't get distracted by a single boy on our way in," Musa stated trying to keep her head out of worrying about what was going on with her leg.
"Yeah well I have other problems right now," Ali said, still holding onto Musa's elbow and making a quick stride over to the room where Ophelia was.
"Are you worried about me?" Musa mused as she continued to follow Ali. She was never one to show her true concern for people, but in this case she actually seemed like she was nervous, which only served to make Musa even more nervous.
"Just shut up and hurry," Ali said as they finally got to Ophelia and stood in front of her. Musa walked right in front of her and before she could begin to explain what happened, Ali jumped in. "You have to see this," She said to Ophelia and then looked to Musa.
Musa sat and lifted the bottom of her pant leg and showed Ophelia the bite that she had been so cautiously hiding since they had gotten back from Sparx. "It's really not that –,"
"Oh my!" Ophelia said when she got a look at the bite. Musa looked down and cringed at the sight of her leg. Ophelia continued to examine Musa's leg until she finally looked up at Musa and asked. "When did this happen?"
"Umm, right before we left Sparx," Musa explained. "I think it was an ice crab,"
"That's what I suspected as well," Ophelia said as she stood up and sighed. "I've never actually seen one of these bites before, the myth is that they can turn you to ice, but that obviously hasn't happened, yet,"
"Yet?" Musa questioned nervously.
"The truth is, princess, there is little known about the creatures on dead planets, let alone how to heal the types of attacks that one can get from them," Ophelia said. "Luckily, I don't see too much damage here, I will need to draw some blood and send it to a lab to see if there are toxins in your system,"
Musa shuttered at the thought of having her blood drawn, her fear of needles wasn't helping at all either, and the fact that Ophelia didn't know if it would help her heal was just adding to the stress of the situation. "What about her leg?" Ali questioned. "It's an array of different colors, that has to mean something,"
"It's simply the way she was bitten and the fact that it was by an ice crab," Ophelia reasoned. "It's a combination of frostbite and bruising, I can give you a potion that will keep the symptoms from getting worse, and essentially it will keep any poisons, if there are any in your system, from spreading. And it should also ease your pain a bit too."
"Okay," Musa nodded and looked to Ali who had a sideways smile on her face. This was better than finding out that she was going to die or something extreme like that, and the potion would keep her in the same state as she was in now so it wasn't like they were racing against the clock in that aspect. Ophelia handed Musa the potion after quickly drawing some blood and Musa drank ii and was on her way with Ali at her side. "Thank you,"
"But, I will have to inform the head mistress about this," Ophelia stated as Musa opened the door and the princess froze immediately, the last thing she wanted was to be treated like a sick person, and she didn't need everyone going into a panic about this. She had seen how Ali, her more 'emotionally controlled' friend had acted and she could only guess how much worse it would be if all the girls knew.
"No," Musa spat out without thinking.
"I have to," Ophelia pushed on. "This is a serious case and even though it's under control know, we have never had this type of case here before so I need to inform Miss Faragonda. Besides, I think it's best that you sit out the next round of attacks, if they come before the results from you lab analysis comes back,"
Musa knew she couldn't argue with her since she was right, but sitting out while everyone else fought for her school didn't seem right. She almost felt like she was betraying her school by not helping in it's time of need. She nodded and silently walked out of the door followed orders, it was for the best.
She left the room and Ali followed, not too far behind, the potion was beginning to work since the pain in her leg was beginning to subside as she took each step further. Trying not to think about it, Musa began to think about something else that had been troubling her since she had arrived back at Alfea.
Where the hell was Riven? Not that she wanted to see him, but he should have been here if the entire school was dismissed. Musa knew that there was a real possibility that he had left Red Fountain and officially joined Darcy and her sisters, but she still had some hope that he could redeem himself. But now, after all the damage he helped cause, he would have to do a lot to win back everyone he betrayed.
"Hmm…if there isn't enough room in the auditorium, the boys can also settle in and sleep in the main entrance," Musa walked through the corridor silently looking at the ground as she and Ali over heard Griselda speaking to some of the staff from Red Fountain.
"If the boys need a place to sleep," Ali called out to Griselda. "My room's open,"
Pulled immediately from her thoughts, Musa looked to Ali in absolute shock. Had she really just made such a perverse statement not only in front of Griselda, but it was directly aimed toward her. "Are you out of your mind?" Musa said quickly through clenched teeth as Miss Griselda approached.
"Miss Larson!" Griselda said before Musa could even begin to chastise her for her inappropriate comment. "I understand that this change presents opportunities for you to…socialize, but I expect you girls be on your best behavior, especially you since you've managed to find yourself in my office quite a bit,"
"I was just trying to help," Ali said dismissively as she grabbed Musa's elbow and moved along, right past Griselda and back over to where Musa's dorm was.
"You really need to stop getting yourself into so much trouble," Musa noted and then realized why Ali had made the random comment to Griselda, it was her way of trying to get Musa to think about something else, it was her way of being a good friend.
"Why?" Ali questioned as the two reached a small bench and took a seat. Musa leaned again the wall the bench sat in front of and sighed as Ali went on talking. "We both know I can always get my self out, now let's get down to everything you missed while you were away,"
"Ugh…do we have to," Musa groaned, secretly wanting to know what was going on with everything, and more importantly if all of the Red Fountain guys came or if it was just some of them.
"Fine but I think there's some information that you may want to know," Ali answered in a sing song tone. Musa looked up at her, as she smiled back with a look of confidence, and Musa knew exactly what this was about.
"Hey Musa!" Another voice yelled as two girls approached Musa and Ali. It was Whitney and Stacy, both of whom were gossip queens and would probably spill more dirt in the next ten seconds than Ali could in the next ten minutes. "When did you get back?"
"A couple of hours ago,"
"Well do we have news for you," Whitney said. "I think you may be happy to hear this,"
"What?" Musa asked as she looked back at Ali, wondering if it were the same thing Ali was hinting at.
"I was just about to get to it, until you interrupted," Ali snapped.
"Well, you know Tara right? Well she's friends with that Lexi girl at Cloud Tower and before the whole school went into complete lock down, the two were texting," Stacy began.
"Turns out that the witches are being held captive by the witches in Cloud Tower," Whitney jumped in. "And they aren't the only ones there,"
"What are you talking about?" Musa asked, genuinely confused.
"Last I heard, Riven was locked up in a cell by Darcy before the Army of Decay attacked," Ali finished, turning towards Musa and bracing herself a bit, not sure as to how she was going to take the news.
"None of the witches have seen him in the cells and there are rumors that Darcy just kil-," Whitney said before being cut off.
"We don't know what happened to him," Ali said seeing Musa's face change expression slightly. At first she was a little offended that they were so sure that news about Riven would be of interest to her, but then Musa's heart dropped into her stomach when she the news sank in, she couldn't explain the feeling, but it was somewhere around pure anxiety that Riven really was hurt or worse. What if he really had come to his senses and tried to stop the Trix, there as no way a person like Darcy would take Riven changing sides, and thus dumping her, well. And it made perfect sense that she would try to hurt him.
Of course there was the more likely possibility that the two simply got into an argument, which was bound to happen since the two of them were known to be very argumentative, and Darcy simply took her frustrations out on Riven and killed him. She wouldn't put murder past the psycho witch. Musa knew that she never really got over Riven and hearing this just affirmed what she already knew and was trying so hard to ignore. She still cared for him and that caused her to worry.
But Riven was no knight in this situation. Everything that was happening to him, he had brought on himself. He had chosen sides a long time ago and he had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her and her friends.
"Good he deserves it," Musa said bluntly after hearing the news. She looked up at her friends and saw that they were all expecting a different reaction, but there was no way that she was going to be the girl that cried over a guy that didn't care whether she lived or died. She had been embarrassed enough because of him and she refused to let herself look vulnerable again.
"You can't mean that," Stacy said. "I mean, wishing death on someone…"
"I'm not wishing him dead, I'm just saying it's not like he doesn't deserve it," Musa snapped back coldly, still feeling the anxiety that was making her breathing falter. But she ignored it, she knew she could do much better than a person that would hurt her, that did hurt her.
"Yeah but come on," Whitney said and Musa looked up at the two with obvious fire I her eyes.
"Do you two mind, Musa and I have some pressing matters to discuss," Ali said as she shooed the two away and focused back on Musa. She knew that this wasn't the time to be talking about Riven and if she wanted to act like the fact that he might be dead didn't bother her, then Ali wasn't going to push it.
"So what are these pressing matters?" Musa asked trying to sound as unaffected by all of this as she could.
"Are you okay?" Ali asked. "I mean really okay, cause if you wanna talk about it or something, we can. I'm not gonna judge you or anything if you're worried or anything, I mean it's okay if you still like hi –,"
"Pressing matters, Ali," Musa reminded and answered Ali's question at the same time.
""We have the loaded gun and it's pointed right towards Karen," She reminded, bringing back up the situation that caused them to become such close friends in the first place. "All you need to do is pull the trigger, and of coarse let me watch,"
"Ali…not right now," Musa groaned, still not being able to shake the news.
"You can't keep avoiding this, we have everything we need to destroy Karen," Ali reminded as she pulled the file out of her bag and waved it in Musa's face. "I did the hard part, just go talk to her and lay down the law, she's over in the old gym, just go do it, and it'll take five minutes, tops,"
"Fine. But there's nothing too bad in here is there?" Musa asked as she looked over the folder once again, she had not really taken a chance to read all the finer points, but she didn't want the records to have something like murder in them.
"Just the usual rich girl routine," Ali answered. "A few DUI's and arrests for drug use, just enough to get her ass kicked out of here in a second,"
Musa looked at the folder and felt almost no guilt for what she was about to do, maybe it was because she was distracted, but she felt ready to get revenge, finally. Musa nodded and walked straight over to the old gym where Karen was spending most of her time during the battles, which happened to be right next to where the boys were sleeping.
Musa walked in and went straight up to Karen, who had seen her come in the door and for the first time her face lacked the normal ice that it always had. "Are you lost lit-," Karen began to mock.
"Shut up," Musa said strictly, her voice coming icy as she lifted up the folder and threw it into Karen's hand. "I'm talking and you should be looking through that folder, I think you'll find it rather interesting," Karen looked up in confusion to see Musa after looking through the folder.
"These are doctored, nobody will believe you," Karen insisted as she pushed the papers back at Musa.
"Actually, these were written up by the police chief himself and we have his word, and the future of his career, riding on these papers so I don't think he'll he's going to be fessin' up anytime soon," Musa said with a confident grin, it was a good thing that she didn't do this often because the feeling was a bit drunk with power, she could see why a lot of her friends were so, well bitchy. "And these may be a little fictious, but we all know there is some truth behind these offenses, so it wont be too hard to believe,"
"Fine," Karen said as she looked down to the floor and when she looked up Musa saw the vulnerability in her eyes for the first time. "I'll leave Alfea, on my own, jus don't put the papers in, and my family will be disgraced,"
"What makes you think I care at all what your family thinks," Musa asked, ready to employ the plan that she and Ali had worked up days ago, but then she began to feel a stab of guilt, and suddenly she felt like she was no better than Riven. He didn't give a damn about what he did to hurt people and look how he ended up.
"You're right," Karen said as she began to turn around. "I'll be packed and outta here by tomorrow morning,"
As she watched Karen walk away, Musa knew she had to put a stop to what she was doing. "Karen wait," Musa said and walked back up to the fallen socialite. "Look, these papers never have to surface and you don't have to leave,"
"What?" Karen asked in absolute shock. Musa had the smoke and gun, Karen had nothing to fight back with, all in all Musa won. Which begged the question, what was the catch? "You won, I won't retaliate,"
"No, I'm not that kind of person," Musa said, she refused to be the kind of person that Karen had been and that Riven was. "You are never to mess with me again, and if you decide to, these files will not only be on Faragonda's desk, but every paper in Magix. But, you can't leave Alfea because of me, so stay and we can call a truce,"
"Really?"
"Yeah," Musa sighed. "A truce, not a friendship, so you'd better be on your best behavior,"
Karen nodded and walked away and Musa did the same, feeling a little better about how she acted with Karen.
"How great did that feel!" Ali said excitedly as Musa walked back onto the quad. Musa had thought that this would feel amazing, to win and know that Karen couldn't mess with her ever again, but she didn't really feel much of anything.
"I think I just wanna get some sleep for a little," Musa said, still unable to get the recent news out of her head and focus on whatever. She stood up and silently walked back to her room, and Ali made no attempt to stop her or remind her about how important it was to get back at Karen, because right now it wasn't even going to faze her.
The musical princess opened the door to the common room and walked in to where she saw Stella carelessly lounging on a couch. She was lying there carefully fixing the nail polish that had chipped when they were fighting the ice crabs in Sparx. "Hey, where have you been?" Stella asked as she looked up from her nails and then right back to them after identifying that it was Musa who had just walked in.
"I was around," Musa said nonchalantly. "I was hanging out with Ali for a little bit and I got a little tired," it was virtually impossible for her not to.
"Are you two bickering again," Flora said disappointedly as she walked in the room with a plant in her hand. "It's beginning to get a little old,"
"Aww Flora, always sweet, even when you're bitching," Stella said with a doll faced smile and continued to paint her nails. "Don't worry we aren't at each other's throats just yet, I'd give it a few hours before that happens,"
"Something to look forward to," Musa laughed and put her legs up on the coffee table and leaned even further back until it was almost like she was lying down on the couch and the coffee table.
"Hey what's that?" Flora questioned.
"Oh so will we be hearing Karen sobbing soon," Stella said looking up at the musical princess once again, this time with a sly smile. "I never expected to see the bitch in you, but hey it's about time, I was beginning to think that you were a bit of a push over,"
"Hardly," Musa defended, there were definitely times where she had made herself look weak and helpless, most of them revolved around the guy she was still worried about. "There is only so far you can push me,"
"Good to know, I guess I don't want to get on your bad side,"
"Please, you get on it so often, I've become immune," Musa said as she threw her bag on the floor and took a seat on the couch opposite of Stella and laid her head back. She kept thinking about Riven, wondering where he was, if he was okay, and then she kept telling herself not to care, even though she couldn't not care. When she had put her leg up on the coffee table, the fabric had crept up a bit and the bandage that was on her leg was now visible.
"Did you get hurt?" Flora asked.
"Oh," Musa said mentally kicking herself for not being smarter about hiding her injury, but it wasn't like she was going to be able to hide it for long since the witches were bound to attack at some time and it was going to be clear that something was wrong when she wasn't able to fight along with everyone else. "I got a bruise and they had to bandage it up, it's not a big deal, but Ophelia told me I should chill for a bit,"
"Oh," Flora said and dismissed the subject right there, however the argument didn't seem to convince Stella who still had a raised eyebrow.
"Why don't you get some rest and I'm going to go see how Bloom is doing," Stella said as she stood up and ran her hands over her skirt to smooth out her wrinkles. "She's in a meeting with Miss Faragonda right now, they are trying to figure out a way to get her powers back since she needs them to technically be a student here,"
"They can't kick her out because she lost them temporarily," Flora said in Bloom's defense. "Can they?"
"Well, is her power loss temporary?" Musa asked as she stood up and began to walk over to her room to get some rest. The potion that Ophelia had given her was making her a little drowsy. She got to the opening of the door and turned around. "The spell that they used on Mirta seems to be pretty permanent,"
"Don't say that!" Flora said with clear worry in her eyes, she had been working day and night to try to find a way to reverse the curse that was on Mirta, but she couldn't figure out any way to do so. "Everything will be fine,"
Musa shrugged and turned around to walk into her room and hopefully get some rest. There was no doubt that she was tired, but the second she laid down in her bed she couldn't managed to fall asleep, no matter how much she wanted to. With a frustrated sigh, Musa turned in her bed and faced the window that overlooked the quad and the enchanted forest, and in the distance was the fallen school for heroes.
Why can't I just forget you! Musa said to herself in anger. She had been thinking of Riven since she heard the news and she couldn't stop worrying. And then she looked over to her phone and remembered that there was another pressing issue she was ignoring. Luckily, the potion that she had taken earlier was serving to ease her mind and in a matter of minutes she was able to once again ignore her problems and fall asleep.
Musa woke the next more abruptly by Techna, once again telling her to wake up immediately. Musa sat up and tried to gather herself before asking what was going on. "Are we going to Sparx again?" Musa asked sarcastically as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"No, Bloom needs to speak with us and it's urgent," Techna pressed on and threw a change of clothes at Musa. "Now get up,"
Musa nodded and got changed and met her friends that were down in the quad. She walked over to Bloom who greeted them with a nervous smile. She walked through the quad and "Hey guys…" She said nervously as the girls assembled around her and Stella. "Umm, I was talking to Miss Faragonda last night and we think that it might be best that we go to Cloud Tower and try to find something that might be able to take the witches down,"
"Sounds like a plan," Musa said happily through a yawn. Finally something that she could do that would be some what progressive and the idea of going to Cloud Tower didn't leave a bad taste in her mouth this time. Maybe it was because she could see for herself if Riven was okay or not, not that she was sure that she wanted to know.
"Actually you can't come," Bloom said right as Musa was getting excited about going on a mission and doing something.
"What! Why!" Musa nearly yelled.
"Well for one, you have an ice crab bite that you didn't tell anyone about," Stella pointed out.
"What!" Flora and Techna asked at the same time.
"Yeah, Ophelia told Miss Faragonda and she told us when we were discussing Cloud Tower last night," Bloom explained. "And that means you definitely can't come, especially since you need to heal before we all go up against the witches,"
"This isn't fair," Musa moaned angrily, she hated being treated like a child that needed to be taken care of, she was perfectly capable to make her own decisions about how much care she needed. "Besides I feel fine, all I needed was some sleep,"
"Yeah I think we should be able to come," Flora said. "Come on we have been here every step of the way and we should be able to come and help you out,"
"No, you cant come, you need to stay here and protect Alfea," Bloom said firmly. "And besides we can only go with five and the boys are coming,"
"Come on, the boys?" Musa questioned. How were they going to be of any help? They didn't have any powers and they might just run into the three most powerful witches in the universe, since they were sneaking into their home base. It would be really helpful to have more people that could actually use magic in the operation. It was just plan logic. "We can protect you better than they can,"
"I need your support," Bloom begged one last time and right as Musa was about to rebuttal with another argument as to why she should be able to go, since it did make a lot more sense than the boys going, Flora gave in and agreed.
Damn it…Musa thought to herself when Flora gave in knowing that she wasn't going to be able fight the girls on this one now that one of them had already agreed, and from the looks of it, Techna was in agreement as well. Before she knew it, Musa was pulled into a hug with Bloom and Flora and then she looked over to see Techna crying. God her friends were emotional, she was never really used to seeing crying as much as she was used to seeing anger and then plots for revenge, it was a little unsettling being around people who were so openly emotional, when she grew up everyone kept their feelings inside and chose to keep a confident and happy exterior and she had grown used to it.
"Aww you're actually crying," Stella said as the four parted form their group hug.
"It's just Bloom's chances of survival are so impossibly low," Techna said through a few sniffles.
Well yeah, she's taking the guys along instead of us…mission is doomed to start with. Musa thought unable to help from being bitter. She looked down at the ground in defeat until she head a voice that made her jump. "Never talk about defeat or you'll be defeated," Musa jumped when she saw Brandon literally pop out of the well out of random. "Basic battle tactics,"
Musa and Techna walked over to the well that seemed to pop in and out of the quad over the year, she didn't know why but it seemed like it was there one day and not there the next. (1) Then, Bloom and Stella climbed in and got ready to depart. Musa and Techna continued to stare down the well that looked like it plunged into an endless abyss. "Let's do a friend protection spell….just in case," Flora said as she joined the two next to the well as they all stared down and watched their friends slowly disappear into the tunnel.
After sitting at the well for a couple more seconds, Musa pulled herself away from it and began walking towards her room in an attempt to try to decide what she was going to do with herself while they waited for the next attack to come towards Alfea. She was trying her best to forget Riven, so she decided to turn her attention towards someone else that had betrayed her, Karen. But she had dealt with that and she thought she handled that pretty well.
As Musa walked towards the corridor that led to the staircase, she mulled over what she was going to do, she stopped as a loud cry filled the air.
"Code Red! Muster the troops!" Musa looked to the air towards James, the sophomore that was keeping watch in the bell tower, yelled a warning to the school just as she heard a trumpet sound in alarm. All of a sudden she saw just how well trained the boys at Red Fountain were. With a single note of the trumpet or command from Cordatorta, they all lined up ready to go and ready to battle.
Miss Faragonda and Cordatorta had arranged different collections of teams and troops for the impending battles so that everyone would be able to get some rest and so everyone's strengths would be put to use in the most beneficial way. Faragonda had put her in a team with the dance team and the cheer squad, since both were very agile on their feet and able to do many flips and stunts that could keep them from harm's way. And since many other fairies were better in the air, they were going to fight along side the boys on the ground.
The dance team 'troop' was supposed to gather in patter right behind the junior boys lacrosse team, which was pretty nice since those boys were really built so they could not only protect them, but even Musa had to admit that they were not to bad to look at. Musa ran to her position and heard Ali's voice behind her as the rest of the girls assembled. "This should be fun,"
"You're insane,"
"And, you're not supposed to be fighting," Ali said with a raised eyebrow and saw Musa's face almost fill with worry at the chance of not being able to fight along with her classmates, especially after they had all learned new battle strategies and procedure. "But I'm not the head mistress,"
Musa smiled in gratitude and awaited the order from Cordatorta, he was going to tell the lacrosse team when to attack and Musa's 'troop' was going to attack along with them. Musa began to fight along side the lacrosse team when Miss Faragonda ordered the armor squad fire alongside them. Musa walked up to the squad and saw Timmy firing along with his classmates, he actually looked heroic. Musa had usually seen him as Techna's male counterpart and this was seeing him in a different light, it was interesting to say the least, although she still thought of him as the nerdy kid she had met at the first mixer here at Alfea.
The fighting raged on for a few more hours and the systematic battle plans that they had made definitely made a difference from the first time that they went up against the army of decay. She had to have been fighting twice as long as she did before and she felt no where near as tired, actually all the adrenaline coursing through her veins was making her very energized.
"I don't know how much more fighting our school can take," Techna said as she and Musa sat against the wall, which was partially destroyed. The school had taken a lot of damage since the army of decay was summoned. It was not just that, but the fact that there were so many extra students staying there, it hardly looked like the gleaming academy for fairies that she had first step foot on all those months ago. "This needs to stop,"
"Yeah well unless the witches decide that they don't want universal domination or Bloom gets her powers back by some miracle…" Musa answered as she put her water bottle on the ground and proceeded to add pressure to the empty bottle before it began to crumble onto itself under the pressure. "Other than that, I'm thinking we're screwed,"
"You've been awfully negative," Techna pointed out with a bit of annoyance in her voice. Musa knew she wasn't exactly being a shining beacon of hope. "It wouldn't hurt to try to stay positive, it is all we really have left,"
"I guess,"
"What has gotten into you?" Techna questioned. "Ever since we got back from Sparx you have been sad and negative. Do you not feel well, the bite you got was pretty bad,"
"I feel fine," Musa said getting a little tired of everyone asking if she was okay, this was exactly the reason she didn't tell anyone about her bite, And why was it that Stella could be in a mood and nobody would get on her case, but when she was having a bad day she wasn't allowed to be a little upset. "Really,"
Techna shrugged and gave up, everyone was a little on edge since the break in the fighting was only temporary and they all knew that with every new wave of attacks, the army of decay was growing stronger while they were getting wearier. They sat next to each other for a few more minutes before Ali and Flora walked over to the two. "Miss Faragonda wants to see you in her office," Flora said when the two walked up to the sitting fairies.
"Why?" Musa asked with a little concern, she didn't know what Miss Faragonda wanted to speak to her about, there as the bite that she got, then of coarse her future her at Alfea that was in jeopardy ever since he father began to ask for all of there records and files.
"Griselda didn't say," Ali answered. "All she said was that we needed to tell you to get up to her office pronto,"
"Okay," Musa said calmly as she walked away from her friends and over to where Faragonda's office was. Miraculously, that was one of the few places in the school that had managed to incur very little damage. Musa walked into the office and took her seat when Miss Faragonda told her to, trying her best not to sound too freaked out about whatever news she was about to receive.
"So you're probably wondering why I've called you here," Miss Faragonda began as she paced in front of her desk.
"Kinda," Musa answered nervously.
"As you know, your father has requested that Griselda and I report on all of the activities you have engaged in here at Alfea, both academic and recreational," Miss Faragonda began as she sat towards the center of her desk. "But he also asked for an evaluation of you as a student here at Alfea from both Griselda and I,"
"Oh," Musa said feeling as though she was about to throw up. This was not good. It was one thing to have the head mistress write a letter evaluating your performance as a student and a person overall, Miss Faragonda kinda liked Musa. But Griselda, it was pretty clear that the two weren't exactly best friends. There was no telling what she had written in her evaluation, but Musa could only guess it wasn't what she would have wanted.
"Yes and while there are many instances where you have exercised poor judgment," Griselda added. "You have managed to be a decent student and I can't say that you are my least favorite student,"
"What Griselda is trying to say is that you are an excellent student here at Alfea and your father has received very positive feedback about you," Miss Faragonda explained. Musa raised her head and tried her best to keep from squealing with happiness. "And he had asked to know about all the activities you are participating in,"
"Are you including what's going on here?"
"We have decided to leave that out since it doesn't exactly lean on the side of you being able to be a student her next year," Miss Faragonda said. Musa couldn't believe it, they were actually on her side about everything! She was so worried that they were going to advise her father to pull her out that she didn't even realize that she was a good student and that she had really helped out the school when she was here, especially now.
"Thank you," Musa said unable to think of anything else to say. "So much,"
"We only said what we believe," Miss Faragonda encouraged. "You have shown excellence in your studies and loyalty to your school by fighting along side us in these difficult days. And your father has noticed, he has agreed to allow you to join us for another year here at Alfea,"
"Really!" Musa said excited from her seat, all the exhaustion she had felt from the battle had all but disappeared after she heard the news and she was very tempted to run up to Miss Faragonda and give her a hug, but she fought the urge. "Thank you so much,"
"You're very welcome," Miss Faragonda said. "Now you can go back to your activities and get some rest if you can,"
"Okay, thanks so much, again," Musa repeated. She then stood up and walked out of the office resisting the urge to hop up and down in sheer happiness. She walked down the hallway and standing around the corner waiting for her was Ali, waiting and wondering what was going on.
"So what happened?" Ali asked as the two walked down the steps and through the corridor and into the quad.
"She said that when my –," Musa began when she heard something that sounded like a space jet landing in close proximity to the school, and it wasn't just her sensitive ears that picked up the noise. Everyone looked up when the boom like sound flowed through the air. "What the hell was that?"
"I dunno," Ali said in the same confusion that was going around in the quad. "Sounded like a jet, but the Magix airspace has been on quarantine for the last day, hasn't it,"
"That's what I thought,"
"What idiot would land in the middle of the enchanted forest, anyway?"
Musa shrugged and then looked to the gates of Alfea where she saw a very familiar face walking through the crumbling entrance. "Mystery solved," Musa said as calmly as she could, falling off the high she was just on after her meeting with Miss Faragonda.
"Hey isn't that,"
"Yup,"
"And you guys brok –,"
"Yup,"
"And everything is okay?"
"Yup,"
"Then why is he here?" Ali said pointing out the obvious question as the two stared as the prince made a stride towards the two of them. But before Musa could even think about answering the question, Daniel was already in front of her with a look on his face that was just as confused as hers.
"Hey Musa," Daniel said as he awkwardly gave her a hug.
"Well that's my cue," Ali said as she walked away and Musa let out an awkward laugh to try to clear the air, but it only made things weirder.
"So what are you doing here?" Musa asked as the two stood in the middle of the quad, putting on a show for everyone that was there.
"What are you doing here?" Daniel questioned back. "We radioed in to Magix International and everything was closed and then I land in a practical war zone, what the hell is going on?"
"Nothing I can't handle," Musa snapped, not sure why she was so on edge about seeing him, he was always so easy to talk to.
"I never said you couldn't," Daniel shot back, this time a bit of irritation crept through his cool cover. "But it's not like I would know what's going on with you since you decided that you don't want to pick up my calls or even talk to me. Are you still angry?"
"No!" Musa said in a loud voice not noticing that the two were getting a bit loud in the center of the quad. She grabbed his hand and began to lead him to some of the back grounds of Alfea, in an attempt to keep their private conversation between just the two of them.
"Musa –,"
"I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you," Musa began in a softer tone as she grabbed his hand and gave him a real hug this time. "I've just been a little busy,"
"Busy….?" Daniel questioned with a raised eyebrow. The two continued to walk aimlessly along the backgrounds of the school. "That sounds like a load of crap, and completely untrue,"
Damn. There were few people that knew Musa enough to know when she was not telling the whole truth about how she was feeling, and Daniel happened to be one of them. "Okay, I just felt a little weird,"
"About what?" Daniel said stopping their walk and looking her square in the eye.
"Us," Musa admitted. "You don't feel the least bit awkward about the fact that we used to date and then we broke up and didn't talk for months. I just feel like, I don't want us to regress and go back to doing something that is just bad for us and for our relationship,"
"Look," Daniel said holding Musa on her shoulders. "We can't erase what happened, but I can't be without my best friend and you cant say you didn't miss me, so we can just move on and be friends again, even if it kills us,"
Musa laughed and continued to walk along with Daniel. She told him about everything that was happening, not everything, she was going to fill him in on everything that was going on later when he couldn't do anything to stop her from standing by her school. But she did explain how she went to Sparx, leaving out the part when she got a bite on her ankle, and most importantly, how she was going to be able to stay at Alfea. They talked about the most random of topics to some more sensitive issues for a couple hours and it Musa was finally feeling like life was beginning to make itself less complicated.
"Told you your dad would change his mind," Daniel said confidently, almost too confidently.
"Yeah," Musa said as she looked at Daniel suspiciously. Daniel was definitely the kind of guy to bribe someone into bending to his will, but how could he possibly bribe her aunt and her father? Not to mention he kind of wanted her to come back to Devon Prep, but then of coarse that smile on his face spoke volumes. "You didn't do anything, did you?"
"Of coarse not,"
"Daniel,"
"I didn't," Daniel continued to defend. Musa gave him a hard look and crossed her arms and looked at him knowingly. "Fine, I did do something. But only a little,"
"Am I going to be in trouble when I get home," Musa said through a slight chuckle.
"No, I promise," Daniel assured as the two continued to walked along the side of the school. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to him. For a second Musa's pulse quickened and she became nervous. She had been scared that she was regressing back into having feelings for him, but after walking around with him and talking to him she finally knew there was nothing there between them. "I just told your aunt that what she was doing was a little under handed and if she ever wanted the possibility of a permanent alliance between our kingdoms she would have to start considering the feelings of the future heirs,"
"Daniel! You did not play the marriage card," Musa said pushing him back trying to stifle a laugh.
"Hey it got the job done, besides it's not like I went there a promised an engagement," Daniel defended as they rounded a corner and began to walk back onto the crowded quad. "I just told her what she wanted to hear,"
"Yeah and there are going to be no consequences to that," Musa groaned sarcastically.
"So…which one of these guys is the one that –," Daniel began as he looked around the quad and tried not to act too superior to the guys there, even though he was better than most of them.
Before Daniel could continue her was stopped by Musa turning around and standing in front of him with an agitated look. "We are not doing this,"
"Come on, I wont' take it personally, I swear," Daniel said putting his arms in the air as if surrendering. "Please I just wanna know,"
"Why?"
"Could I take him?" Daniel said looking around feeling a little less manly considering he was around a bunch of guys that were pretty much being taught how to be the hero while he was being taught Crescendian law. Suffice to say he didn't feel superior in every way.
"No," Musa said bluntly. Riven wasn't even here, but if they ever did get into a fight, Riven would definitely win, not that they would ever get in a fight, especially since Musa had no idea where he was at the moment. But still, what did it matter anyway? She really didn't feel like explaining what happened to him, mostly because it was really embarrassing, but also cause it was a little awkward.
"Fine point him out," Daniel demanded as Musa took his hand and began pulling him towards the clearing where his jet had made it's makeshift landing. "I just wanna see this guy,"
"No Daniel!" Musa demanded. She turned around and faced him as they finally got the jet which was now roaring, ready to take off. "Please can we not get into this now, or ever for that matter,"
"Fine, but one day I wanna meet this guy," Daniel said as the two stood in front of the stairs that led up to the jet. "I mean it, I wanna see this guy one day, I promise I'll be nice. I just wanna see who made you want to give up a prince,"
"You're a pompous, rich jackass," Musa said but her voice lacking the vicious tone. She was used to telling Daniel something along those lines when he was acting like a little rich boy and she loved him for it because he hardly ever meant it, but it was funny.
"A pompous, rich, jackass, that you happen to be best friends with," Daniel shot back.
"Yeah I guess,"
"Are you sure you want to stay I mean we can go back together," Daniel said once again, his protective side kicking in once again trying to get her to come back so that she would be okay. "We can come back right after everything calms down,"
"Daniel," Musa said reminding him that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. "I'm fine here, I promise, it's nothing we can't handle,"
"I still don't think you're telling me the truth," Daniel in formed her as he gave her a kiss on the head and began walking up the stairs and onto his jet. "But I guess I'm not the one to be lecturing you about honesty, just promise me you'll be okay, no matter what's happening here,"
"Promise,"
"And if you don't call me and tell me you're okay in the next week," Daniel threatened with some seriousness in his voice. "I'm sending a fleet,"
Musa laughed to herself as she watched her best friend, and nothing more, walk onto the jet and take the long flight back after seeing her for about a couple of hours. There was one thing she couldn't deny about Daniel, she knew he would go to the ends of the universe to make sure that she was okay and no matter how crappy her life seemed to get, she knew there was always going to be someone to help her up when she fell, which was bound to happen.
With a happy giggle, Musa walked back onto the main part of the campus and then she began to walk through the quad when she was stopped by Techna, Flora, and Ali. They were all standing in a line in front of the staircase that led up to hallway that led to the dorms. "So what the hell was that about?" Ali blurt out. "Last we checked you two were friends and then I see you guys sneaking off to the backgrounds of Alfea to do god knows what and now a couple hours later he's gone. Flying all the way here for a quickie seems kinda dumb since you'll be home all summer and –,"
"Is that what you think!" Musa said stopping her mid-rant. She looked to Techna and Flora, who turned away from her and looked to the ground, a clear indication that they were indeed thinking something along those lines. "No! that is not what happened. I haven't been able to talk to him in a few days so he got a little worried thinking that things between us weren't okay,"
"So he hopped on a jet and flew all the way here just to see you for a few hours?" Ali asked as if it were the craziest thing in the world and in some way it was kind of crazy, but not for Musa. She was used to Daniel doing seemingly extravagant or unnecessary things to show that he cared, he had his flaws, but he was a sweet guy when he wanted to be and Musa had realized that the only time that she ever spoke about him was when they were in an argument and that gave her fiends a very skewed idea of them.
"You guys don't know him like I do," Musa defended. "That's just Daniel being Daniel; he does a lot of extravagant things to prove a point,"
"So nothing's going on?" Techna asked with some skepticism still in her voice.
"Not a thing," Musa asserted once again as she changed her tone a bit. "But, I wont be going to Devon next year!"
And just as Musa predicted her friends' attention immediately shifted to how on earth she got out of that squabble with her family and even though it had a good amount to do with Daniel's intervening, Musa decided to leave that out for now. Everyone was still a bit on the fence on whether they believed the whole 'just friends' thing and she really didn't want to push it.
"If everything is made of rot, do you think it's made of like dead bodies and stuff too?" Gypsy questioned. She was one of those girls that was fun in small doses, it wasn't that she wasn't a nice person, but her blissfully oblivious personality made it impossible for anyone to stand her for more than an hour, which was probably why she was such good friends with Flora, since the floral fairy could deal with pretty much anyone.
Musa remembered that fact as she turned over in her bed and tried to get some more sleep. The others hadn't returned yet and she was beginning to worry, they said that they would only be about a day and it was already nightfall and they had yet to return. "Oh I hope not," Flora said half paying attention and half looking at what Techna was doing.
While Flora talked to Gypsy and Musa tried to get some rest, Techna was trying to get into some type of communication with their friends that had gone to Cloud Tower, clearly Musa was not the only one that was worried. "Can you reach them?" Flora asked.
"Not yet," Techna answered. "But I'm going to try another spell,"
Turning over once again, Musa tried to get some sleep but she couldn't, not that insomnia was anything new to her, it seemed to be something that had been plaguing her for months, her mind always seemed to be full of worry and it had been getting worse in the past day. "I'm gonna get some air," Musa said as she walked out of her room and onto the only balcony that was left intact.
Musa sat alone on the balcony and tried to think of everything that was good in life, she had learned this handy strategy from Leslie back when she went to Devon. When she felt overwhelmed she was told to simply think about everything she had going for her. She had her friends, which finally included Daniel again, she wasn't going to be sent home despite Karen's best efforts and now Karen wasn't even an issue anymore. If she tried to rise up and take Musa on again she had the smoke and gun sitting in her top desk drawer.
But when she looked at the good, Musa couldn't help but notice the bad. The school was under attack, her friends were missing, and so was Riven. Musa leaned back against the wall of the balcony as she crossed her legs and sat leisurely, but her mind was anything but at peace. "Are you okay?" A voice asked from behind.
Musa looked up to see Flora standing in between the room and the balcony, Musa nodded and Flora took that as permission to sit next to her and enjoy the view, although the scene laid out in front of them wasn't ideal.
"Remember how you said that if you think someone is worth it, then you should forgive them for what they've done," Musa said a few minutes later not looking up from the floor of the marble balcony.
"Yeah,"
"What if they've done something so despicable that they deserve what they get," Musa said, still unable to look up at Flora. "But you still really want them to be in your life… it's stupid, you'd have to be stupid to think like that,"
"Musa, what's going on?" Flora encouraged as she put a supportive hand on her shoulder and knelt down so that she was her eyelevel. This conversation was beginning to sound a lot like the one that they had a few weeks ago. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing," Musa said looking away and laying back in her bed and burying her head in her knees. Why was she even considering this, was she so desperate for someone that she would stoop so low as to settle for a guy that not only didn't want her, but was willing hurt her to impress some witch.
"You can tell me, sweetie,"
"I'm just worried is all,"
"About what," Flora asked. Musa wanted to answer and tell her that it was Riven that was worrying her and that she was secretly wishing he would walk back onto the campus. Musa didn't answer, she did want to talk about it, but how exactly was she supposed to explain her desire to see him again, it was insane, (2) she looked back up at Flora, still not answering, but Flora got the message. "Oh,"
"Yeah," Musa looked back down feeling ashamed.
"It's okay to worry," Flora assured. "It just shows that you're a good person,"
"A stupid person," Musa corrected.
"Don't worry," Flora said once as she stood up and began to walk back inside. "Things always have a way of working themselves out,"
Musa nodded and sat on the balcony for awhile longer, she looked up to the sky and felt a cool breeze sweep by. It was the calm before the storm.
1.Did anyone else notice that this well is there every now and again. I guess that's just the Magix of Alfea….
2. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result as according to the DSM V – 4
that's another chapter, next up is when Riven returns! fun stuff!!
xoxo,
princessm