Need a friend? – Icy waters
Helia, Flora and Musa made their way back to the dorm, as they entered they found the place empty. "Where did she go?" Helia spoke, as he and Flora sat on the sofa. Musa paced back and forth thinking of places that Layla would go to be alone or to clear her head.
"Layla would go somewhere to clear her head, she calms down around water and she clears her head by swimming in the lake in the forest." Musa said as she briskly walked into her room, closely followed by Flora. "Then what are you doing here we should get going." Flora stressed, "I'm getting changed, because I am not ruining this dress." Musa replied. Flora thought before running to her own room.
Musa walked back into the living area five minutes later to find Helia still sat on the sofa staring out the window, "where did Flora go?" the specialist turned around at hearing a voice. "She went to get changed as well as you she will be out any minute."
"I'm already out. You ready?" the nature fairy asked as she walked out to join them both.
All three of them walked out of the dorm to come face to face with Riven, "have you found her?" he asked truly worried for the fairy. "No we have an idea of where he may be and that is where we are going." Helia replied as he took Floras hand for comfort. "Let's get going then, none of the other girls or guys have found us missing yet and I think it will be better if we get going before they do figure it out." Riven replied as he gently placed his arm around Musa's waist and began to lead her through the corridors.
Musa took the lead as they entered the forest silently they waked scared of what they might find, but each determined to find Layla. Soon enough they entered a clearing with giant lake in the middle.
(How Layla got there)
Layla had had enough; though she was not at the prom, she could still hear the music and the laughter of the couples. She stood up and slowly walked back to her dorm to change, on the way back she saw Stella and Brandon getting a tad too friendly, she had to fight away the tears as memories of her, and Nabu came back.
Slowly she entered the dorm and walked up to her closet looking through she removed a pair of combat shorts and a lime green strap t-shirt. She removed her elegant dress and through it on to her unmade bed not caring at all, after removing her deep green bikini from her draw she picked up her clothes and walked into the on suite. Although Layla knew none of the girls will be back for a couple of hours she thought it was better to be safe than sorry.
Once Layla had finished getting changed her swimsuit underneath her clothes she placed a pain of blue sneakers on before sneaking back out of Alfea. She left the school she heard Griselda yelling at Stella and Brandon for inappropriate behaviour, which caused a smile to form across her face. Silently she slipped through the forest to her favourite place, where she could just think and clear her head.
As she arrived, she pulled her shirt over her head, and removed her combats to reveal herself in her bikini top and swimming shorts. In a swift motion, she dove into the cold water, the coldness making her body go numb, the water feeling like needles against her skin. Her mind went clear just how she wanted, and without thinking, she began to swim backwards and forwards.
Musa, Flora, Helia and Riven looked over the lake and saw the person they was looking for swimming across the lake to the other side, Musa spotted her clothes led a hill overlooking the lake, sooner or later Layla is going to get her clothes and when she does she will have to see them. Without saying anything, Musa walked up the small hill, Flora and Helia not far behind.
All four of them sat and watched their friend swim over to the bank of the lake furthest away, without showing any signs of stopping. "She looks okay" Helia said breaking the silence, Flora took hold of his hand "well Layla doesn't tend to show her emotions a lot. She finds peace in the water and I'm guessing that the reason she is still going strong is because she is using the pain of Nabu inside her to keep going."
They watched as Layla dragged herself onto the bank on the other side of the water, and stood up revealing her in her bikini and swimming shorts, the moon light reflected off the water droplets on her skin.
Layla turned around to go back and immediately saw the four black figures underneath the tree where she left her clothes, but due to the dark shadow from the tree, she could not identify them. "I thought they would have stayed at the party" Layla asked herself in her head before diving back into the water and back towards the opposite bank.
"Hey she's coming back do you think she has seen us?" Flora asked as she stood up and stretched her legs. "I bet she has" Helia responded to his girlfriend. Ten minutes had passed and Layla had just reached the bank of the shore and dragged herself out of the water and on to the grass. Her body slumped own with exhaustion, but she managed to speak to the figures who was just watching her, unsure of what to do. "I should have known someone would come. Moreover, Musa is the only one who knew that place. Riven would not leave Musa so that's two accounted for" Layla sat up onto her arm and stared at the three of them "so who are you two?"
All four figures stepped forwards but Musa walked all the way over to Layla and knelt by her side, "We just wanted to make sure that you are okay" Riven also walked up to the fairy, and gently took hold of her arm pulling her to her feet. "We are worried for you" the specialist spoke softly.
Layla accepted the gesture and allowed Riven to pull her to her feet, but due to the amount of swimming her legs was exhausted and ached, they couldn't take her weight and she fell back down to her knees. Riven caught her as she hit the ground, Musa walked to her friends side slightly concerned for her, "how long have you been out here Layla? You can barely stand, how long have you been swimming and how fast?" Musa asked gently while she placed her hand upon her wet shoulder.
Layla could sense her friends concern, "I have been out here for about an hour, I have been swimming the entire time so my legs are weak they will go back to normal in half an hour or so." Riven shot a worried glance at Musa as Layla lowered her head and looked at the ground.
"Come on lets go to the tree you can rest there!" Riven spoke softly surprising the two girls, he gently placed his arm around Layla waist and supported her as he got her back to her feet. "Who are the other two?" the morfix fairy asked as she allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
Riven adjusted himself and placed Layla's arm around his shoulder as he still gripped her waist, Musa done the same the other side. Once they were both comfortable, they assisted Layla to the tree. "They are Flora and Helia, we were worried about you."
Flora and Helia watched as Riven and Musa helped Layla to walk towards them, once they got closer, Flora stood up and went over to her friend, "Oh Layla I was so worried about you, why didn't you come to us to talk?" the nature fairy noticed as her friend continued to stare at the floor in shame.
"I didn't want to ruin your night; I spent a while out by the water fountain before deciding to come out here." Layla replied as a few tears trickled down her face, waiting for her friends to come back at her.
"Oh Layla" Flora almost whined but in a caring voice, a gust of wind caused shivers to travel down all of their backs, including Layla who shivered in her wet swimming costume.
"Come on let's get you in to some warm dry clothes" the calm fairy continued as Riven and Musa guided her back up to the tree which Helia was still under. Layla still hardly being able to hold her own weight.
Once the group of teenagers had sat back underneath the well shaded tree, Layla took her towel and quickly dried herself off, not really caring about being thorough. When she finished she sat down next to Musa and draped a new towel over her shoulders to keep of the immediate cold. "So are you going to tell us why you were out here alone?" Musa asked in one of her rare sweet 'I care about you' tones.
"I just couldn't take staying around all the happy couples, I know I promised Stella I would stay for the evening but seeing everyone else made me think of Nabu."
Both Flora and Musa knew Stella was wrong for forcing Layla to attend the dance and they was pretty sure Layla would never give in, until Stella wouldn't leave her alone and drove her insane forcing her to say yes to get some peace. Bad move.