Author's note: The base fairy form will be called Basix, not Charmix or Winx, in this story. I stick with the RAI English and comics for most of my writings, and in those sources the base form isn't given an official name until Faragonda decides to re-name it in honor of the Winx Club (whose name Bloom made up) at the end of season one. Since Charmix, for that dub canon, is the add-on present in season 2, this left me with the option of naming it myself, and I have chosen to call it Basix since it is the most basic transformation a fairy can achieve.

Chapter 2: Candle in the Window

Bloom squelched the panic threatening to overrun her mind. Yes, Stella was passed out and a rather large Ursa seemed very interested in eating them both, but she could handle it. A Huntress never backed away from an innocent in danger, and the blonde Fay certainly qualified.

She flew into action as the Grimm advanced, running directly into its path in a bid to distract it from Stella's prone form. Dust bullets impacted its thick hide in quick bursts but left no noticeable injury to the great beast. It roared in anger, swiping at her with one of its enormous clawed paws, but she rolled out of the way and launched a fireball at it. Its fur, while thick and resistant to bullets, easily burned and distracted the beast long enough for her to convert Artemis back into crossbow form and load a bolt. All she needed was a decent shot…which she currently did not have. The creature swatted again, and she was back to playing defense rather than offense for a while.

Though some truly lucky ducking and rolling, she managed to place herself under its hulking frame and in prime position to launch a bolt into its heart. With a cry of fury she pulled the trigger and rolled to the left as the creature tried to claw her. Artemis' aim held true, metal arrowhead slicing through tough hide and muscle and fat to pierce the vital organ. The Ursa bellowed and flopped to the ground, driving the shaft farther into its body. It would bleed out in a matter of seconds, but Bloom knew better than to stick around that long. Hefting Stella's unconscious form over her shoulder, she took off toward the rendezvous point in a dead run. No way an injured Fay would last long out here. Besides, the girl's comment about 'no fairies on Remnant' piqued Bloom's curiosity. She wondered what the blonde meant by that, but supposed she'd have to wait until the girl woke up to find out.

And Mom would know what to do for the exhausted teen; might even know how to contact Solaria. No doubt the realm would prepare for all-out war once they discovered their princess missing. Remnant couldn't even handle its own internal conflicts, let alone an assault from a superior army like Solaria's. It was, therefore, imperative that someone let the king know his daughter was alive and well. Bloom took it as a personal charge to see that Stella stayed that way.

Glynda resigned herself to the fact that her daughter likely wouldn't gain a partner or a team this year. The odds and enrollment numbers indicated that Bloom would go through this year—her freshman year—all alone. Oh, it bothered her immensely, but she refused to hold the girl back another year just to make the numbers match up. Bloom earned her way into the freshman class this year and intended to prove to anyone watching that she could do this on her own; all Glynda could do now was watch and support her daughter from the sidelines.

So when the redhead emerged from the woods with a strange blonde girl draped over her shoulder, Glynda frowned in confusion. She knew the faces, colors, and armour schemes of all entering students this year, and that girl most definitely had not enrolled at Beacon. In fact, she looked more like an heiress than a Huntress. "Bloom, what is going on? Who is this girl?"

"She's a Fay; I found her fighting off a Woodland Ogre and a pack of Lesser Helspawn in the forest. I stumbled on them while tracking the signal of a large magical discharge, which was probably a portal since that's how the ogre escaped." The redhead frowned before shrugging her free shoulder. "She identified herself as Princess Stella of Solaria. I ran the ogre off and helped clear out the Helspawn before she passed out, and I couldn't just leave her in the Emerald Forest…"

Dimly aware of Ozpin's curious gaze, Glynda sighed. "Come, we'll take her to the school and let the nurse on duty treat her." From the feel of the girl's Aura, it was likely exhaustion that caused her to collapse and not something more sinister. "If she really is who she said she was, we'll need to contact both her home realm and wherever she was going when she was taken." Likely the realm of Magix, but she could be wrong about that.

"Do you think she's really from Solaria, Mom?"

"I don't know for sure. She certainly has the right aura for a typical Solarian, but we haven't had one of their people visit Remnant in many years. Now, you said she was fighting off a Woodland Ogre when you found her. How did she fare against him?"

"I think she might have been able to best him on her own if he had been her only opponent; the ogre wasn't too bright or fast. The swarm of Helspawn turned the fight in his favor, though." Her daughter frowned. "She has a lot of fire power, but she used up a lot of it blasting away Helspawn and disrupting the portal. The ogre seemed to think he was on Earth, not Remnant, so if he opened the portal that brought them here, I'd bet she used whatever magic she had to disrupt it and dump them on a planet that had at least a little magic left."

"A sound theory. You'll do well in your tactical analysis class if you can keep thinking like that." Glynda nodded. "Do you know why they were after her in the first place?"

"Her staff—well, it's a ring now." Bloom corrected herself. "He wanted her staff—she called it the Scepter of Solaria, and wielded it proficiently enough to take out some of the smaller Grimm. It seems to give her a power boost as well as a focus for her energy."

Well, damn. If the blonde Fay really did have the Scepter of Solaria, she belonged to the royal bloodline. This could mean major trouble for Remnant as a whole. "I've heard of that particular weapon. It's an heirloom of the royal family and a powerful magical object. We can question your new friend about it once she recovers."

Though entirely selfish, Glynda hoped that the blonde Fay would stay for more than a few days. Perhaps an exchange program could be worked out with the other schools? Anything to keep Bloom from feeling any more isolated from her peers than she already did.

Stella awoke to a bright white room that was definitely NOT the Alfea infirmary. She'd been in that room enough times to know what its interior looked like, and this sleek metal-accented area wasn't it. She winced as the bright overhead lights assaulted her eyes, a soft moan escaped her lips in the process.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" The sound of another voice caused Stella to turn her head in its general direction. As she squinted, she noticed a girl with flaming red hair and pale skin sitting next to her. "I was starting to worry. You were out for nearly four hours."

Four hours?! "What?" She rasped, forcing her vision to focus on the girl. Her mind recognized the redhead as her unexpected savior back in the forest. "Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary of Beacon Academy, city of Vale, realm Remnant." The redhead softly answered. "You passed from magical exhaustion out in the Emerald Forest, so I brought you here to recover."

"I remember you from the woods." She murmured. "You saved me from the ogre and those nasty creatures."

"Their technical name is Lesser Helspawn and yes, I did." The other girl smiled. "I'm Bloom Goodwitch."

"Princess Stella of Solaria." Stella responded. "You people do know about Solaria, right?"

"We do, and now that you're awake, you can contact your keepers and let them know that you're alive, albeit in a different place than intended." Bloom replied. "I'm assuming you didn't mean to end up here when you left Solaria."

"No." The blonde shook her head. "I was heading to Alfea College in Magix when that stupid ogre waylaid me and disrupted the transport portal."

"Huh. Guess we'll need to talk to them too." Bloom shrugged. "There's a whole school for Fay? I mean, I knew there was a school that trained 'heroes', which are kinda like wimpy Huntsmen, but I never knew there was one for Fay."

"Oh, there are several colleges in addition to the secondary schools and private tutors, but I suppose Remnant has been without one for so long that fairy education has fallen totally off the priorities list." Stella focused on the girl next to her. "But because it's been so long, you could totally get a scholarship or two to study in Magix!"

"Whoa, back that thought up a moment." The redhead held her hands up. "I'm a Huntress, like Mom and everyone else here at Beacon. Yes, I have an unusually strong aura, but a Fay? I think that's a bit of wishful thinking."

"Is there a rule that says you can't be a Huntress and a Fay?" Stella countered. "Because what you totally have magic, Bloom. I mean, since it's undifferentiated, you could feasibly become a witch just as easily as a fairy, but you weren't channeling like a witch at all."

Bloom gave her a blank, confused stare. "But what I do is no different than most Hunters. My aura may be stronger than most, but all Hunters can channel their Aura to do amazing things. How am I any different than them?"

"How you channel it, for one. Kudos to whoever trained you because you have really good base control, but the way you channel it isn't anything like how a specialist, wizard, witch, or paladin operates. It's a little off what's taught in most magical dimensions, but you channel your magic, your Aura like a fairy." She stared down the smaller girl. "I bet you'd unlock your basix form in no time!"

"We'd have to prove it all to my mom before I start any crazy training programs." Bloom snorted. "I'm already signed on for another four years here at Beacon Academy and I don't think they have the staff to manage fairy training."

"Uhg, you're right." Stella scrunched up her nose. "You can get your basic spellfire and defensive tactics training here, but flight class and potionology are going to be difficult."

"Maybe the people at Alfea will have some ideas?" Bloom suggested.

"You know, you just might have a point there…"

"Stella, thank the Dragon you're safe!" King Radius cried through the video monitor. Ozpin, Glynda, Stella, and Bloom were gathered in the communications room where a three-way chat between the Alfea headmistress, Beacon Academy representatives, and Solarian monarchy had been arranged. "How did you wind up so far off course?"

"I got attacked by an ogre and a pack of Helspawn while I using the scepter." The golden-eyed blonde replied. "They threw the trajectory off and I wound up here in the woods. I'd have been a goner if Bloom hadn't shown up."

"Twice over, since the fight drew the attention of a rather large Ursa Grimm after you collapsed from exhaustion." Bloom added.

"And how, exactly, did you manage to defeat an Ursa, Miss Bloom?" Faragonda, the white-haired headmistress of Alfea, asked.

"Dust bullets, flaming arrows, and fireballs, along with a lot of ducking and dodging." Bloom shrugged. "My Aura base is fire, and their fur burns pretty well."

"And you channel your Aura like a fairy." Stella chirped happily.

"You have my deepest thanks for rescuing and caring for my daughter." King Radius intoned solemnly. "Do you know why the ogre attacked."

"It said that its masters wanted the Scepter, which I told him he wouldn't get." Stella stated. "I don't know what the master wanted it for, but the ogre seemed pretty intent on taking it up until Bloom showed up and evened the fighting odds."

"It left through a portal." Bloom muttered, earning the focus of everyone else in the room. "Can Woodland Ogres open magic portals on their own? We don't have any around here, so I don't know for sure…"

"No, they cannot." Faragonda didn't look very happy. "And until we investigate the matter more thoroughly, I am reluctant to suggest your return, Princess Stella. It is possible you have an enemy here in Magix."

"But where am I supposed to go to school? And what about Bloom? She's a fairy, I know it!" Stella protested.

"We can teach you to channel your magic without transforming right here at Beacon Academy." Ozpin spoke up. "Perhaps a correspondence course would fill in the gaps?"

"Perhaps." Faragonda nodded. "Radius? What is your opinion?"

"My opinion is for my daughter to stay wherever she is safest." The man responded. "And in a school full of specialists and warriors, I feel that, for the moment, she is safest where she is."

Bloom's cyan eyes lit up. "Does this mean I get to keep her as a partner?" She asked her mother, who chuckled lightly.

"Yes, Bloom. She will be your teammate for as long as she stays." The blonde Huntress smiled.

"How am I safest here, exactly?" Stella petulantly folded her arms across her chest. "The ogre knows I'm on Remnant and escaped before we could try to catch him! His masters or whoever might send something bigger and stronger!"

"Bring it on." Bloom smirked. "I may let one of the other teams deal with whatever shows up."

"Don't worry, Princess Stella." Ozpin smiled. "You're well protected here."

Knut stumbled out of the portal, falling ungracefully to his knees and panting for breath. He couldn't believe he'd been bested by a spoiled princess and the crazed Huntress, but he knew better than to stick around when it went south. He was better a coward than a dead hero.

"Knut! What are you doing?" One of his mistresses shouted. He could barely make out her curly short hair in the shadowed room. "Where's the stupid fairy?"

"What happened?" A calmer, more collected voice asked. She had her long hair in a high ponytail. "Why is there a crossbow bolt sticking out of your shoulder?" He winced.

"Forgive me, Mistresses. The fairy fought my attempts to redirect the portal and dumped us onto somewhere called Remnant. I almost had her defeated when one of the locals showed up and started shooting and lobbing fireballs at us. We did, however, manage to rip off a piece of the princess's gown before then. A decent hunting troll should be able to find her."

"Remnant?" The poofy-haired woman snorted. "That backwater? I didn't realize they had anyone capable of lobbing fireballs on that planet."

"Don't discount the Hunters there, little sister." The second voice said. "Many of them would make strong witches and wizards, when properly trained."

"At least we know where they are and that we can track them." A third and final female spoke, long hair billowing behind her like a cape. "What did the interloper look like, Knut?"

"Bright red hair, shorter than the princess, fair skin, blue and green outfit." The ogre recalled. "She mostly stayed under the shadows of the trees or moved like a blur so I didn't get a very good look at her."

"Interesting." The second witch mused. "That…is actually very useful information. You have done well in boxing the spoiled little princess in on that wild realm. You," she pointed to the curly-haired woman, "I need you to get us a hunting troll while we tend to the bolt wounds."

Knut's shoulders sagged in relief. They weren't displeased with him, not any more than usual anyway. The youngest of the women growled and stalked off into the shadows as the two others came closer. It was going to hurt, but at least they were helping him and not hurting him today. That alone was worth something…wasn't it?