A/N: Yes, I gave Faragonda a first name. And no, it's not Glinda (although the thought did cross my mind). In this universe, her first name is Valeria (literally meaning "valor"). And, keep in mind, this is a 'what if?' AU.
In Plain Sight
4. Find Your Wings
Daphne swallowed nervously, looking out over the edge of the platform she was now standing atop. It was her first full day at the Grimwood Finishing School for Girl Ghouls, and Miss Grimwood wanted to waste no time in getting the young woman to fly. While the other (younger) students were inside for their first class rotation, the wingless (for now) fairy was outside alone with the headmistress. "Are you sure this is safe?" She asked hesitantly. The short woman (who looked even smaller than usual) below her waved off her concerns.
"Of course, child!" Miss Grimwood stated. "You've already shown signs of magic, but it has not fully manifested yet. The best way I've found to get that to happen, for a fairy at least, is to trigger your own natural fight or flight response. If you are in danger of plummeting to certain injury, your magic will activate and your wings will appear and keep you in the air."
"And if it doesn't work?" The redhead asked.
"There has never been a case where it hasn't yet, my dear." The dark-haired witch replied. "But I will have my own magic keep you aloft if yours does not activate in time."
"That's reassuring." The young woman gulped.
"Don't be afraid." Grimwood said. "Now, either you jump on your own, or I will push you off."
'How can I turn down such a wonderful offer?' Daphne thought to herself, taking a couple of steps back…, then running, and leaping into a swan dive off the three-story-high platform.
The ground rushed to meet her with alarming speed, and every fiber of her being screamed for her to stop and turn back despite the fact that such a feat was now physically impossible. Her eyes squeezed shut as she plummeted downward, now being only a few seconds from injury. At least, that's what should have happened. She felt the familiar tingling sensation—the feeling that had come over her when Velma had been in trouble and she'd first tapped her powers at the warehouse—and to her surprise, she felt her decent stop and her body straighten out. An unseen force propelled her forward instead of downward.
"Well done, Miss Blake!" She heard Miss Grimwood cheer her on as she opened her eyes and turned so that she was now standing on air. Glancing behind her, she realized that she had sprouted a pair of dainty butterfly-like wings from her back. The redhead also noted, much to her surprise, that her wardrobe had also changed…and not into something she would have chosen to wear for today's exercise. Honestly, who in their right mind would wear a dress to practice flying? She'd worn pants today for just that reason!
Lavender mesh 'sleeves' helped keep the violet and lavender bubble dress from falling to the ground. Strips of darker purple framed the lavender glittery fabric into tiny rectangles, but all traces of that lavender color disappeared in the darker purple skirt. A lime green satin belt cinched around her waist, serving as a line of demarcation between the top and skirt while also perfectly matching the lime green stiletto shoes now wrapped around her ankles.
"What happened to my clothes?" The newly transformed girl squeaked.
"They will return once you power down." Miss Grimwood assured her. "And since we have already established that you are, most likely, a water fairy, you can begin learning to channel your energy without having to transform like this."
"…And what about my wings?" Daphne asked, using her newfound wings to daintily land on the ground.
"Those will vanish as well. But now that you have transformed once, it will be easier to access your base fairy form should you need to."
Daphne blinked at the older woman's words. "Base form?" She asked cautiously.
"Yes, dear." Grimwood smiled. "Fairies typically have two generic forms that span across all the known realms- First-stage fairy form, and Enchantix. However, several realms also have their own unique transformations. On Andros, a fairy might gain the ability to turn herself into a mermaid. Here on Earth, you gain Believix by convincing someone to believe in magic."
"Wow." The redhead said, feeling the tingling sensation return. Sure enough, her fairy form vanished, and she was back in her traditional purple garb. "I can't believe no one else knows about all this stuff."
"Many years ago, they did." The older woman said, bidding the girl to follow her into the school. "Earth had fairies, once. But about sixteen years ago, that all changed. A group of evil wizards locked them away inside a pocket dimension. The Ghoul Elders would have gone to free them if the Wizards of the Black Circle hadn't taken the key with them. After trapping the fairies, the wizards attempted to overrun the council."
"How close did they get?" Daphne asked. Obviously it hadn't worked too well, since Dracula was still in charge.
"Not even." Grimwood chuckled. "These wizards were young, impatient, and poorly trained. Thutmos, Dracula, and a few of the council witches sent them running away bleeding and wearing only their underwear. Since then, they have refrained from messing with the council."
"What about these other realms you keep talking about?"
"Oh, they're much safer than ours. Well, all except for one. Domino fell at about the same time the fairies were sealed away. I believe the Whisperian Coven- the witches who destroyed Domino- wanted to keep the Earth fairies from interfering and asked the wizards to dispose of them. But the Coven was sealed away in Obsidian, and the wizards, left to their own devices, have since drained every source of light magic on the planet. Except for yours, it seems." The witch gave the young Faye a look. "This afternoon I'm going to attempt to put a call in to a dear friend of mine in the realm of Magix. She runs a school exclusively for fairies, and may have some more up-to-date information about training techniques."
Daphne nodded along. "Do you think I'll ever get to see these other realms, Miss Grimwood?"
"Of course, dear." The dark-haired headmistress smiled warmly. "Just have some faith. One day, I believe you and our other young students will be the ones to open trade relation with the other realms again. But you all must believe it is possible first."
Headmistress Valeria Faragonda was pleasantly surprised when a chat line was requested for her by an old friend. She hadn't spoken to Tryphena in almost two decades. Not since Morgana and her kingdom was locked away. She'd often thought of calling the Earthling up, especially since Bloom Peters joined the ranks of the Alfea student body.
Bloom Peters was a girl that Princess Stella of Solaria picked up during a forced detour away from Magix a little over four years ago. After a battery of tests, a vision from the Great Dragon, and a coven of power-hungry witches trying to steal her power, it became clear that this 'Bloom' was the last daughter of Domino. Granted, Miriam hadn't named the child 'Bloom'. The former queen much preferred 'traditional' names. No, her two girls were named Dafne and Helena, but when Bloom's foster parents found her in a burning building, her new mother (the owner of a flower shop) decided to name her Bloom instead, since the infant was too young to know her real name.
In a last ditch effort to save her sister's life, Dafne placed the infant on Earth, in a burning building where the Dragon Flame would keep her protected and someone was sure to find the child and raise her as their own. Sadly, nothing had been seen or heard of from Dafne since that day. Domino was brought out of its 'eternal' winter during the early part of spring through the efforts of the Winx Club and King Sky of Eraklyon, but still no sign of what may have befallen Crown Princess Dafne.
This brought her back to the phone call.
"Tryphena." Faragonda smiled warmly. The dark-haired witch hadn't changed a bit. "It has been a long time."
"It has. Too long, I'm afraid." The other woman smiled. "But I bring good news this time."
"What sort of news?" Faragonda asked. "Has the key been found?"
"Sadly, not yet. The wizards remain ever in hiding." Grimwood frowned. "But all hope is not lost. It seems they missed one when they were rounding up Morgana's people."
"A fairy on Earth?" Faragonda blinked, not daring to believe it. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." Grimwood stated. "She transformed for the first time this morning. Her magical signature leads me to suspect she is some sort of Water or Oceanic Fairy, but I don't have the equipment for a full battery of tests."
Water fairy? Wait… Dafne had been the Fairy of the Water Stars. Could it be…? "What is this girl like?"
"Old, for a fist timer." Grimwood waved. "Around nineteen, I suspect. The most peculiar thing, though. She looks like a Celtic Faye. Red hair and all. But no freckles."
Faragonda froze. "Eye color?"
"Blue-green." Faragonda sighed. It definitely sounded like their missing princess.
"I take it you are training the girl?"
"As best I can." Tryphena said. "Valeria, you of all people should know that most of my students are non-magical. I've only got one that's comparatively close to her level, and that one is a vampire four years her junior. I can keep the girl safe here, but I would appreciate it if you would send someone to help train her. She has great power; far greater than she realizes."
Valeria smiled. "I just so happen to have a group of student teachers hankering for something to do."
"Wonderful!" Tryphena smiled. "I'm sure Miss Blake will enjoy learning from someone her own age."
"Out of curiosity," Valeria asked, "what is her given name?"
A broad grin appeared on Tryphena Grimwood's face. Apparently she'd cottoned onto what the white-haired woman had been thinking. "Her name is Daphne."
Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley weren't sure what to make of Shaggy and Daphne's road trip the day before, but now that neither could seem to get in touch with their friends, they began to worry.
"Where could they have gone?" the brunette woman asked. The pair had checked up on both the missing teens' families, with no solid answers to show for their efforts. "It's not like them to vanish."
"Yeah, and Daph usually texts right back." Fred frowned. "Something's not right here."
"I agree." Velma nodded. "Do you have any idea where Shaggy might have gone?"
"Well, sometimes he'd let slip about that school he worked at over the summer…" The blond boy scratched the back of his head. "Glumwood or something like it."
"I'll look it up." Velma said, pulling out her blackberry and starting an internet search. "It says there's no such place as 'glumwood'."
"It started with G and ended with 'wood'." Fred defended himself. "Could be Gloomwood, Grainwood, or…"
"Grimwood!" Velma exclaimed, waving the phone in his face excitedly. "It's an all-girls' school about half a day's drive from here."
"Then I guess we better pack our bags tonight." Fred replied, a determined twinkle illuminating his blue eyes. "We've got another mystery on our hands!"
Layla-Aisha, Tecna, and Flora entered the headmistress's office with mixed emotions. For the life of them, they just couldn't figure out why Miss Faragonda wanted to see them. They hadn't done anything to get in trouble as of late…
"Ah, good, you're here." The white-haired woman exclaimed upon their entry into her office.
"But why are we here?" Aisha asked.
"I have a very special assignment for the three of you." The elder fairy replied. "One requiring your particular skill sets."
"What kind of assignment?" Flora inquired, genuinely curious as to why they'd been selected.
"A fairy with water-type powers has been discovered on Earth." Miss Faragonda said bluntly. "A colleague of mine, Tryphena Grimwood, is doing what she can to help her at her 'ghoul' school, but I'm afraid they simply aren't equipped to run diagnostics on her magical signature for any further information. There haven't been any Faye sightings on Earth for nearly twenty years now. With that in mind, I am sending you three to the school to help train Miss Blake and a mage student—a Miss Dracula—while also upgrading their equipment as best you can."
"You can count on us, Miss F." Aisha nodded.
"But why not Bloom?" Tecna asked the question that all three girls were thinking of. "She was raised on that planet."
"And her new duties both here and on Domino keep her from having the time." Faragonda explained. "Besides, you will be living with native Earthlings. They will teach you all you need to know. Now, go pack your bags. You will arrive in the morning."
The three student teachers nodded respectfully, and left to prepare for the trip ahead of them.