Here's chapter 3, again written by Chrissie Musa at her wordpress blog, which is Chrissiemusa(dot)wordpress(dot)com.
The story will be updated there a day sooner than it will be here. She has a few other stories being written as well, so it'd be interesting to check out.
Chapter 3 – The Cold of Night
Musa's feet moved as quickly as they could past the green trees and brown rocks within the forest. Looking over her shoulder she saw Icy raise a hand and shoot another attack at her legs, causing the fairy to quicken her pace. "Come on little fairy," Icy taunted. "Can't you run any faster?" Musa shut her eyes.
'Please legs for the love of Winx don't give up on me now,' she begged 'I have no choice but to transform, it's the only way,' she concluded before beginning to say, "Winx Char…" But before she could finish her command another blast threw Musa to the ground. In an attempt to cushion her fall she placed her hands flat to the ground. Instead she heard the sound of her wrist cracking, making her land awkwardly. Rolling over she felt her wrist throb and begin to swell. She groaned when Icy, Darcy and Stormy landed solidly in front of her, the suns reflection against their boots like one of Stella's best make up mirrors. Musa tried to scramble away using her feet but her back hit a tree preventing her from moving any farther. Each witch looked down at the fairy menacingly. "No, leave me alone," she begged, only realising now how weak her voice actually sounded.
"You really think that we would?" Darcy taunted. "Since when have we ever listened to our prey?" Musa didn't reply but watched as Icy bent down to the fairy's level. "You look tired little fairy." Musa didn't reply, she didn't want to admit anything the witches she strongly believed should never have entered the world.
Icy smirked before beginning to chuckle. They always loved the look of uncertainty on their victims' faces. It helped them to feel powerful, showed that they had the upper hand, let everyone know they had all the power. "You know ladies," Icy began, turning her head to face them. "I think our little pixie has a problem."
"With you maybe" Musa interrupted.
"No," Icy interrupted. "I meant with yourself." Musa didn't have a reply. "Feeling a little under the weather?"
'Yes,' Musa answered in her mind silently, although her eyes gave away her thoughts and deepest fears. Icy continued, "A little drained of energy?"
'You mean totally drained of energy'
"A little alone and sad?" Musa's bottom lip quivered as the witch listed each of her emotions, almost in the exact way she had answered the questions in her mind. She hadn't felt alone, or had she? She was living in a roomful of people. She was constantly surrounded by her friends, but was it possible to still feel alone when you were surrounded by so many people that cared about you? "I'll take your silence as yes," Icy smiled.
"You don't know a thing about me!" Musa yelled trying to stand to her feet but failing as Icy held a hand in front of her face. "I'm afraid you could never be more wrong… Musa," she whispered quietly before her hand began to glow. Musa tried to move her body but saw that it was pointless, her were frozen to the green grass below her. When trying to make her legs move, she felt the ice begin to creep its way up her legs, her waist, down her arms and finally up her neck. The cold and numbing feeling began to reach her head and the sinister ice then began covering her eyes and mouth, suffocating her, cutting off the life-giving air. Musa held her breath, took one last breath, one last chance to try and save herself.
"Musa!" Tecna yelled, in an attempt to wake her fidgeting friend. Musa's body was shaking and shivering violently her skin was also beginning to pale, from what appeared to be a lack of air. "MUSA WAKE UP!" She screamed but nothing was working. "Forgive me for this Musa," Tecna replied, using as much force as she was comfortable with, she slapped her friend's cheek. Musa's eyes shot open as she took in a deep breath of air. With her body still shivering from the cold, she lay still for a moment taking in quick but deep breaths as she tried to pull herself together. She may have followed Layla's advice about getting some rest, but right now, she wondered if she would ever be able to sleep again. Quickly she sat on the end of her bed as Tecna placed a warm blanket over the shivering fairy. Musa stayed still, her eyes glued to the floor. Tecna knelt in front of her friend. "Musa," she whispered, after a long silence from her friend she continued, "Musa what just happened?"
"It…was," Musa shivered. 'Another bad dream? No. The Witches attacking me in my sleep? No. How could I even begin to explain that? I wish I could tell you but you will just think I'm crazy. Everyone would just put it down to stress and leave it at that. I'm still not even sure about what's going on… What should I say?' she wondered, picking her words carefully before she settled on the only word she would, hopefully, get her friend to back off. "It's nothing."
"Musa I know it's not nothing!" Tecna retaliated before placing a hand on her friend's arm. "Why are you so cold? We are having the warmest weather we've ever had in Magix. It's not logical for you to be feeling this way". Tecna placed a hand on Musa's, but the darker haired fair shifted them away from her with a grimace. Tecna frowned at her friend's action. "Musa…"
"Look just leave it okay?"
"Musa at least let me look." Musa looked to her friend then to the floor, glancing slightly at her swollen hand. Musa finally gave in and held her hand forward. Tecna took hold of her wrist and examined the swelling as well as the large bruise that was forming. "Looks like you have sprained it." Tecna commented before walking to her desk and using her lady bug scanner to look over her friend. The beetle scanned her skin before responding with the correct answer. "It's definitely a sprain. Luckily there wasn't a fracture… Still, we need to get a dressing for that." Tecna began working through her drawers one by one to find the first-aid kit they kept in their room.
"What time is it?" Musa asked, her body finally feeling the warmth of the night.
"It's about twelve pm," Tecna replied before returning with the kit and sitting next to her friend. Using the clips on the plastic case she opened it and removed a bandage from its packaging. Musa looked to the floor as she held her hand out for Tecna to treat. "Musa I know you don't like to talk about your personal life and your problems," the technical fairy started as she began wrapping the material around her wrist and tightening its strength. "But you have to tell us what is happening." Musa didn't reply.
She wasn't even sure about how to respond. 'I know Tec,I know I should tell you the truth. You would be able to tell me if it was something serious or not. I know I should tell you the truth but would you think less of me if I did? Would you even believe me?'
"It is just not normal," Tecna continued as she finished the bandage and attached a clip to keep it still. "What I saw was not something normal."
"You think?" Musa snapped standing to her feet. "I know it's not normal or logical," she yelled. "That's why I'm confused. It just…" she paused, beginning to pace the room. "I don't understand and I don't know what to do. I don't know even know what they were talking about… I just…"
"What are you talking about?" Tecna asked suddenly. She placed her hands on Musa's shoulders in an attempt to get her to calm down.
Musa looked into her friend's teal eyes. "You wouldn't understand." The dark haired fairy removed herself from the room before closing the door behind her. Upon entering the bathroom, she turned on the light, seeing that all of her features had become even more muted. Her hair had no shine now, and her eyes were dark, even with the makeup she had used to cover them. She looked like she was sitting on death's door, simply wondering and waiting for when someone would turn the knob. Musa removed her shirt and turned to see the same bruise on her back; it was still just as dark and didn't seem to be healing at all. In fact, the injury seemed to have been growing in size, and had even become darker, if it was possible.
Tecna stared at the recently shut door while wondering what had been going through her friend's head. It was obvious that something was wrong but even so, it seemed that Musa wouldn't talk. How were they supposed to help her if she never let them?
The next morning Musa gazed over the Alfea grounds as the sun's rays stretched out over the horizon. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen the sun rise in the morning. Most of the time, she was the one to sleep in through both suns and never saw anything, now she was the only fairy to see the first sun rise into the sky. 'And so the weekend begins,' Musa sighed. Placing her left hand over the bandage that Tecna had set last night, her thoughts turned toward a certain specialist. 'Riven will be coming today,' she remembered. 'What will he say when he sees this? When he sees me like this?'
"Okay Musa spill," a voice came from behind her. Musa turned to see Tecna striding over. "You know that we are going to find out sooner or later. So why not just tell us now?"
"Because," Musa replied tersely.
"Because why?" Tecna enquired. "Musa, if it comes to it I will use a truth spell, and you know that I don't want to if I don't have to." Tecna placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and peeked up to see her cold, dull face. "Musa please tell us what's happening. We are all worried about you."
"You don't have to be" Musa murmured so quietly that Tecna almost mistook it for the wind. "We care about you, I just wish you would start to care for yourself more as well."
'I know you care, sometimes I wonder if you all care too much. Every time we fight an enemy, I wonder about how much pain we would feel if we ever lost one of us. What if one of us ever disappeared and never returned? What if one of us we passed on from this life and into the next? How much would it affect me or, even worse, how would the others react?' "It's just," Musa sighed still looking out over the quad. "I'm afraid Tec," 'Afraid, I never thought I would say that word out loud, especially to Tecna or any of the other girls. Heck why did I even choose that word in the first place? Was it because I really am?'
"What about?" Tecna replied turning around and sitting on the edge of the balcony to face Musa. "Is it about the Witches and Darkar coming back? I know for a fact that we are all in the same boat about that one."
"About my dreams," Musa responded. "Tecna, I know I haven't been truthful but it just doesn't make any sense to me, and I don't know how telling someone else could help them to understand either."
"Try me," Tecna smiled. "Let's talk in our room." Tecna took her friend's arm and helped to lead her back through the double doors. With a soft click the door closed behind them. As Musa sat down on her bed Tecna headed towards her computer desk. "Okay let me boot up my computer and get the lady bug scanner set up," Musa didn't argue this time and sat watching Tecna's fingers type vigorously on her computer. 'I wonder if she has ever made a mistake on that keyboard before?' Musa wondered before she smiled slightly 'Probably not.'
"Okay Musa, what's been going on?" Musa's eyes lingered on the floor for a bit as Tecna looked at her friend.
"I keep having nightmares, every night, about our enemies. They're always attack me, and I'm helpless against them. Darkar was first, he hit me between the shoulders." Musa removed her red top and let it fall to the floor. She turned to show Tecna the size of the bruise as her bug scanned it. "It's been getting worse every night. The bruise was half the size it was the night before. Last night was the Witches' turn," Musa continued as Tecna took the results from her bug. The darker haired fairy glanced up at her friend, "You think I'm crazy don't you? That I might even think that it's possible that people attacking me in my dreams would hurt me in reality."
"On the contrary Musa, I think we need to delve deeper into this."
"Why?" Musa asked as she was replacing her shirt. Walking up behind Tecna's desk she stared at the small bug curiously. "What are the results?"
"How long have you been having the dreams?" Tecna asked as she was connecting the small bug to a PDA type pad to transfer the data.
"Since we left Realix," she admitted in a grimace.
"That long?" Tecna shot up, her eyes trying to find her friend's. "You waited this long to tell anyone?"
"I didn't want anyone to worry about me," Musa sighed. "We were all so happy celebrating since we beat Darkar, turned Bloom back to the good side and returned the codex. Why would I want to ruin the party with my problems?"
"Does Riven know?" Tecna asked while continuing to check her data
"Well…" she paused. "Not really."
"What does 'not really' mean?"
"I haven't told him yet. Only you and Flora know about the nightmares."
"Actually," Tecna began, pausing a bit from her typing. "The girls kind of came in last night, and they heard me trying to wake you up. They know there's something wrong."
"Great… They'll all think that I'm mentally whacked out now too." Musa ran her hand through one of her pigtails "What I want to know is what's causing these dreams." Musa frowned again. " I just feel like I'm wasting your time. I am probably losing it. After last night I'm amazed you didn't call the police to cart me away to some realm for the psychologically/mentally insane."
"I would never do that," Tecna began. The loading bar on her results was nearing the 100 percent mark. "Not without the right evidence," the screen flashed white showing Tecna a graph.
'Gee, that's reassuring. ' Musa shook her head of the sarcastic remark. She shouldn't be thinking that way. That's just always been the way that Tecna was. It didn't mean that her friend cared for her less. Turning her attention back to the computer, she looked to her friend in confusion. "What is it?"
"Do you see that red line?" Tecna pointed, the straight red line crossed the screen horizontally.
"Yeah."
"That line represents your ordinary level of magic. Yours, as is everyone else's, is quite strong. Bloom's level increasing above ours only when the great dragon allows her to use its powers further."
"Uh huh."
"That green line is your current level." It was almost half the level it was before, in fact, the line seemed to be decreasing even further. "It seems that day by day your magic is being drained somehow."
"It's not just because of my energy levels?" Musa enquired, looking closely at the graph in front of her.
"No," Tecna began. "Winx is only your magical power, your power over music. This could explain why you haven't been playing your instruments or listening to music often. It's because your control or enthusiasm over your power decreases as your winx does."
"So what is that black line?" Musa asked pointing to the screen again.
"That black line is the scan I produced of the bruise on your back," Tecna explained. "Its aggressive spike toward the top of the chart indicates that the bruise has some kind of abnormality whenever you seem to feel weakest. My guess would be that it has something to do with your decreasing energy."
"What?" Musa slightly laughed in a nervous chuckle. "How can a bruise do that?"
"The bruise is almost entirely made from dark magic," Tecna explained. "From this it looks like someone has been using your dreams as a medium to your powers through which they are slowly draining them. As for whatever purpose it's being done for, I'm not absolutely certain I know yet."
"How is that even possible?"
"I am not entirely sure," Tecna explained. "All I know is that the only way to stop the dreams and their hold over you, to stop them from draining your Winx is to find them at the source. You said something about the Witches and Darkar coming back, did they say something in your dream?"
"Not really," Musa replied before she began pacing. "Icy kept on asking me questions; she knew that I was sick." She paused, her eyes widening as realization dawned on her. "Do you think… " She glanced up at her magenta-haired friend. "Do you think that Darkar and the witches are doing this?"
"That is a definite possibility. If it is them we need to figure out how and why they are doing this," Tecna sighed. "Well the first thing we need to do is tell the others what has been happening. When they are up to speed there is something we need to do. And Musa…" Tecna paused, causing her friend to stop her pacing and to look her in the eyes. "You aren't going to like it."