Keep Holding On: Fly

By: Sokai

Disclaimer: I, Sokai, do not claim ownership to the Italian animated television series, Winx Club -- I leave that honor up to Iginio Straffi as well as the producers of Rainbow S.p.A. Nor do I own the songs, "Keep Holding On," by Avril Lavigne, or "Fly," by Hilary Duff. However, I can and DO claim to own this story, in addition to its inspired ideas FROM said series.

Note: Thanks for the reviews thus far. Much obliged. And thanks especially to you, Dawn, for your compliment of how I put "a lot of love" into my stories. That was really touching, and one of the most wonderful reviews and compliments towards my writing I'd ever received. So thanks again.

Explanation for the short posting is at the very end of this, so...yeah. LoL Enjoy.

This story was created/written in May 2007.
It'd been several weeks since the regrettable cafeteria incident, and life at Cloudtower seemed to have returned to normal for Mirta . . . Well, as normal as it could be, given that she was still just as much of an outcast as before.

Still, at least her fellow witches no longer seemed to care about the episode.

The one plus side to its happening was that Lucy seemed to have been cured of her inappropriate fixation upon the Trix, as she had yet to initiate Mirta into one of her familiar (and not to mention, unfortunate) conversations about one or all of them since.

Which is just fine with me, because after what they'd done, I'm seriously disliking them even more than before. Besides, I still believe that Lucy deserves to be surrounded by people who will like her for who she is -- and from the looks of things lately, she seems to be finally getting that, she thought to herself tiredly, on her way to her dorm room after the completion of her afternoon classes.

Opening the violet colored door with a yawn, a small smile grew upon Mirta's pale face the moment her soft turquoise colored eyes rested upon the young witch in question.

"Hey, Luce! I was just about to go look for you after first resting a bit," she said, closing the door behind her and walking into the purple and lavender schemed bedroom. "Those transmogrification spells always take a lot out of me! But I'll get the hang of it soon, right?"

Expecting her best friend to say some sort of teasing remark in jest, Mirta was surprised to see the teal haired girl continuing to sit in silence upon her bed. It was then that the cardinal tressed girl had bothered to truly focus upon Lucy's facial expression, and could see that she appeared visibly conflicted and nervous about something.

"Lucy? What is it?" she asked in prompt concern, moving swiftly to her friend's side and taking a seat next to her.

After several minutes without any sort of reply, Lucy at last let out a rather disgruntled exhale as she turned her body away from the redhead slightly.

". . . I'm gonna go to the 'Miss Magix' pageant tonight," she muttered softly, keeping her back to Mirta.

Mirta couldn't help but to giggle at this, as she'd honestly thought that her friend was merely joking.

"W . . . why w-would you want to g-go there, for? You've never struck me as the kind of person who'd ever want to go to a place like that," she said through her laughter, causing Lucy to abruptly turn around to glare inappreciatively at her.

"Oh, what do you know? I'll have you know that not only am I going there, but I'm gonna compete against all of those 'goodie-goodie' fairies!" she revealed harshly, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Mirta gasped sharply at this. This was certainly news to her. The Miss Magix pageant was one of the biggest and yearly events within the realm of Magix, and although it had always been open to all magical beings, a witch had never before entered, let alone win.

So why would Lucy wish to bother?

Leaning towards the taller girl in worry, Mirta rested a hand upon Lucy's lap before speaking.

"You wanna be Miss Magix? I just don't get it," she started, making a slight fist in unease and raising it to her face. She searched her friend's brooding countenance for answers, while her own had grown increasingly sad, and her eyes shimmery.

"What's so appealing about walking around a stage in a swim suit?Besides, you know they would never, ever pick a witch to be the beauty queen of Magix! Why go through that?"

Eyes closed, her facial expression growing more and more abashed, Lucy swiftly opened them and once again frowned at Mirta in offense and frustration.

"Mmph . . . Magix is gonna have their first witch queen, 'cause I'm gonna win!" she cried, raising both of her hands from off of her lap and balled them up into tight fists, before jumping to her feet and extending her hands out to both sides. "Icy said that she's going to help me. She said that when she's through with me, I'll be the most beautiful girl in all of Magix!"

Mirta could not believe what she was hearing. Not only was Lucy not divorced from her unhealthy infatuation with the Senior Witches, but she also still seemed to be dwelling within her bouts of self-pity and loathing.

Lucy . . . Will you ever realize that you're so much more than you give yourself credit over? And how could you still wish to be their friend after what they'd done to me? she thought solemnly, lightly shaking her head and escaping her thoughts in time to hear Lucy say,

"I'm gonna get that crown! And everything's gonna change around here!" she said with determination and with eyes closed, before clasping her hands together and placing them against her chest. "Icy, Darcy, and Stormy will like me, and finally let me be one of them! And then I'm gonna be popular . . . so popular . . ." Lucy finished gently, a bit of sadness filtering into her voice, as she reopened her eyes and the smile upon her face instantly evaporated.

Having admitted her heart's dream to her oldest friend for the first time, Lucy felt completely rattled, and even a bit vulnerable -- which was a bit foolish, admittedly. If anything, she should have felt most comfortable and confident with Mirta, than with any other witch on campus (as she'd known her the longest), in terms of revealing any and all of her thoughts and secrets.

Not to mention the fact that Mirta has far worse secrets and desires than I do, and so cannot pass judgment, she reflected silently with a soft sigh. At least I don't want to befriend the fairies whom I'll be competing against. I just want to crush them -- and will.

"Hmm . . ." was the only sort of sound that Mirta could muster, as her mind was far too overwhelmed with an overabundance of thoughts and feelings all at once upon the issue at hand. Would Lucy truly go through with this? Would she actually stand a fair shot at winning the pageant, since she was a witch, after all?

And, most importantly, what was in it for the Trix Sisters to help out a "lowly freshman?"

Things just did not feel right.

As Mirta gazed up at her roommate with progressing consternation, Lucy crouched down in front of her and gently placed both of her hands upon her own.

"All I want is to see what it feels like! Even if it only lasts for one day . . .! You get it . . ." she said with an uncharacteristically gentle edge to her voice, her powder blue eyes boring into Mirta's with a desperate plea for understanding.

It was so ironic to the crimson haired girl that Lucy now wished for her sympathy, when she'd been unable to bestow it upon Mirta for her views upon Alfea and fairies as a whole.

As much as she wanted to say what Lucy clearly wished to hear, Mirta found herself unable to.

"No . . . I . . . don't . . ." she murmured softly, her voice reflecting a bit of confusion and apology, while her eyes shone with faint pity as she'd taken Lucy's hand within her own.

She knew that her response would only reward her with hostility from the teal haired witch; however, she could not bring herself to lie. As lonely and confusing as her life at Cloudtower could be for her, Mirta had never wished nor yearned to basically sell her soul in exchange for notoriety . . .

Sure enough and as expected, an instant look of disgust plastered itself onto Lucy's face as she pulled her hands away from Mirta and heatedly stood before her.

"Ugh! You're just jealous of me, 'cause I'm gonna be 'Miss Magix,' and because I'm gonna be all that!" she hissed vehemently, pointing an accusatory finger at a taken aback Mirta, before snapping her fingers in dismissal as she stormed out of the bedroom.

Mirta could only stare in shock and sorrow at the dorm room door that Lucy had left open in her haste.

"Lucy . . ." she whispered softly, exhaling as she averted her gaze from the door and looked down upon her shoes. "Why can't you see that Icy, Darcy, and Stormy are no good for you?"

.ยงยงยง.

(A.N. I was not going to divide the second half of this story, but I actually will be too busy tomorrow to sit still long enough to finish it and post it in its entirety. So, sadly, this was as far as I could get for now. But that's okay, I guess, because I gather not a whole lot of you care for Mirta and/or Lucy, judging by the few reviews thus far. That's cool. But, as we all know by now or should, the rest of this particular episode heavily involved the Winx Club chicks, and I plan to involve them in the end of this story, as well as major fight scenes, which I seem to be good at. LoL So...yeah. Please stay tuned for the "exciting" conclusion, and leave reviews in the meantime. Thanks.)