Samara stared at the light blue sky trying to ease the anxiety in her chest. The wind blew her hair out of her face. She was standing at the rooftop contemplating her fight with Palladium. Why had she screamed at him? He had every right to be mad at her. She had lied to him.
"There you are."
Samara turned around to see Palladium standing at the entrance of the rooftop.
"Were you looking for me?" She asked a bit unsure.
"I was, I wanted to talk to you."
"Well here I am, I actually wanted to talk to you too."
Palladium signaled for her to go first.
"I want to apologize, I never should have lied to you." Samara said. "You have every right to be angry with me." "I'm sorry that I caused you to worry so much about me." "Will you accept my apology?"
"No."
Samara was taken aback by that answer but nodded. "I understand…"
"Because you shouldn't apologize, I should."
Now Samara was completely lost.
"But…back in the corridor of the staff appartments…"
"I was wrong to say the things that I did." "I should have known you and the others would want to help the people of Andros, you were right I know you and that's who you are." "I have no right to stop you from being who you are, a brave, kind and wonderfull fairy."
Samara felt her face warm up.
"But there is one thing that you need to do."
She looked him in the eyes.
"Promise me that where ever you go, you'll take me with you."
"What do you mean?"
"We fought the army of the dark creatures together, we faced Celena and Salvador together, promise me that we will face this together as well."
Samara felt tears fall down her cheeks. He stepped towards her and took her hand in his.
What if we rewrite the stars, say you were made to be mine? Nothing can keep us apart, you are the one I was meant to find…
He looked at her with a hopefull glint. Samara laughed.
It's up to you and it's up to me, no one can say what we get to be…. She sang.
So what if we rewrite the stars, say that the world can be ours…tonight…
Palladium pulled her towards him and started to dance. Samara laughed but quickly winced as she put all her weight on her injured leg.
"What's wrong?" Palladium asked as he lowered her down to the ground carefully.
"One of the monsters on Andros scratched my leg…it didn't hurt then but it does now…"
"Let me have a look."
She carefully rolled her jeans up to uncover three deep gashes along her calf.
"That is a lot more than just a scratch." Palladium said trying not to sound too judgemental. "Let's get you to the infirmary."
Samara wanted to get up but the elf picked her up bridal style. The fairy of the Moon decided not to argue and let him do as he pleased. As they went towards the infirmary they received quite some looks from passing students. Even some students at the infirmary gazed openly at them as Palladium put her down on a chair. Nurse Ophelia came to inspect the injury.
"Nasty wounds you have there miss Samara, received during your time at Andros I reckon?" She asked.
"I'm afraid so."
"Not to worry dear."
Nurse Ophelia was done in no time and Samara was glad as even more people came into the room not even trying to hide their curiosity.
"They certainly are subtle." She sighed as she and Palladium walked through the corridor.
"Let them be." Palladium said.
"I have to go change and report to Griselda." Samara said. "Do you have anything planned?"
"Not much, I did promise to help professor Avalon with his next lesson."
"Well promise me to do one thing before that than." Samara said with a smirk.
"And what would that be?"
"Use some mouthwash, your breath is filled with alcohol."
Both of them started to laugh before they said goodbye. Samara quickly made her way back to her dorm.
"There you are!" Stella shrieked.
"Yeah I know I'm late…"
It was only when she turned towards her friend that she was met with six girls who were very excited.
"What's going on…"
"Sky just called…" Bloom said. "About this weekend."
The dots connected inside Samara's mind.
"Did he…"
"He's going to PROPOSE!" Bloom shrieked jumping up and down.
"He told you that?"
"Well not exactly." Stella said. "But he did ask her to confirm she'd be there because he had a very important announcement to make."
"That can only mean one thing." Bloom said.
"I guess so…" Samara said with an unsure smile. "We'll celebrate later, I need to get ready for our detention."
"Wow way to kill the vibe Samara." Musa said she groaned.
Samara shook her shoulders and disappeared in her room. After changing in some dark jeans and dark green t-shirt and finally letting her hair loose she grabbed her phone. It took some time before her brother picked up.
"Hey there sis, sorry for the wait, I just finished training."
"Are you going to propose to Bloom?" Samara cut to the chase straight away.
Sky's face grew red. "How…how do you know?" "I was discrete!"
"I walked into a common room filled with histerical girls because you told one of them that you have a special announcement to make."
Sky sighed. "You shouldn't be surprised, it is tradition for the crown prince to announce his engagement at the evening of his appointment."
"It would have been nice of you to inform your sister about your plan to get engaged, especially if that is one of my friends you're getting engaged to." Samara said.
There was a knock on her door.
"Samara, we need to get going!" Flora's voice sounded.
"I'll call you this evening." Sky said. "Because I do need to talk to you about your little excursion to Andros that you didn't inform me about."
"Fine, talk to you later." Samara sighed as she hung up the phone. "Really looking forward to that…"
The girls all made their way to Griselda's office.
"Congratulations, I believe you all hold the record for fastest detention in the new schoolyear ever." The woman said as she glared at them over her glasses.
The Winx collectively groaned.
"You will all be assigned to a member of staff whom you will assist for the entire week." Griselda continued. "And as today is Sunday, you will start by cleaning their classrooms or workplace top to bottom, understood?"
"Yes Griselda…" The seven of them answered.
"Right then, Flora you will assist professor Dufour, off you go."
Flora nodded nervously and left the office.
"Tecna is paired with miss Barbatea."
"I have to clean the entire library?!"
"No, her office and front desk will do for today."
Tecna sighed of relief and walked out as well.
Samara waited as Bloom was paired to Palladium, Layla to Nurse Ophelia, Musa to professor Wizgiz and…
"Samara you will assist professor Avalon, you can start by cleaning his classroom."
"And what about me?" Stella asked being the last one left.
"You miss Stella will stay with me."
"WHAT?!"
Samara quickly walked out of the office and closed the door behind her. She found Musa at the supply closet.
"And?"
"Avalon."
"Oh that's not too bad, where's Stella?" Musa asked as she handed Samara a bucket with water and soap.
"She has to help Griselda." Samara said with a huge grin.
Musa stared at her with disbelief. "No way…poor Stella!"
"I know, well best of luck." Samara said.
"I'll be alright, Wizgiz is chill."
They parted ways. Samara arrived at Avalon's classroom to find the door locked. Hurried footsteps sounded behind her as the professor speed walked towards her.
"Good afternoon miss Samara." He said as he unlocked the door. "Apologies for making you wait."
"Good afternoon professor, no problem, I should apologize to you for the inconvenience on your day off."
Avalon smiled as he let her inside.
"I believe you are to clean the room today?"
"Yes sir."
"Alright, professor Palladium and I will be in his office for a while but I will be back to grade some papers in half an hour."
Samara nodded as Avalon left the room. She took her bucket of soap and started to clean all the tables and chairs first. After that she carefully took everything out of the cabinets shelf by shelf and dusted it off. She was so focussed on not dropping anything that she completely missed the professor entering the room.
Only when she looked up to put the piece of crystal back on its spot did she see his reflection in the glass door of the cabinet. A demonic face, ready to attack. She gasped and turned around quickly, letting go of the crystal. Avalon ducked and grabbed it before it would shatter on the floor.
"Oooh careful now!" He said. "Sorry for scaring you like that, I thought you heard me come in."
Samara just stared at him with wide eyes. The professor frowned and took a step back.
"Are you alright miss Samara?" He asked slowly. "You look awefully pale all of the sudden."
He layed a hand on the girls shoulder, the contact snapping her out of it. The fairy of the Moon blinked a few times.
"Uh…yeah…I… I'm fine, sorry I guess I was really spooked by you." She said.
Samara grabbed a little stone statue and started to clean it. "I was just really focussed on all these artifacts."
"I don't think so, it seemed as if you saw something frightening when you looked at me." Avalon said.
"No no, just gave me a fright that's all…" Samara went on.
"Do not mistake me for a fool miss Samara, your hands are shaking and your face is paler than a sheet of paper." Avalon said strict. "Come sit down for a moment."
It was clearly not a suggestion. She sat down and thought that Avalon would sit opposite from her but instead he walked to his desk a few tables away from her and sat down. He moved his hand and a glass of water appeared in front of her.
"Now, when you are ready, please try to explain why you just had your second panic attack in front of me?"
Samara swallowed and felt her cheeks grow warm. There really was no way out of this.
"It's just…when I look at you I see the imposters face."
Her voice was small and her eyes pointed towards the table. When there was no answer she forced herself to look up.
"Sometimes, not always." She added. "Second time just now…"
Avalon looked at her with a kind smile. "I thought it had something to do with that."
"I completely understand." He said. "I too still am haunted by what happened last year."
"How so?" Samara asked.
"There are many nights when I dream that I am back in the dungeon, chained to the wall." The professor said. "I wake up screaming for help and have to remind myself that I am safe and well at Alfea."
"That's awefull." Samara said.
"Yes but thanks to you and the others, it is only a nightmare." "I used to have the same nightmare every night but over time it is now only roughly once a week."
"I don't have nightmares, not a lot at least." Samara said. "It just sort of sneaks up on me, everything is fine and then suddenly…I get this panic attack."
"Have you talked to anyone about this?"
"I had my first panic attack in front of my roommates." Samara said thinking back to that moment. "They kind of forced me to tell them what triggered it and that helped me calm down."
Avalon smiled. "Very good, that is an excellent way to deal with your problems."
He opened a drawer and put a stack of papers on his desk. "Let's make a deal, next time something like this happens around me, you tell me and we will talk our way through it."
Samara was about to answer when the door to the room opened.
"Miss Samara might I remind you that detention is meant to be spending cleaning and not sitting around?" Griselda scolded as she saw Samara sit at the table.
"I can assure you that my classroom is cleaned thoroughly Mrs Griselda." Avalon said.
Griselda's gaze went from the student towards the teachers desk.
"Professor Avalon, I did not see you there."
"Clearly not, I was just telling miss Samara to meet me here tomorrow after classes."
He looked at the fairy and nodded towards the door. "You can leave miss Samara, I will see you tomorrow."
Griselda huffed and muttered something about "just as weak as the other two men" before she left.
Samara thanked professor Avalon and headed towards the commonroom. She was surprised to hear voices.
"Ah Samara, you're also back early." Bloom said as she and Musa looked up from the couch.
"Not as early as you guys, did you do something at all?" Samara said as she fell into the other couch.
"Nah, Wizgiz only made me clean the windows and called it a day." Musa said with a shrug. "He even offered me some whiskey but I declined."
"Palladium helped me with my homework…I didn't even have to clean at all." Bloom said with a smile.
"Of course he went easy on you, you're going to be his sister in law after all." Musa said matter of factly.
Bloom stared at her friend with big eyes. Musa noticed.
"What, it's true isn't it?" "Sky is going to propose to you and Palladium is dating Samara so…I guess if everything works out sooner or later they'll get married as well."
"Why would you bring that up, I have to spend the next week with him after classes, good way to make things awkward!" Bloom said.
"Woow hang on there." Samara said. "We're just dating for not even half a year."
"So you would say no if he proposed?" Musa asked.
"No I wouldn't…why would he suddenly…he is not going to propose!" Samara squeaked.
"Who's not proposing?" Flora asked as she and Tecna walked in.
"Did Sky break off the engagement?" Tecna asked.
"No that's not it at all." Bloom said. "And we're not even engaged yet."
The red haired girl stood up and went into her room, closing the door just a bit too hard.
Samara sighed.
"Layla and Stella not back yet?" Flora asked taking Bloom's spot on the couch.
"No and I don't think Stella will be back anytime soon." Samara said.
"Who did she…"
"Griselda."
Flora and Tecna groaned. Samara stood up.
"I'm going to find Palladium, it's only half past one I'd like to spend some time with him before we have no free time left."
"I'm going to call Timmy." Tecna said.
"Well I'm not moving from this couch any time soon." Musa said as she stretched her legs.
Flora stood up and walked into her room, probably to check on Bloom. Samara was about to leave when she turned back around.
"Hey Musa?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that you all have some time to talk this evening, I've got something on my mind."
"Of course, I don't know about the others but I'll be here to listen."
There was a sincerity in her voice that made Samara feel safe.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Samara made her way to the teachers appartments. When she entered the corridor she walked as quiet as possible. Even though Faragonda gave them permission to meet each other on weekends, it still felt awkward to be there. She knocked on Palladiums door.
"Who is there?"
"It's me." Samara said.
"Oh come on in!"
Samara opened the door.
"What on earth is that?!"