Verboten
Chapter 12
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own the Winx Club.
Fore Note: Omigod, did I really have Bloom throw a fireball at Sky?!
One thing lead to another and suddenly, a fireball flew out of Bloom's hands towards Sky.
"SKY!" Bloom screamed into the night sky as she realized what she had done. Her hands flew to her mouth and she collapsed to her knees.
A bright red beach ball-sized fireball floated in the air just before Sky, partially obscuring him. The ember flickered but did not move. Sky's face glowed from the fire before him. He wore an unreadable expression that did not speak of angry but disappointment. What mattered most was that he was not charred to a crisp yet.
The air around him was obscured by the heat radiated from the ball of hot energy and Bloom sat shock still as she tried to comprehend what was going on.
Defying everything that Bloom knew about Sky, Sky raised one hand to his side holding the raging fire in his hand as easily like he was showing it to her. He approached her in three strides.
"You know, Bloom," he stared down at her with her fireball still in his hand, "I've broken a lot of promises just to be with you but this," he glanced to the fireball in his hand, "And the way you act these days is completely unacceptable behavior for my future wife and queen. More importantly, my wife. I'm very close breaking my engagement with you because of this. I don't want to because I love you too much and…" he sounded as if he wanted to say more. "I don't want to lose you because I lost my cool."
The fire in his hand burned out and left only the smell of burning cloth. Bloom noticed that he had a pair of fingerless work gloves that he used usually when he was working with dragons because they were fireproof. Inside, she was relieved that he had brought those gloves with him. Why he had them eluded her.
"I'm sorry but I can't talk to you anymore tonight if you're ready to throw fireballs at me. Go back to the store and sleep. I will talk to you another time," he said coolly and turned and began to walk away, leaving her there on the ground.
-
Roxy woke up with a start, her breathe shallow and her heart going a trillion miles a second. She rubbed her face with a hand and found it moist with sweat and quickly wiped it on her shirt realizing that she had fallen asleep on the floor with her photo album as a pillow. First thing she did was check the time on her digital clock. It was only 9:11! She had only fallen asleep for about an hour and yet she felt so tired. Sore and deeply confused about her recent dream, Roxy sat up and looked about her. Her room light was still lit and Artu was in his usual corner dozing on his favourite doggie pillow. He had not stirred.
She took deep breathes and thought carefully. What had just happened? Her dream was too real and she could quite clearly remember the conversation had just had as if she had been awake. Were people not supposed to remember what happened in their dreams when they woke up? A cold wind passed her making her shiver violently. She got up to her window and realized slowly that her window was not even open.
"Ughhh!" Roxy groaned and leaned her forehead against the glass to stare out into the neighborhood. Everything was dark and there were only the lights from people's windows and streetlamps. A couple of rowdy teenagers passed down the street, obviously oblivious to Roxy's dilemma.
She thought that she might as well go back to sleep. The new fairy turned to pick up her photo album off the floor when several pictures fell out of its pages. Sighing, Roxy picked those up to, took note of which ones they were and tried to slip them back into the book to only have an icy cold chill envelop her hand and force her to drop the pictures. The pictures flew in the air as if in some synchronized aerial ballet and landed all faced up on the floor. She tried to pick them up again to only have her hand freeze over and drop them again.
Oh, come on! She was not that clumsy!
She did several more times to pick the pictures with the same result and started to notice something. The pictures always fell in the same order... Roxy stopped her hand and took note of the pictures. They were pictures of her father and her at the horse ranch they used to visit when she was little. Something felt terribly wrong. A cold wind surrounded her making her drop the album and pushed her unto her bed.
Something was definitely wrong. She looked to her window and found it close yet the chill remained.
Pieces of the conversation that she had in her dream drifted through her mind as she tried to understand what was going on. "That is up to you." "Roxy, are you willing to accept change?" "Joining the Black Circle is always an option." "You make your own choices, Roxy." "By the way, tell your friend Bloom to hold her tongue."
The girls!
Roxy fumbled for her phone as she speed-dialed the Winx! As soon as Roxy explained what had happened, she found herself to be trembling. She pulled a pillow to her chest for comfort. Roxy nervously counted the minutes on her clock as she waited.
Eleven minutes later, the girls came rushing into her room through the window and found her trembling visibly. Roxy got up but Bloom quickly sat her back down on her bed to interrogate her. Roxy got a good look at the red-head's face and realized that she had been crying. Her eyes were bright and puffy and there was slight sniffle in her tone.
Roxy tried to describe to them what had happened in her dream and then with the pictures. She explained how the voices sounded so familiar yet so distant but made sure not mention the appearance of Sky in the ballroom. Roxy only got more freaked out when Stella threw the pictures back into the air to land in the same positions.
"This can't be coincidence," Bloom said kneeling at the pictures. "Roxy, what do you know about the place in these pictures?"
"It's in the country and I used to go horseback riding my parents when I was a kid. All I remember now that it was so nice and pretty. There was this huge meadow where we had picnics and…and…well, that's it."
"Obviously, there's something going on with these pictures and your dreams." Bloom noted but there was a sad pitiful note in her voice. "Something is going on at this place and we're going to have to check it out, it seems. Right?"
Everyone agreed enthusiastically.
"Let's talk about this in the morning, though," Tecna suggested wearily. "It's too late to go adventuring into unknown places in the middle of the night."
They all agreed.
-
The skies were cleared of clouds and the sun shone with pride upon Gardenia as Timmy drove an RV (borrowed from his company that he worked at) to the front of the Love&Pet shop. It had been two days since Roxy had called the girls and yesterday was all about finding out what had happened and planning the trip (including supplies, maps, transport and obviously outfits). They were going to outside the city and down through the mountains where Roxy's childhood ranch laid and everyone had woken up early to get a head start.
A day's worth of food and necessities were packed into the vehicle and the boys were there to see them off. Stella asked Timmy about how everything worked so she could drive it (Which by the way, everyone knew spelt 'disaster' all over it. Brandon palmed his face in futility after having firsthand experience of her driving skill in Magix.). Bloom stood a little ways from Sky who was busy staring into the distance as if contemplating something deeply.
"I see that you've dressed appropriately," Sky noted out of the blue and turned to his fiancée. Bloom had jumped when he realized he was addressing her. "You look like a really good tourist."
This was the first time they had seen each other since the incident in the park and it seemed that every time they spoke, the situation got worst and worst. It was all Sky's fault anyways, Bloom had reasoned. If he had been nicer or wiser with his choice of words, maybe the rift between would not be so wide.
Sky's words had deeply troubled the fiery princess for the last several days and inside, she knew that some of what he said was true. She was being stupid but just refused to admit it. The Sky that had spoken to her was not the same Sky that she was used. He was a lot blunter with his words and his actions even meaner.
Bloom pouted and looked away, "I'm glad you like it," she said with cool civility. She could hear the lack of self-confidence and childishness in her voice.
A tense silence overcame the two.
Roxy took note the two's interaction. Weren't they supposed to totally heels over head in love?
Everyone else was saying their personal goodbyes until Roxy bravely said, "Gee, all of you look perfect. It must be nice to have those kind of clothes at hand for things like this," to break the silence that had overcome Sky and Bloom.
Stella screamed and everyone jumped. "Omigod! How could I have forgotten something like that?! I'll fix that right away!" The sun princess leaped out of the RV over Timmy who was showing her the gears and landed in front of the bewildered pink-haired girl. The princess sure had a lot of energy for so early in the morning.
"Well, it's not totally necessary—whoa, whoa, WHOA?!" Roxy yelled modestly.
With the flick of a wrist, Roxy could feel her clothes change and dematerialize. It was an extremely odd sensation where white-yellow light had completely surrounded her. For a moment there, Roxy thought that Stella was going to magically strip her nude on that very parking lot when she felt her arms and legs become exposed but then from the white light encased her to become solid clothes.
Roxy found a cowboy hat on her head and looked down for further inspection whatever strange clothes Stella had made for her. Teal green ruffled sleeveless shirt with a collar with short shorts, purple thigh-highs, boots and arm warmers with an overall western theme; overall, it was not that bad. It did feel a little Harajuku inspired for some reason.
"What do you think?"
Roxy was going to say that it was a little much but after one look from the princess's bright shining eyes, "Th-thank you, Stella."
Everyone said their farewells and the girls got in the vehicle to ride out the two drive. Stella, who was driving, tried to put up a conversation about happened last night with Bloom about Sky but Bloom evaded and the conversation fell on to Roxy's dreams.
Roxy re-explained what happened in her dream to very detail of her clothes in which the getup she was wearing when she was a fairy troubled her deeply. The girls somewhat read deeply into the guy with the dark wings that she was flying with.
"An enemy?" Flora suggested. "Stella, watch the road!"
"Oh, relax! I know how to drive!"
"But why would I dream about something like that? I don't even recognize the guy," Roxy said, sitting in passenger seat at the front with Stella. She held on to the dashboard for dear life as Stella made a sharp zigzag.
"Maybe somebody you'll meet?" Layla suggested. "Like a premonitory dream or warning?"
Roxy continued on with her story about the view of Gardenia and then the waltz in the large ballroom with another stranger. She made careful not to mention any names to the girls except for the girls themselves. She was not sure if telling Bloom that she saw Sky was appropriate.
"Oh, how cute…" said Musa wistfully. There was tone in her voice that spoke of jealousy and it was obvious that she was imagining, though farfetched, of Riven dancing with her.
The conversation took on a serious tone as soon as Roxy spoke of her mysterious companion on the bench. She described the voice as being one but many at the same time and definitely motherly or womanly as well as excruciatingly insistent about asking Roxy the same question "Will you accept your changes?"
"I said 'yes' but before that she said something about the Black Circle. Like I can join the Black Circle if I wanted but it would just slow me down or something."
Stella swerved the vehicle dangerously off the road for a moment and braked hard. "JOIN THE BLACK CIRCLE?!" Stella screeched in an accusatory tone to Roxy who was right beside her, "Now, I'm seriously starting to worry about this voice. Who on Earth is she and what does she want from you? Is she insane?" Stella continued to drive, probably breaking two dozen laws at the same time in probably all the provinces of Italy.
Roxy cringed from being screamed at such a close distance, and just generally not liking the blond princess, screamed just as hard, "It's not as if I'm planning on joining them since they're the ones who want to kill me or take my powers or whatever! Fuck, calm down and take a pill or two. This is a lot harder for me to accept since it's all happening to me!"
"Don't you dare scream at me like that!" Stella said indignantly.
"I'll scream if I want you. I don't give a shit if you're a princess!" Roxy spat out. "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?!" Roxy turned in her seat to face the princess, ready to jump and start throwing fists at her.
Inevitably, their bickering only escalated. They exchanged insults heatedly and the end did not seem soon. Tecna roared in frustration looking ready to pull out her hair, put down her PDA and got up to the front of the RV and started yelling orders. "Stella, stop this thing NOW! Layla, you drive! Roxy, stay where you are. I will not stand for this stupidity. If you can't have a civilized conversation, you might as well not have it at all."
The RV had come to a screeching halt and it was another five minutes before it got moving again. Stella sat in the back with Bloom pouting under Tecna's watchful eyes while Layla drived. A thunderstorm was above Roxy's head as she fumed and swore profoundly under her breathe—her very unladylike vocabulary thanks to her father and working at the bar.
Layla, whose driving was infinitely much better than Stella's, cringed slightly at her companion's choice of words. Musa offered everyone a bottled soda at some point and when the music fairy handed Roxy's, she tried to give a reassuring smile. Roxy could see that seemingly Asian girl wanted to say more but did not.
Roxy leaned her head against the window and watched farms and forests go by with disinterest. Layla chanced to strike a somewhat more intimate conversation with the new fairy.
"So, um, are you okay?"
Roxy grunted. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay, let's talk about something else then. What about…how's your magic coming along with Flora's book?"
Roxy did not answer.
"Okay, how about boys? Don't you have a boyfriend?" Layla cooed while Roxy's face reddened.
"No…" she said meekly.
"How come? Have you ever had one?"
"Most boys were stupid at my school."
"What about Andy? He's not stupid."
"I only see him at the bar. I don't like him anyways."
"Well, what about friends? Surely you have some friends that visit you at the bar."
"They're all at school."
"School…? And why aren't you with them?"
"I want to save money for school after I'm on my own."
"You have to pay for school?"
"Books and necessities aren't cheap in Italy and the university I want to go is too far for me to commute to everyday."
"Oh… Forgive me, Roxy but I have to ask, do you hate me?"
The other girl stiffened and looked over to Layla. "N-no… I like you. It's just that…" Roxy threw a glance over her shoulders to show what she meant.
Sensing the source of the pink-haired girl's problems, Layla nodded and kept her eyes on the road. "I know what you mean. Stella, most of all, is the hardest to accept because of her upbringing and her parents. It took her a long time to think of me as a friend."
"What happened to her parents?"
"They're King and Queen of Solaria but they started to file for divorce just before she turned ten. It was pretty hard for her then and I think that she still wishes that it had never happened. Just give her some time to cool off, that's all."
Roxy turned to Layla. "Can I ask something?"
"Sure. I'll try my best to answer it."
"What's wrong with Bloom and Sky?" Roxy said in a whisper.
Bloom sat in back near window where carelessly gazed at the scenery that passed by. Her face appeared quite somber and sad and she did not put up much of a conversation throughout the trip yet.
"I mean, they're engaged and all but aren't they supposed to be madly in love if they want it to work?"
"Well, yes, but I'm sure that you know that Sky had just become king on his home planet and Bloom isn't taking it well. She's just not used to all the royal behavior yet. Like, yeah, he's started acting differently ever since his coronation but I can't blame him. I would feel the same way if I were queen or king. Plus," Layla started to speak in a conspiratory tone, "Bloom is just being a little too sensitive or insensitive sometimes towards the things he has to face. You know how hotheaded she is when she fights. It's about the same thing, I guess."
"Bloom grew up on Earth, right? But then moved to Magix when she was sixteen because she had discovered Stella and whatnot, right?" Roxy confirmed.
"Yes."
"But didn't she go to Alfea to learn about politics, too?"
"Yeah, but it's not the same thing. Let me make this clear now: Sky does not control all of Eraklyon. A different member of his family is responsible for one aspect of Eraklyonite government. Then there are the individual countries and provinces to deal with but let's forget that. Like his mother, who is his queen, deals with certain parts of the military. Mostly all the administrative stuff and paperwork for people like Brandon who's a squire. Before he was king, Sky dealt with the nobility and royalty of his realm and keeping them in check as preparation to become king. Sky's position is almost a figurehead title now—you know what figurehead titles mean, right?"
"Yeah. A position without real authority."
"Well, that's what Sky's got but it's the most important title of all because he represents an entire planet and he has to be civil and nice and deal with a lot of political crap on a galactic scale. It requires him to be extremely social and I think that you might have noticed that when he cozy ups to customers who instantly fall heels over head in love with him, right?"
Roxy thought for a moment about what the water princess had said and thought back on Sky's actions. There was Jenny who had recently taken to obsessively gossiping about Sky to Roxy when he was not within earshot. Some of the guys had cheerfully teased her for being on the receiving end of that treatment while Sky miraculously stayed seemingly unaware. There were times, Roxy was sure of it now with Layla's information, that she herself had felt a certain magnetism to the man. Well, she had seen him quite a few times shirtless while Sky played rugby or volleyball with Andy's crew and the specialist on the beach. Roxy turned red as Bloom's hair at the thought.
"You've felt it too, then?" Layla asked.
"I-i…no, don't--?!" Roxy stuttered, mortified at what Bloom would do if she caught whiff of this conversation.
"Don't worry. You're not alone, Roxy," Layla assured. The water princess wore a nostalgic look.
"You, too?"
"Yes, but that's getting off topic," the princess skillfully evaded. "It would be impossible for him to reign in all of Eraklyon government anyways because it requires a lot of traveling and discussing with various people to the point of being physically impossible. It's like having to be at ten different places at the same time."
Roxy nodded. "I get it. But didn't you say he has a figurehead title? Where's his power, exactly?"
"Well, he has his family to stand behind him. Think of it as a mafia of sorts. Being king and having all that power would cause chaos because he would have to exert his power everyday for little matters so the family takes care of it."
'Intergalactic Waste Management System' came to mind and it made Roxy giggle like a child being subjected to tickle torture. Layla rewarded her one raised eyebrow as she drove. For some reason, the idea of Sky belonging to some type of mafia background was fairly funny. "I wonder who the Don is?" Roxy asked.
"The what?"
"The person in charge of the mafia."
"Oh, that would be his mom at the moment but Sky will fully takeover soon, if that's what you're asking." Quite clearly, Layla did not understand the Italian mafia jokes.
"I have to show you some mobster films when we get back, Layla," Roxy snorted outright.
Layla picked up the conversation. "Now, try adding Bloom to the picture."
Chaos came to Roxy's mind. Bloom would be shot. Then another thought occurred to her: what if Sky's family really was like the mafia?
Layla sensed the other girl's thoughts. "Not a pretty sight, is it?"
"Yeah."
"I know Bloom is trying, though. It's just awfully hard because she has no experience with it."
"How did they get together?" Roxy blurted.
"I don't know."
-
It was about mid-morning when Asta came in for her usual morning tea at the Frutti Music Bar. She also intended to do a bit of heavy reading and so she found herself sitting in the lounge area of the bar where university students tended to congregate in the afternoon. She found herself a quiet corner and holed herself in the windowed booth with several heavy books.
She wore a brilliant white dress with strappy sandals. Her long ebony hair was pulled back into a half ponytail. As usual, she received her fair share of attention from the men around. To say the least, Asta was fairly curvaceous and tall, as well. Model tall, actually. She supposed that someone who was going to do a heavy amount of reading would not dress so nicely.
"Good morning, ma'am!" said the waiter who served her table.
Asta looked up and found herself face-to-face with Helia. "Wow, I'm still amazed that you called me 'ma'am' since the first time, y'know." Asta turned back to her book to finish a sentence. "What's next on the list?"
Helia produced a menu which he began to read. "Yesterday, you had cherry, right?"
"Uh-huh." Asta nodded and looked to him.
The Frutti Music bar had an extensively long list of tea flavours, as Asta had discovered after she just came to Earth, and she had self-appointed herself the mission that she would try every flavour in alphabetical order—as well as keep an eye on Sky, of course. Coincidentally, it had been the artist who had been serving her and pointing to the large array of tea on the rack behind the counter. Ever since then, it had always been him to serve her tea.
"Oh, you're going to either love or hate this one, I think," Helia announced. "Chocolate chip."
"Is it good?"
"Don't know. I'm more of a coffee person. You might as well try. Do you want just one cup or an entire pot?"
"I'll go with a pot. I'm going to be here for a while, as usual."
"Milk?"
"Please."
"Right away then." Helia left to fill the order.
Asta watched him round the counter to reach for the specific tea cartoon. She hated to keep things hidden but it was better that way for now. She had too much planned and she would not derail them for one silly little girl yet. She pulled out a notebook and pen and turned to a certain page where she had messily scrawled the theory she had discovered just before falling asleep last night.
There was some validity to her theory but plenty of holes as well. The pink-haired girl had at least two dozen valuable quarks of pure magic running through her and that was more than what most magical beings in the Milky Way had anyways. The girl would prove most useful indeed if she ever decided to acclimate to the magical life.
Roxy was strong-willed but Asta was sure that if she became her friend, she could make her see things as Asta did. If not, she could always break her to her view with other less pleasant means. She noticed that the girl in question was not anywhere in the bar. Asta glanced at the missing girl's father behind the counter who was busily and happily chatting with the little squire-cum-glorified-soldier Brandon. The girl was not there. Asta stretched her mind and searched for Roxy. She was not within four miles of the bar in any direction, at least.
Good. This could give her space to plan. She was sure that Sky and the specialists would be no problem and so she did not worry about them. She had heard from her subordinates that the Winx Club had not opened shop today and were on a trip. It seems that Roxy might have gone with them, Asta pieced together.
The black-haired girl spent the next good hour thinking about the plan. It had to be simple. Murphy's Law dictated that 'anything that can go wrong will go wrong' and she wanted to avoid that as much as possible. She supposed that the very first move was to say hi to Roxy one morning and get acquainted with her. From there on, she could judge how to initiate the next move.
If only the Black Circle was not so greedy for power. Power was nice and all but it got terribly boring when no one was there to challenge you. Asta knew since she had been there once.
"Here's your chocolate chip tea, Asta." Helia placed a ceramic pot on the table with a carton of milk and a mug. He raised an eyebrow at her heavy studying and messy notes and then to her innocent smiling face. She had purposely let him see her notes. "Don't you even dare start thinking about it, Dijana!" he hissed in a language not of Earth.
"It's too late. I've committed and you're a part of it."
Helia's eyes widened in surprised. Then a slow curious smile crept upon his face.
Latter Note: Oh, wait! What's this?! What is Asta planning?! Next up, old man Batson's farm! Will the Roxy and the six Winx discover why they were sent to the farm or will Black Circle beat them to it? Will Sky and Bloom resolve their problems or is a break up in sight?
Anyways, hmmm…I guess that I'm giving a Sky a more prominent role in Bloom's life. If you compare it to way he has acted in the show, he had more of a supportive role to Bloom. He has never been truly angry at her or been shown as an equal to Bloom in any sense. Now, he has his own life to deal and I am making him more dominant as it should be. I suppose that this is the side that Bloom has never seen before because she was always busy defeating evil and the like. I know that Sky is acting like a royal jackass but how can you say that isn't what he would do? In the show, we don't see him enough to judge his character properly. I think Bloom is bossy and has taken advantage of Sky's submission to her quite a few times.
It's kind of like making Bloom realize that she needs to grow up quickly or else she will fall far behind Sky. Now, she has the chance for a real normal life but she does not really know how to react and so she gets angry. Sky is moving full speed ahead in life making important choices for his realm but Bloom is pulled back to square one trying to make her decisions between her adoptive and real parents.
Realize that Sky was born to become king (assuming that he was the heir apparent). He really did not have many choices. From birth, he knew what his life would be like so he acts accordingly and takes on his responsibilities. He could not shirk them off because too many people depend on him.
As for Layla, yes, I know that she acts way too lovely-dovey for our tastes in the show. She did a 180 there and we're sick of how gushy she is. She used to be the tomboy of the group until Nabu came around. Realize that she has to grow as well because she is expected to take the throne of Tides/Andros. And then she will be expected to bear an heir and then there goes your tomboy image. Better now than never. I've made her sort of the mature one that Roxy goes to.
Helia. I have some things planned for him so don't start automatically thinking he's going to be evil or that it's almost impossible for his personality. As I've said for Sky, he had more of a supportive role than anything else. We don't know that much about him. He's graduated Red Fountain, I assume, and so he is a free man. His choices do not need to necessarily be guided by what the other guys do even though they are on a mission together.
As for Stella and Brandon, well, they're not really talking to each other and we all know because of that rat Mitzi. Stella is just being stupid, in my opinion. Well, I've said my share.