TW: mentions of anorexic behaviour and eating disorders. This is very short and I intended for it to be a lot longer but I have no idea what else to do with it. I have had this in my drafts for a long time though so here it is.
Flora had been acting strangely during the past few months. Only recently did Helia put all the hints and clues of what was really going on together. At first, he noticed his girlfriend start with some light dieting, at least that was what she told him when he began to notice her peculiar behaviour. He never thought he needed to ask back then, he thought everything was fine, but the question of why she was doing it became tempting as time passed. Flora started working out a bit more as well, sometimes joining Aisha, but soon he noticed that her routine became longer and more frequent. He supposed it was normal for a Guardian Fairy to work out a lot, was it not? Protecting the universe from evil wizards, witches and, most recently, sea creatures, was not going to be done by staying in bed all day. So, he never questioned it. This appeared to be normal, but boy was he getting concerned.
About a two months had already passed by the time Helia noticed Flora would always have an excuse against going out to eat with him. Whether it was a meal or something small like ice-cream or some desserts from a new bakery that opened up in Magix, there was always something whenever he asked. She might say that she had eaten already or that she was not hungry at the time or that she was full from a heavy meal. However, he cannot actually recall seeing her eat at any given time in the past two months. At this point, Helia was tired of being quiet. Flora seemed to be okay but he was getting worried. He hoped that it was all in his head but he had to ask, just to make sure.
Not the best idea.
One morning after training, Helia went to see her at Alfea. He actually hoped to speak to one of the Winx that morning to see if they noticed anything weird going on with Flora, but it seems everybody was caught up in assisting the organization of cleanups on Andros after Tritannus' final attack. He simply asked her if she had eaten breakfast that morning and expressed that he was "just a little concerned" about her eating patterns. After that she seemed to be annoyed with his comment, and almost lashed out at him. The whole thing had turned into an argument between them and Helia could not even tell where he went wrong. At the end of it all he just apologized and she reassured him that everything was okay... but it did not feel like that at all to him. In fact, it felt worse.
About a week and a half passed before some new, weirder behaviours arose and were added to the list. It seems their little spat was somewhat effective because the next time Helia asked Flora to go out to eat, she agreed... with little hesitation. It relieved him to see her have a full meal right in front of him. Sure, she did not eat all of it all the time, but it put him at ease in spite of everything. The only uncanny occurrence was when she always went to the bathroom after or in between every meal no matter where they were. Not only that, but Helia would often watch his girlfriend note the calories on nutrition labels of certain food items. It came to the conception of yet another wierd habit, where Flora would only eat certain foods and refuse to eat anything else.
Helia was beyond confused now. Riven told him "it's probably just a girl thing" but these habits of his girlfriend were anything but normal. Despite everything, Flora always seemed fine, and she ensured that Helia knew that. In any case, of he ever brought up the matter, she would always get upset with him.
Maybe she just hated food... but why?
However, yesterday was the final straw. Helia could not believe he let it get this far.
Helia stepped into the Alfea greenhouse, slowly taking in scenery before him. On the outside, Alfea's gardens are quite a sight to behold, but Helia always found there was something more enchanting inside the greenhouse. The newly-bloomed flowers of the morning, the palm trees that hung over the entire west side of the greenhouse, it was all stunning. Though always, the most enchanting part to him was the keeper herself, even if she was not quite herself lately.
He took a step towards her, carefully keeping his voice quiet, "Flora... I don't want to fight with you, I just want you to talk to me."
"I already told you all I'm fine." Flora crossed her arms, quick to turn away from him and back to her plants.
Helia could not believe he let it get this far. It was absolutely incredulous that they were even having this conversation. Fine? His mind casts him back to the joint training session between the Winx and Specialists yesterday. He remembers watching Flora suddenly de-trasform and fall from the sky where she was flying with the rest of the Winx. He remembers speeding over on his wind rider to catch her and searching for a sign, any sign, that she might be okay. But it seems she has not been alright for some time. He remembers sprinting through the doors of Alfea, the Winx and Specialists telling him to calm down while Miss Faragonda guided the people carrying Flora to the nurse's office, and sitting impatiently outside the room waiting for some good news. He felt that same rush of guilt and uselessness that he had felt back then too, when he held his head in his hands and blamed himself over and over for letting this happen. He thought that maybe she was so out of it that she had fallen and been injured during the lesson, but this was not the case.
Yesterday Krystal tried to heal his unconscious girlfriend. However, her efforts were futile since Flora was, in fact, not hurt. Not in the way he thought at least. The concerned look on Krystal's face when she walked him out of the room filled him with more dread than what she said afterwards.
"Helia, I'm sorry to say this, but it's not possible for me to heal Flora. She doesn't seem to have much energy and the nurse predicted that her lack of energy might have caused her fairy form to fail. It appears Flora's lost a lot of weight as well. We thought it might be a magic parasite or something draining her energy but there was nothing. This might not be what we think it is..."
Weeks ago he noticed that something was wrong, weeks ago he realized that his girlfriend's behaviour around him changed. He saw her losing her usual free and easy spirit. He saw her becoming weaker, thinner. Always wrapping her fingers around her wrist, always refusing to go out to eat, always getting up to leave for the bathroom right after any meal. He noticed her gradually eating less and less. Once, it came to his attention that she felt lighter than usual and he asked if she had lost some weight where she responded with a simple smile. Evidently, her altered behaviour was noticed by the Winx as well. He almost could not swallow down his frustration by the time Bloom spoke to him first, saying that they had all noticed Flora acting strangely for quite some time. All day, he stayed with her, apologizing to no end that he had not been more insistent whenever he asked her before to talk to him and tell him what's wrong. Every time he did, they would get into some argument. She would get upset with him and demand that he stop worrying about her so much. He would come back to it again with another approach but their fight would continue every single time. And now it has come to this moment, after yesterday's distressing. His girlfriend standing in the Alfea greenhouse tending to her plants, and him confronting her with no thought of leaving unless she explained to him what was going on.
"You didn't have to come here so early. I just woke up, I want some time alone," she said, still unable to look at him.
"I got a call from Aisha," he started and he inched towards her, still careful with his actions. This may turn into a fight again, not that he wants it to, but he refuses to back down again. "She said you woke up in a haze and didn't want to talk about yesterday."
"She's right, I don't. But I'm alright and you don't have to worry about it."
"She also said they brought you breakfast but you didn't want any of it," his voice was calm and steady, careful not to startle her. He spoke again, even more gently this time, "Why is that?"
She froze. She knew what had happened yesterday and she knew it was her own doing. "I couldn't eat after what happened. I felt sick."
"Flora you and I both know that's a lie." Helia gazed at her, worry finding its way in every crevice of his expression, "we do this every time and I want to believe you so we don't have to do it again, but this time I just want the truth." Flora stared at the floor, her eyes becoming remorseful. She knew he figured her out, but could not bring herself to tell him why she was doing it. He would try to stop her, and she could not have that. Not after all her hard work.
"I don't know what you're-"
"I knew you were upset about something. You started acting really weird and I thought it was something I might have done. I saw you stop eating so much and always over-exerting yourself during training but..." he stepped closer trying to make her look at him, "... Flora you're starving yourself?"
He saw a tear roll down her cheek even with her bangs covering most of her face. "My flower... can you at least look at me?"
She still did not want to. She wished he would go away and forget this ever happened. "Why would you do this to yourself?" she heard him say. She could not answer that, it was such a stupid question with an even more ridiculous answer. It started with her insecurity, with Krystal and how she intereacted with Helia. Flora could not bring herself to hate the princess but she was envious of her. She thought Helia would be much better off with someone like her. She was perfect for him, but even so, Helia never broke up with Fora. He stayed with her and assured her that he would not want to be with anyone else but even so she felt so inferior. She felt that she did not deserve him. So she started this.
Just a bit of dieting at first. She started training much more too. It became a regular habit of hers to try to be better for him, for herself, for everyone. After a while it became too little for her and she wanted to move faster. She saw some progress on her body in a month's time, but it was not good enough. Flora knows she became obsessed and she knew it was not good for her but she could not stop now. She noticed Helia become suspicious a long time after she had become consumed in it, but if he had not noticed before, then it would be easy to keep him at bay for the moment, right? He was proving her wrong this very moment.
"Flora." His voice was nearly above a whisper. This was the point where she would start to get mad at him and he would try to de-escalate the situation before it became a real fight, but after all of this... if they had to fight for him to finally understand what was going on, then so be it. Nobody ever sees Flora's adamant personality. They always see the responsible, nurturing and even-tempered Fairy of Nature that she is. The Winx, her parents and sometimes the rest of the Specialists all witness her little tidbits of her stubborn, child-like behaviour. However, Helia is quite proud, but not all too cheerful, to say that he has the honour of witnessing all of it.
Helia sighed, "I just asked you why you would do this, but I think that's probably the worst question I could've asked you. For the first time, I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling, and I think that might be even worse for you right now. So I'm sorry... but I want to understand. Every time I've asked you this before, it's turned into an argument. One that I always end up losing, and I always leave. But Flora I am not leaving you now."
"Why I'm doing this is not for you to worry about," she wiped her cheek, "can we just forget that this happened? I'm fine-"
"You can't possibly keep saying that after everything that's happened. I've heard it a million times ever since I first asked you to just talk to me..."
"It's not so serious that you have to be concerned."
"Flora you were about forty metres up in the air when you fell. I almost couldn't catch you when you just detransformed like that.
Many people think this is some feeling that they have and they are unable to control it. Flora does not know about them or how they feel, but she knows what this is for her and she knows that she is doing it to herself. This is a choice.
Now Flora has to make another choice. One that she was stalling for a long, long time. She was standing between Helia, her friends, family, everybody that cared about her... and the image that she saw in the mirror.
Even as Flora looked into the eyes of the one person standing with her at this moment, knowing that no matter what decision she made, he would always be by her side looking out for her and wanting the best for her, she still could not decide.
How could she heal now?
Not sure what to add to this but I hope to get an idea soon. If anyone would like to collab feel free to let me know.