Chapter Sixteen: Kisses and Sass
Bloom ran quickly through the castle with Stella, Brandon, Sky and Helia behind her, all racing toward Flora's tower. Every time they passed a window that looked up into the night sky Bloom would slow for a moment to try and see the position of the moon, all the while trying to calculate how much time they had left. Time's running out, we need to get Flora to wake up and get Musa and Riven together. No matter what we can't fail!
They had almost reached the tower when a pair of guards rounded the corner in front of them, the door with the roses and vines on it in the distance. Bloom and Stella skidded to a halt while Sky, Brandon and Helia ran on ahead. Sky brandishing his cross bow while Brandon and Helia drew their swords, the guards who had recognised Sky as the traitor the king was looking for yelled out quickly for assistance before Brandon slammed the hilt of his sword into the guards temple, effectively knocking him out. Bloom and Stella stood back as they watched the guys quickly incapacitate the other guard, all the while they felt adrenaline course through them yet being unable to join in the fight. It hurt and frustrated them that they still didn't have any way of fighting, the memory of the girls blasting bolts of magic at their opponents was fresh in their mind and even now the words that would make them transform were on the tip of their tongues.
The last guards slumped to the ground unconscious, Brandon quickly turned to the two girls "Come on, there'll be more coming soon!"
The girls ran while the guys kept their weapons drawn, they reached the door of Flora's tower soon after that, all breathing deeply from the amount of running they had done. Bloom approached the door without any hesitation, eyeing it with wide eyes "We're here, all we have to do is get Helia to the princess and get him to kiss her and we'll have two out of four fairy tales done"
"Good" Stella exclaimed victoriously, clapping her hands together once. Brandon stepped up beside her and she looked up at him happily "Sweetie, be a dear and open the door for us. Do you have the key?"
Brandon smiled at her and held up a golden key that he'd procured from his belt, the key had a golden rose embedded into it, Brandon walked over to the door and began to unlock it. Stella turned to Helia with a warm smile "Okay Helia, here we go"
Stella and Bloom both turned to walk into the open door together but Sky and Brandon quickly caught hold of them "Whoa, hold on their princess" Brandon said with a smile while Sky chided Bloom with "Wait wait wait"
Bloom and Stella both turned to the guys with confused expressions "What's up?"
Sky cleared his throat and looked at the floor "Listen I get the idea that you girls do this all the time but for those of us who aren't in the business of saving the kingdom, you might want to slow down a little"
Bloom began to shake her head even before he was done "We can't slow down, we need to move!"
Beside her Stella began to gesture to the tower door "Yeah, quickly!"
"Well can you at least take a moment to consider staying down her while Helia goes up there?" Sky asked looking at the girls with pleading eyes.
"Why can't we go up with him?" Stella whined loudly.
Brandon chuckled "Ha yeah, you might want to take a look at Helia"
The two girls stopped and turned to look properly at Helia since they'd met up with him, it occurred to them that he'd barely said a word the whole time. Looking at him they noticed that he was deathly pale and looking with wary wide eyes at the open tower door. Stella relaxed from trying to go into the tower to smile "Aw that's so cute, he's nervous"
Bloom smiled and glanced embarrassed at the floor, then looked up at Sky "On second thought maybe it would be better if we all stayed down here while he went up there and sorted some stuff out"
Stella nodded and stepped over to slap Helia on the back "Don't worry man, kissing a girl is easy, all you have to do is just lean in and-"
"Ah Stella!" Bloom quickly interrupted when she caught Helia's even more startled look at Stella "Maybe he should just figure it out on his own. It's like trying to teach a kid to ride a bike, you just gotta give them a push and let them pedal by themselves and hope to god they don't screw it up"
"Maybe you should stop talking about him when he's right next to you" Sky mumbled next to Bloom, who rolled her eyes. Turning she smiled at Helia "You're going to do fine. I can tell you for sure that you and the princess are destined to be together, its fate. Just think about the way you feel when you're around her and think about how happy you'll be when you kiss her and live happily ever after" Bloom left out the bit where the girls would be leaving right after they got their happy endings, biting her lip she gestured up into the tower.
Brandon smiled and slapped Helia on the back "Go get her man!"
The girls watched as Helia forced a smile and began to walk toward the door, once he'd disappeared into the darkness the four of them let out the air they'd been holding "I hope he's got the stomach for this" Stella mumbled as she absentmindedly took Brandon's hand tightly.
"He does, he loves her and she may be shy but Flora loves him too" Bloom replied as she tried to see into the darkness of the tower. Beside Stella Brandon looked confused and mouthed "Flora?" In Sky's direction, he shrugged. Sky suddenly went tense and reached into his pocket, producing a smooth palm sized stone he mumbled "I'm getting a call?"
Bloom looked at the stone with furrowed eyebrows but didn't comment. Sky held the stone in his hand and listened for a moment before speaking to no one in particular that wasn't in the room "Hello?" He paused for a long moment "What? Granny slow down..."
"Granny?" Bloom asked quickly, turning to Sky.
Sky put up a hand for silence and listed, his expression going from confused to shocked to alert, he looked over at Brandon "That was Granny, she has Riven over at her cottage, something's gone wrong"
Brandon tensed "The wolf?"
"No" Sky answered, he looked down at Bloom with wary eyes "Belle"
"Musa! What? What happened?!" Bloom grabbed onto Sky and held on tightly. Stella stepped forward quickly with wide eyes "What's gone wrong? What happened to Musa?"
Sky didn't waste any time with hesitation "When they got back to the castle she ate a poisoned apple then after collapsing she just disappeared. Riven says he's pretty sure it was the queen" He quickly turns back to Brandon "The queen was in her chamber..."
"I'll go see if she's still there" Brandon turned to run back before Stella stepped after him, her voice serious for once "I'll go with you"
Brandon paused and looked back at her "What if we run into trouble?"
Stella shrugged and ran past him down the hall "Then I'll throttle her with my shoe!" Brandon still looked doubtfully at her; Stella rolled her eyes "If you'd ever seen me at a mall sale where everything is half price you'd know I'm pretty bad ass without any powers. Seriously though when I'm feisty enough...things get ca-razy!"
Once they'd disappeared Bloom turned to Sky with a worried face "She won't be there, I know it. Things like this always seem to happen; I should have made Musa come back with us, stupid! What are we going to do?!"
Sky gripping Bloom gently by the shoulders and put on his best reassuring expression "We're going to wait patiently for Helia to kiss the princess, go to the forest where I'll fight the wolf and then after we'll find Bella and make everything okay, I promise"
For a moment Bloom stared up at him "Wait patiently?"
"Yes"
Bloom waited for a moment and tapped her toes and fingers until she was ready to explode, she shook her head and bolted toward the tower door, as she ran up the stairs she yelled fiercely "Kiss her, kiss her, KISS HER!"
...
Flora felt like she was floating on a soft cloud, sleep seeping into her every bone and making it impossible for her to move or talk. She knew she was under some kind of spell and it seemed that all time was either moving very fast or very slow all sense of minutes and hours were gone. That is until she suddenly felt her world jolt back into focus, feeling rushing back into her body and cold air sweeping over her. For all the cold shocked her, it was the soft warmness at her lips that really put life back into her and she knew without a doubt that there was only one person who could bring her out of the darkness with such gentleness and tender affection. Gasping with life Flora opened her eyes to meet blue-ish grey ones that looked right into her soul, the name came automatically to her lips "Helia"
Not completely in control of her own body just yet Flora felt her arms wrap around his neck and her fingers twist into the dark pale blue hair that felt like silk to the touch. When their lips met again there was a new love and passion behind the kiss, Flora hadn't the slightest idea what was happening but she knew with every fibre of her being that she wanted to kiss this man again and again. For a moment she let herself revel in the way his soft warm lips felt against hers before she broke away with fresh shyness, looking up at him she saw the same hesitant shy expression that she knew she wore and she was comforted by the fact that they both felt the same way. She began with a small voice of wonder "How? I thought-I mean you didn't-Helia...you came for me"
From the instant she said the words she saw the abrupt change in his eyes, the shyness vanishing to turn into certainty "Of course I did, for you princess I would do anything"
Those simple words had Flora sitting up quickly to bring their lips back together, the only thing she could do to express the joy she felt at that moment "How did you get here?"
He tucked a stray piece of her hair back behind her ear "I was going to leave to go back to my kingdom today, I had planned too but something told me...that I should wait. It was time to leave you but a voice or a feeling just called to me deep in my heart and said that I needed to stay, when I closed my eyes all I could see was you. I just couldn't bring myself to get on my horse and vanish from your life forever"
Flora reached up and placed a gentle hand on his cheek "But it would have been a lonely life" She gripped his shirt with urgent hands "Helia the sleeping spell. I would have slept for eternity and you would have had to be a slave to my own curse, what if the kiss hadn't worked? I could never ask you to give up your life for me!" Flora didn't know why she felt these words spring up and escape her lips; she hadn't known she felt this way until the time came to say the words. She'd been afraid of betraying Helia by kissing fairy tale Helia but she hadn't know that deep in her heart she hadn't wanted this Helia with her now to suffer. She knew that in any world she couldn't bear the thought of bringing any Helia pain or suffering.
Helia smiled a small smile at her "It wouldn't have been much of a life without you"
Another love filled kiss that stretched on for eons, both lost in their own little world...until "Kiss her! Kiss her! KISS HER!"
The couple broke apart quickly to turn and watch with astounded shock as Bloom of all people came barrelling up the stone stairs of the tower while shouting with urgency, they were aware of Sky's voice calling after her. When the red head made it to the top she got distracted by the sight of Helia and Flora in each other's arms that she missed the last step and face planted into the floor with a loud "Owwww" They also watched with growing dread as another voice started shouting as soon as Bloom hit the floor, next thing they knew Stella was barrelling into view while screaming "The queen is gone, the queen is gone! The queen-wah!" Stella not seeing Bloom in the towers darkness tripped and landed half on top of her with a yell and afterward a painful groan.
"Ow Stella!" Bloom yelled as she tried to wiggle away from the blond girl's weight. Stella looked in lots of pain as she rolled away from Bloom and onto her back, holding her right knee with both hands "Oh sweet mother of-ah my knee!"
As soon as the girl yelled out Brandon and Sky ran into view and stopped just shy of the threshold and avoided tripping over the two girls, Brandon stepped forward quickly "Babe you okay?"
"No! You ever heard of carpeting, use it instead of this stone flooring crap!"
"Sky?" Bloom mumbled as she placed her hands on her head and closed her eyes in pain "Take a look for me, is the princess awake?"
Sky glanced up and smiled at the stunned couple on the single bed draped with silk and flowers "Yeah she's awake"
At the mention of herself Flora shot up off the bed and quickly stood, with the help of Helia she was able to quickly stumble over to the group at the door "Bloom, Stella are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Bloom looked up from the flat of her back and smiled "I'm so happy right now, I don't know if you guys noticed but when I came up the stairs you two were bathed in golden light"
Flora raised her eyebrows at this, Helia looked confused "Golden light?"
"Yeah" Bloom replied as Sky helped her to her feet "It signals the happily ever after between two people. You know what that means? It means that's two out of four!"
"Yes!" Stella yelled as Bloom and her shared a quick high five "Now all we have to do is slay the king and rescue Musa!"
Bloom looked slightly discouraged "Queen Icy wasn't in her chambers?" Brandon shook his head "That's okay, I think I know where she'll be and Musa"
Flora felt a wave of ice go through her "Wait Musa, what happened to Musa? I thought she was safe at the castle in the woods with Riven?"
"She ate a poisoned apple" Stella said simply, her eyes were sad as she held onto Brandon arm for support.
Flora gasped "But that doesn't make sense!" She thought back to the old fairy tales of Earth "The poisoned apple was for snow white, Musa is Belle from the beauty and the beats story, how did that happen?" Her voice was truly worried now, Helia held her while tracing circles into her shoulders to calm the gentle girl.
Bloom shook her head "I don't know"
"We probably do" Sky replied next to her, he looked at Brandon who gave him a guarded look "This has the queen written all over it, she has a knack for messing with other people's destiny. She uses her magic to destroy happiness and bring tragedy to anyone she chooses"
Brandon continued on for him "We've always known she was evil, we just haven't been able to catch her on it. We don't know how she's getting all her magical advice and supplies, we monitor whatever stuff she uses, it's not like she's going to make a curse out of perfume and make-up"
"I've done that" Stella mumbled quietly, her eyes filled with dread "It did not end well"
"Well we know she's in league with Countess Cassandra, nobody watches her movements" Bloom said as her mind whirled "They have magic, dark magic. I don't know how we're going to defeat her with swords and determination alone"
"We can't give up, we've never failed to defeat Icy before and we won't this time. We just have to think" Flora piped up from her little bubble of worry over Musa.
"We'll think on the way, come on!" Bloom said suddenly, whirling to run back down the stairs. The group quickly followed after her "What's up Bloom?" Stella asked as they navigated their way down dark stone steps.
Bloom answered without looking back "Nothing, I just looked out the window and noticed we have about-hmm-I'd say an hour and a half until sunrise"
...
When they reached the foyer of the castle there was literally no one in sight, not even servants who were rising to get on with their early morning chores. The group halted in the centre and stood as a group facing each other, Bloom thought hard about what she had to do "I'm not gonna lie, this is gonna be very dangerous. Without powers of our own we're pretty useless"
"Isn't there anything we can use?" Flora asked, grasping at straws to make this night better "I mean this is fairy tale land. There must be spells or enchantments that we can cast on each other to give us a fight chance?"
"Not the kind that would be enough to take down the queen and the countess" Brandon replied as he stared at the tiles under their feet, thinking hard.
"We at least have to try" Helia said as he strapped a sword to his hip.
Bloom groaned and turned away from them, placing her face in her hands "Ugh you know what we really need? We need a-we need-damn it we need a-"
A sudden burst of light erupted in the centre of the circle, the group stumbled back to get a better distance away from the light. For a moment Bloom thought it might be Icy and braced for impact or death when she suddenly heard in a happy and smug voice.
"YOU NEED A FAIRY GOD MOTHER!"
As the light cleared there stood in a purple sequined dress and jacket, Miss Faragonda stood with a wide smile and all the spunk of a teenager. She bowed at the groups stunned expressions and laughed "Oh look at all of you! You have the same expressions as the ones of the bears who can't figure out who ate their porridge"
Bloom shook her head and stepped forward, a big smile forming "Granny...how did you know?"
Miss F snorted and waved a hand "Oh please I could feel the six of you all the way in the forest!"
Stella looked grossed out and crossed her arms "You can feel us?"
"I can feel your need and desperation, that's how fairy god mothers work! When a person is at their most desperate the lovely – and stunningly beautiful – Fairy god mother appears and takes all their troubles away!"
Stella streamed forward and hugged the older woman "Oh my god you're a saint!"
Flora laughed and joined in the hug "You have no idea how good it is to see you!"
"Alright, alright dears! We have work to do!" Miss F waved her hands and squared her shoulders.
Bloom still stood off to the side "What're you going to do?"
Miss F smiled at the girl "Oh my dear Bloom, I'm going to give you exactly what you asked for" For a moment nothing happened and then the only thing Bloom could see or hear was a great rush of white light and warmth spreading over her entire body, her skin felt like it had finally felt the warm touch of the sun and the air she breathed down her throat felt fresher than any air she'd ever breathed since coming here. It was glorious and wonderful. Bloom was aware of little else than the feeling of her body rise from the ground and float in mid air, the familiar feeling of weightlessness coming from her back shot a single thought through her. Wings, I have wings.
As the light cleared Bloom looked down at herself and spotted the light filled material of her magic form, the little sparks of power floating off her skin and the heavy and reassuring weight of the wings on her back. Bloom looked around with wide eyes and saw that her friends had similar looks of shock and wonder on their faces, the guys although hadn't changed much had a sort of glow about their skin and the weapons they held shown like the sun. Bloom with a small secretive smile walked two steps toward Miss F "Granny...there's no way to tell you how grateful we are..."
Miss F smiled and took Blooms hand in hers "That's alright, I don't need any thanks" her smile went quirky and her eyes took on a certain spark "Just do me the favour of knocking the bitch Icy down a peg or two" The group exploded in laughter to the point where Stella could barely stand and Flora had to hold her sides, Bloom pulled Miss F into a tight hug.
Flora sniffed with happiness and took Helia's hand in hers "Alright guys, we have work to do"
"Yeah" Stella nodded and gave Miss F a raised eyebrow "Fancy giving is a ride to the forest, I kinda don't want to fly the whole way and wait for the guys to catch up on foot"
Miss F cracked another smile and rolled her eyes "Fine, hold on to each other tightly and don't let go"
The group quickly stepped forward in a tight formation and held each other by the arms as Miss F swung her hand in a gentle ark, casting white magic in a formation around them. Bloom and everyone else felt themselves leave the castle instantly and didn't have to wait every long until their feet touched icy snow covered ground. Bloom looked around and found they were situated in front of the small cottage that was granny's house, the door opened immediately and out marched Riven who also held the glowing weapons like the other guys. His expression was one of stormy anger and determination "Finally! It took you long enough, what'd you stop for tea and biscuits?"
"Don't sass me boy, I'm your only hope of making it through this!" Miss F replied sternly with a pointed look at the towering Riven. Bloom got the instant impression that Granny and Riven knew each other pretty well being the only two occupants of the dark forest, aside from the wolf. Bloom turned and gave Riven a small smile "It's gonna be okay, Belle is our friend and we won't stop at anything to get her back"
"You mean Musa" Riven stated with a hint of betrayal in his voice "Granny told me everything"
Bloom gulped and felt a small bit of guilt about the whole thing with actively falling in love with these guys and then planning on leaving as soon as they found each other again "Would it change your feelings for her either way?"
Riven didn't answer but looked away into the forest "We need to get moving, it's only a short time until sunrise"
Bloom looked up at the trees and heard a faint tweeting of birds and a lightness in the sky of into the distance. The end was coming soon. Breathing in she looked back at the group, Stella was standing absentmindedly in Brandon's arms with a far off expression, like she automatically couldn't help but be there, Flora held Helia's hand in hers and was looking deep into his eyes. Bloom watched and knew that what she was seeing was love, even when she looked up beside her and saw Sky looking down on her with those trusting eyes she knew that before this night was out she needed to confess her love, it wouldn't be that hard "Okay. Let's do this"
Bloom walked forward a few steps and asked "Do we know where Icy and Cassandra are lurking with Musa?"
"I have spies all over these woods, the best I can tell you is that they're exactly north of here about a twenty minute run, that's all I know" Miss F replied as she brushed off the fallen snow off her little house of a mailbox.
"So I guess you won't be fighting with us?" Stella asked with a resigned voice.
"No my dears, battle isn't really my forte" Miss F leaned against the fence "I've done all I can do here"
"And you've done more than we ever hoped, thank you Granny" Flora said as she snuggled into the warmth of Helia's chest to escape the icy wind.
Bloom looked over at Sky "What do we do? Should we have a plan?"
"Definitely. Here's what I think we should do: You and me will track down the wolf and lead it away from Icy and Cassandra, I'll fight it and we can get our happily ever after" Bloom nodded and turned to Stella.
Stella smiled and gestured to Brandon "While that's happening I'll leave with sugar lips here and go take on Cassandra, I owe that tramp another broken nose"
Bloom nodded again "That leaves Flora, Helia and Riven with Icy, make sure that if they need help with her-"
Brandon piped up "I can watch over them, I have a feeling this one can handle herself pretty well against the Countess"
Stella smiled "I try"
Riven crossed his arms "What makes you think we can't handle the queen? I could take down that broad by myself"
"All the same I think we should go with you, someone has to rescue Musa" Flora said with a gentle voice directed at Riven "Although don't actually call it 'rescuing' or she'll bite your head off"
"I don't-" Riven started when he caught sight of Flora, he looked hesitant for a moment before shrugging "Whatever" He may be stubborn and prideful but the instinct to serve and protect his princess and obey her had been engraved in him since childhood, plus he didn't want to argue with such an obviously gentle person.
"Good!" Bloom said with a clap of her hands "Just remember that whatever happens we need to take down the wolf and rescue Musa, it doesn't matter if we simply avoid Cassandra and Icy, we just need the happy endings"
"Dandy" Miss F replied from her spot on the fence, she waved a hand at them "Now get off my lawn!"
Bloom smiled at the woman "Thanks Granny, I'll miss you like this"
"And take care of Cinderella after I'm gone okay? I have a feeling some time spent with you should give that girl the back bone she needs" Stella pleaded with a cheeky smile. Miss F saluted the blond girl and waved "Safe journey back home! And boys!"
Helia, Brandon, Sky and Riven all turned to her with cautious eyes. The woman smiled and tilted her head to the side "I'm expecting a lot of grand children from all of you!" With that the woman disappeared into a puff of purple smoke leaving the group in stunned and embarrassed silence.
Good news! The first chapter of my new story is done, I hope to have a least a few more finished by the end of fairy tales so I can post it directly after this story is done and you all won't have to wait for me. So if it takes me a little longer to post the last few chapters of Fairy Tales you know that I'm also busy writing a new story with it. I'm still working on the name so that also has to be figured out, I feel like it has to have the word "side" in it to make it more of a link to the other stories because it's in the same universe, any ideas? Thanks, Review!