As soon as Bloom and Roxy landed, a conference began, totally unique in style, substance, and attendees. The Great Hall of the castle of Tir Nan Og was almost emptied. The only fairies that sat there were royalty – Nebula presiding, with Morgana advising. Bloom was invited simply for her encounter and her status as a Winx, and Roxy... Roxy had no idea why she had been invited, not when Bloom was already there.
In addition to the four fairies, a computer screen linked up to Magix displayed Faragonda and the rest of the Winx Club. They were an odd contrast to the gravity of the four on Earth, jostling for screen time, pushing the others out of the way. Only Faragonda sat, stagnant and solemn, in the center.
"What I don't get is why Earth is being targeted!" Bloom said, her brow furrowing. "Earth barely has anything compared to the other realms... no big treasure, no big power. Why not go for some other place? What's their motive?"
"Vengeance," said Nebula. She was nearly snarling. Her eyes flashed green, and her wild black hair flew all over the place, even less tamed than usual. "What else?"
"Not just that," disagreed Morgana. "We have less than other realms, that's true. Our fairies are painfully behind the times. We have no Specialists, no witches, no wizards on our side. Were fairies hunted on Magix or Domino, Popularis or Romulea, Antar or Prospit... if those fairies were hunted, they would be defended. We have no one."
"You have us," Faragonda said, and the Winx cheered their agreement behind her.
Nebula banged a fist on the heavy wooden table they sat around. "It matters very little if your armies can't get through! We appreciate your support, fairies of Alfea, but do any of us argue that it is not truly our small army against these four? These four, whose masters have already imprisoned us once?"
Faragonda didn't waste time in responding. "You have Bloom. She alone will prove to be an invaluable warrior."
"No," Morgana interrupted. Nebula must have known where her older sister was going, because she nodded her agreement. "We need Bloom elsewhere," Morgana continued. "Bloom, I took the liberty of looking up your records."
"My records?"
As though Bloom had not cut in, Morgana kept talking. "You graduated from high school at age sixteen, with a four point eight GPA. How many advanced classes did you take?"
"All my classes wer... wait, what's that have to do with anything?"
"In addition, you're an official Alfea graduate," Nebula added. "The only graduate from a fairy college currently on Earth. We need you to come up with another possible way to break the barrier."
Bloom frowned. " But I'm not exactly qualified. I mean, Tecna did all of our strategy and gadget planning. I mean, wait... another way?"
"The first way's the Very Special Girl, right?" Roxy cut in. "Someone who somehow has the miraculous power to take it down."
"That's what we assume," Morgana said.
Roxy bit her lip. "How will we find someone like that? There's so many girls! Even if you assume it's a fairy, there's still hundreds!"
"That's where you come in, my daughter. You wanted to leave home and go learn. We want you to take that opportunity to travel the world, locate the fairies, and test them. See if they can break this barrier."
Roxy's jaw dropped. "I'm seventeen!" she protested.
"All expenses will be paid for by the Royal Treasury of Tir Nan Og," Nebula said, waving a hand dismissively.
Faragonda stifled a laugh, very noticeably, and Nebula cast a glare at the computer screen. "I believe what Roxy is saying is that she's below her native world's current age of majority. Perhaps an escort would be in order?"
"I could..." Morgana volunteered.
"No. I need you here," Nebula said. She laughed bitterly. "I think we all know it isn't the best idea to leave me in charge of a realm alone when I'm angry... and sister, I am very angry."
"You know, I'm good at going on adventures too," Bloom said.
Nebula and Morgana glared at her.
"Wait, hang on, so am I just going alone?" asked Roxy.
"Of course not!" Nebula said, although Roxy felt like she would probably have said yes if she could have gotten away with it. "I have just the person to escort you. She's young, she's powerful, she knows how to test fairies for power source and potential. You'll love her. In fact," said the queen as she rose from her seat, "let's go meet her now. Are there any objections to ending this meeting?"
"Just one thing," said Bloom. "If I'm not an Earth fairy, how am I trapped here with all of you?"
There was silence for a moment, murmurs from the curious Winx Club, then Faragonda cracked a smile on the computer monitor. "I would have thought it was obvious, Bloom. You're not a fairy from Earth, of course. However, you're a fairy who has made Earth her home, and that must have been enough for the barrier curse."
"Roxy, I'd like to introduce you to Lysis Ashman, fairy of biology."
Morgana gestured towards a young woman in her early twenties. The woman's long blonde hair fell in soft waves around her heart-shaped face, and though her cheeks blushed pink and warm, her dark blue eyes were slightly disconnected and cold. "Good to meet you, your royal highness" she said, nodding curtly.
"Roxy's fine. Seriously."
"If you'd like. So, Princess Morgana, I take it I'm to be the chaperone?"
Morgana nodded. "We can't think of anyone more qualified. You were one of the last fairies captured, and have lived out in the modern world before, so you're significantly less out of date. You're young and can blend in with teenagers, but you're old enough that nobody should question your legality. Twenty-five, right?"
"Twenty-three. I can't rent a car, but I think with Nebula's generous grant, we can afford to buy... oh, at least twenty new Cadillacs." Lysis cracked a small grin, and her eyes lit up a little. Roxy smiled too. Good, I was worried she wouldn't have a sense of humor.
Morgana cracked a smile as well. "Yes, I'm sure you'll have more than enough to get you through, and chaperone is exactly what you'll be. Princess Roxy is the leader of this expedition... your job is to support and serve her, to help her in situations where an adult is needed as an escort, and to act as a more adult voice of reason. Understood?"
"Fully, princess."
Roxy's eyes widened and she bit her lip nervously. "I can't be the leader! I mean, I barely know how to use magic, and I always get into trouble, and..." And I can't lead, not since I became a fairy. Since I got my wings, I've always been a follower! I followed the Winx, I followed Mom, and for good reason. They know what they're doing, what magic can do. I don't. "And I don't know what to do," she finished lamely.
Morgana placed soft hands on her daughter's face. "Roxy, you're the only truly modern fairy we have. Lysis was among the last to be captured, and she was still imprisoned over a decade ago. Who else do we have who can work those infernal phones, who can communicate with people? Tragedies have shook this world since we've been gone. The Apprentices are not the only danger. I know you feel that you're unready to fight this magic, that you'll only end up getting yourself and Lysis hurt. But you have something nobody else does... the ability to navigate the planet Earth in the year of 2015. Nobody else has that gift."
Roxy looked away, shaking off her mother. "I still don't know if I can do it. Maybe Bloom would be better for the job. She did offer."
"She isn't one of us."
"But Faragonda said..."
The former queen cut her daughter off. "Faragonda? She knows nothing! We Earth fairies stood alone while the rest of the dimension watched us crumble, interfering only when we finally sparked their interest, when it was almost too late! Bloom may have made Earth her home, but she is not an Earth fairy."
"I'm grateful to Princess Bloom and the Winx Club for freeing us," Lysis cut in. Roxy looked at the young woman, shocked... she had almost forgotten someone else was there. It seemed impossible to do again, as Lysis stared daggers into the young princess of Tir Nan Og with her cold eyes. "However, Her Highness Princess Morgana is right. Bloom is not an Earth fairy. She lacks our tenacity, our history. Our feelings. To her, the Wizards were simply a group of villains to defeat. Competition, at best. For her, they were never truly the enemy. How could they be?"
Roxy doubted that that was correct, but couldn't work up the courage to say so to two fairies who could turn her into a dead frog with a few well-chosen words.
"I will not follow Bloom," Lysis declared sharply. "But I will follow you, Princess Roxy, with all I have."
"Just Roxy," Roxy muttered. "Seriously. Please. Just Roxy."
Morgana clapped her hands together once, powerfully. "It's settled. Roxy and Lysis, you will serve Queen Nebula by searching for the Very Special Fairy. You begin tomorrow at dawn."
See, this is why I can't be a leader, Roxy sighed silently. Because I can't even work up the courage to say no.
Bloom walked around Gardenia aimlessly, with only one thought on her mind. Is Earth where I made my home?
The magic that the Apprentices used certainly seemed to think so.
As soon as the conference had ended, Bloom had transformed into her Believix and flown up to the clouds until she'd hit the barrier. Then, she had taken out her many hours of frustration on it.
A hit with a bolt of fire. Thanks for ruining my grand return to Magix, barrier. I was looking forward to the freshwomen being impressed by me.
A shower of painful sparks. Oh, and thanks a lot for making me look like I didn't even defeat the threat. Thanks, Apprentices, for existing, even after we all assumed our work was done.
She roared, and the Great Dragon released itself from her form and spiraled into the barrier, causing fire to explode all around her. And thanks a lot, Earth fairies, for spying on me, learning that I'm smart as well as powerful, and then still choosing to force me to sit this fight out. Thanks a whole, dragon-loving lot.
After an hour with no results, she had come back down to Earth, even more frustrated and even more worn out than she had been before.
Bloom Peters was not an Earth fairy. A history, no matter how spotty, and a title kept her soundly tethered to the kingdom of Domino. Once this kingdom had been freed from its own imprisonment, she had embraced that life wholeheartedly, determined to make up all the time she'd lost on what she couldn't help feel was her own accord (some logical part of her made note that at the Fall of Domino, she was a toddler, but that logic did not make its way into her heart).
Sure, so maybe embracing the magical culture of her new home had meant neglecting Earth a little, but she had come back to save her adoptive home from the threat of the Wizards. Because nobody else could, because she felt empathy for a world trapped in a similar manner as her own had been.
That didn't mean it was still her home. Not one bit.
She kicked a stone lying on the sidewalk, and watched it bounce a good three times before hitting someone in the ankle. "Ow!" said a high, youthful voice.
The fairy looked up to see a young girl, fourteen at the oldest, with dark hair that draped over her face as though she tried to hide from the world. Her dark purple hoodie only added to the image. In her hands, she held an occupied flowerpot, almost reverently.
Bloom's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't paying attention and..."
"It's fine, Bloom," said the girl, and for a moment Bloom wondered how they knew each other (didn't Flora have a sister or something?), but then she remembered that she had been on television almost every day since returning to Earth. "I didn't mean to get in your way." Then, the girl winced. "Ow."
"Let me see your foot," Bloom said, crouching. "I can probably make it better."
"No need, I heal quick," said the girl happily. "It'll be good in an hour."
"Let me see it," the redhead ordered again. "It's the least I can do. What's your name?"
The girl frowned. "I'm Macy Silverman, remember? My dad was your doctor? Mitzi's my big sister?"
"Oh. Yeah." Bloom tried not to curse. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Let me see it."
Macy frowned but pulled on the leg of her jeans until it showed a shallow cut on her ankle. "It's nothing, and it'll be gone, soon," she said.
"Just let me do it. Dragon knows I need to do something." Not necessarily this, but she was getting restless. She had to do something, something to prove to herself and the Earth fairies that she was the one to solve this crisis. Her logical mind noted that healing a little girl that she injured wasn't necessarily going to do anything, but yet again her emotions got in the way.
"Oh look, it's healing," Macy said amiably.
Of course it is, I'm using my magic, thought Bloom, but no sooner were the words thought than she realized... no, she wasn't.
Macy's injury closed, leaving behind minimal spots of blood around it. "I'll clean that when I get to the garden," said the young teen. "Nice seeing you Bloom! Have a good day!"
As Macy walked away, Bloom stood and gaped.
Dawn came, and once again, fairies gathered for a brief conference. Lysis made an addition to the original group, and seemed to fit right in. At least, Roxy thought, Lysis fit in better than she did.
"We'll be visiting each known fairy and testing them. At most, with the current amount and distribution of magic users, we're looking at a three month trip. This is subject to change, of course. We'll keep in touch when we can."
Roxy grinned. This was where she came in, not that anyone else knew it. "Which is... get this, all the time. Ladies, let me introduce you to your new phones." One by one, she handed out a shiny new iPhone to each fairy.
"I have a phone," Bloom protested. She looked a little off, kind of deep in thought, Roxy noted.
"Which is made to be used in the Magic Dimension. You complained about roaming charges just last week," Roxy said calmly. "Besides, I set everyone up with their own special Skype account so we can talk and even see each other! It's perfect. Maybe not magic technology, but as close as we're gonna get when we're blocked off from the rest of the universe."
Morgana and Nebula examined their phones warily. "Bloom'll help you learn how to use them, guys," Roxy said, guessing the problem. "Besides, it's instinctive. No worries. And the royal treasury is set up to automatically pay the bills, so go crazy!"
Nebula narrowed her eyes, then sighed. "Well, we are trying to get with the times. I guess."
"All phones have all the others in both phone contacts and Skype contacts, so it's easy to reach anyone at a moment's notice! Isn't that great? We barely have to miss each other." I barely have to miss you.
With a smile, Morgana hugged her daughter. "You're gonna be great," she whispered. "Now, isn't it time to get going?"
"Yeah, I guess." Roxy's voice was muffled, and she pulled back. "I'll call you when we're on the highway, okay?"
"Please do. Bloom will help me answer, right?" Morgana looked pleadingly, and the redheaded princess nodded, vaguely amused.
"Alright, then," Lysis said with a smile. "We'll be off then. Also... ADULT GETS TO DRIVE!" she yelled, racing for the driver's seat.
Roxy narrowed her eyes. "PRINCESS PICKS THE MUSIC!" She opened the passenger's seat door and slid in. Within seconds, the radio was blaring. "And I SLEPT in last night's CLOTHES and tomorrow's DREAMS but they're not quite WHAT THEY SEE-EEM!" she sang loudly.
"Can't you at least pick good music?" groaned Lysis as she got into the car.
"This is good music!"
AN: For a story with the same characters and premise, man this is already really different. I'm very very happy with it so far. I hope you all enjoy... I know the fandom has changed some, and you guys may not understand all my references and stuff.
On another note, if you're liking this story, you may also like my original work Crescendo. Crescendo is a completely original story about an organization that trains psychic teens and young adults... most of whom have very... uh, unusual powers. While the cast is wacky... I mean, one of the main characters is a girl named Chess whose powers revolve around the game of chess... the story is pretty serious. Crescendo is available on my fictionpress profile, centernova. I hope you do read and enjoy!
But even if you don't, thanks for being here. I love you!