Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in either Winx Club or the Persona/Shin Megami Tensei series.
Date: Friday, September 2nd
Weather: Light Cloudy
Lunar Phase: Waxing Gibbous (4 days until next Full Moon)
"Bloom? Blooooooom!"
Bloom groggily opens her eyes only to close them the very next second as a woman with tanned skin and short brown hair attempts to wake her up. Bloom recognizes this woman's voice as her mother, Vanessa.
"Wake up sleepy head! The sun's been up for ages!" Vanessa said in a sweet, "good morning"-like tone.
But Bloom still wouldn't budge and just closed her eyes and enveloped her face with her blanket, "Just five more minutes, mom…" she groaned.
"You're late Bloom." Vanessa told her daughter.
"SCHOOL?!" Bloom yelled as she suddenly shot straight up out of her bed. She frantically ran out of her bed to straighten her long red hair, and get her clothes on. "Why didn't you wake me up before?! My alarm didn't go off, I can't believe this!" But when she put her shirt on she had a sudden realization, "Hey wait a second! I don't have school! It's still summer vacation. Mom, you tricked me." She said pouting at her mother.
"Well, you still fell for it didn't you?" Vanessa teased.
Bloom groaned again. "Mom, it may be September but it's still technically summer vacation. And on top of that i'm not even enrolled in a new school yet! Now, i'm sleepy. I'm going back to bed." She said as she plopped back on top of her bed.
"I know, and i'm still sorry. Your father and I are still looking, but since we had to move away so suddenly we didn't get a chance to properly find a suitable school," Vanessa said apologetically, "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get to bed earlier, you know. You were up really late last night."
Bloom spoke with half her face back in her pillow, "I had a weird dream last night."
"Oh really?" Vanessa said, "Well since you don't have school maybe you can tell me about it when you're helping me out in the flower shop!"
"Oh come on!" Bloom whined as Vanessa left the room. Seeing as how she's awake now and is unable to sleep again, and is already dressed she decided to just deal with it and walked downstairs to have breakfast.
At the dining table sat a man with short blonde hair wearing a firefighter's jacket sat reading the newspaper. Bloom knew him as her father, Mike. "Good morning sunshine!" Mike greeted as Bloom came downstairs
Bloom looked at Mike, "Do I really have to work at the shop until we find a new school? There's so many other things I could and want to do during that time."
"When you're older, you can go anywhere you want!" Mike replied.
"How old is "older?" I'm already sixteen dad..." Bloom complained.
"Already sixteen… but you're still my little girl." Mike says, imagining Bloom when she was just a little child.
Bloom looks at Mike as if she is reading his mind, "Dad!"
"Listen," Mike tells her, "You'll go to school as soon as you can, but until then you'll just have to stay with your mother. Just until we find a good school for you."
"But my old school was just fine. I could've just stayed there, I mean it's still not THAT far from Gardenia." Bloom said.
"Bloom, your old school is over an hour drive away." Vanessa told her with a concerned face. "It's the better choice to just find a new school instead of having to go all that way just to go to school."
Mike then remembered something, "Oh! And speaking of driving, we got you something. A little surprise. Something to help you get around our new neighborhood. It's waiting for you in the front."
Bloom got excited when she heard this, "Really?! Thanks, dad!" She said as she ran to the front door. But that excitement disappeared when she opened the door and saw what awaited her. It was a bicycle.
Mike walked over to Bloom, "So? What do you think? Nice huh?" He said expecting Bloom to be happy about his gift.
However Bloom was anything but, "Oh… yeah… Thanks dad." She said with a disappointed tone. With nothing better to do she decides to get on the bike and ride it around town. During her day she mostly rode around town, spent some time working at her mother's flower shop, then spent the rest of the day fooling around and exploring her new surroundings.
But it turns out she's been out for quite some time, because before she realized it, it was very late. In fact if it weren't for her parents texting her, she probably wouldn't have realized it was past 11 PM. So she decides she's had enough outdoor time today and heads home.
But before she makes it back home she hears some loud bangs and some yelling in the park, so she decides to check it out. But when she arrives she sees a blonde girl, no older than she, walking towards her. The girl was covered with cuts and bruises. This blonde girl muttered one word before she collapsed to the ground, "Help."
"Oh my god!" Bloom shouted as she saw the blonde. She knew she had to help, she couldn't do nothing. Her first thought was call the police or an ambulance, but when she used her phone, "No signal." She said to herself. With no other options, she decided she had to carry her to her house. But as she was carrying this girl, she thought she saw something. A big figure hidden in the dark, but before she got a good look at it, she blinked and it was gone.
It was past midnight and the front door to the house opened and Mike and Vanessa immediately came down to see who was there, "Bloom!" Vanessa said. "It's past midnight dear, where have you been?"
Bloom walked in and brought the injured blonde. Suffice it to say Mike and Vanessa were shocked. "My god Bloom, what happened?!" Mike yelled when she saw the girls.
Bloom laid the girl on the couch, "Mom, dad, she's hurt! Bad!" She said as she went to find a first aid kit. When she found it Mike and Vanessa helped bandage her wounds with gauze.
When they were done, they had lots of questions. Who was this girl? How did she end up like this? Why didn't she call the police or an ambulance? Bloom explained everything she could, how she found her like this and her phone had no reception.
"So I felt like I had to bring her here, what else could I do? She needed help. So I thought I would bring her here and let her rest until she felt better?" Bloom asked her parents.
"I don't know…" They both said.
Bloom looked at them with pleading eyes. They looked at each other then Mike sighed and spoke. "Alright. She'll stay here. But only until she feels better. Then we're asking her some questions, and if we need to we're going to call 911 if she needs it."
Bloom smiled, "Thanks dad." She said as she hugged both of them
Vanessa broke up the hug and said to Bloom, "Now it's late sweetie. You should be getting some rest too." Bloom nodded and the three said goodnight to each other and Bloom headed to bed. But all night she couldn't help but wonder, who was that girl? And how did she get attacked like that? And most of all, who attacked her? These questions will just have to be answered tomorrow.
ELSEWHERE
In a dark room, five people hidden in the shadows sit as if waiting for something. As they waited, another large figure entered the room.
One of the five figures looked at the large one then spoke, "So. You have failed us. Again."
The large figure looked at them and said, "I'm sorry but it wasn't my fault! I would've killed her-"
"For the last time you fool, you were to capture her and bring her to us. WE NEED HER ALIVE!" Another figure boomed.
The large one knocked their head, "Right right i'm sorry. Anyways I would have gotten her, but then this human saved her! I would've gave chase but I was about to run out of time! The Dark Hour was about to end. I would have been defenseless!"
"Another human?" Another figure said, "Interesting. What did they look like? Describe them."
"Uhh… well…." The large one tried to think but it was clear he couldn't recall a thing.
Another figure put their hand on their face, "Imbecile! Where are your glasses?"
The large one pulled out a pair of glasses out of his pocket, "Right here your majesties."
"WELL, PUT THEM BACK ON YOU DOLT!" All five of them shouted.
As the large figure put his glasses on, one of the figures spoke. "Well this idiot's failure aside, if there IS a human who was able to roam the during the Dark Hour, this could be a problem. The last thing we need are more humans being able to trek the tower and surviving."
"Don't worry yourself." Another one of the five figures reassured, "We'll make sure this human is eliminated. Because if this human can be out in the Dark Hour, it's only a matter of time until the others find them and bring them into their ranks. Then we will strike before she gets a chance to actually become one of them."
One other figure chuckled, "An excellent idea. But until then, we will have to regenerate our power so we can send more Shadows beyond this accursed place once more." That figure looked out the window and looked at the moon. "But we won't have to wait long until we have all the power we will need once more."
Date: Saturday, September 3rd
Weather: Sunny
Lunar Phase: Waxing Gibbous (3 days until next Full Moon)
Soon the sun rose once more over the town of Gardenia. Back in Bloom's home her alarm clock rings and she puts it on snooze and was about to go back to sleep when she shot back up and remembered, "The girl!"
She rushed to get her clothes on and ran downstairs to see how the blonde was doing and surprisingly, she saw the blonde sitting up on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. She still had the bandages on but she was sitting up and eating as if she were better already. Bloom approached her and the blonde said, "Oh! Good morning!"
Bloom was surprised by her happy tone, considering what happened last night. "Oh! Uhh… good morning to you too." Bloom sat next to the blonde girl, "Are you uhh…"
"If you're going to ask if i'm fine, don't worry i'm a fast healer." She answered before Bloom could ask her question. She scratched the back of her head, "Though I will admit the cuts to hurt a little. But i'll survive." She gave Bloom a reassuring smile. "Thanks for helping me though. My name's Stella."
"You're welcome, Stella. My name's Bloom." Bloom said, returning her smile. "So uhh… If you don't mind me asking, who or what did this to you anyways?"
"Oh… uhh…" Stella stuttered a bit, "Well I your parents asked me this earlier. What happened was, I was helping out with some jobs with someone and when we were done, I decided to do some shopping and, well, some guy decided to… uhh... mug me. Yeah, that's it." She said quickly.
"Oh, okay then. Does this person know where you are now?" Bloom asked.
"Oh, your parents let me use their phone and I called them, they should be here to pick me up any second now actually." Stella answered.
Bloom smiled, "Well that's good to hear."
"Yup! And Mike and Vanessa have been very nice to me while you were asleep, they offered to call the hospital but I told them I was fine and they offered me some food while I wait here to be picked up." Stella said, while taking another bite of cereal. "So anyways Bloom, tell me about yourself."
"Oh well, i'm on summer vacation right now." Bloom told Stella.
"Summer eh? Reminds me school's gonna start soon. A real drag." Stella said rolling her eyes, "So you going back to school soon too?"
Bloom frowned and looked at the ground, "Not really. I recently moved here and i'm not enrolled in a school yet."
Stella patted Bloom's back and said, "Oh, well that sounds rough. Maybe-"
As Sella was talking, the doorbell rang. Everyone walked to the door and Mike answered. When he opened the door, there stood a tall elderly woman with large white hair, glasses and earrings wearing a pretty, yet professional looking dress and behind her was a small white car. She spoke with a sweet voice, "Oh hello, is this where Stella is?"
Mike answered with, "Well yeah, she's here. I assume you're here to pick her up?"
The woman nodded and Stella walked up to her and smiled, "Nice to see you again Miss F."
"Stella, you're hurt!" The woman gasped.
"I'll be fine Miss F, really." Stella reassured.
The woman nodded and looked at Mike, Vanessa and Bloom, "In any case, i'm thankful for helping Stella like this."
Mike replied, "Oh we're happy to help Miss…"
"Faragonda." The woman said, "Miss Faragonda."
Vanessa moved next to Mike and said, "Oh but if anybody really deserves thanks, it's our daughter Bloom. If she hadn't been there, Stella probably would've really been in big trouble."
"Yeah!" Mike said patting Bloom's back as Bloom blushed, "True she can make some really rash decisions, but she always does have good intentions and her heart is in the right place."
"Oh is that so?" Faragonda looked at Bloom smiling, "Well if there is anyway I could repay you."
Stella tapped Faragonda's shoulder "Actually Miss F, there is something I need to talk to you about. Privately."
Stella and Faragona walked in front of the car and Stella whispered to Faragonda so Mike, Vanessa and Bloom can't hear her. As Stella spoke, Miss Faragonda kept nodding and at times looked surprised and concerned. When Stella was done talking, Miss Faragonda nodded her head as if in agreement with something and they both walked to Bloom and her parents.
"Actually, Bloom, after talking with Stella, I think I do have a way to repay you for your kindness." Faragonda said.
Bloom looked flattered, "Gee, I don't know if that's necessary."
"Hear me out Bloom." Faragonda said, "Stella has told me about your school situation. You see, I am actually the headmistress of Alfea Academy."
Vanessa gasped, "You are the headmistress of Alfea? But that is one of the best boarding schools in the country! It's such an honor to meet you."
Faragonda chuckled, "Well thank you. And it's true. And seeing Bloom's willingness to help the life of one of Alfea's students, and seeing as how you and your husband can vouch for her kindness, I think she would be a great student in our school. Also, me and Stella can sense a kind of… specialness to Bloom."
Bloom, Mike and Vanessa were dumbstruck. Neither of them could figure out what to say. They all looked at each other. Vanessa looked at Faragonda, "Can you excuse us for a second?"
Faragonda nodded and Mike, Vanessa and Bloom went inside to talk to each other. Mike spoke, "Wow, being offered to go to such a nice school? What are the odds?"
Vanessa nodded in agreement, "Yes, but…" She looked at Bloom and Mike with a depressed look on her face, "This school is a boarding school several states from here. If we accept, Bloom will…" She teared up a bit at the thought of what she was about to say next.
"That is true…" Mike said.
Bloom was standing there thinking about what she should do. One one hand she's being offered to go to a great school, but on the other hand she'd have to leave her parents and she won't be able to see them for such a long time. It was a hard decision. And as Mike and Vanessa were discussing this further, Bloom spoke up, "I want to go to this school."
Mike and Vanessa looked at Bloom surprised. Bloom told them, "I really don't want to leave you two, but a chance like this only comes once in a lifetime, if i'm extremely lucky. You both know how nice that school is and an offer like this is too good to turn down. And it'll be a great experience. So i've made up my mind. I want to go. That is if you'll let me."
The two parents looked at each other than at Bloom. Mike put his hand on Bloom's shoulder and smiled, "Bloom, you're special to us. We love you so much, and you'll always be our little girl."
Vanessa spoke with tears in her eyes, "But like every parent, we're willing to let go of our children when they and the kids are ready. Are you sure you're ready to go?" Bloom nodded, then Mike and Vanessa hugged their daughter. "We'll miss you then."
"I will too." Bloom said crying a bit herself.
They all walked back to Miss Faragonda to tell her Bloom will be going to Alfea Academy. Faragonda smiled, "Excellent! Stella, please go get the suitcase from the car" Stella walked to the car and brought back a suitcase. "Luckily I have this. We were here to enroll another girl into Alfea yesterday but she had to decline. We just need you three to fill out a little paperwork and we'll be set to go!"
All five of them walked inside, sat at a table and Mike and Vanessa read and filled out the paperwork that Faragonda had for them. Once Mike and Vanessa signed everything they had to, Faragonda presented one final sheet to Bloom. "Here you are Bloom, just sign this last document and you will be an official student of Alfea Academy."
Bloom looked at the document for a second. Once she signed this, there was no turning back. But she knew this is what she wanted and this was the right thing to do. She took a pen and signed the dotted line with her name. Faragonda and Stella smiled "Great!" Faragonda said as she collected the paperwork and put it all back in her suitcase, "Now that that's taken care of, we'll be taking our leave. The year begins on Tuesday, we'll give you some time to pack and say your goodbyes. We'll make sure you have a plane ticket for tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you on our campus Bloom."
With that, Faragonda and Stella left the house and Stella said, "See you soon Bloom!" They both waved goodbye and drove off. As they did Mike, Vanessa and Bloom hugged each other and decided to pack up for Bloom's upcoming trip. Truly, this was the start of something great for Bloom.