Just a reminder that the most of the characters here are mine, but the locations belong to Rainbow and Winx Club.
Unlikely Heroes
Chapter 2: True Happenings
The magical dimension saw an unprecedented era of peace these last few years. Ever since two out of three Trix witches vanished into obscurity and Stormy was captured five years ago in a robbery, there hadn't been much by way of big villains to deal with. Even the war on Eraklyon was finally winding to a close, something few Eraklyonites thought they'd ever live to see.
But something stirred the edges of the dimension. Pirates and mercenaries increased their attacks over the last few months and adopted an unprecedented level of violence to do so. Some 'fringe' worlds experienced unusual weather patterns, leading to famines the likes of which the planets hadn't seen before. And the strange weather was spreading from the outside in. Animals and people on the affected planets began acting strange, more aggressive and cruel toward outsiders and each other. Ethologists failed to determine the cause, aside from noting that the symptoms meshed with what humans experienced after exposure to dark energy.
Something was coming, but no one yet knew what it was or what it meant for the magical dimension as a whole other than something new to discuss on the realm-wide news stations.
"So, did you guys hear about that drought on Vega prime?" Xenon asked. He and the others had long since finished dinner and adjourned to a local park to catch up and discuss plans for the coming semester.
"Yeah. Weird weather they're having," Semira replied. The droughts or freak ice storms had been all over the news on Cosmosia. "It's odd that so many fringe planets have been affected by weird weather at one time."
"And in so many ways," Bianca put in. "Kathor's been under a drought too, but it's not because of the weather. No matter how much they water or shade or sun their plants, none of the crops are growing. It's like the soil's given up on them."
"I heard Outcastus is under a blizzard watch this week," Coda said. "I don't know what exactly the cause was, but people are fleeing it and Altair en masse."
"Why are we discussing this anyway?" Adia said. "This shit is why planets have Guardians. Let them or the famous Winx Club deal with it."
"The Winx Club hasn't spoken to each other in civil tones in nearly two decades." Coda rolled his eyes. "They don't even try for reunions anymore because of how awkward things have gotten. By the way, Mira, Dad said to tell your mom they'd meet her and Timmy at seven."
"Wait, wait, hold up." Bianca frowned, her hand held palm out in front of her. "Mira, how would your mother's boyfriend know Coda's parents? They're famous and she's just a fortune teller." Granted, she managed to bed King Sky of Eraklyon at some point, but the woman wasn't Winx Club famous.
"So is Timmy, albeit not as much due to the fact that he prefers to work behind the scenes," Semira said, deciding to ignore the 'just a fortune teller' comment. She wasn't about to blow her mom's cover over stupid comments like that. She'd survived four years of stupidity at Alfea; with any luck, she'd keep the streak alive well beyond graduation. "He and Coda's dad were squadmates; I think they're the only ones still talking to each other."
"Sometimes we have to deal with Brandon or Sky, but that's more out of business than friendship." Coda shrugged. "Mom only talks to Aisha and Tecna anymore, and that's not very often."
"Okay, so the Winx Club isn't going to have a twenty-year reunion. Big whoop," Lucien drawled. "There's still no reason why the planetary Guardian Fairies haven't started looking into the odd weather on the fringe worlds."
"It's so easy to forget you were raised on Earth." Leona shook her head. "The fringe worlds, by and large, don't have Guardians of any sort. They're small realms with small populations and small amounts of magic. If whatever this is hadn't started inching its way into the heart of the magical dimension, it would have gone ignored for years."
"Maybe it already has been," Xenon mused. "Think about it. If this thing hadn't effected worlds like Outcastus, it wouldn't have warranted a footnote in Magix' news coverage."
"Be that as it may, it's still not any of our business," Adia stated. "None of us are going to be Guardians once we graduate. The only ones coming close are Egon and Bianca, and their realms are in the heart of the magical dimension. The adults will have this mess sorted out long before you two graduate."
"It would still make a killer topic for our final project board in Herbology and Ecology this year, though," Reva commented. "The headmistress said we could do a group project as long as we split the work, and it's something way more interesting than finding new uses for switchweed in potions."
"That it would." Mira nodded. "Might be a little more difficult on the research side due to how recent it is, but it's do-able. Think Griselda would give us bonus points if we turned it into a tri-school collaboration and brought the rest of the gang into it?"
"Cordatorta would as long as we visited one of the affected planets." Egon shrugged. "Dad would be pissed that we picked such a dangerous project, but dangerous ones tend to get higher grades even if it's not a total success."
"It's the risk-reward ratio," Coda pointed out. "A higher risk project, especially one with so little data to work from, will garner a higher grade as a half success as long as the results are recorded properly and reasons for the potential failures are listed. A 'safe' project usually flunks because of carelessness on the part of the students undertaking it rather than outside influences, and is subject to harsher grading."
"Anybody ever tell you you're a walking encyclopedia?" Bianca asked, a fond smile on her lips.
"Lucien does all the time, but he doesn't gripe half as much when it's time to write up reports." Coda smirked as the lavender-haired boy cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment.
"Do you guys really think we can make this project work?" Adia asked. She knew better than to think she wouldn't get dragged into it and hoped Griffin would let her graduate a year early if they managed to make this hare-brained project work. She was working a grade above her supposed year level; that had to count for something.
"I don't see why not." Mira pursed her lips in thought. "And with all of us working together, it'll be easier to delegate the research. That part should be more or less finished by fall midterms, I think."
"How do we want to split it up and what do we want to call it?" Bianca sighed.
"Effects of negative energy on realm ecology and ethology?" Xenon offered. "My dads might have some books on the subject, but I'm not sure. It's not really either of their specialties."
"My mom has one or two on it, I think." Lucien frowned. "What about you, Mira?"
"She might; I'd have to ask her. But, even if she doesn't, one of us can go with Adia and raid Cloud Tower's library. They're bound to have something about it." Her green eyes flickered in her friend's direction. Adia sighed.
"It's gonna have to be you or Bianca; you're the only ones who can out-snark the seniors."
"My mother's an alumnus; it'd be damn sad if I couldn't out-snark someone my own grade level." Semira huffed.
"We'll sort that part out when we've exhausted the usual sources." Leo waved her hand in lazy swishing patterns. "I'm more concerned with the practical part of this assignment. We're gonna need to collect soil, vegetation, and animal fecal samples from affected planets to make this work."
"Cordatorta should let us bum a space-ship and some weapons, but most of the supplies will need to come from us." Egon frowned. "We'll need to plan our entrance and escape months in advance, and start hoarding supplies and clothes before then."
"That's all well and good, but what planets should we hit up? We're gonna need more than one to get a good grade," Reva remarked.
"Outcastus, for sure," Adia put in. "It's the safest and largest of the group, so we'd get more variety with our samples. After that…I don't know. Altair's in the same system, but maybe we should do something a little farther out and go with Vega prime or Scylla?"
"We'll work that out when we start looking at older case studies," Coda spoke. "Odds are at least one other person's done a project like this before and has published results in a journal somewhere. They'll have a better idea of which planets to sample."
"In the meantime, we'll pitch the idea to our headmasters and see if they approve it," Bianca said. "I don't think they'd say no, but we still need their approval before we get too far into research mode."
"Guess that's our new plan for this weekend, then." Lucien shrugged. "And here I was hoping to hit up a club or two downtown…"
"You wouldn't go on your own and we both know it," Mira teased. "But you can go after we get done studying if you really want to."
"And risk breaking curfew? No thanks." He shook his head. "Maybe over the break we can do something not school-related." Because he knew damn well this project would eat up the vast majority of their free time over the next two semesters. They deserved a break, even if it wound up being just a tiny one.
"If we're travelling anyway, we may as well visit everyone's home realms," Adia drawled. "Zee and I live here in Magix, but it would be nice to see where everyone else is for a change."
"There's not that much to my part of Earth, but I guess we could use it as a training camp before our expedition," Lucien told her. "It would at least get us prepped for the Outcastus blizzard."
"So we'll do that one last and focus on the other realms." Reva shrugged. "Cosmosia's a bit of a tourist trap, but it's home. Mira and I are from different cities, but the planet's small enough that commuting between houses won't be a problem."
"Can't say the same for Domino, but there's plenty of room in the palace for you guys to crash, and I'm betting Isis has a similar set-up?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at Bianca, who shrugged.
"Mother shouldn't have a problem with you guys staying as long as you don't break anything too expensive."
"So that just leaves Melody and Malkin (1), both of which have cheap motels and/or campsites available for us." Leo deduced. "We could even stay at one of Malkin's nature preserves and get a feel for camping near predatory wildlife if we wanted."
"Okay, so Malkin and Earth are last on our dimension-wide tour, and we can figure out the rest closer to the break," Xenon noted. "Not that planning every detail of our next year isn't interesting and all, but can we find a new subject?"
"Not unless you have stories about embarrassing freshmen blunders or inside info on the dance theme this year." Bianca shook her head. "We already went over the 'how was your summer' spiel and I have no interest in revisiting the topic."
Reva shrugged. "Well, if you're going to be that way, then you won't mind if Mira and I use you guys as test subjects for Divination, will you?"
"I have my cards on me." The blonde fairy of shadows shrugged. She didn't have quite the sixth sense her mother possessed, but she was good enough to get an accurate reading. "It won't take long and we don't bite." She grinned at her best friend, who sighed in annoyance.
"Fine, but try to keep the commentary on my love life to a minimum, 'kay? I don't need a bunch of playing cards telling me how useless I am at it."
"I only say what the cards show me." Mira leveled the other blonde with a glare. "Now, pick your fortune teller and let's get this show on the road."
Fortune telling remained as popular as ever on Cosmosia. Its prevalence helped her and Reva with the decision to pick Divination as an elective, because even if they didn't have the Sight, they could help decode vague predictions and spot fake ones at a glance by the time they graduated. Reva, as a fairy with star-based powers, excelled at the astrology aspect of the course and could make tarot readings with respectable accuracy. She, daughter of a well-respected fortune teller, already knew a lot of tricks and was one of the best tarot readers in their year. Neither of them boasted much accuracy in palmistry, which had given them fits since it was introduced last year.
"I'll never understand why you two needed an elective class to learn this." Lucien shook his head. "I'd have thought Mira's mom would've taught you all you wanted to know."
"If she weren't constantly booked with appointments, I'm sure she would have jumped at the chance," Reva commented as she smoothed her consecrated mat across the top of the grass. "But since she can't, we took the elective. It's an easy pass for us so even if we do poorly in another subject, our GPAs aren't shot six ways to Shadowhaunt."
"But she can probably squeeze in a beginner's session for you if you're still interested by the time the semester break rolls around." Semira smiled at her 'cousin', who pouted and folded his arms across his chest in response.
"I think I'll pass on it, thanks."
"You do that; I want to see how it's done." Adia crawled closer to the two Cosmosian fairies in order to get a better view of the cards.
"And your moms won't get upset with you for looking into a foolish and inaccurate con-man's magic?" Xenon asked. The green-haired witch snorted.
"What Mom doesn't know won't get me grounded, and Mama's intuitive enough to know I'd have looked into it as soon as I got out of the house anyway."
"You know, it's weird that in the four years we've known each other, we've never been introduced to each other's parents." Coda frowned. "I mean, Xenon's dads teach classes at Alfea, so some of you've met them, but the rest of us? I only met Mira's mom through Timmy, and I wouldn't have if they hadn't started dating."
"It is odd, I suppose." Leo sighed. "But it's not like the colleges offer parents days, or that they'd be off work if the schools scheduled them."
"True. Mine and Egon's definitely wouldn't find time for it, and Semira's sire barely acknowledges her existence outside of paying her school tuition." Bianca inspected her ruby-red manicure.
"I don't know that my mom would to come to Magix if they offered a parents' day." Lucien exhaled. "She had a good reason to move to Earth's arctic regions and away from the magical dimension as a whole."
Mira nodded. "Either way, we'll be seeing her when we do our dimension-wide tour later in the year. Think there's enough room for us to crash at your place for a couple nights?"
"A few may end up on the floor, but it'll work." He shrugged.
"This, my friend, is why man invented the inflatable mattress." Coda smirked. "We'll be fine."
As any alumni knew, Cloud Tower possessed a consciousness all its own and sometimes re-arranged the classrooms and passageways to fit its perceived needs. This occurred not because of the high levels of magic saturating the building, else Oskuria Wizard's Academy, Red Fountain, and Alfea College campuses would have faced similar problems. Unlike the other campuses, Cloud Tower's main facility consisted not of brick, wood, and glass, but of the living, breathing tissues of one of the largest and oldest species of magical fungi in existence. The building could think and feel and knew the magical signature of anyone who'd ever passed through its outer membranes.
Alumni also knew that the fungus played favorites. It usually acted the most 'helpful' to witches with plant or animal-based abilities, but sometimes chose a seemingly random freshman to watch.
Princess Niobe of Andros had been last year's favorite, which surprised her given how her powers seemed tailor-made to draw from the oceans. Mushrooms tended to avoid beaches and salt water on the whole. Yet, the building liked her, offering her shortcuts when the other girls stole her maps—and places to cry in private during bouts of homesickness. She hadn't needed a cry space since fall of last year, but she suspected the building would offer it if she asked.
She finished unpacking the last of her luggage, not that there was much of it. She brought, perhaps, a quarter of what she owned for this trip and even that stretched the truth a bit. Not many witches cared about how fancy the gowns of the Androsian royal court wore. Most times she didn't care, but Grandmum insisted on them 'for proper decorum', so she had a whole fleet of the stupid things on standby. Mum tried her best to keep a 'normal' wardrobe ready for use, but Niobe's taste in clothing differed from hers enough to make most of what her mother chose unappealing. She packed it anyway, though, because her roommate was all about the athletic chic look and had taken to looting her closet last year for workout clothes. As long as word didn't get back to Mum that she wasn't wearing the clothes, Niobe didn't much care what Leanne 'borrowed' as long as the items were laundered prior to their reappearance in her closet. There were three or four outfits she would wear to her classes, a dress should a dance or date cross her path, and a few sets of sleepwear; more than enough to keep her satisfied through the school year.
It was more than she could say for the girls in the other half of the suite.
She'd lucked out with her roommate and knew it. Leanne hailed from a neutral family on Cumulus and thus didn't hold anyone's heritage against them. Magic was magic, after all; some people just channeled it differently than others. However, the two girls across the hall did not share that sentiment and had taken to passive-aggressively sniping at the other two. They weren't brave enough to do anything bold, like put itching powder in her sheets or hair dye in her shampoo. Whether they liked it or not, she was the sole heir to the throne of Andros and her accusations tended to carry quite a bit of weight around here. What might only earn them detention with another student could get them expelled if her family got wind of it.
"I know it could be a lot worse with those two, but it's almost enough to make me request a transfer for the two of us." She sighed. Leanne looked at her from over the top of the Runes text in her hands, head cocked to the left side.
"Yeah, but who'd want to room with us? None of the other sophomores care too much for us; between Piper and the older girls backing her up, we're just a step above that one Junior girl. And that's only because we don't have friends at Alfea."
"Which is just so flipping stupid I don't know where to start," she groused. "Let her make friends with whoever she wants. I heard those girls are seniors and willing to help with her homework."
"Candle magic still not working for you?"
"Not in the slightest. And it might never; there's no real tips on how to manipulate aspects of an opposite but equal element in the non-restricted section of our library."
"Witches are the worst damn knowledge hoarders in the dimension. Worse than the Ohm monks, even," Leanne said. "Must be some kind of word of mouth thing with the hereditary witches, otherwise none of them would pass their classes."
"Fat lot of good it does me." Niobe flopped bonelessly onto her four-poster bed. "And I don't think the teachers will help much besides telling me to try harder. By the Dragon, I just want to pass the damn practical in the Elemental Magic course this year without Piper sabotaging my project. Was that too much to ask?"
She felt the magic shift before she saw it. A subtle hum, a tingle on her arms, the steady-beating heart increasing its vibrations—and that was all before the room made a decided tilt to the right diagonal before righting itself.
"What the hell was that?" Leanne asked.
"I don't know! The castle's never done that before!" She groaned. "You don't think…"
"I think it really likes you and sometimes goes overboard. Remember the crystal crisis?"
"How could I forget?" She murmured. In the week before her Runes and Divination finals last year, her working crystals all went missing. After three hour scouring the dorms, she and Leanne thought they were lost for good, another casualty in her roommate's crusade against fairy-born witches. It likely would have been, if the castle hadn't lead the pair down a hallway they knew didn't belong on their floor and into an entire storage closet full of crystals. "But surely this isn't…The castle doesn't just move half a dorm room around!"
"Nia, the castle seems to do whatever it damn well pleases." Her roommate folded her arms across her chest. "The only way to know what it pleases this time is to open the door and find out."
Steeling her nerves, she turned the knob and peeked out into the living area. It looked much the same as she left it, aside from one minor detail. "I think a name got dropped off the other dorm's occupant list."
"Only you can be so formal when saying someone got kicked out." Leanne shook her head and placed her textbook on the nightstand. "May as well see who it is." They crossed the space together, both glancing around for traps and feeling ridiculous for it. The castle liked Niobe; it wouldn't let her fall into a trap if it could prevent it. Once they saw the name on the other door, the pair frowned. "Last I remember there was no 'Adia' in this dorm." Leanne narrowed her olivine eyes at the plaque.
"There's only one 'Adia' in the whole school." She wanted nothing more than to hide under her bed and stay there for a week or two. How in Shadowhaunt had she managed this?