Fire and Ice Ch. 04
"Ow!" Icy shouts now free of her injuries. "Careful!" she snaps at Ofelia as the nurse treats Bloom's wounds.
"She's doing her best, Icy," Bloom tries calming the witch.
The witch huffs and turns her head away. "Doesn't make it hurt any less. I don't see why you couldn't heal yourself like you did me?"
"It doesn't work like that, Icy," Bloom says as she and the witch hiss when Ofelia places an ointment over a cut on the Fairy's arm, causing the wound to sting. "I can't heal myself. If it were that easy, I probably would have been more reckless in our fights," she then turns to the nurse. "Thank you, Ofelia."
"It's my job, dear," the woman smiles before leaving the two.
Icy chuckles at the thought. "You? More reckless? I've seen what you and your friends are willing to do in a fight. I don't see how you could be anymore reckless."
The redhead raises a brow. "Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"
The witch goes to say something but stops. "I… don't know," she then shakes her head. Her eyes then lower to Bloom's redden hands and Icy recalls something. "Here," she digs into one of the jacket's pockets. "I got these for you," and pulls out a pair of light blue gloves.
"Thanks, I guess?"
"It's made from some material that doesn't cause skin irritation. That should help you stop scratching all the time."
"Really?" Bloom slips them on and can already feel the differences that it makes on her skin. "Thank you, Icy. It's a very thoughtful gift."
The witch shrugs. "Can't really call it a gift. I bought it with your money."
"Money that I gave you to buy what you want. But you chose to spend it on me," the Fairy of the Dragon Flame gives the witch a bright smile. "I'd call that a gift."
Icy suddenly feels her face warming up and Bloom giggles. "What!?" the white-haired girl snaps.
"I think I understand why you enjoy teasing me?" the fairy then hugs her partner.
The witch would never actively admit it, but this moment felt nice. The moment is then interrupted by someone clearing her throat.
"Ahem!" Griselda is standing in the doorway of the nurse's office. "Come with me."
.oOo.
Griselda leads the two girls to Faragonda's office. There they find not only Faragonda, but Griffin and Saladin as well as the Winx. They're not the only ones though.
Icy visibly flinches at the sight of the three men from the mall. She was about to run out of there when Bloom places a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
Griffin approaches them and looks the younger witch up and down. "You seem different, Icy."
"It's the jacket, isn't it?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" the older witch scolds the younger one. "You still have that vile heart I admired you and the other Trix for. But you are… brighter."
"Well, I don't feel any different," Icy then glances at her assailants and her eyes darken as images of what she went through flashes through her mind.
This did not go unnoticed by everyone. Bloom wraps her in a hug, to try and calm her.
Saladin turns to glare at the three boys. "You really did a number on her. I have never been more disappointed in any of my students."
Two of them flinched under his gaze. The leader of their group, however, steps forward.
"Who cares? She's just a witch!" he defends themselves. "Not just any witch, but a Trix," his friends agreed with them.
Griffin snaps at him. "That does not excuse your behavior!" making them all flinch. "You attacked someone without magic or any way to defend themselves. I must say, Saladin, I'm not fond of Specialists in the first place. But I cannot approve of such teachings."
"Neither do I," the old wizard agreed. "As first years, there are codes of honor to be reviewed. It seems these three have already forgotten."
Faragonda looks over at the three with her stern eyes full of coldness. "It was made very clear that Icy is under Alfea protection and by an extent, the protection of Cloud Tower and Red Fountain. You went against that, willingly."
"That doesn't change who she is!" the leader argues back. "She is a Trix. You remember what they've done? The kind of people they are, the people they aligned themselves with. That witch is just using you to help herself and as soon as she's done, she'll be back to her old tricks. You really think that witch won't hesitate to turn on you the first chance she gets!?"
Icy looks among everyone in the room. The three headmasters and Griselda's faces are hard to read. Her assailants are certain of what they are saying. It's the looks on the Winx that hurt her. The doubt is plain as day on their faces. The girls that she was actually starting to enjoy being around.
She pushes herself away from Bloom and storms out of the office.
"Icy, wait!" Bloom reaches out for her partner but is too late.
Saladin turns back to his three students. "You three need to rethink your future as you are no longer accepted at my school."
Bloom's fist clenches. "That's not enough!"
Everyone turns to see the Fire Fairy seething with rage.
"What more can we do?" the Red Fountain teacher asks.
"I don't know but no one should feel the way Icy did!" she starts crying. "The feeling of being helpless and vulnerable. You have no idea how terrible and terrifying this feeling is. Three men with more power over you, being ambushed, with no idea what's going to happen next! I can tell you that it's terrifying!" Bloom screams. After a moment, she registers how quiet the room has gotten. Looking up, the redhead notices the concern looks of the teacher and that all her friends have covered their mouths with frightened looks in their eyes.
Griselda steps up to her. "Ms. Bloom, have you been in such position?"
Bloom wipes away her tears. "No, never."
"You talked as if you experienced it yourself." Griffin turns from the young fairy and to her fellow headmasters. "How could you possibly know the feeling otherwise?"
"Because…" Faragonda gathers their attention. "…of Icy."
.oOo.
Icy finds herself sitting on the edge of the roof, overlooking the school. She watches the sunset and wonders; how come she never notices how red it gets?
The voice of Bloom reaches her ears. "Icy! There you are." She sits herself beside her. "We've been looking everywhere for you."
"We?" the witch turns to see the rest of the Winx giving her sad smiles. She huffs and turns away from them. "I don't need sympathy from a bunch of fairies!"
"Icy," Bloom places hand on her partner's shoulder. "I know what you're going through is—"
"Don't!" Icy swats the hand away. "There's no possible way you could know how I feel! None of you even like me. The only reason you spend time with me is because of these stupid rings!" unbeknownst to them, the shouting has started attracting the attention of many of the students and faculty below them. "Let's face it, Bloom! You nor any of your friends would have come to my rescue were it not for the fact that every time I got hurt so do you!" she starts tearing up.
"Enough!" Stella shouts. "You're right about the situation, but oh so wrong about the reason! We were worried about Bloom. But we came to help you because we knew you were in danger. Besides, Bloom was on her way to you before getting hurt!"
"Yeah, right!" the witch scoffs. "How could she possibly know that?"
"Before that first punch," Bloom speaks. The fire fairy looks up to reveal that she is crying as well, "I was terrified for no reason. Arms shaking, I was breathing so fast, not to mention my mind was working so hard trying to piece together what is going on. I then felt a strong need to get out of there. I realized something was wrong and came to find you."
"H-how?"
"It seems this link goes deeper than the physical connection. When one of us feels a strong emotion, the other feels that same emotion," she sobs. "I am literally the one person in all of the Magical Dimension that knows exactly how you feel."
Bloom continues to cry before a pair of arms wrap around her.
"This is your fault," Icy whispers between her own sobs. "I wasn't crying so much until you got here."
The redhead manages a small chuckle. "I'm pretty sure you started it," they tighten the hug.
There was a large collection of 'Aws' coming from below them. Looking over the edge of the roof, they see that they have accumulated a much larger audience than what they had at the mall. As it dawned on the audience that they have interrupted a private moment, everyone scatters to get back to what they were doing beforehand.
The two remained on the edge of the building watching the sunset with the rest of the Winx joining them.
After a few quite moments, Icy breaks the silence. "I know that I'm already a burden on you, Bloom and I'm sure you would still want to make regular trips to Magix. But after today, I can't go back there. Especially without my magic. I'm sorry."
It was at that moment, Faragonda's voice reaches them. "That is why when the next time you leave Alfea, you're keeping your magic." Standing behind them is the headmistress of Alfea, along with Griselda, Griffin, and Saladin. With a wave of her hands, Faragonda returns Icy's powers.
Icy looks at them in disbelief. "Seriously!?"
They nod as Griselda says. "After a lengthy discussion, we agreed that it was unfair to make you give up your magic just to go to Magix. So, as long as you don't do anything to antagonize anyone in the city, we see no reason why you can't."
Icy stuck her nose up to tell them that she doesn't need any favors. Only to have it ruined by her partner.
"She's really happy about that," Bloom says, receiving a glare from the witch. The fairy's response is to hip bump her and the two giggle.
.oOo.
Later That Night.
With a sudden feeling of terror, Bloom is jolted out of her sleep. The fairy turns to her roommate's bed to find that she is tossing and turning and occasionally mumbling, "No… Stop!"
"Icy?" she gets out of bed and over to the witch. "Icy, wake up," Bloom shakes her.
Icy's eyes shot open, and she releases an ice blast. Luckily, she missed Bloom and hits the wall. Her breathing slows down as the witch registers where she's at. Looking past Bloom, she mumbles "Sorry," as she notices the patch of ice on the wall.
Bloom sits next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?"
At first, Icy shakes her head, but starts anyway. "I just can't get the image of how those guys looked when they pinned me down. I'll admit that I've been in the same position as them. But to be on the other end? I don't want to wish that upon anyone. How did you put up with us?"
"It helps that we kicked your guys' butts once every week," Bloom jokes. "Sometimes twice."
Icy laughs at that but quickly quiets down. A few moments of silence, Bloom goes to get up, only to find her hand being held by Icy.
"At that moment, I realized how alone I am," the witch confesses. "I'm without my sisters. At least with them I was never alone. I don't want to be alone anymore."
Bloom looks at her. Icy's sadness and fear radiating at her. The fairy kneels in front of her and grabs both of the witch's hands and says, "Icy," and holds up the white-haired girl's hand with the ring. "As long as we're wearing these, just know that you'll never be alone. Even when you want to be." That last comment brings a chuckle out of the witch.
Icy's face starts turning red, "Look, I know that this may sound weird. But I really don't want to sleep alone," turning back, she sees that Bloom's face is turning red with her eyes widen as if she is trying to process information. "Not like that!" the witch growls. "I-I just really don't want to be alone, and I'd feel better next to you."
The redhead smiles as she stands, pulling Icy up along with her. "My bed's a bit larger."
End