Chapter 02
During lunch, Mirta finds herself walking through the cafeteria with her head hung low. That did not help in hiding the snide remarks at her heritage.
A voice then calls out to her. "Mirta!" Looking over to the source, she sees a group of fairies one of which a Nature Fairy is waving her down. The group consists of Bloom, Stella, Flora, Tecna, Musa, and Aisha. Those girls always made the former witch feel welcome. She is so thankful to them. Especially Flora. Were it not for her, she'd still be a squash.
Flora shouts, "Come sit with us!"
With a smile, Mirta moves to sit with the Winx, only to stop at the sound of a splat and the feeling of something oozing into her boot. Looking down, the illusion fairy sees that she has stepped in a pumpkin.
"Oops!" comes the voice of the same girl from earlier. "I really hope that wasn't a relative," laughter roars throughout the room and the former witch drops her tray.
Mirta feels like crying. But if there is one thing she learned growing up as a witch it's that if you show weakness, it will only goad bullies to be harsher next time. So, the fairy swallows her sadness, not willing to give them what they want.
She is not sure when it happened, but Flora wraps her arms around the former witch to comfort her.
Stella shouts at the bully, "That's just mean, Chloe!" the blond scolds.
Chloe turns away from the Winx. "Why should you care? The witch doesn't belong here."
That is when Mirta hears the voice of Drake saying, "I care!" and there he is walking towards them with broom in hand.
"What? Why would you?"
"I'm the janitor," he raises the broom as he walks past them. "When you make a mess, I'm the one who has to clean it," and he starts doing so. "Deliberately making a mess, don't think I didn't see you casting that spell, and bullying a fellow student. That's a lot of trouble to get in. Wonder how Griselda will take it?" he removes his hat to wipe his forehead to reveal spikey black hair with red streaks in it before setting it back on.
"Excuse me! Is that a threat?" Chloe scoffs. "One word from me and Ms. Griselda will have you fired. All I have to say is that you were mean to me, and that old hag will have no choice but to believe me over some dirty janitor."
"Is that so?" the voice of Griselda reaches everyone's ears. Standing right behind, Chloe. "Report to Ms. Faragonda's office. We'll contact your parents and see what they think of your behavior."
With her head hung low, Chloe walks out of the cafeteria.
Griselda then turns to Drake, "You are pushing it, Mr. Drake."
"Hey!" Mirta has no idea what came over her, she usually so reserved. Not this time, "Drake was just sticking up for me!" the former witch then flinches under the head of detention's gaze.
That is when Flora speaks up. "It's true." The rest of the Winx gathered around in agreement.
With one last glare, Griselda leaves the cafeteria to attend to a possible suspension.
Mirta turns to thank Drake, only to find him gone along with the squashed pumpkin and her tray.
Bloom places a hand on the Fairy of Illusion's shoulder, "Are you alright, Mirta? Come sit with us and I'll get you another tray."
"No," Mirta sighs. "I've lost my appetite," she gets up to exit the cafeteria as well.
.oOo.
Mirta does not know how long she was walking, but the fairy soon finds herself at the edge of the forest among a field of flowers. She kneels to better admire them. That is when she hears his voice again.
"Pumpkin Girl!" Drake is charging towards her. "Behind you!" he jumps past her and rams into a large troll. How did she not notice it before?
Drake manages to strike the troll with such great force, he actually pushed it back a few feet as his hat flies off. The troll grabs the boy and slams him onto the ground. The beast goes to stomp on him. Luckily, Drake is fast enough to roll out of the way and pushes himself back up. The troll throws a fist at him, but before it could land, it is hit by a pink blast.
The source of the blast came from Mirta, who is now wearing her pink outfit and has wings sprouting from her back. She is visibly shaking. "St-stay away from him!" whether she intended to or not, the Illusion Fairy provided enough distraction for Drake to deliver a good punch. In responds, the troll clasps both fists together and swings it into boy, knocking him back a good distance. The troll then turns its gaze upon the fairy. It approaches her, picking up a log on its way. As soon as the monster is in reaching distance, it swings the log. Only, it goes right through the Mirta, and she vanishes.
"Over here!" her voice is heard behind the troll, and he is hit by another pink blast. Turning around, it sees Mirta standing not far behind it. The troll takes another swing just for it to go through the fairy and she vanishes again. Suddenly, the troll is surrounded by more than ten Mirtas. The Troll growls as it sniffs the air before turning to an empty spot and launches the log at it. Another Mirta appears out of nowhere as the log hits her and all the other Mirtas disappear. As the fairy tries standing back up, the troll wraps its hand around her neck and lifts her off the ground. Mirta can feel the air getting cut off from her lungs as the grip tightens.
It was at that moment, Drake jumps onto the troll's shoulders and slams both fists onto its head, forcing it to drop Mirta. He then grasps its head, leans forward as he stretches his legs out, forcing the troll to topple over as well. As soon as Drake's feet touched the ground, he used all his might to toss the troll away from them.
Drake turns to Mirta and leans down. "Are you alright?"
Mirta coughs before answering. "I'm fine now," and once her eyes look past him, she shouts "Look out!"
Turning just in time, Drake manages to catch both of the troll's fists. At the moment, it seemed as if the two were equal in strength. Until the troll begins to force him back. It was at that moment Drake lets out a shout and a torrent of flames leaves his mouth. The troll lets go and covers its face.
Drake collapses, Mirta goes to check up on him only to have her attention drawn from the boy as growling can be heard from behind her. The troll is approaching them again. It has obvious scorch marks covering its face that are quickly healing. The fairy stands, trying to figure out what kind of spell to use. Suddenly, the troll topples over. Standing right behind it is none other than Knut holding a large boulder. He smiles at the fairy. The ogre is then startled when the troll flinches and he slams the boulder over its head several more times.
"I think I got it?" he tells her and at the sound of a groan from the troll, he slams the boulder on it again. This time, leaving it on its head. "I hope that will keep it down until the Specialists arrive," then, Knut turns to the teens. "Are you alright?"
"I am," Mirta tells him as she leans over Drake.
With a groan, Drake manages to push himself up. "I think so."
Mirta gasps at the sight before her. Drake's face has scales growing across it and horns are sprouting out of his head. "Your, your face?"
As Drake reaches up to his face with a now clawed hand, Knut tells him, "Where's your medicine, Little Buddy?"
Drake pats himself down and pulls out a bottle. "Right here," and drinks it. Nearly instantly, his new features fade away.
Before Mirta can ask what just happened, a ship lowers itself from the sky. She recognizes it as one of the Specialist's ships. It lands not far from them. Opening, the ship reveals several faces that Mirta recognizes through her friends. A blond being Prince Sky, the brunet and his squire Brandon, and the dark purple haired guy, Riven.
Riven draws out his phantoblade as he shouts, "Should've known that you were involved, freak!" and points it towards Drake.
Drake just stands up and faces the hotheaded Red Fountain student. "Come to make the other side match?" making sure that his scar is in plain view.
"Maybe I should!"
Sky shouts, "Riven! That's enough!"
Riven glares at Drake one last time before putting his phantoblade away.
That is when Griselda's voice rings through everyone's ears. "I knew you were going to be trouble!" the deputy headmistress walks out of the ship. "I'll see to it that you are put in the best cell in all of Magix!"
Mirta shouts at the woman, "Is that how you treat someone who saved my life!?" she then shrinks under the woman's gaze as the fairy realizes what she just did. That is when her fairy outfit disappears, and she is wearing her usual attire once again.
Knut is the one to speak up. "It's true. When I arrived, Drake was the one holding the troll back," the ogre points over where the unconscious troll lays.
"D-Drake did nothing wrong. Are you really going to punish him for that?"
Griselda relents "We will further discuss this tomorrow," she tells him before walking back to the ship. The Red Fountain boys followed soon with the captured troll.
Brandon turns to them to ask, "You guys want a lift?"
Drake tells them, "Pretty sure there's no room with the hothead's ego," he directs this to Riven. The purpled hair Specialist glares at him.
"Um," Mirta glances at Drake before answering. "I'm fine walking. It's why I came out here anyway."
Knut looks at the two before releasing a heavy sigh. Drake rolls his eyes. "Go on, Big Guy. We'll be fine," he tells the ogre.
"Are you sure, Little Buddy?" Knut receives a nod. With a smile, the ogre rushes up the ramp of the ship and just before the doors close, he manages to shout, "See ya back at the school!"
Once the ship is out of sight, the teens start walking in the direction of the school. After walking for a while, Drake is the first to break the silence. "Thanks for sticking up for me, Pumpkin Girl."
Mirta turns to him, "I should be thanking you. You're the one who saved me," then something occurred to her. "What were you doing out here anyway?"
"Honestly, Pumpkin Girl, I noticed you leaving school grounds. So, I decided to take an early break to make sure you were alright," he sighs. "I just know that's gonna get me a pay cut."
"Why do you keep on calling me that?"
"Huh?"
"You keep calling me Pumpkin Girl. Why?" she turns from him. "I was cursed into a pumpkin. It's insulting," she is stopped when Drake places a hand on her shoulder and the fairy turns back to him.
"I had no idea. Sorry. But to be fair, I never did get your name," he chuckles.
Mirta blushes as she realizes that he was right. This is the third time they encountered one another and not once had she introduced herself. "I-It's Mirta."
"Well, Mirta, nice to finally meet you," he laughs and soon, the fairy joins in.
It was sundown before they reached the school, waiting for them at the entrance are the entire Winx Club, Knut, as well as Ms. Faragonda.
Flora immediately rushes to Mirta to give her a hug. "We heard what happened. Are you alright?" the rest of the girls meet up with them.
"I'm fine, Flora," Mirta tells the nature fairy as the broke apart. "It was only a troll and Drake was there to save me," she turns to her side to find the said guy no longer standing there. Searching quickly, the dark pink haired girl sees him standing next to Knut speaking to Faragonda. She nods and both the boy and ogre walk into the building.
The Headmistress approaches the girls. "Well, girls, it seems like young Mirta here has had a long day. Why don't you all go in and rest up for the night? School does start tomorrow after all." At that declaration, the Winx lets outa groan as they walk past Faragonda.
Mirta was not far behind the group but stops before the Headmistress. "Ms. Faragonda, Drake isn't in trouble is he?"
"Now, why would he be in trouble, My dear? Is there something you know that I don't, or perhaps you've seen something you weren't supposed to?"
"No, Ms. Faragonda," she tells the woman before heading into the building. Not believing that she lied to the headmistress.
.oOo.
Stella falls back to walk beside Mirta. "So, you and the janitor. What's up with that?" she teases.
"N-nothing!" Mirta stutters.
"I've seen the look on your face when he swooped in to save you from Chloe. I can only assume how you'd feel after rescuing you from a troll."
"Drake is just a friend," the illusion fairy starts twiddling her thumbs. "And well, also he doesn't know about. You know?"
"He has no idea that you were a witch?"
Mirta nods. "It just feels nice to have someone treating me as me and not pick on me for being a little different," she then glances to Stella, "Or treat me nice out of sympathy." Arms suddenly wraps around her, forcing the illusion fairy to stop in her tracks. Stella has embraced her in a hug.
"You're not some sympathy project for us. You never were," then she broke away. "You need to tell him the truth. A good relationship cannot be built on lies."
"There's no relationship! Even then, didn't Brandon lie to you when you first met?"
"Th-that was different," the light fairy defends herself. "Besides, the chances of that happening again to anyone is one and a million."
"What about Bloom and Sky?"
Stella stumbles, seeing that Mirta is poking at all the faults in her logic. "Look, the point is that Drake will find out sooner or later and if what happened between Bloom and Sky is anything to go by, It's best that he learns directly from you."
Mirta thought for a moment and decided that Stella is right. "Thank you, Stella. I'll catch up with you girls later," with that, she leaves the light fairy to go along with her friends.
.oOo.
Drake and Knut has just reached the doors to their rooms one of which is bigger than the other with a large lock.
The ogre sighs, "I think you really did it this time, Little Buddy," he tells Drake as he turns to him.
"I know, Big Guy, I know," the human admits. "I just could not stand by and do nothing." In response to this, Knut ruffles his hair. Causing the teen to glare at the ogre
"That's because you're a good guy," he smiles at Drake. "Welp! Time for bed," he sighs. "I really hate this part of the day," the ogre pulls a key out of his pocket and unlocks the large door with glowing runes revealing themselves.
"Why? You're not the one being locked up," Drake jokes. Knut joins in only his laughter is much softer. With a heavy sigh, the boy walks into the room. Knut then shuts the door and locks it. The ogre puts the key back in his pocket before heading into his own room.
Unknown to him, there was a hole within that pocket. The key fell through it and onto the floor. The key was spotted by a pair of pale grey eyes.