"Aaaahhh!"
Sophia Williams woke up with a start at the sound of the high pitched scream. "What on earth?!" She asked, running over to her bedroom window and throwing it open to see what was happening. She blinked as a small, golden creature suddenly flew into her room.
"Help! It's mad at me!"
"Huh?" Sophia said in confusion before a glowing object suddenly shot past her. "Whoa!" The little glowing creature screamed again as she fled from the object. Sophia, a tad worried that the tiny guest and her pursuer would destroy her room, reached out her hands and managed to catch the item. It halted its pursuit as she grabbed hold of it and stopped glowing. Sophia looked at the item in confusion, and then at the creature that was still flying around in a panic. "Hey, you can calm down now. It's not chasing you anymore."
"Huh?" The creature halted in her tracks and looked at Sophia, seeing the object in her hands. "Oh, you stopped it! Thank you so much!" She exclaimed happily.
"No problem." Sophia said as she reached over and shut the window with one hand. "Um, not to be rude, but... who and what are you?"
"Oh! My name is Twinkly, and I'm a Lumen!"
Sophia inwardly thought that Twinkly had to be just about the cutest thing she had ever seen, and she smiled in amusement. "And what is a Lumen?" She asked.
"Lumens are the creatures who inhabit the stars and make them shine!" Twinkly said happily.
"The stars have life on them?" Sophia asked in fascination.
"Oh yes! Each star has its own population of Lumens, including your planet's sun!"
"That is so cool!" Sophia exclaimed with a smile as she moved to sit back down on her bed, quickly picking up her cell phone to take a photo of the object as she set it in her lap. "So what is this thing?" The object in her lap looked like a golden, seven-pointed star. It had seven holes in the shape of five-pointed stars arranged around a circular hole in the center.
"I don't know." Twinkly admitted. "It came out of the sky and started chasing me, but I don't know why."
Sophia looked amused again, "So you came all the way to Earth to escape it?"
"I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." Twinkly replied with slight embarrassment.
"Well, we can't keep it here." Sophia said as she stood up with the star in her hands, "I'm a human. I'm not exactly well-suited to guard a magical object. Let's take it to—"
"This is the place." Came a voice from downstairs.
"I can't believe that Lumen came all the way to Earth and just flew into a random house." Came a second voice.
"She came in because that girl opened the window." A third replied.
"Uh-oh." Sophia said quietly, shifting the star to one hand.
"Huh?" Twinkly said in confusion, not recognizing the voices. Suddenly, Sophia grabbed the little Lumen. "Quick, in here!" She basically threw Twinkly into her walk-in closet—not that it mattered since Twinkly could fly easily—And flipped on the closet light. "Hide among my clothes." She commanded quietly, carefully tossing the Star-shaped object like a Frisbee so that it gently landed on the closet floor before she quickly—but quietly—shut the door and slid to the floor with her back against it. She pulled out her phone and tried to appear casual as the door to her room opened and three young women walked in.
"Well, we found the girl." Darcy, the Witch of Darkness, said as she took in the sight of the obviously frightened teenaged girl sitting on the floor with a phone in her hands.
"So where's the Lumen and the... thing?" Stormy asked.
"My guess is in there." Darcy replied, pointing to the closet door. If the girl was trying to hide her guest and the object, she was doing a pretty bad job of it by practically guarding the door.
Icy smirked and walked forward. "Give us the item that came flying into your house." She demanded calmly.
"Sure. I don't plan on fighting you for it, cause it's not like I could, anyway, but could you at least tell me what that thing is?" Sophia asked. "I'd kind of like to know since it nearly wrecked my bedroom."
"It—Actually, what is that thing?" Stormy asked.
"Stormy!" Icy scolded.
"No, seriously, what is it?" Stormy asked pointedly. "We know that it shot off when the Wishing Star disappeared, but we don't know what it even is."
"The Wishing Star?" The girl asked.
Icy looked back at her and smirked in amusement. "Humans don't know much about magic, so I guess I'll clue you in. The Wishing Star is the most powerful star in existence."
"We tried to capture it, but just when we thought we had it, it suddenly disappeared and that... thing... and a bunch of different colored lights shot off in all directions." Stormy added.
"Oh." The girl said before looking back down at her phone. "Well once you've figured out what it is and why you need it, let me know and I'll get out of your way. No point in taking something unless you're sure it's useful, right?"
"Why not get out of the way now?" Darcy asked.
"Because the space in my room is limited and I'm comfortable right here, but I'm 100% sure that thing is of no use to me. I'm just an ordinary human girl. Magical objects are useless to me." She tapped away on her phone. "And as I already said, even if I wanted to fight you for it, I really can't, so there's no point in wasting my time trying. It's not like I can just call the magic police either, and no sense in putting innocent people in danger."
Darcy raised a brow, "You're being pretty rational about this."
"That's because in order to survive, we humans have to use our heads. The only magic, the only power that we have, is what's up here." At this, Sophia tapped the side of her head.
As the Trix pondered what exactly the item they'd come for was, Darcy glanced again at the teenager. She didn't seem too special. Her champagne blonde hair was thick and wavy, though it only reached her shoulders, and the front was pulled back into two side twists, the ends of which were tied together with a hairband while her long, side-swept bangs hung over her face. She was wearing a pair of puffy pajama shorts and a silky babydoll pajama top, both in dark blue. The only thing about her that stood out was her eyes, which were a pale blue that looked almost silver. Still, something was off... for an ordinary human, she seemed entirely too calm. Darcy activated her powers and zeroed in on the girl's mind.
'Well they're taking a while... isn't it obvious? That thing must be part of the Wishing Star herself, and given the way it was pursuing Twinkly, it must contain her will. The real question is why she sent it to Twinkly in my opinion.'Darcy smirked with interest. Reading the minds of people with magic was kind of hard, but humans were easy, and it seemed like this girl had quite the mind. She had to be sure though... "Hey." She said as she stepped over to Sophia, causing her to look up, "I've got a riddle for you. Let's see if you can answer it."
"Um, okay..." Sophia said with confusion.
"There are many books in the library of Alexandria. How many letters are contained within these books?" Darcy asked.
Sophia's eyebrows shot up, though her expression was difficult to read. "Ten." She answered plainly.
"Wait, isn't that the riddle that the Sphinx asked the Winx in Egypt?" Stormy asked.
"Exactly." Darcy said, "The Winx had a ton of trouble with it, but this girl got it right without batting an eye." She turned back toward the girl, who was slowly standing up, looking a bit nervous. "You're good at riddles, aren't you?"
"Y-Yeah... so what?" She asked.
"What are you getting at, Darcy?" Icy asked.
Darcy smirked at her sister, "While we're standing here pondering what the heck we're even after, this girl's already figured it out. She may not have magic, but she does have a pretty big brain." She turned and looked at the girl. "Don't bother denying it. I read your mind. You can connect dots faster than an astronomer can spot a constellation."
"Interesting." Icy said, seeing Darcy's point, "That means she could be useful."
"What?!" The girl exclaimed in alarm. "Oh no. No, no, no. I said I wouldn't fight you for the... magical thingy... but taking me was never up for discussion!"
"Ha! You think we're giving you a choice?" Icy asked as she grabbed Sophia's forearm and pulled her closer, bending and twisting her arm slightly so that the girl couldn't escape.
"Let me go!" Sophia cried, struggling feebly against the much stronger witch.
"Darcy, get the item and let's go." Icy told her.
"No! Stop it! Let go!" The teenager exclaimed as Icy grabbed her other forearm. When Darcy came back with the star-shaped object, Icy grasped both of Sophia's wrists with one hand and used her other hand to open a portal. She shoved the girl backwards, into the portal, and then walked through herself with Darcy and Stormy following.
Sophia screamed as she fell through the portal, landing on her back as it spit her out the other end. She groaned and... seeing the inverted image of a man sitting above her, turned over so that she was lying on her stomach in order to see him clearly as the Trix came through.
"We got the thing, Valtor." Stormy said as Darcy held up the object in question.
"So I see." Valtor said with a raised brow, "But why did you bring the girl back with you?"
Icy smirked, "Because it turns out that this human girl has a pretty sharp mind. She figured out what this thing is just from hearing what happened when we tried to capture the Wishing Star."
"Oh?" Valtor smirked with interest as Sophia scrambled to her feet, desperately attempting to cover herself with her arms, her expression panicked.
"Oh my gosh! You couldn't have at least let me get dressed first?! I'm still in my pajamas!" She exclaimed.
Icy rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Sophia's pajama top and shorts were instantly replaced by a powder blue choker-tank that had no defined waist and a handkerchief hemline. A pair of dark blue ankle boots appeared on her bare feet. "There. Now stop complaining."
Valtor stood from his throne and walked down the steps to get a closer look at the frightened girl. "What is your name?"
"S... Sophia Williams..." She managed nervously. "Who... who the heck are you?"
"My name is Valtor. I am the most powerful wizard in the magic dimension, or at least I will be when I regain my full power." He told her while cupping her chin. "And you're going to help me do that."
Sophia's expression hardened and she pushed Valtor's hand away as she stepped back slightly, "Fat chance! I don't help evil wizards!"
Valtor narrowed his eyes slightly. "You think you have a choice? You're a defenseless human girl. You are powerless against me."
"It doesn't matter!" Sophia declared as she clenched her fists, "I may be a defenseless human, but that doesn't mean I'm a coward! I won't place others in danger to save myself! I'd sooner die!"
"Oh great. She's a human with the brain of a fairy." Icy said with a roll of her eyes.
"Well, give her credit for having guts I guess." Stormy remarked.
Valtor was unconcerned as he stared the defiant teenager down, "So you'd prefer to sacrifice yourself to protect others? Very well. In that case, I'll just have to make some adjustments to the arrangement." He grabbed Sophia's left hand, grasping it tightly, "If you don't cooperate and do as I tell you, I'll destroy your precious planet Earth, starting with your family." Sophia's eyes widened in alarm. Seeing that she understood, Valtor released her hand, allowing her to see his mark upon it. "That mark is proof that you belong to me. I will free you only once I have acquired the Wishing Star. So tell me, Sophia... what do you make of this object that led us too you?"
Sophia turned and looked at the item as Darcy held it out to her, her expression thoughtful as she lightly traced her fingers over it. "Based on what the Trix said about their attempt to capture the Wishing Star... I think that this item contains the will of the Wishing Star herself. These seven, star-shaped holes must be meant to contain seven small stars that are like pieces of the Wishing Star. Those stars must've been the colored lights that the Trix saw shooting off at the same time as this thing, so if I were to give it a name... It would be 'Star Case'. And this hole in the middle... It must be meant to hold some kind of item that can be used to track the little stars down. Assuming they shot off at random, there must be some kind of item that can be used to find them. Based on the diameter and depth of the slot... my guess would be a compass, or at least something shaped like one, but to heck if I know where said item can be found. Mind you that I'm only inferencing here. That is, I'm making an educated guess based solely on what I can actually see."
"And yet, what you say makes a great deal of sense. You're surprisingly knowledgeable about magical objects." Valtor remarked.
"That makes sense?!" Sophia exclaimed, "Anyone from Earth would think I was crazy! Well, the humans at least."
"Then where did you come up with all of that?" Stormy asked.
Sophia sweat-dropped, "After magic was brought back to Earth, I asked an Earth fairy who lives near me to teach me about this kind of stuff. I may not be able to use magic, but I thought it would be good to understand what living in a world with magic meant. We have a saying on Earth, 'knowledge is power.'"
"Well you've got a powerful brain, I'll give you that." Darcy remarked, and Sophia rolled her eyes.
"So how can we confirm her theory about this... Star Case?" Icy asked as Valtor sat back down on his throne.
Valtor put his fingers together and smirked. "We need only to watch the Winx. The Lumen that was being chased by it will either report to Queen Durana of Lumenia or go to the Winx directly to tell them what happened. Either way, we'll soon find out for certain what the Star Case really is."
I finally broke through my writer's block thanks to a crazy dream. Because starting another story was totally what I needed to do. Oh well. XD
This is an AU, obviously, in which an ordinary Earth girl learns you don't need magical powers to be extraordinary. I'm also going to take a lot of potshots at the incredible cluelessness of the Trix and Winx in Season 8, because they face like, the easiest puzzles and riddles ever and take forever to solve them. I know the show is technically aimed at preteens, but considering the actual age of the characters, they are seriously slow to figure things out.
EDIT 07/09/20: I changed the protagonist's name from Anna to Sophia. The reason is that while Anna means "graceful", Sophia means "Wise", which better fits with her character. With some series, things like this are unimportant, but being that Stella means "Star", Flora means "Flower", Musa means "Muse", Aisha means "Lively" and Darcy means "Dark princess", I felt that it was kinda important in this case.