"Come on, Trix." Icy said to Darcy and Stormy. She turned away from watching Sophia speak to the Wishing Star, "We have nothing left to do here."
Whatever Icy's intention might have been, however, Sophia did not fail to take notice of them.
"Oh! Icy, Darcy, Stormy, hold on a minute!" She called, causing them to look back at her. She smiled at the Wishing Star, "Thank you for everything!" The Wishing Star nodded at her with a smile and the teenager turned and flew back toward the Trix with a laugh. "Did you think you could just leave without saying goodbye? You're not getting rid of me that easily!" She exclaimed as she reached out and grabbed Icy's hand. "Come on! There's somewhere we have to go!" She insisted while pulling on the ice princess' hand.
Darcy crossed her arms and raised a brow. "What are you talking about, Sophia?" She asked as Sophia began to surround them with her magic.
"Hehe! You'll see!" Sophia said with a giggle. She raised a hand to wave at the Winx. "I'll catch up with you later!" With that, she and the Trix disappeared within a flash of light. A moment later, the four of them reappeared on Dyamond.
"What are we doing back here?" Stormy asked.
Sophia smiled mysteriously, "There's something that I have to do!" She turned to Icy, "Come on! We need to find Sapphire!"
"Huh?" Icy said in confusion.
"Come on!" The teenager insisted, "I trusted you; now it's time for you to trust me!"
"You trusted me?" Icy asked, a brow raised in confusion, "When?"
Sophia smiled as she looked down at the snow in reminiscence, "From the moment I realized… that the seventh Prime Star was intended for you… before we even left Valtor's Palace yesterday… all the way until you gave the Star to the Winx."
"Huh?" Icy said in confusion as Darcy and Stormy gaped at the teen in shock.
"I told you before…" Sophia said, "I realized based on your reaction that this was your home planet, and that the riddle referred to either you, or to your sister." She looked up at the ice that encaged the planet, "At first, I was uneasy, but… then I decided that the Wishing Star had to have known what she was doing. You were the ones who forced her to split apart in the first place, and yet… she decided to entrust the most powerful of the Prime Stars to you, Icy." She looked back at the silver-haired girl. "So I decided to trust her by trusting you. I told myself that no matter what, as long as you didn't intend on giving the Star to Valtor, I wouldn't interfere with whatever course of action you took."
"Then…" Darcy began in confusion, "Did you follow us back just as a precaution?"
Sophia shook her head, "No. I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't risk Valtor attacking Earth just because I didn't come back. Not to mention… I wanted to find out what his goal really was. I found the opportunity when the Winx showed up." She glanced off to the side with her face scrunched up in thought, "Frankly, it was weird when he told us to go investigate the noise outside. He should've been able to sense Bloom's Dragon Flame. That was why I decided to make use of the opportunity to investigate his true intentions. Of course…" She sighed in exasperation, "It would've been easier if the Winx hadn't snuck in disguised as you to try to take the other Stars themselves. Stella is a terrible actress, and I was barely able to delay them long enough to see Valtor open the dark hologram. Regardless… I was able to learn the truth… about what his ultimate goal was. I suppose that's all that matters in the end." She smiled back at the three Witches. "Anyway, like I said, we need to find Sapphire, so lead the way, Icy."
"I don't think I need to…" Icy said while pointing behind Sophia.
The Enchantix fairy turned and found that Sapphire had arrived on her own. She blinked in surprise. "Oh. Well that makes things easier."
"How did she find us so easily?" Stormy wondered.
"It's possible that she's drawn toward Icy due to a magical bond between them." Sophia said calmly, "She might also be instinctively drawn toward any sources of magic that don't match that of the Shaman Witch. Besides, we've already seen that she really knows how to get around." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hm… how should I do this? I really, really don't want to land right now. Lack of coverage for my feet is a feature I really don't like about Enchantix…"
"What is it you're trying to do?" Icy asked with a raised brow as she placed a hand on her hip.
Sophia reached up and removed the small, star-shaped charm from her choker before holding it up for the others to see. "This bottle… contains fairy dust. It's the most powerful thing an Enchantix fairy has and is capable of breaking most dark spells."
"'Most'?" Icy repeated skeptically.
"Well, it doesn't work if the subject is intangible or in cases of… what was it called… 'Hibernation Magic'…? But I don't think that's the case here… for Sapphire, at least. At the very least, Fairy Dust won't hurt her, so it's worth a try."
"But what if it doesn't work?" Icy worried.
"Then we'll look for another way." Sophia said calmly, "There are other options out there. I'm already aware of a few. However, I don't think we'll need them, because I believe this will work."
"How can you be so sure?" Darcy asked her.
"The Wishing Star told me that I have the power to make all of my wishes come true, as long as I believe in myself."
"This… is your wish?" Icy asked, her eyes wide with confusion.
Sophia nodded, "Yes… when I heard about what happened here, Icy… I realized that we're not as different as I thought. You chose to walk a thorny path for the sake of those you care about."
Icy looked down at that. "I was nothing like you and Sapphire… not back then…" She narrowed her eyes in remorse, "I… wasn't brave enough to stand up to the Shaman Witch that day…! All I did was tell her what she wanted to know!" Icy stifled a sob, trying to hold back her tears.
Sophia looked at her in sympathy for a moment before she flew closer to the older girl and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "…Icy… If you hadn't survived that day… who would be left to save Sapphire and the people of Dyamond?" Icy gasped lightly and looked up at Sophia. "You would've just been cursed together… and chances are that nobody would ever know about what happened here… is that what you'd want?" Icy slowly shook her head in response, her tearful eyes filled with shock at Sophia's point. The young fairy reached out and gently wiped the witch's tears as she continued. "…There's a fine line between courage and recklessness… sometimes… retreating and surviving alone to fight another day… is the better option. You couldn't have known for sure what would happen to you if you gave into her… but you did know what would happen if you didn't. And you knew it would be of no help to Sapphire in that moment. Sometimes resigning oneself and accepting reality… takes more courage than charging headlong into danger." She sighed as she shook her head, "Don't get me wrong. You've definitely made some big mistakes along the way, but… Today, when you were faced again with a difficult choice—to save yourself, or to take a stand—you showed that you are both very brave and very smart. Smart enough to know when to back down and when to stand up."
"What do you mean by that?" Stormy asked.
Sophia sighed as she looked past Icy at Darcy and Stormy. "I hate to break it to you, but… if Icy had listened to you two and fled during the battle, you guys would've just ended up being on the run from Valtor. Do you really think he wouldn't have chased you down to obtain the last Prime Star? The Winx and the Specialists were just barely managing to buy time against him as it was. Exactly how long do you think you could've lasted, playing hide-and-seek across the Magic Universe with that guy? That's a cat-and-mouse game that I would not want to be a part of."
At this, Darcy and Stormy both gulped, realizing that the younger girl had a very, very valid point. Meanwhile, Icy dried her eyes and smiled up at Sophia. "All right, Sophia. If this is your wish… then I trust you."
Sophia smiled in response and flew back over to Sapphire, who looked up at her with a smile. Sophia smiled back and poured her Fairy Dust onto the little white fox. A magical glow enshrouded Sapphire and she transformed back into a girl.
"Icy!" Sapphire exclaimed happily, running over to her sister.
"Sapphire!!" Icy exclaimed as she embraced the little girl, "Oh, please, please, please stay yourself this time!" When several seconds had passed and Icy found that she was still holding a very not-cursed Sapphire in her arms, her eyes widened with joy. "It's… it's really broken this time!" She exclaimed with relief as she hugged Sapphire tightly again.
"That's right." Sophia said as she placed the bottle back on her choker. "I don't sense the Shaman Witch's magic on her anymore."
"But… why did it work for you and not for Icy?" Stormy wondered. Enchantix Fairy or not, she had a hard time imagining that the teenager was somehow stronger than Icy.
"It's probably just because it's easier for a fairy to break a curse than it is for a witch." Sophia replied. "Fairy magic and Witch Magic are opposites. It's easier to fight fire with water than to fight fire with fire."
"Huh." Darcy said as she put a hand to her chin, "So… could you do that for this whole place?"
"Unfortunately, a planet-wide curse is one of the things that Fairy Dust doesn't really work for…" Sophia said as she shook her head sadly, "It would simply take too much. Do you know how many fairies you would need?"
"But… I thought you could make all your wishes come true?" Sapphire asked innocently.
Sophia smiled gently at her. "Yes, but the Wishing Star also told me that it would not always be easy. However, I do wish to help save Dyamond, and I'm not giving up. I'll start doing research and look for a way to free the rest of your kingdom too." She looked back at the Trix. "Hey… by the way… do the three of you have some kind of magical object that you received from somebody else?"
"Huh??" Stormy asked in confusion.
"Is she talking about the Vacuums?" Darcy wondered.
"Vacuums?" Sophia echoed.
Icy explained: "The Lorelei Vacuums were created to track and store sources of powerful magical energy."
"Lorelei Vacuums…" Sophia looked thoughtful for a moment. "…Can I see them?"
Icy looked at Darcy and Stormy and the trio shrugged, not seeing the harm. They worked in unison to summon the Vacuums. In front of each of them, a delicate-looking vial in their trademark colors appeared.
"The Vacuums are a set and we each have one." Darcy explained.
"Hey… what are you doing?" Stormy asked as she looked up with wide eyes. Darcy and Icy also looked up, their eyes widening as they realized that Sophia's fairy dust was directly above them.
"Just… hold still for a moment…" Sophia said with a mischievous grin as she dropped the dust on them and the Vacuums. The three witches let out a cry of surprise and cringed reflexively. At the same time, the Vacuums shattered.
Stormy's eyes shot open and she glared at Sophia. "Hey! What do you think you're—whoa-oh…!" She exclaimed as a wave of dizziness hit her.
"Oh, my head…" Darcy muttered.
"Hm…?" Icy blinked in surprise and looked at her hands, and then at Sophia. "For some reason… my head feels clearer now…"
"Yeah… mine too." Darcy agreed.
"What exactly have we been doing this whole time…?" Stormy wondered. "When I think about it, I don't remember 'conquering the Magic Universe' being on our list of goals when we enrolled at Cloud Tower."
"I was just thinking the same thing." Darcy said, "When exactly did that become our objective? The professors didn't teach us anything like that…"
Icy was quiet for a moment before her gaze shifted up to Sophia. "Sophia, what did you do?"
"Only purified you of some kind of dark magic that wasn't your own." Sophia said as her gaze turned thoughtful. "I wasn't aware of it until after the seventh Prime Star freed us from Valtor, but the three of you were wrapped in an energy that was similar to your own, but also different... And it was coming from the Vacuums. Who gave them to you?"
"…The Ancestral Witches…" Darcy admitted hesitantly.
"I see…" Sophia murmured, her expression thoughtful. "On Earth… Lorelei was the name of a nymph whose sweet song would lure sailors to their doom…"
"A nymph?" Stormy asked in confusion, "You mean like Bloom's sister, Daphne?"
Sophia shook her head, "No. In Daphne's case, 'Nymph' is a title given to certain, powerful fairies of Domino. On Earth, however, the term is... kind of ambiguous. It could mean a mermaid, or in this context, perhaps a siren. It could even just mean a beautiful woman. The legends surrounding her are vague, but the fact that the Vacuums were named after her makes me think that they were meant to mesmerize the three of you and ensnare you in the Ancestral Witches' power."
"What do you mean?" Darcy asked.
"Do you remember how Selina was manipulated by Asheron after he shared his power with her?" Sophia questioned.
"Yes, what about it?" Icy inquired.
"Asheron could only manipulate Selina like that because he was using the Legendarium as a conduit to constantly transfer power to her. Selina always had it with her, so the power transfer never stopped. I think the Vacuums were the same. I think the Ancestral Witches were using them as a conduit to transfer some of their power to you so they could manipulate you."
"But… the Ancestral Witches were destroyed awhile back…" Darcy remarked, "So why were we still being affected by them?"
"You mentioned that the Vacuums were created to store energy—maybe they used that function to fill them with their power. That way, even if they were destroyed, you three would continue to follow in their footsteps." She looked at the Trix pointedly, "Just to be clear… it's not like I've removed any negative traits that you come by naturally. But at least, from now on, you can be sure that the choices you make from here on out will be your own." The Trix nodded in response and Sophia began to wrap her magic around the group again. "There's nothing left to do here for now. I think it's time I went home." Before anybody could ask why she was bringing them along, she had already teleported them to Earth.
Once again, had this written for months, but I've been waiting to post. I got stuck on the chapter after this one for quite a while.