Another update, only two days after the last! Yay!

'What do you think?'

'I think it looks great, just like the last seven dresses, but you discarded all of them, so I'm assuming that my opinion on your outfit actually means less than you're implying it does.' Roxy huffed at Naomi's response, looking in the mirror at herself, frowning at the floor-length purple gown she was trying on. It was nice; no, it was gorgeous, but…was it right?

'Maybe I should try another dress,' she suggested, and Naomi screamed into her hands.

'Princess, that dress is fine. You've been at this for three hours. I'm dying here. Just pick one.' Roxy frowned.

'I can't just look fine, Naomi. The Domino Renewal Ceremony is my first royal event; I'll be representing Earth! I have to be perfect.' Naomi raised an eyebrow.

'You're acting like your dress has some impact over how well you're gonna rule Earth. Just pick something and go to the ceremony. Preferably before I'm forced to claw my own eyes out.' Roxy sighed.

'You think this dress is good?'

'Yes! Yes, it's perfect! Best dress ever. Can we stop now?'

'You could a little more supportive, y'know.'

'I have spent three hours being supportive. I'm at my threshold of how long I can care about dresses.' Roxy nodded.

'Okay. I'll go with this one.' Naomi breathed a sigh of relief, and a smirk crept onto Roxy's lips. 'Now we just gotta choose some shoes. Should only take a couple hours.' Naomi threw a cushion at her, and Roxy shrieked with laughter. 'I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I already saw some shoes that will go with this.' Naomi pouted.

'Don't joke about that. I thought I was gonna die in this store.' Roxy shook her head.

'Nope. You and your sarcasm will live on outside The Starlight Boutique.' Naomi got to her feet, flicking her finger to settle all Roxy's discarded choices back on their hangers, while Roxy changed back into her far more comfortable jeans and hoodie. Honestly, if it was up to her, she'd just wear this to the ceremony. All the dresses she'd tried on had been far too tight, and she'd felt like she was only ever a second away from tripping on the hem and faceplanting in what would be a very awkward diplomatic incident.

'I wish you were coming today,' Roxy mourned as she and Naomi left the changing room to put away the rejects and pay for the dress.

'I'm glad I'm not,' Naomi replied. 'My last formal event didn't go so great, after all. Not to mention that it's a party for Princess Impossibly-Perfect and Prince Implausibly-Charming. They're like a fairytale couple. In that they don't seem real and I sometimes want to punch them.' Roxy rolled her eyes.

'You don't know them. Don't judge.' Naomi snorted.

'They don't know me; you think that stops them from thinking I'm some kind of supervillain-in-waiting?' Roxy shook her head, grabbing the shoes she'd seen earlier.

'I think if you got to know them, you'd really like them.'

'And I think we could have been done here two hours ago, but you did an exceptional job of proving me wrong.' Roxy pulled out her credit card and paid for the dress and shoes, thanking the shop assistant.

The girls walked out of the store and Naomi leapt up, punching her fist in the air.

'Yes! Freedom!' She shielded her eyes. 'Ah! Pray tell, what is that strange glowing orb in the sky? It feels so familiar, almost as though I've seen it before.' Roxy rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, I know. We weren't that long, y'know.' Naomi laughed, nudging Roxy playfully.

'Oh, relax, Princess. I'm just kidding.'

'So, what are your plans for while I'm crashing and burning as royalty?'

'Nothing. But I was planning on helping Aidan study while you're rocking it at this ball.' Roxy smirked.

'Ooh… Aidan?' Naomi elbowed her, but Roxy caught the slight blush on her cheeks.

'It's not like that, Princess. He's got a magical history test coming up, and I know a lot about history, so I offered to give him a hand.'

'Mhm…' Roxy smiled knowingly. 'And where are you studying?'

'I'm going over to Red Fountain.' Roxy grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes. 'Oh, shut up.'

'I didn't say anything. You two are cute together though.' Naomi sighed.

'Look, even if I like him - which I will neither confirm nor deny - we're just friends at the moment, and I don't feel the need to force a relationship right now. If there's something between us, it'll develop naturally. I know you've spent a lot of time hanging around the Winx, so a healthy attitude towards boys and dating probably seems alien, but this is a perfectly acceptable attitude to have.' Roxy nodded. But inwardly she grinned. Naomi liked Aidan. It was so obvious. She was so adorable. And Roxy was willing to be they'd be together before the end of the semester.

Roxy wrestled her hair back into an elegant braid, simultaneously holding about six hairpins in her mouth and answering the quick-fire questions Naomi was shooting at her to help her prepare for the ceremony and all its inevitable introductions and small-talk.

'What is the official address for Solarian royalty?'

'Your Radiance.'

'Correct. What is the name of Andros's capital?'

'Trick question. Andros has two capitals: one on land, on in the sea, Ardhiana and Merila respectively.'

'Correct. What is the correct Melodic way to greet someone?'

'Bowing.'

'What position should your hands be in?' Roxy put her hands together in front of her chest and Naomi nodded.

'Correct. What is the current crisis on Eraklyon?'

'The increase in crime-lord activity.'

'Correct. What should you not discuss with any Eraklyon royal?'

'The increase in crime-lord activity.'

'Correct. Oppositus is currently experiencing tensions with…'

'Lynphea.'

'Over?'

'A trade dispute.'

'What are they trading?' Roxy frowned, struggling to find the information among the tornado of facts she'd crammed into her mind over the past week to attempt to fit in at this ceremony.

'…Crops.'

'Correct.' Naomi put the flash cards she'd made down on her bed and crossed her legs. 'I think you're ready for this, Princess.' Roxy shook her head.

'Test me again. I want to be pitch-perfect.' What if she messed up? What if she accidentally offended Eraklyon by talking about the crime-lords that weren't supposed to exist? Naomi gave her a reassuring smile.

'You got this, Roxy. Just smile, nod, throw a few polite comments around and get outta there before you lose all feeling in your feet.' Roxy nodded nervously.

'What about my hair?'

'It looks great.'

'Are you sure we picked the right dress? Maybe that green one would have been classier…'

'Oh good lord.' Naomi hopped off her bed and walked over to Roxy, putting her hands on her shoulders and looking at her in the mirror. 'You can do this. It cannot be harder than fighting Gantlos.'

'I wasn't worried about offending Gantlos and starting an international incident. He wasn't representing a sovereign nation.'

'No, and good thing too, or else attacking him with rats would have been a major faux pas. Also, Gantlos would suck at diplomacy. He loses patience with small-talk about ten seconds in.'

'I think we might be in the same boat,' Roxy said nervously, feeling like she might vomit all over the dress she'd taken three hours choosing. 'What if I screw this up? What if I make the whole dimension hate Earth?! What if I start a war?!' Naomi rolled her eyes.

'You may be overestimating how important this party is. And how much attention people are actually gonna be paying to you.' When Roxy still looked unconvinced, Naomi gave her a gentle squeeze. 'Hey. You've been studying like crazy for this. I'll bet you're more prepared than half the people there.'

There was a knock on the door, and Naomi squeezed Roxy's shoulders reassuringly before going and answering it.

'Um, hi?' Stella stood awkwardly in the doorway. 'Naomi, right?' Naomi raised an eyebrow.

'Can I help you?' Stella gave her a friendly smile and nodded.

'Yeah. I'm here to collect Roxy?'

'Well don't let me keep you.' Naomi stepped back to let Stella into the room, and the Fairy of the Shining Sun gasped and clapped with delight when she saw Roxy.

'Oh, Roxy! You look beautiful!' Roxy blushed and double-checked in the mirror.

'You sure?'

'Totally! You're gonna take Domino by storm!'

'I don't feel like I'm gonna take anything by storm. I feel more like I'm gonna vomit.'

'Hey, Stella.' Stella turned to Naomi, who was leaning casually against her desk. 'What planet is Oppositus currently experiencing tensions with?' Stella frowned.

'…Huh? I'm not sure…' Naomi shot Roxy a grin.

'Told ya.' Roxy managed a weak smile in response.

'Lynphea!' Stella exclaimed. 'Over that trade deal! Am I right?' Naomi nodded.

'Yep. Have a nice time, Princess.'

'Have a nice not at all a date.' Naomi's cheeks coloured, and Stella's head whipped around.

'A date? Ooh, who with?'

'Nobody. Because it's not a date.' Naomi grabbed her bag and shoved a few things into it, evidently trying to keep up an un-flapped appearance that was undermined by the faint pink tint on her cheeks.

'Then why are you wearing makeup?' Roxy teased lightly, and Naomi shot her a glare.

'I always wear makeup, Princess.' Roxy nodded. That was true. Naomi was seldom without her signature dark lipstick. But still…

'Well, have a nice time. Do some great 'studying'.' Naomi rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, leaving Roxy and Stella to descend into giggles.

When Stella had got herself under control, she said, 'Well, you two certainly seem to be getting along.' Roxy stifled a final laugh and nodded.

'Yeah.' She grabbed her purse and fell into step next to Stella, walking to where the ship was waiting to take them to Domino. 'Naomi's actually really nice.'

'Kinda surprising, given…' Stella trailed off, but Roxy knew what she was thinking.

'Yeah.'

'Is it weird? Her being their daughter?' Roxy shook her head.

'No, not really. We don't really talk about them much. It tends to upset her. They come up casually in conversation, but we haven't really had any talks about them.' Stella nodded.

'That makes sense. I guess it would be tough for her to talk about them. She probably misses them, huh?'

'A lot.' Stella sighed.

'It's weird.'

'What?'

'When we froze them. They seemed like your standard villains. Y'know, just plain evil. Nothing more to it. But they had a daughter. Just can't help but wonder…'

'If there was more to them than we thought?' Roxy finished.

'Yeah. You think there's more to all our villains than we think?' Roxy shrugged.

'Maybe.'

'Well, maybe not Darkar. He was actually made of evil.'

'Yeah, probably not him.' The two of them emerged out into the courtyard to see a Red Fountain ship hovering a few feet above the lawn, Brandon leaning against the door.

'Hello, ladies. Your chariot awaits.' He swept an exaggerated bow, taking Stella's hand in his and kissing it, eliciting a giggle from the blonde princess.

'Hi, Brandon.' Roxy waved, and Brandon straightened up, waving back.

'Hey, Roxy. Excited?' Roxy grimaced.

'More like terrified.' Brandon smiled sympathetically.

'You'll get used to it. Just smile and have an excuse at the ready for if you have to get away from someone really boring. I tend to just name-drop Sky's dad and say he's expecting me.'

'Ooh, you can use me!' Stella enthused. 'Or, if you get stuck talking to some guy that's just droning on and on about how many yachts he has, just signal me and I'll get you out of there. Just…make dolphin noises, and I'll come get you.' Roxy snorted with surprise.

'Dolphin noises?' Stella made a very loud, surprisingly accurate dolphin noise, and Roxy burst out laughing.

'There's no way I can do that at this event.' Stella grinned.

'But it'd be way more fun if you did.' She looped her arm around Roxy's, leading her onto the ship. 'You learn how to survive these things, Roxy. We've all got coping strategies.' They walked into the cockpit where Aisha, Nabu, Flora and Helia were waiting. 'Quick, Nabu. How do you get through these things?' Nabu frowned.

'Stella, this is an important event to commemorate a very-' Stella waved a hand.

'C'mon, Nabu. I know you have a way to survive these events.' Stella made puppy eyes. 'It's for Roxy. She's new at this. C'mon, share.' Nabu sighed and rolled his eyes.

'…Sometimes I mentally reorganise my spell books in my head.' Stella pouted.

'Aw, that's boring. Sometimes to start a little excitement I make bird calls to convince some diplomat that there's a pigeon in the venue.' Everyone stared at her. 'What? It's really funny!'

'Sometimes I mentally work out how I could get around the whole room without touching the floor,' Aisha offered, and Stella clapped with delight.

'Oh, now we're talking! Thank you, Aisha!' Aisha shrugged.

'I could win 'The Floor Is Lava' in just about every ballroom in the dimension.'

'I wish I had a helpful tip for you, Roxy, but I'm still pretty new to balls,' Flora apologised.

'…Why are you going?' Roxy asked. 'Oh, God, sorry, that was really rude! It's just that it's for royalty, and since Musa and Tecna aren't coming…' Flora laughed softly.

'I'm going for the same reason as Brandon: I'm Helia's date.' Stella made a look of fake outrage at Brandon.

'What? You're Helia's date? I thought you were coming with me!' Flora shook her head.

'You know what I mean, Stella.'

'Oh.' Roxy nodded like she knew what was going on. Unfortunately, she didn't know what was going on, so she had to ask. '…Why is Helia going?'

'I'm representing my grandfather,' Helia explained, and Roxy struggled to remember who Helia's grandfather was. Someone important, surely…

'Oh! Saladin? Your principal?' Helia nodded.

'Yeah. He's a member of the Company of Light and very influential, but he, like the other principals, is too busy to go today, so I'm representing him. And I would never go to a party without my summer rose.' He leaned in and kissed Flora on the cheek, and Flora giggled and blushed.

'You guys think Bloom's up to this?' Aisha changed the subject, and the mood in the cabin dropped several notches. Since the confirmation that Tritannus did indeed have Daphne, Bloom had been stressed and miserable, nightmares of Daphne afflicting her dreams every night until the Fairy of the Dragon Flame had ended up wandering the halls of Alfea in a sleepless daze, barely scraping through her classes. Thankfully, the professors were giving her some leeway because of her personal situation, or else she'd have failed every course days ago.

'Well, Sky's with her,' Stella offered. 'I'm sure he'll get her through this. And we'll be there to do everything we can.'

'It doesn't help that we've only got two days left to earn Sirenix or we lose our powers forever,' Flora added sadly.

'Okay, I'm just gonna say it: this curse is nuts!' Roxy burst out. 'There are only two days left, and the book hasn't given you your last clue! How are you meant to earn Sirenix in time if you don't have the information you need to find this gem?' Stella, Aisha and Flora nodded.

'We've all been thinking that,' Stella grumbled. 'But the book doesn't seem to care. It hasn't shown up in days; I'm starting to think it's on vacation.'

'Magical books don't take vacations, Stella,' Flora chided gently. 'It'll give us the last clue in time, I'm sure of it.'

'You have way too much blind faith,' Stella retorted, and Roxy snorted. 'What?'

'Back in Gardenia, blind faith was your main objective,' Roxy snickered. 'That's how you earned Believix: me putting my blind faith in you.'

'Well, you did.'

'Yeah…but, honestly, for the first half of that fight I thought I'd fallen down some stairs and hit my head. So I was willing to believe quite a lot, since I assumed I was concussed.'

'Oh.' Stella folded her arms. 'So it wasn't my winning personality that convinced you?'

'Well, that of course played a part. I was totally freaked out and terrified, but I was also thinking, 'My god, that blonde girl is charming as hell!'' Stella nudged her playfully, and Roxy giggled.

'Okay, everyone ready for takeoff?' Brandon checked. Everyone made noises of confirmation, and Roxy gripped the seat. This was her first time on a spaceship, and she was honestly a bit nervous. But, to her surprise and relief, takeoff went smoothly. She just hoped she'd be able to say the same of the rest of the day.

Walking along the road to Red Fountain, Naomi couldn't help darting nervous, furtive glances around her every few seconds, still jumpy as hell after she'd been attacked by Endgame. The accursed robot they still had nothing on! It was like it was a ghost! A ghost robot! Oh Great Dragon, was she being targeted by a ghost robot?

She shook her head. That was nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Besides, it had been weeks since she'd been attacked; she didn't even know if Endgame was targeting her. Maybe it had just been a one-time thing. A terrifying one-time thing that was still tearing her screaming from her sleep and keeping her up for hours. Roxy had been there every time she'd had a nightmare, soothing her, reassuring her, holding her until she remembered where she was and what was happening. Staying up with her until she fell back to sleep. Three weeks ago, she'd never have expected this turn of events. She'd hated Roxy with a burning passion, and had despised the fact she was forced to live and study with her. But now…she hated how cliched this was going to sound, but…she was her best friend. Even if she'd spent the morning dragging her around a dress shop looking for a dress she didn't even want for a party she didn't want to attend.

She glanced up into the sky and caught sight of Red Fountain, suspended in the air over the forest in what always felt to Naomi like a very questionable architectural decision. How did people even get up there? Was there a staircase? An elevator? Did the boys just chauffeur people up on dragons? Well, it didn't really matter how most people got up there; as with most things, Naomi was doing this her own way.

She slid her bag off her shoulder and tossed it into the air, leaping up and shifting into a falcon, catching the strap in her beak and soaring up towards the school, relishing the feeling of the wind ruffling her feathers, staying focused on the freedom of flying instead of her desperate urge to glance below her in case Endgame was about to blast her out of the sky.

Coming in to land in a small garden, Naomi hated the feeling of relief that washed over her at being out of the open sky. She loved flying! And now some stupid robot was ruining that?

'Whoa.' Naomi turned to see Aidan staring at her in awe. 'That sure makes taking elevators look boring.' Naomi smiled; shapeshifting wasn't always the most accepted magic, and the fact that Aidan always looked so awed by it was a feeling she'd never get tired of.

'Hey, Aidan.' Aidan smiled that adorable awkward smile of his, and Naomi focused very hard on not blushing. Roxy definitely had a point about her liking him. Not that she was going to tell her that.

'Hey, Naomi. You look great! So good. I love your…shoes.' Aidan looked like he had absolutely no idea why he was talking about shoes, but he had apparently committed now. 'Where'd you get them?'

'Thrift store. But I added the buckles. Based the design off Gantlos's boots.' Aidan nodded.

'Cool. Cool. …I've never seen Gantlos's boots, so I have no idea if they look like yours.' Naomi laughed.

'It's really the buckles. That's the inspired part.'

'Great! They look inspired!' Aidan sagged. 'Sorry. I'm being majorly lame, aren't I?' Naomi shook her head, slinging her bag back over her shoulder and walking over.

'You're not being lame at all. I think you're sweet.' She touched his arm, and she could practically see his brain melting.

'…Sweet! Yeah. Me. I'm sweet. You, too. Sweet. I mean…uh…what?' Naomi burst out laughing.

'C'mon. Don't you have a test to study for?'

'Yeah.' Aidan finally regained control of his vocal chords, falling into step next to Naomi. 'Thanks for helping me study.'

'Any time. I love history.'

'Me too! It's like a never-ending story! It keeps you gripped! History is a real page-turner.'

'Yes!' Naomi caught herself practically fizzing with enthusiasm, and smiled softly.

'Speaking of page-turners, did you finish that book you were reading the other day? The Fixer?' Naomi nodded.

'Yeah.'

'What did you think?'

'Oh, it was amazing. Jennifer Lynn Barnes is fantastic!'

'Should I be reading this book?'

'Oh, definitely. I'll bring it to you at some point and you can borrow it.'

'Really? Thanks! What's it about? Wait, no, don't tell me. I want to be surprised.' Naomi smirked

'Then how can you be sure you want to read it?' Aidan smiled shyly.

'You recommended it.' Naomi blushed and became very interested in the remarkable craftsmanship that had gone into the floor.

'So…where are we going?' she asked, changing the subject before she could turn into some goopy mess. She had way too much self-respect for that. 'Your room?'

'I…uh…I wasn't sure if studying in my room would…be…um…I didn't want to cross any boundaries…' Naomi decided to cut in and put Aidan out of his misery.

'Your room is fine, Aidan.' Aidan visibly relaxed.

'Oh, cool. Great. In which case, we need to go back and head through that door on the left.' He grimaced. 'Should probably have worked out where we were going before I started walking, huh?' Naomi shook her head fondly, following him to his room.

'…Wow.' She walked inside and almost tripped over a pile of stuff. Aidan's room was…chaotic, to say the least. There were books, blueprints, clothes, training weapons and gadgets strewn everywhere, and it was almost impossible to see the floor, but the ease with which Aidan moved through it told her that this was the definition of organised chaos. He knew where everything was. Naomi had always found the saying, 'A place for everything and everything in its place' to be very true. However, people had a strange way of assuming that the floor did not qualify as a 'place'.

She flicked her finger, moving a stack of books off Aidan's bed so she could hop up and sit facing him.

'Sorry about the mess,' Aidan apologised sheepishly, but Naomi just smiled, pulling books, notepads and seven different colours of highlighter out of her bag.

'Don't worry about it. I'm used to a bit of organised chaos.' Aidan watched her pull various stationary supplies out of her bag, and she raised an eyebrow. 'What?'

'Nothing. I've just never seen anyone be this…prepared.' Naomi smiled sheepishly.

'I'm a bit organisation-focused. I like to know I'm ready for…well, whatever.'

'Same. Ooh, that's pretty.' Aidan pointed to a black notebook with a silver wolf embossed onto the cover. Naomi smiled sadly down at it, and Aidan grimaced. 'What? Did I say something wrong?' Naomi shook her head, stroking the cover gently.

'No…I didn't mean to bring this.' Roxy had been being all teasing and distracting, and she'd grabbed the book by accident.

'Oh.' Aidan was quiet for a minute. '…What is it? I mean, obviously it's a notebook. Wait, is it?'

'It's a spell journal,' Naomi explained, tracing the outline of the wolf with her finger. 'Ogron gave it to me when I was nine. To record new spells I learned, and anything I made up on my own.' She opened the cover, smiling fondly as she saw her own childish scrawl describing an illusion spell. She'd spent hour upon hour sitting on the couch, reading and rereading her notes as she desperately tried to summon an illusion, eventually scaring the heck out of Anagan as she'd managed to summon a seriously deformed tiger right in front of him. She'd shrieked with delight and torn upstairs, bursting into Ogron's room, presenting the spell with euphoria; he'd been thrilled, smiling at her so proudly…

'Naomi?' Aidan's voice was soft and tentative, and Naomi realised a tear had slid down her cheek while she's been lost in her memories.

'Oh…sorry…' she sniffed, wiping her eyes brusquely. 'It's just…'

'You miss them.' Aidan finished. 'Of course you do. They're your family.' Naomi pulled her knees up to her chest and looked away. 'Naomi.' She felt Aidan's hand on her leg, and she looked up. 'You don't need to hide how you're feeling. You can feel however you feel with me.' He lifted his hand away, but Naomi made a split-second decision and grabbed hold of it just as it left her leg.

'Thanks.' Aidan's cheeks blazed red.

'…No problem.' Naomi met his eyes and smiled. Aidan made her feel safe. She could stay right there with him forever.

'Hey, don't you have a test?' She picked up one of the books she'd meant to bring, tucking her spell journal safely back into her bag, shifting around to sit next to Aidan. She started off sitting up straight, legs crossed, the book on her lap, but without either of them really noticing what was happening, her legs gradually moved up onto the bed, the book migrated to sit between the two of them, and her head found its perfect resting place on Aidan's shoulder.

Roxy wanted to throw something at whoever had had the horrible idea to invent high heels. That was the third time she'd almost fallen down a flight of stairs in five minutes! How did balancing on stilts make her a better princess?! She'd have worn flats, but Stella had made it very clear that heels were a must for an event like this. Apparently falling on your face was an important aspect of being royalty.

She mumbled yet another awkward apology to the fourth diplomat she'd managed to bump into, mentally swearing furiously at the pain in her feet. It was like her shoes were torturing her! This was the footwear of peace talks? How was making people irritable from pain supposed to encourage peace?!

Finally, finally, she made it to the courtyard. She had no clue how, but she had managed to get spectacularly lost, wandering (well, hobbling) through half the palace with no clue where she was going. (She'd got the hint to turn back when she'd found a giant cavern filled with lava and menacing carvings. And she'd thought her mom's castle had some weird stuff.)

She gulped, surveying the courtyard filled with important people from important places, talking about important things.

A couple of diplomats walked past her, talking to each other.

'…and then I totally beat Chris's high score on Dragon Kart…' Okay, so maybe they weren't all talking about important things. But still… Maybe she could just stick to the edge…avoid all the conversations…make sure a few people saw her to assert that she'd been there, without the risk of her starting a war or something…

Her body didn't wait for her mind to get on board with the idea, covertly shuffling along behind columns, avoiding anyone who might possibly want to strike up a conversation with any significance, however minor.

'Oof!' Oh, God. She'd just crashed into another diplomat! Was she trying to set a record here?!

She spun around, scrambling for another apology that didn't make her sound like a total moron, but she stopped when she saw who she'd crashed into.

'…Bloom?' Bloom smiled weakly at her. Roxy could see the dark circles under her eyes, even though she'd made a valiant effort to cover them with concealer.

'…Hey, Roxy.' Her voice was trembling slightly, and Roxy knew that Stella had been very wrong. Bloom wasn't up to this. Celebrating the return of every single person on Domino. Except Daphne. This had to be killing her.

'Bloom…' She was about to ask if Bloom was okay when she caught herself. What kind of stupid question was that? Her sister was being held prisoner by a crazy toxic merman, and she was at a party. What part of this would be okay?

'I'm okay, Roxy.' Bloom had apparently found something about the situation that was okay. That, or she was blatantly lying. 'I'm just…tired.' She played with the fabric of her skirt, picking at some of the embroidery with her nail.

'Bloom, I know you're not okay.' Roxy put her hand on her shoulder. 'You don't have to do this.' Bloom sighed.

'Yes, I do. This is really important for Domino. We've only been back in the dimension for a few months, and diplomatic relations are…weak. That's what my parents said. But…that could have been as much for them as me, honestly. They're just as worried about Daphne as I am. I know they don't want to do this. But being royalty means putting your people ahead of yourself. That's what Stella told me, the first year at Alfea. Before I even knew about my heritage.' Bloom dropped the fabric of her dress, her face twisting with furious disgust. 'But how is this going to get Daphne back?! I'll tell you: it's not! And I'm supposed to smile and nod and make small-talk, while Tritannus is doing who knows-what to Daphne, and I can't do anything to stop him! Aisha's family is falling apart, and she's in a ball gown today, while half her family are mutants! Why is this what royalty are expected to do?! Why is small-talk so f*king important?!'

'You're asking the wrong person, Bloom,' Roxy replied miserably. 'I have no clue what I'm doing here. I don't see why your parents can't just mobilise the army. Or why they wouldn't delay this until Daphne was safe.' Bloom took a shaky breath and wiped her eyes.

'Damn.' She sniffed. 'I'm smudging my mascara. I look like an emotionally-wrought panda.' Roxy gave her a tentative smile.

'I love pandas.'

'Yeah, but they're not so good at diplomacy.' Bloom laughed weakly, sounding like she was only managing to hold back tears in the name of not ruining the makeup that was hiding the effects of her Daphne dreams. 'I gotta go fix this.'

'I'll come with you,' Roxy offered.

'No, you don't want to miss the party…'

'Bloom, there is legitimately nothing I want more than to miss this party. Please…' she put on puppy-dog eyes, 'take me with you…' Bloom snorted at her expression, and Roxy felt a slight thrill at having elicited any kind of positive reaction from her distraught friend.

'Okay, okay. But we need to get back soon, or people will miss us.'

'Will they? Couldn't we just tape our faces onto some cardboard cutouts? Like Rachel and Monica do in Friends?' Bloom laughed.

'I don't think that works in reality, Roxy.' Roxy raised an eyebrow.

'I'm in a castle on another planet that got returned to life by a magic sword. Reality had ceased to mean anything to me.'

'Fair point.'

'Whoa…' Roxy stared in awe at Bloom's room. 'This is your room? You could fit my whole downstairs in here!'

'I know, right?' Bloom sat down at a vanity that probably cost more than Roxy's dad made in a month. 'It's…strange, that's for sure. I can't get over the feeling I'm gonna break something and get myself into crazy debt.'

'My room on Tir Na N'og has a mirror framed with actual gold.' Roxy debated sitting on the bed, but it was covered in so many pillows and blankets that she was afraid she'd get lost in it and never return. 'I feel like I'm sleeping in a museum, and security are gonna find me any second.'

'Same!' Bloom exclaimed. 'I took everything small and breakable and put it in the back of the wardrobe the first day. Otherwise my blood pressure would've hit dangerous levels. I still don't know what to do with most of the space in here. Am I supposed to put stuff in it?' Roxy shrugged.

'Who knows? I sleep on the couch on Tir Na N'og. The bed scares me.' Bloom pointed to a plush couch with several blankets strewn on it and a rumpled pillow at one end.

'Same. I tried to sleep in the bed once. I spent two hours trying to fight my way out of it in the morning. Really. And what's the deal with nightgowns? The ones in my wardrobe are fancier than all my clothes from home. Fortunately Sky lent me one of his shirts when I was staying here after we broke the curse, so I slept in that. Wouldn't have been able to get comfortable otherwise.' Roxy caught her eye in the mirror and they both exploded into giggles.

'Being royalty is weird,' Roxy snorted. 'How does all this help you run a planet?' Bloom shrugged.

'No clue. I feel like being unable to escape your own bed would actually impede your ability to run a planet.'

'You'd think. Maybe it's something royalty gets taught when they're young, and we both just…'

'Missed it.' Bloom nodded, touching up her concealer. 'I think we did. We were busy drawing in class and climbing trees to put birds back in their nests.'

'Royalty doesn't seem to want those skills,' Roxy remarked, regarding her heels. 'I couldn't climb a tree in these; I'd break my neck.'

'Get Stella to teach you. She can do anything in heels. I swear I once saw her do a backflip in them.' Bloom inspected her makeup in the mirror, nodding with satisfaction. 'There. Do I look like someone who's being tormented by toxic nightmares every night?' Roxy shook her head.

'Nope. Just a Dominian princess going to a ball.'

'I wish I was a Dominian princess going to bury her head in a pillow and scream,' Bloom muttered. Roxy grimaced sympathetically, getting up from the corner of the bed she'd deemed safe enough to perch on and offering Bloom a hand.

'C'mon. Let's go fake-care about small-talk.'

'Hey, where are the girls?' Bloom asked, glancing around in confusion for their friends. A quick scan of the courtyard revealed that Aisha, Flora and Stella were nowhere to be seen, a rare occurrence for Stella, who was usually the centre of attention at any kind of event.

'Bloom!' Sky hurried over, extricating himself from a conversation with a diplomat who appeared very determined to talk to him, glaring at Bloom with a rankled expression for stealing away his very important conversational partner.

'Sky? Where are the girls?' Sky sighed.

'Sorry, Bloom. Tecna called: the Sirenix Book revealed the final riddle, and they had to leave right away. I wanted to come find you, but time was of the essence, so they took the Odyssey Explorer and headed out to the yellow reef.'

'…Oh.'

'Bloom? I'm sorry…I tried to call you…'

'Switched my phone off,' Bloom explained. 'Didn't want to interrupt the ceremony.' She took a deep breath and plastered on an almost-believable smile. 'It's fine. I…wouldn't have been able to go anyway. I'm the princess of the planet we're celebrating, after all. And that means I should…be here…' Bloom's smile was so fragile it looked as though it might shatter at any moment, and all Roxy wanted to do was bundle her friend up in a blanket and hold her tight until everything just went away.

Before she could ask the pointless question of whether Bloom was alright, Bloom shook her head and turned the fake-brightness of her smile up a few notches.

'Let's go do some ceremony-ing!' Bloom grabbed the fabric of her skirt and walked purposefully towards the platform where her parents stood. Sky and Roxy exchanged a glance.

'This isn't going to end well.' Sky shook his head.

'No it is not.'

'Don't you have to get up there? Saviour of Domino and all that?'

'Boyfriend of the emotionally-shattered princess feels like a more important reason to get up there.' He took a deep breath. 'Let's get this over with.' Oritel gestured towards Sky.

'Prince Sky of Eraklyon! The saviour of our planet!' Sky plastered on a much more convincing smile than Bloom and walked onstage, waving to the crowd as though this speech was the most important thing in the universe and it had his complete and total attention. Roxy thought, not for the first time, that being raised as royalty was so different from being thrown into it. Sky seemed so at home up there.

'It's so natural for him…' she murmured, wondering how she'd ever be like him.

'He was born into it.' She started and whipped around to see Nabu standing next to her, watching the speech with a politely interested expression on his face. 'Sorry, didn't mean to startle you.'

'If you don't want to startle people, maybe you shouldn't sneak up on them,' Roxy teased, and Nabu smiled softly.

'Sorry.' Nabu gestured to Sky. 'Sky was born to this. As was I, as were Aisha and Stella. It's the result of a lifetime of conditioning to put your duty before your emotions. I wouldn't feel bad that you missed out on that.'

'I guess I am pretty happy with how my life went before this. I definitely don't think I should have spent more time balancing books on my head.'

'Yeah. That is a spectacular waste of time. Never in history has any king or queen averted a war through their posture.'

'Though one Lynphean monarch did avoid a war through a gift of seven thousand pineapples.' Nabu raised an eyebrow, and she smiled sheepishly. 'Naomi gave me a crash course on the royalty of the dimension. I still have no clue how she knew all this stuff, but she's been testing me.'

'…So you two are getting along?' Nabu looked away, and Roxy remembered that Naomi was probably an uncomfortable topic for him.

'…Yeah. She's actually really nice.' Roxy smiled; Naomi had taken the time to make over a hundred flash cards for her, and to repeatedly test her on each one. Once you got past her prickly exterior, Naomi was really sweet. Of course, Nabu had only seen the furious, hurt side of Naomi.

'I feel horrible.' Roxy blinked with surprise. She'd expected Nabu to rebuff her assertion that Naomi was nice. This...was unexpected.

'…About what?'

'About the gala. I wasn't thinking, and I really upset her. I didn't think about how she'd react to seeing me, and I kept talking to her and trying to help when it was clear she didn't want me to. I should have let it go.'

'You were just trying to help.'

'Yeah, and I didn't.' Nabu sagged back against a column, leaning his head back and sighing deeply.

'Nabu? What is it?'

'I was wrong.' Roxy frowned.

'Wrong? About what?'

'Duman. I was so angry at his betrayal that I didn't think. I just wanted to protect my friends. I had him at my mercy and I killed him. I promised to heal him, Roxy. I have never broken my word before. Naomi had every right to be angry.' Roxy put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

'You should tell her. I don't think you'll ever be besties, but…I think Naomi would listen to you. And it might be good for you both.' Nabu gave her a weak smile.

'I don't know. Maybe. Not yet. But…sometime in the future, maybe we should.' Roxy smiled, turning to look back at Oritel, who was still making a speech about how Sky had saved Domino.

'Were it not for his courage, our kingdom would still be frozen in ice!'

Sky walked towards Oritel, but the climax of the speech was wrecked as a voice that Roxy had heard far too much of in the past month snapped, 'And what's wrong with ice?'

'Oh, you gotta be kidding me!' Roxy snapped as Icy flew into the courtyard flanked by Darcy and Stormy as she hurled ice at the crowd and platform, sending diplomats stampeding in blind panic.

'Trix!' Bloom spat, glaring at Icy with a fury that honestly scared Roxy. 'What the hell are you doing here?!'

'Oh, don't mind us, Bloom. We're just here to grab your parents, and then we'll be out of your hair.' At Icy's words, all the blood drained from Bloom's face, before flooding back in a furious wave of rage.

'Enchantix!' Bloom's battle cry tore through the courtyard as flames exploded across her body, transforming her into her Enchantix form. 'Stay away from my family, Trix! Dragon Fury!' Stormy barely ducked Bloom's attack, throwing her own back. The lightning hit Bloom, but the Fairy of the Dragon Flame barely seemed to register it.

'Guards!' Oritel roared. 'Seize the intruders!' At his command, the guards drew their swords and began firing beams of magic at the Trix. One hit Stormy, who was looking kinda miffed at being made a target twice in a minute.

'I'll take care of the guards.' Darcy sent purple waves of magic from her fingertips. 'Dark Chaos!' To Roxy's horror, the guards started fighting each other!

'I'll break her spell. You go help Bloom,' Nabu ordered, summoning his staff and running for the guards. 'Brandon! Helia! Get the guests out of here!' Brandon and Helia immediately started ushering panicked royals towards the exits, blocking errant swords from the fighting guards.

'Okay. Well, this isn't how I thought this was gonna go,' Roxy muttered. But at least she knew what she was doing in a fight. 'Roxy, magic, transform!' She launched herself into the air, tackling Icy from behind and hurling her into a wall, driving her knee sharply into her back. 'Sorry, Icy, but this is an invitation-only ceremony. So get the hell out!' Icy threw her off with a shriek of rage, hurling deadly shards of ice right for her.

'Crystal Shell!'

'Dragon Energy!' Roxy smirked as Icy was slammed right back into the wall by Bloom's furious attack.

'Helpful advice, Icy: when Bloom's this mad, you might just wanna stay home and hide. Wasp Sting!' Roxy gasped as Icy flung out a hand, freezing and shattering Roxy's attack.

'Gee, thanks. Here's some helpful advice back: run!'

'Tornado Force!' Roxy and Bloom shrieked as they were thrown into the sky by a sudden tornado from underneath.

'Grab on!' Bloom threw her hand out, and Roxy latched onto her wrist, allowing Bloom to use her stronger Enchantix wings to pull them both out of the storm.

'Darcy! Stormy! Get Oritel and Marion! I'll handle Bloom and Bloom Jr!' Icy barked, and Roxy folded her arms.

'Excuse me? Bloom Jr? Really?'

'Shut it, Bloom Jr!' Icy hurled a hunk of ice at her, and Roxy rolled her eyes as she dodged.

'Seriously? So we're just going with this as a nickname?'

'Apparently,' Bloom replied, throwing a ball of fire at Icy.

There was a cry of alarm below them, and Bloom whipped around to see Sky being knocked to the ground by a lightning bolt from Stormy as he'd tried to defend Marion.

'Sky!'

'Bloom!' Roxy's warning came too late as Bloom was hit from behind by a blast of ice, sending her crashing to the ground. 'Bloom!' A similar blast sent Roxy tumbling likewise to the floor, groaning and struggling onto her knees.

'Net of Darkness!' Roxy cried out as a dark magic net formed on top of her, pinning her down. Looking around, she could see Bloom, Sky, Oritel and Marion trapped the same way.

'Let them go!' She turned to see Nabu charging past her, raising his staff and blasting Icy to the ground.

'Oh, well, since you asked nicely…' Icy blasted Nabu in the chest with ice, knocking him to the ground next to Roxy. 'No.'

'Nabu!' Bloom snarled at Icy. 'When I get out of here, Icy, I swear to God-' Whatever Bloom had been planning to swear, they'd never know, as Icy touched her on the forehead, transforming her to cold, shining ice.

'Bloom!' Marion screamed. 'Turn her back right now, Icy!'

'Or…I could have you join her.' Oritel and Marion quickly joined Bloom as frozen statues, and Roxy and Sky struggled furiously against the nets.

Brandon and Helia ran towards the door, returning from getting the guests to safety, but Icy smirked and blocked their entry with six feet of ice. The guards were unconscious on the floor after the effects of Darcy's spell. Roxy tried to get to Nabu, but the net shocked her every time she tried to reach through it.

'Let's get Tritannus on the line,' Icy said, smirking at her frozen trophies. She touched Bloom's frozen cheek, her eyes shining. 'And here I thought we'd only get Mr and Mrs Bloom Sr.' Okay, really? Could this girl just think of nothing creative for nicknames? 'But we got Bloom. Finally.' She knelt down and touched the ground, a sheet of ice spreading across the stone. As Roxy watched, a toxic cloud spread across the surface, revealing a demonic green face with red eyes and huge, pointed fangs. Tritannus. He didn't look anything like the photo Aisha had shown her of her cousin.

'Hey, Tritannus,' Icy cooed, and Roxy held back a gag. If she ever started talking like that, she hoped someone would have the compassion to hit her with a frying pan. 'We have Daphne's parents here. They'd love to say hi, but, well…' She stepped aside, revealing Oritel and Marion's frozen statues, and Tritannus's face twisted into a grin. He moved aside, and Roxy's breath caught in her throat as she saw a golden spirit behind him, bound in pollution. Daphne.

Daphne's face twisted with horror and anguish when she saw her parents.

'What have you done to them?!' Icy grinned sadistically.

'Oh, it's not just them.' She flicked her finger and Bloom's statue floated to join her parents.

'No!' Daphne screamed. 'Bloom!'

'Feeling chattier now?' Icy asked, leaning casually against Oritel's statue. 'Maybe you wanna talk about how to gain Sirenix?'

'I can't…' Daphne choked out, and Roxy's heart ached for her. Icy's expression meanwhile, twisted into a sadistic smirk. She poked at Bloom's statue, watching it wobble on the spot.

'You think if I push her over, she'll break?'

'No, please don't hurt them, please!' Daphne begged. Her entire body sagged with resignation. '…I'll tell you what you want to know.' Tritannus's face split into a mad grin.

'Great job, Icy. Hurry back.' Icy blew him a kiss, and the ice vanished. She straightened up, looking at the statues thoughtfully.

'Y'know what, lets's just destroy them anyway.'

'No!' Sky screamed, struggling against his net. Roxy started to do the same, but gasped as she felt a hand close around hers. She looked down to see Nabu regaining consciousness. He reached for a sword lying at the side of an unconscious guard, groaning with effort as he managed to press it into her hands.

'Cut…the…net…' Roxy didn't need telling twice. Despite having no clue what to do with a sword, she lifted it up, her heart soaring as the steel sliced through the dark magic, the net falling away as she got to her feet, hurling herself across the courtyard as the Trix threw deadly blasts of magic at the statues, about to shatter them.

'No!' She lifted the sword, closing her eyes as the magic hit the blade, sending her tumbling to the ground. 'Ngh…' She rubbed her head, trying to focus as Icy glared down at her.

'Bad move, rookie fairy.'

'It's Roxy,' Roxy muttered, using the sword to help push herself to her feet. 'Not Bloom Jr, not rookie fairy, Roxy.' She adjusted her hold on the sword, wishing she had any real idea how you used a sword. Well, she may have no idea what she was doing, but she was gonna fight the Trix anyway. Because the other option was to let Bloom and her parents get shattered, and there was no way in hell she was letting that happen.

'Mystic Talons!' As Icy dodged her attack, she grabbed a shield from the floor and hurled it at Darcy, knocking the wind out of her. As the Witch of Illusions struggled to catch her breath, the net covering Sky flickered and fizzled out, freeing Sky.

'Sky! Catch!' Roxy tossed him the sword, and he lunged forwards, catching it and swinging it in a well-practised move.

'You're in trouble now, Trix!' Icy laughed maniacally.

'In trouble? What, from a guy with a sword and a trainee fairy?'

'No…' Roxy muttered. 'Wasp Sting!' She put all her force behind the attack, shattering the ice keeping Brandon and Helia out. 'From three guys with swords. And a trainee fairy. Well, Helia has those string things. Whatever.' She looked behind Icy and grinned. 'Oh, and a wizard.' Icy turned to see Nabu getting to his feet, purple magic already emanating from his staff.

'Looks like you're outnumbered, Trix,' Nabu said, glaring at the trio of witches.

'Outnumbered?' Darcy smirked. 'Looks to me like you're outnumbered, Nabu.' Roxy scowled as a dozen other Darcy's appeared, laughing down at them.

'Okay, I've heard about this attack,' she snapped. 'Bloom was right: it is annoying. Mystic Talons!' She growled with irritation as the Darcy she'd hit just vanished in a puff of smoke.

'I think it depends on who's using it, Roxy,' Nabu remarked, before a dozen Nabu's appeared, all of them leaping for Stormy.

'Dark Lightning!' Stormy stared in confusion as every single Nabu vanished, and Icy shrieked as the real Nabu hit her with a blast from the ground.

Meanwhile, Roxy and Helia made quick work of the Darcy duplicates, Roxy hitting the real Darcy with her Wasp Sting.

'Rrgh!' Icy gave a cry of frustration and rage. 'Come on, Trix! There's only five of them!' Roxy was hit by a wave of Deja-vu as she remembered one of the Fairies of Vengeance saying that same sentence in Omega when Bloom had shielded Gantlos from her spear. The feeling only got stronger as she looked into the sky and her face broke into a grin as she repeated her exact words from that moment.

'Perhaps you should have a recount!' Icy looked up just in time to see Stella, Aisha and Flora fly into the courtyard, their faces pictures of fury as they saw the Trix and the frozen statues.

'Sun Boomerang!'

'Fall Vortex!'

'Thirteenth Seal!' The attacks hit the Trix with deadly accuracy, and the three witches exchanged panicked glances.

'Let's get outta here, Icy!' Stormy cried as Stella prepared another attack.

'Way ahead of you!' Icy replied, and the three of them vanished just as Stella's attack fried the air where they'd just been.

'And don't come back!' the sun fairy roared at the empty space.

'Nabu!' Aisha flung herself onto Nabu, clinging tightly to him. 'Are you okay? What happened?'

'The Trix attacked,' Nabu explained. 'They froze Bloom, Marion and Oritel to blackmail Daphne into telling them how to gain Sirenix.'

'And it worked,' Roxy spat, remembering the anguish in Daphne's voice as she'd given into Tritannus and Icy. Aisha's face drained of colour.

'Oh, Tritannus… What have you done?' Nabu pulled her closer, murmuring soft reassurances, while Stella walked over to Bloom's frozen form.

'Icy's gonna pay for this. Nobody freezes my best friend!'

'Can you get her out?' Roxy asked nervously. To her eternal relief, Stella nodded.

'Dawn Rays,' Stella murmured softly, golden light spilling from her fingertips. Where the rays fell on Bloom and her parents, the ice melted away, and they were freed with a gasp, Sky catching Bloom before she could fall, Helia and Brandon grabbing Oritel and Marion.

'Bloom! Bloom, talk to me!' Bloom groaned and opened her eyes.

'Sky…what happened?' Nobody said anything for a moment, and Bloom's expression clouded over. 'Why do I get the feeling I don't want to know?'

'Tritannus…the Trix…they blackmailed Daphne with your safety,' Sky explained miserably, and Bloom gasped, her eyes filling with tears.

'No! Oh, Daphne…' Oritel and Marion exchanged a glance, before Marion threw herself into her husband's arms, sobbing brokenly. Roxy watched the scene miserably. They'd beat the Trix, but things were worse than before. All in all, her first diplomatic event had gone worse than she could have ever imagined.

Oh dear. Things really aren't going well for Bloom, are they?