Chapter 01
Faragonda stretches as she was freed from the oak tree. The Headmistress looks upon her best students. "Thank you, girls. You have saved me," she then looks down to see that there are some extras among the audience. "Uh, girls. Who are these children?" the said children are three little girls that seemed rather familiar to the former witch.
Bloom kneels next to the girls. "These are the Trix. Icy, Darcy, and Stormy"
The woman's eyes widen at this piece of information. "What happened to them? How is this possible?" she toys with her glasses.
Flora steps up to her. "I pushed them into the Tears of the Black Willow Tree," she refuses to look anyone in the eyes.
"I see," Faragonda hums and leans closer to the children. "Are you three alright?"
Instead of answering the woman, the children hid themselves behind the Winx.
Bloom informs the woman. "They don't seem to do well with strangers."
"Perhaps this is something better discussed in my office?"
.oOo.
Everyone is now standing within Faragonda's office along with Griselda.
"Tell me, children," the headmistress addresses the three youngest. "What is the last thing you remember?"
At first, none of them were willing to say anything. Then, Icy pushes Darcy forward. The illusion witchling looks up at the older woman. She then catches a glance at Griselda and with a yelp, runs towards Stella to hide. The light fairy just flinches at the little one's touch.
Icy huffs, "Scaredy cat," and nervously turns to the teachers. "We remember being in the river."
"Anything before that?"
The girl just shakes her head, and she starts to tear up a bit. "I-I want to go home."
Faragonda gets up, walks around the desk, and kneels next to Icy and Stormy. "We'll do everything we can to get you three where you belong. Okay?" she tells them with a smile.
"You promise?"
"I promise," Faragonda stands back up. "I have a friend that may know where you came from. I hope that with her help, we can get this all sorted out."
That is when Griselda steps up. "What are we going to do about these three until then?"
"They'll have to remain here for now."
The Sun Fairy speaks up, "But these are the Trix?" she moves away from Darcy. "We can't just let them wonder around Alfea like a playground."
"I was hoping that you girls would keep an eye on them," Faragonda tells them shocking Griselda and the Fairies. "They do seem to be fond of you. It would only be temporary."
There are mixed feelings among the group. Where Flora is ashamed as this was her fault to begin with, Bloom and Aisha seem like they would be happy to help, Musa and Tecna are indifferent about the choice, Stella just turns her nose up and away from them.
"Well, I don't like it!" she states. "They are still the Trix. You remember what they have done, or did you forget?"
"You don't have to like it, Stella," Bloom tells her. "Besides, they need help. It'll only be for a while."
"I still don't like it," with that the Princess of Solaria leaves the room.
.oOo.
The Winx arrive at their dorm and turns the lights on, causing the witchling's to cover their eyes.
"So bright," Icy comments.
Stella then says, "Well, don't get used to it. This is only temporary."
"Stella!" her friends scold her.
"Anyway, I'm going to bed," with that, the light fairy retreats to her room.
Bloom sighs. "It is getting late. Especially for you three," she glances at the Trix and notice how tired they are.
Flora walks up to the little girls. "Can you blame them? They had a long day," the nature fairy stifles a yawn. "We all did."
"But…" Icy rubs the sleep from her eyes. "…we're not tired."
The remainder of Winx could not help but giggle at the display.
"Logically speaking, children your age need rest for eight to ten hours a day to be fully functional," Tecna informs them.
"You heard, Tecna? Bedtime!" Bloom tells them. "Now, where to put you?" she looks over at the couch. "I guess you'll have to sleep there for the night."
Flora stands up. "I believe I have an extra blanket they can share," and she leaves for her and Bloom's room.
Aisha runs to hers and Stella's. "I'll grab some pillows."
.oOo.
The entire school was sound asleep. Not a creature was stirring. Not even a rabbit. The same rabbit is jolted from his slumber as screams ring throughout the building.
The Winx rush out of their rooms to find the Trix awake and crying.
Bloom and Flora are quick to be by their side. "Icy!" Bloom says softly. "What's wrong?"
"Th-the scary ladies are after us!" the ice witchling wraps her arms around the fire fairy.
Flora cradles, Stormy. "Scary ladies? Who could that be?" she looks among her friends but none of them answered, only shrug. Tecna can be seen logging on to her hand computer.
"There are too many search results for scary ladies. I'd need to know more to narrow it down."
"Well," Stella steps up. "The only one I can think about is Griselda. She may be a mean old bat, but she's not that scary."
"Ahem!" comes a voice behind her.
The sun fairy turns to find the said teacher standing right behind her. "I was wrong, she's even scarier."
"What is going on here!?" Griselda scolds everyone. She softens her face as she noticed the three little girls flinching under her gaze.
Flora stands, still holding onto Stormy. "They seemed to have had a nightmare."
It was at this time Faragonda chose to walk into the dorm. "About what?" the headmistress goes up to the Trix, none of which seem to want to cooperate. "Girls, I only wish to help. But I cannot do that if you are unwilling to tell me what's wrong."
Icy hesitantly leaves Bloom's embrace to approach the teacher. "There were these three scary ladies."
Stormy nods while still being held by Flora. "They looked like ghosts." At this Flora tightens her hold of the little girl.
Darcy tells them from the couch. "They want use back," she starts tearing. Against Stella's better judgement, the princess walks up to the witchling to put a comforting hand on her. Suddenly, Darcy starts crying. "I don't want to go back!" then wraps both her arms around Stella's arm and the princess desperately tries removing it from the witchling's grasp.
Stormy follows along. "Please don't let them get us!"
Icy could not stop herself. "Don't send us back, please! We'll be good girls!"
Faragonda lowers herself to hug the ice witchling. "I promise you, Icy, I will do everything within my power to keep those three from getting you," she then looks at the other two. "Any of you," the woman breaks her embrace with Icy. "Now, it's still rather late and young girls like you need to rest. Goodnight all of you." With that, both teachers leave the dorm.
"Well," Stella manages to pull her arm free. "Time go back to bed," and she heads for her room only to be stopped by Darcy's quiet voice.
"Please, don't leave us," the child begs.
The sun fairy looks back at the pleading witchling and lets out a sigh. She continues back to her room, only to walk out moments later with her pillow and blanket. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to sleep in here for the night. Now, this is a one-time thing!" she sets the pillow and blanket down on the floor.
Bloom and Flora smile at one another before going to their room to get blankets and pillows themselves and soon the rest of the Winx do so as well. And before they knew it, they were having a sleep over.
.oOo.
Bloom was sound asleep with Kiko cuddling next to her when she heard a voice quietly call her name. "Bloom?"
The fire fairy cracks open an eye to see, Icy standing over her. Bloom yawns, "Something the matter, Icy? You have another nightmare?" she gets a nod from the little girl. Redhead partially removes her cover and Kiko hops out of the way. "Come here. You can sleep with me tonight."
At that, the little girl nuzzles herself under the covers next to Bloom and soon both were back to sleep. Kiko was nearly asleep when he notices that Icy was starting to struggle. The rabbit jumps up to the girl and pats her head. Suddenly, the girl's tiny arms wrap around him. The poor bunny tries to wiggle himself out of her grasp, only to notice that the witchling is calmer than what she was before. Thus, Kiko resides to his fate.
.oOo.
Flora wakes up to something poking her face. She sits up to find the young storm witch next to her. "Stormy? Is everything alright, sweety?"
"Can, can I sleep with you tonight?" Stormy shyly looks down at her feet. "I just really want to be with you, right now."
Flora smiles before embracing the little witchling. "That's fine, Stormy," she then kisses her on the forehead before they laid down. "Goodnight, little Storm Cloud."
With a yawn, Stormy replies "Goodnight, mommy," and was soon sound asleep.
The Nature Fairy's eyes widen momentarily. But soon smiles before she too falls asleep.
.oOo.
Stella wakes up with the need to get a drink of water. When she goes to go back to sleep again, the Sun Fairy hears silent whimpering. Investigating, the princess finds the source being a lonely Darcy on the couch.
"What's wrong?" she finds herself asking.
"My friends are gone, and I-I don't like the dark," Darcy answers.
Stella raised a brow at his as the Darcy she knows likes the dark. She was the Witch of Illusions and Darkness. The Princess of the Kingdom of the Sun raises a hand to create a small ball of light. Looking around, she finds that the other two witchlings are with Bloom and Flora. "Of course," she mumbles. Then, she notices that Icy and Bloom where squinting at her light at which Stella puts it out before they or anyone else could wake up. Sighing, she looks back at Darcy who still seems terrified. "Here," the Light Fairy holds out her hand and the witchling takes it.
Darcy is led into Stella and Aisha's room. Stella creates another ball of light, a bit dimmer than the last one she made. "Here you go. A little night light for you and we won't have to worry about waking the others."
"Thank you," Darcy says as the princess sets her in her bed.
"Now, if that's all, I'll be going," she goes to leave only to find that Darcy has once again latched onto Stella's arm.
"Please, don't leave me alone."
Stella only wants to see the Darcy she remembered. The one that had tried stealing her scepter, harmed her friend's parents, once nearly took over all of Magix. But right now, she is only capable of seeing the scared little girl in front of her.
The princess sighs once again as she sits next to Darcy. After a few moments, Stella notices that the witchling has yet to fall asleep. "Aren't you a little tired?" she asks.
Darcy shakes her head. "Not anymore," the child looks up at Stella. "Will you tell me a story?"
"Oh, I'm not really good at stories," she thought for a moment. "Hold on!" she gets up to leave only to find her arm is still be held onto. Stella looks back at the witchling, "I'll only be gone for a minute, Darcy. I'll be back. I promise."
With that, Darcy lets go of the fairy's arm. As soon as Stella left the room, the witchling started counting. "One, two, three."
Stella creeps over the others, careful not to wake anyone. She reaches into Bloom and Flora's Room and creates another light ball. "Let's see," the princess wanders over to Bloom's side to search for something. "Where is it? I know she never leaves Gardenia without it. Ah-ha!" she picks up a book and makes her way back to her room. When she reaches her door, the sun fairy overhears Darcy.
"Fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty—"
"Were you counting how long I was gone?"
"You're back!?" Darcy runs up to her.
"Of course, I'm back," Stella pats the girl's head. "I promised, didn't," Stella receives a nod from the witchling. "Now, let's see about getting you to bed," she leads Darcy to the bed and they both sit down.
When the princess pulls out the book, Darcy asks. "What's that?"
"This here is Bloom's storybook. Don't tell her I barrowed it. It's a book on fairy tales, fairies to be specific," she turns the pages until a story catches her eyes. "This one looks interesting. Once upon—" she is stopped by Darcy moving her arm around her to get a better look at the pages. For some reason this brought a smile to Stella's face as she accepts the witchling's embrace. "Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful girl."
End