Nebula, being in the middle of a dimensional crisis she was arguably underprepared for, swallowed Roxy's slightly garbled excuse in a few seconds, really just wanting the young princess to get off the phone and let her get back to her battle strategy to turn Tritannus into fish sticks.

And so, the group found themselves rather easily aboard a Red Fountain ship only a couple of days later, destination: Alaska.

Earth fairies would believe anything… Naomi reclined back in her seat, smirking slightly at the fact that Magix didn't actually get cold. It had a perfect weather spell at all times. And, in fact, Naomi already had a coat. Nebula didn't know that, and thus was letting them go search through the house of her greatest enemies in search of information on a killer robot they knew nothing about. Would she be letting them do that if Naomi had done as Aidan wanted her to and spilled the insane beans? Nope. Knowing Nebula, she'd probably blame Naomi's family for the whole damn debacle. Okay, to be fair, Naomi didn't know Nebula, but the woman had tried to kill the people she loved most and crush a goddamn city in the process, so she didn't really care if she was judging her unfairly.

'Who's ready for Alaska in November?' Aidan asked enthusiastically, jogging on board in thick snow boots.

'I'm not…' Roxy grumbled, sighing as she tugged her parka sleeves lower over her gloves. 'This coat was seriously insufficient on Zenith, and I got a feeling it's gonna let me down again today. I'm a California girl. Cold isn't my thing.'

'Oh, grow up. Alaska isn't that cold.'

Roxy raised an eyebrow. 'My phone says it's minus nine degrees Celsius where you live.'

Naomi raised an eyebrow right back. 'You went to Omega in short-shorts and a crop top.'

Roxy opened her mouth, but quickly shut it again as it turned out she had no comeback. How the hell the Winx went to these places and didn't freeze, Naomi would never know.

Changing the subject, Roxy glanced around the cabin. 'Where's Manuel?'

'Calling his girlfriend,' Aidan replied, settling down next to Naomi while trying to look like it was just a happy coincidence he happened to sit there. 'She…she…um…she has some opinions on him flying us all - all of us, no person in particular - to Earth.' So, translation: Olivia was being a bitch to Manuel about Roxy, and probably Naomi as well. Naomi doubted the princess knew who Aidan was, so his name probably hadn't left her lips. Ugh, they didn't have time for this.

Rolling her eyes, Naomi got up, walking towards the bay doors. 'Sit tight, guys. I'm gonna go find our dear, self-proclaimed leader.'

It wasn't hard to find Manuel. All she had to do was follow the sounds of desperate apologising and attempts at reason. It was much the same way she assumed one would try and find Riven.

'Liv…Liv, babe… Liv, she's my friend! Naomi's my friend! …What do you mean, it's just some clothes? …You made me follow you around for seven hours straight looking for one belt last week! Look, Aidan doesn't have clearance for interplanetary flight yet; I'll get her there, and I'll still be on Domino in time for the summit, okay? Liv, please, just calm down…'

'Trouble in hell?'

Manuel started, whipping around and dropping into a defensive stance at Naomi's tap on his shoulder, rolling his eyes at her mischievous grin.

'…Yeah, that's Naomi, Liv.' He rubbed his temples as a string of angry words spewed from the phone, and Naomi made an executive decision. She snatched the phone from Manuel's ear, putting it to her own.

'Hey, Livvy-Boo. Look, I get that you got a lot of toxic bullshit to scream, but we got stuff to do, so leave a message at the sound of me hanging up, okay?' She hung up before Olivia could respond, tossing the phone back to Manuel. 'You're welcome.'

'Hunter…' Manuel looked set to throw his chakram at her. 'You can't do that!'

'Then call her back.'

Manuel turned the phone back on, but after a few seconds, he sighed, turned it back off, and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.

'Nothing productive's gonna come out of talking to her when she's like that…' he sighed, setting off for the ship.

'You sure it's not that nothing productive can come out of talking to her in general?' Naomi questioned, falling into step beside him. 'What do you see in that girl?'

'What does Aidan see in you?'

Naomi shrugged. 'Smart, funny, nice ass?'

'Liv's smart and funny,' Manuel huffed.

'Notice ya didn't repeat my third point there…'

'I'm not discussing that with you.'

'Fair enough. But seriously, she's toxic, and you should dump her before you eventually get trapped in a toxic marriage, with toxic kids, and a toxic divorce.'

Manuel rolled his eyes as they walked on board the ship. 'Making quite the jump from high school, aren't you?'

'Just looking out for my ride.' She sat back down next to Aidan, watching as Manuel slipped into the pilot's chair with the ease of a professional. Switches were flicked in a comfortable order, and the bay doors whooshed shut.

'Fasten your seatbelts; we're taking off. Red Fountain control, this is Cadet Vergara in ship B-17, requesting permission for takeoff.'

A voice came through the ship's speakers, clear as crystal, not at all like the crackly voices of old movies. 'Permission granted, cadet. The sky is clear.'

'Copy. Taking off now.'

The ship whirred under them, and Roxy stared out the window, breathless despite having ridden on a good few spaceships now. Despite how much she would love to keep up her aloof goth persona, Naomi couldn't resist joining her in her childlike excitement. She hadn't actually been on a ship yet, not one like this. A sleek, rapid vessel that zipped over the evergreen towers of Gloomywood, shooting up and away from the ground they all knew so intimately into the dark, twilight embrace of a stranger. The cosmos had always seemed vast, from the first time Ogron had shown her a map of the Solarian Star System, and told her that it was but a small corner of the Magic Dimension, but, crossing the ship to stare out the front viewport at the endless spirals of stars, she suddenly felt so much smaller than when she'd pored over her maps. According to Roxy, the first time Bloom had seen the entire Magic Dimension, she'd wondered where her birth parents were in that vast abyss. Naomi found herself wondering where the evil robot trying to attack her was. She made a far less poetic hero than Bloom.

'So…' she murmured, gazing out with embarrassingly wide eyes. 'That's the Magic Dimension.'

'I wonder if we've been to any of these…' Roxy mused, joining her at the front of the cabin.

'Mhm. Look.' Naomi guided Roxy's head to look to the far left. 'See those three bright stars, and the little pinprick between them?'

'Mhm?'

'That's Solaria and its three suns. And I think that's Domino!' The star system holding Domino was utterly fascinating. The planet itself shone out like a bright beacon of rebirth, while the stars around it flickered with a dim, anaemic light, choked by clouds of dust tainted with the dark magic of the Ancestresses. Incredible…

'Hey, no smudging the glass,' Manuel chastised, shooing her away from where she was practically pressing her nose to the window.

'What about Andros?' Roxy asked, undeterred by Manuel keeping the back from the glass.

'Hm… There. In the solar system that looks like a whirlpool, see? And that's Eraklyon, just on the edge of Domino's system. Its star is still dim after the fall of Domino.'

'Damn…' Roxy visibly paled as she saw the twisted clouds around Domino. 'Didn't see that on the way there before… The Ancestral Witches caused that?'

'Them and Valtor.'

'Glad they're gone,' Roxy muttered with a shiver. 'Something about the embodiments of evil…just way scarier than four guys with a light show. Uh, no offence.'

'None taken,' Naomi snickered. Duman would've found that hilarious. He'd've repeated it to Ogron at the first opportunity. That would get such a rise…

As her thoughts drifted to her family, Naomi's eyes unconsciously began scanning the stars for a small, dim planet, tucked all on its lonesome amid thousands of frozen asteroid belts, so far from the nearest star that every inch of its surface was choked in thick, endless ice. Her breathing quickened as she saw it, her heart twisting in her chest. They were there. She could be looking at them, even if they were too far away to be seen. Manuel could whip this ship around and fly them there. She could crunch through the snow, run across the frost, shatter the ice. All that stood in her way was…everything. Asteroid belts, satellites interspersed throughout to detect any ship, ice snakes, ice storms, and whatever the Fortress of Light would throw at her once they knew she was there. They'd seriously bulked up security since not only had Valtor broken out and terrorised everything that moved and had the capacity to feel terror, but a small war had been fought there between her family and the Winx, plus some morally ambiguous fairies that changed sides as quickly as Naomi read thriller novels.

Why the f*#k'd you go there, you idiot? Naomi whispered internally, reaching towards the tiny, forlorn pinprick. Did you think they wouldn't look for you? That you were choosing the battleground? Or were you just so lost in grief that you didn't think any of it through? You should have called me…I'd have told you what a moron you were being.

'Naomi?' A hand hesitantly touched Naomi's shoulder, and she jumped. Roxy stared at her with quiet concern, Aidan mirroring her expression from behind. 'You okay?'

'Mhm…' Naomi mumbled, taking a slow breath to keep it all together. 'It's just…that planet there…the tiny, dim, sad one nobody in their right mind would go to…that's kinda Omega.'

Roxy's eyes widened with understanding. '…Oh.'

Naomi didn't fight the following hug, breathing in the familiar scent of Roxy's conditioner.

'I'm sorry…'

'Not your fault.'

'I did help freeze them.'

Naomi sighed, leaning up against the wall. 'I'm not gonna penalise you for defending yourself, Roxy. Especially not against them.' She hated saying this, but it was the truth. 'What they did to you was wrong as f*#k, and I know that. I wish I didn't, and that I could defend them until dragon's death, but they were in the wrong. Trust me, now I get what it's like having someone come after you no matter what you do.' She paused. '…But please don't ever tell Ogron I compared him to a killer robot.'

Roxy's eyes clouded with the same swirl of emotions Naomi had been seeing over the last few days, and she got the same familiar feeling in her gut that something was going on. She was so tempted to ask…but they had things to get done. If it was about Endgame, she'd have said something. Killer robot first, friend stuff later.


'Welcome to Fairbanks, Alaska!' Naomi announced, trudging off the ship and into the thick snow she knew so well. The crisp chill practically gnawing at her skin was so familiar after months in the perpetually balmy weather on Magix, and she laughed with quiet delight, jumping forwards and shifting into a wolf, shivering as her paws met the frozen ground.

'Wow…' Roxy muttered, hugging herself as she crunched through the thick carpet of snow keeping the terrain hidden until springtime. 'It…sure didn't look like this last time I was here.'

'It gets pretty warm in the summer,' Naomi explained, shifting back to her human form. 'Even hot, sometimes.'

'It's beautiful!' Aidan gushed. 'We have snow on Zenith, but the droids always clear it away! I've never seen it like this before.' He shot Naomi a mischievous glance. 'I've heard of an Earth tradition called snow angels…?'

As much as Naomi would love to jump Aidan and land atop him in the snow, she'd really prefer her not-at-all-crush didn't get pneumonia.

'Sorry to disappoint, but it's better not to go jumping in the snow.'

Aidan looked so utterly disappointed by what he'd presumably heard every time it snowed when he was a child that Naomi took a deep, fortifying breath and hopped over, slipping her hand into his.

'We'll do something like that another time, okay?'

Aidan's cheeks could have melted the snow as he stared down at Naomi's black, studded glove resting in his own cat paw mittens, and Naomi felt her own face heat up at how utterly adorable he was. He really did like her… Was she supposed to kiss him at some point? That…sounded pretty damn good, actually.

'C'mon, lovebirds.' Manuel clapped his hands, drawing attention to him and away from Naomi's wondering if her lips would get chapped on the way home.

'Naomi, I hate to be the one to bring this up, but there's no house here. Did your family put up wards?'

'No.' Naomi shook her head, setting off into the trees, a smile gracing her lips as she fell back into the familiar paths known only to her and the other forest creatures. 'It's a good walk to get there. There's a really tricky road up there, but it was too narrow to land the ship, so it woulda meant even more of a walk. Follow me.'

Roxy, still irritated with the cold after a lifetime spent working in a place where people wore their bathing suits all the live-long day, walked after them, while Manuel carefully made note of the direction they were heading, the wind condition, what kind of sandwich might go best with the weather…okay, he probably wasn't doing that last one, but seriously, how many deets did a guy need?

'Red'll be okay here?' he asked, shooting the ship a nervous glance.

'Red?' Naomi quirked an eyebrow. 'Thought the ship was B-17.'

'…It is…' Manuel looked away awkwardly. 'That's the name she was born with. But I call her Red.'

'How do you know the ship is a girl?' Aidan asked, genuinely curious.

Naomi snorted. 'Well, because I don't think it has a big metal-'

Roxy elbowed her, and she shut up.

'I dunno.' Manuel shrugged. 'She just feels like a girl. And that girl's name is Red. I named my ship, okay?! I love her!' He paused, hearing it. '…Not in a weird way. Just in the way Naomi loves those giant chunky boots.'

Naomi smiled fondly. 'Oh, I feel you, Flyboy.'

Aidan stopped short. 'Oh, what?! Did Manuel just get his Naomi Hunter nickname?'

Naomi nodded, smirking at the newly-dubbed 'Flyboy'.

'Aw…' Aidan pouted, kicking the snow with his foot. 'Seriously? He joined the group like a week ago; I've known you way longer, and I'm still waiting on my nickname.'

'How about 'Mr Naomi Hunter?'' Roxy teased, and Naomi was filled with the primal urge to start a snowball fight. Pushing the aside, she turned to Aidan.

'Maybe I just haven't figured it out yet…'

'May I suggest 'Captain Super Cool'?' Aidan pitched, striking a pose, and Naomi sniggered.

'May I suggest 'In Your Dreams'?'

'You're the one in my dreams, Naomi,' Aidan blurted in a surprisingly smooth moment of no filter. The forest stood still as Naomi's cheeks blazed, and she awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ear.

'Um…thanks. You were in my dream the other night, too.'

'Really?'

'Mhm. Endgame attacked you with lasers and you were obliterated before my eyes.' The silence became less romantic and a lot more awkward.

'…Okay…'

'Um…' Naomi quickly slipped her hand out of his and hurried ahead of the group, mumbling about leading the way. As soon as Roxy caught up, she turned to her in blind panic. 'Why would I freakin' say that?! What's wrong with me?!'

'Am I witnessing you caring about what someone thinks?' Roxy asked, quietly dumbfounded.

'Yes! But it's not just anyone, it's Aidan! Who's sweet, and commits felonies for me, and I just flirted back by saying I dreamt he got obliterated!'

'It's sweet…' Roxy tried to reassure her. This was the worst reassurance ever.

'How?'

'Well…' Roxy thought for a bit, before her eyes lit up. 'Well, whenever you dream about someone dying, it's always someone you care about, so you were telling Aidan he's important to you, and you'd be sad if he got obliterated with lasers.' She blinked. '…My life cannot get weirder than that sentence.'

Proving her wrong, Naomi shifted into a kitsumori, a kind of magical fox with bat wings, and flew around her a few times, before licking her nose and performing a backflip.

'…Alright, you made it weirder. Well done.'

'I live to serve,' Naomi replied, dropping back into human form and eliciting an eye roll.

'Oh, please. You live to make sarcastic comments, judge people and wear a lot of dark makeup.'

'Well, true.' Naomi glanced over at Roxy, her golden eyes vulnerable behind her thick lashes. '…You really think that weirdness was sweet?'

Roxy nodded, wrapping an arm around her, which wasn't that safe when trekking through snow, but Naomi would allow it.

'Yes. You're sweet, Naomi. Even if you don't like people to know it. And Aidan knows that best of all.'


The house looked just like every winter. Snow, thick and heavy, like fondant on a gingerbread house. The only difference was that, under the snow, the house was lifeless. Quiet. Sombre. …Lonely. There was no light in the windows, no laughter from within, nobody shouting for her or Duman to stop whatever they were doing because it was compromising the structural integrity of the building.

There was no need for a key, despite the warded one hidden in the door handle itself; the fairies hadn't bothered to lock up when they left.

The living room was still in complete disarray from Naomi's fight against Roxy and the others, the couch turned over, the rug a rumpled disaster. Glass crunched under Naomi's foot as she crept inside, and her heart ached as she glanced down to see her family photo lying at her feet in a broken frame, the corner ripped so that Anagan only appeared to have on arm.

'Guess Nebula didn't clean up…' Roxy muttered, shivering as her breath made warm clouds in the unheated air. Apparently Nebula had just cleared out what she wanted and left the place as a ghost town. Naomi felt her expression twist. This was her home! Her childhood! And…what, Nebula would just have left it to rot? To become the hideout of squatter squirrels? No, no, absolutely not.

She flicked the switch, and the lights flickered to life. They weren't hooked up to the power out here, but Ogron had worked up a spell to draw energy from the natural magic of the surroundings. And now that magic was back, looked like they had easy power.

'Wow!' Aidan stomped the snow off his boots on the mat, walking inside with an awed expression. 'Naomi…I know the lounge is trashed, but…this place is amazing.'

'R-really?' Naomi almost took her boots off, as was Anagan's house rule, but then remembered that there was no heat yet, so they'd be better left on, and stepped after him. The place was trashed. What was Aidan seeing?

'Oh my god… This is so cute!' Aidan exclaimed, staring starry-eyed at a drawing by her five-year-old self, of her and Duman as happy wolves. 'They framed this?'

'Yeah…Anagan made the frame.'

Aidan looked lost in deep thought, reaching out and stroking the slightly wonky frame, made with so much love to celebrate a crayon drawing of two puffs of fur with happy faces.

'We…we'd never do this on Zenith. We have digital photo albums, but…well…' He shook his head, smiling. 'Your family were really proud of you, huh?' He gestured to the wall of drawings, spell creations, pictures. So many pictures. Her first steps, her first spell, the first time she transformed… God, she looked so shocked, tugging at her miniskirt in confusion as her wings took control and lifted her up into the crisp Alaskan morning sky. Duman had had to turn into a griffin and pull her back down… It had taken so long for her to get a handle on her powers. Casting a spell was one thing; casting and flinging said spell while flying through the air on thin, translucent purple constructs that realistically shouldn't hold up a mouse, but were somehow keeping her soaring over the trees was quite another.

'I guess they were, yeah.' Naomi adjusted a picture frame, frowning at the dust marring her glove. She wasn't leaving here until this place was back to its rightful state. Fortunately, she had spells for that.

As Manuel shut the door, Naomi clapped her hands, sending the furniture floating up into the air, tumbling past each other as cushions rearranged, dents in the wall welcomed back their chipped plaster and smoothed out, and dust swirled up in a big, irritable cloud, before being sent zipping out through the keyhole and away. Finally, the shattered glass flew up to her fingertips, settling back into its perfect, smooth sheen, laying to rest over the picture as Anagan's arm returned, all set back to rights.

'Perfect…' she whispered, settling the photo back on the table where it had always lived, returned home after an unplanned forced vacation. 'Welcome home.' The words were more for her than the picture, honestly. She hadn't realised how much she missed her home. Alfea was gradually becoming a second home to her, but this, this little house, hidden under snow and yes, admittedly, a fair few wards, was always going to be her home.

'Nice…' Manuel nodded slowly, staring at the clean scene in quiet, respectful awe. 'You got skills, Hunter. That's a tricky spell.'

'Thanks.'

The nice moment lasted a few more seconds, before Manuel clapped his hands, drawing the attention that was already on him, to him. Apparently he wanted to be sure nobody was looking anywhere else.

'Okay, people. Were looking for any research Naomi's family might have done into her origins, specifically anything that might mention why she was on Zenith, where exactly on Zenith they found her, or giant killer robots. Look through anything and everything; there's no privacy in war.'

'There's no war in this,' Roxy pointed out, and Manuel looked a bit peeved to have his cool moment ruined.

'C'mon, Princess.' Naomi took Roxy's hand, guiding her upstairs. 'We'll check the bedrooms. You guys check down here, and come up if you run out of places to check, 'kay?'

'We're on it!' Aidan chirped, saluting. 'I'll search low, and Manuel will search high! Actually, I'm taller, so I shall search high, and he can search low!'

'Or we could just divvy it up by room,' Manuel suggested wearily, and Aidan grinned.

'Even better!'

Chuckling at Aidan's enthusiasm, Naomi led Roxy up the stairs, shedding her boots in the hallway and stepping forward in her thick socks, since the power was bringing the heat, so there was no need to track the outside any further inside.

'Your place is really nice,' Roxy remarked. 'And Aidan's right; your family must be really proud of you. Your achievements are everywhere.'

Naomi shrugged it off, but her cheeks were much the same colour as her hair. 'Anagan just likes putting up pictures…'

'No way; he's crazy proud of you. As he should be. You're wicked impressive, Naomi.' Roxy's eyes took on a mischievous light. 'So…what room do I have to search for the baby pictures?'

'How about…nowhere! You don't see baby pictures. To you, they do not exist.'

Roxy thought for a moment, before ducking past Naomi and bolting into Gantlos and Duman's room. 'Bloom says to trust my fairy instincts, and they're tellin' me to go in here for embarrassing cuteness!'

'Roxy!' Naomi dashed after her, facepalming as Roxy hit the jackpot, her eyes shining with delight.

'Oh…I don't think I've ever been this happy.'

'I was a baby!' Naomi snapped as Roxy beamed up at the picture of her covered in Nutella. 'Babies have like, zero motor control! Or understanding of Nutella and its physics!'

Roxy smirked at her flustered embarrassment, her gaze roaming down to a picture frame holding a photo of Naomi, only about one year old, sleeping in Gantlos's arms. Though it was only take about a month after her adoption, he already had the protective look in his eyes that said he'd die for the little girl in his embrace. She missed him…

'Roxy…' she murmured, picking the picture up and sitting cross-legged on the bed, caressing the sweet memory. 'I…I know I've asked a few times, but you promised…you promised you'd find out…'

Roxy stiffened. 'Naomi…let's search the house, okay? Or Manuel will have our heads.'

The brush-off made Naomi frown. 'Roxy…is something going on?'

'No!' Roxy sharply shook her head. 'Look, I just…I just think we should get our job done first. Then we can talk all we want.' Odd attitude for someone who'd just been diverging from their task to look at baby pictures, but before Naomi could start with the third degree, Roxy started checking through the drawers.

'Why don't I take this and Anagan's room, and you take Ogron and Duman's rooms?' she suggested. 'I figure this is Gantlos's, based on the hats.'

'And Duman's…' Naomi replied, still distracted by Roxy's evasive attitude. Ogron had taught her how to see if someone was lying, and she knew Roxy was hiding something.

'Huh?' Roxy glanced up, confused. 'Gantlos and Duman share a room?'

'That's how couples tend to work.' Had she actually ever mentioned Gantlos and Duman's relationship to Roxy?

'Couples?' Huh, apparently not.

'Yeah. They were together. I never mention that?'

Roxy blinked. '…Nope.' Her face drained of colour. 'Oh god…Gantlos must've lost it when…'

'Oh, definitely.' She hadn't seen, but she knew. He'd have been destroyed. Which would explain why he didn't call Ogron out on his plan to go hide out on Omega. They should just have come home! Come back to her! She knew why they hadn't, of course. They didn't want to lead the fairies to her. But she could handle her bloody self, and, at that point, they needed home! …Needed her. At least, she'd thought they did…

Roxy facepalmed. 'Every time Duman gets brought up, I just feel worse and worse about it…'

'Well, he's my dead parent, so I should feel worse than you, but yeah, I can see that.'

'I'm so sorry…' Roxy murmured, not looking at Naomi as she flipped through the books resting on the shelves.

'It's okay, Princess,' Naomi reassured her with her best smile. 'You didn't cast that spell. And…well, Omega is almost never eternal, is it? I'll see them again; fairies have long lives.'

'Mhm…I'm gonna check Anagan's room.'

'Huh-? Princess, you okay-?'

'Fine, we got a job to do.' Roxy hurried out of the room, leaving Naomi standing alone and confused. The heck was up with her?


'The hell am I doing?' Roxy whispered to herself as she closed the door to what process of elimination dictated must be Anagan's room. 'She thinks she's gonna see them again! You know she's not! You're just giving her further to fall! Tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her!'

She sat down on the bed with a sigh, burying her face in her hands. She's promised to find out, promised to tell Naomi, but she was so scared to keep that promise. Naomi had lost everything, and she was about to take shears to the last thread connecting her to her family. What kind of awful person did that when a person was being hunted by a killer robot?! Okay, she'd brought up killer robots way too many times in the last few months. It was getting old.

She could never quite get over how…domestic this place was. It was really just a house. A home. A place where a family lived, keeping their daughter apart from their actions. A home the wizards would never come back to. Dammit. She really had to tell Naomi.


Gantlos and Duman's room had, rather unsurprisingly, yielded zero useful results. Secret research didn't tend to be kept with the worst secret-keeper on Earth. Ogron's room, on the other hand, held so much research that Naomi had the feeling she might be here all night. The only thing was finding if any of it was about her. That, and reading Ogron's handwriting. He ping-ponged between having the most elegant calligraphy known to man, and scrawling like a drunken spider fell in ink, got spun around a few times, before getting dropped onto the paper. Which made her life so easy.

She ran her fingers along the shelves, skimming the titles of books she knew off by heart. All this was unhelpful; she'd read everything in here, whether Ogron gave her permission or not. But, nevertheless, she skimmed through notebooks and folders, reading plans and diagrams of fairy wings, absorbing ancient, arcane knowledge and nodding tiredly, because what else was new? Huh, the Sirenix curse. That mighta been helpful earlier. In case Bloom might find it interesting, she tucked the book into her bag, moving on to yet more fascinating, but presently useless documents.

As she read, her gaze flicked to the box under Ogron's desk. She knew what was in there. She knew how helpful it could be. But Ogron was so private…when he got out of Omega, he'd be so upset she'd read his journals…

Oh, what the hell? She was kinda in mortal peril here! If Ogron didn't get it, Gantlos would. She flicked her wrist, and the whole box flew over, her magic straining to keep it in the air under its immense weight.

Dust flew as the lid creaked open, and Naomi removed a cracked, leather-bound volume she'd got Ogron for his birthday two years ago. She peeked inside.

Dear journal,

I dread to tell Naomi, but we must leave her alone for the first time to finally complete our mission. The last fairy on Earth. Well, on Magix, now. I have no idea how she managed to evade us, but she made it to Alfea. Anagan says more research is in order, but I can't. I can't investigate any more, can't risk her slipping through our fingers and leaving us years more of work. I'm tired. God, I'm so tired. I just need this to be over. It's been centuries, and we're still stealing wings. When we drain the magic of this last fairy, it will truly be over. We will be safe. They'll be sealed away, with no chance of return. It'll be over…oh god, I'll be able to rest.

This wasn't what she was looking for. She should go back further, but curiosity overwhelmed her, and she flicked to the last entry. The last time Ogron had written.

I've never liked people that leave messages in the case of their death. It feels like they're just inviting fate to prove them correct in doing so. But…well, I have a bad feeling. Not one I'll share with the others, mind, but…we are up against powerful enemies. They don't seem to realise their own power, but I messed up. Badly. In my desperation to make a last strike and end it all, I may have jeopardised everything. Which is why I'm writing this. Naomi Hunter, in your sixteen years of life, there is not a single magical tome I've successfully kept from you, which is why I feel secure in the knowledge that, if I've failed, and am currently dead, I'm the Earth fairies' dungeon, or rotting in whatever prison the Magic Dimension deems suitable, it will not take you long to screw boundaries and start reading this.

Naomi's eyes widened. This was to her? Damn, Ogron knew her too well.

First of all, I hope you waited at least a week before invading my privacy in this manner. And, in the name of parenting, I'm disappointed in you. Don't read other people's journals. They're private. But…well, I raised you, and I wouldn't have waited five minutes before I did this, so who am I to chastise? Anyway, I…I need to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry we're leaving. I'm sorry we left. I'm sorry we left you. God, I'm so sorry… I hope you never read this, and I get to tell you myself, but I've always liked to be prepared. In this case, it's for my defeat, which I hate to countenance, but I love you too much not to.

I know things must be scary right now, with us gone, but you're a brave, strong, independent young woman, Naomi. You'll do very well on your own. But be careful. If we've been defeated, the fairies could be back. They may hurt you if you reveal your relation to us, so you must take great care. Stay at home for a while, stay under the radar. Then…then go to the Magic Dimension. You'll be safer there. Your powers will blend in. Avoid the Winx at all costs, as they will surely not take kindly to your connection to us.

Naomi had to snort. 'Uh…Aisha kinda hates me, but…Sunshine gave me a makeover, so…mixed bag there, Ogron.'

I hope I'm still alive, sweetheart. I hope someday you're going to see me again and call me the idiot I am for not doing my due diligence into Bloom. But if I'm not, then you need to know how much I love you. That I love you more than anything, and that, while I felt so woefully underprepared to raise a child, you are the best thing to ever happen to me. I love you so much, Naomi. You're an exceptional girl, and you'll make me proud no matter what you do, or where you go. I really hope you'll never read this, but…in case I never got to say it…goodbye.

'You idiot…' Naomi sniffed, rubbing the tears streaming down her cheeks. 'You're wrecking my mascara.' She couldn't believe he'd written that…written to say he loved her, in case things went south. Ogron never admitted he might lose…but…he'd loved her too much not to say goodbye.

'I love you too…' she whispered, clutching the journal to her. 'And you are alive. You're alive. And even if I have to bust onto a prisoner transport, I'm seeing you again. And I'm gonna cry, and yell, and shake you and demand to know what you were thinking. Then cry some more. I love you too. And I miss you. So, so much…'

She cried for quite a long, long while, her mascara running until she looked like a miserable goth panda. At last, once her eyes were well and truly out of water and in need of hydration, she shakily slipped the journal into her bag. She'd read it again. Over and over, back at Alfea. It was her tether now, her connection to her family. She'd read them all. Hear Ogron's voice, even if only in her head. But right now, she needed to go further back. Back to when she was adopted.

Dear journal,

Duman did it again. Made an incomprehensible decision that somehow, everyone else has accepted. We have a child. A child. Her name is Naomi. Naomi Hunter - Duman said she needed a surname, and apparently, our collective name is 'Fairy Hunters'. So apparently her surname is Hunter. I'm not arguing. I have a wolf cub in my house, jumping and yelping at any noise. I have bigger concerns.

Anagan has chastised me for expressing my disdain for the child, but I must make it clear: I do not in any way dislike Naomi. She is a wonderful child, and I am already quite enamoured, I simply…I simply doubt that I am in any way ready for this. I struggle to hold my own life and emotions together; in what way is it fair for me to attempt to raise a child? To make them functional? As if I can manage that. I struggle to see how we are supposed to raise a child. It's hardly as though any of us even know what an ordinary, stable childhood looks like. Though, hiding in the woods here, it's actually not far off from Gantlos's upbringing. But I hardly have excellent role models, at least, not that I remember. Can I do this? She seems attached to Duman already, and I can see Gantlos would protect her with his life. And Anagan is falling into a parenting role very easily. All things have been childproofed. Nobody can ever know how long it took me to get into the fridge. Can I settle into a parenting role? Become someone she can look up to? Come to? Trust in? The others aren't letting her go, so I suppose I'll just have to find out.

'Yes…' Naomi whispered. 'Yes, you can. You did. I do.' Wow. Ogron had been so nervous at the idea of having a child. She knew he'd struggled when she'd been young. But the first time she'd found him reading one of his books, clambered up onto his lap and asked what he was reading, and genuinely wanted to learn more, they'd connected. Found their link. And they'd been close ever since.

She flipped ahead, skimming for anything useful.

Duman has always said that where you come from doesn't matter. It's where you end up, who you find. Who you love. But I cannot stop thinking of Naomi's origins. Does she have parents out there? People that miss her? I regrettably find myself thinking not. She seemed utterly neglected when we found her. Starved, and…well, abused. She sported several bruises and scrapes, but they appeared…somewhat inhuman. It would appear she had been restrained in some fashion. I know little of such matters, but there is black market trade in rare magical animals. Shapeshifters are occasionally sucked into such a thing. I find myself wondering if that is what she escaped from. Duman has asked me to please stop speaking of such things, as exploitation and abuse of shapeshifters is rather a sore spot for him. But I cannot help but wonder if, perhaps…there are those out there that may come for her. Someday. I have full confidence that Gantlos would relieve them of a fair few limbs if they attempted to harm his baby girl, but still…I don't wish to leave her, us, unprepared. She's not Zenithian. She's not terrestrial. So what is she?

Naomi let the journal drop into her lap. Ogron thought she'd been in some kind of…animal trafficking ring?

'F*#k, no wonder he didn't bring that little hypothesis up…' Restrained? Abused? She didn't remember any of that. But she'd been one. All she really remembered of that day was fear, hunger, and a faint, fuzzy memory of Duman picking her up. It sounded like she'd escaped somewhere. Or something? Endgame? What would a robot want with a one-year-old? But she wasn't just a kid, she was a shifter. They were rare, and often exploited. But…all this…the crazy robot…felt way too big for a trafficking ring. The hell had she come from?