Bloom Zorah nar Rayya

"Bloom?" Flora knocks on the door of the room she shares with the Fire Fairy. "Are you okay, Sweetie?"

"Yeah!" comes the answer followed by a nasty cough. "I'm fine!"

"Are you sure? 'Cause I can get you some soup or…" the Nature Fairy tried opening the door only to find it locked.

Bloom is then heard shouting. "No!" there was a pause. "I'm sorry, Flora. I just sterilized our room. I can't risk any microbes until I'm better. It won't be much longer. I promise."

"Okay, Bloom."

Flora then walks to the area where the rest of the Winx are hanging out. All worried about their friend.

Stella looks up. "How is she?"

"She says she's fine but does have a rather nasty cough."

Musa just looks at them. "I really don't see what the big deal is. So, she has a cold or something. Everyone goes through it."

That's when Tecna speaks up. "You don't seem to understand the implications of this, Musa. I've studied Bloom's suit the best I could without her removing it. The envirosuit completely seals her off from the rest of the world. Nothing gets in and nothing gets out. Bloom once explained that due to her upbringing, she has a very compromised immune system."

The music very blinks. "So, her being sick could mean…"

Stella speaks up. "It means it could kill her," the Solarian Princess brings her legs up to her chest.

Musa then continues. "Is that why she always freaks out at a simple tear? Or why she seemed terrified when her mask cracked during a fight with the Trix?"

The Light fairy confirms. "Yeah. When I was fighting Knut, we ended up on one of her people's ships. They were far more afraid of us being there than the fact that there was an Ogre on board. After Bloom revealed her magic and saved me, her people jumped me and practically forced me in one Bloom's spare suits and shoved me in a small room for hours." She then looks up at the rest of her friends. "Turns out that entire time, they locked down their ship and cleaned it from top to bottom. Thankfully, nobody died but several got sick. If it wasn't for Bloom and her dad, who knows what they would have done with me. Apparently, being an Admiral grants him quit a bit of power among the Quarians."

Everyone then glances at one another, even more worried about their ill friend.

.oOo.

Bloom lets out another cough. "Bosh'tet! Why did I do something so stupid!?" she says to herself as the front of her mask lights up. The girl then runs her hand over her hood. The girl then brings up her omnitool to do an analysis of her envirosuit just has her parents and sister taught her in this situation.

"Bosh'tet!" that's when she notices an incoming call and who it's from. She could just not answer but knows that would just worry the caller even more.

The Fire Fairy does her best to clear her throat and internally curses a certain Tech Fairy for upgrading her omnitool to increase the call range across dimensions.

A hologram of a thin woman wearing an envirosuit similar to herself that completely hides her appearance. Only she has three fingers and toes, and her lower legs bent backwards noticeably.

Despite the fact that no one would be able to see it, Bloom manages a fake smile. "H-hey, Tali!"

"Hi, Bloom," the hologram then tilts her head. "I thought I'd call and check on my little sister."

"Thanks, Tali. But this isn't really the best time right now."

"Are you okay? You sound a little off."

The fairy tries clearing her throat without it being noticeable. "I'm, I'm fine. You don't have to wor—" she coughs as she couldn't hold it in.

Tali gasps. "Was that a cough!? Bloom! You're obviously sick! Was your suit compromised? Your faceplate didn't crack again, did it? I knew those fights would catch up to you!"

"It wasn't from a fight or anything," Bloom's eyes could be seen glancing away just as Tali's narrowed.

"Bloom! Please tell me you didn't remove your suit"

"No… just the faceplate."

"Bosh'tet! Bloom Zorah nar Rayya! Why would you do something so stupid!? Tell me now or else I'll come and find you! I don't care how many Mass Relays it takes for me to get to Magix!"

There was a pause before the Fairy finally answered. "There's this boy."

"Oooh!" the Quarian lets out. "Girl talk. We don't get to have many of those. What's he like?"

"He's… cute and kind. Did I mention cute?" for once she's thankful that her suit completely hides her face so her giggling sister could not see her blushing.

"Oh, I think I like him already. So, what lead to you getting sick?"

"Some time ago, he asked about what I looked like and wanted to see for himself," Bloom's eyes could be seen glancing down. I explained to him the meaning of our suits and he never brought it up again. After a while, I was comfortable in believing that he likes me for my personality despite the awkward looks we get as on dates I can only drink from an emergency induction port. So… I found a room, completely sterilized it, and took plenty of antibiotics, and called him over. When he saw that I was about to remove my faceplate, he stopped me. Worried about my health. I told him that I took precautions and let him see my face."

Tali giggles. "So, you got sick so a boy could look you in the eyes?"

"Actually…" the younger sister glances away again. "I think it's because I kissed him."

"Oh, Keelah!" the older sister face palms. "Now that was stupid. But was it worth it?"

"Yeah. It was totally worth it. My only regret is that we may not be able to do that again," Bloom notices her sister being fidgety and knows that means she's worried about something. "Tali? Is something wrong?"

"We never told you this but," Tali looks up at her sister. "When you first came into our lives, Mom and Dad wanted to give you to the humans."

"What!?"

"It wasn't because we didn't want you. It's just that we thought you'd be better off among your own species. As you know, because of the Geth, the rest of the galaxy does not have a very high opinion on us and rarely answered our communications about a human infant being in our care. Not sure they even checked our messages. But we took it as a sign that maybe you were supposed to be with us. Sometimes though, I wonder if we should have tried harder in contacting one of the human colonies so that you could have a better normal life."

"I'm glad you didn't," Bloom smiles behind her faceplate. "I can't imagine not having you as a sister."

Tali smiles back. "Thanks, Bloom," the Quarian then touches the side of her helmet. "Sorry. I have to go. Shepard needs me for a mission. Keelah se'lai!"

"Keelah se'lai!"

The call ends and Bloom just sits on her bed for a while. The girl eventually gets up and walks to a mirror. Even though she knows that it's stupid, she removes her faceplate and gets a good look at her face. She's rarely seen it since before leaving for Magix. It still marvels the Fairy how blue her eyes are and suddenly finds herself caressing her own cheek. Even the feeling of being touch is foreign to her. "Would I have been better off among humans?"

A knock suddenly startles her followed by her roommate's voice.

"Bloom? Sweetie? I'm just checking up on you again. Is there anything I could get you?"

Bloom quickly puts her faceplate back on. "I'm fine, Flora! Actually. You can come on in. I'm okay now."

The door slowly opens, and the Nature Fairy peeks in. "Are you sure?"

The Fire Fairy couldn't help but chuckle finding comfort in the fact that her friends worry about her. "I have a slight fever but that's nothing strange. I'll be all healthy tomorrow and ready to take on the Trix if needed."

End