Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Bloom sighed as she looked up at the sky from Alfea’s roof. She’d been needing some time away from everyone after everything that had happened. It had been a few weeks now since the Shadow Phoenix had controlled her, shifted her mind in such a way that aiding him had been a pleasure rather than something to be dreaded. And the Relix… Such power. She was strong, she was aware, but that had been power on a whole other level. Intoxicating in the moment, and just because she was free of the control now didn’t actually change the flavour of the memory.

Perhaps it was why she was having so much trouble sleeping lately.

Everyone wanted to go back to the way things were. Layla was one of them now, a new friend and suite mate to go on adventures with. But this was a school and she was supposed to be safe. And yet for the two years she’d been here, she’d been in danger. Tricked, cursed, controlled, discovering secrets and hidden truths that she had to uncover bit by agonising bit all by herself, because no one ever wanted to tell her things before it was too late.

No one could have prevented her capture, she’s at least aware of that though. But she’d been brought into this world of magic and fairies on hope and dreams… Such bright dreams of sparkles and flight and happiness. And some of that was still present, certainly… But it wasn’t all she was anymore. She was no longer the wide-eyed freshman who noticed her friends being spied on and decided to confront the culprits on zero magical training.

In fact, she thinks that after this, she’s got a much better idea of the balance that’s struck between witches and fairies. Bloom almost wants to laugh, muffling herself lest she attracts attention as she recalls the witches. Oh they were hell-bent on gaining power and making a mess, certainly. Like their ancestors, if Darkar was to be believed, but they were so… Human.

To someone else that might be a foregone conclusion, but witches were looked down upon by the majority of Magix’ population. From the very first of being introduced to this magical dimension she’d learned that witches were evil and fairies were good. That even the doubt that she might be a witch, back when she’d been uncertain and the Trix had fooled her, was enough to make someone who claimed to care for her back away in shock. Even though if that had been her nature, she would still have been the very same person.

She sighs again, idly scratching her nails over her forearm as a way to try and dispel the nervous energy bubbling inside her. Much had been a blur while she’d been under the spell and no one had asked, but the memories were coming back more and more. And they were clear, sharp, crisp- So very interesting. Because she’d been coexisting with Darkar and the Trix, and while she was in her dark fairy form she’d been unharmed. And the Trix had been funny.

If anyone heard that they’d likely be horrified.

Teeth worry at her lips and she groans softly as the giddy energy is all but begging to escape her. Finally she stands, reluctant but giving in to the inevitable. Her transformation washes over her in silence, sparkles the colour of fire revealing a powder blue transformation and it makes that feeling bubble up inside her again. That feeling of wrong, wrong, wrong, let me out!

Between one moment and the next she shot away from the school, flying high above, past the protective wards and over the forest. It felt like she was fighting with herself, this feeling she couldn’t place, the knowledge that her world wasn’t black and white anymore even if what Darkar had done to her was wrong on so many levels. But Darkar was an ancient evil, as she’d learned, after it was no longer relevant. In turn, she was an ancient good. The fires of creation, incorruptible. Except for when she faltered, clearly.

She’s above lake Roccaluce now, but she’s not sure if she wants to visit right now… She loves her sister dearly, the knowledge that she can go see her if she needs it a soothing balm, but she feels too out of control right now. Like she might set something on fire if anyone tries to placate her one more time. Part of her wants to rage, too. Wants to let her powers explode from her and level something. Get rid of all this energy crawling inside her, telling her to be active, to move, to run, to fly, to burn.

Her gaze is drawn inevitably to Cloud Tower, and she glances back towards Alfea as if debating her options. But what she wants to know… She doubts the fairies will have logs of it. So she flies, burning off some energy by flying through the trees at breakneck speed instead of over them, the harsh manoeuvring a challenge her magic seems to relish.

She arrives on the other side of the dense foliage slightly short of breath but feeling a little better, a little like there finally aren't any invisible bugs crawling through her veins. Griffin will know she’s here no doubt, but she doesn’t care. She loses the transformation as she steps into the tower’s passages, making her way from memory and a few anecdotes about the school she’d overheard. The place is dark and the walls maze-like but it’s almost more comforting than the bright pinks, creams and blues of Alfea college. She doesn’t want brightness and positivity right now. She wants facts.

What is the real difference between witch and fairy magic, is it a question of choice or are people simply born one way or another. Is it possible to have someone with a witch-like mindset attending Alfea, or someone with a fairy’s sparkly positivity at Cloud Tower? And why are witches so hated?

Oh she’s been in Magix long enough to learn that the Ancestral Witches had destroyed her planet and many others, but while clearly so powerful they needed an entire company’s worth of mages, fairies and specialists to defeat them, they were clearly an exception instead of the rule. The majority of witches she’d seen minded their own business, cared about getting stronger, getting what they wanted- The Trix were no different in that aspect, just a little more extreme than most.

Seeing them hang around Darkar, trying to leech off his power had been… Strange. They were powerful in their own right, not at the Shadow Phoenix’ level of course, but strong enough that they had taken control of Cloud Tower and nearly laid low Alfea. The fact they had lost didn’t take away the achievement of how far they’d come, even if Bloom didn’t see the appeal of controlling people the way they had seemed to desire.

She stops suddenly, frowning at the walls. Why was she- Ah. Tricky Cloud Tower had noticed her, was sending her in circles while she wasn’t paying attention and got lost in thought. She could probably just blast her way through, but that wouldn’t be any fun and would cut her time in the library short. She wants to stay, and that means no sparkly fairy magic. Trick the school- Easier said than done, but she knew it was possible.

There were times, when Darkar was away and she hadn’t a task to complete that she found herself drawn to the sound of voices, familiar ones, though she struggled to place them through the haze the spell left on her. She was to be pliant, obedient and willing for him, and so she was. But she was so curious- Surely he would not mind?

It was the Trix, sat comfortably in the most casual outfits she’d ever seen them in, relaxing and snickering over mischief they’d gotten up to at school. A confusion spell cast on a fellow freshman that had left the poor girl lost in the school for several days, nearly getting eaten by the walls in the process. The Trix found the entire thing very entertaining, and her lips twitched as she overheard. It’s not funny, the muted part of her tries to scream, trapped within her mind, helpless and silent. But she was curious, the she that was Bloom but wasn’t. Who had her skin, her hair, her eyes, her magic- but was so different fundamentally.

“Why do the walls eat the students?” She asked, stepping into view and interrupting the little coven’s gathering. Icy narrowed her eyes at her, and Stormy sat up with a sharp retort on her lips, but Darcy had stalled her. Her eyes met Bloom’s own and she felt frozen briefly, like she was falling. Addictive…

The moment ended when Darcy blinked and left Bloom slightly off balance, but the witch smirked and invited her to sit to the confusion of her sisters. Bloom sat by her, trying to think through the daze again and a few words were exchanged around her that she missed. By the time her eyes refocussed, Icy was smirking at her.

“It's a protection mechanism.” The Ice witch answered, looking smug for a reason Bloom could not discern. “The school is somewhat sentient after all, it can tell who doesn’t belong based on magical signature and mental strength. So if you’re acting like a clueless, lost little fairy, the walls will think you’re a threat and trap you.” Unsaid was the fact that if anyone found said witch half trapped and defenceless, some fun would certainly be had at her expense.

“How does it know what kind of magic someone has?” She asked, still looking blank, but fingers threaded through her hair in the next moment and her eyes lidded. What- Oh. That feels nice… She leans into the source and more snickers surround her, but she doesn’t quite process it, simply waiting, enjoying.

“Do they teach you fairies nothing?” Stormy scoffed to her right, not that she could quite see, as she’d sat on the ground next to Darcy, and the woman’s legs were blocking the view for the most part. Darcy took over the explanation then and it took everything she had to remain focussed, because those fingers in her hair were turning her into putty, wings fluttering idly behind her.

“There's a fundamental difference in the magic used by witches and fairies, a different source if you will. I have to agree, you’d think they’d teach you girls this stuff. Or is it all ‘witches are evil’, hm~?” Bloom struggled to reply that no, it just wasn’t really mentioned. In fact, most fairies tended to ignore the whole witch situation unless one came knocking.

“Pathetic.” Came Icy’s reply, drawing Bloom’s gaze. She was smirking, why was she smirking? Her thoughts scatter like glass shards and it doesn’t matter why anymore. “There's a fundamental difference the school can distinguish because a fairy’s magic is based on positive emotion. You work together, you’re all about hope and sparkles and all that is good and cute.” Icy spat those last words like they were foul. Maybe they were? She doesn’t know…

“A witch’s magic, however,” Stormy continued, unexpected to Bloom who was used to Stormy being the impulsive one who wouldn't have the patience to bother explaining something so clearly basic to a fairy of all things. “is formed through more powerful emotion. Negative isn’t the right word, it’s not like we’re pissed 24/7 the same way I’m sure you fairies aren’t all shits and giggles constantly either. Our power comes from darker emotions nonetheless. It’s more violent, we want power, we want to protect what’s ours come hell or high water, we want revenge if someone’s wronged us. You never think about just burning it all to the ground, princess?”

She can’t answer in that moment, thoughts too scattered by Darkar’s spell to properly engage in the conversation.

She smiles briefly at the memory. It had been hazy for her at the time, difficult to concentrate and follow. Some memories were hidden from her still but she’d get them back eventually. But she knew enough about the magic Cloud Tower wanted from her, knew that maybe before, when she’d been at Shadowhaunt she had not wanted to burn anything to the ground. She did now.

So she pushed her fairy powers down and grinned, calling on a rawer form of her flames. She drank in that giddy energy that made her trip people up, made her want to mess with the flavour of their drinks, made her want to rage at those who would hide important truths from her. The power that had wanted to level a good part of the forest she’d been in. Her body all but glows with her power, seeping out to the world around her and signalling she was not to be messed with.

Next thing she knew, a door opened to her left and she smirked. The Trix hadn’t been lying after all. They had no need to, she knew, but it was still nice to be proven right. Now, this door could go to one of three places, depending on the hour and how much the school liked her. Her dorm, not that she had one, the cafetaria, or her destination. Either way, the school responding to her was a very good sign.

She opened it without hesitation, showing the school no fear as she stepped through the void and was met with rows and rows of shelves. Yes! She’d done it! Icy would be so— Bloom blinked as that thought sputtered out of existence before it even finished forming. What…? She groaned softly, shaking her head. She knew it would take time to heal, but whatever Darkar had used to scramble her thoughts was yet to let go of her completely. She even lost time sometimes… Thinking about her time at Shadowhaunt would make it worse, but part of her wanted to think of it, wanted to remember those things that were hidden in shadowy corners in her mind as if to say ‘not yet, you aren’t ready’.

The library in front of her was massive, or at least felt like it. Like looming knowledge waiting to fall off the shelves if you weren’t careful. Yet it didn’t make her nervous. She wandered through, distant memories of coming here before when the Trix had made her think she was a witch instead flitting through her mind. She’d been horrified then, she knows not to be now. There was nothing wrong with it, and that darker side of hers derides herself for having been so easily taken with prejudices she hadn’t even grown up with.

Finally she found it, the pedestal that would call whatever she needed to its stand. Answers, hopefully… She could only take one at a time too, and she wouldn’t be able to call another until the current one was returned. Little tricks to make sure the library stayed organised. You could take a book out, but only if you actually went and found it on the shelves. Few witches thought to ask the pedestal for a directory or map of the library. 

But Bloom wasn’t here to take, and she had a few hours before she needed to be back at Alfea. However… She should be smarter about this, no? It’s not like she could read the whole thing in that amount of time, and if she wanted more information she’d be stuck. So, how to optimise her time? She frowned, thinking of speed reading spells and the like, frowning and pacing before the library’s earlier promise fulfils itself, one of the tomes slipping down and landing square on her head, almost knocking her down.

“Ow!” She glared at the book, which floated up, did a little spin and tucked itself away again. Ugh! Her powers itched under her fingers again but she was in a library, if she lost her temper here, with how unstable her magic felt- Bad idea. She needed a way to… She frowned, trying to think through the thought before it hit. Read at Alfea! Where she could transform the covers if need be, where she could read and learn in peace without a deadline or an impatient school, or the risk of Griffin kicking her out.

“A copying spell, that’s it!” She grinned, whirling around to the pedestal and putting her hands on either side of it, grinning in anticipation. “Give me a spell that will let me copy the books in this library.” She’s being specific, careful, more familiar with witches’ magic to know the spells would mess with her if she wasn’t specific and she had to admit she enjoyed the challenge. The pedestal takes on a deep purple glow for a moment as it processes her request and searches the library for an appropriate spell. The magic belongs to cloud tower, but the colour- Her mind shies away from the thought before she can grasp on to it and she nearly growls under her breath. This stupid hide and seek game with her own thoughts and memories was going to drive her up a wall!

But the pedestal came through before she could disrupt the magic in her annoyance and she snatches up the scroll that appeared there. It was old… Older than what she was used to finding both here and at Alfea. Hadn’t … someone… said that the Cloud Tower library didn’t hand out the old spells very easily? Getting one was a treat. She knows this, but doesn’t know why.

Nevertheless, she scours over the page, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar magic. She knew she could channel the scroll to cast it, but if she wanted to get the most out of the spell, she would need to learn how it works, how the runes and the intricate spell circle worked together to bypass a book’s protections and be copied onto a new form. And there had to be a new form, too. So whoever cast it better have a blank available or be very confident in their conjuring skills.

The next three hours pass in a flash and before she knows it, she has to send everything back to its rightful places, pretend that she hadn’t been here, and get the fuck out before sunrise and her roommates discovered she was gone. She left them to go be on her own more frequently now, but they didn’t let her isolate herself completely and not being in bed first thing in the morning would send them into a frenzy looking for her. Much as she appreciated it, she’d rather avoid that if at all possible.

It was almost weekend, anyway. If no one asked her to go out on the town, she’d be able to find a quiet corner to read her finds and work on the copying spell some more. She had to make do with the conjured books right now, but hopefully she’d be able to make the copying spell more permanent soon. That way she didn’t have to worry about sneaking into the witches’ tower unless she was in need of some new material to play with.

Sooner or later, the rest of her memories would be back and supplement the answers to the questions she’s looking for now. The magic is too intriguing, and her own is too restless to accept pretending nothing had fundamentally changed about who she was and how she handled things. No one came away from the encounter with the Shadow Phoenix unscathed, after all.

But she was stronger, and she’d work past it and grow strong enough that no one would ever be able to use her like that again! Whether the power she drew on to make it happen was of fairy origin or not.

Chapter Text

“That's it, princess. You’re doing so well. Such a fast learner, aren’t you?”

“Bloom? Bloom—!“ A shaking motion drew her away from the voice and when she opened her eyes, whatever had been playing in her mind faded and she met the worried eyes of her roommate instead. Slowly she realised she’d half kicked her sheets off, Kiko was on the nightstand looking at her worriedly and apparently she’d somehow woken Flora. Never mind she was slowly registering the cold now, and how she felt gross and sticky…

“Are you okay? You were moaning in your sleep.” Flora asked, and it takes her a moment to catch up, to latch on to the question and attempt to compare it to the dream. But she’s awake now and whatever had been happening had faded quickly, leaving her feeling uncomfortable but not upset.

“I- Yeah, I think so. Just a dream…” She muttered, slowly sitting up and brushing her hair back with her fingers, taking to combing through it with them when she encountered a few knots in the process. Something physical to do as a distraction. “I don’t remember it though, I’m sorry for waking you up. Again…” She added the last part with a slightly guilty expression. She knew Flora didn’t blame her for it, she’d been very patient with Bloom ever since she’d been freed from the medical wing and returned to her own dorm, but this was hardly the first, second or third time she’d caused her roommate to wake up in the middle of the night.

She wasn’t allowed to cast any muffling spells either, the girls had agreed among themselves they’d rather be woken up and be there for her than to leave her suffering from night terrors in solitude. And there certainly were night terrors, times she would wake up screaming, or trying to get away from something until her friends helped her snap out of it and she could simply collapse in their arms and cry out the fear and tension that had followed her home.

Some days it felt like she’d never escape Shadowhaunt. Other days it felt like she didn’t want to. Both scared her, even though she knew logically that this wouldn’t follow her forever. She’d get better, get used to things here again, remember she was safe and never drink anything offered to her without checking it for magic ever again.

She needed that reminder sometimes though, that she was still Bloom, fairy of the dragon flame and one of the Winx and that she would be okay because she wasn’t alone. Her friends supported her through all of this, and she couldn’t be more grateful. Even as sometimes the guilt ate at her. Not only for disrupting their schedules so much, but also… for the books that were still hidden beneath a concealment spell under her bed. For the times she snuck out at night to fly and let her magic free like it urged her to. The way she sometimes listened when it asked her to prank someone like she had when she’d been spelled.

“It's okay, you know I don’t mind.” Flora said with a soft smile, snapping Bloom out of her wandering thoughts as she sat next to her, a gentle grounding hand on Bloom's shoulder. “We all agreed to this, and I’m happy to be there for you besides. You know that, right?”

Bloom smiled and her hand shifted to clasp Flora’s own, the thoughts and the guilt dispersing for the moment. “Yeah, I know. What would I ever do without you all?” The warring sides of her mind each had their own answers, and she ignored both soundly in favour of enjoying this moment together.

The Winx had all grown closer by virtue of going through some pretty wild adventures together, and even if they were all still students, they’d grown a strong bond over time. Bloom had even admitted a few things to them about how her thoughts would wander, how the other her was still there, or at least that was what it felt like. Her shadow alter ego, watching patiently from behind her eyes, trying to make sure she stayed the way she’d been under Darkar. 

“You'd brood~” Flora teased her, and Bloom couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“Mm yeah, a little cloud over my head, just for me, following me around.” She chuckled, playful and grateful for the light air of their conversation. She doesn’t think about what clouds remind her of. 

“Good thing we’re here to dispel it then.” Flora answered with a wink, squeezing Bloom's shoulder once more before letting go and getting up. According to the clock in the room it was three in the morning after all, no doubt the other fairy still wanted to get some rest.

“Do you want to stay up and just chat?” Flora asks her instead, making Bloom blink as she processes the question, surprised. “I could get some snacks and hot drinks, just the two of us.”

“You should get some rest.” Bloom answered before she could really consider the offer. It sounded nice, but… She’s not really in the mood to talk right now. “Would it be okay if I took a quick shower, you think? I should go back to bed after as well.”

Flora nodded, and something akin to relief settled over her shoulders. ”Sure, I’ll make sure the sound doesn’t disturb anyone else. If you need anything, just let me know, okay?” Always such a mother hen, the thought made Bloom smile as she nodded in turn.

“Will do. You’re the best, Flora.” She said with a small grin, already grabbing for some fresh pj’s as she slowly slides out of bed and heads towards their shared bathroom.

“Don't let Stella hear you say that!” Flora called after her, and Bloom couldn’t help but laugh.

Once in the bathroom by herself, door locked behind her, the thoughts that had been pushed away come rushing back in, like that little cloud they’d just been laughing about wasn’t so metaphorical after all. It wasn’t even any distinguishable thoughts, just this feeling. A sense of heaviness that even lighthearted jokes and reminders of happier times couldn’t quite dispel.

She showered quickly after that, just wanting to get clean, get the sweat and sticky feeling off of her, brush out her hair and change into some clean pj’s. She could just spell her sheets clean for the moment until they could be changed the next day, and simply collapse into them. Passing out again sounded like a wonderful idea after all. No worries or fears, just being unconscious and getting some much needed rest. Hopefully her mind would let her have it for the rest of the night.

Stepping out of the bathroom as the door unlatched with a soft click, she found Flora had been sitting on her own bed and had fallen asleep, hair fanned out onto the pillow behind her and not quite tucked in. The sight made her smile softly and she made sure her friend was covered up and comfortable before heading back to her own.

Kiko jumped up and into her hands, chirping at her, but she simply smiled and snuggled him, giving him gentle affection. “Thanks Kiko, I’m okay. I promise.” That too was a lie, but it wasn’t one that wore her down. It was one she was supposed to make come true, something to believe in. She was okay, or would be. Fake it till you make it and all of that.

“Get some rest, little guy.” She hummed softly, depositing him into his little makeshift nest as she curled up under her own freshened sheets and hoped the night would take her quickly.

Classes the next day were absolutely exhausting, if only because while she’d slept soundly through what remained of the night, she didn’t feel rested afterwards. But she pressed on, because at some point enough time passes that the pity and the understanding and the extensions turn into worry and chats with professors about how you’re holding up, and about make-up work or extra tutoring. And at some point it would turn into annoyance. She knew because she’d seen it happen. Not here, but back in Gardenia there had been this chronically ill girl in a different class and she’d seen the teachers’ attitudes shift over time. It hadn’t been pretty.

Lunch helped get some energy back into her though, and the day passed normally enough. No flare-ups, no sudden or random urges, no thoughts of clouds of any kind. It was a rare treat, allowed her to cherish the conversations shared between her friends and quietly contribute on occasion rather than be so lost in thought that she missed the entire flow of conversation. It was nice, idle chatter about regular things, personal hobbies, classes, upcoming events, this new shop at the mall—

“Hey what if we just take off this afternoon to check it out?” Stella, of course, offered. “I've been hearing good things about the place, it caters to all sorts of styles. Clothes, shoes, jewellery- You name it! What do you guys say?” She was excited, which made Bloom smile softly. There was caution in Stella’s expression that wouldn’t have been there before, but she makes sure to politely ignore that as the others start to chime in, showing interest or disinterest in fairly predictable measure. But apparently the music store near the mall had some new things in, and maybe they’d manage not to lose Tecna at the hardware store for once.

It sounded nice, like a good distraction. Something else to feel normal, and.. a trip outside of the schools’ areas, somewhere she might feel less safe but definitely something she needed to build up to if she wanted to function outside of Alfea again.

“That sounds like a great time, I’d love to.” Bloom answered.

“All right, it's settled then! No backing out, alright everyone~?” Flora laughed at Stella’s teasing even as Layla expressed confusion, which really only made it better. Only someone who had never experienced Stella’s whirlwind shopping mania could ever think visiting a new shop with the blonde princess would be a calm affair.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Musa teased the brunette in turn, and the conversation went back to the calm and playful general banter. Bloom was content to fade back into the background. Huh, maybe she’d be able to find a new sketchbook while they were out. She’d have to be careful about keeping it private, but drawing might actually help her organise her thoughts or at least visualise the things she couldn’t put into words for herself.

The rest of classes passed in a blur, and their study hall period was spent with one of her copied books, carefully disguised, and quietly reading in her corner. This one didn’t really have much of value that she hadn’t already understood from either observation or her vaguely remembered conversation with the Trix, but that was alright. If anything, it simply served as confirmation that they hadn’t been lying. Though why they’d bother telling her the truth instead of some lie to help keep her even more disoriented while she’d essentially been harmless to them… She can’t imagine those three not taking advantage of such a golden opportunity, which makes the warmth and comfort accompanying the memories all the more dissonant.

Today was a good day, after all…

Their remaining classes passed in a blur, tiring but ultimately satisfying. A level of normalcy that was both welcome and slowly but surely becoming a habit again. Before she knew it they’d all stepped on the bus to Magix and she spent some time reassuring them that yes she was fine, nothing was going to happen and she knew that. She was safe. Sometimes it seemed like they were more worried than she was, but even if Bloom had to repeat the reassurances a few times, she appreciated their care far too much to be annoyed by it.

It wasn’t until the conversation shifted that she fell silent, withdrawing a little more into herself even as she heard Tecna bring up that which she didn’t want to be thinking about.

“It's too bad the specialists couldn’t make it, would’ve been fun.”

“Yeah, it’d be good to see the boys again.”

“Especially in a more casual environment~"

She didn’t pay attention to who said what, simply clamming up and gazing out the window. She hadn’t seen Sky since the rescue at Shadowhaunt. They’d texted, but the frequent check-ins from him had rapidly grown sparse and by now, only a scant two months later, they were all but nonexistent. She heard from him maybe once a week at best if even that, excuses and apologies about classes picking up, Codatorta’s training methods being brutal, Eraklyon stuff he couldn’t talk about… 

He’d confessed to her at Shadowhaunt, that care and love had reached even her darker self, the both of them touched by his efforts, which had ultimately allowed her to break free from Darkar’s control when nothing else had. She’d been terrified when she thought she’d lost him, discovering her most precious ability in the process. But he’d been fine after, blessedly alive even if at first she’d had night terrors where he wasn’t. She’d thought they’d only grow closer afterwards, daydreamed about Sky making time to come visit her unexpectedly at Alfea, to comfort and reassure her in person that everything would be okay. That he’d chase the darkness away.

Instead similar promises had been made over text, wishing he was there with her, telling her she was strong and would get through this, that he was there for her. But she’d never been able to talk about what happened at Shadowhaunt, even with him. He… hadn’t really asked either. Only if she wanted to share anything, and only once, when her memories had been fuzzier than they were now. He’d never asked again, assured her she’d get through this as if it didn’t involve him, and then he’d texted less and less.

Where he’d begun to text less, she’d begun to text more. What had initially been closed off and fearful short replies had gradually become more open, inquiring about him and his classes, becoming well enough that instead of fearing his comfort, she craved it. But it never came… And while Stella had tried to arrange for hangouts between all of them, Sky had never been able to make it. To the point she’d quietly agreed with Riven’s sardonic remarks of the evening. Musa had made him shush about it to not make her feel worse, but privately she’d wanted to be angry rather than be comforted.

That dark part of herself that had been blessedly quiet during the day stirred. Be angry, that part said, how dare he. And she was, but- 

“Bloom?” A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up bashfully. 

“Sorry Stella, got lost in thought.”

“This is our stop, silly. You wouldn’t want to miss all the fun, would you~?” The teasing was a welcome distraction and Bloom smiled as she followed the girls off the bus, ignoring the quiet voice in her head, the one that wanted to burn down everything that hurt her.

With a cheerful “Alright, let’s go!” Stella led the way to the mall the boutique was in. Moments after entering the mall, Tecna disappeared with a quick comment to a shop she’d spotted, and they lost Musa to the music store by the escalators a scant five minutes later while the remaining four headed to their actual destination.

The storefront was glass, displays of various styles right in the front facing window, advertising exactly what Stella had said, the shop catered to all styles. Which was exactly why bright sparkly nightclothes suited to a fairy were in the display next to a more gothic piece she could imagine Stormy swooning over—

She pushes the mental image away with a blink and a quick shake of her head, expressing soft curiosity of her own as they all headed in. It wasn’t long before the whirlwind that was Stella in a clothing store had commandeered several of the staff to aid in her spree, Layla got distracted by what looked like a sports section, and Flora… Bloom blinked as she realised the girl had stuck close.

“You're not going to explore?” She asked softly, a little unsure all of a sudden. Was she.. being a burden? Did she give off the impression she had to be minded, ruining the experience for whoever got stuck with her? She knew better, knew that Flora loved her no less than she had when being woken at 3AM last night, but it was hard to remember that in the moment when her mind provided ample sharp arguments that she was the problem.

“Miele promised she’d show me all the new places to shop in Linphea when I come home for break, so I’m just saving up for now. I can go look around if you’d rather have a moment to yourself though.” There was that knowing smile again, darling Flora who always knew what to say.

Sorry- Thank you- Neither sounded appropriate when she tried to answer at first, and it took her a few swallows before she managed. “That sounds like fun.” A beat, as she warred with herself, knowing she shouldn’t be left alone and yet wanting to be at the same time. She wanted to explore… Maybe end up where others might disapprove- Her alter ego was practically tugging at her sleeves to hurry up already. “I'll be fine, thanks Flora. I’m sure I’ll be done long before Stella is anyway.”

Flora laughed softly at her answer, gave a soft wave and next thing she knows her feet are leading her on their own, confident strides she didn’t feel as her alter ego lost her patience. Dark Bloom… She didn’t like calling her that. It felt wrong, on multiple levels. Her alter ego wasn’t evil, just.. a little more unhinged, and part of her shied away from the idea that it was her. So alter ego it was, a way to refer to that which was just beyond tangible but could still affect her, was like a sister in her mind, and yet also something she feared. Something she had to come to terms with.

Bloom’s feet take her to the witches’ section like she knew they would the moment she’d felt her latch on to the darker styles. And they were beautiful. Long flowing sleeves, subtle designs in dark stitches that caught the light just right, and if she squinted she thought she could make out some runes hidden into the stitching as well. She’d never seen anything like it before.

“Wonder which of them would like it more…” She murmured softly to herself, the small smile coming to her lips unbidden. Icy was the icon of the lot and always dressed to impress, but also to impose. She was dangerous and wanted to show it. Darcy was elegant in a way that took her breath away, a treacherous niggle in the back of her mind being soothed by her darker side. Don’t worry about it. She said, and Bloom listened. And Stormy… Stormy was the one that had surprised her. She was cruel and vicious but she was wicked smart, and Bloom didn’t want to like her but she did. 

There was this black piece with purple stitching and a star motif in straps on the chest that she thought would look stunning on her.

But that wasn’t what had drawn her dark side to this place, and her feet carry her further in, she doesn’t know why until she can just barely hear Stella’s voice and with a small gasp of delighted surprise she realises the sections aren’t separate- the styles flow into each other smoothly from one section to the other, marked off only by the colour of the paths on the floor and the directions pointing to each section. This place was a cross between witch and fairy fashion that absolutely boggled the mind.

The dark blacks and purples made way for more colour, more shimmer, different cuts of clothing. It made sense, if only because not everyone liked to dress in monotonous colours, but… wow. 

The both of them relax, almost imperceptibly, and begin to explore properly. Stella can be heard in the background, Layla having joined her apparently at some point, and she could tell Flora was nearby, staying close in case she was needed but not minding Bloom’s every move either. A shimmering red top catches her eye to the right, a draped neckline, the colour a dark bordeaux, and it was stunning. Her fingers brushed over the fabric, but she knew different shades of red tended to clash with her hair, so she moved on. Yellow, purple, pink- Blue. Blue was where she wanted to be, a colour that gave her calm and comfort, and it was her signature anyway, to the point both her transformations had shared it.

She didn’t intend to buy anything, really, not having too much on her and just exploring, but then she spots it. It’s a cropped hoodie, it looks fluffy, soft and comfortable, with slightly puffy sleeves at the cuff and a sparkle detail around the hems that seemed to flare inward, growing more sparse as it went. The shimmers weren’t uniform either, black, silver, lighter blue. It was as cute as it was comfy, and the way the hemline was cut kind of reminded her of her transformation.

For someone who normally wore brighter colours, she picked out her size without really considering what the others might think about her style choices. One thing led to another, making her pick out a few more things, like this soft grey top that looked like the fabric was made of shadow or clouds, the shades blended in a unique way that had immediately caught her attention. Another was this black pair of flared trousers with a slit at the bottom to show off her shoes with. It was black, with some subtle detailing in the stitching that would catch the eye in the right light. So very much outside of her usual vibe, all of it, and yet she felt this thrill when trying them on, admiring herself, spelling her hair into a few different temporary styles to see how it all looked both separately and together.

Keeping her budget in mind she limited herself and was ready to head back to the others or to find a register so she could bag her stuff early, before a display of jewellery caught her eye. Curious she took a peek, nothing really standing out despite the beautiful pieces, a lot of them darker or more noticeable than what she normally liked to wear. She was about to move on when the light caught one of the pieces amongst the hair clips and her breath caught.

A perfect snowflake on a barrette clip, large enough you could see the bevelled details and the sparkle as if it was pure crystal of some kind, but not so large that it would attract too much attention away from her face. When she tried it on the clip seemed to melt into her hair, becoming invisible while only the snowflake remained noticeable. It… looked like it belonged there.

It was added to her purchases without even trying to argue against it, without pointing out who that could remind others of. It was beautiful and it suited her, that was all that mattered.

She found a sales associate who hadn’t been drawn into Stella’s shopping spree and got to return to her friends with her purchases already bagged, the barrette staying securely in her hair.

Chapter Text

Stella liked to think she was a good friend. Oh, she could be capricious, and she knew others sometimes considered her selfish and shallow, but when it came to her friends and those precious to her, there wasn’t anything in the entire galaxy that could ever stop her from being there for them.

That doesn’t always translate into knowing what others need though, and with everything Bloom had gone through, Stella had taken to just giving her space and observing. She caught more than most generally guessed from her. She knew Bloom would sometimes slip out of the dorm and go for a fly or brood on the roof, she knew the girl kept a few books spelled so the contents appeared to be something else, and she knew Bloom still struggled with her temper and her darker self. Bloom had even confessed as much to her once, and she was incredibly proud of her best friend for doing so.

All of this meant that when they’d had that trip to Magix last week, she’d noticed when Bloom clammed up when talk of the boys started. Come to think of it, Bloom hadn’t even really mentioned her prince charming in a while. The joy of them becoming a couple had been damped by the aftermath of everything that had happened at Shadowhaunt, but Stella had thought things would only get better. And Bloom had, she was making incredible progress, but Sky… She had no idea what that boy was up to, but he was upsetting Bloom and Stella was having none of it.

So, what better to do than to plan an actual Winx and Specialists outing, they only had a scant few months to go before classes were over and time was going so fast it all seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. They’d have exams before they knew it! 

When Stella sets her mind to something, she’s as ever determined to get it done. Wasting no time, she took to texting all of the boys and starting to arrange for the schedule and location, likely just something simple in Magix but nevertheless an outing where they could all see their darling partners again. Ooh, maybe they could even bring a few extra friends, it’d be fun if Layla found someone special among the students of Red Fountain as well, they’d be a whole set!

She even managed to catch a hold of Sky rather quickly, a little surprised considering she’d actually asked Bloom gently how things were going between them, and how little the prince had managed to text her. Yet he’d responded to Stella fairly quickly. Well, at least it meant she could get him in on everything. 

With everything arranged, she was quick to inform the girls as well, delighting in the positive responses she got, missing Layla’s more hesitant reaction to being surrounded by potential strangers the boys might bring along, and instead focussing on Bloom.

“I've arranged a surprise for you, Bloom. I’m sure you’ll love it~” She teased, wrapping her arms around her best friend and squeezing playfully, earning a smile and a hug back that warmed her from within and gave her hope that things would eventually be alright.

Bloom spent the few days leading up to their little meet-up a little nervous about whatever the surprise might be that Stella had planned, but she tried to stay calm and positive. Stella was her best friend, the one who had introduced her to magic and stood by her no matter what, so surely whatever she had in mind wouldn’t be a bad thing. 

Stella hadn’t even reacted badly to her new purchases at the shop, having absolutely demanded that Bloom model the pieces for her, and had gushed about the perfect snowflake in her hair without a mention of the Trix in sight. Instead she’d been excitedly rattling off things about makeup and accessories that would suit her new vibe, no judgement, no surprise, only support. The others had fallen quiet when they’d seen, they’d even agreed it had looked good on her, though Musa had nearly failed to contain her reaction when seeing Bloom in those black pants with the shadowy top.

It was a big change from her usual bright colours, she knows, but it felt.. More comfortable, more like herself now. This new self that was a mix of things she didn’t quite know how to be yet. But Stella’s support and easy acceptance made it a burden she could bear, the fear of rejection from her friends somewhat soothed. Heck, Stella had insisted on buying her some makeup that would really make everything pop, showing her new ways to apply eyeliner and play with blended eyeshadow looks that made her eyes almost glow in contrast.

In the end, that was how she decided to dress for their little get-together. She wasn’t the same old Bloom anymore, and while it would be more of a shock to the boys who hadn’t seen her since that day, it was better to rip off the band-aid now than to pretend everything was fine and she’d simply reverted to before her kidnapping. That just wasn’t going to happen, and her behaviour would make it obvious, if only because she still didn’t handle loud and crowded places very well.

“Ready to go?” Stella appeared in the doorframe, smiling encouragingly when she spotted Bloom’s outfit, and Bloom nodded in turn, clipping on her snowflake and attaching the black ribbon around her neck. Stella had said it pulled the look together, and Bloom liked the feeling of something protecting her neck, even if it was just ribbon and wouldn't actually do anything.

“Yeah. Still not going to tell me what the big surprise is, Stell?” She had to try.

“Nope! You’ll see~” Stella responded enthusiastically, fussing over the way her top was draping, brushing a few stray locks of hair behind Bloom’s ears before deeming her ready. “You look stunning, bestie.”

Bloom felt herself blush, the reaction unexpected when she was more or less used to Stella giving her compliments to a degree. “Thanks, you too.” Stella had chosen this golden flowing dress that stopped around her thighs, was lightly layered and had this beautiful blend of pink running through it that made it look like she was wearing the sunset. It looked perfect on her.

“Of course I do~” Stella chimed, pulling Bloom into their dorm’s shared area to check if the others were ready too before they all headed out to Magix once again. The bus ride passed quickly, excited chatter amongst the girls that Bloom kept out of because her expectations… Well, regardless of what Stella said, there was one thing she didn’t expect to happen, and getting her hopes up was pointless. She’d just be hurt again if she did. So she ignored Stella’s knowing and encouraging gaze, simply letting the girls talk amongst themselves again.

As soon as they got off the bus—

“Brandon!” Stella practically flew off the steps and into her boyfriend’s arms, earning a chuckle from Bloom who’d followed her off the bus second. She hears a soft ‘whoa' but doesn’t quite register who it belongs to, simply enjoying watching her friends reunite with their partners, Layla by her side as the only other one without a date for the day.

“Huh, I thought Stella said she’d invited all the boys..” Layla mused softly beside her, and she glanced almost sharply at her. So her guess had been correct after all. She isn’t the only one to either, for Stella heard the comment and snapped around so fast Bloom wondered if she got whiplash. Sharp eyes scanned their little gathered crowd and Layla was proven right, the blond was missing from their group. Bloom had already resigned herself to that, though.

“What- Where is he?! He said he’d be here!” Stella looked furious on her behalf, even her other half approved, stirring in her mind thanks to the swirl of disappointment she hadn’t been able to avoid, and the irritation that he’d once again managed to ghost her.

“That snotty bitch Diaspro picked him up about an hour ago, saying he had business for Eraklyon to tend to or some shit.” Came Riven’s snarky reply, immediately catching Bloom’s attention. She hadn’t seen Diaspro since that fiasco during the exhibition at Red Fountain, and the reminder filled her with equal disdain and embarrassment over her behaviour at the time.

“Isn't she a different kingdom’s princess? Why is she running errands for Eraklyon?” The words came out of her mouth, but she hadn’t intended to say them, her other half having something less of a filter on her, though the question was a good one… Why was Diaspro running errands for Eraklyon?

“Probably trying to score points with the royal family, it’s not like that little contract of theirs got broken after all.” The reply was flippant, but she wondered if Riven was acting this way because of his usual dislike of Sky, or if it was because he disapproved of their… situation. It wasn’t like Bloom liked it either, but Sky had made it clear to her that he had no intention of marrying Diaspro and wasn’t interested in her like that. He’d said he’d figure something out…

“Knock it off, Riven.” Brandon to the rescue, predictably. “You know as well as the rest of us that King Erendor likes to spring sudden demands on him.”

“Convenient timing, if you ask me.”

“Now now, that’s enough. We’re here to have a good time, aren’t we? It’s unfortunate Sky couldn’t make it, but these things happen.” Helia stepped between them both verbally and physically to diffuse the situation, Flora had found herself a good partner in that one. They suited each other.

“You're right.” Bloom answered, not really wanting to dwell on it too much anymore. “I'm not surprised anyway, let’s just go.”

Whatever Riven had to say to that she didn’t catch, but she saw Musa elbowing him in the ribs for it, so it must not have been particularly flattering. Part of her still found it surprising to watch them have a dynamic like that. Oh she’d heard from Stella that the two of them had finally gotten together either during or right after the battle at Shadowhaunt, but they’d been at each other’s throats over miscommunication so much that she wondered if this was even going to last.

She wound up spending most of her trip watching the other couples and thinking of Sky, partially missing him and partially annoyed he’s absent. He used to be much more available back when they’d first gotten to know each other, and though he didn’t always know how, he’d tried to be there for her. Bloom for her part had liked how he tried, and he was quite attractive besides. The whole crown prince of Eraklyon thing was irrelevant to her, it wasn’t like she’d grown up in those circles after all.

“You shouldn’t be too hard on him.” Layla fell into step beside her, a small smile on her lips that said Bloom had been a little too expressive about her thoughts. “I've heard king Erendor can be quite demanding of his only heir, though usually our parents try to avoid calling on us during the school year.”

Bloom sighed, maybe it would do her good to talk about it, even if she didn’t want to be too vulnerable while everyone was having fun and potentially bring down the mood. But Layla looked at her encouragingly and she caved for their newest member.

“It wouldn’t piss me off so much if he at least texted, you know?” Her brows settled into a frown, finally no longer hiding her feelings about it all. “I haven’t heard from him in over a week but he had time to text Stella to say he’d be here for this? What the heck is that all about? He’s been distant for ages, I really thought he’d be there for me after everything but instead he says he’s busy and doesn’t have time. At first he’d at least say he wishes he could be there, but now it’s like I don’t even exist!”

Layla blinked as she processed Bloom’s frustration as well as the things she was saying, frowning lightly herself. Andros had had some dealings with Eraklyon in the past but nothing had indicated the level of strictness about communications that was implied in Bloom’s words. The only thing she could think of was that Erendor didn’t approve of Bloom and was forbidding Sky from contacting her, though sending out a message through the others would be more than doable while at school at least. Hadn’t he only left that morning?

“You're right, that’s strange… I was considering whether it was a possibility that Erendor doesn’t want Sky to be in contact with you, but it doesn’t seem like he’s trying very hard to subvert that order if that’s the case.” She’d generally heard good things about Sky, and he was quite the gentleman as well, so why this was happening was a mystery.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the king doesn’t want him around me… Last year there was an incident during this demonstration at Red Fountain. We weren’t invited but Sky was acting strange and I wanted to talk to him so me and the girls snuck in. I ran into Diaspro and she said she was Sky’s girlfriend. The Trix had played a mean trick on me not too long before that, so I thought that was another one of their plots somehow, because I didn’t want to believe Sky had been lying to me. I might have um, gotten into a bit of a public fight with her over it before their betrothal was confirmed. Erendor was not happy…”

Layla winced at the description of what sounded like a complete and utter public relations disaster. “Yeah that’d do it…” She wondered why Bloom hadn’t simply waited until after the event to confront Sky about it, but there was no point in thinking about what ifs regarding past events.

“So what happens now, do you think you still want to try with him?” Layla asked after a few moments of silent contemplation.

“I.. don’t know.” She admitted honestly. “Part of me really misses him and is sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for all of this, and another part of me is furious that he wouldn’t even let me know anything. Everything at Shadowhaunt happened and I thought he’d be there for me, but instead he’s off doing who knows what and won’t even keep in touch. Isn’t that the bare minimum?!”

Oops, she took a quick breath, noticing her hair had picked up motion in a non-existent breeze and her nails were digging into her palms. When she glanced back at Layla the girl’s eyes were wide and a little startled, clearly not having expected her temper to manifest more physically. Though when she comments on it, what Layla has to say startles her.

“Um, your eyes.. they…” Layla trailed off, unsure whether saying what she’d seen would be helpful or not. Bloom deserved to know though, not like she’d hold up a mirror while angry and odds were the other fairies at school would have a much worse reaction if they saw. “They looked yellow just then… Like before.”

“Oh.” A beat, then she bites at her bottom lip, slowly unclenching her fists and taking a deep breath. “I.. should probably be surprised, huh?” She’d tried to keep some things hidden, but she felt comfortable with Layla today, comfortable enough to let go of a few secrets she normally only gave to Stella. “It's like she’s still there sometimes, like she became a part of me and shares my thoughts. She’s.. angry on my behalf, about Sky.”

The fairy of waves looked slightly intimidated but reminded herself that Darkar was gone and couldn’t hurt them again. Dark Bloom had been scary and powerful, but she wasn’t being controlled anymore. That was an important distinction to keep in mind… Right?

“I know you said before it felt like that side of you hadn’t really gone away but.. I didn’t realise it felt like a different person inside your head. This.. it’s real, isn’t it? Not tangible, but in the magic…”

Bloom nodded. “I don’t want to say it’s been getting worse, because I’ve been doing better, but it’s like the distinction is becoming clearer. I can tell more easily what’s me and what’s her. Maybe it’s happening because I couldn’t accept the things I’d done while under his influence, or maybe it’s something else. Maybe Darkar’s power did something to me that caused this. But she’s not.. dangerous?” It was hard to put into words… She had no idea what was going on exactly, but she’d long shut down Stella about taking her issues to headmistress Faragonda. She didn’t want the older fairy to decide she might be a danger to herself or others and ban her from Alfea. One thing she did know for sure was that her darker side wouldn’t hurt her friends.

“Now that I don’t believe~” Layla said with a more lighthearted tone, trying for something playful. “I'd say both of you are dangerous when you want to be, but you’re in control of it now, right? Even if you’re affected by it, it doesn’t control you.”

Bloom could only smile at her and nod, quietly relieved that Layla had believed her when she didn’t really have any reason to. Bloom wasn’t the only one who had mental scars left behind by Darkar after all, Layla had suffered plenty during her time trying to rescue the pixies alone. She was brave and resilient, and Bloom silently admired her for it.

“Then I don’t see a point in worrying about it. Besides, you’re allowed to be angry at him regardless of Sky’s reasons.”

“Thanks, Layla.” The two of them brushed shoulders in gentle affection since they were still walking, simply enjoying the other’s company as they followed the group to wherever they’d decided to go.

“What are you two chatting about, hm?” Musa’s voice chimed in, having noticed their two lonesome friends staying back and caught in what had looked from the corner of her eye as quite intense conversation.

“Sky.” Bloom murmured, not quite willing to rehash the topic again, having said her piece once had calmed her down enough that she didn’t want to dwell on the whole thing.

“Ah, I’m sorry he couldn’t make it. Riven’s been complaining about him practically the entire time so far.” She grouched lightly, though when Bloom glanced towards Riven who was simply looking through the window displays with his hands in his pockets, looking no more irritated than usual, she had to wonder if Musa wasn’t exaggerating just a teeny tiny little bit.

Seeing Bloom was closing off a little, clearly unwilling to get into the whole topic again, Layla diverted Musa’s attention by asking about her latest composition projects, allowing Bloom some respite from the drain of emotionally loaded conversation and letting her join the rest of the group a little further ahead. Bloom was grateful for the reprieve and shot Layla a small smile before walking ahead, peering at the various displays she’d not been paying attention to until then. A hardware and tech store advertising the latest model of mobile phone, a shop for pet accessories and the like, even a shop for sports and riding gear.

As she glanced at the display of helmets, gloves and other protective gear, she realised Riven wasn’t looking at the stuff in the window so much as her reflection in the glass with an expression she couldn’t place. A little unsure of what he wanted, she was about to look away when he spoke up, softly enough it wouldn’t catch everyone’s attention in the process.

“A little on the nose, isn’t it?” He gestured lightly towards the barrette in her hair, and she almost froze. No one had actually called her out on that yet and the sudden remark had taken her aback. Maybe some of the girls had thought it but no one had actually said anything, yet how come Riven took one look at her hair clip and knew exactly what it meant? 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Came her retort, quick and sharp, like a warning. Perhaps predictably he only snorted at that. Riven had always been the type to just speak his mind whenever he wanted, without much consideration for the feelings of whoever was on the other end of it. Unfortunately he also had a penchant for being right.

“I'll just pretend I believe you then, shall I?” He snarked, almost smirking at her. What was his deal? It didn’t seem like he minded the symbolism if she was reading his expression right, so why even bring it up? To embarrass her and make her falter? Well… Maybe, actually. She hadn’t forgotten that first time they met, how he’d flirted with her and managed to annoy her in the same moment.

“That'd be great yeah, thanks.” She answers in kind, not sure where this is going but willing to play along if only so she doesn’t actually have to admit to anything. Besides, she’s been diligently avoiding so much as thinking about the Trix when she could help it and she wasn’t inclined to change that now.

“Sure thing.” He replied, sounding amused, and she chanced a glance at him only to find Riven looking back with a more knowing expression than he really had any right to have. “Nice style change by the way, it suits you.”

What…?

Riven chuckled softly as he left Bloom to her own devices so she could process their little encounter. Oh they’d all been warned to be kind to Bloom today, that she was still working through a lot, but he’d taken that to mean she’d be easily triggered into that temper of hers, that she’d be disheveled and unfocussed. Instead she’d shown up looking like that, and Musa had predictably elbowed him for his reaction. But come on, she practically looked like a baby witch among fairies, how was he supposed to ignore that?

The others managed, somehow. He noticed Brandon looking twice, Helia had asked Flora a few questions just out of earshot but he knew the other’s body language well enough to tell a sensitive conversation was going on and he’s pretty sure those two had never so much as glared at each other, so not much else it could be about. Timmy and Tecna were off in their own world as usual, and Sky was absent, also as usual.

He’d be more annoyed about it if it didn’t mean being spared the entitled prince’s holier-than-thou attitude. Even back when they’d been freshmen at Red Fountain, Sky had acted as though his being the leader of their group was a given and it had irritated Riven, who had something to prove. It led to them butting heads for the entire year, and while they had learned to work together, a part of him still thought Brandon was more suited to the role despite the way his pride disliked being second-best.

Riven almost wishes Sky actually had been here today, if only to catch his expression at the sight of his girlfriend looking like she might consider transferring schools. Alright so it wasn’t that bad, but playing with the idea is fun and Riven isn’t exactly unfamiliar with witches, even beyond that time Darcy had spelled him to like her. 

Absently responding to Musa’s reactions to various things in the display windows that he didn’t really care about, he glanced back to the rest of the group in time to catch Bloom and Layla in conversation and damn, the fairy was fuming. He didn’t see her this mad often, it’s a little thrilling to watch and he’d have made some impressed sound had he not known Musa would round on him for it; friend or not, she was the jealous type.

When Musa slipped away to sate her curiosity once she’d finally noticed Layla and Bloom chatting, he hadn’t expected Bloom to actually slip away from the company towards the rest of the group. In the reflection of a shop window he caught sight of her hair accessory and oh. Well then. She can’t give him bait like that and expect him not to comment, now can she?

“A little on the nose, isn’t it?”

Bloom’s reaction only made him want to tease her further, so defensive. The fairy knew exactly what she was doing with that, didn’t she? Otherwise she’d have responded with confusion and then denial once she caught on, reassurances that she wasn’t wearing the ice witch’s symbol in her hair. But she’d shut him down instead… Clearly Stella wasn’t keeping enough of an eye on her after all.

In the end he chose not to push, deciding that pissing her off would serve no purpose here. Instead he’s curious about her motivation behind these changes and what else she’s up to.

That, however, did not stop him from commenting on her style change, and her stunned expression had made him laugh, simply walking away from her and giving the poor fairy some breathing room lest she combusted. Had no one called her out on this stuff before? Apparently not, if this was how she responded.

Looks like things are going to get quite interesting around the Winx.

Chapter Text

Past her own annoyance and Riven’s inflammatory comments, the rest of their outing had actually been quite pleasant and enjoyable. So Bloom had expected she’d get ready for bed, let her head hit the pillow and simply pass out, but when was she ever that lucky?

It wasn’t even something specific that was bothering her, but she still shifted and turned around onto her other side, adjusting her duvet as she moved and trying to ignore that niggling feeling in the back of her head that said she was being watched. Not right now, her dorm room was safe, but in general. It was like if she just turned around she’d see the eyes that were on her. It wasn’t any one person in particular, though as she turned sharply to look behind, she caught sight of a few pairs she recognised in the darkness.

Darkar’s glowing red orbs made her flinch, but they vanished in shadow soon enough, Icy’s silvery blue, Stella’s warm brown, Riven’s purple— All shifting in and out of sight. She couldn’t make out any distinct shapes, only shadows within what felt like a thicket, those bright shining colours cutting through the darkness, watching or maybe judging. It didn’t even matter, they all wanted something from her, whether that something was good or bad in the end was irrelevant. 

When she turned around again, it was her own eyes she met, glowing a soft gold she should be frightened by but though her heart thundered in her chest, she didn’t flinch. Not even when her other self smiled at her and spoke.

“Hello, sister.”

She hadn’t even realised she’d fallen asleep.

“Well well well, what have we here?” The ice was hardly an obstacle, being shattered only moments after their less than careful landing on the surface of— Alright, not bad. A flick of her wrist was enough to shatter the ice her sisters were trapped in. They didn’t have her natural resistance, so it was no wonder they were disoriented and shivering. This place was trying to sap their powers, but she wasn’t the most powerful ice witch since the Ancestral Witches for nothing.

“Get up, we’ve got work to do sisters.” A soft white glow enveloped them and she nodded in satisfaction. It wasn’t a cure or anything but it would help them be a little less useless in this environment, not that she actually minds being somewhere others have to rely on her. 

“Ugh, where are we…?” Stormy slowly got to her feet, almost regretting her usual heels when the frozen surface nearly makes her slip and fall unceremoniously back to the frozen ground. 

“The Omega dimension…” Darcy’s the one who answers her, looking around with wary amazement. Not every day you get sent down here and actually get to be conscious for it, after all.

“Shit. Looks like they’re finally taking us seriously, huh?”

“It certainly took them long enough.” Icy agreed, pulling Darcy up herself since she had yet to move off the floor, leaving Stormy to manage it by herself. “Now get over it, we won’t be able to keep any of that reputation if we stay here and starve to death.”

“Uhh, don’t you mean freeze to death?” Stormy approached with careful steps, feeling like a newborn faun and hating every second of it. But this place made her feel weak and so wasting her power to fly felt like a really dumb idea.

“No, idiot. Why do you think you didn’t freeze back up the moment I got you out?”

Right, right, fair point.

“So we need shelter, food, a way to regain our strength and get the hell out of here.” Darcy sighed, this was not going to be easy… Well, no one said escaping from Omega would be, technically it’s not even supposed to be possible. “What do we even know about this place? It’s not like they really go over all the major prisons in school and how they work…”

“There's a gate in Andros that leads to it, but it’s heavily guarded.” Stormy chimed in, earning a surprised look from Darcy that really makes her wish she could zap her sister right now because, really Darce?

Darcy is quick to hold her hands up in surrender, no point in picking a fight right now, much as it would be very cathartic and help with her nerves. “Not really an option though, is it? We’re already weakened here, getting through that portal’s going to be hard as hell from this side and then we’d still have to fight off the entirety of Andros’ military… Normally I’d be game but not with these circumstances.”

“You're right.” Icy said, walking back into view and making her sisters realise she’d been quiet not because she blended with the scenery but because she’d gone to check their surroundings without them. “Breaking our way out isn’t something we can do right now, and I don’t know about you girls but after Darkar I’m not too interested in letting some other warlock tell us what to do.”

“The power boost was nice though…” Darcy mused, only to be shot down by Stormy once again.

“Sure, except isn't the Shadow Phoenix supposed to be like the primordial big bad? The Winx kicked his ass no problem, so that power-up wasn’t really worth shit, was it?” Never mind he’d all but cast the Trix aside once he’d acquired Bloom, which none of them had taken kindly to.

“Fair enough, it’s not like we can actually trust them to share power regardless of what they say.” Darcy admitted with a light shrug, really wishing those assholes had had the decency to send them down here in a little more than their damn casual summer clothes.

“Exactly.” Icy nodded, regarding her sisters and seeing her own determination to do this on their own reflected in their eyes. “We can’t trust any of the people down here, if they can’t get out on their own they’re not worth our time anyway. So how about we just get out the way we came in?”

It took Stormy a second before she looked up. Frozen cliffs and sharp winds, and a cloud cover she couldn’t seem to breach. Who knew how far up this place went…

“Up there? But Icy…”

Darcy had to agree, even if it did seem like the only other option. “They dropped us out of a ship, it’s not like those fly by frequently enough for us to hijack before we run out of air… And that’s if we can even get up that high…”

“Ye of little faith.” Icy scoffed. “We'll manage, we’re the Trix after all, nothing is impossible for us.”

“So, am I the only one really looking forward to Sky’s face when he finally sees Bloom in person?” Really, this was the best entertainment he’d gotten in ages, of course he’s looking forward to it. And what’s a little fun without dragging the other guys into it and seeing how offended they’ll get?

“Shut up, Riven. Why do you even care?” Brandon actually looks tired of his bullshit instead of offended on Sky’s behalf. Well well, progress at last. So of course he’s going to take the invitation, wrapping an arm over Brandon’s shoulders in an overly familiar way both of them hate but is absolutely worth it just for the sake of uprooting the status quo.

“Aw, not going to defend Sky this time? It’s about time, really.” Brandon had been standing up for Sky and defending his actions for as long as he’d known them, so almost two years now, and considering their situation, Brandon had probably been doing it for much longer than that. And really, doesn’t he know by now that putting Sky first when the guy is being a total asshole is a great way to get people pissed off?

“Mind your own business.” Brandon snapped, pushing him off. “He can do that himself when he gets here.” Riven’s practically lighting up at that declaration, Brandon’s not usually the type to get very annoyed, on occasion he even seems to enjoy Riven’s needling, though he knows neither of them would actually admit it aloud.

“It is a little strange he didn’t show up.” Timmy admitted from the back of the group as they walked back to their dorm. “Did Diaspro really show up to get him for his dad?” The raised eyebrow is so very unwarranted.

“Would I make something like that up? Come on, Timmy.” He tries for mock offence but gets shut down quickly when the entire group unanimously replies with a solid yes. And alright, he absolutely would, but still.

“She did, actually. Truth’s more fun than lies when it comes to stuff like that, and Bloom and Diaspro can’t even be in the same room without something breaking. Well, not that I can blame them.” He’s walking backwards next to Brandon at the head of their group so he can observe everyone’s reactions, hands tucked into his jeans pockets.

Brandon sighs to his left and Riven turns to face him, eyebrows raised. Those sighs are usually preceded by interesting information, so it immediately has all his attention. 

“Oh don’t look at me like that.” Brandon snaps mulishly when he looks up to find Riven looking entirely too anticipatory. “You know as well as I do that Sky didn’t come clean about Diaspro to Bloom and avoided her over it last year, then promised nothing would happen with Diaspro because he doesn’t care for her. While that’s true, Erendor doesn’t want Sky to be with Bloom and hasn’t dissolved the marriage contract. He may very well end up not having a choice in the matter, and she’ll end up blindsided again if that happens.”

Anyone can see that Brandon not only disapproves of that scenario but worries for the chaos it’ll sow among the Winx. Stella might be aware and able to warn Bloom in advance considering she’s a royal herself but Eraklyon hadn’t been very open in communication since Domino’s fall and wasn’t likely to share much of anything past its borders, especially not when it comes to internal affairs like the crown prince’s betrothal contract. That was between Eraklyon and Isis.

Riven for his part can only whistle softly because damn, that’s messed up…

“Why doesn’t he simply tell her the truth?” Helia speaks up for the first time, a light frown on his face that reminds Riven that while he sometimes gives his teammates shit just because, they’re actually really good people.

“Beats me." Brandon shrugged. ”He keeps telling me everything will be fine and not to worry about it, and it’s not like I can just ignore him and go tell her.” Sometimes Eraklyon’s hierarchy really fucking sucked.

“Well, then how about this?” The way Riven suddenly has everyone’s attention makes him want to preen, but he pushes it down for now. “We don’t tell him shit.”

Brandon starts to open his mouth and frown but Riven’s quick to cut him off. “I mean it. Listen, he doesn’t tell her anything and keeps her out of the loop, doesn’t even keep in touch and expects her to just be waiting when he gets back as if nothing happened, right? So why should we keep him informed? It’s his own responsibility to keep an eye on her, and frankly I don’t feel like playing peacekeeper between those two. Either he deserves her or he doesn’t.”

It’s silent for a bit and it’s very satisfying that he’s not just getting dismissed immediately.

“And you’ve had how many issues with Musa so far?” The tone is teasing but Riven snaps around with a glare anyway to end up face to face with Helia, who is holding his hands up in surrender. Sneaky bastard, always knew that guy was sharper than he pretends to be. 

“I do agree with Riven though.” Helia continues, and Riven’s shoulders lose some tension. “We aren’t here to keep his love life in one piece, that’s up to him and Bloom.”

Much as Riven doesn’t like it when the others poke into his relationship with Musa, he can let it go for now. That’s not what the conversation is about after all, and doubling down about it would just shift everyone’s focus into his business, which… No thanks.

The others give their agreement and split up into groups when they get to their respective rooms. Dropping into his bunk, Riven muses that he hadn’t been this satisfied over the outcome of a conversation in quite a while. Clearly he should be sticking his nose in other people’s business more often~

Besides, much as he likes being the person others love to hate, he does actually care about the team and he’s well aware of all the pressure Brandon’s under from Sky, even keeping secrets from his girlfriend for his prince. Never mind the tension among the Winx themselves that no doubt had Stella giving him updates and asking for advice or a shoulder to lean on. Brandon was one busy guy.

It’ll be summer soon though, he wonders how everyone will hold up once they all head back to their respective homes and responsibilities.

“So, what is a princess ball, anyway?” Bloom asked one evening because Stella had been an absolute whirlwind of excitement the closer their end of term got, and while seeing her friends happy made her happy, she didn’t actually understand any of the context or implications around it. The way she understood it, it was just a party, which would absolutely get Stella excited but not this bad.

“It's like a coming out party, in a way, her debut.” Layla replied from the couch across from her, trying valiantly to ignore the way Stella was making her room worse instead of better in the name of organising. Pretty sure she heard several boxes of fabric fall down at some point but no one really dared to try and help lest they got buried in fabric too. They’d rescue her in time for dinner though.

“What do you mean?”

“It's a princess’ formal introduction to the realm, specifically as representative of their world and solidifying their position within the royal family’s hierarchy. For Stella that means affirming to the entire magical dimension that she is the crown princess and King Radius’ heir, future Queen of Solaria.” It was Tecna who answered her, and Bloom’s eyes went wide. That sounded like a huge deal!

“Yeah, which is why Stella’s turning her entire room upside down right now. She’s not just packing, she’s trying to figure out what to wear.” Musa chimed in from her spot at a nearby desk where she’d been working on her tunes, headphones only half on her head and thus catching the rest of their conversation. Flora was out by the greenhouses doing her usual end of year checkups on the plants and saying goodbye to them. They’d be maintained, of course, but that was Flora for you. She cared even if they weren’t really her own plants.

Bloom winced at the thought of sorting through the literal mountain of stuff Stella somehow fit in her room to find a specific dress to wear to her princess ball. It was the event of the season, of course Stella was going to go crazy over her wardrobe and decide she had absolutely nothing suitable to wear before going on a massive shopping spree. Bloom could already picture it now.

“I thought that kind of introduction to society party usually happened around sixteen though? At least where I’m from.” Bloom murmured, trying to figure it out. Shouldn’t Stella’s debut in high society already have happened?

“I mean, yeah, but the age is a lot more flexible here. It’s usually between ages sixteen and twenty-one actually.” Layla confirmed. “Mine actually already happened before I met you girls, my parents wanted me to start networking early I guess.” Well, there was that, and the fact that she knew her parents intended to arrange a strategic match for her, so the less attachments of that kind she had prior to her debut, the better. It would set a good example of availability and allow her parents to enter negotiations without any messy feelings involved. Or well, messier than the fit she absolutely intended to throw once her parents finished the initial arrangements.

“I guess that makes sense. Stella turned eighteen last year right? Plus next year is the year we’re supposed to graduate.” Bloom mused, not sure about the timeline though it really wasn’t any of her business, she was just curious.

“It’d make more sense for them to wait until after she graduates actually, she’d have a lot more clout as a fully fledged fairy and they could ignore that she had to repeat a year more easily. I’m not sure why they’re scheduling it now, or on such short notice.” Musa refuted, emphasising her point with her fingers almost as if she was conducting her words instead of simply speaking them.

“Agreed, though at least she’ll have the rest of the summer to network in Solaria’s social circles before school starts again.” Managing both school and the pressures of high society was not easy whatsoever in Layla’s experience and the chance to be off at Alfea instead of being schooled in Andros made it a lot easier to manage. A lot of royalty came to Alfea after all, and there was no way her parents wouldn’t approve of her forming ties with Solaria’s crown princess.

“All this talk of high society is giving me a headache.” Bloom laughed softly. “I have no idea how you guys manage it, I’d be a complete disaster.”

“Well, you are Domino’s lost princess, so I wouldn’t be too quick to assume you’ll have nothing to do with it at all.” Tecna pointed out, making Bloom wince slightly.

“I guess? Not like I have any family to teach me though, not really…” Daphne could, of course, but her sister struggled to have the energy to contact her when it was important, bothering her for something Bloom was tempted to think of as frivolous seemed like a waste when it came to getting to see her older sister. Even if Daphne would in fact know Domino’s traditions by heart and be able to answer her questions.

“I could teach you!” A beat of silence, then another before whatever balance Stella had managed as she poked her head through her door was broken and she tumbled to the floor, tangled up in several bits of pretty fabric with a sharp yelp. Though Bloom gets up to detangle her best friend from her fiber prison, they’re absolutely all laughing at Stella’s predicament.

“I mean it though.” Stella continued as she dusted herself off and sent Bloom a grateful look. “Besides, I’m kidnapping you for the party anyway. Much easier to just have you stay with me on Solaria until the party instead of sending you home just to pick you up a few days later. Oh, and I am so helping with your wardrobe.” Yep, she’s still in whirlwind mode, but Bloom can’t help but smile warmly at her.

“I'll have to let mom and dad know not to expect me until later in the summer, but I’d love that Stella.” She’d never really been anywhere beyond the schools and Magix after all. Shadowhaunt didn’t count. Her first trip to one of her friends’ homes, she can’t wait!

“Oh, obviously you’re all invited by the way.” Stella added, a quick motion of her wrist making invitations appear in front of all of them. Flora’s appeared on her desk instead and Bloom eyed the warm hue of the paper and golden lettering with amazement. She didn’t think she’d ever held something this fancy before… “There's still about two weeks until the event though, what will you all be doing during the rest of the vacation?”

Bloom just shrugged, not really having anything specific planned, she’d probably just end up helping her mom at the flower shop again and try to ignore Mitzi’s annoying and incessant attempts at making her feel inferior.

The others clearly had plans though. Tecna had some projects at home that she could coordinate with others on apparently and they sounded quite official too, though Tecna waved off any comments about it being impressive as just being protocol. Bloom’s not really buying it, and neither is Musa, who’s teasingly digging her elbow into her roommate’s waist.

She and Layla were apparently headed for the beach; summer, sun, parties and surfing sounded absolutely up their alley and absolutely wonderful besides. Her parents usually didn’t really take any big vacations due to their jobs, Vanessa owned the shop and Mike was too responsible to take time off fire fighting after all, but maybe she could convince them to do something small?

The rest of their afternoon ended up filled with laughter and teasing as they all decided to help Stella out with her luggage situation, a mix of manual labour, magic and keeping Kiko from getting trapped in any of the suitcases.

Once they all got settled for the evening, dinner finished and lights dimmed, Bloom settled onto her bed and fished one of her copied books out from under her bed. She was aware by now that the others knew all about them and that she was absolutely shit at being sneaky about it, but nobody had pried and she appreciated it. She’d mastered the copying spell by now to the point she could actually copy old tomes into a legible font even, which she was very proud of and had quickly realised was necessary lest she strained her eyes on the overly complicated cursive they tended to be written in.

She’d gone back to Cloud Tower a few more times, making sure she’d have a few books copied and set aside for the summer. Plus, the more time she spent in the magical dimension, the more she’d have access to reading material.

Bloom still very much wanted to figure out the whole witch versus fairy thing. It didn’t really look all that straightforward, even though when she’d entered the magical dimension for the first time it had seemed like it was. Stella had declared her to be a fairy after one look at her powers with no transformation, and while she loved her life at Alfea, why had Stella been so sure? Why not declare her a witch instead? None of her reading indicated that it was something you were born with, even if having parents of certain magical inclinations made it more likely for you to match. 

Her mother and sister had both been fairies, so it stood to reason that she was too. Fairy of the Dragon Flame, whatever that really meant. No one had explained it to her, and it wasn’t until Darkar that she realised her power was something inherited, something ancient. She was magical even without it, but she was also its protector and keeper. She took that duty seriously now that she knew it was hers, eve if she would have protected herself regardless.

She would never give her power to another now, not even to the Trix.

Bloom wondered briefly where they were and what they were up to now. She knew they’d been captured in the end, weakened from the fight and the loss of their power-boost from Darkar, that they’d been sent to what was apparently a prison for the worst offenders. Frankly she’s not sure if they deserve to be sent to a place like that. Sure they’d done some awful things but they were still barely adult witches, surely that didn’t warrant being sent to a prison where you’re basically frozen for eternity?

She can’t dwell on it though, she’s free now and she’d likely never see the Trix again. Thinking of them would just make something in her chest twist uncomfortably… That persistent something that had gone from enemy to not quite friend, but something in between. An attachment that she studiously tried to deny, even though the sister of her mind missed them…

Stubbornly, Bloom focussed on the pages in front of her once more. There had to be something in the books she’d copied. Something that could tell her, could reassure her that despite what had happened, the core of her magic hadn’t changed. That she was still a fairy at heart and would remain one. That she wouldn’t suddenly be unable to cast her own magic anymore.

Despite everything that had happened to her, she remained determined not to let it shape her.

Meanwhile, deep down in the Omega dimension, three young witches crossed the frozen form of a warlock dressed in sharp clothes and condemned to several life sentences and walked straight past him. They would deal with the ice serpents and escape on their own.

Chapter Text

“Mom and dad are getting back together!!! That’s got to be the surprise he’s talking about! Oh I can’t wait to go home!!”

She remembered gushing so avidly over her father’s letter once it had arrived just a day ago, right before the final day of school. Oh she’d been over the moon, it was after all her greatest desire. She stayed with her father because she adored him but also because it was her responsibility as the crown princess of Solaria, but she missed her mother fiercely and wanted the woman back in her life. So maybe she’d drawn a hasty conclusion…

Or maybe it hadn’t been? She’s doubting now, because all day she’d been hearing ‘princess of Solaria’ this and ‘princess of Solaria’ that, but none of it was referring to her. Instead it was about Chimera. She knows the girl but only vaguely and can’t quite place from where, but really does it even matter?!

The bint was going around declaring to anyone within earshot that she would be princess of Solaria and for some godforsaken reason the shops in Magix were actually catering to her when Stella knew they didn’t normally bother. Besides, news of Stella’s princess ball had been spread far and wide for months so what gives?? Did they know something she didn’t?

She spent the day fuming more so to cover the quiet hurt building in her chest each time Chimera cut her off or took what was meant to be hers. It felt like a pattern… No matter where they went, for food or accessories or hunting for the perfect dress for her ball, Chimera was there with her superiority complex and none of the wit or skill to go with it, demanding everything be handed to her on a silver platter.

Now Chimera had cut her off at the register and taken the dress she’d spent about two hours picking out, dragging a gradually more and more exhausted Bloom with her everywhere. Stella even struggled to split her attention between her own desires and her best friend’s enjoyment with how much this was rattling her.

Finally Stella dropped onto a bench, head in her hands as she groaned. A whole day lost, and while there were other shops in Magix, the whole thing had stressed her out so bad she didn’t even want to try shopping again. Her! Shopping expert supreme—

“Stella…”

She looked up from between the curtain her hair had made for her to look at Bloom’s concerned and slightly indecisive expression. Poor thing had been pulled left and right, tried keeping the peace before Stella and Chimera got into a physical altercation several times, and had overall been an absolute saint. Honestly, Stella wasn’t sure if she deserved her right now.

“I'm sorry Bloom…” She muttered finally, pushing her hair back with a deep sigh. “Today was a complete disaster and I didn’t help matters. I just don’t understand why—” Stella cut herself off as she noticed her tone shift from apology into agitation again. No point in rehashing her whole tirade, it wouldn’t help. Even if she felt more anxious than excited about her party now. Chimera would be there, she’d recalled that she was countess Cassandra’s daughter, and if she could afford to rescind the girl’s invitation she absolutely would.

Alas, though it was her own soiree, she had no influence on the guest list beyond adding her own invitees to it.

“It's okay.” Bloom had sat next to her, a gentle hand resting on Stella’s shoulder that she reaches up to squeeze in thanks.

“It's not, but thank you. I really don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes.”

A soft chuckle was her answer and she smiled softly. When was the last time she’d heard that sound from Bloom without her sounding strained? Much as the circumstances weren’t great at the moment, hearing her friend sound more at ease than she had in a while was reassuring. She hadn’t messed everything up just yet, then.

“Oh I don’t know what I’m going to do though!” She lamented after a comfortable moment of silence, throwing her hands up and standing to pace in front of the bench, feeling the need for movement to get rid of the tension she was carrying. Like static needing an outlet. “I already can’t always find what I want in Magix and next week’s ball is important, I can’t just show up in something basic, I’ll be the embarrassment of the year. They gossip about these things for months afterwards if you screw them up. I can’t do that to myself- Or to my dad.”

Radius already tended not to care about her grades unless she was actively damaging her reputation or failing. That little hiccup with the labs two years ago hadn’t been a major issue at all, just a quick monetary fix and a gentle warning to be more careful next time. Her experimenting hadn’t been a problem, even if she had ended up repeating a year partially because of it.

“What if… No, never mind. Forget I said anything…” Bloom had started speaking but quickly backed down, fiddling with the strap of her bag and Stella slipped from her stressing to fuss over Bloom instead. Confidence only in this group! That was something she could do.

“Nope! No can do, what is it Bloom? I dragged you across all of Magix twice in one day by now I think, the least I can do is listen.”

A little more fiddling was had before Bloom pulled out a worn sketch pad from her bag and flipped to a blank page. Wait, blank? Stella had thought maybe she’d written something down or wanted to show her a sketch, she’d seen her draw in it often enough after all. But a blank page she’d not anticipated. Still, she stays silent, letting Bloom work herself up to the point she wanted to make.

“I know clothing and design is mostly your thing but I might have an idea and… What if I sketch you a design? It’d be unique, and I’m figuring if you know anyone who does that sort of thing they could make it for you in time for the ball?”

Stella blinks at her blankly for a moment, then two, Bloom started shifting a little in her seat again when Stella finished rebooting her brain and squealed, pulling Bloom into a tight hug. 

“Oh my god, could you? That would be amazing! If I can’t make it myself I’m sure I could cash in a favour or two for a rush order. What do you have in mind?”

“Well…”

The next hour was passed with the soft scratch of pencil lead on paper, coming up with the design for it, making several iterations until it turned into something Stella was utterly in love with, who then proceeded to demand Bloom design one for herself as well and they could pair the order. Of course Stella would take care of everything else, it was the least she could do when Bloom was literally saving her big day.

Colour swatches, fabric types and several sides of the two designs later, they finally headed off to find a place to eat something. Exhausted but overall thrilled with their progress. Tomorrow they’d get the designs delivered to someone who could help them bring both gowns to life and then they’d be off to Solaria to get settled and get ready for the event of the season.

“Chimera, what were you thinking?” Cassandra scolded her daughter sharply when she’d told her mother of how her day had been spent antagonising Radius’ daughter, taking her things and causing a scene in public. The countess already had her hands full with the preparations for the ball as well as ensuring everything went smoothly with Radius, that he would follow her suggestions as planned.

Now here was her daughter potentially bringing scrutiny onto them just because of a fit of jealousy. Sometimes she wondered if growing up so near the court had been a detriment to her daughter after all, though Cassandra had hoped Chimera would inherit her wit rather than her father’s brashness. Well, nothing to be done for it now.

“But mom! You told me I’ll have everything that’s hers! She made it so easy anyway, what’s the harm?” Her daughter crossed her arms pouting and though she wanted to be angry, she forced herself to calm lest raised voices drew unwanted attention. The palace was much more crowded than usual so close to the celebration after all.

“There’s plenty of harm in it, especially if Stella grows suspicious and gets in our way, foolish girl. Everything she has will be yours, but you cannot act as though it already is. Do you understand? You’ll apologise when you cross her and you’ll be on your best behaviour. I cannot afford anything to go wrong during such a public event.”

… “Yes mother.” Chimera looked dejected and like she wanted to argue further but subdued herself, earning a nod of approval from her mother.

“Besides, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a subtle way to mess with the soon to be former crown princess during the ball, as long as you aren’t caught. If she’s too busy being stunned by the announcement or dealing with her appearance being ruined on such an important event, she won’t be able to get close enough to Radius to undo all of my hard work.”

“Yes! As long as you still get me what you promised I’m sure I won’t get caught.” Chimera grinned eagerly and Cassandra simply rolled her eyes at her daughter’s antics, pulling a small jewellery box from the pocket hidden in her dress. 

“As if I wouldn’t be able to acquire something like this for you. Be sure to hide it on your person until the party, just to be safe. It should provide enough of a power boost for you to take her by surprise and overwhelm her. The sooner we get Stella out of the way, the easier it’ll be to ensure everything goes well.”

With that settled the two parted ways and calm steps took her to where she knew Radius was overseeing the ballroom's decorations being installed. He didn’t need to do so personally, it was a complete waste of his time but he’d insisted, and Cassandra knew to pick her battles carefully. She’d been planning this for years, no point in allowing the taste of victory to make her careless. Radius’ attachment to his daughter was too strong, she needed to keep reinforcing the suggestions she’d been making. Having gotten this far was already impressive, but she wasn’t done just yet.

“Radius, you look troubled. What is it?” Coming up beside him she could see the slight crease in his brows, that anxious gaze that suggested he was thinking of Stella and doubting himself yet again. It was annoying how besotted the man was with his own daughter, for all that he also failed to actually keep her in check. The girl was a wildcard and utterly disrespectful from Cassandra’s experience, but luckily she rarely had to deal with the princess personally. 

“It's nothing.” Her fiancé denied with a small shake of his head and it took effort not to make him feel more than a comforting pressure on his shoulder when she wanted to dig in her nails with frustration. Thankfully after a brief moment he relented.

“I know you want to have the announcement during the ball but I’m not sure… Springing it on her like that, maybe we should tell her in advance?”

Ah, this old argument. If they told Stella in advance she’d have time to process and would be composed during the ball. Cassandra couldn’t have that. Discrediting Stella was a difficult thing to do, she was surprisingly beloved by their people after all.

“Don’t be silly, she’ll be thrilled to hear the announcement with everyone else. She’s seen your struggles after that woman left first hand, she’ll be undoubtedly happy for you. You don’t need to worry about a thing.” Her hand slipped to his shoulder blades where the soft glow of her turquoise magic wouldn’t be visible to him. Suggestions like this were tricky, but general states of mind and vague beliefs were easier than specific things, especially if those go against the subject’s belief system. So making Radius turn on Stella wasn’t something she was capable of without a considerable power boost and something to make him more susceptible. In other words, it would be obvious something was wrong, especially to Stella.

But something vague like this would simply ease the tension in his shoulders, and he would automatically be more likely to defer to her judgement if only because he wasn’t to worry, and not worrying over something was quite adjacent to not caring. It would be enough even if he simply failed to think about it all.

Now all she had to do was get Stella out of the way and keep him under her suggestion magic until they were wed, then she would finally be able to do as she pleased and bring Solaria back to greatness. Radius’ rule had made the people weak, the man barely had a spine after all. But she would do better, and the planet would thrive, and so in turn would her family prosper.

“Watch out!” Darcy dodged sharply to the left as the serpent’s ray shot directly where she’d been standing. The small layer of ice they’d spelled to the bottom of their shoes provided the grip she needed to run on this terrain, the three of them still avoiding flight to preserve their power. Stormy tried to shoot electricity into its eyes while it was distracted but the damn thing proved somewhat resistant. It looked barely singed, its eyelids had protected it.

Magical serpents really really suck, so of course there would be a ton of them down here.

The three of them had managed to isolate this one from the pack, fighting multiple wasn’t something they could manage right now, but they needed to be able to take down at least one. If they couldn’t protect themselves against the Omega Dimension’s guardians, there was no way they’d be able to escape.

Darcy hopped up onto a frozen rock to give herself some height, quickly thinking. They were losing energy fast in this fight, they’d already been at it for too long. If the fight drew out any longer they’d be toast. “Icy, Stormy, I’ll hold it’s mouth open! See if you can’t damage it from the inside!” She called out suddenly as the idea struck her.

Dark, shadowy magic latched onto the serpent as its mouth was still open and formed sort of a bridle, forcing it to remain in place. The serpent immediately began violently thrashing, which made her very glad she didn’t need to be riding the damn thing for this, but controlling the magic under such resistance was still hard. “Hurry!!”

Icy and Stormy didn’t need much prompting, they needed to combine their powers and hit it where it couldn’t defend and fast. Best way to get into position for that with it moving so much was unfortunately to fly, but that couldn’t be avoided right then. Fairies weren’t the only ones capable of convergence magic, Icy thought vindictively as she and Stormy lined up their magic, a long, thin spear of clear and dense ice formed, the voltage in it making her hair stand on end.

“Hold it steady!” Stormy shouted back to Darcy, who was already visibly straining and simply responded with meaningless cursing rather than waste the energy to shout back. 

Between one moment and the next, the perfect opening formed and the spear shot loose so fast Icy barely saw it fly. Then the serpent swallowed it and they could see the ice and electricity tearing through it rapidly from head to tail and it remained tensed a little while longer, leaving all three witches on edge before finally it slumped down, defeated.

“Finally—“ Stormy dropped right back down to the ground from exertion, Darcy joining her by carefully sliding off the rock, and even Icy could feel the strain as she landed, the slight tremor in her hands as she regarded the beast they’d slain by the skin of their teeth.

“Stupid serpent…” She muttered, vindictively kicking it. Damn, even she was starting to feel cold from exhaustion. If any other serpent showed up they’d be dead, and going through this however many times they might encounter one of these things really wasn’t sustainable.

“Now what…” Stormy muttered, rubbing her arms to keep warm, all three feeling the effect of Icy’s exhaustion as their protection against the freezing cold weakened.

Darcy was the first to recover, within reason. She’d not wasted quite as much energy as the others trying to get through that thick, magically resistant skin, and she’s also the curious one, generally speaking. “I wonder how much that thing’s venom would be worth on the black market…” She muttered, receiving an incredulous stare from her sisters.

“What? It’s a fair question. You don’t get ice serpents like this outside of Omega, it’s got to be worth a lot. Fangs, venom, eyes, the skin…” Not like they could actually bring the damn thing with them though. Even if they dismantled it, any kind of extra luggage would only slow them down.

But Stormy was getting this look in her eyes and finally got up off the floor, taking careful steps towards the serpent and running her fingers over the scales. They felt so cold it was almost scalding, but she was starting to have a theory… Instead she walked over to the mouth and as disgusting as it was to stick her hand in there, it felt… Warm.

“I think I just found the solution to some of our problems, girls.” Her sisters joined her then, confused but intrigued.

“The inside is warm, so the skin is an insulator. We can skin it and turn it into cloaks at the very least, if not a full outfit. There’s more than enough skin, and we wouldn’t have to deal with the cold anymore.”

Icy looked intrigued while Darcy began running the logistics in her head. They didn’t quite know how to properly skin a snake and dry the resulting hide to use for clothing, but Stormy was right. They needed something more than to rely on Icy’s power to function down here, it would free them up to actually conserve their power properly. If they had this, fighting another serpent might not actually be as much of a struggle.

“What about the meat?” Icy chimed in next, poking at the serpent’s hide idly. “It'll attract the other serpents if we leave it there, these things normally have a really annoying sense of smell.”

The three of them exchanged glances, the logical thought coming up unbidden, even though all three pulled a face at the idea of it.

“We don’t even have a fire down here…” Darcy muttered petulantly, though her gaze was already shifting to Stormy. Electricity could cook, technically. They really were too logical for their own good sometimes… Well, even if the solution wasn’t something they much wanted to be doing, they would need to do whatever it takes to stay alive.

If that means eating the snake, then so be it. Right?

It took them much longer than any of them wanted to admit to skin the damn thing, especially because getting through those scales with magical tools instead of physical ones was stupidly difficult, never mind keeping the skin as intact as possible so they could figure out how to use it later.

Having access to actual food instead of just the magically enhanced ice for sustenance also helped. It was quite dense, and at first mostly tasted of nothing or was burnt, but then again, you’re not really supposed to cook anything by just letting Stormy unleash her powers on it… She got the hang of it though, not being as aggressive but actually controlling the voltage and spread of the electricity until they actually ended up with juicy pieces of meat that tasted somewhere between chicken and fish. Surprisingly good, especially when you had access to nothing else to eat. And they’d not eaten in a few days to begin with, so anything can taste decently good after that.

Energised from the food in their system, they made short work of the rest of the skin and set to work preparing it to become leather. Traditional techniques wouldn’t work here partially because they lacked the materials, but also because they lacked the knowledge. They were survivors sure, but they’d never been in a situation so extreme they couldn’t go shopping for essentials after all.

In the end it took some combination of all their powers and a few more days worth of effort for them to manage it, and then some more trial and error to actually shape the skin into decent clothing. In the end they went for something reminiscent of their transformations, long trousers that flared at the ankle, a top with long sleeves for maximum protection and a cape for the flair when they realised they had enough left to make some.

“This whole snake aesthetic is starting to grow on me.” Darcy muttered as she turned and twisted in front of a slab of ice so smooth it formed a near perfect mirror. She might just have to incorporate the stuff into her usual fashion. There was a subtle pattern to the skin that looked amazing and as much as they were essentially all dressed in white now, it was still killer. Plus, it was good camouflage down here.

“It does look good, but I’ll take properly made leather over this any day…” Stormy muttered. It’d be nice to have some made into a proper accessory perhaps, she’d certainly like a memento of their adventures down here, but the texture against her skin was crude and uncomfortable due to their methods.

“Stop complaining.” Icy snapped, and something collided with Darcy and Stormy's shoulders. When they turned with incredulity at the thought that Icy had just attacked them, they realised by her smirk that something else was going on. Wait a minute… “Wait, it’s still magically resistant??”

“Oh shit, I didn’t think it would do more than just protect against the cold.” Well well, this was looking like quite the win indeed. Finally they were no longer cold or starving, and they even had a built-in shield. Darcy wasn’t keen to be hit with the serpents’ ice ray head on just to see how resistant it actually still was, but they could be a little less careful now.

Come to think of it. “It's not just me, right?” Stormy muttered, calling on her power and forming an orb of purple electricity in her hand. It shimmered slightly, not just from the electric charge but something more, like there was a thin layer of frost coming off of it. “Eating the snake must have boosted our powers. I didn’t notice at first because we were exhausted.”

“Well then ladies,” Icy smirked at her sisters. “It looks like the time table for our escape has moved up.”

Well, this wasn’t how she’d expected their little vacation to end… When Layla had gotten that letter from her parents all of the fun vacation vibes had suddenly died and Musa had been met with a seriousness she hadn’t seen on the other fairy in a while. It had taken some convincing to keep the brunette from simply leaving her behind to ‘enjoy the rest of your vacation’ while Layla went off to deal with whatever the news had been. 

That had also taken some work to extract. They’d known Layla’s parents were arranging a match for their daughter and that Layla would be beholden to the contract without even knowing the other person. Layla absolutely hated it but had taken it in stride in the way someone did when a problem was imminent but not yet on their doorstep.

Well, it sure was on her doorstep now…

Which was why the two of them were now on their way to Andros so Layla could go confront her parents, and Musa stuck with her because you didn’t just ditch your friends when they were having a tough time, even if she did feel a little out of place. This was between Layla and her parents after all.

Layla for her part felt bad that their vacation had been interrupted over her personal issues and that Musa had insisted on accompanying her. She’d even tried to make light of it, small comments of never having been there before and what’s one beach compared to another? Well, she wouldn’t find much beach around the castle, more like rocks and cliff faces into the water, but she didn’t want to bring the mood down any more than it already was.

She’d known this was coming but somehow she thought maybe if she was out of sight her parents wouldn’t be as avid about finding her a match, maybe they’d decide to wait… Just because theirs had turned out well did not mean Layla wanted to sign her life away to some stranger!

The letter crumpled further in her hands and she caught sight of Musa’s concerned glances. Clearly neither of them really knew what to say. Thankfully the ship was landing and they could finally get up and stretch their legs.

“I'm sorry about our vacation, and my mood…” Layla began, not letting Musa wave her off once more. “I'll give you the tour after I’ve finished speaking with my parents, okay?” With that she left Musa in the antechamber to the hall where her parents held court and, with a deep breath to steel herself, threw open the doors.

Chapter Text

A soft chime on her phone caught her attention, and when she checked the message she frowned lightly. “Musa just texted.” She murmured, glancing towards Stella who was getting ready for the afternoon’s event, her vanity completely covered in accessories and makeup. “Looks like they won’t be able to make it.” Oh. Bloom frowned softly, reading the rest of the text quickly.

“Apparently Layla got news about her arranged marriage from her parents and they’re in Andros right now, won’t make it here in time for the ball.” Bloom’s not too sure why Musa texted her instead of Stella, but… Well, frankly even she’s not sure where Stella’s phone is in this mess, so maybe Musa’s idea of texting Bloom actually hadn’t been a bad one after all.

“Aw what? Give Layla our support, okay? I can’t imagine what I’d do if daddy asked something like that of me.” Stella frowned lightly, clearly concerned for their latest member. Bloom nodded in agreement and started typing, passing on the support and some digital hugs, telling them not to worry and that she and the others would manage here. Maybe later in the summer they’d all be able to meet up as a group and give Layla some support in person, this was bound to be tough for her. 

There wasn't much time to dwell on it though, guests had been arriving since yesterday and the ball was that afternoon, so the two girls were getting ready. Their gowns had arrived in the meantime and Bloom had been utterly speechless at the sight of her designs actually realised. It looked even more stunning than her sketches…

Stella had gushed at her and they’d had a moment of pure excitement that drove away all of the doubt that simmered in the back of her mind when she was given just a few moments too long by herself where thoughts could wander. They were going to look incredible, and Stella would be radiant.

Bloom watched as Stella set to doing her own makeup, having promised to help with Bloom’s as well since she was more experienced with the stuff, and was putting this beautiful light blue shimmer on her eyelids that made her eyes and hair pop. Meanwhile Bloom was threading small blue gems into Stella's hair at even intervals. They would catch the light and sparkle whenever she moved and it was meant to represent the sky, while the colours of her gown were akin to a sunset, the bottom of her dress being the most beautifully vibrant orange. Small blue gems were embedded across the top of her neckline as well to really bring the whole thing together.

When Stella’s prep work was done, she turned to get Bloom ready. Instead of matching her makeup to her dress, Bloom’s would contrast much like Stella’s did. A nice warm but dark shade of red made her eyes pop, the liner made Bloom look striking and the matching red lip was absolutely to die for. Next they spent what any casual would probably call an unreasonably long amount of time getting Bloom’s hair in this loose and elegant up-do with several strands hanging in a loose curl to frame her face. It looked elegant without being uptight and Stella kept gushing over it, which got Bloom flustered and as such meant she absolutely kept giving her bestie more compliments.

Finally with everything else ready, it was time to get into their gowns. Stella had seen the designs of course and even helped with the colours and detailing but removing the dresses from their protective covers stunned her nonetheless. Oh she was so promoting the seamstress who had taken the priority job on such short notice because wow.

Stella’s gown was this floor length beauty of shifting colour that once put on made it look like she was wearing the sunset itself, a tightly fitted bodice and a mermaid style skirt that flared out at the bottom with enough extra fabric to make the bottom puff and almost look like she actually had a tail. There were sparkles sewn throughout the entire thing and her arms were covered in these sheer, tinted gloves and held up at her upper arms with these golden upper arm cuffs with the sun and moon formed into them, one for each arm.

Bloom almost couldn’t believe how good Stella looked in it, how the design had come to life and would not only ensure Stella shone on her important day as intended, but would also absolutely stun that snotty bitch Chimera. She could only hope people would be talking about how Stella was killing it today for ages afterwards.

Then it was her own turn and Bloom’s breath hitched softly as the protective covering fell away to reveal a beautiful dark blue gown with a subtle shimmer all over it. When she lifted it out fully, the fabric caught the light and like a ripple, the soft light blue of her transformation shone through instead, like a peek through the darkness to find the light underneath. It was symbolic and it was utterly gorgeous.

Putting it on really displayed the slightly asymmetrical neckline, a more squared shape by the top with one side sticking out slightly more than the other instead of the usual sweetheart neckline you might expect on such a dress. It wasn’t floor length like Stella’s either but instead stopped slightly past her knees and flared out beautifully thanks to the full petticoat underneath. Seeing herself in it in the mirror made her feel ethereal… She wore a pair of short, wrist-length gloves in the same dark blue and gemmed earrings to match, completing the look. 

“You know, I might never go shopping for important events again.” Stella mused, snapping Bloom out of her awed reverie to shoot her best friend an incredulous look. Stella and no shopping? Preposterous! Though nevertheless her natural blush may have slightly overpowered the one from the makeup at the compliment.

“Oh hush, Stella…” She muttered with a slight pout before the two devolved into giggles. The day felt utterly surreal to Bloom but in that moment she couldn’t be happier. Stella pulled her into a side room demanding pictures, because clearly the day as well as their looks had to be immortalised. As if there wouldn’t be plenty of press at the party itself, or at least that was Bloom’s assumption all things considered.

“So are you ready?” She asked after most of their giddy energy had been spent. Now all that was left to do before the ball was to wait until it was time for Stella’s entrance. She could tell Stella was nervous, but the girl was a true princess and kept composed despite it all. Bloom couldn’t possibly imagine being under that kind of pressure, the entire kingdom’s eyes on her and probably the eyes of a plethora of foreign dignitaries besides… She’d be a nervous wreck herself probably.

“Yeah, I’m nervous too and I still haven’t seen mom around but it’ll be okay. She’ll be there, she has to be.” Bloom’s thoughts returned to that letter Stella had gotten, to the surprise her father had promised her. Though it had seemed Stella was sure at first, her confidence had been shaken by the presence of Chimera in the castle well before it was acceptable for guests to be arriving. Even if countess Cassandra was a close confidante of the king, did that mean her daughter could just walk around the palace as she pleased?

“I'm sure it’ll be okay Stella.” She said gently, squeezing the girl’s hand in support. After a moment Stella squeezed her back and they just sat there for a moment, in silence, just smiling at each other and appreciating how much they meant to each other. After all, without Stella, Bloom would never have even discovered Magix and her own powers.

“Oh go on, you should head out to the ballroom with the other guests. I won’t be long, I’ve got an entrance to make after all~” Stella finally broke the silence, ushering her out towards the ballroom. Yup, definitely nervous. She’d get through this though, Bloom’s sure of it.

“Okay, see you soon Stell.”

The ballroom felt packed and after a moment of looking around, Bloom realised the party actually was mostly concentrated in the much larger gardens. Briefly she’s confused, they’d been told to head to the ballroom after all, but it was probably nothing. She walked down to the gardens, trying to ignore the way people’s eyes were drawn to the shimmering blue of her dress. Okay, so killing it and incognito did not go hand in hand— Right. Had not been thinking of that when designing the dress for sure, whoops…

“Well I’ll be damned.” A familiar voice called out from her left and when she turned, she spotted Riven approaching her in a dark burgundy tux that complimented his colouring and it occurred to her briefly that she’d never seen him dressed up like that before. The official events between Alfea and Red Fountain demanded the specialists showed up in uniform after all. Form fitting and therefore absolutely not something to complain about but this was… Different. Nice.

“Riven, hi. You clean up well.” She greeted in return. After his comment during their last group outing she’d not quite known what to make of him anymore and it didn’t seem like he intended to stop surprising her anytime soon, though how he’d catch her off guard this time was a mystery for the time being.

“That's my line, princess. Back at it with the symbolism~?” His tone was teasing as she felt his eyes rake over her form, taking in all of the details and definitely catching the way her dress shone light blue where the light hit it at the right angles. She felt her face heating at the comment, not quite sure how to respond since he clearly knew the answer anyway. These were the exact shades of both her transformations after all.

“Don't get shy on me now, Bloom.” He smirked, snapping her out of her embarrassment enough for Bloom to give him a light shove for the teasing. 

“Oh shut up, why bring it up when you already know?”

“Maybe because I like watching your face turn red whenever I do it?”

… God damn it, she could feel her face flushing again.

He simply laughed as he spotted her darkening blush, appreciating the sight as well as how easy she made it. He had to wonder how badly Sky was fucking up his role as her boyfriend if it was this easy to fluster her, really. “I'm surprised you managed to find a dress that actually reflects it so well actually, how long did you and Stella spend shopping?” He’s heard plenty from Brandon about how crazy the fairy of the sun and moon got over shopping after all.

Bloom muttered something softly, and Riven frowned, leaning closer slightly to catch it. “Say that again?”

“I designed it…” She murmured, slightly louder this time, still looking a little timid. She’s not even sure why she’s feeling so awkward over the entire thing. Bloom was the unofficial leader of their group on the girls’ side and usually unflinchingly confident and yet for some reason today was different.

“Shit.” He sounds so awed when he says it that she can’t help but look over in surprise, the flush right back on her face where it had previously been fading away. Damn it, did he have to sound so impressed? And why, anyway? She was under the impression the only thing he generally valued was strength.

“I knew you were impressive, princess, but this is on a whole other level. You realise you could sell designs like this, right?” If Bloom could design like this consistently, she’d have developed a skill that went beyond what she was currently training for and actually had a real world application. Fairies usually studied a trade either during their Alfea days or after they graduated because while developing their powers was important, not every fairy turned out to be some great, realm-shaking hero who could survive off of gigs like that. Heck, most fairies were so altruistic by nature that they tended to help for free. It wasn’t a lucrative career for most, after all.

Some fairies were royalty and as such didn’t actually need to work, others had families who could support them until they found their way, but others worked or developed their passions into a trade early. Tecna worked projects in Zenith during the summers and he knew Musa was doing more with her music than just composing for herself, or at least intended to eventually work it up into a proper music career.

“I… I hadn’t really thought about it.” Bloom murmured. Normally she sketched just to take the tension out and with Stella’s fashion craze she’d occasionally taken to drawing herself or the girls in various fashions, often inspired by Stella’s wardrobe before she started expanding into other things. She didn’t do it often, but it was relaxing and exciting and something to do that wasn’t classes or fighting for her life or trying to figure out what to do with herself after Darkar.

“Well you should consider it. You won’t be a student forever after all, or were you thinking Sky would keep you afloat?” It’s maybe a bit of an uncalled for comment because he knows full well she’s fiercely independent and wouldn’t like to have to ask anything of Sky, especially if it meant being sustained by his status as prince of Eraklyon.

“Oh shut up, Riven.” She didn’t even comment on Sky, her expression souring a little and earning a raised eyebrow from Riven in turn because usually everyone got on his case for dissing Sky, and Bloom normally definitely got on his case for dissing her, so what gives?

“Oh? See I’d listen but you’d be so terribly bored if I did.” He needles, there’s definitely something bothering her when it comes to Sky after all. Oh he knows she’s pissed at his general lack of communication but is that it, or is it something else? “You might as well talk to me, Bloom.”

“What about you? Not going to look for Musa?” Okay, rude. He touches his chest like she struck him a physical blow, quick to sass her back. “Ouch, don’t want to be seen spending time with me? I haven't spotted her yet, I figure she’ll turn up sooner or later.”

Bloom looked away and sighed softly, spotting a nearby bench to sit on and inviting him to sit beside her. “Sorry. She’s not coming, Layla got some bad news and they went to Andros so she let us know she wouldn’t be making it.” Really, she shouldn’t be taking anything out on Riven, least of all her issues with Sky.

“Nice of her to let me know…” Riven groused softly, realising that he was acutely without a date for the type of event where it was kind of awkward for a guy to turn up solo. He would’ve turned up anyway, but knowing in advance would have been nice.

Speaking of absent partners… 

“Do you think Sky will even be here? He didn’t really let me know.” Bloom fidgeted with her dress slightly, eyes roaming over the crowd and catching sight of the spotlight as Stella descended the garden stairs, looking utterly stunning and the perfect center of attention. The sight made her smile softly, but she stayed put. Stella had explained to her how the ball would go, how the first hour or two was best spent socialising with Solarian nobles and foreign dignitaries before she opened the dance, after which the party would be in proper swing. Then she’d be able to mingle. These things apparently had pretty strict schedules, who’d have known.

“Oh he’ll be here. If only because Eraklyon can’t afford not to, they’re pretty socially isolated and if they’re not careful, they’ll risk losing connections to the surrounding kingdoms entirely.” Only reason Riven knew about these things was because Brandon liked to ramble sometimes. Pretty sure he wasn’t actually supposed to share inner workings like that, but they’d all promised to keep quiet on the big stuff and not go spreading rumours that would get Sky in trouble. Telling the Winx was different though, Stella already knew all this stuff probably anyway between her own status and the fact she was dating Brandon.

“Watch him be ‘fashionably' late though. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Brandon enter separately, Brandon wants to be on time to open the dance with Stella after all.” Those two were so cute together it gave him cavities sometimes…

“Alright.” Bloom wasn’t quite sure what to make of his answer, though she’s happy Stella will get to actually dance with her partner. Who knew when Sky would actually deign to join the party and if they’d end up having time to dance, or talk like they very badly needed to.

“If he’s not on time for the dances, you might have to settle for dancing with me instead.” Riven offered after a few moments of laden silence. That got Bloom’s attention, snapping her gaze up to meet his in surprised confusion. From what she’d seen he usually kept to the sidelines at school dances, so why was this different? And why would he offer to dance with her at all?

“What about Musa?” She asked softly, looking at him intently as if she’d be able to read the answer from his expression alone.

“Well, it’s not like she’s here.” He started, and quickly continued when he saw Bloom start to frown. “If she can’t handle me keeping one of her friends company for the night then I need to have a whole different kind of talk with her.”

That stopped Bloom short, because he had a point. She knew Musa tended to be a little jealous and territorial when it came to Riven, had been since before the two were even together, and Riven was right to have boundaries over these things, especially when it came to just having a fun evening as friends. Maybe that would be relaxing, actually. No expectations, just two friends having a good time.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” He asked, slightly confused as to what she was agreeing to after the turn their conversation had taken.

“Okay, I’ll dance with you, Riven.” She smiled, a little amused at his confusion, mischief crinkling at the corners of her eyes. 

Stella was absolutely thriving at the attention, making sure to namedrop both the artist who had made her dress as well as crediting Bloom as the designer. She’d left several people utterly stunned at how gorgeous she looked, and watching Chimera’s smile freeze on her face at the sight of her princess made it all the better. The socialising was a drag, but Stella was a social butterfly and had kept up with the news well, knew who everyone was and could address them by their titles and names and generally knew a small detail or two about the most important people there.

She still hadn’t seen her mother in the crowd or up on the dais where her father stood with the countess by his side, which was a worrying sight except she couldn’t focus on it because if she was anything less than perfect today it would be a massive roadblock to eventually succeeding her father to the throne. After all, she wanted to both do her nation proud and also ensure she could have Brandon by her side forever, and a princess dating another prince’s squire wasn’t exactly the done thing.

It seemed like no time at all when she spotted that familiar brown in the crowd and she saw Brandon approach her in this beautiful cream suit with golden accents. He looked stunning, and he was perfectly on time for the dances to begin as well, despite Sky’s penchant for the dramatic.

As much as Stella wanted to shout out his name and throw herself at him, she actually behaved for once and greeted him more politely, exchanging soft chatter once she’d excused herself from the other nobles to spend a little time with him. They’d have more time to chat during the dances but she wanted to have and keep him close regardless.

“How long did Sky have you waiting outside the venue this time~?” She teased with a soft laugh at Brandon’s good natured eye roll.

“Entirely too long, considering what he kept me from.” Came his smooth reply, and Stella couldn’t help but giggle at the attention as his eyes took in every little detail, even catching the gems in her hair. She was absolutely blessed with such a caring and attentive partner~

“Mm, would you believe me if I told you Bloom designed these? She’s incredible.”

“Really? Damn, she did an amazing job Stella. You look stunning~”

She very much wanted to catch up further but her father cleared his throat and all at once her nerves came rushing back in, her fingers lacing with Brandon’s and holding on tight. There it was, the announcement her father had promised her, except her mother was still nowhere in sight and slowly her stomach sank with the realisation that she’d gotten her hopes up for nothing.

Brandon’s arm wrapped around her waist to ground her, and as her father spoke, her world devolved into static. She all but froze and Brandon was the only thing keeping her upright then, a smattering of polite applause sounded as countess Cassandra stepped forward to place a gloved hand into her father’s and smile down benignly at the crowd. It made her want to throw up—

In one moment those sharp eyes landed on hers and they screamed of victory, and the next her view was obstructed by Brandon, pulling her focus away from the podium and back onto him, trying to pull her attention away and slowly the noise of the garden filtered back in, the excited chatter of the crowd, the music playing in the background, and the realisation that her chest hurt not only from the shock but because she was hyperventilating. It felt like an eternity of Brandon’s gentle coaching before she could breathe right now.

If Brandon could have, he would have undoubtedly whisked her away from the party now, but there were appearances to be upheld and so he stayed by her side, making sure she was okay and not about half a second away from fainting before he shifted to let the crowd perceive her properly again. She felt like there was no way in hell she could pretend everything was fine right now, but having a breakdown at her very public debut was not an option and Cassandra knew it, which was exactly why she’d not gotten the announcement during the several days prior that she and Bloom had already been home.

That doesn’t explain why her father had gone along with the countess to put her on the spot like that and— oh. Damn it all, he was looking at her with this hopeful half smile and as much as Radius struggled to deny her anything, the reverse was also very much true. She still felt hurt and the idea that that woman would become her father’s wife and de facto queen of Solaria rubbed her the wrong way, but she would light into the two of them later, after the party. For now, she had appearances to keep up and a dance to open.

At first she’d considered opening with her father, but that wasn’t something she could handle right then and so she gave a soft, almost watery smile, as Brandon took a step back and bowed deeply for her, extending a hand and being the prefect high society gentleman.

“My princess, may I have this dance?”

“You may.”

They stepped up to the dance floor as the center of the garden cleared of people and the music shifted into a traditional Solarian waltz, the classical opening to any royal event and she and Brandon fell into step perfectly. The lights shone down on them, her dress sparkling with every step they took, and being in his arms grounded her. She had eyes for nothing but his own warm brown eyes looking back at her.

Even if the countess was trying to ruin her debut and doing a surprisingly good job of it, Stella wouldn’t let anything get in between her and Brandon’s promised dance. Once the first song finished, they separated and bowed to one another, but when the next started up again, they rejoined, and that was the cue for the rest of the attendees to join them on the dance floor.

“Sky's late…” Brandon muttered with a small frown as he looked around. He’d not yet seen his prince arrive, and considering keeping an eye on Sky he was a little uncomfortable, but being there for Stella was just as important and he wouldn’t have missed being by her side and supporting her for the world.

“Forget about him.” Stella muttered softly, a little sour about it on Bloom’s behalf. To show up after the dances had begun was just sort of not done, and unless something important had happened, that sort of disrespect from Eraklyon really was almost worse than them just not showing up at all. Her hand shifted from Brandon’s shoulder to his cheek, redirecting his gaze back to her. “No more worrying for the night, no more politics, okay?”

Gazing into those beautiful eyes, how could he refuse? He caved and spun her in time with the music, everything fading into the background of their perception in favour of recovering from the blow Radius had dealt his daughter, and giving her the night she deserved in spite of it. Whispers followed them as two dances became three and Stella refused any other dance partners but they ignored it. They had to be seen together in Solaria at some point, so why not now, before any nobles could get the idea that pushing Stella into a contract could ever end well for them. That had never been a risk before, but now with Cassandra…

Well, Stella was right. No use worrying about it just yet, there would be time for that later.

In the corner of his eyes he caught a surprising sight, Riven leading Bloom to the dance floor. That Riven had asked somehow didn’t surprise him nearly as much as Bloom agreeing to it, considering how acidic their relationship had been almost the entire time he’d known them. Riven had backed off once he’d started more or less seeing Musa, and as Bloom’s interest had been firmly on Sky from the get-go, but living with him in a dorm did give Brandon the kind of insights the Winx didn’t have about the sourest specialist on the team.

“Did you see that coming?” He asked gently as he spun Stella again so the other two would be in her field of view, and it takes her a small moment the spot her before he sees her eyes widen and his own smile softens. Gods she’s so beautiful, and seeing Bloom and Riven dance was giving her back the spark she normally had in her eyes. That fierce love for her friends and unyielding bravery.

“No, but they look good together.“ Stella’s eyes subtly followed Bloom and Riven as they danced, not a single misstep between them and she had to admit she was impressed. Not even she had figured Riven would be good at this kind of thing, and she spotted him carefully scanning the crowd and keeping her best friend safe when Bloom wasn’t looking. Good. “I approve.”

Brandon chuckled softly. “You too, huh? Sky might just lose his shit if he sees that, or figure out that he needs to step up before someone snatches up his girl.” Though it would serve the prince right. It’s not Brandon’s place to judge but the ongoing engagement with Diaspro was not doing Sky any favours and he needed to accept reality or convince his father to break off the contract. Dating Bloom and leading her on like this with promises that the contract would be disbanded when it hadn’t been in over a year now was just cruel.

“So would Musa.” She hummed in agreement. Frankly Riven and Musa had done nothing but fight since before they got together, and while Musa had been attracted to Riven ever since she’d first laid eyes on him, her obsessive tendencies and minor stalking had really not done them any good. Riven was prideful and didn’t open up easily, but he was also straight to the point and blunt. Musa meanwhile had the minor tendency to expect the man to read her mind, which no doubt sent Riven up a wall with frustration.

“Mm, not surprised. It’s up to them though, I’m not setting foot in that minefield.” Stella laughed at his comment and pressed closer, basking in the warmth of her partner’s arms around her.

“Lucky for you, I can fly~” She chimed back, and Brandon laughed along with her. They both knew how much she enjoyed relationship anything and personal drama, it was just juicy intel and nobody could actually accuse Brandon of not being a gossip, because he totally was.

Chapter Text

“See, it’s not so bad, is it?” Riven smirked down at Bloom as they made another turn that made her skirt flare up and catch the light, beautiful streaks of powder blue sparkling over her dress as it settled once more. Frankly he’d never thought he’d get an opportunity like this after absolutely fucking up his attempt to flirt with her in their first year. They’d both matured since then though, and had better ideas of what they wanted and who they wanted to be.

Riven for his part had calmed down around his whole rivalry with Sky and need to be the best at everything. Sky was a better fighter than him by virtue of having had tutors probably his entire life, while Riven had mostly street experience until he got into Red Fountain. He’d outpace the prince eventually, if only because while the reputation of being a specialist would do wonders for Eraklyon’s fading royalty, it also clearly wasn’t something he could keep up long-term. Riven however absolutely intended to either get scouted by an existing group or go freelance after graduating top of his class. Even if that top was behind Sky and Brandon, that was okay.

At least Brandon he had genuine respect for. The guy was a natural leader and his generally happy go lucky attitude and overall positivity paired with the seriousness he had during missions really made him ideal as squad captain. Riven knew he was too sour and negative for it himself, never mind keeping the team whole and in synergy with one another, which was a task only a real leader could manage.

It helped that Brandon sometimes talked shit behind Sky’s back in the form of venting, very therapeutic, especially for Riven who had prior to Brandon doing that been under the impression that everyone was just taken with Sky and his prince perfect attitude.

“Who'd you practice with? You’re surprisingly good.” Bloom teased at him, and he grinned. She was absolutely picturing him practicing with the other guys at red fountain and he has absolutely no intention of giving her an insight into what he’d done to improve his dancing. (He had totally not asked Brandon for pointers, nope. Didn’t happen.)

“Who says I’m not naturally this graceful? The battle training’s got to be good for something, right?” The way Bloom’s eyes lingered on his muscles through the suit absolutely proved the training was perfectly good for more than one thing, and it was very satisfying besides, even if she hummed aloofly at him as though she doubted his claim.

She was about to respond when a soft murmur went up through the crowd, drawing her attention to the gate the guests had used to enter the gardens. There was Sky, hopeful blue eyes scanning for her, but a half second later his expression fell as—

“No…”

Riven spun her immediately as Bloom tensed in his arms to spot… Well fuck. Sky had made it alright, but what the hell was Diaspro doing on his arm, looking triumphant? Well, fair enough that she did considering Sky avoided her like the plague whenever he could, but to show up here with his betrothed was like confirming to the magical dimension’s higher society that the engagement was still on, which… Yikes.

Riven glared at Sky sharply even though the guy looked miserable enough already before turning his focus back to Bloom, who looked stuck between rage and pain and clearly didn’t know how the hell to react to her partner walking in with another woman on his arm, especially that one.

“Hey, hey—“ He shook her slightly when she didn’t respond and she looked up with those big, shining blue eyes that were starting to look a little golden around the edges. God that look was unfair— Okay, focus, Riven. “Ignore them, okay? Lashing out or causing a scene in public will only give Diaspro more grounds to her claim, and it’ll make Eraklyon want to keep you even further away from their prince.”

“But…” She glanced over her shoulder again and caught Sky’s gaze that time, watching the defeat in his eyes shift to alarm, confusion, to slight anger when he saw who she was dancing with, and then back to discomfort when Diaspro tugged on his arm to refocus his attention on the dignitaries she’d somehow gotten them to speak with, no doubt to cement her position.

Riven pulled her focus back and she didn’t know if she wanted to cling to him and accept the support or run and hide so she could go ruin her makeup because how else was she supposed to feel? Of course she’d been furious at him for his lack of communication, especially her other half seething at the disrespect, but she still loved him and had wanted everything to work out, but…

“Why is she even here? I thought he was going to break the contract…” Her voice was soft, lost, as the gold faded from her eyes again and Riven sighed softly, pulling her closer.

“I'm sorry Bloom, it was never voided. Erendor won’t let him, and he doesn’t have a choice.” She shook in his arms as she processed that, the two of them all but standing still on the dance floor now.

“W-What…?”

Riven wanted to run his fingers through her hair but with her up-do he settled for gently rubbing her back, not wanting to ruin her look and give her more to worry about. He’s wanted to punch Sky often over the years, but he’d never personally seen just how the prince’s behaviour affected Bloom and right about now, breaking his nose or jaw sounded fantastic.

Of course that’s when Brandon catches his eyes from across the room and shakes his head, making him tsk softly in frustration. He knows he can’t cause a scene either but man does he want to. Instead he pulls Bloom to the side of the dance floor, giving her a moment and something to drink instead. 

“I'm guessing he never told you, then?”

“No…” She accepted the glass carefully, not wanting to drop it and studiously keeping her eyes away from Sky and Diaspro making the social rounds. That should have been her on his arm, not Diaspro. “He just said he’d take care of it, and it never really came up again.”

Riven growled, catching her attention and eliciting slight surprise at how angry he looked on her behalf. “I'm going to find an excuse to break his nose—“ Riven growled, and startled slightly when he felt Bloom press against him in a hug, not quite knowing what to do with himself for a moment before he carefully returned the gesture.

“Thank you.”

“Uhh, you’re welcome?” Not usually the reaction he got for offering to break someone’s nose but he can’t say he dislikes it. They stay there a few moments longer before Brandon and Stella join them, and Stella is quick to slip into a rapid-fire ramble about the situation and how shocked evidently both she and Brandon were.

Brandon stepped to the side to answer Riven’s raised eyebrow with a shake of his head. “No, I didn’t know. She must have come separately and waited for Sky to come out to corner him, it’s the only thing I can think of. Otherwise I’d have warned everyone to expect it.” Frankly that Sky hadn’t at least texted him or Bloom about it was annoying, but he can understand Diaspro wouldn’t let him stall for very long. She was demanding like that and probably disliked that they’d shown up so late to begin with.

The next thing he knows there’s a shimmering dark red barrier around their group and a few metres away a girl with dark blue hair gave a shriek as her appearance contorted into something ugly and warted, mildly reminiscent of a frog.

Bloom was upset but not blind, so when she saw the flash of purple and the spell whooshing towards Stella’s turned back, her powers had kicked in with a vengeance. She was already partly furious anyway, and now someone tried to attack her best friend?! The shimmering wall of warmth and rage was up before she’d even consciously cast a spell, her eyes shifting completely golden and her hair coming undone from her bun as her powers whipped it up in an unseen wind. The spell collided and instead of making a straight line back, it honed back in on the source, visibly dodging a few guests before slamming into—

“Chimera—“

“Bloom, what…?” Stella turned around sharply in time to see the spell hit her supposed future sister-in-law square in the chest and transform her, a soft gasp escaping her. Is that what that spell would have done to her if it hit? It would have utterly ruined her to be seen like that at her princess ball… People loved a scandal regardless of the fact she was attacked. Which…

Chimera had dared attack her during her princess ball?!

She was about to launch into a fury when Cassandra came rushing down from the dais, her father hot on the woman’s heels. 

“What is the meaning of this?!” Cassandra demanded sharply, glaring down Stella and Bloom in particular. 

“Your daughter attacked us.” Bloom responded in a surprisingly calm tone, except her eyes were fully golden now and Stella’s not sure what to make of it, holding off on acting out for now. 

“Preposterous, Chimera wouldn’t do such a thing.” Stella’s world spun for a moment when that rebuttal came not from the countess but from her own father, her gaze snapping to his, confused and hurt that he’d defend that bint over his own daughter.

“It's true though, I saw the spell rushing for us and we protected ourselves.”

“Lies!” Cassandra exclaimed, fuming and acting her part to perfection. Damn Chimera, even with the necklace boosting her powers she’d been thwarted! “I saw that spell hone in on her, you attacked her on purpose! Guards!”

Stella actually took a step back at the fierceness, looking towards her father who looked mildly confused but had a frown on his face nevertheless. “Daddy…?”

Before he answered, the guards had already surrounded their group in a semicircle, appearing so fast that Stella wondered briefly if this had been planned in advance, a way to not only ruin her debut but also ruin her social image and have her escorted out.

“You have gotten away with many things over the years princess Stella, but attacking a fellow member of the court is unacceptable!” The countess had to work not to smirk as she watched Stella struggle to process, sending futile glances to her father who was still under her suggestion magic not to interfere. The crowd began to murmur around her, no one had seen properly which made it all the better, and the louder voice was the one who would influence the rumours. Well, this wasn’t so bad either. They’d have to find someone to fix her daughter of course, who was in a corner crying and trying to hide herself now, but discrediting Stella as violent and out of control was actually a really good outcome.

“I didn’t—!” Stella protested, reaching out for her father, which the guards Cassandra had paid off didn’t allow. “Daddy, please, you have to believe me!” The despair in Stella’s voice was everything Cassandra had imagined it would be. With this she could even have the girl locked up until the wedding, keeping her neatly out of the way as long as needed.

“Arrest her, and her co-conspirators.” Cassandra demanded, eyes narrowing when she caught the gaze of the redhead staring her down. She looked somewhat familiar perhaps, but she couldn’t place why. 

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” Came the redhead’s calm reply, drawing her friends’ gazes and confused questions. Bloom, that was her name. Cassandra would have to remember so she could ensure the girl was banned from Solaria. After all, she’d admitted to casting the spell that had harmed her daughter.

“Do not be foolish girl, you are surrounded in the heart of Solaria’s royal palace. You shall not be going anywhere but the holding cells until a trial can be held for what you’ve done!”

The slow smile that spread on the girl’s face was infuriating, and suddenly the heat around them became unbearable, making Cassandra and the guards stumble backwards slightly. Then all she saw was fire, a deep, dark red that filled her entire field of vision. When she blinked the spots out of her eyes and the heat faded away, the redhead, Stella and their dates were gone.

A beat of silence, then another, before the gathering broke out in furious whispers and Cassandra recovered from seeing the impossible happen right before her eyes. She knew for a fact none of them had transportation magics on them, it had been a security measure she’d insisted on, and yet they were gone—

When she noticed the guards standing there in the same stunned silence, she snapped.

“Find them! They cannot have gone far! Now!!” As the guards scrambled to obey her, she left Radius to calm their guests as she rushed off to find her daughter. If she couldn’t undo the spell herself she’d have to call in a few favours, unfortunately…

Bloom and the others appeared in a clearing outside the palace walls with a fwoosh of flames, and she immediately lost her footing, almost crashing to the floor if it wasn’t for Riven catching her to slow her descent. Sitting down sounded like a great idea, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d used that much power at once.

“Stella, are… Are you okay?”

The words seemed to snap the princess out of her daze, because she looked towards Bloom with glazed eyes before finally breaking down in Brandon’s arms, clinging to him for dear life.

“We won’t be able to stay here for long…” Riven muttered, keeping an eye on the perimeter while staying close. He didn’t want to rush anyone, but there was only so long they could stay here before they got caught and from the state of Bloom, she wouldn’t be able to pull that off twice.

“Just give them a minute.” She responded, leaning into Riven and breathing slowly to get the energy inside her back under control. What she’d done at that party wasn’t something she’d ever done before, either instances. Normally her shields were small, focussed and a repellent sure, but not that kind of honing mirror. Nor had she ever teleported a group on sheer fury and determination before. Yet the magic underneath her skin felt giddy and uncontrolled, like those nights she needed to go flying just to get herself back under control. She’d always associated that feeling with the darkness Darkar had left behind in her.

“How'd you even do that?” Riven asked softly after a moment, tuning out the soft reassuring noises Brandon was making at his crying girlfriend. When Bloom looked up to meet his eyes, hers had a ring of gold around the iris that faded back into blue, making his breath hitch slightly. Not only was he not used it it, but it made her look slightly spooky yet entrancing at the same time.

“Don't know.” She answered with a light shrug, leaning into him just because she could. “I've never done that before, it felt completely different from my usual magic.” A small bit of flame appeared over her palm as she spoke, that same darker shade, when he was used to her powers being a bright shining red instead.

Riven was quiet for a long moment then, trying to process. He knew a little of magic, of what it felt like, especially at close proximity. He was used to the Winx’ magical signatures, this felt nothing like that.

“When I made that comment about the snowflake, I didn’t think you were actually turning into a mini-witch…” He murmurs it softly, keeping this between them, though Brandon does glance at the two of them over Stella’s shoulder to make sure they were okay as well. Or as okay as could be in this scenario.

“I'm not.” She answered equally as softly. “I don’t think so at least. My regular magic is still there, but whatever Darkar did to me is too. Does that make sense?” She frowned lightly and when she focussed, the flame actually went back to its normal colouring, a warmer red that flickered softly in her palm. The darker variant was more full in a way, thicker, and more steady. 

“It's like ever since that day I’ve been able to use both types of magic, like they’re both a part of me now…”

Riven frowned softly at that, he’s pretty sure that’s not actually how that works, since everything he’s ever learned of magic implied that a person’s innate magic was neutral and flavourless in a way, and that the way you channelled it was was made it positive or negative, fairy or witch. It was why someone like Myrta was able to transfer to Alfea and continue her schooling there. It was hard once you were so used to channelling magic in a certain way, but not impossible. What Bloom was doing though was accessing both intermittently. Not exactly common, but what about her ever was, for that matter?

“Okay, how about we discuss this later? The longer we wait here, the more likely we are to get caught.” He got up, offering Bloom a hand. Meanwhile Brandon was gently wiping the tears from Stella’s eyes, encouraging her but also trying to get her to focus, because they really didn’t have much time.

“Brandon, where’d you stash the ship?” Brandon frowned at that question, hesitating briefly. “It's by the edge of the forest, but I’m not supposed to pilot it without Sky. I can’t just leave him behind—” Stella’s nails dig into his arms and he winced. He understood that she wasn’t happy, but he still had a duty to uphold as well…

“Sky can go back with Diaspro, he’ll be fine.” The reply sounded like something Riven would say, which was exactly why Brandon was surprised to hear Bloom say it. But he sighed and finally nodded, pulling Stella closer briefly before letting her go.

“Okay. Okay, this way. Let’s stay inside the tree line, we’ll be harder to spot there.” Or they would be if the girls’s dresses weren’t actually made the catch attention. Utterly gorgeous on them but very, very inconvenient for staying incognito. Not that their transformations would be any better though, they’d just have to be careful.

Sky’s watch chimed and snapped him out of his worry about Bloom and Brandon’s safety, though the notification wasn’t a message so much as a warning that his ship had… Taken off without him. That stung, but he was glad to know the others were safe at least. Though… Wait, the tracker showed it heading away from— Oh no.

“What's the matter, Sky?” His fiancé asked from her spot attached to his arm.

Sky ignored her and bit back a groan as he realised Brandon and Bloom had abandoned him to return to Eraklyon with Diaspro rather than wait for him to get away.

Chapter Text

“I-I can’t believe he just… stood there. He didn’t even react, just let that woman bulldoze all over him…” Stella had calmed down more or less from the shock of being treated like a criminal in her own home and essentially getting chased out and was instead shifting towards anger and outrage, mixed with a hefty dose of confusion. It was hardly surprising that she was hurt and a little lost after that mess, but there wasn’t much they could do about it at the moment.

For now they’d retreated back to Magix, a neutral ground where they’d rented a room for a night or two so they could get back on their feet and figure out what to do next. None of them had really expected things to have gone down the way they had. As it turned out, Cassandra had wasted no time issuing a warrant for Stella and Bloom within Solaria, declaring that if anyone saw them, they were to turn the girls in for questioning. Ha, right. Poor Stella had gone white as a sheet at the announcement though, even if it was only in effect in Solaria itself. Cassandra didn’t have the authority to hunt them down beyond Solaria’s borders.

“Is there any chance that your father might be under a spell?” Flora’s voice sounded from the holo-call they’d set up at the table, having decided the next morning to catch the girls up before anything else could happen. There wasn’t much they could do, and regrouping wasn’t really an option for everyone anyway, but getting to talk as a group even over call was helping somewhat. It felt safe, familiar.

“I guess?” She answered with a small frown. “Cassandra got close to him while I was at Alfea so I can’t quite see how much she might have influenced him, but normally there are things that protect against mind control spells and the like. He still looked like himself, he just… Didn’t respond like normal. This whole manhunt should have been for whoever attacked me, not me and Bloom for defending ourselves.”

“Technically you shouldn’t even be persecuted at all.” Tecna chimed in from her end, multitasking as she was working on a project simultaneously, sometimes disappearing slightly behind some piece of machinery or another. “Bloom was the one who cast the reflector spell, you were just caught inside it. They have no reason to persecute you whatsoever. Maybe to question as a witness, but even then it’s rather insubstantial and filing a warrant is quite the overreaction.”

“The rumours are nasty though…” Musa added, a light frown on her face as she used Layla’s phone to search the net while her own connected the two to the call. “There's all sorts of commentary online, even people who were there say they aren’t sure what actually happened, but Cassandra is trying to twist the narrative, saying that you attacked her daughter on purpose. Jealousy, immaturity—”

“She's trying to get you socially discredited.” Layla finally said, as she read over Musa’s shoulder. “It makes sense, too. If she’s vying for queen with this engagement she’ll want her own daughter as heir to the throne instead of you, but the people love you. They always have.”

“So she tries to have me discredited, making rumours fly until people doubt their own eyes and wonder if Cassandra might be right after all. She can’t disinherit me, but she can have me declared unfit for rule…” Stella’s eyes widened as slowly the pieces clicked into place. “Damn her!!” Her fist slammed onto the table, making Bloom jump slightly.

“Hey, we’ll figure this out… We always do.” Bloom tried to reassure, not quite sure what to do or say in this situation. Letting that spell hit Stella had been out of the question, but she’d never imagined the backlash that followed. Considering what she did apparently gave Cassandra more power in Solaria, she didn’t really know how to feel about it anymore…

“I know we will.” Stella sighed, leaning into Brandon. The boys had decided to stay the night and guard the room just in case they’d been followed, though they’d both need to return home soon though. Or at least Brandon did, considering he’d left with an Eraklyon vehicle and also ditched Sky at the party simultaneously… He was undoubtedly in trouble.

“It's just really well played and I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. If I don’t turn myself in I’m essentially declaring myself guilty, because I shouldn’t have anything to worry about in my own kingdom, but if I go I’ll just be allowing that woman to lock me up for who knows how long and keep spreading lies without anyone being any wiser.” Suddenly the upcoming scholastic year was something to be dreaded instead of looked forward to— This year’s curriculum was going to suck.

“Is there anything that could break the spell over your father?” Bloom asked after a moment. “If we can break it, he’d be able to reverse all the damage Cassandra has been doing, right?”

“There is, but I’m not really in contact with any of Solaria’s admittedly small number of Enchantix fairies, and I can’t exactly wait to graduate and become one myself, at least not in time for the wedding, which Cassandra will no doubt be rushing to cement her position.”

“Hold on,” Bloom frowned, confused. “I don’t follow, Enchantix fairy?”

“Oh, it’s the final form of a fairy’s transformation. We achieved our base transformations in our first year, earned our Charmix last year, and in order to graduate we have to earn our Enchantix. It’s the most powerful transformation a fairy can achieve; you’re faster, stronger and you gain a bunch of extra powers, one of which is fairy dust that can heal or dispel curses.” Musa replied. “Which is why it would help against whatever Cassandra did to Stella’s dad.”

“Wouldn't any Enchantix fairy do, then?”

“No, Enchantix fairies are generally beholden to their planet's governments so they won’t interfere with another planet’s internal affairs unless officially asked. Considering Stella’s situation, it’s not really an option.” Tecna responded with a small shake of her head, having put down her screwdriver to pay full attention by now.

“Oh…”

“Yeah.” Stella sighed. “Unless one of us achieves it super early, we’ll have to find another way.”

The next few weeks were a little uncomfortable but finally they were all back together and at Alfea, ready for the new school year to start. It was comforting, a safe environment away from all the uncertainty and their own personal issues. Solaria was far away from here, so was Layla’s mystery betrothed, and though Bloom's magic was with her always, being in such a familiar place surrounded by all of her friends made everything seem less dire somehow.

Bloom stood a little confused when the first years went off to find their dorms, the second years dispersed to get settled and reconnect with friends from the year prior, and the third years were asked to wait in the courtyard. Normally they only had the start of the year speech to deal with, but apparently that wasn’t quite the case this year.

“Welcome students, to your final year at Alfea.” Headmistress Faragonda greeted them, looking at each of her students with a warm smile that immediately put Bloom more at ease. Changes were a little scary sometimes, but this was Alfea, what could possibly happen here? She listened attentively as the speech began in earnest.

“This year you will be faced with new challenges unlike ever before. As you know, the requirement for graduation is that you achieve Enchantix, the final stage of transformation for a fairy. This is not only the final stage of your journey, but it is also a badge of honour, declaring you a Guardian Fairy.” Faragonda began pacing lightly across the row of students, gauging their reactions.

“Enchantix is a power difficult to acquire for those who do not attend specialised institutions like ours, as the requirements are not something you fulfil by accident. To become an Enchantix Fairy, you must make a sacrifice, but not just any sacrifice. This sacrifice must be a selfless act in defence of your home planet or its people.”

Faragonda stopped at the center of their lineup again and Bloom thought she was hearing static all of a sudden, the world spinning slightly. Surely she didn’t just say what Bloom thought she did—

“In order to achieve your final transformation, you will be sent on several missions during the year, working closely in most cases with your local law enforcement to help with natural disasters, incidents with criminals and other situations in which your skills, endurance and survival skills will be tested beyond anything you have experienced so far. Alfea is a safe haven for training and growth, but these missions will have you interacting with the real world.”

She had said that. Fuck— What was Bloom supposed to do now?! Her home planet was dead, gone— Surely she couldn’t be the only one in a situation like that… Was she even the only survivor? Maybe somewhere out there existed people from Domino who had been away travelling when their home was destroyed… She felt Stella’s hand lace into hers, and Flora’s hand on her shoulder on her other side, grounding her. She’d.. figure this out. Like always. Right… Don’t panic.

“Naturally, this does not excuse you from your regular school work, though rest assured the workload has been adjusted to take your new obligations into consideration. Your professors as well as the liaisons to your respective homes will explain in more detail when the time comes. For now, welcome back ladies, may you have a wonderful year.”

With a clap that sounded awfully final to her ears, Faragonda dismissed their group, the majority of the students chatting among themselves as they retreated towards the dorms. Bloom was just hesitating on what to do with herself when she heard her name be called, headmistress Faragonda and professor Griselda were stood together off to the side, beckoning her closer.

“As you’ve undoubtedly already surmised,” Faragonda began when Bloom stood before her with the rest of the Winx. “You, Bloom, have a rather glaring obstacle in the way of obtaining your Enchantix. Domino was destroyed and there are no known survivors, nor can the requirements for obtaining Enchantix be engineered, the magic can tell whether a sacrifice is genuine or premeditated. For now I will have you join the outings of our less experienced fairies, your experience in the field makes you ideal for watching over them so that nothing goes any more out of hand than the transformation requires.”

So much for her hope that there were people out there…

“I know this is a lot to take in, and perhaps there is someone out there who, like you once did, does not know whence they came and is in fact from Domino as well, but the likelihood of this being the case and you finding them… I’m afraid it’s next to impossible. Rest assured that I and the other professors will keep looking into this so that you may finish your journey and graduate with the rest of your peers.”

For once, the Winx had no commentary or rebuttals to offer. Simply quiet defeat and contemplation as the reality none of them had quite considered until that point was made real in their minds. Odds were, Bloom would be unable to graduate and would remain a Charmix fairy forever while the others all gained their Enchantix and outgrew her. The thought was a daunting one, none of them wanted to leave one of their number behind after all.

“I understand, thank you headmistress.” Bloom nodded, her tone quiet and subdued. Maybe the professors would find a way, and maybe Bloom herself wouldn’t sit idle and hope while babysitting her less experienced yearmates, but regardless of what happened staying out here in the courtyard looking miserable wasn’t going to help anyone. Instead they headed back to their dorms to get settled, the bright hope of the year dampened by the unfairness of it all, and the soft simmering rage at the core of her chest that said they wouldn't take this lying down.

The Winx were unusually subdued as they all put their stuff away, Bloom’s steadily worsening mood keeping anyone from trying to make any jokes to lighten the mood. Though after a while Flora tried, gently reaching out to touch her shoulder and Bloom pulled away sharply even though Flora really didn’t deserve her anger after everything she’d done for Bloom last year. Still, she was angry and it just bubbled out, Flora simply being the one who had taken the cap off a shaking bottle— Couldn’t be surprised if it then blew up in your face, right?

“Why didn’t any of you warn me?!” Bloom lashed out, ignoring the way Flora backed up immediately, that sweet concerned frown on her face that made Bloom want to scream because deep inside she knew she shouldn’t be mad at the girl. “We even talked about it during the summer and nobody thought to mention that I could never become a ‘complete' fairy?!”

“It's not like it was any of our business.” Musa appeared in the doorway with a frown, her tone sharp and defensive. “I'm sure most of us kinda thought about it when we first found out who you were and where you came from, but we figured you had an arrangement with Faragonda.”

“I was under the impression you’d done your research after Stella had you enrolled here, it’s not like fighting as frequently as we have in such high stakes is normal in other fairy academies. We handled those things ourselves out of a sense of duty but also because we knew that facing those challenges head on would give us an advantage at Alfea.” Sounded Tecna’s voice from behind the door, all logic and Bloom hated that she was right. She hadn’t really done any research, simply assuming it was a magic school like any other, if there is such a thing, and going with the flow.

She’d never stopped to consider that the amount of danger they’d been in these past two years was not normal and should have been delegated to the adults rather than rushing in themselves. Not only that but the faculty had been subtly encouraging them the entire time. That didn’t make sense until you considered that Alfea was a school for heroes just like Red Fountain was. It’s just that Red Fountain’s advertising was a lot more obvious and it honestly had never come up in conversation before.

Bloom had known that Red Fountain, Alfea and Cloud Tower were affiliated institutes and that it really didn’t make sense for a school for heroes to be affiliated with a regular college. Hell, she didn’t even really know much about Cloud Tower despite having been there and even having attended a class when they were trying to defend it last year, but a school for raising villains didn’t really make sense either even if that was her initial impression of the place what with the rampant prejudice between fairies and witches.

“I'm sorry Bloom…” Stella pushed past Musa into the room, the apology snapping Bloom out of her thoughts. “I'm the one who convinced you to come here without even explaining anything, I should’ve—”

“Stop.” Bloom couldn’t handle Stella apologising on top of everything. She wanted to be angry, but in the end she could only be angry at herself, her own ignorance and complacency. Stella shouldn’t be apologising for something that wasn’t her responsibility. Bloom had barely asked a single question before following an at the time complete stranger into a whole new dimension after all. “Don't apologise— You did nothing wrong. I-I’m sorry, I just need a minute…“

Instead of pushing past the girls to exit through the door she backed towards the balcony instead,  opening that door instead and in a quick flash of transformation, flying to the roof. It wasn’t enough though… She was panicking, the air too warm and cloying, and it felt like if she stayed put she’d get claustrophobic from the pressure.

She really shouldn’t be slipping off the grounds on her first night, it set an awful precedent and if the professors caught her she’d be in trouble but she’d not even finished deciding before she shot off into the slowly cooling afternoon air, trying to outfly the tightness in her chest. The insecurity, the guilt, the anger, everything…

In the end she landed at lake Roccaluce, just needing the company, that last connection to her past. She’d been avoiding her sister to boot so it didn’t actually feel great to come with her tail between her legs now, but she couldn’t avoid Daphne forever either. So here she was, waiting…

After a while of her sister not appearing Bloom sighed and gave up waiting, simply speaking into the silence, letting her thoughts tumble out. If Daphne had the strength to rise from the lake to come speak to her that’d be nice, but even this would do.

“So… I guess a lot has been happening lately.” She murmured softly. fingers drawing idle patterns into the sand just for something to do. “It's been.. Really crazy, actually.” Thinking back to last year, starting at the beginning made her laugh, the sound sharp and incredulous like she couldn’t believe everything that had happened. Some days she really couldn’t.

“I was drugged and abducted by someone posing as a professor last year. Can you believe Tecna was actually suspicious of him and none of the faculty took her seriously until it was too late. He… took me to Darkar.” A shuddered breath then, as flashes of that slab of stone reappeared in her mind. The way the stone had felt too cold and too hot all at once against her back, almost scraping as she struggled to get loose, to move, to scream—

“I'd never even heard of him before… The Shadow Phoenix. Apparently he’s the opposite of the Dragon Flame. Light and dark, life and death… He wanted something called the Relix, it’d give him more power, and he wanted to use me to get it. He had me captured and bound, I couldn’t fight back. He put a spell on me, some sort of curse. I don’t really remember it well. Just the chanting, this big black orb of magic sinking towards me and then just… Pain.”

Sometimes she thought if she looked there’d be a scar right on her sternum but there was nothing, and sometimes that was worse. Like she’d just hallucinated the whole thing because she didn’t have a single mark to show for it. Just the trauma living in the back of her mind, telling her there was danger when there was none just because feeling safe in regular environments was hard when that security had been taken away from you.

“I don’t remember everything that happened after properly. I did what he wanted, followed him like an obedient puppet. I was cruel, I didn’t care about people or their feelings. I actively went out of my way to prank or hurt others and I stole Alfea’s codex piece too. He used to make me sit with him and he’d just… talk. Or gloat, maybe.”

After a while she stopped feeling the fresh air around the lake or the chill of the evening slowly setting in. Not even any hunger at skipping dinner, just— the feeling of Shadowhaunt’s walls around her, the cloying darkness of his minions, the way his voice scratched down her spine.

“He was.. weakened. He talked about the balance of the universe, that light needed darkness. How I’d understand one day and be grateful to him.” She scoffed softly, curling up a little more. “Nothing but lies, but he always sounded so confident… The Trix were there too, he’d freed them when taking the codex piece where they were imprisoned.”

“Apparently the place was a kind of facility where people had to be.. good. Whether they wanted to be or not, just an endless simulation of positive affirmation, grass and sunshine and people being vapidly friendly. I don't think I’m a bad person but even I’d go crazy in a place like that…” That the Trix had endured that was actually a little horrifying. You can imprison people for their crimes and give them therapy, like she knew was the case on earth, but this forced attempt at indoctrination? Or being sent to a planet so cold even the very blood in your veins freezes and simply… Left there, forgotten, forever. Clearly the magical dimension had some very fucked up ideas about what appropriate punishments entailed.

“Normally the Trix and the Winx are at each other’s throats, so it was.. weird. Seeing them outside of fighting with them, just relaxing when they didn’t have anything to do in the moment. I wasn’t always lucid but it was kind of nice when I was. I could stay away from Darkar by staying with them.”

It was starting to get darker now and while a soft light seemed to come from the lake, the trees were dense and blocking out a lot of the light of the setting sun, prompting Bloom to focus for a moment and give a small weak smile as several soft flames burst into existence around her, just floating there and providing some more light and warmth.

“They were still mean sometimes, but they were getting used to me, I guess. Icy’s actually funny even if her jokes are usually at the expense of someone else. Darcy’s really patient, she’s the one who does most of the planning and she can keep track of so many things it’s pretty impressive. I’ve always been pretty impulsive myself… Oh, and Stormy- She’s awesome.” Bloom chuckled softly as she heard herself say it. It sounded absurd. “She's actually really smart and got so annoyed at how much I didn’t know that she started giving me mini crash courses. She’s not very patient but she explains things well.”

…

“Is- Is it weird that I miss them?” She’d started associating them with safety rather than enemies, she probably could never look at them again and just see a trio of heartless witches to be stopped. “They’re in Omega now though… Icy might have ice powers but I don’t know if even she could handle that place, from how people talk about it…”

“I think maybe I liked being around them because they didn’t really have any expectations for me…” She murmured softly. “I like being a fairy, and I love my friends and studying at Alfea. I’ve wanted to be a fairy since I was a little girl, coming here was like a dream come true. My parents were smothering me and I wanted so badly to break free from it all and disappearing into the magical dimension sounded like the perfect solution. I never stopped to think about what I was getting myself into.”

She sighed softly, leaning back to stare at the sky as it slowly changed colours.

“I don’t regret it, I think protecting others is a little too built into me for me to ever be able to take a step back from it all and return to earth and life without magic, or even leave Alfea for that matter. But… Apparently completing the journey is impossible for me. I’ll never be able to graduate. I actually lashed out at the girls earlier after I found out. It’s like all those things I didn’t know enough about came rushing back and I felt small again. Small and scolded like when Stormy was angry about how much of the basics I didn’t know when it came to magic. I found out about Charmix as we needed it last year but I had no idea about a fairy’s standard evolutions and their requirements. Kinda seems like something you should know if you are one, right?”

“I feel terrible for yelling at them, it wasn’t even their fault. No one warned me, but I also didn’t go looking for the information either. I really wish I could just blame someone and get angry, but instead I just feel like shit. I’m going to have to spend the year chaperoning fairies with not even a fraction of my battle experience and watch them outpace me… I’ll have to watch my friends become separated from me because I won’t be able to catch up to them. They’ll graduate and go on to become their homes’ guardian fairies and I’ll just… Stay behind. Just no-one, princess of nothing…”

Daphne had actually been worried when Bloom hadn’t visited once in the last year. Though she couldn’t gauge time as well now, the days blending together, she still realised her little sister had been absent for much longer than usual. So she’d spent a fair bit of her power trying to seek her out. Sometimes she caught glimpses of Bloom’s flame over the forest as it raced past in the direction of Cloud Tower or back to Alfea but that hadn’t been until later, after she’d already gotten quite worried. And then it went back to nothing, and Daphne had tried calling out to her but kept coming up short. Like something had changed and she couldn’t quite find Bloom in the dreamscape because of it.

Now with her little sister sitting on her shore pouring out her heart, she understood. Darkar was a vile being and the curse he had placed on her would have altered her magical signature somewhat. Clearly Bloom had broken free of the spell, for Daphne couldn’t sense its presence, but her little sister had clearly been struggling in silence for quite a while, and when she was finally ready to come speak to her, Daphne hadn’t the strength to join her on the shore…

Bloom seemed to know she was there though, the soft glow of gold from the lake drawing her eyes from time to time as Daphne listened in forced silence. Her poor Bloom had gone through so much it sounded like, and though Daphne didn’t understand the complexities of her mild fixation on the Trix, after a moment she understood what had prompted Bloom to come to her. Enchantix.

“Oh Bloom…” Nothing could save her from the curse of Sirenix, and she was technically dead besides, so there was no one left for Bloom to save and complete her evolution as a fairy. That had to be a devastating blow, and even subsequent transformations into specialised magic like Sirenix itself required a fairy to complete her final transformation, so that wasn’t really an option either.

Plenty of fairies existed in only their base or charmix transformations but most of those were simply trained to control their powers so they would be safe when handling their magic. Bloom had always been a protector, so staying behind as an incomplete fairy truly didn’t suit her. She deserved to complete her journey and join her friends at graduation.

Maybe Bloom or Faragonda would find a way, but at the moment it really did look like Bloom’s story as a fairy was being cut short.

Chapter Text

Upon her return, Bloom had profusely apologised to her friends once more for lashing out at them, and though things were still a little tense on occasion, the next week passed by fairly uneventfully. Classes were still in those introductory stages, explaining the syllabus, how their excursions would affect their class work and which accommodations were available per class to ensure each of the girls would be able to maintain their grades while attempting to unlock their final powers.

The entire thing just reminded Bloom of her inability to actually achieve what she was meant to be working towards, making it feel bitter and pointless, though she still tried. Maybe headmistress Faragonda would come up with something as promised, and Bloom had spent much of her evenings and free time in the library scouring for options as well. No luck though so far, every text she’d found just hammered home that an Enchantix fairy could only unlock her powers by sacrificing herself for her home world or its people.

It was getting a little depressing, with how much she was focussed on it, which was why she perked up when that Saturday she received a text from Sky. He hadn’t reached out after the fiasco that was the ball on Solaria but Bloom hadn’t really been surprised anymore considering his track record. She was supposed to be mad at him still actually and while she supposed she still was, part of her craved the company of a partner. Her friends were great but the dynamic was different and she kind of wanted to be able to complain and lament to him and enjoy his absolutely unfounded but still soothing optimism that everything would be okay.

He’d asked her to meet him by the edge of the forest near Alfea after dinner, and so that evening she snuck out once more, definitely setting a precedent that this year rules would probably go out the window entirely for how much she was breaking them within a week of being back already. He wasn’t quite at the treeline but she could see the headlight of his motorcycle through the trees and followed it to where he was waiting for her on a fallen log, using it as a bench.

“Hey Sky.” She greeted softly as she joined him in the small clearing, almost missing the way he’d been frowning slightly before he looked up. Probably deep in thought about something, she supposed.

“Bloom, hey, it’s good to see you.” He gestured for her to join him on the log and she did, watching him curiously because this felt a little more distant than usual. Well, to be fair normally they launched themselves at each other in excitement. It seemed neither was quite in the mood for that level of enthusiasm at the moment.

“I've been wanting to speak to you since what happened on Solaria.” He continued, and Bloom valiantly tried not to nitpick his phrasing.

“Yeah it was hectic, I never imagined Chimera would be so bold as to attack Stella in public like that, and we disappeared pretty quickly after that— I had no idea I could even do that, to be honest.” She chuckled softly, still a little incredulous. She had yet to be able to replicate the feat so who knew what had gotten into her. Bloom had her suspicions though…

“Right, right…” The silence stretched for a beat too long to be comfortable. “I'm sorry I was so late. I meant to go in right after Brandon but then Diaspro cornered me… I still haven’t been able to convince my father to call the arrangement off and she likes to get her hands on me in public where I can’t avoid her.” Sky began to explain, fidgeting lightly. Bloom knew how much he disliked Diaspro so she knew that couldn’t be easy.

“Yeah that’s got to be rough… Suddenly seeing her with you like that was quite a shock.” She murmured.

“Mhm, kind of like seeing you and Riven dancing together.” He muttered softly in kind, and Bloom froze slightly at his tone. There wasn’t anything wrong with it per se, but he sounded.. off. She’d never really heard him talk like that before so she wasn't too sure how to interpret it either.

“I was kind of under the impression you two still couldn’t stand each other.” He continued, and seemed to swallow a different comment before finally raising his gaze from his hands to her face.

“We're not in our first year anymore Sky. You got over your rivalry with him, I got over his really shitty attempt at flirting ages ago. Musa just couldn’t make it to the ball and since I was by myself as well he offered to dance with me. It was nice of him, since I didn’t want to just be on the sidelines all night.” Which she clearly would have been considering there was no way in hell Diaspro would have let Sky anywhere near her.

Maybe she was being a little more defensive than necessary but the way he’d brought it up so suddenly made it feel like an accusation, and Bloom didn’t think she’d done anything wrong.

“I was going to dance with you—“ Sky snapped, surprising her slightly. Oh, so that was jealousy she’d heard in his voice after all… Funny how he could barely keep in touch with her but he saw her share one dance with a friend and suddenly he was feeling territorial all the while walking around with Diaspro on his arm. 

“Right, when exactly? You showed up so late you missed the first dance of the ball, and there’s no way your fiancé would have let you near me. I wasn’t even sure if you were going to show up at all until Brandon walked in. Never mind you barely seem to remember I exist most of the time, I can’t even get simple texts from you, it’s like pulling teeth. But I have one dance, not even with a stranger but with a mutual friend, and suddenly you’re freaking out?” What a hypocrite— How come she’d never noticed? Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted to notice. She'd just wanted to keep that little nugget of happiness she’d carved out for herself here, though maybe she’d just been fooling herself all along to think he truly cared like he claimed he did.

“That's unfair, Bloom. I don’t have a choice with Diaspro and I’m doing everything I can to cancel the contract. For you. How is that not enough?” He was getting more animated as well, fingers clenching into fists on his lap.

“Are you really? Because last I heard you said you’d broken it off with her, but clearly that wasn’t actually true. You didn’t have a problem with cheating on your fiancé and leading me on when we met. I attacked her in public because I thought she was lying and the Trix were setting me up again, all because you couldn’t come clean with me that you had obligations elsewhere.”

“Hey, don’t go blaming your mistakes on me!” He snapped, getting up from the log to pace. Clearly this conversation wasn’t going the way he’d expected but he’d come here with his jealousy and expected her to fold to keep the peace and that wasn’t happening right now. She still cared about him, but he’d stopped acting like the sweet and caring boy who always tried to make time for her for quite a while now.

His response was infuriating though. She would never have acted so rashly and attacked Diaspro if he’d only told her about the situation in advance. She also wouldn’t have dated him if she’d known he was engaged until the contract was actually broken for that matter, and maybe he’d known that. Maybe that’s why he’d kept quiet until the truth was quite literally shoved in her face.

Maybe that’s why he’d told her he’d broken things off with Diaspro, only to find out later that he might have broken it off with her to her face, but the marriage contract was still in effect, basically defeating the whole point of breaking things off in the first place.

“I can’t believe you!” She snapped back. “I've made plenty of mistakes sure, but that doesn’t mean you just get to take no accountability for this whatsoever. Do you even care that you keeping quiet and keeping secrets hurts me?”

“Why won’t you understand that I don’t have a choice!?” He was really getting wound up now, she’d never actually seen him get angry before, it was a little intimidating and she got up from the log as well because he’d stepped closer and she had no intention of letting him loom over her.

“Because you never explain anything!”

“That's because I can’t, Bloom. My obligations to Eraklyon—”

“Are more important to you than me, believe me, I know. You haven’t let me forget it. Do you even know what state I was in after everything that happened with Darkar? What that did to me? All I wanted was for you to be there for me, even just a little. But you weren’t, because your precious obligations clearly keep you from so much as reaching out to me. You can’t do that to a person and expect them to wait for you forever, Sky…”

Some of the fight went out of him then, though he remained tense, and Bloom had to wonder which part of her words had actually gotten through to him.

“Royal life is complicated Bloom, you wouldn’t understand since you didn’t grow up in that kind of environment. I’m doing the best I can for you, Eraklyon has strict rules, especially regarding the succession, that can’t be shared with outsiders. You’ve known that I'm a prince for ages, you can’t only now be surprised that that takes precedence.”

“Funny, I recall calling you Brandon for months and thinking you were a page actually.” She sniped, arms crossing. He wasn’t budging, wasn’t trying to understand. Bloom had even tried communicating how much his behaviour hurt her and it just went in one ear and out the other. That wasn’t like the boy she’d fallen in love with… At least she hadn't thought so. But apparently now that his royal duties were picking up as he was turning eighteen this year, he was showing his true colours. 

Sure maybe she could understand and maybe he was just stressed and he was in fact trying… But it seemed like their needs just didn’t align anymore. She needed someone to be there for her actively, and clearly he needed an escape from Diaspro willing to simply stand by and wait for him without any needs or demands at all until he could, what exactly? Pay attention to her again? Was she supposed to be grateful or something?

“That was for my protection—“ There were still so many holes in that story it looked like Swiss cheese.

“Oh get over yourself, Sky.” She sighed, looking at him with a lingering sadness. “Because… I think I am too.” She hadn’t even known she was going to say that, but it felt true nevertheless.

The finality of the statement settled in the air between them, and after a moment she had to look away from the pure disbelief and shock in his eyes.

“W-What? Bloom, you can’t be serious.” He took a step forward and she took one back. She’d come here hoping for time spent with someone she cared about, someone she could find comfort in, but that was no longer what Sky was to her. He’d made sure of it… It still hurt though, even if it was her decision first. She used to fantasise about graduating and visiting Eraklyon with him. She didn’t have her own home planet anymore but she could make a new home in the magical dimension on his instead. So many daydreams now crumbling into nothing.

“I mean it, Sky. I’m done waiting for you, I’m done with this. With us.” The last thing she wanted to do now was let him see the way it was affecting her, the way her eyes were beginning to shine with unshed tears for a romance she’d apparently been mostly building in her head.

“You don’t mean that.” He denied, and her hackles began to raise at the dismissal. “You love me, I know you do. You know how much I care about you. We can get through this— We shouldn’t give up just because things are a little hard right now.”

Was this the kind of situation that left guys claiming they’d never seen the break-up coming?

“Goodbye, Sky.” She murmured instead, not deigning to give him an answer and actually engage with what he’d said. All he was asking from her was more complacency after all, and she’d meant what she'd said. She was done hoping and waiting for his attention. Instead she walked past him, heading back to the school.

His hand shot around her wrist just as she was about to get out of reach, something between disbelief and desperation on his face. “Wait—“

She froze as he grabbed her, a few bad memories flashing to the forefront of her mind before rage took over and her wrist heated up where he had grabbed her until he was forced to loosen his grip and she could pull loose. “Don't you dare grab me like that again!” She hissed sharply as she turned to glare at him, some of that gold bleeding into her natural blue. “We're over, Sky. Get it through your head and let it go.”

Considering he’d tried to stop her before, she simply transformed in a flash of fire and sped off back to Alfea in the air instead, knowing his bike wouldn’t be able to keep up with her and that he wouldn’t be allowed on school grounds either.

Stella looked up when she saw a blur of red and light blue enter their dorm before the transformation faded away and she frowned as her best friend suddenly embraced her tightly. “Bloom? What happened?”

“I can’t believe him!” Musa hissed, pacing through the room like she was charged with static, all sharp movement and impatience. Bloom had told Stella and the others had noticed something was wrong and they’d all sort of ended up clustered on or around Stella’s bed in her suite. Bloom kind of hated how lately everything seemed to be about her, there was always something wrong, something drawing attention, it felt like she was a burden on the group more often than not lately.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Flora had settled on Bloom’s other side where Stella had captured her in a hug that hadn’t let go since Bloom had first flown into her arms a little while ago. “I can’t imagine that must’ve been easy for you. I had no idea you’d even been considering it…”

“I.. hadn’t been, honestly. I was upset with him for ghosting me so much, and for showing up with Diaspro on his arm again at the ball… About how he told me he broke things off with her but she still acts like she has a claim on him because his word isn’t enough to break the contract between their families… But I’d thought we’d just talk it through, y’know?” She accepted the tissue from her left gratefully.

“Instead it was like all he really cared about was acting jealous because I agreed to one dance with Riven… Next thing I know I’m the problem for not being understanding enough.” Considering she hadn’t gotten around to telling Musa about the dance yet she just kind of.. avoided looking at her friend for now. She knew Musa felt easily threatened in her relationship and she didn’t want to upset her but also really couldn't deal with that right now. 

“He even threw my situation back in my face… He knows that I hate I didn’t grow up in the magical dimension, with my own family and history and home planet, and that was before I knew about the whole Enchantix thing too… But he said I wouldn’t understand how complicated the royal life and its rules are because I didn’t grow up that way, as if I asked for that— As if I haven’t been waiting for him to explain it to me so I could understand.”

“Hey, shh…” Stella murmured by her side, squeezing her more tightly. “Stop thinking about it for right now, you’re going to run yourself ragged overthinking everything. You both probably said things you didn’t really mean. Take some time to actually think about what you want and need from him before you actually make it final.”

It was true that she’d kind of gotten stuck in her emotions in the moment, but had she really overreacted? He hadn’t been listening to a word she was saying, showed no interest in how she was doing or what she might need from him… She also hadn’t let him speak properly and she’d admitted to herself that he’d been acting different than usual. Was she ready to throw the relationship away over one mistake?

“Are you serious right now? He’s been ignoring her for how long exactly?” Musa looked quite incredulous at Stella’s statement. “I can’t say I’m happy Riven was dancing with her exactly but that’s between him and me, but Sky's reaction is completely out of line. It’s like he doesn’t know her! All of us know Bloom would never flirt with anyone while she’s dating him, but he lied to her for months about his identity and his relationship status. That’s messed up! And when she calls him out on it he lashes out at her?”

Layla dropped onto the edge of the bed besides Stella with a sigh and suddenly something like a void seemed to open up between those of their number who grew up as royalty and those who didn’t. 

“Look, I understand your point of view, I do, but it is different for us. We have obligations that sometimes we can’t talk about, or we can get called away and end up with no access to our phones for security reasons. Every monarchy has its own rules, and Eraklyon’s is one of the more restrictive ones.” Layla tried to explain. “I'm not saying I agree with what he’s done. I wasn’t here for the whole identity thing you guys mentioned, but I’d like to give him at least the benefit of the doubt before we start alienating him based on only one side of the story— Sorry Bloom.”

She shook her head quietly, it was fine.

“Brandon knows this about me too, there are times I’ve had to completely go off the grid for a while, or when I have to drop plans suddenly because something’s come up, and as Sky’s bodyguard the same’s been true for him.” Stella added softly. “It's never been an issue for us.”

“I think… that that’s where the issue originates.” Flora squeezed Bloom’s hand carefully as she spoke. “You are aware of the things that can happen because you’ve lived them, in Stella and Brandon’s case you’ve also clearly spoken about it and made agreements surrounding it. From what I understand, Sky never made that consideration for Bloom. They’ve never spoken about what his responsibilities might be while still attending Red Fountain, what it would look like afterwards, how his availability might be. They just got together organically without considering it until resentment built and it became a problem. Right, Bloom?”

She’d started simply gazing blankly at her lap for a while there and startled slightly as she was addressed. She’d heard what Flora said but she hadn’t been paying attention, her head hurting and fuzzy and just wanting to make that sharp feeling like shattered glass in her chest go away.

“Y-Yeah, he never brought any of that up. He was just kind of… the prince charming who swept me off my feet. So I just… ignored any sign that things weren’t as okay as I wanted them to be.”

“Tell you what,” Musa started, finally joining their pile on Stella’s bed and sitting in front of Bloom. “We’ll see how it goes and if he reaches out, and no matter what, we’ve got your back, okay? If you need us to chase him off for you, we will, no questions asked.”

Finally she smiled softly and pulled Musa into a hug as well.

“Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”

Timmy meanwhile had been getting Tecna’s updates over text, and though they were more technical than emotional, he still deeply appreciated her insight. Especially considering Sky was just absolutely failing to contain his temper at the moment. He’d been kind of stressed all week, so the rest of them had already kind of been eyeing each other when he said he was off to talk to Bloom for a few hours. It was either going to go fine or be a complete disaster, and considering Bloom had been coming out of her shell more of late… Yeah.

“I can’t believe she just blew me off!” Sky muttered angrily for what was probably the third time, at which point even Saint Brandon was starting to get a little tired of the tirade. All of them were surprised that Bloom had actually reacted to their fight by telling him it was over but it wasn’t like they were there and heard what was said either, and Sky had a sharp tongue when he got angry.

“I can.” Riven snorted from his bunk, looking entirely too calm for the situation, as though Sky hadn’t been intermittently glaring at him as if Riven was the cause of all his problems. He might try to be, but that didn’t mean he was actually successful in that endeavour.

“Mind your own business! None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t been flirting with her behind my back anyway—” Oh, and now he was crossing a line, Riven sat up sharply and got up to get in Sky’s face.

“I offered her one dance as a friend that she could turn down if she wanted to. Frankly I did you both a favour by not leaving her to fend for herself around all those high society creeps.” Riven glared, poking Sky sharply in the chest for his accusations. He might not be the most friendly well-mannered guy around but he also wasn’t going to hit on Bloom while he was in a relationship himself. He’s not suicidal, thanks. Come to think of it, Musa would have killed him several times over if he pulled even half the crap Sky did.

“Get it through that thick head of yours Sky, I didn’t flirt with her, and your fuck ups are your own.”

“Enough, tone it down, guys—” Brandon carefully got between them, pulling Sky away before anything escalated. “Sky, you shouldn’t be blaming Riven for this. I saw them, there was nothing going on there.” They’d looked like they were having fun, but that wasn’t a crime.

“From what I understand she’s been having quite a tough time of things ever since Darkar happened to her.” Helia added quietly after a moment. “Perhaps she’d been hoping to find support for that in you?” Though left unsaid was that Sky had been too busy to actually comfort her or even ask her if she was okay.

“That's why I went in the first place!” Sky snapped, making a frustrated turn again. He was going to leave marks on the floor from his pacing at this rate. “I wanted to talk to her, catch up now that classes have begun and I have a bit more time on my hands but she just had to fly off the handle at me instead. All I did was try to explain why I couldn’t always be there and she got mad at me and broke things off, she wouldn’t even listen!”

“That would be because you tried to accuse her of emotionally cheating on you while you walked in with Diaspro as your date.” Riven deadpanned from where he’d taken a seat on his bunk again.

“And I had no choice about that, I already told her that.”

Riven couldn’t help but snort at that. “Dude, you know women are emotional about stuff like that, if you want to keep her happy you don’t shove her insecurities in her face, that’s how this shit works.”

“I don’t want to hear it from you—“ Sky hissed, a narrow look in his eyes that Riven normally associated with the prince saying something that was going to get him punched. “It's not like you and Musa have a better track record than we do, you even ditched her for a witch.”

Riven inhaled sharply at that, annoyance flaring. He stayed put if only because Helia had moved over to plant a firm hand on his shoulder. They all knew how these fights started between the two of them and when to intervene to keep casualties to a minimum, but if there was something Riven didn’t want to hear, it was trash talk about witches. He’s never had a problem with them, but he knows how many of his peers are prejudiced against them. He’d heard plenty enough slurs and discrimination against them all throughout his life.

Witch’s boy, scoundrel, no surprise she left them, what can you expect from their sort, …

“Musa and I have our problems but don’t you dare talk about shit you know nothing about.” He fumed softly, really wishing Helia would let go so he could knock the prince’s lights out and maybe get some sense into that dense head of his in the process.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough, I mean it. Break it up, guys.” Brandon physically stepped in front of Sky to block his view of Riven. Normally when Riven got upset it was more explosive with an unhealthy dose of sarcasm, but this was quiet and sharp instead. Brandon didn’t quite know how, but Sky had hit a nerve. “Sky, let's just head back to our dorm. Things will have cooled down by tomorrow and maybe you and Bloom can try talking again later.”

“Fine.” Sky huffed, pulling away from Brandon to head back to his own room. Frankly Brandon ought to be happy Sky hadn’t reported him for ditching him at the ball like Diaspro had wanted him to. It was a massive breach of protocol and if Brandon continued to defy him openly they’d have a problem when they actually entered Eraklyon’s court properly.

Chapter Text

Time seemed to just stretch on endlessly, repeating days of classes, studying, writing essays and spending hours scouring a library that seemed to hold no answers for what she needed. The club had been a little subdued after her fight with Sky, they’d always all been so close and the boys had been an integral part of that from the very start so it was odd for it to be different now. Besides, everyone had their own assignments and a larger workload than usual to manage.

Bloom pushed another book aside in frustration to grab the next one from her pile. Enchantix was a very interesting power that had been well studied from what she could find, the various powers, the way that a fairy’s senses expanded as she settled into her power, the new skills like fairy dust, miniaturisation and wings more resistant to the various challenges they might face… It stung more to know how amazing it could be when she couldn’t attain it herself.

There were records in the pile as well. Few, because for some reason it was hard to find documents about her home planet, but there were a few mentions in some of the history books. Something about Domino playing a central role in politics with its neighbouring realms, trade agreements and bonds of support and loyalty. She'd been surprised to find Eraklyon on that list but had quickly turned the page, not wanting the reminder.

From what she could gather, her home world had been pretty impressive and highly regarded as the home of the Great Dragon, but with the planet dead and its power drained, it seemed like everyone had moved on pretty quickly.

Still, none of this seemed to have any answers for her. There was nothing about any trade routes or likely places that some of her people might have traditionally visited, no way to track anyone down nor any distinct features to use for identification should she actually come across anyone.

“I'm never going to figure this out, am I?” She groaned miserably, slumping over the table.

“Well, certainly not with that attitude.”

The sudden voice behind her made her jump right back up, shifting in her seat to see who’d come to interrupt her. “Tecna?”

The fairy of technology smiled and sat beside her, stacking a few of the books to make room for herself at the table. “Hey Bloom, looks like you could use a little help.”

Bloom laughed softly. “Boy could I ever, I’ve been looking into everything I can but there’s no exceptions when it comes to Enchantix and I can’t find anything about where my people might have gone, at least those who weren’t on Domino during the attack…”

Tecna nodded as she listened. “That sounds about right. I’ve run some queries but haven’t been able to find any records either. It’s almost as though Domino barely existed even though it was only destroyed seventeen years ago. It’s quite odd in my opinion, but the public records are very limited.”

“It's almost like nobody wants us to look into it.” Bloom huffed softly. Alfea’s library had always been extensive and either she wasn’t looking in the right places, or she lacked access to the information outright.

“Quite. Even the online data is surprisingly limited, but that isn’t why I was looking for you.”

Bloom tilted her head in light confusion. “Oh, why were you looking for me, then?”

“I've been doing my own research on the Enchantix transformation since I saw you hitting the books. You’re right that exceptions are pretty much impossible to find. Personally I find the requirements for achieving it rather restrictive in the first place, but that’s not exactly something we can circumvent. However, I was thinking, what if you shift your focus from Enchantix towards the power you do have?”

Bloom frowned in confusion at that, not sure what Tecna was getting at. If not even she had found a way to get past the requirements for the transformation, what hope was there?

“I don’t understand…” She murmured, brows furrowed and hands fidgeting on her lap even as she gave Tecna her full attention.

“I'm referring to the Dragon Flame, Bloom.” Tecna said as though it should be obvious, and in hindsight it really was. “The power you possess as its guardian is something else. That fire is a piece of the source of all life within the magical dimension. Surely something so powerful is capable of more than what you can achieve as a Charmix fairy?”

Even if it was just a fraction, there was a reason everyone and their mother seemed to be after the Dragon Flame, and while she was a decently strong combatant, Tecna was right. The power she had right now wasn’t anywhere near a reflection of what she should be capable of with the power of the Dragon running through her.

“I.. I guess you’re right. So you think I should be able to just.. grow beyond the limits of Charmix even without obtaining Enchantix?”

Tecna hummed as she considered that and then snapped her phone shut, deactivating the research she’d pulled up on the holo-screen. “I think you have the potential to become something unprecedented, and I think I’d like to write my final thesis on it.”

Bloom couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Only you, Tecna.” She chuckled before pulling the girl into a hug. “Thank you. I might not have all the answers yet, but I have something new to research now.”

Tecna who hadn’t been expecting the sudden physical affection squeaked slightly as she was pulled out of her chair before hugging her back. Bloom had gone through a lot and while Tecna couldn’t always understand her, she would support her nevertheless. “Happy to help, Bloom.”

With everything going on, Bloom didn’t tell the others that she was getting dreams again. That she woke sometimes with a gasp in the middle of the night and the afterimage of golden slitted eyes staring her down, finding her wanting. Those nights were preferable, though, to what she had to deal with on the nights where her insecurities got the better of her.

Visions of her friends in brilliant transformations, huge sparkling wings on their backs, turning away from her. You can’t keep up Bloom; you’re not strong enough anymore; you’ll never become a true fairy. And the worst… I’m sorry, but you can’t come with us anymore. You’re a liability. You’ll get someone hurt; just stay on the ground where you belong.

She knew it wasn’t real, that it was just her anxieties taken form but that didn’t keep her from screaming at them in the dream, running after her friends, her support system, as they slowly walked or flew away, always out of reach no matter how hard she tried to chase them.

“Oh come now Bloom, you can’t be surprised.” Icy’s voice cut through the darkness and suddenly she and her sisters were there, gazes sharp and mocking. She hadn’t seen them look at her like that since her first year— “You were always weaker than the rest, not a true fairy in any way that counts.”

“You're nothing without that little flame in your chest. You should have just let us take it. We’d sure as hell take better care of it than you have.” They were smirking at her, all hands on hips and sharp grins, the vision before her conflicting so sharply with the image she’d built from shards of memory in Shadowhaunt. They were cruel and cold but also patient and funny and—

“No!!” Bloom shouted, stumbling back, trying to get away from them only to bump into something hard, bony and metallic. Her breath hitched sharply as she felt those claws grasp her shoulders, pinning her into place. They felt like they’d slice her skin open if she moved and she suddenly couldn’t breathe anymore, gasping for air as fear gripped her and the Trix stalked towards her, laughing.

In the next moment they vanished as he spun her around and her fears were confirmed. She could breathe again but was now staring directly into his eyes— The Shadow Phoenix. Bloom hadn’t been afraid of him when she’d been captured the first time, she’d struggled and rebelled and glared, not knowing what he could do to her. She knew now, and she could feel her wrists sting with the ghost of those magical chains, the same that had tied her down to that stone slab as he wove his spells into her.

“You could have had such power, princess.” He purred in that seductive tone of his, even though his gaze was hard and cold and it felt like ice was dripping down her spine. She didn’t move though, didn’t shiver; couldn’t perhaps. All she could do was stand there frozen as he stood before her. “I would have given you the entire magical dimension, your fire and my shadow, ruling as one.”

She knew those whispers intimately, those promises. Things that had been appealing to her darker form because she’d been spelled to want them. She never wanted them. Her shoulders trembled with the desire to move, to lurch away from him even if it shredded her skin in the process but he didn’t let her. He simply loomed.

“Now look at you. All that power gone, your own light wasted.” Her breath hitched. “All of this fighting and striving, and for what, princess? For a power you desperately want but can never obtain.” She didn’t notice she was crying until he wiped away her tears and she couldn’t even flinch back, still frozen, still at his mercy. Nothing had changed— She wasn’t free. Maybe she never would be.

“That's right princess. I am the Shadow Phoenix, I am immortal. As immortal as the flame you guard so jealously. One day, I will come for you again and you will kneel for me once more.”

“N-No…” Bloom shook her head, a minute movement that made him smirk rather than snarl.

Her darker form appeared from behind him as he cradled her face, those sharp claws resting frightfully close to her eyes. She leaned over with a hand on his shoulder and that sharp smirk that never seemed to fade.

“You've always wanted to be a fairy, poor little Bloom. So far away from a home you can never return to. So lost in your fantasies you can’t even grasp the opportunity right in front of you.” The Trix reappeared to Darkar’s left then but were simply looking at her, staring wordlessly as she trembled in darkness’ grasp.

“It's time to accept it Bloom. Realise you’ll never be a true fairy and wake up.”

She startled awake with a sharp gasp and immediately struggled to breathe, her heart hammering against her chest so hard she feared it might break through. It takes a few panicked moments too long for her to actually manage to breathe again, a ragged brush of air that makes her throat feel sore even though she clearly hadn’t screamed aloud, because Flora was still soundly asleep.

It wasn’t enough though, she still felt scared and trapped and she’d wake the others if she turned on a light, so instead she stumbled clumsily towards the balcony and opened the door, all but draping herself over the railing as she tried to breathe and keep the sobs from wracking her chest and coming out as sound. She couldn’t stand explaining to anyone what had just happened, that even if she was better now, she was still haunted. She didn’t curse people in the halls anymore and she didn’t lash out but there was still this part of her that was irrevocably broken.

She slipped from the balcony up to the roof and still couldn’t trust her voice not to betray her. She’d learned a sound muffling spell last year and cast it with a quick wave of her hand before collapsing in on herself. There was no point in trying to bottle anything up right now. All she could do was feel as the air scraped her throat each time she breathed in just enough to be able to sob again, shoulders shaking and nails digging into her arms as she clung to herself. It wouldn’t make anything better and she’d have to hide the marks tomorrow, but for today, for now, it was grounding. Even if just a little.

She sat there for an hour letting emotion and fear run its course through her until only exhaustion was left. An hour became two and she looked a right mess by the end of it but at least she could breathe again; even if her throat hurt, her eyes were swollen and she’d gotten blood under her nails from gripping herself so tightly that she’d broken skin.

Bloom felt like a newborn fawn when she slowly got up from her perch, only now starting to feel the chill of the wind as the sky began to lighten. She’d feel like shit during her classes, but right now she needed to get cleaned up, get rid of the evidence of her breakdown, hide the marks on her skin and get some rest if she could.

“Each of you will be sent to your home worlds, preferably in pairs or groups of three where possible, and spend several days, up to a week, working with local law enforcement to correct natural disasters, save lives and altogether be involved in the safety of your home planet. For those who so choose, you may also be requested to assist in the apprehension of criminals in the area.”

A stern looking man stood at the front of their class in what looked like an official uniform, though it was of an unfamiliar cut and style. He was staring down the class and demanding their attention, something about how he wouldn’t be repeating himself. As such, Bloom was obediently keeping the majority of her attention on him, while she absently doodled fire and dragons in her notebook’s margins, wishing she could just drop her head down and ignore him altogether.

“You will all be given a form to fill out shortly with your preferences regarding the types of incidents you will be assisting with, as well as a general rundown of your current abilities. This information will be shared with the dispatch on your home planets to ensure your efforts will bear the most fruit. While this program is designed to give you real world experience and eventually place you in situations worthy of earning your final transformations, our primary concern is the health and safety of the citizens. As such, it will be your priority as well. Reckless behaviour will result in consequences.”

A whisper started up amongst some of the girls, a lot of them had fought when the Trix had used Bloom's flame to summon that army and attack Alfea in their first year, but she’d also heard many of them had been quite fearful and reluctant to fight. They were likely no more experienced now than they had been two years ago, so their nerves weren’t surprising.

“You will be given the contact information of your on-site dispatcher upon your first deployment and you will coordinate directly with them concerning any issues that may arise. Furthermore, should you cause more harm than not while on your mission, you will not be detained by local law enforcement. Instead you will be returned to Alfea and the headmistress will coordinate any restitutions and punishments herself. I expect this precaution will not become necessary.”

With a twist of his wrist, the papers on the desk floated up and distributed themselves among the students. As Bloom looked at hers, half-way tempted to just doodle dragons all over that instead, she found herself slightly uncomfortable. She’d never exactly hidden that she was the fairy of the Dragon Flame, but she’d been chased after for it enough by now that she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having the core of her power on file…

Still, the sound of pens scratching slowly filled the room and she pushed past the reluctance. No doubt Stella was absolutely miserable as well when it came to returning to Solaria, but apparently something would be figured out. At least something could be figured out in the first place.

Name: Bloom Peters
Home Planet: Domino
Designation: Charmix Fairy
Type: Fire

Skillset: Cold resistance, power blast, fire manipulation, shielding, spell reflection, …

Her pen hesitated and hovered over the page as she frowned at it. She was capable of more, but she didn’t always know how to access those powers. Healing. She’d done that, she’d healed Sky when he’d taken that hit from Darkar. But she had no idea how to access that side of her powers, hadn’t even considered tapping into it really… She’d always needed her combat abilities more, and she didn’t want to be put on the spot either. Better not list something she couldn’t actually do on command.

Looking at the list it seemed awfully short considering her actual experience… She couldn’t even add convergence to it, since she could only do that with fairies she was close to and she likely had only spoken a handful of times with whoever she’d get assigned to.

Right, what was next?

Preferences:

▢ Combat
▢ Rescue
▢ Environmental
▢ Transport

She carefully checked each box. Mostly the options were there to allow the more inexperienced fairies not to have to deal with combat right away. Each option had a little explanation to go with it, about how combat could be defensive or offensive assistance to the capture of a criminal, rescue regarded kidnappings, burning buildings and other such hazards where people needed extracting from a dangerous situation, environmental was all about natural disasters, and transport referred to the transport of dangerous goods or prisoners, or any type of vehicle that could be attacked en route and needed guarding.

Once everyone was done their papers flew back to the front of the class and into the man’s hands. Bloom was pretty sure he’d introduced himself while she wasn’t paying attention. Soft chatter had started up again while he counted to make sure everyone’s answer had been handed in, though he quickly refocussed everyone’s attention once he was done.

“I will review these and compile the information for your local law enforcement units to review in turn. I will return in one week to assess your physical capabilities for myself and edit your file where necessary before your local law enforcement receives your applications. Once the bureaucracy is completed, your assignments will be sent to the school, which will handle scheduling and deployment. If you have any further questions, direct them towards school staff.”

Well, how very… informative. Clearly the guy felt like his time was being wasted dealing with a bunch of untrained princesses and various other nobles, especially considering they were all still mostly teenagers. They’d all turn eighteen this year, but that didn’t mean the lot of them were suddenly proper and mature women either.

Griselda took over homeroom as the door clicked shut behind him and Bloom immediately tuned the world back out, trying not to notice the way the light made everything too intense, eyes half closed as she went back to mindlessly doodling on her notebook. When she blinked back into focus, she nearly flinched at the sharply angled helmet that had appeared on the page, and she quickly grabbed at her eraser. He already haunted her in her dreams, she didn’t need him to haunt her while awake as well!

Life went on at Alfea as usual, though the Winx acted less and less as a unit the closer the date of their first missions got. They were all various degrees of excited and nervous, but Bloom saw Stella’s anxiety in the way she held herself, in the way her fingers wrung together under the table even as she held her head high. She wouldn’t be alone either, two other fairies from Solaria attended, though from what Bloom had seen they weren’t exactly openly friendly with her at the moment.

The others generally had one other fairy with them, and some like Tecna didn’t have any at all. Meanwhile Bloom was a chaperone of small teams of the most inexperienced of their number. That man had come back as promised and set them up in mock battles against each other, a number of recruited specialists, or mages of their own to test against various situations as well as their general flying and defensive abilities. The Winx had passed with flying colours, to no one’s surprise, but the classification did mean that Bloom would be getting paired with the worst of the lot.

She’d tried to appeal against the whole babysitting the less experienced fairies thing but Faragonda had shot her down. Said it would keep her on the field and active while ensuring that their fairies would be safe. Bloom was of the opinion that the lack of safety net would make them grow faster, but she didn’t really get a say. It was frustrating, since she wanted to stay and keep practicing with her magic.

Bloom had been working on trying to call out the healing aspect of her flames for a while now as something tangible to work towards but she ended up with band-aids rather than healed cuts most of the time. Well, that or she accidentally cauterised them out of frustration, which had not been pleasant and left a couple of unintended marks.

The door to their dorm opened and closed, a beat of silence followed by a deep sigh that drew Bloom out of her thoughts to glance through the open door of her shared suite. Ah, that made sense. Stella had returned from her meeting with headmistress Faragonda regarding her missions then.

“How'd it go?” Musa asked, breaking the heavy silence that had settled first. They were all curious of course but with how quiet and withdrawn Stella had been these past few weeks, everyone had been making an effort not to bring up any sensitive topics to avoid upsetting her further. It had been a little awkward, especially for those of their number who were excited to visit home and help out, but they’d found a balance quickly enough.

“Could have gone worse, I suppose.” Stella sighed, dropping herself onto the couch next to Layla. By then they’d all gathered to come listen and the fairy of the shining sun sighed again. “I'm allowed to go, for one. That was a concern, but us third years have something akin to diplomatic immunity. They won’t be able to keep me from coming to Solaria and they won’t be able to arrest me while I’m there on official business as part of the training program. I’ve been advised to steer clear of the capital though, to focus my efforts a bit more outside of the popular areas where people might be less likely to um.. judge me.”

“Judge you?” The incredulousness came from Tecna first even if it was mirrored in all of their expressions.

Stella nodded, looking somewhat miserable at the reminder. “Turns out Cassandra’s been running a smear campaign to undermine my popularity but kept it out of the wider news so I wouldn’t notice and stop her from slandering me. People are taking my silence on the matter as confirmation so coming out to refute it all now will just make me look worse instead. It’s all bullshit of course but that doesn’t make it hurt any less…” Her father was allowing the smear campaign after all, even if he’d apparently been unavailable for comment on the matter.

“Didn't the people love you before this though? Wouldn’t they believe you?” Musa asked, idly tapping out a rhythm onto her knee, which she’d pulled up onto her seat, perching precariously on the chair.

“Not necessarily…” Layla responded, an arm wrapping around Stella as though it would soften the reality of things. “Her own father refusing to comment comes across as pretty damning to the people who don’t know her.”

“I was loved because daddy kept me partially in the public eye, especially when I was little and the nation’s precious little princess to fuss over, but after my parents divorced he didn’t really want the media’s attention on us as much anymore. Reporters can be vultures when it comes to news like that and they won’t care how much their questions hurt. Needless to say I didn’t handle the divorce well, so daddy decided it was better to keep me out of the public eye until my maturity.” Stella had leaned into Layla’s offered affection, playing with her hair, twisting it between her fingers as she spoke.

“What about the fairies that’ll be going with you to Solaria, Stella? Surely they know better than to believe those rumours when they’ve seen you around.” Flora offered, returning to their original topic with the intent of making sure Stella had some support while she was there at the very least.

The wince that followed wasn’t very encouraging.

“Yeah so um, they’ve made statements on record that they don’t want to openly associate with me for fear of it limiting their prospects upon graduation.” Stella winced slightly. She could understand, to a degree, but to think that fairies she’d had two years of classes with would just abandon their princess—

“Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry…” Flora kept her tone supportive, but part of her wanted to retaliate at those girls for driving the nail in deeper. Her fingers clutched at the fabric of her skirt, hidden in the folds to keep her ire from showing. Maybe she'd drop some itching moss in their bags or something later. Nothing too dangerous but surely a mild little ‘prank' would be appropriate?

Chapter Text

Bloom watched the fairies she was supposed to help in rotation fly their courses with a wince. Why on earth had some of them opted to be available for combat when their flying was so abysmal? They kept getting caught by the moving parkour obstacles or getting shot down in a fight because they got so focussed on the fight that they were basically a stationary target waiting to be shot down. Having wings wouldn’t save them if they failed to actually make use of them.

It didn’t help that some of them kept giving her attitude whenever she let her exasperation show a little too obviously. She understood their pride didn’t like it, but it seemed obvious to her that if they hated it so much, they should simply work harder and improve instead of getting mad at her for it.

“Well if you’re so good, why don’t you do it!?” One of them had finally snapped at her, which frankly— Bloom had been bored out of her mind anyway. It wasn’t even going to be a challenge in comparison to some of the things she’d done after all.

“You want a show? Alright, fine.” She didn’t waste her breath explaining that her frustration wasn’t an attempt to make fun but genuine concern for their safety. Well, within reason— She didn’t actually care that much, but they should still be capable enough on the field that she didn’t have to go rescue them all the time at the very least.

The course was a flight based one with multiple floating tunnels, obstructions and traps throughout that would test a fairy’s speed, adaptability and problem solving skills under pressure. The whole course was timed and they’d all scored around the four minute mark. Decent, but really not quickly enough when the top of the unofficial leaderboard was under a minute. Never mind how often they got stuck at obstacles or the variety of traps that rotated so it was never the same one twice in a row.

She hadn’t even been transformed while she watched but as she strode up to the starting line she transformed, a smooth thing that transitioned from one step to the next like a flash of flame brushing over her to leave her in her classic fairy form. Seeing her powder blue arm guards, a small sigh of relief escaped her. She tended towards the darker shade of her magic when frustrated and had been a little worried she’d transform wrong and invite a whole different host of problems onto herself.

The course itself was straightforward and when the whistle sounded she bolted off so quickly she heard someone to the side gasp. They quickly became inconsequential though as she twisted her body to accommodate the sharp turns without losing too much speed. Next was a blade design like you’d find on a fan, a single gap large enough to fit through appeared periodically and to get through you had to adjust your speed to time it without stopping, otherwise you wouldn’t have enough speed to get through it without catching the top of the blade on your legs. It wouldn’t cut, but it’d hurt and probably bruise.

Bloom got through it easily enough though, and the cursing was distant from the ground as she emerged from that section. Next were a bunch of moving hoops. Some went side to side, some flipped and some had to line up in a set before you could fly through them. They lit up as she passed them, really nothing different from the tunnel exercise. Just a question of depth perception and speed management.

Traps next, within another tunnel. Pathways could close suddenly, smoke, vines and a few other traps were littered throughout the space. If you had some awareness and were either careful or knew how to force your way through it wasn’t hard though. Bloom had always been under the impression this served to gauge basic ability and that it not being too difficult was normal, albeit boring. Well, she didn’t hold the top spot of said unofficial leaderboard for no reason after all.

As she flew through a section that was partially open, she flinched briefly as a light blinded her from the side and suddenly water was rushing. Uhoh— That was not part of the listed traps! her adrenaline kicked in as the situation shifted. Water wasn’t a huge problem, except that if your wings got soaked it became more difficult to fly. Not impossible, certainly, but your body felt more heavy and it was more difficult to manoeuvre. A bit of rain was fine as well, but no fairy liked flying in a downpour.

The water made the tunnel shake before the rush of water started coming closer and Bloom had to book it through the maze, still equipped with traps, while still blinking the spots from that light out of her eyes. Which was why the passage in front of her closing right as she got there really, really sucked. “No—! Damn it.” She cursed softly as the water churned behind her. She turned to look for a different passage to try to stay ahead of it, but it was already too late. It crashed into her and pushed her against the closed passage roughly, cutting off her air and making her head throb. Ugh, she was getting dizzy, and this was getting actively dangerous now. The longer she stayed under, the worse her flying would be, and she couldn’t breathe besides.

Trying to fly through water was like moving through molasses, slow and heavy, and she wasn’t mobile enough anymore to avoid all the traps, though the vines that had caught her had quickly been boiled to pieces. Normally that wouldn't have burned her, but the fire had heated up the water, and well… She didn’t even bother checking her wrists, the pain was enough. She needed to get out, fast!

It took what felt like entirely too long before she found the exit, the cube must have been dripping water for a while already but the course hadn’t been shut down, so something was going on outside as well. When Bloom finally broke the surface with a rough gasp she immediately dropped about a metre down just from the weight on her wings alone, the sudden drop in altitude nearly leaving her heart lodged in her throat.

She could see the end of the course ahead, but part of her attention was on the three fairies below, chatting and snickering among themselves. The ground and the cube behind her looked dry, which didn’t make sense unless—

In a quick burst of anger and flame she dried off her wings as best she could and crashed through the remainder of the course in seconds, having somehow still stayed under a minute, albeit just barely due to the complications she’d run into. As she flew down, furious and her hair still somewhat soaked, she remembered that one of them had light-based powers. Illusions were within her capabilities and her focus shattered as Bloom roughly grabbed her and her friend’s wrists. Light and water, good application too if only used for entirely the wrong goal. And these were supposed to be aspirant Guardian Fairies? Disgusting.

She heard the supervisor exclaim from near the start of the course as suddenly all of the water dripping from the course became visible. Bloom for her part wasted no time in dragging those two towards said instructor, completely ignoring their struggling and the way they were even trying to use their wings for the extra boost of power to get loose from her grip. If maybe her hands were a little warmer than usual, well— Surely no one could blame her as long as she didn’t actually burn them.

“Sir. These two tampered with the course, water and light powers respectively. One used her light to blind me and subsequent illusions to keep her friend’s use of her water powers hidden as she flooded the maze cube. They could have drowned someone.” She all but tossed the girl at the instructor’s feet, who quickly got serious at Bloom’s report. She’d noticed they responded well to that kind of thing, quick and to the point, almost militaristic.

“Please excuse me, I’ll head to the nurse to treat my burns.” He'd had the gall to raise a brow at her until her transformation dropped, revealing her ankles and wrists did in fact have some nasty looking blisters on them from where the vines had grabbed her and had been boiled off.

“Go, I’ll deal with these two.” He’d conceded and Bloom was quick to get out of there. As much as she was tempted to to try and heal these on her own, she didn’t want to risk it. Of course, being seen going to the nurse’s office, paired with the third fairy who’d been an accomplice through inaction being left to roam free, meant that by lunch the entire school had heard some variation of what had happened. Most of it was wildly inaccurate but they all knew she’d gotten hurt, as if that somehow made her lesser or something. They weren’t invulnerable after all, none of them were— Though clearly some people had forgotten that.

The Winx had been caught up during lunch, sharing in her anger and outrage at what those girls had done as well as expressing a good bit of worry for her health. She’d been cleared by the nurse though, and if she applied the ointment a few nights in a row, her burns would be all gone before the weekend.

She'd not expected to get a text from Riven to check up on her though. Clearly the word had spread to Red Fountain as well.

[You okay? Heard about the incident.] Huh, turns out he was a pretty dry texter. She didn’t know what she’d been imagining he’d text like though, maybe in a lot of shorthand?

[Fine, just a few burns from the water. Pretty sure those girls ruined their shot at missions for a while, least I won’t have to babysit them now.] She replied. It felt a little weird texting him, if only because while everyone had the entire group’s numbers saved, that didn’t mean they usually talked outside of a group context.

She could almost hear his snort when the reply came in.

[Babysit, huh? Sounds like you dodged a bullet.]

She really had, at that. She’d been dreading going out on missions doing nothing but running after those girls and making sure they didn’t hurt themselves within reason, whatever within reason was supposed to mean when the whole point was to risk their lives for someone else’s sake. Apparently it wasn’t uncommon for some girls not to make the cut or manage the transformation though. Some retook the year but others found out their temperaments weren’t well-suited to self-sacrifice and they simply dropped out.

Bloom hated the idea of dropping out though. She could, she had more than enough cause in theory, but it felt like it’d be some moral failing she’d be judged for if people found out, and that didn't sit right with her.

She hadn’t realised she’d forgotten to reply until he followed up.

[How’s your magic stuff been going?]

Bloom had to wince at that one, remembering what she’d told him in the aftermath of their escape in Solaria, about how two-toned her magic had felt since Shadowhaunt.

[Okay, I guess. No real progress. Trying to work on recreating the healing from last year but no luck so far.]

It took a bit for his next reply to come in and she had to wonder if he’d been trying to think of a better way to word it when she read what it said.

[What about the witchy side?]

What a question… She couldn’t blame him for asking of course, but thinking about it always felt a little uncomfortable, maybe especially because she had a feeling that her dreams were pushing her towards that possibility and she was stubbornly trying to avoid it for as long as she could. She’d always wanted to be a fairy, she was good at being a fairy— Why would she want to cultivate a witch’s magic? Even though those few classes they’d had to share at Cloud Tower in their first year showed she did have the aptitude for it, even then…

[Haven’t really tried it…] She admitted, fiddling with the charm on her phone as she pressed send. [Don’t know how to feel about it yet.]

One again the silence stretched and she had to wonder what he was thinking or doing. If he’d be pacing while trying to come up with a reply, or maybe he was simply busy at the moment and got distracted—

[Tell you what. Saturday, coffee in Magix. We can talk then.]

Bloom froze, eyes wide at the reaction she finally got, unsure how to feel about it. Maybe in person she could have tried to needle him and subtly ask if he was actually asking her out on a date right now— but she couldn’t. Because that’d look weird and way too direct for comfort over text. Besides, maybe she was just reading too much into it, or god forbid, being inappropriately hopeful. She didn't think it was wrong of her to feel lonely after Sky had essentially betrayed her, and she felt surprisingly comfortable with Riven but that didn’t have to mean anything—

[Easier to explain in person, figure maybe it’ll help. Can’t hurt.]

Oh. Um, okay… She was still unsure about what he was talking about, but surely there wouldn’t be any harm in going? Nothing would happen anyway, she could go out and have a coffee with one of their friends without guilt crawling up her throat, surely.

[Alright, I’ll be there.]

Bloom fidgeted in her seat at the café they’d agreed to meet up at, not their usual place but something a little more quiet and rustic, off the main streets. She’d opted to show up early if only so she had time to think about what they’d talk about and how she planned to respond. While she agreed that speaking in person would be easier, she was still nervous. When it came to the darker side of magic, she hadn’t really mentioned anything to the other Winx. 

They knew about her darker side, the one who was her but wasn’t and turned her eyes golden when angry. They even knew she’d been hiding some of her reading material, but she’d never told them exactly what she was looking into at the time. Well, she’d mostly stopped after a while though, trying to return to that comfortable normal where people stopped treating her like she was fragile.

Even if she dressed differently now, even if she wasn’t as bright and carefree, that sense of normalcy had been reassuring. Besides, she had her hands full trying to figure out the Enchantix stuff now, she hadn’t really been thinking about that side of her magic. She didn’t feel the need to go flying to get rid of that crawling feeling in her veins anymore either. Bloom knew that a lot of that had come from her alter ego, and that the more she settled, the less she felt pushed by her other self.

Maybe she had less power over her now? Though that didn’t stop her from trying to hurt Bloom in her dreams, clearly…

“Been waiting long, princess?”

Her eyes snapped up as Riven approached her table, two warm drinks in hand. Apparently he’d gone and taken some liberties with her drink choice, but it looked good so she accepted it with a small muttered thanks. She’d gotten so lost in thought she’d almost forgotten he’d be here any minute.

“No, I just got lost in thought, that’s all.” She murmured, fingers wrapping around her drink and enjoying the soft warmth from the rich coffee topped with whipped cream and chocolate dusting.

“Figures, this stuff’s really bothering you huh?” He hummed as he sat across from her with his own drink. She’d not noticed until that moment that he was wearing a slightly darker style than usual, a leather jacket covering his arms and was that eyeliner—?

Riven noticed her looking, because of course he did, and smirked lightly. Though really, she couldn’t comment considering she was wearing a soft white blouse with puffy sleeves paired with this black dress with an asymmetrical hem and a pair of black Mary Janes’s she’d picked up at the mall in Gardenia. Naturally, the snowflake was also secured in her hair, keeping her growing bangs out of her eyes.

“I guess…” She murmured after a moment, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I know that part of me is curious about it, and we actually attended a few classes with the witches back in our first year when we were trying to protect Cloud Tower from the Trix, but I’ve also always wanted to be a fairy, ever since I was little. Now with the whole Enchantix thing…”

“What do you mean?” He asked, a light frown on his face and listening attentively in a way that made her want to shift in her seat slightly. She wasn’t used to that kind of intensity being directed at her.

“Well, it’s the graduation requirement for one. And considering you have to risk your life to save someone from your home planet in order to achieve it…”

“Well shit.” Riven cursed softly, Bloom being bothered by that made perfect sense considering Domino was long gone and a frozen wasteland by now. It had almost been seventeen years ago now, hadn’t it? Not even that long ago, but any survivors from Domino kept their mouth shut about their origins just to be safe.

“Pretty much, yeah. I’ve been trying to look into ways to get around it but I can’t find anything, and even working on the other things my powers can do is hard. It normally just comes so easy to me when it’s combat related but I can’t even heal a simple cut or teleport without setting the room on fire…” It wasn’t even frustration anymore at this point, she was just running out of options and dreading what that meant for her. “I don’t want to have to drop out…”

Riven could understand why, too. Any fairy who dropped out of Alfea in their third year would have to constantly justify why they’d dropped out for fear of being seen as a selfish person who wasn’t worth the title of fairy, even though there were loads of fairies who never achieved their Enchantix. It was the expected thing for Alfea attendees after all, failing was seen as a moral deficiency. And even if Bloom spent the rest of her life defending herself and explaining that she was the last known descendant of the Domino royal family, there would be plenty of people who wouldn’t even bother to hear her out. It sucked, but that was the way things were, especially in Magix.

“What about transferring?” He asked after a moment, cautiously. He knew she wouldn’t want to be far from the girls so other schools outside of the big three likely wouldn’t even be considered, but she had options if she wanted. Just like there weren’t only female witches and fairies, there were female specialists. Just, not at Red Fountain. Though why the three most prestigious schools in Magix refused to have mixed students was a mystery to him. 

“And go where?” She shot back with a small scoff. “Cloud Tower?” She knew that was the obvious course of action but that didn’t mean she had to like it. She didn’t want to give up or lose her time with her friends. Besides, it was one thing to struggle with her past and her final transformation, but another entirely to switch not only schools but magical alignment as well. Even though Mirta had done so and was generally considered very brave for giving up what was expected of her in order to become a fairy.

“Well why not?” There was something there, Riven could tell, and she’d admitted she’d attended classes. If she was incapable of calling up their brand of magic then she would’ve brought that up already after all.

“I'm not a witch.” She retorted, frowning slightly and curling up a little on her seat, one leg pulled under her. Clearly she was uncomfortable with the subject but still willing to talk. Or maybe it helped that he wasn’t as close a friend as her roommates were.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He countered instead, raising a brow at her and challenging her like he’d been doing whenever they saw each other. She hated to admit that part of her liked that.

She worried at her lower lip with her teeth as she tried to formulate an answer to that statement. He was right, she did say it like it was a bad thing, didn’t she? Her experiences hadn’t exactly been positive though, from the Trix tricking her and Sky’s reaction at the time to the witches’ behaviour when the Winx had been at the tower to help and all the damage the Trix had caused since…

“I… I know they’re not all bad.” She murmured after a moment, pulling her drink close and cradling it like keeping the warmth closer would keep her safe from the uncertain mix of emotions in her chest. “But even on Earth there are stories about how witches are bad and fairies are good, and when I came to Magix I was attacked by witches and protected by fairies. I know things aren’t that black and white, but the idea of me being one… I don’t know, it makes me uncomfortable, I guess.”

Well, that was quite something to unpack, huh? Though she did have a point in that she likely hadn’t had a single positive interaction with witches before. Now, how much to actually tell her…

“It's not easy being a witch.” He began after a moment, gaze steady even as he considered his words. He’d not even told Musa this bit about his history, though she’d never asked, either. “My mother’s a witch, actually. She left when I was little so I don’t really know her very well, but I’m familiar with the reputation, the suspicion. Everyone knew who my mother was when I was little, so they took it out on me whenever they could.”

Bloom’s wide blue eyes looked captivated as he spoke but she didn’t interrupt, didn’t offer any pity and he appreciated that. He wasn’t opening up about this just so she could feel bad for him, he was doing it so she’d have someone to relate to.

“Nobody at Red Fountain knows though, and I intend to keep it that way.” It was a warning to keep her mouth shut, but she didn’t look like she’d throw him under the bus like that, so he kept going. “I'm well aware of the reputation witches have. I’m not one to care about what people think of me, but I didn’t want to be called witches' spawn for the rest of my life either, so I worked to get a scholarship to Red Fountain instead.” Coming out and saying what he wanted to say was surprisingly hard after keeping it quiet for so long though…

“I won’t tell.” Came Bloom’s soft reply. There was something sharp hidden behind her gaze, like part of her was already connecting the dots.

He sighed then, steeling himself and calling the power he’d kept hidden for so long to his fingertips. He couldn’t do much with it since he wasn’t trained but he could call on it and sometimes it instinctively protected him when he was in more danger than he could handle by himself. “If Cloud Tower accepted male students I would’ve been tempted to attend, though…”

Her eyes widened at the sight of his magic. Red Fountain has a reputation of only focussing on physical combat despite their headmaster having magic and actively using it. There were some classes as well, for those who had an innate power they wanted to hone so it wouldn’t get in the way of their tasks, but Riven had steered clear from those classes. It was useful, but his magic looked and felt too dark to be anything other than witchcraft, and he hadn’t wanted word to spread among the students. Better to keep it quiet and build his reputation on his physical skills so that no one would look at him with that kind of prejudice again.

“Whoa…” Bloom’s voice was soft as she watched the deep magenta hue play across his fingertips, small enough not to be noticed by the rest of the people here, though there weren’t many people to begin with. She wondered idly if her eyes shone gold right now, if only because the intensity of her interest felt like it came not only from herself. 

Riven watched as her pupils changed and became slitted— Okay, that was… Something. His powers remained just on the tips of his fingers to make sure no one else would notice. He didn’t like showing his powers, especially not in public, and it wasn’t like he could properly do anything with it either. Yet before he knew it she’d started to reach out, her own fingertips lighting up with a fire that looked much darker than he was used to from her. Exactly how much had changed since she’d been under Darkar’s spell?

When their fingers touched, it was like static ran through them at the point of contact, down his arm and shocking something that lived within his chest. The same thing seemed to happen to Bloom, but she didn’t let go right away and the static settled to a tingling that made him feel itchy. 

“You should train that power.” She said suddenly, and when he met her eyes they were golden. “You're stronger than you think.”

Within one moment and the next, Bloom let go and her eyes turned back to normal, and Riven felt thoroughly confused. What the fuck? At least she seemed aware she’d said something out of character, ducking her head and pulling her hand back to idly let the flames dance over her palm before they were extinguished. At least they hadn’t burned him.

A beat of silence turned into two as he raised a brow at her and waited for Bloom to catch his eyes. She would be explaining what the hell had just happened. She looked apologetic at least and after a moment of internal debate seemed to cave. Bloom told him everything about Darkar’s spell, the way she’d felt trapped in her own body but that when she was freed, that other side of her had remained in her subconscious, affecting her powers and her eyes. A split personality was what she referred to it as, though what to make of it was beyond him.

She didn’t tell him about her memories with the Trix, some things weren’t meant for sharing, but she’d made sure to let him know that her other side wasn’t trying to harm her or anyone else. That had stilled the conversation for a bit, but after a while they’d both calmed down and now he had even more reason to suggest she at least considered attending Cloud Tower.

Transferring sounded like a bad idea though, especially right now. It was still early in the year but she’d essentially missed two years of schooling there, and she didn’t want to be separated from her friends after everything that had happened. She could maybe transfer next year though, switching schools would save her from the social embarrassment that was being an Alfea fairy without her Enchantix.

He’d told her about the usual prospects that Cloud Tower witches had, that the more combat oriented ones could go on to become mercenaries or shadow forces, bodyguards— Witches had a bad reputation but there were plenty of people in high places willing to overlook that in favour of having a different kind of protection on hand. Cloud Tower was combat-oriented the same way Alfea and Red Fountain were, after all, and if there was one thing she was good at, it was combat.

Bloom enjoyed combat in a way she knew most fairies usually didn’t. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t heed the danger, but she liked new challenges, growing stronger and overpowering her enemies. Even if some of those enemies had seriously fucked her up…

In the end they’d hung out for several hours just chatting both about serious things and about more casual things before heading back to their respective dorms with quite a bit to think about.

Chapter Text

When Riven had decided to open up about his past to Bloom, at least in terms of his parentage, he had most certainly not expected the direction their discussion had gone in. Once they’d split up for the afternoon he ended up lingering in town, walking without a destination, hands in his pockets and just mulling the whole thing over.

The girls apparently all knew about this alter ego situation of Bloom’s, though he was willing to bet that this side of her didn’t often show itself around others. So why it had around him was a mystery that made him slightly uncomfortable. As much as he’d been willing to give Bloom a different perspective to work with for herself, that didn’t mean he was ready or willing to make that step himself. Even if he knew the prejudice was bogus, that didn’t mean he hadn’t internalised some of it over the years, nor that he wanted to subject himself to that kind of treatment when his temperament had earned him enough negativity all by itself.

Oh he wasn’t changing for anyone, but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

Riven knew he was rude, abrasive, defensive and highly competitive. If he was being fair to himself he also knew he was brave, loyal and didn’t take anyone’s bullshit lying down. Being fair to yourself is a much harder thing than being fair to others though, especially when you grow up under the heavy hand of criticism in the name of discipline and improvement. He hadn’t mentioned his father during their talk and for good reason.

Though he was by now well aware that listening to criticism was a great way to shoot yourself in the foot and cripple your self-worth and confidence, that didn’t make it easy. Maybe that was why he’d been so agreeable to Musa’s interest in him even if part of him had cringed from it.

He’d always told himself he wouldn’t have time for stupid distractions like romance, though he’d allowed himself the casual one night stand if the opportunity came along. Distractions were a good way to get yourself killed, and considering he was at Red Fountain on a scholarship he had to score well for on a consistent basis… Distractions also meant risking the one opportunity he had to make something of himself.

And yet Musa had shown interest and he’d caved, even if her interest was staring at him from a distance, biting her lip at him and following him around like a lost duckling. Except the duckling had teeth and was territorial as all hell, and he’d not realised that until after he’d given in to the attention. Which was stupid to begin with because while he wasn’t the type to completely lack a libido, he also didn’t care that much and clearly she’d been physically attracted to him before all else.

She’d all but lain claim to him after that, and Riven had always been under the impression that even the other Winx weren’t spared her jealous tendencies.

Thing was, they hadn’t even been together officially until last year when he’d jumped in front of a blast she wouldn’t have been able to dodge. It didn’t matter that he’d have done that for any of the girls, because protecting others was what was being drilled into their heads at Red Fountain. Fairies were notoriously bad at dodging unless in the air, and though there was a chance she’d been able to shield, his instincts had just kicked in and… Well. 

Of course he’d been glad she was alright after that and when she’d tearfully clung to him… He hadn’t pushed her away. He had liked the attention and the gratitude, and then everything his father had said about the wastes of romance had come true. The constant need for attention and validation, her need to know where he was or why he hadn’t responded to one of her recent texts— 

He always hated proving his father right but when he stopped to think about it, he’d let the moment carry him into something he wasn’t even sure he wanted. They barely talked about anything meaningful, their dates were more akin to listening to Musa talk about whatever and treating her to drinks and food or buying her presents because she wanted them and was insistent about it. Some days it felt like he was a prop she’d acquired and all he was meant to do was be available 24/7.

Riven muttered irritably under his breath as he nearly bumped into someone. The person looked vaguely familiar but he really wasn’t in the mood to socialise with anyone at the moment and so just turned away and ignored it. Behind him, the person he’d bumped into continued on his way; followed by three women whose description somehow wouldn’t stick in a passerby’s mind.

Brushing the minor inconvenience aside, Riven continued to wallow in his thoughts.

Maybe he’d told Bloom something so personal, but had never even considered bringing it up with Musa, because he’d never truly felt at ease with her. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d choose condemn that side of him, that heritage. Musa had some bad experiences with witches after all, primarily thanks to the Trix. It did not help that he’d been interested in Darcy for a bit there either, she hadn’t needed the spell to get his interest, just to alter his behaviour enough that he’d dance to her tune.

Not only would Musa not be accepting of his heritage as a half witch, but she would likely actively discourage him from identifying with it. Even if he had yet to give her the opportunity to prove him right in his assumptions, he had no intention of letting her find out about it either.

Which made Bloom encouraging him to cultivate the power he’d inherited all the more… Encouraging? Confusing?

He’d spent years suppressing it, ever since his mother left and the shaming and the ridicule had really taken off. Changing that now would be no easy thing, regardless of whether or not he was willing to actually consider what Bloom had suggested with any real seriousness.

But then… She was kind of like him, wasn’t she? She wasn’t all witch, but neither was she all fairy; at least not anymore. She was stuck between two worlds, except in her case ignoring the darker side of her powers had much more impactful consequences academically speaking; and while some might argue school isn’t all that important, that was only true for those who attended schools directed towards general education. Alfea, Red Fountain and Cloud Tower were different. They were military schools with a record that could get you some amazing gigs and a crazy reputation, but that record could become your downfall just as easily. A reputation sullied through one of those schools’ records stained your ledger for decades to come and no real work would come your way, forcing you to survive on scraps or the most dangerous of jobs.

Though not familiar with Alfea graduates’ job prospects, he knew failing out of Red Fountain was worse than never having attended in the first place and people started asking all sorts of nasty questions about the reasons for your dropping out. Never mind if you had valid reasons, there would always be that niggle of suspicion that you’d done something. Or maybe you were just weak, and that was just as much reason not to bother with you. Maybe that was even worse.

After all, dropping out for something you did but not having it listed on your public record took some skill, and some people would actually be interested in that kind of thing, though not exactly the types a student from such a reputable place ought to be interacting with in the first place.

No doubt dropping out of Alfea carried similar drawbacks. Most of the school’s students were royalty and nobility though, they could make that kind of record go away, they had something to fall back on if all else failed. Not Bloom though. Just like him she had nothing to go back to beyond a life that didn’t agree with her. She was entirely too fierce to be trapped on magicless earth; it’d be a travesty.

Flying out of the Omega dimension was frankly the easy part, once their magic had been boosted and their power conserved enough to manage the flight out. That’s not to say it had actually been easy though, there were steep cliffs, guardian serpents and it seemed like even the weather was designed to keep them from escaping that way, but they weren’t the Trix for nothing. They’d pulled off what no one had before them— Escaping the Omega dimension.

Of course the most crucial factor in escaping was not being sent back, or worse.

“I really wish we still had our crystals.” Stormy murmured softly. They’d gotten out and found transport, using disguises with what little energy they had left so they could catch a ride towards civilisation. The further they were from Omega and Andros, the better. “Can you imagine the power we could’ve drained from all those people?”

“Well, it’s not worth getting new ones and going back.” Icy snarked, her voice low and cutting. Even if Darcy was maintaining a privacy spell that would muffle their voices, that didn’t mean they should be reckless. “The real question is where to now? Everyone in Magix knows our names and our faces, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if they’d leave us alone about it.”

Darcy hummed softly to herself, considering their options. “We need somewhere safe to crash until we have a new plan. I don’t much like the idea of living under constant anonymity spells either.”

“Well, my place is out.” Stormy snorted.

“Isn't your family pro-fairy?“ Icy asked, though she was clearly having fun picturing Stormy as a fairy if her expression was anything to go by.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. They almost disowned me for going behind their backs to attend Cloud Tower. They’re probably mortified to be associated with me. My mother would call the guards on us before we’d finished stepping through the door, guaranteed.”

Icy snorted softly. “Yeah, pass. Same here, Dyamond isn’t safe for the likes of us, at least not yet.”

“I… Might know someone we can call.” Darcy eventually admitted with some reluctance. She hadn’t seen her family in years, having opted to avoid them once she started attending Cloud Tower. They weren’t the worst in terms of family but because her powers tended towards the subtle, she’d tended to fade into the background. Besides, no one liked constantly being compared to their sibling and being told they ought to work harder if they wanted to measure up.

“Well? Spill.”

Darcy’s expression turned a little baleful at Icy’s commanding tone but she relented eventually.

“I have a brother. He’s a witch, my entire family skews dark. He’s okay, and he might be willing to do me a favour, but I’ve been ignoring him for a couple years now so I don’t know for sure.”

“How come you never told us about him?” Stormy asked, lightly frowning.

“How come we don’t know shit about your family either?” Darcy shot back sharply. She so did not want to go dredging up the past, speaking to her brother would be bad enough as it was.

“Enough, we’ve got better things to do than test Darcy’s spells by bickering.” Icy scolded them. “Where does this brother of yours live?”

“Magix.”

“… Of fucking course he does.”

Bloom had felt awkward all day after her meet-up with Riven, unsure of what to do with herself, unsure if she should tell Musa about it, unsure what to do with her powers… While speaking to Riven had unexpectedly revealed something of an kindred spirit, it hadn’t actually helped with how she was supposed to move forward. Much of her magic was instinctive, driven by necessity rather than study. Class was different somehow, the magic not as… Heavy? Changing your features, concocting potions, those things didn’t really tap into her fire, otherwise she imagined she’d have set more than one class alight—

So then, what was different about it? Her fire and this softer magic… Was it like this for the others too? Or was their element just something extra their powers could tap into without being embedded into every spell? Flora didn’t cause pollens or plant growth in class unless that was part of the assignment, and Stella only blinded others playfully and on purpose rather than by accident, for example.

So who was she, without the Dragon Flame?

“Guys!!” Bloom startled out of her thoughts and nearly knocked over Kiko who had been dozing on her pillow as Musa burst into the room with a wide grin, holding a folder.

“You’ll never guess what!” The fairy of music crowed enthusiastically, grinning at her friends.

“You got your first assignment?” Layla deadpanned with a light grin of her own, amused yet clearly not above teasing the girl for her enthusiasm. They were all generally quite eager to get started, after all. The sooner they all got their Enchantix, the better.

“Yes!” A table was requisitioned for the folder Musa had been waving about and the girls all crowded around it, curious to see what they'd have to deal with on their own deployments. “Come, look. Apparently you don't just get dumped into the capital, it depends per world where they assign you, but it’s in a rotation of districts. They gave me a bunch of maps to study so regardless of where I’m called to, I’ll at least know the way a little.”

“These,” Musa continued, pulling out a few more pages from underneath the maps. “Are for the report format and some instructions on how to respond to a dangerous situation, tips for de-escalation, that sort of thing. It kind of depends on the type of tasks you signed up for in class. I know some people had to submit theirs again because their skillset didn’t match what they were gunning for.”

“There’s going to be some sort of rotation so that we’re not all away at the same time and that it’s easier for the school to manage the paperwork, since otherwise they’d have to deal with our reports and the overseer’s ones as well. They’re definitely keeping an eye on us while we’re there instead of just letting us run wild. We’re not even supposed to be transformed unless absolutely necessary, which seems kind of silly to me but hey. I don’t make the rules.” She shrugged lightly, still thrilled she was the first to get her assignment and eager to go home, even just for a little while.

“This is pretty detailed, huh?” Layla mused as she slipped one of the reports out from the pile. A few were already filled in as example sheets, intended to prevent students from making their reports too sparse or too embellished with emotion rather than fact.

“These maps too.” Came Stella’s voice, Bloom hadn’t even realised she’d come close enough to snag anything, just looking over Musa’s shoulder herself. “I’m glad we won’t constantly be in the same place, it’s a good way to keep things versatile while preventing anyone with malicious intent from knowing where we’ll be in advance.” She clearly did not want to think of what might happen were she stationed in the same place every time, allowing anyone the opportunity to move against her, be it Cassandra or anyone who had fallen for her lies.

“When will you be going?” Tecna asked, and Bloom had to hide a chuckle when she realised the girl had already scanned the files and was simply reclining in her chair and calmly observing rather than being squished around the table to see.

"Next Monday, according to madam Griselda. They’re giving us some prep time, and some of that is a mandatory ‘get to know you’ session with whatever other fairies will be coming along. It’ll just be one other for me. It would have been more, but the others from Melody are a year or two under us still. It would’ve been pretty cool to do this with princess Galatea, but she’s only a freshman right now.”

“Princess Galatea?” Bloom wondered aloud, trying to recall if she’d ever seen the girl before, just out of idle curiosity.

"Oh, she’s Melody’s princess! She’s pretty sheltered by the royal family actually, so I was surprised when they announced she’d be attending Alfea. You’ve probably seen her in the halls though, she’s kind of tall for a freshman and she’s got really pale blond hair down to her waist.”

“Oh, I know who you mean!” That was Flora, offering a soft smile in recognition of the girl. “She’s quite sweet, very shy. She hangs around the greenhouse sometimes, apparently it’s not only soothing but also somewhat acoustic.”

“Is it? I never noticed.” Musa hummed, lightly drumming her fingers on the edge of her seat in an improvised rhythm. “Then again, it’s not really the type of place that gets my energy flowing. Alfea is probably overwhelming for her though, I heard the royal family is especially sensitive to sound.”

“Is that something that happens a lot?” Bloom mused aloud. “Your powers determining your sensitivities, I mean.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Stella chimed in, having occupied another seat and somehow having draped herself over the arm rests until she was nearly upside down. How was that even comfortable—?

“A lot of sound based fairies can’t handle loud, crowded places or end up hating silence. I don’t do well in dark places, the further from the sun, the more miserable I feel. I’m sure it’s the same for the others, though not everyone has it as extreme. Some are just more in tune with their element than others. I imagine most fire fairies absolutely hate water, don’t you?”

Bloom nodded, briefly reminded of that nasty prank those other students had played on her during training. She’d not really thought about it as hindering her fire as much as just her flight, though. It wasn’t like water really sapped her strength, though she’d never been to the ocean either, so who knows.

“I absolutely hate the desert.” Layla offered with a small smile. “It doesn’t affect me quite as much as a regular water fairy since my powers are denser than that, but it’s still uncomfortable.”

“I guess I never really thought about that before.” Bloom mused, finally dropping down onto the nearby couch rather than staying leaned over the table.

“It’s important to know your weaknesses.” Flora added. “That way you can take advantage of your surroundings and avoid situations that would weaken you. Deserts are not a good place for me either, though cacti do grow in arid climates. But anywhere completely dead will mess with me, it just feels… Wrong.”

“Not having access to electricity or internet isn’t that big of a deal for most people, but for someone like me whose powers are based in electricity…” Tecna leaned back in her seat, her expression suddenly quite serious. “If I tried to forcefully use my powers in an environment like that, I run the risk that my powers take the electricity from the only other available source: myself.”

“What?! That’s horrible!” Stella all but shot out of her seat, chorused by the other girls’ own exclamations of worry and shock. Most people experienced drawbacks, rare were the cases where dire situations affected a fairy’s own life force.

“It’s fine, hardly anywhere in the magical dimension is actually electrically dead to the point it could harm me. It’s really not something I’ve ever had to worry about.”

“Still…” Layla muttered, all the girls looking rather discomfited by the thought. Though they’d all been complete strangers once upon a time, they had grown close, formed bonds and fought through two major crises together already, that wasn’t something that didn’t leave a mark. The absence of any of their number would be dearly felt.

In fact, it’d be quite an adjustment to not be fighting together during these Enchantix missions.