Chapter Text
“ To your happiness, Sky.”
With those words Diaspro raised her glass and held it out for the other person to toast with. Her golden bracelets clinked with every movement her hand made.
“ And here’s to your happiness, Diaspro.” Sky hesitantly touched their glasses together in an unformal toast, before downing the entirety of the beverage in one go. For a moment the taste of sweet grassberry and sundried bluegrape wine was replaced by something akin to dirty sand on his tongue, but as soon as it had slid down his throat, the flavour disappeared and the prince shook his head.
“ And now,” Sky set the glass down. “If you’ll excuse me, I have an announcement to make.”
“ Of course, go right ahead. I know this is very important.” Diaspro smiled as she gave her own glass to a passing server. She smiled as she watched the love of her life walk to the King of Eraklyon, smiled as Sky began his long-winded speech about love and respect, and smiled as the people around her began to whisper and gossip.
“ The prince is going to propose.”
“ Yes! That must be it.”
“ He is going to give us a new princess consort!”
“ Finally, about time.”
“ Yes.” She thought, feeling a sense of triumph. “About time indeed.”
Sky cleared his throat.
“ I would like for you to all meet the sweetest, most beautiful and sensitive girl in the whole magical dimension. She has stood by me through many difficult things and decisions without a complaint and she has given me her unwavering support even when I myself was giving up on hope.”
Brandon wrapped an arm around Stella’s waist and pulled her closer. “Wow, he really is in love. I have never heard him speak like that anywhere else but on the phone with Bloom.“
“ Yes, they are sickly sweet and oh, so perfect.” The fashionista leaned into her boyfriend’s loving arms. “I bet we could do better.”
“ Oh, definitely. Just wait until I get my moment.”
They turned their attention back to the prince.
“ It is my full intention to join my destiny to hers, and to spend the rest of my life by her side. I now declare, in front of all of you, my undying devotion and adoration to one person who happens to be here amongst you.“
The guests were looking around, guessing the best they could.
“ Great people of Eraklyon, friends and allies, both new and old. It is my greatest pleasure to introduce you to—!”
Flora nudged Bloom gently, and the redhead took a confident step closer to where her boyfriend stood with his family. Her stomach twisted from nervousness but with each step her confidence grew, her posture straightened and her mind became clearer. She knew what this would all mean, how her life would change after this declaration, but she would face this head on exactly like all the other difficult things in her life.
“ Princess,” Sky’s smile could light up an entire room, it made Bloom’s heart flutter. She thought about how she’d go up to him and they’d embrace, how she’d bow to her future mother- and father-in-law, how she’d properly greet the most esteemed guests by thanking them for coming and promising to do her best.
“ Diaspro!”
The crowd cheered, people yelled congratulations as the blond woman hurried through them to hug her new fiancé. Her perfect curls flew majestically over her shoulder as he twirled her around.
“ Valtor’s potion worked. And now you are finally mine, and mine alone.”
Bloom had stopped near a dessert table, unable to look anywhere but at the two now kissing. Sky’s father, King Erendor, placed a hand onto his son’s shoulder and loudly congratulated the couple, wishing them long lasting happiness. The fairy of dragon fire grasped the hem of her skirt and turned to run away, when her friends stopped her.
“ Bloom, are you okay? What on Andros’s name happened?” Aisha lowered her eyebrows worriedly and hugged the redhead to her chest.
“ I-I don’t know. I’m so confused.” Bloom began to weep, trying to hide her eyes behind her gloves. “All this time, did he just use me? Didn’t I mean anything to him, was it all a lie? He was in love with her this whole time and—.” Her quivering lips closed as she did her best to suppress a loud sob.
“ Don’t worry Bloomy. You stay here, while we go demand answers from that jerk face.” Musa and Stella began to march towards the happy couple, both enraged.
“ Oh, Sky, my beloved, those girls are out to get me! They are dangerous, very dangerous. They are witches!”
“ Witches?” He asked while looking at the approaching ladies.
“ Yes, my love! Please protect me, I’m so afraid. They’ll surely hurt all of us.”
Sky detached himself from the hold of his soon-to-be bride and turned to fully face the alleged traitors. He pointed a gloved finger at them and called,
“ Guards! Arrest those witches, now. By the order of the crown!”
“ Wait, what did he just call us?” Musa raised an eyebrow, greatly offended. “We’re not witches!”
“ Babes, I don’t think they’ll believe us.” Stella gulped and took the musical fairy’s hand. Five large guards began to run towards them, weapons raised and ready to strike. “Yikes! We’ve got to get out of here. Come on girls, run!”
The Winx took off running in the direction with the least number of guards, and towards the royal hedge maze. Its winding paths and thick walls were sure to offer some sort of protection against the men now shooting right at them. Its roses were lovelier than any other flower on the planet, but they didn’t have time to stop and admire their brilliant colours.
“ Hey, watch the hair, you hear! It took me two hours to style, and I don’t need you frying it!” Stella yelled at them over her shoulder.
“ We have to fight back.” Aisha said while dodging more of the laser bullets. They hit right next to her feet where the ground instantly turned scorched.
“ No, we can’t hurt them!” Flora responded. “It’s not their fault, they’re just following orders.”
“ I agree with Flora. They’re not our enemy.” Tecna typed something onto her wrist computing system before sighing. “I hate to say this, but according to my calculations the best solution now is to split up. That way we might have a better chance of losing them and getting away in one piece.”
“ Alright then that’s what we’ll do. You guys go that way, while me and Musa take the left. We’ll split up from there even more if the need arises.”
“ See you on the other side!” Stella quipped before all the girls dispersed.
...
Inside the murky oceans of Andros, deep in the sunken halls of the seafloor palace, a pair of eyes watched the girls flee into the maze with interest. The magical vision projection spell cast thick white smoke into the room with every new scene.
“ Fear and lies.” Valtor said, smiling with self-satisfaction. “The most powerful weapons of all. And all it took to launch them was a dark potion that perfectly meets the wants of an ambitious young lady. How I adore the traitorous and twisted mind of villainy and loath those weak enough to stand in its way.”
“ You did it Master. You casted doubt on the Winx’s credibility with nothing but a few words and a small spell, you really are powerful.” Icy came to the man’s side, leaning annoyingly close to his personal space.
“ And now, should we join the party? You know, good old divide and concur. Destroy them one by one as they attempt to flee!” Stormy excitedly asked, jumping up from the table she’d been sitting on. Her bloodlust needed to be satiated, and her mind screamed for action.
“ I admire your enthusiasm ladies, but no, we will not interfere. Not yet at least.”
“ B-but why not!?” Icy hit her fist against a boulder, freezing it to the ground. “The Winx are ripe for the picking. We need to do something, otherwise they’ll just continue to get in our way.”
“ I said no. Have you forgotten the plan already?”
Darcy, who had been mostly quiet until now, muttered something about lies and motivation.
“ Yes. We needed to crack the good name of the Winx and destroy Bloom’s spirit. That way she’ll be out of our way while we collect more power. Then, and only then can we completely destroy them.”
Then the man got an idea on how to shake the witches off his back for a few hours. “Speaking of more power, have you taken a look at the Kingdom of Respecta? I heard there are powerful spells hidden in their library of revelation, worthy enough to have them try and hide them from us.” The man emphasized the last words, fully knowing of the impact they’d have on the three women.
“ From us?! How dare they?” Stormy seemed to perk up like an agitated cat.
“ Do those simple-minded fools really think they can hide those stupid papers from us? How ridiculous. Don’t they know we’re much smarter than that.”
“ But be careful, ladies. There are undoubtedly guards ready to defend their sacred archives.”
“ Oh, don’t you worry about us, Master.” The leader of the witches grinned, her magic began to travel along her arms until each of her fingernails was covered by a sharp piece of ice, like long claws of a deadly predator. “We’ll crush them and retrieve these scrolls for you. You’ll have my word.”
“ Good, you are the only people I can trust to get them for me.” The wizard nodded. “Go and do not fail me.”
“ Girl let’s go. We have some Respectians to defeat.”
That left Valtor alone in their secret lair, to watch the Winx retreat into the maze.
...
Bloom turned the corner only to see a dead end, a wall of thick green framed by two armless statues of guardian fairies. Funnily enough she could faintly recognise the other from Professor DuFour’s magical history class. It was Lady Dreone, fairy of golden energy, and part of Eraklyonian history. She was nowadays seen as a sort of goddess and was claimed to be watching over young children, women and expecting mothers.
“ Oh no…” The young woman muttered. She’d have to turn around and hope no-one saw her run this way.
“ Nowhere to go now, witch!” Came a voice from behind her. It was so full of malice it made her flinch and she spun around to see an unfortunately familiar face.
“ Sky, please, you have to listen to me—.” The princess of Domino begged while stepping back.
“ No, I don’t want to hear any of your lies! You should never have come here.”
“ B-but you invited—.” She attempted to reason but was cut off by him taking a large step closer.
“ This is the end of the line. There is nowhere for you to go, nowhere to hide, and no wicked friends to aid you.”
She waited for guards to also round the corner and arrest her, but nothing happened. They stood there by themselves, her with her hands half-heartedly up as a sign of surrender, and him in all his glorious regalia. A gust of wind blew past them, smelling of summer’s eve and roasted food no doubt from the party. Sky’s cape swung dramatically, he looked like a fairytale prince should.
The man took his sword and pointed at her with it in a way which told her he absolutely had every intention to hurt her if she moved. Its polished blade caught the light of the steadily rising moon, the silver handle curved in a way which told the piece was made specifically for Sky’s hand. Bloom stared at the sharp tip as it was brought closer to her face, words somehow lost in her busy mind.
He suddenly smirked, face twisting into something so unlike Sky it was hard to recognise him. The expression was cold and cruel, completely devoid of any usual warmth.
“ You know, you’re awfully pretty, for a witch I mean.” His other hand scratched his chin in a thoughtful manner. “I wonder if it’s that dress you’re wearing. With its pleasant colour and flowers and ribbons.” Then the smile was gone, replaced by something the night sky hid with its low light, clouds covered the moon as if it was taking shelter from what was about to happen. “Take it off.”
“ W-what?”
“ I said,” Sky looked straight into her frightened eyes, words slow and carefully measured. They left little to no room for arguing, left no questions about the seriousness of his intentions. “Take it off.”
Bloom didn’t know how to respond to that. She could only shake her head to indicate her unwillingness to do so, eyes shiny with unshed tears. Her mouth opened to say something, to reason with her former lover, but the man didn’t give her the time to even make a sound. He impatiently raised his sword and brought it down with unmatched speed, slicing her left sleeve clean through. The garment began to sag from that side, the sleeve slid to hang from the remaining fabric on her back. On her skin began to form a bloody line where the blade had made contact. The woman’s arms came to instinctively protect both her modesty, which thanks to her belt wasn’t at risk yet, and her vital organs.
“ I didn’t know witches could bleed.” The prince eyed at the end of his weapon with fascination where a faint smudge of red could just be detected. “You just keep on surprising me. I wonder what else I can uncover.”
Sky began to reach for her. His gloved hand came closer and closer, even as she attempted to sink into the hedge behind her. Unluckily for her, the plant did not swallow her.
“ N-no.” Her mouth finally managed to say, but her words were weak. “Stop!”
He didn’t respond to her distress in any way other than to wrap his arm around one of her wrists. He yanked her to the side, making her stumble and fall to the cool grass. In a flash he was on top of her, straddling her waist and holding her other arm above her head. The sword lay a stone’s throw away from them, and she had no way of getting to it. She was about to scream for her friends, but he crashed his lips into hers so hard she feared there would be a bruise. The action wasn’t meant to be loving or caring, but to simply shut her up while his hands were busy trying to tug down the top of her gown.
It was cruel irony in a way, that a statue of a protector to women had been made armless, by a person or the weather she had no clue. Bloom’s eyes looked at it through her tears as if begging for it to help her, but it stared at her back lifelessly and silently.
Sky’s hands which had held hers with pure love not even two hours ago were now digging into her corseted waist, fingers greedy and mouth hungry. Her free hand was torn between pushing him off of her, holding onto her dress and grabbing his wrist to help get her other arm free. But of course every effort she made was in vain, for he was much stronger than her.
“ Sky please!” She begged through tears, voice now frantic. There must still be a part of him that cared for her, they’d spent so much time together, faced so many dangers and overcome them. She could understand if the love they shared wasn’t as strong as she had thought but there just wasn’t a way he’d go out of his way to hurt her. Maybe scare her, threaten even, but not hurt.
“ My name…” He raised his head enough to look her in the eyes. “Strangely enough I like the way you say it. Do it again.”
Bloom thought everything about that was wrong, the way he was looking at her, the way he was touching her, the way he’d given her something that could only be interpreted as a filthy command. In an act of defiance she closed her mouth tightly and turned her gaze away. She couldn’t have guessed what a mistake that had been.
In a blink of an eye his otherwise calm, if not a little flustered, face turned as stormy as the skies during a vicious thunderstorm. He looked as though someone had insulted his pride, his very being and everything he stood for.
“ You do as I say, because you are under me.” He hissed with venom. Like he was talking to his worst enemy. “I thought we could come to an understanding, but I guess I estimated wrong.” He forced one leg in between hers, so that she could not keep them closed. Then his free hand wormed its way under her knee. He raised it enough to have her dress fall and expose the leg all the way to her thigh. “I see this is how you want things to happen.”
Bloom began to struggle even harder, a less wise person might think she was having a seizure. Her legs kicked uselessly, her free hand did everything it could to shove him off of her. In the ensuing fight she managed to scratch him in the face, right above his cheekbone.
“ Argh!” He let go of her hand and ran his own fingers along the cut. Bloom’s nails weren’t that long, but what they were was sharp. “Why you little—!”
Bloom began to desperately crawl away, her hands fumbled to get a hold of the sword laying almost at arm’s reach. A bead of cold sweat ran down her forehead as she stretched her arm until her fingers grazed the silver handle. A wave of relief washed over her and for a moment she thought the entire ordeal would soon be over.
Unfortunately her hands shook so badly she couldn’t get a good hold of the weapon before she was grabbed and pulled away by her ankles. If she briefly considered death to be a better option than facing her ex-boyfriend, would she never admit it. Sky was beyond furious, in fact she’d never seen him so angry.
“ Oh, you’re going to regret that. I’ll make you regret ever stepping a foot into my kingdom!” He yanked the top of her dress down so hard the fabric partially tore, the pearl beading unravelled and spilled to the ground just like the drop of blood had from the wound on her chest. His hands found their way uncaringly around her chest, it was pure luck that the ballgown was still much too intact to shove hands down it. The touch was rough like his lips which kissed along the curves of her neck and collarbones with no signs of stopping.
Bloom’s heart hammered in her chest so hard she was sure he could hear it. Her shaking only worsened when she felt his hand touch her exposed leg before moving up agonisingly slow. His fingers felt like they were burning against her skin, but also like they were sharp icicles being stabbed into her flesh. He reached her inner thigh, squeezed hard enough to hurt and smirked.
“ Don’t move.”
Just as he was about to do the unthinkable, Sky’s body was violently shoved off with enough strength to send him to the other side of the path. But despite the weight being off of her, Bloom didn’t get up, she didn’t run or even crawl. No, she stayed where she lay, hands shakily holding onto her torn dress to keep herself covered. Tears clouded her vision so badly she could only make out vague shapes and the little lights of the stars above.
Someone carefully slid a hand behind her neck and began to lift her. Soon the woman was sitting up, still holding onto her bodice with every ounce of energy she had. Bloom couldn’t see the stars anymore, but could make out the Eraklyon palace lights far behind the bushes.
“ Wait here.” A voice whispered to her before something was set onto her shoulders. Without thinking she took hold of it and used it like one would a cape, burying herself into its warmth. The princess hoped the ground would swallow her and the shame she felt with it.
The fuzzy unclear shape moved from left to right in her eyes, then there was a loud thud and a pained groan. Then another and another. She flinched with each one, a hand covering her head in order to protect herself. But protect from who or what was unclear, and even more what was happening or who had made that sound. She couldn’t understand, her mind was busy trying to keep her breathing.
A step on the grass near her made her muscles tense up, head screaming danger.
“ It’s alright now.” The voice said oddly gentle. It was deep and velvety, a brief image of a fireplace crossed the girl’s mind before it was buried under more tears and distress.
A pair of hands wrapped around her and soon she could feel the ground under her no more. She swayed in a steady rhythm, the winds gently played with her hair. Bloom closed her eyes, it was easier to focus on her survival like that. The smell of leather, ash and some sort of liqueur invaded her nose, and the woman briefly wondered where she had smelled that before. Her tired body began to lose the battle against sleep, and she rested her head against something warm. Briefly the fairy wondered if it was her own heartbeat she was hearing or somebody else’s before a gentle rumbling reached her ears.
“ This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was in the plan.”
She let sleep overtake her, the tears on her cheeks were beginning to dry. The hands around her grew tighter, and Bloom couldn’t be sure, but she might have felt a ghost of a breath on her face.
“ You sleep now, little fairy. I’ll make sure he won’t come after you for the rest of the night.”
...
“ -oom? Bloom? Sweety, wake up!”
The fairy opened her eyes to see Flora. Her kind green eyes were filled with worry as she helped the redhead up from the ground.
“ W-what?” Bloom asked confused, legs still shaking as she attempted to stand on her own. Something fell from her shoulders, and she shivered from the cool air of the night. The woman had just enough strength to look down, where she saw something that resembled a sleeve, deep ruby in colour.
“ We’ll talk later. The boys are here, we need to go! Come on, can you walk?”
They hurried to the Red Fountain aircraft, Musa and Aisha behind, Bloom and Flora in the middle and Stella and Tecna in the front. Both Riven and Timmy were there waiting by the doors to receive them, in case any of the guard managed to get too close. Once everyone was inside, the girls sat down to catch their breaths.
“—And then I ran past Aisha who had found Flora who was looking for Tecna. Luckily, she wasn’t that far and then we fooled this soldier into thinking we were in the other direction by using Musa’s sound waves. Then Flora saw Bloom and that’s when we ran here! That about sums it up.” Stella explained while sitting on Brandon’s lap. “But what about you boys? Did you have much trouble getting away?”
“ Well, they weren’t exactly after us, so I’d say our getaway was much more uneventful. But we were worried about you.”
“ Oh, those guardsmen were a piece of cake!” Musa laughed. “Right girls?”
“ Yeah, when you think about it, their aim was pretty bad.” Aisha admitted smiling and the tension began to lift. Tecna was busy explaining something to Timmy and Riven when Stella slid from her boyfriend’s arms and approached the only one who hadn’t said anything.
Bloom sat at the very back where the light shined the least, curled in on herself the best her dress allowed. The fairy of the sun was about to joke about something when she noticed the hanging sleeve and the torn beading.
“ Whoa, jeez. What happened to the dress I gave you, it was brand new. I thought the guards were bad at their job, but looks like they got you, huh? Usually you are so vigilant, was your attention on something or—.” She was about to survey the damaged fabric with her hands when the other flinched away. Stella stood up and was going to apologize when she noticed the bloody cut on her friend’s chest.
“ H-hey Bloomy, you’re hurt. Why didn’t you say any—.”
The fashionista took another careful look at her best friend. Her eyes moved from the ripped bodice to the cut and then to the girl’s hunched posture. She studied the way the redhead’s eyes were bloodshot and how her lips were swollen.
Although she was a princess, Stella had spent considerable amounts of time outside the sheltered palace walls. She’d grown up around shopping malls and restaurants, spent entire nights messaging on the magix network and reading blogs, and just recently begun to frequent music bars and dance clubs. She’d seen her fair share of drama and romance, had encountered nice people and mean people. On a couple of unfortunate occasions she’d witnessed awful things, like a man trying to forcefully kiss a girl at one of her favourite discos. Of course Stella being Stella, she’d marched right up to them and hit the guy with her staff.
The look on that girl’s face mirrored Bloom’s concerningly.
Stella’s eyes widened as she lowered to crouch down. Before she spoke, she looked behind her. The others didn’t seem to take note of them, so she whispered low enough for Bloom to hear.
“ Bloom, did something happen?” She slowly placed her hand into her friend’s. “You can tell me.”
Before she could ask more, Bloom threw a hand over her own mouth to stifle the sobs which escaped despite her best efforts. For a moment she seemed so small and fragile, Stella couldn’t help but to wrap her in her arms.
“ I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you Bloom. But I’m here now. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
The Princess of Solaria could feel her own tears beginning to bother her eyes but now wasn’t the time to wipe them away. A dark thought managed to weasel into her mind, and she had to ask even if it pained her to do so.
“ You don’t have to speak, okay? Just nod if I’m correct.”
Bloom didn’t give any indications that she understood, but Stella crouched again so that they could be eye to eye. The sun fairy took a shaky breath.
“ Was it... Sky?”
Bloom didn’t have to say a thing. Her face flushed of all colour, her lip trembled and her hands shook. She looked around as if saying the name out loud would summon the man into their safe space. Stella placed her hands onto Bloom’s cheeks and gently rubbed her thumbs over the skin. Then she made a promise she intended to keep.
“ It’s alright now, Bloom. I’m here. I’m never letting him hurt you again.”
That day was the day Princess Stella of Solaria began to hate Prince Sky of Eraklyon.