Sky

I walked away from Alfea's entrance, after staring out at the royal car until it was out of sight. My chest clenches in worry for the twins. Stella told me the bare minimum of how cruel her mother could be and I'm not eager to see who the girls are when they come back. Helios knows Stella would come back with more trauma from every trip. I dread to think how Octavia will react after being away from her mother's influence for so long.

I walk slowly through the corridors, eager for the opportunity to think.

"No you shouldn't have been out there!" I hear an awfully familiar voice snap.

"Is that American for 'sorry for nearly killing you'?"

I slowly turn the corner, keeping close to the wall as I peer around to see Aisha glaring at Bloom, hands on hips and face filled with frustration. Well shit, girl drama. Worse actually, fairy drama if what Aisha is saying is true.

"You were a runaway train out there, Bloom."

"Which is why I was out there alone, trying to figure it out." Bloom storms off towards me. shit.

"Brilliant idea." Aisha mocks, following her.

I step out confidently as if I had just been walking along and they both pause as they see me. Bloom stumbles back slightly in shock and I see the fearful rage in her eyes falter slightly.

"What's going on?" I demand, clenching my jaw as I stare down at the two fairies.

"I-I" Bloom stutters so helplessly that my heart clenches.

"Bloom lost control." Aisha states as she steps towards us.

Bloom whips around to give what I can only assume is a look if betrayal at her friends. Aisha merely shrugs before looking at me, she crosses her arms and raises a questioning eyebrow at me in questioning blame.

"I thought you asked Princess Octavia to help her."

"I did."

"Then why hasn't she been helping her? Bloom has been getting worse and from what her royal highness said she has no intention of helping because she's too busy polishing her crown."

"Don't insult her." I grind out, eyes flashing with fury. "I said I would ask her, she is a princess of the realm and has more on her plate than you can understand."

"That doesn't change the fact that Octavia said she would help Bloom."

"Princess Octavia."

"Can you guys not talk about me like I'm not here!" Bloom yells, raising her arms in frustration. "Octavia did help me, Aisha. I had control after she spoke to me."

"Then why did you lose control again, hmm." Aisha shifts to face Bloom, placing her hands on her hips.

"If Princess Octavia," She sends a pissed glance at me that I ignore, "really wanted to help you and knew how much progress you made would she have walked away so easily? Insulted us so easily today?"

"What are you talking about?" I interrupt, glancing between the arguing fairies. They remain silent until Aisha breaks her harsh glare at Bloom to send one to me before storming off. Bloom looks after her, clearly shocked at the water fairy's response. She shifts slightly as she turns back around to face me head on.

"Well?" I drawl in question, raising my eyebrows. "What happened with Tavi?"

Bloom blinks in surprise. "Tavi?"

I blush slightly, opening my mouth to make up an excuse.

"Right, sorry." Bloom shakes her head and brings a hand up to rub her forehead. "I forgot you dated Stella last year, of course you two know each other closely."

I swallow. "Yeah."

We stare at each other silently, a faint blush tints Blooms cheeks as she worries her lips. I watch, transfixed as she glances away gently, clearly done playing the strong fairy role. I sigh dramatically and roll my eyes at her in a playful manner.

"Why don't you explain what happened?" I indicated to the stone bench beside us in one of the hallway's alcoves before taking a seat myself. Bloom mercifully does the same, nervously tucking her hands underneath her legs.

"With the princess or with Aisha." She grumbles and I grin at her irritated tone.

"Both."

She sighs.

"I was having a bad day, my lessons haven't been going well and my frustration was making my powers act up. When I came out of my room after breakfast Stella and Octavia were talking to my roommates about making arrangements for some kind of royal meeting or dinner."

She looks at me hesitantly for confirmation.

"The crown is hosting a meeting here, yes." She nods.

"I guess Octavia was trying to be nice and ask me how my lessons were going and I got frustrated with her. I was just- just so upset she didn't help me further. I was doing better after she talked with me but then she just said not to bother her again until I actually achieved something. I- I was just... expecting, more, you know. I thought she would have some answers or advice for me or something."

The fire fairy's eyes are bright with tears and I can't help but sigh and shift closer to her in comfort. Of course she must be overwhelmed, it's so easy to forget she doesn't know what's going on.

"Then I made it worse by snapping at her." Bloom scoffs and swipes aggressively at a rogue tear. "I met Octavia on my first day during a meeting with Dowling, she said she was Stella's twin but it didn't fully register or click in my head who they were. I know Stella was your girlfriend but you must know what she s like."

My drops guiltily. Yes, I do know. I still remember the look on Stella's face when I confronted her about Ricki, how I would catch her snapping at younger students or being unnecessarily cruel. I forgot, I let Stella's pretty lies once again fool me into forgetting all that she has done.

"Well, Octavia seems to be the meaner version. I wonder if it's a younger twin thing." She jokes, "with the way she acts I wouldn't be surprised if she was jealous of Stella inheriting the crown."

Bloom looks at me with a huff of a laugh but I can only bring myself to smile in return. That doesn't sound like the priorities of the Tavi I know.

"Anyway, she started lecturing me on the powers of the crown. How she wouldn't stand for disrespect, that she and Stella worked very hard for the country and if I kept making problems for her she would have me arrested."

My eyes widen as I flinch back in shock. Tavi wouldn't threaten her, not for something as trivial as that. Would she?

"I don't know what happened Sky," Bloom bemoans, dropping her head into her hands. "One second it was just petty snipping drama and then the next thing I know Octavia is up in my face about the powers of the crown and what she would do to me and making threats."

She looks at me pleadingly, eyes wide and innocent.

"I need her Sky, I can't have screwed this up. She's the only one who truly helped me. Then I went and upset her."

Bringing Bloom into a crushing hug I can't help but sigh. She's shaking so much, guilt crashes through me. I should have checked in with Tavi about Bloom. Should have talked with Bloom about it.

Bloom takes a shuddering breath.

"What if she has me arrested? I've been in this world 2 weeks, I don't anything about it's politics or laws or the royals or even my powers-"

"Hey, hey." I interrupt, gently pulling back to look at her. "It's going to be okay."

Bloom shakes her head in disbelief and tugs away from me.

"No, don't do that, don't push me away." I gently grip her hands in a loose hold as we shift to face each other. "You're right, you've been here barely two weeks. No one expects you to have fully adjusted by now."

"Octavia did."

"Octavia is royalty and grew up surrounded by magic and the best teachers money could buy. Her upbringing was different to the average fairy and Dunamis. She doesn't understand what we go through."

Bloom's forehead creases adorably and I can't help but huff a laugh at her confused expression.

"Dunamis?"

I look down guiltily. Here I am trying to convince her it's okay to not know everything about Solarians and then off I go using terms she won't know.

"Dunamis are specialists essentially. They are one of the races Solaria is home to. We look like the average human but have magical traits similar to a fairy."

"But I've never seen a specialist-"

"Because our power manifests differently to fairies. Fairies have all the physical attributes of humans in most regards, there are a few major biological differences because of the magic but that's not important right now. Your magic manifests as elements, water, earth, air or in your case fire."

I pause to see if she's keeping up with me, waiting till she nods for me to continue.

"Our magic manifests itself as physical strengths. We're faster, stronger and have better instincts than most. There was a long and bloody history revolving around the Dunamis' more animalistic nature due to our magic fueled instincts but in current day society we are viewed as equals to fairies."

"Why- why would your instincts be a problem?" Bloom questions.

I sigh. "Instincts can be everything from hunting and tracking better, feeling more protective over family having that pack like instinct, that's the main reason we have omádas. It was the best way to soothe those instincts."

Bloom frowns in confusion.

"We go rabid, essentially. To put in basic animalistic terms. We've evolved over time but if we don't train to handle the aggression, or have omádas to battle the pack instinct we slowly lose control and revert back to lone wolves."

Bloom looks completely shocked and she gapes at me slightly in disbelief.

"So you're saying all the specialists have these animalistic instincts."

"Rumour has it that we once had transformation magic to turn into the beasts inside us, but we lost that ability thousands of years before the fairies lost their wings. I mean, there are myths and legends that we were dragon riders, people who rode the great beasts but we'll never know which story holds the most truth. At least they both have the same roots, either we were the beast or we controlled and tamed the beasts."

"This sounds... " Bloom trails off and looks down the empty corridor away from me. "Completely ridiculous."

I bark out a shocked laugh as I raise my brows at her. "Ridiculous?"

"Yes!" She exclaims with a laugh. "This is unbelievable, I thought the specialists were the most similar to the humans back home but now I find out everyone here has animal- magic- powery traits?"

I can't help but laugh at her horrified expression.

"What the hell are you like as toddlers?!" She demands. I turn away, chuckling helplessly.

"Don't laugh." She swats at my arm with a giggle. "It's a genuine question."

I calm down and turn back to the fire fairy, grinning at her in delight.

"We're horrible as toddlers but we calm down to human levels for the rest of childhood. Then puberty hits and-"

"Raging teenage hormones take over and you all descend into Lord of the Flies?" She looks up at me intently, her eyes bright and for the first time in a long while I feel at peace. This is so easy and carefree, nothing like my other friends. I grin at her.

"Welcome to the Other World, Bloom. We're all descendants of magic and creatures of the dark ages here."

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Riven

"Is this the last of it?" I ask Terra as I heave the box of decorations on top of a table.

"Yes, yes." She hums as she bustles around the courtyard. "At least I think it is. We just need to unpack them now."

I groan, leaning back to look up at the ceiling in exasperation.

"I thought this was going to be skive." I moan. "Not slave labor."

Terra shoots a harmless glare my way.

"Here I was thinking you wanted to help." She mocks. "Besides, it's a great honour to set up for the Queen."

Terra grins in delight and I can't help but scoff at her.

"Seriously? A great honour to serve the queen, through what? Table decorations." I mock, glaring at her as she merely rolls her eyes at me.

"Well... that and Stella will be overshadowed by the Queen." Terra states, guiltily glancing at the ground before regaining her footing. "It'll be a nice change, to not have her being so..."

"Like a raging bitch?" I add with a grin.

Terra goes bright red, stuttering at me as I burst into laughter at her response.

"Honestly Terra, you're horrible at gossiping and bitching."

"Well I'm not you." She huffs as she fixes some plants. "But I guess your right, I do need to build a bit more of a backbone."

"Thank you!" I exclaim. "You need to get stronger Terra."

"Well," She blushes and looks away. "I guess bitching about Stella and Octavia is a good start."

"Octavia?" I question in shock.

"Not exactly." Terra stutters and steps towards me. "It's just, she's been awful to the others. It feels rather odd that she's so nice to me."

"Maybe she's nice to you because you're nice to her." I comment incredulously, wasn't that the most obvious answer?

"The others are nice." Terra exclaims with huff.

I roll my eyes silently as I begin to unpack the various boxes surrounding us. Shuffling sounds from the side and I realise Terra is awkwardly looking at me.

"What now?" I question, Terra jumps in surprise and her eyes dart around nervously. "Spit it out then."

"I'm sorry." She blurts. I frown in confusion, quickly straightening up from where I was leaning over the tray. "For pinning you down I mean, when you and Sky were fighting."

That was her?

"I didn't know it was you." I question, feeling my eyes narrow at her in irritation. She winces.

"Silva asked me to." Terra holds my gaze, some of that rare confidence of hers seeping in.

"You nearly killed me." I snap, stepping closer to her. Watching, fascinated, as Terra merely stands taller at my challenge.

"You were going to kill Sky."

I freeze. Was I? I was going to deliver the blow but it hasn't hit me, what I was about to do. It didn't register properly in my head. Guilt has me stepping away from Terra, moving back to the crate to carry on unpacking.

"Next time you better make sure I'm dead or I'll come after you." I jab, pointing an accusing finger at her but I can feel my words have no real heat. Terra must notice it too for she grins at me.

We work for a good hour before Dowling and Harvey enter the room with more students to prepare. They barely spare us a glance before indicating for the volunteers to begin unpacking and arranging the decorations. I hand off a few crates to a first year specialist, Dane I think, grinning when he ducks his head down at my attention. Adorable.

Muttering catches my attention, I pause to look at Terra who has gravitated to my side during all the chaos only to find her staring at her father who appears to be holding some ridiculous old book.

Harvey's muttering, chanting I realise, gets louder as a wave of golden light spreads out from the book to coat the walls of the domed dining room. I watch in transfixed wonder as the charm shifts and extends the room into a forest cloaked in darkness. The floor remains the same and so does the arched exit to the rest of the school but where there were once walls is forest. Trees sprout up from the ground and quickly gain height, flowers and toadstools bloom on the forest floor. Star moss blankets the ground and small fireflies and glow bugs begin to float through the midnight forest.

"Why don't they do this for us?" I question in irritation, glancing at Terra, but I can't keep the wonder from my voice at the display of such magic.

"It's stunning isn't it?" Terra states with a grin as she hums with energy.

I grin back at her, feeling as if we've turned back time and I'm a nervous first year hanging around the enchanted greenhouse. It's the same feeling now as it was then. That first step into an enchanted building, the sheer force of disbelief at the size of the inside world. But where the greenhouse is filled with light and bright plants and animals from the amazon jungle this is filled with dark beauty. Dark oak trees and bright red toadstools, a stunning sight. Yet there's something threatening about the image, as if it's been snatched from a childhood fable of warning.

The two of us work in comfortable silence, moving on from unpacking the tools to filling the new terrariums, plant pots, hangers and table centres. Those royal fucks really love spending their money. I gently layer the gravel and charcoal along the bottom of one of the larger glass terrarium centrepieces. Terra hums a gentle tune beside me and nostalgia rushes over me. I forgot how peaceful it was, before everything happened with Olivia.

I can't help but clutch my tools a bit tighter at the thought. Liv loved all this stuff, she'd beg me for details on plants, terrariums, anything Terra was willing to share with her she wanted to know. Granted, Terra was sharing it with me but Liv felt like they were best friends already.

"Riv?" Terra's staring at me, face full of concern as she holds out a handful of various mosses for me to layer on. "You okay?"

"Quit the mushy crap Terra, we're here to do a job." I roll my eyes, snatching the moss away.

My heart clenches at the thought of Liv, at seeing her every time Terra talks about her plants. They're so similar, it was why I was drawn to Terra in the first place. She was like a hint of home in an unfamiliar place. Now she's just a reminder of what I have lost, what was taken away from me. I'll see Olivia again one day, I know it.

I look around at our nearly finished work, the large circle table has been laid in the centre. Dangling terrariums in the centre are filled with deep blue and purple blanks, their bubble glass homes filled with glowing sparks. The chairs are quickly pulled up as the last of the side plates and are set out. No grand meal just yet. They're here for work, no matter what the beauty suggests. Laid out by each seat is a brand new, fancy as hell pen, notepad, and a space left for a briefing folder to be placed.

We've done a good job. I look around the rest of the room in appreciation as we begin to leave. Pride flares through me at what we've achieved. I've missed this, missed working hard to make something I'm proud of.