｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

｡･:*:･ﾟ★"Just two broken hearts grieving the loss of their soul."･ﾟ☆

Octavia

I can feel the dread build in my stomach as I begin to wake up. The absence of my shadows is like a punch to the gut, like someone is squeezing on my heart. I distantly hear Beatrix warn Riven about what to expect, about the sheer anguish that grates on my soul when I'm separated from my shadows. Distantly I register her mentioning my complete inability to function, this time talking to Stella before she leaves for class, but Riven assumes he has superpowers and will be able to get me to move.

He doesn't.

I don't.

Riven holds me to his chest and whispers promises of chocolate coated strawberries and waffles if I get up. When that doesn't work he promises me a private re-enactment of my favourite smutty books in the bedroom if I sit up and eat something. Finally, he promises me the world if I'll open my eyes.

I can't.

Not even for him.

Eventually, he gets out of the bed and snaps at Stella to watch me while he leaves for class. The bed dips as Stella sits down and begins to stroke my back. I want to thank her, and crack a joke about her finally acting like the older sister. I can't. There's nothing left of me.

Stella mercifully doesn't try to talk to me, just touches me gently like I'm a breakable porcelain doll. Like I'm so fucking breakable. Shit, I guess I am right now. I feel as if she wants to say something. I keep hearing her shift and open her mouth to speak, but then silence. The door opens somewhere, maybe Riven has come back.

If I could bring myself to move I'd demand an explanation for her behaviour, ask who just entered my room. But I can't. I wouldn't even have to ask if I still had my shadows. They could have told me. Whispered her secrets to me like a bedtime story. Then I hear Sky's voice start up and distantly wonder why he's not in class with Riven.

Unless Sky is here with Stella. He must still be guarding her. I thought he would have been with Bloom after his speech last night and the changeling drama.

"She won't move or speak, I'm freaking the fuck out... yes, Beatrix... yes, come now... I don't care, just ditch class and drag him over here right now."

Then he stops talking. Stella gently strokes away the hair from my face but eventually she leaves too so that I can wallow in the silence by myself.

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Stella

I want her dead. I glare at my mother as I walk past the meeting room.

This is her fault. I was so naive to believe that Octavia would be okay, that the Queen would let her off with a light punishment. But this- this is cruel. I swallow back tears at the thought as I stride towards my suite. She's gone. My twin is gone. There's nothing left of her in that shell. Sky is walking behind me, guarding me even as we walk through the school halls. How different it is now that my mother is here.

It reminds me of life in the palace, life being followed by maids, guards, reporters, ladies in waiting. I never had that here. Dowling assured me of it. In fact it was the main reason I pushed for this school. My mother had been considering sending me to an international school in another realm to further our diplomatic relations. Except there would have been hundreds of royals, each with their own entourage.

"Wait here, I'll just be a minute," I murmur to Sky, who nods quietly and stands by the door.

That's a sure reminder of difference. I quickly enter the Winx suite, striding for my room. Sky was never that obedient or good at following orders. He's gotten quieter this year, less sarcastic comments and jokes. He's growing colder. Concern bubbles in my chest but I push it aside, I can't deal with Sky drama and Tavi drama at the same time.

The guilt on his face when he saw Octavia in her room. I'm never going to forget that pure look of helplessness in his eyes. How desperate he sounded when he conceded and called Beatrix. Sky, hero Sky. The Prince Charming who was unable to save his princess.

I sigh and quickly rummage through my room, I need to get to class. Finding my school books is harder than I thought and I'm pissed to realise that my bag is sat on my desk chair. With all my books inside. Why didn't I look there first?

Sniffles and cries echo through the empty suite and I freeze in place. Who's still here? All the first years should be in class. Creeping slowly through the dorm, I follow the sound of blatant despair till I reach Bloom and Aisha's room. Bloom or Aisha? Probably Bloom, Aisha seems the type to bottle it all up and then review it in a century.

"Bloom?" I murmur, wincing as her head snaps towards me in the doorway of her room.

She quickly hides her phone away, rubbing at her eyes to hide the tears. "Stella? What are you doing here, I thought you had class?"

"Free period," I answered with a frown, stepping into her room to look around.

It's messy, far more chaotic than Aisha would have allowed. So she's not been back to her room since Bloom started this little pity fest.

"Is that your family?" I ask, catching sight of the picture.

Jealousy curls in my stomach at the sight. They're so happy, Bloom wrapped in her mother's arms with her father hugging the both of them, smiles wide and eyes bright. It's perfect. The ideal loving family. Except their daughter is a changeling.

I force a smile at Bloom, gesturing to the image, "I get homesick too sometimes, even when I have Octavia here."

Taking the picture from Bloom's hands, I refuse to feel bad at the hint of shock and confusion on her face as I do so. I stroke down the image, admiring the way their lives were so simple in that moment, filled with such easy joy,

"But my mum... we don't exactly see eye to eye."

Bloom nods in understanding, rolls her eye a little at our apparent common ground. I look down at her, doing my best to look sincere and comforting,

"Honestly, if she didn't force me to go here, I wouldn't."

I smile, genuine this time as I imagine the life I could have had, "I'd stay at home, go to school, go to the movies and just," I break off into chuckles, disbelief that the words are actually honest as they pour out of me, "-just have a normal life."

Bloom looks, sadness in her eyes and I quickly correct myself, "You know, there's no shame in that. You've been through a lot recently. There's no shame in wanting to be home."

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"She's blanking my texts." I hear Aisha say in concern and guilt coils in my stomach.

It's late now, the political meetings are in full swing and students are just coming back from dinner. Classes are over and Sky has gone to his training. I still haven't gone to see Tavi again, I'm not sure I can bear it. Seeing her so vulnerable like that. She's always been the strong one, even when I barely knew her she was the strong one.

"Strange. I wonder if it's because she poured her heart out to you a few days ago and then you went and publicly called her a freak in front of everyone at school." Musa snaps, "Not to mention in front of the high society politicians."

I lift my phone, busying myself with taking a selfie as a distraction and doing my best to focus on maintaining the steady light orb floating behind the phone. Dowling told me to practise whenever I could in today's private lesson. She seemed suspicious as to why Octavia wasn't with me this time but brushed it off when I mentioned mother's name and doing royal work as her excuse.

"Have you seen Bloom?" Aisha asks

"Not recently." Which isn't a lie, I've not seen her since I gave her the ring just after lunch.

I see Musa frown and her eyes practically glare into my soul. Fucking mindfairys.

I snap my fingers, the light turning off. "Yes?"

"Your face looks so calm, yet you're racked with guilt." Musa demands.

"I didn't know you were connected to emotions," Aisha states and Musa glares at her with a 'what the fuck' look. Even I look at Aisha with judgement, they've been friends for weeks, how does she not know this.

"Of course she is," Terra bustles in and I focus on my phone, "You've improved loads as well during the meeting-"

"Not a great time." Musa cuts her off.

"Is everything okay?"

"Not really," Aisha answers with a sharp glare in my direction, "I'm looking for Bloom. For some reason, Stella's feeling guilty about it."

I ignore them, ignore the guilt curling in my gut as I look down at Brandon and I's texts.

I'm sick of being the defenceless sister, the vain blond, the perfect princess.

because you are going to be something good and strong

He believed in me and not a day later I've already gone and fucked it up. I made all those Hygieia potions for Tavi, as if they'll actually help and then decided I was making a decent effort at being kinder. I'm doing a shit job.

"Could everyone save the drama for drama club?" I snarl, looking up from my phone and channelling all my self loathing into glaring at Aisha.

"Wasn't she talking to Sky at the party?" Terra asks in concern. Why is that relevant?

"And?" I question sarcastically, turning my glare on the Earth fairy who refuses to back down.

"And I know what happened to the last person who was talking to Sky." Terra states, glaring back at me. "I was here last year, remember?"

I scoff, rage and grief filling me. Of course, the stupid little lie my mother and I agreed upon. I had almost forgotten. No one dared to mention anything and I was too busy focusing on making sure everyone believed Octavia's little lie of dormant ancient fairy magic to focus on my own lies.

Shaking my head I scoff again and look back at my phone, texting Beatrix to see if she had any news on my sister.

"Stella, where's Bloom?" Terra demands.

Looking around the room I realise I'm not getting out of this one so I sigh and drop my phone down onto my lap.

"She was feeling homesick," I state, glaring at the girls, "So I did a nice thing and I lent her my ring so that she could go back to the first world."

"Doesn't your ring only work outside of the Barrier?" Yes, Terra. That's why I'm feeling so fucking guilty. Especially when I just told Brandon last night that we couldn't go out there because it was too dangerous.

"Yes," I confess with an eye roll but I sink back into the sofa with guilt, "And there's a gateway in the old cemetery."

"That's deep in the forest, Stella." Terra gasps, "You know what's out there right?

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Sky

Bloom rushes out from the cemetery and I catch a glimpse of Dowling sending the burned one flying back before the door closes shut. She's breathing heavily in front of us and my chest tightens with worry for her.

Helios, that must have been terrifying.

Silva and I stand on either side of the group of girls, Irene behind them guarding our backs as she glares out into the forest. She was dead against allowing the girls to come out past the barrier, especially after dark. I thought for a second that she was going to demand I stay back at Alfea as well but Silva seemed to talk her out of it. Something about which one of them needed to remember my age? Riven was supposed to come but he wanted to go up to Octavia and keep her company. I couldn't stand seeing her like that any longer so I jumped at the chance to tackle a problem I could actually fight.

"Are you okay?" Aisha rushes out, causing Bloom to whip round and face us in shock.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think so." She stutters, rushing over to her friends as she spares a glance back at the closed door, "What the hell was that thing?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a burned one." Terra states with a hesitant glance towards Silva.

"Huh?" Bloom asks, clearly lost in the conversation.

"That is not important right now," Silva calls out, indicating for the girls to group together in the middle of our little Silva family shield. "We need to get you all back to school, now."

We move in silence, every breaking twig and hooting owl causing the girls to jump in fear and trepidation. Not that I'm much better, my eyes keep darting between the various shadows fluttering through the forest and I can see Irene and Silva doing the same.

We're not safe out here. Making it back to Alfea was a tedious job and I think I had at least 4 heart attacks on the way. The winx girls mercifully remained quiet throughout the trek.

"The headmistress will take care of the burned one, Bloom." Silva tells her, but I see the way Irene's eyes roll slightly.

Octavia will no doubt want to hear of this. My stomach churns at the thought. I'm not sure where we stand anymore. We were friends, good friends and now it seems I have been replaced by Riven. But Bloom, she's not as strong in her abilities as the others are. She is a step behind them all, and we're friends. The problems she faces are easier, simpler, not as world ending, war starting, death defying as Octavia and Riven... and Stella and even Beatrix for that matter.

Not that I understand why Beatrix is a part of their mess.

"Sky," Irene calls and I turn to face her, "Make sure the girls get back to their dorm safely, we'll see you at training tomorrow."

I nod and indicate for the fairies to enter Alfea's halls as I watch my foster parents walk away to the teacher's suites. There's a distance between them, a hesitance. Sadness flickers through me as the two separate ways, Silva heading back in towards the school while Irene pauses and stares after him.

"Wait. where... Where's Stella?" Bloom stutters, bringing my attention back to the present.

"She's at school. Why?"

"That thing just took her ring." the fire fairy confesses, sounding like she's swallowing back tears.

We walk through the halls silently until we reach the Winx suite, I give the others a look to carry on while I hold Bloom back in the living room. Thankfully the others do as I ask and return to their rooms, while Bloom looks so exhausted that my heart breaks for her.

"She won't leave it in the first world." I mutter, "Don't worry. Your parents are safe."

Bloom forces a smile, "thanks."

I watch with sadness as she walks into her room, looking dead on her feet.

I shake my head and leave their dorm, checking that it locks behind me before I wander through the Fairy halls back to the specialists. I take a shortcut, passing by the teacher's offices. It's a risk, I could get told off for being so late but it's faster and inside from the cold so what the hell.

"I chained it up in a barn outside the Barrier." I hear a voice state from within one of the offices.

I freeze and press myself against the wall by the door.

"You should have killed it." That's Silva, I would recognise his voice anywhere.

"And left it in the human world?" The female asks and I peer into the room to see Dowling staring out of the window impassively.

"You should have brought it back here and then killed it." Silva rewords his previous statement and the sound of his steps echo through the empty room as he steps closer to Dowling with his arms crossed. Silva shifts hesitantly with worry as Dowling turns to face him.

"Did it break your skin?" He asks desperately.

"No, I'm not infected." She murmurs as she shifts and looks down at the ground. Infected? I think Silva mentioned something about that, one cut from a burned one and an infection sets in "I've got Ben to make up some oil from the Zanbaq flowers in the greenhouse."

Silva looks up in disbelief. What's bad about the Zanbaq oil? Or maybe he's pissed at the fact she's keeping it on campus. Octavia's version of event is starting to look more and more likely. I know Dowling is good and I know Silva trusts her, but after what Tavi and Irene spoke about during the dinner. I wonder if Dowling is prepared enough for the upcoming fight. I pause, the dinner where Tavi also admitted to allowing us to overhear certain information.

Doubt clouds my mind. Maybe Dowling is right and Octavia is wrong, Dowling has more experience after all.

"I've dosed it. It won't be conscious for hours."

"Farrah..." Silva trails, trying to reason with her.

I've changed my mind. I know I've not got a leg to stand on with these two when it comes to judgement but even I know keeping a dangerous creature near a school of curious students with only a flimsy drug to keep it subdued is a bad idea.

"I need to get in it's head. We need to know if this is an isolated incident or something more." She pleads. What in helios' name is she talking about? Was she not listening during the meeting today? The general himself admitted to multiple sightings, spread out though they were.

"Something more?" Silva stands close to her now, leaning down to look up at Dowling from under his brows. "Like what? All the sightings have been individual burned ones spread across the mountain ranges. Helios, it could be the same burned one in many cases."

"I found a changeling in the first world." Dowling interrupts and Silva pulls back in surprise, eyes widening as he gapes at her confession.

So it's true then. Bloom is a changeling and she knew. Knew and didn't tell her. I scoff in anger, if Dowling had just told Bloom she wouldn't have been humiliated like that yesterday, she wouldn't have tried to see her parents today.

"A changeling." Silva nods in horror, clearly trying to wrap his head around the new information. Clearly, the teachers haven't caught wind of Bloom's drama last night yet. "I've not heard of one of those in centuries."

"Yet there she was," Dowling whispers, "left 16 years ago. Right around the time the last Burned one was spotted."

She thinks Bloom is connected to the burned ones.

"You think it's all connected." Silva whispers in shock and I see his eyes dart around as he tries to puzzle all the pieces out in his head.

"I'm struggling, Saul." She confesses, "Rosalind kept so much from us."

Silva continues to gape at her in shock. I freeze. Who's Rosalind?

"I'm worried about the students. The Alfea they know is very different from the one we attended." Dowling confesses, stepping closer to Silva and I tense when he doesn't move back. Where is Irene? Why isn't she in this mini meeting with them?

"They have so much life to experience. Even if this world was safe, what they're going through can feel impossible. But this world isn't safe and I don't know how long we'll be able to protect them from it."

Dowling looks down and I can see Silva swallow heavily as he looks away from her.

"I know you feel it. the ... shift."

Silva ducks his head down to avoid her gaze. What shift? Some primal instinct flares in me, to challenge Dowling and her cryptic words. The way she says it. As if she means something else as well.

"They've had order for so long that they don't know what chaos feels like." Her eyes plead with Silva's.

"They might soon." Silva whispers brokenly.

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Octavia

I become aware again at the sound of Beatrix's sharp tones as she breathes pure ice at the boys and Stella who entered my room after muttering something about fucking up. It's evening now, Stella mentioned something about having a long night and Sky has apparently dropped by looking for Riven.

"I told you, she can't function without them- at all. They are her soul, they keep her sane and grounded. She suffered through all the balls and dinners when she had to block them for Stella's sake and the crowns. But she cannot function without them at this level. They put her back together when she went insane in Rosalind's cells. Just let her have her fucking space and stop trying to fix her." I feel her lips brush my cheek.

There's murmuring by the door and then cool air washes over my body as the heavy blankets are lifted and someone climbs into the bed next to me. I don't move or speak. If the heady smell of his skin didn't tip me off, the fingers tracing patterns on my thighs and the pinky linking through mine is a dead give away that it's Riven. It's fucking hard work but I manage to sigh.

"Ssh, Pixie. We're not functioning right now. Beatrix is going to babysit the blonde twins and keep them entertained. You and me will be nothing in here together. Just two broken hearts grieving the loss of their soul." He pushes the hair out of my face, "And when you're ready, I'll tell you about how I lost my soul and you can tell me about how you lost yours."

I don't know how long I take, but I slowly manage to move until my head hits his chest, and he takes it as the request is to bundle me into his arms. I can't open my eyes or speck, but he doesn't seem to care.

"When you're feeling better tomorrow, can she shake that perfect ass of yours for me? I've been thinking about it non-stop and, fuck, I've decided what payment I want for my service as your loyal guard dog. The way your hips moved against mine, I can't wait to see how you move on my cock."

A shiver runs down my spine and Riven hums under his breath. "Good to you're still alive, Pixie. Do you want to hear all about what I'm going to do to you when you're back in the land of the living? All of the things we have to look forward to?"

A/N: Do you want to see the talk between Riven and Octavia where they talk through their trauma or do you want something to come of the Irene/Silva/Dowling drama in the upcoming chapters?