Fire and Ice - Riven | Fate: The Winx Saga

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Tunnel

"What was that earlier?" Bloom asked me as we sat on a bench outside of the fairy hall.
"What was what?" I questioned.
"With Aisha. She grabbed you and it looked like you hurt her." I took a deep breath and sighed, looking straight out at the field in front of us.
"Remember how fairy magic is linked to emotion?" I asked her. Bloom nodded. "The stronger the emotion, the more powerful the magic is."
"So, are you saying you meant to hurt her?"
"I've not had much control over my magic since what happened to Gaia." I admitted. "I don't know if you've noticed but almost every time I get upset or angry or frustrated, it snows around me."
"It snows? Really?" Bloom laughed for the first time in a while. She then stopped when she noticed my frown. "What is it?" She asked me.
"What happened with Aisha happened earlier today with Riv." I frowned. "It was after I had asked Dowling about my parents and I was angry and then we kissed and he said that I had burned him."
"You burned him?" Bloom questioned.
"Ice burns when it's cold enough." I said before task for another deep breath. "I just... when I came to Alfea I thought I would learn to control my magic and it just seems to be getting worse. All anyone here wants us to be is what they want us to be. They don't care what we want."
"And what do you want?" Bloom asked me.
"I don't want to be a fucking fairy." I admitted for the first time ever. "I don't want any magic. Not if it means I'm hurting the people around me."

We fell back into silence as we watched the sun begin the set. "You know... we're a lot a like, you and I." Bloom smiled. "I mean, we've both hurt people because of magic and neither of us have control over our magic."
"You have way more control than you did a few weeks ago." I said.
"Yeah, well, what was that earlier with Aisha and Terra?" Bloom then looked at me and furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait. Wait. Wait. Back up. You kissed Riven?"
"Yes." I told her. "Can you just... don't tell anyone please? I don't know what it means yet and I'd prefer to tell Sky myself. You know, if I decide to tell him."
"It was something we were all waiting for to happen." Bloom grinned.
"Fuck off." I smiled as I pushed her shoulder gently.

I looked up and Musa and Terra were now standing in front of us. Musa handed me the trinket and I looked from the object, to the girls and then to Bloom before smiling. "You need answers." Musa told us.
"People have been keeping them from you, and we didn't wanna be those people too." Terra added.
"Where's Aisha?" Bloom asked.
"Um... Well, she had a lot of feelings, and, uh, she she didn't exactly totally agree with-"
"She's in the suite." Musa said, cutting Terra off.
"I guess that's as good as I could ask for!" Bloom laughed, tears filling her eyes. "So are you gonna help us break Beatrix out?"
"That's actually the but that, uh, Aisha couldn't quite get on board with." Terra told us.
"Yeah, well, she never really liked my ideas anyway, so..." Stella smiled as she appeared out of thin air.

***

I followed Bloom to where Beatrix was being kept and the other girls waited for us outside. I handed the trinket to Bloom who then passed it to Beatrix through the cage. "And here I was doubting you." She smirked. She then took the trinket and placed it against the bracelets on her wrist. She then groaned in pain as the bracelets tore out of her skin and dropped to the floor.
"Can we please just do this?" Bloom asked.
"Still got to get this situation handled." Beatrix said as as she opened the cage door using electricity. "Here we go." She then smiled.

Bloom scoffed as Beatrix led us out of the east wing where we found Terra, Musa and Stella waiting for us. She then took us through the school and to Miss Dowling's office where she revealed a secret door behind a bookcase. "Did you know that was there?" Musa asked me. I shook my head and frowned.
"Once Dane gets here we can push him through." Beatrix told us. There was a magical barrier behind the door that we couldn't get past.
"Seems a bit harsh using him to spring the trap." Bloom said.
"He'll be game." Beatrix said. "Or he won't, and we'll do it anyway."
"What about you?" I asked the girl. "Are you game?"

Stella then pushed Beatrix through the barrier. Beatrix screamed as she fell through and hit the wall before falling to the floor. Her lips grew blue and cold air escaped her mouth. She couldn't move. "That was much more satisfying than a flowerpot." Stella smiled. "See? Break out the villain to get what we want and then trap her again. Simple. My ideas rock."
"Come on." I then told the girls before stepping into the tunnel, using my phone torch to light the way at the front.

We walked for what seemed like forever until we reached a door on the right hand side. "Everything I've been looking for is right through that door." Bloom told us.
"We'll be here when you come out." Musa said. Bloom nodded and then looked at me.
"Are you coming?"
"Beatrix wanted you to free Rosalind." I said. "She took you to Aster Dell. Rosalind is the one who sent you to the First World. You should go in alone."
"Are you sure?"
"I'll get my answers." I told her. "You go and get yours." Bloom gave us all one last smile and entered the door, closing it behind her.

I started to pace up and down past the door that Bloom had gone through. The other girls just stood and watched me. "What is taking so long?" I asked.
"Bloom has been in there a long time. What could they be talking about?" Terra questioned.
"I once heard you talk about dirt for two hours." Stella told her. "Dirt. Two hours."
"It was soil." Terra corrected. "And anyway, we just left Beatrix lying there in Miss Dowling's office. I just wanna make sure she's not awake, fashioning four shivs."
"Don't be ridiculous." Musa laughed. "It'll be one shiv four times. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab."
"Can we just go and check, please?"
"Fine." I sighed as I started to walk back up the tunnel with others following. "But you're overreacting."

We finally got to the top end of the tunnel and I frowned as I stepped to the side so that the other girls could see. "Ah, look at that." Terra said. "She's gone."
"Shit." I whispered.
"I'd like my apology via scented, handwritten note after we find her."
"It gets worse." Musa told us as he eyes flashed pink and she looked over to the office door.

Dowling entered the office followed by Professor Harvey and Aisha. "You have no idea of the trouble you've caused." Dowling told us.
"We were just trying to find the-" Terra began.
"Not another word! Come with me." Harvey said, putting his foot down. We all frowned as we slowly began to walk out of the office, all of us glaring at Aisha as we passed her.
"I hope the brownie points you get from this will keep you company when you have no friends." Stella told her.