Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter Text
Deep within the darkness a lone figure knelt. Hunched over a calligraphy set, pen dripping with ink in hand. Candles arranged in concentric circles around her flickered with deep scarlet flames. Piercing crimson light caressed the edges of her pitch black silhouetted form.
"Work. Work. Work damnit why won't this one work." She cursed under her breath, hands smeared with black ink as her pen tore through another sheet of paper.
A squealing, sundering shriek filled the dank darkness, a sliver of white light splitting the world in two. The figure stood up, turning to face the rays that flooded her quarters.
"Guess who brought pizza for my favourite shadow spawn from beyond the stars?"
Mercedes never got tired of their clubhouse. Maybe the size of a hotel room, the deep indulgent space was like a doll's house blown up to human size. Midnight blue walls, striking satin red curtains that came down to the floor, plush upholstered furniture. She walked in, placing the two pizza boxes on the smoked glass table before crashing onto the sofa and kicking her feet up on the table. The rest of her belongings placed behind the couch.
She was especially tall, wearing a school uniform composed of thigh high wool socks, pleated skirt, and jacket with bow tied at her collar. Her deep raven hair that ran down to the small of her back covered half her face, two big royal blue shocks of hair streaking down her bangs. A stiff triangular beret worn on her head.
The other girl, of a much more average height, finally took her seat. Violet sat opposite of her friend on the other sofa, legs spread wide open two feet firm on the ground. She wore the same school uniform as Mercedes, only her jacket's sleeves had been torn off at the shoulder. Simple geometric tattoos ran up and down her arms. She curled a finger around her calf length rose gold hair, several lockes poking out of her black brimmed wool beanie. She tugged lightly at it, her hat covering one eye. "Thank god, I've been running on empty. I'm so hungry my hands are trembling."
Mercedes watched as Violet curled a slice of pepperoni in half, taking a massive first bite. Violet put her hand out to catch the cheese stretching between her mouth and her slice. Mercedes just rolled her eyes, and reached behind her couch. "Aaand guess who brought the six pack and the golf clubs?" She whipped a golf bag and pack of tall boys onto the carpeted floor next to their table.
Violet shrugged, already reaching for a second slice. "The same girl who's always filling the lair with useless crap?" Her elbow rested on her knee, accentuating her point with an exaggerated look around their clubhouse. Strings of lights draped across the ceiling. Miscellaneous books stacked high like end tables. Band and movie posters haphazardly put up all over the walls.
Mercedes just shrugged. "Come on, half of this is yours." She cracked open a beer and let it rest on her encyclopedias turned side table. "Lair is so gross a term. Call it something cool. Like hideout or safehouse or-"
"Hell dungeon? Abyssal prison? Bowels of oblivion?"
Every title that hit her ear made her cringe, no matter how sarcastic Violet's tone was. "Now you're just making fun of me. How about girl cave?" She swapped the two pizza boxes around, taking a slice of hawaiian from the top one.
"Eugh."
"Aw that one's cute I thought! So what's with the candles wild child?" Mercedes said around a mouthful of pizza.
The candles themselves- sequestered to the far side of the room- had flickered out by now, the scent of lavender and fireside wafting through the air. Their cold smoke crawled along the ground rather than billowing toward the ceiling. "It was that ritual you were begging me to try last time, trying to make ink drawings literally leap off the page."
"Oh I wish I could have seen if it worked!" Mercedes put her uneaten crust on the table, then got up and threw the golf bag over her shoulder, putting one of the books from her stack and the rest of the beer teetering on top of the clubs. "Come on, we're burning daylight. Sun goes down at like five o'clock this time of year."
On the far wall, a zig zagging tear ripped up the clubhouse from floor to ceiling. It was like the room had grown a massive sideways mouth, yawning open to reveal a churning black darkness deep inside. Both girls slipped through, one behind the other, out of their room and into the real world again.
The janitor closet they all but fell out of wasn't the most elegant gateway between worlds, but it sufficed. The two stepped out the double doors next to the gym, onto the blacktop of the high school's yard.
Violet was the first to move, looking back and forth to make sure they were the only ones here. With a wave of her fingers, the shadows cast into the mortar grooves between the bricks extended out from the wall into smoky ethereal stairs. In seconds they both found themselves on the roof, surrounded by tiny piles of dirty snow.
Two folded up lawn chairs were stowed behind a vent unit in the far corner. Beneath them, a bucket of golf balls and an ash tray full of paper and wood scraps. They took them and set them up overlooking the school parking lot, looking into the deep orange and fuchsia sunset.
Mercedes put the rest of their things together as Violet pulled a cozy off the head of the driver. With another sweep of her hand, a deep magenta glow expanded from a pinprick on the floor, concrete and iron rupturing as she lifted her arm. Instantly the rubble plateaud, and they set all of their belongings on the impromptu counter. A snap of her fingers, and the ash tray was subsumed in fire as deep and dark as ink, after images in myriad colours trailing behind it.
Her favourite place to blow off some steam. A tee from the bag and one of their balls floated through the air, coming to rest in another small sullied pile of snow at Violet's feet. "Fore!"
The ball popped up, sailing lazily through the air. Mercedes let her book rest in her lap and pushed her sunglasses up to rest on her forehead, trying to track the shot. It came down far faster than it rose up, right onto a red hatchback. A deep dent left in the ceiling and whining alarm blaring. "Nice shot, right off of the principal's car." Violet's shoulders slumped and she groaned up at the sky, before reaching a hand out at the parking lot. The sound of the alarm smothered down to a dull bass roar. "Another tall boy?"
"You know what, sure."
Car keys punctured the bottom of the can, and Mercedes tossed it underhand towards her friend. "Catch!"
"Hey, damnit! You know I can't chug it like you can!"
Manicured fingers thumbed through a reference book, Your Guide to the Occult Across Seven Continents printed in bold on the cover. "So, have we tried out voodoo?"
Beer streamed down the side of Violet's mouth as she finished shotgunning her can. She winced, crumpled the can on her forehead, and tossed it in the air before turning it into molten metal with a precise blast from two finger tips. "We tried voodoo, ouija, and tarot. All no goes. Ritual by candlelight was almost a success though." A queasy look crossed her face and she leaned on her club. "Tee me up would you?"
"Really belt this one this time." A scuffed red golfball rolled over to Violet. "Did we do summoning circles?"
"No- yes!- no. We were going to and chickened out." The distinct thwip of a golf swing ripped through their ears. "Fore!"
The red ball went flying before landing unceremoniously on the soccer field. "You're on the green." Mercedes jeered. More pages flipped by, a glossy indigo nail tracing across the glossary before tapping on the text. "Maybe you're a demon. Or a specter. Or a fairy."
Violet teed up again, and absentmindedly ran a hand over her head, glancing down at her body. "No horns, I'm not dead and everyone can see me, I don't have wings and I'm not three inches tall." Her index and ring fingers touched her palm, and she turned her wrist. Mercedes yelped as the book nearly closed on her nose of its own accord. "None of that stuff is real."
"You are lecturing me that supernatural creatures aren't real. And f-y-i fairies aren't three inches tall, those are nymphs."
Another shrug. "Yeah, okay...Fore!... All that stuff is made up."
The last beer went to Mercedes as she crossed her leg. "The freaky eldritch shadow magic is real though."
"Well duh, here's the proof." Agonizing jagged fire crackled and surged out of her tattoos, her veins becoming a deep eye catching crimson. An ungraceful grunt escaped her lips as she swung, space shattering around her club head as it collided with the blue golf ball.
Tiny shards of blue dimpled enamel fell around the burnt golf tee. Both girls put their hands to their brows trying to see where it went. Mercedes ran to the edge of the roof trying to get a better look, while Violet collapsed back into her lawn chair.
"That's like a twelve hundred yard drive!"
"Exactly. Killed the club though." The final gasps of her power fluttered away, and she inspected the damage. Bent in three places, half the driver's head still red hot and melted off, dripping on the concrete roof.
Wispy clouds that scattered across the sky hung just over the horizon, ambers and indigos heralding sundown. "You've still got two more woods." She handed Violet the three wood and poured the last trickles of her tall boy on their ash tray, making the magical fire hiss. "Next time I'm so stealing an imported. This is swill."
Thwip. "Damn it. I sliced that one. 'za me."
"Pepperoni or hawaiian?"
"Two of each would be killer."
"Coming up." Both pizzas were already cold, but a simple snap of Violet's fingers rendered them piping hot again, though a tad charred. Mercedes reached into the bag for more balls, inspecting a fluorescent pink one. Clearly from some indoor miniputt place. "Hey, before you hit the next one, I wanna try something." Pulling a sharpie out of her bag, she scribbled an insignia much like the ones in her occult reference book, though much less exact. "There. Now smack it. Put some gross evil monster power into it."
Violet obliged. Yet again her powers roared to life, and the familiar sensation of overwhelming force took hold as her club shattered into pieces upon impact. The ball took off like a bullet, whipping past so fast it distorted the air it sliced through. A shimmering mirage trailing behind its path. Just as it reached its apex, it exploded in a shower of light rather than being pulled back down to Earth. Several seconds after, a deep thundering boom punched both girls in their chest, a shockwave of wind pushing their loose belongings toward the back of the roof.
"Brutal! What the hell did you do?" She looked down and tossed the club handle, melted into the mold of her grip, over her shoulder and down to the parking lot. "And we're down two clubs now genius."
Another dismissive shrug was all she got. "Hey, you got the powers, I know about the supernatural crap. That's why we're such a team."
"How many balls have we got left?"
"Like nineteen."
The sun had finally set, casting the roof in the silver glow of a clear December night. "Save 'em for next time." She checked her phone, two missed calls and several unread messages flashed back at her. All of them from her grandmother. "Just got a heads up, aunt Stella is visiting this friday."
Both girls walked to the far side of the roof, spying the ladder where handimen and utility workers normally accessed the top of the school. Dropping their belongings onto the grass from two stories up they watched them land with a crash, though luckily nothing appeared to be broken. Each put their foot on one side of the utility access ladder. Both started sliding down fireman style to the ground in unison, though Violet's half shrieked with sparks and burned with a powerful orange white glow. Mercedes slung the golf bag complete with her books over her shoulder and just gave Violet a smile. "Awww, always fun whenever she's in town."
Violet just looked befuddled, tilting her head and furrowing her brow at Mercedes. "You like her a lot more than I do...you're good to drive me home still right?"
A click of her key fob and the distinct chirp of a car unlocking and lights blinking made her point for her. "What, don't have any magic spells for finding your house?"
"Oh shut up. Or I'll put a curse on your mini cooper."
Chapter 2: Big Favours and Little Cakes
Summary:
Stella's a good mom. Eve's so not down for this no magic thing. The littlest princess gets put on Earth just in time to celebrate Christmas and get pushed around by two brutal high school seniors.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Watch this." Violet reached her hand into the black abyss of her book bag. Rooting around, she clenched what felt like a piece of paper, pulling a manilla folder out of it.
As she did so, Mercedes watched through the window to her locked math classroom. A manilla folder sitting on the teacher's desk suddenly sunk into its surface, like it was a boat pulled under by a riptide. She gasped, glancing back and forth between the empty desk and the folder in Violet's hands. "Whoooa, very cool. What're we gonna steal next?"
Clicking her tongue, Violet reached into her bag again. She nudged her head towards a bigger kid in a football jacket with a bag of potato chips down the hallway. "Okay see him over there? Watch this."
She rummaged around in the black abyss of her book bag again. The moment she felt what she was looking for, she ripped it out and passed the bag of chips to Mercedes. The jock stumbling in confusion at his now empty hands.
Mercedes just took a handful and snickered. "Free chips and he looks like an ass. I love it."
Both girls just laughed, leaning against their lockers. The clock above them caught their eye as they wound down, only one thirty in the afternoon. "I'm not going to last period, you down to ditch?" Violet hinted towards the doors, but Mercedes just groaned and closed her eyes.
"I really shouldn't."
The manilla envelope passed under Mercedes' nose. Violet was waving it in her face, thumbing through its contents. "This lesson plan's got all the answers for your final exam you know."
In one quick movement Mercedes snatched the folder out of the air. Her fingers flipped through it like a deck of cards, and she clutched it tight to her chest. "Welp, not ever going to that class again. So what're we doing after school?"
Violet just rolled her eyes. The two walked out the academic wing's double doors, and each of them heard the soft crunch of packing snow beneath their feet. "My aunt is coming over, so I really want to just steer clear of that whole place."
They brushed falling snow out of their hair, the sky an overcast grey sea of clouds. "Your aunt is sweet, what's the big deal?" The taller girl offered up, leafing through the math folder in more detail.
The tattoos on Violet's arms shuddered and shifted. From geometric patterns to the silhouettes of petals and vines her ink moved and rearranged itself. "She is, she's great, but like, I'm already hiding this stuff from my grandparents. I don't need any extra people snooping around my house."
Mercedes was totally enthralled watching even this meager display of black magic. "Holy crap just tell them already! What're you gonna do take this to your grave?"
"Uh, ideally."
Pulling a book with a heavily weathered spine and multiple bar codes on the cover out of her own bag, Mercedes slipped the folder in it like a bookmark. 1,001 Ways to Unleash Hell was printed on its cover, complete with a picture of a pentacle drawn in salt. "Have it your way. You still need me to drive I assume?"
Violet just tilted her head, letting out a "Would you?" In a sing song voice. The girl with the arcane powers pouting like a lost puppy.
"Spooky powers but can't drive, what a combo."
~~~
"What is this place?"
It was unlike anywhere Eve had ever seen before. Not in a good way either. Grey sky carpeted in clouds that left the world dark and dinghy, biting wind that made the tip of her nose, the ridges of her ears, the end of her chin tingle, and not a single ray of sunshine anywhere. They were walking along a street in front of little row houses. Hopelessly quaint and tiny compared to the city she was used to, hopelessly tasteless and superficial compared to the countryside and the palace.
She was a small thing, five feet tall exactly. Blonde hair pulled into a large french braid. She absentmindedly tugged at her white puffer jacket like it was a totally alien object to her.
Her mother, who led her just two steps ahead with a keen sense of what she was looking for, just waved away the question, repeated for the sixth time now, with a hand. "Eve, darling, we've been over this. We are just visiting a family friend. Do you remember the rules?"
Eve just sighed and put her hands in her pockets. The awkward scrunch of snow- the weird white stuff all over the ground- beneath her fur boots made her cringe and scrunch her face up in kind. "No magic, no mentioning magic, no mentioning Magix. Why are there so many rules for this trip?"
A smile big enough she could see it standing from behind spread across her mother's face. She held out a hand, a shimmering ball of light about as big as a softball filling her palm. "Have I really never told you about this place? Go ahead, cast a spell."
Eve just frowned, holding her own hand out in exactly the same way her mother did. She breathed deeply, her eyelids fluttered halfway closed, and the world felt like it stopped as she recalled the simplest of spells she'd learned as a child. Only, rather than the palm filling sphere her mother conjured, that she'd created time and time again across her life, all she could muster was a flickering point of light no bigger than her own fingernail. She tried to concentrate, to force it to grow to full size, but it blinked out of existence as she strained to pour more power into it. "I...why is this so hard here? It's like there's-"
"No magic? Yeah, you'll need to try harder than that to cast a spell here." Her mother looked over her shoulder and winked. "Earth doesn't have any magic or magic creatures, and more importantly its inhabitants don't even know magic and Magix exists, so just follow my lead." She smiled sweetly, but all she saw was her daughter hanging her head down looking at the ground as they rounded the corner down a second street.
"Why are we even here if the entire planet has no magic? Is this like a prank or a punishment or something? Did you find out about...about- nevermind." She kicked rocks across the grey sidewalk. The lack of magic in the air was palpable, it was like she was missing a piece of herself.
Her mother suddenly turned off the sidewalk, climbing up steps to one of many near identical homes. Two quick raps on the front door was all she needed. She stepped away from the door, arms behind her back, rocking back and forth on her feet.
An older woman opened the door, brown hair in a simple bob, a single faint grey lock blended into her otherwise brunette bangs. Squinting at first, instantly her face lit up. She clasped her hands together, bringing them to her cheek. "Stella! It's always good to see you!" This woman's face was the closest she'd been to seeing the sun on this awful overcast planet. She turned to Eve, leaning down subtly. "Oh my, and who's this!"
Stella threw her arms open and stepped forward. The warmth that spread through her as she embraced the older woman totally warding off winter's touch. "Vanessa, wonderful to see you too! And this is Solaria's youngest heir, Eve."
Soft eyes looked down on her. The older woman, Vanessa according to her mom, took her hand in both of hers and gave it a gentle single shake. "Oh finally! I have heard so much about you over the years little Eve! Welcome to Earth!"
"Hell-, uh, hello. Vanessa." Eve's voice was barely a mumble, trying to find her words. The older woman stepped back into her home, waving both princesses in after her. It was most definitely nothing special, but at least it was warm inside. Eve was the last in, pulling the door shut. Her chilly fingers curled around her coat collar. "Mom I don't get it. You said not to mention Magix and this lady knows you're from Solaria."
Both adults just stared at her like she was talking crazy. They blinked, Stella took off her boots and Vanessa took her coat, and both exchanged knowing glances before Stella put a hand on Eve's shoulder. "I know, I know. Just a little patience please Eve." Stella looked to Vanessa, but her hand remained on her daughter. "Could we sit down somewhere maybe Vanessa?"
"Oh, of course. Make yourselves at home, I'll bring the refreshments out in a moment. Sorry Mike isn't home, he's downtown today he won't be back until late at night." She disappeared into the kitchen after gesturing to the living room.
Eve sheepishly followed her mother through the little house, sitting on the sofa directly next to her. Her voice became a whisper as she nervously looked around, hand clutching her mother's sleeve. "Mom who is this lady?"
Stella just brushed her hair out of her face. Her voice was full of warmth, but she didn't turn to face her daughter. "Vanessa, sweetheart, let me into her home when I was stranded here on Earth and under attack. Her family basically saved my life in fact! All a long time ago before you came along. As I'm sure you can guess, she knows about magic because of me." Her mother must have been exaggerating, what could there possibly be on this planet she could need saving from? What could this old magicless Earth lady do to help her.
As the older woman came out of the kitchen Stella perked up, but Eve sunk back into the sofa, becoming as small as possible. "Here we are! Sorry it isn't much." A wood board covered in meats, cheeses and fruits was placed on the coffee table, alongside several small desserts.
"Vanessa, this spread is so lavish! You always are such a wonderful host." Stella began stacking a cracker with meats and cheeses, gesturing to the plate of little confectionary at Eve.
Eve took one of the small cakes, some sort of white and beige rectangle with brown powder on top. While she inspected and sniffed at it, Vanessa finally took a seat across from the two. "I am in the presence of royalty after all. I hope it's not too intrusive, but are you, well, queen yet?"
Her mother started coughing as her food went down the wrong pipe, just a tad startled by Vanessa's forwardness. Nonetheless the princess almost immediately regained her composure, poise one of her most important qualities as royalty. "Oh no, my father's still got plenty of years left in him. He knows I'm ready to step up, it's he who's not ready to step down!" Eve took a bite of her little cake. She wished it was sweeter. The bittersweet taste of whatever the brown powder was making her grimace.
"You'll make a wonderful queen one day. Your little princess will have some big shoes to fill." Eve pulled her legs up off the floor, holding her knees. It didn't matter how nice this lady was or how much her mom liked her food, the last thing she wanted was this stranger talking like she already knew her.
"Mom, can we go home?"
"Eve! That's so not polite!"
A gentle hand touched Stella's knee. "Oh don't worry Stella. It's just part of parenting a teenager. You'll get used to it. I know I had to."
A giggle escaped Stella's lips. A giggle she'd never heard come out of her mother before, least of all speaking to other members of the royal court. "You had to get used to a lot more than that, after all. And then you had to get used to it all over again a second time." They both laughed again. It was like while she was in this stranger's home her mother had become a stranger too. She must just be humouring this weird magicless woman. Mirroring her as an act of royal diplomacy. They continued to laugh and exchange stories and enjoy the refreshments, while Eve simply put a cushion on her lap to hold trying to ignore this boisterous gossip who'd replaced her mom.
It wasn't for a few more minutes until the conversation eventually petered out. The two older women were just looking at each other, a bit awkwardly. It must have been a trick of the light, but she swore she saw this Vanessa woman reach out at her mom only to decide against it.
"How is Bloom?"
Instinctively Eve reared up. It must be another person named Bloom. Why would a magicless old lady know both the princess of Solaria and the queen of Eraklyon? She should have just assumed it was someone else, but against her better judgment Eve spoke. "Mom, how does this lady know Queen Bloom?"
Again, Stella smiled and addressed her daughter with warmth and kindness, but also didn't look at her at all and instead maintained eye contact with the Vanessa woman. "It's a very long story sweet heart." It was in fact the queen. Who in all of Magix was this lady? Stella just took another cracker with cheese before speaking. "Bloom is doing well. Well, she seems content at least. I think she's realizing she's a little homesick."
Eve's interjections became more pointed. "Queen Bloom goes to Domino from Eraklyon all the time though mom, what do you mean homesick? It's like you don't know anything about your own friends even."
"Eve!" The embarassment and veiled frustration in her mother's voice shocked Eve, once again the stranger who looked like her mother had returned. What was this planet doing to her? There was a pregnant pause, then Stella shifted on a dime once again. Talking to Vanessa in the chipper undignified tone so alien to Eve. "Vanessa, would you be at all upset if I took some of these home with me, perhaps shared them with King Sky and Queen Bloom? These desserts are so good, they absolutely eclipse any of the nasty little treats dad served at the last function."
"Not at all!"
"And how's Violet?" More questions. Eve just wanted to curl up and hide the longer the conversation dragged on. At least up until now the two had been talking about people she knew.
"Violet is...here right now! Hello Vi!"
Eve turned to the front door.
"Hi grandma. Auntie Stella, nice to see you. Who's the little kid?" Both of them were clearly teenagers, but also definitely older than her too. The short one with the crazy long hair looked nonplussed, the tattoos and torn sleeves broadcasting hostility at Eve. The tall one- wow this girl was giant, Eve thought she probably didn't come up to her shoulder even- seemed much more bubbly however. Nonethless she didn't enjoy the one with the tattoos, looking like the kind of brute she'd see on a less civilized planet, calling her 'kid'.
"Excuse me?"
Stella gently put a finger to Eve's lips and stood up. "Calm down Eve. Violet, love, this is Eve! My daughter. Normally she isn't comfortable traveling like I am, but we made a point of coming down here together!" She turned to the taller girl, having to crane her neck upward at her. "Oh, and Mercedes is here too! How perfect, a regular get together!"
The super tall girl was about a full foot taller than her mother was. She was looking down at the princess' platinum coloured fur lined coat next to her on the banister, very impressed. Eve noted she was showing much more warmth and interest in her mother than the shorter teen. "Stella! Awww It's been too long, your visits are always wonderful. And the fit! Very chic! I've never seen your winter wardrobe before!"
Stella looked up at her, captivsted by her hat and sunglasses. "You look downright runway ready yourself! Eve, why don't you let Violet and her friend here show you around, hang out with someone your own age let the grown ups talk."
"Okay, I guess."
"Remember our rules we went over." Stella chided.
"But Vanessa kno-"
The princess of Solaria just lifted up a finger and closed her eyes. She channeled just some of the prim and proper air actually befitting royalty. "No buts missy, rules are rules and they're very important."
The shorter girl just looked her up and down. She cracked a half smile and crossed her arms. "Nice fit, did your mom pick it out? Come on, I'll show you my room." Eve was not liking this development, but at the very least her mom trusted this delinquint. She could extend the same courtesy. After all, grace was a key quality of royalty.
Stella sat back down, and both women watched their girls head up the stairs to Violet's room. "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave them alone?" Vanessa said.
Stella shrugged, stuffing another dessert into her mouth. A marbled cheesecake brownie. Maybe there wouldn't even be any more left for Bloom and Sky if they were all this good. "Neither knows the other is magic, they'll both just pretend not to be. It'll all work out." She made a ball of light upon her fingertip, and rolled it along her fingers before letting it dissipate. "How is Violet coming along? Any wings yet?"
"No wings, despite lots of magic. Actually Stella, I think Violet's got some...much more unusual powers than we suspected." Vanessa looked down in her lap. Twenty years. She thought she had the whole magic thing figured out, but Violet's magical mishaps had been even more confusing and startling than Bloom's had been.
A chill ran up Stella's spine, but she centered herself again before she spoke. "Like...you don't mean...oh I wonder could she really and truly be a witch instead?"
Vanessa just nodded. "Maybe, if you think so. She's such a sweet girl, I don't see why any of that should matter, even now I'm a little cloudy on what the rift between witches and fairies is. Maybe because I'm not from Magix. I only bring it up because you mentioned the wings." The sun had set. It was still early, but the December sky was dark and cold even now.
Seeing Vanessa like this made Stella wistful. Just being in this house made her think of Bloom. Being chased down to Earth, discovering the keeper of the dragon flame, proving to the woman in front of her magic was real, and her daughter was too. "You should just tell her you two know, you know. It'll be so much easier, so much less of a headache."
"I know, but it's hard. I thought this would be easy, we'd thought we'd already been through this wringer once. Violet is turning out to be very unlike Bloom though."
"Ha, I bet. Almost 20 years ago and I still remember meeting you guys for the first time."
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Bloom told us within hours of learning she had powers about them. She couldn't stop gushing over how magic was real. Vi's had them for over a decade now, and she's still hiding them from us like we don't already know." Even at just six years old, Violet had been unusual. Not how Vanessa's daughter had been. Not a girl wishing for something different her whole life, only to finally discover she was special and eager to share it. Instead a scared little girl who'd known since she was a child she was bizarre and different, and had been trying to hide it from everyone. Knowing magic was real however, and knowing who her mother was, Vanessa and Mike had clued into the mysterious events surrounding her others had written off as coincidences or happenstance. "I guess I haven't told her we know because...well I'd like to believe she trusts us enough to tell us herself...like Bloom did."
"And she doesn't know anything else either?"
Another shake of the head. "As far as she knows, nobody knows she's got powers and she's a freak miracle, the only person in the whole universe with them. Those tattoos she's got aren't ink between you and me." There was another pause, and then Vanessa took both of Stella's hands. The princess smiled sweetly and blushed. She'd missed Earth, if only a little. She didn't dare ask if Vanessa was going to ever tell Violet about Bloom. "Stella I cannot thank you enough for being a lifeline like this. I know you're taking a huge risk even coming here."
"Anything for a friend."
"If there's anything I can do-"
"There is actually...but it's a big ask, so feel free to tell me I'm being totally unreasonable." Imposing on her host and her elder, some princess Stella felt like in this moment.
"Don't I always?"
"Literally since day one." She remembered, even now, how Vanessa and Mike had responded to Stella insisting Bloom was magic. "I'd like you to have Eve over for a little bit. Maybe a few weeks? Since winter break is coming up and Violet will be out of school."
"I could...but why?"
The street lights flickered on outside. It was getting late now. Christmas lights came on up and down the street, twinkling. Stella leaned over and looked upstairs, scanning for any of the girls. Relieved they weren't listening in. "Eve is becoming a little closed off, I don't think palace life is a good fit for the little ray of sunshine. At least at her age. I know the whole 'knows about magic' thing is trouble here on Earth, but I truly think she needs her horizons expanded."
The playful tone of the conversation turned serious. "If anything goes wrong, Mike and I can't do anything to fix it."
"Oh I know, definitely a huge potential hurdle, but I so trust you two." A curt nod was all she could manage in response.
"I didn't say we wouldn't do it though."
"Oh! Really? That's so wonderful I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you for this!" Stella stood up straight and made a gentle fist pump in the air. "I'm happy to pull my weight, help set everything up! I don't want to just dump her on you."
Vanessa chided Stella. "...but, I want you to check in. You're playing with fire here."
"Oh, I've been playing with fire since the day I met your daughter. I've already told Eve, no magic, no Magix." Stella stole another glance up the stairs. "And don't be afraid to give her chores! She's becoming a little bit spoiled."
~~~
"I can't believe we're stuck babysitting your cousin." It was a shoebox of a room. Twin bed with covers kicked all over and scrunched into a ball, dresser overflowing with unfolded clothes, lava lamp and a few cacti potted up on top of it. Black and pink bean bag chair in the corner. No computer, just a tv so old it had faux wood panelling on its sides. She always preferred the clubhouse to Violet's actual room. Most definitely not Mercedes' vibe, but it worked for Violet.
"The powder puff? She's not my cousin." Violet flopped on her bed. She'd have liked to have talked with Stella more, but the older women had given her the impression they wanted to be alone.
"She's your aunt's daughter though."
Mercedes had a way of getting under her skin even while being nothing but earnest and chipper. "Aunt Stella's not my aunt. It's like a godmother family friend type of deal."
"So what do 14 year old brats like? Beer? Videogames? Bad old movies?" She absentmindedly picked up some of Violet's stray things, instinctively doing some bare minimum tidying.
"That's what we like Em."
"I know. I'm trying to find common ground."
"I can hear both of you." Both girls turned to Eve. The short one seemed more annoyed by her presence, the tall one surprised, like she'd genuinely forgotten and was just reminded she existed. Her mother and that weird Vanessa woman may have been a bit boring, but at least they didn't seem so hostile and condescending.
A piece of plastic with buttons was placed in her hands, the one with the super long hair was addressing her. "Here, sit down and shut up and play with us. Dibs on the bed!"
"Dibs on the bean bag." Mercedes interjected as she sprawled out on the only seat in the room.
"I have to sit on the floor?" Eve frowned, eyeing the piece of plastic, same as the ones each of the older girls were holding, in her hands.
"That's how dibs works. Not my fault you're slow on the draw."
Luckily the tall one seemed at least a little fair and sensible. "Vi, there's room on the bed for both of you."
The other one groaned, tucking in her legs and making room for Eve. "You're lucky she's here tiny, Em always keeps me on my best behaviour." Eve was struggling to decipher if she was being sarcastic or not.
~~~
"It's a shame you have to go so soon." Vanessa had just finished putting the dishes away, and came to stand at the front door with Stella.
"It is, isn't it?" She reached into her purse, pulling out multiple presents, all with the same identical wrapping paper and bows. They weren't very big, but they still couldn't possibly fit into Stella's bag if not for magic. "Thank you again for everything. And these are for you guys. merry Christmas. From Brandon and I."
"Oh you remembered! this is so sweet of you, I feel terrible I don't have anything for you guys in return." Vanessa took each one by one in her arms, setting them down on the table. "...Does Bloom still celebrate Christmas?" Her voice was distant but hopeful.
"Celebrate celebrate? No not really, after all she's the only person on either planet who even knows what it is." Stella saw the crest fallen look cross Vanessa's face. The pangs in her heart were killing her, demanding she right the ship. "But she knows! In fact this one..." She took out a final present, the same identical wrap job as all the others. Without any words, without daring to let Vanessa see, Stella placed her hand on the envelope attached to it. Her magic twisted the covered up calligraphy from Stella and Brandon to just Bloom, then to just Santa without so much as a sound. "-is from her! She knows she can't say it's from her, so we settled on Santa."
Vanessa blushed, and returned a smile to Stella. Her eyes were the tiniest bit red. "That's extremely sweet of her. She didn't just have some royal aid pick it out on her behalf did she?"
"Of course not!"
"I haven't had a chance to go christmas shopping, but when you pick up Eve, I'll have a little something for all the girls, I promise." A little murmur buzzed through Vanessa's chest. Stella visited occassionally, but it had been just over a decade since she'd seen anyone else from Magix. The same time Violet's magic first presented itself. And even longer since she'd last seen Bloom.
The princess just nodded. She looked upstairs one more time and called out. "Speaking of. Eve! I'm leaving!"
"Violet! Aunt Stella's leaving! Come say goodbye!" Vanessa called up as well right after.
Both girls came down the stairs. It looked like they had been talking just before. Mercedes leaned over the railing and followed from a distance behind them. Violet immediately went in to hug Stella, pulling her close. She backed off, and gave Eve a smug but nonethless authentic smile while holding out a fist. Eve stared at it, unsure how to respond, causing Violet's smile to fade. "Great to see you auntie. merry Christmas. Goodbye Eve, nice to meet you. Sorry you suck at Nintendo so bad."
"Oh, Eve is staying Violet." Was all Vanessa could say. She looked at Stella, who was trying and failing to contain a giggle.
"What!?" Both girls exclaimed in unison.
"Go set up a spot for your cousin in the guest room, I'll talk to you two later."
Notes:
This chapter is almost all dialogue, but it sets the central premise in motion. The next chapter is very action oriented instead however.
Chapter 3: Welcome home
Summary:
Eve finds out Earth isn't so bad after all. Mercedes and Violet get a little more than they bargained for. Maybe constantly using black magic isn't such a good idea on a planet with no magic.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"I attended Red Fountain when I was a kid. It's nice to see they continue to put out such high calibre graduates."
Brandon walked through the eastern hall of the palace of Solaria. His protege following behind him attentively, walking in lock step with him. Stella had left nearly an entire day ago with Eve, without saying where she was going. It wasn't like her to disappear, but both the princess and her husband the captain of the guard had taken on more and more responsibility in the last few years. It may have been a mere matter of being too busy.
"Thank you. Captain. It's deeply gratifying to be your aid." Dominic continued to surprise the captain with his demeanor. Only 16 years old, he possessed a maturity beyond his years. His dirty blonde hair done up in a dove tail, his face permanently resting stoic as he stared straight ahead.
Brandon was equal parts appreciative and frustrated by the apprentice's character. Dominic's commitment to his duties were resolute to the point a full human relationship wasn't realistic with him. "If you don't mind me saying, you're much more polite than any specialist I knew when I was in school. Has Saladin really changed things so much?"
Dominic spoke. Passive, matter of fact, non-committal, distant. "It's not a matter of schooling. It's simply my nature as a diplomat." Brandon let the answer wash over him, disappointed he couldn't build a rappor with his apprentice.
He walked through the door to his living quarters, only to see Stella, putting clothes away back into a dresser.
"Stella, where have you been?" He turned to Dominic, giving a wave to him. Dominic merely nodded, standing in place. "You're dismissed Dominic. Thank you."
"And thank you, captain." He watched the door close, unbothered.
Stella finally stopped to look at Brandon. She seemed vacant. "Oh. I was visiting Alfea. Rubbed shoulders with some other alums. Solaria's debating another big donation to expand their facilities. Very standard stuff. If I'm lucky I might do the ribbon cutting myself."
He stepped up to her. He placed his hands on her hips, then pulled her into a hug before putting his hands on her shoulders. "What about Eve? Where's our little darling?" He looked to Stella's side of the room. Inspecting her bags.
Stella just turned and sat on her side of the bed. "Eve is spending some time at a friend's. She's got her phone though, I'm set to pick her up at the drop of a hat the moment she feels she needs to come home."
"And this?" He'd produced an envelope with Vanessa on it, and a christmas bow. She'd missed it. When bringing her gifts to Earth.
Brandon's stare had no anger in it, yet still radiated with judgment. She covered a hand with her face, unable to meet it. "...I went to see her."
The frown he wore on his face deepened, but he didn't raise his voice. Stella was always thankful for his patience, always relieved he didn't have the same temper as some of their friends. "You know you can't do that." Shame's coldness grabbed Stella bu the neck. She was doubled over, refusing to look at him. "Do Bloom and Sky know?" Was all he could follow up with.
Stella sighed. She looked up at him. "Of course not, but I couldn't just sit and do nothing."
"Stella, sunshine. Come here." He sat on the bed beside her, taking her hand in his, warmth radiating through her arms even as her breathing became more strained. "I know this hurts you. It hurt me too. But you can't do what you've been doing. It's dangerous. To travel to Earth is already off limits, but to go see her..." His fingers touched her chin, guiding her to look at him. "You've got the biggest heart of anyone I know. But you're not just a girl anymore. You're a public figure. You're a mother. The choices you make have become harder."
She closed her eyes and slumped forward, head against his chest arms hanging on his shoulders. Only whispers could escape her mouth. "I know schnookums"
His rigid body relaxed, and he pulled her backwards to lie atop the covers, her head still resting on his chest. "It's been a minute since I've heard you call me that." Minutes passed in silence. Both of them lied, eyes closed, hands clutching each other as their breathing and heart beats synced up. Feeling each other's in their own chests.
Brandon finally opened his eyes and spoke. "Which friends did you leave Eve with?"
More silence. She had pretended not to hear him, but the longer she waited the more it weighed on her. "Well..."
Stella was nearly knocked over by Brandon standing up and getting out of bed, leaving her to slip onto the covers with a soft pomf. "Stel. We're going to get her right now."
Her heart was beating out of her head. Ringing filled her ears, black fuzz filled the edges of her vision. She wobbled to her feet, nearly falling. But once again she latched onto Brandon's shoulders, almost dangling from him, draped on him. "No! No. Neither Eve nor Violet know what Violet is. Neither is in danger. To suddenly take her away can only raise suspicion." Tears stained his shirt, Stella's eyes filled with tears looking up at him. "Please trust me, Brandon. Trust me and trust Bloom's parents as well."
"I will. Only because it's you."
Outside, Dominic frowned. It was unlike the prince and princess to argue at all, let alone so candidly. He draped his white cloak behind his back, and left.
~~~
"How do you know my mom. For real."
It was only three in the afternoon, but this time of year it was nearly dark out already. Eve looked out the kitchen window, wishing the clouds would just blow away, that she could feel the sun on her skin again just like home. That she could enjoy the sunset for real instead of looking out at an endless sea of grey, a sky of stone.
Chop, chop, chop. Vanessa had told her they were having something called Risotto, and she was in charge of chopping up this big orange thing in front of her called squash. Making her own food was totally foreign to her, but at least Vanessa was showing her the ropes. The older woman stood behind her, hands on top of hers, guiding her knife.
Vanessa's fingers overlapped her own, and she pushed down, showing Eve how best to slice through the vegetable. "Oh, it's a long story Eve. And boring. Why don't I tell you later?" She would never get any information out of her being polite.
Eve gently removed Vanessa's hand from hers, only to bring the knife down on the gourd with all her might, though it still didn't cut all the way through much to her frustration. "Fine. I'll ask Violet instead."
Just as Eve was ready to swing the knife with all her might, Vanessa took her by the wrist, kitchen knife up next to her face. "Hold on her highness. Violet may be good friends with your mother, but unlike me she does not know about magic. I'd like to keep it that way." Vanessa brought her and Eve's hand back down to rest the knife atop the vegetables.
She felt Vanessa's hand try to keep going, but she locked up and refused to cut. "Then I want to know how you know my mom."
"Shrewd! You don't get that from your mother." Vanessa took the knife right out of Eve's hands. She cut through the squash effortlessly, pushing cubed pieces of it to the side of the cutting board. She'd done in seconds what Eve needed minutes and her guidance to do. "Stella was once attacked by a troll...no it was an ogre and imps...well really they were just lackeys of these witches." Without missing a beat, Vanessa pushed a matching though smaller cutting board and knife towards Eve. "Start on the onions if you want me to keep going."
"This one?" There were a few different vegetables on the counter. Eve grabbed a big round white one with crinkly paper skin, flicking and scraping at it. Vanessa just nodded, not even needing to look at her own board to keep cutting. "Mom told me she fought witches all the time when she was my age. Was it the same ones?"
Vanessa thought back to the day she'd first met Stella. Eve noticed her knife strokes became just a bit firmer. "Exactly...I think. So they chased her to Earth, and then she met my daughter, who stepped in and helped her. My daughter fought the...did we settle on ogre or troll?"
"I thought we said witches." Eve had finally managed to peel off the onion's skin, trying to keep it from rolling around.
"Yes, thank you. Stella explained to my daughter she was magic- Stella not my daughter I mean, and then they both came to my husband and I, proving it. The two were pen pals while Stella attended Alfea actually." All of the squash had been cut, and Vanessa began peeling and mincing garlic.
"You know Alfea?" The white vegetable kept rolling away, Eve unable to cut into it. Like the plant was dodging every swing of her knife. "Mom wants me to go to Alfea, but I don't know if it's really going to work for me."
"I don't exactly know what it entails first hand, but it changed my daughter's life- cut it in half once and rest the flat sides down on the board sweetie- just receiving those bottomless post cards from Stella. I can only imagine it was even more special actually attending."
Eve finally made the first real cut into the onion, its pungent scent filling her nostrils. Her face wrinkled. "So where's your daughter now?"
"...She passed."
"Oh..." Eve's eyes welled up with tears. Vanessa's were perfectly dry.
"Don't feel bad, you couldn't have known. It was a very long time ago. Just a few months after Violet was born..." The side of Vanessa's knife smashed another clove of garlic, much more forcefully than the previous ones.
"I'm...sorry for asking." The second slice into the onions made Eve wince and tear up even more.
The garlic had been entirely peeled and prepped at this point. Vanessa dropped it all in a sauce pot, then returned to behind Eve again. "It's okay. That's why Stella comes to visit sometimes still. But we've both decided together Violet doesn't need to know about magic or Magix. It can only complicate things, or endanger her." She took Eve's hand again, blitzing through the onion in seconds, Eve not even understanding how she'd turned it into tiny little squares.
The knife dragged along the cutting board, scraping the onions into the same saucepot. "I will keep it as secret from her as I will from the rest of...Earth? Right?"
"Yes, sweetie, Earth." Kitchen cupboards opened and closed as Vanesss searched for her next ingredients. "I'm out of chicken broth and out of parmesan. Would you like to go to the store with me?"
"I don't suppose I can just stay here?"
She closed the final cupboard shut and put all of her utensils down. "I'd prefer if you didn't, I don't want to have to tell your mother you just sat on the couch and watched tv all winter."
"And I don't think you guys even get the channel for the Miss Magix pageant or Runway Melody anyway, do you?"
"You already know the answer, Eve."
Both girls walked towards the front door, putting on their winter coats. She wasn't sure if she quite liked Earth yet, but she did at least like this Vanessa woman, only a little. She could already hear her mother in her mind asking her how her stay at 'great auntie Vanessa's' had been.
~~~
"I thought you'd be hanging out with Eve. What happened?" Violet slipped into the passenger side seat, immediately turning the radio up and putting both seat heaters on. Mercedes, drinking her own coffee, offered her one as well, but Violet just shook her head. "Suit yourself, I was kinda hoping I could just have both anyway."
The passenger side seatbelt made a distinct click. She looked much more frustrated than Mercedes would have expected. "What do you mean 'what happened'? I don't have anything in common with some spoiled little kid. Of course I ditched her."
All Violet got in return was a mocking puppydog pout from Mercedes. "That's a little rude, what's auntie Stella gonna say knowing her favourite niece isn't playing nice?" The street lights sped by, the car interior rocking back and forth between pitch black and the soft amber light of the street lamps. Nighttime drives always made Violet sleepy.
The passenger seat reclined back. Snow piled up on the windshield, the shadow of the wiper blades cast over Violet and Mercedes' faces. "Why do you care, she's not even your relative. Not even your fake relative."
"I just think that-"
"Whoa watch out!"
A massive black blur, the size of a car, burst across the road. Two massive piercing lights bared down from its silhouette, before the shape darted off again, craters in the asphalt and broken branches left in its wake as it disappeared into the park. Two parked cars ahead of Mercedes had been dented and shoved askew from the shape rushing between them, alarms blaring. The coop swerved, tires squealing, burnt rubber painting two snaking sets of tracks on the road as Mercedes careened to a stop on the other side of the street, hopping the curb.
Both girls stumbled out of the car. Mercedes clutched her chest. Violet looked onwards into the woods, seeing the trail of trampled leaves and driven snow it left behind. "What the hell was that thing?" The taller girl wheezed.
"I dunno, but I wanna see for myself. C'mon." Already Violet had jumped into action, sliding across the hood of the car.
"What are you crazy? Aren't you scared?"
"Hey, you're right beside me, right?" Black flames ignited along the edges of Violet's arms. Her tattoos shifted again, becoming claw marks and fang patterns. Her fist clenched, her arms flexing just a bit. "There's no safer place you could be. Or do you think some feral animal could handle this?"
"Fine, fine, I'll grab a flash light just give me a second." Violet heard the trunk close, and Mercedes came out with a small flashlight from the emergency kit.
"What do you think it was?" The ground was steep, and slick. Frozen, bumpy, covered in loose snow and damp leaves. Mercedes clutched each low hanging branch they passed as she tiptoed down deeper into the woods. She nearly fell as Violet burst passed her, not even running but simply sliding down the hill, a skier without skis who's shoes plowed through the park's ground.
"I don't know, and I really don't want to find out either." The bottom of the hill looked muddy, but the uneven ground had frozen solid. Neither of them could see two feet in front of their faces, save for the bare branches hanging down, blocking their path. Rustling surrounded them, snapping branches and the trampling of leaves assaulting their senses from all directions.
The world flashed. Tree trunks closest to them were painted a deep fuchsia, shadows everywhere growing long away from them. Violet held out an arm, becoming a wall between whatever was lurking in the darkness and Mercedes who gingerly raised her arms in front of her chest. She balled up her fists, tensing up her arms as she felt something draw near.
"There!" Her body lurched to the left, flashlight shining between trees far far into the woods.
It was the size of a truck, surrounded by circles of blood. A deep granite black, with a hood like death that hung over its elongated head. Bright white protrusions like bone skewering out of its body dotted its limbs and spine. Smooth like porcelain, patterns of gold splatter coursing overtop them. Two of the massive ruptured spikes sticking out of its back unfurled, eggshell white on the outside shimmering with gold and scarlet interiors.
Mercedes tentatively stepped forward. She took hold of Violet's arm, still bursting with power, and pulled it downward as she stepped past, forcing her partner to relax. "It's like a...like some kinda dragon?" She traced its body, watching its ragged breathing and spasming limbs, with her flashlight.
Closer. Closer. Tip toe after tip toe. She wanted to scream for joy, she wanted to run up and hug it. Climb it. Pet it. Ride it. Her first ever magical creature, aside from Violet of course. In the flesh. Heart pounding. She couldn't stop getting closer. The alien creature's pull was magnetic.
"You don't recognize it?" Was all Violet could offer up. The presence of the magical girl immediately startled Mercedes, breaking her out of her trance. Surprisingly quiet for someone who's arms were alight with magic.
Shadows darted erratically as Mercedes waved her flashlight back and forth in excitement. She was positively wiggling with anticipation thinking of what it could be, wanting to see it from every angle. "I've read like 30 books on magical creatures and mythologies, and I haven't seen anything like this in any of them. It's like some weird boney pottery creature." She crouched down, inching towards it. Gnashing and ripping and slurping filled her ears. A spotlight traced the trails of blood on the ground, two carcasses on the far side of the creature, a third inches below its head. "It's...that's a coyote in its mouth! This thing is crazy dangerous." Even as the words fell out of her mouth she sounded not quite afraid, more like shock and awe. Mercedes' fingers dug into Violet's shoulder as she rocked her back and forth. "This thing is crazy cool and crazy dangerous! Oh my god he's so bad ass, he's cute even! I wouldn't even mind if he trampled me a little."
The dirtiest look escaped the side of Violet's eye, lip raised in disgust at Mercedes. Sensing the creature was becoming more uneasy she pulled her freak friend to the side beneath the hollow of a large spruce. She put her hands on Mercedes' shoulders, pulling her down to look her in the eyes. "I don't know what this thing is either." A shadow passed by, the chittering and ragged breathing getting closer again. There was blood in the water now. Prey in the pen. Wherever it went, awful glistening red footprints followed. It wore its food's blood like a glove. "But we can't just leave it here." Both girls held their breath, watching it walk past, and toward the edge of the park again.
"What are you going to do? Kill it!?" Mercedes was whisper quiet, but her tone heartbroken. Her hands clutching her chest, wishing she could hold the monster itself that close to her.
"Well what else can we do? You gonna call animal control?"
Violet and Mercedes ran from tree to tree, darting behind branches and crouching behind berms and hills. The creature hadn't noticed them, luckily. Despite its massive size, it was shockingly quiet. Being near it felt like being in another world. Sound and light misbehaving in its presence.
It was Violet, seeing the lights of Gardenia come into view on the far side of the tree canopy, who made the first move. Black and magenta spiraled around her arm, a lance of magic ripping out of her palm and through the air. Mercedes cupped her mouth with her hand, trying and failing to smother a scream as the projectile shattered upon impact, the strange black granite texture flaking off like shale.
"There's something underneath! It's all fuzzy!" Her flashlight circled around the creature's hind quarter, the lustrous glare of slick wet brown fur jumped out from the rest of its body. The granite shell burned up, consumed in twisting spiraling black flames.
Violet was panting, she tried to pick it up, but there was nothing left, not even ashes. "The stuff on the ground, it's fading away..."
She felt Mercedes' hand on her shoulder. "Fire is a cleansing agent." Two hearts stopped as it turned around instantly. Two massive yellow eyes, like two full moons bore down on them. Mercedes shoved Violet aside, twin shockwaves of white light carving up the ground. It gouged a groove right between both of them, where Violet just stood. "Do that again, maybe we can get rid of all of it."
"Can you be bait? Lead it away from town?"
"I can, but you owe me."
Violet lept into one of the trees. Mercedes threw her flashlight at the creature's head. They locked eyes. Immediately she had to scramble backwards in the opposite direction. Two blinding white spotlights lit up the forest. She felt like she was caught in the headlights of a car running her down and off the road. Chasing the endlessly stretching path of her own shadow cast in front of her.
Violet jumped from branch to branch, looking down on the creature pursuing Mercedes. Through the mess of branches it was like looking at an animal darting around behind the bars of a cage.
Violet's hands were erupting with power, a stream of lightning between her fingers. She gripped the bolt in her hand, pulling it back like a javelin. Easy enough, all it would take is one good shot.
The creature let out a warbling hiss. A reverberating record scratch. It stopped, lurching around. Mercedes fell as her vision went dark, no longer cast in the light of the monster's gaze. It snapped its head, and it locked onto Violet with utmost precision. Her heart lept in her chest as its blinding glare lit her up in the night sky. Could it feel the magic?
With a flap of its ringing porcelain wings it took off, on a crash course with Violet looking down at it from the crown of the trees. There was no time to think. No time to aim. She jumped, set to collide with the creature. It rammed its head into her stomach, Violet heaved in response, blood and bile in the spit coming out of her mouth. She grit her teeth, and drove her bolt into the nape of its neck.
Another inhuman trumpeting shriek. Both of them fell to the forest floor, the creature breaking Violet's fall. Mercedes stumbled towards Violet, leaning on her. Both watched as all at once, the abomination fell to pieces. Like a great glass pane had shattered. They basked in the black pyre of soot flaking off the rocky exterior, until there was nothing left.
"What in the hell..."
Mercedes walked past to inspect it. "Oh it's a bear! He's so big and cute and fluffy! Let's pet him!" Already she was stroking its fur.
"Mercedes. It's a bear."
"And? Like he wasn't even more dangerous before?" The woods grew colder and colder, the snow falling heavier and heavier.
A hooded figure sunk into the shadows, eyes transfixed on the girl with rose gold hair. Overwhelmed by the presence of the black magic flowing around her.
So, it is here. All that I need now is leverage.
~~~
"Isn't this a lot of food?" Eve carried a stack of two large paper bags in front of her waist. She stepped up to Vanessa's small hatchback, pushing her share of the groceries into the trunk.
"Oh, most of it is pantry staples, there's a lot of holiday baking coming up over winter break." Eve wiggled her nose as snow fell on them, trying to acclimate to all of the cold and dark. "I'll show you how to make pecan florentines, you can take them back to Solaria even!"
Eve stepped into the car, putting on her seatbelt. She had no idea what Vanessa was talking about, but her hospitality and thoughtfulness were infectious. "...That would be nice I think."
Vanessa turned the defroster on and changed the radio. Classical spread through the car, not her favourite but better than a christmas carol. "There we go. Ready to head back? Violet should be back by now."
They drove off, Eve looking out the window the entire ride home. She looked off in the distance, and her brow furrowed as she swore she saw a flash of light.
What was going on on this weird no magic planet?
~~~
"Do you always eat dinner at Vanessa's house?" Eve's question was asked in earnest, but Mercedes found herself upset by it anyway.
"So what if I do?"
Mike, finally home, spoke up. He turned to face each one in kind. "Settle down you two. Eve, there's always room at our table. Mercedes, something going on at home?"
She stopped eating her risotto to look at Violet's da- granddad. "No nothing bad, mom's just off on a business trip, so I've been at home alone a lot. Mostly eating a lot of pizza." Eve and Mercedes' eyes met, making Eve shrivel back and look down in her chair.
"Sounds...appetizing. When is Mitzi back by the way?"
"End of the month, it's no big deal." Mercedes finished her serving and gestured at Violet. Each of them started mouthing words at each other, even though neither could tell what the other was saying. Eventually Violet raised her eyebrows and jumped in.
"Grandma? Best Risotto you've ever made. Did you do something different this time?" She couldn't see or smell anything different than how the dish normally seemed. The taste however, was much more layered, perhaps, than usual.
Vanessa tittered and smiled across the table. "I did! I let Eve make most of it."
Mercedes leaned over the table. She looked to her empty bowl, then to Eve, back and forth again. "You can cook?" Was all she could offer up to Eve.
"Apparently." Eve shrugged back. She had eaten more of the risotto than she had of the charcuterie Vanessa had served yesterday at the very least.
Violet and Mercedes just looked at each other. "Huh. Hey, after dinner want to see where the shortcut is on the third track?"
The offer made Eve straighten up, suddenly thinking of yesterday. "If you do you won't ever be able to beat me again." Perhaps not everything on this planet was disappointing. At least this girl Vanessa was raising had stopped being so condescending. She didn't care Violet didn't do it knowingly, it still wasn't a way to treat royalty.
"I'll take that bet." Violet smiled back at her.
All three girls finished their dinner before Violet led the other two upstairs. Vanessa watched them go into Violet's room, and picked up the girls' plates. While she tidied, Mike inspected the front door, noting Violet's sneakers.
"Is there a reason our little girl's shoes are caked in mud?" Was all he could ask.
Vanessa's voice called out from the kitchen. "We both know we agreed not to pry."
He picked his grand daughter's shoes up, looking at the muddy footprints underneath. "We did. Didn't we."
Notes:
Violet's the one with the powers, but she's the only one totally in the dark about everything. Things are gonna get bad fast for the Earth girls.
Chapter 4: Drive baby drive
Summary:
Mercedes isn't as dumb as Eve thinks. Violet wants to beat some twink magician's ass but misses the chance. I end this chapter on a brutal cliffhanger that makes people hate me.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Eraklyon was peaceful. A cool, temperate night, sky clear and blue, full of stars. She couldn't sleep. She stood upon the balcony, alone, orange hair blowing in the night breeze.
"Your highness. Lovely to see you."
She turned around, startled. Wasn't she alone? At least she thought she was. One look up, and all she saw was the sky torn apart by a jagged black scar. A lithe young form stood upon the opening, leaning out of the blackness. Face hidden by a skull shaped mask. Head and shoulders cloaked in a cape far darker than the night. Bloom could only scowl at him. "Who are you?"
He sat on the edge of the portal legs crossed, purple lightning coursing across his fingers. His voice was like oil dripping into her ears. "It doesn't matter who I am. All that matters is I've seen her." Her blood ran cold. She felt herself falter for just a moment before the familiar sensation of intense heat radiated through her palms.
"You-"
"What would be more devastating? To reveal her to Magix? Or to reveal you to her?" His taunting words wormed their way into her ears, making her skin crawl.
Moments passed, the two staring at each other in the night. The hanging baskets on the balcony railing rustling in the wind. The queen's head was down, looking at the stone floor, sullen face hidden from the masked intruder. Flames erupted from her hands, expanding across the length of the railing, deep blue night suddenly bathed in orange. "You would attempt to blackmail the keeper of the dragon's flame?" Was all she could choke out.
His stomach dropped seeing her flames emerge, but he wouldn't dare let it show on his face. He simply kept speaking. A snear creeping under his mask. "You would threaten a mirage, while I'm in the north wing watching Ash sleep?"
Bloom's face went white. Instantly her wings emerged, and she immediately burst off the ledge of her balcony. Every heart beat was like an explosion in her chest, felt in every extremity.
The skull faced figure snickered, falling backwards from his seated position on the edge of his portal into the black abyss. That trick will only work once, I need real leverage next visit.
At the rear of the palace, upon the tallest spire, Bloom looked wistfully at her daughter. Her ghost white skin, her hair like a cloud at sunset, petite and waifish, surrounded by white flowers. Safe. As safe as little Ash could be. Should be.
~~~
Three loud knocks on the door. The princess walked down to the ground floor of her home away from home. She opened the front door and was greeted by Mercedes, beaming down at her with a goofy toothy smile from behind her sunglasses and black locks. "Eve! What's up? Is Violet around?" Eve sighed, tilting her head to look up at the older girl. Her energy was infectious if nothing else, the young princess cracking a small smile back at her.
She could only sigh and move to close the door. "She's not actually. I'm sorry Mercedes."
Mercedes all but let herself in, overpowering Eve and propping the door open fully. "Not a problem! That's exactly what I wanted to hear!" She pinned the door open with her hips, digging into her purse for her car keys.
"...excuse me?"
Mercedes leaned down to look at Eve eye to eye, not something Eve appreciated. "I'm going christmas shopping. Usually I go with Vi, but I'm gonna be buying stuff for her today, among other things, so I need to keep this under wraps."
Eve just took a step backwards. "Okay. Well. Have a nice time shopping."
Mercedes reached out and grabbed her by the arm. "Wait! Wait. I need second opinions, and a little helper, and someone to help tie the tree to the car!"
Eve only looked back at Mercedes perplexed. "I will call Vanessa for you."
She quickly moved to the other side of Eve, holding her by the shoulders."No silly I mean you! You're a kid our age you know what's good, I can't have Violet's grandma picking out all of her gifts!" She started to pout, looking Eve up and down, taking special interest in her outfit. "Pleeeease I can tell you have great taste."
Eve closed her eyes in contemplation before she let out a sigh. "I suppose I should get to know this place better." The two left, hopping into Mercedes' mini cooper at the end of the street. Eve couldn't help eyeing Mercedes as the taller girl tried to squeeze into her own car. Even with the seat all the way back, she was a little squished in, her legs bowed out for extra room. "Did you get taller? Like even moreso?" Eve winced at the way her new friend was contorted up.
She just let out a laugh. "Heels, gotta look good to shop good." The car creaked as she shifted again, putting her left leg up on the dash.
"Do you have enough room?" The car started, and the instantly Eve felt Mercedes wrench the wheel to the left, plastering the young princess against the window.
Mercedes just gave her a nervous giggle. "Yep! Plenty, I swear!" From the back seat she reached for a half eaten breakfast sandwich doused in hot sauce, stuffing it in her mouth. "Why do you ask?" She said around her breakfast. For just a moment the car drifted onto the shoulder, and the console dug into Eve's side as Eve spiraled onto the highway onramp.
All around them the car was full of books, knick knacks, some clothes, and some leftovers. It looked like it was definitely a well lived in little thing. Eve herself was still getting used to these earth cars with wheels, but she was sure that Mercedes' set up in particular wasn't normal even on this planet. "Uh, no reason. What's all this stuff?" In her hands she held a big book with lots of illustrations; Fairies, Fae, and the Dullahan Which do Their Bidding.
Mercedes just started pawing at Eve's lap trying to close her book up. "Hey, hey! Okay don't make fun of me, that's just all of my stuff. I think it's cool. Keep it in the car since my mom is always telling me it's childish and weird."
She held the book up, letting the pages fall open. Pictures of what she knew were pixies but what the book insisted were fairies danced upon mushroom caps. "It's interesting, but not very accurate." Was she letting on too much talking about accurate depictions of fairies? Best change the subject. "You mentioned Christmas earlier. What's that?"
Not good. The girl was looking at her like she had three heads. Or like she could see her wings. "What?"
Did she know? Was this christmas thing important? A dead give away? "Did I say something wrong? Am I saying that right?"
Oh no. Mercedes kept staring at her. She was looking right into her soul. "You...don't know what Christmas is?"
Just act naturally and breath. You haven't done anything wrong. "Oh! Uh, well you know I'm not from around here..."
She just kept looking at her, scrutinizing her. She thought she was absolutely crazy. "But your mom brought christmas gifts. I saw them in Violet's house." The car swerved a bit as she shifted in her seat. "Plus like, I don't know anywhere that doesn't know about christmas. I know plenty of places that don't celebrate, but don't know? Nuh uh."
"She...um."
"Hold on, this guy doesn't know how to drive." The coop lurched forward and Eve fell back into her seat. She gripped the sides of the car trying to hold on, as Mercedes surged into the oncoming vehicle lane and slipped between an 18 wheeler and the pick up in front of them. Mercedes was cool as a cucumber, but Eve was sweating bullets. "You know what. You probably just misspoke. You just forgot that christmas fell on this year, it's usually once every three but the leap year messed things up. Especially since you and your mom are from Canada after all, the timezones probably muddle stuff further." All she saw was Mercedes reaching for some stale fries in the back seat.
"Yes. Yes exactly." Eve sat up straight and breathed. A simple answer, sincere and to the point.
Mercedes slammed a hand down on Eve's thigh. "Ah ha! Faker! You're gonna tell me exactly what's going on!"
"Nothing's going on!"
The car pulled off of the highway, then pulling onto a backroad as a plant nursery came into view. "I'm not gonna tell! You can tell me!" This girl was pouting at her like a baby, batting her lashes at her. She thought of her promise to her mother. Then she thought of Vanessa, how she knew about Magix and her mother, how her mother wouldn't tell her how Vanessa knew but insisted she keep things secret anyway.
"Okay." The girl was looking at her like she was a toddler Eve was dangling candy or keys in front of. "Fine. But you have to promise not to tell Violet."
~~~
A big box store wasn't the classiest place to shop for christmas gifts, but it beat the mall as far as she was concerned. She rifled through racks of clothes in the women's department, pulling a frilly dress with big lacy open sleeves off the rack. "It's hideous...Mercedes will love it." On the far side of the first floor were the jewellery and fragrance departments, filled with high end options. Beautiful rings, bracelets and necklaces littered the glass display case. A shadow crept across the red velvet bottom of it, snaking underneath a particular polygonal gold necklace. Only to dissipate into nothing. Violet sucked a sharp breath in through teeth with her hands outstretched. "...no, I shouldn't. I have to pay for something eventually."
"What do we have here? I never expected the keeper of the shadow fire would look like this." A high yet masculine voice, from behind the clothing racks. A figure in black, otherwise sharp dressed underneath a full body cloak. Glossy black skull shaped mask hanging on their face, obscuring their right eye. Staring at her in one of the full length mirror columns that dotted the store. Violet's skin crawled. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like she wasn't living in real life anymore despite standing in the center of the women's section still. Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe she was just tired. Maybe this weird loser was at fault. She turned around, locking eyes with him again.
Mercedes' potential gift went back on the rack so she could focus on him. Just the two of them on the white tile floor, staring each other down. Fluorescent lights flickered and hummed, the sterile blue light washing over them. "...who the hell are you? Some sort of cosplay dork? If you're here to shoot your shot, save yourself some time and get lost." No reaction. Who was this loser? One step after the other she backed away slowly, trying to slip into the racks again and get back to christmas shopping.
"You are quite..." Great, he was still talking. It didn't matter though, where did she put that lace gown for Mercedes? There it was, at the end of the rack, right where she left it. She nearly ripped it off the hanger wanting to just get out of here. "unconventional. I wonder, who taught you magic? If you are the only magic user in the world?" How did he do that? He was right in front of her now. Emerging from behind the dresses she'd just dismissed. Did he see her somewhere else? Had she gotten sloppy hiding her powers?
"I don't know what you're talking about bro, bu-..." the words caught in her throat. Deep purple shocks of lightning arced off his shoulders, his fingers, the tile floor around them. So unlike hers, and yet so clearly the same as well. Her telltale black flames were dying to roar and erupt, but as long as she was in public she wasn't going to let them do more than just ripple across her arms.
"Looks like you know plenty." He advanced on her. People were around just a few minutes ago. Why did the store suddenly feel so empty?
"You're like me." Her eyes met his face. All they could do was stare at each other. A hand reached out to grab him, but all he did was step back and watch her stumble. "Who are you, where the hell are you from? Tell me!"
Hum. Hum. The hum of the lights got louder, growing to a crescendo in her ears. The colours of the world bled into each other, light blooming around them, the world becoming more and more saturated. The world was positively drenched in a smothering agonizing presence. Like walking into a steam room, just a wall of pressure. "Tell me where the princess is. Then we can all be on the same page."
Who the hell was this freak? "...You've lost me again. Just tell me, who are you? Are you- do you know Mercedes?" He said nothing, his hood pulled over the left half of his face, his mask still obscuring his right.
All the energy drained from the room. She didn't know? So he'd have to find her on her own. "Just Penumbra. Goodbye, shadow fire. Let's see if you measure up to the dragon at all." A purple shockwave shot out from below his feet, pulsing through the store. Clothes flapped and the lights flickered and let out a deluge of sparks, some going out entirely. It was like the room was spinning now.
The store was hardly recognizable at this point. Was she just hallucinating all of this? He- the man called Penumbra, he was gone. Now she was totally alone. Only it felt like the department store was even larger than before. Endless rows of tile floor, endless mirrored columns.
Aisle after aisle. All she could do was walk through the expanse. Where was she? What was this?
The corner of her eye, some sort of shadow whisking past between the never ending rows of clothes.
Shivers ran up her spine. "What in the hell was that thing?" At this point, she couldn't tell if she was talking to herself or if she was actually expecting something to answer.
Two more shadows, this time to her left. Then another, to the right. A chittering sound, like rapid pinpricks, all around her. One of the racks of clothes rustled. Then more, and more, further away.
White tiles stretched out in front of her. Double doors to the outside world at the end of the aisle. Thousands of feet away.
~*krzzzztch*~
The lights went out. Total darkness.
thruuuuuuummmmm
They revealed themselves. Hundreds of glossy black mannequins, shambling towards her from all sides. Just like the creature in the woods, porcelain protrusions burst forth from all of them. Several walked past the clothing racks, their razor sharp blades effortlessly cutting entire portions of the world apart. Whatever their bright white tumorous needles touched was instantly bisected, red mist screeching out of everything with every cut.
The lights flashed again, more and more pouring in every time the world waked again after going dark.
To the left, she ducked into another aisle. Only she found that fabric was wrapped around her arms and legs in a vice grip. The world itself trying to hold her down. Every garment lashing at her, wrapping around her, digging under her skin.
Mobs of mannequins encroached from both sides of the aisle. The mass of black getting closer and closer, squeezing towards her from all directions. The vacant white maze of clothes slowly subsumed by slick red mist and stains everywhere.
Her tattoos shifted once again. The geometric squares shifting into black flames, broken up by awful staring eyes between all of the deep obsidian embers. Without even a word, all of the clothes holding her down burned up, filling the floor and the air with white ash. One thrust after the other, she sent wave after wave of force down aisle after all, shattering the mannequins approaching her apart.
She had to make a run for it. Just get out of the store. Forget it. Burn it down if she had to. The double doors at the end of the hall, she would burst through them and never look back.
She ran. Past the eviscerated racks of clothes. Past the shattered models. Past the blood and the mist and fire. Through the ash all over her. Three hundred feet left. Two hundred feet. One hundred.
It wasn't going to be that simple.
With a crash, a deluge of body parts spewed out of the ceiling into a massive pile between she and the doors. Rattling, floating, locking and shuddering. One by one, they interlocked and spun, latched together and whirred.
An amalgamation of bodies contorted into one rose up. Headless, grotesque, all of its razor sharp limbs pointed squarely at Violet. All the while more decrepid and broken bodies dragged themselves across the floor, grabbing at her legs like leeches.
One more blast of black magic, just like she used on the bear. The dust cleared. Nothing happened. It shambled towards her once again.
~~~
"Wow, you crack easy. I catch you in a lie, and you spill the beans about everything huh?" Both of the girls were shivering in the cold, walking up and down the aisles of the christmas trees. Endless string bound greenery leaned up against upturned wooden tables as far as the eye could see. Eve just followed closely behind Mercedes, who was clearly the expert.
She bit her lip. "I don't appreciate the teasing. I'm telling you all of this in confidence."
"So, you're from another world. And your mom is too. And this place far away is why you don't know what christmas is." She tore open one of the nets lining the trees, its foliage cascading down nicely. She wrinkled her nose, putting it aside and looking elsewhere. Eve may not have been from Earth, but even in Magix you usually only opened things if you were gonna buy them.
"Yes. You seem very unbothered by all of this." This girl seemed so nonplussed by finding out other dimensions existed. Did she know the whole time? Maybe her mom told Violet and Mercedes, or maybe Vanessa did, maybe this was all a big joke.
"You saw my books, I'm all about this stuff. Don't sweat it." A finger tapped her chin. "But why does Stella know about christmas then?"
She and Mercedes continued to the back end of the lot, looking at the largest trees now. She didn't know what the trees were for, but she couldn't imagine they needed one of these twelve footers. "If I knew that, I'd know what christmas was too and wouldn't be in this mess." She frowned. "I promised my mom I wouldn't say anything to anyone about everything, but I hate keeping secrets. And I don't know anything about this planet."
"Planet?"
Great. She didn't need to let any extra information slip out. "Oops...Mercedes I need you to make me a promise. No more questions. You're the only person who can know."
"No big deal, I kick ass at keeping secrets." She tore open another tree's netting, tapping it on the ground. needles fluttered down onto the pavement, and Mercedes sighed before simply leaving it to fall over. "Help me pick a tree by the way."
Eve hopped over the fallen tree. Apparently that one was no good. "I just needed to tell someone, that's all. Vanessa and Mike are very nice for letting me stay with them, but I had to tell someone my age, not them. I needed someone who could be I don't know, my guide to things on Earth so I don't make a fool of myself until I go home."
A harsh wind blew through the tree lot. Taking one of the smaller trees at the back, Mercedes lifted the little six footer over her head, then upside down, her face becoming more perplexed before she put it down. "You've got nothing to worry about short stuff. Stick around, and I'll show you the ropes to living on our boring little rock." The look she got from Eve was doubtful. "Starting with picking a tree."
She looked around. The only time she'd ever bought a tree was when she and her mom had redone the royal gardens, but all of those were in pots. Even then though, she could hardly consider herself any good at picking one. "These trees are all cut though. They can't be planted. Maybe a Lynphaean arbor architect could graft them to another tree, but-"
Mercedes dropped a big full eight footer in front of her. "No no. We cut 'em down. We decorate them with lights and baubles. We put gifts underneath them. We open the gifts when Christmas finally arrives, and then we turn the tree into firewood after for the rest of winter...or at least my family does."
The idea of a dead but decorated tree only confused her. "I'm...not sure I understand it."
"You don't have to understand it! You just have to play along and have fun."
"This one looks good." Eve replied as Mercedes yet again opened the netting and let it all fluff out.
"Wait, lemme twirl him around." Mercedes happily walked around in a circle spinning the tree around. She stopped halfway through, pointing to the back which was now the front. "See, bald spot in the back right here."
"I'll trust your judgment, you're the expert after all."
A smaller seven footer was put in front of Eve. Snow had begun falling harder now, all of the trees tastefully coated in white. "Well, we might have a winner!"
"How do you know?" The younger girl asked, bemused. "What's christmas even about, anyway?"
"It's technically a religious holiday, but for a lot of people that's a real negligible element of it." With a sharp inhale she hoisted the seven footer to rest on her shoulder, walking towards the entrance where the check out was. "You buy lots of gifts for everyone you know, and you put them under the tree, which is decorated with all sorts of pretty ornaments, and then christmas morning you open them and you sing songs and have a big feast and, well it's just a fun time!" There was a wobble in her step as she felt her hand get all sappy. "Now it's your turn, what's it like where you and Stella come from?"
Eve's veins ran cold. Didn't she just finish making it clear that she wasn't going to say anymore? "I'm not sure if I should tell you."
"Come on, it's another planet! Did you come here on a spaceship?"
"No..." Thinking of Solaria just made her anxious. If only she was home. "I used a sceptre to warp us here."
thwump. The tree crashed down on the cutting counter, and Eve could finally see Mercedes again. Because she was staring at her mouth just a tad agape.
It was only when the two were tying the tree to the roof of the car that Mercedes finally spoke up again. "You traveled from one planet to another by warping with a sceptre."
"Yes."
"Are you magic?" She asked, tying the final knot. "Please say yes that's so much cooler than if you're just some sci fi person."
"What?...I am. Yeah. Just me." Maybe it was because she just missed home. Maybe it was because she enjoyed how genuinely interested Mercedes was. Or maybe it was because she was starting to enjoy disobeying her mom. But Eve couldn't stop from opening up. "That's how I knew your book was so inaccurate."
First Eve got into the passenger seat, then Mercedes squished into the driver side again. "How do you mean?"
Cold. Dark. Cramped. The sun had finally gone down, and inside the car both girls shivered. The heat still hadn't kicked in, no street lights to keep the world lit, snow kept falling faster and faster. The car's windows were piled up with snow, the interior a tiny safe haven from the snow storm around them. Teeth chattered. Shoulders tensed up. She hesitated, but ultimately Mercedes had to pull off the road and onto the shoulder, the car swerving and skidding as the tires squealed off of pavement and into gravel.
Eve was gripping her seat for dear life. Mercedes was hyperventilating. "I'm low on gas, we can't just idle here." She turned around to reach into the back, an emergency blanket from the kit in her hands, now draped awkwardly across both of them. "God it's cold."
"Here." The snow continued to pile up, soon neither of them could see the outside world. It was like the car had been totally swallowed up, the two of them dwelling in a deep pit. The cold was unbearable, and she had to breath into her hands to no avail trying to warm up. "Let me show you."
There was a moment where all Mercedes could do was stare at Eve. Just silence, and more shivering. Until all at once, the deep black interior of the car was illuminated. The faintest orange glow, and the subtlest warmth, washed over the two of them.
Mercedes couldn't believe it. Sitting across from her was Eve, still, only against the seat of the car she could see ephemeral butterfly wings. Small, yellow orange, made entirely of light, emitting the simplest little glow.
On the console she rested her hand, holding a ball of light. Bright, warm, shimmering, glowing, the size of a grapefruit or a softball. Like having the sun in her hands. Eve was exhausted, she reached out to put the ball of light on the dash, just above the radio. "That was hard to do here." Mercedes was still gawking at her, totally dumbfounded. "Not a word of this to Violet though okay? She wouldn't understand, like you do."
"So you really are magic..."
"Yeah. Your fairy book is full of it though." Eve said.
"Good to know, maybe I'll have you vet them all later."
This girl. She was so fantastical, and yet, absolutely nothing like Violet. Not her demeanor not her special spooky powers. Most definitely not her story. It was full of holes, but there was no time to bother picking it apart. Not when this magical girl was stopping them from freezing to death.
Beneath Mercedes' chair, her phone rumbled.
Notes:
This is an uncharacteristically short chapter for me, and the first I've ended on a serious cliffhanger. Mercedes is quickly becoming my favourite character to write. This is the first time we see Bloom, and twenty years of queenship kinda make her much more...boring.
Chapter 5: Let it Snow
Summary:
We meet the sweetest little cinnamon roll who will ever exist. Everyone makes a new friend. The audience is introduced to an old face looking very different.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
White flowers on silken stems. White flowers everywhere, broken up by perfect straight paths of curved blue bricks. Arranged in perfect rows, a carpet of shining and ruffled platinum petals that extended as far as one could see.
She was kneeling where they all converged. A fragile thing, as pale as she was delicate. Slender willowy fingers, kind but sunken eyes. A ghost of a girl made flesh in sheer white cloth. Ensconced in her own mass of fluttering hair, swirls of deep scarlet woven through a field of golden locks like a cloud, longer than she was tall.
Gossamer butterlies with wings like glass, lightning bugs like will o wisps, flittered around her. Landing gently on her hair, on her hands, on her nose. She stood, alerted by approaching footsteps. None of the butterflies upon her skin flew away.
She walked across the path of pavers, and yet to an onlooker, it was as though she was gliding, hair and ribbons floating like they were underwater. Shrouded in surreality. "Sir Dominic! You have returned!"
The young man pulled his white cloak down from around his neck, and he looked upon her with kind eyes, a timber to his voice. "Indeed, Ash of Eraklyon."
She took one of his hands in both of hers, the sheer difference in size making her giggle under her breath. "To what do I owe your visit today?"
"I bear no duties today. Rather I bear gifts." A gust of wind blew up his cape, revealing his figure, and a small basket in his other arm.
She dropped his hand to clasp her own together. Smiling sweetly at him. "A picnic. You truly spoil me." She spun around, her hair grazing his arm, like it had a mind of its own and wished to hold him as well.
He placed his cloak upon her shoulders, and took her hand as they walked to the edge of the flower garden, revealing a view of the entire kingdom from the roof of the palace, hundreds of feet in the air. "I do no such thing. An act of kindness unprompted is the least one can do for one they love."
She took the basket from him, arranging their foods and drink in a pleasant fashion. "As always, your kindness is as appreciated as it is heartwarming."
He poured a warm tea into two shallow cups, and gazed out at the entirety of her kingdom. "You will be crowned soon. The official heir to the throne declared for all to see. Does it not excite you?"
"It's exciting, yes. But it also makes me nervous. It's not as though my mother will cease to protect this realm." Her pale mauve eyes closed.
"I will be here for it, I promise you."
~~~
"The snow is letting up I think." Mercedes could see her breath even as Eve's little light warmed their car. She huffed a warm breath into her hands, teeth chattering.
"I don't know if I love this whole snow thing." Eve had undone her seatbelt, leaning out of her chair to take in her surroundings. The entire car was snowed in, built up on the hood and climbing up two thirds of the windows. "On the bright side, your books are very interesting. Even if they're wrong." She tossed one of Mercedes' textbooks, pages stuck together with spilt nail polish, into the back seat again. Knocking the orb of light onto the ground as she did so.
"Thanks." Mercedes replied plainly. She reached down to pick up Eve's magic, and picked up not the little light but her phone instead. Her stomach dropped looking at the endless missed texts and calls. "Uh oh. We got a situation. This is bad." She put the ball back in Eve's lap, and put her keys back in the ignition.
"I thought it was too snowy to drive!" Eve squeeled, feeling the car thrum to life yet again.
Mercedes rocked the wheel hand over hand, rolling down the car's windows. The built up snow fell into the car, but she didn't have the luxury of caring about that right now. "It is, but we've gotta go. Now."
The car lurched. Mercedes had her head halfway out the window, looking out it instead of her frustated over windshield. Defrosting and wiping it would take too long, she knew that much. She felt the end of her car fish tailing, but she wasn't about to stop now. The one advantage of such bad weather, hardly anyone was on the roads. Eve shuddered as a headwind blasted her inside the car. "What's going on? You can barely control this thing!"
A tinge of worry Eve had never heard before was clear in Mercedes' voice. "It's Violet, we've gotta help her."
Eve slammed her seatbelt into its socket as she gripped her armrest tight, an annoyed look on her face. "What, is she having shopping trouble too?"
"No! She's..." Mercedes trailed off, biting her lip, swerving all over the road. The silence was deafening between her and the fairy.
Eve could barely focus as the world streaked by around them, staring nervous at Mercedes. "...she's what?" Mercedes said nothing but bit her lip, trying to stay focused. Eve doubled down, her tone becoming even more stern and desperate. "She's what Mercedes?"
Mercedes wrenched the car to the left, and gave Eve an awkward look back. "I'm not supposed to tell you this..."
~~~
"Holy hell, what is this goddamn thing?"
The endless grid of aisles repeated infinitely no matter how fast or how far she ran. Her legs ached, her breathing was ragged, and all the while glossy black limbs bore down on her from all directions. Any and every flurry of magical blows she cast its way it simply powered through, reassembling and shambling forth.
Her blood ran cold as a hand gripped her shoulder. Where did it come from? Had she missed it? Was this it? Her stomach dropped as she was pulled backwards, into one of the circular racks of clothes.
Her heart kept pounding. She braced herself to face the mass of clattering limbs, only to see a person sitting in front of her instead. Illuminated by her fearsome magical glow.
He was about her size. Short platinum blond hair and green eyes. A brown leather jacket with furred lining hung off him a size too large. He seemed skittish, but there was some sort of tinge of optimism in his eyes. Despite all the fear he wore on his face he still brandished a smile, no matter how wary it was.
"Who are you, and what the heck is that thing!" He stammered out, two hands on Violet's shoulders. The burning black and magenta ink in her arms roared, and he instinctively pulled his hands away, yet even then his smile didn't faulter.
"I have no idea." She put a hand on the mystery boy's mouth and stared at him. The clothes around them rustled, but nothing happened. "I mean, I know who I am duh, but I don't know what that thing is!"
The boy just kept staring. "But you're uh, I don't know what you are!" He gestured to all of her, and gave her another embarassed smile.
"I'm a high schooler, numb nuts." Violet's patience was wearing thin, her power becoming even more unruly sitting around this irritating kid. Her phone blinked low battery before suddenly going black. Wonderful. He was almost whimpering by the time she looked back up at him again. All of this was giving her a headache. "I'm Violet, I mean."
"I'm Snow" was all he could reply.
Both of them went still, staring at each other then staring down, dead silent. A single black hand was lying between them, patting around sightlessly for a target.
~~~
It was after eight. The roads were a mess, and the mini cooper careened into the box store parking lot. Mercedes looked back, seeing the way she'd slid all over the road. Even having driven in the oncoming lane in the snow covered haze.
She slammed a hand against the closed doors. No matter how hard she pulled the handles they wouldn't budge. "Damnit! They're closed." The howling wind bit at her. The chattering of her teeth was driving her crazy. Mercedes was freezing. The doors into the building were locked shut, but being full single panel glass doors she could see right inside. It looked deserted though, was Violet's text wrong? Was she in the wrong place?
"There's black magic here." Eve suddenly said. "it's faint but seeping out."
Mercedes shut her eyes. Was that black magic Violet? Or something else? "If this is the place I'm so not wasting my time out here." She stomped over to her car, and it revved to life. Snow sputtered everywhere as its wheels spun, while its rear lights bathed the world in an eery red light. In one motion the car suddenly shot backward, hopping the curb and crashing into the door. Covered in snow and broken glass in the vestibule while an alarm blared around her. "Come on fairy girl!"
Eve flew low to the ground beside Mercedes, who moved as fast as she could in her heels. Both eventually hopped overtop Mercedes' car and came face to face with a second set of sliding doors in front of a metal security fence that accordioned across the entrance.
Eve held a hand up to the shut doors and bristled. "There's something very...strong on the other side of this gate. But there's also some sort of ward here too. Someone doesn't want what's in there to get out. And vice versa." She placed a hand on the metal fencing that belonged to the store. A disgusting skull like black sigil emerged atop the gate. "But if Violet is on the other side, I'll just blow this thing apart."
"You can do that!?"
"I have no idea! But if one of us can it's me." She breathed, beginning to glow.
"Wait! I actually think I can do this." Mercedes had her phone out, while Eve stared at her incredulous. Mercedes' hand traced the sigil, getting a feel for it. "Yeah, I've read about these. Some sort of dark seal, based on akashic points aka some real bad juju."
"Your Earth books about magic are wrong though." Eve said, rays of light shining tnrough her fingers.
"Explain why this one is an exact match then?" Violet said, scrolling through her photo gallery. True to her word, she had a picture that was a perfect fit down to the last line of the disgusting seal in front of her.
The fairy took Violet's phone in her own hands, shocked by the similarities. What sort of book did she take this from? "It's...I can't."
Mercedes ran her fingers along the ward again, trying to feel for something. "Look, don't go wasting your strength. Hit it here, here, here and there. Really blow it to hell fairy girl." She said, tapping four different spots along its edge.
Eve stood back, feet apart, trying her best to take a powerful stance. She threw her hands forward, arms outstretched, hands like claws threatening to attack. With deep concentration her entire body tensed up, trying to channel as much magic as possible into herself. In quick succession rays of light fired like darts out at every point on the ward.
The ward spiraled away into the air, dissipating like smoke. The gate behind it crumpling like paper. Eve stood, panting, too tired to beat her wings. Astonished it worked at all. Even moreso that Mercedes' books had anything worth noting in them.
"It worked...what kind of book in all of Magix did you find that in?"
The seriousness in Mercedes' voice was making Eve's skin crawl. She couldn't picture the girl at the christmas tree lot talking like this. "I dunno, let's just hope there's no more weird crap inside."
The taller girl put her foot on the gate, pushing it in, the flimsy metal caving in. Both girls stepped overtop its remains, slipping into the department store.
~~~
"The hell is this thing, I have no idea what we're supposed to do."
The two were running down the tiled walkways once again. Snow's feet pounded the floor, his arms holding Violet's legs as she piggybacked on him. She was positively glowing with magical power. The boy running her up and down the awful fluorescent lit maze trying to stay steady and take in the situation.
He tried to look up at his passenger, and he felt a powerful surge run through him as she leaned around to throw a powerful javelin of unruly magical force at the amalgam of artificial limbs. "What do you mean you have no idea what you're supposed to do?" He squeeked out between gasps.
"I mean I didn't have anything to do with this thing! Just run faster!" She barked at him. Prehensile clothes and robes on the racks moved with a mind of their own, grasping out at the two. Violet swat them off as best she could, even as they were unrelenting like the endless arms of an octopus.
The boy kept running, and running, trying to keep his head up all the while limbs and laundry alike grabbed at his legs. Until he suddenly stopped, nearly falling over as he jumped and planted his feet on the ground. "We got a problem, dead end!"
"Dead end? How'd you hit a dead end? This place is endless!" True to his word, the world had ceased looping around, endlessly repeating. The two were trapped between overturned racks and carts, face to face with a blank edifice of drywall.
"Well, it ended! I don't know what to tell you!"
"Vi! Over here!" The voice made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Somewhere to their left. Distant.
"Go find that voice. Over there. Now." The firmness in her voice, this scary super powered magic girl's voice, made him comply immediately.
He was barely able to keep it up, his legs aching. "Yeah, whatever you say scary lady!"
"I said my name is Violet!" She yelled at him, her hands digging into his shoulders as she steadied herself. Trying to ready another powerful blast of magic.
She unleashed a lance of black lightning at the writhing mass of limbs, watching it sizzle, smoke, and arc off the creature. It wouldn't slow down, no stone armor like the bear in the park.
The thing's arms blasted apart off of it, but continued to scrape and pull along the ground trying to reassemble itself. Endless and unyielding.
"Did you get it?" Snow yelled at Violet, trying to crane his head to look at it even as they were running away.
Violet's eyes crackled with power, but she was beginning to run out of steam. "I don't know. I wouldn't count on it." Her head swivelled around and she looked down at the boy, only to see a heap of broken and collapsed clothing racks and shelves ahead. "Snow! Stop!"
The two tripped, collapsing in a heap under a bunch of coats and dresses. Violet pulled a red sweater off of her face, sitting on the carpet. Only to find herself face to face with her best friend an inch from her.
"Vi!"
"Mercedes!" She leapt back in surprise, landing with a powerful crash as lightning surged all around her, breathing ragged. She tried to catch her breath, the ink in her arms sliding and shifting again into a jagged messy calligraphy pattern. Her eyes shifted, looking past Mercedes to see Eve, in white glimmery clothes, golden wings on her back. "Why does Eve look like that?"
Eve was just dumbfounded at what she was seeing. Every bone in her body was screaming that she was in danger. That whoever this person, whatever this thing in front of her, overflowing with evil black magic was, was going to eviscerate her. Horrid, rampaging dark magic, swallowing up its form and dying to get out, like a rabid animal in a cage. But its face was unmistakably Violet's. "You are magic...never mind me, who's this?"
She turned to Snow, who was utterly transfixed by her, staring at her wings on his hands and knees. Like he couldn't even find the words to describe them. Like he couldn't believe what he was saying, even after all the other things they'd seen tonight.
Violet grabbed Snow by his jacket collar, pulling him up to his feet even as he remained dumbfounded. A feeling of dread crept back over her as she faced the same monster they'd been running from the whole time, trying to put itself back together. "No time to explain."
Eve shuddered looking over at the abomination. Unlike anything she'd seen before even in the magical universe, let alone a place with no magic like Earth. Every movement it made caused her stomach to churn, watching it twist impossibly. She placed a hand on Violet's arm, shocked by the wild and feral magic pulsing off of her. Powerful enough to make her hair stand on end. "That makes two of us. What in the hell have you got yourself into here?"
The dark magic coursing through her veins became even more potent, the entirety of her hands and forearms pitch black as sparks sputtered from them. "No idea. There was a weird little cosplay twink, and then this happened."
"You really get into the biggest messes without me." Mercedes was already flipping through her phone again. Getting more and more frantic as she heard the thing getting closer. "Okay, here's the plan. Can you make this sign in the air with your hands?" The image was of several interlocking triangles, surely some sort of sacred geometry, if Violet knew Mercedes.
Violet peered at the picture her friend showed her and let out a groan. With a flourish of her arm she waved her finger through the air, inky black magic streaking across reality as she wrote on nothing but air. "I'm pretty sure I can draw Em!" Like she was painting on the air itself, traces of her magic formed the same sigil that her friend had just shown her, hanging between she and her target.
At the end of the aisle the mountain of surging black limbs lurched, and then stopped still all at once, like it was frozen in time. It snapped from place to place, suddenly locking onto the four of them. Barreling down on them with renewed speed.
"Let's hope your aim is good too!" Eve eeked out.
A wave of magenta energy traveled through the air like a shot, traveling through the symbol, branding a white hot copy of the sigil Violet drew onto its core. A mass of mannequin heads stacked atop each other that shrivelled and thrashed, like a corpse in its final death throes.
The creature collapsed for a moment, smoldering, but its twitching limbs betrayed its limp body, trying to get up again. What happened next Violet couldn't have anticipated. The entire store room was beginning to sunder and rip apart, anything metal from lights to clothing racks to shelving and ceiling beams converging on it, pinning it to the ground even as it protested.
The spell exhausted Violet to the point that she could barely stand, her tattoos barely visible, a faint white rather than their normal deep black. "It worked...what the hell was that?"
Eve and Violet both watched equally annoyed as Mercedes stood triumphant, finger to her temple like she was deep in thought. "From A Fairy's Guide to a Witch's Tricks, a lodestone charm that turns anything imprinted with it into a superpowerful magnet." The same twisted sigils on the security gate emerged on the creature's back, though Mercedes noted it had fewer important points to it. "What do you think Eve, can you undo one more ward?"
"I suppose."
The two girls stood atop the creature's head, looking down at the pulsing ward. All the while Snow could only stare. Who were these people? They didn't seem to be all on the same page, and certainly didn't seem to all have the same sort of powers either. The fairy girl and the scary delinquent girl were like night and day.
The abomination stirred again, even as the fairy girl took a powerful stance. The very debris keeping it pinned down it had assimilated into itself, metal beams and clanging smashed shelves raised into a brutal claw twice the girl's size.
"Look out!" Snow sprung off his feet, lunging at Eve. The two of them tumbling through the air as they narrowly avoided the massive bladed appendage smashing into the ground. Eve was on her hands and knees looking down at the boy lying on his back. "You okay? That thing almost..." He looked past her, seeing her left wing torn and creased, bent in so many places. "I guess these aren't plastic, are they?" He said.
She slid off him and Snow and Eve sat in a heap, both of them staring wide eyed at the collapsed mass of limbs that nearly crushed them. He traced his hands over her wing, inspecting the damage, breath taken away both by the damage and their miraculous material that felt unlike anything he'd ever touched before.
For a moment she was relieved, overwhelmed by a feeling of safety, thankful to be in his arms reclining against his chest. Her eyes snapped open again coming to her senses, slapping his hands off of her, standing up and dusting herself off.
"No they are not. I'll be fine though. You're surprisingly capable for someone with no magic." He beamed a nervous smile at her. Eve felt herself burning up, her cheeks rosy red, feeling like she couldn't bear to look at him. Crossing her arms and hiding her face. She walked over to the collapsed creature once more, and in a flash of light dispelled the ward on its core. The giant mass of parts went slack, disassembling itself as the magic binding it together dispersed. "You owe me, Violet."
Snow finally got to his feet. Legs aching like he'd run a marathon. He'd have doubled over and thrown up if he were any more fatigued, but for the time being could just barely stand with his hands on his legs. "Wait wait wait, who the hell are you girls?"
For just a moment Violet's cold exterior gave way, like a slab of marble chiseled away to reveal statuesque beauty within. An apologetic warmth to her eyes. Sorry to have dragged someone else into all of this. "Sorry Snow. This is where we part ways. Eve, erase his memory."
Eve's and Snow's eyes met, confusion flooding both of them. With a shower of light, the glittering fairy garb Eve was clad in faded away. Her creased and crooked wings spiraling apart into trails of light, like sun beams scattered by clouds. "...I don't know how to do that." Snow's body went slack and he let out a deep exhale, totally deflated.
Violet brought a palm to her face and groaned. Her teeth grit, barely containing herself. "Em? You have a spell for that right?"
The taller girl was swiping through her phone gallery, and could only give a shrug in return. "Uuhhhh nope, can't say I do."
"Oh for god's sake. Em, clubhouse time now."
Violet grabbed Mercedes by the arm, pulling her back to the store's entrance. Eve and Snow could only exchange worried expressions and ran behind them.
The sight of Mercedes' car covered in drywall dust and broken glass wasn't a welcome sight, but Violet would be lying if she said she didn't expect this to some degree. Tracing a circle of black energy in the air, she reached a hand through the frame. Plucking the car out of the air like she was holding her fingers up to the sun. Pulling her hand back out of the frame, holding a palm sized mini cooper in her hand.
"Hey! No scratches!" Mercedes shouted at her.
Eve was stunned. Even after all that, Violet still seemed to have energy to spare. How did this girl from Earth have magic this sophisticated? The Earth boy seemed just as shocked, if not moreso.
Her face went pale watching Violet, who put her hands on the sliding glass door and wrenched it open revealing not the outdoors but a deep pitch portal that threatened to consume them. She'd never seen anyone capable of magic, fairy or witch, open a portal all on their own. Even her own mother needed to scepter of Solaria to bring her here to Earth.
The two Earth girls walked through. A hand reached back out, Mercedes peaking her head back out of the black abyss.
"Uhh, hurry up losers, we just trashed this place! There's definitely gonna be cops here!"
~~~
"You have a saferoom?"
Eve was completely incredulous. She was totally exhausted, having used more magic tonight than she normally used all week back home on Solaria.
Solaria. Just thinking of the place made her wish she could be there now. Instead her mother had ditched her here, where using magic felt almost impossible, and worse still had been told not to use her magic regardless.
And then this complete stranger on this magicless planet who she'd been hiding magic from this entire time turned out to have her own powers, far more potent than hers, the entire time.
It was a gross little hovel, by her account. Like a beautiful regal lounge had been abandoned and desecrated by squatters. Luxury furniture and beautiful upholstery, and yet it was full of garbage, and gauche posters, and just generally defaced.
Mercedes just sauntered over to one of the delightful, but stained, velvet couches in the gaudy eclectic room, flopping down on it with a crash. Violet and Snow sat on the other opposite them, anxious. Eve hopped up to sit on the final remaining seat. "Uh excuse you, we have a clubhouse. This place is for hanging out not hiding from monsters." She dropped her tiny car on the table and popped open a soda as she slouched deeper into the sofa. "Gonna explain your new friend Vi?"
"He's just some dork from the strip mall! He's not my friend!" Snow raised his hand to speak, but Violet slammed her hand over his mouth, pushing him back into the couch. The witch leaned in, her stare burning into the fairy. "Explain Eve!"
Mercedes, hanging upside down on the couch now, kicked her legs in the air as her hair splayed down the couch and across the floor. Her exasperation was obvious as she fidgetted with her hands. "She's...well you tell her Eve!"
The fairy, who sat atop the couch's back with her feet planted onto the cushion, ran a hand through her hair and for the briefest of moments her hands flashed with a faint light. "I have magic powers. The same as you. That's all."
Violet couldn't tell who she should be upset at, Eve or Stella for not telling her about them. Her surly attitude was getting the better of her as her stare at the fairy smoldered. "You and I, we're going to talk later. But right now, let's just agree I don't tell anyone about you, you don't tell anyone about me." She snapped to face Snow, leaning in, finger in his face. He absolutely sunk into the sofa trying to put distance between himself and the punk. "As for you."
The same black circle from before flickered into existence, and he felt a powerful grip pulling him forward, squeezing him through the sigil like filth pushed through a grate.
Eve and Mercedes were becoming unnerved. The fairy just mouthed a 'what does she think she's doing?' at the older girl, who could only shrug in response. The two watched as Violet held a miniaturized Snow in her hand, tossing him aside after looking him over in disapproval.
"W-what are you...what the hell is..." He scrambled backwards on his hands and knees, trying to regain his footing. Completely delirious from the world rearranging itself. Everything everywhere deeply out of focus. Spiraling as he realized the world around him was the coffee table in the center of the room. "I helped save your life from that thing! Yours and hers! D-don't hurt me!"
Both girls shot up, leaning over the table. The tiny Snow cowered under their stares, trying not to let what was happening get to him.
Mercedes leaned in even further, nudging him with her finger. "He saved your life Vi? Doesn't my favourite eldritch abomination have a heart? Cut him a little slack!"
The pleading looks both of them gave Violet finally made her cave, throwing her hands up. "Okay. Fine. You! Little man. If you tell anyone what you saw here today, we'll splatter you like a bug. But you did save me and Eve from whatever that thing was."
Before he knew what was happening, his vision had been totally subsumed by a black splotchiness and his head was full of fuzz. He patted himself down, in disbelief his body was his own. Taking inventory of his own personhood.
"Oh thank god, I'm the right size again right? Give or take a few inches?"
Eve put a hand on Snow, trying to calm him down. "For the record, I'm very happy you saved me. I think these two are being very unfair to you."
"Why thank you..."
"Eve." She said. Blushing as she brushed her hair behind her ear.
"Snow." He smiled back.
Across the room, Violet rolled her eyes and blew some of her bangs out of her hair. Arms crossed rolling her eyes, brow furrowed. Mercedes all but came up behind her, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Now we gotta do something about this guy too. We can't just leave him on the side of the road."
Violet shoved Mercedes off of her and put her hands on her hips. "You think I don't know that? Get your gross giant boobs out of my personal space and help me think of something!"
~~~
Up the steps. The lights were on, that's good. The wood porch creaking under his feet, letting a whine into the chilly night air.
He held a hand up to the door, but hesitated. Should he still do this? Faces, hateful judging faces, flashed through his mind. Steeling his resolve. The exact motivation he needed. Knocking just once. He waited, and waited, wondering if he should just leave.
There was a click. The heavy door yawning open, its hinges squealing as warm indoor air rushed against his skin. A mousey head of brown and grey hair poked out, and the rest of the door was thrown open as the woman perked up at the sight of him.
There was a moment she didn't seem like she knew who she was looking at, before smiling. "Riven, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
He was tall, lean, just shy of middle aged. Deep black hair done up high and tight with the slightest bit of stubble on his chin. Black sports coat with purple hem along its bottom.
It must have been months, maybe a year, since he'd been here. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake as he cleared his throat. "Vanessa. I was digging around my attic, doing some cleaning. I was going to drop this off with Mercedes, but Mitzi's out of town and her daughter wasn't home. I was hoping to leave this with you."
From his coat he pulled out a textbook. Ornate and alien, obviously not the sort of thing one would normally find in a bookstore or public library. Gilded pages, tassled page tabs, it was bizarrely tantalizing.
Vanessa's first inclination was to reach out and touch it, but caution got the better of her. She crossed her arms, leaning against the door frame. "Is this a harmless 'your old reading material' book, or a 'magix' book, Riven?" Her smile turned mercurial as she met his gaze.
The playful feeling wasn't mutual. The friendly banter wasn't the sort of thing Riven liked to indulge in. He looked around and he partially hid the book under his coat again. His voice hushed. "I think you know. If you're going to remain resolute about keeping Violet in the dark, the least we can do is make sure that she's getting some sort of indirect training about these powers."
Vanessa's face fell, her sardonic facade slipping and a quiet determination shining through."You're right." She reached out and took the book with both hands, holding it against herself with her arms across her chest. Her eyes became misty, holding something from there in her hands. Maybe Bloom had read this book. "You've grown up quite a lot, you know."
A scoff escaped his lips, and he scratched the back of his neck. "Earth college was a humbling experience."
The two shared a laugh, but the moment petered out into an awkward silence. "I'm sure it was. I'll make sure Violet and Mercedes receive this." Her fingers ran along its spine, for a moment she was tempted to open the tome, but she thought better of it. "How have things held up for you?"
Riven was already turning to leave, but stopped for just a moment. He stretched his neck and scratched at his chin, letting out another sigh. "Well, I went from helping save the world to teaching English class, so you tell me."
~~~
Nights were always so stark on Solaria. The way the sun ceded the day to the moon, its perfect opal shine a brilliant eye peering through the ink black sky.
It was perfect, for the cover of darkness was where his powers were most potent. The deepness of the darkness invigorated every fiber of his being. He could barely tell where his body ended and the cold still night began.
The princess. A part of him, deep in his aching heart, wanted to just reach out and strangle her with his own hands. But that was impossible. No matter how powerful he felt, it wasn't possible just yet. Not a guardian fairy, not someone who possessed enchantix.
This will have to do. Scouring across the bedroom like a shadow, hands grabbing and sliding across anything he could find. Until finally, the leverage he was looking for. A trinket for the human world.
"Vanessa"
Notes:
Okay! If any of you are Winx Flux readers you knew an update on this fic was coming. PunX is kinda a lower priority than my S1 rewrite, since it's unrelated. This chapter was crazy to write though. I did love writing it though. I really want to hear what people think, because this is sort of the "turning point" chapter before more magic universe stuff with the Winx happens.
Chapter 6: Talk is Cheap
Summary:
Violet's secret is "out of the bag". Stella's little lie begins to unravel. Bloom is itching to murder somebody.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The air was tense in Violet's household. Everyone congregated in the living room. Her grandparents on one end between she and the door like a wall holding her back from the rest of the world. Eve and Mercedes on opposite sides of the room exchanging looks, talking with their eyes, trying to silently negotiate their way through the evening.
Violet was pacing. The only one standing. All eyes on her. She was a bundle of anxiety, radiating worry and apprehension at everyone. With each turn, she would look up from the floor, locking eyes with her friends, of her grandparents. Opening her mouth to speak. Trying to find the words. She planted her feet in the middle of the room, taking root, refusing to be blown around by winds of uncertainty. "Grandma...grandpa...oh my god how do I even say this? What do I even say here?"
Her grandfather leaned forward. Simply giving her a smile. Seeing his little girl like this, they should have been honest a long long time ago. "Violet. Sweetheart."
Vanessa put a hand on his shoulder, and her vision drifted to her granddaughter. Still pacing frantically back and forth like she'd wear a rut through the floor. "Don't rush her Mike, she knows what she's doing."
Hearing her grandparents speak so casually, what did they think she was about to say? Other teenage girls probably broke the bad news that they failed a test, or totalled a car. Maybe that she was gay or had gotten in a fight. Even the absolute worst she could think of was that they'd hear she had been using drugs, or had gotten pregnant. They were going to think she's crazy. That she's hallucinating. That she needs to be institutionalized. "I...I...how can I say this in a way that you'll believe me?"
"Violet's magic."
All eyes snapped to Mercedes, blissfully unaware of what a bombshell she just dropped.
Violet was absolutely mortified. Eyes nearly bulging out of her face, mouth slack in disbelief her friend would do this to her. Dripping with sarcasm, she could only mutter defeated. "Thank you, Em." Her parents were staring at her. Like Mercedes hadn't even said anything at all. They must be in shock. "You both think I'm crazy. You think I'm a freak. Or at the very least high as a kite."
Vanessa's smile softened. Violet's two guardians scooched to opposite sides of the couch and left a spot for her in the middle."Violet, sit, you're hyper ventilating. Come over here." Vanessa just patted the empty spot on the couch, what the hell was going on?
She stepped forward, trying to calm herself down. Afraid to get close. Seeing her family so nonplussed didn't give her any solace as she slowly lowered herself onto the couch. Moving like everything was one big trap. "Why am I the only one freaking out?"
Her grandmother was looking at her now, hands on her own, holding her tight. "Violet. We know. We've known for a long time."
Mike spoke up next. "Frankly I'm just shocked you let Mercedes know before us." He looked across the living room, Mercedes suddenly perking up as the two made eye contact. "Or did you just find out?"
The taller girl had bolted upright, far too perky and excitable for Violet's liking as Mercedes beamed with pride about keeping what used to be a secret. "Oh no, known about it since I first met her! Stuck around 'cause she's super cool."
Violet's mortified face only deepened. Like she was being held down on all sides by heavy weights dragging her sanity to hell. "...What the hell do you mean you know!? And you didn't tell me?" Her arms were shaking. Face hidden in darkness by her hair as she sniveled.
"We just thought that, well, if you wanted us to know...You'd tell us." Mike said, backing off.
Vanessa coached her grand daughter through her deep breathing, trying to keep her safe and sound. "Breathe slow sweetheart, you're okay."
"What made you want to finally tell us?"
"...It was..." Violet's magic was flaring up, vicious black jets dancing across her skin as her breathing became more ragged, threatening to consume her entirely like she was falling into the jaws of her own anger.
Mercedes suddenly pointed to the fairy princess, Eve's expression changing from disinterested to deeply shocked. "Her!"
Violet's seething face lashed out with a snarl. She threw her arm forward at Eve. "Her! Yeah! Her! Eve's magic too! Eve's magic and she-" A streak of powerful black force shot out of her arm, and Eve could only shield herself glowing with a brilliant radiant power.
She lowered her arms, her own magic subsiding. The girl could only stare eyes pleading that Violet be reasonable. "-I thought we weren't going to tell!"
She slammed a fist down on her own lap and let out a sharp inhale. "I know, I know, but it was eating me up inside I had to!" She slumped off the couch like a crayon melting in the sun, totally defeated. Limply hanging onto the couch cushion with her arms behind her. Head hung low totally hidden by her mess of hair. "I'm...sorry for spilling your secret too Eve..."
"Violet. We know about Eve too."
She was staring at her grandfather now. Barely able to think straight. "...What is going on. What is my life why is this happening. Why can't anything just be normal?"
"What are you mad about, you've always been super hype about having cool super powers. You hate normal." Mercedes flipped upside down, hanging off the couch. Staring at Violet flipped all around in her vision. "I can't help but notice you're the only one freaking out about a big announcement you made, by the way."
"Auntie Stella." Violet suddenly said, her voice barely a whisper.
Mike and Vanessa stared at each other. The two's content facade falling apart at the mere mention of the princess. Vanessa could barely keep her composure trying to think of what to say. "Pardon me sweetheart?"
Violet just repeated herself, hands balled into fists, staring down at the floor. "I said how does auntie Stella fit into all of this?"
"Stella is-"
"My mom's just a normal person. She doesn't know I'm magic, I haven't told her. Just like you did't tell Mike and Vanessa." Mike and Vanessa could only look at Eve in surprise, Vanessa breathing a silent sigh of relief.
Mercedes was just sitting in her loveseat, holding a cushion tight to her stomach, laughing with a big toothy smile on her face.
"What are you giggling about?"
"Nothing! Nothing. It's just funny! You came here to drop this huge bombshell and you're the only one who's confused!" She afforded herself a few moments to calm down, still chuckling in between words. "Plus like, does this change anything? No, right? Except now you two get to use powers in the house?"
"Let's not go crazy here..." Her grandparents trailed off.
All Violet could do was stare at her grandparents, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Rushing to the stairs. Mercedes got up and hurried after her, giving her a passive glance that said I'm sorry to Violet's grandparents.
The two ran up the stairs, and her grandparents winced hearing a door slam from the second floor.
"Thank you...Eve. You didn't have to do that. We're very glad you did of course! We can tell it took a lot of maturity, but you didn't have to."
Eve just looked up at the ceiling. She didn't know these people. She didn't like Violet, not really. She didn't like that her mother just left her here. So why did she feel like she had to protect her secret? "I told my mom I wouldn't talk about Magix. I owe you two at least that much for letting me into your home."
"Thank yo-"
Eve cut her off before she could even finish her thought. "But you lied to me about Violet, even though you knew I'm from the magical universe."
Vanessa sat back, trying to relax. Pleasing eyes looking directly into Eve's own. "It was at your mother's request."
"Of course it was." The younger princess said with a huff, collapsing back into the sofa.
Violet crashed back onto her bed, sighing. "She is super lying about aunt Stella!"
"You think so?" Mercedes said, acting coy. She wasn't in the mood to tell Violet she was lying about Eve. It wasn't worth it.
"Yeah, definitely. But I'm not going to press them for info right now. I just want to curl up and die." She muffled her face with a pillow, ready to scream into it.
"I figured it out, I know what it is. Your parents and your aunt Stella are all friends in some sort of internet support group for parents of super powered kids."
The witch shot up, clutching her pillow to her stomach. Magic coursing up her arms. "I'm so angry I can't tell if you're joking Em."
~~~
"Hey!"
Violet slammed her locker closed and a shiver ran down her spine. What the hell was he doing here? She had expected to never see him again. Her pathetic punching bag of a locker was on its last legs, one of its hinges squealing like a kicked puppy.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" She whisper-shouted, teeth grinding together. He looked so nonchalant, could he not take a hint?
"I go to school here. Four years in a row in fact." That stupid optimistic smirk on his face. Who did he think he was acting like they were friends?
"Bullshit! Why have I never seen you around before?"
Snow was dumbfounded by her question, tussling his hair, his eyes rolled up to look at the ceiling. "There's like 3,000 students at this school. What you know every single person that attends this place? I didn't know you were a student here either until I saw you across the hall."
Violet grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him in close. Contempt seeping from her mouth as she tried to wipe that smile off his face. "Listen numbnuts. You're not my friend. You weren't ever supposed to find out what you did about me. So don't try and play all chummy, just pretend you never met me and get lost."
"Hey! You two!"
Violet's blood ran cold anticipating embarassment. Mercedes' super excitable voice calling to you was never a good sign. A shrillness that made her shoulders shoot up.
Mercedes had come bounding up behind the wicked witch, draping her arms over her shoulders from behind smugly resting her chin on Violet's head. "Violet! Snow goes to our school! Isn't that cool? I was so bummed thinking we wouldn't see him again."
Violet was staring a dagger at Snow from the one eye her hat didn't cover. Her grip got even tighter on him, hands digging into his skin through his shirt. Not that she seemed to notice. "Mercedes. Why would I possibly be happy to see this dork?"
Mercedes pursed her lips like a fish and gave Snow a doe eyed look, before tilting her head down to whisper in Violet's ear. "If he knows your secret, you gotta keep tabs on him. What if he just went 100% off our radar and we couldn't stop him from saying whatever he wants?"
Snarling like a rabid dog on a leash, Violet let go of Snow, still sporting that stupid dopey smile, to grab Mercedes and heave her arms off of her shoulders. "And you think anyone would believe it!?"
"Sorry, are you two having a bit of a lover's quarrel?" He asked in earnest, stepping backwards and looking the two over.
"Mercedes isn't my girlfriend!" Her first slammed into her locker, denting it deeply.
Mercedes wrapped her arms around Violet tighter, trying to keep her in check before she totally brutalized this kid. "What she said. Not that she wouldn't be lucky."
"Gross! Don't say that sort of stuff in front of him!"
"Your other friend Eve, does she uh, go to school here too?" Snow said, taking a single step back from Violet.
Violet was barely able to contain herself, fuming at him and his goofy nice guy act. "No! Of course she doesn't! You think-" all eyes in the hallway were all of a sudden trained on her outburst. Shrinking down trying to become inconspicuous. "-You think that the friggin girl with fairy wings goes to school here?"
"I mean you do." He said, giving Violet pause.
~~~
"Andros is always so beautiful, makes me feel terrible that I rarely visit!" Stella walked, unencumbered by royal escort or guards, around Andros' seaside palace as if it were a second home. Even though it had been a few years since she'd visited last, she knew every nook and cranny like the back of her hand.
"You know, I've already been formally invited to Eraklyon. You didn't have to come here. It isn't even your party to invite someone to." Aisha didn't look like royalty. If Stella hadn't already known she was queen of Andros, she'd have assumed she was one of the palace staff. Dressed down considerably, out in the public foyer of the castle anyone could freely enter into. Tending to some children running among the gardens and fountains.
Stella just rolled her eyes. "They extended an invitation to you as a princess attending another royal's party. I'm here as a friend asking if you're going to be there to see Bloom and Sky."
"It's a coronation, of course I will...but I haven't spoken to Bloom in a decade. I'm going as royalty and nothing more." Aisha looked up from the kids she was playing with, lapsing back into a more professional tone. Her demeanor suddenly becoming somber. "Will the others be there? A proper winx reunion?"
Stella shook her head. "No no, it's, unfortunately, a royalty only affair."
Aisha looked Stella up and down. Eyes glazing over in disapproval. "...You're a bad liar. Flora already told me she'd been invited. And that she wasn't going."
"Oh come on Aisha, why even ask in that case!" Stella threw her hands down in a huff.
Aisha didn't budge an inch. Motioning to the stairs up to the royal court, sitting on the second from the bottom. "I was curious. And it looks like I was right. You can't even admit the others declined to come. You're still pretending we're all friends. I mean honestly, Stella, do you expect everyone else to buy that it's merely been more than ten years of scheduling conflicts and red tape?"
Stella turned her back to Aisha, looking out at the main gates of the palace. A hesitance in her throat. "All of you really won't ever forgive her, will you?"
"That day...revealed a callousness I never would have thought Bloom was capable of." Just the thought of that night made Aisha's head throb. The contempt she felt giving her a migraine.
Now both the girls were sitting down on the steps, holding each other's hands. Tears welling up in Stella's eyes but refusing to sob. Talking with clarity through them. "I know...I still go and see her sometimes."
Aisha's grip became tense. Holding Stella tight enough it hurt both of them. Refusing to let go, refusing to lose her. "You know if the magical universe finds out she exists, it's all over. She'll be imprisoned forever. You and Bloom too, as traitors."
The dam finally burst, and Stella let out a deep gutteral sob, nose running, throat scratched up. "I know...but I think of that cute little kid and it makes me think of the day I met Bloom on Earth and when she blasted Knut all over again. I wonder if he's still custodian at Alfea..."
"You care about her even though Bloom doesn't." Aisha had to let go of Stella, before she actually hurt her. Heart pounding, taking a deep breath looking at the red marks her nails had dug into Stella's hand. "You still go and check up on her, all these years later. You care about her like she's family...and yet you're still Bloom's best friend. How can you be both? How can you care so deeply for her and the person who threw her away?"
Tears stained Aisha's hands, but there was no sniffling or choking in Stella's voice. The last few drops as she fought through the last of her sadness. "I want to believe that Bloom might come to her senses. One day. Maybe. I'm the fairy of the shining sun. Looking on the bright side is what I do."
~~~
"What does it mean to be crowned, mother?"
It was a question Bloom should have been anticipating, but it still managed to blindside her. Seeing Ash, pure as driven snow, curled up on her bed atop the covers in the warm summer night. Her daughter who would be crowned in coming days, recognized as a proper princess. As a part of the royal interplanetary community. Of course she would want to know what her coronation would mean to her.
"It means having responsibilities. Everyone looking to you to lead them, to solve their problems, to protect them and make sure they prosper." There was a detached, steadfast quality to her words. Her posture picturesque. Any cracks of vulnerability sealing shut.
Her daughter softly smiled. Not to her mother but to herself. "Is everyone else kind? Like you? And father? And sir Dominic?"
"Indeed, Ash."
"I'm glad. I want to protect people the way you do. Even if I haven't met them yet." The tiniest sparkle of magic danced across Ash's nose, before fizzling out entirely. The faint glimmer more magic than Bloom had ever seen from her daughter in her life.
The two sat in silence together, watching the clouds roll through the dark summer sky. Ash's eyelids getting heavy. Soft breaths escaping her mouth as she slowly drifted into slumber.
Bloom opened the veil of the princess' bed. Leaving her daughter to her sleep. "I'm sorry, Ash. The responsibilities you will shoulder, the people who will look to you to lead them, they will exist only while you dream."
She walked across the cool marble floor, hand inches from the door. Turning to face her daughter one last time. "I love y-"
Her heart tore in half.
"She does look peaceful while she's asleep doesn't she." The robed figure from the other night. Standing on the other side of Ash's bed. Black blades hanging in the air a hair's breadth from her porcelain skin, perfectly still.
He looked up at Bloom, the entire bedroom swirling with brilliant flames. The queen's feet sinking into the marble floor, her footsteps splashing molten stone like she was walking down a rainy street. The nervous fear in his eyes hidden by his mask.
She raised a hand, the magic in the air so abundant and powerful he could feel it weighing down on top of him, suffocating him. He steeled himself mentally, making sure to show no weakness. "It will take me less time to kill her than it will take for you to kill me." One of the blades touching her neck. So gently it did not even wake her, yet so sharp a pinprick of blood rolled down her neck onto her sheets.
The queen backed off. The dull roar of her flames the only sound to be heard. The two figures staring each other down, Ash fragile like a glass vase between the two's overpowering arcane power glancing off each other.
"I'm alive. She's alive. Win win, see?" She expected some sort of attack, but it never came. The masked sorcerer instead opting to pull something out of his robes. "You've seen the stick. Now let me show you the carrot."
What happened next made a hollow emptiness spread through Bloom. An envelope. Vanessa and nothing else written in cursive across it. "What is...where did you get that?" She choked out, face going almost as white as her daughter's.
"Interesting. You seem quite distressed for someone who doesn't know what this is." The masked figure let a coy smile flicker on his face briefly, trying to supress a laugh. "I wonder, why are you so distraught over a letter princess Stella wrote to this Vanessa person? Maybe I'll find out if I read it."
Bloom's ears were burning as she tried to suppress her anger. Stella. What the hell have you done? "Don't!"
"Oh, so now you're making demands. Interesting." He turned the envelope over in his hands. Holding it out to the queen only to snatch it away as she reached for it. "If you give me what I want, your daughter will live to see the sunrise and I'll give you the letter."
"Which is?"
"I want to know where the phoenix's inner sanctum is. The heart of Shadowhaunt in the Underdark." He said matter of factly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He scoffed. "Please. This from the de facto leader of the Winx Club? You might be the worst liar I've ever met."
She took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. "If I tell you, how do I know you won't just kill Ash and take the letter anyway?"
His eyes narrowed. "If I give you the envelope, if I spare the girl, how do I know you aren't just going to fry me on the spot?"
The dragon's flame roared to life yet again. The glass windows beginning to warp and melt. Both figures staring at each other.
He spoke first, taking a single step towards her. Placing the envelope upon her daughter's midriff atop the covers as she slept. "You take the letter. You tell me where what I'm looking for is. You let me walk away, sparing your daughter."
She reached for the note. Stopping just before grabbing it. "...Agreed."
The flames dulled, and a heavy darkness all around them abated. "A pleasure as always, Bloom."
Notes:
Oh it's been a while since I wrote one of these! My other series Flux season 1 is over, so expect more Punx updates.
the_emo_reader on Chapter 1 Thu 19 Dec 2024 04:55AM UTC
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Rox4Jox on Chapter 1 Thu 19 Dec 2024 01:45PM UTC
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