－𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬；𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐱 𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐚
－𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾；𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗎𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗌

AFTER BLOOM STORMED OFF, Musa and Aisha went looking for her while Chione simply trailed behind, not really putting that much effort into looking for the emotional fire fairy. She knew this was a time where she needed to be alone and not bothered.

Walking back into their shared suite, Chione saw Aisha check her phone for the thousandth time tonight.

"She's blanking my texts."

"Strange. I wonder if it's because she poured her heart out to you both and then proceeded to call her a freak?" Musa blatantly stated.

"Hey, there is no shame in being a freak, all you have to do is own it." Chione digressed.

"Fine then let me put it another way. She simply wasn't ready to hear that her parents aren't her real parents." Musa rephrased.

"I like that statement better, thank you." Chione shared, with a small smile, that Musa smiled back too.

"Have you seen Bloom?" Aisha asked Stella, who was currently sitting on the couch posing with petrifying duck lips.

"Not recently." Stella said, with seemingly no care in the world.

Chione didn't need a polygraph to see that Stella was lying.

Musa also knew she was lying because her eyes flashed a bright magenta, before fading back to their decadent brown.

Feeling the stares from among the two, snapped her finger together, ridding the ball of light she had created to take her photos.

"Yes?"

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

"You're a mind fairy." Aisha pointed out, not knowing the girl's gift before.

Musa was going to give Aisha a look for pointing her status out, until Chione decided to speak up.

"A mind fairy, how cool. You know if I actually had a favorite type of fairy, a mind fairy ranks at #3, but of course ice is the first and surprisingly water is the second. And before anyone says anything, water's in second place because you can't have ice without water, it's a basic necessity."

"But if water fairies didn't exist, mind fairies would be my second favorite." Chione said, not quite sure why she was rambling on, but she kinda figured it would warm up the specific mind fairy next to her.

Which it most certainly did because she saw Musa cheeks slightly redden. While Aisha eyed the two, as they stared at each other.

Though their moment was interrupted when Terra entered the room not knowing the two were having a moment to begin with.

Over hearing the previous statement Aisha had said. Terra was amazed at her roommate's abilities.

"A mind fairy?" She questioned, seeing if she heard correctly.

Startling both Musa and Chione who were in a world of their own.

"What's your connection? Memory–"

"Not a great time." Musa interrupted, not wanting to go down that lane tonight.

"Is everything ok?"

"Not really." Aisha answered.

"I'm looking for Bloom. And for some reason, Stella's feeling guilty about it." She continued to state.

As Stella glanced up from her phone.

"Yeah, so how about this knock off version of Regina George, think about somebody other than herself, for once." Chione added, gaining Stella's attention immediately.

"Could everyone save the drama for drama club?"

"Not if I bring the drama club with me." Chione shot back with a smile.

Causing a silent laugh from Musa, which she heard and side smirked in her direction.

"Wasn't she talking to Sky." Terra recalled, pointing out an obvious clue.

"And?"

"And I know what happened to the last person who was talking to Sky. I was here last year, remember?"

Obviously not wanting to recall the past, Stella scuffed at Terra's accusation.

But Chione on the other hand chuckled.

"Oh, do tell, what happened last year. Oh wait, don't, I can already see it. Stella here got jealous of someone talking to her favorite boy toy and it's all happening again." She summarized.

"And there is no need to tell me I'm right, I already know I am, but I have to say I'm kind of disappointed Stella. I expected something that wasn't so cliche, especially coming from a princess."

Musa picked up on a wave of anger coming from Stella so she put a hand on Chione's arm as a hint to dial it down, which Chione got and ceased her declaration.

Getting straight to the point, Terra asked "Stella where's Bloom?"

Stella then looked up from her phone then huffed.

"She was feeling homesick so I did a nice thing, and I lent her my ring so that she could go back to the First World." She fessed up.

"Doesn't it only work outside the barrier?" Terra recalled.

"Yes, and there's a gateway in the old cemetery."

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

Stella knew but when it came to her and Sky she wanted nothing in their way, so in this case she decided to not care.

"We all know what we need to do right." Chione asked around, seeing all the girls respond with a head nod.

❄︎

Alerting HeadMistress Farah, the group of girls held back to let the woman deal with the burned one that was after Bloom.

Seeing the shaken girl stumble out of the door's entry, they were concerned.

"Are you okay?" Aisha was the first to ask.

Making Bloom turn around out of fright.

Catching her breath, and calming down because she was around familiar people she breathed out.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think so. What the hell was that thing?"

"I'm pretty sure it's called a Burned One." Terra guessed.

"From the glimpse I saw I'd say you're right Terra, but if I were to name it it would be called an "Ugly One" cause it's not pretty, like at all." Chione added, to soften the effects.

The whole segment just confused Bloom even more.

"Huh? Wait. Where... where's Stella?"

"She's at school. Why?"

"That thing just took her ring." Bloom admitted.

"Oh, I can't wait to see how this plays out in the morning." Chione whispered to herself.

But with Musa standing right beside her, she heard the ice fairy's comment. Causing her to let out a small chuckle not wanting to be noticed by the others in this situation, though it didn't stop Chione from smirking knowing she caught the mind fairy's attention.

After everything got situated all the girl's returned back to their shared suite.

"The headmistress will take care of the Burned One, Bloom." Aisha told the red haired girl upon seeing her sulking presence.

Bloom knew that Aisha was trying to brighten her mood but it didn't help as she continued to sulk back into their shared room.

"She won't leave it in the first world. Don't worry. Your parents are safe." Aisha assured her.

Bringing a sad smile to the fire fairy's face, she accepted the answer.

"Thanks." was all she said before she turned around and continued, walking to their room.

"Well this was all really pleasant, but I'm going to take a lap around the school to clear my head so, good night people." Chione said, as she turned around and walked through the threshold.

❄︎

Wrapping her head around what she had witnessed at this school was definitely something.

Would Chione say this place was habitable for her people, yes and no.

Like every other place there are certain dangers that people have to look out for, the burned ones being the greatest danger of them all, for now.

The climate was okay. It took some getting used to, but she would still recommend having the AC below freezing to accommodate their physiology.

Chione knew it was too early to ask Aurora to tell everyone to pack their bags, this place is perfect because it most certainly wasn't, but it was definitely okay.

❄︎

Cutting through the mess–hall, the wandering ice fairy stumbled upon two other people who were still up.

One who she recognized as Riven, the "Oh so sure of himself" specialist and another girl she had yet to see around school.

But just looking at her she could tell that girl was definitely up to no good, which is what drew her in.

"Are you burning the midnight oil?" She heard Riven ask.

"Snorting the midnight Adderall is more like it. But I'll need sleep eventually." The girl responded.

And just by hearing her corrected statement, Chione was definitely intrigued.

Standing beside a pillar in the dark, Chione watched their interaction.

Riven offered the girl a smoke, she replied with "Hands are kinda full."

Flashing him a sweet smile, Chione knew there was something dark behind those sweet remarks, she could just see. But she wasn't going to do anything about it, in fact she wanted to dig deep and bring it out.

Because what's so fun about hiding in the dark, when you can be out in the open.

Still watching the scene unfold in front of her eyes, she saw Riven take in a big puff of smoke then lean into the girl and transfer it.

This is when Chione decided to make herself known.

"You're a first year." Riven stated, but still wanted reassurance.

"I'm a lot of things." She responded with the same smile.

"Oh, I bet you are." Chione said, coming from the shadows.

Immediately startling both of them.

"And who might you be?" The red haired girl asked.

"Someone clearing her head, and you?"

"Beatrix." She simply stated.

"Beatrix? Hmm." Chione repeated, sounding out the girl's name.

"Suits you." She exclaimed.

And like Riven was never there, Beatrix turned her full attention to the new girl.

"You want to try something, Beatrix."

The curious girl didn't know what she had in mind, but from some reason she went along with it.

"Sure."

"Riven, take another smoke and give it to Beatrix." Chione instructed, without taking her eyes off the girl.

Like a puppet Riven did exactly what Chione told, because he himself was intrigued with the two girls in front of him.

After Riven blew the smoke into Beatrix's mouth, Chione held up a finger telling Beatrix to wait and not breathe it out yet.

Seeing the girl flow her directions, Chione's eyes shined a bright silver before herself before she told Beatrix to let go.

And when she saw the smoke leave the girl's mouth she used her cryokinetic breath to exhale a cold mist into her mouth as the tainted smoke left Beatrix's.

The cold mist mixed with the smoke created a very special effect in Beatrix's mouth, which Chione saw when she saw the girl's eyes light up.

When she finished, a smirk presented itself on her face.

"It's different isn't it?"

"It's definitely something I've never done before, but I would do it again...with you." Beatrix answered.

"That is if I would want to do it again, with you." Chione subjected, before letting out a little laugh.

Turning towards Riven who had just silently watched the two's interaction, she stuck out her hand asking for the joint.

In a slower motion than she would have liked, Riven eventually gave it to her while he was still in a daze.

After finally being handed the joint, Chione took a smoke for herself before she passed it back to Riven.

"Well, this was definitely fun, maybe we'll all do it again sometime." Chione stated as she exhaled the smoke from her mouth.

"But as for tonight, goodbye." She farewelled, as she turned to walk back to her suite.

"Ice fairies are definitely my new favorite." She heard Riven say before she was out of earshot.

And maybe, just maybe Alfea wasn't going to be that bad.

❄︎

It was a brand new morning and Chione was still in bed.

She knew it was daytime because her room wasn't nearly as cold as it used to be in the night time. But that didn't mean she wanted to get up.

Sadly Aisha wouldn't let that happen.

Purposefully going into the room, Aisha pushed the coldness and opened Chione's window.

"Time to get up."

"Leave me be." Chione mumbled from under the cover.

"You're going to be late, arriving at the stone circle, if you sleep any longer."

"Well, then it'll be my burden to bare."

Aisha scuffed with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, not a chance. I won't have you blaming me for your tardiness later on." She said, as she threw the cover's off of the sleepy girl.

"Okay, mom." She mumbled as Aisha picked up a limb and dragged her to the kitchen and left her there.

"Oh! Hello, Stella, rough night?" Chione smirked, raking over the girl's messy hair and wrinkled clothes.

"I'm not doing this right now. Where's Bloom?" Stella responded, disregarding Chione's question.

"Well, she actually had a rough night. Thanks to you. I didn't think those things were real, but we all saw. It was creepy as hell. It looked like it wanted to kill her." Musa explained.

"What about my ring?" Stella interrupted.

"Your ring, that's what you're worried about?" Chione asked, finding Stella unbelievable at this time.

Before Stella could say anything else Bloom entered the room.

"That burned...burned thing took it." Bloom admitted.

"What?" Stella gasped in disbelief.

"Calm down, Princess." Musa said.

"Don't tell me to calm down, and don't use my title as an insult."

"Fine then, calm down, pretty Princess. That any better for you." Chione stated, reusing Musa's early statement.

"Wait, are you actually a Princess?" Bloom questioned astonishingly.

"Yes, I am, actually. My mom is the queen, and the ring you lost is one of the crown jewels of Solaria. That might not mean much to a First Worlder. So feel free to ask your suite–mate how big of a screw–up that is." Stella frustratedly rambled.

"Then you probably shouldn't have given it to her without telling her it's importance." Chione pointed out.

Coming from the bathroom, Aisha agreed.

"She's right, plus Dowling has the creature locked up, which you would know if you were here last night when she gave us an earful."

"And if people knew there was a Burned One even in the First World temporarily, disaster." Musa added.

"Well, I didn't tell her that I lost the ring, and I'm sure if we do, then–"

"We will do no such thing, I will figure it out after class, but for now, no one says anything to anyone. And can someone make sure that Terra knows that? She can never keep her mouth shut." Stella instructed.

As she opened her door to see Terra struggling to put her top on.

"Got it!" She said, as she gave a thumbs up, making Chione chuckle at the girl's action.

"This was a great group chat, but I've got to go get ready." Chione said, as she retreated back into her room for her wardrobe.

After finally deciding what she was going to wear she went into the bathroom for a quick shower.

❄︎

Putting the last and final touches to her outfit, Chione looked in the mirror to make sure everything looked alright.

Her outfit today consisted of a tan, brown and black skirt paired with a black matching top and black chunky heels. And she was put into a loose fishtail braid.

Approving the outfit she had picked out to wear, she went back to her room to grab her bag, and walked out of the room joining the others in the living room, as they all now stood up to walk to the stone circle together, for morning practice.