Fire and Ice - Riven | Fate: The Winx Saga

Chapter Thirty: Aftermath

On my way back to the fairy hall, I saw Sky sitting on the grass staring straight at the school. I took a deep breath and started to approach him. "Should you be celebrating?" I asked him, smiling. "The burned ones are all dead. Thanks to Bloom."
"Did you find Riv?" He asked me.
"He's fine." I said as I took a seat beside him. I then saw his teary eyes. "Sky, what's wrong?" He didn't say anything. "You can talk to me, Sky."
"He killed him, Eira." Sky told me. "Saul. He killed my father."
"Shit." I whispered.

Sky took a deep breath and turned his head to me. "It happened that day at Aster Dell. He knew what Rosalind was doing and stopped Silva from warning Dowling and Harvey. They fought and Silva killed him. He told me my dad was a hero but... he killed hundreds of innocent people and then Silva killed him."
"I know what it's like to have to people closest to you lie, Sky." I told him. "Farah lied to me my whole life, too."
"But you found a way to forgive her. Everything I knew about my father was all a lie."
"It wasn't a lie, Sky." I said. "Andreas was a war hero."

Sky was already upset about Silva and so I couldn't bring myself to tell him about the people living in Aster Dell were blood witches and that Andreas was a good person who died because of a silly misunderstanding at the hands of his best friend. Sky then started to cry and I pulled him down into a hug where he cried into my shoulder. "Everything is going to be okay, Sky." I told him. "All you have to do is trust me."

***

I got back to the suite and found all the girls in Bloom and Aisha's room. Bloom was sat in bed, smiling and the other girls were sat around us. "Tell them how cool it was." Stella grinned as I entered the room.
"I can't even describe it." I laughed. "I mean... it was incredible."
"Aw, I can't believe I missed it." Terra said. Bloom then looked at me and took a deep breath before turning to the other girls.
"Could you guys give us a minute, please?" She asked them. They all nodded and started to clear the room and I shut the door behind them.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Bloom as I sat on the edge of her bed.
"A bit exhausted but I'll live." She smiled before taking a deep breath. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something Rosalind said. You know... now that we're not under attack or anything."
"What is it, Bloom?"
"Remember how I told you that blood witches gain their power from blood and sacrifice?" I nodded. "I was kidnapped, Eira. At least I think I was. I think I was supposed to be a sacrifice for the blood witches. And I think you were too." Bloom told me.
"That's how Farah found me near Aster Dell." I said.
"I mentioned you in front of Rosalind. I told her about your connection to Aster Dell. She said that twins make an even powerful sacrifice."
"What does this have to do with anything?" I questioned.
"Because I'm your sister."

***

That night I stayed up late flicking through old photos of me. My red hair, my fair skin. Apart from the colour of our eyes, we looked fairly similar. "Can you turn that light out?" Stella asked as she looked at me.
"Sorry." I said as I closed the photo album and placed it on the side by my bed.
"What are you even doing?"
"Nothing." I lied. "It doesn't matter." Stella nodded and her head fell back onto her pillow as I leaned over and turned out the light before taking the photo album and creeping into Bloom's room.

"Bloom?" I whispered, shaking the girl awake. "Bloom."
"What?" The girl groaned.
"I believe you." I said.
"What?"
"I believe you."

Bloom opened her eyes and looked over at the clock before back at me. "Eira, it's 4am. What the hell are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep." I said. "Just come with me." Bloom nodded and climbed out of bed being careful not the wake Aisha. When we got into the lounge, I switched the light on and opened the photo album.
"What is this?" Bloom asked.
"It's me two years ago." I told her.
"I didn't know you died your hair."
"I hated being ginger, no offence."
"None taken." Bloom laughed. She then frowned and walked back into her room and grabbed her phone before showing me a picture of herself when she was the same age as me in my photo. "When's your birthday?" Bloom then asked me.
"I'm guessing Farah didn't know the exact date but, uh, December 11th." I said.
"The day after Aster Dell was destroyed." Bloom said.
"It all checks out." I told her.

Both of us looked at each other with pure shock on our faces before we started smiling. "I just can't believe I have a sister." I said.
"Me either." Bloom said. "This makes searching for our parents much easier."
"About that..." I then frowned. "I get that you want to find them, I do. It's just... Farah raised me. She is my mother."
"And nobody is going to change that, Eira. My parents will always be my parents."
"But if we were really kidnapped by those blood witches, why did they never try to find us?"
"If we don't look for them then we might never know." I nodded my head.

***

"I just wanted to say goodbye before we left." I said as I entered Farah's office with a bag of clothes. "Did you talk to Bloom?"
"Yes. We spoke this morning."
"And?"
"And it went well. We even hugged."
"There is something I wanted to tell you before I left for the First World." I then told the woman.
"You know you can tell me anything."
"Bloom's my sister." I said. Farah's jaw dropped. "I know it seems crazy but they're are all these things that add up and can't be a coincidence. We even look alike."
"And you act alike." Farah smiled as she sat down before gesturing for me to join her.

I sat down and Farah took my hands in hers. "You and Bloom have a lot more in common than you might think." She said. "You both have the potential to become two of the most powerful fairies the Otherworld has ever known."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Dowling smiled. "It's one of the things I liked about Bloom. In some ways... she reminded me of you." I pulled the woman into a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek as we pulled apart.
"I should go. I don't want to keep them waiting." I said.
"Go on. I'll see you when you get back." I nodded and headed towards the door. "And don't forget to have fun. Forget about school and magic for one whole day."