Farah Dowling - Fanfiction

Burned-one

"The Solarian-troops are on their way, I am going to accompany them, period! It was my decision to let the burned-one alive, it's my responsibility to make sure it's safely locked up. And a fairy might be needed, you know how unpredictable the burned-ones are, although it should be a quick job with the Zanbak,"with this words Farah turns around and leaves Saul behind. Briefly it crosses his mind to follow her, but knowing Farah as long as he did, he knows she would interpret it as distrust in her abilities and he didn't want to quarrel. Besides, he calms himself, she is right: The burned-one is tethered, had quite a dose of Zanbak and 6 of the Solarian soldiers are going with her and she is one of the most powerful fairy in the other-world. Reassured by this thoughts he takes his focus back to the upcoming class...

It is quiet, too quiet for the forest. Pain rushes through her body. Briefly a memory flickers before her eyes: They were on their way to get the burned-one from the barn, but it hadn't been tethered anymore. They were attacked. Where are the others? She opens her eyes. Everything is blurry, but what she sees is enough to guess the others weren't lucky enough to survive. Although lucky depends on the definition of luck. Right now, with agony searing through her veins as the infection from the burned-one spreads further and further, she doesn't feel that lucky. Blood drops from her head and it costs her a lot of effort to stay conscious. What did go wrong? Why wasn't the burned-one constrained in the barn like it should have been? Who was the silhouette she saw right before the attack? She must get up, away from this place where she is an easy target for all kinds of predators. With her one hand wrapped around the tree and the other pushing up she trys to get to her feets. Dizziness overcomes her. Leaning against the tree she catches her breath, trying to ignore the agonizing pain. Hallucinations start to torture her mind further. She must not give up, Alfea needs her, now during this difficult times more than ever. Clenching her teeths she trys to make a cautious step into the direction where she thinks the barrier is. If she thought she knew pain before, she now knows better. Before she has time to express the agony, darkness welcomes her back once again...
Noises and the sheer instinct of surviving brings her to open her eyes once again. Her hands grope around for a stick, a stone, something to defend herself. Then she sees them, surely she must be hallucinating. Although it is a nice and comforting hallucination: There are Musa, and Terra and Bloom and...on the way towards her...

On their way to get Stella's ring back, Musa gets distracted. She flinches. Pain, mortal fear washes through her mind. There is somebody nearby and that someone is in a terrible condition. She grabbes Terra's shoulders. Thankfully, Terra interprets her mimics right. "Concentrate on me, Musa. Tell me what just happened to you?" "I can feel somebody in great agony, we must help...",she whispers. "Omg! Guys, come quick! Something terrible happened!", Bloom screams. They run towards her. Dead soldiers lying on the ground. They shiver. But what's that? "It's Miss Dowling and she is alive." As fast as possible they were by their headmistress side. Terra opens the Zanbak she made just in case they would need it to get back the ring, with trembling hands. While Bloom holds the headmistress's head, Terra pours the liquid in Farah's mouth. "We must get her to my dad, as fast as possible!", Terra says. Together they drag Miss Dowling up and carry her as good as possible towards the school. Stella and Aisha running ahead to alert Prof. Harvey and headmaster Silva.

Saul has just finished his final class for the day, when he hears the shouts at the greenhouse and runs towards them. Ben looks pale. "Something with Farah, something terrible", he mutters when he sees Saul. Saul gulps. Cold and warmth washes over him, his heart seems to stop for a moment. Then he runs along Aisha, Stella and Ben. The girls carrying Miss Dowling have just reached the barrier. Quickly Professor Harvey and Silva are on their side. They take the headmistress from the exhausted girls and carry her the rest of the way to the greenhouse. "I shouldn't have left her alone with the troops. I should have come with them", Saul murmurs to himself, tears dwelling in his eyes.
The pain has eased, she feels that the drag her away from the place she lied, voices somewhere nearby... "Saul?", she opens her eyes. She lies on the bench in the greenhouse, Ben treats her wounds with Zanbak and wraps them with bandages. Saul holds her head on his thighs and whispers incomprehensible words. "Saul", she whispers, "Ben, something terrible happened: Someone let the burned-one lose... The attack was so surprising, we didn't stand a chance." She takes a deep breath. "The girls, I wasn't hallucinating them, right? Why where they out there?" Ben smiles:"Just awake and already worrying about her students. The most important thing for now is that they found and rescued you. Marco and Noura are already out there hunting for the burned-one and you should rest, until they killed the burned-one that attacked you."

"How is she? Please, say that she will survive", pleads Bloom awaiting Professor Harvey outside the greenhouse. "I can't promise anything, we have to hope they find and kill the burned-one soon, but for now she is stable, thanks to you and the other girls. However, you'll have a serious talk with Miss Dowling what you thought you were doing outside the barrier, when knowing it is not safe, after everything is alright again... " Bloom didn't care, whatever they consequence would be - the headmistress is alive and there is valid hope for recovery. She has to tell the others, who are waiting for news in the suite!

Fortunately, their hopes get fulfilled just a day later. Ben and Noura find the burned-one not far from the original place and kill it. It takes a while for Farah to recover fully, but soon she is the same old Farah she was before the attack, although maybe a bit more mindful in her daily tasks, enjoying life a bit more than before...