Winx Club: Dark Magic (Season 4)

X: Familiar Strangers

"What are you talking about?" Aiyana asked calmly, trying to play it off.

"Hey, you're the one stopping behind a group of strangers to eavesdrop," the blonde girl pointed out.

Aiyana snorted. "Can't I just be curious about four grown women openly discussing wizards and fairies?"

"Not with that look of 'I know exactly what you're talking about' written all over your face, you can't," the dark-skinned girl said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Whatever." Aiyana rolled her eyes and shrugged. "If you think that just because I paused for a second means I must know exactly what you're talking about, you're crazy."

Bloom shook her head. "Tecna, is it possible that your machine is... wrong?"

"No," Tecna affirmed. "It's one-hundred percent accurate. There's an amount of dark energy radiating from her that would be impossible for any regular human. She's the one, Bloom. This girl is the Fairy of the Eternal Dark."

Hearing it again sent chills down Aiyana's spine. Not the good kind, either.

Her eyes must have betrayed her stoicism, because the black-haired woman stepped forward then and spoke to her: "So you do know what we're talking about. Why try to hide it?"

Aiyana's lips parted as she tried to come up with another denial, but no words formed in her mouth, so she just stood there looking like a deer in the headlights, her eyes wide.

The youngest girl came forward, a sheepish look on her face. "You've faced the Wizards of the Black Circle, haven't you?"

Aiyana's throat was dry, her palms sweaty. Her heart thundered in her chest and her ears rang. The dark of the night suddenly seemed so unforgiving. For just a moment, she was again caught in that awful vortex of evil that the Wizards had trapped her in, struggling and screaming to get out, but unable to free herself. When she returned to the present moment, her skin was covered in goosebumps and she shuddered.

"How would you know that?" Aiyana asked, her voice barely more than a raspy whisper.

"We know what Ogron and his Wizards did to you," Bloom claimed.

What they did to you, Aiyana repeated in her head, as though it had been that simple. As if it had been merely an encounter; just one bad deed. As if it hadn't haunted her every thought for years. As if she didn't remember waking up on that empty street alone, confused and broken. As if she hadn't experienced the whirlwind of transforming into some mythical fairy creature and the overwhelming power that came with it, and then the subsequent agony of losing it all and having her wings ripped from her body, leaving her weak and powerless and vulnerable. As if she hadn't endured a whole new brand of anguish in having to keep the entire experience to herself, trapped in her own tormented memories, for fear of being labelled insane and locked up, or medicated into oblivion.

"How would you know anything about that?" Aiyana eyed her suspiciously.

"We're fairies, just like you," Flora said, her voice abnormally kind.

"Not anymore." Aiyana swallowed. "The Wizards you mentioned... they took my powers, my wings -everything. Three years ago. So if it's a fairy you're looking for, look elsewhere, because I have nothing left for you."

"No, you don't understand," Bloom objected. "See, your power is bound to you, just like mine is. Even though the Wizards took it from you in the past, the true power still lives in you. It's something they can never take from you."

"Wow," Aiyana nodded, chuckling to herself. "That's beautiful, really, but I don't need optimistic sentiments right now. I don't know what else to tell you: those Wizards stole my powers, and now I don't have enough magic fairy dust left to be able to join your club. Are there any more questions, or can I get back to my life and try to forget this ever happened?"

"We're not kidding," the blonde girl insisted. "You've got a lot of power, if you'd only stop moping around for five seconds to realize it."

"Easy, Stella," Bloom said calmly. "Look," she turned to Aiyana, "I know this is less than ideal. Roxy and myself here were both just regular girls from Earth before discovering our powers, not unlike you."

The youngest girl, Roxy, nodded once and smiled.

"It's scary at first," Roxy added, "but now I can't imagine what my life would be like had it not been for these girls. Those Wizards came after me, just like they came after you, so I know what it's like to be afraid of-"

"No, you don't," Aiyana interrupted. "You have no idea. You can't possibly imagine what I have been through. But you know what? All of it -every brutal second of it- I endured alone. I didn't have a team of cheerleaders like you've got here to help me along and make it easy. But I've made it this far on my own, so I think I can make it the rest of the way without the support group. Thanks, anyway."

Aiyana spun on her heel and started home, though she hadn't made it three steps before Bloom called out a warning to her.

"Wait! The Wizards - they're coming for you again!"

Aiyana stopped walking. "What did you say?" she said over her shoulder.

"She's telling the truth," Tecna agreed. "They've broken free of the Omega dimension and are back on Earth, and we have good reason to suspect they're looking for you."

"They might be feeling cheated if they've found out they only got a fraction of the power they wanted when they took what they did from you," the black-haired fairy explained.

"So, what?" Aiyana turned around slowly. "They're going to try and take my powers... again? If it didn't work for them last time, why would they come all the way back just to give it another try?"

"We don't know for certain," Bloom admitted. "But we want to be here to protect you."

"We fairies stick together," the dark-skinned fairy affirmed. "No one left behind. That includes you."

Aiyana relaxed her posture a bit and her expression softened. "Listen," she said, "I'm sure your hearts are in the right place. I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did, and I'm sorry; I can see you're just trying to help. Maybe I'm just a bit apprehensive about a group of strangers approaching me about something I've never told anyone about."

"Well," Stella huffed, "it's about time we were all on the same page here. So, what say you come with us, and we can sort this whole thing out?"

"No," Aiyana shook her head. "I said that I understand your intentions are good, but that doesn't mean I want your help. Thank you for trying, but the girl you're looking to help needed it three years ago. I've done the heavy lifting already, and now... now, I'm just happy to be living magic-free, able to focus on just the real-world aspects of my life without worrying about some strange power inside me. If those Wizards do come back, I'll be more than willing to hand over whatever power I supposedly have left to them. I don't want any of it. So thank you for your concern, but I'm doing just fine on my own."

Aiyana left it at that and headed home, and she heard nothing more from the girls she left on that sidewalk.