Chapter Text
Tecna hesitated to step on the teleporter. Not that she wouldn’t follow Aisha and the earth fairies, she’d follow any of the Winx to Obsidian itself if she had to. That didn't mean she was exactly stoked to go to the planet Omega again. She was terrified, but she would never let the others know.
Tecna couldn't bring herself to suggest staying behind and watching over Nabu and Roxy. The poor girl was incredibly shaken up after seeing one of the men she had come to see as an older brother put into a coma due to the extreme disruption to his magical core he had suffered using his staff to close the Black Circle’s portal. It felt cruel to leave her alone with a bunch of strangers, but it wasn’t like Tecna could not go. The Black Circle needed to be stopped permanently. While they didn't commit the worst crimes Tecna knew of–the tragedies of Domino and Omega stick out in her mind–the devastation they wrecked on earth and the attempted annihilation of all magic users and magical creatures throughout the planet definitely made the top five list. Earth’s magical core dying would cause devastation throughout the dimension, not to mention the sudden lack of magic in their sector would destabilize their solar system at best, and their galaxy at worst. Letting them continue to run around would be a fuck up of epic proportions, and it would take all of them to either put those monsters in the ground or make sure they never escaped from the ice hellhole they decided to run into with their tails between their legs.
Roxy wanted to go, didn’t want to be stuck with the earth fairies, didn't want to be stuck watching Nabu fight for his life, but if Aurora's palace was too cold for her, Omega would freeze her wings instantly. All the earth fairies that she even had a passing knowledge of were going with them to the planet Omega in its pocket dimension. This was an all hands on deck scenario, and anyone who could withstand the frigid cold of the planet had to fight. They had to, or the Black Circle would win. Tecna had to. Any other choice was the wrong one.
So she kept her mouth shut and her hands still and only hesitated for a moment when stepping on the platform. If she made a single one of her spiraling thoughts known her friends would wrap her in blankets and put her in charge of the remains as blatantly obvious do-nothing job to make her feel better as they left to battle without her and that could not happen. Tecna wouldn't allow it to happen. She had the most knowledge of the frozen planet’s geography, she was the only one that could communicate with the planet's guardian without it attacking. She was integral to chasing these rats down and protecting the lives of innocents was more important than her personal feelings.
Bloom's eyes flicked over the entire group of fairies, before flicking over their personal group.
"Is everyone prepared?" Bloom said, voice projected loud and steady, and there was an aggressive war cry in response. Bloom nodded her head. "Remember to stick with the Arctic fairies. Omega is colder than anything you've ever experienced, and your magic will be drained trying to compensate for that. Stay vigilant."
Tecna smiled at Bloom's short brief. The earth girl that stumbled onto Magix with a million and one questions had matured into a half-decent leader, and Tecna couldn't be prouder.
Bloom looked around, eyes drifting to her and Riven. Tecna was well aware that Riven looked like a stiff breeze would knock him over. The boys only were coming as a search and rescue, taking the injured back to earth so the combatants didn't have to waste their time on it. An important job for sure, but not so integral that he needed to come. They could put the Amazon fairies on that job if push came to shove. They were going to be practically useless outside of healing in the icy wasteland called Omega anyways.
Not like Riven would ever allow himself to miss something so important. He crawled on a broken leg when he was chased out the window of Cloud Tower all those years ago. Sitting still drove him crazy, and Riven never quite figured out the definition of quitting despite his therapist's best efforts.
They already had a loud conversation about her and Riven's capacity to carry out the mission, and their friends eventually gave up on trying to exclude them. Riven's clear distress at the idea of sitting and watching Nabu suffer in his coma was a major contribution to the discussion going over so smoothly. She had to thank him later. If she had to tell Flora she was fine to go one more time it would have been clear she wasn't.
Morgana raised her hands, turning on the teleporter, sending them to the coordinates that the Black Circle had idiotically put into the device based on one book they stole. Seriously, did they not read the part where the book went into detail about how dangerous stepping on the planet was? Or were they so egotistical that they assumed they could easily survive the horrors? At least Nebula had the excuse of not knowing before she decided to follow.
The magic in the carefully crafted teleportation circle whooshed alive, sparking with energy and heat, as a beacon shot up around them. Carrying them to the new location at the speed of light.
The light dissipated and the chill was instantaneous. Tecna’s wings whirled with its internal mechanisms, heating up so frost couldn’t form and hamper her ability to fly. A couple of the earth fairies stepped back from her and her strange wings, not that Tecna wasn’t used to this. Instead of focusing on the different shades of blue that made up the cavern that surrounded them, Tecna locked eyes with Bloom.
“We're near the middle of the cave system.” Tecna recognized this layer of stone. “If we can find the Black Circle and lead them down, the Guardian of Omega will dispose of them itself.”
Bloom nodded and turned to face Morgana in a short chat. The cold was slowly creeping into Tecna’s bones, freezing the tips of her ears. The desire to push everyone away, too close, she’s surrounded, she needs to get somewhere safer, the desire to change her appearance, her obviously Zenithian looks let people assume her magic, she doesn't have the element of surprise like this, she needed to look more intimidating to survive, the desire to show off her power, to scare everyone here, scare them so they think shes strong, scare them so they don't think she's weak, scare them so they think twice before attacking her. They all came flooding back to her mind. Paranoia scraped and dug into her mind, all the survival skills she honed over those months screamed and scratched at her skin. She wasn't safe, she wasn't safe, she wasn't safe, she wasn't safe, she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe she wasn't safe—
Bloom took off in flight, the sudden movement startling her, and Tecna’s thoughts snapped back into the dark recess of her mind where they belonged. Tecna took flight at around the same time as everyone else and took a quick look around.
No one was staring at her. No one had noticed. Good. She didn't want to concern anyone when this mission was of the essence.
…
It was so cold here.