Chapter Text
"Bloom!" Stella exclaims, clapping her hands in front the sleeping girl.
"Huh what? I'm awake!" She said, sitting up and grabbing a shirt from Stella's bed, pretending to analyze it. "You should definitely take this one to your mom's." Groaning, Stella grabbed the shirt and threw it into a monsterous pile on the floor.
"This is serious! I need something chic to wear to mom's tea party, but I need something elegent and sophisticated to wear to dad's banquet." She said, snapping her fingers. An arrangement of clothes comes floating through the air with sparkles, sorting themselves in between two bags on the floor.
"Did you really need to take this long, you seem to have everything figured out." Bloom said, fastening the latch on Stella's 'dad' suitcase.
"I had a plan, but then I saw this super cute shirt in the back of my closet and just HAD to fit it in." Stella replies, sighing as she grabs her bags. As they walk down the stairs and make their way to the courtyard, they run into the rest of the group.
"Hey Tecna! Did you get everything packed okay?" Bloom says as Stella goes ahead to talk to Flora.
"Why of course. I calculated everything down to the tiniest percentage." She said, proudly showing off the diagram of her small computer.
"Wow, that's so efficient," Bloom replies as they walk to the rest of the girls.
"What in the world is that?" Flora says, pointing to a floating ball of light in the sky that was slowly decending in their direction.
As it lowerd to eye level, the light faded to a holographic image of a woman dressed in formal Solarian clothes.
"It's a sun gram from Solaria!" Stella said, hushing the girls so she could hear what was about to be anounced.
"The royal court of Solaria is pleased to anounce our official princess ball." She said, waving her hand and making an image of Stella appear.
"A princess ball for me?" Stella wondered aloud. "I thought for sure they wouldn't have one."
Suddenly, Bloom speaks up. "I don't mean to sound dumb, but what's a princess ball anyway?" She asks. This time, it's Aisha who speaks up.
"It's like a coming out party for royalty. It means a princess is officially entering royal society." She answered Bloom, who let out an 'ohhh'. Suddenly another image of King Radius, Stella's dad, appears.
"You're going to love your party honey, and I'll be making a very special anouncement that I'm sure will make you very happy." He said before disappearing. After the sun gram fades away, Stella snaps her fingers excitingly.
"Change of plans girls. We're all going to Solaria!" Bloom tries to object, but before she can get a word in, Stella cuts her off. "No ifs, ands, or buts. A princess ball is a once in a lifetime event, and I want to share it with all of you!"
While the girls go back into the dorms to help Stella re-pack, Tecna starts to help her send the invitations.
"I'm a little worried, my dad has never thrown such a big party by himself. My mom was the party planer." Stella worried as she folded a pair of pants.
"I'm sure your dad will throw you an awesome party." Musa said, opening a bag.
"Maybe your mom is in on it?" Flora said.
"I think you're right actually. The invitation said it was from the royal court, not King Radius, and the royal court is both mom and dad!" Stella starts rambling. "I bet they're getting back together! I bet that's what the surprise anouncement is gonna be!" Throwing some shoes back into her closet, she scurries around the room. "That's it! I'm renting a limo and we're all going shopping for the ball!" She says, finally snapping the last suitcase shut.
"But Aisha and I wanted to go to the beach." Musa says.
"I'll go with you Stella, the rest of you can do whatever you have planed, unless you want to come." Bloom says, walking out the door with everyone.
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Atsushi shivered as he stepped outside into the freezing wind. It was already late January, but the cold showed no sign of leaving. He sighed and tugged his jacket close to his body as he walked along the sidewalk.
The agency was still trying to put itself back together after the Decay of Angels incident, but despite all the pain and stress he experienced from the whole fiasco, Atsushi had gained a greater understanding of not only his ability but also his coworkers and even Akutagawa. He learned more about Akutagawa's past, and he had even told him about his lung disease. His stomach hurt just thinking about how Akutagawa would have died of a mere illness in a few months if he weren't healed by Doctor Yosano. It was insane to him to think that anything other than a nuclear missile or a ten-ton tank could kill the raging dog of the mafia. Despite how much he said he hated him, he couldn't help but be jealous of the other's strength and confidence.
Now that he thought about it, he still hadn't returned Akutagawa's coat from... that time.
He shook himself out of his thoughts. He had a job to do. He couldn't afford to be distracted.
As he rounded the corner to meet the client, he groaned internally.
"Of course you're the informant. Why would I ever think otherwise."
Akutagawa scoffed, waving the manila folder infront of his face. "If you spent as much time working as you did complaining, you wouldn't still be poor."
Atsushi rolled his eyes. "Maybe if you spent as much of your energy being kind as you did being a bitch then you would have more friends." He tried to grab the folder out of Akutagawa's hand, but the other pulled it back.
"Not so fast Jinko. We have something we need to discuss before you take what you need and scurry off like a rat."
"If it's about Dazai then I'm not answering any questions you have."
"What- no it's not about Dazai. I'm above idolizing that buffoon. Mori has requested that we do another job together." Akutagawa sighed internally. He couldn't believe he was ever jealous of Atsushi.
Atsushi was taken aback by that answer, not the part about Mori wanting them together on another job, but the part about Dazai. Was Akutagawa pulling his leg right now or was he actually being serious?
"Really? You're done obsessing over Dazai?" He asked in an unbelieving tone.
Akutagawa clenched his fists and the tips of his ears turned red. "I was not obsessed with him! Now can we stop talking about it?!" He tore open the manila folder and handed a picture of a man with a mustache to Atsushi. "This man has been interfereing with our trade routes for a while now. We haven't been able to identify him yet because he immigrated here recently, but we do know his ability."
"Well, what is it?"
Akutagawa's non-existent eyebrow twitched. "If you would be patient for two seconds you would know already. It's a sort of space-time abililty. It created puddles of water in a specific area that if you fall in, you're sent to some sort of limbo dimension. The puddles are invisible but you can figure out they're there because they're usually marked by something sentimental to the target's past."
"That's it? The Port Mafia is usually more thorough with their files." Atsushi flips the paper over to read more information.
"He's evaded capture from The Black Lizard numerous times, so we haven't gotten the opportunity to closely examine his capabilities. Gin said it was as if he was luring them into an area only for him to disappear into his own ability. We don't even know where he goes or how he gets out. For all we know, there could be some kind of special requirements to get out if you're trapped."
"That's a pain. How are we supposed to catch h-" Atsushi was cut off by a stray cat jumping up and grabbing the paper out of his hands, looking back at him, and taking off down the alley. They both stand there for a second, not knowing what to do.
"Well, what are you waiting for Jinko? Are you gonna let one of your own kind get away with larceny? Go get it!"
"Why don't you shut the hell up and help me?!" He yelled, already running after the cat, Akutagawa not far behind him.
"I can't believe you let a measly stray steal confidential documents right out of your hands!" The mafioso yelled, huffing and tring to grab the cat with rashomon.
"I didn't think a fucking cat was gonna snatch papers out of my hand! How did it even sneak up on us like that?!"
As they run deeper into the alley, the cat is nowhere in sight, but they eventually come out onto a street by the port. They both look around for any sight of the cat but something is off about the area. There's a patch of bright flowers next to a bench that wasn't there before. They were orange tiger lillies with purple spots on their petals, and on the bench sat a box of chocolates.
"Huh, that's weird. That wasn't there before." Atsushi said, turning toward the patch of flowers.
Akutagawa sighed exasperatedly. "We don't have time to stop and smell the flowers Jinko. Or are you gonna take responsibility for the missing information, because the mafia doesn't take kindly to carelessness- Are you even listening to me?"
Like a moth drawn to a flame, Atsushi slowly walks toward to flowers. As Akutagawa watched him get closer, a bad feeling started to form in his gut. Something was off about those flowers. He looked closer at the bench and stared curiously at the box of chocolate. He lets out a small gasp when he realizes what's going on.
He rushes over to Atsushi, grabbing his arms and tugging him back. "Don't touch that Jinko!"
Despite the tuggin on his arm, Atsushi didn't budge. He walked straight into the flower patch, dragging Akutagawa with him. When they both reached the flowers, Atsusi reached his hand out and stroked one of the petals. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a bright light. A wind picked up beneath them and knocked them off their feet and into each other. The flowers burst into bright yellow powder and the box of chocolate melted into a puddle. Then suddenly, the ground dropped out from beneath them and they started falling.
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"Are you sure this is worth it?!"
"I want that dress Bloom." Stella said, gritting her teeth as they sprinted through the streets of Magix. "We're sooo gonna get there first. Tata Betas!" She said as they turned the corner of the alley and pulled in front of Chimera and her two friends. Chimera yelled out in frustration as she started firing at the two Alfea girls with her magic.
"They're attacking us over a dress!" Bloom says as she dodges a blast of green.
"And we're not gonna take it!" Stella exclaims, firing small blasts back at them. Disregarding her surroundings, she fires in the direction of the girls chasing them; in the process, almost hitting a couple walking down the sidewalk. Chimera runs smack into the couple, knocking them, and her friends to the ground.
"That's it! I've had enough!"
Standing up, she lifted her hands into the air and started rapid firing balls of energy in a fit of rage.
Screaming, her friends tugged on her dress. "No Chimera don't!"
"Look at that. Not too big on self control is she?" Stella leered over her sholder as she and Bloom ran across the street. Tree branches and light poles were falling everywhere. Windows were shattering and broken glass was flying in every direction.
"Stella look!" Bloom cries, pointing to a balcony that just erupted in black smoke. "Those guys are falling!"
Two strange looking men fell from the smoke, free falling towards the pavement. One of them had dark hair and the other had silver.
"We've got to do someing!" Stella says, preparing to transform. But before either one of them could say "magic winx," the two men grabbed onto each others' arms and pivoted their position so that the silver haired man's back was facing the street and the dark haired man was hovering over him.
His whole body erupted in spirals of glowing, foreign script, the two girls gawking at the sight. "What's going on?!" Bloom yelled.
When they hit the ground, there was an explosion of blue light.
The two girls yelled and put their hands up to block the light as they were blinded. "What happened?!" Stella yelled as she uncovered her eyes.
When the brightness finally died down, the two men stood up, not a single scratch on either of them.
The one with the dark hair looks around at the buildings surrounding them and promptly turns to the other man.
"Where the fuck are we?