Chapter Text
Recovery.
Recovering.
That’s what they’re supposed to do after a war, after a loss, after a win. For some, it’s easy to put the past behind them and face the future with renewed hope, but for others, the most that they can ask for is to be able to push down the pain and try. Try not to see the spaces where those lost should be, not to spend every minute feeling on guard. After war, after fighting in a war, one has to relearn to be normal.
Normal, what a funny concept, one that has no place nor meaning. Not at Alfea, not anymore, not after everything. Musa doesn’t feel normal, it’s not her fault, no one does.
All of her friends, her little found family, made it out of everything alive. She should be grateful, happy even, but she’s just tired. Emotions have been heightened so much over these past few months, the end of the war, and the defeat of not only the burned ones but Rosalind as well didn’t subdue anyone’s emotions. Not that she expected it to, when you are in the middle of a conflict, you can’t process, can’t truly understand what all happened, but now that the dust has settled, and they are all just expected to get back to normal, it’s like no one can.
And just because they made it out doesn’t mean that they are okay. Stella wakes up most nights screaming, Bloom has had a few moments where she thinks there’s something behind her and has lit something on fire. Aisha is still hypervigilant and spends most of the night thinking something is going to happen, so she plans for the worst. Terra slips behind her mask of indifference that she used when she was treating the injured, she doesn’t even realize that she’s done it half of the time. Flora, fierce and sweet, her gut reaction to being scared means that more than a few people have almost been strangled in the last few weeks. And Musa feels all of it, feels all of their fear, fear that it’s not over, that the peace that they have fought for is not real. Musa doesn’t take their emotions, not anymore, she learned the hard way during the war how that doesn’t end anywhere good.
The boys, their specialists didn’t fare much better, Sky is always on guard, but he still tries to be as supportive of the girls as he can. Riven is complicated, he fared worse than anyone else during everything, his war was as much in his mind as it was on a battlefield.
The haunted look in everyone’s eyes is going to take a while to fade, if it ever does.
Musa thinks that, objectively, she is faring okay, even with having to deal with all of the emotions of everyone else.
There are times when Riven’s nightmares wake her up and the hate that she feels towards Rosalind burns brighter, and then she’ll see the dark purple circles under everyone’s eyes, and she’s glad that Rosalind died painfully. She revels in the screams that Rosalind let out as she died, the screams that echo in her mind when she tries to sleep, and wishes that it had been worse for her, as she deserved nothing less.
Cleaning up after the war was something that everyone could focus on to get away from their thoughts. It helped to see the effects of Rosalind’s occupation of Alfea burned away. Literally.
Rosalind had erected banners all over the school declaring her control everywhere you looked. And with every banner that was yanked down and burnt the reality that they won, that she was gone, that they were safe became more and more real. With every scrub to the stone, clearing the walls of the scorches left from the burned ones, the school took a breath, clear and free.
The Winx suite was scheduled to help with the refurbishing of the school today. Getting ready today was more exciting than most mornings. All of the girls wanted to see the influence of the war erased from their home, so they were ready to get out there to help.
“Bloom, how are you wearing your hair?” Stella asked from the bathroom.
“Um, probably just in a ponytail,” Bloom responded from her seat on the couch.
A knock on the door alerts the girls to the specialists coming into the suite. Sky beelining to Bloom on the couch, and Riven making his way to the kitchenette to make Musa and himself two cups of coffee.
“We need to leave in 5 minutes if we want to be on time,” Aisha says from her and Bloom’s room.
“All of us are ready but Stella,” Terra said. The room falls into silence, bar the sound of Riven’s spoon on the walls of the mugs as he stirs them, adding everything to Musa’s coffee that she likes. He doesn’t say anything as he makes his way into Musa and Terra’s shared room, unsurprised to see his girlfriend perched on her bed, headphones on and a notebook in hand. Riven carefully places the mugs down on the bedside table next to Musa’s bed as he tapped her foot to rouse her from her intense focus on whatever she was writing.
Musa’s head shoots up at the feeling, a grin breaking out on her face when she sees her partner standing in front of her. “Hey, you’re here early,” she says, taking off her headphones.
“Got here a few minutes ago, but I made us coffee before I came in here.” He said picking up the mugs again and handing one to the sitting girl.
“Ooh thank you.” she says, taking a sip of the steaming mug in front of her, “you gonna sit or are you just gonna stand there like a creeper, hovering over my bed?” she asks with a coy smile.
“I’ll stand, we have to leave in a few minutes, Aisha already started her countdown.”
“Ah, yeah, better not then.” She closes her notebook and sets it to the side, keeping her headphones around her neck though.
“You know what section we’re working on today?”
“Um, last I heard, the last group almost got done with the east wing last week, so I imagine we’ll start there and finish what they couldn’t.”
“Ah, so we get to take all the glory then, nice.”
Musa laughs, chugging the rest of her coffee before setting it to the side and taking the hand that Riven has out for her.
“Ready?” he asks, suddenly serious.
“Yeah, you?”
“Never,” he says leaning in to kiss her.
Musa melts into the kiss, treasuring how he feels against her, savoring everything about him even though she doesn’t have to worry that every kiss will be their last now.
“Good morning,” Musa says softly as they break apart.
“Good morning Musa.” He says, resting his forehead against hers. The two of them basking in the comfortable silence between them. They break apart as they hear the rest of the group start getting up in the living room.
“Everyone ready?” Aisha asks as she exits her room and shuts the doors, “Stella?”
“Yes, yes, I’m ready, let’s go clean,” Stella says as she exits the shared bathroom.
“Wait! Don’t forget your work gloves, the burned ones char is impossible to get off your hands completely.” Flora says as she comes out of her and Stella’s shared room with a box in her hands that contains the group's work gloves. Each of them takes their pair before heading towards the door.
“We’re meeting Silva at the fountain right?” Riven asks Sky.
“Yeah, I checked with him before turning in last night, and then we’re heading to the east wing.”
“Told you,” Musa says as she bumps Riven’s shoulder.
The rest of the walk is spent with laughter and light conversations, the group feeling lighter than they have in a while.
Silva is waiting by the fountain as the group approaches, adding to the growing group of students assigned to clean and restore the school today.
“Alright, looks like we have everyone, Ms. Dowling couldn’t make it today, but she and I decided that the best thing for all of you to start on was finishing what is left in the east wing. It’s not too much, char on the outside, some banners, and a bit of Rosalind’s paranoid scribblings on the walls. It shouldn’t take too long, and then we’ll find somewhere else for you to work after we stop for lunch.”
“I am going to split you up into your usual groups and assign you tasks.” Silva begins to rattle off the groups and their assignments. The Winx suite and the two specialists are assigned to a room on the inside. They make their way inside and follow Silva’s directions to the room that they are assigned to work on. A room that looks like it was at one time a study of types for Rosalind. It has papers strewn about, and her banners proudly hung all around the room, and displayed, in what she would have described, as the most regal way possible.
The group shudders as they walk in, Rosalind left a heavy imprint in this room, and it’s almost completely preserved as if she never really left. The joyful atmosphere of the morning instantly tanks as the group gets to work. The instant change of emotion makes Musa shy back against the wall in pain.
As she hits the wall unexpectedly, she loses her balance and gets tangled in one of Rosalind’s banners hung on the wall. She falls taking the banner down with her, yanking it off of the wall suddenly.
Her friends shout in concern, a few reaching forward to help her. She brings her hands up to her face and starts to bring the icy white fabric away, but as she does, it reveals Riven before her, and just for a second he is swabbed in icy white once more. In the next second Musa is clutching her head as the flashbacks start rushing in, unable to stop them as her friends and partner rush to help her and go get help.