Chapter Text
A Flame In The Shadow
A Winx Next Gen Fanfic
Written By the_emo_reader
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE LIVED A FAIRY.
A fairy with hair as orange as fire, and powers as great as a dragon. The fairy lived a good life, battling the forces of evil that threatened her realm with her best friends. The fairy and her friends formed a tight friendship and dubbed themselves: “The Winx.”
Until one day when a powerful sorcerer appeared with magic to rival that of the fairy.
His name was Valtor.
The fairy harbored an immense hatred toward the wizard, for he was responsible for the death of everyone she ever loved.
Valtor had shook the fairy’s world. Her life came crashing down on her when the young wizard revealed a deeply kept secret.
He never despised her. Ever. All of his “hatred” came from his programming that his mothers, the Ancestral Witches, embedded in him.
Then the fairy did something she never expected. She fell in love with him. She fell in love with the ultimate creature of evil.
Soon, the fairy realized that no one could know of their love, for she soon discovered that she was with child.
She realized that this would make her a traitor to her friends and all the forces of good.
With this knowledge in hand, the fairy left.
She left the place she called home, she left the people she called family, she even left her powers.
But worst of all?
She left him .
The fairy left the sorcerer with the knowledge of his child.
And she never looked back.
* * *
17 years later
The girl focused her bright blue eyes on the paper in front of her. In bold letters the page had the words “Class Selection” written at the top, something that the girl was not prepared for.
She dared herself to read the rest of it, praying that she didn’t have to repeat her trigonometry class. It was the only class she got a C- in, meaning that she had barely passed.
It was late August, and the girl was getting ready to start her fourth and final year of high school. Though she was not ready to leave her mother. The poor woman would rather convince her to stay at home and go to college here, than leave for God-knows-where.
She took in a breath, and continued to scan down the page.
Okay , she thought, so far, so good.
She had all the classes she expected, considering that she selected them of course, but then there was one she did not expect or even want on the list.
AP Art and Design.
She grimaced at that. It’s not like she hated it. In fact, the girl was good at art but she would always draw the weirdest of things.
In freshman year, during her Art Fundamentals class, when everyone was actually doing the assignment, she was off drawing fairies. She would always draw fairies, and she got laughed at for it.
She drew trolls, unicorns, and all sorts of magical creatures. One could say that it was thanks to her mother’s stories that she told her when the girl was a little girl. Now, she only drew when she was alone, in her room. Evidence of that could be found on her walls. All around the room were sketches of fairies.
Once, she drew her mother as a fairy just for fun. When she showed her mother the picture, the woman looked at it with disgust, but then gave her a laugh and said in a rather fake voice: “It’s very cute, darling!”
Sighing, she tossed the document on the floor. Then she walked over to her mirror and tied her hair up in a high ponytail.
She always thought she had the weirdest hair. It started with a nice cute strawberry blonde color, but once it got past her elbows, it faded into a reddish orange. As if her drawings were not enough, when she was younger she’d also get bullied for her out of place hair.
She’d decided that she’d go for a run, but just as she was about to leave, her mother appeared in the doorway.
“Going somewhere, Em?” Her mother asked. Her mother, Bloom, was always concerned about her. Something about “danger lurking at every corner.”
“As a matter of fact, mom, I am. Just a little run. I need to relax. Got my class schedule and I wasn’t really prepared for it.” The girl, Ember, replied to her mother.
“Ah.” Bloom frowned, a knowing look in that now disappointed face. She always loved the fact that her daughter loved art as much as she did.
Bloom glanced at the floor-ridden paper and sighed. Once, when Ember questioned her on her high school experience she said it was “almost magical,” but when she found out she was pregnant, the magic of high school managed to fade away.
“Oh well, too bad you can’t be a world famous artist like me!” Bloom tried to cheer her daughter up as she exited the room.
Ember continued to walk into their kitchen, Bloom following short behind.
“You’re not even that famous, mom,” Ember quipped back, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge in the process.
“Hey! I own a gallery for crying out loud! And, I paint. Remember?” The fire haired woman pointed at a painting mounted on the wall behind her.
In what Ember had dubbed to be the “Classic Bloom” style, was a painting of a being made purely of fire and another being made purely of ice. Ember had been the one to name the painting when she was younger. She named it: “Magic of the Elements.” It was also her favorite of her mothers paintings.
“Right. I remember. Now if you excuse me. I’ve got a run to go do.”
She turned and walked to the door, water bottle in hand.
“Ember?” Bloom called out from behind her.
“Yes mom?” Ember turned to face her with her hand on the door.
“Please…please keep art on your roster. It would mean a lot to me if you did.”
“I’ll consider it.” Ember said.
Then, she turned and walked out the door.
* * *
She often wondered what he would think of her.
Bloom pondered on this everyday.
What would he even say to her? She’d think to herself randomly throughout the day. What would he say about me?
Sometimes when she was clumsy or mad she would chastise herself, mimicking his voice. “You’ve done it again, Little Fairy.”
Though she’d never say that aloud around Ember. Ember would most likely call her crazy and “too caught up in her own stories.”
In fact, she was. Bloom could see it in her paintings; see it in her stories.
She never wanted to admit it, but she missed it.
She missed Magix.
She missed her powers, her friends, even her family on Domino.
She most definitely missed him .
But no. She could not go back. Ever.
Once she left she knew what would happen. Her guardianship over both the Magix Dimension and her homeplant of Domino were revoked. She was now an Ex-Guardian.
A traitor.
As much as she missed it, Bloom had to stay. For Ember. She couldn’t risk her finding out about her past. And him . And…the things that happened. And how her best friends in the whole universe haven’t seen her in seventeen years.
She also had to stay for herself. She couldn’t risk going back and turning into…well, a monster, again.
Suffice to say, she was scared. But not afraid.
Bloom always had a lot of fight in her. That’s why she left in the first place. To fight for her daughter's life. Which was a fight she won. But at what cost?
The cost, she decided, was her secrets.
And she had plenty of secrets worth keeping.
* * *
Days had passed since Bloom had pleaded with her daughter to keep AP Art on her Class Selection list.
Ember asked herself what on Earth her mother got in her head that made her decide to keep it.
She asked herself that question as she sat down at her desk during fifth period, which was in fact AP Art and Design.
When the teacher arrived and had asked everyone to take out a pad of drawing paper and a few pens and pencils, it took so much of Ember’s energy not to snap and flip her desk over.
She knew at that moment that she didn’t like art as much as she thought she would.
If only to spite her mother.
* * *
If one looked past the window of the two story school that Ember went to, they’d find two kids standing on the roof of the building across the street.
They looked fairly annoyed, and their faces showed that they would rather be anywhere but there.
“Why must we do this? He treats us like lap dogs, not his most trusted apprentices.” One of the kids, a girl, sighed. Her face displayed a look of authority, despite where she was. If you asked her, Earth was a despicable place.
“Don’t ask me, I’m just here on his orders.” The male next to her replied, also rather annoyed.
“I don’t understand why he put us up to this at all. It’s not our job to play messenger. He should’ve sent that Ogre of his.” The girl said as she continued to watch the building across the street, waiting for their other associate to appear and tell them the coast was clear. “Gosh. It’s been ten minutes. Does it really take that long to check for armed guards, Leon!”
“No.” A voice said from behind them. The two figures turned around to face the voice. They were met with the face of Leon, standing with his arms crossed across his famous leather duster, smiling. “It took two. I got…distracted.”
Of course he did. Thought the girl. Figures. Send him to do one job and he gets “distracted.”
“And did this “distraction” happen to be a girl with magical powers?” The girl, who was clearly the leader of this little trio, questioned.
“No. I was watching a class. An art class. Earth school is very different. They don’t even have swordplay classes or magic classes.” Leon defended himself, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Right.” The girl eyed him.
“Guys, relax! When have I ever let you down, Winter?” Leon put his hands up.
“I can think of many times,” the other boy whispered in the girl’s, Winter’s, ear.
“Thunder, c'mon man! Don’t be like that!” Leon smiled at his cousin.
The three of them would always play around like this. Leon especially. Mainly on missions. Missions exactly like this one.
Winter had finally had enough of her cousin's antics. “You know something, Oblivion? You really seem like a specialist right now. Especially with that cocky, flirty attitude. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you really were a specialist. And plus, it’s what all the girls are into nowadays. I think your mother would agree.” Winter sneered, purposely hoping to get a rise out of the young wizard.
“Hey! Leave my mother out of this, or so help me I’ll-” Leon started. Everyone at Cloud Tower knew that he hated when people talked smack about his mother. He loved her more than anything in the world, and when that wretched fire fairy murdered her in cold blood a year or so after his birth, he knew that at that moment he’d kill anyone who made fun of the powerful mind witch Darcy.
“You’ll what?” The white haired ice witch challenged.
“I’ll…I’ll batch the mission.” Leon said smugly.
“ You wouldn’t dare ,” Winter jeered at her older cousin.
“Watch me.”
Leon and Winter stood face to face, each looking like a lion challenging the other for their land.
“Oh, do shut up,” the third member of their party quipped at them. “I would think that he would rather we find the girl than sit here and argue amongst ourselves.”
“Put a cork in it, Thunder!” The competitive cousins shouted in unison, not bothering to look at their third cousin.
“You really should heed my advice,” Thunder said, sitting on the ledge of the roof. From his spot he could see a group of students leaving the building across the street. “It’s lunchtime, girls.”
Winter and Leon finally turned to face him. They leaned down on the ledge to see the group leaving, and smiles spread atop their anger-ridden faces.
Leon’s smile went from a pleased one to a sadistic one.
“So,” he said, his eerie smile spoke for him. “What’s the plan?
* * *
After sitting through that awful art class, Ember searched for the nearest trash can and decided that she would throw away her art.
It’s not like she did the assignment the teacher wanted her to do. She had just blown through the whole class doodling and staring out the window.
She didn’t end up finding a trash can. Apparently the art room doesn’t have one near its vicinity. Something about “wanting everyone’s art to be appreciated.”
Talk about a bunch of malarkey. Ember was quite annoyed by the day away, and this didn’t help. If anything, by throwing away the doodles, she would’ve felt the only joy she’d feel all day. Well, minus the fact that it was lunch and she wasn’t currently confined to a classroom.
Gardenia High was a fairly average school, with many courtyards to hang out, but since Ember was currently a senior, she was allowed to leave. For a few minutes. Any time away from school was good in her mind.
She took advantage of her upperclassmen ship, flung open the doors of the school, and walked out of the building. Thinking this was the right time to do it, she took the piece of paper from her doodle book, and proceeded to crumple it. Then she carelessly tossed it behind her.
Not caring anymore, Ember started walking down the steps of the school. That was, until she heard a voice behind her say: “My, what a beautiful thing to throw away. Would be a shame if someone threw it away.”
Ember whipped around, her long hair slapping her bare forearm. She turned and faced the voice and was met with the face of a dark skinned girl with brown wavy hair and medium blue eyes. She had a frown on her face as she looked at Ember’s fairy drawings.
The girl's gaze traveled to Ember, and Ember went red with embarrassment.
“That is none of your business. How would you like it if someone complimented a very bad dance routine you did or something?” She stuttered out.
The girl looked her up and down before saying, “I for one, am an amazing dancer. Now, I think it’s best if you come with me.”
Ember stared at the girl in confusion. “I-What?” She blinked.
“Don’t ask questions. All you need to know is-”
The girl wasn’t able to finish her blunt statement before a loud boom was heard from the other side of the school.
“Oh great.” She breathed.
Ember looked up at the smoke, coming from the art room. She stared at it in silence.
“Look,” The girl sighed. “Go hide. I’ll come find you after this is over.”
“What? What about you? Shouldn’t you come with me and hide too? It could be a fire.” Ember had no idea why she was so concerned over a kid she never met before, much less never saw at school.
“Don’t worry about me,” The girl yelled as she started running into the school. “Go hide!”
And so Ember hid….
For about 15 minutes.
She realized she hated hiding. Especially when her school was in trouble.
By the time she exited from her hiding spot and found the school again, everyone had evacuated. If she wanted to enter the school, and she had do idea why she would want to, she’d have to fight her way to the front of the large mass outside the front doors.
Miraculously she found herself at the doors within record time. Despite everyone being outside, she didn’t see any police cars out front.
Plus, it didn’t help that the loud booming noises were still going on.
Ember remembered the girl she met minutes before the noise began.
“Don’t ask questions.”
Ember sighed. “Alright,” She said, “no questions.”
She then entered the school, and no one seemed to notice.
* * *
TO BE CONTINUED