CROWN ON THE GROUND ━ FATED: THE WINX SAGA | ✓

VIII.

As much as Mal believed in Beatrix's plan she wasn't ready for people to know her full story yet, even she was still processing it.

"So, you think that..." Bloom trails off, her voice cracking. "my family was killed here?"

"Not think, know. Cause everyone here died, except me...and you," Beatrix confesses, her face filled with pain and grief.

"I don't understand. How could you know?" Bloom asks, disbelief still on her face.

"I saw it. I saw the bodies, the death. Then someone scooped me up and carried me away. As we ran, I saw them, walking through the carnage like conquering heroes."

"Who did you see?" The red head asks in horror.

"Dowling, Silva, Harvey."

Bloom shakes her head. "You were a baby. How would you know if that was real? How would you know..." She stutters.

"Cause the woman who saved me used her magic to burn the memory into my mind. Sound familiar?"

"Rosalind? She rescued you?"

"She rescued us. She had a crisis of conscience, couldn't bring herself to murder innocent people, no matter how many Burned Ones they could kill in the process. But Dowling, Silva, and Harvey didn't agree. They staged a coup, carried out the mission."

"No, I know that they've lied to me, Beatrix, but they're not monsters."

Malvolia groans in frustration. "Oh my god, look around you Bloom! They did this, the proof is right in front of you. They are monsters, whether you believe it or not."

Beatrix grabs Mal's hand, rubbing her thumb on the back of it to comfort her. The auburn-hair girl knew this must be a lot for her. This past couple of days have been blow after blow for the brunette, and it doesn't help that the fire fairy was sitting their denying their story. Their trauma.

The three girls watch as the barrier restores itself. They had back to the car, Beatrix sitting in the driver's seat and Mal taking the back. The auburn-hair girl starts the car and continues on to the path back to Alfea.

"After you asked about Rosalind at the party, I wasn't sure what to make of you. Then I found out you're a changeling, did some math and started to put two and two together, but I wasn't sure until today."

"Does this mean that you're one too? A changeling?" Bloom inquires, her arm leaning against the car window.

"Rosalind left me in the care of a close friend while she stashed you in the First World," Beatrix explains.

Because my birth parents, my real parents, were...they're dead," Bloom states softly.

"It's a lot. I carried that memory for years before I was able to finally understand what it meant," the auburn-hair girl confesses.

"Why would Dowling bring me to the Otherworld if she killed my family?"

"Not sure she's put the pieces together yet," Bea replies.

"And you should keep it that way," Malvolia adds on from the back seat.

"Which is exactly something you'd say if you two were making this up, to keep me from comparing notes."

Mal rolls her eyes. "Okay Bloom, go ahead and confront murderers about murdering people. Let's see how well that will work out for you," Mal tells her sarcastically.

Bloom glares flatly at the girl. "I don't need sarcasm."

Mal smirks. "And yet, you're getting it. Tough luck."