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Sky and Bloom stood back to back in the forest. Both had assumed Poppy would follow them but since she wasn't currently with them, they had presumed she had gone to get help. Sky felt slightly guilty that he was thankful he was with Bloom in the forest and not Poppy since he didn't know if his heart could take it if Poppy was in that much danger.
Both looking one way they took no notice of the dark figure with red eyes up in the tree. The burned one jumped out at them and the two teenagers spun around to face the burned one which swiped at them both instantly knocking Bloom to the ground. Sky managed to block two hits with his sword before he was knocked down too.
The burned one refocused on Bloom and raised its mutated hand to end her life but at the last moment they heard Stella command, "Close your eyes!" Both Sky and Bloom did exactly as she said as Stella held both her hands put emitting a powerful white light which made the burned one stumble back and attempt to cover its face.
Once the light was gone, Terra held out two hands and vines wrapped around its legs so it couldn't advance on them whilst Sky and Bloom hurried to get up. Bloom threw out her hands expelling a large beam of fire and called for her friend, "Aisha!" Aisha nodded forcing her hands out the same way Bloom did and water mixed with the fire creating a field of steam around the monster.
During the time that the burned one was distracted by the steam, Sky snuck up behind it and as the beast turned around pushed his sword threw its stomach and twisted the blade before harshly yanking it out.
It dropped to the floor and the five girls approached in slow steps towards in which time Sky took deep breaths making sure it didn't move. Musa's eyes glowed involuntarily as she could still feel something coming from it and held out her hand to stop them, "Wait. I don't think it's-"
The girls took panicked steps back as it got back on its legs and before it could attack again its chest burst with orange light, it squealed and hissed before finally crumpling to the floor.
"No, it wasn't dead. It is now." The headmistress spoke from behind them her eyes glowing a steely grey before it faded. They all let out sighs of relief and Sky sheathed his sword.
Terra stepped forward looking at Sky and Bloom, "Where's Poppy?"
They all looked around and noticed that the cheeky earth fairy was in fact not with them. Sky turned to the girls confused, "I thought she went and got you?" He asked the girls getting more panicked as the colour seemed to drain from their faces.
"No, we came because of Bloom's text," Terra shook her head not smiling at all which was unusual since even when she felt socially awkward she still had a smile on her face, "she's not here? Where is she then?" That question remained unanswered as they glanced at the dead burned one and dread seemed to fill them all.
Poppy was walking in a direction she didn't know. It was further away from the others who she could feel were all in the forest. It was like this overloading rush of energy and her eyes never dimmed from green, all the trees, bushes and flowers were all in her service. She knew her friends were safe but wasn't sure about herself in a moment when one of the trees to her left cried out in pain from having a branch snapped off at a strong force.
Yes, she felt immensely secure about being surrounded by nature but she felt as if she was being hunted.
There's another
She couldn't make out most whispers but that one was clear as day and it made her stand still, twirling in a circle but sadly glowing eyes didn't mean night vision. She knew exactly what it was referring to but couldn't pinpoint which direction it was coming from since in the back of her mind she had focused on her friends and her friends were all moving fast and making lots of noise and vibrations confusing her slightly.
RUN
Listening to the advice she took off in a random direction and sprinted faster than ever. She grew more panicked and her eyes flashed between green and brown as her eyes looked down to make sure she wasn't tripping and jumping over objects such as logs. She doubted she could fight one alone even surrounded by nature and her only hope now was reaching the barrier. She pushed her legs faster and had never been more thankful for Oliver forcing her out of bed and making her run.
She glanced sideways and as the chase progressed she saw a dark figure gaining on her in the corner of her eye and it was far too large to be human. As she ran she threw her arm out and walls of earth raised from the ground slowing it down. As she got further she noticed the blue shimmering and was thankful.
What shocked her and made her widen her eyes was that all her friends, Sky and the headmistress were standing by the barrier yelling for her to hurry. The headmistress stepped forward slightly and prepared herself if she needed to defend. That distraction seemed to be enough for the dirt walls to stop rising and letting the burned one catch up again, and with one sweep of its arm she was thrown into a tree.
Poppy rolled onto her side and gasped for breath. Seeing the beast run for her again Poppy did the only thing that came to mind and protected her head curling into a ball. The burned one brought its arms down to finish her and at the first strike the earth shook and Poppy didn't feel any pain which confused her.
She looked up to see herself protected in a cage with reinforced vines and strong dirt bases. Every time the burned one took a swing down she reinforced the vines so they were nearly the thickness of her thigh. The headmistress was the first to arrive and she quickly and efficiently killed the burned one.
Poppy felt her shoulders sag in pure relief and exhaustion, her arms dropped as did the cage and she fell forward onto her knees panting, "Never doing exercise again." Terra rushed to her sister and hugged her tightly, in fact so tightly that Poppy felt her lungs concaving. She lightly patted her sisters back and over her shoulder her eyes connected with Sky's.
'You okay?' he mouthed to her and she nodded with a smile before burying her face in her younger sisters neck. Stella watched the interaction with a frown on her face. She couldn't bring herself to hate Poppy though, sure she called Stella annoying names but she was always cheery, also effortlessly stunning and kind. So even though she was angry at the interaction they shared, she focused on the small feeling of relief she felt for her room mate.
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The clicking of heels brought the attention of the dorm mates over to their headmistress who was storming towards them, "That the lot of you and Headmaster Silva are still alive does not change how thoughtless you were. We'll discuss consequences in the morning." The headmistress spoke firmly spinning on her heel and walking away.
Poppy didn't really give a shit about the consequences since she had probably gotten worse punishments with Oliver.
"Is she, like, detention pissed off or expulsion pissed off?" Aisha questioned nervously.
"I'm going with the first one, but only because of the tiny bit of pride I also felt in there." Musa replied holding up a small space in-between them to indicate exactly how tiny the feeling was. They all smiled at each other but quickly grew awkward as Sky walked out.
"We should get upstairs." Bloom spoke to the others who agreed quickly and walked away up the stairs.
"Run away from the awkward tension," Poppy nodded as she walked at one of fastest paces before fazing threw the wall very aware of the eyes boring into her back, "love that."
Poppy reached their dorm the fastest by no surprise and threw off her shirt walking to the mirror. She gently inspected her side and grazed her fingers over the angry blue bruise that was beginning to form, another reason why she couldn't be bothered to use the stairs since she was in pain and refrained from wincing every time she moved.
She pulled off her clothes and gently scrubbed herself with a damp towel, getting all the dirt and grime off of her, Poppy would shower in the morning since she couldn't be bothered now. She grabbed her matching iron man pyjamas and slipped them on. Poppy brushed her teeth and couldn't find the energy to do much more so she climbed into bed and shifted so she was laying on her non-injured side.
After about thirty minutes she felt her bed shift and she woke up to face Terra who had tears streaming down her face. Poppy didn't need to know what happened but wrapped her arms around her sister as she buried her face in her sisters chest. After a few minutes of calming down Terra explained to her what happened and showed her Beatrix's story and Poppy was fuming.
She didn't care what any of their excuses were, she was going to make their lives miserable.
Sam fazed through the wall into his elder sisters bedroom only a minute later, he frowned when he saw her cradling their little sister in her arms and he got into the double bed the other side of Terra. They may not always act the closest but the siblings would support each other one hundred percent.
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NOTE - hello my angels hope you're all healthy! Not much to say but that's a wrap for episode three! please comment your thoughts and I love reading them.