As soon as Caroline arrived in Terre Sapphique, she could have a day in a way she always wanted to have, with the freedom to walk outside, make friends, play with other people, meet the other mothers, it was all a paradise for little Carol, the 10 year old girl already had an idea of who she would want as the best mother, She didn't want for anything in the world to go back to Lesbiland, knowing that there she would suffer again at the hands of Julia, but she also knew that if she didn't go back she would end up making more people suffer, feeling responsible and guilty for this kind of thing.
Maria that day went to the French GP to qualify, where she got another pole position in her brilliant career, the next day it would be the race, everything was leading to another victory for Du Nord who was getting closer and closer to winning the hex-championship, getting closer to Sarah Campbell's record.
At Lesbiland castle no one missed Caroline and Beth, at most Heather paid a visit to the little girl's room at Julia's request to see if she hadn't run away, running into Veronica and Dana who were disguised as the two, the Tyrrell just walked straight past, looked at them both and left, which was a bit of luck for their side.
August 12, 1764, the day of the French GP arrives, that day Mary was sleeping elsewhere, preparing for the race, while Diana and the children were sleeping in Terre Sapphique, Caroline was also there. The day dawns the sun's rays hit the room where little Carol was sleeping and she is soon also awakened by Beth.
- Come on Carol, wake up.
Beth says.
- Hmmm... Just a little more... I don't want to go back to Lesbiland...
Says Carol grumbling.
- Please don't make Veronica and Dana suffer the consequences of our actions... We have a long road ahead of us.
Beth says.
Caroline gets up grumbling, she didn't want to have to go back, but she had to. After getting up, she goes to the kitchen where Victoria has prepared pancakes with maple syrup for Carol, as well as for the other nine daughters of Diana and Mary and little Hope, who were all eating together for the last time before saying goodbye to the little girl.
Sarah didn't let her eyes off Caroline, as if in awe of the girl's beauty, who had double colored hair, red on top, blonde at the ends, and red and purple eyes that were even more enchanting to Cavendish, who had never seen a girl so different, something exotic and beautiful at the same time.
After breakfast, Caroline and Beth said goodbye to each of the women, Carol even hugged Sarah, who blushed immediately, besides being a real gay panic statue. After this hug she kissed the little Cavendish girl's cheek, who blushed like a tomato. Right after that Caroline hugged Victoria and Esther.
- Mama Victoria... Mama Esther... Goodbye...
Says Caroline.
Caroline waves to everyone, gets on the broom with Beth and goes towards Lesbiland, after all it wasn't goodbye, she would go back there someday, she would be able to depending on the situation and as Julia didn't care much for her daughter, things would be much easier. After a long time they arrive in Lesbiland, enter the castle, where they pass normally on the way to Carol's room, when they enter there they find Veronica and Dana already awake and little Dana was having fun with some of Carol's toys.
- It wasn't so bad, we didn't have any problems here, Dana actually loved being able to play with her toys Carol, she never had toys like this in her life...
Veronica says.
- Do you want to keep them?
Says Caroline.
- They can't catch Carol... If Julia catches them with their toys, she'll think it was a robbery, so the best thing to do is just...
Beth says until Caroline aims her wand at the toys.
Caroline uses a spell that doubles the toys and then shrinks them, after doing this spell the girl's nose bleeds a little, but she is relieved, Veronica and Dana take the shrunk versions of the toys and put them in a baggie, so they would think they were just carrying a bag of coins.
- Caroline, don't use magic like that.
Says Beth worriedly as Caroline wiped the bleeding part of her nose.
- I must use my magic to do good... Sarah and Joan taught me to use magic in a more controlled way, we were doing some spells, they even gave me some magic to control it better... Now let's get changed.
Says Caroline.
Veronica takes the toy bag and puts it around her waist. Little Dana hugs Caroline and begins to cry with happiness at Carol's kindness.
- Thank you Caroline, you are an amazing person.
Says Dana.
- I only did what was necessary, you deserve this more than ever, I know how hard your mother has a job as a servant in this place, oh and I know how she suffers at the hands of Scarlet.
Says Caroline.
- We live in the peasant village, so we are kind of used to a life like this... We can't even afford toys like this... You have no idea how much you have done for us... Anyway, we're going, thank you Beth, I'm very grateful to meet little Caroline...
Says Veronica stroking Caroline's head.
Veronica and Dana leave Caroline's room and head back to the peasant village, luckily they didn't run into Julia and Scarlet halfway there, since it was quite possible that they were asleep at that time in the morning. Carol had a dream come true when she visited Terre Sapphique and also knew that this would not be her first time there, that they would go more and more times.
Time goes by, the time for the French GP of 1764 arrives, it was an event that filled the grandstands, an intense movement, and all because of a runner named Maria Du Nord, who caused a lot of excitement with her incredible and dominating performances. The flying Scot.
- Ladies and Gentlemen! Witches and magical creatures! We are gathered here for another race of the World Broom Racing Championship! We are here for the seventh race of the year! The French GP 1764! At the start we have Maria Du Nord! The favorite to win the race and also the title! With four wins this season! Maybe a fifth! The flying Scot!
Says Vivian.
The witches soon start going to the pits leaving their brooms on the race track, with this the start is signaled, with the lights being turned on.
- And the start is on! Go! Go! The witches will show that they are the best runners in the world! And so we begin the 1764 French Grand Prix!
Says Vivian.
Lap 1 of 30, Maria starts in front, and little by little she is getting more and more distant, showing that she would win that race, again Du Nord had everything to lead in a victory, the second place was Yennifer Von Tripp (99), she was overtaken by Valkrye Hofferson (22), starting a dispute of positions between them on that lap.
Far away in Terre Sapphique, Diana and the nine children were cheering for Maria, for her to win the race as usual, it was all a euphoria for the Du Nord. Everyone was cheering and saying "Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria", even the whole town was also watching the race in the central square.
Lap 3 of 30, Yennifer Von Tripp takes the second position, until then Maria was leading comfortably, opening almost 3 seconds per lap, practically taking the limit of the grip in each of the circuit's curves.
- And here we go! The race is going as normal as ever! The Flying Scotsman in the lead! And Yennifer Von Tripp is doing great! Woah! Looks like Valkrye Hofferson is having trouble with her broomstick, it's smoking! I think she's having trouble with the magic orb.
Says Vivian
Yennifer stops in the pits where her team fixes the magic broom orb, from there she sets off on a recovery run, as she has come from twelfth position, going all out to take the lead of the race.
Lap 5 of 30, Maria was still in the lead comfortably, she was showing all the speed she could, on that lap she was also starting to overtake some of the witches in last position who were taking laps from Du Nord. They already had laggards on the very first lap of the race.
- How fast! Maria Du Nord is already passing the laggards! This race is one of the most perfect of her career!
Says Vivian.
Lap 10 of 30, a third of the race had already passed, Yennifer was on a recovery run, even getting into fifth position, but still getting lapped by Maria who was lapping Valkrye.
On the main pit lane Valkrye gives way to Maria to pass, as does Yennifer, but just as Hofferson was passing Von Tripp, the German witch's broom went up in smoke and the Swede didn't have time to brake in time, hitting her from behind with the broom losing control and flying into the audience.
Valkrye's broom hits a wooden barrier and explodes with everything, killing Hofferson instantly, but Yennifer's broom ended up causing more damage, as it escaped the track and flew straight into the audience, the explosion was in the middle of the bleachers, killing Von Tripp on the spot besides many spectators, some of the pieces of the broom as aerodynamic appendages ended up flying out and with that decapitated some people. It was a real disaster, people were screaming in despair.
Maria was on the parallel straight that overlooked the grandstand and upon seeing the scene Du Nord is horrified, to the point where she pulls her broom over on the track, jumps over the wall into the pits and grabs a normal broom. She abandoned the race and started casting water spells in an attempt to disperse that fire.
- Ladies and gentlemen... Disaster has struck... Yennifer Von Tripp and Valkrye Hofferson... They are dead... Maria Du Nord has dropped out of the race? What is Maria Du Nord doing? Is she going to save people? What the... Now that's a human witch! What a heroine! In addition to being the Flying Scotsman, she is the Scottish hero!
Says Vivian.
- (Shit! How could this happen? Races shouldn't have disasters like this... People died here! I'll never race again if it's to continue to be dangerous like this... Let's go! Save these people soon!)
Maria was throwing water and also rescuing people, getting them off the track. The race soon had to be interrupted by a red flag, Du Nord's only priority at that moment was to save the lives of the people who were injured, so much so that they healed as many as they could, but there were many bodies, dozens of people seriously injured to the point of not being able to bear it and dying.
- No! No! No! No! No!
Says Maria in despair.
- Flying Scot saves us.
A group of isolated spectators in the bleachers say.
That stand was almost completely consumed by flames, Maria goes quickly with her broom to take her chances, even going out and rescuing the group of spectators, risking her life. That moment was flashing in crystal balls all over the world, they were all watching that disaster.
In Terre Sapphique at the Du Nord family residence, Diana could barely cover her face from all nine girls, some were horrified by that scene, because besides having fire, there was also a lot of blood and dead people, but they were also cheering for Mary who stopped the race just to save people's lives.
- Mama Maria is a hero!
Sarah says.
- I would do the same thing! What is a race close to saving people's lives!
Joan says.
Back at the French GP, the race was closed, which counted only the results of the crash lap, Maria took the victory and took only half the points as only a third of the race took place, the podium ceremony was postponed until after all the people were rescued, as well as the track being cleared.
Mary was saving as many lives as she could, the fire was getting under control, with witches casting water spells on the fire, the bodies of the two dead runners were removed from the scene. As well as the 128 victims of the disaster, 16 people were decapitated by the debris of the aerodynamic appendages of Yennifer's broom, 70 died instantly due to the explosion of the broom, and the other 42 victims were due to the debris that flew everywhere, some by perforation, others died of asphyxiation from the smoke, and a few from burns generated by the fire.
During the podium ceremony after all this was over, Maria went about carrying Yennifer's hat in her arms, she made a point of wearing the runner's hat in place of her own, just as she remained silent throughout the ceremony, even placing the woman's hat on top of the first place trophy.
- We have lost lives because of this race.... I come to announce that from now on I will never again get on a racing broom, unless the sport is safer... 130 lives are gone today... 130 people... 130 humans... All for the spectacle of watching brooms going at breakneck speeds.... I won't race anymore if atrocities like this continue to roll on.... We have been losing female racers every year to accidents for years now! Until racing safety changes and improves... I Maria Du Nord will not race anymore! I don't want to continue in this witch grinder... I don't want to be a victim of it anymore! I don't want anyone to be a victim of racing! I hope these 130 deaths have taught the organizers that we must get much better at safety regarding race brooms!
Maria says in a more serious tone
Some of the people clap for Maria's speech, including the commentator Vivian, the runner in third position Fabiana Christo even puts her hand on Du Nord's shoulder agreeing with what she had said.
- And it looks like Maria Du Nord will end up retiring from broomsticks.... Unfortunately the Flying Scotswoman has a point, she is right.... We must make brooms safer.
Says Vivian.
- Maria you are right, the brooms are very dangerous, but please... Don't stop, a talented and amazing runner like you fills the stands.
Says Fabiana.
- I have already made my decision Fabiana, I have nine daughters waiting for me... I have already proven myself... I have already proven myself as one of the greatest broom runners, I am already happy with my results... I pass the torch to you to be the future champion... I will take care of my family.
Says Maria with her hand on Fabiana's shoulder.
Mary from the circuit leaves back to Terre Sapphique leaving an air of mystery and farewell throughout the circuit, all eyes turned to the Scottish runner, who was completely sure to end her career.
A few minutes later she arrived in Terre Sapphique, where she was welcomed by all the townspeople, who welcomed Du Nord very well, celebrating yet another victory for the redhead, the last for the Flying Scot. She smiled a little, but only briefly, passing by the villagers, she arrived home, being welcomed by her wife and nine daughters.
- Mommy! Mommy! The heroine is here!
The children say, going toward Maria.
Mary soon embraces the girls and starts stroking them, while Diana goes to her wife and gives her a kiss, which makes Du Nord even smile a little more, since she was still very down. Only Cavendish could get any smile out of the traumatized redhead, she saw scenes of horror, she saw scenes of death, remembering October 21, 1758.
- Love... Don't be like that... You were amazing today, you don't just deserve a trophy, you deserve a medal! You're a hero! You've risen to the next level! You are no longer a multi-champion runner, you are now a hero! You sacrificed a victory in the name of saving lives and that is very noble.
Diana says.
- Your wife is right Maria, I'm with her on this one, what you did was above any of your five championships, the gesture of stopping racing in the name of other people's safety will surely create an impact, be sure of that.
Victoria says.
- I just didn't want that to happen, there was no need to wait for an accident for people to realize how dangerous these races are... In all six years of my career I have counted every single runner's death... I have lost 25 friends on this journey, even champions die from a simple mistake, the broom does not offer any security and much less the clothes, we only use a magic hat that protects us... But sometimes it is not enough...
Says Maria.
- I know how it is... Look Maria, things will change... I hope they do, but today, let's thank your bravery for your selfless act of saving the lives of many people... There could be more victims if it wasn't for your bravery.... Just imagine what those people must not think of the Flying Scotsman now.
Diana says, making Maria smile.
- Thank you love... You're always so loving.... You always put me up... But now let's do something else, now I'll spend the rest of my life taking care of you...
Says Maria stroking the head of each of the children.
Maria never raced on a broom again, her statement was extremely sincere, to the point that Scuderia Carlucci even wanted to force her to race until the end of the season, but the Scot refused in every word, even paying a £100,000 fine for leaving the team in the middle of the season. She cared little as she would no longer be racing and had much more money. That season because Maria stopped racing with 39.5 points, the championship torch was passed to Fabiana Christo, the Portuguese woman managed to win the first title of her career, and it was a close one with 41 points, in the last race of the year.
See you, hero witches...