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A sharp pain suddenly hit Vienna, causing her to gasp. Her eyes darted around in alarm as her hand moved to her torso, wondering if anyone had noticed her little outburst. She gritted her teeth as she moved away from the busy area of the courtyard, and moved into an abandoned hallway relatively far away from everyone.
The girl leant against the wall as the waves of pain travelled up her body, and her fingers hastily moved to pull up her shirt.
"Shit," Vienna muttered, her eyes widening as they fell on the sight of the black veins travelling in all directions from the wound. She let out another choked gasp as more waves of pain hit, and quickly pulled out the half full vial of zanbaq that she had left over from before.
She clenched her teeth in pain as she dumped all of it straight onto her skin, which almost immediately relieved some of the pain. To her dismay, it hadn't taken away as much pain as she had hoped, with the scratch still throbbing with mild pain. She didn't know how long she could get away with hiding it, but she knew for a fact that her father would attempt to sideline her if he found out.
With a sigh, Vienna pulled down her shirt and tossed the empty vial into the bin, before walking back down the hallway and towards the main part of the courtyard. The sight of Farah pacing forced the shadow fairy to slow down in her tracks, her brows furrowing together as she took in the nervous look on the woman's face.
"Auntie F?" she called out, causing the older woman to look up at her. "What's wrong?"
A small smile appeared on Farah's face, one that didn't reach her eyes. "Nothing's wrong Vie, I'm just concerned about whether the doors will hold."
"I know about Aster Dell, and I know about Rosalind," the younger girl revealed, causing a surprised expression to form on Farah's face. "Dad told me. What's wrong?"
Farah ran a hand down her face as she leaned against the wall, her eyes cast off into the distance. "Bloom let Rosalind out from the magical cage she was kept in. It's not a coincidence that the barrier is failing, Rosalind is draining the magic from the Stone Circle."
"Oh no," Vienna breathed out, her mind racing. It was bad enough that Burned Ones were threatening to break into the academy, but if they were aided by a powerful fairy.. They would have no chance. Her eyes narrowed slowly as a realising thought passed over her. "Are you telling me Bloom is the reason why the Burned Ones have made it past the barrier?"
"I'm afraid so. It appears the Burned Ones are after her too."
"You've got to be joking," the girl muttered as she threw her hands in the air in annoyance. "Is chucking her out of the building an option?"Farah shot her a disapproving stare. "Just joking. Mostly."
A large bang against the doors caught their attention, and the two fairies instantly turned on their heels in alarm. They hastily raced down the rest of the hallway and down the steps, only to find students backing away from the main doors as they threatened to burst open.
The room began to fill out with various screams and whimpers of scared students, but even they were drowned out by the thundering against the large doors, the wooden panels splintering ever so slightly with every thunderous attack. Vienna pulled her sword and rushed closer to the front of the room where her father was, alongside Sky and her friends. She nodded lightly at Adrienne, who nodded back in response, her sword raised in anticipation.
"Remember to keep your emotions in check." Farah spoke as she moved closer to the front of the room, her gaze fixed on the blurry figure of the Burned Ones through the glass panels of the doors. "Runaway fear leads to runaway magic. Maintain readiness."
The glass panelling in the doors shattered and fell to the floor, with black claws swiping through the small gaps. But still, the doors themselves remained steadily closed. Vienna held her sword in right hand, her left one reaching up to momentarily clasp onto Sky's hand. She tilted her head slightly to look up at him, and saw that he was already looking down at her.
"We've got this," she mouthed at him with a small nod, and was met with a small nod of assurance in return. After a few moments she pulled her hand from his grip, and redirected her focus back to where the Burned Ones were trying to break in.
"Hold your nerve," Marcus spoke as several more screams erupted from the frightened fairies who were cowering at the sides of the room. The senior specialists assumed their practiced defence positions as they formed a semi circle around the doors, their weapons raised as they waited in anticipation.
After a few more moments of nothing happening, a burst of fire caught Vienna's attention, causing her to turn on her feet in shock towards the commotion. She could feel the furious beating of her heart as she watched the Burned One drop through the shattered ceiling and into the room, the flames merely dancing across it's skin as if it had no effect.
One of the senior specialists lunged forward with her blade raised, her eyes narrowed as she waited to give a killing blow. To everyone's surprise, the Burned One didn't attack. Instead, it's gaze scanned through the room as if it was looking for something. Like Farah had said moments prior, it must have been looking for Bloom. After a few tense moments, the creature raced away through the halls, plowing through terrified students and throwing them into walls.
"What just happened?" Terra spoke, but Vienna didn't hear anything else that was said afterwards. She had been fine one second, but the next it felt like her entire body was on fire. She let out a pained gasp, immediately capturing her father's attention.
"Vienna?"
She dropped her sword to the floor with a clatter, both her hands moving to clutch onto her torso. Her eyes watered from the pain, and soon she felt herself falling. Before she hit the floor, arms circled around her, allowing her to be gently lowered to the ground.
Through watery vision she could see her father kneeling beside her, along with Sky who was on her other side. She could see their mouths moving as they looked down at her, but the ringing in her ears blocked out any other sound. With shaking hands she pulled up her shirt enough to reveal the wound she had been trying to hide, her eyes clenching to a close as several more waves of pain rushed through her. She felt herself being lifted into someone's arms, but when she opened her eyes, she could only see the green of the specialist uniform through watery vision.
Vienna had never felt a pain like this in her life. Absolutely nothing that she had ever experienced through training has ever come close to what she was feeling at that moment. She felt like she was on fire, but that feeling was paired with ringing in her ears and the rapid beating of her heart.
The pain must have been too much for the girl, because within moments of being lifted off the floor, she passed out.
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Slightly longer chapter bc you all deserve it. I left it up to interpretation in the case of Vienna being carried. I personally would think it's her dad who's carrying her but this is a Sky fic so some might prefer to think of him bahah.
We're so close to the end of the book, you all know what that means for the Silvas 😳
Hope you're all well! And Eid Mubarak to anyone who celebrates!!
A x