Season 2, episode 4: An hour before the Devil fell
Nyx pov:
It's been a couple days since the banquet and rumours about bloom and I have spread to every student in the school. I'm currently sat with bloom and Aisha getting stared at like an animal in a zoo.
"Wanna take bets on when the staring's gonna stop?"
"Look, the dragon flame's a legend. Now you two are too. I give it at least another week before they get bored."
"What if I just scare them into stopping? I could blind them then tell them if they stop staring I'll give it back, it'd only take a couple of examples for them to get the point" they just shake their heads at me
"Is this an eight? Eighty-something? Are those waves? Eight waves?" Aisha struggles to read blooms notes
"BW. Blood witches."
"Oh."
"I cannot believe you didn't do the reading!"
"I've been swimming a lot." Bloom and I look at each other before turning back to Aisha with an incredulous look on our faces
"Is that what they're calling it? Swimming?" Bloom teases
"What's Greys favourite stroke?"
"Butterfly. And I know about blood witches. They aren't super common but they are a thing. I assumed I could wing it."
"My handwriting is not that bad let me see" she turns the book to herself, staring at it looking slightly confused before starting to read it
"No. Uh, blood witch powers. Basically, their element is blood, so they can control muscles and bones. Their own and other peoples. Creepy. And now apparently they steal magic from fairies. Creepier." Aishas phone chimes but before she can pick it up bloom snatches it from the table
"It'll be quick. Promise. We have this running joke about a hawk-"
"You told us."
"It's cute. But what's not cute is you not doing well on this quiz and sulking after. So get to the Dominion wars section. Back then, Blood witches were so powerful that they—"
"They could control peoples bodies from miles away. Yep that much I remember." Aisha holds out her hand for Bloom to get her her phone back.
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Rosalind gathered the specialists, the mind fairies and me. She had a theory that because I can get into peoples heads, I can protect the specialists, like a mind fairy.
"We don't know much about scrapers. We do know that fairy magic is ineffective against them, which is why now is the time when the specialists must shine." The specialists are lined up with bows in their hands.
"Now that I'm back, I'll be taking over ranged combat, the primary method of taking down scrapers. Let's see what you've got." At his word, the specialists line up their shots and begin firing at the moving discs.
"Combat won't be as easy as hitting a single target. The blood witches and the scrapers will attack together."
"Mind fairies can protect specialists from blood witch magic. Musa." Rosalind decides to start with the girl next to me.
"Can I just watch? My magic hasn't been very helpful recently." Musa tries to get out of it, but I'm confused as to why, she's a very powerful mind fairy, and now is her chance to help people.
"You're the strongest mind fairy here. Your magic is limited only by your will. Focus." Rosalind doesn't give her any more chances to argue, making musa get up from her seat to stand with Rosalind behind Dane. I can't hear what they're saying so I just wait until they return, watching the specialists shoot.
"Who's next? Nyx?" Rosalind returns to our lineup and chooses me to try next. I know better than to argue after my lessons with her I know it'll get me nowhere. So I follow her to riven.
"You will push me away as I simulate an attack." I make my way into rivens head, as soon as I do I feel rosalinds magic join me. I try to focus on pushing her away but I get distracted by everything going on in Rivens head.
I pull away for a second to breathe and refocus before going back in but I push too far and Riven collapses to the floor. I gasp and drop to my knees by him and hold his head in my hands, checking him for injuries.
Rosalind sighs and walks back to the line of mind fairies. I try to bring Riven round along with Sky but he didn't stir. I look to silva and he nods for permission to take him to the medical ward with sky.
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I sit with riven as he sleeps in a bed in the medical ward, Terra had told me he should wake up in his own time, but I don't think she was certain, how could she be? I wasn't. I know the most about my powers but I don't know what I did or if he'll even wake up.
My thoughts spiral as I squeeze his hand, periodically letting my fingers slide to his wrist to feel for a pulse. I close my eyes letting tears fall down my face as I realise what I'd done, what I could do. Maybe my powers hadn't been seen in so long because it's a curse. Maybe they didn't pass it down to their kids because they didn't have any. Maybe they didn't make it to that stage in their life.
A few hours go by, I skip my lesson with Rosalind to stay with riven. I watch his chest go up and down, once at a steady pace, now speeding up. I stand from my chair by his bed, placing a hand on his shoulder, keeping my other on his hand.
"Riven. Riven you need to wake up. Please wake up." I mutter the last part to myself before Riven gasps and opens his eyes making me sigh in relief.
"Oh thank god. Are you okay? I'm so sorry Riven, I didn't mean to hurt you I swear. I'm so sorry" I ramble apologies into his chest as I cling to him while he caught his breath.
"I'm okay Nyx, I'm okay." He reassures me as I sob into his chest.
I pull away to check he was actually okay, scanning his face for any lies as he sits up and pushes a stray hair behind my ear.
"I'm okay kitten. I feel fine. I'm not hurt." He looks me in the eyes, doing his best to comfort me before he swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand.
I quickly stood up before him to help him incase he wasn't stable but he stood up like he just woke up from a nap. He stretched his arms above his head before placing a hand on the side of my neck and left a tender kiss on my head.
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Once Riven convinced me he's okay, he heads off and tells me to go back to my suite. So that's what I do, I figure he wants some time to himself to think about what happened.
I open the door to see Terra talking to bloom about her hair and how they're going to a pub in Blackbridge. They don't seem to notice me until the door closes behind me, by that time Aisha had joined the conversation. They all turn to me at the sound.
"Nyx. Is Riven okay? Musa told us what happened." Terra asks
"I think so. That's what he said anyway."
"Well that's good, he's awake now at least. I think you need a break too, more than any of us. Come on let's get you changed and we can go to the pub. How does that sound?" Aisha tries to comfort me. I don't want to socialise but a drink does sound good, and it could distract me I suppose. I nod and she guides me to my room, sitting me on my bed and looking through my drawers to find some clothes.
She takes out some flared pants, a black top and a comfy jacket. I take off my jeans and jumper while Aisha goes to my dressing table to look for some accessories. She deems a simple silver necklace and some silver studs acceptable. I step into the clothes and pull the jacket on as Aisha clips the necklace and puts the earrings in. She then reaches for a hair brush and rakes it through my long hair as I lean down to put the trainers on.
I force a smile on my face and squeeze her hand to thank her. She seemed to understand as she smiles back and stands from the bed, getting a black bag for me that was hanging on a hook on the wall.
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We arrive at the grapevine pub, I head straight to the bar, order some shots and a whiskey and coke, down the shots to quiet my thoughts.
We all dance and drink together, Aisha went off with Grey somewhere, but she was keeping in touch so we weren't worried. Riven even managed to make it with sky and spent his time flirting with Flora (I don't blame him) and getting threatened by Terra.
I was dancing with Musa when bloom approached and dragged us into the bathroom saying it's an emergency. Once we were all gathered, she called Stella and she explained that she received a text from Beatrix saying she doesn't know where she is, with a picture of where she was.
"The ruin she's talking about is this abandoned lodge outside of town." Stella tells us over the phone
"Yep. It's an old townie hang out. Remember that summer we found beer bottles and the creepy doll?" Terra addresses flora who nods
"The specialists are wasted, but I could grab—"
"Nobody's grabbing anyone or going anywhere. Guys, this is a trap." I can't help but agree it does seem off
"You don't know that"
"Stella, you're not thinking clearly. Nobody's seen Beatrix for days, Rosalind leaves and suddenly you're getting a text asking for help. How does that make sense?"
"It does look a bit suspicious." Flora comments
"I don't care what it looks like. We have to do something." Stella is adamant to protect her friend
"We'll tell Rosalind, but, I know for a fact she is at the Capitol because she's handling this."
"And how do you know that bloom?"
"Rosalind told me that Beatrix was kidnapped." We all express our shock and frustration that she didn't tell us
"Bloom how could you not tell me? You know how I feel about her we could've done something!"
"She told me not to tell anyone. She didn't want panic. Look, we're all a little drunk. This isn't a good time to make decisions. Let's just go back to the suite, and we, we'll figure it out there okay? I'm sorry." Stella hangs up the phone as we stand in silence not knowing what to say.
We leave the bar as sky and riven get their gear on.
"We've been training for this. Specialists can take out scrapers, while mind fairies protect us from blood witch magic." This catches Musas attention
"Mind fairies good for something? Present. I'm in."
"Yep me too I can help." I say but I'm only doing it so I can get to Beatrix I don't want to use my magic on sky or Riven, not after what happened last time.
"Wait so we are going?"
"No. We are not going. Guys, we can't go anywhere near that lodge. It's not safe for fairies. Any fairies. We're gonna go back to Alfea and—"
"Bloom. Im going. For once my magics useful. I need this."
"I need Beatrix safe. You can't stop me bloom"
"We've got this. Call silva. Get everyone back to Alfea. I'll text you when we have Beatrix." Sky tells bloom
"Wait. Has anyone seen Aisha?" Bloom asks
"She went somewhere with Grey a while ago but I'm not sure where."
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We pull up to the lodge, the sun has set by the time we arrive so it looks extra creepy. Great.
"For once, couldn't we break into a playground or something cute?"
"A playground would be less creepy?"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Riven holds my wrist making me stop before asking. I nod in confirmation making him pull an arrow from his back and line it in his bow.
Riven is first through the door followed by me and musa then sky. Musa looks up before turning to riven
"Upstairs. I can feel her." That's strange, I can't.
We make our way up the stairs to find an unconscious Beatrix laid on the floor. Musa and I run over while the boys keep watch.
"Beatrix." I try to ignore the bite marks on her chest as I stroke her hair.
"She's still alive." Musa confirms
"Let's get her and go." Riven decides
"Okay." Sky says still looking around for scrapers
"But if she's unconscious, how did she text Stella?" Right on cue we hear scrapers around us, making the boys point their bows and me pull Beatrix close to protect her.
"Scrapers."
"How many are there?"
"Here we go."
Before they can fire an arrow, it's shot out of his hand by another. We turn and see it's Andreas
"Andreas? What the fuck?"
"There's something wrong with him. He's not Andreas." This makes riven and sky pull out their swords and order musa to run. She obeys as I pull Beatrix into a corner and put a barrier around us so she doesn't get hurt.
They fight Andreas but he's stronger than them so they're both knocked to the ground. Andreas goes over to Riven ready to end him I stand and get ready to protect him but
"Andreas no!" Silvas sword clashes with his making him falter long enough for riven to get to his feet
"Get Beatrix and Nyx out of here." Silva orders so riven runs over making me drop the shield so he can pick her up. We leave and riven gives Beatrix to Dane
"Get her back to Alfea. Hey. Have you seen musa?" Dane shakes his head
"No."
"Oh fuck." We have the same idea and run back in to help her.
As we step in I can hear silva struggling upstairs so riven goes to musa and I go upstairs. I see Andreas with his sword to silvas throat. I fire my magic up and use it to pull him off. He stands again and I go to hold him off but he falters for a minute making me think whoever's controlling him stopped.
He looks at me, then at sky, and nods.
"Do what you have to do. Please."
We look at each other trying to make the decision on who will end him. I think my magic would be the least painful way for him to go plus sky wouldn't have to carry the guilt of killing his father. I throw skys sword away from him, knowing he'd try first to save me from the guilt. I get into his head, try to push the blood witch out for a second but it doesn't budge so I give a final push of my magic and he drops to the ground, blood pouring out of his ears and nose.
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We don't talk on the way back. I just hold Beatrix close knowing she'll hate me when she wakes up but at least she's safe now.
I got back to Alfea with sky but I give him space and just sit on the steps thinking about what I've done. I'm lost in my thoughts until riven comes rushing in with an unconscious and bloody musa in his arms
"I need some help. Somebody help me. I need some help."