Ruby ran through the halls of Alfea until she reached the infirmary. Taking care of an unconscious girl sounded better to her than to have another class that day.
She opened the door and entered the nurse's office.
"Hello, Nurse Ofelia." Ruby greeted with a smile. "Can I..."
"Go see the girl, Ruby. You don't have to ask any more at this point." The nurse said with a kind smile. "Just so you know, your friends Musa and Flora are already there."
"Alright, thanks."
The redhead exited the office and headed towards the girl's room where Flora and Musa indeed were. Musa paced around the room humming a tune while Flora wetted a cloth and placed it on the girl's forehead.
"Oh, hello Ruby." Flora greeted with a bright smile as her friend sat down on a chair next to the bed. "Why are you not in the next class?"
"Why aren't any of you in the next class?" Ruby asked back smiling cheekily.
"Touché." Musa said with a chuckle.
"I got worried about her in the middle of the class so I asked Musa to accompany me here." Flora told. "You?"
"I bailed." Ruby answered smirking, receiving a dissaproval glare from both her friends.
"That gives off a bad idea about the kind of student you are, Ruby." Musa said.
"It might. It's far from being the wrong idea, though." The two girls chuckled shaking their heads. "So, I'mma spend the rest of the day here. Waiting for the girl to wake up."
"Well, you won't have to wait for long. She's waking up." Flora said happily as the girl grumbled slightly.
"What? So I won't have any excuse to skip?" Ruby complained.
The girl sat up in a flash, startling them. She looked panicked and scared, looking around the room.
"Oh my!" She exclaimed, looking at the palm of her hands. "Four days? It's been four days?" She stood up from the bed and looked at Musa in panic. "Piff. Where's Piff?"
"Who?" Ruby asked as the other two stared at the girl in confusion.
Her legs wobbled and she fell on the bed before passing out again.
"So I will have an excuse to skip then." Ruby said.
"She's nuts." Musa said. "She looks at the palm of her hands to find out which day this is."
"Yep, and she got it right too." Bloom said, appearing at the doorway with Stella.
"Makes sense. Wrinkles tell the unstoppable flow of time. Except for me of course." The blonde said walking towards her friends along with Bloom to surround the girl's bed. "I wonder what her name is."
"We don't know yet." Flora said.
"Yeah, she was too panicked to bother to tell us." Ruby said.
"Is she ok?" Bloom asked.
"She doesn't look so good." Musa answered, looking down at the girl's unmoving body.
"Don't worry young ladies." Nurse Ofelia said, entering the room. "Your friend is just a little pale around the gills."
As soon as she said that, the girl opened her cerulean eyes once again.
"Look, she's waking up again." Flora announced as the girl slowly sat up.
"Where am I?" She asked, placing a hand on her head.
"You're safe at Alfea school." Musa answered softly.
"You had a dream. You were looking for Piff." Flora told her.
"You know Piff? Where is she?" The girl pleaded, gripping the fairy's shoulder's desperatly. "Is she alright? Please tell me."
"Don't worry, everything will be ok." Flora said with a soft smile and grabbing one of the girl's hands.
"Piff is your bonded Pixie, isn't she?" Bloom asked as the girl layed down on her back. "Fairies and Pixies can bond like sisters, right? She was the first thing on your mind as soon as you woke up."
"And here she is." Stella said gesturing to the small Pixe who was sleeping on a little pillow on a desk.
The girl smiled happily and walked towards the small creature to speak to her which caused her to wake up.
"I totally forgot that thing was there." Ruby whispered to Flora.
"How did you? Her snores aren't exactly quiet." The Plant Fairy joked causing them both to laugh quietly.
"Lunch time here we are." Stella suddenly shouted, approaching the girl with a sandwich in hand once she heard her stomach grumble.
"Stella, don't shout." Flora scolded.
The loud noise the blonde Fairy was making, startled the baby-like Pixie who started crying loudly, making her feel guilty.
"No, no, oh come on. Please don't cry." Stella said, as the Pixie bawled.
"Uhm, Stella. You're loosing control of your sandwich." Bloom told her as a tomato slice fell from the bread.
A sudden loud cry, mixed with a scream from the Pixie, startled Stella making her drop the sandwich on top of the girl which dirtied her hair and night gown.
"Hey, welcome to Alfea." Musa said making the others laugh.
"Don't worry. I'll bring you another sandwich." Ruby said, standing up with a smile. "One that won't fall on you."
"Thank you." The girl said with a chuckle and smiled at her.
Ruby walked out of the infirmary and went towards the kitchen. On her way there she heard fast footsteps approaching her and she didn't need to turn around to know who was there.
"Is she alright?" Greg asked, jumping onto her shoulder.
"She woke up." Ruby answered, entering the kitchen.
"Ugh, I didn't even get a taste of her." Python complained jumping on the counter along with Garry.
"You're not eating any piece of her, Python." Ruby said, preparing the sandwich.
"Why no? You're eating a piece of an animal right now, why can't I?" The dark-red-collared ghould asked as Ruby chewed on a piece of ham while placing another one on the bread.
"Because there's a difference between eating an animal and a eating a person and also because I say so." Ruby smiled at him, finishing the sandwich and walking off back to the infirmary.
"You're so unfair." Python grumbled following her and the other two ghouls.
"Can we meet her?" Garry asked.
"Not right now, Gar. There's already enough people in that room. I don't want to overwhelm her further."
"Well, we'd like to tell you something." Greg said as they stopped in front of the door to the infirmary.
"Make it quick then. I have to give the girl this."
"You've got a secret admirer." Garry said in sing-song voice, handing Ruby a gift box which had an envelope with a heart. "We found this on your bed."
"A secret admirer?" Ruby said with a confused smile, grabbing the box and handing them the sandwich. "Let's see then. Greg hold this."
Once the ghoul took it Ruby reached for the red ribbon. However, when she was about to untie it, the door to the infirmary opened revieling Bloom.
"Ruby, you're here. I got worried." The redhead said with a smile. "What are you doing?"
"Sorry, I got distracted. Apparently I've got a secret admirer and the ghouls were just giving me a gift from them.But I should just go now." Ruby explained turning around to look at the ghouls. "Please put this back on my bed and I'll check it out later, ok? Garry, don't eat the sandwich."
The yellow-collared ghoul moved away from his friend, looking away embarrassed after being caught trying to have a bite of the dark-skinned girl's lunch. Greg took the box from Ruby's hands and smiled.
"Of course, Mistress Ruby." He said before they raced towards the appartment basically running over each other.
"Are we sure they're not brothers?" Bloom asked walking in with her sister. "They sure do act like it."
"I don't think so. Honestly it's hard to tell." Ruby said, entering the mysterious girl room.
She handed her the sandwich with a kind smile before sitting down.
"Thank you." The girl said, biting it. "So this is your school, am I correct?"
"Yes. I'm Musa." The Fairy presented.
"And I'm Flora."
"My name's Bloom."
"I'm Stella."
"Ruby present for roll call."
"My name is Layla." The girl said, her face saddening. "And I couldn't save the Pixies."
"The Pixies?" The Winx asked at the same time.
"How many are there?" Musa asked.
"A village full." Layla answered.
"A village? And you live with them?" Bloom asked, sitting uncomfortably close to the girl.
"Bloom, what did I tell you about personal space?" Ruby said, pulling her sister away from Layla. "You're basically sitting on her lap."
"Well, not exactly I'm a friend."
"You're a friend and...?" Musa said, taking Bloom's place in sitting close to her.
"Seriously, Muse?" Ruby asked.
"Girls quiet. We shouldn't bother her." Flora scolded placing a piece of wet cloth on Layla's forehead. "If she wants she can tell us everything when she feels better."
"Thank Flora." Layla said smiling.
"I'm sure Faragonda will want to hear your story." Bloom said.
"Hey, me too. This is good gossip." Stella said, taking a bite on the slice of tomato she stole from Layla's old sandwich.
"But, it would be dangerous for you to get involved." She said.
"Maybe we can help." Bloom said.
"Yeah, and, you'll learn this very soon, these bitches don't care if the matter is deadly or not. As long as they can help someone they'll go for it." Ruby said making Layla giggle a bit.
"Here, drink this." Flora said, handing Layla a cup of warm tea. "It'll help you get your strenght back."
"Thanks." The girl said, taking a long sip of the hot drink. "It all started a little while back. My family and the Pixies have always been close, every year we go to their village to visit them, but this time the village was empty. The Pixies were off to the Dark Woods for a Nature ceremony and only Lockette and Blinky made it back with news that the others had been kidnapped by terrible Shadow Creatures. The Pixies tried to protect themselves with magic, but it didn't work and so by following the trail of tar the creatures had left behind, we discovered where the Pixies had been taken. The trail led us through dark tunnels until we came upon a huge undergrounf castle."
"An underground caslte?" Ruby interrupted. "Was it made out of creepy stalactites?"
"Yes, it was. That's exactly it." Layla confirmed worrying Ruby which didn't go unnoticed by her sister. "And then we met something with super-human power. The master of all this evil creatures we'd encounter."
"And?" Bloom asked when Layla paused looking as if she was scared to even tell. "What did it look like?"
"It was a huge bird, a sort of Phoenix, monstruous and evil looking."
"I'm sorry, come again?" Ruby asked chuckling. "A Phoenix? What kind of Copycat is this?"
"What do you mean?" Layla asked.
"It's not important right now. " Bloom said. "Please continue."
"Well, then it transformed itself. I saw it turn into something like a man, an armored knight with ultra-sharp claws. He then approached me and said with this low and threatening voice 'You silly girl, stop this foolishness and hand over the Pixies right now'."
"Oh no, did he hurt?" Flora asked.
"No, he probably gave her a mani-pedi:" Ruby said sarcastically receiving a light slap on the back of her head from her sister. "Hey, what was that for."
"You know what that was for."
"Well, he caught me in no time." Layla said, interrupting their small bickering. "Then he drained all my strenght away. He took Lockette and Blinky and threw them into magic cells with all the other Pixies from the Village."
"Are the Pixies still alive?" Flora asked hopeful.
"The Pixies. There are only a few left." Layla said, her voice breaking as her eyes teared up. "I was able to free them, but then I tried to bring them with me, but I couldn't. I should've never left them."
"Come here." Musa said, opening her arms and letting Layla sob on her shoulder.
"We'll help you Layla. We'll free the Pixies together." Bloom promised placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"You can count on us." Musa said, pulling away from the hug with a kind smile.
"I promise that we won't let that copycat do anything to the ones that are left." Ruby said standing up. "And I sure will kick his ass. I am the original after all."
"I still don't understand what you mean by that."
"They'll tell you. Right now this whole story telling has tired me. I'm going back to my room."
"I'll go with you." Bloom said, standing up from her placed on the bed. "I need to ask you something anyways."
"Bye girls." The Winx said as the two sisters walked out.
"So, what do you want to know?" Ruby asked as they headed to the appartment side by side.
"Why did you seem bothered when Layla mentioned the underground castle."
"Oh, that's it?" Ruby said chuckling. "I thought something bad had happened. It was nothing, I simply dreamt of a castle like that one last night."
"Well, what was the dream about?" Bloom asked, entering her room along with Ruby.
They sat down on Ruby's bed where the secret admirer's box was. The youngest redhead picked it up and placed it on her lap, sighing.
"It was about Layla. She was running through the castle walls and then the Copycat Phoenix appeared and threw her off the edge of the castle. She fell down about 60 feet and landed on a river. The dream ended with some women laughing."
"What women?" Bloom asked. Instead of answering, Ruby reached for her necklace and looked at her sister deep in her blue eyes, which was enough for her to know. "The Trix?"
"Yeah." Ruby said, untying the ribbon on the box
"What? Why'd you dream of that? Do you think they're back?" Bloom asked, worryingly.
"Maybe, I don't..." Ruby cut herself off as she removed the box lid and looked at it's contents.
"What? What is it?" Bloom asked, standing up to sit next to her sister on the bed. As soon as her eyes landed on the gift she gasped.
The box was filled with pictures. Pictures of Ruby. They were all taken without her knowing. In ones she was with her friends, in others she was eating, in some she was sleeping, a few showed her only in her underware getting dressed.
What might scare her the most, though, was the fact that every single picture was taken incredibly close to her. Whoever took them was a friend of hers. A good friend.
"Oh my God, Ruby." Bloom said as she read the note that came along with the gift. "It says 'Capturing your beauty is my favourite hobby.' The heck?"
"Great, I have stalker. Just what I needed." Ruby said sarcastically, throwing it somewhere in the room. She sighed, leaning her head on her hands. "When will the madness of my life end?"
"Don't worry, Bea, we'll find this person." Bloom said, hugging her sister.
Ruby pulled away once she saw that one of the pictures had fallen at her feet. She picked it up and noticed that it had been taken that day. She recognized the moment when she walked hand in hand with Flora through the courtyard as they headed to the cafeteria that morning. However, that's not what caught her attention.
"Bloom, look at this." Ruby said showing her the picture.
"What? You and Flora walk together like that all the time. What's so weird about it?"
"Not that. Look at that pillar."
Bloom looked closer and her expression fell into one of worry and fear. In a pole rather close to the two friends was a shadow. It was a shadow of three women. One with a ponytail, one with curly hair and the third one with long straight hair.
"Answering your question of earlier, sister." Ruby said as she noticed a hand painted with long and sharp fuscia nails sticking out from behind the pillar. "Yes. I'm pretty sure the Trix are back which also means I have more than only one stalker."