Ruby walked through the halls of Alfea, hand in hand with Ebony while Kaylus and the Ghouls trailed behind. The three creatures were discussing who had the prettiest collar while Kaylus flew around sticking 'kick me' notes in the back of some Fairies.
They finally arrived at the appartment door, laughing at some girls actually getting kicked by others. However, their smiles fell when they heard wailing coming from the opposite side of the door, followed by four familiar wicked laughters.
Kaylus and the Ghouls ran away when Ruby opened the door, ready to face their enemies. She barely had any time to react before Ebony was struck by a lightning and sent flying far away from sight. Ruby tried to go after her, but the double doors shut in her face and when she tried to open them she realized they were locked.
The laughter and wailing behind her intensified, making her turn around to face Lord Darkaar and the Trix. The latter walked towards her like a lion hunting its prey, forcing her to back away, however, the door behind her didn't give her much space to run. Stormy and Darcy stood on each side of Ruby, leaning an arm on the door next to her head while Icy grabbed her waist and pinned her against it. Looking up at the Ice Witch a sense of familiarity hit her and, just for a second, the scenario around them changed into a dark alley, the alley where they had first met, before they came back to the appartment.
Darkaar walked towards them, his armor clanging with each step he took. Icy stepped away from Ruby and moved aside so Lord Darkaar could look down at the redhead. She took notice of Icy's hand resting on her hip.
The wailing grew louder as Darkaar reached a clawed hand towards Ruby and when the Fairy tried to run, Darcy and Stormy pushed her against the door by her shoulders. When Darkaar's claw touched her chest, right above her heart, he lost his shape and turned into a weird black substance which began molding itself into something else. A sort of black bird with huge wings. It flew right at Ruby and entered her chest. The impact made her fall backwards, the door somehow disappearing, and she fell into an endless void of darkness.
She kept falling and falling until she landed on something soft. Her bed.
Ruby quickly sat up and looked around her room breathing and sweating like she had just ran a marathon. Her sister, Flora, the Ghouls, Kiko and the Pixies were fortunately sound asleep and weren't bothered by her probably trashing in bed. She could swear she was still hearing wailing, but it faded so quickly that she wasn't sure it was real or just her imagination.
Ruby sighed and fell tiredly back onto the bed. It wasn't her first dream like this. Every night she dreamed of a dark phoenix entering her chest. She thought her dreams of phoenixes were long gone since she found out the true nature of her power, but apparently they were back to haunt her at night.
She shivered and pulled the sheets higher for some warmth before closing her eyes and going back to sleep, hoping that no dream would come back to haunt her.
Much to her delight, she woke up the next day after a very peaceful sleep, but had to be forced out of bed by her sister anyway, which left her in a grumpy mood the whole time she was getting ready for the day.
"You know, you could try to find a nicer way to wake me up." Ruby said to her sister, rubbing her sore forehead from hitting her head on the floor after Bloom pulled her out of bed by her ankles. "I swear one day you'll break my neck."
"Then wake up early and don't make us all late for breakfast." Bloom told her with an innocent smile, sitting down at a table on the cafeteria.
"We are not that late." Ruby grumbled, next to her.
"Ruby, there's literally almost no one here." Flora told her, gesturing to the basically empty cafeteria.
"The others were just early." Ruby defended herself, feeding Kaylus a cookie. "And honestly will it really be that bad if we arrive late to a class? A few minutes less of an headache."
"Who are you to talk?" Stella intervened. "You had the rest of last week to do nothing."
"Exactly and do you want to know something? I didn't have a headache once. I wonder why." Ruby said sarcastically, laughing as Kaylus swapped the cream of Musa's oreos with toothpaste.
"I myself agree with Ruby." Layla said, bitting a cookie. "I'm starting to feel stressed out. We've done nothing but train, study and fight monsters over these past few weeks."
"And we've got two convergence classes today." Bloom added, tiredly leaning her head in her hand.
"Guys we totally need a break." Layla said, feeding Piff the rest of her cookie.
"Are you suggesting we skip school?" Stella asked with a smirk that told them she already agreed with the plan.
"No you shouldn't." Flora immediately said.
"That's right, if you skip school you'll get in trouble." Lockette said, flying next to Layla's head.
"It wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last." Ruby said, smiling softly at the Pixie.
"So, Bloom, what do you think?" Stella asked.
"Well, I really wouldn't want to upset Faragonda." Bloom said, siding with Flora.
"Boo, buzzkill." Ruby joked, throwing a cherry at her sister.
"I'm sure she'll understand. A little shopping is just what we need." Stella said, trying to convince her friend.
"I am not shopping." Ruby told her, summoning her sketchbook. "I'm drawing. I haven't done it in ages."
"Another reason why we should have a break." Layla said. "We haven't had time to do anything we like to do. What I need is to go dancing."
"Dancing sounds like fun." Musa said, approaching the table with letters in her hand.
"Hey, Musa." Layla greeted with a smile.
"Where's Tecna?" Bloom asked.
"At breakfast with Timmy." Musa replied, sitting down between Stella and Layla.
"Getting up late and wearing just about anything is no way for a lady to act." Tune said, crossing her arms in disapproval.
"I went to pick up the mail." Musa said, handing Stella one of the letters. "Charmogram for Stella. Mystery letter for Flora. And this one's fro Bloom and Ruby, from your parents."
"Who the hell still writes letters?" Ruby wondered, getting closer to Bloom while Musa took a bite of her oreo only to spit it out immediately.
"Kaylus." She shouted, drinking milk furiously to get the taste out of her mouth while the Pixie laughed hystherically.
"So are we taking the day off or what?" Stella asked.
"Guys, I just got an idea." Bloom announced. "We should all go to Gardenia for the day."
"Yes." Stella supported with a bright smile. "Earth as the best clothing lines ever."
"I agree. On going to Gardenia that is." Musa said, smiling.
"Me too. Flora what about you?" Layla asked.
"I'll stay here, but I might just take the day off anyway." The flower Fairy answered, looking down at a note in her hand.
"Let me guess. To visit a tall, handsome and deep Specialist?" Ruby teased, making her friend blush slightly.
"Maybe." She answered, shrugging her shoulders shyly.
"Let's go, then." Stella said, excitedly standing up and dragging Musa and Layla out of her seats as well.
Bloom and Ruby also stood up and followed her friends along with the Pixies aside from Chatta who stayed behind with Flora.
"Don't you want to invite Ebony, Ruby?" Layla asked when they arrived at the courtyard.
"She's freaking out about tomorrow's test so she wants to focus on studying right now." Ruby answered. "I don't want to bother her."
"Alright, here we go." Stella announced, throwing her ring in the air which turned into a scepter. "Solaria."
Once the blonde caught the scepter, the floor beneath the girls disappeared and they fell into an endless hole. Layla and Musa screamed out of fear as they never teleported like that before, but Ruby, Bloom and Stella were already used to that and just laughed. After a while they softly landed on an alley in Gardenia without anyone seeing them. Ruby approached Layla and Musa and tried to calm them down.
"Come on girls. Let's take the bus." Bloom said, walking out of the alley and going towards the bus stop close-by.
"Please don't do that again, Stella." Musa pleaded, feeling like she would throw up.
"Yeah, next time we do it through a dimensional portal." Layla agreed.
"Sorry, girls." Stella apologized, giggling slightly.
When the bus arrived the girls stepped inside, but every seat was occupied so they had to stand and hold onto the overhead straps and the handrails.
"Bloom, Ruby, this little trip to Earth, brilliant idea." Stella commented.
"Yeah, school was really starting to get to me." Layla agreed, looking at the city map she found on the bus.
"Let's just keep the Pixies out of sight, ok?" Bloom said, noticing Kaylus peak her head out of Ruby's backpack.
"So, Bloom, what made you change your mind about skipping school?" Musa asked.
"Our mom is testifying in court today." Bloom answered. "We wanted to come to Gardenia and give her our support."
"And I hope I see Mr. Bonner and Mr. Brown so I can give them a well deserved punch into those ugly faces." Ruby added, smirking.
"Huh, girls. What do you say we go downtown while Bloom and Ruby are with their mom?" Layla suggested.
"But it'll take you forever to get there." Bloom said, looking out the window. "The bus is stuck in the morning traffic."
"Hey, no problem. We'll fly." Stella said, levitating slightly from the ground.
"Stella, no." Bloom shouted, running towards her and tackling her, accidentally landing on top of an old man. "Oh, I'm very sorry."
"Sorry, they're, huh, practicing for a school play." Musa lied while the man angrily fixed his suit.
"What? I can't hear." He shouted, cupping his ear to hear them.
"Now, Stella. No magic." Bloom scolded.
"Oh, transforming counts, huh?" Stella asked, giggling nervously.
"Bloom, how long will it be until the trial?" Ruby asked.
"There are still severall hours left, why?"
"I'm getting out here. I want to go to that diner close to home." Ruby answered.
"Are you sure? It used to be your favourite place to hang out with... Amanda and Emily." Bloom said, whispering the girls' names.
"You can say their names, Piglet." Ruby chuckled. "And it still is one of my favourite places in Gardenia. I won't let what happened two years ago ruin it."
"Alright then. See you at five sharp." Bloom said, hugging her sister before she got out of the bus.
"Bye Ruby." The other Winx said before the doors closed.
"Can I play pranks on people there?" Kaylus asked from Ruby's backpack.
"Of course you can." Ruby chuckled. "Just don't get too carried away."
"No promises."
Ruby entered the small and cozy restaurant being immidiately engulfed with the familiar smell of cheesburgers and milkshakes. She smiled once the owner approached her with a grandpa smile.
"Ruby." He greeted, laughing loudly while hugging her.
"Arthur, it's been so long." Ruby said, hugging the old man tightly.
"Too long." He said, pulling away and looking at the redhead's chocolate eyes. "How have you been holding up?"
"The worse part has definitly passed by." Ruby said, smiling softly. "I'm much better now."
"It's good to hear." Arthur said, before gesturing to a booth at the very end of the diner. "Your usual booth and I'm guessing also your usual. Cheese Fries and caramel milkshake."
"You know me too well." Ruby said, chuckling before heading towards the booth.
"He seems nice." Kaylus commented while, very sneakily, getting out of Ruby's backpack.
"He's the owner and one of the few good people in this town." Ruby told her.
"Well then, he won't be a victim of my pranks." Kaylus promised, before looking towards a woman shouting angrily on the phone not very far from them. "However she will be."
"Don't be too obvious." Ruby said while the Pixie flew away towards the woman. Not very long after, the woman's drink was thrown into her face dirtying her clothes, hair and phone. She screamed in horror as a few people laughed at her. Ruby pulled out her sketchbook from her bag laughing. "She's going to be obvious."
The redhead started mindlessly drawing, letting the pencil move the way it wanted to. When she finished the first sketch of Ebony, her food had already arrived. The second sketch was a dark phoenix sitting in front of a red full moon and by the time she was done with it, Kaylus had glued someone to their chair and replaced the salt for sugar. It was already obvious there was a serial-prankster on the loose.
"Kay, come here." Ruby said after her third sketch, when the Pixie had drawn a spider on someone's napkin and taped a air horn under a chair on the counter and when someone sat on it, the chair lowered with their weight and the horn went off, startling everyone. The Pixie flew as fast as she could towards the laughing redhead and high-fived her. "Good one, girl, but that's enough for today, alright?"
"You're right, Arthur might get in trouble." Kaylus said, sitting on the table. "Did you know Earthlings can't see me?"
"Well, that would make you the ultimate prankster, then." Ruby said, bringing a fry to her mouth.
"I already am dear." Kaylus said, smirking when Ruby spit out her fry and cringed.
"Little Bitch, you replaced the cheese with... mango?" She asked, licking her lips.
"Mango mousse, delicious isn't it?" Kaylus mocked, receiving a glare from the Fairy.
"Excuse me, Miss?" A blonde woman in a suit asked, approaching Ruby with a confused expression. "Who are you talking to?"
"Myself?" Ruby answered. "It's motivational."
The woman chuckled before pointing to the seat besides Ruby. "May I."
"Sure." Ruby said, moving aside so the woman could seat.
"I couldn't help but notice you were drawing and... Wow, it's beautiful." The woman said, staring at Ruby's sletchbook in awe.
The redhead blushed with a smile, but it turned into a look of pure horror when she saw what she had drawn. She had accidentally drawn a sketch of the Trix and, God, did it leave her speechless. The three witches sat on a throne with a leg crossed over the other, Darcy and Stormy on each arm of the chair, while Icy sat between them. Each of them had a headpiece in their hair with a symbol on their forehead. Darcy had the triple goddess symbol, Icy had a snowflake and Stormy was the only one without a symbol, but her headpiece was shaped like lightning. They wore long, transparent dresses, each in the color of their respectful witch, which didn't leave much to the imagination.
Ruby found herself staring at the drawing for too long, and she was sure she would have started drooling if the woman hadn't spoken again.
"I'm Cassandra Arison." The woman introduced herself, successfully waking up Ruby.
"The owner of one of the most famous art galleries in Gardenia. In America?" Ruby asked, looking at the blonde wide-eyed.
"Yes I am." The woman said, with a smile turning to the dark phoenix's page. "And you are?"
"Ruby... Peters."
"Well, Ruby Peters, I would like to make you a proposition."
"What proposition?" Ruby asked, straightening her back.
"I want to put these two paintings on display in my gallery and sell them." The woman said, making Ruby's jaw fall.
"What?" She asked astonished.
"I would like you to put these sketches in a canvas and give them to me so I can sell them at an exhibition I'm having the night after Halloween." Cassandra repeated with a kind smile.
"My- My sketches?" Ruby asked pointing to herself and Cassandra nodded. "Those over-over there? The bird and the Trix?"
"The Trix? Is that the name of the painting?" Cassandra asked.
"Yeah, it could be." Ruby answered, her eyes still wide from the shock.
"Do you accept my offer?"
"I don't know." Ruby said, making the woman laugh. "I mean that's something big and awesome and I might faint."
Cassandra laughed and handed Ruby a card. "Think about it then. You have a talent, dear, don't let it go to waste." She stood up and smiled at Ruby who was holding the card in her hand completely motionless. "Have a nice day Ruby, I hope to get in contact with you soon."
"Day a have nice. I mean, have a nice day." Ruby said, watching her walk out of the diner.
"Oh my God Ruby." Kaylus shouted, getting Ruby a few odd stares. "I can't believe this. Your drawings will be put on display on the most famous art gallery in Gardenia."
"America." Ruby corrected, wrapping her lips around the straw on her milkshake and nervously drinking it.
"That's an amazing opportunity Ruby." Kaylus told her. "You've got to take it."
"Kay, dear. If it were for the phoenix alone then it would be alright, I would probably throw up, but it would be fine. Now..." Ruby turned the page of her sketchbook to show the drawing of the Trix. "... this is not fine in so many ways. What is wrong with me and why is Stormy's cleavage so fucking low?"
"I don't think the cleavage is the problem Ruby." Kaylus said, staring at the drawing. "Those dresses are transparent and you didn't bother to put a shirt or shorts underneath it."
"I know what I drew, Kay." Ruby snapped holding her head in her hands. "Actually I don't know what I drew. What's wrong with me?"
"A lot of things." Kaylus answered getting an unamused stare from Ruby. "But that doesn't mean you can back up on this opportunity. For God's sake Ruby it's an art gallery. There will be at least ten statues of naked men and women and other thirty more paintings of people making love."
"You're kind of right in that one." Ruby sighed. "But I have a girlfriend and if she sees this she'll kill me."
"Then don't tell her. You both got to the gallery and you do your best to avoid this painting. But you've got to do it." Kaylus said, making her sigh.
"I'll think about it."
Ruby began drinking her milkshake once again, staring at a random corner of the table. After a while, when she was almost done with her drink, someone sat in front of her. Ruby glanced at them once and at first she didn't really have a reaction, but after taking a second glance she choked on her drink and began coughing violently.
"Hey, Darling." Icy said with a raspy voice and wicked smirk.
Oh Fuck this day couldn't be any worse.