after a slow and silent walk back to alfea, faye immediately went to her mum and dad with her friends and riv.
"now i trust you all to understand the gravity of the situation." silva spoke, mostly to faye and bloom. "so, until we are sure about how we're going to proceed, nobody can know any of the details of what happened at the graveyard today."
diane nodded her head. "nobody can know that any of the fairies at this school no longer control the dragon's flame and whatever type of magic faye possesses." she added for silva.
faye stared at the floor, riven stood closely next to her. his hand in hers, rubbing his rough thumb against her soft hands.
"sorry, i know it's a big deal that faye and bloom kill..." terra stopped, faye and bloom glanced at each other. "that rosalind's dead. but in my humble opinion, i do think it's a bigger deal that rosalind murdered miss dowling."
"yes, but the only thing we know for certain is the first part of that sentence." silva said softly, trying his hardest not to upset faye and bloom.
faye clenched her jaw so tightly her teeth began to hurt. "well i know for certain she killed her, i felt her fucking body in that graveyard, i don't care what anyone says or thinks, rosalind dying? it's been a long time fucking coming." faye yelled, her voice cracking after not speaking for so long.
the room was silent, faye's mum looked at her sadly, and riven squeezed her hand.
sky came up behind silva, giving him two boxes. "thank you, sky." he quietly said. "now, i have made an agreement with bavani that should keep you both out of confinement." he opened the boxes, and faye looked at the pair of horrible looking bracelets.
"what are those?" flora asked.
"torture devices to stop them from using their magic." aisha quickly answered. "the crystal is why bloom lost control, i'm not too sure about faye though. but bloom just needs to discharge her magic into it. she's not a risk anymore."
silva handed a box to riven, knowing faye would somehow take it better if it was riven doing this to her. riven looked at his girlfriend's father with guilt.
"i'm afraid those were the terms." silva told aisha.
"it's okay." bloom softly spoke. "i did it. i'm not gonna fight." she pulled up her sleeve and silva reached forward with the bracelets the metal scraped loudly and then immediately attached themselves around bloom's arm.
"riv, please." faye said quietly.
"i'm sorry, baby." he flinched as he moved the bracelets to faye's arms, she winced as they latched onto her, digging into her skin, drawing blood.
silva rubbed his daughters back. "bavani will convene a tribunal to determine the consequences and faye and bloom's actions." he glanced at stella. "queen luna will preside over it."
"lovely." stella gulped.
"so, you expect us to go to class like everything's normal?" terra asked in confusion.
"no, because everything is not normal." silva stated. "queen luna is making an address." he added, pulling out some weird device and placing it down on a crate.
queen luna appeared in a hologram. "citizens of solaria, i have tragic news. rosalind hale, headmistress of alfea, is dead. it is a grave loss not only for the students of alfea but for the entire realm. rosalind was one of the bravest fairies the otherworld has ever seen. respected by her peers. feared by her enemies. but fear will not dictate how we respond. there is a guilty party, and they will be brought to justice. blood witches and a fairy too powerful for their own good, a power they do not deserve. the blood witches' hatred of our kind is well known. but a heinous act such as this is unprecedented, carried out by their leader, sebastain valtor. every blood witch following him is considered an enemy of the crown. we will use the full weight of our military against them. and make no mistake... this is an act of war." she finally finished.
"so not only do i lose my magic, i apparently do not deserve my magic i am now a war criminal?" faye spoke too calmly. "fucking bitch." she said as she walked away and back to her dorm.
...
"i'm staying with riv, mum. that's the end of it." faye told her mum calmly.
"sunshine, why don't you just stay with your dad and i instead?" diane replied, glancing at silva.
"i know you wanna protect me, but i don't need it. riven he... he's like my anchor, he keeps me grounded. i'd rather go crazy in front of him than anyone else, he isn't scared of me." faye replied as she continued to pack her bag. "the girls can focus on bloom, riv will focus on me."
her mum and dad looked at each other for a few moments before nodding.
"okay, sweetheart." silva said. "just don't leave the school's grounds, you need to be here for the tribunal tomorrow, it wouldn't only affect you, but bloom too and i know you don't want that."
"i love you both, i'll be okay no matter what happens." faye walked over to them and hugged both of them.
"we love you too, sunshine." her mum sniffled.
...
faye and bloom sat in the small office that was connected to rosalind's old office.
"there's water in there, but if you need anything more medicinal..." beatrix said as she pulled out a flask from the desk drawer.
"tempting, but no." faye rolled her eyes at her.
"thanks, i'm good." bloom looked at the girl.
"no matter what happens, killing rosalind was the best thing either of you have done." beatrix told the girls. "she deserved it."
faye and bloom stayed silent until the door opened and they immediately stood up.
"if you'll excuse us." queen luna stepped into rosalind's old office with one of her guards. "won't be a moment."
stella and aisha walked into the room giving soft smiles to faye and bloom.
"i left water on the desk for your mum. chilled, four lemons, sparkling. i remember you saying how weird she was about her water" beatrix told stella softly, anxiously wringing her hands together.
"thank you, beatrix." stella replied with a smile, watching the girl as she left the room.
stella placed some files onto the desk and stepped closer to faye and bloom.
"right." she softly said, adjusting the girl's outfits and their hair.
"i ate breakfast outside this morning." bloom spoke. "in the sun. i need some color."
"small miracles." stella joked.
"well, i am the dragon flame after all, so..."
"look, my mum can be tricky. but i am her daughter and i can be tricky too. so we have a few layers of defence." stella grabbed a file from the desk. "i've been reading up on settled law so she can't trip me up. we'll get proof of rosalind's crimes from terra and flora. and our coup de grace? a prominent solarian and unimpeachable character of witness." stella smiled.
"let's not oversell me here." aisha interrupted.
"overselling is the name of the game. your family supplies energy for half of the realm. my mum cannot piss them off." stella said in a hushed whisper. "okay? it's enough to make her listen."
"thank you for this, stell. what would we do without you?" faye joked, giving stella a side hug.
"we just need to hope terra and flora pull through."