"Finally, what took you guys so long?" Robin whispered once the Ghouls approached their spot next to Ebony's appartment.
"Someone fell asleep." Greg said, side-eyeing Python, who yawned.
"I had a tiring day." Python justified.
"You slept the whole day." Greg reminded him. "And also the night before."
"That's not important. What matters is that you're here." Robin said, sighing. "Now, let's go. And be quiet. I casted a sleeping spell on Ebony, but that doesn't mean she can't be woken up by loud sounds like three Ghouls arguing."
"We promise you we won't make a sound." Garry said, drawing a cross over his heart, but as he said that, a loud snore echoed through the halls. Python had fallen asleep again.
"Py." Greg shouted, waking him up.
"What?" Python yelled, startled.
"We are dead." Robin concluded, opening the door to the appartment.
"Where's Amore? And Kaylus?" Garry whispered as the group tip-toed to Ebony's room.
"Amore went shopping with Stella." Robin answered. "And Kay is with Ruby. They went to Eraklyon. Aparently some Princess named Diaspro was kidnapped by ninjas."
"Cool." Garry said.
"So it's only us four?" Greg asked.
"And me." Livy shouted, entering the room in a hurry. "I'm sorry I'm late, I..."
"Shhh." Robin and the Ghouls all said at the same time.
"Livy, we aren't supposed to be in here." Robin whisper-yelled. "So lower your voice."
"Sorry." The Pixie apologized in a whisper.
"It's alright. Let's go."
Robin opened the door very slowly so it wouldn't creak. The five of them entered the dark room very carefully while Ebony slept soundly on her bed. Greg closed the door and as soon as he did, a flash of light illuminated the room and the sound of thunder rumbled loudly. They held their breath, staring at Ebony, afraid she would wake up, but the fairy's only reaction to the lightning was a slight groan and shifting before she fell asleep again.
They sighed in relief as rain kept pouring outside.
"What are we looking for again?" Garry whispered.
"Are you stupid? They explained it at least five times already." Python whisper-yelled at his friend.
"I'm sorry, I forget stuff when I'm anxious."
"We are looking for an old-looking, blank page that was ripped out of a book." Robin answered.
"That's incredibly vague, Rob." Livy said.
"I know, but it's our only clue."
Robin tip-toed towards the nightstand next to Ebony's bed where they last saw the page. Very slowly and carefully, glancing at the Fairy here and there, they opened the first drawer and looked inside.
"Holy shit." They whispered, grabbing a very familiar necklace out of the drawer. "Isn't this Ruby's?"
"Yes, it is. The Trix gave it to her." Greg said. "Ruby never took it off the whole summer. It's her most prized possesion."
"So Ebony probably took it away from her." Robin said.
"Snake." Python whispered towards Ebony's sleeping form.
Another thunder was heard, making them flinch. Fortunately, the brunette barely reacted to it and kept sleeping.
"Hurry." Livy said.
Robin saved the necklace on their pocket and went back to search. They found a phone there and recognized it as Ruby's old phone that was supposedly lost. They saved it in their other pocket as well since it could be useful in the future. They searched and searched the drawer and all the others, but didn't find anything.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." Robin said, resisting the urge to slam the drawer shut in anger. "Of course she hid it elsewhere, what was I thinking?"
"What do we do now?" Livy asked.
"Search the rest of the room?" Garry suggested.
"No, she either hid it somewhere that isn't this room or straight on destroyed it." Robin said, getting out of their crouched position. They sighed, rubbing their temples exhausted. "We failed, again. Ruby will never be saved."
"What? No, don't say that." Greg said, jumping onto their shoulder. "We'll find another way."
"I have an idea." Pythong said.
"You are not killing her in her sleep, Py."
"I'm out of ideas."
"Let's just go before she wakes up." Robin said after a new rumble of thunder.
They slowly walked out of the room, making sure to close the door very slowly, and headed towards the hallways of Alfea.
"Our luck wil change, Robin. You'll see." Garry said, trying to cheer up his friend.
"Hey, look." Livy said, pointing to a window that overlooked the courtyard.
"Is that Musa and... Stormy?" Robin asked, watching the Fairy knock the Witch out of the roof with a spell.
Stormy landed on her feet and glared at Musa. She said something, probably a threat, but when the lights of Alfea's rooms turned on and the students and teachers came out to see what was going on, the witch flew away as fast as she could to avoid being caught.
"Holy shit." Robin said as a smile found its way onto their face.
"Oh, no. You've got that look on your face when you're about to do something really stupid." Livy said.
"Does anyone know Ruby's old phone password?" Robin asked, taking their friend's phone out of their pocket.
"22589." Python answered.
"How do you know that?" Greg asked as Robin typed the digits and the phone unlocked.
"That is classified information."
"Why do you know that?" Garry asked.
"She has Subway Surfers on her phone."
"Understandable."
"There it is." Robin suddenly said, smiling triumphly.
"No." Livy said.
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"Have you gone mad?"
"Yes."
Robin furiously typed something on Ruby's phone.
"Are you texting someone?" Garry asked.
"Yup."
"Who?"
"Who did we just saw outside?" Livy asked rethorically.
"Musa?"
"No, Nitwit. Stormy... wait, what? Have you gone mad?" Python shouted.
"Yes." Robin answered. "And sent. Now we wait."
"What did you do?" Greg asked.
"I asked her and her sisters to meet us at Lake Rocalucce in half an hour."
"What? Are you kidding me?" Greg shouted. "They could kill us."
"Not when I tell them it's about Ruby."
The phone vibrated in Robin's hand. Stormy had answered.
"What did she say?" Livy asked, sitting on Robin's shoulder to have a good look at the phone.
"She's demanding to know who I am in a very colourful language. Ruby you luck girl." Robin answered sarcastically before typing an answer. Stormy answered very fast.
"Please tell her you want to talk about Ruby's situation. She's scaring me and we aren't even face to face with her." Livy begged, grimacing at the phone screen.
"Can I see?" Python asked.
"Absolutely not." Robin answered, sending another text. Once again, the Witch replied quickly. "Yes, she agreed to meet up with her sisters. That's a good thing right?"
"Absolutely not." Python said.
"But we don't have a choice, now." Livy said, hopping on her paperboard. "Let's go."
"Maybe I should go alone. I don't want any of you to get hurt." Robin said.
"Did you suddenly become suicidal or something?" Python asked, getting punched by Greg afterwards.
"We'll go with you and that's it." Greg said. "Now, let's go."
Robin sighed, but didn't argue with them anymore.
The group sneaked out of the school without anyone noticing them and ran towards the woods.
"It stopped raining." Livy pointed out.
"It was probably only because of Musa and Stormy's fight that it rained earlier." Robin said, looking up through the branches at the clear, dark blue sky above them,
They walked through the woods for a few minutes before they were met with the massive, cristal-clear lake. Robin turned to look at Livy and the Ghouls sternly.
"You four, hide behind those trees. If somethings goes wrong you come out to help me, even though I'm not really sure what a first-year Fairy, a Pixie and three Ghouls can do against three Senior Witches."
"You'd be surprised what these teeth can do and have done." Python said pointing to his mouth.
"It was a blood bath." Greg said, looking at Robin with a traumatized stare.
"Good to know." They said sarcastically. "Now, go hide."
The four obeyed them and climbed up a tree and hid in between its leaves. Robin cleaned their sweaty palms on their pants and, taking a deep breath, they waited.
"I think they're telling you to fuck off." Python whispered after a while of waiting and no sign of the witches.
"They are late 1 minute." Robin said, hiding their own insecurity.
"Why did you even think they would come?" Python asked.
"Because I said it was about Ruby."
"If it were that easy for them to show up, they would've been in the Omega Dimension a long time ago." Python said.
"I don't fucking know what that is." Robin whisper-yelled.
"Why are you guys whispering?" Garry asked, whispering.
"It seems appropriated." Robin answered.
Suddenly, a twig snapped behind them and the Ghouls hurried to hide again. Robin turned around and their eyes widened upon seeing the Witches step out of the trees. They glared at them and walked closer while summoning their powers.
"What do you want?" Icy asked in a voice that sounded almost dead.
Sweet Honey Ice Tea, Ruby I envy you so bad. Who the fuck allowed them to be so hot? Not now, Rob. Focus.
"Hi, I'm Robin." The blonde said with a nervous smile. "I'm Ruby's friend and I need your help to help her."
"We are already working on it." Darcy snapped, her eyes filled with hatred.
"We're going to kill that bitch and break the spell." Stormy added, almost growling at the end.
"Yeah, that might break Ebony's control over Ruby, but would it break the spell, though?" Robin asked. The witches shared looks between each other, not knowing what to say.
"What do you mean by that, little girl?" Icy asked, making Robin cringe slightly.
"I'm not a girl." They said, confusing the witches.
"You're a Fairy." Stormy hissed.
"Still not a girl, but that is not what matters right now." Robin said, wanting to end that terrifying conversation as soon as posible. "If you kill Ebony it wouldn't really do anything, would it? I'm new to all of this, but I believe that the only way to break the spell is with the counter spell."
"Well what is the counter spell?" Darcy asked, softening her voice.
"I don't know. I don't even know what spell she's under."
"Then you're just a waste of our time." Stormy shouted, getting ready to blast them with a lightning, but she was stopped by Icy.
"Stormy, let her talk." The witch said.
"I'm not a she." Robin mumbled.
"Then what are you?" Darcy asked.
"My pronouns are They/Them, so please refer to me as such."
"What?" The wiches asked, not understanding what they meant.
"Just do it. Please." Robin said. "I don't know what spell Ruby's under so you girls have to figure that out."
"Why us? Can't you do it?" Darcy asked.
"Yeah, you're with her a lot more than us." Stormy said, looking down sadly.
"I think the key to finding out what kind of spell was cast on her is the memories the four of you shared." Robin explained. "You have a lot of beautiful moments together and I don't think she forgot about them. I don't know what happened to her memory, but it wasn't erased. I mean, she remembers you. Just not the good things. And those moments couldn't just disappear."
"It would've left too much blank spaces on her memory and she would've gotten suspiscious." Darcy concluded, going deep in thought. "I have a theory, but I'm not sure."
"Do you mean...?" Icy asked and, as if reading her mind, Darcy nodded.
"I swear to God, if it is, I will not kill the little Fairy. I'll make her beg for it." Stormy growled as thunder rumbled in the air.
"What? What do you think it is?" Robin asked.
"We'll have to confirm it first." Icy said. "We'll talk to Ruby."
"How? She doesn't really like you. I mean, she thinks she doesn't like you." Robin said. "How will you even approach her?"
"Do you think she liked us when we first met?" Icy asked. "We know exactly how to approach her. Or we could just kidnap her again."
"Say what?"
"We'll be going back, now." Darcy said. "Thank you for wanting to help."
"No problemo. I don't want Ruby to be in the claws of that wit... bitch, any longer."
"And you'd rather for her to be with us? Witches that started a war and killed hundreds?" Stormy asked.
"Would you hurt Ruby?"
"Never." The Trix said in unison without hesitation.
"Then yes, of course I would rather for you to be with her instead of a bitch who forcefully made Ruby love her." Robin said, making the Witches smile.
"Well, thank you." Icy said, her dead eyes gaining a little more life.
"Oh, before you go. There's something I gotta give to you." Robin reached for their pocket and took out the necklace they found on Ebony's room.
"How do you have that?" Stormy asked, suddenly appearing a lot closer to Robin, making them extremely nervous.
"Well... uh... Ebony took it from Ruby." Robin answered, handing her the necklace. "I thought I should give it back to you so you can regift it to Ruby in the future."
Stormy took the necklace and gripped it in her hand tightly. She turned around and walked away from Robin and, without sparing another glance their way, the Trix vanished into thin air.
"Oh, thank God, they're gone." Robin said, finally releasing the huge breath they were holding.
"Those three are a lot scarrier than the last time I saw them." Greg commented, coming down the tree with the other Ghouls and Livy.
"I just hope I don't go through this ever again." Robin said. "I mean they are gorgeous, but for God's sake they are terrifying."
"Hey, they are Ruby's." Garry reminded them.
"I know that. I don't want them. It doesn't matter how mesmerizing Darcy's eyes are, I like Liam's better." Robin said, walking away.
"Liam, uh?" The Ghouls and Livy said at the same time in a mocking tone.
"Don't you dare."
They clearly didn't listen to them and followed Robin back to Alfea, relentlessly mocking and teasing them.