wither into the truth;
❛ BRINGER OF DEATH ❜ ↷ fate
❝ we know that she is still alive ❞

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Sabrina and Bloom got up at the crack of dawn the following morning. Not that the former minded, because her nightmares only became filled with her own fears and self-doubt after her and Riven's training session. She still could not wrap her head around the fact that Riven, of all people, was afraid of her. A part of her felt guilty for invading his mind like that but the other part wanted answers. Ditching training was something that was guaranteed and while Sabrina saw that as a bad thing because it meant that she was not going to be able to talk to Riven, she figured that he needed a day to cool off.

The Stone Circle kind of gave her the creeps but she would never admit it out loud. She leaned against the rock in the middle and noted that it looked very much like the beginning of a horror movie in which two dumb teenagers jokingly do a ritual that gets them into a little too much shit.

Bloom slowly opened the book that Dane gave them the night before to reveal a small object that was slim and shaped like a circle. Sabrina pursed her lips and watched as she took it in her hands before she looked at her.

"Hold my hand." Bloom suggested and offered her hand. "We should test out this Twin Flames stuff while we have the chance."

Sabrina nodded and took her hand, hoping that Bloom would successfully channel her powers so they could at least see what their bond looked like in action.

The fire fairy's eyes soon began to glow a bright shade of orange and the object immediately started glowing too. Bloom placed it down in the middle of the stone and they watched as more magic from the other stones was drawn to it.

"This is where the overachievers hang out?"

Sabrina's soul almost left her body at the sound of Sky's voice. The two fairies snapped their heads around to see the blonde standing between two stones and watching them with narrowed eyes. He took a few steps closer to them while Bloom swiftly placed the book over the object in order to hide it.

"It gets loud in the suite." Sabrina shrugged and crossed her hands over her chest, "You know how messy freshmen can get."

Sky ignored her comment and looked at the book behind them, "What's that?"

"That is a book." Bloom responded and placed one of her hands on her hip in a weak attempt to look casual. "I'm a bit concerned you've never seen one."

Silence settled over the three of them as Sky clenched his jaw and stared between them doubtfully. "I don't want to do this."

"Do what?" the dark-haired girl asked him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I don't want us to lie to each other and I don't want to play a game." he stated sternly.

Bloom mirrored the way Sabrina crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed, "There is no game."

"Silva wanted me to watch you." Sky said bluntly, his eyes solemnly on Bloom. Then, he looked at Sabrina and added, "He told me to watch you too but you barely left your room so he settled on Dowling keeping an eye on you." 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬. "I told Silva that he was crazy, that there was . . . there was nothing going on. And that Bloom was just frustrated and wanted answers and Sabrina was just angry about Beatrix being the bad guy and you two ── "

"You've been spying on me?" Bloom cut him off, hurt and disbelief lacing her voice. Sabrina mentally flinched at the fact that she actually 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 how upset she was. "And you just blindly did what he said."

"He gave me an order." The specialist defended himself weakly.

"Which he could have given to anyone," Bloom snapped angrily, "but he used you, used our . . . " She cut herself off before she let anything that she couldn't take back slip through her lips, "our friendship. And you . . . " She scoffed in disbelief. "But I'm the bad guy, right?"

The redhead gave him a harsh glare and Sabrina took the moment that Sky wasn't looking at her to slide the object back into the book and rush to put it into Bloom's bag. Sky caught sight of what she was doing and quickly snatched the book from her hands which caused her to flinch a little.

He opened the book to reveal the object that the two girls were trying to hide from him. "What is this? I am trying to be on your side here. Come on, Sabrina, you are my 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. You always have been and you always have been. But you are making it really difficult for me to keep you two from getting into an even deeper mess. You 𝘤𝘢𝘯 trust me."

"Can we?" Sabrina retorted, "Because everyone in Alfea knows that you are Silva's eyes and ears. I might be loyal to Dowling but at least that loyalty isn't blinding me. How about you try to put yourself in our shoes? Do you think that we are doing this because we have some evil plan against the school? Of course, you don't because you know me. You said it yourself; we are a family." She pleaded, "So please, how about 𝘺𝘰𝘶 try to trust 𝘮𝘦 if I believe that what we are doing is right."

"Let's just start with this." Bloom chimed in, sounding determined as her eyes pierced through Sky's. "Have you ever heard of Aster Dell?"

-

Sky was definitely more than surprised about everything that Bloom told him. Thankfully, he agreed that he was not going to tell Silva anything. At least for now. That led them to putting the object back in the middle of the stone so it could take in the magic around it.

"I've lived in Alfea my entire life." Sky started, clearly still doubtfully, "Silva raised me."

"I saw Aster Dell with my own eyes." Bloom argued.

Sky shook his head, "He'd never help massacre an entire village."

"Even if he thought that he was doing the right thing and killing Burned Ones?" Sabrina gave him a knowing look. "We both know Silva; he is ready to do anything if he thinks he is doing it for the greater good. That is something you two have in common."

He swallowed and stayed quiet, clearly not knowing how to respond to it because he knew that she was right.

Bloom sighed and said, "I don't think that Dowling or Silva are evil, Sky. I think that they are protecting this place, but they are also protecting themselves. So, whatever happened that day, whatever the truth is, they're not going to tell us."

"I know what it's like." Was Sky's response. "Not to know your parents."

"At least you were raised by people who knew yours." Bloom said quietly. "You heard stories. You saw pictures."

Sabrina shook her head and met her eyes, "Bloom, sometimes not knowing is better. It will only make the pain worse."

It was true. Knowing that her father was a good and noble man before a Burned One killed him and knowing that that was the person that could have raised her made it ten times worse. And she loved her uncle, she really did, but it only made her realize that she could not even remember what her father looked like anymore. Her mother burned all the pictures when she was still young and her uncle didn't display them around the house because it pained him to look at a picture frame and see his dead adoptive brother. So, whenever Sabrina would try to think about what her father looked like, she would only see Aleksander's face.

"I'm the son of a war hero and the king of a fallen kingdom that was raised in Alfea." Sky started, "I've heard more stories about the great Andreas than I can count. It's almost like he's still alive." He sighed and lowered his head to avoid their gazes. "But he's not. He's an ideal. Do you have any idea how hard it is to live up to that?" His voice cracked a little when he spoke next, "Even Silva, it's like he's . . . it's like he's playing some role out of a sense of duty when all I really want──" He cut himself off and let out a frustrated sigh.

Sabrina had a hard frown on her face. She knew that Sky always had doubts and insecurities because of the legacy that his father left behind but he never actually opened up about it. Reluctantly, she took a step closer and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him into a comforting hug.

"You're perfect, okay?" She whispered, "You don't need to live up to anyone else's expectations because you are your own person."

He nodded and tightened his hands around her waist, "Thank you."

Bloom hesitated but took a step forward and joined the hug, patting Sky on the shoulder awkwardly. She was still doubtful about showing affection towards him in front of Sabrina.

They pulled away in a couple of seconds and Bloom rushed to lift the object from the stone.

Sky cleared his throat and tilted his head curiously, "You still haven't told me what this is. You still don't trust me?"

"I do, actually." Bloom said honestly, "But I also know that if we told you, you'd stop us."

Sky stumbled back a little bit, his vision becoming unfocused. He placed one of his hands on the stone to stop himself from losing balance. "Woah. What's happening?"

"It's just a tiny sedative." Bloom assured him nervously, doing everything to avoid Sabrina's wide-eyed gaze. "Dane said it would just last for a little bit. I'm so sorry."

Just as she rushed the last words out, Sky fell down onto the ground, unconscious. Sabrina slowly lifted her shocked gaze away from him to look at Bloom, "What the fuck, Bloom?"

"I'm sorry, I ── " she stuttered, "You know that he would never let us go."

"Bloom, you can't ju ── "

"Sabrina." the first-year cut her off with pleading eyes, "Please, we have to go. You can yell at me later."

She huffed angrily, "Fuck it. Fine."

-

Sabrina expected a lot of things to happen when they went to meet Dane again but she definitely didn't expect Tecna, Terra, and Aisha to be waiting for them instead.

"He's not coming." Terra told them blankly, looking rather disappointed at the fact that they actually caught them trying to sneak in to see Beatrix.

Tecna looked between them in disbelief, "What are you two even doing?"

Aisha roughly grabbed both Bloom and Sabrina by their wrist to pull them inside one of the specialist garages. Sabrina tore her arm out of her hold to glare at her, only to be met by a glare that was even harsher than hers. "Breaking Beatrix out."

"Dowling has been lying to me." Bloom said, a little too loudly. "Everyone here is lying! You guys don't know what we know."

"We do." Aisha cut her off, "Dane told us about Aster Dell."

"So, you get it? You understand w──"

Terra rapidly shook her head. "No. No. Bloom, my dad would never do something like that."

"Here we go again." Sabrina scoffed and rolled her eyes, recalling almost the exact same words leaving Sky's mouth a few minutes ago.

"Beatrix is a liar and a murderer."

"You're his daughter." Bloom told the earth fairy and then looked at Aisha, "You're Dowling's little helper." She raised her eyebrows at Tecna. "And you are convinced that you know what's best for Sabrina instead of actually listening to her. I'm not going to convince either of you, like Sky."

"I am not Dowling's little helper." Aisha pushed her back to keep her from walking away, "I've been spying on the woman for days for you."

Terra blinked, "What?"

"The point is, all I've seen is how hard she is trying. They're all trying to keep us safe." Aisha exclaimed, only fueling Bloom's anger.

"They lied about a woman being dead for sixteen years, about a war crime!" the redhead shot back, "I get that you guys want to believe in them but they're destructive, maybe dangerous!"

"Bloom." Tecna sighed. Her tone was a huge contrast in comparison to Aisha's harsh one and Terra's judgmental one. "You are not thinking straight."

"We haven't told anyone what you're doing, and if you just give us the key, we won't." the water fairy said. "But if you don't . . . "

Sabrina cut her off and raised a mocking eyebrow, "Then, you'll what? Tell on us and get two of your roommates expelled?"

"I just don't want to see you two in a cell next to her." Aisha corrected her.

Bloom clenched her jaw and angry tears filled her eyes. She didn't think twice before grabbing Sabrina's arm and glaring at Aisha, Terra, and Tecna with her eyes glowing orange while Sabrina's turned completely dark. Tecna backed away with her two friends and softly said, "We are your friends. You don't want to do this."

A second later, Bloom snatched her hand away and met Sabrina's wide eyes with an unreadable look.

"Bloom . . . " Sabrina calmly placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay. Just breathe."

Bloom took a deep breath and then exhaled. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, they immediately softened. In either defeat or understanding. She hesitantly pulled the key to Beatrix's cell out of her bag and threw her bag back over her shoulder. Then, she walked over to their roommates and handed it to Aisha.

"I know how hard this must be ── "

"You don't." Bloom cut Aisha off coldly. "None of you do."

Sabrina sighed and didn't spare the others a single glance before she followed the redhead outside.

-

Bloom was not a bad guy. She was not trying to break Beatrix out and free Rosalind because she was bored and wanted their world to go to shit. She wanted to know where she came from and who her parents were and if Rosalind was the only way to do that, then Sabrina was planning to do whatever she could to help her. Now that their plan went to shit, Bloom headed straight to Dowling's office and Sabrina made no move to stop her.

"I want to see her." Bloom blurted out as she barged into the office, Sabrina trailing behind her with a blank look on her face. "Rosalind."

"I told you she's ── "

"We know that she is alive." Sabrina stated firmly. "You can stop with the lies now. We know everything."

Dowling glanced down at the message on her phone and shook her head. "I don't have time for this right now."

"I'm from Aster Dell." Bloom announced loudly as she blocked her way, stopping her from leaving the office. Dowling's eyes widened and it seemed to satisfy her that she managed to shock her into silence. "Yeah. That's where I was born. That's where my birth parents lived. That is until you, Mr. Silva, and Professor Harvey destroyed it." Dowling turned around, unable to even look at her until she gathered up the courage to say something. "Is that true? How could you do that? How could you think that killing Burned Ones is more important than people's lives."

Dowling finally turned around to face her. "You think we did it on purpose?"

"That's what Beatrix said, that Rosalind had a crisis of conscience and you did it anyways."

"Rosalind." Dowling practically scoffed and walked back to her desk. "She is still manipulating people after all these years."

Bloom stormed after her while Sabrina stood in the middle of the room awkwardly. She only came as moral support but she soon realized that maybe that was something that Bloom should have done alone.

It was too late to turn back, though, because she was curious now.

"What does that mean?" Bloom demanded. "Tell me what happened that day."

"That day, I made a mistake. Rosalind was my mentor. Much like I am to Sabrina. She was the most powerful fairy in Alfea. Feared but respected. I never doubted her, never questioned her. So, when she told us about the Burned Ones at Aster Dell, we followed." Dowling frowned, deep in thought as memories flashed through her head. "The magic we unleashed that day was immensely powerful. Until then, we didn't know fairies could combine their magic. It was a secret Rosalijd kept. Not the first. Still, we never questioned her. She told us she'd taken pains to evacuate the village. She told us only Burned Ones would be killed in the blast. We should have questioned her." Regret flashed across her face. "When we realized what she'd done . . . what we'd done. That day has lived in my mind for sixteen years. If Aster Dell is where you're from . . . there are no words that I could say that can make right the damage I've caused you."

Bloom stared down at the floor and shook her head. "Why would she do that? Why?"

"She was a zealot. She wanted every Burned One dead, no matter the cost. She thought if she told us she couldn't evacuate, that we'd say no. She'd have been right."

"What about me?" Bloom demanded, "Why did she save me? Why did she put me in the human world? Why did she tell me ── "

"That much I do not know, Bloom." Dowling cut her off, "Rosalind kept many things from me."

Bloom nodded and glared at her. "Which is why I want to see her. Beatrix said that you are keeping her under the school."

Dowling grabbed her forearms, "Whatever she has to give you is not worth unleashing her back into the world for, Bloom. I will help you get the answers you need. I give you my word."

Sabrina was startled by Silva barging into the room from behind her. He looked between the three fairies with wide eyes before his eyes settled solemnly on the Headmistress. "We need to go. Now."

He left a second later and Dowling gave Bloom a reassuring look. "Tomorrow."

"You look like you have a plan." Sabrina spoke up quietly as soon as Dowling left the office too. "Do you?"

"Not yet." Bloom said, her shoulders falling. She finally turned around to reveal her bloodshot eyes and flushed face. "But I need to apologize to Sky. I'll see you back in the dorm. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." Sabrina gave her a small smile, "I'll see you."

-

"Hi."

Sabrina almost face-planted when she entered her room after taking a shower and saw Stella standing in the middle of it with a small smile on her face.

"I just got back from helping Bloom free Beatrix. They sent me to get you." The blonde said softly, "You will probably want to hear all the details but can we just . . . "

"Yeah." Sabrina chuckled and tackled her into a hug, a huge smile now glued to her lips. "I missed you! I wanted to be mad but I don't think I can."

Stella grinned, "I was gone for a week."

"Felt like a year." The dark-haired girl admitted, hugging her harder.

"I will explain how I got back later but we need to meet the girls." Stella said, hesitantly pulling away. "We have to meet in Dowling's office because we are going to help Bloom talk to Rosalind."

Sabrina's eyebrows shot up in surprise but she nodded nonetheless, "Okay. Just let me get dressed."

-

"Once Dane gets here, we can push him through." Beatrix commented as all the fairies eyed the trap that stopped them from going into the tunnels that led them to Rosalind.

Bloom leaned against the doorway and stared down at her, "It seems a bit harsh to use him to spring the trap."

"He'll be game. Or he won't, and we'll do it anyway." Beatrix shrugged with a smile. Sabrina felt sick now that she realized how much of a psychopath that girl actually was.

"What about you?" Bloom asked nonchalantly, making Sabrina's eyebrows furrow. "Are you game?"

A second later, Stella appeared in the middle of the room and pushed Beatrix through the trap. The air fairy sat on the ground, her lips turning a light shade of green and her body shaking.

"That was much more satisfying than a flowerpot." Stella smiled and side-eyed Musa, "See? Break out the villain to get what Bloom wants and then trap her again. Simple. My ideas rock."

"Right . . ." Sabrina nodded and swallowed, being the first one to step inside while keeping her eyes on Beatrix's half-conscious body. An unsettling feeling built up inside her stomach but she pushed it away and made her way into the tunnel with all of her roommates, except Aisha, following after her.

a/n: yes I deleted bloom and sky's first kiss because I hated it in the show. he was literally still with stella when it happened and it frustrated me so much. but they'll still be a thing, only a little bit later