Uneasy Beginnings
The air around Alfea felt deceptively normal. The familiar, peaceful hum of magic flowed through the trees and past the stone towers, but it felt wrong. The tension between the Winx was palpable, though none of them spoke about it directly. They stood outside the school’s gates, each of them trying to process what had happened, but none of them fully understanding the depth of the situation.
“We should get inside,” Tecna said, her voice clipped with an edge of impatience. “The longer we stay out here, the more likely it is that someone will notice something is off.”
“Right,” Bloom agreed, though she was clearly still in shock. “Let’s figure this out. We’ll go to the school, lay low for now, and try to make sense of what happened.”
The group moved forward, their footsteps in sync, but something wasn’t quite right. The world was moving at a different pace than they were. They were too advanced for this time — too powerful for their younger selves.
When they reached the school gates, Stella’s unease only deepened. She could feel the weight of her power, simmering just beneath the surface. It was like trying to hold back a storm inside of her. Her connection to the stars had always been something she could harness with ease, but here, in this younger body, it felt like she was trying to control the very forces of the universe with only the flick of a finger. It was dizzying.
The others felt it too. Bloom’s Dragon Flame pulsed within her, but it was erratic, flickering with too much energy. Musa had to bite her lip to keep from singing something unintentionally — her siren voice almost slipping out in a dangerous hum. Flora, typically serene and graceful, felt the weight of nature itself tugging at her, urging her to do more than she could control. Aisha’s water powers were restless, her fists still clenched, as if the water inside her couldn’t be contained. Tecna’s hacking mind was so advanced it practically burned with the desire to break through systems that weren’t even there yet.
And then there was Stella.
Every step she took seemed to bring her closer to losing control. Her sun and moon powers surged through her, pulling the stars from the sky in a way that was too raw, too uncontrolled. She could feel the stars burning inside her, their light flickering too fast, and it made her head spin.
“I can’t do this,” Stella muttered to herself, barely audible as she took a step back from the group. “It’s too much.”
“Stella?” Bloom’s voice was filled with concern, but Stella waved her off.
“I’m fine,” she lied, though it was evident to everyone that she was anything but. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the overwhelming force of her powers from pushing out of her. She could feel the universe itself breathing through her — like she was the sun, the moon, and every star in the sky at once. It was too much.
Stella raised her hand, trying to hold her magic at bay, but instead, the air around them shimmered and twisted. A brilliant illusion of starlight burst into existence, like a supernova going off in front of her. The light flared, casting strange, shimmering shadows that seemed to flicker and move with lives of their own.
“Careful!” Flora warned, stepping back as one of the illusions swirled dangerously close to her.
“Stella, you need to rein it in!” Tecna said, her voice sharp and commanding. She knew that no matter how advanced their powers were, they weren’t supposed to be using them like this — not in their younger bodies. The strain would only make everything worse.
“I’m trying,” Stella snapped, frustration rising in her chest. “But it feels like the magic is. . .fighting me. It’s like I can’t control it anymore.”
“Maybe it’s because we’re back in our younger bodies,” Aisha said, her brow furrowed. “We’ve got the power of our future selves, but we’re still in the bodies we had before. Our magic was never meant to be this strong at this age.”
The group fell silent, the weight of Aisha’s words sinking in. They all knew what that meant: the magic they had now was too much for them to control. They weren’t ready for it.
“I can’t. . .” Stella’s voice faltered, her frustration bubbling to the surface. The illusion around her shifted, growing more erratic, more unstable. She felt like she was losing herself in it. “I’m not supposed to be this powerful yet. I — ”
Before she could finish her sentence, a burst of light shot up from the ground, a brilliant flare that enveloped them in a glowing, starry aura. It was too much. The illusion was no longer just a reflection — it was real.
"Stella!" Bloom shouted, reaching for her, but it was too late.
With a sharp inhale, Stella willed the illusion to disappear, her connection to the stars pulling back as she struggled to regain control. Slowly, the light receded, leaving behind a shimmering haze in the air.
The others stood in stunned silence, unsure of what had just happened. For a moment, it was as if the entire school had fallen still, the magic around them humming with anticipation. Stella’s heart raced in her chest, her breath coming in shallow gasps.
“I’m so sorry,” Stella whispered, her hands trembling. “I didn’t mean to. . .”
“It’s okay,” Bloom said, her voice gentle but firm as she placed a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “We’re all in this together.”
Stella nodded, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of powerlessness. Despite everything they had been through, the magic they carried with them — powers that had been forged through years of war and trauma — were no longer something they could rely on.
“Well,” Musa said with a dry laugh, breaking the tension. “I guess the world is definitely going to notice us now.”
“We need to figure out how to control this,” Tecna said, her mind already working on a solution. “Our powers are too advanced for us to handle at this stage. If we’re going to blend in here, we need to figure out how to keep them under control.”
“I think we’ll need to lay low for a while,” Aisha added, her tone serious. “But we can’t let this stop us. We have a purpose here.”
Stella looked at her friends, her heart swelling with affection for them. They were in this together, no matter how uncertain the path ahead seemed. Even though they were back in a time they didn’t fully understand, they would face it as a unit.
“We’ll get through this,” Stella said quietly. “Together.”
But as she spoke, something in the distance caught her eye. A shadow — no, a presence. Something wasn’t right. The calmness of the sky felt like a lie, and she could sense the stirring of old magic, creeping into their timeline.
“We’re not done yet,” she murmured under her breath, her gaze hardening. “Not by a long shot.”