The Thaw

Two days later Layla was walking alone down one of the upstairs hallways of Alfea. She was heading for one of the few classes she didn't happen to share with any of the other Winx Club girls. Professor Avalon's Elemental Attunement class was one of the more challenging courses Alfea had to offer. Layla's personal power, her Morphix, was actually water taken from the air around her, or any convenient nearby source, infused with her own winx. Thus infused, the water in her Morphix obeyed her will with just the slightest bit of direction on her part. She could mold it like putty, make it rigid and hard like plastic, let it flow like the water it actually was, make it behave like an elastic band, cause it to float in defiance of gravity, pretty much do anything she could think of with it. But she knew there were always new things she could learn about manipulating her power to its fullest extent, which was why she had signed up for this class. By gaining a deeper understanding of water and her personal connection to it she could learn to use her power in ways she might never have thought of before.

But there were other aspects of this class even more challenging. Elemental Attunement wasn't just about connecting with a single element, but rather with all four of the classical elements. If she could learn to harness the powers of earth, air and fire as well as water it would add greatly to her power. Of course that was easier said than done, but even if she wasn't able to connect with any other element but water the things she was learning about the other elements would still give her insights into new ways to make her Morphix power work for her. As Professor Avalon liked to remind his students, what was important wasn't what one found they couldn't learn to do, but what one found that they could.

However these were not the thoughts occupying Layla's thoughts as she walked to class. As so often the past couple of days she found her mind drifting back to Icy and that kiss they shared after the ice skating competition. Why did she find herself so attracted to the ice witch? She shouldn't even like Icy. It was Icy who had frozen the Flower of Life, almost killing it and thus nearly ending the Pixie race for all time. For that alone she should hate her, but she had done so many other awful things as well. Icy was the enemy, wasn't she?

Well, maybe not. The Trix were suffering from total amnesia after their latest scheme had blown up in their faces, dousing the three of them in the very potion whose vapors they had been using to slowly erase the memories of everyone in Magix regarding who they were and what they had done. With no recollection of anything they had ever done the Trix had essentially been rendered innocent of their past misdeeds. They now had a chance to start over, to do things right. Maybe they didn't have to be enemies after all.

In fact thinking back on it Layla realized there were grounds to hope that maybe the two of them might even have a shot at reconciling their personal differences. Close to two years ago she and Icy had been transported to the hostile world of Theorbella where they were trapped with no powers and a broken limb apiece for nearly two weeks. The two of them had been forced to depend on one another for their survival until they had worked out a way to get off the planet and return home. The experience hadn't exactly brought the two of them together but it had forged a kind of bond between them, a shared experience unique to the two of them alone. Icy had broken a leg in the fall so Layla had done most of the leg work while Icy filled in for Layla's broken arm. It had been tough, especially with all sorts of magical and anti-magical war machines out hunting for them and their magic stripped away from them, but in the end they had managed to survive their ordeal and open a portal back to Magix. Their common struggle for survival hadn't been enough to bridge the gap between them back then, not with all the bad blood between them, but perhaps now, with Icy's memories erased...

Thus engrossed in her own thoughts, Layla paid no attention to the open door of the darkened classroom she was walking by, an oddity which should have at least made her curious. So it was that she was taken completely by surprise when an arm reached out from said classroom, grabbed her and yanked her inside. In short order Layla found herself pinned to the wall with a hand over her mouth while her assailant quietly closed the classroom door and turned to regard her. The girl was blond, with her hair in a long braid which was piled up in a coil on top of her head. Her eyes were brown, with a piercing quality to her gaze. She wore a light blue jacket over a red tube top and a yellow knee-length tight-fitting skirt. White crew socks and sneakers completed the ensemble. Layla was certain she had never laid eyes on this person before, but there was still something familiar about the way she held herself, the way those eyes seemed to bore right into her. There was also something eerily familiar about her voice when she spoke.

"If I take my hand off your mouth, do you promise not to scream?"

The princess of Tides could only nod in response, her eyes as wide as saucers. When the girl took her hand away Layla stared at her in bewilderment.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The blond smirked at her in amusement.

"What, don't you recognize my voice? Well maybe this will jog your memory."

Before the black girl knew what was happening, the blond leaned in and sealed their lips together with a kiss. Layla's eyes went even wider, first in shock, then in recognition. As the girl pulled away again Layla stared at her in disbelief.

"Icy? Is that you?"

The blond smirked at her smugly.

"See? I knew you'd figure it out."

Layla finally raised her arms and placed her hands on the disguised witch's shoulders.

"Are you crazy? What are you doing here?"

Icy placed her right palm against the wall beside Layla's head, her left one below the princess's right arm.

"Looking for you, of course. You're not an easy person to find. It's taken me all day to find out what your schedule was so I could intercept you like this."

Layla shook her head in dismay.

"You shouldn't even be here Icy."

Icy frowned at that.

"And how else was I supposed to get hold of you?"

The water fairy frowned back at her seriously.

"You could have checked the student directory. It's posted on the web and my cell number is listed."

Icy gave her a lop-sided grin.

"And where would be the fun in that?"

Layla gripped the ice witch's shoulders more firmly.

"What do you want Icy?"

The phony blonde raised her eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Why, to see you of course. It's not every day that I receive a rose and a kiss from a girl as beautiful as you."

Layla shook her head.

"Icy, I already told you, I have-"

The ice witch cut her off with an impatient shake of her head.

"I know, I know! The boyfriend thing. But can't we maybe be friends at least?"

Layla stared at her in surprise. Icy wanted to be friends with her? Maybe she really had changed.

"I suppose so. I think I'd actually like that."

Icy took a step back and took both of Layla's hands in hers.

"I'm glad. I don't know why but I just get this really strong feeling like this was meant to be or something, you know? Like we've got this connection we share that nobody else has. Weird, huh?"

Layla looked at her strangely. Was she talking about Theorbella? Did some hidden part of her brain still remember what had transpired between them on that cursed planet? If so, how long until she remembered it fully? What else might she start to remember?

"Well, maybe. Anyway, I'm glad we can be friends too. Maybe next time though you can just give me a call and we can meet after school, without either of us having to skip classes for it? Aren't you going to be in trouble for skipping out on your classes all day today?"

Icy gave an unconcerned shrug.

"The profs'll get over it as long as I'm in my seat the rest of the week. I just couldn't go another day without seeing you again."

Layla shook her head with a grin. This new Icy was going to take some getting used to.

"Okay. Just don't go getting into trouble over me."

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a pen and notepad.

"Here. Lemme give you my cell number. That way you can reach me whenever I'm not in class."

She jotted down her number and handed the page to Icy. The ice witch accepted the sheet, folded it up and stuck it in her jacket pocket.

"Thanks. I guess I'd better let you get back to your class before you get in too much trouble with your prof. Talk to you again after school?"

Layla gave her a friendly smile.

"Sure! How about we meet down by the lake? That way there's not much chance of anyone seeing us together."

Icy cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Why's that? Ashamed to be seen with me?"

Layla shook her head.

"Let's just say that I need to prepare some people before they see us talking or they might get rather upset about it."

The ice witch shrugged dismissively as she turned to open the door.

"Whatever. See you then friend."

It was then that Layla realized that Icy probably didn't know what her name was, not having been properly introduced since having her memory wiped.

"Please, call me Layla."

Icy paused in the doorway, staring back at her blankly for a moment, wondering what she meant by that before she remembered 'Oh yeah. The amnesia gag. She thinks I don't know her name!' She gave the water fairy her best friendly smile.

"Thanks. See ya later Layla."

Layla stood for a moment watching the disguised Icy walk away before turning to walk quickly to her class. She smiled to herself, musing that having Icy for a friend was going to take some getting used to but might very well turn out to be one of the best things to ever happen in her life, next to meeting the Winx Club.