The Thaw

This story is not meant to be understood in isolation. It has several precedents which are necessary to understand the timeline I'm using to establish this story. First, I'm basing this largely off the 4Kids TV series up through Season 3, however I have chosen to ignore the CGI movie and the upcoming Season 4. Instead I am assuming an alternate Season 4 based on a story from the comic book, an issue called "An Ill Wind" in which the Trix try to erase the memories of the populace of all their wicked deeds, but wind up having their own memories erased instead. This leads to the three of them being reintroduced as students at Cloud Tower, their past misdeeds swept under the rug as though they had never happened. What nobody realizes is that the Trix end up getting their memories back after Lucy spills the beans to them in a failed effort to become part of their group.

Two other stories are needed to fully understand this one. One is a video extra from the movie DVD in which the Winx Club and the Trix are competing in an ice-skating competition. In the final round it's Icy and her current boy toy versus Layla and Nabu. Layla wins, but in a magnanimous gesture hands Icy a rose which someone had thrown for her performance. The other story is eltf177's "I Love You Too" in which Icy and Layla wind up stranded on a hostile world with broken limbs and no magic thanks to Darkar's treachery. This connection becomes more apparent in Chapter 4.

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A rose. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Icy stared at the rose clutched in her hand, the one that the water fairy Layla had just handed to her. No one had ever given her a rose before. Not once. Was this some kind of sick joke or something? She looked up to stare after the dark-skinned girl as she stepped off the ice to return to her changing room and change out of her figure-skating outfit back into her street clothes. As she watched Layla unlace her skates Stormy stepped up beside her.

"What was all that about?"

Icy just shook her head.

"I don't know."

Darcy closed in on her other side, giving her a funny look.

"You okay Icy?"

Icy shot her a guarded look.

"I'm fine. Why shouldn't I be?"

The storm witch leaned in with her arms spread wide.

"You just lost, that's why. You should be mad as heck."

Icy shot her a dark look.

"Thanks for rubbing it in."

She passed off the rose to Darcy.

"Here, hang onto this for me. I'm gonna go have a private word with that fairy loser."

As the ice witch walked off in pursuit of the departing fairy Stormy gave Darcy a puzzled look.

"What's with her?"

Darcy glanced at the rose held in her hand, then shrugged and looked back at Stormy.

"Search me."


Layla stood staring at her reflection in the changing room mirror, still coming down off the high of winning the competition when there came a knock at the door. Figuring it must be her friends, she looked toward the door and called out.

"Come in. It's open."

Her eyes opened wide with surprise and more than a little concern as the door opened and she saw who was standing there. The expression on Icy's face was unreadable as she sauntered inside and closed the door behind her. Layla tried not to be too obvious about the way her guard went up as she stood there watching the ice witch.

"What do you want?"

Icy's eyes narrowed slightly as she planted her hands on her hips.

"I could ask you the same question. What was that out there?"

The dark-skinned fairy blinked. That wasn't like anything she had expected to come out of Icy's mouth.

"What was what?"

Icy hooked her thumb in the direction of the skating rink.

"Back there. What's up with handing me that rose? Were you making fun of me or something?"

Now things were starting to make sense. Layla shook her head.

"Not at all. You put on a good performance out there. I just thought it deserved a little recognition, that's all."

Icy folded her arms as she regarded the Princess of Tides.

"Don't give me that. I lost."

Layla put one hand on her hip and shook her head.

"You came in second."

Icy half-turned away from the dark-skinned fairy, raising her chin in annoyance.

"Second place is just another way of saying first place loser."

Layla shook her head in disbelief.

"Icy, you put on an amazing performance out there. As far as I'm concerned we both won, even though you did cheat by trying to sabotage my performance."

The white-haired witch shot her a chilling glare.

"There's only room at the top for one winner. That should have been me!"

Layla scowled at her for a moment, then softened her expression as she shook her head.

"I'm sorry you feel that way Icy. That's a pretty lonely way to think."

Icy dropped her arms to her sides.

"Yeah, well, that's life."

Layla's gaze softened further, thinking what a sad and depressing outlook that must be.

"It doesn't have to be you know. It's not that way for me."

Icy narrowed her eyes at her.

"Easy for you to say, after you beat me."

Layla thrust her hip out to one side and held up the opposite hand.

"I wouldn't think any different if you'd won. I'd have been pissed about the way you cheated me with that mist spell, but I still would have congratulated you on your win. You move like you were born on the ice."

A pained smirk spread across the ice witch's face.

"You might say that I was."

The smirk fell off her face as she regarded Layla.

"Nobody's ever given me a rose before."

A soft smile blossomed on Layla's face.

"Hey, you earned it out there today."

Her expression unreadable, Icy stepped closer to the water princess.

"And you've earned this."

Layla had no idea what to expect as Icy stepped way too close to her, triggering her fight or flight reflex. When Icy hooked one hand behind her neck and pulled her in for a kiss you could have knocked her over with a feather. It wasn't rough like she might have expected, had she even expected such a thing at all. Instead it was gentle, almost sweet. She stood there stunned while Icy finished and backed away. Giving her that same unreadable look, Icy turned to go. She stopped and looked back when she felt a hand grab her wrist. There was a questioning look in Layla's eyes as she let go of the ice witch's arm.

"Why did you do that?"

Icy shrugged.

"I just felt like it. That's all."

A mix of different emotions paraded across the water fairy's face before finally settling on a look of resolve.

"Well then, I guess I feel like doing this."

She stepped closer to the fair skinned witch, put one hand on the small of her back to pull her close, then placing the other hand on the base of the other girl's jaw she guided her in for another kiss. There was fumbling and uncertainty on both parts, but they held the kiss for nearly thirty seconds before they finally broke apart and stepped away from each other. Icy regarded her with a ghost of a smirk.

"That was unexpected. You up for taking this a little further?"

Layla shook her head with a hint of regret.

"I can't. I've got a boyfriend."

Icy shook her head as she turned to go.

"Too bad. I'll bet we'd have been great together."

As Layla watched the white-haired witch walk out the door she wondered if it was fear or something else that was making her legs shake.