The slashes and jabs he’d practiced with his sword until they’d become second nature were useless against the frost that had come to life under the sound of their footsteps. Their mere presence had steered the environment to violence and their number did nothing in their favor as the rest of the Specialists weren’t faring any better than him. Watching Red Fountain crumble under the coils of Icy’s magic hadn’t paralyzed him so thoroughly when his classmates and teachers had fought by his side against the regenerating decay monsters. Here the hissing blocks of ice with needle-sharp teeth were limited in number but the white of their bodies stretched all the way into the horizon. There was no end to the curse of Dyamond.

The reach of Stella’s light was the only safety around except for the ship orbiting the planet at Timmy’s command. Yet, the wobble in her arms had sneaked all the way into her voice despite the steady stream of warmth covering his back unlike the brief explosions of heat announcing Bloom’s movements over the battlefield.

Even her power was failing against the ice monsters that learned it no differently from the attacks of all the other girls. Once a spell was used against them, they collectively gained immunity to its particular structure. Something about water being proven to have memory according to both Tecna and Layla.

The creature in front of him raised its arm to make him stumble without a counterweight. Right in the way of the swooping ice claw ready to smash his skull.

Thin threads snaked around him and pulled him back. The ice claw tore the air where his face had been and shattered the frozen earth. The clamor shook Brandon where he hit the ground, his ribs threatening to crack from the force knocking all the air out of him. The cold burned his stiff fingers that clutched pointlessly at the hilt of his sword as he failed to brace himself.

He couldn’t even groan, only lift his head for Helia’s concerned face to come into focus. He managed a thumbs-up to thank him for his timely use of the power glove before he scrambled to push himself up to his feet.

Both he and Helia jumped at Nex’s scream and the flickering of the light dome covering them. One of the monsters pierced through the magical barrier, only a breath away from Nex’s face and the chills he had to feel in the proximity ran down Brandon’s spine as well. Stella’s shield that was still a “magic in progress” was impossible for the creatures to adapt to until complete but her energy wasn’t endless.

A laser beam out of Timmy’s new blaster severed the ice claw where Stella’s light made it vulnerable. The protruding limb crumbled to the ground under the creature’s shrieking.

“Thanks, Timmy,” Nex grinned, seemingly unfazed by the blood-curdling sound.

“No problem.” The wariness in Timmy’s voice only reverberated in the lack of a smile or at least the hints of one.

“Hey, Sky,” Brandon yelled out in no particular direction, “falling back might be the only strategy we have left here.” He used his sword as a crutch to steady himself on his feet.

“I hear you, buddy, but if the ship gets destroyed... we’ll be stuck here,” Sky’s response barely made it over the wind.

It was difficult to tell where it came from with Bloom flying Sky all over the place wrapped in fire. Her powers left her the only one able to counter the magical winds the ice creatures caused. She just had to keep the flames away from everyone else to avoid burning them.

“I need you all to form a circle around me,” Stella’s voice was loud and clear despite the strained micro pause following every word. “Timmy, get the ship right above us at the edge of the atmosphere.”

Brandon scampered to her to watch her back. If she covered them in a sphere of light, that could allow the girls to fly the Specialists up to the ship. If it were possible with her wings quivering from the exhaustion seeping into them from her muscles.

The others flocked back under the protection of the shield with the monsters stabbing through the air and the dome of light after them. Everyone circled him and Stella, fairy next to a Specialist as if they’d had his idea.

“Done,” Timmy’s voice had Brandon focusing on a speck hovering above their heads that could very well be a figment of his imagination.

“What’s the plan?” Tecna looked to Stella instead of bothering to double-check on Timmy.

“Hold them back while I refocus my magic.”

Brandon’s stomach twisted and he nearly lost his balance from the rush of blood pounding in his ears. If anyone else was as shocked as him, their body language didn’t betray them. They all turned around, following Stella’s instructions while his eyes widened to the size of stars still not getting a clear image of her.

“Stella, no!”

Arms trapped him in a vise grip, the friction of his strength against the other person’s scorching through him to do nothing for his numb fingers. The hilt of his sword was digging in his skin to bruising but he couldn’t reach for Stella.

“You’re too exhausted,” the words stuck to his throat like he had to swallow ice blades and his tongue was frozen.

“We have no choice,” Stella gritted her teeth as a wave of magic flowed from her under her direction to sweep over the rest of them.

“Do it, Stella,” Bloom’s words burned in Brandon’s ears.

It was a flash.

Stella’s shield vanished.

The monsters surged at them.

Musa’s sonic waves boosted by Tecna sent them flying back.

Layla’s morphix and Flora’s plants held the creatures down.

A blinding light spilled from Stella and through his body to wash away everything else.

The wind wasn’t stinging his cheeks and lips. The snow didn’t fill his vision. The arms around him weren’t crushing his chest. His own body was erased. There was only the weight in his mind.

His feet hit the ship’s deck and he stumbled with the momentum of the body next to him. Riven grunted an apology in his ear and pulled him to his feet as Timmy dashed to the controls to get them out of there.

Stella’s body crashed into his sight lowered down to the floor by Musa and Sky. She was motionless even as Bloom’s magic flamed around her body like an aura seeping into her skin to melt away the danger.

He made a shaky step back, the voices of his friends mashing together. He slapped away the hands holding on to him, eyes trained on the glow dissipating around Bloom’s hands as Stella’s body absorbed the healing magic to no reaction.

Bloom wavered and fell into Sky’s arms freeing the space at Stella’s side.

Brandon’s knees hit the floor but it was the faint movements of Stella’s chest that were like a gut-punch. His fingers grabbed at her arms and the sparkling orange top that had replaced her Bloomix outfit to move her into his lap as he heaved for breath. Her skin was burning from the effort that had drained every last spark of her magic.

“Stella.” His eyes blurred with tears to keep the horrible stillness gripping her body out of his sight.

Someone knelt on Stella’s other side. There was a quiet rustling before he caught a flash of magic out of the corner of his eye.

“She’ll be fine, Brandon,” Flora’s voice and the warmth of her fingers next to his on Stella’s shoulder reached him. “I’ll need a minute to ground her energy and tie it to the roots of my plants but she’ll wake up as soon as I’m done. You’ll see.”

Flora waited for his reaction but when she didn’t get one, she scooted closer to Stella’s feet and started spreading bright pink pollen around Stella’s body.

“I’ll repeat the healing spell,” Bloom’s feverish heat plowed into him with a wave of nausea as she reached to concentrate the leftovers of her magic.

“No!” Brandon held out his arm to keep her away. “You already did enough.”

Bloom shuffled back as if he’d slapped her until she hit the sturdy body behind her. Everything was a blur in Brandon’s vision but he made out the movements of an arm wrapping around Bloom’s shoulders protectively. Sky.

“Brandon.”

“First you sneak off after the girls and almost get yourself killed and now Bloom drags us on a second mission to a dead and frozen planet. Wasn’t one enough for a lifetime?”

Sky had acted as if almost drowning had been a fever dream. He’d still foolishly mobilized them to go to the surface of a forbidden planet. A cursed planet that they knew nothing about. A dead planet.

Dyamond wasn’t like Domino. The witch that had cursed it was still there, her incantations almost audible in the wind swiping across the whole planet. Her life force made her monsters impervious to both physical weapons and magical attacks. She’d died for her revenge so that her lingering spirit would ensure the rest of Dyamond was forever caught in a death trap as well.

A quiet, trembling voice only ignited his fury further as it whispered, “Brandon.”

“A leader is supposed to do the necessary prep work, not push their teammates past their limits. A simple desire to do good is not enough.”

His teeth ground together like he was biting through ice. He wouldn’t refuse Icy help despite how, similarly to Dyamond’s curse, her magic had been on the verge of killing them countless times. But he wouldn’t offer assistance at the price of their own lives.

The image of Sky prostrated on the floor with a freezing heart was just as much of a slippery slope in his mind as that of Helia becoming an ice statue after turning on all of them, including Flora. Falling down that rabbit hole was chilling with the reminders of Bloom’s near fatal first encounter with Icy and the coldness looming over all of them with Bloom’s Dragon Fire at the witch’s disposal. He wouldn’t watch Stella be unable to light up the way Bloom had been stripped of her magic.

“Brandon.”

His head snapped back to Stella’s still form in his lap at the brush of her hair against his fingers. He blinked back tears, his eyes widening to sneak a peak past the water curtain blocking them.

The familiar warmth of golden irises greeted him as Stella lifted a slow hand towards his face.

He clasped her fingers and brought them to his mouth pressing soft kisses to them. New tears stung his eyes like the relief was poking his lungs to release all his air. “Stella.”

“Go easy on our friends, Brandon. I’m not the only one who fought but the decision to do it was all mine.” She stroked a fingertip over the cracks in his lips from the cold.

“I’m sorry. That’s not what I...” he cupped her cheek, his heart leaping to reach her when she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes, a small content smile adorning her face. “We’ve already lost too much... We can’t afford to lose anyone ever again.”

He hadn’t been there when Tecna had fallen into Omega but he knew just like the rest of them that the only thing that had been able to fill her absence had been the loud happiness of finding her again. He’d seen Riven push himself in harm’s way to save Musa from Darkar’s spell when he himself had been unable to move. He’d witnessed Stella’s bravery as she’d gone down against one of the dragons he’d ridden dozens of times. He couldn’t watch her push herself until she couldn’t recover from the loss of magic. He wouldn’t recover if he had to lose her or another one of their friends after they already lived every day without Nabu’s smile and the ease of his presence to ground even the jumpiest of them.

Stella gasped as if his thoughts had leaked into her and lifted her head to look past him.

The sound of footsteps was so clear in the dead silence that he didn’t startle when a hand grasped his shoulder. He didn’t turn to look at Layla but squeezed her hand, the returned gesture finally freeing his stomach from the knot it’d tied itself into.

“Let’s get Stella to Solaria. The Second Sun should boost her like nothing else,” Sky suggested.

“No, I’m fine,” Stella waved her hand before reaching to offer Layla her touch. “I can catch a tan once we’ve returned the summer to Dyamond.”

A clicking sound took over the silence only to fade in the background as Tecna spoke, “Brandon has a point. We have to do some research first before we head back to Dyamond.”

“To Alfea then?” Timmy was already fiddling with the ship’s controls.

Brandon nodded, eyes locked on Stella’s fiery gaze as she used Layla’s help to sit up an inch before Layla focused on assisting Flora with undoing the tangle of roots around Stella’s ankles.

“Actually, perhaps Domino’s library would have better records of Dyamond’s past concerns for national security as a former Dominian colony?” Helia asked.

The feud with the Shaman Witch predated Domino’s fall, that much was clear. Bloom’s parents could have obtained the key information needed to break the curse of Dyamond. They’d updated their books after Domino’s restoration.

“Course is set to the Roc then,” Timmy confirmed the change in plans.

“I’ll call my parents to see if they have something as well,” Layla patted Stella’s hand and stepped aside to where Nex was scrolling on his phone. Probably to pull from his old contacts from his time as a paladin.

“I’ll ask Daphne for her expertise. She can also see what Alfea has and whether Ms Faragonda can offer some assistance,” Bloom extracted herself from Sky’s embrace.

“I’ll do that,” Flora rose up from Stella’s side. She smiled at Stella and headed to an empty corner of the ship to have the conversation undisturbed.

Bloom caught Brandon’s gaze while she was checking on Stella from a distance. She murmured, “I’m sorry.”

Watching her bow her head in defeat sent a pang of guilt through Brandon. “I’m sorry, too. I wasn’t right to blame you.”

“No, I... was abusing Stella’s effectiveness,” Bloom waved her hands, pointedly looking at Stella to keep her from interfering. Or to keep from looking at Brandon now that she had no more excuses to occupy her. “You were right to call me out.”

Sky wrapped an arm around her waist for support and pulled her back into him. He placed a kiss on her forehead as Bloom nuzzled into his side. He gave Brandon an imploring look booking a conversation for later before leading Bloom to sit down for the first time in hours.

Helia had joined Tecna’s research team and was folding some origami according to her instructions, possibly deciphering some clue.

Musa and Riven were the only ones still standing awkwardly a little ways to the side.

Riven shifted, grabbing on to Musa who had his hand clasped in both of hers. “I was thinking... maybe we’re missing one of the most important sources.”

“Icy,” Stella startled all three of them.

Brandon nodded. “You think you can contact the Trix?”

“Between my sound waves and Darcy’s psychic powers, it shouldn’t be too hard,” Musa almost wrapped herself around Riven who responded in kind to her silent reassurance.

If Icy would be willing to reveal personal information to her sworn enemies, they could very well end up having to work with the Trix. That would require a whole lot of reassurances across the board even if Icy had helped against Valtor.

“We’ll get on to that,” Riven shifted again, avoiding everyone else’s gazes.

“Thanks.”

Riven waved Brandon off and slowly walked away with Musa who winked at Stella and smiled at him, eyes darting towards Stella to give Brandon a push before she turned to kiss Riven’s cheek. It was a relief to see him melt into her after the death of his best friend had been thrown in his face like that. If the flashback had been too potent for Brandon, he would’ve hardly been able to imagine the force with which it had hit Layla and Riven even if he weren’t trying his best to avoid it.

At least he wasn’t alone in that, everyone else busying themselves with work to focus on the successes waiting for them, not on the failures they’d had to swallow.

“Brandon,” Stella laced their fingers together, pulling him back into the moments when she’d been out of commission to leave him stranded outside her touch. “I’m sorry I worried you. But I have to be in the center of the action to watch your back, and the girls’, and the guys’.” She worried her bottom lip but continued, “You understand.”

All too well. Wherever one of them went, the others followed. And they’d never sit by instead of working on making sure no one else had to lose a friend, a loved one. Even at the price of their own lives.

“I know. I freaked out.” He scrubbed his hand over his face as if he could erase the past to keep it from tainting Stella’s smile and the faint but insistent spark in her eyes.

“I know. I did, too,” Stella grabbed his hand for dear life, her other palm cupping his cheek. “I would never leave you behind willingly. Any of you.”