Chapter Text
Icy had just returned from Domino, and was sitting on her heels on the grass near the hideout hidden deep on the shores of Lake Roccaluce. After earlier’s battle with Daphne and Bloom's ancient parents, she felt triumphant.
Maybe she wasn’t able to finish them off, thanks to the Winx’s meddling, but she got what she came for. Daphne was unconscious for now, but when she woke up, she would tell Tritannus how to get Sirenix if she wanted to protect her family. Icy’s ice sculpture trick had worked with her parents and Icy was always a persistent threat to Bloom, and by the way Tritannus grinned at her when she returned, he couldn’t have been prouder of her.
Not that she ever had to prove herself to him. She never felt like she had to, and he never asked her to. He knew she was capable. He knew who she was, and he liked it. It made Icy feel all disgustingly warm and fuzzy inside.
She and Tritannus were a team, they didn’t work for each other, they worked together. He wasn’t like Darkar or Valtor, who gave Icy and her sisters orders and degraded them when they lost in battle, and only used them for their powers. Icy knew Tritannus wasn’t using her, because she didn’t even have any powers at all when they met, but he still liked her, and he went out of his way to break her out of the prison cell she'd been stuck in for too long. He didn’t need her for his goals, but he used his energy to restore her powers anyway, just for her. Because he wanted her, not her powers, but her. He liked Icy just as much as she liked him.
Icy wasn’t a pretentious little fairy, so she didn’t need to confess her feelings and didn’t need Tritannus to confess his to her or ask her out - what was the point of words, when they both already knew the other felt? Their flirting, their endearing conversations, and their promises to rule together were already enough to solidify their relationship. There hadn’t been a single moment where Icy realized she was in love with Tritannus, that feeling was natural and had been there since they first met. There was only a moment directly after their first battle, when she knew she could trust him, when she knew they were together. Tritannus was Icy’s boyfriend and she was his girlfriend, and that was that.
Of course, in their time as a couple, they haven’t had too many opportunities to actually be alone together, without Darcy and Stormy or the mutants, because Tritannus has been constantly on the move underwear, traveling across the Magic Dimension’s oceans and conquering them, and Icy has been on the surface messing with the Winx and trying various spells to gain power. She saw him when she helped him refuel his magic, and they talked every day, of course, but Icy wanted him really there with her. She was dying to touch him, to be close to him, so much that it embarrassed her.
Now they’d completed the goals that kept them physically apart and were just waiting for their next move, and Icy finally had a chance. She’d pulled him aside after she and her sisters got back from Domino, asking him to meet her on the surface so they could be alone. Tritannus had been a bit annoyed that Daphne fainted from stress before he could get the information he needed out of her, but all of that seemed to vanish when Icy appeared, and she loved that she had that effect on him. Of course, he agreed to meet her in private, and now she was (im)patiently waiting for him to appear.
Finally, Tritannus emerged from the water, and Icy felt the way her face lit up. It was so natural for her now that it was scary. She was pleased when she saw his face light up, too.
“Oh, there you are. For a second I worried you wouldn’t come,” Icy said as he inched closer to her, until he was directly in front of her.
“Why wouldn’t I, my darling Icy? I always come when you call,” Tritannus replied, grinning.
“Well, you’ve been so busy, you know, trying to take over the magic dimension and all,” Icy teased. She was secretly relieved he still managed to make time for her. It showed that he really did care.
“And haven’t you?” He asked, chuckling. Icy smirked, but then her face formed into a sweet, genuine smile. So unlike how she used to be, but so real she couldn’t deny it.
“You know I have, but I missed seeing your real face,” she said, glancing away slyly, if only to hide her ever-present blush.
She didn’t know why she felt that way. Witches don’t blush. Icy was a witch with a cold heart, so she should’ve been startled when a warmth bloomed in her chest as Tritannus touched her hands with his.
Icy turned her gaze back to her boyfriend, smiling softly at her in return. His hands were bigger than hers, and they almost covered her hands entirely, but she liked how they felt. She felt protected, not that she actually needed to be protected. She still wanted him to have her back, and he did, that was apparent in the way he touched her alone. She liked his touch, and she was ecstatic at being able to be with him for real.
“I feel the same way,” Tritannus declared, sincerely. “I missed you, my beautiful Icy. Once we enter the Infinite Ocean, I’ll never leave your side again.” He interlocked their fingers then, giving Icy’s hands a gentle squeeze.
“I can hardly wait, Tritannus,” Icy breathed. She let go of his hands, but only to cup both sides of his face, staring into his yellow eyes for a moment before she leaned forward.
Her lips met his softly as her eyes fluttered shut. The kiss was tender, unlike any other kiss Icy has had before, and Tritannus kissed her back deeply. It was their first kiss, but Icy felt more than just his mouth, she felt like her icy heart was on fire, like the ice was melting. They stayed like that for minutes, their mouths pressed together, as if it were just the two of them forever, together on the shores of Lake Roccaluce.
Reluctantly, they ended their kiss, and Icy sighed happily. Tritannus set his trident to the side, and held out his arms for her to come to, and she did, all but swan diving into him, knowing he’d catch her. And he did, gently holding her hips as he pulled her into the water for a hug.
As Tritannus’s strong arms embrace her, Icy shivered, much to her surprise, not because she was cold - she was the witch of ice, she didn’t ever get cold - but because she’d never been held like this before. Her eyes widened as she realized Tritannus noticed, but he only held her impossibly closer, as if he were reassuring her that this was real.
Icy felt every ounce of tension seep from her body as she melted into Tritannus’s arms, her eyes closing and her limbs going lax as she rested her head on his chest, her arms lingering around Tritannus’s back. For a moment, all she felt was peaceful, like nothing else mattered but this, but them. As long as she could be with him forever, she would be content.
And by the way Tritannus kissed her forehead and rested his head on top of hers, his eyes shut and a small smile on his face, he felt the same way.
-
Icy wakes up, cold and panting heavily. The warmth from the dream (memory) is gone, replaced by a freezing emptiness at the realization that it’s over. Tritannus is gone, and she’s alone. There’s tears on her cheeks, but she quickly freezes them, refusing to be pathetic. But she can’t deny that absolutely everything feels wrong.
Icy sits up from where she was sleeping on her side, and her jaw clenches as she balls her fists up in silent anguish, digging her nails in hard enough to draw blood before she slams her palms against the hard rock below her, cursing herself for dreaming about him. For missing him. For still loving him.
It’s pathetic. She can’t do this. She can’t think about him. She can’t think about how he betrayed her, because then she’ll feel it. The hurt, the trust shattered, the maddening question of why. She’ll claw through a thousand reasons, desperately wanting to explain why it couldn’t have been him, and lose her mind trying to believe any of them. Because she’ll have to lie to herself and tell herself her heart isn’t broken, she never even had one in the first place. She doesn’t want to feel this way. She doesn’t want to feel at all.
Icy turns her attention to her surroundings, to the cave on a mountain standing over Lake Roccaluce that she and her sisters are squatting in until they figure out their next move. It’s quiet, save for Stormy’s loud and obnoxious snoring from the other side of the cave. All she sees is darkness, and the cave floor she slept on is hard and strikingly colder than usual.
Icy trails her gaze to the cave floor, and her breath hitches as she sees frost form beneath her hands, icing over the surface beneath her. She blinks in bewilderment, because she hasn’t used her powers by accident since she mastered them when she was sixteen. Her days of accidentally freezing stuff have been long over, because she’s cool and in control. She can control her emotions, she’s not some weak fairy, and the ice forming around her is nothing.
Icy gets up, taking a deep breath to steady herself. Part of her wishes Tritannus were here, because his presence always kept her centered. Then she remembers he betrayed her and she has no idea why, and it makes her angry all over again.
She’s so angry, no one has any idea. She hopes the Winx will be terrified once they find out. But her sisters are clearly glad she’s back, that Tritannus is gone, and that makes her angry, too. Makes her fucking furious. And that fury only grows as she walks to the edge of the cave, only to be greeted with the sight of Alfea in the distance, big and pink and full of Icy’s worst enemies.
She’s sure the Winx think they defeated her when they defeated Tritannus, didn’t even notice she was gone, but that isn’t the case, she will never be defeated, not by them or the persistent ache in her chest. She won’t give the Winx or anyone else, her sisters included, the satisfaction of seeing her defeated.
And besides, she needs something to take her mind off of Tritannus. She can’t keep sitting around thinking about reasons why he could’ve betrayed her, or even more, reasons why it makes no sense, why it couldn’t have been him. If she keeps thinking about him, she’ll shatter, and if she falls apart, what was this all for?
It doesn’t matter. She repeats to herself that Tritannus is gone, banished to Oblivion by the Winx, and there’s nothing Icy can do about it.
All she can do is finish what she started, take down those pesky little fairies, and take over the Magic Dimension. Her fury will be their problem. They’ll know her rage like they’ve never known it before. And when it’s all said and done, the Winx will be the ones suffering.