DISCLAIMER: I don't own Winx Club or SAO and I don't earn anything by writing this. It's just for fun.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was browsing for new ideas for my Strange Days series when I came across this notion of Bloom as an SAO survivor. The idea caught my imagination and I started to write this. Be warned that Bloom will be somewhat out of character. Can't see her going through something like that unchanged.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: Bloom has a secret. She can't tell her friends and not even her adoptive parents know the whole story. Gradually, the other Winx begin to learn bits of the truth, but Bloom holds back. How would they react if they knew the whole truth about her?

BURNING BRIGHT

CH. 1 Strange Occurrence IRL.

When Kiko had rushed out of the bushes, apparently scared out of his wits, Bloom had thought her pet rabbit had just run afoul of another squirrel. He seemed quite determined, though, that she needed to see whatever it was that had frightened him.

When she went to investigate, pushing through the bushes into an isolated clearing, the sight before her wasn't even on the list of things she expected to find. The strange girl with the staff fighting the monsters was definitely not something one saw in Gardenia every day. Things like that never happened IRL. She shook off her shock after a moment and found the calm center she'd learned to rely on while she was trapped. Whatever was going on, the girl needed help.

A mask of grim determination settled over her face and she didn't hesitate when she saw the girl knocked to the ground. She stepped into the clearing and kicked one of the smaller creatures as hard as she could; sending it into the others. That got their attention. They all turned to look at her, even the blond girl, who, arguably, had other things to concentrate on.

"Stay away from her, or else."

The big yellow creature turned to look at her. "Or else what?"

The red-head's only response was a savage grin that made the yellow thing hesitate for a moment. He didn't have long to contemplate before she charged forward and kicked another of the little things directly into his face. She jumped over the two that charged her and grabbed the staff as the yellow thing dropped it to deal with the injured and confused creature that was clawing at him.

Bloom threw the staff to the blond girl, who had regained her feet, before turning back to the…Bloom just decided to go with 'ogre' till she knew better, just in time to be jumped by several of the smaller creatures. She was trying to throw them off, when the ogre grabbed her arms and hoisted her into the air. "Enough of that," he snarled as he dangled her off the ground, both wrists clamped in one meaty paw. He glanced at the blonde. "Give me the staff or I hurt her. Huh?' He glanced down at Bloom who had lifted both of her feet and kicked him as hard as she could manage in the gut. "Heh, heh, that tickles," the ogre told her before looking at the blonde again. "Gimme the staff!"

Bloom struggled, but had no leverage and no weapons. Definitely not like in game, she thought. Growing desperate as the blonde hesitated, Bloom suddenly felt a warm tingling sensation that started in her belly and spread through her body. Not knowing what it was, but suspecting it wasn't good, she struggled harder and the sensation grew more intense as she started to panic.

"Huh?" The ogre looked down at her as the arms he was holding began to grow hot to the touch. "What? Aah!" He dropped the Earth girl with the suddenly red-hot skin and backed away shaking his hand. "How'd you do that?"

"Dunno," the suddenly glowing girl responded. "But I think it went something like this!" Acting more on instinct than anything else; she jumped forward, placed her hands against the creature's chest and concentrated on pushing the sensation out through her hands. The effect was far more dramatic than she'd expected. The thing was literally hurled into the air and over the trees. The smaller creatures serving it took this as a sign they should move on and soon vanished into the shadows of the park.

"Whoa!" The blond girl was staring at her. "You've got a lot of power there, Red. Major Winx!"

Bloom took a moment to look around and make sure there were no immediate threats; then turned to look at the other girl. "Winx? Um, yeah. That was weird. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm Stella by the way." Even as she waved away Bloom's concern, she began to sway on her feet. Bloom put an arm around her waist and helped steady her. "Well…maybe I could use some rest." She did something that caused her staff to shrink and become a ring, which she slipped onto her finger.

Bloom retrieved Kiko from his hiding spot in the bushes and her bicycle from the tree she'd initially settled under when she got to the park and headed for her home. Stella explained her situation between yawns, having clearly exhausted herself fighting the ogre and the small things she called ghouls. Fairies, like the ones in the storybook she'd read repeatedly as a child, were real. Magic existed in the real world. Bloom had so many questions; she didn't know where to begin. Magic. Real magic and fairies. Wow.

The story, Bloom knew, was not something her parents would believe, but they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. They made it to her home eventually, Stella leaning on the bicycle and accepting a supporting arm from the redhead. Fortunately, her parents weren't home at the time, so explanations were delayed.

Bloom tucked her new friend into bed in the guestroom. There was no telling how long it would take Stella to recover, so she made an excuse to her parents when they got home and asked them to let Stella sleep till she felt better. They accepted, for the moment, that Stella was a friend whose parents were out of town. Bloom told them that Stella was feeling ill and had no one at home to take care of her. She checked in on her every couple of hours, hoping that Stella would awaken on her own. If it lasted more than a day, though, Bloom knew she'd have to take her to a hospital.

Much to Bloom's relief, Stella recovered, after almost a full day of sleep. They spent a few minutes talking quietly about what to say to Bloom's parents and finally decided to be straight-forward about it.

They went into the living room together and told Mike and Vanesa the whole story. As expected, Bloom's parents didn't believe a word of it, even with Stella corroborating Bloom's account. Her father reached for the phone, intent on calling the police, and possibly a mental hospital.

The phone turned into a cabbage before he could lay a hand on it. He stared for a moment before tentatively poking at it and picking it up. "Ah. Okay," he said, putting it down again. "I'm listening," he said, turning back to his daughter and her odd new friend.

Stella laid out the truth about the Magic dimension and fairies. She also broke the news to them that Bloom was probably a fairy and should really get a proper education. As Bloom had expected, that didn't go over well, and there followed a long discussion, which was, thankfully, uninterrupted by anything bizarre.

The ogre, Stella reasoned, hadn't been able to find them. "Or maybe, he decided to find someone easier to pick on." She gave Bloom a bright smile at that, one which Bloom returned, slightly confused. The Earth girl still wasn't sure what she'd done or how she'd done it. She said as much.

"That's why you need to go to Alfea," Stella enthused.

Eventually, after many questions, much consideration, and a few more demonstrations of magic, Bloom's parents agreed to let their daughter attend Alfea. Although, they didn't say so in front of Stella, they saw definite advantages to their daughter going to school in another dimension, aside from the chance to learn magic. Bloom needed a fresh start for one thing.

Thanks to her prolonged hospital stay, that was how her parents insisted on thinking of it, most of Bloom's friends had left her behind. As to the friends she had made while in the hospital, they decided that it would be for the best if she never spoke to them again. In Alfea, there would be fewer reminders of SAO and virtual reality games in general; perhaps, with a new school and a new life to focus on, Bloom could heal properly and put that horror behind her forever.

Believing it was for the best didn't, of course, mean it was easy parting with their little girl. There were tearful good-byes, and they extracted a promise from Bloom to call at least once a week; something Stella assured them was quite doable.