Mia awoke to sunlight that shone warmly on her face. It streamed in through the windows and made Mia's whole room glow with a bright and friendly looking light. How beautiful it was. It was going to be a wonderful day. It shouldn't be a wonderful day because Ivy was dead. Everything should feel just as miserable and empty as it had felt yesterday. But Mia knew that she was going to feel amazing for the next several weeks regardless of what happened, thanks to her powers.
Deep down, Mia felt that this wasn't natural. She had lost the person who meant the most to her. She should feel miserable. But there was a smile on her face and nothing but happy thoughts on her mind. Suddenly, Mia desperately wanted her sadness and her misery to come back. The last thing that she wanted was to act as if nothing had changed. She wanted to scream and shout. But she couldn't. Happiness, awful, awful happiness was all that she had. It was an all-consuming happiness that she couldn't control or escape. Mia rolled over to go back to sleep. Ruby was lying next to her, fast asleep. Yay! What a wonderful surprise this was. Oh, everything was oh so wonderful!
A happy sigh escaped Mia, and she snuggled up close to her friend. How wonderful it was to have friends. How wonderful everything was. Maybe if Mia woke Ruby up right now, she would be able to play a short round of hide-and-seek together. Hide-and-seek was such a wonderful game! All games were wonderful! They were also so much fun. Mia despised the cheerfulness of her thoughts. But there was nothing she could do to get rid of the happiness.
"Wake up! Ruby, wake up!" she chanted happily, shaking Ruby as she did so. "It's morning! Look at how beautiful the sunlight is! Isn't that wonderful?"
Ruby sat up with a loud yawn and looked around. "I guess it's nice," she muttered.
"Guess what, Ruby!"
"What?"
"My powers kicked in!"
"Oh, that explains things." Ruby smiled at her. "That should make going through the games much easier for you."
"Yup!" Mia didn't want them to be easier. She didn't want things to be easy without Ivy here. Losing people was supposed to be hard. But her stupid powers wouldn't let her feel that misery.
"Well, I have some happy news for you that hopefully will make you feel even better," said Ruby. She was smiling now. It was a slightly sad smile. But it was still a smile.
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"What is it? What is it?" demanded Mia.
"Hm, do you know about the rebels? Did Ivy tell you about them?"
"Yeah! I know about them. I figured it out all by myself. Ivy didn't tell me about them."
"Did you know that Blossom used to be a part of them?"
"No, I didn't know that."
"Well, she was. Then she left. But she decided to go back to them again. I think that Ivy's passing motivated her. Now she feels like she has something that she can fight on behalf of," explained Ruby. Hm, interesting. That kind of made sense.
"HOW WONDERFUL!" was all that Mia could say. She was really beginning to hate that word. "Will we have time to play before the games begin?" asked Mia. Ruby was shaking her head.
"No, I think we both slept in a little bit. We should go to the square," said Ruby.
"But playing would be more fun!" Mia hated how sugary her own voice sounded. Ruby was looking at her like she was crazy. Mia knew that she sounded crazy. She was probably acting like a completely new person now.
"Maybe we can play after the games," said Ruby softly.
"Alright! That sounds good!" Mia sang out as they headed down the hallway. Gosh, she was really starting to hate the sound of her own voice. Maybe that was partly because it sounded a tiny bit like Mary's voice at the moment. That was the last person in the whole world who Mia wanted to sound like. Ivy had hated Mary. Therefore, Mia had to hate her too. But it was hard to hate anything when she was constantly being injected with magical happiness. Ruby and Mia were about halfway down the hall when they suddenly ran into Blossom, who was heading up the stairs with an air of urgency about her.
"Hi!" Mia called out cheerfully.
"There you two are. I was starting to worry that something had happened to you," said Blossom.
"No, we're fine. What are you doing here?" asked Ruby.
"Lu told me to let you know that she has some information that she wants to share with you. But she understands that you need to stay with Mia, so she wants to come here after the games are over and tell you about it," explained Blossom.
"Okay, why can't you tell me though?" asked Ruby. That was the question Mia had been preparing to ask.
"I don't know what it is. She didn't want to tell me. I think she's a little hesitant about trusting me fully," Blossom said. That made sense. But hey, Blossom was fighting back again; that was a good thing. At least Ivy’s death had given her some much-needed motivation. Blossom always seemed to be sad. Maybe this would help her feel better. This was something that Mia could be wholeheartedly happy about.
"Well, she can stop by after the games. So long as I don't need to leave Mia behind, that's alright with me," said Ruby brightly.
"Okay! I guess I'll see you two around. Hopefully, we'll all make it through the games," Blossom called over her shoulder as she headed out.
"Are you ready for the games?" Ruby whispered to Mia. Mia nodded excitedly.
"Yes! I was born ready! I can't wait! I hope that it'll be as wonderful as yesterday’s game!" Ugh, Mia sounded totally nuts, didn't she? A smile crossed over Ruby's face, and she chuckled softly as she took hold of Mia's hand. Ruby, that was another thing that Mia could be wholeheartedly thankful for. She had Ruby, that was something.