Chapter One

"Bloom!"

My eyes shot open at the sound of Stella's piercing voice. I was immediately met with the sight of a snowy Gardenia, barely visible through the foggy bus window. The normally bright and sunny city was grey and dull in the late afternoon that day. It was rare weather for my hometown on Earth, but it wasn't unheard of. Although, this much snow was something that was sure to be gossiped about for weeks.

Turning my gaze towards the shriek that had pulled me from my cat nap, I was met with an annoyed yet bewildered expression on the face of none other than the Princess of Solaria.

"Yes, Your Highness?" I tiredly drawled, struggling to fight back the yawn pulling at my cheeks.

"Flora's over here prepping me for some mysterious huge news that you're apparently about to tell me, and you're over there sleeping!" she shouted. "Wake up and tell me what it is already!"

"Give her some slack, Stel." The nature fairy defended from her seat next to me. "After everything that's happened over the past few months I think she's earned a nap. It's been crazy lately."

Crazy was a massive understatement.

I don't know where Baltor had found the book on Obsidian, but I was thankful he had. The information within its pages had been the key to discovering where my birth parents were imprisoned. Of course, the more primitive information such as how to get to the Dark Realm was coded with an other-worldly encryption.

Tecna and I spent weeks in the restricted section of Alfea's library, scanning through every book we could get our hands on in order to crack the cipher. I kicked myself every day that passed, knowing deep down that there was one person I'd pushed away who most likely could've cracked it without a second glance. But, luckily, with the help of Timmy and (amazingly) Sky, we finally managed to decipher the text. Once we had the coordinates, our entire group flew off to Obsidian.

The majority of us never made it to the battle. The Ancestresses had somehow anticipated our arrival, launching a sneak attack the moment we landed on the realm's dead soil. They'd polluted the air with a mixture of their dark magic, poisoning it with a spell that played on our fears. The longer we were there, the more it began to take its toll on us. Stella was robbed of her sight; Musa's hearing was deafened; Riven turned Dark; water built up in Layla's lungs. It was brutal to watch.

Either to my luck or dismay, their spell had no effect on me. I knew that it must have been done so on purpose, and that they were singling me out for the one-on-three battle they wanted. And that pissed my dark half off to no end. I wanted to stay and help my friends, but she wanted blood.

Needless to say, the Ancestresses were more than unhappy to see me. I wasn't sure just how they knew, but they used my ended association with Baltor to their advantage. In fact, if it wasn't for Sky showing up to aide me, then I most likely would've been dead. With Sky's help, I managed to build up enough power to finally destroy the Ancestresses and the realm of Obsidian, releasing all of the imprisoned population of Sparx –including my birth parents, Oritel and Miriam.

I was ecstatic. There were no words to describe how elated I was to finally achieve my dream of finding them. The fantasy that my birth parents could possibly be alive was now a reality. After nineteen years, Oritel and Miriam were finally in my life.

And all thanks to Baltor.

That was something I never thought I'd ever say.

Regardless, with the population of Sparx finally freed and the Ancestresses gone, the curse on Sparx was finally lifted. However, considering that the state of the realm had been frozen in time, the planet was rampant with the destruction the battle had caused. Cities were destroyed and the palace was worse for wear. Everyone immediately began to work on reconstructing the great planet, eager to restore its grandeur.

Oritel and Miriam had insisted that I stay with them while everything was being repaired, but I refused. I knew that my ignorance of anything Sparxian would only get in the way, and they needed to focus on the people before anything else. Therefore, I voted to stay on Earth until everything was rebuilt.

The girls were always enthusiastic about visiting me on Earth, stopping in almost every other day to see how I was doing; particularly, Stella and Flora, who'd arrive unannounced all the time to take me out on the town.

"Stella, I really don't want you to freak out about this," I began, "and chances are you won't even believe me when I tell you."

Her eyes widened. "Bloom, are you pregnant?"

It took everything in me to not scream at her. "No, I am not pregnant."

Immediately, she put a hand to her chest, looking relieved. "Oh, thank Arcadia!" she exclaimed. "You're already a handful when you're not pregnant."

I glared at her. "Can I continue, or would you like to keep ranting about how awful I would be while pregnant?"

"No, tell me!" Stella was practically jumping up and down in her seat, unable to contain herself. "I need to know!"

Glancing over at Flora, she nodded encouragingly. When I mentioned letting Stella in on the secret, she had been surprisingly supportive. We both knew how on the fence the princess could be about keeping a secret, but Flora convinced me to give her the benefit of the doubt.

That didn't stop me from being ridiculously nervous about her reaction, however.

"Okay, so there was something going on senior year that I didn't tell you guys about."

Stella eagerly leaned forward. "Spill, girl! Spill!"

"Stella!" Flora chided, noticing several of the other passengers beginning to look over at us.

The blonde quickly muttered an apology, thankfully obliged.

"The truth is that I was kind of seeing someone after Sky and I broke up."

She gave me a curt nod. "Okay. Yes. Continue."

"And . . . um . . ." I stammered, "this particular someone I was kind of seeing is someone that we all know."

Stella nodded again. "Okay. Yes. Continue."

I gulped, anxiously looking to Flora. "He's a wizard that we all know, actually."

Clutching the arm of her seat, she gasped loudly. "You were dating Nabu?"

Flora buried her face in her hands, clearly giving up already.

"Bloom, he is already engaged to Layla!" she reprimanded me, treating her own conclusion like a legitimate scandal. "Why do you keep being attracted to men in arranged marriages?"

"Stella, it wasn't Nabu!" I snapped.

The Princess of Solaria froze, thinking over my words. "Oh. Then who was it?" she asked. "Was it Bishop's brother? I bet it was Bishop's brother. I heard him mention sophomore year that he was into you."

"It was Baltor."

I startled myself with how easily I blurted it out.

My words rendered her speechless for several seconds. Her blank stare worried me. For a moment, I genuinely thought she went comatose.

Fear bubbled up in my stomach as I heard her quietly begin to laugh. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly, Bloom. I thought you said Baltor."

A painful knot twisted inside me, already catching the acid in her voice. Swallowing hard, I prepared for the worst. "I did, Stel. I was sneaking around seeing Baltor." I hesitantly confirmed. "No one knew."

As I spoke, her face gradually contorted with emotions I couldn't place. Originally, I thought she was going to stick with straight up pissed. It was an emotion she resorted to often, plus it was one I was at least semi-prepared to handle. Stella's rage fits were fairly simple to manage, especially when I had back up. However, once her expression began to shift, I knew I was screwed.

Her silence was endless. Aside from the quiet chattering of the other passengers, not a sound accompanied her stillness.

"You're joking, right?" she finally asked, glancing between Flora and I. When her eyes locked on mine, I could easily see her aura pulse a deep red color, revealing her underlying savagery. "This is a joke."

My throat went dry. I opted to shake my head instead.

"It's not a prank, Stella." Flora conceded. "We're serious."

Stella's muteness briefly returned. "Let me get this straight here," she said, her eyebrows knitted together thoughtfully. "You're telling me that your super-dramatic, huge, mysterious secret news is that during our senior year at Alfea you and Baltor, our arch-enemy at the time who viciously attempted to kill us on multiple occasions, were in some kind of twisted, illustrious, love affair?"

I felt my heartbeat quicken, beating furiously against my ribcage. Cautiously, I nodded. "Yes."

Immediately, Stella theatrically slumped down her seat, crossing her arms like a dejected child. "Uh! I already knew that!"

My eyes bulged out of my head.

"Bring better material to the table next time, ladies!"

"You knew about us?" I stuttered.

There was no way that Stella could've known about Baltor and me. It didn't add up. We'd been so careful, ensuring that no one discovered us. Aside from our one slip up at the Magix Museum, we'd been golden.

Or so I'd thought.

Stella nodded, continuing to pout. "Duh! Of course, I did!"

"How long have you known about this?" Flora cut in, appearing mildly insulted that the blonde hadn't told her earlier.

She shrugged. "Since, like, the Millennium Party on Eraklyon."

"What?" I shouted, jaw dropping in awe. "There's no way! How the hell did you find out during the Millennium Party? I didn't even know during the Millennium Party!"

"I didn't find out during the party. I found out after." she elucidated as if it were obvious. "I was running through the footage on the tapes the next morning –"

My heart skipped a beat. "Whoa! Hold on a sec!" I interrupted her, sticking a hand up.

The Princess of Solaria surprisingly complied, becoming tight-lipped. She shrunk into herself, her expression apparent that she had let something secret slip.

"What tapes are you talking about?" I questioned her.

Looking all around the bus, Stella desperately searched for a way to get herself out of her own trap. She'd always had an issue of accidentally spilling secrets at the most inopportune times, and this was one of those times. Although, typically, the secrets she tended to spill were never actually her own. Hence my initial aversion to divulging my secret to her.

She audibly groaned, throwing her head back. "Fine! Okay! You caught me!"

Flora and I glanced at each other, anxiously waiting for what was sure to be a long-winded explanation.

"So, senior year, before you all started showing up for orientation, I kind of rigged up some magi-cams throughout the dorms." Stella admitted.

My brow shot up to my hairline. "You did what?"

"Stella, that's so invasive!" Flora exclaimed, flushing angrily. "Why would you do that?"

"I know, I'm sorry!" she apologized, weakly. "I never really said anything to anyone, but I was just super paranoid after the whole shit show that was my Princess Ball." She looked over at me. "Do you remember sophomore year whenever you met Sky's parents on Eraklyon and you found out that he was being tailed by assassins sent by that Yoshinoya guy?"

I laughed, harshly. "Yeah, that was a super fun dinner conversation."

"I was scared that Cassandra and Chimera were up to something similar. Since they had Dad under that spell, and I was banished from the kingdom, it only made sense that they would send someone to 'take care of me.' So I asked Tecna on the down-low if she would put cloaked magi-cams all over the dorm to feel safer. And, if there was any movement at night, I would get an alert to let me know something was going on."

My fear was immediately dissolved. "Stella, why didn't you tell us?" I asked her, concerned. "You know we would've been there for you."

She shrugged, unsure. "I didn't want to seem insane."

"Sweetie, that's not insane at all." Flora interjected, seeming to have calmed down as well. "You had every right to be scared. From what I've heard and seen from them, I wouldn't put it past them to do something that horrible."

"Anyway, that doesn't matter now." she brushed off. "Cassandra and Chimera have been dealt with."

I was surprised that Stella had even agreed to accept my invitation to talk on Earth when I'd asked her a few days prior. After the arrest of Cassandra and Chimera for spelling King Radius, she'd had her hands full balancing out spending time with Brandon and cleaning up the terrible duo's mess. The mother-daughter duo had managed to remove Stella's claim to throne entirely and the Solarian princess had to have her title reinstated, which apparently was a very in-depth process.

"So, back to our discussion, when I checked the cameras the morning after the party, I saw Baltor in your room."

My mind's eye shot back to the night of the Millennium Party. Faintly, I recalled being carried out of the caverns on Tides after falling asleep, and waking up in my dorm room the next morning. It had transpired so long ago, I'd actually forgotten it entirely.

"You never said anything to me." I said, shocked. "Why?"

"I was processing it." she answered. "I needed time to try and figure out what was going on. Seeing our arch-enemy in your dorm room is something that kind of throws you off guard. Plus, I knew if I tried to ask you about it, you would just get angry and deny it."

"Why did you not tell the rest of us?" Flora asked, intently.

"I thought about telling you guys, I really did!" she defended. "But for one thing, it definitely wasn't my place to tell anyone about it. And secondly, the longer I kept an eye on Bloom I noticed that she was happier."

A pang shot through me.

"Who was I to ruin that? You seemed happier being with Baltor than you ever did being with Sky, as much as it pains me to admit." she elaborated. "And as long as you were happy, I decided I wouldn't meddle with it. That's why I pushed so hard to have you come to Solaria after you were released from the hospital. I wanted to finally talk to you about it, and try to get you to open up –especially after the whole final battle thing on Tides. I know that couldn't have been easy for you to have to do."

An apprehensive giggle slipped past my lips. "Yeah, about that," I said, cutting off her heartfelt speech. "Baltor's kind of still alive."

Stella looked ready to fall out of her seat. "Now that is bringing better material to the table."

I caught Flora rolling her eyes next to me, distressed by how erratic the blonde's train of thought was.

"He's actually the one who gave me that book on Obsidian." I added, reluctantly. "If it weren't for him, we never would've found my birth parents."

She threw her hand to her chest, aww-ing cutely. "The classic redemption arc. How adorable! Was he hiding with us while we were looking for them? Has he been here this entire time?" She blanched. "Is he here now?"

My jaw suddenly locked up, unable to speak. Unwillingly, in my head, I returned to that day on Linphea. I could still hear how my voice painfully reverberated off the walls of the tiny room as I screamed at him to leave. His regretful gaze lingered in my memory, tugging on my heart strings.

I hadn't heard or seen anything from Baltor at all since then. I'd attempted sensing whereabouts using our Dragon Fire connection, but all I'd reached was a dead end. I knew he wasn't dead; however the fact that he wasn't reaching back stung some. Then again, I shouldn't expect him to reach out nor should I care if he did. I'd been the one to tell him to leave; I was the angry one. And I was still angry.

Yet my mind persistently played that day on a loop.

"It's kind of a tender subject." Flora spoke for me, gently placing a hand on my shoulder.

Stella looked at me suspiciously, surely wanting to know the details.

"Alrighty then!" Flora exclaimed, breaking the awkwardly tense moment between us all. "Why don't we move on to something a bit lighter? Like tomorrow?"

Stella instantly perked up, smiling widely. "I almost forgot! You're moving into the palace tomorrow, right?"

Feeling another bout of anxiety creep up, I nodded. "Yep. Oritel said that the palace has officially been restored."

"That's awesome!" A sly gleam sparkled in her amber eyes. "I suppose this means that we can finally get down to business." She cleared her throat. "I specifically remember a promise being made freshmen year in which we get to 'take our pick' as you put it of all the fabulous crown jewels stashed away in the tunnels."

I opened my mouth to acknowledge the memory when Flora suddenly cut me off.

"Uh-oh. What's wrong?"

Stella raised an eyebrow, not expecting the remark.

"Nothing's wrong." I insisted, shifting my eyes to the floor. "I'm . . . going home."

Home.

The word tasted weird on my tongue. Ever since I was a few days old, home had been Gardenia. There was never a time where Gardenia didn't feel like home to me. I knew every street, every park, every neighbor, and every neighbor's pet. My entire life was influenced by that tiny city I called home.

Nevertheless, when I woke up tomorrow morning, I would be on my way to my real home. Ever since Sparx was revived, I was terrified to step foot on the planet. The whole concept of it being my new home intimidated me. I knew next to nothing in regards to Sparxian history and culture. The people there were strangers to me, and I was a stranger to them. Pair that with the fear of doing something ridiculous in front of my birth parents, and disaster was sure to ensue.

My Earth parents were well aware of the situation I was in. They were genuinely excited for me when I told them I'd been reunited with Oritel and Miriam; however, things seemed to get a bit touchy any time I mentioned the king and queen around them. I didn't blame them; as my adoptive parents it was only natural for them to feel a little over-protective.

I loved Oritel and Miriam, but Mike and Vanessa were always going to be Mom and Dad. They'd always been that to me and they always would be. Just because Oritel and Miriam were back in the picture now didn't automatically mean Mike and Vanessa were going to be tossed into the dirt. The thought itself was absurd. Although, in their defense, it would be a little hard to accept that your adoptive daughter was reunited with her biological parents. Then, along with the idea that said daughter was going to be living with said biological parents had to be tough.

Flora smiled sweetly, squeezing my shoulder. "Everything will be fine. I'm sure of it. It's a big adjustment to go from Earth to Sparx."

"It is." Stella agreed. "But, I'm sure if you called up that big bad wizard that you're smitten with, he'd be more than happy to help you adjust."

My cheeks burned, fiercely. "Stel!"

She waggled her eyebrows at me. "You know you want to," she replied in a sing-song voice. "Or maybe he's already helped you adjust before?"

"If you use that word as a euphemism one more time, I'm going to throw up."

"You can never complain about Musa being crude ever again." Flora commented, blushing.

"Oh, please! You know I have to ask!" she debated. "I have to make sure that my BFF isn't being pressured to do things she isn't ready for."

"Oh my god, can we please not talk about this?" I pleaded, becoming genuinely uncomfortable with where this conversation was heading.

"But Bloom –"

"No!" I yelled. "We're moving on!"

From the look of her face I could tell Stella was itching to pursue the conversation. Her eye was on the verge of twitching, restraining herself from pressing on.

"So, Flo," I started off before the blonde could say anything else. "What's Helia been up to lately?"

The brunette's eyes lit up at the mention of her boyfriend. "Since he finished his training at Red Fountain, he's actually been teaching at one of the art schools on Linphea."

"Seriously?" Stella asked, dumbfounded. "He ditched heroics for painting?"

"It's what he's always wanted to do." the nature fairy defended. "Besides, Helia admitted he only agreed to go to Red Fountain so he could be closer to me. Art's his true passion."

"It also helps that he's extremely good at it." I added, feeling the bus come to a stop. "He could draw a straight line in the middle of an earthquake."

"I've told you a million times, Bloom, if you want some pointers from him all you have to do is ask."

"She's too proud for that." Stella remarked, leaping to her feet. "That's why she won't admit that she's definitely thought about doing it with her total sex god ex-boyfriend."

My face burned as she walked past me, her nose triumphantly in the air.

She always did have to have the last word.

After Flora spent five minutes apologizing to everyone on the bus for Stella's disturbing remarks, we walked the rest of the way to my parents' brownstone. The only one who had actually found anything on our shopping trip was Stella; therefore, luckily I didn't have to drag any ungodly amount of bags home.

There wasn't really any conversation between the three of us on the trip to my house. Even with Stella, the most talkative of us all, she only said a quick spell to keep us warm against the snow and then dove into silence. Instead, it was a series of tense and puzzled glances between Flora and Stella, confusing the hell out of me. Although, neither said a word till I walked up to my front door.

"Are you sure you don't want one of us to come with you tomorrow?"

Restraining the urge to roll my eyes, I spun around to face the girls. "Flora, I'll be fine."

"I know, I know!" she said. "I just know that you've been a bit tense these last few weeks. It's not shameful to admit that you might be a bit too stressed out to handle Sparx all on your own tomorrow."

Ever since my fight with Baltor, my dark side had been on the fritz. Every little annoyance or inconvenience had me on the verge of crossing over, forcing me to try and rein my emotions in. It was understandable that she was worried about how I would react in such a new environment, but her never-ending concern for me was yet another trigger for it.

"I'm fine, Flo!"

She shot me a doubtful look.

Stella cleared her throat, interrupting our spat. "Okay, well, I'm meeting up with Brandon in less than an hour so we should go. I'm going to die if I have to go on a date with hat hair."

"Well, we definitely wouldn't want that." I laughed, pulling out my house key.

"Come on, Flo!" Whipping out her Solaria ring, she transformed it and tapped the scepter on the ground expectantly. "I have places to be. Bloom's a big kid; she can go to bed without someone tucking her in!"

Flora frowned her brow, worriedly. "You call us if you need anything, okay?"

"Yes, mother," I told her, laughing. "I'll make sure to call twice a day, too, just to check in."

She gave me a nervous chuckle. "I know you're kidding, but, honestly, I'd be okay with that."

If anyone had been more invested in how I was holding up, Flora most likely would've fought them. She constantly checked up on me, making sure that I was alright. I knew she was only concerned for my well-being, but it tended to be suffocating. A phone call every once in a while would've sufficed in place of showing up at my house as my friend slash therapist.

The two fairies disappeared in a bright flash and I was left alone on my doorstep. To my dismay, Stella's warmth spell vanished as well, leaving me victim to the freezing cold. I quickly dashed inside, eager to be warm again.

"I'm home!" I shouted, thankful to finally be inside from the snowfall.

Tearing my toboggan off, my eyes scanned over the empty living room, and a tiny squeeze constricted my heart. It was weird to think that just a few years ago the place was littered in debris because of a fight between a certain blonde fairy, a troll, an ogre, me, and five very specific specialists.

"Welcome home, honey!"

A pair of thin arms was suddenly around me, taking advantage of my distracted state. Overwhelmed by the scent of dirt and flowers, I returned the tight hug.

"I was gone for a couple of hours, Mom." I said, pulling back some.

Her sandy brown eyes smiled at me. "Oh, I know," she said. Reaching up, she stroked my hair. Something sparkled in her eye as if she was fondly reminiscing. "You know me; I'll worry about you whether you're going to another realm or next door."

I shook my head, unable to deny it. "Where's Dad?"

"He received a call from the station about half an hour ago. There's a big fire on the other side of town."

My eyes widened in disbelief. "In this weather? It's snowing!"

She shrugged. "The chief said it was severe. Your father said he wasn't sure when he would be home, though, so I thought you and I would just have a girls night in." She looked almost hopeful.

Shedding my coat, I hung it on the coat rack next to me. "That sounds great." I said, shooting her a half-smile. I opened my mouth to ask her what we should do, but I stopped myself when my eyes met hers.

Her warm look had morphed into one rife with nervous tension.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I was just wondering," she spoke up. "I know you have to leave tomorrow, but are you sure you want to head off so soon?"

I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, trying to adjust to life as a princess isn't going to be easy, honey. And I'm not sure if diving headfirst into that lifestyle right now would be good for you."

My Dragon Fire unexpectedly flared in my chest, feeling insulted. "Wouldn't be good for me?"

"You've barely given yourself any time to relax, Bloom. Ever since you got that book, you've been running around the realms non-stop. And with all of this happening right after what transpired with Baltor –"

"Oh, Mom, no, not this again," I begged, sagging my shoulders.

Ever since I came home, Mom had low-key been trying to push for me to open up about my fight with Baltor. Constantly she would hint at it, or if she was feeling bold, she would be outright with telling me that I was bottling it up too much. I would tell her everything was fine, but she never would believe me.

"I know you, honey. You haven't talked about it all to anyone." she said. "Maybe you should give yourself some time to figure things out with him before running off to Sparx."

"Mom, I'm fine." I insisted, bringing my hands up to rest on her shoulders. "Okay? I'm more than fine. I promise. He is the last thing I want to focus on right now. Sparx is the only thing I want on my mind."

She gave me a doubtful look. "Bloom, you're only going to make things worse on yourself."

"No, I'm not. If anything, going to Sparx is the distraction I need." I told her. "So, why don't we get the ball rolling on girls' night in and start making dinner?" I shot her a smirk. "Pizza is really calling my name."

She raised a dubious brow. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"I'm positive. Besides, there's nothing to talk about. He lied to me, and that's it. What's done is done. It's in the past. I'm totally okay."

Mom sighed, resting one of her hands on top of mine. "Alright, I'll go get everything ready in the kitchen."

The moment she turned away, the same heavy weight that had been pressing on my chest since Linphea returned. But now, I could finally determine what it was.

I blinked back the threatening sting of tears before following Mom into the kitchen. Pulling open the drawer filled with utensils, I caught my reflection in one of the spoons. I could easily see the unwanted emotion growing in my eyes, and I easily shoved it the side.

Regret.

I did say a Christmas update. I'm also very nervous about this Christmas update. I almost didn't post it because my anxiety overwhelmed me since I made the decision to post this like early this past week. But I did, and I hope it doesn't suck.

Oh. My. GAHD. How long has it been? Twelve years? That sounds about right. That's not an exaggeration at all.

So, originally, I was going to post a Christmas-y oneshot, but it kept getting too OOC and I couldn't take it anymore. Therefore, for some strange reason, I suddenly became super invested in getting this done. Don't ask me why. Because I have no idea.

The next chapter shouldn't be too far behind this one. As you can probably tell, this chapter had some rehashed stuff, the only difference is I've added new things around it. That's how many of these chapters are kind of going to go. Unfortunately, there will be character cuts. For instance, Andy, Roxy, the Wizards, all of those characters from the original are going to be cut just for the sake of not making this storyline any more complicated than it already is.

And, I'm sure as many of you are probably aware: the preface/prologue is no longer a thing. Yes, I'm aware I promised an amazing preface on tumblr, but I didn't want the smut to get too out of control too soon. We gotta ease our way into the sparxshipping smut folks. It's very rare around here, and we must proceed with caution and delicate steps. If I ever finish it though, I may post it on tumblr or something as a secret behind-the-scenes type thing.

Also, if there are any grammar errors I do apologize. I tried as best as I could to keep them to a minimum, but my tendonitis has been freaking out on me lately so my fingers keep betraying me when I type. Plus I'm pretty sure my vision is changing, so not only are my hands crippled, I'm apparently going more blind than I already am. It's such a pleasure being me.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

~Bloom