HEROINE

As he joined her on the moonlit balcony, Sky had sensed something was amiss through the way Bloom bit back her lower glossed lip, narrowed her eyes, and twirled a lock of fiery hair round and round her finger. At the age of thirty-six with two children, the queen of Erakylon still looked as if she were in her mid-twenties—a wrinkle free face, a fit physique, and ivory skin.

Sky on the other hand aged considerably. A small goatee now lived on his chin along with wrinkles along his eyes. After surviving through significant events in his kingdom's history, Sky surprisingly remained optimistic and spirited. Bloom didn't.

Many years have passed. Times have changed. People have changed. Even Bloom, who managed to retain her youthful appearance, changed. Years of magic had dull her thirst of adventure and adrenaline. Beating down a villain per year grew tiring and repetitive. Many times Bloom wanted rest, but most of the time she didn't get it. She was sick of the perpetual cycle. Sometimes she wondered what would happen to the universe if she wasn't around to patrol the universe with her almighty dragon fire. Would the universe be overwhelmed in evil?

Sky approached Bloom from behind and stretched his arm around her. The ocean's night breeze washed over them as they shared body warmth. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she simply replied.

"Really?"

"Really."

Sky thoughtfully stared at Bloom's unchangeable contemplative expression for a while then asked, "Did you like the group's reunion?"

"I did," she said. "It was fun to see how we all changed but…rather tense at the same time because of certain people."

"Riven and Musa?" he asked, brows raised.

She nodded. "The two of them are too… too volatile. How can a couple divorce three times but remarry four times? Then they have the audacity to be at each other's throats during our reunion" She scoffed.

Sky let out a muffled chuckled. "You're jaded."

"I'm just tired of drama. I'm tired of any facing death multiple times. Tired of change. Fighting evil for many years does that to you."

"So is that's why you look so troubled right now?" Sky persisted, wanting to crack the cryptic puzzle called his wife.

Bloom shook her head. "No, it's not," she said.

Sky paused for a second, wondering what else would trigger her mood. "Don't tell me that it's menopau—"

"No," she firmly interrupted. "I'm thinking about what Timmy and Tecna said. Remember how they were telling us about the time machine they're building."

Sky furrowed his eyebrows, bewildered.

"It made me think about a bunch of things like what would happen if I was gone," Bloom continued.

Sky froze. "Are you already thinking about writing a will for the kids? Don't worry about stuff like that while we're on vacation."

Bloom easily waved off his concern. "Sky, that's not it. Tonight you're jumping to conclusions. What I'm saying is that I wondered what would happen if they actually completed the time machine and someone went back in time and changed one person's past.."

"Oh," he realized. "I see. You're talking about the butterfly effect (1)."

"Exactly. One small difference in our timeline could cause a huge change. We'd switch to another reality. I wonder how much would change if one person didn't exist."

"That would depend on who the person is."

Bloom pursed her lips and her eyelids lowered. "Then how about me?" she proposed. "What if someone used that time machine and made sure that I never existed."

"Well, I would never meet you so our kids wouldn't exist," he started. "Maybe I would have married Diaspro."

"And Sparx would stay dead and my parents would still be gone," she added. "And perhaps evil would take over the universe."

Sky halted. "Wait a second. Wouldn't it be the opposite?"

Bloom's brows crinkled together. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. The Army of Decay would have never existed if Icy hadn't gotten ahold of your powers. Darkar wouldn't have gained so much power if he hadn't darkened your heart. In fact, he would have never woken if the Dragon Fire didn't appear. And if Icy, Darcy, and Stormy never created the Army of Decay or become Darkar's accomplices, they would have never been sent to the Omega Dimension and free Baltor. Of course this is all theory. The Trix could still manage to find their way to the Omega Dimension and free Baltor," Sky explained.

Bloom grew quiet for a second, pondering her husband's point for a moment. "If that is true, then am I the stimulus for evil?"

"Even if you weren't here, evil would still exist, but probably it wouldn't at extreme levels. You can say that the appearance of the dragon fire forces the fates to breed an evil force that can balance it out."

"So if I wasn't here, history would be totally different." Suddenly, a realization dawned on the queen, eliciting a soft gasp. "Sky! I've realized it! This-This is amazing. You won't believe it."

"What?"

"The universe revolves around me."

"…Pardon?"

"It's never been about anyone else. It's always been about me. I've always been the main character."

"…Pardon?"

"I'm it," she muttered to herself before her eyes widened as large as saucer. "Oh gosh…I need to tell Tecna and Timmy. I need to talk those two out of creating a time machine. My status as the main character is at stake here," she frantically exclaimed, swiftly nudging her husband's arm off her shoulder and gliding into the room to don her trench coat. "I'll be back," she called. Then hotel room door slammed shut.

Sky was left standing in the cold, mouth agape, and mindblowned. He couldn't believe his ears.

"She just figured that out?"

Author's Notes: A drabble set twenty years after the first season. It lightly touches on the power of time travel. Hope you enjoyed the short piece.

(1) butterfly effect - (with reference to the chaos theory) the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.