Bloom, Queen of Sparx
"I am Queen now Sky. And I will be treated like one"
The royal ship of Eraklyon was landing, and Bloom's life was flashing before her eyes.
It had all started out so well.
A young girl on earth, dreaming of wings and fairies, long past the age she should have been preoccupied with them. Sixteen years old, still riding around on her bike with her bunny, running errands for mom, or lazing around reading or drawing, and dreaming, always dreaming. When she thought back on it, Bloom supposed something inside of her had been sleeping those years.
This something was rudely awakened in a park and whisked off to magic school. Alfea, Red Fountain, specialists, her powers suddenly revealed to the light. Then Daphne, the witches, fights, war.
And the dragon woke up.
With her friends and Sky at her side, she had never been afraid of her powers. She had never fully thought about what the Dragonfire meant. Until now.
Baltor. Made from a stolen ember by the witches, was it any surprise he was a bad person? Her parents. Trapped and forgotten for saving the universe from him. The great dragon…In the sixteen years it had been missing, the magical universe had forgotten that the Dragonfire was a source of nature, a creator of life. It was not inherently good.
Really, Bloom mused, they were damn lucky she was the person who had inherited it. Brought up by earth parents, she had been filled with morals, and a belief of goodness in people. After she had met them, sometimes she wasn't sure she would like herself if she had not been separated from her birth parents.
Oritel and Mariam, the only other survivors of Sparx. The warriors who never removed their armour, the sorcerers who lost both their children. They had taken her to Sparx and divorced her from the rest of the world. She had not left it for three years, too busy learning under their instruction how to build the shattered place up again. No hope for the long gone people of Sparx, but the dragons soon returned. Whole hordes of Dragons. Because they wanted to be close to the last holder of the ancient Dragonfire.
However, running a kingdom over run with dragons, but no people except your estranged birth parents, is not at all healthy.
Or at least it wasn't for Bloom.
They were so controlling! Sometimes she felt like crying or screaming. Three bloody years! No other people for her to talk to; she sometimes suspected her parents had signed a treaty or something to make everyone else in the universe go away. They did not allow her to leave, and neither did they allow her friends to come to her.
"It's too dangerous. Dragons would never dream of eating us, they see us as their own, but your fairy friends…well…"
And Bloom would have to see their point, gritting her teeth and agreeing with them, next year, yes maybe next year, when she had more control over the planet's carnivorous population. She missed the girls so much! And had no idea of what they were up too now. Had they forgotten her? Were they mad because she hadn't gotten in touch? A dragon had curiously sampled her mobile on her third week, something she worried had been purposefully caused by her parents, and there were no replacements to be had on Sparx. And after whole days using her powers to spread life through the planet, she didn't have enough energy left for even a simple message scroll spell.
She had not seen her adopted parents either. Sometimes she would wake up crying, screaming out for her mom, to which her true mother would rush in to console her, and Bloom would continue sobbing through her ministrations for hours. They both knew Mariam was not who Bloom was yelling for.
Frankly, Bloom felt like she was losing herself.
The only thing of her past life she knew her parents approved of was the engagement.
King Sky of Eraklyon! They couldn't have hoped for more, unless maybe they'd planned some arrangement with a Sparx noble, who would have died with the witch's attack anyway, or if the kingdom of Magix itself had a royal son, which it didn't.
They allowed him onto the planet once a month. Sometimes he couldn't make it because of his own duties, and sometimes she was so exhausted she could do no more than smile to him in greeting, pinned to the princess' throne by the weight of her robes.
Her parents loved him, and it was really beginning to bug her, which wasn't fair. Why should it bother her? At least it meant she still got to see him, unlike everyone else she loved and missed. She tried to get news of everyone else out of him, but it seemed he had as little time to see his friends as her.
"Musa? I think she finally got on some sort of tour…or so I heard. Flora? Yeah, she's fine…I'm sure she's fine. I would have heard if she wasn't, right? Stella might be back on Solaria. At least, I haven't heard anything from Brandon for a while…"
They would smile at each other warily. When did it get like this? Bloom felt terrified of revealing how lost she felt, and could only guess at what Sky was feeling. It seemed like the only emotion either of them shared with each other these days was tiredness.
Daphne. Of course there was always Daphne. Bloom would sneak down in the middle of the night sometimes, to the throne room, or anywhere really, Daphne would be there. She was the one who needed comforting these days.
"They can't see me. Why can't they see me?" Bloom would hug her sobbing sister's spirit, and sob back she'd find a way to make their parents see her. Somehow!
And she tried, she really did. But it got harder each day, even after she explained to her parents she could see Daphne. They had assured her sometimes echoes of brave spirits were said to stay in the halls of Sparx long after their death, and she was not to worry. Of course, they couldn't know how hard it was not to worry when your parents' are breaking their other child's heart.
Before their midnight talks had given way to crying, Bloom used to beg her older sister to go out into the universe and see her friends for her.
"I would Bloom, I truly would, I want to make you happy, I want to see other people who can-who can see me" She'd choke "But I can't. I can't leave you Bloom, I'm not bound to the lake or any planet anymore, but to you. If you can't get off Sparx, neither can I."
To be honest Bloom had not been surprised when she'd overheard her parents discussing the best ways to put a stop to those 'ridiculous' rumours being spread throughout the rest of the magical universe, that Bloom, the golden child, the heir of Sparx, the saviour of the universe many times over, was going mad. Sometimes she thought the rumour mill was merely the truth reaching her at least.
She began to ignore what her parents told her to do, running out across the planet, into the still wild places that she hadn't had time to tame yet. The dragons and Daphne, as always, followed her and she spent her days with them.
She began to feel freer. After all, would the planet fail again if she stopped terra-forming it for a week or two? She began using her magic for fun again. After a week, her royal clothing was torn, muddied and in some places, burnt beyond recognition. She left the scraps of material behind and used her winx instead. It served her much better, she felt light and un-encumbered for the first time in years.
"All very hippie-chic, isn't it?" She giggled to Daphne, who smiled back, also happier at last.
Taking to her wings, they flew with her subjects, wherever they chose to go.
She'd noticed the changes of course. Her winx was glowing brightly again, white-hot like fire, and when she transformed into her Enchantix, it felt less delicate, sleeker, and more...dragonish.
With her magic at her disposal again, she managed to send a message spell to Mike, Vanessa and Kiko in Gardenia, but couldn't sniffle anything out except:
"I'm still alive. I love you and I miss you and as soon as I get the chance, I'm coming home to see you guys."
She sent out spells to her friends, with no idea where they were, just the confidence they would get them.
"Hey, it's me, you guys!
Stella, are you still shining? Please say so…I hope Solaria's as beautiful as ever. Are you Queen now? You better be! They're going to have to look lively with you in charge, you're gonna rule fantastically! Outshine them all.
Flora, did your sister get her wings yet? I bet she's a strong fairy now, she's got a great guide in you! You should see the plants here, they're amazing…I've never seen them this way though…It's crazy. Three years on this planet, and all I'm allowed to do is sit in a room and magic it better. This is the first time I've actually got out into it really…
Musa! Are you singing? Sometimes I dream I can hear you…did your dreams come true? Are you singing for everyone to hear you now? I hope you are… I bet you are. I bet they're cheering too. The dragons are singing. I hear their song now. The song of Sparx…You'd love it.
Oh Layla, I totally understand everything you said about royal upbringing being hard now…I hope Tides is flourishing though. Say Hi to those mermaids for me! Keep dancing. Do you still dance? Is Piff okay? Did you find Anne again? I hope you did.
Tecna? What are you up too? You never really told us much about your home, or your hopes…but I hope anything you dreamed for is coming true.
Guys, do you know how big this universe is? Are you counting the minutes like I am till we all meet again? I hope so. I hope I'm not the only one who misses you all like crazy! I hope you didn't lose contact with each other. I hope you haven't forgotten about me. I'm so sorry this happened….I don't even know if I'm crazy like the rumours say. Isn't that funny?
ILOVEYOUIMISSYOU"
The words spilled out together all blurry, but she knew they'd understand.
"I just hope they'll forgive me for three missing years, Daphne. Actually, I hope that they're all still alive, something awful could have happened to them, and I wouldn't know, y'know?"
For the first time that month, Bloom cried again, but this time feeling better for it, comforted by her sister and countless dragons.
"Hey, who needs fairy subjects when I have you guys, huh?"
Finally they took her home to the Palace. She flew up the steps (followed as always by dragons) with confidence, ready to have a fight with her parents if she had to, but things had to change, and they would stay changed. No more! Sparx was her responsibility, she knew that, she was even proud of it now, but she was not some landscaper! She was not going to be separated from the rest of worlds any longer!
"Orit-Um. Mom? Dad?"
The crown was resting on the throne, along with a note. Something about the last royal decree of Sparx, and that King Oritel and Queen Mariam had now fled to Eraklyon in the wake of their daughter abandoning them,
" 'We fear our last daughter has truly gone mad, she has flown from us to the wilderness' ? Oh come on! Wait…there's more.
'We would leave this planet to her husband, King Sky of Eraklyon, in the hopes that he will accomplish what she could not, and make this planet great again.'
This planet…This planet IS great." Bloom spat out through ground teeth. "Those IDIOTS just can't see that! Have they spent so long locked away in the obsidian dimension that they have forgotten what this place came from? The life blood of this planet…is…dragons. It doesn't need to be populated with people, just Dragons. This!" She whirled and yelled madly to her listeners "Should be a planet for Dragons, not people!"
The Dragons listened interestedly. Seeing red, she crumpled the paper and threw it down, stomping on it.
"I have lived with you, as you, we have flown together! You're not second rate to fairies, how dare they think that! I understand you now…And if you would have me as Queen, I will make them see that!"
They roared their approval, and Bloom found herself roaring with them. This anger! As a fairy, she was always told not to let negative emotions fuel her powers, but as a Dragon…I'm the strongest bloody thing in this universe, and they know it.
Stopping abruptly, she began walking towards the throne. Lifting the crown high, she turned to face them, fierce blue eyes sweeping over dragonish faces one last time for any trace of doubt. There was none. She knew what they were seeing. Perhaps sheltered in the body of a frail fleshed fairy, but blazing through and above and all around her was the very essence of the great Dragon, roaring and burning. How long had it been since the Dragonfire was recognized by its true subjects? How long had the Keepers of Sparx been hailing it as some great fairy power instead? Really, this had only been a matter of time.
Bloom crowned herself.
The noise was deafening.
After several minutes of loud dragon hailing, Bloom turned with a smile.
"Now, let's see how the greatest dragon-wrangler of Eraklyon copes with the Queen of Dragons.
I'll be buggered if they think they're going to keep controlling me, especially not through Sky."
Bloom snapped back to the present with the same smile.
Sky was walking up the steps towards her.
Of course, she was more than presentable now. Resplendent even. She had bathed and scrubbed her skin clean of every cinder, every burr or mud splash and dressed in the most brilliant dragonish robes she could find. After all, just because the dragons saw her true majestic self didn't meant she didn't want to impress that upon every other type of being, right? Daphne had thoroughly agreed with her. Then finally she had walked to the wall behind the throne, and pulled down the sword.
The dragon cutter. Not exactly the stuff of legend. It looked like any other sword. But no other sword had been repeatedly forged in the breath of willing dragons, no other sword and been honed to perfection on dragon's eye teeth. But no other sword would do. It had only been finished the day before, but, Bloom reckoned, that just meant it had all its life to build up its own legends.
Starting with this.
The King of Eraklyon was seven steps below her now, and starting to speak.
"Bloom, Bloom, what on Earth's going on? If it's too much for you, you should have said, I would have given you any help you asked-"
Barely looking at him, she swung the sword up and held it inches in front of his eyes. The dragons circling in the air above her roared out as he slowly put his hands up, his expression caught somewhere between hurt and confusion.
"I am Queen now Sky. And I will be treated as one."