If Bloom wanted anything, it was some sleep.The pounding on her door told her two things, though, and one of them was that she would not be sleeping any longer. The other was that Stella was in one of her moods again, and that she was done waiting on Bloom to get herself out of bed.

Stella had dragged her out of bed every morning that week, insisting that there was an unreasonable amount of things to be done before their classes resumed the week after next. The list got longer every day, and the items on it somehow became more and more farfetched every morning.

This time, it was this: "Bloom, we have to do some redecorating!"

Redecorating? The fairy thought to herself. We have two weeks before we have to start classes again and she wants to start redecorating? Now? Good grief. She decided that her best friend was being completely ridiculous, but had no choice but to admit that her efforts to keep Bloom from spending as much time as possible (until she absolutely had to start studying again) in bed were particularly spectacular.

"Bloom, I want you to be in charge of redecorating this place!" The blonde girl's voice was much louder now, though she sounded perfectly content. She hadn't yelled at the emotionally exhausted redhead once in the past week and a half. Considering her temper was usually short at best, it must've taken her some serious work to keep herself under control. Admirable. Really.

But not even that was enough to convince Bloom to put a smile on her face and force herself to get up.

Something dawned on the redhead, a veritable bucket of ice water dumped over her head. Did she say she wanted me to redesign the dorm? This thought inspired another: Okay, so her tactics have certainly changed.

All week, Bloom had been woken up and handed a list of things Stella need help with or done. The pounding on her door was the result of her locking the door in an attempt to put off the inevitable. But now, Stella was asking her to do something herself--she did love to decorate, really, but now she was being asked to think for herself.

Another voice joined the blonde's, and the pounding on the door came to an abrupt halt. Even though they were whispering, the redhead picked up every word without issue. "Stel, maybe give her some space. She's still trying to get things figured out. She needs time. He broke her heart." Flora, Bloom realized, sounded terribly worried about her.

Which only made her feel worse.

For one too-short minute, she curled deeper under the blankets piled on her bed, and allowed herself to feel full-on how bad she felt for doing this to her friends. And she did feel bad--it hurt that she was hurting them because of this.

But Flora was right: her heart was broken.

A third person joined in the conversation. Musa, Bloom realized. "Stella might have a point, Flora. Bloom's already spent four and a half days curled up in the bed, and she only returned to the land of the living because we got her to get up. Giving up isn't going to help her any. If anything, we should be strong and drag her outta bed anyway, because we can't let her give up either."

Giving up... Have I given up? Is that what I'm doing? No, she told herself. That is not what I'm doing.With that, Bloom huffed, rolled onto her side, and shoved herself upright.

Maybe she was absolutely miserable. Okay, yeah, fine--she was totally miserable, and even getting out of bed required a monumental amount of effort at this point. She was so heartbroken, and exhausted from crying half the night and wondering why? why? why? why her instead of me? and all sorts of other unhealthy questions, that she didn't have the energy to do much of anything.

But Sky--she pressed down on the bed, fisting the sheet in one hand, ignoring the pain that stabbed through her at his name--had made his choice.

So, she had a choice to make, too. And she had the dragon-flame and a temperament to match. Which meant that she wasn't going to let him win this--he didn't get to do this to her, just because he ran off with Diaspro, just because he didn't seem to love her the way that she loved him.

No. No, he did not.

Bloom let go of the sheet and shoved the blankets off of her. She rolled out of the bed.

And, somehow, somehow, even as her team--her sisters in every way--continued to quietly whisper just on the other side of the door, she found a way to find a clean pair of her dancing clothes--black leggings that were a little too long, and bunched up above the tight part around her ankle, and a black t-shirt that said "GIRL POWER" in huge letters--and some running shoes.

And promised herself that today, she would be okay.

·§·§·§·

Stella could have cried at the sight of Bloom slipping out of her room and quietly closing the door behind her.

Her and Flora had been whispering about what in the name of everything in Magix City they were supposed to do about Bloom's unwillingness to get out of bed, Musa's eyes sharp as daggers and carefully observing the two of them, when the redhead in question had proved them wrong.

She was dressed in black and her shirt said "GIRL POWER" and the glance that Musa threw at her said exactly what she was thinking--that was enough of a first step, enough of a step that she had made on her own, for the Solarian fairy to lean back against the wall and let out a breath it felt like she'd been holding for weeks.

"Hey, guys," Bloom said. Her voice sounded tired, but real, and was a stark contrast to the paleness of her face and circles under her eyes. There was endearment in her tone--as much of a thank you or acknowledgement of the situation as they would be getting from her for the time being--but it was enough. It was hardly the Bloom that they knew and adored, but it would be enough for right now.

Flora's face brightened instantly at hearing Bloom talk without being dragged into it by Stella. The nature fairy reached out and took Bloom's hands in hers. The look Musa and Stella shared said that they both would've said something about Flora's near-maternal sense had they not felt like doing the same. "How'd you sleep?"

"Okay, I guess." Her response was totally lacking (in every way) and, not for the first time, Stella was glad that Aisha had dragged Techna to a Magix Tech Incorporated conference downtown. They were staying at the hotel the conference was being held at, calling every night to apologize for their absence and ask for updates on Bloom and assignments and see if they could weasel anything more than three-word responses out of the Dragon-Flame wielding princess. Stella hated being glad they were gone, but the two of them being around Bloom at a time like this would probably do more damage than good. Techna would be confused by the two-steps-forward-one-step-back pattern of heartbreak--though no fault of her own, she was on a different plane of thought than they were, and Bloom would feel awful for upsetting her--and Aisha's heart was still raw from everything that had happened before she had come to Alphea, as well as the disasters that had unfolded afterwards.

At least she's talking, the look Flora gave her said. The hope in her eyes was unfaltering. Stella knew that Flora was right, but the light inside her burned and coiled and yearned to snap because of the circumstances.

Sky had hurt her best friend.

Everything had fallen to bits after Sky had chosen Diaspro. Techna could barely be around Bloom or Stella period, and Flora had cried more than anyone, her heart breaking for the broken hearts of those closest to her. Stella couldn't speak to Brandon without the words she had whispered to him, then shouted, the last time they talked replaying in her head.

"Did you know? Did you know

"Know what?" He had asked her, wiping away a tear on her face. It was a silly question, but he was as hurt as she was, and she knew that, looking back. That was his best friend, his brother, that had done that, and what was he supposed to do about it?

She had recoiled, though, away from him. "Did you know he would do this to her?"

Brandon hadn't met her eyes, but she never got a straight answer.

That had been enough, really. She hadn't needed him to tell her what happened--maybe he hadn't known, and maybe it wouldn't make a difference if he had, not even if he had warned her.

Some part of her knew that it would have been worse if she'd seen Sky's betrayal coming--she never would've had the words to tell Bloom what was going on, and would have been left with the knowledge that she couldn't stop her best friend from getting hurt. Watching everything happen, while actually knowing the outcome... Unimaginable.

And maybe Brandon had felt the same thing--if he had known, anyway.

Stella shook her head. No amount of picturing what could have gone differently was going to change what had happened. Even if she hadn't been able to look her boyfriend in the eye since it happened.

She idly wondered if Sky and Brandon were still getting along. If maybe Brandon had been hurt that his best friend would make such a big--and, quite frankly, ridiculous--decision without at least giving him a heads up.

Brandon could be as hot-headed as Stella sometimes, and he was (probably) incredibly angry--so the answer was a resounding probably not.

Musa's voice pulled Stella from her thoughts. "What do you think, blondie?"

"I didn't hear--"

"Do you want to order some takeout, and watch a movie, maybe?" Bloom asked, earnest and kind as she'd ever been in her life. An apology we don't deserve, the Solarian reminded herself, even as she beamed and said, "Of course!"

Flora and Musa nodded their own agreements in response, and pulled Bloom over to sit on the couch. Stella turned on her heel and headed to find the takeout menus and figure out where she'd left her phone after her morning trip to Alphea's gym.

If it would get some life back into Bloom's eyes, some strength back into her shoulders, the blonde princess would be happy to at least order lunch.