Questions, lies and truths.

After Darcy had collapsed in Bloom's arms Bloom tried to wake her up but the lack of sleep had drained her completely. Sky helped Bloom to hold her in an upright position so the both of them would be able to carry her home. Once they got there they put Darcy on the sofa and left her there.

"Isn't that one of the girls that attacked us a year ago" Mike remembered Darcy.

"Yes that's her. I 'm going to look for a spell to bind her active powers for now so we don't have to worry about her attacking us. Then I 'm going to question her thouroughly." Bloom said as she looked through her books for a binding spell. As soon as she had found the one she was looking for she put it on Darcy.

"How long will the spell last" Sky asked her.

"Well since she is a very strong witch it will only last for 24 hours but by then we 'll know what to do with her. Now let's see if she is faking being asleep." Bloom answered as she started to put her hands above Darcy's sleeping body and probed her. After a few minutes she stopped and looked at Sky.

"She is deep asleep and she isn't faking it. The reason I couldn't sense her coming to us was that she has drained her body from all its energy. She must have casted some cloaking spell on her to keep herself from being discovered but also draining herself to maintain it. It is a miracle she still lives. As far as I could sense she hasn't eaten for a while and has been drinking a lot of coffee because her blood is drowning in caffeine and nicotine too. I 'm not to sure if she has been smoking but there can be an explanation for that too." Bloom told him as she looked at Darcy and when she rolled up the sleeves of Darcy's dress she found nicotine patches on the witch's upper arms. Bloom removed the patches to make sure that Darcy wouldn't get a nicotine overdose. Then she filled a glass of water and put a few drops on her lips to make sure she got some fluids in her.

"I think we better leave her here for the time being." Vanessa suggested to Sky and Bloom.

The three of them went to the kitchen where Mike had filled up three glasses with wine and glass of cognac for himself.

"Is that wine?" Sky asked Mike .

"Yes, is something wrong with it.?"Mike answered.

"No, it's just that I have never drunk any wine before."

"Just drink it slowly and you will be fine." Bloom said to her boyfriend.

"You have been drinking wine before?" Sky asked

"A few times since my sixteenth birthday. You know this wine has quite a sweet taste."

"I see, well let's have a taste." Sky responded picking up his glass and tried the wine. He found the wine very tasteful but the moment he put his glass back on the table they all heard a scream coming from the living room. Bloom ran out of the kitchen right into the living room to find Darcy awake and horrified by something. She looked around searching and the moment she saw Bloom storming in she calmed down a little. Bloom felt a cold presence in the living room but as soon she got closer to Darcy that presence seemed to vanish. Bloom looked around trying to find out what was in the room. Darcy, who still had not completely calmed down, put her arms around Bloom as soon as Bloom came within her reach. She started crying as a little child. Bloom was a bit surprised by her actions but held her in her arms trying to calm her down. She couldn't believe the witch in her arms who was always the cold, calm and calculating one was now an emotional mess. Compared to Icy or Stormy Darcy was actually the one who showed the least emotions but the young woman in her arms was someone completely else. Bloom started to wonder what happened over the past few days to her. She needed to find some answers to why Darcy came to her for protection and why she had become so frightened. As soon as she felt that Darcy was calming down in her arms she decided to question her. Sky who sat next to them handed Darcy the glass of water that Bloom had brought in earlier. Darcy took a sip and looked around and noticed Mike and Vanessa who were sitting in the armchairs next to the sofa. She remembered what she did to Bloom's parents and now these people were looking at her in concern. She couldn't understand why they were worried about her after she tried to kill them all at some point in the past two years but then again it was she who was turning to them for help.

"Darcy what 's wrong with you? You certainly don't act as your old self and what has Dafne to do with all this?" Darcy heard Bloom ask from far away even though she was sitting next to her on the sofa. She needed to focus to Bloom's voice now because Bloom was now her safety line in a completely messed up world. "Darcy? Hey are you there" Bloom shouted.

"Yes, I 'm sorry that I tried to kill you all in the past." she finally snapped out of her fears for what could happen next. Bloom watched her for a moment and then repeated the questions she asked her before her apology.

"Well, it all started when we got home from Shadowhaunt," Darcy started her story "we decided to lay low there until we had a new plan to take you and the rest of Magix down. Icy was hell bent on getting back at everyone who had stopped her again from taking over the universe. Stormy felt the same way about it but I felt like it was enough. I think Icy had noticed that I was no longer interested in the cause before she went to bed. I heard her and Stormy have a little chat before they went to bed but I don't really know what it was all about, maybe they were talking about me. I was looking through our family album thinking about my time as a little girl and how cute I used to be when I heard this voice calling to me. She warned me to get out while I still could. Since I didn't see anyone I thought it was Icy pulling a prank but when I did a mind probe at her and Stormy I noticed there was another presence there with me and then she showed herself to me and introduced herself as Dafne, you know the water nymph, and she told me to go to you because you are the only one who can keep me safe from whatever is after me now. She mentioned it to be a soul collector whatever that may be. She said I was too late to save Icy and Stormy so she told me to save myself first and save them from their fate later. Well maybe Icy might not be saved at all, it all depends on how fast I will be able to help them. Now I am too weak to do anything. I have been running from it for four days without any sleep. Every time I fell asleep I felt it coming to me, a cold touch trying to get into me and take my soul away. It was here just before you came in but the minute you came in it retreated, why? I don't know. That about sums up how I ended up here. I wouldn't blame you if you don't believe me. Why should you, in the past I have only been lying to you guys to get whatever I wanted but I feel like I have to change that so I can fulfil the destiny awaits me after this battle against the soul collector."

"Lets say I believe you for now, what exactly did Dafne tell you about this soul collector?" Bloom asked

"Well I don't know it exactly but she said that it feeds on souls, evil souls mainly, like my mother's soul. He was after our souls now. I was the only one who could be saved now but over time I could save Stormy for sure but Icy would be beyond saving unless I get there in time to save her before she gets herself killed. That is what I still remember from our conversation. Oh there was one thing she said that you were her sister?"

"Dafne saved me from death while giving her own life. Now she exists on another plain but when necessary she reveals herself to those who need to be pointed in the right direction. Like she did for me while I was convinced that I no longer had the dragonfire in me. Well no one can take the dragonfire from me as long as I live. Now don't get any ideas about that. But I wonder why Dafne decided to save you and not Stormy since she seemed to be the one who was always left out of the planning." Bloom explained.

"Maybe because during our stay at the Fortress of Light I tried to change a little in an attempt to get out of there on good behaviour. Can you imagine that me getting out on good behaviour?" Darcy tried to explain.

"Honestly, if you 'd ask me that question two weeks ago I would have said no but now I don't know for sure." Bloom said as she stood up and walked to the window "First we must find out all we can about this soul collector so we know what we are dealing with. Then we go after it together and I am not talking about the three of us here but the whole gang will be needed because I have the feeling that we can't do this with just the three of us. I felt a cold presence here the moment I entered this room after you screamed. So I believe you for the part of being chased by a being even more evil than you."

"You felt it too?"

"Yes I did but who or what it is I can't say. It felt like death."

"Well children I don't know about you but I think it 's time to get to bed" Mike said while he kissed Vanessa and Bloom goodnight. Bloom wished her dad a goodnight sleep and then she looked at her mother.

"Mum, I think I am going to sleep on the floor tonight so Darcy can have a good sleep in my bed."

"You don't have to give me your bed I am so tired already that I wouldn't mind sleeping on the floor myself" Darcy said.

"I insist Darcy since Dafne sent you to me to protect you I want to sleep close to you in case that being might be back to claim your soul. It ran from me the moment I entered the room so I think if it would strike tonight I can repel it once and for all."

"Thank you Bloom. If all of this is over I will help you to rebuild Sparkx and pledge my loyalty to you."

"I only hope that after this is all over we may all be friends." Sky said as he approached the ladies standing next to each other and then he kissed Bloom goodnight and went into the guest room while Bloom took Darcy with her to her own room where she explained Darcy where the bathroom was and where she could hang her clothes. She then gave Darcy one of her nightgowns as she pulled out her sleeping bag and laid it on the floor. Before they went to bed Bloom pulled out the amulet she was given at birth and handed it to Darcy.

"What is this for?" Darcy asked.

"This amulet was supposed to protect me when I was young. Now it will protect you until we caught whatever is after you because I have the feeling we 're not dealing with the master himself but with one of his slaves."

"What does this amulet do?"

"Exactly what I will do if I am awake."

Then Darcy laid herself on the bed while Bloom got into her sleeping bag. A few minutes later they were both sleeping.

A few hours later.

Darcy felt the being that was trying to take her soul getting near to her but now she tried not to panic to lure it closer to her. She warned Bloom telepathically hoping Bloom wouldn't be too fast asleep. She felt the being get even closer and she started to get afraid that Bloom wasn't awake yet. She was almost close to shout at her when suddenly...

"SPIRITUS ILLUMINE" Bloom yelled and the ghost that had been after Darcy lighted up like a Christmas tree and now that it was revealed they both could see who it was.

"Mum?" Darcy wondered while Bloom put a spell on the ghost so it would go nowhere.

"Hello my little one, I am sorry that I left you behind like this 17 years ago but your aunts and me had decided to get our revenge on those who had wronged us and in order to get that revenge we needed more power. The only way we would get that was by obtaining the Dragonfire for our master and then we would have received powers beyond our imagination. We failed to obtain it and ended up as his slaves and we were ripped from our bodies. Right now Icy's and Stormy's souls have been replaced by their mother's souls to attempt to get the dragonfire again. If they succeed they will be freed and they may live their lives and their daughters will remain his slaves."

"What about you?" Darcy asked.

"I have failed in my mission to take over your body so I will probably disappear into the void."

"No you 're going to the same plain of existence as my sister" Bloom said " You will have to guide others into a better future. 'Clean this spirit from evil and let it exist to guide the ones guided by evil to the light'."

Then a ray of light came from above cleaning the soul of Darcy's mother transporting her to another plain of existence.

"Remember Darcy you are a princess and you have to protect your half-sister from evil. Your father is the king..."

Before she could finish her sentence she disappeared from sight leaving Darcy behind in tears. Bloom walked up to her and tried to comfort her.

"Why did you finish this spell so quickly?" Darcy asked her.

"Because I felt the void opening and there wouldn't be enough time to save her soul if I waited another second. But what did she mean by you being a princess and this half-sister you 're supposed to have?"

"I don't know for sure myself if this is a lie or the truth. She always told me that I was a princess but I was denied my birth rights as a princess. I wish I knew for sure that mum was telling the truth."

"I think in her last moments with us she has been telling the truth how unbelievable it may seem."

"Then who could my father be?" Darcy asked as she laid down on the bed and Bloom got back in her sleeping bag. They both pondered over that question for a while and then fell asleep.