The scariest part to Riven as they watched her memories fly by and listen, was when he made out his own voice being projected through the monitor. If he didn't have tapes of himself as a child, he wouldn't have known. But still, he knew it was his voice, and it was enough for him to assume.

But she was the wrong age. Trixxi was three years younger than them--something wasn't right. Either this was a string of coincidences, or Bloom was three grades ahead. And Riven wasn't sure which one he wanted to be the truth.

Then, it froze. Everything was black and everyone turned to the screen. Slowly, Bloom's eyes opened on the monitor and the adults rushed to her, hugging her and embracing her. A different group of friends piled around her, having waiting for her to wake up.

Everyone was chattering on the screen--her band was there, her parents, Mike's only brother and his family--two sons around Bloom's age and two twin daughters much younger, near seven or eight. "See? Bloomy was sleeping," one said to the other. "Mommy, tell Felicia Bloomy was sleeping!"

"No, she wasn't, Brittany. It can be compared to a great sleep, but so can death. It's more like a state of deep internal meditation. Bloom was in a catatonic state for the duration of--" the other started, obviously the smarter of the two sisters.

"Felicia, enough," her father said. "Yes, Brittany, Bloom's been asleep. And now look--she's waking up."

"I swear, Vanessa, I wish I had a daughter like Bloom. She's no genius, but she's not dumb to say the least. You have no idea how hard it is to live with a genius," she said, looking pointedly at Felicia. "They refuse to listen to anyone else."

"Felicia's not even smart. She has no clue what she means. She just strings big words together she heard on TV. Go at her, Mom. I hate the bragging witch and the daughter."

"Bloom, sweetie, how are you?" Vanessa asked, ignoring her sister-in-law. "You've been in a coma for two months now."

"Not cool, Mom. Not cool at all," Bloom scolded in her head.

"Bloom, baby, what the hell happened?" Mike asked. "You left without telling anyone where you were going, and we get a call you're in the hospital. Were you running away or something? Were you mad at us? Bloom, sweetie, what were you and Josh doing?"

In the real world next to the still comatose Bloom, Vanessa started to cry again. "Sweetie. I should have known. Josh always called her that."

Indeed, Bloom looked like she was concentrated on the word, even mouthing it. Then it hit her. Bloom's eyes grew wide and she sat up abruptly. "Josh," she croaked, looking around. "Where's Josh?"

This was it. Riven was sure he'd hear he was still in a coma or a vegetable for life, or that he died. He got it but it was worse than he thought.

Professor Codatorta shook his head. "Bloom, Josh…He's--"

"Uncle Scott, don't say it," she said, already teary-eyed. "It wouldn't be funny. Where is he?"

"He's dead, Bloom," the professor said, sighing. "He died on the operating table. He had a lacerated spleen, his lung was punctured, he had internal bleeding. He--"

"Was better off than I was," she protested. "Uncle Scott, he can't be dead. Josh was wearing his seatbelt. I wasn't. If either of us had to die, it would be me, not Josh. I should have head trauma and whiplash and a broken spine--neck, head even. He should be here…"

"Bloom, he died," Mike told her as Vanessa went to hug her. "I know how close you two were--"

"Best friends, keepers of secrets, soul-twins…We were more than close. It was like we were each other. He knew everything about me--even how I was feeling, and I knew everything about him. Josh can't be dead, guys. He told me we'd be friends forever," Bloom said.

The professor on the monitor looked pained. "Bloom, you know I'd never want to say my son is dead, but he is. And I guess he kept one secret from you. He--"

"Was planning to take me to get a recording contract," she said, bent low and eyes cast down. "He wanted to go alone, but I made him take me with him. It was supposed to be an adventure."

She heard a voice in the corner, and looked up at a TV that was on. MTV was playing a music video, and Bloom gasped. There she was, in a music video Josh had made. It was real. She had become a singer with a recording contract, and Josh had left her, all in the same day.

She was on the screen, break dancing to a rap song in a sports bra and warm-up pants. Then in went to her boxing, and her singing the song.

"Josh always was amazing with a camera," Bloom said. "Everyone should remember his name. Everyone should remember him. He's the best."

Brandon and Sky snuck a look at the professor when they heard Bloom's thoughts, and smiling sadly as he choked back tears.

Back on the monitor, Bloom watched the song fade away with a picture of Josh and she with their arm around their shoulders, and smirking at the camera. Bloom's free-hand was placed on her cocked hip as if to say she was that good, and Josh's free-hand was fisted in front of him as if restraining from punching the camera.

A man, whom Bloom knew to be the host of TRL, came on the screen. "All right, all right. That was Number Two this week, Bloom singing 'Remember the Name.' Now you all know the deal with Bloom by now. She just got signed to Flaming the Fire, when she and her best friend got in a car accident on their way home. That picture was the last one ever taken of the two. Up now, is Number One, 'Popular' done by Bloom."

She choked at a smile at the sight. While she was singing the "Pop, pop," all that was there was her mouth and the microphone. Then she went on to smile and wink at the camera--but Bloom knew she was really doing it for Josh.

The video played on, but Bloom focused on her family. "Where did Ren go? Wasn't she here a second ago?" she asked.

"She needed to make a phone call," a boy said, sitting down on the bed next to her and hugging her. "Bloomy, we were so scared! We heard you and Josh went to see Jordan Roberts, and crashed." He slapped her softly and Bloom winced. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry Bloom!" he apologized.

"S'okay, Nick," she told him, hugging him back frailly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. I just…it was such an impulse, I wanted to go so bad. And now I killed my best friend," she sobbed, hugging him as hard as she could. "Nick, you must hate me!"

He shushed her, and patted her hair. "No, baby girl, no. How can I hate my little girl? You did nothing wrong, and Josh wouldn't blame you either. He'd be happy you're okay--he'd be pissed if he heard you blaming him."

"He'd blame himself if you died," another girl said, smiling softly as she sat on Bloom's other side and played with Bloom's hair. It seemed to sooth Bloom, and then the girl hugged Bloom too. "Bloom, I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm not," she sobbed, hugging the girl too. "Zo, I killed Josh. I can just see how Kerry's going to be when I see her." She looked up to see Nick and the girl--Zo--give each other a look over her head. "Zoey? What are you two hiding?" Bloom asked.

"Josh and Kerry kind of broke up. Like, before this even blew in. Slut's going out with half the football team now. It's strange how she got all jealous that you and Josh were like surgically attached, but she found it fine to screw the entire basketball team," Zoey replied. "Now she's screwing football, make her way through track, get to baseball."

Felicia--Bloom's little cousin--walked over and tapped Zoey's shoulder. "Do you have to say vulgar words and hint at sexual acts in the presence of little kids?" she asked sweetly.

Bloom rolled her eyes then smiled sweetly. "Felicia, sweetie, come here," she said. Felicia walked over and smiled at Bloom, thinking she was saying something special to her. Instead Bloom glared at her. "Go take Brittany, Jake and the grown-ups and get out so I can talk to my friends," she said getting a protest from the younger of the two cousins. "Jake, have you ever had a girlfriend, or gotten laid?" she asked.

Blushing, he admitted to having a girlfriend. At this, he was allowed to stay, only to walk out seconds later when he realized everyone was talking much more comfortably about sex than he was. Bloom smiled and pounded her fist against her older cousin, who was several years older and by the looks of it eighteen or nineteen.

"Luke, how did that boy ever get a girlfriend?" she asked him.

"The girl dragged him out on a date. Older, too. It was so cute, until she realized he was younger," he replied, laughing as he sat back down. Not long after Ren walked in, smiling and tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Do you wash your hair with shit?" Luke asked.

"No, why?" she asked, smiling at him.

Zoey leaned over and whispered to Bloom, making the girl laugh. When Nick asked what was so funny, Bloom mouthed the word, "Whore."

"Because as soon as you walked in I could smell bullshit," he replied. "Who were you calling?"

She glared at him and gave him a snarl before sitting down. "So, what are we talking about?"

Bloom smiled and looked at her friends. "Well, we were talking about Slut for awhile, but I don't think we should now that you're here. So, how's my career been while I've been sleeping?" she asked, smiling and laughing. "It's so weird to think I have a career."

Zoey smiled and hugged her friend, but Bloom caught that second when her face was glaring and accused Bloom for killing Josh. Everyone in the room with Bloom now saw it, and Stella held back a laugh when she heard Bloom's mind say, "I saw that, Zo."

"It's been great. You haven't even lifted a finger and your first CD went triple platinum. In the first week. Josh always said you'd be a star," she said, innocently putting a jab at Bloom.

The girl's eyes dropped. "I never will be forgiven. I killed him. I killed him, and I went on living like it was okay! Why? I should be in the ground right next to him."

It went on to project when Bloom got home, and her parents wanted her to get ready for dinner because Jordan was coming to talk to her and reevaluate the contract.

"Guys, there's not much to it. When he gets here, I'm going to tell him I quit. He can do whatever he wants with everything he's done--the music, the shooting, whatever--but I'm not going to sing ever again, and that's all that needs to be known."

"But Bloom, sweetie, you love to sing," her mother said.

"I did. And I loved Josh more. How am I supposed to go on singing, knowing that I killed my best friend just so I can sing?"

Mike looked at her sadly. "Bloom, you have to go for therapy to learn how to walk again. I think that's all the punishment you'll ever need. If you really think you need to be punished, then let that be your punishment."

"I can't walk, big whoop. Josh can't breathe, or talk, or open his eyes. Josh is dead because he wanted to help me. What's being unable to walk when he was punished for doing a good deed?" she screamed, slamming her arms down on a wheelchair.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Jordan smiled tightly. "Hi," he greeted.

Mike opened the door wide and Bloom wheeled over to him. "It's good to see you, Mr. Roberts," Mike greeted. "Bloom, can you say hello?"

She smiled sadly and shook Jordan's hand. "Hello, sir. It's good to see you." She wheeled back into the kitchen and the men followed. "So, why are you so far from home? It can't just be for my contract."

"Actually, I wanted to see Josh's father. Scott. And I wanted to see his studio. Not long after they heard about the accident, some producers came to me and asked to make a film of your story--Josh and yours. I wanted to ask Mr. Codatorta what he wanted."

They all sat down and started to pass the food around. "I'm afraid you can't find him," Vanessa said. "He works at a boarding school most of the year--Bloom, honey, what's the name of the school Uncle Scott works for?"

"Red Fountain," she replied, eating salad. "Red Fountain School for Specialists. Josh was going to go next year."

Silence followed and Jordan brought another subject up. "So, Bloom, are you doing well?" he asked.

"If you're asking if I can walk, no. I haven't improved at all in the last three months," she replied, sighing as she looked at her legs in the wheelchair.

Memories flashed quickly of time spent in a rehab center for her legs. None of them were pretty. She was screaming in pain, she was stretched uncomfortably, she was sweaty and crying and nothing she could do would get her to walk. There was a moment, Sky thought it was right before she left the center, where she could take one step, then crumbled down on the ground again, crying and screaming and agony, shouting profanities when people tried to help. She didn't get any closer it seemed.

"I'm sorry. I'm not much fun lately," Bloom replied, looking at a mirror on the wall with a picture of her and Josh tucked in the corner, laughing in the sand.

Bloom remembered it well. They were at the beach for a vacation in Hawaii, and an eight year old Josh was helping her build a sand castle. When Sky looked at the picture closely, it looked like Sparx before the planet was attacked.

"Josh, make it bigger," five year old Bloom said in Bloom's head. A voice of the memory the picture brought up.

"It's not much bigger," Josh laughed.

"Yes it is! Bigger and sparkly! Sparx. How about I call it Sparx?" she asked, clapping.

"Of course. It's your castle, princess. It can be whatever you want it to be," he said.

He did something to her that made Bloom screech in delight and laugh. Thudding steps ensued and Bloom laughed. "Josh! Get back to making me Sparx! Josh!"

"No, it's fine," he replied. "I'm guessing you don't want anyone to see you like this, huh?"

"Definitely not. No offense, but I don't even feel like singing anymore."

"I figured as much," Jordan replied. He laughed softly. "You remember Fatal Fatality really well. Do you remember what happened to us that made us stop singing?"

She nodded and took another bite. "Your brother was in a car crash with the drummer. The drummer was left paralyzed from the neck down. Instead of getting a new drummer, your brother refused to sing again, and instead went on to become an actor and married the drummer's sister and had a great family with a son named Greg. And you went solo for awhile."

Jordan smiled. "He made the best out of a bad situation. He takes care of Greg every day, and helps him in every way he can. Carrie was more than happy that Greg and Andrew could still get along."

"Why do you ask? About Greg and Andrew? What does it matter?" Bloom asked.

Vanessa smiled and pat her daughter's hand. "Bloom, we're just saying that maybe you would feel better if you did this for Josh instead of pretending that this isn't something you want."

The girl looked at her mother, tired and cynical. "This isn't something I want. Not anymore at least. I wanted to be a singer, but I only wanted it if Josh would be there with me to take it all in. If he and I got in a fight, I still would've given up singing. I love it, but it's not the world."

"Bloom?" Mike tried again.

He touched her arm and she shook it off, wheeling back the chair. "I don't know why I bother. Nobody will ever accept me now that I killed Josh. I had hard enough times trying to fit in with him around to help. This is pointless."

She started to wheel away and Vanessa stopped her. "Bloom, where are you going, darling?"

"Out. I need to think for awhile. Alone."

The next scene she was walking again, maybe a year later. She was smiling and talking to a boy they had never seen before. "Thanks, Richard, but I don't want to," she said. "I'm just going to walk. I haven't been able to for a long time."

He shrugged and got in his car. He rolled down the window just as he was about to drive away. "By the way, Bloom? I'm sorry. I know today's the day Josh died, and I wanted to say I'll miss the guy."

"You never met him," she replied with a smile before his words hit her. Her smile dissolved and in its place was a look of horror. "Today's the day?" she asked, shocked.

"Yeah, why?" he asked, confused.

Bloom streaked off in the opposite direction to the front of the school. There on the school's bulletin board were all the messages and events of the day. It was the day her second to last CD came out, the day her school was hosting the Junior Prom and Bloom gasped and feel to the floor, sobbing.

It was Josh's birthday. To make it worse than any other day of her life. "Great. No I love you, no goodbye, no happy birthday," she sobbed, hitting her head on the concrete wall behind her. "Stupid, stupid Bloom."

A hand came to her shoulder, and she just leaned into the accompanying body to sob. She didn't notice when she left the ground or that she was moving. Bloom noticed when a door opened and she was thrown onto a back seat of a car.

"What the--Richard?" she asked.

No one could watch. For the first time, they wished they didn't know her thoughts. Mike and Vanessa cringed and cried at the sight of their baby girl being raped. It was painful to them just to hear her screaming to be released and for the boy to stop. She cried and fought, but was still too weak from not walking long.

When he finished with her, he warned her not to tell anyone or he would kill her family before coming after her. Sky's fists tightened, and Bloom only agreed with tears in her eyes and shame in her voice. The look in the boy's eyes told her he wasn't kidding.

It was dark out, compared to the sunny afternoon it had been, and she collapsed on the ground and sobbed again once he drove away. A few minutes later, Bloom dried her eyes and made her way home, stiff and limping, gasping in pain. Along the way someone's car pulled up next to her.

"Bloom, sweetie, what happened?" Professor Codatorta asked, concerned.

"Uncle Scott," she sobbed.

In seconds he was out of the car and helping her, taking her to the hospital and getting a kit done. He called her parents and found the boy himself. From what Bloom heard after, the police arrested Richard not long after with a broken nose and several crushed ribs, and she hugged the professor as soon as he came back in the room.

"It's okay. No one's ever going to hurt you again, I promise," he told her as she sobbed.

Time went by and they watched Bloom leave school for the last day of her freshman year. She went to Josh's grave and left him some candy. The professor explained to the room it had been Josh's favorite and that the two would eat it nonstop.

Another year passed since Josh's death, and Bloom was lying in her bed, sick, convulsing and then passing out, eyes rolling up into her head and leaving the white exposed. Soon her sheets became bloody at her crotch. Vanessa came in and found her when she went to wake Bloom up for school and screamed.

When Bloom was in the hospital, the doctors told her parents she had taken blood-thinners a friend had given her while she had her period and she had also worn her tampon all night, giving her TSS. She told her parents the person gave them to her saying it would make her period go faster and she didn't care about the consequences because she didn't care about life anymore.

"She never was the same after Josh left," Mike murmured to himself, sighing as they watched the memories. "I always wondered what would've happened if he lived. None of this would have happened."

The next year, Bloom was being beaten by several kids that had been in past memories, all blaming her for killing Josh. In this memory too she was raped and Sky was ready to go to Earth and kill everyone that hurt her. How dare they touch her?

Riven was seething. He was positive that Bloom was his half-sister, and she was being destroyed on Earth. Most people had a bad memory, but Bloom was being ripped apart and destroyed, treated like vile and violated just because she was losing a battle in her mind. He was ready to kill everyone on Earth and turn back time to kill the drunk driver that killed Josh to stop anything from ever happening.

Hell, he'd turn back time to before the Coven attacked and rip all of them apart, bone by bone. It was all their faults Bloom was a wreck now. He could never speak to Darcy again, knowing she must have something to do with the Coven. He had a feeling she was a descendent of the Coven, like he knew Stormy and Icy were.

"Uncle Scott?" Bloom asked, two weeks after Josh's death. She looked like shit, still beat up and traumatized from the attack. "Will you teach me to fight? I need to know how. I need to be able to. I need to protect myself."

"Bloom, I already taught you how to defend yourself," he told her, waxing his car. "Why do you really want to learn?"

"You taught me how to defend myself. I need to learn how to fight. How to keep people away from me, stop a lot of people coming at me at once. I need to learn how to stop this from happening again."

Suddenly Bloom broke down sobbing again and Professor Codatorta ran over to her as she screamed. "Fuck! I couldn't fucking save myself. I couldn't fucking hurt one person. I was fucking useless. I'm a fuck. Fucking fuck-faced fucker fucking fucked…fuck."

The professor waited for her to die down and hugged her close. "I have something to show you, Bloom. And I know, I've always known, you'd come to the point where defending yourself wasn't enough."

He led her into her house and got out a letter. "Dad," Bloom whispered, reading the front of the letter.

Dear Dad,

I know you hate when I tell you to do stuff, but you have to listen to me. Bloom isn't just a defender. She's a fighter. You need to teach her to fight. You could send her to a fight and she'd win. But you need to teach her.

Bloom's not meant to sit back and block people. She's meant to strategize fast and do physical damage to her opponent. If Red Fountain wasn't for guys, I'd send her there. You can't just sit back and think she'll be happy just to stop people from hurting her. You've known as long as I have that she'll want more, need more.

She's a princess and she deserves to be treated as one. She needs to learn how to protect her kingdom and fight to expand her kingdom. Bloom needs to be a princess and know what it feels like to have all that power. To be able to fight and defend, just as a ruler does. Bloom needs to learn.

Dad, I'm not asking you anymore. Either you teach her or I will. I will find her a teacher and practice with her, just like when I taught her to defend. Think of how many times she beat me before and all she knew was defensive moves? Please, Dad. Don't make me go behind your back.

Josh.

Bloom choked and looked at the professor. "Uncle Scott--"

"He was right. It's time for you to learn," he replied.