Chapter 7
Diaspro Returns
(Magic Dimension, Red Fountain College, Four weeks later since Bloom's disappearance)
The last four weeks without Bloom was rough on the Winx, Specialists and Sky especially. When Ms. Faragonda and Griselda had returned from their search on earth the Winx and Sky had bombarded her with questions. Keeping true to their promises to Bloom they said nothing of her pregnancy or whereabouts. They had merely said they had not seen nor heard anything of Bloom from her parents.
Of course this did not settle lightly with the Winx. Many a time they had tried to sneak to earth to carry out their own search party. Because of this Ms. Faragonda had kept an extra careful eye on them. After numerous failed attempts the Winx gave up and mourned their loss in their own ways.
Stella, the Queen of Fashion wore only black for a week and was less talkative. Musa no longer played anything but blues or funeral tunes. Aisha was less enthusiastic about being active and her dances lacked energy. Unknown to anyone even Helia, at night while she was alone in her dorm. Flora would often break down into quiet sobs longing for her lost roommate. She still cried a little around the others. Out of all the girls, Techna seemed the most unaffected. This is because on Zenith people often ignored their emotions in order to get a task done. In this case Techna did the same but even she couldn't do it forever. Occasionally her sorrow showed in her creations or work. Although the truth had hit the Winx club hard it had hit Sky a hundred times harder.
When he first discovered her disappearance he too went in search. After zero success he had barricaded himself in his dorm (much to Brandon's annoyance.) and cried silent tears, willing her to come back to him. By the second week Brandon had convinced him to get out of the room and re-join society. Unfortunately when Ms. Faragonda had announced the search a failure he went totally of his rocker and threw a fit. Everything in his path was destroyed by a blue phantoblade. Thankfully, due to some tranquilizer darts Riven usually kept for his dragon, they literally stabbed Sky with one and knocked him out cold for a full day and kept him calm for the rest of week. Eventually it wore of leaving him sullen, sulky and forlorn. Sometimes he would snap angrily at happy, lovey dovey couples in the park or his sight and or at his friends who patiently put up with it, even the heart of stone Riven. Now most of the time, he would stay in silence or just walk away when he saw his friends with their girlfriends.
Momentarily Sky was in his unusually untidy room which he shared with Brandon. While the others were out with their girlfriends, Sky had decided to stay alone and work out on his own. The depressed blonde laid shirtless on a bench press lifting weights deep in pensive thought.
'Why would Bloom leave?' Sky thought. 'Did I do something wrong?'
He mentally face palmed himself.
'Of course I did something! I had sex with her!'
His frown left his face, to be replaced with a thoughtful look.
'Should I have done it? She was seriously drunk and I was only buzzed. I could've thought clearly. I could have thought of the consequences.'
He paused his lifting halfway up and continued his thought.
'She was so drunk; she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. As a matter of fact she shouldn't even remember our 'ride'. Her hangover should've made sure she didn't remember.' All these thoughts brought up another question. 'Was he a bad guy because he took advantage of his girlfriend's drunkenness?'
He thought back to the night where they both lost their virginity in wild ecstasy.
They were in a new bar Riven had suggested. He and Bloom were at the counter sitting on bar stools while the others were dancing on the dance floor. Bright flashing lights and loud noise surrounded them. The room itself was like a furnace with everyone dancing against each other. Bloom sat with him and drank a cola while he had a beer. After tasting his beer she spat it back out much to his amusement, declaring it the worst thing she had ever tasted. That fateful night was the night of Valtor's defeat. When Riven had suggested it Flora and Helia had quickly and politely declined for a more peaceful and quiet scene.
After much persuasion, Bloom had decided to finally get an alcoholic beverage called The Life Wrecker, mostly because it looked pretty. The drink mostly contained magical elements such as: pixie dust, nectaranium and Biltzen. The drink was sparkly, polychromic, tasted of vanilla and black cherry and came with a rose. In order to drink this one must have a high alcohol tolerance which Bloom did not have. On the first sip Bloom was buzzed, halfway through the martini glass she was dancing on table tops. By the time the glass was drained him and Bloom were skinny dipping in Lake Roccaluche making quite a commotion. It was rather surprising Daphne hadn't heard.
The ringing of Sky phone awoke him from his daydream startling him into dropping his weights on to his chest. After taking the weights off his chest and rubbing the pain away he anxiously picked up the phone.
"Bloom is that you?" He asked eagerly.
"Sky? What mockery is this?" A familiar deep voice asked.
"Father, forgive me, I thought you were Bloom." Sky replied disappointed.
"Actually, we wanted to talk to you about her." Another familiar voice said only this time feminine. Apparently both his parents were speaking to him.
"Wait, I'll put you on video." Sky told them.
After activating the app on his phone the holographic image of his parents appeared in front of him. There were a big bellied man with dark brown hair and ocean blue eyes wearing royal attire standing alongside his wife who had long red hair, green eyes and slim shape. She also wore royal attire.
"Why do want to talk to me about Bloom?" Sky questioned curiously.
"Bloom is missing, correct?" His father King Erendor asked.
"Yes." Sky replied slowly.
"Have you since then thought of moving on?" Queen Samara queried gently.
"I have been told." He grumbled. Suddenly suspicious he asked, "Why?"
Erendor and Samara were never interested in Sky's relationships. Samara may show so interest but not this much. Erendor would not care unless it benefitted the kingdom.
"Well…" his mother started.
"We are re-betrothing you to the Princess of Isis." His father put bluntly.
"WHAT!" Sky yelled. "You're going to marry me off to that dictatorial, spoiled brat!"
"She is not a bad girl." Samara scolded. "She is a lot better than that commoner you call a girlfriend."
"That's the statement of the year." Sky laughed harshly. "You should have seen her during my junior year. Date her and come back to me."
"Son, you will marry the Princess of Isis!" His father said angrily. "It is your duty!"
"Why is it my duty?" Sky demanded angrily.
"Erendor, you started off to harshly." Samara reprimanded her husband. She turned to Sky. She being the calmest of the three began to explain. "Queen Amethyst and King Zultanite, Diaspro's parents-"
"Those eccentric weirdos." Sky murmured.
"Sky this is no laughing matter. They are threating us with war!" Erendor snapped.
Sky was stunned. He stared at his parents shocked almost dropping his phone. He shook his head in an effort to gather his thoughts. He continued to stare in disbelief.
"You're joking, right?" Sky asked. "Why?"
"Yes, we would joke about that." Erendor mumbled.
The other two ignored him and continued.
"They had always demand you marry their daughter," Queen Samara stated, "They only stopped upon discovering you had already found a girlfriend but now Bloom is missing…" She trailed off allowing Sky to put the pieces together.
Sky sat on his bed, unmoving with shock as he tried to grasp at the news given. After five minutes of uncomfortable silence Sky tried speaking again.
"So because Bloom is missing, I have to marry Diaspro." Sky said quietly.
"Unless you are able to produce Bloom, they expect it of you." Erendor said desolately.
"They gave us two weeks to make a decision before declaring war." Samara said softly.
Sky thought long and hard about the situation. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Fine, I'll do it." He sighed. "I'm so sorry Bloom."
"Sky, give up on that silly fantasy!" Erendor said indifferently. "She could not have cared if she left without a good bye or an explaination."
Sky pondered his father's words before replying, "No, Bloom cared for and loved me. I will protect my kingdom even if I have to give up my one true love."
Queen Samara and King Erendor smiled pleased with his decision. His father took off, most likely to alert King Zultanite.
"Sky, thank you!" Samara said giddily. "You have just saved many lives by agreeing. There will be no war!"
Sky smiled weakly at his mother before hanging up. Lying back on his bed, he stared up at the ceiling wondering if he done right thing.
-Line break-
Within the hour the other Specialists had arrived home and were going to bed. Helia and Timmy, Riven and Brandon went to their rooms respectively. Brandon stood in the hallway outside his bedroom door slightly reluctant to go in his dorm. Usually sharing a room with Sky was a breeze; he was a nice guy, not a quarrelsome like Riven. That was before Bloom went M.I.A.
Brandon sighed. "I Might as well go in, it's not like I can sleep in the hall or on the couch again."
He took a deep breath and entered the dreaded room. To his surprise he didn't find Sky pumping weights and cursing under his breath. Instead he found Sky lying in bed staring at the ceiling lost in his own silent, conflicting thoughts. Brandon released the breath he was holding.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Brandon asked as he prepared for bed.
"Diaspro." Sky answered thoughtlessly.
"Why?" Brandon asked again. He started to brush his teeth.
"I'm thinking of dating her." Sky said.
From the bathroom, Sky heard a spit take followed by a gagging sound. Brandon practically flew out with his face covered in residual toothpaste covering the areas around his mouth and his brown eyes like dinner plates.
"WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Brandon yelled.
"You guys were telling me to move on." Sky replied truthfully.
"Not with her!" Brandon said running his hand through his hair. He worriedly asked, "Why?"
Sky thought first and decided not to tell Brandon what was going on back home. "I have decided to give it another try. See how far we can get, you know?"
"No." Brandon shook his head. "What about Bloom?"
"She didn't care for me." Sky said emotionlessly.
Brandon edged away from Sky retreating into the bathroom to recommence the brushing of his teeth. He brushed slowly wondering what the hell happened to best friend in his absence. This was not the Sky he knew. In fact the Sky he knew was slowly decaying leaving a hollow shell in its place.
"So, you have given up on finding Bloom then?" Brandon asked carefully.
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Your parents had no say in the matter?"
"What are you? A cop?"
"This is completely your choice?"
"Am I under oath?"
Brandon sighed. It was obvious he wasn't going to get any answers from him. He looked over to his friend who was now lying with his back to him. He sorrowfully wondered what was becoming of his best friend and girlfriend. Sky was slowly becoming a Riven 2.0 and Stella seemed to be gradually turning Emo. He sighed once again and switched of the light.
"Good night buddy."
"Night Brandon."
AN: As usual if you have any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to leave a review telling me such or PM me. Thanks for reviews.
Arctica.
