Authors Notes: So, Stella is beginning to have some darker thoughts. I wonder what this will lead to? I guess we will find out towards the end of this chapter, and into the next chapter. Once again, I do apologize for the previous chapter being so short, but hopefully I can make up for it in this one. Enjoy!

Heart of Darkness

Chapter 9

The sight before them did not bode well. The Winx girls and Specialist could feel a sense of doom in the air as they gazed up at their friend standing on top of the alter. Her arms spread out wide as she began the chant to summon the Ultimate Power. Before her stood Darkar, his arms crossed over his chest as he dared them to attack.

Floating around Bloom were the Trix sisters. Each of them had a sinister grin plastered to their faces. Still, they had a job to do. Bolstering their courage they prepared for the biggest fight of their life, with the odds stacked against them.

"We're going to stop you Darkar" Sky defiantly said as he gripped the pommel of his Phantoblade. If he was still weakened by the previous torture he and the others endured, he did not show it.

All the others, besides Stella; nodded in agreement. Stella just looked up at her best friend. Determination burning in her eyes.

"Is that so?" Darkar mocked as he waved his hand, summoning a dozen shadow beasts; then motioning for them to attack.

Not giving it a second thought, Sky launched himself forward, bringing the blade down on the head of one of the beasts before twisting his wrist and back swinging the blade to strike down another monster.

Helia followed suit, using his laser string glove to wrap up one of the summoned monsters before tightening the string to rip it apart. Casting a glance behind him he saw a shadow beast jumping to attack Flora. Using the laser string, he made a whip like motion, catching the creature in the eyes before Sky finished it off with his sword. Meanwhile, Flora was busying summoning various vines to trap the monsters.

At the same time, Layla launched a volley of her magical orbs; trapping three of the beasts into large bubbles before crushing them. However, one slipped through her attack and charged her with blinding speed; much to quick for her to react. Just as the beast was about to land on her a blinding light struck the beast down.

Layla opened her eyes to see Stella holding her staff out, though it seemed like she was not paying any attention to the battle at hand. It was then that the witch sisters decided to join the party. Flying down they cast various spells, forcing the heroes to jump to evade the attacks.

"Took you three long enough to jump in." Layla taunted.

"We were enjoying the show." Darcy stated, casting a glance at Stella.

"You know Darkar isn't going to share the Ultimate Power with you." Helia said. He was trying to divide them and make them fight amongst themselves. Hoping to give them an upper hand.

The three witches on grinned at this, casting a knowing smirk at the long haired specialist.

"It's not going to work." Icy said. Seeing Helia's confused look she continued. "Your trying to make use fight amongst ourselves."

The other two witches just laughed as their sister continued.

"You see, we already covered all the angles."

Without saying anything more she throw a volley of ice at the specialist. Forcing him to leap back to avoid being frozen in place. However, what he didn't realize was that he was already too close to the edge. Tittering on the edge when he landed, only being saved when Flora grabbed hold of him and pulled him away, just in time to avoid another artic blast.

"Thanks." he breathed out as he looked up, preparing for another attack. He didn't have to wait long as Stormy floated above them. Whipping his laser string, he caught hold of her right arm. Smirking as he gripped the string and braced to pull her to the ground.

However, his smirk quickly left his face as Stormy grabbed hold of the wire that was holding her and sent a bolt of electricity down it. Electrocuting the specialist indirectly with his own weapon.

Flora screamed as she caught her lover as he fell to the ground. Smoking rising from his barely living form. Tears swelled in her eyes as she feared that she would lose him forever. It was becoming more and more evident that they were not prepared for this battle and should of insisted Faragonda send others to help like last time.

On the other end of the battlefield, Bloom continued the long chant required to summon the Ultimate Power from its resting place. Though she did take in the battle before her. She had to admit that they had fought well, but the cards were stacked against them far more then the fools realized.

However, one thing stood out above all else. Stella had barely moved from her spot. Only moving to avoid an attack or avoid being hit by the attack of one of the others. Bloom smiled at this. The shadow beasts only attacked those with light in their heart and left those with darkness alone; unless directly commanded to.

The question that was eating at her now was what was it that created such darkness in the sun fairy who was normally so bright and optimistic.

Stella

She was aware of what was going on, but she didn't react to any of it. She felt like she was being torn in half. It hurt her to have to fight against Bloom, her first best friend she had ever had. She wanted to help her friends, but she was unsure right now. The past few months the guilt has been eating away at her, even though she did her best to hide it. That every time she saw Sky and Layla together, something grew inside her.

Flashback

Stella was upset. She had just discovered that her best friends boyfriend had been cheating on her with another one of her friends. She knew that once Bloom found out she would not only be hurt, but extremely angry. It didn't take the sun fairy long to find the two love birds who had snuck away from the rest of the group.

"You two are unbelievable!" she shouted, catching Sky and Layla off guard. Both of which quickly spun around to face her.

"Stella, we've been over this with the others." Sky sighed.

"Well your going over it again with me" Stella demanded, shooting Layla a glare. "How can either of you do this to Bloom?"

"It just…..happened." was all Layla could come up with.

"And I suppose it just slipped your mind" she glared at Sky "that you were still in a relationship with my best friend."

"I know it looks bad, " Sky began to defend his actions. "But I know Bloom and she will understand once we tell her."

"You think you know her?" Stella laughed. "Maybe you forgot how long it took us to get her to open up. That she was afraid to put her trust in another again only to get hurt."

"I don't want to hurt her." the blonde man replied. "We will tell her when the time is right."

"Really?" the sun fairy shot back. "and when would that be?"

After a long silence, the sun fairy shook her head in frustration.

"Your not planning on telling her are you?"

"It's not like that." Layla tried to defend.

Stella didn't want to listen to anymore as she turned on her heels and stormed off, only to be stopped by the other girls who had come across them. Fortunately or unfortunately; Bloom wasn't with them as she was visiting her family on earth.

"You can't tell her Stella." Flora said.

"Why not?" the sun fairy glared at her. "She has the right to know and I am not going to lie to my best friend."

"You don't have to lie." Tecna put in, in a logical tone. "Just don't say anything."

Stella was silent, unable to believe that all of the girls had agreed to keep Bloom in the dark about this. Though she could see that there was no real way out of it.

"Fine," she sighed, but cast a glare at them. "But mark my words, this will come back to bite everyone in the ass." She paused and looked down at the ground for a handful of seconds before she returned her gaze to the girls in front of her. "But when it comes time, I will take her side over yours."

End Flashback

She was right. It had come back to bite them in the ass. If they would of just told her the truth instead of hiding it, Bloom wouldn't of distanced herself from the group. With her not distancing herself away from the group, she wouldn't have fallen under Darkar's control again; and they wouldn't be here right now reliving the same nightmare they had finished months ago.

Right now, she just couldn't decide who she should be more angry at. Lord Darkar or the rest of the girls.

The Battle

"Sky!" Layla called out. "Try and reach out to Bloom."

He knew what she meant. He had to try and use the same tactic that worked last time. However the Trix were not going to make that easy.

"So prince charming wants to play the hero once more?" Darkar mocked as he called the witches to his side. Sky only glared up at him, not wasting the energy to argue with the dark man. "Be my guest."

Sky had a bad feeling about this. The Trix had just gotten called back to allow him to try and snap Bloom out of the spell she was under. Looking over to Bloom, he saw that she had finished summoning the Ultimate Power and now held it in her hands, marveling at it's beauty. He had to try.

"Bloom!" he called out as he made his way to the top of the alter that the fire fairy stood on. She only grinned down at him. "I know I was wrong to hurt you and I am sorry. I made a mistake. I know that words alone are not enough to make it up to you." he paused as he looked over her face. "But I love you Bloom."

"That was just touching, really" Lord Darkar mocked as the Trix laughed.

"Sky?" Bloom asked, uncertainty in her voice. He perked up as she called out his name, looking into her face. The a feral grin appeared on her face as she laughed. "Your lying. Your empty words won't work on me this time."

As she laughed she pushed him away. It was then that Lockette flew from out of nowhere, giving the fairy a kiss on the cheek to break the dark spell that held her. Bloom looked stunned as she gazed at Lockette.

"We love you Bloom!" the tiny pixie exclaimed.

Slowly, her dark form faded away. Leaving her normal self present. Darkar and the Trix looked on as cheers erupted from the bottom of the alter. However, it did not go unnoticed that the sun fairy had not joined in the celebration.

All of a sudden Bloom started laughing again as she looked at the confused expressed on the group below her. Even Lockette didn't know what to make of it. The kiss should have worked.

"My dear, sweet Lockette." Bloom grinned. "I have to be under a dark spell for the kiss to work."

Slowly, she saw the expressions change from confused to horror as the implications of what she said sunk in. The only one who didn't react was Stella, who just looked up at her best friend. Somehow she knew. The change of cloths, the new attitude, and room colors.

"And so I fulfill my promise." Stella whispered, gaining confused looks from the others. Even Darkar and the Trix were unaware of what she meant.

Slowly, she let her feet carry her towards the alter. Taking each step slowly until she reached the top. Her staff held tightly in her hand as she looked across at her best friend. The three witches began to move in to protect the young fire fairy, but Darkar motioned them to stay put. He was curious as to what would happen. Silence hung in the air as everyone waited with baited breath, wondering what would happen next.

"So you will stand by Lord Darkar and the Trix sisters as they conquer all of the magical realms?" Stella asked, looking over Blooms face.

"Yes." Bloom smirked, as she considered the sun fairy. Unsure of what she would do. "I promised that I would introduce you to my mystery man, didn't I?"

At this everyone gasped in shock. None of the Winx girls or the specialist present wanted to believe it was true.

Stella didn't react though. "I promised after we first met that I would always be by your side."

"And are you going to keep or break that promise." Bloom lifted an eyebrow. It was then that Stella smiled for the first time since they had entered the Shadowhaunt.

"Keep it." she answered.

"Stella!" Flora called out, not believing that she had just willing allied herself with Darkar.

"I already told you Flora that when it happened, I was going to take her side." Stella answered.

"But you will be serving Darkar! What about Brandon!?" Sky demanded.

At the sound of her boyfriends name, her breath hitched in her throat. She knew that he would never understand why she made this choice. Why she chose her best friend over him. Collecting herself, she merely shook her head and looked down at the others. Gripping her staff in her hands.

"I will not go back on my word." she said defiantly.

"It is time." Bloom said as she lifted up the Ultimate Power above her. At this Darkar transformed into his shadow phoenix form and flew above Bloom, as Stella and the Trix moved into position to keep the others from interfering.

As Darkar absorbed the Ultimate Power. Strings of energy left his body connecting to Bloom, the Trix, and now Stella as well. Part of the blood promise he signed was he would share the Ultimate Power with those who helped him obtain it.

With the newly embodied power. Stella and the three witches easily deflected the assault. She had to admit. The power felt good. The more power she received, the more she felt that she made the correct choice.

Soon, the Ultimate Power was gone and the remaining Winx girls and specialist lay on the ground before the alter. They had failed in stopping Darkar and Bloom. Darcy wrapped them into one large bubble as they prepared to leave the realm of Realix. Darkar placed a hand on Stellas shoulder, demanding her attention.

"I am afraid there is one more test for you to prove your loyalty to us. We can not have you second guessing your decision." he informed her as he held up a small dagger in front of her, placing the handle in her hands.

Stella already knew what he meant. She had to severe all her ties so there was no temptation in going back. She both dreaded it and accepted it. Nodding she took hold of the knife as walked along side Bloom as they made their way to the portal.

Authors Notes: Don't you hate cliff hanger endings to chapters? So I have to admit, that the part with Stella was not originally planned, however I figured it would be a nice twist for this chapter at least. But how far will she go?

Now sadly, for the bad news. The next chapter will be the last in this story. However, I decided I will be uploading a "Behind the scenes" chapter afterwards which will more or less be the over lay I used to map out each chapter.

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and as always please leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews!