Bloom's sleeping on the grass on Pyros, and in absolutely no danger of being eaten by a dragon anymore - not since she mixed her essence with that of Pyros.

She earned her Enchantix somehow, Maia says it was through force of will. Bloom privately thinks that if she could earn all the transformations there are by being stubborn, she'd have them already - she learned from the best, after all. Loki was never as open about it, but he was every bit as stubborn as Thor in his own way.

Right now, Bloom is sleeping on the ground like it's nothing - except her sleep isn't very peaceful at the moment. She's tossing around, talking in her sleep, and occasionally tears up the ground with her bare hands, until she suddenly sits straight up and screams - except a stream of fire comes out instead of just a scream that always tears her throat up. That's been happening a lot more recently lately, and it always leaves her mouth tasting like soot and sulfur - not a good taste, she always goes to the stream near her little cave and takes a few mouthfuls of water to get rid of the taste.

When the fire stops, Bloom finds she's shaking from the nightmare - another one about being trapped back in Cloudtower again. Usually, she takes off running in a random direction for a while until she's outrun her fear; she's shaking so badly at the moment that she can't even stand easily.

She can feel fire running through her veins at the moment, and tries to quiet her magic before it escapes her body and gives her away - and when she grabs a nearby tree branch to pull herself up, it snaps off the tree in her hand, and Bloom feels a sharp stab of pain from it as well.

"Oh great, now I'm feeling the plants' pain."

Then, she realizes what just happened, she's channeling Pyros again without realizing it. When she drops the branch, the spot where she was gripping it is crushed in like a giant was pinching it. It's only been a week or so since she fought the Trix and erased their memories of her being here, and ever since she's had these weird episodes of things suddenly breaking in her hands without her even meaning to. She might try to leave the safety of Pyros and go back to Alfea, then fail and pick up a rock to skip over the stream only to find she's throwing dust and a few lucky pebbles where there was a stone the size of her hand before.

She's getting better at it, learning to shut down the strength and control it - but it's every bit as hard as learning to use her powers like everyone else here does so easily. She's noticed other things as well, aside from much better senses - earthquakes happen whenever she gets really angry or scared; it'll start raining when she's sad, harder the sadder she is; the weather will be perfect when she's having a good time, etc.

Maia said there might be side-effects. This must be it, I'm connected to this planet. I should be able to leave, but…

She won't admit to herself that she's scared to death about leaving only to end up stuck in another cell - and she probably wouldn't survive it this time. She's gotten her freedom back, and she's determined to keep it - as determined as Thor was to get his throne, and as determined as Stella always is whenever she sees a piece of clothing that she simply has to have.

Whenever she looks in the stream though, she sees what being in that cell for so long did to her. She's much thinner, there's literally no fat on her at all - or muscle, for that matter, good thing her connection to Pyros makes her so strong - her hair is dull, matted, and a wild, tangled mess, and there's a haunted look in her eyes whenever she stops and takes a look at herself for more than a few moments.

So very different from the last time she looked in an actual mirror, right before the Millennium Party on Eraklyon.

She's long-forgiven Sky for that, it was Diaspro's fault he was under Valtor's spell, but she's so very different from that girl who was nervous about dancing in front of a group of people in dresses and suits. She felt ridiculous then, now she'd just not go to the party altogether. Sky would be hurt, but she can't stand the idea of wearing a dress that constricts her moving and breathing anymore - she's going to go out on a limb here and say that's because of Pyros, because she could tolerate dresses before even though she felt ridiculous and out of place in them.

But here, she's completely free to do whatever she wants - be it go for a four-hour run, go swimming down to the lake Boiling Falls feeds, or go to the volcano and Magma Hot Springs for her ideal spa day - sitting in a boiling-hot hot tub, and a sauna filled with steam - she can do it all.

Bloom sighs, then gets an idea and starts running through the forest. She climbs a tree, then starts jumping from branch to branch and doing acrobatic flips for the fun of it sometimes.

Well, one good thing about coming here, I finally got my balance. And nobody can change that.

It's true, she's finally found sure footing; her feet are always under her now. Here on Pyros, you learn fast or you get eaten, and Bloom's always been a fast learner. A few of the things to learn: distance sprinting, balance, and acrobatics; she's learned them all and mastered them. She hasn't so much as stumbled since coming here, which is likely why she survived long enough to meet Maia.

Bloom sees one of the native birds that populate Pyros - it's really a miracle they haven't all been eaten yet, but there seems to be immense amounts of them throughout the whole planet - and goes from a few more branches before smelling the sharp smell of dragon blood.

Oh no, what happened?

Bloom spots a cave nearby, and goes in - and finds a mess of eggshells all around - either some of them hatched badly, or they got eaten. Bloom's willing to bet it's the second case, and the idea horrifies her to some degree - but she can also sense something else.

There's an intact egg in the cave. She finds it lying hidden behind a large rock, and it's the color of her hair with streaks of cyan in it.

"You have to live."

AN: Hey, everybody! I know, few days between updates and all. For everyone that's been keeping up with the original story, I'm sure you recognize this scene! Part of Bloom's wild phase on Pyros, and where she's learning to control her newfound strength - nobody ever said it was easy, I know I sure didn't. Every bit as dangerous as magic, so there's just as much a need to keep it together and work on fine-tuning her control. I'd really hate to be the person who Bloom grabs while not entirely in control of her dragon-side. Anyway, enjoy! Please don't give up on either story! Promise I'm not going to abandon any stories - I actually find it really annoying, right along with massively long waits for a new chapter.