Hello again, Butterflies! Wow! I am just in pure shock at how quickly ten chapters have passed! I feel like I just finished Chapter 1! As a quick recap, Ms. Faragonda died, and the funeral was the first chapter. Bloom struggles to adjust to her new role as the headmistress, and she struggles to keep herself pulled together. Daphne comes for an extended visit, and she eventually finds out she is pregnant after years of failing to conceive. Somewhere in this mess of Bloom's life, a freshman fairy, North, who is the Fairy of Winds, starts to tell Bloom about all of these issues in her life, but fails to considers Bloom's needs. Then Bloom starts pushing for an investigation of Ms. Faragonda's death, leading to Bloom's suspicion of Ryan (Ms. Faragonda's lover and the father of Claudia- Ms. Faragonda's daughter and the newest Nymph of Magix). Bloom gets married after winter break starts. Talk about drama!
Disclaimer: Winx Club belongs to Iginio Straffi, Rainbow Fiction, and RAI.
The doctor applies the tool covered in cold gel to Daphne's swollen abdomen. Daphne initially jumps a little, but as the doctor continues to move the tool, she grows used to the feeling. Bloom wonders what her older sister is thinking.
It takes a few minutes, but soon the image is up on the monitor. The image is black and white, and Bloom struggles to make sense of the image. To her, it looks like a bunch of black and white dots clustered together. The doctor glances up to check something, sees the monitor, and motions to the nurse to turn the monitor around so that it faces away from Daphne and Bloom. Then the doctor puts the tool down and starts pressing down in various places on Daphne's abdomen. A worried look crosses the doctor's face. The doctor motions for the nurse to step into the hallway. The two step out and are gone for a while. When they come back, both have empathetic faces.
"Uh, Your Majesty, I . . . uh . . . I'm sorry." Bloom watches the doctor as she tries her best to keep a strong face despite the news. Bloom wonders how the doctor does it, telling women news that begins like that. She knows for a fact that she could never be able to handle that kind of job.
"What for?" Daphne asks, masking the confusion and concern she obviously feels.
"There doesn't appear to be a fetus, anywhere." The news strikes Daphne like a ton of bricks.
"Excuse me, but I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say there is no fetus?" The doctor nods. "Please, tell me you're joking." Daphne's voice cracks, as does her heart. Bloom swears she hears the dull crack of her sister's heart; her own heart cracks upon this sound.
"Your Majesty, I really am sorry. It appears that your pregnancy is false." Tears rolls down Daphne's face, and Bloom wipes them away. Daphne asks how, and the doctor explains that Daphne's will and longing to conceive caused her body to adopt the symptoms of a pregnancy without there actually being a fetus. Coincidentally, though, the appearance of the false pregnancy coincided with the last time Daphne and Thoren had slept together. "If you want, Your Majesty, there are medical ways to aid conception; you and His Majesty meet the requirements." Daphne shakes her head. The motion flings a couple tears off Daphne's face, and they land on her shirt.
"We've already tried medical intervention." Daphne sighs mournfully. "I guess that kids just aren't a possibility for us." Daphne turns her head to look at her sister. "It looks like the heir will be one of your own." A tinge of bitterness in Daphne's voice strikes Bloom sharply. Poor Daphne. Now I really need to give her an heir.
"Sis, what if I carried children for you or gave you to raise the next Keeper of the Dragon Flame?" Daphne's shattered smiles repairs itself momentarily at Bloom's words. The doctor, Daphne, and Bloom talk about the possibility of Bloom becoming Daphne's surrogate. They make a decision, and the two sisters leave the heartbreaking appointment with some joy but mostly anxiety. They worry about the future of their kingdom and their own futures. What would Mom and Dad say to us now?
"Thank you, sis."
A few weeks later, Bloom wakes up in her bed, noticing that her heart no longer aches as much as it once did. Yes, the pain from her life is still there, and, yes, it still hurts, but it seems to have been numbed for a while. Then she glances at her clock; her heart stops. She has ten minutes before she needs to be at the door to the dining hall. Quickly, Bloom uses a spell to get herself dressed for the day while she brushes her teeth. She slides in sideways at the door to the dining hall meer seconds before the first students arrive. Before too long, the last of the students has entered the dining hall, and Bloom's heart grows lighter as she realizes that North did not come in. Quickly, Bloom scolds herself for thinking that and hurries up to the teachers' table. She welcomes the students to breakfast and says that she hopes that their first week back was not too difficult. A few of the students grumble, but most laugh and nod. Bloom smiles, and a true feeling of joy fills her for the first time since Ms. Faragonda died. But just as soon as Bloom realizes this, her bones grow heavy and pull her spirit down with them. It has been nearly a month since the day she found Ms. Faragonda lying dead on her desk. The memory forces chills to crawl down each individual vertebrae of Bloom's spine. Another memory leaps into Bloom's mind. It is the video she saw in the security office the day when Tecna and her team came to look further into Ms. Faragonda's death. The very thought of the video gives Bloom a sharp stab of suffering. The video played out like this:
Ms. Faragonda was signing documents and checking her email as usual. The window was open, and a breeze was blowing the curtains by the window. The sun was sending warm ways into the office, and filling the entire office with a sense of tranquility. Music was playing in the office, giving it life. Then in a flash, gray clouds rolled in, blocking out the sun. Cold winds started howling and whipping the curtains. Ms. Faragonda rose from her desk to close the window. Snow swirled around outside, hitting her in the face as she tried to close the window. The music went dead, despite the fact that Ms. Faragonda never touched the player. Something startled Ms. Faragonda, for she spun around quickly to face the origin of her fear. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. She ran to the person, whose back was to the camera and who was concealed by a coat and hat. They embraced, but then Ms. Faragonda made a strange face before going limp. The person took Ms. Faragonda over to her desk, where she rested her head. The person whispered something in her ear before helping Ms. Faragonda close her eyes. After that and a quick peck on Ms. Faragonda's neck, the person left, never showing xe's face to the camera. About fifteen minutes later, Bloom came into the room, saw Ms. Faragonda, and called for help.
"Bloom, are you alright?" Griselda asks worriedly after noticing Bloom has not uttered a single sound since her announcement half an hour ago. Everyone else has gone on to their classes by now, so only Bloom and Griselda remain in the vast dining hall.
"Oh . . . yes, Griselda, I'm fine. Thank you." But something tells Griselda otherwise. Bloom senses this and quickly excuses herself back to her office. There, Bloom does the usual signing documents, responding to emails, planning her next few classes, and of course waiting for a call from Tecna regarding whether or not there will be an investigation. For the entire morning, Bloom hears nothing from Tecna, but that afternoon, the phone rings. It is Tecna, and she and her team have reached a conclusion regarding whether or not they will investigate Ms. Faragonda's death. Those butterflies that choked Bloom on her wedding day return. This is the moment she has been waiting for since Ms. Faragonda died. This is the moment she learns that there will be a homicide investigation of Ms. Faragonda's death. This is when she starts her path towards closure and healing.
"Headmistress Bloom, I regret-" Bloom's heart drops down the the center of Magix and out the other side; her dreams are dashed, "- to inform you that there will not be an investigation into the death of the late Headmistress Faragonda. Have a nice a day, Headmistress." Bloom's already fallen heart shatters into a mole of pieces. But- but why? Everything was there. Tears stream down Bloom's worn face. This has not been a good year for her at all. Is this kind of life really worth living? What good am I to anyone? Bloom glances out her office window. She is pretty high up. All it would take is-
"NO!" Bloom yells to herself. "I won't do that! Not to anyone else!" Bloom lowers her voice as she fights against herself. "How could I do that to anyone else?"
Just then the door opens with a loud bang. Bloom dries her eyes and looks up to meet the furious glare of the person at the door. Pangs of pain jab at Bloom when she meets her visitor's eyes. So much pain. How can there be so much pain in one person's eyes? The person huffs and heaves loudly, as if xe is struggling to breathe through xe's fury. Next, xe approaches the desk and slams xe's fists down on the golden desk. Surprisingly to the person, the vibrations do not faze the headmistress. Calmly Bloom greets the person with,"I see. You've finally come, dear friend."
Dun, dun, dun! Who do you all think the visitor is? Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I promise to have the next chapter up as soon as I can. However, that might be for a while because I need sometime to work some things out in my personal life. I hope you all understand, and in the meantime, why not check out some of my other stories? You can find links for them on my profile. Anyhow, thank you all so much for reading, and I love you all so much. Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!