Chapter 10: It's time

It had been quiet for a long time now.

Lucus had left, almost skipping as he walked out the hallway door, leaving the girls and the Specialists to ponder the future that would ruin and destroy so many lives and end the of the girls. The only sound was a nearby dripping of water that nobody had the motivation to find where it was coming from.

Nobody moved, nobody spoke and no one could meet anyone else's eyes. The girls each stared straight ahead, contemplating all the things that they had done, all the things that they would have to do and all the things that they would never get the chance too again.

The especially thought about the guys, they had always imagined that when they were younger that they would marry them, unite kingdoms, bring them home to meet their families, one day have kids and everyday fall in love with them that little bit more. Now they would never know what could have been, because they had done something unforgivable for the chance to live only to have it snatched away and given the promise of death once more.

The guys were thinking the same things as the girls. All that could have been and would never be again. Suddenly the world seemed like a dark and lonely place with no meaning or will to carry on. What was the point if your reason for being was going to be taken from you and this time, she wouldn't be coming back?

They had already lost their girls once, and even though they had joined forces with the enemy and even though they had lied and betrayed, they could not find it in their hearts to hate them. But could they ever forgive them?

A tear escaped Stella's eye as she moved slowly toward the bar and gripped the cold iron, leaning her face in the barrier which separated her from the only man she has ever loved. For all of Stella's life she had been given everything she had ever wanted, dresses, shoes and make up. And now that she would never have Brandon to hold her again, she would give up everything she owned for just a few more hours with him.

But she couldn't and with that knowledge she found the will to say "Brandon...you need to go away from here...from me. You need to forget ever knowing me. I know that you can never forgive me and I know I have no right to ask a favour of you but I am anyway" As she said this each girl looked directly into the eyes of their loves. It was as if they were saying the exact same thing to their guy but Stella was the only one talking "I want...no...I need you to hate me. Hate me with every fibre of your being and when the time comes for me to die, it will make it that much easier for you to forget me. Just...hate me"

Stella was crying now, sobbing with each word. It hurt so much to have to say this to the one you love but they had to make sure that whatever happened in the future would hurt them less if they could help it.

Although Brandon and the guys weren't listening. They had something else in mind, they would save them.

"No" Brandon said, the seriousness in his voice that shocked Stella, making her take a step away from the bars.

"What?"

Brandon stepped up close to the bars and looked directly into her eyes "No, I won't hate you. I'll save you instead" The guys around him seemed to agree and nodded with him.

Dread filled each girl. He can't be serious! No! I won't take him down with me!

Flora shot up to the bars "No Helia! No, I won't let you! You'll get in trouble, you've worked so hard to make it this far, you don't have to throw your lot in with me. Because if you do there's no going back! And I won't let you do that for me. I may have chosen to be evil but I never wanted that for you!" the urgency in her voice almost matched the one in Brandon's. Flora was never one for shouting but this time she screamed with her heart and soul.

Riven took and step forward and stared at Musa with an intensity that she had only seem in him when he was serious about something that he would die for it. And it happen to scare the crap out of her that not only was she going to die, she might be taking Riven with her.

"We will save you" The final tone in his voice stunned everyone so much that the girls almost accepted it. Almost.

The guys stalked out of the room with determination in their step. Musa sprung from the spot and yelled into the empty air where they had just stood.

"No!"

She was only met with silence in the empty side of the room. She spun back around the face the worried looks of her friends.

"I'm not letting him do this for us"

"We have to find a way to escape ourselves before the guys break us out, it's the only way to save them" Techna said as she automatically started thinking of an escape plan.

"We'll never find a way to escape, these security cells are tough bastards to break out of" Stella said as she eyed the wall in thought.

Techna turned to the girls with a dangerous glint in her eyes "We don't have to find a way out. Because someone is going to let us out themselves"

Layla looked at her in surprise like the rest of them "Who would let us out?"

Techna paused for a moment, smiling "Bloom is going to get us out"

"Bloom?" The four girls said at the same time. Shock and disbelief laced thickly in their voices.

"How is Bloom going to let us out? She's in a coma and we can't wake her up because we don't have the spell, let alone magic" Musa said, trying not to get her hopes up.

Techna smiled wider as she reached into her pocket and withdrew a slightly familiar piece of paper.

Stella gasped "It's the spell to wake up Bloom! How did you get that?" gesturing to the paper in disbelief.

Techna laughed "Before we were ambushed in the restricted section I tore it out and put it in my pocket, for a security cell I was surprised they didn't search us. My guess is because they heard we didn't have powers"

"But how do we cast it? We have no magic" Flora asked, disheartened by the realization.

Techna was undeterred "But Flora and layla didn't get sick right away when they tried to do magic, it was about thirty seconds after they tried to transform. Bloom thought that our magic was being repelled by our bracelets and I think that was true. And although we can't take them off that doesn't mean we can't use some magic. Remember Bloom getting angry and telling us that it felt like she was drowning in power? Maybe we could tap into that enough to get the spell to work"

The girls thought over this quickly "It's worth a shot" Layla said as she addresses Techna "So what do we have to do?"

Techna quickly scanned the page and spoke "We need to stand in a circle and hold hands, the more people we have the stronger the spell and then we have to chant in this dark language. Good magic requires saying stuff in English that rhymes but in evil spells you have to say all the stuff backwards, simple good-evil magic kind of logic"

The girls quickly stood where Techna said to stand, they each joined hands and took a deep breath.

"It would be best if we were angry when saying the spell, so as to lock in more power" each girl nodded and thought of things that made them furious. Usually they would think of people they dislike or things that made them feel bad in the past but this time they needed a huge surge of angry, so they thought about all the bad things they had done, how angry the choice to join Valtor had made them in hurting so many, how angry hurting the ones they loved made them.

"Chant now" Techna said looking a little flushed from trying to hold onto her anger.

The girls chanted the spell that they had hastily learned a few minutes ago. Letting their anger fill them and put their heart and soul in chanting.

This spell was their only hope.

...

Bloom shot up in bed, gasping for breath and clutching the sheets around her as if her life depended on it. Sweat formed on her forehead as her stomach did sickening flips and backward rolls and her head spun.

She felt like she had crashed through a roof or something.

While trying to catch her breath she looked around the room, she found herself in a hospital room, looking outside she could see the parking lot of Alfea, relief flooded her as she realized she was safe.

Icy cold realization of her situation hit her like a ton of bricks, memories of Icy and the cave flooded back to her.

Oh god my parents! How can they be dead? Icy, Icy did this! I'll make her pay!

Bloom took a deep breath; she didn't need to set fire to anything right now, not here. Revenge of icy would have to wait, right now she needed to get back to her friends and warn them about everything.

Bloom flipped off the sheets and tried to stand, her legs weren't cooperating with her at the moment, confusion made her head spin and she had to grip the iron bed post for support. After a moment she pulled the cords from her arms and nose and made her way to the door on wobbly legs and turned the handle. Locked.

Tension went through her body like flipping a switch. What reason would they have for locking her in her own hospital room? They knew something. They couldn't let her leave because something was terribly wrong. The girls! She needed to find the girls!

Bloom stumbled over to the window and tried to pry it open but it was sealed shut. She beat her fist against the glass in aggravation and also to see if it would break, nothing, not even a crack.

"Damn it!"

Bloom's breath was starting to become panicked. She needed to calm down, she stood in the middle of the room, her vision was beginning to blur.

My Parents are dead!

Why am I locked in here?!

Where are my friends?!

Somebody help me!

Her knee's hit the ground as she clutched her head in pain. Tears stung her eyes and empty sobs broke out of her in harsh stabs.

"Please...please make it stop" she whispered to no one as a tear rolled down her cheek.

A slight creaking of the door opening filled her sensitive ears and her head shot up to stare wide eyed at Sky.

Sky stood looking down on the desperate and crying girl on the floor. A string of pain entered his system as he remembered how much he loved her and how much it hurt him to know all that she had done. She met his stare with questioning eyes.

"Sky...why am I here?" she whispered through heaving breaths.

Sky sighed and came into the room, shutting the door behind him "We know, Bloom"

Those two simple words did not have to be elaborated; Bloom knew instantly what he was talking about. She felt dread come into her body and shame filled her mind. She didn't know if she should be sorry for killing all those people because she wasn't but she was sorry for hurting him.

Sky looked at her warily for a moment "Why were you crying?"

She hadn't expected him to ask, she didn't know if she should tell him or not "I-I was kidnapped...by Icy. She told me that" A sob later "that my parents...were d-dead" She said the last word with another sob, she clutched her stomach and leaned her head into the floor, cuddled into a protective ball so she could keep the hurt away.

Sky while hurt by all that Bloom had done, hurt even more to see the once strong and powerful girl he loved in so much pain. After a pained sigh he walked over to her and picked her up into his arms and carried her over to the hospital bed, placing her sitting up and sat next to her.

"I'm sorry, no matter what you've done; nobody should have their parents taken from them"

Bloom shook her head slowly as she stared at the floor, eyes still spilling tears "Where are my friends?"

Sky hesitated before answering "In jail, downstairs" cautiously watching Bloom's reaction.

She gasped in shock and looked around helplessly "Oh my god"

Sky stood in front of her and gripped her shoulders "Bloom you have to tell us where Valtor is"

Bloom was startled at hearing Sky talk about Valtor, staring blankly "Please let me help you" He whispered to her, tightening his grip before releasing her, taking a step back and running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Bloom their going to execute you!" Bloom didn't show any reaction to this, she was numb.

"Bloom I...I can't watch you die, please just trust me"

Bloom watched him for a moment in silence; she had started to feel very calm all of a sudden "How did you find out?"

"There was a letter telling us that you were...evil and then we followed the girls while they looked for a spell in a book of dark magic to wake you up, they were then arrested"

Bloom closed her eyes briefly. It's my fault they found out. She opens her eyes "Sky...why are you here? Anybody else could have asked me where Valtor is...so why is it you?"

Sky didn't break eye contract, he didn't even blink. He walked back over to her and sat next to her. The room was dark and the sun was setting outside the window, it seemed so peaceful for such bad things to be happening. After a long pause with each person staring at the floor Sky placed his hand over Bloom's.

Bloom looked down at their intertwined hands in surprise; she never expected that they would ever hold hands, especially since Diaspro came into the mix. She looked over at him with wide eyes; he was looking back at her with wonder and love, mixed with sadness in his eyes.

"Why am I here? Because this is maybe the last chance I'll ever get to tell...how much I love you"

A tear escaped Bloom's eye as she stared at him in shock. Why? Why does he have to love me? Me...The killer.

Another sob shook her and in a quick moment Bloom buried herself in Sky's arms. They held each other tightly, never wanting to let go. They stayed like that for a long time.

"I can't tell you where Valtor is because I don't know. Please believe that I'm telling you the truth" Bloom whispered into his shoulder after a moment.

Sky sighed and for a moment he held he even tighter before saying in an urgent voice "Please escape from here"

Bloom pulled her face back to look at his in confusion "What?"

Sky took hold of her hands "You need to get out of here before anyone finds you. Just stay away until we can clear your name, me and the guys are working on it"

Bloom shook her head slightly in astonishment. Well...if I'm going to die or I'm going to run, might as well get all I can out of it. Bloom leaned forward and slowly placed her lips on his. This kiss was like their first one, sad and pleading but full of love.

After they parted they rested their foreheads together for a long time, treasuring the possibly last moment they would have with each other.

"Bloom" He whispered her name softly and before she had a chance to say anything he had stood up and walked to the door, without looking back he walked through it. The only thing was that, in a very obvious manner...he left the door wide open.

Bloom had to smile at this as she stared at her escape. One day, if I ever get the chance I'll tell him I love him too. With that Bloom stood up and walked out the door.

...

Valtor stood at the broken window of his old mansion, overlooking the sea of rocks and sharp branches, this was his home and to his home he had exiled himself.

For the last month he had dwelled here, planning and waiting for his time to strike and now his time had come.

He turned from the depressing scenery and walked over to the huge stone bowl that sat in the middle of the dark room, illuminating red light from the flames it sat on.

He stood in front of it, looking briefly into its base where black liquid swirled, ready to be used for his will. Valtor reached onto his pocket and pulled out six very small keys, intertwined into each key was a strand of each of the Winx girl's hair. He dropped them into the black water and watched as the liquid started to bubble and raise smoke.

"It's time to play"

...

Burning!

My wrist is burning!

Bloom had just stepped out of her hospital room when a deep burning had begun to ache in her wrist. She clutched at it and looked to see her silver Bracelet turning black.

Bloom whimpered with the increasing pain the bracelet was inflicting. She wanted to tear it off and throw it away but she couldn't find the strength to get her hand to do as she asked.

What's happening?!

Bloom stumbled away from the door and leaned against the wall, for a moment she glanced out the hospital window and saw the deep red light of the sun setting, it looked evil and vicious. The pain spreading throughout her body made her head weaken and hit the floor as she crouched into a ball.

Help me...please!

...

The five Winx girls were all in serious pain on the cell floor, their bracelets were searing them and they could not think of how to stop the pain.

All at once the pain in their wrists doubled, then tripled and the girls let out blood curling screams, guards from outside the hallway made their way in just as each girl stopped screaming and began to feel different.

In a short few seconds the girl's pain started to fade away to a new feeling. They felt colder, meaner...better. They felt stronger than they ever had in their lives; the power that flowed through them was wonderful and thrilling.

The guards watched them as they all looked up at them. Their appearances had changed, they looked...evil.

An idea popped into Stella's head and she held out her hand and with a quick strike, white hot light shot out of her hand and blew the bars of the cell right off. The guards flew backward and hit the wall, falling to the ground in a heap.

Stella smiled from her place on the floor. This new power...she liked it.

The girls all stood up and faced each other. It was true they did look evil; their eyes were darker, shaded with black around the edges and veins coming out the bottom of the eyes. The skin pale and lips dark red. They felt powerful and ready to use it.

A swirl of black smoke appeared in front of them and out of it came Valtor beside Bloom. She looked just like the others did, she walked over to help the girls up and stood with them and waited for Valtor to speak.

He smiled at them for a long moment and said in a evil/happy tone "I have a job for you girls, I want you to steal that dark book of incantations back for me"

The girls looked at one another and smiled "Done" Bloom said, making Valtor smile wider.

"Good now go have some fun"