Chapter Thirteen: The Constant Thought of Valtor

This time when Bloom stepped into the luxury apartment of Musa's she didn't hesitate to barge right in a yell "Musa! We do not throw pianos out of twenty story building windows!"

Bloom searched the main lounge room while Stella and EB strolled into the kitchen, she saw her impish friend sitting at a grand piano in the corner, playing away silently until she spoke "Hello Bloom, come right in. Just so you know I didn't throw a piano out the window...it was a keyboard" She clicked her fingers and pointed to the instrument in front of her "This is a piano"

Bloom grumbled and walked up to her, she could hear Stella wander around the kitchen "Whatever, you caused a massive public display. Somebody could have been hurt"

Musa didn't look up at her but continued to play, she was dressed in a black dress with black tights, her hair was parted and put into braids around the sides and her fringe pinned up into a blob on her head to give her a striking Viking hair do. She too wore no makeup "This is a really bad time for me Bloom, could you come back when you're being less annoying and judgmental?"

Bloom had to close her eyes and breath through her nose to keep from yelling again, she spoke through gritted teeth "Flora is driving me crazy with all her hope talk, Techna hasn't left Alfea since we last saw her, Layla has been pretending that it was just a little accident and Stella's wearing sweat pants!" Bloom waited for a reaction but got none "Muse, I need you on this one! What do you think is gonna happen when Flora loses hope? She's going to have a massive breakdown and it'll be so much worse because she's the one that believes they're going to come home the most" Still no reaction "Techna is your friend! She needs us! What could be more important than your friends?"

Musa stopped playing abruptly and the silence was deafening, she slowly turned to Bloom and said in a strained voice filled with rage "He promised he'd come back"

Bloom immediately softened, she waited for tears but then she remembers Musa didn't cry very much, she always channelled her sadness in anger. She knew comfort wasn't what the girl needed, she needed to be ordered to keep going, Bloom needed to be tough with her. It was the way Musa and Riven's relationship worked, they were tough with one another when it counted and that's how they survived but he was gone now and Musa suddenly didn't have anyone to lean on. Taking a deep breath Bloom forced her voice to be hard "Musa, you're not doing any good just sitting here! You're moping! You always said that we should fight for the things we want but look at you! You're being the victim and it just isn't you, you need to fight back!"

Musa looked up at her now with a vulnerable face, like a war raged within her mind and she was in the middle of decided to die battling it out or just fall to her knees in defeat. Bloom wasn't let down, the girl pushed away from the piano and yelled "I'm gonna kill him!"

Bloom took a step back, she was astounded by the happy conviction in Musa's voice, like she'd just discovered a great idea "Whoa, umm what?" Bloom feared she might have unleashed something terrible...

Musa smiled and picked up a nearby candle stick and held it high "I'm gonna hunt down my boyfriend and kill him for breaking his promise!"

Shit...Bloom stared at her with her mouth open "Wait, really?" Musa nodded and Bloom continued hurriedly "But you don't need to kill him, he hasn't actually broken his promise yet!" She scrambled for a good reason "Umm, he's away...but that doesn't mean he's not gonna come back. He hasn't decided to stay away, he's just been delayed?"

Another war raged in Musa's expression and Bloom was beginning to think that all her friends had gone cookoo again, and crazy always leads to evil. Finally Musa dropped the candle stick and smiled lazily, shoving her hands in her pockets "Okay you win. Let's go see Tec"

At that moment Stella skidded into the room in a panic, she directed her eyes on Bloom "You have to come see this!"

Musa's eyes widened and she laughed "Holy crap, are those trackey pants?"

Bloom ignored her and asked on edge "What is it?" Stella looked weirded out, a certain special look that only being around..."Oh gods, what did she do?" Bloom stalked from the lounge room to the kitchen and found, to her disgust, that an entire wall had been written on in tomato sauce. The letters spelled out: Had to go, big emergency. Don't do anything hilarious until I get back. Sincerely The evil one.

Bloom didn't even have the energy to sigh or moan; she just stared at the letters and mumbled "Why'd she have to use tomato sauce, why could she just write me a note of paper?"

"What the hell did that creepy apparition do to my wall?!"

...

Bloom didn't know why evil Bloom had left so abruptly, it weighed on her mind all the way until she got to Alfea, upon walking up the steps where students were scrambled she almost walked right by her other self who waited at the top of the steps "Whoa!" Bloom skidded to a halt while Stella and Musa looked back at her curiously. Bloom waved at them "I'll be right up, you go on ahead"

When they walked away Bloom turned and marched quickly back down the steps and around the building until she came to a hidden crevice under a tree, she turned to EB and whispered "Where were you? Why'd you disappear so fast?"

Evil Bloom for once looked determined but in a good way "I was summoned by a celestial being from the other side!" Bloom raised a curious eyebrow at this but didn't comment, EB lost the expression and smiled "Daphne called me"

"What?! Daphne! Is she okay?" Bloom demanded quickly, gripping the girl's shoulders and shaking her. Bloom didn't see her dead sister all that often, and when she did it was usual when something bad was about to happen, so this little meeting filled Bloom with fear and dread "What'd she say? What's coming to kill us?"

"Okay first, get off of me!" EB shook her off and patted down her sleeves to get rid of the creases "Secondly, nothing bad is happening so calm your farm" Swinging her hair over her shoulder she smiled "She just called me to set up a little meeting with you, she says she couldn't get a hold of you while you were sleep, some kind of block"

The nightmares...Bloom thought immediately, it made sense. Whenever Daphne wanted to talk to her she'd do it via dreams but Bloom had been having nothing but terrible skin burning nightmares for weeks "When?"

Evil Bloom grabbed Bloom suddenly yelled "Right now!"

Bloom felt her soul leave her body and her spirit fall through the floor, like on a rollercoaster she closed her eyes and tried not to scream. When the sensation stopped she opened them again and found herself in the same spot as she had been, except everything was tinted in a greyness, all was silent and there was no people around. Bloom shrugged off her other self, eager to see her sister, walking around the bend she spotted her easily enough. Daphne was bathed in sunlight and had a wildly flowing dress and mask, she held out her arms with a smile. That smile almost broke Bloom, she suddenly remembered all the bad things that were happening and how she'd lost her husband, again. She felt the need to cry and squashed it as she fell into her sisters arms "Oh Daphne!"

Daphne stroked her hair and replied soothingly "My dear sister. Oh Bloom; I'm so sorry about Sky"

Bloom sniffled "He's not dead, he can't be"

Daphne nodded "I know, we mustn't give up the fight. But Bloom..." She pulled away to look at her sister "I must tell you something"

Bloom smiled through tears and rolled her eyes "Let me guess, evil is coming. You have a great journey ahead of you, the world depends on it, you must save magic and believe in yourself?"

Bloom heard EB snicker behind her as Daphne eyed her sympathetically "If I could spare you all that I would, in a heartbeat. But you are chosen Bloom, you and your friends"

Bloom breathed in a groan "Oh don't I know it?"

Daphne shook her head in helplessness "Bloom please. You must snap out of this despair you've found yourself in, too many lives depend on you having a clear head. Focus my sister!"

Bloom closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind, but it was fogged with images of Sky, happy days they'd spent together, the last moments they'd held each other "I just miss him so much"

Daphne rest a hand on her cheek "You need not miss him if you find him yourself"

"How would I do that? I don't know where he is!"

"Neither do I. But I might have a way of...perhaps...getting him back in a sense" the girls words were mysterious and Bloom immediately found herself standing taller "I might have a way, not of bringing them back, but of sending you to them"

Bloom felt a weight lift off her shoulders and she wanted to scream and cry and laugh "Oh-oh my god! Daphne! You're amazing!" Bloom screamed and hugged her sister close "How, tell me how?!"

Daphne spoke carefully "Bloom, do you know of a place called 'Crystal Falls'?"

The name rung true and Bloom gasped with comprehension "Yes, I've been there. It's on Linphea and it's a beautiful waterfall, if you stand on the top and look down, it's like you're looking down on thousands of crystals"

Daphne smiled at her sweetly "But do you remember the legend behind the waterfall?"

Bloom thought furiously but couldn't think of it, EB stepped up beside her and spoke smugly "Well at least someone was listening to the guide at the waterfall! The legend is if you jump into the water from the top you get transported from one place to another, like a portal. But I thought there wasn't any magic left? Wouldn't it be pointless to try?" This she directed at Daphne.

"It's true, there is no magic left. But there is certain things that could come close, say an essence of magic, something that not even a rip in the sky could suck away because it's too tightly bound to its host"

Both Blooms' stared at her, not getting what she was saying. Daphne gave up being cryptic and said "It's you EB! You're an essence of magic; you're a spirit that is one half of Bloom, tightly bound to her that not even the rip could pull you away. How do you think you can levitate, walk through walls or blink across creation in a second?"

"Because I'm awesome" EB replied with a sly smile.

Bloom was more focussed "So what you're saying is...if we use EB as our essence of magic...then we can open the portal to wherever the guys are and go and get them?"

"Essentially yes"

"Whoa wait just a sec!" EB exclaimed suddenly "Use me? What would that mean, exactly?" Bloom was so excited at the prospect of seeing Sky again she didn't give it a second thought, but now the idea did seem kind of worrying.

Daphne held up a comforting hand "It's alright; no harm will come to you, so long as no harm comes to my sister. All you'll need to do is just jump into the waterfall and that should open the portal for the girls to follow you in"

EB smiled evilly "So that means I'm going with them"

For once Daphne looked slightly nervous "Yes...you're going with them" Her and Bloom shared a tense look before Bloom smiled again and hugged herself "Daphne I can't say how much this means to me...If this works, I can have Sky back"

EB twisted on the spot happily "Yeah but it still doesn't solve the whole magic problem"

Bloom waved a hand at her "That doesn't matter, the world can adapt. All that matters is that we're getting them back!"

...

Bloom burst through the doors of the control room where her friends were convening, they all jumped at her arrival and were even more mystified at the huge smile on her face "Good morning everybody!" She yelled happily.

The five girls watched as she skipped into the room and sat down on a chair and smiled up at them, Stella stood leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, a sour look on her face "Bloom, I kinda want to punch you right now"

"Why are you so happy?"Layla asked looking curious.

Bloom jumped up from the chair and yelled "Because I know how we can find the guys!"

The girls gasped in shock, all except Techna who kept typing away while totally focused on the screen in front of her, three seconds later she turned to Bloom and gasped. Bloom proceeded to tell the girls about her plan and what Daphne had said; they were a little confused with the whole magical essence thing but brushed it off. The girls were all so excited that they could go save the guys that exact moment that they all rushed from the room and ran straight toward the front doors of Alfea, intent to go right that second. But they came to a screeching halt when they met Miss F who was standing at the door; she took one look at their faces before asking "What are you girls up too?"

"We're gonna go save our men!" Stella replied with a wide smile, bouncing in her sneakers that she'd pulled on before leaving.

Miss F raised an eyebrow at this "Really? How?" Bloom rushed through the explanation quickly and by the end Miss F looked alarmed "And you're just going to run off right now and disappear? Again?"

The girls veered back, and got blank looks on their faces, they hadn't thought about telling anyone where they were going. Miss F sighed heavily and crossed her arms "You didn't think it through did you? Girls this isn't the old days where you can just rush off, you have responsibilities! What would it do to your parents if you vanished off the face of the earth again? And you Stella, Bloom and Layla, you three are princesses! Bloom, you're practically days away from becoming a queen! And you want to go risk your life without telling anyone, you girls should be ashamed!"

By the end of the lecture the girls all had their heads bowed and ashamed looks on their faces, Miss F softened and waved them outside "Come on girls, we're going to do this right"

The girls followed the woman down the steps and into the ship docking area at the side of the school, most ships were dead and couldn't fly without magic so Miss F headed toward one of their only electric ships. Techna asked as she walked "Where are we going?"

Miss F pressed the button on the side of the ship and the back hatch opened up with a creak "We're going to headquarters where you girls are going to call your parents, submit a real application and make a public announcement. There's a process for things like this"

Stella moaned as she boarded the ship "Paper work? Why can't we just go now?"

Miss F turned to her and ran an eye over her apparel "Stella dear you're wearing sweat pants and sneakers, do you think you're ready to travel to another dimension without knowing what's on the other side?"

Stella was silent after that, blushing the whole way to HQ.

...

To say the least, people were happy the girls had found a way to get the guys home. But they did have a problem with sending the girls on the mission instead of trained employees of HQ, that's when Miss F stepped up as a council member and gave the whole room a firm scolding. Reminding everybody of the girls impressive past and ability to get things done, apparently people thought the girls were useless without their powers but once Musa stepped up and broke a wooden desk in half with her fists they took on a different opinion. One person who was astoundingly supportive was Lucus, as soon as the news was replayed he went into authority mode, ordering paperwork be brought before the girls and tests set up. The girls were overly suspicious of this but as long as they were getting what they wanted they didn't complain. So when the news was out it was time to start the hideously long process of actually getting to go on the mission itself.

It started with the girls having to call their loved ones and tell them the situation, of course the parents were against the whole thing, arguing 'I won't lose you too!' but the girls were determined and answered 'I'm an adult now, you can't stop me' So put an end to that pretty darn quick. When Bloom called the Kind and Queen of Eraklyon she wasn't sure what to expect, she left them a message and hung up the phone, hoping they wouldn't call back and yell at her. Next there was a medical and physical exam, alternating between dimensions was a hassle on the body and now that they were without powers it was going to be all the worse. Next they had to go through a two hour meeting with a counsellor, a lawyer, a doctor and a council member of HQ to sign endless documents concerning risk assessments, if they got injured on the job, if they died. It was stressful for the royalty in the room because they had to decided who the throne would pass to if they did die, it was a usual thing for Stella and Layla, they'd been through these types of documents a hundred times before. Bloom paused as she stared at the document, unsure of whom she was supposed to name, so without any ideas she put down Sky's parents.

With all legal stuff out of the way it came time to tell the world and suit up. It amazed each girl how quickly HQ could hold a press conference at a moment's notice, the girls all got into uniform (A dark navy blue body suit with black belts, boots and gloves. The material was a hard flexible chain like suit, easily fitted and the girls could bounce off the walls and not feel a thing) and were finally sitting in a room in mid afternoon getting ready to depart. Stella had just entered the room while hanging up her phone, she moaned and said "Oh, every time I go away my mother starts to actually act like a mother, gets all clinging and stuff" She shudders "It's weird"

Flora was sitting at the table with her chin on her clasped hands when she smiled "It shows that she loves you" Stella just shook her head and shuddered again. At that moment a man in a suit entered the room, they'd seen him around the HQ but never really spoke to him, he sat at one of the chairs and placed a box on the table. The girls gathered around as he explained "With the loss of magic you'll be without powers, you'll need a few things to protect yourself as well as stay in contact"

Layla chuckled at him "Dude, we were badass assassins, we don't need spy gadgets"

He gave her a hard look "Nevertheless, it's a condition of us sending you and not one of our experienced soldiers"

Layla rolled her eyes as Techna started to riffle through the box "Don't be too hard on them girls; there's actually some pretty good stuff in here. Night vision goggles, cliff climbing gear..." She pulls out a black box the size of her palm "And even decent communication devices"

Musa looked offended "Walkie talkies? Seriously? What are we, twelve year old boys?"

Bloom smiled and tried not to laugh as the guy went red with anger, Bloom looked down at the stuff "You know, we're gonna need weapons"

The man straightened his tie "We'll provide you with some soon enough"

Bloom shook her head "No, not weapons for you" She turned to her friends "I think we'll need something a little more personal" The girls caught on quick and smiled back at her, Bloom turned back to the guy who looked nervous "We'll be needing a car"

...

"We should have burned this place to the ground when we had the chance" Stella mumbled with her face pressed up against the glass of the car. It was her first ride in an actual tire-to-the-road car, not hover car, and funnily enough she was immensely car sick. Stella moaned into the glass as the girls pulled up at their old house, a grey house made of wood and glass, tall Greek statues standing in the front yard where the garden had grown out wildly across the lawn. (Fun fact: Same house from my one-shot story of when the girls worked for V. Name Side of Darkness) Bloom looked at the house with a strong sense of familiarity and at the same time a feeling of unknown, this was the house they'd lived in before their trip back to Alfea after the two years as Valtor's assassins. They'd lived in this house as their evil selves, travelling the world and committing unspeakable acts in Valtor's name, a truly dark period of their lives. They all looked up at it with dread, except for one person who was practically bouncing in her seat.

"Oh my god, I'm home!" Evil Bloom yelled with glee, clapping her hands and stamping her feet "Oh I haven't felt this good in years! A blast from the past, eh Bloom? Come on, let's go inside!"

The girls piled out of the car and trudged up the lawn, taking in the surroundings, they never had any neighbours in this house and it was a good thing too. So many times they remembered stumbling up to this house covered in other people's blood, carting their deadly weapons and complaining about how hungry they were after their missions. Not in the least bit remorseful. Walking up the stairs Layla tried the door and found it locked "Crap, does anyone know where we kept the spare key?"

Tech stepped forward "Oh umm, right here" She reached up over the door frame where a small gargoyle sat and took a small silver key from its open jaws; Musa snatched the key from her quickly.

"Let's just get this over with" Twisting the key in the lock and pushing the door handle the door refused to budge, Musa snarled and swore under her breath before finally stepping back to kick the door open with a swift kick. The door hit the wall inside and actually broke off its hinges before crashing to the floor; Musa was unconcerned as she stepped inside while announcing "Doors broken!"

The group piled inside and were slightly appalled at the state of the place, layers of dust everywhere and cobwebs filled the walls and door frames, the stairwell leading upstairs was a grey mess with floor boards broken. Bloom stepped up and signed "Okay spread out, let's just get the stuff and go home"

The girls broke off one by one while Evil Bloom danced her way around the foyer and slid gleefully down the banister of the stairs, when Bloom started up the stairwell the girl was busy laughing as she swung from the dusty chandelier. Bloom found her way easily into the hallway and to the end room, her old room, where she'd go after missions to relax, upon entering the room she felt so sense of home coming at all. In fact she felt mostly like a stranger, impatient to get out she quickly walked over to her old dresser and shoved it a couple of inches away to the right. Ripping the floor boards away she snaked her arm into the floor and felt around for her desired item, after a while she noted that it wasn't there. Sitting up quickly she yelled "Bloom!"

EB appeared instantly before her, smiling "Hey babes, you have cobwebs in your hair"

Bloom gave her a hard look "Where is it? You said you hid it in its old place, so why isn't it here?"

EB looked at the floor and pursed her lips "I'll tell you but you can't be mad"

"What did you do?!" Bloom yelled, suddenly outraged. Standing up she towered over the girl.

EB did not look frightened, she stood up gracefully and flicked a bit a web off her pants "I decided to give yours a special hiding place, somewhere no one would ever look"

Bloom signed "Where?"

An eerie evil glint came into Evil Bloom's eye and there was no humour in her face at that moment, pure seriousness "His room"

Bloom felt her insides drop through the floor, her face go lax and her head stop working "You-you hid it in his room? Why?"

Evil Bloom looked up at the ceiling dreamily "Because at the time of when I was hiding all of them away, I thought to myself 'There's something so evil and sexy about hiding a piece of you away in a place that was all his' don't you think?" Bloom couldn't even be angry; she was too keyed up about the idea of going into his room, a room that was forbidden even when she actually lived here. EB clocked an eyebrow at her "Come on, aren't you even a little bit curious?"

She disappeared leaving Bloom standing stunned, she could hear her friends walk about the house but they were all downstairs, they'd never know. Creeping out into the hallway Bloom slowly crept up to the other side of the house, to the door that had been invisible to her for years. Tall and intimidating just like him, she twisted the knob and opened the door, stepping inside quickly and slamming it shut. She wasn't sure what she expected and she wasn't disappointed, the room was the same size as hers, dark wooden walls and floors with a chandelier hanging from the roof. It wasn't like other bedrooms, it didn't have a bed or a dresser, she always had a suspicion he never slept. He always was like a creepy vampire Bloom thought as she took a few steps into the forbidden zone, taking in the scarce furniture that was there. A fireplace stood on the far wall, a deep red rug under her feet as she found a long black leather couch in the middle of the room, a coffee table sat in front of it. It still had some old papers sitting on it as well as a glass of liquid, lining the walls were hundreds of portraits of different people that Bloom never met. Looking around she couldn't see any other place of interest in the room, looking back at the couch she guessed he must have just sat here for hours staring into the fire.

Being brave Bloom found herself sitting on the couch and found it kind of warm, as if he had been sitting in it not a few minutes ago instead of years, shaking her head she stood up again. Sighing she whispered "Okay I'm here, now tell me where you hid it"

She didn't get an answer, instead a small creak got her attention in the very corner of the dark room, where a black chest sat, merging with the shadows. Bloom walked quickly over to it and with a little bit of fiddling was able to pry it open; she found a large stack of random objects and papers. First she found an old black book that was in a different language that refused to open as it was bound in golden vines, putting it away she also sound stacks of papers that made no sense to her. Sighing she riffled through the trunk until she stuck who whole arm in to search the bottom and sure enough her fingers came into contact with smooth hard marble. Gripping the object she slowly eased it out of confinement and found herself holding her old weapon of death, a long three inch wide steel sword. Beautifully crafted with black casing and silver vines spreading around the hilt, her name carved into the blade in winding letters. Holding the sword once more she felt elated and free, dangerous and in control, just what she needed to be to survive what was coming. Getting ready to leave she looked down at the trunk again and saw something that caught her eye, an object wrapped in deep red satin. Carefully fetching it out she undid the material and soon she was holding one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.

It was strange and otherworldly but very mesmerising too. It was a rose in full bloom, except it hadn't wilted even after the many years of confinement; it even had an added weight to it that Bloom thought it might be made of metal. But on touching the petals she found them soft, the truly lovely thing about it was that the petals were deep black and the stem was the purest gold. It reminded her of the book that she'd been unable to open; she wondered what it was and why he'd kept it all these years. A creak in the floor board behind her told her that evil Bloom had joined her, Bloom spoke in a clear voice "Do you know what this is?"

"No, not really but it's pretty though. I first saw it when I was hiding the sword a year ago, it flitters back into my mind now and then, shame to let something so dark fester without sunlight" Evil Bloom's voice had a mesmerized quality to it and Bloom felt a sudden sense of wrongness, quickly rewrapping the rose she tucked it back where she found it and closed the trunk.

Standing up she turned to her other self who still gazed at the closed trunk "That was mean. You know how I feel when it comes to all things Valtor" Wandering back over to the couch she ran her fingers over the surface and sighed "Can I ask you something?"

EB shifted until she was sitting on the arm of the sofa, looking at the unlit fire "Sure"

"Do you ever think about him?" Bloom asked carefully, broaching a subject neither one of them ever spoke of much.

Evil Bloom didn't answer for about five seconds before replying with certainty "Constantly"

Bloom was shocked and struck mute for a moment "Really? Why?"

Evil Bloom turned to her "Bloom...he made me" Turning back to the fire she spoke "I know you think that he was a terrible person, all evil and no compassion. I lived as you for two years and you never want to talk about those years because you're ashamed of them, you want to forget. But I can't do that. Because it was me who did all those horrible things, me who lived with him, and no matter how much you want to deny it you know we lived for him. You may be ashamed but those years were the most important years of my life, you just don't understand"

Bloom was floored by that last bit but she wasn't about to waste this opportunity to get a look inside her other half's head, plus she wanted to be able to understand her more "I-I do understand. Really. I remember it!"

Evil Bloom stood up and strolled toward the exit "But I lived it"

When the girl was gone Bloom couldn't help but feel like she was failing her other self, she really didn't understand how she could miss those years of doing bed things, miss being a bad person and worst of all. Miss him.

I love the title! Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

P.S The opening for the BOUNCING-OFF-IDEA-CHATTING-BUDDY is still open! To the very nice person who reviewed on the last chapter, I don't have any way to contact you since you weren't logged in. Sorry. BUT to anyone who is still interested, give me a PM or just review. I need your advice!