21. The Potion
"Bloom…"
"Wake up Bloom…"
"They need you…"
"We all need you Bloom."
Bloom opened her eyes, her whole body aching as she came to terms with her location. She was laying in a room in the nurse's office, the same room she had been in a few weeks prior when she was battered and bruised from the trip to Black Mud Swamp.
It was now dark and she moved to sit up, but was halted by comforting arms and she lay back down, looking up to the ceiling, still feeling incredibly woozy.
Suddenly she was in a world of clouds. She looked down and saw hands that weren't her own. There was a burst of majestic light in front of her and she was forced to look away. The light dimmed and she looked over as a figure, bathed in sparking light stepped towards her, the figure's wings were large and feathery like an angels'. The figure began to speak, but before Bloom could comprehend what the figure had said, everything disappeared.
She awoke again, this time it seemed to be morning as the lights above were off yet the room was bright.
She sat up slowly before two warm arms wrapped around her and she sighed happily.
"Bloom, I was so worried," Sky whimpered, into his fiancées flowing red hair and Bloom hugged back just as tightly. They broke apart and he placed his hand on her face, "How are you?"
"I'm okay," Bloom managed, slowly. "How long have you been here? How long have I been here?"
"It's been almost a week," Sky informed her, his eyes glimmering at Bloom's recovery. "I got here as soon as I heard. Stella was fine; she woke up a few hours after and headed off straight away. The nurse said you were suffering from… what seemed like hundreds of different symptoms and you were yelling in your sleep all the time. You had a fever, and you were so pale, I thought-"
"Sky, no-one can die, remember?" Bloom cut off, smiling reassuringly.
"I know, but that wasn't enough to reassure me," Sky replied, before leaning forwards and kissing her tenderly.
"Bloom! You're awake!"
The pair broke apart and Roxy bounded into the room, hugging Bloom tightly before sitting on the other side of her from Sky.
"We were really worried," Roxy said, sternly.
"I heard," Bloom responded, smiling at Sky. "I'm fine now, really. Hungry! Where's Stella?"
"She's teaching a class," Roxy began, slowly and glancing at Sky a little before turning back to Bloom, "with Musa and Layla."
"WHAT!?" Bloom cried.
"They've become friends again since you've been in here," Roxy explained, as Bloom shook her head.
"No, no she would never leave me," Bloom stammered, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "She promised."
"Bloom honey, I'm sure everything will be-"
"No, you don't understand, she's taken her," Bloom spluttered, going to stand but Sky pulled her down. "Desdemona, she takes over the girls. She's been doing it for months, one by one and I'm the last one left. She's eliminating the people who would protect Mara and I'm NEXT!"
"I saw her over Stella's body at the clearing," Roxy informed her, Bloom breathing deeply. "But why take her and not you? I mean you were out of it as well, but Stella woke up straight away…"
"You fought back," Sky interjected and Bloom lowered her eyes. "You knew about the power, you battled Desdemona and resisted one of her attacks, maybe you've developed an immunity to her?"
"How did you fight back?" Roxy asked and Bloom scratched her head. "Do you remember?"
"I heard something," Bloom began, trying to think back to her visions. "I heard Daphne, my sister. She told me that you all needed me… maybe she knew about what was going on? Then, I saw a person. She was beautiful and had amazing angel wings, she was going to speak but I woke up before she did. Only thing was, in that dream I wasn't me…?"
"Who were you then?" Sky asked.
"I don't kn-"
"Hey Roxy you left without your assignment."
The three of them looked up to see Mara standing in the doorway, holding a piece of paper.
Bloom smiled at her and Mara was taken back.
"Bloom, I'm so glad you're awake," Mara stammered, unsure about what to do.
"Thanks, I'm glad you're okay too," Bloom responded, she and Mara looking at each other awkwardly.
"Come on Sky, maybe you can help me with this assignment?" Roxy said; standing and tugging at the King, before he took the hint and kissed Bloom on the cheek before standing also.
Roxy took the assignment from Mara before gesturing towards Bloom and she and Sky left the room.
Bloom patted the bed in front of her and Mara sat down, feeling nervous and tugging at her short hair.
"Bloom I'm so sorry," Mara said quickly. "It was all my fault, if I didn't run away you guys wouldn't have had to come after me and you and Stella wouldn't have been hurt. I'm just-"
"It's fine, it wasn't your fault," Bloom responded, and Mara smiled a little. "You were nervous about the test because you had no powers, you didn't know Desdemona was waiting for you out there, nor did you know about the amount of powers your tears had. I think it's about time we stop playing around-"
Mara shrugged, and sighed very loudly, almost knowing what Bloom would say next.
"You can't avoid your destiny anymore," Bloom continued, and Mara shifted uncomfortably, looking down to her hands. "The powers of The Guide are not dormant anymore, and you need to start finding out how to control them before something else really bad happens. We need to be prepared for whatever's going to happen next, and without The Winx Club, I don't know how long you'll last."
Mara looked up and gasped quietly.
"What do I do?" she said, her lips beginning to quiver. "I can't do this, they want to kill me and take these… powers. I'm so scared Bloom."
Bloom took Mara's hand and clasped them in her own, leaning towards her.
"I promise you Mara, I will protect you," Bloom proclaimed, firmly. "We will find out what you need to do, and we'll do it. The fate of the entire universe lies within you, and I know it's a big burden to carry. But I promise I will be there every step of the way."
Mara held back her tears and managed to smile at Bloom. Her words however, didn't help her doubt.
"HOW COULD YOU LET HER GO!? YOU HAD HER IN YOUR GRASP!" he bellowed, clutching his magic scepter and sending bolts of pure electricity from it towards the nearby desk, the whole desk exploding into a thousand pieces with the unfortunate objects atop it being flung around the room.
She crossed her arms and yelled loudly, "I'm SORRY! I took the last Winx girls, I have almost the whole collection now- isn't that SOMETHING!"
"Almost? You couldn't even get them ALL!?" he shouted, glaring at his companion standing across the room, gripping his wizard scepter tightly.
"Bloom was resilient, but I got Stella," she snapped, loudly. "And besides, you've been brewing that blasted potion all year it would be a shame not to show off your craft work. After all, this whole thing has almost been singlehandedly done by ME; you've done nothing but SIT HERE and-!"
He cut her off, appearing in front of her in less than a second and wrapping his hand around her neck, pushing her up against the wall as she kicked violently, barley able to breathe.
"Don't you DARE try and hold seniority over ME!" he hissed, letting her go and she fell to the ground. "You resurrected ME, remember. You wanted MY help to get revenge on those girls, and now we WILL."
She coughed loudly, glaring up at her partner with a sense of utter hatred and loathing, something she had only felt once before towards The Winx Club, but those feelings had somewhat dwindled of late.
"You're right, it would be a shame to waste the potion," he said suddenly, walking over to the bubbling cauldron in the middle of the room and looking down to it. "It's happening, tonight. We are going to take MARA and she will die by MY hand, the powers will finally my mine, the universe will crumble and The Guide will regret the day she denied me the powers that were rightfully MINE from the START!"
Bloom lay awake in her bed, her covers pulled right up under her chin.
She had seen Stella earlier that night and just as she had thought, Stella was acting very strange. She didn't even comment on Bloom's mismatched pajamas before telling she was going out with some friends and leaving Bloom alone in the room. She had sat in the living for majority of the evening, wishing Sky could have stayed around instead of leaving a few hours after she awoke.
At once stage, she went and spoke to Faragonda who requested for Mara and Roxy to move into the teacher's dorm with Bloom so they were now sleeping in Flora and Musa's rooms. Bloom wondered if they were awake worrying too, but probably not. It was now after exams, and both Roxy and Mara passed with flying colors, Mara's test being solely theory based.
Bloom breathed in deeply, looking out the window at the cresting moon and feeling more alone than ever before closing her eyes for just a second…
"Bloom! BLOOM WAKE UP!"
Bloom's eyes fluttered open, Roxy shaking her awake and looking frantic.
"Roxy, what's going on?!" Bloom spluttered, sitting up and noting all the lights in their room were on.
"It's Mara, she's gone!" Roxy stammered. "I heard noises in Flora's room and when I checked she was gone!"
"Again?" Bloom exclaimed, immediately standing up. "It has to be Desdemona. Okay, no more nice Bloom- BELEVIX TIME!"
Bloom immediately transformed into her Belevix before turning to Roxy, gesturing for her to transform as well, but instead she started swaying.
"Roxy? Are you okay?" she asked, Roxy's eyes closing and she fell backwards onto Bloom's bed. "Roxy!"
Bloom lent down, feeling Roxy's pulse. She was still alive, just in a very deep sleep.
She HAD to alert Ms Faragonda- luckily she was only a few doors down.
Bloom bolted out of the room, and knocked loudly on Ms Faragonda's private room door but with no answer.
"Sorry Ms Faragonda," Bloom whispered. "Fire blast!"
She sent a condensed fire ball to the door, blowing the handle open and the doors swung open.
Bloom could barely made out Faragonda's furniture in the dark room, but she managed to find the bed where Faragonda was laying peaceful asleep under the covers, wearing a little night cap over her hair.
"Ms Faragonda!" Bloom yelled, right up close to the headmistress but she didn't answer.
She felt her pulse as well, seeming to be just like Roxy.
Bloom hurried out of the room, breaking into Ms Griselda's room as well and finding her in the same condition. She hurried over to the student dorms, but everyone was the same.
"The whole school is asleep," Bloom stated aloud, walking out into the corridor from checking on a group of sophomores and panting loudly.
There was a suddenly shriek from outside and Bloom dashed towards the nearest window, seeing all the other Winx girls in their Belevix walking out towards the center of the quad. Flora was walking behind them all with Layla and Stella holding the struggling Mara between them, whilst Tecna and Musa led the way- Tecna beginning an incantation as a small purple portal appeared in front of her.
No," Bloom breathed, running back a bit before taking a deep breath and running towards the window, jumping through it and shattering the glass, flying out over the quad and gaining the attention of the girls down below.
"Bloom," Mara breathed, before finally succumbing to the sleep as well and her head drooped.
Bloom flew down towards them, Flora putting up a vine shield but Bloom burst through it and knocked Stella and Layla to the ground, Stella letting go of Mara as the white haired fairy fell on top of Layla.
"Not cool Bloom!" Stella snapped. "SUN BEAM!"
She sent three flying yellow disks towards her but Bloom darted away from them before Musa sent a sound wave towards her, Bloom immediately putting up the strongest shield she could muster to protect herself.
"FIGHT BACK!" Musa exclaimed, sending another attack towards Bloom who merely deflected it again.
Bloom lowered herself to the ground as the five girls stared at her, the portal behind Tecna getting larger and larger.
"I will never fight you," Bloom said, plainly.
"Then you'll be the first to be slain by our mistress," Flora answered, callously.
"I don't care," Bloom informed her. "I would never hurt any of you, you know that. And you would never hurt me. Musa; you put up a brave face, but I know you. You're scared of losing the people you love, but look around? We're not The Winx Club anymore; there are other ways to lose people. Tecna; you are scared of emotions, you did something you never thought you would do and you fell in love with Timmy, but you know in your heart he would never hurt you. Flora; you feel like you're not a valuable part of our club, but the truth is you ARE the club. You are the heart of the club, without it, we just can't beat anymore. Stella; you don't like not being in control, but sometimes you've just got to go with the flow, and that's not bad. You're the strongest person I know and you can beat this. And Layla; you don't want anyone to feel the pain you've felt, but answer me this- how do you feel now? Do you feel anything? I'd rather feel hurt, then never feel love at all and I know you agree with me. The whole universe needs The Winx Club… and so do I."
Bloom's wings fluttered together as she spoke, her Strength of Life powers seeming to initiate itself before little blue fairy dust erupted from her wings and zoomed around Bloom and then over the five girls, each of them looking up as the dust settled down to them, their eyes all going a bright white before returning to their normal colors.
They all looked around, shaking their heads and seeming very confused.
"What are we doing out here?" Musa asked, looking as utterly perplexed as the other four.
"You're BACK!" Bloom cried, dashing over to them and hugging all of them together, the other girls getting even more confused.
"Touching speech Bloom."
The girls pulled apart and looked behind them, the small purple portal now much larger, with Desdemona standing in front of it, Mara's limp body floating beside her.
"Took you long enough to figure that trick out," Desdemona snarled. "Doesn't matter now anyway, you deserve to get the girls back. I'll just take what's mine now shall I?"
Desdemona waved at Bloom before stepping back into the portal with Mara floating beside her. Bloom jumped forwards, reaching her hand out to get into the portal but it immediately closed, Bloom falling to her knees and staring into the spot where the portal had been.
"I promised her I'd protect her," Bloom managed, before bursting into tears.