A/N: WARNING: Lots of feels ahead, I felt it was necessary to put finality on some things, so here we go!
Chapter 24
(Gardenia...)
"Mamma I'm home!"
Vanessa smiled brightly, catching her daughter as she flew through the door giggling.
"Bloom dear! Oh I missed you so much!"
Releasing the hug she sat down with her in one of the living room chairs, beckoning in the rest of the little group, consisting of Darcy, Icy, Stormy, Flora and Diaspro, who all took seats on the sofa or other chairs in the room.
"So tell me dear, what've you been up to this semester?"
Smiling brightly she began to list off everything quickly.
"Oh sooo much has happened Mamma! I've made so many friends gone on adventures found my soulmate in Dar-Dar discovered my Witch Form met Papa Valtor and Momma DuFour there was the coma incident where I met Mama and Papa and Daphne I learned of Fargonda met my Dark Half who goes by Thorn by the way and-"
Vanessa held up a hand to halt her daughter's speed talk, eyes wide.
"Whoa there dear, slow down."
She glance at the others with a stern but curious look.
"Now, I think we should start from the beginning, just what has my little girl been through?"
XXX
(One long explanation later...)
Vanessa sat back, taking a long sip from a cup of coffee.
"That's... a lot to take in. You've certainly been busy dear."
She turned a stern glance to Darcy.
"And you..."
Darcy gulped, feeling rather nervous under the stern glare, which soon softened.
"I see I put my trust into the right person, and you even turned out to be my little girl's soulmate. Congratulations by the way, I know how rare an occurrence that is."
She smiled back, happy to have gained her approval.
"Thank you, that means a lot coming from you."
She smiled back.
"So I can assume you're going to be spending the summer together? I don't have a problem with that, I'm just curious what you'll be up to."
Bloom grinned.
"Dar-Dar Icy and Stormy are going to take me to visit their home world of Whisperia!"
Darcy chuckled.
"That's right little flame, as long as that's okay with you of course."
Vanessa shook her head.
"It's perfectly fine with me, I just insist that you all stay for the night before you go, we have plenty of room."
She smiled.
"Of course."
She set down her empty cup.
"Excellent! So I guess I'll have to set up the living room for a few of you then? Unfortunately we only have two guest rooms."
Icy waved her off.
"It's cool, the two rooms should be fine."
Vanessa blinked curiously.
"Wait, are all of you couples?"
At the various nods she received she smiled almost as brightly as her daughter.
"How wonderful! I'm very happy for you all. So I'll just set up the two guest rooms and I know Darcy and Bloom will be sleeping in her bedroom. *sniffle* Oh my little girl's growing up so fast!"
XXX
(Later that night...)
The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent getting to know her daughter's friends and her future daughter in-law, as well as her sisters.
After losing track of time and having a nice late dinner, everyone had called it a night.
Currently Vanessa sat out on the patio, watching the stars and enjoying a glass of red wine.
"My little girl, she's been through so much this past year, I'm just glad she's found someone to stand by her through it all. With Fargonda after her Dragon Flame, it's going to be a long stressful road ahead."
She chuckled slightly, smiling at her next thought.
"Val and Du are back in Griff's life huh? The Dark Trio's back together at long last, I'm glad to hear it, they deserve happiness with all the crap they've put up with through the years."
She took a sip from her glass, still watching the stars.
"I take it there's more that Bloom left out of her story?"
Icy slipped out, quietly shutting the door behind her.
"How did you know I was there?"
She smiled, motioning for the other woman to sit next to her on the bench and handing her a second glass of wine.
"I'm a master Sensor, my range covers the entirety of Gardenia and then some. Pretty much nothing magical gets in or out of this town without tripping my senses."
Icy gave a slightly puzzled look.
"A Sensor?"
She nodded, taking another sip.
"Yes, the schools never did find it too important a topic to teach. while magic can be split into different elemental categories, there are other theme-categories as well: Sensor, Shield, Hacker, Battler, Mind and Avatar. Sensor types take many forms and have many off-shots, your friend Flora for example is an Empathe, which is one of the many forms of Sensors.
Shield masters are good at both mental and physical barriers, Mitzi as a Rune Crafter is good with mental magic, while your lover Diaspro's Crystal Barriers would be physical. From the sound of it that Tecna girl would be a Hacker, which is a common trait among those with electrical magic, with enough practice she and your sister Stormy could become True Hackers by controlling the body's electrical impulses, but while useful in battle it's also a very dangerous form of magic, leaving very little margin for error.
Next we have Battler, both you and Bloom would fall into this category, your ice magic and her fire magic for the most part are strictly offensive based and quite destructive. A rather common trait among Battlers is their adeptness in hand to hand combat and destructive techniques. Mind Mages are masters of illusions and mental deceptions, very tricky and very dangerous foes to face, especially when angered."
Icy snickered.
"Yeah, that's Darcy alright."
Vanessa chuckled as well.
"Indeed, finally we have the most powerful and most rare, the Avatars. Those labeled Avatars are capable of mastering all of these forms, making them essentially a juggernaut, or as a few have perceived them throughout history, a God."
She shook her head.
"But like I said, they're as rare as they come. The last one to be seen was over a thousand years ago."
Icy sipped at her own wine a bit.
"So what does Fargonda fall under?"
She scoffed at the thought of the arrogant woman.
"She thinks herself an Avatar, but she's nothing more than a Mind Mage who's lost her own."
Both chuckled for a bit, which slowly slid into a few minutes of silence.
"So, what wasn't everyone telling me about Bloom's coma incident?"
Icy stared off at the stars, a somber look slowly forming.
"Everyone she met was, I guess you could say they were everyone's opposites."
Vanessa wordlessly refilled her glass for her, Icy giving a quiet thank you as she took a sip.
"Stella was her best friend. Griffin didn't really know her, none of the witches did really. Fargonda was nice."
She frowned.
"Valtor was evil. Stormy was evil. Darcy was evil. I was..."
Vanessa blinked as she watched a lone tear trail down from the cryomancer's left eye.
"After Bloom finally woke up, we all gathered around her in relief. But, the second she saw me..."
More tears started to fall.
"She was terrified of me."
She frowned, confused.
"Why would she be afraid of you? From what I've seen today she seems to look to you as her big sister."
She gave a sad chuckle.
"Apparently the other Icy and a different Bloom had gotten into a fight, I guess the Trix of that world tried to kidnap her, and the other Bloom got off a harsh physical and verbal shot at her. She scorched the right side of her face and said something about her now being just as ugly on the outside, we both know she'd never do something like that but the proof was right in front of her, so she knows it happened. She tried to talk her down but..."
She sat back, releasing a tired sigh.
"My counterpart was completely deranged. Even when faced with proof that this wasn't the same girl who did... that, she didn't care. So, when Bloom's back was turned, she ran her through on an ice spike. Worst of all she cackled about it like it was the funniest damn thing! Darcy lost it and completely annihilated her, apparently trapping her with in her own broken mind, but not before tapping into Bloom's Dragon Flame and braking nearly every bone in the bitches body. But the fact still remains that Bloom watched her sister figure impale her and laugh over her dying body."
Vanessa said nothing.
"I'm a monster! If I'm capable of doing something as deranged as that, then I don't deserve to be seen as her sister! If anything I deserve the same end that she met-" *slap!*
She held her cheek, resisting the urge to cower under the other woman's disappointed glare.
"Are you quite finished with your little pity party?"
She blinked.
"Wah?"
She sighed, putting down her glass.
"This absolutely needs to stop. I understand that this other version did this without a second thought, and that terrifies you, I get it. But what you need to realize is that wasn't you, it was your opposite. Would you do something like that?"
She balked at the mere thought.
"Never! She's like my unofficial little sister, I love her! I'd... I couldn't live with myself if I ever even laid a hand on her."
Vanessa smiled.
"Then what's the problem?"
"I..."
Her eyes widened in realization.
"You're right."
She set down her own glass, smiling a true smile finally.
"You're right, I have nothing to worry about, because that's not who I am."
She nodded.
"That's right. Do you feel better now?"
She rubbed at her eyes slightly.
"Yeah, yeah I do actually..."
Giving her a slightly hopeful look, she allowed herself to be wordlessly pulled into the motherly embrace of the other woman.
"I, I-"
She began to gently stroke her long hair, which was out of its signature top-knot for the night.
"Shhh, take your time dear, it's alright."
She wiped away her fresh tears.
"We never knew our father, he left shortly after Stormy was born. After that mom hopped from job to job, multiple at a time, trying to take care of us."
She paused.
"... I was 14 when she passed away. She'd been ill for awhile, and one day she just, didn't wake up. The orphanage on Whisperia took us in for about two years before Griffin showed up, she was able to set us up an apartment deal until we graduated, once Stormy graduates it'll be up."
She sighed.
"Even when she was there mom wasn't really, none of us were really close with her, so I've basically raised both of them. I've never been the daughter, I, that is if it's not..."
Vanessa smiled, hugging her closer and wiping away her own tears.
"I don't mind at all dear."
*Sniffle*
Icy began to freely cry, letting out all the pent-up emotion she'd held in for so long.
XXX
"Icy?"
Glancing down she noticed the slow rising and falling of her shoulders.
She'd cried herself to sleep.
"Poor dear."
Vanishing the forgotten glasses and half empty bottle, she quietly lifted the other woman and gently guided her into the house. Quietly opening the second guest room door, she led her to the bed, the movement stirring Diaspro slightly awake.
"Hmm? Icy, wah, she's been crying?"
She gently laid her down on the bed, Diaspro not hesitating to wrap her in her arms and lay her down next to her.
"She'll be alright, she just needed to get a few things off her chest. What she needs now is her lover's comfort."
The blonde woman smiled, laying back down and pulling her up against her chest, Icy unconsciously snuggling closer.
"Thank you."
She smiled, quietly walking back out.
"Anytime. Goodnight dear."
"G'night."
Closing the door behind her, she headed to her own bedroom and called it a night.
XXX
(The Next Morning...)
Everyone slowly trickled into the dining room, following the delicious smell of breakfast, but Bloom noticed someone missing.
"Where's Icy at?"
"Good morning everyone!"
The others were stunned seeing Icy with a cooking apron on helping Vanessa finish setting the table.
"What the f-" *Whack!* "Ow!"
Icy smiled at Flora.
"Thank you Flora. Now everyone take a seat and dig in!"
Bloom cheered and pulled Icy into a hug.
"Yay! Icy's happy now!"
She chuckled, ruffling her hair.
"You bet I am kiddo, I finally dealt with my problems last night and I've never felt better. Now eat up, we've got a big day ahead of us, I know you're gonna want to explore Whisperia, so you're gonna need the energy."
As everyone took a seat and started in on breakfast, Darcy pulled Vanessa aside.
"I don't know what you did, but thank you."
She smiled her motherly smile.
"Dear, you're family now, I'll always be willing to help. Now we should get back to the table before the food gets cold."
"Right."
And so everyone enjoyed their breakfast, chatting it up until they were done and it was time to finally leave.
Diaspro and Flora bowed slightly.
"It was very nice meeting you."
"We had a wonderful time."
She smiled.
"It was very nice meeting you too."
Stormy grinned arms crossed behind her head.
"Take it easy Miss Van."
She giggled.
"I will dear, and please, you don't have to add Miss to my name."
Icy gave her a serious look, though also smiling.
"We'll have her back in a few weeks."
She waved them off.
"Don't worry about it, just have a good time, when you get back my door's always open, I know Darcy will be staying, but the rest of you are always welcome."
Darcy smiled happily.
"Thank you."
Bloom gave her mother a strong hug.
"By Mamma! I'll see you in a few weeks!"
"Good by dear, have fun."
With that the three couples left for the nearest transport.
Their next destination: Whisperia.
R&R Please. I'll see ya in the next chapter!