Bloom was unable to comprehend her surroundings. Flashes of colours and faint shapes flickered in and out of her vision. Sounds were muffled; as if they were coming from far away. Nothing made sense, there were only two things she knew for certain; she was so very cold, and she needed to keep breathing.

According to Darcy, Riven's best feature was his chest. The boys from Red Fountain were always toned and well-muscled, it came with being forced into all of those military drills and Riven was no exception. He wasn't as lean as usual as he was trying to put on as much muscle as possible before the end of year practicals but as she pressed her hands on his bare pectorals she decided that she didn't mind. Darcy liked touching him here, using his chest to lean against as she raised her hips up and down on top of him.

He made delicious noises too; something she appreciated in a partner. It was no fun for her, no ego boost, if the person inside her wasn't vocal. He had been hesitant to be at all loud at the beginning but Darcy had fixed that quickly. Riven was no longer so self-conscious about that, so she was able to enjoy the grunts and soft moans he made when she rode him. It was very fortunate that they had overlapping preferences. Riven dislike being in control and now that she had got him to admit it, Darcy was happy to take charge of their sex life. He looked to her for direction and was almost always receptive to whatever she wanted. That suited her just fine. She got to do whatever she wanted to him, and he gratefully let her.

Riven's breathing was becoming raspier and his wrists tugged helplessly on the handcuffs, causing them to rattle on the bed framm. He was close to reaching his climax and she had a decision to make; either she let him cum inside her or not.

Before she could choose, the door to her room burst open and Stormy casually strolled in. Riven protested and struggled, but Darcy didn't particularly care about the intrusion. She stopped riding him but didn't get off or cover herself up, not letting Riven do anything about the situation either, she stayed where she was and kept him still by pinning his hips down with her knees.

She and her sisters were holed up in a cheap rental for the time being and the walls were paper thin. There was no way that Stormy hadn't known what was going on in the room when she had burst in. Even if she hadn't been able to hear, Darcy had made it very clear to her sisters that the only thing she really wanted to do right now was Riven. Stormy just liked catching people off guard and the only way to get her to stop was not to give her any reaction. The sooner Riven realised it the better; all his cursing and thrashing was doing was giving Stormy satisfaction.

"Come on," Stormy said as she wandered over to the mirror hanging on the far wall. "We need you for the next spell."

"Can't it wait five fucking minutes?" Riven hissed, his face was red from embarrassment and exertion. His hands had balled up in the cuffs and there were grooves in his wrists where the metal had bitten into his skin. Darcy could feel that he had finished inside her and rolled her eyes. It made sense that this would happen and at least that eliminated the need for her to make a decision. She rolled her hips a little to make him groan and shut him up.

"Good choice of words," Stormy laughed as she stared at her reflection and twisted one of her curls into shape . "But seriously, Darcy, we need you now. Icy's gonna be pissed if we have to postpone this."

Darcy got off Riven, shivering a little as he slid out of her.

"Ew," Stormy said with contempt. "Put your dick away, you creep." Darcy looked back to see that his cock was twitching back into a semi and she started laughing. Riven rolled over to hide from the two of them as he frantically searched for the latch on the handcuffs.

"Oh shit," Darcy sighed as she felt a wet trickle down her thigh, and reached for a handful of tissues so that she could clean herself up before throwing the box at Riven. "I'll deal with you in a bit." He had managed to free himself now, and was rubbing his wrists while glaring at the two witches. Stormy blew him a kiss as they left and his eyes narrowed further.

Darcy hated when he got like this; all irritable and demanding of attention over her sisters. He still hadn't quite grasped the role he had in her life. She and her sisters just had so much history together that some boy she liked to fuck couldn't hope to match. She liked him, she liked him a lot, but that didn't mean he was her equal or the equal of either of her sisters.

Her lungs wouldn't suck in air without constant, conscious instruction. In and out, in and out. Her hands and feet kept going through a cycle of numbness and stinging pain from the cold that was biting into her. There was a voice speaking to her, it was familiar and warm, but it kept cutting out like someone with bad phone reception. Flashes of yellow, a touch from nowhere.

In and out, in and out. If she stopped thinking about her breathing then she knew that it would stop.

Icy had the book in front of her as she invited Darcy and their sister to sit with her. This spell was one of the most complex that they had ever come across, but Darcy knew that Icy had been studying it for over a year.

"Once we do this," Icy said. "There is no going back. We won't be able to return to just being normal witches, we will start a war."

"I can't wait." Stormy's face was determined, and Darcy knew that she was already running through tactics in her head. Often it looked like she was charging ahead without thinking, but when it came to snap decisions in a fight there was no one Darcy trusted more to make them. Stormy's martial instincts would be relied upon greatly in the days to come.

"And you, Darcy?" Icy was eyeing her apprehensively. As the oldest and their de facto leader, Icy was the one that Darcy and Stormy answered to if either of them fucked up. They had followed her for years now, bound at first by a common goal, and now the three of them were under oath to each other. Under Icy's instruction or with her encouragement they had performed magic many were too afraid to even attempt, and they had succeeded in ways Darcy couldn't have imagined three years ago. But what they were about to do was a point of no return. Icy was right to be wary. If any of them backed out now they would lose before they even got started, Dragon Fire or not. Years of scheming and studying would go up in smoke.

"Of course, sisters," Darcy said. "The magical universe is ours for the taking."

So cold. She felt so cold. It was all she could feel. Even when the flashes of light registered with her brain, or when she felt the pressure from a touch, all she could focus on was the freezing cold that permeated her body. The stinging pain was gone, replaced by the numbness. She noticed she was no longer upright. She might be lying down, but her legs weren't supported. Maybe she was being carried? She couldn't tell. She was far too cold to think.

Icy closed the book once they were done chanting. Their spell was complete; no one would be able to leave or arrive on Magix. Darcy clenched her fist as she felt power flow through her. This wouldn't have been possible without the Dragon Flame; to seal a whole dimension off from the rest of the universe would normally require a huge number of highly skilled and powerful mages, but they had done it with just the three of them.

"Now no one can come to help when we start our assault on Cloud Tower," Icy said with a cruel smile forming on her face.

"What's our plan for that?" Darcy asked. They had been through several methods of taking over their old school and each had their merits and drawbacks.

"And is that still the best option?" Stormy cut in before Icy could speak, and the latter's face dropped in annoyance. Darcy knew that Stormy's opinion of their old school was lower than hers or Icy's, but they had been through this discussion before. Darcy took a deep breath before she spoke, they were all highly-strung right now and she needed to be patient.

"Spells books, remember? We need them." Darcy said. "I know you think that we can do it with stone golems but we out voted you."

"Not to mention," Icy added, making an attempt to be gentle. "Not having Griffin breathing down our necks will make taking over much easier."

None of them showed it but Darcy knew they were all afraid of Ms. Griffin, and for good reason. Not only was she a shrewd and powerful witch, but she had spent the better part of three years teaching them and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Their old headmistress was also well loved by the students there and Darcy knew no amount of terror would stop them from rallying under Griffin.

"You still feel like Cloud Tower is your home, right?" Darcy added.

"Yeah… I guess I'm worried we won't keep the element of surprise if just one witch gets away."

"We won't let that happen," Icy reassured her. "Which brings me on to my next point; Darcy, are you still confident that your Red Fountain pet won't give us away? Bloom and her parents should be dead by now so he's really the only loose end we have."

"I told you! He won't do anything I haven't already predicted, he doesn't do anything without my permission." Darcy's eyes narrowed. She disliked the implication that Icy didn't trust her ability to control him.

"If he surprises you, you kill him."

Darcy's heart skipped a beat.

***
It was dark and it was cold and she was struggling to keep breathing and keep her heart pumping. She could feel the reluctance of her blood to flow through her veins as her heart started to slow. She didn't know why she was fighting. It was so exhausting and it would be so much easier to just stop dragging air down into her lungs, to let her heart rest. Every struggling heart beat, every laboured breath just brought her more suffering.

No more struggling. No more suffering.

That sounded nice. All she had to do was give up and give in to the cold. Let it freeze her blood and stop her heart. Maybe once she was one with ice she wouldn't feel cold any longer.

Was there even any point to keeping going? She couldn't remember how she ended up like this and she couldn't remember what was on the other side of the darkness, in the flashes of light that she had stopped seeing.

Rest.

She wanted rest.

It was a relief to just let go. She let out her last breath and waited for her slowing heart to freeze still.

***
Riven was dressed by the time Darcy came back to her room. He looked annoyed and was glaring at his phone, pointedly ignoring her to look at his phone instead. She smiled anyway and went to sit next to him on the bed.

"Don't let me interrupt all the important things you have to do with your friends." He was acting like a petulant child.

"If it upsets you so much that I have a relationship with my sisters, you don't have to be with me." She was calling his bluff. Riven wanted to be wanted and the insinuation that he should leave made him bristle.

"You don't mean that." He was being short with her but his hand was inching towards hers and his breathing had sped up with anxiety. He was desperate for her not to reject him and every time she pushed him away just a little, he came running back to close the gap.

"Then get us some dinner from the place next door, I want to eat pizza in bed with you," Darcy said, leaning over to gently put her teeth around the top of his ear. Riven shuddered.

He got up to go fetch her food, not paying Icy or Stormy any mind as he walked past them to leave. Stormy looked through the door he had left open and mimed a blowjob at Darcy, laughing silently.

He returned with a pie for them and Darcy took off her bathrobe so that he could get a good look at her before she slid nude into the bed. She patted the space next to her and he sat down.

"Can you ask Stormy not to just barge in whenever she feels like it? I don't want her to keep seeing us fucking." Riven opened the box and offered her a slice which she didn't take. Darcy reached out to slip her hand under his shirt and run her fingers over his muscular stomach.

"I can ask, but can you blame her for wanting to see you naked?" She laughed and nipped at his neck. What she said was an outright lie; Stormy had never once so much as considered sex as an appealing passtime. Darcy also had no intention of bothering her sister with his request. "You're incredibly attractive and I definitely like it whenever you're not wearing any clothes."

"There's you and then there's her. I'm not fucking her." Riven took a bite out of the pizza she had rejected.

"Would you like to?" Darcy asked abruptly, careful not to give away whether or not she was being serious. He choked on his pizza, and she enjoyed watching him squirm. "Don't you think she's pretty too?" Riven looked at her askance, mouth slightly open in confusion. "If you're scared of her then I could always be there with you." Lazily she stroked his collarbone as he tensed up.

"You're making fun of me," Riven said flatly. He was staring intently at his own feet, but she could feel his heart rate speeding up through his chest and he had shifted uncomfortably to hide the fact he was hard again.

"Maybe, but if I told you to fuck her, you'd do it, wouldn't you?" She asked sweetly, letting her voice soften even as her gaze became dominating. Darcy considered using her powers, but decided it was more of a challenge not to; Riven would do what she wanted out of his own free will. "I thought all guys liked the idea of having two girls on them at once, you could take turns on us or you could just watch for a while if you were feeling scared…"

Riven stood up suddenly.

"Oh my god, are you hard? I can't believe you have a boner right now! It's for Stormy, isn't it?" She accused.

"I want you to stop." He said, not looking at her. This was the point where he stood up for himself: it was time to go in for the kill.

"Well I'm sorry," she said, sounding not sorry at all. "I thought it was a fun, sexy idea, I wasn't even serious. I didn't think you'd blow it all out of proportion like that. God, calm down."

"It wasn't funny. How the fuck am I even supposed to respond to a question like that?"

"If you're going to get pissed for no reason then you can just leave." Darcy pointed angrily to the door, letting her bottom lip start to tremble. "You've already fucked me so you've got what you wanted. No need to pretend you care about my feelings anymore." She summoned tears to her eyes and let a few fall down her face, she watched with satisfaction as his expression changed from anger to panic.

"You know that's not how I feel," he pleaded.

"You know I get really vulnerable after," she said, poking him in the chest. "I feel like a monster when I get top-drop, and we didn't have time for any aftercare." Darcy started crying and Riven put his arms around her.

"I'm sorry."

No breath. No pulse. Just sinking into cool water and nothingness. It was bliss compared to the freezing struggle. She could no longer feel her body so there was no more pain, just a slight pressure all around from the water that didn't really belong to her. She wasn't sure that she even had a body anymore. The cool waves washed over her and that was the thing that finally highlighted the difference in heat and light between the water and the one warm piece of charcoal that was left.

It wasn't even an ember, really, barely more than a stone warmed by the sun, but it halted the waters as they approached. It was the last little bit of her that was left. All she had to do was let the water wash over and extinguish the last memory of fire inside, but she hesitated. Something was stopping her from giving up.

"Which target will be first," Darcy asked, looking at the map before the three of them. "I can see a benefit for each of them after Cloud Tower."

Red Fountain was the most well-prepared out of the schools. It was a military academy afterall and the longer they gave Saladin to prepare the harder it would be to crush him. If they succeeded in taking Cloud Tower silently and then hit the Specialists next they would give the headmaster the minimum amount of time to defend his school.

The City of Magix held its own police force and while it was hardly an army (Magix had been demilitarised for over a century now), it was still a formidable opponent. Many powerful fairies and witches were in uniform, not to mention the wizards and the countless Red Fountain alumni that were in the ranks and command. Taking them out would mean less interference when they turned their attention to the schools.

Then there was Alfea. Darcy was sure that each one of them felt very personally about destroying that pink castle. It didn't matter that there were ancient magics stored in the walls, they were going to raze it to the ground and Darcy wasn't sure any of them would find it easy to hold back when it came to that assault.

"Magix," Icy said decisively.

"Why not Alfea?" Stormy was predictably annoyed that her catharsis was going to have to wait and Darcy tried not to sigh at her out loud.

"Because we need to isolate the planet and if we leave the politicians and civil servants to their own devices they'll be the most likely to work out a way to communicate with the other planets," Icy said, being surprisingly patient. "Then we do Red Fountain, and then Alfea."

"Oh come on!" Stormy rolled her eyes. "You want the fairies left until after than civilians?"

"Alfea won't be let off the hook, I promise, just trust me. I have my reasons."

"Will you share them? The reasons?" Darcy wasn't sure if Icy felt like including them or not, but she was prepared to push her sister in this situation. If they were committing treason and attacking civilians she wanted to know exactly what was going on.

"We take Cloud Tower secretly. We dispatch the City of Magix with the Army of Decay first before they know anything about our soldiers. Once they hear what's going on, and once they realise that they can't contact anyone off-planet, Saladin and Faragonda will move to consolidate power. That will be at the easily defended Red Fountain.

"The aim is to get them to surrender, it'll be easier that way. So we need to overwhelm them before they can work out how best to counter the Army. We need the uncertainty of how to fight them to win against Red Fountain and its heavy defences." As she spoke, Icy's eyes were lighting up. Years worth of planning was coming to fruition now and she was determined to get it right.

"So once they have the advantage of more details from repeated attacks, and if they haven't already surrendered, they'll have the disadvantage of Alfea being the only place they can retreat to," Darcy correctly surmised.

"Yes. We have to do this right."

"Fine," Stormy huffed. "But I want to be the one to break down Alfea's gates. With a fucking hammer if I have to."

She was being dramatic and Darcy was getting impatient. She had heard everything she needed to know but she knew Stormy was going to drag this out with questions and protests and all Darcy wanted to do was go back to Riven and have him eat her out. She could just get up and leave but she doubted that Icy would thank her for that right now. They needed to be united for this to work.

The ember barely emitted any heat, but it's presence was impossible to ignore. It was fighting in vain against the cold and the wet and yet she couldn't bring herself to extinguish it. There was something hopeful about it, pathetic as it was, and for the first time since she blacked out she felt something other than the desire for relief.

She felt sadness.

It was heartbreaking to watch it struggle against the inevitability of the water. Something in her didn't want to give up and it was begging her not to. She felt… anger too.

Was she just going to fade away as if her life meant nothing? No. She refused. She couldn't remember how she had got here but she knew that it hadn't been by her own choice. She wasn't going to give up on herself and she wasn't going to die quietly. She wasn't going to give the cold the satisfaction of pulling her under.

It took all of the strength she had left but she shoved the water back and protected that last pitiful ember inside of her from being swallowed. She embraced its warmth and she felt her heart give a weak beat. She forced her lungs to draw in air and she started to feel her body again. She could remember her name. She could remember the witches.

She refused to die. She refused to let them win. She wouldn't be erased from existence so easily and she was furious that they would even think that it would be that easy. She had people relying on her and she was not going to let them down.

Each breath stung her throat, each heartbeat made her chest throb in pain, but it would not be the end of her. Bloom summoned the strength to twitch her fingers, to regain control of her body and claw her way back to the real world. There was light on the other side of her eyelids and she forced them apart despite the overwhelming pain throughout her body.

Fiercely, she snapped her eyes open and propelled herself into a sitting position. Her parents needed her to save them and Magix needed her to warn them. Bloom came up swinging.