AN: Hey guys! LOOOOONG time no see! How is everyone doing? Today I bring to you chapter seven of "Twin Flames" after a long, long wait.

Nothing to say, just hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7: Feels like Magic

Glitter swam in Bloom's vision even after the blinding fiery light had faded, her body tingled and shook with eldritch energy she'd only felt briefly before, and as an invisible force slowly lowered her to the abandoned street below as she glanced at her quaking hands.

Her arms were covered in sheer blue fabric, and looking down she saw the strapless glittering crop top wrapped around her chest and the equally glittery blue mini skirt leaving her long legs exposed.

"Did I just…" Bloom whispered to herself as she lifted her leg slowly and pointed and flexed the brand new blue ankle booties that adorned them. Then, she glanced over her shoulder.

Translucent mid-sized butterfly wings greeted her, and when she touched them in awe, strange muscles that hadn't been there before instinctively flexed in her back and caused them to flutter briefly.

She had just transformed.

Euphoria lit up Bloom's insides and she grinned broadly, squealing and jumping up and down in place.

Oh god, oh god, oh god she couldn't believe this!

Bloom glanced up to check the reaction of her audience with happily shining eyes, seeing the stunned witches staring at her with varying degrees of "what the hell?" while Valtor's lips twitched upwards in a crooked smile.

"Huh," Darcy said, glancing at Icy and shrugging. "Guess she has wings after all."

"Whatever! We're kicking her booty anyway!" Stormy declared before shooting a bolt of lightning at Bloom. The excitement morphed into fear as Bloom yelped and leaped out of the way, her brand new wing muscles going crazy and sending her zooming backward through the air.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ah!" Bloom twisted her hips to the side to narrowly avoid a second lightning bolt and was sent careening to the right in a clumsy display of flailing limbs and screams of panic. A moment later she had crashed unceremoniously on her side against the street.

Of course, she'd have to learn how to fly too. Of course. This was just as hard as rollerblading, geez!

Bloom groaned in both embarrassment and pain as she sat up and began to rub the blooming bruise on her forearm, shrinking under the mocking laughter of the three witches.

"Aw, poor pixie," Icy cooed with a mocking tilt of her head and a cruel smirk. "Horrible with her winx and her wing—ack!" Icy went crashing against the side of a building as a beam of blue and violet slammed into her side.

Valtor hovered up to where she'd once been and clicked her tongue with his own brand of mockery. "Focus, this is a battle." Then, holding out a hand and creating a barrier against Darcy and Stormy's duel attack without even looking at them, he looked down at Bloom. "Remember; drive, intent, power. You have what it takes, Bloom, and it will be even easier for you in this form."

Bloom took in a deep breath and nodded firmly, giving her a mentor a thumbs up. "Got it, coach!"

He smiled in response before clenching the fist holding the barrier up and causing it to explode outwards. As Darcy and Stormy were thrown back with dual screams, he zoomed through the air to engage Icy.

Pushing herself to her feet with a grunt, Bloom's wings fluttered again and caused her to stagger and skid backward against the concrete with a cry of surprise. "Stop…fluttering!" She growled at the stupid things before clenching the new unfamiliar muscles tightly to halt their movement.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Bloom swiftly found that sporadically fluttering wings were the least of her problems. The wind picked up in a way that she was horribly familiar with now, and spinning around to find its source sadly confirmed her suspicions.

Stormy's hands were spread wide and a twister was slowly forming between them. "C'mere, pixie!" She cackled as the wind sucked Bloom forwards.

"Ah! Flutter, flutter, flutter, flutter!" She told her wings as she began moving the muscles behind her shoulder blades as fast as she could. She hovered stagnant in the air as she spat strands of her hair from her mouth and shoved some from her eyes—neither her wings nor the twister was overpowering the other.

Using the trick she had earlier, Bloom held out both hands and found herself pleasantly surprised when the barrier encasing her came about much swifter than it had outside of her fairy form. The pull from the twister disappeared and Bloom zipped backward again, crashing against a nearby billboard with a grunt and causing the barrier to dissipate.

"Okay, Bloom," she said to herself as she pressed her palms against the warm

electric advertisement and gingerly crab crawled down towards the metal railing. "Good. You're getting the hang of this!"

"Are you, now?" Darcy sneered from above Bloom as she appeared in a blast of purple with a dangerous smirk. Bloom's head snapped up and her eyes widened in panic before she gritted her teeth and shot her hand out, trying to create another barrier. But before she could call on that magic, Stormy had sent a bolt of lightning at her stomach while she wasn't looking.

Bloom cried out in pain and slammed against the billboard before falling forwards like a swatted fly. She struggled to get her wing muscles to flutter again as the gravity tugged her downwards, but they were twitching and pained from the lightning attack. Changing tactics, she then twisted her body so it faced upwards and clawed forwards through the air in an attempt to dig her nails into some sort of purchase on the ad.

No use, her boots slid and skidded against the smooth electric lighted surface and her fingers weren't having any luck either.

"I stand corrected again," Darcy said casually as she reappeared at Bloom's side and fell with her in a lounging position. Bloom squawked in surprise as Darcy continued with, "You don't have wings." She held a purple glowing palm up towards Bloom, but her attack plan was thwarted as Icy's body crashed atop her witch sister and sent them both careening out of control with yells of surprise.

A second later, Valtor swooped down and caught Bloom in his arms, raising an eyebrow at her. "A falling fairy. Now isn't that an ironic statement?"

Bloom blushed in embarrassment and hugged herself. "Ugh, sorry. I'm doing totally lame, aren't I?"

Valtor hummed. "I wouldn't say that. You're certainly better than most beginners."

Bloom turned back to him and smiled wanly.

"Of course, said beginners are usually between the ages of five and twelve."

Bloom's smile dropped into a scowl and she looked away again. "Jerk."

Valtor chuckled in amusement as he held Bloom closer to his chest to corkscrew out of the way of a barrage of icicles. "Jests aside, you're doing well for yourself so far. I expected nothing less of course, but at the moment I'll have to teach you lesson number two."

"'How to not suck at everything fairy 101?'" Bloom asked gloomily.

"No," Valtor said simply, taking one arm from beneath Bloom's legs to blast an energy beam at an approaching Stormy who dodged with a smug "ha!" "Offensive spells," Valtor said, frowning in annoyance at the storm witch before turning back to Bloom. "You won't survive without learning even the simplest of ones."

Bloom nodded before ducking a spell from Darcy. "Okay, how do I do that?"

"Similar to the shield spell, however instead of desiring for it to envelope you, you must keep the magic situated in your palm. For example." Valtor stopped flying around to hold his palm up for Bloom to see, then, an orb of magic grew slowly until it had reached the size of an apple. He then casually tossed it over his shoulder and smiled when a pained exclamation meant it had hit its mark.

"Now, are your wings working again?"

Bloom tested her weird new shoulder blade muscles and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good, I'm going to let you go now and I want you to show me stellar application." By letting go, Valtor apparently meant tossing her up into the air where Bloom squeaked in surprise and pinwheeled for a bit before gaining control of her muscles and fluttering jerkily in the air.

As the wizard zoomed off to engage Stormy and Darcy, Bloom was left with—eek!

Bloom quickly darted around a row of three icicles and quickly held out her arms to steady herself in the air. Icy laughed. "Wow, you really are a pathetic little pixie, aren't you?"

Bloom couldn't give a sassy retort, because Icy had whipped her and sent a horizontal shower of icicles after her. Wincing in anticipated pain at the sight, she quickly held up a barrier and sighed in relief as all the icicles—

Bloom gasped in horror as her shield began to freeze before shattering into millions of pieces that decorated the air before her in glittering diamonds.

"Aw. Fu—ah!" Bloom jerked left, then right, then right again, then ducked and spun around and lost her sense of direction as more icicles were hurled at her. Her stomach was tangled in knots and her wing muscles burned as she unceremoniously zipped around the projectiles.

One finally managed to slice her across the shin, and Bloom cried out in pain, pausing to glance down and hiss uncomfortably at the bleeding wound. A huge mistake, as she barely leaned back in time to avoid another icicle aimed at her face. As a result, she'd had to jerk her head back so fast that her neck stung in protest.

Then, if that wasn't enough, her body began to quake with a sudden chill and her limbs grew heavy. Glancing at her arm, Bloom gasped when she saw ice encasing both it and her other three limbs.

Gritting her teeth, Bloom fluttered her wings harder to fight the additional weight given to her by the magic spell creeping higher and higher up her body.

Icy laughed again, pressing a palm against her mouth in some sort of pretend show of decorum. "This is rich."

Bloom glared at her before looking around for Valtor, whimpering helpless when she saw him high in the clouds with the other two witches.

No. It was fine. She could get out of this.

Drive. Intent. Power.

"I don't know why anyone would bother teaching a hopeless loser like you," Icy continued as Bloom focused all her magic into her palms. The ice was slowly melting away, and Bloom felt a smile creeping onto her face.

Her body shook as something tingling and thick in texture shot itself through her veins. Suddenly, a vivid orange orb bloomed into existence beneath her skin, gaining vibrancy as Bloom poured more magic into it and focused on her determination.

Icy finally took notice, smirk dropping abruptly as she watched Bloom wide-eyed.

Bloom winked and thrust both hands in front of her, a blast of vivid white and glittering orange burning her vision and sending both her and Icy flying in opposite directions.

Strangely enough, a scream didn't even leave Bloom's lips—even as she tumbled through the air for the umpteenth time with no sense of direction. Something within her had unlocked, and her body was warm with magic and fire and—

CRASH.

Bloom's body slammed straight through the electric billboard, wires, glass, and sparks ricocheting and peppering her skin before her vision faded to black.

When she regained consciousness abound five seconds later, Valtor was there, eyes wide and lips parted in shock as he cradled her pounding head under a shower of sparks.

Bloom grinned blearily and held up a shaky thumbs-up. "That was...awesome."

Both Valtor and the two witches he was fighting had paused in their battle as a burst of vivacious fiery light exploded across the sky. As they turned in response to the sudden appearance of such power, they saw Icy and Bloom shoot off in opposite directions—Icy far worse for wear.

Darcy gasped and Stormy exclaimed, "Icy!" as the unconscious witch went plummeting.

Darcy disappeared and reappeared behind the falling body and grunted under the weight as Stormy flew down to meet her companions. "I knew this was a bad idea," the psychic witch crabbed before all three disappeared in a flash of magic from the battle scene.

Valtor was embarrassed in himself for feeling relieved. Fighting those witches had gotten him to wear his magic core and stutter his heart rate, and there was a disgusting level of sweat dotting his brow.

He'd just begun wiping said sweat away in disgust when an enormous CRASH sounded, spurring Valtor to flinch in surprise and whirl around to find its source. He then frowned as he saw his apprentice sprawled against the concrete of a building top, body still outlined in an orange glow.

It would be very obnoxious if she was dead, he felt. Thankfully, as he flew over to the building and lowered to the roof, he could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest. On top of which, she was still in her fairy form—an impossible feat for a corpse.

Landing among the shower of sparks, Valtor knelt and moved to cradle her head when he felt a sharp flash of magic ignite his own. His eyes widened and he gasped as the two energies within them twined together in an elaborate dance that had his nerves humming with strength.

Bloom's eyes fluttered open then, and she met his startled look with a shaky grin and a thumbs up. "That was awesome," She slurred before her fairy form melted off and returned her to her civilian clothes. "Wooo," she laughed like a tipsy woman and sighed with a smile. "Wait till I tell Mom and Dad I grew wings."

He blinked away the surprise and shook his head.

What an odd girl.

But Valtor supposed he should count his blessings—Bloom hadn't been scared off by this attack, nor had she been deterred, she'd seemed exhilarated and in turn, it was affecting his magic too.

As the redhead paced antsily around their magically replaced hotel room, Valtor busied himself with fixing the rest of the witch destroyed room. It brought a smile to his face, feeling just how easily the magic was flowing out of him after a frustratingly difficult battle with senior witches. Whatever had changed about Bloom's winx, he hoped it never faltered.

"I'm hungry," Bloom announced finally. "Can I order something downstairs?"

Valtor casually waved her off as he fixed the last of the room and leaned against the pillows in contemplation. Now that Bloom had gotten her fairy form, they could move on to getting what he wanted much, much sooner than he'd hoped. He'd just need to pick—

The room warmed with magic and Valtor's own flared in response. Blinking out of his musings, he turned to Bloom who'd transformed and was now admiring herself in the mirror with a grin.

Valtor raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to order lunch?"

"I am, I am! Thought I'd fly down, though," she said excitedly before throwing open the door and waving over her shoulder as she fluttered her wings "Be back in sec—eep!" The girl zipped rapidly to the side, and her scream and that of another could be heard, followed by the sound of clattering and "Sorry!"

Valtor smiled crookedly despite himself and scoffed at the situation. He would certainly have to help her with flight coordination.

The smile faded when the boost of magic did, however. His body lost its tingling sensation and the weariness from the battle returned. His eyes widened and he tried lighting a flame, only for it to splutter weakly in his gloved palm.

How was that even—? He stumbled to his feet and tried again, only for similar results to plague his gaze.

Without Bloom directly nearby could he truly be this pathetic?

Gritting his teeth, Valtor rose both hands, trying to command the furniture to rise. The beds, the television, the night tables and carpets all hovered a mere foot of the ground.

This was ridiculous.

With a strained grunt, Valtor dropped both of his glowing hands and slumped against the wall. With a loud and thunderous BANG, every bit of furniture hovering in the air crashed back down to the carpet.

He had once been able to explode planets with a snap of his fingers, send multiple spells within seconds during a duel, not feel like fainting after levitating a mere dozen items, not letting his heart race when he fought students! Snarling angrily, Valtor slammed the back of his fist against the wall and sent cracks spider webbing around the large crumbling wall dent.

A tentative knock sounded at the door. "Ah...sir? Is...everything alright?" A timid maid questioned.

"Perfectly fine, dear. Thank you," Valtor said, swiftly masking his agitation with himself with practiced charm and setting the room back to its original state with a wave of his hand. He needed something...something to enhance his powers before he lost his mind.

"Oh, hi! Is nobody in?" Valtor heard Bloom's muffled voice referring to the maid who seemed to be still there.

"I...think your roommate is having a drunken tantrum?"

Valtor scowled and strode over to the door, slipping his disguise on and throwing it open. "I was not," he said shortly. The woman squeaked and Bloom gave him a worried look behind wind-tousled red hair.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she questioned.

"I just said I wasn't having a drunken tantrum," he responded, glaring at the maid and memorizing her terrified face.

He was going to curse that blasted woman later tonight.

The maid smiled awkwardly and quickly scurried off as Bloom gave him a questioning look.

"If you must know I was practicing my magic," Valtor said as he re-entered the suite and shut the door telekinetically once Bloom had entered as well.

"Oh! How's that going?"

Valtor harrumphed.

Bloom winced. "Ouch." She then held out the tray she'd been carrying. "Spring roll knockoffs?"

Valtor's lips twitched as he let his disguise drop and took said "knock off spring roll". Though he wasn't sure if it was out of amusement or the rejuvenated hum his magic gave at her presence.

"Icy, I really think—"

"No."

"But—"

"I said, no, Stormy."

Stormy scowled from her bed with crossed arms as Darcy rubbed more salve over Icy's wounds. "I'm with Stormy, Icy. These look pretty bad—"

"If we go to the infirmary they'll ask questions, idiots!" Icy snapped, wincing as Darcy added a handful more cream to her back. "This is an us problem."

Darcy sighed as she twirled a finger, bandages falling from the tip like ribbon and wrapping around Icy's body. "Hate to say I told you so—"

"You live for those words, Darcy," Icy sneered, shoving a long blue sweater on to cover the bandages as soon as they'd finished wrapping.

"I mean sure, I like being right—who doesn't? But losing battles suck too, you know. Especially this badly."

"Where'd that power come from anyway?" Stormy demanded with a huff. "One minute she can barely fly straight and the next she's knocking Icy unconscious with a single blast?"

"That's what I've been wondering too," Icy muttered with a musing frown. "Another thing I noticed is how similar those two's energy is— her and that smug goth guy I mean."

"What if—"

"We forget about them and focus on our assignment?" Darcy cut Stormy off and ignored her glare. "No more talk of them until they're relevant to us again, got it?"

Stormy rolled her eyes and said, "Fine."

Icy harrumphed and nodded silently in agreement as well, her thoughts still curiously circling around the polar opposite duo.

In all but magic cores, it seemed.

...very powerful ones at that.

AN: Tee-hee! The way I fucking lied about the heist :3

Sorry! That was NOT my intent, but the chapter wouldn't stop sucker punching me for the longest time until I cut that plot point out. SO. NEXT CHAPTER will be the heist, and then I'll stop promising stuff because my brain magic is a finicky treasure and doesn't have a personal Valtor to train it.

That's it, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Fantasy Fan OUT!