"Do you ever think we are getting too old to stand around half-naked and pose for pictures?" Bloom asked the other Winx girls. Every year since they had graduated from Alfea, the Winx girls met once a year to go back to Alfea on the anniversary of their very first major victory, on the anniversary of the day when they defeated the Trix and their army of decay.

"Yes, but what can we do about it really, people want to see that we are still together, still friends if you will, and what better way to do that than to show up in our most powerful form at the place where we became The Winx," Tecna responded, her arm linked with Musa's as they stood in the room that used to be their dorm, surrounded by photographers. The room was now used as a shrine of sorts to the six girls rather than an actual dorm. Bloom couldn't speak for the others but personally, she found it revolting.

"Think of it this way Bloom, at least we get to change back into normal clothes before we go give that speech to the current Alfea students," Aisha said, her arms wrapped around herself as if to cover how exposed she truly was.

"Who wrote the speech this year?" Musa asked

"That would be me." Flora responded, "this year it's all about how important it is to make friends while at Alfea, after all, our friendship saved the magic dimension three times."

"What a wonderful message!" Stella squealed, clapping her hands as another flash went off. "I just love that these fairies still look up to us."

Bloom watched as the other girls followed the instructions of the photographers and posed, acting as if it was just another day at Alfea. She spoke when spoken to and posed as she was asked but in reality, she was miles away, thinking about the last encounter she had with Valtor. It had actually been the night before in London, in his small adorable flat, the one that she now considered her home.

-:-

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," Bloom whispered. Her body was curled up in Valtor's lap as he sat in the large overstuffed chair he kept by the fire. He had one hand wrapped around her back and the other in her hair, he was so still that if Bloom hadn't felt the small movements of him stroking her hair, she would have assumed he was asleep. "I mean, our anniversary made him want to try our relationship again."

"Try again?" Valtor asked, his hands slowing in her hair for less than a second before he resumed the calming movements.

"Yeah, we don't share a bedroom anymore, and I only really see him when we do public engagements and such, but now, he wants to start going on dates again, a few days ago he even claimed he wanted to start a family."

This time Valtor froze, he hadn't known this, he had been in the palace every day since the anniversary party, a month had gone by since that horrible day, he had been disguised, plotting, planning, and apparently not paying nearly enough attention. "He wants to start a family with you?" He asked, keeping his voice even. The fact that the prince of Eraklyon wanted to have a child with Bloom was concerning but what bothered him more was that Bloom was just telling him now, that he hadn't already known.

"I told him no of course, but I don't think I can hold him off for too long, after all, there are still rules about having an heir if you wish to remain leader of the kingdom, especially since I am the last remaining rightful heir to the throne."

"Have you ever thought about ending things with Sky publicly?" Valtor asked, his voice soft. It was an uncharacteristically vulnerable question and it caused her to look up at him.

"Of course I have" Bloom reassured, "But, that's not possible, not only would publicly divorcing Sky be a declaration of war with Eraklyon but it would lead us right back to the start of all of this, I need a husband to keep my kingdom and as much as I love you there is no possible way they would let you be that husband no matter how much magic you used."

"We could make it look like an accident" Valtor muttered more to himself than to her "We could get rid of that prince and with the grieving period you get from losing a spouse we could plan to have your parents disappear."

"As wonderful as that sounds" Bloom started sarcastically "That would be impossible, frozen for eighteen years or not my parents are still incredibly powerful. Not only that but if anyone ever found out that we killed Sky, heck, that we had this conversation, we would be killed faster than we could blink."

"Then we won't kill him." Valtor promised, "We will have someone else do it, your friends the Trix still owe me, I could break them out, they could cause panic for a while, in theory, your prince would want to be on the front lines, proving himself worthy or something, it would be so easy for him to get lost in the shuffle."

Bloom stared at Valtor, her lover, the one man who would do anything for her, and absorbed his plan. "that could work," she said slowly, thinking over the logistics in her head. "That would probably work."

-:-

"You have to have someone you can trust, someone who will build you up, or just help you with your homework," Aisha said, reading from the cards Flora had handed her before the six girls had taken the stage to give a speech to current and future Alfea students.

"Whether you come in with friends galore," Stella said

"Or no friends in the entire dimension" Bloom stopped as the audience members chuckled

"Making friends is the best thing about Alfea" Musa added

"The classes are great" Tecna inserted

"But the friendships you make are better," Aisha said

"After all, we couldn't have done what we did without each other." Flora finished

The audience applauded, Bloom tried very hard not to roll her eyes. Of course, they were eating it up. The people would only see what they wanted to see. Six best friends who had saved them multiple times, still together and ready to defend them at a moment's notice.

"And here I thought we played a small part in your heroics." A droll voice came from the audience. Bloom hid a smirk behind her hand. It was amazing what two people could do in 24 hours.

"What? Did you forget about us already?"

There were gasps as the Trix rose above the crowd.

"You! How did you escape whatever hole we threw you in all those years ago?"

"Well the forgotten always come back the strongest" Darcy replied "Plus, we made sure that our friends in high places always knew where to find us."

"They also helped us find you," Stormy said, lighting crackling at her fingertips.

The Winx girls wasted no time, all of them, including Bloom, transforming into their Enchantix. The battle was short, as had been planned the night before. The Trix were not there to challenge the Winx, nor were they there to get themselves re-captured. They were there to be precursors. They were there to raise tensions in the Magic Dimension, make people feel unsafe then disappear.

Fear was a powerful tool, Bloom knew this for a fact, and she would show the people still depending on the Winx that their mightiest heroes were no longer their saviors.

Bloom would stop being what everyone expected and start being herself. She refused to keep losing, it was time for her revenge.