A/N: Quick update, but I felt inspired! Hope you loves enjoy, and please leave me some reviews! XOXOX!

Chapter 15

As soon as Tecna left, Bloom went off into a frenzy.

She ran around the dorm room, throwing all of her meager possessions into her suitcase. Kiko bounced nervously around her feet, sensing the danger in the air. In all the conundrum, Bloom had forgotten she had brought her bunny along to Alfea with her. Bloom desperately wanted to take the bunny with her, but she knew he would only be a liability. It wasn't safe for her to put his life in danger, so she would have to leave him behind. She doubted that her roommates would punish her pet for her actions; Flora seemed sweet enough to care for him while Bloom was away. Bloom could only hope Kiko would understand. The bunny was so attached to her, and to leave another piece of her normal life behind seemed almost unbearable, though the thought of Kiko getting caught in the crossfire was even worse.

The clothes on her body weren't the best for traveling, but there wasn't much she could do about that. The crop top and ruffled skirt with matching boots would have to do. Rummaging through Flora's possessions, she came across a long jacket. It thankfully was no pink, but beige in color so that it would not stand out and possessed a large enough collar to disguise some of her face once she got into Magix City. Bloom didn't have time to think about the fact that she was stealing on top of all the other crimes she had committed. Besides, this one was petty compared to cold blooded murder. Surely Flora wouldn't think too much of a missing coat with everything else going on.

The sun was starting to set by the time Bloom was ready. She hadn't been packing for long, but she pushed her luck the longer she stayed around. Tecna would be back any minute with the guard; Bloom needed to act now.

Opening up the window, Bloom surveyed her exit route. It was about a three story drop around the back of the school. There were shrubs that would disguise her fall, and break it if her wings failed her. From there it was a straight shot into the woods to the city. Once in the city, she would find someone to take her off planet. The cost wasn't an issue, and there was bound to be someone shady enough to break the rules. If not, she would just have to lay low for awhile until an opportunity presented itself. Even though it wasn't the best plan, any place was better than Alfea.

The front door jostled, multiple masculine voices filling the common space. Bloom's heart started pounding in her chest as she picked up her suitcase opened the window. She did a quick, cursory check to see if anyone was around before perching in the window frame and throwing herself out. Thankfully her magic was in working order and her descent was slowed so that her feet gently touched the ground. She waved her hand and resealed the window, Kiko's sad little face pressed up against the glass. She blew her bunny a kiss and took off.

She was barely into the woods when she heard alarm bells blare, the Alfea College for Fairies suddenly on high alert. Her absence had been detected; they knew she was on the run. It was only a matter of minutes before they sent the guard and dogs after her. She needed to move faster.

Summoning her power, Bloom gave into the beast, her vision running red as she transformed into her fairy form. With her wings, she was able to move at five times the speed, greenery blurring past her. The sound of engines droned from high above - hovercraft scanning the airspace for her, forcing Bloom to stay low to the ground. It was inconvenient as well as maddening, dodging spotlights from the ships as well as navigating towards Magix. She could barely remember the path the busses took on a good day. Complied with all this stress and the intensity was overwhelming.

Thankfully the trees cleared and the skyscrapers of Magix came into view. Unfortunately, the only thing that stood between her and the sanctuary of the city was a wide open field. It wasn't that long, maybe a hundred feet, but long enough that it would make her a sitting duck for the hovercraft. But she had to risk it. If she kept hesitating, the dogs and guards on bikes would catch up to her in no time.

Swallowing, Bloom closed her eyes and dashed out from the trees.

Immediately, she took on heavy fire. The hovercraft fixed their lights on her with a blinding intensity, phasers firing from all directions. Bloom tried her best to conjure a shield, but the force of impact knocked her down to the ground. She was forced to continue on foot, sprinting towards the building as her fairy form flickered.

No, don't fail me now! She pleaded with her magic, willing the beast to protect her just a little while longer. The trees were so close, just a few more feet away! Until a blast from behind knocked her off her feet and sent her sprawling across the grass.

We have you surrounded! a robotic voice came over the intercom, a trio of ships blocking her in at all sides, guns trained on with their little red dots focused on her chest. Surrender now or be exterminated!

The beast didn't like that word exterminated. In fact, it was just the kind of talk Bloom needed to get the beast riled up.

She stood her ground, picking herself up and brushing off the dirt. Her vision was blood red, already picking out her targets. Men came from the woods, parking their levabikes and running towards her on foot, golden dogs snapping at their heels, ready to be set loose. The beast purred happily, ready to bathe in their blood.

The hovercraft fired first, unleashed their full fury upon her as they tore up the space near her feet. Trees splintered and shattered. Dirt flew up in chunks, debris polluting the air in a layer of thick dust. But nothing touched Bloom, the strength of her shield now multiplied from the strength of the beast. Her two parts were working in harmony for one express purpose: survive.

When the attack ceased, it was her turn to lash out.

Balls of fire grew in her hands, and she threw them when they were big enough to do damage. She created a perimeter of fire, protecting herself in a ring that incinerated everything it touched. Some guards learned that the hard way, flames licking up their uniforms as they were swallowed whole. Still, some had the audacity to attack, sending bombs and blasts down to stop her. Fire balls were the only attack she knew instinctively, and though they were effective against the ground, they had minimal effect on the ships in the air.

Her body rose in the air as she gave herself up to the power, letting the beast take control. Gathering her last bits of rage, she summoned a dragon made of pure fire, its cry mimicking her own as she set it loose on the hovercraft. The dragon tore into the sides of the ships, its flames infiltrating every available crack until all three exploded like fireworks, shards of flaming metal and man raining down upon the space as it took out any remaining hostiles on the ground.

If only that were enough.

Off in the distance, she could hear the hum of more engines, more troops on their way and Bloom was reminded that it wasn't just these men but the entire planet of Eraklyon that was after her. She did not have the strength to fight off a military single handedly, retransforming as her last bits of magic were used up, and so she was forced back into running.

The city was close now, the last bit of once-meticulously-landscaped trees depositing her right on the outskirts of Magix. She wound down the streets, keeping ahead from the heavy steps that were close behind her. She made sure to keep her collar up, the burned edges of the coat snapping at her ankles. It was maddening, her ears hearing shouts and orders from all directions. Nothing felt safe. Briefly, she thought of ducking into a building, but everyone was so paranoid that the first person who saw her in her distraught, crispy state would call the authorities.

So she kept going. She kept running and winding even though her lungs burned from the exertion and her legs threatened to give out from under her. She kept running until the voices sounded distant and the city got rougher. She was in witch district, that much she could gather from the dingy cauldron shops and the names of cafés such as Witches Brew. This was dangerous territory for her on a good day; on a bad day, there was no telling what or who she would run into.

"Well well well, if it isn't the little Earth girl," came a familiar, chilling voice from the other end of the alley.

Bloom swiveled to find the ice witch flanked by her sisters standing menacingly at the mouth of the alley, blocking off her route of escape. They had transformed, dark leather suits blending in with the evening shadows, all six eyes focused intently on her.

"I don't want to fight you," Bloom implored, hoping it would be enough to ward the witches off. She was exhausted and had no intentions of getting in their way or stopping whatever horrible thing they were off to do this late at night. But the longer they stayed in the alley, the more Bloom got the feeling that the horrible thing they were going to do pertained to her.

"You don't, but we do!" Stormy shouted gleefully.

The witch raised her arms in a familiar crossing motion that signified the conjuring of a twister. Soon, the wind in the confined space began twisting into a vortex, the grey mass spinning towards Bloom at breakneck speed. Bloom was too slow to outrun the tornado, getting caught up in its funnel as it spun her around and spat her out across the street. She felt bruises growing where her back skid across the ground, burning raw. She stood up on shaky legs, her boots catching on cracks in the concrete.

"Please, just stop," she begged, hating how far she had fallen to be groveling with these terrible witches. "You'll draw attention."

"What's the matter?" Stormy simpered, adopting a baby voice as she taunted, "scared wittle gurl is gonna run away?"

Bloom backed away from Stormy whose arms were already poised to send another twister, but there was nowhere to go. Her back hit a wall - not a fence or something she could push out of the way - but a wall. Bloom was effectively trapped; if the witches wanted to kill her and leave her body in the street for the Eraklyan guard to find, they had the power to.

"Easy Stormy," another voice said as a pale hand was placed firmly on her shoulder. Icy stepped around her sister, making her the new center of attention, not that it brought Bloom any comfort that her attacker had been exchanged for one that was even more brutal. "You really seem to be in a bind, don't you little fairy?"

"Stop calling me that?" Bloom hissed.

"Calling you what? Little?" Icy continued, blue eyes mercilessly mocking.

"Fairy."

She had hated that name before, but now she hated it more since she knew that she wasn't a fairy at all. It felt like a lie, a dirty lie that stuck to her skin and wouldn't come off. Fairy was not what she was, and now it was only a reminder of the deception she had unknowingly played to all her friends.

"Oh this is good! Has she gone to the dark side?" Darcy taunted, evil laughter lacing her voice. "Got a taste and can't go back to being a goody-two-shoes?"

"Just leave me alone," Bloom shouted.

What the hell did they want from her? Did they track her down just kick her where it hurt most and make her feel like shit? Didn't they have better things to do than torment underclassmen? Still, they did not listen; honestly, Bloom wasn't surprised. They never gave up easily nor did they follow directions. They were inconsiderate bitches who insisted on reveling in her pain and hovering near her while she wallowed in her misery.

"It seems as though you're a wanted woman," Icy stated, not concerned with the requests of a fairy who could barely stand her own in a fight. "Your face is plastered all over Magix. So tell me... what's keeping us from kicking your pathetic loser ass and collecting the reward?"

"I'm not so easily beaten," Bloom warned, the fire of the beast demanding to be released, to show these witches just how dangerous she could be. If they knew...if they only knew what she was capable of.

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Icy indulged. "After all, I hear you've been doing some reading in the restricted section."

Bloom was dumbstruck. There was no denying what Icy was implying, her words too precise and delivered in far too callous a manner to mean anything else.

"How do you - "

"Please," Darcy scoffed, rolling her eyes as if Bloom were an idiot. "Who do you think led you to that book?"

Again, Bloom was stunned. She had no idea how to feel, no idea what to think. On one hand, the witches could have cursed the book, shown her something horrible about her past that would have turned her against her friends and made her into a pariah. They were evil enough that she would not put such treachery past them. But on the other hand, there was too much pointing to the book being truth for it to be coincidence. There were things in that book, facts about her heritage that were too wild to just make up. So they wanted her to see the truth, but that begged the question:

"Why?"

"Because I believe we can help each other," Icy replied, crowding Bloom's space as her voice took on a conspiratorial tone. "Since I'm feeling generous, I'll offer you in exchange."

"I don't have anything."

"On the contrary, Bloom, you do," Icy insisted, lowering herself so that she was nearly nose to nose with her, blue eyes piercing as she stated what she wanted. "The Dragon Flame."

"The what?" Bloom spluttered. "That's just a myth!"

These witches...they knew too much. Everyone seemed to know too much and Bloom had no idea what to do about it or who to trust. It seemed like everyone was against her or trying to use her for something. This magical world had not been as much of a safe haven as it seemed. It was becoming clear that even if she had not killed the prince and ended up in this situation, sooner or later, the witches would have put her in one. They wanted the Dragon Flame, something that very few knew still existed and the one thing that could summon the army written on the pages of their spell books Bloom had procured when the girls had stolen back Stella's ring.

"You and I both know that it's more than a myth," Icy tutted, a single finger digging into her chest right over her heart. "You have it, deep inside your heart and if you hand it over to us, we will arrange safe passage anywhere you want."

"How? The curfew..."

"Witches have their ways," Icy dismissed, tired of Bloom's stalling. "Now, do we have a deal?"

"You can send me home?" Bloom asked under her breath as if she could not believe it. All she wanted to do was go back to Gardenia and crash on her couch, to fall asleep in her own bed and wake up only to have this all be one bad dream. But the price was steep. She knew that if she handed over the Dragon Flame, terrible things would happen to Magix and possibly the rest of the Magical Dimension.

What has the Magical Dimension ever done for you? the beast snarled. Her friends had all but turned their backs, the Headmistress never liked her and liked her even less once she transformed, her Earth parents were still injured and she was no closer to knowing how to help them, and magic was the reason she was in this situation in the first place. She should have no loyalties to this horrible place. Besides, it wasn't like she needed the Dragon Flame as a succubus. Apparently her kind had plenty of natural power that would be far easier to control.

"If that's where you want to go."

Voices came from a few blocks away. They were closing in on her. If she waited any longer, she would be caught and all of this would be for naught. The allure of home was too much to pass up. In haste, Bloom shook her head in consent. Whatever the witches wanted to do with the Dragon Flame was up to them. So long as they got her the hell out of dodge before they did it, she couldn't care less.

"Perfect!" Icy exclaimed with glee. "Now hold still, this may hurt."

Before Bloom could react, Darcy had levitated her body above the ground, her eyes glowing a solid purple as ropes of pure energy wound around Bloom's arms. They were all chanting, ominous words darkening the space as three delicate yet sinister looking crystals appeared out of thin air. The crystals created a triangle, a network of pure energy crackling between them as they moved to hover above Bloom. The triangle grew larger and hotter, creating a vacuum that made Bloom's body arch towards it. Even when she could no longer move due to her bindings, it felt like her heart was still lurching out of her chest until something actually did come out of her chest.

It burned, white hot pain searing through her chest and down her abdomen. She wanted to scream but refrained. All this magic was bound to have attracted attention. The screams of a wanted fugitive on top of that would not bode well. Instead, she watched in horrific fascination as a ball of fire in the shape of a heart hovered in front of her, the living embodiment of magic flickering wildly as it tried to return to its rightful master. Instead, it was siphoned into the crystals, bringing the energy to all new heights.

A flash of white light blinded Bloom temporarily. When her vision cleared the crystals were gone, and so was the flame. By the way the witches were smirking, auras of power radiating from their bodies, she could only assume that the transfer worked and the Dragon Flame had been split three ways. Despite her desperation, Bloom couldn't help but think she made a terrible mistake.

"You got what you wanted!" Bloom shouted, feeling colder and colder since parting with the flame, as if the very thing that warmed her soul had been ripped away. "Now keep up your end of the deal!"

"Of course," Icy purred, "Sisters, lend me your strength."

Stormy and Darcy converged their powers, pink and purple light leaving their bodies to mingle with Icy's blue. Together they were strong enough to wrench open a small portal, blue edges swirling unevenly.

"This will take you home, though I would hurry if I were you," Icy encouraged, studying her nails. "It won't stay open for long."

With that, the witches disappeared, flying off into the distance and leaving Bloom alone to face whatever was to come. The portal flickered; it didn't look very secure, but it was her only shot. The voices were growing near, angry commands from gruff, angry voices closing around her at all angles. They would be at her alley any second.

Bloom didn't think twice. She jumped.

The portal closed behind her, blue tendrils of energy snagging on the heel of her boots. She lost one in the process, watching the shoe remain behind as the Magix alleyway disappeared. She would have cursed losing another favorite article of clothing, but she had more urgent matters to worry about...mainly the fact that there was no ground to catch her.

Bloom propelled to the ground, the portal opening up high in the air. She felt her body drop like a stone, plummeting into the darkness. Try all she could, her wings would not come, lost along with the Dragon Flame. The witches had tricked her, preyed on her desperation and sent her to her death with no magic to defend herself.

The ground came hurtling into view at rapid speed. There was no way to stop the inevitable collision. So, Bloom closed her eyes and waited for the black void to take her.

At Cloud Tower, the storms above the oppressive school were especially violent as Stormy reveled in her newfound strength.

On the roof, the storm witch summon lightning bolts that struck plaster off of the ancient towers and rains so heavy they drops would cut straight to the bone had Darcy not put up a defensive shield. Darcy and Icy had no heart to tell their sister to calm her excitement. If their powers had been less conspicuous, they too would have taken the time to break in their new abilities. However, they still prized the element of surprise, and while bad storms could easily be blamed on nature, ice sheets and total hysteria could only point to one culprit. The witches could not risk exposure, not until the Army of Decay was at their command. Then, they would tear this school apart stone by stone and slaughter every spineless witch, pixie, and hero that dared defy them until they alone controlled this forsaken planet...and eventually the entire realm.

"It's ours sisters! What we've been fighting for for so long!" Icy praised, conjuring her whisperia crystal just to bask in the satisfaction that it had taken on a bright white color near the center where the Dragon Flame resided.

"It's beautiful," Darcy said as she gazed hungrily at her part of the flame, stroking it tenderly before replacing it back inside her crystal. "Griffin and the rest of this miserable planet won't even know what hit them."

"Let's summon the Army now!" Stormy encouraged, a manic glee in her eyes. "Why wait any longer? Why hide in the shadows when we have the power to rule?"

"Patience Stormy," Icy quieted her overeager sister, much to Stormy's blatant disappointment. "There are still things that need to be done."

"Like what?" Darcy asked, mildly annoyed.

"Like getting rid of those meddling Alfea pixies for one," Icy reminded them sharply. "The succubus may be gone but the rest of them have the pages on the Army of Decay. They know what we are planning."

"But they don't know we have the flame," Stormy said. "Not yet at least."

"I say we visit their school and give them a little demonstration of our new powers. Show them what happens to those who cross us," Darcy suggested, her dark eyes peering over slanted frames with an evil glint that Icy loved.

"What a wonderfully wicked idea sister," Icy praised, her mind already conjuring up a dozen new, powerful spells that would send the insolent fairies to their deaths. It would be a beautiful bloodbath, a glorious start to their conquest. Fairies represented hope and all that was good in magic. With them out of the way, there would be one less force around to hinder their Army.

"Where did you send that pathetic creature anyway?" Darcy asked, her bored tone containing a hint of curiosity.

"I sent her exactly where she wanted," Icy mused, a mischievous smile creeping its way up her lips. "Home."