Chapter 12 - Dark Bloom

Daphne sprinted after her parents down the hallways. "There's absolutely no way Bloom would have done this! Believe me!"

"Who else would have Daphne? You're here, Miriam's here, Baltor's gone, Lilith's gone… there's no one left." Oritel sounded bitter and sad. "No one but Bloom."

"But Daddy!" Daphne gave up on convincing her father. "Mother! You surely don't believe Bloom could have done this!"

Miriam glanced at Daphne, then Oritel, then the floor. "I… I don't know what to believe, Daphne." She wrung her hands before her in anxious uncertainty and bit her lip. "Who else could there be?

"Shame on both of you…" Daphne clenched her fists and stopped trailing her parents. A mix of disbelief and anger rose up in her and she snapped after her parents. "…she's my sister!"

Miriam and Oritel both stopped and turned to look at Daphne. Daphne just stared back, holding both their gazes with a look of defiance that matched if not outdid the looks Bloom was known for. "You've done this to her before! You blamed her for my death! She told me you blamed her! As her parents you ought to know what she's capable of doing!" Miriam was about to interject but Daphne stopped her. "If I were a suspect you wouldn't hesitate to defend me! How's Bloom any different? She's your daughter too…"

Her parents cast sidelong looks at one another and Oritel approached Daphne carefully. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know I want to believe in only the best of Bloom. You don't understand that there is a worst of Bloom though…"

Daphne flinched and pulled back from Oritel. "What are you saying?"

Oritel's brown eyes shined with internal struggle and sadness. "It was brought to Miriam's and my attention that Bloom had turned in a particular situation involving Lord Darkar a while back. We believe that such a situation has come to pass again and we need to stop her."

"Turned." Daphne furrowed brow and glanced at Miriam. "What does he mean by turned?"

"Bloom said that you never knew about the situation with Lord Darkar and she never wanted you to know." Miriam said softly. "Darkar was able to turn Bloom over to his side and manipulate her in an attempt to obtain the Ultimate Power. She became a creature called Dark Bloom, an evil, power-hungry creature that only wants to conquer and destroy."

"Not Bloom!" Daphne exclaimed in horror.

"Not Bloom." Oritel reassured her. "The Bloom we love and know would never be capable of such tyranny. But Dark Bloom is capable and only happy to do so. The last time Bloom turned, her friends were lucky to have been able to break the spell. Or so they thought."

"You think Dark Bloom still resided within Bloom after she broke free of Darkar's spell." A confusing mix of fear and faith took over Daphne as she tried to make sense of what her parents were saying. "And now she's trying to come back from within Bloom."

"Bloom's very powerful right now Daphne. She needs to be… stopped." Oritel said sadly.

"Oritel… there's got to be another way!" Miriam took hold of Oritel's hand and looked up into his face. "A way to stop Dark Bloom without hurting Bloom!"

Oritel looked at Miriam, then at Daphne. "If only." Then he turned and strode off, leaving Daphne and Miriam to watch him and struggle with remorse.

Sky sat hunched over in his chair, his head held in his hands as he stared at the floor. Everything was falling apart. Everything was being torn apart. All because of Bloom. His Bloom.

A whistle sounded beyond his vision. Riven's voice followed, "Did her knee do that much damage, man? Are you ever going to be able to walk again?"

Sky rolled his eyes and sat up, glaring at Riven. "Got some snide comments to make? Well I don't have time for them. I've got a fiancé to kill."

Riven snorted. "You always assume my purpose in life is to antagonize you Sky. I've generally got better things to do than spend time kicking your ass out of the dumps."

"What?" Sky stood and crossed his arms, staring confused at Riven. "You're trying to tell me you've been helping me all along?"

"Sky…" Riven walked up until the two of them were face to face, a smirk plastered on his face. "Since when has anyone been able to get anything done in the sad, sorry-ass, dejected state you're in now? I purposely taunt you to rile you up so you can actually get something done, your royal hind-sightedness… well, okay… I do it because I get a kick out of it too. But you've only been able to help Bloom as much as you have because I pissed you off enough to do something productive."

"Right… okay Riven! Since you've been ever so helpful with saving Bloom, what's your idea on stopping her?" Sky sneered as he walked past Riven to exit the room.

"Don't." Riven said quietly.

Sky turned and stared confused at Riven again. "What?"

"It's Bloom, Sky." Riven turned to face Sky. "It's not quite her and you know it."

"I know it." Sky murmured. "But I have to do something about it. Before something else bad happens. The Bloom we love and know wouldn't want these things happening."

"The Bloom we love and know just totally kicked your ass, Sky." Riven said with a straight face. "But she looked horrified by what happened. The Bloom that attacked Alfea, however, was beaten by Roxy and laughed at the destruction she caused. There's more than one side of the Bloom coin at play here."

"What are you saying? Like she's suffering from some kind of multiple personality complex?" Sky thought about it for a second and what Riven had been getting at finally dawned on him. "Dark Bloom."

Riven nodded slowly. "I'm guessing Bloom's powers are getting harder to control. Therefore, Dark Bloom has become stronger and harder for Bloom to suppress."

"Shit." Holding his temple between his thumb and forefinger, Sky's thoughts scrambled to understand what it was Riven was telling him. " Tecna was right. It's starting to make sense now. Bloom couldn't do those things, but Dark Bloom sure as hell could. She's been taking Bloom over and using her powers to cause trouble. She attacked Alfea, she summoned the Army of Decay, she summoned Baltor…" Sky looked at Riven. "It's why she couldn't figure out about the Hall of Enchantment or the Ultimate Power. Bloom knew about those things, not Dark Bloom."

"Bloom must've still been inside during the fight with the Winx. It would explain why Flora said she saw Bloom's eyes." Riven frowned. "Sky, we were barely able to break Bloom out of Dark Bloom before. What if Dark Bloom's too strong this time? How are we going to set Bloom free?"

"We will save Bloom." Sky stated with determination. He turned back to door when it opened to reveal Flora standing before him. "Flora? What is it?"

"Sky… it's Bloom. She… she's attacked Eraklyon."