"After three years of hard work, and more than a little… unforeseen excitement, your experience here at the Alfea College for Fairies is nearing its end. And now, within the presence of your closest friends, you will celebrate the Day of the Gift. It is time for our proud graduates to take up their mantles as guardian fairies." Cheering from the underclassmen. "Step forward, graduates."

From the top of the highest tower, I watched as my friends walked proudly up to Ms Faragonda, each with smiles wide enough to illuminate the world. I should be down there with them, I thought somewhat bitterly. If I were any other girl at Alfea, I would be. But no – I have to be the unusual one, and not in a good way.

Almost immediately, I felt ashamed of myself for even thinking that. These were my best friends; I should be happy for them on their big day, rather than brooding on my own circumstances. That's what a real best friend would do in my position.

But as I watched them open the little jewelry boxes and receive an infusion of magical energy distinct to their home world, fierce longing burned white-hot in my chest. It wasn't fair. I deserved it just as much as they did – maybe (if I was being totally, blankly honest) even more. After all, who was the one that had seemingly had a big fat target sign on her back every single year?

And yet I was up here, rather than down there. I sighed and angled my body so I wouldn't have to look at the scene going on below me, instead staring off towards the forest and Lake Roccaluce.

Thinking about the lake turned my thoughts to a subject that they'd been coming back to often lately – Baltor. After the battle under the riverbed, when I'd broken the seal on the Agador box, he had just disappeared, never to be heard from again. After an anxious week or so of waiting, Ms Faragonda had eventually determined that he must have drowned when the water returned to the lake, and that we were free of him. Her word was good enough for everyone else, and things had more or less returned to normal (or rather, what passed for normal around here). But as the only person alive with the actual ability to determine whether or not he was dead, I just didn't feel satisfied.

It all felt too… anticlimactic. Yes, there had been a battle under the riverbed, but it was hardly the kind of battle I'd imagined when I thought about finally defeating him. And that little tingle in the back of my mind that always alerted me to his presence was vastly muted, but not completely gone. Now matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had not killed him – that he was still alive out there somewhere, biding his time, waiting to strike back.

But I'd held my tongue, not wanting to cause unncessary panic. And when weeks passed with no word, I'd almost allowed myself to believe that Ms Faragonda was right – that maybe he was gone for good, and we could get on with our lives.

Reality reared its ugly head at the strangest times, though – like now, as I was watching the others graduate. It's his stupid fault, I mused, burying my face in my hands. He's the reason Sparx was destroyed; the reason I'm up here rather than down there. What I wouldn't give for a final face-off – to kill him for real this time.

"There you are." I was pulled from my thoughts by a voice I knew very, very well. Smiling to myself as I looked up to see Sky landing his hoverboard on the top of the tower, I idly wondered how he'd found me – and if that meant the others knew I'd taken refuge up here. "I was beginning to worry about you. Why is my beautiful princess locked up in her tower?"

I laughed, mostly to make him feel better, since that joke was ridiculously stupid and didn't even make much sense. "Just wasn't in a celebrating mood, you know?" I glanced down to the others, being congratulated by Ms Faragonda for their accomplishments. "It's incredibly selfish of me, I know, but I just–"

"Are you kidding me? You are maybe the least selfish person I know." He stepped closer, taking my hand in his. "I get it, okay? I know why today would be hard for you. And I'm sure the girls will too, once you tell them. Don't worry about it."

I sighed, and let him pull me up from the bench, leaning my head against his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Now come on. Let's get you back to the others so you girls can do your primp thing and get ready for the party tonight. Or are you so down in the dumps that you're skipping that too?"

I laughed. "No, I'm going. A girl's gotta leave her tower sometimes, you know?" He chuckled at my reference to his stupid joke from earlier.

"Then hop on. I'll have you down in no time."

He mounted the hoverboard again, and I carefully stepped on in front of him, balancing myself with his hands wrapped around my waist and shoulders. As he pulled me tight against him, I could feel his heartbeat, steady and reassuring. It was a good metaphor for Sky himself – always there when I needed him, ready to lend a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on or a sword in battle when I was in trouble. I had no doubts as to his feelings for me, even after all the trouble I'd pulled him into year after year.

So then why did it feel vaguely wrong to be here with him now?

That weird feeling of unease lingered all through the night, as I got dressed with the girls and chattered about immediate plans post-graduation. Spirits were generally high, and thankfully no one mentioned my lack of presence at the ceremony. Whether they were giving me the benefit of the doubt as Sky had or truly hadn't realized I wasn't there, I didn't know, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Can you believe we're finally done?" Musa exclaimed, uncharacteristically twirling giddily, the full skirt of her dress spinning out behind her. "No more getting up at seven AM, no more tests, no more of Griselda's cruel and unusual punishments… no more Griselda, period?" We all laughed at that.

"Yeah, but you guys do realize that graduation also means no more seeing each other every day, right?" I wasn't trying to bring down the effervescent mood, just pointing out the obvious that they all seemed to have overlooked. "You're all guardian fairies now; you'll be going home to protect your worlds. We'll be lucky if we all see each other a couple times a year."

Stella smacked my upper arm playfully. "Bloom, stop being such a downer! It's graduation!" Something about the way her limbs moved loosely and the slightly slurred sound of her speech made me think she'd been drinking something a bit stronger than sparkling cider. "And anyway, that is so not true. We're the Winx Club! If we didn't let the Trix, Darkar, or Baltor break us up, I don't know why you think graduation, of all things, is going to."

"Yeah, Bloom, we're best friends forever. Nothing's going to come between us, even when we're not at Alfea anymore." Flora linked her arm through mine, as the others nodded their agreement.

I sighed, dropping the argument for now. "I guess you're right," I said finally.

"Of course we're right. Haven't you learned anything by now?" Layla joked, slinging an arm around my shoulder. "Now come on. The boys are probably dying a slow, painful death by boredom out there without us beautiful ladies to play with." More giggles from the entire group.

As we all linked up to enter the party together, like the inseparable group we'd been for the last three years, I couldn't help but feel that no matter what the others said, tonight was not a night for celebrating. Why was I the only one who seemed to realize that this wasn't the start of something, but rather the end of everything?

Or maybe… it was only that way for me.

Sky was awestruck as I came down the stairs. "You look stunning," he said, kneeling slightly to kiss my hand. I blushed, more embarrassed than charmed by his over-the-top gesture.

"It's the same thing I wore to Stella's princess ball, and to the Millennium Ball," I demurred.

"You look better in it every time I see you," he insisted. The music started up again. "Dance with me?"

We danced for several songs, the others often whirling in and out of our sight. Finally, Sky stopped. "Something's bothering you," he said. "I can see it in your eyes." I pursed my lips. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I swear," I said, but he wasn't buying it. Taking my wrist, he pulled me out into the hall, where it was quieter. I sighed and let go of his hand, walking over to a nearby window and staring out at the starry night.

"Is it about what happened earlier?" he asked after a moment, still intent on getting an answer.

Resigning myself to the fact that I was apparently going to have to talk whether I wanted to or not, I sighed and said, "Sort of. I don't know." I took another few steps, turning in a circle with my arms oustretched. "I just.. Alfea's been my home for the last three years. These girls are my family. But I guess… it's all over now."

"School's over," he corrected me. "Our lives are just beginning." He stopped and peered at me curiously. "Or… is that what's scaring you?"

I looked down at the ground, grabbing fistfuls of my skirt in my hands. "They all made it in the end. And I didn't."

"Are you kidding?" He tilted my chin upwards to meet his gaze. "Everyone knows you're the strongest fairy at Alfea."

"But I'm also a princess without a kingdom." I turned away from him, back to the window. "I just feel so… unanchored. All the other girls know exactly what they're going to do when we leave tomorrow. And I have nowhere to go but Gardenia." Though I loved Mike and Vanessa dearly, the thought of going back to Earth after my three amazing years in the magical dimension was incredibly depressing.

"Maybe that's not true." There was a rustle of fabric and the light clinking sound of jewelry. "I think you have somewhere else to go." I turned around to see him holding out a delicate gold chain necklace with a small gold heart locket hanging off it. "You could come back to Eraklyon with me."

"Sky, it's so pretty," I exclaimed, reaching out to touch the necklace. He smiled, thankfully not noticing that I hadn't responded to the second part of his offer, and motioned for me to turn it around so he could drape it around my neck.

"It's a family heirloom," he continued, as he did up the clasp. "Men in the Eraklyon royal family are supposed to give it to the girl they want to be with forever. And, well… for me, that's you, Bloom."

Suddenly, the relatively light weight of the chain around my neck felt unbearably heavy, like an anchor. Though he'd said the words shyly, there was no mistaking the intention behind them – this was more or less the promise of a marriage proposal some time in the not-too-distant future.

The question was, why did I feel so apprehensive? Certainly, after all we'd been through together, the idea of marrying Sky wasn't foreign. In fact, Flora had even teased that said proposal might have happened even earlier in the year (although it hadn't). And staying in the magical dimension was definitely preferrable to going back to Gardenia. So why did the mere thought make my stomach roll over in knots?

Then it was like a fog had lifted, and I could see clearly now – I did not love Sky. Maybe I never had. I'd stayed with him as long as I had mostly out of a sense of propriety, and so I wouldn't be the odd girl out. But as plainly as I knew my own name, I suddenly knew that I did not want to become Queen of Eraklyon.

Maybe this whole thing was a blessing in disguise. For the past three years, I'd defined myself as being a student at Alfea, part of the Winx Club, Sky's girlfriend. Perhaps graduation was a chance for me to discover who I really was, undefined by anyone else.

But that meant I now had to tell Sky…

With a heavy heart, I reached up and undid the clasp, letting the necklace pool into my palm. "I'm so sorry, Sky," I started, struggling to find the right words. "But I don't think I'm the girl this belongs to after all."

He looked like somone had just punched him in the stomach. I winced, not having had any idea how much this would affect him. "But… but… why?" he sputtered, regaining the ability to speak after a few moments of shell-shocked silence. "What did I do?"

"Nothing, nothing," I reassured him. "I just had a little revelation, and realized that I've been with you for all the wrong reasons. I don't think I'm your queen, but I wish you all the best in finding her." I dropped the necklace into his open palm and closed his fingers around it. "I'm really sorry. But you were right earlier, when you said that this is the start of the rest of our lives. And I want to find out who I am, rather than be chained to a throne not mine by blood."

It took him a moment to formulate another response. "Where will you go, then?"

"I don't know," I called over my shoulder, already starting to walk down the hall, leaving him behind. "But I'm sure I'll have fun figuring it out."

My heart raced as I walked away from him and the rest of the ballroom – essentially walking away from the people and place I'd called home for the past three years. It was melancholy, yes, but also a bit exciting. For the first time in I couldn't remember how long, I'd stood up for myself, and made a decision that was entirely my own. It felt pretty damn good.

So what will I do? Where will I go? I wondered. Well, what do I want to do?

The answer hit me almost instantly.

Restore Sparx.

But that was insane, wasn't it? The entire planet was frozen solid, transformed into a barren, icy wasteland years ago. There was no way I could ever restore it, even with the most formidable firepower in the magical dimension.

Yet now that the idea had entered my mind, it set down roots and latched on tight, like a stubborn weed that refused to go away. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it might actually be possible. And then I could be a true guardian fairy… I'd have my parents back, and be a princess, and everything would be perfect.

It would be a crazy, extraordinarily risky, possibly deadly, and most likely futile undertaking. But on the lucky chance that it actually worked… I'd have everything I'd always dreamed about.

And my three years at Alfea were proof enough of how luck tended to favor me.

A new sense of purpose flooded my veins, making me feel almost invincible. Renewed with strength and confidence, I continued walking forward, towards the great unknown, no longer scared of facing it by myself.

Some people see the revolution but most only see the girl

I can lose my hard-earned freedom if my fear defines my world

I declare my independence from my critics and their stones

I can find my revolution, I can learn to stand alone

'Cuz I'm a one girl revolution

Author's Note: To everyone who's reading this right now, welcome! I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I enjoy working on it.

This can be taken as a prequel to my second-generation trilogy (which I highly encourage you to read if you haven't already!), but it can also be a stand-alone. If you haven't read the trilogy, the prologue probably won't make much sense, but that's not the end of the world.

This is not going to be very long - I have it all planned out already, and it'll most likely be just about 8 chapters, but good long meaty ones like this. It covers a period of about three years, starting at the end of season 3 and disregarding any other canon from there (although if you noticed, I did steal a little bit from the first movie).

Um, that's really about all I have to say for now. The next chapter should be up fairly soon - I'm really excited to be writing this, so time between updates should be relatively brief.

All my love,

- Authoress