"Mmm…" I couldn't contain my sigh of delight as I felt gentle lips on the side of my neck, kissing and nibbling – even if it was the last thing I should be focusing on right now.

From behind me, I felt Baltor's body press against my own with a familiar possessive weight. My entire body tingled as he continued to lavish attention on my neck. "That tickles," I finally protested feebly, smiling despite myself.

I could almost feel him smirk against my skin. "Really? You're not laughing."

In the split second it took for me to open my mouth to respond, he had me spun around and pulled against him, kissing me so deeply it temporarily overrided any other thought in my mind. I let out a low moan as my arms slid around his neck of their own accord, flames of desire licking at my insides. There was nothing in the world but him, but us, but this impossibly fantastic kiss…

It took a ridiculous amount of strength to pull away, to remind myself of the task at hand. "You are impossible," I scolded him, wrenching myself free of his tight grip, my resolve strong even as my skin cried out for his touch. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop distracting me? Heaven forbid you actually do some work."

The palace was every bit as golden and grandiose as I'd imagined it to be, but after almost twenty years of lying under enormous sheets of ice, it had fallen into a bit of a state of disrepair, even though the rest of the planet was beautiful and perfect again. So I'd been spending the last few weeks or so going around and restoring it. It should have been done by now, but unfortunately (or fortunately… depending on which way you looked at it), Baltor had an annoying little habit of pulling me away from my work to make out all the time. Not that I was complaining… too much…

"How am I supposed to help myself?" His voice was low and smooth now, its velvety tones holding promises that made my toes curl. "You're just so beautiful–" he brushed a kiss against the side of my jaw "and passionate–" another kiss, slightly below it "and smart–" this one was fully on my neck "and sexy–" his lips traced my collarbone, and my heartbeat fluttered erratically "and beautiful–" oh God, they were going lower…

By now, almost any thought of going back to dusting tapestries had left my head, but I wasn't about to give up so easily. I sucked in a shallow breath of air. "You said that already."

"Did I?" He looked at me with eyes darkened to the color of honey, and I felt warm and tingly all over.

The Dragon Fire hummed with electricity, like my body was a live wire met its spark. I was nineteen years old and in love. What was so wrong in enjoying it?

We're the only ones living here anyways. The cleaning can wait.

Once I was old enough to really think, I hated fairy tales as a child, because I couldn't stand the thought of 'happily ever after'. What happens next? I'd always wonder, driving Vanessa crazy with my refusal to aceept that that was the end. Because really – the prince kisses the princess, they ride off into the sunset together, and that's it? Their life is nothing but sunshine and rainbows for the rest of eternity? Impossible. There's always more to a story.

That feeling of being too good to be true had plagued me ever since that fateful day we'd unfrozen Sparx. I'd saved my planet and found my soul mate (quite possibly literally, if you wanted to get all technical about it); sounded a hell of a lot like a 'happily ever after' to me. But because I didn't believe in those, a part of me had always secretly been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And now it was.

"What's the point of having Sparx be habitable again if no one else but us is living on it?" I moaned, dropping down onto Baltor's lap on the couch and laying my head against his chest. "It might as well still be covered in ice, for all that's really changed."

"Don't talk like that, love," he insisted, running his fingers through my hair soothingly. "People will come back."

"But how are they going to know it's not an ice kingdom anymore in the first place?" That was my biggest worry – it wasn't like I could just run around the universe screaming "Sparx is habitable again!" I knew I could always go to the Magix Council or something, but the thought always made me nervous, especially when I tried to factor Baltor into that equation.

The truth was, after almost a year of isolation, the idea of going back to the rest of the magical dimension seemed… odd, now. And of course, as soon as my friends got word that I was alright, they'd all come rushing to see how I was, demanding answers. As much as I wanted to be a true princess, with a people to govern, a part of me kind of liked the solitude. Certainly I would miss the freedom I had to just be with the man I loved, without inspiring a zillion questions.

And still…

"We'll figure something out," he reassured me, placing a gentle kiss against my temple. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about this. There's nothing you can't do when you put your mind to it."

I was stunned at how optimistic he was being. Then again, he had always been the thing that kept me going, had always been able to talk me down whenever I felt most depressed and ready to quit. (Sometimes I wondered if he'd had feelings for me the whole time, and just was very good at hiding them. It definitely seemed possible; maybe one day I'd ask.)

But even if he was right, and soon people would flood back into Sparx, there was still a significant piece of my heart that needed mending.

"What about my parents?" I asked out loud for the first time. "Do you think… is it possible for me to find them? Bring them home?"

I had refused to give voice to this desire – to find my parents – for so long because, well, it almost felt a little selfish. Here I was, with a planet, a kingdom, and a lover, and I wanted more? But there was no denying that at the end of the day, a part of me would always long to know the truth about what happened to them, and whether it was possible that I might get to know them.

I felt Baltor tense underneath me, and realized too late that this was probably an awkward subject for him, given everything. To his credit, though, he recovered quickly and said, "I wish I had an answer for you, love, but I'm not all-knowing. However, I do have an idea."

"Really?" I perked up, twisting my torso to face him.

"The Trix are three of the most gossip-crazed females I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. But I couldn't help but overhear them talking one night about a trick they played on you your freshman year – something to do with making you believe you were a witch?"

I laughed at the memory. "Yeah, I remember that. But what does that have anything to do with–" I stopped myself short as the answer hit me. "That book from Cloud Tower, that will answer any question you ask it!"

For about ten seconds, I was triumphant. Then I slumped defeatedly against him again. "But what's the use of that? You're not seriously suggesting we go break into Cloud Tower, are you?"

"As fun as I'm sure that would be–" he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me upright "I had something else in mind. I'm sure you barely noticed anything besides your trashy romance novels, but the library in the mountains has thousands of powerful and ancient spells." He grinned. "And lucky for us, I happened to find a twin to that book from Cloud Tower."

My eyes widened at the thought, and I leaped up off his lap. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go right now!"

He laughed. "As you wish."

"Here it is." I remembered the book from Cloud Tower as having a dark blue cover, but this one was sort of dark golden-yellow. Nevertheless, the pages had that same subtle unearthly glow, and when I opened it, the pages inside were blank, just waiting for me to ask my question.

I hesitated, almost losing my nerve. "Maybe this was a stupid idea," I started, feeling my confidence fade.

Baltor's hand was strong on my shoulder, giving me much-needed support. "Nobody's forcing you to do this, love," he said. "But I think that if you don't, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what the answer would've been."

I sighed. As always, he was right. "You always know exactly what to say to me."

"It's a gift." He reached down and kissed me softly, then took my hand and placed it on the page. "Go on, now. Ask."

I took a deep breath. "What happened to my parents?"

A surge of light emitted from the book, so bright I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, I saw a vision of the three Ancestresses, much as I had the first time I'd used the book. Belladona, the one I'd always thought looked like a bit like Icy (with, you know, an extra thousand years added to her) turned to me with a cold, piercing stare that sent shivers down my spine even though I knew she was just a vision. "Princess of Sparx, what a pleasure." Her gravelly, raspy voice made me cringe. "Your persistence is amusing. A smarter person would know when to give up."

I gulped. "I'm never giving up on my parents," I said in a strong clear voice. "I want to know the truth about what happened to them. All of it."

"Very well. It is nothing you have not heard before. Your parents, King Oritel and Queen Miriam, were the ones who defeated us in the final battle for planet Sparx. They sealed us away in another dimension, far removed from the rest of the magical universe, but not without condemning themselves to the same fate."

I thought my heart would physically stop beating. "My parents… are trapped with you?"

She cackled maniacally, the high-pitched sound grating on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. "The Obsidian Dimension is beyond the reach of anyone in the rest of the magical universe. For as long as we remain exiled, so too will your parents suffer and rot."

My throat felt tight. "No…"

If anything, her evil smile only grew larger. "The truth hurts, does it not?"

With a start, I was yanked out of the vision. White spots danced in front of my eyes, and when they finally cleared, I saw Baltor with the book in his hands, hovering over me looking concerned.

"Are you alright, my love?" Only then did I realize that the vision was made for only me to see; to him, I must've just seemed like I was in a trance or something. "What did the book tell you?"

The enormity of the situation hit me like a tidal wave, and I collapsed into sobs.

"Shhh…" To his credit, he didn't miss a beat; just pulled me into his arms, not saying anything, letting me cry for as long as I needed. And cry I did – all the tears I'd held back whenever I thought about my parents, that damn hope keeping my spirits alive and the tears at bay. Now, though, there was no point in pretending anymore. My heart felt like it had imploded in my chest, like a black hole destroying me from the inside out.

They're really gone… gone forever, with no way to get them back…

"I can't imagine how much you must be hurting right now," I heard him say, as I struggled to catch my breath through the sobs. "I know there's nothing I can ever say that will take the pain away, but I have a story for you. Maybe it will help."

A part of me bristled at the idea that I could be calmed with a story like a little girl, but eventually the curious part of me won out. Baltor never told stories; this was bound to be fascinating. My chest trembled with the exertion of trying to control my breathing, as I fought to keep the endless sobs at bay so I could listen.

"You know my story – how the Ancestresses created me from a dark ember of the Dragon Fire, and that I am neither man nor demon, but some combination of the two." I couldn't help but shudder at the thought, even though I'd come to terms with this a long time ago. "What you don't know, though, is that I grew up on Sparx like any other child, raised by a young widow that the Ancestresses found to care for me so they wouldn't have to bother. Her name was Allison, and she was beautiful, but even more so, she was kind. She'd never had children of her own, and so she raised me and treated me just like any other child. If she knew the truth about me – and how could she not, at the unnatural rate I developed? – she never let it prejudice her." His voice grew soft. "I think of her as my true mother, even though she was nothing of the sort."

What happened to her? I wondered, not trusting myself to open my mouth for fear of setting off another crying fit.

"I was fully grown after about ten years – the result of my unique heritage – and then the Ancestresses came back for me. Allison begged me not to go – by then, I'm sure she knew why they had created me – but there was nothing keeping me from leaving besides her. You have to understand, Bloom, that even though Allison was able to see past the things that made me different, no one else could. I had no friends or lovers; everyone called me a freak of nature, and I suppose they were right." My heart ached at the straightforward way he said this, like he'd simply accepted that it wasn't his lot in life to have people care for him. "So when the Ancestresses returned, offering explanations for my abnormality and promising me revenge on all those who had scorned me… it sounded like a dream come true." He sighed. "In hindsight, of course, it's crystal clear that they'd simply manipulated my circumstances to create the desired emotional effect. The Dragon Fire is at its most powerful when its user is not fully in control of their emotions, as we both know.

"But there was still Allison. I refused to simply leave her and never look back, even as I found my place with the Ancient Witches. And even though she hated what I was doing, she still acted as if she were blind to the truth, and loved me just the same." His voice took on a sad, wistful quality. "She really was incredible. If only I had been able to protect her."

My ears pricked. By now, the weeping had more or less dissolved, as every part of me longed to hear the rest of his story. Which was probably his intent, I realized a heartbeat later.

"I tried to intervene; take her away from Sparx, where she'd be safe from the worst of the fighting. But she was stubborn, and refused to leave the place where she'd lived all her life. And so I lost the only person who'd ever shown me genuine kindness.

"When she was gone, I felt like I had nothing left to live for, so I lashed out, becoming the cruel and fearsome dark wizard you knew me as. My heart was hardened from the pain of her death, and so it would remain… until you came along, Bloom."

"M-me?" I stuttered, the first words to leave my lips since the book had spoken to me.

"Yes, you." His fingers gently twisted in my hair. "You are the only other person besides Allison who's ever shown me true compassion. You remind me that just because I was created from the darkness, it does not control who I am, and who I can be."

I felt something wet against my cheeks, and realized I was crying again. "You… I…"

"You will get through this," he continued, reaching up to catch a tear in its descent down my cheekbone. "You've survived without them for nineteen years, and you will learn to live with this. It won't be easy, but you'll do it; I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will. Because you are the strongest person I have ever known, Bloom."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. And you won't have to do it alone. I'll be with you every step of the way." Through my tear-soaked eyelashes, I saw the sparkle of something shiny reflected off the firelight, and wiped my eyes to see it clearer. "This was hers – Allison's – and I'd be honored if it would be yours."

My jaw dropped.

I couldn't speak. My mind was racing faster than the speed of light, thoughts a giant mess all bumping up against each other and rattling in my brain like bumper cars, but my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth. All I could do was stare at the ring, which was quite beautiful in an untraditional sort of way – a topaz (dark orangey-gold precious stone) set in an intricately wrought gold setting, with a little tiny diamond on either side.

"I know this is hardly the most opportune time, but seeing you like this… I wanted you to know just how much you mean to me." Lightening the mood a bit, he cracked a half-grin. "Marry me?"

"Yes," I said, finally reclaiming my tongue. "A million times yes." He smiled, and slid the ring onto my left ring finger. I lifted my hand and moved it back and forth slightly, watching the ring sparkle in the dim light. The uncharacteristic weight was like a comfort, an anchor in the storm – just like Baltor. "I love you." I said softly, leaning against him to bury my face in his shoulder.

"I love you too."

When you try your best but you don't suceed

When you get what you want but not what you need

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

Author's Note: ...and there's still more! ;-)

So yes, I played with the canon of the movie, about having Oritel and Miriam be gone (FYI, that bit with the vision of the Ancestresses was originally meant for Leap of Faith, but then the first try sucked so hard we rewrote it, and so I salvaged it for this story). Mostly I just couldn't think of a way to bring them back and deal with their reaction to Sparxshipping. (I really should write something about that someday... hmm...) And of course, it gave Bloom a chance to listen to Baltor's own sad story (how'd I do with that, by the way?).

One important thing to be sure to keep in mind: between each chapter, a good amount of time is assumed to have passed; at least a few months or so, sometimes more when specified otherwise. This becomes important next chapter...

And now I must be off. Please click that little button down there and drop me a line or two - please?

Au revoir!

- Authoress