A/N:

PierceTheVeils: Sorry for ripping your heart out! I'm shedding some lights on their deaths soon, I was going to do it this chapter but my plans changed! I'm glad you like my versions of the characters.

Thewanderingoutsider: Yes, Shadowhaunt is still inhabited. Hopefully this chapter answers all of these questions! I wouldn't call it cannibalizing other people – again, answered this chapter (hopefully). Yeah, that is important but don't be too sad; more Gabriel in this chapter. He is the nicer brother... For the most part. Amiyra will be revealed! Yes, war is indeed coming and it's going to be brutal.

Faragonda has been a bitch... More revelations this chapter (maybe I should stop saying that?). The Council shall also be revealed! You mentioned various things (including some things that I meant to address last chapter but forgot) like what's happening to Kiko, Bloom's relationship with the rest of the Winx and various other things. I will address them in this chapter! Yeah, people like Faragonda do exist.

So one thing that you mentioned was Bloom's style changing to match her light and dark powers. I've found two references (see the link below) for what sort of thing she would wear from now on, made with light coloured t-shirts or bottoms, depending on the outfit.

Violent? Yeah... Ironically, I picture her being the more violent of the two although I'm not sure if that's how the story will go. Last chapter and this are the turning points, possibly next chapter as well. I've got some big reveals coming up and I can't wait for your guys reactions.

That one person who reviewed and said that I took part of a scene from The Vampire Diaries. Yes, I did put that in the author's note, I believe. Or since I have edited that chapter since I uploaded it (very minor, getting rid of a mention of a character that's no longer part of the plan) so I may have accidentally gotten rid of it but yeah, I know. Anything I write can't top the character of Damon from the first five or so episodes of the first season of Vampire Diaries. Anyone who likes my characterization of Darkar, have a look on YouTube and there should be all of Damon's scenes from season one somewhere. I put all my pieces of inspiration for this story (delete all the spaces again) in an album: imgur a/ 5A TEn

Two last quick notes, the solar is a room in a castle that was intended for sleeping and private quarters – used by the lord's or king's family, generally. Basically a private sitting room. The boudoir is a lady's private bedroom or sitting room (according to another source, it was for the lady of the castle to use as her private withdrawing room). The letter in this is mainly taken from The Secret Circle's pilot; it wasn't going to be but I couldn't think of anything (partially writers block) and I really wanted to get this chapter uploaded. City of Bones reference in this chapter! Anyone seen Horns? The trailer looks epic and I'm reading the book now but Daniel Radcliffe's American accent sounds strange! To me, his words begin with a British accent and end with an American on but he sounds like he should have a British accent. Anyway, can't wait for that movie, the book has some interesting concepts on the role of females in religion...

Anything I didn't address that I said I would, please put it in a review. Anything that I haven't addressed at all and you want to know, put it in a review please.

'Just like our eyes, our hearts have a way of adjusting to the dark.' Adam Stanley

'So stay away from me,

The beast is ugly.

I feel the rage,

And I just can't hold it.'

Monster by Skillet

'They took you away from me,

But now I'm taking you home.'

Even In Death by Evanescence

Christian Darkar's eyes opened to the inky black canopy of his bed. There was an unusual pressure on the other side of his bed. He looked over – there, tangled up in his black sheets, was a sleeping girl. Was girl the right noun? Young woman, then. She had a bloody looking wound in her neck and her dirty blonde hair made a pathetic attempt to cover her naked body.

He roughly turned her over and the girl groaned lightly as he woke her up. Her dark eyes blinked open then widened in surprise as she saw him. He took her head in his hands as her mouth fluttered.

"Animichtó," He commanded her mind to open. He went in and erased all knowledge of him; she would only remember having a one night stand, before sending her off. Darkar watched her gather her clothes and walk off in a daze…

He looked around the room and, not for the first time, he was glad that he had opted to stay in his room when he had been coronated instead of moving into his dad's. The rooms were the exact same size… His father's room was too much of a reminder of how he would constantly try to please a father for who he was never good enough… There was also the little reminder that his parents had had sex in that room; he didn't need that or the reminder of his mother. He was haunted by her enough as it was. The memories of the two of them at in the palace hospital for his surgery. She held his hand afterwards, helped him through it all. Darkar had been a weak child, which was one of the reasons he was never good enough for his father, due to the fact that he had problems that had led him to have a heart transplant when he was young… Darkar could still remember the feel of his mother's fingers running through his hair after the surgery, comforting him as she hummed a lullaby.

But then she had died. Complications when she gave birth to Gabriel… And he remembered the funeral… The rain… The grave… The loneliness now that she was gone. Then as he grew up with only Gabriel, he had discovered that messing with his brother gave him a twisted form of fun. His father still thinking that neither of them were good enough to be his son's… Him, due to his weak heart (which of course had been a lot of drinking blood to allow his power and his body to adjust to his new one) and Gabriel, due to his innate morals…

There was a knock on the bedroom door, pulling him out of his memories. Darkar shoved on some underwear and answered it. It was a servant, John, he believed his name was.

"Yes?" He asked.

"There is s-someone in the solar, my lord. S-she asked for you." John stammered out.

"Thanks." He replied, shutting the door in his face to pull his jeans and top on. When he exited the room, John was gone. He grinned to himself as he walked down the dark hallway.

He had an idea of who was in the solar but if his idea was right, why would she be in the solar? Why wouldn't she contact him directly?

He threw the doors of the solar open and saw exactly who he was thinking of. Bloom was sat in one of the plush chairs, obviously just thrown herself down into it. Her eyes were red-rimmed and tears were still trailing down her cheeks; she looked almost broken as she stared into the black flames in the fireplace.

"What happened?" He asked softly, perching down into the sofa opposite her. She didn't look at him, she just stared into the fire.

"My parents are dead." She replied in a cracked whisper; her blue eyes never once leaving the black flames. "It was a fire… But there was a force-field around it… I couldn't get in a-and they died…" She suppressed a sob but continued to whisper in monotone. "I think it was Faragonda…"

Finally, she turned away from the fire and looked at him. "I want Faragonda dead." Her voice was calm, heavily emphasised and burning with conviction. Bloom's eyes were exactly the same.

"You have a plan?" He asked, peering at her.

"You don't?" She sounded disappointed.

"You know me better than that, my dear." Darkar grinned. Bloom leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees.

"We need to do something completely unexpected." She replied, idly spinning the ring he had given her around her finger. "… I go back to Alfea. Be the broken and depressed girl… The one nobody would suspect. It'll allow me to deal with-with my- the incident but can also give me an alibi and Faragonda will think she's won."

"I'll see what I can do with the Trix because they really, really want to attack Alfea." He told her.

"No diabolical plan?"

Darkar grinned darkly. "One step at a time, my dear. One step at a time." He stood up and offered her hand that she took. The two of them swept out of the room. Although Bloom had to admit, she felt a little weird being in the palace in tattered sneakers, ratty muddy jeans, a tear-stained t-shirt and a baggy hoodie compared to the dark, grand opulence and muscular architecture of the Shadowhaunt castle.

"Here's another little snag. Getting you out of the shiny pink castle of doom after dark without getting caught but we can figure that out later. Contact isn't an issue, wonders of technology and all that."

She nodded.

"I would suggest watching the news tonight as well." He told Bloom with another dark smile.

"Genie Patinson?" She questioned.

"An unnecessary death, I'll admit… I came across her during a desperate need to feed and wiped her memory but Gabriel felt as though leaving her like that, with a blank period was cruel… He killed her in what he thinks was an act of mercy and he has this idea that I'm a blood addict, he got this idea in his head that I'd keep going back and back to completely drain her." He explained, not mentioning his little tormenting session on that rooftop.

"… Why do you need to drink blood?" She asked curiously.

"The shadow fire mainly. It's been in my family line ever since well, as far as anyone can remember and because of that, it's become an integral part of the family. It's tainted my ancestors and will taint every possible descendent I may have. Now, add into the fact that the shadow fire uses energy it's absorbed and if there's none, it will drain me and kill me. Power is in the blood so drinking it is another way to absorb energy."

"Unlike the dragon fire. It creates energy, infinite energy. I could provide you with energy if you ever need it." She supplied. "…Where are we going?"

"The boudoir." He replied simply. "I have some stuff to do and you look exhausted. I thought you wanted to rest."

"Yeah." She admitted shyly.

It was a few hours later when he returned to the boudoir to find Bloom fast asleep on the dark sofa. She looked cute and so peaceful. He woke her up gently, her eyes fluttered open.

"Hey." She greeted him sleepily with a yawn.

"I've found some things you might be interested in." He told her. "You don't mind crypts, do you?"

She shook her head. "Why?"

"Follow me." He replied and with that, he took her hand and led her through the halls and down the winding marble staircase until they reached the crypt. It was another massive winding staircase although with strange shelves in embedded into the wall like bizarre bricks.

"What are these?" She asked, running her hand over the grate of one of them.

"Ossuary's." He replied with a grin, watching her whip her fingers off the metal as though she had been burned. "See that big mausoleum at the bottom?"

"Yeah." She answered slowly, looking at him.

"One day that'll be me… And Gabriel… That's where my father is."

"You sound way too happy about that." Bloom commented. "Wait, what about your mother?"

"Buried at the temple – it was in her will… Here we are." Darkar said, overdramatically gesturing to one of the bigger ossuaries near the bottom. "This is your family's ossuary."

He opened it up and pulled something. It was a small, aged letter with the name 'Hope' written in large cursive. He passed it to her and she immediately ripped it open. She recognised the handwriting.

My sweet Hope,

You finding this means I'm gone and for that, I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to have this life but destiny isn't easy to run from and your destiny appears to be great. Much greater than we ever could have imagined. I had hoped that keeping this secret – your powers – as secret as possible would keep you safe but all we've done is leave you unprotected.

Hope, you have amazing, incredible power inside you. People will come for it. People will hunt and hurt for it. People will come for you. Finding this means we'll be gone from the world so we have no idea about the world you're living in. But you have enormous strength and courage – you certainly are a fighter. You're our little fighter.

We want you to believe in yourself as much as we believe in you. You are capable of everything you put your mind to. Your belief in yourself and who you are is your greatest protection.

We will love you until the end of time,

Your parents.

Bloom had no idea that she was crying until the tears landed on her shaking hands and Lord Darkar wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Her knees gave out and she fell to the floor, pulling Lord Darkar with her. She exploded into sobs.

Stood in the hallway at Alfea, surrounded by young girls with no real clue about the state of the world, blinding light-coloured architecture and the pressure of light energy beating against her darkness, Bloom felt her fingers begin to tremble as the overpowering compulsion to break down and cry in sorrow and regret threatened to choke her… But it wasn't hers. It was coming from the west of the school and, despite the fact that curiosity killed the cat (even if satisfaction brought it back), she followed it.

The trail ended at Faragonda's office. She frowned before turning on her heels and heading back to her dorm room. Why did Faragonda have such sorrow? Why was it pouring out of the room, like a waterfall?

Bloom wandered into the dorm, half-blinded by tears and second-hand sorrow so she stumbled onto the sofa, landing face first into the cushions.

"What happened?" Flora asked in concern. Bloom jumped, she hadn't seen anyone in her daze. She snapped her head up to see Flora and Musa staring at her.

"Is everyone out?" She asked timidly, her voice a slight croak from all of her crying.

"Yeah. It's just us three. Techna's in the computer lab and Stella's having to do extra credit for DuFour." Musa answered. "What's up?"

"My parents are dead." She admitted. "It was a fire and it wasn't quick or painless… But everything feels really numb and surreal. It feels unreal. And I know that they wouldn't want me to spend time wallowing… Is it strange that I want to shake my wardrobe up? … Everything reminds me of them."

Tears prickled at her eyes and she angrily rubbed them away as Musa and Flora enveloped her in a huge hug. She wasn't even lying to them.

A few hours later, Bloom's feet were throbbing with pain but it felt good. She deserved it – she couldn't save her parents, she deserved all the fucking pain that she got! She had ten heavy bags filled with clothes and shoes, Musa and Flora had balked a little at the thought of buying some clothes from some of the witch's shops but they appeared to be humoring her.

"I'm going to the hairdressers. You guys can go back if you want." Bloom told them.

"You sure?" Flora asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She faced her, forcing herself to smile (which felt even faker). "Yeah. Go, I'll be fine."

Musa and Flora exchanged a concerned look.

"As long as you're sure…" Musa trailed off. "Come on, Flo."

"Promise you'll ring us if anything happens. If you want to talk at any point…" Flora trailed off.

"I know." Bloom nodded. "I'll be fine."

She watched them get the bus and leave. A few moments later, she dragged herself and her bags into the hair-dressers. The woman behind the desk gave her look before pointing to an empty chair. She flopped down in it and another woman – in her early 30s with a bright neon rainbow hair.

"What do you want?" She asked, running a hand through Bloom's wild red hair.

"Something different." Bloom replied, tensing as the hairdresser grabbed her scissors. She stared at her wild, long hair... "Short and choppy would be different..." She trailed off

When Bloom returned to Alfea, some girls gave her strange looks but Stella wasn't there so there wasn't any screaming or ranting about her new hairstyle. Her fiery hair was now choppy shoulder length with an odd number of black low-lights. She headed straight into her room and logged on the computer, running a search for Amayria. Nothing turned up.

She sighed and turned to Kiko. His big eyes looked at her in concern.

"I haven't seen Daphne in a while, do you think I should try to talk to her? I don't know how to though. Do you think someone here will know?" She asked the bunny, who cocked his head to one side as though he was confused.

"Oh, Bloom?" Flora called from the doorway. Bloom spun around on her desk chair, Kiko hopped up onto the desk and into her palm.

"Yeah?"

"Could you text Sky back, please? He said that you aren't replying." She replied.

Bloom nodded. "Okay. I need to charge my phone though." She held up her dead phone. Flora grabbed a notepad off of her bed and exited.

"What do you think Kiko? Should I go see Sky... Or maybe Gabriel? I have a feeling Sky will give me a hard time about anything and everything..." She frowned as some of her red hair fell into her face. She blew it out of her eyes with a huff. "Sky's been a bit of ass lately... I don't think he's going to want me as a girlfriend with everything that's been happening lately. He did practically blame me for not seeing through the fake Avalon. It's not like we actually knew him before this year, is it? I want Sky to be happy and I don't think he can be happy with me; I can't be happy with him... You know what? I will go and see Gabriel." She smiled at the blue bunny. Lockette fluttered in, muttering quietly to herself about someone's "portal in the heart".

"Bloom!" She squeaked in surprise, her eyes briefly widening at her hair and clothes. The black vest under a light blue mesh top, pale acid-washed jeans tucked into black combat boots. The long necklace with a plague mask pendent the size of her eyes that made Lockette's mouth drop open and stare at her.

"Hi, Lockette." She said, drawing her attention away from her outfit. "Are you okay?"

"Yes... Are you? The portals in your heart-" She said, trying give her a hug by pressing herself against Bloom's cheek. The over-powering 'light' energy that was pouring out of her fluttering wings made Bloom feel like she was going to throw up. She placed Lockette on her desk and grabbed an energy regulator from the drawer, gulping it down like she hadn't had a drink in weeks.

"What's that?" Lockette questioned but Bloom didn't reply.

A small pop-up appeared on her computer screen. Someone was searching for Amayria. She clicked on the box to see who it was. Bloom… Why was Bloom looking for Amayria?

Gabriel's eyes were shadowed when he answered the door.

"You look grumpy." She said as she walked in.

"You look different." He countered, idly taking a drink of the bottle in his hand. "What's up?"

"What makes you think something's up?" She asked. He shot her a look.

"The hair, the clothes and you disappeared from a while. I had a vision - nothing important - but you still disappeared."

Bloom sighed as the sorrow began to well up again. "My parents are dead. Fire... That Faragonda started. Everything feels so surreal... It feels like they aren't dead but I know they are. I feel hollow..." She explained in an almost strangled detached voice. "How did you get over your parents death?"

"Well, I never met my mother because she died giving birth to me so I had nothing to miss... I had something to long and wish for but no, not to miss. And I never really got along with my father so I can't say I missed him either. The only thing about my father's death that concerned me was that it brought Christian to the throne." He replied sadly.

Christian Darkar lit up a cigarette and idly twisted it between his long, pale fingers. He blew out a puff of smoke as he surveyed Shadowhaunt's capital below him. The dark fire of the street lights glittering cruelly.

He remembered the stories people told him when he was younger. How people who chose to use grey or dark magic were hated for no reason, how the racism made it hard for them to get jobs as propaganda spread wider and wider – like wild fire. Until they were forced into the caves, to create a new home in the caverns. The way his old nurse – Morena – described the creation of Shadowhaunt's monarchy with his ancestor's shadow fire.

… Most people in the town didn't seem to hate him… Although most of the people would be doing most of the hating had grown up with him or watched him grow up. He felt bad for them. Condemned to the caves, simply because someone wanted a bit of power. Although who was he to criticize about wanting power? Of course, power wasn't his orginal reason for taking the throne. That was simply a wonderful advantage. At first he had only taken it because he knew Gabriel wanted to get away from the place... For a second he wondered, as he often did, if his brother knew that. Probably not. Gabriel always thought the worst of him...

Not that he cared now. There was so much darkness now, so much power, so much vengeance to be reaped. It pulsed through the caves in a mouth-watering way. He took another drag of his cigarette. Anyone who got in his way would pay. He would crush them under his boots. After all, it was their fault. All because someone wanted a bit of power...

With a sadistic grin, he turned to the three young women hovering near his throne as he let out another puff of smoke. The Trix watched him carefully as they awaited their orders with dark, wicked smiles.

Edited: 14/10/14

Typos and a few extra scenes. Yes, this chapter is more filler but I wanted to upload something. It was meant to be longer but my brain wouldn't cooperate. I'm going to try to make the next chapter longer and have a lot more in it. I'm not sure when I'll be able to start it as I have a 5 page script due in next week, a essay on the history of film and a group analysis of a scene from a film due in November and an individual analysis of a scene from a film, a 1,250 word essay on the history of film (again) and 1,000 word essay on representation in a film due in December. However, I get 6 weeks off for Christmas break! So I'll definitely be uploading another chapter of this and of The Vision of Arendelle if I haven't already.

Anyone wondering what the plague mask is or what it represents in actual history, here's a link (minus all spaces): www. florence inferno the -black- death/

As for what it may represent in this, that link is a bit of a clue as well. As is the fact that I'm a major Dan Brown fan ;)