A/N: This will probably be the last chapter until I update Vision of Arendelle. Which I said I would update before the end of the year… I'm bad with deadlines… I had meant to get this chapter up way back in October but obviously I haven't. Sorry!
Now, I've had a couple of reviews asking about The DVD, my Carrie fanfiction. I will be updating that after I finish Vision, which will be sometime around Christmas; possibly before, possibly after. I'm going to write a few chapters of DVD and see the reaction I get with them because I'm debating on finishing it or not. Because I start out liking writing 'watching' fanfictions but then it becomes like a chore because people are constantly asking about and demanding updates. So if I get a good reaction, I'll continue it if not, I'll delete it.
Professor Télesphore is a character that I made up, it just seems a bit odd that they would suddenly have a History of Magic teacher in season 6 and not an earlier season so, to me, this is the teacher that Daphne replaces. Télesphore is a French name, for anyone who cares.
Character from later seasons introduced! A bit mentioned that the end was slightly influenced by Earth Girl by Janet Edwards.
I've been rereading/rewatching TFiOS book/trailer? T_T The feels… Sorry. Which I quote in this chapter – it will be italicised. Sorry for the lateness of this again.
Late Christmas present. And Happy New Year! Have a good 2015 guys! :D
…Now to start my last The Vision of Arendelle chapter… And trying not to die on The Last of Us (seriously, I'm so bad at that game!)
"I was in darkness, so darkness I became."
Cosmic Love by Florence and The Machine
"I don't give a damn about my bad reputation."
Bad Reputation by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
"Turn away,
And slam the door.
I don't care what they're going to say,"
Let It Go from Frozen
"The marks humans leave are too often scars."
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Lord Darkar lounged on his throne; his legs over the arm and a glass of whisky in his hand. Which he desperately needed right now as he surveyed the man in front of him. He swallowed another mouthful of alcohol.
"Why now?" He asked, glowering.
The man was kneeling in front of the throne, his head bent low.
"My lord, I was unaware that you were a-alive. If I'd have known-" He attempted to reason with Darkar in a silky voice until he was cut off.
"Where were you checking? You're a slimy bastard but avoiding everyone for fifteen years… It makes me suspicious, that's not your style." Darkar told him loftily. The man's long blonde hair fell from behind his shoulders.
"The Ancestral Witches never gave me much information, my lord. I had no choice but to bind my time." He replied. "My lord, I wish I had known about your plan to get the ultimate power-"
"That is neither here nor there!" Darkar snapped. "And Valtor, please do us both a favour and shut the fuck up."
"Yes, my lord." Valtor murmured.
"And who gave you that outfit?" He groaned, shaking his head. "Didn't the Witches know that it's no longer the Victorian era? You'll stick like a sore thumb, get changed before we discuss anything, you're a fucking eyesore. Jeremy'll get something for you." Darkar told him, motioning, with his tumbler, to the servant entering the throne room.
Jeremy bowed his head as Valtor rose to his feet, his head also bowed.
"Thank you, my lord." He said, backing out of the room and following Jeremy.
"Don't get too full of yourself, Valtor, you're not forgiven." Darkar called after him.
Valtor studied the outfit the servant had laid out for him, his lip curling. A simple pair of black trousers and a crisp white shirt. He quickly changed and made his way back to the throne room. He bowed at Darkar's feet.
"So what did take you so long?" His voice was dark and soft – terrifying and it sent a shiver up his spine.
"I was trapped in the Omega Dimension, sire." He admitted against his better judgement. He steeled himself for Darkar's rage.
But it never came.
"… Interesting… How did you escape?"
Valtor let out a breath he didn't realise that he had been holding. "That surge of Dragon Fire the other month… It shattered the ice."
Darkar nodded. "And how do you feel about working in a team?" He asked, gesturing to someone Valtor couldn't see. Hesitantly, he raised his head and looked to see three witches. He turned back to Darkar.
"It would be a pleasure, my lord." He grinned, bowing his head.
Professor Télesphore, an frail old man with Einstein-like hair and horrifically monotone voice, was droning on and on, to the point of frustration. Bloom started to tune him out at the point and started to wonder exactly how much of what was being said was actually true.
She wanted to smash her head against her desk as some of the girls in class spent glancing it at her. They were either sneering or looking at her as though she was wounded. Her converse had definitely seen better days, she considered buying a new pair as she glanced down at her shoes. A childishly drawn flower peered up at her, slightly smudged and drawn in black sharpie seemed to mock her dark thoughts.
Amaryl whispered something to Nessa and they both giggled. They're talking about me… They're laughing at me…
Amaryl wasn't exactly known for being nice so it wasn't too much of a stretch by any means.
"And like, what the hell is she wearing?" Amaryl sniggered.
"Yeah, those sneakers are so last century." Nessa added. "Must be earth fashion." She spat out 'earth' like it was a vile word.
Bloom's heart began to pound, her fingers curled around the edge of her desk so hard her knuckles were bone white. She wanted to kill something, hurt something, someone. Just something!
A loud shriek met her ears. She whipped round as Télesphore fell silent and rushed past her, Amaryl was crying. And the cause was a large gash on the back of her hand, the skin was peeling further and further back – glowing a purple black colour… Dark magic… Her…
Bloom took deep calming breaths and counted to ten in her head as Amaryl continued to cry. She swallowed as she watched the dark aura fade away. Some of the other girls were pointing at her and whispering to each other.
It's not my fault… Please, it's not my fault…
"I'm sorry." She whispered and Télesphore turned around to face her, placing his withered hands on hers.
"It's okay." He told her. "After everything that's happened to you in the past couple of months, I think we'd all be surprised if you didn't have some residual dark magic… Maybe you should take the rest of the lesson off, I'm sure one of your friends will lend you their notes."
Numbly, she nodded, shoved her battered notepad into her page and walked out of the room. Everyone still staring at her as though she was wounded.
She headed into the quad, moodily staring at her sneakers and shoved her hands into her jeans pockets.
"Bloom!" Someone called. She looked up and saw Ninfa waving at her.
"Hey," She said, heading over. "Don't you have a class?"
"Free period." Ninfa told her, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. Bloom pulled her notepad out and drew a line underneath her notes.
"Got kicked out of class." She grinned weakly, idly doodling on the paper. Ninfa glanced at notepad, a strange brief glint in her eyes, before she tore her eyes away and looked at Bloom. Her eyes shifted again a couple of seconds later. She swallowed.
"Why?" Her voice was barely audible.
"Long story." Bloom replied as she looked down to see small, spiky and rounded shapes on the page; similar to what she had been drawing the other day.
"So how is your rune class going?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly.
"Alright, I suppose." Bloom shrugged. "I like it enough to drag my ass there and back."
Ninfa nodded, looking at the well before turning back to her. "You got any plans tonight?"
"I don't know." She murmured. "I might go see Sky."
Bloom hesitated in front of Sky's dorm room. She raised her hand to knock and stopped. She turned away and the door opened.
"Bloom?"
Fuck.
She turned around again and saw Sky, a confused look on his face. "Sky."
"Y-you wanna come in?"
She nodded. The dorm didn't look any different to the last time she had been in here. Sky closed the door after her. Bloom closed her eyes.
"I don't know how to say this so I'm just gunna come out and say it… I need space, like proper space; not this awkward thing." She gestured between the two of them. "You understand right? With everything that's happened… And because I'm with you, I feel like people are pressuring me to behave a certain way. I can't deal with everything on my own." Her eyes prickled with tears. "And I'm sorry that that's all I came to say." She whispered, her voice cracking.
"Okay." Sky murmured before sniffing. "Okay."
Bloom nodded, her throat hurting from the burning of unshed tears and ran from the room, out of the school and into the surrounding forest.
She fell into a crumbled heap on a grassy floor and broke down. She cried and cried until there was nothing but rage.
It was all Sky's fault for not being understanding – surely he knew that she wasn't ready to formally meet his parents after hers had just died, that her mind has been thrown into chaos after the Relix. But no, he obviously just didn't care.
The surrounding trees bent and seemed to scream as they were attacked by bubbles of black and purple.
Bloom perched on her chair, staring at the ground as Christian walked in, shaking his head.
"Problem?" She asked.
"Hey." His head snapped up. "This is unexpected."
She shrugged. "I needed somewhere to go."
"Have you been crying?" He asked, walking over. Darkar reached out as a stray tear leaked out from her red-rimmed eyes and gently ran his fingers down her cheek as his thumb wiped the tear away.
"I broke up with Sky…" She trailed off, biting her bottom lip.
"I thought you already broke up." He said, sitting down opposite her.
"Not officially… and I'd already sort-of fallen out of love with him… But it still hurt. Like hell…"
Silence fell for an awkward moment. Darkar shifted.
"How are your friends?"
"They're okay… I think some of them might join us… Eventually."
"Stella won't." He sighed. "She can't, purely due to her affinity of light. She can't go without daylight or moonlight for very long, literally. Maybe twelve hours, maximum? She won't be able to use dark magic either for that same reason. The light thing physically stops her. Let's say she wants to do dark magic with every fibre of her being but any attempt would make her physically sick – so much so that she would die around two days afterwards…"
Bloom's eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Is it just light affinities that have that issue?"
"Depends on your definition of 'light'. An affinity for 'light' aether. Aether is where forms and the extra power comes from, they disappear as soon as they're not needed. That's a long and complicated explanation but let's just say the aether you subconsciously access is dependent on whether you use dark or light magic."
"I had no idea magic was so complicated." She chuckled.
"Yeah, which makes me wonder if Faragonda manipulated Stella's portal to land her in Gardenia or whether it was a coincidence. I wouldn't be surprised… Your rooming arrangements certainly wasn't."
She nodded before standing up. Darkar stood up. He hugged her.
"The marks humans leave are too often scars. And yours are mental scars… They tend to be worst because you can't just undergo surgery or take medication for it." He rested his chin on her head.
"I know… I'm feeling better. I'm feeling a lot better now… Still a lot of grief and a lot of rage but I think I'm managing to keep a lid on it, thinking about future plans and that." She smiled, listening to his heartbeat.
One… Two… Three…
"Okay?" He asked.
"Okay." She agreed.
Seven… Eight… Nine…
Bloom closed her eyes and hugged him back. Darkar rubbed her back.
"You're warm." She murmured as the shadows moved restlessly. "What's up with them?"
"They're just hungry."
Alfea felt too bright after spending time in Shadowhaunt. Bloom twirled a piece of food around her fork. She thought it was bacon but she couldn't be too sure. All she could hear was the sounds of clanging cutlery and people eating and talking. There was too much noise and it made her head feel awful. She ate a piece of bacon and then felt sick – she totally wasn't hungry. But she had to eat. Did that bacon taste a bit funny?
Oh well. She turned to Stella and tried to keep track of conversion but gave up and turned to Ninfa. Then the world began to spin and went black.
When Bloom woke up, the light really, really hurt her eyes. Where was she? The bright light dimmed as her eyes adjusted. The nurse's office… Right, because she'd fainted. Were they worried that she would 'go dark' again? Simply because she'd fainted? And that could have been from anything. She sighed. How could she explain to them that she would never 'go dark' again? At least, in the way she had before… Because she was dark now. Just dark and grey.
Her back ached as she pulled herself up and tossed the quilt off of her before hopping down. Her bare feet smacking the tiled floor and her knees immediately gave way. She scrambled to her feet, using the bed to help her stand. Her heart pounding, she forced her legs to move. It hurt.
She stopped to rest on the door frame and flexed her fingers and her toes, before slowly going upwards and flexing her arms and legs before stretching her back into an arch, like a cat. Unease crept over, the hair on the back of her neck prickling. A wave of panic or maybe it was remorse swept over her. There was no trail of emotion; these emotions were hers and hers only.
A dark shadow appeared over her. Thick, dark and faceless. This was not one of Darkar's shadows or anyone hovering over her. It was monstrous. Her heart was pounding violently. Bloom opened her mouth to scream but nothing would come out. In fact, her mouth hadn't even opened. It refused to open. Her head hurt and her skin tingled. Then a backlash of hot magic exploded out of her and she ran, ignoring her screaming legs.
She burst through her dorm door, gasping for breath. A garble of voices met her ears and there was panicked faces all around.
"I'm fine, guys." She said, dragging herself back to her feet. "F-fine." She attempted to smile.
"Sit." Stella ordered, pointing to the sofa.
"I'm fine." She insisted.
A few hours later, Bloom was laid on her bed with her phone in her hands. The screen tinting her face cyan as her finger hovered over a name. She pressed it and put the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" The voice on the other end said.
"Hey, it's me." She replied.
"Bloom, hey. What's up?" Gabriel asked.
"… Something happened to me…." She explained what happened. When she finished, she heard Gabriel sigh.
"Maybe it was Faragonda? I don't know. I've never heard of that but I wouldn't put it past her."
Faragonda stared at the screen, watching the Trix and Valtor attack a city in Ohm… Why Ohm? Why was Valtor attacking? He had never been one to take a minor role. The screen went and Faragonda turned back to The Council.
"You have no idea what you've started." Faraonda breathed.
The High Council Woman raised an eyebrow. "What we've started? You were involved just as much as we were."
"Blackmail." She spat out.
"If we hadn't have stepped in, you wouldn't headmistress of Alfea. You owe us everything."
"She's right." A Council Man butted in sternly. "You'd still be a witch if it wasn't for us. Remember our deal."
"You're not the one facing the wrath of the Dragon Fire! You aren't the ones suspected of killing her parents. What good did sending the assassin do you anyway? She wasn't there!" Faragonda cried, rage and sorrow gripping at her. Didn't they care that her life was at stake? More than her life was at stake! "What gives you the right to poison one of my students and attempt to kill them? Nothing, nothing gives you that right!"
"Everything, actually. Everything gives us the right. It's for the best, for everyone. She is a danger to everyone. That makes it our right." Another Council member butted in, scowling at her.
"She's broken." Faragonda tried one last time. "Their death broke her. Darkar's dead. She doesn't have a choice but to go along with everything. It's completely unnecessary and will only further her from us!"
"So says you." The High Council Woman said with a tone of finality. Faragonda fell back down into her chain, dazed as a single tear rolled down her cheek. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I tried…
Darkar's eyes scanned the reports in front of him before turning to Conrad Young, the mayor of one of Shadowhaunt's smaller cities, Niefhelm.
"And have any of them shown signs of light affinities?" He questioned, his eyes scanning the population growth report. Young shook his head.
"No, sire. If anyone does, we know the drill. Get them out of the realm as soon as. We thought we did with one child but it's more of a case of a premature birth, according to the doctors…" Young trailed off, thin beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "… Sire… Some of the people, they've asked me about the Zusak woman. She wasn't nice and she was a little batty but-"
"I'm not telling anything about Zusak's daughter." Darkar cut him off.
"Right. It's just that don't you think where ever she is, she deserves to know about her mother?" He asked timidly.
Darkar raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I just say that I don't want to talk about Eoife Zusak or her daughter?" He seethed.
"Yes, sire. Sorry, my lord. Begging your forgiveness." Young whimpered.
He sighed to himself and rubbed his forehead. "Zusak's daughter is safe. That's all you need to know."
Relief was visible on Young's face. "That's good. She was a nice girl, a little strange but sweet…"
Darkar shot him a look and Young scampered off. When were Valtor and the Trix going to get back? He was getting so bored. And a bored Darkar was never a good thing.