AN: The way this story updates so slowly but Valtor and Bloom have still only known each other for a freaking DAY. OMG I need to do better XD
Apologies for the wait and THANK YOU for the love. This story's been getting a lot of follows and reviews lately and I do think that is all thanks to Fate: The Winx Saga. Still hate the show with every fiber of my being...but hey, there was some good stuff to come out of it I guess! I did also like how they put an emphasis on emotion = power. It was pretty clear in the cartoon too but it wasn't fully plot incorporated like it was in Fate.
Okay, that's ALL the good things I'm going to say about it forever and ever.
Reviews!
Vigriff: Indeed! Laughs all around with Bloom Dear
Midnight's Fire: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying
MagicMegan: Aw, I'm flattered! I'm excited to show off how this story pans out too!
JJ: Thank you! Hope you enjoy today's chapter!
Princess Muse is a Hufflepuff: Thank you and I hope you love this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'm glad you're interested in a grey Bloom, and ooh the Revelation Chapter is going to be a doozy friend!
Anyway, onwards to the story!
Chapter Six: These Wings were meant to Fly
Icy hated plenty of things.
She hated lectures, pop music, glitter, "cute" stuff, and that stupid pastel monstrosity named Alfea as well as the stuck up fake goody-goodies that occupied its four walls, but what she hated most of all was being made a fool of.
And that stupid wannabe punk goth eyeshadow wearing freak wizard had done just that.
Icy had worn a perpetual scowl for the rest of that night and the entire day after, and the night after that. That stupid smug smirk was burned into her brain and no matter how much she tried she couldn't stop it from filling her soul with a frigid rage. If she saw him and that useless redheaded pixie again she was going to—!
"Hey! Icy!"
Rudley jolted from her mental tirade, Icy spun sharply around and shot a spell from her palm.
Stormy cried out in surprise as Darcy held up her hand and swiftly produced a violet-colored barrier that caused Icy's icicles to explode into a puff of darkness. From behind the orb, she gave the ice witch an unimpressed glare. "Done attacking us unprovoked?"
"Oh. It's you two," Icy sniffed by way of an apology as Darcy dropped the barrier and Stormy seethed and avoided her gaze with a childish pout and harrumph.
"What in Arcadia's name has been going on with you recently?" Darcy demanded with crossed arms. "You've been bitchier than usual for two nights and a day now."
Stormy rolled her eyes, still glaring at a random wall away from Icy within the witches' shared dorm. "She's still ticked off about that stupid alleyway thing I bet."
"Why shouldn't I be?" Icy demanded through gritted teeth. "We were made a fool of! Us!"
"C'est la vie, Icy," Darcy huffed. "It's done now. Can we move on now, please? Obsessing over losing a duel isn't helping us towards our goal."
"Ugh," Icy sneered as she spun on her heel and stormed towards the balcony doors. She needed some fresh air.
"Icy wait! We have to turn in a proposal for Griffen to…!"
The whooshing of heavy wind and Icy leaping into the air stole the rest of Stormy's sentence. She wouldn't be too long, curfew was in an hour after all but it was more than enough time to clear her head.
Ever since she was fourteen Icy had been pushing herself to the limits of her magical capabilities, she was the best witch in not only her year but the entire school, memorized every ice-based attack spell she could get her eager hands on and had an impeccable school dueling record.
The fact that all of that had been rendered meaningless in less than five minutes by some stupid random yahoo wounded deep. If some wizard in a back alley could make her look like an idiot then how was she going to…?
Icy shook her head to rid it of that thought as she gritted her teeth. Stupid useless doubts! This was all—! The witch gasped suddenly and froze mid-flight before quickly darting behind a tower and peaking gingerly around it.
Him.
It was unmistakable, that long head of hair and outdated Dracula clothing—it was that alleyway wizard alright. He was simply hovering there naught but a yard away, glaring up at the window Icy knew to be Griffin's office as periodic lightning brightened his form. And then, with a mirthless smile, he turned and woodshed away, becoming smaller and smaller as he distanced himself from Cloud Tower.
Icy watched him, made a split-second decision, and then followed him a safe distance behind.
"Getting some deja-vu here," was the teasing greeting Valtor got as he returned to the hotel room and shut the balcony doors.
"Are you ready?" He asked without turning around as he shrugged off his coat and tossed it against the nearby sofa chair. He couldn't quite keep the unwarranted bitterness from his voice, not after seeing Griffen for the first time in nearly two decades. Through a dimly lit window, yes, but it still counted.
What had possessed him to do that anyhow?
"Nightly parent call," Bloom said, seemingly nonplussed by the sour demeanor. "They were both kind of worried after I hung up yesterday night. I left out the witch stuff but told them we were training, Mom was super stoked about it—I also told them I'm going to train tonight too."
Valtor humes a response as he smiled to himself and pulled off his gloves. "Perhaps tonight your shield will do more than sit there and look pretty."
He heard Bloom blow a raspberry at him and he responded with a light chuckle—one that stopped abruptly when he felt the barest hint of a magical signature at the very edge of his senses. Frowning, he threw open the balcony doors and scanned the night sky with narrowed eyes. When he found nothing, he stood by the railing and glanced below him, the energy mildly stronger now.
"Valtor?" Bloom called, voice tinged in worry as she padded bare foot onto the balcony as well, hugging herself as the cool night air chilled her.
Valtor turned over his shoulder to tell her to go back inside when the magical energy suddenly disappeared. Frowning, he whipped back to the sky and peered beneath the railing once more, stretching his senses around the hotel's perimeter.
Nothing.
As he turned to reenter the hotel room, neither he nor Bloom noticed the witch swiftly flying away from the hotel's rear with a sinister smirk on her face.
It turned out that magical cosplay was super fun, and Bloom vowed that once she stopped being trash at magic she was absolutely going to ask Valtor how to shapeshift!
"I need to stop disguising as your father," Valtor had told her when suggesting she find him a new face to disguise as from Earth before going out in case someone saw their midnight flight. "Using his guise is slowly chipping away at my self-esteem."
"You really need to stop jabbing my Dad."
"Apologies, it's simply far too easy."
So now Bloom was putting her brand new cell phone to good use, searching up her favorite Earth celebrities and showing them to Valtor who would then try out the disguise before inevitably complaining that it simply "wasn't him".
"Okay, fair, fair," Bloom said with a giggle as she went back to her phone and typed in a new search. "Arnold Schwarzenegger was a bit left field."
"What kind of name is Schwarzenegger?" Valtor demanded as he morphed out of that disguise like the other previous ones and straightened his vest.
Bloom snorted. "No offense, but your name is Valtor."
"That was a very common name in Sparx, thank you very much. It—" his voice cut off abruptly and Bloom looked up from her phone curiously.
"Sparx? Is...that your home?"
Valtor's muscles tensed, his brows knit, and his fists clenched and unclenched on the fabric of his vest before he hesitantly said, "...yes."
Bloom immediately wanted to ask what it was like, how it differentiated from Magix, who his parents were, or if he could take her there one day on a tour—but she saw his rigid position and the tightening of his jaw; he clearly didn't want to talk about it.
Bloom's curious smile became sympathetic. "Bad memories?"
He hesitated again, frown deepening as he seemed to struggle with an answer before answering with another simple, "Yes."
Feeling crummy for ruining the lighthearted mood, Bloom deleted what she'd been searching in her search bar (Tom Cruise), before saying, "Hey...why don't...why don't I sketch something for you instead of searching for a face?"
Valtor eagerly snatched onto the new topic, seemingly grateful to move away from this Sparx place as he slipped back into an easy smile and posture. "That would be more prudent—we can't guarantee that some beings here aren't acquainted with Earth pop culture simply because I'm not."
Nodding in agreement, Bloom fished her drawing supplies out of her suitcase and tossed them atop the hotel desk, flipping to the nearest blank page and pulling out a mechanical pencil. Nib poised atop the paper, she turned to Valtor appraisingly before nodding and beginning to work some Earth Magic.
"No peeking!" Bloom said teasingly, pressing her body atop the drawing when Valtor tried to glance at it over her shoulder.
He held up his hands in surrender. "Well then, madam," he said with a teasing smile of his own as he stepped back obediently.
It took only a few minutes of muttering under her breath, erasing, coloring, and checking to see if Valor was looking (he wasn't) before smiling and holding up the drawing. "Okay! All done."
From his spot lounging in the bed, Valtor crooked a finger and summoned the drawing into his own hands, humming in thought as he looked at it.
"I figured you didn't want to look too different from your normal self but at the same time different enough that you wouldn't be recognizable by anyone—"
In a flash of light, Valtor changed once more and stood up, appraising his new form in the floor-length mirror. His hair was still as long as before but now it was a brighter shade of blonde and held in a low ponytail. His eyes had become a vivid spring green and balanced on a now roman shaped nose—
"The glasses are a surprisingly nice touch," Valtor mused as he adjusted the square rims with and smiled at Bloom through the mirror. "I rather like this disguise—thank you."
Bloom beamed at the praise. She may have been a crappy fairy but at least she still had her artistic talent!
"Okay! Now for my transformation," Bloom said as she took some clothes from her suitcase and entered the bathroom. After a minute she kicked the door open and twirled with a flourish and a bow, "Voila!"
Valtor rose an eyebrow. "That outfit hardly constitutes a dramatic entrance," he said mildly sardonically.
"Aw, come on! I'm no fashionista but you have to admit, this is cute for a work-out outfit!" Bloom said standing straight and twisting this way and that before the mirror. The top was a baby blue sports bra and the pants were black biker shorts. Her usual wedges were replaced with converse sneakers and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail with a yellow scrunchie.
All Valtor bothered doing was removing his coat and gloves, but the rest of his outfit stayed intact.
"I suppose," Valtor said flippantly and Bloom wondered if she should feel offended or not—she really did think it was cute...
Very soon, however, her outfit was the least of her worries.
For the third time that night, Bloom was sent sliding across the subway tiles with a cry of pain and a bruising stomach.
Right, note to self; no more stomach exposure during training.
"What are we missing here?" Valtor muttered under his breath. And Bloom had a hunch he was really wondering, what the hell is wrong with this fairy flunk?
"Is there something I can use to power up to better?" Bloom asked as she stumbled to her feet with a pained grunt. "A ritual? An environment? A particular feeling?"
Valtor's eyes lit up and he smiled as he lifted his musing chin from his fist and turned back to Bloom. "Emotions."
"Just...in general?" Bloom asked somewhat doubtfully. "I dunno, I've been feeling frustration for two nights now and obviously nothing's happening."
"It's simply not intense enough," Valtor said, a self-satisfied smile growing as he began to pace with the blooming idea (ha! blooming). "Think, three nights ago when you saved me what were you feeling?"
Bloom didn't need to think long before she could answer with an awkward laugh. "Panic. Lots, and lots and just oodles of 'oh God I'm going to die' if you can believe it."
"Oh no, certainly not," Valtor said playing into the joke and causing Bloom to smile. "However...perhaps the emotion was intense enough to…" nodding slowly, Valtor stepped back and lit his palms with orbs of energy. "Again. Think of something you believe will give you an intense reaction."
"Any emotion?" Bloom asked.
"Any emotion," Valtor confirmed. "Brace yourself."
Taking in a deep breath, Bloom imagined her recent discovery of her fairy powers, how excited she was to use them, fly, and go exploring around The Magic Dimension.
Clinging to that warm fuzzy feeling, Bloom held out a hand and created her barrier. This time when Valtor hit it, the spell slammed solidly into the orange dome and caused it to ripple while Bloom felt an immediate strain on her body.
She gritted her teeth and grunted with effort before the barrier shattered and forced Bloom to jump to the side to dodge the blast.
"Good," Valtor said with a nod and smile as his spell crashed against the far wall and dissipated. "Now focus even more and you will get it perfectly."
Nodding in determination, Bloom held out her hand once more and created a barrier. But instead of clinging to fuzzy happiness, she focused on her deep-rooted desire to get this.
As Valtor's spell went flying, she fed that determination further, imagining the spell working perfectly, imagining her moving on to the next stage of her training, imagining—
Her barrier burned with vivid light as the spell came closer and closer. And as it finally struck Bloom's barrier, it and the dome exploded in a violent WOOSH and cloud of glittering embers.
Valtor, even from a foot away, staggered backward with a grunt as the eldritch wind pushed him back while Bloom's hair and clothes ruffled and her scrunchie snapped. To top it off, beneath Bloom's feet was a circular scorch mark that spammed a wide diameter as she lowered her tingling hand and gasped for shocked breath.
Wow, what a rush!
"That…" Valtor watched her with wide surprised eyes before clearing his throat and regaining his composure. "That was an unnecessary amount of magic paired with a frivolous light show and overly dramatic finale."
Bloom's cheeks burned and she frowned indignantly, intent on defending herself when Valtor added, "In other words...it was beyond perfect. This is the power of a fairy of the Dragon Fire."
The redhead blinked in surprise at the bait and switch before beaming proudly and flushing with happiness and praise instead of offense.
"I couldn't have done it better myself," Valtor continued with a smile. "Very well done."
The two had practiced the spell a few more times before Bloom was certain she could do it properly without too much effort. And on their way back to the hotel, Valtor had relayed that she would be getting homework—learning about fairy forms.
So alas, that was what an excited Bloom did first thing the next day—watching videos of fairies all over the universe transforming and reading articles about different fairy forms.
"I'm going out," Valtor had announced, using his new disguise as he picked up a notebook by his side of the bed. "Do stay out of trouble."
"No promises," Bloom said half-jokingly as she smiled up at him from her lounging position on her stomach. "Enjoy your outing!"
Valtor gave a nod in farewell before shutting the door behind him and leaving Bloom to scroll through the article detailing different fairy forms. "Ooh! Enchantix looks just like—wait, I have to die?!"
"So, when's this Alfea sabotage supposed to happen?" Icy asked casually from her spot atop her bed, legs crossed over the other at the knee with an omnipresent smile.
"Glad to have you back," Darcy commented from her desk, working on homework while Stormy excitedly explained their plan.
"Those loser Red Fountain boys are going to bring party favors for the Alfea pixies tomorrow like they do every year, we are going to curse them with something wicked and ruin the entire night!" Stormy cackled, sparks crackling at her fingertips as she grinned wickedly.
"Tomorrow then? Good," Icy said, and while Stormy frowned at the clear lack of interest, Darcy glanced over her shoulder with a suspicious frown.
"Going somewhere?"
"What got you jumping to that conclusion?"
Darcy sniffed and peered down at Icy from above her miniature glasses. "Usually you'd be tossing out ideas, dramatically laughing, fantasizing the looks on our victims' fa—oh no."
Icy's frown deepened. "What?" She demanded.
"You're in a good mood after being humiliated and now you're asking about schedules? You found them, didn't you?"
Stormy blinked twice. "Wait, seriously? Some random pixie and her hot vamp teacher are more important to you than wrecking Alfea?"
"I didn't say that," Icy argued. "I'm just thinking I can finally get rid of this niggling little problem once and for all and we can move smoothly on with our lives."
"With your life you mean?" Stormy sniffed. "Whatever. We're coming with."
Darcy turned to Stormy in confusion. "We are?"
"Uh, duh. The sooner we deal with them, the sooner Icy can stop daydreaming about putting them in their place and actually do it. Shouldn't take too long."
"We had our asses kicked last time," Darcy argued. "And we have a plan to put into motion! This will take long at best and we'll get humiliated again at worst!"
"I thought you didn't care about our humiliation, Darcy," Icy shot back.
"Of course I do, I'm just not crying over spilled milk like—!"
"So what's the plan?" Stormy cut in with an excited lopsided smirk. "Two booty kicks in one day? That sounds like my type of party."
The two previously arguing witches glanced at Stormy before turning to each other with mirrored smiles of excitement, argument forgotten for the time being.
Another thing Bloom decided now that she was in this brand new world; magic vlogs were very, very fascinating.
It was so interesting seeing girls her age casually talk about spells, potions, transformations, and wings like it was nothing. It was also exciting watching the different ways they used their powers and transformed.
There was one girl who caught Bloom's eye though—DiasproPrincess911 who had a crap ton of Fairyview subscribers and an in-depth playlist on fairy magic (winx, it was apparently called—super cute name) that would be super helpful to Earth raised Bloom.
Illuminating her gaze, an elegant blonde with large ironed curls and a cool red-lipped smirk that reminded her of Valtor sat in a room of glittering pillars and white furs, leg crossed over the other and hands folded on her lap. "Hello my little gems," she said in a controlled and soft-spoken voice. "The other day, I got a DM saying this," she lifted a hand and pointed to the side where a green-screened comment appeared.
"'Dear Diaspro, you are such an inspiration to me! I just saw your magic showcase vlog and I want to be just as powerful as you. Heart emoji, heart emoji.'" She paused to take a glass from beside her, bringing it to her lips and sipping delicately. Seeing as how the girl looked to be about Bloom's age, she guessed it was some sort of sparkling juice made to look like wine for aesthetic purposes—unless drinking laws were different in the Magic Dimension.
"Now, usually people who refuse to use my proper title get blocked immediately, but this user gave me an idea and I pardoned them! A princess is supposed to share with her subjects, or in this case loyal fans, correct?" She clasped her hands and stood, walking towards the camera. "So, I've decided to start a little series—a How to Magic series if you will! We'll start with the most basic yet fabulous spell of them all, transformat—!"
Bloom was distracted from the video as a loud thunderclap shattered her eardrums. She cried out and bolted to her knees, earbuds popping out of her ears and phone toppling to the carpeted ground.
Her head snapped towards the window where ominous clouds were swiftly forming around the sky, wind howling loudly until its sheer power flung the locked balcony doors opened and sent Bloom crashing against the wall. She pulled away a bang covering her face due to the wind pressure, only to get a face full of heavy pouring rain splattering across her face.
"Where did this storm come from?!" Bloom yelled out loud just to nobody in particular as the roof tore straight off and the wind tried pulling her up with it. Bloom cried out, gripping the carpet as tight as she could but it didn't seem to help in the slightest—the fibers tore and she began to be pulled upwards—
Her brain, running on pure adrenaline spurred her to use the new spell she'd learned and Bloom held up two hands, a familiar orb encircling her completely and keeping her out of the tornado's reach. With a yell, she and the orb crashed to the ground and it shattered into glittering embers like last night.
Thankfully, the wind died down abruptly before she could be picked up a second time and Bloom sighed in relief, squinting up through sodden bangs. "What was that—?"
"Actually learned a spell this time, pixie?"
Bloom tensed sharply. She knew that voice, and a quick glance up at the gaping roof confirmed her suspicions.
He was certainly going to need Bloom's help much sooner than he'd anticipated.
Robbing a museum was out, as were schools, spell banks, secret tombs, not even to mention palaces or severely protected artifacts of particular realms.
Grumbling to himself, Valtor crumpled the list of spells he'd been interested in and set it on fire from within his fist. For now, unfortunately, buying D-grade books and artifacts from stores was going to have to suffice for now.
Speaking of which...he'd need to find a new easy spell for Bloom to learn now that—
The serene park's silence was shattered as a stampede of pedestrians ran away from something screaming. Frowning in both confusion and annoyance, Valtor grabbed a jogging man from the stampede and said, "You. What is going on?"
The man snorted. "Cloud Tower witches again. Always mucking stuff up...regular Tuesday afternoon actually."
Valtor hummed a none response and let the man return to half-heartedly jog away again, gaze returning to the city where a black cloud was swirling over a tall hotel. Well. It wasn't any of his bus—wait.
Frown deepening, Valtor shot into the air and hovered above the city line, eyes locked on the now destroyed hotel—the familiar now destroyed hotel.
Valtor tilted his head back towards the sky and pressed his palms against his face, groaning in agitation into them. One day. One day of peace and that girl was in harm's way again.
Sighing heavily, Valtor sped towards the hotel, muttering, "Damn that girl, damn that girl, damn that girl," under his breath repeatedly.
He had decided—the next thing he was teaching Bloom if her useless self hadn't gotten herself killed was some offensive spells because this was ridiculous.
When Valtor had neared, he could see ice creeping around the building and chasing a panicked Bloom as she raised out towards the balcony before realizing she was trapped. She spun around to find the ice almost reaching her before determinedly straightening herself and creating a barrier.
Well. Perhaps she wasn't completely useless.
The flaming shield was keeping the spell at bay for now which was a blessing, and it wouldn't have to for much longer, as Valtor dropped from the sky dramatically and landed atop the balcony in front of Bloom, disguise falling and flames erupting from his form, melting away the frost.
"Attacking my student again, Ms. Witch?" Valtor drawled as the platinum blonde gave him a predatory grin.
"Three against one, fella. Let's see if you bark and bite," she said.
"Yeah! Tell him, Icy!" The storm witch said with a grin as her hands crackled with electricity.
"That isn't fair!" Bloom argued from behind the quartet, dropping her hands and the shield and crossing her arms.
"I must agree with Bloom," Valtor said with a mocking smile. "I believe you'll need a half dozen more on your side to have a chance to withstand my...bite. Last time certainly proved that, did it not?"
Icy's smile slipped and she growled, fists clenched tightly at her sides. "You're going to pay for last time, asshole."
"Wait, that's what this is about?" Bloom demanded incredulously. "That fight wasn't even that bad! It was a stalemate!"
"Not really; Icy blew all her magic on that primordial space spell and could've been taken down with a hit from your sexy teacher after that," The brunette witch mused, and her two companions shot her a glare. "What?" she demanded. "I was defending you!"
"Well if that's the case, why are you even bothering with a re-match? Val—Mike's right—
" Valtor rolled his eyes at the name. Dragon, he hated it. " —you guys were all completely creamed last time—!"
With a growl, Icy shot a dangerous-looking icicle from her palm towards Bloom, and Valtor swiftly intercepted it with a swift spell of his own, causing it to shatter into a million shards.
"Bloom," Valtor said patiently over his shoulder at the once again tensed girl. "With all due respect—"
"Shutting up," Bloom said, miming zipping her mouth closed and tossing away the key.
"Very good," Valtor responded as he twirled a finger and sent Bloom floating into the air with a yelp of surprise. Moments later she was engulfed in a blue orb and left to spectate safe above the upcoming action.
He then turned back to the witches and smiled coldly, crooking a finger towards them.
The storm witch charged first with a fist full of lightning and a war cry that Valtor simply dodged with a leap to the side before retaliating with a harsh elbow in the side. She squawked and stumbled to the ground as Icy snapped, "Stormy! You were supposed to let Darcy go first!"
"I'm sorr—ah!" Stormy leaped out of the way of a blast from Valtor and cracked the ground she'd just been standing on and continued to address her friends hovering in the air. "He just pisses me off!"
The brunette—Darcy—rolled her eyes before pressing fingers to her temple.
Valtor tensed. A mind witch.
He moved to dart forwards to stop whatever she was concocting only for his movement to abruptly halt. He glanced down at his now frozen foot, courtesy of the now smirking Icy, and his thoughts briefly drifted towards—
Shaking his head, Valtor shot at Darcy, only for Stormy to jump in front of her and hold up a shield in defense. However, this wasn't the simple spell he'd used when training Bloom—this one cut right through the mediocre barrier with ease and sent both witches crashing into the destroyed hotel room with a scream of shock and pain.
Valtor couldn't capitalize on his success, however, because Icy was charging forwards now, and he was forced to blast the rubble around his immobilized foot before he could dart upwards and kick at Icy's head.
The witch ducked under before aiming a magic-infused uppercut for Valtor's face that he blocked with his forearm, flinching when ice crept up the limb.
"Where's that bite huh?" Icy smirked.
Valtor narrowed his eyes as he amped up his power, the ice melting from his clothes and flesh before exploding outwards and throwing Icy back. She cried out, heels skidding against the tile, but before she could regain her composure, Valtor had slammed his fist into her face and sent her crashing against the hotel's drywall. "You were saying?" Valtor questioned before sending a large amount of magic into his palm for one last—
Vertigo washed over him suddenly, and Valtor was left stunned and staggering backward. What…?
"Good job, Darcy!" Stormy cackled as Valtor fell to his knees with a grunt. Stupid mind spells. He hated magic users with mind powers!
No, no, he had to focus. There was no way this child was going to best him, weak or not. Taking in a deep breath to stop himself from heaving out the contents of his stomach, Valtor tried to calibrate his thoughts. He needed to go up in the air where spells like that couldn't—
The world tilted, and it took Valtor a moment to realize it wasn't just in his head this time.
Bloom gasped in horror as she saw Darcy hit Valtor with a wave of some dangerous looking spell and then cried out in horror when she then proceeded to stomp her heel into the ground, causing half of the balcony to crumble away—taking Valtor along with it.
"Valtor!" Bloom exclaimed in panic from within her orb, pounding at the orb desperately as she watched him scramble blindly for purchase with that spell still making him go loopy.
Gritting her teeth and setting her sights on that Darcy girl, Bloom rammed her shoulder into the orb and he squeaked in pain.
Okay. Bad idea.
Instead, taking in a deep breath, Bloom focused all her energy on destroying Valtor's barrier, clinging to her beating heart and desperation for an extra power boost. "Okay, Bloom," she muttered to herself before pressing her palms against the orb and watching them glow with vivid orange light.
This time, the orb shattered with blue embers mixed with her own fiery ones as she fell from the sky with a war cry on her lips instead of the fearful scream she probably should've been letting out since she was falling from pretty darn high.
Darcy looked up at her in surprise, just in time to be tackled to the ground with a hard THUD, and smacked harshly in the face with one of Bloom's wedges that she'd torn off her foot quickly as a weapon. The two other witches turned towards her in equal shock, taking their attention away from Valtor as he regained his bearings and shot up back into the sky with a scarily unhappy snarl on his face.
His pupils faded to a fiery red and his body was outlined in an indigo light that had his hair floating. Icy was the first to notice, but Bloom couldn't see what was happening because Darcy had switched their positions and was now catfighting her—hair pulling, scratching, screaming, and all. Luckily she was too close to use any spells and Stormy didn't seem willing to risk hitting her friend to get Bloom.
Or so Bloom had thought.
Unimaginable pain shot through her system as lightning coursed through it. Both she and Darcy screamed in agony, twitching and spasming on the ground. Darcy recovered quicker than Bloom, barking, "What is wrong with you?!"
"I was trying to get her off you! You're welcome!"
"You couldn't have used a less painful spell, you moron?!"
As the argument continued, Bloom slowly pushed herself to her knees with a pained groan and squinting blearily up at the now too bright sky. Icy and Valtor were bursts of color and power that echoed across Magix. If Bloom didn't feel like knocking unconscious from pain, she would be watching with a feeling of "wow!". But at the moment, all she could manage was a vague "ooh...ow…I hope Valtor doesn't die...or me...ow."
Her vision was dragged away from the two dueling forces when Darcy, who had stopped arguing with her friend some time outside of Bloom's notice, snatched her by the hair and pulled her painfully to her feet. "Hey, Pretty Boy! Catch!"
Bloom didn't realize what the witch was talking about until she'd kicked her off the balcony and sent her tumbling into thin air.
The world spun dizzyingly and confusedly, snatching away any logical thoughts Bloom could try forming to get her out of her current predicament and sending them off to the wind. Her heart was hammering and she was finding it all too difficult to take in enough oxygen.
"Where're your wings, fairy?!" Icy's mocking voice cut through both the sharp wind and the confusion of her downfall, but instead of making her feel as hopeless as the ice witch wanted her to feel, she felt the opposite as her conscious mind took on its own voice. "Yeah, fairy of the Dragon Fire—where are your wings?"
...except in a not sarcastic way.
And then that determination from last night came surging back tenfold. She wasn't going to die like this; being flung off a building like a comic book damsel and breaking against the concrete. No. She was going to get right back up there and stick it to those witches!
And then she was blinded, her descent slowing as the world faded and a familiar dragon tore from her chest. It wrapped around her, infusing her with power, energy, and strength before exploding in a flash of embers like all her other spells and leaving Bloom emerging from the flames like a butterfly from a cocoon.
Complete with a pair of fluttering wings.
AN: *Dances as RAI transformation song plays*
ANYWAYS! The next chapter should be soon, and it is there where we will see Bloom and Valtor's first-ever heist!
...Bloom won't know that tho. Lol
Hope you enjoyed it!
Fantasy Fan OUT!