AN: You ever really wanted to do something but then Mr. Procrastination barges in, beats you up, and spits on your face?
Yeah.
Now, don't worry I have good news! All of "Season 1" or Part I as it will be dubbed has been outlined by—now don't laugh—listening to the first few minutes of a song and making an overly dramatic fan edit in my head lmao.
But hey! It worked out! Now I can hop onto the next chapter without having to think too hard about what I want to do!
One thing I wanted to do before we start was to give a brief timeline of the events so far. SO!
Ch 1-2: Sunday
Ch 3-5: Monday
Ch 6: Tuesday-Thursday
Ch 7: Thursday
Ch 8: Friday
So five days have gone by! Lemme know if I made a mistake!
Thank you for all the love and support and let's dive into the story and apologies in advance for any typos!
Oh—and the song was the first video that pops up when you type in "slowed hung up", uploaded by " audios". The lyrics have nothing to do with the story, the beat just slaps hard and gets that writers' block damn a-shattering.
Chapter Eight: A Night to Remember
"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Brandon asked Bloom with a frown as she yawned for the fifth time that morning.
"Huh? No, no, I wanna—yawn—I wanna still ride a dragon," Bloom responded, although she knew she sounded unconvincing as she stared heavily-lidded at the swiftly passing by landscape while using Brandon's shoulder as a pillow.
"What have you been doing for the past few days?" Brandon asked, looking over his shoulder with a frown and worried look in his eyes that Bloom could see even behind his tinted helmet visor.
"Blowing myself up, falling from buildings—yawn—getting electrocuted and frozen and—"
"What?"
"I guess it all caught up to me today—this place is super dangerous," she sighed before smiling wanly. "Is it weird that even after that, coming here and getting beat up every day either because of training or witches, meeting you and Valtor…I think it's been the best week of my life?"
"Who's Valtor?"
Bloom's eyes widened and she inhaled sharply. Oh crap, crap, crap, crap, crap—
"I...didn't—say that…"
Goddamnit, Bloom.
"Uh, I think you did?"
"No, no! I said, uh—Baltor? Yeah, his name's Baltor."
"Oh," Brandon said. Bloom felt that he bought it, as he didn't press the issue of what he did or didn't hear and repeated, "Who's he?"
"My mentor and chaperone," Bloom said, sagging slightly in relief. Crisis averted! "You met him when you ran into me before, remember?"
"...wasn't his name Mike?"
FU— "Uh…no? That's just his—last name. We didn't know each other that well then so I just called him by his last name, yup! Kinda like in Harry Potter."
"Who's Harry Potter?"
"Agh! Sorry, I'm just...really really tired. I don't even know what I'm saying."
Brandon chuckled as the Red Fountain campus loomed over them and he cruised into the main plaza. "Hey, no worries! But dang, Baltor Mike. That's…that's kind of rough."
Bloom giggled. "Don't let him hear you say that."
Brandon laughed back. "I'll keep that in mind!"
Bloom smiled again and waited for the bike to stop fully before stepping off, removing her helmet, and stretching with a wince and yet another yawn.
"First Battle Bruises," Valtor had called them when she woke up a groaning mess that morning. "You were bound to get them eventually in this world."
"I got bruises all the time on Earth, they never hurt this bad!" Bloom complained.
"Yes well, I imagine falling off a bike is in a fairly lesser league than crashing through an electric billboard," Valtor said. "Of course that is only theoretical; I've never done either."
Bloom had snorted then. "You've never ridden a bike before?"
"I have not."
"Can you even say you had a childhood?" She teased.
Valtor had simply rolled his eyes and announced he was going to take a bath.
"Hey, Brandon! Who's the pretty girl?"
Bloom's eyes snapped open in surprise and she turned to her side to see three guys walking towards the two of them through the plaza. It was filled with boys in matching uniforms either chatting against the school walls, sitting with their girlfriends atop the central fountain, or play sparring with super cool looking Star Wars-esque weapons. One had brown hair and an easy smile, the other had carrot-colored hair and a pair of square glasses he was adjusting on his nose and the third had high purple hair and a brooding scowl on his face.
"Don't tell me," Purple Hair sneered as he stopped before them with crossed arms. "You mean to tell me you let us do the chores all on our own so you could go taking girls on a joyride again?"
Bloom frowned. Wow, jerk much?
"Give him some slack, Riven," The brown-haired guy said with a teasing grin as he looped an arm around Brandon's neck. "It's not every day Brandon brings back a gorgeous maiden. She must be really special—I mean he's been talking about her non-stop all week." He gave Bloom a wink and she couldn't stop the flustered flush from lighting her cheeks up as Brandon looked away and flushed too.
"Still...Riven is technically right," Glasses Guy said disapprovingly. "You know how Codatora can get when the teams don't work together—and him aside, an extra pair of hands would have been helpful."
Bloom winced. "I'm sorry, Brandon. I didn't think I was intruding on your school life...kinda dumb of me now that I think—"
"Hey, don't worry!" Brandon said quickly with a kind smile. "School is out today for the ball tonight and the chores in question were easy things to take care of. I don't mind."
"I think you missed the fact that we do!" Riven snapped, jabbing a thumb against his chest firmly.
"Chill, dude," The brown-haired guy said placatingly as he detached himself from Brandon and gripped Riven's shoulders firmly.
Riven jerked sharply out of his grasp and stormed off, grumbling under his breath. He shoved one boy who was glancing curiously at him and he toppled backward into the fountain with a scream.
"What's his problem?" Bloom asked with a scowl and crossed arms.
"Sorry about that...he's a bit rough around the edges but he's a good guy, honest!" Glasses Guy said with a smile. "I'm Timmy, by the way."
Bloom smiled back and shook his offered hand. "I'm Bloom, nice to meet you."
"Prince Sky," The Brown Haired guy said and Bloom shook his hand too, before gasping in shock.
"You're a prince? An actual prince? No way!"
"Never seen a prince before?" Prince Sky asked curiously.
"Bloom lived on Earth her whole life, and you don't really see royalty every day there," Brandon explained.
"Ah, gotcha! Well, it's not a big deal really. No honorifics or bowing, please—they're weird. The jerk is Riven." Bloom made mental note of this information as she tried not to gawk excitedly. A prince! Wow! This really was the best week of her life!
"So! Dragon Riding, eh? Why would a fairy like you care to ride one?" Sky asked conversationally.
"How do you even know she's a fairy?" Timmy asked and Sky laughed in response.
"Timmy, Timmy, my man—Brandon's not dumb enough to go for a witch."
Brandon shuddered and made an exaggeratedly unpleasant face. "No thank you. I wouldn't date a witch if she was the last girl in The Magical Dimension!" He and Sky burst into laughter at the joke while Timmy forced a weak one of his own. Bloom couldn't blame him; sure her first run-in with witches was pretty scummy but what Brandon and Sky said sounded kinda...
It was something she immediately decided to call out. "Witches can't all be bad, right?" Bloom asked with a frown. Brandon coughed away the last of his laughter and gave Bloom a confused look while Sky snickered.
"Uh, yeah!" the brunette prince said. "You clearly haven't met any before, being from Earth and all."
"I have met witches before, thanks."
"And how was your experience?" Sky pressed with a raised eyebrow.
Bloom looked away and rubbed her arm. "Not...good." Understatement of the century really.
"You see?"
"But that doesn't necessarily mean—"
"Hey, it's okay, Bloom!" Brandon said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and forcing a laugh. "We were just kidding around! Honest. Of course, not every witch is a—"
"Bitch?" Sky finished with another snicker and Brandon smothered another laugh with his fist.
The uncomfortable feeling in her stomach didn't dissipate as she cleared her throat and forced a smile. "Uh...so dragon-riding, yeah?"
"Just like we planned!" Brandon agreed with a smile as he led Bloom with a hand on her back towards the dragon pens. The conversation brought up next was thankfully a bit more palatable for Bloom as Sky and Brandon began rating the looks of the Alfea girls.
…keyword on a bit more palatable.
Bloom let out a breath, she forgot that teenage boys were very different from brooding dinosaur wizards.
The ground shifted into the sand as they entered the dragon pens, multiple Red Fountain boys already up in the sky and cheerfully whooping or gliding with significant others on their laps. Brandon led her to a stable with a white dragon sniffing curiously at her and she smiled, rubbing under his chin. "Hey, gorgeous."
"He likes you," Timmy said in surprise. "Usually Artemis isn't too kind to strangers."
Bloom pressed her cheek against the dragon's face and gave him a dramatic narrow of her eyes. "Call me the Dragon Whisperer."
Brandon laughed lightly before saying, "Stand back, let me take him out."
Bloom watched eagerly as the boys all saddled the dragon, and grinned excitedly when Brandon finally turned to her and gestured her forwards with a tilt of his head. After helping her onto the saddle, Brandon leaped up behind her and reached forwards for the reins.
"So! You hold the reins like this...right! And you put your feet here…yup! And then to go you just—AH!" Artemis swooped into the air on powerful legs when Bloom kicked at his sides as instructed. A delighted whoop left her lips as the wind combed through her hair and her adrenaline went wild.
Ooh, she was definitely awake now!
"Sorry!" Bloom called over her shoulder with a slight giggle as Artemis slowed to an easy glide and she took in Brandon's wide-eyed panting face. "As you probably figured out during our tour—"
"You like going fast," Brandon finished with a good-natured laugh. "Should've known that didn't just apply to bikes. I can see an adrenaline junkie like you becoming one of the fastest fliers in The Magic Dimension when you get your wings."
Bloom grinned. "I actually did get my wings, yesterday!"
"No way, really? Congrats!"
"Thanks! I just gotta get good at flying next," Bloom said sheepishly as she lightly patted one of the dragon's leathery wings. "I'm not good at it like this guy."
"Hey, practice makes perfect; that's what Baltor Mike's there for, right?"
A held-in laugh puffed Bloom's cheeks and caused her to double over slightly. Oh, he was going to kill her. "Pretty much," she said, not quite being able to stop an amused giggle from coming out. "There's also this girl on this world's version of video blogging called—eek!" Artemis reared up suddenly as another dragon swooped directly under him. Bloom's slack grip on the reins failed completely and she crashed back into Brandon, causing the two to topple backward through the sky.
The two shared a panicked screaming session before Bloom remembered her wings and desperately went mental diving for her winx. Just like the previous two times, her gaze burned with fiery white light and her veins tingled with magic as she felt her clothes burn away before feeling warmth constrict around her chest, waist, and feet.
Gasping as the fiery cocoon exploded in a shower of sparkles, her (unfortunately sore) wing muscles shifted into place just as the still screaming Brandon crashed into her chest.
"Sorry!" She grunted as her wings fluttered vigorously and she struggled under his weight. "But hey look! See, told you I got my wings!"
Brandon looked up at her and gave another one of his good-natured chuckles. "Y-yeah. I can see that. Thank The Dragon, huh?"
Suddenly, Artemis swooped towards them with a squawk that sounded almost concerned, and with a grunt and relived sigh, Bloom lowered Brandon back onto his saddle.
"Sorry, Brandon, Other Girl!" The dragon rider from before called sheepishly.
Bloom gave him a friendly smile and wave as Brandon said, "Don't worry about it, bud!"
"You're a seriously friendly guy," Bloom commented as she fluttered beside Brandon and Artemis while they continued to glide, before frowning slightly. "I...suppose except towards witches."
Brandon winced. "Look…about that, I know it sounds bad, but we were just joking around, really! Of course, I have no problem with witches.
"It's just…us, Cloud Tower, and Alfea have this little rivalry going on. So we make jokes about them, just like they're probably making jokes about us."
"Oh. So it's just a school rivalry thing?" Bloom checked.
"Absolutely!" Brandon insisted.
Bloom supposed that wasn't too bad in that case. She knew a thing or two about school rivalries back in Gardenia with those stupid preppy Floria High—
…yeah okay, she got it.
"Okay," Bloom smiled as she flew behind Artemis and lowered herself into the saddle behind Brandon. "Yeah, I get it now."
As she reined in her magic and subsequently lost her wings, Brandon sighed in relief as he grinned at her over his shoulder. "I'm glad. I have a hunch you wouldn't want to go out with a bigot."
Bloom frowned. "Go out?"
Brandon's face burned. "I-I mean—! Okay, well Alfea has this ball annually at the start of a new school year, and um…you're allowed to bring a plus one. I wanted to—I mean I was wondering if you'd like to go with me? P-platonically if you want. There's a lot of interesting people there that you can also talk to too; kids of generals, politicians, even some royalty like Sky! So…if you're interested…"
Ooh, Bloom really wanted to go to her first Fairy Ball and meet other faries like her, and if Brandon was going to platonically ask her not-in-the-dating-headspace self out then who was she to refuse?
She grinned and Brandon slumped in relief again as he grinned back. "I take that as—AH!"
Artemis reared up again, though this time, Bloom had found purchase—Brandon's waist—and he kept a firm grasp on the reins.
"Sorry! Again!"
"Geez, Ricki!" Brandon complained as Bloom laughed mostly to herself.
Dragon riding road rage.
She loved this place.
"I'm sorry, I must not have heard you correctly…this is how much?"
The shop clerk scratched his neck awkwardly before saying, "Well, sir, it's quite a rare—"
"This is pixie magic," Valtor snapped, slamming the orb against the table and ignoring the elderly man's wince of discomfort. "They practically sell these for lint anywhere else!"
The man laughed awkwardly. "Decades ago maybe, nobody's selling pixie magic for cheap nowadays—not since they went awol on us after the…" he paused and cleared his throat. "Well…y'know."
Valtor narrowed his eyes. "No. I don't."
"Welp, blame your crappy cable, pal, 'cause that is thing-that-shall-not-be-named territory."
Valtor rolled his eyes and moved away from the checkout desk, eyes browsing the small hob housed shop for anything else that could be useful. Pixie magic was versatile and could adapt to just about any powerhouse. If there was one thing that could've gotten him—
He stumbled against a bookshelf with a gasp and gripped the shelves tight to regain his blurred vision.
"Uh…sir?"
"I'm fine."
The fight with those obnoxious Cloud Tower witches had, like Bloom, affected him far more once the adrenaline had worn off than in the heat of the moment. He felt almost as horrible as he did whence escaping Omega almost a week prior.
He needed magic, but Bloom was gone and he didn't have the energy to commit even a petty robbery. Cursing under his breath, he took up another pixie stone and placed it next to the one he'd initially refused to buy, pausing as he glanced at the trinket basket next to the register.
"Oh uh...good luck charms!" The man said eagerly. "Made with leprechaun gold and doused in unicorn magic."
"Let me guess," Valtor sneered. "They're triple the price than they were a decade ago because the leprechauns and the unicorns disappeared into the night thanks to a horrible event of unspecified origin."
The man blushed. "A-and the bracelet chain is sold separately."
Valtor stared intently at the man, enough time for him to squirm and sweat in discomfort.
"What is your name?" Valtor asked finally.
"D-Dedrick, sir."
"You will turn up missing, Dedrick."
"I-I-I can throw in the chain for free!" He squawked.
Valtor smiled and nodded. "That would be appreciated, thank you," he said as he plucked an orb-shaped charm detailed with vines and roses and dropped it beside the pixie stones. He was in far too bad of a mood to use smooth words to get his way…besides, it wasn't every day one bumped into a magicless waste of sperm in Magix. Why expend precious energy on false flattery when you could cow them into submission instead?
"That'll be…erm…one hundred fifty spangles, sir."
"One hundred fifty spangles," Valtor grumbled under his breath as he dropped the opalescent coins on the counter—one pure white, five warm copper. Absolute rip-off this was; once he was strong enough to get away with it, Dedrick was absolutely going to turn up missing.
As Valtor exited the shop, he checked the time on a nearby street clock. Five minutes before Bloom and Bad Bang Boy would show up at the diner they'd agreed upon; he could get there by then.
In the meanwhile, as he strolled, he took out one of the small, semi-transparent orbs from his coat pocket and rolled it in his palms. Something so terrible that magical creatures turned heel and ran away from civilization? Oh, he had quite the hunch of what that event was, and while it did fill him with some pride that destroying Sparx had caused such a lingering effect on people…
He narrowed his eyes and squeezed the cosmic stone in his hand. Blame the bad cable for not knowing, not ignorant parents, or poor history books, or poorly researched web articles.
Did they want to forget what happened at Sparx? It certainly explained why those witches hadn't remembered him. But if that was the case...why?
Ah, well. He supposed it was better this way—albeit annoying that his magnum opus was being brushed under the rug. If it was illegal to talk about for older people and thus completely unknown to the younger generation, there was no way for Bloom to find out sooner than she needed to.
And with this little bauble—he patted the bracelet beneath his glove and smiled lightly—luck would hopefully be even further on his side.
Leaning against the diner windows, Valtor sighed as he crushed the orb in his palm. The magic sank beneath his flesh and twined with his core, perking him to the slightest degree but…at the end of the day these things were used for light effects at birthday parties—they wouldn't give him much energy despite that ridiculous price.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow he was finding some powerful artifact to suck the energy out of.
As he crushed the second orb, he felt a surge of energy explode through him. At first, he'd stupidly assumed there was more magic in this pixie stone than the previous one, but then a familiar bike slowed to a stop before him. Bloom pulled off her helmet and shook her hair out before beaming at Valtor and waving. Valtor smiled mildly and held up a hand in return greeting as Brandon said, "Hey! Baltor Mike, right?"
Valtor's smile disappeared immediately as Bloom clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her laughter and Brandon continued with, "You look…different."
"I beg your pardon?" Valtor demanded, not having recovered with the abysmal title he had just been given. Baltor Mike? Bloom's laughter burst through her palm and she began laughing openly as Brandon straightened quickly.
"Sorry, sir! I didn't mean to off—a-anyway, see you tonight, Bloom?" He said, pulling up his visor to smile at her.
"Yup!" Bloom said with a wave as Brandon grinned, replaced his visor, and zoomed off into the traffic.
The logical thing to do was question what the boy meant by, "see you tonight", but instead as soon as Bloom got near enough he demanded, "Baltor Mike?"
Bloom snorted as she smoothed her wind swept hair. "Baltor Mike. Ha."
"Bloom," he said seriously as he leaned towards her so he could see the seriousness in his gaze. "Baltor. Mike."
"Okay, so, I kinda slipped up and said your name, and I know your being hunted by some power snatchers. So I panicked and said the first thing that came to mind, but then he remembered I called you Mike when we first met and I had to use the excuse that I was actually calling you by your last name…" she took in a deep breath before wiggling her fingers dramatically towards him. "And voila. Baltor Mike was born."
Valtor's eye twitched as he turned sharply on his heel and stormed into the diner.
Baltor Mike. Ugh.
He needed his full power back more than ever now.
"Soooo," Bloom said as Valtor found a seat and dropped down unceremoniously. Baltor Mike. "With you being mad at me for your disguise name…I guess you wound't mind me going out for the night?"
Ah yes. The other thing the boy had said. Well, anything to get his mind off…eugh.
"You teenagers certainly move fast these days," Valtor commented as he picked up the menu resting on the table and scanned it. "Two outings and suddenly he's asking you on a date."
"Oh, it's not a date, date," Bloom said. "We're going out as friends."
Valtor snorted.
"It's true!"
"That boy is smitten. A blind man could see it," Valtor drawled just as the waitress came and took their order.
Bloom gave her menu to the woman as she sighed. "Yeah, he seems interested. But I'm not really looking for a boy right now; Andy was a bit...rough," she winced. "But if he tries to…y'know kiss me or something I'll let him know. I think he knows, he's the one to offer a platonic version of this outing in the first place."
"And this outing consists of…?" Valtor raised an eyebrow as Bloom suddenly grew mildly nervous.
"Okay, I admit I didn't think this through and I am now just realizing…"
"Nothing excites the girls like a party—especially one including the strapping fellows from Red Fountain!" Valtor tensed sharply as the all too familiar voice assaulted his eardrums, and slowly his gaze found the TV just above their table.
An elderly woman was walking with a reporter through a large hallway filled with girls around Bloom's age. Her cheerful eyes were framed with square glasses and she spoke in a pleasant and polite manner. "We hope that this ball will give our girls and the Red Fountain Boys a chance to relax before the school year and simultaneously forge unbreakable bonds with one another."
Faragonda.
Valtor felt bile crawling up his throat as he gripped the table cloth beneath tightening fists and the diner's temperature began to steadily climb.
The cameras cut to another news reporter. "Now, let's see what the freshies of Alfea have to say!"
Several excited girls were then promptly asked simple questions; "What are you most excited for?" "Do you dance?" "Is there a special boy you're excited to see?"
"I'm not looking for a boy," A pretty blonde girl smirked proudly before tossing her long hair. "They have to look for me."
"Ooh, I'm so sure a boy will be looking for a dropout!" a voice snickered out of eye-shot and the girl gave a dirty look beyond the camera.
The video switched back to Faragonda.
The TV exploded a moment later.
Several shrieks of fear and surprise sounded throughout the diner, and Bloom, who'd apparently leaned forwards in an effort to shake him out of his stupor, jolted back into her seat with a strangled gasp and pressed a hand against her oddly glowing chest.
Valtor took in a shuddering breath and blinked away the rage from his gaze as he watched the phenomenon curiously. Suddenly, the waitress dashed back towards them and ushered them to a new table.
"Hey…you okay?" Bloom asked worriedly as they settled in another table and the glow in Bloom's chest dissipated.
"Fine," Valtor said dully. Oh yes, he just saw the women who took everything from him for the first time in 17 years—of course he was fine! Why wouldn't he be?
Bloom frowned in clear disbelief, so Valtor cleared his throat and said, "The outing, what were you saying?" behind her, he could see what was presumably a technology fairy fixing the television.
"Valtor…"
"Bloom."
"Look, are you sure you're okay? That was some magic—"
Valtor batted a hand through the air. "I blew up a television. Nobody cares about their longevity with technology faries a plenty; they'll break if you breathe on them wrong."
Bloom's frown didn't dissipate and Valtor sighed. "I am fine, Bloom. This outing you were speaking of?"
Bloom bit her lip and looked away. "Erm…well it was that ball you saw on the TV…but."
Valtor clenched his jaw tightly and narrowed his eyes as Bloom quickly said, "It's fine! I don't have to go. I know that you feel…very very strongly about the school. I just was kind of interested in going to a fairy ball and um…well Brandon said I could actually meet fairy princesses there…"
Princesses.
Valtor's jaw unclenched and his frown became contemplative.
Yes…that's right. There were children of high repute at Alfea, basking in the glow of…that women's…promise of safety and protection. Stealing from Alfea's vaults was suicide at this point, but stealing from pathetic teenagers drunk on spiked fruit punch?
There were many princesses whose powers were tied to their family heirlooms—the Sceptre of the Lunas, the Barrette of Callisto, and the Jewel of Isis to name but a few. As a result…they would undoubtedly have them within reach…
He began drumming his fingers against the table in excitement as the gears in his heads began to whir. But stealing something as powerful and important as the above mentioned wasn't exactly free of consequence either…he couldn't just swipe them, he needed to replace them with something that could serve as a good enough decoy to last for as long as possible.
"Hello? Valtor?" Bloom said with a frown."You zoned out again. Hey, I told you if you don't want me to go—"
"Yes."
Bloom blinked twice in surprise. "Huh?"
"Yes. You can go."
"Wha—I—oh my God, really?" Bloom exclaimed excitedly, pausing to say thank you as the waitress returned with their orders—fries for her and a bowl of soup for him. "You mean it? Seriously?"
"Well after yesterday, you may need a reminder of the…less dangerous side of the Magic Dimension. Now, what time does it start?" Valtor inquired.
"8:30?"
"That's plenty of time," Valtor said approvingly.
Bloom nibbled on a fry as she tilted her head to the side. "Time for what?"
"Well, dress shopping of course."
"Oh!" Bloom jumped in her seat, causing the fry to fall from her mouth and onto her top, splattering ketchup across her chest. "Dang, I forgot about a dress!"
"You were going to a ball without a dress?"
Bloom flushed and ducked her head. "I was going to remember...eventually." she then took the fry from her cropped shirt and plopped it into her mouth, either not noticing or not caring about the wince of disgust Valtor made. "There's dress shops in Magix, right?"
"Of course," Valtor agreed, taking a napkin from his coat pocket and handing it to her to wipe the ketchup stain. "And I know just the place to find you a truly eyecatching dress." And a competent jeweler while he was at it.
"Dress shopping" in the world of Bloom and Valtor apparently meant a desperate battle of tastes.
Bloom had gravitated to more manageable dresses—simple cotton dresses with spaghetti straps, halter dresses that brushed the knees, patterned dresses with calf-length slits. Valtor was more interested in things that Bloom felt far too plain to fit in, mermaid gowns that shimmered, ball gowns the size of cakes, asymmetrical gowns with animated butterflies fluttering on them.
He'd finally found a dress that he suggested she just try. Try, and if she really hated it they could go for one of her "That is drier than a bowl of Solarian sun-dried oatmeal sitting in the bowels of a dehydrated sand slug." options.
It was a pretty dress for sure; made of glistening cyan blue fabric that shifted to shades of purple when it caught the light at certain angles and translucent sleeves that puffed around her arms. But that was the issue, it was too "wow!" and the sweetheart neckline was giving her the slightest bit of anxiety when it came to her chest.
She adjusted the neckline gingerly before sighing and calling out, "Okay! I'm ready!" Taking in a deep breath, she opened the changing room door and spread her arms out with an awkward "Ta-da!" Only for there to be nobody there.
"V—Baltor!" Bloom complained as she hunched slightly into herself and scanned the area for her vanished mentor. She found him by a jewelry booth, talking—no, arguing with the woman manning it.
Frowning curiously, Bloom hiked up her dress and padded her way across the patterned carpet. Once closer, she could hear what the two were angrily hissing about.
"Sir, that simply isn't possible."
"I disagree."
"I'm sorry, are you a jeweler?"
Valtor chuckled darkly. "No. I am, however—"
"Baltor?"
Valtor tensed and spun around to face her, a smile immediately falling into place. "Bloom," he said, before nodding approvingly. "You look radiant."
"Thanks," Bloom said with a sheepish smile. "It's a very nice dress but I…erm, I don't think it's for me?"
Valtor frowned and titled his head to the side. "Well, why not?"
"I was thinking—well I don't think I can actually pull this off."
"You pull this off spectacularly," Valtor insisted before turning to the jeweler. "Isn't she beautiful?"
The jeweler gave him a confused look before turning to Bloom with a smile. "You do look, lovely dear."
Bloom hummed as she turned away from the two and faced the floor-length mirror separating the booth from another column of gowns and dresses. Again...the dress was stunning, but the elegance was all but ruined by her perpetually messy red hair and acne-ridden face. She sighed and hugged herself again. "I'm not…I don't know…"
"She's a bit nervous, see," Valtor told the woman. "It's her first ball."
The woman frowned sympathetically and sighed. "Oh yes, I remember my first ball. I slaved away for months trying to get every detail right and exact."
"So you understand why I need this tonight?" Valtor questioned, and from the mirror, she watched as he turned to fully face her and frown sympathetically as well—a far cry from the seeming frustration he was exuding just before. "Everything simply has to be perfect."
Bloom turned to look at them both curiously, and the woman smiled at her. "Ah, okay. Why not?" She pressed a glowing violet finger to her temple as she walked off, eyes closed in seeming concentration and lips moving subtly.
"What was all that about?" Bloom asked curiously as she walked towards a very pleased-looking Valtor.
"I couldn't very well let you have your debut without giving you any jewelry, now could I?" Valtor smiled and patted her shoulder fondly.
"You didn't have to," Bloom said but felt a strong wave of flattery anyway. She seriously struck gold when she saved him back in Gardenia. "I mean thanks, this is super sweet but—"
"A princess deserves the very best," he said, and Bloom blushed this time.
"Okay, stop. I don't look that good."
"You've captured the attention of a suitor on your first meeting," Valtor said with raised eyebrows. "Surely that has to say something of your beauty."
Bloom's face was just about as red as her hair at that point, and she mumbled a flustered thanks as she tucked her head in bashfully.
Valtor chuckled good-naturedly and lead her by her shoulder blade. "Come, while we wait, we can look for appropriate heels for you."
"Oh—um," Bloom cleared her throat and rubbed the blush from her cheeks as she said, "Nothing over an inch."
Valtor rolled his eyes. "Anything an inch or lower hardly constitutes for a—"
"Ah!" Bloom held up a hand of authority. "Nothing over an inch."
Valtor pressed his lips together before sighing and conceding with a nod. "I'm going to dress you properly one of these days, and you will love it."
"Hey, you already got to pick the dress, let me be boring now."
"Fine," He said, and the dramatics in which he said it made Bloom smile.
Bloom had then gushed over entering her first-ever magical bookshop. She had, per Valtor's suggestion, been allowed to run off and find a spellbook she found interesting.
She'd found five.
All that left was a good half-hour spent trying (and failing) to tame her unruly hair.
"Ugh!" Bloom growled, glaring at the hairbrush now littered in red tufts. "You useless—!" She shrieked in surprise as the brush exploded into flame and promptly turned to ash, spilling onto the bathroom tile.
Huffing she tried with the comb. After trying and failing with said comb, she'd strode over for some sort of magical intervention to her currently internet browsing mentor.
"This is a little spell I learned in Isis. As you can see…" he gestured to his own hair. "It works wonders."
Bloom watched from the sink mirror as he pressed his gloved fingertips across her forehead, gasping in awe as they lit up lightly with magic. Moments later, he dragged them through her hair in one swift motion.
"Oh…" Bloom breathed in awe as her hair ignited in vivid light before dimming and gently falling against her face in enchantingly glossy waves. "This is…wow."
"Why yes, it's quite something, isn't it?" He said with a pleased smile. "It's one of my favourite Dimensions for a reason; remind me to take you one day."
"Uh-huh," Bloom said dazedly as she poked her reflection and smiled weakly. She felt…well she liked how this felt.
"Now for the finishing touch, the jewelry I had commissioned for you," Valtor said before holding out his hand. "Wrist?"
Bloom turned from her reflection to Valtor, and offered her hand curiously. With a snap of his fingers, a bracelet braided silver and decorated with a single orb charm appeared on her wrist.
"Ooh! A friendship bracelet!" Bloom said, holding up her arm for a better look and grinning. "Thanks a lot."
"It was actually a good luck charm—to stop you from attracting witches, you see—" Bloom rolled her eyes playfully as he continued. "But you may interpret it as you wish. Now, it's almost eight-fifteen and I predict your date will be calling for you soon."
"You won't be too bored when I'm gone, will you?" Bloom asked half-teasingly.
Valtor's lips twitched. "I'll manage."
There was some sort of…dark excitement in his voice that she couldn't quite place.
There was an art to robbery, and in even greater precision needed when stealing important heirlooms under the nose of a powerful foe.
You needed plans all the way up to Z, a lengthy arsenal of spells, a lay of the land, and a narrow minded unflinching target and goal with a dash of luck to tie it all together.
Two of the above Valtor hadn't time for, and while his spell knowledge was great his current magical state was a whole other issue. Then there was the fact that his last bit of luck was going to be given to Bloom in order to cover his bluff.
Blasted jeweler woman.
So all he had was determination and a target. Those weren't at all hard to find as he would do just about anything to feel even the slightest bit less vulnerable and Miss Stella of Solaria was a very public person.
Typing in the "Alfea" tag on Flitter had her posts appearing at the very top.
The first was a picture of the blonde striking a pose in front of the school plaza with her lips puckered, captioned:
Second time's the charm! #Alfea, #Stella'sBackBabies!
"Gotten that heir you so desperately wanted, Radius?" Valtor muttered to himself with a smile as he clicked her profile. "Good for you, good for you."
He was pleased to find what he was looking for, a map of her dorm in the form of a dozen more selfies. Of course he didn't exactly know if she was going to bring her ring or not, but planning for both scenarios was vital.
"That girl kind of looks familiar," Bloom commented over his shoulder, comb stuck in her hair as she peered curiously at the computer screen.
"The over-sharing Princess of Solaria," Valtor explained. "Nevertheless, she would be a rather helpful asset and getting you to learn more about this world."
"Aw, you're making me a potential friends list?"
"Of course. If I leave you to your own devices you'll enchant another Brandon out of the gutter."
Bloom rolled her eyes playfully. "Why do you keep bullying him?"
"He's doomed me to the name Baltor Mike," Valtor said by way of explanation as Bloom snickered in amusement. "Now, would you like help with you hair?"
Bloom being a conversational distraction was a precaution in case the ring wasn't with the Princess and he needed to break into her dorm instead. Of course he needed distractions for the other dorm mates as well, (that Stella had also been kind enough to reveal) and tossing his protege would only stick so long as he hadn't overestimated the princess's vanity and his students's starry-eyed wonder for any information about magic, no matter how trivial.
Valtor sighed to himself as the Red Fountain boy's scream cut off abruptly as the portal that had opened beneath his feet sealed shut. He, unfortunately, didn't have the time to craft a perfectly insolated plan—had he known just a day sooner—
Ah, no matter. He'd done tougher things on the fly.
Valtor took the boy's form and sped walked to catch up with the other throng of boys. Close enough that he didn't look too suspicious, but not too close so that he wasn't dragged into some idiotic conversation about piss competitions and cup sizes.
Although he'd made precautions by sinking his magic deep into his core to avoid most detection, and was prepared to taint any technology he came across, he was unsurprised that there was no extra security as the guards standing before the open ballroom doors gestured them in. They really did foolishly believe Faragonda could protect them forever without fail.
He almost felt pity for them. Almost.
Despite that, there was a level of unease that stirred within him as he set foot on the marble floors of Alfea. He shoved his magic further away from his flesh and inhaled deeply.
Anxiety was his least favourite emotion, especially since it meant that there were blind spots on his game board. But also because it made the chandeliers too bright, and the bodies too close together and—
Focus, focus. He was Valtor for crying out loud, he'd aided in the destruction of the most powerful kingdom in all the realms and laid waste to countless more. That didn't change simply because he had less magic and Faragonda was nearby—just out of reach at a high table with a bright smile as she watched the crowd and—
She didn't look at him, did he? Though her expression didn't change…had he done a poor job at hiding his magic? Had—?
"Hey, man," a brown-haired Red Fountain boy patted him firmly on the shoulder and smiled. "No need to be nervous—never danced a day in my life either."
Quickly pulling himself out of his musings for now and slipping into his teenage persona, Valtor laughed awkwardly and looked away in faux shame. "That's not it. I have danced, I'm just terrible at it. I'm going to break some poor girl's toes for sure."
The boy gave him a squeeze and chuckled sympathetically. "Chin up bud," and in a lower voice added, "I hear through the grapevine that the snack table's where it's at anyway."
Ah, as he'd hoped.
"Sky, hey! We gotta bring in the party favors!" A voice called to Valtor's companion.
The boy—Sky—groaned. "Get off my back, Greg!" He complained as he stormed off to complete the task anyway. "I just got here!"
"Next time come on time!" The voice named Greg scoffed back.
'Focus,' he relayed to himself once more as he took in a final deep breath and scanned the crowd of students. It wasn't hard to spot Bloom having the time of her life as Brandon took her through a waltz.
"Wow, you can dance!" She complimented as they twirled passed the snack table Valtor was leaning on.
Brandon shrugged and smiled. "Hey, squires pick fancy stuff up sometimes."
A squire? He wasn't even a random nobody? He was a proud servant?
His plan to make her a friend list was starting to become a bit more sincere.
Taking them off his mind for a few, Valtor went back to scanning the crowd. He'd seen the photos of the dress she'd chosen and he was fairly sure it wouldn't be too hard to miss…
"Who is that girl?" A female voice said. Turning to the side, Valtor saw his target beside one of her dorm mates—the technology fairy with the pixie cut. He was admittedly surprised that the Princess was eyeing Bloom with appreciation instead of envy.
"I don't recognize her either," The technology fairy mused. "I suppose she's a plus one."
"And she's making the most of it; look at that dress! Imagine that on me but orange or violet? Wouldn't I look stunning?"
"Maybe. You know I'm not very good with style."
"You dress tonight says otherwise, Tech."
The fairy blinked twice in surprise. "Oh. Thank you."
As the two conversed, Valtor let out a thin stream of magic to check for the ring. Visually, it was nowhere in sight on the sun Princess's finger, but invisibility spells weren't uncommon.
There wasn't a small, contained magic source he could sense—but he could sense two very vivid magical cores of differing magic types.
As he called his magic back he frowned musingly. That was a rare trait indeed, perhaps a possible friendship with Bloom would be more than encyclopedic help for her.
Speaking of whom, Bloom and Brandon had just bowed out of a waltz with the latter winking and telling her something while the former hiked her dress and made her way to the snack table.
Valtor had to force his magic down with more vigor as it instinctively sang in her magic's presence. She paused, glancing at him curiously for a moment before shaking her head and making a beeline for the Princess as he'd hoped.
"Hi! I'm Bloom—oh!" She paused to dip into a semi-sloppy curtesy.
"None of that, darling," Stella said with a wave of her hand. "That is so last century."
"You're the second royal to say that to me today—and that's a sentence I've never thought I'd say in my life holy crap," Bloom sighed wistfully.
Well, he supposed his meager distraction system was in place. It was time to find Princess Stella's dorm.
He slipped around a pair of boys carrying a large chest, one of them being the Sky boy he spoke with earlier, as he entered the hallway and let his magic guide him once more.
He'd only gotten ten steps in when he heard several shrieks and screams of horror, followed by the unmistakable sound of stomach heaving.
Valtor paused to frown over his shoulder. What in the world was going on over there? Was the food spiked with a potion that caused stomach bugs instead of the alcohol and drugs he'd assumed?
Curses. That meant the party was going to end early, and that cut horribly into his time limit.
Blasted teenagers.
Valtor increased his walking speed as he he continued scanning for anything that could fit the signature he was looking for when it suddenly popped vivaciously on his internal radar.
Stopping, he turned towards the nearest dorm room, but it wasn't coming from there. Frowning in confusion, he turned around only for a blur of yellow to zoom by.
The signature went off with it.
Was the situation actually dire? Was the Princess calling back her weapon? That theory was shot down, however, as the box went flying outside a nearby window instead of towards the ballroom.
Truly, what was going on?
Narrowing his eyes and not stopping his stride, Valtor vaulted out the window and snatched the jewelry box from the air. He landed just as he squeezed it in his hand and canceled out the spell.
He forced the mounting excitement down with the rest of his magic as he peered around cautiously. Who had been calling the box? If it hadn't been the Princess…
"Hey! Red Fountain pest!" A familiar voice snapped as she shoved aside a curtain of bamboo and stormed forwards. "That ring is ours!"
Valtor leaped and rolled to the side before glaring back from his crouched position. Those witches again.
It truly wouldn't have killed him to keep that good luck charm…
"Hold on a minute, Stormy," the mind witch said with narrowed eyes as she and Icy too stepped out of the forest. She pressed a palm against her companion's chest to stop her as she continued, "He canceled our spell, which means he has magic."
Raising her hands, dark purple bloomed in her palms. "Hero wannabes don't have magic!" She swept her arms outwards in an X and her magic exploded into a gust of wind. It washed over Valtor as he lifted an arm to shield his face from the eldritch breeze while his disguise slipped off like a silk garment.
"You," Icy snarled. "What are you doing here?"
"I can ask the same," Valtor said as he stood and dropped his arm. "Why are three senior witches so blissfully unconcerned with earning the ire of the Headmistress?"
Icy rolled her eyes. "Oh please. As you've probably figured out, the precautionary measures here are as pathetic as a 'take one' sign on a sample tray. It'd be a miracle if the smug hag realized we're here."
He couldn't exactly argue with that logic.
"Now look," Icy continued. "We've been having a very successful night so far—don't ruin it for us." She held out her hand and the box wobbled in Valtor's as it attempted to fly into it.
He casually canceled the spell a second time as he strode forward and smiled coldly at them. "Or else…what?"
"Or else we'll kick your ass, you bastard!" Stormy snapped as she swiftly filled her hands with electricity.
He truly was loath to fight them—not because he didn't want to put them in their place, but one, he was still embarrassingly reeling from their last battle and two, he couldn't risk Faragonda finding out he was here.
"Just give us the ring," Darcy said tiredly. "I still have bruises from last time."
Well, that made him feel a little better about the ordeal. Though he wasn't about to give the ring up, even if he too didn't want to fight.
An idea lit up in his mind and Valtor's smirk broadened and he flicked open the jewelry box. "How about…" he took the Solarian ring out and tossed it in the air, catching it as it became a scepter. "Instead I give you that miracle you spoke of?"
Before they could dissect his words, Valtor swept the object with his intent. The witches disappeared in a flash of light moments later.
There. A portal of his own would have been reckless, but nobody would suspect powerful sun magic.
Closing the jewelry box, Valtor stepped into the bamboo forest the witches had left and sat atop the nearest rock. Now for the moment of truth.
From within his coat pocket, Valtor took out the flat metal disk he'd requested from the jeweler. It didn't look spectacular, but to the trained eye, it was clearly Warp Metal—very rare and very expensive like just about everything in this current post-war economy apparently.
It was used for people who wanted to wear diamonds or pearls but didn't have the money to do so (how sadly ironic). The substance would warp to an exact replica of whatever the wearer wanted and stay that way until they wished it to change to something else.
Even important heirlooms.
Unfortunately, it didn't carry over any of its magical power…and that was where he came in.
He placed the Solarian Ring near the metal atop the rock and sighed. It saddened him that he wouldn't be able to drain it of every last drop of magic, but it couldn't be helped. People called him many things; powerful, merciless, ambitious, insane, but they'd never called him foolish.
He was going to keep it that way.
Holding his palm above the ring, it glowed vividly before leaking vivacious light. Pausing, Valtor used his other hand to create a dark dome around them. He didn't want the light to catch anyone's eye after all.
He desperately fought the urge to absorb the pulsating power before directing it into the Warp Metal with care. He filled it with just about three-quarters of the magic before stopping, any less and he feared the Princess would figure out something was off much sooner.
The rest of the magic then swirled into his palm and sank into his flesh.
It was almost instantaneous the effect it had. The lingering weariness he'd felt ever since Omega melted away beneath buttery light, weariness he hadn't even noticed dissipating as well. He felt like an addict tasting tobacco for the first time in decades—and in a way, it was quite the same.
He wasn't anywhere near full strength, but it was a start, a wonderful, wonderful start. Imagine how good he'd feel with the slightest bit—
No. He couldn't be too greedy, not yet.
He lay his finger atop the Warp Metal and it morphed and shifted into a perfect Replica of the Solarian Ring. He then placed it back into the jewelry box and closed it shut as he canceled out the barrier he'd had up.
"Back," he told it, rubbing a thumb on top its shell-shaped lid and imbuing it with a simple spell. It swiftly zoomed out of his palm and back into the Princess's room as he held the real ring up to the moonlight and smiled triumphantly. With a pleased smirk, he slipped it into his pocket.
A souvenir.
With a sigh, Bloom opened the door to the hotel room. Valtor was in his blouse, casually lounging on his bed with a book when he looked up and smiled. "Welcome ba—oh."
"Yeah," Bloom said with another sigh as she walked in and closed the door by leaning against it tiredly.
Valtor closed the book and raised his eyebrows. "Do I want to know?"
"I'm going to let you know because I need to rant to someone," Bloom replied as she slipped her silver heels off and slid to the carpeted floor. "It was super great at first, the music and the dancing, and Sky was super gentlemanly. Oh! I also talked to the Princess you told me about and she was super sweet as well as her other friend who was named Techy or something. She was going to show me her other friends too but…"
"But?" Valtor pressed.
"But," Bloom groaned. "The Red Fountain Boys brought in these stupid egg things and gave it to all of this and then BOOM! These weird creatures crawled out and started biting everyone—projectile vomiting, everywhere!" Bloom waved her hands dramatically. "And I didn't get bit but just watching everyone sick made me sick, hence this." She gestured to her vomit-covered dress.
"And then those Cloud Tower witches from before appeared out of nowhere and everyone started freaking out at first but they seemed just as confused and started slipping and sliding on vomit puddles before the Headmistress came and yelled at them for like a half-hour. Apparently, they're the ones who ruined the gifts."
Bloom blew a strand of hair from her eye and sighed again. Bummer. She was really curious as to what was in those eggs, and she and Brandon were mutually too embarrassed to talk about it on the ride back.
"Also so much for good luck," Bloom added as she squinted at the bracelet. "I'm pretty sure you got duped."
Valtor scowled darkly and snarled something about "Dedrick" before clearing his throat and smiling at her. "The night doesn't have to end on such a sour note," he said. "Would you be opposed to a movie?"
Bloom lit up immediately. "Ooh! I brought tons!" She stumbled to her feet and moved towards the bathroom. "Let me take a bath first and then I can lead you down the road of Understanding Bloom's Pop Culture References!"
AN: Shout out to NellyNee from AO3 for the funny idea of making Valtor's disguise name be Baltor, lol.
So heist numero uno was more of an on-the-fly break in but I got some more up my sleeve—ones that include Bloom more actively so hang tight!
Anyway, random question, who do you guys "hear" when reading this story? Personally, for Bloom I hear Liza Jacqueline (4Kids) as not only is the voice nostalgic, but I feel it captures both Bloom's cinnamon roll side as well as her more fiery one. Although I do happen to like all her voices, the others only seem to lean into her softer side. For Valtor I hear Josh Keaton (Nick) as he adds this…almost playfulness and seductive huskiness to the role that isn't in the others, in addition to the commanding tone present in all the rest and it gives me pleasant chills whenever I hear it. Very much yum. Although again, I think all his voice actors do a good job (except Season 8 Valtor. Fuck Season 8 Valtor. All my homies hate Season 8 Valtor).
Last random question, I have a playlist for this couple, you guys want me to show you the songs even though the romance in this story won't happen until—*checks notes* um…awhile?
ANYway. The next chapter will begin writing tomorrow at the latest, so next Friday will be chapter 9!
Hope you enjoyed!
Fantasy Fan OUT!