For the first couple of seconds, Bloom wants to convince herself that this is just another one of her way too vivid dreams. That it isn't Valtor standing opposite of her.

But she can't.

It's almost as if she can physically feel her rage consuming her from within, from the deepest parts of her heart. It's blinding and maddening and for some reason, it's beautiful.

The fire gathers at the ends of her fingertips and she doesn't push it back. They were alone, no one else could get hurt if she attacked. Instead, she lets the darkness flow, lets her inner dragon awaken and get consumed in it.

"You-" she says, tone of her voice aggravatingly serious. She doesn't flinch when her eyes turn golden or when her wings' edges sharpen. She thinks that Valtor could even get pierced with them if she had her way.

And he-

Valtor is looking at her like she is some sort of masterpiece.

"I've been waiting for you earlier, quite a performance you put up." But Bloom was barely listening, her main focus was finding a perfect place to hit that would leave him with irreparable damage.

"You know, it's almost impressive- your anger, giving the fact you're not much different than me." That made her zone out of her thoughts.

"Shut up-" she whispered, but he kept going, circling around her and making her annoyance level rise. "You, Princess are upset that I caused your kingdom's demise. That I disposed of your parents-"

The more he talked, the more Bloom wondered why she wasn't shooting. She raised a hand, summoning a fireball that burned crimson, and aimed it at his chest.

"But you killed the Prince of Eraklyon, Sky was it? Then how come you are seen as a hero and all I am is a villain?" Valtor was close to her now, his finger closing around her wrist, snuffing out the fire and lowering her hand. But when he moved again, attempting to catch a tear that was running down her cheek, Bloom stepped back in disgust.

How did she allow him to get so close?

"Get away from me," she snapped, anger returning. Another sphere, much stronger than the first, appeared in her palm. It kept growing and Valtor did nothing to stop it. His eyes seemed to be shining in awe as he watched her give into it, into the darkness that was consuming the deepest bits of her soul. As her hand moved, ready to finally release and attack, there was a forceful tug at her hand, as if it wasn't her own anymore. Her elbow bent, making the sphere come closer and closer to her own chest. Bloom couldn't will herself to stop, no matter how much she tried to resist. Only when it was mere inches away from her skin did it stop and she realized in horror that Valtor was the one to control it.

To control her.

"Do you see just how easy it would be to end this?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"So do it," Bloom challenged. "It's nothing I haven't tried already." The memories of Omega swarmed in her head but she forced them back.

"But you won't do it, because you had chances upon chances now, and I'm still alive," she pressed on. The expression on his face didn't change.

"You need me for something," Bloom stated finally, doing her best not to show how hard she was fighting the screams. He must have somehow blocked her ability to siphon fire because she could feel the heat, dangerously close to melting her skin off. Valtor stepped closer once again and there was something hidden in it. Something she couldn't quite depict. He dispelled the sphere keeping her at bay and cocked his head.

"I've been alive for decades Princess, meeting you changed nothing," he paused, making sure to look her directly in the eyes: "It's what you can give to me that does."

As if she would ever fall so low.

"Too bad you won't be around for much longer."

"You like to threaten me, don't you?" he said, grinning. Her head bowed as she stared at her feet on the ground.

"Because-" her voice was so small now, empty of all the rage and threats. "Because you have to pay. You have to suffer as Layla did, as my kingdom did, as I have!" the last part came out as a shout and without thinking Bloom lunged.

One fireball after another, aiming them at his head, his chest, his legs, she kept blasting. And he didn't stop her. With ease, he avoided them all, as if they were dancing and he was simply following her movements in perfect harmony.

She felt her limbs and head ache, begging her to slow down, but Bloom pushed on. The dragon inside of her stirred awake, merging with the sleeping darkness. And Bloom couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't anymore. A new orb, as big as her torso came to life in the air between them. She could feel the power of it radiating and knew instantly that it was too much for her to handle. But instead of siphoning it or stepping away, Valtor came closer. His hands joined hers around it, and the orb changed colours, from the deepest of reds into a ravishing purple.

Warmth and something soft rushed through Bloom and it wasn't at all how she imagined his magic to feel. Because it wasn't painful, wasn't deviant, but a soothing melody instead, which made her sore muscles feel strong once again.

As it did, the realization settled over her, and tears were already free-falling on her skirt. Valtor took a step back, breaking the connection, the orb disintegrating between them. Bloom's head felt light and before she could realize what was happening, she was down on her knees with nothing holding her together anymore.

"You-" she muttered for the second time that day, looking up from the floor. At that moment, as their gazes locked, she could tell that Valtor understood that she knew everything. The wizard smiled in response, disappearing like a shadow into nothing.

It was him. It was Valtor keeping her alive all that time in Omega.

Stella turns for what feels like the hundredth time.

Where could Bloom have gone? It hasn't been that long since she left the throne room.

"Stella wait!" Tecna yells after her.

The sun fairy comes to a stop, allowing her friend to reach her. "If you're going to find Bloom, well, they will definitely track you."

Stella's eyebrows draw together, as they tend to do whenever she is trying to think.

"You must have something... anything to conceal me. Right?"

Tecna smiles, pulling an electric device from her jumpsuit. "Of course I do. Here," she places it in Stella's palm. "Good luck and tell Bloom that I'm with her. I will try to keep the rest distracted."

Stella nods, offering Tecna a small smile in thanks, before attaching the device to her shirt. "It will make you both invisible and untrackable as long as you wear it." But by that point Stella had already flown away, looking for anything that might give her clues as to where Bloom is.

And after minutes of aimless flying, her eyes caught something. Something that seemed both extremely dangerous and captivating. A floating platform in the middle of Andros' ocean. And on it stood Bloom, but she wasn't alone. Stella recognized the other person as Valtor instantly. Though he wasn't attacking, he had his hands around some type of spell that Bloom was struggling to keep intact.

She flew closer, still staying out of sight, determined to figure out what Valtor was doing. But what got her the most was the way Bloom looked. For days that she was at Alfea, she had been a skeleton, but who she was seeing now was the girl she found at Gardenia 3 years ago. There was colour on her face, a glow on her skin. And Stella wondered if its cause was Valtor. Because as soon as he let go, Bloom's form crumbled. Her friend was kneeling, hands around her chest.

When Valtor teleported away, Stella didn't intend to follow. He could wait. Bloom on the other hand couldn't.

Bloom stayed upon the platform watching the dusk creep in, the stars burn up across the sky. And she could hardly feel anything. She didn't move as the air turned chilly, as she detransformed or when the silence was disturbed by the loud ringing of her newly acquired phone. Someone's name flashed on the screen and somewhere deep inside Bloom hoped the Winx will come looking for her, even as the other part hoped they wouldn't.

Why? What did he want so badly that he would repeatedly save her life, even when she herself was the one willing to end it?

She doesn't even hear or notice when a figure lands down a few meters behind.

"Bloom, hey are you-" it's Stella's voice. Of course, it's Stella's voice. She hears the click of something being removed and then there is Stella in front of her.

But as soon as her friend sees the obvious despair on Bloom's face, she kneels down next to her. It's the tears that give it away for the most part.

"I wanted to go after you right away, but figured you might want some space," she stops, placing a gentle hand on Bloom's shoulders. And to her surprise, it's freezing cold.

The fire fairy looks up reluctantly, a bit scared to meet her best friend's eyes. "The king, is he-" she couldn't finish the thought.

"The healers brought him away, they will do anything that they can but no one can tell at this state," Stella pauses, letting the words settle in, then continues: "Look, Bloom, I know you didn't mean to-"

But Bloom cuts her off: "No, you can't keep making excuses for me, not for everything. I should have thought about the consequences, instead of letting Valtor play with my head."

Like he was doing now, she thought.

She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, not before she knew why.

The fairy of the sun and the moon didn't look pleased, but she said nothing on the subject. Her eyes were glossed with worry and Bloom could tell there was something else bothering her.

"Stella, you have something else on your mind, don't you?"

Her friend offered a weak smile. "We tried to convince her otherwise, but the queen was persistent... She- she told them you're back. And the Council... they exiled you from Magix."

If Bloom was being honest, she didn't really care. They would have found out eventually anyway. Now, instead of just Sky's death, she would have 'attacked a king' and banned in her file too.

But her thoughts kept drifting away, going back to Valtor and the endless set of questions that currently resided in her head.

"So Faragonda isn't sure if... if you can come back... They will start checking the school," her voice downs down.

Bloom is silent for a couple of minutes.

"You need to go back," she says eventually.

"What?" the shock on Stella's face tells her it might take more than she thought to convince her best friend to leave.

"To Alfea, they will wonder where you are. They can't know you're in contact with me, it will only get you in trouble."

"Bloom, I am not going to leave you here," Stella objects, her eyebrows narrowing.

"I know you want to help me, but you've done so much already." When Bloom looks back at her friend, her eyes are soft and honest: "Let me be the one to help you now."

"How can I know that you'll be okay?"

"You can't. But for what it's worth, I will know that you are."

Stella chuckles quietly in response, doing a horrible job of pretending she isn't wiping away the tears gathered at her eyes' corner. And Stella realizes, even though it pains her that she can't be protecting Bloom anymore. She needs to let go.

"I trust you." The sun fairy says finally, standing up together with Bloom. She reaches, holding her friend's hand in her own. "But, if anything and I mean anything happens, reach out to me."

"I will," Bloom answers and pulls her into a hug. It's warm and peaceful and beautiful and Bloom can barely bring herself to let go.

"I promise," she whispers softly into her hair.

"Oh, and also take this," Stella says, offering out a small device. "It can keep you hidden from the Council," she explains. "Tecna says that you need to know she stands with you, both of us do."

Bloom takes the invention, embracing Stella once more. It hurts to think how much of this feels like a goodbye. But she wants to believe that soon, she will see her again. That this exile of hers won't last forever.

She watches as her friend flies above the ocean and disappears at the edge of the horizon. She can't let anything else hurt the Winx, especially not if it is caused by her.

Bloom isn't sure if this is the right choice, but she knows where she has to go. The place where no one would think of looking for her, where she can finally come to peace with her own self.

Valtor curses under his breath as his hideout comes into view.

Why did he do that? Why didn't he just siphon in the magic?

Why did he help her?

He conjures up a globe of mist, allowing himself a look at her. Of course, there is the annoying sun fairy next to her. He had felt her lingering presence, but since she didn't get involved, he let her be. Bloom was what he needed to focus on.

He is surprised however to see the Princess of Solaria leave without her. Given their past, he figured it would take a blood spell to convince her to leave Bloom alone. And witnessing her previous attempts, he is sure he will see Bloom spiral out of control at any given moment.

But, she doesn't.

Instead, Bloom stands up, and there is something like determination on her face which intrigues him. So Valtor decides to find out why. He sits down, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. Pushing against the swarming in his head, he searches, and sure enough, buried down in a corner, there is that damned connection. He imagines it like a bridge between souls.

From his side, he opens the door and reaches across. The place is crowded with shadowlike figures of dragons and he isn't sure whether they come from him or from the annoying little redhead fairy. As always, Bloom's end of the door is widely open. He is shocked that someone hasn't taken over her mind already. He leaves a mental note to try that sometime in the future.

Bloom's figure is on the other side of them, standing still as if frozen. But the space around her is different, for someone who is in mental dread half the time, it's very warm. He comes closer to her, hovering with his hand over her heart. And then he feels it.

The intrusive, undeniable feeling that he hasn't felt in decades.

Home.

He has to stop himself from laughing out loud. He didn't think Bloom could get any more idiotic and here she is, planning a trip to Domino.

Valtor returns to his hideout, having had enough of Bloom's head. He eyes the small Solarian ring on a rock by his side. He has no use of it now, teleportation spells were as easy for him as breathing. And he was beyond curious. Perhaps he could do this one more thing for her. Help her reach her little kingdom. What could she do there anyway?

He switched the spell, summoning an image of Domino. To his major shock, the palace was there, some parts of it still in ruins, but the ice keeping it hidden was gone.

Something gripped at his heart at the sight, but Valtor pushed it back.

The Winx or somebody else must have visited it recently. It still didn't mean anything. Oritel and Marion were as good as dead, and Bloom was hardly stupid enough to ever go to Obsidian.

Though she continued to prove him wrong on many occasions.

He picked the ring up, the weight of it firm in his palm. If he didn't help her, how did she mean to reach Domino anyway? It's not like there were interdimensional ships that travelled to deserted planets.

Valtor smirked, fist closing around the ring as his power flooded through it. Yes, he could help her, but with a little twist. He changed the view back on Bloom, who was now holding onto a small device. He recognized it as a Zenith's, probably provided by the technological fairy whose name he didn't care to remember. As soon as she put it on, his spell fell apart.

Bloom could no longer be tracked, it seemed. Pretty smart move, to hide herself away from the raging Magical dimension.

Unfortunately for her though, he didn't need magic to know where she is. He summoned a portal back to the platform, finding traces of her dragon fire fresh. She was still there.

He said nothing as he laid the ring down on the stone. Bloom's aura moved toward it, but just as she was about to pick it up, Valtor snapped his fingers, making the whole platform return to its original place.

At the bottom of the ocean.