Stella sat silently and nervously within their training room, now set up as the meeting grounds. It seemed that almost every fairy was present, along with most of the teachers. Something big must be happening.
She turned to Tecna, finding her friend's confident look wavering. Ever since Bloom broke into Alfea, not even Tecna was by her and Bloom's side.
She didn't dare admit that if the same things had been done to her, she would have reacted the same as Bloom. Her heart only hurt that she couldn't say it to her friend. And now her location was completely hidden. She spent days in front of Faragonda's office, attempting to catch any sort of information, she begged her father to ask around and cried to her mother about how hopeless she had felt. Yesterday she visited Mike and Vanessa, doing her best to explain the situation, watching as they tried to stay brave in front of her. But she knew they were pretending.
She was pretending too.
"Dear students," Palladium spoke out in Faragonda's place. The Headmistress was still weak from all the events, and didn't really speak publicly, yet was still present in the chair near the rest.
"We have asked you all to gather because the time has come. All of you know that the wizard Valtor trapped the witches within the Cloud Tower. 2 days ago he threatened to start killing them."
A hand shot up to the air and Palladium called on the girl. "Why would he suddenly want to kill them?"
"Because we had successfully managed to imprison your former colleague and his accomplice Bloom." There was a brief pause and then he continued.
"Like I was saying, the witches are in danger."
A murmur of protests and jokes echoed through the rows of students. Stella had to give it to them, it wasn't exactly like they were friends with the witches. But it also didn't mean they deserved to die. She could see Mirta in the third row, her face paler than usual with lips quivering.
"It is our duty as their neighbouring school and as moral beings to help them. We ask each one of you to volunteer in the mission, especially the students who have gained Enchantix powers as it will be crucial in freeing them from Valtor's mark."
Fairies all around exchanged glances, some shaking their heads while others were peeking at the Winx. The rest of the girls nodded to Palladium. Stella followed too, though her intentions were not as simple.
"We will not force anyone," Palladium continued. "But you are fairies, natural protectors. And the Cloud tower needs your help. So, if you wish to contribute, step forward-"
Stella got to her feet, following behind Flora onto the podium in the centre. A lot of second years joined them, while the first years hesitated. There weren't nearly enough of them. Some of the fairies left the room without a glance back. She couldn't blame them.
Musa who had been gripping Layla's hand, turned to Palladium and asked: "So, Professor, when do we start?"
In and out.
In and out.
She was slipping. Remaining conscious felt like unfathomable labour. Bloom was tired.
Her eyes burned, her body shivering, exhausted and in pain. As if she was made of broken pieces. After her last torture session, they had left her on the floor and she used all of her energy to drag her knees close to her chest to get any sort of warmth.
She wasn't sure how long it had been. A few days most likely.
There was no one coming for her.
There was no one searching for her.
Only her Dragon slept within her, still too far away for her to reach it.
She was all alone.
She wondered what would kill her first. The untreated, infected wounds or starvation? Her fingers traced over the dried blood, scrapping some of it away. It was all she could do to keep her mind working.
"Thirty-one, thirty-two," she counted the cuts where the whip had grazed her. "Twenty-seven," she touched the branded burns. Whenever they drew new blood, one by one she drew little stars and suns upon her skin.
It reminded her of Stella, and that way, she felt like she wasn't so alone.
Bloom most frequently wondered what her best friend now thought of her. Was she still on her side or did the recent events turn her against? Did they tell her what was happening to her every other hour? Did she know how much Bloom had loved her?
Her other thoughts were everything she was usually against. But Bloom didn't want to suppress it any longer. She wanted the council dead, every single one of them. For every ounce of pain they had inflicted on her, they deserved to burn.
And the third, unavoidable, no matter how much she resented it, was Valtor. He didn't get to kill her, he didn't get her power. It must be eating him alive. She asked herself if there was anything else in those little moments they had shared. Images of a balcony flashed in her memories. Weakness , he would call them. A slip of control. And yet, during those seconds, she could swear humanity had slipped in.
The doors opened and a man stepped forward. Bloom didn't recognize him, but she added him to the list of people she planned to eliminate.
She had to live.
She had to get herself out.
And kill every single one of them.
"Princess," he said in a raspy voice, crouching next to her and tilting her chin to the side. "I believe they have warned you about my arrival."
Should she recognize him? It didn't seem like it, she was hundred per cent sure this was the first time she was meeting him. And judging by the circumstances, it wasn't for her wellbeing. She shook her head.
"Pity, it could have prepared you."
The impact was instant. His power slammed into her mental shields and pushed. Bloom's eyes welled with tears as she tried desperately to force him away. His presence was everywhere and too much even if she hadn't been tortured for hours on end, but she fought back with all her might.
Her mind was the only thing she had left, she couldn't let them have that too. Not her thoughts, not her memories, not her sanity. She breathed in deeply and then exhaled. It was all about control.
The man seemed to retreat, but she didn't pull the defences down. Because in the next second, he went at her again.
And again.
Bloom clutched at her head, falling onto her side and shaking on the floor.
The man's leg slammed into her, knocking her onto her stomach, her head hitting the ground roughly. She could smell blood before feeling it.
He tried again.
This time the usually bricked-up shields were starting to tremble. Bloom screamed as he drilled his powers into her mind, ripping her control away. Bit by bit, the bricks started to rain down while she tried to keep them together.
You can't have me. She shouted in her mind, using her remaining strength to push him out. The man hit back at her attempt until he finally broke through to the inside of her mind.
Bloom's thoughts went quiet.
"This is going to hurt," he said matter-of-factly and infused himself into her mental shields.
Bloom had no more resilience, no more power. She was drained entirely and she had still failed to stop him. So she screamed when it hurt, and cried out when he dug deep through her hidden fears, secrets, and memories.
She's back in Paxesion, on the balcony. Valtor is there, leaning on the railing, a tiara glistening in his hands. She wonders how he had known, why he would care enough to conjure it. Valtor's hand moves, placing the jewellery piece atop her head. And then abruptly, his fist closes around her throat.
Bloom winces in protest. No, no, that's not how it went. She manages to drag him through, into another day, another memory.
The Trix are around her. Her torso is glued to a table with a thick layer of ice. Darkar is assessing the scene from afar, a dark grin on his phoenix face.
"It's time. I have waited long enough," his voice booms through the chamber as he gets closer and aims his hand at Bloom's chest.
"I will never do it," she barks at him, but he simply laughs.
"You will not have a choice. And soon you will beg for power, greater than your pathetic brain can imagine."
Bloom trashed on the table, but with no use, Icy's power held her still.
"Here's the key to the Ultimate Power of the Relix - Dark Bloom!" Darkar's voice echoed through the room as his dark energy flew into her chest.
Bloom shrieked as her mind got erased. All her emotions, her cares, her beliefs, her humanity. In one heartbeat it was there, in the next her catlike eyes opened. And all of it was gone.
She would gladly relive the pain of that over and over again than lose one good memory, one single memory in which Valtor seemed to be as human as her.
The man tried to get his claws back into it, but something propelled him. A wall rose, separating it from the rest of her mind. Shining and burning with Dragon Fire.
She will guard it.
Brick by brick.
Instead, he went for another memory.
Daphne's shout of agony as the witches killed her. King Radius carrying out her limp corpse. Her beautiful hair is tangled, eyes closed, as if she is sleeping.
Again.
Again.
And again.
He attempted one last time to break through the newly warded memory, but Bloom's flames erupted stronger than before. The man cursed as he backed away from her head, leaving it scrambled and aching.
She was panting by the time he was done, body bathed in sweat.
"Soon all of the things you cling to, I will wipe out. You will have nothing left to save you."
Valtor sensed them coming. No one could miss a storm of fairy insects making their way toward his school. He thought Faragonda would retaliate, but he didn't think she would do this so foolishly.
His eyes darted to Grififn, staying silently in the corner. He walked closer, observing his former ally. "She never fails to come for you, does she?" he dragged the back of his hand against her cheek. "Let's prepare a welcome for our guests, shall we?" The puppet-like witch nodded, leaving the room with her instructions.
He wasn't stupid enough to believe they would hand Bloom over. So he had to set up a surprise.
Chaos erupted as soon as the first fairy touched the walls. Vines of steel wrapped around her hands and torso, rapidly spreading and before a single person could react she was encased inside. Alive and not at the same time.
He watched the scenes play out with his crystal orb. Each attempt of the Winx to burn the steel, to hack through or soften its edges. "Coward!" one of the younger fairies yelled. "Come and face us!" the other joined in. Valtor had to laugh.
He smirked, teleporting silently farther away, behind them. He clicked his fingers and the two students began to cough out piles of blood. "You asked me so kindly, the best I could do is oblige," he said, arms crossed.
The figures surrounded him in seconds. He dodged each attack, mirrored spells and drained ten of them in three minutes without breaking a sweat. He turned to gaze at the faculty's wide eyes. "I thought you at least knew how to train them." he laughed out loud.
With a move of his hand, the steel evaporated, leaving the gates of Cloud Tower open. "This was, after all, just the beginning," he said before disappearing inside.
Taking a place in Griffin's office, he watched as excited fairies flew inside, ready for their great saving mission. They barged through rooms upon rooms, finding them empty.
Until witches started emerging from the stone walls, pushing fairies inside with them. Some casualties failed their tasks, but he wasn't too bothered. Every war had the weak.
He was especially amused as he let the monstrous faculty members of Cloud Tower upon them. Some of the Winx fairies were stuck in dark spider webs, Faragonda fighting off swarms of blood-sucking bats.
They did try to resist, he gave them that. And if there was a worthy opponent among them, he might even consider doing the job himself. But he wasn't about to waste his energy on such lesser beings.
He was just about to move to another trick when the doors to the office opened abruptly.
And there, surprising even him, stood the blonde Winx, Princess of Solaria. She held an orb in her hand but wasn't attacking him.
Interesting.
"You," she said, panting as if she had been running.
"What do we have here?" he said, cocking his head. He flicked his fingers and the bottoms of her feet got turned to stone.
"I am not going to fight," she said. There seemed to be a battle raging in her mind because she was struggling to get the words out.
"Do you know how to find her?" they came out at last, and the Solarian girl stopped shaking, her voice serious. It took him a second to register what she was asking.
"You're asking me about your friend, well, that's ironic," he smirked and walked closer, locking the door behind her with a soundproof spell over the room.
"They have her. And you might be the only person able to track her."
He considered the scenario for more than it was necessary, entertained by the unexpected turn of events. He never imagined a Winx searching for his help.
"You have a lot of nerve, coming here by yourself. I could kill you where you stand," he said slowly, a blood spell dancing in his mind.
"But you won't. Because you are already intrigued enough. And you want it too, don't you?" she felt a pressure build inside her throat blocking her airways. But she didn't back down.
"You want-" she coughed.
"You need Bloom."
His eyes darkened as he flinched and the grip around her throat stiffened. He breathed the words out, dragging each syllable out so the warmth of his breath met her skin: "I don't need anyone."
The pressure seized and the Solarian fairy started breathing in and out in quick pants. She still watched him carefully and he wasn't sure why he wasn't simply killing her.
Shouts echoed along the hall and soon the old crone was there, her pet Palladium on her heels along with two Winx pests. They noticed the Sun fairy and a confused look passed in between the group. But it eased as they noticed the stones around her feet, and he watched amused as any trace of doubt simply vanished.
Fairies were so gullible, it made him genuinely sick. "Valtor," Faragonda said addressing him and he simply drew his lips back into a smile. "I wondered how long it would take for you to find me. One of your pets seems to have done it first," he cocked his head to Stella.
"This is between you and me Valtor, leave my students out of it."
He rolled his shoulders. "Last I checked, you assembled them here."
He closed his eyes, letting the powers flow through the room. Shackles sprung from the walls, gripping the fairies by their wrists. "Tecna!" the sun fairy screamed, attempting to rip herself from the ground with no luck.
Palladium threw a complicated spell towards him, but Valtor shielded himself in time. He knew those types of magic would come in handy at some point. Using the blood spells, he forced Palladium to still as he slowed his heart and the wizard dropped unconscious onto the floor.
Fragonda's eyes were raging as she sent blast after blast into his direction, each weaker than the other. Valtor began to laugh as he avoided them. "You have truly gotten pathetic Faragonda."
"We freed most of the witches," she said in shaky breaths, sweat on her brows. "Soon you will have no one on your side." She dodged one of his attacks.
Sparks of blue flew across the room. For as weak as she had gotten, she was still good at fending for herself. Little did she know how uninterested in this he was, how many of his spells were barely reaching his medium power extent.
"We will win Valtor," Faragonda tossed at him.
In a blink of his eye, she was on the ground, gasping for breath. He has had his fun, now it was time to actually bring in power. He raised the crone's body into the air, his fire creating a ring around her wrists. Faragona tried to flinch away, but his hold was far too strong.
"I could bring your entire school to its knees with a single spell. Don't think for a second that you pose a threat to me," he said, the tone of his voice cutting through the area like a knife.
"But, there was someone else you have come to save, isn't there?"
He drew a symbol in the air and a second later the Headmistress of Cloud Tower stepped through the wall.
Faragonda's hurting eyes instantly softened. "Griffin, it's me," she tried, but the witch didn't react.
Valtor went over to her, pulling a knife from the inside of his coat and pressing it neatly against the line of Griffin's throat. Faragonda went still. "Valtor, don't."
"I've warned you once Faragonda, I don't like to repeat myself." He pushed the blade further until a string of blood appeared.
"If you kill her, she won't tell you where Bloom is," the Solarian Winx spoke out for the first time since their arrival. Valtor had to give it to her, at least she had some common sense.
He smirked at the freaked-out Fragonda, who now seemed to consider the words. "Are you willing the bargain her life on it Fargonda? Because all I have to do is put a little pressure-" he said and dragged the knife to her wrist.
"You will never find her Valtor. No matter what you try."
"Wrong answer."
He plunged the blade into Griffin's side. The witch barely reacted. She clutched at the wound, leaning on the wall for support.
"She will bleed out in approximately half an hour-"
Valtor staggered back, barely realizing the blast he had suffered. He looked back to his prisoners, finding the Sun fairy free. Trying to raise a hand, he found himself unable to move.
With him immobile, she drew out her Fairy dust, resting it over the room. Every single spell he had cast withered away. Palladium rose to his feet, Faragonda regained her stability, the two Winx took their fighting stances and Griffin's eyes widened in shock. She stared only at her former friend. "Faragonda, is that you?"
The wound slowly closed up, the bleeding stopping from the effects of Enchantix. "I knew listening in your classes Professor would once benefit me," the blonde fairy said to Palladium whose lips shot upward for a second. Princess of Solaria opened her palm and the remains of a powder glistened on it. Fragonda gripped Griffin's hand tightly as they gathered in a group. "We need to leave, now," the Winx said, eyeing Valtor as if expecting he would break free at any second.
"You tricked me once little fairy," he pointed his gaze at Stella. "Our business is not yet finished."
It took one entire hour for the spell to lessen. And once he could move again, Valtor felt his anger seep in slowly. They had managed to outsmart him. A fairy outsmarted him.
They took his best bargaining chip. He didn't care about any of the witches, as they were mere amateurs compared to the powers he possessed. But Griffin- She was supposed to get him the information he needed.
And now he had nothing.
He broke the first thing that he touched. The glass orb shattered into a thousand little pieces. After that came a bookshelf. Then a window. Then a desk.
He went through all the locator spells anew and remade the potions. And there was still nothing.
Not a single hint of where she could be.
Valtor cursed out loud, wishing he had simply killed her the second he found out who she was. Now he couldn't. Not even when there was a chance, multiple those at that.
Not even when she offered him her death on a silver plate.
He wasn't able to kill her. But not because it benefited him. That hadn't been true in months. He didn't know what it meant.
That somewhere at some point of their crossed paths, he had aimed to protect her.
She was in a memory again.
Strapped in ice to a shelf in her home in Gardenia. Her defenceless parents in the grasp of the Trix. Her body was filled with nothing but pure dread. She had to get them out, had to defeat the Trix and call for help in Alfea.
Icy's lips smirked as she towered over her. "The sad thing is you haven't got a leg to stand on, Princess." Bloom's heart jolted in confusion.
"Why are you calling me Princess?"
Real Bloom could sense the man's thoughts within her head.
Looks like we found the one.
Bloom tried desperately to fight it. She knew this memory, had it engraved into her heart. It was the very moment that changed everything. The turning point of what her future would become.
Icy was laughing loudly now, exchanging looks with Darcy and Stormy. The three of them seemed to be aware of the same fact. Something that Bloom expected would not be to her liking.
"My dear Bloom," Icy began, walking closer and tilting her head up with her nails. "You are the daughter of the King and Queen of Domino. You're the last and only heir to the throne. You're the guardian of the greatest power in the universe."
Bloom's heart went quiet. The entirety of the universe could have collapsed around her and she wouldn't have cared.
Domino. Throne.
The greatest power in the universe.
She had always felt that there was something significant, something perpetual inside her magic. Trix had targeted Stella, thinking she possessed the power they desired.
The power that shaped the dimension.
Her power.
Bloom's body quivered.
Her power that she so desperately came to love.
The Dragon Flame.
"And very shortly this great power will be in our hands," Icy finished.
Bloom shook her head, trying her best to melt the ice trapping her. But Dary was quicker. Her spells struck her, making her vision double, mind weaver.
They couldn't take it, couldn't have it. The power belonged to her.
She recognized the vacuum they summoned.
No, not like this. It couldn't end like this.
Bloom attempted to fight back, but the migraine made it impossible.
They chanted the spells under their breaths and she could only feel as the raw power started to rip itself from her soul. Bloom screamed at the top of her lungs before the world went entirely black.
"It seems to me that we are making progress, don't you think so?" the man said, watching Bloom curled up on the floor. Her hands covered her head.
She had to make it stop. Quiet the sounds, all the voices.
"Make them stop," she pleaded, unsure if the words were actually coming out or just existing in her wrecked mind.
"Oh, my dear. But this is only the beginning."
With that, he left her and she gave into the quiet sobs.
She didn't dare move, she just wanted the voices to disappear. Bloom tried reaching, carefully, back into her mind. Her mental shields were in pieces, the entirety of her mind laid bare.
She sensed the memories he had ripped into, the damaged bits of her psyche that he tried to disrupt. She remembered to be thankful for the few memories that remained intact.
But the main thought remained.
She had to get out of there.
Gently, she tried to reach further into herself, desperate to find any trace left in her soul. There was a shadow, the shape of a creature she could barely recognize now.
A stranger.
Hadn't it been taken from her just seconds ago?
She stirred closer. It didn't move.
Bloom felt its chest rise and fall, the breath coming out of the nostrils.
Was it- a dragon?
She smiled.
She had always liked dragons.
She touched her mind to the creature and saw its eyes blink.