/Notes: Can you guys believe that for once it hasn't been 15 years since I last posted? Yeah me neither. But I had the opening dialogue in my head for a day or two so I just sat down and started writing! Hopefully, I have more such moments during this summer so I can deliver new chapters more frequently. Feel free to let me know your theories and thoughts in the comments!/
"Perhaps you have just misplaced it," Faragonda said as if she was merely trying to get Stella to go away. But the princess of the sun and the moon wasn't about to give up that easily.
"Misplaced it? Professor, do you actually think I would have just misplaced my family's heirloom?" Stella tried to keep her voice down. She had yelled at Faragonda way too many times and she wasn't sure if there was a certain amount before she got suspended. Again. Or worse, Griselda could get her to expel her. That just might be worse.
Not that she cared much about where she went to school anyway, her father could enrol her in any private academy she wanted. But Alfea was different. Alfea held memories. Her first disastrous year, her second where she met the girls. She could still vividly recall the face Bloom made, on their first day when she realized people needed documents to attend. Princess of Calisto wasn't pleased by Stella's lie but didn't press any charges for both of their sakes. For all the bad things that it brought on them, the good ones always prevailed. All the sleepovers, all the midnight talks and sneaking across the kitchen. It made Alfea special in Stella's eyes. It made Alfea home.
"You again," the doors behind them opened, and she heard a very annoying voice that belonged to no one other but Griselda. "Now that the Trix are taken care of, do you plan to be the one to give the Headmistress her daily dose of headaches?"
Stella was taken aback, Griselda never sounded so stressed out. The Trix being put under high supervision in Lightrock again, below way more security this time, did indeed help all of them. God knows what would have happened if those three decided to team up with Valtor.
"What is it this time? You lost one of your designer bags?"
She was being mocked, Stella realized. The Head of Discipline was mocking her in the face. "This is a serious issue!" Stella slammed her hands down on the table. She looked from Faragonda to Griselda and then back.
"That ring can create a magical portal to anywhere, even outside the Magic dimension. If Valtor were to find it he could get inside the school-"
Faragonda's furrowed brows moved closer together, her hands propped on her elbows and fingers intertwined.
Just then the doors burst open again and Tecna barged in, her forehead covered in sweat. "One of my machines is missing!" She abruptly stopped when she noticed she had interrupted a conversation. Her mouth hung slightly open as if the right words weren't coming to her. But it was Tecna, if things weren't about her area of expertise she rather kept quiet.
"Shall we just call for all the Winx then, since you just allow yourself inside?" Head of Discipline asked, her voice holding a slight grudge within it. Had she come here to meet with Faragonda and Stella was just there to bust it?
"That won't be necessary. The girls will go back to their rooms at once." Headmistress' voice was nothing but calm, although both of them could tell she was being serious. Stella wanted to press further, get them to investigate at least a little but Tecna was shooting her glances so she threw her hands in the air, giving up.
"We're sorry for bothering you," Tecna murmured before taking Stella's hand and closing the doors behind them.
"Thanks for that," Stella said, the sentence filled with nothing but sarcasm. "I could have gotten them to listen to me if you haven't come in."
Tecna looked offended. "Why were you in there to begin with? Trying to get her to free Bloom again?" Stella wasn't sure if she was mocking her like Griselda did, or was she being legit.
"My Solarian ring is gone... Just like your device-thingy. Faragonda said I probably just misplaced it somewhere."
"Did you?"
"Ugh, why do I even bother with any of you? It's not like you care- you would all ditch me like you ditched Bloom." Stella turned her back to the other fairy and continued to walk.
Footsteps sounded behind her and soon enough Tecna caught up with her. "I didn't ditch anyone. I wanted to give you my invention... so you can bring Bloom back."
Stella stopped in her tracks. There was indeed something unusual on her clothes that morning. She figured that she accidentally fell asleep before she got to teleport to Omega, but a strange triangle thing was attached to her jacket.
"Was that thing of yours really small and shaped like a triangle with a dot in the middle?"
Tecna nodded.
"Come with me, something isn't right."
The two of them sat silently around the table in their common room. Other girls were nowhere to be found so they had the area for themselves. The device laid on the wooden surface, untouched.
"I log every single step I take with my devices. And the last note I wrote said 'delivered'. The device was meant for you, and I knew I hadn't given it to you, so I came to Faragonda for help," she explained, fidgeting with the ends of her shirt. Tecna didn't usually burst into the principal's office so Stella figured she was embarrassed.
Stella didn't remember getting the thing from her either.
"I wanted to sneak out when you all fell asleep, but I guess the nap overtook me too and I dozed off. Next thing I know, I am waking up in my room with that on me." she pointed to the device
"And neither of us remember how it got from my room to yours," Tecna stated the obvious. Something was missing, it had to be. They didn't know of anyone who had magic like that. No one was strong enough.
Tecna grabbed her laptop from her room and called Digit. "Can you run some tests on us with this?" she asked handing her phone to the pixie. "I will compare them later."
Digit nodded as if she had done this a bunch of times. Her fingers tapped across the screen, and when she was done a little ladybug-looking thing came to life in front of their eyes. "Make sure to focus solely on the brain, the part that is connected to memories."
The tiny fairy proceeded, leading the ladybug to fly above Tecna's head. Light spread from its legs and Tecna's eyes went white as the creature did its thing. Stella was ready to jump out to save her as the colour of her pupils faded but Digit stopped her from moving. Five minutes later it was done.
"Just don't speak okay?" Tecna said to her as the ladybug moved towards Stella. The blonde nodded and kept her mouth shut.
When it was done, the bug came back into Tecna's phone which she then connected to her laptop. The screen went green and millions of codes appeared on it. Stella could only stare as the other girl typed as if their lives depended on it.
"Aha! I think I found something," she screamed as she tapped the place on her screen. Stella disappointedly didn't know what any of the strange words meant. "There seems to be a couple of minutes when my brain remembers being awake but my memory recalls that I was sleeping. It's the same for you, but you were awake for much longer than me."
And then a beeping sound erupted from the laptop and Tecna's face went from victory to defeat in a split of a second. "No, no that can't be."
"Tecna what is it? You are freaking me out over here!"
"Stella if what I'm reading from this is true then we are in big trouble," her voice was higher than Stella had ever heard it be. But she kept quiet as Tecna clicked through her readings, all the way until all emotion but fear was written on her face.
"There are traces, big traces of magic on our brain. Dark magic. The kind we fought before. Stella, it's... Valtor."
To her mind, this information was priceless and vital. That meant Valtor had her ring. Valtor was in their school, in their room. But he had left them untouched. And there was something important enough for him to erase.
A cold feeling settled over her. A memory.
Musa grabbing her by the wrist: "Come on Stella, Bloom's in big trouble!" Flying through the school, racing with time they didn't have. There were fools all along, Avalon was there all this time. He had access to them and the only thing he actually wanted, they let him have. Stella could never forget when they finally found his study. Tecna had picked up what Stella already knew was Bloom's locket. And Bloom was gone, taken to that monster's lair. And she couldn't stop it. The despair that filled her then had hunted her all through Shadowhunt. All to this day.
She was feeling it again now. Valtor had taken her ring, he had used it to get to Bloom. It was happening all over again.
"Stella? Stella, can you hear me?"
Someone, Tecna, was shaking her. She was... on the floor. When had she fallen? "You just collapsed- are you... okay?"
"This can't be happening Tecna... not after everything, not again."
"We need to go back to Faragonda, right now."
And they did.
Bloom was sure she was going absolutely crazy. Or that she had lost her mind during her time in the ice. Somehow Stella's ring was in her hands but Stella wasn't anywhere.
She made an effort to walk around every single corner she could find but no matter how carefully or how long she searched, her best friend wasn't in Omega. But if the ring was there, Stella simply had to be too. Nothing else made sense. And she wasn't going anywhere until she found her.
And despite her growing feeling of loneliness, Bloom felt like wherever she wondered she was being watched. It made her already uneased head that much more alerted. She hated everything about this place, this situation, about herself.
"STELLA!" Bloom shouted as she walked past yet another iceberg. No answer came back. She stopped and for a minute just let herself breathe.
Her powers were still at bay, and not from whatever they injected her, but from utter exhaustion. She hadn't been truly living for so long now.
When had it all stopped? When had she lost herself? She guessed it was the moment she realized that Avalon's spell was a trick. Or was it before, when she first got infected? Bloom really didn't know. At least then she could blame it all on Darkar, all of her dark deeds were forced on her by him.
Right?
She never stopped to think it over. And here and now, the only thing she could do was think.
When she messed with Timmy, that was Darkar. When she broke into the Archive, it was him too. But then- Lockette had kissed her cheek. And her head cleared. She could see two paths within her mind. One that would let her break free and one that led back to the darkness, the power.
Bloom remembered the grip Darkar held, the exact moment her head said 'Yes.' to the second path. She felt her morals quiver, she felt herself surrender to the dark. Willingly. That was when her transformation first changed. She sensed it as she accepted the power, how it trailed along her body, through her wings and inside her heart. Regret settled inside of her right away but it was far too late. Bloom was screaming inside herself but no words were coming out. So when Avalon led her into his spell she recognized that same energy from him. Bloom was pretty sure she knew what came next.
She was on her knees now, crying. As each tear fell it froze on the ground. Bloom wished she could freeze again too. Permanently this time. She didn't deserve to live anymore, it was all her fault anyway. This pain she felt had to end. If not by the hands of the universe then by her own. Bloom got up, she had to have enough power just for this. It was that easy, burn herself out until nothing was left anymore.
But when she called for her dragon, it didn't come. "Come on!" Bloom screamed at the top of her voice. "Come and get me! Valtor I am right here!" she yelled out into the empty space. No one replied and Bloom realized for the 1000th time that this was it. There was no one left that still cared enough about her. Or that hated her enough apparently. At least Valtor would put her out of her misery, add her to his collection of dead Domino's residence.
But not even he bothered to do so.
She wasn't completely wrong about someone watching her, Valtor had never once left her out of sight. Usually, he tracked her through a vision conjured in his hideout. But now he was actually there, walking in the distance but always present.
It was hardly pity, the fact that he looked out for her. She was broken, that much he could figure. And when she called his name, Valtor felt a strong wave of challenge. He could indeed just kill her, it wouldn't even take any effort from him. But. There was always a but when Bloom was concerned.
She had so much potential. So much raw power at her reach. If she knew how to handle it, she could beat him without a doubt. And the idiot wasn't using any of it. Valtor sighed, he was so used to collecting any power he wanted, so the fact that he couldn't just get hers was irritating, to say the least.
He saw her fall to the ground too late, so she suffered the full blow. Blood started leaking from the side of her head. Valtor walked closer, inspecting the small wound. It wasn't a bad fall, she would survive with maybe a small bruise.
Valtor found himself watching her again. Her hair was greasy and dangled. She looked nothing like when they fought in Alfea.
Damn both her and Daphne. This would all be so much different if they had both just died when Domino fell. Well, the sister did, in fact, die, but the larger problem laid in front of him right now.
He hated her. Hated what she stood for, what she represented, the fact that he couldn't simply rip the power out of her heart and be done with it. He was pretty sure that the feeling was mutual. He had noticed the rage she attacked him with. That was no ordinary anger.
She will die if he left her there, he figured. He didn't know much about the fairies but he knew how irritating their friendship was. Bloom would never leave Omega if she couldn't find the other girl. Valtor had noticed the error in his plan.
So he took the ring from Bloom's palm and recited what he heard the sun fairy say: "Solaria." The ring was replaced by a sceptre which made Valtor smile to himself. He eyed Bloom's unconscious body once again. One thing was to keep her from dying from a distance, but to actually bring her out of Omega was never a part of his plan. She was supposed to find the ring and let herself out. Which clearly wasn't the case.
So Valtor gritted his teeth in disgust as he lifted her up in his arms. "Destination, The Roccaluce lake."
The scene of rocks, woods and flowers came into view.
He could just leave her there and she shouldn't have a problem with finding a way back to Alfea. Hopefully. But it was Bloom who he was dealing with and she always had a way to screw up even the simplest of his plans.
Valtor laid her down on the ground and summoned a portal for his hideout. Before walking into it, he tossed another glance at Bloom and when he was sure she was still asleep, he walked through.