"Mom," said Bloom.

The woman turned around, she took off the hood of her cloak. The woman had white hair, one ember eye and the other eye was all white. "Bloom," she said.

"Are you my mother?" Bloom asked.

"No, but I knew your mother, you look just like her," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Bloom asked.

"I'm Maya, I'm an old friend of your mother's," Maya said.

"But... how... how is it... that you're still...?" Bloom asked.

"Still alive after 1,000 years? In the Realm of Darkness?"

"Yes," said Bloom.

"I've lived here all my life. I know how to survive," Maya explained.

"Where is my mother?" Bloom asked.

Maya looked away from Bloom and stared out the window, a single tear rolled down her cheek. "That's a long story."

It has now been almost 3 days since Bloom entered the Realm of Darkness. Sky sat with the girls in the Winx Suite, all worried about Bloom.

"And there's nothing we can do?" Terra asked.

"She closed the gate, we can't open it, we don't possess that magic," Aisha explained.

"And Bloom can't open the portal from that side either," Flora explained.

"So Bloom is lost? We can't bring her back?" Terra asked.

Silence fell, no one said anything, Terra became frustrated and got up from her chair.

"Surely we can't give up! Bloom is our friend," Terra said.

"Terra, we don't know what to do," Stella said.

"We have to think of something, we can't leave Bloom there, to die there," Terra said.

Musa stood up and let out toward the door. "I can't take this anymore," she said.

"Where are you going?" Terra asked.

"Away from here," replied Musa.

"This is about Bloom, she's gone and you want to run away? Do you care about her at all?" Terra asked.

"Of course I care about Bloom too, she's my friend too, but all the emotions, going around here, it's too much, my head is about to explode," Musa said.

Musa opened the door and left the suite. Stella had had it too and got up, walking toward her room.

"And where are you going?" Terra asked

"My room," Stella simply said.

"Stella," Terra began.

"Listen, these past few days have all been pretty shitty, I just want a rest now," Stella said.

Stella went into her room and closed the door, Aisha also decided to leave the suite.

"You're abandoning Bloom now too?" Terra asked.

"I don't want to abandon her, I need to think and I can't do that here," Aisha said.

"Fine you know what, you all abandon Bloom, I'm going to think of something to get her back," Terra said.

Terra walked angrily to her room and slammed the door hard behind her, Flora turned her attention to Sky, who hadn't said much and was looking at the floor with a defeated look.

"I should have gone after her, I should have stopped her," Sky said.

"Sky, we're going to come up with something to get her back here," Flora said.

"I want to do everything I can to have her here, but we don't have an answer," Sky said.

"I'm going to check with Terra to see if we can find something, okay."

Sky nodded his head, got up and left the Winx Suite. Flora headed toward Terra's room.

On the training field, Riven and Dane had just finished some training exercises.

"Your girlfriend is coming," Dane teased, seeing that Musa was coming their way.

"Shut up, she's not my girlfriend," Riven said.

"If you say so," Dane said, leaving the training field.

"Hey," Musa said to Riven.

"Hey," he said back

"Am I interrupting?" Musa asked.

"No," Riven said. "Is something bothering you?"

"Bloom," Musa simply said.

"Have you guys discovered anything yet?" Riven asked.

"No, and it's driving everybody crazy and I can feel it, and that's making me crazier than I already am," Musa said.

"So you wanna escape the madness?"

"They'll think I don't care about Bloom, that her disappearance doesn't bother me," Musa said, with anger in her voice.

"That's bullshit. They know how your powers work. They know that sometimes you need your escape, Riven said.

"At least someone understands me, Musa said.

Riven walked up to the rack and grabbed bo sticks and walked with them to Musa. "This will take care of some relaxation I guess."

Musa got a smile on her face, grabbed one of the bo staffs and began to sparing with Riven.

Sky was in the hall of specialists, he wanted nothing more than to get Bloom back, but he didn't see that happening anytime soon, so he wanted peace and quiet.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Sky?"

Sky turned around, and saw a tall, good-looking boy standing there, who was his age. The boy had brown hair and green hazel eyes.

"Do we know each other?" Sky asked the stranger.

"Surely it's been a few years since we last saw each other, you had that hairstyle of the popular First World singer then," the boy said. "What was his name? Ah, Justin Bieber, that was, you had his haircut."

"Brandon?"

"I knew you wouldn't forget me," Brandon said with a big smile on his face.

Sky walked up to Brandon, gave him a quick hug and high five. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to this school now," he replied.

"Are you a third year?" Sky asked.

"No, I'm stuck as a second year," Brandon said.

"Great to have you here," Sky said.

"I'm actually looking for my room, Do you know where room H-25 is?" Brandon asked.

"Then Dane is your roommate," Sky said.

"Is he an okay guy?" Brandon asked.

"I don't really hang out with him, but he is okay," Sky said.

"So how have you been doing?" Brandon asked.

By the question, Sky immediately looked a lot less happy, Brandon noticed.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"No, it's just difficult," Sky said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Aisha sat by the river and stared at the water, she thought about the fight with Sebastian, that she got her wings, that she and her friends beat Sebastian, but those happy thoughts were quickly taken over by the thought of Bloom and Grey. Suddenly Aisha felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around a saw Grey.

"Aisha," Grey said.

"You're not supposed to be here Grey," she said.

"I need to talk to you," Grey said.

Aisha got up and started to walk away. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Aisha," Grey said.

"Leave me alone Grey," Aisha said.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry I hurt you," Grey said.

"Don't say it so easily, you broke my heart, you betrayed me, you more than hurt me, you broke me!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Grey said.

"Go away. You've got three seconds or I'll get Silva," Aisha warned.

"Aisha," Grey said.

'Three."

"Let me tell you this first," Grey said.

"Two."

"You need to hear this," Grey said.

"One."

"I love you," Grey said.

"I don't believe you, and I never will again," said Aisha.

"Aisha, please," Grey begged

Aisha began to summon her powers of water, her eyes turned blue. "Go away, Grey,"

"Aisha."

"I said go away!" Aisha yelled.

Aisha directed her attack at Grey and he was blown over by the jet of water. Aisha stopped her attack and walked away, leaving Grey alone.

Terra and Flora had gone in to the library and grabbed all the books about the Realm of Darkness, hoping to find an answer.

"There has to be something in here, Flora, there just has to be," Terra said.

"I know, Terra," Flora said.

"Oh yeah? Because if we don't find something, we'll never see Bloom again," Terra stated.

"We'll find something," Flora said.

"Everyone's abandoning her, but not me," Terra said.

"They're not abandoning her, but all of this is just too much for them right now. Stella has lost a friend, Aisha has been betrayed by the one she loved. Musa has her powers back so she can all feel our pain," Flora said, taking a long pause before saying something else. "And me."

"What about you Flora?"

"I also have my scars, and I don't just have them on my body, they are also inside, and neither have healed," Flora said.

"You still have your powers, you haven't lost them," Terra pointed out.

"No, but I have lost a part of myself, many of us have," Flora said.

"That's why we also need to bring Bloom back, so there won't be more trauma," Terra said.

"Then let's mak sure that won't happen," Flora said.

Terra and Flora started looking through the books again. At one point Flora read something interesting.

"I think I found something."

Sky and Brandon walked down the hallway, after taking Brandon's stuff to his room and Sky told Brandon the whole story.

"Shit, man," Brandon simply said.

"You could say that again," Sky said.

"That's intense," Brandon said.

"It is."

"Hey, if there's anything I can do for you?" Brandon asked.

"I don't think there's really anything you can do, but thank you for your support," Sky said.

"I've got your back," Brandon said.

Aisha walked into the hall and saw Sky and Brandon standing there. "Hey."

"Hey, Aisha," Sky said.

"New friend?" she asked.

"No, this is an old friend of mine, Brandon this is Aisha, Aisha this is Brandon Hagen," Sky said, as he introduced Brandon and Aisha to each other.

"Hagen? As in the Hagen Brothers? As in the four sons of the legendary warrior Christopher Hagen?" Aisha asked

"Yes, yes, those Hagens, Thomas Hagen is my father and that makes Christopher Hagen my grandfather," Brandon explained. "But nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too," she said.

Sky and Brandon walked away and Aisha walked toward he halls and went to the Winx suite.

Bloom felt defeated after Maya told her everything, in the three days she was there she hadn't eaten anything.

"Bloom," Maya began.

"I don't want anything, Bloom said.

"You have to eat something, this place is not good for a fairy, not even for one with the Dragon Flame, eat something, she said.

"I don't care," Bloom said.

"I know it's not the news you were hoping for," Maya said.

"I came here to protect my friends and in hopes of finding my mother, and then I find out she's dead," Bloom said.

"I'm sorry," Maya said.

"I gave up everything and now I'm stuck here, I'll end up like my mother," Bloom said.

"This place has a lot of negativity and it affects you," Maya said.

"How can it not affect you?" Bloom asked.

'I have learned to deal with it and turn it around," Maya explained.

"Guess you can't teach me."

"There's not enough time for that, unfortunately," Maya said.

"So I'll die here alone and lonely, as if things couldn't get any worse," Bloom said.

"There's hope for you yet, Bloom," Maya said.

"What do you mean there's still hope for me?" Bloom asked.

In Alfea, Stella sat on a bench in the courtyard and just stared at the people, without really looking at them, Aisha walked over and sat down next to Stella.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Stella said.

"How are you feeling?' Aisha asked.

"Still the same," Stella said. "You?"

"Even worse than before," Aisha said.

"Do you want to?" Stella began.

"No, I don't want to talk about it," Aisha said.

Musa walked over and sat down with Stella and Aisha.

"I don't even have to ask how you guys are feeling," Musa said.

"No, because you already feel that," Stella said.

"Do you want to? Musa began."

"We don't want to talk about it."

"Got it," Musa said.

"You were with Riven, weren't you? Stella asked.

"Yes, Musa answered

"Are you guys a couple now or something?" Aisha asked.

"We're just good friends," Musa said.

"Really, he is a good friend?" Stella asked.

"He isn't as bad as people think he is," Musa said.

"But you think he is hot, right?" Aisha asked in a teasing manner.

"Speaking hot, check this guy out," Stella said.

Musa and Aisha looked in the direction Stella was looking, the three girls saw a tall muscular boy walking. The guy had brown hair and brown eyes and he looked a tad older than the girls.

"Oh, he's definitely hot," Musa said.

"Even more hotter than Riven?" Stella teased.

Musa gave Stella a soft punch against her arm. "Shut up."

"You know who else is hot, Sky's friend," Aisha said.

"Who's Sky's friend?" Musa asked.

"His name is Brandon and he's certainly not ugly," Aisha said.

Terra and Flora walked up and joined their suite mates. "We have something."

'What is it? Stella asked.

"Text Sky and tell him to meet us in our suite," Terra said.

Without any hesitation, Stella grabbed her phone and sent a message to Sky. A few minutes later, the girls and Sky had gathered in the Winx Suite.

"What's going on?" Sky asked.

"Flora and Terra are having a something," Aisha said.

"Is it about Bloom?" Sky asked.

Flora nodded her head. "There's a way to get her back."

"How?" Musa asked.

"The Omega Cave," Flora said.

"The what?" Aisha aked

"In the center of the cave is a gate, the gate to the Realm of Darkness," Terra explained.

'Where is this cave?" Sky asked.

"Not far from the school," Flora answered.

"So we go to the center of the cave, find the gate and get Bloom back," Musa said.

"It's not that simple," Flora said.

"When is something simple here?" Stella asked.

"The cave is full of dangers, We've pieced together everything we can find into one big folder of information," Terra said.

"Of course you did," Stella said.

"We're fairies we can handle the dangers of the cave," Aisha said.

"The negative energy coming from the Realm of Darkness will have a bad effect on us, Flora said.

"And the closer we get, the weaker we become, Terra explained.

Sky picked up the information folder from the table and walked to the door. "And this contains all the information about the cave?"

"Yeah, Terra answered.

"I've got this," Sky said.

But before the Winx could ask Sky another question he had already walked out of the room, he walked to the Specialists hallway and knocked on door H-25, the door opened and Brandon stood in the doorway.

"Sky."

"Is Dane here?" asked Sky.

"No, I've been here for a couple of hours now and I still haven't met my roommate, strange right?" Brandon said. "But once I meet him, I'll tell him you were looking for him."

"I'm not here for Dane." Sky said.

"So, you're here for me."

"You said if you could do anything for me you would," Sky said.

"Yes", Brandon answered.

"I need your help to get Bloom back," Sky said.

"I'd love to help you, but I can't open a gate to the Realm of Darkness," Brandon said.

"That's not what I'm asking you to do," he said.

"Then how can I help?" Brandon asked.

"You're a mineworker," Sky said.

"So?"

"In a cave not far from the school there is a gate in the center, a gate that leads to the Realm of Darkness," Sky explained.

"What does that have to do with me being a mineworker?" Brandon asked.

"I'm asking you to guide us through that cave," Sky said.

"But I don't know that cave, so how am I suppose to guide you?" Brandon asked.

"But you know caves, you have explored many of them, you know what the dangers are and you know when something is wrong," Sky said. Sky put the information folder down on Brandon's bed. "Here is all the information about the Omega Cave, please read it, this is the only way we can get Bloom back."

Sky left the room without saying another word. Brandon picked up the folder with the information, lay down in his bed and began to take the doom.

A few hours later, Sky and the Winx girls were sitting in their suite. There was a knock at the door. Terra got up and opened the door; without saying a word, Brandon walked into the room. "I'll do it."

"Do what?" Stella asked.

"Really?" Sky asked.

"Yes, I'm going to help you," Brandon said.

"Help with what?" Musa asked.

"I will guide you through the Omega Cave," Brandon said.