When she opened her eyes, Stella shuddered with a minor panic attack as she realized she was greeted not by darkness but by warm arms wrapped around her and the surroundings illuminated by a burning fire. Slowly turning her head, she prepared herself to see the owner of the arms, but after encountering the creatures of the underground, her hopes were not high. The pit she had fallen into was so deep and long that Stella wasn't sure whether it was her fear of enclosed spaces or the dark that had caused her to faint as she felt her eyes close. As Aisha's scream still echoed in her ears, Stella couldn't help but shiver again. This time, her shivering caused the person holding her to move, and Stella finally turned her head to see who it was.
"Brandon?" Her surprise grew on multiple levels as she looked again at the man who might be a dream or an illusion. She couldn't believe it because Brandon could never be careless enough to fall into active pits. She couldn't believe it because Brandon was looking at her with a mixed, unexplainable look of concern. She couldn't believe it because Brandon's grip was so tight that Stella was now sure no one could pull her away from him. So basically, she couldn't believe it.
"Finally," the frustrated sigh that escaped his lips made Stella look at him in shock, and even blinking caused a painful headache. Groaning, she brought her hand to her head, realizing with another surprise that her wrists were bound. As Brandon held her tightly, he helped her sit up slightly. While resting her back on his leg, Stella's legs were still on top of one of Brandon's legs. Before she woke up, Brandon had sat her on his lap, extending his feet to the ground and resting his back against the cave wall. Now, his back was still against the wall, but Stella was sitting with her legs resting on Brandon's leg. The reasons for this position were complex even for her, yet she continued to look at him in amazement without breaking eye contact. "I have the impression that sleeping on the mission has become a hobby for you."
"What?" What she heard and saw hammered into her head as if to prove everything was a dream. Stella took a shaky breath and looked around. The fire burning quite close to them had managed to warm the entire cave. This could be because the cave was small, but what Stella wondered was how this fire hadn't killed them with smoke. As she frowned, her gaze fell to the base of the fire, and she was grateful she hadn't asked Brandon this question. An artificial fire, the kind specialists use in emergencies for heat. It probably wouldn't burn even if touched. That must be why it was so close; if it were at a distance, it might not warm them as much.
"I'm saying you always find a way to sleep since we started the mission."
Grumbling, she met Brandon's gaze, not feeling uncomfortable in his arms, leaning her body against his, or sitting between his legs. In fact, she realized she was restraining herself from snuggling up to him. "As if I'm sleeping for pleasure." Her hair flew with her loud sigh as she rolled her eyes, preventing Brandon from making any more sharp comments.
"What are you doing here, anyway? Did you fall too?"
Even though the question sounded ridiculous to her ears, it was equally absurd that Brandon was in the same pit with her. What had happened after she fell that led Brandon to find himself in the same pit?
Brandon's silence made Stella suspicious, and she began to scrutinize every inch of his face. He was so handsome that Stella always struggled not to succumb to him. She wasn't an uncontrolled virgin; she didn't have difficulty controlling herself whenever she saw a handsome man, but there was something different about Brandon. And Stella always felt drawn to him, just as she did now. His hands were on her body, and neither of them was making any move to distance themselves. A voice inside her urged her for more, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't since another voice was pressuring her to push him away.
"The ground opened up, and I fell in." Stella frowned, trying to grasp whether Brandon was telling the truth. "You fell into the same cave as me, huh?"
Exhaling through his nose, Brandon gave her a sharp look and spoke while leaning his back firmly against the wall, releasing his arms from her body, "I'm not pleased either, but that's what happened. I don't want to hear you probing the situation further, so shut up."
Grinding her teeth, Stella wriggled her butt on the ground and turned her face to Brandon's, her legs still on his outstretched leg but looking like she didn't care. Raising her index finger as a warning right under his nose, she spoke through clenched teeth, "Talk to me properly! And why are you holding me, pulling me onto your lap? By what right did you touch me?!"
Brandon's smirk intensified Stella's anger, "Did that make you angry?"
Pausing, Stella looked into Brandon's emerald eyes, "Yes, it did." Brandon nodded affirmatively and continued to look at her. His arm suddenly wrapped around Stella's waist, pulling her close, his cold gaze unchanged. As Stella looked at him in shock, inadvertently shouting, Brandon rested his forehead against hers. "Good, be angry. Anger fuels your hatred; there should be nothing but hatred for me within you."
Stella felt her heart starting to crack. Manipulation, she knew. Brandon had previously messed with her mind and heart and never stopped doing so. Stella's anger at the specialists was because Brandon didn't like her and saw all fairies as targets, inciting the specialists. As a result, all fairies suffered from the specialists' hatred just because Stella wasn't liked by their commander. The man standing before her, close enough for his breath to tickle her lips, embarked on his path only with his hatred, not knowing what love was. As Brandon's jaw twitched and his eyes closed, Stella hated herself for knowing how hard she resisted kissing him right now. The desire and hunger she felt for a man who treated her this way disturbed her so much that one part of her wanted to slap Brandon while the other part wanted to kiss him breathlessly.
"I hate you."
Brandon's jaw relaxed and a smile formed on his lips, Stella felt her blood drain. While Brandon thrived on hatred, what was Stella doing? She wanted more of it, taking pleasure from that hatred. "Good, I hate you too. With all my heart."
"You don't even have a heart!"
Stella barely managed to pull herself away from his grip and his lap, her lips started to tremble to hold back the tears she was trying to suppress with pain. She wasn't sure what was bothering her, but she felt imprisoned. The pure hatred she had for the man in her heart fed her day by day. Her love for Brandon had faded compared to her hatred. If only the age difference everyone talked about was the real problem, she wished for that so much. Brandon's touch, his scent, his presence dragged her deeper each day. While the darkness of the pit she fell into had fainted and tired her, she had never even climbed out of the inner pit because of Brandon. She stood up and began to look around, her back still turned to Brandon, who followed her movements with his eyes as if trying to understand what she was doing. Her anger and fury had started to make her tremble.
The desire he felt for the woman pacing back and forth before him drove him a bit more insane each day. He was selfish when it came to Stella. He didn't want to share her, but sometimes the real issue wasn't even that. He didn't even want Stella for himself because she was perfect. And Brandon was drowning. Watching her beauty, while she spoke and her hands moved with everything she said, the softness of her hair, shimmering clearly in the slightest light. Brandon was drowning more in everything he couldn't have.
Looking at the woman who was lying silently in his arms minutes ago, all he could feel was the hatred toward those who sent them on this mission. It was so great that for a brief moment, he didn't even want to think about what would have happened to Stella if he hadn't said he would join the mission. Nabu or someone else could have helped, but everything worked too slowly and too flawed, the damage Stella would take in the meantime would've drive Brandon mad. As he considered irrational revenge, like sticking his sword into the pit Stella fell and completely overturning the cave, the only thing he wanted was for this mission to end and for Stella to be within the four walls of her school and occasionally lie in the garden to sunbathe. He wanted the only dangers to be a bee sting, wet grass she couldn't lie on due to rain, and low grades.
Stella tried to wipe her tears, her back was still turned to Brandon. Her anger and disappointments had trapped her in a giant deadlock, and she struggled even to breathe. "Come here." She closed her eyes in anger and tried to ignore Brandon's voice, the voice inside her was screaming, begging her to go to him. But her pride wouldn't allow it. Even though she was the first to say it, she knew that Brandon had meant it. The pain of being in love with a man who hated her so intensely was tearing her apart.
"Get lost."
"Stop acting like a child and try to pull yourself together. Take this tablet and swallow it; we need to keep moving. Active pits are always used as a final obstacle, which means we are at the end of the road." Stella knew that Brandon only spoke this long around her; she had heard and seen how cold he usually was and how hard it was to get a few words out of him. While this made her feel different, she concluded that the situation was connected to hatred. He's giving a clear explanation because he doesn't want to deal with me any longer.
Turning to Brandon, she took the yellow tablet he handed her and swallowed it without questioning. Even if it was poison, it didn't matter much anymore; for some reason, death seemed more appealing lately. Brandon frowned, trying to figure out if Stella's immediate swallowing of the medicine was due to trust or suicide. Both were unpleasant thoughts. She started to feel dizzy, as she thought to herself, "I'm screwed." Could he really have given her poison? Her legs took two steps back independently to support her body, her hand went to her head, and her eyes closed. "If I had known you wanted me dead this much,"
Her murmur pierced Brandon's soul as his nightmare gripped him. Jumping to his feet and catching Stella's body in his arms again, he couldn't help but think, did I give her the wrong capsule? Even though all the capsules he had brought were for healing, Stella had made him hesitate. Slipping one arm under her knees and lifting her onto his lap, her head fell onto his shoulder. "Stella?" The panic in his voice made Stella frown, and she decided to ignore it, thinking it must be entirely part of her imagination.
"Leave me alone! Let me die in peace."
Clenching his teeth and tightening his grip, Brandon scolded her angrily, "Stop talking nonsense. You don't have the conditioning of a specialist; the medicine must have hit you harder. You'll recover soon."
"I'm very sleepy." Ignoring his words, she snuggled closer to Brandon and decided not to open her eyes. Brandon's gaze wandered over her smooth, beautiful face as he sighed and sat back down, gently laying Stella down and positioning himself behind her. She might be unconscious now, but he knew she would likely cause a scene when she woke up. Though he couldn't care less. As his hand went to Stella's stomach, he carefully pulled her body close to his and leaned against her. Stella was good at awakening something just with her gaze, and the slightest touch was enough to force Brandon into a cold shower. Right now, she was asleep, and even though her body was next to his, Brandon wouldn't put himself in a position to disturb her, even unintentionally. Burying his face in Stella's hair, he took a deep breath, inhaling her scent. Pulling his cloak over both of them, Brandon found himself wishing this feeling wouldn't end and that Stella would sleep a little longer. As his eyes closed, he decided to put his doubts aside. The only thing he wanted right now was to fall asleep holding the woman in his arms and breathing in her scent.
"Hold on a little longer, Musa! Please, don't close your eyes." Flora was doing her best to keep her friend awake, but it didn't seem to be enough. Tecna barely managed to free her hand from the sticky substance and slapped Musa. The music fairy immediately opened her eyes and looked around in bewilderment as Tecna grumbled. "If you let yourself go again, I'll show you what's what without even mentioning Darkar. Pull yourself together."
"Damn it." Musa groaned, closing her eyes in pain. Among them, Musa had taken the worst fall. The power of darkness had affected her abilities almost minimally, so while Flora struggled with fatigue, Musa was busy taking down the creatures that fell to Flora's share as well. The guys were still lying unconscious behind the bars. How they ended up in this situation was clear. Bloom had betrayed them. The innocent and pure-looking new fairy had transformed before they even began their mission and attacked with an irresistible force. The girls didn't even have the strength to warn or resist. The first to be captured was Timmy, followed by Tecna. If there was something worse than an unexpected attack, it was being attacked unexpectedly by someone you thought was a friend. While Bloom was undergoing a transformation worthy of witches, Tecna kept shouting that it didn't make sense, but since questioning the logic of this information wasn't in their best interest, they ignored her.
"Musa! Don't sleep, please!" Musa nodded, glaring at Flora. "Damn it! I'm trying! My head is splitting, my eyes are closing on their own."
Flora looked at her friend for a while, the healing tablet Helia had given her was still in her pocket. If she could somehow get it out and give it to Musa… But Tecna had done it; even if it was just to slap her, she had freed her arm from this gooey substance and reached Musa. Forcing herself, and enduring the deficiency her increased sensitivity caused, she began to move her arm. Tecna and Musa watched her, trying to guess what she was about to do. Flora, happy to have won her first victory, held the tablet tightly to avoid dropping it and extended it to Musa. "Bring your head here." Musa, reaching out her only limb not bound by the sticky substance, tried to ignore the pain stabbing her neck and took the tablet Flora offered with her tongue and swallowed it. "In a little while, you'll regain more consciousness, hang in there."
Musa nodded and thanked her, her gaze shifted back to the specialists. None of them had given up easily and they had sustained heavy injuries. She scanned Riven, Musa felt her heart ache; until the last moment, he had tried to protect her. Although there was nothing between them, Riven had clearly stated that he would protect her. The reason for this was a mystery to him as well, but Musa thought Riven saw her as a sister. Having grown up on the streets, Riven had been separated from his family at a very young age, maybe Musa resembled someone to him. Her eyes welled up, the path their bond had taken once again pained her. Perhaps the last thing she should be thinking about right now was her situation with Riven, but her heartache had surfaced involuntarily.
Helia groaned, holding his head, and Sky followed his movements, groaning in pain and then leaping to his feet with an agile movement. Of course, this was followed by dizziness, but Sky was an impulsive man. When he joined the specialists as the prince of Eraklyon, he had changed after facing harsher treatment than usual, and his brashness had given way to anger. Although the specialists' aim wasn't this, Sky continued with a deformed character, becoming difficult to control in terms of anger. Helia took his place beside him, his eyes immediately found the person he was looking for, and he clenched his teeth in anger. Seeing Flora looking at him with a sigh, his fists clenched, and his jaw twitched, he looked at the woman he couldn't protect with self-directed anger. "Are you okay?"
Flora nodded, moistening her lips in preparation to speak. "You?"
Helia merely shrugged. Bloom, hovering cross-legged in the air with a contradictory smile on her lips, was watching them all. Her hands rested on her knees as if she were doing yoga, her palms open to the pitch-black sky. "Good morning, sweethearts." Musa growled, looking at Bloom, and the curses she uttered left the specialists staring at her in shock. Brandon's general way of talking about the fairies had ingrained itself in their minds; they saw the girls as overly decorative things. They had wings, glittery and colorful things, they shot sparkly stuff from their hands, and they were all stupid Pollyannas. But since the mission began, the girls had proven that these were just figments of their imagination. Brandon knew his words were nonsense, but he kept saying them anyway. The reason was obvious, the more the specialists hated the fairies, the less likely Stella would end up in a relationship with one of them. If Stella wasn't going to be his, she definitely shouldn't be with a specialist. Without their hatred for the fairies, it was clear that at least three-quarters of the specialists would be in love with Stella. Anyone with a mind and eyes would want her, Brandon was sure of that.
"Bitch! Stella trusted you, she protected you from the start, risking herself!" Bloom chuckled, looking at Musa and tilting her head slightly. Sky followed her with his eyes, he tried to understand what had happened to the girl who looked pure and innocent but had now become a witch-like version of herself. Her hair had darkened, her eyes had turned from blue to pure yellow, striped like those of a snake instead of irises. The hands that had clung to him for safety on the bike had changed, with elongated nails and black bracelets wrapped around her wrists. It wasn't Bloom anymore; this state of hers was somewhat unintentionally appealing, but Sky would have preferred the previous Bloom to return. Or he might prefer all the fairies to just die. Sky only noticed Bloom had started talking again after hearing her laughter and opened his ears.
"Yes, Stella, she's a bit late, isn't she? She should have already arrived, and we should have started the ritual! Where do you think she is?" Flora glared at the fairy of dragon flame, feeling her heart ache. Something had happened to Bloom; it wasn't hard to see. Even if they hadn't managed to convince Musa, both Tecna and Flora knew that Bloom wasn't doing all this consciously. This showed that they hadn't protected her well enough; otherwise, how could Bloom end up like this? Bloom certainly couldn't have hidden who she was right now; Tecna would not have missed it after doing so much scanning and research. No one had been good enough to fool her technology yet.
"What are you talking about? What ritual?" Tecna frowned, trying to make sense of it while Riven groaned, the discomfort of just waking up and his aching muscles making him grumble as Musa watched him with concern. Seeing him awake had somewhat eased her mind, but her anxiety remained. "Let's not spoil the excitement, let's wait for our ray of sunshine and see."
Suddenly, Tecna stood up with an unexpected burst of anger, and Musa and Flora looked at her back in fear. The sticky substance must have hurt her as her face was contorted in pain. "You're going to take her light! You're going to kill Stella!" The girls let out a scream of anxiety as Bloom chuckled again and looked mockingly at the fairy wrapped in purple. "Sweetie, you're all going to die anyway, it's not a special service just for Stella, don't worry and relax, you'll flay your skin." Her giggle heightened the tension as Flora looked at Bloom with pity. "I guess I won't die without seeing you get what you deserve, Bloom. So don't get too hopeful."
Bloom shook her head dismissively, smirking as Flora continued. "I can see you're underestimating Stella. Keep it up, you'll get your answer when she arrives." Bloom's smirk faded, the girls just stared at her. The specialists, on the other hand, stood silently in a strange way, just listening and looking at Bloom defiantly as if they agreed with the girls. Bloom stood up and looked at them all with a sneer, her hands engulfed in flames, suddenly the fires bursting from the ground and walls shot towards them all at once. The girls' screams caused the guys to be horrified, even Sky cursed Bloom and yelled for her to stop. She had tried to burn the girls alive! As the flames subsided and Bloom retracted them into her hands, her smirk returned. The girls writhed on the ground, groaning, while Bloom snapped her fingers, making the burns disappear. "That terror should be enough for you. I suggest you shut your mouths and wait quietly."
Even though the burns were gone, the girls were still groaning and writhing from the shock they had gone through, while Bloom had returned to her previous position and started repeating the words that had come from her mouth for hours, with a grin.
"Ego sum regina tenebrarum." Tecna closed her eyes and took deep breaths, her brain instantly translating it as it had the first time she heard it: I am the queen of darkness.
