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Chapter Text

One did not trap the strongest wizard in the Magical Dimension for an eternity. Who did the Company of Light think they were? No, no, who did they think he was? Such absolute and misguided pride to freeze him alone with nobody guarding him but a bunch of brainless snakes.

Valtor would laugh out loud at the sheer idiocy of the very thought if he had the energy to do so. But alas, he did not.

The wizard thanked his lucky stars not for the first time for his lack of companions. The amount of times he'd stumbled onto the snow covered ice or was forced to lean against an icy cocoon or wall to regain his breath was utterly embarrassing.

Omega was like one brig frosty parasite, chipping away and devouring up any strength and warmth its unfortunate prey could offer it. For a lesser being, it would be a successful prison indeed—but Valtor was anything but a lesser being and his escape (even if it had taken Magix knows how long) further proved this.

As Valtor dragged his feet and frostbite gnawed at his flesh, a slow smirk spread across his lips.

He certainly hoped it hadn't taken him too long to get out of that horrible ice cocoon—he hoped Faragonda, Griffin, and Saladin were alive for, oh how he yearned to see the looks on their faces when he—

Valtor paused, inhaling sharply before his head snapped over his shoulder; the ground had begun to shudder beneath him.

There, slithering from behind a cliff was the culprit — one of those blasted snakes. The obnoxious thing took one look at him before opening its mouth and spitting a ball of magic at him.

Valtor stumbled out of the way and rolled to the ground with a grunt as the spell slammed into the ground where he'd just been standing. The ice beneath it cracked and Valtor scrambled to his feet to dodge another blast.

Gritting his teeth, Valtor held out his hand, ready to shoot a spell of his own before he stopped himself.

He needed his magic for the portal—he couldn't afford to waste it.

Cursing, he spun on his heel and forced his weary legs into a shameful mockery of a run.

Bloom's eyelids fluttered open to the glaring beams of sunshine pouring from her window. A balmy breeze fluttered the curtains, and birds sang a cheerful wake up call.

The girl winced and squinted through the sun rays before slowly sitting up with a yawn and stretching her arms. What a nice dream, she hadn't had—

"Fell asleep reading again, did you?" An amused voice stated, surprising Bloom and causing her to jump and yelp in surprise. This ruined her graceful wake up and sent her teetering and crashing to her messy bedroom floor.

Scowling as light laughter filled the room and her comforter slid off the mattress to fall over her, Bloom huffed and stood. "Mom? What are you even doing here?"

Vanessa smiled at her daughter and slammed the book in her hands shut. "I was afraid you'd wake up late due to your fairy reading hobby again."

Bloom blushed and looked away as Vanessa continued, "And turns out I was right! I suppose you'll be missing the school bus then?"

The flush disappeared as Bloom's eyes snapped to her still amused mother. "What?!" School! She'd completely forgot!

Kicking away the blankets tangled around her legs, Bloom ran to her dresser and started digging for clothes. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no! How could she forget!? Mr. Bronwyn had threatened that if she came to class late one more time she'd get deten—!

As Bloom jerked her head up with crumbled crop top in hand, she noticed the calendar pinned to the wall.

Not only was it Sunday, it was June 1st. Summer break had started two weeks ago.

Bloom turned and gave her laughing mother a halfhearted glare over her shoulder. "Not cool, Mom."

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie," Vanessa chuckled before giving the red-head a kiss on the brow. "But you did wake up late."

"What do I need to wake up early for?" Bloom frowned up at her. "It's summer break."

"A perfect time for my flower shop business," Vanessa smiled and Bloom's shoulders slumped.

"Mom..."

"Now, now. You didn't think you'd be drawing and reading about fairies, wizards and warlocks all summer did you?"

Bloom shrugged lamely as Vanessa patted her head. "Hurry and get dressed; we're leaving right after breakfast."

Bloom huffed a sigh as Vanessa left. In all fairness, she guessed her mom was right; what else was she going to be doing all summer?

To hell with the "magic conservation" mindset.

The Omega snake roared and reared it his head as Valtor shot it with a blast of dark energy. Its head slammed against a nearby cliff, causing it to rain ice as it collapsed.

Valtor tried and failed to stop himself from gasping for the bitter icy air of the Dimension. Pathetic. One measly blast and he was already winded!

Oh, he couldn't wait to get his full magic back and then some...

Quickly turning away and briskly running onwards, Valtor continued in search of the Andros portal, knowing that that beast would start chasing him again.

Speak of the devil, the thing was moving again, its serpentine body unfurling itself and its scales scratching against the snowy ice.

Valtor huffed heavily in annoyance as he put on more speed. It had been a weak spell after all—

Wait a moment, there!

Just in the distance and surrounded by a swirl of crumbling stone was the portal leading out of this abhorrent Dimension.

Stumbling swiftly from ledge to ledge, Valtor soon found himself at the centre. The wizard then wasted no time blasting it open with all his might.

Behind him, the snake slithered closer, forked tongue lapping at its eye as it opened its mouth once more.

Valtor cursed his weakness, gritting his teeth as he poured more magic into his attack. But he was quickly loosing strength, and if that thing hit him and froze him all over again, trapping him in that terrible, terrible limbo once more—

Valtor shook his head and rid his mind of those thoughts, forcing even more magic into his blast as a bead of sweat slid from his brow and promptly froze on his already chilled face.

He wasn't going back. He wasn't. But damn it all the portal wouldn't open!

The snake was right behind him now, jaw opened wide, power building up...

An idea momentarily warmed his bitter, (mildly, mildly) trepidatious mind and he turned back to the snake with a smirk.

At the last moment, Valtor rolled out of the way of the newest blast, crouching nearby before sending his magic at the snake's beam, merging his magic with it and watching as the combined energy slammed into the portal dead on. Excitement bubbled within him as the portal quivered and gleamed slightly.

"Perfect," he muttered under his breath as the idiot snake finally stopped firing. The snake's eyes flashed and it hissed in what Valtor felt was perhaps anger.

"I'm afraid you have nobody to blame but yourself," Valtor drawled as he quickly staggered back atop the portal and pressed his glove palm against it, activating it with his magic.

The snake unfortunately was far more persistent than Valtor gave it credit for, and just as he stood while the portal's light surrounded him and gave a mock salute to the beast, it lunged sharply forwards and sank its fangs into his arm.

As the portal dragged them both atop the Andros side of the portal, Valtor roared in pain and blasted the damned thing away. His head thrummed with disorientation as he fell to his knees and clutched at his sleeve, blood darkening it quickly.

He grunted and rolled to the side as the snake sent a blast of magic at him once more before staggering dizzily to his feet.

Valtor's vision swam as whatever venom it injecting into him dispersed throughout his body—it felt almost like liquid ice.

Around him he heard panicked voices, no doubt mermaid guards seeing a snake had broken free, and there was no way Valtor could fight them all in this state if they realized he had broken free also.

But he was not going back to Omega.

So that meant he needed to retreat somewhere. Somewhere where he could lay low for a few hours and regain his strength without anyone recognizing him.

Somewhere like Earth.

Valtor held up a quick and shaky shield that kept the snake at bay before concentrating all his magic into making a portal to the magic-less planet. He hoped had enough magic left—yes!

A glowing red portal tore through the sky and as Valtor jumped in, the snake shattered the weak barrier he had put up and followed in hot pursuit.

"Thank you for all your help, Bloom," Vanessa smiled as Bloom exited the shop and her mother flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED.

"No problem, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Bloom admitted with a shrug and a twin smile of her own. "Do you think I can get a foxglove for my room? They're super pretty!"

Vanessa tapped Bloom's nose as she fished the car keys from her pocket. "Only if you can pay for it, Missy."

"What?" Bloom asked, smile becoming teasing as she crossed her arms and rose an eyebrow. "No fair, Mom I'm your daughter!"

"Mhm, and I'm a store owner," Vanessa responded with an equally teasing smile. "Can't give away my merchandise for free now can I?"

"How about for my birthday?" Bloom asked as she slipped into the front passenger seat of the car and took the AC off. It had been needed in the late morning, but now in the late, summer evening, it was a bit too cold.

"If you feel so strongly for it, we'll see. All though speaking of gifts..." Vanessa gave Bloom a sly look from the corner of her eye as they pulled out of the street parking lot and headed for home.

Bloom gasped excitedly and clasped her hands together, eyes glittering with excitement. "You got me something?"

"Well, your father and I decided you're becoming a grown young lady now and figured you'd like your own form of transportation," Vanessa said as Bloom grinned brightly, excitement shooting through the roof.

Finally, finally she'd gotten a car! She could take her drivers' lessons and go anywhere she wanted!

Ha! Take that Mitsy!

Bloom unbuckled just before the car was driving into the driveway and practically threw herself out the door. Half breathless, she spun around in search of her brand new car.

"Where is it?" Bloom asked excitedly as Vanessa exited the car as well. "Is it in the garage?"

"Take it easy sweetie!" Vanessa said through light laughter. "Don't you want to have dinner first?"

Bloom emphatically shook her head. "Dinner? Not when I'm so AH!"

"Ooooh I hear an excited daughter out there!" A familiar voice called in a sing-song-voice. Both mother and daughter turned to see their husband and father respectively exit the house with a huge smile on his face.

"Dad!" Bloom cried gleefully as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly. The man let out a surprised grunt at the constricting squeeze he was in before his daughter released him. "Thank you so much! I can't believe you and Mom would surprise me like this!"

"Aha! Knew you'd love it! Your Mom thought I was crazy!" Mike beamed as he stood beside his wife and draped an arm over her.

"Well, actually I didn't show her yet," Vanessa said.

"Well what the heck are you waiting for? Let's not leave our little girl in suspense!" Mike responded and Bloom couldn't have agreed more.

Taking the car keys from Vanessa, he flicked through them until reaching the garage key. Bloom squealed in anticipation as he unlocked the handle and pushed it upwards with a grunt.

Bloom dashed forwards, eyes wide and hopeful. But slowly her smile faded into a confused frown as she turned to Mike. "Um...where is it?"

"Right in front of you, of course!" Mike said proudly, gesturing to...a bike.

It was a bike. Not a car, but a bike. A bike with petals and a basket, and without a motor. A bike that Mitsy would totally laugh at once she found out about it.

"Voila! Charming, isn't it?"

Disappointment weighed heavy on Bloom's shoulders and she frowned solemnly before she could mask it.

"Not...what you were expecting?" Vanessa questioned hesitantly as she stepped forward and placed a hand on one of Bloom's slumped shoulders.

"Erm..." Bloom shuffled her feet awkwardly and hugged herself, not daring to look at her no doubt hurt and confused dad.

"Is there—is something wrong with it?" Mike asked dejectedly, a complete 180 from his sunny attitude a second ago.

"No! No!" Bloom said quickly and forced a bright smile as she turned back to Mike. "It's super cute. And it's in a nice colour! A-and the basket is...wow. I can put that foxglove I wanted in there, right Mom?"

Vanessa too forced an awkward smile and nodded. "Of course sweetie!"

Bloom turned to her still unconvinced father before hugging him once more and planting a kiss on his forehead. "Thanks, Dad. Really. I'll take it for a ride right now and I'll tell you how it is, okay?"

As Bloom kicked the stand up and rolled her bike out of he garage, she heard Vanessa mutter to Mike, "I told you she wanted a car, Mike."

"Oh, I know but wouldn't it be safer her for her on a bike? You know, until she's a bit older?"

Bloom sighed softly to herself and mounted the bike before peddling off. Sixteen-years-old and her parents still thought she was a little girl. But then again, how could she blame them?

Bloom still read fairy tales and middle grade novels about goblins and angles, and telekinetic gifted kids. She still had Sailor Moon VHS sets under the TV and went to every release party for Harry Potter and she still daydreamed about going to magical realms herself.

Who was she kidding? She couldn't handle a car, she couldn't even clean her room properly! And she certainly wasn't mature enough.

"Bloom!"

The red-head blinked out of her despondent musing to glance over at a familiar restaurant owner waving from the doorstop. "Say hello to your mother for me!"

Bloom smiled and waved back. "Will do, Mr. Ginero!" She called back before rounding a bend.

This wasn't so bad; the wind streaming through her hair, the feeling of freedom she felt as she peddled faster and faster.

Bloom smiled softly to herself, hesitating before letting go of the handlebars and spreading her arms spread eagle. She immediately stopped after two seconds when she teetered too far to the left.

"I think I'm going to enjoy you," Bloom told the bike as she patted the handlebars as if it were a horse. When she got home, she'd give her parents a far more sincere thank you.

When finally reaching her favorite park in Gardenia, she slowed down, seizing her peddling and gripping the handle breaks.

As the bike came to a halt, she dismounted and wheeled it into the cooler shade of the woods, leaning it against the nearest tree and sitting down with a little shiver. She probably should've brought a sweater, evening shade was pretty chill—

A moment later, Bloom was blinded by a vivid glow of red. She groaned and shaded her eyes with a palm. What on Earth was that?

Just as soon as it appeared, the light disappeared. The sound of a pained grunt and THUD that shook the ground followed immediately after.

"What the..." Bloom muttered, confusion pinching her brow as she stood slowly.

"You're a persistent beast, aren't you?" A distant voice snarled as Bloom walked gingerly forwards. What the heck was going on?

She fought an internal battle with apprehension and curiosity before curiosity won out and Bloom found her feet carrying her deeper into the forest. She stopped and gripped a tree trunk as another thud shook the ground and an unfamiliar hiss filled the air.

Mounting apprehension tugged Bloom backwards once more, but once again mounting curiosity won and pulled her forwards towards the strange noises. This time, a dull violet light flashed through the darkness of the looming evergreens followed by another hiss, another flash of bright light—this time green—and the toppling of a nearby tree.

Bloom gasped and jumped out of the pitching tree's path, falling with an "oomph!" as she landed hard on her stomach. However, Bloom was beginning to think she had also hit her head in the fall, because just before her in a clearing lined with uprooted trees stood a man and—a big snake.

No, big was an understatement. It was huge, enormous! The size of a small building!

Bloom's eyes bugged out of her head as she scrambled to her feet and darted behind a still standing tree. This was insane! What the heck was going on here?!

She rubbed her eyes and smacked the side of her head before peeping from behind the tree.

Okay. That made the hallucinations worse because now that Big Snake was shooting a green laser thing at a man and he was shooting a dull purple one right back!

Bloom pulled her head back again and sank to the ground, wincing every time a tree fell with a thud due to a blast of...of that—whatever they were firing!

'Magic.' Her mind supplied but she shook her head no. That was ridiculous! There was no way there was magic, or giant snakes!

But then...what was she looking at? Projectors didn't knock down trees, neither did fireworks, but maybe giant snakes and guys with magic did.

"Get a hold of yourself, Bloom!" The teen smacked one of her cheeks and hissed to herself. "Do you know how crazy you—?!"

Bloom clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the shriek of surprise from escaping as she heard the man hit the other side of her hideout tree with a pained cry.

"B-blast," Bloom heard the man mutter to himself as she stood and peaked once more. The giant snake was rearing its head, opening its mouth to let a giant ball of green magic (nope, stop it, Bloom! not magic) from within it.

The man struggled to stand but failed miserably, cursing under his breath as he clutched his maroon sleeved arm.

Logic told Bloom to run. Run, run, run and pretend this situation never happened.

Empathy told Bloom to do something. It didn't matter what, but if she ran away now, that magic wizard guy (STOP) would be done for.

And so, before logic could mentally berate her for being an idiot, Bloom jumped from behind the tree and stood in front of the wounded man, arms spread wide protectively.

"Stop!" She commanded sharply to the snake, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed seriously.

The snake paused, closing its mouth and tilting its head to the side.

"Fool!" The man snapped from behind Bloom, and the teen turned to look at him indignantly as he continued, "what in Magix name are you doing?"

Crap. What was she doing? She just jumped in front of a stranger to stop an angry magic (oh my God, Bloom!) snake!

Bloom's indignant frown became a sheepish smile. "Uh...you know, I'm not really sure—"

The snake hissed and lunged for Bloom quick as whip, and the girl turned back wide eyed to the giant beast. She yelled a horrified "No!" as she squeezed her eyes shut and put her hands in front of her in a stupid, useless attempt to stop her incoming death.

A flash of bright light burned her closed lids and Bloom heard the snake hiss angrily. Opening her eyes gingerly, Bloom saw the monster shaking its singed scales side to side while orange sparks colored the early night sky and her quaking hands tingled.

"Did—" Bloom turned to look at the man over her shoulder. "Did you do that?"

The man didn't answer, but probably not seeing as how is eyes were just as wide and his mouth just as dropped as hers was.

But if he didn't do it...

The snake's tail whipped around and slammed into Bloom's stomach, sending her flying to through the air and crashing to the ground with a scream. It then wrapped its giant tail around her, stopping her mid-fall before it held her up, opened its jaw, and preparing to end her life.

The more Bloom struggled, the tighter it squeezed, causing her to wheeze. Her vision blurred and unwanted tears sprung to her eyes as she choked for air and found next to nothing. The snake's magic light colored her paling face green as she gritted her teeth and writhed harder, feeling an indignant burning pooling in her chest.

"Let. GO!" Bloom screamed, and suddenly the sickly green was replaced with a burning white light emanating from her body.

The snake's eyes widened as a fiery dragon shot out of Bloom's chest and spiraled its serpentine form menacingly. Then, it slammed its flaming head against the snake's.

There was a burst of white light and the feeling of weightlessness before Bloom fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

When the only light left was the shining moon, and Bloom lay on the grass trying to regain her breath, she heard the snake fall hard with a ground shaking thud as well.

She needed to get up, she needed to stand. But her mind was reeling, swimming with questions and confusion and denials.

What was going on?

A red light like the one before lit up the sky and only then was Bloom blinked out of her daze. Slowly, she rolled onto her stomach and sat up on her knees, watching as the man she'd jumped in front of held his hand aloft and the thoroughly charred snake fell through the glowing red ground—

Bloom groaned and placed a hand her head. She was getting a headache, this was way, way too much to take in! This—this was...ridiculous!

Giant snakes, guys shooting lasers, fire dragons coming out of her chest? Those were the stuff found in the pages of a Harry Potter book, not real life! And yet here, in real life, it happened right before her very eyes.

"You."

Bloom gasped and her head snapped up, finding the man staring down at her with narrowed ice blue eyes. His long strawberry-blonde hair danced in the wind and his gloved hands were clenched at his sides, blood dripping from one of the sleeves.

He took a step towards her and Bloom fought the urge to crab crawl backwards away from him. She was absolutely certain that look in his eyes wasn't a "Hey, thanks for saving me!" gaze.

He opened his mouth to say something further when his knees buckled and he collapsed with weak gasp for breath.

"Oh!" Bloom cried as she leapt forward from her kneeling position to catch him. She grunted at the weight as she slowly lowered him to the ground, staring worriedly at his unconscious face, the shuddering rise and fall of his chest and then the bloodstain on his arm.

She needed to take him home with her—she may not have completely grasped what had happened tonight but she did know a cut bleeding that much was the opposite of safe.

Chapter Text

Thank goodness it was nighttime, because otherwise there'd be many awkward excuses spilling from Bloom's lips towards curiously staring strangers as to why she had an unconscious man awkwardly draped over her bike.

Still, she wanted to hurry; she didn't want to try her luck. Plus, using the strange man's coat as a makeshift bandage wouldn't stop the bleeding forever. Her dad probably had a first aid kit she could use though.

But walking—let alone hurrying—was kind of difficult.

Wizard Guy was heavy, and having to wheel her already weighted bike with a sleeping dude draped over top it as well was nothing if not a strain on her arms.

As she trudged through the quiet night however, Bloom spared the man glances. Snake fighting magic wielder aside, his clothes were noticeably strange as well—long boots whose tips currently dragged across the sidewalk, white frilled collard blouse and dark vest that had been underneath the long maroon jacket he had been wearing, along with similarly dark gloves. And she was pretty sure he was wearing eyeshadow.

Maybe it was whack to her, but Bloom figured Hot Topic was the clothing of choice for wizards, or warlocks, or magicians—whatever he was.

Bloom sighed to herself. Of course, there was also the weirdo that was her. A dragon had come out of her chest, light had exploded from her palms—what else could it be but magic?

But then again, how could that be? Her parents were perfectly ordinary! If they didn't have any magic, why did she?

Finally, with a feeling of thankful euphoria, Bloom reached her house. She stopped by the front door and glanced down at Wizard Guy. Now, how to carry him inside?

She already knew the answer to that question and her shoulders were already drooping at the very thought. Draping him over a bike and carting him through nighttime Gardenia had been tough enough, carrying him up the steps would be nigh impossible for Bloom and her weary muscles.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the door opened and Vanessa stepped out. "Bloom! There you are, we were getting worr..." her voice trailed off as her eyes fell to Wizard Guy, blinking slowly.

"Um...can you get Dad?" Bloom asked with an awkward smile. "Don't worry, I'll tell you guys everything but I need to get him inside."

It was cold, so very cold and suffocating. His magic was waning but he couldn't give up, even if he was being choked with the tiny amount of oxygen present and the ice pressing around him on all sides, even when every cell in his body was slowly becoming obsolete.

He needed to fight. He needed to—

Valtor's eyes snapped open and his upper body shot upwards as a shuddering gasp left his lips. His vision was blurry, and the cold was biting at his skin again, and there were voices—

"H...y...okay?" A voice sliced through the ringing in his ears and a dainty hand was placed on his shoulder, causing a jolt of electricity to spark his Dragon Flame. The hand tensed as well, as if its owner too had felt the sharp bolt of magic.

Valtor's eyes slowly located the hand, gaze travelling further up the arm it was attached to, to the shoulder, and finally to a vaguely familiar face. Wide cerulean blue eyes watched him worriedly, the colour in stark contrast to the fiery red hair crowning her head.

That girl...

And it all came rushing back like an exploding dam—the snake, the girl wielding the Dragon Flame...and most importantly escaping Omega.

Shaking hands pushed against the surface he was on top of—cushion, not snow. His eyes then found a woman with dark hair and a blonde man, a ceiling fan, a TV; mundane furniture. They fell to the bandage on his arm, the blanket draped over his body and finally back to the girl.

Yes, that was right. He was far, far away from that dreadful place, and the girl, this girl had rescued him from that troublesome snake that had followed him in an attempt to cut his freedom short.

This girl who, for some reason possessed the Dragon's Flame.

Too tired to play with theories at present, Valtor closed his eyes and sighed softly in relief, letting the phantom chills leave his body.

With the ringing in his ears subsiding, he could here the girl prompt "How do you feel?" Spurring Valtor to open his eyes once more. The man and woman—the girl's parents he presumed—crowded beside him as well with similar expressions of curious concern.

As if in response to that question, a headache blossomed in Valtor's head and he pressed the edge of his palm against his forehead with a pained exhale of breath. "Where...am I?" He rasped, despising the pathetic croak of his voice. Goodness, he hated making lacklustre first impressions...

"Don't worry, dear. You're perfectly safe," the woman said with a kind smile.

"Must've been a serious mugging, huh?" The man said with a frown.

"Dad!" The girl said, removing her hand from Valtor's shoulder finally and crossing her arms. "I told you, he wasn't mugged he was attacked by a giant magic breathing snake!"

"And I told you that that's ridiculous!" The man responded with a dramatic throwing of his arms.

"But I saw it with my own eyes! I know it makes no sense but—!"

"Honey, are you sure you weren't just confused?" The woman questioned her daughter.

Interesting. Just as he perceived during his rescue, this girl had been violently thrust into the hidden world of magic—that knocked out a couple of his theories as to who she was, strengthened his most prominent one, and gave him an excuse to properly introduce his greatness without worrying about getting blasted into next century.

"Your daughter is correct," Valtor cut in, causing the three Earthlings to glance towards him. He cleared his throat to rid it of its rasping texture and moved the blankets off him, bringing his legs down to the carpet and sitting up. "There was no robbery taking place—truly it'd take more than a couple of humans with switchblades to take down a wizard."

The two adults exchanged a look of sheer incredulity while the girl's eyes lit up with wonder and curiosity, lips morphing from an annoyed frown to an eager smile. "So I was right then; you are a wizard!"

"Not just any wizard," Valtor responded with a smug smirk. "You just so happen to be speaking to the most powerful wizard in the Magic Dimension."

"The most powerful?" The girl asked curiously, sitting at the arm of the chair and watching him with a tilted head. "So are you like...a magic celebrity?"

Valtor chuckled and his smirk broadened. "In a sense." More notorious than lovingly famous, but he supposed it was the same thing and he was proud of the reputation either way. He placed an arm over his chest and gave the most elegant bow he could muster while still sitting. "My name is Valtor."

"Hi, Valtor," The girl said warmly. "I'm Bloom. Bloom Peters."

Bloom.

Well...there was no doubt who she was now; a teenager possessing the Dragon's Flame named Bloom. Valtor fought the urge to grin, but managed to show restraint.

It would seem that weakling Daphne wasn't good at hiding things after all.

He could kill her. Right here and now, one blast to the heart and one big threat to his power would be eliminated forever.

Two reasons why he wouldn't.

Exhibit A, this girl couldn't even transform yet; what would the history books say? "The Greatest Wizard of all time killed one of his greatest rivals but only because she was naive, unprepared, and didn't know how to lift a finger to defend herself."?

Of course, when he came into ultimate power he'd eradicate anyone who tried to say such a thing—but even if the Magical Dimension didn't know the truth, he would. He couldn't imagine waking up every morning and looking himself in the mirror, knowing how pathetic he was.

Exhibit B, Valtor was in abysmal shape due to spending all his magic breaking enchanted ice. It would take ages to regain his full power—ages he simply didn't have; people would become aware of his disappearance from Omega eventually. He would need aide getting it all back.

Exhibit C, he could not afford to let such a powerful girl into enemy hands. Specifically the aged ones belonging to the headmistress of a pastel coloured fairy haven

"Magic celebrities? Wizards? Okay," the man said, garnering Valtor and Bloom's attention as he shook his head with crossed arms. "I think you two lost your wallets and your minds during that mugging."

Valtor's smirk immediately melted into an annoyed scowl as the insolent man walked towards the cord phone sitting atop a simple table. "I'm calling the police, you can tell them all about the muggers and then we can call Dr. Silverman to deal with your delusion problems."

Valtor rose a hand and pointed at the phone, shooting a beam of magic from his fingertip whilst ignoring the immediate wave of dizziness that came over him. He had to quickly place his hand back on the couch to re-steady himself—it was pathetic, truly.

But the end result was absolutely worth it.

The magic outlined the phone and its jack in violet light before seconds later, the phone jumped from the blonde man's hand and wrapped its rapidly elongating cord around his body.

He cried out in horror as his bound figure struggled against the curled telephone cord while the phone jack split in the middle and opened like a mouth, exposing a row of fangs dripping with saliva while it snarled like an angry dog.

The red head gasped in horror and the woman cried, "Mike!" As the mentioned screamed in sheer terror.

Pleased, Valtor snapped his fingers and the phone jack returned to normal, the phone and its cord unraveling swiftly and slamming back to its place atop the phone jack.

The man—Mike—staggered backwards against his wife, clutching his chest and panting wide eyed.

"Do you still find me to be a deluded madman?" Valtor questioned with a condescending smirk.

The man spluttered a non-answer in response and Valtor relished in the sight of his trembling form—he had missed this dearly.

"Was that really necessary?" Bloom demanded with a frown. "You could have really hurt him!"

"Hardly," Valtor drawled, turning back to her. "Magic is all about intent, and my intent wasn't to hurt, it was to scare. Besides that..." he glanced at his palm and clenched into a fist with an annoyed sigh. "My magic is rather...pitiful at this time." Having his powers diluted before being sealed was one thing, but using almost all of his remaining powers up shattering the ice he was encased in made it considerably weaker.

Looking up from his hand, he turned back to Bloom, a decision already taking root in his mind as he gave her the most sincere smile he could muster. "Thus, had you not used your own magic to save me, I would have surely met my end tonight; thank you."

Bloom blushed at the praise and looked away, batting her hands through the air. "Oh, it was...it was nothing really. I seriously didn't know what I was doing."

"'Nothing' is a grave understatement," Valtor corrected. "Tonight you showed exceptional ability—the Dragon's Flame, the most powerful form of magic in all the Realms."

"The...Dragon's Flame?" Bloom questioned, staring down at her hands in confusion. "I have… whatever that is?"

"But how can that be possible?" The woman asked in confusion. "Bloom is completely ordinary."

"Ordinary!" Valtor laughed and shook his head. "Your daughter isn't ordinary by fairy standards, let alone Earthling ones."

"'Fairy standards?'" Bloom said slowly, leaning forward on the couch arm and clutching the material tightly. "What do you...are you...?"

"I'm sure you know the answer to that," Valtor said simply.

"Me? A fairy?" Bloom breathed, eyes glittering with delight and lips parted in awe. She rose her hands to clasp them in glee but this caused her to loose her balance, sending the girl tumbling off the sofa arm with a shriek.

Valtor's eyes widened in surprise at the sight as her parents gasped. "I'm fine!" Bloom called, face muffled by the yellow carpet while holding up a thumb.

She was going to be far too easy.

"I can't believe a prisoner escaped," a Prison Enforcer grumbled as he stared cross armed at the crumbled structure that used to be an ice prison. "'Impenetrable prison' my foot."

"Give it some slack," another said, crouching to the snowy ground and picking up a wooden plaque with his gloved hands. "Wasn't just anyone who escaped."

He showed the plaque to his companion and he cursed. "Valtor. If he's the one that's out—"

"—then it's trouble," the second man said grimly.

"Nobody knows where he went?" Another asked.

"Nope. The mermaid guards say they saw one of the snakes and a flash of light...but that's it. He probably teleported out of there."

The Prison Enforcers huffed in annoyance and glared up at the dark snowing sky. "Honestly, you'd think there'd be tracking spells in place but no."

"Impenetrable Prison, 'member?" A sardonic voice harrumphed.

"Well we might just have the next best thing!" Another called, waving a piece of maroon cloth around.

The two men exchanged a look before they and the others near earshot swiftly migrated towards the triumphantly grinning guard.

"Look here, looks like the snake the mermaids saw got him!" He said, showing the bloodied cloth to everyone.

"So?" One demanded. "What's that supposed to do?"

"Track him, of course! Put this in a scanner or use a spell and boom, he's all ours!"

"Okay, but this is Valtor we're taking about. Even if we do find him, how are we supposed to detain him?" Another said.

"Psh, like that'll matter!" The guard with the cloth scoffed, batting a hand through the air. "I mean look! Those dumb snakes got him—he's clearly off his game."

"We don't know that," the hesitant guard insisted.

"Agreed," said yet another. "I say we tell their Royal Majesties of Andros—they can send a team of fairies and wizards."

"If we do that we'll start a Dimension wide panic!" The cloth holder said. "We do this ourselves, we get him and nobody knows he's gone."

"Haven't the mermaids already ruined that plan?" Another guard questioned.

"They saw a snake, not a prisoner. As far as they're concerned, nothing got out."

"But this is Valtor not just a prisoner." The first one repeated seriously. "Don't you remember what he and The Ancestral Witches did sixteen years ago to Sparx? Hell, what he's done to countless realms before that?"

"Exactly why we should get him before anything bad happens!"

"Guys, VALTOR!"

"Then stay behind, coward," the cloth guard said with a snarl. "We have a reputation to uphold as the Dimension's finest jailers and some damn wizard isn't going to ruin that! We are going to find that escapee. Anyone have a scanner on hand?"

Bloom had never been self conscious of her room—sure it was usually a mess but she never felt too bothered by it.

That was...until she gained a visitor. Now every discarded pair of jeans, every crumpled ball of paper, and every sticky stain atop her desk was hyper focused to her gaze, and she found herself grateful that Wizard Guy—Valtor—had opted to leaning against the door-frame waiting for the go ahead to enter rather then stepping into the horror scene that was Bloom's Bedroom.

"I'm sorry," Bloom said sheepishly, throwing a handful of clothes into her dirty basket. "I usually don't have visitors so I don't clean up much—be ready in a sec!" At least this gave her a moment to think about what was happening.

She, Bloom Peters was a fairy. Pausing in the act of hanging up a jean jacket, Bloom glanced at one of the many fairy drawings taped to her wall, dreamy smile finding its way onto her lips.

She could hardly believe it—even after pinching herself five times, and she was bursting with questions to ask Valtor.

Bloom straightened her blankets, put all her drawing papers into a neat pile, and stepped back with a pleased nod and smile. "Alright! All done."

Valtor took the implied invitation and stepped into the room at last, eyes trailing the fairy pictures on the wall with an amused lift to his lips. "I see you're already rather intrigued with magic."

"You have no idea!" Bloom gushed with eagerly clasped hands. "I've been dreaming about being a fairy since I was four and to learn it was the truth all along is just...wow, you know? I'm still worried I might be dreaming—" Bloom pinched her arm for a sixth time and winced. "—alright, nope."

Valtor chuckled and turned back around as Bloom excitedly went to her desk and handed him the fairy art book she'd been given for her sixteenth birthday last December—courtesy of her father.

"Is your—our world anything like this?" Bloom asked eagerly as Valtor opened the book and flicked through the pages with a single finger and appraisingly tilted head.

"Hmm. I'd say the only thing these humans got right were the wings and the glitter." Valtor stated simply as he closed the book and handed it back to Bloom. "Long dresses are seldom a costume you get with a fairy form for ease of mobility sake, and pointed ears are for the elves—thank the Dragon for that."

"Fairy forms?" Bloom asked as she took the book back.

"When a fairy manages to moderately grasp her magic, she will unlock her Base fairy form. Of course, this usually happens when the fairy is four or five so you're a late bloomer in that regard—"

"Pun intended?" Bloom asked with a teasing smile and raise of her brow.

Valtor paused and blinked slowly at her, confusion knitting his brows. "What...is a pun?"

Bloom's eyes widened. "Oh! Well a pun is—um," Bloom frowned in thought, hugging the book closer to her chest as if it would compress the answers out of her before shaking her head. "You know what, I'm bad at explaining. Continue?"

Valtor regarded her for a moment more before complying. "As I was saying, a fairy starts off with her Base form and the more acts of sincerity and empathy she portrays, the stronger she becomes."

"What'll my Base fairy form look like?" Bloom asked.

"I do believe that depends on age, personality, and power type. A fairy's Base outfit changes during her late teenage or young adult years if she unlocks it beforehand. It can also change with personality but...that is rare."

Bloom nodded slowly. "So...basically I have to wait and see?"

"Correct."

Bloom had never been much of a fashionista but she couldn't help but feel mildly excited about what her Base fairy form would like—and she was going to have wings! Freaking wings!

She was about to ask Valtor another question when a loud BOOM shook the house. Bloom heard her father cry, "What?!" And her mother exclaim in horror followed by, "He's in here, spread out!"

Bloom gasped in fear and Valtor frowned.

"What's going on?!" Bloom cried as violet magic sparked at Valtor's fingertips. He strode out of the bedroom and looking over his shoulder telling her, "Meddlesome fools."

Bloom hesitated for a moment before following after him. Whether she could use magic yet or not was irrelevant—her parents were in trouble.

"Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," A man's voice proclaimed as Bloom stopped behind Valtor who was watching the scene with narrowed eyes from the staircase.

The living room was filled with multiple figures in strange electric glowing skintight apparel, orange goggles and weird caps atop their heads. They had guns trained on her parents as they watched petrified from the wall they were cornered against, hugging one another.

One man was holding up Valtor's maroon jacket with one hand and a weird circular device that was scanning it in green light.

"Tell us where—"

One of the gunman didn't get to finish, because Valtor had shot a thick beam of light from his palm and blasted him against the wall, causing hanging picture frames to crash to the ground.

"Gentlemen!" Valtor announced with a smug smile that Bloom was beginning to think was his signature thing. Everyone in the living room turned to him and Bloom, the men with guns pointing them threateningly at their direction. "Are we having a problem?" Valtor continued, twirling his finger in the air.

The jacket being held by one of the men was magically torn from his grip and found its way into Valtor's waiting hand.

"It's him! Get ready, men!"

"What do we do?" Bloom asked anxiously as Valtor causally slipped his arms through the maroon sleeves and shrugged the rest of the coat on. How he was being so calm about this baffled her.

"You are going to get your parents to safety," Valtor said, rolling his neck. "I am going to dispose of your unwanted guests—do try and stay out of my way."

And with that, Valtor vaulted over the banister and blasted a guard in the face simultaneously, landing in a crouch that allowed him to avoid the retailed gun blast aimed at his head.

Bloom gasped and quickly dashed down the steps in time to avoid the blast as it splintered the stairs. Eyes darting to where her parents watched wide eyed.

Quickly, she jumped over a man that Valtor had sent sprawling to the ground and twisted out of the way of a screaming one that had been blasted against the banister, further splintering the poor wood.

Bloom sympathized with Mike's wince at the rapidly deteriorating state of the house as she quickly reached him and Vanessa.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" She said, gripping both their arms and pulling them towards the destroyed front door.

As they reached the crumbling archway Bloom glanced over her shoulder to find Valtor standing over his newest victim with a pleased smirk—oblivious to the man pointing a gun at his back.

Bloom gasped and called, "Look out!"

Valtor glanced up at her, frowning in questioning before he was shot. With a cry of pain he tumbled to the plaster covered carpet, the back of his coat smoking as he struggled to stand again with a strained grunt.

Once outside, Bloom let go of her parents and attempted run back into the house to aid Valtor, only to be stopped abruptly by Vanessa grabbing her arm.

"Bloom! Sweetie, you can't go in there it's too dangerous."

"I have to help him," Bloom said firmly, pulling out of the grasp and dashing into the war zone, ignoring the calls of her parents.

The man who had shot Valtor kicked him onto his back and aimed his gun at his chest with a smirk. "Told 'em you were off your game."

Gritting her teeth, Bloom grabbed a chunk of rubble and smacked it against the man's skull, wincing when he crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"Oh! Did I kill him? Oh my gosh I hope I didn't kill—!" Bloom was cut off as Valtor swiftly shot a spell at something from behind her. Turning swiftly, Bloom saw it was another gunman who had no doubt attempted to attack her from behind as well.

"Wow. Thanks," she said with a sigh of relief as Valtor staggered to his feet behind her with a grunt.

"Blasted...gah..." he stumbled forward, and Bloom darted forwards to catch him, allowing him to lean against her even though he was still as heavy as ever.

"Thank you," he muttered, slowly regaining his balance before holding his hand upwards. One by one, each one of the either unconscious or groaning guards disappeared in a flash of red.

"Where'd they all go?" Bloom asked as Valtor's hand dropped limply to his side and he let out a tired sigh, leaning his weight on her again.

"Limbo. They won't be getting out," Valtor responded. Bloom didn't know what "Limbo" was but it sounded pretty bad and she couldn't suppress a chill from tingling her spine.

"Bloom!" Vanessa exclaimed as she and Mike ran into the house. Valtor thankfully stood on his own once more and allowed Bloom to be engulfed in a hug by both her parents.

"You okay, kiddo?" Mike asked, pulling back with a worried frown and Bloom nodded with a smile.

"Just peachy, Dad. Don't worry about me."

"Those men," Vanessa began, addressing Valtor with a frown. "Who were they and what did they want?"

Bloom and Mike turned to Valtor as well, sharing in Vanessa's curiosity.

Valtor leaned his weary body against the wall and glanced at all three members of the Peters family before finally answering with, "Bloom, do you recall when I told you that you possessed the Dragon Flame?"

Bloom pulled out of Mike's loosening embrace and nodded. "Uh-huh. You said it was the strongest power in the Magic Dimension or something, right?"

"Indeed. You see, I too possess this power," Valtor said. "It is different from yours...but it is the Dragon Flame none of the less, and by extension it is no less powerful. Because of this, it is a highly sought after treasure; power hungry witches, wizards, dark lords, and even some heroes and fairies would clamour to tear anyone to shreds to get their hands on it, and it is that greed that brought these men here tonight."

"They wanted your Dragon Flame," Bloom said and when Valtor nodded in confirmation she frowned worriedly. "Does...anybody know that I have it?"

"Those men didn't target you until you aided me, so I doubt it. But with your powers reawakening..."

Bloom looked down at her hands, feeling apprehension twisting its way into her heart. Suddenly this dream felt more like a nightmare.

"What...what do I do?" Bloom asked worriedly, looking up at Valtor with worry dancing in her eyes.

"Is there a place we can go so they can't find us?" Mike asked in increased concern.

Valtor chuckled darkly and crossed his arms. "Believe me, if someone from the Magic Dimension wants to find something, it won't take too long to do so; you can move around all you like but the problem won't disappear."

His icy blue eyes locked with Bloom's cerulean ones. "But your daughter, with the right tutelage certainly could make it so."

Bloom stepped forward and hesitantly asked, "What...what do you mean?"

"Well, if you so please I will be at your service when it comes to your magical education," Valtor said with a smile. "Take it as a thank you for saving my life twice over."

Hope pushed back the apprehension in Bloom's heart and she began to smile, her parents exchanging curious glances.

"All right...but how would that work exactly?" Mike asked. "Is this going to be a scheduled recurrence at our house or...?"

"No, no, I wouldn't want to subject your house to any more damage," Valtor said, and as if to prove his point, the ceiling fan fell with a heavy thud and an explosion of plaster.

Mike winced as Vanessa asked, "Then what do you have in mind?"

"I can give her a tour of the Magic Dimension," Valtor said. "It would give her some much needed magical exposure as I go about my business, and it would allow me the time to get her to the level of fairies her age—perhaps even beyond that."

"So like...a magical expedition?" Bloom asked excitedly. "That sounds super fun! Where would we go first—?"

"Hold the phone! Vanessa, are we really going to let our little girl run off with some man she just met?" Mike demanded incredulously.

"Dad, I need to learn how to fight! And if Valtor's willing to teach me then I think I should go with him."

"Besides," Vanessa said, placing a hand on Mike's shoulder. "You heard him. If the wrong sorts of people find out about Bloom's powers..."

Mike sighed heavily, frowning between Bloom and Valtor, Bloom giving him the most Good Girl look she could muster. Yeah this was kind of out of the blue but...learning how to use magic while visiting faraway fantasy worlds? Bloom didn't think she'd wanted anything more in her entire life!

"I'll give you until tomorrow morning to decide," Valtor cut in. "In the meanwhile, I suggest you get some rest—it's been a long night for you, yes?"

It was only then that Bloom realized how tired she was. Her eyelids gained a sandy weight to them and weariness weighed on her bones and muscles. "Yeah." Bloom yawned in her palm. "I guess I am super tired."

"As I predicted," Valtor said. He finally pushed himself off the wall and stumbled slightly towards the door.

"Do you need help?" Vanessa asked and Valtor shook his head.

"My magic will fix the wound in no time, don't fret," as he said this, he waved his hand. The seemingly simple action caused the plaster to rise into the air, re-merging with the ceiling and walls while every torn piece of furniture and shattered ornament became whole once more and found their way back to their original places. He gave Bloom a smile over his shoulder as he said, "Magic can fix anything—decide to join me and I will show you how it's done."

That line sent a rush of excitement into Bloom's system as she looked down at her hands once more, anticipating all the things she'd be able to do with her magic.

Those bastard Prison Enforcers were more competent than Valtor had given them credit for; not an hour of freedom and they managed to pin him down.

Sighing, the wizard stretched his leg out across the cold concrete of the apartment building he sat on while resting his weary head atop the knee of the other, wind billowing through his hair and coat, midnight sky twinkling above him.

It would seem he'd need to steal mind spells and wipe the remaining enforcer's memories as soon as possible before more figured out his disappearance—and to do that he needed to regain his strength from Solaria most likely, and to do that would throw away the realm's balance and surely blow away his cover.

Had it not been for his current power level and finding the heir of Sparx, he wouldn't care for the world to know he was back...but he had known the girl for a half-hour and he was already certain she would never trust someone she knew was a criminal.

She would trust a benevolent mentor figure however, a charming friend, a dashing saviour showing the truth of who she was and what she could do. They would fight to the death one day, he was certain of it, and so Valtor was going to make it as enjoyable and monumental as possible. All while she was kept away from the likes of Faragonda.

Valtor smirked to himself as he looked up at the sky, early dawn colouring the sky a dark indigo.

Chapter Text

"Uh...sir?"

Valtor's eyes fluttered open, and he grunted as the burning sun immediately began searing his irises. Shielding his eyes with the crook of his arm he staggered to his feet, letting out a breath of relief now that the oppressive concrete was no longer bruising his body.

"Sir?" Valtor spared the young janitor a glance before closing his eyes and popping his back. Good Dragon why he thought this was a good place to sleep was beyond him. Never again.

"Sir—"

"What?" Valtor responded irritably, shooting the boy a glare. He squeaked and jumped backwards, fiddling nervously with the broom handle shaking in his hand. "U-um, you're not supposed to be up here? I-I mean here. No question."

Valtor blinked slowly at him before a smirk lazily made its way onto his face. "You're going to do something about that, are you?"

The boy paled, shuffling and fiddling even more with his broom. "N—I mean my boss won't be too happy about people sleeping up here? So…"

"And your boss?" Valtor pressed, tilting his head to the side in false curious innocence. "What can he do about me?"

"I-I-don't—look, man can you just...go?" The boy practically pleaded. "I really need this job."

Satisfied, Valtor stepped back with an amused chuckle and began rolling his shoulder. "Don't you worry, I'll be gone in a moment."

The boy sighed and began glumly sweeping as Valtor contemplated his next move. It was morning, meaning that Bloom's parents owed him a verdict. Whether the answer he desired would be given naturally or through extra subtle persuasion was irrelevant for one way or another he'd get a "yes", especially seeing as how kidnapping would start their relationship on an abysmal foot.

And then there was the dimension he'd take her to first. Solaria was his goal, but going there to steal its second sun in his current condition and with Bloom untrained was basically suicidal. Besides, it would be fairly difficult to explain why he was breaking into places without tipping her off to the "terrorist" part of his infamy.

So his second next goal was to get Bloom to trust him. Trust him so surely and completely that anything he did would have little question or debate attached, and to do that he was going to treat her like the princess she was.

"Wallet," Valtor said, holding out his hand without even looking at the young janitor.

"Uh...what?"

"I need your wallet."

He heard the boy seize his sweeping and ask, "...why?"

Valtor rolled his eyes and turned to the little fool who was giving him a wide eyed deer caught in headlights look. "Isn't it obvious? I need your money. You humans keep it there too, yes?"

"I—sir, are you robbing me?" The boy spluttered.

"Yes. Now give me your wallet so I can be on my way."

The boy dropped the broom and it clattered to the concrete as he began to back up. "No! No, you can't have my—!"

Valtor closed his awaiting palm and crooked a finger in beckoning. Immediately the boy was surrounded in a dark blue outline and sent telekinetically flying towards the wizard with a scream of horror.

Catching him by the front of the shirt, Valtor plucked the dull leather from the boy's front pocket and gave the terrified janitor another smirk. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said before dropping him unceremoniously onto the hard roof and pushing off the building into the air.

Valtor thumbed open the wallet and appraised its contents as he flew over early morning Gardenia. He wasn't very well versed in Earth currency but there seemed to be a lot of bills; it would convert to a nice amount of money in Magix he felt.

Slamming it closed with a single hand he warped the object into limbo to be used later before sighing and appreciating the morning flight.

The wind blew through Valtor's long hair and coat as he cruised over the waking city, taking in deep breaths of fresh air as he did so. He didn't know if it was the years spent freezing in Omega, the planet's atmosphere or even just the act of flying again itself—but goodness the air felt exhilarating.

In the peak of his euphoria, he remembered doing this action side by side with Griffin—she'd loved the early morning air as well hadn't—

And with that his mood was spoiled.

His easy smile became a tense press of his lips and he subconsciously clenched his fists tightly at his side. Oh how he longed to make her pay, to make all of them pay. Griffin, Salidin, Faragonda…

Bloom's house finally came into view below him and Valtor swiftly reigned in his mounting anger as he gradually lowered his altitude and landed lightly on the sidewalk.

Straightening his wine ruffled clothes and hair, Valtor made his way to the small townhouse. He had just mounted the steps and was prepared to knock when the door was flung open.

"Morning, Valtor!" Bloom exclaimed excitedly. Her fiery hair was in a loose messy bun and she wore pyjamas, but despite looking like she'd just got up from bed her jubilant mood seemed to point to otherwise.

"Good...morning, Bloom," Valtor said, mildly taken aback by her energy. "I must confess, I wasn't expecting you to be so—"

"Awake?" Bloom supplied. "You and me both actually; usually I'm not a morning person at all but after last night it was kind of hard to sleep because I was so pumped about magic being real, and me being fairy and literally being offered an apprenticeship by an actual wizard and also apart of me was scared if I went to sleep I'd wake up and it'd all be a dream but you're here and I saw you flying from my window which means it's not a dream aaaand I'm rambling aren't I? Sorry, it's the coffee, coffee makes me super jittery and that plus all these revelations is just—do you want coffee?"

Valtor blinked his wide eyes slowly at the redhead before him before clearing his throat and regaining his composure. "I don't believe I've tried Earth coffee before, why not?"

Bloom smiled warmly and stepped aside, allowing Valtor entry to her house before she shut the door behind her and leading him towards the kitchen.

"So, question. Is Harry Potter an actual wizard or is he still fictional?" Bloom said as Valtor took a seat and she poured coffee from a heated coffee pot into a pastel blue mug. "Also fairytales, are those actually a part of fairy history? Could I meet Tinkerbelle one day? I've always wanted to meet Tinkerbelle!"

Bloom placed the steaming mug before Valtor and he was just about to respond before she held up her hands and said, "Wait hold on! Let me come back." And with that she darted out the kitchen and up the steps.

Well, her enthusiasm would certainly make things considerably easier. Insistent rambling aside he counted this as a win.

With a self satisfied smile, he took a sip from his mug and immediately gagged at the taste, coughing and spluttering out the bitter liquid. What in the name of—?! Humans drank this? Willingly?

"Okay, I'm back!" Bloom called, carrying a pink mug with a crescent print in one hand and the fairy book she'd shown him last night in the other.

She plopped down onto the seat across from him and flipped through the book until she reached a page. "Do fairies have a supreme ruler? Like The Fairy Queen or Fairy King?"

"Not everyone follows them anymore but a select faction; the fey do," Valtor responded, opening the nearby sugar pot and plunking a sugar cube into the coffee. "Painfully backwards, don't subscribe to their way of thinking."

"Cool! Okay, next question—"

"Bloom?" Vanessa's voice called.

The duo turned to find Mike and Vanessa trudging down the steps. "What are you doing up, kiddo? It's seven a.m…." Mike's voice trailed off when he and his wife saw Valtor at the table, dropping five more sugar cubes into his coffee.

He raised his cup to Bloom's parents. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Oh my G—it wasn't a dream…" Mike said through his hands as he covered his face and groaned.

"Hey, Mom and Dad!" Bloom waved as Valtor tried his coffee again, scowled at the still bitter flavour and dumped the entire bowl of sugar in. "I was just asking Valtor about the Magic Dimension."

"Of course you were," Mike sighed, dragging his hands down his face and slumping his shoulders. "Of course."

"Am I to assume you aren't alright with Bloom coming with me?" Valtor asked, trying his coffee one last time before smiling in content at the far sweeter flavour.

Bloom frowned and rested a glum cheek on a propped fist. "I've been trying to convince him and Mom all night. I was hoping they'd come around today but—"

"Bloom, it's not that we don't want you to go, it's just—" Vanessa began but was cut off by her husband. "No. Nope. We actually don't."

"I assure you both I will let nothing happen to your daughter during our travels," Valtor said. "In fact, the place we're going to first is completely void of any danger with the exception of petty crime, and with a powerful wizard like me at her side—"

"Hold up, didn't you say you lost most of your powers?" Mike demanded with crossed arms.

Valtor's polite smile froze on his face and his eye twitched as he slowly sipped from his mug once more. "Your point?" he said tightly.

"How do we know you'll be able to keep her safe?" Mike pressed.

"I don't need much magic to send a pickpocket flying, Mike," Valtor said. "Besides, Bloom is a powerful fairy, she'll be able to defend herself on her own soon enough."

"Plus remember those gun guys?" Bloom reminded her parents. "They were after Valtor's Dragon Fire! They'll come for mine too if I'm not trained. And plus, this is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me! A magical expedition? I've been dreaming of that since I was a kid!"

The two shared a worried glance as Bloom stood and clasped her hands pleasingly. "Come on, please? I have nothing to do this summer anyway!"

Vanessa quirked an eyebrow. "What happened to helping me at the shop."

Bloom winced and looked away. "Um…I'll make it up to you?"

Valtor was just contemplating if he had enough magic for a simple suggestion spell when Vanessa said, "Alright, how about this? You promise to call every night and we'll let you go."

"Really?" Bloom and Mike said simultaneously, one in excitement and the other in shock.

"We can't protect her from evil witches and crazy gunman, Mike and we certainly can't instruct her on using her gift—but Valtor can," Vanessa said.

"But—!"

"Yes!" Bloom wrapped both her parents in a giant hug and planted a kiss on both their foreheads. "I'll change and go pack right now!"

And with that, the gleeful redhead dashed out of the kitchen and up the stairs once more.

"Now?" Mike repeated in a faraway voice. "Now, now?"

"No time like the present, yes?" Valtor said, drinking the last of his coffee and placing the cup in the sink. "Not to worry, I'll buy her breakfast at a diner. My treat."

"No, I don't care about breakfast, I care about our little girl being safe!" Mike snapped as he stormed in front of Valtor with clenched fists. He narrowed his eyes and stepped backwards from the angry father.

"Mike!" Vanessa exclaimed as Valtor said, "I told you already; I will protect her. I'm the only one who can and you know it."

Mike opened his mouth to argue before clamping his mouth shut and looking away with a glare.

"It'll be alright, Mike. Bloom will be fine," Vanessa said soothingly, placing a hand on his tense shoulder.

"Hey, Valtor?! Do I need winter jackets?!" Bloom called from upstairs.

"That would be my cue to help," Valtor said coolly, patting Mike's shoulder. "I assure you, Bloom is in very good hands. I'll take incredibly good care of her, you have my word."

Bloom felt as if her heart would shatter her ribcage and dance around the room, her breath was coming out in short puffs and she had to continually rub her sweating palms on her jeans.

This was happening! This was real!

"Bathing suit?" Bloom said, spinning around, nearly tripping on the edge of her carpet and quickly righting herself. She presented the blue one piece to Valtor as he squinted at the pages of the Harry Potter book she made him borrow, holding the latex pinched between her fingers.

Valtor looked up and said, "I don't see why not; I plan to take you to Andros eventually."

"Is Andros a beach dimension?" Bloom asked as she plopped on the bed beside him and began folding the bathing suit with excitedly shaking hands.

"An ocean dimension," Valtor corrected, twirling a finger in the air and causing Bloom's bathing suit to self fold and zoom into her open and already partially stuffed suitcase. "It's also home to many talented wizards—it would be nice to cleanse you from this ridiculous Earth interpretation and show you some proper wizardry."

He shut the book and stood as Bloom began forcing her suitcase closed. "So does that mean—" she grunted and slammed her elbow against the case, struggling with the latch. "Does Harry Potter not actually—come. On. Yes!" She sighed in relief as she finally managed to shut the stupid thing.

"The Magic Dimension has endless possibilities—but in this plane of existence, I'm afraid not," Valtor responded, but Bloom wasn't really listening anymore. The final latch seemed to echo around the room, freezing her in both time and place.

This was happening. This was real.

"Bloom?" Valtor's voice cut through the silence, his hand on her shoulder anchoring her back to reality.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry I just…" Bloom stood up, hands sliding off the suitcase. "I guess I now just realized this was actually happening. Like actually. I've never left Gardenia before and now I am...but with a practical stranger—no offence."

"I understand," Valtor said, and Bloom turned, seeing a comforting smile on his face—or at least an attempt at one. Like every smile thus far with the exception of his smug smirk, this one didn't quite reach his eyes. "You must be leaving a lot of people behind," he continued, sounding sincere enough.

Bloom smiled sadly and hugged herself as she shook her head. "No, not really; only my parents. I mean there's my ex Andy but we don't really talk that much."

"No friends?" Valtor questioned.

At that question, Bloom found her gaze travelling to her wall, eyes sorting through the drawings of fairies and wizards before finally landing on a particular one.

"Not anymore," she said quietly, blinking back tears as she turned away from the childish drawing of she and Selina. She would've loved this, learning that magic was real, that all their hopes and dreams were real after all.

"We'll get you a proper phone as soon as possible, you'll be able to stay in touch with your parents," Valtor said standing in front of her and blocking her view of Selina. "And as for friends...well," he held out his gloved hand to her before smiling once more. "There's no rule saying a mentor can't also be a dear companion."

Bloom gave him a watery smile and said, "Like Luke and Obi-Wan?"

Valtor's smile froze on his face and he gave Bloom a blank look.

"Oh right you—never mind," Bloom said in embarrassment. "A-anyway, thank you, so, so much for this opportunity," she continued, clasping Valtor's hands with both of hers. "I'm a bit scared yeah but...I know this is going to be the beginning of the best part of my life."

"Again, it's the least I can do after you saved my life yesterday. Now then—" Valtor slipped his hand out of Bloom's and pointed to her suitcase. Bloom watched in awe as it immediately shrunk before plopping into his outstretched hand. "Are we ready?" He finished, handing the mini suitcase to her.

Bloom took the offered object and squeezed it tight in her palm, nodding resolutely. "I'm ready. Just...let me say goodbye first?"

Valtor nodded in acceptance as Bloom turned towards the doorway to say her goodbyes, only to find her parents waiting by the doorway.

"Heading out now, kiddo?" Mike said with a sad smile.

Bloom felt the tears coming back and she desperately tried swallowing them down, looking at the wall to avoid their sad and earnest eyes. "Uh-huh. Yeah."

"Well, I think you'll be needing this," Vanessa said, spurring Bloom to look up and find her mom holding out a first-aid kit.

"And your phone. You have it on you, yeah?" Mike asked. Bloom pulled her flip phone from her back pocket and showed it to her parents. "Here, see?"

"I'm afraid that won't work," Valtor chimed in. "Not to worry, however. We'll upgrade it as soon as—"

"And you," Mike cut him off, stepping forward and jabbing Valtor in the chest. "If anything happens to her on your watch—"

"As I said, she will be perfectly safe," Valtor said, punctuating that final word by smacking Mike's finger away as if it were a fly. "Now if you excuse us. Bloom?" Valtor gestured to the bedroom door with his head and Bloom nodded.

"Right. Right okay, I'm ready—oof!" from behind, Mike wrapped Bloom in a tight hug while Vanessa hugged her from in front.

"We love you, Bloom," Vanessa whispered tenderly.

"And don't you ever forget it," Mike added.

Bloom's voice was choked by her bittersweet laughter as she snuggled closer to both. "Guys stop! You're going to make me cry."

"Hold on," Vanessa said in amusement. She squeezed Bloom one more time before finally stepping back, lovingly smoothing her fiery hair.

"Go out there and have a great adventure, kid," Mike smiled, playfully shoving her towards Valtor. Bloom stumbled to her feet with another laugh before smiling back at them one more time, imprinting their images into her mind.

This was happening. This was real. And she was going to make the most of it.

With a final wave she clamored down the steps to meet Valtor at the front door.

"I believe we should start our journey in Magix," Valtor told Bloom as she locked the door of her house before meeting him at the bottom of the porch stairs. "It's similar to an Earth city so it will be easy for you to adapt to its culture."

"Okay, cool. How do we get there?" Bloom said, attempting to flash the eager smile she'd possessed earlier this morning and failing.

"Your parents will be fine, Bloom," Valtor said, hopefully succeeding in lacing his voice with kindness and understanding as he gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze. "Tell you what, do you know what I do when I'm feeling under the weather?"

He offered his elbow to Bloom who frowned in confusion. "You...link arms with people?"

"Not quite," Valtor chuckled. "There's an extra added step to the routine."

Valtor watched the curiosity spark in Bloom's eyes as she stepped forward and linked her arm with his.

"Now, hold on tight, yes?"

"Wait...what are—"

A moment later and Valtor pushed off the ground and into the air, Bloom in tow. The redhead let out a surprised shriek and squeezed his collar with her free hand.

"Not afraid of heights, are you?" Valtor said amusedly over the roaring wind as he gave her a sideways glance. Her eyes were wide as they darted from building top to building top.

"Huh? No, I just...I was just surprised and currently just a little scared that you'll drop me…" she said nervously.

Valtor chuckled and looked forward once more. "Trust me, I won't."

"Right," she said with a deep breath. "Right, you know what you're doing—you've done this probably a million times, right?"

"Flying? Of course."

"I was talking about flying with a passenger," Bloom corrected. "I mean you called this a routine, meaning you—"

"I understand the English language, Bloom, thank you," He said sharper than he intended to. It however had the wanted effect, silencing her immediately with the exception of a mumbled, "Sorry."

There was an awkward beat of silence after that before Bloom asked, "Sooo where are we going?"

Grateful for the subject change, Valtor responded, "We're going back to the park you found me in, that was the last place I opened a Dimensional Portal and the residue magic should greatly aid in putting a lesser strain on me.

"I thought the last portal you made was at my house," Bloom said, blowing a wind dancing bang from her eyes.

"Limbo isn't a dimension, it's a pocket of dark matter between space and time—convenient for hiding things or letting unfortunate souls wither away in its darkness," Valtor explained.

Bloom furrowed her brow "So those men you sent there—"

"Presumably had a soul and are thus dead—unless somebody reached them in time which I doubt," Valtor said simply.

"Oh," Bloom said, clearly disturbed if the returning frown on her face was any indication.

"Let's move on to lighter topics," Valtor said as the buildings began to thin and make way for small business and denser vegetation. "What would you like for breakfast?"

That seemed to do the trick, as Bloom's face lit up immediately. "I was kinda feeling for pancakes. Is there any in Magix?"

"Please. Where do you think humans got it from?" Valtor said as he finally located the familiar clearing from the night prior.

"Whoa. That's a lot of destruction," Bloom commented as the two began to lower slowly to the ground. Surrounding the clearing were scorch marks, jagged stumps and fallen trees. Shaken leaves scattered the ground and crunched beneath their shoes as they landed.

"Indeed. And this is only scratching the surface of your full potential," Valtor said as he stepped back and held out his hand. The wind picked up and scattered the leaves elsewhere as a hole through space sliced through the air and opened up like a pitch dark yawning maw.

He turned to Bloom and held out his hand. "Are you ready?"

Bloom smiled and nodded firmly. "Yup," she said, taking his hand and letting her lead him into the darkness.

Stepping through the portal felt like stepping into a wing tunnel. Cold eldritch wind blasted through Bloom's hair and clothes, forcing her to shut her eyes at the impact before it abruptly stopped.

Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself standing in an alleyway, Valtor by her side.

She stepped out of the dark alleyway and onto the sidewalk, gasping as she took in the sights before her.

A woman walked past with a (mini fairy? Sprite?) fluttering beside her. On the road a hovering car stopped by a parking lot before its driver brought his hand out of the window to snap his fingers, magically creating a new space for him to park. And on the other side of the street, a boy sat constructing a mini orchestra with floating self playing instruments as pedestrians gave him tips.

Looking up she saw a train running on nothing but seeming gravity and people flying—fairies.

"Welcome to Magix," Valtor said, regaining Bloom's attention, he gestured towards the bustling city with a dramatic sweep of his arm and offered a smile. "And to the beginning of the new you."

Chapter Text

Bloom and Selina had dreamed about magic cities all their lives, but the pictures in their head had been of majestic dragons and quaint taverns, pointed hats and horse drawn carts.

But Magix? Magix was the absolute and complete opposite of that idea with its sky trams and apartment buildings, floating cars and not a single pointed hat in sight.

"Well? Fascinating isn't?"

Bloom blinked out of her sight seeing and frowned in confusion at the familiar voice.

Looking to her side she saw Andy staring at the city with a somewhat nostalgic look on his face. "It could use a bit more—"

"Andy?!" Bloom spluttered in shock. "What are you—how are you—are you—?!"

"Hmm? Oh, apologies, I forgot to warn you," "Andy" said, turning away from the city to look at her. His brown eyes flashed ice blue as he said, "It's only me." This time with Valtor's voice.

"O-oh!" Bloom flushed and looked away. "Um...why are you..." she gestured lamely at his figure, still looking away.

"I saw the boy's picture in your room and decided to use him as a disguise," Valtor said, holding up Andy's hand and looking at it appraisingly. "An Earth boy is far more unnoticeable in Magix than any other person I can take the shape of—and I'm sure you'd prefer to be around a familiar face than a stranger, yes? Although I wasn't aware he was the ex you were referring to before—would you like me to change?"

Bloom nodded eagerly. "Yes, please?" She said with an apologetic wince/smile.

Valtor hummed an affirmative and transforming into Mike. "Better? Not the dashing first impression I wanted to give but..."

Bloom sighed in relief pressing a hand on her blessedly slowing heart. "Yeah, thank—hey! Are you insulting my Dad's looks?"

"Bloom, would you describe your father's looks as 'dashing'?" Valtor asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Bloom blinked slowly, trying desperately to imagine her dad in a magazine cover or wooing a woman that wasn't her mom. "...so what's with the disguise anyway? Afraid of crazy fans?"

"Tastefully changing the subject I see," Valtor smirked—an expression that looked incredibly wrong on her dad's face—before gesturing with his head for Bloom to follow. As they walked down the sidewalk together he said, "But I'm afraid it's a far worse reason. Remember those men from last night?"

Bloom glanced around nervously, eyes scanning every person for guns and goggles. "You think they'll come back?"

"I don't think, I know. That is why I must hurry in regaining my abilities and training you so as to properly defend ourselves," Valtor said.

Bloom nodded resolutely. "Okay. Where to first then? Is there a Diagon Alley kind of place here?"

Valtor turned to her with a furrowed brow of confusion. "I'm afraid you'll need to stop with these Earth phrases. I don't understand them."

"Right, duh!" Bloom said awkwardly as she hit her forehead with the back of her hand. "I was basically saying...y'know a place where they sell wands and potion ingredients and stuff." She glanced around her once more, taking in the hovering cars, giant buildings and fancy malls. "Although...somehow I doubt there's a place like this here. There's not even dragons or unicorns anywhere!"

"Now why would dragons be allowed to roam a city?" Valtor questioned. "And unicorns are incredibly rare; you won't see too many of them around, especially not in Magix."

"No unicorns?" Bloom said in mild disappointment. Valtor seemed about to answer when the shop door beside them swung open sharply and caused her to jump and yelp in surprise.

"Did I hear you say unicorn miss?" The grinning shop keeper said. "Just your luck we make our glasses from all sorts of unicorn products—unicorn hair, unicorn lashes, even unicorn horns!"

Bloom gasped, eyes widening with each promise of unicorn items and hands clasped excitedly. Glasses made out of unicorn hair? Get. Out. "You're not kidding! Can I see?"

"Sure can!" The man said cheerfully as he stopped back into the store.

Before Bloom could follow, Valtor had grabbed her arm and tugged her back. She turned over her shoulder to give him an indignant scowl. "Hey! What gives?"

Valtor frowned, opening his mouth to say something when he hesitated and clamped it shut again. He glanced between her and the shop thoughtfully before letting her go with an easy smile. "Nothing," he said simply. "I just don't want you to be running off on your own is all. I'm supposed to protect you, remember?"

"Right! Sorry, I just got a little excited," Bloom said sheepishly before the two entered (her first magic shop!) together.

The red-head eyed everything with unbridled awe. Everywhere she turned there were glasses shimmering with otherworldly materials—glasses with cupid wing frames that swooped and dove through the air, glasses that she had to squint to look at because they shone like mini stars and glasses with kaleidoscope glass.

In her awed bought of sight seeing, she bumped into a large mass of flesh.

"Oops!" Bloom said, spinning around with an apologetic smile. "Sor…" Her voice trailed off as the yellow wall of flesh turned to reveal a creature blinking down at her through a pair of red eyes covered in frilled glasses—the most ordinary looking out of all she'd seen so far. "...ry?" she finished awkwardly, taking a quick step back. He looked like some sort of troll—and if her fantasy research taught her anything it was that they were trouble.

"An ogre," Valtor unknowingly corrected in a low voice as he stood beside her and the ogre turned away to squint at himself in a tiny mirror. "Don't worry—they haven't any magic and don't make up for it in intelligence either. And he wouldn't be here if he was physically violent; you're safe."

Bloom sighed. "Well that's a relief," she muttered.

"Here you go, miss!" The shop owner chirped from behind them both, and Bloom turned to find him holding out a case filled with a row of opalescent glasses in different shapes and sizes. Bloom gasped in awe as she picked up a pair of sunglasses, the temples swirled like a unicorn horn and the glass within the frames fractured like a diamond glittering beautifully.

"Oh, wow," Bloom gushed.

"Would you like it?" Valtor questioned and Bloom turned to him with a hopeful grin—one that became a cry of surprise as the store shook violently and she stumbled on her feet.

The yellow ogre barreled out of the shop, shoving passed pedestrians as he charged like a raging bull.

"Hey!" The shopkeeper exclaimed, slamming the case shut, placing it on the counter and running out the shop. "Thief! Somebody stop him!"

"You see? He lost a store he could freely shop in all for a hideous pair of glasses—very dumb creat—what do you think you're doing?" Valtor demanded as Bloom placed the glasses down and ran towards the door.

"Stopping the thief! Duh!" She was about to step onto the sidewalk when her foot froze in midair. Her heart leaped in panic as that same force dragged her back like an invisible lasso reeling her in through the air. She crashed against Valtor's chest with a grunt and he gripped her shoulders tightly.

"Ogres are lowly creatures, yes. But they're formidable for someone untrained like you," he said firmly.

Bloom looked up at him with a furrowed brow. "But—"

"Let's just leave and pretend this never happened," he advised, removing one hand and sliding the other on her shoulder to her back, leading her out of the shop and back onto the sidewalk.

Bloom couldn't help but feel guilty for not helping that man; he seemed really nice and seeing someone in peril and not being a bystander was the worst—even if Valtor was right and she couldn't really fight, at least she would've tried.

"We're not vigilantes, Bloom," Valtor said, no doubt seeing the look on her face. "Besides, we have far more important matters to attend to than chasing down ogre thieves. Like breakfast if you recall?"

"I mean I'm not that hungry. Besides, what's the point of magic if you don't use it to help people?" Bloom pressed.

Valtor shook his head and clicked the button at the side of a traffic light pole to activate the walk sign. "Your magic is your gift and you aren't obligated to use it for anyone else but yourself."

"I wasn't obligated to save you last night but I did anyway because it was right. And you aren't obligated to train me but you're doing it anyway because you're grateful," Bloom pointed out as the cars stopped to let them and the other pedestrians walk across the street.

Valtor's lips twitched upwards momentarily, before stating, "True, but your statement that magic should always be used for others is still flawed—one should always have free will when it comes to their possessions."

"I...guess I see your point," Bloom said thoughtfully. Besides, the ogre was probably long gone anyway. "But I want to help people so we're going to do something the next time we see a thief or something, right?"

Valtore looked down at her for a few moments, an unreadable expression on his face before he gave that smirk of his and said, "Scout's honor," with a hand over his heart.

Soon, the two made their way to a simple looking diner. "After you," Valtor said, gesturing towards the door with another one of his dramatic arm sweeps. Bloom snorted at the repeated show of old time-y etiquette—another thing that looked weird for her "dad" to be doing—before walking towards the door. Before she could grab the handle however, a hand from her left grabbed it first.

"Hey!" Bloom said indignantly as a girl cut in front of her and threw open the door.

The girl, a blonde with waist length hair, didn't seem to notice Bloom, instead looking to her side to call, "Hurry up, ladies! The breakfast pastries would have just come out the oven so they're the perfect temperature!"

"Wouldn't they warm it up for us if it wasn't?" A girl with two short black pigtails asked as she and three other girls entered through the open doorway.

The blonde batted a hand through the air. "Just baked goods taste way better than 'baked goods that were made five hours ago and had to be rewarmed,' don't you know?" She said as she entered with the other girls.

"You see?" Valtor said from behind Bloom as he walked towards the door. "That is a young lady who knows what she wants. That is drive."

"That was rude," Bloom argued with crossed arms.

"But she's getting places, no?" Valtor with a smirk as he opened the door for Bloom.

Bloom squinted at him suspiciously. "You're not going to slam the door on my back or trip me to prove a point, right?"

Valtor rolled his eyes. "Now what would that prove? Come along now, we have a lot to do today."

Bloom entered the diner after a second of deciding if Valtor was telling the truth or not and was hit with the smell of dough and spices. She took in a deep breath and sighed in delight. "Wow, that smells good!" It wasn't as magically extravagant as the glasses shop—a bit to her disappointment, but you couldn't win them all she guessed.

"If you're already impressed just wait until—" Valtor paused as they made their way to the counter before sighing and rubbing his forehead. "Ah...blast.

"What happened?" Bloom asked with a concerned frown.

"I forgot to convert the money we have," Valtor said irritably. "Well it is what it is. We can quickly—"

"That won't be necessary," The cashier piped up with a smile. "We're free from now till 12 to celebrate the new semester!"

New semester? Like school? In the summer—no wait, never mind that; there was magic school! Oh my...

"How convenient," Valtor smiled. "I'll have a milkshake and my companion here can have pancakes. That's what you wanted, right Bloom?"

"Wha—? Oh! Sorry, yes, please!" Bloom said, shaking her head to rid her mind of the exciting revelation. The cashier nodded and typed in the order before letting them know it would be ready in a moment.

The two had migrated to a two chaired table before Bloom excitedly blurted out, "There's magic schools here?"

"There's magic schools in every dimension," Valtor responded. "And before you ask, no it is nothing like any of your silly little Earth books—they all blatantly lied to you."

Bloom clamped her mouth shut and felt a disappointed frown creep onto her face.

"Besides," Valtor said, as his drink was placed in front of him and Bloom's pancakes were placed before her. She told the waitress a kind thank you as the wizard continued, "Why would you need school?"

"Well...I know I have you to teach me but I'm just a little curious that's all. What do the schools teach in Magix? Are there different kinds?"

"Alfea, Cloud Tower, and Red Fountain. A school for fairies, a school for witches, and a school for untalented pubescent boys respectively," Valtor said, counting the three names on his fingers before taking a brief sip of his drink. "All overrated," he said, taking the chocolate sprinkle shaker from the table's center and shaking a copious amount onto the top of the milkshake. "And all the home to the weakest links in The Magic Dimension—don't even get me started on their pathetic headmasters. They all have so much potential that they thwart in the name of keeping within the foolish boundaries of—"

Bloom frowned, mouth stuffed with pancake and syrupy (and oh wow it tasted soooo good!) as Valtor paused mid tirade and cleared his throat as if just now realizing where he was.

"Sounds personal," Bloom commented, tilting her head to the side and idly swinging her fork like a pendulum. "Do you know these headmasters?"

"You know quite a bit of people when you have my status," Valtor said vaguely as he took another sip from his milkshake and frowned. He took the chocolate sprinkles again and shook even more over his milkshake.

"Whoa! Are you trying to get diabetes?" Bloom balked in horror. She liked sweets as much as the next person but...that was a lot of sugar.

"I don't get sick," Valtor said off-handedly as he took another sip before nodding, clearly pleased with the sugary poisonous concoction he'd just created.

"Um...okay," Bloom said, suddenly feeling her teeth ache at the sight of the melting whipped cream drenched in chocolate and ice-cream—and oh gosh that poor saturated cherry...

She pushed her half finished pancakes away and drummed her fingers on the table awkwardly, turning pointedly away from the sugary mess and towards the window. There was a beat of silence before Valtor asked, "Do you still wish to see a dragon?"

Bloom turned back to him, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "...why?"

Bloom's...philosophy proved to Valtor that it would be quite a while before he and her could complete a heist together. If dumb creatures stealing a pair or repulsive glasses could work her up so much, then imagine her reaction of him stealing spells, or artifacts—or a blasted sun for Arcadia's sake.

That meant he'd need to spend more time gaining her trust than he'd hoped, which meant longer time without his full abilities, which also meant swallowing his pride to make her happy and more pliant unless he wanted to have that duel to the death earlier than he wanted—and in his current state, he did not.

So here he was, mere miles away from the school facilitated by one of his enemies. Out of his guise which probably unwise being so near enemy territory on three fronts but he hated looking like a bland faced Earthling—consequences be damned.

Bloom gasped in awe as another dragon swooped beneath the trees and blew her fiery hair with its gust. She blew a bang from her eyes and turned to grin at Valtor as it flopped back. "This is so cool!" She gushed. "The Red Fountain boys get to ride these?"

"They have no choice," Valtor said with a shrug from his spot sitting beneath the shade of a particularly large tree in comparison to its companions in the forest. "They possess no magic and thus can't fly on their own."

"Still, riding a dragon?" Bloom said as another swooped low and managed to create such a large gust of wind that she fell with grunt, still beaming excitedly. She continued with, "You gotta admit it's—okay what's wrong?"

"Hmm?" Valtor tore his eyes from the Red Fountain and back to the redhead whose hands were now on her hips. "Nothing."

"Oh, come on. You've been staring daggers at the school since the dragon migration started. I was right, wasn't I?"

Valtor quirked an eyebrow. "About?"

"About your dislike for Red Fountain being personal—all the Magix schools actually," she added in an afterthought. She walked towards him and plopped down next to him. "So? What's the story?"

Valtor looked away from her and closed his eyes, feeling the sun beaming down on him and smiling at the warmth. "What's the story between you and your not-anymore-friend?"

Bloom sighed. "Touché. Sorry."

There was silence then, save for the whooshing caused by dragon wings and the tree rustling they left behind. But it was a nice sort of silence; not the suffocating one that permeated throughout Omega because there was life and ambience.

The silence was ruined when the biggest gust of wind yet caused his eyes to snap open and sent both he and Bloom crashing against the tree with twin cries of surprise. As Valtor rubbed the dust from his eyes and cursed, Bloom let out a whisper-shouted, "Look!" while tugging excitedly at his sleeve.

Valtor had blinked the rest of the dust out of his eyes when he saw it—a dragon had landed in the clearing and was peering at them curiously.

"Can I pet it?" She continued to whisper giddily, eyes sparkling with delight. "I wanna pet it."

The dragon sniffed the air, letting out a low groan as Bloom crept forward with her hands out in surrender. Valtor simply stayed back and waited—he could erect a barrier in front of her at a moment's notice so he wasn't entirely worried.

Slowly, she placed a hand on the beast's snout and it licked her fingers with a large forked tongue. Her grin grew ever wider as she scratched under its chin and began babytalking it.

Hmph. Some dragon; he'd never seen one so docile before. Of course there was the possibility that it had sensed their Dragon Fires and felt a kinship—but in his prime Valtor has slain his proverbial brothers, not befriended them, thus he couldn't be fully sure.

"Valtor, you have to take a picture!" Bloom exclaimed as the dragon proceeded to nuzzle her hair and make it messier than it already was. "I can't believe this is happening!"

"I don't have any technology on me," Valtor said. "But if you wish I can make one out of your memories when I've found a spell as such."

Bloom eagerly nodded and was about to turn back to the dragon when the loud roar of multiple engines shattered the serene setting. The dragon jerked upwards and shrieked before leaping back into the air, causing Bloom to be blown onto the grass once more. Seconds later, the engine sounds were followed by loud boyish whooping that then made way to swift blurs of red, blue and white.

Bloom cried out as she rolled out of the way of four speeding hover bikes and quickly staggered to her feet. "What was that?"

"Hover bikes and Red Fountain boys," Valtor grumbled. "Ah well, it was fun while it—behind—!"

A hover bike slammed into Bloom and she and its rider when crashing into the undergrowth. The hoverbike went spiralling out of control and crashed into a nearby tree, splintering the wood.

"...you. Good Magix," Valtor sighed and trudged forward, pushing through the bushes and low hanging branches as he morphed back into his human disguise.

He found Bloom laying in a bush, groaning and blinking dazedly as she rubbed her head but otherwise appearing unharmed. The Red Fountain boy tore his helmet off in a panic, blue eyes wide and blonde hair spilling out of the tight contraption before he tossed it aside and dashed towards Bloom.

"Oh dragons and stars above I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed dramatically, slowly easing Bloom to her feet. "Are you okay?! I-I didn't see you! I was going so fast and—!"

Bloom pulled out of his grasp and batted a hand through the air. "I'm fine! Don't worry, the bush broke my fall," she said good naturedly before touching her bare stomach and wincing. "But I have super bad bruise now. Ow."

"Oooh man I—!" The boy caught sight of Valtor and began spluttering even more. "S-sir I am so sorry for hitting your daughter—"

"She's not my daughter," Valtor stated irritably. Goodness he needed a new disguise—preferably one that didn't give off father like energy.

Ignoring is continued apologies—although he found them quite entertaining—Valtor placed a hand on Bloom's shoulder and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Like I said, totally peachy!" Bloom grinned, even though she was clutching her stomach and doubling over.

"I-I'll take you to Red Fountain! We have some good healers there—"

"No," Valtor said shaper than he intended to as he levelled the boy with a glare, appreciating the way he shrunk in fear nevertheless. He places a hand on the large bruise and sent magic from his palm into the wounded veins.

Bloom sighed in relief and straightened as the purple and red Mark faded before turning back to the boy with a smile. "See? All good."

"Still...I have to make it up to you somehow, I almost got you killed!" The boy said.

"It's okay! Really."

"Please, ma'am," he said seriously, firm hand on her shoulder. "I insist."

Valtor and Bloom exchanged an odd look at the boys persistence before Bloom turned back to him with an awkward, "Oookay. Uh, how about…"

She tapped a finger on her chin before beaming. "You can teach me how to ride a dragon! You guys do that, right?"

"Oh! Erm...yeah but I'm sorta…" he looked away awkwardly before taking in a deep breath and looking back at Bloom with a smile. "You know what, why not? How about this Friday?"

"Really? Cool!" Bloom said with an excited clasp of her hands. Valtor considered protesting but thought better of it; yes it'd take time away from her training and thus slow down his progress but he needed Bloom happy.

So if dragon riding lessons is what she wanted, dragon riding lessons was what she'd have.

"For now I can ride you back to Magix on my bike though—I won't go too fast and I won't crash this time, promise!" The boy continued.

"Thanks a lot, I'm Bloom by the way and this is V—I mean Mike!" The fairy said, holding out her hand in greeting as Valtor scowled irritably at the disguised name she chose.

"No problem! And I'm Brandon," the boy said, taking her hand and shaking it firmly. "Specialist at Red Fountain and resident hover bike crasher!"

Bloom laughed slightly at the self deprecating joke and followed him out of the bushes.

"Are you an Alfea girl?" Valtor heard the boy—Brandon ask.

"No, I'm just sightseeing with my friend—I'm new here."

"Well why didn't you say so? I can take you on a tour if you'd like."

"Really? Thanks! You're too nice."

"Well I did hit you with a bike so…"

"You owe me, yeah I get it," Bloom responded with another laugh.

"Even if that wasn't the case…"

Valtor tuned their little meet-cute out to stare back at Red Fountain.

Soon. Soon he'd get his revenge.

He was brought back to reality when the sound of a revving engine. Exiting the bushes, he found Bloom already mounting the bike and being offered an extra helmet.

She was in the midst of putting it on when she paused and cried, "Oh! Va—Mike are you—?"

"Go on, have fun," Valtor said with a smile. "I'll be dealing with my own business, you'll take care of her?" He added turning to Brandon.

"Yup! Don't worry, I'll bring her back in one piece." Moments later they sped off, leaving Valtor alone with his thoughts and the dragons.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom!" Bloom said, leaning against the building she was next to, a brand new phone pressed to her ear.

"Oh, sweetie! Hi! I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"I said I would, didn't I? Yea of little fate," Bloom said teasingly. From the other end Vanessa laughed good naturedly.

"From the tone of your voice I'm assuming your day went well. That's good, your father was half convinced Valtor would let something bad happen to you—well...more than half if I'm being honest."

"He's actually been taking good care of me," Bloom said, glancing at the museum doors where Valtor had disappeared to after purchasing her high tech phone.

She would have loved to go with him and see all the cool magic artifacts but he'd said he had some personal business to attend to and instructed her to wait.

"We had breakfast, saw some dragons and then I made a new friend named Brandon and rode a hover bike through the city. Did you know this place has some seriously awesome tech? Oh, and you know you'd never get the impression just by looking at him but Valtor has a huge sweet tooth."

"Oh, I had a hunch; seeing as how he finished all our sugar this morning," Vanessa said. "Your father wouldn't stop complaining about it."

"Yup, that sounds like him," Bloom said with an amused smile vaguely wondering how her dad would react to learning Valtor had been using his image and likeness all day. Her smile quickly faded however, when she saw a familiar hulking figure on the other side of the street.

The glasses thief.

"Speaking of your father, you should talk with him; he's been worried sick—"

"A-actually, Mom. I have to go now," Bloom said, already making her way across the street after checking to see if any cars were coming. "Give Dad a kiss for me, yeah? Okay, 'bye!"

"Wait! Bloom what's—?" Bloom hung up and slipped the phone into her pocket as she made it to the otherside, pressing herself against the nearby shop wall as the ogre looked over his shoulder and entered into an alleyway.

"You're not getting away this time," Bloom said under her breath as she creeped closer. Yes Valtor was right in that she couldn't really use her magic yet and she knew he was just looking out for her but this was her chance to return those glasses, and she'd do it Earth Girl style if she had to.

Once she neared the mouth of the alleyway, she quickly darted behind a trio of odd looking garbage cans. Shifting through the trash nearby, she picked out a sturdy looking wood plank and clutched it like a baseball bat with a firm nod. When she peeked over her hiding spot however, she saw the ogre wasn't alone.

There were three young women standing before the creature; they looked older than Bloom but younger than Valtor and carried themselves with an air of confidence and superiority that she could feel all the way from where she was crouched.

One had long brown hair with a purple bodysuit, another had a dark head of curls and a magenta dress, leggings and boots, while the one in the centre had long silver hair pulled into a ponytail and a lengthy cape billowing behind her. All three wore makeup that matched the colour of their attire.

"Well, Knut?" The silver haired woman drawled in an icy voice that made Bloom shudder. The ogre felt it too if the wince he made was any indication.

"Uh—" the ogre began. Bloom gasped and ducked when it looked like he was about to turn before he continued with, "I saw princess Stella!"

"And?" A raspy voice demanded. Bloom wasn't sure if it was the brunette or the curly haired girl from where she was hidden, clutching her wood plank tighter. "What else? We're going to need a bit more than that."

"U-uh well I followed her around, just like you said and now she's at the city plaza—oh! And don't worry; she has the ring, I saw it!" the ogre—Knut—stammered out awkwardly. "It's mostly empty right now but she's with some friends so I didn't think it would be a good idea to attack her head on."

The raspy voiced girl snorted. "Coward. Scared of a few pixies?"

"No, no, Stormy, this is a plus," The cold once said. "Knowing this idiot he'd probably muck everything up."

The raspy girl cackled and let out a snort. "Yeah, good point."

Okay, this was worse than being just a glasses thief! That ogre and those three women were going to hurt someone!

But...what did she do? Bloom had been expecting to take a pair of glasses back from one ogre not four bad guys! Maybe she could find and warn this Stella girl? But then she didn't know how she looked like and going around asking random people by the plaza if their name was Stella was a bit weir—

A shadow eclipsed the light from the moon and the overhead streetlights and Bloom tensed. Looking gingerly over her shoulder, she saw the young woman in the purple bodysuit smirking down at her.

"Boo," She said, holding out her hand towards Bloom. The redhead tried to jump to her feet and defend herself, but before she could even whip out her makeshift weapon violet circles shot out of the girl's hand and slammed against Bloom's chest.

She was sent crashing through the cans and flying into the air with a cry of pain, landing on the hard concrete with a grunt. Bloom's chest ached painfully where the spell had hit dead on and she could feel bruises forming on her back from the harsh concrete. Blinking away the dazed black circles in her eyes, she watched in mounting horror as the three girls circled her like a bunch of sharks (they sure grinned like them anyway).

"Well, well, well!" Ponytail Girl said. "What have we here?"

Bloom staggered to her feet gasping in pain as her chest protested at the motion. She clutched it with one hand and held up the wooden plank she'd salvaged—miraculously still clenched in her hand—brandished in front of her like a sword with the other as she gave the most threatening glare possible.

Curly Girl threw her head back in laughter and Brunette giggled in her gloved palm. Ponytail Girl just smirked broader and snapped her fingers. The plank shuddered in Bloom's hands before ice began creeping up from below like vicious frigid ivy.

"Ah!" Bloom exclaimed in surprise, tossing the board away. It hit the ground and shattered into a million pieces.

Okay, Bloom. So you followed an ogre thief when Valtor told you not to and managed to get tangled up with a trio of scary magic users who had just destroyed your only weapon.

This was fine!

"You—who are you?" Bloom demanded, clenching her fists at her sides and trying to keep her voice from shaking in fear. "What do you want with that girl?"

"Why? You a friend of hers?" Ponytail Girl asked.

"Ooh, bait," The Brunette purred, golden eyes flashing with malice.

"N-no I'm not—!" Bloom stammered out, taking a step back and hitting the alleyway. Her heart was beating faster in her aching ribs and her body was shaking.

'Breathe, Bloom,' She told herself. She could get out of this, she was a fairy.

"We're witches from Cloud Tower, dearie," Ponytail Girl said.

"Senior witches," Brunette added.

"You don't wanna mess with us," Curly Girl said. "So if you aren't a friend of Stella's I suggest you scram and mind your own business!"

Witches. Bloom had bumped into witches and they seemed to be the Wicked Witch of the West kind. It was probably best to take their advice and scram but what about that Stella girl? She would feel guilty as hell if she let her get attacked! But her magic—she couldn't—

No. Intent. Valtor said magic was all about intent. And her intent right now was to blast these girls into the next century like she did with that snake from the night before.

Inhaling deeply, Bloom rose her shaking hands towards the three witches. "You don't scare me!" she blatantly lied. "I'm a powerful fairy!" She imagined fire shooting from her palms, or a beam of energy sending them flying or better yet another dragon coming out of her chest.

Instead a tiny pinprick of flame poofed from her palm and dissipated.

"Oh my god," Brunette said with a furrowed brow as Curly Girl burst out laughing again and Ponytail Girl snorted. "I've never seen such weak magic in my life."

"Poor thing! Her core is so weak...how about we show her what real magic looks like, sisters?" Ponytail Girl said, causing the other two witches to cackle in agreement.

Ooooh snap.

Bloom dropped to the floor just as Brunette shot at her with those circles again, the wall where she'd just stood fracturing beneath the spell. She groaned and clutched at her chest again as she stumbled forward and began running towards the alleyway exit—only for the hulking ogre to block it with a ferocious snarl.

Oh no, no, no, nononono…

"Going somewhere?" Curly Girl mocked from behind Bloom as the wind began to pick up. Before she could react, her sandals had left the pavement and she was caught in a tornado of heavy wind, dirt and garbage.

A terrified scream was ripped from Bloom's throat as she was tossed around in the air, the three witches' laughter loud enough to hear even with the wind roaring in her ears.

Bloom couldn't believe this; she'd just discovered this place and now she was going to die.

Valtor left the museum with a pleased smile on his face.

That building was practically brimming with fascinating artifacts—that Agador Box was especially interesting. He'd need to plan a date where he could infiltrate it and—

His smile faded when his eyes fell to the side of the building. Where in Magix's name was Bloom?

Promptly, Valtor scanned the area with both his eyes and magic, trying to get either a visual on the troublesome girl or sense her Dragon Fire.

It took but a moment, and not only did she feel her magic but those of three other magic users.

Valtor massaged his temples and sighed heavily. Now what had that girl gotten herself into?

The tornado finally spit Bloom out, slamming her against a nearby roof and causing the breath to knock out of her. She was so dazed that she almost didn't catch herself as her sore and limp body began sliding down.

Quickly, Bloom rolled onto her stomach and tried clawing at the roof for purchase, only managing to grab a pipe drain before she could plummet to the concrete.

She squeezed her eyes shut and cried out in pain as her sifting ribs sent a sharp pain shooting through her body, causing one hand to release from her desperate hold.

"What're you doing up there, pixie?" Ponytail Girl taunted from below as Bloom's fingers began to cramp and slide. "Get down!" An invisible force pried Bloom away from the drain pipe and tossed her violently to the ground.

Another exclamation of pain escaped her lips as she hit the concrete before being immediately held upwards with telekinesis.

"We should attack fairies more often!" Ponytail Girl said cheerfully as ice crystals began shooting out of her outstretched hand and clinging to Bloom's body like burrs.

Bloom tried struggling against her invisible restraints in order to escape the ice to no avail. The ice began forming a cage that began to encase her and all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut as it got to her trembling chin, letting out a groan of discomfort.

Once the ice enclosed her, Bloom couldn't move a muscle. Her limbs, mouth, eyelids, and every single nerve was pinned in the enclosed space. The only thing moving was her heart and lungs, but she knew in this tight place it'd only be a matter of time before she ran out of air—either that or froze to death, for her body temperature was plummeting rapidly.

"Now then! Where were we?" Bloom heard Ponytail Girl's muffled voice from outside her frigid prison. "Oh right! Getting that ring from—"

She was cut off as the sound of a magic blast echoed through the alleyway. This was followed by a yell of surprise and the two other witches crying, "Icy!"

'Icy?' Bloom's sluggish brain thought. 'Who names their kid Icy?'

It was probably a witch thing.

There was the sound of a few more blasts followed by a heavy thud, and more exclamations before Bloom could feel the tiniest pinpricks of warmth breaking through her prison.

The sound of cracking ice was deafening to her ringing ears, but the discomfort was short-lived as her cocoon shattered and she fell forwards with a wet gasp for air.

Before she could collapse weakly to the ground, a pair of strong warm arms wrapped around her stomach and eased her down. "Careful," Valtor murmured. "Are you alright?"

Bloom looked up at him with chattering teeth. He was no longer masquerading as her father and his brows were furrowed in concern.

"Hey! Dweeb!" One of the witches spat before Bloom could answer (not that she could at the moment anyway). It was Curly Girl who was pushing herself to her feet with a pained grunt while glaring daggers at Valtor. "Who do you think you are, huh?!"

Valtor gently leaned Bloom's quaking form against the wall before standing to face her. "You mean to say you don't know who you're dealing with?"

Brunette smirked and narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you come show us, Pretty Boy?"

"I see…" Valtor said, and Bloom was certain she could detect a hint of annoyance in his voice, even as she saw the corner of his mouth tilt upwards menacingly. "Well, since you asked so nicely." He held out both his hands, an orb of blue appearing in each before fired them both in unison.

Curly Girl and Brunette leaped into the air to dodge and the orbs slammed into the wall and cracked it but didn't dissipate, instead they flowed brighter and brighter.

"Ha!" Curly Girl said from where she hovered in the air. "Is that the best you can—ah!" The glowing orbs exploded from behind them and sent them shooting forwards.

Bloom watched as they tumbled through the sky and facepalmed against another building. Even from where she sat she could hear the crunch and crack of bones and brick alike and it made her wince.

Without even turning, Valtor held up his hand and produced a shield, blocking Ponytail—Icy's attack of ice shards from his side.

"Embarrassing," Valtor chuckled, causing Icy to grit her teeth in frustration and dive bomb forwards with a glowing fist. The wizard leaped easily into the air and flicked his wrist, causing blue flames to appear and circle beneath the plummeting witch before slamming into her with a geyser of fire.

Icy cried out before flipping backwards through the air and pushing off a build board, lunging towards Valtor again. "Oh you are so going to regret that!" She snarled, swiping her arm through the air and sending a chilly cloud of frost towards him.

Valtor held his hand out with one hand and the spell froze in mid air. With the other, he sent a powerful jet of flame at it and caused it to evaporate.

He then raised an eyebrow, smirk broadening. "Not with that spell work, I'm afraid."

"You'll be eating your words in a second, you smug bastard!" Icy snapped as she held both hands up in the sky and began chanting.

"From the depths of primordial space, I summon a box with a frigid embrace…"

Bloom hugged herself tighter as the temperature dropped, her breath fogging and her fingertips beginning to numb.

Valtor's smirk fell slightly as his eyes fell to her shaking form. Moments later he'd swooped down, and crouched next to her. Bloom didn't even have the energy to let out a noise of surprise as he gently scooped her into his arms and quickly pushed back into the sky just as the spell finished.

The alleyway was completely covered in ice and snow, icicles dangling from every surface and stray flurries spinning through the air. In fact from this high in the sky, Bloom could see that the spell has extended down four blocks.

"That is a spell I need to learn," Valtor said, in a voice that sounded begrudgingly impressed.

"Coward!" Icy barked, shooting higher into the air where Bloom and Valtor were.

"I dodged a spell. That's hardly cowardice," Valtor deadpanned. "From the condition of those two it seems I made the right call." He nodded to where the two other witches who had just recovered were pinned and frozen to the brick they'd been slammed against prior due to the spell—only their heads had been spared and a frozen barrier that failed to protect them hovered in the sky encased in ice.

"What the hell, Icy!" Curly Girl called.

"You could have given us a warning you know," Brunette grumbled.

"I suggest you take your friends and leave before I decide to take proper vengeance in the name of my apprentice," Valtor said coolly. "You won't be able to use any more magic for a while after a spell that powerful...or am I wrong?"

Icy narrowed her eyes, and for a second Bloom thought she was going to attack again. But instead she snapped, "Darcy, Stormy, let's go."

She turned around and flew away, her friends calling after her to wait as they struggled to escape the ice spell they were pinned by.

Ignoring them, Valtor landed once more, boots crunching against ice and snow as he placed Bloom down and knelt before her, placing two hands on either shivering shoulder and squeezing. His hands began to glow and immediately Bloom was filled with unspeakable warmth while the ice and snow around them slowly melted.

She sighed in relief, leaning into the warm touch as her shivers slowly faded away. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"I...forgive me," Valtor said, as the spell spread to her chest. Bloom winced as she felt a sharp pain, but it was quickly replaced with relief, for the aching was no more. "It was foolish of me to leave you alone."

Bloom shook her head. "I'm the one who decided to play hero and chase after that ogre—this is all on me; don't worry."

"Ogre—? Ah," Valtor looked over his shoulder as the yellow creature groaned from his unconscious state. Valtor blasted him in the head and he crumpled all over again. "That's him is it?"

"Uh-huh, but he was working with those witches to get a ring from some girl named...Stella I think," Bloom said with a frown. "Speaking of, I hope they're not on their way to attack her now."

Valtor shook his head and chuckled. "You nearly froze to death and you're worried about strangers?"

Bloom flushed and shrugged. "Force of habit I—ah!" A bolt of lightning shot from the sky, streaking towards her and Valtor at tremendous speed. Luckily, the wizard was faster, holding up a barrier just before it could connect with them.

"Eh," Curly Girl—the one Bloom presumed was the one named Stormy due to her powers said with a shrug. "Worth a shot." She and her companion then flew off after their leader.

Valtor huffed irritably as he lowered the barrier and stood, holding out a hand for Bloom to take. "I suppose they didn't appreciate you playing the hero all too much?"

Bloom let out an awkward laugh as she squeezed his gloved hand tightly and allowed herself to be hoisted up. "Yeah...you could say that."

The hotel they chose to stay in was simple and utterly bland with its simple white sheeted beds and equally white walls, furniture, and appliances. But at the moment, there were far more pressing matters on Valtor's mind.

He had appeared before those witches without his guise as a way to strike fear into the hearts, send them running so he wouldn't have to waste precious energy. Instead they had the gall to challenge him.

It annoyed Valtor more than he cared to admit.

Logically, it was a good thing he hadn't been recognized—he was still too weak for people like Faragonda or Griffen to know he was back—but his pride was seething and indignant because it made no sense. He was the one who had personally struck down the royal family of the illustrious Sparx Kingdom for Dragon's sake, and before that he'd laid waist to countless dimensions with the aid of his mothers!

How could every man, woman and child not know of him or his face? How could they not cower at the mere sight of him? Why—?

"Hey, it's okay," Bloom cut through his thoughts on the bed next to his, causing him to remember where he was and flick away his internal tirade. "I told you the thing in the alleyway wasn't your fault—I won't tell Dad, promise!" She continued, rolling on her side to give him a kind smile.

Is that what she thought he was worrying about? Please. He was glad he'd managed to save his little pet project/bio-battery/future battle-to-the-death partner but if Bloom had ended up freezing to death he wouldn't have lost sleep over it.

Still, he returned the smile with as much sincerity as he could muster before telling her, "I promise that your continued stay in The Magical Dimension will be far less—traumatic."

"Being frozen alive sounds traumatic but it isn't all that bad," Bloom assured him.

Valtor fought the urge to scoff. Either she simply hadn't been frozen long enough to realize that ice was hell or she was a liar—or a fool. Probably all of the above.

"Besides," she continued, rolling onto her back and smiling at the ceiling. "I got to see a cool magic shop, saw a dragon, and made a new friend."

This time Valtor did scoff. "Who? Bad Bang Boy?"

Bloom burst out laughing and turned back to him with an amused grin. "They're not that bad."

"They look like dangling noodles," Valtor argued.

"I was thinking more on the lines of the McDonald's logo," Bloom said.

Valtor blinked slowly at her. "...who?"

Her grin faded and she flushed, returning to the position on her back. "Right, you don't—I'm... going to sleep. Night."

"Sleep well," Valtor responded, hitting the lightswitch with a tiny blast from his finger and plunging the room into darkness. "Tomorrow we begin your training—I can't have my protégé being beaten down in alleyways after all."

"Can't wait," Bloom said with a tired yawn before silence reigned with the exception of crickets and the beating fan.

It took five minutes for Valtor to hear the soft breaths of sleep sound from her, and a grand total of fifty for him too to finally drift off.

He rather wished he hadn't.

"Well!" An all too familiar voice crooned. "Welcome back to the living, dearie!"

Chapter Text

Within the unyielding darkness of his mind, three agonizingly familiar apparitions circled Valtor. They were all wrinkled, hunched, and ancient while sporting wicked smirks and absurd hairstyles. He'd known this was inevitable—he'd just hoped that fate would have the courtesy to prolong this meeting until he was fully, truly ready. But alas, fate always did seem to have it out for him.

"How lovely to see you again, Valtor!" one of the floating apparitions before him—Belladonna— crooned, reaching a gnarled finger forward to pinch his cheek in a mockery of affection that he jerked away from with a scowl.

"What do you want?" He demanded coldly.

Belladonna frowned as Tharma sneered, "Seventeen years in Omega certainly hasn't chilled your insolence! I've told you a million times and I will tell you again, Bella—rearing a child was the worst decision we've ever made!"

"A grown man but still a brat," Liliss drawled disdainfully.

"Silence, both of you!" Belladonna snapped, glaring at both her sisters individually before clasping her hands and turning back to Valtor with a syrupy smile. "I will admit I do agree with Tharma to some extent; I wasn't expecting such venom from you after not hearing our voices for so long, Valtor."

Valtor scoffed and said, "Did it ever occur to you that the venom comes from precisely the fact that I'm hearing from you?" But realized his error the second Tharma snarled and lit her hands with crackling violet electricity.

"Tharma," Belladonna warned as Valtor involuntarily tensed. The storm witch sniffed and let her magic die in her palms.

Belladonna addressed Valtor again as she asked, "Back to the point at hand. What makes you assume we want anything? As I said previously we haven't spoken in nearly two decades."

Valtor rolled his eyes and glared into the distant darkness. "Please, I'm many things but a fool is not one of them."

"Are you sure?" Liliss asked sardonically and Tharma cackled until Belladonna shot her another warning glare.

"And the answer is no. Whatever game you want me to play I won't participate," Valtor continued. "Now, if you would kindly let me get back to my sleep?"

Tharma was glaring at him while Liliss's eyes were narrowed. Belladonna however simply smiled and said, "Of course, dearie. I imagine you haven't had proper rest in years…but do remember…" Valtor grunted in discomfort as she pinched his cheek again but harder this time, and with a large grin showcasing crooked and jagged teeth. "This isn't over."

Valtor jolted awake, eyes snapping open to find the spinning fan of the hotel room above him and the sound of Bloom's soft breathing on the bed next to his.

It would be deluded to believe he could fall back asleep now.

He growled under his breath and rolled off the mattress, bending forwards to replace his boots on his sock clad feet. Curse those harpies. Curse them and their blasted games!

Valtor snacthed his coat from where it had been draped over the nearby sofa chair and opened the glass balcony doors with a simple flick of his wrist. Not stopping his stride, he vaulted the balcony handrails and fell through the air.

The wind slammed desirably against his face and clawed at his hair and clothes before he stopped abruptly in midair and shot upwards into the starry night sky, Magix a brilliant array of different coloured lights and faraway sounds of nightlife. Unfortunately he could hardly enjoy himself with the latest encounters with his mothers in the back of his mind.

Valtor sighed heavily. Typical; they managed to ruin just about anything in his life.

What could they possibly want? And whatever it was, how could he refuse? He could play rebel for a little while but it would fray on his mothers's nerves eventually. No matter what he wanted, his life was and would always be theirs. But how could he get revenge, regain his magic, train Bloom and go on a wild goose chase for….bah!

For once, flying was doing little to relieve his frustrations. He needed something a slight bit more...exciting, less idle. He glanced to the side, watching a heron gliding side by side with him before holding out his palm towards it and blasting it out of the sky.

Valtor sighed despondently once more. Even with the sound of its horrified squawking below and the sight of magical flames consuming its helpless body, he felt no glee—although that could be because he'd just killed something defenseless and beneath him simply out of spite and hadn't needed to challenge himself in the slightest…

But wait a moment; he did have a sparring partner nearly equal to him in magical prowess, did he not? Bloom couldn't be the only one getting something out of this apprenticeship after all. And training her at night would make more sense in keeping a lower profile.

Then again, if those witches from earlier were any indication, that may not even be an issue—and there he was getting annoyed again.

He sighed softly for a third time to himself before stopping and turning back towards the hotel, inhaling and exhaling repeatedly to taper off the worst of his temper; if he dealt with Bloom while he was too frustrated—well. He glanced over his shoulder where a lone singed feather was twirling towards the ground.

As had been reiterated to him tonight, destroying something that couldn't fight back was painfully unsatisfying.

Bloom woke up to the distant feeling of cool air tickling her skin and giving her goosebumps. She shuddered as her eyes fluttered open, squinting at the curtains billowing in the wind entering from the open balcony doors.

Geez. Getting frozen by that Icy girl had really made her cold sensitive, hadn't it? She'd need to ask Valtor if that was would wear—

She noticed the bed beside her completely empty, moonlight spotlighting a wrinkled bedspread.

Frowning, Bloom sat up and looked around the room before slipping off the bed. When circling his bed, Bloom noticed his boots and coat were gone and then turned back to the balcony.

It didn't take a genius to come to the conclusion that he'd gone for a midnight flight and she wondered what was bothering him. Somehow Bloom had a feeling it had nothing to do with her almost getting killed.

Asking him wouldn't yield any results...so maybe she could wait for him to come back and cheer him up?

"Ooh! Hot chocolate!" Bloom beamed to herself as she padded over to the night table in sock clad feet and picked up the telephone receiver. She'd always been given that by her parents when she was having a rough night.

"Hello, how may I help you?" A cheerful voice asked on the other end.

"Hey! Can you connect me to a café or something? I'd like—"

"No need. I can take your order here and charge it to your hotel bill. Room number?"

Bloom gave the man the hotel number and ordered two mugs of hot chocolate. Not a second later, a tray with two steaming whip cream and sprinkle covered drinks appeared in a flash of glitter on her bed.

"Oh!" Bloom said in surprise as the man asked if she wanted anything else.

"Oh—uh...sugar cookies maybe? Those taste good with—"

A plate of a dozen frosted cookies appeared on the tray. "Done," the man said.

"Okay, thanks a lot!" Bloom said as she hung up and turned to the tray with a smile and a sigh. "I love this place."

She'd just begun to sit cross legged on her bed with a mug and a cookie when a shadow darkened the moon's light.

Turning, Bloom smiled as Valtor landed into the hotel room with a curious frown. "You're awake," he said.

"Because someone left the balcony doors open," Bloom teased as she took a sip. "Anyway, you told me you like flying when you're down so I brought you this to cheer you up." She gestured to the tray and Valtor's eyes widened in surprise.

"You…"

"Mhm! And look, there's tiny sugar packets by the mini fridge so you can sweeten your drink if it's too bland for your taste."

Valtor blinked slowly before raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I told you, figured you were in a bad mood."

Valtor's lips twitched into a crooked smirk and he tossed his coat off with a chuckle. "You're going to get yourself killed with that attitude, Bloom."

"Everybody dies, right?" Bloom shrugged as she took a cookie and dipped it into her drink. "Dying while helping someone in need sounds like a pretty nice way to go."

Valtor rolled his eyes and sat on the bed beside her before he picked up his own mug. "Of course you would think that."

"And of course you wouldn't," Bloom playfully shot back. "But if a heroic death sounds so awful to you, how would you like to die?"

Valtor paused at bringing the mug to his lips as he chuckled again. "That's an awfully morbid question."

Bloom winced and laughed awkwardly. "Yeah...yeah I don't know why I asked, sorry."

"No, I'll answer," Valtor said as he snapped his fingers and called two of the sugar packets to him. They tore by themselves and tipped their contents into his hot chocolate as he answered with, "If I were to hypothetically die it would be in a grand blaze of glory—it will never happen however, I intend to live forever."

Bloom hummed in thought as she swirled her drink around before asking, "Is that possible here? To live forever?"

"With enough power and drive anything is possible with magic," Valtor said. "Why? Do you have your sights on immortality?"

Bloom shuddered at the very thought and shook her head. "No way. Having to watch everyone I know and love eventually die while I stay the same? You'd never be able to fall in love or make friends because they'd all leave you eventually one way or another. That sounds like a nightmare...a very lonely nightmare."

"Quite the sentiment," Valtor commented and Bloom flushed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to diss your lifestyle—or future lifestyle maybe. Are you immortal now or is that just your goal?"

Valtor paused before saying, "I can still be killed but I don't age, no."

Bloom's eyes widened in curiosity as she asked, "So...how old are you now?"

"None of your concern."

"You're a dinosaur, aren't you?" Bloom accused half-jokingly.

Valtor let out an amused breath and finished off his chocolate before taking a cookie. "While you hold disdain for immortality, I assume you don't care to die young either."

Sensing the subject change, Bloom finished her chocolate too and listened, wiping away the left behind mustache with her pajama sleeve as he continued. "I've decided tonight we could begin your training," he said, standing from the bed as Bloom gasped excitedly.

Flying arm and arm with Bloom again, Valtor located an older part of Magix where there would be several abandoned and decrepit sites that would suit their purpose.

The one he found was a dingy domed underground subway station that he quickly cleaned up decently with a few magic hand waves, appreciating the awestruck look on Bloom's face at such rudimentary actions. The redhead had insisted on keeping the graffiti however, claiming it fit the "training aesthetic" whatever in Arcadia's name that meant.

"Okay!" She said excitedly, as she jumped from one foot to the other completely barefoot. Valtor found that absolutely unsanitary, but he supposed it was more practical than her wedge heels. "I'm ready! What spell are we learning first?"

"We can start with shields. It's one of the spells a fairy can use at its fullest without transforming," Valtor said. "Now, throw something at me."

Bloom nodded and crouched to pick up one of her discarded wedges, winding her arm back before throwing.

Valtor held out his hand and a violet domed barrier shimmered into existence before him, the wedge slammed into it before exploding with a flash of bright light and falling to the ground in a smoking charred heap.

"Shields differ from power type," Valtor explained as Bloom picked up her wedge by its torn strap and mouthed an awed "wow".

"You and I possess the Dragon Fire, so our shields will burn anyone and anything that comes into contact with it. A being with ice based magic would freeze attackers, lightning based would electrocute—so on and so forth."

Bloom nodded slowly in understanding as she placed the shoe down and asked, "Okay, so how do I make a shield? The first time I did it was totally at random."

"Remember what I told you before? Magic is about intent—intent, drive, and power."

"Dip. Got it!"

Valtor frowned. "What?"

"You know, kinda like an acronym. "D" for drive, "I" for intent and "P" for power," Bloom explained.

"Well...if that helps you remember. Now, close your eyes and relax your muscles."

Bloom compiled and Valtor circled her appraisingly before nodding. "Good. Now try creating a barrier."

Bloom opened one eye. "How—?"

"Close your eyes."

Bloom snapped it shut quickly once more before continuing her question. "How do I do that exactly?"

"Remember; intent, drive, power," Valtor said as he stepped back and waited.

Bloom wrinkled her nose and scrunched her eyes, humming in concentration. A moment later, she became outlined in gold, hair slowly floating around her like a flaming halo.

"Yes, that's it," he encouraged as the air shimmered around her.

Seconds later however, the air exploded in a bright flash of flame and Bloom was thrown against the wall with a yell of surprise.

Valtor winced as the girl slid down the wall with a groan. She touched the back of her head and grunted. "Ow."

"Well, you have part of it down," Valtor said, holding out a hand for her to take. "Come, let's try again."

Bloom nodded confidently as she allowed herself to be helped to her feet before stepping back and taking another deep breath.

"Try out stretching your arms this time, perhaps that's why the spell backfired," Valtor added and Bloom nodded, eyes still closed as she followed the instructions.

This time, a translucent orange dome surrounded Bloom. She opened her eyes and blinked up at the dome with a grin. "I did it!"

"We'll see," Valtor responded, holding up his palm and calling a violet fire ball to his palm. "Let's see if it holds—otherwise it is as good as useless." He tossed the ball and Bloom tensed as it sailed towards her.

It tore right through the barrier like it was toilet paper and slammed into Bloom's chest. She sprawled to the floor with a cry of pain and groaned before pushing herself right back up once more and spinning around. "Okay," she said with a nod, rubbing her bruising stomach. "Let's go again."

Valtor nodded and threw another spell. A dome didn't even reappear this time, the spell slammed into Bloom's waiting palm and she stumbled backwards with another cry, blowing heavily on the scalded hand.

"Let me see," Valtor said, trying to hide the irritation he was feeling. This girl was going to help him do absolutely nothing with the rate they were going. He'd seen toddlers get this right!

He rubbed his thumbs against her burn wounds and healed them with every swipe as Bloom sighed. "I'm sorry for being so lame."

"You're new to this, I never expected you to get it well immediately," he lied smoothly as he gave her hand a comforting squeeze and stepped back once more to try again.

Fifty more times, fifty more times they tried the spell and Bloom couldn't get it right once.

Great Dragon. How ironic was it that the most powerful magic source in the entire universe had made its home to someone so unskilled with magic? Daphne was an obnoxious little brat who deserved the painful death inflicted on her by his mothers but he could begrudgingly admit the girl could spar like there was no tomorrow—Oritel and Marion too if he were being honest, killing them had been a true pleasure for a reason.

The fighting gene seemed to have skipped a child however…

How was he supposed to finish everything on his personal to-do list before his mothers called on him again if she was being so painfully useless?

"Okay," Bloom huffed and pushed herself to her knees with a pained grunt and stumbled to her feet for the fifty-first time. "Let's try…" her voice trailed off as she panted for breath before inhaling slowly and continuing. "Again—"

"No!" Valtor barked in an explosion of frustration that caused his magic to flare around him and Bloom to flinch. "How can I—how am I going to—you—!" He swiftly snatched his frustration by the tail and reigned it back in, closing his eyes to calm his racing pulse and the magic sending blue flames across his body.

"I...am sorry," Valtor said, opening his eyes again, only to find the girl looking away in shame, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "I didn't mean to—"

"You're right," Bloom sighed. "I totally suck at this. I'm just wasting your time."

"No, no, Bloom," he said, not wanting to set up walls between them—that wouldn't help anyone now would it? "I'm on a...tight schedule and I simply took that frustration out on you."

Bloom frowned and tilted her head to the side. "A schedule?"

"Of no fault of your own," Valtor assured her. "It's simply...well let's just say I'm in debt. I owe some truly awful people something and I don't know when they'll demand payment."

Bloom's eyes widened. "You're in some wizard mafia?"

Valtor blinked slowly and said, "...yes?" not entirely certain what she was talking about. A mafia? What an odd Earth word. He supposed it meant "cult" however.

Bloom stepped closer to him before stepping off the station platform and sitting on the edge, looking over her shoulder at him and patting the spot next to her for him to sit. Curious, he complied before she said, "I'm sorry. That...sounds rough." She laughed awkwardly and hugged herself. "Kinda sucks that you have to train me, huh?"

"No," Valtor said. "I want to help you, Bloom," 'Help you help me steal my magic back, that is,' "I owe you this much."

"And I owe you too," Bloom insisted. "You're training me even though you're in trouble. That's...very super sweet of you."

Valtor wanted to wrinkle his nose in disgust at the sentiment but he outwardly smiled easily. "You never stop with your kindness, do you?"

"I toss it around like confetti," she said with a wink. "Karma's a two edged sword, y'know? Yeah, if you do bad, bad things happen. But if you do good, good things happen and I want…" her voice trailed off and she frowned sadly pulling her dangling legs up to rest her face on her chin and whisper, "I want…"

Valtor waited for her to continue. Instead she shook her head and turned back to him with a smile. "Anyway. I'm going to help you with this schedule. So if that means training extra hard and helping you browse museum art then I want to do it."

Valtor looked away from her in thought, drumming his fingers against the tiled ground. Well, if she was willing to put in the extra effort for his sake…

"I won't go easy on you," Valtor warned as she stood.

"Don't worry," Bloom smiled as she got up as well. "I don't want you to. Knock me up, coach."

Valtor rose both eyebrows and Bloom's face burned crimson before quickly looking away. "Goddamnit, Bloom!" she hissed under her breath.

Chapter Text

Icy hated plenty of things.

She hated lectures, pop music, glitter, "cute" stuff, and that stupid pastel monstrosity named Alfea as well as the stuck up fake goody-goodies that occupied its four walls, but what she hated most of all was being made a fool of.

And that stupid wannabe punk goth eyeshadow wearing freak wizard had done just that.

Icy had worn a perpetual scowl for the rest of that night and the entire day after, and the night after that. That stupid smug smirk was burned into her brain and no matter how much she tried she couldn't stop it from filling her soul with a frigid rage. If she saw him and that useless redheaded pixie again she was going to—!

"Hey! Icy!"

Rudley jolted from her mental tirade, Icy spun sharply around and shot a spell from her palm.

Stormy cried out in surprise as Darcy held up her hand and swiftly produced a violet-colored barrier that caused Icy's icicles to explode into a puff of darkness. From behind the orb, she gave the ice witch an unimpressed glare. "Done attacking us unprovoked?"

"Oh. It's you two," Icy sniffed by way of an apology as Darcy dropped the barrier and Stormy seethed and avoided her gaze with a childish pout and harrumph.

"What in Arcadia's name has been going on with you recently?" Darcy demanded with crossed arms. "You've been bitchier than usual for two nights and a day now."

Stormy rolled her eyes, still glaring at a random wall away from Icy within the witches' shared dorm. "She's still ticked off about that stupid alleyway thing I bet."

"Why shouldn't I be?" Icy demanded through gritted teeth. "We were made a fool of! Us!"

"C'est la vie, Icy," Darcy huffed. "It's done now. Can we move on now, please? Obsessing over losing a duel isn't helping us towards our goal."

"Ugh," Icy sneered as she spun on her heel and stormed towards the balcony doors. She needed some fresh air.

"Icy wait! We have to turn in a proposal for Griffen to…!"

The whooshing of heavy wind and Icy leaping into the air stole the rest of Stormy's sentence. She wouldn't be too long, curfew was in an hour after all but it was more than enough time to clear her head.

Ever since she was fourteen Icy had been pushing herself to the limits of her magical capabilities, she was the best witch in not only her year but the entire school, memorized every ice-based attack spell she could get her eager hands on and had an impeccable school dueling record.

The fact that all of that had been rendered meaningless in less than five minutes by some stupid random yahoo wounded deep. If some wizard in a back alley could make her look like an idiot then how was she going to…?

Icy shook her head to rid it of that thought as she gritted her teeth. Stupid useless doubts! This was all—! The witch gasped suddenly and froze mid-flight before quickly darting behind a tower and peaking gingerly around it.

Him.

It was unmistakable, that long head of hair and outdated Dracula clothing—it was that alleyway wizard alright. He was simply hovering there naught but a yard away, glaring up at the window Icy knew to be Griffin's office as periodic lightning brightened his form. And then, with a mirthless smile, he turned and woodshed away, becoming smaller and smaller as he distanced himself from Cloud Tower.

Icy watched him, made a split-second decision, and then followed him a safe distance behind.

"Getting some deja-vu here," was the teasing greeting Valtor got as he returned to the hotel room and shut the balcony doors.

"Are you ready?" He asked without turning around as he shrugged off his coat and tossed it against the nearby sofa chair. He couldn't quite keep the unwarranted bitterness from his voice, not after seeing Griffen for the first time in nearly two decades. Through a dimly lit window, yes, but it still counted.

What had possessed him to do that anyhow?

"Nightly parent call," Bloom said, seemingly nonplussed by the sour demeanor. "They were both kind of worried after I hung up yesterday night. I left out the witch stuff but told them we were training, Mom was super stoked about it—I also told them I'm going to train tonight too."

Valtor humes a response as he smiled to himself and pulled off his gloves. "Perhaps tonight your shield will do more than sit there and look pretty."

He heard Bloom blow a raspberry at him and he responded with a light chuckle—one that stopped abruptly when he felt the barest hint of a magical signature at the very edge of his senses. Frowning, he threw open the balcony doors and scanned the night sky with narrowed eyes. When he found nothing, he stood by the railing and glanced below him, the energy mildly stronger now.

"Valtor?" Bloom called, voice tinged in worry as she padded bare foot onto the balcony as well, hugging herself as the cool night air chilled her.

Valtor turned over his shoulder to tell her to go back inside when the magical energy suddenly disappeared. Frowning, he whipped back to the sky and peered beneath the railing once more, stretching his senses around the hotel's perimeter.

Nothing.

As he turned to reenter the hotel room, neither he nor Bloom noticed the witch swiftly flying away from the hotel's rear with a sinister smirk on her face.

It turned out that magical cosplay was super fun, and Bloom vowed that once she stopped being trash at magic she was absolutely going to ask Valtor how to shapeshift!

"I need to stop disguising as your father," Valtor had told her when suggesting she find him a new face to disguise as from Earth before going out in case someone saw their midnight flight. "Using his guise is slowly chipping away at my self-esteem."

"You really need to stop jabbing my Dad."

"Apologies, it's simply far too easy."

So now Bloom was putting her brand new cell phone to good use, searching up her favorite Earth celebrities and showing them to Valtor who would then try out the disguise before inevitably complaining that it simply "wasn't him".

"Okay, fair, fair," Bloom said with a giggle as she went back to her phone and typed in a new search. "Arnold Schwarzenegger was a bit left field."

"What kind of name is Schwarzenegger?" Valtor demanded as he morphed out of that disguise like the other previous ones and straightened his vest.

Bloom snorted. "No offense, but your name is Valtor."

"That was a very common name in Sparx, thank you very much. It—" his voice cut off abruptly and Bloom looked up from her phone curiously.

"Sparx? Is...that your home?"

Valtor's muscles tensed, his brows knit, and his fists clenched and unclenched on the fabric of his vest before he hesitantly said, "...yes."

Bloom immediately wanted to ask what it was like, how it differentiated from Magix, who his parents were, or if he could take her there one day on a tour—but she saw his rigid position and the tightening of his jaw; he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

Bloom's curious smile became sympathetic. "Bad memories?"

He hesitated again, frown deepening as he seemed to struggle with an answer before answering with another simple, "Yes."

Feeling crummy for ruining the lighthearted mood, Bloom deleted what she'd been searching in her search bar (Tom Cruise), before saying, "Hey...why don't...why don't I sketch something for you instead of searching for a face?"

Valtor eagerly snatched onto the new topic, seemingly grateful to move away from this Sparx place as he slipped back into an easy smile and posture. "That would be more prudent—we can't guarantee that some beings here aren't acquainted with Earth pop culture simply because I'm not."

Nodding in agreement, Bloom fished her drawing supplies out of her suitcase and tossed them atop the hotel desk, flipping to the nearest blank page and pulling out a mechanical pencil. Nib poised atop the paper, she turned to Valtor appraisingly before nodding and beginning to work some Earth Magic.

"No peeking!" Bloom said teasingly, pressing her body atop the drawing when Valtor tried to glance at it over her shoulder.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Well then, madam," he said with a teasing smile of his own as he stepped back obediently.

It took only a few minutes of muttering under her breath, erasing, coloring, and checking to see if Valor was looking (he wasn't) before smiling and holding up the drawing. "Okay! All done."

From his spot lounging in the bed, Valtor crooked a finger and summoned the drawing into his own hands, humming in thought as he looked at it.

"I figured you didn't want to look too different from your normal self but at the same time different enough that you wouldn't be recognizable by anyone—"

In a flash of light, Valtor changed once more and stood up, appraising his new form in the floor-length mirror. His hair was still as long as before but now it was a brighter shade of blonde and held in a low ponytail. His eyes had become a vivid spring green and balanced on a now roman shaped nose—

"The glasses are a surprisingly nice touch," Valtor mused as he adjusted the square rims with and smiled at Bloom through the mirror. "I rather like this disguise—thank you."

Bloom beamed at the praise. She may have been a crappy fairy but at least she still had her artistic talent!

"Okay! Now for my transformation," Bloom said as she took some clothes from her suitcase and entered the bathroom. After a minute she kicked the door open and twirled with a flourish and a bow, "Voila!"

Valtor rose an eyebrow. "That outfit hardly constitutes a dramatic entrance," he said mildly sardonically.

"Aw, come on! I'm no fashionista but you have to admit, this is cute for a work-out outfit!" Bloom said standing straight and twisting this way and that before the mirror. The top was a baby blue sports bra and the pants were black biker shorts. Her usual wedges were replaced with converse sneakers and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail with a yellow scrunchie.

All Valtor bothered doing was removing his coat and gloves, but the rest of his outfit stayed intact.

"I suppose," Valtor said flippantly and Bloom wondered if she should feel offended or not—she really did think it was cute...

Very soon, however, her outfit was the least of her worries.

For the third time that night, Bloom was sent sliding across the subway tiles with a cry of pain and a bruising stomach.

Right, note to self; no more stomach exposure during training.

"What are we missing here?" Valtor muttered under his breath. And Bloom had a hunch he was really wondering, what the hell is wrong with this fairy flunk?

"Is there something I can use to power up to better?" Bloom asked as she stumbled to her feet with a pained grunt. "A ritual? An environment? A particular feeling?"

Valtor's eyes lit up and he smiled as he lifted his musing chin from his fist and turned back to Bloom. "Emotions."

"Just...in general?" Bloom asked somewhat doubtfully. "I dunno, I've been feeling frustration for two nights now and obviously nothing's happening."

"It's simply not intense enough," Valtor said, a self-satisfied smile growing as he began to pace with the blooming idea (ha! blooming). "Think, three nights ago when you saved me what were you feeling?"

Bloom didn't need to think long before she could answer with an awkward laugh. "Panic. Lots, and lots and just oodles of 'oh God I'm going to die' if you can believe it."

"Oh no, certainly not," Valtor said playing into the joke and causing Bloom to smile. "However...perhaps the emotion was intense enough to…" nodding slowly, Valtor stepped back and lit his palms with orbs of energy. "Again. Think of something you believe will give you an intense reaction."

"Any emotion?" Bloom asked.

"Any emotion," Valtor confirmed. "Brace yourself."

Taking in a deep breath, Bloom imagined her recent discovery of her fairy powers, how excited she was to use them, fly, and go exploring around The Magic Dimension.

Clinging to that warm fuzzy feeling, Bloom held out a hand and created her barrier. This time when Valtor hit it, the spell slammed solidly into the orange dome and caused it to ripple while Bloom felt an immediate strain on her body.

She gritted her teeth and grunted with effort before the barrier shattered and forced Bloom to jump to the side to dodge the blast.

"Good," Valtor said with a nod and smile as his spell crashed against the far wall and dissipated. "Now focus even more and you will get it perfectly."

Nodding in determination, Bloom held out her hand once more and created a barrier. But instead of clinging to fuzzy happiness, she focused on her deep-rooted desire to get this.

As Valtor's spell went flying, she fed that determination further, imagining the spell working perfectly, imagining her moving on to the next stage of her training, imagining—

Her barrier burned with vivid light as the spell came closer and closer. And as it finally struck Bloom's barrier, it and the dome exploded in a violent WOOSH and cloud of glittering embers.

Valtor, even from a foot away, staggered backward with a grunt as the eldritch wind pushed him back while Bloom's hair and clothes ruffled and her scrunchie snapped. To top it off, beneath Bloom's feet was a circular scorch mark that spammed a wide diameter as she lowered her tingling hand and gasped for shocked breath.

Wow, what a rush!

"That…" Valtor watched her with wide surprised eyes before clearing his throat and regaining his composure. "That was an unnecessary amount of magic paired with a frivolous light show and overly dramatic finale."

Bloom's cheeks burned and she frowned indignantly, intent on defending herself when Valtor added, "In other words...it was beyond perfect. This is the power of a fairy of the Dragon Fire."

The redhead blinked in surprise at the bait and switch before beaming proudly and flushing with happiness and praise instead of offense.

"I couldn't have done it better myself," Valtor continued with a smile. "Very well done."

The two had practiced the spell a few more times before Bloom was certain she could do it properly without too much effort. And on their way back to the hotel, Valtor had relayed that she would be getting homework—learning about fairy forms.

So alas, that was what an excited Bloom did first thing the next day—watching videos of fairies all over the universe transforming and reading articles about different fairy forms.

"I'm going out," Valtor had announced, using his new disguise as he picked up a notebook by his side of the bed. "Do stay out of trouble."

"No promises," Bloom said half-jokingly as she smiled up at him from her lounging position on her stomach. "Enjoy your outing!"

Valtor gave a nod in farewell before shutting the door behind him and leaving Bloom to scroll through the article detailing different fairy forms. "Ooh! Enchantix looks just like—wait, I have to die?!"

"So, when's this Alfea sabotage supposed to happen?" Icy asked casually from her spot atop her bed, legs crossed over the other at the knee with an omnipresent smile.

"Glad to have you back," Darcy commented from her desk, working on homework while Stormy excitedly explained their plan.

"Those loser Red Fountain boys are going to bring party favors for the Alfea pixies tomorrow like they do every year, we are going to curse them with something wicked and ruin the entire night!" Stormy cackled, sparks crackling at her fingertips as she grinned wickedly.

"Tomorrow then? Good," Icy said, and while Stormy frowned at the clear lack of interest, Darcy glanced over her shoulder with a suspicious frown.

"Going somewhere?"

"What got you jumping to that conclusion?"

Darcy sniffed and peered down at Icy from above her miniature glasses. "Usually you'd be tossing out ideas, dramatically laughing, fantasizing the looks on our victims' fa—oh no."

Icy's frown deepened. "What?" She demanded.

"You're in a good mood after being humiliated and now you're asking about schedules? You found them, didn't you?"

Stormy blinked twice. "Wait, seriously? Some random pixie and her hot vamp teacher are more important to you than wrecking Alfea?"

"I didn't say that," Icy argued. "I'm just thinking I can finally get rid of this niggling little problem once and for all and we can move smoothly on with our lives."

"With your life you mean?" Stormy sniffed. "Whatever. We're coming with."

Darcy turned to Stormy in confusion. "We are?"

"Uh, duh. The sooner we deal with them, the sooner Icy can stop daydreaming about putting them in their place and actually do it. Shouldn't take too long."

"We had our asses kicked last time," Darcy argued. "And we have an assignment! This will take long at best and we'll get humiliated again at worst!"

"I thought you didn't care about our humiliation, Darcy," Icy shot back.

"Of course I do, I'm just not crying over spilled milk like—!"

"So what's the plan?" Stormy cut in with an excited lopsided smirk. "Two booty kicks in one day? That sounds like my type of party."

The two previously arguing witches glanced at Stormy before turning to each other with mirrored smiles of excitement, argument forgotten for the time being.

Another thing Bloom decided now that she was in this brand new world; magic vlogs were very, very fascinating.

It was so interesting seeing girls her age casually talk about spells, potions, transformations, and wings like it was nothing. It was also exciting watching the different ways they used their powers and transformed.

There was one girl who caught Bloom's eye though—DiasproPrincess911 who had a crap ton of Fairyview subscribers and an in-depth playlist on fairy magic (winx, it was apparently called—super cute name) that would be super helpful to Earth raised Bloom.

Illuminating her gaze, an elegant blonde with large ironed curls and a cool red-lipped smirk that reminded her of Valtor sat in a room of glittering pillars and white furs, leg crossed over the other and hands folded on her lap. "Hello my little gems," she said in a controlled and soft-spoken voice. "The other day, I got a DM saying this," she lifted a hand and pointed to the side where a green-screened comment appeared.

"'Dear Diaspro, you are such an inspiration to me! I just saw your magic showcase vlog and I want to be just as powerful as you. Heart emoji, heart emoji.'" She paused to take a glass from beside her, bringing it to her lips and sipping delicately. Seeing as how the girl looked to be about Bloom's age, she guessed it was some sort of sparkling juice made to look like wine for aesthetic purposes—unless drinking laws were different in the Magic Dimension.

"Now, usually people who refuse to use my proper title get blocked immediately, but this user gave me an idea and I pardoned them! A princess is supposed to share with her subjects, or in this case loyal fans, correct?" She clasped her hands and stood, walking towards the camera. "So, I've decided to start a little series—a How to Magic series if you will! We'll start with the most basic yet fabulous spell of them all, transformat—!"

Bloom was distracted from the video as a loud thunderclap shattered her eardrums. She cried out and bolted to her knees, earbuds popping out of her ears and phone toppling to the carpeted ground.

Her head snapped towards the window where ominous clouds were swiftly forming around the sky, wind howling loudly until its sheer power flung the locked balcony doors opened and sent Bloom crashing against the wall. She pulled away a bang covering her face due to the wind pressure, only to get a face full of heavy pouring rain splattering across her face.

"Where did this storm come from?!" Bloom yelled out loud just to nobody in particular as the roof tore straight off and the wind tried pulling her up with it. Bloom cried out, gripping the carpet as tight as she could but it didn't seem to help in the slightest—the fibers tore and she began to be pulled upwards—

Her brain, running on pure adrenaline spurred her to use the new spell she'd learned and Bloom held up two hands, a familiar orb encircling her completely and keeping her out of the tornado's reach. With a yell, she and the orb crashed to the ground and it shattered into glittering embers like last night.

Thankfully, the wind died down abruptly before she could be picked up a second time and Bloom sighed in relief, squinting up through sodden bangs. "What was that—?"

"Actually learned a spell this time, pixie?"

Bloom tensed sharply. She knew that voice, and a quick glance up at the gaping roof confirmed her suspicions.

He was certainly going to need Bloom's help much sooner than he'd anticipated.

Robbing a museum was out, as were schools, spell banks, secret tombs, not even to mention palaces or severely protected artifacts of particular realms.

Grumbling to himself, Valtor crumpled the list of spells he'd been interested in and set it on fire from within his fist. For now, unfortunately, buying D-grade books and artifacts from stores was going to have to suffice for now.

Speaking of which...he'd need to find a new easy spell for Bloom to learn now that—

The serene park's silence was shattered as a stampede of pedestrians ran away from something screaming. Frowning in both confusion and annoyance, Valtor grabbed a jogging man from the stampede and said, "You. What is going on?"

The man snorted. "Cloud Tower witches again. Always mucking stuff up...regular Tuesday afternoon actually."

Valtor hummed a none response and let the man return to half-heartedly jog away again, gaze returning to the city where a black cloud was swirling over a tall hotel. Well. It wasn't any of his bus—wait.

Frown deepening, Valtor shot into the air and hovered above the city line, eyes locked on the now destroyed hotel—the familiar now destroyed hotel.

Valtor tilted his head back towards the sky and pressed his palms against his face, groaning in agitation into them. One day. One day of peace and that girl was in harm's way again.

Sighing heavily, Valtor sped towards the hotel, muttering, "Damn that girl, damn that girl, damn that girl," under his breath repeatedly.

He had decided—the next thing he was teaching Bloom if her useless self hadn't gotten herself killed was some offensive spells because this was ridiculous.

When Valtor had neared, he could see ice creeping around the building and chasing a panicked Bloom as she raised out towards the balcony before realizing she was trapped. She spun around to find the ice almost reaching her before determinedly straightening herself and creating a barrier.

Well. Perhaps she wasn't completely useless.

The flaming shield was keeping the spell at bay for now which was a blessing, and it wouldn't have to for much longer, as Valtor dropped from the sky dramatically and landed atop the balcony in front of Bloom, disguise falling and flames erupting from his form, melting away the frost.

"Attacking my student again, Ms. Witch?" Valtor drawled as the platinum blonde gave him a predatory grin.

"Three against one, fella. Let's see if you bark and bite," she said.

"Yeah! Tell him, Icy!" The storm witch said with a grin as her hands crackled with electricity.

"That isn't fair!" Bloom argued from behind the quartet, dropping her hands and the shield and crossing her arms.

"I must agree with Bloom," Valtor said with a mocking smile. "I believe you'll need a half dozen more on your side to have a chance to withstand my...bite. Last time certainly proved that, did it not?"

Icy's smile slipped and she growled, fists clenched tightly at her sides. "You're going to pay for last time, asshole."

"Wait, that's what this is about?" Bloom demanded incredulously. "That fight wasn't even that bad! It was a stalemate!"

"Not really; Icy blew all her magic on that primordial space spell and could've been taken down with a hit from your sexy teacher after that," The brunette witch mused, and her two companions shot her a glare. "What?" she demanded. "I was defending you!"

"Well if that's the case, why are you even bothering with a re-match? Val—Mike's right—

" Valtor rolled his eyes at the name. Dragon, he hated it. " —you guys were all completely creamed last time—!"

With a growl, Icy shot a dangerous-looking icicle from her palm towards Bloom, and Valtor swiftly intercepted it with a swift spell of his own, causing it to shatter into a million shards.

"Bloom," Valtor said patiently over his shoulder at the once again tensed girl. "With all due respect—"

"Shutting up," Bloom said, miming zipping her mouth closed and tossing away the key.

"Very good," Valtor responded as he twirled a finger and sent Bloom floating into the air with a yelp of surprise. Moments later she was engulfed in a blue orb and left to spectate safe above the upcoming action.

He then turned back to the witches and smiled coldly, crooking a finger towards them.

The storm witch charged first with a fist full of lightning and a war cry that Valtor simply dodged with a leap to the side before retaliating with a harsh elbow in the side. She squawked and stumbled to the ground as Icy snapped, "Stormy! You were supposed to let Darcy go first!"

"I'm sorr—ah!" Stormy leaped out of the way of a blast from Valtor and cracked the ground she'd just been standing on and continued to address her friends hovering in the air. "He just pisses me off!"

The brunette—Darcy—rolled her eyes before pressing fingers to her temple.

Valtor tensed. A mind witch.

He moved to dart forwards to stop whatever she was concocting only for his movement to abruptly halt. He glanced down at his now frozen foot, courtesy of the now smirking Icy, and his thoughts briefly drifted towards—

Shaking his head, Valtor shot at Darcy, only for Stormy to jump in front of her and hold up a shield in defense. However, this wasn't the simple spell he'd used when training Bloom—this one cut right through the mediocre barrier with ease and sent both witches crashing into the destroyed hotel room with a scream of shock and pain.

Valtor couldn't capitalize on his success, however, because Icy was charging forwards now, and he was forced to blast the rubble around his immobilized foot before he could dart upwards and kick at Icy's head.

The witch ducked under before aiming a magic-infused uppercut for Valtor's face that he blocked with his forearm, flinching when ice crept up the limb.

"Where's that bite huh?" Icy smirked.

Valtor narrowed his eyes as he amped up his power, the ice melting from his clothes and flesh before exploding outwards and throwing Icy back. She cried out, heels skidding against the tile, but before she could regain her composure, Valtor had slammed his fist into her face and sent her crashing against the hotel's drywall. "You were saying?" Valtor questioned before sending a large amount of magic into his palm for one last—

Vertigo washed over him suddenly, and Valtor was left stunned and staggering backward. What…?

"Good job, Darcy!" Stormy cackled as Valtor fell to his knees with a grunt. Stupid mind spells. He hated magic users with mind powers!

No, no, he had to focus. There was no way this child was going to best him, weak or not. Taking in a deep breath to stop himself from heaving out the contents of his stomach, Valtor tried to calibrate his thoughts. He needed to go up in the air where spells like that couldn't—

The world tilted, and it took Valtor a moment to realize it wasn't just in his head this time.

Bloom gasped in horror as she saw Darcy hit Valtor with a wave of some dangerous looking spell and then cried out in horror when she then proceeded to stomp her heel into the ground, causing half of the balcony to crumble away—taking Valtor along with it.

"Valtor!" Bloom exclaimed in panic from within her orb, pounding at the orb desperately as she watched him scramble blindly for purchase with that spell still making him go loopy.

Gritting her teeth and setting her sights on that Darcy girl, Bloom rammed her shoulder into the orb and he squeaked in pain.

Okay. Bad idea.

Instead, taking in a deep breath, Bloom focused all her energy on destroying Valtor's barrier, clinging to her beating heart and desperation for an extra power boost. "Okay, Bloom," she muttered to herself before pressing her palms against the orb and watching them glow with vivid orange light.

This time, the orb shattered with blue embers mixed with her own fiery ones as she fell from the sky with a war cry on her lips instead of the fearful scream she probably should've been letting out since she was falling from pretty darn high.

Darcy looked up at her in surprise, just in time to be tackled to the ground with a hard THUD, and smacked harshly in the face with one of Bloom's wedges that she'd torn off her foot quickly as a weapon. The two other witches turned towards her in equal shock, taking their attention away from Valtor as he regained his bearings and shot up back into the sky with a scarily unhappy snarl on his face.

His pupils faded to a fiery red and his body was outlined in an indigo light that had his hair floating. Icy was the first to notice, but Bloom couldn't see what was happening because Darcy had switched their positions and was now catfighting her—hair pulling, scratching, screaming, and all. Luckily she was too close to use any spells and Stormy didn't seem willing to risk hitting her friend to get Bloom.

Or so Bloom had thought.

Unimaginable pain shot through her system as lightning coursed through it. Both she and Darcy screamed in agony, twitching and spasming on the ground. Darcy recovered quicker than Bloom, barking, "What is wrong with you?!"

"I was trying to get her off you! You're welcome!"

"You couldn't have used a less painful spell, you moron?!"

As the argument continued, Bloom slowly pushed herself to her knees with a pained groan and squinting blearily up at the now too bright sky. Icy and Valtor were bursts of color and power that echoed across Magix. If Bloom didn't feel like knocking unconscious from pain, she would be watching with a feeling of "wow!". But at the moment, all she could manage was a vague "ooh...ow…I hope Valtor doesn't die...or me...ow."

Her vision was dragged away from the two dueling forces when Darcy, who had stopped arguing with her friend some time outside of Bloom's notice, snatched her by the hair and pulled her painfully to her feet. "Hey, Pretty Boy! Catch!"

Bloom didn't realize what the witch was talking about until she'd kicked her off the balcony and sent her tumbling into thin air.

The world spun dizzyingly and confusedly, snatching away any logical thoughts Bloom could try forming to get her out of her current predicament and sending them off to the wind. Her heart was hammering and she was finding it all too difficult to take in enough oxygen.

"Where're your wings, fairy?!" Icy's mocking voice cut through both the sharp wind and the confusion of her downfall, but instead of making her feel as hopeless as the ice witch wanted her to feel, she felt the opposite as her conscious mind took on its own voice. "Yeah, fairy of the Dragon Fire—where are your wings?"

...except in a not sarcastic way.

And then that determination from last night came surging back tenfold. She wasn't going to die like this; being flung off a building like a comic book damsel and breaking against the concrete. No. She was going to get right back up there and stick it to those witches!

And then she was blinded, her descent slowing as the world faded and a familiar dragon tore from her chest. It wrapped around her, infusing her with power, energy, and strength before exploding in a flash of embers like all her other spells and leaving Bloom emerging from the flames like a butterfly from a cocoon.

Complete with a pair of fluttering wings.

Chapter Text

Glitter swam in Bloom's vision even after the blinding fiery light had faded, her body tingled and shook with eldritch energy she'd only felt briefly before, and as an invisible force slowly lowered her to the abandoned street below as she glanced at her quaking hands.

Her arms were covered in sheer blue fabric, and looking down she saw the strapless glittering crop top wrapped around her chest and the equally glittery blue mini skirt leaving her long legs exposed.

"Did I just…" Bloom whispered to herself as she lifted her leg slowly and pointed and flexed the brand new blue ankle booties that adorned them. Then, she glanced over her shoulder.

Translucent mid-sized butterfly wings greeted her, and when she touched them in awe, strange muscles that hadn't been there before instinctively flexed in her back and caused them to flutter briefly.

She had just transformed.

Euphoria lit up Bloom's insides and she grinned broadly, squealing and jumping up and down in place.

Oh god, oh god, oh god she couldn't believe this!

Bloom glanced up to check the reaction of her audience with happily shining eyes, seeing the stunned witches staring at her with varying degrees of "what the hell?" while Valtor's lips twitched upwards in a crooked smile.

"Huh," Darcy said, glancing at Icy and shrugging. "Guess she has wings after all."

"Whatever! We're kicking her booty anyway!" Stormy declared before shooting a bolt of lightning at Bloom. The excitement morphed into fear as Bloom yelped and leaped out of the way, her brand new wing muscles going crazy and sending her zooming backward through the air.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ah!" Bloom twisted her hips to the side to narrowly avoid a second lightning bolt and was sent careening to the right in a clumsy display of flailing limbs and screams of panic. A moment later she had crashed unceremoniously on her side against the street.

Of course, she'd have to learn how to fly too. Of course. This was just as hard as rollerblading, geez!

Bloom groaned in both embarrassment and pain as she sat up and began to rub the blooming bruise on her forearm, shrinking under the mocking laughter of the three witches.

"Aw, poor pixie," Icy cooed with a mocking tilt of her head and a cruel smirk. "Horrible with her winx and her wing—ack!" Icy went crashing against the side of a building as a beam of blue and violet slammed into her side.

Valtor hovered up to where she'd once been and clicked her tongue with his own brand of mockery. "Focus, this is a battle." Then, holding out a hand and creating a barrier against Darcy and Stormy's duel attack without even looking at them, he looked down at Bloom. "Remember; drive, intent, power. You have what it takes, Bloom, and it will be even easier for you in this form."

Bloom took in a deep breath and nodded firmly, giving her a mentor a thumbs up. "Got it, coach!"

He smiled in response before clenching the fist holding the barrier up and causing it to explode outwards. As Darcy and Stormy were thrown back with dual screams, he zoomed through the air to engage Icy.

Pushing herself to her feet with a grunt, Bloom's wings fluttered again and caused her to stagger and skid backward against the concrete with a cry of surprise. "Stop…fluttering!" She growled at the stupid things before clenching the new unfamiliar muscles tightly to halt their movement.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Bloom swiftly found that sporadically fluttering wings were the least of her problems. The wind picked up in a way that she was horribly familiar with now, and spinning around to find its source sadly confirmed her suspicions.

Stormy's hands were spread wide and a twister was slowly forming between them. "C'mere, pixie!" She cackled as the wind sucked Bloom forwards.

"Ah! Flutter, flutter, flutter, flutter!" She told her wings as she began moving the muscles behind her shoulder blades as fast as she could. She hovered stagnant in the air as she spat strands of her hair from her mouth and shoved some from her eyes—neither her wings nor the twister was overpowering the other.

Using the trick she had earlier, Bloom held out both hands and found herself pleasantly surprised when the barrier encasing her came about much swifter than it had outside of her fairy form. The pull from the twister disappeared and Bloom zipped backward again, crashing against a nearby billboard with a grunt and causing the barrier to dissipate.

"Okay, Bloom," she said to herself as she pressed her palms against the warm

electric advertisement and gingerly crab crawled down towards the metal railing. "Good. You're getting the hang of this!"

"Are you, now?" Darcy sneered from above Bloom as she appeared in a blast of purple with a dangerous smirk. Bloom's head snapped up and her eyes widened in panic before she gritted her teeth and shot her hand out, trying to create another barrier. But before she could call on that magic, Stormy had sent a bolt of lightning at her stomach while she wasn't looking.

Bloom cried out in pain and slammed against the billboard before falling forwards like a swatted fly. She struggled to get her wing muscles to flutter again as the gravity tugged her downwards, but they were twitching and pained from the lightning attack. Changing tactics, she then twisted her body so it faced upwards and clawed forwards through the air in an attempt to dig her nails into some sort of purchase on the ad.

No use, her boots slid and skidded against the smooth electric lighted surface and her fingers weren't having any luck either.

"I stand corrected again," Darcy said casually as she reappeared at Bloom's side and fell with her in a lounging position. Bloom squawked in surprise as Darcy continued with, "You don't have wings." She held a purple glowing palm up towards Bloom, but her attack plan was thwarted as Icy's body crashed atop her witch sister and sent them both careening out of control with yells of surprise.

A second later, Valtor swooped down and caught Bloom in his arms, raising an eyebrow at her. "A falling fairy. Now isn't that an ironic statement?"

Bloom blushed in embarrassment and hugged herself. "Ugh, sorry. I'm doing totally lame, aren't I?"

Valtor hummed. "I wouldn't say that. You're certainly better than most beginners."

Bloom turned back to him and smiled wanly.

"Of course, said beginners are usually between the ages of five and twelve."

Bloom's smile dropped into a scowl and she looked away again. "Jerk."

Valtor chuckled in amusement as he held Bloom closer to his chest to corkscrew out of the way of a barrage of icicles. "Jests aside, you're doing well for yourself so far. I expected nothing less of course, but at the moment I'll have to teach you lesson number two."

"'How to not suck at everything fairy 101?'" Bloom asked gloomily.

"No," Valtor said simply, taking one arm from beneath Bloom's legs to blast an energy beam at an approaching Stormy who dodged with a smug "ha!" "Offensive spells," Valtor said, frowning in annoyance at the storm witch before turning back to Bloom. "You won't survive without learning even the simplest of ones."

Bloom nodded before ducking a spell from Darcy. "Okay, how do I do that?"

"Similar to the shield spell, however instead of desiring for it to envelope you, you must keep the magic situated in your palm. For example." Valtor stopped flying around to hold his palm up for Bloom to see, then, an orb of magic grew slowly until it had reached the size of an apple. He then casually tossed it over his shoulder and smiled when a pained exclamation meant it had hit its mark.

"Now, are your wings working again?"

Bloom tested her weird new shoulder blade muscles and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good, I'm going to let you go now and I want you to show me stellar application." By letting go, Valtor apparently meant tossing her up into the air where Bloom squeaked in surprise and pinwheeled for a bit before gaining control of her muscles and fluttering jerkily in the air.

As the wizard zoomed off to engage Stormy and Darcy, Bloom was left with—eek!

Bloom quickly darted around a row of three icicles and quickly held out her arms to steady herself in the air. Icy laughed. "Wow, you really are a pathetic little pixie, aren't you?"

Bloom couldn't give a sassy retort, because Icy had whipped her and sent a horizontal shower of icicles after her. Wincing in anticipated pain at the sight, she quickly held up a barrier and sighed in relief as all the icicles—

Bloom gasped in horror as her shield began to freeze before shattering into millions of pieces that decorated the air before her in glittering diamonds.

"Aw. Fu—ah!" Bloom jerked left, then right, then right again, then ducked and spun around and lost her sense of direction as more icicles were hurled at her. Her stomach was tangled in knots and her wing muscles burned as she unceremoniously zipped around the projectiles.

One finally managed to slice her across the shin, and Bloom cried out in pain, pausing to glance down and hiss uncomfortably at the bleeding wound. A huge mistake, as she barely leaned back in time to avoid another icicle aimed at her face. As a result, she'd had to jerk her head back so fast that her neck stung in protest.

Then, if that wasn't enough, her body began to quake with a sudden chill and her limbs grew heavy. Glancing at her arm, Bloom gasped when she saw ice encasing both it and her other three limbs.

Gritting her teeth, Bloom fluttered her wings harder to fight the additional weight given to her by the magic spell creeping higher and higher up her body.

Icy laughed again, pressing a palm against her mouth in some sort of pretend show of decorum. "This is rich."

Bloom glared at her before looking around for Valtor, whimpering helpless when she saw him high in the clouds with the other two witches.

No. It was fine. She could get out of this.

Drive. Intent. Power.

"I don't know why anyone would bother teaching a hopeless loser like you," Icy continued as Bloom focused all her magic into her palms. The ice was slowly melting away, and Bloom felt a smile creeping onto her face.

Her body shook as something tingling and thick in texture shot itself through her veins. Suddenly, a vivid orange orb bloomed into existence beneath her skin, gaining vibrancy as Bloom poured more magic into it and focused on her determination.

Icy finally took notice, smirk dropping abruptly as she watched Bloom wide-eyed.

Bloom winked and thrust both hands in front of her, a blast of vivid white and glittering orange burning her vision and sending both her and Icy flying in opposite directions.

Strangely enough, a scream didn't even leave Bloom's lips—even as she tumbled through the air for the umpteenth time with no sense of direction. Something within her had unlocked, and her body was warm with magic and fire and—

CRASH.

Bloom's body slammed straight through the electric billboard, wires, glass, and sparks ricocheting and peppering her skin before her vision faded to black.

When she regained consciousness abound five seconds later, Valtor was there, eyes wide and lips parted in shock as he cradled her pounding head under a shower of sparks.

Bloom grinned blearily and held up a shaky thumbs-up. "That was...awesome."

Both Valtor and the two witches he was fighting had paused in their battle as a burst of vivacious fiery light exploded across the sky. As they turned in response to the sudden appearance of such power, they saw Icy and Bloom shoot off in opposite directions—Icy far worse for wear.

Darcy gasped and Stormy exclaimed, "Icy!" as the unconscious witch went plummeting.

Darcy disappeared and reappeared behind the falling body and grunted under the weight as Stormy flew down to meet her companions. "I knew this was a bad idea," the psychic witch crabbed before all three disappeared in a flash of magic from the battle scene.

Valtor was embarrassed in himself for feeling relieved. Fighting those witches had gotten him to wear his magic core and stutter his heart rate, and there was a disgusting level of sweat dotting his brow.

He'd just begun wiping said sweat away in disgust when an enormous CRASH sounded, spurring Valtor to flinch in surprise and whirl around to find its source. He then frowned as he saw his apprentice sprawled against the concrete of a building top, body still outlined in an orange glow.

It would be very obnoxious if she was dead, he felt. Thankfully, as he flew over to the building and lowered to the roof, he could see the rapid rise and fall of her chest. On top of which, she was still in her fairy form—an impossible feat for a corpse.

Landing among the shower of sparks, Valtor knelt and moved to cradle her head when he felt a sharp flash of magic ignite his own. His eyes widened and he gasped as the two energies within them twined together in an elaborate dance that had his nerves humming with strength.

Bloom's eyes fluttered open then, and she met his startled look with a shaky grin and a thumbs up. "That was awesome," She slurred before her fairy form melted off and returned her to her civilian clothes. "Wooo," she laughed like a tipsy woman and sighed with a smile. "Wait till I tell Mom and Dad I grew wings."

He blinked away the surprise and shook his head.

What an odd girl.

But Valtor supposed he should count his blessings—Bloom hadn't been scared off by this attack, nor had she been deterred, she'd seemed exhilarated and in turn, it was affecting his magic too.

As the redhead paced antsily around their magically replaced hotel room, Valtor busied himself with fixing the rest of the witch destroyed room. It brought a smile to his face, feeling just how easily the magic was flowing out of him after a frustratingly difficult battle with senior witches. Whatever had changed about Bloom's winx, he hoped it never faltered.

"I'm hungry," Bloom announced finally. "Can I order something downstairs?"

Valtor casually waved her off as he fixed the last of the room and leaned against the pillows in contemplation. Now that Bloom had gotten her fairy form, they could move on to getting what he wanted much, much sooner than he'd hoped. He'd just need to pick—

The room warmed with magic and Valtor's own flared in response. Blinking out of his musings, he turned to Bloom who'd transformed and was now admiring herself in the mirror with a grin.

Valtor raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to order lunch?"

"I am, I am! Thought I'd fly down, though," she said excitedly before throwing open the door and waving over her shoulder as she fluttered her wings "Be back in sec—eep!" The girl zipped rapidly to the side, and her scream and that of another could be heard, followed by the sound of clattering and "Sorry!"

Valtor smiled crookedly despite himself and scoffed at the situation. He would certainly have to help her with flight coordination.

The smile faded when the boost of magic did, however. His body lost its tingling sensation and the weariness from the battle returned. His eyes widened and he tried lighting a flame, only for it to splutter weakly in his gloved palm.

How was that even—? He stumbled to his feet and tried again, only for similar results to plague his gaze.

Without Bloom directly nearby could he truly be this pathetic?

Gritting his teeth, Valtor rose both hands, trying to command the furniture to rise. The beds, the television, the night tables and carpets all hovered a mere foot of the ground.

This was ridiculous.

With a strained grunt, Valtor dropped both of his glowing hands and slumped against the wall. With a loud and thunderous BANG, every bit of furniture hovering in the air crashed back down to the carpet.

He had once been able to explode planets with a snap of his fingers, send multiple spells within seconds during a duel, not feel like fainting after levitating a mere dozen items, not letting his heart race when he fought students! Snarling angrily, Valtor slammed the back of his fist against the wall and sent cracks spider webbing around the large crumbling wall dent.

A tentative knock sounded at the door. "Ah...sir? Is...everything alright?" A timid maid questioned.

"Perfectly fine, dear. Thank you," Valtor said, swiftly masking his agitation with himself with practiced charm and setting the room back to its original state with a wave of his hand. He needed something...something to enhance his powers before he lost his mind.

"Oh, hi! Is nobody in?" Valtor heard Bloom's muffled voice referring to the maid who seemed to be still there.

"I...think your roommate is having a drunken tantrum?"

Valtor scowled and strode over to the door, slipping his disguise on and throwing it open. "I was not," he said shortly. The woman squeaked and Bloom gave him a worried look behind wind-tousled red hair.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she questioned.

"I just said I wasn't having a drunken tantrum," he responded, glaring at the maid and memorizing her terrified face.

He was going to curse that blasted woman later tonight.

The maid smiled awkwardly and quickly scurried off as Bloom gave him a questioning look.

"If you must know I was practicing my magic," Valtor said as he re-entered the suite and shut the door telekinetically once Bloom had entered as well.

"Oh! How's that going?"

Valtor harrumphed.

Bloom winced. "Ouch." She then held out the tray she'd been carrying. "Spring roll knockoffs?"

Valtor's lips twitched as he let his disguise drop and took said "knock off spring roll". Though he wasn't sure if it was out of amusement or the rejuvenated hum his magic gave at her presence.

"Icy, I really think—"

"No."

"But—"

"I said, no, Stormy."

Stormy scowled from her bed with crossed arms as Darcy rubbed more salve over Icy's wounds. "I'm with Stormy, Icy. These look pretty bad—"

"If we go to the infirmary they'll ask questions, idiots!" Icy snapped, wincing as Darcy added a handful more cream to her back. "This is an us problem."

Darcy sighed as she twirled a finger, bandages falling from the tip like ribbon and wrapping around Icy's body. "Hate to say I told you so—"

"You live for those words, Darcy," Icy sneered, shoving a long blue sweater on to cover the bandages as soon as they'd finished wrapping.

"I mean sure, I like being right—who doesn't? But losing battles suck too, you know. Especially this badly."

"Where'd that power come from anyway?" Stormy demanded with a huff. "One minute she can barely fly straight and the next she's knocking Icy unconscious with a single blast?"

"That's what I've been wondering too," Icy muttered with a musing frown. "Another thing I noticed is how similar those two's energy is— her and that smug goth guy I mean."

"What if—"

"We forget about them and focus on our assignment?" Darcy cut Stormy off and ignored her glare. "No more talk of them until they're relevant to us again, got it?"

Stormy rolled her eyes and said, "Fine."

Icy harrumphed and nodded silently in agreement as well, her thoughts still curiously circling around the polar opposite duo.

In all but magic cores, it seemed.

...very powerful ones at that.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Brandon asked Bloom with a frown as she yawned for the fifth time that morning.

"Huh? No, no, I wanna—yawn—I wanna still ride a dragon," Bloom responded, although she knew she sounded unconvincing as she stared heavily-lidded at the swiftly passing by landscape while using Brandon's shoulder as a pillow.

"What have you been doing for the past few days?" Brandon asked, looking over his shoulder with a frown and worried look in his eyes that Bloom could see even behind his tinted helmet visor.

"Blowing myself up, falling from buildings—yawn—getting electrocuted and frozen and—"

"What?"

"I guess it all caught up to me today—this place is super dangerous," she sighed before smiling wanly. "Is it weird that even after that, coming here and getting beat up every day either because of training or witches, meeting you and Valtor…I think it's been the best week of my life?"

"Who's Valtor?"

Bloom's eyes widened and she inhaled sharply. Oh crap, crap, crap, crap, crap—

"I...didn't—say that…"

Goddamnit, Bloom.

"Uh, I think you did?"

"No, no! I said, uh—Baltor? Yeah, his name's Baltor."

"Oh," Brandon said. Bloom felt that he bought it, as he didn't press the issue of what he did or didn't hear and repeated, "Who's he?"

"My mentor and chaperone," Bloom said, sagging slightly in relief. Crisis averted! "You met him when you ran into me before, remember?"

"...wasn't his name Mike?"

FU— "Uh…no? That's just his—last name. We didn't know each other that well then so I just called him by his last name, yup! Kinda like in Harry Potter."

"Who's Harry Potter?"

"Agh! Sorry, I'm just...really really tired. I don't even know what I'm saying."

Brandon chuckled as the Red Fountain campus loomed over them and he cruised into the main plaza. "Hey, no worries! But dang, Baltor Mike. That's…that's kind of rough."

Bloom giggled. "Don't let him hear you say that."

Brandon laughed back. "I'll keep that in mind!"

Bloom smiled again and waited for the bike to stop fully before stepping off, removing her helmet, and stretching with a wince and yet another yawn.

"First Battle Bruises," Valtor had called them when she woke up a groaning mess that morning. "You were bound to get them eventually in this world."

"I got bruises all the time on Earth, they never hurt this bad!" Bloom complained.

"Yes well, I imagine falling off a bike is in a fairly lesser league than crashing through an electric billboard," Valtor said. "Of course that is only theoretical; I've never done either."

Bloom had snorted then. "You've never ridden a bike before?"

"I have not."

"Can you even say you had a childhood?" She teased.

Valtor had simply rolled his eyes and announced he was going to take a bath.

"Hey, Brandon! Who's the pretty girl?"

Bloom's eyes snapped open in surprise and she turned to her side to see three guys walking towards the two of them through the plaza. It was filled with boys in matching uniforms either chatting against the school walls, sitting with their girlfriends atop the central fountain, or play sparring with super cool looking Star Wars-esque weapons. One had brown hair and an easy smile, the other had carrot-colored hair and a pair of square glasses he was adjusting on his nose and the third had high purple hair and a brooding scowl on his face.

"Don't tell me," Purple Hair sneered as he stopped before them with crossed arms. "You mean to tell me you let us do the chores all on our own so you could go taking girls on a joyride again?"

Bloom frowned. Wow, jerk much?

"Give him some slack, Riven," The brown-haired guy said with a teasing grin as he looped an arm around Brandon's neck. "It's not every day Brandon brings back a gorgeous maiden. She must be really special—I mean he's been talking about her non-stop all week." He gave Bloom a wink and she couldn't stop the flustered flush from lighting her cheeks up as Brandon looked away and flushed too.

"Still...Riven is technically right," Glasses Guy said disapprovingly. "You know how Codatora can get when the teams don't work together—and him aside, an extra pair of hands would have been helpful."

Bloom winced. "I'm sorry, Brandon. I didn't think I was intruding on your school life...kinda dumb of me now that I think—"

"Hey, don't worry!" Brandon said quickly with a kind smile. "School is out today for the ball tonight and the chores in question were easy things to take care of. I don't mind."

"I think you missed the fact that we do!" Riven snapped, jabbing a thumb against his chest firmly.

"Chill, dude," The brown-haired guy said placatingly as he detached himself from Brandon and gripped Riven's shoulders firmly.

Riven jerked sharply out of his grasp and stormed off, grumbling under his breath. He shoved one boy who was glancing curiously at him and he toppled backward into the fountain with a scream.

"What's his problem?" Bloom asked with a scowl and crossed arms.

"Sorry about that...he's a bit rough around the edges but he's a good guy, honest!" Glasses Guy said with a smile. "I'm Timmy, by the way."

Bloom smiled back and shook his offered hand. "I'm Bloom, nice to meet you."

"Prince Sky," The Brown Haired guy said and Bloom shook his hand too, before gasping in shock.

"You're a prince? An actual prince? No way!"

"Never seen a prince before?" Prince Sky asked curiously.

"Bloom lived on Earth her whole life, and you don't really see royalty every day there," Brandon explained.

"Ah, gotcha! Well, it's not a big deal really. No honorifics or bowing, please—they're weird. The jerk is Riven." Bloom made mental note of this information as she tried not to gawk excitedly. A prince! Wow! This really was the best week of her life!

"So! Dragon Riding, eh? Why would a fairy like you care to ride one?" Sky asked conversationally.

"How do you even know she's a fairy?" Timmy asked and Sky laughed in response.

"Timmy, Timmy, my man—Brandon's not dumb enough to go for a witch."

Brandon shuddered and made an exaggeratedly unpleasant face. "No thank you. I wouldn't date a witch if she was the last girl in The Magical Dimension!" He and Sky burst into laughter at the joke while Timmy forced a weak one of his own. Bloom couldn't blame him; sure her first run-in with witches was pretty scummy but what Brandon and Sky said sounded kinda...

It was something she immediately decided to call out. "Witches can't all be bad, right?" Bloom asked with a frown. Brandon coughed away the last of his laughter and gave Bloom a confused look while Sky snickered.

"Uh, yeah!" the brunette prince said. "You clearly haven't met any before, being from Earth and all."

"I have met witches before, thanks."

"And how was your experience?" Sky pressed with a raised eyebrow.

Bloom looked away and rubbed her arm. "Not...good." Understatement of the century really.

"You see?"

"But that doesn't necessarily mean—"

"Hey, it's okay, Bloom!" Brandon said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and forcing a laugh. "We were just kidding around! Honest. Of course, not every witch is a—"

"Bitch?" Sky finished with another snicker and Brandon smothered another laugh with his fist.

The uncomfortable feeling in her stomach didn't dissipate as she cleared her throat and forced a smile. "Uh...so dragon-riding, yeah?"

"Just like we planned!" Brandon agreed with a smile as he led Bloom with a hand on her back towards the dragon pens. The conversation brought up next was thankfully a bit more palatable for Bloom as Sky and Brandon began rating the looks of the Alfea girls.

…keyword on a bit more palatable.

Bloom let out a breath, she forgot that teenage boys were very different from brooding dinosaur wizards.

The ground shifted into the sand as they entered the dragon pens, multiple Red Fountain boys already up in the sky and cheerfully whooping or gliding with significant others on their laps. Brandon led her to a stable with a white dragon sniffing curiously at her and she smiled, rubbing under his chin. "Hey, gorgeous."

"He likes you," Timmy said in surprise. "Usually Artemis isn't too kind to strangers."

Bloom pressed her cheek against the dragon's face and gave him a dramatic narrow of her eyes. "Call me the Dragon Whisperer."

Brandon laughed lightly before saying, "Stand back, let me take him out."

Bloom watched eagerly as the boys all saddled the dragon, and grinned excitedly when Brandon finally turned to her and gestured her forwards with a tilt of his head. After helping her onto the saddle, Brandon leaped up behind her and reached forwards for the reins.

"So! You hold the reins like this...right! And you put your feet here…yup! And then to go you just—AH!" Artemis swooped into the air on powerful legs when Bloom kicked at his sides as instructed. A delighted whoop left her lips as the wind combed through her hair and her adrenaline went wild.

Ooh, she was definitely awake now!

"Sorry!" Bloom called over her shoulder with a slight giggle as Artemis slowed to an easy glide and she took in Brandon's wide-eyed panting face. "As you probably figured out during our tour—"

"You like going fast," Brandon finished with a good-natured laugh. "Should've known that didn't just apply to bikes. I can see an adrenaline junkie like you becoming one of the fastest fliers in The Magic Dimension when you get your wings."

Bloom grinned. "I actually did get my wings, yesterday!"

"No way, really? Congrats!"

"Thanks! I just gotta get good at flying next," Bloom said sheepishly as she lightly patted one of the dragon's leathery wings. "I'm not good at it like this guy."

"Hey, practice makes perfect; that's what Baltor Mike's there for, right?"

A held-in laugh puffed Bloom's cheeks and caused her to double over slightly. Oh, he was going to kill her. "Pretty much," she said, not quite being able to stop an amused giggle from coming out. "There's also this girl on this world's version of video blogging called—eek!" Artemis reared up suddenly as another dragon swooped directly under him. Bloom's slack grip on the reins failed completely and she crashed back into Brandon, causing the two to topple backward through the sky.

The two shared a panicked screaming session before Bloom remembered her wings and desperately went mental diving for her winx. Just like the previous two times, her gaze burned with fiery white light and her veins tingled with magic as she felt her clothes burn away before feeling warmth constrict around her chest, waist, and feet.

Gasping as the fiery cocoon exploded in a shower of sparkles, her (unfortunately sore) wing muscles shifted into place just as the still screaming Brandon crashed into her chest.

"Sorry!" She grunted as her wings fluttered vigorously and she struggled under his weight. "But hey look! See, told you I got my wings!"

Brandon looked up at her and gave another one of his good-natured chuckles. "Y-yeah. I can see that. Thank The Dragon, huh?"

Suddenly, Artemis swooped towards them with a squawk that sounded almost concerned, and with a grunt and relived sigh, Bloom lowered Brandon back onto his saddle.

"Sorry, Brandon, Other Girl!" The dragon rider from before called sheepishly.

Bloom gave him a friendly smile and wave as Brandon said, "Don't worry about it, bud!"

"You're a seriously friendly guy," Bloom commented as she fluttered beside Brandon and Artemis while they continued to glide, before frowning slightly. "I...suppose except towards witches."

Brandon winced. "Look…about that, I know it sounds bad, but we were just joking around, really! Of course, I have no problem with witches.

"It's just…us, Cloud Tower, and Alfea have this little rivalry going on. So we make jokes about them, just like they're probably making jokes about us."

"Oh. So it's just a school rivalry thing?" Bloom checked.

"Absolutely!" Brandon insisted.

Bloom supposed that wasn't too bad in that case. She knew a thing or two about school rivalries back in Gardenia with those stupid preppy Floria High—

…yeah okay, she got it.

"Okay," Bloom smiled as she flew behind Artemis and lowered herself into the saddle behind Brandon. "Yeah, I get it now."

As she reined in her magic and subsequently lost her wings, Brandon sighed in relief as he grinned at her over his shoulder. "I'm glad. I have a hunch you wouldn't want to go out with a bigot."

Bloom frowned. "Go out?"

Brandon's face burned. "I-I mean—! Okay, well Alfea has this ball annually at the start of a new school year, and um…you're allowed to bring a plus one. I wanted to—I mean I was wondering if you'd like to go with me? P-platonically if you want. There's a lot of interesting people there that you can also talk to too; kids of generals, politicians, even some royalty like Sky! So…if you're interested…"

Ooh, Bloom really wanted to go to her first Fairy Ball and meet other faries like her, and if Brandon was going to platonically ask her not-in-the-dating-headspace self out then who was she to refuse?

She grinned and Brandon slumped in relief again as he grinned back. "I take that as—AH!"

Artemis reared up again, though this time, Bloom had found purchase—Brandon's waist—and he kept a firm grasp on the reins.

"Sorry! Again!"

"Geez, Ricki!" Brandon complained as Bloom laughed mostly to herself.

Dragon riding road rage.

She loved this place.

"I'm sorry, I must not have heard you correctly…this is how much?"

The shop clerk scratched his neck awkwardly before saying, "Well, sir, it's quite a rare—"

"This is pixie magic," Valtor snapped, slamming the orb against the table and ignoring the elderly man's wince of discomfort. "They practically sell these for lint anywhere else!"

The man laughed awkwardly. "Decades ago maybe, nobody's selling pixie magic for cheap nowadays—not since they went awol on us after the…" he paused and cleared his throat. "Well…y'know."

Valtor narrowed his eyes. "No. I don't."

"Welp, blame your crappy cable, pal, 'cause that is thing-that-shall-not-be-named territory."

Valtor rolled his eyes and moved away from the checkout desk, eyes browsing the small hob housed shop for anything else that could be useful. Pixie magic was versatile and could adapt to just about any powerhouse. If there was one thing that could've gotten him—

He stumbled against a bookshelf with a gasp and gripped the shelves tight to regain his blurred vision.

"Uh…sir?"

"I'm fine."

The fight with those obnoxious Cloud Tower witches had, like Bloom, affected him far more once the adrenaline had worn off than in the heat of the moment. He felt almost as horrible as he did whence escaping Omega almost a week prior.

He needed magic, but Bloom was gone and he didn't have the energy to commit even a petty robbery. Cursing under his breath, he took up another pixie stone and placed it next to the one he'd initially refused to buy, pausing as he glanced at the trinket basket next to the register.

"Oh uh...good luck charms!" The man said eagerly. "Made with leprechaun gold and doused in unicorn magic."

"Let me guess," Valtor sneered. "They're triple the price than they were a decade ago because the leprechauns and the unicorns disappeared into the night thanks to a horrible event of unspecified origin."

The man blushed. "A-and the bracelet chain is sold separately."

Valtor stared intently at the man, enough time for him to squirm and sweat in discomfort.

"What is your name?" Valtor asked finally.

"D-Dedrick, sir."

"You will turn up missing, Dedrick."

"I-I-I can throw in the chain for free!" He squawked.

Valtor smiled and nodded. "That would be appreciated, thank you," he said as he plucked an orb-shaped charm detailed with vines and roses and dropped it beside the pixie stones. He was in far too bad of a mood to use smooth words to get his way…besides, it wasn't every day one bumped into a magicless waste of sperm in Magix. Why expend precious energy on false flattery when you could cow them into submission instead?

"That'll be…erm…one hundred fifty spangles, sir."

"One hundred fifty spangles," Valtor grumbled under his breath as he dropped the opalescent coins on the counter—one pure white, five warm copper. Absolute rip-off this was; once he was strong enough to get away with it, Dedrick was absolutely going to turn up missing.

As Valtor exited the shop, he checked the time on a nearby street clock. Five minutes before Bloom and Bad Bang Boy would show up at the diner they'd agreed upon; he could get there by then.

In the meanwhile, as he strolled, he took out one of the small, semi-transparent orbs from his coat pocket and rolled it in his palms. Something so terrible that magical creatures turned heel and ran away from civilization? Oh, he had quite the hunch of what that event was, and while it did fill him with some pride that destroying Sparx had caused such a lingering effect on people…

He narrowed his eyes and squeezed the cosmic stone in his hand. Blame the bad cable for not knowing, not ignorant parents, or poor history books, or poorly researched web articles.

Did they want to forget what happened at Sparx? It certainly explained why those witches hadn't remembered him. But if that was the case...why?

Ah, well. He supposed it was better this way—albeit annoying that his magnum opus was being brushed under the rug. If it was illegal to talk about for older people and thus completely unknown to the younger generation, there was no way for Bloom to find out sooner than she needed to.

And with this little bauble—he patted the bracelet beneath his glove and smiled lightly—luck would hopefully be even further on his side.

Leaning against the diner windows, Valtor sighed as he crushed the orb in his palm. The magic sank beneath his flesh and twined with his core, perking him to the slightest degree but…at the end of the day these things were used for light effects at birthday parties—they wouldn't give him much energy despite that ridiculous price.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he was finding some powerful artifact to suck the energy out of.

As he crushed the second orb, he felt a surge of energy explode through him. At first, he'd stupidly assumed there was more magic in this pixie stone than the previous one, but then a familiar bike slowed to a stop before him. Bloom pulled off her helmet and shook her hair out before beaming at Valtor and waving. Valtor smiled mildly and held up a hand in return greeting as Brandon said, "Hey! Baltor Mike, right?"

Valtor's smile disappeared immediately as Bloom clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her laughter and Brandon continued with, "You look…different."

"I beg your pardon?" Valtor demanded, not having recovered with the abysmal title he had just been given. Baltor Mike? Bloom's laughter burst through her palm and she began laughing openly as Brandon straightened quickly.

"Sorry, sir! I didn't mean to off—a-anyway, see you tonight, Bloom?" He said, pulling up his visor to smile at her.

"Yup!" Bloom said with a wave as Brandon grinned, replaced his visor, and zoomed off into the traffic.

The logical thing to do was question what the boy meant by, "see you tonight", but instead as soon as Bloom got near enough he demanded, "Baltor Mike?"

Bloom snorted as she smoothed her wind swept hair. "Baltor Mike. Ha."

"Bloom," he said seriously as he leaned towards her so he could see the seriousness in his gaze. "Baltor. Mike."

"Okay, so, I kinda slipped up and said your name, and I know your being hunted by some power snatchers. So I panicked and said the first thing that came to mind, but then he remembered I called you Mike when we first met and I had to use the excuse that I was actually calling you by your last name…" she took in a deep breath before wiggling her fingers dramatically towards him. "And voila. Baltor Mike was born."

Valtor's eye twitched as he turned sharply on his heel and stormed into the diner.

Baltor Mike. Ugh.

He needed his full power back more than ever now.

"Soooo," Bloom said as Valtor found a seat and dropped down unceremoniously. Baltor Mike. "With you being mad at me for your disguise name…I guess you wound't mind me going out for the night?"

Ah yes. The other thing the boy had said. Well, anything to get his mind off…eugh.

"You teenagers certainly move fast these days," Valtor commented as he picked up the menu resting on the table and scanned it. "Two outings and suddenly he's asking you on a date."

"Oh, it's not a date, date," Bloom said. "We're going out as friends."

Valtor snorted.

"It's true!"

"That boy is smitten. A blind man could see it," Valtor drawled just as the waitress came and took their order.

Bloom gave her menu to the woman as she sighed. "Yeah, he seems interested. But I'm not really looking for a boy right now; Andy was a bit...rough," she winced. "But if he tries to…y'know kiss me or something I'll let him know. I think he knows, he's the one to offer a platonic version of this outing in the first place."

"And this outing consists of…?" Valtor raised an eyebrow as Bloom suddenly grew mildly nervous.

"Okay, I admit I didn't think this through and I am now just realizing…"

"Nothing excites the girls like a party—especially one including the strapping fellows from Red Fountain!" Valtor tensed sharply as the all too familiar voice assaulted his eardrums, and slowly his gaze found the TV just above their table.

An elderly woman was walking with a reporter through a large hallway filled with girls around Bloom's age. Her cheerful eyes were framed with square glasses and she spoke in a pleasant and polite manner. "We hope that this ball will give our girls and the Red Fountain Boys a chance to relax before the school year and simultaneously forge unbreakable bonds with one another."

Faragonda.

Valtor felt bile crawling up his throat as he gripped the table cloth beneath tightening fists and the diner's temperature began to steadily climb.

The cameras cut to another news reporter. "Now, let's see what the freshies of Alfea have to say!"

Several excited girls were then promptly asked simple questions; "What are you most excited for?" "Do you dance?" "Is there a special boy you're excited to see?"

"I'm not looking for a boy," A pretty blonde girl smirked proudly before tossing her long hair. "They have to look for me."

"Ooh, I'm so sure a boy will be looking for a dropout!" a voice snickered out of eye-shot and the girl gave a dirty look beyond the camera.

The video switched back to Faragonda.

The TV exploded a moment later.

Several shrieks of fear and surprise sounded throughout the diner, and Bloom, who'd apparently leaned forwards in an effort to shake him out of his stupor, jolted back into her seat with a strangled gasp and pressed a hand against her oddly glowing chest.

Valtor took in a shuddering breath and blinked away the rage from his gaze as he watched the phenomenon curiously. Suddenly, the waitress dashed back towards them and ushered them to a new table.

"Hey…you okay?" Bloom asked worriedly as they settled in another table and the glow in Bloom's chest dissipated.

"Fine," Valtor said dully. Oh yes, he just saw the women who took everything from him for the first time in 17 years—of course he was fine! Why wouldn't he be?

Bloom frowned in clear disbelief, so Valtor cleared his throat and said, "The outing, what were you saying?" behind her, he could see what was presumably a technology fairy fixing the television.

"Valtor…"

"Bloom."

"Look, are you sure you're okay? That was some magic—"

Valtor batted a hand through the air. "I blew up a television. Nobody cares about their longevity with technology faries a plenty; they'll break if you breathe on them wrong."

Bloom's frown didn't dissipate and Valtor sighed. "I am fine, Bloom. This outing you were speaking of?"

Bloom bit her lip and looked away. "Erm…well it was that ball you saw on the TV…but."

Valtor clenched his jaw tightly and narrowed his eyes as Bloom quickly said, "It's fine! I don't have to go. I know that you feel…very very strongly about the school. I just was kind of interested in going to a fairy ball and um…well Brandon said I could actually meet fairy princesses there…"

Princesses.

Valtor's jaw unclenched and his frown became contemplative.

Yes…that's right. There were children of high repute at Alfea, basking in the glow of…that women's…promise of safety and protection. Stealing from Alfea's vaults was suicide at this point, but stealing from pathetic teenagers drunk on spiked fruit punch?

There were many princesses whose powers were tied to their family heirlooms—the Sceptre of the Lunas, the Barrette of Callisto, and the Jewel of Isis to name but a few. As a result…they would undoubtedly have them within reach…

He began drumming his fingers against the table in excitement as the gears in his heads began to whir. But stealing something as powerful and important as the above mentioned wasn't exactly free of consequence either…he couldn't just swipe them, he needed to replace them with something that could serve as a good enough decoy to last for as long as possible.

"Hello? Valtor?" Bloom said with a frown."You zoned out again. Hey, I told you if you don't want me to go—"

"Yes."

Bloom blinked twice in surprise. "Huh?"

"Yes. You can go."

"Wha—I—oh my God, really?" Bloom exclaimed excitedly, pausing to say thank you as the waitress returned with their orders—fries for her and a bowl of soup for him. "You mean it? Seriously?"

"Well after yesterday, you may need a reminder of the…less dangerous side of the Magic Dimension. Now, what time does it start?" Valtor inquired.

"8:30?"

"That's plenty of time," Valtor said approvingly.

Bloom nibbled on a fry as she tilted her head to the side. "Time for what?"

"Well, dress shopping of course."

"Oh!" Bloom jumped in her seat, causing the fry to fall from her mouth and onto her top, splattering ketchup across her chest. "Dang, I forgot about a dress!"

"You were going to a ball without a dress?"

Bloom flushed and ducked her head. "I was going to remember...eventually." she then took the fry from her cropped shirt and plopped it into her mouth, either not noticing or not caring about the wince of disgust Valtor made. "There's dress shops in Magix, right?"

"Of course," Valtor agreed, taking a napkin from his coat pocket and handing it to her to wipe the ketchup stain. "And I know just the place to find you a truly eyecatching dress." And a competent jeweler while he was at it.

"Dress shopping" in the world of Bloom and Valtor apparently meant a desperate battle of tastes.

Bloom had gravitated to more manageable dresses—simple cotton dresses with spaghetti straps, halter dresses that brushed the knees, patterned dresses with calf-length slits. Valtor was more interested in things that Bloom felt far too plain to fit in, mermaid gowns that shimmered, ball gowns the size of cakes, asymmetrical gowns with animated butterflies fluttering on them.

He'd finally found a dress that he suggested she just try. Try, and if she really hated it they could go for one of her "That is drier than a bowl of Solarian sun-dried oatmeal sitting in the bowels of a dehydrated sand slug." options.

It was a pretty dress for sure; made of glistening cyan blue fabric that shifted to shades of purple when it caught the light at certain angles and translucent sleeves that puffed around her arms. But that was the issue, it was too "wow!" and the sweetheart neckline was giving her the slightest bit of anxiety when it came to her chest.

She adjusted the neckline gingerly before sighing and calling out, "Okay! I'm ready!" Taking in a deep breath, she opened the changing room door and spread her arms out with an awkward "Ta-da!" Only for there to be nobody there.

"V—Baltor!" Bloom complained as she hunched slightly into herself and scanned the area for her vanished mentor. She found him by a jewelry booth, talking—no, arguing with the woman manning it.

Frowning curiously, Bloom hiked up her dress and padded her way across the patterned carpet. Once closer, she could hear what the two were angrily hissing about.

"Sir, that simply isn't possible."

"I disagree."

"I'm sorry, are you a jeweler?"

Valtor chuckled darkly. "No. I am, however—"

"Baltor?"

Valtor tensed and spun around to face her, a smile immediately falling into place. "Bloom," he said, before nodding approvingly. "You look radiant."

"Thanks," Bloom said with a sheepish smile. "It's a very nice dress but I…erm, I don't think it's for me?"

Valtor frowned and titled his head to the side. "Well, why not?"

"I was thinking—well I don't think I can actually pull this off."

"You pull this off spectacularly," Valtor insisted before turning to the jeweler. "Isn't she beautiful?"

The jeweler gave him a confused look before turning to Bloom with a smile. "You do look, lovely dear."

Bloom hummed as she turned away from the two and faced the floor-length mirror separating the booth from another column of gowns and dresses. Again...the dress was stunning, but the elegance was all but ruined by her perpetually messy red hair and acne-ridden face. She sighed and hugged herself again. "I'm not…I don't know…"

"She's a bit nervous, see," Valtor told the woman. "It's her first ball."

The woman frowned sympathetically and sighed. "Oh yes, I remember my first ball. I slaved away for months trying to get every detail right and exact."

"So you understand why I need this tonight?" Valtor questioned, and from the mirror, she watched as he turned to fully face her and frown sympathetically as well—a far cry from the seeming frustration he was exuding just before. "Everything simply has to be perfect."

Bloom turned to look at them both curiously, and the woman smiled at her. "Ah, okay. Why not?" She pressed a glowing violet finger to her temple as she walked off, eyes closed in seeming concentration and lips moving subtly.

"What was all that about?" Bloom asked curiously as she walked towards a very pleased-looking Valtor.

"I couldn't very well let you have your debut without giving you any jewelry, now could I?" Valtor smiled and patted her shoulder fondly.

"You didn't have to," Bloom said but felt a strong wave of flattery anyway. She seriously struck gold when she saved him back in Gardenia. "I mean thanks, this is super sweet but—"

"A princess deserves the very best," he said, and Bloom blushed this time.

"Okay, stop. I don't look that good."

"You've captured the attention of a suitor on your first meeting," Valtor said with raised eyebrows. "Surely that has to say something of your beauty."

Bloom's face was just about as red as her hair at that point, and she mumbled a flustered thanks as she tucked her head in bashfully.

Valtor chuckled good-naturedly and lead her by her shoulder blade. "Come, while we wait, we can look for appropriate heels for you."

"Oh—um," Bloom cleared her throat and rubbed the blush from her cheeks as she said, "Nothing over an inch."

Valtor rolled his eyes. "Anything an inch or lower hardly constitutes for a—"

"Ah!" Bloom held up a hand of authority. "Nothing over an inch."

Valtor pressed his lips together before sighing and conceding with a nod. "I'm going to dress you properly one of these days, and you will love it."

"Hey, you already got to pick the dress, let me be boring now."

"Fine," He said, and the dramatics in which he said it made Bloom smile.

Bloom had then gushed over entering her first-ever magical bookshop. She had, per Valtor's suggestion, been allowed to run off and find a spellbook she found interesting.

She'd found five.

All that left was a good half-hour spent trying (and failing) to tame her unruly hair.

"Ugh!" Bloom growled, glaring at the hairbrush now littered in red tufts. "You useless—!" She shrieked in surprise as the brush exploded into flame and promptly turned to ash, spilling onto the bathroom tile.

Huffing she tried with the comb. After trying and failing with said comb, she'd strode over for some sort of magical intervention to her currently internet browsing mentor.

"This is a little spell I learned in Isis. As you can see…" he gestured to his own hair. "It works wonders."

Bloom watched from the sink mirror as he pressed his gloved fingertips across her forehead, gasping in awe as they lit up lightly with magic. Moments later, he dragged them through her hair in one swift motion.

"Oh…" Bloom breathed in awe as her hair ignited in vivid light before dimming and gently falling against her face in enchantingly glossy waves. "This is…wow."

"Why yes, it's quite something, isn't it?" He said with a pleased smile. "It's one of my favourite Dimensions for a reason; remind me to take you one day."

"Uh-huh," Bloom said dazedly as she poked her reflection and smiled weakly. She felt…well she liked how this felt.

"Now for the finishing touch, the jewelry I had commissioned for you," Valtor said before holding out his hand. "Wrist?"

Bloom turned from her reflection to Valtor, and offered her hand curiously. With a snap of his fingers, a bracelet braided silver and decorated with a single orb charm appeared on her wrist.

"Ooh! A friendship bracelet!" Bloom said, holding up her arm for a better look and grinning. "Thanks a lot."

"It was actually a good luck charm—to stop you from attracting witches, you see—" Bloom rolled her eyes playfully as he continued. "But you may interpret it as you wish. Now, it's almost eight-fifteen and I predict your date will be calling for you soon."

"You won't be too bored when I'm gone, will you?" Bloom asked half-teasingly.

Valtor's lips twitched. "I'll manage."

There was some sort of…dark excitement in his voice that she couldn't quite place.

There was an art to robbery, and in even greater precision needed when stealing important heirlooms under the nose of a powerful foe.

You needed plans all the way up to Z, a lengthy arsenal of spells, a lay of the land, and a narrow minded unflinching target and goal with a dash of luck to tie it all together.

Two of the above Valtor hadn't time for, and while his spell knowledge was great his current magical state was a whole other issue. Then there was the fact that his last bit of luck was going to be given to Bloom in order to cover his bluff.

Blasted jeweler woman.

So all he had was determination and a target. Those weren't at all hard to find as he would do just about anything to feel even the slightest bit less vulnerable and Miss Stella of Solaria was a very public person.

Typing in the "Alfea" tag on Flitter had her posts appearing at the very top.

The first was a picture of the blonde striking a pose in front of the school plaza with her lips puckered, captioned:

Second time's the charm! #Alfea, #Stella'sBackBabies!

"Gotten that heir you so desperately wanted, Radius?" Valtor muttered to himself with a smile as he clicked her profile. "Good for you, good for you."

He was pleased to find what he was looking for, a map of her dorm in the form of a dozen more selfies. Of course he didn't exactly know if she was going to bring her ring or not, but planning for both scenarios was vital.

"That girl kind of looks familiar," Bloom commented over his shoulder, comb stuck in her hair as she peered curiously at the computer screen.

"The over-sharing Princess of Solaria," Valtor explained. "Nevertheless, she would be a rather helpful asset and getting you to learn more about this world."

"Aw, you're making me a potential friends list?"

"Of course. If I leave you to your own devices you'll enchant another Brandon out of the gutter."

Bloom rolled her eyes playfully. "Why do you keep bullying him?"

"He's doomed me to the name Baltor Mike," Valtor said by way of explanation as Bloom snickered in amusement. "Now, would you like help with you hair?"

Bloom being a conversational distraction was a precaution in case the ring wasn't with the Princess and he needed to break into her dorm instead. Of course he needed distractions for the other dorm mates as well, (that Stella had also been kind enough to reveal) and tossing his protege would only stick so long as he hadn't overestimated the princess's vanity and his students's starry-eyed wonder for any information about magic, no matter how trivial.

Valtor sighed to himself as the Red Fountain boy's scream cut off abruptly as the portal that had opened beneath his feet sealed shut. He, unfortunately, didn't have the time to craft a perfectly insolated plan—had he known just a day sooner—

Ah, no matter. He'd done tougher things on the fly.

Valtor took the boy's form and sped walked to catch up with the other throng of boys. Close enough that he didn't look too suspicious, but not too close so that he wasn't dragged into some idiotic conversation about piss competitions and cup sizes.

Although he'd made precautions by sinking his magic deep into his core to avoid most detection, and was prepared to taint any technology he came across, he was unsurprised that there was no extra security as the guards standing before the open ballroom doors gestured them in. They really did foolishly believe Faragonda could protect them forever without fail.

He almost felt pity for them. Almost.

Despite that, there was a level of unease that stirred within him as he set foot on the marble floors of Alfea. He shoved his magic further away from his flesh and inhaled deeply.

Anxiety was his least favourite emotion, especially since it meant that there were blind spots on his game board. But also because it made the chandeliers too bright, and the bodies too close together and—

Focus, focus. He was Valtor for crying out loud, he'd aided in the destruction of the most powerful kingdom in all the realms and laid waste to countless more. That didn't change simply because he had less magic and Faragonda was nearby—just out of reach at a high table with a bright smile as she watched the crowd and—

She didn't look at him, did he? Though her expression didn't change…had he done a poor job at hiding his magic? Had—?

"Hey, man," a brown-haired Red Fountain boy patted him firmly on the shoulder and smiled. "No need to be nervous—never danced a day in my life either."

Quickly pulling himself out of his musings for now and slipping into his teenage persona, Valtor laughed awkwardly and looked away in faux shame. "That's not it. I have danced, I'm just terrible at it. I'm going to break some poor girl's toes for sure."

The boy gave him a squeeze and chuckled sympathetically. "Chin up bud," and in a lower voice added, "I hear through the grapevine that the snack table's where it's at anyway."

Ah, as he'd hoped.

"Sky, hey! We gotta bring in the party favors!" A voice called to Valtor's companion.

The boy—Sky—groaned. "Get off my back, Greg!" He complained as he stormed off to complete the task anyway. "I just got here!"

"Next time come on time!" The voice named Greg scoffed back.

'Focus,' he relayed to himself once more as he took in a final deep breath and scanned the crowd of students. It wasn't hard to spot Bloom having the time of her life as Brandon took her through a waltz.

"Wow, you can dance!" She complimented as they twirled passed the snack table Valtor was leaning on.

Brandon shrugged and smiled. "Hey, squires pick fancy stuff up sometimes."

A squire? He wasn't even a random nobody? He was a proud servant?

His plan to make her a friend list was starting to become a bit more sincere.

Taking them off his mind for a few, Valtor went back to scanning the crowd. He'd seen the photos of the dress she'd chosen and he was fairly sure it wouldn't be too hard to miss…

"Who is that girl?" A female voice said. Turning to the side, Valtor saw his target beside one of her dorm mates—the technology fairy with the pixie cut. He was admittedly surprised that the Princess was eyeing Bloom with appreciation instead of envy.

"I don't recognize her either," The technology fairy mused. "I suppose she's a plus one."

"And she's making the most of it; look at that dress! Imagine that on me but orange or violet? Wouldn't I look stunning?"

"Maybe. You know I'm not very good with style."

"You dress tonight says otherwise, Tech."

The fairy blinked twice in surprise. "Oh. Thank you."

As the two conversed, Valtor let out a thin stream of magic to check for the ring. Visually, it was nowhere in sight on the sun Princess's finger, but invisibility spells weren't uncommon.

There wasn't a small, contained magic source he could sense—but he could sense two very vivid magical cores of differing magic types.

As he called his magic back he frowned musingly. That was a rare trait indeed, perhaps a possible friendship with Bloom would be more than encyclopedic help for her.

Speaking of whom, Bloom and Brandon had just bowed out of a waltz with the latter winking and telling her something while the former hiked her dress and made her way to the snack table.

Valtor had to force his magic down with more vigor as it instinctively sang in her magic's presence. She paused, glancing at him curiously for a moment before shaking her head and making a beeline for the Princess as he'd hoped.

"Hi! I'm Bloom—oh!" She paused to dip into a semi-sloppy curtesy.

"None of that, darling," Stella said with a wave of her hand. "That is so last century."

"You're the second royal to say that to me today—and that's a sentence I've never thought I'd say in my life holy crap," Bloom sighed wistfully.

Well, he supposed his meager distraction system was in place. It was time to find Princess Stella's dorm.

He slipped around a pair of boys carrying a large chest, one of them being the Sky boy he spoke with earlier, as he entered the hallway and let his magic guide him once more.

He'd only gotten ten steps in when he heard several shrieks and screams of horror, followed by the unmistakable sound of stomach heaving.

Valtor paused to frown over his shoulder. What in the world was going on over there? Was the food spiked with a potion that caused stomach bugs instead of the alcohol and drugs he'd assumed?

Curses. That meant the party was going to end early, and that cut horribly into his time limit.

Blasted teenagers.

Valtor increased his walking speed as he he continued scanning for anything that could fit the signature he was looking for when it suddenly popped vivaciously on his internal radar.

Stopping, he turned towards the nearest dorm room, but it wasn't coming from there. Frowning in confusion, he turned around only for a blur of yellow to zoom by.

The signature went off with it.

Was the situation actually dire? Was the Princess calling back her weapon? That theory was shot down, however, as the box went flying outside a nearby window instead of towards the ballroom.

Truly, what was going on?

Narrowing his eyes and not stopping his stride, Valtor vaulted out the window and snatched the jewelry box from the air. He landed just as he squeezed it in his hand and canceled out the spell.

He forced the mounting excitement down with the rest of his magic as he peered around cautiously. Who had been calling the box? If it hadn't been the Princess…

"Hey! Red Fountain pest!" A familiar voice snapped as she shoved aside a curtain of bamboo and stormed forwards. "That ring is ours!"

Valtor leaped and rolled to the side before glaring back from his crouched position. Those witches again.

It truly wouldn't have killed him to keep that good luck charm…

"Hold on a minute, Stormy," the mind witch said with narrowed eyes as she and Icy too stepped out of the forest. She pressed a palm against her companion's chest to stop her as she continued, "He canceled our spell, which means he has magic."

Raising her hands, dark purple bloomed in her palms. "Hero wannabes don't have magic!" She swept her arms outwards in an X and her magic exploded into a gust of wind. It washed over Valtor as he lifted an arm to shield his face from the eldritch breeze while his disguise slipped off like a silk garment.

"You," Icy snarled. "What are you doing here?"

"I can ask the same," Valtor said as he stood and dropped his arm. "Why are three senior witches so blissfully unconcerned with earning the ire of the Headmistress?"

Icy rolled her eyes. "Oh please. As you've probably figured out, the precautionary measures here are as pathetic as a 'take one' sign on a sample tray. It'd be a miracle if the smug hag realized we're here."

He couldn't exactly argue with that logic.

"Now look," Icy continued. "We've been having a very successful night so far—don't ruin it for us." She held out her hand and the box wobbled in Valtor's as it attempted to fly into it.

He casually canceled the spell a second time as he strode forward and smiled coldly at them. "Or else…what?"

"Or else we'll kick your ass, you bastard!" Stormy snapped as she swiftly filled her hands with electricity.

He truly was loath to fight them—not because he didn't want to put them in their place, but one, he was still embarrassingly reeling from their last battle and two, he couldn't risk Faragonda finding out he was here.

"Just give us the ring," Darcy said tiredly. "I still have bruises from last time."

Well, that made him feel a little better about the ordeal. Though he wasn't about to give the ring up, even if he too didn't want to fight.

An idea lit up in his mind and Valtor's smirk broadened and he flicked open the jewelry box. "How about…" he took the Solarian ring out and tossed it in the air, catching it as it became a scepter. "Instead I give you that miracle you spoke of?"

Before they could dissect his words, Valtor swept the object with his intent. The witches disappeared in a flash of light moments later.

There. A portal of his own would have been reckless, but nobody would suspect powerful sun magic.

Closing the jewelry box, Valtor stepped into the bamboo forest the witches had left and sat atop the nearest rock. Now for the moment of truth.

From within his coat pocket, Valtor took out the flat metal disk he'd requested from the jeweler. It didn't look spectacular, but to the trained eye, it was clearly Warp Metal—very rare and very expensive like just about everything in this current post-war economy apparently.

It was used for people who wanted to wear diamonds or pearls but didn't have the money to do so (how sadly ironic). The substance would warp to an exact replica of whatever the wearer wanted and stay that way until they wished it to change to something else.

Even important heirlooms.

Unfortunately, it didn't carry over any of its magical power…and that was where he came in.

He placed the Solarian Ring near the metal atop the rock and sighed. It saddened him that he wouldn't be able to drain it of every last drop of magic, but it couldn't be helped. People called him many things; powerful, merciless, ambitious, insane, but they'd never called him foolish.

He was going to keep it that way.

Holding his palm above the ring, it glowed vividly before leaking vivacious light. Pausing, Valtor used his other hand to create a dark dome around them. He didn't want the light to catch anyone's eye after all.

He desperately fought the urge to absorb the pulsating power before directing it into the Warp Metal with care. He filled it with just about three-quarters of the magic before stopping, any less and he feared the Princess would figure out something was off much sooner.

The rest of the magic then swirled into his palm and sank into his flesh.

It was almost instantaneous the effect it had. The lingering weariness he'd felt ever since Omega melted away beneath buttery light, weariness he hadn't even noticed dissipating as well. He felt like an addict tasting tobacco for the first time in decades—and in a way, it was quite the same.

He wasn't anywhere near full strength, but it was a start, a wonderful, wonderful start. Imagine how good he'd feel with the slightest bit—

No. He couldn't be too greedy, not yet.

He lay his finger atop the Warp Metal and it morphed and shifted into a perfect Replica of the Solarian Ring. He then placed it back into the jewelry box and closed it shut as he canceled out the barrier he'd had up.

"Back," he told it, rubbing a thumb on top its shell-shaped lid and imbuing it with a simple spell. It swiftly zoomed out of his palm and back into the Princess's room as he held the real ring up to the moonlight and smiled triumphantly. With a pleased smirk, he slipped it into his pocket.

A souvenir.

With a sigh, Bloom opened the door to the hotel room. Valtor was in his blouse, casually lounging on his bed with a book when he looked up and smiled. "Welcome ba—oh."

"Yeah," Bloom said with another sigh as she walked in and closed the door by leaning against it tiredly.

Valtor closed the book and raised his eyebrows. "Do I want to know?"

"I'm going to let you know because I need to rant to someone," Bloom replied as she slipped her silver heels off and slid to the carpeted floor. "It was super great at first, the music and the dancing, and Sky was super gentlemanly. Oh! I also talked to the Princess you told me about and she was super sweet as well as her other friend who was named Techy or something. She was going to show me her other friends too but…"

"But?" Valtor pressed.

"But," Bloom groaned. "The Red Fountain Boys brought in these stupid egg things and gave it to all of this and then BOOM! These weird creatures crawled out and started biting everyone—projectile vomiting, everywhere!" Bloom waved her hands dramatically. "And I didn't get bit but just watching everyone sick made me sick, hence this." She gestured to her vomit-covered dress.

"And then those Cloud Tower witches from before appeared out of nowhere and everyone started freaking out at first but they seemed just as confused and started slipping and sliding on vomit puddles before the Headmistress came and yelled at them for like a half-hour. Apparently, they're the ones who ruined the gifts."

Bloom blew a strand of hair from her eye and sighed again. Bummer. She was really curious as to what was in those eggs, and she and Brandon were mutually too embarrassed to talk about it on the ride back.

"Also so much for good luck," Bloom added as she squinted at the bracelet. "I'm pretty sure you got duped."

Valtor scowled darkly and snarled something about "Dedrick" before clearing his throat and smiling at her. "The night doesn't have to end on such a sour note," he said. "Would you be opposed to a movie?"

Bloom lit up immediately. "Ooh! I brought tons!" She stumbled to her feet and moved towards the bathroom. "Let me take a bath first and then I can lead you down the road of Understanding Bloom's Pop Culture References!"

Chapter Text

Valtor should have figured that Bloom's movies would be burned onto ancient technology. VHS cassettes? Honestly. He made a mental note to get her something to play them on from a Zenith thrift shop.

"A conundrum to fix at a later date, perhaps," Valtor told the disappointed girl with a light squeeze to her shoulder. "However, a movie theatre should be open about this time—would you like to test your new wings and catch one?" And that aside, he had too much energy pent up after the little high Solaria's Ring had given him and needed to go out for a bit.

The responding sparkling grin was all the confirmation he needed, and now the two were flying casually above Magix, the blurred lights of cars, street lamps, and buildings winking back at them from below.

"I can see why you love flying so much," Bloom said appreciatively as she spread her hands wide and tilted her head back to allow the wind to wash over her. "The view is so beautiful and the breeze is—!" She paused and shuddered, hugging herself. "Either super cold or it's the outfit."

Valtor chuckled lightly and shrugged his coat off, offering it to Bloom who excepted it with a thankful smile and pressed the cloth to her front. "Once you have better control of your magic, you'll be able to regulate your body heat. Once you do that you can go to any height with little discomfort and it never quite gets old after that," Valtor said with a light smile. "I do pity the poor beings who can't lift an inch off the ground. I suppose your wings are no longer sore from that fight yesterday?"

Bloom hummed, taking one hand off the jacket to tap lightly at her shoulder blades. "Not too bad. It was much worse earlier today when I had to save Brandon."

Valtor rolled his eyes. "Clumsy and a squire? Oh, goodie."

"What's wrong with being a squire?" Bloom asked with a frown.

"I find being a servant to be extraordinarily pathetic," Valtor responded simply.

"But he's not a servant,"

"Servitude is servitude, no matter how pretty the title is."

"So everyone except people like royalty and CEOs is pathetic?" Bloom challenged with crossed arms.

"More or less," Valtor shrugged.

"So what are you?"

Valtor narrowed his eyes and scowled at Bloom and she rose her hands in surrender. "Hey, just saying. You're a celebrity with a target on his back; not exactly atop the pyramid of society—unless incognito celebrities are The Magic Dimension's version of kings."

He opened his mouth to retort before closing it and glaring into the distance, because what was there to say? He was pathetic. He hadn't a fraction of his old strength, leaving him stuck babysitting and robbing from teenage princesses. And even with all the power in the world, he still dreaded the very thought of his mothers.

But he was working to change that, what was Bad Bang Boy doing?

Bloom then said, "I don't think you pathetic, just so you know."

Valtor blinked twice and frowned at her. "You just said—"

"No, you just said. I was just calling out the dumb holes in your argument, that's all."

"There's nothing 'dumb' about it," Valtor argued. "The very makeup of life is 'dog eat dog'. Those who have the drive to claw and devour their way to the top get to enjoy a long life, money, fame, a throne. Those who don't remain under the heel of the ambitious, and that's just how it goes."

"What about people who just happen to be born a prince or princess?" Bloom said. "I mean let's be real, all they did was win the life lottery. And there are several people on Earth who work their entire lives and don't get anywhere further than a dull nine-to-five."

Valtor sighed heavily. Her and her idealism. Before he could conjure up a response, however, a familiar building with overdramatic swirling fairy lights came into view. Thankfully, the Magix Deluxe Theatre hadn't changed since he'd last been.

"Ah, there. Let's go," Valtor said as his disguise magically slipped on and he angled his feet towards the ground as he descended.

"Are you changing the subject?" Bloom asked slyly as she followed.

Valtor glanced at her with lidded eyes. "I'm sorry, would you like to bring a philosophical debate into an entertainment establishment?"

Bloom gave him an infuriatingly smug smile as she squinted at him. "I won."

"You did not."

"Yuh-uh."

"A cease-fire is not a white flag."

Bloom hummed before shrugging. "Fine," she amended as they landed. She called her wings back and smoothed her clothes. It was mildly more fancy than her usual outfit—a loose baby blue lace v-neck paired with fitted white ripped jeans and her usual wedges. She tossed his jacket around her shoulder properly as she added, "But we're bringing it up again, and I'll get that white flag from you, mister."

Valtor scoffed and gave her a smirk. "You'll have to pry that flag from my cold, lifeless hand."

As they entered the theatre, Bloom gasped in awe right on cue. People stepped onto teleporting platforms and reappeared on rooms that pulled in and out of grooves in the wall before spinning to the next like giant wheels just above the lobby selling food and drinks. All around them, glitter decorated the air and a floating orchestra played above them.

Valtor chuckled softly as he led her towards the food stalls. He would admit, he was going to miss Bloom's expression of pure wonder once she got used to this world.

"This place is amazing!" Bloom said with a grin. "I feel kinda underdressed now."

"No worries," Valtor said, "We can come here more than once and you can dress differently then."

Bloom smiled brightly as he ordered them popcorn and soft drinks. "What's a fantasy movie like here? Is it like…a documentary or story set on Earth?"

"Would you like to find out?" Valtor asked as they walked towards one of the platforms with a woman taking spangles and giving out tickets.

A grin lit up her face as she said, "Let's."

Bloom shrieked in unison with the audience before shooting Valtor a half-hearted glare. "You didn't tell me this was a horror movie!"

"It's hardly horror," Valtor scoffed as he took a handful of his caramel popcorn. "Besides, this is based on the real-life story of Edger Oldman the Great—show some respect and stop closing your eyes every five minutes."

"Why do they ew—!" Bloom clamped a palm over her hands as the Edgar guy's mouth transformed into a muzzle and tore into a shrieking fairy with gleeful relish. "Why is it so graphic?!"

"Again, hardly horror. There are far worse things in this world."

"To a total dinosaur like you, maybe but my gross tolerance begins and ends with the cockroaches in my bedroom!"

Valtor turned to her and raised his eyebrows. "Surely this isn't coming from the girl who chases after hulking ogres over pairs of hideous glasses."

Bloom flushed and hugged herself. "Cockroaches—eek! Don't raise my karma points they just refuse to die!"

Valtor hummed casually as Bloom turned her face away from the movie again. Earth's practical effects and CGI now stuck out as extremely fake and lame now, and she was absolutely thankful for that. She was never going to get mad at Selina for showing her—

Bloom flinched at the sudden thought and shook her head with a sigh. She took a sip from the drink she hadn't touched (for obvious reasons), and then hissed, "Didn't you tell me you were going to test my theory that fantasy movies in this world were Earth spoofs?"

"I also said that we can come here more than once."

"You said it as if we were going to do that today instead of torture porn!"

"I insinuated nothing," Valtor stated with a smirk, just as the entire screen became sprayed in blood and guts. "I need enjoyment in my life too, you know."

Huffing Bloom stood from her seat. "I'm going to the bathroom before I barf," she announced as she made her way to the exit and stood before a row of platforms.

Gosh, that was intense. Bloom sighed as she followed the sign pointing to the bathroom. But she supposed Valtor was right...he needed some excitement in his life too, some that didn't include—

She paused, feeling the hairs on her neck stand and the sense of being watched sinking into her gut. But turning over her shoulder, she saw nobody. Shaking her head, Bloom continued forward.

Stupid movie.

Anyway, Valtor had been doing a lot of stuff for her during the past few days so she supposed it only made sense that he should have a chance to enjoy stuff too—even if it was torture porn.

Entering the ladies' room, Bloom splashed her face and fixed her hair. Nausea had gone away now, and maybe she'd overreacted a bit. They were supposed to be going out for a fun night together after—

The air within the mirror's reflection rippled and a familiar figure became visible behind her. Bloom gasped and spun around to face him

Those gunmen from Earth.

He leveled his weapon at her and Bloom backed up against the sink with wide eyes.

The man's eyes narrowed beneath his goggles as he held up a beeping device and pointed at her—no Valtor's jacket.

"A disguise, eh?" He said with a chuckle as he crammed the device back in his pocket and placed his finger on the trigger of his gun. "Knock it off, wizard."

Bloom flung her hand in front of her with a cry and created a barrier just as the blast of light shot out, causing it to explode into a harmless puff of smoke.

The man frowned in confusion, but before he could regain his bearings, Bloom repeated a simple action she'd seen Valtor do with his shield the day before. Clenching her fist, she watched, pleased as her barrier exploded outward and threw the man into a stall with a grunt.

"Ugh…fairy magic?" he muttered in confusion from his slumped position against the toilet before scowling. "Why do you have our target's jacket, girl?"

Bloom gritted her teeth and held her palms forward at her side, pouring magic rapid-fire into her palms and watching the flaming orange-white light orbs grow. "Stay away from him!" She snapped as she tossed the flaming orbs one after the other.

The man rolled under the first, causing it to destroy the toilet and burst a pipe, and shot the second out of the air before shooting again at Bloom's chest. It hit her dead on and she slammed against the sink with a pained gasp before crashing to the slowly soaking tile.

Transform. She needed to transform. Pushing herself up to her knees and taking a deep breath, Bloom felt her magic rise around her, only for another shot to hit her in the skull and knock her onto her back.

"Alright, Accomplice," the man hissed, pressing the gun against her skull. "Where is he?"

Bloom snarled and kicked at one of the man's legs. With her force and the water slick floor, he slid backward and lost his balance with a cry of surprise. As he tipped forward and smacked his face on the sink, Bloom scrambled to her feet and tried to transform again, only for hands to wrap around the back of her neck.

He slammed Bloom against the bathroom mirror and she cried out as she felt the glass shatter at her back. "I'm going to go easy on you 'cause you're a kid," the man said as he switched his grip to the front of Bloom's neck. She gasped for breath, gripped the arm holding her against the mirror, and squeezed. "But—argh!" his arm sleeve burst into flame and he jolted back, slipping on the water and stumbling against a stall border.

Bloom slid to her knees with a gasp, rubbing briefly at her neck before quickly rolling out of the way of a boot—a very heavy boot it seemed, since the tile cracked beneath it.

The man pointed the gun at her again and Bloom spat, "No you don't!" before shooting a ball of fire from her palm and sending it crashing against the other end of the bathroom wall.

Snarling, the man tore a baton from his belt and switched it on. Crackling electricity decorated its tip and left a mirage in the air as it swung down at her. Bloom somersaulted backward to dodge, but it proved futile. The electricity raced across the water with vigor and sank its teeth into Bloom's nervous system, causing her to shriek.

"If you won't talk to me," he said towards Bloom's weakly twitching and gasping form as he took out a pair of cuffs from his belt. "Maybe you'll—"

The man's body became outlined in violet, and he looked down at himself in confusion just as he was flung up towards the ceiling with a scream of shock. There was a hard thud before he hit the ground.

He didn't get up, even as he let out a pained groan, and he'd never be able to as a dark aurora surrounded him and caused him to disappear.

With a grunt, Bloom rolled to her knees and looked up, smiling in relief as she saw a grim-looking Valtor with a palm slowly losing its glow of magic. "Valtor," she breathed, wincing as she tried to stand.

Valtor splashed through the puddle deep water and held his hand out for her. As he hoisted her to her feet, he gave her a dark look.

Her smile faded and she looked away, awkwardly brushing away her wet bangs. "I'm…sorry—"

"No. Look at me."

Bloom obliged, and Valtor squeezed her hand tighter as he said, "I apologize. I miscalculated when these...bastards would show themselves again. We need to speed up your training."

Bloom nodded firmly, silently relieved that he wasn't mad at her for getting her butt kicked again.

Turning to his coat, he levitated the sopping material before snapping his fingers. It too disappeared like the man. "I need to get rid of the signature off of that blasted thing," he sighed tiredly.

Bloom laughed bitterly "All because of a stupid decade's technological gap."

Valtor smirked as he moved his hand to her back and lead her out of the partially destroyed bathroom. "Try a millennium, Darling."

Bloom's eyes widened in shock as she looked up at him and mouthed, "Millenium."

Valtor smiled at the expression before chuckling in amusement.

"Stella?"

The princess looked up from her finger where the Solarian Ring perched and smiled over her shoulder. "Flora, dear! Need something?"

"I was going to ask you that," Flora frowned. "Are you okay? You've been up for an hour."

'No.'

"Yup! Sorry for bothering you with the lights," Stella said as she slipped off the ring and placed it back in her jewelry box. "I'm hitting the mattress now."

Flora didn't seem all that convinced, but she smiled anyway and said, "Goodnight, sweetie," before closing the door gently behind her.

As soon as she left, Stella flipped open her box again and lay a finger on her family heirloom.

She didn't know why but it felt…off.

...then again, it could be because of those stupid gross egg creatures from the ball tonight—whatever Tecna had called them.

Chapter Text

Bloom was thrown back through the air as an attack slammed against her stomach. She let out a grunt of pain as her platform boots skidded against the ground and her wings fluttered to stop her from crashing in a heap.

Sucking in sharp breath and rubbing the sore area, she yelped and quickly leapt into the air in time to dodge another blast of magic and retaliated with an energy blast of her own. Scowling, she watched as Valtor caught the orb in his palm, the flames fading from white red to purple before crushing it in his palms.

"Make them larger," he instructed. "So that something like that doesn't happen."

Bloom nodded before holding up her palm and filling it with fire again, her goal to make the flame as big as a beach ball at least. Before she could finish however, Valtor had sent a long whip of violet flame at her.

Crying out in surprise, Bloom zoomed beneath the stream and turned to quickly hold up a barrier as the top of a tree he hit instead barrelled towards her.

She sighed in relief as the tree top crashed and burned from her shield before falling to the forest floor.

"Hey!" Bloom said, turning to him with a frown.

"Work faster. Good foes will take any advantage they can get their hands on; your slothfulness most certainly," Valtor said as he made a circular motion with his hand. The only warning Bloom got was a flaming roar and the cracking of earth before a geyser of fire shot up towards her.

"Ah!" She exclaimed, directing a barrier beneath her. The force of the geyser still managed to shove her upwards and crack at it however. So with a gasp, she quickly flitted out of the flame's path just as the shield shattered.

"Good. Keep moving; being idle in a battle could spell death," Valtor said as he snapped his fingers. A circle of orbs surrounded him, and with a commanding point forwards they all zeroed in on Bloom.

She let out a squeak as she jerked haphazardly around the firing orbs, crying out and flailing when one clipped her wing. Like a kamikaze plane she went crashing towards the ground, hitting it with a pained gasp and rapidly bruising midriff.

Valtor landed lightly in front of her and Bloom looked up blarily through the smoke and sparks in the air to watch him hold out a hand to her.

Sighing, Bloom took it and allowed him to help her to her feet. This was about the tenth duel they'd had that heated Monday morning and Bloom's skin was now more bruised purple than peach pale. Long story short, if Valtor told her "Again," one more time, she was going to have a very heated back and forth with him.

Thankfully, what he said instead was, "Good. You can hold your own farely well against a lesser magic user than I—however I see an issue now."

"Issue?" Bloom mumbled as she swept a hand through her sweaty bangs and leaned panting for breath against a half charred tree.

"The raw power is certainly there, but you struggle with…creativity," Valtor mused. "This would fall on me however; I've never expanded your spell arsenal beyond simple blasts and shields."

"So you're going to…hoo…" Bloom breathlessly slid to the ground to sit as she tugged her magic back and felt her fairy form melt away. "Teach me cool spells?"

"Yes," he said, and Bloom grinned excitedly—or tried to, her muscles were tired from making pained noises. "You can choose one from the books we have back at the hotel—but please make sure that it's combat based; as I'm sure you've been reminded of Friday night…"

Bloom's smile faded at the memory, wincing as she touched her neck before nodding. "Right."

There was pause before Valtor crouched in front of her and smiled lightly. "When we get them off our backs, we can go on a little holiday to a realm of your choosing, would you like that?"

Bloom's smile returned. "Like where? Wonderland?" She asked half-jokingly.

Valtor's smile turned into a scowl. "No."

Bloom blinked in surprise at the venom in his voice. "Are you…going to tell me—?"

"No."

Well, it was worth a shot.

"Flora of Linphea and Adelaide Andros, step forward please, you're next," Professor Palladium said.

Flora let out a nervous breath and shot her dorm mates a smile. "Wish me luck!" She said as she stood from her seat and strode towards the arena with her duel partner. They took their positions, curtsying in a sign of respect as the survival and defense instructor put up a glowing barrier between them and the two transformed and readied themselves.

Stella, meanwhile, was fiddling nervously with her ring. It felt…weaker somehow, it felt unfamiliar, it felt wrong.

"You okay, Stell?" Musa said, putting a hand on the princess's shoulder.

Stella forced a smile. "Yup! Course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"Your words and the inflections of your voice coupled with the tension in your face are in direct opposition with one another," Tecna frowned. "You've been tweaking your ring since class started; has something happened to it?"

"No!" Stella exclaimed a little too quickly as the other students cheered at the action of a battle she didn't care to watch (sorry, Flora). "Everything is fine?" She winced as her voice lifted into a question near the end.

Musa and Tecna exchanged a look from across her before Musa said, "You can tell us, y'know?"

"It's just…I don't know if something's wrong so why worry, right?" Stella tried.

"Intuition isn't something you ignore when it comes knocking, Stella," Musa said and Tecna nodded in agreement.

"The Ring of Solaria is tied to you and your magical core, if you feel something is off-kilter then you should investigate."

Before Stella could respond, the buzzer sounded and a round of applause swept through the auditorium.

"Very good, both of you," Professor Palladium said as Adelaide helped a groaning Flora off the ground with a sportsmanlike pat on the shoulder and smile. "Flora, I fear you're holding back however. Perhaps you should privately practice with your combat so you could become confident in your abilities."

Flora smiled sadly as she de-transformed and nodded. "Of course, Professor."

"Up next, Princess Stella of Solaria and Amaryl of Terra. Please make your way to the arena."

As Stella moved to stand, Tecna grabbed her wrist. "Stella, if you feel something is wrong maybe it's best to—"

"I'm fine Tecna. A little paranoia is not going to make me lose my winning streak," Stella said, and Tecna reluctantly let go with a frown.

Stella smiled at Flora as she squeezed her shoulder and said, "Good luck!" as they passed each other down the steps, a smile that faded once her heels touched the arena.

For once, she felt she needed it.

She and Amaryl curtsied as Professor Palladium placed a barrier between them. Amaryl transformed but Stella hesitated, the odd energy of her ring weighing on her mind.

"Stella?" The Professor frowned.

Stella took a deep breath and forced a smile once more. "I'm alright, Professor."

"Scared?" Amaryl asked with a smirk.

Stella scoffed and called on her magic, feeling relief as it enveloped her and imbued her with the familiar power boost, wings, and killer outfit. "You wish."

"Ready? And…" Professor Palladium clapped his hands together, causing the barrier to shatter and the battle to begin.

Amaryl pumped a fist upwards and the ground beneath Stella jutted out sharply, launching her into the air.

She almost rolled her eyes. That attack again? She'd just used it last week!

Oh well, at least they could finish this quickly.

From the high vantage point Amaryl had gifted her with, Stella spread her arms and arched her body, filling her skin with vivacious sun magic and directing it towards Amaryl.

The girl gave a cry of surprise as she became blinded before quickly putting up an earth barrier to block the rays. A moment later, the rock was shot towards Stella.

Stella was able to dodge to the side with ease, what with Amaryl still furiously blinking away the sunspots from her eyes and not being able to aim properly.

The rock crashed against the invisible barrier protecting the audience as Stella zoomed towards the still dazed fairy.

Amaryl flailed her arms around, blindly tossing projectile after projectile at Stella as she elegantly glided out of the way of each. Smirking, Stella then lifted her feet, tilted back and kicked Amaryl in the stomach.

The earth fairy tumbled to the ground with a grunt before pushing herself up and glaring at Stella, eyes still red-rimmed from her magical attack.

"Still think I'm scared?" Stella snarked.

Growling, Amaryl lifted her hands, cracking a big chunk of the arena and raising it into the air. The audience oohed and gasped as the rocky attack eclipsed Stella.

Narrowing her eyes, Stella reached for her ring and slid it off her finger. "Don't let me down," she murmured to it before tossing it into the air and catching it in sceptre form. As the rock came barreling towards her, Stella slashed her sceptre in an arc and sliced it cleanly in half to the whoops of the audience.

She briefly smiled at them and blew a kiss before zipping towards Amaryl to finish her off. She really had been overreacting—her ring and magic felt perfectly—

A stalactite shot from the arena ground and sliced through Stella's fingers, causing her to cry out and drop her sceptre. She stopped her flight to quickly double back and grab it when a rock slammed into her side and sent her crashing with a gasp.

As Stella got to her knees with a curse under her breath, she found Amaryl twirling her sceptre and smirking. "Not so smug now, huh?"

Stella held out her hand before her and her sceptre lit up before blasting Amaryl directly in the face.

"OW!" She shrieked as she crumpled to the ground and covered her face in agony. Had the girls not had their magic diluted to 50% before dueling, she was certain she would've knocked unconscious.

"Not so smug now, huh?" Stella mimicked before flying towards her sceptre, before she could grab it however, a snarling Amaryl blindly lifted one hand and sent it downwards. A boulder materialized over the sceptre before crashing on top of it.

Snapping it in half.

The CRACK that echoed through the auditorium functioned like a silencing spell as Stella and everyone else stared horrified at the Solarian heirloom. Magic spilled out of it, continually trying to re-enter the weapon before failing and trying again.

Stella let out a strangled gasp as her legs weakened to toothpicks. She fell to her knees, shaking as tears lined her eyes. No, no, no, no!

She did not just manage to get one of the most important items of Solaria destroyed!

Gasps and screams and footsteps sounded surrounded her but Stella couldn't hear, all she saw was her family's legacy…melting into an unrecognizable lump of metal.

Huh?

Stella crawled forward and held one half of the metal in her hands as Amaryl anxiously exclaimed that she hadn't meant to. Stella ignored her as she felt it with her thumbs this wasn't sun stone at all, which meant—

"It's not the sceptre!" Stella laughed in relief as she wiped her eyes and looked over her shoulder at Flora, Musa, and Tecna as their horror and sympathy shifted to confusion. "It's okay, it's not the sceptre! It's—!" Stella's smile froze on her face.

It wasn't the sceptre.

Then—

Stella's mood quickly switched back to horror and fear as she blubbered, "It's not my sceptre! Someone took my sceptre!"

Tecna took the metal from Stella's hand as Musa helped her up and Flora tightly hugged her quaking form.

"Someone took it! It's gone! I lost it!" She may not have gotten it destroyed but it was gone. How was that any better?

"This is starlight magic imbued warp metal," Tecna said with wide eyes. "That explains why it felt so strange but still functioned!"

Professor Palladium held out a hand, causing a clear orb to appear. The aimless magic pooled into it and caused it to burn vividly. "Come, Stella," he said gravely as he handed the orb to her and Flora let her go. "We will take this to Faragonda."

"We'll come too," Musa said immediately and the other two girls nodded.

Professor Palladium hesitated before Stella said, "Please, Professor. I don't want to go alone."

Sighing, he nodded and strode out of the auditorium while firmly telling the remaining girls to go to their rooms and lock them well. Flora was rubbing Stella's back and murmuring soothing words and Tecna was talking to Musa about ways a thief could've gotten in and committed such a high risk robbery.

As they walked through the hallways, Stella's tears dried, and her hiccups quieted. Clutching the starlight orb to her chest, she felt a fury build in her chest.

Someone had taken her sceptre, so she was going to find them, and so help her when she did.

Break

For Icy, Darcy, and Stormy, the weekend had been filled with snickers and jeering.

There was nothing, nothing more embarrassing than getting caught doing something devious, and to add insult to injury, the ring was in their grasp and that Valtor bastard had stolen it away from them!

The three witches sat in class, glaring at all the other girls who had the gall to whisper and giggle at them. Things were made worse when the speakers crackled and Griffin's voice coldly uttered, "Icy, Darcy, and Stormy, please see me in my office."

The whole class burst into snickers that caused Icy to grit her teeth angrily and the desk to freeze under her clenched fists. Darcy made a noise of displeasure and Stormy blasted the nearest heckler with a lightning bolt.

As she spasmed against her desk, the three witches stalked towards the Headmistress's office.

"I can't believe she's doing this to us!" Stormy snapped. "Hasn't she humiliated us enough?"

"I suppose she found something more demeaning than a public verbal execution," Darcy grumbled.

"Let's just get this over with so we can focus on getting that ring back." As loath as she was to admit it, Icy didn't want to take it back by force. That guy was powerful enough as is, with all that starlight magic…

Yeah, no. They needed a plan. Luckily, she had one brewing.

Icy knocked on the double doors with perhaps more force than necessary and Griffin barked out "Enter."

"Good afternoon Headmistress Griffin," The witches said in unison with varying degrees of annoyance. The older witch glared at them from behind her desk, chin resting on one raised fist as the other drummed an agitated beat against the desk.

"I've just gotten a call from Headmistress Faragonda," Griffin said.

"Ugh! What does she want? She yelled at us already!" Stormy snapped.

Ignoring her, Griffin continued. "It appears that Princess Stella has lost her ring and she wants to know if you three had anything to do with it."

"We wish," Darcy huffed, wincing as Stormy elbowed her.

"You…wish?" Griffin repeated slowly.

Icy rolled her eyes. "The Solarian Ring is one of the most powerful artifacts in Magic Dimensional history, no duh it'd be nice to have. But no, we didn't take it. Can we go now?"

"Hmm," Griffin said before snapping her fingers. Three orbs that the witches hadn't noticed before zoomed away from over their heads and sank into Griffin's palm.

Icy narrowed her eyes. Invisible spells? Wow. What a lovely break in witch etiquette, even if it was a mostly harmless Truth spell.

"You may go. I will update Faragonda on this information." Griffin waved them off and the trio of witches exited.

"Looks like we have to hurry that plan up," Darcy said when they were far enough. "They'll start a manhunt for that stupid thing soon."

"Great, just great," Stormy grumbled.

"Don't worry girls—we'll get that ring back and we'll make that pretty boy suffer, just you wait."

Valtor stared blankly at the paperback Bloom had tossed before him on the desk where he'd been researching. It was of a raven haired girl surrounded by flames, posing dramatically and smiling up at him.

Not a magic book.

"And this is…?"

"Well it's a manga—"

"A what?"

"But that's not important," Bloom continued as she towelled down her shower wet hair and tossed it behind her back, leaving it to frizz out.

"What's important is her," she tapped the cover of the raven haired girl with a cheerful smile. "Sailor Mars!"

Valtor turned from the computer and swiveled his chair around to face her properly. "Explain."

"See, Mars uses fire—like me—and she has super cool moves in the anime—"

"Ani—pardon?"

"Which I can't show you because of that technology gap with VHS, but what if I replicated them?"

Valtor leaned back in the chair and steepled his fingers. "You would like to incorporate Earth Fantasy into your training?" He tried to keep the disgust out of his voice but Bloom's withered smile made it clear he had been unsuccessful.

"What's wrong with that?" She frowned with crossed arms. "You said so yourself, magic is about imagination—"

"Intent."

"Same difference! And there's nothing more imaginative than Earth Fantasy, trust me."

Valtor sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. "First, open a dictionary please, intent and imagination are not the same. Second, why?"

Bloom shrugged helplessly. "Sailor Mars is cool."

"She's a fairy tale concocted by the ignorant minds of human beings."

"And she's still cool."

Valtor sighed again before turning back to his work. "Tell you what, impress me with a…spell from this source and I will consider its validity."

"Consider it done!" Bloom chirped before leaning over his shoulder. "What're you doing?"

"I am looking for inexpensive curse breakers that have above a 2.5 star rating," Valtor uttered in annoyance.

"For your coat?"

"Precisely." As well as his new Solarian souvenir. It was fairly amateurish on his part not to protect his prize from any tracking or summoning spells.

"Why don't you specifically look for 5 star curse breakers?"

"I suppose you missed the adjective inexpensive. Again, Bloom; open a dictionary. That was not said in jest."

Bloom rolled her eyes and snorted before asking, "Why don't you get a job then?"

"I suppose the word incognito is also lost on you?"

Bloom paused before saying, "Why don't I get a job?"

"Bloom, you're just as much a target as I am."

"Not really. The guy from the movie theatre was sent to limbo just like the ones at my house, so nobody knows I'm your 'accomplice,'" Bloom argued. "Aaand more Magic Dimension exposure for me! It's a win, win if you think about it."

Or, he could keep Bloom's training going at a breakneck pace and go around stealing Earthling wallets—risking exposure and magic waste with constant portal usage and a suspicious amount of Earth bills constantly showing up at the bank for conversation…

Not to mention if this was what Bloom truly wanted and he was supposed to be fulfilling her heart's desire—well.

Patience. He needed to remember that.

"Where would you like to work?"

Bloom beamed. "Anything with dragons! Or an enchanted book shop, or, or, or, or! A superhero career!"

Valtor gave her an amused smile. "A superhero job?"

"What do fairies and specialists do after graduation? Don't they go around fighting people?"

"Ah. You'd like to be a bounty hunter?"

Bloom paused. "Before I say something that'll have me on record…is that legal?"

Valtor chuckled and was about to answer when he heard a rattle from the desk drawer. It flashed violet briefly from the wards he'd put on it before the rattling stopped and Valtor's smile faded.

"What was that?" Bloom asked curiously as Valtor opened the drawer and took out its only contents with a frown—The Ring.

"What's that?"

"Errant spell," he said vaguely as he glared out the window and clenched the ring in his hand. "Stay here."

"Valtor?" Bloom asked as he strode towards the balcony doors and tossed them open.

"Stay," he repeated as he leapt from the balcony.

Those damned witches. Well, he was stronger now and had a rough grasp of their fighting style, as well as a healthy know-how on their ability type—he would force respect out of them once and for all.

Stella gritted her teeth in frustration as her scrying spell activated before going cold once more.

Her ring clearly wasn't too far away—unlike the other couple dozen tries she'd attempted the spell as she purposefully roamed the nighttime streets of Magix, she felt a tug three times in the past minute. Her magic must be acting wonky.

"Where are you?" She muttered under her breath, snapping her fingers again. By the time she got back to the dorm, her fingers would be red and sore—and she'd also probably be in a whole lot of trouble.

Maybe if Faragonda hadn't decided to keep Stella away from the private investigation involving her heirloom, then she wouldn't have been sneaking out at all. But no she just had to groan and moan about danger and protection—!

The tug continued onwards when she snapped once again, and she gasped as it led her forward this time.

"Ah-ha! Yes!" Stella cheered before touching the temporary magic orb in her handbag and calling on its power to transform. Nearby people covered their eyes to block them from the burning rays of light and she tossed a "Sorry!" Over her shoulder before zooming into the air after her ring.

Best case scenario, she would find the ring and zip back to Alfea before anyone even noticed she was gone. Worst case, the spell wasn't working and she was tracking something else entirely. Mid-case, a fight broke out.

The pull became stronger as she left the city centre and entered the more rural areas. Houses replaced the apartments and hotels before they were replaced with industrial factories and rusty warehouses.

"Weird place to keep a powerful heirloom," Stella muttered to herself as she dropped altitude near a particularly run down warehouse next to an old abandoned dock.

Her heels made an echoing click as she landed, and her glowing finger instinctively tweaked to the right. When she followed its pointing, she didn't find any witches or burglars in black and white—she found a man with flowing hair and a simple white blouse and vest. And there, in his gloved hand was a familiar ring glowing with Stella's tracking spell.

He narrowed his eyes at her and tilted his head to the side as he stood up from the empty crate he was sitting on. "I admit," he said in a smooth baritone, before leaping down and landing lightly on the balls of his boots, "I was expecting someone else."

So was she, but that didn't matter right now. She snapped her fingers to cancel the spell before pointing an accusing finger at him. "That ring is Solarian property, buster! Hand it over right now and we won't have a problem."

The man ignored her completely, much to her frustration. Instead he idly rubbed it between his fingers and asked, "How did you figure out it was missing so soon?"

Stella scoffed and crossed her arms. "Your stupid dupe snapped in half like a twig."

"Did it?" The man asked with a frown. "What an unfortunate waste of my money." And with that, he casually tossed her the ring.

Stella gasped and lunged forward to catch it just before it hit the ground, glancing up sharply at the man to see if he had just done that as a distraction.

He didn't attack though, just crossed his hands behind his back and watched.

"You…gave it back?" She didn't actually think he would listen to her when she demanded he give it back; it had been more of a formality.

"It was a convenient carrying tool and source of powerful metal, but at the end of the day it was more a souvenir than anything."

He…stole the Ring of Solaria for…fun? That explanation sounded super sketchy.

Stella narrowed her eyes and backed up slowly, keeping her eyes on him as she called the temporary orb into existence. It illuminated the murky darkness as Stella held it up and pressed it to the ring. The light exploded its prison and sank into her weapon, causing it to glow and sing as it became restored to its former glory.

Sighing in relief and smiling fondly, Stella slipped the ring on her finger where it belonged…

…but—

Smile disintegrating into a scowl, Stella accused, "You did something to it!"

The man shrugged. "I skimmed magic off the top. Why do you think I stole it? For fun?"

Duh. Of course he didn't.

"Well—give it back!"

"Hmm. I'm afraid not."

Stella gritted her teeth and stormed towards the man, body glowing with magic as she snarled, "Give me my magic back right now before I blast you off into the nearest star!" She stopped directly in front of him, glaring up at his infuriatingly smirking face.

He bent forward to smirk at her face to face before saying, "I have a better ultimatum—be grateful I didn't leave you powerless and crippled, crawl back to your little school and pretend this encounter never happened."

Stella was not going home—let alone Alfea—with a half working Ring of Solaria. There was no way, no way.

Narrowing her eyes, Stella sent the magic swirling around her stabbing into the man's magic core. His eyes widened in shock and he staggered backwards as Stella searched for any semblance of her power. It was very, very different from the usual cores she sensed but she should still be able to—there!

She had her magical hands reach out to snatch back her magic when the man roared and sent an orb of flame shooting from his palm at her. It hit Stella directly against her chest and she crashed to the ground with a cry of pain.

As Stella scrambled quickly to her feet, she watched the man wrap his arms around his chest, panting wide eyed as violet sparks rose from his body like fireflies in the night. He stumbled forwards in pain, closing his eyes and wincing before opening them once more and glaring murderously.

"You dastardly little brat!" He held both hands palm up at his sides and Stella watched in horror as the rusted machinery surrounding her flared to life. Their engines rumbled and squealed like an enormous kettle before exploding simultaneously in a dangerous cloud of flame.

Stella transformed her ring to its sceptre form before quickly slamming its end against the ground. Her magic exploded around her and kept a circumference of protection circled her form as the flame wave roared high around her.

A fire wizard? Gosh darn it.

The man rose and thrust a hand down, causing the flames to curl together before slamming down towards her in a spinning tornado while the flames in front of her shut like a curtain. Squeezing her sceptre tighter, Stella tightened the shield around her and shot through the inferno storm shaking at the effort with gritted teeth.

Near her leg, the shield faltered and singed her skin. The pain was so searing that it broke her comcrentartion briefly, causing her to lose herself in an ocean of flame that punished her lungs for screaming in pain.

Before it could do too much damage, Stella swiped her sceptre and warped herself out of the inferno. Not far enough to get her out of the battle thanks to her weak concentration and less than tip-top sceptre, but enough to collapse gasping against the concrete nearby.

"How dare you," The man snarled, floating above her with a snarl. "How dare you!" A stream of flame shot from his palms and he grasped its tail and used it like a whip.

Grunting, Stella managed to stumble to her feet and produce a weak shield that shattered on impact and sent her tumbling. Before she could even recover, the ground beneath her exploded and a geyser of flame threw her into the sky with more searing pain.

She shrieked as she fell backwards through the starry night sky before an invisible force wrapped around her and sent her slamming back into the ground.

Stella gasped in stunned agony as she shakily pushed herself to her knees. Gosh, who was this guy? Either she wasn't as good a dueller as she thought or this man was something—ack!

Stella jumped and rolled as a giant fireball crashed against the ground she'd just been taking a breather on and held her arm up to block the onslaught of raining debris that followed.

She fluttered her wings and used her sceptre as leverage to help herself to her feet and share a glare with her duelling partner as he landed in front of her.

She flinched the crimson his eyes had turned, and the almost monstrous echoing of his voice as he said, "I wonder what the headlines will be when they find your corpse." He flung a flame orb that Stella batted away with her sceptre before returning the attack with an energy ball of her own that he caught and crushed in his palm.

"I wonder…" he continued in a dangerously low voice as he stalked forwards with a rapidly darkening aura. "If said corpse will even be identifiable enough to mourn."

The ground opened up beneath Stella and two stony hands squeezed around her midriff. She squirmed desperately, panting for breath as tears of both affixation and pain blurred her vision. Her fingers grew numb, causing her sceptre slip from her grasp and clatter to the ground.

"N—no—" she gasped as the man held his hand towards her heirloom and it sank through a portal in the ground. Her energy disappeared with it as her fairy form slipped off her in a shower of yellow sparks, causing her to slump limply in the stone clutches.

Just when she was about to slip into unconsciousness, the man sighed, and the stone hands let her slip to the ground and collapse into a defeated heap.

Blearily, she looked up at him as he stared down at her, the red in his eyes and the flames surrounding his body all gone with the murder in his gaze.

"Had I gone to Psychonious before my captivity, I would have let you go," he said, which confused the hell out of Stella. Wasn't he threatening to mutilate her corpse just seconds ago?

What a wishy-washy weirdo of a bastard.

"Alas," he said, pointing a glowing finger at her head. "I can't have you running your mouth to Faragonda. Farewell—"

A loud BOOM sounded, and the man spun around just in time to watch a giant sound wave crash into him with an exclamation of surprise.

Stella, thankfully, was low below the attack range. But where had it—

Wait—

"Take that you bastard!" A familiar voice cheered, and Stella looked up to see Musa, Tecna, and Flora fluttering in the air. They all zoomed down to meet her as Stella pushed herself to her knees.

"Girls," she gasped happily as they all wrapped her up in a group hug. She let out a relieved sob into their chests as her fear washed away.

"You okay, Stell?"

"Why did you go out on your own?! You could have died just now!"

"Was it all worth it however? Did you locate your ring?"

Stella shook her head in defeat as the girls pulled back. "He took it."

Musa punched a fist into her palm. "Where is he? Let me at 'em!" She shot to her feet and looked around, hands glowing with pulsing sound magic.

"I can't see him," Flora frowned. "I think he's gone."

"We have to get back to Alfea and update the Headmistress," Tecna said urgently as she helped Stella to her feet. "You must tell her everything so we can locate this man."

"I can't have you running your mouth to Faragonda."

As Stella nodded, she frowned to herself.

Just who was he?

Chapter Text

Valtor despised moments like these.

When things went far, far off plan and caused a domino effect of issues that he didn't set up. As a result, he would be crushed if he allowed the final one to fall.

Then how to stop it?

How to ensure things didn't keep slipping through his fingers? And most of all why did that blasted fairy not take his mercy and her mostly intact ring with a cordial thank you and scuttle back to her—

No, no, calm. He needed to stay calm. He needed a plan to get out of this with as minimal issues as possible.

Fly back? Fight those fairies and threaten them with pain if they told? No, what would be the point? Even if they kept their word to not tell Faragonda, that place had ears and eyes for walls, it would slip out somehow one way or another, and he couldn't gauge when. It would be far more prudent to spend his time thinking of something properly foolproof.

Return to the jeweler store and punish that woman for selling him pathetic—

No, no. Focus.

Go back but don't threaten them—kill them. Something quick and painless to send them to the Afterlife without them even realizing it; a blast to the heart or the brain...that would be detected in any autopsy from any Healing Fairy worth her pay, especially with a power source like his. And some would know, Faragonda would know and he couldn't—

Valtor closed eyes and filled his lungs with windy evening air to calm himself again, wincing in regret when a sharp pain sliced through his ribs at the action. He pressed a palm against it, frowning. That princess—a high-schooler—had managed to ravage his magic core with enough vigor to send him completely off kilter.

Another reason Faragonda could not find out about him yet.

Right. Leave Magix with Bloom as fast as possible—now, right now. But, but, Bloom had a friend here. Would he find it suspicious if a new girl with a strangely named tutor left at about the same time the Magic Dimension was made known of a previously imprisoned terrorist? He might not, but he could, he could. And what of Bloom? Would she find the timing suspicious and lose faith in him? He didn't want—he couldn't gamble right now—was he over thinking this— ?

Maybe he could—but no—or perhaps—but that could end disastrously—then maybe—he couldn't gamble—

"Dammit!" Valtor roared at the sky, clenched fists exploding with blue and violet flame and pupils burning crimson.

"Figured you were having a rough night."

Valtor jerked slightly in surprise before turning to the voice's source; Bloom in her pajamas, standing on the balcony in bunny slippers and holding two mugs of hot chocolate. She held one up towards him, raising an eyebrow in invitation.

Valtor sighed, letting his eyelids fall before rubbing his temples. But when he opened them, he was able to manage a weary smile. "What, pray tell, gave it away?" he asked as he floated towards the balcony and sat atop the rail.

"You flew out in a weird rush," Bloom said, handing him a mug. He crossed one leg over the other and accepted the drink, resting it on his raised thigh as she continued, "Also you had this...intense look on your face. Kinda like this but less...extreme. You weren't at swearing territory, at least."

Valtor frowned as he took a sip from his mug, pleasantly surprised that Bloom had bothered to add extra sweetening to it. "I did not swear."

"Kinda hard to ignore someone yelling, 'dammit!'' Bloom said, helpfully adding a mock baritone at the end as she hopped on the railing next to him.

"'Dammit' is not a swear word."

"A word doesn't become classy just because you said it, Mr. Dinosaur."

"Be that as it may, 'dammit' is not a swear word."

"The dictionary says so. Take your own advice and crack it open some time," she said with an impish glint in her gaze and a slow sip of her mug.

Valtor narrowed his eyes. "Brat."

"Snob."

"I will shove you off this railing."

Bloom smiled. "No you won't," she said, before clinking their mugs together and looking upwards at the stars, sighing happily to herself.

Valtor's scowl withered away and he allowed himself a breath of amusement as he followed her gaze skyward.

He'd always loved the sky, the night sky in particular; the blinking lights of stars and galaxies and realms, the elegant blue-black backdropping them, the vivacious moon and the sweeping dark clouds. That love had been amplified after Omega—absence made the heart grow fonder after all.

He wondered if he'd be sent back once Faragonda learned of him. He wondered if she'd kill him instead.

He wondered which would be worse.

"You wanna tell me?" Bloom asked hesitantly. Valtor turned from the sky to look at her, humming questioningly in response. "About...what you're so worked up over?"

Valtor frowned, opening his mouth to respond when Bloom blurted out, "I know, I know, it's none of my business it's just...well remember when I said I wanted to help you with those Wizard Mafia people? I meant it, you know?" She shrugged awkwardly, clinking her nails against the mug's rim. "I mean…I'm not saying that that's what's bothering you now but—well the concept's still the same; I'm here if you need me. Like how you've been here for me."

Valtor regarded her for a moment and nodded slowly to himself. He supposed it wouldn't be too terrible if Bloom knew the partial truth of the situation, if only to stop her from finding a potentially disruptive well to quench her curiosity.

"No this has nothing to do with…whatever you just said. Let's just say an old friend of mine may come back into my life sooner than I hoped," he said finally, sipping from his mug again.

"Okay, and by friend you mean…"

"Mortal enemy."

"Right," Bloom said. "And that's bad because you're not at full strength yet."

"Correct."

Bloom let out a breath. "Well, I get the swearing now."

Valtor smiled tightly. "I'm glad you understand my predicament—and I was not swearing."

Bloom rolled her eyes and finished off her hot chocolate before leaping off the railing. "Whatever. I got to order last time so tell me what you want if or when you're up for dinner."

Valtor nodded before turning back to the sky. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Don't brood too much! It's bad for your health!" She called as she closed the balcony doors. It was Valtor's turn to roll his eyes, although he paired it with an amused smirk.

For a moment, his rampaging mind had quieted. And with his mug and the night sky, the sound of the city and...perhaps, to an extent, Bloom's—

That smile faded as the stars did one by one from the evening sky and the sounds of the city shrunk to silence. The only thing left was Valtor and three pairs of glowing sharp eyes.

"Bantering with the Lost Heiress of Sparx, Valtor?" The one in the center simpered before her form manifested.

"How scandalous!" The next one said.

"For what reason?" The final question from the left. "She isn't dead so you must have some plan for her."

Valtor scoffed and glared upwards, avoiding all their gazes. He wasn't ready for their foolishness at the moment but it would seem that once again he wasn't being given a choice. "If you must know, yes, I do have plans for her."

"And what would that be?" Lyliss drawled. "Taking her to the movies?"

"Having heart to hearts on the balcony with cute wittle mugs of cocoa?" Tharma giggled.

"Training her, Valtor? Why, we're curious indeed!" Belladonna finished.

"Spying on me instead of doing something useful with yourselves? Typical."

"Bah!" Tharma barked, hands crackling with lightning. "If you actually cared enough to help us—!"

"Enough," Belladonna said simply, causing her sister to begrudgingly calm down with a harrumph. "Now, Valtor, dearest. We have something we want you to do."

"Next you're going to tell me that the sky is blue," Valtor scoffed sardonically.

"Watch. Your. Tongue!" Tharma snapped as the dark void surrounding them glowed bright with violet magic. Valtor hated himself for flinching instinctively as Belladonna shot her sister an agitated glare.

Tharma let her magic subside before spitting, "I rue the day you gave our child your obnoxious sarcasm, Lyliss."

"Oh yes, because you have such a pleasant personality, sister."

"You see! That! That! Why did you give him that!?"

"I said enough! For the love of The Phoenix we are not here to bicker!" Belladonna exclaimed before sighing heavily and turning back to Valtor. "Now, son. It would appear that you're in a bit of a…predicament."

Valtor clenched his jaw.

"But don't worry! Those irritable pixies have yet to reach Faragonda's domain. Lyliss could very well wipe their memories of the entire incident—"

"Not that you deserve it," Lyliss supplied helpfully.

"—and even plant new ones for your convenience! Of course you'd need to return the ring to make the ruse even semi-feasible—"

"And how, precisely, do you plan on doing that as you are?" Valtor scoffed.

The witches watched him silently, sharing grins. Valtor snarled a vicious, "No."

"Now, now, Valtor. With our power as it is we can't stay for too long—"

"No."

"Is your pride that bloated that you can't accept our help?" Tharma demanded.

"Help?" Valtor demanded. "By giving you more control over me? No. Never."

This time, it was Lyliss's hands were the ones to glow. "Unfortunately for you, your consent was simply a formality."

"We tried giving you a chance, Dearie," Belladonna cooed in false sadness. "But as they say, 'mother knows b—AHH!"

Light exploded through the darkness, and the images of the three witches dissipated in a trio of wails. Valtor let out a strangled cry of surprise and pain himself as he felt himself fall backwards. As he did, the darkness retreated from him in a flurry of whispers and hissing before the stars and the moon reappeared and the sounds of the city became audible once more.

"Yes! It worked!" Bloom exclaimed as she flew into view in her fairy form. Valtor blinked dazedly up at her for a moment before quickly rolling onto his side to upheave and cough a lung full of water. The motion caused bruises he certainly didn't have before to flare, and he hissed as he rolled onto his back once more, clutching at his stomach with one hand and rubbing his cheek with the other.

Bloom winced. "Oooh right. Yeah that—sorry. Here." She landed in front of him and dispelled her wings before crouching down to help him up.

Valtor nudged her away and got to his feet himself staring baffled at his soaping clothes and the water they released, soaking the concrete of the balcony. "Bloom?" He said slowly, staring at the growing pool and then at the awkwardly shuffling redhead. "Explain."

She'd been practicing when she felt it, that sense of wrongness in her chest. And sure, yeah, maybe it was her growing frustration at not being able to create more than one orb at once, and not being able to do that cool Sailor Mars move as a result, but she had a…feeling. So she'd opened up the balcony doors to check on Valtor and he was still where she'd left him, sitting on the railing with his hot chocolate.

Except he was a bit too…stiff. He looked less like a man sitting and thinking and more like a mannequin.

"Valtor?" She'd called to no answer. "Valtor?" She repeated, and as she stepped forwards gingerly in case he was doing some weird wizard napping, that the wrongness increased ten-fold and had her shivering. She hugged herself tightly as she got even closer before tapping him on the shoulder.

Nothing.

"Valtor?"

Nada.

She shook his shoulders lightly.

Zilch.

"Oh crap," she muttered, stepping back and biting her knuckles nervously. What the hell was happening here?

Inhaling and exhaling slowly, Bloom vaulted atop the railing and scooched towards the still frozen Valtor and leaned forward slightly to check his face. She then squeaked in horror at the sight of his eyes; blank and emotionless. Valtor's eyes had never ever lacked that…spark. Smugness, or viciousness, or anger, but never nothing.

"Oooh, crap!" she repeated, and then immediately did the first thing that came to mind, slapping him across the face. Hard. So hard in fact, that his head jerked to the side and he began to teeter off the railing.

Bloom let out a quick sharp shriek in panic before quickly lunging forward to catch him. She righted him again with a sigh of relief before quickly spinning around and leaping off the railing. Dashing back into the room, she snatched a tall glass and filled it to the rim with water. Then she ran back, gave Valtor a quick apology, and poured it all over his head.

The only difference was that instead of a creepy mannequin, he was now a creepy wet mannequin.

Bloom made a panicked noise through gritted teeth as she tugged at her hair, before dashing once more into the hotel room.

"Trances, trances, trances," she muttered under her breath as she snatched the top book on Valtor's mini stack of spell books by his bead. She flipped through the pages rapid fire before shaking her head with a growl and tossing it away.

Screw it. She was going to Drive, Intent, Power that stupid trance!

Bloom charged out onto the balcony yet again, this time, transforming before launching into the air. She let out a quick shriek as she jerked a bit in the air, before righting herself and inhaling slowly. "Wake…up!" she yelled, tossing what she hoped was a Break a Trance Spell and not an attack spell that would burn Valtor to a crisp.

Thankfully, it was the former. Valtor hit the balcony floor and blinked several times as consciousness returned, and Bloom was left with a heart swollen with pride.

"…so yeah, that's basically it," she told Valtor. "And hey! I learned a new spell in the process, so win, win, right?"

Valtor paused in his hair wringing to let out an apathetic hum. "I admire your quick thinking, But do avoid water next time." he waved his hand and let a geyser of flame erupt beneath him and dry away the last of the water. "It's a waste of magic, drying myself off."

Bloom's smile faded and she crossed her arms. "That's it?"

"Pardon?" Valtor asked nonchalantly.

Bloom snorted. "Seriously? No thank you? Or at least an explanation for the weird trance thing?"

Valtor looked away from her and straightened his vest for literally no reason. "It…that was a side affect of too much magic usage." He said. "Don't worry yourself about it."

"You going to explain why you were using so much magic?" Bloom pressed.

Valtor sighed heavily and turned on his heel towards the hotel room.

"Hey! Valtor, wait! Does it have something to with you rushing out earlier?"

"Please refer to my prior sentence," he said over his shoulder.

"But—hey!" Valtor slammed the doors closed with a flick, causing Bloom to bump into the glass. She tried tried the handle and found it locked, and when she made the mistake of tugging at it, it zapped her.

"Ow! Valtor!"

"Go fly around and find something else to be curious about," his muffled voice stated as he picked up one of his spell books and began leafing through it atop the bed.

Bloom stuck her tongue out, though he didn't glance her way, so it was kind of for nothing.

Jerk.

Valtor's gaze repeatedly flickered between the pages of his spell books and the evening news, and much to his frustration, despite said news not saying a word about escaped terrorists, his anxiety continued to mount.

Perhaps those fairy brats hadn't made it to Alfea yet. Or perhaps, far more disturbingly, they had, and Faragonda, now privy to his existence was keeping it under wraps so as not to startle the public.

Which meant she was probably looking for him right now.

And if that wasn't enough, he had to keep his no doubt now furious mothers away from him. Even when he'd been at full power, a mental barrier had done embarrassingly little to keep them at bay, so he wasn't about to waste power trying so now. No, what he needed to do was ensure he hadn't a moment of relaxation or respite, not even the most powerful of spirits could enter a mind too chaotic.

On that note, perhaps it was a mistake to quite rudely send Bloom on her way. If there was anyone who could fill his head up with irrelevant nonsense, it was her. Though even if he did do something as woefully pathetic as apologize and insist she return, she hadn't brought her cell phone, and he wasn't about go around searching for her.

So, for now at least, Valtor was on his own. Which was fine. He could better focus on practicing when—

The hotel door flung open and Bloom triumphantly exclaimed, "Ha!"

Valtor stared at her for a few moments before sighing heavily. Right. He hadn't blocked the door.

Curse him.

"Alright, Mister," Bloom continued, kicking the door shut and stalking forwards with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. "You're going to tell me what's wrong."

"Or?" Valtor questioned sardonically as I turned back to his book and flipped a page with more force than necessary.

Bloom sighed and sat on the bed next to him. "I don't have any threats," she admitted. "But…I do have a promise."

Valtor looked up from his book again and regarded her with a raised eyebrow of silent questioning.

"You'll feel better," she said.

Valtor scoffed and went turn back to his reading when Bloom said, "No, no, wait, I mean it!" and covered the pages with her hand. "You can't just keep things bottled up. If you do you—look, think of it this way; if you get if off your chest you'll be in the right mind to fight anymore Goggle Guys that come after us, yeah?"

Valtor stared at her hand and then to her earnest gaze and sighed heavily. He had been in want of a distraction, he supposed. And while a stressed mind kept his mothers away, it did no such thing to make finding out how to deal with this new Faragonda conundrum any easier.

"Alright," he put the book aside. "What would you like to know?"

Bloom's eyes widened briefly in surprise before she said, "Oh! Okay, well…firstly, the real reason you went all trance-y on me."

"Dark spirits," Valtor stated vaguely. "When you've acquired the sort of power I have you…tend to draw a lot of unwanted attention on to yourself."

"More weirdos trying to steal your power?"

"Quite." And it wasn't even a full lie—Valtor was abhorrently off today.

Bloom shuddered and hugged herself. "So…how do we keep them away?"

"You don't," was on the tip of Valtor's tongue, but he quickly changed course and said, "By occupying oneself." No need to scare her, after all.

Bloom nodded slowly. "Okay, okay," before a grin slowly spread across her face.

"And what does this face mean?" Valtor asked with hint of trepidation.

"Oh I dunno," Bloom shrugged innocently before pushing off the bed and moving towards her bed. She crouched by the bed head and ruffled through her suitcase. "Just a little…" She gasped loudly. "Wait a sec!"

Valtor frowned curiously as Bloom shot back up with a black, thick square in hand. "I bought my portal DVD player! Yes!" She punched the air triumphantly and said, "Take that technology gap!"

She excitedly jumped onto the bed and opened the player up, beaming brighter when she found the battery healthy. She then popped open the DVD hatch and let out another jubilant "Yes!" before closing it again. "I was going to read you one of my Harry Potter books—"

"I thought I made it clear to you already that I found it to be painfully inaccurate garbage written by the hand of a moronic human beaming."

"I know! Which is why this is so much better!"

Bloom scooted close to his side and placed the player atop the space between their legs. "Now, Round Two, The Road to understanding Bloom's Pop Culture References!"

She jabbed the play button and leaned back with a pleased smile. Valtor watched the credits roll by and the movie title spring into existence. "'Labyrinth?'"

"I watched it so much as a kid that the VHS we had fried," Bloom said.

Valtor rose his eyebrows. "In that case, this movie best be a masterpiece."

"Aw, you really think my opinion's that important?"

Valtor snorted but didn't bother mentioning that he was being sarcastic. It wouldn't do to harm her feelings after she'd decided to help him.

He couldn't quite pinpoint why the broadened smile at his silence was counted as bonus, however.

Faragonda's breath caught and she hid her gaped mouth with a quick, subtly shaky sip from her tea cup. "Again, Stella," she said tightly as she placed it back on the saucer and steepled her fingers. "Describe this man?"

But it was the same: Fire wizard, long hair, strawberry blonde. Gothic clothing, cleft chin, piercing ice blue eyes and high cheekbones. "Could've been handsome if he wasn't a fucking—"

"Language, Stella!" Grizelda barked from beside the Headmistress's desk, lips pursed in displeasure as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

Stella sighed, nothing to retort as she stared down at her own untouched cup of tea. "But anyways, that's it, Headmistress. That and he…seemed worried that I'd tell you."

Of course he would be. If it was who she feared, then he certainly wouldn't want Stella alerting her of his presence. Still, she needed to make sure she wasn't being paranoid. Until then, however…

"Thank you, Stella. Please return to your dorm, and keep this incident as discreet as possible."

"And don't even think about sneaking out again. The only reason you aren't getting detention is that I believe what happened to you this evening is punishment enough," Grizelda said firmly.

The princess nodded silently and placed her tea atop the desk before exiting the office and lightly shutting the doors behind her. Once she was gone, Grizelda uttered, "Do you think she'll keep quiet enough?"

"I do. It wouldn't bode well to have a panic spread throughout the Dimensions," Faragonda said. "The Solarian Heirloom going missing...dear what chaos that would casue."

"And what of…" Grizelda swallowed nervously. "Him?"

Faragonda narrowed her eyes and stood slowly from her seat, striding towards the large office windows and frowning deeply. "I will deal with him. If he isn't proudly broadcasting his schemes then he must be attempting to remain discreet. And if that's the case…"

"He's afraid to fight you at the moment; he's weakened," Grizelda said. "But knowing him that won't always be the case. We must pin him down before he's able to escape somewhere else and cause more havoc."

Faragonda nodded once before turning back to the woman. "But again…discretely."

Grizelda poured a cup of tea for herself and asked. "What do you propose we do?"

"I'm not sure," Faragonda admitted with a sigh and slumped shoulders.

"And I'm certain I don't need to explain why this cannot be for too long," Griselda warned over a sip of her drink.

"Agreed," Faragonda said warily. "Who knows what sort of madness Valtor could be up to right now?"

"What an odd declaration," Valtor mused as he dropped a single popcorn kernel into his mouth. "What kind of fool offers to be another's slave?"

"I think it was romantic," Bloom said, devouring a handful for herself.

Valtor snorted. "To offer up your freedom?"

"It was hyperbolic, y'know? He's giving himself to Sarah as in, letting her in, being vulnerable with her. That's what love is."

Valtor snorted again and Bloom rolled her eyes. "My Dad always had the same reaction."

Valtor shuddered. "Then I must quickly rectify my opinion."

It was Bloom's turn to snort as the final scene of the movie played—Sarah seeing all her goblin friends and running over to hug them instead of being forced to say goodbye. The familiar giddy feeling of a happy ending bloomed (ha!) in her heart and she sighed in content.

"So…she's gone insane," Valtor said dryly.

Bloom scowled half-heartedly and punched his shoulder. "Jerk. You had to ruin it, didn't you?"

Valtor chuckled lightly before he took four popcorn kernels and popped them one by one into his mouth. The credits began to roll and Bloom closed her DVD player. "So…" she said with a small nervous smile. "Did you…did you like it?"

Valtor chewed slowly and narrowed his eyes in thought before swallowing and answering, "It was another failed attempt by Earthlings to capture the wonder of the Magic Dimension, the effects were abysmal and Jereth remains a fool for asking to be a slave but…" he nodded slowly and gave Bloom a sideways half-smile. "I believe I did enjoy my time watching it, yes."

"Woo!" Bloom cheered as she punched the air triumphantly. "I've finally found an Earth thing that you like!"

"Try not to get used to it," Valtor warned as he slid off the bed and stretched. "I fear the things I end up liking about that useless rock will be counted on one hand."

"You're going to eat your jacket when I prove you wrong, buster," Bloom said as she took the near empty popcorn bowl and the DVD player off the bed. She put the player atop her suitcase and took the bowl to the kitchen counter where she took another handful of popcorn. "You know, since you liked Labyrinth I think you'll really enjoy…" Her voice trailed off as she watched Valtor staring out the window, arms crossed and posture tensed. It was as if the previous hour and a half of popcorn and snarky commentary hasn't existed.

"You're brooding again," Bloom said.

There was a pause before he answered, "It isn't your fault. The fact of the matter is I can't occupy my mind forever. I need rest, especially after tonight."

"I guess 'after tonight' is in None-of-Your-Business territory?"

"You guess correctly."

Bloom sighed and leaned against the counter with a frown. What could she do to—oh!

"Y'know, when I was trying and failing to do that Sailor Mars spell I was able to figure out something!" Bloom said as she strode over towards her brooding mentor. He turned to look over at her curiously as she triumphantly held up a glowing orb and tossed it into the air, causing it to hover in place. "See? I can only make two at a time right now but—"

"A nightlight will not keep spirits away," Valtor said bitingly before glaring outside the window once more.

Bloom flinched at the venom in his voice before insisting, "But it isn't just a nightlight. It's that Wake Up spell I DIPed—"

"What?"

"Remember my acronym for your spell casting advice? Drive, intent, power? But anyway, I conjured up that today and it got rid of them so…" She shrugged. "I don't know maybe…maybe this is a bit lame but I figured it couldn't hurt to…you know, give you a magic dream catcher?"

Valtor's scowl softened slightly as he glanced up at the floating orb, then at her. He let out an amused breath and said, "You're getting better."

Bloom grinned. "Well, I have a good teacher." She then lead him towards the bed by his shoulder. "Now come on, get to bed. I won't let the spirits bite, scout's honor!"

Valtor snorted and sat at his bed, the orb following by the command of Bloom's hand and will. "You'll be heading to bed now too, I suppose?"

"After my nightly parent check in," Bloom agreed as he began to slip his boots off. Frowning in thought as he lay back against the pillows with a sigh, she said, "Hey, you don't have pyjamas, do you?"

"No need," Valtor said without opening his eyes.

"You don't prefer something…comfy?"

"This is comfy."

Making a mental note to get him pyjamas eventually, Bloom shrugged and said, "Good night."

She went to her bed and began to dial her home number when Valtor said, "Bloom."

Bloom looked up from her phone with a curious hum. Valtor had opened his eyes again and he was staring at her, for so long in fact that Bloom figured he'd changed his mind about saying something to her. When he turned his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes again though, he finally stated, "Thank you."

Bloom smiled. "Any time."

Chapter Text

Bloom hugged herself, shivering and curling up tight as snowflakes fell atop her closed lids and fluttering lashes.

Geez, she needed to talk to Valtor about leaving the balcony doors open before he went out.

However when she opened her eyes, there was no hotel room, no beds or furniture or fluttering curtains spurred by an open pair of doors.

It was a frozen town covered in ice pillars.

Bloom gasped, immediately alert as she stumbled to her feet and crashed against one of the pillars of ice with a cry, a product of her shoes slipping against the slick and frigid ground. She winced and jerked away from the cold surface before ducking under an arm—

An arm?

Frowning, Bloom followed the long appendage before finding its source and screaming in horror. It wasn't a pillar of ice at all; it was a man! Skin an unnatural pale blue and sheathed in snow crystals, eyes rolled backwards in his head, icicles dripping from lips parted in a silent scream—

Bloom covered her mouth with a shaking hand as pure horror electrocuted her system. As her terrified eyes darted around the wasteland, she saw the other "pillars" were just more frozen people. They were stuck mid-run, looking up in horror, clutching children, on their knees begging—

But all were screaming silently.

A horrified sob escaped Bloom's lips as she fell to her knees in disbelief. What was this? Where was she? What was going on? What happened here?!

Bloom felt herself hyperventilating, gasping for breath as hot tears slid down her cheeks only to immediately freeze and shatter to the cold street like glass. She wasn't sure why she felt such an aching, horrible loss for people she'd never met or seen before, why the pain felt ready to tear her inside out and leave her broken, but she supposed what appeared to be a freaking genocide placed before you was maybe enough to send anybody into a horrified frenzy.

And then there was a whisper that brushed against her ear, a song...no, a pretty voice, growing stronger and stronger in strength with each moment.

And then, she could hear it.

"Bloom…"

Bloom let out a wet gasp and snapped her head over her shoulder where she'd heard the sound come from, suddenly terrified that the iceman had come to life in some horrific zombie display. But he hadn't moved an inch, and the voice, distinctively feminine, sounded once more.

Her gaze was then pulled back to the front as a vivacious golden glow illuminated the gray tinted area.

No, not a glow. A translucent person—a breathtakingly beautiful woman outlined in gold and wearing a feathered mask with a long flowing dress. Her long blonde hair floated in the air like silk beneath waves and her amber eyes brightened when they landed on her tear streaked face.

An immediate sense of comfort blossomed in Bloom's chest, but she couldn't figure out why—she was pretty sure she'd never seen this woman in her life.

"Hello, Bloom," she said melodically as her ghostly form floated towards Bloom's kneeled one. "I've missed you."

"Missed me?" Bloom frowned as the semi corporeal hands cupped her cheeks. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled. "I am Daphne."

Daphne.

Bloom furrowed her brow further. The comfort and familiarity didn't go away, and yet the name Daphne didn't ring any bells.

She decided to press further. "And who are you…to me? I feel like I know you somehow but…"

Daphne's smile broadened into a sparkling grin. "Oh, Bloom—"

A searing pain shot through Bloom's heart and she screamed in pain, hugging herself tight and gritting her teeth against the pulsating agony.

"Bloom?" Daphne said in panic. "Bloom—!"

Bloom gasped and jerked up from her bed, comforters falling to her hips. She inhaled and exhaled rapidly, anxiously checking her surroundings before the pain returned and she slammed a palm against the mattress, letting out a pained groan.

She would've chalked it up to period cramps had the pain been lower, but instead it felt like hands were clawing through her ribcage and—

And it was gone with a sharp intake of breath.

What was that? That referring to both the sudden pain and that god awful and confusing dream.

On the bed beside her, Valtor was, surprisingly, still fast asleep with her makeshift nightlight/dream catcher hovering over him. She was glad she hadn't woken him up with what she assumed was her powers going on the fritz. She felt that was the case because there was something…not-normal-nightmare about the dream. And that surge of pain seemed to touch the same spot she felt her power explode from when she transformed or created a fire ball.

And what was up with that Daphne girl? Why was Bloom so sure she hadn't met her but…also so sure she had?

Bloom felt antsy as she slipped out of bed with wringing hands. She didn't want to practice her spell-work and risk upsetting her clearly not-in-a-good-mood magic so she did what she always did back on Earth to steady her nerves and let out her emotions.

Art.

Bloom quickly changed before taking out her supplies. She then spread them across the hotel desk so that it was set down in a neat row and flipped to an empty page on her sketch pad, picking up her charcoal pencil.

Unlike most dreams, the frozen dystopia she'd just saw and the pretty angel she met stayed vivid in her mind like a fresh tattoo. Bloom could easily sketch the woman's ethereal figure, her soft ovular face, her exotic mask. But much to her frustration, the form of the supposed Daphne was only familiar in the most recent of senses; No past memories came flooding back.

And seriously, why would they? Daphne certainly wasn't someone from Earth and it wasn't just because she glowed and floated. Something Bloom had noticed quickly was that the people she met in the Magic Dimension were always impossibly and inhumanly gorgeous—Valtor, Brandon, Princess Stella, the cleaning lady who she and Valtor would catch when they came in some time and even those three witches that had attacked them. Either Bloom kept inexplicably bumping into potential super models, or out-of-this-world hot genes were a dominate trait in this place.

Bloom was certain that by no stretch of the imagination was she a potential super model, and her parents were human, and, and, she had never left Earth until Valtor had whisked her away last Sunday (was it really only a week and two days now? Wow).

Bloom leaned back in the desk chair and bit the end of her pencil, staring down at the sketched rendition of the enigmatic dream woman smiling mysteriously up at her. The nostalgic ache didn't go away.

There was no way she could have known her though. No way. None.

Right?

Valtor had never had such a peaceful slumber in years.

His mothers hadn't bothered him, and even more surprisingly, he hadn't any nightmares of him dying in Omega either due to the cold biting into his bones and stealing the last of his waning strength, or the cursed dimension's snake guard injuring him and leaving him to bleed out. The dream would always, always end with him reaching desperately forwards, the portal just within reach.

Now, the dreams were certainly helpful in reminding him why he couldn't go back and needed to tread carefully but quickly as he regaining his powers, but they were certainly…let's just say agitating. By the third one he'd felt he had gotten the memo from his subconscious and didn't need them bothering him anymore, but seeing as how potions were for the pathetic and dreams couldn't fully be stopped anyhow, he would endure the torturous movies if it meant regaining his strength with rest.

But Bloom…Bloom, as a beginner had spat in the face of magic rules and made it all disappear.

He woke up staring at the ceiling in a somewhat dazed state, Bloom's orb bobbing slowly about his head like a lazy pixie. He forgot sometimes, he could admit, just how much raw power Bloom held in her grasp. The amount she could wield at her full potential…

As Valtor sat up, he smiled lightly to himself. He circled a finger around the orb's circumference and created a see-though ball around it, causing the warm fireball to drop lightly into his waiting palm. "I'll save you for later," he told it. He didn't need Bloom wasting magic making another—she would need as much as possible for what he had planned for today.

Sending the orb to limbo with a snap of his fingers, Valtor turned to the bed next to him and frowned in confusion when he saw it rumpled and empty. It was then that he finally noticed the sound of the repetitious scratching of a pencil.

Following the noise, he found Bloom hunched over the desk. She was still in her pyjamas and her hair was a mess (It always was, but Valtor could tell she hadn't made her daily half-hearted attempts to tame it yet). Her movements were jittery, she was murmuring under her breath, and he could sense her magic moving erratically beneath her flesh.

"Bloom?" Valtor prompted, and the girl jumped with a yelp before swiveling sharply in the chair.

"Oh Hey Val—whoa!" The momentum spurred by her turn caused the chair to complete a cycle once, twice, thrice before she finally planted her feet to the ground to stop it. "Hey," she repeated, cheeks a bright pink.

Valtor quirked an eyebrow as he strode towards her. "What are you working on here that has you so…?" his voice trailed off as he saw a partially coloured and all too familiar face smirking mockingly up at him. Instinctively, his lips curled into a hateful sneer and the room's temperature rose in time with the angry flare of his magic.

Daphne.

"Valtor?" It was Bloom's turn to query. He quickly slammed a lid on his powers and ironed out the expression on his face. No need to arouse suspicion…

"Do you…know her?" Bloom asked in concern and a mild bit of hope.

Correction; it was too late not to arouse suspicion. Cursing his lack of control, Valtor quickly ran through the best way to handle the situation, and after a slow nod to himself he turned to Bloom and responded with, "Do you?" He needed to know what she knew so he could avoid any proverbial pitfalls and snares.

Bloom bit her lip and furrowed her brow before turning back to her drawing. "I don't know," she said after a moment. "I-I feel like I do, and in my dream she acted like she knew me too. The thing is, I don't remember!" She shook her head in frustration and lay her cheek against a fist as she went back to colouring in Daphne's pale blonde hair. "It's so weird."

"Your dream?" Valtor asked.

"Except it didn't feel like a dream. I mean…I got it while I was asleep but something about it felt more real, you know?"

Before Valtor could question what the dream entailed, Bloom thankfully provided the answer after another moment. "I was in this cold place—no cold isn't enough to explain it. It was freezing and the people…" She paused in her colouring to frown in discomfort before shuddering and continuing on. "It was horrible. They were all freezing and screaming—" she shuddered again and Valtor's jaw clenched.

Blast that nymph. Blast her.

"So you know her, then? Daphne?"

Valtor leaned against the desk with a sigh. He wasn't naive enough to believe he'd never have to bring up the now ironically frozen wasteland that was Sparx, but he'd been hoping it would have been a bit later when he could create a feasible enough cover story.

Alas, he now simply had to tread carefully.

"I did," He answered truthfully, and Bloom sat up ramrod straight in her seat.

"You did?" She asked excitedly. "Who is she? Is she like…a Magic Dimension god that everybody sorta kinda subconsciously knows so that's how I know about her or…?"

"No," Valtor said, and his voice certainly came out more hostile than intended because Bloom's smile faded slightly and her body tensed. Unfortunately, that couldn't be helped; anything remotely similar to a compliment towards that troublesome brat Daphne was enough to raise his hackles.

"Let me guess, another 'friend,'" Bloom said with a snort in an attempt at levity.

Valtor thought over his next words carefully before answering, "She was a warrior of a realm named Sparx…or Domino depending on who you ask—a guardian fairy— and she failed to protect it. We weren't enemies no, but I can't say I forgive her for her failure." More half-truths—Daphne very much was his enemy, his least favourite next to Faragonda, but she also was a weak little failure and did fail to protect Sparx. The thought of that promptly smoothed out the last of the irritation he gathered from Bloom's unintended compliment of her character and importance.

Bloom's eyes widened. "Sparx? That— that's your home planet!" She then paused before her eyes filled with utmost sorrow as she turned away from him and hugged herself. "That…was your home planet."

"Yes," Valtor agreed because it truly had been, brief of a time it was. He remembered the perpetual heat, the summer festivals…and occasionally, Griffin. A loyal Griffin a…someone he'd…and they'd…

"Once." His voice had taken on a dull tone because it was either Bloom heard that or something considerably more pathetic. Still, he couldn't stop the note of…something. It was a note of some pathetic emotion he didn't want—

Goodness this girl. When was the last time he'd thought back on his greatest achievement with anything but elation and pride? Why was he being reminded of…

Damn it all.

"I'm sorry," Bloom said, and turning back to her from the place of memories his mind had been, he saw unshed tears in her wide blue eyes.

"Don't mourn them," Valtor said, once again speaking in a sharper tone than he intended to as his nails bit into the desk. The wood darkened and warped as tiny violet flames danced along its edge. "They were weak."

"What?" Bloom said. Her brows furrowed and she wiped her eyes before revealing a scowl. "How could you say that?"

"The truth?" Valtor scoffed.

Bloom pushed up from her seat and said, "All those people didn't deserve to die because they were weak, Valtor!"

Valtor laughed bitingly in response before leaning forward slightly to meet her passionate glare. "You're right, they weren't just weak. They were pathetic, and foolish, and they couldn't handle true power because they refused—!"

For the second day in a row, Valtor found a bruise blooming on his cheek as his head jerked sharply to the side. Though unlike the day prior where the slap was for restorative purposes, this one was an incredibly furious slap from and incredibly furious Bloom. It had managed to knock him out of spiraling thoughts about Sparx, thank goodness, so instead of becoming furious himself he felt his rage die down, the rest of the unwanted memories drifting away like dandelion fuzz in the breeze.

He turned back to Bloom, ready to make a quip about her being soft but unlike him, her rage hadn't been mollified. Sparks were leaping off her hair and body, her lips were pressed into a thin, bloodless line and her eyes, still tear lined, were absolutely molten.

Oh. He may have gone…a bit too far this time.

He sighed. "Bloom—"

She turned on her heel without another word and transformed after a single step. She then flung open the balcony doors and shot off into the morning sky with the light tinkle and buzz of furiously fluttering wings.

Valtor leaned against the desk again and sighed heavily, running a palm down his face.

Daphne. Damn that blasted—

Snarling, he turned to the unfinished drawing of Daphne and set it ablaze with a snap of his fingers.

"Stella?" Flora's muffled voice sounded from behind the locked door of Stella's room.

Stella let out a groan from under the covers and curled up tighter.

Another knock. "Hey, Stell?" Musa this time. "You okay? It's been a bit since we've seen you."

"Approximately 30 hours and 13.5 minutes to be exact," Tecna added. "A sun fairy like yourself shouldn't be cooping yourself indoors like that."

Stella poked her face out from beneath the heavy comforters and glared at the closed door. "I'm not a sun fairy anymore, Tec. I'm not even a fairy," She said, voice thick with post-sobbing mucus. "I can't go to any of my classes, can't use a simple perk-up spell, or fly or do anything—" her voice broke and she slunk back beneath the covers, biting her lips to stop another sob from coming on.

"Oh, Stella!" Flora cried sadly. Stella wouldn't be surprised if the gentle flower fairy was holding back tears too.

"Out of a scale from 1 to 10, how angry will you be if I blast this door open and hug you?" Musa asked, and Stella knew she was dead serious.

Stella sat bolt straight and glared at the door again to spit, "Twenty!"

"I can handle that," she chirped. There was a warning, "Musa—!" from Tecna before the sound of a guitar solo grew in volume before exploding in a passionate riff that threw open Stella's bedroom door with violet glitter shooting out in its wake.

Stella yelped and wrapped herself with her blanket so only her messy head was visible. "Musa!" she exclaimed. "I'm not—!"

Musa bound forwards and hugged Stella tightly, and after a pause, the despondent princess hugged her back.

"Hey," Musa said, smoothing her hair. "It's gonna be alright, okay? We'll get your powers back, and kick that wizard guy's butt!"

"Yes!" Flora agreed as she and Tecna also entered the room. She sat on Stella's unoccupied right and hugged her tightly as well while Tecna shuffled awkwardly nearby with a little smile. "Everything will be okay, sweetie. We're all here for you."

Stella felt as if she was going to sob again, this time in sheer joy. Oh, Dragon what did she do to deserve such amazing friends like these?

"Does—" Stella paused to wipe a stray tear away. "Does the whole school know?"

"Ms. G had an assembly about it this morning," Musa said as she pulled back out of the hug.

"It's all anyone can talk about," Flora said with a frown. "The professors are all having a hard time getting the students to calm down."

"It's lunch now and we've yet to learn a thing," Tecna added with a sigh. She then jolted and said, "Oh! Not that that's any of your fault, Stella. I'm not blaming—"

"It's okay, Tecna, I get what you mean," Stella said with an amused smile.

All four girls's gazes snapped forwards when a knock on the dorm room proper could be heard. "Princess Stella? Are you decent?" not waiting for Stella to respond, Grizelda added, "If not you best be quick; Ms. Faragonda wants you in her office. Make haste."

"Perhaps this is a good thing," Tecna said with wide eyes. "Do you think Mistress Faragonda has found the wizard?"

Meeting the look of similar hope on each of her friend's faces, Stella figured it wouldn't hurt to hope a little too.

She washed her face and slipped on her clothes before braving the school halls with the rest of the girls. And oh gosh the whispering.

Gasps and murmurs followed Stella as she strode through the hallway with the best princess walk she could currently manage. Musa glared at anyone who stopped and stared for too long and Flora said soothing words that combated the sea of gossip floating around. It was a huge relief when they'd finally made it to the Headmistresses office. The doors swung open and closed behind the four girls, insulating them in a bubble of comfort, completely free from the noise of—

"Daddy?" Stella blurted out as she took in the man standing by the desk.

"Hello to you, too, Ms. Stella," Grizelda crabbed. Stella flushed and stammered out an apology before tuning back to her father surrounded by several guards.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

King Radius looked tired. He had dark circles and his shoulders were slumped to the tiniest of degrees. His blonde hair and beard were mussed as if he'd just slunk out of bed and his eyes, the same amber as Stella's, were missing some of its shine. Still, he was able to smile wanly at his daughter before spreading his arms in an initiation of an embrace.

Stella suddenly felt like a little girl again, and with a choked gasp she dashed forward and accepted the warm hug with as minimal tears as she could muster.

"I'm sorry," Stella blubbered against his chest. "I'm sorry I lost—"

"Hush now. It's alright." He pulled away finally and shared a wary glance with Faragonda. "It would seem things are…troublesome at the moment. I don't fault you for losing your powers to the likes of a man like that."

"Who is he, Headmistress?" Tecna asked with a frown. "What does he want?"

"I cannot answer your first query, Tecna. However for the latter, I fear it is power he is after…If left unchecked I fear…"

"We've thankfully managed to pin down his magical signature this morning," Grizelda said. "With any luck, we'll have him by day's end."

"This is why I am here," King Radius said. "To ensure you are not left unprotected." He snapped his fingers and a guard stepped forwards with an ornate, indigo box decorated in stars and crescent moons.

Stella looked at it curiously before tuning to her father in questioning. He nodded in encouragement, and with a deep breath, she flicked open the latch and opened the lid.

A gasp tore from her lips at both the magic immediately rising out and the sight of the beautiful scepter lying within. It was silver at the handle, while a gold crescent moon sat at the top. A pretty opalescent crystal sat in the centre. "Isn't this—?"

"It's your mother's, yes. We spoke, and decided that with your sun magic currently inaccessible to you, tapping into your moon powers would be prudent."

Stella bit her lip. "I haven't practiced moon magic in years. I…I'll probably super rusty and fail all my classes and—"

"Classes aren't important at the moment, Stella," King Radius said firmly. "Not in comparison to your life."

"We will also take your mild handicap into account when it comes to grades," Faragonda assured her with a smile.

"Woo! Go, Stell! An upgrade!" Musa cheered. Stella tossed a fond grin over her shoulder before taking up the scepter with two hands and feeling the magic rush through her veins. It wasn't the same, not by a long shot, to her usual scepter but the hole in her chest had closed up a little.

Stella twirled the scepter between her fingers and smiled. It would take a bit, but she could see herself getting used to this.

And as a plus, it matched nicely with her outfits.

In all seriousness, Bloom wasn't really sure why Valtor's callousness had made her so angry this time around. It wasn't like he was all sunshine and rainbows most days, or didn't say and do morally questionable things 24/7, but for some reason…

No, there wasn't a weird reason. Genocide just so happened to be a stupid thing to justify.

Bloom flew through the city, a bit above the pedestrians and cars moving beneath her, arms crossed and a frown stuck on her face. Everything was so weird, and all thanks to that nebulous dream and that even more confusing girl. Daphne. Who was she? Why was she contacting her? Why had Sparx been frozen over (Valtor's opinion non withstanding)? She wished—

"Hey! Bloom!"

Bloom shook her head and looked down, broken from her thoughts by the sound of a hover bike and its waving rider. He parked where she was hovering by the side of the street and took his helmet off.

Bloom's face immediately brightened as she floated down towards him. Seeing his open and sunny face as opposed to Valtor's dark and sardonic one was already working to melt away a good deal of her bad mood. "Brandon, hey!"

"Hey!" Brandon repeated with a grin as he shook out his hair. "Going for a fly?"

"Yeah, I needed…" Bloom's voice trailed off as she hugged herself tighter with a sigh. "I needed to clear my head, you know?"

Brandon, finally clocking into her mood, frowned too. "You okay?"

Bloom scratched awkwardly at her elbow as she landed on the sidewalk and let her fairy form melt away. "No," she admitted with a sigh. "Not really. Me and Baltor—"

"Your mentor?"

"Yeah. We had a little argument about…politics, I guess? I dunno, what do you call arguing about genocide? Pure insanity?" Bloom's voice had gained back an edge of anger as she crossed her arms and scoffed.

Brandon's eyes widened. "Genocide? What the heck were—" he paused, then sat up straighter. "You guys were talking about The Snuff."

Bloom frowned and tilted her head to the side. "'The Snuff?'"

"The destruction of the kingdom, Sparx. Some of us call it 'The Snuff' because it was the most prominent fire kingdom in the Magic Dimension and it—ironically—got frozen over and 'snuffed out.'"

"Oh," Bloom said. "Yeah, that's what we were talking about. How'd you know? Is there only one genocide in the entire Magic world?"

"Not by a long shot. The Ancestral Witches did a number on a bunch of places, but Sparx was a big deal because of how important it is in our world."

Ancestral Witches? Sparx being… "important"? Frowning in thought, Bloom asked, "Hey, do you think we can talk more about this? Tell me the basics, maybe?"

Brandon smiled. "I forget you're an Earthling sometime. Yeah, I have time; hop on, there's a good exhibit you we can check out at the museum."

Bloom was immediately awestruck by the Magix museum. She was, to be fair, awestruck by all museums period, but a magic museum with magic inside of it? Oh, be still her artistic heart, she was going to explode!

She saw paintings of dancing women—who were actually dancing in real-time like something straight from Harry Potter—moving statues giving balloons to children, fairies creating paintings with flicks of their hands while audiences watched…

"Wow," Bloom breathed in wonder, and Brandon chuckled beside her.

"Do you wanna explore before going to the exhibit?"

Bloom shook her head hard to get the stars out of them before turning to Brandon with an apologetic smile. "I….okay, yeah. If anymore negative stuff gets into my brain now I'll probably blow something up—better to cool of with some awesome magic, yeah?"

"Yeah," Brandon said with a sideways smile. The two made their way down a hallway showing a long painting of a kingdom rising and falling over and over again like a movie on replay.

"Although," Bloom said, tearing her eyes away from the sight. "Anything you wanna warn me about on our way there? So I don't lose my nonexistent lunch, or something?"

"Don't worry, there's nothing too scary at the exhibit; no frozen statue reenactments or anything."

Bloom nodded in understanding. She didn't think anything could be scarier than her nightmare anyway. "Could you tell me why Sparx was so important?"

"Well it was Sparx. It's the home of the Great Dragon—"

"Great Dragon?"

"The creator of the magical dimension," Brandon explained. "The legends say he made his home in Sparx after he'd finished his job, blessing the royal family with his might." He frowned and shook his head with sigh, glumly sticking and un-sticking a fry form his ketchup cup. "To think even that wasn't able to protect the planet and its inhabitants."

Bloom's brow furrowed. "Why?" she asked quietly. "Why did it happen?"

Brandon's face darkened and he shuddered slightly. "You ever heard of the Ancestral Witches?"

Bloom shook her head, but the title sent a chill down her spine. "Just what you briefly mentioned already."

"They were three powerful sisters who wanted to have the Magic Dimension for themselves—or at least all the magic in it."

Bloom frowned darkly. "So…power."

Brandon nodded solemnly.

Bloom sighed and rubbed at her arm. "…I don't know why I feel so affected by this. I'm not even from here yet…"

"Hey, empathy is a universal trait," Brandon said with a smile. He lay a comforting hand on Bloom's shoulder. "It's nice that you feel so terribly about people who aren't your own."

Bloom pinched her brow and gave him a wane smile. "Thanks…but it feels more than…" she shook her head. "You're right. I'm probably just not psychopath."

The two briefly went back to looking around when Brandon cleared his throat and got Bloom's attention again. "So," he said.

Bloom nodded. "So."

Silence.

"Um…" Brandon hesitated before clearing his throat again and turning to the nearest sculpture—it looked like a siren with wings. "You uh…you like this statue? It's cool."

Bloom gave him a sideways smile before she snorted. Smooth. Very smooth. "Yeah," she said, deciding to throw him bone. "It's neat, what's it supposed to be?"

He was, Valtor had decided, doing this for his own sake. He'd had plans today to borrow some things from the museum forever and it wouldn't work as smoothly without Bloom's powers as fuel. Additionally, the last thing they needed was more attention on the two of them what with Faragonda more than likely knowing about him now, and this was something that would absolutely happen if Bloom attracted trouble like she always seemed to.

Obviously.

Why else would he be looking for her?

If his magic was to believed, she was moving rather slow—strolling languidly? Taking a lazy fly? Either way she at least didn't seem to be—

The world pulsed black around him and he halted, clutching his head with a grunt. His body tensed as a voice clawed at his ears: "Valtor!"

Blast.

Valtor picked up speed, feeling the invisible claws of his mothers desperately reaching for his mind. However, their talons were nearly completely forgotten when he felt a powerful surge of magic from his peripheral. He and his mothers gasped in unison as they retreated swiftly and he froze in his flight, burying his power deep.

Faragonda? Faragonda with her magic unfolded?

Valtor felt unwanted wave of panic at the realization, and quickly made his way to the nearest building roof. He landed and scanned the city down below with a deep furrow between his brows.

Why was she here? With mer magic bared no less? And more importantly, where was she? She was near, clearly, but was she near Valtor? Had she sensed him the way she was sensing her now? Dammit, he wasn't prepared—!

Wait. No. Not Faragonda. The signature felt…different somehow, heavier, less powerful.

But still dangerous.

Gritting his teeth, Valtor charged across the rooftops, deigning some roof jumping would keep his magic hidden better than flying at the moment. He needed to find Bloom quickly—if Faragonda was indeed on his trail, then it wasn't hard to believe she'd sent a bounty hunter or powerful fairy after him. Bloom's magic, then, would be paramount to, if not victory then survival. If he knew where oh where that obnoxious girl had gone to—

An explosion sparked deep within his soul and Valtor skidded to a stop as his gaze was torn towards the distance where Bloom's magic was suddenly flaring up like a cornered wold. Below, pedestrians look up to and about themselves, murmuring at the energy as Valtor smiled grimly.

Causing him trouble per usual, it would seem.

Bloom ran her hands against the painting. The End of a Giant it was titled, and it showcased a once beautiful landscape caked over with icicles and frost, sitting atop a curled up dragon with its eyes closed. Above the horrible picture was a dark cloud and a pair of red angry eyes glaring from the sky. Bloom shuddered and hugged herself. "God, this is…"

"Yeah," Brandon said. "My Dad was my age when it happened he…he says it was the worst day of anybody's life."

And Valtor had called those people weak and deserving of their fates. Bloom clenched her jaw as she moved to the next painting: four frozen thrones of varying heights. One ugly, gnarled witch sat grinning on each, and the last was using the smallest throne as a footrest as she lounged back, spinning a crown around on a knobby finger. Bloom clenched her jaw and quickly turned from that to the next item in the exhibit.

"Daphne," Bloom breathed, staring wide eyed at the marble statue. It was definitely her, even in a pure white palette—the flowing blonde hair, the feathered mask, the long dress and the bangles.

"You know her," Brandon said in surprise.

"Yeah," Bloom said vaguely with a nod. Before frowning and shaking her head. "I mean, no. Not really." She turned to him with a sheepish smile. "This is going to sound weird, but I actually had a dream about her."

"Princess Daphne?" Brandon said, eyebrows raising his to hairline. "And you haven't seen her before?"

"Nope," then paused at the title he'd used. "Wait a minute, princess?"

"Yeah, Daphne was the last—"

A familiar pain sliced through Bloom's body, muffling his words as she clutched at her chest with a grunt. God, what was going on with her magic today?

"Bloom?" Brandon asked in panic. He rushed forwards and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground. "Bloom? What's the matter? Hey, are—ah!" As Bloom's skin burned beneath her flesh, Brandon was forced to let go. Bloom staggered away from him as she watched light seep out of her body.

Her head ached and so did her knees as she crashed to them heavily. An orange dome sprung out of the ground, surrounding them both as the people nearby became glaze eyed and zombie limbed, walking sluggishly towards the exit. "What the heck?!" Brandon cried, head darting around side to side in fear. Bloom couldn't agree more. What was going on and why did her skin feel like it wanted to tear off her bones? Why couldn't her muscles stop shaking and—

"What?" A voice said just as Bloom had regained her breath and her temperature had returned to normal. "But…you…" Bloom looked up to see a plain looking middle-aged woman standing a few feet away from her. Her brown hair was cut in a simple bob, she wore long dark clothes, and was looking down at Bloom in glasses covered wide-eyed confusion.

The woman blinked twice and frowned as she glanced between Bloom and Brandon. "I don't understand."

"Understand…" Bloom grunted as she tried pushing herself to her feet. Brandon helped by hoisting her up by the elbow and she gave him a brief smile of thanks. She then turned back to the strange woman. "Understand what?"

"I…" the woman gave another dazed blink before shaking her head. "Forgive me, both of you. I was…I was looking for someone and the spell I used to track their magical signature sent me here…"

Bloom's blood went cold. The woman had been searching for a magical signature?

"Hey, wait a minute," Brandon was saying. "Aren't you…" Bloom wasn't listening to him anymore, her mind had gone back to Valtor's ominous warning from the first night they'd met.

"Bloom, do you recall when I told you that you possessed the Dragon Flame …? it is a highly sought after treasure; power hungry witches, wizards, dark lords, and even some heroes and fairies would clamour to tear anyone to shreds to get their hands on it, and it is that greed that brought these men here tonight."

"Bloom?" Brandon turned to her worriedly as she backed away shaking. "Are you—?"

"God!" Bloom yelled suddenly. Her magic surged and her wings sprung out of her shoulder blades. "Why can't you people just leave us alone!" Two flaming orbs exploded into her palms as Brandon jumped back with a yelp.

"Bloom!" he cried. "What are you—?!"

Bloom ignored him, pushing off the floor and zooming across the ground, pulling her arm back and shoving her spell forward with a war cry.

The old woman gasped in shock before spreading her arms wide. The barrier shrunk rapidly to surrounded her alone, and Bloom watched as her spell hit it. Knowing from experience what happened next, she quickly zipped out of the blasts range and tossed her next spell before the woman could cast another.

The woman snapped her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at the oncoming spell. Bloom's jaw dropped as a stream of glitter shot from her forehead and exploded the fireball in midair.

"Bloom!" Brandon yelled, running towards her. "Bloom, stop!"

"Stay back, Brandon!" Bloom said, holding a hand towards him to halt. "She's a magic snatcher!"

"A what?" The woman demanded, aghast. "Young lady I am no so such thing!"

"Oh yeah?" Bloom said through gritted teeth. "Then why were you looking for me, huh?"

"It wasn't you I was after, child!" The woman cried. "I was looking for somebody else. I don't know why my spell failed—"

Bloom snarled, and the temperature of the room grew with her anger. It didn't matter that she was mad at him right now, she wasn't letting him get hurt, not even by harmless sounding ladies (who clearly wasn't harmless because she exploded Bloom's spell with her mind! What the hell).

With a roar, Bloom swung her arm to the side. Several orbs of fire materialized around her in a circle before she shoved both hands forward, directed the flames ahead. Instead, the orbs of fire broke out of the circle and began crashing against the walls, the ground, the ceiling—

Brandon cried out in pain as he was flung against a nearby wall and slumped to the ground. Bloom gasped in horror as she turned towards him. "Brandon—" a spell hit her in the side and sent her crashing to the ground with a cry of pain. Her body seized, and she was reminded, much to her horror, of those goggled gun guys from three days prior.

Except this time she didn't—

The floor glowed gold and a hand tore through to grab her arm. She cried out with a shriek as she was tugged through and fell atop something hard. She grunted, squirming against the other arm pinning her to what she now knew was a chest until she heard a familiar voice urgently say, "It's me."

Bloom stopped struggling before looking up at Valtor, disguise on and frown on his face. But he wasn't looking at her.

Looking down, Bloom could see the burning museum below. Then, she remembered something with a gasp. "Brandon! I hit him—"

"He'll be fine," Valtor said dismissively as he began flying her in the opposite direction.

"Wait no! You don't know that! Plus he was there with that wacko power snatcher lady—!"

"I told you, specialists don't have magic, she won't bother him."

"But I still hit him!"

"Did you intend to kill him?"

"No!"

"Then he'll be fine." He frowned in seeming thought before adding, "Probably."

Probably?! Oh God she was going to throw up—

"Enough, Bloom." The sharpness in his voice made Bloom freeze abruptly and look up once more. The cold in her chest intensified when she saw the steely glare he was leveling her with. "We are not going back."

Bloom overcame her shock so she could glare right back. "Why are you like this? You know what, I know you don't care about anyone but yourself—" He grunted irritably, but she continued. "But I do, and I want to—"

"Fine." Valtor let her go abruptly and she briefly fell with a shriek before managing to get back control of her wings. "Go back. But you'll be on your own." He then turned his back to her and continued to fly off into the distance.

Bloom glared at him before flying back towards the museum, pumping her wings as fast as she could. As she neared, she could see the former museum patrons standing outside murmuring, as well as camera crews and several news anchors nearby. Fairies with large wings were showering the building with pretty glitter, and she was half tempted to watch in wonder, but her concern for Brandon won out. Bloom lowered herself closer to the crowd, searching anxiously. Then, with a breath of relief, Bloom found her friend on a stretcher being healed by another fairy.

"Brandon!" Bloom cried as she landed at his side.

Brandon looked up at her with equal relief, the fairy looking at her curiously. "Bloom, you're alright! You just disappeared and—Dragon, what was that back there?"

"I—" Bloom looked up, noticing the magic snatching woman speaking with someone else. She tensed and squeezed Brandon's hand. There was a lot of people here now, so maybe she wouldn't—but no, Bloom didn't want her face to be memorized, she'd already messed up bad. "I have to go. Thank you for today, alright? Call me when you get back."

"Bloom—" She shot into the air before he could get a word in.

He didn't know they'd made an exhibit.

Valtor supposed it was…silly to not believe they'd have foregone an art collection made to choke on Sparx's frozen genitals now that he thought about it, but it was surreal, walking through it. Frustrating that he wasn't featured in anything. Thought provoking, in a way as well. Or it probably would have been had he not been forced to save Bloom again.

Which was…odd. What was there to think about? Why did he feel the need to?

Truly, truly, blast that nymph to the deepest pits of hell. He needed to figure out how to keep her stubborn spirit away from Bloom, if not send her there himself. He didn't want to talk about that silly planet ever again—how could one argument taint the memory of such a glorious victory?

No, not an argument. Not the biting words. Not the slap. It was Bloom's eyes, usually bright with wonder and admiration and impish amusement, molten with…disgust. Or at least, something near it.

Valtor stared at his reflection in the heavily sugared mug of hot chocolate in his hands. He didn't like that look in her eyes, not leveled at him, at least. Griffin had looked at him like that, hadn't she?

Before she abandoned him, that was.

His head snapped up, and he turned his head towards the balcony windows where a familiar signature could be felt. Valtor didn't exactly know why tension seeped out of his shoulders when he felt Bloom's magic and heard the balcony door open. "Back in one piece?" He called sardonically over his shoulder to make up for the bewildering behavior.

Bloom glared back as her transformation melted away. "Fuck. You."

Still angry it seemed.

Valtor sighed as he took a long sip of his drink, drumming his fingers against the kitchenette counter. It wasn't fun needling Bloom when she was genuinely angry with him, he'd figured out from today. It would seem, as begrudging as he was, he needed to hand over some semblance of an olive branch.

"Bloom," Valtor said with a sigh. "I…" he hesitated. "I misspoke," he settled on. "What I said about Sparx was insensitive." She didn't answer, and a glance over his shoulder revealed that she was on her bed and facing stubbornly away from him. "I know it may seem that I'm callous and…monstrous but that is only because the world is so." He turned to face her fully as he walked towards her fetal form. "You saw today, didn't you? The power hungry witches who destroyed Sparx, the woman who wanted your magic…this world doesn't appreciate light like yours, Bloom." He sat at the edge of the bed as she gave her a serious look. "It will snuff it out. Sparx was proof of that. If you don't have strength and grit and cold hard drive, you will be eliminated." He then added, in an attempt to drive the point home, "It was learning this that saved me from Sparx's destruction, and it is that drive that is keeping the both of us safe now."

Bloom's shoulders relaxed and her eyes were flickering with clear heavy thought. She turned half-way to look up at him with a sadly furrowed brow. "I'm sorry that happened to you, losing your home. But…those sisters were just three witches. The whole world isn't all like that. I know it isn't."

"Too much of it is."

She sighed again and looked away once more, though the tension didn't return to her body. Valtor mulled over his next words before adding, "Though that doesn't mean I don't care about things."

Bloom snorted and rolled onto her back to look at him properly, and Valtor found himself feeling…something that felt like relief. "Yeah, I know. Like power, and dramatics, and your appearance—"

"You," Valtor interjected.

Bloom stopped talking and opened and closed her mouth several times. Then she snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay Mr. You're on your own."

Valtor frowned. "I didn't think she would attack you again with so much people."

"Then why didn't you go back?" Bloom asked.

"I—" Valtor shook his head and sighed heavily. "Bloom, that woman works closely with a powerful enemy of mine and has a great deal of power herself. She may very well see through my disguise if I get too close. I do not want—gah. Beyond that, does this once incident truly negate all the other times I've been there to save you? Today including?"

Bloom spared him a glance before looking away again.

Valtor tried his final trump card. "We're An-lin and Obi…" he frowned and twisted his wrist in thought. "Obi…Obi…I want to say ren but—"

Bloom burst into laughter and Valtor smiled in response. She turned to look at him again before saying, "That was so, so wrong."

"I assume you have a plan to rectify this spot in my knowledge?"

She smiled weakly. "Yeah. I do, actually." Then she said, "Speaking of pop-culture, I managed to get that Sailor Mars spell to work today."

Valtor raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well sort of. It kinda went haywire and that's why I hit Brandon, but I got the shape down and…!"

Valtor listened to her speak about the feeling and how she hadn't even really realized what she'd done until just now, and how cool it was and all the spells she wanted to re-create next. It was nice, getting his mind away from his mothers and Sparx and Daphne.

That was the reason. That was the reason he enjoyed listening to her excited babble.

Chapter Text

Sky wrung his hands as he walked through the hallways of Alfea, only shifting his face into a practiced smile and wave when a giggling fairy or three waved his way. He was worried—had been since he'd gone to class that morning only to be told he was wanted at Alfea.

There he'd been, sitting in class with the rest of the guys when a solemn looking Saladin had entered, stopping Codatora's class on heros' ethics in its tracks. The Headmaster didn't come down often, preferring to let Codatora handle any issues that may go on at Red Fountain, so to see him there and with a face spelling trouble at that…

Sky became even more tense when he saw that the elusive headmaster was heading towards him. Oh no, what had happened? If he'd been in trouble for something, Codatora would've ate him out for it by now, so—crap, Brandon wasn't here. Did something happen at Eraklyon? Was—? Everyone's heads jerked sharply from Saladin moving through the lecture hall to the door opening up, Brandon barreling in. "Sorry, sorry!" Codatora gave him an unimpressed snort but he and the others returned their gazes to Saladin as he finally reached the relievedly slumped form of Sky.

"I don't know what for," Saladin began, and his voice cut sharply through the thick silence. "But the Headmistress of Alfea wishes to speak with you. Urgently."

Brandon whistled as he moved up the stairs to take his seat. "Got caught canoodling with the pretty redhead, Brandon?" Codatora made another snort of disapproval when a few boys snickered, but the humor dissipated once more at Saladin's glare.

Sky swallowed and nodded hesitantly. "Yes, sir. I'll go now, Sir." Eyes followed him as he packed up his books and left the classroom, footsteps echoing against the round walls. Headmaster Saladin must have been lying—if he didn't know what the matter was, there'd be no need to have such a worried face. He took out his phone and checked to see if he had missed any calls or texts from his parents—nothing. He even scrolled through social media and any news sites he could find, but there was nothing on his home dimension.

There was something about the museum fiasco from two days ago, though.

Sky stopped walking as he read the article from the Fairy Times. The building was the front cover, along with the crowd of concerned onlookers. Explosion at Magix Museum! The article cried out, detailing a "mysterious and spontaneous fire" coming from the Sparx exhibit.

But it wasn't spontaneous, and Deputy Headmistress Grizelda—

That was it. That's what they wanted him for. Bloom. He was almost certain this meeting had to do with Bloom and her weird freak out. And five minutes later, as he sat in the Headmistress's office and exchanged pleasantries, his fears were realized.

"What do you know of this friend of yours?"

"Oh…uh," Sky shuffled. "Well she came from Earth and she was being trained in magic by her mentor."

"Mentor?" Faragonda repeated.

Sky swallowed, eyes darting to the pursed lip and sternly glaring Grizelda before turning back to the equally serious Faragonda. "Right. His name was…" Sky frowned. It was something super weird he remembered Valtor…? No…oh! "Oh! Right, Baltor Mike."

The two women became extremely tense.

"This girl and Baltor Mike," Grizelda said slowly. "Do you think you can get ahold of them by any chance?"

"Without seeming…suspicious?" Faragonda added.

Sky opened and closed his mouth, eyes darting between the two women. "Uh…yeah but—ma'am…s, what's going—?"

"Answer the question, please, Prince Sky," Faragonda urged.

"I-is Bloom in trouble?"

"Very much so, it would seem," Grizelda said grimly. "But not with us."

"What do you mean?" Sky asked worriedly.

The two women exchanged glances before turning back to him. "Sky," Faragonda said. "We need you to do something for us."

Bloom hit the concrete with a grunt of pain before rolling out the way of a jet of flame. Before she could get up, she was forced to throw up a barrier to block another blast, and then zipped into the air to avoid another.

It was the second subway training session in a row where Valtor was going harder than usual, and she had a hunch it had nothing to do with trying to make her a better fighter.

"Geez, slow dow—ah!" Bloom quickly shot a fireball at the one incoming, causing them both to explode and send her flying back against the graffiti covered wall. Valtor didn't even bother telling her about how "foolish it was to blow up another caster's spell unless absolutely certain it can be worked in your favor" like he had once before because he was too busy glaring off to the side with a deep frown. He gave a deep sigh before tuning back to her, hands alight with flames. "Again."

"Call me crazy," Bloom said as she jerked her hips to avoid one blast and leaped into the air to avoid the second. "But you seem like you're in a bad mood."

Valtor scoffed and gave his fists a clench. Recognizing the motion, Bloom darted left as the wall behind her exploded in a geyser of flame.

"Someone powerful has been made known of my existence—I'm not exactly sure why I should have an uppity attitude about it," Valtor said sardonically.

"It's just…" Bloom created a shield to stop another blast. "There has to be something we can do, right? They couldn't find you with the magic locater spell thing-a-ma-bob."

Valtor sighed and lowered his hand. His jaw worked and his gaze kept flickering to her then the ground as before finally saying, "I made a grave error the other day, and it is that reason that they will find me."

Bloom frowned and landed. "What sort of…error?"

"You recall Monday night when I came back from my flight…peeved?"

"Oh! You mean the day you were swearing at the sky and got caught in a trance? Yeah."

"I was not—in any case, yes, that day. The reason for my anger had to do with having a run-in with someone I knew would reveal my likeness to powerful people."

"Ooh," Bloom winced. "That's what you meant when you said an enemy would find you soon?"

"Correct," Valtor said gravely. "The fairy I ran in with didn't know me but given that that woman went after you yesterday—an underthing for that heinous woman—I can assume she gave her a description that resembled…well, me."

Huh. Yeah, that did suck. But it wasn't a completely impossible situation, right? Bloom wasn't a total braniac, sure, but there had to be some sort of wiggle space for them to get out of this pickle and she was nothing if not determined to find it. She did not want another power snatcher ruining her magical summer vacation.

Bloom frowned and crossed her ams with a hum, mulling over the issue at hand with a creased forehead. A moment later, her eyes lit up. "So, she doesn't know for sure you're here now, right?"

Valtor scoffed. "I don't see how she wouldn't."

"Okay but it's still just speculation!" Bloom insisted, getting more excited. She began flying around him with a slowly growing grin on her face. "The fairy probably told this enemy of yours you had long blonde hair, old-time-y clothes, fire powers and—" she turned to teasingly tap Valtor's nose with a finger. "—a handsome face."

Valtor smirked lightly at the compliment before steeling himself once more. "Your point?"

"You know who else is handsome has old-time-y clothes, long blonde hair and fire powers?" She landed and poked him the ribs this time. "Baltor Mike!"

Valtor frowned back at her. "I don't—" then his face slowly brightened with realization. He looked away from her, humming in thought. "Using my disguise to throw of the scent…clever I suppose but that would mean Baltor Mike would become a fugitive."

"We'll get you a new one with a better name!" Bloom said. "And then we can make up a new story of you being my older brother or something once Baltor Mike supposedly goes on the lam."

Valtor chuckled and smirked down at her. "Quite a devious plan from the mind of self-proclaimed karma collector Bloom Peters."

"Hey, it's deviousness with a cause!" Bloom said before leaping back into the air. "Now, let me try kicking your butt really quick so we can get to making Baltor Mike disappear!" she used the same Sailor Mars trick from before and scowled as each fire orb hit everything but Valtor.

His amused laughter didn't make failure sting any less.

Valtor watched in both amusement and curiosity as Bloom rapidly drew and crudely coloured a poster atop her sketchpad, singing a jaunty tune under her breath. It was simpler than the ones he'd seen of her prior—the drawing versions of both he and Bloom bore dot eyes and grinning bean mouths as they high-fived one another. Above was the title BLOOM AND VALTOR'S EPIC SCHEME with probably illegal scribbled at the corner. She finished the drawing at the same time she finished the song and showed it to him with a proud grin. "That was the Mission Impossible theme by the way," she said in reference to the song.

"Another Earth movie you'd like to show me?" Valtor guessed.

"Nah, I never liked those movies. Anyway, here's the plan." Bloom tapped at the numbered scribbled sentences beneath the drawing. "First, we devise a dramatic script complete with a battle. I 'defeat' you and you fly dramatically off into the sunset," she said. "Then, we wait till high noon where the most people get to watch the show way up above so we don't cause too much damage. Finally we celebrate with ice cream, popcorn, and a movie. Questions?"

"Prudent," Valtor nodded, fist beneath his chest. "However we'll need a little something to make sure our deception sticks in the mind of that sun fairy. We can't have her running her mouth again, after all."

Bloom's grin faded. "You're not going to—"

"Kill her? No."

Bloom flinched. "I was going to say 'send her to limbo' or something but…good to know?"

He didn't bother reminding her that limbo was death but he supposed to the likes of Bloom, murder wasn't murder unless—ah, not now. He didn't want to argue with her now, not even in his own mind. Pushing past the quickly thickening air of discomfort, Valtor gently took the sketchpad as well as the pen she'd used to write before scratching out 3 and replacing it with a 4. He then added another step between the last two in a tiny cursive scrawl.

"Take over…the broadcasting station?" Bloom read out, squinting at the words in an attempt to make them out.

"Yes," Valtor confirmed. "With any luck, the news of our little play will be blaring all throughout the dimensions. I don't fancy sneaking into Alfea again and that fairy isn't the only one who saw me out of disguise, so it's not only a convenient solution but a catch-all."

Bloom paused as she glanced at him before smiling. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good. And it's not a painful spell, right?"

"Of course not," Valtor scoffed. "The spell, like most mind based ones are designed for subtlety. Pain is hardly discreet."

Bloom stood and clapped her hands together. "Alrighty! Plan Ghost is a-go!"

Sneak into Alfea again? What exactly did that mean?

It was a prominent thought on Bloom's mind as the two flew over Magix at nighttime. The streets far below were visible through the bright glare of street lights alone, and the sound of honking could be heard, but Bloom's mind had tuned all of it out. Instead her gaze kept flickering to her mentor as she flipped through one of his many spell books with a furrow to his brow.

Valtor had never mentioned going to Alfea, so he must've said that without thinking. Or, it could've been something he'd done a long time ago before they'd met but he mentioned it in tandem with the "sun fairy" hadn't he? Bloom knew a sun fairy at Alfea—vaguely albeit—and she remembered the weird night she met her too.

Had Valtor been there?

She could've asked, maybe. About Alfea and even about the sun shaped ring she'd seen rattling the day he'd flown out in a huff. But she was worried the reason was…bad. And sure Valtor wasn't really a morally upright citizen, but she didn't want him to be bad.

"Ah, D level foolishness," Valtor said in annoyance. "Still, it'll have to do. We don't want to know what else that woman has planned and we may find out if I try finding something more potent."

"So…your enemy is a woman?" Bloom asked.

"At least two of them are, yes."

"Is she…Fara…erm, the Headmistress for Alfea?" Hating the school, sneaking in, even exploding the TV when her face appeared…it would make sense. Plus, it'd mean that he was only going in there to try and…scope out the competition. Test how strong she was. Nothing too crazy, nothing too bad.

Valtor glanced at her briefly before nodding slowly. "Yes. Why?"

Bloom shrugged and felt a surge of relief at the same time. "Just a hunch."

Valtor chuckled and went back to the book, smoothing down the page that the wind was bending. "I suppose I'm not very subtle."

Bloom snorted. "You? Definitely not."

In the Magic Dimension—or at least Magix—Bloom had learned, a broadcasting station was actually a cool as heck hovering space shuttle. It was round and had several little windows slicing it's gray form in half, and a thin green beam was shooting up into the starry night sky.

"Whoa," Bloom breathed. "How many of these do we have to hack?"

"Just this one. You'll find that magic is fairly far reaching." He slammed the book shut with his hand. "Speaking of hacking, I'll need your help with this. The spell with my feeble magic alone won't do all too good but with the two of us combined, it'll do wonders."

Bloom smiled and nodded. "Alrighty! Just tell me what to do, Coach."

"We'll need to disable security first," Valtor said as the broadcasting station loomed over them with its size. "A nice electrocution spell should do the trick. Hand?" He hovered in the air and Bloom stopped with him, glancing curiously at the gloved hand he offered her. She took it and gasped when he squeezed; it was if her insides had been filled with fireworks.

"Whoa," Bloom said for the second time that night. She turned to Valtor with wide eyes, and he in contrast had his closed, a pleased smile on his face. He opened them after a moment and turned to her with a mirrored grin before stating, "I'm going to give you some tech magic—a little something I picked up from Xenith before my power loss. It won't be much but—"

Bloom let out a pretty cartoonish "YOW!" and jerked her hand back as purple electricity racked across her body. It didn't hurt per se, but it was uncomfortably hot and tingly. It felt like her skin was just a little too close to an open and sparking power cord, and her muscles spasmed accordingly. Moments later, the purple electricity turned the same bright orange of her magic before dissipating, leaving a goosebump littered, shivering Bloom in its wake. "That was…I didn't like that."

"Hmm," Valtor tilted his head to the side and eyed her up and down curiously. "I suppose tech magic isn't your affinity. No matter, I can take it back once we're done here."

Bloom nodded fast. "Yes, please."

Valtor chuckled before continuing his flight towards the tower. "We will shoot electricity into its underbelly." Bloom nodded in understanding as they swooped under, avoiding the windows. She looked down at her hands and called magic into them, wincing as it sparked uncomfortably in her palms. "Ready?" Valtor prompted. Bloom took in a deep breath and nodded.

Valtor thrust his hands up and let the electricity explode out. Bloom followed suit, shrieking as she was shoved backwards through the air and sent pinwheeling.

She landed against Valtor's chest with an "oomph!" and blushed through a muttered apology. Valtor simply chuckled again before they both looked up at their handiwork. Electricity quickly ran up and around the broadcasting station before exploding into sparks that peppered the night sky. The lights could be seen flickering from the windows.

"Good, they should be in a bit of a panic trying to get systems running again—nobody to check if the magic's been tainted."

"Won't they wonder who attacked them?" Bloom asked.

"Thankfully for us, this place has a habit of getting struck by lightning. It's very near Cloud Tower, you see." He nodded upwards at the beam. "Now, to finish this up."

Bloom flew off Valtor's chest and the two shot quickly into the air where the beam was still shooting into the sky.

"I don't need to use electricity again, do I?" Bloom asked with a worried frown. She did not want to feel it—or get blasted into next century— again so soon after last time.

"No, just take my hand again." Bloom flitted over to his side and did as he asked, feeling the same warm surge and comforting feeling hum though her bones. Valtor held his free hand out towards the broadcasting beam and wiggled his fingers a bit. Violet magic snaked around his fingers before slipping off and twined with the green of the beam. Bloom watched the magic swim upstream as Valtor closed his eyes and murmured something under his breath. Bloom guessed it was part of the spell, because she could feel her magic burning hotter with his, flowing a bit faster between the connection of their hands.

Valtor then opened his eyes and lowered his hand. A pleased smirk graced his lips as he said, "It is done."

Bloom grinned at him as their hands dropped. "Now to get the script ready. I got some pretty good theatre experience."

"What grade?" Valtor asked in a humorously dubious tone as the two flew away from the broadcasting station.

Bloom stuck her tongue out at him. "Sophomore year, jerk."

"Aw, c'mon! You won't give me a little hint as to where you're going?" Brandon asked Sky. He was raising his eyebrows in an incredulous manner as he crunched weights, but there was a tilt of worry to his friend's lips.

"I'll be fine, Bran—erm, Sky—Dragon," Sky sighed and laughed a little as he checked his sword. "It's so weird saying my name in third-person."

"We don't have to carry on the charade when nobody else is around, do we?" Brandon asked.

Sky sighed tiredly once more as he called in the glowing laser of his sword and slid the hilt into his pant pocket. "We don't know who might be watching or listening so until the situation in Erkalyon is settled…"

"I get it," Brandon said with a sad smile before letting the weights drop and stretching his arms. "Make sure this super secret mission of yours doesn't get you killed, alright? Feels bad lying to all the ladies who want to get to know me."

Sky tossed a light grin over his shoulder. "And by ladies you mean Princess Stella, right?"

Brandon whistled sadly. "Dunno, man. I really messed up with that stupid egg thing."

"Oh come on! That wasn't you it was those witches."

"Yeah, but the vomit was mine."

Sky let out a bark of laughter that Brandon matched before leaving the dorm room with a quick wave over his shoulder. Bringing the guys along would be suspicious, Faragonda had said, especially since Bloom didn't know them well enough for pop in visits. True enough, even if Sky felt he could've made up some excuse (or at least Brandon could with his endless charisma), but if Bloom's mentor was actually dangerous she didn't want to risk tipping the guy off.

He let out a deep breath before trudging forwards. With any luck, he could do what he'd been asked without a hitch. It wasn't too hard, really. All he had to do was subtly separate Bloom and Dangerous Guy, then call up Faragonda so she could send in backup.

Easy. Yet his hands were shaking on the handles of his motorbike. It probably had to do with Dangerous Guy, in all honesty. Sky had always had bad vibes towards him, and he was scared that he was going to see right through Sky and do something well…dangerous.

Sky took more deep breaths, tightening his grip. He could do this. He would—

He was forced to brake sharply as a crowd of people ran across the street in a panic.

What the hell?

Sky took his helmet off and shook his hair out. He glanced around where more pedestrians were gasping and pointing up. Sky followed their fingers and shocked eyes.

Bloom went flying from the air and crashed into the street. Sky and several other people gasped in horror as she groaned and pushed herself up from the formed crater. "Bloom!" Sky cried. He leaped off his bike and ran towards her, but before he could reach her, she'd shot into the sky again with flaming hands.

"How could you?! I trusted you, Baltor!"

Floating with glowing hands and facing the angry fairy was Baltor Mike himself, a wide grin on his face before he threw his head back and laughed.

"Oh, shit," Sky breathed.

Oh, this was fun. In fact it was the most fun idea Bloom had given Valtor thus far. He was lucky that the role he had to play required plenty of evil cackling because the glee behind them was genuine.

It was exhilarating, feeling he and Bloom's magic crackle and burn against one another, watching her apply all the lessons she'd learned with dramatic flourish, he didn't even mind that he was going to have to "lose" and run away before the authorities "caught him."

"You were a fool to trust me! A fool!" Valtor cackled as he tossed another fire ball at her. Bloom caught it in her palm before using the momentum the impact gave her to twist and shove it back at him with even more force, complete with a growl of exertion. Valtor let the spell hit him, and he was pleasantly surprised by how hard it hit. He smiled a bit with pride before dissipating and reappearing behind Bloom with another attack prepared. She whirled to face him, and his glowing fist connected with a barrier she'd sprung up "at the last minute". Sparks popped and sizzled, falling to the street below. "I will kill you! Kill you I say! And all who watch will know the validity of my villainy!"

"You hammed it up," Bloom would giggle later. And he had, but goodness it was fun to stretch his legs again, particularly with the fleshly stolen Solarian magic coursing through him.

Valtor wound back another fist filled with violet flame before slamming it against the barrier. It shattered in an explosion of glitter and Bloom over-dramatically cried out and fell from the sky in an elegant faint. He could've sworn he heard somebody cry out her name but he couldn't be sure, and anyway it was time that he chased her falling form encased in deadly flame according to the script.

The world darkened around his world of purple heat, and Valtor took a moment to appreciate his magic combing through his hair and caressing his muscles, then he moved his arms in a sweeping motion, pulling away the flames from his body and sending them towards the still falling Bloom. Gasps filled his ears and Bloom gasped awake. She gritted her teeth before getting control of her falling body and zooming upwards towards the ball of flame.

Valtor grinned lightly. And here came the grand finale.

The flames parted around and surrounded the fairy in flaming wings as she spun around and around in the fiery tunnel. She then turned to face him, eyes aglow and winning grin on her lips as she spread her arms wide. "Be gone, scourge of Magix!" she said as she brought one hand up to snap her fingers.

"And you weren't overacting?" Valtor would respond to her during that little celebration they'd have afterwards. Then she would giggle again and hold her thumb and finger apart. A little bit.

The flames thinned into little start bursts that pebbled against Valtor's body rapid fire. They hurt far less than his roars of pain and his singed, keeled over form would suggest. Snarling, he gave the smugly smirking Bloom a vicious glare before turning to the crowd below.

"Listen here!" Valtor boomed. "The Solarian Ring was only the beginning! I won't stop until every drop of power you have belongs to me! Baltor Mike!"

He then flew off into the distance, laughing to himself all the while. He and the heir of Sparx made a better team than even he had anticipated.

He was excited to see their first bout of mayhem on the television tonight.

Chapter Text

The whole thing was like some terrible, light show-esque car crash. Spells and debris went flying, sparks exploded through the air, the temperature rose to mirage spawning heights and Sky watched it all with a jaw dropped and hands shaking at his sides.

Dangerous Guy was very dangerous and Bloom was in trouble.

But what was he supposed to do? They were flying through the air at unimaginable speeds with flaming magic exploding from their fingertips and all Sky had was a stupid sword. Dragon, he should've brought his hovering pad with him, but he'd wrongly assumed this would just be a discreet rescue mission!

When Bloom was thrown out of the sky, his panic went into overdrive.

"Bloom!" Sky screamed as she elbowed through the crowd with barely audible, "excuse me"s and "sorry!"s but the there were too many limbs to maneuverer around and Bloom was too far away and falling too fast and—

Light. Light so vivacious and heated that his throat became dry and he was forced to cough. But when he looked up, Bloom was in the air again, surrounded by flames and giving off the appearance of a fiery angel. Sky's eyes widened and he inhaled slowly, heart thundering now for an entirely different reason than before. She was mesmerizing, and judging by the awed gasps of his fellow accidental audience members, he wasn't the only one who thought so.

Dangerous Guy was boxed across the sky in a shower of flaming comets before doubling over and glaring. He snarled out a dramatic speech before flying off into the distance.

"Come back here!" Bloom exclaimed, flying after him in hot pursuit. That got Sky's head back into the game.

"Bloom!" He called in vain into the distance. He cursed under his breath before slumping his shoulders. Crap.

Kicking himself for not doing it sooner, he went searching for his phone in his pant pocket before calling Grizelda as they'd discussed.

"Yeah uh…hey. So…things didn't really go as planned…"

"Ugh!" Stella yelled, trying to angrily toss a ball of energy at the wall in frustration. The spell bloomed languidly and snaked over towards the wall sluggishly before poofing like a blown dandelion. "How am I supposed to get my magic back when I keep putting out spells like this!"

"Relax, Stell—"

"I can't just relax, Musa! My family heirloom is out there and I can't get it back when all I can do is—!" Stella tried making another orb and it grew to the size of a large bubble before popping in a shower of glitter. She let out a strangled scream and settled for kicking a nearby bean bag chair instead.

"We'll get it back, sweetie," Flora insisted from where she sat on Stella's bed, body hunched over a pillow. She looked just as stressed as Stella felt, almost as if she were feeling the exact same emotions she was. "We just need to be a little patient, that's all."

"Here, maybe this will help," Tecna said, fingers flying across the keyboard before she turned her laptop around. "Moon magic and how to control it. Surely—"

"I'm done for today," Stella grumped before falling back in bed and letting her wings disappear in place of her pyjamas.

"Give it a week, Stell. You'll get the hang of it!" Musa encouraged from her spot leaning against the wall.

Stella groaned as she covered her face with the crook of her arm. "I don't want to wait a week," she sighed. "Dragon, I've never felt so—"

"Goodness! Girls, take a look!" Tecna exclaimed as she stood sharply from Stella's desk chair to show the others her laptop once more. Musa pushed off the wall, Flora crawled forwards, and Stella begrudgingly let her hand fall from her gaze before turning her face towards the screen. Moments later, all three had gasped.

"It's the wizard!" Flora said as she stared wide eyed at the picture the news article showcased.

"Finally showed his face, huh?" Musa scowled while Stella frowned deeply.

"That's not him," was on the tip of Stella's tongue but there was a part of her that disagreed. She leaned closer to the picture and tilted her head to the side, squinting. It…it did look like him. But at the same time it didn't. But that didn't make all that much sense, did it? And why was her head so fuzzy…?

She forced a smile. "Wow. They'll get him soon, yeah?"

"Are you alright, Stella?" Tecna asked as she closed the laptop with a frown.

Stella shook her head firmly to rid it of the cotton stuffing it up. "Yeah, yeah! I'm alright. Just kinda surreal getting a name to the guy who took my current nemesis or whatever."

"And what a name it is," Musa said with a snort. "'Baltor Mike'? Somebody's mom hated him!"

"A dead end?" Grizelda demanded as she paced the office. "No, there are too many coincidences. Baltor Mike? That's the sort of name you would come up for on the spot as a disguise!"

"The fact remains we weren't able to find him when we went scanning Magix for his Dragon's Flame," Faragonda pointed out from her desk. She swirled a cup of tea as she stared pensively out the window. "It seems we may have another copy-cat on our hands, not as if that's any better."

"Or, you're so terrified of him returning that you'll fall for anything to 'prove' he hasn't come back!" Grizelda snapped.

Faragonda sighed as she warily turned to face Grizelda. "Are you so eager for him to be so?"

"Of course not! But I am not blind!"

"Griz—"

"Faragonda," Grizelda cut her off as she strode forwards and slammed her palms against the desk. "I insist you do not drop this. We cannot let him gain anymore power!"

Faragonda sighed again and rubbed at her temples. "Fine. Alright. We'll check Omega first thing tomorrow. Will that appease you?"

Grizelda nodded firmly. "Very much so. You'll find it would be in all of the Dimension's best interest first and foremost, however."

"I've never slept in a hammock before," Bloom said as she swung her temporary bed side to side. Valtor spared a sharp glance towards the creaking tree boughs before deciding against attempting to reinforce it for precautions sake—he and nature magic had never gotten along much. "This'll be fun."

"Don't move around too much," Valtor advised, hovering nearby as he conducted the violet barrier around them. It stretched about the enormous tree like bubble gum before sealing at the top and going invisible. "You don't want to fall and break your neck."

Bloom hissed and rubbed at her throat with a frown. "Wouldn't you be able to…I dunno, work some healing magic on it?"

"No," Valtor said simply as he lowered himself into the hammock dangling next to hers. "Healing isn't my forte."

"Guess I'll have to pick up the slack, huh?" Bloom teased as she rolled on her side to face him. The branches creaked again.

"Bloom," Valtor warned.

"Sorry, sorry!" She quickly rolled onto her back again, causing leaves to rain down this time. Bloom spluttered and spat them off her face before clawing the rest off in frustration.

"And this is why you listen," Valtor sighed as he busied himself with the night sky. There wasn't a prettier one Valtor had found yet, and he'd seen plenty. Truly, it was a crime it had taken this long to revisit Linphea, though no surprise it was his first thought whence suggesting the two of them lie low.

Bloom and he had planned out a rendezvous point once their little show had reached its conclusion. It was the roof of the tallest tower they could find—a newspaper company, if he recalled correctly. He'd smirked as they'd selected it. They'd be busy very soon, he'd known. After their stellar performance, the two had sat at its edge and watched the replay on the jumbotron looming over the city, laughing and joking over sodas as the sun sank beneath the horizon.

"We'll need to lie low for a bit, the both of us," Valtor had said as he banished his empty can into violet embers with a wave of his hand. Bloom watched with wide eyes and an "ooh!" before she tried to follow the spell herself, only for the metal to melt into molten lava in her hands. She squeaked as she tore her hands apart and stumbled to her feet. Valtor chuckled as she frantically wiped her hands on her jeans before pulling them away to squeak in pain again, a hole now marring her jeans.

"I'm half shocked I didn't mess up our ruse," Bloom muttered bitterly with flushed cheeks. She sat back down and hugged her knees to her chest with a frustrated huff of breath.

"You've only started using magic for two weeks; patience." Valtor gave her a pat on the shoulder before looking up at the sky. "As I was saying, we'll need to go off radar, at least for the time being."

Bloom nodded resolutely. "Right, you need a new disguise, I need to hide from any journalists, and we both need a new home base."

Valtor nodded, pleased that she wasn't putting up a fuss over the necessity. "We'll find someplace out of the city to warp, and we'll bring our stuff along soon after," he said as she stood and brushed of his clothes. "Hopefully this new place will have a curse breaker for my jacket as well."

Bloom snorted as she stood as well. "You and that jacket. You could just get a new one, you know."

"It's a fine jacket."

"Is it sentimental?"

"Perhaps."

Bloom tilted her head to the side and squinted before shrugging. "Alrighty Mr. Mysterious, keep your secrets."

Valtor raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't I Mr. Dinosaur?"

Bloom held her arm straight in front of her before tapping her hand atop one shoulder then the other. "Congratulations, you've been knighted to Mr. Mysterious."

Valtor rolled his eyes and scoffed, though he couldn't stop the amused upwards trajectory the corner of his lips took. "Come closer so the spell can take you." He lifted an arm and let his magic pool to the surface of his gloved palm. The Solarian magic he'd acquired was still reluctant to be in his possession, and was very sluggish getting to its needed destination. Nevertheless, once it had, it showcased its might brilliantly.

"This doesn't feel like your magic," Bloom commented as she got closer so she too was bathed in the light of a violet star.

"Most spells usually don't when you first acquire them," Valtor explained. "Much like the lightning you borrowed from me."

Bloom winced before asking, "Where'd you get this one from?"

"A sunny planet a good while ago. Why?"

"I like it," Bloom said. "It's so…warm and comforting."

Valtor smiled down at her. "We'll get you some Solarian spells soon enough, if you like them so much."

With that, light exploded around them with a force that made the hair fly around their faces. Solid ground dissipated and the two began falling a moment later. Bloom screeched in fear and surprise as she clawed at the air, spurring Valtor to catch her around the middle and hold her close with a chuckle. "Relax, Bloom. It only feels like falling—you won't take any fall damage, I promise you."

Bloom blushed and looked away. "Right. Yeah. That makes sense…what's the point of teleporting if you die on your way to your destination?"

"Indeed," Valtor agreed as the light exploded outwards and dispersed around the night sky like fireflies. Bloom took in their surroundings, and though it was nothing but a simple forest with flowers, she spun around taking everything in with a soft exclamation of wonder. He supposed the trees were taller than most one who'd see on Earth, but the fact remained it was just the woods.

"What is this place?"

"Smiling at her reaction he answered, "Linphea. And our sleeping quarters for the night."

"Sleeping?" Bloom repeated dubiously while Valtor snapped his fingers. She jumped and spun around in surprise when all their things from the hotel room appeared around them in a flash of light before disappearing in another moments later.

"There, all our things are now secure," Valtor said off-handedly before eyeing a tree before nodding and turning back to Bloom. "And you…" he held his hands apart before clutching at the air and making an up and down motion. On the second lift, a long white tarp flashed into existence, unfurling outwards. "Now have something to sleep on."

Bloom's eyes widened. "Cool. How'd you do that?"

"Creating simple cloths from the ethers is another spell I picked up, this one from Isis. Come." And so they now found themselves nestled within the boughs of a thick fairy-wood tree away from predators and walker byers.

"They won't find us here, right?" Bloom asked, voiced tinged in worry.

"Doubtful," Valtor said, because to say no was to be agonizingly naive. "But even if they do they won't be able to do much; this is a peaceful dimension."

Bloom stretched and sighed pleasantly as she turned to the stars as well. "It sure feels peaceful. I've never seen so many stars."

"The residents of Linphea are mostly content on using natural recourses in their rawest forms. Pollution is low here."

Bloom smiled and closed her eyes as the night birds sang beneath the canopy of wind swayed boughs. "I wouldn't mind laying low here for a bit."

Valtor hummed in agreement. "Nor would I." Yes, this would be a nice spot for a little vacation.

Chapter Text

Bloom grunted in annoyance at her latest sketch before furiously erasing the lopsided eye with the back of her pencil. She and Valtor sat face to face and back to back against one of the two freakishly tall trees that surrounded what he'd told her was called Verdant Lake. Now the morning, fantastical birds tweeted in the boughs above them, the breeze was subtle, and the sun was perfect. Her sketch pad was propped against her bent knees and her art tools were splayed on the grass on either side of her.

"You must be in the midst of making a masterpiece," Valtor said. The low chance of anybody bothering them in the middle nowhere meant he was comfortable in his true form, eyes closed and head tilted up to soak in as much sun as possible from between the large swaying branches and shivering leaves. "You're certainly taking awhile."

"Be patient, Mr. Dinosaur," Bloom said as she carefully redrew the sharp oval that would be his new eye. "Unless you want to look like the Picasso."

Valtor hummed and waved a hand above him, causing the branch that was shading him to move aside and beam more sunlight atop him. "I'm going to pretend I know what that is."

Bloom snorted and rolled her eyes as the reason for her distraction slowly faded back into her brain, slowing her movements.

It started when she'd woken up with a stretch and a yawn from her lightly swaying hammock. Birds coloured in glittering neon colours flitted away from her reaching hands and she'd watched with a pleased giggle. Gripping the edge, Bloom leaned over carefully to check on Valtor, only for something to explode in front of her in a shower of sparks.

Bloom jerked back with a little shriek and winced as the swaying hammock called down loose leaves and branches to smack her on the face. Once she'd spat out the leaves and brushed away the twigs though, she saw it was a hovering note. Taking it, it read,

Gone for a bath —Valtor

The paper burned away in Bloom's hand, causing her to flinch in surprise and gasp, then she watched wide-eyed as the ash formed a thin arrow pointing and moving downwards. Bloom gasped again, this time in delight instead of shock. "Aw, cutesy magic! Didn't think you had in you, Mr. Mysterious." Closing her eyes, she called on her magic and felt the now familiar sensation of it wrapping around her body and tugging her wings free from her shoulder blades. Then, she rose slowly from her hammock and followed the magic ash towards the ground far below.

As she weaved around trees and followed the shifting arrow, she briefly let her eyes wander. Flowers made out of beads of dew winked at her, parrots with tassels on their wings cawed above, giant fly traps that—

The giant fly trap in question jerked its head towards Bloom and snapped at her ankles. She yelped and jerked her legs away from the sharp teeth and dripping saliva before speeding up and away.

Finally, the arrow led Bloom to a clearing before losing shape and falling to the bright green grass in a sooty heap. Landing, Bloom checked her surroundings again and quickly found the prettiest lake she'd ever seen. The lake edge was decorated by lily pads (with sparkling lilies!), swaying bulrushes, and Valtor's clothes folded neatly atop a nearby rock—

Huh? Oh that's right! He wanted a bath—!

Oh.

Valtor had his long hair draped over his shoulder and her back to her. He stood far enough in the lake for the water to sit at his waist, so not close enough that he was getting tapped on the head by the bulrushes but certainly close enough for Bloom to watch his naked back muscles shift beneath his skin as he poured water over his shoulder. The droplets sliding down shimmered in the light and she found her wide eyes following one wet bead all the way to the sharp jut of his hip.

The smell of smoke tore away Bloom's attention and she looked down in time to see the grass burning to ash beneath her boots. She yelped and jumped away from the singed black circle, causing Valtor to twist to look at her.

Bloom didn't spare a single glance to his bare, dripping, and muscular as fuck chest. She did not.

Valtor smirked at her and she wondered in panic if he'd noticed her brief second of ogling until he said, "Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty. I've brought our things—"

"Afternoon!" Bloom cried in horror. She zipped towards the luggage Valtor had lazily gestured to and began tearing out her outfit for the day. "I can't believe it's afternoon! Why didn't you wake me?! That's like—" Bloom paused to murmur under her breath and do the math with her fingers before shoving a splayed open palm towards his stupid, stupid wet naked body and his equally stupid smirk and hands-hips pose. "—five hours after we usually start the day and that's prime—!" Bloom noticed her phone alone in the grass, the time staring right back at her.

7:30.

Bloom's face slowly scrunched into a pouting scowl as Valtor laughed. "I apologize, Bloom," he said with a twirl of his finger. A towel zoomed into his waiting hand and he held it open to shield his lower half as he got out of the water. Once out, he wrapped it tightly around his waist as he said, "It was far too delicious of an opportunity to pass up on."

Bloom agitatedly tossed her clothes from her hands, scowled and crossed her arms at him. "My mom and you would get along just perfectly, you know that?"

"Doubtful. She has mediocre taste in men and I am anything but, thank you very much." Valtor twirled his finger again and another towel shot into his hands, this one he wrapped around his wet hair. "Speaking of your…father, he's been calling incessantly after you fell asleep." After a couple of pats, he removed the towel and shook it to get his wet and stringy hair to fall back over his shoulders.

Bloom winced and covered her mouth as a tired yawn left her lips. "Oooh, yeah I kinda skipped the nightly phone call. Whoops." She landed once more and called back her fairy wings, slumping her shoulders with a weary sigh. She wasn't going to hear the end of it.

"Yes, well, after the fifth call I answered and explained the situation to the errant man," Valtor explained as he lifted his hand and ignited his fingertips with glowing blue magic. "I claimed you'd exhausted your magic during a training session and were too tired to talk." He then pressed his fingers to his scalp before dragging them through his hair with one quick motion. The strands of strawberry blonde briefly ignited with blue flames before regaining their volume and earning a subtle shine that hadn't been there before, all while it elegantly returned to its job of framing his face and sitting above his hips.

Bloom beamed, fascinated by the casual display of magic as Valtor continued. "He then went on a tirade about how I was pushing you too hard and that if something happened to you he was going to blah, blah, blah some foolishness along the lines of, 'I'm going to break every bone in your goddamn body, pal!" Valtor said the last part after he'd swiftly transformed into Bloom's Dad and bent towards her, hands on hips and a perfectly fitting voice including.

Bloom's snort exploded into a giggling fit that she tried to stop, as she didn't want to encourage Valtor's continued slander of her Dad, but goddammit…

Valtor smirked once at her reaction before he straightened up, dropped the disguise and continued once more. "He was perhaps going to say more but I hung up on him mid-rant and ignored all twenty more of his phone calls. I do not jest, they continued up until the early morning."

Bloom squeaked and winced again.

"Hmm, yes," Valtor said as if something had just occurred to him when seeing her expression. "You should call him back." He reached for the towel on his hips before pausing and twirling his finger downwards.

Bloom assumed he'd been doing another spell until he cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Oh! Sorry!" Bloom said as her cheeks burned pink and she swiveled around quickly.

"I'm beginning to doubt your innocence, darling."

Bloom's pink face burned crimson. "I wasn't—shut up!" She blurted, and he laughed yet again in response while she snatched her phone from the ground and fumblingly dialed her home number.

As Valtor's clothes floated over to him from the rock, Bloom pressed the phone to her ear. Within the very first ring the line connected.

"Bloom?!" An urgent voice exclaimed.

"Morning, Dad! Sorry I—"

"Thank goodness! That Baltor freak—"

"Valtor, Dad."

"Whatever! He told me you were too tired to talk and I didn't believe him for a gosh darn second! And then he hung up on me! Who in the hell does he think he is trying to come between a father and his daughter?!"

Bloom sighed in fond exasperation before saying, "I was tired, Dad. I crashed early because of training, just like Valtor said. I'm still tired, actually, and sore—exercise pains, y'know," she added quickly with an awkward laugh.

She was very glad Valtor had stayed hush-hush on the whole "using magic to high-jack a broadcasting station before using a lot more to fake the disappearance of an even faker person" part of the 'training'.

"And I was supposed to just...what? Take his word for it?"

"Well…yeah. He's my mentor and my chaperone through the Magic Dimension. If you can't trust him, that'll kinda suck."

There was a pause. "I don't like him, Bloom."

Bloom snorted and rolled her eyes playfully. "Really? I didn't notice."

"I'm serious. There's something not right about that man—something seriously sinister...evil almost."

Bloom sat cross legged on the grass, staring up at the bright blue sky with an amused smile. "Sure, Valtor's rough around the edges but come on, who isn't? It doesn't make him evil."

Mike sighed. "Just…be careful all right? Will you be able to visit soon?"

Bloom's smile faded slowly. Would she be able to visit with power snatchers everywhere? And with her technically on the lam? And with her powers all whacked up and—?

"Mike?" Bloom heard her mother on the other end. "Did you sleep by the phone?"

"Whaaat? No, no, honey! I was just...uh."

Bloom smiled as Mike continued to double down on his denial while Vanessa pointed out the blankets and pillow on the floor in exasperation. Love and warmth and…and this deep sense of home sickness was—

Bloom shook her head firmly and went back to the drawing she'd stopped once going down memory lane with a sharp inhale and exhale of breath. "I was thinking," she said as she put the finishing touches to what would be Valtor's newest disguise.

"Oh dear," Valtor said.

Bloom stuck out her tongue, even though she knew he couldn't see her before she asked, "Maybe while your disguised you should use a different power?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" she paused to frown at the drawing before erasing a cheek with the back of her pencil and redrawing it sharper. She continued, "Valtor and Baltor Mike have fire powers so…"

"My newest self should have a different main power source to better disguise my other selves," Valtor finished with a slow smirk. "I'm impressed, Bloom. It seems my mind has rubbed off on you."

"It was my idea," Bloom said with a playful roll of her eyes. "But thank you for the self-centered compliment I guess." She blew away the eraser bits and loose led that had collected on the page before turning the sketch pad around. "Voila! The new you!"

Valtor leaned forwards and took the sketch book with a smile. He'd sat back against the tree and was saying something but pretty suddenly, Bloom's sunny mood faded and her smile fell with her arms. They slapped the grass limply and she stared her hands dazedly without really seeing anything as the world turned grey around her.

She felt…faded. Detached.

"Bloom?"

Bloom blinked and looked up. Valtor was crouched in front of her and scanning her face with a worried frown.

She gave him a weak smile and said, "I'm fine."

Valtor's frown deepened and he shook his head. "You aren't. What ails you?"

Bloom opened her mouth, closed it, then fell back against the tree with closed eyes and a tired sigh. "What am I doing?"

"Pardon?"

Bloom opened her eyes and gestured to the sketch pad still in Valtor's hand. "I'm drawing you a disguise because your other disguise is a wanted criminal and me and your actual self is being hunted down by crazy power snatchers and dark spirits that I need to make magic ball dream-catchers to keep away!" As the seriously crazy sentence went on, the more and more manic amusement seeped into her voice until she was bent over and laughing.

"Bloom," Valtor repeated and he placed a hand beneath her wobbling chin to tilt it up. Their eyes met, and they were scarily severe for a moment before widening as he murmured, "You're crying."

"I'm not!" Bloom protested loudly, but that plan went out the window when he swiped a tear away with his thumb.

"Why?" he asked, and his voice sounded flat but he was looking at her with so much intensity that it was kind of scary.

Bloom had to look away before answering. "I miss…home."

Silence.

Bloom looked back at him and caught what she thought was a split second scowl before his face went blank again. "We will visit. Today, if you'd like," he said in an even flatter voice than before.

Bloom shook her head. "I mean I miss normal. And I can't go back there. Not ever."

Valtor shook his head slowly. "Why in the world would you want to go back to your old life?"

"Because…" she wiped away another tear and let out a watery laugh. "Because I wasn't hiding and running and training so I can hide and run less and stop glaring! You don't get it!" Bloom jerked her chin out of Valtor's grip with a glare of her own and he leaned backwards with a blink of surprise, as if he hadn't realized he'd let looked anything other than cool.

"I'll remind you why this was the best possible path for you to take," Valtor declared as he stood and held out his hand for her. Bloom didn't take it.

"This whole vacation thing, it's really just…a bandaid sort of deal," she said with a sigh before turning slightly so she could lie on the grass without the huge tree trunk in the way. "It's like the night-light thing I made you—it doesn't actually kill the spirits it just makes them go away for a bit, yeah?"

After a brief pause, Valtor crouched again before rolling on his back and lying beside her. "These proverbial dark spirits of yours, what can I do to make them go away?"

Bloom snorted at the branches spider-webbed across her view of the sky. "Can you came make all those power snatchers go away?"

"Yes."

No hesitation. Bloom's eyes widened slightly and she turned her head towards him. He was staring right back; dead, dead serious.

"Yes, I can. If you help me." He turned on his side to face her better and said, "We don't have to keep ducking and hiding if you wish to do otherwise. We can fight."

Bloom gasped softly.

"Is that what you want, Bloom?" Valtor pressed. "To fight back?"

Bloom clenched her jaw and returned Valtor's hard gaze. She nodded firmly.

Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"Hey! Bloom! It's uh…it's me again. I was just wondering if you're okay and hope that you're not dead or kidnapped or…something else bad. Bye." Sky pulled the phone away before going "oh!" and bringing it back to say, "Um, this is Brandon by the way. Again." He hung up, stared at the blank screen, and sighed heavily.

"She seemed like a powerful fairy," Brandon pointed out, doing his usual shirtless weighted bicep curls. "She'll be fine, dude."

"Yeah but if Faragonda of all people was scared of this guy, he's even more powerful. Besides, she's new to all this," Sky fell back on the bed with a sigh. "I'm seriously worried."

"Who is this chump anyway?" Brandon demanded, placing the weights down with a final grunt of exertion. "I mean is Baltor Mike some notorious criminal or…?"

"I couldn't tell you. Searching his name just brings up the latest stories," Sky muttered in frustration.

"Well that makes no sense," Brandon said. He crossed the room to get the closet and shimmied out of his pants. "If she's so scared of him he has to exist as someone dangerousright? At least before the whole fiasco last week."

"You'd think right?" Sky asked, rolling to his side to watch Brandon wrap a towel around his waist.

"Tell you what, after my date I'll help you research him. Maybe he's some ancient obscure wizard from the Mid-Nowhere Dimension, who knows?"

"No way," Sky laughed as he sat up. "You scored a date with Princess Stella."

Brandon shot a grin over his shoulder. "I scored a date with Princess Stella. I'll tell you how it goes, yeah?" And with that he disappeared into the bathroom with a wink tossed over his shoulder.

Sky smiled at the shut door before jumping as the phone rumbled at his side. His heart leapt into his throat as he snatched up the phone, only for it to thud down in disappointment when he saw the caller ID. With a sigh he pressed talk.

"Hey, Diaspro!" Sky said in a strained voice. "How are you?" His stomach churned guiltily that just seconds ago he'd been worried about a completely different girl.

-break-

Marigold, capitol of Linphea, was quite unlike Magix—there were no cars, little to no technology, and no hustle and bustle. The inhabitants all wore breezy clothes that allowed their skin to appreciate the balmy, breezy weather of the dimension and there were store-fronts made from large flower buds, outdoor eating areas atop bloomed daises and apartments carved into colossal stems; Bloom certainly would have loved it, Valtor thought, and to her credit she was enjoying scenery as much as she could. Between her determined, forward facing gaze, her bright eyes would dart to a store front floating down from a large leaf, or a group of Enchantix fairies patrolling the skies, and light up endearingly.

Valtor led her in his newest disguise—a dark haired fellow still sporting his usual long hair, but possessing loose curls that Valtor found he quite liked. No glasses this time, though his eyes remained the bright green of Baltor Mike.

Soon, the two found themselves before a wide vine covered tower decorated in vines and flowers. The tree it was craved from was a soft spring pink and the spire was a flower clamped tightly in a bud. The crowd was dense here, filled with knowledge passionate citizens, students and important officials coming and going.

"Here it is, one of the most prestigious libraries in the Magical Dimension," Valtor declared as he gestured towards the tall wooden double doors. Bloom's noise of delighted awe was cut with a snort as Valtor continued, "Asparagus."

"Seriously?" She giggled dubiously. "Asparagus?"

Valtor chuckled as the two made there way forwards. "Yes, well, Linphea folk are fairly uninspired with their naming habits." Two fairies passing by shot him unhappy sideways glares that he apathetically ignored.

"In their defence, Magix is called…Magix," Bloom pointed out.

"It's a reference to fairies' magic winx, it's at least somewhat clever," Valtor said. "Now, we should hurry. Our first line of business is making sure those bastards from Omega never come after us again."

Bloom, who'd been briefly distracted by the wide round room and the shelves carved into the wood and the bobbing fairy lights spun towards and hurried after him. "What's Omega?"

"A planet you dare not set foot on." The fact that he had to go back there made him greatly uneasy, but now that he had Bloom's semi-blessing to act a little darker, it only made sense to destroy the biggest risk to his identity exposure as soon as possible and by any means necessary.

"I'm going to warn you right now; I am not good at studying,"

"No studying required," Valtor said as he ran his hands across the book spines. "I know what I'm looking for. Ah." He smiled languidly and pulled out a twig thin tome. "Anna Bellborne, one of Linphea's most powerful witches and influential spell creators." Bloom looked down at it over his shoulder and hummed.

"If she's a witch then why's it called The Fair Book of Flower Fairy Spells?"

Valtor met her gaze with a smirk. "Because Linphea folk fear witches—as does most of the Magic Dimension." He turned on his heel and gestured her after him with a tilt of his head. "They fear power. And so she pretended to be something else."

"Are witches more powerful than fairies?" Bloom asked as they migrated to the other end of the wide room towards a row of doors.

"Not inherently. However—" He paused before a door labelled 5. Right above was a long plague proclaiming, Silent Study. The jerked his head to coax Bloom inside before knocking the door twice to get the top half of the wood to carve OCCUPIED into its surface. He entered and shut the door behind him before continuing, "—they're far more willing to experiment with the taboo. Most fairies enjoy the perception of their inherent goodness too much to be creative. Right then." Valtor dropped the book atop the lone desk occupying the room. It was far more dim than the main library, bearing only one small window instead of one large one, but there was a chandelier above them that would do.

"Aw, there's no magic lights in here," Bloom said with a frown.

"Depending on what it is, it could interfere with any magic someone wishes to practice in here," Valtor explained off handedly as he flipped through the book. "If it's too dark for you there should be a light switch somewhere." He'd just found the spell he was looking for when the room exploded with vivacious warm light. Frowning, Valtor looked up to find Bloom glowing orange. Her hair swam in an invisible current, her eyes were closed, and her palms were upturned and pushing out orbs of light like heated bubbles. Two…four…six rose from her hands before she let them drop and the glowing from her body disappeared. In place of her warmth, the fiery orbs floated around the room and brightened it instead.

She opened her eyes and grinned proudly at him. "I think I'm getting better at control and stuff."

Valtor smiled at his protege, beaming in the centre of her creations almost as warm and vivacious as she was. "Very nice, Bloom. Now, Look this over will you?"

Bloom obediently went to his side and tilted her head with a frown. "'Flower Growth,'" she read. "What's the have to do with…?"

"Ah, ah," Valtor tapped the bold cursive lettering. "Look again."

Bloom squinted and leaned forward before jerking backwards with a gasp. Ah, she saw it now.

Core Tether.

"There's a spell on the book!"

"Indeed. As I said, a wonderful witch. This spell in particular—" he tapped the title. "—heavily inspired my own signature spell."

"Ooh," Bloom said with wide excited eyes. "Signature spell? What's it do?"

"You'll see in time, I'm sure," Valtor said vaguely as he held out his hand towards her. "Stay calm, yes? Stay calm and follow the instructions to the letter."

The word "stunned" didn't quite factor in what Faragonda was feeling at the moment. It was too minuscule too…mundane. It didn't fully encapsulate the body quaking fear that shuddered through her bones at the sight of what lay before her, or the fact that her nerves could not feel the bitter cold (she, the guards, and Their Majesties were in a tecno-magic sphere, but surely she should've felt something), or the spirit of Grizelda harrumphing an "I told you so". Her eyes did not take in the guards surrounding her, or the other ice cocoons nearby. All she could see was a pile of ice and a fallen nameplate—"Valtor".

"When?" Faragonda breathed just above a whisper.

"About a week or two ago."

"Any you've told nobody about this?"

"If these fools hadn't felt the need to tell their rulers," King Teredor began in a clipped tone, glare leveled at his guards who were looking anywhere but at him or his horrified wife Queen Niobe. "Then it seems that yes, this information—this deadly information—was kept to themselves." He, like Faragonda and his wife, wore heavily padded outfits. Although theirs were covered in intricate swirls coloured in silver against the rich blue cloth.

"We…" one man swallowed, staring down at the snow. "We were trying to bring him back and keep panic to a minimum—"

"I would like to know how well that has worked out for you, seeing as how the Solarian heirloom has been stolen, Magix has been consumed with a psychic spell, and an innocent girl has been roped into his schemes." Teredor's voice cracked like a whip, and the men flinched. Even though she wasn't the angry tongue's target, Faragonda tensed sharply as well.

"We've lost an entire squadron of men," the guard admitted quietly.

Teredor's nostrils flared in agitation before he turned to Niobe and nodded. "We will hold an assembly with the other rulers of the Magic Dimension. We will find a resolu—"

The ground heaved and sent the entourage to their knees with cries of surprise before searing light exploded through the frigid air. Years of battle practice had Faragonda staggering swiftly to her feet and spinning around with arms spread and a shield at the ready. She was dizzy and blurry eyed from the explosion, and a chunk of ice had sliced her brow but her glare remained firmly on the silhouette emerging from the curtain of vivacious flame.

"You…" a horrifyingly familiar voice began, "will not leave this place."

Queen Niobe let out a horrified cry as King Teredor swiftly pulled her to her feet and made for the exit. The prison guards surrounded them, guns leveled at the wizard who's cold eyes and arrogant smirk never once left the Headmistress before him.

"Faragonda." Such a contrast to his smirk; his voice was growled, teeth bared to reveal gums, and loathing shimmered in his eyes.

Faragonda lifted her chin, eyes full of a similar fire. "Valtor." He was positively brimming with power but how was this possible? Surely he wouldn't be hiding if—

Valtor charged and Faragonda strengthened her shields, but he wasn't after her at all. He leaped into the air and held aloft a hand, and Faragonda moved to shoot an energy blast at him that immediately crashed into one of his own.

One of his millions to be more exact.

Orbs of flame shot rapid fire in every direction, fracturing ground, wall, and ceiling alike. Gritting her teeth, before using one hand to create a one way shield, and the other to chill the already bitingly cold surrounding her, murmuring an old Dyamond spell.

…why was it barely working? Why was heat still causing the air to bend in a mirage? Why was Omega still—oh!

Icy prisons all around cracked and shattered as villains of all sorts began to claw their way out of captivity. As the rain of flame seized, their snarls and roars of triumph echoed throughout the world. In the distance, there were gun shots and yells. Quickly, she swapped the spell she whispered feverishly under her breath, and watched in relief as the criminals collapsed in a deep sleep against the ice that was rapidly failing to hold them.

"Oh, don't waste your magic for a temporary tranquilizer, Faragonda. Besides, don't you want company for you and their Majesties?" Faragonda jerked her head up to watch as her old foe grinned down at her from the air. Something was different, however. The raw power that had been radiating from his being just prior had dissipated, and though he tried to hide it, his chest was rising and falling rapidly in an attempt to regain breath.

"I see," Faragonda said with narrowed eyes. "You've made use of that mark of yours again. Whose will did you sap this time? That girl?"

His sneer collapsed immediately into a thunderous snarl. "Her will is her own. Besides that, I don't need meddlesome fools such as yourself knowing about my presence at this time." His smirk slowly returned as he lowered his floating body vertically, hands crossed behind his back but still sparking with warning magic. Arrogant but not foolish. "This is why instead of giving you the painful end that you deserve, I've made this place your temporary limbo."

Faragonda scoffed and rose slowly in the air to meet him eye to eye, hands also glowing at the ready. "If you can't defeat me, you certainly can't defeat the old magic that keeps portals from breeching Omega—even ones leading to limbo."

Valtor laughed in her face and shook his head. The sharp grin was back. "Oh, no portals, Faragonda. Just desserts." He straightened and floating back from her, eyes shimmering with malice as he said, "do stay alive for me to properly kill."

She felt the air grow heavy before she saw the geyser of flame burst from the ruined ice wall at her right. She spun and rose her hands for a shield in instant, and shifted the shield to change its trajectory a mere moment later, but in that moment the bastard wizard was inexplicably gone, and her deflected attack only served to slam against whatever lay in the distance.

Just desserts. Now what did that mean?

Faragonda shook her head and landed on the frigid floor with a heavy sigh. His riddles didn't matter—the Magic Dimension needed to be warned. A snap of her fingers, and she teleported before the…

Ah.

Among the mess of ice stalactites and chunks of snow, lay the innocent and completely undisturbed portal—or it would've been had it not been for the glaring V shaped mark singed onto its surface.

Well she understood his riddles now.

Bloom didn't think magic could hurt to cast until this spell.

"The depths of my soul, I give to you. The depths of my soul, I give to you…" it was okay at first once she'd got it going. Magic like a lightning bolt shocked her system, and she jumped. Valtor inhaled sharply at his side, before a slow smile spread across his face, eyes falling closed. "Good," he murmured in an almost sleepy daze. "That's good, Bloom."

"It's working?" Bloom checked excitedly. The sizzling stopped and her hair stopped floating in the invisible magic current.

"Keep chanting," Valtor squeezed her shoulder and smiled. "I'll be back soon." And then he'd left the library room, but when was soon?

Bloom's tongue was heavy and her body was shaking and it felt like something in her chest was being scooped out like ice-cream. Not to mention the lightning in her bones was getting hotter and hotter and—

"Bloom?"

Bloom gasped and her eyes snapped open. She was blinking and squinting at the table leg in confusion before squeezing her eyes shut and groaning as a headache exploded in her head.

"Steady," Valtor said as he gently helped her sit up and lean against him. Bloom let out a little mumble of gibberish. "Hm?" he prompted.

"Did…you stop them?" She asked weakly.

Valtor chuckled in a dark way that rumbled in his chest. He smoothed his hair as he said, "Oh, I did even more than that."

Him admitting that unnerved Bloom a bit, but she smiled anyway.

They were a little safer now. That was good.

Chapter Text

Chapter Sixteen: Before the Storm

Up!

Down!

Spin!

Shield!

Blast!

The still new muscles making Bloom's wings flutter were aching like hell, not to even mention the everyday legs and arms she'd been using since babyhood. She was sweating so badly that even with flames boiling in her hands and fireballs shooting at her zipping around form, she couldn't stop shivering. Her vision was getting blurry. She was hungry. She wanted to fall to her knees and upchuck the tiny breakfast she'd had that morning and maybe she would've if she wasn't so angry with herself.

A guttural scream, another spin through the air, and fire surrounded her in a heated, snaking form before rising up, converging into a spear and shooting at its target with a furious flinging of her arms.

Valtor managed to block it. Of course he did. But his shield cracked, and he grunted as his knees buckled slightly and his boots dug grooves into the forest floor. He smiled and nodded firmly. "Good."

Bloom's breath seared her throat as she landed shakily and stumbled forward. She swiped at her soaked bangs before lighting her fists again.

Valtor frowned. "Bloom—"

With another war cry, Bloom charged forwards again.

Things had been good after the threat of those goggle gun guys had been plucked off Bloom's shoulders and tossed into a garbage can like a piece of particularly heavy lint.

…after she'd gotten over that crazy flower which lady spell she and Valtor had used to do that.

"This is the worst fever I've ever had," Bloom had groaned from the ice filled bathtub Valtor had commanded she hunker down in. Valtor had told her that this giant rich person's bathroom belonged to one of his "safe houses" but Bloom knew damn well they'd just broken in while she had been unconscious in his arms. Fortunately, she was too zonked out to complain about the moral ambiguity of it all.

"Hush, you'll feel better soon," he said gently as he poured more ice into the bathtub and cooled it with some ice spell. The crazy thing was, that she was still overheated. She felt like she'd had as a kid when her parents and her had gone to the beach for their annual summer vacation and sunstroke would get her in five minutes flat. Muggy, tired, disorientated, flushed hotter than a frying pan on high heat—the whole shebang. She felt like a melted blob, slumped in a sea of ice with hair resting in stringy slivers against her shoulders and bathing suit clad body.

"You're strong, Bloom," Valtor said as he placed a frozen solid rag atop her forehead. He could've just saved the trouble and but an actual ice compress there but he never missed an opportunity to show off his magic. "You'll get through this in twelve hours maximum."

"Twelve hours?!" Bloom pushed herself to stand using both edges of the bathtub, only to slip, fall, and bang the back of her head so hard that she saw enough stars to trigger a trypophobe. Ice went flying out the side and she groaned at the extra added nausea.

"You're still new to your magic and it was a very demanding spell," Valtor said as he put the fallen rag back. It burst into flames the second it touched Bloom's sweaty forehead and he tossed it behind his back before freezing a new one solid and replacing it. "You should be proud," he finished.

"I don't even know what I did," Bloom sighed as she sank a little lower into the ice. The cubes and jagged shards covered her chin as she glumly asked, "How do I know you aren't just saying everything is alright now to make me feel better?"

"Everything isn't alright, I assure you," Valtor chuckled as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "But one of our biggest problems has—at least for now—been put in its place. You've truly saved us, Bloom. Saved me."

Bloom looked up from her ice cocoon to her softly smiling mentor and returned his warmth with a little grin.

"I guess I did kind of save your butt again, didn't I?"

Valtor's smile broadened into a smirk as his rolled to the ceiling. "Mature as always."

"Uh-huh," Bloom nodded sagely. "I'm glad you finally—"

The ice bath spontaneously exploded into flames and she screamed as the ice melted into boiling water that turned her whole body a scorching beat red.

Anyway. Once Bloom had gotten over that, things had been good.

Emphasis on had and it was all her fault.

Linphea had been beautiful—the plants, the giant bugs, the kind residents. Just flying around it had been amazing, not to mention all the new things she'd learned while there.

"Legend has it this humble little hovel was once the home of the most powerful nature fairy of her time," Valtor had told her for example when they'd flown through one of Linphea's vast forests and found themselves hovering in front of a cottage from a fairy-tale.

"Were nature fairies stronger or weaker when she was around?" Bloom asked, as she couldn't really tell by his flat voice whether he was impressed or not.

Valtor had chuckled. "Stronger. Much stronger."

"Huh," Bloom landed and let her eyes roam over the overgrown front garden and dilapidated stone house overtaken by towering tree roots. "If she was such a hot shot why isn't this a roped off museum or something?"

The ground rumbled beneath Bloom's boots and she looked down just in time to watch the earth split open between her legs. She gasped and shot off in the air just as a large hand made out of thick mossy wood shot out to try and snatch her.

"It is cursed," Valtor answered casually just before the hand tried to swat Bloom away like a fly. She zipped out of the way with a yelp before growling and shooting a stream of flame into its makeshift arm. The wood opened like a teeth filled maw before the flames could reach it, swallowed, and grew even bigger. Bloom screamed and narrowly shot between two of its greedy fingers, only to be snatched up by a brand new wood hand she hadn't seen looming over until it was too late. Grunting, she tried heating her body up to burn the fingers away but tinier mouths opened where ever her boiling skin touched and slurped it all up.

"I'll be back in a moment," Valtor said as he leapt over the giant rabbit hole one of the arms had created by leaving the ground and walking over to rest house. "Distract them, will you?"

"Distract—? Valtor you jerk!" Bloom exclaimed shrilly as she squirmed and squirmed to no avail.

Valtor rolled his eyes over his shoulder. "Come now, Bloom. They're strong yes, but you posses the power of this Universe's god for Arcadia's sake, you'll be fine."

"Fine?!"

"Fine. I'll only be a moment."

Bloom probably would have snapped something back if the branches hadn't ballooned so much that it was cutting off her air supply and forcing her head up as she wheezed.

It was getting stronger from her magic! She had to stop feeding it magic!

Squeezing her eyes shut, Bloom pulled her magic in and felt her wings and fairy form melt away.

Then learned Linphea Lesson Number One; sometimes doing things the old Earth fashioned way was better than blasting things with fire.

When Valtor had casually waltzed out with a proud smile and a dusting off of his top, Bloom was proud to say that he found her stomping about a dozen wood hands beneath her feet and giving feral bites to any fingers that got too close. Transforming back once she'd freed herself from her near death experience made her scrappy fighting all the more powerful and pleasing.

Bloom glared at him, blew a strand of hair out of her eye and said, "Teach me hand to hand." The only reason she didn't stay mad at him was because he looked even prouder when she said so.

Bloom had an equally fun time learning her next lesson a few days later.

"Breathe, don't let the wind consume you," Valtor had a hand on her shoulder blades, urging her up Violet Peak, one of Linphea's tallest mountains according to him.

"The wind…" gasp. "Isn't consuming me and that's the problem," Bloom panted as she took step after step up the thin stone staircase leading up. She couldn't get in a proper breath and it was making her nauseous and dizzy. At least she was in her exercise outfit instead of her usual bellbottoms and wedges because then she'd be absolutely screwed.

Valtor snorted. "Stop being pedantic, Bloom. I meant that you are not to let these forces win."

"I don't know it works for you, bucko, but I have to breathe," Bloom said.

"All lifeforms need breath, Bloom. But you will find that you get to decide what you can use to sustain yourself in the absence of your usual dose of it—air, in your case."

"We just finished training."

"We just finished training your reflexes and battle prowess, but there's more to being powerful than just blasting and shooting."

"Let me guess, I finally annoyed you so much that you're trying to kill me?" Bloom asked half-seriously.

"No," Valtor answered with a quirk of his lips. "I want you to learn how to pick and choose between sources of ability—both magically and physically."

"Well, I choose air," Bloom said decisively. In a flash of light, she'd transformed.

"Bloom—!" Valtor cried out too late. She'd hovered barely an inch of the moss covered steps before the wind swept her up, up, and away.

She screamed as she spun and spun through the air like clothes in a tumble dryer. Up was left and down was up and right was right but left was also right and Bloom was anticipating a painful thud against the ground when the world around her glowed purple and her body slowed through the air. A second later, the purple bubble popped and she landed into a familiar pair of arms as she gasped for breath.

Valtor was hovering a foot off the windswept plains they'd started from, giving Bloom an unimpressed raising of his eyebrow. Here, she learned Linphea Lesson Number Two:

"At a certain height, only certain pairs of fairy wings can withstand the winds of Linphea."

Bloom blushed and looked away. "Gotcha," she muttered.

The final and most important lesson was the one that had the worst price for learning.

Bloom had gotten a call from Brandon again. She could predict when she'd get them—every day at the Magic Dimension equivalent of four p.m. She'd been stretching after another training session with Valtor when she saw his face appear on her phone screen.

She paused in her downward dog, frowning in thought as she looked at the smiling familiar face of her friend. They hadn't known each other for long and he was so worried about her even then. She didn't want to put him or Valtor in any danger by talking with him but…those gun guys were gone, she'd been getting stronger, and poor Brandon deserved an explanation. So she'd pressed the talk button, which later lead to her learning Linphea Lesson Number Three.

Don't leave if you and your wanted mentor have super powerful abilities that wackos would want to steal.