Chapter Text
Bloom woke up in an empty, familiar room. With a grunt, she sat up. Physically, she was exhausted. She could only remember fighting against the fake Avalon, before blacking out. She felt the dark magic coursing through her veins before the darkness, but she didn’t wish to acknowledge what had really happened. She forced herself to believe her friends had done what was necessary.
Massaging the side of her neck, she let her eyes roam over the room. It was dark, just as they left it. She could feel Flora’s magical energy, probably to get rid of the dust that must have had accumulated over the past few weeks.
It’d been a long month, after all. They only had a few days left at school before the two weeks of holidays of March rolled in. The beginning of autumn on Magix, but Spring for Gardenia. It had been a long time since she’d seen snow, but didn’t exactly miss it. She never really saw it when she was young, and she preferred to be able to go outside under the warmth of the sun. Even if she couldn’t exactly feel the cold, thanks to her powers.
A silhouette in the dark moved, but she didn’t react. She knew he’d been there for a moment now. She could feel him, after all. She simply attempted to stand up, feeling suddenly exhausted, even though she just slept for some hours.
“What are you still doing here ? Or are we in my head ?”
That last part was mostly for herself, but she still asked him. It made the Wizard chuckle.
She liked to have him in a good mood. Him being sour was bad news, and she noticed he wasn’t exactly smiling when he moved closer to her. She wouldn’t say he was angry. It looked a bit more like worry.
“We’re in your room.”
“And you watched me sleep ? Creepy.”
She tried to imagine herself talking to Flora, but her sentence came out wrong. Her voice was shivering, and her eyes darted to the sides of the room. She liked to tell herself she was a bit more relax around Valtor, but maybe she fooled herself.
“I need to talk to you.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Her eyes quickly went to the empty bed of her friend. It seemed Valtor had chosen his moment carefully.
“What happened ?” She asked in return.
He didn’t waste time. Fortunately she hadn’t been standing, because even as she sat down on her bed, she felt her legs ready to give up as the information sunk in. She couldn’t remember anything, not even when Lockette had apparently brought her back to her normal self. None of her friends had seen when it happened, which scared her even more. She only landing, before everything went dark.
“So how did you get me back ?” She mused, still taken aback at what she just learned. The silence from the man on the other side of the room made her come back to reality, though. From the corner of her eyes, she saw him look elsewhere. “Is something wrong ?”
“I used a spell,” he finally said. Her eyes narrowed at the lack of information.
“What kind of spell ?”
“Lord Darkar’s kind.”
Her heart missed a bit at his admission.
“What do you mean ?”
She remembered the mermaids on Andros, under his spell. He moved them around like pawns, using them to conquer the planet. She never realized he could expand his power to her. Somehow, she thought she was untouchable. Her friends too.
Her hand returned to massage her neck, then she froze.
“It’s there, isn’t it ?”
She saw him nod, the faint ray of moonlight just enough to make out his features.
“I didn’t see any other solution.”
Fireworks exploded behind him. The lights reflected in her room. She saw the cold, calculated look in his eyes, keeping her still on the side of her bed. She couldn’t read remorse, or shame. He was being honest with her. There really hadn’t been any other solution. At least, he thought so. Nor did he feel like apologizing. He seemed to be more worried about what her reaction could be, and how to avoid being the main target.
“My friends don’t know about it ?”
“I think the Andros Fairy has her suspicions.”
“Layla,” she corrected.
Bloom turned to face the wall, and sighed.
“I’m not controlling you, if it can reassure you. I merely… put my mark on you.”
“How did you know it’d work ?”
He turned to look at the windows. Bloom could now hear the music and the happy screams from the other students. Obviously, everyone was happy about what happened this night. Faragonda must’ve been extremely relieved to allow the students to party after such a frightening even.
“Because I had already done it.”
“You mean you knew Lord Darkar before…”
She let her question trail.
It was true, she knew almost nothing about him. She only read about his past in books, because he never talked about himself. She never dared to ask him anything if she didn’t have a good reason to back herself up. It was almost impossible to imagine herself asking him questions just ‘because’. They weren’t close friends, or even remotely friends. They were using each other. There was nothing more than that.
“Yes.”
“And ?”
The question escaped her, but she wanted to know. He marked her, after all, so this time she had a good excuse. Judging by how his shoulders slumped down, he too knew she was in her right for asking that question.
“It worked for her, so I supposed it would work for you too.”
He didn’t turn around, and she was glad. Her whole body had frozen, yet again, at hearing ‘her’ come out of her mouth. She never really thought about it, but maybe he had had allies in the past. One of them just happened to be female.
Except she couldn’t help the pang of pain in her chest. It wasn’t like he betrayed her or anything, but because she’d been the only one who talked to him in the past years, she always pictured him alone. Now, however, she couldn’t help but wonder if there had ever been a certain someone in his life. A person he never mentioned, who had most likely left them by now, or looked like the Headmistress.
“Why… did Darkar try to attack you with her or-“
“It had been a trap,” confirmed the Wizard, unaware of her emotional turmoil. “Griffin had been captured by the Army of Light, but escaped when Lord Darkar sent his minions on Eraklyon. She was then captured by him, and he tried to use her against me. I just did what came naturally.”
“Griffin ? As in… the-“
“Headmistress of Cloud Tower,” he said as he turned around. “You didn’t know ?”
He seemed genuinely surprised, while she could only shrug to keep up appearances. She didn’t want him to know it sort of made her uneasy to know she wasn’t the only one who ever helped him. Most of all, if she was honest with herself, the idea of him and the other Headmistress being together creeped her out.
Him scoffing brought her back to the moment.
“Yeah, I guess she left that part out of the picture.”
“She left you ?”
She asked that question as innocently as she could, but Valtor didn’t seem to like it either way. His eyes narrowed on her, as his lips settled in a thin line. She almost expected him to change the subject, or to give her the coldest answer he could muster at the moment while staying polite. Eventually, the seconds ticked by, and closed his eyes.
“She betrayed us,” he admitted. “We were on a simple mission but… she saw an opportunity in Faragonda, and took it. She was probably scared to take the full on wrath of my Mothers.”
“You failed the mission ?”
“I think that’s enough questions for today,” he answered, and she nodded.
To be honest, she didn’t expect him to tell her so much at once.
“I wanted you to be awake when I’d remove the mark.”
“Why ?” She frowned.
Standing up, in front of the many windows, Bloom was suddenly unable to see the expressions on his face.
“Because you’d eventually would’ve asked about how I managed to bring you back.”
“And you wouldn’t have any answer to that ?”
He nodded.
She sighed. For a second, she thought he did it for the sake of honesty, because it was the best thing to do. Instead, he did it because whatever he would’ve told them, it would’ve been easily refutable. And if she ever turned again, no one would’ve been able to bring her back. They would’ve all known he lied, thus making him untrustworthy.
She suddenly felt extremely tired.
“Should you remove it though ?”
She saw his shoulders tense.
“What ?”
She didn’t have to see his face to know his eyes had widened in surprise.
“He’s going to try again, isn’t he ? If that can keep me… and everyone else safe then…”
She didn’t like it. She already felt her neck itch. She’d give a lot to be out of this situation, to be able to get rid of this thing etched on her skin, but Darkar had taken control of her mind and body way too easily. She didn’t trust herself anymore.
“I’m not sure your friends would-“
“Who said anything about my friends ? Since when do you take their opinion into account ?”
He crossed his arms, as she slowly stood up. She was still dressed in her clothes, thankfully.
“You’re not possibly afraid of what they’d say, are you ?”
She furrowed her brows. For a few seconds, she couldn’t understand why he’d be so worried. She looked into his eyes, stepping a bit closer.
“Or are you afraid of what Faragonda might say ?”
His eyes went to the side for less than a second, but she caught it. Her blood started boiling in her veins.
“Is that it ?” She asked as she crossed the distance between them. Even though she was far smaller than he was, it didn’t matter to her. “The only thing you’re worried about is your image ? I’m the one asking you to do it ! No one’s going to-“
Suddenly the anger disappeared. She stumbled backward, before he caught her by her shoulders, before lowering himself to face her.
“See ? This is what I can do with my mark.”
The side of her neck started burning, before a haze of white overtook her mind. She felt like being in the clouds, with a cool breeze playing with her hair. She didn’t need to open her eyes to see the blue sky around her, with the gentle rays of the sun touching her skin. The birds were whistling, as some water could be heard in the distance, running. The most important touch about all of this, was the smell of her mother’s cooking. Tears almost ran down in relief, as she felt every muscle in her body relax.
Nothing else mattered, as long as she stayed like that.
The reality hit her hard, as if she’d just fallen on the ground. All air left her lungs, and she found herself gripping the arms of the Wizard, desperate for more.
Two golden eyes stared back at her, shining in the dark. The pressure he put on her shoulders was a bit too much, but she couldn’t find the force to shake him off. Instead, she focused on his breath, hitting her neck, creating shivers in her body. There was something wrong with that, but she couldn’t care less.
“Will you really trust me once I take my mark off you ? I could make you do anything I wish, whenever I want, with just a thought. Is that what you want ?”
“Yes,” she answered immediately, still coming down from the high he gave her.
He scoffed, before letting go of her as if she burned him. Then, he shook his hand, and her emotions came swirling back. Her knees gave out, and she found herself sitting on the floor, breathless.
“If I have to, I’ll put it back on. For now, I think it’d be best you go about your daily life as usual. Darkar suspects something, he won’t try that again as long as he hasn’t figured out how you came back to your senses.”
Hot tears started pouring out of her eyes. This was too much, too soon.
She nodded, nonetheless, and waited for him to be out before letting herself cry openly. Sobs wrecked her body as she let her back hit her bed.
She was supposed to be happy. She freed Alfea. But instead, it seemed the situation was worse now. Darkar had what he wanted from Alfea, he could control her, and Valtor had just showed her how easy it would be for him to take over the entire Dimension, if he really wanted.
Which left her asking herself, why did he want her help so bad ? She wasn’t that powerless, but his intelligence would always put him one step ahead of her. As soon as they would get rid of the Ancestral Witches, what was to say he wouldn’t betray her, and try to overtake the dimension, like he did before ?
The scariest thought of them all, however, was her need for the high he gave her.
For once, in what seemed to be months, she felt good. It had been so relaxing, she felt herself craving it. She was hungry for such a feeling again. These last few days had been so stressful that she knew she would do anything to feel anything like that again.