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Almost there.
She repeats this like a mantra in her head; Stella believes if she says it enough, it’ll come true.
So far, this journey feels like it’s lasted an entire century.
The rest of the girls behind her are exhausted; she knows this without even turning around. It’s hard to ignore when her limbs feel like they’re made of lead and she can barely keep running due to the burning in her chest. Stella can hear them panting, but they don’t let up.
And they’re not going to let up; not until they’ve found Bloom.
Lord Darkar’s presence looms around them like a disease, thick and acidic in the air. Stella tries her best not to focus on it, or the fact that the archives are slowly getting darker and darker the deeper they venture in.
It’s both relieving and horrifying when Stella reaches the end of the hall and squints in the light of a large door opening. She comes to a screeching halt and sucks in a breath, despite the fact that she’s panting for air, feeling the rest of the girls come all but tumbling in behind her.
Almost there, she thinks silently.
Bloom, if you can hear me...I’m coming to get you.
It’s almost painfully dramatic, the way the door slowly swings itself open. Stella feels her entire body tense up, mentally and physically preparing herself for what she’s about to see, her brain manifesting a million different images behind her eyes.
She hasn’t been gone that long. They can’t have done much to her, there’s been no time…
Stella clenches her teeth instinctively as the final bit of light shines through and she’s squinting again, blinking furiously to clear her vision and when she does, she can feel her blood run cold.
Bloom is there, a few feet away. Just her presence is enough to send Stella’s heart racing, her hand already trying to reach out and touch her skin out of instinct but Stella balls her hand into a fist instead, fingernails digging painfully into her own palm.
For a moment she wonders idly if that’s her subconscious trying to drown out the pain she’s feeling inside right now, her chest feeling like it’s about to collapse in on itself because the way Bloom is looking at her is entirely foreign, uncharted territory that Stella never would’ve imagined herself in when it came to the woman she loved.
And the worst part of it all was that Bloom’s beautiful blue eyes were gone; an angry yellow color had overtaken them now, and the way they stared into Stella’s own was enough to make her skin crawl.
For a moment they just stand there; Stella is very aware of Lord Darkar’s presence behind Bloom but she can’t find it in herself to care, at least not right now. All she can focus on his Bloom, and the way it seems like her entire body’s been hijacked. Even the way she’s standing is different, poised in a way that looks threatening and Stella can feel her brain hard at work, trying to figure all of this out.
It takes her a moment, but she hears Flora suddenly speak up behind her and that jars her attention away from everything else. “Stella, the Codex!”
Her eyes flicker down to see the stone in Bloom’s hand, dainty fingers wrapped around the object. It’s almost embarrassing how she didn’t notice it before but there’s not time to focus on that, all that she knows right now, in this moment, is that she needs to get that away from her.
“Bloom.” Her own voice sounds foreign to her, and for a second she’s afraid Bloom’s not going to listen but she sees her eyes flicker towards her, almost predatory in a way. Stella swallows thickly, inhaling a deep breath before she speaks again.
“You know you can’t do this. You can’t give it to him.” She thinks she can hear Lord Darkar snarl behind Bloom but she doesn’t deviate eye contact, taking a cautious step forward. “He can’t get his hands on it. All he’s going to do is create chaos.”
“SHUT UP!” Stella freezes at the sound of Bloom yelling, her voice echoing through the vast hall they’re standing in. It bounces off the walls, a cacophonous sound that seems to rattle her bones from within her.
Lord Darkar’s sinister laughter is what brings her back to reality, his voice deep and booming.
“Face it, Stella. She works for me now...you no longer have that control over her you once thought you did.”
Immediately Stella feels her cheeks begin to heat up, her jaw tightening almost painfully at his words. She’s taking another step forward before she can stop herself, averting her gaze from Bloom to glare at him.
“I never controlled her! That’s not what love is!” She tilts her chin down slightly, meeting Bloom’s yellow eyes and trying desperately to somehow make them blue again.
“I love you, Bloom! You know I do, deep down! Whatever he’s told you, it’s all a lie! You can’t give him the Codex because he’s going to destroy the world, OUR world, the one we’ve worked so hard to create for each other!” Bloom is silent, her brow furrowed deeply in what looks like a mixture of anger and confusion. Stella can see her grip begin to loosen ever so slightly on the rock, and she presses on.
“You have to come back to us, we need you here! I need you here!” The admittance of longing isn’t an easy one, yet Stella merely inhales another sharp breath through her nose. “This isn’t you. I KNOW you know that. Your heart is too big to hurt people like this, Bloom. You’re...you’re the best person I’ve ever known.”
She feels naked in Bloom’s gaze now, so deep and harsh she almost feels threatened by it. She’s only about a foot away now, lifting her surprisingly steady hands to hover above her wrist.
“I love you, Bloom. Just give me the-“
It all happens so quickly; one moment she’s standing there and the next she’s on the ground, Bloom’s hand wrapped around her wrist like a handcuff. She had her flipped down onto her back in seconds, her body hitting the tile ground with so much force she feels all the wind leave her body at once. She can hear the rest of the girls yell behind her, but help doesn’t arrive; she can only assume they’ve been surrounded. For a moment she keeps her eyes shut, as if somehow it’ll help alleviate the pain but when she opens them again she wants nothing more than to close them once more.
Bloom is hovering over her, face inches away from Stella’s own. She’s got a smug sneer on her face, contouring her features in a way she’d never seen on her before. The Codex is still in her hand, and she daintily holds it over Stella’s head for a moment.
“Let me break this down for you.” Stella’s head is spinning a mile a minute, struggling to comprehend the awful words being spoken in Bloom’s sickeningly sweet voice. “I’m leaving, with Darkar. We’re taking the Codex and none of you can do a thing about it. Once I go, I am not coming back. Not for any of them and ESPECIALLY not for you, Stella.”
It hurts. She doesn’t want to admit it, but Stella can feel the tears beginning to burn in the corners of her eyes.
“It’s over between us. Frankly, I’m not even sure it had even begun.” The dry laugh she adds to the end of her sentence is like a slap in the face.
“There was no love there, never was. I don’t know who you thought you were fooling, but it wasn’t me. I have never felt an ounce of love towards you. All those things I said? Nothing but lies.” She pauses for a moment, as if to allow the words to sink in for effect.
“So long, Stella. I hope our paths never cross again.”
And just like that she’s gone again, her and Darkar and all of the guards and Stella is left in a crumpled heap in the middle of the floor, barely able to hear the girls rushing towards her through the sobs that begin to wrack her chest and drown them in sound once more.