Fate The Winx Saga | Season 3 Episode 5 | Illuminating the Dark (2)

 

FROZEN FOREST

"Are you almost done?" Marion asked the shadow.

"Do not disturb," the shadow said while concentrating.

"It's done," he finally said, opening his eyes.

He had completed the task of transferring his shadow army from the dark forest to Alfea. They were guided with only one task: to find Bloom!

Alfea was guarded by security and a protective barrier. It didn't take long for the shadow army to breach the barrier and enter Alfea's grounds. All the students were alerted. Some came out to fight for their school, while others stayed in their dorms and locked the doors. The headmaster led the fairies as they began to fight the shadow army. The headmaster confidently went to the battleground and started fighting, unaware of why the shadow army had targeted Alfea when they already had the Alfean Codex. There seemed to be no reason for the shadow to attack Alfea, which is why Alfea was almost defenseless at the moment, the headmaster and other students didn't know of Bloom being at Alfea. So no one was expecting an attack. It was very sudden.

BLOOM'S MIND

"Wow, you good guys really are so pathetic, aren't you? You came all the way here to Bloom's mind with no plan at all. How unbelievable. What, did you think you were going to persuade my other half to return by talking to her? Didn't it ever occur to you that she would have returned if she could? Well, guess what—she can't. Because this isn't her body anymore. It's mine, and I'm not letting her take control," Dark Bloom said.

"We will get rid of you. This will never be your body. We will get Bloom back," Sky said while still laying on the ground from Dark Bloom's previous attack.

"How pathetic. I don't see what my other half sees in you. To be honest, I prefer that Andy guy anyway," Dark Bloom said sarcastically.

"Dragon, finish him off," she commanded her dragon to kill Sky.

The dragon was huge, about a million times the size of a normal person. His breath spewed fire in Sky's direction. If it had hit him, Sky would have died instantly. But luckily, the real Bloom came out of her hiding spot in the cave at just the right moment and rushed to Sky. Her magic somehow created a bubble-shaped shield around her and Sky. It was because this was what she wanted at the moment: to protect Sky from the attack. To shield him. And that's exactly what happened.

"Oh my god, but how? I didn't know I could do that," Bloom said in complete shock.

"I told you, Bloom. This is your mind. You can do anything you think of," Sky said with hope in his eyes.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally came out to play. Ready to die once again?" Dark Bloom said, unleashing her attack on the real Bloom. But for the first time ever, she dodged it and was shielded from the attack.

Dark Bloom couldn't believe it and started to feel a bit scared. Bloom fought back, but Dark Bloom dodged it.

"You really think you can defeat me? Let me show you what real power is," Dark Bloom said, using her powers to make her dragon even stronger and unleashing it on Bloom and Sky. The dragon was much stronger than the shield. But just as the dragon was about to reach Bloom and Sky, another dragon suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was exactly equal in size to Dark Bloom's purple dragon. This dragon was orange and red. The real Bloom had unconsciously created it.

"Impossible," Dark Bloom said.

The two dragons started fighting each other, but neither could defeat the other because they were both so powerful. Seeing all this made Bloom realize how strong she really is. It was the thought of wanting to protect Sky which made her unconciously use her powers which ultimately made her realize that she does have powers if only she believes in them.

"This is over. I'm so done with you taking over my mind," Bloom said, attacking Dark Bloom.

But Dark Bloom absorbed the attack. "You seem to be forgetting something, Bloom. This might be your mind, no doubt, but I am also a part of you. I am all the darkness inside of you. Valtor's mark has made me stronger, darker, and given me resistance in your body and brain. I am as much part of your mind as you are, which means I can also do anything I put my mind to," Dark Bloom said.

"Okay then, I guess it's a fair fight now," Bloom said.

Dark Bloom unleashed flames from underground, which surrounded Bloom and almost knocked her out. But Bloom used Dark Bloom's powers against her. She made those purple flames under her control by converting them to her orange flames and used them against Dark Bloom.

"I will not let you have control. I will bring back Valtor, I've come too far" Dark Bloom said.

Hearing this made Bloom realize how Dark Bloom must be doing awful things in Bloom's body.
"I am not going to let you take control of my body anymore," Bloom said in complete anger, her eyes glowing red and flames coming out of her body. Then Bloom used all her powers in one attack. Dark Bloom used a shield. This attack weakened her for sure but did not destroy her. Bloom now used all her powers in her dragon. Since Dark Bloom was weak, so was her dragon. Bloom's dragon easily defeated Dark Bloom's dragon, making Dark Bloom even weaker. Bloom then launched a final attack on her, surrounding her with flames and killing her.

"This is not over," were Dark Bloom's last words as she vanished into thin air.

"You did it, Bloom. You destroyed her," Sky said, coming towards Bloom.

Bloom was very weak. She almost fell, but Sky caught her. Suddenly, light started glowing from everywhere.

"What's happening?" Bloom asked.

"We're going back to the real world," Sky said with complete joy.

FROZEN FOREST

Stella and Brandon fought Beatrix quietly for a while until they finally knocked her out. They were trying very hard not to be noticed by Shadow and Marion. As they were carrying Beatrix out of the castle, suddenly the shadow came from behind.

"Leaving so soon?" the Shadow said.

Stella quietly told Brandon to get out of there and give Beatrix the potion. "But the party hasn't even begun yet," Shadow continued.

Brandon got out, and strangely, the Shadow didn't stop him either. He was only interested in Stella for some reason. "You're in the wrong castle, princess," the shadow said. His voice was very scary, like a zombie's, and his appearance was much worse.

There were weird noises coming from all corners of the castle. The shadow was doing this to scare Stella.

"I'm not scared of you," Stella said.

"Well then, let's change that, why don't we?" the shadow said, using all his powers. Suddenly, more shadows started coming out from all corners. Stella got scared and instantly started running. She ran as fast as she could, but no matter where she went, shadows came from all directions.

Suddenly, many shadows started circling around her, creating a sort of tornado around her. She tried attacking with light attacks, and it was working, but the shadows were too many. Her hair became a mess, and the circling shadows created a lot of wind. Stella couldn't see anything clearly. She just kept attacking until the shadows knocked her out and she fell.

"Now you're all mine," the shadow said, standing near Stella's unconscious body. All the shadows went back inside the main Shadow, and he went inside of Stella.

ALFEA

Bloom and Sky woke up in the Alfea infirmary. Musa was there as well. At first, she was a bit unsure.

"Bloom?" Musa wanted to make sure that this was, in fact, the real Bloom and not Dark Bloom.

"Yeah, I'm back," Bloom confirmed.

Musa hugged Bloom tightly. "Oh my god, it's really you."

Suddenly, they heard a lot of noise and destruction from outside. Bloom looked out the window and saw people fighting everywhere.

"Oh my god, what's happening?" Bloom asked.

"Alfea is under attack. Do you think you can fight, or do you need to rest your powers a bit? Because we could really use you right now," Musa said.

Everyone else was already outside, fighting the shadow army.

"Yes, of course. Let's go," Bloom said without hesitation.

"Are you sure?" Sky reassured her, knowing that Dark Bloom had drained a lot of Bloom's energy. Despite being very weak, Bloom had a lot of motivation to fight. She felt guilty about what Dark Bloom might have done to the Otherworld while residing in her body. Bloom needed to make up for that, so she went outside to fight.

She saw Aisha fighting some monsters and joined in to help. Aisha was beyond happy to see Bloom but was too busy at the moment for a hug. She defeated the shadow monster she was fighting. Another one was behind her, but Bloom saved Aisha from it.

"Finally. Oh, it's so good to see you again," Aisha said, turning around and hugging Bloom tightly.

"Right back at ya," Bloom replied, and they both returned to fighting.

The fights seemed futile. The shadow monsters kept on coming. Suddenly, when they saw Bloom, most of them started going after her. Not all, though, as she was still in a corner. The headmaster saw this as well and asked the teachers to protect her. But Bloom needed no protection. Even though she was weak, she unleashed a strong attack that nearly took down half the army. But it was of no use. No matter how many shadows they defeated, they kept on coming.

Musa and Riven were fighting side by side as well. Musa saved Riven from an attack, and Riven saved her. They made a pretty good team until the shadows saw Bloom. They rushed towards her, not seeing anyone in their path. A lot of shadows went inside Riven's body and crossed through to get to Bloom. He was in the way. There were so many shadows that he didn't even have time to get out of the way. Suddenly, he fell down. And a shadow went inside him.

"Riven!" Musa shouted.

The shadow had done something to him, drained him somehow.

"Oh my god, Riven, are you okay?" Musa asked, dropping everything to go see Riven.

Riven stopped breathing.

"Help! Someone, please help!" Musa screamed. Other fairies and specialists saw this and wanted to help, but as they were coming to Musa, shadows kept coming from all directions, even from underground. Everyone was too busy fighting, and Riven was dying. Apparently, if a shadow passes through your body, your chances of survival are pretty low.

At this very moment, the exact same thing was happening to Stella. Except in her case, it wasn't just a random shadow from the shadow army inside her but the main Shadow, trying to kill her.

Now it was up to Riven and Stella to see how strong they were. Or more importantly, how strong their minds were. Because when a shadow goes inside your body, it feeds on your brain and your insecurities until you die.

LIGHT

Stella opened her eyes. All she could see was darkness. There was no one and nothing in front of her or anywhere near her. It was complete darkness.

"Where am I?" Stella said as she slowly stood up.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" she called out into the darkness, but no one replied. She ran around for a while, trying to search for someone or something. She used her light magic, but nothing worked. It was complete darkness.

"Are you scared?" Suddenly, a voice said. Stella turned around to see who it was. It was Ricki.

"Does the darkness scare you? Does it scare you when you can't see the people around you, when you can't see the world around you, because that's exactly what you did to me. You blinded me," Ricki said, then she disappeared.

"No, wait. Please don't go. I didn't mean to," Stella said, but it was too late. Ricki was gone, though her voice remained.

"You can blame your mother all you want, but the truth is, you are the one who blinded me. You're the reason why my life is hell," Ricki shouted.

"Please, I'm so sorry," Stella said, tears streaming down her face trying to find where Ricki's voice was coming from. "If I could go back, I'd-"

"Well, you can't now, can you?" Ricki said as she appeared again behind Stella.

"You have no idea how sorry I am," Stella said while turning around to see Ricki.

"Oh really? So sorry that you never even came to visit? Never even asked about how I am and how I'm living my life? You just forgot about me and made new friends and went on with your life like nothing happened. As if you hadn't ruined a young girl's life. You're the villain that children are afraid of. You're much worse because you pretend to be good when deep down you know you aren't, and your actions are proof of that," Ricki shouted.

Stella couldn't help but listen and cry. She had no reply for all this. She was broken. She hated realizing what she did to Ricki. But the truth was, she did it, and she couldn't erase it no matter how much she wanted to.

"You made my life hell, and now it's time for you to live there," Ricki shouted so hard that Stella fell down.

Suddenly, the ground behind her changed. Now she was lying in the corner of the ground, and beneath her was lava. She tried to run away in another direction, but the ground beneath there became lava too. It was much below her, and she was standing on a few inches of ground, surrounded by lava in all directions. If she fell from here, she'd fall into lava.

Suddenly, the shadow appeared.

"You, I know what you're doing. You're just feeding on my insecurities until you make me weak enough, and it's not going to work," Stella said.

"Oh, really?" The shadow suddenly started to change. In just a few seconds, he became 100 times his original size. He was huge, and his voice was much worse. "Are you scared now?" the shadow shouted.

And Stella fell. Suddenly, the lava changed, and now she fell on stairs. She fell down the stairs of the royal castle.

The shadow was doing all this.

She stood up, and her mother was behind her.

"Well, hello there, my precious, pathetic daughter," Queen Luna said.

"No, stay away from me. I know this isn't real," Stella said, trying to move to the other direction, but suddenly, the queen appeared from there as well. She hit Stella with a spell, and Stella fell.

"You really are the true definition of disappointment. I tried so hard to teach you to be strong, sacrificed so much for you, but nothing worked. You're weak.

Oh, and do you remember when you told me of how my methods fail and yours don't? Of how you've saved the world so many times? Well, here's a newsflash for you. You didn't do anything. It was your friends, or more specifically, your friend Bloom, who saved it. The same girl who you tried to send back to Earth the day she got to Alfea. The same girl who you hated. The truth is, you've been nothing but a pain in the ass for everyone," Queen said.

"Shut up, just shut up," Stella said, emitting huge light rays from her hands. Suddenly, Queen disappeared. Stella got up and saw Sky.

"No, not again, go away," she said.

"Why? Is it really this hard for you to face the truth? I need to know one thing, Stella. I didn't even flirt with Ricki. She said two words to me, and you blinded her. What kind of an idiotic best friend were you? Did you really have this little control over your powers?" Sky said, grabbing Stella.

"Please, shut up," Stella said slowly, but Sky kept on talking.

"I said shut up!" Stella shouted and emitted even more light, and Sky disappeared. "Stop reminding me of that one mistake I made three years ago. Is that all you've got? You'll never break me," Stella shouted to the shadow. She was only a few inches away from truly breaking. No matter what she said, all this was truly affecting her. Tears couldn't stop coming down her eyes.

"One mistake? You made just one mistake, seriously?" someone said from behind.

Stella turned around to see who it was, and it was Brandon.

"Do I even need to tell you how wrong you did to me? What my life became after you met me? How you broke me and my sister?" Brandon said.

This was it. Stella truly broke after this.

"You're right. I suppose I am the worst person in the world. Maybe I do deserve to die after all," Stella said, falling down, losing all hope.

Suddenly Brandon changed into the shadow, he had succeeded, he broke Stella.

MIND

Musa was sobbing in front of Riven's almost lifeless body. The shadow was residing inside Riven, and his eyes suddenly opened, completely black. This scared Musa a lot. It felt as if Riven was about to die. his eyes turning dark like this meant the shadow inside him was feeding on his insecurties and was winning just like with Stella.

"No, no, no, please don't, please don't die, Riven. Please try to fight, please," Musa said, almost breaking down. Tears fell from her eyes as she leaned forward and kissed Riven.

"Please don't leave me," she whispered quietly. Suddenly, something happened. Riven's eyes returned to normal and closed shut.

"Riven, are you okay?" Musa asked in worry. Suddenly, his eyes reopened, and he took a deep breath.

"I'm okay," he replied. Musa was so relieved to see him okay. She hugged him tightly in an instant. For a moment nothing else mattered, not even the war happening at Alfea at that very moment.

LIGHT

Brandon had already given Beatrix the potion and rescued Terra as well. They all saw Stella and rushed towards Stella's body on the floor. Beatrix was back to her normal self. Stella's eyes were completely black, indicating that the shadow was inside her and was winning.

"No, no, no, this can't be. We have to get that shadow out of her," Terra said urgently, knowing the danger the shadow posed.

"How? What can we do?" Brandon asked, feeling helpless.

"That's the thing, we can't do anything. Stella is the only one who can," Terra replied, her voice breaking.

"Please, Stella, if you can hear me, please fight this monster. I know you're strong enough to do that. Fight this monster and come back to us so I can thank your stupid ass for coming back for me," Beatrix pleaded, a tear falling from her eye. "After you all disappeared, I thought it was over, that I'd be dead in a little while. I tried to hold on for as long as I could because I had some hope that you would rescue me, and look at that, you did. You did come back for me. Now, please come back to me."

Although Stella's body was unconscious, her mind was hearing all of this.

The shadow had almost broken Stella, but Beatrix's words gave her courage. Enough courage to stand back up.

"Really? Is that all it takes? You hear two words from Beatrix and suddenly you feel confident again? You forget about everything that you've done?" the shadow taunted, intending to make Stella feel guilty and weak again.

"No, you were right. In everything you said, I am guilty. Guilty as hell. I've done things which I'm not proud of, and yes, at moments, maybe, I'm not so proud of who I am. But that doesn't change the fact that right now, my friends need me. They need me to take you down, and since you know so much about me already, I'll have you know this as well. I am never going to let them down," Stella declared as she unleashed her magic and expelled the shadow from her body. Suddenly, she was conscious again in her body. Beatrix hugged her, and Stella hugged her back, whispering "Thank you."

Stella hurriedly stood up and said, "Stand back," to Beatrix and Brandon. The shadow appeared in front of her.

"Say your goodbyes. You're made of darkness, and if there's one thing I know that can get rid of darkness, it's to turn on the light," Stella said.

Then she used all her powers in one epic attack. Her eyes became complete yellow, she had never been this much determined, she was feeling so many emotions and all of them right now where focused to kill the shadow. Magic glowed from all sides of her body. It was like she was projecting the sun inside her. She used all this magic and attacked the shadow so hard that she killed it. The light was so bright, just like real sunlight. Beatrix and Brandon had their eyes closed and turned in the opposite direction. Stella fell down from exhaustion after casting the spell, but it worked. She had killed the shadow. Her light magic was strong enough to wipe out the darkness. It was unbelievable, yet she did it.

Killing the shadow also eradicated its army. The shadows were gone, which meant Alfea was free now.

"We need to get out of here before Marion comes," Brandon said urgently. He used his transportation cube, grabbed Stella, and they all went back to Alfea. Stella was still unconscious due to the huge amount of energy she had just expended, completely drained.

FLASHBACK

Isobel was firm in her decision. She did not want to help Sebastian bring back the shadow because she knew how evil it would be. Sebastian wasn't even sure if Isobel was strong enough to do it either. But he had to find out. He was a monster.

Isobel came back home after a whole day of working. She called out to her mom, but her mom didn't reply. She went to her mother's room. She was resting, or at least it seemed like it. At first, Isobel thought her mother was sleeping, but she wasn't. She was dead. Someone killed her. Isobel screamed and couldn't believe her eyes. Suddenly, she saw a note sitting beside her dead mother's body.

"Maybe now you'll have enough motivation to help me - Sebastian."