Diaspro breathed deeply, sinking to her knees. She was weak, but she knew she couldn't stop now. Time was fast running out. She had to act now. She dragged herself across the room and into a small, walk in cupboard to the side. Looking out into the trashed store room, she had a clear view of the nurse's body. Filling her chest with air, she cleared her mind, and thought only of what she had to do next. She thought about why.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

That's what the nurse had asked.

Because I have been cheated and humiliated all my life. Diaspro thought savagely. Because everything I had has been ripped from me. Bloom has ruined my life. Sky has destroyed me as well. Now I'm a fugitive in my own realm. I'm an outcast. I have nothing to live for.

Her anger channelled new energy into her body. Her power coursed through her veins, gaining strength through each vessel. Her energy, her essence, her very soul concentrated at her chest, the force nearly constricting her heart. She doubled over, gasping in agony. For a moment, the pain was relieved as the force weakened. For a moment, Diaspro was desperate to let it go and return her body to normal, the pain was so intense. But instead, she scrunched her eyes tight shut and concentrated her energy towards her heart, channelling the pain. She tried to breathe through it, but breathing was near impossible.

It's all worth it. She told herself. This pain...it's worth it. Just hold out a bit longer...

She let out a blood curdling scream as the pressure built up, crushing her heart and her lungs. Just when her vision swam and began to go black...it stopped. Just like that. Diaspro gasped for breath. Had it worked? She felt light, almost ethereal. Slowly, her eyes peeled open. A bright, red orange glow filled the room. Frowning, the realisation dawned on her that it was shining from her. And slowly, so slowly that it was barely noticeable, the glow was growing stronger. Diaspro gasped in shock. It had worked! She took a deep breath. She was the light. It wasn't just shining from her, it was her. That was all she was now, a disembodied spirit, flowing through the air. Every second she became more whole, as more pieces of her energy and soul flowed to meet her, strengthening the light. It flowed from her body. Diaspro turned. She thought she was ready. She had spent years before her capture learning advanced spells. This was the one she had prepared for the most. If she didn't, her souls could become paralysed in shock, lost forever, damned to the cruel keeping of time and space. She'd be dead. Years of training...she should be ready. And yet nothing could prepare her for the strangeness and confusion that met her when she turned around.

It wasn't like looking in a mirror at your reflection. Her body was still on the floor, face to the ceiling. Her energy and soul still flowed from her chest into the air. Her head was tilted backwards, her mouth open in a silent scream. The tears she had cried slid slowly down her lifeless face. But the most disturbing part was her eyes. They were wide open, staring up to the ceiling, completely blank and unseeing. Diaspro was used to seeing that look in other people's eyes, but seeing herself in this state terrified her. Her eyes were glassed over, emotionless and blank. No life left in them. They were dead. She was dead. The panic and fear rose inside her. She felt as though she were frozen, unable to drag her eyes away from the horrific sight before her.

No! She screamed at herself. You are not dead! You are right here, alive. You're stronger than this. You had the strength to pull this spell off, and you can end it again when you need to. You have a job to do, one you have been planning for years when you were locked up in that cell. Don't let your fear kill you now. You are not dead!

Diaspro closed her eyes and pulled herself painfully away from her empty body. It felt like she was peeling her skin from super-glue, and it tore her flesh as she turned away. She thought about her state. A spirit, a ball of energy flowing through the air. Her very essence...no longer was it in her body. It was free, and could go anywhere. No longer would her identity hold her back. She could be whoever she wanted to be. And right now, the one person she wanted to be happened to be her easiest target.

Her eyes slid across the room, coming to rest on the nurse's dead body lying amongst the wreckage. She hardly even looked dead after Diaspro had removed all her cuts and bruises. Now that the nurse's soul and energy had been absorbed by Diaspro, her body also lay empty. There was no resistance, nothing to fight back against an intruder. No thoughts to even register that someone was taking over her body. That made Diaspro's job so much easier.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Sky lay in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling. Bloom's warm body was pressed up against him, fast asleep. He glanced across at his clock. Two in the morning. Sleep still hadn't come to him. He couldn't let it. Sky felt that he could hardly even turn his attention from Bloom for a single moment. He was so scared for her. At first, he had thought that she was overreacting. It was just a dream. But now, he too realised it wasn't. What Bloom had said about how real it was, about how it was killing her, scared Sky even more. He wasn't going to let it. He rarely slept any more, always staying awake by Bloom's side to bring her back to life. But he'd noticed that the dreams were becoming more frequent. The fear Bloom had of them made it easier for them to enter her head. And every time it happened, Sky found it increasingly harder to wake her up. She was falling in deeper and deeper, and Sky couldn't reach her hand to catch her.

He thought about all the plans they had for their family. Joel was being discharged the next afternoon, and happy as they were, there was still this danger hanging over them, shadowing the light that tried to shine through. Beside him, Bloom shifted. Sky sat up, looking at her in concern. But she simply turned over, eyes closed in peace. He let go of a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, sinking back into his pillows. The worry for her tortured him every living moment. He couldn't live without her. And yet he feared he may have to. The joy of their son coming home could barely be felt through the pain of maybe having to raise him without her...

No, don't think like that. You can't think like that. If you believe that, you may lose her forever. You can pull through this, you have pulled through dangers before, you can do it again. Don't abandon her now, don't-

Sky's thoughts were cut off by Bloom as she writhed beneath the sheets, her breaths becoming short and forced.

"Bloom?" Sky's voice penetrated the darkness. "Bloom!"

He reached out to her, shaking her shoulders, calling her name; anything to wake her up. But her eyelids didn't even flicker. Sky wasn't going to give up. He pulled her up into a sitting position, her head lolling to the side, her entire body limp and getting colder by the second.

"C'mon Bloom, open your eyes." He willed, placing his hand against her cheek. "Please don't go now."

She still didn't move.

"Bloom!" Sky shouted out. "Wake up, Bloom! Please!"

Tears came to his eyes, his voice choked. He held her close to him, shaking her. And then her eyelids began to flicker.

"Yes! Bloom, open your eyes..."

Her eyes flew open and she couldn't hold back the high pitched, blood curdling scream that escaped from her lips. She coughed and spluttered, taking huge heaving breaths. Sky held her as steady as possible, relief washing over him. She was alive. Bloom struggled to breathe beside him. Sky couldn't begin to imagine how awful the dream must be for her, how painful it is. He hated it that she had to face these nightmares alone. He wished he could take the experience from her head and take it on himself. He hated not being able to do anything but sit by and watch as she suffered. It was slowly killing her, and she seemed to be losing the will to fight back anymore. It hurt him more than he cared to explain, more than he could even express.

A sob sounded from Bloom, and then another. They racked her body and she shook in his arms. Sky held her tighter, and she cried against his bare chest. She didn't speak, and neither did Sky. There was no point in telling her what he did every time this happened. He'd said it so much it was probably implanted there in her mind. Besides, he hated lying to her, and telling her that it was going to be okay and that it's 'just a dream' wasn't right. Not when now, he too believed the opposite. Instead, he just held her in his arms, and let her cry the pain away, if it could go away at all. He let the tears stream silently down his face, as he held Bloom close to him, her sobs filling the night that lay thick around them.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Diaspro neared the nurse's body, and slowly slipped in, taking over. The nurse lay still and silent for a moment, before her eyes snapped open and her chest lifted with a huge breath. Diaspro took a moment to adjust to this new perspective, to this new body she found herself in control of. Shakily, she rose to her feet, looking around her. Her eyes slid across her own body, still lifeless on the floor. She shook her head and turned away, refusing to give in to her distant, nagging fear. Her plan flooded into her mind, and she walked towards herself, closing the door to the small walk in cupboard she had left her body in. Then, with a wave of her hand, red and orange sparks danced in the air, and the room was cleared up. Spilt liquids and medicines flowed back into their containers, the containers back to their shelves, the shelves standing themselves up again. Burn holes in the floor and walls sealed over, and broken tiles on the floor mended on their own. Soon, their was no evidence left of the fight that had taken place. Satisfied with her work, Diaspro turned and left through the door back out into the passageway. The bottle the nurse had been carrying before Diaspro had captured her still lay on the floor. Casually, she picked it up and made her way towards the King's chambers, tucking a stray piece of her blonde hair behind her ear. She smoothed out her mint green nursing uniform, smiling to herself at how well everything was going. Her revenge was well underway, and soon she would put Bloom through exactly what she had been through, the heartbreak and loss she had suffered.

Coming out into the grand corridor in the King and Queen's quarter of the castle, Diaspro hurried along the red carpeted floor. Outside the King's bed chambers, two of the other nurses were waiting, worried looks on their faces. Diaspro smirked. Her nurses. She thought of the head nurse she was impersonating, and her features became worried too as she neared the nurses.

"Sarah!" One called, rushing over to her. "Where have you been?"

"When I arrived at the room, I was informed that a new stock of this was just arriving. I had to wait for a few moments." Diaspro acted quickly, gesturing to the bottle in her hand, not a tone of doubt in her voice. "How is he?"

"Not good." The other replied. "He's fading faster by the minute."

"Then there's no time to lose." Diaspro strode confidently past them, opening the door.

Inside, the King lay pale in his bed, his chest stained in blood. Diaspro had to fight the urge to smile. Beside him, Samara clutched his hand, her face worried and flooded with tears. Countless wires hooked Erendor up to a life support machine, and the rest of the team of nurses hurried around monitoring him.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep him alive like this." One said, looking to Diaspro.

The Queen's head snapped up. Her voice was choked by the tears as she said, "You can save him, can't you?"

Diaspro frowned. "I can try, your Majesty. But I can't make any promises."

A small sob sounded from her. "Please, don't let him die..."

"I'll do my best." Diaspro tried her best to sound as sympathetic as possible. "Now, this is a very complicated procedure. I really must do it alone-"

"What?" The nurses protested, cutting her off.

"Are you sure Sarah?" One asked. "This isn't like you."

"I know, but never before have I had to deal with something this serious. I can't promise that he will be okay though. The least I can do for now is stabilise him. It may be a while before he fully comes around. Now please, leave me to do this, I don't have a lot of time."

Reluctantly, the nurses began to file out of the room. The Queen sat beside her husband in shock.

"Your Majesty, please. You must leave him for a while."

"I can't..." She whispered.

Diaspro took her by the arm and helped her up, guiding her to the door. "I'm afraid you must. I will do everything in my power to help the King."

Nodding her head, Samara allowed herself to be taken out of the room.

Diaspro stood in the middle of the two doors, looking out into the corridor. When she saw no one was there, she smirked and shut the doors, bolting them and turning to face the King's limp body. Smiling devilishly, she walked towards him, her hands blazing with a red-orange ball of energy.