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little-flowers · 9 months ago

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The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 17- To Give You Even More Than... This.

Chapter 16

"... I gotta go now" Aster's voice cracks, but he still remains smiling, trying to hold in his tears.

"... Now?" Asha looks up to his dust floating to the sky, slowly making Aster disappear, as if bit by bit he's returning to the sky... Asha understands what the star means, but she doesn't understand why now. "You can't leave now, w-we just WON! We gotta celebrate, we can finally relax and..." Asha has a nervous smile as she tries to convince Aster to stay a little longer, but one look on the star's eyes and she can tell he's just as heartbroken that he has to leave as she is "... You don't have a choice, do you? Now that my wish is granted..." Asha's voice sounds heavy, her eyes are downcast.

Aster just nods his head "Yes" slowly

"... Hey! But that's okay!" Asha smile returns, as she has an idea "I can just wish upon you again! So you'll come back-"

"I won't be allowed to come down here again." Aster lays down the bad news quickly like he's ripping off a bandaid, maybe if he says quickly it will hurt less... That doesn't work.

(Please ignore that there’s something threatening her with a pointy stick)

Asha's hopeful smile disappears and she looks at the vanishing star dumbfounded "Wh- What!? Why not?"

"I broke too many rules... I let myself be seen by other people, I helped you WAY more than any star is supposed to... I fell in love." He says looking at her in the eyes becoming more and more transparent "Heh heh pretty sure that last one wasn't a rule before, but now it sure is." He jokes with a single tear running down his face

"How is this fair?!" Asha asks, sounding apprehensive and almost irritated as she looks at Aster disappearing more and more "You helped me grant my wish and now you get punished for it? That makes no sense!" She exclaims, not angry at Aster but at the world itself that won't let her have one happy moment.

(It's me, hi, I'm the world, it's me. And trust me, I love Asha, there's a reason to why this is happening, I hate making her suffer, it's just that the plot demands it.)

A few people from the crowd finally notice what's going on with Aster, including Asha's friends, who quickly get closer to Asha. They already knew this was coming since Aster told them back in the forest.

Aster agrees with Asha that it's unfair, but rules are rules "I know... But at least we got to enjoy our time together as much as we could, didn't we?" Aster asks her, although they both know that no time in the world would be enough.

Asha's eyes start to water "I... I wanted to be with you forever... There's so much I wanted to show you, so much I wanted to tell you..." A tear starts to run down her face.

Aster just sketch lines now, but he tries to dry her tears, even though he's translucent now and ca't interact with anything. Aster frowns that he can't physically comfort her anymore, now their body is more in the sky than on land, but he gives her his last words before leaving completely "We'll be apart, but I'll still see you, and hear you... I know it won't be the same, but I promise I’ll be by your side-"

"... Even if I can't see you." Asha finishes the sentence, already crying but with a hopeful smile.

"Heh... That's right-"

Asha gives Aster a kiss on their lips.

Aster is surprised, but before he can react...

He's gone. His sketch lines erased as he returns to the sky against his will.

... Asha's wide eyes stare up to the sky, a tear running down her face.

Dahlia places a hand on her best friend's shoulder, and Asha immediately gives her a strong hug, the other teens join in to comfort her.

"... What can we do to help?" Dahlia asks her, wanting to console her in any way.

Asha lets go of the hug and lowers her head, looking at the wand in her hand, it still has Aster's magic, and now she can use it to draw anything out of thin air.

She takes a few deep breaths and dries her tears. Then she looks around and notices many people from the crowd stopped celebrating to look at her, seeming concerned about how she feels.

She then looks around to the buildings, some are entangled in giant thorny vines that the king and queen created to destroy the kingdom, the whole island must be full of them, not to mention all the houses destroyed.

Asha realizes now that... She has to move forward, her wish is only partially granted... There's still work to be done.

"... Well... We can start by rebuilding everything we lost." Asha says, beginning to smile again to her friends.

The 7 teens are surprised at first by how quick her hope returned to her... But they realize that's not surprising at all, that's just who Asha is. And they all follow suit.

"I can get some gardening tools to get rid of those horrible vines hihihi" Bazeema for the first time is the first one to speak up excitedly

"Yeah! And I can draw temporary houses for everyone while we rebuild the old ones." Asha says with a radiant smile despite her tearful eyes, holding her magic wand.

"Woah woah woah EVERYONE? Asha, you're gonna get a broken wrist from drawing so many houses, chill out." Gabo warns her, smiling but still genuinely worried she might end up bitting more than she can chew.

"You don't have to do so much, I mean, you already did A WHOLE LOT for us heh heh" Simon comments, the bags under his eyes are gone, and his voice carries an energy and joy that he never shown this whole time.

"He's correct" Comes in a voice from the crowd, Asha turns to see who it is, and it's the same jester street performer that sang to her all the way back in chapter 2.

(I am currently writing the song for that chapter lol, ya'll probably don't even remember this jester guy, I don't blame you, it's been 84 years)

The jester gives her a formal bow as he hands her something she feared she never see again "And I believe you've dropped this, young lady." He says holding-

"My Saba's mandolin!" Asha says relieved as she takes it from his hands. Asha didn't mention before, but since the moment she threw the instrument on Magnifico's head to save Aster, she was worried that the he had destroyed it. After taking a closer look at it, she notices some parts of the mandolin have been properly fixed with bandages and new strings. "You fixed it... Thank you." Asha looks at the jester with a radiant smile.

"Consider it an apology for disrespecting your point of view that day... And thank YOU for everything, miss." The people from the crowd also nod in agreement and some do small bows and curtsies as a way to thank Asha, almost like she's a princess.

Asha has a beaming smile, her eyes still watery with tears, but she gives them a small curtsy in response.

"Sooo how about some music to lighten the mood while we fix this whole mess?" Hal asks her, encouraging Asha to play it.

Asha was about to but she remembers Aster's magic that made her able to play would only last a day "Oh... I don't actually know how to play it anymore" Asha says feeling a bit down, remembering when she and Aster played together at the plaza.

"Hey, that's alright. You'll learn in time, just gotta practice it a lot." Dario signs to her with a huge smile.

Asha's smile lights up again at that, and Safi continues

"Just like we all- A- we AAAA- AAAAACH-" Dahlia places a finger under his nose to stop him from sneezing and finishes what he was about to say probably.

"Just like we all are gonna learn in time too, how to grant our own wishes." Dahlia says with a smile as she winks at Asha.

(Come get your food Asha x Dahlia shippers)

Asha is holding the mandolin in the position to play it, we turn our attention closer to the cords as she begins to play them, transitioning to a song sequence with no lyrics.

In this sequence, we see the people of Rosas all work together to rebuild their kingdom, cutting down the giant vines, making the bricks, carrying the equipment and so on. Basically we get a sequence like the "All of You" song in Encanto, but without lyrics because we already had TWO LYRIC FILLED SONGS one after the other a few minutes ago and I think we had enough. Also I don't have the will power to write lyrics for this, sorry.

Anyway, we see Asha using her wand to help everyone, drawing things such as a dragon to get all the giant vines out of the kingdom, houses for people to live in temporarily and other building equipment. Although the people are very grateful, they also show her they can do a lot even without her help, which makes her really happy, both because it shows how the people are learning to no rely on someone else to make their wishes come true, and also because no everything falls on her shoulders.

We see the people painting over the images of Magnifico and Amable that were everywhere. They paint colorful and creative works of art that reflect on themselves. The kingdom that was once only white and shallow now has color and personality all around.

They also destroy all the statues of king Magnifico and queen Amable, using their pieces broken pieces to make new bricks for them to rebuild their houses.

We get a shot of the whole island, with the kingdom returning to its formal glory as the days and nights pass rapidly.

The song sequence ends with us seeing everyone celebrating that their home is now restored, Asha and her friends front and center as they laugh together.

We fade into a scene of the kingdom now at night time. The stars are shinning brightly and there's no clouds in the sky.

A few days have passed, as the sequence just implied.

We now see Asha walking with Valentino, who has his horns now ever so slightly bigger.

She looks around at all the paintings on the walls, and the gentle glow of the moon. Everyone seems to be asleep, as their lives went back to normal, or actually even better than normal.

Asha isn't asleep though, because she has two very important things to do.

We see her and Valentino walking towards... The statue of King Magnifico and Queen Amable. The only statues of them left in the whole kingdom, as this one is the one that is actually them petrified.

The statue is on display, yes, but not to be admired or to show respect, but rather as a way to make sure people never forget what they did, and so they can see how the kingdom is prospering, with them gone.

But Asha is not going there to see the royal couple, no no no...

She's going to the lynx laying down on the statue's feet.

"...Hi Bravo, it's me again." She chimes in, getting the attention of the big grumpy feline while holding two bowls "I got more food and water for you." she says while placing them next to him, careful to not get too close.

The lynx growls and hiss at her angrily, but doesn't get up, just looks at her like he'll pounce if she get's any closer.

So she gives him space, stepping a few feet away from him. Valentino isn't afraid of the predator attacking him nor Asha, as the wild cat hasn't done so in the past few days they've been doing this.

"... *sigh*... I'm going to the forest again, do you wanna come with me this time?" She asks the feline, hoping today will be a different answer... But it isn't, as the cat just lowers his head and curls up closer to the statues, Asha looks disappointed but understanding "I get it. You're not ready yet." She starts walking to somewhere else and just gives him a small wave goodbye "You can take all the time you need, okay? I'll come back tomorrow with more food... Good night." She walks away from the lynx and the statues, with Valentino following her just in toe.

We focus on Bravo as his angry face changes into a sad one, and he looks at the bowls of food and water in front of him. The big cat seems conflicted and with a pondering look for a moment before he looks up to his formal owners now petrified... Bravo rubs on the queen's dress and the king's legs a final time, as if to say goodbye, before he begins to walk away from them, following Asha to the woods where he belongs.

The statues are now left all alone.

So now... We cut to Asha on the tree, the same tree she wished upon Aster.

She's laying down on the large branch, holding her sketchbook. Valentino is sleeping soundly next to her.

She looks up to the stars, or rather, one specific star, as she talks about all that has been going on lately, and from the looks of it, she has already been talking for a while.

"- It's better than I could've ever dreamed of! I always saw the people of Rosas happy all the time, sure, but- NOW people aren't just smiling, they're happy! Like actually happy, ya know?" She tells Aster with her eyes sparkling "And- OH OH yeah! Dahlia's parents have been making the BEST meals we've ever tasted! In fact, everything in the kingdom just tastes better, and looks better too... I'm sure you'd love it." Asha looks down to a sketch of Aster on her new sketchbook, it has a star on the cover, different from her previous one that had a rose. "Then again... I guess you wouldn't be able to taste the food... And you can already see how much things changed from up there too... But I really REALLY wanted to see how you'd react to all of this." She stares at the drawing longingly for a moment, before snapping out of it and smiling to the small star above her again "Oops I'm rambling again, heheh I better wrap this up, wouldn't want to stay here until sunrise... Again hahaha" She laughs referring to another previous night she went to talk with him. She flips her sketchbook to a page with a small list of thing she wanted to share with him "Let's see what else, what els- Oh yeah! This morning a little girl called me "princess" heh heh that was cute, I tried to explain to her we don't have a monarchy system anymore and she kinda just looked at me confused, and insisted that I was a princess... So I kinda just rolled with it." She shrugs as she shakes Valentino, waking him up so they can go home, the goat starts to wake up as she says "I'm not a princess, I never wanted to be one, but... I guess that's what people see me as now... And I'm happy with that, because at the end of the day who they're seeing is just... Me. Just some girl who didn't give up on them... Maybe that's what being a princess is all about, right? I don't know haha" She laughs it off as she gets up from the tree branch and starts going down the tree. "Anyway, see you tomorrow!" Asha begins to make her way away from the tree and back to the kingdom, she looks down to the grass on the floor while she walks walks... But then her eyes light up when she remembers something very important "I ALMOST FORGOT- Hahah wow I really am tired- Well, I don't know if stars even celebrate it but umm... Happy birthday, Aster." She looks up to the sky, to look directly at Aster.

But... The small star is not where it was before.

Asha was smiling a second ago but now she looks puzzled.

She knows where Aster's star is, she studied the star maps and everything so she wouldn't get him mistaken by another one... So where did they go?

"Yeah, we don't celebrate it actually, kinda pointless to count how old you are if you're living for more than a billion years hehehe"

... Asha feels her heart jump out of her chest for a moment when she hears the a voice she hasn't heard in weeks coming the tree...

She turns to where the voice came from, and sees him. Aster is sitting on the tree looking at her with a beaming smile, trying to contain his own excitement to seem "cool and whimsical" (He's trying to act like Jack Frost yall)

"Buuut they decided to make an exception for me, and I even got a birthday gift" Aster continues, still smiling ear to ear, looking at the girl down the tree.

Asha is staring at him with eyes so wide is like they'll pop out of her face, her mouth slightly agape in disbelief... She blinks squinting her face a few times to make sure she's not dreaming.

"Maaa!" Valentino snaps her out of her dazed state and starts hoping back to the tree, happy to greet Aster again.

Asha realizes this is really not a dream and runs back to the tree. Her smile is as bright as the moon above them.

Aster just lets his emotions overtake him and flies to her as fast as possible. Giggling with childlike joy as he reaches her.

They hug like they haven't seen each other in years, even though it's been only a few weeks.

"You're back! Did they finally agree on letting you stay here?!" Asha asks the star with her eyes sparkling with joy, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Hheeheh Agree is a strong word, I don't think they even can unanimously agree on something" Aster says, still hugging Asha but gazing at the stars above with a smile. But he turns back to her, looking deeply in her eyes "But I did make a deal with them."

"... A deal? What kind of deal?" Asha is still smiling, not able to stop just for the fact that Aster is back, but her eyes are puzzled and she tilts her head to the side.

"Heh it's a long story...But I think I can summarize it... In the best way I know how." Aster quotes the same phrase he always tells her before he begins to sing a song.

And sure enough, as his forehead is now touching her's, he closes his eyes.

And begins to sing.

And we get the song:

This Wish (Star Reprise)

So I looked to all the stars, just like me And I told them just how bright is your light "Her heart is bigger than any galaxy Her bravery outshines us all in the night"

(Asha blushes as Aster describes what exactly he told all the stars about her, she hugs him tighter and so does he, as he begins to fly with her, as he sings the second verse)

So I made this wish To give you everlasting bliss So I made this wish To give you even more than...

(Aster moves his head to look at her in the eyes as he caresses her face gently, Asha smiles at him expectingly to know what he's gonna say... Aster takes a deep breath)

*breathes in* *breathes out* ... This.

(Aster kisses her.)

(Asha is surprised for a second but quickly embraces the kiss, shutting her eyes as they slowly go round and round on the air. Valentino is jumping excitedly on the ground bellow them. With her eyes closed, Asha doesn't see that Aster and her are being enveloped in magic flowing around them. The music swells with orchestral instruments being played triumphantly. The stars are shinning brighter.

Aster's magic is leaving his body and we see that as they kiss Aster slowly turns from a 2D animated drawing to a 3D model like Asha. But not only that, his clothes also begin to change, as his long flowing cape begins to dissipate into star dust floating around them like a gentle tornado.

Aster and Asha are slowly floating down to the ground, and once they reach it Aster's magic shoots up like a firework (That also happens in beauty and the beast but I couldn't find any gif with that part))

(Asha and Aster separate from the kiss, we are focusing on Asha right now, we don't see Aster while he sings the last verse of his short song)

So I made this wish To stay forever with you like... This

(Asha still has her eyes closed while Aster sings the first line. She opens her eyes during the second line, we see her face of awe and wonder as she sees Aster changed in front of her... We turn to Aster when he says "This")

Aster is now a 3D character, but that's nothing new, we've seen him like that before in his human disguise...

What actually changed was his clothes, because now, Aster is wearing a white shirt similar to the ones worn by any citizen in Rosas, with yellow embroidery on the sleeves.

But by far the most noticeable change is their hair...

It's brown.

And it has some subtle curls forming on some hair strands.

Asha looks in amazement to the change in his appearance. Her hand slides down to his chest and she realizes... He has a heart beat, we hear it pulsating. Asha smiles at him brightly as she says "You're human..."

Aster smiles like he can't actually believe this is happening, he looks to his hands and new clothes with eyes wide and mouth agape.

Aster feels so many sensations he could've never imagined. The cold air getting in his new lungs, the smell of the woods at night, the feeling Asha's hand on his chest in a way that feels completely foreign to him, because now, he can feel her warmth.

"How do you feel?" Asha asks curious to the boy who seems to be a bit overwhelmed with all the new sensations, he takes a moment before he actually manages to speak

"I- I never felt better!" Aster blurts out, thrilled beyond words as he tries to describe to her everything he's feeling right now "I can smell the forest, I can feel the ground under my feet, I can feel the air filling chest... I can feel you." Aster looks at her lovingly, and hugs her closely "You're warm." He sighs almost like he's about to melt into her arms. Their legs shake like he's getting used to standing up.

Asha hugs him back, feeling how the now young human also feels very warm, somehow even warmer to her than he was as a star.

"You too." Asha says, trying to help him stand up while they hug "So this is your birthday gift from the stars, huh? That's quite a gift heh heh" Asha giggles while looking into Aster's brown eyes.

"Yup, although it was NOT easy to convince most of them, let me tell ya ahaha" Aster laughs cheerfully, till he looks up and notices something in the sky, he smiles while looking at it "But they decided that if I managed to give you a true love's kiss... They'd make me human, and use my powers to create something really REALLY special."

Asha raises one eyebrow at that, and turns her head up to look at whatever Aster is staring at...

Her eyes light up and her face is in awe with what she sees.

Up in the sky, there's the brightest, biggest and most beautiful star Asha has ever seen.

Asha and Aster are holding each other closely as they look up to the brand new wishing star in the sky, Asha looks at it in amazement and Aster smiles tenderly.

"It's so beautiful... I bet a lot of people will wish upon them." She says calmly leaning on Aster as she looks up

"Yeah... Wanna make a wish?" Aster asks.

"Hmm... No need." She says turning to Aster and placing a hand on his cheek "I got everything I could wish for, right here."

She kisses him on the lips again.

The music swells as we pan out away from them.

We can see Aster lift Asha up and spin her around in the air while Valentino hops happily around them, and we can hear their laughter as the perspective goes away from them and into the night sky.

We focus now on the night sky, the north star shinning brightly on the corner as we see the stars writing something, like a constellation forming the words:

The End!

End credits roll, with the song When You Wish Upon a Star sang by Sara Bareilles playing.

youtube

(Thank you so much to @frogcoven88 for recommending the song and following this story from the start, you were right, it really fits the end credits)

The credits end, and we get a post credit scene.

It's Asha playing "When you wish upon a star" with Sabino's mandolin, she's playing it perfectly. Aster is sitting next to her. They're both looking up to the North Star.

"You're getting really good at this." Aster compliments softly once she's done playing.

"Thanks!" She says happily, leaning her head on his shoulder, and he leans on her head as they look up to the sky.

The screen fades to black and the last thing we see is the wishing star blinking.

The End.

Final Thoughts

... So... That was something, wasn't it?

Before I gush over how writing this whole story was an unforgettable experience for me and all that emotional stuff, let me list off my thoughts about everything in this chapter.

First, why did I make Aster leave and then come back a few weeks later? Well initially I was just gonna have him and Asha kiss and he turns human cause the stars were like "Fiiiiiiine you two are cute, we're convinced" but then I realized that would mean having their whole kiss and emotional goodbye IN PUBLIC, and I just felt very uncomfy with that idea, so I thought "TIME SKIP!" and so we get them ALONE kissing and confessing their love in the same place where it al began, sweet.

Also I wanted Asha to have a moment with the people of Rosas, having the jester represent all of them, with the gesture of fixing her grandpa's mandolin as an apology, but also as thanks for everything she did to save them. Initially I was gonna have a child give her the mandolin, but I think the jester from the first song returning is a nice touch.

We see how most of Asha's friends, or at least the ones that needed personal growth changed, Bazeema is less shy, Gabo is more caring, and Simon of course isn't sleep deprived, yay!

The Bravo scene broke me ya'll, I have a soft spot for animals, and truly I don't think Bravo was even evil, like, sure he wanted to eat Valentino... What predator wouldn't? He just wanted to please his mama and papa, and now they're gone and he kept waiting for them to come back like one of those dogs waiting for their owners at a train station and WAAAAA- WHY DO I MAKE MYSELF FEEL BAD FOR THE VILLAINS?! Anyway, Bravo went on to live in the forest and he's fine.

Asha was called a princess a lot in this story. Sabino said she was a princess because her dad was a "Prince" and her mother was "A fairy", she was called birthday princess by her friends, the villains wanted to make her a princess so they could control her, Aster said she was pretty like a princess, and finally, the people of Rosas see her as a princess because she saved them. In conclusion, there are many ways to be a princess, but at the end of the day, Asha is just herself.

And I'm sure ya'll are gonna ask me how Aster managed to convince the stars to let him be human, right? Well, like he said

"So I looked to all the stars, just like me And I told them just how bright is your light "Her heart is bigger than any galaxy Her bravery outshines us all in the night""

Which is a fancy way of saying he fangirled about how amazing Asha is to all the stars like

"YALL DONT GET IT! She's deeper than the universe itself! If happiness was a tangible thing, it would be her! I love her so much guys! I need to go back, please! Her eyes shine brighter that all of you combined! People search for a wonder like her all of their lives! Her smile is warmer than the sun! Her laugh is like-"

And the stars are just staring at Aster like "Sir, this is a wendy's" "We've talked about this child, it was decided you're to be in time out remain in your corner of the galaxy for the next 1 million earth cycles, so you may reflect on why you should've listened to us."

But eventually some stars that were already sympathetic to Aster and other ones that weren't before but slowly start to feel bad for him realize even though Aster didn't do what they thought was best... His way of doing things worked, and if it wasn't for his love for Asha they wouldn't have ever won.

So the stars discussed it, and they agreed that they could bend the rules for Aster this time, to do something that was never done before.

I think of it like that scene in The Little Mermaid when Triton turns Ariel human and he's like "Then there's just one problem left... How much we're going to miss him." because like, although they gave Aster a hard time, they really were just his family, his family with more than a billion people but still family.

Soooo Aster got Rapunzeled lmao.

Brown hair Aster my beloved, I've waited so long for this, the plot point of Magnifico saying all wishing stars have blonde hair was just for THIS.

And we get a proper origin story to THE wishing star, aka the portal to Neverland, aka Evangeline, aka The Blue Fairy.

It was kinda what Disney promised us, wasn't it? To tell us where that star came from... Well now you know.

And now... I honestly don't know how to express how grateful I am for everyone who has been following along on this journey, I never thought this would become something so special, I never shared a story before, and seeing the art, the comments, the creativity and inspiration that sprouted out of this makes me feel so happy that I did step out of my comfort zone to put this out there.

The story is over but the journey has just begun, as I still plan on expanding the lore by sharing backstories from the villains and short stories of what happens to the protagonists in the future. Fell free to send your asks to get more ideas flowing out of me hehehe.

And, for the last time... At least in this chapter of the journey...

Thank You So Much For Reading!!!

#love love love #so so good #omg #i just #im never gonna recover #this is what we deserved #we deserved something warm #and the whole reason we started loving Disney is the romance #and for them not to give us that #abomination #but we good now

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