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xandriagreat · 6 months ago

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Wishes to Reality

Chapter 5: the Madness of Magnifico

Prologue | Last chapter | Next chapter

Author’s note: Sorry that it took us this long, my co-writer and I have been really busy. Hold on tight everyone! This is a BIG chapter! Just want everyone to know that the song’s lyrics are going to be bold and italic. Some lyrics are color coded: Magnifico’s singing is green. Also, "This is the thanks that I Get" has been changed a lot, there are some parts that are the same but big changes. It’s light and up beat at first but then gets a bit darker as it goes. Also (again) (a reminder) the orbs are in different colors (unlike in the movie) that represent their ages; purple for the young ones (18-29), green for those middle-aged (30-59), and the iconic blue color for the elderly-age (60+).

Notice/warnings: shouting/yelling, anxiety/fear, CAPs, drinks(water and tea), dark magic, crying

▪▪▪

Everyone, the entire city and town got it around talking about what was going on.

“What's going on?” a few people asked each other.

“What's this meeting all about?” one person asked a group who only shrugged.

The group looked worried about the situation.

“This is getting scary.” Bazeema said, worried.

“Yeah I'm getting a bad feeling about this.” Hal said.

Then Dahlia walked over to them. “Hey.” she said when she got to them.

“Did you get Asha to the study?” Sofi asked in a whisper.

Dahlia nodded.

“And Sam?” Simon asked.

“She’s going to the study too. Star made her invisibility cloak so she doesn’t get caught.” Dahlia whispered

The six friends hummed and nodded.

Then everyone started to quiet down and looked at the stage when Magnifico and Amaya came onto the stage with several security guards in the background.

Magnifico began stepping up front center stage, looking at everyone. “Hello, Rosas.” the mayor said to the crowd in a loud voice.

Everyone finally quieted down as they looked at Magnifico.

“As you all saw from last night, a strange shooting star flew over our city.” Magnifico said into the microphone. “From all that I have heard of people talking about what they felt when the light flew over. A feeling of light, warmth, comfort, and love.”

Everyone nodded and some cheered.

“I know that most of you think that I summoned the light but I didn’t. And that means, it’s a bad sign.” Magnifico added. “There's a trader here, who summoned that light.”

The people were confused and got scared by that while Dahlia, Sofi, Bazeema, Hal, Gabo, Dario, and Simon started to get worried.

“Hope they're ok in there.” Bazeema whispered worriedly.

☆

Samantha was running and huffing up the stairs but not to make any more sounds but was surprisingly comfortable. The shoes that were left actually had extra memory foam probably added in the soles thanks to Star’s unexpected gift to her.

She took a deep breath after all that walking, though she did exercise often, she couldn't help but wonder of the long stairs she had to take well even.

She finally got to the study.

Samantha entered the study/office and looked around as she took the hood off her head, making her visible again.

The little bell by the dumbwaiter elevator rang.

She knew that was her cue.

Samantha quickly went to the dumbwaiter elevator and opened it to see Asha, Valentino, and Star.

“Sam!” Asha exclaimed when the dumbwaiter elevator door opened.

“Asha, you made it!” Samantha exclaimed, helping Asha and Valentino out of the dumbwaiter elevator as Star flew out.

Star accidentally sprinkled the star dust all over the study causing a magnifying glass to use the sunlight on some papers on the desk, making a small fire.

“Oh, no no no no no no!” Asha exclaimed worriedly, looking around to find something to put the fire out.

“What have you done!?” Sam shouted at Star, trying to find a fire extinguisher anywhere.

Asha found a fire extinguisher and started to put out the fire as Sam had to quickly send in a text to Dilha of the emergency.

☆

The smoke was so big that it began coming up from the roof of the study, which was immediately spotted by Dahlia. Then her phone buzzed and she looked at the text from Samantha.

[Dhila!! There's a fire but we got it under control, also Asha got in, You just saw the smoke right? If the mayor is about to get back inside, STALL HIM! You gotta think something quick and fast!]

Dahlia texted a quick thumbs up emoji to say ‘got it’.

As she put her phone away and looked back up, Dahlia noticed that Magnifico and Amaya just turned around and were about to get off stage. Without a second thought, Dahlia took in a deep quick breath and shouted, “Magnifico! Wait!”

It stopped Magnifico and Amaya and turned around again as everyone looked at Dahlia.

Magnifico turned around and walked back to the front center of the stage again. “Yes?” Magnifico asked, looking at Dahlia.

Dahlia chuckled nervously before clearing her throat. “I have a few questions.”

Magnifico signaled a guard to get Dahlia as he said, “Sure thing but make it quick I got to get back inside.”

The guard got Dahlia and got her on to the stage.

“Well…” Dahlia started, thinking of a way to stall. “Umm… hi! You know me as Dahlia, one of the main chefs of your famous cookies-”

“Don’t forget Magic Love!” Dario shouted from the crowd.

Everyone looks at Dario for a moment before looking back at the stage to see a red embarrassed Dahlia.

That was her nickname back in the start of high school years due to her start of her crush on the mayor.

Magnifico looked at her with a deadpan look, like this didn’t faze him too much. “Ok, Dahlia. What are your questions?” he asked, looking back at Dahlia.

The young woman stares at the mayor in panic before taking in a breath to calm down and clear her throat. “You said that you need our help finding the person.” Dahlia started with a smile. “You also said if we had any information on last night but one problem. Is there a way you can say it in a more specific matter, as in what quantifies for the matter? Evidently? How about circumstantial? First hand knowledge? Second hand knowledge?”

“What about hunches?” a voice from the crowd asked.

“Oh! Yes!” Dahlia said to the person before looking at the mayor again. “What about hunches?”

“Ok! Yes!… Any questions would do, please ask away.” Magnifico said, trying to be calm. “Please ask for any information about who commanded the light! That would most definitely be helpful.”

Then another person raised a hand and asked, “You said that the magic was amateur magic but how don’t you know how they did it?”

“Well um…its-” Magnifico started, trying to think of something to answer. He was cut off as the citizens started asking more questions.

“Maybe you could define amateur?” one person said.

“This is all that you know!” Magnifico started, his voice almost becoming loud. But he took in a breath, calming down, and said with a smile, “It’s about your safety and most importantly the safety of your wishes.”

“Why do you mean the wishes are safe if you don't know how it works or how it was done in the first place?” another person asked.

“Do you mean our wishes aren’t safe?” Simon asked out loud, worriedly.

That made everyone gasp worriedly.

“Of course they’re safe!” Dahlia reassured everyone.

The mayor was trying to think of what to answer as more questions were being thrown at him.

☆

Samantha tried to use the fire extinguisher while Asha grabbed a pitcher of water and tossed it onto the fire, putting out the fire.

When the fire was put out, the desk and some papers were ruined by the fire.

Asha panted a bit as she looked at the small fire mess. “I hope those weren’t important.” she said.

“Yeah. Anyway I got to fix up this mess to where it was before you mess it up.” Samantha said, glaring at Star, who was now hiding behind Asha.

Samantha began trying to grab the papers and put them in the drawer and put things back in place while Asha, Star, and Valentino went to the black mirror doors.

“Ok, these are doors. We need to open the doors.” Asha said to Star, looking at the doors. “I do remember that he waved his hand to open the door but to be honest I don't know how he gets the door to open.”

Star nodded and moved a star hand, like what Magnifico did when he first showed her the wishes.

The black mirror doors opened.

“Oh wow!” Asha exclaimed as the doors opened. She looked at Star as the three went into the lab.

“How did you know how to do that?” she asked Star, who just turned around to close the doors as some of the wishes lowered down to them.

Star didn’t give an answer as it just closed the mirror doors.

There was an angry look on Star’s face as it turned around. But then the angry look turned into a wonder look when seeing the wishes and flew up to the wishes.

The wishes looked the same and were about the same amount since last time Asha saw them.

However, with the color coded ones it might have been easier to find, but what a lot of wishes that were made over the years. It could be harder to find the right ones.

“Alright, Star.” Asha said, getting Star’s attention. Star flew back to her as she continued, “We need to find my mom and Saba’s wishes. We just need to find the right colors first.”

Star nodded and then flew to three orbs, one purple, one green, and one blue.

Star touched each one, showing each wish.

The purple wish showed a young man on a rocket, reaching to the stars.

The green wish showed a woman dancing ballet so beautifully that it looks like magic with color all over.

The blue wish showed an elderly man being some sort of muscular guy.

Star giggled when seeing the blue wish and imitated the man, shapeshifting some muscles on it’s small star body. That made Star giggle more and went back to normal star form as it stopped imitating.

“Okay, Star. Come here.” Asha chuckled and waved to get Star’s attention.

Star looked at her and flew back down to her as the young woman got her sketchbook out. “Alright. We need to find the green and blue wish orbs that have my mom and Saba’s wishes.” Asha said to Star, showing the drawing page of Sakina and Saba Sabino.

The little star nodded and flew up to the other wishes that were high up while Asha looked at the other wishes that floated near her.

☆

The questions that the people were asking started to push it for Magnifico.

“How do we know our wishes are safe?” one male asked.

“Why can't we see our wishes?” a female asked.

“Yeah, why can’t we see our wishes? Why is that a rule?” another male asked.

“And why can't we remember them?” another female asked.

“One question at a time.” Dahlia said to the crowd. She noticed that Magnifico was getting mad.

“Since we are asking, what if we want to change our wishes? I mean wishes can change as we get older. Right?” a voice from the crowd said.

“Yeah!” a few voices agreed.

Eventually it reached almost a breaking point for Magnifico as more and more

A person called out, “Remember that you granted 14 wishes last year! What was that all about?”

“Because two of the people didn’t react well without them.” Magnifico answered as if it would just summarize it while trying to be calm.

“A lot of us aren't doing well without our wishes!” another person shouted.

“Yeah!” A few people in the crowd shouted, including Simon.

Magnifico’s breathing became heavy and quick as he tried to calm himself down. Amaya and Dahlia noticed the heavy and quick breathing.

“You know what? There should be a reward!” a man shouted.

“Maybe we can do another wish ceremony!” a woman shouted.

That got a big agreement and cheers from everyone in the crowd.

Soon, the crowd started to chat “Wish! Wish! Wish! Wish! WISH-!”

The questions from the citizens started to get too much for Magnifico.

“SILENCE!” Magnifico shouted, putting his hands up and his eyes started to glow green.

This made the questions stop.

The crowd stares at the mayor in shock and in fear.

After taking a few breathings, Magnifico’s eyes went back to normal as he started to calm down and straightened himself up a bit.

“Is that all?” Magnifico asked the crowd, slicking back his hair as he looked at everyone. “You all want a wish ceremony? Hm?”

Everyone was still but slowly started to nod.

Magnifico hummed and nodded, still taking in a few breaths. “Alright, fine.” Magnifico said loud and clear. “Who EVER finds the traitor or traitors, will have their wish granted.”

The crowd started to cheer but was cut off when Magnifico raised his hand to quiet them.

“BUT, whoever is found working with the traitor or traitors, whether by lying or hiding them,” Magnifico added with a growl, pointing at the crowd as if to give a warning, “then your wish will NEVER be granted!”

That made everyone in the crowd gasp.

Magnifico looked at everyone in the crowd before saying, “This meeting is now over!”

The mayor turned around to leave as Dahlia started to shout, “But, Magnif-!”

Magnifico quickly turned around and gave an ice cold glare at the young woman.

If glares could kill, Dahlia would be dead on the spot as soon after Magnifico turned around to look at her.

“No more questions.” he growled in a low voice, his eyes started to glow green again for a moment before going back to normal.

Then Magnifico went off stage with Amaya running after him.

☆

Dahlia was shaken up by what just happened as one of the guards helped her get off stage.

She had never seen the mayor this angry, not to mention his eyes turning green.

The six friends rush to her to see if she’s ok as the guard helped her get on the main ground.

“Dahlia, you ok?” Sofi asked worriedly.

Dahlia could just stare at her friends as the guard who helped her off the stage went to the other guards and went to their shift spots.

“I… I don’t know…” Dahlia finally said, looking at the friends. “Shocked? I guess?”

The six friends look at her, worriedly.

“Let’s get you some water.” Beezma said softly.

Dahlia nodded slowly.

The seven friends slowly went to the kitchen.

Dahlia got her phone out as they went.

Dahlia quickly texted Samantha: [He's coming! Did you guys get the wish yet? If not, abort the mission and hurry out of here! ASAP! We'll meet at the kitchen as fast as we can]

Samantha immediately texted back: [What?! Don't worry, We are at the study. The only problem is that we are still finding it. Also, Star closed the door on me, so I don’t know if they found it or not yet. I’ll let Asha know.]

Dahlia stares at the text before putting her phone away while she continues to walk with her friends.

The seven friends got to the kitchen after a few minutes.

Dahlia sat down on one of the chairs near one of the kitchen tables. She was still shaken up from what happened on the stage.

“Want ice with water or just water?” Hal asked, looking at her as she went to get a cup of water.

Dahlia nodded a yes as she checked her phone to check for a response.

Samantha texted: [Just told Asha what you told me.]

Dahlia stares at the text before giving a thumbs up emoji to say ‘got it’.

She put her phone away as Hal walked over with the cup of water with ice cubes while holding a coaster. “Here you go.” Hal said, placing the coaster on the table before putting the cup on top of it.

“Thank you…” Dahlia said softly, picking up the cup and starting to drink.

Dahlia starts to calm down as she drinks the water. She put the cup on the coaster when she was done drinking it.

She looked at Sofi, Bazeema, Hal, Gabo, and Dario, who looked worried at her.

“Feeling better?” Sofi asked.

Dahlia nodded. “Yes… Thank you… ”

The five friends nodded, starting to smile softly.

Dahlia sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I feel like an idiot for liking him when younger…”

“You were 14 at the time. So, sometimes teens can have strange crushes. A lot of people wouldn’t blame you for having a crush on him.” Dario said, shrugging. “Also, you didn’t know that the mayor could do, well, that. No one did.”

Dahlia looked at him and laughed softly for a moment, starting to feel better. Then she looked at Simon, which got the others to look at the big man.

Simon looked distracted and worried.

The rest look at each other before looking at Simon again.

“Simon, are you okay?” Bazeema asked worriedly. “This isn't about the whole…. questioning thing.”

Simon looked at the six friends, worried in his eyes. “You all heard what he said, right?” he said, his voice filled with worry, before quoting, “‘Your wish will NEVER be granted if you help the traitor’… ”

“Look, we can't betray Asha.” Dahlia said, trying to sound reasonable to him. “She's our friend.”

“Also, Star is friendly and cute.” Dario said “And with what Asha told us earlier, Star grants wishes, big and small.”

“Yeah. I’m starting to see that Star is better than Magnifico after what just happened.” Gabo said, nodding as he crossed his arms across his chest.

The others nodded in agreement while Simon just stares at them.

“N…No… You don’t understand.” Simon said, shaking his head.

That got the six friends’ attention as Simon tried to be calm while explaining, “Ever since I gave my wish, I… I didn't feel like myself… like you mentioned, Gabo… But… I thought this whole time that Sam was going though what I was feeling… the emptiness… But, as it turns out, she found a way by making something and was able to KEEP her wish while giving a fake one! Without telling me!”

“Look, I’m sure that Sam was planning to tell you the truth when the time was right… but… with all what’s going right now, it was not good timing…” Dahlia said, started to get hesitant at the end when she realized what she’s saying to Simon.

Simon looked at his friends in disbelief before looking at himself. “I just want to be whole again… I want to feel real, again… I want to be me again…” Simon said, looking at his hands.

Dario starts to walk to him to comfort him. “We know that. But you need to wait-” he started but was cut off by Simon angrily saying “I’ve been waiting! I am tired of waiting! I am tired of being tired all the time! I am tired of being a husk of myself!”

That made Dario to back away from Simon and run back to the group, hiding behind them.

The group looked at Dario before looking at Simon, who was walking to them now.

Hal, Sofi, Bazeema, and Gabo start to get scared and start to hide with Dario by just hiding behind Dahlia.

Dahlia took in a breath to be calm and try to commutate with Simon.

“We understand, Simon, But-” Dahlia started but was cut off as Simon quickly swiped his arm, knocking the cup off the table and hitting the floor, shattering it into hundreds of glass shards.

“NO! YOU ALL DON’T GET IT!” Simon shouted at the six friends, pointing at them. “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO NOT HAVE A WISH!”

The six friends stare at Simon in fear.

Simon looked like a tired angry monster in human form.

“S-Simon…” Dahlia stuttered, still trying to communicate with him as she raised her hands to calm him down.

“WHAT?!” Simon shouted at her.

“You need to calm down.” Dahlia said in a loud voice.

That got Simon back to reality as he looked down at them, realizing that he’s scaring them.

“I… Sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Simon said, backing away from them.

The six friends stared at Simon as the big young man looked down and took in some deep breaths to calm down.

When Simon calmed down, looked at the six again. “You all don’t know what it's like… to be me… what it feels like… without my wish, I’m just… empty…” he said, his voice almost cracking as he was close to crying. Then Simon cleared his throat. “Now, I’m going to find a place to nap…”

“Simon…” Hal tried to reach out but Simon walked to the door.

“Just... Don’t…” the big man said to them as he closed the door.

After Simon left, Dahlia, Sofi, Bazeema, Hal, Gabo, and Dario looked at each other as they felt a mix of concern and worry for what’s going to happen.

They started to clean up the mess that was made.

☆

Magnifico growled as he slammed the doors open to one of the staircases while Amaya followed after him.

The windows in this stairwell were made black glass, almost like mirrors while looking out.

“How brazenly they question me!” he growled angrily, looking at his wife for a moment before starting to go up the stairs.

“They only question you because you make them feel safe enough to do so.” Amaya started to say, trying to calm down her husband as she continued to follow him.

Magnifico stopped and looked angrily at Amaya, which made the assistant mayor stop in her tracks.

“I’ll be with the wishes.” Magnifico growled at her. Then he started to go up the stairs again as he continued, “Distrib me with nothing but good news.”

Amaya stares at him for a moment before she goes down the steps and leaves to do some work, closing the doors as she did so.

Magnifico started to go up the stairs again as looked at his reflection in the black glass windows, growling for a moment before singing, “I can't help it… But I see the way… It’s so pathetic! You don’t know what I’ve been through!”

Magnifico looked at the stairwell ceiling, which was covered in star consultations, as he went up to the next floor and went into the conference room.

“Hear my name, I'm magnificent! I put the "I" in ‘omnipotent’!” Magnifico continued as he entered the conference room.

“I'm passionate but I'm not petulant!”

He was playing around posing in each of the clear vases like there were circus mirrors before going to the diorama of the city, breaking one of the vases and making it disappear with his magic in the process.

“Someone praise me for my benevolence!”

Then he stopped messing around and chuckled awkwardly. “Uh… just look, ha-ha…” he said, using some of his magic to show the good that he’s done as he summoned little magic wooden dolls to the diorama.

“I’ve created the perfect life, that you ever need.”

Magnifico points at one of the many different food stores and bakeries of the diorama before pointing at homes of the city, to give his point to the magic dolls.

The first part of the town gives it an almost glamor version causing the town to be in awe while one of the magic dolls tries to see the outside only for it to cast as black mist all over the wall as if it was a dark place on the outskirts of Rosas.

That made the doll run back to the others, to safety.

“I'd be the first one to protect what I’ve built! If our home starts to crumble or be in trouble.”

Magnifico noticed the shadow that was on the outskirts of diorama Rosas after seeing the magic doll run back to the group.

Magnifico starts to use his magic to attack the mist, making it distaper.

The small magic dolls cheered when the ‘threat’ was defeated.

Magnifico looked at the dolls as he pushed some hair back out of his face, smiling a bit at them.

“I let you live here for free, your wish is the payment."

Magnifico started to frown as he looked at the magic dolls before he looked at the spin plate that held up the diorama.

Then the mayor spun the spin plate, which threw all of the magic dolls to the ground. The magic dolls screamed as they flew in the air before hitting the floor, distapering when making impact on the ground as if they were never there.

Magnifico left the conference room and went down a hall to get to the next staircase to get to his study.

The hall was lined up with sets of armor, all standing attention.

Magnifico started to get bored and looked at the armors before starting to use his magic on them.

The armors got off their stands and had their hands out to him, as if begging him or wanting something from him.

“I’ve cleaned up all your messes and I’ve helped you with all that I can!”

The mayor smiled and started giving the armors the cookies that Dahlia gave to him earlier.

“I’ve given you all what you needed! I thought you would be content…”

Magnifico was about to leave the hall, one of the armors caught him by the leg which stopped him from leaving. The mayor looked at the armor before looking at the rest of the armors that were about to follow, as if begging him for more.

“And all I really want is just a little respect…”

Then he sighed before kicking the armor’s helmet to force it to let him go, which knocked the other armors down as he growled, “And this is the thanks I get?”

Magnifico backed away from the mess that he made before he started to run to the next staircase.

“This is the thanks I get? And this is the thanks I get? And this is the thanks I get?”

He continued to dance and run up the stairs around and tell, until he made it to the study.

Samantha was outside now of the study, being on guard. She just finished cleaning up the mess a bit ago.

Samantha spotted the mayor in shock. She tried to text Asha as fast as she could before he could even come but she knew it's going to be risky for him to find out.

So she rushed down the hall and quickly texted Asha: [He’s coming! I will meet you back in the kitchen. You have to hurry if you don’t want to get caught!]

Asha heard her phone buzzing and pulled it out to see that it was Samantha’s message.

She quickly read the text and messaged: [Got it! We’ll meet you in the kitchen.]

Star tapped and looked at the different wishes, trying to find either Sabino or Sakina’s wishes.

Then it tapped on one wish and found Sabino’s wish!

Star pointed at it excitedly and grabbed it.

Asha gasped happily when seeing that her Saba’s wish was found. She motions Star to come back down with the wish.

Star quickly flew down with the wish and gave it to her.

Asha smiles when holding the wish again.

All the wishes in the air went up to the ceiling as if they knew danger was close and was coming in soon.

The young woman noticed and quickly put the wish in her backpack. “Hide. We need to hide.” she whispered to her goat and Star.

Asha, Valentino, and Star quickly hid behind the science table. Then the three jumped as they heard Magnifico slammed the study door open.

The mayor growled as he started to go to the lab mirror doors. He was about to raise his hand to open but one of his reflections in the black mirror started to say, "You're so brilliant."

It was like the mayor was trying to help himself up with his reflections.

It was starting to work.

Magnifico couldn’t help but chuckle and smile as he looked at his other reflections of the black mirrors.

“Ah, that's the least you could say.” Magnifico said to reflections in the black mirror. “There's more, admit it.”

And then the different black mirror reflections began to respond with; "You're cute”, “and strong”, “and bold”, “and brave!"

Even if it was by magic, Magnifico starts to feel better by the words. “Thanks!” he said to his different reflections before raising his hand.

Magnifico flick his wrist and open the mirror doors, going into the lab.

“See this city? I built it up! And you still complain? You petty much?!”

Magnifico glared at the wishes as if he was actually talking to the people with what’s really on his mind.

“Well, you shouldn’t complain but yet you are? I'd love to see you try and do my job!”

Magnifico uses his magic to pull the wishes that were still floating in the air down, forcing them to be near him.

“Oh-ho!”

Magnifico forced all the wishes to begin circling around him as he looked at them, like they might show the answer who the trader is.

“Remember, I’ve kept you safe for however long you've been here! And now you're questioning your mayor? The disrespect I just underwent! You know I always got your back!”

Then Magnifico grabbed two wishes from the circle, a purple orb and green turning blue orb.

The green turning blue orb look was someone who came OUTSIDE of Rosas and the purple was someone who was born IN Rosas.

Both wish owners looked at Magnifico in fear as the mayor said to them, “Yeah, I’ve done a lot for you all! Ever since the day you arrived and the day of your first breath.”

Then the mayor forces the wishes to go around him fast as he tosses the two wishes back into the flow of the circle, growling, “And this is the thanks I get?”

Asha saw this happening with big eyes. She knew it was time to get out of there.

The young woman begins trying to crawl out of the lab to get to the dumbwaiter with Valentino and Star, staying out of the mayor’s sight.

Magnifico continues to force the wishes to spin fast around him as he grabs a couple of wishes, looks at them for a moment, before throwing them back in the circle of spinning wishes.

“This is the thanks I get? And this is the thanks I get? And this is the thanks I get?”

Then Magnifico looked at the glass case that held the forbidden book, like he was in a trance. He raised his hand to stop the circling orbs and sent them back up to the ceiling as he walked to the case.

Asha noticed the mayor’s shadow walking out of the lab. She and Valentino start to hide under the Mayor’s desk but then she noticed that Star was not hiding with them. She quickly looks around to find Star grabbing something.

Asha quickly grabs the star (and the thing Star grabbed) and goes back to the hiding spot just in time before the mayor sees them.

Magnifico flick his wrist, closing the black mirrors as he got the book out of the case and took it to his desk.

“I didn't wanna do this… I swore I'd never do this! But I'm hypnotized by how these pages flip 'cause I refuse to have my power stripped!”

The mayor opened the book and let his magic flip through the pages before stopping on one page.

“A potion, a spell, a summon, a curse?” Magnifico asked out loud, looking at his hands that were now glowing. Then he raised his hands up as a swarm of green magic appeared as an infinitely sign as Magnifico shouted with a growl, “Anything to make that light reverse! To this book, I don't wanna be tethered, but desperate times call for desperate measures!”

Then Magnifico put his hands down, making the magic fade away as he shook for a moment like he was cold before saying, “Where was I? Oh, yeah…”

Magnifico summoned the same magic wooden dolls on the desk.

The wooden dolls looked confused as they looked at the mayor, who was looking down at them.

“There’s a traitor in this town but yet I still remain unbent…” Magnifico growled, slapping the dolls off the desk which made them disappear like they were never there. “Come on now… I promise I won’t be mad! I'm sure it's all just an accident!”

Asha (still holding Star and the thing it grabbed close) and Valentino stayed quiet as they hid under the desk.

The mayor went and opened his balcony door and looked down at the citizens, who were talking and spreading rumors about who could be the mysterious person who made a wish.

“Well, whoever finds them first, now that's a wish well spent.” the mayor said to himself. Then Magnifico went back inside and closed the doors as he added, “Honestly, keeping you safe should be worth every cent.”

Then Magnifico summoned more magic dolls on the floor and started to attack them.

“And this is the thanks I get? This is the thanks I get?!”

The young woman saw that now was the chance to get out of there. Asha, while still holding both Star and what it held close, and Valentino went to the dumbwaiter. But before she closed the door, she watched, with Valentino and Star, the whole madness of Magnifico in fear.

“And this is the thanks I get? This is the thanks I get?” Magnifico growled as he continued to attack the magic dolls, like if he were an angry god. Then Magnifico growls and stomps on the last magic doll as he shouts, “OH THIS IS THE THANKS I GET?!”

Magnifico panted heavily along with close up his reflections on the black mirrors while ‘I get?!’ echoed in the room for a while.

Asha and Valentino look at the mayor in fear while Star glared at Magnifico as Asha quietly closed the door of the dumbwaiter.

Asha and Valentino sigh in relief as the dumbwaiter lowered down to the kitchen.

As they went down, the young woman had the same thought that just ran inside her head. ‘WHAT is he?’ Asha thought worriedly as she held Star and Valentino close to her, along holding her bag close.

Magnifico panted as he calmed down and looked at the book, a dark smile on his face while his eyes glowed green.

“Come on now. Let’s go.” he said to the book, pushing his hair back with his free hand as his eyes went back to normal. With the flick of his wrist, a hole in the center of the floor of the study opened up. In the hole was a spiral staircase that went down.

Magnifico went down the hidden staircase.

With a flick of his wrist, torches were lit to see as the mayor went down.

At the bottom of the spiral staircase was another lab but it was darker and made of stone, very different from the one that held the wishes.

Magnifico went to the desk and placed the book on a book holder.

“I will not stop with what I started.” the mayor said to himself with a growl.

Then he looked at the painting of the couple and a little boy hanging on the wall.

It was the portrait of him, his wife, and a child who was scribbled around the face with a black and red markers against the glass as if the child was not important and should be forgotten.

“Let’s get to work.” Magnifico said to the book as he got some of the science instruments on and working by his magic.

☆

Dahlia, Sofi, Bazeema, Hal, Gabo, and Dario were still in the kitchen, working nervously and hoping that everything was ok.

Asha got the dumbwaiter elevator back to the kitchen and she knocked on the door to get everyone’s attention.

Dahlia quickly went to it and opened the door so the three could get out as Samantha came into the kitchen.

“Asha!” the seven exclaimed, happy to see her safe.

Samantha, Sofi, Bazeema, Hal, Gabo, and Dario rushed to her as Dahlia helped Asha and Valentino out of the dumbwaiter while Star (who was still holding the thing) flew out of the small elevator.

“Asha! Oh thank God! It was a close call. Come on, did you get the wish?” Samantha asked as the three got out.

“Yes.” Asha said, getting the wish out of the backpack and showing them the wish orb.

All eight of the teens looked at the wish orb in wonder as if they were kids again.

“Whoa… your grandfather’s wish… it looks amazing.” Samantha said while looking at the orb.

Asha nodded and put the wish back in her bag.

“So… was everything ok when getting it?” Dahlia asked worriedly.

“Yeah…” Asha said worriedly. “We got the wish but we saw Magnifico acting… weird? Very weird.”

“What do you mean by that?” Hal asked, confused.

“Well… he acted… unhuman.” Asha said, rubbing her hands together as she tried to process what she saw in the study.

“Unhuman?” Bazeema asked after a while of being quiet, startling everyone.

Asha looked at Valentino and Star before looking at the others again. “As we got in the dumbwaiter and was about to get out of there, he summed up these little dolls and he acted like… like an angry god to them as he destroyed them bit by bit.” Asha explained, a scared look on her face.

The teens started to get worry on their faces.

“What else did he do?” Hal asked, sounding worried.

“He shouted… “this is the thanks I get?!” as he stomped the last doll, destroying it while the glass mirror door just showed a close up of his crazed state.” Asha added. “Also, he was holding the forbidden book… maybe that’s what’s making him go crazy?”

“Now that you mentioned, I did hear a bit of singing and doing some magic while I was keeping guard as you were getting the wish.” Samantha said, looking at Asha.

Asha nodded.

“I have a theory!” Dario said with full confidence. “Magnifico is an alien!”

The seven friends look at Dario in confusion.

“Really? Aliens, Dario?” Gabo asked flatly, “Seriously? All you can think of out of all things is that?”

Dario looked at him and shrugged.

Before anyone could say anything more, Samantha looked around and asked, “Hey, where’s Simon?”

“He isn't here.” Gabo answered, looking at Samantha.

“Well, he was but…” Sofi started, sounding scared. “He…”

“What happened?” Asha asked, looking at the six. “Is it from the whole ‘Sam keeping her wish a secret’ thing?”

The six friends were worried and scared. Then they slowly nodded.

“Along with what happened at the meeting.” Hal said, nervously.

Asha looked at them worriedly while Samantha felt guilty for what she had done months ago.

“Look, I didn't even mean To be selfish but I didn't even want My brother to feel sad or in fear if the mayor found out that I didn't give up my wish… I should go find my brother and-” Samantha started but was interrupted by the six friends shouting in fear, “NO!”

Samantha and Asha jumped and looked at them.

“You should have seen him! He was a monster!” Gabo exclaimed worrily, grabbing Samantha’s cloak.

“He broke one of the cups!” Hal said, pointing at the trash that held the broken shards of glass. “He’s not the same…”

“A monster that I didn't know…” Samantha mumbled under her breath. “But he’s still my brother…”

The friends heard what she said and just stared at Samantha.

The guard felt eyes on her and looked at them, taking in a breath.

“Ok… but for now we just have to keep ourselves together and act natural. We have a star here and a wish. We can't risk getting anyone in danger.” Samantha said, looking at everyone.

Everyone began to agree, nodding.

Then everyone looks at Star.

Star was still holding the thing, holding it close as if it was important to it.

“What is that?” Gabo asked, tilting his head to the side.

“I’m not sure. Star could come down and show us, please?” Asha asked Star.

Star looked at everyone and flew down to them, showing them what it grabbed from the study.

It was a music box.

“Oh! It’s a music box.” Asha said, smiling softly.

Star nodded and put it on the table, so everyone could look at it better.

The music box was somewhat like before, it was a small music box that could fit in a hand palm of a grown up and the wood is painted like the night sky.

“Oh! It’s pretty!” Bazeema said.

“It does!” Valentino said, hopping onto one of the chairs so he could see it better.

Star held up two of it’s star hands as if to say ‘hold on’ before opening the lid of the music box.

When it was opened, it revealed a family on a sunlight platform. The man figure was holding the woman figure, who was holding a baby wrapped in a light blue blanket. Along with two other children, around 2 and 4 years old, cuddles around the parents. They all had a warm smile.

Star turns the key of the box and the familiar lullaby tone; ‘At All Cost’. The figures started to spin and turn around as the music played.

Star smiles and starts spinning around happily in the air.

The gang smiled as they looked at Star. Then they all jumped when hearing someone walking nearby.

Asha gasped and she quickly closed the lid of the music box (making it stop) and grabbed Star. Then she put both Star and the music box in her bag just as the door to the kitchen opened.

The person that walked into the kitchen was Amaya.

“Amaya!” the gang exclaimed, bowing to her.

Amaya raised her hand, shaking her head and said, “No need to do that.”

The eight friends stopped bowing to her and stood up right.

“What's going on, madam?” Sam asked, trying to act professionally as possible

Amaya looked at the guard and said, “Samantha, Magnifico wants to talk with you.”

The friends start to get worried by that as Samantha raises an eyebrow. “What? Why?”

“I do not know.” Amaya said, shaking her head. “All that I know is that he wants to talk to you about something.”

Samantha hummed and nodded slowly. “Okay… I guess he’ll want tea as we talk?”

“That’s fine as long as you meet him within the hour.” Amaya said to her.

“Got it.”

The assistant mayor hummed and then looked at Dahlia. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“I’m doing better.” Dahlia reassured, nodding.

Amaya nodded. “Ok. I hope you all have a great evening.”

Then the assistant mayor turned around and left the kitchen.

Soon after Amaya left, all of the eight friends sighed.

“Ok. We gotta get you three out of here.” Dahlia said to Asha, looking at her along with the goat and star (who just got out of the bag).

Star flew to Samantha and tapped her cloak, turning it back to her original coat.

Asha nodded. ‘Maybe it's time to explain the whole thing to Mom and Saba Sabo.’ she thought as she started to leave with Star and Valentino as their friends helped them out.

☆

After Asha, Valentino, and Star left, the seven friends were finishing their work in the kitchen.

Samantha was working on the tea that she was planning on bringing to the mayor. She just made the tea and looked at what she should do.

She noticed the bottle of sleeping medicine in the cabinet.

‘I should take this, just in case.’ she thought as she got the sleeping medic off the shelf.

She began getting to work on the tea and mixing the medicine in it. Samantha noticed that there was a smell that gave away that there’s medicine. So, to hide it, she thought of covering up with some mint leaves.

‘That should do.’ she thought as she put the tea cups on the tray.

Then she picked up the tray and went to the study.

As she left, the six friends watched her leave the kitchen, worried on their faces.

Samantha felt her heart beat fast in her chest as she went up the stairs to the study.

She looked at the study door before knocking and opening the door. Samantha looks around carefully as she walks in the study with the tray tea in her hands finding where Magnifico could be.

“Hello?” Samantha called out.

“Ah! Samantha!” Magnifico exclaimed, standing in front of the black mirror doors. “I’m glad that you could come to my request on short notice.”

“Hey… I thought I'd come here. Unannounced to give you some tea. I know you like it very warm.”

Magnifico walked over to her and looked at it with a smile. “Oh! Thank you very much.” he said, looking at Samantha.

“I did at a surprise for you in the tea, it's a secret.” She added, placing the tea on a table. “Just some mint leaves and something new sweetener.”

Magnifico nodded with a hum. “Do you want some tea? Since you got two cups.”

Samantha looks at the mayor unsurely, trying to stay calm. “Um… You requested that I have a cup of tea with you…”

“Oh, right! Thank you for the reminder.” Magnifico said, rubbing his forehead.

It was lucky she had her tea separated with her own. She did prefer some hot chocolate or even water or even some apple juice. But if she had to go for tea she had to pick only the apple ones.

Samantha got one of the cups off the tray and handed Magnifico the tea with the sleepy medicine. Magnifico nodded and took the cup from her.

Samantha smiled as she got her cup.

“Now then. Cheers.” Magnifico said, lifting his cup to cheer.

Samantha does the same back to Magnifico.

Magnifico started to drink his tea while Samantha drank hers.

“Hm!” Magnifico exclaimed in pain, putting his teacup down on the table while putting a hand over his mouth to not do a spit take.

“What’s wrong?” Samantha asked, worried as she lowered her tea.

Magnifico swallowed and looked at the young woman with a reassuring smile. “It’s ok. The tea is a bit too hot for my taste. Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Magnifico said, reassuring her. “I can do a spell to cool it down”

That confused Samantha but she shrugged it off.

Then Magnifico put a hand over the cup and started to chant something in magic, his hand glowing teal as the spell was put upon it.

He put his hand to the side when he was done doing the spell. He picked the cup again and sipped it again. The mayor hummed in approval and happiness as he drank his tea.

Samantha starts to drink her tea again, eyeing the mayor as she did so.

When both of them were done drinking the tea, Magnifico looked fine and normal as he placed his cup down.

Samantha was confused by that. She checked if there was some tea left in the cup.

There were some left.

When he wasn't looking, she quickly took a sip of the tea and put it down.

‘Perhaps it didn't Go into effect yet. Maybe in an hour or so.’ She thought. ‘Or if he's tired…’

Samantha yawned as Magnifico asked, “Samantha, what do you know about the stars?”

Samantha looked at Magnifico, who was looking at her.

“Um… to science; stars are balls of hot gas. To explorers; the stars are the way home. To everyone; the stars are one of the many ways of wishing.” Samantha said, remembering what she knows.

Magnifico nodded as he listened to her. “You are right but you’re missing another thing.” he said, looking at the nearby window, which shows the sun setting and stars starting to appear in the sky.

“What do you mean?” Samantha asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Do you know about the story called ‘The Fallen Star’?” Magnifico asked, still looking at the dusk becoming night.

Samantha shook her head. “No… maybe… well I think Dario only told me a bit of it a while back and I completely scoffed at it, knowing it was just another theory or even a made-up story that he made.”

Magnifico chuckled and looked at her. “Well… it’s a real story. Let me tell you the story.”

Samantha looks at Magnifico as the mayor clears his throat.

“Once a long time ago, since the beginning…” Magnifico started, walking near the balcony windows and looking at the stars that were coming out as the sun set. “The stars were formed. They were like people with magic and immortality. The star kingdom helped with wishes from the humans, granting the good ones while giving warnings to the people who wished bad wishes, mostly by dreams or nightmares to speak.”

Samantha got intrigued and listened to the mayor.

“And within the many stars, there were two star brothers. The oldest shines brighter than the younger but yet they were treated fairly…” Magnifico said, stilling looking at the stars. “However, the youngest knew he felt like it could be so much more and the power of it… He felt like he could shine and be brighter than all of them.”

Magnifico stared at the brightest star of the night before looking away and walking away from the window.

“When they got older, the oldest brother was wished upon by a scientist, who was part of a very bad war. The scientist wished for help and the oldest brother went down to help with what he could. The youngest went down after him because he wanted to see what was going on.” the mayor continued, lost in thought as he continued the story. “The older brother did get mad at his little brother for following him but they had a job to do. Both of the brothers were disguised as morals during the time. The older brother helped the scientist with what he could do with his magic and powers while the youngest brother could only watch what was happening… the war was awful… there was so much lost… ”

Then Magnifico sighed and shook his head as if to get rid of the scene of the war out of his head before continuing, “Then after a few weeks, it was time for the brothers to go back to the stars. Since starborns could only stay on the moral plane for an amount of time before they became moral and would lose their magic and powers. This was around the time when the oldest found out that he was in love with the scientist. It turns out that the scientist fell in love with the oldest brother too. But they both knew that the oldest had a job to do. They also knew that they would see each other again, one day… The youngest noticed that humans still needed help as the brothers left. When they got home, he suggested to his parents that they help by going down and using all their magic to help… but the parents refused. They said it was dangerous for a star to be on earth for a long time, a star would lose its powers if it stayed there too long and it would be bad for everyone to fix just everything… He didn't listen, knowing no one was going to help him and he took matters into his own hands so that night desperate to prove them wrong.” Magnifico added, looking at the photo of the town. “He practices all types of magic, including dark magic, which is forbidden in the star kingdom, and even disguises himself as a moral when he was on the earth so he could practice as soon as he begins growing stronger magic… It didn't take long for the family and other stars to find the danger inside the youngest, especially the darkness in his eyes and power hunger. ‘Oh what he has become.’ some stars would say. Some of the stars feared the youngest while some tried to get him help.”

“What did the youngest brother star do or what did the family do?” Samantha asked, getting more hooked into the story and wanting to know more.

“The youngest didn’t want to give up on humans or his power. He didn’t want help from anyone.” Magnifico said, looking at Samantha before looking down as if remembering a memory. “So, the brother chose to run away before the family could do anything. On the night of his run away, he took the most prized possession, the family’s spell book. The oldest saw his brother run away, along with his newly wed wife, which was the soul of the scientist that the oldest loved who just became a star. The couple alerted the guards and sounded the alarm bells to the whole kingdom when seeing the youngest ran away. The youngest was able to run away down to earth and hide before any of the stars could stop him.”

“What happened to the youngest star?” Samantha asked, worried.

“He… he was able to get some humans to safety and build a kingdom of his very own.” Magnifico said, still looking down.

“And?”

“The humans live in no fear and are always happy in the kingdom the star made…” Magnifico said, looking at Samantha this time. “The star is still alive to this day.”

Samantha hummed and nodded but then got confused. “Wait… there’s a problem with the story.” she said.

“And what makes you say that?” Magnifico asked, tilting his head to the side.

“The parents said that a star would lose its power if it stayed here too long. The youngest would have either disappeared or, maybe, became human, which is mortal.” Samantha explained.

Magnifico stares at her for a moment, his eyes unblinking, like a predator having its prey in its sight.

Samantha got nervous by the staring. “Unless, the star did something?” Samantha guessed.

Magnifico gave a smirk and nodded. “Yes. He did.” he said, starting to walk to her. “The youngest would have the wishes of the people who lived in the kingdom. That kept him alive. He would destroy the bad and dangerous wishes and he would feed off of them while keeping the somewhat dangerous and good ones safe… He did it for the safety of the kingdom he made… the safety of Rosas.”

Samantha’s eyes widened in fear, She began connecting the dots. “Wait… You… you’re the…”

“Star. I’m the Fallen Star.” Magnifico said, smiling at her as his eyes glowed green for a moment.

Samantha began to back away in fear, trying to find something to defend herself, now realizing his true colors. But she felt nearly weak and collapsed to the floor as Magnifico walked over to her.

Samantha tries crawling to the door, feeling more tired.

She tried to stand up, trying to get out of here but he caught her and dragged her away from the door and onto the couch.

“What did you do to me?” Samantha asked, looking at Magnifico in fear.

“Oh, I put a spell on the drink after I sipped it and had that little ‘reaction’.” Magnifico explained, looking down at her. “The spell I put on it doesn't affect me but does have effect on you. You see, after you drink it, the spell will make you feel vulnerable, truthful, and will make you give me your wish.”

“What, I didn't have one-” she lied before coughing for a moment, “-and I will never give it to you-!” She covered her mouth to stop talking as she realized what the spell was doing to her.

Then Magnifico grabbed her jaw in one hand and made her look at him as he grabbed both of her wrist in the other. “Did you really think that I be dumb enough to not know what you kept this.” he asked as he revealed the two silver electric bracelets she made and wore that were hiding under her sleeves.

“But…how?” the young woman asked, fear in her eyes.

“The fake wish you gave me.” the mayor said as he walked back to her. “It had a less glow from the others, like it had no purpose. And it had a bit more of a yellow glow than purple. So, I got curious and destroyed it to see if it did anything to you. It did nothing to you.”

Samantha glared at Magnifico and growled, “You'll never get my wish! Not as long as I'm still alive!”

Magnifico looked down at her before he started to laugh, which made Samantha confused.

“I don’t think you heard me right…” the mayor said, wiping a tear from his eyes. “I said, ‘I put a spell on the tea that will make you feel vulnerable, truthful, and will make you give me your wish’. So, your soul may be strong but your human body is now weak and vulnerable.”

Samantha’s eyes widened in fear as she heard that. She began trying to stand but with the remaining strength she had, she fell back onto the couch.

That made the mayor chuckle darkly for a moment before hovering his hand over Samantha’s heart. “Now…” Magnifico started with a dark smile, a hand over Samantha’s heart, making it glow yellow. “Give me what your heart’s desire.”

Samantha panted in fear as she felt her body give up her wish, making her forget about her wish. Her breathing became heavy as she looked at her wish, now being held by Magnifico as he put the wish in its own purple wish orb around it.

Samantha stares in fear at what was happening.

“Now, let’s see what your wish is.” Magnifico said, waving a hand over the orb to show her wish.

It was her dream to be an owner of the animal shelter. It shows her with many different animals, she was smiling and was relaxed.

Samantha stared at Magnifico, tears streaming down her face, and begged, “Please… give me back my wish… please…”

She reached her hand, trying to get it back but Magnifico pulled the wish away from her reach.

“I’ll give it back.” Magnifico said, looking down at her. “If you are willing to tell me who the traitor is.”

Samantha glared as she bit down her tongue to not say who it was.

Magnifico hummed and popped his lips. “Fine. Say goodbye to your wish.” he said, looking at the wish as he started to crack her wish.

Samantha’s eyes widened in fear as she watched her wish being cracked. “No-!” she started to shout but was cut off when-

CRACK!

Magnifico just crushed her wish.

Samantha felt her heart shattered when her wish was destroyed. A single tear ran down her face as she laid on the couch in shock.

Soon her wish was destroyed, there was a yellow light glow of where the wish was. Then the mayor waved his free hand over it, making it become a light green in the mayor’s hands before it flew all around him before going into his chest, making him sigh with a smile.

Then Magnifico looks at Samantha, no remorse on his face.

The next thing Samanthna knew was that the mayor walked to the black mirrors and heard the doors open.

Then the young woman heard someone groaning tiredly.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Magnifico said to the person.

Samantha tried to force herself to get up to see the person but she was so weak that she fell off the couch. She start to pass out as she heard the mayor said, “Alright, let’s have this meeting that you wanted to talk to me about.”

The sound of the black mirrors closing was the last thing Samantha heard before going unconscious.

☆

Bazeema was going to the study to get the tray that Samantha brought up to put it into the dumbwaiter and see what’s going on.

She looked at the door and took in a breath before knocking. “Hello?” she said in a mix of soft and loud voice.

There was nothing for a moment until Bazeema heard something muffled on the other side of the door. Scared but knowing that she needed to do her work, she opened the door to see no one, beside her, in the room.

“Huh?” she said to herself as she walked in, looking to see if there were people hiding or not.

Then Bazeema saw Samantha on the ground unconscious. “Sam!” she said in worry, running over to her side.

Bazeema checked to see if Samantha was alive. She sighs in relief because she is alive.

She got her phone and called Dahlia (knowing that the rest of the friends, besides Simon and Asha, are in the kitchen) for help.

“Hey, Bazeema.” Dahlia said. “What’s up?”

“Guys…” Bazeema started when everyone picked up, trying not to panic. “Sam needs help.”

“Bazeema, what’s wrong?” Dahlia asked worriedly.

Bazeema tried to be calm from her shock and panic as she explained, “Samantha is on the floor and needs help.”

“We’ll be there right away-” Sofi and Dario started to say but were cut off.

Then the black mirror doors opened.

Bazeema jumped and quickly went under the mayor’s desk to hide. She put her phone on mute as she put a hand over her mouth so she would be quiet.

She only saw the mayor and someone's big shadows on the wall.

“Thank you for meeting with me.” Magnifico said to the person, shaking their hand. “A wish ceremony will take place shortly after I get back.”

The person nodded.

Then there was a groan from Samantha, which got the mayor’s attention as he flick his wrist to close the black mirrors.

Magnifico went to Samantha, glaring down at her. “As for you,” he growled, picking her up and forcing her on her feet, “You will be an example to show the traitor of what happens if you cross me.”

“No no no no no no no, please! No!” Samantha begged as she stared at Magnifico in fear.

Bazeema closed her eyes in fear, not wanting to see what happens next. She heard the door of the study open as footsteps walked to it and then the door closed.

Bazeema opened her eyes when she heard the footsteps fade away. She unmuted her phone as she uncovered her mouth.

There was silence for a moment until Gabo shouted through the phone, “What was that?!”

Bazeema looked at her phone as she crawled out of her hiding spot. “I don’t know…” she said to her phone before looking at the door.

Bazeema felt that she needed to be brave. “I'm going to put the teacups in the dumbwaiter and send them down. I’m going to follow the mayor and Sam.” Bazeema said, grabbing the teacups and taking them to the dumbwaiter. She pressed the button on the side to summon up the dumbwaiter.

“Bazeema, wait!” Hal called out from the phone.

“Yes?”

“Be safe, ok? I don’t want you to get hurt…” Hal said on the phone as the dumbwaiter got there.

Bazeema couldn't help but smile. “Got it.” Bazeema said, nodding to the phone as she opened the dumbwaiter door and put the teacups.

She hung up and put her phone away before she closed the dumbwaiter door and pressed the down button to send it down.

Bazeema looked at the door as she started to leave the study/office.

‘I hope that they’re not going where I think they’re going…’ the young woman thought as she opened the study door. She closed the door on her way out and she started to follow Magnifico and Samantha.

It took her a few minutes but she found them and started to follow. But Bazeema stopped and hid around the corner of the hall as soon as she spotted someone in the hall with Magnifico and Samantha. She carefully took a peak on who it was.

It was Simon.

Magnifico took Simon to a guest room and said, “You may wait here until the wish ceremony. Thank you for helping Rosas.”

Simon nodded to Magnifico and went inside the room as Magnifico and Samantha started to continue to walk.

‘What?’ Bazeema thought in shock, her eyes widened as she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Before Bazeema starts to follow the mayor and her (supposedly) hurt friend, she takes a breath to calm herself down as she pulls out her phone to text Hal.

Bazeema quickly texted: [Hal! The mayor did something to Samantha and I think Simon told the mayor who did the wish!]

Hal quickly texted back: [WHAT?! This is really bad…]

Bazeema quickly texts reassuringly: [Don’t worry. I’m going to get Sam and Asha (if they’re going to Asha’s place). We have to come up with a plan before we become refugees… I think I have a place in mind as a backup. I’ll let you know later. Make sure you and the others stay together and don’t get taken in.]

Hal texts: “Ok. Be safe, Love.”

Bazeema stared at the text before sending a heart emoji before she carefully went after Magnifico and Samantha.

‘You got this.’ Bazeema thought as she followed after them.

▪▪▪

Author’s Notes: We hope that you liked this chapter! This is the longest chapter (so far)! We took a lot of inspiration from different songs for the song change. The yellow light (When Magnifico crushed Sam's wish) is the wish before Magnifico uses his magic to make it green so it can go into his chest and make him stronger.

7 notes · View notes

xandriagreat · 3 months ago

Text

Wishes To Reality

Chapter 6: What happens to Souls without Wishes…?

Prologue | Last chapter | Next chapter

Author’s note: Just want everyone to know that the song’s lyrics are going to be bold and italic. We added Saba Sabino’s cut song/the song that plays at the end credits! Some lyrics are color coded: Saba Sabino is red. Also sorry that we haven’t updated for a while, we got busy.

Notice/warnings: panic attack, food, shouting/yelling, anxiety/fear, dark magic, CAPS, crying, pregnant, ghosts

▪▪▪

On the walk back home, Asha felt a sense of fear inside of her.

It continued to bubble up and made it worse for her that she had to stop walking and lean on one of the big trees, trying to calm herself down.

Her mind was in a battle with itself after all what happened today.

“Asha?” Valentino asked, walking over to her and tapping his hoof against her leg.

She snapped out of it, shaking her head back to reality.

She looked at Valentino and Star, who was out of her bag. They both looked concerned for her.

Star flew down to the ground, shapeshifting to the little boy form when landing and signed (You ok?)

Asha stared at Star and sighed. “I… don’t know… After what happened in the study… It… it was terrifying… It shook me up…”

Then she stopped talking as the memory of Magnifico’s dark and monstrous side kept on playing in her head, with the shouting words ‘I get?!’ still echoing.

Asha was having a huge panic attack.

Her heart raced so fast that it felt like it could explode, tears peaked in her eyes, her breath became fast and quick, and in her head it felt like a huge storm at sea.

She began to shake as she slid down the tree and lay on the ground, gasping for air.

Then Asha felt some weight on her.

She slowly looked to see Star hugged her and Valentino was laying on her.

Asha was still for a few moments by these actions. Then she gently hugged Star back and patted Valentino’s head as she took a deep breath, calming down.

“Thank you… you two…” Asha said, smiling softly as she looked at them.

“You’re welcome.” Valentino said while Star signed, (You’re welcome.)

Asha smiled softly at them, calming down more.

Star shapeshifted back to star form and flew up as it and Valentino got off of Asha when Asha was fully calmed down.

The young woman got up and looked at them.

Star flew back into her bag as Asha and Valentino started walking again.

As they walked, Asha got her phone out and looked at messages.

Her mom texted her a few times.

It seems she was so focused on the entire day that she didn't even notice her mother's texts.

She got curious and opened the text.

[Were you at the meeting today? I didn’t see you.][Asha, is everything ok?] [Asha?] [Asha!] [Hello?] [Saba and I are going to the store to get a few things for dinner. PLEASE be home when we come back.]

Asha stared at the text before she started to text.

[Hi mom. I’m SO sorry that I missed your texts! I just saw them! I was inside when the meeting was happening but I heard some of it. I was so busy helping my friends that I didn’t have time to look at the texts. I’m heading home now. I’ll see you and Saba when you both come home.]

Asha sighs and puts her phone away.

She knew she's going to get in trouble if Her family finds out about what actually happened but she had a lot of explaining to do.

☆

Asha sighed softly as when Asha got back home with Star and Valentino.

Asha opened the door and looked around, Just to make sure, as she entered inside the home with Star and Valentino.

It looked like no one was home.

She closed the door after getting inside and quietly took off her shoes as Star flew around, looking around the place.

Asha smiled softly at it as picked up her shoes and started walking to her room with Valentino following her.

Star flew after them with a big smile. Then it stopped at a photo of Asha’s father.

Asha noticed and looked at the photo with Star. “That’s my dad.” she said softly. “He’s been dead for a while… But I know that he’s with the stars. Heh, you probably know him.”

Asha sighs softly before continuing to go to her room, Valentino walking after her.

Star stares at the photo before looking at where Asha and Valentino went, very confused, before flying after them.

They went to Asha’s room.

Star flew around the room and looked around in amazement.

Asha chuckled softly as she watched Star fly around a bit.

She placed her bag and coat on her bed and put her shoes down. She went to the curtains and gently closed them, so no one could peak and see Star.

Then she sniffed her armpits to detect if she needed a shower.

She definitely needed a shower.

Asha started to get ready for a shower.

Before she went to the bathroom, she was deciding if she wanted to put her sleep clothes on or put on different clothes for when she was done.

“Hm… maybe different clothes.” she said to herself. “I've been wearing this for about two days and I’m starting to smell.”

“You smell fine.” Valentino said, hopping onto the bed.

Asha turned around and looked at him with a deadpan look. “I am going to take a shower and then change into this.” she said, picking up the new clothes and putting them on the bed before going out of the room with undergarments.

She closed the door after she got into the bathroom.

The young woman got a shower going before she got her clothes off and put them in the dirty clothes basket

Then she got in the shower when she was ready.

Asha begins to take a shower.

She became calmer as she felt the water go down her body.

She felt like a new person again.

‘I’m going to set things right.’ she thought as she cleaned herself.

☆

Meanwhile she was showering, outside of the bathroom and in her room, Star was checking the clothes that she laid out to change into when she was done.

It was a simple purple short sleeved shirt, light lavender color tank top to go over it with a long light pink skirt with a dark plum purple swirl design on the hem.

It looked a bit…boring.

Star wanted to surprise her.

Star puts some small star patterns on the shirt and skirt.

Star smiled at the work when finishing.

Then Star heard the shower turn off. It spotted some of Asha’s plushes and flew to them, hiding in them.

☆

Asha just finish her shower and begin getting her head cap and finish up putting on some new undergarments, a matching pair of pink bralette and slip short panties

She got her robe and rushed to her room to check on Star and Valentino.

“You two ok?” Asha asked as she opened the door to see just her pet goat. She looked around as she closed the door before looking at Valentino and asked, “Where’s Star?”

Valentino looked up at her for a moment before replying, “Hiding.”

Asha stares at Valentino for a moment before shrugging. “Ok.” she started before getting her clothes to see the new designs on them. She sighed and then chuckled before she put the new clothes on.

After Asha got her clothes on, Star flew out of the plushie pile and waved at her.

“Hi, Star.” Asha chuckled and waved at it.

Star flew over to her, spinning around her before stopping at eye level.

“Star, I’m grateful for the designs that you put on my clothes. But in the future, run the design by me first before changing it. Okay?” Asha asked with a small chuckle.

Star looked at her for a moment and nodded in understanding.

Asha smiled softly and gently rubbed a finger on Star’s cheek. “Want to help me redo my hair?” she asked.

Star nodded with a smile.

Asha smiled and went to her vanity mirror, getting a few things out for her hair.

Star looked at the different hair products as Asha got the braids out.

Then Star looked at Asha and then pointed at the different hair products with a bit of a confused look as if to say ‘what’s these?’.

“These are hair products for my hair.” Asha explained, shaking her head a bit before looking at Star again. “A lot of people have different types of hair. For me, I have curly hair that I need to take care of.”

Star nodded a bit, starting to understand as it flew to her hair, ready to help.

Asha chuckled softly and started to redo her hair with some help from Star.

They redid her hair to be natural wavy curls and some braids with beads.

Asha looked in her mirror to see her look.

She looks beautiful and different.

The new small star patterns look great, almost like it was part of the original design. The beads in her hair completely sparkled, literally (thanks to Star).

It felt great to get changed but it's something different deep down it felt like… a bit of bravery now, like she can face almost anything, even though she’s a bit scared.

She took a deep breath again and sighed, smiling at herself.

Luckily she got another pair of shoes to change into with her new outfit

It was a pair of magenta purple slip-ons flats.

She put them on.

Then she faintly heard the front door open and her mom call out, “Asha, We’re home and we have dinner! You better be home too!”

“Don’t worry! I am home!” Asha called back as she walked to her bedroom door.

But when she opened the door, Star flew out of the room in excitement.

“STAR!” Asha and Valentino shouted after Star.

Asha runs out of her room and chases after Star with Valentino running after her.

She rushed down and tried to catch the star with one hand before she nearly fell down the stairs.

Asha caught herself on the railing with her free hand to stop her fall while her other hand held Star.

She was able to stabilize herself on the stairs and then hold Star in both hands. “Star!” Asha hissed quietly.

“Asha? What’s wrong-?” Sakina started but stopped mid sentence.

Asha looked down the stairs to see her mother and grandfather were downstairs on the main floor, both of their eyes wide in surprise to see Asha holding a small glowing circle that almost looked like a star.

Asha smiled awkwardly at them. “Hola…”

“Asha… what are you holding?” Sakina asked, her eyes not leaving her daughter and the star.

She looked at Star, who looked at her, and then at her mom and saba.

“Ummm….well…it's a long story.” Asha started “But- um… This is Star, the light from last night.”

Sakina and Saba Sabino just stared at her before saying, “What?”

Asha sighed and walked down the stairs to her mom and saba. “Let me explain, please.” she said when she got to the main floor. “Just try not to freak out. Please.”

Sakina and Saba Sabino stare at her for a moment before sighing.

“Alright. But if anything is bad, you are grounded.” Sakina warned, pointing a finger at her.

Asha nodded and let go of Star, letting it fly around.

Sakina and Saba Sabino still had worry on their faces when Star floated near them.

“Let’s… talk about this while making and eating dinner.” Asha said, pointing at the kitchen and table, which was set.

Sakina and Saba Sabino stare at her for a moment before nodding.

Before they went over to the kitchen, Valentino went down the stairs and looked at them.

“So… Do you want the short story or the long story?” Valentino asked

Both grown ups looked at Valentino with wide eyes and it looked like they were going to scream in fear.

Asha noticed and quickly said, “Please remain calm… but Star was able to make Valentino talk.”

“Star was able to make Valentino- what?!” Saba Sabino asked, very confused.

“HOW?!” Sakina exclaimed, pointing a hand at the star and the talking goat.

Asha stares at both of them before looking at Star and then looks at both grown ups again. “Star dust.” she said, pointing at Star.

☆

Asha had explained the entire situation to Sakina and Saba Sabino as they finished eating.

Star was floating near Asha as she finished up, “And now we’re here.”

Sakina and Saba Sabino looked at Asha in shock after learning what she knows now.

“So, let me get this straight… after you run out, you wish on a star at the wish tree, then that star comes down which can grant some wishes? Then you stole Saba’s wish when you saw Magnifico acting all… dangerous? Am I getting this right?” Sakina asked, recapping what was just told.

“Yep… Well, I more of took Saba’s wish back.” Asha said

“That’s still the same thing.”

“Look,” Asha started, “when I got Saba’s wish back and was about to leave, before Magnifico came in, the rest of wishes went up to the ceiling. Like danger was coming in. Then I, along with Star and Valentino, saw Magnifico acting like… an angry god as we got out.”

Sakina and Saba Sabino looked surprised and worried by this information.

“Do… Do you still have my wish?” Saba Sabino asked.

This surprises everyone as they look at Saba.

“Yes. I still have it.” Asha said, nodding.

That made Saba Sabino smile softly. “Please, I want to see my wish that I gave up many years ago.” he said as he got up.

Asha nodded with a big smile, immediately got up and went to her room to get her bag with Star and Valentino go after her.

Sakina and Saba Sabino got the dishes and took them to the kitchen.

Sakina was cleaning the dishes as a thought came to mind. “Sabino,” Sakina started, which got Saba Sabino’s attention. “Maybe it’s time that we tell her. About Tomás.”

Saba Sabino was still for a moment before nodding.

Sakina was done cleaning the dishes when Asha came back with her bag.

“Got it!” Asha explained with a big smile as Star flew to the grown ups.

Both grown ups smiled at her and they went to the couch in the living room as Asha went down the stairs.

“Asha, before you show us the wish, there’s something we need to tell you.” Sakina said, sitting down on the couch.

“Oh? What is it?” Asha asked, walking over to the couch.

“It’s about your dad.” Sakina answered,

“What about dad?” Asha asked, sitting down with them.

“Many years ago, probably a month before he got sick, your dad went to the mayor. He asked for our wishes back.”

“The reason was because he wanted us to take a trip that was outside of Rosas.” Saba said, pointing at a window that faced the sea.

Asha’s eyes widened with this information. “Wait- really? But what about the world outside of Rosas? Wasn’t he scared?”

“You know your father. He started to get a bit bored and wanted an adventure for us.” Sakina chuckled softly. “He wanted us to have a fresh start with you, me and Saba. Your dad wanted you to know that there was more out there than just Rosas.”

But then Sakina frowned sadly as she continued, “But when he asked, the mayor rejected his request… he was heartbroken…”

Asha was shocked by this. “All this time…he…” Asha started but couldn’t finish.

“We know it’s a lot to take in but we thought it was time to tell you.” Sakina said, nodding.

Asha looked at her mother and saba before looking at her bag. “Well… maybe we can go on the adventure that father wanted to go on.” she said, opening her bag and pulling the wish out.

Both grown ups gasp softly when seeing the bright blue orb.

Asha smiled softly at them. “Here, Saba.” she said, handing him the wish.

“My wish.” Saba Sabino breathed as he held his wish for the first time after MANY years.

Looking at his wish, he felt almost whole and felt like he could cry.

“I never should have given up my wish to Magnifico.” Sabino said out loud in a soft voice. “This is my wish.”

Star flew over to them and looked at the wish before glowing softly and gently tapping it.

The shell of the wish faded and there was a bright blue and yellow light of the wish.

Saba Sabino smiled and placed the wish inside his heart, giving himself his wish back.

When his wish was given back, Sabino started to cry happily.

Asha and Sakina smiled tearfully at Sabino, almost close to crying.

Then Saba Sabino got up and started to walk around, looking for something.

Asha and Sakina looked at him, curious about what he was doing.

“Saba?” Asha asked, “What are you doing?”

Saba Sabino stopped looking around and looked at both of them. “I’ve had this song that I’ve always wanted to play before I gave up my wish.” Saba Sabino said, gently tapping his fingers on the side of his head.

“Could you play it?” Asha asked, wanting to listen.

Saba nodded before looking around again and asking himself, “Now, where’s my mandolin?”

Star quickly went to help and got the mandolin by the fireplace. Star flew over to Sabino, handing the mandolin to him.

“Oh! Thank you, my dear Star.” Sabino said, taking the mandolin.

Star flew over to Asha and Sakina as Sabino warmed up the mandolin and sat down in the love seat.

Valentino walked over to them and lay down by Asha’s feet.

Then everyone looked at Saba Sabino when he was done warming it up and everything was ready.

“Everyone ready?” Saba asked.

Everyone nodded.

Saba Sabino smiled softly as he started to play the mandolin and sang, “Take it from someone like me when your hopes are in despair… If your desires have strings… Free them, give them some air. 'Cause any wish that's got your heart, on the edge of breaking, is a wish worth making.”

Everyone was amazed by Saba Sabino’s music as they carried around him.

“Everybody dreams… to be something… someday… somewhere. Even kings and queens… they dream to be free from their royal chairs. But any dream that's got your heart, even when you're not sleeping, is a dream worth dreaming. Yes, we all start as wildlings playing in the sun and we grow up with wild dreams, just waiting for our day to come.”

Asha starts to realize something, if her Saba can make his wish become real, then others can do it too.

“So if hope schemes against time, tell them, ‘Be nice, play fair…’ Yes, they may kick and cry, yes… Well, just show them they’re better when paired. 'Cause if they both can hold your heart, there's no way you're not sowing. A dream that will never stop growing… Yes, any wish that’s got your heart on the edge of breaking… Is a wish worth making…”

Star, Asha, and Sakina start to clap for Saba Sabino.

“Thank you.” Saba Sabino said, bowing to them with a smile before gently putting his mandolin on the table.

Then Asha looked at Sakina and held her hand as she got up. “And Mamá…” she started as they got up, “I’m going to get your wish back.”

Sakina looked surprised for a moment before hugging her. “Alright… but how?” she asked, looking at her.

Before Asha could say anything, there was loud banging on the door.

Asha started to get scared but tried to be brave as her family stood by her.

Asha looks around and looks at Star and Valentino. “Quick.” she whispered to them.

Valentino nodded and quickly grabbed Star by his mouth, taking it to a basket of yarn and they began hiding away.

The door force opened by green magic and there was Magnifico in the doorway, his eyes glowing green for a moment.

Outside, there were two officers and someone else was with them.

“That's right Asha. You've been turned in… and your little plan didn't go through.” Magnifico said as he entered the house with a sinister grin.

“There’s no place for you here!” Saba Sabino warned, standing by his family.

Magnifico ignored the old man as he walked to the family, looking down at Asha. “Where is it, Asha? Where’s the Star?” Magnifico asked with a growl. “Tell me where it is so I can take care of it and you won't be arrested for this.”

Asha didn’t believe a word from Magnifico. “I’m not telling you! Star isn’t yours!” Asha said, glaring at the mayor.

Magnifico stared down at her before tsk-ing a bit. “Wrong answer.” he said, snapping his fingers and then light green magic vines appeared and wrapped around the three family members’ wrists.

Then other magic vines began blocking the door and windows, even the chimney so there's no escape.

“Hey!” Asha exclaimed at Magnifico as the mayor went to the doorway.

The mayor flick his wrist to move the magic vines as he looked at the officers and ordered, “Bring me the example!”

The two officers brought someone over to him.

He grabbed the person from them and pulled the person in.

It was Samantha, who looked weaker than before.

Asha’s eyes widened when seeing her. “Sam?” she breathed worried.

“Asha… I didn’t tell him…” Sam said as she was pushed to the ground by Magnifico, very weak.

Asha noticed that her friend was weak. “What did you do to her?!” she asked angrily at Magnifico.

The mayor flick his wrist to move the magic vines back in place and looked down at Samantha before looking at Asha again. “Miss Samantha O'Donohue Winters is an example to show the traitor of what happens if you cross me.” Magnifico said, pointing at a hand at Samantha before pointing the hand at Asha. “Now, WHERE is the Star?”

“I am not telling you!” Asha said, power in her voice while Sakina and Saba Sabino glared at the mayor.

Magnifico looked down at them, a low growl in his voice. “Must I remind you, I decide on who gets what they want and what they deserve.” he said, a dark smile starting to grow on his face.

Then he looked at Sakina as he reached to grab something. “I have something for you, Sakina.” the mayor said, getting her wish out.

Asha, Saba Sabino, and Sakina were surprised to see the wish.

Sakina’s eyes widened in shock and wonder when seeing her wish. “My wish…” she gasped.

The wish orb completely shows her wish. She was putting a bandage on the patient's arm as healing a bruised arm with her other hand by a soft yellow light, a warm smile on her face.

Sakina started to have a longing for her wish and Magnifico noticed as he still held the wish. “A healer for the sick and injured, aren't you?” Magnifico chuckled darkly.

As the color and light of her wish got her attention. She wanted desperately but resisted.

“You know what happens to wishes in the real world, right? Does your daughter know about how the real world works?” Magnifico asked, a dark smile on his face. “Well… let me show her.”

He grabbed the wish tightly in his hand and started to crack her wish.

Everyone’s eyes widened in fear as her wish was getting more cracked. Samantha had the same terror the same way she saw her own wish crack before her eyes

“No! Don’t-!” everyone started to shout but was cut off when-

CRACK!

Magnifico just crushed Sakina’s wish.

Sakina exclaimed in pain as she fell to the floor, both hands over her heart in pain.

“Mama!” Asha exclaimed in worry while Sabaino exclaimed in worry, “Sakina!”

Soon after her wish was destroyed, there was a yellow light glow of where the wish was. Magnifico waved his free hand over it, making it become a light green in the mayor’s hands before it flew all around him before going into his chest, making him sigh with a smile.

“I just love the feeling of a wish.” the mayor chuckled to himself before looking at Sabino.

The elder had just got his wish back and now has fear and worry in his eyes.

“You little-!” Samantha started but was cut off by Magnifico shushing her.

Then the mayor flicked his wrist again and Saba Sabino was forced to stand up right. “Now it’s your turn, old man.” Magnifico said, facing Saba Sabino.

Magnifico’s hand glowed a mix of blue and green as he put it over Sabino’s chest. Then he pulled out his wish and started to crush it in his hand as everyone watched in terror.

CRACK!

Magnifico just crushed Sabino’s wish.

Saba Sabino was heartbroken as he fell to his knees, clutching his hands to his chest like he was having a heart attack.

“Saba!” Asha exclaimed in worry, tears started to peek at her eyes. She tried to help her family but she couldn’t move.

Then the young woman felt eyes on her.

Asha slowly looked up to see Magnifico glaring down at Asha. “Now it’s your turn, Asha.” he said darkly, about to grab her by her coat.

But Samantha grabbed him by the leg to try to stop him. Magnifico looked down at her before kicking her off him and then grabbed Asha.

Then there was a bright light in the room.

It went through the house.

The pain of Sakina and Saba Sabino was gone and Samantha felt a bit stronger when feeling the light.

The magic vines faded away and they broke free from the vines.

Magnifico looked at what did this.

It was Star.

Star was out of hiding and was glaring at the mayor.

Magnifico looks at Star, letting go of Asha as he gasps softly, “The Star.”

Star stilled glared at him and then shapeshifted into the little boy from earlier.

Magnifico’s eyes widened in anger. “You!” he growled, pointing at him.

“Star! Run!” Asha and Samantha shouted at Star.

Then Magnifico summoned a fireball and threw it at Star.

Star quickly shapeshifted back to star form and quickly flew out of the way.

The fireball just missed Star and hit the wall, green and yellow flames quickly went up the wall and started to spread fast.

Apparently the flame began reaching and spreading all over the house.

Valentino quickly got out of his hiding spot before he got burned.

Star noticed the fire was spreading and quickly used it’s magic to stop it, making it go away before flying out of the house.

Noticing that Star just flew out, Magnifico ran out of the house and slammed the door as he left.

“Sir, what's-” one of the officers started but was cut off when Magnifico used his magic to knock them out before following after Star.

Then the house started to creek, about to give away and collapse on itself.

Asha started to help her mom and saba when the door opened again.

There was Bazeema.

“Bazeema!” Asha exclaimed in fear and terror and relief. “Please, help Sam!”

Bazeema stared for a moment before nodding and quickly ran over to them, helping Samantha up.

Asha helped Sakina and Saba Sabino out of the house while Samantha was carried by Bazeema with Valinteo running with them.

They were able to get outside when the house collapsed.

“Our home…” Asha breathed, tears coming to her eyes again and started to run down her face.

Their home, the place that they had spent years trying to make use of and lived in.

Gone…

It was now just a big pile of ash and rubble on the ground. Only a few or even several items managed to survive, including the prized possessions.

Asha was able to snap out of it and looked at where Star flew off to, remembering and realizing what’s going on.

“Star… Star!” Asha shouted in worry, starting to run after Star and Magnifico.

“Asha!” Sakina, Saba Sabino, Valentino, Sam, and Bazeema shouted after her.

Asha may have lost her family’s home but she's not going to lose her star friend.

☆

Star flew quickly as Magnifico chased after it deep into the woods.

Star noticed the cemetery bell while flying, before quickly going to it.

“You get back here, you bratty shining little-!” Magnifico started but was cut off when Star used it’s power to ring the cemetery bell.

Magnifico growled and was about to use his magic to catch Star but noticed that there were somethings coming from the cemetery.

There was a ghostly gray blue glow that was coming quickly to the entrance of the cemetery.

It was ghosts!

However, the ghosts without their wishes had the crack symbols around their chests, which were where their wishes used to be.

Magnifico gasped in fear when seeing them.

Out of the crowd of ghosts, there was Tomás and he was very angry when seeing Magnifico.

“YOU!” Tomás shouted, pointing at him.

Magnifico felt the color leave his face, just going pale. “W-what?! Me?!” Magnifico shouted in fear and anger. “No, no you're not real! Ghosts aren't real! You’re all supposed to move on!”

All of the ghosts were glaring at him

“You took our wishes!” one ghost exclaimed angrily.

“You broke your promise of a better opportunity for us!” the other shouted at him.

Magnifico began to panic and started to back away from them.

The spirits start to close in on him. “Give us back our wishes!” the spirits chanted, their voices getting louder and louder. See

Magnifico’s breathing was becoming heavy and quick while eyes were wide with fear before starting to glow green.

“STAY AWAY!” Magnifico shouted at them. Then with a flash of green light and he was gone, as if he was gone without a trace

All of the ghosts were rather surprised by this, some were upset while others were angry.

“We were close to getting our wishes back!” one of the ghosts exclaimed, clearly upset.

“But that narcissistic lying, good for nothing, coward, of a mayor just disappeared!” another of the ghosts said angrily.

Tomás sighed and looked at the ghosts, saying, “We should get back to our resting spots and try to get some rest.”

“Not until we get this man a piece of OUR minds-!” one female ghost said while rolling up her sleeves, as if she was ready to fight before the others stopped her.

“No, Tomás is right. We need our rest, just in case we are able to catch Him in time.” another ghost said.

The female sighed and rolled her sleeves back down.

All of the ghosts started to go back to their resting places.

All but a few, including Tomás.

The few ghosts noticed Star before they went to their resting spots.

“You’re the star.” Tomás breathed, a soft smile on his face. “From last night, you’re the star.”

Star nodded with a smile.

“I-I can't believe it!” Tomás chuckled “I’ve been studying the stars and would notice that something was different. Stars are alive.”

“But how?” One of them asked, confused. “It's impossible- right?”

The few ghosts looked at Tomás like he had the answer while he thought to explain it to them.

“Well, with some of my studies, when I was alive, there was some evidence that stars are either souls or like magical beings that can grant wishes.” Tomás explained to them before looking at Star to see if he was right.

Star nodded.

The ghosts nodded in understanding and started to go back to their resting places.

Star stared at the ghosts before sighing. Then it was startled when hearing someone call out, “Star?”

Star quickly turned around to see Asha, who had seen it all.

Asha looked worried and confused. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking at Star and then at the ghosts, who went back to their resting spots.

Star sigh and flew over to Asha, shapeshifting to the little boy form. (Those are ghosts without wishes…) Star signed to her.

“Wait, what… It can't be. But… How come they never told us that-” Asha started but was cut off when Star signed (There’s a reason why people here can’t leave from what I’ve been taught and seen.)

Asha was taken back by that. “What?”

(There’s a force field around the kingdom and it stops anyone without a wish from leaving.) Star continued to sign, explaining. (Even the souls of those who died can’t leave…)

Asha stared at Star, her mind starting to race with questions. “But how come there was even a force field? I haven't seen it, nor have the others who first came to Rosas?” Asha asked, looking past some of the nearby trees to see if she could see it before looking at Star again.

Star frowns and continues to sign, (No one can see it. No one except for the spirits and the stars. All I know is that the force field stops anyone without a wish from leaving here.)

“But why? Why would he need so many wishes?”

(Because Magnifico needs them to keep his powers and some of his age. Over time as he lived here, he got paranoid and wanted to keep what he had as a star.) Star signed, explaining. (Some of the spirits, when they were alive, asked for their wishes back but Magnifico told them no and did some type of magic on them, making them really sick.)

“Wait a minute. Make them sick? How did you know all this?” Asha asked, confused.

Star stared at Asha before pointing at the night sky before signing, (I sometimes watch over with my uncle Ray and some of the times we witness the conversions that would be in the tower.)

“Wait wait wait… who's Ray and what doesn't have to do with-?” She stopped when noticing that Star started to look annoyed while signing (It’s personal… But Uncle Ray has been trying to get through to him.)

“Wait, uncle, what do you mean?” Asha asked, more confused.

Star looked at her before nodding. (Yep… many years ago, I got badly hurt many years ago by my… dad, who basically left me to die… but then Uncle Ray found me, along with Aunt Eve, with wife. They got me help and raised me with their kids.) Star signed, explaining more. (Anyway, back to what I was saying, Ray has been trying to get through to him but Magnifico doesn’t listen and keeps on doing the things he is doing. Magnifico doesn’t want to stop what he had started many years ago. If he’s not stopped, he will become more powerful and everyone here will be in danger.)

Asha’s eyes widened after learning what she learned.

“So that means…” Asha started to fall and lean onto a nearby headstone in shock in disbelief. “It means we're stuck here…”

It all started to align. The people of Rosas were not just town folk in a wonderful paradise but also prisoners and basically livestock of wishes for Magnifico.

Asha started to get scared at the thought and started to get overwhelmed, closing her eyes and starting to cry.

Star frowns sadly and hugged her, trying to comfort her.

As Asha tried to calm down, one of the ghosts noticed that she was overwhelmed.

The ghost went over to her and knelt down to level with her.

“Asha?” a voice said softly and then a gentle hand touch placed on her head.

Asha’s eyes opened wide as she recognized the voice and a familiar touch on her head. She looked up to see the ghost of her father, Tomás.

“F-father…” Asha gasped, trying to reach gently to his face, the face she hadn't seen in a long time. However, her hand went through him.

Tomás smiled sadly at her, gently reaching a hand to her. “My little starling…” Tomàs said softly, (trying) to hold her head with his hand. “I'm here now… look how much you've grown…”

Asha started to cry when seeing Tomás. “Father, I’ve missed you…” Asha said as tears ran down her face.

She wiped her tears away as Tomás comforted her.

“It’s ok, my starling.” Tomás said softly to her.

Asha took a few breaths, starting to calm down. “Father… I don’t know what to do…” she said, looking down and shaking her head.

Her father looked at her warmly before signing softly and smiled softly again. “There is a way to give everyone, the livings’, wishes back.”

Asha looked at Tomás again with Star looking at him too. “W-What is it?” she asked.

“The tower that holds the wishes and the lab, it has a different ceiling.” Tomás explained “It can open up and the wishes can fly out. Star will use his magic to break the wishes from their shells. You will need help from friends… and a distraction.”

Asha and Star nodded in understanding.

“Alright.” Asha said, nodding before asking, “But… what about you and the spirits?”

Tomás frowned sadly and looked at where the others went before looking back at her again. “I’m not sure about the other spirits’ and I but there’s most likely a way for us to get wishes back too.” he said, smiling again softly.

Asha nodded again slowly. “Along with Mamá, Saba, and Sam’s wishes… since he got them…”

“What?!” Tomás asked, his eyes widened with anger and worry. “That arrogant, no good lying traitor! How dare he-?!”

“Dad!” Asha said, raising her voice to get him out of his angry rage.

Tomás looked at Asha as she said in a calm tone, “I will find a way with Star on how to get Everyone’s wishes back.”

Tomás was still for a moment before nodding in understanding.

Asha smiled softly before looking around to see some of the other ghosts.

The other Ghosts along with the other victims and former assistants of the mayor, placed their hands around their chests where their wishes once were.

“Please help us get our wishes back, Asha and all of us can be free.” one of the ghosts said.

Asha looked at them before nodding. “I promise to get your wishes back. Along with any other wishes that he has taken from others.”

The rest of the ghosts nodded before going back to their perspective resting areas.

Tomás stood up as Asha got up and Star shapeshifted back to star form and floated up.

“Be safe, Asha.” Tomás said, gently (trying) to hug Asha .

Asha nodded and (tried) to hug him back. “Alright, Father. I love you dad.”

“I love you too.” Tomás said to her, looking down at her when they were done hugging before he went to his resting spot.

Asha waved before she left the cemetery with Star. She looked at Star, who hugged her arm to comfort her more.

“I’m ok, Star.” she reassured Star, putting a gentle hand on Star.

Then the next thing they knew was they heard someone called out “Asha! Star!”

It sounded like Bazeema.

“Bazeema!” Asha called back, running to her as Star flew over to Bazeema.

When Asha got to Bazeema, Bazeema hugged her like she never had before. “Asha, are you alright?” Bazeema asked, looking at Asha after hugging.

“I’m fine, so is Star.” Asha reassured her with a chuckle.

Bazeema smiled and sighed in relief. “That’s good. Oh! Your Mama and Saba are doing alright. So is Sam.” Bazeema said, pointing at the direction she came from.

Asha sighed in relief when hearing that. “That’s good.” she said, smiling softly.

Bazeema nodded.

They started to walk, with Star flying by them, in the direction to get back to where Sakina, Saba Sabino, and Samantha were.

Asha was quiet for a while until she spoke, sounding serious, “Bazeema… we need a hiding spot for us and our other friend to meet… I have a plan to get the rest of the wishes.”

Bazeema stared at Asha for a moment before smiling. “Oh, don’t worry. I have a good hiding spot.” Bazeema said with a giggle.

Asha could help but smile and chuckle softly. “Alright. Text our friends to meet you there. I'll try and get you there but first I have to get my family to safety.”

The quiet friends nodded in understanding. “Actually, I can show you, Star, Valentino, and Sam where it is after getting your family to safety and then go get our friends.” Bazeema suggested with a smile.

Asha and Star looked at Bazeema, a bit confused and curious. “What do you mean?” Asha asked, curious.

“The hiding spot is a really good hiding spot.”

They soon got back to where Sakina, Saba Sabino, Samantha, and Valentino were.

They were still by the collapidated home.

The two officers were awake and sitting up right. Samantha was talking with them.

The two officers slowly nodded, unsure but starting to understand what Samantha was saying.

“But the one thing that’s still confusing me is the talking goat.” one of the officers said, pointing at Valentino.

“Agreed…” The other officer said, nodding.

Valentino glared at the two officers before saying, “I can hear you!”

That made the two officers jump a bit before looking at Samantha again.

“Yeah… I was shocked and confused as well when I first found out about all this too.” Samantha said, looking at Valentino before looking at the officers. “But it’s all ok, Star is here to help us.”

The two officers nodded again.

Then Valentino was the first to see the two teens and the star coming over.

“Asha! Star!” Valentino exclaimed happily, quickly ran to Asha and nuzzled her legs.

“Asha!” Sakina, Saba Sabino, and Samantha exclaimed happily, weakly getting up and going to her.

“Mama! Saba! Sam!” Asha exclaimed happily, hugging them.

Sakina, Saba Sabino, and Samantha hugged her back.

“Are you alright?” Sakina asked, looking at Asha after they were done hugging.

“Yea, I’m alright…” Asha reassured her.

Then she looked at the destroyed home for a moment before sighing and looking back at the three again. “I have a plan to stop Magnifico and get the wishes back to everyone.” she explained to them.

“But how are we going to do that?” Samantha asked, curious.

“We’ll tell and spread the word to the friend group to meet up.” Asha continued to explain, looking at Samantha.

Samantha nodded as she started to smile.

Bazeema walked over to them, a bit of worry and anxiety on her face. “Are you sure about this?” Bazeema asked when she got to them.

Asha nodded. “Yes.”

Bazeema looked at her, taking in a few breaths to calm herself down before she got her phone out and started to text the group.

Samantha looked at the two officers and went to them to talk to them. “You two can help us, since Magnifico won’t trust you two after you two saw what happened. You can protect Sakina and Sabino.” she said to them.

The officers looked at each other's concern at first, but after seeing what happened and how the mayor acted, they agreed and nodded.

“We’ll do what we can, Miss Winters.” one of the officers said.

Even though her last name is O'Donohue Winters, for the longest time she often just used the ‘Winters ’ part to make it easier and shorter when she started high school. But after everything today, she might start to feel guilty after everything that has happened.

Samantha sighed and ordered, “First things first we gotta make sure that they got everything they need from home, that has survived, and get them to the home shelter right away.”

Asha looked at her friends and then she looked at Sakina and Saba Sabino again before hugging them. “You two be safe.” she said to them.

“You be safe too, Asha.” Sakina and Saba Sabino said as they hugged her back.

Asha nodded and smiled at them as she looked at them.

Then some neighbors came out and went over to them.

“What's going on?” one of the neighbors asked, sounding worried.

Most of the neighbors were still in nightwear while some had their day clothes still on.

“A lot of things have happened…” Sakina replied to the neighbor as one of the officers walked over to Asha’s family.

While this happened, Asha looked back at Rosas. The home she grew up in her whole life. Her childhood. The one she tried to take pride in for years is history but now she needs to do the right thing and set things right.

☆meanwhile☆

Magnifico just got back to his mansion after traveling by flash of light.

He was panting and in pain, he used a lot of magic to get away from the ghosts.

Magnifico limped up the stairs and into his study.

“This has gone way too far…” he said to himself, closing the doors of the study and limping to the black mirror doors.

Panic started raging through his anger and started to grow inside of Magnifico.

It's clear his own image is starting to crumble. All these years of burning evidence kept away and hard work making sure the citizens under his control kept them from knowing the truth all started to crash. It was just a matter of time before the whole thing finally came down.

He waved his hand to the side and the door opened, revealing the lab.

Magnifico stumbled into the lab and looked up at the wishes.

“I need a few wishes to get my strength back…” Magnifico growled, using his magic to pull the wishes down from the ceiling and forcing them to be near him as he looked at the different wishes. “Now which ones…”

As Magnifico looked at the wishes, he started to feel his body turning mortal and beginning to show how old his mortal self is, so he had to find really good wishes and FAST.

He quickly spotted three wishes, a purple, green wish, and a mix of both green and purple.

He quickly used his magic to pull those three to him while sending the rest back up to the ceiling.

The three wish owners looked at Magnifico in fear as the mayor looked over them, waving a hand over them to see what the wishes were.

The first was the purple one, showing a young man flying in the night sky. “The ability to fly to mythical land… how about Neverland…” Magnifico muttered under his breath as he looked at the first wish.

The second was the purple and green mix, showing a female nanny talking to a man with his kids. “The perfect nanny for your naughty kids… I’ll be popping this one…” Magnifico muttered under his breath as he looked at the second wish.

The third one green wish was the green, showing a couple hugging each other and nuzzling, keeping each other safe. “And true love… so much for true love.” Magnifico muttered under his breath as he looked at the third wish.

Magnifico took in a breath and sighed before pressing the three wishes together hard in his hands and then-

CRACK!

Magnifico crushed all three wishes…

Throughout Rosas, the three owners of the newly cracked and destroyed wishes suddenly felt pain in their chests and fell to the ground. Their loved ones quickly run over to them, checking to see what’s wrong.

Even after being asked ‘what’s wrong’, all they could respond was “I don’t know…”

After the three wishes were destroyed, there were three yellow light glows of where the wishes were. Magnifico waved his free hand over them, making them become a light green in the mayor’s hands before they flew all around him before going into his chest, making him sigh with a smile.

Magnifico started to feel better as he felt his magic become stronger and looked at himself, seeing that his body went back to the age that everyone knows.

“That was too close for comfort…” he said to himself, knowing that he was able to get back his temporary immortality.

He looked out the balcony windows, seeing the brightest star in the night sky.

“You can not scare me, Raymond. After everything I’ve been through, I’m proving that I am the best and what I’m doing is right for humans!” Magnifico growled, glaring at the bright star.

Magnifico sighed softly before he looked at the photo and then the tapestry again, noticing the tapestry started to unthread… showing it's true form, making him remember the past.

Yes, it turns out Amaya's family were the original founders of the town. However after running away with his family’s book and going into the town, he felt that he would soon be followed by either star guards or his brother. So, he set up a war bomb accident on the town to get the stars off his track.

After the town was destroyed by the bombs, there were some survivors and Magnifico realized that they needed a home. Magnifico did find a place to set up a city, which became Rosas.

He then erased and altered the memories of the survivors, including the witnesses, including Amaya's family, of seeing him coming down from the sky. Along that it looked like he was part of the community the whole time and was a savior to help.

Magnifico growled softly and shook his head to stop remembering, focusing on his current problem.

Now with Asha and That Star in the way…This was going to be more harder than he thought.

Then Magnifico remembered a spell from The Book as he looked at where the hidden staircase was.

He grabbed three wishes, just in case he needed them, before he rushed to the hidden staircase, flicking his wrist to open the secret entrance to the secret lab and Magnifico quickly went down the hidden staircase.

With a flick of his wrist, torches were lit to see as the mayor went down.

When he got to the bottom of the spiral staircase, Magnifico quickly went to the desk and picked up the book from the book holder, starting to flip through the pages to find the right one.

“Here we go, The Staff of Power…” Magnifico said under his breath, smiling darkly. “To make it: need blue fire under the calderon, an old wood branch of mountain ash; bathed in talin’s potion, molten iron and obsidian stones for strength, copper for a strike, and three bags of star dusts to combine and have power…” Magnifico reads off of the page before looking at what he had in the lab. Then he looked back at the page as he said to himself, “I’ll use three wishes as a substitute for the star dust.”

Then Magnifico got an old cauldron out and got a blue fire going under it before he started to put the interestings together in it so he had to make the staff.

☆

When the wood branch of mountain ash was done bathing in talin’s potion and the molten iron, obsidian stones, and copper were in the calderon, Magnifico got the three wishes that he grabbed earlier, having them over the cauldron.

He looked at the wishes.

It was the first three wishes that he showed Asha: The wish of a young woman flying with the birds, the wish of an elderly woman being a sailor, and the wish of a man being an adventurer and making his mark.

They all had the look of fear on their faces.

“Don’t take this personally.” Magnifico said to the wishes. “I NEED to be the best. So you three are helping me and serve a greater purpose than being granted.”

The three wish owners shook their heads while looking at him in fear.

After seeing that, Magnifico's anger began to boil and his eyes started to turn green again. Then he pressing the three wishes together hard in his hands, just like last time, and then-

CRACK!

Magnifico crushed all three wishes and put the destroyed wish shells in the cauldron before waving a hand over the wishes, turning the three yellow light glows a light green in the mayor’s hands before they flew all around him before going into his chest.

Magnifico couldn’t help but just smile, not caring about what he did to or how the owners are now feeling, as he got the branch and put one end of it in the cauldron, chatting an encation.

Then the staff began to form right in front of him, turning from a wood branch to a silver metal staff with a diamond-shaped mirror on top of it.

Magnifico smiled as he took the new staff out of the cauldron and held it in his hands.

Magnifico spun the staff around before stomping the bottom end to the ground.

“Now this is power!” Magnifico said with a chuckle.

About five steps from the floor of the secret lab, Amaya watched in horror from the stairs, placing her hand over her mouth and the other to her stomach.

Now noticing that he wasn’t alone, Magnifico turned around to look at Amaya.

But there wasn’t anger on his face when seeing her. He had a big excited smile on his face, now that someone was now here to see what he had made.

“Amaya, darling!” exclaimed Magnifico, waving a hand for her to come over to him. “Come! Come! Check out what I made!”

Amaya was terrified but did what she was told, walked down the rest of the stairs to go to him. Not wanting to make Magnifico angry and possibly harm her along with her baby inside her.

“Do you like my new staff?” Magnifico asked as he showed her the staff.

Amaya didn’t know what to say as she stared at the staff that was in her husband’s hands. Then she noticed the forbidden book.

“You used the Forbidden Book…” Amaya said with a gasp, staring at the forbidden book before looking at Magnifico again.

Magnifico looked back at the forbidden book before shrugging. “I had no choice. Rosas is in trouble and NO ONE is helping me.”

“But, mi amor…” Amaya spoked as she started to walk to him to reason with him. “We don’t know what it holds. All we know is that forbidden magic is dangerous-”

“What do you know about forbidden magic?” Magnifico snapped at her. “Or what does anyone else know about it besides me? Hm?”

Amaya was speechless by what was told to her.

Amaya wanted to back away, seeing how her husband was now acting.

She was scared. It confirms to her that this isn't the man she knew.

She wanted to say something but Magnifico lifted hand so she would be quiet before he said, “But no time to talk about forbidden magic. The good news is that we now know who the traitor is… it's Asha.”

Amaya couldn't believe what she heard.

Amaya remembers way back when Tomás was alive and started to help with the stars and ever since Asha was born, Tomás had always talked about her to Amaya during breaks and if either of them had the time.

Even after Tomás’ passing, Amaya would sometimes keep a watchful eye on Asha at times and on rare occasions, she saw her grow and grow into a beautiful young woman.

Amaya shook her head as she couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Asha would be the trader.

“Asha? But she just wanted to help people with their wishes-” Amaya started but was cut off when Magnifico pointed the tip of the staff at her.

The mirror part started to glow a light green along with Magnifico’s eyes glow green.

“Do you side yourself with the traitor, Amaya?” Magnifico growled, still pointing the staff at her.

Fear was in Amaya’s eyes as she stared at Magnifico. “N-no.” She lied, shaking her head and trying to stay calm.

She wanted to speak out but she couldn't. However, the inflamed her was the years of her feelings bottled up, ever since the accident with the boy 10 years ago.

“I believed in you after we first met,” Amaya said, trying to sound convincing to him, “and I helped you with Rosas, making it better…”

Magnifico stared at Amaya for a moment before smiling again and stopped pointing the staff at her, putting the staff up right as the green light of the mirror faded. “Wonderful.” he said, sounding satisfied by what Amaya said and his eyes went back to normal.

Amaya tried to calm herself as she felt her heart raced

She watched Magnifico as the mayor started to go up the spiral staircase with his staff and said, “Now let’s set the stage. We need to give the man who helped us his reward.”

Amaya nodded slowly before following after him.

‘I need to find Asha. She needs to explain all of this.’ Amaya thought as she walked up the spiral staircase

When both Magnifico and Amaya were up on the main floor of the mayor’s study/office, Magnifico flick his wrist to close the hatch to the hidden lab.

“I’ll be at the stage.” Magnifico told Amaya before leaving the office.

Amaya nodded to him.

Before Amaya left, she looked at the tapestry and noticed that it looked different.

The thread however this time, it was more showing her family instead of Magnifico's.

“Huh?” Amaya sounded confused as she walked to it to see what’s going on.

But then she remembered the same thing happened earlier today, but now it felt different.

It felt familiar to the tapestry, As if she had it before.

Before she could back away she slowly started to see visions flashes in her head again, visions of the past, as she saw images mostly of her family’s memories of the accident that Magnifico described what happened to the town, but it was glitching as if it was telling what actually happened and what it's not.

When the flashing visions were done, Amaya panted heavily, confused. “What in the world was that?” she asked herself, wide eyes.

Slowly, Amaya took in a deep calming breath to calm down and looked at the tapestry, confused about what happened.

‘What… was the story Magnifico told, about the town being attacked by the war without mercy, fake?… I need an answer for this too…’ she thought, her mind running with thoughts.

Amaya shook her head and quickly left the office, still shaken up by what she saw.

She kept her head up high and remained calm, at least for now but her worries lingered in her mind.

▪▪▪

Author’s notes: This is it, everyone! We are making our way to the big Battle soon, but what are Amaya’s flashes for, it’s going to be held on until the next chapter. It's going to be huge and stay tuned!

We also wanted to clarify some references we've added and a few changes made in this chapter:

- When Magnifico begins to age rapidly and uses his three wishes to restore his power and youth, this is a reference to Mother Gothel from Tangled.

- The force field surrounding Rosas and everyone who doesn’t have a wish is inspired by Valinople in the first Wreck-It Ralph movie, as she cannot leave her game due to being a glitch.

- the part with ghosts was Something we discussed a while back. It was what if no one without a wish can leave, even the dead. That’s why there are ghosts.

#wish #Wishes to Reality #wish au #modern au #wish 2023 #asha #valentino #saba sabino #sakina #samantha winters #wish oc #king magnifico #magnifico #star #star boy #bazeema #wish fic

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