#climbing aster | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

comfortless · 1 year ago

Text

This Time Around

König + fem! house sprite reader

content/warnings: reader wears dresses, König is soft and lonely, pining, comfort & fluff.

notes: @deltrese put the thought of König inheriting a little dollhouse from his grandmother in my head whilst i was watching Arrietty and… yknow. likely not anyones cup of tea but the idea was too cute to not write out eheh. not proofread, apologies! wc: 8.5k.

She survives on drops of honey, dew trickling from the asters springing up along the brick skirt wrapped around the lower level of the house, sips of canned soup and crumbs of bread when he forgets to clean up after a dinner prepared far too late into the night. He’s far from a messy man; he keeps his house in lovely shape, but he’s weary, more tired than any of the mice undergoing torpor she’s crossed paths with in the attic.

In her own way, she’s grown fond of this giant. Not fond enough to reveal herself in full, but she’s polite enough to sweep his crumbs from the table after he’s gone to bed, spend a day patching up an old shirt of his with a tiny thorn and scraps of thread if she notes a tear in the fabric of some ugly, dark thing he wears. She’s always amazed when he notices her busywork, too. The way he will hold the shirt in front of his face with a boyish grin after taking notice of how skillfully it’s been repaired, the way he calls out, “Danke freunden!” in that soft tone of voice that reminds her of a breeze passing through a windchime.

She knows that he doesn’t truly think that anyone else is here at all; that’s just how humans were— silly things. Something strange happens and they’ll try any way that they can to rationalize it or personify whatever may have caused it. König looked the part of a rational man, but her heart seems to swell when he gives away just how superstitious he truly is.

He’s ritualistic in some ways; covers his mouth when he yawns as though fearing that the Devil himself will come scurrying out of his windpipe, the wind chimes he has hanging up on his front porch, even knocking on the wood of the dining room table as he passes through lost in thought about something. She might be, too, because she always whispers her wishes of good favor to him when she knows he’s heading off on some grand adventure in the world outside.

She likes that she can make sure he feels less alone.

The man never has any visitors, and more often than not, he’s away. She likes to imagine he visits beautiful places, climbs mountains she will never in her lifetime see the peaks of, runs his calloused hands over the sharp edges of leaves and plucks dandelions puffed with seeds to blow wishes into. She pictures him having sweet, doting friends, all smiles when he’s around. Though, she is almost certain that the reality is nothing of the sort.

She’s seen him come home with fresh wounds, blood seeping through gauze haphazardly wrapped around his side. She’s seen the look in his eye when he stares blankly at the lifeless wall for what feels like hours, breathing out long sighs as his fingers curl and loosen in repetition at his sides. Regrettably, she’s fretted over the sight of tears welling in his eyes to the extent that she’s almost dared to come out of hiding, to console him just a little.

He’s hurting.

She’s alone too, here. There are others like her, of course. Groups of them cluster in lived-in homes chattering all throughout the night, getting into any mischief their tiny hands can fall upon to prepare. Often times, when a little sprite such as herself chooses a place, the others come flocking, too— making merry, stealing from their humans in ways hardly worthy of a second glance and starting colonies in the rafters, far out of sight.

But no one else will touch this place.

The house is a beautiful thing, meant for a family. There were so many rooms that she had yet to even explore herself. Not a pet in sight to chase after her and swallow her whole. The floors are soft carpet she often beds down in on nights she can feel he won’t be returning, plush and soft and so unused to human traffic. She loves it here, even if her kind do not. She might even understand why, too. It’s so melancholic, haunted by this miserable giant with heavy footfalls and tears perpetually unshed, held back by the grace of quivering hands in a body with too many scars.

She’s tried to count them before, once, whilst he was changing in his room. She wasn’t trying to steal a glimpse of his body, no, she only wanted to see what stories he was hiding, written on flesh. Perched on a bookshelf, she watched the giant as he pulled his shirt over his head, some tight, black cloth that didn’t look cozy at all. He had a cut running from his navel to his chest, a few penny sized keloids along his ribcage. The giant’s body was pale, as though he had never at all caught the eye of the sun, the only thing making him look still-alive and healthy were the layers of muscle across the chest, bunching down to his abdomen.

A pretty sight, undoubtedly for women similar in stature to him, but to her she sees only his fluttering pulse in the vein along his neck, the shaking of hands too large, and those horribly sad eyes that shatter her heart with only a glimpse.

She had nearly been caught then, with her palm splayed out over her chest in open awe and sympathy for this poor, cursed beast. His gaze had snapped over to the appeal of small movement on the shelf only to find nothing at all; she had tucked herself behind a copy of a Ungeduld des Herzens.

That was two months ago.

He had left the following morning, a black duffel bag thrown over his shoulder as he meticulously walked through the home shutting off lights and closing doors. Except… he left two lights on this time; the kitchen and his bedroom were cast in a white glow. She thought, assuredly that the artificial suns in their glass casings will burn out by the time that he returns. She also realized how strange it is that he would do such a thing at all. The man was prone to his habits, and it welled her up with dread to think that perhaps the book hadn’t entirely concealed her shape, that he had seen her peeking out between old pages covered in thin layers of dust.

She occupied her time scrounging around for anything that may have suggested his cerulean eyes had fallen upon her, When a human catches sight, it’s best to leave as though a house sprite had never been there at all; she certainly didn’t care for uprooting from this cozy, quiet life in the presence of a man that she harbored a fluttering, sympathetic heart for.

To her relief, she found nothing of note.

— — —

It was rare for him to be gone this long. She’s lost track of the days after a quaint seventy-three. A decent meal is harder to come by when he isn’t accidentally feeding her; the cabinets and pantry are shut, and there’s absolutely no hope of her small hands prying open the big portal leading to a perpetual winter that humans referred to as a refrigerator. Dew drops, wild strawberries and blackberries get tiresome after a while, and sneaking outside is dangerous, anyway. The birds don’t think her anything more than a bug, something simple to descend upon and scoop into a hungry beak.

She gathers up a thin piece of thread and, after tossing it into the air an innumerable amount of times only to have it land in a heap at her feet, she finally manages to hook it onto one of the knobs of a cabinet where she knows he keeps brightly colored packages of store bought cookies.

Those were for rougher days, always in date because god knows the man probably had never had a day that wasn’t somewhat harrowing. She’s seen him drink jåger and munch cookies while watching the television late into the night more times than she can count.

She pulls the thread tight and takes steps backwards to fling the cabinet door wide open. It takes a lot of effort from her small size, but she prides herself on managing even without a cluster of other sprites to help her along. Her stomach rumbles when the package comes into view and she readily climbs into the cabinet, up a few cans and boxes to reach the second shelf.

The package is opened with careful precision. She’s diligent at emulating the rips and tears she’s seen on similar ones to make it look like an accident occurred on some storage room shelf. Her heart swells in utter delight as the sweet smell of sugar and cinnamon wafts up her nostrils, her mouth watering by the time she pulls one of the baked goods free from its confinement as she seats herself on the thin wooden board of the shelf with the treat in her lap.

It’s when her lips part and she lowers her head to take a bite that her ears prick to the sound of the front door opening. She missed the sounds of the turning lock, likely whilst fussing with the plastic and now… now it’s simply too late for her to haul off her spoils, shimmy down back to the linoleum floor, manage to unthread her makeshift cabinet-door-opener and shut it, leave it as though it had never been touched.

She’s never made a grave error like this. There have been close calls, certainly, but never one that set her off with the alarm of certainty that she would be discovered.

The lock clicks back into place, and there’s the sound of heavy boots being dropped to the floor before soft footfalls could be heard against the plush carpet.

… Headed straight in her direction.

Don’t come in the kitchen. Do not come in in the kitchen!

She finds herself in a tossup between petrified by her own fear and utterly entranced by the idea of being caught. Finally, after years of watching her giant from shadows and covered perches. The idea that he might crush her like a bug or capture her to marvel at like a pet crosses her mind, certainly, but a part of her wants to believe that her fondness for him wouldn’t be entirely unreciprocated.

From her perch, she can see the dark camos, the looming shadow as he trudges into the room only to stop, immediately, when he notices the little door flung wide open. He’s wearing that hood he wears often when he returns, a scrap of bleached fabric with eye holes torn out. She’s taken to stitching it more times than she can count, breathing in the scent of sweat, of strange lingering smoke as she works to fix the threading along the eyeholes. It’s difficult to make out his expression like this, but his blue eyes dart from the open cupboard to the rest of the room before landing back there.

He grunts out a noise of confusion, and she can almost hear his thoughts. He wouldn’t have left it open. The lights had been intentionally left on. That was a sign she had foolishly overlooked.

He takes careful steps toward her, so close now that only the fabric of his tight-fitting trousers filled her view. To her horror, her amazement, his knees bend and he kneels down slowly. This wasn’t the way that things should have went, she should have been more cautious. The hood comes into view all too quickly. Blue eyes widen as they land on her with that big cookie still in her lap.

“Hallo, little one.”

Ohgodohgodohgod.

He’s speaking directly to her. He sees her. He’s not afraid, yet her heart is burning with the icy touch of pure dread.

She clutcheds the pastry tight to her chest, lips pressed into a thin line as she takes a tentative step back into the shadow of the cupboard. So tense, so uncertain. She didn’t want to leave, silently willing him to close his eyes, turn away, forget about the tiny thing he happened upon stealing his food.

Instead, he stares down at her as though he had just found a will to keep living, a reason to stick around despite his bloodied wardrobe and the ever-present loneliness.

“Kleine engel… you are safe, please don’t look at me like that…”

He’s so much kinder than she had ever anticipated, his heart laid bare between the red rings of flesh lining his eyes. Her giant is nothing but gentle, cooing at her in such a quiet voice as though she were a wounded baby bird. Those eyes were filled to the brim with such wonder and hope that she couldn’t turn away now even if he was some rotten carnivorous animal.

“Please don’t look at me.”

The words fall from her lips despite her defenses lowering, shoulders relaxing and her eyes filling with that same look of hope he held.

It’s strange, how someone so massive doesn’t seem to send her scurrying for the hills. He’s huge, but that tenderness in his eyes that makes her feel comforted, reminds her of the gentle lull of streams and the sky filled with puffy clouds like castles in mid-morning.

“Ach… But you are so…”

Tiny, strange, a myriad of words hanging on his tongue, and she feels every one of them with each flutter of her pulse.

“… so pretty. Kleine puppe.”

She drops the cookie at that and it falls to the floor of the shelf with a soft thud that makes her jump in place.

The other sprites have their stories. It’s nice to sit and listen from the comfort of a canopy of grass when another passes through. They speak of the humans that they’ve encountered just as they speak of beasts, keen-eyed cats with sharp claws bared ready to feast upon those like herself. Dangerous things not meant to be associated with. Not one of them has ever mentioned encountering one that looks at them like… this, as though they were something breathtaking, something to be protected.

He huffs out a laugh at her shocked expression, his fingers drumming upon his knees as he watches her.

“I am not a ‘puppe’.”

“A fairy, then?”

She sighs, heavy and exasperated as she sorts out her dress and bends down to retrieve her meal. A pretty thing she had sewn herself from a vintage napkin, blue blossoms and thin lace.

“Are you going… to tell anyone?”

Her giant shakes his head with a laugh, and of course he does— who would he tell?

“I will keep you a secret, puppe.”

“Good, or I’ll curse you!” She warns, trying to puff her chest to seem bigger, more intimidating. She’s too cute to seem anything more than a frightened bunny, and his eyes are swimming in mirth at the sight of her. He’s like a giant child, finding out the fairytales in his books were true all along, only… not the ones about boiling folks like him down to bones to teach a lesson, just the ones where true love and sweet princesses existed.

He asks her a million things in rapid succession then— where she came from, how long she’s been here, what she’s doing, why she never came out before, how she can even exist. They make her head swim and she doesn’t answer a single one. He makes no move to touch her, doesn’t move any more than his nervous fingers and his beautiful eyes. They crease at the outer corners with each wide smile he undoubtedly has beneath that hood and her heart stutters each time like the flapping of little bird wings desperately seeking safe wind to coast in a storm.

She decides that she likes him as she brings herself to sit on the edge of the shelf, nibbling at her cookie whilst he tells her his name, that he works as a soldier— a colonel, sounding prideful despite the fact she has no clue just what that entails. He speaks to her in an energetic whisper, drops his shoulders and lowers himself further as though trying to appear her size, despite the vast disparity between their statures.

“Do you have a place to sleep?” König asks her suddenly, glancing over his shoulder as he looks out towards the den with a pinched brow. It was almost as though he expected a castle fit for her to appear from thin air, white gates and a shimmer of fairy dust surrounding it all.

“The floor is soft… sometimes between the sofa cushions, too. You’ve nearly sat on me before.”

“Nein. That will not do.”

He stands to his feet before she can protest and leaves the room. A part of her still teeters on the edge of running off, escaping before they became too familiar, and yet a more impulsive part wills her to wait as she hears the creak of floorboards beneath his feet whilst his footfalls ascend up into the attic.

She pictures the mice scurrying away in fright, just as she should, while she kicks her feet and waits patiently. The taste of cinnamon and sugar remains on her tongue as she places the remnants of the cookie aside and licks her fingers clean of sweet dust.

König returns a few moments later, a large box cradled in his arms.

“Close your eyes, puppe.”

It doesn’t make sense for her to leave herself vulnerable so soon after their impromptu meeting, and she doesn’t want to, but she does as he asks anyhow with a soft smile on her tiny face. Feels her chest pool with a mixture of excitement and fear as she hears him shuffling about the kitchen, the thump of something heavy being placed on the counter encourages her to flinch. She can hear small objects being set down carefully, the water running from the tap for a moment before the sound of something soft meeting wood fills her ears. It all quiets after a moment and she feels a gentle nudge at her side.

Her eyelids flutter open to see König’s finger gently pressed against her waist, his blue eyes beneath the dark hood fill her vision entirely. He’s so close, too close. As if sensing her apprehension, he raises his head back to look down at her instead.

“It is alright. I have a gift for you.”

König nudges her once more before she realizes that he’s inviting her to climb onto his massive hand. Her breath catches as she glances from the calloused flesh to his eyes and back.

Her kin would scold her severely if they were here, tell her she’s gone too far that there’s no way she will ever come back from this if she accepts. She stinks of human already. That’s how she justifies the way she climbs into his palm with her hands folded into the lap of her dress. His other hand curves around her, not touching, but hovering closely enough to keep her in place as he slowly rises to his full height and carries her over to the counter where he immediately allows her to clamber off before dropping his hands to his sides again.

The sight she’s met with dissolves any lingering fear she had harbored against him.

On the counter sits a wooden dollhouse, painted a lovely shade of blue, the roof a quiet shade of gray. It’s a stately thing, speaking of yesteryear’s Victorian styled homes with its vaulted roof, even a small turret beside the upstairs balcony. Expertly crafted and far too beautiful, perhaps even prettier than König’s empty home. Her eyes are welling with tears as she slowly ascends the three sturdy steps to the front door.

“You like?”

She can’t bring herself to respond immediately. She’s too caught up in this, opening the door with a gentle pull as she wanders into the house. It’s furnished in a hurry, some of the furniture misplaced, but… everything is here, as it would be in a normal, human home. A couch that seemed almost tailored for her size sits beside a little rattan shelf, a small table before it, a little hearth, a full kitchen and upstairs she finds a bedroom complete with a canopy bed. The curtains hanging off of it are blue like the outside, like the floral wallpaper adorning the dollhouse. She tests the bed with a gentle hand, marveling at how soft it was, how the sheets bunch beneath her palm.

Then, she approaches the window in admiration of all of the small details, little etchings of plant life carefully scrawled along the wood. The lock even clicks open as she pushes the little sheet of plastic framed by white to rise.

“It’s perfect,” she chirps out to her giant. “It’s so beautiful…”

“Oma gave it to me when I was a boy.” König’s reply sounds bittersweet, but his eyes are shimmering, as though the fact he had made this small woman so happy had been the height of his year, perhaps even an entire decade of his life. She’s seen him quietly weep to himself long into the night, only a breadth away from him as she tucks herself further into couch. He’s seemed gentle, less of a titan and more battered then, but he’s never seemed this sweet. “And now I am giving it to you.”

— — —

Sleeping in a bed is different. It’s quiet and soft with no worries of getting crushed by a heavy boot or threats of having a presence too large finding out about her existence. Those things do absolutely nothing to lull her to comfort as a dull the throbbing in her chest blossoms and continues all throughout the night ceaselessly. She tucks the blanket a little tighter around herself as she tosses and turns on the small mattress.

Mornings are different now, too. When König wakes, he taps at her front door to pull her from her restless dreaming. He has a ritual, expecting her to come out in one of the dresses from the dollhouse’s wardrobe rather than her scrapped clothing with a small mug and a plate in hand. He gives her a drop or two of coffee and food from whatever breakfast he’s pieced together. Sometimes it’s a cookie from the cabinet. She feels like a contented housepet these days as he leans over the counter to speak to her.

It’s painful how attentive König is. His eyes don’t leave her when she speaks and he consistently asks her if she needs anything, if there is anything that he could do to make her feel more comfortable as if he hasn’t already provided her with refuge and companionship, things she hadn’t even realized she had been longing for. As if he hasn’t already made her feel things for a human that no sprite should! Really, the way he loiters about with the stupid grin plastered across his face while she stumbles out of her abode to greet him does nothing to make the flutter in her chest feel warranted. It’s there no matter how much she turns her head away from him and barks out her warnings of curses and other mischief; gnaws at her every time she hears his laugh or he tells her yet another stupid story of things she knows nothing of.

She listens, anyway, utterly mesmerized when he speaks of rescuing hostages or tearing through men like a rampaging bull. He explains to her what guns are, shows her and lets her run her tiny hands over polished metal. She should think him violent and obscene, but the way he looks at her as though she’s all he has stifles any judgements before they can leave her lips.

It quickly froths to a point that she realizes she’s come down with a terrible crush. She worries for him after hearing his tales each time he steps foot out of the house on another deployment, rushes from whichever corner she’s occupied with hurried little steps to greet him. She lets him carry her around on his shoulder sometimes, even leans over his arm when it’s stationed on the counter just to feel him near.

She knows better, which is why she finds herself skittering through tall grass to seek another of her kind. Hoping for a reminder that she’s making too many mistakes. The trip is a short walk for a human, but takes her from morning to sunset to reach her destination, a narrow alder tree full of knotholes with sprigs of dandelion surrounding it.

“You what?!” Bellis exclaims, the very second she’s managed to spill her story and slump against a ruggedly crafted table within the trunk of the tree. Bellis’ voice was like the chirping of little nightingales, and she looks cute when she’s surprised— the other sprite’s brown eyes twinkle in such a way that it makes her think of stars falling into pools of honey.

“Yes… we spoke,” she huffs, curling her arms around her waist, her face feeling hot and her eyes dreamy. Bellis knows the look well enough, the other sprite has it every time she locks eyes with her wife, another sprite far too pretty. It’s affection, one that she graciously spares her friend from commenting on.

“It’s alright, you know… just be safe.”

“Of course…”

She anticipated some long-winded lecture of dangers, to be beaten by words targeting her own selfish wants.

Instead, Bellis only offers comfort and the hope that her feelings are not a lost cause.

“You aren’t the only one who has ended up falling for their human, you know?”

“I thought we were supposed to avoid them, not dream of them.”

Bellis giggles and drapes an arm over her shoulder as she prattles on about sprites and glamours that could make them bigger. She tells her of a couple only a weeks travels away, a male sprite and a human woman, how he feasts upon wild berries and golden herbs under each new moon to keep himself human-sized day and night for the woman that he loves. Bellis reminds her that the other sprites frown upon it out of fear for their own safety, but she also reminds her that she’s damned to live a life far longer than the object of her affection, anyhow, and that if he already knows of her existence then what’s the harm in it?

Those words fill her with fantasies about a happy life, where she can hold her giant properly in an embrace, rather than wrapping her arms around his thumb to satiate the burning affection running rampant through her.

They also damn her to heartbreak when König returns.

He comes home after two short weeks this time, rather than months and she rushes to greet him as always. König bends down on a knee, scoops her up in his palm and brings her over to the sofa where he sets her on the opposite end from where he sits.

“How was your trip?” She asks him sweetly as she plops down onto the pillowy cushion below, fidgeting with the hem of her dress in excitement. She knows what she knows now, and she truly could not wait to tell him, to give life to the newfound feelings in her chest. She wonders what König would say; would he take her on dates? Would he dance across the room with her as she’s seen sprites in the throes of courtship do before? Would he kiss her? The thought makes her feel warm again.

König, on the other hand seems perfectly composed and lost in thought. His hands are fidgeting, but this time, not with themselves. He’s holding a device she doesn’t recognize, tapping at the little screen with the same look in his eyes that she reserves solely for him.

“It was fine.” He mumbles, and for the first time he doesn’t elaborate. She looks forward to his stories. Time away from him is difficult now. It passes slowly without their morning chatter, without his stories, without the films she watches with him late into the night. He’s taught her to use the remote, sure, but it’s not the same without him towering at her side.

“What is that?”

“A phone.”

She listens intently when he explains what this strange object is, even shows her the bright screen and lets her tap her hand against it a few times as she looks at the shifting colors with wide eyes.

“I visited a friend while you were away.”

He rests his phone in his lap and looks down at her then, his interest piqued.

“There are more like you?”

“Yes, lots.” She giggles. She tells him of Bellis who lives in the alder with her wife, of how her dark hair curls and her voice sounds like the chirping of birds. König pays rapt attention as she speaks, belays his curiosity of the prospect of there being many more like his little housemate with a tilt of his head.

“I made a friend while I was away.” He gestures toward his phone with a smirk. “Pretty, like you, but bigger.”

König explains to her what a ‘dating app’ is with a look of pure glee on his face. She’s never seen him so happy, not even when he first met her. It’s not a concept she can wrap her head around, her kind just happen upon one another, sing and dance and feast together until love blooms between them. There’s no need for little, lighted rectangles when it came to courtship.

“She’s coming to visit soon.” He pauses as his phone lights up again, his eyes scanning over the message on screen as a grin spreads over his thin lips. “I will have to hide you.”

Her face scrunches in disdain at that as she rises to her feet to pad a bit closer to the hill of his thigh, spread over into the next seat. She places her palms against the rough fabric of his pants, looking up at him with an expression of sheer bewilderment.

“But I don’t wanna hide anymore — we are friends.”

The man’s smile falters a bit then, as he nods his head in agreement.

“Ja… but she will be more.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I am taking her on a date.”

König seems so happy, and yet she feels as if she’s being bitten by a viper. All of that talk with Bellis was for naught, because the human man that’s won her heart by telling her of his creature comforts, of war and sharing his meals with her has left her to have his heart stolen away by another.

Despite the way it hurts, she doesn’t find herself upset with him. He isn’t like her, and he’s been alone for far too long. She reminds herself that König deserves to be happy, especially after all that he’s done for her.

She only lets herself cry when he brings her back to the dollhouse and she sinks into the sheets of her bed.

The following morning comes and she wakes feeling refreshed before König even begins his tapping. She bathes in the little plastic tub filled with lukewarm water König had graciously fetched for her the night before from the faucet, clothes herself in one of the many doll dresses found in the little wooden wardrobe of her home. Dainty florals like the wallpaper in the little wooden house, only this time pink rather than blue.

When König taps at her door, she’s already prepared with her tiny mug and plate in hand, a smile on her face.

“Guten morgen, puppe.” He greets her with a lazy grin as he opens his palm to take her dainty kitchenware. His yawn is cute when he turns away to begin filling the liner of the well with coffee grounds. She follows after him across the countertop with hurried steps to match his vast strides.

As he prepares their breakfast, they speak endlessly of dreams, sweet syrupy things. He tells her he dreams of flowers sometimes, like the ones on her dress, and she tells him she dreams of exploring the world outside with him.

“I will carry you to the top of a mountain one day, little one.” König says sweetly as they both sip at their coffee. He doesn’t prepare it black as often anymore, often adding sugar and milk simply because he knows that she likes it better that way.

She tells him she doesn’t need to see the tops of mountains, because she already gets a perfect view when he carries her.

— — —

“I’ll be back later.”

König is dressed strangely, she notes as she watches him from the arm of the couch. He’s dressed casually, more so than she had ever seen him, which is a large statement considering the man normally roamed around his abode in nothing more than a pair of black sweatpants. Tonight, however, he’s chosen a black t-shirt with some text scrawled across it that she can’t quite read and tough denim. It’s an odd sight when she’s grown so accustomed to the bare flesh of his scarred torso and gaudy military camos unsuited for cozy, indoor wear.

The giant crouches to lace up his boots with one hand while the other holds his phone. There’s that smile on his face again, but she easily takes notice of the way his hand shakes with it in his grip. He’s nervous, but never so with her.

It’s strange that he’s more comfortable with a little creature in his home than he is with his own kind.

“Oh… your date,” she murmurs, standing up to her full height, despite how small it may be.

“Ja, my date.”

“Can we watch another movie when you get back?”

König nods his head as he approaches the couch, slipping his phone back into his pocket before gently stroking the top of her head as though she were just a small kitten.

She doesn’t like the fact that he doesn’t see her as anything more than a cute pet any longer. Sprites didn’t keep track of their ages as humans do, celebrating the day they were born into the world with silly parties and gifts, but she would hazard to guess she’s at least a century older, maybe more. This wasn’t her first home, only, in the last she had watched that family wither away to an endless rest.

König was different; she wanted him to stay, thrive, live forever here with her. A selfish, silly wish.

When she leans into his touch, she thinks of the couple Bellis spoke of— a sprite and a human woman. It could be the same for she and König, if only he saw her for what she truly was, what she was capable of being.

“Ja, little one. As many as you like.”

She watches as the door closes behind him with her heart in her throat.

König does not keep her waiting long. If she had to hazard any sort of guess, she would assume that the moon hanging in the sky had barely moved by the time he returns. She hadn’t even left the couch, lying on her back staring up at the ceiling when the front door is flung open.

If it were possible for him to somehow look more pitiable, he does in that moment as he kicks off his boots and rests his phone and keys on the table by the door. She knows without a word exchanged that she should not ask him what’s happened. The broad shoulders were slumped, his face somehow paler. In that moment, her giant seemed even smaller than her.

She sits up and presses the buttons on the remote with her entire hand as König had shown her how to do, loading up some Austrian film he had told her was his favorite when he was just a boy. He offers her a lazy smile as he carefully places himself a respectful distance away and leans back into the couch. The movie plays while she occasionally speaks up to ask him what certain words mean, and he patiently teaches her, seeming thankful for the distraction she eagerly provides.

She doesn’t wake in her small house, in her tiny bed, this time, instead pressed against his thigh with his hand draped over her in the world’s heaviest blanket. When she raises her head up to look at him, peacefully resting with his head tilted against the back of the couch, jaw slack and dark lashes fluttering she makes a firm decision.

The golden herbs and berries Bellis had mentioned were on the far side of the forest. A long, dangerous trek, especially for someone who didn’t know the way. Rousing a mouse to treat as a steed could work, but the urgency caused her to fret. She wanted to meet his gaze and not fear stumbling back with each exhale of his breath, to be strong and capable enough to make her giant somehow feel as safe as he made her feel. There was no time to befriend a mouse and train it proper, not if she intended to do this before the new moon came and went.

She slips from beneath König’s limp palm, off of the sofa and out the small gap in the window to set off.

— — —

The early morning is alive with the chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves and calls of strange animals a distance away when she makes it outdoors. She shields herself beneath a broad fallen leaf, hunkering down to soil any time anything soars or wanders too close for her liking. Morning dew chills her to her bones, and she has herself convinced that after all of this she will most certainly craft herself a coat, perhaps one made out of a sleeve from one of König’s old shirts. He would allow it, she’s certain. The thought of him even wasting a day away to help her fills her up with another warmth to carry on.

Her little dress is filthy before she even makes it out of the yard.

Tall grass quickly morphs into a forested trail, the trees so vast and tall, filled with the chattering and singing of others. She waves to some of them, turns her nose up at a few that beckon her to join their little communes hidden beneath layers of tree bark and moss. She spots a red fox chasing after another in the midst of play, they chitter and whine as they topple over one another before bounding off into the brush.

When the sun completes a lazy crawl high up into the sky, it’s rays of warmth beaming down on to the back of the leaf, warming her fingers as they curl over it to keep it in place, she knows she should stop and rest. Tucked away in the shade of a small mulberry bush, she shoos away a vibrantly colored caterpillar before cleaning off one of the berries with a handkerchief she finds in the pocket of her dress. A small lunch that simply leaves her wishing for König’s breakfasts instead, always warm and filled with moments of soft laughter.

She wonders what he’s spending his time doing now, almost feeling a pang of guilt for leaving him after what had assuredly been a terrible outing with a woman he had admired. Did he miss her? Was he thinking of her, too? Searching through his bookshelf and beneath his couch in an effort to find her? She hoped so.

Her journey ends when night finally comes about. The moon above is a mere sliver, but it’s enough to frame the clusters of goldenrod in a soft, white glow amidst a sea of inky darkness. She cheers in utter delight when she realizes she’s made it, that despite no map or guides her senses were keen enough to carry her on the right path. She carefully gathers a few clippings, dropping them into a neat pile before seeking out the strange berries Bellis had told her about. Her thoughts are flooded by the idea of how she and König will dance, how she will tell him in a voice as loud as his own that she’s fallen head over heels for him and that perhaps, he can even teach her to use one of his many weapons before they clamber onto the couch snug and warm to talk throughout a film.

Those thoughts keep her warm when she beds down in a nest of wild grasses.

The next night fills her with excitement. The sky is darker with the new moon hanging up above, only pinpricks of starlight break through the dark. She pictured herself human sized as she performs her little ritual, feasting on berries and swaying with a sprig of goldenrod in a little dance before she bites down into it to. There are other sprites here, doing the same. Some get bigger to move or for silly things such as being able to shop in human markets or taste meat for the first time. They sing and giggle just as she does, and she sees the face flush with love of the one she knew Bellis had spoken of. It lasts the entire night, and she’s far too excited to sleep or stay out when all is done.

She doesn’t know when she’ll change shape, not having thought to even ask, but the sight of the other sprites had solidified her belief that it would come to pass.

The way back feels far shorter than the way forward. She finds herself back in the yard just as the sky settles into mottled purples and orange and puffy white clouds. The smile on her face makes her cheeks hurt, and her chest and legs ache from exertion, but she treks on until she meets the brick foundation of the house. With and arm raised and a foot dig into the firm clay, she begins to climb up towards the window still left slightly ajar.

Only, she feels a warmth at her side that tosses her back into the grass steps away. It pulls her breath from her lungs and it takes a moment for her to force herself back up into a crouch and her vision to cease its swimming. She’s always found cats to be cute from a distance away, all soft fur and pleasant sounds. The one before her, however seems menacing, its claws are bared and its pupils blown as his mouth hangs open to scent. The orange of its fur is like fire, the yellow of irises like the sun itself.

This thing was going to kill her, she knew it before she even caught sight of the way claws had slashed through the side of her dirty dress leaving shallow gashes in her flesh.

The cat rears back, shifting on its haunches in preparation to pounce as she wails out König’s name in a near-silent prayer that he would come rescue her from this adorable little murderer.

The cat is caught in arms the size of trees mid-leap. It yowls for a moment before a hand gently begins to stroke the fiery fur behind its ears. Her giant coos to the little beast, and the vibration of a soft purr could be heard as she dusts herself off and stands.

“Are you alright, little one?”

His voice is sweet as he carefully sets the cat back into the grass and scoops her up instead. She looks pitiful— dirty, injured and panting as though she’s just escaped Hell itself. König’s expression grows horribly concerned before she can even catch her breath enough to respond.

“I’m okay,” she mumbles as she rests her weary head on the palm that feels more like rough stone than living flesh. “I was only gone for two nights, did you have to get a pet?”

König laughs at that, shaking his head as he takes her back inside the house with metered steps.

“Nein, I did not. He’s the neighbor’s.”

He shuts the door behind him, taking care to ensure the scruffy feline didn’t sneak inside.

“Let’s clean you up, hm?”

The man offers her a human bandage for the scrape along her waist before she wanders into the dollhouse to bathe, dress the wound and change into something less dirty.

After everything, she finds herself utterly exhausted. She tells König good night wishes, but her giant is hellbent on keeping her in his sight. After a close call like that, she doesn’t protest when he tells her they should sleep on the couch again instead. It’s safer, and after two days apart there’s little more that she wants than to be close to him, tucked under his palm eternally safe. König only gets through the start of a story before she’s fallen asleep curled against the side of his thigh. It doesn’t take long for the giant to follow suit, either. His soft snoring is present in her dreaming, a gentle sound accompanying the breeze of wind through a field of lavender where they sit hand-in-hand.

— — —

König does not wake her with gentle tapping the next morning. Instead, it’s a bark of surprise that jolts her from her sleeping. Her vision is blurry when her eyelids flutter. She can make out the view of the coffee table, the television beyond it, and somehow it feels wrong. She was accustomed to straining her neck to look up at things, yet seeing them now she doesn’t need to at all. In fact, it feels stranger when she notes her head is no longer resting on the cushion of the couch below, but on a broad shoulder layered in muscle instead.

König is staring at her as though he’s just encountered a ghoul. In fact, he’s trembling too. His reaction is enough to prompt her to shrink back, away from him and retreat to the arm of the couch. Only, she can’t fit the entirety of herself there as easily as she had many times before. Her legs are much too long, and making her ascent only brings her hands into view. She holds one to her face and marvels at it before her gaze trails down, down and she notices she’s nude. The little dress she had been wearing was no more than a tattered and torn mess on the couch beside König, who’s still gawking at her.

He turns his head away rigidly after a moment while she sits bewildered by her change in shape. The man returns after a beat with a large t-shirt and a pair of his boxers in hand, thrusting them towards her graciously as he keeps his face turned away. She can make out the red tint on his cheeks, the way his lips part only to slam shut when words fail him and she laughs full and giddy as she slips his clothing on and stands up to twirl about the room.

“It worked!”

Her voice sounds strange even to her own ears now. Shouting from her regular stature still resulted in a mere whisper, yet this… along with seeing all she can hear all. Just as he does, she sounds of rustling wind chimes.

She reaches for his hand to pull him along in her rhythmless swaying, and he obliges with a sigh and a shake of his head. König’s grinning, though. Even more so than when he wasted his time tapping away at the phone screen. He looks happier than she’s ever seen him as he clumsily shuffles with her.

“Little one… what did you do?”

He’s still a fair bit bigger than her, but she stands the height she feels as though she should. Her giant is still a giant no matter what silly magic she uses, but it’s fine, because he’s not looking at her as a tiny doll anymore, but in utter amazement instead. The way his pulse races and his pale cheeks burn crimson isn’t lost on her.

She explains to him just what the other sprite told her, tells him about the one she saw so in love with a human woman he did the same each month to keep himself more her size too. König halts her movement as he tugs her against him and pulls her into an embrace, the very thing she’s yearned for since the afternoon they began to speak. She knows he’s confused and entirely confused, but he bends to rest his chin on the crown of her head and squeezes her so tightly that she knows he’s grateful for this small miracle too.

She helps König prepare breakfast this time. Having watched him ready his coffee pot dozens of times by now, she knows how to operate the small, black machine. She prepared the toast too, with a gratuitous sweep of jam over each slice of the warm bread. König is still overly gentle with her, keeping his distance and not resting his hands on her unless it’s required or she prompts it. She does, often intertwine her fingers with his even as they eat, which earns her a shy smile and a gentle squeeze each time. Her giant isn’t nervous with her, their conversations are the same. He tells her that she’s pretty as often as before, cups a steady hand on her shoulder when she reaches out to embrace him after their meal.

She thinks ahead and leads König into the forest to gather a plethora of golden herb and berries to stuff into the winter box for the next time she will need to perform her little ritual, and he swears to her that he will stay up the entire night to watch over her then. The walk is so much shorter from her height now, but she doesn’t forget to tap at Bellis’ alder and flash the sprite a little smile and a wave when König has his back turned on the way back.

He still has his work, and she waits at home for him like a doting housewife. Only now, he returns with gifts. His closet is no longer dark green and black— there are patches of soft colors and whites between, floral fabric and lace, dainty things that seem comical amidst the tactical articles and denims she knows he’s scrubbed blood off of a few too many times.

They don’t share a bed, but they still cuddle against one another on the couch. Hand-in-hand as she’s always dreamt of. In fact, most nights it’s his bed that she sleeps in while he rests elsewhere, and he doesn’t mind it at all. He even tucks her in and presses a kiss to her cheek that makes her so giddy that she can’t find sleep until a half-hour afterwards before he flicks off the lamp and leaves her to her dreaming.

— — —

She’s better at keeping track of time after adjusting to a more domesticated life. König’s been out for fifty-four days, but she doesn’t have to miss him so much. He’s gifted her a phone, sends her letters with his stories scrawled out in black ink. The calls are frequent, and she finds she loves them most of all. They’re at odd hours often, and he always breathes out an apology for having woken her that pulls a giggle from her, because they both know she wouldn’t have preferred to wake any other way than from the sound of his voice.

“I miss you.”

He sounds tired when he says it, and she imagines that he is. Those weary looks from before they had ever even spoken weren’t unwarranted and she knows well enough now. His tales of his heroics were not all spoken to simply boast.

“I miss you too, König.”

He huffs out a laugh into the phone, and she imagines his smile reaching the bright eyes that she loves, twinkling in mirth.

“I should let you sleep.”

“No, it’s fine.” She pauses to chew on her lip, heart sailing up into her throat. “Will you be coming home soon?”

He grunts out his confirmation. “Tomorrow.”

“I wish to take you on a date then— a picnic, maybe. I can bake a cake.”

König falls silent for a moment, and her breathing halts entirely as she slumps back against the bed— his bed— feeling as though she were still just as small as before. Surely… she could not have misread all of those little looks, the warmth and his fluttering pulse she felt as she rested her head on his arm so many times before. She parts her lips to recant her statement, but there’s no need. The contented sigh she hears in response is all of an answer that she needs.

“Ja, please. I would be honored.”

#könig #konig #konig x reader #konig x you #könig x reader #könig x you #cod fanfiction #konig fanfiction #könig fanfiction

816 notes · View notes

annymation · 11 months ago

Text

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 16- This Wish

Chapter 15

We see the people of Rosas all gathered in front of the castle. They're looking up to the giant green bubble on top of the palace, trapping MANY wish bubbles.

Mumblings and questions such as "What's going on?" "Why was a gathering summoned this late?" "What's King Magnifico doing?" can be heard floating around.

We focus on a few adults talking among each other until suddenly... One of them points out that the other's chest is glowing green, and then their own chest starts glowing green too.

The same starts to happen with many younger and older adults, parents with their children, older brothers and grandparents all feel like something is being taken from them... And there is indeed.

Their wishes are being taken back. Every single citizens older than 18 watches in horror and confusion as their wish starts floating out of their chest.

The bubbles are a mixed in shades of blues and greens, but the majority of them are green. They begin to swiftly fly upwards, making twists and turns around the palace like a snake climbing a tree, going around and around until all of them reach the top.

And once reach their destination, we turn our focus to the king who's taking all of their wishes in the first place.

We hear his voice with the enthusiasm of a shows man, echoing through the whole kingdom as he uses his magic staff as a "microphone":

"GOOD EVENING ROSAS!!!"

As his voice echos, every glass window magically turns into a mirror, showcasing his face, surprising the already frightened citizens.

(Yeah in the movie Mag could only do that with the star's magic but uuuuh I thought it was cool and it fits my Mag’s vibes, so here that's something he simply can do normally, trust me, him with Aster's powers is even worse.)

Magnifico and Amable both stand side by side looking down on the people bellow, their smiles are vicious. But Magnifico speaks like this is all just any normal gathering with his usual charismatic energy "Sooo good to see you! So good to be seen! And OOH BOY do we have some exciting announcements for you all tonight! Hahhaha"

Asha and her friends are all gathered together around Simon's now catatonic self, trying their hardest to wake him up, but nothing works, he's unreachable.

Asha turns to look at the monarchs a few feet away from them... She has her pencil and a piece of paper she got from one of the king's books inside her sleeve, they're both on the edge of the tower, if she can just draw something that mayb-

"But first! Please, give it up for your "fearless rebellion"! -oh you all are gonna love this heheehe" The king says that last sentence like he's sharing with the audience a very hilarious joke, while he turns his staff around to get Asha and all her friends, plus Valentino. Holding each one in individual tendrils of greens magic, he pulls them quickly and makes so they're hanging just out of the edge of the tower... If he lets go, they all fall down.

Asha and the teens look down horrified. Their faces now are being showcased on the glass windows bellow. Some of the adults looking at them we can recognize as the seven teens parents, all of them absolutely distraught and terrified.

"Surprise surprise! It's our faaavorite little agitator, Asha! Accompanied by- *gaaasp* A bunch of juveniles??? And a goat??? Oh dear, someone call the cavalry! HA- HAH AHAH!" The king places a hand over his head dramatically while laughing.

He just continues to laugh like a madman, so the queen proceeds to speak instead, her voice also echoing through the kingdom thanks to his magic "Children nowadays, really, just can't take your eyes off them for a second, next thing you know they're falling down a cliff." She jokes with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Magnifico takes some deep breaths and goes back to his little show "Right you are, dear! And THAT, ladies and gentleman, is why we'll never be having any kids!" He jokes to the horrified and confused people bellow, he looks down on them with a smile, but then turns his attention to the star trapped above him "Heheh well, not like we'll ever need a heir anyway, thanks to our dear guest of honor-"

Aster has his hands touching the walls of the bubble while he looks down on what's happening, and immediately after the king finishes his sentence, Aster's wrists are enveloped in magic, he's trapped on the bubble. But that's just for a second, the king makes the bubble disappear, and as soon as it does Aster is pulled down to the floor and chained down (Exactly how everyone was trapped in the movie's climax btw) Aster looks up in anger trying to free himself to no avail.

"The wishing star that can't even grant a single wish! Come on Rosas! Show him your joy!" The mirrors bellow now show Aster's face. The king is getting no applause obviously, but it's not like he expects them to actually cheer or anything, he's just having fun at this point "With his magic in our hands, our reign will be ETERNAL! So rejoice people! You'll get to see these pretty faces for a looooong while! Hahahhaah!" The king speaks with a sadistic enthusiasm.

Asha looks over behind her shoulder,and sees Aster chained down to the floor, the star also looks at her. They're both worriedly gazing at each other, with the king and queen standing between them.

"But you see, everyone- tsk well umm how can I put this?- Before doing that I'll need some extra power, ya know? For safety reasons- My safety of course- And to get that power, I'll need a tiny itty bitty little favor from the lot of you." His voice is clearly mocking them, as he says like he's not asking for much "I'm sure you won't mind, right? I mean, it's only fair that after EVERYTHING we've done for you we get something in return-"

"YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING FOR US!" Asha shouts in anger "All you've ever done was TAKE! And now you want MORE power besides just Aster's?! You'll NEVER be satisfi- AAaAAAaaAGH!" She feels pain coursing through her body as the king uses his magic on her.

The teens look scared. The people of Rosas gasp in shock.

"STOP!" Aster yells angrily trying to pull himself away from the restraints.

The king and queen just look amusedly at the girl squirming in pain, but Magnifico does finally stop. He brings Asha closer to them and says "Still with this dreadful habit of raising your voice at us, huh Asha?"

Asha is breathing heavily, her head is low while she tries to recover from the pain.

"However, you have a point. We DO want more. SOOO much more than you can even imagine!" He turns to his wife hugging her close "After all, I did make a vow I would give you the world and more, did I not, my love?" He looks at her in the eyes lovingly, almost like the world around them doesn't matter anymore.

"Awwwn darling~" Amaya coos passionately while gazing upon his eyes, and goes in for a kiss on the lips.

(Guys, I hate them too, okay? But like, I can't have the villain couple be close to winning and NOT make them smooch, ya feel me? Would be a crime, and it's such a power move.)

Once they separate from the kiss, Magnifico lets out a dreamy sigh, before going back to his deranged self "As I was saying before being oh so rudely interrupted: The time has come for you all to show some gratitude to your king." He looks down on them like little ants ready to be crushed.

He raises his hand open.

While we see the people looking up scared, lost and angry. Among them we see Simon's dad, taking off his helmet and commanding his soldiers to head to the castle so they can put an end to whatever is going on... But it's too late.

The king smiles as he warns them cheerfully "Oh and just a heads up... This might sting a little."

Asha looks up in shock with tears in her eyes, for she recognizes that phrase. "No..."

He quickly closes his hand, tightly and-

C R A C K

Like fireworks, all the wishes above them start exploding and being reduced to green and blue dust.

And as they pop like balloons, the sound of screams comes from below. We see all the adults and elders of Rosas being hit by a sudden pain in their hearts, but as soon as they yell in agony they stop, and bow down on their knees, unwilling to do anything, for they have no more will.

All the citizens younger than 18 are not affected, children are mostly sleeping at this time of night, but a few teenagers are there, desperately trying to wake up their guardians, but there's nothing they can do but cower in fear.

Aster is staring up at all the wishes being destroyed with tears streaming down his face.

Asha hears her people screaming and she can feel her own heart breaking.

Meanwhile, the king only laughs maniacally, as he absorbs the green energy from the crushed wishes into his staff, and in turn he feels the magic coursing through his veins "OOOOOH NOW THAT'S WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT HAHAHA" he breathes in all that energy like he just had the most delicious meal. He turns to his queen with a big smile "Can't BELIEVE I limited myself to only breaking wishes from the riff-raff for SO LONG!" He notices his cape is glowing "Darling, am I glowing? I feel as if I am, yes?" He twirls to his wife gleefully.

(Yeah I'm keeping that scene, that was adorable and I loved Chris Pine's delivery. Also this man just made a whole population go catatonic, so many children and babies are now unattended... Then he just casually mentions he has been doing this to homeless people the whole time. Only to then spin all happy and goofy to show his wife how his cape is shinny, like, I can't with this dude.)

The queen giggles at her husband's delight "You are indeed, mi rey. But how about we get to our little star of the show, hmmm?" She asks anxiously, turning her attention to Aster chained up to the floor behind them.

"Oh but of course, my sweet! Let me just see our un-welcomed guests out first." Magnifico turns to Asha and her friends, still using his magic to keep them hanging over the edge of the tower.

Asha has her head lowered, but as he approaches she raises it to glare at him, her eyes are filled with tears but she refuses to sob in front of him.

He just smiles at her smugly "Wondering why you still have your wish in one piece?" he asks, and she actually didn't realize before but... Yeah, she did give him her wish before, he could take it back, so why didn't he? She get's her answer "Consider it as thanks for providing the star for us. You get to keep the wish you wanted sooo badly to work hard and achieve on your own… By the way, how has that been working out for you?" He laughs while making her spin around in the air, turning her to look at the people kneeled down hopeless, with a few children and preteens lost and scared bellow, he holds her chin so she doesn't look away from them and whispers "Can't say I didn't try warning you, Asha. This world can be so cruel to those who choose to work hard for their wishes... And fail." He quotes what he said during her wish ceremony, with his fake caring tone.

Asha doesn't respond, and he doesn't really care as he makes her float closer to her friends.

Aster notices what the king is doing and pleads "NO- NO NO NONONO! PLEASE! DON'T!" His animation is almost fully sketch lines while he panics.

Asha looks at Aster full of sorrow in her eyes... But with a hopeful smile... She really wishes she could reassure him right now, and let him know that...

She does have a plan.

The king ignores the star's begging as he continues, a sinister grin on his face "And you know what they say about working hard! The higher you climb- THE HARDER IS THE FALL!" And with one swift move of his staff...

He lets go of them.

All the 8 teens and Valentino fall down from the tower.

Most are flailing their arms and screaming in panic, except for Simon who's still practically unconscious...

And Asha who looks focused on her task at hand.

For as soon as her arms are free from the king's magic, she reaches inside her sleeve and takes her pencil and the piece of paper she took from Magnifico's book.

Once she has both in hand, the wind is pushing the paper upwards but she manages to hold it tightly, and she quickly draws the most simple thing that can save all of them...

Circles.

She draws 9 circles on the paper, and once she's done, the wind blowing on the paper makes the drawings magically fly out of it, and once they do, her drawn circles become bubbles.

Big bubbles, big enough for a person to fit inside.

And fit inside they do, as each bubble does as Asha commands in her mind, and saves each one of her friends, Valentino and herself.

Before they know it, they're all inside hand drawn bubbles, floating slowly to the ground.

Her friends firstly get surprised, but once they understand what's happening they all sigh in relief.

Asha looks just as surprised as the others "*breathes in* *breathes out* *breathes in* I can't believe that actually worked! *breathes out*" She sighs in relief.

They're relatively close to the ground now. A few teens and preteens who were previously trying to wake up their catatonic parents approach where the bubbles are about to land.

Asha is so relieved she managed to save them all, she just lays down on the bubble... But fails to notice she was holding her pencil when she does.

POP!

The point of her pencil bursts her bubble.

"Wh-AAAAAAAH!" She's once again falling.

"WE GOTCHU!" The teens who were bellow them caught her. She wasn't too far from the ground so no one get's hurt.

"*phew* That was close, thanks." She thanks the strangers. They put her downs they’re all nervous for the situation, but still relieved that she's alright.

Asha's friends all land safely in their bubbles, that pop once they hit the ground.

Asha looks up to the top of the tower, she can see a green glow... They're starting...

"Okay, now I gotta get up there befo-" she reaches for the piece of paper she had... It's gone.

It flew away when her bubble bursted.

All she has is her pencil.

"... Oh no- nonono!" She turns around to the teens behind her "D-do any of you have a piece of paper? Maybe a book?" She asks around desperately, but only get's them shaking their heads "no"

Asha feels her heart racing. She looks up with her eyes wide, her breath is uneven.

"I- I have to save him!" Asha exclaims with tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes

"The castle is locked down!" Gabo points out to the closed gates "There's no way you're getting to the top in time!”

"Asha, I'm sorry but... It's over." Dahlia's voice filled with sadness as she places a hand on Asha's shoulder "We gotta get out of here! Who knows what might happen when they have Aster's pow-"

"NO!" Asha yells, her eyes closed as she shakes her arm in frustration, tears now falling while she holds her pencil tightly "I'M NOT LEAVING HIM BEHIND! NEVER! I AM NOT LETTING THEM TAKE AWAY ANOTHER PERSON I LOVE!" We see something that Asha isn't seeing since her eyes are closed...

She is drawing on air.

When she moves her pencil around, it creates floating glowing scribbling lines... Think of it like her pencil is now the glowing wand from the "Hi, I'm (insert Disney channel celebrity name here) and you're watching Disney Channel" adds.

Her friends look at this happening in shock, Dahlia points out what's happening.

"A- Asha LOOK!"

Asha slowly opens her tearful eyes, and she gasps upon seeing what she just did, the lines she accidentally drew are still floating in front of her.

"I... I didn't know I could do that..." she looks at her pencil and notices it's now glowing, almost like a magic wand... But how?... She thinks for a moment, and she recalls the time Aster explained how his magic works when they first met... "... "The stronger is the want in the wish maker's heart... The more I can do"...That's it!" She quotes what he told her back in chapter 7. She looks up to the top of the castle, drying her tears with her sleeve. Her eyes now have a burning a determination "I'm coming Aster, just hang in there."

Her pencil, now turned into a magic wand, can only draw glowing lines for now, but she tests something by drawing a line close to the ground, and she steps on it...

Yes, just like she thought, she can stand on the floating line.

She then draws another line above the one she's standing on, she jumps on it, and now she higher than before, then she draws and jumps on another line, then again and again, repeating the process, as if she's drawing the steps of her own stair case to the top of the palace.

She's practically running on air now, full speed ahead, wind blowing on her hair, her eyes fixated on her objective. The music rises along with her rising.

...

So we cut to Aster at the top of the tower, and what I will narrate now was happening at the same time as Asha and her friends were landing on the ground below.

We see Aster crying thick dark blue tears that resemble a night sky. He's sobbing while kneeling down with his head down. For all he knows, the love of his life and his friends are all dead, and he couldn't do anything but watch.

The star keeps sobbing until he hears someone softly shushing him, and feels a cold hand on his cheek. Aster opens his eyes to see Queen Amable right in front of him, with a smile that coming from anyone else would seem caring, but Aster knows it's just a mockery.

"Shhhh shhh hush now little starlight." She dries the tears from one of his eyes with her thumb, digging her sharp nail on the boy's cheek, making a cut that shows some star dust beneath his skin, but the cut instantly heals itself. Aster stares at her shaking in fear "There there, no more tears. You should be happy... Your power shall at last serve a purpose." She speaks serenely but with clear malice dripping from her words.

(Can I just mention this is the second time these two interacted in the whole story, and in the first time she tried to caress Aster’s face too but he dodged her hand like it was a bullet. So like, this is her way of saying that nope, he can’t run away, she’s in control, and that’s the creepiest thing for me, okay bye)

Those words hit deeper into Aster more that they'll ever admit, because it implies his magic served no purpose up to this point... And deep down they feel that's true, that he didn't make a difference... If anything maybe them coming down here just made things worse, he thinks.

We turn our focus on Magnifico looking down on his people.

And so...

We get a song.

This Wish (Reprise)

But not the "This Wish (Reprise)" You're expecting... At least not yet.

Oh no no no.

This is a "This Wish (Villain Reprise)"

For you see, initially I was gonna just narrate "And then they drained Aster's power and Asha got to the top of the tower" yada yada yada but that just felt WAY TOO LAME. Like, we've been building up to this for so long and all I give you guys is words? Nah man, we need a song.

Based on the AMAZING song by Lydia The Bard "Asha's Villain Song", I tweaked some of the lyrics to fit with the context of my rewrite. So of course, go give the original song a listen if you haven't yet!

And without further ado... Here's what happens next.

Isn't truth supposed to set you free? Why do you all seem so weighted down by it? So long having to play pretend Deceiving you had us entertained Yes, but now’s time for the main event

(Magnifico begins to sing, looking down on the people all knelling down, with no dreams, no hope, and no escape. He sarcastically asks them why are they so sad, if all he did was show them the truth. He smiles wickedly, admitting that the years of lying were fun, but now it's time for them to move on to a new chapter. As he sings the last line he turns around and starts walking towards Aster while swinging his staff around.)

See, when I speak they all bow down But what we want Is our ha-ppi-ly EVER after

(He now sings to Aster, who still has their face being held by the evil queen. To emphasize his point, when he sings "Bow down" he hits his staff on the floor, making Aster's restraints pull him even more to the ground, thus bowing down to him. The star looks up angrily. The king just smiles menacingly as he explains what he and his queen are after... To spend eternity together.)

You say they're made of stars But we know I’m so much more than that And we’re done shinning now, so our new vow, no matter how We're gonna burn

(He snaps his fingers and summons his magic book that has information about wishing stars, he sings as the pages flip, looking more and more deranged with every verse. Until he reaches the page he was looking for, his voice is more calm and his grin grows at the line "We're gonna burn". And we see in the book the illustration of a wizard stealing the power of a star, with symbols and words in a mysterious language written all over the pages.)

So the girl trusted a wish upon thee? Hoping you could be her little guide? If this light you shine is what will free us finally Let us be the ones to cross that line

(Amaya now sings to Aster, walking around him, her voice is melodic, and she's drawing out the word "Guide" while pulling the star's flowing hair to make them look at her. Aster does so, with a face of both fear and anger mixed together, but mostly fear. She sings the third line looking at him with a vicious smile. And once she sings the last line, she let's go of Aster's hair, and walks to be next to her husband, who has been mumbling some words in latin while she was singing, preparing the spell to absorb the star's power. The words he mumbled while she sang were "Stella lux, stella clara. Ultima stella hac nocte video. Dolere te licet. Clama ut. Sed lux tua mea hac nocte est."... And the spell is ready, his staff glows brighter. The spell is ready.)

So I make this wish To have so much more for us than So I make this wish To have so much more for us Than this!

(Magnifico points his staff towards Aster, grinning ear to ear. But before he casts the spell he waits for his queen to also hold the staff with him, so they can share the star's power together. And so she does, also holding the king's hand, she sings the same lyrics he just sang, as if to follow his lead. Now they're both side by side pointing the magic staff to Aster. They sing the last line in unison.

It begins.)

(ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS MASTERPIECE made by @gracebethartacc of what’s happening in this scene! With the designs created by @uva124 ! Thank you so much for you both for helping bring these characters to life!)

So much more than this So much more than this So much more than this

(A hand made of green light, similar from the ones Ursula created in "Poor Unfortunate Souls" comes out of the green gem, and makes its way to Aster quickly as the music ascends. The hand hits its target, Aster's heart, or at least where it would be if he had one. The king and queen sing together, while Aster screams in pain, as he feels not only his magic but his very being being drained away. With each line Magnifico and Amable sing, we see that their transformation starting to take hold, as swirly glowing lines begin to form on their skin, like Aster's magic is coursing through their veins. The couple couldn't be smiling wider.)

My bloodline brought expectations Tried to follow all their rules, did what I had to do And now I feel that it's quite overdue For me to have this power to use and abuse

(Magnifico looks at his own hand that isn't holding the staff, seeing it change, his fingertips start to glow, and this glow slowly spreads to the rest of his hand. He recollects in the first 2 verses how in his younger days he tried so hard to conform to what was expected of him, to be part of this long lineage of Rosas kings, but nothing he did was good enough, he wasn't worthy... So he took matters into his own hands, "Doing what he had to do" to become the king he deserved to be. As he sings the third line, he uses his glowing hand to slick his hair back narcissistically, his eyes are closed while he does so, and once his hand lets go of his hair, we see that now his hair is also glowing yellow, and it begins to move, flowing like a flame, just like Aster's. Once the king sings the line "And Abuse" he opens his eyes smiling maniacally, and his eyes have no pupils, just two empty orbs shining brightly like two suns.)

Shouldn't have dared to fight royalty No point begging, no point wishing Now we’re the stars in the sky that you are pleading The very night sky sanctified, blazing inferno sat on high Two super novas here to burn and smite

(Amaya is singing with more intensity and sounding even more deranged than her husband, as this is the first time the witch has magic flowing into her system all at once, while Magnifico is fairly used to it. We see that her eyes are already glowing completely like Magnifico's, and her hair starts to glow, and as it does, her braid undoes itself, and the withered roses in her hair burn down into nothing (Amaya's hair has roses on it in this rewrite btw, check @uva124 design for Amaya here!). Once her loooooooong hair is loose, it starts flowing up and down, just like Eris from Sinbad (Dreamworks movie reference for once lmao) And the glow keeps spreading to her whole body, and to Magnifico's too. As she sings the third line, the couple look at each other and begin to dance their own waltz together, floating in the air just like how Asha and Aster did when they sang "At All Cost". Aster's powers are still being drained, and he looks weaker and weaker by the second, we focus on the star looking like he's about to pass out as his glow is fading more and more... Then we fade to black, and cut to someone else.)

So I made this wish… To have something more for us than this… So I made this wish

(We see Asha making her way to the top of the castle, her face is worried, she sees a light coming from the top of the tower. She sings, her heart filled with so many conflicting emotions: Fear but also determination, anger but also hope, Hate but also love. All she can do is run on the stairs she's drawing for herself, and sing her heart out, hoping that maybe Aster can hear her just as he did when she sang this song for the first time... And he does hear her."

This wish This wish THIS WISH

(We focus back on Aster, we hear both him and Asha singing together, but as the star opens his eyes, he knows Asha is alive, so there's still hope, as long as she lives she can make her wish come true, Aster has no doubt about that. The star raises his head to look at the royals laughing in front of him, and he uses his last remaining strength to sing, because he's not going out without a fight... Though Aster can't fight... But he can make them listen.)—--------------------------------------------------- So I make this wish! We make this wish! For you to face your destiny! So I make this wish! To have so much more than this!

Is this really what you believe? That my power will set you free? You wish to be powerful But what you want is not what you need You see, I've been weak before I won't be that anymore I'd give anything to stop History repeating —---------------------------------------------------

(Aster and the royal couple sing all at the same time. The couple still dances and sings on the air, with their bodies becoming more and more bright, ignoring what Aster is telling them. While Aster looks weak with strands of hair falling on his face, tears running down from his eyes, and most importantly... His body is vanishing, leaving behind just the outline of his 2D body, as if he's becoming transparent. But Aster doesn't care about what's happening with his body, all he wants is to reach out to their senses, asking them if they really think they'll be satisfied, the star tries desperately to make them see they're making a mistake. He tells them how he was once been as a weak star, the smallest one in the sky, but he "won't be that anymore". When he sings the line "everything to stop history repeating" we get a glimpse of Magnifico's book on the floor, we see a page showing a human with bright yellow skin, causing havoc in a village.)

---------------------------------------------------------------- ALL WE WANTED! ALL WE NEEDED! WAS FOR HER SIT AND PLAY NICE! YOU TO COMPLY! YOU TWO CROSSED THE LINE! STARS SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THEIR OWN GALAXY! NOW SUFFER FOR YOUR CRIMES!

Magnus, understand You are just a man! Amaya, mortality Cannot be defied! Yes! My magic’s bright... But it'll be your demise... You'll suffer for your crimes... *GASP*

------------------------------------------------------------------

(Magnus and Amaya aren't singing anymore, just screaming at the star angrily. They're now completely made of light, except for their chests, that have dark circles that swirl like a whirlpools... Black holes.

They yell about how Asha should've just followed their rules, and how Aster should've just accepted his fate, but they didn't, and we focus on Magnifico's still visible scar and Amaya's also still visible white hair streak as they sing "YOU TWO CROSSED THE LINE"

Aster calls them by their names, trying to reach out for some glimpse humanity still left inside, make them see that trying to defy fate will only destroy them. Yes, Aster hates them, and he's trying to make them see this much more because he worries for everyone else's safety, but even then, the star is also compassionate enough to want to save them from themselves. But trying to reach out to them proves to be like talking to a wall.

They're singing the last lines, Aster looks weaker than ever, now he's just a sketch with no color, transparent, with a faint light flickering on his chest, he feels they're about to absorb him completely, there'll be nothing of him left... He'll die. But he still keeps on singing, even though he lacks the strength hold his head high to look at them floating above, the star lowers their head and sees-)

Asha.

She reached the top.

She's pointing her wand at the couple floating above her, and when they're on the last note of the song-

She attacks.

With her wand, she quickly scribbled what looks like a fireball, and with her face burning with rage she launched it at them.

That caught them off guard, making Magnifico stop the spell.

However... it gave them no damage.

Aster gasps, both in surprise for seeing Asha and also in relief that the spell finally stopped draining him, one second before he was fully taken away...

"ASTER!" Asha screams while running to him, ignoring the two floating and glowing figures above her, she can deal with them later, all she needs is to know if Aster is alright. She kneels down and holds them, or at least what's left of them. The star is laying on the floor, he's no longer chained down, Magnifico knows there's no need for that anymore "I'M HERE! I made it! Come on, please! Can you hear me?!" She asks desperately with tears running down her face, worried beyond words.

She sees the fading light on his chest, like a flame about to burn out.

It's like they took 99% of Aster's magic, and now what Asha sees in front of her is just an 1% of himself, just fighting to keep his human shape.

And his shape is just a sketch that keeps appearing and disappearing, like an unfinished storyboard.

Like this, note how Mickey ears disappear and his face too, yeah, it’s like Aster’s details are fading in and out, disappearing and reappearing like he’s fighting to keep existing:

But even then, even with him feeling weaker than he could ever imagine... Aster smiles at her "I- I heard y-yo-o-u..." Aster stutters quietly as he keeps flickering away, the star can barely move, but he still manages to raise a hand to hold her face, she hold his hand back "Th-thank y-ou fo-or savi-ng m-e" He says weakly, his voice barely a whisper.

"OH-HohOHhoH I WoUlDN't CaLl tHaT "SaVInG", LiTtlE oNe! HahHAhahHaAAHA"

Magnifico's voice comes from behind Asha, it echoes through the air, sounding distorted and unhinged.

"HihIhAAHAhaAhAha! iN FaCt! iT SeEMs thAt THeRe'S NoTHiNg lEfT oF hiM FoR yOu tO SaVE aT aLL, mY DeAr! YoU'rE tOo LaTE!"

Now it's the queen's voice, sounding just as maniacal as her husband.

(Ya know, I was gonna use ThiS eFFeCT on their voices the whole time, buuuut I think I'll leave it just for these two first lines since they're getting used to the power of a star inside them. If I used it too much I might give myself and ya'll a migraine.

Also, best way I can describe their look right now is like that girl from Paranorman, but instead of lighting coming from them it’s star dust, plus Eris flowing hair in Amaya’s case, plus they have dark black holes on their chests, the black holes idea actually came to me recently thanks to a comment from @gracebeth3604 soo thanks moot ;))

Asha hasn't turned to look around, but she can see their light coming from behind her, she’s casting a huge shadow, They're so bright and so close to her it's almost like the night just turned into day.

She holds what remains of Aster close to her, she doesn't know what to do but no matter what she's not letting go of him. Aster is too weak to do anything.

The two royals just laugh at her. Magnifico floats to be in front and face to face with the girl, his cape floating in the air with star dust flowing out of it, exactly like Aster's cape did before.

"Sooooo glad you could join us though! After all, what better way to start using your precious wishing star's power than-"

He raises his hand to use his power on her. Knowing that unlike Aster, he can do a lot more damage than some tickles.

Asha just holds Aster closer and braces herself for it.

"Putting you out of your misery haHAAHahah"

He says sinisterly as he goes for the kill-

The queen holds his arm.

"Now now my sun, why on earth would you do that?"

Both Asha and Magnifico are surprised by Amaya's intervention. The king looks at his wife and just goes

"Huh?"

Amaya floats gracefully pulling her husband away, her cape and dress also have star dust flowing from under it, and her hair floats as if it's under water.

"You said it yourself silly! You wanted to give them a fate worse than death. Is there a fate worse than watching as your loved one slowly perish?"

She says referring to a line Magnifico said in chapter 12. Magnifico understands what his wife means now, and he couldn't agree more.

" Wise as always, my moonlight” He praises her passionately before turning back to the two teens “We'll leave you two love birds to it, got a whole kingdom to remodel and a few new powers to play with, ya know how it is. So ENJOY the show, Asha! None of it would be possible without you!"

They give Asha an almost cheshire cat like smile before leaving them to grieve.

Asha looks to them, with horror and sorrow in her eyes, she has no idea on what to do. The two royals fly away laughing, leaving the girl and the half dead star alone on the top of the tower, and begin to play around with their powers.

(I'mma describe how they're playing around in a sec but now I NEED to focus on Asha and Aster or I'll explode.)

Asha looks at the star in her arms, with every second it looks like he's about to disappear completely. Now that the two villains aren't there anymore... She stops holding it in, she begins to weep.

"*sob* I... I'm sorry Aster, I did everything I could but... We lost." Her tears fall and go right through Aster, now that he's transparent, but the star can feel himself go ever weaker as Asha starts losing hope "... No matter what I did, or how much I tried... I couldn't give Rosas more than... This." She looks behind her shoulder, seeing the two now power crazed monarchs using their magic to change their kingdom to their liking.

Aster holds her face and makes her look back to him "... don-don't sa-y tha-t... y-you're still here... as long a-as y-you're here then there's still a chance" Aster smiles at her with exhausted eyes, caressing her face "And I-I'll be with y-you... I promise."

"But what am I supposed to do? My magic is useless against them- Everyone in Rosas had their wishes broken I- THIS is impossible!" She shouts, now with more tears rolling down her face

Aster lets out a weak chuckle "heh ehhehe yeah... but you showed me it's kind of fun to do the impossible..."

(Aster, you're dying, this is no time to quote Walt Disney)

Asha is still crying but she can't help but smile a little at how the star still manages to be hopeful in this situation "You really think there's still something we can do?"

"not we... you" The star responds weakly, his light becoming even dimmer

"M-me?" Asha tries holding Aster's hand and notices it has completely disappeared... He's fading away. She looks desperate at him "No nononono please! There's gotta be a way I can save you!"

"I'm not going anywhere, not until your wish's granted" he explains "Like I said... I promise I'll be with you... Even if you can't see me..." Aster still smiles serenely at her while their hand drawn body is slowly fading away, leaving behind just a flickering light on his chest.

"I- I don't understand... How can I grant that wish now?" She asks her wishing star.

And the star answered:

"Inspire them."

Asha's eyes widen "What?... Aster, this isn't like before, and even if it was... They can't listen to me, they lost their wishes."

"Then give them a new one." The fading star puts it simply

Asha doesn't understand what Aster means, she just gets more and more distressed as he keeps fading away.

Aster realizes he doesn't have much time left, so he better be quick.

"I know this doesn't make much sense now... But you'll know what to do... *sigh* See ya after you win, okay?... I love you." Aster's face starts to fade away and-

Asha's heart sank like a stone falling on water.

Aster's body was gone... All that was left was a flickering light on her hands.

She looked at that light, more tears fell on her hands...

"... I love you too." She holds the light close to her heart, as more of her tears fall on the floor.

... And suddenly...

The light began to move on its own.

Flying away from Asha's hands, it begins to spin around her.

Asha is surprised by that, she get's up to see what the tiny star is doing.

Once she's standing up, the light flies from the bottom or her dress, to the top in circles, leaving a trail of star dust that transforms her dress.

(Cinderella transformation reference of course)

The music swel ls as Asha's dress magically morphs into a gorgeous princess gown:

(THANK YOU SO MUCH @salmonpiffy FOR LETTING ME USE YOUR GODLIKE ART PIECE IN THIS REWRITE! I had this plot point of Asha getting a princess dress planned for a WHILE, and this drawing it was simply exactly what I envisioned! If you haven't yet, go like and share the original post here!)

Asha is stunned by the transformation, she looks at the flickering star, about to ask it what this is all about, but before she can ask anything-

The small star flies into her heart, making a big glowing star show on her chest.

Asha closed her eyes... And once she opens them, we see her pupils are now swirling like a galaxy.

... Asha understands what Aster meant now.

"... I get it now, you're with me, even if I can't see you." She places a hand on her heart... She can feel that little bit of Aster is inside her... A few tears still roll from her eyes, she knows what to do, but there's no way of knowing if it'll actually work.

"... I'll try..." She tells that both to herself and for her star, as that's all she can do.

She get's her magic wand, and walks to the edge of the tower.

She looks to the kingdom bellow.

The king and queen are making giant thorny vines, grow all over the kingdom, terraforming it to their delight.

Buildings collapse, being crushed by the rose like vines. It's like they're destroying everything only for the fun of it, or so they turn it all into a blank slate only to start it over again.

But thankfully, they're flying far away from where everyone's gathered... So at least they won't see her like this just yet.

She jumps from the tower, even though her magic isn't a lot, she can still float down slowly.

And once she lands down, the first people she sees in the middle of the crowd are her 7 friends and Valentino. Simon kneeling down, not responding to the other six teens trying to wake him up, most of them crying, hopeless and defeated.

“Maaaa!” Valentino bleats out once he sees her.

They all stop what they were doing once they see Asha approach them, wearing a princess dress and shinning like a star. They stare at her in disbelief.

"Asha?" Dahlia says quietly

Asha looks to them, and all the other people down on their knees... She sees something else...

Now that she has a little bit of Aster's magic, she has his eyes, she has the power to see people's stars... Her friends and the other people younger than 18 still have their stars shinning, while all the people who had their wishes broken have their stars so dim that it's almost like they're not even there... But they are still there, weak, but she can still re-candle them

So... Asha follows what Aster suggested, and tries to inspire them.

She begins to sing.

And NOW we get the song This Wish (Reprise) you were expecting. Tho, in this rewrite we'll call it "This Wish (Kingdom Reprise)" for reasons you'll know in the final chapter... Which is the next one, not this one :)

So without further ado:

This Wish (Kingdom Reprise)

So I look out at the stars just like me And I’m begging you to see this as a sign ’Cause I know that if you choose to stand beside me

(Asha begins to sing to everyone around her, her voice shaking with sorrow and tears still falling from her eyes. She hears the sound of buildings nearby crumbling, it's the king and queen using their powers to destroy just for the fun of it. The sound makes her stop singing for a moment... But also makes her more determined to keep going. She dries her tears while singing the last line... She looks around, and the stars of the people around her still look weak... But Dahlia's star is as bright as ever when she sings)

We’ll be greater than all their magic combined So I make this wish So I make this wish So I make this wish So I make this wish To have something more for us than THIS

(Dahlia is looking up to the royals above them when she begins to sing, trusting her best friend wholeheartedly, she looks at her with a smile and makes a wish. Asha sees Dahlia's star shining brighter... And she also feels something changing, she feels herself growing stronger. A smile begins to form on the corner of Asha's lips. Then, Hal and Bazeema join in, they both stand up and sing along with Dahlia. Gabo and Safi join in, with Dario signing the lyrics with his hands. All six of them are singing together, Asha smiles brightly seeing them still hold on to hope with her, their stars all shinning brighter and brighter... But then, she realizes someone else's star is beginning to shine shining brighter... Simon was on his knees with his head down, and he began to sing the last line along with them, the others look back when they hear him, and once they get to sing "THIS" Simon raises his head, smiling at Asha with his hope fully restored, and Asha can see that in his star shinning brighter than ever. The music swells, and so does Asha's heart, she knows now that YES, they can save everyone else. Her friends hug Simon, happy to see he's back to normal, but just like Asha, they know what to do now, and they all waste no time.)

We’ve had generations of expectations Wondering why, wondering when We’re past dipping our toes in We know it’s do or die, it’s sink or swim

(We see the 7 teens walk around the people, encouraging the younger people who are still awake to sing along, combining their hopes in this wish. And as more people with broken wishes hear them, the more of them start to rise up, as if they had nothing to fight for before, but now they do, and with their heads raised up high, they look to the king and queen flying above them... And said king and queen finally notice the "noise" coming from bellow them. They weren't looking at the people until now, to them the people are nothing but little ants. They look down confused but also amused at how those insects still think they have a chance.)

We were all confusing your promises for protection But we know what we’ve gotta do Hope unchanging, with our wish held high The way you’ve always taught us to

(The people keep singing, more and more stars are lighting up on their hearts, just like Asha, the king and queen can also see the people's stars, for they too have Aster's eyes now. But the king has had enough of this little "final stand" of theirs, and he points his staff to them.

The people stop singing, their eyes widen in shock, for they see the king charging a huge blast of magic at them, ready to wipe them all out like they're nothing.

The blast shots out of his staff.

We hear it hit, and all of Rosas is engulfed in green smoke upon the impact. The king and queen just smirk at that, after all, who needs a kingdom when they can have the whole world?

...

But then the smoke begins to clear.

The villain's smiles fade into faces of shock.

“What…?” Magnifico mouths, not believing what he hears)

So I look out at the stars just like me And I know that just like them I shine

(The couple is baffled not only by what they hear, but mostly by what they see...

A shield.

A gigantic, circular, glowing, purple, hand drawn shield. It protects all the people bellow. The shield has the Rosas emblem drawn on it, that’s Asha’s way of showing that the symbol doesn’t represent the royals, it represents Rosas, and they’re taking their symbol and their kingdom back.)

What we do in this moment is defining And we can take it on if we ally

(We see Asha raising her wand to the sky, the shield she manifested begins to disappear, but she remains with a daring smile, for they don't need to defend anymore, she's ready to attack and finish this once and for all. She begins to soar, wind blowing on her hair as she flies towards Magnifico and Amaya. She feels even more of Aster's magic flow through her, and even though it's only a little bit of his magic, she feels she might be as powerful as an actual star, because, unlike the royals, she has ALL of Rosas believing in her, and that gives her more strength than they could even fathom.)

So I make this wish

(When she sings "Soooo" Asha begins to fly as fast as a shooting star, darting and spinning through the air, leaving trails of star dust around the two very angry and lost glowing figures. Once she sings the word "Wish" she stops, now flying upside down right in front of the royals, she looks in the king's angry eyes with a huge confident smile, much like Aster did with her on the night they met.)

To give us freedom, hope and bliss

(We get a shot of the people bellow, everyone is awake with their stars shinning brightly, they cheer for Asha, all of them placing their hopes on her, and in turn making her magic even stronger.)

So I make this wish To have something more for us than THIS

(Asha flies to be just above the two royals, Magnifico points his staff at her to attack, but it's no use, for Asha is already drawing something with her wand.

A sword.

She grabs it in the air, looking down at them fiercely as she raises her sword to give the final blow.

Amaya is hugging her husband tightly, she's horrified. Magnus can't get his magic to work... Because star's magic rely on people's hopes and belief, and right now, no one believes in them.

As Asha sings the last line with all her heart, hopes and magic flowing through her-

She STRIKES DOWN.

Hitting Magnifico's staff, the moment she sings "THIS".

"NO- NOOOOO!!!" Magnifico yells in despair.

The gem CRACKS.

And once it finally BREAKS, all the magic that Magnifico absorbed is freed, both from the wishes of Rosas... And from Aster.)

A HUGE explosion like a firework fills the night sky.

And slowly... All the wishes begin to rain down on the people of Rosas, each one floating to their individual owners.

None of the bubbles are green, they're all blue. With the source of Magnifico's magic destroyed, all the curses he created have been lifted.

We see the citizens of Rosas holding their wishes and admiring them before placing them inside their chests, joy and relief washing over them.

We see a few citizens say "My wish!" "I'm going to make it happen." "I just can't wait to get started!" As they hold their wishes, they're all excited to make their dreams come true.

But among the citizens we also see Asha's friends, all of them looking up, worried for Asha, that was a pretty big explosion after all.

"Look!" Hal points upward.

They see Asha floating around. Still wearing her princess gown and holding her wand.

As she flies down along with the wishes, she smiles and admires a few of them close to her, seeing how beautiful and alive they are. She giggles unable to contain how happy she feels.

And when she starts giggling, she hears a familiar laugh from behind her.

She turns around, and she sees specks of star dust that were floating in the air start to join together, forming a clump of star dust trying to take shape.

Asha smiles brightly, already knowing who that is.

The star dust begins to take the teenaged prince shape she knows so well. But there's still one piece missing for them to fully reform.

Asha knows that, and she gladly gives the final piece.

She places a hand on her chest and takes out the little spark of light that was left of Aster, the little spark that gave her all the magic she needed to win.

Once she takes out the spark, her magic dress and sparkles on her hair all go into it, her magic is now gone.

And so, Asha begins to fall.

She’s free falling for a moment, but she knows there's nothing to fear, after all-

Aster, now fully back to his original form and laughing gleefully, catches her.

"HAHA YOU DID IT!!! I KNEW YOU WOULD! HHAHAHA YEEAH" The star spins and flies around with her in his arms.

Asha laughs as well, holding the star tightly with tears in her eyes "WE did it! Hahaaha aah" Aster stops spinning and they look at each other while still floating down together "You really were with me the whole time." She says with her eyes gleaming.

Aster smiles warmly "Well yeah, wouldn't wanna break rule number 1 again heheh" He jokes referring to the rules Asha established when they went to the kingdom together for the first time "Stay close to her at all times". The two of them are floating down, looking into eachothers eyes as Aster says with certainty "But really... I barely did anything, that was all YOU." He says with admiration.

Asha smiles but corrects him with a cheekily tone "Heh heh I guess, but I only knew what to do because I had the guidance of an amazing wishing star" she boops his nose, and Aster's starry freckles sparkle and his smile widens "So I'd say WE did it hihihi" she giggles, knowing she won the "argument"

Aster sighs as they reach the ground "Yeah, I really did get a lot better at this whole guiding thing... Thanks to YOU." Aster winks playfully.

Asha just laughs at that and hugs him"... I thought I'd never see you again." She sighs in relief while feeling his warmth.

Aster's smile falters a little and his eyes show a hint of sadness, knowing that she indeed won't see him again.

"... About that... Asha, I need to tell y-"

"GROUP HUG!!!" Dahlia screams

Asha and Aster feel themselves being embraced by Asha's friends. All of them laughing in relief.

"That was AMAZING!" Hal exclaims jumping up and down while they hug.

"You really did it! They're gone for good!" Dahlia exclaims hugging her best friend.

They all celebrate and cheer while they hug, but they hear a strangers voice:

"Umm excuse me..." A random citizen of Rosas, a bit younger than Asha chimes in, they stop the hug to look at him and he proceeds "I wouldn't say that yet. You might wanna take a look at this, miss" He speaks directly to Asha while pointing to the other side of the plaza.

Asha's eyebrows raise in confusion.

We cut to the king and queen laying on the floor...

Magnus groans in pain.

(NOW I know ya'll just read that and thought:

“WHAT?! “Groans in pain”?!? He’s supposed to be dead!!!” And yes, I hear you, I agree, BUT HEAR ME OUT! LET ME COOK! YOU'VE WAITED 16 CHAPTERS YOU CAN WAIT A FEW MORE LINES!!! IM GETTING THERE!! IN A MINUTE!!... Anyway back to the story.)

The man places a hand on his forehead as he sits up and looks around in confusion... The confusion turns into shock once he realizes his skin no longer glows...

And there are MANY angry eyes staring down at him, from the crowd of Rosas citizens.

The night sky is turning orange as the sun rises.

Magnus breathes heavily while looking at the crowd, his eyes darting at every direction like he's processing what should be his next move.

But his thoughts all but vanish when he hears his wife yelp in pain a few steps away from him

"AMAYA!" He get's up and rushes to her aid.

She looks at him in despair, not understanding how could this happen, and as the king help her get up he has the same distress in his eyes.

They had won, they had everything they wanted, so how did they lose it all so quickly?... How did she do it?

They find there's no time to ponder on this, as some guards begin approaching from the crowd.

Magnifico almost instinctively spouts out the first lie that comes in his head to get them out of this "W- wait WAIT ha-hah my people, please thi-this is nothing but a terrible misunderstanding! Tha-that wasn't US! Y-you see, we we're- uuh- POSSESSED! Yes- by dark magic from my book of spells!" He clumsily comes up with the very obvious lie.

(hihihihehheehehahaheahhaeahHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH AAAH- we do have fun here, don't we?)

The people are all still staring angrily at them, the king knows he's not fooling anyone, but without magic, deception is his only way to protect the wife he's holding in his arms, so he continues "Bu-but it's all good now!- heh he- So no need to get-"

"No one believes your lies anymore." Asha's voice comes from behind them. The couple turns around and sees Asha and Aster are holding hands.

Aster glares at them angrily, as one would after being killed and then used to cause so much destruction to a whole kingdom.

Asha meanwhile doesn't looks angry, nor sad, nor happy, she's just calmly stating a fact as she proceeds "It's over, you hold no power over anyone here."

The villains scared faces slowly morph into rage when they see the two teens, Amaya let's go of her beloved's arms and asks with her voice almost a screech "HOW DID YOU DO IT?! HUH?! What kind of sorcery was that?! We had all of the star's power and you had nothing but a smidge!"

Asha almost ignores the woman, as she turns her attention to look around at all the people surrounding them, they all also seem kinda curious to know how she did it.

Asha begins smiling while looking at them, and she explains "True, I only had a little bit of magic, but it was more than enough, cause' I had the whoooole kingdom believing in me." Asha looks at Aster now with a warm smile, and the star looks back to her smiling too "And a wishing star's magic can only go as far as how much they're believed in."

Magnus rolls his eyes at that and groans in annoyance. He hates to admit it, but the girl is right, he shouldn't have left a single fraction of the boy left, that's what he get's for showing mercy... He lost.

But the man always believed the winner is the one who laughs last. He holds his forehead as he begins to chuckle "Hehehahahaah aaah I gotta hand it to you, Asha, you really never cease to surprise. So! What happens now, hm?" He asks with a sarcastic smile, trying to look like the one in control of the situation even though everyone is against him "Will it be the classic beheading ooooor burn us at the stake like witches? Please, do get creative, I wouldn't want my death to be something generic."

"OH I assure you it won't, your "highness"" Aster chimes in with a smile that looks like his usual innocent self but his tone shows he's actually planning something very much not innocent at all "Cause' you see, I just had the BEST idea of what to do with the two of you" The star tilts his head to the side... Magnus looks like he instantly regrets saying anything "Though, let me just sort it out with my wish maker first, excuse us for a sec." Asha is looking at Aster very confused as he starts whispering something in her ear.

Asha hears what he has to say curiously and she quickly gasps in surprise "Wait- You can do that??" She asks him shocked

... The evil couple doesn’t see that as a good sign...

"Hehehe usually? Nope!" He admits to Asha gleefully, then he turns to the villains in front of them "But right now, I can feel AAAAAALL the people of Rosas wishing for one thing... For you both to face consequences. With so many people wanting the same thing with all their hearts, hehehe well, let's just say my magic becomes strong enough for me to get pretty creative with what I can do." Aster crosses his arms and walks closer to the taller man, he could float to be taller than him but he sees no need "We wishing starts do believe anyone deserves to have their wish come true though, no matter who they are. So guess what Mag, I'm granting your wish too!" The star says with a smug.

That got a few questioning glances from the crowd

"... W-what?" That caught the man off guard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amaya asks worriedly, now walking closer to her husband again.

"Oh you'll see... That is, if you agree." Aster turns to Asha, after all, this is all her wish, so she should get to decide how it comes true.

Asha ponders for a moment with a hand on her chin, she looks around her people all waiting for her to make a choice... She smiles at Aster as she makes her decision "Yeah, I think that sounds fitting for them, do it."

"What sound fitting?! What are you two brats blabbering about???" Magnus just holds his wife closely to him like he wants to protect her from whatever these two are planning.

Aster turns to them with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, preparing to “grant their wish”. The star moves his arms in circles, creating a mass of magic glowing dust.

The two royals brace themselves for the worst, hugging each other tightly.

Aster throws the dust at them and...

Nothing happens.

The couple looks at one another to see if anything changed, then pass their hands over their own faces and bodies to see if anything's different... Nothing

Aster is still smiling at them confidently though, with his arms crossed.

Magnus just assumes whatever the star tried to do didn't work, he throws his head back as he laughs "HA! I don't know why I was worried! You can't even hurt anyone!" The king says with a grin, Aster just raises one eyebrow while smiling, he's looking down at the man's feet as he starts to walk towards the star "Just a pathetic little star who can't grant a single wi-"

He only took two steps, but he stops walking suddenly once he realizes... His feet are REALLY heavy right now.

Magnifico looks down and...

His shoes are now made of stone... And it's spreading to his legs.

"Sorry, sometimes magic just takes a bit of time to take effect, I can try to speed up the process if you'd like" Aster comments casually while holding hands with Asha again

"Wh-what is th-"

"My- My love" Amaya says from behind him, her voice shaking in fear.

He turns to her and sees that the skirt of Amaya's dress is now half made of stone, she cannot move.

The people of Rosas look surprised, but not sympathizing with the ex royals one bit, some smile, agreeing with what Asha said, this really is fitting.

"You two did always like statues made in your image, right? It's only fair you two get turned into one of them" Asha comments. Smiling like she's watching something very satisfying.

The magic keeps spreading up and the man looks not just terrified but mostly furious at the star "Th-THIS IS A TRICK! You CAN'T use your magic to take away humans lives!" He yells at Aster, knowing this from his book about wishing stars.

"And who said you two will die? You just won't be able to move anymore." Aster corrects him.

That made a chill run down their spines.

And the star continues:

"You two wished you could live together FOREVER, didn't you? Welp, there you have it!"

The queen looks in the verge of tears as she exclaims "T-this isn't what we wished for at all!"

"A taste of your own medicine, that’s how it feels like to have your wish twisted into a curse." Asha says, her eyes following the curse spread, as now their lower halves are completely frozen, Magnus is two feet away from Amaya, he's in front of her because he tried walking to talk to Aster, but the woman is holding his hand. Asha thinks to herself that's definitely a good pose for them, showing Magnifico turned away from his love just to show some sense of superiority. She keeps that to herself though, and just adds "This way, you'll be frozen but still able to see Rosas thrive, and the people prosper... Without you." Her voice is determined.

The villains eyes are wide. Amaya is holding onto her beloved's arm, but he's not facing her... If this really is how it ends she wants to at least be looking at him as they go, she urges him to turn to her, holding his arm tightly.

But Magnifico can't bring himself to notice... Taken by his own delusion, all he says is this:

"... HeheheHAHAHAHA! PROSPER??? Who? These people?!" He shouts pointing at the people around them "These WORTHLESS little peasants don't know how to LIVE without me!!" He's looking at the people around, the pupils in his eyes are small like he's consumed by rage "NONE OF YOU EVER ACHIEVED ANYTHING ON YOUR OWN! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE! YOU NEED ME!"

Those words echo for a moment... But someone from the crowd breaks the silence:

"But we can achieve a lot on our own, especially without you pushing us down." Says an elderly citizen with a serious face.

The man turns to him, ready to spout out something else but he's interrupted by another voice

"And you never gave us anything, you only took away from us years of memories we could've builded together." Said a woman holding a baby in her arms and a child is next to her, most likely a mother whose cursed wish made her spend more time away from her kids.

Magnifico looks less angry and more in despair as his lower torso is fully turned into stone.

"And you didn't make us who we are... You made us into what YOU wanted us to be." Who says that is a familiar face, Dahlia's mom, standing next to her daughter, Dahlia smiles at her proudly.

Amaya is still quietly urging him to look her way with tears running down her face. Her chest begins to be turned into stone. She's almost fully frozen Magnifico doesn't look back to her... She's sobbing and he doesn't listen.

(Man, if you think this hits hard now, just you wait till I share Amaya's backstory later, you're in for a ride.)

"And no one needs you. We never did." Asha states looking at the fallen king in the eyes. And the whole kingdom agrees with her.

Magnifico feels his chest turn into stone, and a sharp pain course through him, not from the star's magic... But a pain from his own past.

He still hides it well as he says "Th-that's where you're wrong, right, mi vida-" He finally does look back to his wife and-

She's fully turned into stone now.

Magnus feels his neck now turning into stone, and for the first time... He has nothing to say. He simply looks to his now petrified wife and accepts as his head is fully turned into stone.

... They're now nothing but statues...

(YIPPPIEEEEEEEE!!!! WE DID IT FELLAS!!! THEY'RE GONE!!! DANCE PARTY!!! 🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺)

The sun rises in Rosas as the people celebrate and cheer that their evil rulers are gone.

"ALRIGHT! Who's up for destroying them for good with a big hammer?!" Gabo screams at the cheering crowd with his hand raised.

Simon smiles as he raises his hand too, for the first time showing some support for his friend's rebellious ideas.

Asha feels her heart beating faster, she can't contain her happiness as she looks at Aster ready to give him a hug " Aster! I- I can't believe it! We did it! We're finally free-" She goes in to hug him but-

Her arms go right through him.

The people around them are still celebrating but Asha feels the world around them slow down and become blurry once she realizes...

Aster is disappearing again. His star dust begins floating to the sky.

But the star just keeps smiling, happy for her and for everyone else "Yeah, you did it. They're free, and they have hope, and bliss... Just like you wished for."

"A- Aster-Wha- What's happening to you?" She tries to hold his hand but it's like they're just a ghost.

"... I gotta go now."

Chapter 17

Final Thoughts

NEXT CHAPTER IS THE END!!! AAAAAAH-

Oh my gosh I'm still tearing up and I don't know if it's because of Asha and Aster, or Magnifico and Amaya, or because this journey that honestly changed me is coming to an end??? Or all of the above??? Maybe ya'll read all this and don't cry, but I'm literally losing it, I was building up to this moment for so long! And now it's here like... WOW!

THE ANSWER WAS "INSPIRE THEM"!!! The theme ties everything together is Sabino's wish! It's what Asha was doing the whole time! And Aster knew it, and guided her to do it! Proving he's a good wishing star! I'm so proud of them!!! My babies!!!

And it's so fitting to because this whole project is about how I was inspired by the concept arts, by Disney itself, to create this story, and it warms my heart everyday when people tell me they got inspired by this too. This is so special for me guys, I'm crying, damn.

Also I went back and forth on how I wanted Magnifico and Amaya's "Final pose" to be, first when I started developing the story I thought about having them argue and blame each other while their bodies are turned into stone, but like... That doesn't feel like them, then for the longest time I thought about having them both screaming at Asha, but I was like "... I can put them through more pain than that" so I thought about having Magnifico screaming at the crowd while he hugs Amaya crying... But that still wasn't quite right. So finally I settled for them not even hugging, and she's urging him to look at her, as a way to symbolize how their love was all that they needed, but they were so blinded by ambition that drove them apart, and in the end, they couldn't even say goodbye or comfort one another, because Magnifico was too busy trying to come out on top. To me, that's the most painful demise I could give them.

And I know what you're thinking "Damn Anny, but keeping them frozen and alive for eternity isn't a bit harsh? Like, too heavy for a kids movie?" I say NOPE! They deserve it, and besides, My Little Pony did this, they did this TO A CHILD CHARACTER even! If MLP can do it so can Disney, and from my memory we never had a villain turn into stone (There might be and I just don't remember, you tell me) so this would be a first, and I think that's more interesting than making their deaths a reference to the classic "Fall off a cliff" cliche.

Though heheehe Asha was totally considering pushing them off the tower, which would be hilarious cause Magnifico can fly with his staff, so he'd just come back like "Ummm rude! I was monologuing!"

So yeah... I think that's all I got to say... Oh and is two songs one after the other two much? Maybe it is, but eh, I had fun adapting "Asha's Villain Song". Do me a favor and look up "Jordan Fisher Hadestown If It's True" on youtube, that's how Aster sounds like in this song.

See you guys at THE END!

BUH-BYE!

Thank You For Reading!

170 notes · View notes

ofdreamsanddoodles · 1 year ago

Text

it's my job to put away the lost & found at my job, but the bucket to put it in is too high for me, so i always make my coworkers stick everything in for me instead. i'm the musuems most specialist pillow princess

#aster speaks #i mean its the front desk's job so usually the one who helps me is whoever works w me #but the last day i worked my manager whos like 60 climbed on a chair #to get it up for me

4 notes · View notes

phoenix-downer · 2 months ago

Text

Love’s First Bloom

Summary: Kairi accidentally falls into a rushing river when she tries to pick a rare paopu flower. Sora and Riku work together to rescue her and realize they both have feelings for her.

Kairi likewise has a few realizations of her own.

~5000 words. Set between BBS and KH1. Love Triangle, Friendship, Romance, Fluff, Angst, Feelings Realization, Crushes, First Love, Introspection, Hurt/Comfort. POV Kairi, Riku, and Sora.

🌸🌼🌺

How quickly life can change. Like a cool breeze picking up or a slight shift in the scenery, suddenly what you took for granted can be gone in an instant.

“C’mon, Kairi, let’s go!” Sora called. Kairi looked up from her current crafts project: a flower crown with purple asters, white chrysanthemums, blue forget-me-nots, and big red hibiscuses. Those colors were all nice together, but a yellow flower would be a nice addition. Maybe she’d find one as they went exploring.

She tucked the flower crown in her pocket, then grabbed her straw hat and put it on. She wasn’t like Sora and Riku—they tanned easily, especially Sora, but her skin turned red so fast. And then the red turned into dozens and dozens of freckles. Redheads weren’t made for the tropical sun, and brief memories of another place flickered through her mind. A place with a big castle and lots of flowers and waterfalls.

“Coming!” she cried as she stumbled after the boys. They were both so much faster than her, and the sand on the beach was always hard to run on. But presently the ground beneath her feet got more solid, and the boys finally slowed down as the three of them passed through the town and started climbing the hills behind it.

“Where are we going this time?” Sora asked, looking at Riku. Riku always decided what they would do.

Riku grinned and swung his play sword. “It’s a surprise. But I think you’ll like it, Kairi.” He looked at her like he wanted her to say something. Come to think of it, he’d been looking at her a lot lately.

“Oh, are there nice flowers?” she asked, her fingers resting on the flower crown in her pocket. She wanted to finish it as soon as she could.

Riku’s grin got bigger, and his eyes had a teasing glint in them. “Maybe.”

“And pretty scenery?” she pressed. Every part of Destiny Islands was pretty, but Riku always knew the best spots.

“Only the best for you,” Riku said, and Kairi felt a funny feeling blooming in her chest.

Sora frowned, his face twisting into a scowl. “I know some pretty spots too, Kairi,” he said.

Riku rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. The stuff I showed you guys last week,” he said, and Kairi giggled into her hand.

Now Sora was pouting. “That’s not true, I know a lot of nice spots Riku doesn’t know!”

“Prove it, then,” Riku said, and Sora muttered something about how he would. At the branch in the mountain path up ahead, he led them to the right. They followed the path for a little longer until Sora took them off the path and through a clump of trees. On the other side was a beautiful clearing full of wildflowers, perfect for sparring. The sound of running water reached Kairi’s ears. There must be a branch of the river nearby.

“Oh, this is really pretty!” Kairi exclaimed, clasping her hands together. She glanced at Sora, and he grinned and rubbed his cheek.

“Hmmph,” Riku said. It was clear this was a place he hadn’t been before. Either that or he had but hadn’t thought to bring them here.

Sora pulled his wooden sword out. “Wanna fight?” he asked Riku, and at this Riku perked up. He loved the chance to spar with Sora. He pulled his sword out too and moved into an attack stance.

Kairi smoothed her skirts and dutifully sat down on the grass nearby. Sora recklessly charged, and Riku carefully evaded him, then caught him in the back. Sora plunged into a roll and then sprung to his feet. He whirled around so quickly that he caught Riku by surprise, knocking Riku over. But Riku still had a trick up his sleeve; he waited a few seconds, then pushed himself up with his arms, using his momentum to kick Sora with both of his feet. Sora flinched and yelped but still clung to his sword. And so the fight continued with neither of them getting the upper hand. Riku was stronger but Sora was faster, so it wasn’t clear who would win.

After a while, Kairi got kinda bored watching the boys fight. They sparred so often that she felt like she'd seen every combination of tricks they could pull off, and there were some pretty-looking flowers over by the riverbank that she really wanted to pick. She skipped off in the direction of the river. A quick glance over her shoulder told her the boys didn’t even notice because they were so focused on their fight. Smiling to herself, she continued on. She usually enjoyed hanging out with Sora and Riku, but sometimes they were just such…boys. Lately they’d been constantly sparring and competing with each other, even when she wanted to pick flowers or go swimming or make seashell crafts.

Besides, this way she could give them both flowers no matter who won the fight.

The wildflowers along the riverbank were really pretty. Their petals were small and delicate, like little blue bells hanging off the stems. The river sped along nearby, deceptively calm for having such a fast current. Her parents always warned her about not swimming in the water when it looked like that. One wrong move and she would easily get swept under.

Humming, she picked a few more flowers and tucked them into her pockets. She was always careful not to take more than she needed. Only enough for her crafts—the rest she needed to leave behind so there would still be pretty flowers in the future. That was what her parents had taught her. The flowers she did pick would make nice gifts and supplies for her crafts.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a brilliant yellow blossom. It had five petals, and the rounded shape of the petals made it look like a paopu fruit. Kairi’s breath caught. Was this the paopu flower? She’d only seen it a couple times in the wild before, and never in a place she could reach it. It was supposed to be super rare, and she hadn’t expected to see one today.

Which meant she had to pick it. Who knows when she might find one again? Edging towards the riverbank, she thought about who to give it to: Sora, or Riku. A blush crept up her cheeks. You were supposed to give the flower to someone you loved. But who did she love? She wasn’t really sure.

Just…a little further…there. She plucked the flower and smiled, glancing back towards the boys. But the movement threw her balance off, and she gasped and dropped the flower. A clump of earth crumbled beneath her hands, and a root from a nearby tree broke off when she grabbed it. She clutched at something, anything, to keep herself from falling in, but it was too late. With a scream, she tumbled headlong into the cold, fast-moving waters of the river.

🌸🌼🌺

The moment Riku and Sora heard Kairi’s blood-curdling scream and then a loud splash, the boys dropped their swords and raced to the riverbank. Riku knew Kairi was a strong swimmer thanks to his careful lessons (well, and if he had to, he would admit Sora had helped her too), but the river was cold and the current was fast. And if she’d hit her head on anything when she’d fallen…

Riku reached the riverbank first. He yanked his shirt off and threw it on the ground. “Sora, I’m going in!” he called as Sora arrived, panting hard. “Find a branch I can hold onto and pull us out.” Sora nodded, trusting him completely, and with that Riku dove into the icy water. Man, it was cold, and the current was fast, but he had to find Kairi. She hadn’t fallen into the water much earlier than him, but—

There she was, a little further downstream. Her eyes were half-lidded and she was gripping a tree branch, but as he watched in horror, her hand went limp and she slipped back into the water.

“KAIRI!” he shouted, then swam to her as fast as he could. This couldn't be the end of her. He wouldn't let it be. Ever since she had washed up on the shores of the Destiny Islands eight years ago, his life hadn't been the same. She'd been shy and quiet at first, her eyes always gazing off into the distance like she was searching for someone she couldn't find, but that was before she’d opened up to them. They were all friends now, and the thought of never hearing her giggle or seeing her smile or watching her eyes light up when he surprised her made his stomach churn and drove him to reach her. He had to see the way her eyes danced and her smile got playful when she teased him and Sora again. He just had to.

Faster, he had to go faster. His senses sharpened, and his feelings were as clear as the river rushing to take her away from him: he couldn't bear for her to slip out of his life just as suddenly as she'd entered it. Her head briefly popped out of the water again, and relief flooded him at the side of her familiar red hair. He reached towards her, he was almost there, just a little farther—

“Kairi, grab my hand!” he shouted.

She latched onto his arm with far more strength than he expected, and he knew Sora had to act quickly, or they would both drown. In her desperate state, Kairi wouldn't remember to avoid dragging Riku under the water with her. It was something all parents told their children on Destiny Islands, and the warning rang clear through Riku's mind.

“Riku, grab the stick!”

Never had he been so relieved to hear his best friend's voice. Sora had tied himself to a tree with some spare rope and was holding out a tree branch to him, his eyes filled with panic and worry. Riku grabbed on, and the unwanted thought flashed through his mind that Sora might not be strong enough to pull them both out. He was still pretty scrawny and small. But a determined glint was in his friend’s eyes now, and Sora braced himself and pulled with far more strength than Riku thought he was capable of. The muscles in his arms strained and shook, and he gritted his teeth and groaned loudly, but he refused to let go. For a split second, Riku thought he saw a blond boy several years older than him in Sora's place, but then he was gone and it was just Sora. Slowly, inch by inch, he pulled Riku and Kairi out of the river.

Sheesh. Riku must've been seeing things with how stressed out he was. He turned his attention to Kairi. She gasped and coughed, and at last enough of Riku was on the bank to pull and drag her the rest of the way up. She was shivering, soaking wet, and now covered in mud from the bank, but she was alive. He suddenly felt very, very weak, and as he glanced at Sora, he was shocked to see tears dripping down his cheeks.

“Thank goodness,” Sora said, sniffing and rubbing his red eyes, his voice filled with relief. “I thought I was gonna lose you both.”

Riku was irritated at how much of a crybaby Sora was being. Again. Seriously, he'd been such a crybaby ever since they were kids, and even at twelve years old, he still cried shamelessly in front of other people. Then Riku was annoyed at how little faith Sora had in him. Did Sora really think he wouldn't save Kairi?

But when Sora smiled at them both and knelt to hug them, all of that melted away.

We really matter that much to him, don't we? A pang of guilt shot through Riku at how he'd been treating Sora lately. Putting him down in front of Kairi to try to impress her. Goading him and teasing him when he reacted and got upset. Turning everything into a competition because a tiny, green-eyed voice deep down wondered if Kairi liked Sora more.

Not that Sora noticed. The idiot was still so oblivious to his own feelings, let alone Kairi’s.

But Riku didn't push Sora away or tell him not to hug them. He didn't like how clingy Sora was being, but after what they’d all just been through, he would allow Sora to be clingy. Just this once.

“Kairi, you’re as cold as ice,” Sora said. He pulled away from them and frowned. He was right. When Riku touched her arm, it was way colder than it should've been. She coughed and wouldn't stop shivering, and when Sora said her name again, she didn't respond.

“Kairi, wake up,” Sora begged, but she still wouldn't respond.

“I think she needs to see a doctor,” Riku said. “Hang on, let me grab my shirt so you can put it over her, then I'll go get her parents.”

He found his shirt upriver a little ways away from them, right where he’d left it, and brought it back. He tossed it to Sora and took off running, following the path of the river. He had to make it back to town as quickly as possible. But he was tired, so tired from going after Kairi. Would she really be okay? If only he were stronger, he could carry her all the way back to her parents or to the doctor himself.

Another pang of guilt shot through him. He needed more strength. More strength to protect her. His body was growing every day, but it still wasn't fast enough or strong enough. He still had to rely on adults for help. One day, he would have the strength to protect his friends himself. He had to.

The thought urged him forward even as his legs ached and his lungs burned. Strength, to protect what matters. That was what he wanted, more than anything else.

🌸🌼🌺

Sora didn't know what to do. Even though he’d wrapped Riku’s shirt around Kairi, she kept getting colder and colder. She wasn't responding to him anymore, like she'd fallen into a deep deep sleep. She was still breathing, but her face was as pale as a ghost’s.

His heart was thundering in his chest, and his head swam. His arms ached from lifting Riku and Kairi out of the water, and he felt so useless. What good was it that he'd gotten her out of the water if she died here?

“Riku, hurry," he pleaded, but he knew he had to do something before his friend returned with help. It would still be a while yet before anyone else came. So he pulled Kairi close to his body and held her tight, hoping with all his heart that his warmth would make her body warm up again.

This was the closest he'd ever been to her, but all he could think about was how cold she was, how limp she was, how he wanted nothing more than for her to open her eyes again. Her eyes were so pretty. Blue like the sea with just a hint of purple, her favorite color. How did he not notice how pretty they were before? And now she might never open them again.

“Wake up, please,“ he begged, and the words sounded strangled and choked. “Kairi, you have to open your eyes!”

How could he have been so stupid? The thought of losing her made him realize just how much she meant to him. She was such an important part of his life, woven into so many memories as tightly as she wove her flower crowns and daisy chains together into beautiful creations. He couldn't imagine the future without her. In his mind, he'd arrogantly acted like she would always be there. But today had shown him he couldn't ever take a single moment with her for granted.

So he willed with all his heart that she would live, that his warmth would be enough. If it was, he would be sure to treasure every memory with her from now on.

After what was probably only minutes but felt like hours of agonized waiting, her skin felt ever so slightly warmer. At first he thought it was his overactive imagination, but no, a slight flush had returned to her cheeks. He gripped her even more tightly. A minute passed, and then another, and at last she stirred and opened her eyes.

“Sora?” she said weakly. Her voice sounded more like the croaks of the frogs they liked to catch in the pool on the Play Island, but to him it was the most wonderful sound in the world.

“You're awake!” He smiled, and in that moment he thought his heart would leap out of his chest. A warm, tingly sensation tumbled through him, but it wasn't a bad feeling. Just exciting and new. He would think about it later.

She smiled back. “You saved me. Thank you.”

He couldn't help himself. He hugged her tightly, and a moment later, he felt her arms wrapping around him. This was a very different hug from the quick hug he’d given her and Riku earlier. She was close, closer than she'd ever been, and something stirred deep inside him. His face, no, his entire body felt warm. He’d never been so aware of his body like this before, let alone hers. He was embarrassed by what he was feeling, but at the same time, he didn't want to let go of her either. It was like he couldn't move and didn't want to. She wasn't pulling away either. Did she like hugging him? He sure liked hugging her.

What was all this? He’d never felt like this before. Before he could make heads or tails of it, Riku returned with the grownups.

The look on Riku's face was strange. Like Sora had just said something awful and punched him. Sora felt oddly…guilty. Like he shouldn't be hugging Kairi like this in front of Riku, even though it felt better than he could've imagined. So he pulled away from her even though he could've sat there hugging her for hours.

“Kairi, are you okay?" her mother asked, holding a blanket out to her daughter. The grownups took over from that point, and Sora just sort of watched everything in a daze.

Until Kairi wondered whose T-shirt she was wearing, and Riku shyly said that it was his. Kairi thanked him and tried to give it back to him, her cheeks pink as she avoided looking at his bare chest. Riku shook his head and insisted she keep it, and his cheeks were flushed too.

Sora felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. The breeze that had felt pleasant earlier felt cold now. Like the world was strange and different and off kilter because he knew something he wished he didn't.

He understood now why Riku had given him that strange look. A tiny green-eyed monster reared its ugly head inside him. A creature of shadow that whispered Kairi's mine. Sora pushed the creature deep down to where he couldn't hear it anymore. Kairi wasn't a possession to own, she was a person. She was his friend. How could he even think something like that?

But a part of him didn't want her hugging anyone else the way she'd hugged him. And that part of him did not like the way she had looked at Riku, or the way Riku had looked at her.

Sora had stepped into a storybook he didn't want to be any part of. Riku was his best friend. Kairi was also his friend. He didn't want to hurt Riku, and he couldn't bear to watch Kairi smile at Riku or blush because of something Riku had said or giggle because of something Riku had done. He had the funny sense that the little green-eyed monster would grow bigger and stronger every time she did.

So when the grownups took Kairi back to the town, Sora stayed behind. She looked disappointed but didn't argue, and he promised he'd see her tomorrow. Now he was wandering back and forth by the river and kicking clumps of grass. He didn't think he could be around Riku or Kairi right now. He was relieved she was okay, but he had no idea what was going on with himself. The three of them were friends. They would always be friends. Right?

He wanted everything to go back to the way it was. Things had been fine this morning. Sure, Riku liked to tease him, and Kairi liked to tease him too, but he knew where his place was in that world. This new world, with these confusing new feelings? He had no idea. All he was sure of was that he wanted to hug Kairi again like that, but he didn't want to hurt Riku's feelings. And he knew that if Kairi ever hugged Riku the way she had hugged him, the monster might destroy him from the inside.

Not that he could ever let either of them know that. All of this felt so wrong and so complicated.

He wandered over to the spot where Kairi had fallen in the river. A yellow flower with five petals caught his eye. Huh. The rounded shape of the petals kinda made it look like a paopu fruit. He picked it up and carefully tucked it in his pocket. It was a nice flower, and for some reason, he felt like it should stay with him. Maybe it was a token of good luck that had kept Kairi safe. He would take it home and put it in a vase. That would help it live for a while longer.

As he walked home, the future didn't seem so scary anymore. Those strange thoughts he had had earlier, those weird new feelings…it all felt a little silly now. He and Riku and Kairi would always be friends. He put his hands behind his neck and whistled as he walked the path home.

A tiny part of him, not the little green-eyed monster but something smaller and more delicate and yet harder to kill, hoped that someday, Kairi would hug him again like that, and that Riku wouldn't hate him for it.

🌸🌼🌺

The next day, Kairi was feeling much better. A good night’s sleep, her mother's miso soup, and the day off from school had worked wonders. Still, that had been an awfully close call, and she promised her parents never to do something so foolish again just to try to get a flower.

She sighed sadly. She'd been so close to having a legendary paopu flower of her own. Imagine what she could've done with it! Oh well. It certainly wasn't worth her life, and she knew she would find another one eventually.

The weather was perfect today. She happily skipped down the path to the main part of town, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Her father was the mayor, and her family lived in a big special house on a hill overlooking the town. Sora and Riku's families lived in town, so it was a bit of a walk to reach them, but she didn't mind.

She decided to stop by Sora's house first. It was a little closer, and he'd acted strange after their hug yesterday, and she wanted to know why. He’d gotten all quiet and thoughtful, which wasn't like him at all. She was a little bummed out he hadn't walked her home along with the grownups and Riku. But he’d said he wanted to stay behind a little longer, and she’d been too tired to argue.

She knocked on the door, then rocked up and down on her heels as she waited for him to answer, her hands behind her back. His mom opened the door instead and invited her in, and she greeted her politely and took off her shoes. Then she took the stairs two at a time and burst into his room. He was lying on his bed with his hands behind his neck, and he sat up, surprise written on his features until he realized it was her. His face lit up and then softened into a smile.

“Hey, Kairi! I'm glad you're feeling better.”

She tilted her head and leaned closer, which made his breath catch in an adorable way and a flush creep up his cheeks. “It's all thanks to you and—“

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a brilliant yellow blossom carefully placed in a simple glass vase on his bedside table. It had five round petals, and Kairi’s breath caught. Was this the paopu flower she’d picked yesterday?

“Sora, where did you find that flower?”

He grinned. “Oh, that? It's pretty, isn't it? I found it on the riverbank yesterday and brought it home because I liked it.” He paused for a moment, studying her face. “Do you want it?”

She just stared at him for a few moments. You were supposed to give the flower to someone you loved. By fate or by chance, the flower had made its way to Sora. And in that moment, her feelings became crystal clear. The flower was a sign, but it hadn’t made up her mind. No, it was simply confirmation of what she already knew, deep down inside her heart.

She was very grateful to Riku for saving her from the river and for his friendship over the years, and like every other girl on the islands, she thought he was attractive, so of course she had blushed at seeing him shirtless yesterday. But she'd also realized something very important, something that had taken her by complete surprise.

Sora was the one she had a crush on. Sora. On paper she should prefer Riku. He was older, he was more mature, he was stronger and faster and good-looking. So why didn't she like him like that?

The answer was Sora. As she gazed at him, her heart grew warm and a blush spread across her cheeks. She couldn't stop thinking about the tender way he’d hugged her yesterday. How safe and gentle his arms were. How he had warmed her cold, shivering body up. The smile on his face that was meant only for her. It had lit up his eyes when she woke up and transformed his entire appearance. And his eyes were so pretty. How had she never noticed before? They were as blue as the sky at midday without a cloud to shroud them. She loved his messy mop of spiky brown hair and his dorky clothes, too.

He was so brave and kind and goodhearted. Finding the strength from deep in his heart to rescue both her and Riku from the river, even though it must've been really difficult to pull them both out of it.

Sora was a good person. And knowing he was a good person, that he would go to any length to save her, painted him in a different light. Or maybe she was finally seeing what had been there all along.

She suddenly felt bad about the look on his face yesterday when she’d tried to give Riku back his T-shirt. He looked so hurt in a way she hadn't ever seen before, but he’d quickly masked it. Was it possible he was jealous? The thought sent a little thrill through her.

He had nothing to be jealous of. The paopu flower was only confirmation of something that had been growing and growing until today it had burst into bloom. Its yellow petals cast everything in a different light, like rays of the sun showing her Sora’s true self.

He tilted his head, a faint smile twitching at his lips. “Kairi? Everything okay?”

“Yes, sorry! I just got lost in thought, that's all.”

He just shook his head and grinned. “And you give me such a hard time about daydreaming,” he teased, putting his hands behind his neck. Then his expression softened and he lowered them. “But seriously, do you want the flower? You can have it.”

“Oh! No, no I want you to keep it. It suits you, and it suits that spot on the window.”

Still…The fact that he’d offered her the flower…was that confirmation he had feelings for her, too?

No, he didn't know what it meant. She wasn't even sure he knew what his feelings were. But maybe one day he would. And then maybe he would tell her.

“Okay!” He glanced out the window looking out over the area in front of the house, where Riku was now waiting for them. “C’mon, Riku’s here.”

“I'll be right down,” she told him. With that he took off and clambered down the stairs while she lingered, staring in awe at the flower. It had found its way to Sora like it was supposed to and had revealed her feelings to her. Her heart.

This was all so strange and sudden and new. She needed time to think, to process her feelings before she went downstairs and joined the boys. A blush crept up her face, and she giggled into her hand. Sora! She liked Sora! Selphie would tease her endlessly about it if she knew.

But she didn't have to know yet. For now, this was Kairi's precious, private secret. She didn't have to tell anyone until she was ready. How this would all unfold was uncertain, but these new feelings were wonderful, and she would treasure them in her heart just like she treasured Sora in her heart.

And, when the time was right, she would tell him. Glancing at the flower one final time, she knew how she would do it. It was all in the flower’s namesake. She descended the stairs with a smile, looking forward to the day her daydreaming would become a reality.

🌸🌼🌺

A/N: Happy birthday to @hollypollly! 🥳 She gave me a very detailed prompt and outline for the story which was a lot of fun to write ❤️ Thank you so much for everything, Holley, and I hope you have a wonderful day and a fantastic year ❤️ I'm really grateful we met, and I'm glad you're a part of my life 🥺❤️

And thank you all for reading ❤️ I really enjoyed exploring how each of the characters felt in this situation because I do think they would all be feeling conflicting emotions, and it was fun to put that Ventus cameo in there too. I also really enjoyed exploring the world of Destiny Islands more and expounding on the paopu flower concept Holley came up with. Hope you all enjoyed!

35 notes · View notes