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"A Thousand Years"- Christina Perri
Chapter 20: Beautiful Disaster
"Every breath,
Every hour has come to this".
"Your majesty, its time!" I hear André call.
Let's do this
Stella´s POV
I step out onto the balcony for a moment, I see so many people. And the royal garden´s have been so beautifully decorated. It's perfect.
"Nervous are we?" I hear someone say behind me. I laugh.
"I'm not one to be nervous, darling" I say, rolling my eyes. He laughs as well.
"Of course you're not", he replies. We both stay silent for a moment.
"Stella, we need to talk" Brandon says, stepping a little closer. I remain silent.
"About Chimera…" he starts. I shut my eyes just hearing that name…
Flashback
"Chimera?" I asked, jealousy washing over me as she pulled Brandon's arm, then hugged him.
"Now go get us something to drink, and hurry!" she says, did she give me an order? She called me a…a maid?
"Right away Ma'am" I say bowing down
"What are you waiting for? Leave, didn't they ever teach you not to listen in to your master's conversations?" she nearly yells.
"Of course you can stay", I hear Brandon tell her suddenly, and I thought I wouldn't be able to hold back the tears but I'm strong, a princess must always be strong.
"Brandon let me go now! Let me go or I'll scream!" I tell him, I don't want to have anything to do with him, especially not after everything I've heard about him and Chimera.
"Stella, wait! Please listen, we need to talk" he says, still not letting go, while pulling me closer.
"Talk? Brandon we have nothing to talk about, I've heard enough about you and Chimera, and I don't need to hear any more" I say.
"Look I know Chimera and I had a history, but that was long ago and I don't understand why it bothers you so much now" he says.
-End of flashback-
The tears burn as they start rolling down my face. Just hearing that name brings so much pain. I hadn´t realized but my hands were balled up into fists now.
"Stella I-"
"No Brandon, no!" I tell him angrily, the tears just keep falling. He looks at me distraught.
"Would you at least give me a chance? Just a minute of your time, Stella! There´s so much I need to say, but if only you would listen!" he nearly shouts. Really? He wants to talk about this…now?!
"I did, give you a chance, Brandon" I tell him, now a little more calmly, while drying my tears with the back of my hand.
"You see, we had a pretty rough start, but eventually I gave you a chance, I trusted you! But of course that didn't matter much to you at the time did it?" I ask him. He looks up at me sadly.
"It did" he says, surprisingly,
"More than you will ever know. Stella I´ve made many, many mistakes in my life, and Chimera´s a mistake I made long ago. But you, you were right for me Stel, and I really wanted to make things work. My father never stood up for me and when Chimera arrived at the palace I didn´t stand up for you and that was wrong" he says, leaving me speechless.
"But, what I need to tell you…"He pauses, running a hand through his hair nervously,
"What I came here to say is…"
Suddenly the royal guard announcing the Kings and Queens that have arrived, interrupts us,
"We present King Oritel and Queen Marion of Domino!"
I take in a deep breath.
"Sweetheart, there's no time!" my dad says, stepping out onto the balcony with us. He smiles at Brandon, who only replies,
"Right away, Sir" my dad pats him on the back and instructs him to wait for me downstairs.
The maids quickly carry the tail of my dress as I walk out of my room. Brandon is already waiting for me downstairs as we have to present ourselves together, as husband and wife, King and Queen. I walk down slowly feeling more nervous by the second. Suddenly, I stop and hold onto the banister as tightly as I can with both hands.
"Your majesty!" the maid says, startled, "Are you okay?" she asks. But I´m not even sure, I just feel so dizzy all of a sudden. Strange. But the show must go on, mustn't it?
"I´m fine" I say assuring. And with her help, I continue to walk down. My parents and the girls are already outside along with all of the other guests, waiting for our entrance. I can see Brandon standing at the bottom of the staircase, with his hands tucked in his pockets, waiting for me, looking more handsome than ever.
"But, what I need to tell you…"
"What I came here to say is…"
His last few words just keep playing over and over again in my head. Could it be that he really feels the same way? Could we really get passed all of this and start over? All I know for the time being is that we have to get along if we want this festival to go well.
Suddenly he turns around…
Brandon´s POV
I see Stella reach the bottom step. Breathtaking. She looks so beautiful in her long golden gown, and her long golden like hair. No matter how Chimera tries, I don´t think she´d ever manage to look that way. I smile. No wonder she dislikes Stella so much. Just looking at her makes me realize that there's still so much I need to say to her. Sky was right. At least I took the first step, I apologized. Now I need to let her know exactly how I feel, I need to let her know how much I love her, and that I´m willing to make things right.
Stella only gives me a small smile as I offer my arm for her to hold onto, as we walk through the palace doors. Abruptly she stops, pulling me back.
"Stel, what is it?" I ask. Everyone's waiting out in the courtyard, I can hear the royal guard announce us and the trumpets sound. She shakes her head.
"It's fine, let's do this" She says with a slight smile. I can just imagine how nervous she must be, but she´ll do great, I know it.
We walk through the palace doors and everyone starts clapping. We both smile and wave. I stand by Stella while she delivers a small speech welcoming everyone to the commemoration. Then we both take a seat. Next up are Stella´s parents, King Radius and Queen Luna, with a few words of gratitude for everyone's presence. Among the enormous crowd of people I can see Riven, Musa and the rest of the gang. I look at my watch. There's still time for Stella´s performance, and I can't wait to see it. I´m sure she´ll be amazing.
Everyone claps, and next up is my father with a speech about the history of the solar solstice and its great significance.
"And so for ages, Solaria celebrates this marvelous wonder! For which we are all gathered here to appreciate and perceive…" my father continues,
Stella´s POV
I feel a bit faint but I´m thankful for Leander's long speech nonetheless. Hopefully by the time he's finished I´ll feel well enough to dance and to perform the solar solstice ritual later on. It´ll take a lot of energy out of me, I definitely know that.
"Your majesty" I hear someone whisper. I turn to see Andre standing by me,
"Yes Andre?" I whisper back, rubbing my forehead, I notice Brandon glancing at me.
"Is there anything I can get for you? A glass of water perhaps…?" He asks gently. Was it really obvious?
"No Andre, thank you very much. If I were to need anything at all, I´ll let you know" I whisper back.
I realize Leander's speech has ended when everyone begins clapping. Leander takes his seat. Next it's time for Brandon and me to start off the celebration with an opening dance. I watch as Musa walks up to the microphone, winking at me then smiling. I can feel everyone's eyes on us. Amongst the crowd I spot Lily, Flora´s younger sister, waving at me excitedly. I give her a small smile and wave back.
I turn to see Brandon bowing and offering me his hand.
"May I have this dance, your majesty?" He asks warmly. I take his hand and we begin to the sound of the music and Musa´s voice.
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid
To fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
As we start to dance Brandon looks straight into my eyes, and suddenly, it's like the first day, all over again, like that first dance where I fell in love with him. As we spin around swiftly, I feel even shakier. This isn´t like me, I have a bad feeling...
On the side I can see the media and news reporters flashing their cameras...
Brandon's POV
I take Stella´s hand and pull her close. While the music plays I look her in the eyes but she avoids my gaze. All she does is look at the ground or behind me, nervously, it seems. But there´s something strange, I can feel her hands shaking, and come to think of it she looks rather...pale? I embrace her a bit tighter than before. She smiles at me sheepishly, as if she means to say `thank you`. What´s going on?
Stella's POV
The dance is over and Brandon is still embracing me strongly, which I´m surprisingly thankful for. We allow the press to take a few shots, and now, it's time.
"I thank each and every one of you for being here this evening!" I say to my people smiling, "What we´re all about to witness is the reason for the beauty of Solaria, the tradition passed down for generations, the unity of the sun and the moon!" I say smiling, and everyone cheers.
The Solar Solstice. I look at the ring of Solaria, which rests on my finger. I smile at the awaiting crowd, close my eyes and turn my ring into the Skepter. Here we go.
I transform into my enchantix mode.
I step into the center and begin casting the spell. My skepter shines brighter than ever as the sun begins to rise. I continue casting the spell. I start to fly higher and higher into the sky, the tail of my outfit circling around me as the moon rises as well. Suddenly I feel faint again, this time even more than before. This can´t be good!
My vision becomes blurry, and I´m losing focus. But I continue chanting, I can't stop no matter what! It now occurs to me that I should have signaled the girls for help, but it's too late for that now. I´m chanting with the little bit of strength I have left.
Pretty soon, both the moon and the sun are reaching their highest points up in the sky and are coming together; I can hear the crowd gasp. Just as the sun and moon come together as one, my wings stop responding, they freeze completely. I barely manage to see a beautiful golden light, and hear clapping before collapsing and falling through the air.
Bloom´s POV
Witnessing Stella perform this spell, I can help but say it's the most amazing thing I´ve ever seen! Especially considering it's the first time she does it. I just hope she knows we´re all here to support her.
"Hey you guys something's not right!" Layla practically shouts out of the blue. We all look at her, clearly confused.
"What on earth are you talking about?" Tecna asks her "The sun and moon have already merged, what could possibly be wrong?"
"Layla´s right" Flora says, startled. And that's when we see it too. The spell was turning out alright, but Stella wasn´t. suddenly, the light in Stella´s skepter goes out, her wings stop and she begins falling!
"Alright girls, time to help! Magic winx!"
Brandon´s POV
I feel my heart beating so hard it could pop out of my chest. Everything just happened so fast and suddenly Stella collapses and is about to hit the ground. Without a thought, I begin running, frantic, out into the center of the courtyard, and catch Stella just in time before she crashes onto the ground. She´s completely unconscious, what could have possible gone wrong?
The ground and everything around us starts shaking tremendously as the sun and moon come apart fast, due to the fact that the enchantment wasn't complete. People start screaming and running, but I see the winx and specialist getting everyone to safety.
I look down at Stella, out cold, in my arms. King Radius and Queen Luna rush over to us immediately and so do other people, before I knew it we were surrounded.
"Open your eyes Stella" I whisper. For the first time, really, truly scared…
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