Hi guys, just a little heads up that this chapter covers the aftermath of Brandon's time underground with Amentia. In the show there's this scene that is supposed to be played for the laugh but watching it years later actually made me realize that when Brandon is standing in a corner and Amentia jumps on him despite he stated many times he didn't want her to touch him. The scene cuts to the girls and Sky but I'm pretty sure Brandon didn't have a good time down there… so yeah, a little warning that non-consensual sex is implied to have happened and Brandon talks about it with Stella.

I can't believe I waited to be stuck at home to upload this fic and I'm utterly sorry! I'll try to update again soon though as I really can't do much else lol. Also, other heads up about me finally having a personal Tumblr account! You can find me svevijah if you ever want to follow!

On the way back to the ship, Stella could feel tension building up, something metaphorically weighing and distancing even farther the space between her and Brandon. His silence didn't seem uncharacteristically at first, nor Stella actually tried to find any hidden meaning behind it. On second thought maybe, she should have just asked right there.

That night the girls were circling in the main room connecting their bedrooms, books in hands and sprawled all around them as they were revising the last couple of notions for the upcoming test of Palladium's class. Stella's mind started focusing on other stuff more or less when Tecna's fun facts were beginning to be a little more than what she had to revise.

Normally, Stella would try to listen and take notes so that in the unfortunate case she'd run out of things to write, she could still have Palladium be merciful enough to give her a C… tonight though her focus was on her phone, and to the fact that she hadn't heard about Brandon in days after what had happened with Amentia.

Following Flora's advice, Stella didn't pressure him into telling her what happened, yet something in his weird behaviour was telling her that it probably was rough, and she couldn't help but feel guilty – after all Brandon had traded his life for hers, being the usual selfless dumbass that she loves so much, and she didn't even thank him. Maybe a little text wouldn't hurt, just to let him know he's in her thoughts.

"Uhm… why is that bike hovering in our balcony?" Tecna suddenly stopped to question loud enough to break Stella's trail of thoughts. "Isn't it past curfew?"

"Maybe it's just someone pulling a prank or something." Musa conceded with a wave of her hand, trying to find her notes so that she could begin revising her part. "And Stella can you focus for a sec–"

A loud bang at the window glass had it shake for a second, making Musa suddenly stop and jump a little on her seat. Turning to girls, the fairy of music narrowed her eyes at the sight of her friends pretending to mind their business. "Do I have to open?"

"I mean you're closer than we are."

"Aisha I can't believe you just backed them up on this – if I die it's on you five."

Musa slowly opened the window, free hand clenched into a fist as a mean of protection, but as the figure stepped into the dim light, the fairy's hand relaxed. "Stell it's just Brandon."

Stella, who until that moment was sitting in the corner with a pillow held up to cover her face, slowly peered at the window, hand waving lightly as a bunch of books fell on her side. Brandon let out a soft sigh as he waved back, and if Stella noticed he seemed a little bit on edge, she didn't say anything.

"Can we talk?"

Here it is. In Stella's experience – and as a general rule for the whole universe – these words never lead to anything good. Usually it's a breakup, and as Stella's mind started spiralling into an infinity of outcomes of what was going on, Bloom was already collecting everybody's books and notes and pushing the girls in hers and flora's room.

Before she could even realize what was happening, Stella was already walking towards her room, a habit she's always had whenever Brandon would come over for a while. Leaning on the door frame, the princess crossed her arms and turned to stare at Brandon still standing in the main room. In another occasion, he would have said something witty about the fact that she was wearing his old sports shirt, yet this time no words were coming out and he felt quite bad about it.

"You asked to talk but I don't hear much speaking from you." Stella quipped, tone light hearted to cover the feeling of fear crawling up her back.

"Yeah you're right, sorry." he muttered back, quickly pacing towards the room and entering the room. As he walked past Stella, Brandon took her hand and pulled her in a hug – which caused Stella to giggle and him to release all that pent-up anger and tension just for a while.

While one could argue that avoiding your girlfriend for almost a week is a dick move, Brandon just knew he needed some time alone to figure out what to say, how to explain to the solarian princess how important she was to him and how he would have done everything and anything to make sure she'd always be happy and well.

"Okay, I'm not opposed to this but uhm… what's going on babe?" Stella asked, voice a little muffled by his jumper covering her mouth.

"I need to get something off my chest or it will eat me alive."

Stella pulled away and gave him a sceptical look. He did look like someone who had had a couple rough days, although she couldn't figure out in what extent. "You look tired."

"Haven't slept much."

"I figured." Stella joked without missing a beat, taking his hand in hers and leading him to her bed to sit down. "You can stay over to sleep if you want. I have a test tomorrow but I don't mind…" a pause "…actually I kind missed you."

Brandon took a deep breath as he put an arm around Stella. As the fairy cuddled closer to him, Brandon's lips twitched into an affectionate smile, and for a second, he almost thought what he wanted to say didn't matter that much, for he was home, with the girl he loved, and that was all that mattered.

"So, what's the matter?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't call you sooner. It's just that… something happened underground with Amentia and–"

"Yeah that wedding looked kinda tacky." Stelle conceded with a smile. "Ours will look better, I promise."

Brandon let out a shaky laugh at her statement, wondering if what he was about to say would have had Stella change her mind on marrying him. "Look, I don't want to lie to you. I didn't call you sooner because I was ashamed of what happened and I needed to figure out how to deal with these things."

Stella tilted her head to look at him, a confused expression hovering on her face. "I should have thanked you. Back then. you didn't think twice to save my life and I'm not sure everybody would have done what you did. I know I tell you this all the time, but I love you. And I'm glad you're here because I don't know what I would have done if didn't manage to bring you back home."

"I had sex with Amentia." Brandon let out as quickly as possible, leaving Stella speechless enough to forget about what she was talking about. The affectionate smile on her face faltered, and Brandon's heart skipped a beat as he realised what was going on. "She forced me to, otherwise she would have killed you. I tried to run away but then she cornered me and I… if it meant you'd be safe… I just knew I didn't want you to die, and that was the only way to make sure she'd keep her promise. You have no idea how sorry I am, I–"

"It's okay." Stella whispered, voice so low Brandon could barely hear her. "It's okay." she repeated, this time loud and firm as she pulled farther and fixed her hair in that nonchalant way she'd do to pretend nothing could graze her ego. "You saved my life. Traded yours for mine. I don't care about what happened between you and her, because as far as I am concerned, you did nothing wrong. You hear me? You did nothing wrong. It's not your fault."

As Stella turned to look at him in the eyes, Brandon felt so exposed he could barely keep it together. To be fair, Brandon had never been one of those guys to think that emotions are stupid, or that they should just bottle up everything – he did want to look stronger than he felt in front of Stella though, and didn't really expect her to be so forgiving and comforting towards him. "I love you Stell, so much I can't even begin to–"

"I know. I love you too B." Stella stated firmly as she pulled her boyfriend closer into a hug, breath hitched and tears rolling down her cheeks. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise."