Chapter 7: Celebrations and Sorrows

It's been about a month since Aurora fully recovered. Two months earlier Patch let her out since he deemed her arm and leg to be back to normal and he sure was right. Whatever tinkering magic Bart used to heal her leg, was damn good, he definetly knew that since his smug expression said it all. Aurora thanked him last week about it, but it was incredibly stressful since she didn't want to say something wrong or something that might upset him since he finally considers her as a really close friend. But of course Aurora wants this friendship to become stronger, she wants to end up being together with him as a couple. But she has to wait for the right time. She doesn't know much about him personally, she only knows some things about him mostly from Petual because she likes to gossip a lot especially with Leafos and Arfur who is one Bart's closest friends but the old man doesn't want to give out too much privet information about his good pal.

Bart thankfully really appreaciated Aurora's thanks and he even decided they had to celebrate her recovery which made Aurora nearly melt. The man she loved so much was going to arrange a party for Aurora's recovery. There was one problem though, the date Bart planned the party for Aurora was on her birthday that being the 15th of May. Aurora kept her birthday a secret for a long time, the reason being that she doesn't like really big parties. She can't handle being in big crowds of people, she feels like an ant, the pressure is too much on her and she's afraid she might get hurt in these crowds. Everytime she's in a situation like this, she feels like she wants to run away or completly dissapear or turn invisabile, she wants to just get away from stuff like this, she gets paranoid. It may be due to the fact that during her time in the orphanage, the place was crowded with kids like her age or older or younger, they would fight there a lot, throw food, scream and cry, the place was extreamly dirty and the fact that she was stuck in a place like that with kids who weren't particularly nice to her, the whole place stank like a pound full of dogs stuck in small dirt cages ready to be euthanized.

On her 19 birthday, only Sparcticus, Patch and Petula came since they are her closest friends, Leafos came to but only becausce she insisted to go becausce she loves parties and Patch may have accidently told her where he was going. Although the birthday part was great, it was awkward too since Petula acted really weird around Leafos and seemed to be jealous or sad everytime that Leafos would hug Patch or be would be standing next to him. Not to mention few days prior, Sparcticus confessed to Aurora about how he wanted to be together with her but Aurora rejected him saying that she only sees him as a close friend. Which hurt the poor guy a lot and made Aurora feel extreamly guilty. But thankfully that all changed now, Petula seemed to accept the fact that Leafos is with Patch and Sparcticus moved on and started to form a strong bond with Sahari despite their diffrences and tastes when it comes to climates, it's honestly a relief.

Aurora was walking home, mentally preparing herself for her birthday and celebration party that is arranged by her crush. Which was approaching in a couple of days. She knew Leafos would probably tell everyone that it's Aurora's birthday since she doesn't know how to keep secrets, it was honestly a miracle that everyone doesn't know that already.

"Let go off me! Help! Mommy! Daddy! Help!"

Aurora heared a voice of a little girl scream frantically for help, she could also hear someone growling angrly. That growl...it seems familiar...hold on. Aurora came running to the place where she heard the screaming coming from, looking around in panic hoping that the little girl wasn't hurt or worse.

She arrived at the scene, a little girl possibly about 8 years old or younger in a purple/pink flutterscotch outfit was struggling to get way from the Ruffian who was pulling her arm tightly. Aurora thought that this bastard was about to break this poor girl's arm by the way he was pulling her arm violetly as if he wanted something and that something was definetly chocolate coins. But why attack a little girl? Clearly she doesn't have a purse or anything in fact. Who is she kidding? Ruffians are as dumb as rocks, no, saying that would be an offense to rocks. The facial expression that this girl had was full of horror and tears, it crushed Aurora's heart, she had to step in, what kind of monster wouldn't?

"Let go off that little girl you filthy creature! Now!" shouted Aurora as she stepped in and gave the Ruffian a death stare, she was way taller than the Ruffian making her look intimidating. The Ruffian responded by trying to throw himself at Aurora in attempt to bite her leg or arm. But Aurora gave a very hard kick to the Ruffian's face, making him skid on the ground a little, in the meantime the little girl was watching this go down in awe. Aurora then threw a fireball at the Ruffian's backside, making his butt light up on fire which send him running screaming. The little girl clapped as she laughed.

Aurora then dusted her hands off and walked over to the little girl and kneeling down to be at the same level of her height. "Are you alright little one? When I saw that Ruffian pulling your arm I though he was going to rip it off!" asked Aurora she she gave the little girl a look of concern.

The little girl responded by shaking her head, and giving the young witch a wan smile. "Het (Nope)! I'm not hurt, my arm is a little bit sore but I think it will go away in few hours." said the little girl as she looked at Aurora with shining eyes filled with gratitude. "Thank you for helping me Miss! What's your name? How did you do all that magic? Your hat is really funny hehe!" asked the girl in the purple/pink flutterscotch outfit.

"It's Aurora! Nice to meet you! I'm a witch that lives in the Piñarctic, and thank you I suppose? My hat is pretty funny huh? Also what's your name little one?" answered Aurora all the questions that the little girl asked her and asked a question back at her.

"It's Babochka!" answered the little girl as she gave Aurora a grin, "I think you can tell that I'm Russian...because of my name being butterfly...so I'm sorry if I say something wrong is English." added Babochka as she looked at the ground embarressed.

Aurora chuckled as she looked at Babochka who was laughing along with her. "I figured! I'm Finnish myself and I heard Russian people talk before I moved her since many Polish, Ukranian, Belarusian and Russian people! Although I'm not Slavic but rather Nordic, but either way it's nice too meet yet another slavic person like some of my friends not from this island." explained Aurora as Babochka was listening attentively, nodding everytime Aurora finshed a sentance.

"That's really nice! Um...Miss Aurora? Since you said that you're a witch can you do a...um...how do you say that word...magiya (magic) trick?" asked Babochka as she looked a little puzzled and was scratching her chin. Aurora only chuckled and shook her head.

"I think I know what you mean, a magic trick right? I indeed can! Your name is translates to butterfly right? Well...what if I told you that if I combine that stick and buttercup, it will turn into a flutterscotch. Observe little one." said Aurora as she took the stick and the buttercup into her hand and then closed her eyes, she had a concentrated look on her face. She had her hands cupped together, something started glowing in her hands. Babochka was watching as her eyes shone with awe and admiration, she had a little smile on her face. After a about a minute, Aurora opened her hands and a yellow flutterscotch was there. This made Babochka gasp and letting out a squeal of excitment, smiling widely as Aurora have her the flutterscotch in her Babochka's hands.

"Take good care of them! This yellow flutterscotch is all yours!" chuckled Aurora as Babochka gave her a big warm hug which Aurora appriciated. "You had a really tough day, and not to mention you were brave enough to try and fight back that Ruffian. You deserve this little gift." smiled Aurora as she rubbed the little girl's head.

"Thank you so much Miss Aurora! I love them! You're the best!" exclaimed Babochka as she hopped up and down while holding the flutterscotch delicately with lots of care and affection. Aurora couldn't help but smiled, it was nice seeing a little girl happy after she went through a really scary event.

"You're welcome little one! Now run along and try to keep yourself out of trouble." said Aurora as she winked at Babochka as she began to walk away.

"I will! Bye bye!" shouted Babochka as she skipped while giggling and still holding the flutterscotch.

The Ruffian that ran away earlier after Aurora threw a fireball at his butt, was suddedly grabbed by the arm ironically. The Ruffian let out a scream of terror until he realised who grabbed him but either way he grunted and trembled.

"You moron! I saw everything what happened! You weren't suppose to force the girl to come with you! You were supposed to convince her to come with you so we could bring her to Pester! If I was able to do it with my daughter then so should you when you were with that little brat!" the man with a familiar voice said as he glared at the Ruffian with his bright yellow eyes. The Ruffian only contiuned to tremble more as he gulped.

"Oh yeah...I forgot...you Ruffians are fools...but that witch...we need to get rid of her...on the other hand though, there is plenty other like her...oh well we'll deal with her later...but thanks to you we have to find a different victim." rambled the man as he finally let go of the Ruffian's arm and thought for a moment.

"I need to tell Pester about this...and also about you! I'll make sure that he punishes you for your stupidity!" growled the man at the Ruffian who looked like he was ready to run again.

Little did that man and Ruffian know...someone was spying on them behind a tree...a certain paperboy.

The days have passed. It was finally time for Aurora to get ready for her to get prepared for the party that Bart organised, just for her. She had to wear a nice dress or some crazy looking attire but she could just go to the party in her normal clothes.

The party was going to start at 22 pm and end at 4 am, meaning that the party would take all night. But that didn't worry Aurora one bit, what worried her was the fact that Bart did mention that he was planning on inviting everyone except children since they should be asleep at that time by now. It was kind of sweet of him.

She hoped that she wouldn't mess up in front of everyone once she gives her speech to eveyone since they would all want to probably know what exactly happened when she had a fight with Dastardos. It sure wasn't going to be easy though.

As Aurora decided that she was going to wear a fancy party dress, she looked at the picture that she had of her mom in her room. If only she was still here...things would've been much more easier and less stressful fo Aurora...if she only had more support...even if she had Sparcticus to support her already...she wanted support from her family but she has no one...she had no family left and her father was certainly not coming back...and if her mother would still be alive, she would've spend her birthday parties with her mom like in the old times when Aurora was just a little girl.

"Wish me luck mom..." muttred Aurora as kissed the picture of her mom and put it gently back down on the counter next to her bed. All she had to do was to just put some make up on and she would be all set.

As she finished she put on a fluffy coat and closed the door behind her as she began making her way to fancy building that Bart decided to organise the party on.

As Aurora entered the building quietly so she wouldn't get noticed but her cover was blown when she saw Bear. A. Maracus singing karaoke which made her snort from laughter since his singing was well...not so great...even Eddie was trying not to cover his ears or laugh. Few people turned their heads around when they heared Aurora trying not to laugh.

"Look everyone she's here!" shouted Carrie Chewdini who at the moment was giving a ballon to Nana Urf who was drinking presumably an alcholic beverage because she did look a little tipsy and the party barely even started.

Aurora gulped as she saw everyone's heads turn around to look at her and Bear stopped singing to Eddie's relief. Everyone started clapping and whistling as they saw Aurora waving at them and her slowly walking into the crowd looking for Bart. But before she could find her, he found her first.

"Hello Aurora! You're looking fine tonight! Ready to give your speech?" asked Bart with a friendly smile on his face as he placed his hand on Aurora's shoulder which gave her goosebumps. She blushed as she gave Bart a nervous nod. Bart then chuckled and pat her on the back as Aurora made her way to the stage.

Aurora took the microphone that Bear had as he gave her a handshake with a smile on his face (nearly crushing her hand) as he got off the stage. Aurora gave everyone a nervous smile and laugh as she cleared her throat. "Howdy everyone! As you know I-I'm Aurora! I fought Dastardos few months back as you know from the local newspaper! Um...I fought him since I had to defend my sick lemmoning and I didn't want him to destroy her since he already destroyed the upper part of my pretztail's muzzle! Hahaha!" she laughed nervously as everyone looked shocked and eveyone was dead silent. Petula who was standing next to the "cool kids" (Maxime, Bear and Eddie) looked nervous herself and worried for Aurora. Same goes for Patch and Leafos who whispered to her fiancé, "I really don't like where this is going Patch..."

Aurora noticed that everyone was staring at her. She began to sweat even more as her hand trembled and she began to hyperventilate a bit. "I-I remember that when I fought him-uh..um..he broke my arm really badly and my leg too twisting it the wrong way around...u-u-um...um-!" Aurora then stopped when everyone gasped in horror at what they just heared. She then suddendly dropped the microphone and ran away crying as she couldn't take the fact that everyone was staring at her made her feel little and judged by almost everyone in the village.

Bart ran after her and so did Sparcticus leaving Sahari in slight shock, she knew he would come back but that was a little unexpected coming from him. Petula ran and so did Patch and Leafos.

Aurora ran towards the nearest building and his behind it as she began to have a breakdown. She couldn't believe that she just 'humilated' herself in front of everyone. At this moment she wanted to just disappear, to be seen by no one.

"Aurora!" exclaimed Sparcticus as he found his dear friend. "Are you alright?! We knew something was wrong when you began to stutter." he panted. Aurora said nothing and instead she thew herself at him and cried in his chest. He said nothing either and instead he hugged her.

"I messed up..." sobbed Aurora as she hugged Sparcticus really tightly. Soon everyone else found them both.

Petula without thinking just joined the hug and pat Aurora's back. "It's alright girl...we're all here..." she muttered to Aurora as she began to calm down. Bart stared at the ground in shame, not knowing what to say since he felt guilty that this whole thing happened because of him.

"It's okay Aurora, talking in front of the entire crowd of people is can be a stressful experience, well unless you're Eddie Lizard. Honestly that guy never looks nervous when talking to everyone. I find that a bit odd. Don't worry though, I wouldn't even have the courage to talk to possibly everyone in the village." explained Leafos as she was holding Patch's arm.

"Honestly I-I w-would've p-p-passed out if I would have to give everyone in the village a s-s-speech!" stuttered Patch as he chuckled nervously.

Aurora finally calmed down as she sighed and gave everyone a soft smile as she wiped her eyes from tears, but clearly she just had smeared her mascara all over her face but that could be fixed since she knows that Petual always has some sort of make up equipment with her just in case. "Thank you guys...I always had problems with anxiety...talking to crowd of people is a nightmare to me..." said Aurora as she looked at everyone around her. "I think I can come back inside now...sorry about that..." said Aurora as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Yeah! Come on! Not only is it a celebration party but your birthday party too! We have a piñata ready for you too! A horstachio! Though if you ask me, I think we should've used Langston-" Leafos was cut off by everyone shouting her name as they crossed their arms. "Oh come on guys! Don't lie me when say that you don't like Langston! He's so annoying!" laughed Leafos as everyone laughed with her.

"Ah so you told everyone, huh Leafos?" asked Aurora as she gave her a smirk. Leafos only laughed nervously as Patch gave her a dissapointed look.

"Oopise!"

"L-Leafos! You p-p-promised to me and Aurora you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"Look I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist! Birthday parties are fun but they are even more fun when celebrated with everyone!"

Everyone decided to walk back inside, while both Patch and Leafos were 'arguing' with eah other. But that's when Bart decided to pull on Aurora's arm delicately. This made her turn around and immedietly blush. Even if Bart was slightly shorter than her, he always managed to make her feel a bit intimidated by him but not a bad way. "Aurora...can we talk?" he asked with a guitly look on his face. Aurora didn't like were this was going and was hoping that it wasn't something bad. She nodded as both him and her walked behind the building.

"Yeah...I'm sorry that I made you talk in front of everyone..." said the tinker as he took off his hat and sighed avoiding Aurora's gaze.

"N-no, it's fine. You didn't know. Besides I should've told you but me being a mousemellow brain, I thought it would really upset you if I said no." Aurora sighed as well as she looked down at Bart and then she smiled. "If you're asking for forgivness then yes, I forgive you. Even if I shouldn't since this whole thing is actually my fault and not yours." explained Aurora.

"Phewie I'm glad! I really thought you were going to hate me after that. Let's just forget this whole thing happened and let's celebrate your 21th birthday shall we?" asked Bart as he put his hat back on gave Aurora the smile who usually gives to everyone.

"I'd like that." said Aurora as she smiled at Bart, with a blush on her face. That's when she decided to make her first move. She hugged Bart, hoping to god that he won't push her away. Thankfully to her surprise, he didn't, he actually hugged her back which made Aurora nearly gasp and lose it completly. They both said nothing, instead they smiled at each other and walked back into the building.

It was now 2 am and everything went great and the birthday party turned out to be fantastic and possibly the best birthday party that Aurora had in her life. The party later on became wild since most of the villagers started to get a little too drunk and began doing all sorts of shinanigans. Just a normal party on Piñata Island, business as usual.

Sahari managed to get herself so drunk to the point that Sparcticus had to hold her hair while she vomited in the unisex toilets.

Leafos somehow managed to persuade Patch to drink at least one shot with her since he's 25 and she's 22 and they should both have some fun like everyone else but at the end he ended up taking up to 4 shots and had to stop since he swore he felt like his soul was about leave his body, Leafos stopped on the 5 shot mostly becausce she didn't want to contiune without Patch. They both ended up drunk of course, in fact it was Patch's second time getting drunk in his life. The first time was when he wanted to look cool in front of others students that went to university with him. After about an hour they both went toilets laughing really loudly while pushing each other and haven't come back since. All that is know is that they will both end up with an extreamly bad hangover tomorrow. But the blame can be put on Leafos.

"The cool kids" didn't drink at all since they're 18 and drinking under 21 is a no no but since Eddie wanted to be a show off as usual, he thought it would be a great idea to try and 'drink' an alcholic beverage by using his nose. That backfired and he only acomplished getting laughed at hysetrically by Maxime as if she was a pieena. Bear and Petual on the other hand tried to help him out by getting him to the nearest sink to help him clean his nose since Eddie kept on screaming about how "MY NOSE IS ON FIREEEE!" about 3 times.

Bart on the other hand was with Aurora, she was drinking a cocktail while he was drinking whiskey by the looks of it. Aurora managed to learn a lot about Bart and his past which was intriguing to say the least.

"So...are you having a good time?" asked Bart as he smirked at Aurora while playing around with his glass full of whiskey. The bartender being Arfur (of course).

Aurora chuckled as she took another sip of her cocktail drink and nodded right afterwards, "I sure am. Best birthday part I ever had. If only my mother was here, it would've been the perfect party of my life."

"Perdon me for asking but why is your mother not here then? Busy? Or does she not live on the island?" asked Bart as he took a sip from his own drink and kicked his legs on the counter.

"Well...no...long story short...she's dead and my dad left when I was 2 so I don't remember him." quickly explained Aurora as Bart spat out his drink, his eyes widened, nearly falling off his chair.

"Oh dear heavens! I'm terribly sorry for asking, how insensitive of me. This old tinker isn't as bright as he used be." apologised Bart as he scratched his head in embaressment. Aurora just chuckled.

"You apologise to much! It's alright, I'm used to it. Also...old? You don't look so old to me." said Aurora sarcastically as she gave Bart a smirk. Bart blushed and his eyes widened again.

"I-I am old! Uh...um...48 in fact! Yeah!" excalmied Bart in panic as he grabbed his hat and tried to cover his face with it. That question caught him off guard. Aurora laughed loudly, she knew he was lying, I mean come on, you can't fool anyone here !

"Sure, sure-HEY!" shouted Aurora as she saw someone throw a shoe at Arfur who had to dodge it quickly, the shoe nearly hitting her in the process.

"OI CAN YOU GIVE THAT BACK?!" shouted Willy as he looked mad as hell while chasing after a clearly drunk Sprinkling. "I don't have your shoe old man! I threw it haha!" she laughed as she continued to run away.

Only 2 hours left of the party and yet Aurora felt like these hours were going to drag for a long long time.