Chapter 5: Shooting Stars

2:17 am. We've been out here for almost five hours, and I've seen all of three freaking meteors. Autumn sat next to me, pillows cushioned around her as she blinked slowly, this close to falling asleep sitting up. At this point, I was getting ready to just force her to wake up myself and have both of us head back and call it a night.

I glanced back down at the sketchbook in my lap, my eyes following the brush strokes as I painted the sky above me. The swirls of midnight blues and grays wasn't an exact match to the beauty I was seeing, but was close enough in a pinch.

Dipping the tip of one of my smaller brushes in the white paint, I held it horizontally over the paper and flicked the bristles with my index finger. Flecks of white paint landed in little dots across the page, spattering like the little stars I was attempting to recreate. I then did the same thing with the lightest yellow I had, making an array of dots across my masterpiece-in-progress.

As the finishing touch, I took a small toothpick from the bag at my feet, and dipped the tip in the white paint. Quickly and carefully, I dragged the tip in swift single strokes in random spots on the page, then dipped the toothpick in the yellow and repeated the process. The end result resembled a mass of meteors shooting across the sky.

Now if I could just see some real meteors… I thought. Sighing, I put my sketchbook down and wrapped my arms around my legging-clad knees. I reached a hand to rub the back of my neck, aching from looking up for so long. My long, brown hair brushed against my arm, down for once instead of in its usual braid.

"Tired?" Autumn asked, and I nodded sluggishly, looking down at the sun-symbols I had painted on my shoes almost a year earlier. They were the symbol of my mom's kingdom, a symbol that followed her throughout her life, even before she knew the truth about Mother Gothel.

"I'm exhausted," I muttered, and I heard Autumn hum in agreement. She leaned her head on my shoulder, getting herself comfortable.

"Sunnie?" she mumbled, "Will you sing for me?" I shrugged, almost dislodging her in the process.

"Sing what?" I replied, "A lullaby? I thought you wanted to be awake to see the meteors?"

"But I'm so tired!" she whined, and I laughed. Rolling my eyes, I wrapped the blanket around both our shoulders as I wracked my brain for a song to sing. I finally settled on a personal favorite, humming the tune for a moment as I recalled the words.

"Be brave, little one," I began softly, feeling Autumn smile into my neck. I ran a hand through her curls, knowing she got sleepier whenever someone played with her hair, "Make a wish for each sad little tear. Hold your head up, though no one is near. Someone's waiting for you…"

(3rd Person POV)

"Thanks, Jay! Now we have to go to school tomorrow!" The four villain kids, after an unsuccessful attempt at stealing the Fairy Godmother's wand, were running from the museum as fast as they could, trying to make it back to campus before they were spotted.

"Hey, at least I tried to grab it!" Jay yelled back to Mal, who was leading the way, "I didn't see you doing anything to try and take it!"

"Because unlike some people, I actually anticipated the force field, and was trying to think of a way to get around it!"

"Can we do this later?!" Carlos threw in, wheezing slightly as he trailed behind the others. Evie nodded.

"Yeah, we're getting close enough that someone might hear us," she said, earning an eyeroll from Mal, but the silenced themselves nonetheless.

Making it back to campus a few moments later, Carlos stopped himself near the edge of the rose maze to try and catch his breath. Both girls had already run back inside, racing to their dorm, but Jay hung back, waiting impatiently on his roommate.

"C'mon, man, we gotta move!" he hissed, receiving a glare from the still-panting boy behind him.

"Someone's waiting for you…" A voice flew on the breeze, freezing both boys in their place. They exchanged a look, then moved closer to the wall of the building.

"...a little prayer in your pocket, and you're sure to see the light..." Moving around the corner, they got closer to the sound, the voice getting clearer and clearer with each step.

"What do you think it is?" Carlos whispered to Jay, who shushed him.

"A person, obviously," he retorted with a sneer, "Now shut up, ok?"

"...your little world will be bright. Have faith, little one." They glanced around the corner to the front of the school, ducking down in the hydrangea bush when they saw the dark-haired figure sitting on the roof. Upon further inspection, they noticed that the voice was coming from her. As their eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark around them, a meteor shot across the sky in front of them, lighting up her face for just an instant.

"'Til your hopes and your wishes come true…" Honey-sweet notes flowed from pouty lips, rested below a tiny, slightly-upturned nose. Framing her face were strands of long, brown hair that cascaded in waves down past where they could see. Large, round eyes stared up at the stars, irises nearly black beneath their muted glow. Both boys were captivated, drawn in by her hypnotizing voice.

"You must try to be brave little one. Someone's waiting to love you..." A warmth flooded Jay's heart as the last lines of the song reached his ears. He shook it off quickly, forcing a frown on his face as he turned back to Carlos. He shoved his shoulder to get his attention, and started gesturing that they should get out of there.

Carlos nodded, albeit reluctantly, and turned to crawl out of the bush and back inside the school. Jay began to follow, glancing back once more at the girl on the roof, her voice echoing in his mind as he pushed past the bush branches and ran for the door.

(Sunnie's POV)

I shot up at the sound of a bush moving, and glanced down to see the hydrangeas shaking almost violently near the corner. My brows furrowed.

Someone was listening… I thought, and began shaking Autumn to wake her up. She sat up slowly, eyes not opening as she yawned.

"We need to get some sleep," I whispered, not wanting her to know that we were likely caught, "Let's head inside before we get in trouble." She nodded, and started bundling up the blanket and tossing it and the pillows in her bag. I carefully maneuvered my paints back into their case, dumping out the paint water from my cleaning cup over the edge into the dirt.

I put all my tools into my bag, then carefully grabbed my sketchbook, glad to see that my painting was almost dry, and closed it before standing, guiding my half-awake roommate back to the ladder on the other side of the building. I led the way down, her following so I could catch her if she fell, but luckily didn't need to.

We turned to the doors and began walking inside, not even stopping when the peak of the shower hit, and countless meteors began shooting over our heads.

A/N: Finally finished chapter 5. Next chapter will be the Villain kids' real first day at Auradon Prep! I'll try and have it up by tomorrow, but right now, I'm going to bed. I start back at school next Tuesday (with only Tuesday and Thursday classes), so I won't be able to update quite as often after this week, but I will try to update at least once or twice a week, I promise!

PS: The song I used in this chapter is "Someone's Waiting For You", which, for those of you who don't know, is from Disney's The Rescuers (1977).

My Polyvore - Descendants collection (remove the spaces): www. polyvore descendants_ocs_my_personal_ones/ collection?id=4642810