TW: Mentions of Abuse
Chapter 79: A Change Of Heart Gone Wrong?
Shadow Stella was returned to normal as she was angry over her loss. She was on one knee as she was breathing heavily.
"Damn it!" She shouted, "I almost got you brats! Why?! Why is everything I'm planning going to waste?!"
Arthur walked to her.
"It's over." He said,
"Grrr, no!" Shadow Stella shouted as she got up, "It's never over!"
"It is. You need to accept that–"
Shadow Stella tries to slap Arthur in the face, but Arthur catches her hand.
"--No. Don't even think about running away from your actions." Arthur said as he started to squeeze Shadow Stella's wrists. "You're an abuser and you must confess to your crimes and tell everyone about the mental shutdowns."
Shadow Stella was squealing in pain.
"How would you feel if the roles were reversed?" Arthur asked her, "You would be abused by someone like Stolas, or by one of us?"
Shadow Stella then let go from Arthur's grip as she was on her knees and slowly started to cry while feeling her wrist.
"Alright, I admit it…" She said in sorrow, "I am an abuser… I only done it because someone wanted me to do so if I wasn't happy with my arranged marriage with Stolas… I was never happy with him at all… I never wanted to marry him and I know he never wanted to marry me."
"Of course it was an arranged marriage." Lars said,
"And someone wanted you to abuse you?" Boris wondered, "Who was it?"
Shadow Stella sniffed.
"That's something you will all see for yourself…" She said, "I'm going to confess to my crimes like you wanted me to do…"
Shadow Stella then hands Arthur a plush rabbit.
"Here, I had this as a kid." She said, "This is all that I have to calm me down…"
"Some sort of stress reliever, eh?" Arthur wondered,
Then, the palace started to shake.
"We have to go!" Cattleya said, "I'm sure Stella will explain everything during the press conference, come on!"
We all left. Shadow Stella then faded away into the light without saying another word.
Then, we escaped the Palace and headed back to the real world. We were outside of Stella's royal house as I checked the metaNav to see if Stella's palace was still available.
"The destination has been deleted." It said as I put the phone away,
Cattleya took a deep breath.
"Well, that was an adventure." She said, "But we did it! We changed Stella's heart!"
"And we saved the family!" Arthur said, "And Octavia!"
"Well, hopefully everything is returned to normal." Darnell said, "I'm gonna head out now. Was nice being with you all."
Darnell walked away.
"...By the way, what's the treasure?" Selene wondered,
Arthur showed them the same rabbit plushie Stella had as a kid.
"This rabbit plushie." He said, "Stella's Shadow said that she had it as a kid, yeah?"
"Probably." Lars said as he looked at it, "Hmm… Can I hold onto it? I want to save it for someone in the future."
"For who?"
Lars looked at Willow.
"If we adopt a child together, would they like this little fella?" He asked her,
Willow gasped and blushed. She then giggled.
"Oh, Lars, that's so sweet of you!" She replied, "Sure, I guess, as long as we're still together, that is."
"Alright." Lars said,
"Well, good idea, Lars." Arthur said as he gave Lars the plushie,
"Anyways, let's head home." Cattleya said, "On November 1st, Stella is gonna confess to her crimes and to what's been going on in the family and with the mental shutdowns here. Let's watch it at my apartment and see what's gonna happen."
"Right." We all said,
We all head home.
October 28th.
Darnell was at home as he was trying to call someone on his phone.
"Come on, pick up!" He said, "Pick up, damn it!"
No one seemed to be calling Darnell. What's going on?
"Damn it!" He said, "Where is he?!"
Darnell then noticed that his phone started to ring again. He gasped as he realized who was calling him.
"Oh no…" He said, "I'm dead."
October 31st. Halloween.
Nothing new has happened on Halloween, except me and Lars got a surprise visit from our friends in Halloween costumes.
November 1st.
It was the evening. Me and my friends were at Cattleya's apartment as we were about to watch Stella's conference panel where she would confess to her crimes and tell about the mental shutdowns. Darnell wasn't here with us as he was still busy with stuff.
"Alright, here we go." Cattleya said, "This is the moment that we've all been waiting for. We're gonna find out who's behind the mental shutdowns."
"But first we gotta watch Stella's confessions." Arthur said,
"Hey, speaking of her, how's Octavia doing?"
"She's doing better now. She told me that her mother is softer now and she and Stolas are gonna be getting a divorce while talking out their problems peacefully."
"Good to know, and we're glad she's safe now."
Then, we saw something going on the TV. It was the press conference created by Stella.
"Oh! Here we go!" Cattleya said, "Here comes Stella's confession!"
We saw Stella on the TV behind a table full of microphones. She had a sad look on her face as she was about to explain everything going on recently.
"Umm… Good evening, all… My name is Stella Of Ars Goetia…" She said, "And… I want to explain everything that's been going on in the Goetia family…"
Stella took a deep breath.
"First off, the drama in the Goetia family." She said, "...I started it."
Some members of the audience gasped.
"I was… abusive to those around me." Stella continued, "More specifically my now ex-husband Stolas and my daughter, Octavia."
"Abusive?!" One audience member said,
"What a witch!" Another said, "Shame on The King for arranging his son to marry someone like her!"
Stella took another deep breath.
"And another reason for my abusive behavior was because I was forced to take over the power of this family and the earnings that belong to Octavia." She said,
The audience gasped again.
"Someone wanted her to take over?" An audience member said, "For what?"
Stella then had tears in her eyes.
"I even attempted to hire an assassin to kill my ex-husband, but he was anonymously caught." She said,
"An assassin?!" An audience member shouted, "How worse is she?!"
"I don't deserve forgiveness, and I'm… I'm such a pathetic disgrace to this family… The best thing I can do to fix my mistakes is to turn myself in for my crimes…"
Stella sniffed in sorrow as she wiped away the tears from her eyes.
"Your majesty!" One audience member shouted, "One question before you go! Do you know anything about The Phantom Thieves or the mental shutdowns?"
Stella was surprised.
"I have one more thing I want to say." She said,
Cattleya, from watching it all on TV, gasped.
"This is it!" She said, "She's gonna explain who's behind the mental shutdowns!"
Stella gulped.
"The person that used me and is behind the mental shutdowns was–" She said,
Then, Stella was interrupted as she was shot in her left shoulder.
"GAHH!" She shouted in pain,
The audience was scared as they saw what happened. The cameraman that was recording it all looked to see who did it. They saw a man in black with a rifle running away and turned to Stella on the ground as some guards and her brother Andrealphus came by to look after her until medical treatment arrived.
We were watching it all and were surprised in horror.
"What the fuck just happened?!" Arthur shouted, "Did Stella get shot?!"
"Who was that that shot her?!" Cattleya shouted,
"This is fucking crazy!" Lars shouted, "When did that happen?!"
My phone started to ring. Darnell was calling me. I accepted the call.
"Hey, did you see what happened?!" Darnell shouted, "Stella got shot!"
"I saw it all on TV." I replied,
"I was there in person! Whoever did this, I don't know what's going on! We changed her heart!"
"We did."
"Come with me, we have to figure this out!"
"Me?"
"Yes, you! Come on!"
"Alright, alright!"
I ended the call. I turned to my friends.
"Wherever that happens, you have to see what's going on!" Cattleya said,
"It happened in a convention center near Pentagram City!" Astrid said,
"So that's where I gotta go?" I wondered,
"Yeah, stay safe." Cattleya said,
"Thanks."
I hugged my friends as I left Cattleya's apartment and head out to find a convention center in Pentagram City.