Light gently cascaded into the room, Stella's eyes fluttered open and—
"Was that a good dream?"
"AH!" She jumped out of the bed. She'd expected to see the wizards, specifically Gantlos. She had not expected to see Duman hunched over her — staring.
"You smile in your sleep a lot,"
"What the— what were you doing you creep!?" Stella instinctively covered herself. Duman threw his hands up, a grin across his face.
"Well! I was just seeing how you slept, and here I'm being accused of being a creepy old pervert! Oh ,my heart! I feel it breaking!" Duman clutched his heart, falling backwards into the bed. Stella couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Two things: one, you ARE a creepy old man, and two, save the drama for me, it's my specialty," she looked around the room, Gantlos's hat was gone, which meant Gantlos was gone. She huffed, he was supposed to begin helping her with the lunar magic today, he couldn't really do that if he wasn't there.
"Gantlos and Anagan are going to be out for most of the day —but don't worry, you get to practice with me and the old man downstairs,"
"I thought Gantlos held the title of geezer,"
"Watch it," he was only half playful. Serious enough for her to catch on though. He unshackled her and headed with her towards the bathroom, handing her her now washed clothes back, telling her to get freshened up for the day. About an hour later she emerged and met Duman at the stairs.
"Why is she out here?" Ogron scoffed at the sight of her.
"Because —we promised Gantlos we'd help him out today by getting her started—"
"You promised Gantlos, I did nothing of the sort," He sipped his drink, going back to what looked like a book older than time, "I've no interest in driving livestock,"
"But Ogron—"
"It's alright Duman," Oh how her voice dripped with malicious compliance, "you shouldn't force him to embarrass himself," Ogron raised an eyebrow at her words, but didn't respond otherwise. Luckily, gaining a response was Stella's specialty, "He'll just hurt himself, you can't teach and old dog new tricks, after all." She could feel him getting irritated.
"Duman, I suggest you take her elsewhere —"
"Woah calm down, grandpa—think of your blood pressure!" Duman was snickering now, Ogron, however, was less than amused. He closed his book, rising with intent. Stella threw in one more for good measure.
"I can hear your hips from over here—EE ERR EE ERR," she giggled as Duman cackled, she hadn't even seen him get up close to her face. She gasped a bit.
"You think you're funny, don't you?" His voice was quiet, yet stern.
"I think I'm hilarious,"
"It wouldn't be funny if I knocked you on to that pretty backside of yours,"
"I see," she breathed in, "so you think I'm pretty?"
"I heard it! That's what he said!" Duman added.
"Oh for gods sake, there's two of you."
"So? Are you gonna come help me, or are you gonna keep talking about my pretty ass?"
—————
It had been eight days since Stella's capture. Brandon had passed out from exhaustion twice and was bordering manic hysteria. Much to his dismay, Helia was keeping him home before he hurt himself beyond repair. The others were preparing an attack strategy.
"Are you sure she's there?" Layla wasn't necessarily doubting flora and Tecna, but they had to be one hundred percent sure before making any moves.
"I'm more than positive — I may not be able to get a reading on Stella's magic trail, but I got a good look at Anagan's thanks to my mana samples I gathered at the last battle — its strongest there." Tecna explained, "at first I looked into the sewers, but they seemed to have moved recently into this abandoned house on the outskirts of gardenia."
"The tree's confirmed it, they're there, and they have Stella too,"
Bloom began, "then it's set— we'll cause a distraction and draw the wizards out. Sky and Musa will go in and get Stella," the group figured the plan easy enough. This had to be done right.
————
That night the plan was relayed to Helia, everyone assumed Brandon to be asleep. He was not, nor was he going to wait for tomorrow like everyone else, he was getting Stella back tonight.
————
"Hmpf– you sure know how to treat a princess," Stella sarcastically remarked after Ogron knocked her to the ground once more. He was having fun.
"So sorry you're highness, but to me you are no princess," he smiled gently, contrasting the condescension in his voice.
"Cmon this is a shield spell! That means you use it to block the attack!" Duman shouted from the sidelines.
"Thank you, captain obvious!"
They'd been going for only half an hour, but Stella was already exhausted. She couldn't seem to channel enough energy from her lunar core to pull up the shield. She envied the sun— she just wished her magic wasn't fighting so hard against her.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me this old man has tired you out?"
"Oh goodness no, I just thought I'd stroke your massive ego a bit–that way it's the same size as your forehead," Ogron's irritation was evident as he prepared another blow.
'Cmon Stella— think! Think moon, think night! Think of mom!' — "Lunar shield!" A semi transparent array of moons blocked Ogron's blow — Stella only slightly pushed back. She was giddy to see the shield. It was a sign of hope for her. They practiced the shield a bit longer, ensuring she could pull it up without fail, until Duman was ready for his turn.
"You're actually a pretty talented wizard – even if you're older than dirt," Stella smiled at Ogron.
"And you have potential," was all he said before going to where Duman previously sat.
"Okay try this one!" So Stella practiced the move crescent strike for an hour or so before she was doing it without hesitation — they opted for a break. Stella had sat a bit away from them, lost in her own thoughts. She was confused — she thought they were nothing more than barbaric fairy hunters with bad outfits, now she didn't know what to think . Anagan was a healer— not fully but she could sense it. Duman was like kid, pulling pranks and making jokes. Ogron was a leader—like an actual, cares about his teammates leader, although his attitude could use some work. Gantlos — Gantlos was unique, he was like a geode. Rough and grumpy looking, but inside, he had something, something light. She had to wonder what made these guys want to hurt fairies, what hurt them so bad that they—
"Earth to blondie!" She looked up, Duman was staring down at her, "Don't think about me too hard, you'll fall in love,"
"Oh please, I don't do Mohawks— they're tacky,"
Duman feigned hurt at her words, "you just keep breaking my heart, blondie. I thought you might actually like me,"
"Oh save the puppy face for Gantlos, I'm sure he folds like a lawn chair for it,"
The two snickered and bantered as they went back to training, where Stella practiced another offensive attack called lunar serenade. Then she practiced all three until sunset, though, she hadn't gotten to use all the moves. Some she wouldn't be able to access until she reached her fairy form—if she ever could.
Calling it a day, the group went inside, Gantlos and Anagan came in shortly after.
Gantlos led her to the room, using magic to lock the door. He didn't chain her, though. Did he trust her to roam the room— or did he just forget. She didn't really care, and besides it's probably just because they didn't want to discuss plans in front of her. She wasn't trying to snoop, but somehow ended up finding a book under the bed— it looked like a history book. She almost ignored it, but something caught her eye, another one. Who needs two history books? Both appeared marked on the same section too, except one was surprisingly old — the other looked straight from alfea. Hesitantly she opened them up. It was a history book that Alfea had. But the other one told a different story — one of oppressive fairies that basically crushed all other creatures on earth. Dominated them to create "utopia". She was appalled by the details she read. This book made the fairies seem…like the bad guys. This wasn't at all like the other one—which held the same narrative Faragonda had told them. Was history…rewritten? She was nauseous with confusion — footsteps caused her to messily shove both books back under the bed.
"Cmon, we're done talking," Gantlos told her.
"I can come out?"
"As long as you're a good girl, yeah,"
She flustered a bit at the name, but shook it off. She wondered when Gantlos would need her again, it seemed he needed to feed every three days, and she felt it was more than three since the last. She entered the den, awkwardly sitting amongst them. Banter here and there was comfortable, but she was sitting with the enemy—were they the enemy? Her thoughts wandered to the text she read again.
"Don't be so stiff, leave that to Ogron" Anagan interrupted her thoughts.
"I am not stiff! I am simply work oriented,"
"It's alright," Duman winked, "Blondes get nervous around me—" Duman shot up— his face becoming serious. He sensed something. The others seemed to understand without saying a word. Stella was shuffled back to the room, being locked once more. The wizards went outside.
An ambush—well, not necessarily. Brandon had found them and started viciously attacking — and they others simply didn't catch up to him in time, so here they were, sloppily ambushing the wizards. Stella peered out the window, a warm hope fluttering as she saw her friends, but, something in her felt empty. She needed answers, and didn't think the others were going to understand — she looked out the window, if she could just get him in her line of sight — YES.
"Moonlight's reflection: show me your true self Ogron— show me who you truly are!" And for once she saw him— a man worried for his home, a man worried for his brothers—a man who didn't want to fight. A good man. A sudden resolve washed over her–she felt as if the moon itself was wrapping around her— she was a fairy once more.