I'm back! Technically I did say updates every week hehe. Thank you everyone for the kind get well soons! Feeling a heap better than the last couple of days but still not out of the woods yet! Lucky for you guys, it means more chappies hehe!

I had a LOT of reviews last chapter hehe it seems everyone was so excited to see Brandon back on text and DEVASTATED when he had to run off lol, don't worry he'll be back huhu. I would love to answer all of the reviews one by one but there's so many that I'm going to have to have an entire chappie dedicated to answering reviews HAHAHA but I will answer the gist of it here!

I can reiterate enough how much of a dickward Brandon Silver is, he's going to be a real challenge to get people to like sighhh. I bet my editor 10 bucks and a churro that I could get him to like High Commander Silver by the end of this book but he isn't budging yet T^T (He was a die-hard Noah fan...emphasis on the die LOL). I WANT THE CHAPPIES TO BE LONGER TOO but i can't get my brain to work for that long sighh i hope this will do! OMG I can't wait to reveal the sceptre lore, I love that part the most!

The Andreas hate is so funny pls keep it coming it distracts me from the war crimes I have to write (ಡ‸ಡ)

**TRIGGER WARNING** PAIN

The soft sunlight gleamed on Stella's skin as she twitched and stirred awake. Her eyes felt heavy, almost glued shut from what felt like decades of sleep. The breeze from whatever window was open was warm, and almost nostalgic as she turned over trying to force the sleep out of her eyes.

Peeling her eyes open, Stella rubbed the back of her knuckles against her droopy eyelids to adjust her vision. The roof was a lot higher than what she had been used to waking up in the base camp ship rooms as the intricate gold lining covered the ceiling converging at the middle at its highest point.

It was familiar. It was…home.

She sat up, hissing at the slight pain still aching in her left shoulder as her eyes widened. The warm Solarian sunlight was seeping through the open balcony window, sifting through the sheer white curtains and making them dance to the sound of the birds chirping.

It wasn't her room, not exactly the one she had grown up in all her life but a guest bedroom in the east wing. She had thought the Drakari had destroyed the castle and replaced it with their own war fortress but they hadn't.

It was still here.

She was back at the Sun Palace, she was back home where she had grown up and eventually lost it all.

A soft rap on the door derailed her train of thought as she stared expectantly at the door. Taking her silence as an answer, the person behind the door slowly turned the doorknob and Stella held her breath.

A tall woman dressed in a dark purple skirt and light green button-up walked in. Her heels clattered around the marble door as she donned a white lab coat and magic tablet in her grip. Her bright green eyes flickered from her tablet to Stella's honey eyes staring right back at her in confusion.

"Oh, you're awake," She raised her eyebrows in surprise, with her face a familiar mirage from Stella's childhood, "How are you feeling your Highness?"

"Who are you?" Stella cross-questioned and the familiar woman pursed her lips, "And what am I doing here?"

"You are the High Commander's charge, so you're here in the Sun Palace – where he resides," She replied, hand on her hip as she walked deeper into the room.

Brandon lives at the Palace? The idea of him murdering her father and living in the palace like he owned the place made her blood boil.

But she had bigger problems.

Stella shuffled back, immediately reaching for the blades she usually stuffed in the sheaths behind her back. But they weren't there. She wasn't even in her combat gear. They had traded her tattered combat suit for a pair of silk pants and a loose-fitting T-shirt that covered the bandaged shoulder wound. Judging by the green and purple theme of her clothes, Stella could only guess they were this woman's spare clothes.

"You didn't answer my question about who you are," She hissed, watching the strangely familiar woman walk closer to the bed.

The pink-haired fairy blatantly ignored the former princess's words and replied "I took the liberty of patching up your wound – the one on your shoulder seems stable. As for your ankle and other surface injuries, your transformation seems to have healed most of it," she continued, flicking through her magic tablet as the numbers mirrored in her gaze. "It's remarkable actually – only a healer fairy should be able to repair wounds like that. The Sceptre is truly groundbreaking magic."

Stella continued to stare at the fairy before her, rambling and scrolling through the tablet. "That still doesn't answer- fine, where is Brandon?" She asked lowly ditching her senile approach for a more brazen one.

"The high commander is away on some business," the fairy replied between mutters to herself, stressing Brandon's title. Stella could see where their relationship stood, she seemed to respect him a lot, unlike Riven who respects nobody, "Now, if you can walk, I'd appreciate it if you could follow me,"

"Where are we going?" Stella shot back and the woman sighed, flipping her tablet under her arm.

"You sure do ask a lot of questions, don't you, your highness?" She murmured with a purse of her lips thoughtfully before extending her hand towards the door, "Unfortunately I don't have the time to answer all of it, so if you'd just come with me. I have a lot of things to get done this morning and I don't really like to waste my time,"

Stella stared at her blankly. Her attitude was definitely a bit edgy, but there was something in those blue-green eyes that seemed so familiar, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Whoever she was, she was still an enemy and judging by the fact that she had come here alone – she was either awfully confident in her abilities to take down a rebellion lieutenant, or she sorely was underestimating the former princess.

Without wasting a moment, Stella pushed off her non-injured arm and sent a punch straight for the woman's face. She was sure it was going to land, and the woman showed no signs of even flinching but to her utmost dismay, the purple-haired fairy sidestepped out of the way.

No, it was like her body disappeared and reappeared a fraction of an inch to the left.

Stella's eyes widened, no one had been able to dodge any of her attacks before. Using her now surprisingly healed foot, she rounded her body, for a devastating kick. Yet another attack that was immediately avoided by a hair.

Blow after blow she was dodging them, by mere fractions. Running out of stamina, Stella dropped her head and panted hard, trying to catch her breath.

The woman bent down, hand on her knees as she levelled with Stella's exhausted face, "Hmm, impressive combat skills you have your Highness," She nodded approvingly and Stella glared at her, expecting it to be a mockery but no, she was genuinely impressed, "If my magic didn't have the ability to hologram my body, your attacks would've really done some damage,"

Tech magic.

The former princess stared wide-eyed at the familiar woman who stood smirking in front of her. Tecna Synclair, the Drakari's genius tech creator, who designs and builds everything down from the high-tech weapons to the magic-wielding ships.

Her reputation clearly preceded her.

"You- You're the maker of the Drakari ships," Stella heaved out between breaths and the fairy of technology smiled.

"I am," Tecna replied with a bright grin, "Now if you don't mind Your Highness, I'd like to get to my lab, I'm on a tight schedule and there's a couple of things to be done before the commander gets back," she gestured to the door, signalling Stella to follow her.

Her shoulder was starting to ache from the punches she had thrown and it didn't seem like any melee attacks were going to land on the fairy's hologram barrier.

Defeated, the former princess followed alongside Tecna as she walked. Stella's eyes swept the halls as she took in the nostalgic atmosphere of her former home. The Sun palace had not changed, everything from the regal gold runners to the cream spiral pillars remained intact. The walls showed no signs of age, and the garden view from the cut-outs in the parapet indicated the place was extremely well maintained.

As heartwarming as it is to see her home continue to stand proudly, it also enraged her that her father's murderer was living in the home she grew up in.

The home that he chose to betray and run the walls red of.

Tecna's lab was built into the old Solarian training room. A glass pane separating the lab equipment from the wide training arena that was once used to train the Silver army. Most of Tecna's half-built prototypes are lined along the walls, random pieces of tech scattered over the desks with sketches and blueprints messily hung on any spare wall.

Tecna walked into the room with her hands stuffed in her coat pockets as Stella continued to stand at the threshold of the lab, gaping at everything. There was one word branded across most of her working prototypes. Fraser. That name was so familiar but she couldn't put her finger on where that came from.

"Alright, let's get this done, I need you to have a seat please Your Highness," Tecna grabbed her glasses off her desk and pulled them over her eyes before gesturing at the ominous tech-powered chair sitting in the middle of the room.

Noticing the quizzical look on Stella's face, Tecna sighed, "Commander's order, it'll take less than a minute, but it will pinch a bit,"

There wasn't much of a choice here. Despite her eyes flickering between every piece of unfinished weaponry in the room, there was nothing here she knew how to use. Drakari tech was extremely finicky, even when the rebellion got ahold of a shipment from the black market, they didn't respond well to non-Drakari soldiers. Plus with Tecna's unique ability to hologram her physical being, there wasn't much to go from in terms of disarming and escaping her either.

Choosing to surrender, Stella walked deeper into the room, hefting herself onto the footrest of the chair as she sat down. The cold metal bit at her skin and the way it was angled down made her feel uneasy.

Tecna stood beside the chair, "Alright Your Highness, gotta buckle you in," Her face was bare of any emotion other than the tight-lipped smile she wore as grabbed the leather cuffs that hung on the armrests.

Averting her eyes from Tecna's gaze, she looked around the room once more. It seemed that the fairy of technology also lived in the castle and Stella had a hunch that asshole Riven did as well. She had never had a run-in with either Riven or Tecna during the Rebellion raids, even ones so close to the kingdom, it's possible they don't engage in combat with rebels, but even then surely they were aware of it.

Was Tecna unaware of the massacre that had taken place here? No, she wasn't oblivious, it was likely she supplied some if not most of the advancement to the old Solarian weapons that were used in the massacre. The massacre of thousands of civilians, including her father.

To think the docile genius girl whom Stella had caught a glimpse of was a key factor in the ruin of her beloved kingdom.

How could you? Felt like such a fitting question to ask but Stella remained silent. She knew a fair bit about Tecna just by word of mouth. She was one of the most renowned technologists that Solaria ever had the pleasure of educating.

Originally from Zenith, she was extremely talented, and her knowledge knew no bounds when it came to upgrading and building new tech. In her youth, she was the leading mind for the weapons Solaria manufactured, mostly for defence rather than attacking as per King Radius's beliefs. Her work now with the Drakari makes the old tech under the former king look like toys.

Stella had met Tecna once or twice when she was brought into the palace to discuss plans with the king and she noted how quiet and withdrawn she always was. Compared to the former princess's liveliness, the fairy of technology barely spoke a word and had a dull lifeless look in her eyes, so Stella never really spoke to her.

"Why did you side with him?" Stella murmured without thinking, and Tecna gazed up from her task of strapping Stella's wrists down into the chair. Her bright blue-green eyes gave off an eccentric demeanour, a stark comparison to the dull greying eyes she had as a child.

"With all due respect, Your Highness that isn't the question you should be asking when I'm strapping you down into a high-powered chair," she replied in a sort of snarky yet somehow playfully sarcastic tone.

Stella shrugged, or at least attempted to with the limited mobility she had, "I'm not concerned about that. Now answer my question, why did you side with him?"

Tecna half smiled, a slight look of impressed glimmering in her eyes, "The high commander gives me the resources I need for my work, and in turn, I give the Drakari the weapons they need,"

"That's despicable,"

Tecna shrugged, unfazed as she pulled her lab glasses over her eyes, "Maybe, but in a situation of kill or be killed, whose side would you rather be on?"

Stella opened her mouth to retort back but Tecna immediately shoved a leather band between her teeth, silencing her, "Bite down hard on this, your Highness," She smirked and before Stella had a moment to question it, a sharp almost burning pain erupted from her right arm.

It was unbearable and she bit the leather hard to keep herself from shrieking loudly as tears ran down her face. She didn't even have the strength to look down at what was causing it as she raised her head to force the pain down.

It was over within the minute as the pain reduced to a sizzling burn as Tecna's face appeared in front of her, "Wow, you are the only one of my subjects who hasn't been incapacitated over that," She nodded, a sort of maniacally dazzled look on her face as she took the leather strap out, "Or better yet – died,"

The restraints on Stella's wrist came off and she sat in the chair trying to focus her blurry vision through her heavy panting. Everything was starting to spin and she feebly attempted to look down at her arm trying to figure out what happened.

There was an ominous black carving against her right forearm, creeping from her wrist to her inner elbow, something that resembled the Silver emblem. The skin around it was fiery red and almost raw which stemmed the immense amount of pain.

"How do you feel, your highness?" Tecna asked crouching in front of the chair, but all Stella could see was her lips move and a warped buzzing sound echoing in her eardrums.

Her eyelids fluttered drowsily as she forced herself to stand sloppily. The doors to Tecna's lab hissed open and Stella's heartbeat hammered in her ears as high commander Brandon Silver walked in.

Donned in his black paladin gear and a cold look in his dark brown eyes, blurry and doubled in Stella's vision, "How did it go?" His deep voice sounded in the lab as Stella shook her head trying to steady herself as she stepped down out of the high chair.

"Initial phase was a success, but I'm not sure if Her Highness is going to be functional for the next 10 to 12 hours," Tecna stood in front of Brandon before her gaze flickered back to the former princess leaning against the arm of the chair with a drowsy look on her face. Brandon's sharp gaze followed as they stared emotionlessly at her, but the dizziness was so bad she could barely make out his face.

Tecna's voice lowered but Stella had become incredibly good at lip reading even with her vision tripling, "If she makes it past the 5-hour acceptance mark, her body should take it,"

Brandon's voice sounded in response, his arms crossed over his chest as he spoke with a tone bare of any care, "If it gets rejected?"

"Well, it will kill her, or we pull it out and she dies from the pain…"

Great.

"I'm fine," Stella slurred out, waving her left hand. She could feel the warm blood dripping down her right wrist from whatever Tecna had done to her arm.

She gazed down, seeing Brandon's strides walk closer to her, she could smell the woody scent masking the stench of blood from his clothes considering how close he had come, "Don't fucking t-touch me!" She snapped drowsily, pointing her finger accusingly at him before her body swayed and Brandon continued to stare at her with a frown, "I swear I will kill you if you-"

That was the last thing she muttered before her knees gave out and everything went black. Brandon grabbed her waist before her body hit the ground, and in one fell swoop he placed his arm under her knees, lifting her up.

"I can keep Her Highness in the lab if you want," Tecna offered, leaning nonchalantly against her desk as she watched her high commander carry the former princess in his arms. "Run some tests on what else can be done on her, she has a remarkably high tolerance we can-"

"That's enough, there's no need," he replied in his usual coldness.

Tecna pursed her lips and shrugged, "Alright, just watch out for any heavy bleeding, the nullifier is embedded into her forearm. I've had a couple of subjects where their body rejected it even after the 5-hour acceptance mark,"

"What are her chances?"

Tecna pouted in thought and tapped her chin, "Well if you factor in the acceptance mark, the death rate, and chances of failure thereafter…about 8.65%, give or take," she murmured tilting her hand side to side to showcase her uncertainty.

"Of failure?"

"Of survival,"

YAY more characters! Growing up I LOVED Stella of the Shining Sun i totally wanted to be her so bad. Then I hit my 20s and I became Tecna...honestly, she's pretty cool, if anyone was wondering what my real personality was like it's like this version of Tecna HAHAH aka kinda unhinged.

For everyone in the comments that were asking - Brandon lives in the sun palace, where Stella grew up. Where you saw Andreas was not the same place, hope that helps!

Lots of love,

Star