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taexual · 7 months

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sleepwalking ● 9 | jjk

pairing: jungkook x fem!reader

summary: due to unfortunate circumstances, you ended up managing your ex-boyfriend’s band. you thought you’ve both made peace with it, but suddenly he’s very eager to prove to you that first love never dies.

genre: rockstar!jungkook / exes to lovers

warnings: explicit language, mutual pining, angst, SLOOOWW BUURNNN

words: 9.9k

read from the beginning ○ masterlist

chapter 9 ► the silence is one thing that i’ll remember you said. well, it’s better than nothing when nothing’s all that you left

The next morning was warm.

It was such a stark contrast to last night that you couldn’t help but still feel phantom shivers on your skin when you got off the bus to stretch your legs. It was still two more hours to Oslo, and it was unreasonably early to be awake, considering you did not return to the bus until sunrise—a mere half an hour before the scheduled departure for Norway.

Everyone else was still asleep, which made sense: they must have returned to the bus sometime very late, too. Granted, when you and Jungkook reached the restaurant on Strandvägen yesterday, your team was no longer there—but that didn’t mean they went to sleep as soon as they returned.

To be fair, you hadn’t expected to find them at the restaurant anyway. But after the abrupt end of your conversation with Jungkook on the bridge, you had hoped for a distraction. Something to take your mind off the uncomfortable gaping hole inside you.

Jungkook had suggested last night that you take a taxi back to the tour bus, and you were almost ready to walk back on your own.

It confused you—this unexpected longing for something you dared not name—but it also frightened you. Therefore, you were glad that when the bus reached Oslo, Jungkook was still asleep.

You felt like you needed a minute—to convince yourself that whatever you thought you’d felt in the air last night was more wishful thinking than anything else. Because here’s the thing about wishful thinking: it was yours. And everything that was yours, you could extinguish. You could put it out like you’d done countless times before.

So, several hours later in Oslo, you gave Yoongi very strict instructions to keep the band close and make sure they rested before tomorrow’s performance. And then you took your girls to explore the city, sightsee and drink as much coffee as you could find.

Unfortunately for Jungkook, sightseeing was something he also wanted to do with you once you arrived in Oslo. He had a lot to tell you; he knew he owed you an explanation. He just wasn’t sure how to explain what had happened, let alone what hadn’t happened.

But when he woke up on the bus, you had already left, taking Maggie and Luna with you. So, not only did he have to wallow in his thoughts, but he also had to deal with a sulking Taehyung, who never openly admitted why he was sulking, but it was obvious enough. Even though he texted Luna all day, she wasn’t physically there with him, and that wasn’t enough.

Jungkook was annoyed. He should have seen this coming—he tended to sleep in while you tended to not—but he realised he had expected you to stay. He’d expected a reaction. Perhaps he’d hoped you would demand that he explained himself and why the two of you had gone from I-miss-you to let’s-walk-and-not-look-at-each-other.

Your reaction, however, was no reaction at all.

You and the girls went out, which for the three of you, meant getting ice cream and walking the city streets until you found something interesting. Sometimes this took up the whole day. You loved it—especially today.

But then, just as you were approaching what looked like a castle with crowds of tourists flocking to it—Luna discovered it was the Royal Palace, which should have been obvious, but you and Maggie still ooh-ed and ahh-ed at Luna’s Google Maps skills—your phone started to ring.

Licking your ice cream hurriedly so it wouldn’t melt completely while you talked, you walked away from the girls to take the call.

You were half-expecting an emergency, but before you could really be disappointed that you had to end your excursion, you noticed the unknown number on the screen of your phone. You briefly considered not answering, but you saw that the number had an area code from home.

You thought it might be your brother calling. Once again, you considered not answering, still angry at him for his recklessness and your mum’s tears. But responsibility won over, and you picked up.

On the other end of the line was a man asking for you. For a moment, you were confused, because the voice sounded familiar, but the owner of it didn’t seem to know who he was talking to.

“This is she,” you responded to your own name. “May I ask who’s calling?”

“Oh, you sound so different for some reaso—it’s Nick,” the man said, and you stopped chewing on the waffle cone of your ice cream in surprise.

Nick Zhou had been your supervisor after you graduated and started to work at the company where you now managed Rated Riot. Back then, you were just an intern before being promoted to assistant manager for an indie rock band with the ominous name The Jungle Will Get You, when you were only 23 years old. Nick was their manager then, and he never admitted it, but you knew he’d pulled some strings to get you that job.

A little over a year later, you took over the management of Rated Riot, and you haven’t spoken to Nick since. He went on to manage Reconnaissance, one of the biggest alternative rock bands in the country, if not the world. Just being their manager made Nick more popular than Rated Riot at the moment.

You thought things had worked out well for you both, so there was simply no reason for you to stay in touch.

You figured the reason he was calling you now had to mean good things for Rated Riot. Supporting Reconnaissance on tour? Perhaps a collaboration?

“Nick!” was the first word out of your mouth after the surprise had subsided. “So nice to hear from you again.”

“I heard you were in Europe? That’s huge!” he said, which was kind of him, because Reconnaissance were selling out stadiums.

“We are, yeah. Oslo right now,” you said, smiling at Maggie, who approached you and tugged on your arm like a toddler wanting to go on a ride at an amusement park. Except in this case, the ‘ride’ was a wine bar down the street from the palace. You nodded, and that was permission enough for her to jog over to Luna and drag the two of you towards the bar, never mind that it was 3 PM. You said into the phone, “how are you? You’re going to Australia soon, right?”

“Next week, yeah,” Nick said. “The new album’s coming shortly after that.”

“Ah, another tour,” you said with a teasing chuckle—you knew how much Nick hated flying. Even the Reconnaissance members talked about their ‘air-sick manager’ in almost every interview they did. “Good luck in advance!”

Nick chortled in irony. “Thanks, I’m going to need it. That’s actually, uh, the reason I’m calling.”

Your heart rate picked up as the ice cream melted in your hand. “Yeah?”

“Yes. See, we had some—er, situations,” he paused here as if searching for a better word. After he didn’t find one, he continued with the one he had picked, “and because of these situations, I’m putting together a new team. With the new album coming out soon, we’re on a really tight schedule.”

“Right,” you said. You could already hear him asking if Rated Riot would like to be the supporting act, and maybe even participate in Reconnaissance’s new album.

“Well, that’s why I’m calling you,” he said. “The management here is just me and this guy, Mark, who can’t dial a phone number to save his life, but he’s a great sport. Keeps the band alive. But I need more people. Preferably someone with, uh, experience.”

He paused meaningfully, but it still took you a minute to realise that he hadn’t contacted you about Rated Riot. He had contacted you about you.

You watched Maggie and Luna enter the wine bar, take your ice cream from you, and make a beeline for the cash register, all while you stood in the doorway.

“I’m—uh—Nick.” There was an uncomfortable lump of surprise in your throat. Your hands felt sticky and your mouth felt dry. “I’m—I manage Rated Riot.”

“I know,” he said, “and they’re a very promising band, tons of potential,” he paused here, hesitating, “but I thought—well, this is sort of different, isn’t it?”

You would have scoffed if you weren’t so stunned. “Well, of course.”

“Yeah. So, I just—we need an assistant manager. Fast,” Nick said. “And you were the first person I thought of. I mean, we’ve worked together before. I know your strengths and I admire your work ethic. I think you’d be a great addition to our team.”

Overwhelmed, you barely managed to find your words. “I… appreciate the offer. But I don’t think I can just—”

“Think about it, okay?” he interrupted you, aware of the abruptness and sheer mass of this offer. “We’ll be back from Australia next month, so you don’t need to give me an answer right away. Just—the sooner the better, of course. But you can think about it. I just wanted to let you know that I have an opening, and I’d love it if you joined us.”

“I—okay.” The faint smell of grapes and old wood around the wine bar seemed to grow stronger the longer that you stood here, still frozen. “Thank you, Nick.”

“I’ll be waiting to hear from you,” he said. “Take care, yeah?”

You nodded, even though he couldn’t see you. “Yeah, you too. Thanks again.”

The three beeps after he ended the call reverberated in your head, and it was another half-minute before you moved the phone from your ear. You looked at it in disbelief, as if it had been someone else who’d just had this conversation, and you had merely overheard it.

In an attempt to ground yourself, you tried to simplify your loud thoughts into whispers of an adequate noise.

There was an opening to be Reconnaissance’s assistant manager.

You’d have to take a step back, do more mundane tasks, similar to the ones you did back when you were Nick’s assistant that first time. But if you said yes, you’d be working with one of the biggest bands in the world right now.

But you couldn’t leave Rated Riot. You were their manager. You believed in them, and you loved everyone on this team.

“You look like you just found out Santa isn’t real,” Maggie’s voice brought you back to the present. She had come to get you, so you’d stop blocking the entrance for others. “Who was that?”

You still felt very hot and half-choked, so you tried to loosen the collar of your white tank top. The denim jacket you wore over it didn’t help much with the heat inside of you, either.

“Um,” you looked around as you slipped out of your jacket. “Can we get some wine first?”

Maggie raised her eyebrows. “Oh, it’s like that, is it?”

You nodded, and before you could give a verbal response, Maggie was already calling out to your friend, who was about to place her order, “Luna! Grab some doubles! We have something going on.”

It took the girls about two minutes to find a table—granted, a couple of tourists who saw Maggie dragging you through the wine bar while you were trying to regain proper consciousness got scared and left, which helped a lot—and settle down.

As soon as you took the first sip, catching the rich and savoury taste—perhaps a bit too savoury; it immediately made you scrunch your nose—Luna scooted closer to you on the navy-coloured velvet couch.

“What happened?” she asked. “Who was that on the phone?”

You set your glass down. “That was Nick. My former supervisor. Before I started to work with Rated Riot. He, um—he manages Reconnaissance.”

“Oh, shit!” Maggie exclaimed at the same time as Luna muttered, “I don’t really know them.”

“Oh!” Maggie gasped, turning to Luna. “Wait. Weren’t you at their show a few days ago? I saw on your Instagram.”

“Yeah, Taehyung took me. He brought me to the after-party, too, but—” she paused as she noticed that Maggie’s eyes looked ready to pop out. She explained, “oh, that was just to babysit Jungkook. He’s the one who really listens to Reconnaissance. I don’t know any of their songs. They sounded good, but I’m—”

“Oh my God!” Maggie gasped again. She had glitter in her eyes and all over her face. “Wait until we get back on the bus! I probably have five different notebooks full of their song lyrics. You’ll love them.”

Luna nodded her head once, then paused in the middle of the second nod. “Wait, you brought those notebooks on tour? Aren’t they heavy?”

“Kind of. But I like to have them with me. And I keep adding to them, so—” Maggie stopped when you picked up your glass again. Your movement seemed to remind her what the topic was before she digressed. She leaned back in her bright yellow armchair. “—which is not the point. So, what did that guy want? Nick.”

Both girls turned their attention back to you.

You took another sip of your wine and said, “well, I thought he wanted Rated Riot.”

Swirling her glass, Luna asked, “he didn’t?”

“He didn’t,” you confirmed. “Apparently, he wants me.”

Luna was the first to understand the implication as her eyebrows lifted and her chin dropped. Maggie, on the other hand, looked at Luna, and then back at you.

“Like… to work with him?” she asked. “To manage Reconnaissance?”

“Well, obviously not to perform with them on stage,” Luna said to her impatiently, then turned back to you. “Why does he want you?”

“He said he needed to find an assistant manager quickly,” you explained, “and since he knows me, he thought I’d be... suitable. For that job.”

You didn’t know what words to choose so you wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable talking about this. And, as you sat here with your friends and your glass of wine, you realised that a part of you didn’t believe you were even ready to work with someone like Reconnaissance. For the most part, you were terrified of it.

You hoped Rated Riot would reach their level one day, that’s true. But starting to work with a band that was already so outrageously popular felt a bit like being thrown into a pot of boiling water.

“Well, what did you say?” Maggie asked.

“I said no,” you replied, your vision blurring again. “I think.”

The two girls spoke up at the same time.

Luna repeated, “you think?” while Maggie asked, “why not?”

They exchanged a look – Maggie, surprised; Luna, slightly accusing.

“What?” Maggie said in response to her look. “This is big!” She put down her glass and leaned over to touch your knee, wanting to emphasise her point, “I love you, okay? And I love working with you and everyone else here, and I know you do, too. But this is just… huge.”

“I know,” you said, your gaze still wandering along the tiled wall behind Maggie’s armchair. You felt disoriented and the wine had very little to do with it. “But I—I mean, I can’t just leave.”

“I think you should talk to the guys,” Luna suggested. She managed to come to terms with the heaviness of the offer that Nick had made much faster than you did. It helped, of course, that she wasn’t the one who had to make a decision here, but she was making a reasonable point regardless.

“Yeah,” Maggie agreed, pointing at the girl on the couch next to you, and nodding eagerly at you. “Yeah. You should.”

You looked at both of them, then down at your glass, as if you could take a sip and it’d give you very clear directions of what to do next.

“But what can I say to them?” you asked. Then, in a voice meaning to imitate yourself, you said, “‘I might have an opportunity to leave you and work with a much bigger band.’ No. No, I don’t think so.”

Maggie squinted at you, unsure if she was the only one confused again. She asked carefully, “you… don’t think you’ll tell them this? Or you don’t think you’ll work with Reconnaissance?”

You finished your wine and set the glass back on the tray. The other girls’ glasses were still half-full.

“Neither, probably,” you replied. “I’d be—you know. If I went to work with Nick, I’d be fetching coffee for the other staff members and filling out paperwork. I already do that for Rated Riot anyway, but I don’t mind, because I don’t think we’re at a level where I’d need an assistant. But I—I want to reach that level with them. I want to be here every step of the way.”

If you’d lifted your eyes from the table in front of you, you would have seen the soft smile on Luna’s face. Instead, you heard it in her voice when she said, “that makes sense.”

Finally, you looked at her. “It does?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh, I think you should sleep on it,” Maggie said, a different voice of reason. “Make sure this isn’t something you’ll regret later. Oh!” she clapped her hands. “You can even make a pros and cons list!”

You smiled while Luna snickered. She said to you, “pro: obviously, you wouldn’t be managing your ex-boyfriend—”

“Um?” Maggie cut in. “Con: you wouldn’t be managing your ex-boyfriend.”

Luna frowned at her. “How is that a con?”

Maggie raised her eyebrows. “Have you seen her ex-boyfriend?”

Luna’s frown dissipated as she laughed, and even you chuckled, too.

In her whole life, Maggie might have had one and a half doubts about not actually being gay; she was simply an artist to the core. And she was very vocal about how unbelievably easy it was to photograph Jungkook when he was on stage. He was, in a truly annoying way, effortlessly photogenic.

“I guess that’s a pro and a con,” you said. There was a lingering smile on your face—this time, the wine did have something to do with it.

When paired with the sudden anxiety of Nick’s offer, the wine helped you distance yourself from the last conversation you’d had with Jungkook. And maybe it was better, you decided, that your friends didn’t know about the walk you two had taken. You preferred the conversation as it was now — cosy, safe, and almost buoyant.

“Is there a time limit?” Luna asked suddenly. “Did Nick tell you a date?”

“No,” you said with a sigh. “He said he wanted an answer soon. So I don’t have to decide right this second. But I’m not really considering it, to be honest. It’s a great opportunity, sure, but I think working with Rated Riot is a great opportunity, too.”

Both girls nodded in unison, their expressions brightening. Slowly, as you felt the support in their warm gazes, the atmosphere in the wine bar began to lighten, too. They understood. And they agreed with your point.

Luna teased, “does the band pay you extra when you say nice things about them? Because I really love Rated Riot.”

You chuckled. “I wish they did.”

Maggie lifted her glass. “Be careful. If you start complimenting them to their faces, it’ll go straight to their heads. And then we’ll have to give their shows an R rating.”

“Well, that would help them live up to their name,” Luna pointed out and the three of you burst into a fit of giggles again—partially because of the wine, but in your case also because of relief.

Nick’s offer and the confusing feelings from last night did not seem all that troublesome at the moment. You could almost forget about them, focusing only on the way things were right now.

You were happy like this. You didn’t want anything to change.

As dusk fell, Jungkook began to hover his finger over your name in his contact list. Just then, Sid burst into the otherwise empty bus and slammed the door with so much force that the whole vehicle swayed a little.

Startled, Jungkook looked up.

“Dude!” he called out, poking his head out of his bunk to see his friend’s proud face. “Gentle.”

“I have the best plans for us tonight,” Sid said as if he hadn’t heard him. “You will not believe the kind of bars they have here in Norway.”

Although Jungkook doubted that the bars here were any different from the ones back home, he still climbed out of the bunk, more intrigued by the idea of having company than by the supposed uniqueness of Norwegian bars. “Yeah?”

Sid’s smile grew wider still when he saw the same reaction mirrored on Jungkook’s face.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Let’s go.”

Jungkook hesitated. He had told you last night that things wouldn’t be the same between him and Sid when they returned home. And he meant it; he would have preferred to spend time with you—right now and back home. But you weren’t here, and while he was waiting for you, everyone else made different plans. Even Taehyung. And Jungkook hated being alone.

Grabbing his jacket, he climbed out of the bunk and allowed Sid to lead him outside, where the rest of their friends were already waiting.

They were like a herd of sheep, Jungkook thought unexpectedly while Sid ushered him out of the bus, the way they followed Sid. Why didn’t they ever protest or suggest their own ideas?

But as he looked at his friends – Jude and Minjun fighting over something on Jude’s phone, shoving the device in each other’s faces and shouting; Sid smacking them both on the backs of their heads, providing his own wisdom to their argument – he knew.

They stayed quiet, because the four of them were always together in the same way: with Sid in the lead, and the others following behind him. That’s the way it has always been. Jungkook knew that if one of them had a genuine problem with this, he would not be taken seriously. Or it would be the last time he could call them friends.

It was either this, or nothing at all.

That night, the four of them ended up in a cocktail bar in Oslo, a significant distance away from the tour bus and the rest of the crew. Jungkook didn’t understand why Sid had chosen this particular place until his friend winked and gestured towards the stairs leading to the basement.

“What’s down there?” Jungkook was dumb enough to ask.

Grateful for the chance to show off, Sid grinned and draped an arm around Jungkook’s shoulders as he led him—along with Jude and Minjun, who were looking around like this was a zoo—to the basement.

“Only the greatest thing to come out of Europe,” Sid explained. “You can thank me later.”

He didn’t.

It was an underground burlesque club with only three dancers, all of whom appeared so intimidating that Jungkook was convinced they could stab the four of them with their nails alone, if any of the boys looked them in the eye for too long. He didn’t dare to try.

Sid loved it.

Jungkook preferred the bar upstairs.

Minjun seemed to agree, so the two went back up for another round, while Jude stayed back. Despite occasionally acting like he hated Sid’s guts, Jude always stayed close to him, almost like an addict, who knew that this drug was bad for him, but still couldn’t break the habit.

“Do you think they’ll make it out alive?” Minjun asked as they waited for their drinks at the bar.

“I don’t think they’re getting out at all,” Jungkook replied. “It’s like siren screams for Sid.”

“That’s true. And if Sid stays, Jude stays.”

Jungkook nodded, his expression grim.

“So, D-11,” Minjun said. It took Jungkook a second to realise that he was counting down the days to the end of the bet. “How’s it going?”

He gave his friend a look. “I’m in a bar with you. How do you think it’s going?”

Minjun smiled and nodded to the bartender to thank him for bringing the drinks. Then he held his glass out to Jungkook.

“A toast,” he declared. Jungkook rolled his eyes and picked up his own glass. “May you win this bet, because Sid on a motorcycle is a menace I want nothing to do with.”

Snorting, Jungkook clinked his glass against his and they both downed their drinks in several big gulps.

“He’s not getting the bike,” Jungkook said, setting his glass down with new-found determination. Hearing Minjun mention the possibility of Sid winning the Katana made it feel more realistic. He had to make sure that didn’t happen.

“Do you need my help?” Minjun asked as if reading his mind.

Jungkook looked up from the bar top. “You couldn’t help even if I asked. We signed an agreement that we wouldn’t tell her.”

“You and Sid signed it,” Minjun pointed out. “I was just the person who typed it all out in my fucking Notes. I’m not legally bound to abide by the conditions of the deal. And, actually, neither are you. It’s just a—”

“Why would you help me?” Jungkook interrupted. His friend’s final sentences had evidently flown over his head. “I’ve hardly got anything to offer you in return.”

Minjun shrugged. “I just don’t want Sid to win.”

Jungkook swallowed. He found himself hoping, suddenly, that there was more to this. That if he really kicked Sid off the tour and out of his life, there would at least be one person who wouldn’t leave with him. One person who would stay.

“I don’t know what you could do,” Jungkook said. “Putting in a good word for me probably wouldn’t do much.”

“No?” his friend said, then looked down at his glass thoughtfully. “Okay. We can go full mentalist on her.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Dropping certain objects in her living space that leave imprints of you in her subconscious,” Minjun said completely seriously. “It’s simple.”

“Dude.” Jungkook blinked. “I don’t know where this—this Sherlockian shit is coming from, but I’m not going to mess with her head.”

Minjun was about to scoff, but held back because the offence on Jungkook’s face at the—apparently, preposterous—suggestion seemed genuine. As if Minjun didn’t know what he was saying. As if this was serious, and Jungkook didn’t want to ruin it by playing games.

Minjun pointed out, “but you already are messing with her head.”

If possible, Jungkook looked even more appalled. “I’m—that’s not what I’m doing.”

“Then what’s the difference between what you’re doing and what I’m suggesting?”

“Well, I’m not trying to—I’m not sneaking around and forcing her to think about me,” Jungkook said, looking away from his friend and meeting the bartender’s gaze. He nodded, and the man behind the bar approached the two friends with a bottle of whiskey.

“It’s not force, technically,” Minjun explained as they watched the bartender refill their drinks. “It’s just how your brain works. You see something that reminds you of someone, and it sticks with you whether you’re aware of it or not.”

“I’d like for that to happen naturally,” Jungkook said, aware that he was the naïve one here. But he liked to think of it as hope. And he had that right—he was the only one who really knew you. The only one who could guess whether you were thinking about him or not.

Minjun shrugged and picked up his glass as soon as it was filled. “It’s your call. I’m just trying to speed up the process.”

Jungkook brought his own drink to his lips, but paused when Minjun spoke up again.

“Let me ask you something, though,” he said. “Before you get too far ahead of yourself.”

Even before he heard the question, Jungkook already felt queasy. “What is it?”

“Do you genuinely want to get back together with her?” Minjun asked.

There seemed to be no ill intentions behind the question, but Jungkook spent a full minute watching him and reading his expression.

Minjun was quick to notice his uncertainty. He reassured, “I’m asking because I care. Not because I want to make fun of you. I know you love her, but this—well, I’m just wondering if you want to act on these feelings.”

Jungkook looked down again. “Yeah, uh, I do. It’s not just about the bet for me.”

Minjun had suspected as much, so he wanted to broach the subject when no one else was around.

“But you still think making a bet out of it is the way to go?” he inquired.

Jungkook knew where this was going. And he still tried to appear nonchalant.

“I mean, I’m in this mess anyway, so why not actually win this?” he replied with a laid-back shrug that was so laid-back, it only amplified the fact that it was not laid-back at all.

“Jungkook,” Minjun said, startling him. Normally, the four of them addressed each other as ‘dude’ or the occasional ‘what the fuck is wrong with you?’. Hearing his name felt strange, almost foreboding.

“There’s so many reasons why not,” Minjun continued. “The most important one being that you come out of this as a winner twice. You get her and you get the bike. But all she gets is the realisation that someone she’s letting back into her life has lied to her.”

Defensively, Jungkook demanded, “when did I lie?”

“You’re getting back together with her because of the bet!”

“It’s not because of—it’s not just because of the bet. I just told you.”

“But she doesn’t know about it,” Minjun countered, poking holes in Jungkook’s feeble defensive shield. It was more like a flimsy piece of paper than a shield, really; just something he’d hoped to fool himself—and you—into believing. “She doesn’t know what else is at stake. It’s not fair.”

“Okay,” Jungkook turned in his seat to face Minjun, leaning his elbow against the bar top. “What are you trying to tell me? That I should lose the bet on purpose? To show her that I care about her more than anything else?”

“No,” Minjun replied, less confident. Jungkook was likely not aware of this, but he could be very intimidating. For Minjun, who considered himself immune to most forms of intimidation after years of being friends with Sid, this was unusual and unsettling. “I’m not telling you anything. I’m just suggesting you think about it. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”

Jungkook swallowed, his throat dry.

He knew that he had already drawn a subconscious line between simply wanting you back and wanting you back to win the bet. He worried about the exact thing that Minjun had just mentioned—that he couldn’t have both. He worried that it wouldn’t be fair to be with you again if he won.

This was what stopped him on the bridge. It’s what haunted his mind every time he thought about talking to you.

Deep down, he knew he would have to make a choice: either he won the bet, or he got back together with you.

And yet, he couldn’t let Sid win. The thought pressed on his mind with so much weight that he knew it wasn’t just you that he didn’t want to lose, and it definitely wasn’t just his bike. It was a matter of pride, too.

He was proving a point for all the years that Sid had asserted his superiority over him.

“You know, that never made any sense to me,” Jungkook said. Alcohol helped him feel more confident and less self-conscious. Maybe he should stay tipsy until the end of the bet. “That’s the whole point of the cake. You get it, and it’s not just there to fucking look at. It’s there to be eaten.”

Minjun could tell Jungkook felt defensive, so he didn’t take the aggression personally. Instead, he took a sip of his drink.

“Whatever, man,” he said. “It’s your life, in the end.”

“Yeah. It is,” Jungkook replied so firmly that it just sounded childish. He tried to soften his tone, “I appreciate yo—your concern, but I got this.”

“Okay,” his friend agreed because that was easier. They could have been at it for hours—and God knows, Jungkook and Sid had been at it for hours—but Minjun didn’t think it was worth it. He concluded, “that’s fine.”

“It is,” Jungkook agreed.

But it was clear that it wasn’t fine. Jungkook looked flushed as if he’d bathed in a barrel of whiskey, not merely drank two glasses of it.

After about half an hour, the silence became heavy. At first, Minjun had thought that he would rather throw himself down the stairs than return to the basement where Sid and Jude were. But now that seemed like a better alternative than sitting here with a sulking Jungkook.

“You know, uh, I think I’m going to go check on Sid and Jude,” he said while Jungkook ordered another—his fifth—glass. “Don’t want them to die in Oslo. Too big of a hassle to bring their bodies back home.”

Jungkook’s lip did not even twitch. But he nodded and Minjun slid off his chair. He glanced back at his friend as he went, not wanting to leave him alone, but also feeling like Jungkook was already alone anyway, even with him here.

Jungkook had always been good at isolating himself, even when surrounded by other people. Honestly, Minjun wasn’t sure if Jungkook even realised that he wasn’t sitting at the bar alone. He told Minjun once that he couldn’t stand silence, but Minjun knew that sometimes, Jungkook’s thoughts overwhelmed him without his consent. And once he got lost in his own mind, the rest of the world ceased to exist for him.

However, now that he was truly alone, Jungkook was struck by the heavy weight of his solitude. He would have agreed with Minjun – he really did have a monumental talent for disassociating anywhere, anytime. But to be able to drift off into his thoughts and turn the crowd into a blur, he needed a crowd in the first place.

Now that he was alone, all he could think about was that he was alone.

He certainly wasn’t going to follow his friends into the basement, so he got a few more drinks into his system for courage, and pulled his phone out—a painful reflex—to dial your number.

Needless to say, by the time you answered—it was 1 AM, but, of course, you answered—he was already slurring his words as he tried to explain why he’d called.

“Are you drunk?” was your first question as soon as you heard him try to introduce himself—pointlessly so, because at that point in your life, he was the only person who called you after midnight.

“Of course,” he said, with hints of offence in his voice. Why would he not be drunk? he rationalised. “Do you want to come?”

He heard shuffling on the other end as he played with the napkin on the bar top. Funnily enough, despite his mind feeling pleasantly numb, he still felt twinges of anxiety in his stomach.

“Where even are you?” you finally asked. He was too drunk to notice the coldness in your voice.

“Sid took us to some bar,” he replied. “In Oslo.”

While you were relieved that Sid hadn’t driven them out of Norway before Jungkook even performed here, you also felt concerned that Jungkook was so disoriented that he needed to remind you of the city you were in.

“Are the rest of the guys there?” you asked. His friends were useless, of course, but perhaps Minjun could be trusted to take care of Jungkook if he blacked out.

“They’re downstairs,” he answered. “There’s some club. I didn’t want to go, so I called you. Do you want to come?”

You were confused by the repeated question—was this a matter of you wanting to come, or were you obligated to come as his manager?

He sensed your apprehension through the phone despite being intoxicated.

“I’m trying to see you,” he explained, his tongue struggling to bend the right way. All his Rs sounded like sloppy Ls and Ws. “You weren’t there when I looked for you earlier today.” You heard a bang – he’d slammed his palm against the bar top, forcing the nearby glasses to rattle – and he continued, whining now, “why are you so difficult for me to find?!”

“You’re drunk,” you stated in response. “And you’re not making any sense. Can you find your way to the bus, or do I have to pick you up?”

Half-mumbling, half-whining something incoherent, Jungkook leaned his arms on the bar top. He rested his head on them and pressed his phone against his ear harder as if that’d make you understand him better, make you enter his head somehow.

“You should come,” he said. “I’ll order for you.”

“How about you tell me exactly where you are first,” you replied.

He did – to the best of his ability in his current state – but Google Maps could hardly help you find the directions for “then we took two left turns and came up in front of his huge red brick building, might have been brown, I’m really drunk.” Finally, you managed to get him to just send you his pinned location and headed over there.

He stayed on his phone after you hung up, opening the Notes app and scrolling through his older notes to pass the time.

Some of them were lists of things he wanted to remember – films to see, songs to listen to – while others were harder to decipher: drunken reminders he had made for himself and forgotten as soon as he sobered up.

Some of the notes were song lyrics, and some were just your name—he’d begun to type out a message? a letter? and abandoned it, scared of the weight your name alone carried—and his finger lingered on those for a minute before he pressed the New Note button and began typing immediately.

Normally, he didn’t write lyrics when he was drunk. Tipsy, maybe—one of Rated Riot’s most popular singles was born after he and Yoongi tried absinthe for the first time at one of the label’s parties last year—but never so drunk that the room felt wobbly.

He kept pressing the wrong buttons on the keyboard and autocorrect kept making it worse; shocking even his drunk mind with how completely wrong the corrections were.

But he managed to get two full lines – I fucking miss you when I drink / You burn my throat when I sing – and he stared at them for a minute, a deep frown on his face.

He hated it. Deleting the words with angry force on the backspace button, he began typing again, feeling furiously alone with every passing minute that you didn’t come—and knowing that when you did come, you would be you. And he couldn’t love you the way he did.

For years, even when he thought—hoped—that the feelings he had for you were not real, even as he insisted to his friends that he couldn’t possibly still love you, even as he tried to meet someone new despite only seeing faint echoes of your absence on every face, even then he wrote about you each time that his mind wandered.

You continued to be the subject of his music, the lyrical lover in every song he wrote.

Now, as he entered line after line, the lyrics writing themselves as he watched the screen, he could feel his heart thumping in his chest—as drunk as his mind was.

When the absence of you is all that inspires / I allow for the pain to turn into fires / It will burn when I write, when I think, when I sing / Flames will turn to ashes, turn to words, turn to ink

He held his phone with one hand as he folded and unfolded a napkin with the other one, reading the words and then re-reading them again.

He wasn’t sure if he liked it. He needed Namjoon to take a look at this—the producer knew better—before he could show it to anyone else. Especially before he sent it to—

Jungkook jumped up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and his vision seemed to brighten when he recognised you.

“I came as quickly as I could,” you said, out of breath as if you had run all the way here. You took a seat on the stool next to him at the bar, using his shoulder to steady yourself as you climbed onto it. “Where’s your tail?”

Even drunk, he understood you meant his friends.

“Downstairs,” he said, nodding his head towards the door leading to the staircase in the back. “Drinks?”

You assessed him. He didn’t appear to be in need of having his stomach pumped, but he was slouched over the bar, tightly clutching his phone in his hand, which was a good indicator that the night should have ended there.

“I think it’d be better to—”

“Strawberry daiquiri,” he said loudly—to the bartender, but it took you a second to realise that—then he turned to you for confirmation. “Right?”

“I’m not drinking,” you replied firmly enough for him to give you a long look.

“Why not?” he asked. The bartender politely waited for your consent before he started to make the cocktail. “You’re not driving.”

You swallowed. There were many – countless, really – reasons why not. You were confused about yesterday, confused about Nick’s offer, confused about what you were doing here tonight.

This was dangerous. Reckless, even, and very out of character for someone like you. You knew you shouldn’t dive head first into this, not after what happened—what didn’t happen—yesterday.

But you gave the bartender a light nod.

“One drink,” you said. “And we’re going back.”

But, of course, going back is not at all what you did.

Jungkook, his highball, your daiquiri, and you all found yourselves on the empty terrace on the roof not ten minutes later.

It was a relatively warm night, but it was the empty space, the dark night and the faint scent of rain that captivated you more than the warmth. It was so beautiful here; very hard not to be grateful to be alive on a night like this. And you realised you didn’t blame Jungkook for making you come here, after all.

“What were you doing before I came?” you spoke softly, not wanting to disturb the peacefulness of the night.

Jungkook took a sip from his glass and placed it on the small round table between your patio chairs.

“Writing,” he said.

You were surprised. “Writing?”

“Yeah.”

“As in, song lyrics?”

“Yeah,” he repeated. Then—his mind travelling a thousand miles per hour—he added, “you know, I wrote “Haunting” about you.”

Weirdly enough, while alcohol made most people sleepy or, at least slower, it seemed to ignite Jungkook’s mind instead. He wanted to see your reaction when he said this. Wanted, even drunk, to see if there was a reason for him to worry.

Meanwhile, you needed a moment to process what he’d just said and, even then, you weren’t entirely sure if you understood him.

“I—you did?” you stumbled, awkward.

“Yes.”

You looked away, the song fresh in your mind, because it wasn’t just the first Rated Riot song that you’d heard. It was also one of your favourites. You loved the ethereal melody—a strong focus on piano, the guitars reduced to the background and the bass only joining in on the chorus—and Jungkook’s raw vocals as he sang about resisting his dark urges.

You knew all of Rated Riot’s lyrics—hearing their songs every night paid off, but you’d have been lying if you said you didn’t like to listen to them in your free time as well—but it was the first verse and, particularly, the breathy, pained voice with which Jungkook sang it that always tugged at your heart:

It's wandering in my mind / It's haunting my daydreams / I follow after it, blind / I fall apart at the seams

After a minute, you finally spoke—awkward as you explained the meaning of his own lyrics to him, “I always thought it was about… well, searching for thrills even though that’s not good for you.”

“It is,” Jungkook said. “The beginning is. But the chorus is about you.”

Before you could ask anything else, he mouthed the lyrics under his breath so quietly that you were unsure if you weren’t only imagining him singing it since you’d listened to the song so many times before.

Can I find you when I break? / Can I find you when it’s too much? / Can you forgive all my mistakes? / Can you save me with your touch?

Jungkook had written plenty of songs on his own, but from what you’d heard in the studio, his lyrics used to be too abstract. That was the main reason why Namjoon used to scold him.

“It lacks feeling!” he’d shout, agitated by his own expectations for the vocalist. “It’s like you’re singing about a bag of bricks!”

You knew that many of Jungkook’s early songs didn’t have a specific subject in mind. In this particular case, you assumed he was singing about someone—anyone, really—extending a helping hand or providing a shoulder to lean on. It was a comforting song, nothing more than that.

Jungkook was almost grateful for the surprise on your face—he was worried you’d tell him that you knew. He’d always thought it was obvious that this song was about you. After all, you were the only one who was always there for him.

And, in any case, who else would he write about if not you? As soon as he was criticised for lacking emotion in his lyrics, he started to write from experience. And you were his experience.

But, of course, you didn’t think to look for yourself in his lyrics. You didn’t want to find yourself there.

And now you weren’t sure what the appropriate response was when someone told you they wrote a song about you. “Thank you” didn’t seem sufficient, because the song was about you, not for you. “I love it” also didn’t capture it, because you didn’t love it because it was about you. You just did.

So, you remained silent, watching the lights on the skyscraper across the street and the reflection of the dark clouds in the dark windows. The people behind them were likely asleep, resting before they started their day in a few hours.

“I think…” Jungkook began, his sentence ending sooner than he’d expected. His eyes were glossy when you looked at him. “I think I’m writing about you again.”

You swallowed and nervously bit your lower lip. The night was warm, but the wind on the roof was relentless. You couldn’t help shivering.

Your mind was running before you could stop it. You didn’t want to resume your conversation from Stockholm; it had managed to be too much by not being nearly enough. You couldn’t return there again.

But you still asked, “what were you writing?”

“About missing you.”

You sat there, absentmindedly tracing patterns on your dark jeans with the tip of your index finger. You tried to suppress the anticipation building in your stomach before it could fully manifest. Before it could turn into a terrifying disappointment. Before it could show you that you were lying to yourself when you said you’d moved on.

“Please don’t ask me why I’m doing this now,” Jungkook said in a strained whisper.

Your voice faltered as you said, “I won’t.”

“J-just so you know, I felt the same way back home,” he said. “The only difference is that here in Europe, you have no choice but to be around me.”

The implication was clear, even if his voice wasn’t accusing you of anything. He believed you were only spending time with him because your job required you to.

“I don’t… avoid you back home,” you defended weakly—the only way you knew how right now.

Last night, you’d told him you missed him and it didn’t end well. Actually, it didn’t end at all—it sort of hung over you and made this conversation uncomfortable. Like a scratchy sweater, rubbing on your skin in all the wrong ways.

“I know,” he said. “But you never put in special effort to see me, either.”

You took a sip of your cocktail, tossing your head back to finish it.

Placing the glass back down on the table between your seats, you finally said, “I didn’t know you wanted me to, until you brought it up the other day.”

“Yeah. I know that, too,” Jungkook said sadly. His moves mirrored yours as he picked his glass up, but stopped before bringing it to his lips. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. About Stockholm.”

The pounding of your heart was very loud, and your voice was very quiet.

“What are you sorry for?” you asked.

He looked down. “There were a lot of things I wanted to say to you, but I… didn’t know how. It got kind of, um, weird.”

He scoffed at his own choice of words, and you realised that you weren’t alone on this rooftop. There was Discomfort, Awkwardness, and Avoidance dancing around you two.

“It…” you began, but words didn’t come easy. “It shouldn’t have been weird.”

He shook his head. He was worried that this would happen. Worried that you’d take responsibility for last night. You’d say you were the manager, so you should have known better. Should have set stricter boundaries. Should have never crossed them.

Now, you added tentatively, “I-I mean, we’re friends, right?”

You could have smashed your glass on his head and that would have hurt less than the cursed word.

This wasn’t about friendship and you both knew it.

But you needed to feel better. Last night had scared you, he could tell as much. And now you needed to make sense of it. You needed to find a way to interpret it in a way that felt right to your standards.

Normally, he would have helped you. Anything to make you feel comfortable, that’s all he wanted anyway.

But, tonight, he was drunk. And so in love with you that it hurt.

“I don’t know what we are,” he said.

Your hands were restless as you tapped your fingers on your legs.

“I thought that’s what you wanted,” you said. “For us to be friends.”

“It is what I want, but it’s also—it’s much more than just—I’m sorry.” He slid his palms over his cheeks and pressed his hands together against his lips. “I don’t know how to—I could never put my thoughts into words in a way that wouldn’t be too much. Or too little.”

He thought that if his friends would have been here, they would have laughed. Four years he’s wanted you, waited for you, but pretended he didn’t.

Clearly, he needed lessons on how to openly discuss his feelings.

He inhaled—or tried to, anyway—and picked up his drink. You took this as an opportunity to look at him.

“You’re, um—you’re good at putting them into song lyrics, though,” you said.

He chuckled weakly and placed his empty glass down next to yours. There was Sadness, too, twirling on the rooftop. And faint traces of Regret.

“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe I’ll write another song about how much I want you.”

You inhaled too sharply to appear nonchalant. The consecutive “another song” and “I want you” pulsated painfully in your chest.

Alarmed by the sound of your breathing, Jungkook turned to look at you.

“I—sorry,” he said, reading your expression. “I can’t say that, right?”

The fingers of your right hand nervously grasped at the fingers of your left. You regretted not wearing longer clothing that you could pull on.

“No, you, um—well, you can say whatever you feel,” you said. “I just, uh… you know that I can’t say it back.”

He observed your fidgeting and initially interpreted it as discomfort. But now he believed it to be something else—a more prominent emotion, brought on by something other than just this conversation.

Uncertainty.

You said you couldn’t say it back. You meant that you weren’t allowed to, as his manager.

But you didn’t say that you didn’t want to say it back.

His voice trembled when he spoke, the words pouring out in one breath, “but what if we weren’t working together? What if we were somewhere in Oslo, on the roof of some bar, just the two of us? And this fucking never-ending Scandinavian wind, of course,” he paused when he saw a small smile make its way to your lips. “But the wind isn’t telling anyone anything, either. Wh-what would you say then?”

You looked up as if you could actually see the wind. You didn’t know what scared you more: thinking what it’d be like if you weren’t working together—because a few hours ago, that possibility seemed almost real—or admitting your thoughts out loud.

It returned, the heaviness of anticipation that you’d felt last night. You were very naïve to think you could stop it from coming back. To think you could quench the wishful thinking.

This anticipation seemed to control you more than you could control it.

“I’d say that this wind feels like we’re back on campus, loudly talking about our mid-terms and chasing after loose papers that wind had blown out of our hands,” you said. There was a reluctant, nostalgic smile on your face. “Then returning to my dorm room and listening to my neighbours argue about their dead plant, even though they’re both guilty of not looking after it. T-this feels like back then.”

“And how do you feel?” he asked near desperately.

You exhaled, but did not reply. Your skin tingled with pins and needles.

“It’s me,” he said, his tone gentler now. “There’s no one else here.”

And there it was – the moment that didn’t come in Stockholm.

Dizzy, you said, “I feel the same way as I did back then.”

Jungkook held his breath.

“I really need you to tell me,” he pleaded, ��what way.”

You pushed a strand of your hair behind your ear and focused on suppressing the goosebumps that arose on every part of your skin that his eyes touched.

“Just… exhilarated. From life. From love,” you spoke, your eyes fluttering to him. Frightened by the intensity of his gaze as he watched you, you looked back at the edge of the roof. “From you.”

You heard his breath quiver.

“Look at me,” he asked in a stern, yet powerless whisper.

You did—and he forgot what he was going to say.

He felt like you were both back there again, too. Like nothing had changed—because nothing had, not fundamentally—like he could reach out and you’d be there. Providing him with the noise he needed to not feel alone, and the comfort he needed to not feel overwhelmed.

Neither of you realised that he had leaned in until you felt the warmth of his breath—laced with a strong scent of whiskey—on your lips. Until your lungs started to burn from holding your breath so hard. Until you parted your lips slightly and the oxygen that slipped in was so full of echoes of his taste that you felt the roof turning upside down.

He closed his eyes as he lingered millimetres away from you, the close proximity putting you both in a trance so painfully blissful that not connecting your lips seemed almost sacrilegious.

You were hypnotised, too overwhelmed by the familiarity of the feeling—the barely thereness of his lips against yours—to think of anything else.

You couldn’t pull away.

But, in a blind panic, he was the one who did.

Blinking in surprise as he moved away, you found yourself frozen, eyes locked on the empty space in front of you.

Jungkook stared at the ground, breathless and wide-eyed.

Even drunk, he couldn’t do this.

There was Minjun’s face in his head—his initial discomfort the first time he found out about the bet. There was the conversation in the bar—and the cake metaphor, even though Jungkook thought he neither had the cake, nor could he eat it. There was Sid in his head, too—his smug grin as he insisted Jungkook would lose.

He couldn’t breathe.

He could hear white noise in place of thoughts, and something else, too—his own screams.

What did I do, what did I do, what did I do, what did I—

You couldn’t hear his attempts to inhale because as soon as he pulled away, your own thoughts grew louder. The realisation of what had happened again—what had almost happened again—was so strong, it almost pushed you down to the floor. You had to grip your chair not to double over from the weight of it.

You knew he was drunk, despite seemingly sobering up a bit on the roof. And he pulled away. Meanwhile, you’d had a few drinks tonight and you were going to let him—were waiting for him to—kiss you.

Somehow, he’d managed to exhibit more rationality while intoxicated, than you could while nearly sober.

You stood up.

Pausing for a second as you debated if you should give him an excuse for why you were leaving, you mumbled something about calling him a taxi, and walked away without turning back.

The door slammed shut behind you, but Jungkook still didn’t dare to lift his gaze. He was too focused on clenching his fists so he wouldn’t throw the empty glasses down the side of the roof.

Alone on the staircase, you welcomed the emotion that had trailed after you all the way from Sweden.

You were angry.

But not at this. Not at what could’ve happened and didn’t. Not at him, not for leaning in, and not for pulling away.

You were angry at yourself. For letting yourself wish for something you shouldn’t have wished for. And for feeling disappointed when your wish didn’t come true.

Twice, you’ve found yourself on the edge of almost. Twice.

Last night, you’d told him it was easy to get overwhelmed by all the memories that your time together has brought back. But perhaps it wasn’t him who got overwhelmed. Perhaps it was you.

Perhaps seeing each other so often had blurred the lines, and you found yourself forgetting. Found yourself yearning. Hoping.

But the fact remained—and you repeated it in your head over and over again as you climbed the stairs down from the roof, clutching the railing as if your life depended on it—you broke up for a reason. You broke up for a reason. You broke up for a reason.

It was shocking how little that reason mattered when you closed your eyes in the taxi ten minutes later, and all you could picture was what it would’ve been like if you’d been the one to close the distance between your lips tonight.

And as thoughts of Reconnaissance and Nick’s offer returned to your mind on the ride back, you wondered if tonight was a pro or a con.

chapter title credits: bad omens, “careful what you wish for”

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#jungkook x reader #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #jungkook smut #jungkook au #jungkook fanfiction #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook fanfiction #jeon jungkook fanfic #bts au #bts x reader #bts angst #bts fluff #bts rockstar au #jungkook rockstar au #bts reactions #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts fic

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percki · 19 days

Text

on my knees

tags: 18+, mature content, MDNI, Gale x reader, f!Tav, 2nd person pronouns, act 3, semi-public sex, porn w/o plot, lap dance, explicit consent, bondage, restraints, dom/sub, switch Gale, oral sex (m! and f! receiving), lap sex, hand jobs, overstimulation, orgasm denial, praise kink

ao3 link

“Urgh.” Rolan stands up, wiping a smear of Lorroakan’s blood off the sleeve of his robes. “Your aasimar friend is… violent.”

“I’m so sorry for the mess, Rolan. We can clean everything up –” You glance around the upper level of the tower, at the holy fire, congealed mud, pasty mixture of water and ash, and a fair amount of blood. At the wizard’s broken body, his face swollen with bruises, his mouth agape, sprawled at the foot of his throne of books. “– Um, but it might take a while.”

Rolan waves one long-nailed hand in your direction, his discolored face grateful – if not a bit exasperated. “Don’t worry about it, my friend. You have already done so much for me – consider my debt forgiven, and all will be well.” You smile at that, watching the tiefling wizard grunt with exertion as he hauls Lorroakan’s body towards the portal. “And, erm – help yourself to any treasures you come across, of course. I’ll be… downstairs…” He pushes the corpse through the shimmering portal, and sends you one last earnest, sharp-toothed smile over his shoulder. “...Burying a body.”

With that, Rolan pushes up the sleeves of his robes (sorcerer’s robes, trimmed in silver, unbefitting for a wizard, but they suit him well nonetheless) and steps through the portal, no doubt bracing himself to break the news to his new employees. ‘Hey, so remember those adventurers that just came in? They killed Lorroakan, violently, and I’m your boss now. Surprise!’ You’re sure the staff at Sorcerous Sundries have endured worse surprises; working for Lorroakan sounds akin to an eternity of torture in the Hells.

Aylin sheathes her sword and crosses over to you, removing her helmet. Her ash-blonde hair spills over her shoulders, and her gold-streaked face glistens with blood and sweat. “I shall be at your camp, if you have need of me,” she declares, and inclines her head in gratitude. “You fought well – as you have before. I remain thankful for your assistance.” Less wordy than usual – Lorroakan’s death must be weighing on her. You don’t blame her.

“Thank you, Dame Aylin,” you say, and bow in respect. She smiles at that, silver eyes gleaming.

“Ooh, wait!” Karlach runs up to you, her arms full of wine bottles – no doubt pilfered from Lorroakan’s hidden stash. The woman has a nose for alcohol – she could find a bottle of Baldur’s Grape blindfolded, disoriented, in the middle of a rainstorm. Shadowheart is close behind, a new cloak slung over her shoulders and a fair amount of gold filling her pockets. “We’ll probably go back to camp, too – Fringe and I have to try all this wine.”

“To make sure it isn’t poisoned,” Shadowheart adds, green eyes twinkling with humor. “You can handle yourselves without us, can’t you?”

You grin. “Save a bottle of Mermaid Whiskey for me.”

“Blech. You can have it all.” Karlach sticks out her split tongue, her smile wide. “See ya!” She bolts through the portal head-first: dangerous, with the amount of alcohol in her arms and the fiery infernal engine in her chest. You hear a distant crash, and wince.

Shadowheart follows close behind, calling, “Save the Tyche Pink!”

You hear the rush of wings and look over – Aylin is gone, too, a flash of silver in the clear blue sky. You watch her fly, the wind buffeting her white wings – deva-like, altogether unnatural, inhuman, beautiful in an untouchable, deadly, frightening way – as she soars. The sunlight seems to collect around her, like a remnant of her celestial mother’s power lingers, still, even after the heat and rage of battle is done.

“And then there were two.”

Gale’s voice snaps you out of your reverie. You look up, meeting his eyes. Dark brown, deep, gentle, shining with a light all too familiar. He’s standing by the throne of books, his right hand resting on a copy of Folktales of Faerún: The Angelic Aasimar.

You kneel over the ashes of the water myrmidon, sifting through the remains for treasure. Nothing. “I suppose Rolan will take a while…” You look around the tower once more, keen eyes picking out chests, display cases, bookshelves – anything that could hide a nice new set of robes for Gale, or a dagger for Astarion, or perhaps some armor for Wyll… “Will you cast Feather Fall? I want to look on the lower levels…” You trail off, reading something in Gale’s eyes. His fingers flex on the spine of the book, his shoulders thrown back, his lilac robes fitting his form well. Is he… posing? You smile and straighten, dusting ash off your sleeves, and move to his side, twining your left arm with his right, leaning comfortably against his side. “The Annals are in the vaults,” you say, knowing his primary objective here, halfheartedly attempting to lift his spirits. Thoughts of the Crown are dangerous – you have seen how easily the lure of power can corrupt, a thousand times (with Kagha in the Emerald Grove, with Minthara at the goblin camp, with Ketheric and Gortash and now Lorroakan). But despite your reservations, you know his ambition fuels him, that it drives his fire, that thoughts of greatness and respect do raise his spirits. “We could go down ourselves…”

Gale turns into you, resting his forehead on your shoulder, his beard scratching at your neck. He presses a kiss to your collarbone, and sighs deeply, inhaling your scent – blood and smoke and sweat, and the faintest hints of his cologne lingering on your skin. “I… Not yet,” he says vaguely, and kisses your neck again, deeper this time. Your breath hitches as he trails long, searing kisses up your neck, along the line of your jaw, leading up to your lips.

“Gale…” You whisper, voice low. “I –” He nips at your bottom lip, smiling against your chin, and you can feel your face heat up. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” he says devilishly, oak eyes sparkling, looking up at you through thick, dark lashes. “You’re beautiful,” he murmurs, and you can feel the vibration of his voice against your skin, sending a chill down your spine. “I can’t believe…” He blinks, as if waking from a dream, and cradles your jaw with his hand, straightening to his full height.

You kiss him, this time, tasting blood on his lips, and you stop, examining his face carefully. A bruise is forming at the bridge of his nose, blood tracing a path down the apex of his lips to his chin. You frown, brow creasing in worry. “You’re hurt.”

“Hm?” Gale touches his face gingerly, delicate, careful fingers prodding the quickly-purpling skin. “Oh. Yes. That. It’s quite alright –”

“It’s not alright,” you reply. “Let me heal you.” You take his shoulders in your hands and guide him into a seated position on Lorroakan’s throne, his back reclined against a collection of Ramazith’s annotated tomes. You kneel before him, positioning yourself between his legs, and summon a simple healing incantation, your hand hovering over his nose, the blue glow of the spell reflected in his eyes. “Te curo,” you murmur, and watch as his skin knits itself together, blood drying, swelling fading, the bruise vanishing beneath your fingers. “Better?”

“Better,” he admits, and looks at you with intent in his eyes, his gaze dark and focused on your features. “My love,” he starts, then hesitates. His face turns a delicious shade of pink.

“Yes?” You lean forward, hanging onto his words. He adjusts his legs, his thighs bracketing your shoulders, and you feel the slightest thrill at your compromising position, you in your armor and him in his robes, you kneeling before him like a supplicant at an altar.

“Rolan may not return for some time,” Gale says. “We could…” He stops again, biting his lip.

You guess his meaning immediately – your thoughts are remarkably in-tune. You can’t deny that you hadn’t thought about it, hadn’t wished for… Well. For Gale. Your peaceful nights since arriving in the Lower City have been few and far between, interrupted as they are: by vampires, by nightmares, by Orin’s ministrations. It’s been some time since you and Gale had time to yourselves.

And now, it seems, you have all the time in the world.

“Do you want to?” You question, and his eyes darken, his pupils expanding infinitesimally. You lean forward, cupping his cock with your hand, and smile to feel him already half-hard beneath your touch.

“I – yes,” he breathes, and raises his hand to cast Mage Hand, the incantation on his lips, when you catch him by the wrist, holding him still.

“No magic,” you say breathlessly, and straighten back up to your full height, smiling down at him. “As mortals do, remember?”

Gale watches you intently as you undo the first few buckles of your armor, leather slipping between your fingers. He sits up, reaching out his hands to help –

And you push him back.

“Don’t move,” you warn him, and plant one hand securely on his chest, holding him in place, as you draw a piece of silken fabric out of your pack. You hold it up for him to see, and upon realizing your intention, his eyes widen, pupils expanding impossibly wide. “Do you want this?” You ask, and he confirms with a nod of his head. You narrow your eyes and lean in, your face centimeters away from his, your breath ghosting on his lips. “Say it, please, love.”

He swallows thickly, eyes locked on yours, and says, his voice a rumble in his chest, “I want you to tie me up.”

You smile, and reward him with a bruising, biting kiss. “Good boy,” you murmur, and relish the way his face reddens, his jaw going slightly slack at the praise. “Lean forward for me?” He acquiesces, already holding his hands behind his back, and you climb up into his lap to twine the silk around his wrists, your touch featherlight and gentle. You test the knot, and smile. Not too tight – but he certainly won’t get any ideas about spellcasting. “Does that feel okay?”

“Yes,” he says into your shoulder, his voice muffled by the layers of your armor. You stand back up and step completely out of your clothes, metal buckles and buttons clinking as your many layers fall to the floor, and then you stand before Gale in your undergarments, your skin rising with goosebumps from the cool air, his eyes roving a path up and down your figure.

You feel a little warm from the intensity of his gaze, but you steel your nerves and continue. You reach out with your senses, using the knowledge of the Weave that Gale taught you of so long ago, and you can feel a soft tinkling at the edge of your perception, the distant sound of music, and you pull it towards you. In one of the pleasure dens far below, a slow, sensual number starts up, and you filter the sound through the available space, filling the tower with music.

Gale’s lips part as he realizes your plan. “Love,” he starts, “I haven’t –”

You feel a twinge of self-doubt, standing there near-nude before a man who is completely clothed. You have no experience with this whatsoever – apart from what you have read and seen – and you’re not sure that Gale loves you enough to forgive you if you make a total ass of yourself. “This is okay, right?” You rush to ask, holding your hands out for his before realizing that he’s still tied. You tuck them behind your back, straightening your posture. “Um – I know this is probably unusual, but, you know, in the Quarta Sune –”

Gale grins, his dimples making a rare appearance, and the sight of it pulls at your heartstrings. “You are perfect,” he promises, lifting his dark eyes up to your face. “This is perfect. Please, keep going.”

The slight rasp of his voice goes straight to your core, and you step forward before you’re entirely conscious of your movements, looping your arms around his neck and kissing him deeply. He leans into you with a groan, and you can feel his shoulders move, his hands resisting the bindings, and you pull back. “No touching,” you say softly, “right? This is about you.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh, his expression adorably resentful, and you laugh and kiss the bridge of his nose.

“Later,” you promise, and with that, you stand up, and turn away from him, facing the windows, the setting sun illuminating your skin. The music restarts, strings amping up, and you sway your hips to the tune, letting instinct take over. One, two, three, you breathe, feeling the rhythm run through you, and as the music crescendos, you drop down onto Gale’s lap, your ass just brushing over his thighs, hoping your undulating body looks sensual rather than spasmodic, and your efforts are rewarded with a delicious, blinding groan from behind you. You turn back around to face him – one, two, three – and lean in close, your scent intoxicating, his body warming your skin, and bracket his legs with your knees, one hand carding through his hair and the other slowly unbuttoning his robes, your knuckles barely brushing the velvet-soft hair on his chest. You slide your hands down the planes of his torso, and then, just as he’s leaning forward, again, anticipating your lips on his –

You step back again, turning, lifting your hands over your head and letting your hair down, smiling to yourself as you peek over your shoulder at his exasperated face. One, two, three. You let your ass ghost over his lap again, closer this time, holding there for a few moments longer than he considers tolerable, and just as his patience goes and his hips buck, you return to your starting position, looking down at him chidingly.

“Please,” he whispers, and you raise your brows, your hands going to the clasp of your bra. He watches, rapt, as you slide the fabric off your breasts and let it fall to the ground atop your discarded armor, your nipples peaking in the cool air. You repeat the motion with your panties, and you’re sure Gale catches sight of the soaked fabric as you toss it aside: his face turns a flattering shade of crimson, his arms straining against his silken ropes.

“How can I deny you?” You say, and with smooth, uninterrupted movements, you slide onto his lap, rocking your hips back and forth, tantalizingly slow, atop him. His robes slip open completely, and you can feel his cock straining against the fabric of his undergarments, barely brushing against the skin of your thighs. Your hands roam along the skin of his chest, thumbs swirling careful circles in the dips of his collarbone and shoulders, your palms warm against his skin. “You’re doing so well,” you praise him, and lean forward to kiss along the line of his clavicle, then slowly up his neck, sucking hard enough to bruise, tasting his sandalwood cologne, his soapy shaving cream, the sweat and salt lingering there, your tongue pulsing against his jaw. “So good for me,” you continue, running your hands through his hair, “you’re perfect, Gale.”

And then, surprising him, you slide off his lap and drop to your knees, slotting your body perfectly in between his legs, and in one swift motion, you free his aching cock from his undergarments and lean forward once more, fitting your lips around the head.

“O-oh,” he moans, straining to keep still as you take him deeper, your hands tracing patterns on the skin of his thighs, reaching up to his hips, your nails scratching lightly, and then, as you adjust yourself and push him back so as to get more leverage, you wrap one hand around his shaft and devote the other one to palm gently at his balls, still a touch too gentle. “Mmm – more,” he sighs, and you obey, licking a stripe up the underside of his cock and then fitting it back in your mouth, deep enough to brush the back of your throat, pre-cum salty on your tongue. You hollow your cheeks, looking up at him through lowered lashes, and his mouth falls open, releasing the most pleasurable moans and groans, sighs and mewls slipping between his lips, chanted noises that may be words – you catch the sound of your name, and please, and yes, in the chorus of sounds that escape his chest, rising and falling in octave with every swipe of your tongue and bob of your head. “P-please,” he says again, “please, let me –”

You guess his meaning, and reach behind him; the movement sending his cock to the very back of your throat, and his back arches in pleasure; and pull the strings of his bindings, untying his hands. The moment he’s free, he takes your head in his hands, cradling your jaw, and lets his fingers twine in the strands of your hair as you suck with renewed eagerness, sliding back nearly completely only to take him in fully again, the feel of his cock in your mouth dizzying, intoxicating, sending white-hot shivers through your body –

You glance down, and through the haze of pleasure, through the shadows of sunset, through the sweat and slick on your body, you see a flash of blue cupping your cunt, and you can suddenly feel the gentle, not-quite-there brush of the Mage Hand’s fingers against your clit. You war between pleasure and indignation for a moment – and indignation wins. You pull back, Gale’s weeping cock inches away from your mouth but still suspended in midair, and he huffs, putting his hands over his eyes, his pleasure cut short just on the path to climax. “Why did you –”

“No magic,” you repeat, and you can feel the Mage Hand dissolve. Gale peeks out from through his fingers, caught, and not the least bit ashamed. “Do I need to tie you up again? Completely, this time?”

“I –” His cock twitches, beads of precum leaking from the tip, stunning the both of you into silence.

You let a devilish grin slide across your face. “Oh. You want me to tie you up, love? Top to tip, completely trussed up for me?” You pull away from him and reach in your pack for more ribbon. “Red or purple, my sweet?”

Gale manages an arrogant smile, his face still flushed red. “Purple, of course.”

“Good choice,” you grin, and stand, running the ribbons through your hands reverently. “This will only take a minute,” you promise. “Why don’t you take those bothersome clothes off before I get started?”

He does, and you let your eyes run over his figure appreciatively for a minute before going to work. Hands on the ‘arms’ of the throne, the ribbon secured around a stack of encyclopedias. His legs against the respective ‘legs’ of the throne, straining slightly against his bonds. You stand before him, and he angles his hips up slightly, his eyes pleading.

“So cooperative,” you murmur, running your hands gently up his thighs. “So patient. So good.” You lift your hand to your mouth and spit on your fingers, holding eye contact, and he breathes shakily as you wrap your hand around his cock, leaning forward, mouthing kisses along his neck and collarbone. You start slowly, tantalizingly, pumping your hand along his length with a careful, measured speed that makes Gale’s breath hitch in his throat.

“Please – more,” he moans, his lips chasing yours. “Faster.”

You acquiesce, moving quicker, twisting your wrist the way you know that he likes. His breaths come faster, too, a mindless stream of yes and please and more coupled with your name falling from his mouth. You kiss him with bruising intensity, feeling his cock twitch in your fingers, his body straining against his bonds.

He comes with a muffled yell, his eyes rolling completely back in his head, and you kiss him fiercely as his come paints your stomach and thighs where you sit atop him. “Please – gods – please, untie me, let me –”

You smile against his lips and loosen the ribbons, yelping when his arms encircle you with surprising strength, lifting you up by your thighs and laying you out on the tile floor of the tower, the ground cold on your skin, your head canted back as Gale trails kisses down your thighs. “Ah – Gale,” you sigh as his fingers whisper up the inside of your legs, your skin rising with goosebumps. “I can’t –” You try to lift your head, to see where he is and what he’s doing, but your neck won’t cooperate. “What –”

“I hope you don’t mind,” Gale murmurs into your thigh, his hand lifting your leg to his lips, his beard tickling your skin pleasantly. “There’s only so long I can go without magic, my love. I thought –” Here, his tongue slides up to your cunt, tracing around your lips gently, and you moan, your boneless body arching in pleasure. “I thought you might enjoy feeling how I felt. Constrained. At my mercy.” His tongue winds a circle around your clit, and your breaths come faster, your thighs shaking madly. “Do you?”

“Do I – ah – what?”

“Enjoy it,” Gale says into your cunt, and the vibration makes you shudder.

“I – yes, I – please, I want to touch you, I want to –”

“Mmm,” Gale hums, his tongue working careful, restrained circles around your clit, dipping down to taste your slick. “Not yet.”

It’s been less than two minutes, and you’re already shaking, riding high, your eyes unfocused, as Gale takes you apart with his tongue. The painted constellations of the ceiling dance in and out of focus, and your moans echo around the circular tower, a mix of yes and please and Gale falling from your mouth, a reminder of the way you coaxed Gale’s orgasm from him with delicate fingers not five minutes before. “Gale, I – oh, gods, I can’t – please, I want to see you, I –”

The spell breaks, and you lift your head to see Gale’s face completely buried in your cunt, his sweaty hair spread out on your thighs, his eyes closed in ecstasy, and the image is enough to send you over the edge, a scream in your throat, your legs shaking wildly as you come, Gale’s tongue still working at you gently, until the sensation is too much and you kick him softly, signaling get off me, because your vocal cords aren’t working at the moment.

“You’re gorgeous,” he says, and crawls up to kiss you, and you taste yourself on his tongue, salty-sweet and heady. “But we should probably go before Rolan comes back. I suspect we won’t have an opportunity to take advantage of his hospitality again.”

“Gale…” You wind your arms around his neck and kiss him deeply, your eyes fluttering shut. “You might have to Dimension Door us out of here. I don’t think my legs will move.”

“I’ll carry you,” he smiles, and helping you stand, he laces his robes back up and aids you in buckling your armor. “Now come. There’s a bath at the Elfsong that’s calling my name.”

You sigh softly, leaning your head into his shoulder, and watch dreamily as he conjures the portal. “Wait – what about the Annals?”

“Oh.” Gale looks down at the lower levels of the tower. “I suppose we’ll have to come back tomorrow.” He looks almost downcast, but then the expression fades, and he’s just Gale again, smiling at you. “Let’s go.”

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lesbianoms · 24 days

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Oof I’m in an “unwilling” vore mood… there’s just something so hot about being taken advantage of by a gorgeous woman who’s bigger and stronger than me. Her petting my hair and shushing my whimpers as she pulls off my clothes, kissing my neck~

And she knows I want this. Deep down, even if I’m frightened or I’m struggling in her gentle yep firm grasp, she knows this has always been what I’ve wanted. To be tummy fat, peacefully gurgling away, plumping up a MILF middle…

“Shh, shhh…” she soothes, caressing my mostly naked body as she kisses me all over, getting a taste of what’s to come. “It’s alright. You’re being such a good girl for me… mmmm, such a good meal~”

I let out a little yelp of fear as she licks the side of my face from behind. And before long she’s gulping me down headfirst, each thick swallow reverberating off of the bedroom walls, my muffled moaning and pleading mixing with the sounds of her belly as I’m pulled deep inside her. I’m flailing my legs helplessly until she slurps them up like noodles, and makes that final swallow~

And then, just like that, I’m curled up inside her stomach, awaiting digestion. No longer my own person. Just live food that will melt into mush, and fade away into a soft belly bulge. But she never forgets for a moment that I AM a person.

“Ooh, honey ❤️… you make me feel soooo full… oh darling, thank you for this. You really know how to satisfy a woman~”

Back on the outside, my pred hums softly with a warm smile, patting my form and letting out a deep, unladylike BUUUOORRP as the walls hug me. She croons in response to my muffled voice, apologizing… but she’s not really sorry <3

I incoherently beg for… god, I’m not sure anymore. Because my sensations are overwhelmed with how squishy and wet and warm everything is in there… and it’s g-getting hard to think… clearly… am I getting… softer….?

Hours later, when I’m just a shapeless mass bulging off her middle, making her stomach whine and gurgle as it continues to work on me, she still has her hands on me. Rubbing, petting, moaning…

“YoooOURRRP!! … ah~ excuse me… You’re amazing 💕”

Between her praises, she belches up my soaked panties. They rest on the top of her belly as I continue to digest away. And, unbeknownst to her… they’re not just wet from the stomach juices~ <3

I may have been denying it at first, but we both knew that in the end, I would give into my desires… 💖

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romanoffsbish · 1 year

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Never Mine (Always Yours)

Wanda Maximoff x Fem!R

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!R

Warnings: Selfish/Mean Wanda, Gaslighting, Possessive/Jealous W, Unhealthy Dom/Sub dynamics (Mommy/Baby), Ghosting. R’s a bit of a pushover.

Smut: Top!W(“Touch me not”), Mommy (W), Detka/Baby (R), Oral/Fingering(R), Thigh Riding(W), Overstimulation(KO), Squirting.

A/N: This is a Wanda / Reader heavy story, but Natasha is indeed intermixed, and the end is hopeful, unlike reality. 😂

18+ | Minors DNI !!

"What's cookin' good lookin'?," you threw the flirty banter at the Sokovian with ease while approaching her from behind to take a peek., "Ooh, hot cakes, I see an obvious trend here."

The crush you had on the woman was obvious, she was easy on the eyes—sure, but she was also like the kindest person you'd ever met. There was never anything you were attempting to pull with your words, and normally she'd just chuckle, but today she audibly groaned.

"Y/N.," you flinched at her tone, she saw that and internally cringed over frightening you., "I'm sorry, that was harsh, but I just.," she took a second to think, your soft expression full of understanding not helping her at all with turning you down., "Do you think you could lay off on the flirting? It's just, after Vision I'm not sure I'm ready for a relationship. I adore you, don't get me wrong—but I'd prefer friendship."

"Of course Wands, strictly platonic from here on out.," you stuck your hand out for a shake while wearing the kindest smile she'd honestly ever seen., "Y/N, I said friendship, not make a business deal with me.," she playfully slapped your hand away then pulled your giggling form into her body for a much needed hug.

——

Wanda found comfort in you, she could never place the trajectory of where it should go, but she was adamant it wasn't romantic. So, the two of you stood there in an embrace for a few moments in silence before you finally broke it., "Seriously though Wan, what are you making? It smells really delicious, and we both know I'm absolutely hopeless in the kitchen!"

The woman pulled back slightly, staring down at you with a teasing smirk., "Let's be honest here Y/N/N, it's in more than just the kitchen."

When you shoved her away her head flew back as she laughed boisterously., "You're mean.," she pointed her spatula at you as she gasped., "Fine, if I'm so mean then I guess the hot cakes, various pastries and the accompanying sausage and eggs I've cooked are all mine."

"You wouldn't dare deprive me!," you gasped and the woman turned to you with a smirk, but it faded just as fast when she noticed others filing into the kitchen, or more specifically Natasha Romanoff, her thoughts about you were nothing short of sinful, and she wasn't entirely sure why it bothered her, but it did.

"Good morning ladies.," the raspy voice from behind you caused a smile to form on your face, and that made Wanda clench her jaw., "Natty!!," you squealed, and that happiness you exuded slightly settled the witch's temper.

Wanda turned back to the stove, unwilling to watch the two of you sharing in your embrace. Natasha was her friend, as were you, this was her own jealousy to temper, but when she saw the hopeful smile the redhead gave you as she held you close, and whispered words to make you laugh she couldn't contain the rumbling.

Then the redhead made it ten times worse., "Hey, I'm going to the cafe up the street to get Yelena some breakfast, wanna come with?"

Dishes clattering popped your soft bubble with the former assassin, you quickly turned to see if Wanda was okay and found her glaring at the woman who still held onto you from behind., "Nice offer Natasha, but Y/N's already secured herself a plate of breakfast from yours truly."

The situation you were in was alarming to say the least as Natasha's grip on your hip became harsh as you felt her body tense., "Y/N is more than capable of speaking for herself Wanda."

That you were.. but for a moment you weren't.

You gulped when you saw red flash through Wanda's eyes, and to be honest you were unsure where this animosity stemmed from. The past few months were like this, and you never understood why they couldn't stand to share you, but you'd grown to live with it., "Hey, you two—it's okay.," though you spoke it aloud you weren't exactly sure it was., "I'll be staying here for breakfast Natty, but I'd love to meet up with you for lunch at Carmine's if possible, and you can help me pick out a dress for Stark's annual charity gala next month."

"Sounds perfect sweetheart.," she pecked your cheek, then tapped your nose before parting, but not without sending Wanda another glare. When you looked to the witch again she was scowling, she seemed conflicted., "Everything okay over there wiggly woo?," she rolled her eyes, but her scowl also melted into a smile.

"I'm fine honey, now eat up before it gets cold."

——

Wanda was incredibly tense as she stood by the bar nursing her glass of whiskey, her eyes had been locked on you for the last hour, and her body was seething with unforeseen jealousy. Natasha had impeccable taste, the dress she chose for you offered the greatest of views, and her interest in you was only the other half of it.

Every time you laughed at another's joke she clenched her jaw—it couldn't be that funny.

When someone so much as stared at you in passing she felt the tips of her fingers tingling with tendrils of red. But it was when Nat had pulled you to the dance floor that she finally snapped, her glass left behind as she made her way to the dance floor to—well, she wasn't sure what, but she knew she had to do something.

Natasha spun your giggling form around, her heart swelling the more your joy was flowing out of you, but in her movement she also saw the angry Sokovian stomping her way over. There was a clear sense of danger that really tampered her enjoyment of your giddiness. Protecting you felt crucial, so she spun you into her, your back flush to her front, and it was then that your laughter ceased, your heart stuttering in your chest at the sight of Wanda.

"Y/N, I have been looking all over for you.," the way Nat gripped your hips made you aware of the potential of a standoff, and it was only more likely as you picked up on Wanda's accent slipping through her slurred words. Seeing as how this was a party meant to invoke charitable donations you knew it was best to give the angrier of the two your attention.

"Well I've been mingling all night.," you murmured over an obviously nervous chuckle., "Natty and I here had just decided to finally take a break from the hustle and bustle of milking the rich of their abundance of wealth."

Wanda didn't appear amused at all by your lazy explanation, you weren't really sure why you owed her one, but you spun around to give Natasha an apologetic smile anyways. The redhead dropped her hold on you, then she placed a soft kiss to your forehead., "Thanks for keeping me company tonight, I'll see you later."

It kinda broke your heart to see her look so sad, but she smiled at you so warmly that it settled. Wanda on the other hand was scowling so hard as you turned back around that you felt fearful.

"Wands.," she simply grabbed you by your forearm and brought you to the first place with a door that locked., "Did you enjoy that slut?," she slammed you so hard into the wall that you actually had the wind knocked out of you.

"You're just out there flaunting your body for anyone to see.," her fingers dug into your chin., "Listen carefully, you're fucking mine Y/N, no one else gets to see you like this, let alone have their slimy hands all over you, do you got it?"

The mental gymnastics you were facing was extraordinary, you didn't quite compute her sentiment here since they contradicted her very own words last month—she wanted friendship. Now she apparently wants you all to herself.

Though your mind was racing in confusion, your body was not confused at all, it knew exactly what it wanted so you nodded dumbly as you felt a wetness pooling in your panties.

"That's a good girl.," she purred, then in an instant her lips were pushed against yours., "Gonna be mommy's perfect baby, yeah?"

"Mhm," you melted so quickly at her affections that the unfair anger she'd tried to hold onto was fading fast., "Mommy's going to fuck you so well that you never look for another person."

Wanda refused to carry out her sinful actions in the broom closet though, you were worth more than that to her, so she gently pulled you towards the elevator, and brought you to her room. With far less aggressive hands she was quick to remove the both of your clothing, and triple checked that this was what you wanted.

With your lips pressing to her unprompted she knew there was no doubt you wanted this. Carefully she’d laid you down, her lips never leaving yours, wet tongue slipping passed yours as soon as you parted your tingling lips for some much needed air. Lithe hands explored your body, squeezing your breasts to find you were a reactive little one at such a sensation.

“Mommy.,” you whimpered, her lips now biting into the supple flesh of your breasts, leaving her claim behind, and inspiring your hips to hump up into her desperately., “Patience.”

One word was all she gave you, it was torment, but you aimed to please so you stifled your whines, and tempered your hips so Wanda could freely do as she pleased with your body.

“What a beautiful listener.,” she purred, her lips now traveling straight down until she’s hovering above your core, and loudly inhaling your natural aroma in. It shouldn’t have, but it shocked the witch to see just how turned on she already made you., “Goodness detka, your thighs are shining, and my sheets are soaked.”

“ ‘M sorry…,” you whimpered, and the witch was quick to shush you., “Never apologize for the uncontrollable sweetheart, I just wasn’t expecting you to be this wet was all.,” gripping your thighs harshly she parted them further., “

Wanda was slow as she took her time savoring the hint of your essence that coated your thighs, she cycled between softly sucking and harshly biting into the smooth expanse of skin, and truly reveled in just how much you were squirming about desperately for more of her. Feeling needed had her heart and ego swelling.

“Think you can handle mommy’s fingers?,” you nodded, then when you felt a slap to the side of your ass you whined., “Yes mommy, I can take ‘em, please give them to me, fuck me hard.”

Wanda’s tongue slid up your slit, a grateful hum leaving her as she tasted you wholly, before swirling around your clit with titillated precision, all in an effort to ease the burning brought upon by two of her boney fingers entering you in tandem with her ministrations.

In less than a minutes time Wanda had made you a mewling mess, pride filling her chest with just how quickly she’d worked you up. Every thrust came with the prominent feeling of her knuckles slowly dragging over your walls, stealing the breath from your lungs as you were overwhelmed by the pleasure until it came crashing down on you in glorious waves.

Watching as you came undone sent Wanda into a frenzied headspace, she was stuck on the way your mouth opened without much more than a squeak as your upper body arched and your thighs trembled viciously, then tried to trap her hand in between as the pleasure became pain.

Wanda wasn’t much for reciprocation, she was content getting off on your thigh at the sight of you coming undone below her. Her precious baby climaxing unendingly as she pushed you to your very outermost limits tonight. She honestly lost track of how many times you came, you were truly her newest addiction.

All that you had to offer was greedily taken.

Whether it was screaming as she’d flipped you onto your stomach and fucked her fingers into you even deeper than before, causing you to see constellations where white walls used to be, or when she immediately followed that orgasm up by laying beneath you, giving you no time to recover as she was soon pulling your cunt flush against her tongue and letting you ride her mindlessly like a greedy bitch in heat until your tangy juices were dripping down her throat.

It only stopped as she realized you’d slumped into the mattress, your arousal spewed across her abdomen, and your body shook with the tremors of aftershock as you quietly snored.

“Mommy’s precious baby.,” she cooed, her slicked fingers traced the shape of your face as she admired you in all your glory. She placed a final kiss to your lips that you unconsciously met causing her to giggle lightly before she got up from the bed and gently cleaned you up.

“Sleep tight baby.,” her arms wrapped around you in emphasis, and she slipped with you.

—

The following morning came with your groans, you tried to get out of the empty bed to use the restroom, but your legs were dead, and so you went tumbling., “Fuck.,” but you never hit the ground, instead you were enveloped in warmth as tendrils of red lifted you back onto the bed.

“Baby, where were you going exactly, hm?”

You rolled your eyes at the tease in her tone., “Well, the restroom was the initial plan, but your floor just looked so comfortable.”

“Yeah, that fluffy rug does draw people in.”

“People?,” you frowned, of course last night was just a silly one time fluke, alcohol tends to trick people into being reckless, and here you were playing games with your own heart.

“Honey, your thoughts are so loud.,” she set the tray of freshly made breakfast down, then she straddled your lap and comfortably wrapped her arms around your neck., “I’m all in baby.”

“What changed?,” you pouted., “Last month you didn’t want this, and that’s okay Wands.”

“What happened was I was scared Y/N, but then I saw you slipping away and that scared me more.,” she smiled warmly, making your heart melt instantaneously., “I like you for you. All of you, and I find I like you more and more with each day that goes by.”

“I’m fragile Wanda, I don’t trust easy, I am hard to love, but I’m trusting you here with my bruised heart because I feel safe with you, the safest I ever felt, and I know you would never lie to me or break me on purpose.”

“Break you?.,” she smirked, then winked as she wiggled herself over your numb legs., “Maybe”

“Your heart?,” her eyes softened., “I’ll do my damndest not to.,” she cupped your cheeks and sighed softly., “I accept all of you, including the trauma and the heartache and whatever bags you come with, you’re worth the effort baby.”

“Girlfriends?,” you pouted adorably making the witch swoon., “Yes please?,” you pecked her lips sweetly., “It’s a done deal then angel.”

——

For nearly two months everything was perfect; Wanda doted on you like you were her most prized possession, because you truly were.

You'd always joked about being hopeless, but being with you intimately made her well aware of the honesty in your lighthearted quips. It got to the point where she decided it was best she handled your daily routine. Because if you had it your way you'd eat cheese and crackers for every meal, and speed down every single road.

Everything felt like a whirlwind to the witch, because one second she was actively pushing your romantic advances away, then the next she was clinging to you, as if she couldn't exist without you as an extension of herself, and to no one's shock you were clinging right back.

Wanda wasn't sure when it all changed, but somewhere along the way taking care of you went from cute, and joyful to burdensome. She wanted to be the mommy to your baby, but her reservoir of care had suddenly dried up. It'd been a cross she chose to bare, but not one she found herself enjoying, or intending to keep.

This very fact is why she'd been avoiding you for days, ignoring your sweet messages, and moving her schedule around to avoid yours. There was only so much sulking in the library she could do though before she had to face the consequences of her very own actions. So after taking a moment to mourn the impending loss of you, she took off in search of you.

"Hi…," you jumped at the unexpected voice, but you smiled widely and jumped to your feet to greet your distant lover, only to let go and step away with a frown when she didn't hug you back., "If you're not busy, can we talk?"

Oh...

It wasn't hard to decipher her body language, she had bad news, and with all the recent silence and loss of affection it was easy to understand where she was taking this.

"That's ominous..."

"This isn't working Y/N/N.," her eyes shut tight as you instantly sniffled., "I am not sure I was really ready for this, I just saw you with others and it scared me to think I'd be losing you if it worked out with them. But now, all I do is make you cry because I can't be what you need; you deserve so much better than me Y/N."

"So, what now?" your voice came out broken, and your body was lightly trembling, effectively breaking the witches already tattered heart in two., "Are you saying that we're just over?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I've been in tears all day on how to go about bringing this up because I don't ever want to be the reason why someone hurts.," she settled down beside you, and hesitantly hugged you from the side., "But I also don't know that I have the mental capacity with the way my life is to balance a relationship and it's not fair to you if it's one sided like this."

"I understand Wands, this just isn't what you ever wanted, you thought you did, but I am not the person you want.," you sighed, then wiped away at your tears., "You never really did."

"Hey, you don't get to say that for me.," she was scowling now., "I wanted you, but this is not working anymore, and that's all it is."

A tense silence fell over the room, your bodies were no longer connected, and the both of you were just sat in awkward positions until Wanda finally moved to break the deadlocked silence., "I understand if you don't want to be friends."

"Of course I want to be friends Wanda, I love you, and that'll never really go away.," you sadly replied, a subtle hint of desperation in your tone, because you didn't want to lose the woman all together., "It'll be fine eventually."

"I'll need time Y/N.," she stood up, and gently caressed your cheek., "I adore you with all of my heart, but please do give me some space, and I promise that I’ll come back to you."

You nodded, placing your hand over hers you gave it a squeeze, then your lip trembled when she leaned in for a farewell kiss., “Take care of yourself Wanda, I hope you find your happy.”

Once she left the room you fell into a fit of sobs, your chest heaving uncontrollably, and your head soon felt light due to lack of oxygen. Nothing could've ever prepared you for this, one second the witch was doting all over you, telling you of all the dreams she had, and how they all included you, and now you're alone.

Lies whispered in the dead of night are always the sweetest, and when the truth is eventually brought to life they're the most soul crushing.

Your sobbing got so dangerous that Friday called for Natasha, and the redhead was in shock when seeing you so incredibly broken. There wasn't even a question on her mind that she'd not have the answer to, so instead of trying to get you talking, she gently sat beside you, and pulled you in for a tight embrace.

"You're okay Y/N, I got you honey, just relax."

Natasha rocked you, and ran her hand through your hair until your heartbreaking sobs became soft little sniffles with the occasional hiccup.

"She left me Natty.," you croaked, and she held you tighter., "Well she's an idiot.," she relayed, you didn't have it in you to laugh, and that was fine because Natasha wasn't being playful.

"I've got you dorogoy.," she kissed your temple, and held back her own tears at the reinstated action, it'd been months since she'd had you this close to her., "I'm not going anywhere."

—

The next day came with far less emotional regulation, and in turn less stability as you approached Wanda's door, and knocked. There'd been soft music flowing on the other side and you knew she was in there, but she was simply refusing to answer the door.

"Wanda, please, I just need some help with understanding, where did this all go wrong?"

The witch remained silent on the other side, if you didn't know better you'd think she really wasn't there, but you knew her far too well. Shutting down was her method of coping, if she ignored the problem that she made, then she wouldn't have to account for the mess that followed, and in this case that was your heart.

"I don't mean to be annoying, because I fear that's what I'm being by trying to talk to you after you said you needed time away from me.," you decided to just speak freely, and hoped that maybe she cared enough about you to offer you a semblance of closure. "However, I also think me asking for clarity is fair because you were thinking of breaking things off without even cluing me in, and now I'm just sitting here with all these broken little pieces and I need help piecing them back together is all."

You were incredibly wrong though, because the only thing you got was her music shutting off, and the sound of her shower kickstarting.

——

As a month came and went you spent each day unsure how to handle the current situation.

At first you continued to put her first, making her tea in the morning, just like you always did. When you heard she was in a bad space, you sent her kind messages in the hopes that it would help her out of the hole she was in.

All that did though was make her furious. She asked for space, and even if you weren’t in her face like you once were, your presence was still surrounding her everyday. She couldn’t escape the darkness weighing her down, because you were being kind when she deserved your anger.

Wanda had been a consistent presence in your life for so long that being without her just felt wrong. It was too damn hard truthfully, to go from talking to someone everyday to not at all.

To know now that you never meant to her what she meant to you, well that devastated you.

Never in your wildest dreams did you expect her to just break you apart like this, you stupidly trusted her after telling her how hard that is for you, and she still did everything in her power to break you, intentionally or not.

You stopped all of the random acts of kindness, and gave her the space, but she still continued to hurt you, and that baffled you because the woman wouldn’t even speak a word to you.

Today though, she’d have no choice but to say something to you, or at least you thought she would since she’d been your mission partner since the era of Ultron, aka the dawn of time.

Impatiently you waited for her to arrive, but as the time ticked on you began to feel uneasy. Wanda was never late to anything, and that still reigned true as Agent Marques entered the jet in a fit of hyperventilation., “I’m sorry I’m late Agent. Y/L/N.,” he panted harshly.

“I hadn’t a single clue you were to be expected, so I guess it’s fine.,” you grumbled., “However, you’re not even cleared for level 6 missions yet, tell me why is it you’re here for this level 8?”

“Well, Agent Maximoff told Fury this morning that she would no longer be your partner, and this mission couldn’t be postponed, so he said I showed enormous promise, and that you were far too good at your job to really complain.”

In translation, Fury basically told you to suck it up, take the rookie under your wing, and do your job like you always did—quick and well.

Which is exactly what you tried to do, but as you lay on a gurney, trying to guide him on how to fly the quinjet while also doing your best not to bleed out you realize you’d failed.

“Agent Y/L/N, what do I do now?,” he got the jet in the sky, but it was shaking, and you were losing too much blood to remain cognizant., “Call Romanoff, and try not to crash, because if we die, she’ll revive you just to kill you again.”

—

After the mission mishap you took the hint, it was clear as day Wanda suddenly wanted to rid her life of you, and even if she offered you no reasoning, you were going to move forward.

At first, the witch found peace in your choices, it made the guilt of the entire situation slowly fade away. Because if she didn't have to see, or hear about your sadness, then she didn't have to face the music as she brought it all about.

It was in those months of silence that Wanda found herself selfishly missing you. It was a weird feat not having you around anymore, and that's why she was stood outside of your room. Fist raised, ready to knock and plead for a show of mercy, and maybe a bit of forgiveness.

"Wanda, what are you doing here?," you came from around the corner with a giggling Nat, and she was honestly startled., "I, um, wanted to know if we could talk?," she internally cringed at the quiver in her voice, but she held her ground when the redhead glared at her.

"No, Y/N and I—," you turned to face Natasha, your hand gently settled atop of her shoulder, and you smiled tenderly., "It's okay Natty, go to your room and I'll be right behind you with the blankets for our little farewell movie night."

Though reluctant, Natasha left with a kiss to your cheek, and you shifted back to face the center of dissension. All she did was look to you in confusion, so you brushed passed her to enter your room, and shivered as she gasped., "Where's all of your stuff Y/N?," you almost saw a sliver of panic in her eyes, but you chose to ignore it., "What did you mean by farewell?"

"My stuff, not that it's any of your business, is in my suitcases by your feet," you reached into your closet and grabbed your fluffy blanket, then turned to face her., "Farewell means goodbye Wanda, as I'm leaving tomorrow."

"What?," she attempted to reach you but you only stepped away., "Where to?," she felt a tinge of panic in her chest at the glaring truth., "Why? Did I do this? Did I run you off?"

An incredulous laugh fell from your lips, the time for niceties long passed, but even now you hold back., "How conceited of you to think such a thing Wanda.," you stepped up to her, and made sure your eyes locked., "I'm going to Italy for prepaid plans, then after that I'm not exactly sure where I'm headed, but I have time to decide as I'll be gone for about six months."

"You can't go, the team needs you Y/N!," her voice was high pitched as she failed to keep her emotions reeled in, "I need you.," a single tear slipped down her cheek as you laughed again.

"God Wanda, you're insufferable," you moved back a step to create distance for your hands to wave around the air, "One second it's let's be friends, the next I'm your precious baby, then in the blink of an eye I'm nothing to you."

"No, please, you don't understand..."

"What isn't there to understand Wanda?," you shouted, "You pursued me! I was fine with the fucking friendship, but suddenly you weren't."

"I really thought it's what I wanted..."

"Bullshit, you just couldn't imagine me with someone else, so you pursued a dead end."

"No, I wanted this!," she reaffirms more sternly., "Yeah, until you didn't anymore.," her face fell even further as you tiredly repeated the truth, you were her experimental love.

"You went back on your original decision, then when you realized you made a bad call the only one who truly got burned here was me!," you started to feel a wetness on your cheeks, and you were truly shocked to still have tears for this situation at the ready, "You promised me this was what you wanted, that I wasn't a burden, and then you dropped me like I was the bad end of a fucking business deal."

Wanda’s lip trembled, tears streamed down her reddened cheeks, but she didn’t dare respond. This was what she deserved all along, and it brought her a twisted comfort, but it faded fast when your shoulders deflated further, and you sighed in a clear state of exhaustion.

"What hurt the most was the lying though," you chuckled humorlessly as you wiped away your tears, "You said we could be friends, then instead of taking that back too, you just shut me out without another word on as to why."

"I couldn't do it, seeing you hurt too much."

"Feeling is finally mutual Wanda, congrats."

"Please, please don't hate me Y/N/N," she gripped onto your bicep painfully as you went to rush by her, "I-I adore you Y/N, please..."

"That's honestly the worst part," you confess, "As much as I have every right to hate you I don't, all I'll ever have in my heart for you is love Wanda; please, do take care of yourself."

Wanda collapsed the moment you left the room, and for the first time in months you walked away with a pep in your step. Closure is messy, unforgiving, and to some devastating. For one of you it offered a reality check, and for the other it opened up the door to find peace.

—

Everyone knew you were taking time off to put some distance between yourself, and Wanda. It’d been clear to you that's what you needed to move on, but you wouldn't ever say it aloud.

Truthfully, she only chipped away at what was already broken, and it was time you set off to fix yourself, so you could be whole for the next person willing to take a chance on you. There was already someone on your mind, it wasn’t a matter of who anymore, only a matter of when.

You wanted Wanda to be left unscathed here, you loved her too much to wish anything but happiness for the equally as broken girl. So you once again reminded all of them that this was a prepaid vacation that came without refund if you were to cancel it. Then when Tony went to make a quip about the witch ruining everything you reminded him you'd yet to leave in years.

Everyone had met you at the bottom of the stairs to say a variation of goodbye to you, everyone except her, and that was what you wanted. Wanda did however show up, she just watched from the top of the staircase with a heaviness on her heart she didn't enjoy, and you ignored her unmistakable presence.

Natasha's lips brushed over yours softly on the way to your ear, so soft that it couldn't be seen as a kiss, but enough to feel the obvious desire., "Don't be a stranger detka.," you giggled while hugging her tighter. "I'll be back Nat, promise."

As you stepped back her hand slipped into yours, squeezing it tight before she decided to escort you out to your car. Wanda watched the entire engagement with a hatred burning in her chest. It was an all consuming feeling, it felt unfair to feel, and when she heard you giggle again she knew it was a feeling for herself.

She'd been no stranger to the self-loathing, but this somehow felt different—avoidable really.

She watched from the door as Nat helped you load up your belongings, the two of you sharing in conversation and laughter so effortlessly. Wanda wondered why she couldn't grow to be this person for you, because truth be told you deserved the unconditional love of a partner. That was never a question for her, it was the exact reason why she ended things, because she couldn't bare being the reason you cried anymore. Every time she brushed you off, or left you wondering what you did to deserve the silence she knew she was breaking your heart.

Your precious heart that resided in your chest. The one that left you rather vulnerable to the darkness that encased her very own heart. You'd given her everything, and she let you do it even when knowing she could never return your affections. She could only ever placate you, and it actually pissed her off that you were so willing to accept such a broken form of love.

There was love for you that resided deep within the woman, but it wasn't the type to flourish, so she might've felt bad, but never enough to try. Nevertheless, she still felt a sting when you disappeared from her life, even when it was her shoving you out of it. Now too, it hurt her when you never even spared her another glance, she knew you knew that she was stood there.

Your lack of acknowledgement meant this was really over—something she herself initially wanted, but now, as she watched your car disappearing she began to second guess her every decision. Especially when she realized she was now perpetually alone, as Natasha harshly brushed passed her she knew it well.

If only she had just left well enough alone, had she stuck to her guns of friendship with you, and never pursued you so aggressively just to drop you at the first sign of annoyance then everything would be okay... You'd still be hers in some fraction, and she would be happy.

Wanda was never going to be yours, something she'll forever berate her wretched heart over, because now you'll never be hers again...

———

5,876 Words

❤️ Kaitlyn 😭

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#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #gxg #wanda maximoff angst #wanda maximoff fluff #wanda maximoff smut #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff oneshot #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff x y/n #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x you #wanda x y/n #wanda x fem!reader #wanda x reader

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annymation · 3 months

Text

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 16- This Wish

Chapter 15

We see the people of Rosas all gathered in front of the castle. They're looking up to the giant green bubble on top of the palace, trapping MANY wish bubbles.

Mumblings and questions such as "What's going on?" "Why was a gathering summoned this late?" "What's King Magnifico doing?" can be heard floating around.

We focus on a few adults talking among each other until suddenly... One of them points out that the other's chest is glowing green, and then their own chest starts glowing green too.

The same starts to happen with many younger and older adults, parents with their children, older brothers and grandparents all feel like something is being taken from them... And there is indeed.

Their wishes are being taken back. Every single citizens older than 18 watches in horror and confusion as their wish starts floating out of their chest.

The bubbles are a mixed in shades of blues and greens, but the majority of them are green. They begin to swiftly fly upwards, making twists and turns around the palace like a snake climbing a tree, going around and around until all of them reach the top.

And once reach their destination, we turn our focus to the king who's taking all of their wishes in the first place.

We hear his voice with the enthusiasm of a shows man, echoing through the whole kingdom as he uses his magic staff as a "microphone":

"GOOD EVENING ROSAS!!!"

As his voice echos, every glass window magically turns into a mirror, showcasing his face, surprising the already frightened citizens.

(Yeah in the movie Mag could only do that with the star's magic but uuuuh I thought it was cool and it fits my Mag’s vibes, so here that's something he simply can do normally, trust me, him with Aster's powers is even worse.)

Magnifico and Amable both stand side by side looking down on the people bellow, their smiles are vicious. But Magnifico speaks like this is all just any normal gathering with his usual charismatic energy "Sooo good to see you! So good to be seen! And OOH BOY do we have some exciting announcements for you all tonight! Hahhaha"

Asha and her friends are all gathered together around Simon's now catatonic self, trying their hardest to wake him up, but nothing works, he's unreachable.

Asha turns to look at the monarchs a few feet away from them... She has her pencil and a piece of paper she got from one of the king's books inside her sleeve, they're both on the edge of the tower, if she can just draw something that mayb-

"But first! Please, give it up for your "fearless rebellion"! -oh you all are gonna love this heheehe" The king says that last sentence like he's sharing with the audience a very hilarious joke, while he turns his staff around to get Asha and all her friends, plus Valentino. Holding each one in individual tendrils of greens magic, he pulls them quickly and makes so they're hanging just out of the edge of the tower... If he lets go, they all fall down.

Asha and the teens look down horrified. Their faces now are being showcased on the glass windows bellow. Some of the adults looking at them we can recognize as the seven teens parents, all of them absolutely distraught and terrified.

"Surprise surprise! It's our faaavorite little agitator, Asha! Accompanied by- *gaaasp* A bunch of juveniles??? And a goat??? Oh dear, someone call the cavalry! HA- HAH AHAH!" The king places a hand over his head dramatically while laughing.

He just continues to laugh like a madman, so the queen proceeds to speak instead, her voice also echoing through the kingdom thanks to his magic "Children nowadays, really, just can't take your eyes off them for a second, next thing you know they're falling down a cliff." She jokes with her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Magnifico takes some deep breaths and goes back to his little show "Right you are, dear! And THAT, ladies and gentleman, is why we'll never be having any kids!" He jokes to the horrified and confused people bellow, he looks down on them with a smile, but then turns his attention to the star trapped above him "Heheh well, not like we'll ever need a heir anyway, thanks to our dear guest of honor-"

Aster has his hands touching the walls of the bubble while he looks down on what's happening, and immediately after the king finishes his sentence, Aster's wrists are enveloped in magic, he's trapped on the bubble. But that's just for a second, the king makes the bubble disappear, and as soon as it does Aster is pulled down to the floor and chained down (Exactly how everyone was trapped in the movie's climax btw) Aster looks up in anger trying to free himself to no avail.

"The wishing star that can't even grant a single wish! Come on Rosas! Show him your joy!" The mirrors bellow now show Aster's face. The king is getting no applause obviously, but it's not like he expects them to actually cheer or anything, he's just having fun at this point "With his magic in our hands, our reign will be ETERNAL! So rejoice people! You'll get to see these pretty faces for a looooong while! Hahahhaah!" The king speaks with a sadistic enthusiasm.

Asha looks over behind her shoulder,and sees Aster chained down to the floor, the star also looks at her. They're both worriedly gazing at each other, with the king and queen standing between them.

"But you see, everyone- tsk well umm how can I put this?- Before doing that I'll need some extra power, ya know? For safety reasons- My safety of course- And to get that power, I'll need a tiny itty bitty little favor from the lot of you." His voice is clearly mocking them, as he says like he's not asking for much "I'm sure you won't mind, right? I mean, it's only fair that after EVERYTHING we've done for you we get something in return-"

"YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING FOR US!" Asha shouts in anger "All you've ever done was TAKE! And now you want MORE power besides just Aster's?! You'll NEVER be satisfi- AAaAAAaaAGH!" She feels pain coursing through her body as the king uses his magic on her.

The teens look scared. The people of Rosas gasp in shock.

"STOP!" Aster yells angrily trying to pull himself away from the restraints.

The king and queen just look amusedly at the girl squirming in pain, but Magnifico does finally stop. He brings Asha closer to them and says "Still with this dreadful habit of raising your voice at us, huh Asha?"

Asha is breathing heavily, her head is low while she tries to recover from the pain.

"However, you have a point. We DO want more. SOOO much more than you can even imagine!" He turns to his wife hugging her close "After all, I did make a vow I would give you the world and more, did I not, my love?" He looks at her in the eyes lovingly, almost like the world around them doesn't matter anymore.

"Awwwn darling~" Amaya coos passionately while gazing upon his eyes, and goes in for a kiss on the lips.

(Guys, I hate them too, okay? But like, I can't have the villain couple be close to winning and NOT make them smooch, ya feel me? Would be a crime, and it's such a power move.)

Once they separate from the kiss, Magnifico lets out a dreamy sigh, before going back to his deranged self "As I was saying before being oh so rudely interrupted: The time has come for you all to show some gratitude to your king." He looks down on them like little ants ready to be crushed.

He raises his hand open.

While we see the people looking up scared, lost and angry. Among them we see Simon's dad, taking off his helmet and commanding his soldiers to head to the castle so they can put an end to whatever is going on... But it's too late.

The king smiles as he warns them cheerfully "Oh and just a heads up... This might sting a little."

Asha looks up in shock with tears in her eyes, for she recognizes that phrase. "No..."

He quickly closes his hand, tightly and-

C R A C K

Like fireworks, all the wishes above them start exploding and being reduced to green and blue dust.

And as they pop like balloons, the sound of screams comes from below. We see all the adults and elders of Rosas being hit by a sudden pain in their hearts, but as soon as they yell in agony they stop, and bow down on their knees, unwilling to do anything, for they have no more will.

All the citizens younger than 18 are not affected, children are mostly sleeping at this time of night, but a few teenagers are there, desperately trying to wake up their guardians, but there's nothing they can do but cower in fear.

Aster is staring up at all the wishes being destroyed with tears streaming down his face.

Asha hears her people screaming and she can feel her own heart breaking.

Meanwhile, the king only laughs maniacally, as he absorbs the green energy from the crushed wishes into his staff, and in turn he feels the magic coursing through his veins "OOOOOH NOW THAT'S WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT HAHAHA" he breathes in all that energy like he just had the most delicious meal. He turns to his queen with a big smile "Can't BELIEVE I limited myself to only breaking wishes from the riff-raff for SO LONG!" He notices his cape is glowing "Darling, am I glowing? I feel as if I am, yes?" He twirls to his wife gleefully.

(Yeah I'm keeping that scene, that was adorable and I loved Chris Pine's delivery. Also this man just made a whole population go catatonic, so many children and babies are now unattended... Then he just casually mentions he has been doing this to homeless people the whole time. Only to then spin all happy and goofy to show his wife how his cape is shinny, like, I can't with this dude.)

The queen giggles at her husband's delight "You are indeed, mi rey. But how about we get to our little star of the show, hmmm?" She asks anxiously, turning her attention to Aster chained up to the floor behind them.

"Oh but of course, my sweet! Let me just see our un-welcomed guests out first." Magnifico turns to Asha and her friends, still using his magic to keep them hanging over the edge of the tower.

Asha has her head lowered, but as he approaches she raises it to glare at him, her eyes are filled with tears but she refuses to sob in front of him.

He just smiles at her smugly "Wondering why you still have your wish in one piece?" he asks, and she actually didn't realize before but... Yeah, she did give him her wish before, he could take it back, so why didn't he? She get's her answer "Consider it as thanks for providing the star for us. You get to keep the wish you wanted sooo badly to work hard and achieve on your own… By the way, how has that been working out for you?" He laughs while making her spin around in the air, turning her to look at the people kneeled down hopeless, with a few children and preteens lost and scared bellow, he holds her chin so she doesn't look away from them and whispers "Can't say I didn't try warning you, Asha. This world can be so cruel to those who choose to work hard for their wishes... And fail." He quotes what he said during her wish ceremony, with his fake caring tone.

Asha doesn't respond, and he doesn't really care as he makes her float closer to her friends.

Aster notices what the king is doing and pleads "NO- NO NO NONONO! PLEASE! DON'T!" His animation is almost fully sketch lines while he panics.

Asha looks at Aster full of sorrow in her eyes... But with a hopeful smile... She really wishes she could reassure him right now, and let him know that...

She does have a plan.

The king ignores the star's begging as he continues, a sinister grin on his face "And you know what they say about working hard! The higher you climb- THE HARDER IS THE FALL!" And with one swift move of his staff...

He lets go of them.

All the 8 teens and Valentino fall down from the tower.

Most are flailing their arms and screaming in panic, except for Simon who's still practically unconscious...

And Asha who looks focused on her task at hand.

For as soon as her arms are free from the king's magic, she reaches inside her sleeve and takes her pencil and the piece of paper she took from Magnifico's book.

Once she has both in hand, the wind is pushing the paper upwards but she manages to hold it tightly, and she quickly draws the most simple thing that can save all of them...

Circles.

She draws 9 circles on the paper, and once she's done, the wind blowing on the paper makes the drawings magically fly out of it, and once they do, her drawn circles become bubbles.

Big bubbles, big enough for a person to fit inside.

And fit inside they do, as each bubble does as Asha commands in her mind, and saves each one of her friends, Valentino and herself.

Before they know it, they're all inside hand drawn bubbles, floating slowly to the ground.

Her friends firstly get surprised, but once they understand what's happening they all sigh in relief.

Asha looks just as surprised as the others "*breathes in* *breathes out* *breathes in* I can't believe that actually worked! *breathes out*" She sighs in relief.

They're relatively close to the ground now. A few teens and preteens who were previously trying to wake up their catatonic parents approach where the bubbles are about to land.

Asha is so relieved she managed to save them all, she just lays down on the bubble... But fails to notice she was holding her pencil when she does.

POP!

The point of her pencil bursts her bubble.

"Wh-AAAAAAAH!" She's once again falling.

"WE GOTCHU!" The teens who were bellow them caught her. She wasn't too far from the ground so no one get's hurt.

"*phew* That was close, thanks." She thanks the strangers. They put her downs they’re all nervous for the situation, but still relieved that she's alright.

Asha's friends all land safely in their bubbles, that pop once they hit the ground.

Asha looks up to the top of the tower, she can see a green glow... They're starting...

"Okay, now I gotta get up there befo-" she reaches for the piece of paper she had... It's gone.

It flew away when her bubble bursted.

All she has is her pencil.

"... Oh no- nonono!" She turns around to the teens behind her "D-do any of you have a piece of paper? Maybe a book?" She asks around desperately, but only get's them shaking their heads "no"

Asha feels her heart racing. She looks up with her eyes wide, her breath is uneven.

"I- I have to save him!" Asha exclaims with tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes

"The castle is locked down!" Gabo points out to the closed gates "There's no way you're getting to the top in time!”

"Asha, I'm sorry but... It's over." Dahlia's voice filled with sadness as she places a hand on Asha's shoulder "We gotta get out of here! Who knows what might happen when they have Aster's pow-"

"NO!" Asha yells, her eyes closed as she shakes her arm in frustration, tears now falling while she holds her pencil tightly "I'M NOT LEAVING HIM BEHIND! NEVER! I AM NOT LETTING THEM TAKE AWAY ANOTHER PERSON I LOVE!" We see something that Asha isn't seeing since her eyes are closed...

She is drawing on air.

When she moves her pencil around, it creates floating glowing scribbling lines... Think of it like her pencil is now the glowing wand from the "Hi, I'm (insert Disney channel celebrity name here) and you're watching Disney Channel" adds.

Her friends look at this happening in shock, Dahlia points out what's happening.

"A- Asha LOOK!"

Asha slowly opens her tearful eyes, and she gasps upon seeing what she just did, the lines she accidentally drew are still floating in front of her.

"I... I didn't know I could do that..." she looks at her pencil and notices it's now glowing, almost like a magic wand... But how?... She thinks for a moment, and she recalls the time Aster explained how his magic works when they first met... "... "The stronger is the want in the wish maker's heart... The more I can do"...That's it!" She quotes what he told her back in chapter 7. She looks up to the top of the castle, drying her tears with her sleeve. Her eyes now have a burning a determination "I'm coming Aster, just hang in there."

Her pencil, now turned into a magic wand, can only draw glowing lines for now, but she tests something by drawing a line close to the ground, and she steps on it...

Yes, just like she thought, she can stand on the floating line.

She then draws another line above the one she's standing on, she jumps on it, and now she higher than before, then she draws and jumps on another line, then again and again, repeating the process, as if she's drawing the steps of her own stair case to the top of the palace.

She's practically running on air now, full speed ahead, wind blowing on her hair, her eyes fixated on her objective. The music rises along with her rising.

...

So we cut to Aster at the top of the tower, and what I will narrate now was happening at the same time as Asha and her friends were landing on the ground below.

We see Aster crying thick dark blue tears that resemble a night sky. He's sobbing while kneeling down with his head down. For all he knows, the love of his life and his friends are all dead, and he couldn't do anything but watch.

The star keeps sobbing until he hears someone softly shushing him, and feels a cold hand on his cheek. Aster opens his eyes to see Queen Amable right in front of him, with a smile that coming from anyone else would seem caring, but Aster knows it's just a mockery.

"Shhhh shhh hush now little starlight." She dries the tears from one of his eyes with her thumb, digging her sharp nail on the boy's cheek, making a cut that shows some star dust beneath his skin, but the cut instantly heals itself. Aster stares at her shaking in fear "There there, no more tears. You should be happy... Your power shall at last serve a purpose." She speaks serenely but with clear malice dripping from her words.

(Can I just mention this is the second time these two interacted in the whole story, and in the first time she tried to caress Aster’s face too but he dodged her hand like it was a bullet. So like, this is her way of saying that nope, he can’t run away, she’s in control, and that’s the creepiest thing for me, okay bye)

Those words hit deeper into Aster more that they'll ever admit, because it implies his magic served no purpose up to this point... And deep down they feel that's true, that he didn't make a difference... If anything maybe them coming down here just made things worse, he thinks.

We turn our focus on Magnifico looking down on his people.

And so...

We get a song.

This Wish (Reprise)

But not the "This Wish (Reprise)" You're expecting... At least not yet.

Oh no no no.

This is a "This Wish (Villain Reprise)"

For you see, initially I was gonna just narrate "And then they drained Aster's power and Asha got to the top of the tower" yada yada yada but that just felt WAY TOO LAME. Like, we've been building up to this for so long and all I give you guys is words? Nah man, we need a song.

Based on the AMAZING song by Lydia The Bard "Asha's Villain Song", I tweaked some of the lyrics to fit with the context of my rewrite. So of course, go give the original song a listen if you haven't yet!

And without further ado... Here's what happens next.

Isn't truth supposed to set you free? Why do you all seem so weighted down by it? So long having to play pretend Deceiving you had us entertained Yes, but now’s time for the main event

(Magnifico begins to sing, looking down on the people all knelling down, with no dreams, no hope, and no escape. He sarcastically asks them why are they so sad, if all he did was show them the truth. He smiles wickedly, admitting that the years of lying were fun, but now it's time for them to move on to a new chapter. As he sings the last line he turns around and starts walking towards Aster while swinging his staff around.)

See, when I speak they all bow down But what we want Is our ha-ppi-ly EVER after

(He now sings to Aster, who still has their face being held by the evil queen. To emphasize his point, when he sings "Bow down" he hits his staff on the floor, making Aster's restraints pull him even more to the ground, thus bowing down to him. The star looks up angrily. The king just smiles menacingly as he explains what he and his queen are after... To spend eternity together.)

You say they're made of stars But we know I’m so much more than that And we’re done shinning now, so our new vow, no matter how We're gonna burn

(He snaps his fingers and summons his magic book that has information about wishing stars, he sings as the pages flip, looking more and more deranged with every verse. Until he reaches the page he was looking for, his voice is more calm and his grin grows at the line "We're gonna burn". And we see in the book the illustration of a wizard stealing the power of a star, with symbols and words in a mysterious language written all over the pages.)

So the girl trusted a wish upon thee? Hoping you could be her little guide? If this light you shine is what will free us finally Let us be the ones to cross that line

(Amaya now sings to Aster, walking around him, her voice is melodic, and she's drawing out the word "Guide" while pulling the star's flowing hair to make them look at her. Aster does so, with a face of both fear and anger mixed together, but mostly fear. She sings the third line looking at him with a vicious smile. And once she sings the last line, she let's go of Aster's hair, and walks to be next to her husband, who has been mumbling some words in latin while she was singing, preparing the spell to absorb the star's power. The words he mumbled while she sang were "Stella lux, stella clara. Ultima stella hac nocte video. Dolere te licet. Clama ut. Sed lux tua mea hac nocte est."... And the spell is ready, his staff glows brighter. The spell is ready.)

So I make this wish To have so much more for us than So I make this wish To have so much more for us Than this!

(Magnifico points his staff towards Aster, grinning ear to ear. But before he casts the spell he waits for his queen to also hold the staff with him, so they can share the star's power together. And so she does, also holding the king's hand, she sings the same lyrics he just sang, as if to follow his lead. Now they're both side by side pointing the magic staff to Aster. They sing the last line in unison.

It begins.)

(ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS MASTERPIECE made by @gracebethartacc of what’s happening in this scene! With the designs created by @uva124 ! Thank you so much for you both for helping bring these characters to life!)

So much more than this So much more than this So much more than this

(A hand made of green light, similar from the ones Ursula created in "Poor Unfortunate Souls" comes out of the green gem, and makes its way to Aster quickly as the music ascends. The hand hits its target, Aster's heart, or at least where it would be if he had one. The king and queen sing together, while Aster screams in pain, as he feels not only his magic but his very being being drained away. With each line Magnifico and Amable sing, we see that their transformation starting to take hold, as swirly glowing lines begin to form on their skin, like Aster's magic is coursing through their veins. The couple couldn't be smiling wider.)

My bloodline brought expectations Tried to follow all their rules, did what I had to do And now I feel that it's quite overdue For me to have this power to use and abuse

(Magnifico looks at his own hand that isn't holding the staff, seeing it change, his fingertips start to glow, and this glow slowly spreads to the rest of his hand. He recollects in the first 2 verses how in his younger days he tried so hard to conform to what was expected of him, to be part of this long lineage of Rosas kings, but nothing he did was good enough, he wasn't worthy... So he took matters into his own hands, "Doing what he had to do" to become the king he deserved to be. As he sings the third line, he uses his glowing hand to slick his hair back narcissistically, his eyes are closed while he does so, and once his hand lets go of his hair, we see that now his hair is also glowing yellow, and it begins to move, flowing like a flame, just like Aster's. Once the king sings the line "And Abuse" he opens his eyes smiling maniacally, and his eyes have no pupils, just two empty orbs shining brightly like two suns.)

Shouldn't have dared to fight royalty No point begging, no point wishing Now we’re the stars in the sky that you are pleading The very night sky sanctified, blazing inferno sat on high Two super novas here to burn and smite

(Amaya is singing with more intensity and sounding even more deranged than her husband, as this is the first time the witch has magic flowing into her system all at once, while Magnifico is fairly used to it. We see that her eyes are already glowing completely like Magnifico's, and her hair starts to glow, and as it does, her braid undoes itself, and the withered roses in her hair burn down into nothing (Amaya's hair has roses on it in this rewrite btw, check @uva124 design for Amaya here!). Once her loooooooong hair is loose, it starts flowing up and down, just like Eris from Sinbad (Dreamworks movie reference for once lmao) And the glow keeps spreading to her whole body, and to Magnifico's too. As she sings the third line, the couple look at each other and begin to dance their own waltz together, floating in the air just like how Asha and Aster did when they sang "At All Cost". Aster's powers are still being drained, and he looks weaker and weaker by the second, we focus on the star looking like he's about to pass out as his glow is fading more and more... Then we fade to black, and cut to someone else.)

So I made this wish… To have something more for us than this… So I made this wish

(We see Asha making her way to the top of the castle, her face is worried, she sees a light coming from the top of the tower. She sings, her heart filled with so many conflicting emotions: Fear but also determination, anger but also hope, Hate but also love. All she can do is run on the stairs she's drawing for herself, and sing her heart out, hoping that maybe Aster can hear her just as he did when she sang this song for the first time... And he does hear her."

This wish This wish THIS WISH

(We focus back on Aster, we hear both him and Asha singing together, but as the star opens his eyes, he knows Asha is alive, so there's still hope, as long as she lives she can make her wish come true, Aster has no doubt about that. The star raises his head to look at the royals laughing in front of him, and he uses his last remaining strength to sing, because he's not going out without a fight... Though Aster can't fight... But he can make them listen.)—--------------------------------------------------- So I make this wish! We make this wish! For you to face your destiny! So I make this wish! To have so much more than this!

Is this really what you believe? That my power will set you free? You wish to be powerful But what you want is not what you need You see, I've been weak before I won't be that anymore I'd give anything to stop History repeating —---------------------------------------------------

(Aster and the royal couple sing all at the same time. The couple still dances and sings on the air, with their bodies becoming more and more bright, ignoring what Aster is telling them. While Aster looks weak with strands of hair falling on his face, tears running down from his eyes, and most importantly... His body is vanishing, leaving behind just the outline of his 2D body, as if he's becoming transparent. But Aster doesn't care about what's happening with his body, all he wants is to reach out to their senses, asking them if they really think they'll be satisfied, the star tries desperately to make them see they're making a mistake. He tells them how he was once been as a weak star, the smallest one in the sky, but he "won't be that anymore". When he sings the line "everything to stop history repeating" we get a glimpse of Magnifico's book on the floor, we see a page showing a human with bright yellow skin, causing havoc in a village.)

---------------------------------------------------------------- ALL WE WANTED! ALL WE NEEDED! WAS FOR HER SIT AND PLAY NICE! YOU TO COMPLY! YOU TWO CROSSED THE LINE! STARS SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THEIR OWN GALAXY! NOW SUFFER FOR YOUR CRIMES!

Magnus, understand You are just a man! Amaya, mortality Cannot be defied! Yes! My magic’s bright... But it'll be your demise... You'll suffer for your crimes... *GASP*

------------------------------------------------------------------

(Magnus and Amaya aren't singing anymore, just screaming at the star angrily. They're now completely made of light, except for their chests, that have dark circles that swirl like a whirlpools... Black holes.

They yell about how Asha should've just followed their rules, and how Aster should've just accepted his fate, but they didn't, and we focus on Magnifico's still visible scar and Amaya's also still visible white hair streak as they sing "YOU TWO CROSSED THE LINE"

Aster calls them by their names, trying to reach out for some glimpse humanity still left inside, make them see that trying to defy fate will only destroy them. Yes, Aster hates them, and he's trying to make them see this much more because he worries for everyone else's safety, but even then, the star is also compassionate enough to want to save them from themselves. But trying to reach out to them proves to be like talking to a wall.

They're singing the last lines, Aster looks weaker than ever, now he's just a sketch with no color, transparent, with a faint light flickering on his chest, he feels they're about to absorb him completely, there'll be nothing of him left... He'll die. But he still keeps on singing, even though he lacks the strength hold his head high to look at them floating above, the star lowers their head and sees-)

Asha.

She reached the top.

She's pointing her wand at the couple floating above her, and when they're on the last note of the song-

She attacks.

With her wand, she quickly scribbled what looks like a fireball, and with her face burning with rage she launched it at them.

That caught them off guard, making Magnifico stop the spell.

However... it gave them no damage.

Aster gasps, both in surprise for seeing Asha and also in relief that the spell finally stopped draining him, one second before he was fully taken away...

"ASTER!" Asha screams while running to him, ignoring the two floating and glowing figures above her, she can deal with them later, all she needs is to know if Aster is alright. She kneels down and holds them, or at least what's left of them. The star is laying on the floor, he's no longer chained down, Magnifico knows there's no need for that anymore "I'M HERE! I made it! Come on, please! Can you hear me?!" She asks desperately with tears running down her face, worried beyond words.

She sees the fading light on his chest, like a flame about to burn out.

It's like they took 99% of Aster's magic, and now what Asha sees in front of her is just an 1% of himself, just fighting to keep his human shape.

And his shape is just a sketch that keeps appearing and disappearing, like an unfinished storyboard.

Like this, note how Mickey ears disappear and his face too, yeah, it’s like Aster’s details are fading in and out, disappearing and reappearing like he’s fighting to keep existing:

But even then, even with him feeling weaker than he could ever imagine... Aster smiles at her "I- I heard y-yo-o-u..." Aster stutters quietly as he keeps flickering away, the star can barely move, but he still manages to raise a hand to hold her face, she hold his hand back "Th-thank y-ou fo-or savi-ng m-e" He says weakly, his voice barely a whisper.

"OH-HohOHhoH I WoUlDN't CaLl tHaT "SaVInG", LiTtlE oNe! HahHAhahHaAAHA"

Magnifico's voice comes from behind Asha, it echoes through the air, sounding distorted and unhinged.

"HihIhAAHAhaAhAha! iN FaCt! iT SeEMs thAt THeRe'S NoTHiNg lEfT oF hiM FoR yOu tO SaVE aT aLL, mY DeAr! YoU'rE tOo LaTE!"

Now it's the queen's voice, sounding just as maniacal as her husband.

(Ya know, I was gonna use ThiS eFFeCT on their voices the whole time, buuuut I think I'll leave it just for these two first lines since they're getting used to the power of a star inside them. If I used it too much I might give myself and ya'll a migraine.

Also, best way I can describe their look right now is like that girl from Paranorman, but instead of lighting coming from them it’s star dust, plus Eris flowing hair in Amaya’s case, plus they have dark black holes on their chests, the black holes idea actually came to me recently thanks to a comment from @gracebeth3604 soo thanks moot ;))

Asha hasn't turned to look around, but she can see their light coming from behind her, she’s casting a huge shadow, They're so bright and so close to her it's almost like the night just turned into day.

She holds what remains of Aster close to her, she doesn't know what to do but no matter what she's not letting go of him. Aster is too weak to do anything.

The two royals just laugh at her. Magnifico floats to be in front and face to face with the girl, his cape floating in the air with star dust flowing out of it, exactly like Aster's cape did before.

"Sooooo glad you could join us though! After all, what better way to start using your precious wishing star's power than-"

He raises his hand to use his power on her. Knowing that unlike Aster, he can do a lot more damage than some tickles.

Asha just holds Aster closer and braces herself for it.

"Putting you out of your misery haHAAHahah"

He says sinisterly as he goes for the kill-

The queen holds his arm.

"Now now my sun, why on earth would you do that?"

Both Asha and Magnifico are surprised by Amaya's intervention. The king looks at his wife and just goes

"Huh?"

Amaya floats gracefully pulling her husband away, her cape and dress also have star dust flowing from under it, and her hair floats as if it's under water.

"You said it yourself silly! You wanted to give them a fate worse than death. Is there a fate worse than watching as your loved one slowly perish?"

She says referring to a line Magnifico said in chapter 12. Magnifico understands what his wife means now, and he couldn't agree more.

" Wise as always, my moonlight” He praises her passionately before turning back to the two teens “We'll leave you two love birds to it, got a whole kingdom to remodel and a few new powers to play with, ya know how it is. So ENJOY the show, Asha! None of it would be possible without you!"

They give Asha an almost cheshire cat like smile before leaving them to grieve.

Asha looks to them, with horror and sorrow in her eyes, she has no idea on what to do. The two royals fly away laughing, leaving the girl and the half dead star alone on the top of the tower, and begin to play around with their powers.

(I'mma describe how they're playing around in a sec but now I NEED to focus on Asha and Aster or I'll explode.)

Asha looks at the star in her arms, with every second it looks like he's about to disappear completely. Now that the two villains aren't there anymore... She stops holding it in, she begins to weep.

"*sob* I... I'm sorry Aster, I did everything I could but... We lost." Her tears fall and go right through Aster, now that he's transparent, but the star can feel himself go ever weaker as Asha starts losing hope "... No matter what I did, or how much I tried... I couldn't give Rosas more than... This." She looks behind her shoulder, seeing the two now power crazed monarchs using their magic to change their kingdom to their liking.

Aster holds her face and makes her look back to him "... don-don't sa-y tha-t... y-you're still here... as long a-as y-you're here then there's still a chance" Aster smiles at her with exhausted eyes, caressing her face "And I-I'll be with y-you... I promise."

"But what am I supposed to do? My magic is useless against them- Everyone in Rosas had their wishes broken I- THIS is impossible!" She shouts, now with more tears rolling down her face

Aster lets out a weak chuckle "heh ehhehe yeah... but you showed me it's kind of fun to do the impossible..."

(Aster, you're dying, this is no time to quote Walt Disney)

Asha is still crying but she can't help but smile a little at how the star still manages to be hopeful in this situation "You really think there's still something we can do?"

"not we... you" The star responds weakly, his light becoming even dimmer

"M-me?" Asha tries holding Aster's hand and notices it has completely disappeared... He's fading away. She looks desperate at him "No nononono please! There's gotta be a way I can save you!"

"I'm not going anywhere, not until your wish's granted" he explains "Like I said... I promise I'll be with you... Even if you can't see me..." Aster still smiles serenely at her while their hand drawn body is slowly fading away, leaving behind just a flickering light on his chest.

"I- I don't understand... How can I grant that wish now?" She asks her wishing star.

And the star answered:

"Inspire them."

Asha's eyes widen "What?... Aster, this isn't like before, and even if it was... They can't listen to me, they lost their wishes."

"Then give them a new one." The fading star puts it simply

Asha doesn't understand what Aster means, she just gets more and more distressed as he keeps fading away.

Aster realizes he doesn't have much time left, so he better be quick.

"I know this doesn't make much sense now... But you'll know what to do... *sigh* See ya after you win, okay?... I love you." Aster's face starts to fade away and-

Asha's heart sank like a stone falling on water.

Aster's body was gone... All that was left was a flickering light on her hands.

She looked at that light, more tears fell on her hands...

"... I love you too." She holds the light close to her heart, as more of her tears fall on the floor.

... And suddenly...

The light began to move on its own.

Flying away from Asha's hands, it begins to spin around her.

Asha is surprised by that, she get's up to see what the tiny star is doing.

Once she's standing up, the light flies from the bottom or her dress, to the top in circles, leaving a trail of star dust that transforms her dress.

(Cinderella transformation reference of course)

The music swel ls as Asha's dress magically morphs into a gorgeous princess gown:

(THANK YOU SO MUCH @salmonpiffy FOR LETTING ME USE YOUR GODLIKE ART PIECE IN THIS REWRITE! I had this plot point of Asha getting a princess dress planned for a WHILE, and this drawing it was simply exactly what I envisioned! If you haven't yet, go like and share the original post here!)

Asha is stunned by the transformation, she looks at the flickering star, about to ask it what this is all about, but before she can ask anything-

The small star flies into her heart, making a big glowing star show on her chest.

Asha closed her eyes... And once she opens them, we see her pupils are now swirling like a galaxy.

... Asha understands what Aster meant now.

"... I get it now, you're with me, even if I can't see you." She places a hand on her heart... She can feel that little bit of Aster is inside her... A few tears still roll from her eyes, she knows what to do, but there's no way of knowing if it'll actually work.

"... I'll try..." She tells that both to herself and for her star, as that's all she can do.

She get's her magic wand, and walks to the edge of the tower.

She looks to the kingdom bellow.

The king and queen are making giant thorny vines, grow all over the kingdom, terraforming it to their delight.

Buildings collapse, being crushed by the rose like vines. It's like they're destroying everything only for the fun of it, or so they turn it all into a blank slate only to start it over again.

But thankfully, they're flying far away from where everyone's gathered... So at least they won't see her like this just yet.

She jumps from the tower, even though her magic isn't a lot, she can still float down slowly.

And once she lands down, the first people she sees in the middle of the crowd are her 7 friends and Valentino. Simon kneeling down, not responding to the other six teens trying to wake him up, most of them crying, hopeless and defeated.

“Maaaa!” Valentino bleats out once he sees her.

They all stop what they were doing once they see Asha approach them, wearing a princess dress and shinning like a star. They stare at her in disbelief.

"Asha?" Dahlia says quietly

Asha looks to them, and all the other people down on their knees... She sees something else...

Now that she has a little bit of Aster's magic, she has his eyes, she has the power to see people's stars... Her friends and the other people younger than 18 still have their stars shinning, while all the people who had their wishes broken have their stars so dim that it's almost like they're not even there... But they are still there, weak, but she can still re-candle them

So... Asha follows what Aster suggested, and tries to inspire them.

She begins to sing.

And NOW we get the song This Wish (Reprise) you were expecting. Tho, in this rewrite we'll call it "This Wish (Kingdom Reprise)" for reasons you'll know in the final chapter... Which is the next one, not this one :)

So without further ado:

This Wish (Kingdom Reprise)

So I look out at the stars just like me And I’m begging you to see this as a sign ’Cause I know that if you choose to stand beside me

(Asha begins to sing to everyone around her, her voice shaking with sorrow and tears still falling from her eyes. She hears the sound of buildings nearby crumbling, it's the king and queen using their powers to destroy just for the fun of it. The sound makes her stop singing for a moment... But also makes her more determined to keep going. She dries her tears while singing the last line... She looks around, and the stars of the people around her still look weak... But Dahlia's star is as bright as ever when she sings)

We’ll be greater than all their magic combined So I make this wish So I make this wish So I make this wish So I make this wish To have something more for us than THIS

(Dahlia is looking up to the royals above them when she begins to sing, trusting her best friend wholeheartedly, she looks at her with a smile and makes a wish. Asha sees Dahlia's star shining brighter... And she also feels something changing, she feels herself growing stronger. A smile begins to form on the corner of Asha's lips. Then, Hal and Bazeema join in, they both stand up and sing along with Dahlia. Gabo and Safi join in, with Dario signing the lyrics with his hands. All six of them are singing together, Asha smiles brightly seeing them still hold on to hope with her, their stars all shinning brighter and brighter... But then, she realizes someone else's star is beginning to shine shining brighter... Simon was on his knees with his head down, and he began to sing the last line along with them, the others look back when they hear him, and once they get to sing "THIS" Simon raises his head, smiling at Asha with his hope fully restored, and Asha can see that in his star shinning brighter than ever. The music swells, and so does Asha's heart, she knows now that YES, they can save everyone else. Her friends hug Simon, happy to see he's back to normal, but just like Asha, they know what to do now, and they all waste no time.)

We’ve had generations of expectations Wondering why, wondering when We’re past dipping our toes in We know it’s do or die, it’s sink or swim

(We see the 7 teens walk around the people, encouraging the younger people who are still awake to sing along, combining their hopes in this wish. And as more people with broken wishes hear them, the more of them start to rise up, as if they had nothing to fight for before, but now they do, and with their heads raised up high, they look to the king and queen flying above them... And said king and queen finally notice the "noise" coming from bellow them. They weren't looking at the people until now, to them the people are nothing but little ants. They look down confused but also amused at how those insects still think they have a chance.)

We were all confusing your promises for protection But we know what we’ve gotta do Hope unchanging, with our wish held high The way you’ve always taught us to

(The people keep singing, more and more stars are lighting up on their hearts, just like Asha, the king and queen can also see the people's stars, for they too have Aster's eyes now. But the king has had enough of this little "final stand" of theirs, and he points his staff to them.

The people stop singing, their eyes widen in shock, for they see the king charging a huge blast of magic at them, ready to wipe them all out like they're nothing.

The blast shots out of his staff.

We hear it hit, and all of Rosas is engulfed in green smoke upon the impact. The king and queen just smirk at that, after all, who needs a kingdom when they can have the whole world?

...

But then the smoke begins to clear.

The villain's smiles fade into faces of shock.

“What…?” Magnifico mouths, not believing what he hears)

So I look out at the stars just like me And I know that just like them I shine

(The couple is baffled not only by what they hear, but mostly by what they see...

A shield.

A gigantic, circular, glowing, purple, hand drawn shield. It protects all the people bellow. The shield has the Rosas emblem drawn on it, that’s Asha’s way of showing that the symbol doesn’t represent the royals, it represents Rosas, and they’re taking their symbol and their kingdom back.)

What we do in this moment is defining And we can take it on if we ally

(We see Asha raising her wand to the sky, the shield she manifested begins to disappear, but she remains with a daring smile, for they don't need to defend anymore, she's ready to attack and finish this once and for all. She begins to soar, wind blowing on her hair as she flies towards Magnifico and Amaya. She feels even more of Aster's magic flow through her, and even though it's only a little bit of his magic, she feels she might be as powerful as an actual star, because, unlike the royals, she has ALL of Rosas believing in her, and that gives her more strength than they could even fathom.)

So I make this wish

(When she sings "Soooo" Asha begins to fly as fast as a shooting star, darting and spinning through the air, leaving trails of star dust around the two very angry and lost glowing figures. Once she sings the word "Wish" she stops, now flying upside down right in front of the royals, she looks in the king's angry eyes with a huge confident smile, much like Aster did with her on the night they met.)

To give us freedom, hope and bliss

(We get a shot of the people bellow, everyone is awake with their stars shinning brightly, they cheer for Asha, all of them placing their hopes on her, and in turn making her magic even stronger.)

So I make this wish To have something more for us than THIS

(Asha flies to be just above the two royals, Magnifico points his staff at her to attack, but it's no use, for Asha is already drawing something with her wand.

A sword.

She grabs it in the air, looking down at them fiercely as she raises her sword to give the final blow.

Amaya is hugging her husband tightly, she's horrified. Magnus can't get his magic to work... Because star's magic rely on people's hopes and belief, and right now, no one believes in them.

As Asha sings the last line with all her heart, hopes and magic flowing through her-

She STRIKES DOWN.

Hitting Magnifico's staff, the moment she sings "THIS".

"NO- NOOOOO!!!" Magnifico yells in despair.

The gem CRACKS.

And once it finally BREAKS, all the magic that Magnifico absorbed is freed, both from the wishes of Rosas... And from Aster.)

A HUGE explosion like a firework fills the night sky.

And slowly... All the wishes begin to rain down on the people of Rosas, each one floating to their individual owners.

None of the bubbles are green, they're all blue. With the source of Magnifico's magic destroyed, all the curses he created have been lifted.

We see the citizens of Rosas holding their wishes and admiring them before placing them inside their chests, joy and relief washing over them.

We see a few citizens say "My wish!" "I'm going to make it happen." "I just can't wait to get started!" As they hold their wishes, they're all excited to make their dreams come true.

But among the citizens we also see Asha's friends, all of them looking up, worried for Asha, that was a pretty big explosion after all.

"Look!" Hal points upward.

They see Asha floating around. Still wearing her princess gown and holding her wand.

As she flies down along with the wishes, she smiles and admires a few of them close to her, seeing how beautiful and alive they are. She giggles unable to contain how happy she feels.

And when she starts giggling, she hears a familiar laugh from behind her.

She turns around, and she sees specks of star dust that were floating in the air start to join together, forming a clump of star dust trying to take shape.

Asha smiles brightly, already knowing who that is.

The star dust begins to take the teenaged prince shape she knows so well. But there's still one piece missing for them to fully reform.

Asha knows that, and she gladly gives the final piece.

She places a hand on her chest and takes out the little spark of light that was left of Aster, the little spark that gave her all the magic she needed to win.

Once she takes out the spark, her magic dress and sparkles on her hair all go into it, her magic is now gone.

And so, Asha begins to fall.

She’s free falling for a moment, but she knows there's nothing to fear, after all-

Aster, now fully back to his original form and laughing gleefully, catches her.

"HAHA YOU DID IT!!! I KNEW YOU WOULD! HHAHAHA YEEAH" The star spins and flies around with her in his arms.

Asha laughs as well, holding the star tightly with tears in her eyes "WE did it! Hahaaha aah" Aster stops spinning and they look at each other while still floating down together "You really were with me the whole time." She says with her eyes gleaming.

Aster smiles warmly "Well yeah, wouldn't wanna break rule number 1 again heheh" He jokes referring to the rules Asha established when they went to the kingdom together for the first time "Stay close to her at all times". The two of them are floating down, looking into eachothers eyes as Aster says with certainty "But really... I barely did anything, that was all YOU." He says with admiration.

Asha smiles but corrects him with a cheekily tone "Heh heh I guess, but I only knew what to do because I had the guidance of an amazing wishing star" she boops his nose, and Aster's starry freckles sparkle and his smile widens "So I'd say WE did it hihihi" she giggles, knowing she won the "argument"

Aster sighs as they reach the ground "Yeah, I really did get a lot better at this whole guiding thing... Thanks to YOU." Aster winks playfully.

Asha just laughs at that and hugs him"... I thought I'd never see you again." She sighs in relief while feeling his warmth.

Aster's smile falters a little and his eyes show a hint of sadness, knowing that she indeed won't see him again.

"... About that... Asha, I need to tell y-"

"GROUP HUG!!!" Dahlia screams

Asha and Aster feel themselves being embraced by Asha's friends. All of them laughing in relief.

"That was AMAZING!" Hal exclaims jumping up and down while they hug.

"You really did it! They're gone for good!" Dahlia exclaims hugging her best friend.

They all celebrate and cheer while they hug, but they hear a strangers voice:

"Umm excuse me..." A random citizen of Rosas, a bit younger than Asha chimes in, they stop the hug to look at him and he proceeds "I wouldn't say that yet. You might wanna take a look at this, miss" He speaks directly to Asha while pointing to the other side of the plaza.

Asha's eyebrows raise in confusion.

We cut to the king and queen laying on the floor...

Magnus groans in pain.

(NOW I know ya'll just read that and thought:

“WHAT?! “Groans in pain”?!? He’s supposed to be dead!!!” And yes, I hear you, I agree, BUT HEAR ME OUT! LET ME COOK! YOU'VE WAITED 16 CHAPTERS YOU CAN WAIT A FEW MORE LINES!!! IM GETTING THERE!! IN A MINUTE!!... Anyway back to the story.)

The man places a hand on his forehead as he sits up and looks around in confusion... The confusion turns into shock once he realizes his skin no longer glows...

And there are MANY angry eyes staring down at him, from the crowd of Rosas citizens.

The night sky is turning orange as the sun rises.

Magnus breathes heavily while looking at the crowd, his eyes darting at every direction like he's processing what should be his next move.

But his thoughts all but vanish when he hears his wife yelp in pain a few steps away from him

"AMAYA!" He get's up and rushes to her aid.

She looks at him in despair, not understanding how could this happen, and as the king help her get up he has the same distress in his eyes.

They had won, they had everything they wanted, so how did they lose it all so quickly?... How did she do it?

They find there's no time to ponder on this, as some guards begin approaching from the crowd.

Magnifico almost instinctively spouts out the first lie that comes in his head to get them out of this "W- wait WAIT ha-hah my people, please thi-this is nothing but a terrible misunderstanding! Tha-that wasn't US! Y-you see, we we're- uuh- POSSESSED! Yes- by dark magic from my book of spells!" He clumsily comes up with the very obvious lie.

(hihihihehheehehahaheahhaeahHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH AAAH- we do have fun here, don't we?)

The people are all still staring angrily at them, the king knows he's not fooling anyone, but without magic, deception is his only way to protect the wife he's holding in his arms, so he continues "Bu-but it's all good now!- heh he- So no need to get-"

"No one believes your lies anymore." Asha's voice comes from behind them. The couple turns around and sees Asha and Aster are holding hands.

Aster glares at them angrily, as one would after being killed and then used to cause so much destruction to a whole kingdom.

Asha meanwhile doesn't looks angry, nor sad, nor happy, she's just calmly stating a fact as she proceeds "It's over, you hold no power over anyone here."

The villains scared faces slowly morph into rage when they see the two teens, Amaya let's go of her beloved's arms and asks with her voice almost a screech "HOW DID YOU DO IT?! HUH?! What kind of sorcery was that?! We had all of the star's power and you had nothing but a smidge!"

Asha almost ignores the woman, as she turns her attention to look around at all the people surrounding them, they all also seem kinda curious to know how she did it.

Asha begins smiling while looking at them, and she explains "True, I only had a little bit of magic, but it was more than enough, cause' I had the whoooole kingdom believing in me." Asha looks at Aster now with a warm smile, and the star looks back to her smiling too "And a wishing star's magic can only go as far as how much they're believed in."

Magnus rolls his eyes at that and groans in annoyance. He hates to admit it, but the girl is right, he shouldn't have left a single fraction of the boy left, that's what he get's for showing mercy... He lost.

But the man always believed the winner is the one who laughs last. He holds his forehead as he begins to chuckle "Hehehahahaah aaah I gotta hand it to you, Asha, you really never cease to surprise. So! What happens now, hm?" He asks with a sarcastic smile, trying to look like the one in control of the situation even though everyone is against him "Will it be the classic beheading ooooor burn us at the stake like witches? Please, do get creative, I wouldn't want my death to be something generic."

"OH I assure you it won't, your "highness"" Aster chimes in with a smile that looks like his usual innocent self but his tone shows he's actually planning something very much not innocent at all "Cause' you see, I just had the BEST idea of what to do with the two of you" The star tilts his head to the side... Magnus looks like he instantly regrets saying anything "Though, let me just sort it out with my wish maker first, excuse us for a sec." Asha is looking at Aster very confused as he starts whispering something in her ear.

Asha hears what he has to say curiously and she quickly gasps in surprise "Wait- You can do that??" She asks him shocked

... The evil couple doesn’t see that as a good sign...

"Hehehe usually? Nope!" He admits to Asha gleefully, then he turns to the villains in front of them "But right now, I can feel AAAAAALL the people of Rosas wishing for one thing... For you both to face consequences. With so many people wanting the same thing with all their hearts, hehehe well, let's just say my magic becomes strong enough for me to get pretty creative with what I can do." Aster crosses his arms and walks closer to the taller man, he could float to be taller than him but he sees no need "We wishing starts do believe anyone deserves to have their wish come true though, no matter who they are. So guess what Mag, I'm granting your wish too!" The star says with a smug.

That got a few questioning glances from the crowd

"... W-what?" That caught the man off guard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amaya asks worriedly, now walking closer to her husband again.

"Oh you'll see... That is, if you agree." Aster turns to Asha, after all, this is all her wish, so she should get to decide how it comes true.

Asha ponders for a moment with a hand on her chin, she looks around her people all waiting for her to make a choice... She smiles at Aster as she makes her decision "Yeah, I think that sounds fitting for them, do it."

"What sound fitting?! What are you two brats blabbering about???" Magnus just holds his wife closely to him like he wants to protect her from whatever these two are planning.

Aster turns to them with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, preparing to “grant their wish”. The star moves his arms in circles, creating a mass of magic glowing dust.

The two royals brace themselves for the worst, hugging each other tightly.

Aster throws the dust at them and...

Nothing happens.

The couple looks at one another to see if anything changed, then pass their hands over their own faces and bodies to see if anything's different... Nothing

Aster is still smiling at them confidently though, with his arms crossed.

Magnus just assumes whatever the star tried to do didn't work, he throws his head back as he laughs "HA! I don't know why I was worried! You can't even hurt anyone!" The king says with a grin, Aster just raises one eyebrow while smiling, he's looking down at the man's feet as he starts to walk towards the star "Just a pathetic little star who can't grant a single wi-"

He only took two steps, but he stops walking suddenly once he realizes... His feet are REALLY heavy right now.

Magnifico looks down and...

His shoes are now made of stone... And it's spreading to his legs.

"Sorry, sometimes magic just takes a bit of time to take effect, I can try to speed up the process if you'd like" Aster comments casually while holding hands with Asha again

"Wh-what is th-"

"My- My love" Amaya says from behind him, her voice shaking in fear.

He turns to her and sees that the skirt of Amaya's dress is now half made of stone, she cannot move.

The people of Rosas look surprised, but not sympathizing with the ex royals one bit, some smile, agreeing with what Asha said, this really is fitting.

"You two did always like statues made in your image, right? It's only fair you two get turned into one of them" Asha comments. Smiling like she's watching something very satisfying.

The magic keeps spreading up and the man looks not just terrified but mostly furious at the star "Th-THIS IS A TRICK! You CAN'T use your magic to take away humans lives!" He yells at Aster, knowing this from his book about wishing stars.

"And who said you two will die? You just won't be able to move anymore." Aster corrects him.

That made a chill run down their spines.

And the star continues:

"You two wished you could live together FOREVER, didn't you? Welp, there you have it!"

The queen looks in the verge of tears as she exclaims "T-this isn't what we wished for at all!"

"A taste of your own medicine, that’s how it feels like to have your wish twisted into a curse." Asha says, her eyes following the curse spread, as now their lower halves are completely frozen, Magnus is two feet away from Amaya, he's in front of her because he tried walking to talk to Aster, but the woman is holding his hand. Asha thinks to herself that's definitely a good pose for them, showing Magnifico turned away from his love just to show some sense of superiority. She keeps that to herself though, and just adds "This way, you'll be frozen but still able to see Rosas thrive, and the people prosper... Without you." Her voice is determined.

The villains eyes are wide. Amaya is holding onto her beloved's arm, but he's not facing her... If this really is how it ends she wants to at least be looking at him as they go, she urges him to turn to her, holding his arm tightly.

But Magnifico can't bring himself to notice... Taken by his own delusion, all he says is this:

"... HeheheHAHAHAHA! PROSPER??? Who? These people?!" He shouts pointing at the people around them "These WORTHLESS little peasants don't know how to LIVE without me!!" He's looking at the people around, the pupils in his eyes are small like he's consumed by rage "NONE OF YOU EVER ACHIEVED ANYTHING ON YOUR OWN! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE! YOU NEED ME!"

Those words echo for a moment... But someone from the crowd breaks the silence:

"But we can achieve a lot on our own, especially without you pushing us down." Says an elderly citizen with a serious face.

The man turns to him, ready to spout out something else but he's interrupted by another voice

"And you never gave us anything, you only took away from us years of memories we could've builded together." Said a woman holding a baby in her arms and a child is next to her, most likely a mother whose cursed wish made her spend more time away from her kids.

Magnifico looks less angry and more in despair as his lower torso is fully turned into stone.

"And you didn't make us who we are... You made us into what YOU wanted us to be." Who says that is a familiar face, Dahlia's mom, standing next to her daughter, Dahlia smiles at her proudly.

Amaya is still quietly urging him to look her way with tears running down her face. Her chest begins to be turned into stone. She's almost fully frozen Magnifico doesn't look back to her... She's sobbing and he doesn't listen.

(Man, if you think this hits hard now, just you wait till I share Amaya's backstory later, you're in for a ride.)

"And no one needs you. We never did." Asha states looking at the fallen king in the eyes. And the whole kingdom agrees with her.

Magnifico feels his chest turn into stone, and a sharp pain course through him, not from the star's magic... But a pain from his own past.

He still hides it well as he says "Th-that's where you're wrong, right, mi vida-" He finally does look back to his wife and-

She's fully turned into stone now.

Magnus feels his neck now turning into stone, and for the first time... He has nothing to say. He simply looks to his now petrified wife and accepts as his head is fully turned into stone.

... They're now nothing but statues...

(YIPPPIEEEEEEEE!!!! WE DID IT FELLAS!!! THEY'RE GONE!!! DANCE PARTY!!! 🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺)

The sun rises in Rosas as the people celebrate and cheer that their evil rulers are gone.

"ALRIGHT! Who's up for destroying them for good with a big hammer?!" Gabo screams at the cheering crowd with his hand raised.

Simon smiles as he raises his hand too, for the first time showing some support for his friend's rebellious ideas.

Asha feels her heart beating faster, she can't contain her happiness as she looks at Aster ready to give him a hug " Aster! I- I can't believe it! We did it! We're finally free-" She goes in to hug him but-

Her arms go right through him.

The people around them are still celebrating but Asha feels the world around them slow down and become blurry once she realizes...

Aster is disappearing again. His star dust begins floating to the sky.

But the star just keeps smiling, happy for her and for everyone else "Yeah, you did it. They're free, and they have hope, and bliss... Just like you wished for."

"A- Aster-Wha- What's happening to you?" She tries to hold his hand but it's like they're just a ghost.

"... I gotta go now."

Chapter 17

Final Thoughts

NEXT CHAPTER IS THE END!!! AAAAAAH-

Oh my gosh I'm still tearing up and I don't know if it's because of Asha and Aster, or Magnifico and Amaya, or because this journey that honestly changed me is coming to an end??? Or all of the above??? Maybe ya'll read all this and don't cry, but I'm literally losing it, I was building up to this moment for so long! And now it's here like... WOW!

THE ANSWER WAS "INSPIRE THEM"!!! The theme ties everything together is Sabino's wish! It's what Asha was doing the whole time! And Aster knew it, and guided her to do it! Proving he's a good wishing star! I'm so proud of them!!! My babies!!!

And it's so fitting to because this whole project is about how I was inspired by the concept arts, by Disney itself, to create this story, and it warms my heart everyday when people tell me they got inspired by this too. This is so special for me guys, I'm crying, damn.

Also I went back and forth on how I wanted Magnifico and Amaya's "Final pose" to be, first when I started developing the story I thought about having them argue and blame each other while their bodies are turned into stone, but like... That doesn't feel like them, then for the longest time I thought about having them both screaming at Asha, but I was like "... I can put them through more pain than that" so I thought about having Magnifico screaming at the crowd while he hugs Amaya crying... But that still wasn't quite right. So finally I settled for them not even hugging, and she's urging him to look at her, as a way to symbolize how their love was all that they needed, but they were so blinded by ambition that drove them apart, and in the end, they couldn't even say goodbye or comfort one another, because Magnifico was too busy trying to come out on top. To me, that's the most painful demise I could give them.

And I know what you're thinking "Damn Anny, but keeping them frozen and alive for eternity isn't a bit harsh? Like, too heavy for a kids movie?" I say NOPE! They deserve it, and besides, My Little Pony did this, they did this TO A CHILD CHARACTER even! If MLP can do it so can Disney, and from my memory we never had a villain turn into stone (There might be and I just don't remember, you tell me) so this would be a first, and I think that's more interesting than making their deaths a reference to the classic "Fall off a cliff" cliche.

Though heheehe Asha was totally considering pushing them off the tower, which would be hilarious cause Magnifico can fly with his staff, so he'd just come back like "Ummm rude! I was monologuing!"

So yeah... I think that's all I got to say... Oh and is two songs one after the other two much? Maybe it is, but eh, I had fun adapting "Asha's Villain Song". Do me a favor and look up "Jordan Fisher Hadestown If It's True" on youtube, that's how Aster sounds like in this song.

See you guys at THE END!

BUH-BYE!

Thank You For Reading!

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