Chapter Text
Stella missed the Sun. She missed all three Suns, actually, but she would’ve settled for one. Her mother had prepared her, Callisto was her home planet after all, but she didn’t think it would be so … different. Her father had been hesitant to send her, but, with her friends back in Magix City or Eraklyon, he had seen how miserable his daughter was. Even Nova was away on holiday. There were Cyrus and Samson, of course, but they were first her guards and then her friends …
It didn’t take much convincing on Luna’s account after she suggested their daughter spent some time with her cousin Varanda on Callisto. And so she went, with an obscene amount of suitcases for a two-week stay (“But then I’ll go straight to Alfea!”), and Radius and Luna waved her goodbye (Radius with teary eyes).
She had never been on Callisto that long. Usually she went for family celebrations, like birthdays or anniversaries of some kind, but didn’t stay for more than a couple of days, because her father couldn’t physically leave Solaria, and especially the Second Sun, for long without damaging his health. It was something every Sun ruler had had to deal with and Stella would not be different. Still, she wouldn’t become Queen for many years: her father was young and healthy and she wished he’d stay like that for as long as he could.
It had been a week and she was starting to feel the effects the planet had on her: her skin was getting paler and she had taken to sleep by day and stay awake at night, when the Moon shone on her. Callisto was a Moon planet, its main source of natural light where the Moon herself and the countless stars in its sky. Stella felt that, if she’d grown up there, she would’ve been a completely different person, much calmer, but definitely more moody, like her mother was. Queen Luna was a quiet woman, graceful in her every movement, with the sweetest voice and moonlight skin, but she was also headstrong and could become pretty wild especially during a full moon; King Radius was the absolute opposite, always talking, always thriving under the spotlight, always in for a joke, but ever the serious king. Stella had taken after both, bus his influence was stronger, Solaria’s influence; and Callisto … was just different. Not better, not worse, different. She liked it there, but it would never feel like home.
Especially not when her cousin was around.
On the phone – videocall to Sky
Stella
She’s a nightmare, I swear! She had managed to take a break from Varanda, hiding in her bedroom while the Princess of Callisto was still talking to some nobles in the gardens. Stella had snuck away undetected, but she didn’t know how much that would last. So, she had seized the opportunity to call Sky.
Sky
Is she really that bad? He had heard all about “Crazy Varanda” from her texts and calls, so he knew exactly who she was referring to.
Stella
You’ve no idea! She keeps stealing my clothes … and how she matches them! I almost died in horror this morning. She had orange, blue, green, black … all together!
Sky
Truly horrific. He tried to hold back a laugh, but Stella could clearly see him.
Stella
Are you making fun of me? She asked, suspicious.
Sky
I would never! He said, trying to be as convincing as he could, but the voice that answered him was one he didn’t know.
“Who are you talking to?”
Stella
Oh no.
Sky
Is that her? It was definitely her, given Stella’s exasperated tone.
“Is that your boyfriend? Can I see him? Can I talk to him?”
“Varanda, leave me alone, please …” She turned her gaze from Sky to her cousin, who had just entered the room without so much as knocking.
“I just want to see him!” She ran to Stella, who was lying in a chaise long, and grabbed her phone.
“Hey! Hey, stop!” Stella fell down on the floor, as Varanda looked at the amused brown-haired boy on the screen. “Hi, hottie!”
“VARANDA!” Stella stood up, furious. “DO NOT TALK TO MY BOYFRIEND!”
Sky
Nice to meet you, Princess Varanda. May you please give me back to your cousin? She seems distraught.
He asked, ever so polite.
“You bet I am!” Stella held out her hand, demanding her phone back. Her cousin snorted, but then complied.
“Thank you.” Stella said through gritted teeth.
Varanda shrugged, as she reached the door. “You know you’re ugly when you’re angry? Your nostrils get so big …” and she was quick to leave the room and close the door before a pillow could land in her face.
Stella fell on her bed, beyond irritated.
Stella
Do you see what I have to deal with every single day?
Sky
Yeah … He smiled at her but he could see she was checking herself in the camera, examining her nostrils, probably. In the year he’d known Stella he had come to understand that, behind the façade of the strong, confident, independent girl she always wore, she was deeply insecure. Anyway, she’s wrong. I think you look cute when you’re angry.
Stella
Don’t make me blush, Prince. Too late, she was blushing already.
Sky
As for that bit about me being your boyfriend …
Stella
I gotta go! My … my grandmother is calling me. She pretended to talk to someone else. Yes, I’m coming, grandma!
Sky
Goodbye, Stella.
He smiled as she ended the videocall. She had called him her boyfriend. It was way too soon for that, they had only kissed that one time, on the beach, after her early birthday party, and then he and Brandon (Sky) had gone back to Eraklyon, Timmy to Magix City. She had gone to Callisto and he wouldn’t see her for another two weeks probably, when they would both be back in Magix City for the start of the new school year. Three weeks without seeing her, without being able to properly talk about them. They felt like an eternity already. He couldn’t wait to see her … and maybe kiss her again.
Stella held her phone to her chest after she had ended the videocall. She had called him her boyfriend. Was she crazy? They had only kissed that one time, after the most perfect birthday party she had ever had, and she still dreamt of that, of the way he had held her close, of his warm skin next to hers … but it was too soon! They had never had a date and the likes. She just hoped she hadn’t scared him, she knew perfectly well that guys tended to run upon hearing words like those. Oh, fucking Varanda!
“You’re joking.”
“I’m deadly serious.” Stella struggled to keep a straight face, but she managed. After that videocall she hadn’t had the courage to call Sky again or to answer his calls, explaining – via text – that Varanda was always around. They still texted, a lot, but neither had tried to reprise that conversation. Thankfully. She didn’t have an answer for him. But she had every answer for her cousin.
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t believe they make you do chores at Alfea? Why do you think I got expelled?”
“Dad told me you destroyed a lab …”
“Yeah. I did it in revenge. I’m a princess, I’m not supposed to do chores!”
It was a lie. The school mostly cleaned itself through magic, but she had been feeding those little bits of information to Varanda for more than a week now, hoping that she’d believed them. And she did.
“I don’t even know …”
“And if you don’t eat your veggies, they make you clean the kitc … the toilets!”
“WHAT? And you want to go back?!” She couldn’t fathom the idea.
“What? Nah! You know how my dad is, he …”
“I have to talk to dad!” and she disappeared into the palace.
“Mischief managed.”
Three days later, with her cousin’s resignation letter safely stored with her luggage, Stella bid goodbye to her uncle and grandparents (and to Varanda, of course) and set off for Alfea, only to be attacked by the most hideous ogre and some ghouls as she was teleporting. One can never catch a break.
“Thank you again for the rescue.”
“Thank you. It was one hell of a first mission: travelling to another planet, capturing a troll, saving a princess … It was awesome!”
“I’m glad you had fun.” She smiled at his enthusiasm.
He gently took her hand.
They were standing in Bloom’s back garden. He had come back to check on her after he and the Specialists had safely delivered the troll to Red Fountain and Stella had repaired the house. Now Mike, Vanessa and Bloom were sound asleep, knocked out after the eventful night, but Stella had heard her phone beep at Sky’s message and had agreed to meet him.
“Are you okay?” She had bruises on her arms and legs, one of her knees was scraped.
“It’s nothing.” She answered, but he didn’t seem to believe her. “Really, I’m okay. I’m strong, you know.”
“I know.” Still, he hugged her tight. “We’ll find that ogre. He won’t hurt you again.”
“I know.” She whispered, hugging him back.
His phone beeped and they broke the embrace. “I have to go.” He snorted. “Will you be fine?”
“My batteries are charged and my powers strong as ever.” She said, confidence radiating from her like sunbeams. “I’m fine, Sky. You can go.”
“Okay …” He took one step back, using Timmy’s device to open a portal. “Good…”
“Ehm ehm …” She cleared her throat. “No kiss for the road?”
She didn’t have to ask him twice. He took her in his arms and held her tight as they gave each other a proper goodbye.
She went back to Bloom’s room with a smile on her face, the last couple of days’ ordeal forgotten.
“So … how about that?” Bloom was clearly awake, with a huge grin on her lips.
“He …” She was startled and instantly blushed. “He’s my friend.”
“Oh, is that how you greet friends in the Magic Dimension?”
Stella laughed and threw a pillow at her. “Goodnight, Bloom!”