Chapter Text
With a new place comes new customs and traditions. Even though Ace has heard of said traditions before so he doesn’t really consider them new. After all, who in the fairy realm hasn’t heard of the myth of the dancing stars? Ace used to be obsessed with the tale of twirling stars around every full moon but he never had the luck to see it with his own eyes. Even though the majority believe it to be a myth, the stars do actually dance around in the sky it’s just that they can only be viewed in certain places. At least that is what Kalim told Ace one early morning.
“The stars were dancing!! They were twirling and spinning so beautifully I wanted to join in as well!! Sadly Jamil stopped me before I could try flying up there,” Kalim ends his excited tale on a bummed out note.
“You know why I couldn’t just let you. Traveling to the space realm is illegal without the proper paperwork filled beforehand.” Jamil quickly shoots back.
“Are you sure they were dancing? Isn’t that just a story told to kids to get them to sleep?” Ace asks.
“Yes I’m absolutely sure! You would know if you were there. Oh that’s a wonderful idea actually! You should go and look at them yourself!” Kalim moves his hands in excitement as he comes up with his brilliant idea.
And that is how Ace found himself focusing on the night sky instead of his history class. The redhead gets snapped out of his thoughts by a stern clearing of a throat in front of him. His eyes meet up with cold and disappointed gray ones.
“Mr. Trappola, care to tell us what the answer to question 52 is?” Professor Trein asks in a threatening tone.
“Ummm, 27?” Ace replies uncertainly.
“That is incorrect. The answer is ‘The Pixie Revolution’. Please pay attention next time and remember that this is a history class.” The professor states as he turns around and heads back to the front of the room.
Thankfully the blaring sound of the bell saves Ace from any more humiliation. The redhead could hear some classmates nearby snickering at his expense but Ace tries his best to ignore them. All he wanted to do was stretch his wings and get back to his room. The young fairy was so busy mumbling about his bad morning that he didn’t realize who he bumped into.
“Ah Ace! Nice to see you again!” A cheery Kalim exclaims as he recognizes the other.
“Hey Kalim. Sorry for bumping into you.” Ace apologizes as he rubs his neck a bit.
“No worries! You seem a bit grumpy, are you feeling alright?” Kalim cocks his head a bit to the left in curiosity and mild concern.
“Yeah, just got scolded by Trien cause I got distracted. Actually this is your fault! If you hadn’t mentioned your supposed twirling stars, I would have actually paid attention in class! I even read this week’s reading in preparation too…” Ace sighs in frustration.
“Sorry if you got distracted because of me. But you’re interested in my story right? Why else would you be thinking about it in the middle of class? Well let me make it up to you! I can tell you where you can see them for yourself! I was going to do that when I first told you but Jamil was in a bit of a hurry so I forgot, hehe.” Kalim clasps his hands together in an effort to show how regretful he felt.
“I never said I was interested … it's just a myth after all. But fine! I’ll go just to prove you wrong.” Ace was starting to get annoyed. He really just wanted to leave this whole topic behind.
“Great! I won’t be able to go with you this time because I’m going to visit my family but you can see the stars clearly in the woods. There's a big clearing near the edge where the sea is! Here let me show you.” Kalim takes out a small map to show Ace the rough coordinates.
After getting the marked map, Ace says his goodbyes to the young prince and heads back home. Since Night Raven Academy was somewhat far away from his house, Ace stayed in one of the small houses on campus. His place was on the outskirts of campus and only a few yards away from the woods nearby. Ace usually didn’t mind the distance but it wasn’t doing any wonders on the redhead’s patience at the moment. He was so tired that he quickly flew straight onto the mini porch and hastily opened the door. Making a beeline to his bed, Ace remembers to set his alarm clock to 6pm so he could get some work done and see the stars.
This better be worth it….
BEEP BEEP BEEP
“Ughhhhh.” Ace grumbles as he stops his alarm clock. The fairy knew why his nap was cup short but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.
He gets up from his bed and makes his way towards the living room area. He had haphazardly left his homework lying on the coffee table but it seemed that the wind left the papers alone. Ace sits down after grabbing a quick cup of fruit nectar and starts to finish his work. Ace knew that he had the smarts to pass all his classes with flying colors, it’s just that his greatest flaw was procrastination and lack of motivation. It wasn’t his fault that most of the topics covered were boring.
Time flies by and soon the sky has turned a nice shade of dark blue. Just as promised, Ace gets dressed for the chilly breeze outside and sets out into the peaceful night. There were a few lights on in the neighboring houses so it didn’t feel so lonely even though Ace was the only one outside. Paying little mind to such a detail, the fairy follows the map to his destination. He was somewhat familiar with the place that Kalim mentioned but his directions were surprisingly spot on.
The fresh sea breeze washed over his skin as a cool blanket in an early spring morning. Ace lets out a sigh of relief as he finds a nice patch of grass to sit down and take in his surroundings. Now that he was away from the noise of his school, he could pay attention to the calming chirps of crickets and nearby leaves rustling. The grass was slightly wet with dew, which left the tips of his downcast wings feeling a bit damp. He didn’t mind though, too busy realizing how he should do this more often. Lately schoolwork had taken away Ace's time to unwind and relax so this was a welcomed change of pace.
As the redhead leans back a bit, he remembers why he was out here in the first place. The sky was clear, save for the occasional cloud slowly drifting by. The full moon was shining its radiant white light onto the sea below, leaving a beautiful reflection. The stars were adorned around it, bringing out the moon even more as strategic accessories.
The night sky really is pretty, but these stars look normal to me. Ace thinks to himself as he stares into the welkin.
As if on cue, two stars slowly start to move in a circular motion. Ace rubs his eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him. As he opened them again, he found that more and more stars joined as they were spinning around in a synchronized pattern. They truly were dancing in the night sky. Ace was mesmerized as all he could do was stare up in awe. All the stories he was told in his childhood couldn’t compare to the real thing.
As the redhead basked in this magnificent view, he noticed that in the bottom right corner, one star seemed to be a bit off. He wasn’t sure if the star was lagging behind or if it was somehow tripping up but its movements seemed wobbly. Ace swore that the star was doing just fine a few moments before but as he paid closer attention, he could vaguely see two other stars surrounding it. He didn’t know if he was making things up now but Ace was sure that he saw the wobbly star start moving lower and lower in the sky.
As the star moved lower and lower, it seemed like it was also growing in size. After a few moments Ace realized that the star was getting bigger because it was falling towards him. The fairy stumbles to get up and dashes for cover between the thick trees and only gets a few moments of silence before a loud crash echoes through the woods. Feeling the wave of the impact made Ace certain that he would have been crushed if he wasn’t quick on his feet.
Wanting to find out what happened, Ace tentatively walks out from his hiding spot to peer at the falling star. What he finds in a large crater in the clearing, leaving little to no grass untouched. There also seemed to be some sort of silver dust covering the bottom of the earthly dent. But what caught the redhead’s attention the most was what was lying in the middle of the crater. A young man no older than Ace himself was left crumpled on the gravel. Elaborate star designs woven into deep blue and gold accented robes were covered in dirt and some parts were torn from the impact. Ace was about to leave the scene, not wanting to get involved in anything serious when he noticed the blood oozing through the other’s deep blue hair.
“Hhhrnnghh…” was all the other’s disgruntled voice could make as they tried to move.
As much as Ace wanted to leave, for he was certain what he was about to do would get him in trouble, he couldn’t just leave this person. They were definitely in a bad shape and if no amount of treatment was given, the young man could possibly die. Steeling himself, the fairy carefully makes his way into the crater and tries to see if there were any serious injuries. After doing a quick check, Ace couldn’t find anything that needed professional attention. He wasn’t sure what else he should do so the redhead decided to make sure the other was conscious.
“Hey, are you alright…?” Ace asks in a gentle tone, not wanting to scare the other.
“W-what… where am I…? Wh-o are you…?” The blue haired man struggled to speak as he pitfully tried to get up by himself.
“Hey, careful! You crashed into the woods and are injured so don’t push yourself.” Ace responds and soon helps the other stand up.
Before Ace could even get the blue haired boy to stand up all the way, he swayed and almost fell back down. The redhead wasted no time in catching the other by his waist and used all of his strength to get them to a stable position. After a bit of struggling, Ace managed to place his arm under the other’s. The fairy felt the fallen star’s weight leaning against him almost completely. At least they were aware and strong enough to pull some of their weight.
“Okay. I’m going to take you to my house so I can treat your wounds properly.” Ace states more towards himself. He couldn’t believe he was going to do this.
The journey back home was slower and more tiring, the fallen star wasn’t light after all. What caused the trip to take longer than Ace would have liked was having to make sure that the other was awake. Ace didn’t know what he would do if he had to drag an unconscious man up the stairs to his house so he would stop briefly from time to time to make sure the other was still with him. When they finally made it Ace set the blue haired boy down on his bed. As soon as he touched the mattress, the fallen star closed his eyes and seemed to have fallen asleep.
All the fairy could do was crouch down as he held his head in his hands. He didn’t expect to end the day with a stranger in his house. What made things worse was what Ace knew about the other. He knew that housing a starling was as close to committing treason as one could get yet he still brought one into his home.
Arghhhhh!!! Stop thinking about it right now! I need to treat his injuries before I get the luxury of worrying over my own wellbeing.
The last thing Ace remembers from that night was the late hours he spent using everything in his arsenal, from spells to herbs, to help heal the other. And if Ace found himself staring at the other’s soft yet striking features, he didn’t think about it. This person is a celestial being so it makes sense that he would be ethereal right?