Falling Like the Stars

Chapter 7

Or maybe it had not been her fault entirely... but she never could stop thinking about the fact that if her and Javi's stars had not collided, in reality, both of them would be... well... in this world. When things were getting better, when Kimberly Hart had taken to the throne. It was true, like an Oscar Wilde quote said, which had been quoted to her by her father, who had turned out to be an avid reader, once the Queen had opened libraries to all. "We Are All In The Gutter, But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars".

She and Javi had dared to look at the stars, but look where it had gotten the two of them.

That kiss she had not given him, had become like a star inside of her.

The stars, the stars, the stars... it all came back to the stars... Maybe their stars were the ones that had been in jeopardy since the beginning.

...

They sat in the grass, all four of them, the remains of the Garcia's erstwhile home behind them, Amelia holding Javi's hand, Fern holding Izzy's. The siblings sat as far away from each other as their respective girlfriends would allow.

"You guys need to talk. You need to sort this out" Amelia started, after an uncomfortable half hour of silence.

Fern nodded, "Listen, Javi, I know you mean no harm, or you wouldn't be sitting here, but I'm on Izzy's side, no matter what. Don't hurt her"

"I'm not a kid, Fern" Izzy started, shooting a side eye at her, "and neither is he. He knew what he was doing when he killed Adrien, you were there too"

Amelia turned around and looked at Javi in disbelief, " you're the one who killed Adrien? Izzy's friend Adrien? That KID?"

Javi sighed, "I don't even know who you guys are talking about! Who is Adrien?! Who did I kill?!" Javi said, exasperated, closing his eyes, and lying back in the grass, clutching his head, "I don't remember anything!"

"What the..." Amelia mouthed, and then turned around, and laid in the grass with him, facing him, "Javi, Javi..." she gently placed her fingertips over his eyelids. Javi looked traumatized, he looked like he was about to start screaming, he looked ill.

"You don't even remember?" Izzy asked, her voice sounding like it had been torn from excessive screaming, "you killed my best friend, and you don't even remember?"

"NO I DON'T!" Javi screamed, getting up, all of a sudden, Amelia following, looking confused.

"Let me remind you, then." Izzy said, with gritted teeth, suddenly feeling Fern's hands around hers again, as if stopping her from doing anything impulsive. Izzy nodded at Fern, indicating she wasn't going to do anything rash. Instead, Izzy pulled out a little box from one of her many, many pockets, and handed it to Javi.

Javi stared at it for a minute, before remembering what it was. His heart sank, when he realized he had had the same one, and he'd left it in his trunk, back in the Fortress, and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't get a chance to get it back.

When they'd been kids, they'd bought this together, two parts of the same box, which could exist as separate boxes in itself, but when interlocked together, revealed the opening of a hidden chamber of the box. Really intricate carpentry work, with a handcrafted calligraphic alif symbol attached in two parts on the lid. Javi had his half, and it housed old pictures and little trinkets which was almost all he had about their family. Izzy had one too, and that was the one that he held in his hand, right now. He was probably one of the only people who knew how to open it. He twisted the symbol on top to the right, and then gently extracted the right wall of the box, letting its contents slide out.