Star Darlings; the Other 12

Stories of Power

Cassie looked through her collection of books, contemplating which to read. Bitty sat on her bed, humming a tune from the Song of Enchantment. Cassie took out a small holo-book, one of her Uncle Andreas' mystery books when Percy walked in, his holo-journal in hand.

"Hey, Cas!" Percy called (that's her nickname he gave her). "I need your help proofreading my draft. Can you help?"

Percy and Cassie had become friends ever since the first time they met, as Cassie loved to read and Percy liked to write. Every time Percy finished a chapter, Cassie would always be the first to read it to help revise and edit.

"Sure!" Cassie said. "I don't have much to read anyways."

Percy passed his journal, and Cassie opened it up. Percy leaned over her as she read.

"How's it going?" Percy asked. "Anything I should change?"

"No, it's fine for revising, but certain words are spelled wrongly," Cassie told him. "I'll highlight the misspelled words and what they should be changed to."

"Thanks," Percy said, taking his journal. "How's the plot so far?"

"It's really good!" Cassie answered. " I loved the comical parts, it's the best. The battles were also just as good, but the single sparring drags too long, so maybe instead of describing everything they do, use phrases like 'a storm of strikes' to describe the less important parts, while describing the main parts. The love triangle between Everest, Adora, and Caerolorn is also good as well, and so is the idea of Arya loving Eragon back, but is too afraid of admitting it."

"Well, I felt as if something was missing from the original books written by Christopher Paolini on Wishworld, so I decided to write this fanfiction," Nico replied, changing the highlighted words. "When it's my third time to Wishworld, I want to publish this to a website called Wattpad, and share it with everyone there."

"Wait, third mission?" Cassie asked, confused. "What do you mean by that? Everyone can only go on one, right? What do you mean by that?"

"You didn't know? Our group, supposedly, has been around for four years, and those who graduated and were on the team said goodbye and went on with their lives. Some of us, like Cyrus and Nicholas, have been on this group for 3-4 years and went on more missions. Currently, Cyrus has the most, a record of 15." Percy answered, looking up from his journal. "I've gone on only 2, but I expect to get another soon, so I'm looking forward to that."

"It's been around for 4 years? Wow, ours has only been around for one." Cassie said. "Everyone in our group has only been on 1. That's impressive, how Cyrus has been on 15."

"Oh, don't praise him too much, only 11 of his missions have been successful, and all of Nicholas's has been successful, so Nicholas has the upper hand here," Percy said casually as if it was natural that Nicholas is better than Cyrus. "Plus, a couple of times Nicholas has to go to Wishworld to save Cyrus's missions, or we wouldn't gather any Positive Wish Energy. I swear, with the amount we've gathered over the years, we can power Starland for years."

"Then why did Lady Stella tell us Starland is in danger of not having enough Positive Wish Energy when you have an entire hoard of them?" Cassie asked, a confused look on her face. "Oh, did I say we have? I meant we had. Last year, when I wasn't even in the school yet, Rancora attacked the Negative Wish Orb facility, and Nicholas was forced to use all the positive energy to fight her off, almost depleting our stores and nearly setting us back at star one. Nicholas's Grandfather was killed during the battle. Nicholas to this day still mourns him and hates Rancora for the reason of his death. Do you remember the day when Lady Stella convinced Nicholas to stay and how she mentioned 'he'? Well, 'he' is his grandpa, who wanted Nicholas to 'protect Starland and 'continue his work' and what not. His words, not mine."

The information was too much for Cassie. She took a deep breath, processing what had been going on.

"Did Nico know about the fact that his Grandfather died?" Cassie asked sadness in her voice. Nicholas has been through too much in his life, yet he lost the only person who loved him. "Nico has to know, right?"

"Yes, Nico knows," Percy said, thinking about the day Nicholas broke the news to him. "Nico was sad too, maybe not as sad. He wasn't an attentive Grandfather; from what Nicholas told us, he spends most of his time on the mainland, doing god knows what. Nicholas also said during his time with his grandfather after he was banished from his village, his grandpa would disappear a lot, and wouldn't come back for 3 days."

"Wow, and I thought I spent most of my time alone. Nicholas's life sucked, eh?" Cassie commented, think about how lonely he must've been. First, it was learning about how he was exiled, betrayed by his brother, taken away from his home by his Grandfather, then spending most of his time alone. Cassie felt sorry for him.

"Oh, he wasn't necessarily alone in the mountains. His grandfather has some friends who took care of him." Percy reassured her, seeing her expression. "Nicholas said they were part of a brotherhood, and his Grandfather was an important part of the order."

"Oh," Cassie said. "What do they do?"

"I wouldn't know," Percy replied. "Nicholas doesn't say much. Besides, if he does tell people about his old life, he wouldn't share it with me anyways. He doesn't like me."

"What? Why?" Cassie sounded surprised.

"Let's just say, I tried making friends with him when he didn't need it," Percy said sadly. "I used to think I can chase everyone's monsters away, make friends, and help them through their darkest moments-"

"I see your monsters, I see your pain!!! Tell me your problems, and I'll chase them away!" Leona's voice sounded outside the door. "I'll be your lighthouse, I'll make it okay!!! When I see your monsters, I'll stand there so brave, and chase them all away!"

"LEONA! CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR A SECOND?!?!?!" Scarlett yelled outside. "AND STOP MAKING SONG REFERENCES TO THE WISHLING GAME WE'RE PLAYING!?"

A loud bang sounded outside, clearly, Scarlett throwing something around.

"I'll go calm them down," Percy said quickly, before going to the commons room. "Cya later!"

Ugh. the two never calms down. Cassie thought after he was gone. Why does my heart feel disappointed?

(Yes guys, Persie is happening)