When Stars Fall(The Last Star trilogy #3)
Chapter 26

Lewis Sagittarius

I stared at his lifeless body. Tears fell on my glasses. I cried with Amara, Lyra and Belle. Raelynn sobbed as well. Belle shook his body and screamed. Hellen didn’t seem sorry, she acted as if this was our punishment.

My childhood friend was gone. He had been murdered. My chest tightened and I choked on my tears.

“This can’t happen. He can’t leave.” Belle sobbed. “I want him back.” She looked at the sky and yelled to the Stars, “Give him back!”

With whatever life was left in my body I moved her away, she kicked and thrashed. Amara and Lyra helped her let her cry into them.

“I’m sorry,” Hellen said with no emotion. I was too hurt to retort. Capricorn’s Stars dimmed above, Hydra grew larger. I cursed and spat on the Constellation. Anthony cleaned the blood off his chin and pressed his eyes closed, stardust falling from them. He got a cloth and covered his face with it.

“No!” Belle ran forward. “Why are you doing that to him? Get away from him!” She cried on his chest.

“Are you satisfied now?” she yelled to Hellen, breaking the sound of sobs. Hellen looked at her with hatred and hid in her tent.

Belle wailed, even Nathan comforted her.

With reluctance, his eyes glistening, Anthony spoke, “We need to take the body to Crimsyn State.”

I nodded, wiping my face. We put his body in a bag. Belle begged us to see him one last time.

“She’ll only get worse, don’t show her,” Phoenix warned, sniffing. Anthony made arrangements for a vehicle to get us to Crimsyn State.

“Please,” Belle begged, her eyes swollen. “Please let me go with you. I want to.” She cried in her hands, muffling her sobs. Amara and the twins consoled each other. Phoenix was clutching Raelynn. I looked at Belle with pity, I felt compelled to take care of Belle. My eyes stung and I embraced Belle, letting her sob into my chest.

Amara and Lyra insisted on going with me and Anthony. Phoenix and Raelynn too, Nathan didn’t argue though. We drove in silence. At the burial Belle lost it. It was the first time I saw Phoenix embrace someone and try to calm them down. My tears fell on Tristan’s body as he lay on the earth and one by one we covered him with dirt. Tristan’s mom went first, then me, Anthony, Nathan, Raelynn, Phoenix, Lyra and Lyla. We turned to Belle lastly, she picked up the shovel and patted his grave with the dirt.

Tristan’s mom cried as much as Belle. They both held each other. We lost a friend and a mother lost her children. Tristan’s father would be dead too, in Capricornus along with the remaining Capricorns.

“Should we stay for the night?” Anthony asked me.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“I’m staying permanently,” Nathan announced. We both glared at him. “I’m sorry, I’m just not cut out for it. I can’t be a soldier.”

I exchanged looks with Anthony. “Nathan,” I spoke through my teeth. “I just buried my friend so please...” My voice broke.

“We will talk in the morning,” Anthony told him. We passed Alfred’s grave and Belle fell to her knees.

“They’re gone! They’re all gone...” She whispered with wide eyes. We helped her to the girls’ room with difficulty.

The quietness of Crimsyn State only made me more depressed. There were close to no people here anymore, mostly dead, stripped of their Constellations.

Amara demanded we leave before breakfast since Belle hadn’t slept and had cried until she passed out. I gathered everyone except Nathan. he wouldn’t even leave the room.

“There’s no point,” he had argued. “I’m no use and besides this war is pointless. He’s already won.”

I didn’t protest. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to admit that he might be right.

Belle was sandwiched between Amara and Lyra, leaning against them both. Phoenix and Raelynn clutched each other. Anthony drove, eyes glistening and I sat next to him in the front.

“I can’t believe he didn’t come with us,” I said to no one in particular. More importantly, Hellen didn’t even act sympathetic.

Anthony retreated to the tent, wiping his eyes and getting overemotional. Phoenix didn’t hold back though, she ran to the training area, growling and sobbing. Raelynn took Amara and Belle inside while Lyla started bugging Lyra. She tugged on her hair and made faces at her, mumbling and muttering. Lyra fought back but the pain of getting kicked or punched affected her as much as it did Lyla.

“I hate this,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I hate you.”

Lyla growled then started laughing hysterically.

The eerie quietness was even more depressing. The training area was empty since Phoenix scared everyone away. Hellen stayed inside, she didn’t even give her condolences. Belle’s cries echoed in camp, Amara sobbed herself after trying to calm Belle down. I couldn’t hold it in any longer either. I nearly crushed my glasses under my palm. Raelynn must have heard me. She came in with her eyes swollen and dripping. I rested my head in her lap as she cried and stroked my hair. Anthony rushed outside, trying to find solitude as well.

If I closed my eyes, Tristan’s face flashed behind my eyelids. I couldn’t stop replaying his death in my head. I tried to be brave, for Raelynn but she was the one comforting me.

“It’s okay,” she whispered in between sobs. “He’s in a better place now.”

That sentence stabbed me for some reason, bringing more tears and more pain. If this is what it feels like for me, I couldn’t imagine the grief Belle was going through. I got flashbacks of our time together, my best friend.

“I couldn’t save him,” I said, surprising even myself.

“There was nothing you could have done,” she consoled. But that’s something that anyone might say to make me feel better.

“I could’ve saved him, but we took it too lightly.” I sighed and wiped the constant tears.

“Don’t say that,” she begged. “His fate was written in the Stars. No one could’ve changed it.” She covered her face with her hands and ran out breathing heavily.

Anthony came back instantly, his face wet and eyes swollen. I stared at Nathan’s mattress, kicked it to the side in anger. He left at this time, when we needed him the most. I admit that he didn’t do much but that was his own fault since he never pushed himself, he didn’t work harder. Tristan’s sheets were cold. I shuddered as I ran my fingers over them, remembering his freezing skin when we buried him.

I had closed my eyes and tried to stop the tears. That’s when Phoenix started calling our names, bursting her throat by screaming.

“Get out, all of you!” she demanded, her voice booming. “We need to talk!”

I dragged myself outside, Anthony followed reluctantly. Amara, Raelynn and the twins came out too along with others. Including Hellen, her arms crossed, looking as if she was bored.

“Enough is enough,” Phoenix started. Makeup stained around her eyes and lip quivering. She had a dagger in her hand, made of Star Stone maybe. Blood dripped from a scar on her palm and it stained her weapon as well. “I’m leading an attack on the palace. Who’s with me?”

The crowd murmured in assent and lined up around her at the centre of camp. Even Amara and I were triggered, we wiped away our tears. I approached her.

“Where’s Belle?” I asked, voice strained.

“Passed out from crying,” she answered hoarsely. She turned to face me with her narrowed eyes, though that might be because they were swollen. “Rasal keeps hissing but I can’t seem to shut him up. I feel like he’s trying to tell us something.”

I had almost forgotten about Rasal. At the funeral he had stayed with Belle, curled up beside her. He was always quiet and stealthy so I couldn’t tell if he was there, he took everyone by surprise.

“If we’re going to attack then we should wake Belle,” I told.

She clicked her tongue, annoyed, arms crossed as she stared into the crowd. “It will take time,” she scolded. “Let Belle rest. It’s not like Phoenix is going to march in without reinforcements.”

Raelynn snorted, standing beside me now. “Yeah, of course she won’t,” her voice dripping sarcasm. “She could do anything right now. She’s furious and impulsive at the moment.”

“I heard that,” Phoenix called, standing at the front of the crowd. She smirked, to our surprise.

I heard vehicles rolling on the ground, their noise getting louder as they got closer. Everyone turned to face the trucks packed with all the soldiers from Crimsyn State. Geared up and ready to fight. There weren’t a lot but just enough.

Phoenix walked towards the trucks like she owned them. Passing by me she retorted, “You were saying?”

I clapped her on the back.

“I gave them orders before leaving Crimsyn State,” she told giddily.

“You had this planned out and you didn’t even bother telling-” Raelynn got cut off my Phoenix groaning.

“Who cares?” she whined. “We’re still going to do it.”

Phoenix explained her plan and people thanked her for setting this up.

Hellen was furious. “Phoenix!” she yelled, eyes widened. Even Phoenix was startled. “What are they doing here? You didn’t inform me of this?”

“You obviously weren’t going to do anything so I thought that I might take a stand myself,” she spat, her expression hardened.

“You will not leave this camp unless I say so,” Hellen said. “That’s an order.”

“That’s an order and I’m supposed to obey you? After what you did-” Phoenix squared her shoulders, her chin high. “I’m taking over.”

Hellen’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

Phoenix rolled her eyes, ignoring the old woman.

“What’s going on?” a hoarse voice asked. The crown went silent abruptly. Belle stood outside the tent. Rasal at her side, hissing in protest. I feel like he’s trying to tell us something. Her hair was a mess, covering a swollen eye, making her look deadly. She breathed heavily and her legs wobbled.

“Belle.” Phoenix stepped forward. The camp was so silent that the only sound was the twins arguing in the tent behind Belle. “We’re going to attack the palace. Are you with us?”

Belle’s head snapped up, she knitted her eyebrows in anger. She kept scratching her wrist, her Hydra Sign aggressively, lost in thought for a moment. Then she pursued her lips, pulled back her hair tightly and squared her shoulders. Tears glistened in her eyes and hung on her lashes, she still managed to look terrifying.

“You all are out of your mind. I’m leaving. I’m going to get my son back,” Hellen announced, she packed some weapons and took one of the vehicles.

“When do we leave?” she wondered, shrugging. The crowd cheered. We got our weapons ready, everyone dressed in whatever armour or guns we had. Mostly we got out Star Stones, sharpening them. Turns out there had been a dozen from every Constellation in the weapons room. Raelynn found me a bow and arrows, even strapped them to my back.

Her eyes glistened with stardust, violet and emerald irises. “Make me proud.”

Hydrus was not in good shape. I avoided the neighbourhood that Belle and Tristan had lived in. Half the population lay dead on the streets, houses quiet and lonely. Blood crusted on the roads. Those people had cried stardust before dying. Stardust tears, blood clear of stardust. Indicating that they had been stripped of their Constellations.

We traveled on trucks and some even jumped from roof to roof. Shooting down palace guards or getting shot by them. We made it to the palace but we had lost a lot of soldiers by then.

Getting into the palace was tricky since Phoenix argued and got stabbed by her own dagger. I realized it was made out of Star Stone and if it had been from any Constellation besides Taurus, Phoenix would be dead by now.

“I’m fine,” she spoke through pain as her chest bled. She was quick so the guards didn’t get the chance to counter. Phoenix brought out a gun from her thigh sheath and shot all four of the guards. We hid in the bushes until the gates opened and rushed inside as if we were waiting for a really popular band to play their show. More of our soldiers climbed over the walls of the palace and took down all the guards. They set up bombs and the remaining Constellations gleamed above.

Raelynn growled as she slayed a palace guard, I had never seen her furious before. Aqaurius shined as her eyes changed color to crimson and gold. Another guard came to strike her and she brought out her Star Stone. It flew through him, taking away his Constellation. That’s my girl, I thought giddily. I made a mental note to never cross Raelynn and to congratulate her later.

My mouth agape as I saw Belle climb up the marble stairs of the palace, following Hellen with a dagger in hand.

Amara shook her head in disappointment at them as she helped Lyra with her gun.

“What are you doing here?” My eyes widened at Lyra.

“Fighting,” she said, as if that wasn’t already clear enough.

“Where’s the crazy twin?” I wondered.

“I ditched her somewhere in the city but I’m afraid she’ll find me,” Lyra told. “Might as well enjoy my time until she does.” Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Good luck.” I was running low on arrows.

I prayed to Sagittarius that they wouldn’t go to waste. Your aim will be true, a voice spoke in my head. One that I was taken aback to hear. I hadn’t conversed with my Star Spirit in years. She seemed to have ditched me. Hearing her triggered me and I didn’t let those arrows go to waste.

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