When Stars Fall(The Last Star trilogy #3)

Tristan Capricorn

I heard the firing first but it didn’t take me a long time to realize that the shootings were happening in the city. Rebels versus the Hydra’s soldiers.

We had set up camp days ago. Almost instantly after Belle left. Belle. Her name is still like a stab in the heart. I can’t imagine what she must be going through. We’ll get her back. We must get her back. We have to get her back.

No one in Crimsyn State believed she had been taken. At least, anyone who wasn’t present at the time was in shock and disbelief. People started rumors that she had left on her own will. It took Lewis, Anthony and Nathan, also a furious Phoenix to keep me from punching those idiots in the face for saying such things about Belle.

We saw her in the newspapers and heard about her. It sounded like she was fine but I knew Belle the most and I knew she wasn’t the way the media said she was. They portrayed her as the sober, innocent and happy princess and some people were foolish enough to believe it. Okay, sure, so she is innocent and nice but I doubt she’s happy in that dungeon that they’re probably holding her in.

“Hey,” I felt a hand slap my back. “How’re you doing?”

“Fine, Lewis.” I sighed.

“We have a new batch of soldiers coming in tonight,” he told. His brown hair was a mess and there was dirt on his face. These days no one really cared what they were wearing. Only green jumpsuits and armour. With our luck, Hellen would allow us to train in our pajamas.

“Find anything about Lyra?” I asked, though I knew it was pointless.

Lewis sighed in frustration, “Not yet.”

I massaged my temples. “How’s she doing anyway?”

“Which one?” he tried to smile. His eyes were dark from night of no sleep, only research. I knitted my eyebrows at him, confused.

“Lyra or Lyla?” he teased. I punched him playfully.

“You know what I mean,” I said.

“No, I don’t. This is getting too confusing.” he told. “I don’t know how which one is doing or if she’s more Lyra or Lyla.”

“We both got girl problems,” I realized.

“Oh, no.” he protested quickly. “Lyra is just a friend, I’m only helping her out. It’s nothing like that.”

I laughed, “I was talking about Raelynn.”

“Oh,” he blushed, scratching his neck. “You know about that?”

“I’m pretty sure the entire rebel army noticed that.” I told.

“Yeah, I got three girls to sort out.” he sighed. “Lyra, Lyla and Raelynn.”

“Two of them are trapped in the same body.” I reminded.

“That makes it easy!” Lewis exclaimed mockingly. “The thing with Raelynn is if she ever realized that I exist.”

“Let’s deal with the war first, then we’ll talk about women,” I decided.

“This coming from you?” he looked surprised. “Who’s number one goal is at the moment to rescue Belle from an evil prince?”

“That’s different, she’s our leader. We need her.” I insisted. “And as corny as it sounds, yes, we do have to plan a rescue mission.”

“Let’s start small,” Anthony said as he walked up to us.

“Agreed,” Lewis said.

“First let’s slowly invade Hydrus...”

“Why in the name of Capricorn would we do that?” I argued. “It’s already almost wiped out.”

Almost.

“That’s a good idea, Tristan.” Anthony started. “Let’s just march into the palace with an army waiting for us in Hydrus ready to slaughter.”

“We need to be stealthy and disguised when we travel through the city to get to the palace.” Lewis added.

“But that takes too much time,” I groaned.

Anthony was about to say something but was cut off by a muffled voice coming from the tent behind us, it was the one with Lyra, Phoenix, Raelynn and Amara. The rest of the girls and boys had been divided into groups.

“What’d she say?” Lewis asked. Phoenix stepped out, shivering from the cold. I became aware of the mist forming in the air and the weather getting wet. It was going to rain.

“I said, ’You’re acting like a child.’” Her pale skin looked ghostly and her cheeks were tinted as red as Belle’s hair. Belle. Don’t think about her.

Because it’s too painful. Because then you’ll miss her and feel depressed. You have to act strong for her.

“Nice to see you too, Phoenix,” I greeted with mock enthusiasm.

She had cut her hair before we came here. Now it curtained her face and fell to her shoulders. Almost all the girls had streaked their hair crimson, giving reference to Crimsyn State. I didn’t pay much attention to their new hairstyles since the crimson reminded me of Belle’s hair and how it always smelled of Stargazer Lilies.

“Tristan, don’t worry we’ll find her. We’ll get her back.” Phoenix said, her hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re not the only one who wants her back.” Lewis added.

“To be honest, we should’ve held her back and fought Hydra one and two.” Anthony said.

“You’re right, it’s our fault too.” I agreed. I never should have let Belle leave with them. Now she’s with Alec, living in agony in a palace while we’re trying to cope without our double threat.

Our words hung in the air. Someone else got out of the tent, I didn’t bother to see who it was because I knew from Lewis’ nervousness that it was Raelynn.

“Was there a meeting I wasn’t invited too?” she crossed her arms as she stared at us.

“We’re just talking,” Lewis spoke finally.

“Let me guess,” she started. “Tristan is sulking over Belle’s absence.”

“Does everyone know about this?” I almost yelled.

They all exchanged looks and spoke in unison: “Yes.”

I groaned, Anthony and Lewis guffawed.

“Belle was out friend too and we need her on our side-” Raelynn explained.

“She is on our side,” I corrected.

“-You’re not the only one who’s worried about her.” she finished.

“Seems to me that everyone is excited and thrilled that this war is finally getting interesting.” I snapped.

They exchanged glances again, but only Anthony, Raelynn and Phoenix chorused: “We are.”

“We’ve waited half of our lives to finally get a chance to become soldiers can fight this war after our parents,” Phoenix said.

“Some of us grew up in Crimsyn State,” Anhtony added. “We were literally born to fight and rebel against the Hydras.”

“Not to mention that we’ve waited for a descendant of Ophiuchus just as long.” Raelynn said in a low voice.

“That’s actually really sad, guys.” Lewis admitted.

I thought Phoenix would be furious but I was wrong. “How sad is that?” Raelynn stormed. She didn’t even give Lewis a chance to speak. “Don’t you dare pity us, Sagittarius! We are honoured to be a part of this. And honestly, just because we didn’t grow up in our home provinces where we were supposed to doesn’t mean we didn’t want to. We sacrificed everything for this! And now the person we waited for is gone!”

“Don’t you dare feel sorry for us. You have no idea what we’ve been through.” she continued, tears streaming down her face. “And you can’t even relate to our predicament, you lived your life in wealth and luxuries. You’ll always have a spot in Stellaregno if we lose this war. You’ll just bribe Jaxon into accepting you again. But, what about us? I don’t even know anything about my family and my province where I’m supposed to be. None of us know. Where would we go if we lose?”

Anthony and Phoenix tried to calm her down, patting her on the back and sympathizing.

Lewis had no words for her. I felt bad for Anthony, Nathan, Phoenix and Raelynn. They didn’t even remember their home provinces since their parents must have directly brought them to Crimsyn State to support the cause. If we do lose, they’ll be executed. But so will all the others who joined them. Jaxon spared Belle since they needed her but he won’t spare me, Lewis, Lyra and Amara.

“Great, now she hates me.” Lewis muttered under his breath after Phoenix took Raelynn inside.

“Thanks alot, Lewis.” Anthony sauntered off, shaking his head.

“I didn’t mean to,” Lewis groaned.

“I know, buddy.” I patted him on the back.

“I’m going to go check on Lyra.” he said and went in the direction of our small training area at the back of camp, hidden under the trees. “Amara’s there too.”

“I’ll catch up in a while,” I said. My mind wandered off to Crimsyn State. I could see the barrier’s glassy texture from here if I squinted my eyes enough. My face started getting wet, I wiped away the tears. I realized that I wasn’t crying, it had started drizzling. Not as much to soak our tents. Thank the Stars for that.

“Tristan,” a meek voice squeaked. It came from our tent so I went back inside. Nathan had turned on the mini heater. The good thing about it was that it recharged when we turned it off, but we had limited batteries. So far it had survived on two but we would need to change them soon. Nathan had the blanket over his head and I could only see his face. It was dark but I didn’t risk using the flashlights, the heater provided an orange light on his face so I could see him just fine.

“What happened?” I worried. Nathan had been homesick lately. Can’t blame him, I was starting to miss Dad in Capricornus, Mom in Crimsyn State with Brody and Harper. She didn’t come since children were advised to stay on the rebel base while the other’s made camp near Hydrus. I hoped Dad would get to Crimsyn State, he had stayed to avoid suspicion but now everything was an open secret so I don’t even know if Dad’s alive or not.

“I don’t feel good,” he sniffed.

“Me neither,”

“I miss home,” he complained.

My head snapped up, “You’ve been to Pisces?”

“No, I meant, Crimsyn State,” he rephrased.

“Oh,” I realized. He didn’t talk much about Pisces, maybe he hadn’t been there or doesn’t remember.

“We have to get Belle back,” he stated, teeth chattering. I found the sound of raindrops falling on the thick cloth of the tent relaxing. The most calm thing that’s ever happened around here.

“We will,” I breathed. I will. “I just don’t know how.”

The next morning, I was the first one awake. Despite being sleep deprived I was doing well in training, according to Phoenix. She had gotten tougher and stronger since we came to camp, she worked us to death each day. A new obstacle course was set up in the trees and sometimes even further, though we weren’t allowed to go that far. She’d schedule individual training sessions for the descendants of the Twelve Major. The others had their own share of torture from her.

“Keep up Nathan,” Phoenix demanded through gritted teeth. Nathan was behind all of us. Even Lyra was faster than him. We were on our daily jog. Phoenix had screamed in our ears to wake us up.

“I’m...trying,” Nathan said, out of breath.

“My legs hurt,” Lyra complained.

“You’re not the only one,” Anthony said, irritable.

Phoenix was leading, as usual. By the tightened muscles in her expression I could tell she was trying hard not to punch one of us in the gut. She wanted an army of disciplined soldiers, not some whining teenagers.

Phoenix stopped in her track. “If you’re so exerted then we’ll stop.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to be a little nice, you know?” Amara spat. The tension rose between them.

Phoenix opened her mouth a few times to say something but I guess out of frustration the only thing she could do was scream.

Nathan covered his ears and Lyra stepped away out of fear. “A little louder, I don’t think the enemy heard you.” Lyra snapped.

“You don’t get it!” Phoenix stomped. “This is war! What did you expect was going to happen?”

Amara’s mouth fell open and her cheeks were tinted pink. Phoenix muttered insults and cursed in Greek, silencing us all. then she pushed past us and went in the direction of the camp.

“Where are you going?” Raelynn yelled, speaking for the first time.

“To demolish our tent.” Phoenix said with no emotion.

Lyra sighed, “She better not touch my stuff.”

Raelynn turned to them, “You guys, she’s right.”

Anthony nodded in agreement, Lewis just tried not to stare too much at Raelynn. Nathan looked worried and terrified.

After yesterday’s argument I felt bad about them. I agreed with what Phoenix had said but the only reason she’s mad is because she’s frustrated and under pressure. We all are.

We continued training without Phoenix. Rumor was she had accidentally started a bonfire and we could smell the smoke and see the ashes from the training area as proof.

“That girl needs to calm down,” Lewis muttered under his breath.

Amara was helping Lyra, she was on her knees with her nails digging into her scalp. “Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.” she mumbled repeatedly.

“I’m taking you back to camp,” Amara said and practically dragged Lyra away.

“Three people down, only five left.” Nathan counted.

“Forgot someone,” I said with clenched fists.

Nathan realized, “Oh, right! Four down, five left for training.”

Don’t forget Belle so easily.

I skipped dinner, which was just canned food and soup. If we had time, we’d warm them up over the fire in the centre of camp but mostly we’d have to eat cold meals. Everyone ate in their tents with the sound of Lyra’s muffled sobs of pain echoing through the entire camp as entertainment. That and the fireworks being tested out for the Celestial Ball. Hellen had told us that it was coming up soon and security would be increased since there were guests coming from each province, they wouldn’t cancel it no matter what. Lights of green and gold erupted in the sky, vanishing as soon as they had come. After one or two tries they stopped.

I pictured Belle being forced to dressed and painted into something she’s not. In my head she looked stunning but unhappy. She should be, she’s living with Hydras, my mind screamed.

“Did you fix her?” Nathan asked Anthony and Lewis before realizing what a vacuous question that was.

Anthony opened his mouth but Lyra screamed this time, interrupting him. When the sound muffled Anthony opened his mouth again but was interrupted again.

“Does it look like we fixed her?” Lewis snapped. He lay down on his mattress, took off his glasses and snored instantly.

“We’re working on it.” Anthony promised before resting his head and shutting his eyes.

“We can’t lose another one.” Nathan sniffed. He covered his head with the blanket and I could only hear the sound of his loud breathing.

It was claustrophobic in the tent once all four of us were in it. The entire space was taken up by our mattresses and blankets. We had packed one small bag each and they were used as pillows.

It wasn’t long before I dozed off as well. I didn’t used to have dreams but every since Belle had left my sleep had been flooded with images. This was my favorite part of the day since sometimes I’d see Belle and it would make me think that she was still with me.

We were on the Tower. Top floor. Our favorite place in the whole kingdom.

“Where’s Capricorn?” Belle asked, smiling at the Stars.

I concentrated on my Constellations, making it glow. “There,” I whispered.

“That’s nice,” she smiled.

“You try,” I said.

She always used Virgo the most. When she used Ophiuchus she manipulated both Constellations. She added Ophiuchus as well and laughed again. I didn’t know why. I joined in, not knowing that the moment would pass. That it wasn’t even real. That Belle wasn’t even here.

She rested her head on my chest and I wrapped an arm around her, I could smell her Stargazer Lily perfume. Her hair was straight and soft, I ran my fingers through it. It tingled my skin. It’s a good thing the Stars weren’t bright enough to reveal my blush. We Stargazed and I hoped that I could pause this bittersweet moment.