𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 ☆彡

CHAPTER 1

A/N: So so sorry that I took so long to update but I've finally written Chapter 1! It's a bit shorter than I'd like but I hope you like it! Enjoyy!

18/07/22

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Estelle woke with a jolt and sat up straight, breathing heavily. She was getting really sick of these dumb flashbacks. A cool breeze whipped past her and she shivered as she pressed a button on her spacesuit. Her suit started making peculiar noises as it regulated her body temperature, making her feel like she was near a burning fireplace rather than sitting in a cold, moist rainforest.

Stupid things, she thought. That's what flashbacks and memories are. But then she looked down and saw that she was shaking. She pulled her legs in and cradled them, feeling her body practically shut down as a wave of sadness washed over her. Now wasn't the time for an emotional break-down but Estelle couldn't seem to help herself.

But she forced herself not to cry. The forest wasn't a place to be all ooey-gooey and sad. It had become so apparent that she'd made it the number one rule of running away. Rule 1#: Forests do not tolerate emotional scums, and neither do the instro.

"Hey," a voice whispered, its sound carried with the wind, barely audible. "You okay?"

Estelle risked a small glance around before turning down to her chest, where the voice had come from: her crystal. Her mother had given it to her as a spontaneous gift when she, as she claimed, was out shopping for no particular reason. However, the little naïve six-year-old girl Estelle once was, didn't know any better and accepted the present with a teary smile.

There, shining in the gemstone, was a girl.

She had long, raven black hair and sarcastic golden amber eyes. There was no telling how she'd managed to sound so sympathetic when Estelle knew she was probably the snarkiest, shard princess in the entire galaxy. She didn't even have an age, let alone a kind, caring side to her one-sided mirror realm.

"I'm fine," Estelle snapped back and angled her head away so that she was just out of the girl's range of vision. There was no way she was letting Astoria Crabby-Pants see the unwelcome tears that had somehow managed to stream down her face.

The light coming from the crystal dimmed slightly as if the girl felt a little hurt from her comment. "Look. I can see that your suit's starting to get wet so how 'bout you stop being so much like a brick wall and tell me what's wrong."

She flinched at her words but stopped crying and dried her eyes. "I'm fine, Stor, really."

"Boy, if I had a rhodium for every time you've ever said that, I'd be rich." Story laughed, surprisingly, not in an unkind way. Still, it seemed like she was chuckling at how bright red Estelle's cheeks were more than at her tease.

"It's supposed to be girl, you know," Estelle mumbled, trying to hold on to the little bravado she had left. She knew it was useless; Story would never let her live this down. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be trying to cheer me up?"

"Ah, if only that were my real job," the mirror girl gasped as she finally stopped laughing, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Then I wouldn't have to live here, stuck in this pretty glass shard."

The words had a different tone to them, deeper and more sincere than what Story had actually said... Almost unspoken. There was a stretch of silence and both girls didn't show any signs of continuing their conversation. Estelle, instead, looked up at the trees, her eyes following along the curving bark and reaching the cloudless sky above them.