Once At Midnight | Book 1

Chapter 6

Mrs. Brownilock drops Candy and Midnight at their home. Candy is tired, but Midnight feels wide awake. "Something's coming!" Midnight holds Candy's arm.

"What's coming?" She asks Midnight and yawns.

There's a loud boom in the sky. Something comes down leaving a trail of blue light behind it. It moves toward Midnight with the speed of light and delivers a blow so hard Midnight is knocked into the ground with a nasty crack in the sidewalk. Fog and mist start to surround them.

"Midnight!" As the fog clears, they can see a girl with long brown hair gazing into her eyes, furious.

"Stellar..."

Stellar grabs Midnight by the collar of her shirt and throws her almost halfway across the city. Candy stands there in fear. "That's my sister you threw across the city!" Candy said. Stellar pauses for a moment and slowly turns to Candy. "Oh, she even replaced me? After all I've done for her... Time to give her a beating of her life before I send her to mother."

Stellar takes to the sky in search of Midnight. "This cannot be good!" Candy shouts. "There's a crazy 12-year-old child trying to kill Midnight!" Midnight looks up in the sky and sees Stellar about to slam her to the ground. Midnight kicks her and escapes her grip.

"You know I can't fight you, sister!" Midnight pleads. "What has come over you?!"

"You left me in the prison to suffer. After all that's happened. After the many times I've bailed you out from punishment... And you left me there without even telling me!" Stellar cries. "You can't fight me, but I can."

Midnight dodges all of her attacks. Candy runs inside to look for whom to call. Midnight floats to the top of a building. She flies down and grabs a bicycle and tosses it at Stellar. She dodges and still chases after her. "Stellar, please! You are not being reasonable!" Midnight floats to another building, but Stellar catches her and slams her into a skyscraper.

Midnight wipes her face with her sleeve. She is laid on the ground, helpless. Stellar stands before her with a regretful expression on her face. "Sorry, sister, but I'm sending you in." Stellar sighs. She brings out a device, pushes some buttons, and they vanish.

***

Queen Luna sits on the throne, patiently waiting. "These incompetent fools! It's been a week already! They better bring me her so she can receive the punishment she deserves. Death."

A small man, her servant, runs in crying. "My queen! My queen! We found the prisoner!"

"Finally! Bring her in!" Queen Luna cries. Stellar drags Midnight in, who's cuffed with chains and shackles so she wouldn't use her powers. Some men following behind her use whips to lash her back. Stellar leaves a regretful, guilty expression on her face.

"Midnight, my daughter, we meet again." Queen Luna smirks. She stands and walks towards Midnight who knelt before her. "Send her to the beheading dungeon."

Midnight begins to sob quietly. "I deserve this..."

The guards drag her down into the beheading dungeon where there was a large guillotine. They place Midnight on it and pull the rope. "Any words?" Queen Luna smirks at Midnight. Midnight stays silent. Queen Luna laughs and spits in her own face as she walks away. Midnight locks her gaze onto Stellar who's feeling guilty. "You know, Midnight, it never had to be like this." Queen Luna hands her the small bottle with a little moving spirit from before. "Now take this and be gone!"

Stellar walks away, giving Midnight a sad glance with each step she takes farther away from her.

***

Candy rushes outside to see Midnight is gone. "Midnight?" She looks around. Tulip appears to Candy as a spirit. "She was taken back to Cosmodia for beheading."

"Beheading? That's not fair! We have to do something," Candy said, kicking some rubble on the ground. "The only way is to go there and stop it ourselves," Tulip said.

"How do you know?"

"Firstly, I'm her aunt. Also, I'm there right now. I can see all," Tulip said. "I can also teleport. Need a ride?"

"Yes, please! I don't want Midnight to die!"

***

The guards had already finished setting up the guillotine and placed Midnight on it. They let go of the rope. SPLASH! Midnight's head was sliced off her body. Blood splashed everywhere. Stellar watched from a distance. "What have I done?"

***

Midnight's corpse still lay there. Blood dripped and soaked her outfit. But when she died, she was set up into the realm of heaven. A serene land. No violence or shouting. No conflict and disagreements. It was nice.

"Is this heaven?" She asked herself.

That's when she met a tall man with curly brown hair standing with a small child with purple hair. These two looked really similar to Midnight. "Father?" Midnight tried to blink back tears. She ran to hug him. "You were right. Mother finally killed me out of her wickedness. She turned Stellar against me. Now it's just left with Stellar to be killed. I can finally be... at peace."

"I am afraid your time hasn't come quite yet." He points at the same hourglass from before. "This isn't your fate."

He gave Midnight a star. She held it in her hands and admired its bright yellow glow. "Until I say your journey is done, don't ever take it off. Keep it close always. This is the only thing keeping you and the power in you alive. Now you're pretty much immortal," He said. "You can share power with whoever you want."

The star turned into a necklace. "See you one day sister!" The small boy child said as Midnight slowly faded away