Stars that Fall to Earth

A Song

Opala's POV.

This place is horrible.

Every step I take that brings me nearer to the lair makes me want to hurl.

"Are... Are we there..?" One of my squadron members asks with a faint voice.

"Yes. We'll be there in about five minutes, so hang tight." I reassure.

"Can I play music?"
"...Can you play it quietly? We can't give our position away, but music would be appreciated."

A female burgundy Mirror Worlder clears her throat.

She begins to sing slowly, in a soft and laid back voice...

Days like these cannot be forgotten,
But we always try to push it away.

The last chance before we can go.
The last time that we'll breathe today.

'Cause there's not much here in this small town

And all who come can

Never come down,
Oh, I never thought that this day would
Ever come.

No one ever knew that we were never
the one.

'Cause we try to be the person we're not.

But we can never learn that it's not meant to be,
Oh, someday we'll find our way home.
Someday we'll break
through the barriers,
Oh, maybe it's just not us.
Maybe it's up to
Someone else.

'Cause we never had a choice to stay.

Fear and shame grow in us
Everyday.
Oh, we'll do our best to succeed.
But maybe it's not enough to set us free.

She stops singing and stares at the ground as we walk.

"...That was really good. What's it called?" I ask.

"Never."
"Did you write it?"
"Yes."
"...Cool."

I find myself humming the song, but I'm not the only one.

As short as it was, it's really good.

We continue to make our way to the lair, a better mood over us this time.

But I have to keep focused.

I have to keep these people alive.

I pick up my pace, and even begin to run.
They're still by my side, keeping up quite well.

I then close my eyes, but immediately reopen them after a gust of wind feels like it's pulling me...

Into the air?!

"Miss Opala! Your cape is magical!" One of the younger members shouted.

"What?!"
I glance to my sides to see half feathered and half reptilian wings spread behind me.

(And when I say half reptilian and half feathered, I mean that one wing has both feathers and membrane. Just to get you a better idea of what it looks like. Anyway-)

HOLY HECK NUGGETS I'M FLYING

"UM. IS THIS NORMAL?" I yell, not daring to move a muscle but the ones on my face.

"No, not really, ma'am!" The burgundy Mirror Worlder shouted back.

"Try descending!" Another yelled.
"Ok... Um... Here I go."
I tilt myself forward, and begin to fall head-first to the ground, bracing myself for any sort of impact.

And at the last second I flare my wings and land, skipping to slow down some.
Panting, I try to ask questions.
"How did I even... Get that high?"

"I thought you knew. You were running, paused for a moment to spread your wings, leapt into the air, and even flew for a few seconds." One said.

"Oh... Wow. Apparently my cape's dimensional then..."

...But that was fast.

"You're lucky! You can fly!" The youngest cheered, running in circles around me.

As soon as the commotion was over, I try to tuck my wings in, but they don't want to cooperate.

And now I'm stuck with a pair of wings ruffling on my back.

Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

So I just roll with it.

"Are you magic, miss Opala?" Another tiny Mirror Worlder asks me, her eyes glistening like two miniature oceans.

"I don't know. Maybe I was and I just don't remember." I mutter.

"That sounds sad. Like, what if you're awesome at drawing, but then you lose all that talent and memory! That would be awful..."

I think about that sentence for a moment.

What if I did have a talent, but lost it with all of my memories...

What if that talent could have helped us save these lives...

What if I never had a talent...

About a thousand more What-Ifs go through my mind until the tiny girl grabs my attention.

She whispers her words.

"What if you had a family?"

I feel tears at my eyes.

Family...

I realize that I'm worse than I thought.

My heart hurts terribly.

I look up to the other Mirror Worlders, only to see that they are staring right at me.

"We know your pain. When Ophidialyn separated us from our homes, we felt like garbage. But we realized that we can be garbage together, so this became our home and we became our family." The eldest said.

"But have any of you had amnesia?" I ask, making them exchange glances.

"There is one... He's incredibly mysterious though. Rumor has it that he can shape-shift into a bird." The eldest says.

"What does he look like as a Mirror Worlder?"

"Dark green feathers. Kind of short."

..?

"Huh. Well, how long has he been here?"

"One of the first ones to arrive." Another says, his voice barely audible.

"You know what. Don't tell me anything else. I'm gonna get it out of Ophidialyn."

I can't take this.

"MY LIFE IS ALREADY A QUESTION AND I DON'T NEED ANYMORE ENIGMAS."

I get up and sprint at full speed.

I don't care if I'm wasting energy.
If it'll get me there faster, then I'm willing to risk it.

"That's the spirit." The eldest laughs, and takes off after me, the rest of the bunch following him.

The green light glows brighter and brighter by each step.

It makes me want to sprint faster.

Ophidialyn will pay for what she's done to these people.

And if she's immortal?

I'll make her wish she could die.