My Little Star

My little star

This is a wonderful time when day turns into night. Sunset. Light, soft pink lines surround the sun, about to sink below the horizon, to then begin a repeating cycle day after day. And life is, to some extent, a cycle. The circle of life. Someone dies hard, and someone is destined to be born now. Be that as it may, most often the best ones leave. Those kind of unusual creatures, from one second of their appearance in whose life only good and warm memories will remain forever.

Tails never counted how much time passed side by side with Cosmo. A day? A week? A year? In any case, it all flew by in an instant. The Sindrian appeared in his life literally like a bright star from the night sky and left just like that. Quietly, with a smile on her face, wishing him and all his friends only the most necessary thing — happiness. How many times did the little fox want to finally understand how the time machine works... To return to that moment... To hug her tightly and never let go... His little green star... There would definitely be another way to deal with the Metarex, because there are no hopeless situations, Sonic and Eggman together would have come up with something. And even if they hadn't come up with something, so be it! The main thing is that she is alive and well, even at the cost of his own and such a short life. Is it really impossible for the little hero of Mobius and Earth to have his own happiness? Why is fate so unfair to him?.. Gave everything and cut it off in an instant.

Yes, Prower resigned himself to her loss. But how painful it is to watch when during missions Sonic pulls Amy out of yet another scrape with a smile, Rouge, smirking, once again hits on the confused and embarrassed echidna... Every time after that, he has nightmares where she disappears again and again, whispering that she will never forget him. Because of this, the fox wakes up in tears, tightly clutching his pillow and curling up into a ball... Even his partner noticed more than once that he hadn't slept enough and desperately tried to hide his yawns.

It's not that Miles was downright lonely... He often visited Cream and her mother Vanilla. The older rabbit was already good to the yellow guest, and after those events, she even began to take care of him like her own son. To some extent, it was nice... Cream involved Tails in various activities in every possible way, such as cooking, drawing and sewing. If he had been a little more attentive, he would have noticed that the girl was sincerely in love with him, but didn't say so out of respect for his feelings. But, alas, neither one nor the other could replace Cosmo for him... From one gentle, so innocent and naive look of her aquamarine eyes, a soft pink blush appeared on her cheeks through the snow-white fur.

Sometimes at night, after nightmares, waking up, he would shout: "You promised to always be with me! Why aren't you here when I need you so much?!" and would bury his nose in the pillow, hiding the tears that had appeared again. But he didn't know one thing... His little star followed him everywhere in the form of a ghost. She hugged him in his sleep, while the wind only swayed his yellow fur, put her hands on his shoulders when he was lonely... It was all thanks to that very seed that Sonic brought after the explosion. The girl saw how Tails suffered, she didn't like it at all, but one thing gave her hope: she would return soon. And everything would be as before.

that scene when daniel goes to a fresno concert, closes his eyes soaking everything in and the music slowly fades with a buzzing sound while you can still see him at the side of the stage and all the people and flashing lights and then you realize it's possibly the first time in 30 years that he goes to a concert >>>>>>>>>>>> any scene ever recorded before or after

See you again (chapter 1)

Dedicated to Cameron Boyce. Eternal gratitude for the wonderful roles.

☆☆☆

"Jane? Jane! Can you hear me at all?"

The girl stopped abruptly, clutching the tablet to her chest. Uma looked unhappy. Did she forget to do something?.. In response to the confused expression on her face, Uma exhaled loudly, and her gaze softened. Although she didn't know her as intimately as Mal or Ben, they had had an indirect encounter in the past.

"You know, I already miss the last Jane," Uma continued, grinning. "The one who wasn't afraid to disrupt my engagement to Ben at the Cotillion."

"I did it for them," Jane said, shrugging her shoulder. "If my mother taught me anything, it's to distinguish between true love."

Although the girl regretted to this day that she hadn't been persuaded to show her magic since childhood — as all fairies were trained — lately even verbal spells using a wand turned out badly. The internal flow of energy was constantly dissipating, slipping away from under the very tips of her fingers. Only one person could help. He would have smiled now, put his arm around her shoulders and just by his presence gave her the opportunity to concentrate. Jane couldn't be sure if that love was true. In fairy tales, fairies were given the role of a wise mentor, guiding royalty or ordinary people on the right path. That's how her mom brought Cinderella and Prince Charming together at that wonderful ball. But already there were doubts: the eldest son, Chad, was distinguished by an unbearable character, brought up in too much love. Even then, the girl saw his efforts only to take advantage of Evie, but didn't dare to say so. And the daughter of the Evil Queen wouldn't have believed that her fate was the son of an ordinary dwarf, deprived of all titles. She wished Chad would also realize the wrongness of his behavior and take an example from his younger sister. With Lonnie and Jay, everything was more than obvious: both stood up for justice and were in no way inferior to each other.

But there were problems with the son of the King Beast and Queen Belle. He, like Audrey, is a little older than her, so they were engaged long before she learned to see the difference. Audrey really had feelings, partly caused by communication since childhood, partly dictated by family pressure. Everything remained too ambiguous for Ben. But the appearance of Maleficent's daughter opened her eyes. By nature, leaders who have a lot of power hidden inside. Only if Ben grew up in a pretty happy family... Fear of the villains' children clouded her mind, which made Jane not immediately understand what Mal was trying to achieve. There was only the faint sympathy that had passed between them at their first meeting. To some extent, her and Mal's goals collided. Without the love cookie, these feelings took an even longer amount of time to unfold. Ben mentioned the very existence of a love spell in conversation with her, but at first the girl didn't understand why he didn't interfere. Later, when they were returning from their first date, it became noticeable that the water of the Enchanted Lake not only removed the consequences. No, now the prince's feelings were felt even more vividly. Mal, on the other hand, was clearly distraught. Perhaps Jane herself had made it worse by trying to side with Audrey. When Ben suggested that she organize a Cotillion, Jane agreed, trying to atone for her guilt. It was all exhausting, of course, but the feeling of usefulness turned out to be pleasant. While she was running errands — including the creation of stained glass windows — she managed to once again make sure that Ben and Mal were meant for each other. With what trepidation he clarified everything to the smallest detail. The appearance of Uma, who was still a villainess from the Isle of the Lost, knocked the ground out from under her feet even. They seemed to have feelings, but something about them was confusing. Who would have thought that she decided to repeat the fate of her mother. And after all, she didn't need Ben himself: Ursula's daughter only wanted to hurt the former villain.

"How are you and Carlos?" The name of a once-loved one caused a nagging pain in her heart, but Jane found the strength to shake her head. "Come on, it can't be that you're not true lovers."

Carlos. Cruella's son. This villainess might not have magical powers, but bullying dogs has never made anyone better. Imagine her surprise when the guy once admitted that he used to be scared to death of these animals, and only getting to know Dude helped overcome this fear. But one thing was clear: they were both in the shadow of their parents. True, her mother loved her sincerely, although she was too protective, and among the vague images from Carlos's childhood it turned out to be impossible to notice at least some kind of manifestation of love. However, his fate wasn't known, and Jane decided that not everyone should find happiness in love. With all this preparation for the ball, the girl was running so fast that she didn't pay attention to the slowly emerging feelings of the guy who was constantly trying to talk to her. She couldn't see the full picture anyway — the fairies were worried about someone else's well-being. It was only when Carlos finally decided to discuss everything here and now that such a warm and brave love came over her in waves. His brown eyes sparkled with happiness, and a wide smile shone on his freckled, tanned face. His embrace seemed to be the most comfortable place in the whole world. At first she was kind of scared: mom hadn't said anything about fairies being happy with someone.

However, it was true.

"Fairies don't use their abilities to their advantage," Jane replied, glancing at the playground where Carlos had once met Chewie.

With an initially thin build, the guy ran away fast enough, and the girl was definitely afraid to think about the reasons for the appearance of such a skill. Over time, she couldn't help but notice that a good lifestyle clearly did him good: his lean body became noticeably stronger, and in his spare time, Carlos began dancing. Secretly, Jane even admired his graceful and smooth movements from the side, but she never admitted it.

"Can't you?" She froze, pushing the memories away.

Really, couldn't she? But it was too late to talk about it anyway.

"We can't."

***

A week later, her birthday came. The first birthday without Carlos. His last gift, a necklace with their names combined, was still hanging around his neck, both pleasing and making him feel even more lonely. So many familiar faces gathered, but there was absolutely no mood to celebrate. After making sure that no one was around, the birthday girl quietly dived into the Enchanted Lake. After swimming a sufficient distance, she exhaled deeply and raised her head to the sky. Not a cloud, only the bright sun shone in the sky. Even it reminded her of him. The girl climbed onto one of the flat stones and shuddered: her wet hair stuck to her bare shoulders, and the blue translucent knee-length dress didn't warm her. A spell flashed in her memory, allowing her to dry out quickly, but the magic failed again.

"I wish you were here again!.." Jane shouted desperately into the void and hugged herself by the shoulders, feeling burning tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't do it without you, do you hear? You were the sun in my life!"

She covered her face with her hands, clenching her whole body, shaking with sobs.

"And how can you cry on your own birthday?"

It seemed. There's definitely no one here.

As soon as she felt the warmth of someone else's hands gently touching her tear-stained face, she felt like an electric shock.

Impossible. It can't be...

Her hands slowly lowered, gently wiped away the traces of tears with one finger and tucked the wet strands behind her ears.

Only then did Jane dare to look up. The black-and-white hair was slightly disordered as always. The brown eyes, as before, shone with devoted and endless love. The freckles on his tanned face resembled rays of the sun.

"How are you?.." It sounded hoarse.

"You called me, and I came," Carlos replied softly, touching her forehead with his. "I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye properly.

"You fool," she suddenly blurted out. "We should be the ones to apologize to you. We couldn't save you."

"No one could have predicted this." With each word, his hot breath sent goosebumps all over her body.

"If only... If only I could do magic like a real fairy..." The girl barely touched his shoulders, trying to make sure of the reality of what was happening, and pulled him into her arms, completely forgetting about his wet clothes.

Carlos nuzzled her neck, exhaling deeply. Nothing seemed to have changed since he left. It was as if there had never been that distant day when Auradon was overshadowed by terrible news. At first, what was happening looked like an endless nightmare. Emotions were so overwhelming that she had to get used to uncontrollable bursts of destructive magic. Because of this, Jane tried not to go anywhere unnecessarily, even when King Ben himself asked the Fairy Godmother about her well-being. She desperately wanted to wake up and return to the moment when the kids of the villains had just left the Isle of the Lost. To find at least the slightest opportunity to fix everything.

"You are a real fairy," the guy whispered, stroking her hair soothingly. "Who else was able to recognize the spell on Ben? We were all confused then. None of us have ever believed that it is possible to be loved just like that. Not pretending, not trying to please."

"And it's terrible," she muttered dully. "Everyone deserves to be loved... Except for me. Fairies instruct heroes, tell a story, but don't have their own."

"And I'm the son of a dog—hating woman. Do you think Dude knows about this?" He laughed softly, which made Jane freeze in fascination, feeling that she missed his laughter. "We decide our own destiny. Of course, Mal could become as terrible a villain as Maleficent, Evie could find herself a prince, and Jay could continue stealing for his father. But they are all here and happy."

"We were happy with you. If everything is in our hands, why can't you come back?" The girl took a shaky breath, sobbing. "And don't tell me that the best leave early."

Carlos said nothing, hugging her to his chest. The realization that his heart was beating was maddening. How? Isn't this her dream? Reality just can't be that beautiful.

"What happened while I was gone?" Jane wondered fleetingly what that meant.

"Ben and Mal got married. They say that almost the entire population of the states has gathered." She couldn't help but smile, remembering that she had indeed contributed to this. "Evie's business is booming: now she works with Dizzy. Jay and Lonnie want to create a club where anyone can play their favorite sport. And I continue to make sure that everything is in order. And I'm not coping... I'm not okay. This is definitely a dream.

His hands were on his wrists. Jane looked away.

"You're going to disappear, and I'm going to wake up. It's not the first time I've had a dream like this," she said lamely. "Can I at least do one little stupid thing?"

"Which one?" Carlos cocked his head thoughtfully.

"In fairy tales, the story ends after the words about living Happily Ever After." Jane exhaled sharply, gathering her thoughts and raising her head. "The heroes stand side by side against a beautiful sky and... I know that this is probably not the right place at all. I have a tear-stained face, a soaked dress and a terrible mood for a person whose birthday is today. This is all wrong. I still regret that I didn't do it when I had the time."

"Are you talking about the Kiss of True Love?"

"Yes, but I won't have that anyway. So I just..." The girl stopped short, feeling the gentle touch of his warm palms on her cheeks.

Carlos looked at her with a bit of embarrassment, but how deep, charming and tremulous was the look. Jane was well aware of it existence, having read many books, but she never would have thought that one day she would see it in reality. These flickering sparks made it impossible to think about anything else, as if hypnotizing.

"Maybe it's worth fulfilling your dream?"

A light, almost weightless touch to the lips. So soft and soothing, but at the same time incredibly exciting and brave. It was as if time itself had stopped. Despite the wet dress, there was a feeling of heat all over her body. The whole world around them faded into the background. Cold hands hesitantly wrapped around his neck. It was only now that she remembered how unusual her feelings for him were. Enthusiastic in every moment, genuine, bright and somewhat naive. The kind she has always dreamed of.

There was something insanely right about it all. Destined by fate.

To be honest, I have some trouble watching the late projects of former Disney stars. For example, I have a hard time imagining Cameron as the rape victim in "Runt" or Ross Lynch as the killer in "My Friend Dahmer". I hope I'm not the only one, because it really bothers me.

Past and future

"Luke? You're so quiet today."

Jessie had been babysitting the Ross family long enough to be able to tell when one of the kids was seriously upset about something. And the Luke she knew preferred to fool around, but not sit on the floor of his own room alone.

The boy winced at the sound of her voice and smiled. Luke had incredible artistry — which, however, was extremely useful for a future professional dancer — and he could easily seduce anyone with his big brown eyes and freckles, which made him look vaguely like a human incarnation of a Dalmatian. But he always smiled at her in a special way, without a hint of pretense. Zuri joked that she had brought her into the house, and thanks to Luke, the girl stayed on for a permanent position. It was no secret that, despite the great amorousness of the eldest of the sons, his heart was surprisingly given only to Jessie. But what to do with such a gift? She never considered herself too beautiful or capable of gathering crowds of admirers in principle. Perhaps this was explained by internal self-doubt.

"Do you remember the good old days when there was no one to raise you?" Jessie asked, noticing the photo album lying on his lap, and sat down next to him.

"Very funny, Jess," Luke responded discontentedly, as if by chance leaning his head closer to her shoulder. "Ask the younger ones that, and they will definitely decide that you are tired of us."

"Where would I go from you?" the girl grinned. "My conscience would torment me. Zuri won't let me go until she comes of age. I myself am interested to know what wonderful people you will grow up to be.

"You know, I don't want to grow up. You will leave, you will have your own life, in which there is no place for four teenagers..." he muttered, not looking at her.

"Luke..." Jessie said, confused, and pulled him into her arms.

Of course, she loved the entire Ross family. And it wasn't just the supposed opportunities to become an actress or earn some money. Despite the sometimes unbearable behavior of her charges, it was hard for her to imagine how life would have unfolded without the guys. Would she have been able to stay in this city at all? Would there have been a good reason? It seemed as if Luke had heard her thoughts.

"And I thought about what it would be like to live with... my blood mother. She... loved me. All parents love their children. But why did she leave me then? What if I wasn't good enough for her?" Luke looked up. There was no mischievous twinkle in his eyes: only a hidden sadness.

"I'm sure your mother had her own circumstances." Jessie smiled warmly, hoping to cheer him up. "Are you happy in this family?"

"Of course! I can't imagine a better family! I was lucky to be with loving parents," Luke replied with a bit of indignation. "Besides, if I had stayed in my blood family, I would be a completely different person. You and I would never have met..."

"I can't imagine how I would live," the girl said with exaggerated drama. "And how can anyone not love you? You're a wonderful child with many talents. A whole world of possibilities is open to you!"

"And among them, there is not a very specific one?.." He bowed his head with the most charming look he could muster.

"They say that love lasts three years. Then you will find out who is really close to you." The girl gently patted his head.

Jessie frankly didn't believe that these feelings would remain in him at least until adulthood. She remembered herself in those years: interests changed rapidly, not to mention sympathies. But that devotion of the boy, who watched her looking for a new relationship, was amazing. Sometimes it even seemed that his intentions were much more serious.

"I already know. I'm sure that nothing will change." And again that loving look, from which the soul became ashamed.

"What are you chatting about?" Zuri looked into the room with a suspiciously cunning expression on her face.

"I’m so lucky to have you all," Luke chuckled, winking at Jesse.

She won't tell about his little weakness. A real family isn't always the one that is blood relatives.

Neo-Saban couple that was handled right