Dimensions Afar

Chapter 2: Light and Stars

Aph was outside, trying to blast a few dummies, but nothing comes out. "Isn't something supposed to be coming out of my hands?" Aph asks, looking at Dain and Dellroy as Jada sits on the side to cheer Aph on. "Well, right now, we should work on something more simple. How about flying?" asks Dain. Aph thinks about it before she shrugs. "Sure, I guess. So, what? I just jump and-" Suddenly, when Aph jumps, she actually starts flying. "Woah!" exclaims Aph. She starts to float higher, starting to fly around and get the hang of it. Dellroy, still standing next to Dain, finds this to be pretty awesome. Though Aph looked just fine while flying, she started to lose her balance, falling out of the sky. "Aph!" Dellroy quickly catches her. Luckily, she wasn't too high in the sky. "Are you okay? You gotta be more careful." Dellroy says. "Yeah, I'm-" Aph and Dellroy make eye contact again. Realizing how akward this might be, Dellroy quickly puts Aph down, looking away quickly to hide the faint red on his cheeks. Aph is doing the same thing, trying not to over think it. "I'm fine, thanks." Aph says.

Dain smiles a bit at the sight, starting to notice Dellroy's behavior more. "How about we try to do something else? You already have the hang of flying. Just try to focus more." Dain says, breaking the akward tension between Aph and Dellroy. "Yeah, okay." Aph sighs. Dain and Jada share looks, knowing what's going on. Then, they all make their way to a more open space with trees. Dain looks at Aph and starts to explain. "Alright, we're going to test you on how hard you can punch, okay?" Aph had never punched anything or anyone before. She never thought about how strong she was. "Alright then. I'll try my best." Aph says a bit hesitantly. "Good. Now, I want you to punch that tree, okay?" Dain says. Then Aph nods, getting herself ready. Then, she punches the tree. Surely enough, it had left a giant dent in the middle off it, knocking a few branches off as well.

Dellroy, Dain, and Jada are impressed. Jada starts to wish that she could do this stuff too. "That was amazing!" Dain says. Dellroy nods, just as impressed. "That was pretty cool." Aph smiles at Dellroy, and Dellroy's heart seems to jump at this. Though, he shakes off the feeling and smiles softly back at her. Then, Aph sees Jada sitting under another tree and goes to check on her. "Hey, are you okay?" Aph asks, crouching down to her level. "Oh, hey Aph. I'm fine. I just kinda wanna be a moonglow princess too, you know?" Jada says. Then, Aph gets an idea and goes up to Dain and Dellroy. "Uhm, I have a question. Do you think we could test if Jada is a moonglow princess too? Just for fun." Dellroy and Dain think about it before they both shrug. "Sure. I guess we can." Dain says.

When Jada hears this, her eyes light up with excitement. Then she comes over to Aph and the twins. "That's great! So, what are we going to do?" Jada says excitedly. Dellroy and Dain think for a second before Dellroy gets an idea. "Well, we can also see how strong you are too. Mind punching the tree like Aph did?" says Dellroy. Jada nods, turning to a tree and punching it as hard as she can. Unexpectedly, the tree also has a big dent in it. That's when all of them realize that Jada might actually be a lost moonglow princess. "Wow." Dellroy and Dain both say in unison. Aph and Jada start to jump around excitedly, exclaiming "We're moonglow princesses!" with each other.

When Aph and Jada's hands intertwine while they're cheering, marks appear on their cheeks. Aph has a ball of light on her cheek, and Jada has a star on hers. "I guess we know which princesses you both are for sure now." says Dellroy. The two girls look at each other's cheeks, noticing the mark. "You are the princess of light." Jada says. "And you're the princess of stars." says Aph. "Wait, I am? Wow, this is really cool." says Jada. The twins start to laugh a bit at the sight and then the girls laugh along. "Well, it's starting to get dark." Dain says. "Would you girls like to stay in the castle for tonight? Aph doesn't have a place to stay, and it would be unfair to let one stay and not the other." Aph and Jada look at each other, and then nod. "We would be happy to stay the night. Thank you, your highnesses." says Aph. Then Dellroy chuckles a bit and smiles softly. "No need to be formal. You two are more higher than us anyway." Aph smiles back, finding Dellroy's smile so... captivating. Though, she immediately stops herself from thinking that, trying to tell herself that he's just a friend to her... for now. "Well then, how about we get inside? It's getting cold out here." Dain says, already starting to look a bit chilly. Everyone agrees, going inside the castle.

Aph and Dain sit by the fireplace to warm up and Aph is trying to explain what boba tea is to Dain. Meanwhile, Dellroy and Jada are sitting on the couch with a blanket around each of them. "Hey, Jada?" Dellroy says, his tone a bit more quiet. "Yeah, what's up?" asks Jada, toning her voice down a bit too, but not understanding why. Dellroy sits up a bit more and sighs. "How long have you been Aph's friend?" he asks. "Not too long, we just met today, actually." says Jada, obviously not knowing why he's asking that question. Dellroy just nods, sitting back on the couch again. "Oh... okay." says Dellroy. He really just wanted to ask about Aph, but since they only met today, he really couldn't ask many questions that Jada knew. Suddenly, Dain gets up. "Alright, does anyone want popcorn? Aph made me hungry and thirsty from telling me about this... boba tea." Aph starts to laugh a bit, and everyone could tell that she did that on purpose to get popcorn.

"Sure, I'll take some." answers Jada. "Same with me." says Dellroy. They both can't help but snicker at how Aph decided to get the popcorn, finding it to be funny. "Alright, I'll be back." says Dain. Then it's just Jada, Aph, and Dellroy. "You know what? I think I'll go see what kind of popcorn Dain is making." says Jada, suddenly getting up. "I hope it's caramel. I'll be back." she says. As much as Dellroy wants to beg her to come back so he isn't completely alone with Aph, he decides to face it, knowing that there might not be a way out of this other than communication. Akward or not.