Wings

The moment Catania was safely on Sophie, Mariposa let go of her arm.

Catania only had time to give Mariposa a small smile before Sophie took off, Boris flying after her. 

"You're not getting away from me this time, princess!" He yelled.

"We have to do something!" Mariposa looked around, trying to find anything to help. When she found nothing in her immediate area, she flew around looking for something.

She stopped when she saw a fruit bowl, an idea coming to her mind.

Catania weaved around the towers of the palace, trying to lose Boris. But nothing was working. He kept flying in front of her and trying to attack her again.

She tried to bat him away with her hand, but he wasn't leaving her alone. They flew up, down, in circles, but nothing they would do would get him to go away.

He landed on Sophie's wing and pulled as hard as he could, causing her to turn and hit her wing on a metal pole.

"Woah!" Boris yelled as Sophie started to spin out of control. He got thrown off a second later,

"Sophie!" Catania screamed, directing her to the nearest landing point. 

Once they landed, Catania got off of Sophie and checked her wing. It didn't look right; it was sprained at best. It didn't look like Sophie would be able to fly for a while.

Boris was gearing up to attack her again when he got hit with a piece of fruit. "What? Hey!"

Zee and Anu laughed, throwing more fruit at him.

Boris screamed and flew at them, and they flew away at the last moment, causing him to run into the bowl that Mariposa stuck in front of him. He groaned as she set it down on a ledge upside down, trapping him under it. 

Mariposa smiled as he tried to escape, then looked around for Catania. Her smile dropped when she finally found her. Mariposa quickly flew down to her. 

"Are you alright?" Mariposa asked. She didn't think she felt any pain from Catania, but she could not have noticed it.

"I am, but Sophie's wing is hurt. She'll be okay. She just can't fly." Catania replied, standing up and walking over to Mariposa.

They were interrupted by a loud and evil-sounding laugh, and they turned to look in the direction they heard it. Mariposa let out a small gasp when she saw the Gwyllion trying to turn the heartstone to rock.

"Oh, no!" She said, starting to fly up to stop her, but she paused and turned back around when she didn't hear Catania with her. "Catania? Fly with me." She held out her hand.

"I can't! I don't fly, and it's the Gwyllion!" Catania stated, stepping back and hugging herself tightly.

"You can do this Catania, be brave!" Mariposa knew that Catania could do it. She just needed to believe in herself more.

"I'm not brave. I'm scared." Catania replied, shaking her head. "I can't."

Mariposa looked at the Gwyllion, then back at Catania. She didn't want to force her to do anything she didn't want to. "Stay here," Mariposa said, flying up to the Gwyllion.

Anu said something to Catania, and she nodded. "Of course, go." If she couldn't be there for Mariposa, she at least wanted to let Anu be there for her. "Thank you."

"Gwyllion! Stop!" Mariposa shouted, launching herself at the Gwyllion's staff. 

The Gwyllion fought her, pushing her over the edge. 

Mariposa only had a second to right herself before the Gwyllion started firing spells at her. She could feel the heat of the spells barely missing her as she flew around to avoid them.

"Boris! Get her!" The Gwyllion shouted.

Boris, finally getting out from under the bowl, laughed and threw himself at Mariposa, chasing her away.

Catania watched nervously, her wings starting to move without her noticing.

Anu and Zee attacked the Gwyllion, screaming.

"Boris! Get them!" She yelled growling.

Boris stopped chasing after Mariposa, instead going after Zee and Anu. "Nice try puffballs! Yeah, you'd better run!"

"Well done, Boris!" The Gwyllion laughed, turning back to the heartstone and casting her spell again.

Mariposa tried to sneak up on her again. But the Gwyllion noticed her reflection in the heartstone and shot a spell at her once she got close. 

"No!" Mariposa yelled as she became paralyzed, falling to the floor. Pain shot through her body at the impact, since she couldn't catch herself.

Catania gasped as her body froze up for a moment, and shivered when the pain hit her. "Mariposa! No!" She yelled, not noticing that her feet had left the ground as soon as the paralysis wore off. She only realized it when she heard Sophie neigh at her.

"Huh?" She looked down at herself, then back at her wings. She then landed, looking up at the heartstone with determination.

Mariposa tried to break free of the spell, but couldn't. She gritted her teeth and kept trying. Everyone was counting on her.

"No more interruptions." The Gwyllion growled, casting her spell again. "It's happening... It's happening!"

This time, the heartstone had been turned so much into a rock that she couldn't see Catania's reflection as she shakily flew up behind her.

"No!" Catania yelled, grabbing the Gwyllion's staff.

"Catania!" Mariposa gasped, first feeling relief and pride at seeing Catania, but then she felt fear. What if she got hurt, and Mariposa couldn't help her?

They continued to fight until the Gwyllion was only staying on the tower by holding her staff, with Catania holding the other end. 

"You won't stop me this time, little one." The Gwyllion stated, starting to cast a spell.

Catania pushed the staff away as it fired, causing the Gwyllion to lose her grip and fall, the staff flying out of her hands. 

"NOOO!" The Gwyllion shrieked as she fell. "Boris, help me!"

Mariposa couldn't see the staff break, but she felt it when the spell that was holding her broke.

She pushed herself up, but her legs weren't entirely used to being un-frozen, and she stumbled, right into Catania's waiting arms.

"You made it!" Mariposa said, pulling away from Catania's embrace with a smile on her face.

Catania didn't match her enthusiasm. "Not fast enough, it's too late!" She gestured towards the heartstone. "Look!"

Mariposa's smile faded when she saw the heartstone. It was all rock except for a tiny bit of it.

Catania touched the bit that wasn't frozen and shivered., pulling away instantly. "It's so cold..."

Mariposa saw something glowing out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Catania's pocket glowing. "Catania! Look!" She said, pointing to it.

Catania looked at where she was pointing and gasped, pulling out the glowing object. "The flutter flower!"

Now was not the time to be happy that she kept her flutter flower. Mariposa told herself. Or that she was holding it in her pocket the whole time.

She held the flutter flower in front of her, and her crystallite necklace turned from rock back to normal.

That gave Mariposa an idea. "I wonder..." She placed her hands over Catania's and pushed the flutter flower up to the heartstone. 

Nothing happened. 

Mariposa sighed softly. "I thought maybe-" She stopped herself and gasped. The heartstone was starting to glow. "Keep holding it close to the heartstone!"

They both pushed the flutter flower closer. It started to get harder to hold it closer; a magical force was trying to push them back.

"It's working!" Catania yelled.

The heartstone started to glow brighter and brighter, beginning to turn back to normal. 

Mariposa almost pulled away when she saw that the glow was spreading to them but held on strong.

She was sure that she and Catania could handle whatever it was.

The heartstone continued to light up until it was as bright as the sun, sending a powerful magical shockwave over the city, turning all the crystallites back to normal.

It took a while, but the glow turned back to normal.

The flutter flower had been absorbed into the heartstone, and Mariposa was left holding Catania's hand instead of it.

Catania turned and gasped at the sight in front of her. "The other crystallites!"

Mariposa smiled; all the crystallites were back to normal. They'd won.

She turned to Catania to congratulate her, but her breath left her at the sight of her.

She had never seen anything more beautiful in her life.